The Hand Of God (5)
The two arrive at Chris' room and Chris becomes more emotional. CHRIS "Well why my father?" BEN "That is a little more complicated. Legend has it that when the human race was developed they ran into some problems, they started to evolve on their own, especially the female. "A mother's intuition" was how the humans ultimately perceived it. However, it created a lot of problems in the game. Mothers began keeping their children out of harm’s way. This became a major problem for the abduction of mediators and shipmates. As a solution they began killing the mothers before they abducted their children. To even out the game, afterwards they would kill the father also. Making a mediator watch the death of their father also proved to be a great way to test the mediator. It won't be the worst that you see Chris." Chris raises his head to Ben. CHRIS "I was afraid of that." Ben puts his hand on Chris' shoulder. BEN "Are you going to be ok?" Chris nods his head and wipes the forming tears from his eyes. CHRIS "I think so." BEN "Do you want me to come in for a while?" Chris shakes his head no. CHRIS "No, I'll be fine. Thanks Ben." BEN "Ok, just take it easy." CHRIS "Yeah." Ben turns and walks away while Chris places his hand on the image scanner and opens the door to his apartment and walks inside. INT. CHRIS' APARTMENT Chris enters his apartment, walks over to the couch and flops down. Mentally drained he picks up the remote control sitting on the coffee table in front of him and turns on the television. The grim pictures on a local Earth newscast tells of a fire that left three people dead. Chris thinks silently to himself and begins to speak under his breath. CHRIS "I let my own father die." Chris cups his face with his hands and begins to sob slowly. He soon breaks out into tears and anger all at once. He picks up the remote control and hurls it towards a mirror hanging on the wall a few feet from the television. The mirror shatters and shards of glass fall to the ground. Chris screams with anger while crying and letting the tears run down his face. CHRIS "You fuckers!" He bends down and grabs the coffee table by its edge before violently flipping it into the air. The table comes to rest on its side, propped up against the chair to the left of the couch. He then races over to the mirror to the right of the television, opposite the one he already broke, and forcefully pounds his fist into the glass. The glass pierces his hand leaving it a bloody mess. Not feeling pain he continues his rampage, swiping at various vases around the room with his forearms and fists, kicking in the speakers behind the couch and throwing potted plants about the room. Finally, he glares at the television before slowly walking over and forcing his foot through the front of it. Glass from the television scatters around the television and, exhausted, Chris ends his tantrum. He slides down beside the television, leaning against the edges that he had just broken and sitting on the glass he had just shattered. He drops his head into his hands and tightly grips his forehead as though he were trying to will out the madness that now possessed his soul. Chris slides his hands from his forehead through his hair and right to the back of his neck before opening his eyes and looking at the ground in front of him. He strokes a shard of glass at the side of his leg and begins to succumb to the madness, softly speaking to himself. CHRIS "You can't do this. You can't kill people. Just end it now." Chris picks up the piece of glass at his side and slowly raises it to his forearm. (Zoom in) He presses the shard against his skin, dimpling the surface. (Pan up the edge of the glass to his hand) He grips the shard tighter, splitting his palm. Blood begins to trickle down the edge of the crude blade. (Pan down the edge of the glass following the blood) The small line of blood hits his forearm and rolls off the side. Suddenly Chris is interupted by his intercom. MELISSA "Chris. Are you in there?" Chris sits silently hoping that she will leave. MELISSA "Chris, please open the door." Chris speaks up and yells through the door. CHRIS "Go Away!" Melissa attempts to talk Chris down. MELISSA "Chris, just open the door. Talk to me." Chris' negativity begins to worry Melissa. CHRIS "I can't do it. I just can't." Melissa finally overrides the locking mechanism stating a medical emergency. Chris can hear the conversation through the door. COMPUTER "Please provide voice sampling." MELISSA "Melissa Fannon." COMPUTER "Thank you." The door lock springs back and the door opens. Melissa rushes into the room to attend to Chris. MELISSA "Oh my god." Melissa forces the glass from Chris' weakened hand and tosses it to the side. Melissa questions Chris. MELISSA "Why?" Chris again begins to sob becoming more and more emotional with each passing second. CHRIS "I just can't do it. I'm not strong enough." Melissa pulls Chris towards her and nestles his head into her chest. Chris wraps his arms around her, smearing blood down her back. She consoles him, rubbing his back and stroking his head. MELISSA "There now, you'll be fine. I'm here. We're all here." Chris continues to cry and slowly slumps down into Melissa's lap where he rests his head and she continues to hold him. Slowly Chris falls off to sleep. FADE OUT MUSICAL MONTAGE (REPRESENTS THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS) CUT DIRECTLY FROM BLACK TO AN EXPLOSION Montage depicts ultimate chaos and Chris' slow desensitization to the events. Screams of pain ring out as a building explodes on a busy street. People run to escape the carnage. People run from the building, one of them burning alive. The building collapses and lands on a few people attempting to out run it. The scene fades to Chris lying on the floor crying in Melissa's arms. The scene then fades back to the chaos, displaying a gunfight in a busy downtown area, cutting down innocent bystanders. The scene fades back to Chris and shows him standing hugging Melissa not crying. BLEND LIPS INTO THE BACKGROUND LIPS "ACCEPTED" Final image is a man being beaten to death on the streets followed by Chris laughing and carrying on with his friends. SLOWLY FADE OUT MONTAGE AND FADE IN CHRIS' FACE INT. THE "GAME ROOM" Chris, now adapted to his position, quickly cycles through moves. They fly past his screen as he scrolls through watching each move with concentrated eyes. Finally, amidst a line of green dots on the far right of the screen, he notices a red blinking dot. He perks up out of his zombie-like state. CHRIS "Whoa, what's this?" Chris selects the move and looks over the details. ZHULHAR "What is the problem Christopher?" Chris points to the screen where the rule is stated in red. CHRIS "I think there is a problem with this move." ZHULHAR "What move Christopher?" Chris moves his finger down the screen to the move number. CHRIS "The move numbers is 4536-453-88-05" ZhulHar and Mofdo pull the move number up on their consoles. ZHULHAR "Let us see here." The move details display on ZhulHar's screen. ZHULHAR "Oh yes, a perfectly legal move Christopher." Chris keeps looking over the details. CHRIS "No, no, no. It says here that pursuant to rule 11.4.567 the move is illegal due to immeasurable loss of life." ZhulHar begins to stumble while he talks, hinting to his guilt. ZHULHAR "Well, that rule is certainly outdated. We will have to go over the rules and re-write some of them. That rule is so old that I totally forgot about it." Mofdo springs up from his seat, interrupting ZhulHar's near confession. Mofdo slams his fist onto the console and lets out a huge roar. Mofdo goes on to speak in a language foreign to Chris. ZhulHar translates. ZHULHAR "See. He says the move is totally legal…." Once again, Mofdo slams his fist onto the console and barks just a couple of foreign words at ZhulHar. ZhulHar becomes noticeably frightened and translates again. ZHULHAR "Or illegal rather. I guess I lost something in translation." Chris looks at ZhulHar and asserts his authority over him. CHRIS "ZhulHar, if you are going to translate it had better be right, every time! If you try anything like that again I will forfeit the game and award the win to Mofdo. Do you understand me?" ZhulHar sits back down at his chair and listens. ZHULHAR "Yes Christopher. I understand YOU perfectly. It is him I don't understand" ZhulHar points to Mofdo, still trying to claim his innocence. Chris points back at ZhulHar and gives him another stern warning. CHRIS "Don't give me that! If it happens again that's it! Got it?" ZhulHar hangs his head. ZHULHAR "Yes Christopher." CHRIS "Good!" Chris looks over at Mofdo. CHRIS "Sit down Mofdo." Mofdo takes his seat and they get back to work. CHRIS "Now let's see what we're looking at here." Chris hits the preview button and begins to watch the screen. ZOOM INTO VIDEO SCREEN INT. AIRPORT LOBBY A man walks through the airport lobby with a thick, small black case in his hand and he drags an oxygen tank behind him, feeding the mask that is pulled over his mouth and nose. The man walks slowly over to a row of seats in the lobby and sits down. The man tucks his case under the seat and leans back as a small child walks up to him. CHILD "Hey mister, why do you have that thing on your face?" From one of the ticket purchase lines his mother hears the comment and runs over to the youngster. MOTHER "I am so sorry." She picks up her child and slings him over her shoulder. She looks at the man and smiles. MOTHER "The things kids say." MAN WITH THE CASE "Yes, bye." The man smiles back at the woman as she turns and walks away. The man’s face quickly turns from a smile back to a serious look as he reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a long, thin spike. He holds the tool tightly against his chest while he looks around and then drives the spike into his case. (Follow the spike into the case) INT. CASE The interior of the case contains only a single light blue container sitting inside. On the side of the container is a yellow and red biohazard symbol. The spike penetrates the case and continues to travel into the canister. When the spike is withdrawn a mist begins to spew from the canister. INT. AIRPORT LOBBY The man pulls the spike from the case and places it in a garbage can to the left of him. The man rises from his seat and leaves the airport. CUT TO HOSPITAL INT. HOSPITAL Nurses and doctors frantically run around with oxygen masks. The halls are littered with near dead bodies. The patients show signs of black marks all over their bodies. They scream with pain as they vomit on the floors and hack uncontrollably. A nurse rushes up to one of the doctors in the hallway. NURSE "Doctor, we have another three on the way." DOCTOR "My god! What the hell is this." The doctor leaves the hallway and runs towards the entrance. (Slowly zoom in on patients face) The patient moans in pain as she lies on the cot in the hallway. Three black marks cover a good portion of her face. One runs from her forehead, over her right eye and down her right cheek. Her covered eye has changed color and is now a darker shade of blue. The marks are on her left cheek and throat. The marks are cracked and blood slowly trickles from the wounds as he coughs. Launched into a coughing fit she tries to stop it by holding her mouth shut. The force of the cough split the mark on her left cheek considerably more than it was before and blood begins to run freely from the wound. FADE FROM THE PATIENT’S FACE TO CHRIS' FACE INT. THE "GAME ROOM" Chris looks at the screen in horror. Chris highlights the object button and selects it. CHRIS "There is no way that is a legal move ZhulHar." ZhulHar looks back at Chris and rebuts. ZHULHAR "Well the disease is more widespread than expected, I will admit that. However, the move is perfectly legal. It is merely another plague." ZhulHar punches some buttons on his console. ZHULHAR "Here. I have already made the necessary changes to the virus, look" A print out of the virus' molecular composition is printed out from Chris' console. Chris takes the printout and folds it up, stuffing it in his breast pocket. ZHULHAR "I will make the necessary changes to the move and we can continue." Chris objects and pipes in, interrupting ZhulHar. CHRIS "No. We are done for the day. I want time to consult my rule book before we continue." ZhulHar tries to get Chris to continue the game. ZHULHAR "Christopher, there is really no need for that. Please let us continue. We are not even an hour into our day." Chris sternly barks back at ZhulHar. CHRIS "We are finished for the day. That's final." Chris gets up from his seat and leaves the room while ZhulHar whines at him. ZHULHAR "Christopher. Come back." INT. MELISSA'S APARTMENT The neatly kept room is brightly lit by track lighting along the ceiling. Two couches form an "L" shape around a coffee table and face towards the large television sitting in the corner. Much the same layout as Chris' apartment, the kitchen, bathroom are bedroom, are located to the left of the entrance and the room is filled with potted plants and flowers. The intercom sits on a long, slim table that runs along the back of the couch. The intercom beeps and is followed by Chris' voice. CHRIS "Melissa?" Melissa slowly walks from the bedroom. Just exiting from the shower she wears a long robe, slit up the side fully displaying her leg, and her hair up in a towel turban. Chris again tries the intercom as Melissa saunters toward the control panel by the couch. CHRIS "Melissa?" Finally Melissa reaches the intercom and answers. MELISSA "Yes." Chris comes over the intercom again requesting entrance. CHRIS "Can I come in?" Melissa is reluctant, wanting to finish preparing for the day. MELISSA "Chris, I just got out of the shower. Can it wait?" Chris' voice becomes more urgent. CHRIS "I really need to speak to you now." Melissa gives into Chris and lets him in by pressing the button on the intercom to open the door. MELISSA "Ok, come in." The door slides open and Chris walks through. Melissa meets him in the hallway. MELISSA "What's the problem?" Chris pulls the folded piece of paper from his breast pocket that shows the virus concocted by ZhulHar. CHRIS "I need you to look at this." Chris hands the unfolded piece of paper to Melissa and she takes it from his hand with a puzzled look on his face. MELISSA "Ok, what is it?" Melissa takes a closer look at the paper and begins to walk over to the living room where it is more brightly lit. She sits down at the couch and places the paper on the coffee table. Chris sits down beside her and peers over her shoulder. MELISSA "It looks like a flu bacteria." Chris nods his head while Melissa becomes more puzzled. She points at the second half of the bacteria. MELISSA "But I'm not sure what this is here." Still puzzled she speculates. MELISSA "It almost looks like another bacteria has attached itself to the virus." Melissa looks to Chris for answers. MELISSA "What is this Chris?" Chris looks back at Melissa and speaks. CHRIS "The plague." Chris elaborates on his explanation. CHRIS "ZhulHar is going to release this virus on the Earth. It wasn't approved at first because of the amount of casualties that it would create, but he made some modifications and now the computer has approved it." Melissa looks at the diagram again and back at Chris. MELISSA "He probably attached this flu bacteria. The computer might just look at it as a flu virus. Since the flu is easily battled by the immune system there would be no reason to object." Melissa points to the picture where the two viruses join. MELISSA "I am more worried about this. The bond connecting the two viruses looks very weak. I would say that the two viruses could easily split becoming two separate viruses." Chris looks at Melissa asking for more information. CHRIS "And?" Melissa continues to give her grim explanation. MELISSA "And, depending how quickly the virus multiplies and the life expectancy I would say that the result will be the same as it was before he made the change." Chris starts to panic. CHRIS "He is releasing the virus in an airport. This could be the final move of the game." MELISSA "There is nothing we can do Chris. If the computer has already approved the move then the move is as good as made." Melissa tears up, puts her head in her hands and begins to weep. Chris composes himself and thinks. CHRIS "Calm down. We have to do something. Get Murdock and Ben and meet me at my apartment in an hour." Chris gets up and leaves while Melissa sees no hope. MELISSA "There isn't anything we can do Chris." Chris responds immediately under his breath just as he exits the room. CHRIS "Oh yes there is." INT. CHRIS' APARTMENT Chris sits at his couch, hunched over the coffee table and working frantically with pen and paper. Sweat beads on his forehead as he occasionally grasps at his temples with his thumb and index finger. Deep in thought the beep of the intercom doesn't even phase him. MELISSA "Chris?" Chris answers back and lets them in. CHRIS "Come on in." Chris presses the button to open the door and it slides open revealing Melissa, Ben and Murdock. The three enter the room. Ben sits beside Chris while Melissa and Murdock occupy the couch adjacent to Chris. Ben cups his mammoth hand around the neck of Chris. BEN "Take it easy. There isn't anything we can do." Chris stops everything to address Ben and the group. CHRIS "Ben, you told me to be strong for the human race. Don't tell me you guys are just going to give up. That's bullshit." Murdock speaks up to rebut Chris' speech. MURDOCK "Chris, it isn't that we don't want to do something. We just can't. It's out of our hands." The other two agree with Murdock. Chris replies and slides a piece of paper over to Murdock as he explains. CHRIS "Listen, I've got everything figured out. I just need your help to carry it out. What do you have to lose? You really think that they are going to take you with them? I don't think so. If the human race dies so do we." Murdock looks at the piece of paper and seems confused. MURDOCK "I see what you want to do here but I don't see how you can do it." Chris rips the paper from Murdock's hand and puts it on the table for everyone to see. He begins to explain. CHRIS "Ok, the only weapon on this ship that could do any sort of damage is a knife. Where can you get a knife? The mess hall. That's where we start." Ben points out flaws in Chris' plan. BEN "But there is no way to get the knife out of the mess hall. The sensors are rigged so they do not allow the knives to pass the doorway." Chris continues and shoots down the claim. CHRIS "I already thought of that. The sensors will be tricky. We need to get a couple knives first. Now this is where the timing will be key. First off, I need Murdock to take in the security drone for maintenance. That will mean that it will not be able to scan for the knives. Next, the sensors are lined along the wall a few inches apart. I think that if we kick one of them hard enough that it will break and we can slide the knives under the break in the barrier." Murdock nods in acceptance. MURDOCK "Yes, I can see that working. Then only the maintenance drone will be dispatched. But it will still pick up the knives as foreign objects and discard them." Chris looks over at Murdock. CHRIS "That is why we need Melissa to pick them up on the other side of the door before the drone arrives. It won't scan her and she can just walk away with them." MURDOCK "But the drone is too quick. I would have to take it in for maintenance as well and I can't do that." CHRIS "I know. We are going to have to deal with the maintenance drone. But it is easier than dealing with the security drone. I will need you to create a diversion on the other side of the ship. Keep it busy for a few seconds so that we can get the knives off the ground and Melissa can get out of the area. Ben and I will stick around to take the wrap for breaking the sensor." Chris then looks to Melissa. CHRIS "Melissa, I need you to take the knives and meet me outside of ZhulHar and Mofdo's chamber. Once I get there you can…" Melissa speaks up, anticipating Chris' moves. MELISSA "Open the door using my medical clearance." Chris smiles at her. CHRIS
Copyright © 2001 Brent Paine |