THE ALPHA CENTAURI PROJECT SCRIPT Page 3
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.
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.