random_test.txt

in astonishment towards
The entire sky has darkened from its customary salmon into
purplish-black at the horizon, with bloody streaks above.
The DUST STORM has turned their way; it's now sixty kilometers
away and closing. The main body of it reaches two thousand
meters above the surface and stretches out along a thousand-
kilometer front.
Stare at this unholy juggernaut, alarmed. McConnell turns to
Luke, whose expression is grim.
McConnell stares at him.
McConnell turns, staring off towards the killer storm. The
others look at him with questioning gazes. He turns again.
There's the four-man rover, ready to go. Waiting.
He looks a question at Luke and Terri, one after the other.
Their eyes, tense but excited, signal agreement.
McConnell nods, satisfied. Looks at Terri and Luke.
They start towards the four-man rover. Dust is swirling more
thickly through the air, and the WIND IS LOUDER NOW. Phil
stands watching them go, a lone, rather forlorn figure.
In a WIDE SHOT, we see the rover approaching the Face, across
the plains. The sky beyond the Face is almost black, as the
storm approaches from that direction. It's marching
relentlessly across the planet, with flashes of lightning
now rippling up and down its face, and even small tornadoes
spinning off near its purple-black base...
Phil has panels off. He's reaching into the guts of the main
computer, working feverishly. His repair kit is beside him.
In a HIGH SHOT, we look down across the side of the Face and
its vast, open doorway, out of which the bright white light
is streaming. Into this corridor of light, we see the rover
arrive, slewing to a stop, throwing sand from its wheels.
Looking at the cavernous vertical gap in the side of the
Face. The opening towers to a dizzying height above us; the
white light strains our eyes. The three astronauts ENTER
FRAME as we see them, from behind, staring up.
As they are stunned by the immensity of the scene, the cosmic
mystery before them. Luke and Terri look at McConnell. Another
moment of critical decision. He keys his mike.
Phil keys his own mike.
McConnell stares into the bright opening. Bathed in its light.
Terri and Luke exchange a tense glance.
Luke smiles. The three of them stare into the portal.
McConnell, between the others, reaches out and grips each of
them by a gloved hand. They take a sort of collective breath.
Then they walk forward together, into the light.
The astronauts continue forward, each of them extending a
free hand.
The light is too dazzling for them to gauge distances,
textures, colors -- anything at all. They can't see walls,
ceiling, even a floor.
Behind them, there is an abrupt WHOOOSH, like a giant airlock
sealing shut. They turn, startled and nervous. Letting go of
each other's hands, Luke and Terri run back the way they
came, but almost immediately are stopped by a wall of some
sort. The vast hangar-type door has closed behind them.
The three scared, helmeted faces seem to float in the
brightness, some twenty feet apart.
Phil, saying a silent prayer, reaches over and turns on the
main computer. It works! He's immensely relieved.
He glances out the cockpit window at the blowing dust. Then
realizes that he's hearing only silence over his radio.
No answer. Phil stares at his radio in dread.
McConnell is staring at his spacesuit's sleeve. He can see
that the suit material is starting to deflate, revealing the
shape of his arm, just as it did in Luke's greenhouse. He
hesitates, then begins to unscrew the sealing ring on his
right glove.
Terri and Luke see this.
McConnell makes the final twist on his glove and there's the
hiss of rushing air.
Luke looks at his sleeve. McConnell's right.
Terri types on her arm keypad. She's amazed.
Terri nods. McConnell starts unscrewing his helmet ring.
Luke follows suit.
Terri starts taking off her helmet. In a few moments, all
three helmets are off. They hold them, glowing softly, against
their chests, as they breathe deeply and gratefully. Air.
And then, at this very moment, as if they have just passed
another kind of test...
Appears through the glare, soaring up before their startled
eyes. White, metallic, composed of complexly-linked bands,
plates, ramps. It's part of a STRUCTURE whose overall height
and breadth keep us from understanding its purpose. But the
hatch opening slowly in its side, at the top of an approach
ramp, is unmistakable. Radiant white light streams out from
within, forming a glowing tunnel, down towards the astronauts.
Raising their gloves against the dazzling glow. At the end
of this tunnel of light, inside the hatch frame
And slowly resolves itself into a glowing humanoid form,
which we somehow sense is female. She appears benign,
wondrous. This glowing MARTIAN -- a holograph -- regards the
astronauts for a few moments, then beckons to them, as if to
say "Enter." All her motions are both calm and calming --
precise, unhurried, gracious.
Look at each other. They're awed into silence, and still
tense, but now more out of excitement and anticipation than
fear. Their eyes agree: Let's go.
They walk forward slowly, carrying their helmets, up the
ramp and into the tunnel of light, following the Martian,
who retreats before them. They go through the hatch and
disappear inside.
Following the Martian, they find themselves in a round, open
space, defined by light, with a smooth matte-metallic floor,
but without apparent walls.
The Martian stops, turns, facing them. The astronauts stop,
too, uncertain what they're meant to do. Then the Martian
gestures again.
A cylindrical holographic column appears, rising from the
floor in front of the astronauts. Inside it, a swirl of eerie
lights, millions of them, like cosmic fireflies...
Set down their helmets, then cautiously converge around this
column, forming a loose triangle. As they stare into it, the
myriad lights are reflected off their own eyes and their
spacesuits.
The whirling lights resolve into images, which relate to
them the story of ancient Mars:
we do not recognize. All is peaceful, beautiful.
Tumbles through space towards the planet...
As thousands of small rocketships lift away from the surface,
heading in a stream out of the solar system...
And a wall of fire and debris scours the planet. Oceans boil
and vaporize. Two gigantic hunks are blasted out of the
planet, spinning in flames...
Involuntarily flinch, bathed in the fiery images...
As dust storms roil across its cold, lifeless surface. The
flaming hunks of molten rock cool into twin moons.
Stare at this devastation, deeply moved.
The stream of Martian ships grows smaller and smaller as it
continues on its epic voyage towards a new solar system.
Then we zero in on
As it peels off and goes in another direction. Graphics show
a model of what the ship contains: the familiar double helix
of DNA. The ship heads towards another blue planet in our
solar system...
As it was then. More clouds than now, more ocean, and the
landforms all wedged together.
Her voice is soft.
Makes a fiery streak through Earth's atmosphere and plunges
into the ocean.
Instantly the image of the DNA double helix grows, filling
the entire holographic column, then it begins to spin and
pulse, disintegrating into a phantasmagoric whirl of new
images...
Cry out, stunned by the strobelike power of the display as
Flash into the holographic column, swimming, growing,
crawling, leaping, flying: one-celled microscopic organisms,
plankton, plants of all kinds, insects, then fish, dinosaurs,
birds, small mammals, larger mammals -- the entire stunning
panorama of evolution, distilled into a single explosive
sequence, as the images wash over the dazzled, awestruck
Until finally the images whirl away, the holographic column
dissolves, leaving only a circle of glowing, concentric,
colored rings on the floor. The astronauts are left staring
at each other across the open space where the column had
been.
Now comes forward with outstretched arms and completes their
circle, taking the fourth position. McConnell is opposite
her glowing form, and Terri and Luke are at either side. The
Martian reaches her arms out, inviting them to link hands.
As they do so, the Martian seems to be staring directly into
McConnell's eyes.
Is in wondrous awe, his whole face radiant with joy. It's
the first time we've ever seen him utterly without sadness
or reserve. Staring at the Martian, he understands.
McConnell and Luke look at her.
We hear a BELL-LIKE TONE, a single lingering high note, and
simultaneously the outermost ring of the circle on the floor
begins to glow brightly. It is an intense chromium yellow.
Step back, startled, unlinking their hands, and look at the
circle of colored rings. These shade from yellow, on the
outer rim, to a deeper yellow, then orange, then finally
reds. Inside the final, deep red ring is a circle of indigo
blue, about a meter across. Small points of light glitter
here, like stars against a midnight sky.
Steps closer to McConnell. She has picked him out in
particular. Now she beckons for him to move inside the circle
of colored rings, to stand on the indigo core.
Looks back at her, nods his understanding. For the first
time she seems to smile. Benevolence, reassurance. Then as
abruptly as she first appeared, she fades away. Vanishes.
Luke and Terri look at McConnell, confused. There is a sudden,
static-filled CRACKLE from their helmets, nearby on the floor.
Terri picks up her helmet, leans into its mike.
Even through the scratchy interference, they can hear the
relief in Phil's voice. And then the desperation.
And then they hear only STATIC. His signal is lost.
Suddenly the BELL-LIKE TONE REPEATS, at a lower register,
with a more sustained note, and simultaneously, the last of
the yellow circles of light begins to fade, as
Begins to glow brighter. McConnell turns, looking at this
new color, then looks back at Luke and Terri.
Terri looks at Luke, alarmed.
She scoops up Luke's helmet, tosses it to him. As he catches
it, she's already starting back out, in the direction they
came from, and Luke follows her. Until they both become aware
that McConnell isn't with them. They turn back. He's still
rooted to the spot, his gaze locked on the indigo core of
the colored rings.
McConnell doesn't turn.
Coming back, she sees how calm he is. How certain.
He looks into their faces. Terri is trying to grasp this
idea, still incredulous. Luke has the beginning of a half
smile.
Luke nods at the memory of Maggie's words. Terri remembers
too. McConnell's passionate conviction is affecting them
both.
Terri looks at Luke. Luke is smiling. He understands.
Luke steps closer, looking at his old friend.
They clasp hands for a moment. But in this moment is a
lifetime of camaraderie, an eternity of farewell.
Luke nods, deeply moved. He turns away, picking up his helmet,
as Terri comes closer, looking at McConnell, a long unspoken
beat. Her eyes are glistening.
Terri smiles. She is starting on the road to recovery. She's
going to be okay.
Terri nods. She digs into one of her suit's pockets, pulls
something out. She hands it to McConnell, and his fist closes
around it.
McConnell smiles. Terri smiles back at him. Then she turns,
picks up her helmet, and crosses to where Luke has paused,
looking back.
Luke and Terri exchange a final silent farewell with him,
then hurry away, into the darkness.
Looks down at what Terri gave him.
With the little Flash Gordon rocketship.
Grips this tightly as he looks up.
Sequence omitted from original script.
The hanger-like hatch has reopened, and Luke and Terri,
helmeted again, emerge from the Face. The leading edge of
the dust storm is upon them. They can't see much more than a
few meters.
As they reach the rover, they hear, even in this chaos, that
the deep pulsing tone of the Face has started again. They
look at each other, uncertain what this means. But McConnell
is now beyond their help. Luke keys his mike.
Phil gets no response. He is shaking, almost crying. He
hesitates, then starts hitting some keys.
Which reads: "PRE-LAUNCH CHECKLIST."
McConnell has shed his backpack, with its unneeded oxygen
tank. He steps cautiously onto the colored rings. Nothing
seems to happen. Moving further, he takes his place on the
indigo circle at their core. He looks at
As it dips from orange into red; the BELL TONES are continuous
now, very deep and rapid.
The rover, with Luke and Terri inside, races away towards
the safety of the ERV, as the maelstrom boils over the Face
behind them. The sky is purplish black, thick with flying
debris and eerie lightning flashes. Towering billows of dust
chase them over the plain, nearly enveloping them as they
speed towards us, passing OUT OF FRAME.
McConnell reacts, surprised, as suddenly
Begins to rise around him, swiftly and smoothly, coming up
from the circumference of the indigo circle.
Then a second, identical cylinder -- the top half -- drops
down from somewhere overhead. The two sections meet and fuse
in a flash of light, containing McConnell inside them, as
neatly as if he were in a giant, transparent mailing tube.
Fights against a stab of claustrophobia. Is he being
imprisoned? Or somehow protected? Either way, he's virtually
immobilized. In this tight space in his bulky suit, he can't
even move his arms. Only his head and neck can still shift.
Phil is going over his final pre-launch checklist, flipping
switches and pressing buttons. He looks at his
Which reads "1350."
His finger hovers over a "Fire" button. He licks his lips
nervously, squeezes his eyes shut, and hits the button.
And the words: "IGNITION SEQUENCE INITIATED"
McConnell is straining inside the cylinder that surrounds
him, when something catches his attention. He arches his
neck, looking down.
Is beginning to fill the cylinder! It swirls in, from some
unknown source, rising rapidly; already his lower boots are
covered.
Widen in alarm. He strains against the sides of the cylinder