The Hand Of God (2) "Genetics maybe?" Chauncey laughs and then reaches into his inside jacket pocket and pulls out three small bags of weed. Chauncey and Chris perform the usual handshake to exchange the weed. Chris slips the bags into his pocket and starts to slide some money onto the ledge behind his stool. CHRIS "Twenty?" Chauncey shakes his head with disapproval. CHAUNCEY "This one's on me bro." CHRIS "Thanks Chauncey." CHAUNCEY "Not a problem." Chris gets up from his seat to meet Lacey half way for a hug. Willy rises from his seat and steps behind Chris. LACEY "Come here you." Lacey holds Chris close. LACEY "Love you baby." CHRIS "Love you too doll." Lacey finally lets go and gives Chris a peck on the cheek. Chauncey pipes up as he jokingly plays the jealous boyfriend. CHAUNCEY (Joking) "Hey, hey. I think that's enough. Get outta here and stop groping my girl, ya little weasel." WILLY "That looked like equal groping to me." CHRIS "Hey, you've gotta cop a feel when you can." WILLY "Damn Chris, you just killed your whole case." CHRIS "Thanks Matlock." Chanucey smiles as Chris wipes the lipstick off his cheek and starts to leave. CHAUNCEY "Hey!" Chris and Willy spin around, looking back to Chauncey who now has his arm around Lacey. CHAUNCEY "Even though you hugged my girl, my offer still stands. If you're in the neighborhood just stop by." Chris nods in acceptance. CHRIS "Thanks, I might take you up on that." Chris and Willy turn then walk out the door into the now dark streets. EXT. PARK IN A MICHIGAN SUBURB - NIGHT Chris and Willy lean against a tree, silhouettes against the night sky. The moon shines bright through the trees and drops from the recent rain catch the light, like little prisms hanging from the leaves. Chris, smoking a joint, allows the smoke to billow from his mouth with an effortless exhale. WILLY "So do you think you will forgive your Dad?" CHRIS "It's already forgiven. I mean I think I got him worse. I just don't think that I can face him. At least not for a while." WILLY "I hear that. Your Dad can be harsh." CHRIS "It isn't even that. I just have no respect for him anymore." Willy looks at the joint as it becomes smaller and smaller. WILLY "Chris, can I have some now?" CHRIS "Just a second, I'm almost done." Chris takes one last toke from the joint and hands it over to Willy, holding in the smoke to savor his last drag. Willy raises the joint to his mouth and takes a long drag. Willy holds in the smoke for a second but then launches into a coughing fit. Chris releases the smoke and begins to laugh. CHRIS (With a mild giggle) "Don't hack on it, your losing all the smoke" WILLY (Coughing) "Shut up, I'm dying here" Chris reaches over and forces the joint from Willy's hand and begins smoking it again. CHRIS "You choke and hack every time we do this. Do you like it that much." WILLY (Joking) "I'm a slow learner. Once I have the technique down I'll be just fine." Willy reaches out for the joint again, but Chris pulls it away slightly and Willy touches the cherry, burning his fingertip. WILLY "Ow. Shit! Man, don't burn me with it." CHRIS (Joking) "Damn, you are slow. You're still learning how to reach?" WILLY "That's really funny. Now hand it over." Willy reaches out and takes the joint from Chris' hand again. He takes another drag and tries not to cough again. WILLY (holding his breath) "Smooth" Willy hears the crack of a tree branch in the distance. WILLY (Whispering) "Did you hear that?" CHRIS "You’re just paranoid" WILLY "Chris, I heard something, I know I did" Before Willy can even finish his sentence Chris notices a streak of light panning across the trees. CHRIS "Fuck, get outta here" Chris bolts to the left of the tree and Willy wraps around the other end. VOICE IN THE DISTANT "Stop, Police!!!!" As the bush becomes thicker Chris and Willy are split up. Chris runs through the bushes as quickly as his legs will carry him, small tree branches whipping off his legs, and his arms deflecting the larger ones. Willy runs as quickly as he can, his clumsy legs stumbling as he tries to elude his pursuer. The sharp light from a distant flashlight pierces the darkness and slowly gains on Willy. Willy pants heavily as he quickly expends energy to escape. A siren can be heard in the distance. From over a hill Chris appears through the, now sparse brush. He runs down the hill, breaks through the final bit of brush, crosses the road and hops the fence on the other side, leading into more thick brush. The sirens begin to ring louder as Willy can see streetlights ahead. Approaching the end of the brush, Willy sees that there is a small ledge and abrupt drop to the curb. Willy speeds towards the bank and jumps from the edge of the embankment. Just as he lifts off, the police cruiser that was once just a distant noise was now bearing down on him quickly. As he glides through the air the cruiser continues to approach at high speed. The cruiser finally sees the body flying through the air and slams on the brakes sending the back end sliding out. Willy lands, rolls, and pops up just in time to be hit in the head by the back fender of the cruiser. The blow sends him skidding backwards and he is knocked to the pavement. The pursuing officer emerges from the brush and rushes to help Willy. The officer in the cruiser yells into his radio with a hysterical voice. OFFICER IN CRUISER "This is 279, Ambulance required on Fairfield Avenue, three hundred meters south of Fairfield and Jackson. The victim is a young male, 16 to 18, 160 pounds. The victim was struck by a cruiser at approximately 40 miles per hour, over" DISPATCHER "Roger that 279, ambulance is being dispatched." The officer hangs up the CB and rushes out of the cruiser to help. Chris, hearing the noises, emerges from the bushes across the street. In the shadows, he watches in horror with the lights from the police car lighting the brush behind him. One of the officers turns his head and sees Chris. OFFICER "Hey! Kid, Come here!" Scared, Chris turns and runs. Again branches begin to lash off of his legs as he makes his way through the dense brush. The light behind him slowly fades and he thinks he is safe. With his safety in hand he turns around and starts walking slowly backwards. CHRIS "Fuck, what just happened. He's gotta be alright." Suddenly a spotlight shines on Chris from behind. Caught, he raises his hands in the air. CHRIS "Ok, you got me." He slowly turns around and begins to yell at the dark figure. CHRIS "God knows I don't want you to kill me!" He lowers his hands and slowly walks toward the figure. CHRIS "What the fuck did you do?" He raises his voice another notch. CHRIS "WHAT THE FUCK! DID YOU DO?" The figure starts to back off for a moment and then a slight noise starts to come from the figure, almost like a camera flash recharging. Chris stops, thinking it could be a weapon and raises his hands again. CHRIS "Ok, take it easy. Just cuff me or do what you have to do and I'll go right along with you." Not a second passed before a laser erupted from the figure. The bright purple beam hits Chris in the chest. The beam stops and Chris rears back in pain grabbing his chest with his hands. The purple begins to spread through his arteries, engulfing his body. The shiny substance shows through his clothes as it works its way towards his legs. Once the purple can be seen in his legs he collapses to his knees and then he rolls over onto his side. FADE TO BLACK INT. LARGE WHITE ROOM The square, white room is brightly lit with almost no seams except for a slight break in the room where the door is. The lights are potted in the ceiling and shine down onto a single operating-type chair in the middle of the room. The chair resembles a modified barber's chair in a reclined position with a single pillar in the middle holding up the chair. Chris' arms are strapped on padded extensions that protrude from either side of the chair and extend above Chris' head at an angle of about 45 degrees. Chris' arms are bound, face up, at the biceps, forearm, wrist, and along the palm of his hand. His legs are spread and strapped to similar extensions of the chair at the thigh, knee and ankle. His body is strapped to the chair at the waist, chest and head. Beside the chair sits a metal instrument tray. The tray is empty. The final objects in the room are four lights that extend from the ceiling. The lamps hang over Chris while their light engulfs his entire body. Chris begins to wake up from his deep slumber. He seems groggy and his vision is slightly blurred. He begins to open his eyes and is blinded by the lamp hanging over his head. CHRIS "Ah, damnit!" He tries to move his arm to shield his eyes but finds himself strapped to the chair. CHRIS "What the fuck? Hello?" Chris begins to struggle more actively against his restraints. He grunts as he tries to fight the tight, strong restraints. CHRIS "Get (slight pause) these (slight pause) off (slight pause) of (slight pause) me… (slight pause) Damnit!!" Chris finally gives up his fight and concedes to his restraints. His muscles relax as he gives in to the fight and frustration. He sits in silence for a few seconds, breathing very heavily. He hears a clunk of a lock in the distance. The seams along the door become larger as the door begins to open. From the contrasting, dark hallway appears a petit figure. A beautiful young woman walks into the room. Chris is still disoriented but quietly calls out in the hopes that he will get a response. CHRIS "Hello?" Melissa approaches Chris carrying a needle in one hand. Unlike traditional medical practices, she is not wearing anything over her mouth or any gloves on her hands. She walks over to Chris and leans over him, blocking out the light from the lamps. MELISSA "Shhhh, everything will be fine. Just relax." Melissa moves the lamp that was blinding Chris and proceeds to inject the needle into Chris' arm. Before she can get the needle into Chris' arm Chris objects. CHRIS "Wait! What is that? Where am I?" Melissa moves back to Chris and looks him in the face again. MELISSA "This is just a mild sedative and don't worry everything will be explained very soon." Melissa continues to inject the needle into Chris' arm. She finishes the injection and begins to leave. CHRIS "Wait! Why am I here? Who are you?" Melissa gets to the door and Chris can only hear her muffled voice from behind the door. MELISSA "I think he's ready. Take him now before the sedative wears off." Without another word he hears her footsteps clang on the metal hallway as she walks away. Just as she begins to walk away another figure appears from the dark hallway. A young mammoth of a man enters the room. His biceps look like bowling balls and he seems to be in excellent condition. Again, he is not very old, maybe 19 or 20. He walks over to Chris and begins to undo his restraints. BEN "Let's get you out of these." CHRIS "Who are you?" BEN "My name is Ben." Ben finishes undoing Chris' arm restraints and clamps on a handcuff-like device. The thick metal locks in place, an air cushion blows up to hold his wrists in place and a light on the side turns from red to green. CHRIS "Ouch, they're a little tight. Can you loosen them a little?" BEN "Nice try. These are calibrated not to squeeze too hard. You're fine." CHRIS "Well maybe they're malfunctioning." BEN "Trust me, nothing here malfunctions." CHRIS "Here? Well Ben, then where is here." Chris sits up in the chair now that his arms and body have been freed from the restraints. BEN "I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. I'll let them tell you." CHRIS "Them?" BEN "The one's who chose you." CHRIS "Chose me? Chose me for what?" BEN "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." CHRIS "Right now? I think I would." BEN "Well I am not obliged to give you any information at this time. Talk to me later and I'll fill you in on everything." Ben finishes releasing Chris from the chair and pushes a button at the side of the chair that brings it to an upright position and then slowly drops to the floor. Ben extends his hand to Chris, grabs him by the cuffs and pulls him out of the chair. Ben presses a button on the cuffs and releases a short wire. He pulls on the cable like a dog leash and guides Chris out the door. BEN "Follow me." CHRIS "Do I have a choice?" BEN "No. They're waiting for you." INT. HALLWAY CORRIDOR The metal corridor leads down a long hallway. The lights are dim and the metal corridor gives off a distinctive sound with each footstep. CHRIS "Can't you tell me anything?" BEN "There is only one thing that I can tell you. Keep an open mind. There is no turning back now. You don't have a choice. Your destiny is already chosen." CHRIS "What do you mean? That's just a tad vague." Ben stops at a door in the hallway. BEN "Just remember what I told you. Talk to me later and I will tell you more." Before Chris can respond Ben pushes an intercom button beside the door and begins to speak to a voice beyond the door. BEN "He is here." The intercom rings back. VOICE "Send him in. Thank you Ben, that will be all." The door slides open into a dark room. A light shines from behind a wall to the right. Ben pulls Chris by the cuffs and urges him into the room. Ben whispers one last sentence before Chris walks slowly into the room. BEN "You can't go home." Chris looks back at Ben before the door closes behind him. INT. THE "GAME ROOM" The door opens into an L-shaped hallway that leads around the corner into a small circular room. The floors are plated with a shiny metal that gives as you step on it, making it very quiet. Chris walks down the hallway and turns into the small circular room where he sees a single lamp hanging over a table that looks like an old tabletop arcade game. The table is located in the far corner of the room. Three chairs are seated around the table, two large chairs on either side and one smaller chair behind the table. Pictures hang on either side of the table and are divided in the middle by a small partition in the wall directly behind the smaller chair. On the left side of the partition hang pictures of Albert Einstein, Steven Hawking, and other researchers. On the other side hang pictures of madmen like Adolf Hitler and Mussolini as well as portraits of a couple Popes. As Chris approaches the table the chair on the left spins around revealing an older man sitting at the table. He is dressed in a silky robe and has a cane to walk with. His hair is a lime-green color and hangs down below his waist and his eyes are white, completely blank. He looks at Chris and smiles. Then he gestures to Chris to approach. ZHULHAR "Please…sit. We have much to talk about." Chris walks over to the seat on the right and reaches out to sit. ZHULHAR "Stop. This is your seat." ZhulHar directs Chris to the small seat behind the table. Chris does as he is told and sits at the chair behind the table. He places his arms on the armrests and leans back to get comfortable. ZHULHAR "I take it you have plenty of questions?" CHRIS "Yeah. Like why am I here? Never mind that, where IS here?" ZHULHAR "Please let me explain. Hopefully I can clear up most of your questions. My name is ZhulHar. I am a warrior from the Order of Kitrah. I was sent here to do battle with an opponent from the Baaklar." CHRIS "You're not human." ZHULHAR "No, but not far off human form. I come from a planet called Angropion. My race, the Rejhal, has lived there for millions of years. We are a civilization of shape-shifters. We are able to take the form of many different creatures that we have experienced throughout out lives. However, when we are in regular form we closely resemble a human." CHRIS "So who is this opponent? Where is he or it?" ZHULHAR "The Baaklar do not have specific genders. They are a warrior race built for destruction. My opponent is named Mofdo. I did not want to frighten you with his presence before you were relaxed." CHRIS "So where is it?" ZHULHAR "IT? Well you just about sat on IT. Mofdo?" With the signal from ZhulHar a figure begins to appear in the seat to the right of the table. The head of the animal resembled that of a cross between an insect and a doberman. The skin was pulled tightly over the skeletal system of the animal and the ears were pointed and pinned back. With the absence of lips the animal's teeth were exposed and it's nostrils flared. The animal stood nearly 12 feet tall with two arms and two legs. The arms had claws for hands and razor sharp talons protruding from the wrist. At the knee the same talons shot out. With the emergence of the monstrous creation Chris lept off of his chair and stood to the left of ZhulHar. ZHULHAR "I warned you. Although not a pretty creature by human standards, this race is perfect in nearly every aspect. They are intelligent, great military strategists, dominant warriors in hand to hand combat and they have the ability to become invisible at their own will. Unfortunately, they are not able to speak foreign languages. Their under-developed voice boxes only allow for the use of their own language. Luckily, they developed a voice synthesizer for use in this battle. Say hi Mofdo." Mofdo looks at ZhulHar and lets out a sigh before raising a small box to its throat. MOFDO "Hello Christopher. Arrrrgg!!!" Mofdo greets Chris and then lets out a large roar. ZHULHAR "Oh yes, the synthesizer can often be very painful for the Baaklar. For this reason I will translate most of Mofdo's instructions. Don't be afraid. Sit down. Mofdo won't hurt you." Chris slowly makes his way back to his seat, keeping an eye on Mofdo as he sits down. CHRIS "So what is this place?" ZHULHAR "You are on a space ship. The ship was supplied for the battle by the Baaklar. It was created to be the perfect habitat for humans." CHRIS "Why humans?" ZhulHar presses a button on a console attached to the table. A holograph of the Earth shoots up from the screen on the table. ZHULHAR "Our war is much different than what you have experienced. When war is declared between two barbaric races the two fight physically, like the humans. When war is declared by two intelligent races a game of strategy begins. The Baaklar have the ability to fight both physically and strategically. So when they declared war on the Rejhal, a race that could only fight strategically, a game strategy began." ZhulHar rises from his seat and waddles over to Chris. Standing beside Chris, ZhulHar points to the Earth. ZHULHAR "The Earth is the playing field and the human race is the game." CHRIS "I still don't understand." The hologram changes from the Earth to the scene of a meteor hitting the Earth and bringing the ice age. ZHULHAR "All life on Earth was extinguished tens of thousands of years ago by the Rejhal and Baaklar. This meant that the planet could be used for our battle. Since the Baaklar declared the war, the Rejhal had to supply a race to do battle with. This race was the human race. Organisms were engineered and planted by the Rejhal giving way to life on Earth once again. Every living thing on Earth was created and placed on Earth by the Rejhal." ZhulHar returns to his seat and takes a seated position again as he fiddles with the console in front of him. The hologram cuts from the ice age scene to a human body. ZHULHAR "It was determined that the dominant of the species planted would be the humans. In early civilization Earth was visited by the Rejhal and Baaklar." The human hologram zooms in on the hand and a microchip is outlined in the top of the hand. ZHULHAR "Transmitters made of human tissue were placed in the hand of a select few of the humans so that they could be controlled from this room." The screen switches to a modern day scene. ZHULHAR "And so the battle began. The first to have all of the humans under their control killed…loses." CHRIS "So how has this "game" carried on so long?" ZHULHAR "The chip is passed down from generation to generation. The children of a human with a microchip will also contain a microchip. It is the design of the chip to replicate itself when the human is with child." CHRIS "So why am I here?" ZHULHAR "You are a special case, Christopher. With such a complex game there can be many rules that are judged differently by each player. For this reason we require a mediator. A neutral party to decide the outcome of an action. Mediators are those born of the blood of both the good.." ZhulHar points to himself. ZHULHAR ". . .and the Evil." ZhulHar points to Mofdo. Mofdo acknowledges ZhulHar and he continues. CHRIS "How can that be? Both of my parents were good people." ZHULHAR "Christopher, good and evil may be tougher to tell apart than you think. Your mother was of my creation, she was good. Your father was created by Mofdo and is evil." CHRIS "But he’s a priest" ZHULHAR "I thought you had already figured this out. Religion IS evil. Mofdo created religion as a means of controlling humans without a microchip. Almost all of the humans under Mofdo's control are preachers of religion." ZhulHar points to the pictures on the wall behind Chris. ZHULHAR "Almost anyone who is a human that dictates or fights for control over a large populous will have been created by Mofdo." ZhulHar points to the pictures hanging on his side of the partition. ZHULHAR "I create humans that strive for scientific knowledge, cures for disease and improved technology. Almost all of my creations have been great scientific and military minds. Finally, there are humans that we use to stop one another from doing harm to the humans that we need to successfully win the game, they are called MCE's or Micro-chipped Expendable Humans. Your mother was an MCE." Chris starts to become frustrated with all of the knowledge that he has been given. CHRIS "Ok, this is just getting to be a little too much. How should I know what is allowed and what isn't, in your little game?" ZhulHar reaches down under his chair and pulls out a rather thick, dictionary sized book. He places the book on the table in front of Chris.
Copyright © 2001 Brent Paine |