THE ALPHA CENTAURI PROJECT SCRIPT (3 page)

Nihil interwines his fingers with a satisfied
face.

NIHIL

In a few weeks, it will be all over.

assistant

Your new community is enthusiastic about your
plan.

A new message appears in the visual field of the two:
WE HAVE CAUGHT A NOVICE IN NIHIL'S ROOM - WAITING FOR YOU IN THE
HALL.

The two run upstairs, into the meeting room. The
young man is in the middle, with a frightened face, surrounded by
five followers.

NIHIL

pointing at two followers

You stay here. The others must leave.

When the door closes, he looks daggers at the
novice.

NIHIL

What were you doing?

The other keeps SILENT.

NIHIL

If you don't tell me all the truth, you will regret
it. So what?

The novice gazes into space.

NIHIL

to his assistant

Go and get today's recordings.

The follower returns with a projector, that he puts
on the table. He starts it playing.

The man is seen entering Nihil's room, rummaging in
his drawers.

NIHIL

to the followers

Hold him tightly!

Nihil seizes the novice's arm and wrings it behind
the back. Then, with a single blow, he rotates it upward.

The novice screams, bends sideways. His keepers work
hard to straighten him.

Nihil goes to the window and stares outside.

The sky is clear, but sudden gusts cut into the thin
jet of the fountain in the middle of the square.

He turns. He is apparently calm.

NIHIL

Fetch me the traitor's possessions.

His assistant goes out and when a few minutes later
he comes back, he has a sack under his harm.

Nihil scatters the contents onto the table, searches
frenetically till he finds a micromemory.

He unloads the e-mails and cross checks in his visual
field the addresses against the Elects' ones.

The name of a councilor appears.

NIHIL

purple in the face

I'll be back soon.

Nihil goes downstairs and outside, slamming the
door.

EXT. EARTH NIHIL'S VILLA -- CONTINUOUS

Nihil rushes into a path of the villa. A child runs
up to him, but he pushes him away.

EXCITED SHOUTS. Three mothers are gathering up their
children scattered over the lawn.

A little red hat flies away, pushed by a blast of
wind.

From the mountains, a boiling front of black clouds
is approaching fast.

NIHIL

talking to himself

The novice works for Wing. He may have transmitted
some information. I will get rid of both!

Nihil searches in a list and sends a message to his
contact of the Wonderful Islands. The councilor's personal details
and the sentence "price in not a problem", appear in his visual
field. The rest of his request remains hidden.

Then he orders his company of the Cayman Islands to
make a fund transfer.

He returns home.

INT. EARTH NIHIL'S VILLA -- CONTINUOUS

Nihil steps into the room. The youth is lying stark
naked, surrounded by his torturers.

NIHIL

Have you forced his neural chip open?

ASSISTANT

He withstood even torture.

NIHIL

Make him kneel.

The followers seize the spy by the arms.

NIHIL

This is the last time I will ask you. Who has sent
you?

The novice keeps silent.

NIHIL

It doesn't matter. I already know him.

The novice's eyes become moist with tears.

Nihil places himself behind him. He caresses his
neck, takes the novice's head gently between his hands.

He stands still for a second. Then, a single
blow.

A DULL NOISE. The head smashes like a ripe melon.

The body falls with A THUMP.

NIHIL

Burn him and don't speak about it to anyone!

Nihil runs down the stairs. Large drops are pounding
the windows of the landing.

From the gutters, A DEAFENING ROAR.

He flings open a glass door, and enters a hall
adorned with garlands.

Busy people. Smiling faces.

NIHIL

How are preparations going?

EXT. net wonderful islands atoll -- AFTERNOON

A WOMAN is swimming some meters above the coral reef,
towards the white sandy shore.

A shoal disperses at her arrival, while a moray peeps
out from its hiding-place.

She rises from the sea showing her athletic shoulders
and a shapely pair of legs, walks gracefully across the beach.

Her ivory complexion and platinum blond hair make her
look like an angel, but her eyes are icy.

The woman makes her way along a path winding through
orchid bushes.

She passes through a palm grove and arrives at a lawn
with a spotless bungalow in the middle.

In the shade of a porch, she lies down on a deckchair
and half-closes her eyes.

Background of CARIBBEAN MUSIC. A waiter dressed in
white lays a fruit cocktail on a bamboo table.

She calls her secretary. A smiling face appears in
her visual field.

WOMAN

Did instructions arrive?

SECRETARY

Here they are. Do you need anything else?

The woman has a look at the contents.

WOMAN

For now that's all, thank you.

She examines the request, remains thoughtfull for a
while, than she enters the bungalow.

INT. NET WONDERFUL ISLANDS ATOLL -- CONTINUOUS

The woman goes to the living room.

WOMAN

Show me some period costumes!

voice (O.S.)

What era?

WOMAN

18th century dress.

Clothes for men and women appear in mid-air.

She turns around flared skirts and examines a few
lace-edged corsets.

WOMAN

I wonder how they could get in...

She stops in front of a black costume with an austere
cut.

WOMAN

Put it aside.

An invisible hand moves it to a corner.

voice (O.S.)

Since you have chosen a suit, I imagine you want to
change your appearance too.

Various looks materialize: young and old, blond and
dark. She casts a scornful glance at the nearest ones.

WOMAN

I don't like those. Take them away!

They disappear at once. She rummages about for a few
minutes and finally stops in front of a tall man.

She runs her hand through his hair.

WOMAN

What magnificent raven hair! I want this.

The male figure walks as meekly as a lamb, next to
the suit.

voice (O.S.)

Do you need anything else?

WOMAN

You can go.

The woman admires her choices. She reaches for a
mirror and taking a scalpel, puts it to her forehead and starts
cutting downwards through the skin.

She continues across her face, down to the pubis.

She seizes the borders just below her breast and
tears them up, making a luminous mist appear.

She continues till all the covering has been slipped
off.

She draws her new features up and lets them spread
all over her body. Finally, she puts on the suit.

Now the transformation is complete.

In the room, stands a man with a dark complexion and
well-kept beard, wearing a black cloak and a cocked hat.

He wraps himself up in the cloak and disappears in a
flash.

EXT. net venice -- CONTINUOUS

The man reappears in a distant place of Net, in the
middle of an alley lined with narrow medieval houses.

Thick fog, insinuating itself into the cracks of the
time-worn building in front.

A brackish smell, a sharp cold.

He holds the cloak tightly and massages his shoulders
vigorously, then makes his way whistling a CHEERFUL TUNE.

INT. earth white house -- EVENING

A gala dinner. Large round tables covered with dark
blue tablecloths, and on them goblets, china and cutlery, all with
the Confederation symbol, four golden stars on a turquoise
background, as many as the inhabited worlds of the solar
system.

Crystal chandeliers, whose ruby color matches
perfectly with the red damask tapestry. Swarms of waiters in white
livery.

In front of the Confederation flag, there is a long
table with a decoration of pink peonies. The President is in the
middle, surrounded by his executive.

C573Y is among them, installed in an android's body.
In his visual field, appears a message. It is his assistant, who is
asking for an urgent meeting.

The high rank officer takes his leave and goes to a
small room.

The neural chip transmits him his assistant's
image.

ASSISTANT

Yesterday Nihil's company made another fund transfer.
One thousand solars, the same amount used to corrupt the Space
Agency employees. Our agents went to the intermediary's office. A
police search and interrogation didn't yield any results. So they
broke his neural chip open. He was telling the truth!

beat

The program hidden in the bank computer has reported
that the transfer was sent to a businessman of the Wonderful
Islands.

C573Y

We must seize him. I will personally ask the
President for the authorization.

ASSISTANT

The operation will take place in a foreign country.
He is going to entrust the secret service with it.

C573Y

I will insist on assigning at least the command to
Security.

ext. net voyage to wonderful islands -- NIGHT

The ovoids skim over the sea, cutting a furrow in the
smooth surface and raising a wake.

On board, along the fuselage, the Security Special
Forces. They carry war weapons and wear thick shields.

CAPTAIN

The wind is increasing. Cyclone arriving.

Low, dark clouds. Rare clear gaps, penetrated by
moonlight that lights up the leaden expanse with silvery
flashes.

On the horizon, the downtown skyscrapers loom up.
Before reaching the coast, the ovoids turn to the right.

CAPTAIN

The atoll is twenty kilometers away. We are entering
the storm.

In front, flashes of lightning pierce the sea.
THUNDER.

Sharp waves spread in every direction, in the middle
of a thick fog of vaporized water.

Sheer cliffs emerge from the ocean.

The breakers pound the reefs furiously, leaving
trails of white.

The flight turns to the left, skirting the rocks,
just below the edge.

The villa is behind a crag, near the beach.

The aircrafts open like the legs of a spider. They
start circling. The captain's ovoid lands on the beach.

EXT. NET WONDERFUL ISLANDS ATOLL -- CONTINUOUS

A hell. Sand filled gusts cut the breath, volleys of
pebbles pound against the shields. Behind, the boiling sea.

Walls of water face each other and disintegrate into
foaming spray. A HOWLING, DEAFENING WIND.

Bent forward, with their weapons in their arms, the
raiders climb along a muddy path, up to a lawn studded with palms
bent by the wind. The map appears in their visual field.

The captain steps over an uprooted trunk, staring at
the five dots in his visual field that are converging towards the
center.

Then he stops. Encirclement completed. The villa is
fifty meters farther, on a bank.

A FEW, SHORT ORDERS. They approach stealthily, from
all directions.

Ready.

They burst into with leveled guns.

INT. earth SECURITY HEADQUARTERS -- NIGHT

The captain approaches striding rapidly. C573Y is in
front.

CAPTAIN

He escaped! A servant saw him before he left. He was
wearing the looks of a tall brown man. He didn't say where he was
going. A nice person according to him.

We seized his digital secretary.

She was seemingly ready to cooperate, but then
started dragging on. We threatened her. She answered back that we
couldn't hurt her!

C573Y

She doesn't know us, clearly.

CAPTAIN

When we began to erase her programs, she started
blabbing it all out. Her boss is a businessman among the richest in
the country, but he is also a killer, the best in the market! He
received the money, but she does not know why and has no idea where
he is.

C573Y

Did you verify she was telling the truth?

CAPTAIN

We had her memory access code delivered to us.

beat

We found an old image of Nihil with the killer. The
Head of the Elects visits the island once a year at least.

C573Y

Do you have an image of the killer?

CAPTAIN

The domestic who caught a glimpse of him, doesn't
remember enough for an identikit. I have set the best search
programs on his track, but I doubt I will find him in time.

EXT. neT manege -- AFTERNOON

The shower has just finished and the wind is driving
away the clouds beyond the pinewood.

Victoria is sitting on a fence, intent on observing
the colts that run after each other spraying around dirty water and
mud. NEIGHS.

James is approaching briskly. Victoria jumps down and
runs up to him.

JAMES

As soon as you called, I rushed here.

They kiss each other.

JAMES

I missed you. Did you enjoy your holidays?

VICTORIA

My friend didn't want to let me go. Did you order the
gynoid?

JAMES

While you were on holidays, the law making
dehumanization compulsory passed.

Victoria stiffens.

VICTORIA

Does it apply to all digital beings?

James nods.

VICTORIA

We must continue this way, then... I'll try to stay
the person you know.

JAMES

After dehumanization, you will avoid me to go round
with others like you.

VICTORIA

That's what you think.

beat

The fact is you don't have enough courage!

SILENCE. The man shakes his head and sets out for the
paddock.