Total Recall Page #31

JACKSON (quietly; urgently; as the others pick themselves up) Hicks!

HICKS Yeah?

JACKSON Look...

She points down another aisle of aeroponic structures.

JACKSON (continuing) What the hell's that?

Two of the Styrofoam structures have been overgrown with a grayish

parody of vegetation, glistening vine-like structures and bulbous sacs

the echo the Alien biomech motif. Patches of thick black mold spread

to the styrofoam and the white deck.

HICKS It was... cabbages or something...

TATSUMI (with the others) Come, please, Jackson! Which way?

JACKSON (gripping Hicks' arm; pulling him along) Spence said it did her

monkeys, too... (raising her voice) Third door to the right!

INT. TUNNEL NEAR FUSION PACKAGE

Bishop comes loping down the tunnel, a certain effortless regularity

evident in his run. Makes a turn into the chamber that houses the

fusion package, Anchorpoint's power source. The chamber is spotless,

well lit; the only sign of the current disaster is the smoke. The

fusion package itself is no bigger than a Volkswagen bus, but it's

obviously Anchorpoint's heart. Bishop climbs a narrow metal stairway

to an overhanging control booth resembling the inverted turrent of a

streamlined tank. A mirrored disk is mounted on the face of the armored

hatch, above a small slot.

SECURITY PROGRAM (V.O.) (bland feminine synthi-voice) Please identify

yourself.

Bishop removes his dogtags. As he inserts one in the slot, he presses

the palm on his other hand against the mirrored surface.

BISHOP Bishop, Science Officer, Hyperdyne A-slash-5, Mark 3, serial

number PL3358172438. Permission to inspect software safety protocols.

SECURITY PROGRAM (V.O.) Permission denied. Inadequate rank. Please

refer request to your immediate supervisor.

The slot tries to reject his tag. He shove it back in.

BISHOP Emergency protocols. Code Theta Five Three. Authority Rosetti

comma Shuman.

SECURITY PROGRAM (V.O.) Permission denied. Inadequate rank. Please

refer request to your immediate supervisor.

It ejects his tag. He drops his hand from the disk, stares at his

reflection in the mirrored surface. Blinks. Re-inserts dog tags, palm

on disk again.

BISHOP Emergency protocols. Code Theta Five Three. Authority Welles

comma Fox.

The door HISSES open instantly. He climbs in.

INT. CONTROL BOOTH

Surgically clean, unused -- Jackson ordinarily runs the show from

Operations. Bishop settles into the operator's chair, facing three

blank monitors.

BISHOP Protocols, safety.

The central screen displays an elaborate menu.

BISHOP (continuing) Overload failsafes.

The left screen displays a shorter menu.

BISHOP (continuing) Bypass overload failsafes.

A red light begins to flash.

SECURITY PROGRAM (V.O.) Permission denied. Inadequate rank. Please

refer --

BISHOP Cancel request. Request display overload failsafe software.

SECURITY PROGRAM (V.O.) Permission denied. Inadequate rank. Please

refer --

BISHOP Authority Welles comma Fox --

The right screen displays an animated diagram, thousands of

interweaving lines and symbols, moving ceaselessly, hypnotically.

Bishop studies the screen with Zen calm, his hands poised like a

pianist's above the keyboard.

And makes his move, a cybernetic reprise of the knife sequence that

introduced him in "ALIENS." His fingers blur across the board with

inhuman speed and

accuracy as he races the fusion softwares's security system.

The lines on the screen squirm and shift, A "window" begins to open...

Faster.

Done.

Bishop gazes at the screen with might be the android equivalent of

postcoital satisfaction, eyes bright. The screen displays a message:

"OVERLOAD OPTION RESET"

He beings to reprogram the overload options.

INT. RESIDENTAL (MARRIED CREW QUARTERS)

A maze of walls, doors (most of them open). Lights are on, but the

smoke is thicker. Coughing, choking, Jackson shoves past the others

into a large communal kitchen. On an electric range, smoke pours from

a pot. She grabs an extinguisher and blasts the pot's blackened

contents, turns off the element. Smoke abates slightly.

The quarters have an eerie Marie Celeste quality: food and drink on the

table, a pack of cigarettes beside an ashtray. Spence pockets the

cigarettes as shepasses; Hicks opens a large white thermos: steam. He

sloshes coffee into a cup and drinks.

In the next room, a communal lounge, Spence leads Halliday to a couch

and sinks down beside her, head in hands. Rosetti leans against an

entertainment console, face blank, gingerly rubbing his split lip.

SPENCE (head down) It's funny, but I had to win a contest to go through

this. A science fair in Omaha, first in biology for all of Nebraska.

Monoclonal antibodies... (she looks up at Rosetti) Then I got into

Cornell. Another contest. It wasn't easy, getting out here. We all

must've wanted it so bad, a whole generation, or anyway the ones like

me.

ROSETTI (looks at her wearily) Idealists.

SPENCE Yeah. I guess so. Build a new world, find ways to live in it...

But it wasn't supposed to be like this. And it might've worked. It

almost did. Now look at it. Ending...

She sits up and hugs Halliday, whose eyes are shut tight.

SPENCE (continuing) What I want to know, mister, is why we had to bring

you?

ROSETTI (massages his temples, then looks at her levelly) Funding.

SPENCE Yeah. I guess you're right. You paid for it, I guess you get to

f*** it up.

HICKS (tossing her an apple) C'mon, time to move. Get her up?

SPENCE Sure.

She gets Halliday unsteadily to her feet.

They move out in a tight group, Jackson leading, Hicks taking up the

rear, Spence biting resolutely into her apple.

ANGLE THROUGH A DOORWAY -- REACTION SHOT

as Halliday's eyes fill with a new and deep horror.

ANGLE -- THE ROOM

is a preschool, a cr_che, scattered with toys, the walls tapes with

children's paintings.

HALLIDAY O God...

Spence and the Lab Tech hurry her on, out of the cr_che. Halliday

snatches a ragdoll from a shelf as they pass...

INT. TUNNEL AWAY FROM FUSION PACKAGE

Bishop heads for the elevator shaft at his usual steady pace.

Approaches the open doors cautiously. Listens. Nothing. He edges in.

Empty. The circuit fire has died down; melted insulation still

SPUTTERS. He looks up the shaft. A long climb. He can make out the

bottom of the elevator. He reaches up, grabs a rung, sets his left

boot on another, straightens up -- and drives the jagged and of his

broken knee joint through the side of his leg and the fabric of his

fatigues in a gout of milky android blood. Hits the floor hard, the

broken leg splayed at the hideous angle, the white fluid a widening

pool.

Struggles to brace his shoulders against the wall. And reaches out to

touch the ragged edge of artificial bone.

BISHOP (a scientific observation) Polycarbon...

INT. ENTRANCE TO FOOT OF MAINFRAME SERVICE SHAFT

leaving residential. Hicks and Jackson chivvy the party through a low,

floor- level service hatch.

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