Conflicts of the last progenitors

Rectangle presses his fire button, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK.

Three (serrated) tongue-depressor-shaped blades shoot into the air toward the Bearded Man: the first spears his heart; the second lances his right eye; the third slices into his open mouth.

The Bearded Man releases Thakani and leans forward; his severed tongue drops to the floor, PLP. He THUDS upon his knees, tips backwards and then collapses onto his side, WOOMF.

With her free foot, Zria kicks the Enraged Woman’s compound fracture; the prisoner SHRIEKS and releases the Bullet’s other ankle.

Rectangle is joined by Florida; Lo-Cheun helps Zria to her feet.

RECTANGLE

We need a Bio for Thakani.

76.

INT. GLASS-DOMED AMPHITHEATER - SAME

The dismayed crowd is silent.

Upon the panorama, Lo-Cheun walks toward the center of lockdown and then turns to face the detained parents.

LO-CHEUN

All prisoners are to remain

completely still. Any movement

beyond breathing and blinking will

be considered hostile and responded to as such. You’ve got an itch--

it can wait. You have to sneeze--

don’t do it.

From the top tier, Florida addresses the brigade below.

FLORIDA

We need individual restraints,

blinders and gags for every person

in here. Now.

Ten Bullets hurry from the room.

In the second row of the amphitheater, Mlissa shakes her head in disbelief; she turns to the Arabic Man next to her.

MLISSA

I don’t understand. Do you? Those children would’ve died centuries

ago, right? And they’re all the

way back on Earth. Right?

The Arabic Man ignores her. In the far corner of the panorama wideshot, Graynose silently cries.

EXT. MOUNTAIN PERIMETER / OPTION-1 - NIGHT

Five moons now share the same sky, the cluster of three and the two stragglers; the water of the open plain is entirely iced over; buoyed by hull-boosters and propelled by the rear thruster, Flypod Goblin-3 drifts inside the open hatch of Armadillo-2, VWIRR...

The door closes behind it.

77.

INT. LUMBAR HALL 3B - SAME

Graynose, accompanied by four BULLETS, strides up the hall toward the spinal train. A male Bluebranch OFFICER holding a gray folder approaches him.

OFFICER

There’s been a development.

GRAYNOSE

Show me.

INT. SPINAL TRAIN - MOMENTS LATER

Graynose and the Officer sit on the train looking at pictures of space: red ink circumscribes the areas in which stars have disappeared, occluded by the unknown mass.

OFFICER

The orbit repeated twice before she lost sight of it.

Graynose’s stomach sinks.

GRAYNOSE

Something out there was circling

us? Any indications as to what it

was?

OFFICER

Look at this.

The Officer withdraws another image from the folder and points to a brighter star: the light of the distant sun has not been blocked, but instead smeared and changed to a lavender color.

OFFICER (CONT'D)

The hue resembles the glaciers that orbit Option-1.

Graynose’s apprehensions diminish.

GRAYNOSE

It does.

(he scratches his chin)

We’ll investigate this once the

internal crisis has been

stabilized.

78.

INT. TRANSPORT ARMADILLO-2 / FRONT CABIN - LATER

Eleven PEOPLE lie inside sleeping-envelopes tucked within the horizontal, orange-foam niches of the cabin. Heater coils glow bright red from the rectangular bays in the walls.

Sven, Abacus and Kenneth, sitting on foam stools, look through the glass bottom to the ice below. They all wear thick jackets and gloves. (They converse in whispers.) KENNETH

There’s another one.

A white eel with gray fins on its back slowly slinks across the surface below them.

ABACUS

You see those? On its end?

Kenneth and Sven stare at the eel’s posterior; six small, lizard-like legs jut from the tail, immobile and rigid.

SVEN

Something vestigial?

ABACUS

No. I’d bet two weeks oat paste

it’s some kind of dual life form.

One brain controls it during the

heat, the other during the cold.

SVEN

Why do you think that?

ABACUS

Watch what happens when it gets

near our exhaust.

Sven, Kenneth and Abacus lean forward and watch the creature glide toward a downward-facing vent underneath the transport’s carriage.

The creature slows down the moment it crawls beneath the vent; an instant later, the legs on its tail wriggle...and attempt to find footing. Sven and Kenneth grin.

ABACUS (CONT'D)

Even Killcall here thinks it’s

neat.

KENNETH

Reminds me of a girl I once knew.

79.

ABACUS

I don’t believe that statement

needs any further elaboration.

INT. RESEARCH SANTUARY - SAME

Graynose, Lo-Cheun, Florida and two Bluebranch Seniors sit at a table; on the opposite side is a pale, plump, thirty-eight-year-old Blue one-star with red, runny eyes and curly blond hair. His name is STANUEL. Beside the table stands the polypillar, its eyes, lenses and convospheres capturing the scene.

STANUEL

Thakani...was right, it was madness to stick to the plan. Out here.

Now. We-

GRAYNOSE

Does your organization have a name?

Stanuel shakes his head, fretful.

STANUEL

Having a name would’ve made us

identifiable, though we considered

ourselves midwives of a sort.

GRAYNOSE

How did you and the other midwives

intend to rescue the children?

STANUEL

The prototypical cryogenic units: