VIRTUALITY

“Go/No-go”

Written by

Michael Taylor

Story by

Michael Taylor and Ron Moore

BermanBraun Revised Network Draft

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"We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are."

-- The Talmud

"I know Kung Fu."

-- Neo, The Matrix

 ACT ONE

FADE IN:

Or more accurately we “shimmer in,” with a hint of pixilation,

as though reality is re-arranging itself into a vibrant
tableau, as we find ourselves --

EXT. GRASSY RIDGE - SUNRISE

SOMEONE is lying in the tall grass just under the crest of

this ridge, the verdant scene AWASH in SUNLIGHT, the SOUND of
CRICKETS filling our ears. The setting feels almost hyper-
real, every color and sound heightened until they seem to
resonate with our own senses.

A HAND enters frame as a MAN runs his fingers through the

preternaturally green blades of grass, each shimmering with
dew, before plucking one and bringing it to his mouth to
chew... as we RISE into a Spaghetti Western-style CLOSE-UP:
keen, watchful EYES under the brim of a dusty slouch hat, eyes
that have seen more than their share of bloodshed and death.

MAN’S POV: a bucolic vista of a rural RAILWAY STATION and the

sleepy little TOWN built around it. The locale: the American
South; the time, 1863. The man raises a set of FIELD GLASSES.

FIELD GLASS POV: a platoon's worth of CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS

load supplies onto a short freight train that’s also taking on
water and coal.

THE MAN lowers the field glasses, then wriggles back on his
elbows until he has sufficient cover to stand, revealing that
he’s wearing the UNIFORM of a Union Colonel. He walks back
down the ridge, where an entire MOUNTED CAVALRY TROOP --
nearly a hundred men, most of whom have seen hard action --
wait in a line, their horses snorting restlessly and pawing
the grass. As the Colonel mounts up beside his grizzled
CAPTAIN at the front of the line --

COLONEL
Caught’em napping, Captain. Men ready?

CAPTAIN
Ready, willing and eager.

The Colonel nods, eyeing the troop approvingly -- until his

gaze stops on a young CORPORAL, one leg hooked casually over
the pommel of his saddle as he looks away at the morning sun.
The Colonel frowns.

COLONEL
Not inconveniencing you are we,
Corporal?
 2.

The corporal turns, revealing a handsome face dominated by a

pair of arresting GREEN EYES. He smiles an innocent, naive
smile.

CORPORAL
No, sir. Just admiring the day.

COLONEL
You new here, son?

CORPORAL
Joined the regiment at Vicksburg, sir.

The Colonel eyes him for a beat longer, something about this
new trooper bothering him on an unconscious level. Then he
draws his sword and nods to his bugler.

COLONEL
Give us a tune.

THE RIDGE - A MOMENT LATER

The charge SOUNDS as the troop thunders over and down into --

EXT. SOUTHERN TOWN - MAIN STREET - DAY

The rebels loading the train at the end of the street scatter.
It looks like the Colonel’s charge has indeed surprised them.
But suddenly, rifles poke out of windows and over the parapets
of roofs. Simultaneously, the door of a freight car at one
end of the street slides open, revealing a GATLING GUN, while
TWO WAGONS are wheeled out of stables at the other end of the
street, blocking it off as more Confederate soldiers take up
firing positions behind them. As the surprised Colonel and
his confused troop pull up --

CAPTAIN
Colonel, it’s a trap! It’s a --

He’s SHOT OFF HIS HORSE. All hell breaks loose: a chaotic
bloodbath straight out of a Peckinpah film. Both sides take
heavy casualties as bodies tumble from roofs and horses. And
right in the middle of it is --

THE COLONEL -- slashing with the saber, shooting with his

sidearm, a cool customer in the middle of the chaos and
carnage all around him. He wheels and guides his wild-eyed
horse with his knees until the animal is SHOT out from under
him and they crash to the ground. As he struggles to free his
pinned leg, he suddenly hears:

VOICE
You’re not fooling anyone, Frank.
 3.

The Colonel looks up in astonishment to see:

THE GREEN-EYED CORPORAL

standing casually over him, untouched and seemingly

unconcerned by the bloody chaos swirling around him, almost as
if it didn’t exist.

COLONEL
What -- what did you say?

CORPORAL
I said you’re not fooling anyone, Frank.
Least of all, yourself.

And so saying, he draws his own revolver and SHOOTS the

Colonel in the chest. The Colonel is knocked back down. He
finds himself staring up at the sky... a BLUE SKY that
gradually turns DARK, until the cold pinpricks of STARS
appear, and we DISSOLVE TO:

CLOSE ON THE SAME MAN’S FACE

Eyes closed, head now propped on a temperfoam pillow, some

sort of sparely elegant, futuristic HEADSET wrapping around
his temples. He opens his eyes, a confused look on his face
as he tries to sort out what happened to him. The sounds of
battle have been replaced by the quiet, nearly inaudible hum
of machinery and electronics, the Technicolor surroundings and
sweeping cinematography now swapped for de-saturated hues and
a more naturalistic hand-held camera -- fantasy, for reality.
REVEAL we’re in:

INT. PIKE’S QUARTERS

COMMANDER FRANCIS "FRANK" PIKE, early 40s, takes off his

headset, which we'll come to learn enables a neural connection
to an advanced virtual reality program, and sits up.

Pike’s quarters have a Zen feel, just a few pieces of ABSTRACT

ART on the walls, some hand-painted painted Civil War
FIGURINES on a built-in shelf by a digital clock. He crosses
to a small BATHROOM, where he splashes some water on his face,
then studies his reflection in a mirror.

PIKE
Jean -- messages?

A disembodied MALE ELECTRONIC VOICE replies.

 4.

JEAN (A.I. VOICE)

Just two, sir. Doctor Meyer would like
to speak with you and Mister Braun
wanted to know if you’d had a chance to
catch the results of the Game.

Pike groans inwardly.

PIKE
And they were?

JEAN
New York, 27 to 10.

That sucks. Pike pulls on a lightweight Patagonia crew

jacket, the brand name prominent, and EXITS into --

INT. PHAETON - CORRIDOR

...a long, heavily insulated CORRIDOR, broken up by a series

of small PLEXI WINDOWS through which we glimpse SPACE and the
distant STARS. As Pike walks along, we PULL BACK through one
of the windows to hover --

EXT. SPACE - PHAETON

-- outside the corridor, revealing it to be part of an aft

LIVING MODULE of a LARGE SPACE CRAFT, long as a football field
and comprised of a variety of interconnected modules rotating
with a spinning cylindrical core, capped at the prow by a
wedge-like armored flange, like the head of a battering ram,
and at the stern by a ring of ion drive THRUSTERS encircling a
series of thick alloy DISKS.

The overall look is neither sleek “Star Trek” nor Gothic

“Alien” but something much closer to a blandly contemporary
NASA design, only scaled up in size and reflecting more
advanced technology. The name "PHAETON" is painted on the
side beside the familiar NASA LOGO, and a larger CORPORATE
LOGO of the private Consortium that is funding this mission.
And as we PUSH IN on the ship’s name, we CUT TO:

INT. CONFESSIONAL

A MAN faces camera in CLOSE-UP, a RED COUCH visible in the

b.g. in this otherwise featureless room. He’s in his early
40s, roughly handsome, with intelligent eyes that guard a hard
kernel of bitterness. We’ll come to know him as DR. JAMES
“JIMMY” JOHNSON, a nuclear scientist and engineer. TIME CODE
tells us we’re watching a VIDEO RECORDING.

JOHNSON
Why am I going? You’re asking me this
now?
 5.

In response to someone’s inaudible off-camera prompt, Johnson

sighs, then begins a somewhat by-the-numbers recitation:

JOHNSON (cont’d)
Because when technology offers us the
chance to expand our horizons, our
innate curiosity compels us take it. As
a species, we have a need to explore.
(beat)
That what you’re looking for?

He looks at the o.c. presence for a moment, doesn’t like what

he hears.

JOHNSON (cont’d)
Look, I do my job, okay? I’m not here
to give the old sales pitch to the dopes
sitting back home sucking on the Inter-V
teat, okay? That’s your problem -- I
got enough of my own.

And as he glares angrily at camera, we CUT TO:

INT. CORRIDOR

A man in an ELECTRIC WHEELCHAIR is rolling toward Pike. A

beat as we realize it’s Johnson. He’s a paraplegic, uses his
good arm to manipulate the chair’s joystick.

As the pair get closer, they exchange familiar greetings --

PIKE
Dr. J.

JOHNSON
El Jefe.

PIKE
(in SPANISH)
How are the children?

JOHNSON
(in SPANISH)
Ready to make big boom.

And as Johnson glides past, heading for our camera --

INT. MESS AREA - SURVEILLANCE CAMERA ANGLE

A very different shot of a very different Johnson: inebriated

at a BIRTHDAY PARTY, a bottle in his hand and flanked by
several crew members we have yet to meet, as he looks up
toward camera and offers a mocking toast --
 6.

JOHNSON
“Why am I going?” Hey Fallon -- you
still want know why I’m going? ‘Cause I
like to blow things up!

The image FREEZES as we REVEAL we’ve been watching this on an

SCREEN in a dark room. The frozen image is dragged into an
AVID-style editing timeline, as camera PANS to an adjacent
SURVEILLANCE-STYLE MONITOR, where Pike can now be seen
climbing a ladder into an access conduit, then out of view.

EXT. PHAETON

Camera pushes in on the exterior of the access tunnel: a tube

connecting two modules, about a third of the way forward.

INT. VERTICAL ACCESS CONDUIT

Pike climbs up the narrow tube and into a larger HUB where
ALICE THIBADEAU and her husband and fellow exobiologist KENJI
YAMAGUCHI, both in their 30s look a bit flushed and disheveled
for two people supposedly just standing there working a
maintenance console.

ALICE
Commander. Hey.

KENJI
How’s it going?

PIKE
Alice, Kenji...

KENJI
We were just, um...

ALICE
...Yeah, were uh...

PIKE
I’m sure you are. Carry on.

As Pike climbs past them into another narrow portion of the

conduit, the couple trade “busted” looks, off which --

INT. CONFESSIONAL

Alice and Kenji sit on the red couch, holding hands as they
talk to the camera.

ALICE
Having a partner makes a huge difference
on a mission like this, especially now
with “Go/no-go” just days away.
 7.

KENJI
(nodding)
It’s all comes down to this -- all the
planning, all the training. One last
chance to pull the plug or take the
plunge.

ALICE
(ribbing him)
One last chance to mix our metaphors.

KENJI
Hey...

He elbows her playfully. Then, to camera --

KENJI (cont’d)
Seriously, just knowing she’s here,
right here -- not a few million miles
away -- makes a huge difference.

ALICE
I don’t think either of us could’ve done
it ourselves.

KENJI
I don’t think anyone could. NASA didn’t
even consider applications from married
astronauts unless the spouse was one
too.

ALICE
I think we’re pretty lucky. Nothing
like a ten-year adventure to add some
romance right?

And as they beam at each other and snuggle closer...

RESUME: INT. ACCESS CONDUIT HUB

Kenji and Alice watch Pike as he disappears from view --

KENJI
He knows.

ALICE
Maybe. Didn’t help that your pants are
on backwards.

Kenji looks down, then shrugs and grins.

KENJI
(suggestive)
Guess I gotta take ‘em off again.
 8.

And as they start to strip off each other’s clothes, giggling

like a married couple enjoying a second honeymoon, it’s now
pretty obvious what Pike interrupted.

ALICE
Have we run out of new places?

KENJI
There’s still the core.

ALICE
Zero-G? Could be tricky.

And as they laugh again as he pushes her up against a bulkhead

and she wraps her legs around him --

EXT. PHAETON

Pushing in now on a bulbous module near the ship’s midpoint,

with a skylight-like slit on one outer wall.

INT. CORRIDOR

At the end of a corridor, Pike opens a hatch marked

“HYDROPONICS” and enters --

INT. GREENHOUSE

A high-tech oasis in space: a variety of plants growing in

hydroponic tables rising in tiers up the curving sides of the
module like the terraces of a rice paddy, illuminated by
bright LED lighting. Pike walks along a central path at the
base of the module, alongside other plants in bins of
synthetic soil, meanwhile looking up at...

...microbial ecologist RIKA GODDARD, an attractive woman in

her late 20s with a runner’s physique, who’s testing the
solution in one of the hydroponic beds.

PIKE
You’re up early. Aren’t you on
nightshift this week?

RIKA
Couldn’t sleep. Hey -- I left some
greens down there. Mind taking them to
the guys?

PIKE
No problem.

As she watches him grab a bucket of greens sitting nearby --

 9.

INT. CONFESSIONAL

Rika on the red couch, talking to camera.

RIKA
You could say plants are better adapted
to space travel than we are. They don’t
need soil, only the nutrients it
contains. They don’t care if their
light comes from the sun or an LED lamp.
They have a much greater tolerance for a
reduced geomagnetic field.
(beat)
They don’t get lonely.
(beat)
Do I miss Earth? Sure. Sometimes. The
good parts. I miss the good parts.

Her expression darkens slightly -- or is it wistful?

RIKA (cont’d)
But I guess we’re about to say goodbye
to all that, the good and the bad... I
mean really goodbye.
(pensive)
Ten years...

And as her voice trails off, we --

RESUME: INT. GREENHOUSE

Rika watches Pike exit with something more than just a

colleague’s casual interest, then goes back to her plants (and
the keen-eyed may notice a flash of gold WEDDING BAND on her
ring finger).

INT. CONFESSIONAL

Now facing us on the couch: MANNY RODRIGUEZ, 32, a wiry,

intense mathematician -- boot-strapped out of a barrio on the
strength of his gifts -- and his partner VALENTIN (”VAL”)
ORLOV, 35, a bearish Russian geologist.

MANNY
When I was a kid, there were these rocks
we used to dive off in Rosarito, back
when there still was a Rosarito. Once
we dared each other to do it at night.
You couldn’t even see the water... just
had to tell yourself it was there.
(beat)
That’s what this reminds me of.
 10.

VAL
(nodding)
“Leap of faith.”

MANNY
Yeah -- faith that what we think is out
there is out there...

VAL
...and we will find it... if we go.
(beat)
“To go or no go,” that is question, eh?

And as they exchange tense looks...

INT. GALLEY

Part of a mixed-use social area that includes a dining area

(MESS) and a partitioned-off briefing area. Manny and Val are
cooking dinner, Val methodically dicing an onion, eyes
tearing, while Manny casually shakes spices into a sauce pot.

MANNY
You done with that yet?

VAL
I keep telling you -- is not about just
throwing things in pot.

MANNY
I keep telling you, ‘bro, this ain’t a
restaurant and I’ve got real work to do.

VAL
So do I, and your bitchings won’t get
this done faster, “bro.”

At which point Pike enters, setting the greens on a counter.

PIKE
Fresh from the garden.

VAL
Good. We make salad.

Pike dips a finger into Manny’s sauce pot, gets his hand
slapped for his trouble.

MANNY
Hey!

PIKE
(tasting)
Needs salt.
 11.

He exits, the two men looking after him for a beat before
returning to their bickering.

VAL
I tell you more salt, you no listen.
You no ever listen!

MANNY
I no listen? I no listen?! Let me tell
you something you big stupid sack of --

INT. SICKBAY

Pike pokes his head into the compact, high-tech sickbay.

PIKE
Doc? Meyer, you in here?

But the space is empty. Pike addresses the ship’s A.I.

PIKE (cont’d)
Jean, can you locate the doctor?

JEAN
Dr. Meyer is in the forward observation
room.

Pike shrugs, wondering a bit at that, then exits as we CUT TO:

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM

The planet NEPTUNE is a small blue sphere visible in the

center of a wall-sized viewing port. But DR. EYAL MEYER, 36,
Phaeton’s medical officer, isn’t even looking, his attention
focused instead on a large PET SCAN of a human brain that has
been projected on a translucent wall panel.

The scan renders the twin hemispheres a deep, oceanic blue,

while in the center and upper third of the image, an area of
neural activity appears as two kidney-shaped ovoids of red --
like pulses of heat in those cool depths.

Meyer, a controlled, thoughtful man, studies the scan with an

intent but otherwise neutral expression.

MEYER
Jean, analysis?

JEAN
I estimate a six-point-three percent
decrease in dopamine activity in the
basal ganglia.
(MORE)
 12.
JEAN (cont'd)
Also, a two-point-four percent increase
in the accumulation of transition metals
on neurons in the substantia nigra.
Would you like more detail, Doctor?

MEYER
No, Jean. That’s fine.

And as he continues to study the scan --

INT. PHAETON - ANOTHER CORRIDOR

Pike enters the long corridor, then reacts to the sight of

BILLIE KASHMIRI. 28, entering at the other end. Billie’s the
ship’s computer specialist, but right now she’s playing
another role, gesturing oddly while appearing to talk to
herself.

BILLIE
(to herself)
So as we prepare to slingshot around the
iridescent planet of Neptune --
slinging... sling-shotting around the
glowing blue jewel that is Neptune...

Pike sighs inwardly, as if anticipating an unpleasant

encounter, knows he can’t avoid her at this point, and forces
himself to keep heading toward the woman talking to herself at
the other end of the corridor. But at this point we CUT TO:

INT. CONFESSIONAL

Billie seated on the couch, answering a question.

BILLIE
Am I nervous? Sure. I get nervous
every time we make a course adjustment.
And now, with “go/no-go”? -- I guess
we’re all a little freaked out.
(beat)
But so what. This is what we signed on
for, right? The real question is
whether what we fear is worth what we
might find.

INT. EDITING BAY - CLOSE ON MONITOR

We’re tight on another editing monitor again, this time

watching a SURVEILLANCE VIEW of Billie looking frustrated as
she walks along a corridor, wearing what looks like a
bluetooth HEADSET that incorporates a tiny VIDEOCAM. A red
light pulses: it’s recording.
 13.

A man’s HAND taps a button on a keyboard, and the image CUTS

to a DIFFERENT ANGLE from a different surveillance camera--

BILLIE (ON MONITOR)

... the topaz-blue jewel that is roaring
past the burning blue flame in the
darkness that is Neptune --

FALLON (O.C.)
Billieeee.

On the monitor, Billie reacts to what is clearly a voice in

her headset.

BILLIE (ON MONITOR)

What?

REVEAL ROGER FALLON, 40, learning forward to speak into an

intercom as he works his editing console, situated amidst a
curving bank of surveillance-style monitors that show various
views of the ship’s interior and exterior. Fallon is both the
ship’s psych officer and its on-board media liaison, and has
an avuncular air that is as disarming as it is misleading.

FALLON
Just keep it simple. Let the situation
speak for itself.

INTERCUT: INT. CORRIDOR - BACK ON BILLIE ON THE MOVE

We cut back and forth between the editing bay angles and the
real time action in the Corridor. Billie pitches her
narrative toward the surveillance cameras, knowing exactly
where each one is located.

BILLIE
Sorry.
(trying again)
As Phaeton approaches our final “go/no-
go” point, where a slingshot around
Neptune can send us home or launch us
into deep space and the next phase of
our five-year journey to Eridani, the
air of tension aboard is palpable.

And now she notices Pike approaching and her face lights up,
like a castaway at the sight of a potential rescuer.

BILLIE (cont’d)
And here’s the man who will ultimately
decide whether ship and crew are fit to
continue this extraordinary mission.
(MORE)
 14.
BILLIE (cont’d)
It’s been a team effort so far, but now
“go/no-go” rests squarely on his
shoulders. Frank... I mean
Commander...?

Pike stops, but his expression remains wary.

BILLIE (cont’d)
(sotto)
We could really use some more interview
footage of you. You know, the last one
didn’t go quite like we, um --

Pike smiles into the lens of her miniature videocam.

PIKE
Hey Roger, is it true you get a cut of
every download and webstream back on
Earth? I’m sure our viewers would love
to know about the financial interests of
the ship’s therapist. I know I would.

In the editing bay Fallon sighs in irritation, clearly no love

lost between these two. But Pike just smiles and heads off.
Fallon speaks in Billie’s earpiece.

FALLON (HEADSET)
Forget it. We’ll deal with the
commander’s passive aggression later.
Head up to the core.

INT. FLIGHT DECK

On the Flight Deck -- the cockpit or control center of Phaeton

-- co-pilot SUE PARSONS, 32, is kicked back in her chair with
her feet up on her console, eyes closed and wearing a headset
like the one Pike had on earlier, while DR. JULIUS “JULES”
BRAUN, 42, a former NASA scientist and college professor,
wearing a N.Y. Giants ball cap, finishes a webcam interview as
Fallon nods and edits in an iChat-style window on his screen.

JULES
... It’s the first large-scale
application of this technology, without
which Phaeton would never be capable of
the near-light speeds that will let us
reach another star system in a matter of
years instead of lifetimes...

FALLON (MONITOR)
Great, Jules, that’s all I need.

Fallon’s image disappears as Pike enters and makes a quick

check of the instrument panels. Jules looks over with a grin.
 15.

JULES
Oh, and look who owes me money.

PIKE
Blocked field goal and a bad pass
interference call -- that’s what you
call dumb luck.

Jules grabs a small FOAM FOOTBALL, spirals it to Pike.

JULES
No, that’s what I call tough D, a good
referee, and five g’s you owe me, buddy.
At this rate you’re gonna owe me around
five million by the time we get back.

PIKE
(tossing the ball back)
I’ll make it back in baseball season.

He eyes Sue, still zoned out in her chair. Her eyes flick and
move to images only she can see. Jules apologizes for her.

JULES
She was up all night checking the
acceleration grids for erosion.
(re: her headset)
Said she had to “get wet.”
(off his look)
Surfing. It’s her new thing.

Pike nods and exits, as we push in on Sue’s headset until we

hear the FAINT SOUND of BREAKING WAVES, as if we’re listening
to a sea shell, and a broad grin spreads across her face...

EXT. PHAETON

Pushing in on a section near the prow, where a reinforced

viewing window looks out on the void. We’ve traversed the
length of the ship.

INT. PHAETON - OBSERVATION ROOM

The doctor now staring out at that distant “blue jewel” of

Neptune, hanging in space. He doesn’t turn as Pike enters.

PIKE
Hey, doc. You wanted to see me?

MEYER
Yes. I’ve got something I need to tell
you...
(turning to face him)
(MORE)
 16.
MEYER (cont'd)
...and I’m afraid it may seriously
jeopardize the mission. A member of the
crew is ill. Seriously ill. In fact...
it could be fatal.

PIKE
Who?

Meyer starts to answer, then glances up at a CAMERA in the

bulkhead. He motions Pike closer and whispers in his ear.

INT. EDIT BAY

Where Fallon has indeed been eavesdropping. And as he watches

Pike’s surprised reaction on a MONITOR, Fallon’s face is more
intrigued than concerned...

FADE OUT.

END ACT ONE

 17.

ACT TWO

DARKNESS

Then a single SPOTLIGHT cuts through the air -- air that

veritably vibrates with the HUM of anticipation as 15,000
unseen people hold their breath -- and FINDS...

A GUITAR PICK

Held aloft in a woman’s raised HAND. The HUM builds to a LOW

ROAR as those thousands of voices now beg for release. Then
the hand DESCENDS, slashing across the strings of a scarred
Les Paul guitar in a massive power chord, causing...

INT. TOKYO - BUDOKAN ARENA - NIGHT

... the HUGE CROWD to erupt as Billie Kashmiri, now dressed

like a Joan Jett-like rocker, only with a few zillion
kilowatts more charisma and confidence -- leads her band, the
Hellraisers (the name “Nikki Stardust and the Hellraisers”
emblazoned on a BANNER behind them), into -- of all things --
a hard-rock version of the Mary Tyler Moore theme song -- IN
JAPANESE. It all but ignites the crowd as they SING ALONG,
standing and waving lighters, before the final power chords
come crashing down to thunderous applause.

A sweat-soaked, exhausted but jubilant Billie/Nikki Stardust

acknowledges the cheers of the crowd with a raised fist -- as
we ZOOM IN on her IN-EAR MONITOR, where a voice crackles:

ROADIE’S VOICE
Nikki, we just got a fix on Lazarus’
position. He’s in Shanghai.

The crowd chants “Nikki! Nikki!” as she triggers a throat mic:

BILLIE
Skip the encore. Prep the chopper.
(to crowd, in JAPANESE)
WE LOVE YOU TOKYO!

INT. BACK STAGE - MOMENTS LATER

Billie leads her band off stage, handing her guitar to a

ROADIE in a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses, who in return hands
her a water bottle and a dossier. She flips through the file,
finds a single, slightly blurry SURVEILLANCE PHOTO of a bald
man with a scarred face stepping off an expensive YACHT.

BILLIE
This our only shot?
 18.

ROADIE
(nods)
And both Interpol and MI6 believe he’s
changed his appearance again.

BILLIE
All the plastic surgery in the world
won't save his ass this time.
Hellraisers -- let’s roll!

As she leads her band/commando squad off, we hang back with

the roadie, who flips up his sunglasses to reveal a pair of
startling GREEN EYES. It’s the same man we saw in Pike’s
Civil War scenario. And off his enigmatic smile...

FALLON (O.S.)
Lunch break’s over, Billie.

The screen goes dark as we’re SUCKED out of this virtual

reality and deposited back into --

INT. PHAETON - EDIT BAY

Finding Fallon at his editing deck and Billie on a couch,

taking off her V.R. headset. By now we’re beginning to
appreciate the casual way these personal virtual reality
interludes are woven into the fabric of life on the ship.

FALLON
I finished a rough cut of yesterday’s
shoot. Thought you might like to have a
look.

BILLIE
It’s terrible, isn’t it? I mean I was
terrible. I knew it.

FALLON
On the contrary. You have an obvious
talent for on-camera work and I’m going
to recommend that you become the new
host of the documentary series.

BILLIE
Me? The host? I’m a computer geek, not
some Inter-V star.

FALLON
You underrate yourself, as always. The
network tells me you test well -- people
relate to you, women especially -- and
the truth is I was never very good in
front of a camera myself.
(re: his editing console)
(MORE)
 19.
FALLON (cont'd)
So while I’ll continue to lend a hand
“behind the scenes,” so to speak, I
gratefully cede the stage to you.

BILLIE
Dr. Fallon... I don’t know what to say.

FALLON
Frankly, it’s time I put my focus back
on my “day job.” Once we pass “go/no-
go” and the realities of this mission
sink in, my responsibilities as psych
officer are sure to increase.
(indicates her V.R. headset)
The virt modules may provide a
psychological haven of sorts -- a safe
environment for the crew to defuse their
anxieties... “blow off steam” -- but
there are still bound to be tensions,
and I’m afraid some of them may be
displaced onto you.

BILLIE
Onto me? Why?

FALLON
It would be natural for some of the crew
to develop feelings of envy or
resentment. In a way, you’ll be the
narrator of this mission -- helping to
shape the way it’s perceived by billions
of viewers. No doubt there are some
aboard Phaeton who will complain about
your choices.

JEAN
Excuse me, Dr. Fallon. Manny and Val
would like to speak with you.

FALLON
Speaking of complaints -- I’ll be right
with them, Jean.
(to Billie)
We’ll talk more later. For now,
congratulations and enjoy your
accomplishment. You earned it.

And as Billie stands to leave, still absorbing it all...

INT. PHAETON - BIO-LAB - CLOSE ON MONITOR

Where KATE THIBADEAU, late 20s, is propped up in a hospital

bed, breast-feeding her newborn son as she beams at camera.
 20.

KATE (MONITOR)
Nothing like being reduced to a source
of nourishment to put you in your place.
Seriously, ‘sis, I hope you know how
grateful we are to you for helping us
relocate. Don’t know if you see a lot
of news footage up there, but the Gulf
Coast looks like a lost cause.

REVEAL Alice is watching the screen, while Rika studies some

slides in a microscope nearby. Kate starts tearing up.

KATE (MONITOR) (cont’d)

Little Coker here will be in his teens
by the time you get back... so he’ll
thank his big brave aunt in person --
(the baby starts crying)
Whoops. Better hang up before I start
bawling too. Bye, ‘sis. Love you.

The screen goes BLANK. Alice stares at her blank screen for a
thoughtful beat, while Rika looks over sympathetically.

RIKA
I ever tell you I was seriously thinking
of getting pregnant right before we went
into training?

KATE
No. You?

RIKA
Yeah. Wasn’t the right time though --
lot of reasons, not just the mission.
(beat)
Sometimes I wonder if I made the right
choice...

Alice looks surprised as she goes back to work, manipulating a

3-D model of a primordial RNA molecule on her screen.

RIKA (cont’d)
You and Kenji ever talk about kids?

Even as Alice talks, her pace and focus on her work only
increases, as if she’s trying to distract herself.

ALICE
Sure. And we knew when we applied that
it meant giving up having kids. But it
was a conscious decision and we don’t
have any regrets.
 21.

Rika nods, then goes back to work. OFF Alice, her expression
nearly blank as she fixates on the computer screen...

INT. EDIT BAY

Monitors now playing news and weather broadcasts from Earth,

including a satellite view of a massive hurricane spiral
hanging over the Gulf states. The sound is muted as Fallon
tries to focus on editing the footage from Billie’s tour
despite the presence of two angry visitors: Manny and Val.

MANNY
We are scientists, dammit, PhD’s, and
you’re trying to turn us into a pair of
bitchy kitchen queens!

FALLON
I didn’t put you in the galley. I don’t
even make those assignments.

MANNY
And yet the somehow footage of us
bickering keeps ending up in the show.

FALLON
I’d be glad to help you with your
interpersonal issues in counseling. But
as executive producer of this mission I
have a responsibility to provide our
network partners with an accurate
depiction of life aboard this ship.

VAL
We all make -- how you say? -- Devil’s
bargain. And you are Devil.

Fallon sighs, no longer the avuncular mentor but a harried

producer with little patience for the temperamental “talent.”

FALLON
I’m speaking to you now honestly and for
your own good. Our download and
streaming numbers have been slipping.
The network wants better material.
“More drama.” So when you choose to
vent your marital issues in the public
areas of the ship, they become fair
game. And if either of you refuse to
cooperate, you’ll both be held in
violation of the “additional duties”
clause of your contract.
 22.

MANNY
We’re 400 million miles from Earth,
Roger. What are you gonna do -- sue us?

FALLON
That shouldn’t be your only
consideration.

He taps a monitor showing a storm surge overwhelming a levee.

FALLON (cont’d)
Dry land is an increasingly expensive
commodity back home and you both have
family members applying for relocation
waivers. You breach your contracts, the
Consortium will revoke the waivers and
your families will have to get in line
like everyone else.

He doesn’t need to spell it out; the implication is clear.

VAL
Like I said. Devil’s bargain.

JEAN
Attention all crew. Please report
immediately to the Briefing Room.

INT. BRIEFING AREA - A SHORT TIME LATER

Dropping into an intense meeting involving all of our twelve

crew members, who are scattered on various couches and chairs,
our documentary-style POV alternating between our own HANDHELD
CAM and the still jerkier roving lens of the VIDEOCAM now
being wielded by Billie, which at the moment is aimed at SUE,
who’s angrily accusing someone off-screen...

SUE
Questions?! Damn right I’ve got
questions...

...as our HANDHELD now finds VAL, sitting beside Manny with
two mugs of coffee from the galley.

SUE (cont’d) VAL

...starting with how long have (re: coffee, overlapping)
you known about this and why Careful. Is very hot.
are the rest of us just
hearing about it now?

Manny nods a distracted thanks as he accepts the mug... as the

VIDEOCAM now WHIP-PANS to PIKE, responding evenly to Sue...
 23.

PIKE
That’s really not the issue.

SUE
The hell it isn’t, Frank...

... OUR HANDHELD now on KENJI and ALICE, also sitting

together, Kenji nodding morosely as he mutters to her...

KENJI
Knew it. Things were going too smooth.

...before Sue reacts to the VIDEOCAM being thrust in her face.

SUE
And get that flippin’ thing outta my
face!

BILLIE (O.C.)
Just doing my job...

And so on, in this fractured mode, Johnson now observing

sarcastically to Rika, who’s sitting beside his wheelchair --

JOHNSON
So that’s her job now?

FALLON
Please, everyone, let’s give ourselves a
chance to absorb all the information
before making accusations.

SUE
It’s a question, not an accusation.

PIKE
And here’s your answer: the doctor came
to me yesterday with his preliminary
diagnosis. I asked him to take some
more time to confirm it. He did, and
now you’re being briefed.

VAL
“Parkinson’s.” What is this disease?

MEYER
In brief, it's is a chronic,
degenerative disorder of the central
nervous system --

KENJI
-- Degenerative? Does that mean it’s
fatal?
 24.

MEYER
Not on its own, but it can create
complications that are. So far I’ve
only experienced some warning signs.
Hand tremors... cramped handwriting --

JOHNSON
-- So you won't win a penmanship award.
What’s next on the hit parade? You
start drooling?

Some of the others cringe at Johnson’s caustic tone. But

Meyer takes it in stride, as if accepting it as his due.

MEYER
Problems with mobility... also with
speech and swallowing. Fatigue.
Impaired dexterity and coordination.
Possible non-motor symptoms include mood
disorders, problems with impulse control
and prioritizing and assessing data.
Short term memory loss and dementia,
including hallucinations and paranoia,
are fairly common late-term
developments.

And Johnson laughs, the others now turning to him in shock.

But Meyer almost smiles too, as if appreciating a bleak joke.

MEYER (cont’d)
Oh, man... we are screwed...

JULES
Can it be controlled by medication and,
if so, do we have those medications?

MEYER
Yes, to varying degrees... and yes, but
only in limited supplies.
(off reactions)
We didn’t plan for something like this.

ALICE
(to Kenji)
So much for all that genetic pre-
screening.

Pike steps forward, takes control again.

PIKE
Okay. We were coming up on the go/no-go
decision point anyway. All this means
is that we’re facing it a little sooner
than we anticipated...
 25.

SUE
I say go.

VAL
Dementia, hallucinations, paranoia...

MEYER
Those are possible symptoms -- and far
down the road at present.

MANNY
I’m with Sue. There’s a lot riding on
this mission and I don’t want to turn
back unless we absolutely have to.

Val looks at him, surprised, as Fallon plays to the camera --

FALLON
(low)
This is a dangerous moment for the crew
of the Phaeton. Hitherto buried
divisions and animosities could
potentially burst forth into open
conflict.

Which is in fact what he is disingenuously hoping to

accomplish for by fanning the flames: generate more “drama.”

KENJI
How do we go forward with the ship’s
physician fighting this kind of illness?

JOHNSON
If he’s willing, I’m willing. I vote
go.

VAL
This is serious business. I want more
information.

ALICE
Are we all getting a vote?

PIKE
No one’s voting. This isn’t a
democracy. I’ll make the final
decision, after hearing the doctor’s
personal and medical assessment. Nor is
anyone else going to be briefing Mission
Control or the Consortium about this
situation -- got that, Roger?
 26.

Fallon makes a gesture of acquiescence, but rather than

settling things for the others, Pike’s statement just prompts
another round of heated overlapping exchanges --

ALICE JULES
How is that fair? I mean There’s a chain of command --
we’re all in this together,
aren’t we?

EXT. SPACE - THE PHAETON

Cruising through space.

EXT. BEACH HOUSE - NIGHT (V.R.)

A man in a bathrobe stands on a balcony looking out as gentle

waves roll in, silvered by a nearly full moon. It’s Pike.
Again the scene presents itself with a hyper-real palette, as
if filtered by the romanticized lens of a Hollywood melodrama.

A woman’s arms slips around his waist. He looks back to see

Rika, also in a robe. She rests his head on his shoulder.

PIKE
It’s always so... restful out here.

RIKA
Not always. There are windy nights.
Storms, even. The last one almost took
out the supports under this balcony.

When Pike turns to look back at her, puzzled...

RIKA (cont’d)
I wanted it to be as real as possible.
Though sometimes I think the program
picks up on my own moods. Tonight -- I
guess I’m in a romantic mood.

PIKE
I guess so.

RIKA
‘Course we could meet at your place
instead of mine.

PIKE
(preoccupied)
I don’t think you’d like my place.

RIKA
Why? They don’t have beds there?
 27.

PIKE
Not really.

RIKA
You know, a less secure woman might take
it personally when she breaks the rules,
invites a man to share the only private
space she’ll to have for the next
decade, and can’t get him to share his
space in return.

PIKE
Good thing you’re more secure than that.
(beat)
It’s not something I... can share. My
module isn’t as... relaxing as all this.
More like something I’m trying to sort
out on my own.

RIKA
Finding more problems to solve? Don’t
you have enough of those in the real
world, especially now?
(a beat, then)
Can’t you let go of all that? Just for
now... just for this time we have
together?

She takes his hand and, after a last look at the ocean, Pike
lets her lead him back into the dark house.

INT. BEACH HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT

Sometime later, Pike and Rika lying in each other’s arms, post-
coital.

MAN’S VOICE
Hey, Colonel, remember me?

They both sit up suddenly --

ANGLE - THE GREEN EYED MAN

Now sitting in a chair on the other side of the room and

dressed in sleek, contemporary clothes.

PIKE
Jesus!

RIKA
Where’d he come from?
 28.

PIKE
(recognizing him)
Wait a minute -- he’s from my module.

RIKA
Yours? You brought him over here?

PIKE
I don’t even know how to do that.

MAN
No one brought me over, Frank. But I am
here.

He suddenly produces a GUN, a modern automatic.

MAN (cont’d)
And I told you before, you’re not
fooling anyone.

The barrel of the gun spits fire --

INT. PIKE’S QUARTERS

The SOUND of the gunshot still seeming to echo as Pike's eyes

jerk open again, only this time he finds himself alone again
in his bunk on the Phaeton, breathing hard.

INT. RIKA & FALLON’S QUARTERS

A frightened Rika's eyes pop open as a man's hand, wearing a

wedding ring, gently removes the V.R. headset that she's been
wearing. It's Fallon, lying beside her in bed, having just
switched on a bedside light. She, too, is breathing hard.

FALLON
You’re white as a sheet, baby. I warned
you about bringing these things to bed.

It takes her a second to adjust to the here and now.

RIKA
Yeah... gave me a... bad dream...

FALLON
You want to talk about it?

RIKA
No. I’m okay. Let’s just go to sleep.

She turns away from him, pulls up the covers.

 29.

Fallon eyes his wife’s back for a beat, his thoughtful

expression edging into something else. Then he turns off the
light, plunging us into DARKNESS.

END ACT TWO

 30.

ACT THREE

CLOSE ON - A CANVAS ON AN EASEL

An off-screen painter is making adjustments to a striking

vista of craggy mountain peaks and forested hillsides, as seen
from a lush valley. REVEAL the painter to be Meyer. We’re:

EXT. WILDERNESS VALLEY - DAY (V.R.)

The same setting depicted in the painting. No sound other

than the sighing of the wind, the occasional buzzing of an
insect. Meyer seems at ease here as he uses a fine brush to
add some evergreens to a mountainside, then looks up as the
same trees now appear on the actual mountainside. He's
literally creating this setting with his brush, like some sort
of existential landscape designer.

JEAN/A.I.
Pardon the interruption, Doctor Meyer.

MEYER
Yes, Jean?

JEAN/A.I.
Doctor Fallon is with you and would like
a word.

Meyer takes a deep breath, drinking in the scene, then reaches

up to his temple --

INT. SICKBAY

-- where Meyer REMOVES his HEADSET. Fallon is here, sitting

calmly nearby and leafing through a BOOK.

FALLON
(without apology)
Thought we should have a little chat.

MEYER
Isn’t the patient supposed to seek help
when he’s ready for it?

FALLON
Sometimes.
(re: book)
Ninety-two weeks on the New York Times
best selling EST list.

He lifts the book and now we can see the cover features a
picture of a smiling Fallon in a space suit and the title:
“Lessons from the Void: Discovering Your Authentic Self.”
 31.

MEYER
That a record?

Fallon registers the sardonic note but shrugs it off easily,

half smiling as he flips through the book.

FALLON
Nah. The bible’s longer.

MEYER
Must’ve been tough leaving all that
acclaim behind.

FALLON
Fame never really appealed to me. The
work’s always been the priority. Still
is. I thought you might want to talk --

MEYER
(waves toward ceiling)
And the cameras?

FALLON
This is a therapeutic visit. These
conversations are unrecorded and contain
privileged information, not for
broadcast -- it’s all in the contracts
you signed at the outset. Jean could
provide you with a copy --

MEYER
That won’t be necessary.

Fallon studies a couple of realistic oil PAINTINGS of bucolic

LANDSCAPES.

FALLON
Billie said you’d taken up painting.
From the level of technique I’d say it’s
more like revisiting painting.

Meyer can’t help glancing over protectively, as if there’s

something about the paintings he wants to guard.

MEYER
Something I used to do.

FALLON
And now you just happen to be doing it
again. At the same time you’re
diagnosed with a serious illness.
 32.

MEYER
Yes. I’m sure there’s a connection.
But I don’t know what it is as of yet.
I should think about it and then come
talk to you about it when I’m ready.

Fallon eyes him evenly. Meyer knows just how to deflect

Fallon as one doctor to another and Fallon knows he knows. On
top of that, the two men don’t really like each other.

FALLON
Making your own diagnosis must have been
a wrenching experience. How did it feel
when it happened?

MEYER
I’m still processing my feelings.

FALLON
I see.
(beat)
You know, my father was diagnosed with
terminal cancer when he was in his 70s.
Doctors gave him six months. He lived
into his 90s, then died crossing the
street.

MEYER
“Life is unpredictable.”

Fallon picks an AMPOULE of medicine off a counter.

FALLON
Ever notice how the language of western
medicine is so militant? We “attack”
infections with “targeted drugs”...
deploy “aggressive treatment strategies”
to combat “invasive tumors.” It's like
we’re marshalling our rhetoric to
maintain the illusion of control when
the truth is, we don’t know with
certainty what’s going to happen
tomorrow, never mind ten years from now.

Somehow, there’s an ominous note to this otherwise innocuous

idea and Meyer finds himself slightly uncomfortable. Fallon
starts to leave, then pauses to eye the paintings again.

FALLON (cont’d)
Personally, I always favored the
Impressionist approach: re-creating the
sensation rather than the subject.
(beat)
(MORE)
 33.
FALLON (cont’d)
Reality, after all, is a relative
concept.

He exits. OFF Meyer, who seems disturbed by the visit...

INT. GREENHOUSE - SURVEILLANCE CAMERA ANGLE

From OVERHEAD, we see Rika showing Pike a piece of dead,

rotted root from one of the hydroponic beds.

RIKA
... problem’s the lack of biological
protection in the root zone. I think I
can control it by introducing some
protective microbes into the solution.

PIKE
Good. Last thing we need is a threat to
our fresh food and oxygen supply.

RIKA
Exactly. Let me show you the test beds
I’ve been working on...

She leads him OUT OF FRAME.

ANGLE - RIKA & PIKE

Deliberately moving out of range of the camera. Rika glances

back to make sure they’re out of its line of sight. Quietly:

RIKA (cont’d)
So, what happened last night? Who was
that character and why would he do that?

PIKE
I have no idea.

RIKA
Well, who is he in your program?

PIKE
I don’t know. He’s not someone I
created.

RIKA
What? You mean he’s computer-generated?

PIKE
I guess. Virtual software isn’t really
my field. I didn’t think any of us
could get into someone else’s module
without an invitation and an access
code.
 34.

RIKA
And I gather you didn’t extend my
invitation to your little friend?

PIKE
So he could execute us in the sack? I’m
not that kinky.

RIKA
You have your moments. Well, the
computer didn’t just do that on its own.
Someone had to make a file transfer.
(beat, then worried)
You know, it’s exactly the kind of stunt
Roger would pull if he knew I was
cheating on him --

PIKE
Ho-ho-ho. Wait a minute. No one’s
cheating on anyone here. I haven’t so
much as laid a hand on you. This is all
just some harmless fantasy.

RIKA
Really? Then you wouldn’t mind if I
told my husband would you?

From his expression, it’s clear Pike would mind very much.

PIKE
Okay. Fine. But he’s not a software
expert either, he’s a therapist. He
doesn’t have the skills to pull off
something like this.

RIKA
Then someone else is screwing with us.
Someone in the crew.

PIKE
Whoever they are, they picked a fine
time to start playing games.

RIKA
Right. God -- I’m sorry I’m even
bringing this up. Are you okay? Have
you told Mission Control yet? Are we
going home?

PIKE
Yes, no and I don’t know.

RIKA
They’ll scrub if you tell them, right?
 35.

PIKE
Ship’s medical officer gets potentially
fatal disease? Scrub. No question.

A quiet beat.

RIKA
You really wanna put the whole decision
on your shoulders?

PIKE
Well... that’s why they pay me the big
virtual bucks.
(beat)
We go home, there’s not another shot at
this for twenty years. Twenty years the
way things are going back there...?

He just shakes his head. She kisses him gently.

RIKA
You’ll make the right call. You always
do.

INT. CORRIDOR

Jules walks along speaking into a small recording device.

JULES
Dear Shawn... a lot’s happened since my
last letter. We’ve had some bad news --
our ship’s doctor is ill. It may
threaten the mission. We all worked so
hard for this... competed so hard to be
a part of it... you’d think that’d be
the only thing on our minds right now.
But after six months in a metal tube,
you can lose track of your priorities.
The tedium gets to you... the artificial
days... and sometimes instead of facing
the real problems, you focus on other
things... things that just make you
crazier.

As he now opens the hatch to the --

INT. GALLEY/MESS

JOHNSON pops an M.R.E.-style dinner in a brown plastic pouch

into a microwave, as Manny, tossing a pasta salad, reacts.

MANNY
I just spent two hours making dinner and
you’re eating that crap again?
 36.

JOHNSON
Sorry.

Manny sighs, as we find Sue grabbing a bowl of food from Val

while Jules waits his turn, then angrily trailing Billie back
to the table, where Alice and Kenji are already seated.

SUE
Hey -- are you listening? This guy
paddles into the line-up, waves like I’m
his bud, then cuts me off on a wave.
Next thing I know I'm sucking water
while I get drilled into the reef. By
the time I managed to rip off my
headset, it felt like I had really
bought it!

BILLIE
You should reset the parameters to no-
generated character interaction.

SUE
(duh)
Really? I never thought of that. I
programmed it for a mellow break.
Mellow. Peaceful. Someone hacked my
module.

Billie suddenly gets her drift.

BILLIE
You’re looking at me?

SUE
You’re the computer chick.

BILLIE
I didn’t touch your module.

SUE
Really? Sure you didn’t think that
programming a little “danger” wouldn’t
make for a better show now that you’re
the new host?

BILLIE
Is that what this is about?

She looks around, the others are listening.

BILLIE (cont’d)
That what everyone thinks? That I’d
start using your private modules for the
show just to get ratings?
 37.

SUE
Sure aren’t going to get them on your
looks.

Billie STORMS OUT.

ALICE
Sue!

SUE
I’m sorry, but I know a computer hack
when I see one and that guy with the
freaky green eyes was hack a mile away.

ALICE
That doesn’t mean Sue had anything to--

SUE
Don’t you get on your high horse --

JULES
Hey, I’m eating here.

Johnson wheels over with his nuked meal -- a burger and fries.

JOHNSON
Shut-up, man. On the verge of watching
a good old-fashioned cat-fight here.

ALICE
Jesus.

Alice heads for the door. Kenji follows.

ALICE (cont’d)
I’m okay...

KENJI
I know...

ALICE
No. Really. Just... you know.
Everything. Need a little time alone.

KENJI
Sure.

He tries to hide it, but there’s a hint of hurt in his voice.

She kisses him.

ALICE
(sotto)
And tonight... maybe we can try the
core.
 38.

Kenji grins broadly. She smiles, then EXITS, hiding her

ambivalent look from him...

INT. DOCTOR’S OFFICE - WAITING ROOM - DAY (V.R.)

INSERT - a woman writes her name on a patient sign-in sheet:

“Alice Thibadeau.” CUT TO:

ALICE, as she takes a seat in the waiting room, one of those

blandly benign spaces that resist the passage of time. The
only other patient, a PREGNANT WOMAN, smiles at her then goes
back to her knitting as Alice picks up a magazine-sized
reading slate from a stack on an end table.

The slate activates at her touch and presents an opening menu

with various media options: Time, Newsweek, Golf Digest, etc.
Alice taps the button for “Time” and the screen displays a
dramatic cover photo of a blazing wild fire with the headline:
The Wildfire Threat: Can It Be Contained?”

PREGNANT WOMAN (O.S.)

Eight weeks?

ALICE
(caught off-guard)
I’m sorry...?

PREGNANT WOMAN
You’re just starting to show, so I’m
guessing... eight weeks?

ALICE
Yes. Eight.

Alice reflexively touches her belly.

PREGNANT WOMAN
You won’t feel anything yet hon, but
they will be able show you the
heartbeat. That’s when it really hits
you... the reality of it. At least
that’s how it was with me.

ALICE
It is real, isn’t it? It feels real.

The other woman nods understandingly.

PREGNANT WOMAN
As real as you are.

She goes back to her knitting. Off Alice, who seems anything
but at ease, buffeted by new thoughts and sensations.
 39.

EXT. WILDERNESS VALLEY - DAY (V.R.)

Meyer is continuing to paint both on the canvas and the larger

canvas of the wilderness. Then his right hand SHAKES
slightly, marring his brushstroke, and he watches with disgust
as an ugly SLASH APPEARS on the MOUNTAINSIDE. Reaching for a
palette knife to scrape away the mistake, his eye is caught by
a GLINT OF LIGHT atop a distant ridge. It seems to wink at
him. Picking up a pair of BINOCULARS, he scans the ridge --
and is stunned to find a lone FIGURE looking down at him,
using a small mirror to flash sunlight at him.

MEYER
Jean, identify the human figure in my
landscape.

JEAN
I'm sorry, Doctor Meyer, but there is no
other human figure.

MEYER
I’m looking right at him.

And off his mounting puzzlement and irritation...

INT. DOCTOR’S OFFICE - EXAMINING ROOM - DAY (V.R.)

Alice sits atop an examining table, naked from the waist down
under a disposable patient gown. The papery material rustles
a she shifts uncomfortably, feeling very exposed. A sonogram
machine reposes in a corner. Then the DOOR starts to OPEN and
we go TIGHT ON ALICE, her face brightening at the sight of --

DOCTOR (O.S.)
Mrs. Thibadeau, good to see you again.

EXT. ROCKY OUTCROPPING - DAY (V.R.)

Breathing heavily, Meyer scrambles up to the top of a rocky

ridge, only to find it empty. Exhausted, he walks to the
other side where he peers over the edge of a SHEER DROP.

He never even sees the green-eyed man before he PUSHES HIM

OVER THE EDGE. Meyer flails... the ground rushes up... at the
moment of impact --

INT. SICKBAY

The doctor jerks upright in his chair, yanking off his V.R.
headset as he does so. He’s sweating and breathing hard, and
his right hand is TREMBLING again. But as he puts his other
hand over it to steady it, and gradually controls his
breathing, he starts to CHUCKLE. Then LAUGH. The adrenaline
rush of the fall leaving him exhilarated and almost giddy.
 40.

MEYER
Oh my god... whoo-oooo! Jeez-
louise....!

As he sits there laughing to himself...

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM - LATER

Neptune now looming larger in the window. Meyer is addressing

the crew, Pike standing near him, Billie filming again. Meyer
seems decidedly less somber and grim than before, a lightness
to his whole being.

MEYER
... and Rika thinks we can extract
enough levodopa from the plants onboard
to provide an adequate supply for the
rest of the mission. That should keep
some of the more severe symptoms in
check.
(beat)
If not, Dr. Fallon is also a licensed
physician, and several of you have medic
cross-training. One way or another, I’m
confident you’ll manage.

JOHNSON
I’m glad you’re confident. Question is,
just how confident should that make us?

Pike looks like he’s about to intervene, but Meyer indicates

that he wants to answer. He turns back to Johnson, but he’s
not just speaking to him, he’s speaking to all of them.

MEYER
I’ve been feeling off... wrong... for a
while now. At first I thought it was
the illness. But now I know it wasn’t.
I was struggling with... letting go. Of
Earth. Of my family. Of everything
that had defined my life up to now.
(beat)
I was afraid, and that fear made me feel
hollow inside. But today I had this...
experience in my virt module. Kind of a
glitch, actually...

SUE
(shoots Billie dirty look)
Lotta that going around.

MEYER
Whatever it was, it suddenly forced me
to let go -- quite literally.
(MORE)
 41.
MEYER (cont'd)
It was terrifying, but then... freeing.
Exhilarating. I felt... alive.

In the back of the room, Fallon leans over to Billie.

FALLON
(sotto)
Stay with him. Give me a nice big close-
up here. This is gold.

MEYER
My illness may or may not prove
manageable. But as one of you said the
other day, we’re all at risk out here.
And the biggest risk, in my opinion, is
not achieving what we’ve already trained
and sacrificed so much for. I want to
live. And I want to live on my terms,
doing what I want to do.
(beat)
I want to see Eridani.

He looks to Pike, who eyes him for a beat before turning to

the others.

PIKE
I’ve already made up my mind. But this
affects all of us... and everyone we
left behind. So I’ve decided to make
this a democracy after all.
(beat)
I want a go/no-go decision from
everyone. Right now. Standard mission
rules are in effect: one no-go and
that’s it.

Looks are exchanged around the room, but no one speaks.

PIKE (cont’d)
Rika?

She returns his look, trying to keep hers impersonal...

RIKA
Go.

But Fallon eyes both of them for a beat -- and is it possible

he does know about them? -- as the vote meanwhile continues
around the room, with Kenji now announcing confidently --

KENJI
Go.

Then Alice, trying to sound just as sure as her husband...

 42.

ALICE
Yes. Go.

MANNY
(squeezes Val’s hand)
Go.

VAL
(returns the squeeze)
Good to go.

Billie lowers her camera, at once tentative and excited...

BILLIE
Go.

JULES
Go.

Fallon’s turn. With a look at Meyer...

FALLON
Go.

Johnson’s turn. No snark in his voice now. Serious.

JOHNSON
Go.

And finally an impatient --

SUE
Damn straight. Let’s light this candle
already.

PIKE
Then I’ll make it unanimous. It’s “go.”

A beat as the decision sinks in. Then:

PIKE (cont’d)
All right. Full systems check at oh-
nine-hundred, followed by a launch
sequence rehearsal. Dismissed.

The crew moves out. Last to leave, Pike pauses to look out
the window at the planet hanging in the dark, then reaches out
and touches the glass. Finally, he exits, too, as we...

FADE OUT.

END ACT THREE

 43.

ACT FOUR

FADE IN:

EXT. SPACE - NEPTUNE

Starting close on the curving blue edge of the gas giant, then
pulling back rapidly through high atmosphere tendrils of
frozen methane, then Saturn-like rings of dust particles,
until the side of the moon Triton shoulders into frame --
dwarfing the tiny form of Phaeton, now speeding past it.

BILLIE (PRELAP)
This is it, ladies and gentlemen: the
moment of truth. We’re about to launch
ourselves into the abyss of deep space
for the first time...

INT. EDIT BAY/INT. CORE - INTERCUT

Fallon now watching Billie on a monitor as she FLOATS

WEIGHTLESS in the CORE -- a large, cylindrical space, with
curving walls honeycombed with receptacles where dozens of
matter-antimatter WARHEADS (“pulse charges”) are housed behind
HEXAGONAL HATCHES. A ROBOTIC ARM is loading one of the barrel-
like warheads into a delivery tube leading to the stern.

Billie talks to the camera while JOHNSON FLOATS beside her,

looking annoyed as he tries to do his job manipulating the
robotic arm.

BILLIE
I’m in the Core, surrounded by sixty
matter/anti-matter warheads -- more
destructive firepower than the combined
nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and Soviet
Union at the height of the Cold War.
But these instruments of death serve a
benign function here on Phaeton, as our
resident physicist, Dr. Johnson, is
about to explain. Jimmy, can you
simplify it for our viewers?

Johnson doesn’t even look at her, gives her the most corn-pone
voice he can summon.

JOHNSON
Sure, Billie-girl. Basically, we’re
gonna blow us up a bunch of big-ass
bombs off the ass-end of this ship.
(MORE)
 44.
JOHNSON (cont'd)
Those big-ass bombs gonna vaporize some
big-ass alloy plates, and the
translation of all that big-ass mass
into big-ass energy, per Einstein --
ya’ll remember him, right? Old dude
with the crazy hair -- is gonna make us
go real fast. Like yippee-kay-yah,
mother-fu --

BILLIE
All right. Thanks Jimmy. Thanks...

Back in Editing, Fallon just shakes his head, taking this in

stride. He’s already called up a simplified Fischer Price-
style ANIMATED GRAPHIC of the process on another screen as --

BILLIE (ON MONITOR) (cont’d)

(to camera)
... And thanks to this week’s sponsor:
Patagonia, the last word in extreme
wear.

JOHNSON
Enough. Get yourself strapped in.
We’re getting close to show-time.

As Billie floats away, Fallon straps himself into his chair

even as he calls up some other footage in the editing bay,
showing an earlier interview with Jules, along with another
ANIMATED GRAPHIC showing Phaeton’s slingshot course.

JULES
-- once we pass go/no-go, that’s when we
engage the Orion drive for the first
time...It’s the first large-scale
application of this technology...

PIKE (RADIO)
This is the flight deck. All personnel
assume stations for the burn.

INT. FLIGHT DECK

Pike, Jules and Sue strapped into the forward pilot’s,

navigator’s and engineer’s seats, respectively. The rest of
the crew -- except for Johnson and Fallon -- are strapped into
seats at various stations around the room: more like a mini-
Mission Control than a Star Trek bridge. All wear com
headsets.

SUE
I’m good here, skipper.
 45.

PIKE
Very well.

SUE
(sotto)
You hear back from Mission Control about
Meyer and our “go” vote?

PIKE
Nope. ‘Course I didn’t send the message
until about ten minutes ago, which they
won’t get it for another ninety minutes
so we’re looking at probably another two
hours for a response.

SUE
(grins)
Guess they’ll have to grin and bear it.

PIKE
Guess so.
(to headset)
This is the flight deck. Initiating de-
spin. Stand by for zero-g.

EXT. SPACE - THE PHAETON

The revolving modules slowly stop spinning, the ship no longer

a spiraling bullet but an arrow aimed at Neptune’s heart.

INT. FLIGHT DECK

Alice’s stylus starts to float away. Kenji reaches out and

grabs it, hands it back to her... while up front --

SUE
Distance now at 100,000 clicks. Speed
increasing to thirty clicks a second.

PIKE
NAV, how’s our aim?

JULES
We’re three milliarcseconds off in the B-
plane. RCS thrusters auto-firing to
compensate.

EXT. SPACE

Small thrusters on Phaeton’s hull fire, nudging the ship

slightly closer to the approaching outer curve of the planet.
 46.

INT. FLIGHT DECK

SUE
Back in the pipe, five by five. Ready
for slingshot.

PIKE
Initiate.

EXT. SPACE

A spectacular shot as Phaeton threads Neptune’s rings -- small

ice particles obliterating themselves as they smash off the
ship’s armored prow -- then skims over its blue atmosphere.

INT. FLIGHT DECK

A jazzed Fallon pops up on Pike’s screen.

FALLON (MONITOR)
Getting some amazing stuff here, guys.

PIKE
Happy for you, Rog, but we’re a little
busy here. Nav, status?

JULES
Perfect burn...

EXT. SPACE

Phaeton now veers away from Neptune, heading into deep space.

JULES (V.O.)
Slingshot complete.

INT. CORE

Where Johnson works his console while Pike turns to him in a

window on his screen.

PIKE (MONITOR)
Your show, Jimmy.

JOHNSON
Hope no one had a big lunch ‘cause the
ride’s about to get bumpy. Deploying
first charge.

INT. DEPLOYMENT TUBE

The barrel-like charge is propelled down the tube, and into...

 47.

EXT. SPACE

...directly behind Phaeton’s massive aft “pusher plate.” At a

distance of 60 meters, it detonates -- the soundless EXPLOSION
creating a cigar-shaped wave of plasma debris which IMPACTS...

...the PUSHER PLATE, partially VAPORIZING the surface of the

giant disk, the vaporized atoms now providing an equivalent
amount of reactive thrust.

The massive SHOCK ABSORBERS connecting the plates to the hull

COMPRESS, partially absorbing the explosive jolt, and...

PHAETON leaps forward.

INT. FLIGHT DECK

The crew is pressed back in their seats by the intense g

forces, which gradually abate. Jules checks his screen.

JULES
On course. Speed nineteen point two
million meters per second -- roughly one-
fifteenth light speed

On Pike’s screen, Johnson grins.

JOHNSON
Ready for another?

PIKE
Hit me.

A moment later, there’s another huge JOLT. OFF Pike’s face,

as it’s plastered back against his headrest...

TIME CUT TO:

INT. FLIGHT DECK

Empty. Lights blinking on various unattended consoles,

suggesting the ship is once again under automated control.

FALLON (V.O.)
(dictating)
As I observed in Chapter 5, long-
duration space missions present a
psychological challenge for maintaining
crew motivation, morale and individual
well-being.
 48.

INT. CORRIDOR

A Roomba-like vacuum skitters along the otherwise empty

corridor.

FALLON (V.O.)
Up to now, empirical knowledge of
relevant psychological issues has been
based on missions of up to one year.

INT. GALLEY/MESS

Empty as well. In the Galley, an unattended COFFEE MAKER

drips coffee into an already full pot, while in the adjoining
Mess, a DRINKING BIRD metronomically dips his bill into a
glass of water -- the two devices creating a minimalist duet.

FALLON (V.O.)
However, the extended duration of the
Eridani mission presents unique issues
as well as promising opportunities for
further study.

INT. CORE

Johnson FLOATS on his back in zero g, wearing a V.R. headset

and an expression at once relaxed and intent.

FALLON (V.O.)
The re-purposing of virtual reality
technology -- originally designed to
maintain mission-critical skills -- as a
recreational tool is one new feature...

INT. GYM

A small space, with aerobic machines and a compact resistance

setup. Sue is on a rower, eyes closed, V.R. headset on.

FALLON (V.O.)
...that is already showing promise as a
means of ameliorating crew tensions and
enhancing morale.

Sue pulls the machine’s handles toward her, as we MATCH TO:

EXT. RIVER DAY - DAY - AN OAR BLADE (V.R.)

emerges from the water at the end of a stroke. Revealing Sue

in a SINGLE SCULL, taking her exercise in its intended natural
environment, thanks to the V.R. program.
 49.

FALLON (V.O.)
Of course, as with any new therapeutic
methodology, there are variables and
unknowns.

INT. JULES’ QUARTERS

Jules works on a slate, computing trajectories and speeds.

Tired, he rubs his eyes, then turns to look at a PHOTO of
himself posed with an attractive woman and a young boy.

FALLON (V.O.)
Among them, conflicts between clients’
expectations and the still-unknown
limits of the technology...

And as Jules’ gaze is drawn to a V.R. headset on his bunk...

INT. EDIT BAY

Where Fallon is dictating into his slate, the text appearing

as he speaks.

FALLON
...as well as problems that cannot be
anticipated due to the unique fusion the
technology enables between heuristic
computer systems and their biological
model...

EXT. SUBURBAN HOME - NIGHT (V.R.)

In a driving RAINSTORM, a man pulls a hybrid car into the

driveway of a modest suburban home and parks.

FALLON (V.O.)
...the human mind.

INT. CAR - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

JULES kills the engine, then looks at the PORCH LIGHT burning
in the rain -- and smiles. Home.

INT. RANCH HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT - SOMEONE’S P.O.V.

The woman in the photo -- Jules’ wife, ROXANNE -- sits at a

table paying bills while glancing at a small flat-screen TV,
where an internet weather channel is airing flood reports.

Revealing Jules watching her silently from the doorway, a

wistful expression on his face. A beat, then she notices him.
 50.

ROXANNE
There you are. I told Shawn to go to
bed an hour ago, but he’s still waiting
up for you.
(an old story)
Wants to see the latest blueprints.

JULES
Then I better not keep him waiting.

But he doesn’t move just yet. A beat, then she looks up from
the bills again with a puzzled expression.

ROXANNE
What?

JULES
Just looking.

She smiles fondly as she turns back to the bills.

INT. BOY’S BEDROOM - NIGHT (V.R.)

A set of technical drawings and artist’s renderings are open

on the bed, SHAWN, 8, hungrily poring over them as his father
sits beside him. A TELESCOPE is set up by a window. The boy
points to the pusher plate and shock absorber assembly at the
stern of the ship.

SHAWN
That’s the... Orelion drive, right?

JULES
Orion. It’s named after the first
design for a space ship with nuclear
pulse propulsion, almost a century ago.

SHAWN
A century...? That’s a hundred years?

JULES
Right. Sometimes it takes a long time
for an idea to become a reality.

SHAWN
Don’t you wish you were going?

JULES
I’m a a scientist, not an astronaut.

SHAWN
But you designed it, Dad.
 51.

JULES
That private Consortium I told you about
-- they’re already assembling a top-
notch crew and... Jean, freeze program.

The program FREEZES around him as he stands, frustrated.

JEAN
Is there a problem, Mister Braun?

JULES
This isn’t my son. He’s generic. Could
be anybody’s son.

JEAN
The program extrapolates as best it can
based on the data available to it:
public records, school reports, your own
requests and instructions --

JULES
Forget all that crap!

He considers for a beat, then:

JULES (cont’d)
Access me.

JEAN
You, Mr. Braun?

JULES
Yes. Use my psych records, my
evaluations, my family histories and all
other data available to build a more
realistic version of these characters...
then... then tap into the neural
interface and use real-time biofeedback
from my cognitive responses to shape the
characters -- help me find out what
they’d really be like, Jean.

There’s a beat -- the entire room SHIVERS -- and then the

scene RESUMES. The boy, Shawn, is still looking over the
plans but now he’s silent. Jules sits back down beside him.

JULES (cont’d)
Shawn...?
(when the boy doesn’t
respond)
Son... are you all right?

Suddenly, the boy turns to him with a cold expression.

 52.

SHAWN
Why do you come home every night now
when you never used to before?

JULES
What?

SHAWN
Why do you come home every night now
when you never used to before...
(beat)
...before we died?

And as Jules stands, stunned by the chilling accusation... and

the understanding that it’s coming from... himself...

EXT. URBAN PARKING GARAGE - ROOF - NIGHT (V.R.)

A MAN runs across the garage roof, a search light from a

HELICOPTER dogging his racing footsteps. A cable dangles from
the helicopter, and clinging to the end of the cable...

...BILLIE, in the guise of rocker/super spy “Nikki Stardust”

is chasing after “LAZARUS.” As the chopper dips low, she
drops from the cable, hits the roof and rolls, and is up and
running without missing a beat.

At the edge of the roof, the man leaps up onto the hood of a
parked car, and then to the roof’s parapet, launching himself
across a ten-foot gap to an adjoining rooftop.

A moment later, Billie follows without hesitation.

EXT. URBAN ROOFTOPS - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS (V.R.)

The parkour-style chase continues with Billie and her quarry

leaping across the gaps between buildings and jumping to lower
rooftops while the helicopter keeps pace, struggling to keep
its searchlight on both pursuer and pursued.

Finally, Lazarus races up a CONSTRUCTION CRANE and into the

open top floor of --

INT. UNDER-CONSTRUCTION HIGH-RISE - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS (V.R.)

Billie’s only a second behind him, but when she comes around
the corner Lazarus SURPRISES HER and COLD-COCKS her with a
smash to her face. She goes down, then rolls to her feet just
as Lazarus steps out of the shadows and reveals himself to be
the green-eyed man. Nikki can’t suppress her surprise,
recognizing him from before.
 53.

BILLIE
You -- one of my own roadies? How can
you be Lazarus?

GREEN-EYED MAN
(approaching her)
“Lazarus?” We can be whatever we want
in here, right Billie?

Warning bells start to go off for Billie.

BILLIE
“Billie?” Wait a minute. How can you
know my real name? Jean freeze the --

But she’s let him get too close and suddenly she’s KNOCKED ON
HER ASS by a stunning blow. She looks up in surprise, then
anger, leaping up to counterattack out of instinct rather than
rational thought.

The Bourne-style fight is surprisingly -- for Billie -- savage

and short, much of it played from Billie’s POV as the green-
eyed-man quickly gets the better of her, then KICKS her across
the chin when she’s down, before walking a few steps away.

A stunned and woozy Billie raises a hand to touch her bleeding

mouth, as her adversary pick something off the floor. We
alternate now between close-ups of Billie and her POV, playing
the rest of this scene as if we’re sharing her experience.

GREEN-EYED MAN
Bitter, isn’t it -- the taste of your
own blood? Leaves an indelible memory.
I expect that’s what you’re experiencing
now. But this...

He comes back to her, now carrying a roll of wire.

GREEN-EYED MAN (cont’d)

... this should be new.

He drags her roughly to an upright girder, then tightly wires

her wrists to it above her head. Billy gasps at the pain.

BILLIE
Okay, that’s enough. Jean - freeze
program.

But nothing happens. Real panic comes to Billie.

BILLIE (cont’d)
Jean! This is a priority override!
Freeze program!
 54.

GREEN-EYED MAN
Shhh...

He rips off her belt, gagging her with it as he wraps it

around the girder as well. She (and we) can’t see everything
he does next, but she feels his hands on her, pulling at her
clothes, sees them unbuckling his own belt. She groans a
muffled “No!” through her gag as she struggles to free her
hands. But she can’t, the wire biting deeply into her wrists,
making them BLEED, as we CUT TO --

INT. BILLIE’S QUARTERS

where she lies writhing on her bunk with her V.R. headset on,
her hands at her sides as if pinned there by invisible bonds.

We don’t need to see what is happening to her in the virtual

reality; we know. But even watching her here and imagining
her experience is terrible. She writhes on the bunk, eyes
darting, body tensing as she struggles to break a mental block
and free herself from a fantasy gone terribly wrong.

RESUME: INT. UNDER-CONSTRUCTION HIGH-RISE - CLOSE ON

BILLIE’S FACE distorted with pain, eyes streaming tears as the

green-eyed man LEANS IN and whispers close in her ear --

GREEN-EYED MAN
It’s your fantasy, Billie. Why not
enjoy it?

We push in still tighter on Billie’s tortured face for a long,

terrible beat, until we hear him sigh.

Then we watch again from her slumped, tear-stained POV as he

picks up his coat, then walks out of frame. A beat as we hear
Nikki’s muffled crying, then --

CLOSE ON Nikki's wired wrists, now slippery with blood, as she

finally manages to work one free, then the other...

INT. BILLIE’S QUARTERS

as she tears off her headset, then sits up, pulling her knees
to her chest and pressing herself into a corner, finally free
to sob openly.

FADE OUT.

END ACT FOUR

 55.

ACT FIVE

FADE IN:

INT. CONFESSIONAL/FALLON’S OFFICE - OVERHEAD SURVEILLANCE VIEW

Now we’re looking down on the room where the interview and
confessional snippets seen earlier were shot, and we realize
it also serves as Fallon’s therapy office.

Billie is the couch, looking composed -- no sign of the trauma

we just witnessed. Fallon sits across from her in an easy
chair. Billie crosses her legs and we CUT TO --

BILLIE - A DIFFERENT SURVEILLANCE ANGLE

Eye-level, this time, the camera ratcheting in slightly and re-

focusing with a whirring sound, inaudible to its subject, who
sits there looking calmly at --

FALLON - ANOTHER EYE-LEVEL SURVEILLANCE ANGLE

Who sits looking at Billie as she re-crosses her legs. Our

camera angles will continue to switch, depending on who’s
talking, as if an invisible director is recording the scene.

A long beat of silence. Fallon temples his fingers. Billie

brushes a lock of hair out of her face. Finally:

BILLIE
So my first thought was that it was a
glitch of some kind. Maybe even an
Easter Egg.

FALLON
An Easter Egg?

BILLIE
A subroutine left behind by one of the
original programmers, as a prank...
(off his look)
...though obviously in this case it got
out of hand -- probably because its code
became corrupted in some way. But that
wasn’t even my biggest concern.

FALLON
No?

Billie tucks the errant lock back behind her ear again,
starting to show the barest signs of being discomfited.
 56.

BILLIE
What really worries me is that I
couldn’t get the program to stop.
Couldn’t exit the module without
physically removing my headset, which...
because of certain aspects of the
scenario... was mentally difficult to
do. Like my motor control got screwed
up or something. Which in turn suggests
there’s something deeply wrong with the
program’s source code...

She pauses, waiting, perhaps, for Fallon to interrupt her or

comment. When he doesn’t --

BILLIE (cont’d)
I think we should take the entire
program off-line -- all the virt modules
-- until I can fix the problem. I mean
what if someone gets trapped in an even
worse situation and struggles to get out
of it like I did? There could be -- I
don’t know -- synaptic damage for all I
know.

A beat as Fallon waits to see if she’s finished. Then:

FALLON
Of course you should do what you think
best. You’re the computer expert, after
all. What I’m left wondering, though,
is whether you’re treating this a bit
too intellectually. A computer problem
to be solved -- a “glitch” as you put it
-- instead of something very traumatic
that happened to you personally.

BILLIE
Well... nothing happened to me, really.
I mean physically -- in reality --
nothing happened. If you think about
it, it’s really no different than a bad
dream, and dreams aren’t real, right?

FALLON
On the contrary, the events they portray
may not be, but the feelings dreams
evoke, and the memories they leave
behind, can be as real as anything in
our lives.
(after she absorbs that)
But I’m also curious why you chose to
describe what happened as a dream.
 57.

BILLIE
What do you mean?

FALLON
Some people believe dreams are the
mind’s way of exploring things that
would normally be suppressed in the
waking world.

BILLIE
You’re talking about fantasies. I don’t
have a “rape fantasy” if that’s what
you’re getting at.

FALLON
I’m not “getting” at anything. What I’m
drawing your attention to is your choice
of words -- by comparing this to a
dream, you’re implying this was
something you “dreamt up.” As if you
blame yourself for what happened to
you... that maybe you think you deserved
it in some way.

And now it’s Billie’s turn to be silent, staring at him for a

moment before her eyes retreat to the floor. The silence
fills the room for a long beat. Then she abruptly gets up.

BILLIE
It’s a software bug. And that’s all it
is.

She EXITS.

INT. BRIEFING ROOM - LATER

Pike is addressing the ENTIRE CREW. Billie remains silent

throughout, giving no indication that she knows anything more
than anyone else.

PIKE
As some of you know, there have been
some... anomalies cropping up in the
virt modules. Unknown characters
appearing at random times and places.
Up to now, I assumed these were isolated
and relatively harmless incidents. A
parlour mystery at worst -- maybe even
someone aboard wanting to playing hacker
in their spare time.
(beat)
No more. An assault has occurred. A...
sexual assault.
 58.

Shocked looks go around the room.

MANNY
Can you be more specific?

SUE
“Assault” against who?

PIKE
There’s a privacy issue here and I’m at
liberty to describe the attack in detail
or who experienced it. But I cannot
imagine any member of this crew having
planned or allowed something like this
to happen in any way. So in my opinion,
this is not a case of malicious hacking.
But that means there is a serious defect
in the virt software and as a result,
I’m ordering the modules shut down
immediately.

MANNY
For how long?

PIKE
Until we know for certain the problem
has been identified and repaired. I’ve
informed Mission Control and asked them
if new software can be uploaded, but
Jean tells me it’s unlikely at this
distance from Earth.

MEYER
So this could be a permanent shut-down?

PIKE
Possibly.
(trying to be light)
I guess we’ll all just have to read
books.

JOHNSON
Well... we’ve all experienced computer
glitches before and just to play devil’s
advocate here, isn’t it possible we’re
overreacting?

Sue, Rika, Alice and Billie all look up sharply at this -- the
women on the crew taking immediate umbrage --

SUE
You heard him say “sexual assault,”
didn’t you?
 59.

JOHNSON
So what does that mean exactly? There’s
a big difference between someone getting
a pinch on the ass and being gang-raped.

ALICE
Someone was violated. By a computer
program. It doesn’t matter what it was
“exactly.”

JULES
I have to agree with Jimmy, here. I’m
not trying to be insensitive or
anything, but these programs are pretty
much the only chance for privacy any of
us have on this ship, and if all we’re
talking about is some computer character
copping a feel --

A chorus of outrage from the women crashes down around his

ears:

ALICE SUE
And that’s all right?! What kind of thinking is
that?!

RIKA
One of these characters shot me, Jules --
is that bad enough for you?

She tries hard not to look at Pike as all eyes turn to her.

JOHNSON
People get shot in their action programs
all the time. There’s no permanent
damage.

RIKA
I wasn’t in an “action program.” I was
relaxing in a beach house. It was
supposed to be alone. And an intruder
came into my bedroom and shot me. In my
bed. When I was alone.

JOHNSON
So you were shot and someone else was
“assaulted.” Whole thing’s a
simulation. Go back in, create a couple
of machine guns and get yourself some
bad-ass revenge. I still don’t see what
the big deal is -- none of it’s real.
It’s all just in your head.

Suddenly, Billie bolts from the room.

 60.

JULES
I think it’s a little more real than
that than to one of us...

SUE
You’re an asshole, Jimmy.
(glares at the male crew)
Same goes for the rest of you.

VAL
Please not to be including me with them.

Sue gets up and goes after Billie. We go with her, into --

INT. GALLEY - CONTINUOUS

Billie tries to re-fill her mug from the coffee maker but the
carafe is empty. She tosses her mug in the sink, leans on it.

SUE
I’m sorry. They’re idiots.

BILLIE
Knew that.

SUE
What they don’t get -- what none of them
get -- is even when something like this
happens in the real world... your mind
is where it happens. More than your
body. You’re not even in your body;
they’ve already taken that from you.

Billie turns, her tear-stained face asking a question.

SUE (cont’d)
Training mission. Two guys in my own
unit. I ate with them, racked with
them... That was the worst -- the
realization that none of that mattered,
that I didn’t really exist for them,
except as...

She trails off, lost in her own traumatic memory.

BILLIE
What did you do?

Sue’s eyes become hooded -- a place she can’t go.

SUE
You don’t wanna know...
 61.

EXT. AMERICAN SOUTH - FIELD - DAY (V.R.)

Pike, dressed again as a Union Colonel, stands by his horse,

watching his cavalry troop trot by him, saluting as they do,
while they sing along to a fife and drum (a popular Union
song: “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp”). We sense Pike’s saying goodbye
to all this, when --

JEAN
Commander, Doctor Fallon is with you.

PIKE
Thank you, Jean.

The scene SHIMMERS AWAY around Pike, until he’s back in --

INT. PIKE’S QUARTERS

He takes off his headset, turns to Fallon.

FALLON
Hard to step away, isn’t it?

PIKE
Just taking a last look.

FALLON
A last look? Let’s hope not.
(beat)
I hope you realize, Francis, the
overriding importance of the virt
modules as they relate to the
psychological well-being of the crew.

PIKE
I remember the pysch-briefings.

FALLON
Forget the briefings. Think about where
we are now: committed to years of
living inside a ship with only twelve
other human beings in the world.
Without the ability to escape the
confines of this metal tube periodically
-- to experience other environments and
interact with other people, even if
they’re only computer-generated -- the
pressures of the mission will turn
inward. Divisions will form among the
crew, barely acknowledged animosities
and jealousies will crop up, paranoid
and even delusional behavior is possible
--
 62.

PIKE
Well, we’ll have just have to be better
than that. We’ll have to be adults and
take responsibility for our lives.

FALLON
This is not a question of willpower.
It’s human nature. You know history --
think of the first long-duration space
mission to Mars and what happened to
that crew --

PIKE
That was a different time and different
circumstances. Plus that ship was about
a quarter the size of Phaeton, almost
guaranteed to drive you crazy.

FALLON
It’s not the size of the ship. It’s the
isolation from humanity and the natural
world. I’m telling you as a
psychologist, that it is imperative that
the virt modules be repaired and
reactivated as soon as possible -- and
I’m certain that Mission Control, the
Consortium and the network will all back
me up on this.

PIKE
Well, none of them are here. I command
this mission, Roger. And I’ll decide
when and if the modules go back on line.

Beat.

FALLON
Making a lot of decisions on your own
these days, Francis. Just like the
commander of the Mars mission did.

PIKE
Nice try, but I’m not going round the
bend yet.

JEAN
Excuse me, Commander. There’s a call
from Jules on the Flight Deck.

Pike taps his computer, and Jules APPEARS in a window.

 63.

JULES (MONITOR)
Gotta a problem here, boss. We
retracted the com array to run an air-
breaking test and now it won’t deploy
again. Looks like a failure in the
power supply. I’ve done all I can from
here -- someone’s gonna have to go for a
walk and put in a new AE 35 unit.

PIKE
All right. Tell Sue to meet me in the
air lock.

He turns to go, but Fallon is still there.

FALLON
Did Rika confide in you with her story
of being shot?

PIKE
What --? No. Why?

FALLON
You didn’t seem surprised.

PIKE
Nothing surprises me anymore.

He’s not entirely convincing. Pike EXITS. OFF Fallon...

EXT. PHAETON - HULL SURVEILLANCE CAM VIEW - LONG SHOT

The airlock opens and the two tiny SPACE-SUITED FIGURES of

Pike and Sue emerge, trigger their PROPULSION PACKS, and move
slowly over to one of the larger modules.

INT. EDIT BAY

Close on a surveillance monitor showing that long view, while

another shows a closer view of Sue and Pike alighting on the
module’s hull near the base of the com array -- a large
antenna currently folded into the hull. CUT TO:

INT. FLIGHT DECK

Jules, Johnson, Alice and Kenji at stations, monitoring the

EVA. Pike’s and Sue’s helmet-cam views are displayed on their
screens as well, tagged with their last names.

SUE (RADIO)
Circuit board’s fried. Gimme a minute
to swap it out.
 64.

PANNING to the trio of Kenji, Alice and Johnson, who are still
hashing over Pike’s pronouncement.

KENJI
It’s like any other addictive drug: the
more you use it, the more you need it.
Ask me, the Commander’s doing us a
favor.

Alice reacts to his righteous tone as if feeling personally

rebuked, even though Kenji clearly had no such intention.

JOHNSON
Speak for yourself. I’ve taken enough
drugs to choke a horse, just to keep me
alive. But this is the only one that
can get me out of this chair.

SUE (RADIO) KENJI

Got it. In your mind, perhaps.

JULES JOHNSON
Great, read-out’s up. Power The mind’s all we’ve got.
supply active. Replace the Rest of you just haven’t
back-up and we should be good realized that yet.
to go.

Suddenly, an ALARM sounds.

JEAN
Alert-alert-alert. The com array is
deploying.

JOHNSON
Who ordered that?

JEAN
Unknown.

INTERCUTTING the helmet-cam views on Jules’ screen with --

EXT. PHAETON

As the large antenna array swings rapidly out of the hull,

vertical rods SLASHING PIKE’S SUIT while the mass of the array
SMASHES HIM OUT INTO SPACE like a giant pinball flipper.

INT. FLIGHT DECK

Near panic as the crewmen try to understand what’s happened.

SUE (RADIO)
Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ!
 65.

JULES
Sue! What’s going on out there?!

SUE (RADIO)
(staticky)
The array just hit Pike! I’m going
after him!

By now Jules has locked a camera on Pike’s receding body.

JULES
Negative! Your EVA suit does not have
the capacity to reach him!

SUE (RADIO)
(static obscuring curses)
Fuck! Fuck it! I’m going anyway!

JULES
Do not go after him, acknowledge!
Lieutenant, confirm you acknowledge!

But now there’s just static from Sue’s radio along with the
SOUND of PANICKED BREATHING. Alice, Kenji and Johnson are all
staring dumbfounded at their screens, where Pike’s helmet-cam
view is spinning wildly, showing blurred streaks of stars,
then brief flashes of Phaeton, the ship growing smaller.

MANNY
I can hear him breathing! He’s still
breathing!

JEAN
You are hearing Lieutenant Parson’s
respiration. Commander Pike’s bio-
readouts have ceased.

Alice’s hands are half-covering her face as she stares.

ALICE
Ohmygod... Ohmygod...

INT. EDIT BAY

Where one of the surveillance monitors shows Pike’s body

receding like a tumbling white speck. Pulling back from the
bank of monitors to reveal Fallon’s chair is empty.

FADE OUT.

END ACT FIVE

 66.

ACT SIX

FADE IN;

EXT. SPACE - THE PHAETON

heads toward us. Lacking a relativistic frame, it appears to

be moving very slowly. During this long and stately approach,
we INTERCUT a series of brief video “confessions”...

INT. CONFESSIONAL

Billie facing camera with a stoic expression.

BILLIE
So, it’s Saturday. Or is it Sunday?
Time’s different now. Everything’s
different now, I guess. Everything’s
slower. Or faster. I’m not sure.
(forced cheer)
But it’s Saturday somewhere, right?
Dancing, booze, hook-ups -- pahhh-tee.
(beat)
Same here. Nothing but laughs. Yeah.

She takes a deep breath, her facade starting to crumble.

BILLIE (cont’d)
I wish -- I wish I knew him better. He
was the -- the strong, silent type, you
know. None of us really knew him.

INT. CONFESSIONAL - ON RIKA

As she just stares at camera for a beat, then looks away.

INT. CONFESSIONAL - JOHNSON

Spins around in his wheelchair, looking thoughtful, troubled,

also saying nothing.

INT. CONFESSIONAL - MANNY AND VAL

Holding hands, both distraught. Manny crying quietly, Val

comforting him silently. After a beat, Manny looks up at us.

MANNY
It’s selfish, I know. But I keep
feeling like he marooned us. He’s an
experienced astronaut -- the most
experienced of any of us. How could he
let this happen?
 67.

INT. CONFESSIONAL - SUE

Just a flash of her. She’s SCREAMING at the camera. No

words, just an outraged noise!

INT. CONFESSIONAL - ALICE AND KENJI

Sitting a short but telling distance apart on the couch, Alice

lost in her own thoughts, Kenji sneaking troubled glances at
her as he speaks to camera --

KENJI
There were twelve of us. Now there’s
eleven.
(a glance at his wife)
Eleven of us for the next ten years.
(another glance, then)
It feels lonelier already.

INT. CONFESSIONAL - FALLON

Looking a bit uncomfortable under the gaze of his own camera.

FALLON
I don’t ordinarily do this... but maybe
I should do it more. “Dose of my own
medicine,” you know?
(beat)
The many qualities that make a good
leader are so rarely found in one man.
But Francis was... he was...
(beat)
It’s safe to say, he left a gap that may
never be filled.

INT. CONFESSIONAL - SUE

Still screaming as she heaves the couch over, then tosses

Fallon’s easy chair against a wall -- as Fallon, Meyer and Val
rush in and try to restrain her. We catch chaotic fragments --

FALLON
Hold her down!

VAL
I am trying.

Meyer is trying to uncap a hypodermic as we --

INT. CONFESSIONAL - MEYER

Breathing heavily, sitting on the roughly rearranged couch,

glaring at camera, holding his trembling hand --
 68.

MEYER
Are you happy, Roger? Will this boost
our numbers? Are... you... happy?!

END INTERCUT

And we’re out... just as Phaeton reaches us, passing under our
pivoting camera and revealing three space-suited figures
working around the damaged com array, before the ship heads
away into space. Over which --

JULES (V.O.)
Dear Shawn... I wish you could read
this. I wish a lot of things. We’re
still making repairs to the com array
and it’s unclear when we’ll be able to
resume our packet bursts. Means we’re
also cut off from Earth. Truly on our
own. But then I guess we always were.

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM

A disheveled Jules sits on the floor with his back against the
huge window, speaking into a recording device.

JULES (V.O.)
There wasn’t any question about turning
back. Having passed go/no-go, we’re
committed to the mission.

INT. BRIEFING ROOM

The crew is assembled, arguing -- Fallon looking as if he’s

facing off against the others, Johnson in particular, while
Jules plays moderator.

JULES (V.O.)
But there was a brief argument about who
or what was responsible for the
accident, which was resolved when Mr.
Johnson, who was second in command,
declared it a system malfunction.
(beat)
Johnson’s first order, after consulting
with Mr. Fallon, our psych officer, was
to reinstate the virt program even as we
investigate the problems we’ve been
having with it.

INT. SICKBAY

Meyer fills a syringe from an ampoule and gives himself a

painful injection, the first of many.
 69.

JULES (V.O.)
After that, we all just tried to get
back to normal.

INT. EDIT BAY

Fallon edits the footage of Pike's fateful space walk, his

expression neutral as he splices the disturbing footage.

JULES (V.O.)
But what’s normal, you have to ask
yourself, when you’re hundreds of
millions of miles from Earth, home is a
collection of metal compartments...

INT. GREENHOUSE

Rika digs a hole for a plant in a soil bin, then buries one of
Pike’s little hand-painted Civil War figurines beneath it.

JULES (V.O.)
...and you’ve just lost the one man who
was able to hold you all together?

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM

JULES
I’ll tell you what I want to do. I want
to start over. Be honest with you...
and with myself. No more lies. No more
fantasies built on lies.

INT. JOHNSON’S QUARTERS

Johnson wheels into his quarters, painfully muscles his

uncooperative body into bed, then puts on a V.R. headset.

JULES (V.O.)
Just the truth. A new start.

EXT. MOUNT EVEREST - NORTH FACE (V.R.)

Johnson clambers out of a mountaineer's tent on sturdy

functional legs and takes in the stunning view.

JULES (V.O.)
Maybe for all of us.

INT. PARTIALLY CONSTRUCTED HIGH-RISE - NIGHT (V.R.)

We’re sharing someone’s POV of a blood-stained girder, a

tangle of construction wire still looped around it.
 70.

REVEAL BILLIE staring at it. Another woman puts a reassuring

HAND on her shoulder. Sue.

BILLIE
So what do I do now?

SUE
You mean what do we do.
(off her look)
We find that scumbag... and we kill him.

INT. DOCTOR’S WAITING ROOM/OFFICE (V.R.)

Alice is trying to barge past a NURSE.

NURSE
You can’t just come in here without an
appointment!

ALICE
Get the hell out of my way!

She pushes though the door, down a short hall, then pushes
though a door into the doctor’s private office, where --

THE GREEN-EYED MAN, in a doctor’s white coat, looks up at her

with mild surprise.

ALICE (cont’d)
We need to talk!

And off this strange confrontation and it’s puzzling

implications -- Does she know who he is? -- we CUT TO:

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM

Jules clicks off the recording device, the red light goes off.

JULES
Jean?

JEAN
Yes, Jules.

JULES
I want to create a new virt module. Can
you help me?

JEAN
Of course, Jules. Tell me what you
need.
 71.

EXT. PHAETON - PROW - POV ANGLE LOOKING FORWARD

At first we might think we’re sharing the POV of a

surveillance camera. Then we pull back to find Jules standing
on the hull, sans space suit, his hand on the shoulder of his
young son, Shawn, their hair tousled by a light cosmic wind.

And as we pull back from the strange yet somehow beguiling

image -- like Leo and Kate on the bowsprit of Titanic -- while
Bowie's "Space Oddity" plays on the soundtrack, we...

FADE OUT.