by Daniel Slack
Brian passes the mess hall.
Jack, still at his bowl at the back of the room, catches a glimpse of someone passing the open doors and cocks his head.
INT. ENGINE ROOM
Brian comes in the into the room, pocketing the janitor's card.
BRIAN
In here the engine energy source can be found.
He pulls open a cabinet labeled FUEL CELLS and takes what looks like a glass cylinder.
Brian looks to all the dead engineers, then walks out the room.
INT. CORRIDORS
Brian sprints with the fuel cell jumping over dead bodies.
He jumps over a large pool of blood, slips and falls and...
BLAM
He laughs, picking himself up, then carries on.
BRIAN
Believe it or not, that was another reference. Guess who to?
(waits for answer)
Whatever you said, no. It's a tough one. Try again.
(waits for answer)
I'm not going to pretend I heard you, but your wrong. The answer is Tarkovsky. You should be ashamed if you don't know who that is. He has the protagonist fall over in every one of his movies. Why? I'm not sure. Who can be with Tarkovsky? Maybe it's humanising? Maybe the guy liked to laugh?
(thinks)
The atmosphere he creates though... Yeesh. Masterful. Anyway...
He speeds to a jog.
INT. CORRIDORS - SAME
Jack wanders, searching for Brian.
INT. DOCKING BAY 2
Brian comes to a stop before Scarlett.
He turns around, suspicious, checking the area.
BRIAN
Let's hope if there's someone out there, it's more imaginative than a zombie, huh?
He crouches, taking the access hatch below the ship.
INT. SCARLETT'S COCKPIT
Breathing heavily, Brian jogs into the room. He falls into his chair.
BRIAN
Shit.
He takes the fuel cell and plugs it into a thick wire that extends out of a port in the control panel.
BRIAN
Scarlett, what's the energy reading on this?
SCARLETT
It's one hundred percent.
BRIAN
Thanks.
He cuts the wire from the panel and soldiers it to the scanner.
SCARLETT
We've got some activity again, Brian.
BRIAN
Ah, shit! I knew it. Could you bring it up again please.
SCARLETT
Yep.
On the screen is Jack knocking on Scarlett's bay doors.
BRIAN
At least you didn't let that asshole in like you did that dick of a soldier. Do you know he almost killed me?
SCARLETT
Sorry, Brian.
BRIAN
Ah, don't apologise it wasn't your fault. Well...
Jack starts pounding.
BRIAN
I'm going to see what he wants. Scarlett, can you secure the emergency hatch?
SCARLETT
Sorry, no. It's not part of the system.
BRIAN
Duh. It's fine, I'll do it.
INT. SCARLETT'S CARGO BAY
Brian closes the emergency exit hatch and rolls a nearby empty container over it.
He then pushes a button on the side of the container causing the wheels to retract from the bottom and the container to slam to the ground.
BOOOM
BRIAN
Got to be cautious. Should have done it before, but here we are. Got to be cautious.
INT. SCARLETT'S BAY DOORS
Brian peers through a transparent screen in the bay door toward the outside.
Jack's pounding subsides and his face appears in front of the screen.
BRIAN
Hello, I'm Brian.
JACK
Uh-huh.
BRIAN
Now you tell me your name.
Jack stares at him, fidgeting and licking his lips.
JACK
Jack.
BRIAN
Well, Jack, you are either very lucky or seriously fucked up. Or both, who am I to judge? What is going on with you?
Jack smears his hand across the screen obscuring his face from Brian.
BRIAN
Ok, you clean that off...
He stops, leaning against the door in pain.
BRIAN
... I'll be back in a short while.
Brian turns away and drops to the floor.
INT. SCARLETT'S COCKPIT
Brian stumbles in, wailing.
BRIAN
My fucking brain!
He throws himself at the control panel, reaches below and switches on the scanner by the plug.
He pulls himself up, takes a syringe from the draw under the control panel and then draws some blood from his arm.
BRIAN
We'll probably need this to figure out what went wrong later. Always think ahead.
The scanner screams as the bulbs flash on and off.
Brian stands before the contraption pulling at his hair.
BRIAN
Let's hope it works.
He stumbles forward and throws himself through.
Time slows.
As Brian passes through the scanner he crumples up in pain.
The bulbs on the scanner begin to burst sending glass raining down on Brian's falling body.
Time speeds back up.
Brian's body smashes into the ground with a dull thud.
He moans a little, pulling his knees up to his chest.
BRIAN
Fuck me... never again...
He slowly sits himself up against the control panel and starts picking glass from his arm.
BRIAN
I don't feel too bad about having to retake physics now. Just in case you're slow, the scanner recognised my cells and targeted the non-self one's. With less power the machine would simply target those non-self bodies and calculate where they are in my body and how many there were. But, with that fuel cell, the energy put upon the virus and the cells it attacked was sufficient enough to fuck with the electrons. This lead to the cells and virus being thrown into space because the engines work with a similar principal of entanglement and so on. You connect the virus to fuel expulsion and out it goes.
Brian rips his sleeve off and wraps it around his head, covering his left eye.
BRIAN
By the way, I can't see out of my left eye. I'm fine though, thanks for asking. It's been slowly going though, so that's why I'm not panicking. That, and I must look like a hardass by now. Fucking Rambo or something. Like I been through shit.
Brian gets up and sits in his chair.
BRIAN
Scarlett?
SCARLETT
How are you doing? That didn't seem too pleasant.
Brian looks straight us, arms to the side, eyebrows raised.
BRIAN
(back to Scarlett:)
All good. Is that dick still outside?
SCARLETT
Take a look for yourself.
Brian looks at the screen and groans.
INT. SCARLETT'S BAY DOORS
Jack wipes the screen clean and smiles at Brian.
BRIAN
Poor you. You must be a really flat character.
JACK
Huh?
BRIAN
You have few explained motives, little back story and you're not very charming either. Also...
(notices)
Hey would you look at this, you have a blue eye. How did I not pick up on that? You're going to have to hold on again.
He runs off.
INT. SCARLETT'S COCKPIT
BRIAN
Me again, Scarlett. Do still you have access to the station's surveillance cameras?
SCARLETT
The encryption stayed up so I can pull some things, but what do you need?
BRIAN
Anything wi
th that guy in it.
There's a moment in which she works.
BRIAN
(to us)
Facial recognition is how she'll do it. And the cameras, you remember how I said I have control of them? Well, that's why no one knows where I am. Upload an encryption to the system and boom. Invisible.
SCARLETT
Ok, here you go.
BRIAN
Let's see if I can cover my ass a little.
Scarlett plays the footage of Jack, Elliot and Lola.
BRIAN
Well, shit. Has he killed more people?
SCARLETT
You tell me.
She pulls up footage of a grenade exploding, killing six soldiers.
Jack walks around the corner in the footage and shoots the dead bodies with his gun, then their own, watching the reams of bullets tear flesh apart.
BRIAN
I knew this guy was weird. Hey, Scarlett, is there any more incoming spacecrafts to the station.
SCARLETT
There's been one circling the area for the past twenty five minutes, but it won't make a final approach.
BRIAN
Ok, thanks. Whilst I go and talk to this guy, try and send a message to central control if you can. Call me if anything happens.
SCARLETT
What's happening?
BRIAN
We need to make contact with central from here because I can't get out there unless he leaves.
SCARLETT
Ok. What do I say?
BRIAN
I don't know. Call me if you get them.
Brian picks up the syringe full of his blood he took earlier and walks out the room.
INT. ON-SHIP BATHROOM
Brian pulls a bottle out of the cupboard, kicking the mess at his feet away.
In the bottle he opens up what look like glucose test strips.
BRIAN
No, these aren't the things diabetics pee on. They're blood test strips.
He applies a drop of blood to one and leaves the strip by the sink.
BRIAN
Told you I'd need it.
He then pulls a tiny folded square of paper out of the bottle. He opens it up dozens of times bigger than he should be able to to.
The sheet is crammed with test result answers.
BRIAN
(sighs)
Despite having blood tests in bottles and be as simple as this, I bet this bit of technology impresses you most. You ever hear that paper can only be folded eight times? Not entirely true. But, some genius thought that was impractical nonetheless. They've abused the technology though, to ironic proportions.
Brian strains to read the tiny print.
INT. SCARLETT'S BAY DOORS - LATER
Jack knocks his head against the screen, staring at Brian as he comes.
BRIAN
Sorry I kept you so long, but I was running some tests. It turns out you're probably positive.
Jack stops knocking his head against the screen.
BRIAN
What I assume has happened to you is that you've contracted a mutated virus that migrated to your brain through your eye. The same shit happened to me.
He lifts up his the material covering his eye revealing a completely white eyeball.
JACK
Stop.
BRIAN
Stop what?
JACK
Open the door.
BRIAN
I've seen your work, no thank you. P.S. You've got guns somewhere.
Jack shows his hands, no guns.
BRIAN
Where'd you put them?
JACK
Open the door.
BRIAN
No.
JACK
But, we're the same, Brian.
BRIAN
Really? What makes you say that?
JACK
I kill, you've killed.
BRIAN
That's true, but it doesn't make us the same. Anyway, it was off screen. Nobody cares.
JACK
In killing, you created me. I am meeting my creator.
BRIAN
How's the experience going?
JACK
Meh.
BRIAN
Can I ask you something?
JACK
Yes.
BRIAN
What is going on in there?
Jack looks behind him.
JACK
Where?
BRIAN
Your mind. What on earth are you thinking?
JACK
That you, much like everyone else, are a threat. I don't feel a great urge to end you though.
BRIAN
Can you remember anything before today: parents, friends, anything?
JACK
Of course, I detest them all.
BRIAN
Come on, work with me. You want to be a flat character forever?
JACK
What?
BRIAN