1 OFFICE 1 Moderately neat. Very silent, except for a large analog clock ticking on the wall. Show several views of the building, including hallways, conference room, and large computer room. 2 LARGE WINDOW 2 overlooking a large lobby. Marc swings down on rope through the window with a large, futuristic-looking rifle, breaking the window, and kneels on the floor, heart pounding, looking around, waiting. Seeing nothing, he rushes to a black marble wall and slides along it. He reaches a double wood door, kicks it open, and points his rifle into the conference room. He doesn't see anyone, so he reaches for a microphone off his chest and speaks into it. MARC Conference room secured. Move in. Cindy and three other Technowizards in combat gear enter. MARC This level is clear. CINDY Good work. She looks around. Where's Jack? Jack falls through the hanging ceiling, lands near Marc and Cindy, gets up, and brushes himself off. CINDY Report. JACK Next level clear. CINDY Thanks, Jack. Let's move into ... She is interrupted by the sound of rushing water. She looks, and sees three flowers standing in the lobby firing water bolts at them. All Technowizards dive behind the table and stick their heads above it to fire at the flowers. CINDY I thought you said this level was clear. MARC I did. I don't know where they came from. Marc crawls out from behind the now toppled over table and positions himself just inside the door. He checks his gun, switches to rapid fire, dives into the doorway and opens fire. Two of the flowers fall at his shots, but the third positions himself behind his fallen comrades and shoots. Marc can't hit him, and almost gets hit when Cindy tackles him from behind. A water bolt flies just above them and hits the wall behind. Marc looks at Cindy with thanks. MARC Thanks ... CINDY No time for that, now. We have some phobies to kill. Cindy crawls off Marc and reaches into her pack, pulling out a grenade. She pulls the pin, and lobs it at the flowers. It explodes, throwing flower parts across the room. 3 HALLWAY Cindy and Jack walking back-to-back sideways down the hallway, pointing their rifles ahead of them. Marc is positioned just behind them, walking backwards, and covering their tails. Two other Technowizards slide down the walls, one on each side, and the third takes up the rear of the procession. A door opens up behind one of the auxiliary Technowizards, a tentacle reaches out, and rips off his head. The opposite Technowizard opens fire at the door, but his shots bounce off the door and kill him. A garage door opens just in front of the group, and a platoon of flowers march out and open fire. Jack dives behind a pillar to the left, and Cindy and Marc hide behind a large potted plant. The one remaining auxiliary Technowizard dives flat on his stomach, and everyone opens fire at the flowers. The first row falls, and the remaining rows move outward and take cover where they can. The potted plant Cindy and Marc are behind comes alive and starts to maul them. Jack notices and shoots the tree, destroying it, but he gets hit by a water bolt from a flower, and his left arm turns into a dissolved stump. He screams in pain, Cindy dives over to him to comfort him, and Marc and the other Technowizard kill most of the other flowers in anger. CINDY Jack, listen to me: you'll be ok. JACK But this never happened before! Someone changed the program. The flower platoon is almost totally destroyed when two more platoons move in from opposite directions down the hallway. Marc notices, and pushes the pot out of the way, revealing a hatch. He opens it and drops down up to his shoulders. MARC Come on, in here! Marc starts shooting at the unscathed flower platoon as the final auxiliary Technowizard falls to the flowers and Cindy and Jack crawl across the hallway and into the hatch. Marc disappears and shuts the hatch. 4 BLACKNESS 4 heavy breathing. Marc strikes a match and reveals a heating duct with him, Cindy, and Jack inside. CINDY A match? Is that the best you can do? How phobic. MARC My light is buried in my pack. It'd take too long to get it, and we don't have that time. He motions to the hatch above him, which is making noise as the flowers try to open it. Technowizards vs Technophobies Page 4 23 February 1997 08:40 Copyright (D 1997 by Ted Logan Come on, this way. He crawls off into the blackness. Cindy and Jack follow. 5 SMALL ROOM 5 Marc enters through vent. Cindy helps Jack through opening. Marc pulls a light from his pack and ;-i --it. He crawls over to the opening they came through and closes a bulkhead. CINDY Jack, how are you doing? JACK Not so good. Cindy rips part of her shirt off and wraps Jack's arm with it. She sets Jack down and crawls over to Marc, who is attempting to interface with the building's computers. CINDY Any luck? MARC I'm attempting to use a pseudorandom generator to decode their encryption sequence, but their codes are much more difficult than before. CINDY You can do it. I know you can. Marc works in silence for a beat. MARC How is he? CINDY Who? MARC Jack. CINDY Bad, but I think he'll make it. Technowizards vs Technophobies Page 5 23 February 1997 08:40 Copyright (D 1997 by Ted Logan MARC Can he help us at all? CINDY I don't think so. A beat. MARC Why is this one so hard? CINDY What? MARC Everything about this time is harder. Usually, the phobies hit us once in every 10 shots. Now, they're dead on each time. And there are more of them, too. CINDY I thought we could use a little challenge. MARC A little challenge might be good. But this? A pause. The control panel beeps. MARC I've broken the encryption sequence. CINDY What have you got? MARC It's not good... they've found us, and they're sealing off all our exits. CINDY What can we do? MARC Fight. 6 HALLWAY 6 Vent falls from ceiling. Marc sticks his head down cautiously, then drops down. He nods above, and Cindy lowers Jack down, now convulsing, and then drops down herself. Cindy and Marc go back-to-back and watch the area. Marc goes to a door and kicks it open. He carefully walks into 7 EXECUTIVE SUITE 7 high up the building with floor-to-high ceiling windows on two walls. He motions to the door, and Cindy carries Jack in. She sets him on a couch and kneels over him. CINDY You're going to be ok, you hear me? Don't worry about anything. We'll get you out of here. Marc walks behind the desk and pushes a few buttons. MARC They'll be here any minute. CINDY From where? MARC (pointing) That door. Cindy and Marc position themselves behind furniture and wait for the flowers. They enter after almost a minute of waiting and open fire. Cindy and Marc manage to fight off most of them, but Marc's gun jams. He tries to fix it when two flowers grab him and push him to the window. Marc looks out, down, to the street far below. MARC No! The flowers push him, and he falls through the window, screaming. 8 VR LAB 8 Marc jerks in his vr gear and stops. He pulls the helmet off his head and looks around, shocked, breathing heavily. Cindy and Jack pull off their helmets, also breathing heavily. MARC If that was a little challenging... I don't want to see difficult. CINDY What's wrong, never died in a vr environment before? MARC It's more than that. It's almost real. It looks like it, anyway. t@l, Marc sets his helmet down @Lvd/ walks 4-c CINDY Hey, where are you going? MARC I have some coding to do. ú TECHNOPHOBIE BASE 9 William and Reed sittincf opposite each other playing chess. Stephanie enterp,4-i!l"f@yki, ng a tray of food and drink. She sets it down t to the chess board and places small plates in front of William and Reed. She sits down next to the tray and takes a sip of a drink. STEPHANIE Who's winning? REED (distracted) He is. Stephanie watches them play for a bit longer. William moves one of his pieces. WILLIAM Check. Mate. REED (breaking his trance) You got me. Good game. Reed and William eat some of their food as they put the pieces back on the board. Technowizards vs Technophobies Page 8 23 February 1997 08:40 Copyright 0 1997 by Ted Logan WILLIAM (indicating Stephanie) Want to play, Steph? STEPHANIE No, I'm not that good at chess. WILLIAM You need practice to get better. STEPHANIE Not this time, William. I have an appointment. Perhaps another time? WILLIAM Sure. REED Stephanie? STEPHANIE Yeah, Reed? REED What is this? STEPHANIE Just something I thought of. What do you think? WILLIAM You're always thinking of something. REED Good. It's like, um, unlike anything I've ever tasted. What's in it? STEPHANIE It's vaguely middle-eastern, with a slight hint of Indonesian seasonings, with cheese and avocado ... REED I've never thought middle eastern and Indonesian seasonings would go together. STEPHANIE Neither did I, until now. VO-9,B MARC 9B sitting in a coffee shop, drinking something and consulting his padd. Reporter walks upf consults clipboard. REPORTER Excuse me. Marc looks up, and sets down his padd. MARC Yes? REPORTER Are you Marc Mann? MARC Yes. REPORTER I'm Dan Owark from the Daily Camera. I understand you're a member of a group that calls it the Technowizards. MARC I might be. REPORTER I'm doing a story on you guys and the Technophobies, and I was wondering if you would be interested in giving me some information. MARC No, I'm not interested. REPORTER If I don't get anything from you, I'll have to write my article solely on what limited informationI've been able to gather so far. MARC What do you want to know? TECHNOWIZARD BASE ID 9c Cindy is sitting at the table" drinking something, and reviewing a padd and listening to earphones connected to a cd player. Alex enters, wearing a backpack, and sits next to Cindy. ALEX Hi, Cindy. She doesn't notice him. Cindy? He looks at her cd player and presses a button. Cindy reacts with disgust. CINDY Hey- Alex? I didn't see you there. What are you doing here? ALEX I thought I'd see what my sister was doing. CINDY Don't you have anything better to do? ALEX Nope. CINDY Come, on. I'm sure mom could find something to keep you occupied. ALEX Do you have anything I could work on? CINDY No. As you can see, I'm very busy. I need to finish this by tonight. ALEX What is this? He grabs the padd and reads it. ALEX (reading) He looked, and saw her standing on the balcony. She turned, and saw him coming towards her. She walked towards him, her long white dress flowing across the smooth wood, and he stretched out his arms to meet her. They met in a passionate embrace ... He throws the padd down to her. Sure, and what are you doing with that? CINDY It's very important. I need to give it back tonight. ALEX Sure. CINDY Go find something to do. Just don't mess anything up too badly. ALEX If I can fix it? CINDY Sure, whatever \f r -1-0 COFFEE SHOP 10 Reporter sees Stephanie sitting at table, consults notes, than walks over to her. REPORTER Stephanie? She looks up. STEPHANIE Yes? REPORTER I'm Dan Owark from the Daily Camera. We spoke on the phone. STEPHANIE Have a seat. What did you want to talk to me about? Reporter sits down, pulls out notepad. REPORTER I believe you're a member of an exclusive, grass-roots, back-tobasics technology- hating group ... what do you call yourself? STEPHANIE We don't have an official name for ourselves. REPORTER What do people call you? They can't say you're an exclusive, grassroots, um,... STEPHANIE Back-to-basics technology-hating group. No, they call us Technophobies. REPORTER Sounds appropriate. STEPHANIE Actually, it's not. We aren't afraid of technology, we just recognize that it's not the answer to our problems, and that we should attempt to find alternate solutions where possible. REPORTER Aha. So, what exactly is it that you do? Where do you meet, for one? STEPHANIE We have a base in thE s where we meet-a4d-,4G-- It's location is kept REPORTER Of course. Um, what is it that you do? STEPHANIE William, our leader, is chess grand master material. We play with him frequently, but I don't think anyone's ever beaten him. REPORTER You said William is your leader. What kind of governing structure do you have? STEPHANIE William is the head of our governing body, and Reed and I are also members. Our majority vote decides all issues. Once a month, the whole group meets and we present our issues and ideas for review. REPORTER How many Technophobies attend these meetings? STEPHANIE All of us, almost two dozen. REPORTER Thank you for your time. If I need any additional inform ion, I'll be in touch. He smiles and gets ';r" ' 44@B TECHNTI'ZARD BASE 10B Jack sitting at a keyboard in his r-e playing some strange song. After about 30 seconds, cut tn +15-c mARc, s R-eem ioc with music still pl g. Marc is staring at the screen. Cindy enters, looks at him from many angles, but he doesn't move, just his eyes pan across the table on his screen. Music stops and Jack enters. JACK Hey, Marc, I ... He stops short, noticing Cindy and Marc. He studies them curiously. CINDY What's his problem? JACK It looks like he's memorizing, um, the square root of 13. CINDY The square root of 13. JACK Yeah. He started with two, then three, then five, then seven... CINDY What happened to four and six? JACK They're not prime. CINDY (clueless) Oh. Jack leans over Marc and speaks loudly. JACK Marc, what's the square root of five? MARC How many decimal places? Cindy reacts with surprise. Jack grins. JACK One hundred should be sufficient. MARC (monotone) 2.236067977 ... Cindy reacts with surprise. Jack grins. LDi@@k TECHNOWIZARD MAIN AREA \..", IOCA Alex sitting at the table, working on a padd. Cindy enters from her office, and Marc enters from his office. CINDY Aren't you going to go home? It's late. You need to go to bed. ALEX According to my readings, the current chronomic index is 1826. CINDY What did he say? MARC He means it's about 6:30 in the evening. ALEX My bedtime isn't for several more hours. CINDY Well, why didn't you just say so? ALEX I did. Cindy sighs and exits. Marc sits down next to Alex. MARC Having fun? ALEX Moderately so. MARC What are you doing? ALEX I'm reading the latest proof of Ferment's last theorem. It's fascinating, the lengths some people will go to in an attempt to prove a theorem. MARC wnloaded a new vr program I thought you might like. ALEX Really? What is it? MARC An interactive Lego program. You run around and build structures, towns, whatever, and populate it with anyone you want to. ALEX Sounds interesting. MARC I thought you'd say that. 4-9-D TECHNOPHOBIE KITCHEN 10D Stephanie in the kitchen cooking something, humming happily. Reed enters, crosses to her, tries to convince himself to talk to her. She doesn't notice him for several seconds, until she turns and sees him. STEPHANIE Oh, hi, Reed. What's up? REED (nervous) Um, not much. Stephanie turns back to her cooking for several seconds, and sees him there again. Reed is staring at the floor. STEPHANIE You must have something on your mind. REED Why? STEPHANIE Because otherwise, you wouldn't stand there staring at the floor. Reed jerks his head up. REED (defensive) I'm not staring at the floor. STEPHANIE Could of fooled me. Now, what is it? REED It's just ... A buzzer sounds. STEPHANIE Oh, that's the cake. REED What this time? Stephanie runs to the oven, turns off the buzzer, and brings out a cake. STEPHANIE I'm not sure how to describe it. REED Really? Maybe I could help you. Reed reaches to grab the cake. Stephanie swats his hand away. STEPHANIE No! It's not ready to eat, yet. It has to cool. Reed scowls. Now, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about? Reed tenses. REED It's nothing important. Stephanie looks at him, saying she doesn't believe him. Well, I've been wondering if there's more to life than just this. STEPHANIE What do you mean? REED I mean, just sitting around here all day long playing chess or tending to plants or whatever. It's getting a little old. STEPHANIE But you love it here. REED I did, but I'm not sure I do, anymore. Stephanie rolls he es and exits. Reed sighs, a little disappoint -1-9E JACK 10E at his computer. Marc enters. MARC Hey, Jack, what's up? Jack points to the ceiling. JACK The hanging ceiling. Marc rolls his eyes. MARC You wanted to talk to me? JACK Did I? MARC You e-mailed me... JACK Oh, yeah, that's right. It's just that I've ... I've been wondering... wondering if... if there's more to life than this. MARC What to you mean? JACK Look at us. We sit here all day long, memorizing random stuff, ASCII tables, assembler op codes, whatever. Occasionally we play in our little vr environment, or program it, or whatever, but it's still the same. We never do anything truly worth remembering. Our lives might be worthless here, never contributing to the society that has benefited us. Marc reacts with shock. Or maybe I've just lost it all. That's a frequent occurrence. MARC Ok, then. Whatever. Marc looks at Jack for a beat and exits. @lf -1-4E-A VR PAD 10EA Alex on the pad, in full vr gear, leaning over and building. Marc enters in vr gear and plugs himself in. \Cl I"B LEGO WORLD IOEB Alex building something at a normal scale. Marc enters. MARC Quite a fascinating world you've built here. ALEX Moderately so. Technowizards vs Technophobies Page 20 23 February 1997 08:40 Copyright (D 1997 by Ted Logan MARC Want to see your world from a Lego's view? ALEX Can I do that? MARC Of course. See that panel on your arm? ALEX Yeah? MARC Press the largest button. ALEX Ok... He presses it and vanishes. Marc grins, presses it, and vanishes. -e@VttrC LEGO WORLD IOEC from a Lego's point of view. Alex looking around, marveled at the structures around him. Marc enters. MARC What do you think? ALEX Spiffy. MARC See, you can build structures on either this level, or the normal level, and you can build custom blocks, change colors on the fly, create vehicles to move around, and even make people to populate your world. ALEX Spiffy. MARC Well, I need to get some work done, so I'll leave you here. ALEX Spiffv. ,Zt4@.@F BASE AREA Marc climbs down from th,,-, holding a newspaper in he CINDY Look at this, will you? Look at this. MARC What? Cindy crosses to him and slams the newspaper on the table. MARC Today's paper. Very nice. CINDY That's not what I want to show. See, here in the back ... Here, look at this. She thrusts the paper at Marc. He looks at it, at the story about the Technowizards and the Technophobies. He reads some of the story. MARC So someone managed to do a story on US. CINDY Not just us, on them. The phobles. Marc doesn't see her point. MARC Yeah... CINDY They put us on the same page! MARC (sarcastic) What an insult. CINDY It is. To put a group so wondrous as ours on the same page as, well those ... arugh! It's horrible. MARC Tragic, isn't it? V,e\ I -Z7@4-M TECHNOPHOBIE BASE lOG Reed and William standing around a table. Stephanie enters with a tray of food and crosses to them. WILLIAM How could they of done such a thing? I mean, look at this! They can't do this. They'll pay for this. STEPHANIE For what? She sets the tray down and she and Reed take some of the food. REED It's not like they told anything no one else knows ... WILLIAM They practically gave away the location of our base! REED "-At their base, located in the foothills..." Sure, I'm sure even the wizards have a better idea than that. WILLIAM You're missing the point. STEPHANIL I think we all are. WILLIAM The point is, they printed information that never should be within sight range of any wizard. I-G-H CINDY IOH CINDY No phobie ever should ever have the ability to get this information. MARC It's not like it's classified, or anything. In fact, it's all common knowledge. Everyone knows this stuff. -2,A.14)4 WILLIAM ioi WILLIAM It's the principal of the thing. We don't go telling just everyone on the street this stuff for a reason. No everyone should know it. Reed studies the article closer, pulls out a pad and a pen, scribbles down a phone number, and exits as William continues shoutiricr '-.9-j REED ioi at the t-u--t-@kirts eL@. He reaches a pay phone and nervousli"-dEal--,-,-Eli@@ number he wrote down. TECHNOWIZARD BASE 10K Cindy and Marc still at the table. CINDY I can't believe how any of this information got out. MARC I ike... He is inter a phone ringing. Cindy gets up and climbs to h o answer it. MARC oming subspace transmission... Z74@ CINDY 10L walks to phone and answers it, pausing after each line as the other party speaks. CINDY Hello? Um hm. What? Is this some sort of joke? Sure. Ok. Bye. She hangs up the p and stares blankly into space, contemplating. MARC ',A at his computer, typing. Jack enters. JACK Hey, Marc, what's with Cindy? MARC Huh? JACK Cindy. She's been locked in her room ever since I got here three hours ago. What'd you say to her? MARC Nothing. JACK Really, now. MARC Seriously. She stressed out over the article, then she holed herself up in her room. I dunno what's up. JACK Hm. I wonder what she's doing tonight. You busy? MARC Huh? JACK Come on, now. Don't deny it. You wonder what she's doing tonight. MARC Frankly, I don't care right now. JACK Right here, right now. But deep inside, you want a deeper relationship. MARC That's insane. Everyone knows you want her. JACK Not as insane as you'd like to believe. I've seen the way you look at her, across the base, when you think no one's looking. We're really far more observant than you think. MARC So maybe you're right. But right now, I have to get this code done, or she'll have my head on a platter, and that's not how I want to go to dinner with her. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some coding to do. Marc turns his full attention to his computer. Jack moves to the front of Marc's desk, leaning lightly on the monitors. JACK You know I'm right. MARC You're never right about anything. JACK You just don't want to admit it. MARC Whatever. Technowizards vs Technophobies Page 26 23 February 1997 08:54 Copyright (D 1997 by Ted Logan JACK Look at her. She's lonely. Go cheer her up. MARC Why don't you? JACK Because you're my friend. I want you to have the first chance. MARC Sure. JACK You know she'd never go for me. But you, ooh. You're just her type. MARC And what, prey tell, is "her type?" JACK You tell me. Just describe yourself, and you'll get a pretty good impression. MARC You know what, Jack? You're not too much different from me. In fact, when I look at Cindy, and then you, the two of you are a lot more similar than you think. Go talk to her. Ask her out to dinner. Oh, I have something for you. Marc digs around in the junk behind his desk. He finally pulls out a small black box and hands it to Jack. JACK And what, prey tell, is this? MARC Open it and find out. Jack opens it, revealing a data clip. He pulls it out and holds it to the light, examining it. JACK A data clip. How nice. I should of thought of this before. What am I supposed to do with it? MARC Whatever you like, only I would recommend viewing the images on it. JACK What images are on it? MARC Just something I found. Complete topographical data for the United States. You expressed interest in it? JACK Thanks, this is great. He turns to leave. MARC You're forgetting something. JACK What? MARC They're encrypted. JACK I was afraid you would say that. All right, what's the password? MARC Cindy put up a new poster in her room yesterday. The password is the largest block of letters. JACK And how do you expect me to figure that out? MARC It's up to you, but I would recommend going over there to her office, asking her to dinner, and reading the phrase at the same time. JACK You planned this the whole time, didn't you. MARC You were the one who brought this up. JACK Fine, then. But I'll get you back, I promise. I look fore it. Jack looks at Marc, shakes his head, and exits. Marc grins, and resumes typing. Zot-l-CM C I ND@Y 1ON She notices the time and gets up. Jack enters :Cro@@4t@e c atwalk. JACK (nervously) Um, hi, Cindy. What's up? CINDY Oh, hi, Jack. I didn't see you there. What brings you over here? Cindy starts to climb down the ladder. JACK Well, actually, I was wondering if ... CINDY Tell Marc that I'm going to be out this evening.. JACK Oh, really? What are you doing? CINDY Going to dinner. JACK Really? With whom? CINDY He calls mself Reed. JACK 11, have a good time. CINDY Thanks. Cindy ex-it-s k walks over to her office, looks through the window, and takes notice of the poster. JACK Obsidian rules. Well, I hope you're happy, Marc. He walks nervously back to his office. i-17 MARC' S 4OOr 0 11 1,14arc at his computer. He is sitting in front of a large Idesk with a keyboard and three flat panel monitors that lwill fold down on a small shelf above the desk. Papers T@o and computer books are strewn all around the desk'@@eT-"@@100- drinks from a 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew. A large screen is set up behind the desk, in front of Marc as he sits. It shows various information Marc wants close t hand, but not as close as the information at his hree local monitors. arc is typing on a conventional keyboard, coding. Cindy enters. She observes him for a beat. CINDY Whatlcha doing? Silence. CINDY Marc. Silence. Cindy walks behind the desk and pushes the monitors down one by one. No response. CINDY Marc. Marc reaches unconsciously for, his bottle of Mountain Dew. Cindy grabs lrñ-s@ris rc tugs, and finally notices her. MARC Hey. CINDY I'm glad you noticed me. MARC Give me my Dew. CINDY I've only been standing here for the past couple of minutes. MARC You should know not to disturb me on a coding run. CINDY I'll keep that in mind. MARC That's what you said the last seventeen times. Now, are you going to give me my Dew? Cindy relents, and releases her hold. Marc takes the 2liter and drinks. CINDY How can you stand that stuff? MARC Huh? CINDY It's so ... green..., and disgusting looking. I don't see how you can drink it. MARC I don't see how you can do without it. Now, is there something I can do for you, or programming? As a matter of act, I was wondering what, oh, never mind, you wouldn't be interested. MARC What? CINDY No, it doesn't matter. MARC Tell me. CINDY You'll think it's stupid. MARC Come on, do I ever think something you say is stupid? CINDY Yes. MARC What? CINDY Remember last month, when I wanted to go to that show in Denver? You thought that was stupid. MARC That's because it was! You wanted to go all the way to Denver just to see something that we vastly surpass every time we turn on our computers. CINDY They're always on. MARC Huh? CINDY The computers. They're always on. MARC You know what I mean. Ok, I only think something you say is stupid when it is. But you don't say anything stupid very often. CINDY Oh, really, now. MARC u going to tell me, or not? t this, I've already wasted nutes on this conversation. ow how much code I could of written in that much time? CINDY Not too much? MARC That's not the point. The point is, we"re jettisoning time here. Are you going to say it, or not? CINDY I'm just ... Marc watches her with interest. CINDY Oh, never mind. She turns to leave. MARC Wait, aren't you going to tell me? CINDY No, it'd take too much time. She exits. Marc sighs, and turns back to his computer. -i-@ CINDY'S OFFICE 12 Cindy enters, notices Alex playing with something. CINDY Go play with your own stuff, and leave mine alone. He exits. She sits down at her computer and sighs. CINDY Computer, create log entry. COMPUTER Personal log, Earthdate 1997.5043. Ready. CINDY I tried to tell Marc about meeting Reed this evening, but I couldn't bring myself to tell him. He wants to know, I can tell, but I'm not sure he will like it when I tell him. Reed will be an excellent addition do our group, but I don't w how Marc or Jack will react. MARC 13 He watches Cindy's personal log on his own screen. He presses a few keys. -.4 CINDY 14 Finishes her log. Marc's face appears on her screen. MARC Very impressive. Why wouldn't you tell me before? CINDY (exasperated) How did you see that? MARC Everything I know I learned from you. And Jack. He's an excellent hacker. CINDY You know what I can have done to you for that. MARC You were going to tell me, anyway. Plus, I didn't really break into your systems. Why didn't you encrypt your log before you sent it to the routing server? Cindy gets mad, then breaks down. CINDY How did you know that? MARC I intercepted your data stream. It wasn't too hard to figure out you didn't encrypt it. How long has this been going on? Have there been more log entries that I could of watched? CINDY None of them. Ok, maybe a few. MARC Thought so. So, who is Reed? CINDY A Technophobie. He's expressed interest in joining us, and I'm going to meet with him this evening to finalize the defection. MARC You know you have to clear any additional members with Jack and I first, then the assembly votes on them. CINDY Read the constution carefully. Section 14, subsection 3, paragraph 5 clearly states that any defector from any opposing sect can be admitted solely by the president, or by both of the vice presidents. MARC It says nothing of the sort! See, here, it reads ... What did you do, change it to make everything work your way? CINDY Remember last month's assembly meeting? We amended it then. MARC Oh, thanks, make major changes while I'm not around. Cindy grins evilly and terminates the conversation. Alex enters, holding a data clip. CINDY Alex, leave me alone. I have work to do. ALEX But I designed a cool vr simulation. CINDY Is that what you've been working on for the past few hours? Well, go play with it some more, because I have stuff to do. ALEX But ... CINDY Do you want me to send you home? Well, leave me alone. Alex contemplates fighting, but exits. CINDY Brothers. 15 ,@4i -5 ALLEY Cindy emerges from doorway at night and looks cautiously around. down the alley. -@St-6 MARC @p 'I@, i 16 looks from I the alley and watches Cindy. He creeps ai@ follows her at a distance. Technowizards vs Technophobies Page 36 23 February 1997 08:54 Copyright (D 1997 by Ted Logan COFFEE SHOP 17 Same one as previously, although more crowded. Cindy enters, looks nervously around, and sits down at an empty table in the back. Reed walks over and sits down across from her. Both of them look around while they talk, looking for anything suspicious. REED You made it. CINDY I got held up. I see you found the place ok. REED It's not too hard. So, is everything worked out? CINDY Yep. We can accept you in tZ/ays, and then you will be fully -6@. How's everything at your end? REED Good. No one suspects anything. 4-@8 MARC 18 its down in back of shop, looks around:' 6c@f (@E watching Ree@,-a,nd Cindy. He pulls out a small device from his backpack, puts earphones on, turns it on, and hears Ree y talking. IC6t-4B JACK 18B i, h g. Alex enters, carrying a data clip. ALEX Jack. JACK Oh, hi, Alex. What's up? ALEX The hanging ceiling. JACK Hey, that's my line. ALEX Sorry. I'll remember that next time. JACK What brings you here? ALEX A vr simulation. JACK The one you've been playing with for the past three hours? ALEX Actually, it's another one I designed. JACK Is it any good? ALEX It's ok. Here, take a look at it when you get a chance. JACK I'm not busy now; I'll look at it. ALEX Good. Alex gives Jack the data clip and exits. Jack studies the clip. -3114,9 TECHNOPHOBIE BASE 19 William sitting around the chess board, examining the pieces, and moving a few. Stephanie reclines on a couch, drinking from a tall glass and reading a book. Reed enters carefully on the second level, looks around, tr to alert anyone to his presence. *P-& REED '1,1 IA'i 20 enters a r pulls a box from the closet. He quietly places most of the stuff on the desk into the box, and winces when a few of them make noises. STEPHANIE Reed? Are you in here? Reed stresses, packs faster. Stephanie enters, Reed attempts to hide the box. STEPHANIE I thought I heard you come in. What have you been doing? REED Nothing, really. STEPHANIE What are you doing, with that box? REED I'm, I'm, I'm cleaning, yeah, that's it. I need to get all this stuff out of my way. STEPHANIE If you need any help, I don't think anyone else has anything to do. You can find us, if you need us. REED Yeah, of course. ú . 10 il@-, 6- --4,1- TECHNOWIZARD BASE 21 Reed is unpacking the contents of his box into his new quarters. Cindy enters. CINDY Reed, I'm glad you could join us. We're going to have fun, here. Cindy leads Reed outside the room to the main base area. A ceiling panel moves, and is removed. Jack sticks his head down, looks around, and drops down. He rummages through Reed's stuff, and finally finds a sheet of paper. He pulls it out and looks at it - a map to the Tec phobie's base. He smiles. kAZ24B MARCI-, 21B at his computer, watching Reed-and Cindy in the base area. He reacts with disgusp,.", Jack enters. Q-Q VJACK "ill' @ ::I i What's happening around here, anyway? Some new guy comes, aneQ3@-, Technowizards vs Technophobies 23 February 1997 08:54 Page 39 Copyright (D 1997 by Ted Logan that's all Cindy can think about. MARC You're just jealous, that's all, that he gets all of her attention. JACK Maybe, but you are, too. Don't try to deny it. I've seen the way you've been watching them the past couple of days. MARC Ok, so maybe we both are, just a little. But what can we do about it? Just sit here and mope for the rest of our lives? JACK I dunno. I've been thinking, though ... MARC Battle stations. JACK No, seriously. I think Reed may actually be right. MARC Of course he's right. He joined us. JACK No, he's wrong now, he was right before. MARC Huh? JACK I think the Technophobies have it right. I mean, look at this stuff. All of it. It'll be obsolete in less than two years, and replaced long before then. What's the point? Constantly getting better technology, but never actually improving yourself. Our entire lives are devoted to maintaining and replacing this technology. But where will this get us? No where. There's gotta be a better answer to life. Marc looks at Jack with surprise, wondering how he could actually say what he just said, how he could be so disenchanted with the Technowizards. A beat. JACK Tell Reed he can have my office. Jack exits. Marc is still surprised. -2-2 VR PAD 22 Cindy and Reed in full vr gear, each acting out an action scene. Their perspective is shown on monitors behind them. Becky enters and sits down at a table, watching them, and then Marc typing at his computer. Cindy and Reed exit their vr adventure, take off their helmets, disconnect themselves from the pad, sit down at the table, and begin talking. CINDY That was quite a program. You(O@-@ getting better. REED Thanks. I found your part very... stimulating. Becky moves closer to them. Cindy notices her. CINDY Oh, hi, Becky. It's good to see you. How have you been? BECKY Good. It's good to be back here. It seems I always have too much to do. CINDY School will do that to you. A beat. Becky indicates Marc. BECKY What's his problem? CINDY I dunno. He's been coding straight, or as nearly as I can tell, for the past 40 hours, about the time Jack left for the Phobies. Becky nods, understanding. BECKY Any idea why he left? CINDY Nope. Marc was the last to talk to him. He said Jack said something about there being more to life than just maintaining technology. BECKY Is there, Reed? More to life than just maintaining technology? REED Not at all. BECKY Good. Well, I think I'll leave you two alone, and go talk to Marc. Becky gets uo./ tA@ -2-3 MARC'--) c"@1W41@,@', 23 typing at his computer. He sees Becky reflected on one of his monitors and cringes. CAOM/' BECK' How are you doing, Marc? No response. BECKY It's been a long time, Marc. Marc types, "Not long enough." BECKY Don't you remember the fun we had together? Marc types, 'What fun?" BECKY It was too bad it had to be cut short; we were so promising. Marc types, "That's not what you said at the time. Come to think of it, you didn't say anything at all." BECKY Whatever you're doing this for, you don't have to still be mad at me. Marc types, ""Sure, whatever.," BECKY Come on, Marc, let's just talk this out. Marc types, "'Go to Redmond."" BECKY Fine, then, I'm just going to sit here until you decide to talk to me. Marc types, "That'li be a wh e. '@'-4 TECHNOPHOBIE BASE - @s^k 2 4 William and Stephanie t7l@ing to Jack in the main area of their base. WILLIAM You'll be able to take over most of the duties Reed vacated here. STEPHANIE You'll be in charge of the physical plant here, making sure our little base doesn't get too far out of repair, so it doesn't collapse on us one day. WILLIAM Which would not be good. Technowizards vs Technophobies Page 43 23 February 1997 08:54 Copyright (D 1997 by Ted Logan JACK No, it wouldn't. I think I can handle that. William and Stephanie exit. Jack notices a grand piano and sits down in front of it. He cracks his fingers. JACK A keyboard. How quaint. Jack digs around into the piano bench and finds a book for Moonlight Sonata. He sets it up and starts to play, e@s -top" 4-Y 2 5 Marc still typing. Clock shows time elapsed 52 hours. Becky jerks awake, shakes head, and walks out to main room. Marc notices her leave, types a few keys, and a clear plastic wall slides up in the doorway. CINDY' S OFFICE 26 Reed and Cindy sitting at Cindy's desk, eating something. REED Is he always like that? CINDY Who? REED Marc. Does he always lock himself in his room and code? CINDY No. REED So why's he doing it, now? CINDY I think he's just stressed out about Jack leaving. REED Oh. They eat in silence. Becky enters and heads for Marc's room. She hits the plastic wall, not knowing it's there, and then bangs on it with her hand. BECKY Marc, let me in! What did I ever do to you? REED I'd say he doesn't want to listen to you, anymore. %Jc"C@ MARC 27 He can barely hear Becky outside his door. He smiles. B CINDY'S OFFICE 27B CINDY It makes my life worthwhile just having you here. REED I feel the same way about you. I was lost before I met you and joined the Technowizards, but now, I have a sense of purpose. Cindy and Reed turn towards each other and slowly drift towards each other, ready to kiss. OUTSIDE CINDY'S OFFICE 27C Alex is carrying something in his hand as he enters Cindy's office. ALEX Hey, Cindy, take a look at this. It's a ... He breaks off when he sees Cindy and Reed and bashes the object into the door jamb. Hey, look now, he he he, itrs broken. I'll have to go fix it. He exits. REED Who was that? CINDY My kid brother Alex. But he's not important now, is he? and kisses him. 28 nimal li ts are on, except for Marc's room. MARC 29 Clock says 15@- hours elapsed. Marc stares at his screen with a blank stare. He reaches automatically for his 2liter of Mountain Dew, but finds only an empty one. He tosses it over his shoulder, where it lands in a large pile of empty 2-liters. He reaches for another one, but finds none. He looks vacantly at his screens, and his head falls slowly to his shoulders as his eyes close. MARC 04- 30 is jerked awake. All lighting in the base is on minimal. He looks at his computer, and sees the elapsed time - 215 hours. MARC Three days ... wow. He gets up and runs into his door. He stumbles back, pushes a button on a control panel on the wall, and the door opens. He walks through the doorway, and into the main part of the base. He surveys each part of the base. BASE 31 Panning from Cindy's office to the computer core, Marc's office, Reed's office, the vr pad, and finally the kitchen, seeing no one. -32 MARC 32 climbs down to the main area and walks to the kitchen. He fixes himself something to eat. MARC Where are they? No response. S6 --@Z BASE 33 Panning from the kitchen. Technowizards vs Technophobies Page 46 23 February 1997 08:54 Copyright (D 1997 by Ted Logan C-1 -44- MARC 3 4 MARC There's not enough people here ... there's gotta be at least 2 officers here ... He finishes his sandwich. MARC I'll have to go find them. He walks to a computer and types a few keys. Screen say, "All security programs active." Marc exits. TOP OF BUILDING 35 at night. Marc awakes suddenly on a couch. He gets up and looks around at the lights of the city of Boulder. He walks to the edge, finds a fire escape, and climbs down it. PEARL STREET 35B at night. Marc walks down the mall, looking aimlessly around. He sees JACK 35C walking west. -3-1-@t MARC 350 follows Jack. -3tL!@, STREET 35E Jack walks past, then Marc follows him in the shadows. 63-3---Ir JACK 35F walks up a mountain trail and stops in front of a rock. He presses the rock, and it opens. Jack enters. Marc watches him. TECHNOPHOBIE BASE 36 with minimal lighting. Pan around the base, showing no one. Zoom on an air vent, which moves around, falls off, revealing Marc, who drops down and replaces the vent. Marc looks in awe at the Technophobie's base. He pulls out a padd and makes notes, mapping the base. COUCH - REC R V""i- 37 Marc sits down on the couch and uplinks the map to the Technowizard computers. He lies down on the couch and falls asleep. 4.8- BLACKNESS 38 Breathing. Chess pieces being moved on a board. Fade in on 67" REC ROOM-I-- MARC 39 opens his eyes slowly and listens to the noise. He identifies its source, carefully tick his head above -@, f ck the couch, and sees CHESS BOARD - STEPHANIE AND WILLIAM 40 William has far more pieces on the board than Stephanie. They are eating food from a tray. They each move several pieces in sequence. WILLIAM Checkmate. Stephanie carefully examines her position. STEPHANIE Yeah. William gets up and exit@-@,t phanie sets the board up and exits another way.-r Marc gets up from his couch, sits down behind the white pieces, and moves one of them. Stephanie enters, carrying a drink, sits down across from Marc, and moves one of her pieces. She gets up and exits, and Marc moves one of his pieces. Stephanie enters with a plate of food for Marc. He eats it, and they play for several moves. MARC (v.o., echo) Does she know who I am? Would it be possible for her not to know? We keep excellent surveillance on all the phobies, but do they do the same for us? A few more moves. STEPHANIE Check. Technowizards vs Technophobies Page 48 23 February 1997 08:54 Copyright (D 1997 by Ted Logan Marc evaluates his position, and moves out of check. Stephanie and Marc play chess for about half an hour (their time). MARC Check. Mate. Stephanie evaluates her position and nods. STEPHANIE Marc. It is you, isn't it? Jack has told me so much about you. You were such a good friend to him. It's sad that you two are apart, now. MARC Yes, it is. What is this? STEPHANIE The food? Well, I'm not sure how to describe it. It's something I made. It's, um, I'm not sure what it is. MARC Whatever it is, it's good. You're not a bad chess player. Stephanie laughs. STEPHANIE I'm not that good. You should play William, the true master. MARC Will he care that I'm not one of you? STEPHANIE That is a problem. (quieter) There are some of us who think these sects are harmful to their members, and that their integration would be most beneficial. Then, there is William, who built us from the ground up and can't bear to associate with anyone else. Marc nods. MARC I know people like that. He pauses, thinking. What time is it, anyway? He looks at his left wrist, but fails to find a watch. I should start wearing my watch. STEPHANIE That might be good. She looks at her watch. It's 7:45 am. Marc thinks about that. MARC What day is it? Sorry, my schedule has been a bit abnormal lately. STEPHANIE (laughs) I understand the feeling. It's Tuesday. MARC Thanks. Are you doing anything tonight? STEPHANIE I don't believe so. Why? MARC Would you like to meet me for dinner somewhere? STEPHANIE I believe that could be arranged. Where? MARC That one place. How's 1930 sound? STEPHANIE Great. MARC I probably should be going. My people are probably looking for me. What's the best way to get out of here? STEPHANIE Come on, I'll show you. They get up and exit. 60@-4-i MAIN ROOM 41 Stephanie and Marc enter cautiously. Stephanie points to a door. STEPHANIE Just go t r. It'll take you and you can find here. MARC Thanks. STEPHANIE Any time. Marc exits throuq the door. Pan to show Jack watching him leave. moment's thought, he exits. 7*2- WILLIAM'S 42 William doing something. Jack enters. JACK William. There's something I have to tell you. William looks up with interest. @-4-3 STREET 43 At about 8 am in the summer. Marc walks down the sidewalk, then, without changing speed, walks across the street at an angle. He turns towards downtown Boulder, his face betraying no emotion. -7ji-4- TECHNOWIZARD COMPUTER ROOM 44 Fans whirring, no other noise. A heating vent moves and falls off, revealing Marc behind it. He looks cautiously around and drops down. MARC (v.o., echo) Is everything ok? I wonder if they're here, or not. TECHNOWIZARD MAIN AREA 45 Cindy and Reed sitting at the table, talking. Pan to computer room. Marc creeps out from behind a shelf of circuitry and surveys the scene. Finding everythil@g in order, he relaxes and climbs down the ladder MARC Greetings. Cindy and Reed look up. REED Oh, hi, Marc. I didn't see you come in. CINDY Marc. Where have you been? Marc walks to the kitchen and fixes himself a lot of food. MARC Taking a survey. CINDY of whom? MARC The Technophobies. Reed looks up, interested. Cindy reacts with disgust. MARC It seems that there are those of their number who would like to have a more, um, friendly relationship with us. Reed finds that fascinating. Cindy is disgusted. CINDY That's insane. What would we want to do with those freaks? Reed is insulted. Cindy hangs on Reed. Except, of course, those of their number who see the light and decide to join us. Marc sighs, disgusted. Alex enters, carrying the revised version of his device. ALEX Hey, Marc, I want to show you something. Marc turns. MARC What is it? ALEX It's a ... I,m not sure how to describe it, but it makes sure everything is fun-filled. Reed is interested now. He moves closer, to Cindy's disgust. REED How's it work? ALEX It emits an electromagnetic pulse that resets most little devices to their original parameters. It's quite effective. MARC Sounds facinating, but I have some work to do, now. If you will excuse me? He takes his food up to his room and evaluates his situation. Reed and Alex continue talking, animatedly. MARC 46 typing at his comp alarm beeps, Marc looks up, seeing the time - MARC It's time. He types a few more keystrokes and looks out into -t5.4 7 MAIN ROOM 47 Panning f office, seeinu no one. 'arc's '2t8 MARC 48 He carefully walks out of his rL@,'@down the ladder, and across the main room to the door. Just as he reaches the door, Cindy sticks her head outside her office. CINDY Where are you going? MARC To supper. CINDY Really, now. We have plenty of food here. MARC I need a change. Cindy retreats into her office. Marc exits out the door. 4-9 RESTAURANT 49 Marc enters and sits down nervously, looking around. Seeing no one, he pulls out a padd and starts to work on it. Two hours pass (Marc's time), as the sun sets and Marc continues working. He looks up, looks at his watch, and realizes the time. MARC Is she coming? He looks around, as if expecting an answer. MARC I guess not. Marc gets up and sighs. He looks around one last time, and exits. PEARL STREET 50 at night. Marc walks down almost aimlessly, watching the performers and attempting to soak in the culture of a world that is so similar yet so different from his. He passes the coffee shop Cindy and Reed met in and contemplates entering, but he remembers -IC)-&i COFFEE SHOP - CINDY AND REED (FLASHBACK) 51 laughing and having a good time CVV-UL MARC (FLASHBACK) 52 watching them .*A '13@ PEARL STREET - MARC 53 He decides not to enter the shop, and passes on, continuing to wander aimlessly. An explosion rocks the mall, and Marc is jerked from his thoughts. He attempts to gain his bearings, figure out where he is, and where the explosion came from. A second explosion goes off, Marc recognizes which direction it came from. MARC The base. Filled with terror, he pushes his way through the crowd of terrified, fleeing people towards the explosion's source. MARC No ... &4- STREET 54 Marc enters, and sees a large crater at the base of a building behind a police barricade. He runs to it, terrified, and a police man walks up to him. POLICE MAN I'm sorry, you can't go in there. Marc turns around and runs in the direction he came. 4@5- FIRE ESCAPE 55 Marc climbs up a fire escape and manages to enter the window. tok-,,6 OFFICE 56 Marc enters through the window. Looking around in the dark, lit only by moonlight through the window, he grabs a rope and a light from a cabinet and rushes out the door. '!7-r ELEVATOR LOBBY 57 Marc reaches the elevator door, bangs it, and manages to force the doors open. He leans in, and using the light, shines it up. ..e ELEVATOR SHAFT 58 looking up, the elevator stationary about a story up. Pan down, into blackness, beyond the light's range. zie7--44 BLACKNESS 59 u@ A light appears at the top and shines into a large cavern - formerly the Technowizard's base. MARC 60 hanging down on a rope into the cavern, shining the light around. He looks in terror and awe at the sight, and looks ahead of him at 6-t- LEDGE 61 and the charred remains of the central computer core. Pan around what's left of the rest of the base. A few fires still burn in some places, but no signs of human remains. C@0,6Z MARC 62 reacting with absolute terror. MARC Where are they? CAVERN 63 panning again. Pass and go back to the entrance, where noise is coming from. FIRE FIGHTER 1 In here, I think I've almost got it. FIRE FIGHTER 2 Right behind you. Be careful. The door falls down, and two fire fighters shine their lights into the cavern. Marc shuts his light off. FIRE FIGHTER 2 What happened in here? FIRE FIGHTER 1 I don't know. Apparently some natural gas leak. MARC 64 pulls himself up on his rope. C@3 6.5- BEAR MOUNTAIN 65 peak at night. Wind blows, howling over the ridge. Heavy breathing. Marc stumbles into view, falls down, picks himself, and continues towards THE TOP 66 Marc is silhouetted against the lights of the city of Boulder. He stands up, straight on the peak, looking at A(6q THE CITY 67 in all its glory U7 MARC 68 He watches the city, observing it, wanting to be part of the city, yet purposely distancing himself. He reaches out, attempting to touch it, to make it part of himself. He sits down on the rock and pulls out binoculars from his pack. CAIL9 DOWNTOWN BOULDER - BINOCULAR VIEW 69 View focuses, then moves to just outside the central downtown area, then zooms in on the Technowizard's building, the police barricade, and a plethora of police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances. Cl@'6ZG- MARC 70 moves closer for a better view, but trips and falls down and rolls several meters. He comes to a stop without his pack or binoculars. He crawls into a small space between two rocks and watches the city below. MARC - PRE-DAWN LIGHT 71 He is jerked awake by several rocks rolling down from above him. He cranes his neck in an attempt to locate the source of the rocks, but he fails. Liz jumps down the rocks and lands in front of Marc, carrying his binoculars. She turns towards him, holding out his binoculars. LIZ Are these yours? MARC Yeah, thanks. He gets up, she gives him the binoculars and studies him. LIZ You're Marc Mann, aren't you? MARC Yeah. LIZ I'm Liz Someone. It's required for all Technophobies to be able to recognize the Technowizard's leaders. MARC You're a phobie? LIZ Loosely speaking. I'm still on their roster, but I've stopped actually being one of them. Marc nods, understanding the feeling. MARC What happened to my base? I went there, and there was nothing left. LIZ I don't know. I almost want it to be an accident, not caused by one of my people. MARC We could of come to an understanding, our peoples. We could of worked our differences out in an intelligent manner. It would of been good, th at,,way. We could of worked Z- Sunrise. ever seen t@4,e-sun rise be-fi No. - A@s <71 VI, LIZ It's beautiful. I try to watch it as much as I can. Liz sits down where Marc was sitting before. LIZ Have a seat. He obliges. The sit in silence for a beat. LIZ It's strange, don't you think? MARC What? LIZ Three months, I never thought I would ever talk to anyone outside the Technophobies, much less the most evil of all people, a Technowizard executive. But now,T the sects have, well, destroyed oi ability to see beyond the technology that blinds us. our sects might never be able to see beyond their facades, but at least some of their members might be able to. Marc looks at her. She smiles, and he smiles. kCD -1-4 THE SKY 7 4 The sun starts to rise above the horizon. 0 LIZ AND MARC 75 They start to be hit by the sun's light, and watch in awe. Technowizards vs Technophobies Page 59 23 February 1997 08:54 Copyright (D 1997 by Ted Logan MARC It's beautiful ... Switch between Liz and Marc and the sun, until the sun is fully risen, Liz and Marc fully illuminated by the early-morning light. MARC Magnificent. Such a simple thing, the sun rising. It's happened hundreds, thousands of times in my life. And yet, I never thought it could be so wondrous ... Liz smiles. LIZ Beautiful. She gets up. LIZ Come on, we have a bright new day ahead of us. She offers her hand, and helps him up. 0-4t6- WIDE ANGLE 76 Liz and Marc walk up, onto the ridge, and down the ridge, hand in hand, silhouetted against the now risen sun. FADE OUT THE END