THE ALPHA CENTAURI PROJECT SCRIPT (9 page)

A few researchers, led by a small sprightly man, run
towards her. They shake hands.

director

Eve, what a pleasure to see you again!

EVE

smiling only for a moment

I know you are in big trouble.

DIRECTOR

The deaths are increasing. It's a side effect of the
infection.

The group walks into the building.

INT. alphacity COMPUTER SCIENCE INSTITUTE --
CONTINUOUS

They enter an elevator.

DIRECTOR

We are going down to the bunker. We were there when
the epidemic broke out.

They enter the laboratory. Eve and the director step
onto the platform. About fifty scientists are gathered in front.
Strained faces stare at the director and Eve, a profound
determination is expressed in their looks.

DIRECTOR

You know Eve Dirac, at least by reputation. She is
joining us as a research manager.

They welcome her with WARM APPLAUSE. Eve stands
up.

EVE

I am pleased to be here. It looks like AISI. I
recognize some of you and I remember our achievements.

This time we are facing an unprecedented challenge:
the existence of the whole population is at stake.

But let’s come to the point. In the days spent at the
simulator, we found out a cure for the damage caused by the
virus.

Their faces light up.

SCIENTIST

Do you mean we can bring the victims back to
life?

EVE

I don't want to create false hopes. Till now we have
performed only simulations. Now we are testing the treatment on a
corpse.

Their looks concentrate on a crystal cylinder on the
right of the platform.

A wan emaciated corpse is inside. The data flow on a
screen.

EVE

The treatment file has been installed. Let's
start.

A menu appears in mid-air. An invisible hand
activates the functions. The cylinder fills with a light mist.

After a few minutes this condenses into a film. In
the background is THE BUZZING of the equipment.

On the screens frenzied sequence of numbers and
graphs.

A minute passes. Five minutes. Ten minutes. The
corpse is still immobile. Then A BEEP, A SINGLE, WEAK BEEP.

Everybody turns. On a distant screen, amidst the
other equipment, a green dot shines.

The scientists rush to the terminals. EXCITED
PHRASES. The dot in the screen makes a leap. Then another.

In unison, all the other equipment lights up. THE
ALARMS sound.

The glances concentrate on the ashen body. He is as
pale as death.

For him time has really stopped running. But the
screens show something happened.

A quiver of the right hand. He moves a finger, raises
his hand.

Slowly, he opens his eyes. Pupils veiled from a long
sleep.

A few seconds, as long as eternity. A HOORAY! AS
DEAFENING AS THUNDER bursts out.

INT. ALPHACITY COMPUTER SCIENCE INSTITUTE -- three
days later morning

The scientists are gathered in front of the director
and Eve. An electric atmosphere. The director stands up.

DIRECTOR

A week has passed from the contagion. Now the
treatment is ready to be used on a large scale. Unfortunately the
last tests had a negative outcome. We can cure only part of the
population.

A shiver runs through the group.

EVE

I thank all of you for your dedication and team
spirit. As said by the Director, the outcome is uncertain.

SCIENTIST

Can you quantify the result?

EVE

The success rate is between fifty and eighty per
cent.

beat

Whatever happens, we must be proud of our work: we
have done everything possible. In a few hours, millions of people
will be brought back to life.

Those in the hall feel a surreal calm. Eve turns her
eyes towards the screen above the platform. A low altitude shot of
Alphacity appears.

Streets and buildings scattered with an expanse of
yellow dots, among which show up vivid red lights.

EVE

The infected are yellow. The deaths in red have
reached the ten percent of the population. Now I am freeing the
repair programs.

A circular wave spreads from a corner.

Like a foaming torrent, it flies along the streets,
insinuates itself into the buildings, invades the basements,
progressively coloring the town with green.

But here and there red specks flash tenaciously.

Eve raises her arm towards a number on the right of
the map, fluctuating unceasingly.

EVE

That's the success rate. In half an hour, we will
have the first estimate.

Bodies frozen by tension, exclamations turned to
WHISPERS. Data are updated. The verdict arrives and is received IN
TOTAL SILENCE.

EXT. alphacity -- EVENING

Long silent processions, shining with the lights the
inhabitants hold in their hands, moving towards a single
destination, the main square of Alphacity, where the ceremonies are
taking place.

They stop in front of a platform at one side of the
square.

ADMIRAL

We are here to bid the last farewell to our parents,
sisters, brothers, relatives and friends that a cruel fate has
robbed of life. For all of them, I am asking for a minute of
silence.

The people of the Caravels bend their heads.

ADMIRAL

A month ago, we were celebrating the beginning of our
voyage and the birth of the Alpha Centauri Republic. The moment we
waited for so long. But the evil ravaged our minds and killed the
most unlucky of us. Now we are here again, to grieve for our dead
and dedicate our lives to the objective we have chosen to follow by
embarking on the Caravels.

turning towards Eve

To this woman, I say thank you for having brought us
back to life and having given us the opportunity of restarting our
mission.

After an EMOTIONAL SILENCE, the audience bursts into
a FLOOD OF APPLAUSE. Eve goes to the platform.

EVE

I decided to take part in the voyage to Alpha
Centauri because we can give dignity to the virtual people only by
migrating to a new world.

She stares at the living sea; she senses their
emotions.

EVE

Your presence this evening is for me your biggest
gift: in this moment I can feel the force of our solidarity and the
firmness of our motivations.

When Eve leaves the platform, her friends and
colleagues run up to her.

Victoria and Adam hug the woman. The COMMANDER OF
SPECIAL FORCES is among them.

COMMANDER OF SPECIAL FORCES

Congratulations!

He draws her aside.

commander of special forces

We completed the inspection of the underground world,
but we couldn't find Nihil. He must be on the surface.

EVE

Have you picked up his trail?

COMMANDER OF SPECIAL FORCES

Not yet, but the search has narrowed to a few
districts.

EVE

A matter of days, then.

They rejoin the group and turn towards the platform,
where meanwhile C573Y has begun speaking.

He raises his arm towards the hologram of a dozen
individuals displayed in the night sky.

C573Y

We cannot lower our guard yet. Here are our enemies,
all of them free. The first one on the left is their leader, Nihil,
the one responsible for all our disasters. While they remain free,
we will never be safe!

int. alphacity SECURITY HEADQUARTERS -- NIGHT

Eve wakes up abruptly. A top priority message has
appeared in her visual field: NIHIL'S POSITION RESTRICTED TO THE
13TH DISTRICT.

She sits up in bed, keeps still just enough time to
recover her strength, then jumps to her feet and puts on her
armor.

A few moments later she is striding along a corridor,
towards a glass door.

Just beyond, an ovoid, with the engine running,
stands out against the black sky.

EXT. ALPHACITY -- CONTINUOUS

She jumps into the cockpit. While the NOISE OF THE
ENGINES rends the air, the vehicle starts a dizzy ascent.

Through the transparent covering, Eve glances at the
Security Headquarters.

It is filling with light and, in the vast central
yard, the robots are going to and for.

They rush to the gates and spread through the town.
Behind her, in the distance, the aircraft loaded with troops.

The ovoid skims over the buildings. The whole town is
an immense succession of checkpoints and patrols.

There is no sign of civilians who are hidden in their
houses as requested by Security.

A hologram appears.

EVE

How are things going?

COMMANDER OF SPECIAL FORCES

We have completed the siege.

EVE

At what point is the preparation of the search
agents?

COMMANDER OF SPECIAL FORCES

The Computer Science Institute confirmed me they will
be ready in a few hours.

EVE

I want them to be spread as soon as possible.
Organize their dispersion.

The ovoid lands. The commander runs up to Eve. They
inspect the deployment of troops.

The hours pass slowly. The sky changes from black to
deep blue, while the stars disappear and the horizon is tinged with
pink.

EXT. ALPHACITY -- dawn

All of a sudden the first rays of sunlight filter
between skyscrapers and rapidly descend towards the street,
lighting up troops and vehicles.

These are dark shapes against the blazing
background.

COMMANDER OF SPECIAL FORCES

We are ready.

EVE

Let's start.

A flight of ovoids appears. They are spreading a
luminescent cloud, which slips into the skyscrapers, the houses and
the basements.

They start converging towards the terrace of a
skyscraper.

EVE

There he is!

Now the flying cameras are transmitting the first
images from the skyscraper.

There is their enemy, surrounded by whirls of light
that he tries to keep away by shaking his cloak.

Eve beckons to a dozen soldiers to follow her and all
together they run towards an ovoid. The aircraft starts the
takeoff.

EXT. ALPHACITY voyage to skyscraper -- MORNING

The ovoid approaches the skyscraper, a monument as
dazzling as the sun.

It performs a sharp turn, and then stops about ten
meters above the terrace.

Nihil, wrapped in the light, is running up and down
with outstretched arms, like a blind man.

INT. ALPHACITY ovoid -- CONTINUOUS

EVE

addressing te pilot

Let's get down.

EXT. ALPHACITY SKYSCRAPER -- MOMENTS LATER

Nihil is leaning his back against a low wall, at the
center of a pool of light, drenched with a luminescent fluid.

His stillness and lowered eyes make him seem to be
unconscious.

But at a SUDDEN NOISE OF STEPS, he raises his head.
In front of him stand Eve and her troops.

NIHIL

I understood you were on the Caravels when your
programs attacked me.

beat

You will not win.

EVE

Kill him!

In an instant, the programs with which he is soaked,
pierce his body like needles, covering every cell with a thin
film.

Nihil remains as motionless as a glass statue. A
fresh breeze is sweeping the terrace.

EVE

Nothing must be left.

A thick smoke bursts out of his body. When it
vanishes, Nihil has disappeared.

EVE

turning to the commander

I must go.

She rushes towards the aircraft. But halfway to it,
she shivers, her sight grows dim, she staggers.

Just before falling to the ground, she recovers her
strength.

Still dazed, the woman reaches the aircraft.

INT. ALPHACITY ovoid -- CONTINUOUS

Eve collapses into her seat.

EVE

To the headquarters!

During take-off, she contacts C573Y.

EVE

I got rid of him.

C573Y

Congratulations!

EVE

He carried out his revenge.

C573Y

How can you be so sure?

EVE

He never limited himself to threats.

C573Y

Our search programs have not pointed out any
anomaly.

EVE

It's a brand new virus! Move the population out to
another server.

C573Y

after a few seconds

An unknown program makes the transfer impossible.

EVE

We are trapped.

The ovoid begins the descent towards the Security
Headquarters.

EXT. ALPHACITY security headquarters terrace --
MOMENTS LATER

On the roof, a small crowd is waiting for her, ready
for the celebrations.

Among them, are Victoria waving her arm and Adam. Eve
gets in touch.

INTERCUT BETWEEN OVOID AND HEADQUARTERS TERRACE

EVE

You all, shelter in the bunker!

VICTORIA

What's happening?

EVE

No time. Carry out the order!

The group sways, then dashes towards the entrance.
Eve follows them, clenching her teeth.

Beads of sweat are dripping from her forehead. When
she wipes them away, her fingers get covered with a sticky
substance.

Her features are melting!

A series of convulsions, attacks so intense and
prolonged that her muscles get torn and her organs reduced to a
bleeding pulp.

Bent in an unnatural position, Eve feels her life
slipping away.

When the ovoid lands on the terrace, the woman's body
is unrecognizable.

Scattered around, the remains of her companions are
slowly dissolving.

EXT. ALPHACITY -- LATER

Shots of the town. WING BEATS. A finch flies from a
garden, whirls around an obelisk and alights on a roof. The air
fills with birdsong.

Although it is a sunny day, the town remains
desert.

A gust of chilly wind strips a cloud of dry leaves
from a row of plane trees and makes them whirl around.