pages of data for the right price.
CECIL
What's the right price?
JEREMY
I don't know...
CECIL
I'll give you ten million for the
information. You keep the crystal.
JEREMY
Make it twenty.
CECIL
Done.
Tara is waiting for them at the first tier, eighty feet up.
Jeremy bends one of the nubs upward. He hooks his rope around it.
Cecil does the same.
JEREMY
Are you sure this is good for us? Because
I think it's killing me.
TARA
Why are you guys dragging that thing up
behind you?
Tara stretches. Breathes deeply.
TARA (CONT’D)
This is actually a lot of fun, Mr.
Millikan. Thanks for inviting me.
CECIL
Please, call me Cecil. And you're
welcome, Tara. I'm glad you're enjoying
yourself.
TARA
So Cecil, what is it that you find so
irresistible about Jeremy?
CECIL
What do you mean?
TARA
Well, for starters, you just took him to
the moon. That's not exactly an everyday
gesture for someone you just met.
CECIL
When I heard that the National Security
Agency had contacted Jeremy, I assumed
that they had good reason for it. I
looked into the matter and found that he
had some pretty impressive time logged on
a NASA spacecraft simulator.
(lights a cigar)
It just so happened that I had a last
minute cancellation for the Arcus flight
and Jeremy was the right size and weight
to fill the spot. It's very important to
properly balance a payload bound for
orbit, you know.
TARA
He's got you plugging that story, too?
A beam comes barreling down toward them.
It passes visibly through a nearby slot.
The projectile hits the block below.
An ECHO crackles off into the distance.
Satisfied SCREAMS and YELLS follow.
CECIL
Do you think we can get our beam to the
top before it gets dark?
JEREMY
I don't know. Do you?
CECIL
There's only one way to find out.
Cecil secures the cigar in his mouth.
They both grab their ropes. Continue climbing.
Tara quickly ascends ahead of them.
TARA
I'll meet you at the top.
JEREMY
If we get to the top.
(to Cecil)
How about if I swing by tomorrow
afternoon with the crystal? I'll upload
the data to your computer.
CECIL
That'll be fine.
JEREMY
Can we make it twenty five million?
Cecil looks hard at Jeremy.
They take turns bearing the brunt of the beam.
Tara greets them at the top.
In B.G. Three cows are grazing in a field just outside the camp's perimeter wall. A grove of trees borders the field.
Fifteen Kek emerge from the grove and take down all three cows.
They quickly dismember the animals and then carry their body parts back into the grove.
No one seems to notice.
Cecil motions for Jeremy to unhook his rope from the beam. He is poised and ready to do the same.
They count down from three. Unhook both ropes. Let loose the projectile.
Jeremy's eyes wander over to Cecil's.
JEREMY (CONT’D)
Well?
Tara catches the comment.
CECIL
Agreed.
The beam hits bottom with a CRASH.
THUNDER echoes outward.
CHEERS carry throughout the cage. But this time, they all come from below.
INT. CECIL'S OFFICE - DAY
Cecil is sitting at his desk.
Jeremy enters. He produces the data crystal from his pocket.
JEREMY
Well, here it is. I have only one
condition. You can't ask where I got it.
CECIL
I already know where you got it. Is there
anything else on it other than the eighty
pages of schematics?
JEREMY
There is a file that wasn't hidden. I'll
include it if you want.
CECIL
You're kidding, right? Tell me about the schematics.
JEREMY
I ran an anomaly scan and found about two
thousand data fragments scattered
throughout the crystal. I copied all the
fragments into one file and it ended up
being about eighty pages long.
CECIL
Fascinating.
JEREMY
But I have no way of knowing what order
they should be in.
CECIL
Are you're sure there aren't any more
data fragments that you might've missed?
I've got some of the best scanning
equipment in the world right here. It
never hurts to double check.
JEREMY
I can't let you study it. If there was
something else there, you would have full
access to it. It's not that I don't trust
you, it's just that I need to hold on to
at least one bargaining chip.
Jeremy plugs the crystal into the drive on Cecil's computer.
He quickly locates an anomaly scanning program. Isolates the data fragments. Copies them into a file on Cecil's hard drive.
CECIL
If I didn't know better, I'd think that
you had used my computer before.
JEREMY
A computer's a computer.
Jeremy locates and copies the non-hidden file onto Cecil's computer. He then opens the non-hidden file.
CECIL
Are these the instructions Alec used to
attach the alien engine to his solo
submarine?
JEREMY
How do you know that?
CECIL
Your brother's article. Or should I say
THE BOOK OF ALEC.
JEREMY
Right. I've heard that some religious
wackos have actually turned the article
into a chapter and verse religious text.
CECIL
Refresh me. How was the engine activated?
JEREMY
There was a tab that Steve pulled out.
CECIL
What then?
JEREMY
The sub just shot into the sky.
CECIL
When Alec returned home after his first
encounter, how much time had passed?
JEREMY
Three and a half years. But he said the
actual trip only felt like a few minutes.
CECIL
Time dilation?
JEREMY
That was our guess.
Jeremy opens the schematics file.
Cecil views the first few pages in awe.
He activates the intercom on his desk.
CECIL
DORIS, will you please transfer thirty
million dollars into the account I've set
up for Mr. Ash?
DORIS (V.O.)
Right away, sir.
Jeremy's eyes light up.
Cecil accesses the account on his computer. Waits for the transfer to clear. Then shows it to Jeremy.
CECIL
You never know. Even an anomaly scan can
miss things. I'll put my best man on it.
What do you say?
JEREMY
(handing him the crystal)
Okay, but we share the findings together.
CECIL
Of course.
CECIL (CONT’D)
(into the intercom)
Doris, please contact PROFESSOR KLEIN.
Tell him to drop whatever he's doing and
come to my office as soon as possible.
DORIS (V.O.)
Right away, sir.
Klein arrives. His thick glasses magnify his eyes.
Cecil hands him the crystal.