The Hand Of God (6) "Exactly." Murdock begins to brainstorm. MURDOCK "I would have to disconnect the security measures that they have running to the room though. The two sleep chambers are connected. If one has a problem the other is automatically engaged and is opened." CHRIS "That would be good. I wasn't aware of the security measures in their room. Can you disconnect that easily enough?" MURDOCK "Yes, the maintenance drone would have it fixed fairly quick though." Chris replies with disapproval. CHRIS "Not good enough. If I run into any problems in there I don't need them waking up." Murdock strokes his chin and once again comes back with an idea. MURDOCK "What about if I were to cross the wiring?" CHRIS "Can you do that?" MURDOCK "Yes, I'm not sure what the response time of the maintenance drone would be, but it would give you more time than if I were just to cut them." CHRIS "Ok, let's do it. Just make sure I have enough time to finish the job." Chris looks back at Melissa. CHRIS "Finally, I need you to help me figure out where to put these knives so that the fuckers won't get up." MELISSA "You can count on me." Chris looks at everyone and dismisses them to prepare for their murderous attempt. CHRIS "Ok, that's it. We've got a couple of hours. Keep in touch and everything will go off without a hitch." The four get up from the couch and hug each other individually. BEN "Let's do this." MURDOCK "I'm on the security drone." Ben and Murdock leave but Chris grabs Melissa's hand. CHRIS "I need your help. Remember? Anatomy 101?" Melissa smiles. MELISSA "Oh yeah." CUT SCENE INT. CHRIS' APARTMENT Chris and Melissa sit side-by-side on the couch. Melissa points to crudely drawn diagrams of the anatomy of both aliens. Chris points in acknowledgement to what Melissa is telling him. Melissa indicates to a point on the diagram of Mofdo. MELISSA "Now you will have to thrust down fairly hard to penetrate the skin. It is almost like a protective shell." Chris nods with acceptance. CHRIS "Ok." MELISSA "The diameter of the organ is about three inches so if you make your shot count you shouldn't have any problems hitting your target." Chris points to the diagram. CHRIS "So if I hit just below the ripple across his chest, here, I should be right down the middle." Melissa nods. MELISSA "Exactly. With the security measures out your best bet for getting into the sleep chambers is to break through the glass encasing the unit. If you open the hatch you may risk waking the other one because I'm not sure of the mechanisms built in for those circumstances. Plus with the security on the units disarmed you shouldn’t set off the alarm." Chris leans in closer. CHRIS "Yeah, ok." Melissa looks Chris in the eyes and softly speaks to him. MELISSA "Are you scared?" Chris slightly nods and replies. CHRIS "A little." Melissa puts her hand on Chris' chest. MELISSA "Your heart is beating so fast." Chris slowly moves his head in closer, hypnotizing Melissa. CHRIS "I know." Chris looks into Melissa's eyes, with their noses almost touching. CHRIS "I think I love you." The two tilt their heads and passionately kiss. Chris rolls over on top of Melissa and aggressively pulls her into his body. Melissa objects and forces her hand between the two. She pushes Chris off of her and their intimate moment ends. MELISSA "No, Chris, we can't." Melissa gets up off the couch and makes her way to the door. CHRIS "Wait, I'm sorry." On her way out Melissa speaks back. MELISSA "Just be ready. We have a job to do." Chris turns around and slouches back into the couch. He touches his lips and closes his eyes. INT. MESS HALL Chris and Ben walk to a table near the front of the mess hall carrying their lunch trays. They sit down at the closest table to the door. Oblivious to the situation, the rest of the crew carries on with their daily life. Chris faces the door waiting until the right moment. Ben silently stares at Chris. The steaming, juicy steaks on their plate will likely go to waste as Ben slides his knife across the table to Chris. Chris collects the two knives and slides them under the belt of his pants and covers them with his shirt. The two sit silently, drinking their juice. Chris perks up as Murdock walks past the mess hall and gives him a thumbs-up. Chris takes a final gulp of his juice, places the glass on his tray and gets up from the table. CHRIS "Here we go." Following Chris, Ben rises from his seat and follows Chris towards the door.Just before reaching the door Ben nudges Chris. Chris, using all of his acting skills, lunges towards the door, slamming his foot into the sensor at the base of the door. The small sensor shatters and the glass shards scatter on the floor. Chris bends down grabbing his toe. CHRIS "Fuck! Would you watch where you're going Ben?" The audience in the mess hall turns their attention to the two near the door. BEN "Sorry Chris." Quickly the people in the mess hall go back to their lives as Chris pulls the knives from his belt, places them on the floor in front of him and slides them under the newly made sensor gap. The knives slide across the floor, sliding apart only slightly. They hit the wall on the other side of the hallway and are almost immediately picked up by Melissa, who is passing by the doorway. As she makes her way down the hallway the maintenance drone zips by her on the left. The drone reaches the mess hall doorway scans the mess. About to commence it's cleanup the drone instructs the two to leave. DRONE "This area is under maintenance. Please step back a minimum of two meters while maintenance operations are being conducted. Thank you." Chris and Ben slip by the drone and head down the hallway in the direction that Melissa walked. INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE OF SLEEP CHAMBERS Chris and Ben jog up to the doorway where Melissa leans beside the entrance to the room containing the sleep chambers. As they approach Chris smiles as Melissa draws the knives from inside her blouse and pinches them between her thumb and index finger. She smiles back and speaks. MELISSA "Well it's all up to you. Can you handle the pressure?" Chris chuckles as he replies. CHRIS "Are you kidding? I live for the pressure." MELISSA "Good." Chris takes the knives from Melissa and stuffs one in his belt as he grips the other in his right hand. CHRIS "Did Murdock take care of the security?" MELISSA "Oh yeah, that drone will be working for hours." CHRIS "Good." Chris looks to Ben for one last word. CHRIS "Ben I want you to find Murdock and go to the mess hall. We will meet up there to talk to the other crewmembers once I'm finished here." BEN "You got it." Ben jogs past the doorway and down the hallway in the opposite direction from the mess hall. Chris looks at Melissa for one last time before he enters the room. CHRIS "Are you ready?" Melissa responds in a positive attitude. MELISSA "I'm ready." Chris flirts with Melissa, making light of the situation. CHRIS "Can I have a kiss for luck?" Melissa kisses Chris on the cheek. CHRIS "Ok, let's do it." Melissa turns to the intercom system and presses the red button on the top of the intercom. COMPUTER "Please provide voice sampling." Melissa speaks into the intercom. MELISSA "Melissa Fannon." COMPUTER "Thank you." The door slides open revealing the chamber that lies within. Melissa leans over to Chris and gives him another peck on the cheek. MELISSA "Good luck." Chris moves towards the door and slowly enters the room. INT. ZHULHAR AND MOFDO'S SLEEP CHAMBER The room is different from any other that Chris has seen on the ship. Thick wires run all over the walls, connecting to a central computer that displays the current status of the sleep chambers. Chris walks deeper into the room and turns the corner where he sees the two sleep chambers. They resemble miniature escape pods. The back right angle of the chambers are pushed up against the wall and the front is somewhat rounded with a glass bubble displaying the aliens clearly. A soft mist slowly falls onto their heads from injection mechanisms inside the chambers. The mist fogs the dimly lit chambers. The dark room still remains eerie to Chris as he slowly makes his way into the center of the room, stepping over the wire on the ground made up of various sizes. A monitoring computer sits on the opposite wall and monitors the heart rates of each of the aliens. Chris grips the knife tighter and tighter as he makes his way towards Mofdo's chamber. Still tip toeing around the room as to disturb anything Chris comes face to face with Mofdo, only separated by the glass of the chamber. Chris switches his knife to his left hand, reaches into his pocket, pulls out a piece of cloth and wraps it around his right hand, covering his knuckles. He switches the knife back into his right hand, takes a deep breath and exhales slowly before rearing back and forcing his fist into the glass. The glass shield covering the chamber shatters and falls to the ground at the feet of Chris and Mofdo, inside the chamber. Upon being smashed an alarm on both of the chambers begins to wail. Stunned by the alarm Chris looks over at chamber containing ZhulHar and sees the locking mechanism release and the mist pour out of the bottom as the hydraulics begin to open the chamber. Quickly Chris gathers himself and thrusts the knife into Mofdo who just began to rouse. Mofdo roars with pain, slumps into the chamber and slowly fades out. Without wasting a minute Chris spins over to the second chamber which has already opened. Now awake ZhulHar morphs into a huge bear-like beast. Chris reaches for his belt and draws his second blade. Lunging forward Chris tries to hit his mark but is swatted by the huge paw of the creature. Chris flies across the room and slams into the opposite wall. ZhulHar makes his way for the door. Hearing screams Chris immediately picks up his blade and bolts after ZhulHar. CHRIS "Melissa!" Chris runs out the door to find Melissa on her back across the hallway. He runs over and kneels down beside her, proping up her head. CHRIS "Are you alright?" Weak, but alive, Melissa responds. MELISSA "I'm fine, just go. He went that way." Melissa points towards the game room. Chris sits Melissa up against the wall and then bolts off away from the mess hall, towards the game room. INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE OF THE "GAME ROOM" Chris sprints down the hallway and sees ZhulHar ahead of him. CHRIS "Hey!" ZhulHar stops, looks at Chris and then lumbers into the "Game Room". Chris gives chase and enters the doorway behind ZhulHar. INT. THE "GAME ROOM" Chris runs around the corner and sees ZhulHar just getting to his console. ZhuHar tries to poke at the keypad, but in his current state finds it hard. Chris runs up to ZhulHar and tries, again, to find a piece of flesh to stick his blade. CHRIS "Hey ugly! Get the fuck away from there." Chris lunges in and is, again, swatted away by his larger opponent. The knife slides along the floor as Chris, slightly turned, hits his face against the metal wall. Bloodied and battered Chris crawls across the floor reaching for the knife. ZhulHar, seeing Chris' efforts, makes his way over to the wall. Chris reaches the knife and conceals it by turning it, blade out, along his forearm. ZhulHar reaches Chris, just a second after he picks up the knife, and picks him up by the neck of the shirt. ZhulHar pulls Chris in close and stares him right in the eye. ZHULHAR "You cannot win Christopher!" Chris flips out the knife out of view of ZhulHar. CHRIS "Neither can you!" With all of his might Chris forces the knife into the abdomen of ZhulHar. ZhulHar lets out a yelp and pitches Chris effortlessly across the room. Chris slams into the Game table and raps his head on the side of it. ZhulHar pulls the knife from his stomach and throws it away. ZhulHar momentarily feels the wound with his hand and slowly makes his way over to Chris once again. ZHULHAR "You stupid humans. You think you're so smart. We created you. Do you think we would create a species more advanced than our own? Stronger than our own?" Chris uses all of his energy to respond. CHRIS "We evolve." ZhulHar barks back. ZHULHAR "Evolve? HA! You evolve as far as we want you to evolve." Once again Chris speaks loudly, but painfully. CHRIS "That's not true!" ZHULHAR "Without us you are nothing. You will destroy your own race in a matter of years. Is that really evolution? I think not." CHRIS "So killing innocent people is evolved?" ZHULHAR "People? You are merely mice. Mice in a laboratory maze, no clue of where you are going and not a care in the world. All you want to do is find the cheese and move on with your meaningless existence." The conversation is interrupted by the voice of Ben and Murdock. BEN & MURDOCK "Chris!" ZhulHar spins around and then looks back at Chris and sarcastically speaks down to Chris. ZHULHAR "Ah, your friends have come to your rescue." ZhulHar snorts and turns and makes his way towards the door. Not able to make his exit in time, ZhulHar is met at the corner of the room by Ben and Murdock. Murdock is surprised by the form of ZhulHar and jumps back. MURDOCK "Holy fuck!" Murdock just gets the words out of his mouth before being swatted by the mammoth paws of ZhulHar. Murdock is knocked back and slides into the wall. Turned around after hitting Murdock, Ben grabs a hold of the elbow of ZhulHar and tries to force him to the ground. ZhulHar whips his elbow around and knocks Ben in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. Chris, having regained enough strength, scurries towards the knife that lay on the ground just meters away from him. ZhulHar hears Chris and turns to make another attack on the already beaten youngster. Seeing ZhulHar turn towards Chris, Ben reaches out and grabs the ankle to ZhulHar. Pulling sharply on his ankle Ben topples the beast. ZhulHar hits the floor with a mighty thud but is still energized and makes a move to get up. From the corner of the room Murdock flies forward with a football-style tackle sending ZhulHar from his hands and knees to his back. Ben immediately follows suit jumping on top of ZhulHar and the two begin to wail at the thick body with all of their might. Now to the knife Chris quickly moves towards the scuffle. Chris lunges forward as ZhulHar, from his back, pitches Murdock horizontally into the corner of the nearby wall. Murdock lets out a moan and then falls to the floor. Ben remains on the other side of ZhulHar, trying to keep him pinned, but ZhulHar quickly grabs him by the shirt and tosses him over to the same side as Murdock. Just as ZhulHar throws Ben, Chris makes his way in with a final attempt to strike pay dirt. Chris raises the knife with both of his hands above his head and then strikes down into the chest of ZhulHar just as he releases Ben. The blow causes considerably more pain than the first wound that he inflicted. ZhulHar squeals as Chris withdraws the knife and begins to repeatedly thrust it thought the fur and into the body of ZhulHar. Ben rushes over to restrain ZhulHar who begins to swing wildly with his arms. Ben pins down ZhulHar who has become much weaker with the strikes of Chris' blade. Not relenting Chris thrusts the blade in many more times, stopping only after he thrusts the blade into ZhulHar's lifeless body over ten times. With his final strike he leaves the blade protruding from the body and releases the handle. Chris slumps back and leans against the dead body. He looks over at ZhulHar's emotionless face and speaks. CHRIS "Evolution sucks, huh?" Ben laughs at the comment as he gasps for breath. Murdock moans as he rolls over onto his side. He rubs his back and head. BEN "You ok Murdock?" Murdock looks over at the two and smiles. MURDOCK "Feels like the worst hangover ever. We've gotta do this more often." Chris and Ben laugh. CHRIS "Once is enough for me. Man I could really use a cigarette right now." MURDOCK "Yeah? I can set up the synthesizers to dispense them." CHRIS "You're the king Murdock." Ben reaches for the knife and pulls it from the body. He holds the knife lightly in his hand and looks at Chris. BEN "This knife freed the human race. We've gotta get this framed or something." Chris looks back at Ben and jokes. CHRIS "I wonder what you could get for that on Ebay?" Ben looks puzzled at Chris. BEN "What?" CHRIS "Nevermind." INT. THE MESS HALL The mess hall has become the venue for a huge party celebrating the death of the two aliens. The audience cheers at the four hero's standing at the front of the mess hall. All showing war scars, Chris, the most bloodied of the four, stands with his cohorts as they gleam with happiness as the crowd cheers their accomplishment. Chris steps forward, waving his hands to calm the crowd. CHRIS "Ok, ok. Calm down. I've got something to say." The crowd slowly calms down to a slight mumble as Chris prepares a speech. CHRIS "Today we accomplished something that no human on Earth is aware of. We will not receive medals for our bravery and we will not be meeting the President. But today we did something that will ensure the survival of our species. Along with ourselves we broke the chains that bound our race and we set ourselves and every human being on Earth free." Once again the crowd erupts with cheers. Chris continues his speech over the noisy crowd. Chris grabs Murdock and points to him as he speaks. CHRIS "We have been restricted enough in this place. So Mr. Murdock here has agreed to do away with the sensors around the ship along with any restrictions on the food synthesizers. From now on if you want to take a nice juicy steak to bed, you go for it!" The pumped up crowd continues to yell and chant. CHRIS "And I would encourage the nursing staff to get all the partying out of your system tonight. As of tomorrow Ms. Fannon has promised me that all male testicles will be reattached! That's right, we're taking our balls back.!" The crowd cheers again with a mixture of laughter. Chris leans over to Melissa and gives her a kiss. Ben watches the two. A drop of red falls from the ceiling and splashes down on Chris' shoulder. Ben reaches over and touches the mark with his finger. Blood. As Ben touches the blood droplet another falls from above and drips onto Chris' neck. Chris spins around to see where the drop came from. A sudden thud erupts in front of Chris and Mofdo immediately appears hunched over Chris. He lunges in for an attack as Ben draws the knife that killed ZhulHar from his belt and pushes Chris out of the way. The protruding claws rip through Ben's side. Ben turns and heaves the blade into Mofdo with all his might as the crowd screams and panics. Mofdo reels backward from the blow as Ben continues to push the blade before falling to the ground with Mofdo. Mofdo pierces Ben's other side with the blades on his right arm while Ben uses all of his strength to make a final strike into the chest of Mofdo and drag the blade through his chest. Mofdo slowly fades as Ben rolls off of the beast. Chris rushes to Ben's aid with Melissa, Murdock and the rest of the crowd right behind. The crowd circles the body of Mofdo and Ben. Slowly fading away Chris pleads for help from Melissa. Chris starts to cry as he speaks. CHRIS "Help him!" Melissa moves in and tries to stop the bleeding. Chris rips off his shirt and hands it to Melissa. Melissa covers the wound with the shirt and presses down on it. She instructs Chris and moves to his other side. MELISSA "Here, put pressure on it." Murdock lends his shirt to Melissa for the other side. MELISSA "Don't you die on us you bastard!" Murdock runs in to hold the other shirt in place as Melissa screams for help from the crowd. MELISSA "Would somebody get me my kit!" Melissa feels Ben's wrist for a pulse. (Begin to zoom out from the crowd) Melissa speaks to Ben trying to keep calm. MELISSA "Come on." (Continue zoom out) Melissa becomes louder with her words. MELISSA "Come on!" FADE OUT FADE IN ON CHRIS' VOICE INT. THE "GAME ROOM" Chris remains seated in his throne-like chair in front of Eddie. CHRIS "So you see, I am the person who saved the human race." Eddie looks at Chris, still unconvinced. EDDIE "Yeah, sure." Chris continues to prove his position to Eddie. He signals Ben. CHRIS "Ben." Ben hits a button on the side of the wall. The wall to the right of Chris and Eddie rolls back revealing the gaming table. Chris rises from his seat and walks over to Eddie. He waves his arm to her as he makes his way towards the table. CHRIS "Come here." Eddie follows Chris over to the table where Chris sits down where ZhulHar once sat. CHRIS "This is it. The one thing that holds together the human race. A mere game, but the weight that balances mankind." Chris hits a preview button and watches the world below. CHRIS "From here you can look over the entire world. Like mini cameras planted in every corner of every building or street. You can witness the joy, the deceit and, well, the pain of every human life form on the planet." Eddie becomes more convinced. EDDIE "Ok, it's a little freaky but I'm starting to believe you." Chris nods in acceptance. CHRIS "Good." Eddie questions Chris once again. EDDIE "But why me? Why am I here?" Chris punches up a status menu on the console while responding to Eddie. CHRIS "Well, I thought that I would be able to control the game. I thought that I could be God. I quickly realized that no one man could control the human race." Chris finishes typing at the console displaying a warning message on top of the globe. The message reads: "WARNING: Utopian society imminent." Chris continues with his explanation. CHRIS "I quickly began to favor peace and well being. Within a matter of a year I had drastically changed the balance of the game. Earth was becoming a Utopian society. A society where evil was non-existent. It just can't be that way." Chris looks to Eddie. CHRIS "For seventeen years I waited for the next person who could use these controls. The next person who could stroke this keypad and realize it's power. Every eighteen years a child is born that has the gift to work this console. A child selected to mediate the game between the long departed aliens. A child who, now, must control the evil on Earth. A child who will bring balance to the game. That child is you Eddie. You must help me save the human race." Eddie swallows hard and speaks softly to Chris. EDDIE "I don't have a choice, do I?" Chris softly replies knowing the pain of not being able to go home. CHRIS "I'm afraid not." FADE OUT
Copyright © 2001 Brent Paine |