Starman Page #7

SHERMIN:

Give it a rest, Lyman.

MAJOR BELL:

(after a pause)

I've never once heard of anybody

being hurt by an extraterrestrial...

Shermin goes hand over hand along the overhead straps to the

radio operator. He begins to flip through a stack of telex

messages.

LYMAN:

That's because the ones that were

hurt, died. They couldn't talk to

you.

SHERMIN:

(to technician, after

a look at Lyman)

Any reports about monsters, people

in Halloween masks, anything like

that?

TECHNICIAN:

No, but there sure were a lot of

people who saw lights in the sky

last night. Reports are still coming

in.

MAJOR BELL:

(under above)

I've heard of blood being drawn,

sometimes they were taken for a ride

in the ship, a lot of times they

said they had sex... But nobody was

ever hurt...

LYMAN:

But you decided those weren't real.

This one is.

There is a buzz and a red dot appears in the center of one

of the screens.

LYMAN:

(over his shoulder to

Shermin)

Fox.

He taps a three digit code and Fox comes into view.

FOX:

I've got something for you.

A photograph of a very thin slab of yellow plastic pops up

on a second screen next to Fox. Above lines of glowing colored

dots are symbols of a hydrogen atom, pulsars, a nude man and

a woman and Earth's position in our solar system.

FOX:

Recognize this?

MAJOR BELL:

It's a copy of the plaque NASA sent

into space on the Pioneer probes.

FOX:

Houston found it in the

extraterrestrial's suit.

MAJOR BELL:

They must have picked it up in space.

SHERMIN:

Then it's not an accident that they

found us.

FOX:

We don't think that's necessarily

bad. At least it's a point of contact.

SHERMIN:

Not necessarily bad! If they knew we

were here why didn't they let us

know they were coming?

FOX:

We'll get those answers when you

find the one you're looking for.

SHERMIN:

That's not going to happen, George,

unless you get us the help you

promised us.

FOX:

We've been back and forth on this

all day and keeping in mind the panic

that would occur if this got to the

general public, it's been decided

not to expand the search at this

time.

SHERMIN:

Don't let them do it this way, George.

It's too important. We can't find

this thing alone.

FOX:

You have to. We're trying to contact

the ship. If we do, I'll let you

know immediately. Good luck.

The television screen is reduced to static. Lyman shuts it

off.

RADAR TECHNICIAN

You get the feeling we're expendable?

SHERMIN:

We always were.

EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT

We are looking through the living room window at Jenny

watching television while she irons the clothes she plans to

wear to work tomorrow. The STAR MAN stands just outside the

light-fall in the back yard watching her.

A commercial interrupts the old movie with a jolly fat MAN

in a jumpsuit touting his used cars. The two words 'We

have...' are repeated constantly during the pitch. 'We have

automatics... We have sticks... We have colors... We have

financing...' ...

We move in close on the STAR MAN'S faceplate.

STAR MAN:

(practicing the human

sound)

Wehave...

(more precise)

Wehave...

(well-formed)

Wehave...

Jenny finishes the skirt, unplugs the iron, picks up the

clothes, shuts off the television, the light and heads

upstairs. Half way up she stops.

JENNY:

(faint through the

glass)

Damn!

She turns around and looks down indecisively, then hurries

upstairs. A light goes on in the bedroom. The STAR MAN backs

away to look up at it. He can't see anything. He is on his

way to try and get in the side door when Jenny comes clumping

down the stairs in an old sweatshirt and pulling on a pair

of jeans. She disappears into the kitchen. Without warning

the door ahead of him is swung open and Jenny rushes out.

The STAR MAN barely has time to step into the shadows. Jenny

grabs the handle of one of the garbage cans lined against

the house and drags it down to the street. When she comes

back for the second one we see that the STAR MAN is no longer

in the shadows.

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