Planet Despotism, page 4
Pressing up against the doorway, Rajairus turns and looks into the hall as the soldiers drop their empty clips from their machine guns to reload.
Rajairus runs into the hall firing, and the soldiers quickly run into rooms on opposite sides of the hall. He flings Merizadad into the hall as she clutches Yalena by her wrist. And they run toward the back stairwell as Rajairus covers them by spraying bullets down the hall at the soldiers hiding in the rooms.
Tatius fires through the opened door, into the hall at Rajairus. The bullets graze by his head and dive into the wall as he looks at Tatius charging after him with pistol in hand. Rajairus runs down the hall toward the back stairwell ducking Tatius bullets as he runs after him.
The soldiers fire into the hall, hitting Taitus in the back as he rushes behind Rajairus. Tatius tugs on Rajairus chlamys, ripping it as he falls to the floor. Rajairus loses his balance as Tatius' arm clips his calf and heel. Bullets from the soldiers blow past his head and arms as he stumbles to the floor. The narrow hallway doesn't provide an angle wide enough for the soldiers as they fire at Rajairus hidden behind Tatius body. Rajairus aims the shotgun and fires at the soldiers as he sits on the floor. The soldiers dash into the rooms as the bullets chew through the wooden doorposts. Rajairus rips the armband off Tatius' arm then dashes toward the back stairwell.
CUT TO:
INT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. SECOND FLOOR BACK STAIRWELL. --NIGHT.
Merizadad covers her daughter's eyes while hunching down in the corner wall of the stairwell. She braces for the shot as the soldier follows the barrel of the machine gun up to the landing of the stairs.
Rajairus sprints around the wall into the stairwell and fires at the soldier down on the landing while running across the platform. A bullet stalls in the carbon fiber helmet, shattering hairline cracks across the soldier's visor as he retreats down the landing onto the first floor. The soldiers at the bottom of the stairs fire up at Rajairus as he flies into the corner. Trapping Merizadad and Yalena between his stretched arm and the corner wall, Rajairus bends his knees as bullets whizz over his head. He shoots out the light bulb in the ceiling, leaving only rays of light that shower in from the hallway. The boots rush back down the stairs as he plants himself into the wall. Sweat bubbles run down the tip of his nose, face and neck as he watches two shadows that shrink in size and come to a complete stop at the end of the wall. Trapped in a corner on both sides, he looks up to the ceiling in anguish, then his head droops in hopelessness.
The boots slide up a couple more steps. Rajairus re-grips the shotgun and holds the barrel just inches from his face. He lunges from the wall, centering himself at the top of the stairwell. Pointing the barrel down the stairs, he pulls on the trigger and the gun clicks. He squeezes the trigger again and it clicks. The soldiers hear the clicking barrel and trail each other up the stairs. Rajairus falls into the corner as his heart palpitates and races. Merizadad hunkers Yalena down in the corner as Rajairus glares down at the soldiers thundering up the landing. He hopelessly droops the shotgun around his waist, his forearm grazes the ammo belt and reloads the shotgun.
The soldiers rocket up the stairs and the first soldier rushes past the landing, up the stairs then BOOM!
Fire sparks from the barrel of the shotgun, and the high-powered acid-filled shell explodes through the soldier's head, decapitating him as Rajairus holds the shotgun. Bone fragments, brain tissue, and green acid splatters across the face and neck of the soldier behind him. Burning his face as the headless body falls onto him and crumbles down the stairs. The acid fizzles and chews through his skin as he screams and stumbles down the stairs onto the soldiers behind him.
Rajairus charges toward the entrance of the stairwell. He looks at the fainting shadows of the soldiers as they rush on the other side of the wall to enter the stairwell. Rajairus fires several rounds into the stairwell wall as he looks at the shadows on the other side of the wall. The shadows of Sergeant Rhimalese and the Private thump into the floor. Rajairus runs out of the stairwell with Merizadad and Yalena behind him. He runs over the dead soldiers in the hallway then grabs the armband off the Sergeant. Carrying Yalena in her arms, Merizadad runs past him into room thirty. Rajairus slams the door shut and presses a series of buttons on the Sergeant's armband and the drone nose dives down the window and into the ground.
Rajairus looks down from the balcony window and multiple shots pierce through the door as Merizadad and Yalena dive to the floor.
Holding the side of his acid burned face, the soldier walks into the hall as the soldiers in front of him fire multiple shots into the room through the door. They kick open the door to a view of the canopy bed parked underneath the window. The netting and sheets have been knotted and tied to the bedpost as it dangles out of the window, blowing in the wind. As the acid dries in his skin he steps over Covaniah's body, searching for an item hidden near his chest and then he pats down his pants. The other soldier at the window stares at Rajairus sprinting with a child in his arms. And Merizadad racing behind him as they run past the large helio-ship.
CUT TO:
EXT. STEEL ARMORED BUILDING. LAWN AREA. --NIGHT.
The tied sheet waddles as the last soldier plants his boots on the ground. The stingray shaped helio-craft rises a few feet off the ground as the soldiers run across the lawn to get a view of the craft. Two of them flank the side of the soldier kneeling on the ground with the RPG launcher on his back. He slides the rocket launcher over his shoulder then aims at the stingray helio-craft as it rises over the landing pad.
The soldier flicks a switch on the side of the launcher and a green light pops on. Carrying a gun in his hand, the male in tethered pants and a torn kuttoneth quietly steps through the grass, approaching the soldiers from behind. Raising a gun to the back of the soldier holding the launcher, the male in the kuttoneth fires. The soldier slumps to the ground while firing the launcher and the rocket-propelled grenade fires and dives. Missing Rajairus and the helio-craft he's in, the granade hits the soliers' helio-ship next to him. Exploding the helio-ship into a fiery blaze, the two soldiers next to him catch a shot to the head as well and fall over dead in the grass.
Looking down at the explosion, Rajairus lifts up on the control wheel. The thorium-powered helio-craft ascends thirty miles in the night sky, touching the edge of the stratosphere. Merizadad turns to the back and buckles Yalena into her seat, then snaps the top and bottom buckle of her seat belt across her own waist. Rajairus lets go of the retracting control wheel as it folds under the cherry dashboard. He pulls back on the throttle lever and the four turbine engines in the rear of the craft fire out a blinding white light as the craft achieves supersonic speed within seconds. Spearing through the sky at thirty-five hundred miles per hour, the craft travels five times the speed of sound. A sonic boom thunders open the sky as the craft disappears, leaving a comet's tail of exhaust that brush-strokes the night sky in a funneled cloud of white smoke.
As the soldiers lie facing each other in the grass, the male in the tethered clothing mounts the saddle of a four-legged equus. He pulls on the leather reins of its bridle and rides off as the equus grunts.
In a dark room, the giant computerized screen shows the face of the dead soldier lying in the grass field. The screen captures his blank stare through the blades of grass directly into the point of view camera mounted on the dead soldier's uniform across from him. The male watching the screen from the chair in the room hold out his hand as he cluctches a glass of liquor. He shatters the glass with his bare hands as he stares at the dead soldier on the screen. The soldier and the robot standing behind the chair gaze down from the screen at his hand and the spilled drink. The male sitting in the chair waves his bloody hand and the soldier in the exoskeleton suit and the robot leave him at once. The darkness of the room covers the face of the male in the chair. The silhouette of his tall brawny body rises from the plush chair hurriedly and he throws the chair into the giant screen. And the crystal glass screen shatters into thousands of pieces and waterfalls all over the floor as he exits the dark room.
CUT TO:
EXT/INT. EMPEROR HADDACIOUS' PALACE. TARMAC/SPACECRAFT. --NIGHT.
A fifty-thousand square foot white marble estate sits on the cliffs with a view of the Pirithous Ocean as its front lawn. Glass-paned four hundred foot tall pyramids bookend the massive home, and the backyard is covered in green grass with beautiful rose gardens spread across several thousand acres of well-manicured land.
Five miles from the estate, a spacecraft sits on the edge of the three mile tarmac. The two Epsilon robots piloting the spacecraft perform a number of safety checks before lowering the airstairs onto the tarmac. A group of well-dressed, wealthy civilians stand in line to board the airstairs of the spacecraft. An armed soldier, Corydon, outfitted in a matte gray carbon fiber exoskeleton suit, walks along the line of boarding passengers with an Epsilon robot at his side.
Epsilon, a quantum computerized seven foot tall robot made of carbon fiber and steel, scans the line of passengers and they all heave from its sight as it passes. Matte black carbon fiber skin covers the robot and the letters EPS673 is machine-drilled into a nameplate above the left chest of the robot. Two four-foot long blades automatically retract into Epsion's jet pack within its back before flaying the steel hull on the side of the spacecraft.
Corydon walks near the front of the line, starts a countdown at the shoulder of Theotus, an elderly, religious male crowned with a red papel tiara atop his head. Clothed in a white robe and gown, he stares at Corydon as he walks toward the front of the line counting as he touches them on the shoulder. He counts off four adults and three children before they step onto the airstairs to board the spacecraft. His count ends on the shoulder of Aldron when he blocks the entrance of the stairs with his body while holding a machine gun.
CORYDON
All of whom I've counted off will not board the craft. You will come with me!
ALDRON
WHY?!
CORYDON
EMPEROR'S ORDERS!
Aldron's wife, Taleras, grumbles in disappointment behind him. She presses their children past Aldron and into Corydon.
ALDRON
Can they leave? And I'll meet with the Emperor.
Anguished by his request, Corydon answers quickly and harshly.
CORYDON
HE SAID ALL OF YOU! THE GOVERNOR AND EVERYONE WITH HIM!
Taleras sways to the side of Aldron and anxiously pleas with him...
TALERAS
He can't do this to us, we're suppose to leave!
A black shear veil, decorated with canary diamonds and bright red rubies, covers her face as she looks through. Governor Aldron swings his arm in front of her as Corydon gawks at her. Ashamed, she shuffles back, pulling the long veil down in a failed attempt to hide her discolored, chemically peeled copper-skinned neck. Aldron nods his head in compliance when he looks at the soldier, then turns slightly to her and whispers....
ALDRON
He doesn't want us on it.
Aldron lifts his head to the soldier.
ALDRON (CONT'D)
Take us to the Emperor.
TRANSPORTER.
A winged, roofless transporter sails across the lengthy yard toward the palatial estate. A smaller, slight-framed carbon fiber robot, a Corvus Antares, steers the transporter. Aldron and his family, along with Theotus and his two assistants, are chauffeured over the well-maintained grounds. Aldron looks down and across the grounds in disappointment. Theotus stares at the back of his head then leans forward, whispering feebly into Aldron's ear.
THEOTUS
I told you not to trust him.
ALDRON
What did you expect me to do?!! I have to trust him, he's the only way out of here.
THEOTUS
But you were in a position of power; you had what the Emperor needed.
ALDRON
My family is priceless and I'd give up everything I have to save them from this dying planet.
THEOTUS
And yet your family remains here.
Aldron reflects on his statement and swallows the bitter truth in a sigh, then closes his eyes in anguish as the small hovering craft floats over the custom built waterfall hill cascading onto the small lake and immaculate lawn in the distance.
CUT TO:
EXT/INT. EMPEROR HADDACIOUS' PALATIAL ESTATE. --NIGHT.
HALLWAY TO PYRAMID.
Taleras lays her head on Aldron's shoulder and they all stand frozen in the hall, looking through a large window as the spaceship runs down the tarmac, flaring into the night. Aldron peels Taleras and their children from the window and they walk down the hall toward a room. Theotus and his assistants, in white robes and tunic shirts, follow them to the end of the hall. Theotus waves his hand, ordering his assistants to wait in the hallway. Theotus follows Aldron and his family into the sprawling pyramid room; filled with large plants and exotic trees.
PYRAMID ROOM.
Flocks of enormous speckled birds dive down on the branches of several trees. Under the trees, a flock of kaleidoscope-colored pterodactyls are perched over a carcass, pecking away the tendons from the bones while drinking water from a small pond. One of the large pterodactyls lifts its head, looking out of the thick glass into the room as Aldron, his wife, his children and Theotus take a seat at the grandiose mahogany table in the center of the glass-caged pyramid.
The forty foot tall pyramid is a sanctuary to a variety of exotic birds and pterodactyls. Theotus, a Vicar, sits at the corner of the table in a full-length white gown, with a red scarf around his shoulders and a red papal tiara bordered in gold accents on his head.
THEOTUS
We should've done this my way.
Aldron sits hardened in frustration.
A lengthy, stout male, dressed in gray military fatigues with a red sash clipped across his shoulder, enters the room. Emperor Haddacious walks into the room and everyone at the table turns towards him. Troubled and angered, the Emperor walks in and stands at the head of the table. Then he takes his gun from his holster and places it on the table. Sitting next to her children, Taleras whispers across the table at Aldron.
TALERAS
May the children and I be excused?
Haddacious looks straight ahead when he addresses her.
EMPEROR HADDACIOUS
YOU HAVE NO VOICE HERE. If you speak in my presence again, I will cut your tongue out of your mouth while your children watch.
She drops her head in silence and covers the mouth of her children by squeezing them into her body. Aldron looks at his family quietly then rubs his shaky, nervous hand across his forehead.
EMPEROR HADDACIOUS (CONT'D)
Covaniah.(pauses in anger) And all the soldiers left to protect me have been MURDERED!
Aldron leans his elbows on the table. The emperor stares down the table at him in seething anger. Theotus sways back, then swivels in the chair slowly, turning his back to the Emperor. Aldron humbly speaks..
ALDRON
HOW?! They were on their way here. What happened?
EMPEROR HADDACIOUS
It appears that they stopped at a BROTHEL! BECAUSE YOUR GOVERNOR WANTED TO VISIT HIS WHORE!
The Emperor walks toward the glass. Aldron turns to him as he walks away and speaks.
ALDRON
Did they retrieve the key for you, your Tutelary?
EMPEROR HADDACIOUS
THE KEY WASN'T FOUND ON THE BODY. THAT'S WHY I PULLED YOU AND YOUR FAMILY OFF THE CRAFT.
NO KEY, NO DEAL!
Standing near the glass, he erupts in anger as he turns to Aldron.
EMPEROR HADDACIOUS (CONT'D)
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE PREDICAMENT THIS PUTS ME IN?! I DON'T HAVE PROTECTION FROM THE CLAYMOULUS. MY ARMY'S IN ANOTHER GALAXY, AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T DELIVERED!
ALDRON
Emperor, I understand your rage, but I find myself in a dilemma as well. I face lèse-majesté because I betrayed the Parthenon. I'm grappling with the fact that I'll hang before the sun sets tomorrow. The Governors will convene in the morning, find the treasury key missing, and my face all over the cameras.
Aldron looks away in deep thought.
ALDRON (CONT'D)
I share in the responsibility of losing your key. And if the Emperor gives me time, I will retrieve it for him.
The Emperor ponders his thoughts as he watches the birds.
EMPEROR HADDACIOUS
She and the Vicar may clear the room.
His family and Theotus exit the room. He stands at the table as they leave the room and looks at Haddacious as he watches the giant birds fly and speaks to the Emperor.
ALDRON
I know the threat of the Claymoulus Rebels is ever-present. And you don't have your soldiers at your disposal. I will find the key and I beg your tutelary to allow my family and I to board your craft when you leave.
A sonic boom rips through the air as the spacecraft fires into the atmosphere. Standing in deep thought, the Emperor responds.
EMPEROR HADDACIOUS
I need that treasury. I have to establish my new world.
ALDRON
And I need to save my family and bring them to this new world.
EMPEROR HADDACIOUS
I have all invested. I cannot lose this war. I can hold the rebels off for a week. You have less than that to bring me the key.
ALDRON
Done my Emperor. I just need you to buy me some time.
EMPEROR HADDACIOUS
Who are the Governors that would propose to hang you?
ALDRON
Four of them have access to the vault. IF they don't arrive tomorrow, no one will know that Covaniah and I had a deal with you.
CUT TO:
INT/EXT. GOVERNOR RAETANER'S PANTHEON HOME. ROOF/BEDROOM. --NIGHT.
A sprawling Pantheon estate is plopped down by a lake secluded in an iron gate. The Governor and his wife slumber in their bed of marble columned bedposts. Silk sheets and fur blankets cover their large mattress as she rolls over toward him in her sleep. The glare of the moonlight shines in through the glass dome ceiling of the two-story Pantheon estate. Squatting on the roof with its elbows hunched over its knees, the fluorescent green eyes of Epsilon 668 spies down through the glass from the roof. The six-barrel gatling gun affixed to its right arm sticks over its knee as it watches down into the large bedroom as they sleep. Rising to its seven foot frame, Epsilon leaps onto the glass and crashes through the dome ceiling. Epsilon shatters the glass in a downpour as it falls into the room. The Governor and his wife awaken in a panic as broken glass showers the room, covering their bed. Epsilon 668 slams into the floor, its carbon fiber boots cracks the marble floors as it rises and stands at the footboard of the marble columned bed.
