Silver Grey Chamber
Underground Facility
20.21
Now closer, Gilt realises who the man on the chair resembles. He carefully places his hand inside his jacket. He raises his gun to aim.
But as he does so, a woman carefully steps into his line of fire. She has her back to him. She wears a smart light grey tailored suit. M________ turns back to face him. His eyes widen. A vertical sliding glass panel begins descending from the centre of the dome. She looks at him impassively. Gilt remains frozen, shocked, gun still raised. Turning and ascending the stairs to the chair, she touches the shoulder of the seated man seated. As she does so, Gilt sees her face in profile. Tears begin to form in the corners of his eyes. The vertical glass panel shuts into place, separating him from the front section of the room, which begins to separate. Gilt’s finger hovers on the trigger, aiming. He is about to fire when ____x’s hand appears on his shoulder.
‘We’ve got to go. Timers have already been set.’
Gilt doesn’t hear him. His eyes remain locked onto the sight of M________’s profile. ____x grabs his shoulder roughly, turning Gilt around.
‘C’mon!’
____x drags Gilt away and back out of the room.
20.25
They meet up with the other men at the door to the entrance space. The men fasten rope to each other. Using a blunt tool, ____x wrenches the door open. ____x takes the front of the rope and proceeds to attach it to the rear of the now-floating vessel. At the same time, Gilt manages to enter the vessel. Sitting inside, he begins to drown. Bubbles pour from his mouth. He reaches frantically for a switch under the driver's seat. Water begins to eject from inside the car. He turns the vehicle around to face the closed vertical doors sealing off the space, and signals to everyone outside to get back. Gilt touches the dashboard and blue orbs fire into the entrance door. The resulting explosion blossoms in the water. Gilt drives upwards at full speed through the exploded opening, pulling the rest of the men away with him from behind. As the continue up, the underground structure drifts away from view as its many limbs begin to crumple in self-destruction. ____x looks at Gilt and smiles a little, about to say something, but he thinks better of it. Gilt’s face remains frozen stiff as the vessel continues serenely upward.
Coda
Deep Underground Facility
MI5
London
04.21
F____ O_________ sits on a bed in his cell, facing the door. It is completely dark. Except for the whites of his eyes. A small shaft of light appears as a metal slot opens at the bottom of his cell door. A plate of food appears. The slot closes again. F____ picks up the plate, placing it next to him. A warden stands up from a crouched position and walks away from the cell door and down a long, pitch black corridor. He uses a red lantern to light his way. His shoes echo loudly, then slowly die out, as he turns a corner.
04.34
O_________’s cell door opens. Holding a red lantern, Gilt steps inside. He places the lantern on the floor. F____ remains motionless on the bed, facing Gilt. The lantern gently illuminates both their faces. Gilt stands in silence for a moment. F____ looks up at him.
‘I know what happened. Your father. My father… figure.’
Gilt holds an object in his hand.
F____’s eyes flicker. He remains silent. Gilt tosses the object towards him. He catches it. He feels it in his hand. His facial expression changes.
Aiguilles Rouge
(19__?)
11.31
F____ looks up, then back down to H_____. He takes his knife out of his pocket. Reattaching his harness to the rope, he starts to descend the mountainside. Lowering himself so that he hangs above H_____, he reaches his knife out to him. H_____ takes it from him. As H_____ holds the sharpened knife to his snagged trouser leg, there is rumbling from above. His hand shakes abruptly as he moves the knife to cut the material. He cuts his rope as well. Immediately unbalanced, he begins to fall backwards, and his arm motions involuntarily forward, lodging the knife into a crevice. H_____ grips hold of it as his body tilts back further. He tries to get a grip on the rock face with his other hand. But the weight of his body forces his hand to slowly slip away from the knife handle. F____ holds his hand out to grab H_____. But he cannot reach him. H_____ falls away from the side of the mountain, arms outstretched. Snow falls as he descends. F____ opens his mouth to scream, but remains frozen in horrified silence as the figure of H_____ falls down into the depths below.
Deep Underground Facility
MI5
London
04.22
‘It wasn’t your fault.’
Aiguilles Rouges
Mountainside
18.59
Gilt removes the knife from a crevice. A small fragment of clothing appears attached to its tip.
Deep Underground Facility
MI5
London
04.23
Gilt removes something else from his pocket. He holds in his hand.
Light from the lantern illuminates it. F____ reaches out and takes it. He lets out a barely detectable gasp, before closing his eyes. Gilt clasps his hands around F____’s.
‘I need you to do something for me.’
F____ remains silent, but his eyes eventually open, and look into Gilt’s.
‘What?’
‘Help me get her back.’
Red Peaks Page 7
