Conflicts of the last progenitors

Sven, Abacus, Heinrich and the other occupants of the amphitheater are silent, stunned by the disclosure.

THAKANI (CONT'D)

Of these life forms very little is

known other than that they are

driven off by the noises all of our unmanned probes make.

The panorama screen broadcasts an image of outer space: two lavender lumps trace a slow orbit around Option-1.

THAKANI (CONT'D)

Thus far there have been no

indications of intelligent life on

Option-1. The only truly anomalous occurrences are the two lavender

glaciers orbiting the planet.

The image is replaced by an aerial view of the porous stone terra of the planet surface.

THAKANI (CONT'D)

Everyone should eat well and visit

the invigoration room as often as

possible: next week, we start

sending down landing parties.

Of the over nine-hundred people gathered, seventeen CLAP.

Titlecard: One Option-1-Standard Week Later EXT. OPTION-1 ATMOSPHERE - MORNING

Two Dragonfly probes, SPIRIT-10 and SERAPH-9, thruster into the atmosphere of Option-1. They fold their solar wings into nooks on their sides; the manifold lenses and powerscopes extruding from their bulbous eyes retract, leaving only a few highly-shielded optics exposed.

Pink coolant spills from the mouths of the Dragonflies, covering the metallic exteriors of the crafts.

29.

INT. DRAGONFLY SERAPH-9 - SAME

Twenty-two PEOPLE sit in as many orange foam niches along the walls of the operable probe; they are held fast by flexible black netting. The front wall is covered with monitors, many of them off. Lo-Cheun, his wife Neredth and her assistant Abacus sit amongst the Bullet brigade.

The two illuminated panoramas transmit coolant-splashed images of onrushing clouds.

EXT. OPTION-1 ATMOSPHERE - SAME

Steaming coolant streams off of the Dragonflies in thousand-foot vapor trails; the vehicles plummet like pink comets.

INT. DRAGONFLY SERAPH-9 - SAME

The ship shakes. Abacus, sleepy-eyed and grinning, looks at Neredth: she and Lo-Cheun hold hands. The African American Bio surveys the other passengers: the military men and woman all wear stern expressions over the concerns and questions percolating within them.

The ship shakes; Neredth grips her husband’s hand tightly.

Abacus leans over to his Senior. He points to a Bulletbranch soldier, a blond and bronze AUSTRALIAN MAN of twenty-four years.

ABACUS

See him?

Neredth looks at the Australian Man. The vehicle shakes.

NEREDTH

Yes.

ABACUS

I bet you one week’s oatmeal paste

he pukes before we touch down.

Neredth looks at the Australian Man; he is pale and burnished with sour sweat.

NEREDTH

You like the paste that much?

30.

ABACUS

I like to bet. There aren’t many

expendables other than paste.

Neredth looks at the Australian Man; dampness darkens the neck and armpits of his bodysuit. He queasily tilts his head forward; the Bios wince.

NEREDTH

I’m not taking that wager.

Abacus surveys the occupants for another moment and then returns his sleepy-eyed gaze to Neredth.

ABACUS

I wish there were fewer Bullets

joining us. Sends the wrong

message if the life forms on Option-1 are intelligent.

Lo-Cheun, not looking over at Abacus, responds.

LO-CHEUN

It sends the right message to

intelligent beings: move over,

humanity has arrived.

Neredth SIGHS and shakes her head.

ABACUS

You two must have some very

entertaining spats.

NEREDTH

They’re...spicy.

EXT. OPEN PLAIN / OPTION-1 - SAME

One white sun hangs in the magenta sky above the distant brown mountains on the horizon. Gently rippling water bathes the heavily-eroded, porous stone surface of the vast plain, a clear varnish over the lavender and brown landscape.

The Dragonflies drop from the sky. Variegated lenses and powerscopes emerge from the eyes of the insectile vehicles.

For ten seconds, the crafts fall toward their own rising reflections in the water-washed plain below. With loud reports (POOMF!), hull-boosters fire from the bottoms of the Dragonflies, countering the pull of gravity.

31.

INT. DRAGONFLY SERAPH-9 - SAME

The occupants are pressed firmly in their seats by the counter-inertia of the hull-boosters.

The monitors illuminate with forty different visuals of the curvilinear, porous and pock-marked landscape: spectral, sonic, thermal, ultra, magnetized, radioactive, pitch, refraction, heat, neutrino, etc.

Abacus looks from the monitor bay to the Bulletbranch soldiers; he shakes his head.

ABACUS

(quietly to Neredth)

One of them’s been silently

mouthing the word “kill” for the

last five minutes.

On Abacus’ other side sits ZRIA, an angular Indian woman of twenty-seven years with two stars (one red); the woman inspects a lensring fitted over the second joint of her left index finger. She glances at Abacus.

ZRIA

(English accent)

I know you’re nervous, but shut up.

EXT. OPEN PLAIN / OPTION-1 - SAME

Dragonfly Spirit-10 fires a starboard thruster, FWASH, and shoots toward a curtain of mountain opposite the rising sun.

On HISSING boosters, Dragonfly Seraph-9 descends slowly to the surface. The white flames boil the water below into vapor; a cloud of steam envelops the vessel.