Total Recall Page #7

The VOICE he hears on the cassette TAPE is HIS OWN!

CASSETTE VOICE (V.O.) (Quail's voice) "Hauser, this is Hauser -- or

whatever you think your name is now. If you're listening to this, I'm

talking to myself. Your memory's been erased and you've got a wet

towel around your head. (he does) "The first thing you've got to do is

get rid of that bug in your head."

36INT. HOTEL BATHROOM - NIGHT

The sound of the tape continues as Quail follows instructions - pushing

the wire up into a bloody portion of his neck, just below the ear.

CASSETTE VOICE (V.O.) The monitoring device is located in your left

maxillary sinus cavity. Make a small incision in your neck just below

the left ear, and insert the wire up into the sinus. The head is self-

guiding. Just shove.

Quail makes a face.

CASSETTE VOICE (V.O.) (continuing) You won't feel a thing. The spray

cartridge contains a local anesthetic and a blood coagulant. Careful,

it's my neck, too.

Holding the wet towel against his neck, Quail slowly withdraws the

wire. On the end of it is a tiny, metal bead, the Transmitter.

37INT. MOVING OFFICIAL VEHICLE - NIGHT

The man with the ear plug suddenly reacts.

EARPLUG WEARER It's come on again.

DRIVER Where?

The 1st man quickly check the map-grid in the dashboard. A small bright

'x' is flashing.

EARPLUG WEARER He's in that old flophouse. Plaza Hotel. Central Park

South.

37AINT. HOTEL BEDROOM - NIGHT

Quail is anxious to get rid of the transmitter. He looks around and

notices a rat trap near a rat hole in the skirting board.

He carefully - avoiding springing the trap - removes the piece of

cheese and pushes the transmitter inside. He then throws the cheese

into the rat hole.

38INT. MOVING OFFICIAL VEHICLE - NIGHT

The car is moving swiftly through the streets.

EARPLUG WEARER Boy, he's really moving around.

A CU of the screen shows the small 'x' moving in circles.

38AEXT. HOTEL SIDE ENTRANCE - NIGHT

The car pulls up. Another follows it. Armed men leap out from both. The

EARPLUG WEARER indicates they should go down an alley at the side of a

service door. They advance cautiously, guns at the ready. They see no

one. The EARPLUG WEARER indicates another, even narrower, alley

leading off to one side. Two of the men sneak cautiously up to it,

their guns at the ready.

A large rat scurries out from behind overfull garbage bins. Furious,

they fire. The bullets rip the bins to shreds, scattering refuse

everywhere. The rat is killed. They all stare in disbelief.

EARPLUG WEARER Ya dirty rat!

40INT. E.I.O. HEADQUARTERS - MEMORY LAB - NIGHT

OPENING CLOSE on a MONITOR SCREEN slated "HAUSER/QUAIL" followed by a

serial number and some dates. The slate vanishes, replaced by a scene

of Quail -- undergoing some KIND OF MILITARY TRAINING.

PAN to OTHER MONITORS, all depicting Quail in other action scenes -- on

some kind of mission, driving a car, etc.

TECHNICIANS man the monitors, scrolling through them in fast-forward

and fast reverse as if searching files.

The technicians turn as Cohaagen and his aides enter.

COHAAGEN (demands) Anything?

SUPERVISOR We're running every one of his memory tapes for the past

fifteen years. Nothing yet, sir.

COHAAGEN There must be something -- some place he would go, some friend

he would run to.

The red-haired E.I.O. man joins them.

RED-HEADED MAN (to Cohaagen; quietly) They lost him.

COHAAGEN Again?!

The red-headed man nods.

COHAAGEN (continuing) Are you sure the original suppression took?

SUPERVISOR Absolutely, sir. He thinks he's Quail, a computer...

COHAAGEN (interrupting) Then how do you explain what he's doing?

SUPERVISOR Just his instincts. He was well trained by E.I.O.... Maybe

the memory cap's fractured. Portions of his prior identity could be

leaking through.

COHAAGEN (very anxious) He'll remember Mars? The Sphinx Project?

SUPERVISOR Fragments. Nothing more. Nothing he could piece together. I

did advise terminating him, rather than implanting an identify

alternative.

COHAAGEN What do you think I am? A barbarian? We're not living in the

twentieth century!

He looks at the video screen again. An image has flashed onto it of an

attractive Eurasian girl.

COHAAGEN (continuing) Hold it there.

He studies the picture, which changes to show the same girl from

different angles.

42INT. SPACE PORT - DAY

Passengers are boarding a COMMERCIAL SPACECRAFT. In addition to the

STEWARDESSES checking their tickets, there are two PLAINCLOTHES MEN

checking every passenger. They carry some kind of small, portable

ELECTRONIC DEVICE that they shine in the face of each passenger going

through. (It gives off a BLUE BEAM and HUMS.)

The passengers are a diverse group - businessmen, officials, government

people, etc. There is also a large tour group consisting of a

predominately middle-aged and determinedly jolly crowd, many of them

carrying duty-free bags. They are being marshaled by an harassed TOUR

ORGANIZER, who is carrying aloft a hand-painted sign... "MARTIAN TOUR

GROUP".

The last of the passengers board the spacecraft. The chief PLAINCLOTHES

MAN nods to an official and the door begins to close.

PLAINCLOTHES MAN #1 If he had to travel to Mars with that bunch, I'd be

sorry for him.

PLAINCLOTHES MAN #2 We couldn't have missed him?

PLAINCLOTHES MAN #1 No way. Let's get a coffee before the next shuttle.

43INT. SPACELINER - IN FLIGHT

One of the PASSENGERS -- a middle-aged WOMAN - unbuckles her seat belt

and heads for the restroom, carrying her handbag, and some clothes on a

hanger.

44INT. LAVATORY - IN FLIGHT

The woman locks the door and turns to the mirror. She opens her bag,

takes out a spray container, SPRAYS HER FACE with it, and takes out --

the SILVER FACE MASK we saw in Quail's emergency kit.

She holds the mask to her face. There is a SIZZLING NOISE, and SMOKE

rises from behind the mask.

She lowers the mask. Her face is now that of QUAIL. He tears up a

passport and drops it down a chute.

He reaches inside his dress, starts to REMOVE his "FALSIES."

CLOSE ON MASK:

We can read the BLACK LETTERING written across it now: "LASER FACIAL".

45INT. SPACELINER - IN FLIGHT

Quail exits from the lavatory and glances toward the ebullient tour

crowd. He turns and looks in the other direction and sees a video

theater advertising "ROCKY 36" with Sylvester Stallone III, Jnr. He

isn't too excited, but heads towards it. He pauses a little when an

announcement comes over the intercom.

A LITTLE BELL sounds, followed by INTERCOM STATIC. Quail looks up.

CAPTAIN'S VOICE (V.O.) Ladies and gentlemen, if you'll glance out the

starboard viewports, you'll behold an indeed awesome sight --

Quail goes to a viewport and PEERS, transfixed. He is seeing... at

last... the object of his obsession.

46EXT. SPACELINER - IN ORBIT AROUND MARS

The SPACELINER -- which we have deliberately not seen before this

moment for dramatic effect -- banks and turns, suddenly bringing into

view -- MARS.

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