Dreamsongs. Volume II
Page 15
Shrugs. No one knows, no one cares. Except one OLD WOMAN struggling down the hall, leaning on a walker.
OLD WOMAN
They took her. Men in suits. It was three in the morning. She woke me up, the way she was screaming and kicking.
TOM
God damn it!
He goes striding off angrily.
CUT TO
INT.—ER NURSE’S STATION—MOMENTS LATER
TIGHT ON TOM
He is on the phone, still furious. INTERCUT with shots of Laura, behind her desk in a legal office.
TOM
What do you mean she wasn’t arrested?
LAURA
I mean there’s no arrest report. No paper of any kind. Your little feline friend was never arraigned. The incident was never logged. Officers Sanchez and Chambers are mysteriously unavailable.
TOM
They can’t just pretend it never happened. There must have been a hundred witnesses.
LAURA
You didn’t happen to get the names of any, did you?
CLOSE ON A HAND
Before Tom can answer, a hand ENTERS FRAME and depresses the button on the receiver.
ANGLE PAST TOM
Still holding the dead phone, he turns to face an imposing man in a dark gray suit: TRAGER. About fifty, his suit impeccable, his hair carefully combed, Trager is a man of ice and iron.
TRAGER
Dr. Thomas John Lake?
Tom just glares at him. Trager flashes a badge.
TRAGER
Special agent Trager, federal intelligence unit. Would you come with me, please?
Tom makes the connection. He’s suspicious and angry.
TOM
Why?
(beat)
You removed a patient of mine from this hospital last night. Illegally. Who the hell do you think you are? What have you done with Cat?
TRAGER
Is that her name? She’s in good care, Doctor. She’d like to see you.
TOM
I’m not going anywhere with you until I’ve talked to my lawyer.
Trager has had enough; his patience runs out.
TRAGER
Fine. You get one phone call. Tell her you’re under arrest.
TOM
You can’t do that!
TRAGER
You’d be astonished at what we can do, Doctor.
(beat)
On the other hand, if you’ll give us your cooperation…
TOM
(reconsidering)
I’ll call someone to fill in for me.
CUT TO
EXT.—HOSPITAL—NIGHT
Trager escorts Tom out of the hospital. A long black limo with tinted windows waits by the curb. They get in.
INT.—LIMOUSINE—CONTINUOUS
Trager climbs in after Tom and closes the door. The car moves off without a word. A second man sits across from them: thirtyish, sandy-haired, muscular.
TRAGER
This is agent Cameron.
Agent Cameron wears a blue suit and a large white BANDAGE over his nose that covers the center of his face. He looks unhappy.
TOM
I see you’ve met Cat.
Cameron gives him a foul-tempered stare. Tom turns his head away and fakes a COUGH, covering his mouth to hide the smile he cannot quite suppress.
DISSOLVE TO
EXT.—DESERT BASE—NIGHT
The high desert of California. A uniformed GUARD waves the limo through a gate in a high chain-link fence. On one side of the gate a sign says AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY; on the other DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE. Beyond the fence are the quonset huts and ugly cinder-block buildings of an abandoned army base.
INT.—DESERT BASE—NIGHT—TRACKING
Trager and Cameron escort Tom down a long windowless corridor. They pass one section where the wall has been BLOWN OUT; through a jagged blackened hole we glimpse a long interior room GUTTED by fire, its ceiling collapsed.
TOM
You have a fire?
TRAGER
Our shooting range. One of our bright boys decided to test fire your girlfriend’s gun.
TOM
She’s not my girlfriend.
TRAGER
Whatever. In here, please. There are some things I want you to see.
He opens a door. Tom steps through.
INT.—TRAGER’S OFFICE—NIGHT—TIGHT ON A WALL SAFE
A high-tech, electronic safe with a card slot and numerical keyboard. Trager’s HAND inserts a plastic security card into a slot. The keypad LIGHTS. Trager punches in a sequence of numbers. The safe swings open; Trager begins to remove the contents.
ANGLE DOWN ON DESK
as Trager spreads out Cat’s weapon, her bracelet, three BLACK CYLINDERS. A hundred-odd BLACK PLASTIC NEEDLES are scattered across the desktop.
ANGLE UP
Trager and Tom have been joined by MATSUMOTO, a government scientist, Asian, forty, wearing a lab coat.
TOM
She blew up a semi with that?
TRAGER
Correct. Go on, pick it up.
Tom lifts the weapon, sights down the barrel.
TOM
I used to have a water pistol that looked like this.
TRAGER
Close. Try a beebee gun.
MATSUMOTO
An air gun, more precisely. Quite sophisticated. I doubt we could duplicate it. It uses a high-velocity jet of pressurized air to spit out…
Matsumoto lifts a thin black needle with tweezers.
MATSUMOTO
…these.
TOM
Needles?
MATSUMOTO
Needles with the explosive power of a bazooka round.
TRAGER
This beebee gun has teeth.
Matsumoto picks up a cylinder: black, long as a finger.
MATSUMOTO
The police found three of these magazines in her pockets. Each one holds one hundred forty-four needles, and…
He pulls a cap off the back. Inside, built-in, is a POWER CELL; it pulses with RED LIGHT.
MATSUMOTO
(continuous)
…its own power cell. So you recharge every time you reload. If Detroit had battery technology this good, we’d all be driving electric cars.
Tom is still hefting the weapon.
TOM
Awkward grip. I can barely reach the trigger.
TRAGER
The girl had to use both hands to fire it.
TOM
Bad design…
MATSUMOTO
Unless the gun was designed for someone with bigger hands.
TOM
You’d need fingers like a squid.
Tom puts down the weapon, picks up the bracelet.
TOM
She was wearing this when the paramedics brought her in.
TRAGER
It seems to be very important to her.
TOM
What is it?
MATSUMOTO
The metal is a superconductive alloy. I’ve never seen anything like it. Inside it’s solid microcircuitry. Very odd microcircuitry. Parts of it seem almost organic.
TOM
But what does it do?
MATSUMOTO
At a guess…it detects certain unusual subatomic particles.
Tom looks blankly over at Trager. He’s lost.
TOM
I don’t understand any of this.
TRAGER
Neither do we. That’s why you’re here. We need answers, Doctor. And the girl won’t talk to anyone but you.
OFF Tom’s silent, reluctant agreement, we
CUT TO
INT.—CORRIDOR—NIGHT
A uniformed MATRON is seated outside a locked door, beside a window of one-way glass. Cat is visible inside, curled up on a bed, listless, in prison grays. The matron fans herself with a small HAND FAN, its accordion folds alternately red and black.
TRAGER
How’s our guest?
Quiet. She just lays there, staring off. I don’t blame her, in this heat.
TRAGER
Let him in.
He gives the bracelet over to Tom.
TRAGER
Your conversation will be monitored and recorded.
The matron unlocks the door. Tom enters.
INT.—CAT’S CELL—CONTINUOUS
Cat looks up slowly.
CAT
Toe Mas.
Cat gets up. She sees the bracelet. Her eyes WIDEN. She moves across the room, reaching for it.
CAT
Mine! Give it, Toe Mas.
TOM
First we need to talk.
Cat doesn’t take no for an answer. She reaches for the bracelet. Tom holds it out of her reach.
CAT
Give it now. Needing it now. Coming soon. Coming after.
TOM
Who is coming after?
CAT
Darklords! Manhounds! Give!
TOM
Tell me what it is and you can have it back.
Cat almost spits the word at him.
CAT
Geon. Give it now!
Tom TOSSES it to her. Cat snatches it out of the air, slides it back onto her arm. It seems to calm her.
TOM
What does it do, Cat? What’s it for?
CAT
Finding doors. Doors between. Doors away.
Backing away from Tom, Cat extends her arm, hand tight in a fist. She turns in a slow circle, sweeping the room.
TOM
What kind of doors? Cat, what are you doing?
She ignores him, concentrating. The device can’t find a reading in this enclosed place. It stays dark.
CAT
No good, no good, no good.
TOM
Cat, where did you get that? And the gun, the air gun…
(off her blank look)
The weapon, the…
Frustrated, Tom does a pantomime of lifting the gun with both hands, firing, with appropriate sound effects.
TOM
You know…phut…BOOM!
He shapes an EXPLOSION with his hands. Cat giggles.
CAT
Phut BOOM?
TOM
Right. The phut boom. Where did you get the phut boom?
She looks at him as though he were a moron.
CAT
Hand cannon, Toe Mas. Stealing it. Not-for-men, hand cannon.
(beat)
Needing it, taking it.
TOM
What did you need the hand cannon for?
CAT
Shooting. Killing.
(off his reaction)
Getting away, Toe Mas.
Cat is getting more and more agitated. She looks around the sealed room desperately, searching for a way out.
CAT
Lights out! Darklords coming soon.
TOM
The…darklords. Is that a gang?
CAT
Darklords masters. Darklords owners.
TOM
And the…manhounds?
CAT
(whisper)
Thane…
Tom can see the fear on her face now. This conversation is getting to her. She tries the door to the room. It’s locked, of course. Cat spins away in frustration.
TOM
Hey, take it easy. I don’t know who these people are, but they can’t get to you here. You’re safe.
Instead of calming her, that just drives her WILD. Grabbing up a CHAIR, she swings at the mirrored window with all her strength. It bounces off the glass. Cat swings it again and again. The mirror begins to BREAK. A spiderweb of CRACKS fissures out.
CAT
(screaming)
Not safe! Not safe! Not safe!
The mirror SHATTERS, showering the hall outside with pieces of one-way glass. Cat is about to leap through the broken window when Tom grabs her, restrains her.
TOM
Cat, stop. Don’t…
He holds her tight, trying to comfort her, as the door opens and Cameron and the Matron come running in.
DISSOLVE TO
EXT.—CANYONS—NIGHT
A densely wooded canyon outside Los Angeles. Thane stands on a precipice, looking down at the city lights. His face is a mask. A woman comes up beside him: DYANA. He senses her presence.
THANE
So many men, Dyana. Their lights go on forever.
DYANA
This is but a shadow of the trueworld, the master says.
THANE
Perhaps the masters of this world say the same thing of our own.
Thane turns his head very slowly toward the east, as if he is listening to something no one else can hear.
DYANA
What is it? Do you have a reading? Is she using the geosyn cronator?
When Thane speaks, it is not to Dyana.
THANE
I hear you, Cat. Even now, you call to me.
He turns sharply back to Dyana, all business.
THANE
East, northeast, three hundred hexes.
CUT TO
INT. TRAGER’S OFFICE—NIGHT
Trager behind a desk. Tom is pacing. Cameron sits in the visitor’s chair, snapping a rubber band.
CAMERON
Pentathol.
TOM
No. She’s my patient. I won’t allow you to drug her.
TRAGER
We gave you a chance to do it your way, Doctor.
Tom leans over Trager’s desk.
TOM
Give me one more shot at it. Let me hypnotize her.
Trager steeples his fingers, thinks, NODS.
CUT TO
INT.—TRAGER’S OFFICE—LATER
The lights have been turned down low. Cat sits in the visitor’s chair, Tom close to her side. Trager is behind his desk, watching, Cameron stands.
TOM
…deeper. You hear nothing but my voice now. There are no other sounds, no other voices. Only me. You are relaxed. So relaxed. Floating. All the fear has gone away.
Cat is deep in a trance.
TOM
Tell us your name. Your whole name.
CAT
Cat.
Tom frowns. Trager and Cameron exchange glances.
TOM
All right. Cat, tell us about the place you come from.
CAT
All dark. Lights out.
TOM
Does it have a name?
CAT
Angels.
TOM
Where is it?
CAT
Behind. Other side.
TOM
The other side of…the door?
Cat NODS agreement. Tom continues, his voice gentle.
TOM
I am going to ask you something else now. You will not be afraid. All the fear is gone.
(beat)
Cat, who are the darklords?
CAT
Owners. Masters.
TOM
What do they own?
CAT
Earths.
Behind him, Cameron ROLLS HIS EYES in scorn. Trager’s face is impassive, a mask. Only Tom picks up on the plural.
TOM
Earths…more than one Earth?
CAT
Not all. Some. Many.
TOM
And your world, from…
CAT
Darklords came. Long ago. Lights out. Mommy saying. No cars, no guns, no air-o-planes. Ashes, ashes. All fall down.
TOM
All fall down…
CAT
Cities. Soldier men. All fall down. Lights out. Long ago.
TOM
How long ago? How many years?
CAT
Before Cat.
TOM
Cat, where did the darklords come from?
(nothing)
From another country?
(no reply)
Another planet? Did the
y come in ships? Where?
CAT
The doors.
Silence. Trager leans forward.
TRAGER
Ask her about the weapon.
TOM
Cat, the hand cannon…you took that from your owner.
CAT
(vehement)
His owner. Owning Thane.
TOM
Thane. Thane was a…a manhound?
CAT
(echoing)
Let her live, saying. Give to me, saying. Served you well, saying. Little animal, wanting her, saying.
TOM
You were given to Thane…
CAT
(vehement denial)