Gattaca Page #20

IRENE:

I don't think so. The only trip I'll make

in space is around the sun--

(letting a handful of sand

slip through her fingers)

--on this satellite right here.

Irene turns to Jerome.

IRENE:

(blurting out what's really on her mind)

--Listen, I don't want to waste your time

and I really don't want you to waste mine.

I don't know what you're after but I have

a feeling I'm not it.

Irene suddenly takes Jerome's hand and puts it up her

sweater, onto her breast. Although taken aback, Jerome makes

no effort to withdraw his hand.

IRENE:

(enjoying his unease)

It's here. My heart.

(adding quickly)

I'm careful--weekly check-ups. I'm on a

drug maintenance program, blood thinners,

diet--

(slowly removing his hand)

I just want you to know what you'd be getting

yourself into.

JEROME:

What exactly is wrong?

IRENE:

Nothing yet. I'll start experiencing

symptoms in my late-fifties.

(matter-of-fact)

But unless they come up with something between

now and then, I won't live much past 67.

Jerome's mouth drops a little, betraying his surprise at the

statement from a woman plainly still in her twenties.

IRENE:

Of course I think about it every day.

JEROME:

(still not quite recovered from his surprise)

Of course.

INT. POOL. MORNING.

The INVESTIGATOR swims his race with the unseen opponent. The

Investigator's ASSISTANT, carrying a phone, tries to attract his

attention.

EXT. JEROME'S POOL. MORNING.

JEROME sits at his own poolside in his robe, feet dangling over

the edge, smoking a cigarette. EUGENE, from his wheelchair, is

applying bleach to Jerome's hair and eyebrows with gloved

hands.

At the same time, Jerome plays a sleight-of-hand game with a

syringe.

EUGENE:

How was your evening?

JEROME:

Complicated. I couldn't stop her apologizing.

EUGENE:

(teasing)

You are a catch. No doubt she's worried that

she would lower the standard of your offspring.

Everybody wants to "breed up".

(idly curious)

What's wrong with her?

JEROME:

(trying to be blasÈ)

You know how it is with these altered births

--somebody told her she's not going to live

forever and she's been preparing to die ever

since.

EUGENE:

You're not thinking of telling her, are you?

JEROME:

Of course not. But she's have to know eventually.

EUGENE:

(adamant)

She doesn't have to know. She doesn't want to know.

The camera travels down Jerome's scarred legs to find that the

pool is completely drained. We now realize that it never

contained water.

A BARREN WASTELAND.

A desolate landscape, resembling the surface of the planet Mars.

We pull back to find that we are peering at this forbidding

desert through a circular aperture.

INT. CRIME LAB. DAY.

The INVESTIGATOR lifts his head from the eyepiece of an

electron microscope through which he has been examining a tiny

fragment of skin - the skin is identified as belonging to 20-

YEAR-OLD VINCENT. DETECTIVE HUGO stands at the Investigator's

side - his attitude more respectful in light of the discovery.

Detective Hugo points out a location on a computer-generated

map.

DETECTIVE HUGO:

(chagrined)

The skin flake was found in Michael's Restaurant.

The employees are all accounted for.

INVESTIGATOR:

A customer? Does this Michael's cater to misfits?

DETECTIVE HUGO:

(shifting the view of the map

to include the Gattaca complex)

No. But one or two "borrowed ladders" have

shown up there in the past.

The Investigator understands the significance. They wander over

to a blow-up photograph of the 20-YEAR-OLD VINCENT.

DETECTIVE HUGO:

We have to consider the possibility that he's

playing somebody else's hand.

A smile gradually broadens across the Investigator's face.

INVESTIGATOR:

(taking a perverse pleasure in the

slowly dawning revelation)

Of course. He's a "de-gene-erate".

(glancing to a photo of the

Gattaca crime scene)

He works at Gattaca. Why else would we find

the eyelash near the washroom? Nobody stops to

take a leak during a murder.

DETECTIVE HUGO:

(quickly covering himself)

It's still possible the eyelash specimen came

from a janitor, delivery man--it could have blown

in through an open window.

The Investigator appears not to be listening, his mind made up.

INVESTIGATOR:

(mind racing)

He was afraid of being exposed. That's why he did it.

DETECTIVE HUGO:

(puzzled)

It is hard to believe he could be one of

their elite workers. You've seen their

security system. They know who works there.

(referring to 20-year-old Vincent's profile)

Even if you ignore the man's expiration date,

his profile suggests that he doesn't have the

mathematical propensity let alone the stamina

to pass their physicals.

INVESTIGATOR:

Don't underestimate these imposters.

DETECTIVE HUGO:

(skeptical, referring to a file of

Gattaca employee ID photos)

None of the ID photos match the enhancement.

INVESTIGATOR:

(smiling to himself)

A man can change his face--but blood is forever.

Sample every employee within the parameters I gave you.

(pause)

Intravenous.

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