Planet Despotism, page 2
Can you give us a minute?
She walks through the lobby and up the stairs as Vestor talks to Lacerta.
PVT. VESTOR
I need eight dinavions.
PVT. LACERTA
Why don't you cut your losses?
Vestor opens his mouth to respond, but gets interrupted. A voice speaks through the two-way radio inside the collar of Lacerta's carbon fiber exoskeleton suit.
SGT. RHIMALESE
(voice of Sergeant)
IS THE GOVERNOR READY TO LEAVE?
Lacerta taps a button on his computerized armband and raises his arm to sight when Sgt. Rhimalese appears on the screen within it. Lacerta looks toward the lobby stairs, then responds into the screen.
SGT. LACERTA
Not yet but when he does, we'll let you know.
Sgt. Rhimalese's image disappears from the screen as Lacerta lowers his arm.
CUT TO:
EXT. HELIO-CRAFT IN SKY. PAVED LANDING PAD. --NIGHT.
HELIO-CRAFT.
A stingray-shaped helio-craft races through the night sky. The moon shines across the silver carbon fiber body and long wings. The two chrome tail booms protruding from the rear of the craft bridge together in a rudder, stabilizing the craft over a blanket of clouds. The four turbine engines housed under the wings gulp in massive amounts of wind.
The wind is compressed into the engine and ignited with thorium fuel as the helio-craft spears across the sky. The explosions in the engine spin the titanium blades and power the craft, leaving a funnel cloud of white smoke across the dark skies. The craft zooms into a left turn and spirals down through an ocean of clouds, slows, then brakes to a halt. The turbine engines begin to power down simultaneously, and two rotary blades within the wings begin to churn. And the craft descends onto a fifty-acre plot of land cut out of the belly of a forest.
Steel lamppost brighten a pathway to a two-story armored apartment building on the fifty-acre plot of land below. A landing pad bordered in red lights sits a quarter mile from the apartment building as the helio-craft hovers in the sky and begins to sink down toward the landing pad.
The spinning rotary blades swirl up dust, sweeping dirt and leaves to the edges of the concrete, as the landing skids sprout out from underneath the craft. The gullwing door unlatches automatically and rises over the cockpit. Air-stairs pour out from the undercarriage onto the landing pad, and a heavy pilot unbuckles the four-pronged seat belts attached to the smooth cranberry leather seats. The chrome rings around the systems information computer screen fades as the pilot sets his heavy elephantiasis calf and ankle onto the air-stairs.
The opened-toed cast wrapped around his engorged, swollen foot gently steps onto the concrete landing pad. Draped in expensive diamond encrusted jewels, a kuttoneth robe, silk tunic and pants cover his large body. He labors across the concrete walkway and steps past a grounded helio-ship, guarded by twelve armed soldiers in exoskeleton carbon fiber armored suits.
Sergeant Rhimalese and his platoon stoically stare down the heavy male as he waves at them while passing. Embarrassed by their stares, he rubs the top of his head and continues down the quarter mile walkway toward the building.
Thrusting his hands into his kuttoneth vest, he pulls out a tenochan cigarette and lighter. A garden of boils have taken root on both sides of his meaty jaws and neck as he collapses his lips around the cigarette. Exhaling the smoke, he trachles his elephantiasis leg up the elevated concrete walkway toward the steel plated apartment building. Light escapes through the sheer curtains of the second floor balconies, illuminating the veranda as he approaches.
Sergeant Rhimalese watches him labor toward the building but his attention is quickly summoned to the ruffling bushes and leaves in the nearby forest. Holding his gun across his waist, he stands looking into the dark forest when he and a couple of soldiers hear a grunting animal from within the forest. The sound of galloping hoofs disappear into the forest as the soldiers glare at the trees.
CUT TO:
INT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. LOBBY AREA. --NIGHT.
Kyros rubs his nervous hand down the back of his head and neck while kneeling on the linoleum floor. Pvt. Vestor is flanked to the side of him with a pile of rodell paper bills in between his left knee and right boot as he kneels. Vestor sneers at Kyros as he shakes the multi-colored cubes in his hand, then he reluctantly rolls them on the floor. The red eyes of the cubes look back at a deflated Kyros as he sighs his forehead into the palm of his hand. An excited Vestor claps his hands in joy while Kyros shockingly wonders into the patterns on the floor. Filled with raucous laughter, Vestor turns to Pvt. Lacerta sitting in a chair across from him and says.
PVT. VESTOR
Told you I'd pay you back.
Vestor faces Kyros, then firmly says to him.
PVT. VESTOR (CONT'D)
Give me back some of those dinavions.
Kyros dishearteningly looks down at the stack of eight dinavion gold coins. Vestor looks him up and down, then glances over at Lacerta as who slides to the edge of the chair to see if Kyros is going to pay him what he lost. Vestor brushes the top handle of the pistol on his waist when Kyros reluctantly tosses two of the large gold coins at his knee.
CONCIERGE DESK.
Hazamaveth walks from the back corridor to the concierge desk. Shaking his head, he walks toward the overflowing trashcan on the side of the desk. He tilts up and glares across the other end of the long lobby as Kyros argues with the soldiers huddled around him on the floor. Hazamaveth fades toward the rear of the building with the trashcan when the doorbell buzzes.
HAZAMAVETH
CAN YOU GET THE DOOR KYROS!
He shouts out before exiting.
CUT TO:
EXT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. BACKYARD OF BUILDING. --NIGHT.
Hazamaveth flings the heavy steel door open with his backside. Rajairus stands behind the opened door, stamped into the wall. He watches Hazamaveth's back as he walks toward the trash bin. Rajairus tugs on the door handle, then quietly rushes into the building before Hazamaveth raises the trashcan over the bin.
CUT TO:
INT. STEEL BUILDING. CORRIDOR/CONCIERGES DESK. --NIGHT.
Rajairus places his hand on the wall of the corridor, then flies down the corridor as the contentious males in the lobby shout at each other. The repetitive buzzing from the front doors camouflage his steps as he moves along the dark walls of the corridor. Rajairus flies into the industrial-sized kitchen, opens a large refrigerator voided of food. He slams the door then opens the cupboards overhead, finding them famished, as well. Rajairus leaves the room and tips down the dark corridor.
He stamps himself into the wall when the back door swings open and Hazamaveth rushes into the lobby as the doorbell buzzes.
Hazamaveth presses a button at his desk then runs to the doors. A beam of red light built into the steel doors scans the heavy male from the top of his head to the bottom of his elephantiasis leg and cast. The motorized doors slide apart as Hazamaveth adjusts his wool kuttoneth as the male enters.
HAZAMAVETH (CONT'D)
Tatius, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep you waiting.
TATIUS
What room is she in?
HAZAMAVETH
Room 24.
Tatius rolls his head off the males gambling in the corner of the lobby, then breaks towards the stairs when Hazamaveth grabs onto his silk kuttoneth.
HAZAMAVETH (CONT'D)
Are you forgetting? There's an extra charge for her, she's never been touched.
Tatius pulls out a small leather sack of dinavion coins from his pants. He wrestles free a couple and sheds them into Hazamaveth's palm as the arguing between Kyros and the soldiers escalates.
CORRIDOR.
Rajairus studies Tatius from behind the corridor wall. Tatius places the leather sack of coins in his pants, then limps up the lobby stairs. Rajairus watches as he walks up the stairs then sprints down the corridor.
LOBBY AREA.
Kyros shakes the cubes in his hand while kneeling over his last two dinavion coins. Lacerta condescendingly grins as he looks down at Kyros from his chair. He reclines back, laying his head on the top of the chair as Vestor sneers at Kyros. Then he angrily raises his voice at him.
VESTOR
ROLL THE CUBE. ROLL IT!
KYROS
Let's roll ten again.
VESTOR
I ALREADY TOLD YOU, ONE GAME! NOW ROLL THE CUBES.
Hazamaveth steps behind Kyros.
HAZAMAVETH
Kyros, do you want to take a break?
VESTOR
He's not going anywhere until I get those last two out of his hands.
Kyros rises to his feet and Vestor questions him.
VESTOR (CONT'D)
WHERE YOU GOING?
KYROS
I'm going to the restroom. DO YOU WANT TO COME WITH ME?
VESTOR
YOU CAN'T TAKE THE CUBES WITH YOU OR THE DINAVIONS.
Kyros places the cubes at Vestor's knees, then hands the coins to Hazamaveth.
CUT TO:
INT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. UPSTAIRS CORNER ROOM. --NIGHT.
Covaniah stands over a flustered Merizadad scolding her.
COVANIAH
WE TALKED ABOUT THIS.
MERIZADAD
I never said I was going with you. This is my home.
COVANIAH
After all I've done for you, this is how you treat me? You insult me.
MERIZADAD
NuZA tiqueter u'tirro.
COVANIAH
DON'T SPEAK TO ME IN THAT DEAD LANGUAGE.
MERIZADAD
YOU DON'T OWN ME!
COVANIAH
I DO OWN YOU! NOW GET UP!
Covaniah grabs her by her arms, picking her up from the couch.
COVANIAH (CONT'D)
WE'RE LEAVING!
Pulling her arms out of his grip, she withdraws toward the closet, but Covaniah grabs her and jerks her while yelling out.
COVANIAH (CONT'D)
YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!
She wrestles back and forth with him to free herself. He twists her arms but Merizadad rends out of his grip, then slaps him across his face.
MERIZADAD
LET ME GO!
Covaniah swats her across the mouth with his closed right hand, cutting his finger on her teeth. She stumbles back, holding her swollen, blood-dripping lip when he yells out.
COVANIAH
SEE WHAT YOU MADE ME DO.
He walks toward her in a rage with a raised arm, ready to strike as she backs down toward the floor in fear.
CUT TO:
INT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. SECOND FLOOR HALLWAY. --NIGHT.
Tatius labors up the last flight of stairs onto the second floor then leans on the rails, resting his shoulder on the wall. Short of breath, he swipes the leather sack of coins across his sweat-bubbling forehead. Then deep, uncontrollable coughing erupts from his chest as he grabs it in pain. Tatius wipes the back of his hand over his mouth and boil-infested cheeks, then muffles his cough with the leather sack.
Tatius hunges over the rail of stairs and leans his head into his arm. His coughing slows and then he catches his breathe. His body perks off the wall when moans of elation tingle his ears. Passion whispers from the room and his voyeurism carries him into the hall. The aroma of burned incense leads him to the opened door of a room. Inside the room, a couple roll around in a canopy bed hidden in sheer netting. Tatius limps his blackened-nailed foot in cast across the carpet and trudges down the hall.
BACK STAIRWELL. HALLWAY.
Rajairus emerges from the back stairwell onto the second floor. His attention is vacuumed into the room of Covaniah and Merizadad as he send body blows to her as she lies on the floor in a fetal position. Shocked at the vicious punches and the brutal beating she's receiving, Rajairus swallows every pound of concern in his throat and walks past the room. He sets his sight on Tatius at the far end of the hall.
CUT TO:
INT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. CORRIDOR/STORAGE ROOM. --NIGHT.
Kyros closes the door behind him, then walks out of the restroom and into the storage room next door. He reaches through the cluttered shelf of cleaning supplies and paper towels and pulls out an elongated case. He pops the case open and his anguish rouses when he slams the empty gun case back down on the shelf. Loose bullets roll off the shelf and onto the floor as he bursts out of the room towards the lobby.
Kyros enters the lobby, looks at the soldiers on the other side of the room, then dives below the concierge's desk. He squeezes his arm behind the safe glued to the floor and pulls back a pistol. He stuffs it down the small of his back then rushes to the far end of the lobby toward the soldiers as the hall monitor on the desk captures Tatius entering a room.
CUT TO:
INT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. ROOM #24. --NIGHT.
Tatius steps into room twenty four with a smile on his face. He looks the pre teen-aged girl up and down with a lustful grin as she sits in a dress on the edge of the canopy bed. She stands up, awkwardly fidgeting her hands as Tatius steps towards her and rubs along the edge of her shoulders. His grin sours when he feels the barrel of steel imprinting in the back of his head. Rajairus stands behind him with an iron bar piercing his head then speaks in a low voice.
RAJAIRUS
That's exactly what this is. Now put your hands out in front of your eyes.
Tatius floats his arms out in front while holding the sack of dinavion coins in his hand. Tatius turns his body, tilting his head slightly to the side, glaring at Rajairus and his clothing from the corner of his eye.
TATIUS
You stink of poverty. You'll be dead before you leave here.
He drops the sack of closed coins on the floor. Rajairus nudges him in the back of the head with the iron bar and whispers...
RAJAIRUS
Pick it up.
Tatius bends down to grab something in his left boot. Rajairus immediately pulls up and spears the iron bar into the back of his head with all his might. His large body dives into the floor, rendering him unconscious. Rajairus takes the gun from the holster inside Tatius boot then tosses it under the bed. He picks up the sack of coins as she stares at him from the edge of the bed.
RAJAIRUS (CONT'D)
How much do you charge?
YOUNG GIRL
One dinavion.
Rajairus sets three dinavion coins on the bed next to her...
RAJAIRUS
I'm paying for your silence.
She grabs the coins as he tosses the iron rod under the bed and cautiously walks out of the room toward the back stairwell from which he came.
CUT TO:
INT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. SECOND FLOOR. ROOM #30. --NIGHT.
Rajairus briskly walks down the hall toward the back stairwell. His pace slows to a near crawl as he walks near the open door of room thirty. He witnesses the back of Merizadad's head being pressed into the threshold of the floor as she fights with Covaniah as he plants his forearm under her chin and presses down, choking her. Rajairus turns away and breaks toward the back stairwell as she heaves and chokes. Merizadad claws Covaniah's sweaty face, draws blood as he hunkers down on her waist and pelvis and crushes his forearm into her neck. Merizadad digs her nails into the bottom of his jaw and throat. And he twists and swings his head violently, breaking her clasp. Tilting the back of her head into the carpet, he takes his forearm off her chin then squeezes his thumbs into her neck as her face turns pale. The veins on the corners of her forehead begin to bulge as drool oozes down the side of her mouth and her eyes blink as she chokes.
COVANIAH
YOU MADE ME DO THIS!
Merizadad feebly swings at him until her arms tire and fall to her side. Her copper-skin face brightens in a reddish hue as she looks hopelessly into Covaniah's eyes. Rajairus bursts into the hall running full speed and spears into Covaniah, tackling him to the floor.
CUT TO:
INT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. LOBBY AREA. --NIGHT.
Kyros hesitantly rolls the cubes across the floor as Hazamaveth stands over his shoulder. Hazamaveth turns towards the stairs and drifts beyond the concierge's desk upon hearing the muddled rumblings on the second floor.
CUT TO:
INT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. SECOND FLOOR. ROOM #30. --NIGHT.
Rajairus and Covaniah tussle across the floor. Rajairus locks his forearm under Covaniah's chin in a choke hold. Covaniah uses his brute strength and lifts himself up off the floor with Rajairus holding him in a choke hold then lunges backwards into the dresser, slamming Rajairus into the mirror again and again. Rajairus loosens his grip and Covaniah grabs him by his neck and thumps him into the floor. Then crashes into Rajairus, grabbing a shard piece of broken glass Covaniah stabs Rajairus in his side only to puncture open his chlamys of dinavion coins. splatter across the floor as he rips his chlamys. Caught between the dresser and the floor, Rajairus grapples with him and lands two solid blows to Covaniah's jaw.
CUT TO:
INT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. SECOND FLOOR HALLWAY. --NIGHT.
Hazamaveth steps onto the second floor and veers to the doorway of the first room, then gazes into the room across the hall.
LOBBY AREA.
Knelt over his knee, a disappointed Kyros stares at the wall as Pvt. Lacerta smirks at him from the chair. Pvt. Vestor kicks the cubes toward Kyros while filling his satchel with the rodell bills and dinavion coins he won. Vestor walks by him and intentionally bumps him on his shoulder as he passes.
PVT. VESTOR
Let's get the Governor.
Smirking Lacerta jumps from the chair and trails Vestor. Paralyzed in humiliation and anguish, Kyros stares at their backs as they walk away.
CUT TO:
INT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. SECOND FLOOR/ROOM#30. --NIGHT.
Hearing the scuffling noises further down the hall, Hazamaveth walks down the hall toward room thirty, at the end of the second floor.
