Conflicts of the last progenitors

The sealed terminus of the passage slowly draws nearer.

LO-CHEUN (O.S.) (CONT'D)

No. Improvise.

CAWRUNCH! From the cargo bay come SCREAMS.

FEMALE VOICE (O.S.)

There’s one on top of us!

Abacus opens the slat and peers through.

143.

INT. HOVER-VAN BICEP-9 / REAR - SAME

A taloned hand thrust through the cargo bay ceiling scrapes the face from a THAI WOMAN; the other passengers press themselves into each other, away from the invasive appendage.

INT. HOVER-VAN BICEP-9 - SAME

Sven punches 150 LIFT.

INT. RAMPED HALLWAY - SAME

The hull-boosters flash with a POONF. The hover-van rises speedily toward the ceiling of the passage, the prostrated sculptor still atop the vehicle. The craft is fifteen feet from the ceiling, then ten feet...

INT. HOVER-VAN BICEP-9 - SAME

Sven punches 0 LIFT.

INT. RAMPED HALLWAY - SAME

The craft’s hull-booster shuts off; inertia carries the ascending craft to the ceiling where it flattens the sculptor against the stone, WHAM. The humanoid BURSTS like a balloon filled with crimson ichor, its bones and organs POPPING.

The hover-van drops toward the ground of the passage.

INT. HOVER-VAN BICEP-9 - SAME

ABACUS

Uh...falling...?

Sven dials on 100 LIFT.

INT. RAMPED HALLWAY - SAME

Boosters flare beneath the falling craft, POONF; the hover-van is buoyed two feet above the floor, safe from impact.

The roof is covered with innards and a red glaze.

144.

INT. HOVER-VAN BICEP-9 - SAME

Sven dials up the rear thruster; the craft surges forward toward the rock-obfuscated end of the passage.

ABACUS

That wall of rock looks rather hard. I’d not want to smash into that.

Sven does not reply.

ABACUS (CONT'D)

This thing have a missile launcher

I’m unaware of?

SVEN

The rear thrusters are pretty

potent.

Sven yanks the guidestick around.

INT. RAMPED HALLWAY - SAME

The hover-van spins around 180 degrees. Two small jets HISS

from beneath the headlights of hover-van Bicep-9. The craft jumps backwards and SLAMS into the crevasse wall, back-end first.

The HISSING blue flames of the reverse thrusters press the rear of the craft into the wall; the metal bumper GRINDS into the rock.

INT. HOVER-VAN BICEP-9 - SAME

SVEN

(to the convosphere)

Tell the people on the other side

to clear the area-- we’re coming

through.

Sven dials up the rear thruster.

INT. RAMPED HALLWAY - SAME

The rear thruster ignites, VWIRRR; the ship lurches a few yards forward from the sealed exit but the reverse thrusters hold the craft in place.

145.

Front and back engines concurrently firing, the ROARING rear thruster heats up the stone, an improvised welder’s torch.

The crevasse wall behind the hover-van’s engine begins to glow. Smoke roils from the scorched stone.

INT. THE HUMAN PLATEAU - SAME

Lo-Cheun looks at his soldiers: the weary Bullets hold the line with their j-guns. Additional SCULPTORS clamber up the plateau to join their brethren; nearly two-hundred blank faces stare at the thirty Bullets.

The Bullet Senior glances at the settlement: survivors from the wreck are tended to beside the cube labs; antiseptic foam or suture putty is applied to all treatable wounds.

INT. HOVER-VAN BICEP-9

The craft shakes like a blender. Smoke fills the passage outside; Sven reaches for the rear thruster dial. Abacus braces himself.

SVEN

Everybody hold on!

ABACUS

I hate you.

Sven dials the rear thruster off.

INT. RAMPED HALLWAY - SAME

The rear thruster cuts off; the front thruster repels the hover-van backward, into the glowing wall, BOOM!

EXT. CREVASSE WITHIN THE CRATER - SAME

From a welter of smoke and stones, hover-van Bicep-9 emerges into the crater, backwards, covered with grit and rocks.

Within the craft, Sven dials on the rear thruster, VWIRRR; the backwards-careening craft stabilizes.

A moment later, the nearby hover-vans- lights glaring- enter the passage, one by one, VWIRRR...

146.

INT. THE HUMAN PLATEAU - SAME

Nine hover-vans are parked within the settlement; people pile into the open cargo bays.

Lo-Cheun and the Bullets slowly back toward the crafts; the sculptors- keeping equidistant- follow. The Senior TAPS his earplug.

LO-CHEUN

Bjorlsson. Dock in Armadillo-5.

Bullets load into the last two hover-vans. On backward-bending knees, the sculptors continue forward.

Lo-Cheun climbs into the cockpit of Bodybuilder-2; he sits inside, next to Isabel. He glances at her, frowns and then looks back at the sculptors.

LO-CHEUN (CONT'D)

Drive.

ISABEL

You’re welcome.

LO-CHEUN

I didn’t thank or forgive you.

Drive.

The Chinese man shuts the door. The hull-boosters fire, POOMF; the craft rapidly ascends.

INT. HOVER-VAN BODYBUILDER-2 - SAME

Lo-Cheun scans the area for survivors: only sculptors inhabit the plateau. Rising into the air beside Bodybuilder-2 is the other Bullet-filled hover-van, QUADRICEP-2. Seated in the cockpit of the adjacent vehicle are the Frenchman and Rectangle, the latter holding his wounded knee.

The Chinese Senior TAPS his earplug.

LO-CHEUN

All clear. Rende-