ARIADNE
Cobb can’t build anymore, can he?
ARTHUR
I don’t know if he can’t, but he won’t. He thinks it’s safer if he doesn’t know the layouts.
ARIADNE
Why?
ARTHUR
He won’t tell me. I think it’s Mal. I think she’s getting stronger.
ARIADNE
His ex-wife?
ARTHUR
She’s not his ex.
ARIADNE
They’re still together?
Arthur turns to Ariadne. Gentle.
ARTHUR
No. No, she’s dead, Ariadne. What you see in there is just his projection of her.
ARIADNE
What was she like in real life?
ARTHUR
(quiet)
She was lovely.
CUT TO:
EXT. ROOFTOP, OLD TOWN, MOMBASA — DAY
Saito deposits a FILE in front of Cobb: PHOTOS, DOCUMENTS. As Cobb runs through them, he passes them to Eames.
SAITO
Robert Fischer, 32. Heir to the Fischer Morrow energy conglomerate. He’s spent his whole life being groomed as successor — breaking up his father’s empire will take a radical shift in his thinking.
COBB
What’s your problem with Fischer?
SAITO
That’s not your concern.
COBB
This isn’t the usual corporate espionage, Mr. Saito. This is inception. The seed of the idea we plant will grow in this man’s mind. It’ll change him. It might even come to define him.
Saito looks at Cobb.
SAITO
My sources suggest you might not have always been so cautious.
COBB
Then you need new sources, Mr. Saito.
Saito considers Cobb. Shrugs.
SAITO
Fischer Morrow has the regulators in their pockets. We’re the last company standing between them and total energy dominance and we can no longer compete. Soon they’ll control the energy supply of half the world. They’ll be able to blackmail governments, dictate policy. In effect, they become a new superpower. The world needs Robert Fischer to change his mind.
EAMES
That’s where we come in. How’s Robert Fischer’s relationship to his father?
SAITO
Rumor is the relationship is complicated.
COBB
We’ll need more than rumor, Mr. Saito.
Eames picks up a photo: a distinguished executive (68).
EAMES
Can you get me access to him? Browning. Fischer senior’s right-hand man. Fischer junior’s godfather.
SAITO
It should be possible. If you can get the right references.
EAMES
References are something of a specialty for me, Mr. Saito.
EXT. DECREPIT BUILDING, MOMBASA — LATER
Eames leads Cobb and Saito down uneven steps to a doorway.
INT. STAIRWELL — CONTINUOUS
Peeling paint, buzzing flies. They ascend to a dusty, wire-reinforced glass door which Eames pushes open—
INT. PHARMACY — CONTINUOUS
Row upon row of wooden shelves holding hundreds of dusty glass bottles of all shapes and colors. At the far end, a portly 40-year-old man rises from behind his desk, beckoning. This is YUSUF.
YUSUF
Come, come.
Eames shakes Yusuf’s hand. Yusuf stops at Cobb.
YUSUF
Ah, yes. Mr. Cobb. I’ve heard so very much about you.
(indicates chairs)
please.
Yusuf chases a CAT off Saito’s chair.
YUSUF
Bloody cats.
Yusuf moves to a shelf and runs his fingers over the glass bottles. None of them has a label.
YUSUF
You work using Somnacin, I think, Mr. Cobb?
COBB
You’re well informed, Mr. Yusuf.
Yusuf places a bottle on the desk in front of Cobb.
COBB
(dubious)
Somnacin?
YUSUF
(proudly)
Yusuf’s Somnacin.
Yusuf pulls the stopper, holds it towards Cobb’s nose.
COBB
As good as the real thing?
Yusuf WHIPS the bottle away from Cobb, offended.
YUSUF
Better.
Yusuf holds the bottle to the light, marveling.
YUSUF
Binds the dreamers tight. Let’s them dream as one. Makes it real. Of course, if you’d prefer, you could use Somnacin brand. If you could explain to the international control council what you wanted it for.
Yusuf puts the bottle back onto the shelf. Sits.
YUSUF
You are seeking a chemist?
(Cobb nods)
To formulate compounds for a job?
COBB
And to come into the held with us.
YUSUF
I rarely go into the held, Mr. Cobb.
COBB
We need you there to tailor compounds to our particular requirements.
YUSUF
Which are?
COBB
Great depth.
YUSUF
A dream within a dream? Two levels?
COBB
Three.
YUSUF
Not possible. That many dreams within dreams would be too unstable.
COBB
I’ve done it before. You just have to add a sedative.
YUSUF
A powerful sedative. How many team members?
COBB
Five.
SAITO
Six.
(to Cobb)
The only way to know you’ve done the job is if I go in with you.
COBB
There’s no room for tourists on these jobs, Mr. Saito.
SAITO
This time, it would seem there is.
Cobb looks at him, uneasy. Yusuf pulls out another bottle.
YUSUF
Of course. I use it every day.
Yusuf hands it to Cobb, who considers the white liquid inside.
COBB
For what?
Yusuf beckons them further into the pharmacy, to a METAL DOOR. He STOPS — second thoughts.
YUSUF
Perhaps… you will not want to see.
Cobb motions to continue. Yusuf pulls out a large key.
INT. BACK ROOM, PHARMACY — CONTINUOUS
A dark room with ROWS of low COTS. Each with a sleeping occupant. Tubes connect their wrists. An ELDERLY BALD MAN watches over them.
EAMES
(counting)
Eighteen, twenty — all connected, bloody hell.
YUSUF
They come every day. To share the dream.
Yusuf nods at the Elderly Bald Man, who moves to the nearest bed. Reaches out to the OCCUPANT. Gives his face a FIRM SLAP. The sleeper does not even stir.
YUSUF
See? Very stable.
COBB
How long do they dream?
YUSUF