PREY
"Escapes"
ACT FOUR
We spot something lying on the sand - WET, GLISTENING in the sun, has an interesting shape. It's a
PIECE OF SHELL.
A SMALL HAND
reaches down to pick it up. It feels SMOOTH to the fingers. We see it's been broken, and polished and shaped gradually by the forces of sand, wind and water. Adapted, transformed, beautiful, accidental, unique.
WIDENING we see a young JANE
hold her hand out as eleven-year-old TOM shyly places the shell on her PALM.
JANE
What does it mean, son?
TOM
looks up at his mother with furrowed brow. What significance has a broken shell washed up on the sand?
JANE
It used to be a whole shell, but then wind, wave, sand, and time worked it into what you see now. Over time, accident and this piece's own survival strength has gotten rid of the non-essentials, and has preserved and polished it.
(beat)
And now you've come along and picked it up.
She hands the shell back to him.
JANE
Why?
TOM
Because ... it suits my purpose.
JANE
And?
TOM
And it's beautiful. And hard. And strong.
JANE
And?
TOM
And it's been designed ... by No One.
TRAINER (Voice Over)
That has value to you?
TOM
turns around to FACE the person talking to him. We can't see who it is.
TRAINER (Voice Over)
Put it in your pocket, to lodge against the hard metal coins and the soft material. What do you suppose it will eventually become?
WIDENING we see a man turning away from us as he puts his arm around Tom's shoulder just over a TATTOO and leads Tom away from the beach, away from his mother, away from us. The man has ash blonde hair.
JANE
Tom. Whenever you reach into your pocket, listen for the lesson of the shell.
TOM
sits up ABRUPTLY in his cage. He's been dreaming. But he and we FLASH ON
A SHADOWY FIGURE
as detected by his sixth sense. It's retreating at some distance from the spotlight on the cage. Almost undetectable. Then nothing.
TOM shifts UNEASILY - trying to pick up an "emotional scent." Every sense honed for survival. Then he
FEELS something in his POCKET. Reaching in, he pulls out . . .
A PIECE OF SHELL.
We're on CLOSE on TOM's face now. Why didn't he sense someone? Have the experiments diminished his faculties? Or ... is it one of his own who's masking his presence?
A GLIMMER OF HOPE crosses his face as we
SLOAN
walks down the HALLWAY. We realize she and Ed have been back in the lab checking things out, making sure their research wasn't tampered with, offices are intact and their animals ok. We STAY ON Sloan as she stops at
INT. ED'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
SLOAN
Hungry? I just ordered your favorite. Should be just about ready for pick-up.
ED
Sounds really good. Why didn't you just have it delivered?
SLOAN
It's alright, I need to pick up a birthday card for Mia.
(sits down on his desk - facing him)
You know, Ed, Walter told us that we had to fight with our own tools. Well, I've been thinking some more about their origins.
ED
(remembers Oaxaca)
Uh-oh.
SLOAN
Anthropologists are starting to look at culture differently. They think it's a survival adaptation - something that's been selected for.
ED
Culture is genetically determined?
SLOAN
Not the different cultures, but the capability for culture is. And culture is more than what distinguishes a group of people - food, language, customs, artifacts - it's the lens through which they unconsciously view the world. It's a recipe, a formula for all the behaviors and customs they produce. But the main feature of culture is that it's shared. It's learned through a process called enculturation and socialization -
ED
Sloan! Do you think that explains those black boxes, their beds? Some advanced method of transmitting world view?
These two are starting to jam. The ideas are rolling.
SLOAN
Yes. But here's what else I think. We know this speciation took place approximately fifty years ago.
(beat)
Okay, a hundred max. Anyway, they branched off of us - Homo sapiens -
ED
(jumps ahead)
So, you're saying that they must share some aspects of human culture? In some ways they are like us?
SLOAN
We know that Evolution produces its results through the processes of natural selection, genetic drift, sexual selection, and geographic isolation.
(beat)
Ed, why did the inhabitants of Oaxaca speciate, but the neighboring village didn't?
ED
Maybe they all experienced some type of mutation because of accelerated global warming - but the one group remained geographically isolated, and the other didn't.
SLOAN
And nowadays, the only way to remain geographically isolated is by choice, like the Amish.
ED
Or by someone else's choice.
(beat)
It wouldn't be the Amish. I thought they were nonviolent.
(beat)
So which community of humans did they share culture with?
SLOAN
I don't know. But this species is young enough to have living human relatives.
(beat)
Where are they?
(beat)
And what are they up to?
ED
We're going back to Oaxaca - aren't we?
SLOAN
Maybe Walter can get us back there. Or get us close. Or at least get us more information through those contacts of his.
(she looks at her watch)
Oh! That pizza's getting cold - Back in a few.
Ed starts to snicker.
SLOAN
What?
ED
Nothing - it's just that if it's true - that culture's shared - what makes them think they're going to get rid of us by simply killing us off?
A KNOCK on the glass doors at the end of the hallway STARTLES them. A guard lets in
MARIANA
a short, slender, gaunt beauty, with shoulder-length brown hair, and clear, piercing grey eyes.
MARIANA
I'm looking for a Dr. Walter Attwood.
ED
Um - I'll help her out, Sloan. You go on.
SLOAN smiles at him as we
JONATHAN
intently studies the NMR spectra from the experiments on Tom.
BOB enters, looks over his shoulder.
BOB
Working on the new design?
JONATHAN
Still trying to make some sense of Daniels' MRI's. They're all over the place.
BOB
Just looking at them gives me a headache. If my brain emitted that much energy, it would fry an egg. Before it crashed and burned, that is.
JONATHAN
Maybe they're NOT that much smarter than we are.
BOB
What do you mean, Jon?
JONATHAN
Maybe their IQ ranges are similar to ours. But with this level of energy and efficiency, they'd have a phenomenal ability to compress time. Sort of like some software compresses data - to get more speed and more space out of hardware resources.
BOB
If we could find a way to scramble that ... slow it down a bit ...
JONATHAN
without turning ourselves into vegetables ...
BOB
That would level the playing field.
THEY BOTH
study the images with renewed interest.
BOB
Maybe we can isolate a signal.
JONATHAN
I wouldn't want to play high stakes poker with these guys.
DOOR OPENS and
CHARLES DANCER walks in.
CHARLES
Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Santiago. Tom Daniels has disappeared from his cage.
OFF JONATHAN and BOB's shocked faces we
SLOAN
enters and walks over to her car.
WE STAY ON her as she opens the door and
INT. SLOAN'S CAR - CONTINUOUS
gets into her car. Starts to turn the key, then sees something on the floor. Reaches down and picks up
Tom's JACKET.
Holds it in her hands, gazes at it for a long time. As she gently lays it aside and reaches to turn the key, we hear what sounds like a gun click from behind. A familiar voice says,
UNIDENTIFIED MAN (Voice Over)
Drive, Dr. Parker.
OFF SLOAN'S reaction we
FADE OUT.
EPILOGUE
i will give my love an apple without any core
i will give my love a house without any door
i will give my love a palace wherein she may keep
listen to verse one
my head is the apple without any core
my mind is the house without any door
my heart is the palace wherein she may keep
listen to verse two
Traditional Scottish Air
performed by
Monkey Puzzle Acapella Group
END OF EPISODE
