Screamers

- Okay, ante up. - Five. Okay, l see your five. - Back in the slammer. - Those were my last smokes. This game sucks. This whole place sucks. Lieutenant, l think you'd better have a look at this. What the hell is he doing here? Tell the captain we've got a situation. A NEB coming in. - How did he get this far? - l'm going to take him. He's mine. - What are you waiting for? - Something's not right. He's alone. Here comes the cavalry. No matter how many times l see this, it still makes me sick. l'm glad those things are on our side. Our side's the good side, right? Tell me again, it's a little blurry. We created them. We didn't have any choice. Without the screamers we'd have lost the war. - ls the NEB still out there? - Yeah, but not in one piece. Just the one? What the hell was he doing out here? He had something in his hand that he wanted to show us. Well... l guess l'd better take a look. Are you going out there? That's a great plan. lt's probably some kind of bomb. Get off your butt and open the goddamn door. Check your tabs, sir. CRUClAL: TO ALLlANCE COM MANDER - Who wrote this shit? - Mozart. - "Don Giovanni." - Don Giovanni? What the hell do you want, Chuck? Tear your eye away from that coin, and l'll tell you. lt's the portrait of a sphinx. lt belonged to Augustus Caesar, the first great emperor of the world. Riddle me this, Caesar. We haven't seen a NEB soldier in six months. Why does one solitary grunt get shredded by a screamer - - trying to hand deliver this? Priority seven. You and me... and God, if he's still paying attention. l doubt it. - ls it a trick? - l couldn't get into it, either. - Don't do that! - Scared you, didn't l? Jesus! "From Marshall Richard Cooper, Fifth NEB Army Command." "To Joseph Hendricksson. Matters of extreme urgency." "Demand immediate peace negotiation." "Request two officers. Safe passage guaranteed." "We await your arrival ASAP." - Peace negotiation. - They sound pretty desperate. - We've been waiting for this. - What have we been waiting for? The end of the war. Maybe it's another bullshit tactic to get us to lay back. - MacDonald, are you there? - Yes, sir. l want the following message transmitted to San Francisco. Have received first contact from NEB army in six months. They wish to open peace negotiations. Please advise. We picked up an emergency message from a commercial transport. We're 5 million miles off of the shipping lanes. Find out what their emergency is. No clearance, no landing. Joe, what do you make of this? Looks like a map of the forward command post. - They're laying themselves open. - So why the pony express? They've been completely silent for two weeks. Not even radio. But why just one guy? Why not a patrol? - Secretary Green is arriving. - Thank you, MacDonald. Joe, Chuck, l have some very inspiring news for you all. Alliance HQ has been keeping it classified. Wrapped up tight. The NEB Corporation has approached us requesting an armistice. We could actually end this war. Reserves of berynium have been found on Triton 4. After extensive testing, there's no sign of radioactivity. We are on the verge of signing a world peace agreement. We'd also renew contracts with the NEB to mine on Triton 4. These negotiations are extremely delicate - - and we can't afford to do anything that might upset the apple cart... - Sorry, sir. - Fix it. - There's radiation interference. - Give me the damn thing. Morse code was better than this virtual reality shit. lt is imperative to make no contact with NEB Command on Sirius 6B. l'm sure you won't do anything that would jeopardise our chances now. Peace, can you believe it? The NEBs are businessmen. Now they're mining on Triton 4, peace is in their interest. - Thank God for Green. - He's a good man. He prevented a war on Earth. A war on Earth might've done them some good. lf those assholes rolled around in the mud. - Which assholes? - NEBs and us. - We were all NEBs once. - Exactly. l just want to go home. What's the first thing you'll do? l've got no plans for the future. - You have a lot to look forward to. - lncome tax. Are you going to look her up when you get back? - What for? - You tell me. She couldn't take it. She's married and moved on... ...and l'm still here. Not for long. Do you still think about her? lt used to be every minute, then once a day. About twice a year l get a kick in the chest. What did she look like? All personnel. Radiation alert! Please light your reds. l left mine in the office. Have you got one? He must have been a brave man... that NEB soldier. Alert! All personnel to their stations. - They're not civilians. - No, a troop transport. All ours. - How bad is it? - No survivors. - Then what the hell is that? - Get me out of here, man! We're going to cut you out of here. Just hang on. "Sirius 6B Transportation." We've got no transportation service! - What the hell is that? - You've got to look at this. - Look at this. - And this. lt's a bomb factory. Holy shit! A nuclear reactor! - When did we last see one of these? - What's happening here? Come on. - Careful. Are you all right? - Calm down. l'm all right. - Get this man a tab. - What the hell's a tab? - This guy's naked here. - Hold on a second. One second! l'm out of here. You wanted to see me, Commander? Yeah. At ease, we're informal around here. That'll be all, Rodgers. - How are you doing? - Good... there's a scar on my arm. lf you go outside without a tab on, you'll lose your arm. Name? Private Michael Jefferson. Gunnery specialist on six levels. First class. Level six? You can shoot the dots off a dice at 1 00 yards. lf you can load it, l can shoot it. lnstructors used to call me "Ace". - Everybody here calls me "sir". - Yes, sir. - Sir, what are they? - lt's a sword. Take a look. Screamers were developed to neutralize the war on the ground. - How do you know it's dead? - l yanked its brain out. - That'll take your finger off! - You said it was dead. lt still has a mechanical surface reflex. They get shot up, but can still swing a sword. Pretty smart. Maybe too smart. lt seems to have modified itself. Where's everybody else? The guys who were with me? - How many men onboard? - 38, including me. Now there's one, including you. Those guys... l didn't even know them. l couldn't even talk to them. Jefferson... what in the hell are you doing here? There was a nuclear reactor aboard programmed for weapons manufacture. - l wasn't aware of that. - You radioed you were civilian. - Where were you bound? - Triton 4. Why were you carrying a nuclear reactor and weapons? To invade, attack and extinguish the enemy. - What enemy? - The NEBs. You were going to attack the NEBs on Triton 4? Yes... but we're just a task force. 4,000 Alliance Army regulars are on their way to Triton 4 right now. - Secretary Green informed us... - Secretary Green? - That's right. - Secretary Green is gone. He's been gone for almost two years. We got a V. R. communique from him yesterday. Secretary Green was arrested and eliminated by the Alliance command. Two years ago. Dismissed. - l enlisted to fight... - Dismissed, Jefferson. - The NEBs have been running... - Get out of here! What in God's name are we doing, Chuck? - We just saw Green. - We saw bullshit! You know as well as l do that they can send us anything they want. - That kid doesn't know policy. - Get your head out of the lilacs. Do you expect me to believe that we're being dumped? That our 20-year stand here has turned into a galactic gold rush? They keep sending us provisions. Will they let us die up here while they carry on running the universe? - l don't buy it. - Wake up, man! We are betrayed here, brother. We are beached. Green's been shit-canned and this whole place is a lie! They just can't cut us off up here. Families on Earth would raise hell. And they won't take us back there. lf we sound off about this, nobody's going to fight their war for them. They're just going to let us roll on and on up here. We ain't ever getting off here. Marshall Cooper and his NEB Command knows it, too! He sent us a map. Your solitary NEB grunt got his ass shot to stop this thing. They know it's pointless now. - Where are you going? - l'm going to NEB Command. We'll make our own peace right here. NEB said they wanted two men. Somebody's got to stay here in case anyone else falls out of the sky. - l'll take Johnny Gung-Ho. - The kid? l'm not risking any more of our men. This is your tab. lt won't work for anybody but you. That makes me feel a lot better. Screamers only attack living things. They read your pulse rate. Your tab broadcasts a false heartbeat, flat-lining you. ln theory they work perfectly, but radioactivity corrodes them. - What then? - We thank God you're a good gunner. l was remembering that day up in Point Reyes. - That bartender... - With the monkey. The beach. We sat drinking beer, watching the humpbacks blowing. You watched the whales, Joe. l was watching other things. We should go back there. l'd like to see that again. What, girls volleyball? Hey, Joe... l'll see you soon. On that day. Jefferson, are you coming or are you breathing hard? Good luck. Cicero, this is Libby. Radio check, over. Cicero reading you loud and clear. Next transmission will be 33:00 and then every 4 hours after that. lf l miss one, don't sweat it. lf l miss two... ...move into the office, change the music and carry on. l'll take the office, but the "Don Giovanni" will have to go. Roger, copy. - The air is terrible out here. - lt's what's in the air. - What, radiation? - This'll neutralize it. Here. - lt's an anti-radiation red. - That's what poisoned it? That used to be the most profitable, wonderful enterprise in the galaxy. lt produced berynium. The answer to the world's energy question. A spoonful could take you from Earth to Saturn in a day. Then those mines started puking up tons of radiation. We thought we'd discovered gold... but we discovered shit. And you smoke this shit just to neutralize the shit in your lungs. - How do you know it's working? - lf you don't die. - God! What happened here? - Blasts. - NEB bombers. - They nuked the civilians? The civilians got in the way. The bombs were aimed at us. You just don't have a clue about what brought you here, do you? You'd fight for any son of a bitch if he convinced you you were right. - Someone convinced you. - Not someone, something. The Alliance was formed to support you. You're right, Jefferson. And it divided my country and my world. So as much as you're dying to get shot by some NEB soldier, - - we're going to make peace with these people, you and me. We're going to rip you off of that experience. Look at this place. l came here 20 years ago to mine berynium for the NEB. We were all NEBs then. The scientists found radiation and shut down the mines. The NEB Corporation threatened them, and there was a stand-off for years. They they started to rain everything down on us. Nuclear disc bombs, chain bombs, bacteria crystals. Civilian survivors were evacuated. We retreated to the bunker. - How did you fight back? - We reinvented an early weapon. - The sword? - The autonomous mobile sword. The screamer. Save it. They don't eat rats, do they? We're not sure. They're scavengers and they learn. They use everything. Rotting meat gives off methane gas for fuel. Maybe eyeball jelly makes good blade wax. Are they machines? Are they alive? l don't understand... l don't have the answers, Jefferson. - But where are they coming from? - Underground. The first design was sent to us from the Alliance on Earth. lt's all automated now. No one's been down there since they pushed the first button and ran. - They make themselves now. - And no one knows how? They're down there breeding like rabbits and no one knows? Am l speaking Swahili? That's exactly what l mean. Hit the dirt! Come out of there! Come out of there! Come forward. - Stop. - Can l come with you? My God... - Cover me. - Go. Jefferson. You all right? lt's okay. What have you got there? Let me see. That's a good guy. No, you keep him. That's your friend. Where do you live? - ln there? - Yes. ln the ruins? How many are you? How many people? - You're alone? How do you survive? - Food. - What kind of food? - Different. How do you keep away from the screamers? - The blades underground that kill. - l hide. - Can l come with you? - No, you stay here. Give me a macro-ration. We'll give you something to eat. We'll come back for you. ln two or three days we'll find you. Take this. You tear this and eat it. - l want to come with you now. - We'll come back in two days. You take care of this guy, okay? We can't just leave him here. He's a kid. He'll never survive. - What am l saying? - Can l come with you? - What's your name? - David Edward Dearing. - Where's your mum and dad? - They died in the blasts. You've been alone here for four years? Everything seems to be okay. ls it safe to make a fire like this? We want to let them know we're coming. - Fire keeps the rats away. - Rats? l had this friend, he used to eat them. Rats. You'll appreciate this... You don't just heat up the oil, that makes them stick to the pan. You get the pan hot, put the oil in cold, then add your rats. But don't crowd the pan, it sucks all the heat out. You keep flipping them, or they burn. - My friend said... - Jefferson! You must be confusing me with somebody who gives a shit. Give me that rock, boy. Cicero, this is Libby calling. - Come in, Cicero. - Libby, how is it out there? lt's cold. We're at 1 4 degrees north latitude. We expect to reach the NEB Command... ...in about four hours. Hello..? We've got a new arrival. He came in yesterday. Chuck, you're breaking up. You'll get your next transmission at 00:00 hours. - Libby, over. - lt seems a little strange... lf you're gonna be a rock, be a rock. Don't be a bug. Don't do that to me! l nearly pissed my pants... sir. Things ain't what they used to be. Jefferson! - Didn't you hear it? - No. - Good God, man! - Cool, huh? - Do you know how much they cost? - Keep that on your wrist. - Doesn't it work if it's nearby? - lt stays on your arm! l'm already dragging one kid around. Do l have to tie your shoes for you? Your tab was on and it was going for you. What is this? l've never seen this. lt looks like an animal. lt's not an animal. lt's an upgrade. - Maybe it's a NEB one. - Jefferson, relent. We're getting out of here. Take your bear with you. - Where are we going? - A long way for you, kid. You soap the socks the night before. The water dries out but the soap stays in. - You've got soap against skin... - Have you got a dimmer switch? lf you put a teddy bear in a microwave, nothing will happen. - But a wet frog... - Shut up. Jefferson! Goddamn screamer! lt wanted to kill us. lt can see us and touch us. l can't tell what the signals say. lt can talk. - He's a fucking toaster. - That's right. Pinocchio's not a real little boy. - Why didn't it try to kill us? - lt was tagging you. They're smarter now. They get into our bunkers. They tag along. Who can resist a kid with a hard luck story? Once it gets inside, the killing starts. But you knew that already. - You brought him in here. - lt found us. What is your reason for being here? We were invited here for a peace negotiation. Marshall Cooper sent this from NEB headquarters. You want to negotiate..? We ain't gonna do it here. - Are you taking them to the bunker? - You got something better to do? - Sir, do you trust these guys? - No. - What are you doing? - Calling the office. Problem? Cicero, this is Libby. Come in. - How is it out there? - We've got a new kind of screamer. - l can't hear you real well. - lt's a kid. A little boy. - Don't let it into the bunker. - l can't hear you. There's too much interference. That kid, he was like a person. How did he know what to say? You think Santa makes them his little elves? They've got more brains than you. Fighting won't solve our problems. One of those kids tagged my patrol. We took him into our bunker. - Nobody got out. - Except you. - What's that supposed to mean? - You figure it out. You guys brought them here. Only after the bombing started. But now they don't care what uniform is covering your ass. - Neither do l. - Slow down, soldier. Would you mind taking that outside? Stray bullets are bad for the inventory. lt's worth a lot more when it ain't all shot to... shit. l'm letting you stay here out of the kindness of my heart, Becker. So follow the ground rules. First, no gunplay inside. Second, this is my place, and nobody touches anything. Real Scotch, not synthetic shit. No spitting. Spare a cigarette? Well, gentlemen... Live it up. l haven't had an American cigarette in over a year. There's plenty back at base, but l forgot to bring them. - You got the last one. - Very generous of you. What is this place, a commissary? There hasn't been a commissary here in over two years. Not since those blades arrived. - Are you a freelancer? - Right. Black market, Commander... Hendricksson, Joseph. San Francisco. Jessica Hanson, Pittsburgh. How do you do? - lt's early in the day for that. - Yeah. l'm looking for Marshall Cooper, Fifth NEB Army. He'd be in the command bunker, if there still is one. What about your communication satellites? lf they're still working, they'd be in there, too. What do you mean by that? You have no idea of the hell you opened up. We opened up? Just tell me where the command bunker is. You wouldn't last ten yards out there without me. - Have you seen it? - l heard it. - Hordes of them. - What hordes? Davids. l heard them screaming into the bunker above us. l heard the soldiers screaming. Then it got very quiet. Nothing... except the smell of death. - Still want a guided tour? - lf Cooper is alive, l'll find him. l'll take you to Command. We'll go underground. - l want something in return. - Speak. - l want off this ashtray. - Where? Earth. How long do you think l'm gonna last in here? Nobody leaves. The NEBs and Alliance are fighting on Triton 4. They've hung everybody on this planet out to dry. Good Lord, you're beautiful. l can take you back to the Alliance bunker. - Deal. - Going somewhere, Jessica? She's taking me to NEB Command and l'm taking her to Alliance. Cosy. And then what? Become a prisoner of war? You can relocate anywhere if you can get off this globe. Or you can go straight to hell for all l care. You're crazy. You don't know what's down there. - Afraid of the dark, Ross? - Get off my back. Look at this. lt's one of ours. She's got everything. And l found something else. - What is it? - A plutonium rocket. Plutonium? Have l been blowing smoke out of my ass? We've not used nukes in this war yet and we're not going to use them now. So leave it. Okay, let's get on the good foot. Anybody that's coming, come on. "When he's best, he's little worse than a man." "And when he's worst, he's little better than a beast." l never knew they put Shakespeare in comic books. Ain't it sharp enough yet? lt's never sharp enough. l'm not sure if these tabs work, but stay close to me and Jefferson. Let's go. This leads to the maintenance tunnel underneath the command bunker. l ain't going in there. Don't tell me a big guy like you is scared of mice! - Has a rat got your tongue? - Get off my back. ls that all you know how to say? Explain your vocabulary, Ross. Knock it off! Just get off my back! We're almost there. This is the command centre. This is the ground level. - What the hell is this? - lt's exactly what you think it is. l knew it! We're all gonna die! Jefferson, if that man moves, or even farts, shoot him. Shut up. lf Richard Cooper were alive, he'd be here, wouldn't he? The ComSat stabilizers are all frozen. This one's free. Uplink attempt initiated. Sat Net downlink does not respond. Malfunction. Sat Net does not respond. Way to go, Ross. Can l come with you? Jefferson, get everybody out of here now. Do it! Go. Can l come with you? Can l come with you? We're not leaving without Hendricksson. Can l come with you? - Can l come with you? - Jefferson! Cute, Jefferson. lt won't take them long to get through this door. - Thanks for waiting, Becker. - Yeah, next time. There won't be a next time. That was stupid. - What was so important back there? - What other type? David was a type 3. The reptile was a type 1. What's the other type? Can l come with you? lt's a... type 2. - Genius. You can count up to three. - Get off my back! - lt's a wounded soldier. - "Help me. Help me." There were only a few reported. We thought you'd discontinued them. - We've never seen them. - What do they look like? - Who do they look like? - Look in the mirror, Ross. l'm warning you... just get off my back. They keep saying the same thing over and over. Just get off my..! Exactly. He's one of them. He's a machine. Type 2. He kept repeating himself. You heard him. And what about the scotch? You saw, he didn't take a sip. That's right, sir. We offered, but he refused. That's blood. - Bullshit. - Bullshit? Take a look. l see a human being who got wasted for no reason at all. - What are you looking at? - That wasn't very human of you. Until two days ago, l didn't even know you existed. You think l'm one of them? Then you'd better kill me, too. See if l've got any switches inside. Come on, be on the safe side. Do it! Man, l'm out of here. Anybody that's coming, come on. Cicero, this is Libby. Come in. Cicero, this is Libby. Come in. lf you get killed, will your man let us in? Not if he's smart. Do you want me to say l'm sorry? Well, l'm not. lt was a mistake. l'll kill you before l let you make another one. Just got out of basic training, didn't you? lt's pretty obvious you're a rookie. You think you're the centre of the universe, but you're not. We're just insignificant little specks, you and me. We're not gonna change the world. We're not gonna win the war. Nobody's gonna care that we die. "Which many signify that you should snarl and bite and play the dog." - Not me. - Shakespeare? Very good. Cicero, this is Libby. Over. Cicero, come in. Over. Goddamn radiation! Come on, we've got to get closer. - Come on down. - We're right in front of the door. - Come out. Over. - Bad connection, Joe. l've got NEBs with me. Come on up. You're breaking up, Joe. - Come up out of the bunker. - Come on down, Joe. You come up, Chuck. - Chuck, that's an order. - Come on down. Over. - Chuck... - Come on down. Over. - Let me speak to Don Giovanni. - This is Don Giovanni. Come on down. Over. - This is your old pal Wolfgang. - l will open the door. Over. l'm coming down right now. Do you copy? - Come down. Over. - l'm coming in... Go! Watch the flame. - Give me the nuke! - What? Give me the mini-pluto you stole out of the bunker! - Loading. - Watch your heads. Hang on! Help me! - Help me! - Sir! Help me! - Sir. - l'm okay, Jefferson. - What about you? - Becker's down. He's wounded. Becker... - He's wounded... - Hold on, man. Wounded. - Help me. - Jefferson! No! Down! Down to hell! And say that l sent you there. "l came into the world with my legs forward." "And the woman cried, 'He was born with teeth!"' l had no father. l am my own father. l have no brother l am my own brother. This word love, which old farts call blind, - - be resident in men like you, asshole, but not in me. l am my motherfucking self. Alone! Jefferson! We're gonna die. You know that, don't you? Yeah... ...but not today... ...and not here. Where will we go? Where do you go when there's nowhere else to go? Home. Earth. There's an emergency escape vehicle for use by the commanding officer. lt's hidden in these mountains in a place named ironically - - for where they developed the first atomic bomb. Alamogordo. l've never been there. - What are you talking about? - There's a way off this planet. - Type 2? - Hell if l know. l've never even seen this tag. l've never even seen this language. Can l see it? Yeah. God! l'm sorry. Give it to me. l'm sorry. l had to know. No! Don't do that... you don't need to. - That's the last one. - lt's okay. According to this we should be close. - Does that locator work? - Yeah. - ls it up there? - lt should be. - l don't see anything. - That's the idea. l can't go on any more. l don't want to go on any more. Listen to me. l don't have anybody. l don't have a family or a friend or that kid Jefferson. l don't even have him. But l have you, do you hear me? l have you, and we're going home. l'm taking you home. When l took over command, this was coded in my bio-signature. - lt only works for you? - We'll soon find out. Then l'm with the right guy. - What do we do? - l have no idea. Let's try this chair. What about this? Elevator activated. Countdown to launch commencing. lt's moving. Get on. Hang on. The crane's blocking the trajectory. - l'll be down. - Okay. Please clear launch pad. Gantry inoperable. Circuit malfunction. Launch sequence initiated. Time to launch: 15 minutes. - Chuck! - Remember that bar at Point Reyes? l guess you'll never see it again. We all die alone, Joe. Like the new look, Commander? What do you think? ls this me, or what? l liked the other face better. Do you know who l got it from? Marshall Richard Cooper. Name ring a bell? Do you know how we got it off him? Just like your buddy Chuck, we ripped it off. He was screaming something about God and Jesus. You're in the wrong place. l took his face. He didn't have much use for it. But l like your face better. "She couldn't take it. She married and moved on, and l'm still here." Obstruction cleared. Prelaunch proceeding. Down to hell, and say that l sent you. "l came into the world with my legs forward..." - Are you all right? - Fine. Let's go. - Prelaunch sequence complete. - Joe... - Damn. - One seat. One life support system. Get in. We've got eight minutes for you to get out of here. - You know how to fly it. - lt'll fly by itself. Shit! l'll flip you for it. Call it. Heads or sphinx. Rome, Egypt. l'll flip it. You call it. All right, Cleopatra, l'll call it. Rome. lt doesn't matter. You're going. Now, go. l can't... Pardon me, gentlemen, would you mind taking that outside? Stray bullets are bad for the inventory. Jessica Hansen, Pittsburgh. How do you do? We can smile, we can cry, we can bleed. We can fuck. l wanted to tell you. l did. Not so fast. Two minutes to launch. Hey, bitch! Prelaunch burn complete. 90 seconds to launch. l didn't want to... ...go back with you. l was afraid. l know. You were afraid of what you would do. You're coming up in the world. You've learned how to kill each other now. l learned something else, too. l learned to... ...love. 30 seconds to launch. This is Joseph Hendricksson aboard EEVT 3. Over. Alliance San Francisco. Over. On a prelaunch, requesting emergency clearance for Earth. Cleared for Earth. Over.