Conflicts of the last progenitors

INT. REHYDRATION CHAMBER - LATER

The twenty-nine inert, prostrated occupants have gained some fluid and mass and color. The tubes hanging from the ceiling remain attached to their chests.

ELYSABETH’S VOICE

Grounded persons only. Electrical

surge zone.

A light flashes within the ceiling, BWAM. All of the bodies convulse in unison. Three of them COUGH.

Another flash follows, BWAM. All of the bodies convulse in unison. Sven and eighteen others COUGH and GASP.

For the first time in 838 years, Sven opens his eyes. He squints in reaction to the (very dim) light and looks at the tube trailing from his heart into the dark orifice of the ceiling. Somebody GROANS.

Sven vomits pink and amber fluid; the WOMAN beside him clamps her hand to her burst right eyeball, MOANING. A MAN nearby SHRIEKS in terror.

Three DEAD MEN fall from their surgical planks; the ships’

wires SNAP off of their heart-valves and dangle like failed fishing lines. The bodies THUD upon the slick foam floor.

ELYSABETH’S VOICE (CONT'D)

Awaken my children: open your eyes

and breathe. Do not sit up or

detach your umbilicals just yet.

SVEN

(creaking, barely audible)

H-how long...h-have-

Sven starts to COUGH, wincing with each convulsion.

ELYSABETH’S VOICE

General reorientation will be held

in six days.

A WOMAN starts LAUGHING hysterically; a MAN begins to SOB; Sven turns his head and looks at the horizontal window; a narrow stripe of sunlight shines along the length of his body.

15.

INT. COMESTIBLE QUADRANT - LATER

Sven and two-hundred resuscitated PEOPLE (all wrapped in silver grid blankets), sit on turquoise foam benches at foam tables, shivering and perspiring. Sunlight limns the disoriented people. The sounds of BREATHING and teeth CHATTERING fill the enclosure; nobody speaks.

CLICK. Iris apertures open in the foam table; small steaming vials rise to the surface with dull WHIRRS.

ELYSABETH’S VOICE

It is time to break your fast.

Sven reaches a trembling hand towards the steaming plastic vial.

ELYSABETH’S VOICE (CONT'D)

Drink the protein syrup slowly. If you feel nauseated or enfeebled,

stop.

Sven plucks the steaming vial from the iris and brings it to his lips. He opens his mouth and drinks the syrup; the fluid sears his esophagus; his eyes sparkle. He continues to GULP

it down.

Titlecard: Six (Earth-Standard) Days Later INT. PHYSICAL INVIGORATION CHAMBER

The kidney-shaped space is lit by nine ellipsoidal skylights; long narrow wading pools, numerous treadmills, isometric pull straps, aerobic bikes and foam calisthenics ‘trees’ fill the vast enclosure. FIVE HUNDRED PEOPLE are pulling, swimming, climbing, jogging and treading water in an effort to strengthen atrophied muscles.

Sven climbs a calisthenics tree-- a foam replica fashioned to look like a knobby oak; he is sweating profusely. He looks down at the clear air-mattress fifteen feet below him...and then back up; the young man inhales deeply, grabs the branch above him and pulls.

ELYSABETH’S VOICE

Heart rate above recommended level.

Please descend slowly and rest

before you resume your climb.

16.

Sven wipes the sweat from his face, repositions his legs and then reaches up for the next branch; he pulls himself up, veins bulging on his face like worms ready to surface.

ELYSABETH’S VOICE (CONT'D)

Heart rate above recommended level.

Please descend slowly and rest

before you resume your climb.

Sven looks down; the air-mat lies twenty feet below him. He sets his feet on another branch and continues to clamber up.

MALE VOICE (O.S.)

You heard her. Get down.

Sven hesitates for a moment, but does not look down.

MALE VOICE (O.S.) (CONT'D)

I can’t see your rank from here,

but unless you have three stars on

your chest, that wasn’t a request.

Gripping the tree, Sven looks down at his persecutor.

Staring directly up at him is a muscular Chinese man of forty-four years with short silver hair, a jagged scar on his right cheek and a Fleischwerk right arm (a gray false limb fashioned like a real arm, but hairless and without fingernails). The man’s name is LO-CHEUN.

ELYSABETH’S VOICE

Heart rate above recommended level.

Please descend slowly and rest

before you resume your climb.

Sven, sweat dripping from his face and PLOPPING onto the air-mat below, looks at Lo-Cheun’s chest: two light-blue stars and one red star sit upon the dark blue fabric. (Sven himself has only one light-blue star.) Sven clambers down the tree, agile and confident despite his overexertion. Lo-Cheun, impressed, watches the young blond man descend. Sven jumps the last five feet, lands solidly upon the air-mat, FWOOMP, steps to the floor and turns to face Lo-Cheun.

LO-CHEUN

What’s your name?

SVEN

Sven Bjorlsson.

Lo-Cheun’s eyes widen a tiny bit in recognition.

17.

SVEN (CONT'D)

Yes, he’s my father.

FEMALE VOICE (O.S.)

Lo-Cheun!

Lo-Cheun looks away from Sven, toward the speaker. Neredth, a thirty-eight-year-old woman with pulled-back red hair, pale skin and three stars on her chest (one green) approaches.

She does not look happy.

NEREDTH

Let’s get to the assembly.