Hollow Man Page #11

Sebastian realizes that they don't know.

SEBASTIAN:

Don't make a mountain out of molehill.

I didn't let anyone see me.

LINDA:

That's not good enough. When you're

outside the lab there are a thousand

variables none of us can control. It's

just not safe for you to be out there.

SEBASTIAN:

Come on, Linda. You don't expect me to

be some kind of prisoner.

LINDA:

You volunteered for this, Sebastian.

You knew going in there could be

consequences.

(beat)

For the security of this project, I'm

gonna have to ask you to confine

yourself to the compound.

SEBASTIAN:

I'm still Project Leader, Linda. It's

my decision to make.

LINDA:

You're right. It's your decision. But

if you leave the compound again, I'll

notify the oversight committee. Then

they can make the decision. You

understand?

SEBASTIAN:

Matt?

MATT:

Sorry, man. You'd do the same if it

were the other way around.

A long beat. Sebastian slowly rises, acknowledges Linda

with a nod and leaves the room. Linda looks around at her

silent co-workers, the goggles and tranqs still on the

table.

LINDA:

Pack 'em up... Everyone go home.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. LABORATORY - DAY

The Lab is buzzing with the usual activity. Linda rolls

up Sebastian's sleeve, revealing nothing.

LINDA:

Hold still.

She wraps a bungee cord around the nothing and pulls it

tight. She then sprays the inside of his elbow with dye.

SEBASTIAN:

(contentious)

How much blood do you think you've

taken so far?

The surface of his skin sheens in the light as Linda

searches for a vein. She slaps his arm several times,

then plunges a hypodermic needle into his skin.

LINDA:

Not enough to worry about.

SEBASTIAN:

Every day... feels like you're sucking

me dry.

Linda presses down on the hypodermic plunger, releasing a

dye into his bloodstream.

SEBASTIAN (cont'd)

It's funny. All these years I've known

you, I never pegged you for a

megalomanic.

LINDA:

What are you talking about?

SEBASTIAN:

The shoe being on the other foot. You

getting to run things.

LINDA:

I didn't ask for this, Caine. But when

a classified experiment disappears in

the middle of the night, someone's

gotta run the show.

(tries sympathy)

Look, I know how hard this has been

for you.

He knocks her arm away and pulls the hypo, out of his

arm.

SEBASTIAN:

Don't patronize me.

(beat)

And for the record, you've got no idea

what it's like. I get up every morning

and you people stick needles in me.

You bombard me with radiation until I

vomit. And then at six it's over for

you. You get to go home. But Sebastian

is still here. Sebastian can't leave,

or else. That's the worst part, you

know. Here I have this ... this GIFT

and I can't even use it.

LINDA:

Now it's a gift?

SEBASTIAN:

You're goddamn right it's a gift. And

if you weren't so goddamned short

sighted, I'd be out there right now

trying to master it.

Sebastian looks around at the other scientists staring at

him. He tosses the hypo with the needle onto the

instrument tray and heads toward the door.

LINDA:

Where're you going?

SEBASTIAN:

Looks like I'm going nowhere.

MATT:

Come on, man. We've got a ton of tests

scheduled today.

SEBASTIAN:

Do them yourself.

INT. RECOVERY CHAMBER - NIGHT

Linda enters to find Sebastian reading the collected

works of T.S. Elliot.

LINDA:

Want to talk about it?

SEBASTIAN:

No.

Linda looks over his shoulder.

LINDA:

"We are the hollow men, the stuffed

men, headpieces filled with straw."

SEBASTIAN:

Funny, huh? I've become a literal

metaphor.

He puts the books down.

LINDA:

I don't want to fight you. I just want

what's best for the program.

SEBASTIAN:

I know. And you being right doesn't

make it any easier for me.

LINDA:

You can be scared. That's okay.

SEBASTIAN:

I'm not scared of being stuck this

way. With a little more make-up and

practice, I could...

(he motions to his face)

... pass. Y'know, get by in the world.

But the testing...

LINDA:

You're talking like you've given up.

It's only been a few months.

SEBASTIAN:

What if it's years? I don't know how

much more testing I can take.

INT. RECOVERY CHAMBER - LATER

Sebastian paces back and forth, glancing at the camera.

INT. LABORATORY - DAY

Linda, Matt and Sebastian, in latex and scrubs, stare at

an electron microscope's video display. On the screen in

a sparse colony of blood calls but every second more and

more cells appear, filling the gap.

MATT:

60% reversion. 70% ... 75% ... 80% ...

85 ...

The others in the lab listen. They start to get excited.

Janice and Carter leave their research and come over to

watch the screen.

SEBASTIAN:

We've got it. We've got it.

MATT:

93% ... 95%... 95%

They wait. Linda points to a blank patch on the screen.

LINDA:

That's all we need.

SEBASTIAN:

Come on, baby. Come on.

But the blood cells nearest the blank patch twinkle out

existence, and then those around them also blink away

until after a beat, the screen is empty.

MATT:

Full quantum cascade at 95%.

(beat)

I'm sorry.

SEBASTIAN:

You're sorry? You're f***ing sorry?

Sebastian picks up a glass beaker and hurls it against

the wall. It shatters.

SEBASTIAN (cont'd)

Six weeks of this sh*t and you're

sorry!

He grabs more equipment and begins tossing it in a rage.

Carter and Janice grab him and restrain him. After

struggling against them a beat or two, Sebastian calms

down and pushes away from them and heads out the door.

JANICE:

I don't blame him.

LINDA:

I'll go talk to him.

MATT:

Leave him alone. He just needs to blow

off some steam.

INT. RECOVERY CHAMBER - NIGHT

CUT TO:

Sebastian lies in his bed, staring at the security

camera. The camera stares back at him.

As if from a dream, we hear the Brunette's muffled scream

and cries for help. As we push in on Sebastian's cold

eyes, we can barely make out her face thrashing back in

forth in panic and confusion.

Sebastian suddenly rises.

He crosses to the video camera and examines a small panel

on the underneath of the camera.

He reaches into a box of twinkies and pulls out one of

the sponge cakes and begins munching. He hits the

intercom button on the phone.

FRANK (V.0.)

Yeah?

SEBASTIAN:

I'm going to the lab.

FRANK (V.0.)

Don't you sleep?

SEBASTIAN:

Waste of time. Da Vinci never slept.

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM - NIGHT

Frank eyes Sebastian in the monitor.

FRANK:

Okay. I'm here if you need me.

He watches as Sebastian's heat signature moves toward the

door.

INT. LABORATORY - NIGHT

In the dark deserted lab, Sebastian pulls together a

circuit board, a computer chip and some wiring. He seems

be assembling something.

INT. RECOVERY CHAMBER - NIGHT

Sebastian crosses underneath the camera... just out of

its range... reaches up and using a screwdriver, unscrews

the access panel. He scans the electronics and attaches

two alligator clips to wires on the circuit board.

Trailing a long length of wire, Sebastian crosses back to

his bed and lies down. He holds a black project box with

a button on it. He lies perfectly still and press the

button.

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM - NIGHT

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