Conflicts of the last progenitors

MLISSA

No. Not her...

INT. LOCKDOWN - SAME

The room grows preternaturally quiet; nobody moves.

THAKANI

Let me first say this: we love our

children.

EXT. MOUNTAIN PERIMETER / OPTION-1 - NIGHT

Three viridescent moons float in a cluster amidst myriad stars in the blue-black night sky. Armadillo-2, its metal studs capturing dollops of moonlight, perches on landing supports; a thin sheet of ice covers the water below.

A mile to the west, Flypod Goblin-3 soars across dry stone toward the transport vehicle, VWIRR...

72.

INT. FLYPOD GOBLIN-3 - SAME

Sven, his mind buzzing with questions, distractedly pilots the flypod. He dials down the thruster and punches 100 LIFT; the vehicle slows to a drift.

The Swede glances at the small human replica in Kenneth’s hands and then points up ahead, at Transport Armadillo-2.

SVEN

Do we tell them?

KENNETH

I’m not sure we should...not until

the situation on Elysabeth has been stabilized.

SVEN

This would be an easier decision to make if Abacus and I knew what was happening up there.

Kenneth SNORTS through his nose, looks at the statue in his hands, turns it over, runs his finger along its right arm and nods.

KENNETH

A Senior Blue and two Bullets were

murdered, and somebody tried to

sabotage the ship.

ABACUS

I thought it might be something

like that.

SVEN

You knew about this?

Abacus debates on whether or not to divulge; he looks at Kenneth and Sven, awaiting explanation.

ABACUS

Neredth and I- before she

got...well before- Neredth and I

ran tests on a terrormonger.

That’s how we found out the

squidfish weren’t poisonous and

that they- and the sixclaws- were

edible.

73.

SVEN

There’s a conspiracy? Out here?

Are they New Puritans?

Abacus shrugs.

Sven looks ahead; the Armadillo is less than half a mile off.

He dials off the thruster and punches LIFT 25; the flypod descends to the stone plateau, THUNK.

SVEN (CONT'D)

Could the crews down here be

involved?

KENNETH

Maybe. Realistically, all of us

could be.

A moment of uncomfortable silence hangs like a bad smell in the bubble.

SVEN

Let’s not inform them of our find:

we’ll announce it when we’re back

aboard Elysabeth, before a council

and safe. Agreed?

ABACUS

What do we do with it for now?

SVEN

Will it fit in your specimen

cylinder?

EXT. MOUNTAIN PERIMETER / NARROW CLEFT - MOMENTS LATER

Shivering and breathing steam, Abacus places the specimen cylinder containing the statue in a two-feet-deep hole; Kenneth and Sven, both shaking from the cold, push loosened sediment and small stones over the artifact.

Abacus stands.

ABACUS

Would anybody like to say a few

words regarding the dearly de-

SVEN

It’s 24:49- and cold. Let’s move.

74.

INT. GLASS-DOMED AMPHITHEATER - SAME

Mlissa and the other viewers stare numbly at the visage upon the panorama: their leader...and betrayer...Speaker Thakani.

THAKANI

Twenty-thousand people worked on

Project Elysabeth for over thirteen years: the odds were against being

chosen for the cryogenic vaults.

During this time we lived our

lives...and some of us had

children.

Thakani gestures to her cell-mates; they do not acknowledge her gesture.

THAKANI (CONT'D)

The passengers were chosen, and

amongst the eighteen hundred were a small minority of new parents.

When the time came to decide

between our life’s work and our

children, we chose both. Our

intention-

MALE VOICE (O.S.)

Betrayer!

Two hands clamp upon Thakani’s neck and SLAM her face into the electrified bars, WHANG.

INT. LOCKDOWN - SAME

The electric bars pressed against Thakani’s face sear her skin, ZZZZZZ; wisps of smoke rise, yet she does not cry out.

For a moment, the room is still with shock (other than Lo-Cheun who looks at an eyeball embedded in the ceiling).

LO-CHEUN

Cut the lightning.

The electrical charge in the bars is cancelled; Thakani’s assailant, a thirty-six-year-old BEARDED MAN with small eyes, draws back and then SLAMS the woman’s face into the bars again, WHANG. Thakani, her face scorched and swollen, passes out.

Zria and Rectangle, withdrawing springblades, race up the stairs toward Thakani’s cell.

75.

Graynose, horrified but silent, watches the grim situation unfold. Zria and Rectangle emerge from the steps and run across the top tier.

An ENRAGED WOMAN thrusts her left hand outside her cell and with it, grabs Zria’s right ankle; the prisoner’s arm SNAPS

in half, a compound fracture against the prison bars; the Indian two-star- her left leg yanked from beneath her-SMASHES face-first upon the ground. Watching, Lo-Cheun’s stomach sinks.

Zria gets to her knees, yet the Enraged Woman holds firm,

with the hand on her broken arm.

Below, Florida and Lo-Cheun withdraw their black, skull-embossed coilguns and race up the stairs, followed by four more Bullets.

FLORIDA

Killcall!

Rectangle reaches Thakani’s cell; he trains his springblade upon her tormentor, the Bearded Man.

RECTANGLE

I have Killcall.

BEARDED MAN

I don’t care.

The Bearded Man SLAMS Thakani’s face into the bars again, breaking her front teeth, the sound is like SNAPPING wood.