Antz Page #16

COMMANDO ANT #1

(to the others)

Get the sniffer!

Two other commandoes come running up with what looks like a

piece of machinery on a tripod -- only it's an ant -- a

highly specialized, blind ant with an incredibly acute sense

of smell.

TRACKER ANT:

Bala...find Bala...

The tracker, drool running out of its long proboscis, sniffs

the air and starts signalling like a geiger counter...

TRACKER ANT:

(as he's swivelled)

Nnononononononoyeahyeahnononononono

no...

Finally the tracker stops swivelling, pointing in one

direction and saying, "Yeahyeahyeahyeah..."

COMMANDO ANT #3

Got 'em! Ten clicks from here!

MANDIBLE:

Z -- you dirt-digging, fancy-dancing,

wisecracking, royalty-grabbing, rebel

SCUM!

(yelling into the

distance)

I AM COMING FOR YOU! YOU ARE ONE

DEAD ANT, MISTER!

Mandible's muscles bulge. The veins in his head throb. This

is one ass-kicking ant. Even Mandible's troops look scared

of him.

MANDIBLE:

Let's MOVE! GO, people! GO! GO!

GO! GO! GO!

Ant Team Six takes to the air, heading in the direction

indicated by the tracker ant.

INT. TRASH BAG - DAY

Darkness. Out of it we hear the voices of Z and Bala.

BALA:

Come on, Z.

Z:

Forget it. You go ahead, I give up.

I...I don't know what I was thinking.

"Insectopia".

In one corner of the screen, we can see an irregular little

hole through which a shaft of light is falling. Bala

proceeds towards it, the hole appears to get bigger and

bigger...

Z:

(defeated)

There's only one thing worse than an

ant who goes around mindlessly

following orders, and that's an ant

who's too dumb to go around

mindlessly following orders.

Bala stops...she notices that they're being watched. She's

emerging from a tied off garbage bag -- the yellow ties loop

away gracefully. Bala and Z have been tossed into a garbage

area. And above them and below them, peering from garbage

cans, recycling containers, bags, etc., a multi-cultural

assortment of insects are regarding them.

A laid-back FLY voices their thoughts.

FLY:

What's with the bummer attitude?

A nearby BUTTERFLY joins in.

BUTTERFLY:

Yeah -- nobody stresses out in

Insectopia!

BALA:

Did you say...

Z:

(joining Bala)

...Insectopia?

Z and Bala look around. Just to get things straight, the

garbage dump doesn't look disgusting -- that would be seeing

it through human eyes. Instead, we're looking at it through

ant eyes -- and, reimagined this way, it's Paradise. Not the

ordered, sterile, paradise of the picnic, but an earthly land

of plenty.

The sides of the plastic garbage bags are sheer, reflective

walls of smoothest obsidian...the garbage cans are gigantic,

thick metal columns put there by the gods (think the

pyramids); a coke bottle, refracting the sunlight into a

gorgeous rainbow, trickles a fountain of sweet nectar into

the pink, bittersweet flesh of a grapefruit half, which

appears as a multi-chambered concave dome. Everywhere,

insects are disporting themselves -- a multi- species love-in

that's like an insect version of Woodstock.

Bala and Z are awe-struck. Bala turns to Z.

BALA:

(happily)

Z, we made it!

FLY:

(alighting on the

grapefruit)

C'mon in! The nectar's fine!

Like a kid at an amusement park, Z slides down the smooth

side of the garbage bag, whooshing this way and that until he

slides into one end of a straw (a red and white striped

tunnel), and is shot out...

Z:

Yippeeeeee!

...into a bottle-cap filled with lemonade, which he

alternately drinks and swims through...

Down at the bottlecap, Z is drying himself off. Then he

sees, emerging from behind a lemon peel, a gigantic TERMITE.

Z:

(terrified)

AAAAAGH!!!

Surprisingly, the termite seems equally terrified...

FLY:

(to Z)

Hey, take it easy! There's nothin'

to be afraid of!

Z:

Yeah, well, I make it a practice not

to trust anyone who shoots acid out

of their forehead.

CRICKET:

Dude, here in Insectopia, we don't

judge people by how many arms and

legs we've got.

FLY:

Yeah, back home, they called me a

fruitfly. But here, I'm known

as...

(with attitude)

Superfly.

CRICKET:

Anyway, big Gus is mellow.

The termite sticks his hand out. A drop of acid drips from

his head and splashes at Z's feet.

Z:

(taking his hand,

disgusted)

Charmed.

Z reaches out and shakes the termite's hand, as Bala watches,

smiling.

CUT TO:

EXT. INSECTOPIA - NIGHT

The insects are having a cookout, their faces illuminated by

the still-red ember of a match. Platters heaped with food

lie untouched as they pat their bellies...

Z and Bala sit next to one another, smiling shyly as if they

had just met for the first time.

Z:

So...you never did tell me...what

made you come out to the worker bar

that night?

BALA:

Just looking for fun, adventure,

trouble, I guess.

Z:

Well, "trouble" is my middle name.

Actually, my middle name is .985,

but I don't tell people. Hey, Bala,

I...I actually have something of

yours...you left it at the bar that

night.

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