Oblivion

OBLIVION

Written by

William Monahan

Current Revisions by

Karl Gajdusek

Based on the story by

Joseph Kosinski

DRAFT: March 27, 2011

1.

FADE IN:

EXT. THE PLANET - MORNING

Huge mountains, destroyed STRUCTURES. Buildings enveloped by flows of earth. Awe-inspiring beauty.

JACK (V.O.) They arrived almost half a century ago. Aliens, Scavs, whatever you want to call them. Their idea of         how-do-you-do was to blow up our moon.

Giant waterfalls crash where lava cooled through iron and concrete. Telephone polls half-buried in sand.

JACK (V.O.) Without her moon, the earth went insane. Most were killed in the floods, as the cities came down, as everything caught fire. A year later their ground troops landed, to exterminate whoever was left. A station wagon half protrudes from a lava flow. A         child's plastic flip-flops on the dash.

JACK (V.0.) They were probably surprised, what we were willing to do, to survive. We used the nukes.

(BEAT) We won the war, but lost the planet.

Low on the HORIZON, the TET rises with the sun. It's a         WHITE TETRAHEDRON (SIX-SIDED) SPACE STATION that circles the earth once a day, like an artificial moon.

JACK (V.0.) Humanity had to flee the Earth. We had to unlearn what it meant, to call something our home. Now we live on the Tet, our man-made moon. A temporary home before the next step. Everyone's there now.

(BEAT) Well, almost everyone.

2.

INT. BEDROOOM - MORNING

An ALARM chirps. A man's hand reaches out of bed, silences it. The MAN swings his feet onto the floor. He         sits with his face in his hands, waking up. We hear a         SHOWER RUNNING. He looks up. A WOMAN showers near him, only steamed glass walls between them. She sees him, smiles at him, without modesty. He looks back at her. OVER TITLES. We watch a familiar morning routine:

INT. A HOME - MORNING

BATHROOM. The man flicks on a light, stares at himself in the mirror. This is JACK. Early 40's, a good face that enjoys rugged living. Tan and weathered skin. His eyes are curious, kind, almost child-like. The woman squeezes in next to him, VICTORIA. 30s, a tom- boy shock of red hair, towel around her neck. She brushes her teeth.

KITCHEN. Victoria watches the coffee drip, bites toast. SHOWER. Jack lets warm water blast him in the face. READY ROOM. Jack pulls a worn high-tech workman's suit from a locker, revealing a photo taped to the door: It's         of him and Victoria, younger, in a white-walled high-tech corridor, smiling eager at the camera. He stares at it         for a moment, closes the locker door. KITCHEN. Victoria hands Jack his coffee. He kisses the top of her head, heads out to work.

EXT. SKY TOWER - CONTINUOUS

He walks out onto the deck of a futuristic home perched 1,200 feet in the air, literally above the clouds. As         our minds are blown, Jack moves away from the glass- walled home towards his BUBBLESHIP, a futuristic-cross between a Bell 47 Helicopter and a jet fighter, and we         CRANE UP UP UP... INCREDIBLE VERTIGO until we're looking down at this impossible structure. Jack, climbing into his ship.

TITLE CARD: "OBLIVION"

3.

EXT. THE SKY - DAY

The SKY stretches to infinity above roiling planetary cloud-cover. The BUBBLESHIP streaks through our frame, dropping faster than free fall.

INT. BUBBLESHIP - CONTINUOUS

Through the canopy of the Bubbleship: The cloud cover below seems to FALL UPWARDS at us, that's how fast we're         diving. There's a small worn BOBBLE-HEAD on the dash which vibrates with the ship. Jack is un-phased by the drop, touches a few controls.

VICTORIA (V.O.) Good morning, Jack. I'll be your flight attendant for the day. This is day... three thousand two hundred and twenty five, in case you were wondering. JACK is running instruments. A day at work..

VICTORIA Today we will be running support on five Resource Gatherers working the seaboard. Coordinates coming to you... now. Please do confirm. On Jack's heads-up display, five icons glow to life.

JACK Yeah, I got 'em. You got 'em, Bob? The Bobblehead bobs.

INT. SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - CONTINUOUS

VICTORIA watches the Bubbleship's icon on a screen. She's now wearing a work jumpsuit open over a man's         undershirt. She has a natural ease with tech and stress. She sips her coffee, punches up a feed, multi-tasking with cool.

VICTORIA Drone perimeter defense is intact, although one went offline last night. How's the drop?

(CONTINUED)

4.

CONTINUED:

JACK Oh, you know. Same ole' same. In front of Victoria, almost a hundred years of         technological advances. Most prominent a MAP overlaid with environmental, meteorological, radiation levels...         Other screens stream cam-footage from the Bubbleship.

VICTORIA Alright, you're blind in five, four, three...         INTERCUT WITH JACK IN THE BUBBLESHIP. JACK watches the cloud wall RUSH UP at him.

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Two... one...

JACK You should come with me sometime.

VICTORIA No, thank you. Have a nice ride. The Bubbleship HITS CLOUDS, goes completely blind. Just vapor and water HAMMERING the canopy like bullets. On the heads-up display, GPS numbers roll. The readouts deal with climate, terrain below... Even in this hell, Jack takes the controls, starts to pilot on instruments. One of Victoria's boards flashes. She squints as a large MASS forms near Jack's ship.

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Jack, you got some weather on your five, closing. The Bubbleship is VIBRATING, buffeted.

JACK What do you call this? What does a storm look like inside a storm? Like this. The WALL OF WEATHER comes out of the wind and rain from behind Jack's ship, simply eats it up. Suddenly Jack's going end over end, helpless. Warning lights flash. Jack punches controls that won't respond.

JACK (CONT'D)         (humming to himself) "I've got sunshine...

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

5.

CONTINUED: ( 2)

JACK (CONT'D)         on a cloudy day. When it's cold outside I've got the month of         May..."          Victoria watches the readouts, helpless.

JACK (CONT'D)

(STILL SINGING) "I guess you'd say... What can         make me feel this way?" (a little tense) Okay, Bob. Need you to work with me here. In the Bubbleship, Jack works the display, literally SMACKS a panel with his fist. Suddenly, the Bubbleship SURGES with power. Jack regains control as:

INT/EXT. BUBBLESHIP - CONTINUOUS

The Bubbleship BURSTS through low clouds, hurtling down past turbulence into...         THE SKY ABOVE A BEAUTIFUL DESOLATE PLANET. Mysterious black sand dunes, active volcanoes, swirling orange and gold sediment, steaming bright blue hot springs and rich brown craters. Jack takes a moment to marvel at it all.

JACK (under his breath) "Talkin' 'bout my girl..." Jack shifts the Bubbleship, in the distance a series of         RESOURCE-GATHERERS on the horizon. Essentially titanic vacuums, sucking up the oceans. In front of her console, VICTORIA charts the Gatherers, and the patrol arcs of their defensive Drones. One blinks, stalled.

VICTORIA Okay, we've got another Drone downed last night.

JACK Send it. NUMBERS FIRE across the heads-up. Jack touches a button. A BAR GAUGE begins to fill, like a street racer turning on the NOX before dragging...

(CONTINUED)

6.

CONTINUED:

VICTORIA Would you like to set a course to         reserve fuel?

JACK

(SMALL SMILE) Absolutely not. Bar gaucre hits top. Jack punches it. JACK vibrates in his seat, pinned back. The ship SCREAMS over the surface, following the signal. Now A HUGE CRATER opens up in front of him which he DROPS INTO, barely missing an edge... which seems to have architecture to it. The ship skims close along the walls which are revealed to be rows and rows of stadium seats, half buried in         sand. We're in Giants Stadium, New Jersey. Old news to Jack. He surveys below...

JACK (CONT'D)         I see it, looks like full mid- flight impact. What was its last destination? BELOW, through blowing dust, we see a DRONE, a spherical mechanical weapon, plunged into the sand.

VICTORIA Yo no se. No data. It's not transmitting. (checking the map) Tet coverage will go live in 11 minutes. Jack stares forward at a huge broken sign: "Home of the         2015 World Champions..."

JACK You know, I actually read about this game. Giants are literally on their own seven with 25 seconds on the clock...

VICTORIA Please do not reminisce on my         Comm, thank you very much. He puts the Bubbleship into a soft descent. Victoria observes it on her console.

(CONTINUED)

7.

CONTINUED: ( 2)

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Negative, technician. I have no         eyes in the sky for another ten minutes. Do not land. SEEN FROM INSIDE A STADIUM TUNNEL: The bubbleship lands thirty yards from the Drone, moors itself by setting spikes from its skids. Blowing sand whips around both.

INT. BUBBLESHIP - CONTINUOUS

JACK grabs an old YANKEES CAP from between the seats and slides it on backwards. He hoists a WEAPON, a carbine- sized gun on a sling, and checks its charge as he slides the door open. He's BLASTED with sand and wind which now suddenly still, like a freight train that's passed.

JACK Anyway... QB lets off this mile- high bomb...         The weather's fast and erratic like this. As Jack starts moving towards the Drone, a heavy mist forms, shrouding it in grey. There's almost no sound, just Jack's feet on         earth...

JACK (CONT'D)         The thing just sails the length of          the field. Victoria anxiously checks a screen, the arc of the Tet's         "vision" still not covering Jack's location.

VICTORIA Jack I have no scope. The Tet is         still offline. He pauses. A faint sound on the wind... like a whine.

JACK And at the one yard line...         interception. Devastation. It's         all over.

EXT. STADIUM - CONTINUOUS

LIGHTS connected to the ship's two AUTOMATIC GUNS reach from the hull of the BUBBLESHIP, backlighting JACK as he         reaches the downed drone.

(CONTINUED)

8.

CONTINUED: THE DRONE, a spectacular piece of technology, has landed hard, half-buried in the sand. The basic electronics are still humming, cycling.

JACK But the guy's too eager. He         starts running it back. Everyone's yelling "Fall down,         just fall down!" Jack goes to his knees, examining it, his hands expertly locate an empty tube-like space on the side of the Drone.

JACK (CONT'D)         Huh... The fuel-cell has been taken.

VICTORIA What do you mean taken? Was it a         malfunction? Jack looks at the casing... beaten, pried open? He         glances at the ground around him, the dark tunnels. REVERSE ANGLE. From inside a caved-in tunnel entrance, Jack looks small, vulnerable. Something watches Jack...

JACK No... It's a master drone, too. 166. Looks like it was hit mid flight, managed to limp its way here. Watch my back, I'm starting field repair. INTERCUT: VICTORIA AT SKY TOWER. Glances at the arc of         the Tet's vision - still six minutes away.

JACK (CONT'D)         Bob, I'm going to need a cell. AT THE BUBBLESHIP. An exterior compartment opens revealing spare parts, etc... At the same time, a small ROVER, an ball-shaped independent gopher, rolls free from the ship, sprouting wheels...

VICTORIA Jack, you need to get out of         there. Bring it home to the shop. Jack has a panel open. He pulls a lead from the sleeve of his suit, connects it to a board. We see FLIGHT DATA transfer to the Bubbleship.

(CONTINUED)

9

CONTINUED: ( 2)

JACK So the guy keeps running. 30, 40,          50 yards and BAM! He gets pasted. Ball goes loose...

VICTORIA Jack, you know they can weaponize a fuel cell. Now a DRIVER shoots out of the tool cuff of his suit.

JACK

(STARTING WORK) And wouldn't you know it, Giants recover, start running it back. Total insanity.

VICTORIA I'm reading the whole central core off alignment, you don't have the necessary tools. Jack's got an arm and half his chest inside. He takes his CHEWING GUM, presses it in next to a board...         Systems go green on Victoria's console.

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Hold on, what did you just do?

JACK (calling to the ship) Bob, I said I needed... He turns to find that the ROVER is already there, a         DEUTERIUM FUEL CELL sitting in its payload bay. A SOUND now reaches Jack. Distant, an animal in pain? Jack listens, but it's gone. He slots the cell. A         HUMMMM as the Drone powers up, systems coming online. Jack looks around at the stadium.

JACK (CONT'D)         Can you imagine it? 80,000 people on their feet. Everyone yelling "Go! Go! Go!..." Touchdown... He sets his gun against the Drone, raises his arms, running in a circle, making the crowd roar sound...

JACK (CONT'D)         "Yahhhhhhhhhhhhhh... ."

(CONTINUED)

10.

CONTINUED: (3) INTERCUT VICTORIA: Listening to his stadium cheer sound over the Comm. She rests her head in her hands. WITH JACK. The empty ruined structure stares back. Reality returns, sadly...         He reaches for the open Fuel Cell door... hesitates, hating what comes next... and that SOUND comes again. Distinctive. An animal's whimper...

INT. STADIUM TUNNEL - MOMENTS LATER

Jack stands at the tunnel entrance, shining a light into the depths. The sound is clear now, a low WHIMPERING. Jack makes his way down the tunnel, carefully. Ahead, the tunnel meets the circular tunnel that rings the stadium. His light plays over the silty floor, finds: A DOG. Starving, shivering. It COWERS in a corner.

JACK Hey there, boy. Easy...         Jack moves forward, hand out.

JACK (CONT'D)         You got nothing to be scared of, buddy... The dog suddenly SCURRIES away into the dark BEHIND JACK, a HUGE FORM RISES. We see GREY SKIN, TEETH... and Jack hears ITS HEAVY LABORED BREATH...

JACK (CONT'D)         Ah, shi...          JACK SPRINTS, full speed! The animal, A GIANT EMACIATED HAIRLESS BEAR, comes SURGING out of the darkness, lumbering after him. Jack TEARS back down the tunnel, the bear's form almost FILLING the tunnel behind him.

EXT. STADIUM - CONTINUOUS

We HEAR JACK before we see him. A loud "AHHHHHHHH'.!!!!" as Jack comes STREAKING out of the tunnel, the bear on         his heels.

(CONTINUED)

11.

CONTINUED: VIEW FROM ABOVE: Jack streaks down the field, 50, 40, 30.. The giant bear closing...         WITH JACK. He can see the drone in front of him, the Fuel Cell Door still hanging open. He puts on a burst of         speed but STUMBLES, sliding on his chest, arm outstretched towards the Drone as the bear LEAPS! He REACHES, flips the Drone's fuel cell door shut. Drone 166 REACTIVATES. It SURGES UP, weapons POWERING UP         and RRRRRRRRRRRRip!! It opens up with white plasma fire on the bear which seems to go nova in mid air, disintegrating to BLACK ASH which covers Jack. Jack stumbles to his feet. Drone 166 NOW WHEELS ON HIM. Its smoking red-hot cannons inches from his face. JACK averts his gaze as the Drone SCANS Jack. Breathing hard, hating this moment. With its ganglia still hanging out, it doesn't seem to be processing... And then just as         quickly, the Drone rockets up into the sky and is gone. Jack falls to his knees in the sand, exhausted. Only now realizing that Victoria has been calling his name.

VICTORIA Jesus, Jack. What the hell was that? INTERCUT VICTORIA. The Tet's scanners finally giving her a high-rez thermal view of Jack. Her display burning red from the residual plasma fire.

JACK

(SPITTING ASH) Call in number 166 for service up         top. It's practically got its motherboard and half its hydraulics hanging out. (under his breath) But it still wants to kill everybody...

VICTORIA Jack, what happened? Nowtrudging to the ship:

JACK I'll see you at the house later. You want anything? Milk? Bread? Anything else that doesn't exist?

(CONTINUED)

12.

CONTINUED: (2)

VICTORIA You. He leans against the ship. Smiles tired. It's a nice thing to hear.

JACK Well if you want anybody else, you're out of luck. He boards the BUBBLESHIP.

VICTORIA We only have two more months, Jack. Please try to resist the urge to do something stupid.

(BEAT) There's no other service signals. Come home. ON VICTORIA. A relationship off balance. She wants him home. He wants...

JACK No...         ON JACK. The captured Drone data right there in front of         him on the heads-up. He's too curious.

JACK (CONT'D)         That Master Drone was hit right over mid-town. Same area as the one we lost last night.

EXT. HILLSIDE -- LATER

JACK'S BUBBLESHIP, locked and armed, sits atop a ridge, against the bruised and lightning-fractured sky. Jack SCANS the horizon with his BINOCS, past deserted landscape, an early iron-framed skyscraper that came down semi-intact on its side. Nothing. He lowers the Binocs, glances upwards to where one of the HUGE RESOURCE GATHERERS blots out half the sky, breath- taking. It's hovering over what is left of a subsided harbor, a few blasted and rusted hulks of ships. The water level has dropped by a kilometer.

(CONTINUED)

13.

CONTINUED: The Gatherer is sucking up salt water, harvesting the elements essential to create DEUTERIUM, "Heavy Hydrogen." At the top of the giant machine, Drones work tirelessly, ferrying containers of Deuterium energy up into the sky. Jack raises the Binocs, snaps a few photographs...

VICTORIA There's no Drone signal there.

(BEAT) What are you doing, Jack?

JACK One day when we get to Mars, someone will want to know about this. From someone who was here. He stares at the HUGE columns of water draining upwards.

JACK (CONT'D)         Do we have to take it all?

VICTORIA It's not doing anyone any good here. JACK nods, starts to turn away when something GLINTS on         the horizon. He raises the Binocs, PANS to a gallows- like structure. He ZOOMS, but it is still unclear.

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Jack, without a signal, you're          looking for a needle in a          haystack. I think we've had enough excitement for one day. JACK is at the back of the Bubbleship, throwing levers.

JACK Actually I've got a bit of a         problem with a gyro here, call you when I've fixed it. He releases a catch, pulls a WHITE RECTANGULAR CASE from a slot in the Bubbleship. He kneels down, hands working expertly, producing a full UNFOLDING MOTORCYCLE. As Jack locks the rear wheel in place, the bike HUMMS to         life. He gets on and opens up the throttle, rooster- tailing off. The bike's electric, but it MOVES.

(CONTINUED)

14.

CONTINUED: ( 2) JACK rides over what used to be the sea-bed, soaking up         the thrill of catching top speed air over embankments of          black sand. Completely carefree, enjoying himself like a         man who is utterly and completely alone.

EXT. SINK HOLE - DAY

Something was here. A large metal beam has been propped onto rocks, stretching over... a COLLAPSED SECTION OF         EARTH. This was the source of the light reflection. Jack stares down into the hole... black. He POPS a         flare, drops it in. It comes to rest far below, next to         the unmistakable form of a DRONE.

JACK .There you are. An instant of BLACK... And we're suddenly looking at Jack THROUGH ALIEN BINOCULARS. High tech, symbol readouts changing. Something is watching him.

INT. SINK HOLE - DAY

Inside the hole, looking up. A CLIMBING ROPE spills towards camera. We descend with Jack, all the way down into the hole, the light receding above. He touches his suit and a light array blazes on, illuminating the walls passing by.

INT. LIBRARY -- DAY

Jack drops down through what used to be a roof... into the READING ROOM OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY. Vast, ruined, the far end totally collapsed, like a sky-scraper fell on it. He reaches the silty floor, the flare's         burning light illuminating the room. He STARES at the expanse of SHELVES that line the walls, stripped and empty. Wonder... and disappointment. He turns to his task, kneels by the Drone. The thing's a         wreck. A METAL SHAFT protrudes from a crease. Jack marvels at the accuracy of the shot...         He carefully reaches out, slides the fuel cell door open. Again, the FUEL CELL is missing.

(CONTINUED)

15

CONTINUED:

JACK Vika, you're not going to         believe...          WHITE NOISE on the comm. There's no signal down here.

EXT. HILLSIDE -- CONTINUOUS

The static BUBBLESHIP sits inert.

VICTORIA ON THE COMM Jack? Jack... ?

INT. SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - CONTINUOUS

Victoria, worried. Finally, she turns to the TET COMM. A station reserved for high-tech, long-range communication with the home base. A STATUS indicator, and a screen for text communication.

TET COMM STATUS: "COMMUNICATION ENABLED."

VICTORIA Mission, this is Lieutenant Victoria Kohl, requesting Drone intercept at coordinates sending now. Her AUDIO goes through a SCRAMBLING PROCESS, then is         uploaded where a few seconds later its receipt is          acknowledged: STATUS: "APPROVED." She stares up at the map, sees one of the Drones turn towards Jack's location. She settles back, watching.

INT. LIBRARY - DAY

JACK looks up and sees how the Drone was brought down: above it is a twisted tangle of chain-mesh and cables strung between two structures, a DRONE TRAP. MOVEMENT FROM THE DARKNESS. Jack spins, his gun coming off his back in a fluid motion. Just the empty cavern, the wreckage at the end. Jack squints at... a wall of books on the shelves beyond the wreckage.

JACK .Jackpot.

(CONTINUED)

16.

CONTINUED: He steps forward... ALMOST FALLS INTO A GIANT HOLE! He raises the flare off the ground, illuminating a void where the entire floor has imploded down seven more stories. What's left is a PIT, with a building-sized ton of twisted metal hanging over it...         A single bent GIRDER still spans the hole. Jack tracks the possibilities... steps out onto the girder. He         reaches up to the suspended wreckage to balance...          IT SHIFTS! A hundred tons of twisted metal just moved an         inch above him. Best leave that alone...         He balances, inching across this metal tightrope. Finally reaching the other side...

AT THE FAR SHELVES Jack approaches the wall of books, hundred of them. He         kneels, lifts one, blows dust off the cover: "THE

EDUCATION OF HENRY ADAMS."         He steps back, admiring it... SNAP! A BEAR TRAP hidden          in the debris closes around his leg, piercing armor and          flesh. Jack has a second to process and a cable rises          from the debris, goes taught!          JACK is dragged through the dust inhumanly FAST, headed          towards a darkened alcove. He activates a LASER CUTTER          on his cuff, slices through the cable which WHIPS AWAY as          he brings his rifle up, FIRES rounds into the darkness.          INHUMAN SCREAMS. Half animal, half electronic.          Something's in pain, but not retreating, CLOSING ON HIM.          Jack SLICES DOWN, cutting loose the claw, and RUNS FOR IT          back towards the HOLE as his girder is yanked away in          front of him, pulled into the void below.          Jack doesn't slow, reaches the edge, LEAPS!          A moment, Jack hanging in space, gravity clawing at him, falling... SLAMMING into the far side. For a moment dangling over the fall, then Jack hauls himself over the far side. ALIEN FORMS emerge from recesses. We get glimpses of         feathers, oily flesh, metal... They CLOSE as he reaches his line, clips in and RISES automatically, the suit riding the line up at neck-snapping speed...

(CONTINUED)

17.

CONTINUED: ( 2) ABOVE. The line trembles under his weight and stress... A KNIFE, improvised from bone and sheet metal, enters the frame and CUTS THE LINE. Jack has a second to feel the slack hit. And then he's         FALLING... IMPACTS the ground. Can't get his air. Staggering wildly to his feet, FORMS CLOSING...         Suddenly a DRONE blasts down through the ceiling hole. Its lights turning night to day, its cannons FIRING. In the STROBING FLASH of canon fire, we see SCAVS INCINERATED. Metal and hair fry to ASH as the insect- like creatures SCREAM!! Other shots IMPACT WALLS. Fire and plaster dust fills the space. Jack shields himself from the debris as the Drone ceases firing, WHIRLS on Jack. The same awful moment as it         SCANS him. Then it lifts away, is gone as quickly as it arrived. And with its departure, the darkness comes again. Silence, whatever was here is now gone. Jack takes in the destruction for a hard beat: The ash of an alien, burning paper twisting in the air. He looks up towards the light above. A long ways above.

EXT. SINK HOLE - LATER

Jack appears, dirty-faced, filthy and frustrated, crawling, lugging his own weight up through the sink hole. Finally back to the surface. He shakes himself off... notices his bike has been taken.

JACK

(AD-LIBBING

EXPLETIVES)         That was my bike!!          He kicks at the dust, the rocks, curses at the pain as          he's reminded of his injured leg. He stares at the long          walk ahead, the wall of wind and rain that now hits him,          soaking him. He starts walking.

18.

EXT. BUBBLESHIP - DUSK

The debris in the air makes for spectacular sunsets. Jack's Bubbleship bursts from the low clouds, carrying Jack home after the long day. We see the "PLANETARY         RING" formed by the rubble from the destroyed moon.

INT. BUBBLESHIP - CONTINUOUS

Jack marvels at the ring, thoughtful. But then checks his read-outs. Victoria knows what he's looking for.

VICTORIA Check your seven. Jack touches his controls and the Bubbleship Canopy REVOLVES so Jack's facing away from the direction he's         traveling in. Low on the HORIZON, the TET floats in the sky. It's         setting, glows a dull orange, like a Harvest Moon. INTERCUT VICTORIA. She's leaning back in her command chair, her feet propped on the console, also staring out at the Tet. Strangely quiet. In Jack's face a curious mixture of nostalgia, and confusion... This small metal planet is his home.

JACK Goodnight, folks... See you back here tomorrow. Same time, same channel... He punches the throttle, and screams across the tops of         the clouds through the beautiful light, arriving at...

EXT. SKY TOWER, LANDING PAD - CONTINUOUS

The GLASS walls of the SKY TOWER reflect the Bubbleship as it lands. HOOKS catch the landing rockers of the BUBBLESHIP and lock it down against the buffeting wind.

INT. SHOWER - DUSK

Jack drops the last piece of his environment suit. He         touches a button and warm water sprays down. Through the glass, he can see Victoria inside the Sky Tower. She nods at him, a tense welcome home. He nods back. There is no privacy in the Sky Tower.

(CONTINUED)

19.

CONTINUED: As the glass walls go opaque with steam, he closes his eyes, the water running over his face. POPS OF MEMORIES go through his imagination: SKY TOWER. Early in their tour, Victoria girlishly jumps on the sofa with a pint of ice cream, laughing. BEDROOM. Also early. Jack watches Victoria sleep, brushes hair from her face, affectionate...         And the memory... SEEMS TO DISTORT. Suddenly becoming: THE NEW YORK SKYLINE, seen through a cheap telescope. Jack, pulling away from the telescope, happy, turning to... A BRUNETTE WOMAN, staring back at him. Jack STARTS, snapping out of the memory.

INT. SKY TOWER, STORAGE AREA - DUSK

Rows and rows of shelves, mainly empty now. Jack and Victoria have gone through almost all of what they needed for a 5-year tour. Jack grabs a container of water.

INT. SKY TOWER, READY ROOM - MOMENTS LATER

Jack starts to hang up his workman's suit, pauses to         stare at the photo of a younger him and Victoria on the Tet. They look so eager, so innocent. He shifts slightly to where he can see out to the Tet itself, sinking below the horizon.

INT. SKY TOWER 2, WORK AREA - DUSK

The area is devoted to DRONE REPAIR. Lifts, parts, shelves, odds and ends of gear and weaponry, tables of         tools, a written-off DRONE at the back. Jack comes in, glances at his newest arrival, the self- beached DRONE 166. Even deactivated, it looks like trouble, like pure evil. He opens a drawer, slips THE EDUCATION OF HENRY ADAMS into the drawer, shuts it.

20.

INT. SKY TOWER, LIVING AREA - DUSK

We finally see the whole thing. It couldn't be more comfortable, although it continually vibrates in the wind: VICTORIA is sitting, reading her own work notes. In the background, Chaplin's "Modern Times" plays silently on a large screen. JACK goes up behind her and kisses her on the head.

VICTORIA (not looking at him) You're not supposed to bring up         surface items. JACK sips water, then waits even longer before...

JACK No. I'm not supposed to bring them in the house. He's right. He exchanges his water for a glass of         something stronger, and goes and sits down.

VICTORIA I tried to reach you earlier... If we're going to be an effective

TEAM --

JACK You're right.

VICTORIA Then you can't just -- Jack leaps up, only to return a second later with a small bundle held together by an old rag. He hands it to her, pleased, watching her reaction. She opens it to reveal a small GREEN SEEDLING in a pocket of fresh, rich soil. Her eyes play over it...

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Where did you find this?

JACK Ah-ha. So it's okay when I bring you something. But if I -- She MOVES suddenly, opening one of the glass doors of the Sky Tower and heading outside where she holds the seedling away from her body, off the edge, lets it drop.

(CONTINUED)

21.

CONTINUED: She comes back in, washes her hands in the sink, upset.

JACK (CONT'D)         Was that really necessary?

VICTORIA I know you think I'm a stickler for the rules, but you have no         idea what sort of toxins could be          in something like that. He chuckles...

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         I'm sorry, I don't think it's          funny.

JACK It was just a plant, Victoria.

VICTORIA That's not the point. We have two more months and the last thing we         need is you putting it all at          risk. He shakes his head, grimaces as he limps away.

VICTORIA (CONT'D)

(CONCERNED) You're hurt. What happened? He admits it with a glance, offers no explanation. She comes over to him, examines the wound professionally.

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Come on.

TNT. INFIRMARY BAY - DUSK It is tiny, but state of the art. VICTORIA seriously examines his wound, cleaning it out. It's no small wound but they're less concerned than we would be. Victoria pulls on gloves, opens cabinet and removes a         watery substance as well as a small electronic wand. She smears the substance onto his wound, a HEALANT.

VICTORIA This is gonna pinch a little...

(CONTINUED)

22.

CONTINUED:

JACK Hit me. She activates the wand, shines ultra violet light onto the substance. A beat, then he BENDS OVER in pain. Through the healant we see the FLESH begin to knit and repair. Skin and sinew literally regenerating... to new.

VICTORIA

(AFFECTIONATE) Serves you right. She kisses him on the forehead, turns away.

INT. SKY TOWER, DINING ROOM - LATER

Wine is involved, candles. Victoria is mellower, much. This is a couple who knows each other's differences and admires them. This isn't an argument.

VICTORIA .I'm not saying you can't go         into your caverns, I'm saying we          have a job and if I'm trying to          reach you and you're off on one of          your adventures --

JACK Look, they trained me to fix drones. That's my job, I get that. But it's not what I am. I         can't simply do the same thing over and over again, every day, with that... world down there. (toasts the sky) And if mission has a better Drone tech, they can get him to baby- sit. He gets up, tries out his leg. Stiff, but healed.

VICTORIA It's only a little while longer. The Gatherer's have collected most of the resources we need for Mars. Pretty soon --

JACK Pretty soon, there won't be         anything left down there. No more plant life, no more water.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

23.

CONTINUED:

JACK (CONT'D)         So forgive me if I want to enjoy it a little before the end.

VICTORIA You act like there's not a war going on down there but there is         and we can't leave even two of          those things alive...

(NO RESPONSE) Dammit, Jack. They nearly killed you today. They eat in silence for a moment, then:

JACK Actually, it was like they were trying to... catch me. (trying to joke) Guess I look tasty. He goes over to her, puts his arms around her.

VICTORIA Please be careful. If they get to         you, what happens to me? JACK puts a finger to her lips, then kisses her.

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Answer the question. Jack considers this. Then he pulls his shirt off over his head. For sex?

VICTORIA (CONT'D)

(PLEADING) Jack.

JACK Come on.

EXT. SWIMMING POOL - NIGHT

Talk about an infinity pool. The pool is miles in the sky, with a glass bottom. The cold wind is constant overhead but heaters flare with the changes in         temperature, compensating. Jack glides graceful underwater, his nude form silhouetted against the roiling dark clouds below. He         surfaces near Victoria, who's stayed dressed on the edge with a glass of wine.

(CONTINUED)

24.

CONTINUED: He kisses her, steals a sip of her wine, then pushes back into the water, looking up at the stars, the streaming moon-rubble above.

VICTORIA Can you imagine when we go back up? Having a face to face conversation again? I can't         believe it's finally ending.

(TOASTING HIM) We made it. Jack looks away...

JACK It's not so bad down here. They certainly don't have anything like this.

VICTORIA I wonder what duty I would have pulled. Probably programming the Mars boats.

JACK I'd have been overhauling the zero- G toilets.

(SHE LAUGHS) I'm serious, it's dangerous work. I mean, you think you have control of the situation. He swims closer. She smiles, he presses on.

JACK (CONT'D)         But then you realize, there are some things that were never supposed to happen in zero G.

VICTORIA Stop!

JACK It's awful. Just thinking about it, I get afraid... She LAUGHS, reaches for her wine, accidentally knocks the glass which tips over, and rolls right off the Sky Tower. They watch it disappear into the darkness below.

JACK (CONT'D)         Ocops.

(CONTINUED)

25.

CONTINUED: ( 2)

VICTORIA

(SUDDENLY) I've been happy here. With you. (watches water fall         from her hand) I can't remember zero gravity. Physically. Can you?

JACK Here, let me show you...         He reaches up PULLS her into the pool. She screams, laughing as she goes in. She surfaces, pulling her soaking shirt over her head and tossing it to the side.

VICTORIA I should have seen that coming. Jack smiles, then takes a breath and goes under. He         floats face-down, staring through the bottom of the pool into the lightening-stung clouds below... .and then Victoria's form glides underneath him, looking up at him, smiling. She stops moving and her body rises towards his. He opens his arms, and she floats up and against him. They embrace, kiss... Two bodies, intertwined underwater, a thousand feet above a roiling thunderstorm. Their lips part, he pulls back to look at her ...         But it's the BRUNETTE WOMAN who stares back at him!!

INT. SKY TOWER, BEDROOM -- LATE NIGHT

Jack wakes, breathless, troubled. He doesn't know this woman who invades his dreams...         Next to him, Victoria lies asleep, curled in the sheets. Shaken, he quietly gets up, grabs clothes... and goes where he goes when Victoria is asleep...

INT. SKY TOWER, WORKSHOP AREA - NIGHT

Jack moves to a BENCH where he keeps his finds... a few coins, a watch, a pistol, a snow globe showing the Nativity. A book: THE LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. JACK produces his newest find from the library: THE EDUCATION OF HENRY ADAMS. He opens it.

(CONTINUED)

26.

CONTINUED: . He was three years old when he took this earliest step in education; a lesson of color. The second followed soon; a         lesson of taste... ON HIS EYES as he reads: . he remembered quite clearly his aunt entering the sick room bearing in her hand a saucer with a baked apple. He puts the book down, strangely troubled.

TNT. SKY TOWER, COMAND CENTER - LATE NIGHT The console sits inert, unattended. Suddenly, a BLIP radiates on the MAP, its origin elsewhere. A signal.

EXT. DEEP SPACE - NO TIME

A NASA SHUTTLE floats in deep space, a recognizable design from our time.

INT. SPACE SHUTTLE - NO TIME

Empty, dark. Frozen crystalline dust hangs in the air. The ship is dead. Suddenly a panel "blips" on. Other systems go active. The ship is waking up. There's a VISIBLE RUMBLE as the engines prime...         FURTHER BACK, in the hold. ROWS OF DELTA SLEEP PODS. We         close on one...

AND THE SHUTTLE'S GIANT ENGINES ERUPT IN FIRE.

INT. SKY TOWER, BEDROOM - MORNING

Jack's eyes blink open, waking from another dream. He         sits up, troubled.

EXT. SKY TOWER - DAWN

Victoria works in her GARDEN. She grows perfect, blemishless ROSES. The roof is open to the sky. Victoria makes a small depression in the earth, taps three seeds out of a labeled envelope.

(CONTINUED)

27

CONTINUED: JACK comes through, kisses her. Then moves off towards his work.

VICTORIA Don't go out today until we get a         signal. Jack looks back. She's never said this before. She's         genuinely worried.

JACK .Then what would you say in your report? Victoria looks away, stuck.

JACK (CONT'D)         I can't get to a site fast enough unless I'm already out there. You know that. He turns, disappears through the glass mechanical doors.

EXT. SKY TOWER - MOMENTS LATER

JACK suits up and gets into the bubbleship and for the first time we see the startup procedure.

JACK One, Two, Three. Jack Harper. Lights sparkle across the board. Activation sounds. Jack hits switches. Outside, protective barriers lower. The stratospheric wind VIBRATES the bubbleship.

JACK (CONT'D)         What say we have a little fun today, Bob? The Bobblehead vibrates along with the engines. INTERCUT VICTORIA putting on her headset.

VICTORIA (ON COMM) What's that, Jack?

JACK Just thinking I'd take Bob manual for the dust-off. Feeling the need.

(CONTINUED)

28

CONTINUED:

VICTORIA A hundred terraformed acres on         Mars is all you have to think about.

INT. SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - CONTINUOUS

VICTORIA stares out from her windows above the clouds.

VICTORIA

(TO HERSELF) I love you. He waves, blows the chocks. The WIND whipping off the tops of the clouds instantly grabs the ship, HURTLES it         into the void. WITH JACK, just letting the wind twist him and the ship in freefall. Loving this feeling. Victoria. turns professionally to her console. THE TET SYMBOL ON THE SCREEN, the COUNT DOWN TO TET-RISE. She opens video streams, loses herself in her work.

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Time as indicated. Technical officer away on autonomous patrol as of this transmission. Border Beacons surrounding the radiation sector are 100% operative...

STATUS: "LOG RECEIVED."

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         You're welcome... Victoria takes a sip of coffee, turns to another task, when again a BLIP on her map pulls Victoria's attention back. That signal, radiating near Jack's position. She swipes up a grid, intensifies her sensors...

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Jack... I've got a rogue signal. Might just be interference, but there shouldn't be anything there.

JACK Drone? Already she's got the signal analyzed on six different screens. No matches...

(CONTINUED)

29.

CONTINUED:

VICTORIA

(TROUBLED) No... It's.. I'm not sure what it is. INTERCUT Jack listening to her in the Bubbleship.

JACK Don't be embarrassed, there's         always a first time.

(BEAT) Send it over. I'll check it out. Victoria hesitates... hits a key.

VICTORIA On its way. Be careful, okay?

EXT. WATERFALL - DAY

Jack's ship skims over the surface of a deep pool of         water. Up ahead, a waterfall explodes its force into the pool, spray and mist already reaching the Bubbleship.

JACK All right, I'm coming up to the location. Jack begins flying slowly up the twelve hundred foot wall of falling water which almost seems to conceal a Petra behind its veil. Jack reaches the top... JACK'S POV - THE SPIRE AND OBSERVATIONAL DECK of the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, now part of a cliff, set in         shifted sea-bed, a gushing river pouring past.

EXT. OBSERVATION DECK - MOMENTS LATER

Jack lands and gets out of the craft, grabbing his weapon and Yankees cap as he does. He looks around, half nervous, half in awe that the old girl is still standing.

JACK (under his breath) New York, New York... It's a         wonderful town. The Bronx is up, and the Battery's down...         He can hear nothing over the wind and the water. He         moves to the balcony edge, looks "downtown" at the sunken city. A Venice set in a matrice of rubble and sea-bed.

(CONTINUED)

30.

CONTINUED: He notices an old PAY TELESCOPE next to him, bent and rusted. He puts his eyes to the lenses. Nothing. Black. He STARES at the 25-cent slot on top, lost in a deep sense of Deja-Vu...

VICTORIA Jack, you're right on top of it. What do you see? Jack starts a circuit of the deck. A pile of old deck chairs in his way, he pushes at them with his foot... finds a WIRE, running below them, linked to two CAR BATTERIES, hidden under the rubbish. He traces the path of the wire... up.

EXT. TOP OF THE ESB ANTENAE - LATER

JACK has made an arduous climb to discover a TRANSMITTER, hooked to an old MILITARY REPEATER, and both hooked to...         we look up as Jack does... the RUSTED, DAMAGED, ESB Antenna atop the building.

JACK Bob, give me audible on this signal. Almost immediately from the Bubbleship comes the intermittent electronic SQUACK of the signal.

EXT. OBSERVATION DECK - MOMENTS LATER

At the bubbleship, Jack watches the frequency analysis of         the signal play on his heads-up. He touches the screen and the signal goes quiet.

VICTORIA What did you find?

JACK It's an old radio system. It's         been reactivated.

VICTORIA Define reactivated. Jack looks at the batteries, the wire...

(CONTINUED)

31.

CONTINUED:

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Jack, that signal's going out over the whole territory. You need to         blow the structure.

JACK It's the Empire State --

VICTORIA It's ancient history, Jack. You know the procedure. Blow it. He pulls several CHARGES from the Bubbleship's storage, starts to set them...         He pauses, staring at the railing, the old telescope. Change of plans. He walks towards the batteries, a blade sliding out of the cuff of his suit. He reaches them and SEVERS the lines. The signal dies.

EXT. OBSERVATION DECK - MOMENTS LATER

The Bubbleship lifts off. Jack can't help staring down at the Observation Deck as the ship lifts into the air.

TNT. BUBBLESHIP - DAY Jack is in the air, troubled. Up ahead in the distance we see a LARGE NATURAL RIDGE. Some instruments light up.

VICTORIA Check your course, you're headed right at the border.

JACK Yeah, I may have seen another drone trap...

INTERCUT VICTORIA She checks her map. Jack's Bubbleship is headed straight at a large red swath of territory marked out, toxic radiation levels constantly monitored. A small ALARM goes off in the Bubbleship cabin.

VICTORIA You're at the edge of range, Jack. You're starting to break up.

(CONTINUED)

32.

CONTINUED:

JACK It's okay --

VICTORIA

(SERIOUS) No, it's not okay. You get in too close that radiation --

JACK -- will cook me from the inside before I know it. Don't worry, I'm still more than five clicks from the beacons...         IN THE BUBBLESHIP. A BIGGER ALARM goes off, Red skull- and-crossbones flash across the heads-up. Jack DIVES the ship, down over huge rocky outcroppings. Jack, intent on piloting. Static. Some GARBLED SOUNDS. Victoria's voice barely coming through.

VICTORIA What are -- you out there Jack? The signal goes to pure static as Jack steers into a         steep canyon, rock on all sides. Barely room to squeeze, but Jack's not worried. This is all familiar.

JACK That's right, Bob. You know where we're going.

INT. SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - CONTINUOUS

Victoria stares at the screen, static hiss low and empty. It's not the first time he's done this, but she hates it         every time.

VICTORIA Jack...? Victoria works the panel, upping signal, boosting reception. The static is again MIXED WITH GARBLED SOUNDS. She listens, confused, ups the volume...         BLIP! That signal from the Empire State starts again. This time it LOCKS ON, a loud and continuous electronic pattern.

33.

EXT. CRATER LAKE - DAY

JACK's ship emerges from a canyon into a beautiful landscape we have never seen before. This is Jack's         SECRET PLACE. TREES exist on an island surrounded by         clean water. And near the shore, a GROTTO, a carved-out portion of the hillside, supported with scavenged timbers, protected by         plastic tarps. A ton of gear is piled inside. JACK has been scavenging for a long time. The BUBBLESHIP lands. JACK walks into the structure, slapping on a relay from a SOLAR GENERATOR. All around are young growing plants, including small yellow flowers and their GREEN SEEDLINGS -- the same Jack gave to Vika. Jack kneels down by an old military JAMMER. He checks a         screen: the Crater Lake location is being jammed.

INT_SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - DAY Victoria sits, the repetitive audio of the signal playing from her console. She stares at the empty map, the notable absence of the Bubbleship's icon on it. She keys the Comm, one last time.

VICTORIA Jack? Jack, I really need you online...

EXT. CRATER LAKE - DAY

A RECORD PLAYER is taped into his solar power system. An         EARLY METAL POWER-BALLAD floats out of the speakers. Jack has a basketball hoop lashed to a pole. He shoots hoops by himself, the ROVER retrieves the ball. LATER. Jack brings a single CHAIR out in front of the water. He sits, and with care produces the books he's         brought with him. He opens one with burnt edges:

TREASURE ISLAND. .I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand- barrow...         JACK is in an obscure state of frustration. He lifts another book, THE LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME:

(CONTINUED)

34

CONTINUED: How can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods...         Jack closes the books, strangely unsatisfied...

INT. SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - DAY

ON VICTORIA, stuck with the audio signal playing. She moves the Tet Comm, hesitates. Then keys the control.

VICTORIA Mission, this is Lieutenant Victoria Kohl, requesting a link. I may have a situation...         A beat while the connection is made, then...

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Lt. Kohl, standby.

(BEAT) What is your situation?

VICTORIA I have a rogue signal of unknown origin. I'm sending you a relay.

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Have your Technician locate and report.

VICTORIA (loathe to admit) Technician is... experiencing technical difficulties...         She winces, that wasn't the greatest lie. Waits...

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Are you still an effective team?

VICTORIA Yes, we're an effective team.

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Understood. Have your Technician locate and report.

VICTORIA

(SUDDENLY) We're happy, to be coming home.

(CONTINUED)

35.

CONTINUED: A long beat. Then:

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) (beat, then) It'll be good to have you back, Vika. Two more months. : )         Victoria SMILES despite herself. Nods, emotional.

VICTORIA Will communicate findings on next Tet cycle. Understood. Victoria clocks off. Stares at the border area on the map where she last saw Jack. A KLAXON goes off in her workspace. Victoria STARTS. For the first time she seems confused as she works the console. She can't immediately figure it out... Suddenly she brings up a WIDE SCAN for tracking the Tet, The whole Eastern Coast of the continent. And something is closing, coming over the poles, FAST.

ON VICTORIA...

EXT. CRATER LAKE - DAY

Jack folds the page of his book, stuffs it in his cargo pocket and walks down to the water sparkling over stones. Motion catches his attention. It's the ROVER, approaching with the basketball.

JACK So, um... Victoria. The ROVER shifts, confused.

JACK (CONT'D)         I was thinking, when our tour is          up, maybe we'd stay. We could put in for another -- Wait, wait. Stop yelling. Hear me out. No, don't throw that, that's a...         The ROVER turns around. Jack smiles at the poor machine's confusion. The smile dying... this is serious.

JACK (CONT'D)         Maybe you should go, and I should stay...

(CONTINUED)

36.

CONTINUED: The ROVER leaves, obedient. Jack watches it go, sad. He's spoken the words. He lies back on the bank, looks at the clouds rolling overhead.

JACK (CONT'D)         I should stay...          His eyes... close.

INT. JACK'S DREAMS - VARIOUS

AN ELEVATOR. It climbs a gantry towards a SHUTTLE. POV looks over, sees a YOUNGER VICTORIA, who smiles back, nervous...         -- A GLASS CARAPACE. A WOMAN'S FACE inside. The same Brunette woman. Her eyes open, she SMILES WITH LOVE...         .then SCREAMING! JACK'S POV SPINS as A SCAV looms through ORANGE LIGHT and DUST, snarling with its electronic squeal...

WOMAN'S VOICE

JACK!!! JACK's eyes snap open. It is much later in the day. He         scrambles to his feet, breathing hard, remembering SOMETHING... something desperate...

BOOM! What appears to be A METEOR streaks across the sky, leaving a trail of flame and white smoke. Jack grabs his binocs and traces the meteor path...         resolves it just barely as the shuttle, crashing down. It disappears over a rise, a beat, then a FIERY

EXPLOSION.

JACK Bob! Let's get going! The Bubbleship is already powering up by the time Jack piles in. He touches a control and the ship shoots up         into the air.

INT. BUBBLESHIP - MOMENTS LATER

Jack sets a course towards the smoke on the horizon.

(CONTINUED)

37

CONTINUED:

JACK Vika? Vika, did you get that? An         object hit near here. A ship.

VICTORIA Where the hell have you been? Jack's silent, not wanting to lie. INTERCUT VICTORIA, looking at streaming info from TET.

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         (tense, professional) It's an external. An alien ship. It's a God damn Scav vessel in the Western Valley.

JACK I saw it through optics in the last minute. I'm not sure it was alien.

VICTORIA Turn around, Jack. The Drones will handle the situation.

JACK The Drones'll kill anything that moves.

VICTORIA Just for once wait for your orders on this one, Jack. This is         serious. Jack is silent, unsure. The crash site growing closer...

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Technician. This is your Control. Turn around.

JACK Vika...

VICTORIA You heard me. Another hard beat. Jack hating this but...

JACK Negative. I'll report when I get to the site.

(CONTINUED)

38.

CONTINUED: ( 2) IN THE BUBBLESHTP. Bob seems to shake his head.

JACK (CONT'D)         (sotto, to Bob:) What are you looking at?

INT. SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - CONTINUOUS

Victoria STARES at her Comm. This has never happened.

EXT. CRASH SITE -- DAY

A MOUNTAINOUS AREA of what was once sea-bed. Smoky orange fire blows across the ruined landscape. A fire in         a dust storm. A GUST now reveals... The crashed NASA space shuttle, with the name ODYSSEY on         its fractured hull.

INT. BUBBLESHIP - CONTINUOUS

JACK is circling the wreckage, looking down.

JACK I'm here, and it's definitely one of ours.

VICTORIA I'm not confirming this from the Tet.

JACK I'm confirming it. I'm right here. Vika works her displays, scanning, wanting to keep him safe. The wreckage has strewn out thousands of flaming pieces of debris, all which register heat signatures.

JACK (CONT'D)         This thing is ancient, one of the old pre-war shuttles. JACK'S POV - THE WRECKAGE. The ship's guts are strewn across the earth. Several pod-like canisters strewn around, more fixed into the burning wreckage.

39.

EXT. CRASH SITE -- CONTINUOUS

JACK TOUCHES DOWN, rolling out of his Bubbleship even before it's settled. He heads straight into the burning wreckage, into hell. Heat SEARING his eyes, disorienting him. All around metal POPS and GROANS as it distends. He moves through metal panels, dodging flames and burning debris -- searching wildly. Jack sees what looks like a SURVIVOR! HAULS it over to         discover it's only an empty NASA jumpsuit. But beyond that... A DELTA-SLEEP POD, split wide open. Its interior EMPTY. Jack moves on, finds another POD, presses his face against the glass...         A HUMAN FACE on the other side. A MAN, sleeping...         A FUEL EXPLOSION plumes into the dark sky. Jack STUMBLES ON, tracks another pod literally ON FIRE. Beyond that, a         whole portion of the ship is semi-intact, the hull ripped lengthwise. Jack tracks a burnished STEEL CYLINDER with radioactive markings, locked in strong moorings... And near that, another POD, still locked in the ship's         wall. Jack moves to it, wiping away soot and grime, pressing his face close and sees her...

.THE BRUNETTE WOMAN FROM HIS DREAMS. She's asleep, her face lit by moving firelight. JACK is         stunned. Eyes dart to readouts: She's alive. ON JACK. Confused, amazed, moved. He puts a hand out, towards the glass of the pod...

JACK

OKAY SVUNK! SVUNK! Behind Jack, plasma rounds impact the Pod with the man in it, the metal going nova, collapsing...

JACK (CONT'D)

NO! 1! Cannon fire erupts all around him! TWO DRONES settle on         the site, their weapons kicking out energy, locking on          and destroying Pods...

JACK (CONT'D)         NO! NO! They're firing on the ship. Vika, it's one of ours.

40.

INT. SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - CONTINUOUS

Victoria stares at her screens, perhaps for the first time in her life, frozen. Jack's voice blares over speakers.

JACK There are people here, and they're         killing them! Victoria opens her mouth to respond. She can't.

EXT. CRASH SITE - CONTINUOUS

A Drone passes right over Jack, locks into position, lining its cannons on the Pod with the WOMAN in it...         Jack moves between the Drone and the Pod. The Drone hesitates...         SCANS him. Weapons literally red hot from repeated fire. The Drone SHIFTS AGAIN, FAST, looking for its shot. Jack counters, keeping his body between the Drone and the Pod.

JACK Get out of here! Go away! Get! A moment of insane bravado, Jack un-shoulders his weapon, strafes the Drone with gunfire which knocks it back. It re-centers, weapons chugging with energy. INTERCUT VICTORIA. Staring at the feeds. A screen catching a half-image of Jack firing at the Drone. She's         absolutely still, holding her breath...          Jack stares at the Drone, at certain death.

JACK (CONT'D)         Well, what the hell are you waiting for? GO ON! And suddenly, the Drone moves on, Canons live, searching on into the wreckage, annihilating other Pods. ON JACK, chest heaving... An instant of BLACK, shuttering back to: CROSS-HAIR POV: We suddenly see Jack through CROSS- HAIRS, tracking him as he shields the Delta Pod with his body, dragging it towards the Bubbleship...

(CONTINUED)

41.

CONTINUED: A high-tech, high-powered RIFLE rests in two alien- armored hands. Like a metal-coated insect tarsus (barbed         feet of a fly). The alien begins to depress the trigger... Then another tarsus presses the barrel down. Don't. Don't fire. SHIFTING OVER: Close on an ALIEN. Our first real look, still too close to truly comprehend. Thick stubbled hair armored with metal, bones; A head-dress of authority. Behind layers of dusted cracked goggles, the older alien eye... blinks.

EXT. CRASH SITE - CONTINUOUS

JACK reaches the Bubbleship, heaves the Delta Pod onto the carrier which immediately secures it with armatures designed to carry damaged drones. JACK steals another look at the sleeping face of the WOMAN. He touches the glass, wiping away soot and dust.

JACK It's you...

SEEN FROM FAR AWAY The Bubbleship flies up and up, The DELTA SLEEP POD securely hanging from its belly, carrying Jack and this mysterious woman away into the evening sky.

EXT. SKY TOWER, BUBBLESHIP PAD - SUNSET

The WIND is wild and brutal. As the Bubbleship touches down, CLAMPS snap on the landing skids. Jack is in motion, bursting out of the ship. He glances up. Victoria stands behind the glass of the Sky Tower living room, staring at him. THUNK. He releases the armature. HAULS the Pod with him towards the house. HAMMERS ON THE GLASS.

JACK Open it! Victoria obeys, opens the glass doors. WIND fills the living room as Jack hauls the Pod in. Then Victoria touches a control and the walls SEAL.

(CONTINUED)

42.

CONTINUED:

JACK (CONT'D)         The drones tried to kill her. They destroyed the other survivors.

VICTORIA

(RATIONALIZING) Well it didn't recognize her. It's machinery. It's programmed

MACHINERY --

JACK She came off a NASA shuttle. The drones were specifically targeting the pods --

VICTORIA I don't know what the machinery did or didn't do. There's         protocol...

JACK Protocol? Protocol?! Who's the machinery now, Victoria? VICTORIA stares at him. Then retreats from the question into the task at hand. She kneels by the Pod.

VICTORIA Go get the cutter, and a breather, and my big bag. Now. The Pod's         been damaged, she's not doing well, let's get her out of there. Jack moves. Victoria, almost holds back, but...

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         .This has to be reported. HE SPINS. Stares at her. Really angry.

JACK I know it does. And when we         report it, we'll also report that drones slaughtered the other human survivors from one of our ships. See what they make of that. He goes for the equipment. Victoria stares at the woman's face, deeply unsettled...         Jack returns with Victoria's bag, and firing up a CUTTER.

(CONTINUED)

43.

CONTINUED: ( 2)

VICTORIA Right there, be careful...         Jack directs the blue arc towards a seal. The Pod depressurizes with a sudden exhale of dead air. Jack pulls back the pod door. Inside, the woman lies in a gauzy sleep suit. Her hair is matted. Her body looks frail, her skin translucent, veins dark, lips blue, like a drowning victim. Vika pulls her feeding tube, takes her pulse, checks her eyes, lifting the lids.

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Lift her up, we have to get some air into her. JACK gets his arms around the woman, pulling her upwards. FLUID seeps from her mouth... And suddenly she's ALIVE, COUGHING, spewing fluid across Jack and the floor. He sets her down as she painfully wretches, then SUCKS IN AIR. Her eyes flutter open. She's suddenly violently ill again. Instinctively, Jack goes to hold her --

VICTORIA (CONT'D)

(PROFESSIONAL) No. Don't. Let her get the fluid out. The woman stops heaving. Looks up at both of them... She tries to stand, disoriented by the glass walls, the infinite vertigo that surrounds them. She falls to her knees and stares with amazement down into the clouds. Jack kneels beside her, puts a hand on her shoulder.

JACK You're safe. You're in a         skytower, on Earth.

WOMAN .Jack. Victoria gives a sharp look at Jack. He's stunned. Now completely exhausted, the woman SLUMPS into unconsciousness. Jack catches her. Victoria comes close, slides an oxygen breather mask over her face.

(CONTINUED)

44.

CONTINUED: (3)

VICTORIA We need to get her cleaned up.

INT. SHOWER - MOMENTS LATER

A bizarre and almost beautiful tableau: ALL THREE together under the water, Jack holding the unconscious Woman like a child. The warm water spraying over their three forms, soaking the woman's gauzy suit which clings to her body. Water running across Jack and Victoria's         faces, their open eyes, locked on each other. The water finally stops.

VICTORIA We have to get her up to the Tet.

JACK I know.

VICTORIA I don't have the facilities here. Once she's stable...

JACK I know. The glass door slides open behind them. Neither move.

VICTORIA What's going on? He shakes his head. He has no idea.

INT. INFIRMARY BAY - LATER

The WOMAN lies in a bed. VICTORIA checks her readouts, adjusts her UV drip. She glances over her and realizes that the woman's eyes are open, staring at her. Beat. Victoria turns, offers the woman some water.

VICTORIA Here. Drink this. You're         dehydrated... You've been in a         very bad crash. Your ship came down. This DISTURBS the woman. She tries to sit up.

(CONTINUED)

45.

CONTINUED:

WOMAN What about the others? How did you get out?

VICTORIA What's your name?

WOMAN .Julia. Julia. The woman, JULIA, sinks back down, exhausted.

VICTORIA You need to rest quietly. You've         been in delta sleep for a long time.

JULIA How long...?

VICTORIA Best guess? About 65 years. Julia takes that in...

JULIA Where's Jack...? Julia STARTS. Looks down at her arm where Victoria has just slid a needle under her skin. She stares at her, almost afraid. Victoria depresses the plunger.

VICTORIA Shhhhhh...

EXT. SKY TOWER - NIGHT

SEEN FROM AFAR. The Sky Tower a lonely refuge in a         roiling storm, turning on its axis, like a weather-vane And we PLUNGE DOWN. Down and down, to the base of the SKYTOWER, to see...

EXT. SKY TOWER BASE - NIGHT

AN ALIEN, battered by wind, rags blowing, raises its mask to the sky. Looking up towards the tower. It wears the DISTINCTIVE HEAD-DRESS that we have seen before.

46 ,

INT. SKY TOWER, DINING AREA - NIGHT

Victoria is very subdued, poking at food. Both very aware of the woman sleeping in the infirmary.

VICTORIA Tomorrow, I'll report that we have her. Jack nods, but won't look at her. Deep in thought.

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Jack...

(BEAT) What do you want from me, Jack? This isn't just a Shakespeare Sonnet, a buffalo nickel, some vase...

JACK It's a Greek funeral vase. Which I want my ashes in, incidentally. Victoria collects the dishes, heads for the kitchen.

JACK (CONT'D)         I just think we need to know why.

VICTORIA Jack, please. This isn't why we're here. This is just what we         have to do before our real lives begin. We've given them five years and now we get to go home.

(BEAT) So just leave this alone. It's         not our job.

JACK And what if I can't?         They stare at each other, each obscurely frightened.

EXT. INFIRMARY - NIGHT

Julia sleeps, a mask taped to her face, oxygen hissing. Jack watches her. Now cleaned and dry, there's a         natural, earthy, freckled beauty to her. Air passing peacefully through her lips, now returned to color.

(CONTINUED)

47.

CONTINUED: Jack reaches out to brushes hair from her face. He         notices the outline of a necklace with a pendant under her nightgown.

INT. SKY TOWER, KITCHEN - NIGHT

Victoria sets dishes in a dishwasher. She stops. She can see Jack in the Infirmary, staring at Julia.

INT. WORKSHOP AREA - NIGHT

DRONE 166 sits in its hub, repaired. Jack replaces a          panel, moves to a laptop and activates the drone. It POWERS UP, rising fast, bringing its canons around. We should be afraid, very afraid, that something is wrong with it. It SCANS Jack, as menacing as ever. But something's changed in Jack. He just stares back at it. Beat. Then the DRONE FIRES itself off into the black clouds, disappearing towards the earth below. Jack stares after it; then he turns, looks across empty space to the underside of the glass pool. Victoria has just dived in. She swims laps, kicking hard, bubblestreams peeling across her body. Exercise, not pleasure.

EXT. SKY TOWER, POOLSIDE - NIGHT

Jack stands at the end of the pool, watches Victoria stoke powerfully towards him. She sees him as she reaches the edge, stops, looking up at him. This is important, something Jack's been wanting to say for a long time:

JACK I read these books, of what it was like down here, before...         He sits, his legs dangling into the water. She pulls up         close, her arms on the side.

JACK (CONT'D)         In this one book I was reading, a          man describes being a child. He         remembers a yellow kitchen, a          baked apple.

(CONTINUED)

48.

CONTINUED:

VICTORIA I know. That was the world before. Your little obsession...

JACK What was so wonderful about life on the Tet? She looks away...

JACK (CONT'D)         When our time is up next month. I         want to put in for one more tour. Victoria pushes off from the side, drifts back...

JACK (CONT'D)         It's almost all gone, Victoria. I         want to be here for the end. She turns, resumes swimming laps. Hard, driving through the water. He watches her for a moment, then turns away.

INT. SKY TOWER - NIGHT

Victoria comes in from the pool. She can see Jack in the bedroom, sitting on the bed, his back to her. She moves into the Infirmary, moves to Julia and checks her IV drip. She starts to adjust it, stops. She stares down at Julia.

INT. SKY TOWER, BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATER

Victoria comes in from the infirmary. She opens a         closet, changes into a night shirt.

JACK

VIKA -- She turns and grabs him, desperate.

VICTORIA Please. Please. Don't you understand? We have a chance to         be on the first boats out, to be          the first to settle Mars, raise a          family. Five years. Proof that we are an effective team.

(CONTINUED)

49.

CONTINUED: She holds his face, kisses him, willing him to want her as desperately.

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         Everything we've wanted is waiting for us up there. Please, Jack.

JACK I don't know if it is or not, Victoria. I can't remember. She starts to reply... has nothing. Shakes her head. She grabs blankets and pulls them around herself, her back to him, her eyes open, scared. Jack also lies down, staring upwards. And then Jack asks the 64,000 dollar

QUESTION:

JACK (CONT'D)         Do you remember her? Victoria doesn't move. Stares straight out.

EXT. THE SKYTOWER - NIGHT

WIND shakes the SKYTOWER, and the clouds boil beneath it. Jack and Victoria sleep next to each other. In the infirmary, Julia sleeps alone. A machine "beeps."

EXT. OBSERVATION DECK - DAY (DREAM)

We're in the deep saturation of Jack's dream. Images fly by, then SLOW. People, enjoying the view. New York City. Jack, looking through the pay telescope. Then turning, seeing...         Julia right next to him, smiling up, happy.

INT. THE SKY TOWER, BEDROOM - NIGHT

Jack's eyes open. That dream again. Victoria's still asleep next to him. He rises out of bed...

INT. SKY TOWER - VERY EARLY MORNING

Jack pads out into the main room. STOPS when he sees Julia, risen from the infirmary, standing at one of the glass walls of the Sky Tower, staring out.

(CONTINUED)

50.

CONTINUED: It's early early morning. Probably 3:00 am. While it's          dark below, the first signs of dark blue and orange sunrise are visible on the horizon. THE PLANETARY RING glows with soft golden light. JULIA'S POV: In the distance, the Tet is rising, faint light on its surface as it crests the planet's curve. VERY CLOSE on Julia. The image of Tet reflected in the corneas of her eyes. She's been crying, silently, and alone. One hand at her chest.

JACK It's beautiful, isn't it? It's         your home now.

(NO RESPONSE) How do you feel? She wipes her eyes.

JULIA A bit more... located.

JACK What was your shuttle's mission? She turns to him, watches him carefully in the dim light. And then, lying:

JULIA I don't remember. I should get back to the ship. I might be able to find the flight recorder.

JACK Your ship... it's pre-war.

JULIA (again, careful) Have you ever seen a ship like that?

JACK No. No, of course not. This answers something important for Julia.

JULIA I wonder what brought us back?

JACK .There was a transmission. I         don't know who sent it.

(CONTINUED)

51.

CONTINUED: (2)

JULIA We'll never really know without the flight recorder. (almost casually...) She says we can't go down there, that it's too dangerous. He laughs a little, shakes his head.

JULIA (CONT'D)         What?

JACK Funnily enough, you've found your man.

JULIA

(SMILING) Have I?         An awkward beat, then:

JACK How did you know my name?

JULIA .You look like someone I once knew. (extending her hand) I understand I owe you my life. Thank you, Jack. They shake. A weird moment. She breaks away, looks back at the Tet which now glows a pale orange on the horizon.

JULIA (CONT'D)         What happens now?

JACK In a few hours, the Tet will come online. Victoria will report your rescue and I imagine they'll send someone down for you.

JULIA From... the `Pet?

JACK Yes. She gestures out to the Bubbleship on its pad.

(CONTINUED)

52.

CONTINUED: ( 3)

JULIA You fly that thing?

JACK .You could say that. She SMILES, pleased. A twinkle in her eye...

JULIA Alright then. Don't you want to         know?

EXT. SKY TOWER, BUBBLESHIP PAD - EARLY MORNING

JACK and JULIA are suited up, ready to go. The Tetis still low and far on the dark horizon, silhouetted bythe first signs of sunlight growing in the East... The Bubbleship's ENGINES start up with their distinctive whine. As they head towards the ship, Victoria comes out from the house, a robe pulled on...

VICTORIA Jack! What are you doing?

JACK I'll bring her back before Tet- Rise. We just want to try to find the flight recorder. You can't         know everything watching from a          mile up.

VICTORIA She shouldn't be -- Julia turns on Victoria, quickly.

JULIA Thank you. I feel very well. Then, coldly, she boards the ship.

JACK She's the flight officer, she wants. to see the wreck of her ship and secure items there. You'd         want to do the same thing.

VICTORIA Jack, please.

(CONTINUED)

53.

CONTINUED:

JACK Don't worry, we'll be back before you have to make your report.

VICTORIA That's not it. I can't protect you with the Tet offline and I         just have a very bad...

JACK I'll be fine. He turns and boards. Julia is staring at her through the bubble-canopy. The bubbleship rises and then falls off to the side, plummeting towards earth.

INT. BUBBLE SHIP - EARLY DAWN

Jack pulls the ship out of its dive, sets course across the altered earth. Julia is STARING down, a little afraid, but darkly fascinated...         Victoria's voice cuts through on the Comm.

VICTORIA Jack... This isn't just about protocol. I'm trying to         understand.

JACK

(BEAT) I'll be home for breakfast. And he SWITCHES OFF the Comm.

INT. SKY TOWER, COMAND CENTER - CONTINUOUS

Victoria STARES at the dead Comm. A moment, then she SLAMS the panel with her fists. She backs off, staring at the panel.

INT. BUBBLESHIP - CONTINUOUS

They fly in silence. Julia gazes down at sights we're by         now familiar with, becoming visible as the first light hits. The craters, emaciated seascape.

(CONTINUED)

54.

CONTINUED:

JULIA So I guess I'm around... a hundred years old.

(BEAT) What happened next? He gestures towards the moon ring in the sky.

JACK The Scavs assumed taking out the moon would wipe us out, and it         almost did. But we re-grouped, fought back. We beat them in the end. She glances at him.

JACK (CONT'D)         That's if you call nuking half the planet beating anybody. He looks at her, shrugs. They fly past a RESOURCE GATHER, its column of water lifting from the seas.

JACK (CONT'D)         We harvest seawater to supply the Mars colony with the energy we         need to live there. We're almost done. Pretty soon, there'll be no         more water down here.

JULIA A dry planet...         He nods at the Tet, rising in the distance.

JACK Yeah. What's left of us are up         there now, ready to go where you were headed, Mars. 40 acres and a         mule. What we've got left. What you've got. Julia stares out at the Tet.

JULIA What about you?

JACK We were born and raised up there. Vika's the A-student. I'm just a         tech... I fix things. I...

(CONTINUED)

55.

CONTINUED; ( 2) JULIA looks at him. Something out of the groove.

JACK (CONT'D)         Why are you looking at me like that?

JULIA Sorry. She stares back down at the landscape.

JULIA (CONT'D)         It's so beautiful. He looks at her, surprised. He thought he was the only one...

EXT. CRASH SITE - EARLY MORNING

THE BUBBLESHIP sits landed amidst the wreckage. A low still fog has condensed, leaving visibility low, moisture everywhere. While there was light up high, they've         descended back into the pre-dawn darkness. The ROVER has detached, shining its small light in their direction to help. Julia searches fruitlessly. Everything from the wreck small enough to carry away has been taken by Scavs. Every piece of fabric and metal. Jack half watches her, half tracks the periphery, his weapon slung low.

INT. SKY TOWER, COMAND CENTER - CONTINUOUS

Victoria sits at her workstation, upset. She's got the Bubbleship up on the map, its cam feed on         display.

EXT. CRASH SITE - CONTINUOUS

Julia, still weakened from Delta Sleep, hauls aside debris, revealing a metal floor-plate, unscrewed and discarded. The slot within is empty.

JULIA No! NO! It's been taken. DAMN

IT!

(CONTINUED)

56.

CONTINUED: She backs off, upset, breathing hard.

JACK Look, it doesn't matter --

JULIA It matters, okay!? You don't...         you can't understand... I need that flight recorder. I need to         know what happened.

(BEAT) You need to know what happened.

JACK We should stay close to...         She ignores him, moves on. Deeper in the wreckage, she locates the empty moorings that held the Steel Cylinder Jack saw. It's also gone.

JACK (CONT'D)         What was it? She STARES at him, wanting to say something. Deciding not to. She leans back against a wall of the shuttle.

INT. SKY TOWER, COMAND CENTER - CONTINUOUS

Victoria has tried to ignore the cam feeds, working on         other things. She glances over, then away just as a FORM passes by one of the cam feeds! Victoria checks another readout, glances back as TWO MORE FORMS pass by the camera. Glimpses of metal and fur...

VICTORIA (hitting the Comm) Jack! Jack! There's something coming your way. JACK!!"

TNT. CRASH SITE - CONTINUOUS Jack's Bubbleship sits silent. The COMM still switched off. Suddenly ANOTHER FORM moves through our line of         sight, something's there, and CLOSE. WITH JACK and JULIA. The air still, damp. Almost no sound. She picks through the remains of the ship. He's staring at her.

(CONTINUED)

57.

CONTINUED:

JULIA (without looking up) You're staring at me.

JACK I'm sorry. INTERCUT: Victoria watches as MORE AND MORE Alien figures pass the camera feed. Moving towards Jack and Julia's position. Victoria, HELPLESS. Julia looks up at Jack, directly for the first time. He stares at her...

JACK (CONT'D)         How do I know you...          ON JULIA'S FACE. Suddenly her vision racks...         JACK SPINS, sees emerging out of the mist, SCAVS. A         dozen of them. Alien tribesmen, bristling with weapons, war-like high-tech headdresses. Mandibles and claws. Terrifying and close. Jack reaches for his weapon, bringing it around and -- SLAM! He's hit from the side by a SCAV. Its armored body bringing him to the ground. He tries to CRAWL AWAY, sees Julia grabbed. He twists, sees Scavs crawling over the Bubbleship.

JACK (CONT'D)         Bob! HOME! In the background, the Bubbleship BLASTS OFF, Scavs falling off as Jack KICKS BACKWARDS, breaking the Scavs hold. He rolls away towards his weapon- - straight into the legs of a GIANT SCAV holding an         improvised club which now comes down, IMPACTING JACK...

INT. SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - CONTINUOUS

VICTORIA stares at image of the wreck growing SMALLER as         the Bubbleship rises.

VICTORIA

JACK! JACK...!

58.

EXT. OPEN LAND - DAWN

Darkness. LOUD SOUNDS. ANIMAL PANTING. Small, glimpses of earth moving by, then darkness again. Jack and Julia are tied to a huge SCAV SLED pulled by         twelve FERAL DOGS. A combination of old scavenged military hardware and new innovation to adapt to a world without engine-power. Giant treads roll forward as the dogs STRAIN against metallic harnesses. Jack's head lolls to the side. He blinks, looks over to         see Julia next to him, unconscious. He tracks up. At         the top of the sled, a massive Alien Scav pilots the sled, sand whipping through a head-dress we recognize: The LEADER. He holds a long whip, cracks it over the dogs who haul the sled forward. We slow, letting the sled pull away from us into the dark as we travel BACK, towards where we came from, reveal...         The Bubbleship's ROVER has been following. A machine meant for small journeys, it rolls inside the tread path left by the sled, but it can barely handle the terrain.

INT. SKY TOWER - MORNING

Victoria hears the SOUND OF THE BUBBLESHIP, arriving. She rushes to the glass of the Sky Tower, sees the Bubbleship, docking itself. Auto pilot. No one inside.

EXT. MOUNTAIN CANYONS - MORNING

From far away, we see the sled wind up this rocky canyon which opens onto a massive wall of old concrete and steel. Something giant and industrial in its time. The sled approaches, seems to disappear as it moves under a shadowy outcropping of rock. In the dark underneath, huge metal doors... close.

INT. A DARK SPACE -- NO TIME

Almost complete blackness, just the SOUND of a slow drip of water. In the far distance, the howls and chatter of         Scavs. Jack's blood-encrusted eyes blink open. Irises dilate trying to orient. He raises his head, can barely see.

(CONTINUED)

59.

CONTINUED: He and Julia lie in the only pool of light in the room, filtering in from a high ventilation shaft. She's         unconscious. Around him, in the dark, the sense of         movement. His eyes adjusting, he squints into the dark. There's a         FORM on the edges of the light, watching him. Jack tenses as the figure... .strikes a match on the floor, brings the flame to its face, revealing... An Old Man: BEECH. He sucks in on         the end of a cigar. For a moment, their eyes meet. Then the match goes out. Dark silhouette again. Only the feint orange glow from the cigar.

BEECH MonteCristo, #2. Do you have any idea how long I've waited, for this? He EXHALES a stream of smoke into the beam, then moves closer, into the light. Beech's face is lined with age and exposure, his skin scarred from battle. His teeth yellowed and crooked, but his arms and body are strong. Jack TENSES. Beech's voice is calm, with a barely held- back malice lurking just under the surface.

BEECH (CONT'D)         Well, let me tell you, Jack. It's         been a long time...

JACK Who are you? Where is this? BEECH inhales again. There's a piercing curiosity to         Beech's gaze, studying him.

BEECH We're deep underground. Very deep underground.

JACK We were taken by the Scavs...

BEECH Oh... The "Scavs".

(BEAT) Tell me, Jack. Have you ever met a Scav, up close?

(CONTINUED)

60.

CONTINUED: (2) Jack is suddenly aware of other FORMS in this room. Motion, on the periphery. Hair... Feathers. Scavs?

BEECH (CONT'D)         No, of course not. You just repair the damage, keep the Drones up and killing. Don't ask many questions, do you, Jack? No part of the...

(BITTER TASTE) .job description. Beech pulls off the cigar...

BEECH (CONT'D)         Brutal, if you think about it. The way your Drones -

JACK The Scavs took everything from us. And if you're working with them --

BEECH Interesting, Jack. Interesting. You're worried I might be some kind of... Collaborator. Jack doesn't respond.

BEECH (CONT'D)

(ASIDE) Lllllllights! A beat, then a BANK of lights flickers on, revealing HUMANS, all around them, heavily armed. Julia GROANS, the light bringing her to. Jack moves to         protect her, tracks ten, TWENTY people... He looks UP         where ROWS AND ROWS of men and women stare down from above with undisguised animosity. Forty, fifty more... At the front, a strong battle-scared Scav, SYKES, hovers on the edge of violence. He's been recently WOUNDED.

BEECH (CONT'D)         You see...? We're not Aliens, Jack. We're very much human. Jack can't process. Human face after human face.

(CONTINUED)

61.

CONTINUED: ( 3)

BEECH (CONT'D)         Of course that's a problem. Your drones go for human shapes, human voices. So... we change our shapes, change our voices.

(INHALING SMOKE) The Drones still kill us, but they're not nearly so aggressive as when they smell a human target. Did you ever ask yourself why that is?

JACK No, they're programmed to

BEECH To what, Jack?

(OFF JULIA) You saw it yourself. You almost got yourself blown to bits protecting her. I've been meaning to ask you, why did you do that?

JACK Anyone would have...

BEECH Anyone. Would have. Interesting. Julia comes around, her eyes flickering open, She SCREAMS, looking frantically for an escape. Jack GRABS her, protecting her, calming her. Beech gets CLOSE, studies Jack, what he's doing. Nods.

BEECH (CONT'D)         Very interesting. Beech moves away. Jack moves after him and suddenly forty or more weapons lock onto him. Sykes closer than any other.

BEECH (CONT'D)         Careful, Jack. I'm afraid you're         not very popular here. Beech switches his gaze to Julia.

BEECH (CONT'D)         Welcome back to earth, commander. Hope you like what we've done with the place.

(CONTINUED)

62.

CONTINUED: ( 4) Beech moves on. Jack and Julia follow, cautiously...

INT. GROW-HALL, RAVEN ROCK - CONTINUOUS

They pass into a giant area devoted to agriculture. ROWS of wide, two-story glass tubes hold PLANTS bearing fruit. Their roots are held bare, bathed only in moist air...

BEECH We grow what we can, under the lights. It isn't much; Wheat- grass, some vegetables, what beans and soy we can. The general state of our health proves that human beings are not herbivores, but the alternative is not appetizing to         anybody.

(SARDONIC WINK) Not yet, anyway.

JACK When we get you up to the Tet, there's plenty -

BEECH There is? Plenty. Plenty of         what?

JACK Food.Foreveryone.

(BEAT) Look,it'samazing you've lasted thislong.But the radiation zonesare growing. All of this, willbe gone soon.

BEECH The zones... the area you don't         patrol...

JACK No one does. You go there ---

BEECH -- Your organs boil from the inside. I've heard. Beech moves on, turning down another corridor. There are PAINTINGS, stacked against the walls. Picasso, Monet, Kandinsky, Warhol. SCULPTURES in piles.

(CONTINUED)

63.

CONTINUED: A Grand Piano is pushed in a corner, other instruments propped against it. They pass a room filled with BOOKS, another with a SCREEN mounted in front of a projector. For a moment, Jack forgets everything else. It's like his private collection at Crater Lake, but a hundred times bigger, richer... Julia stops in front of a painting of a young girl in a         field of golden grass, staring towards a farmhouse on the horizon. She turns to Jack.

JULIA It reminds me of home...

INT. SKY TOWER, COMMAND STATION - DAY

VICTORIA is communicating with the Tet. She has been crying, sick with worry.

VICTORIA He's disappeared.

(CORRECTING HERSELF) My Technical Officer, Jack Harper. He's gone.

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Time since last contact?

VICTORIA .Six hours.

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Protocol states 24 hours before reporting a loss of contact.

VICTORIA The Scavs took him. I witnessed it. He has a...         A beat. Victoria experiencing jealousy she didn't fully understand before...

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         There's a woman with him. The survivor of the crashed shuttle, Julia Sommerville. Silence.

(CONTINUED)

64.

CONTINUED:

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Prep the survivor for immediate evac.

VICTORIA I told you, she's with the Technical Officer. I'm requesting permission to re-task the Drones for search and rescue.

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Permission granted. Victoria gets to work on the console, re-tasking Drones. Another TONE makes her look over.

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) (CONT'D)         You doing okay, Vika?

VICTORIA

(FRUSTRATED) Yes, I mean. I don't know. Tet Comm Status: "COMMUNICATION ENDED."

INT. RAVEN ROCK - NO TIME

Jack and Julia are held back by Scavs as up ahead Beech's         second-in-command, the battle-hardened SYKES, whispers heatedly in his ear, glancing back. Not everyone thinks having Jack and Julia here is a good idea. Jack peers over the edge of the gantry they are on. FAR BELOW, ancient GEOTHERMAL TURBINES churn.

JULIA Jack, what he said about the Tet...

JACK (not looking at her) It took three decades to build the Tet. And when it was finally ready and it was time to go up, there were people who refused. Leaders, who told their people to         stay. Staring at Beech, the glint in the man's eyes...

(CONTINUED)

65.

CONTINUED:

JACK (CONT'D)         And so they stayed. And they were slaughtered. Whatever the conversation is, it doesn't go well. Sykes storms off, angry. Other Scavs go with him.

EXT. CANYON - DAY

The ROVER has reached the Canyon, starts to make its way in towards Raven Rock.

INT. SKY TOWER, COMAND CENTER - DAY

Vika is on a tear, working hard. Unable to reach Jack, she's looking for any clue, anything to help find him. To that end she's replaying the recordings of her last transmission from the Bubbleship. We hear her last

PLEADING:

VICTORIA'S VOICE Jack! Jack! There's something coming your way. JACK!!!! Victoria LISTENS, chilled. She hits REWIND, then PLAY:

JACK'S VOICE .It'll be fine. Trust me.

VICTORIA'S VOICE I'm trying to.

JACK'S VOICE I'll be home for breakfast. Alone in the Sky Tower, this hits Victoria hard. REWIND. Victoria STARES at the counter, letting it go         further back. Then, PLAY. Just STATIC. Then we hear Victoria's end of a         conversation we already witnessed:

JACK'S VOICE (BREAKING UP)

(CONT'D)         I'm near the... .border territory. .still more than five clicks from the... beacons...

(CONTINUED)

66.

CONTINUED:

VICTORIA'S VOICE What are you doing out there so         far, Jack? Then the static for a moment filled with GARBLED SOUNDS. Victoria hits STOP. She stares. Makes an adjustment, plays the SOUNDS again. Something drawing her in...

INT. WORK HANGAR, RAVEN ROCK - CONTINUOUS

A Large bay, filled with machinery, computers. Other things scavenged from the wreck of the Odyssey including several Delta Sleep Pods. Scav Soldiers work in the center of the bay on a DOWNED DRONE. It's been opened up, taken apart. All of its circuit boards and wiring spread out, hooked to computers. To the side, other soldiers are grouped around something. Jack tracks the object they're working on: The scarred STEEL CYLINDER Jack saw on the Odyssey. Its been opened up and some ten scavenged Deuterium fuel cells have been fitted inside the casing.

JULIA The bomb...         She REALIZES something, wheels on Beech, angry.

JULIA (CONT'D)         You brought down the Odyssey. You sonofabitch you crashed our ship. There were people on board, all so         you could get --

BEECH I know what I did. But tell us, Commander, why did you have a bomb on board, what was it for? Tell him. She looks at Jack, reluctant to say it, but...

JULIA The Tet... is an alien ship, Jack. The odyssey's mission --- Our mission, was to investigate it. Jack shakes his head no. Angry...

(CONTINUED)

67.

CONTINUED:

BEECH It attacked us. First it         destroyed our moon. Then it         unleashed its primary weapon, a          brilliant weapon...

JACK I was born there!

BEECH I was born in Chicago, Jack. I         used to go to baseball games with my father. I used to get two big hot dogs, fill 'em up with relish, and mustard. Just go to town. Me         and my pops, watching the sox. (quick, pressing) You have any memories like that Jack?

JACK No, my father was a --

BEECH Was what? Tall? Fat? He yell at         your mom? Ever go to a baseball game, Jack?

JACK

(GETTING ANGRY) I already told you --

BEECH Right, sorry. Tell me how your mother smelled.

JACK What?

BEECH My mother, smelled like warm fruit. Like oranges, sitting in         the sun. Jack starts to speak... Stops. Beech moves to one of         the scavenged DELTA SLEEP PODS, runs his hand over the embossed name-plate...

(CONTINUED)

68

CONTINUED: ( 2)

BEECH (CONT'D)         If you had looked more carefully at the wreckage of the odyssey, you would have noticed there were two empty sleep pods. The Pilot, and the Co-pilot...         Jack stares at the name plate on the POD: "J. Harper."

JULIA It was you, Jack.

JACK What?

JULIA You and Victoria. We were all on         the Odyssey. We were supposed to         make contact...

JACK No.

BEECH The Tet is an alien vessel, Commander Jack Harper. It came and destroyed our moon and most of         humanity when it did. And ever since, with your help, it's been trying to finish the job.

(BEAT) I'm sorry, Jack. It's not good news, I know. You've been turned to the wrong side. Beech goes to the BOMB, stares down at it

BEECH (CONT'D)         But now, with your help, we can finally destroy it.

JACK You're insane. This is insane. He turns to Julia, but she won't help him.

JACK (CONT'D)         (to both of them) There are people up there -

BEECH What? People like you? We are the last real people.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

69.

CONTINUED: ( 3)

BEECH (CONT'D)         Pockets like this one, hiding out, dying. Probably all over the planet. Beech raises his gaze to Jack. Deadly serious.

BEECH (CONT'D)         We didn't win the war, Jack. We         lost. These words hit Jack. He starts to reply, finds he         can't. Beech approaches, fatherly, gentle.

BEECH (CONT'D)         It has taken us ten years to get here, but we finally have a         weapon, and a working Drone to          carry it. Except we can't         successfully program the Drone. It's not our technology.

(CLASPING HIS

SHOULDERS)         But you can, repairman. That is          the beautiful irony. It gave you          the skills.

ON JACK...

EXT. RAVEN ROCK - CONTINUOUS

The ROVER crawls up the Canyon finally arrive at the entrance to Raven Rock. It stops, scanning the face of         Raven Rock...          BLAMI!! A SHOT hits it, it tumbles back, utterly destroyed.

INT. SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - CONTINUOUS

Victoria is working hard, intent on deciphering the sound. She doesn't notice the image of Raven Rock appear on a side monitor, transmitted from the ROVER.

INT. WORK HANGER - CONTINUOUS

Suddenly, SYKES and several other Scavs burst into the area. All eyes go to Jack and Julia as the ruined ROVER is brought in.

(CONTINUED)

70.

CONTINUED:

SYKES It followed him here. I told you this was a mistake! Beech, processing. All around the periphery, REACTION. This is a disaster.

BEECH Well well, we may be out of time. Set the Drone to return to the Tet upon reactivation. It needs to go         right to the center --

JACK No! It will kill -

BEECH

(RAGING) It will kill that ugly stain on         the sky. That's all! Now program the Drone! Soldiers push Jack towards the opened Drone. Jack stares at the read-outs, the electronics. Sykes GRABS a weapon from a female Scav soldier, lines it on Jack.

JACK No. I won't do it.

SYKES He won't help us. We bury them both, make our run as soon as we         can load up.

JULIA

NO!! Jack stares Sykes down.

JACK You know I stare into weapons every day, so you can put that away. Because here's what I can tell you... (back to Beech) If the Rover found us, the Drones will too. Unless you want them to         find you, let me get somewhere where I can send a signal. Somewhere far from here. Beech... caught.

(CONTINUED)

71

CONTINUED: ( 2)

BEECH

(IGNORING SYKES) What's your plan, Jack? Tell the Tet where we are, so they can send a nice big welcome --

JACK The Drones would kill you. Let me         try to stop that.

SYKES You can't trust him!

JACK (staying on Beech) You're wasting time. On Beech, Sykes...

TNT. RAVEN ROCK - MOMENTS LATER Jack and Julia stand near the entrance to Raven Rock. Sykes appears with the white rectangular box, tosses it         down in the dirt at Jack's feet. Beech watches as Jack unfolds his motorcycle. Behind them, other Scavs are packing up, readying an exodus.

JACK I can fix this.

BEECH Well, you're the repairman. Jack powers up the bike and gets on. He looks at Julia who hesitates, then she climbs on the back of the bike.

JACK I'll get to the antenna, send a         signal with my location. The Tet will call off the search. .You should be safe, for now. Jack starts to go.

BEECH Jack... What if I told you that I         had been to your radiation zones. And what I found there... Would change everything you think you know about the world.

(CONTINUED)

72.

CONTINUED: Jack looks at him, hearing this. Then GUNS the bike. Beech stares after them, the rooster-tail of Jack's bike racing away across the ruined landscape.

SYKES What makes you think he's any different from the others? Beech stares at him a moment, then back out.

BEECH She does. Beech turns away.

EXT. THE RUINED EARTH - DAY

Jack pilots the electric bike across STAGGERING BEAUTIFUL VISTAS... LANDSCAPES OF THE IMAGINATION. On         the back of the bike, Julia takes in the incredible beauty around her. Finally, in the shadow of a jagged mountain, the BIKE slows and STOPS. Jack checks the charge: it's dead. They climb off and Jack leaves the bike where it lies, headed off on foot.

JULIA What happened...? She's staring into the distance where an old WRECK of a         RESOURCE GATHERER lies shattered against a cliff-face.

JACK The Scavs brought it down ten years ago. All. this time, I         thought we were at war with the Scavs... but it turns out we were just killing each other. He turns, heads off on foot. After a moment, she follows.

EXT. CLIFF TOP - DAY

Jack and Julia reach the top of a high cliff, with what looks like a METAL SPIRE protruding upwards at its edge.

(CONTINUED)

73.

CONTINUED: We PASS OVER them, staring down a familiar 1,200-foot waterfall. Jack has returned to the top of the Empire State, this time approaching from above. Together, they climb DOWN the craggy rock face. Two tiny figures against a massive backdrop, a mortal fall below.

EXT. OBSERVATION DECK - DAY

Jack is the first to drop onto the cracked cement of the deck. He moves forward, pulling the plastic and camouflage off the transmitter and repeater. He gets to         work on the repeater. It's old tech, hard to make it         talk to the Bubbleship. Julia stands a ways off. For a moment, their gazes meet, then he continues working.

INT. SKY TOWER, COMAND CENTER - DAY

Victoria is hard at work, processing the sound that caught her attention. She has it playing through the whole sky tower: The SOUNDS are broken, static-like, almost ALIEN. Strange and guttural. Fingers fly over controls, making adjustments. This time the sounds parse into WORDS. A male and a female voice. Almost apprehensive, she pulls an electronic filter, overlays it on the signal, which suddenly drops into perfect clarit : A recording of Jack and Victoria, from a different patrol.

VICTORIA'S VOICE

(LAUGHING) .And I want a dishwasher, the kind that you can put --

JACK'S VOICE I don't think they'll have those on Mars, Honey.

VICTORIA'S VOICE Okay, fine. No dishwasher. How about just you. All the time.

JACK'S VOICE Yes. When we get there. ON VICTORIA. Her face totally still. Strangely frozen in the face of this sweet little exchange...

(CONTINUED)

74.

CONTINUED: And then a SOB breaks from her lips. The kind you can't         control. Her fingers SHAKING, BADLY, she plays the recording, puts it on a loop.

TNT. SKY TOWER - CONTINUOUS The voices BOOM through the Sky Tower, over and over. Frightening that their simplicity contrasts so much with the effect they are having on Victoria who moves into the main room, white as a sheet. She looks up as.. The Bubbleship lifts off from its platform and sails into the sky. She watches it go, then rushes back towards her station.

EXT. OBSERVATION DECK - DAY

Jack stares at the ESB Antenna, down at the repeater and the line of code he hopes he's transmitting.

JULIA What will you do now? Jack doesn't answer. He moves to the edge of the deck, stares out, unwilling to meet her eyes.

JACK That old man is smart. Those fuel cells, the way he's got them tied in with your device... He could blow the whole station.

JULIA Jack, you can't turn them in. He glances at her, shakes his head.

JACK What do you want from me? I'm         just a repairman.

(BEAT) This is bigger than me. Jack moves off to a corner of the deck by the old telescope. She follows him, steeling herself.

JULIA

(CAREFULLY) You and I started the same year at

NASA.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

75.

CONTINUED:

JULIA (CONT'D)         It wasn't really about space for me, it was about... what could be         out there. Life...

JACK Look, stop, okay? Just --

JULIA But for you, it was always the stars. You wanted to fly further and faster than any one else.

JACK I don't know who you're talking

ABOUT --

JULIA I'm talking about a man I knew, who was fearless. A man who wouldn't bow out of a fight, ever.

JACK STOP! You and that old man have this story... Except I know who I         am, okay? I know who I am!

JULIA No, you don't. That thing brainwashed you, it erased your

MEMORIES He turns, starts to lean on the old telescope, draws back, staring at the thing like it bit him.

JULIA (CONT'D)         That's right... What do you remember? INTERCUT: The auto-piloted Bubbleship skims over the surface of downtown, headed towards the Empire State...         Jack is staring at the telescope, agitated, confused.

JACK Why do I... what is it about this place?

JULIA Ten days before we got our go- ahead, you asked me to meet you here.

(CONTINUED)

76.

CONTINUED: ( 2) INTERCUT: VICTORIA. Eager to find out where the Bubbleship is headed, she punches up the live feed. Julia comes close, puts a hand out, rests it on his chest. She moves closer to him, searching his eyes.

JULIA (CONT'D)         Don't you remember what happened here? INTERCUT: The Bubbleship now moving UP the waterfall. Victoria, leaning forward, watching the feeds...         Julia takes one of his hands, places it around her waist. Moves closer still...

JACK When I sleep. You're always there. She kisses him.

EXT. OBERVATION DECK - DAY (FLASHBACK)

A YOUNGER JULIA is staring out over glorious intact New York City. Next to her, a YOUNGER JACK peers through the telescope. Now he pulls away, turns to her...

YOUNGER JACK There, right there. Take a look. She smiles, puts her eye to the telescope.

YOUNGER JACK (CONT'D)         The tall billboard, with the girl on it.

YOUNGER JULIA Oh, okay. I don't understand. YOUNGER JACK nervously produces an ENGAGEMENT RING from his pocket.

YOUNGER JACK Now, pan to the right, slowly...

YOUNGER JULIA'S POV - THROUGH THE TELESCOPE PANNING over as he directed, to a billboard, half-covered by a large canvas. The words "JULIA, WILL YOU MARRY ME?" clear on the canvas.

(CONTINUED)

77.

CONTINUED:

YOUNGER JACK (CONT'D)         Julia...          She GASPS, looks over. There he is, holding the ring --

VRROOOOOM! THE SOUND OF A BUBBLE SHIP...

EXT. OBSERVATION DECK - DAY (PRESENT)

VROOOOMMMM! The Bubbleship RISES INTO VIEW directly in         front of them. Jack, kissing Julia, tries to break away, confused, guilty. Julia holds on. She reaches to her collar, pulls free a necklace, a         familiar ring dangles from it...

JULIA There are a few pages missing, but it's the same book.

INT. SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - CONTINUOUS

Victoria stares at the screen, the image of Jack kissing Julia, then breaking away. She's strangely cold, like there's simply nothing left to feel...

INT. BUBBLESHIP - MOMENTS LATER

Jack pilots the ship, a tense silence between he and Julia. He checks a few readouts, then hits the Comm.

JACK Vika, it's me. I'm... all right. I'm coming in. Don't report in to         Mission, not until I get back. No response. Dead air. Julia is pressed far back in her seat, watching Jack.

INT. SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - CONTINUOUS

Victoria is still motionless. She hears Jack's calls on         the Comm, does nothing.

JACK'S VOICE .I'm 20 minutes out. A TONE makes Victoria look over. The Tet, checking in.

(CONTINUED)

78.

CONTINUED:

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Mission requests status of         survivor.

VICTORIA Go to hell. Beat. Beat.

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Did not copy.

(LONG BEAT) Have you located your partner? Vika is silent. The Tet waits for a response. It         doesn't get one. Finally:

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) (CONT'D)         Are you still an effective team?

VICTORIA

(LIPS TREMBLING) No. A long painful silence. Tears flow without sobs. Tet Comm Status: "COMMUNICATION ENDED." Victoria. pushes away from the console, numb. As she leaves the room, we STAY on the console...         which suddenly comes alive. Readouts go active, data history starts to play. The Tet is accessing everything. Visual and Voice recordings blaze by. Images, everything the Bubbleship has seen. We see the image of Raven Rock sent from the ROVER.

INT. SKY TOWER - CONTINUOUS

Victoria enters the Sky Tower, staring at it as if it was all alien to her. As she moves through, she unzips her jumpsuit, steps out of it, moves on. Her shirt, then bra, land on the floor. She moves on...

EXT. SKY TOWER - TWILIGHT

JULIA and JACK step out of the Bubbleship, head towards the interior of the Sky Tower. The whole thing has been opened up. Wind blows freely through papers, magazines. Vases have been blown over, water spilled.

(CONTINUED)

79.

CONTINUED: There are petals, Rose petals, swirling everywhere.

EXT. SKY TOWER, GARDEN - CONTINUOUS

Jack comes out near the garden. It's been ripped to         shreds. What plants are left lie uprooted and broken. Flowers strewn about. PETALS float off the side of the sky tower and down into the clouds. VICTORIA stands near the far edge, looking out. She's no         longer in her jumpsuit. She wears a beautiful flowing dress which waves in the wind. Her hair is free.

JACK Vika... the Scavs. They're         humans, like us. The war has become some giant... mistake. She turns. The heartbreak in her face clear.

VICTORIA I saw you. I saw you two.

JACK

SHE'S --

VICTORIA (shaking her head) Stay away from me with the truth! I don't want the truth. I         preferred oblivion. Victoria looks up, sees Julia in the distance...

VICTORIA (CONT'D)         You never really loved me, did you, Jack? His silence is LOUD. She LAUGHS, tears flowing...

JACK (broken for her) Vika, she was my wife. She looks at the infinite sky, the clouds, and as the TET appears... He steps towards her and she backs towards the edge.

VICTORIA I told them. The drones will be         here. For her. For you.

(CONTINUED)

80.

CONTINUED: Jack feels the sting of this betrayal, but quickly accepts it.

JACK Then come with me. (she shakes no) Don't you see what it means? There are still people, living on         Earth. Surviving on earth. People like us. Victoria hears that and laughs, bitter.

JACK (CONT'D)         Vika? Her laughter dies. She looks at him, strangely calm, beautiful in this moment.

VICTORIA Oh, Jack. I think they made us. Victoria steps backwards. Jack LUNGES forward.

JACK

NOOO1 PETALS are falling towards us from the skytower, and then, so is VICTORIA.

EXT. SKY TOWER CONTINUOUS

Jack stares after Victoria for one terrible beat, then falls to his knees. Not yet feeling, in shock. Julia approaches, slowly... He turns at her so fast she's afraid and steps back but he blows right by her, into

INT. SKY TOWER, CONTROL STATION - MOMENTS LATER

Jack enters Victoria's station. Trespassing in a space that doesn't belong to him. His eyes play over the room: A cup of coffee, now cold. A jacket on the back of her chair. On a monitor, a wavelength plays silently. The signal she descrambled. He looks at the Tet Communication Device. We realize he's never spoken directly to the Tet before.

(CONTINUED)

81

CONTINUED:

JACK This is Technician Jack Harper. The signal goes out. Beat. Beat...

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Where is your Control Officer?

JACK She's dead.

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Prep the survivor for immediate evac.

JACK Did you hear what I said? She's         dead!

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) Prep the survivor for immediate evac. You will be reassigned.

JACK I want to talk to somebody. Beat.

THE TET (TEXT ON SCREEN) It'll be good to have you back.

JACK DAMN YOU! I want to hear your voice! Beat. Beat. Tet Comm Status: "Communication Ended." He stares at this last transmission. Then looks up to         the big map. From all over the sector, DRONES are closing on the Sky Tower. Closing on him.

EXT. SKY TOWER, BUBBLESHIP PAD - MOMENTS LATER

Jack comes back out, heading towards the ship. Julia puts out a hand to him.

JACK We have to go.

82.

TNT/EXT. BUBBLESHIP - CONTINUOUS

Jack and Julia streak across the sky in the Bubbleship. On the heads-up display, they can clearly see the radiation border marked RED in front of them, and the two DRONES closing behind them.

JULIA Where are we going?

JACK Beech said to look in the radiation zones. I have to go         there.

JULIA And if he's just a crazy old man? Jack looks at her. It'd be a funny moment, but it's not.

JACK I've been wrong about everything else. He dives the ship towards the clouds below.

EXT. CANYON - MORNING

Drones shoot down a canyon towards RAVEN ROCK.

INT. BUBBLESHIP - CONTINUOUS

The Bubbleship BURSTS through clouds. Up ahead, the familiar RIDGELINE is approaching...

AND THREE DRONES WATTTNG. Jack HAULS the ship over as the Drones bear down on them OPENING UP. We recognize one: Drone 166. Canon fire ROCKS the Bubbleship, pieces blowing off. Jack REVOLVES THE CANOPY to return fire. A Drone EXPLODES but Drone 166 and another blast through the smoke, firing.

83.

INT. RAVEN ROCK - CONTINUOUS

Everything has been packed, loaded, ready to leave. Beech watches Sykes supervise the final lashing of the BOMB onto a sled. Beech gives a command and the great steel door groans OPEN, revealing...         SIX DRONES, waiting. Their weapons POWERING UP. ON BEECH, a final realization washing over him.

EXT. OPEN SKY - CONTINUOUS

Jack SPINS the ship, evading pursuit, even as he checks his heads-up, tracks the two Sky Tower Drones closing from behind. He hauls over, pursuing Drones turning with him, firing as the two Drones burst out of cloud cover FAST, MID-AIR COLLISION, two more Drones go down! Jack hits the brakes. Another Drone overshoots him, pulls up. Jack sites the Drone, starts to fire...         The Bubbleship is raked with fire! Drone 166 is right on         them and firing. The canopy is hit! CRACKS spider-web across it. A canon is blown clean off. Jack tries his remaining weapon. It's dead.

WITH DRONE 166 It pulls out of an arc, ACCELERATES, closing on the Bubbleship as the Bubbleship tears away into a cloud bank, goes in. Drone 166 follows, seconds behind. Drone 166 EMERGES from the cloud bank into open air, its cannon lining on... nothing. Empty sky. It REVOLVES quickly, sensing for ...         SMASH! Jack's Bubbleship IMPACTS the Drone from above, the ship's manacles designed for transporting broken Drones CLAMPING ON. Suddenly the two vessels are LOCKED. And the Drone goes wild. It's engines THRUSTING, fighting against the counter-force of the Bubbleship's         engines. The Drones GUNS BLASTING in every direction, but unable to elevate to hit the Bubbleship. INSIDE THE BUBBLESHIP. Julia screams as the ship tumbles end over end. Jack stays on the controls, tracking the last Drone closing from above.

(CONTINUED)

84.

CONTINUED: Jack FORCES Drone and ship to turn, turning Drone 166's         canon on the last Drone which EXPLODES.

JACK There...         He punches the throttle. The Bubbleship with Drone 166 attached blasts in the direction of A CLIFF FACE. DRONE 166 gets free of one restraint, rotates so its cannon come to bear on part of the undercarriage. OPENS UP, blasting the storage to bits... And Jack PULLS UP, just clearing the ridge, Drone 166 IMPACTING ROCK. The Drone blasts clear through, CRASHES

ONTO VOLCANIC ROCK.

INT. THE BUBBLESHIPP - CONTINUOUS

Jack and Julia in the damaged, smoking, now-shaking ship.

JACK You okay?

JULIA No. Jack nods, turns the ship north again. The Bubbleship shaking and smoking. Up ahead, the RIDGELINE approaching. WARNING ALARMS trigger on the Bubbleship's display Claxon-like.

JULIA (CONT'D)         What is that?

JACK Radiation warning. We're five clicks from the border. Jack makes an adjustment, the Bubbleship SURGES with more speed. It sounds like it's going to tear itself apart.

EXT. ROCKS NEAR CRATER LAKE - CONTINUOUS

The smashed Drone 166 POWERS BACK UP. A moment as it         runs its systems, then BLASTS OFF in pursuit.

85.

INT. BUBBLESHIP - CONTINUOUS

On the heads-up, they can see Drone 166 coming up behind them, closing FAST. Jack touches a familiar button. The Bar-guage for his extra boost starts to fill...         FROM BEHIND THEM, blasts go wide. Drone 166 is firing, missing. The bar gauge FALTERS, something broken. Jack SLAMS the dash. Gauge keeps rising. The Bubbleship starts to buck as RED WARNING TEXT STREAMS ACROSS THE CANOPY: "LETHAL

RADIATION LEVELS APPROACHING. DO NOT ENTER."

JULIA Jack...

JACK I got this. Jack hits it. They're both propelled back into their seats. The radiation zone coming up fast... They CROSS

INTO THE ZONE!! .and the Bubbleship goes completely DEAD. Jack works controls, punches at the display. But there's         nothing. Just the whistling sound of wind...

JACK (CONT'D)          Bob! BOB! What are you doing Bob!!!!! Bob just bobbles... BLAM! BLAM BLAM!! The blasts from Drone 166 impact them, helpless.

JACK (CONT'D)         Hold on!! Jack grabs a level, a mechanical lever, and HAULS IT UP. THE COCKPIT OF THE SHIP SEPARATES FROM THE BODY. The dead body of the ship tumbles backwards as Drone 166 BLASTS IT, tries to pull up but the Bubbleship IMPACTS Drone 166 which SPINS OUT OF CONTROL towards the ground. THE BUBBLESHIP COCKPIT skims the surface, IMPACTS a         ridge, blasting through it. It hits another ridge, the canopy shattering, earth piling in on them as they finally grid to a stop. Jack groans, leans to checks that Julia is okay. She's         coughing, dazed, but alive.

86.

EXT. RADIATION ZONE - CONTINUOUS

Jack opens the canopy door. It falls off. He stumbles out, himself still dazed. Wind and sand blow around him. CLOSE ON JACK. He breathes in. Breathes again. Waiting for a painful death, that doesn't arrive.

JACK Son of a bitch, old man... Words die on his lips as he tracks the plume of smoke from the downed Drone 166, lifting over a nearby ridge. He turns back to the ruined ship, grabs his carbine.

JACK (CONT'D)         Stay here. Jack runs towards the smoke which is already being blown clear by a rising sand storm. He flops down in the dirt at the top of the rise, bringing his weapon up. JACK'S POV - DRONE 166. It lies smashed and smoking at         the bottom of an incline. Finally dead. The wind and sand are beginning to whistle now, growing intensity...         Jack starts to stand... when a FAMILIAR SOUND makes him turn.

THAT OF A BUBBLESHIP. Jack hits the dirt as A BUBBLESHIP, just like Jack's,         screams overhead and lands next to the DRONE, in a moment eerily reminiscent of the first scene of the film. Below, a MAN gets out of the second Bubbleship. He wears the same kind of suit as Jack. ANOTHER REPAIR MAN. He's         got a bandana wrapped around his lower face to shield him from the sandstorm. Jack reaches for his BINOCS, bring them to his face only to find the lenses shattered. Reaching the downed Drone, the MAN kneels next to it and in a familiar fashion begins utilizing his tools to fix Drone 166. He locks a damaged cannon back into place, tightens it...         Jack suddenly realizes what the man's doing. He stands, the wind now blasting in his direction, he starts running down the hill towards the man.

(CONTINUED)

87.

CONTINUED:

JACK (CONT'D)         Hey! Hey, wait! Stop! Don't         touch that Drone! His words are eaten up by the wind and sand. He rushes forward. WITH THE REPAIRMAN. We only see his hands as he works on         Drone 166. He's very good. Even in the growing sandstorm he clips out a ruined board, slots a new one in. Runs a by-pass around a wire-bundle. The Repairman's fingers go to a familiar switch to         activate the Drone...

JACK'S VOICE No! Wait! The Repairman hears the voice, even as he flips the switch. He LEAPS BACK, spinning around, his carbine coming off his back, lined on Jack fifteen feet away who

STARES BACK AT HIM IN UTTER ASTONISHMENT. JACK'S POV -- THE REPAIRMAN. Holding the weapon on him. The man is Jack. A cleaner, newer, but identical version of Jack... A CLONE. Jack stares, transfixed. Now it all makes sense: The Garbled transmissions, Victoria's last words, who or what he really is, and is not. Not so for Jack 2. He takes a step back, confused, horrified. A tense moment.

JULIA'S VOICE Jack!? Julia has just crested the rise, sees the two Jack's.         Also understanding...

JACK Julia! Stay back! Jack 2 senses her movement, SPINS and AIMS his rifle as          Jack rushes forward --

JACK (CONT'D)         No!          -- He HITS JACK 2 and they both go down, the weapon FIRING! They fight over the weapon.

(CONTINUED)

88.

CONTINUED: ( 2) Blow for blow combat, their physical strength and training identical, the only exception being that JACK 2 is fresh, his suit immaculate, a man who has just arrived at work, maybe just arrived on the planet. WITH JULIA. Standing, watching the two clones fight...         she suddenly drops to her knees, her hand on her side. Blood seeps between her fingers. She's been shot, badly. WITH JACK AND JACK 2. Jack grapples with Jack 2, trying to control him...

JACK (CONT'D)         STOP! You have to understand! You have to understand... Jack 2 throws Jack, leaps on top of him, trying to         throttle him, in a full panic. Jack drives up into his gut, rolls away.

JACK (CONT'D)          We're just Drones! We're just Drones, man! You and me! Don't          you get it? Don't you know? Jack 2 comes at Jack wildly, emotion over-amping technique. Jack DUCKS the blow, wraps Jack 2 up in a         choke-hold. SQUEEZING...

JACK (CONT'D)         It's okay. It's going to be         okay...          Jack 2 goes limp, unconscious. Jack lets him go, staggers back. Everything finally processing. Then:

JACK (CONT'D)         Julia... He turns towards Julia, sees her kneeling there, holding her side. The blood seeping between her fingers...         JACK runs to her as she begins to fall. She is conscious, but just barely. But still, she PULLS BACK from him.

JULIA

(HORRIFIED) Don't touch me. Don't         She lurches away from him, body running on fear and adrenaline. Jack nods, accepting her terror of him.

(CONTINUED)

89.

CONTINUED: ( 3) He moves forward, lifts her up against her willand carries her to shelter among the rocky terrain closeby.

EXT. SMALL ROCKY ENCLAVE - CONTINUOUS

Jack sets her down. There's blood frosting her lips and her skin has gone pale. He looks back, sees the Bubbleship and Jack 2's form lying next to it. He         realizes something.

JACK I'll be back for you.

INT. BUBBLE SHIP 2 - MOMENTS LATER

Jack climbs in, looks around at the interior of the ship, at the similarities. He stares out at the unconscious Jack 2 in front of the ship.

JACK

(EMPTY WORDS) One, Two, Three. Jack Harper. A moment... then lights sparkle across the board.

JACK (CONT'D)          Okay... Let's go home. The Bubbleship 2 lifts off.

INT/EXT. BUBBLESHIP 2 - DAY (LATER)

ON JACK. Making the approach. And then he sees it: Another Sky Tower, just like his. It had to be there. The Bubbleship closes on this new Sky Tower.

EXT. SKY TOWER 2, GARDEN - DAY

A woman we know but do not know is starting her new garden. VICTORIA 2. She looks happier, a little younger and more radiant than the Victoria we knew. It's earlier in their tour. Victoria 2 looks up as the Bubbleship lands. SMILES as          Jack gets out and crosses the bridge towards her.

VICTORIA 2 You're early...

(CONTINUED)

90

CONTINUED: As he approaches she notices his damaged environmental suit.

VICTORIA 2 (CONT'D)         What happened out there? I lost contact. JACK stares at her, heartbroken.

JACK .Just a bit of a dust up.

VICTORIA 2 Are you all right? He nods. She comes over to him. He marvels at her beauty, the simplicity of life here...

VICTORIA 2 (CONT'D)

(SELF-CONSCIOUS) .What? She comes close, brushes his hair away from his forehead.

VICTORIA 2 (CONT'D)         You dreamed a lot last night. I         was thinking, you have to start writing them down.

JACK I cut myself, I just came by         for...

VICTORIA 2 I'll get it.

JACK No, I'll get it. He kisses her. Gentle, loving...

JACK (CONT'D)         I'll get it. You stay here. And as JACK goes into the sky tower, she returns to         happily planting her roses. Oblivious.

INT. SKY TOWER 2, WORK AREA - MOMENTS LATER

As Jack heads through his work area he sees A COLLECTION. Just started, but not much different from his own.

(CONTINUED)

91

CONTINUED: Some coins, a book, THE COLLECTED POEMS OF T.S. ELLIOT, left open to a page, a passage underlined. He reads: We shall not ceasefromexploration And the end of allourexploring will be to arrivewherewe first started and know the placeforthe first time. He nods, strangely moved, moves on.

INT. SKY TOWER 2, INFIRMARY - CONTINUOUS

He grabs the healant and wand. He shuts the cabinet, stares at his reflection in the burnished steel.

INT. SKY TOWER 2, READY ROOM - CONTINUOUS

He opens the door to the locker. Stares at the brand- new, unworn picture of he and Victoria, taped to the inside of the door.

INT. SKY TOWER 2 - MOMENTS LATER

Jack comes out into the living area of Sky Tower 2, noticing everything: The furniture, the big things are exactly the same, but the little personal touches, the smaller details are different. He sees it all in a different light now. Things that he         never looked twice at before. The items used to keep them from the truth. Victoria 2 comes in from outside, washes her hands.

VICTORIA 2 We should watch a movie tonight. He sits, looking around himself. He belongs here. He         fits here. Victoria munches on something.

VICTORIA 2 (CONT'D)         I was going over the catalog and there's still a bunch of your favorites I haven't seen...         She glances over, smiles. Who wouldn't forget everything for that smile?

92.

INT. BUBBLESHIP 2 - MOMENTS LATER

Jack stares down as the Bubbleship LIFTS OFF from Sky Tower 2. He sees Victoria 2 come out, looking at him puzzled. Then she moves towards her Control Station. After a moment, her voice comes over the Comm.

VICTORIA 2 Hey, you didn't say goodbye.

JACK

(BEAT) Good bye... He turns the Bubbleship, towards

EXT. RADIATION ZONE - DAY

Jack touches down in the second Bubbleship. Drone 166 still lies there, but Jack 2 is GONE.

EXT. SMALL ROCKY ENCLAVE - DAY

Jack clambers into the enclave to where he left Julia. She's passed out, she looks dead. There's blood on the ground around her. He pulls her into his lap, pulling away the clothing around the wound. As he does, her eyes flutter open. She's delirious, eyes fixing on him.

JACK This is gonna pinch a little.

JULIA

(NOT PROCESSING) Okay...         He spreads the HEALANT over her wound, activates it. For a moment, nothing. Then the skin starts to knit. And Julia starts to SCREAM...

INT. BUBBLESHIP 2 - LATER

Julia is unconscious, propped in the passenger seat of         the ship. Jack climbs in, jams Bob the Bobblehead onto the dash. It bobbles at him, ready. Jack hits the gas and the Bubbleship lifts into the air.

93.

INT. BUBBLESHIP 2 - DAY

The Bubbleship soars through the sky. There's something particularly calm, picturesque, exquisitely beautiful about the earth below. Jack pilots. In the seat next to him, Julia is pale, propped against the canopy, recovering. She watches him. He's aware of her gaze, but he doesn't look over.

INT. CRATER LAKE, GROTTO - SUNSET

Julia weakly stands amidst the tarped supplies, aware she's trespassing somewhere utterly private. Outside, the sound of Jack splitting wood. She takes in the books, the records, the mementos of the past. Sees the Jammer up and working...         Jack comes in, gets to work piling wood in the fireplace. He won't meet her eyes. Scared of himself, ashamed in         front of her...

JACK I always thought that plateau up         there could be for a house someday. I thought about remaining here, letting the rest of humanity run off to Mars. And we'd just stay here. Jack stops himself, realizing how easily he said "we."

JULIA I'm sorry. Jack...

JACK No.         He moves away from her, lights the fire, it starts to          crackle. He gets up and goes, walking down to the lake. She stands near the fire, glad for its warmth, watching him out there, silhouetted in front of the lake. WITH JACK. He stares out over the water. Letting the truth wash over him. And then MUSIC from the grotto... the opening bars to the Temptation's "My Girl."

94.

INT. GROTTO, CRATER LAKE -- NIGHT

Julia stands by the record player, watching the disc revolve. She looks up when Jack's form appears in the doorway. He's been out there too long, cold.

JULIA He loved this song. Jack sits, shivering, looking out at the lake. She moves to him, wraps a blanket around him.

JACK What was he like?

JULIA He was arrogant, and annoying, and the best man I'd ever known. Some distant part of Jack smiles at that.

JULIA (CONT'D)         .And I loved him.

JACK I'm not that man.

JULIA Shhhhh. Yes you are. She rests her head against on his shoulder, holds him. Simple, caring. His eyes... close.

INT. MISSION CONTROL, NASA - EVENING (FLASHBACK)

A group of ASTRONAUTS and NASA CONTROLLERS are celebrating. A television screen reads: "Odyssey Mission         a GO!" A YOUNGER JACK and JULIA are among the people celebrating. As an ASTRONAUT pops champagne, Jack and Julia find a private alcove, he lifts out the engagement ring that she wears on the necklace around her neck...

YOUNGER JACK We should just tell everybody.

YOUNGER JULIA No, when we come home...         They KISS...

95.

TNT. A DARK ROOM - NIGHT Their bodies entwined. Kissing, touching. Clothing pulled away. Staring into each other's eyes.

INT. NASA CREW APARTMENT - EARLY DAWN

Younger Jack stares out the window at the Odyssey on its launchpad in the distance. Steam rolls off its engines. It's being readied to launch.

YOUNGER JULIA Hey...         He looks over, smiles. She's naked under the sheets, happy, smiling back at him.

EXT. CRATER LAKE - MORNING (PRESENT)

Jack's eyes blink open. Julia is asleep near him, peaceful. He turns, stares into the lightening morning sky. The Tet rising with the sun.

EXT. CRATER LAKE -- MORNING

Jack walks to the water's edge. He stares at the reflection of the Tet in the glassy surface of the lake. And under that, a fish, nibbling algae...         He smiles at the fish.

JULIA (O.S. ) Good morning. He turns. She's there, arms held around herself against the chill of morning. They look at each other, so much to be said.

JACK We can't stay here. She smiles, nods.

INT. BUBBLESHIP 2 - DAY

Jack and Julia fly low over terrain. As the Bubbleship crests a rise and drops down into a steep canyon, she takes his hand. He glances at her, lets his hand stay in         hers. The entrance to Raven Rock looms ahead...

(CONTINUED)

96.

CONTINUED: His eyes narrow. There's SMOKE, drifting from inside Raven Rock.

EXT. RAVEN ROCK - DAY

As the Bubbleship touches down, the carnage becomes clear. A few shattered DRONES lie here and there, but there are bodies and smoking blast points everywhere. JACK grabs his carbine, heading inside.

JACK Stay here...

INT. RAVEN ROCK - DAY

As Jack moves into the darkness of the ruined Raven Rock, his suit's lights blaze on. He moves in, weapon ready. Bodies are everywhere, blasted to pieces. FIRES still burn here and there. Paint bubbles on         burning canvas. Records melt and drip in the heat...         Jack turns a corner, finds Sykes STARING AT HIM! But his eyes are dead. Sykes still holds a spear implanted in a         Drone's wrecked body. A FLICKERING LIGHT draws Jack's attention.

INT. RAVEN ROCK, CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS

BEECH is slumped in a chair, blastburnt, clutching a         charred black box in his arms. His eyes half-lidded, he

STARES AT: Newsreel footage, from when the Tet arrived. On the screen crowds stare, the UN meets, Cults form. THE MOON in the sky, its surface VIBRATES, then starts to         come apart. People SCREAM... Cutting to War Footage. Alien Troop-ships touching down, their design distinctly Tet-like. They discharge waves of warriors...         CLOSE ON: Hand held, war-journalism. We see the alien soldiers pushing back resistance. All of them are versions of Jack. One sights the cameraman, BLAM! Blows him away. Camera hits dirt.. SMASH! Jack is there next to Beech. He's just pushed the projector over.

(CONTINUED)

97.

CONTINUED:

BEECH (not looking up) The first ones were soldiers, programmed only to kill. Beech slowly, painfully, looks at him. Little emotion in         Beech, just resigned recognition.

BEECH (CONT'D)         Later, there were new versions. More... creative. The Tet needed something different. And finally there was... you.

JACK I'm the weapon of this war. BEECH smiles sardonic, nods.

BEECH The Tet. The clockmaker God. Such brilliant, complex machinery... For such a simple task. To steal our water, our life... all for fuel.

(BEAT) It doesn't even care about us. It's just... effective.

JACK Why didn't you tell me?

BEECH Not the kind of news that. (coughing up blood) .motivates a man. Beat,then low, defeated.

BEECH (CONT'D)         We lost, Jack. It won.

JACK The device...?

BEECH (shaking his head) No Drone. It will go on, devouring world, after world...

(BEAT) You like books, Jack. Beech closes his eyes, recalling from memory...

(CONTINUED)

98.

CONTINUED: ( 2)

BEECH (CONT'D)         "Cowards die many times before          their deaths; The valient never          taste of death but once." Beech's voice trails off...         Jack kneels in front of Beech. The old man's eyes are open, fixed on the artwork, the remnants of humanity...         But they don't blink any longer. Beech is dead. Jack reaches up, closes Beech's eyes. He removes the box from Beech's arms: The flight recorder from the odyssey.

JULIA'S VOICE There is a way. Julia stands in the doorway to the library.

JULIA It wants me. Bring me to it. (off his silence) I'm right. You know I am. It's         the only way.

INT. WORK HANGER, RAVEN ROCK - MOMENTS LATER

The room destroyed. The disassembled Drone a smoking hulk. Jack works in front of an open Delta Sleep Pod from the Odyssey. He HAULS the cylindrical BOMB to the Pod, slots it into the space for personal effects...

JULIA Is it ready? Julia is standing at the entrance to the room. He nods and she approaches, STARES at what will be her coffin.

JACK Julia...

JULIA Let's just do it. She moves to climb in, then turns to Jack and kisses him. It's a kiss filled with a lifetime of kisses missed. Finally, it breaks. She backs away, into the Pod, next to the BOMB. Trembling as the door starts to CLOSE. Suddenly, she's very scared. Fighting back panic.

(CONTINUED)

99.

CONTINUED:

JULIA (CONT'D)         Jack... Jack!! The door closes, SEALS. Jack stares down at her through the carapace. He puts a hand on the glass. She puts hers on the other side.

JULIA (CONT'D)         .I got this. He touches a button and a pale gas starts to fill the chamber. Julia realizes that this will be her last moment of consciousness. Trembling, crying, afraid...

JULIA (CONT'D)         Jack...          And she falls asleep. Jack stares at her sleeping form.

JACK Dream about us.

EXT. RAVEN ROCK - LATER

Wind tearing at him, JACK loads the sleep pod onto the drone-carrier of the Bubbleship.

TNT/EXT. BUBBLESHIP, OUTTER ATMOSPHERE - LATER

The Bubbleship hovers high above the clouds, the Delta Pod attached beneath it. Jack STARES down at the earth. He hits a control and the ship rotates, so it's facing upwards towards the Tet which fills the sky above. Jack touches the throttle and the Bubbleship begins to CLIMB. Jack has the odyssey flight recorder on the seat next to         him. He touches a control and THE AUDIO fills the canopy. It's distant, fuzzy, recorded from deep space. Jack listens as the Tet grows in size in front of him.

ORIGINAL JACK'S VOICE Good morning folks, this is         captain Jack Harper here in the cockpit. We're settling in at a         cool one hundred and fifty clicks from the unidentified flying object...

100.

INT. SPACE SHUTTLE ODYSSEY - NO TIME ( FLASHBACK)

The ORIGINAL JACK in the Pilot's seat, ORIGINAL VICTORIA next to him, co-piloting. Jack GRINS as he peers out at         the Tet, just a small geometry among the stars...

ORIGINAL JACK (to Mission Control) So far, from this distance, we're         still reading zero heat signatures, no sign of organic life. Did I mention we're still really far away?

ORIGINAL VICTORIA Mission plan has us approaching to         one hundred kilometers, doing our initial readouts...

ORIGINAL JACK Yes, because everyone knows, if         you want to really know something, one hundred kilometers is the best

DISTANCE --

ORIGINAL VICTORIA Stop. We don't know what it is, if it has intentions.

ORIGINAL JACK (to Mission Control) I think she just made my point --

INT. BUBBLESHIP 2 - CONTINUOUS (PRESENT)

Jack touches a control, the sound from the recorder FAST FORWARDS. Hours and hours of time on the odyssey fly by. The Bubbleship has reached the stratosphere where the blue sky gives way to black space. We see the small ship detach from the blue curve of earth, the blackness of         space in front of it.

JACK Bob, let's prep for outer atmosphere. OUTSIDE, the Bubbleship starts to transform for outer space as it RISES higher and higher...

(CONTINUED)

101.

CONTINUED:

THE TET (a metallic voice) Technician Harper.

JACK Finally. There you are.

THE TET Your ship has converted to space mode. This is not authorized.

JACK I am delivering the survivor from the crash of the NASA ship. ON JACK. The Tet reflected in his eyes.

JACK (CONT'D)         We are... a more effective team.

THE TET .Proceed. Jack... exhales. The TINY BUBBLESHIP climbs towards the massive artificial moon as the audio from the flight recorder surrounds him again...

ORIGINAL JACK'S VOICE -- We don't know if we're dealing with E.T. or the Klingons here, and we're not going to from this distance.

INT. SPACE SHUTTLE ODYSSEY NO TIME (FLASHBACK)

The ORIGINAL JACK and ORIGINAL VICTORIA, in a friendly argument.

ORIGINAL VICTORIA It could be inert. Anything on it         could be long gone by now.

ORIGINAL JACK Which is why we need to make contact, before it just blows on         by like some...

ORIGINAL VICTORIA Which is why we need to make contact.

(CONTINUED)

102.

CONTINUED: He double-takes, relieved that she finally agrees with him, smiles.

ORIGINAL VICTORIA (CONT'D)         (to Mission Control) I agree with Commander Harper. It         crossed whatever light years of          space and time to come this close to us. We're not going to really know anything about it from this far away.

INT. BUBBLESHIP 2 - CONTINUOUS PRESENT

Jack sits in the Bubbleship, the Tet looming above, the voices surrounding him.., remembering.

INT. ODYSSEY SPACE SHUTTLE - NO TIME (FLASHBACK)

They must have been given clearance to approach, because the Tet now FILLS the view in front of them.

ORIGINAL VICTORIA Mission control says maintain one thousand meters. Original Jack touches a control. The Shuttle pushes forward, a little.

ORIGINAL VICTORIA (CONT'D)         What are you doing?

ORIGINAL JACK This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

ORIGINAL VICTORIA We have our orders, Jack. We're         to let it proceed without --

ORIGINAL JACK We are. We're going to let it         proceed whereever it's going... He lifts out of his seat, floats back towards the mid- section of the Shuttle.

ORIGINAL VICTORIA Jack...

(CONTINUED)

103.

CONTINUED: He's already pulling on a spacesuit. Near him is the row of Delta Sleep Pods. In the nearest one, he can see Julia, asleep. He puts his hand on the glass...

ORIGINAL JACK I'll be right back...

ORIGINAL, VICTORIA Are we really going to do this? He looks over. original Victoria is already pulling on         her spacesuit...          A last glance back at Julia, then he turns away. He         smiles at Victoria, drifts next to her, pulling out a          small camera and pointing it back at the two of them...

JACK Let's make history. FLASH. The birth of the picture of the two of them, eyes filled with anticipation. The photo in Jack's locker.

EXT. THE ODYSSEY IN SPACE - NO TIME

The shuttle airlock cracks. Two figures in Space Suits emerge. Small puffs of gas, they head towards...         REVERSE ANGLE. The Tet MASSIVE in front of them. Their small forms shrinking at they approach it. CLOSE ON JACK. His face seen through his visor as they approach. Filled with wonder. The dark shadow of the Tet crossing over him, blacking out everything.

INT. BUBBLE SHIP 2 --- CONTINUOUS PRESENT

Our Jack sits at the controls, the Tet now similarly massive in front of him, blotting out all other sight. He glances at the Bobblehead, which trembles from the ship's engines.

JACK It's okay Bob, I'm scared too. In front of him, a SLOT opens in the Tet wall.

THE TET Enter at headway speed only.

(CONTINUED)

104.

CONTINUED:

JACK Entering at headway speed. He flies into the Tet, carrying the POD.

INT. THE TET, OUTTER CHAMBERS - CONTINUOUS

The TET is obviously of alien manufacture. In this huge bay, other BUBBLESHIPS are being constructed, welded together, by Drones. JACK drifts above all of this.

THE TET Leave the survivor and return to         your duties. Breathable atmosphere has been provided. A PAD is illuminated for Jack to land.

JACK

(SMALL SMILE) Understood. Jack continues on, towards a huge DOOR.

THE TET Leave the survivor and return to         your duties.

JACK (touching a control) You know, you made a mistake, Tet. You left me curious.

THE TET Reverse course. Leave the --

JACK And right now, I want to see what you're made of... Jack GUNS his ship at the large doors, OPENING UP with canons as he does. In front of him, the door IMPLODES just as Jack's ship reaches it, passing into...

INT. THE TET, INTERNAL CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS

A VAST space, miles in every direction. Jack's ships STREAKS along walls that pulse with energy...

(CONTINUED)

105.

CONTINUED:

JACK Do you like books, Tet!? I like books. Can I tell you something that I read? BEHIND THE BUBBLESHIP. DRONES detach from the walls of         the Tet, beginning pursuit.

JACK (CONT'D)          It's a story from Rome, a very great city, that you destroyed. The Bubbleship hauls over, headed deeper into the Tet.

EXT. RADIATION ZONE - CONTINUOUS

Drone 166 sits inert in the sand where we last saw it. Now it RISES UP with a familiar and evil sound. It moves off, searching...

INT. THE TET, INTERNAL CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS

JACK's flies as never before. Drone fire reaching him! Blasts IMPACT the Bubbleship.

JACK There was a guy named Horatius...         and he held a bridge, alone. And when they told him to run, to give up, he said -- BOOM! A drone blast EXPLODES A whole engine of the ship. The Bubbleship goes into an uncontrollable SPIN, headed straight at a WALL...

JACK (CONT'D)         He said everybody dies. The thing is, to die well...         SMASH! Jack's ship IMPACTS the wall, goes halfway through. The Canopy SHATTERS. Glass and debris tear at         him.

INT. THE TET, INCUBATION CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS

Jack STUMBLES OUT, badly wounded. He drags the pod off the carrier. He looks around himself, sees:

(CONTINUED)

106.

CONTINUED: ROW UPON ROW of EMPTY GLASS PODS. He tracks the walls, until near him... there are a dozen with Jack and Victoria clones still inside. BEHIND HIM Drones BLAST away from behind the Bubbleship. Jack stares at the clones, LAUGHS morbidly.

JACK .What Horatius said, what his argument was, was this...         He opens the pod, revealing...          -- BEECH'S BODY, and on his chest the raw BOMB. The nuclear warhead from the odyssey surrounded by ten Deuterium fuel cells.

THE TET That is not the Survivor.

JACK No. BEHIND HIM. The Drones blast away the last bit of the Bubbleship, push through...

EXT. CRATER LAKE - DAY

A Delta Sleep Pod rests in front of Jack's ruined Grotto, near the lake's edge. A TIMER now reaches ZERO. The Delta Pod unseals with a HISSS, its door opening. Soft daylight falls on Julia's face. Her eyes move under their lids, then flicker open..

INT. THE TET, INCUBATION CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS

Jack sees the DRONES swarming towards him. He starts to         recite, but falters. He's really scared.

JACK How can a man die...

TNT. CRATER LAKE - CONTINUOUS Julia emerges from the Pod, confused, looking around.

JULIA Jack?

(CONTINUED)

107.

CONTINUED: She sees the metal cylinder, releases it and it tumbles to the ground. She crouches by it, opens it. Whatever she sees moves her to tears as IN FRONT OF HER, the form of Drone 166 rises into view. Its weapons trained on her. She looks up, right at it, resigned...

INT. THE TET, INCUBATION CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS

As the Drones swarm down, Jack closes his eyes, recites without embellishment. The way these words were meant to

BE SPOKEN:

JACK How can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods...         The DRONES are on him, weapons lining!

JACK (CONT'D)

(YELLING) Do you hear me!!! Jack pounds the trigger with his fist. As ALL THE CLONES open their eyes. .and everything is bathed in WHITE LIGHT.

EXT. THE TET - CONTINUOUS

The Tet explodes in a MASSIVE DEUTERIUM FISSION EXPLOSION, the entire artificial moon killed from within.

EXT. CRATER LAKE - CONTINUOUS

DRONE 166 falls inert in front of Julia as the Tet Explodes in the sky above her. She stares up, tears already running down her face.

EXT. VARIOUS LANDSCAPES - CONTINUOUS

DRONES fall from the sky, powerless... A RESOURCE GATHERER YAWS, losing power, and falls ponderously into what remains of the sea...

108

EXT. CRATER LAKE. CONTINUOUS

The explosion is like St Elmo's fire, refracted across the sky, all over the face of the earth. Julia looks down at her hands which hold: A rolled canvas, the only object inside the metal cylinder. She unrolls it now. We glimpse a girl lying in golden fields, a farmhouse in the distance. The painting from Ravens Rock that reminded her of home. ON JULIA, weeping, staring at the fire ball in the sky.

BLACK

FADE UP ON:

EXT. A GARDEN - DAY

Well-tended. Thick ripe fruit hang on vines.

JULIA (V.0.) The Tet arrived almost half a         century ago. And it changed our world forever...         We're at CRATER LAKE, three years in the future. The Grotto has been turned into a house, the ground has been cultivated. Roses and yellow flowers grow near the house. A SOLAR ARRAY powers the spot. All Jack's         scavenging has gone to very good use. There's a small make-shift boat moored at the Lake's edge.

JULIA (V.0.) It was probably surprised, what we         were willing to do, to survive. Jack's basketball sits alone near the hoop.

JULIA (V.0.) We had to unlearn what it meant, to call something our home. There's a familiar painting, hanging on the wall. The girl in the field of wheat, yearning towards home.

JULIA (V.0.) But we did. We started over. And so here we are now, everyone that's left...

(CONTINUED)

109.

CONTINUED: JULIA is turning over a patch of ground for next year. Next to her, A CHILD is digging her fingers through loam. The CHILD looks up, stares across the water.

JULIA Well, almost everyone. A MAN stands at the edge of the water, on the opposite side. He wears the wrecked remains of a worksuit, and carries a pack. It is Jack 2. He's aged three years, his hair has grown, his boots are scavenged. He has travelled a long way, and we know that as he stares across the water, he knows exactly what he is looking at.

CHILD Who is that? ON JULIA. It's been a long journey to this moment for her as well. She smiles.

JULIA It's your father. Come on, let's         go pick him up.

END.