Starman Page #8

INT. HOUSE - NIGHT

Jenny comes in and locks the door. She passes through the

kitchen and is on her way to the stairs when the STAR MAN

steps out of the darkness in the living room. A scream catches

in Jenny's throat.

STAR MAN:

(precise)

Wehave...

Jenny bolts for the front door. At the end of the hallway

her foot catches in a phone cord pulling the phone off an

end table. The receiver is jarred out of its cradle. Jenny

regains her balance and gets to the door ahead of the STAR

MAN. She jerks it open, but the guard chain stops it three

inches from the jamb. Frantically, she tries again but the

chain holds.

The STAR MAN slams the door shut and reaches out to grab

her. She flails back at him. One of her hands strikes the

panel on his chest and the identification light comes on

inside his helmet. At the sight of the STAR MAN, Jenny begins

to scream. He presses her back against the wall and puts a

mittened hand over her mouth.

STAR MAN:

Wehave...

Jenny ceases her struggle and begins to cry. The STAR MAN

takes his hand away from her mouth.

JENNY:

Please don't hurt me... please...

please.

Holding her with his eyes he grasps one of Jenny's hands and

lifts it up to look at it.

He raises a piece of skin off her wrist, rolls it between

his thumb and forefinger.

Jenny lets out a blood-curdling scream and strikes out at

him. Flashes of light erupt off his exposed chest where she

hits. The ferocity of her attack knocks him aside and she

sprints up the stairs.

The STAR MAN recovers and starts after her.

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

Jenny gets there two steps ahead of the STAR MAN. She slams

the door in his face and locks it. With him POUNDING ON THE

OUTSIDE, Jenny throws open the closet and begins rummaging

madly through the side pockets of her jackets and coats.

The POUNDING STOPS. It takes her a moment to hear the silence.

When she does, she whirls toward the door expecting the worst,

but it remains closed. She waits. All she can hear is the

sound of the rain. She intensifies her search.

JENNY:

(hysteria creeping

into her voice)

It's got to be here... it's got to

be here...

She finds it in the pocket of a down jacket. The Army issue

.45 looks big in her hand. She releases the safety and, with

a wary eye on the door, reaches for the phone on the night

table next to the bed.

Long before the receiver gets to her ear, she can hear the

"BLEET" caused by the PHONE BEING OFF THE HOOK for so long

in the living room. She hangs up and walks around the bed to

sit on the corner facing the door. In the distance, we can

HEAR the THUMP OF AN APPROACHING HELICOPTER. After a moment's

indecision, Jenny gets up and releases the lock. Again she

waits.

Nothing happens. With the gun ready, she turns the knob and

opens the door a crack. The hallway is empty. She kicks off

her shoes and lets herself out of the bedroom.

INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

Jenny creeps toward the stairs in her stockinged feet. She

looks in the bathroom. The STAR MAN isn't there. She decides

to go downstairs.

INT. HOUSE - NIGHT

The STAR MAN isn't in the living room. Jenny sidles along

the wall for the front door. At the archway to the den a

hissing sound stops her. She peers around the molding. The

spill from the stairwell light provides the only illumination.

The STAR MAN is sitting on the edge of a chair with his back

to her. He is naked. A dot of light is HISSING around his

head. The shadows in the room make it difficult for Jenny to

tell exactly what is going on.

Pointing the .45 at the STAR MAN, she steps into the room

for a better look. The floor creaks and the STAR MAN turns

to her. Jenny shudders at what she sees. The STAR MAN is

holding an 8x10 color photograph of Jenny and a man in his

mid-twenties standing on a beach in their bathing suits.

The dot of light is copying the man's features onto the STAR

MAN'S translucent head. The top two-thirds of the face is

already done. Everything is perfect, even the eyes. Jenny

begins to tremble and lowers the gun.

JENNY:

(in a small voice)

No... please don't...

She sags against the armchair, racked by sobs that are drowned

out by the FLAP OF THE APPROACHING HELICOPTER. The STAR MAN,

with the dot of light stopped on his left cheek, gets up and

takes the gun from her.

He drops it on the couch and raises his eyes to the sound of

the helicopter NOW DIRECTLY OVER THE HOUSE. THROUGH THE

WINDOWS, we can SEE the searchlight scouring the hillside

next to the back yard.

The STAR MAN returns to the picture and resumes his

transformation. He completes the chin, then continues downward

weaving skin and filling in the human characteristics over

the entire body.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. CLEAN ROOM (HOUSTON) - NIGHT

We come down an electrical cord that ends in a micro-phone,

then down further to DR. BERGEN, a tall thin balding man in

his late fifties dressed in the medical equivalent of a

contamination suit.

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