Independence Day Page #18

JASMINE:

You're late.

STEVE:

You know how I like to make a big

entrance.

They kiss.

CUT TO:

INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

The double doors burst open as the President carrying his

young daughter marches through. Doctor ISAACS comes over to

them.

PRESIDENT:

How is she?

ISAACS:

I'm sorry, Mr. President. If only

we could have gotten to her

sooner.

The President puts his daughter down as he sees...

PRESIDENT'S POV - MARGARET

Margaret lays in bed, doctors and nurses surrounding her.

Patricia rushes over.

ISAACS:

She's bleeding internally.

There's nothing else we can do.

Stunned, the President watches as Patricia hugs her mother.

MARGARET:

Hiya Munchkin.

PATRICIA:

Mommy, we were worried. We didn't

know where you were.

MARGARET:

I'm right here, baby.

Recovering, the President nods for the doctors to leave the

room. As they begin to march out, he makes his way over to

his wife and daughter.

PRESIDENT:

Honey, why don't you wait outside

so Mommy can get some rest.

Patricia kisses her mother, says goodbye and leaves. Out of

sight, Margaret winces, fading away. The President grabs her

hand for support. She squeezes tightly.

MARGARET:

(through tears)

I'm scared, Tom.

PRESIDENT:

It's okay. The doctors said

you're going to be just fine.

Margaret smiles at the man she knows all too well.

MARGARET:

Liar.

The look between them says more than any words.

INT. HALLWAY - OUTSIDE MARGARET'S ROOM - LATER

The President exits the room, overcome with emotion.

Constance, the doctors and some medical crew move to comfort

him. He holds them off with a gesture.

He looks up and sees Jasmine, Steve and Dylan down the hall.

He pushes through the crowd and makes his way over to them.

JASMINE:

I'm so sorry.

PRESIDENT:

I just wanted to thank you.

You're a very brave woman.

Across the hall, Patricia sits in a chair, waiting. Whitmore

walks over to her and kneels down next to his small child.

PATRICIA:

Is Mommy sleeping now?

PRESIDENT:

Yes, baby. Mommy's sleeping.

FADE OUT:

A GARBAGE CAN:

Topples over with a BANG! A foot steps in and starts kicking

trash all over.

EXT. AREA 51 - NIGHT

David is drunkenly knocking everything over, making a gigantic

mess. Moishe comes up behind, restraining him.

MOISHE:

David, David! What the hell are

you doing!?

DAVID:

I'm making a mess.

MOISHE:

This I can see.

DAVID:

We've gotta burn the rain forest,

Pops. Dump toxic waste, pollute

the air, rip up the ozone. Maybe

if we screw this planet up enough

they won't want it anymore.

MOISHE:

David, you're drunk.

David slips, falls on his ass, hard. Moishe helps him back up

on his feet.

MOISHE:

I think you better sleep this off.

Go back inside before you catch a

cold.

Slowly David looks up towards Moishe, an idea.

DAVID:

Pops, you're a genius!

MOISHE:

What'd I say?

DAVID:

A cold? Of course.

Sobered, David jumps kisses his father and bolts inside.

CUT TO:

INT. STORAGE LAB - DAY

A large crowd has been gathered here at the lab. General Grey

and Nimziki walk up to Constance.

NIMZIKI:

All right, Connie, we're here.

What's this all about?

CONSTANCE:

I really have no idea. He just

said to bring everyone down here.

Steve shows Dylan the alien space craft.

DYLAN:

Does that thing fly in outer

space?

Steve loos up at the craft admiringly.

STEVE:

It certainly does.

When the President enters a technician rushes over and knocks

on the hatch door on the alien attacker. The door swings open

and David climbs down.

Grabbing a coke can from the "recycle" trash bin, David places

the empty can on top of the alien attacker. David turns and

faces the gathering.

DAVID:

Could anyone please step back

away from the craft?

They do and David nods to a Technician inside the craft. The

Technician disappears inside, closing the door behind him. A

loud HUM emits from the craft. David has to yell over it.

DAVID:

Lt. Mitchell, would you mind

drawing your pistol?

MITCHELL:

What?

DAVID:

From where you're standing, do you

think you could shoot that can off

the alien craft?

Mitchell shrugs affirmatively. David gestures for him to try.

Taking aim, Mitchell SHOOTS.

The bullet RICOCHETS off the attacker's protective shield.

Several people in the crowd dock, afraid of being hit by the

errant bullet.

DAVID:

Sorry 'bout that. You see, it's

protected by the craft's shields.

We can't penetrate their defenses.

NIMZIKI:

We know that already. What's your

point?

David walks over to his laptop, now connected directly to the

craft by cables and starts typing furiously.

DAVID:

My point is if we can't beat their

defenses, then we must get around

them.

David stops typing and stares at his wrist watch, silently

counting down.

DAVID:

Lt. Mitchell, would you please try

to shoot it again?

Reluctantly Mitchell obliges. This time the can is BLOWN OFF

THE CRAFT. Everyone in the room is shocked. The Technician

re-opens the craft's door and the loud HUM disappears.

GENERAL GREY:

How did you do that?

DAVID:

I gave it a cold.

The President is fascinated, he steps closer. Moishe beams

proudly at his smart son. Constance is amazed.

DAVID (cont'd)

More accurately, I gave it a

virus. A computer virus.

David turns his laptop around for the President to see.

GENERAL GREY:

Are you telling us you can send

out a signal that will disable all

their shields?

DAVID:

Just as they used our satellites

against us, we can use their own

signal against them.

David walks over to a diagram he's made showing the

relationship between the Mother Ship, the Space Crafts and the

smaller alien attackers.

DAVID (cont'd)

If we plant the virus directly

into the mother ship, it would

then filter down into all the

corresponding ships below.

NIMZIKI:

And just how do we infect the

"Mother Ship" with a virus?

David gestures to the alien attacker behind him.

DAVID:

We'll have to fly their craft out

of our atmosphere and dock with

the mother ship.

Intrigued Steve turns and looks back at the alien attacker,

sizing it up. David points to a satellite photo of the

underbelly of the Mother Ship.

DAVID (cont'd)

We can enter here, upload the

virus and set off an explosion

that could disable it. This would

disorient the smaller ship below

and buy you some time to take them

out.

Constance reacts, realizing David's participation in the plan.

NIMZIKI:

This is ridiculous.

GENERAL GREY:

How long would their shields be

down?

DAVID:

Once they discover the virus it

could be a matter of minutes.

NIMZIKI:

You want us to co-ordinate a

massive world wide counter strike

with a window of only a few

minutes?

GENERAL GREY:

With their shields down it might

be possible.

NIMZIKI:

Please, you're not buying into any

of this nonsense, are you? We

don't have the manpower or the

resources to launch that kind of a

campaign.

(gesturing to the alien

ship)

Not to mention that this whole

cockamamie plan is dependent on a

machine that no one in the world

is qualified to operate.

STEVE (O.S.)

I wouldn't say that, sir.

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