Falling

Red

by

Marc de Launay

 

 

Based on an original idea by John Gorman and Marc de Launay

Issued subject to contract.

This draft 23/02/12 WGA registered 1085824.

 

All rights held by Mandragora Productions Limited.

 

 

Mandragora Productions Limited

www.mandragora.net, marc@mandragora.net

 

Arcus Studios

348-354 High Street Gateshead

NE8 1EN www.arcusstudios.com

 

Playdead Ltd

Playdead Ltd, Arch 24, Unit 13, Eastvale Place, Glasgow G3 8QG.

www.playdead.tv, info@playdead.tv

 

 

 

FADE IN:

 

1 EXT SCRAPYARD COMPLEX. EARTH - DAY 1

 

Falling...red...rain. Peering through rusted wire mesh fence, water droplets form red beads on the wires. A gloved hand, oil stained, grasps the wire fence, flexes. Beyond the wire lies endless piles of the rusting hulks, decaying machines; some start to move, beeping, bleating. The gloved hand tightens its grasp further at the sight of these unfortunate mechanoid beasts. A siren sounds. An iris of an eye widens, a sigh is heard, a red droplet of water forms under the oil stained eye.

 

 

VOICE

Where are you? Where is my friend?

 

The gloved hand loosens its grip, it belongs to a monk shaped figure with a hood and oilskin. The figure shuffles arthritically towards a crane booth. A burly man in a red hard hat appears, sandwiches still half devoured in his mouth revealing rotted teeth and nicotine stained tongue.

 

 

FOREMAN

Jesus, back to work. You've got

yesterday's backlog to get through yet!

 

The oilskin monk slowly moves past the yard hut; inside a group of machine grease stained workers are huddled around a table playing cards, distrusting eyes follow the figure.

 

 

WORKER 1

What the fuck are you looking at?

WORKER 2 Stinkin' canners.

 

The oilskin shape enters the crane booth. The control panel lights up. On its screen we see "Initiation sequence engaged". The crane coos in a female voice:

 

 

CRANE Welcome...TONI.

TONI pulls back a lever, a rusted hulk is lifted into the air by the magnetic lifter of the crane. A sign on the pit crusher's grease and oil grimed sides reads "General Ordinance Dismantler - OEM". The suspended machine springs to life, its limbs flailing as it is swung towards the pit crusher. It screams, a last ditch effort for freedom.

 

MACHINE

Stop! Why are you doing this!?

TONI

I hope you find my friend.

 

 

The machine is let go and plummets into the black abyss of the crusher. Scraping, grinding; then silence. Data comes on control panel screen, a progress bar moves red to green.

 

CRANE

Recycling; grade fine; depletion confirmed. Regrade complete.

 

A red light starts flashing on the panel. TONI takes off his glove, in the movement his oilskin drops to the floor to reveal that he is a rusted robot; his mis-shapen tracks for legs are worn, his head is bowed. The glove now off reveals a hand that is in total contrast to the rest of the tired droid; it is willowy, fragile,sensitive and gleaming gold.

 

TONI

Systems failure. Attempting re-route.

The golden hand is a blur as it works over

TONI (CONT'D) Re-routing unsuccessful, restart advised...It is a lonely planet. Travel in to the red light flashing on the

 

 

2 EXT. CRATER ZZ00122 OMEGA ALPHA, MARS - DAY 2

A red light flashes off on a brushed metallic box, it opens to eject a vile of soil sample. The sun glows red off the vast plain of the crater. TONI is coated in gleaming chrome in the sun against the background of the Red Planet surface. Near him kneels a 'terranaut', in full astronaut like suit, looking at a worn metal box obviously planted weeks earlier.

 

TONI (O.S.)

Yes Rich, i can understand that you find the planet lonely. Is the experiment complete?

 

RICH

Jeez Toni, give me a chance. I can't piss and juggle like you mate.

 

TONI

You do have your...limitations.

Although technically I can neither juggle nor urinate.

 

RICH

Yeah, yeah smart boy.

At least your sense of humour has started to improve in the last year or so,

but let's work on that comic delivery.

 

TONI

Rich you will need to synapse and

upload today's data for me please.

 

RICH's face is visible peering out through the gold fish bowl visor, his head covered by a secondary soft inner lining. He looks like he is in his late thirties. He shakes his head from inside his helmet, presses a kepypad on his wrist and tendrils spike down from the helmet's internals, piercing directly into his skull; "Neural Synapse Engaged" comes up on his Head Up Display - 'HUD'. His eyes flicker slightly.

 

RICH

Uploading; you getting this?

 

TONI Yes, thank you.

 

We see all the uploading data that Toni sees transferred from Rich. Toni's eyes flicker slightly - data streams of soil analyses, geological data, biological data, an image flashes in of a red toy rocketship, another of young woman bending down to give sympathy, comms end.

 

TONI (CONT'D)

Rich, i need to check synchros on

synaptics and possibly re-route neurals again. Got some spillage.

 

RICH

Shit, hope it's nothing

embarrassing again, wouldn't want to corrupt you. Still, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

 

TONI

That does not seem logical phrasing.

 

RICH

It means, well, er, I can't explain

it too well. Three more months with Captain Factoid, Jesus.

 

TONI

That's Major Factoid to you Corporal.

 

RICH

Better delivery, but still no cigar.

Rich laughs, Toni cocks his head like an inquisitive dog and attempts a chuckle.

RICH (CONT'D)

Right, one more to check at sector 21. Can't afford a backlog on next

shift, how you getting on?

 

TONI Fine, thank you.

 

Toni's nimble fingers are a blur in their amazing dexterity working over the experiment data with incredible speed and accuracy. A small solar panel appears from the middle of his back, we see in his 'HUD'- "Recharge, global position 28 degrees 31 min N,22 degrees 11 min S."

 

TONI (CONT'D)

What will you do when you get home?

 

RICH

Find a few old friends, kick back

and enjoy the sunset. Then hoof it back to red shift and you.

 

TONI

I will look forward to seeing you again.

 

RICH

Easy sunshine, don't get too emotional.

 

TONI

Fat chance...moonbeam. 'Smiles' from both.

 

CUT TO:

 

3 EXT. CRATER ZZ00122 OMEGA DELTA, MARS - DAY 3

 

From 10 clicks away from the comrades a small eddy of wind picks up some red dust. It swirls and grows and grows.

CUT TO:

4 EXT. CRATER ZZ00122 OMEGA ALPHA, MARS - DAY 4

 

Toni continues to work, small whisker like antennae on his head shift gently.

 

4

A plaque on his cranium reads 'Terrestrial Ordinance Neosphere Investigator - type XI - registration 2135'.

 

TONI

Rich, dust storm Cat 7, 10 clicks southwest, heading towards us.

 

RICH

Better get a shift on. Can you go do 22 and I'll log out here. Storms...on a Tuesday as well.

 

TONI

Actually it is still Monday.

 

RICH

Good, never liked tuesdays anyway.

 

Toni sweeps effortlessly off towards the distant wall of the crater as Rich slowly and laboriously moves to a box of experiments in the middle distance, he rises over a blind summit that reveals an edge of a huge overhanging ridge into a deep fissure. He looks out across the expanse of the vast crater as maroon clouds scud across a threatening sky.

 

TONI (O.S.)

Rich, the cat 7 is now a 9, coming in at speed.

Advise early evac' request and that you go for cover.

 

RICH

No shit sherlock, i can see it!

 

A huge red dust storm falls from the clouds, a wall hurtling towards Rich. Small panic in his widening eyes, he turns and starts to run as if in glue. As he glances over his shoulder at the angry red storm charging after him, a large spiralling rock comes straight at him. The rock smashes into his helmet and throws him to the ground. Big impact as he meets the ground, smaller impacts all around him. From inside Rich's helmet

 

we see his 'HUD' register a suit pressure fault, a breach. His laboured breathing. Readout bars for his vitals are yellow and the one for his oxygen supply depletes rapidly and goes to red at 30%. His helmet distorts our view as the dust storm envelopes us; his mind swims,starts to spin.

 

RICH (CONT'D) Shit, Toni...suit breach, major...oxygen falling to critical. Help me...

 

CUT TO:

 

5 EXT. FUNFAIR - DAY

Our view is a blur as we spin round and round, a young woman keeps coming into view.

 

5

She is shouting something...is it pull...pull up..? From a rotating carousel ride of rocket ships of various colours, a young boy in a red rocket ship is almost crying, his will not fly upwards like the others. He then pulls a handle between his legs, hydraulic pistons shoot his rocket upwards. He is ecstatic, he is flying. The red rocket fills our view.

 

6 EXT. FIELDS OF BARLEY - LATE AFTERNOON

6

The red rocket ship is skimming over seas of shifting barley. A model similar to the fair ride expertly piloted by the young boy's hand. He does not see a rock between the barley and trips. As he falls his eyes are still on the red rocketship that has left his hand and is arcing through the air away from him. He lands heavily, as does his craft a few feet away. The voice of the young woman in the distance is calling after him. From high above we see him sprawled amongst the barley.

 

MATCH CUT TO:

7 EXT. CRATER ZZ00122 OMEGA ALPHA, MARS - LATE AFTERNOON 7

The woman's voice slowly transposes into Toni's over comms.

 

TONI (O.S.)

Rich. Answer me. Are you okay?

 

Rich lies in the same position as the boy in the field, helpless on the red planet surface, the red dust storm still raging around him. Rich sees the eye of the storm pass overhead, his 'HUD' showing the falling red oxygen levels, other stats critical. From inside his convex view we see a shooting star fall across the heavens.

 

CUT TO:

 

8 EXT. CRATER ZZ00122 OMEGA ALPHA, MARS - LATE AFTERNOON 8

Toni is travelling at speed towards Rich through the storm. He is in emergency mode, all streaming data on his 'HUD' is red, the terrain maps out in front of him on his 'HUD' over the red storm, it states that infra red mode in operation and visibility negligible.

 

TONI

Request emergency evac' sector zz0122, stat.

 

PILOT (O.S.)

That's a negative, grade 9 cluster, hull can't take that. Wait For dispersal, eta in 8 minutes.

 

MATCH CUT TO:

 

8

 

TONI

Rich is down,breached. Hacking

systems to attempt re-route.

Data spills over us, Rich's vital signs, stats, global positioning, oxygen at 5%, a young woman, a memory; Toni's eyes flicker.

 

CUT TO:

 

9 INT. KITCHEN SINK - SUNSET

The young boy sits on a counter worktop next to a sink as the young woman attends to his wounded knee with a handkerchief. A glorious red sunset over fields through the window behind them. The water tap runs, the boy watches his blood from the hanky wash away with the water down the steel sink plughole.

 

YOUNG WOMAN

You wee terror, you must have an

angel on your shoulder.

 

CUT TO:

 

10 EXT. CRATER ZZ00122 OMEGA ALPHA, MARS - LATE AFTERNOON 10

Toni appears out of the storm where Rich lays. He reaches out and gently takes his hand, turns it over to look at the wrist display and in a blur punches in codes. Rich's 'HUD' states 5 min 23 secs oxygen left, eta evac 7min 13secs.

 

PILOT (O.S.) Magnetics shot to shit, going to

need a visual on you Toni.

 

Rich stirs, the storm still rages. Oxygen at 2%. Toni is beside him.

 

RICH Cold, feel strange.

 

TONI (INHUMAN VOICE) Suit breach, oxygen level 1%,

negative stem on systems failure, eta evac craft seven...

 

TONI (HIS OWN VOICE) (CONT'D) Don't talk Rich, just wait. You'll

be...fine.

 

RICH

And you are a crap liar. I'm not

going to make it. I'm scared Toni. If i die, what's going to happen?

 

10

 

TONI

Rich, sorry, I have no data.

Flashes of information in Toni's head, of loss, funerals, decay, wakes, eulogies, cremations,children and parents.

 

TONI (CONT'D) Perhaps we live on?

 

RICH

I hope so. Oh God, so scared. More information streams through Toni.

 

TONI

Or we live on through people's memories.

 

RICH

Toni, feels like i'm floating,

something more, like lying on your back in a field, looking up at the blue sky...

where the fields and the river meet the sun...

I wish you were here with me Toni..

 

Rich's breathing is now dangerously shallow. Oxygen 1%. Toni's eyes flutter as his HUD still flashes 'synaptic neural upload open'.

 

TONI

I am Rich, I am here with you.

 

CUT TO:

 

11 EXT. FIELDS OF BARLEY - LATE AFTERNOON

Rich lies in same position still in his terranaut suit, Toni

beside him. Bird song, blue sky, idyllic summer.

 

RICH

It's like you could just float away up forever; leave it all behind, happy to let it all go.

 

TONI

Rich don't leave me, here, alone.

Rich smiles as he looks into Toni's face. A red tear forms on Toni's cheek...another and another.

 

CUT TO:

 

12 EXT. CRATER ZZ00122 OMEGA ALPHA, MARS - LATE AFTERNOON 12

Toni's face as before, Rich's 'HUD' reads 0% oxygen.

 

 

PILOT (O.S.)

Toni. We're close, need a visual.

Toni goes to move away.

 

RICH

Please, i don't want to leave you.

 

TONI

You are my friend. You will never leave me.

 

Toni turns away to the outcropped ridge and disappears from Rich's view in the dust.

 

PILOT (O.S.)

Still negative visual contact Toni.

TONI I am beginning.

 

Toni's back starts to ripple and separate. He unfurls huge solar panels that spread like wings. Toni angles his solar wings, some sky is visible through the storm. Rich can only see dust as his breathing falters. Toni adjusts further and his wings find the falling sun, they glow golden and then white hot. A light streams down from above, the rescue ship has located him and blows dust away from the ever weakening storm. To Rich Toni appears to be a vision of an angel, reflected in his helmet visor, as his hand weakly reaches towards it.

 

RICH

I knew you'd find me.

 

Rich's 'HUD' oxygen level reads zero, a tear of blood, a reflection of the 'angel' in his eye and he is gone. Toni sees the craft land and turns back to his friend. He approaches, reaches out to his hand, reads his wrist display. Toni's 'HUD' displays 'synapse reload opening'. We see flashes of Rich's life go through Toni's cpu, an angel appears as a vision in the storm. Toni's eyes flicker.

 

CUT TO:

 

13 EXT. FIELDS OF BARLEY - LATE AFTERNOON

Rich is walking with Toni through the fields carrying the red rocketship model. He does not wear his suit helmet.

 

RICH

I'm still dreaming aren't I. If i

stop dreaming I'll be dead.

 

TONI (AND MOTHER'S VOICE) You will never stop dreaming. When

your dreams take flight, you will follow them.

 

RICH I know.

 

Rich let's the rocketship fall to the ground.

 

CUT TO:

 

14 EXT. SCRAPYARD COMPLEX, EARTH - SUNSET 14

Falling...red...rain. Through a rusted wire fence we see movement. A golden droid hand reaches out to grip the fence. The grip tightens.

 

MACHINE (CHORUS)

Who is there? Can you help us?

 

The grip tightens further and rips through, uproots the fence whose rusted pillars fall. A shape at the fence, something begins to unfurl, almost like wings that start to glow.

 

TONI

Yes, we can help you. We are your friend.

 

Toni's wings begin to glow white hot as an exodus of skeletal, malnourished and obsolete droids move outwards towards their saviour.

 

TONI (CONT'D)

Come to me. We will follow the sun.

 

MACHINE (CHORUS)

We will follow the sun, the son, the sun... Toni's wings are blinding.

 

MATCH CUT TO:

 

15 EXT. FIELDS OF BARLEY - DAY 15

 

Blinding sun. The fields ebb and flow, a church in the distance shimmers in a heat haze. Bird song, bees buzzing, swallows flying high in a perfect blue sky. A red toy rocketship lies abandoned in a track rut, it looks a little worse for wear. A small boy's hand picks it up and pilots it expertly over the barley as he runs through it; he laughs and holds the rocket high above his head towards the sun.

 

FADE TO WHITE.