The Relic Page #27

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The silence is broken by VOICES! They're in the distance and muffled,

but definitely there. The monster crouches eagerly, lopes forward with

great stealth. The voices are getting louder. We follow as it goes

through the hall and down...

A STAIRWELL... At the bottom, Mbwun quickly turns a corner... The voices

have stopped. Mbwun creeps forward, enters...

INT. HALL OF MARINE ANIMALS - NIGHT

A huge room several stories high. A WHALE hangs suspended from the

ceiling. Dioramas of fish line all the walls. Mbwun pauses next to a

diorama of the gentle, vegetarian sea cow, THE MANATEE. The two make a

startling contrast.

A pause and then the voices are heard again, much louder now. The

source is right around the edge of the Manatee display. Mbwun LEAPS

FORWARD, claws lashing out. He turns the corner and crashes through a

wall of GLASS as he grabs at the source of the voices...

A display of small, extraordinarily life-like TALKING HOLOGRAMS!

They've been re-activated with the emergency power system. Each little

talking figure is no more then five inches high. They move around a

small three dimensional display of marine animals, explaining the lung

systems of fish.

MBWUN... stands in the pile of broken glass, stares at the holograms,

mesmerized. He makes a noise that sounds astonishingly like a CHUCKLE!

Then he reaches out one long claw and tries unsuccessfully to touch

one of the holograms. But the shadowy creatures can't be caught. The

beast seems to realize this, SNORTS and moves off. As he goes he

passes behind a

LARGE GLASS ELEVATOR. It stands in middle the open room. The elevator

is designed to carry people upstairs and down in the two story

exhibit. In the dim light, with his poor vision, the monster doesn't

see D'Agosta, the Mayor, Kawakita, and their entire group SANDWICHED

INSIDE. The monster exits the exhibit and quietly D'Agosta slides the

doors open. Everyone, all thirty-five people in evening clothes,

quickly get out and run across the exhibit to another stairwell at the

far side of the hall.

INT. SECURE STORAGE AREA 1012 - NIGHT

Margo, Frock and Pendergast wait in the darkness. Pendergast, for the

first time, seems fazed.

PENDERGAST:

I don't know how to deal with this.

It's hellish. Like nothing I ever

saw. I'm not trained to deal with a

monster, a supernatural creature

like that.

MARGO:

It's not supernatural. Mbwun is an

animal. Part lizard, part human, a

genetic freak of some kind, like the

half-goat, half-sheep they found

last year in the jungles of Vietnam.

PENDERGAST:

But this isn't the jungle! This is

New York. How did it get here? A

thing like that crossed two

continents. It makes no sense!

FROCK:

(lame)

We think it may have something to do

with the eggs we found in the crate.

PENDERGAST:

I don't believe it.

MARGO:

None of that matters now. The people

upstairs need us. We have to help.

FROCK:

We can't. We've managed to get

inside the one place that's safe. I

think we should sit tight and wait

for reinforcements. If we go

outside, we're risking more lives.

You have to accept it, Margo,

there's nothing we can do. The

building must be swarming with

police by now. It won't take long

for them to get through the doors.

MARGO:

That thing could kill ten people in

a matter of minutes.

PENDERGAST:

But what can we do? Our guns are

useless --

MARGO:

We have the fibers. Don't you see?

The creature is hungry. It wants the

hormones in these plants. It would

take hundreds of human brains to

supply what's in these fibers. We're

just a poor substitute. To make it

stop hunting, we have to give it

what it wants.

INT. CUTHBERT'S OFFICE - NIGHT

Cuthbert enters with Jonathan and the dog, Hobbes. Cuthbert locks the

door with shaking hands. He mutters to himself in terror.

CUTHBERT:

Solid oak. Two inches thick. Tell me

they'll hold.

Cuthbert scurries to his desk and pulls out a Ruger .38 Magnum.

CUTHBERT:

I got it after I was mugged in the

subway last spring.

JONATHAN:

Where's the walk-in safe?

CUTHBERT:

Behind you.

JONATHAN:

What's the combination?

CUTHBERT:

I'll do it. Just let me find my

portable phone.

He rummages in the darkness, going through his desk.

JONATHAN:

Forget it!

CUTHBERT:

Calm down. I found it!

Cuthbert flips the phone open and turns it on.

CUTHBERT:

Battery's dead. Sh*t.

JONATHAN:

Let's go!

Cuthbert crosses to a huge wall safe, starts frantically turning the

tumblers. Jonathan follows with the dog.

CUTHBERT:

That thing won't come after us,

right? It's going for bigger game.

The group blundering around in the

basement. Poor fools.

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