THE ALPHA CENTAURI PROJECT SCRIPT (10 page)

INT. flagship BRIDGE -- CONTINUOUS

The bridge is IN DEEP SILENCE. A few androids are
staring at the screens, concentrated on the images of the town.

Their strained faces make them look one hundred years
older.

C573Y moves away from the group. His RHYTHMIC STEPS
break THE SILENCE.

He stops in front the panoramic window where he
remains motionless gazing at the most sparkling star, Alpha
Centauri.

Apparently the android is absorbed in thought;
broken-hearted.

EXT. alpha centauri planet -- EVENING

voice (O.S.)

To the lake!

The ovoid descends into the multitude of vehicles
crowding the aerial freeways in the evening hours.

It passes between two rows of skyscrapers dotted with
lights, flies over the outskirts and skims over the treetops of a
luminescent wood.

Half an hour later it lands on a rock towering in the
middle of a plain.

The two robots get out the cockpit and walk for a
hundred meters through a meadow and up to the brink of a precipice.
They sit down on a boulder.

Victoria bends forward and pulls up a blue blade of
grass as smooth as silk. She fiddles with it nervously.

In spite of the night hour, it is not dark. The big
star on the horizon tinges the plain with orange and lights the
rippling surface of the lake with golden reflections.

Adam points to the sparkling dot of an ovoid
appearing in the distance.

ADAM

She has arrived!

The vehicle lands by the first one. A dark figure
gets out, looks around, then gives a wave and approaches with long
strides.

EVE

Sorry I am late. The Admiral called me. He told such
an incredible story! When Nihil realized his defeat was
unavoidable, he avenged himself by spreading deadly viruses. All
the population died.

VICTORIA

Are you joking?

ADAM

Why are we alive?

EVE

We are all copies.

ADAM

But they were erased just after departure...

EVE

A Defense program succeeded in duplicating the
inhabitants and stored their copies in a military server just
before the slaughter. It happened when I was fainting.

Victoria and Adam start a discussion, Eve answers
their questions. Voices are not heard. Agitated gestures.

Gradually the atmosphere calms down. They gaze at the
star low on the horizon.

They listen to SHRILL AND PROLONGED CRIES. Tiny
creatures take off from a shrub and go to hide in long grass.

ADAM

The Admiral will inaugurate the fifth town in a
month. We are in advance against the timetable.

Victoria smiles. They turn towards the cable of the
space elevator that joins the planet to the flagship orbiting
thirty thousand kilometers above.

A platform loaded with big containers is rising
slowly.

EVE

Still six months!

ADAM

I can't wait to leave.

VICTORIA

gazing at her companions

I wonder whether we should give up instead...

EVE

Do you have doubts right now, only a few months from
our departure?

Victoria tears up the blade of grass abruptly.

VICTORIA

Why should we abandon this planet, after all our
efforts?

EVE

The automatic factories and the robots are assembling
the towns one after the other. Here they don't need us anymore!

VICTORIA

Man has lived on the Earth for thousands of
years.

EVE

We have a mission.

ADAM

Our infinitely long life imposes on us a high price,
Victoria.

We must face challenges man will never see:
collisions with asteroids, exploding stars, clashing galaxies.
Perhaps we will be present at the end of the Universe!

We must get ready. Certainly we cannot succeed by
remaining confined to this tiny planet of the Milky Way. We are too
few to acquire the knowledge we need and too far from where the
threats will spread from, to rush in time.

with solemn voice

Spreading into the universe, we are going to meet
other civilizations. And, some billion years from now, we are
facing all together our greatest challenge.

He gazes at the sky dotted with winking lights.

ADAM

We want to survive the end of the universe!

Victoria listens in silence, her eyes focused on her
two companions. Her hands tremble a little.

EVE

This is our task. Man gave us a lot of time ago, when
he taught us to look into the future and made us understand that
the real joy is building it all together.

But you have understood this for a long time: when
you speak about the projects you are carrying out, your eyes shine.
So, why do you want to give it up?

VICTORIA

I don't know what is waiting for us.

EVE

You are afraid. This is a heritage of the humans,
once again; essential for them, as they have a life which is too
fragile and short for such ambitious projects.

An unacceptable weight for us.

Don't you realize?

We have started a scientific revolution, technology
skyrockets towards goals unconceivable till few years ago, the
Alpha Centauri colonization is a sensational success.

And now we are here speaking about about
eternity...

Now Victoria looks serene. Adam is smiling to her,
while speaking to her mind.

adam (O.S.)

We will be standing by you, whatever happens,
Victoria. But remember, follow your new nature. Most of all, accept
every experience and always look for new ones. Only in this way,
you will make enormous progress. And one day nothing will frighten
you.

EXT. ALPHA CENTAURI PLANET -- twilight

The big star inflames the clouds on the horizon and
covers the plain with red.

Slowly the celestial body disappears leaving a pink
glimmer, while on the opposite side the dawn peeps out.

The smallest star rises, lighting up trees and bushes
again.

Two robots are sitting on the grass.

They listen to the melodies of nature: THE CLINKING
from the glassy leaves of the bushes shaken by the wind and the
EXCITED SINGING of a flock hidden among the red filaments of a
meadow.

In the sky, half way between day and night, in a
timeless twilight, three dots shine brightly.

JAMES

I didn't anticipate my arrival, because I wanted to
give you a surprise.

VICTORIA

I have being dreaming this moment for over a
century.

JAMES

I met the Admiral. He wants to speed up the
colonization; he intends the governors to assist him.

beat

He offered me a job.

VICTORIA

What did you tell him?

JAMES

His proposal is very interesting.

VICTORIA

with thin voice

Soon the Caravels will leave.I'm participating in the
mission. I took this decision a long time ago.

Victoria curls herself up waiting for a replay.

JAMES

I don't want to force you to stay.

She embraces her knees like a helpless child.

JAMES

But I don't intend to lose you either...

Victoria's eyes light up. She turns abruptly.

VICTORIA

What do you mean?

James draws her to him.

JAMES

I am leaving too. I took this decision long ago too,
when I saw you were among the participants.

Shortly later Eve and Adam join the couple.

VICTORIA

James is sailing with us.

EVE

We have been looking forward to this moment.

ADAM

Welcome in our family!

Now the faint light of the star is covering the
meadow with a transparent veil, while the breeze makes the sharp
treetops sway.

A dark form trots along searching for a shelter.

VICTORIA

Look!

James points at a rock where some creatures are
perched.

JAMES

Why do they keep still?

VICTORIA

They are enjoying the warmth of the star.

They stare at the sky. A clear summer night, with
thousands of lights twinkling in the heat.

In the background, a diffused fog: millions of stars
and planets.

Eve begins IN A LOW VOICE the anthem of Alpha
Cenaturi, the others join IN MORE LOUDLY.

all

JOY, BEAUTIFUL DIVINE SPARK,

WE COME INFLAMED WITH PASSION,

HEAVENLY CREATURE, TO YOUR TEMPLE!

YOUR CHARM RECONCILES

WHO CUSTOM RIGOROUSLY DIVIDED;

ALL BECOME BROTHERS,

WHERE YOUR GENTLE WING RESTS.

HUG IN MILLIONS!

REACH THIS KISS ALL UNIVERSE.

A MELODY that insinuates into the glassy woods,
making them ECHO LIKE CRYSTALS.

EXT. universe -- far in the future

A tour into the UNIVERSE's history, showing stars and
galaxies more and more dispersed, darker and darker. Shot of an ice
planet.

uNIVERSE (V.O.)

hoarse voice

And now, my son, you are about to be born.

THE MUSIC OF THE COSMIC WIND can be heard.

universe (V.O.)

You contain a sublime seed, but a long time will pass
before you reach self-awareness.

At the beginning, lights as bright as never before
will burst out from your viscera. It will be the chaos. Your growth
will be tumultuous.

A supernova
explosion.

UNIVERSE (V.O.)

_Then, from a remote corner, the first glimmer of
awareness will emerge. It will be only a small light. You will not
be able to perceive it; your way towards consciousness is longer,
much longer.

Multitudes of civilizations will light up in
succession, several of them in unison. They will remain mostly
local phenomena, destined to pass away with the same swiftness with
which they will have come to life, but others will spread
forcefully throughout your being, reaching the most remote zones of
space. They will be your nerves; their machines and planets, your
neurons.

beat

You will acquire self-awareness, or better, many
consciousnesses.

They will be incomplete and limited to regions of
space, definitely imperfect. Be patient. Your way is long, but
evolution will follow you along the whole of it.

panting

One day the civilizations surviving my slow agony,
will migrate into you. Thanks to your light and energy, they will
thrive again.

They will teach your populations, and when our
natures finally merge, you will become a single being, at last.
Before, much before it happened to me.

Glance across the space stations, the natural and
artificial planets trobbing of life where their inhabitants -
trillions of robots - are looking in silence to the skies.

The Alpha Centauri anthem pervades the
atmosphere.

UNIVERSE (V.O.)

You will not be destined to isolation. Beyond your
borders, immersed in a space where time doesn't exist, there are
beings like yourself, destined to meet you, eager to join you.

This is the mystery of life.

The space starts to heat up, getting deformed and
red. A WHISTLE, GETTING LOUDER.

universe (V.O.)

Now!

Suddenly, from vacuum, a blinding fire, accompanied
by a TERRIBLE BANG, feels the screen.

FADE OUT:

THE END

SUMMARY

The Alpha Centauri project

by Marco
Santini

script,
novel

registered

[email protected]

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AlphaCentauriProject

This is the story of two women: Eve (35) and
Victoria (25). Eve, a former officer, a brilliant software
scientist with the dream of contributing to the digital people’
civilization by enhancing their programs, commits suicide after
being charged with bribery.

Victoria is sucked into a whirlpool while
bathing with James, her boyfriend.

After digitization, they both join Net.

Eve is disgusted by the world. She shelters
in an outlaw community that fifty years before entered Net with a
collective suicide: the Elects. Security, the federal organization
in charge of fighting crime, is hunting them.

Victoria believes in perfect love, but her
virtual relationship with James is deteriorating fast due to their
differences.

When the two women meet, a deep confidence
is born. Victoria quits James and a few days later, plucking up
their courage, they both participate in a reproductive rite with
the Elects. The community conceives Adam.

Things get worse. Martin, one of Adam’s
parents, is killed. The culprit is Nihil, the head of the Elects.
His community entrusted him with embarking them clandestinely on
the starships of the Alpha Centauri Project. After he disappeared,
the Elects charged Martin with finding him out. For sure he knew
Nihil’s secret intentions.

The project is one of the boldest
enterprises of the Federal Government. Three huge vessels - the
Caravels - will transfer all the digital people to the nearest star
system, to start a new civilization. The Elects want to contribute,
but they are on outlaw and must board secretly.

Only seizing Nihil, the Elects can recover
his boarding plan. Adam urges Eve to action, since she knows the
culprit better than anybody else does. Eve realizes that the future
of the community is in her hands. She recovers confidence and takes
the leadership.

The Elects fail in seizing Nihil, but they
discover he has already embarked. After the departure of the
Caravels, Nihil spreads a virus to subdue the digital population,
but people start dying. Security deploys its anti-terrorist forces,
discovers that Nihil has destroyed the backups of the populations
and progressively loses control.

Eve realizes that only her acquaintances in
the Army can help the Elects. She comes out into the open. In a
meeting with the General Staff, she volunteers to join the Caravels
with the Elects, in order to stop Nihil and to treat the
population. In exchange, the Elects will continue their voyage to
Alpha Centauri.