THE ALPHA CENTAURI PROJECT SCRIPT (4 page)

He leans against the enclosure and watches a mare
nuzzling her colt.

He looks up, diverted by SHRILL CRIES. Beyond the
downs, a few young seagulls are circling above the rippling
sea.

JAMES

turning

OK, let's try.

VICTORIA

folding her harms

It's no use. You have already given up, James.

James steps back and without adding anything else, he
vanishes.

Victoria remains still, staring into space. As her
tension eases, the cold determination she was supported by, is
replaced by remorse.

She turns towards the paddock with a lost
expression.

Now the horses that the stable boy is pushing hastily
towards an arcade, look like ghosts. Their neighs are DISTANT
NOISES.

Then the first big drops; dark spots on the dried up
earth. Rolling over the treetops, thick low clouds are
approaching.

Where the downs take the place of the scrub, whirling
sand hides the view. The air is still.

An icy gust strikes her, a heavy shower slaps her
face. She slips on her jacket and with a hand on her hair, rushes
into a reed roof cabin.

INT. net manege cabin -- CONTINUOUS

Victoria wedges herself behind a window. THE POUNDING
of the drops.

Now the whole area is swept by gusts of wind and
sand, bending the young pines along the fence like twigs, while the
puddles are widening quickly.

The room is pervaded by the vivid flash of lightning;
ITS RUMBLE penetrates into her bones. She trembles.

Victoria closes her eyes and breathes in deeply. All
around, only WHISTLES AND BANGS.

Suddenly everything dissolves.

INT. net ELECTS' cript -- AFTERNOON

The followers come out in the crypt, a room with
eight columns supporting a low vault. They arrange themselves in a
circle.

A SOFT MUSICAL BACKGROUND transmits a sensation of
peace.

Eve arrives with a white tunic opened to her hips, a
veil on her head. The circle opens and she goes to the center.

When the music stops, she lets the veil slide to her
shoulders.

EVE

The Council has honored me to be mother. A task I
accept joyfully, because only united, we will have a chance to
survive.

She stops. Victoria has run into. The girl looks
around with a lost expression.

EVE

smiling

Today is a great day: Victoria is participating in
the ceremony, too.

The circle opens, Victoria slips into.

The music begins again LOUDLY, and Eve drops her
tunic. Her skin is as smooth as porcelain.

The group does likewise. Victoria hesitates, then
heaves a sigh and follows suit.

Eve stretches out her arms towards a black. The man
comes to the woman, lying down at her feet.

She stretches herself out above him.

Victoria watches the scene carefully, but now the two
are wrapped by a cocoon of light hiding them completely.

PROLONGED WHISPERS echo in the crypt like those of
the wind finding its way through a dense forest.

The companions raise their arms, start waving, strike
up an EXCITED SONG.

When, after a few minutes, the voices slacken, the
brightness fades away and the couple's features reappear.

Propping herself up with her arms, Eve sits on the
man. Then she breaks away in a flash. He rejoins the group.

Eve turns towards Victoria.

EVE

It's your turn now.

All the eyes are turned towards the girl. Gazing into
space, she walks towards the center with measured steps.

Eve, who now is lying on the floor, makes a sign to
join her.

Charmed, Victoria bends down, but just before lying
down, closes her eyes.

She gives a start in contact with Eve's soft skin,
and smiles as she is filled with a heady feeling of tenderness.

Now they are isolated in a cocoon of light, pressed
one against the other. Eve's warm breath, her fleshy lips.

EVE

I knew you were going to come.

VICTORIA

I never stopped to dream this moment.

EVE

Kiss me.

Victoria lets herself go in a tender and passionate
act.

EVE

Now I am starting the extraction of the genetic
code.

A fire ball spreads through Victoria's stomach, runs
through her thorax up to her head, leaving her stunned.

She pants and trembles, she smiles and groans, while
a sentence echoes in her mind: LOVE IS SHARING.

Eve's whole life flows in Victoria's mind, becoming
part of herself. Short flashbacks of Eve's life, revealing her
altruism and love for truth.

Then Victoria's recollections start flowing outside.
Short flashbacks of her life, revealing her extreme love for
James.

Victoria wakes up bathed in sweat. Eve is smiling a
few centimeters away.

EVE

How did it go?

VICTORIA

I'm shaken.

EVE

Pay attention to the giddiness, when you stand up. It
will last only a few minutes. A companion will help you.

Victoria is projected by an invisible hand towards
one of the group. Leaning on his arm, she reaches her place.

There she remains motionless, shocked by emotions,
while the next participants follow one another on Eve's body.

At the end, a dazzling light streams from Eve's
eyes.

EVE

Tomorrow I will introduce our son. I thank all of
you, but especially Victoria, who has participated for the first
time like me.

The music starts again LOUDLY. The feminine figure
vanishes, followed by the other beings.

Finally shadows swallow the room.

INT. net ELECTS' HIDEOUT -- MORNING

Victoria is in front of a man with James' appearance:
ADAM (digital being, apparently 20 years old).

ADAM

Your memories are engraved in me, as well as your
emotions and wishes.

beat

We are at the same time one and two beings.

She rests her head against Adam's chest and caresses
him.

ADAM

I lacked only this moment to know you completely.

INT. NET ELECTS' CRIPT -- AFTERNOON

Excited atmosphere, as for great events. Adam is in
the middle of the crypt, surrounded by his parents who are
competing to speak to him.

Wing comes in. Adam takes leave from the group. The
two meet halfway and embrace each other.

ADAM

Your life is an example for me.

WING

You have an exceptional mother, don't forget: Eve is
unique.

The two draw aside and start telling their stories,
with the familiarity of two friends who meet again after a long
time. Voices are not heard.

Victoria and Eve follow the scene.

VICTORIA

Who's that man?

EVE

Martin Wing, the Civil Rights leader. He is
continuing his battle in Net.

Victoria is struck dumb.

EXT. NET venice carnival -- MORNING

Victoria and Adam find themselves at the end of an
alley flanked with medieval houses.

Victoria takes her feet out of a smelly puddle. She
has a quick look at her costume: a full length yellow damask skirt
to her ankles and a lace-bordered corset finishing with a revealing
neck line.

The cold makes her shiver, she covers her shoulders
with a short golden cloak.

Adam is a few meters away. Dark knee-length trousers
and socks, a velvet jacket. He arranges his wig, puts on an
ostrich-plumed hat and starts looking around.

From a half-closed door, comes a CATERWAULING. A thin
and ruffled kitten darts between his legs and disappears into a
nauseating heap of garbage.

The man walks a few steps up to a street plaque.

ADAM

We have ended up in the right place.

Victoria wears her mask.

VICTORIA

A gala dinner here in Venice: that's fantastic!

ADAM

Let's go.

Walking arm in arm, they come out into a square,
where ladies and gentlemen in fancy dress are dancing before four
musicians.

ADAM

The appointment with our guide is at ten o'clock.

Adam strides to a flaking main door. Nearby an
acrobat surrounded by a dozen spectators, is performing
contortions. The people CLAP.

The GUIDE with a white mask leaves the group and
makes for them. In front of the couple, he takes off his hat and
bows.

guide

Good morning. I am your guide.

Adam checks his identification code in his visual
field.

ADAM

We can go.

They pass by two policemen.

GUIDE

Pay attention to the maskers. They hide pickpockets,
prostitutes and even criminals.

The small group walks alongside a palace with triple
lancet windows.

ADAM

How wonderful!

GUIDE

This is a card room. One of the few places, together
with churches and convents, where masks are forbidden.

They admire a row of Renaissance buildings.

GUIDE

These palaces are deserted. The rich moved to
mainland villas or have fallen into disgrace.

A beggar kneeling at a street corner, holds out his
hat trembling. The guide drops in a penny.

GUIDE

You have heard about the Doge, I imagine.

VICTORIA

The first authority of the town!

GUIDE

Once the nobles resorted to corruption to be elected.
Today instead the Doge has no power anymore. The theatres are full
of shows ridiculing him. The aristocrats don't allow him to go out
of the Doge's Palace without an escort.

beat

If he gives up his mandate, he risks the confiscation
of his property and even his life. Inevitably, the best elements
keep away from this position.

VICTORIA

Do you know Giacomo Casanova?

GUIDE

A few years ago he was imprisoned not far from here,
in Piombi prison, on a witchcraft charge. Only a swindler! In his
life, he has never got anything together. He had himself expelled
from a seminary for immoral behavior. In Rome, he was fired by a
cardinal. In Venice, he ended up in prison. Then, a year ago, his
jailbreak.

VICTORIA

At least ladies enjoy his escape!

GUIDE

They would lose enthusiasm if they knew about his
affairs with men.

They continue walking for ten minutes. Then the guide
stops short in the middle of the street.

GUIDE

The Flight of the Angel, in San Marco square is at
noon!

ADAM

What's it?

GUIDE

The most important Carnival celebration.

The three enter a labyrinth of alleys and after a
quarter of an hour, come out in a wide paved area, surrounded on
three sides by Renaissance palaces and opposite by a
Gothic-Byzantine basilica.

GUIDE

San Marco square is the largest in the city. The only
space in the city which is called 'square'. The others are named
'fields'.

A PEAL OF BELLS interrupts him.

GUIDE

Noon! The show is starting.

They run through an arcade, where taverns and shops
alternate, among masked people.

At the end, they cut across the square, along the
façade of the church adorned with mosaics.

A FLUTTER OF WINGS. A flock of pearl gray pigeons
alights a few meters from them. Meanwhile the BELL RINGING
continues. Victoria turns back.

On the terrace of the building behind, two automatons
are sounding a big bell with their clubs.

GUIDE

The Moors are part of a mechanical clock. Below you
see an astronomical quadrant.

They enter another square. On the right, a bell tower
with a spire soars into the sky. In front, the placid waters of the
lagoon spread out.

On the left, next to the basilica, is a marble
structure with an arcade dominated by a loggia.

The façade is a succession of stone carvings like
lace, giving harmony and lightness to the imposing building.

GUIDE

The Doge's Palace: residence of the first authority,
seat of the government and Court House!

The two squares are overflowing with people.

They are all turned towards a tightrope walker with
false wings, who is going gently along a rope between the bell
tower and the balcony of the Doge's palace, where important people
are waiting for him.

GUIDE

The Doge is the one with the horn-shaped hat. Members
of the government and nobles are gathered around him. The guests
with exotic clothes are foreign ambassadors.

When the acrobat arrives, he bows before the Doge who
welcomes him with a bunch of daisies.

The crowd bursts into a FLOOD OF APPLAUSE. Adam turns
towards Victoria.

ADAM

Dinner time!

He leads his mother by the hand, pushing his way
through the crowd, up to the Doge's Palace.

INT. NET doge'S palace -- CONTINUOUS

At the entrance, the three pass by two rows of armed
guards standing to attention. Sparkling armor, long halberds.

GUIDE

I'll be waiting the end of the dinner in the yard,
together with my colleagues.

VICTORIA

See you later!

In the huge reception room, Victoria stops spellbound
in front of the frescos.

ADAM

Tintoretto's work!

Adam turns towards a black man discussing with the
Doge.

ADAM

Ah, Martin has already arrived.

Victoria looks around.

VICTORIA

Eve must be somewhere.

Victoria notices an Arab wrapped in precious fabrics
and with a mushroom-like turban who tries to draw a young lady's
attention.

The woman seems uninterested in him, looking
insistently around, nervously waving her fan.

Her glance stops on Victoria; she takes the mask off,
and winks at her. Eve! The three meet. They chat animatedly.

When the bell rings, the guests go to the tables.
Wing and Eve sit by the Doge, Adam and Victoria among the guests of
honor. The Doge, after a short speech, opens the dinner.