Planet Despotism, page 12
The Constable races into the alley. It fires at Rajairus and the gunfire disperses the crowd into a chaos. Running within the crowd, Rajairus nears an approaching wall of ten Constables and covers his face with his hand and bends at the waist running in between the citizens.
The robot chasing Rajairus from the Hookah Bar hoses the crowded streets with pepper spray from small mechanical chambers rising from its shoulders. The robot clears the street as the crowd rushes toward the sidewalks in haste. Temporarily blinding some as they trample over each other. The spray flushes the crowd down the street into a wall of ten Constables waiting at the bottom of the street. The Constable robots scan the frenzied crowd with facial recognition in search of Rajairus.
A narrow gap between two buildings shadow its contents as the robots meet in the cleared streets. They spread out, two guarding the streets while the other nine enter bankrupt businesses, rummaging through condemned buildings.
CUT TO:
INT. GENNAEUS CITY. ZENAR SHELTER FOR THE HOMELESS. --NIGHT.
The evening sun quits and gives up on the day as the Constables draw their search for Rajairus to a close. As the hours pass, night falls and blends in with the darkness of the narrow gap in between the buildings. The onyx-colored skies loom over Rajairus' head as he walks out of the narrow gap in between the buildings. Deflated, he exhales while looking up the dark, empty street, then turns around and walks down the street.
CUT TO:
INT. GENNAEUS CITY. ZENAR SHELTER FOR THE HOMELESS. --NIGHT.
Rajairus dwindles into room 2E of the shelter. Crashing his back against the bed, he sits on the floor with his head downcast. Corvus walks from a corner of the room toward him and extends his open palm. Rajairus looks up, then imprints his thumb on a small, squared fiberglass window above Corvus' wrist. A red laser within the fiberglass window scans his thumbprint and Corvus fades toward the wall, then kneels down on both knees, resting its arms to its side. The light in its eyes dim and its head drops and powers off.
Resting his elbows on his knees, Rajairus stares down at the carpeted floor. Mired in disappointment, his shoulders quiver as he cries. Tears stream down the corners of his eyes and in the midst of his tears he hurtfully utters......
RAJAIRUS
Where's my Samair? Where are you? I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.
Rajairus cries for his wife. Wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes, he looks up and is drawn to the restful peace he sees in a kneeling Corvus. He stares at Corvus through his tears, then rubs them away.
RAJAIRUS (CONT'D)
You don't have these types of problems.
He says to Corvus as the tears soak under his eyes and then he buries his head in his hands and talks through his tears.
RAJAIRUS (CONT'D)
Please protect her and comfort her. Watch over I, I--
Rajairus fights off his need for help and rescues himself from a moment of weakness. He leaps from the edge of the bed and rushes out of the room.
ROOFTOP.
Rajairus walks up the stairs then opens the door onto the rooftop of the shelter. His eyes sweep across the landscape of lights and buildings, then an object in the distance pulls his attention. Tilting his head, he makes out the stingray helio-craft perched down on the rooftop of a building in the distance. And he dashes to the rooftop door.
CUT TO:
EXT/INT. EMPEROR HADDACIOUS' PALACE. PYRAMID ROOM. --NIGHT.
MISSOLA FOREST.
Claymoulus rebels quietly drudge out of the Missola forest, pulling a canon and approach the wall of the Emperor's palace.
HADDACIOUS' PALACE.
A Corvus Antares robot enters the large pyramid bedroom of sleeping children. The robot sweeps up around the beds as it walks over the marble floors. It glides around Augustus' bed, sweeping in between the aisle, before exiting the room in an elevator. The Corvus exits the elevator and walks onto the first floor of the pyramid. It sweeps between the aisles of the children's beds, then walks out of the room.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The blast from a bomb rattles and jerks the forty foot window-paned pyramid. The blast awakens the children on both floors in a screaming panic as they look out of the paned windows at the raging fire consuming the blasted hole in the steel wall. Dr. Talos rushes into the room to clear the children out as the bombs continue to blast through the wall.
The Rebels run through the hole in the wall, firing their machine guns. Bullets scream through the room, shattering the windows, hitting some of the children as they run down the aisles. Dr. Talos takes a shot to the head as he shields a few children to the floor.
Epsilon 668 enters the room, running toward the hail of bullets, firing its gatling-gunned arm at the rebels outside. It runs down the aisle, firing, then leaps out the shattered wall of windows, charging outside. With the katana sword on its back, Epsilon 673 runs across the lawn, joining 668 as they fire a multitude of shots at the rebel army. Killing a number of the rebels as they retreat back through the blasted-out hole in the palace wall, Epsilon 673 advances through the wall, stalking down the rebels with Haddacious and Corydon.
668 strays back and the rear blades in the back of its head protract to the side, locking in a V formation. A black antenna rises from its left shoulder and Epsilon 668's head rolls down its back on a narrow track within its carbon fiber spine. The head locks down into a stabilizing rod and a rudder spikes up at the bottom of the rod. The stabilizing rod becomes the tail, the jet pack and carbon fiber wings on the robot's back become the body, and the head of the drone jet becomes the cockpit. The small jet launches up its back, shooting through the air. The jet navigates the headless body into the forest through the antenna, and Epsilon's body joins the Emperor and Corydon, firing its gatling-gunned arm at the rebels.
The drone jet of Epsilon 673 flies over the top of the retreating rebels, and the duo of Epsilon jets soar over the rebels, mowing them down with bullets as they fly over the forest.
The headless robotic bodies push past Corydon and the Emperor, attacking the rebels deeper into the forest. As the rebels run from the ground attack of robots, the drone jets swoop down through the trees, firing down on hundreds of fleeing rebels in an aerial ambush.
ESTATE.
Corydon sprints across the rear grounds of the property toward the helio-craft parked on the tarmac. Haddacious bursts through his bullet-riddled estate, tossing his machine gun across the floor as mourning and wailing fills every hall. He rushes through the halls toward the pyramid bedroom and opens the door to the room of grieving. Four of his children have fallen dead and lay across the laps of his grieving wives. The others cry out for their siblings as he stands in the doorway, motionless. Two Corvus Antares step off the elevator with an unconscious Augustus as Haddacious' heart sinks. He walks from the other side of the room to his eldest child. They lay him on the bed as a grieving Etlannia runs to her child.
Corydon flies the large helio-craft over the estate toward the Missola Forest.
CUT TO:
EXT. MISSOLA FOREST. REBEL CAMPSITE IN THE WOODS. --NIGHT.
The Epsilon Jets break speed in mid-air, landing vertically into their radio-controlled bodies. The antennas on their shoulders retract as the jets lock into their backs. Their heads slide up their backs, locking over their necks as they arrive at an abandoned rebel campsite in the quiet Missola forest. Epsilon 673 removes its gatling-gunned arm and drops it on the ground. The robot slides the Katana sword over its back, latching it onto its right arm. The robots scan the abandoned campsite as Corydon speeds over them in the helio-craft. Stopping the craft in mid-air, he turns abruptly and the craft slides across the sky, landing in an open field beyond the campsite. He exits and sprints toward the Epsilon robots.
CUT TO:
EXT. MISSOLA FOREST. MORTAR CANON. NEAR CAMPSITE. --NIGHT.
Looking through a pair of binoculars, one of the Claymoulus rebels spy on the Epsilons from atop a tree, a hundred yards away. He shines a flashlight through the forest trees and five rebels thirty yards from the campsite quietly move a four-wheeled cannon behind the robots. They load a nuclear rocket into the canon and FLOOP! The rocket spits out of the cannon and zips through the camp, blasting through the back of Epsilon 668. Thousands of carbon fiber moldings explode off the robot, revealing its steel structure of wrapped wires and microchips. The rocket tears away its entire left side and immediately the light in its eyes dim to black and 668 buckles to the ground.
Epsilon chirps and beeps in a furious rant as it rushes to the fallen robot. The rebels fire another nuclear grenade through the camp, missing the helio-craft by inches as it explodes beyond the trees in a small mushroom cloud of fire and smoke. Corydon runs back to the helio-craft as fifty rebels charge toward the camp, shooting as they pull the wheeled cannon through the forest. Bullets pierce Epsilon's carbon fiber armored as it huddles over the fallen robot, nudging on its motionless body.
Corydon runs up the cabin door as it slides open and powers up the helio-craft. Epsilon lifts the blown-through torso, seared wires and broken steel body of the robot over his shoulder and carries it toward the helio-craft. Epsilon runs from the rebels as they chase him down. The rebels position the cannon on an uneven part of the ground. The wheels tilt when the cannon is fired, and the nuclear grenade wobbles through the forest. The grenade explodes into the ground near Epsilon and the blast knocks the robot off its feet as the shrapnel pierces through its back and shoulder. Microchips and cooling gel from its wiring spill all over the ground as Epsilon picks up 668 over its shoulder and sways toward the helio-craft.
The craft lifts up past the trees when Epsilon runs toward it and leaps up with the robot on its shoulders. Epsilon balances the robot's body with its left hand and spears the blade up through the landing skids of the craft, but its foot is caught in a branch at the crown of the tree. The craft dips to the side from the weight of both Epsilons. Corydon, and all the weapons and cargo on the shelves, tilt to the corner of the craft. Corydon runs out of the cockpit and into the cargo area. He holds onto the inside handle of the opened cargo door as the craft stalls above the forest trees and yells at Epsilon......
CORYDON
LET GO!
The titanium blades within the engine chew up the top half of the leaves and branches as the craft stalls. Two of the rotary blades shut down when they swallow the thick branches. Epsilon loses gallons of cooling liquid gel and, when the liquid touches its wires, smoke rises from its back. Its internal alarm begins to screech and its quantum computerized body overheats. Another grenade whizzes over the roof of the craft as Corydon braces himself inside the cargo area of the craft. He shouts out at the top of his lungs.....
CORYDON (CONT'D)
LET GO!
Corydon picks up a rocket launcher near his boots and fires at Epsilon, blowing its right arm off its shoulder. Its heavy body slams into the ground as 668 slams next to it. Carbon fiber, dust and dirt bounce in every direction as they imprint into the forest ground. The two remaining jet engines fire off at full power, twisting the craft in a tailspin over the trees. An incoming rocket misses the craft as it spins to a stop, then the engines in the back of the craft brighten in a blinding white light and the helio-craft rockets through the sky.
The fluorescent green lights in Epsilon's eyes fade to yellow as the rebels sprint through the forest. Epsilon lies on the ground with its katana sword right arm dangling from wires attached around the steel skeleton of its body. Its head and left arm glitch in a ceaseless twitching as smoke steams from its back. The glitch slows as white noise resets in its fans and the glitch stops. Epsilon lifts its head and rises on its broken body. It lifts the motionless robot over its shoulder and walks off as smoke rises from its body and liquid cooling gel oozes from the wound.
CUT TO:
INT. GENNAEUS. APARTMENT BUILDING. FRONT ROOM. ---MORNING.
Bullets have pierced the wood above the brass lock and knob of a closed door in an apartment complex. Inside the apartment, dry blood is smeared across the splintered wood of a kicked-in door frame. The broken legs of a wooden table lie a few feet from the front door as the crippled table leans on the blood-tracked linoleum floor of a tiny kitchen. Jarthem's voice carries across the tiny apartment as he yells at Gaius, seated across from his chair in the center of the ransacked living room.
JARTHEM
WHAT IF IT DOESN'T WORK?
GAIUS
We can't sit here and wait for them to come. We have to do something.
JARTHEM
I KNOW THAT! I'M TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO! WHAT IF IT'S A TRAP?!
Palos walks in from one of the back rooms and walks in between their chairs as Jarthem stares up, loathing his presence. Palos takes a seat on the couch. On the couch next to him sits a lifeless body hidden under a blood-soaked bedsheet. Palos locks eyes with Jarthem sitting across from him.
JARTHEM (CONT'D)
You were just luckier than Sanquz, that's all. But one day your luck is going to run out.
PALOS
But you want be here when that happens!
Palos pulls his pistol from the small of his back and lays his arm across the length of the sofa, aiming the pistol at Jarthem. When Palos slides forward on the couch, he bumps the body and a few red beads roll out from under the bottom of the sheet. The brown fibers in the carpet and turned-over coffee table catch them. Palos catches the arm of the body before it tips over the couch, then sways it back into the pillows. Gaius leaps from his chair and walks toward Palos. He fills in the fractured schism between them as he stands in front of Palos and says....
GAIUS
Can we leave the past where it is? It's locked up. We're free now, let's try to help each other get out of this.
Palos leans his head to the side of Gaius and speaks while gawking at Jarthem.
PALOS
I don't have to help anybody.
Gaius leans over, obscuring his view, and Palos looks up at him and says...
PALOS (CONT'D)
I don't owe anybody anything.
GAIUS
I know. I know you don't, but could you please have this meeting with Shagree? You're the only one that can move about freely. Palos, can you do this for me?
Palos thrusts himself off the sofa and stops at the chair of Jarthem. As the two glare at each other, Palos tucks the pistol around the small of his back and walks out.
CUT TO:
EXT/INT. GENNAEUS. APARTMENT BUILDING ROOFTOP. --EVENING.
Rajairus hears the rooftop access door opening, then strays from his shotguns and blanket spread across the graveled roof. He prowls through the cramped space hidden between the ledge and the air conditioning unit. An idle Corvus kneels along the ledge as Rajairus crouches along the metal, then peeps around the corner of the air conditioning unit.
Palos walks to the parked helio-craft ten feet away as Rajairus slides the shotgun over his shoulder, tucking the other around his back, concealing them under his chlamys.
Palos raises the gullwing doors and climbs up into the craft. He grips the control wheel, then flicks up the glass covering and pushes the power button. The rotary blades underneath the craft begin to spin and the blades tease up loose gravel and dust across the roof as Rajairus impatiently watches. Palos sits in the cockpit, mulling over his thoughts, and covers his mouth with his hand as Rajairus stares through the mist of dust. Palos reaches out and presses down on the power button and the blades revolve slower and slower. Raising the cockpit door, he walks from the craft and heads down from the roof.
Rajairus slides his thumb into the small fiberglass screen above Corvus' wrist and the robot powers on.
STREETS OF GENNAEUS.
Rajairus storms down the stairs, blowing through the doors of the abandoned building. He looks up the street as Palos walks through a community of poorly constructed shanty homes made of rusty galvanized tin sheets and dry-rot wood. Rajairus and Corvus walk up the street, following him from a short distance.
CUT TO:
INT. GENNAEUS. APARTMENT BUILDING. DOOR/FRONT ROOM. --DAY.
Palos pounds on the door of the apartment three times, and Gaius opens the door for him.
GAIUS
What did he say?
PALOS
He said his mistake was that he took the collar off when the tracker started up. He won't make that mistake again. And he wants to meet the both of you to try it again. He asks that you bring the key, as well.
Gaius turns to Jarthem...
GAIUS
What do you think?
They walk into the living room area. Jarthem puts down a plate of bread crumbs and olive oil on the edge of a table cluttered with pistols, hand-cuffs, a computerized armband, and a duffel bag. Licking his fingers, Jarthem opens his mouth stuffed with food and speaks while grabbing the velour-cased treasury key off the cluttered table.
JARTHEM
What if he's wrong again? We lose our heads, but he'll have what he wants. This key.
PALOS
You'll have to trust him.
Jarthem barks at him...
JARTHEM
WAS I TALKING TO YOU?!
GAIUS
Where does he want to meet?
PALOS
At the bathhouse.
Gaius turns to Jarthem.
GAIUS
Let's go.
JARTHEM
I'm not going, and the key stays with me! The whole affair stinks like a trap. I don't trust him.
Pointing at Palos..
PALOS
He said you have to bring the key and it has to be the both of you.
JARTHEM
SO WE TAKE ORDERS FROM HIM NOW?! WE HAVE THE KEY!! THIS IS WHAT HE WANTS!
Gaius turns to Jarthem...
GAIUS
We're running out of time, we don't have any options.
JARTHEM
You can go. And if you're still alive, then I'll bring the key so he can take mine off too. Tell him that I SAY HOW THIS GOES!
