by Joe Haldeman
HAZLIK
Fredrika is bold. But she is not stupid. (PAUSES) Besides, how could you know who her…intended is?
MORENO
SHRUGS
I don’t. But I have men here, too.
HAZLIK
COLDLY
Were they invited?
MORENO
Yes. You said to bring a friend. I brought a very good friend. So did Porfiry Esterbrook, and so did…
HAZLIK
I see. How many?
MORENO
Enough to isolate…“George”…and ask him some questions.
HAZLIK
TO HIMSELF
You aren’t doing this for my sake. (ADDRESSES MORENO DIRECTLY, SHADE OF MENACE) Exactly what is going on?
MORENO
That also may be one of those things that you don’t wish to know.
MORENO sees HAZLIK’S face and realizes he’s gone a little too far. SOMATIC: Stomach tightening and ADRENALINE: 0.20.
MORENO
LONG PAUSE, SWALLOWS
All right. A…a power struggle, so to speak. No—an extermination! (SPEAKING WITH PASSION FOR THE FIRST TIME) The old bitch has got to go! Our lives are…too complicated, too uncertain. Get rid of her, and—
HAZLIK
I believe she has been useful to me in the past. You’ve probably used her services, too. One never remembers, of course.
MORENO
ANGRY
No. Never.
HAZLIK
It certainly was convenient to your industry when Mlle. Legrange passed on.
MORENO
Yes. But I never would have hired that old hag to do it. It was a fortunate accident.
HAZLIK
LIGHT LAUGH, SOMEHOW EVIL
Our little world is full of accidents that turn out to favor one or the other of us. Fredrika is behind most of them.
MORENO
FACE SET
But not Mlle. Legrange.
HAZLIK
As you wish.
The two men stand in silence for twenty seconds. HAZLIK takes out a dopestick and then returns it to the pack.
HAZLIK
At any rate…you wish to enlist my aid, against Fredrika?
MORENO
Not directly. I’d like some guarantee that you won’t interfere, though.
HAZLIK Silent.
Do you still have those, uh, small rooms…underneath the place?
HAZLIK
The soundproofed conference rooms? Of course. Would you like one?
MORENO
Yes! If we could get him…
HAZLIK
I don’t want to hear about it. Not until afterwards. And never, unless it directly concerns me.
MORENO
Excellent. I’ll tell—
HAZLIK
Wait. I go first.
HAZLIK leaves. CUT TO: BIG CLOSE-UP of MORENO, smiling now.
FADE OUT to COMMERCIAL.
COMMERICAL: One-minute Stiffener © spot.
FADE IN: ESTABLISHING SHOT III: MEDIUM, GROUP SHOT of FREDRIKA and GEORGE with several other people, talking. A white-coated servant glides up to FREDRIKA and whispers something to her. She goes away with him. GEORGE begins to follow, but THREE MEN pass between them.
BIG CLOSE-UP on right hand of FIRST MAN, who is holding a small ampoule.
TIGHT TWO SHOT of FIRST MAN and GEORGE as FIRST MAN squeezes ampoule and a jet of colorless fluid sprays into GEORGE’S face. It is “come-along” gas. SMELL: Ammonia; FEEL: Icy splash on face.
GEORGE reaches out with left “hand” but barely brushes man’s arm. GEORGE gets a funny passive look, his hand drops back, and he stands still.
FIRST MAN
WHISPERING
Now, George, just follow us.
TIGHT GROUP SHOT of the THREE MEN herding GEORGE away. CAMERA FOLLOWS for a short distance.
CUT TO: MEDIUM TWO SHOT of FREDRIKA and SERVANT. She is arguing with him and doesn’t notice GEORGE is headed the other way.
CUT TO: LONG SHOT of downstairs room as THREE MEN and GEORGE enter. The walls and ceiling are covered with a mossy substance; the soundproofing. There is a conference table in the center of the room. The chair at the end of the table has manacles attached to the arms. SMELL: Dry “chemical” odor of soundproofing. SUBLIMINAL: Feel scratchy dry moss, smell brimstone and rotting flesh. ADRENALINE: 0.10 and OUT.
CAMERA FOLLOWS FIRST MAN and GEORGE to the end of the table.
FIRST MAN
You sit here.
TIGHT ON FIRST MAN as he grips edge of table, wobbles. SOMATIC: Extreme nausea, fire in right arm.
SECOND MAN (OFF)
What’s wrong?
FIRST MAN
I don’t…know…he must have…gotten (CHOKING SOUND)
MEDIUM GROUP SHOT as FIRST MAN falls to floor, begins jerking around. SECOND MAN moves to help him, stops. Looks up at GEORGE, who is watching the whole thing with quiet interest.
SECOND MAN (TO GEORGE)
Did you do that?
GEORGE
INNOCENT SMILE
Yes. Nerve poison.
TIGHT ON FIRST MAN as he expires noisily, messily on floor. SMELL: Vomit; SUBLIMINAL: Taste of vomit, extreme nausea, SOMATIC: White-out.
THIRD MAN
God.
SECOND MAN
SWALLOWS, TRYING TO STAY CALM
How did you do it?
GEORGE
I told you. Nerve poison.
THIRD MAN
Let’s fasten him down and loosen him up.
SECOND MAN
So do it. The manacles.
THIRD MAN gives SECOND MAN a hard glance, goes cautiously to GEORGE. He stands just out of arm reach.
THIRD MAN
Put your arms up on the arms of the chair.
GEORGE obeys without hesitation, but moving slowly. ADRENALINE: 0.15.
THIRD MAN
All right. Stay that way.
ADRENALINE: 0.25. GEORGE’S hands are lying palm up on the chair arms. BIG CLOSE-UP as THIRD MAN turns right hand over and latches manacle (SOUND: Loud click and SUBLIMINAL: Metal tightness around wrist) over wrist. He reaches for left hand and GEORGE closes hand over his. MICRO CLOSE-UP shows fingernail slitting flesh.
TIGHT TWO SHOT of GEORGE and THIRD MAN as THIRD MAN jerks his hand away.
THIRD MAN
Ouch! (TOUCHES CUT TO MOUTH) Some fingernails this guy…(SHARP INTAKE OF BREATH) He…
BIG CLOSE-UP on THIRD MAN’S face. ADRENALINE: 0.35.
SECOND MAN (OFF)
Sit down. Don’t move—I’ll get some atropine.
LONG GROUP SHOT: GEORGE watches passively as SECOND MAN runs from room. THIRD MAN sits down cautiously. ADRENALINE: 0.40.
THIRD MAN
Will atropine work?
GEORGE
If he gets back in time.
ADRENALINE: 0.50 and OUT.
CUT TO: TIGHT GROUP SHOT of MORENO, HAZLIK, and others sitting at crystal table playing dice. SECOND MAN hurries up to MORENO, whispers.
MORENO
TO HAZLIK, ACROSS
Do you have any atropine in the place?
INTERCUT CLOSE-UPS, HAZLIK and MORENO.
HAZLIK (COUNTING MONEY)
ANNOYED
What?
MORENO
Atropine! Uh…a drug overdose.
HAZLIK (TO SECOND MAN)
There might be some. Ask the butler.
HAZLIK (TO MORENO)
One of your men popping on duty?
MORENO
Not really…it’s more, uh, concerned with what we discussed earlier.
HAZLIK
The woman?
MORENO
Her man, actually.
HAZLIK
STANDS CASUALLY
Let’s go take a look.
CUT TO: LONG SHOT past MORENO and HAZLIK standing in door of conference room. THIRD MAN is sitting with his arms wrapped around himself, deathly pale. GEORGE is exactly as we left him: on
e wrist manacled, monumentally unconcerned with everything. Corpse of FIRST MAN has skin like marble, has gone into rigor mortis. (Note: ask State Correction Board whether we can get two young Terminals to play the parts of FIRST and THIRD MEN.)
ADRENALINE: 0.50, somatic SUBLIMINAL: Nausea and angina. SMELL: Vomit and feces.
THIRD MAN
Atr—…atropine?
HAZLIK
BRUSQUE
Maybe. Coming.
MORENO
What did he do? Protter said something about his hand.
THIRD MAN
I don’t think it’s a hand. It’s a p-pross. Nerve, ah, nerve p-poison under the finger…nails…sharp…oh God—
THIRD MAN flops down on floor, rigid, and begins beating arm on floor. He jerks several times, vomits explosively, and dies. SMELL: As before, UP and DOWN. Stinger of ADRENALINE: 0.80 and OUT. SUBLIMINAL: Drowning in filth.
MEDIUM TWO SHOT of HAZLIK and MORENO standing in door, staring. PROTTER (SECOND MAN) runs up to them from behind.
PROTTER
OUT OF BREATH
I’ve got the…oh.
SMELL: Down to strong SUBLIMINAL.
HAZLIK
Let me have that. (SPEAKS INTO BRACELET) Sandler. This is the boss. Got some garbage to be taken out, in Conference A. (LISTENS) That’s right. (TURNS A MICRODIAL on the bracelet) Johns, this is the boss. Get an interrogation team down to Conference A, sooner. (LISTENS) Doesn’t make too much difference. Right.
TO NOBODY IN PARTICULAR
It had to come to this, sooner or later.
HAZLIK (TO MORENO)
You were right. We’ve allowed Fredrika too much.
MORENO
Yes. (TO PROTTER) You can go.
PROTTER shuffles, lost, down the hall and HAZLIK and MORENO stand outside door and smoke. SOMATIC: Dope 0.25, SUBLIMINAL FADE to OUT.
Four men hustle up, with stretchers and a sanitizer. They go straight through the door without saying a word to either man. High-pitched humming, sanitizer SOUND. HAZLIK shouts over:
HAZLIK
Stay away from the man in the chair.
CLOSES DOOR SOUND OUT abruptly.
HAZLIK sits down on floor; then MORENO does also. Soon the four men come back out, bearing the stretchers. Again, they show no sign of seeing the two.
HAZLIK
Just when everything was going so well. (PAUSE)
UNSENTIMENTALLY
Moreno, do you consider yourself a happy man?
MORENO
UNCOMFORTABLE
Well…I suppose so. I have all that I need…and I keep busy.
HAZLIK
LOOKING AT ATROPINE SYRETTE, FIDDLING WITH IT
Until a few weeks ago, I would never have called myself…happy…there was a strange—
WITH SUDDEN VEHEMENCE (ADRENALINE: 0.25)
—a weight on my soul, Moreno! An actual weight of, I don’t know; sorrow, guilt…questioning whether I might not have been…different. (PAUSE) But one day; three weeks, a month ago, I woke up one morning and it was all gone, I was free. That’s when I decided to throw a party. (PAUSE) But now I feel it coming back.
SOUND of footsteps approaching; HAZLIK looks up.
HAZLIK
GETTING UP
Ah, Johns. We have a little problem.
MEDIUM GROUP SHOT past HAZLIK and MORENO to the interrogation team: JOHNS and his two assistants, FRIEDMAN (male) and O’HARA (female).
JOHNS
We’ll do what we can, sir. Have you met O’Hara and Friedman?
HAZLIK
No, I haven’t.
JOHNS
They’re very good.
HAZLIK
WITH A WAVE OF HIS HAND
I trust your judgment in these things. Follow me.
All five enter the “conference” room. HAZLIK walks over to stand (not too near) by GEORGE.
HAZLIK
This man works for Fredrika Oblimov…George.
GEORGE
Yes?
HAZLIK
What sort of work do you do for Fredrika?
GEORGE
SMALL SMILE
I am her husband.
HAZLIK (TO MORENO)
What did they drug him with?
MORENO
If they followed my instructions, it was come-along gas.
HAZLIK
Makes sense. He doesn’t really have to tell the truth, then. Not even to a direct order.
JOHNS
We can fix that, sir.
HAZLIK
IMPATIENTLY
Of course you can. But nothing so crude as dissolvers or triple-scop. I want to be able to return him to Fredrika no worse for wear, except for a lack of memory…of these proceedings. Can you do that?
JOHNS
DOUBTFUL
How soon would he have to be returned?
HAZLIK
No more than an hour.
JOHNS
I don’t know…that lets out most of our drugs. We can keep him on come-along, of course, and he won’t remember…but it won’t make him talk.
O’HARA
Let me work on him.
JOHNS
All right.
O’HARA approaches GEORGE without caution.
HAZLIK
Watch out! His left hand’s a pross. Nerve poison under the fingernails.
O’HARA (TO GEORGE)
SULTRY
Now, George. Is that right?
GEORGE
LITTLE-BOY SMILE
Uh-huh.
O’HARA
Now, George, turn your hand over, palm down, and don’t touch me while I fasten your arm to the chair.
GEORGE
All right.
O’HARA binds him without any trouble.
O’HARA (TO HAZLIK)
Exactly what do you want to know?
HAZLIK
He’s here to kill somebody. You know about Fredrika’s contracts? (SHE NODS) I want to find out who the victim is supposed to be—and who contracted for it, if he knows.
O’HARA
SOFTLY
George, who did you come here to kill?
GEORGE
SINGSONG
I’m not…sup-posed…to tell.
O’HARA
You can tell me, George. I’ll keep it a secret.
GEORGE
PETULANT
Huh-uh!
O’HARA
LOOKS UP
Friedman. Bring the kit over.
HAZLIK
No marks!
JOHNS
Don’t worry, sir. They’re too good for that.
FRIEDMAN
CROSSING OVER
That’s right, sir. Direct stimulation of the pain centers in the brain, the newest thing. Doesn’t leave a sign.
O’HARA
Now this man is going to hurt you, George. I can’t stop him from hurting you unless you tell me whom you came here to kill, and why.
GEORGE
GIGGLES
He can’t hurt me. Fredrika told me, nobody can hurt me if I don’t want.
FRIEDMAN
Probably a simple hypnotic injunction.
SQUEEZES GEORGE’S EARLOBE BETWEEN FINGER AND THUMBNAIL
No reaction. Well…
FRIEDMAN opens up black case, brings out a small limp net of wire mesh. He shakes it out.
I think this will bypass it.
FRIENDMAN lays net over GEORGE’S head and secures it with a chin strap. He takes out a little box with a dial on it.
FRIEDMAN (TO O’HARA)
Ready?
O’HARA
LICKS LIPS, STARING AT GEORGE INTENTLY
Yes…
BIG CLOSE-UP of little box. FRIEDMAN turns dial to first setting. BIG CLOSE-UP on GEORGE’S face. Beads of sweat break out on his forehead. SOMATIC SUBLIMINAL: Steel band tightening around chest.
DOLLY BACK to TIGHT TWO SHOT, faces of GEORGE and O’HARA. SOMATIC: Female sexual tension 0.20.
O’HARA
It hurts, doesn’t it, George.
GEORGE
SMALL VOICE
Yes, it hurts.
O’HARA
Whom are you going to kill?
GEORGE
CHILDISH DEFIANCE
That’s for me to know and you to find out.
O’HARA glances at FRIEDMAN, and he adjusts dial upward with audible click. HOLD SUBLIMINAL and ADD SUBLIMINAL: Little finger being pushed back to breaking point.
BIG CLOSE-UP on O’HARA’S face, smiling. Sharp intake of breath from GEORGE (OFF).
O’HARA
Whom are you going to kill?
GEORGE
Stop it. Make him stop it.
O’HARA
Whom are you going to kill?
GEORGE
Make him stop.
O’HARA
MOVING EVEN CLOSER TO GEORGE, SMILING
More.
HOLD SUBLIMINAL and ADD SUBLIMINAL: Knitting needle being pushed through thigh. GEORGE moans. SOMATIC: Female sexual tension 0.40. BIG CLOSE-UP on O’HARA, panting through her nose, teeth clenched.