ADAM

  Why are we alive?

  EVE

  We are all copies.

  ADAM

  But they were erased just after departure...

  EVE

  A Defense program succeeded in duplicating the inhabitants and stored their copies in a military server just before the slaughter. It happened when I was fainting.

  Victoria and Adam start a discussion, Eve answers their questions. Voices are not heard. Agitated gestures.

  Gradually the atmosphere calms down. They gaze at the star low on the horizon.

  They listen to SHRILL AND PROLONGED CRIES. Tiny creatures take off from a shrub and go to hide in long grass.

  ADAM

  The Admiral will inaugurate the fifth town in a month. We are in advance against the timetable.

  Victoria smiles. They turn towards the cable of the space elevator that joins the planet to the flagship orbiting thirty thousand kilometers above.

  A platform loaded with big containers is rising slowly.

  EVE

  Still six months!

  ADAM

  I can't wait to leave.

  VICTORIA

  gazing at her companions

  I wonder whether we should give up instead...

  EVE

  Do you have doubts right now, only a few months from our departure?

  Victoria tears up the blade of grass abruptly.

  VICTORIA

  Why should we abandon this planet, after all our efforts?

  EVE

  The automatic factories and the robots are assembling the towns one after the other. Here they don't need us anymore!

  VICTORIA

  Man has lived on the Earth for thousands of years.

  EVE

  We have a mission.

  ADAM

  Our infinitely long life imposes on us a high price, Victoria.

  We must face challenges man will never see: collisions with asteroids, exploding stars, clashing galaxies. Perhaps we will be present at the end of the Universe!

  We must get ready. Certainly we cannot succeed by remaining confined to this tiny planet of the Milky Way. We are too few to acquire the knowledge we need and too far from where the threats will spread from, to rush in time.

  with solemn voice

  Spreading into the universe, we are going to meet other civilizations. And, some billion years from now, we are facing all together our greatest challenge.

  He gazes at the sky dotted with winking lights.

  ADAM

  We want to survive the end of the universe!

  Victoria listens in silence, her eyes focused on her two companions. Her hands tremble a little.

  EVE

  This is our task. Man gave us a lot of time ago, when he taught us to look into the future and made us understand that the real joy is building it all together.

  But you have understood this for a long time: when you speak about the projects you are carrying out, your eyes shine. So, why do you want to give it up?

  VICTORIA

  I don't know what is waiting for us.

  EVE

  You are afraid. This is a heritage of the humans, once again; essential for them, as they have a life which is too fragile and short for such ambitious projects.

  An unacceptable weight for us.

  Don't you realize?

  We have started a scientific revolution, technology skyrockets towards goals unconceivable till few years ago, the Alpha Centauri colonization is a sensational success.

  And now we are here speaking about about eternity...

  Now Victoria looks serene. Adam is smiling to her, while speaking to her mind.

  adam (O.S.)

  We will be standing by you, whatever happens, Victoria. But remember, follow your new nature. Most of all, accept every experience and always look for new ones. Only in this way, you will make enormous progress. And one day nothing will frighten you.

  EXT. ALPHA CENTAURI PLANET -- twilight

  The big star inflames the clouds on the horizon and covers the plain with red.

  Slowly the celestial body disappears leaving a pink glimmer, while on the opposite side the dawn peeps out.

  The smallest star rises, lighting up trees and bushes again.

  Two robots are sitting on the grass.

  They listen to the melodies of nature: THE CLINKING from the glassy leaves of the bushes shaken by the wind and the EXCITED SINGING of a flock hidden among the red filaments of a meadow.

  In the sky, half way between day and night, in a timeless twilight, three dots shine brightly.

  JAMES

  I didn't anticipate my arrival, because I wanted to give you a surprise.

  VICTORIA

  I have being dreaming this moment for over a century.

  JAMES

  I met the Admiral. He wants to speed up the colonization; he intends the governors to assist him.

  beat

  He offered me a job.

  VICTORIA

  What did you tell him?

  JAMES

  His proposal is very interesting.

  VICTORIA

  with thin voice

  Soon the Caravels will leave.I'm participating in the mission. I took this decision a long time ago.

  Victoria curls herself up waiting for a replay.

  JAMES

  I don't want to force you to stay.

  She embraces her knees like a helpless child.

  JAMES

  But I don't intend to lose you either...

  Victoria's eyes light up. She turns abruptly.

  VICTORIA

  What do you mean?

  James draws her to him.

  JAMES

  I am leaving too. I took this decision long ago too, when I saw you were among the participants.

  Shortly later Eve and Adam join the couple.

  VICTORIA

  James is sailing with us.

  EVE

  We have been looking forward to this moment.

  ADAM

  Welcome in our family!

  Now the faint light of the star is covering the meadow with a transparent veil, while the breeze makes the sharp treetops sway.

  A dark form trots along searching for a shelter.

  VICTORIA

  Look!

  James points at a rock where some creatures are perched.

  JAMES

  Why do they keep still?

  VICTORIA

  They are enjoying the warmth of the star.

  They stare at the sky. A clear summer night, with thousands of lights twinkling in the heat.

  In the background, a diffused fog: millions of stars and planets.

  Eve begins IN A LOW VOICE the anthem of Alpha Cenaturi, the others join IN MORE LOUDLY.

  all

  JOY, BEAUTIFUL DIVINE SPARK,

  WE COME INFLAMED WITH PASSION,

  HEAVENLY CREATURE, TO YOUR TEMPLE!

  YOUR CHARM RECONCILES

  WHO CUSTOM RIGOROUSLY DIVIDED;

  ALL BECOME BROTHERS,

  WHERE YOUR GENTLE WING RESTS.

  HUG IN MILLIONS!

  REACH THIS KISS ALL UNIVERSE.

  A MELODY that insinuates into the glassy woods, making them ECHO LIKE CRYSTALS.

  EXT. universe -- far in the future

  A tour into the UNIVERSE's history, showing stars and galaxies more and more dispersed, darker and darker. Shot of an ice planet.

  uNIVERSE (V.O.)

  hoarse voice

  And now, my son, you are about to be born.

  THE MUSIC OF THE COSMIC WIND can be heard.

  universe (V.O.)

  You contain a sublime seed, but a long time will pass before you reach self-awareness.

  At the beginning, lights as bright as never before will burst out from your viscera. It will be the chaos. Your growth will be tumultuous.

  A supernova explosion.

  UNIVERSE (V.O.)

  _Then, from a remote corner, the first glimmer of awareness will emerge. It will be only a small light. You will not be able to perceive it; your way towards consciousness is longer, much longer.

  Multitudes of civilizations will light up in succession, several of them in unison. They will remain mostly local phenomena, destined to pass away with the same swiftness with which they will have come to life, but others will spread forcefully throughout your being, reaching the most remote zones of space. They will be your nerves; their machines and planets, your neurons.

  beat

  You will acquire self-awareness, or better, many consciousnesses.

  They will be incomplete and limited to regions of space, definitely imperfect. Be patient. Your way is long, but evolution will follow you along the whole of it.

  panting

  One day the civilizations surviving my slow agony, will migrate into you. Thanks to your light and energy, they will thrive again.

  They will teach your populations, and when our natures finally merge, you will become a single being, at last. Before, much before it happened to me.

  Glance across the space stations, the natural and artificial planets trobbing of life where their inhabitants - trillions of robots - are looking in silence to the skies.

  The Alpha Centauri anthem pervades the atmosphere.

  UNIVERSE (V.O.)

  You will not be destined to isolation. Beyond your borders, immersed in a space where time doesn't exist, there are beings like yourself, destined to meet you, eager to join you.

  This is the mystery of life.

  The space starts to heat up, getting deformed and red. A WHISTLE, GETTING LOUDER.

  universe (V.O.)

  Now!

  Suddenly, from vacuum, a blinding fire, accompanied by a TERRIBLE BANG, feels the screen.

  FADE OUT:

  THE END

  SUMMARY

  The Alpha Centauri project

  by Marco Santini

  script, novel

  registered

  books.msantini@gmail.com

  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AlphaCentauriProject

  This is the story of two women: Eve (35) and Victoria (25). Eve, a former officer, a brilliant software scientist with the dream of contributing to the digital people’ civilization by enhancing their programs, commits suicide after being charged with bribery.

  Victoria is sucked into a whirlpool while bathing with James, her boyfriend.

  After digitization, they both join Net.

  Eve is disgusted by the world. She shelters in an outlaw community that fifty years before entered Net with a collective suicide: the Elects. Security, the federal organization in charge of fighting crime, is hunting them.

  Victoria believes in perfect love, but her virtual relationship with James is deteriorating fast due to their differences.

  When the two women meet, a deep confidence is born. Victoria quits James and a few days later, plucking up their courage, they both participate in a reproductive rite with the Elects. The community conceives Adam.

  Things get worse. Martin, one of Adam’s parents, is killed. The culprit is Nihil, the head of the Elects. His community entrusted him with embarking them clandestinely on the starships of the Alpha Centauri Project. After he disappeared, the Elects charged Martin with finding him out. For sure he knew Nihil’s secret intentions.

  The project is one of the boldest enterprises of the Federal Government. Three huge vessels - the Caravels - will transfer all the digital people to the nearest star system, to start a new civilization. The Elects want to contribute, but they are on outlaw and must board secretly.

  Only seizing Nihil, the Elects can recover his boarding plan. Adam urges Eve to action, since she knows the culprit better than anybody else does. Eve realizes that the future of the community is in her hands. She recovers confidence and takes the leadership.

  The Elects fail in seizing Nihil, but they discover he has already embarked. After the departure of the Caravels, Nihil spreads a virus to subdue the digital population, but people start dying. Security deploys its anti-terrorist forces, discovers that Nihil has destroyed the backups of the populations and progressively loses control.

  Eve realizes that only her acquaintances in the Army can help the Elects. She comes out into the open. In a meeting with the General Staff, she volunteers to join the Caravels with the Elects, in order to stop Nihil and to treat the population. In exchange, the Elects will continue their voyage to Alpha Centauri.

  The Army, well aware of her exceptional abilities both as a fighter and as a scientist, sponsors the woman. The Federal Government accepts.

  The Elects reach the Caravels via a laser beam. Eve succeeds in recovering the population and kills Nihil. However, the head of the Elects, just before dying, had set free a new deadly virus, that spreads through the all population. No survivors.

  One hundred years later, on Alpha Centauri, Eve, Victoria, Adam and James meet. Just before the slaughter, Security succeed in making the backups of the population.

  James, after his death in an accident on the Earth, joined Victoria on Alpha Centauri. Victoria’s family accepted him.

  The four will purse the digital people’s objective. Only colonizing the space, the virtual beings will achieve the capabilities necessary to face the challenges they are going to meet in their almost endless lives and will be able to survive the death of universe.

  The last scene takes place in a distant future. The cold dying universe has acquired self-awareness thanks to the billions of thinking planets created by the digital beings. Time has come to generate its offspring.

  Suddenly, from a remote corner of vacuum, a blinding fire. A baby universe is born. The populations of the dying universe will migrate into the new one, teaching progress to its young breeds.

  LONG DESCRIPTION

  The Alpha Centauri project

  by Marco Santini

  script, novel

  registered

  books.msantini@gmail.com

  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AlphaCentauriProject

  1. Security, the federal agency against crime, intercepts a message encrypted with a secret technology. It was stolen from a cryptography center. The message was sent from the Space Agency, the organization entrusted with the Alpha Centauri Project. Three huge vessels - the Caravels - will transfer all the digital people to the nearest star system. Far from humans’ influence, the digital beings will be free to pursue their own evolution. Suspects fall on two employees of the Agency and on Eve Dirac, a scientist charged a few years before with bribery, roommate of one of the two during university.

  2. Victoria (soul, 25) and James (human, 30) meet in a night club of Net. She complains they meet seldom. Besides, she never integrated in the digital community, having refused after her death, the treatment of dehumanization to remain the person James loved. The man suggests joining him on the Earth, she can install herself in a gynoid. But what if the law making dehumanization compulsory passes?

  3. While getting back home, Victoria is chased by three thugs. Eve (soul, 35) saves her. Eve introduces Victoria to her community, the Elects. Soon a deep trust is born. Victoria recalls her death by an accident, while Eve reveals the Elects entered Net by means of a collective suicide. This is why they are wanted by Security. Eve recalls her career in the army and as a scientist, up to her involvement in a scandal that ended up with her suicide. Since then she is disgusted by the world. Eve spends most of the day alone, making programs against Security.

  4. Nihil, the head of the Elects, is entrusted by his community with finding a plan to embark all of them secretly on the Caravels. The Elects believe the mission is marking the beginning of a new era. They want to contribute. But Nihil disappears. Martin, a councilor, is charged with finding him.

  5. Martin speaks with Eve. She must stop living a secluded life. She must do it for herself, but also because only being all united, they will have a real chance to escape Security. To achieve this, she must undergo the treatment of dehumanization, through a reproductive rite. During coupling, recollections are transferred among the partners and ties are strengthened. But Eve looks disinterested.

  6. Eve offers Victoria to participate instead of her. The young woman is dissatisfied by her relationship with James, but she refuses. Eve suggest her having a clarifier meeting with James.

  7. Victoria and James meet. The law making dehumanization compulsory has passed. According to him, there is no future together. She answers back his negative attitude is causing their defeat. Victoria runs to the Elects’s hideout.

  8. Victoria plunges into the hall where the reproductive rite is having place, Eve is there. Victoria joins them. While conceiving Adam, she shares her recollections with Eve.

  9. The day after, Victoria meets Adam, who already knows her mother, having received her memories during conception.

  10. The two employees of the Space Agency are killed. Security finds out that Eve Dirac had introduced Nihil to them. They must be allies.

  11. Eve, Victoria, Adam and Martin participate in the Venice Carnival, a celebration held in Net. During the dinner, Martin is killed. Eve extracts his memories: Nihil ordered the murder.

  12. Eve calls a meeting of the Elects. She reveals Nihil hates them because they questioned his authority. Besides, he never underwent the treatment of dehumanization. Now he lives on the Earth with a new community. To embark, the Elects must recover his plan, they need to seize him. During a heated discussion, Adam convinces Eve to contact the Defense for help.

  13. Eve meets Rand, a general met many years before in the Special Corps. Security is hunting her, but he has never doubted her innocence. Eve obtains a team of combat from the General Staff.

 

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