THE ALPHA CENTAURI PROJECT SCRIPT, page 7
He gives a deep sigh.
CHIEF OF STAFF
The Alpha Centauri Project will take the digital people to another solar system. But there is a second and even more ambitious objective, that we have kept secret till now. We believe that, far from human influence, the digital beings will be able to express their potential at best.
We are looking for people that can help us to reach this objective.
Therefore the President of the Confederation, having consulted the Net representatives, has decided to accept your proposal.
Our simulator is at your disposal, Captain.
He points to the officer behind Eve.
CHIEF OF STAFF
From now on you can address your requests directly to General Marcus Rand. The Alpha Centauri project has top priority.
Eve and the young officer take their leave. They reach the elevator.
RAND
You made a hit with him!
EVE
Thank you for your help, Marcus. You had me put on board and in charge of so important tasks...
RAND
You know this work better than anybody else.
On the tips of her toes, Eve kisses him on a cheek.
INT. EARTH ARMY HEADQUARTERS FIRST FLOOR -- MOMENTS LATER
They reach the room where Eve had waken up. She lies down on the couch.
EVE
If a solution exists, I will find it. In a few days it will all be over.
RAND
I will be here.
Her programs are sucked into the computer.
INT. earth defense simulator -- continuoUs
Eve finds herself in a space without walls, filled with an intense brightness.
She protects her eyes with a hand. Ten individuals in spotless uniforms are standing around her: the Defense scientists.
CHIEF SCIENTIST
Welcome back, Eve! We can start.
EXT. ALPHACITY -- MORNING
THE WHISTLE of the engines. The aircraft is darting among the skyscrapers and over the palaces. Eve looks at the town through the transparent cockpit.
The streets and the squares are covered with mass of bodies.
The ovoid reaches the white building of the Computer Science Institute, in the middle of a lawn and lands near a fountain, in front of the main entrance.
A few researchers, led by a small sprightly man, run towards her. They shake hands.
director
Eve, what a pleasure to see you again!
EVE
smiling only for a moment
I know you are in big trouble.
DIRECTOR
The deaths are increasing. It's a side effect of the infection.
The group walks into the building.
INT. alphacity COMPUTER SCIENCE INSTITUTE -- CONTINUOUS
They enter an elevator.
DIRECTOR
We are going down to the bunker. We were there when the epidemic broke out.
They enter the laboratory. Eve and the director step onto the platform. About fifty scientists are gathered in front. Strained faces stare at the director and Eve, a profound determination is expressed in their looks.
DIRECTOR
You know Eve Dirac, at least by reputation. She is joining us as a research manager.
They welcome her with WARM APPLAUSE. Eve stands up.
EVE
I am pleased to be here. It looks like AISI. I recognize some of you and I remember our achievements.
This time we are facing an unprecedented challenge: the existence of the whole population is at stake.
But let’s come to the point. In the days spent at the simulator, we found out a cure for the damage caused by the virus.
Their faces light up.
SCIENTIST
Do you mean we can bring the victims back to life?
EVE
I don't want to create false hopes. Till now we have performed only simulations. Now we are testing the treatment on a corpse.
Their looks concentrate on a crystal cylinder on the right of the platform.
A wan emaciated corpse is inside. The data flow on a screen.
EVE
The treatment file has been installed. Let's start.
A menu appears in mid-air. An invisible hand activates the functions. The cylinder fills with a light mist.
After a few minutes this condenses into a film. In the background is THE BUZZING of the equipment.
On the screens frenzied sequence of numbers and graphs.
A minute passes. Five minutes. Ten minutes. The corpse is still immobile. Then A BEEP, A SINGLE, WEAK BEEP.
Everybody turns. On a distant screen, amidst the other equipment, a green dot shines.
The scientists rush to the terminals. EXCITED PHRASES. The dot in the screen makes a leap. Then another.
In unison, all the other equipment lights up. THE ALARMS sound.
The glances concentrate on the ashen body. He is as pale as death.
For him time has really stopped running. But the screens show something happened.
A quiver of the right hand. He moves a finger, raises his hand.
Slowly, he opens his eyes. Pupils veiled from a long sleep.
A few seconds, as long as eternity. A HOORAY! AS DEAFENING AS THUNDER bursts out.
INT. ALPHACITY COMPUTER SCIENCE INSTITUTE -- three days later morning
The scientists are gathered in front of the director and Eve. An electric atmosphere. The director stands up.
DIRECTOR
A week has passed from the contagion. Now the treatment is ready to be used on a large scale. Unfortunately the last tests had a negative outcome. We can cure only part of the population.
A shiver runs through the group.
EVE
I thank all of you for your dedication and team spirit. As said by the Director, the outcome is uncertain.
SCIENTIST
Can you quantify the result?
EVE
The success rate is between fifty and eighty per cent.
beat
Whatever happens, we must be proud of our work: we have done everything possible. In a few hours, millions of people will be brought back to life.
Those in the hall feel a surreal calm. Eve turns her eyes towards the screen above the platform. A low altitude shot of Alphacity appears.
Streets and buildings scattered with an expanse of yellow dots, among which show up vivid red lights.
EVE
The infected are yellow. The deaths in red have reached the ten percent of the population. Now I am freeing the repair programs.
A circular wave spreads from a corner.
Like a foaming torrent, it flies along the streets, insinuates itself into the buildings, invades the basements, progressively coloring the town with green.
But here and there red specks flash tenaciously.
Eve raises her arm towards a number on the right of the map, fluctuating unceasingly.
EVE
That's the success rate. In half an hour, we will have the first estimate.
Bodies frozen by tension, exclamations turned to WHISPERS. Data are updated. The verdict arrives and is received IN TOTAL SILENCE.
EXT. alphacity -- EVENING
Long silent processions, shining with the lights the inhabitants hold in their hands, moving towards a single destination, the main square of Alphacity, where the ceremonies are taking place.
They stop in front of a platform at one side of the square.
ADMIRAL
We are here to bid the last farewell to our parents, sisters, brothers, relatives and friends that a cruel fate has robbed of life. For all of them, I am asking for a minute of silence.
The people of the Caravels bend their heads.
ADMIRAL
A month ago, we were celebrating the beginning of our voyage and the birth of the Alpha Centauri Republic. The moment we waited for so long. But the evil ravaged our minds and killed the most unlucky of us. Now we are here again, to grieve for our dead and dedicate our lives to the objective we have chosen to follow by embarking on the Caravels.
turning towards Eve
To this woman, I say thank you for having brought us back to life and having given us the opportunity of restarting our mission.
After an EMOTIONAL SILENCE, the audience bursts into a FLOOD OF APPLAUSE. Eve goes to the platform.
EVE
I decided to take part in the voyage to Alpha Centauri because we can give dignity to the virtual people only by migrating to a new world.
She stares at the living sea; she senses their emotions.
EVE
Your presence this evening is for me your biggest gift: in this moment I can feel the force of our solidarity and the firmness of our motivations.
When Eve leaves the platform, her friends and colleagues run up to her.
Victoria and Adam hug the woman. The COMMANDER OF SPECIAL FORCES is among them.
COMMANDER OF SPECIAL FORCES
Congratulations!
He draws her aside.
commander of special forces
We completed the inspection of the underground world, but we couldn't find Nihil. He must be on the surface.
EVE
Have you picked up his trail?
COMMANDER OF SPECIAL FORCES
Not yet, but the search has narrowed to a few districts.
EVE
A matter of days, then.
They rejoin the group and turn towards the platform, where meanwhile C573Y has begun speaking.
He raises his arm towards the hologram of a dozen individuals displayed in the night sky.
C573Y
We cannot lower our guard yet. Here are our enemies, all of them free. The first one on the left is their leader, Nihil, the one responsible for all our disasters. While they remain free, we will never be safe!
int. alphacity SECURITY HEADQUARTERS -- NIGHT
Eve wakes up abruptly. A top priority message has appeared in her visual field: NIHIL'S POSITION RESTRICTED TO THE 13TH DISTRICT.
She sits up in bed, keeps still just enough time to recover her strength, then jumps to her feet and puts on her armor.
A few moments later she is striding along a corridor, towards a glass door.
Just beyond, an ovoid, with the engine running, stands out against the black sky.
EXT. ALPHACITY -- CONTINUOUS
She jumps into the cockpit. While the NOISE OF THE ENGINES rends the air, the vehicle starts a dizzy ascent.
Through the transparent covering, Eve glances at the Security Headquarters.
It is filling with light and, in the vast central yard, the robots are going to and for.
They rush to the gates and spread through the town. Behind her, in the distance, the aircraft loaded with troops.
The ovoid skims over the buildings. The whole town is an immense succession of checkpoints and patrols.
There is no sign of civilians who are hidden in their houses as requested by Security.
A hologram appears.
EVE
How are things going?
COMMANDER OF SPECIAL FORCES
We have completed the siege.
EVE
At what point is the preparation of the search agents?
COMMANDER OF SPECIAL FORCES
The Computer Science Institute confirmed me they will be ready in a few hours.
EVE
I want them to be spread as soon as possible. Organize their dispersion.
The ovoid lands. The commander runs up to Eve. They inspect the deployment of troops.
The hours pass slowly. The sky changes from black to deep blue, while the stars disappear and the horizon is tinged with pink.
EXT. ALPHACITY -- dawn
All of a sudden the first rays of sunlight filter between skyscrapers and rapidly descend towards the street, lighting up troops and vehicles.
These are dark shapes against the blazing background.
COMMANDER OF SPECIAL FORCES
We are ready.
EVE
Let's start.
A flight of ovoids appears. They are spreading a luminescent cloud, which slips into the skyscrapers, the houses and the basements.
They start converging towards the terrace of a skyscraper.
EVE
There he is!
Now the flying cameras are transmitting the first images from the skyscraper.
There is their enemy, surrounded by whirls of light that he tries to keep away by shaking his cloak.
Eve beckons to a dozen soldiers to follow her and all together they run towards an ovoid. The aircraft starts the takeoff.
EXT. ALPHACITY voyage to skyscraper -- MORNING
The ovoid approaches the skyscraper, a monument as dazzling as the sun.
It performs a sharp turn, and then stops about ten meters above the terrace.
Nihil, wrapped in the light, is running up and down with outstretched arms, like a blind man.
INT. ALPHACITY ovoid -- CONTINUOUS
EVE
addressing te pilot
Let's get down.
EXT. ALPHACITY SKYSCRAPER -- MOMENTS LATER
Nihil is leaning his back against a low wall, at the center of a pool of light, drenched with a luminescent fluid.
His stillness and lowered eyes make him seem to be unconscious.
But at a SUDDEN NOISE OF STEPS, he raises his head. In front of him stand Eve and her troops.
NIHIL
I understood you were on the Caravels when your programs attacked me.
beat
You will not win.
EVE
Kill him!
In an instant, the programs with which he is soaked, pierce his body like needles, covering every cell with a thin film.
Nihil remains as motionless as a glass statue. A fresh breeze is sweeping the terrace.
EVE
Nothing must be left.
A thick smoke bursts out of his body. When it vanishes, Nihil has disappeared.
EVE
turning to the commander
I must go.
She rushes towards the aircraft. But halfway to it, she shivers, her sight grows dim, she staggers.
Just before falling to the ground, she recovers her strength.
Still dazed, the woman reaches the aircraft.
INT. ALPHACITY ovoid -- CONTINUOUS
Eve collapses into her seat.
EVE
To the headquarters!
During take-off, she contacts C573Y.
EVE
I got rid of him.
C573Y
Congratulations!
EVE
He carried out his revenge.
C573Y
How can you be so sure?
EVE
He never limited himself to threats.
C573Y
Our search programs have not pointed out any anomaly.
EVE
It's a brand new virus! Move the population out to another server.
C573Y
after a few seconds
An unknown program makes the transfer impossible.
EVE
We are trapped.
The ovoid begins the descent towards the Security Headquarters.
EXT. ALPHACITY security headquarters terrace -- MOMENTS LATER
On the roof, a small crowd is waiting for her, ready for the celebrations.
Among them, are Victoria waving her arm and Adam. Eve gets in touch.
INTERCUT BETWEEN OVOID AND HEADQUARTERS TERRACE
EVE
You all, shelter in the bunker!
VICTORIA
What's happening?
EVE
No time. Carry out the order!
The group sways, then dashes towards the entrance. Eve follows them, clenching her teeth.
Beads of sweat are dripping from her forehead. When she wipes them away, her fingers get covered with a sticky substance.
Her features are melting!
A series of convulsions, attacks so intense and prolonged that her muscles get torn and her organs reduced to a bleeding pulp.
Bent in an unnatural position, Eve feels her life slipping away.
When the ovoid lands on the terrace, the woman's body is unrecognizable.
Scattered around, the remains of her companions are slowly dissolving.
EXT. ALPHACITY -- LATER
Shots of the town. WING BEATS. A finch flies from a garden, whirls around an obelisk and alights on a roof. The air fills with birdsong.
Although it is a sunny day, the town remains desert.
A gust of chilly wind strips a cloud of dry leaves from a row of plane trees and makes them whirl around.
INT. flagship BRIDGE -- CONTINUOUS
The bridge is IN DEEP SILENCE. A few androids are staring at the screens, concentrated on the images of the town.
Their strained faces make them look one hundred years older.
C573Y moves away from the group. His RHYTHMIC STEPS break THE SILENCE.
He stops in front the panoramic window where he remains motionless gazing at the most sparkling star, Alpha Centauri.
Apparently the android is absorbed in thought; broken-hearted.
EXT. alpha centauri planet -- EVENING
voice (O.S.)
To the lake!
The ovoid descends into the multitude of vehicles crowding the aerial freeways in the evening hours.
It passes between two rows of skyscrapers dotted with lights, flies over the outskirts and skims over the treetops of a luminescent wood.
Half an hour later it lands on a rock towering in the middle of a plain.
The two robots get out the cockpit and walk for a hundred meters through a meadow and up to the brink of a precipice. They sit down on a boulder.
Victoria bends forward and pulls up a blue blade of grass as smooth as silk. She fiddles with it nervously.
In spite of the night hour, it is not dark. The big star on the horizon tinges the plain with orange and lights the rippling surface of the lake with golden reflections.
Adam points to the sparkling dot of an ovoid appearing in the distance.
ADAM
She has arrived!
The vehicle lands by the first one. A dark figure gets out, looks around, then gives a wave and approaches with long strides.
EVE
Sorry I am late. The Admiral called me. He told such an incredible story! When Nihil realized his defeat was unavoidable, he avenged himself by spreading deadly viruses. All the population died.
VICTORIA
Are you joking?
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