Morning Star Page #12

---

DR.SCHOENWEISS

Twenty four hours?

Eberlin smiles. Webber tries to sound pleased-

WEBBER:

Excellent.

HQ -- LATER

NURSES collect blood samples from agents with rolled sleeves.

Webber anxiously watches their progress. Steering clear ofthe nurses, he tracks down Marling.

WEBBER:

I want you to compile a list of

active agents defined by a more

narrow profile. He lives in a

single room, some place far from

parks or any kind of greenery. He

eats at the same place every day.

Something bland. Eggs... and he may

be married. To a civilian, a human.

57.

MARLING:

That would go against everything weknow about Infiltrators... What's

the source of this new profile?

WEBBER:

It’s an extrapolation of thestatistical variance of mind yourown f***ing business.

Webber leaves Marling flushed. Seeing the nurses with theirtrolly coming toward him, he heads the other way. His phoneBUZZES. A text: Your table is ready.

He deletes the message quickly as Bewley pops up in his path.

BEWLEY:

I’ve got something- a Xenooperative, here in Paris. I cameacross the codename “Sion” in a

communication. Turns out I.D.F. has

a file on him...

He presses a photo into Webber’s hand. A surveillance shot ofthe “Homeless Vet” Webber talked to at the zoo.

BEWLEY (CONT’D)

His current whereabouts are unknown

but there’s an excellent chance he

could identify Morningstar.

WEBBER:

Yes. Good. Put Felton on it.

BEWLEY:

Felton? I...

Bewley wants to protest the choice but Webber’s already onthe move, making a beeline for the fire exit he used before.

He finds it locked.

GAST (O.S.)

Oh, yes, that’s been sealed- redalert protocol.

Webber turns. Gast is passing by, his nose in a file.

GAST (CONT’D)

We’ll just have to hope there isn’ta fire.

Adding insult to injury, as Gast clears frame, those vampiricnurses are right there, waiting for Webber, smiling.

58.

MOMENTS LATER:

Blood is drawn. He watches them cart it away, into thesystem, hopelessly out of reach.

EXT. PARIS STREET - MONTPARNASSE -- DAY

Webber walks an immigrant neighborhood, constantly lookingover his shoulder. He approaches an olive-skinned BOY perchedon a fire hydrant like a gargoyle.

WEBBER:

Je veux une billet de Lotto.

The Boy faces Webber. Unsettlingly, the boy’s left eye hasbeen replaced by a robotic prosthetic that looks him up anddown. Webber hands the boy a coin.

INT. A LAUNDRY -- DAY

Webber trails the kid past Asian women taking laundry out ofold-fashioned machines. Steam spewing everywhere creates astygian vibe. The kid with the robot eyeball disappearsthrough a curtain of beads into the back.

Webber looks around. A CUSTOMER, a white woman, pets astrange mutant CREATURE in her lap. She smiles broadly.

CUSTOMER:

He’s a gen-mod Pekanese-Quatohybrid but he’s fully licensed.

Webber nods. OK. The boy returns with a gruff ASIAN MAN wholooks to be seventy. Webber, beckoned, follows them into theback room where the Old Man measures Webber with a tape. Whenhe’s done, he motions Webber on through a further door...

down a dark corridor...

Webber watches as the old man lifts a manhole cover and then,

with surprising strength, lifts out a coffin-shaped, grey-

metallic TORPEDO-LIKE OBJECT. Which he opens, motions forWebber to get in. Webber balks, slightly.

WEBBER:

Is there any heat shielding?

The old man impatiently motions again. Webber realizesthere’s no use arguing, gets in. It’s a very tight fit.

59.

INT. “COFFIN” VEHICLE -- DAY

Webber takes a deep breath before the lid closes. There’s onesmall, orange-tinted light in this extremely claustrophobicspace. Webber hears MECHANICAL SOUNDS outside. Suddenly, the“coffin” tilts radically at a 45 degree angle. Webber braceshimself. He finds it more difficult to breathe as a WHIRRING

builds around him, becoming deafening. The “coffin” begins tovibrate insanely... then, suddenly, silence. Webber waits.

Waits some more. Panic sets in. He starts banging on the lid... until it opens and blinding DAYLIGHT comes flooding in...

EXT. ALIEN ZONE -- DAY

GLOVED HANDS pull him out.

The “torpedo” now juts out of a bank of red dirt. The handsbelong to a pair of ALIENS who brusquely lead Webber, dazzledby light and noise, toward another waiting VEHICLE witharticulated digger arms.

INT. ALIEN VEHICLE -- DAY

Webber looks out the one narrow window. He sees A CONICAL

TOWER rising toward the burning white glow of the “MotherZone.” Glassine tubes extend from the tower’s base,

connecting it, like a series of umbilical cords, to a hundreddomed districts glimmering in the sun.

INT. ALIEN STRUCTURE -- DAY

Webber enters a dark, smoky chamber, lit only by dimlyglowing, hovering orbs. The interior resembles a palace fromold Byzantium, its rococo decor a weird mingling of motifsfrom the ancient West and the Far East. A HUMAN, dressed in

rags, passes by, carrying some cumbersome piece of equipment.

ABRAXAS (O.S.)

More humans cross over every day.

Webber turns. ABRAXAS enters, wearing a hooded robe. Twolarge, yellow alien eyes and a sliding rictus of a mouth areall that can be discerned behind the veil that covers her

face. They speak in the ALIEN LANGUAGE (Webber, clumsily.)

ABRAXAS (CONT’D)

They are naturally an unusual subspecies-

so eager to renounce theonly world they’ve ever known.

60.

WEBBER:

They do not...

(gets stuck on a word)

They don’t belong anywhere. Like

me.

ABRAXAS (SWITCHING TO ENGLISH)

You are nothing like them. You areBrethren. Come.

Webber follows Abraxas down a corridor.

ABRAXAS (CONT’D)

I’ve been apprised of the bloodtest situation. It’s nothing foryou to concern yourself over.

WEBBER:

I feel much better. Thank you.

ABRAXAS:

Is there anything else I can putyour mind at ease about?

WEBBER:

You do know I was being sarcastic?

I never know how that translates.

ABRAXAS:

Oh, yes. I understood. You havedoubts, questions.

WEBBER:

Just one:
are we really about tostage an attack that will triggeran apocalyptic war?

ABRAXAS:

The prospect troubles you?

WEBBER:

I see things as a human. That’s whyI’m useful to you.

ABRAXAS:

Of course. That is your particularburden. No one has sacrificed for

the Vale as you have.

WEBBER:

Now that’s not exactly true, is it?

61.

ABRAXAS:

No there is another. He has his jobto do. I have mine. And you haveyours. Mercifully, others make thelarge decisions - we have only todo our duty.

WEBBER:

That’s all I’ve ever done. Trustingthat I would never be lied to and

that, when I’d served my purpose, Iwould be allowed to come home.

ABRAXAS:

And so you will. The time has come.

Webber is thrown by that. He looks at Abraxas, inscrutable

behind her veil.

ABRAXAS (CONT’D)

Of course, you’re distrustful. Yourwhole life you’ve known only thispit where creatures grope eachother in the dark.

They approach a cascade of GOLDEN LIGHT spilling from an opendoor. Abraxas motions for Webber to go forward. He does and,

from that doorway, we get our closest view yet of the“Motherzone.” Webber fights a surge of emotion, bathing in

its light. Abraxas’ voice is maternal-

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes