- by
- 2601 2 N D
- FADE IN:
- A million suns shine in the dark.
- A STARSHIP cuts through the night: a gleaming white cruiser.
- Galleries of windows. Flying decks and observation domes.
- On the hull: EXCELSIOR - A HomeStead Company Starship.
- The ship flashes through a nebula. Space-dust sparkles as it
- whips over the hull, betraying the ship’s dizzying speed.
- The nebula boils in the ship’s wake. The Excelsior rockets
- INT. STARSHIP EXCELSIOR - GRAND CONCOURSE
- A wide plaza. Its lofty atrium cuts through seven decks,
- creating tiers of promenades framing a vast skylight.
- The promenades are empty. Chairs unoccupied. Beetle-like
- CAFETERIA
- Super-modern and gleaming. Hundreds of tables, all empty.
- Lounge furniture and star-filled windows. Completely
- deserted. A robot on spindly legs washes the glass.
- Endless corridors lined with vertical glass tubes. Inside
- each tube stands a PASSENGER. Eyes closed in sleep. If
- They sleep on their feet, leaning against padded supports.
- Straps secure them in place; sensors adhere to their skin.
- They wear shorts and tank tops with HomeStead Company logos.
- We survey their faces. No children, no senior citizens. Men
- and women of every ethnicity in the prime of their lives.
- We settle on one man. JIM PRESTON, 38. Sound asleep. A small
- JAMES PRESTON
- Denver, Colorado
- Blood type: A+
- Fare: one-way
- Lights wink on in Jim’s hibernation pod. Machinery hums to
- Medical data fills the pod’s screen. Jim’s temperature rises.
- Jim opens his eyes.
- The backrest behind him converts into a recliner, lowering
- The sensors on his skin drop off and snake back into the
- A video screen descends before Jim’s eyes.
- ONSCREEN - A beautiful stewardess appears, beaming at the
- camera. She is inhumanly perfect, a computer-generated image.
- Good Morning, James!
- (disoriented)
- VIDEO STEWARDESS
- confused. You’ve just spent a hundred
- animation.
- She makes it sound sexy. Jim scowls and rubs his eyes.
- ONSCREEN - An animation. Happy people go to sleep in glass
- tubes in a hospital. The tubes are loaded onto a spaceship.
- You’re a passenger on the Starship
- Starship. We’ve nearly completed the
- new home - the colony world of
- ONSCREEN - The Excelsior leaves a skyscraper-covered Earth
- and soars through space to a lush green Homestead II.
- JIM
- Oh, yeah.
- The Excelsior is on final approach.
- For the next two months, you’ll enjoy
- friends.
- ONSCREEN - The ship’s lavish amenities: fine dining, sports
- facilities, shops, all swarming with happy passengers.
- Then you’ll start your new life on
- start. Room to grow.
- ONSCREEN - Publicity shots of Homestead II. Mountains,
- VIDEO STEWARDESS (CONT’D)
- juice will help you recover from
- Pills rattle into a dish; a glass of pink juice appears. He
- takes his pills and gulps his juice with a grimace.
- Jim’s backrest eases him onto his feet. A drawer pops open,
- revealing a Homestead Company bathrobe and slippers.
- Make yourself comfortable in your
- He puts them on.
- Your shipcard is your key to the
- (flirtatiously)
- The pod produces Jim’s shipcard: a plastic ID card on a
- VIDEO STEWARDESS (CONT’D)
- Make yourself at home! Enjoy the rest
- JIM
- 3.
- All the other pods are closed, the people inside asleep. A
- VIDEO STEWARDESS
- The screen flips around to face him. The video stewardess
- VIDEO STEWARDESS (CONT’D)
- cabin number is on your shipcard.
- Thanks.
- He shuffles down the corridor in his slippers, rubbing his
- Behind him, his pod closes up. Its screen reads PASSENGER
- ELEVATOR FOYER
- Jim finds a bank of elevators. As he approaches, the
- indicators blink on. An elevator opens, spilling light.
- DECK SEVEN
- A corridor lined with doors. A CLEANING ROBOT vacuums.
- Jim appears. Instantly the corridor lights brighten. The
- CLEANING ROBOT
- JIM
- Hello, robot.
- Jim follows wall markings to his cabin. Lets himself in.
- Cozy but small. A bed, a desk, an armchair. No window.
- A SCREEN lights up. The HomeStead Company theme music plays.
- 4.
- Welcome to your cabin, Jim! Your home
- Jim doesn’t pay attention. Pokes around, opening drawers.
- Over the next two months, you’ll
- Homestead II.
- Jim peers into the tiny bathroom. There’s a little video
- ANNOUNCER (V.O.) (CONT’D)
- Learning Groups for orientation.
- group..thirty-eight! Don’t forget!
- The DOORBELL rings.
- Jim opens the door eagerly - and deflates. No one there.
- He looks down. A waist-high CARGO ROBOT peers up at him with
- goggle eyes. It carries two suitcases and a duffel bag.
- Passenger James Preston?
- Jim. Yeah.
- Your luggage, Passenger Jim. Swipe
- Jim swipes his shipcard through a slot on top of the robot.
- The robot scoots inside and deposits Jim’s bags on the floor.
- Enjoy your luggage!
- Thanks.
- Thank you, Passenger Jim!
- Jim looks up and down the corridor. The receding robot is the
- 5.
- Your group’s orientation starts in
- Conference Room Twenty on Deck One.
- DECK FOUR - SHOPPING DISTRICT
- Jim walks along in his robe and slippers. Storefront signs
- A dry fountain gushes water at his approach.
- Forty chairs around a big table. A large screen on the wall.
- ONSCREEN: A digital INSTRUCTOR, a handsome woman of middle
- Jim walks in. The door slides closed behind him.
- Hello, Passengers. Will you all
- Jim looks around. He’s the only one there. He sits.
- Earth is a prosperous planet. The
- a long, proud history. But for many,
- Overrated. Overrun.
- Behind the Instructor, video clips of Earth’s urban sprawl:
- an endless gleaming metropolis glittering with traffic.
- (raising his hand)
- VIDEO INSTRUCTOR
- JIM
- VIDEO INSTRUCTOR
- better way of life.
- The screen fills with shots of Homestead II: aerial footage
- VIDEO INSTRUCTOR (CONT’D)
- Homestead II, the Jewel of the
- ONE HOUR LATER
- Jim sits wearily, chin propped on his hand. The Video
- Instructor chatters on. Inspiring footage of Homestead II.
- ..thriving job markets in mining,
- explosion in the cultural arts. And
- civilized, you can apply for a
- in the wild.
- Any questions?
- (exploding)
- The Instructor pauses. The question seems to confuse her.
- We’re all on the Starship Excelsior.
- crew members.
- But I’m the only one awake.
- No, all the passengers wake up at the
- JIM
- hibernation pods.
- Hibernation pods are fail-safe.
- So why am I the only one here?
- I’m sorry. I don’t understand your
- 7.
- Jim finds an INFOMAT - an information kiosk. A banner scrolls
- across the screen: ASK ME A QUESTION! Jim taps the screen.
- (insanely cheerful)
- JIM
- live person.
- What sort of person? Personal
- JIM
- INFOMAT
- affairs. You can find him in his
- ONSCREEN: A dotted line on the map shows how to get there.
- Thank you.
- Happy to help!
- Jim appears around the corner. The lights brighten, the
- He finds a door marked SHIP STEWARD.
- The lights flash on as Jim enters, revealing..an office in
- JIM
- ELEVATOR LOBBY
- 8.
- Hello! What’s your quest..
- Who’s flying the ship?
- The bridge crew includes the Captain,
- JIM
- Captain.
- The Captain rarely handles passenger
- JIM
- INFOMAT
- Bridge, on the Command Deck.
- ONSCREEN: A helpful map shows the way. Jim marches off.
- Jim finds the door to the Bridge. He opens it eagerly - only
- to find a second door behind it - an armored hatch labeled
- A porthole of thick glass gives a narrow view of the Bridge.
- It’s deserted. Instrument lights gleam in the dark.
- (pounding on the hatch)
- DECK THREE - CAFE COURTYARD
- Jim RUNS past restaurants, lounges, shops. All deserted.
- (panic in his voice)
- SERVICE DECK - CELESTIAL PROMENADE
- The highest promenade on the ship: windows on all sides. The
- huge skylight just overhead. It’s almost like being outside.
- The atrium plunges seven stories to the Concourse below.
- JIM
- Hello!
- But it’s just a window-washer: a robot with long spindly
- limbs. It moves past Jim, polishing windows. Oblivious.
- A sign catches Jim’s attention: “OBSERVATORY - Your Place In
- OBSERVATORY
- Jim enters the planetarium of the future: theater seats
- IN HOLOGRAM: An image of the starship hangs in space. Glowing
- text reads “Look through the eyes of the Starship Excelsior!”
- Jim goes to the control podium. Touches the screen.
- (a voice as deep as God’s)
- JIM
- but it looks like I’m the only one
- OBSERVATORY
- you?
- (impatiently)
- IN HOLOGRAM: The planet Homestead II, Earth’s twin sister.
- Homestead II is the fourth planet in
- JIM
- OBSERVATORY
- JIM
- 10.
- We land on Homestead II in ninety
- JIM
- OBSERVATORY
- Jim stares at the hologram in horrified realization.
- I woke up too soon.
- I don’t understand.
- Neither do I.
- Jim sprints down a row of hibernation pods. Heart pounding.
- Jim fusses with the controls, pressing buttons. But the
- Crouching, he pulls at the pod’s canopy, trying to open it
- JIM
- HIBERNATION BAY - CORRIDOR
- Jim trudges between rows of sleeping passengers to the aft
- There he finds a hatch labeled CREW HIBERNATION FACILITY.
- Jim opens it eagerly - and finds another armored hatch with a
- small porthole. Labels reads FIREWALL and SECURE ACCESS AREA.
- He peers through the porthole. Inside, the entire crew of the
- GRAND CONCOURSE - INFOMAT
- 11.
- How do I make a phone call?
- Your cabin telephone..
- No. Long distance. How do I send a
- INFOMAT
- laser array. Speak to the Duty
- ONSCREEN: The Infomat displays a helpful map.
- Please note that interstellar
- JIM
- Bite me.
- Happy to help!
- Two communications booths for passenger use. Jim sits at one
- COMMUNICATIONS BOOTH
- JIM
- COMMUNICATIONS BOOTH
- numbers listed under “HomeStead
- JIM
- Homestead II. I have an emergency.
- Division of Colonial Affairs,
- Customer Help Line.
- Sounds about right.
- The booth’s camera zooms in on Jim’s face. A microphone
- extends toward his mouth. The red RECORDING light comes on.
- Begin message.
- Jim’s a deer in the headlights. He collects himself.
- Hi. I’m Jim Preston. I’m a passenger
- wrong with my hibernation pod and I
- soon. I can’t get back to sleep.
- (with growing panic)
- going to die of old age before we get
- (takes a deep breath)
- missed something simple. But I could
- Jim pushes the “SEND” button. Sits back in his chair.
- Message sent.
- Outstanding.
- Message will arrive in nineteen
- JIM
- COMMUNICATIONS BOOTH
- years.
- No.
- We are nineteen light years from
- arrives, we will be thirty-six lightyears
- the delay.
- (devastated)
- 13.
- That will be six thousand dollars.
- Jim crosses the Concourse like a sleepwalker in his robe and
- He comes to the Concourse Bar: the fanciest watering hole on
- the ship. Black leather stools along a marble bartop.
- Jim touches the bartop..and a MAN swings up behind the bar -
- as if mounted on a hinge. A handsome fellow in a bartender’s
- uniform - his hair and skin eerily perfect. This is ARTHUR.
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- ARTHUR
- afternoon. Are you drinking or not?
- He produces a cloth and polishes the bartop. In a startling
- movement, he glides the length of the bar, polishing all the
- Jim steps up on the footrail and peers behind the bar.
- Arthur’s body stops at the waist. He’s mounted on rails,
- JIM
- You’re a robot.
- Android, technically. Arthur’s the
- JIM
- I’m Jim.
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- 14.
- Arthur pours. Jim knocks the drink back. Points into the
- empty glass while his eyes water. Arthur pours another. Jim
- takes a big swallow and sets the glass down half-full.
- Arthur, how much do you know about
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- malfunctions?
- Impossible. Hibernation pods are failsafe.
- Yeah, well, I woke up early.
- Can’t happen.
- (a challenge)
- II?
- Ninety years or so.
- And when are all of us passengers
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- ninety years to go?
- Arthur’s eyes take on a faraway look. His head twitches.
- It’s not possible for you to be here.
- JIM
- 15.
- Sorry, Jim. My specialty is cocktails
- trick questions to one of those
- everything.
- Arthur, I’m in trouble. I’m screwed.
- screwed.
- Lot of self-pity.
- Self pity? I’m going to die of old
- ARTHUR
- on the scrap heap. It’s not dying
- your life. Are you going to live it
- Jim shakes his head in surrender.
- What do I owe you?
- Jim, the booze is on the house.
- A moody lounge with panoramic windows. Jim walks in. Strolls
- Stares out at the red stars behind the ship, the cold white
- INT. JIM’S CABIN - MORNING
- Jim wakes up and rolls out of bed. Shuffles into the shower.
- Machines offer food and drink in dizzying variety. Each
- machine has a card slot and a screen displaying its menu.
- Jim enters, dressed in his own clothes - jeans, a T-shirt.
- He swipes his shipcard at a coffee machine. It offers sixteen
- kinds of coffee, from a simple cup of joe to the “Mocha
- Cappuccino Extreme.” Jim picks the best of the lot.
- Sorry. The Mocha Cappuccino Extreme
- passengers. Please select another
- Jim presses one button after another, denied each time.
- Sorry..sorry..sorry..Large coffee.
- Are you serious?
- Please enjoy.
- Jim ascends, sipping coffee and eating an egg sandwich.
- The doors open at the Command Deck. A sign reads “Crew Area -
- No Passengers beyond this point.” Jim breezes past the sign.
- Jim prowls the floor, opening doors.
- He finds a room marked EMERGENCY GEAR and opens it eagerly.
- He peers into a red HAZARD cabinet: fire extinguishers, an
- axe, an epoxy foamer for atmosphere leaks - all behind glass.
- He opens another door marked EMERGENCY MANUALS - and smiles:
- shelf after shelf of waterproof, fireproof technical manuals.
- INT. SUBDECK B - PASSENGER CARGO STOWAGE - DAY
- A cavernous cargo hold. Jim drives a forklift down the aisle,
- He finds a container labeled “PASSENGER #1498, JAMES
- 17.
- Opens to reveal Jim’s belongings. Cartons marked “sports” or
- Amidst the cartons, a heavy-duty TOOLBOX. Jim hauls it out.
- Jim sits in front of his empty hibernation pod. His toolbox
- beside him. The Hibernation Systems manual lies open.
- The pod hums to life. Its data screen flickers with
- The canopy opens.
- Elated, Jim bounces to his feet. Strips off his shirt and
- He assumes the position, his back against the backrest,
- Nothing happens. He pokes at the ports where the sensors and
- intravenous lines used to protrude. Shakes the machine.
- But now he’s trapped inside the pod.
- He pushes at the canopy, but it’s locked shut. He pounds on
- the glass with no effect. Finally he loses it, shouting and
- stamping, hammering and raging - all muffled behind glass.
- Exhausted, he sinks to the floor of the pod, staring out at
- Then he notices the emergency release handle down by the
- OUTSIDE THE POD
- The pod’s display screen blinks back to its original message.
- CREW HIBERNATION FACILITY DOOR
- Jim looks through the porthole at the sleeping crew.
- Jim swipes his shipcard through the door switch. ACCESS
- 18.
- Jim opens his toolbox, selects a tool and starts to remove
- FADE TO BLACK.
- INT. CREW HIBERNATION FACILITY DOOR - MORNING
- Jim works on the door with an industrial LASER CUTTER. Sparks
- He lifts the goggles and inspects the door. The laser cutter
- The door’s a mess. Its switch hangs on wires. There are pry
- marks around the latch. Gouges around the window. Failed
- But the door stands firm.
- Jim lets the laser cutter fall. It joins a scrapyard of tools
- on the floor: sledgehammer, jackhammer, drill, crowbar, axe.
- Another debris field surrounds Jim’s hibernation pod. Tools
- and cables, electronic instruments, a diagnostic laptop.
- Jim stalks by without so much as a sideways glance.
- Arthur stands behind the bar polishing glasses. Jim sits,
- His speech is soft around the edges. He’s had a few.
- I thought I’d figure something out. I
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- ARTHUR
- Jim gives Arthur a thoughtful look.
- JIM
- always polishing a glass.
- Trick of the trade. Makes people
- there.
- Okay. Lay some bartender wisdom on
- Arthur polishes the bar while he thinks that one over.
- You’re not where you want to be. You
- somewhere else. Right?
- You said it.
- Well, here’s the thing. Say you could
- wanted to be. Back on Earth, or on
- JIM
- ARTHUR
- you’d still feel this way. Not in the
- else. That’s not a crisis, it’s the
- Jim takes a moment to consider that.
- That’s not me.
- Well, maybe not. The point is, you
- you’d rather be that you forget to
- JIM
- 20.
- It’s a big ship. You’re always
- yelling at the computers. Take a
- Jim spins on his barstool, surveying the Grand Concourse.
- Live a little.
- When he comes back around he gives a shove. He spins faster.
- That’s the spirit.
- Jim goes for one more shove. Misses. Falls off his stool.
- Jim scans a map of the ship. Second-class cabins. First-class
- cabins. And the good stuff: palatial suites named for
- His finger stops on one of the biggest. The Berlin Suite.
- High ceilings, posh furniture, panoramic windows.
- The door jumps in its frame with a THUNK. Slides open. Jim
- A cargo robot follows him in, carrying his toolbox and
- CARGO ROBOT
- BERLIN SUITE - BATH
- Jim cleans up in the opulent bathtub. A robot arm with a
- BERLIN SUITE - BEDROOM
- Jim unpacks. Stowing clothes in closets, laying out mementos.
- 21.
- Jim shoots baskets in sneakers and gym clothes. He’s not bad.
- SPA
- Jim lies on a massage table wearing a towel. A pair of robot
- arms emerge from the table and begin to massage him.
- The Italian restaurant. Cafe tables, white tablecloths.
- Jim sits perusing a menu. A robotic waiter - a machine, not a
- JIM
- Let me have the rigatoni alla diabla,
- of the Montepulciano.
- A state-of-the-art game room. Jim inspects the flagship game:
- “Z Factor!” A huge holographic display, a futuristic cockpit.
- Jim swipes his shipcard. The game speaks like an angry giant.
- Jim Preston! Welcome to the cutting
- challenge you will ever know!
- All right then.
- Z FACTOR
- Are you ready to play Z Factor?
- Yes!
- (an echoing roar)
- IN HOLOGRAM: A fortress shines on a hilltop. War machines
- crawl over a blasted land. Letters flash: LEVEL ONE.
- A WARRIOR appears. Jim’s character. Jim works the controls.
- IN HOLOGRAM: The Warrior rises off the ground on a beam of
- light - and is immediately torn to pieces by enemy fire.
- You lose! Z Factor reigns supreme!
- DECK FOUR - MOVIE THEATER - EVENING
- A classic theater. Seats for a thousand. A velvet curtain.
- Jim enters. Cued by his arrival, the curtain parts. The film
- FADE TO BLACK.
- DECK TWO - ARCADE - DAY
- IN HOLOGRAM: The Warrior battles dragons above a crystalline
- Jim moves like a martial artist, dripping sweat.
- IN HOLOGRAM: The Warrior challenges the game’s Final Enemy -
- a colossus with a hundred eyes. The Final Enemy falls dead.
- You are victorious!
- Yes!
- You are the Grand Master of Z Factor!
- (elated)
- GYMNASIUM - BASKETBALL COURT
- Jim shoots baskets. He’s brought dozens of balls onto the
- court. He no longer rebounds, just grabs the nearest ball.
- He shoots from half court. From even farther away. Long
- 23.
- He launches a full-court shot, bangs it off the rim, and lets
- himself topple over backward. Lies staring at the ceiling.
- The ship’s Mexican restaurant. It has the same robot waiters
- as the Italian place, but here they wear sombreros.
- Jim sits over the wreckage of his lunch. He downs a margarita
- and puts the empty glass down beside several others.
- Another margarita!
- You have had many, senor.
- (drunkenly)
- MEXICAN ROBOT WAITER
- LIBRARY - AFTERNOON
- A room full of workstations, each with a reading machine. Jim
- sits at one in a headset, taking a Russian Language course.
- This is the Gudonov Russian Language
- Repeat after me.
- [I am beginning to learn.]
- (in Russian)
- RUSSIAN TEACHER (FILTERED)
- JIM
- CONCOURSE BAR - EVENING
- Jim sits drinking. Three glasses in front of him. Drunk.
- (in bad Russian, subtitled)
- 24.
- (in perfect Russian, subtitled)
- language.]
- You speak Russian!
- Of course. We have Russian
- JIM
- on, every time I sit down, I want a
- ARTHUR
- Arthur mixes a bright green drink, sets it in front of Jim.
- JIM
- ARTHUR
- FADE TO BLACK.
- INT. BERLIN SUITE - BEDROOM - MORNING
- Jim sleeps in his luxurious bed. The covers knotted around
- His eyes open. He lies staring at the ceiling.
- After a long moment he gets up. Shuffles toward the bathroom
- CAFETERIA - MORNING
- Jim walks past empty tables. Dials up a coffee and a roll.
- ARCADE ENTRANCE - DAY
- Flashes and blasts of noise. The sounds of Z Factor!
- You are victorious!
- AT THE Z-FACTOR MACHINE
- Z-FACTOR
- Bored, Jim punches his name into the High Scores board. JIM.
- CONCOURSE BAR - MORNING
- JIM
- [I’m ready for today’s new drink]
- (in Russian, subtitled)
- friend.]
- JIM
- [Don’t argue with me, robot. Give me
- ARTHUR
- There are no new drinks.
- What do you mean?
- I can make two thousand, seven
- You’ve had them all.
- JIM
- NIGHTCLUB - EVENING
- On the holographic stage, a sexy LOUNGE SINGER in a slinky
- dress croons a torch song. Jim stands just inches away.
- He touches her face. The hologram dissolves into static.
- Jim drops his hand, restoring the illusion. Closes his eyes
- GRAND CONCOURSE - SHOPPING DISTRICT - NIGHT
- Jim walks past the upscale shops, blind to their displays.
- He comes to a PHOTO BOOTH. The promotional pictures on the
- side catch his attention: people clowning, smiling, kissing.
- He pulls back the curtain, sits in the booth. The curtain
- A photostrip drops into the tray outside the machine: four
- identical shots of Jim staring into the lens without emotion.
- Jim walks numbly along, ignoring the stellar view. He munches
- A SWEEPER ROBOT follows him like a dog, collecting crumbs.
- Jim feeds it chips. One for Jim, one for the robot.
- Jim enters, still munching chips. The sweeper robot follows.
- Jim stands at the windows. Stares out into the dark. Sighs a
- Suddenly he’s wracked by sobs. Tears welling up. He leans his
- After a moment he sits down blindly.
- Confused, Jim looks around. He’s accidentally sat down on the
- TRAVELING SHOT
- The robot carries Jim up and down the Celestial Promenade.
- Past the Concourse Bar. Jim waves. Arthur waves back,
- DECK ONE
- The robot heads into a low hatch. Jim ducks to fit through.
- ROBOTICS CENTER
- A mechanical hive. Here the ship’s robots are cleaned,
- repaired, recharged. Robots bustle everywhere - never
- Jim’s sweeper robot vomits its load of collected dirt into a
- Jim jumps off.
- He explores: it’s an engineer’s fantasia. Jim’s eyes show
- signs of life. But it’s a hazardous place, with cranes and
- He exits through another low hatch to find himself in the..
- Thousands of sleepers in their glass tubes. Jim walks among
- Suddenly he stops, staring. Inside a pod, a woman stands
- sleeping. This is AURORA DUNN. A breathtaking beauty.
- Who are you?
- Aurora.
- He moves on, browsing people. Stops. Backtracks. He stands in
- He glances at her data screen again.
- New York City. Journalist.
- A workstation. Jim types “Aurora Dunn” into a search engine.
- It returns a list of New Yorker articles. Some titles:
- Patient or Patent? Genetic Medicine and You
- Jim moves the articles onto a digital slate.
- Jim sits reading one of Aurora’s articles. Arthur keeps busy.
- JIM
- businesses in the world are owned by
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- she’s not afraid of anybody.
- Who’s that?
- Aurora.
- Who’s Aurora?
- A woman. A passenger.
- SUPER: THREE MONTHS LATER
- Jim lies asleep, wearing boxer shorts and a full beard. The
- suite’s a wreck. Laundry and dishes litter the floor.
- His eyes open. He looks at the stars outside. Gropes under
- the pillow and pulls out a remote control. Punches a button.
- CORRIDOR
- Jim emerges from his room in boxer shorts and slippers. He’s
- A housekeeping robot, its dustpan quivering in anticipation,
- Jim taps the “Do Not Disturb” button on his door panel and
- The housekeeping robot squeals in frustration as the door
- 29.
- Jim pours milk over a bowl of cereal.
- Jim descends, the blanket draped over his shoulders like a
- serape. He holds his bowl of cereal in both hands.
- Jim stands eating cereal and staring at Aurora. His eyes
- GRAND CONCOURSE - CONCOURSE BAR
- Jim glowers at the bar in his boxers and blanket. The cereal
- JIM
- It’s just got an ugly sense of humor.
- you ironically.
- Things may look dark sometimes..
- You get to fly to another planet, but
- alone, with the perfect woman right
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- her. I’ve read all her stuff.
- exactly what she’d say.
- Jim, Aurora’s asleep.
- I know.
- I know.
- DECK NINE - OBSERVATORY - DAY
- The Excelsior hangs between Earth and Homestead II. A legend
- reads: “TIME TRAVELED: 30 YEARS. TIME REMAINING: 90 YEARS.”
- The numbers change with a digital click. TIME TRAVELED: 31
- CONCOURSE BAR - MORNING
- Jim walks up to the bar with the HIBERNATION SYSTEMS MANUAL.
- Drops the book on the bar with a thud and takes a seat.
- Arthur. Say you were trapped on a
- to wish somebody there with you. You
- be stranding another person on the
- ARTHUR
- island.
- Okay. Say you figured out how to do
- hundred times better. But it’s wrong,
- wrong would it have to be to stop
- life a thousand times better? How do
- ARTHUR
- Jim stares at Arthur in frustration.
- (spelling it out)
- ARTHUR
- use some company.
- JIM
- the rest of her life!
- Oh. Well, you can’t do that.
- JIM
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- Arthur, you’re a machine.
- Jim hauls the manual off the bartop and stalks away.
- The ship forges through space, its lit windows shining.
- Jim paces back and forth on a promenade, a tiny figure
- dwarfed by the mighty ship and the tapestry of stars.
- Jim passes under a sign reading “Hall of Faith,” into a
- There’s a small fountain in the middle of the circle. Around
- the edges, doors labeled: BUDDHISM, JUDAISM, HINDUISM,
- Jim walks the circle, looking through the doorways: a cross,
- a Buddha, an abstract sculpture in the “Other Faiths” chapel.
- He continues around the circle and out into the ship.
- Jim opens a door marked “Starboard E.V.A. Room - No
- The E.V.A. Room is dominated by an airlock. Spacesuits in
- Jim goes to the airlock. Opens the inner door.
- 32.
- He steps into the airlock. The door closes behind him.
- Jim looks at the red lever that opens the outer door. He
- grips the lever. Looks thoughtfully out at the stars.
- The airlock outer door opens with a blast of air. Jim emerges
- He plants his feet on the hull and walks up the side of the
- ATOP THE SHIP
- AT THE BOW
- Jim stands, face uplifted. The cosmos reflected in his visor.
- Raises his arms. Imploring the heavens for an answer.
- INT. HIBERNATION BAY - AURORA’S POD
- Jim stands looking at Aurora: a bearded pilgrim in a holy
- FADE TO BLACK.
- Jim stands at the sink with a futuristic shaver in his hand.
- He talks to himself as he takes off his castaway’s beard.
- I’m shaving off my beard.
- It’s wrong, man.
- The whiskers pile up in the sink, wash down the drain. His
- JIM (CONT’D)
- He’s finished. Clean-shaven.
- JIM (CONT’D)
- (astonished at himself)
- CORRIDOR
- Jim exits his cabin in his coveralls, carrying his toolbox.
- He finds a squadron of housekeeping robots waiting outside.
- He taps the “PLEASE SERVICE” button beside his door.
- HIBERNATION BAY - AURORA’S POD
- Jim stands in front of Aurora: toolbox in one hand, the
- technical manual in the other. He’s breathing hard.
- He sets the toolbox down. Opens the manual. It’s densely
- He opens the pod’s cover panel and goes to work, following
- He starts to close a final contact.
- Gets to his feet. Stands looking at Aurora.
- Quickly he kneels and completes the circuit. Pulls his hands
- JIM
- Aurora’s pod hums. Medical data flows across its screen. Her
- vital signs re-start. Her pale skin flushes with color.
- AURORA’S POD
- Aurora’s perfect lips part. She takes a shallow breath - and
- Her thighs shift as she bends her knees. The sensors on her
- She opens her eyes. They’re beautiful.
- Her pod’s backrest flexes, scooping up her knees as it
- becomes a seat. A video screen drops in front of her.
- VIDEO STEWARDESS
- BERLIN SUITE
- Jim bursts in, wild-eyed. Drops his toolbox. Hides the markedup
- He splashes water on his face. Stares into the mirror.
- Aurora puts on her Homestead Company bathrobe and slippers.
- Places her shipcard around her neck on its lanyard.
- You’re ready to go to your cabin.
- of your flight, Aurora!
- Woozy, Aurora sees the other passengers still asleep.
- Wait! Why are all these people still
- The screen pivots to face her. The Video Stewardess points.
- Aurora, your cabin is this way!
- Jim sticks his head out of his cabin, looks up and down the
- HIBERNATION BAY - AURORA’S POD
- Jim approaches Aurora’s pod, electrified. The pod is empty.
- DECK NINE - NUMBER NINE PROMENADE
- Aurora finds her cabin. It’s a first-class cabin, its door
- 35.
- Posher than Jim’s original cabin. A king-sized bed, a
- A widescreen video screen lights up. The Homestead Company
- ANNOUNCER
- home until we..
- A touch of her finger brings up the ship’s telephone
- PHONE
- She touches other phone links, faster and faster.
- No one is available..No one is..No
- that number.
- What the hell’s going on?
- Aurora strides down the lane of quiet shops. Actively
- ELITE DECK - ELITE PROMENADE
- Jim paces nervously, glancing around. She could be anywhere.
- Hello?
- Jim rushes to the railing. Below on the Grand Concourse,
- Aurora is turning in circles, looking up at the balconies.
- (shouting)
- JIM
- Hi.
- Hello!
- Aurora spins. Spots him.
- (shouting)
- JIM
- I’ll come down.
- Jim runs down six flights of stairs, his heart in his throat.
- He reaches the Grand Concourse out of breath. He stops a few
- paces away, just looking at Aurora, getting his wind back.
- Passenger or crew?
- Passenger. Jim Preston.
- He sticks out a hand. She shakes it firmly. Electric for Jim.
- AURORA
- Jim’s lips move as she speaks her name, almost saying it with
- AURORA (CONT’D)
- else in my row woke up.
- Yeah, I..same for me.
- The crew’s supposed to wake up a
- seen anybody.
- JIM
- got a special facility. I can see
- Aurora stares at him.
- You’re saying nobody’s awake?
- Just me.
- AURORA
- JIM
- AURORA
- in a few weeks.
- Jim’s finding it unexpectedly hard to deliver the bad news.
- I have to show you something.
- Jim and Aurora ride upward. She looks out into the atrium,
- AURORA
- in these big companies. No
- on the flight to the spaceport. I’m
- didn’t make it! And nobody
- Jim is only half listening - his eyes drawn to the spill of
- AURORA (CONT’D)
- (looking at Jim)
- Jim yanks his eyes away from her neck.
- The Observatory.
- Aurora’s eyes, wide and staring. Her face a mask of horror.
- In front of them hangs the starship’s progress indicator -
- the Excelsior hanging between Earth and Homestead II. Thirtyone
- AURORA
- Eighty-nine years to go.
- JIM
- waking up. We’re early.
- AURORA
- HIBERNATION BAY
- Jim and Aurora walk down a row of hibernation pods.
- Nobody strands me on a spaceship for
- Yorker. I’ll write an expose so hot
- Trust me.
- It’s not that simple. Putting
- special equipment. Remember the
- Jim points at a pod beside them. A middle-aged woman inside.
- This pod will keep her in hibernation
- her up. But it can’t put her back to
- AURORA
- You don’t think there’s a way back
- JIM
- AURORA
- way. Where’s the crew?
- Jim and Aurora stand staring at the door: scarred by Jim’s
- Aurora looks through the porthole at the crew inside. She
- runs her hands thoughtfully over the door’s dents and gouges.
- AURORA
- How long have you been awake, Jim?
- A year and three months.
- AURORA
- She turns her back. Suddenly she walks briskly away. And
- breaks into a run. Jim watches her go, astonished.
- HIBERNATION BAY
- Aurora runs down a row of hibernation pods, her eyes
- searching wildly among the glass tubes. She turns a corner.
- Hesitates. Runs down another row. She’s fighting tears.
- She puts on speed. Her sash unknots itself and her robe
- IN ANOTHER ROW
- Jim jogs along, worried. He’s lost her. He pauses, listening.
- In the distance, slippered feet. He runs that way.
- He stops: the sash of Aurora’s robe lies on the deck. He
- JIM
- He turns another corner and sees her. She’s sitting down, her
- back against a hibernation pod. Laughing at her own tears.
- I can’t even find the one I’m
- Jim extends a hand. She lets him pull her to her feet. He
- gives her the sash, and she ties her robe around her.
- Thanks.
- JIM
- 40.
- No, I’m sorry. It just hit me how
- JIM
- me out, and there I was.
- Me too. We have to get help.
- Jim and Aurora stand in at a Passenger Communication Station.
- Jim swipes his card through the Comm Station’s slot. It
- JIM
- Earth. A bunch to the Homestead
- Administration, one to the United
- just for the hell of it. My phone
- AURORA
- JIM
- years. That’ll be from Earth. Nothing
- there anyway. Eighty years or so.
- AURORA
- JIM
- farther away. We’d die of old age
- AURORA
- (off Jim’s stare)
- JIM
- I never thought of other ships.
- AURORA
- There has to be a flight plan or
- They search the Comm Center and find a map table showing the
- Excelsior’s position relative to the Occupied Worlds.
- Aurora fiddles with the controls. Interstellar flight plans
- appear: a spiderweb of starship tracks between the worlds.
- There!
- They inspect the threads of light - an icon on each thread
- AURORA (CONT’D)
- JIM
- AURORA
- The starship Zephyr.
- Round-trip message lag..ninety-nine
- AURORA
- JIM
- AURORA
- JIM
- Jim and Aurora deflate visibly.
- That’s the closest one.
- The ship’s lights turn the cool blue of evening. Jim and
- 42.
- I know I should be working the
- keep my eyes open.
- You just came out of hibernation.
- a hundred percent. You should rest.
- (yawning)
- JIM
- AURORA
- JIM
- AURORA
- to be okay. You’ve got me on the team
- Jim nods, speechless.
- I’m in cabin ninety forty-eight, if
- Jim watches her walk away.
- I’m in the Berlin Suite if you need
- She stops. Turns to look back at him.
- A year and a half? Must have been
- JIM
- AURORA
- GRAND CONCOURSE - CONCOURSE BAR
- 43.
- Whiskey. Rocks.
- Sure thing. How’s your day been?
- JIM
- ARTHUR
- (off Jim’s face)
- JIM
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- thinks it was an accident. Let me
- AURORA’S CABIN - NIGHT
- Aurora sleeps, her hair a fan of gold on the pillow.
- Jim lies awake, fidgeting and staring at the ceiling.
- Aurora talks with a relentlessly cheerful Infomat.
- She’s wearing her own clothes, and it’s a transformation: she
- AURORA
- someone into hibernation aboard ship?
- INFOMAT
- of interstellar flights.
- Well, I’m awake.
- INFOMAT
- Jim appears behind Aurora.
- Good morning. Have you eaten?
- I’m starving. This is the dumbest
- CAFETERIA
- Jim watches in astonishment as Aurora blithely orders the
- snacks that the machines deny him. The Mocha Cappuccino
- Extreme. The French Breakfast Puff. The Gourmet Fruit Salad.
- AURORA
- JIM
- French Breakfast Puff is above my pay
- AURORA
- you?
- No, I’m fine, really..
- Shut up. I’ll be right back.
- She gets up. In a minute she’s back, setting a tray down in
- front of Jim: A western omelette with a side of bacon..a
- Jim shoves his old breakfast aside.
- Thank you.
- AURORA
- what to do?
- I was hoping so.
- AURORA
- there?
- (awkwardly)
- AURORA
- sleep. Did you check out the
- JIM
- hospital stuff. Scanners, autodocs.
- Did you look for ways of going to
- JIM
- AURORA
- JIM
- animation pills sitting around?
- You don’t know until you look. What
- hibernation machine in the hold.
- I looked at the manifests. It’s
- machines. We’re not going to find a
- AURORA
- big here. Maybe we can build our own
- JIM
- AURORA
- JIM
- I’ve tried everything I can think of.
- AURORA
- Well, it looks to me like you missed
- to give up.
- She strides out. Jim watches her go. Reaches over and takes
- DECK TWO - LIBRARY - DAY
- WORKSTATION
- AURORA
- kind of technical documents?
- Hibernation technology is
- deal with the subject on a
- COMMAND DECK - COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - DAY
- Aurora sits at the Passenger Communications Booth.
- Planet and connection, please.
- Earth. The New Yorker magazine,
- COMMUNICATIONS BOOTH
- AURORA
- My name is Aurora Dunn. I’m doing a
- I know you won’t get this message for
- in trouble.
- Aurora inspects the gleaming medical equipment. Rummages
- through cabinets full of medicines and instruments.
- She opens a steel vault. A deep freeze: icy vapor rolls out.
- Inside: racks of steel capsules at subzero temperatures.
- She leans close: each frosted capsule is labeled with a
- CREW HIBERNATION FACILITY DOOR - EVENING
- Aurora frowns through the window at the sleeping crew.
- A litter of tools still surrounds the battered door. Aurora
- snatches up a crowbar and bashes the porthole. The bar spins
- from her stinging hands, but the window’s not even marked.
- Jim sits at a table with his tools, struggling with a hightech
- Aurora drops into a chair across from him. He looks up. Takes
- AURORA
- hibernation machine.
- No.
- And there’s no magic sleeping drugs
- JIM
- AURORA
- thousand sperm and egg samples on
- By the time we get to Homestead II,
- going to be all that’s left of me. We
- JIM
- BELLA CANTINA - EVENING
- Jim and Aurora sit across a Mexican dinner they’ve already
- put a dent in. An electric candle burns between them.
- A robot in a sombrero drops off two mojitos and scoots away.
- So who are you, Jim? I’m going to be
- I’m talking to.
- I’m from Denver. Lived there all my
- AURORA
- JIM
- robotics, industrial systems. I fix
- forms I’m a “rate two” mechanical
- AURORA
- doesn’t need one; she just needs a
- from Manhattan, so I had the
- JIM
- AURORA
- when I needed them.
- I would never have lasted a year with
- all such idiots!
- Not all of them.
- Jim leads Aurora up to the Concourse Bar. It appears
- Suddenly Arthur appears, doing his swinging-up-on-hinges
- ARTHUR
- 49.
- Arthur, this is Aurora. Aurora,
- ARTHUR
- He takes her hand formally.
- Arthur! Lovely to meet you.
- She peeks over the bar at Arthur’s mechanical mounting, the
- ARTHUR
- AURORA
- (to Jim)
- JIM
- (to Arthur)
- LATER
- Empty glasses show that Jim and Aurora have been doing
- yeoman’s work at the bar. Both are tipsy and laughing.
- (collecting herself)
- ruins.
- JIM
- AURORA
- morning we’ll think of something
- JIM
- AURORA
- She exits.
- ARTHUR
- (to Jim, sotto voce)
- Jim drops his head into his hands.
- Aurora stows clothing in drawers and closets.
- She hangs snapshots on the wall: family and friends. Most of
- the pictures were apparently taken at the same grand party.
- She looks at them wistfully - and a look of astonishment
- AURORA
- ELITE DECK - BERLIN SUITE DOOR
- AURORA
- The door opens. Jim stands blinking in his bathrobe.
- We’ll go home!
- What?
- AURORA
- II. But we’re still closer to Earth.
- ELEVATOR
- AURORA
- JIM
- 51.
- It’s our only chance of getting off
- COMMAND DECK
- Aurora drags Jim out of the elevator. Looks around.
- Where’s the..navigating place?
- That way. But..
- AURORA
- We have all the time in the world.
- There’s just one problem.
- Aurora opens the Bridge door - revealing the armored firewall
- JIM
- the gravity drive - it’s all behind
- AURORA
- JIM
- AURORA
- That was my last good idea.
- Aurora sits curled up in an armchair. Around her, a dizzying
- There’s a cup of coffee on a table beside her. In her lap, an
- AURORA
- 52.
- A clean page opens on the slate. The title in the corner: “My
- Voyage.” As Aurora speaks, the page fills with words.
- I boarded the Excelsior on
- writing assignment ever given. But
- I’m not writing for The New Yorker
- ELITE DECK - CORRIDOR - DAY
- Aurora jogs in sneakers and sweats. Cabin doors flash past.
- I’ve been awake on this ship for
- Dead end. She’s reached the aft end of the ship. She crosses
- AURORA (V.O.) (CONT’D)
- life here..
- Running along a promenade, Aurora reaches the forward end of
- AURORA (V.O.) (CONT’D)
- hundred meters long.
- Jim sits at a table, a technical manual open in front of him.
- He looks up. Watches Aurora jog around the atrium and vanish.
- I’m not alone. Another passenger
- Preston.
- The swimming pool is a marvel: one entire wall is a window
- extending from the ceiling to the bottom of the pool.
- Aurora enters in her HomeStead Company bathrobe. Drops the
- 53.
- The other passengers will sleep for
- She dives into the pool.
- Aurora swims, a slender shape moving on the water’s surface.
- We pull out, the ship dwindling, the blue window receding.
- By the time they wake, Jim and I will
- INT. FORWARD OBSERVATION DECK
- AURORA
- of an eye.
- CAFETERIA - DAY
- Jim sits eating and tinkering with a small robot. The table
- Aurora sits down across from him.
- Why did you do it?
- Jim is thunderstruck. The game is up. He swallows hard.
- Do what?
- Emigrate. Leave Earth. I’m
- JIM
- AURORA
- victim of hibernation failure in the
- you news.
- JIM
- AURORA
- life on Earth?
- Jim seems stunned by the question. He hadn’t thought about it
- AURORA (CONT’D)
- hibernation means you never see your
- your way to another planet and
- geographical suicide.
- I, uh..I never really..
- Were you running away from something?
- No. Things were okay.
- So?
- I just wanted more, I guess. You
- to basics.
- (chiding)
- JIM
- AURORA
- JIM
- We’re a dying breed on Earth. But in
- problems to solve. My kind of
- is somebody.
- Nothing there for Aurora to scoff at. She looks impressed.
- JIM (CONT’D)
- and fields. I like the outdoors. You
- AURORA
- JIM
- HIBERNATION BAY
- Jim and Aurora walk down an aisle of hibernation pods.
- You know how much the Homestead
- Homestead I? Over eight quadrillion
- billions. Colony planets are the
- pay full price for your ticket?
- No, I’m in a desirable trade.
- (triumphantly)
- discount your ticket, and you fly off
- HomeStead ten percent of everything
- think you’re free? You’re just part
- Jim waves at the rows of sleepers.
- All you see here is five thousand
- AURORA
- Company’s bottom line.
- I see five thousand men and women
- thousand different reasons. You don’t
- Jim walks up to a hibernation pod. Glances at the data
- 56.
- This guy. Banker, teacher, or
- Aurora studies the sleeper: a barrel-chested man of 50 with
- AURORA
- JIM
- Jim moves down the row, peeks at another screen, covers it.
- Is this Madison, Donna, or Lola?
- Aurora peers: a birdlike young woman with long red hair.
- She’s too silly to be a Donna. I
- JIM
- midwife?
- She has to be a midwife. There’s no
- JIM
- She’s a midwife. I didn’t know they
- They move among the sleepers, quizzing each other.
- (pointing at a man and
- Married, or strangers?
- Married.
- (impressed)
- JIM
- Sixteen, twenty-six, or thirty-six?
- AURORA
- JIM
- AURORA
- Politician, historian, or artist?
- I don’t know. Artist?
- It doesn’t say. But I’ll tell you
- Jim looks at Aurora seriously.
- You think you can see that?
- Don’t you?
- JIM
- FORWARD OBSERVATION DECK - DAY
- Jim and Aurora sit at opposite ends of a sofa - their feet
- almost but not quite touching. They sip cocktails.
- That was my plan. Travel to Homestead
- what emigrating’s really like. Then
- on board with a round-trip ticket.
- (perplexed)
- end up back where you started.
- No! I end up in the future. Two
- future. On Earth, which is still the
- or not. And I arrive in the future
- 58.
- A perspective no other writer has.
- JIM
- AURORA
- JIM
- AURORA
- farewell party. Everyone came. It was
- what it’s all come to.
- Jim, I can’t think of anything else
- even want to think about it anymore.
- MOVIE THEATER - DAY
- Jim leads Aurora into the movie theater. The lights come up.
- A bundle of cables snakes down the aisle.
- Watch your step. I’ve made a few
- Next to Jim’s favorite seat there’s a cluster of machines
- Jim and Aurora sit. A screen beside Jim lists movies.
- I got tired of running up to the
- controls down here. Thirty thousand
- watched about five hundred of them.
- He taps a button on another machine, which produces a bucket
- JIM (CONT’D)
- Aurora grins and takes some.
- AURORA (CONT'D)
- Jim and Aurora play one-on-one. She’s not especially good,
- but fiercely competitive. They jostle and scramble, laughing.
- Aurora snags the ball. For a minute she just stands there,
- JIM
- AURORA
- She cuts around him toward the basket.
- Jim and Aurora walk through the museum’s white rooms. The
- Aurora goes to the control podium. Scrolls through the menu,
- The wall panels fill with Heironymous Bosch paintings -
- medieval visions of Hell. She winces and chooses again. A
- somber collection of portraits by Dutch masters. She frowns.
- The walls fill with abstract landscapes - stark plains and
- oceans, with lonely figures isolated in the vastness.
- The images pull Jim and Aurora in: they stand before a dark
- Without thinking she reaches out and tucks her hand in the
- FADE TO BLACK.
- SWIMMING POOL - MORNING
- In the balcony above the pool, Jim stands watching her.
- Aurora, making a turn at the end of a lap, catches a glimpse
- Underwater she smiles.
- DECK THREE - SHOPPING DISTRICT - MORNING
- A cleaning robot scurries along the shopping street, looking
- Jim’s hands reach into frame, pluck the robot off its wheels.
- Aurora stands at the railing, watching curiously as Jim
- crosses the Concourse below with the robot under his arm.
- Jim stands at a workbench, the robot in front of him. He
- GRAND CONCOURSE - DAY
- Jim sits in an armchair with his industrial laptop. He types
- Beside him on the floor, his kidnapped cleaning robot does a
- FORWARD OBSERVATION DECK - DAY
- Aurora sits in her habitual writing position: cross-legged on
- AURORA
- ship a daily rhythm. The light is
- the day, cool at night. We need those
- There are no holidays here. Every day
- seasons. The sky never changes.
- Jim’s pet robot looks up at her with binocular eyes. It
- carries a note in a clip on its back. Aurora pulls it free.
- Come to dinner with me tonight?
- Aurora reads the note with a grin.
- AURORA (CONT’D)
- Is he asking me on a date?
- Jim sits at his laptop, watching the screen: a robot’s-eyeview
- He wiggles a joystick on his laptop, and..
- ..the robot nods its goggle head.
- Beside the note-clip, the robot carries a pen in a makeshift
- holder. Aurora takes the pen, scribbles on the paper. Tucks
- GRAND CONCOURSE - CONCOURSE BAR
- The robot crosses the Concourse, note clipped to its back.
- SUBDECK C - MACHINE SHOP
- Jim plucks the note from the robot’s back. Aurora’s reply is
- Love to.
- AURORA’S CABIN - EVENING
- Aurora gets ready for dinner. A slim gown, a few pieces of
- The doorbell rings. She answers it.
- Jim stands on her doorstep in a black jacket, looking dapper.
- JIM
- 62.
- You clean up all right yourself. You
- JIM
- In the corridor stands a cargo robot to which Jim has
- attached an upholstered loveseat. He helps Aurora aboard and
- JIM (CONT’D)
- CARGO ROBOT
- The robot zooms off to the sound of Aurora’s laughter.
- Jim and Aurora take seats. Arthur puts on his best manners.
- Evening. What can I get for you?
- A manhattan, please.
- Single malt, rocks.
- ARTHUR
- AURORA
- We’re on a date!
- Very nice.
- (to Jim, teasing)
- JIM
- AURORA
- of. I’ve been doing research.
- (MORE)
- coma indefinitely, and machines that
- JIM
- AURORA
- We’d still be aging.
- Oh.
- Yeah. If I have to grow old on this
- for it. So that was a failure.
- A highly ambitious failure.
- There’s the title of my memoir. “A
- Dunn.
- JIM
- AURORA
- “My Life in a Tin Can.”
- “A Spaceship Built For Two.”
- A great glass dome, the highest point on the ship. Outside
- the dome, a riot of stars. Inside, a luxury restaurant.
- She turns, looking at the glittering river of the Milky Way,
- the blue stars ahead of the ship, the pink stars behind them.
- Incredible.
- They sit at the best table. Robots attend to their every
- need. The blue stars frame Jim’s head; the pink, Aurora’s.
- Beautiful dishes arrive: new wines with every course.
- AURORA (CONT'D)
- A holographic 12-piece band plays on stage: a jazz standard.
- Jim walks onto the dance floor. Holds out his hand to Aurora.
- She comes to him, and they dance. They’re pretty good. Smiles
- Jim spins her out, spins her back - close enough to kiss.
- DECK THREE - SHOPPING DISTRICT - NIGHT
- Jim and Aurora ride along on the cargo robot. Her head rests
- AURORA
- The robot stops. She pulls Jim off.
- Come on, we have to do this!
- She pulls him to the photo booth. They tumble inside. As the
- Outside, the photo strip drops into the tray: four color
- pictures. In the first they laugh; in the second they clown;
- in the third, they kiss. In the last image, Aurora smiles at
- Aurora taps the pictures: they start to move: each is a onesecond
- movie clip. The pictures laugh, and clown, and kiss.
- The robot pulls up to Aurora’s door. Jim helps her down.
- AURORA
- great night.
- Yeah, me too. Well, good night.
- AURORA
- He turns back. Aurora grabs him and drags him into her cabin.
- AURORA’S CABIN
- They stagger across the room together. He backs her up
- She drags his jacket off his shoulders. Pulls at his shirt.
- He slips the straps from her shoulders. Her dress slides to
- CAFETERIA - MORNING
- AURORA
- (she smiles at him)
- JIM
- ever seen. You’re so beautiful it
- She stares, shocked. Leans across the table and kisses him.
- Soon they’re making out right on top of breakfast.
- A passing robot pauses to observe the scene - then moves on.
- 1. Jim and Aurora make out fiercely in the movie theater
- 2. Aurora straddles Jim in a jacuzzi in the ship’s Spa. She
- moves against him: she’s close. She climaxes gorgeously.
- 3. Jim stands on a promenade. Aurora passes, jogging. He
- gives her a smile as she goes by. A moment later she runs
- back into frame and tackles him. They tumble to the deck.
- Jim and Aurora lie in Jim’s imperial bed, glistening with
- sweat and breathing hard. She lays her head on his shoulder,
- JIM
- AURORA
- 66.
- She waves her hand in the air as if to signify, all of this.
- I know.
- EXT. STARSHIP EXCELSIOR - BERLIN SUITE WINDOW
- Through the window, Jim and Aurora lie together in the
- We pull out, the window dwindling, as the Excelsior soars
- FADE TO BLACK.
- ELITE DECK - CORRIDOR - MORNING
- A luxury cabin door: the doorplate reads “Vienna Suite.”
- The best suite on the ship. One one side of the bedroom,
- Aurora’s mementos and possessions. On the other side, Jim’s.
- They wake together. She kisses him on the cheek with the ease
- of long habit and heads for the shower. He watches her go.
- Swimming, Aurora reaches the end of a lap. A hand reaches
- Jim kneels at the edge of the pool, in coveralls and work
- Aurora pulls herself up and kisses him.
- I’m going to finish my survey of the
- with.
- Be careful.
- Back by happy hour.
- FORWARD OBSERVATION DECK - DAY
- Aurora writes on her sofa, surrounded by electronic slates,
- each displaying a reference book or research paper. On one, a
- AURORA
- Pacific Ocean with no destination.
- into the endless sea on faith.
- Jim walks among the towering cargo racks. His flashlight
- illuminates machines stacked from floor to ceiling: tractors
- AURORA (V.O.)
- land, and prospered. What drove them
- Tradition? The wish for something
- Jim opens cargo containers. He finds ingots of metal,
- computer components, spools of superconducting wire. Raw
- AURORA (V.O.) (CONT’D)
- hunger or thirst. We run, we drive,
- Jim finds a stash of utility golf carts and his eyes light
- up. He unpacks one, starts it up. Drives off into the dark.
- Aurora sits at the bar with her slate, sipping a drink.
- Is it movement that we need? Or the
- ARTHUR
- AURORA
- Aurora’s slate has recorded this exchange: she erases the
- 68.
- Jim drives his cart into a new bay - and stares in wonder.
- In oversized hibernation pods: cattle, horses, sheep, oxen.
- All asleep. Chickens, ducks and geese in individual cells.
- Like seeds, we carry what we need.
- trade winds, the solar winds, or the
- The next aisle holds plants in stasis: saplings in tubes,
- Jim stops in front of a glass case. Rosy light bathes his
- AURORA (V.O.) (CONT’D)
- helplessly we grow.
- Aurora sits with her slate. Eyeing Jim’s side of the room.
- Giving in, she begins to explore Jim’s possessions: poking
- She opens his closet. Shifting things, she finds a dog-eared
- There’s a bookmark in the pages. She goes to open the book -
- It’s the photo strip Jim took during his isolation: Four
- identical shots of his face, bearded and hollow-eyed. The
- She touches the pictures to make them move: but Jim sits
- Voices in the hall.
- Hello, Passenger.
- Hello, robot.
- Hastily Aurora replaces the manual. Closes the closet.
- Jim appears in the doorway: tool belt over his shoulder,
- 69.
- Hi.
- Hi. How was your day?
- I don’t know. I wrote a few pages.
- I was writing a book, and I was
- diary are running together. I think
- JIM
- AURORA
- this life. I don’t even know how to
- But it’s also a prison. I’m moving at
- go anywhere!
- JIM
- gear. There’s a submarine down there,
- airplanes and bulldozers. That’s what
- But I’ll never see it.
- AURORA
- us?
- Yes. I found these.
- Jim unzips his duffel bag and takes out a bouquet of longstemmed
- AURORA
- JIM
- Aurora leaps into action. She finds scissors, a pitcher. At
- the sink she trims the stems, arranges the flowers.
- AURORA
- JIM
- She looks into his eyes.
- For very unlucky people, we got
- FADE TO BLACK.
- INT. ELITE DECK - CORRIDOR - DAY
- Jim and Aurora sprint down the hall, cabin doors flashing by.
- A deep background RUMBLE.
- It’s coming! Run!
- Jim and Aurora run up the stairs onto the highest promenade
- The deep RUMBLE is louder. A bloody light fills the sky.
- A STAR looms ahead of the ship: a RED GIANT. The Excelsior
- The passage takes less than a minute. The Red Giant swells in
- the windows. The ship shudders. The engines howl. Aurora
- falls into Jim’s arms. The ship bathed in red light.
- The star fills the skylight, fills the sky itself. A fiery
- surface turbulent with sunspots and mysterious currents. The
- And then they’re past. The star recedes, dwindling as quickly
- as it grew. The engines quiet. The ship’s calm restored.
- (breathlessly)
- JIM
- whole trip. Happy birthday.
- She throws her arms around him.
- Aurora stands in her bathroom, getting pretty for dinner.
- Jim puts the finishing touches on a beautiful RING woven from
- gold and silver wire. It’s crowned with a flower of gold.
- He removes the ring from its clamp: inspects it thoroughly.
- Satisfied, he wraps it in a cloth and tucks it in his pocket.
- Jim and Aurora dine. They laugh and flirt with easy intimacy.
- Their plates emptied, they sit back, sipping wine. Jim lifts
- the table’s candle and waves it in the air. A robot rolls up
- JIM
- Happy birthday to you..
- Happy birthday, dear Aurora..
- Aurora sits bathed in candlelight, and for this moment she is
- truly and fundamentally happy. She blows the candles out.
- Jim and Aurora sit at the bar, tipsy. Arthur pours.
- Birthday cocktail for the birthday
- AURORA
- might not be old enough to drink.
- I’d never ask your age in front of a
- AURORA
- no secrets between me and Jim.
- ARTHUR
- Is that so?
- You heard the lady. Be right back.
- AURORA
- Arthur? You have a sense of occasion.
- trip.
- I’d say you were pulling my leg, but
- AURORA
- Exactly! There you go.
- I remember your last birthday, a year
- to meeting you.
- Aurora frowns, processing this sentence - her smile fading.
- What?
- Jim stands at the mirror, straightening his lapels, touching
- He unwraps the ring. Looks it over. Smiles at his reflection.
- Aurora scowls at Arthur, trying to get her bearings.
- What do you mean, he was looking
- ARTHUR
- let me tell you. He spent months
- Aurora eyes widen in shock.
- AURORA
- ARTHUR
- decision of his life, but I see it
- Aurora stops breathing. She stares at the bartop.
- Jim strolls up to the bar. His hand slides into the jacket
- But Aurora’s body language is all wrong. He stops, perplexed.
- What?
- She looks up, her face rigid. Her voice a whisper.
- Did you wake me up, Jim?
- Jim’s hand slides out of his jacket pocket. He shoots a look
- Aurora’s eyes bore into him. Finally Jim finds his voice.
- Yes. I woke you up.
- (in agony)
- JIM
- AURORA
- destroyed the rest of my life. You
- JIM
- AURORA
- sick. Oh, my God. I..I can’t see.
- JIM
- He goes after her.
- AURORA
- She slaps at him blindly, almost hysterical. Stumbles away.
- Aurora stares out at the stars. Jim appears behind her.
- AURORA
- How did you decide?
- Did you just go shopping? A couple
- and you get to pick your favorite.
- It wasn’t like that.
- What was it like? And you had it all
- our big date..Oh, my God! And I just
- JIM
- It..happened.
- (mocking)
- Excelsior! Romance between the Stars!
- everything you thought it would be?
- Aurora. I love you.
- This is sick.
- Show me how you did it.
- Aurora walks up to her old hibernation pod. Jim trails her.
- So?
- Jim stares at her, unbelieving. But she means it. He opens
- JIM
- different processors burned out at
- failure in your pod. Short circuit
- these two. And cut these wires.
- Just like that.
- Just like that.
- I’m so stupid. I fell for all of it.
- me. But you didn’t save me, Jim. You
- with you. Stuck with the second-rate
- JIM
- Rate two mechanic.
- VIENNA SUITE - DAY
- Aurora walks in, barely under control, and breaks down. Sinks
- HIBERNATION BAY - AURORA’S POD - DAY
- Jim sits at the foot of Aurora’s hibernation pod, staring
- VIENNA SUITE - EVENING
- Jim walks in. All of Aurora’s things are gone. Her half of
- DECK THREE - CAFETERIA - MORNING
- Aurora sits finishing her breakfast. Jim enters and
- 76.
- Can I talk to you?
- I don’t want to talk anymore. I don’t
- see me coming, get out of my way. If
- else to be. There’s plenty of
- DECK FOUR - SHOPPING DISTRICT - DAY
- Jim walks alone, hands in his pockets, in a deep funk.
- A little robot crosses his path: he KICKS it down the street.
- Aurora swims. Reaches the end of a lap and rests.
- She looks up abruptly as if she senses someone watching her -
- ELITE DECK - FORWARD OBSERVATION DECK - DAY
- Aurora sits reading. Digital slates surround her. A whir
- Jim’s pet robot sits beside her. A note on its back.
- She picks up the note. It’s the photo strip from her first
- date with Jim: their first kiss captured on film. Clipped to
- the photo strip is a handwritten note: “This was real.”
- Aurora leans down toward the robot’s binocular eyes.
- Aurora looms close. She holds the note up to the robot’s eyes
- AURORA
- creepy, Jim. Cut it out.
- Jim sits in front of his laptop: Aurora’s accusing eyes stare
- 77.
- Jim sits at the security console, disheveled and bearded.
- One screen shows the Elite Promenade. As he watches, Aurora
- Jim has her route mapped: as she vanishes from one screen she
- appears on the next. He follows her from screen to screen.
- ELITE DECK
- OVER THE P.A. SYSTEM: Jim clears his throat.
- Aurora.
- JIM (VIA INTERCOM) (CONT’D)
- Aurora rolls her eyes and resumes running.
- Jim watches Aurora move from screen to screen. He holds the
- mic in both hands. His voice reverberates through the ship.
- The day I first saw you, my life
- I kept coming back to see you. Trying
- every word you ever wrote, trying to
- DECK NINE - NUMBER NINE PROMENADE
- JIM (VIA INTERCOM)
- would happen next. I had no reason to
- When you did, when we found each
- suddenly felt like a limitless place.
- (MORE)
- meaning.
- Aurora skids to a stop beside a Deck Steward’s station.
- She leans over the counter, finds an intercom terminal and
- grabs the microphone. A whine of feedback. She looks into the
- AURORA
- glad that ruining my life somehow
- finish, so..
- Arthur looks up, listening, as voices echo through the ship.
- Wait. Aurora. Don’t go.
- You may be the only game in town,
- play. Just pretend I’m not here.
- I’m not.
- At the Deck Steward’s station, Aurora stares into the camera.
- I don’t want to lose you.
- Jim stares at Aurora on the video screen.
- Jim, you lost me.
- She drops the microphone and walks out of frame. Jim slumps
- FADE TO BLACK.
- ELITE DECK - VIENNA SUITE - BEDROOM (DAY)
- Jim lies asleep on his bed in dirty clothes and shoes. He has
- 79.
- Half-finished dishes in bed with him. The suite is squalid.
- The ship’s posh French cafe.
- Aurora eats a fancy lunch, reading a novel on a digital
- DECK THREE - CAFETERIA
- Jim sits in front of a bowl of breakfast cereal, a dry slice
- of toast. He stares into space. He has milk in his beard.
- Aurora sits in her writing chair, dictating to her slate.
- It’s the modern way of life. We
- constant din of conversation. As if
- see ourselves. The clamor of voices
- exist. Do we need it? Can we live
- VIENNA SUITE - DAY
- The TV blares. Jim lies asleep in an armchair, covered with
- AURORA (V.O.)
- productive activity.
- Aurora investigates the craft shop’s shelves. Collects an
- electronic book on painting. Paints and canvasses. An easel.
- We need to be good for something.
- Jim lounges in the bathtub in his bathrobe: sopping wet and
- drunk. Gold glitters in his hand: the RING he made for
- 80.
- A challenge equal to our character.
- With a snarl, Jim tosses the ring into his mouth. Chases it
- with a slug of vodka straight from the bottle. Swallows hard.
- Aurora stands in front of her easel on the promenade. She
- AURORA (V.O.)
- SHOPPING DISTRICT - AVENUE
- Jim plays kick-the-can with the empty vodka bottle. Drunk.
- Muttering in Russian, Jim attacks the booth, punching and
- kicking - and hurts his foot with a shout. He limps away.
- A moment later he’s back - wearing his tool belt. He pulls a
- LASER CUTTER and starts carving the booth away from the wall.
- Jim drives his golf cart unsteadily across the deck.
- A HORRIBLE NOISE: he’s dragging the photo booth across the
- STARBOARD E.V.A. ROOM
- Jim looks into the airlock through the small porthole in the
- The photo booth is crammed into the airlock.
- The airlock shoots open. The photo booth tumbles into space.
- Arthur does make-work behind the bar.
- Jim and Aurora approach simultaneously. They meet awkwardly:
- 81.
- What are you doing here?
- (drunk)
- You’re trespassing.
- Actually, today’s Wednesday.
- I slept through Tuesday?
- Forget it. The bar’s all yours. But
- need. You’re pathetic.
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- me tell her what happened. How I fell
- with her. And I’m not sorry I woke
- know what? She loves me.
- Around the corner, out of sight, Aurora stands listening.
- What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t
- never, and I chose now. I chose now.
- (MORE)
- Arthur. I woke her up, and she says I
- gone.
- Gimme another bottle.
- I think you’ve had enough.
- Jim looks at Arthur as if he’s said something profound.
- You know what? You’re right. I’ve had
- SUBDECK A - CARGO HOLD - DAY
- Jim drives his cart up to a rack of large batteries: they’re
- identical to the battery that powers the golf cart itself.
- SERVICE DECK - CELESTIAL PROMENADE
- Paintings leans against the windows: Aurora’s starscapes. The
- first few are rudimentary, the later ones quite good.
- She works on a new one: a red nebula. She looks out the
- window - and her focus changes. She sees her own reflection.
- Her brush moves across the canvas. She adds the suggestion of
- a cheekbone..a slender neck..an eye. A face made of stars.
- Jim finishes connecting a bank of batteries to his cart’s
- He rolls a huge tractor tire up to the cart and bolts it on.
- Aurora jogs.
- A rumble and wail of rubber behind her. Jim’s monster golf
- Aurora leaps for safety as the cart passes. Jim blasts past
- her with a war whoop and a wave. He wears welding goggles.
- 83.
- DECK FOUR - SERVICE CORRIDOR
- Jim races down a long straightaway. Squeals around a corner.
- Puts the cart on two wheels as he dodges a cleaning robot.
- He steers down a stairway: The cart bounces crazily down to
- the deck below. At the bottom Jim takes the corner too hard.
- The cart tumbles and SLAMS into the bulkhead. Debris rains
- down. Jim lies crumpled in the wreckage, his goggles askew.
- Aurora sits in her writing chair, a slate in front of her.
- AURORA
- know why. It’s the old problem, I
- talking to? What’s it for?
- I used to love it.
- Jim lies in the autodoc in his underwear - his head
- Lasers and sensors pass over his body.
- Two separated ribs. Fracture of the
- fractured finger. Dislocated thumb.
- Am I gonna be okay?
- Blindingly fast, robot arms straighten Jim’s elbow. Wrap his
- ribs and arm with smooth white bandages. Jim shouts in shock.
- Leave the bandages on for one week.
- The autodoc opens and Jim climbs out, testing his arm. A
- bottle of pills rattles into a tray in front of him.
- Take one of these pills each day
- 84.
- Thanks, doc.
- And take better care of yourself.
- SUPER: THREE MONTHS LATER
- Aurora paints, wild-eyed and fragile.
- Her brushstrokes are fierce. She slashes at the canvas. As
- she paints she begins to cry, silently. She doesn’t stop
- GRAND CONCOURSE
- Jim kneels on the Grand Concourse. He’s torn a huge hole in
- With his laser cutter he cuts a large rectangular hole. Pries
- the plate up with a crowbar, opening a cavity in the deck.
- Aurora paces in her bathrobe, hair wrapped in a towel.
- She looks at her gallery of snapshots. Touches the pictures
- one by one. The faces begin to move and speak. A cacophony of
- Finally only one clip still plays. Aurora’s mother.
- I promise you we’ll think of you
- we’ll be gone..but you just know
- you, and holding you in our hearts.
- I don’t understand, baby. I’m trying,
- (She tries to soldier.)
- for. I hope it makes you happy.
- 85.
- Jim, in work clothes and tool belt, drops by the bar. He’s as
- ARTHUR
- JIM
- ARTHUR
- barstool dirty?
- Got to get dirty to get things done,
- it means you’re not making anything.
- And what are you making?
- Improvements.
- Aurora strolls listlessly. Glances over the railing at the
- Grand Concourse below - and gasps. She runs for the elevator.
- Aurora walks wonderingly up to a GARDEN on the Concourse: a
- ten-foot OAK TREE surrounded by flowerbeds and green grass.
- Jim walks through Aurora’s informal art gallery.
- She has abandoned starscapes in favor of self-portraiture.
- The last one is a field of white. Aurora fading away.
- Wisps of cold mist roll off the metal capsules. Aurora
- With a start she comes across her own name. AURORA DUNN,
- 86.
- She punches buttons. The racks rotate, shedding flakes of
- frost. She finds what she’s looking for. JAMES PRESTON, MALE,
- She looks at the metal cartridge for a long moment. Then she
- slaps a switch, and the genetic bank closes up on itself.
- Jim sits reading an electronic slate. He looks up to find
- AURORA
- The last thing Jim expected to hear.
- I mean, I need a repairman.
- EXT. AURORA’S CABIN
- Jim opens the door. Inside is chaos: the lights throb. Static
- sizzles on video screens. Speakers blare noise. The blinds
- jerk and flap. The adjustable bed convulses like a monster.
- Wow. You do need a repairman.
- A dark room. In the light of a utility lamp, Jim re-attaches
- a control panel to the cabin wall. Aurora watches.
- The control unit burned out. I took
- He throws a switch. The lights come on. Back to normal.
- All better.
- Aurora gives him a brittle smile and sits on the bed.
- So how are you doing? You all right?
- I’m fine, Jim. Thanks for your work.
- She sits immobile, frosty. After a moment Jim walks out.
- GRAND CONCOURSE
- Jim passes a cleaning robot stuck in a corner. He frees the
- Another robot zooms in - and gets stuck beside the first one.
- SUBDECK C - MACHINE SHOP - DAY
- A squawk of static comes over the P.A. system.
- FORWARD OBSERVATION DECK
- Aurora sits with her digital slate in her lap. She too is
- VOICE (VIA INTERCOM)
- Aurora bolts to her feet, wide-eyed.
- Jim has vanished - the robot still rocking on the workbench.
- Jim sprints down the hallway, eyes searching left and right.
- This is Deck Chief Gus Mancuso.
- Jim skids to a stop, astonished: the door to the Crew
- VOICE (VIA INTERCOM) (CONT’D)
- ship?
- The Grand Concourse! Jim spins and runs back the other way.
- GRAND CONCOURSE
- GUS MANCUSO stands at a deck steward’s station, intercom mic
- in hand. A stocky man of 55, with a bristling mustache,
- wearing a crewman’s coverall. Haggard and weary. He stares in
- consternation at the garden in the middle of the Concourse.
- Jim and Aurora race into the Concourse from opposite
- GUS
- Who did that?
- Jim raises a hand sheepishly. Gus shakes his head.
- I can’t even talk about that now. Who
- JIM
- GUS
- (to Aurora)
- AURORA
- GUS
- to meet you.
- How long have you been awake?
- A year.
- Two years.
- This is not good.
- Jim, Aurora, and Gus sit around a table. Gus leans heavily on
- 89.
- I always get a hibernation hangover
- (he drinks)
- JIM
- GUS
- (looks them in the eye)
- There’s no way back into hibernation.
- I was hoping you’d know something we
- GUS
- far along are we? You know?
- Thirty-two years. Eighty-eight years
- Gus blows air.
- That’s tough.
- Hibernation failure! They said it
- trip.
- GUS (CONT’D)
- COMMAND DECK
- Gus leads Jim and Aurora to the Bridge’s armored hatch. He
- JIM
- trying to get in here.
- Now you’re in. Don’t touch anything.
- BRIDGE
- The computer consoles of the Bridge brighten as they enter.
- Gus walks from station to station, studying the screens.
- We’re on course..Whatever’s wrong
- minding the store.
- What do you think is wrong?
- Three pod failures? Something’s
- He turns to leave.
- Wait. What about diverting the ship?
- Gus almost laughs.
- We’re going forty percent of
- home we’d have to come to a stop,
- then come to a stop again. It’d take
- Anyway, navigation’s not for
- planet’s just a little thing.
- Gus has a coughing fit. Wipes his mouth with his fist.
- Let’s go next door. See how the old
- DIAGNOSTIC CENTER
- Gus opens a secure compartment beside the bridge. Inside, the
- GUS
- lights here. That would mean trouble.
- So everything’s okay?
- GUS
- lot of green lights here.
- What does no lights mean?
- No lights means big trouble.
- some work to do.
- What do you need?
- Right now? Cheeseburger.
- Gus eats a cheeseburger. Jim and Aurora sit across from him.
- (with his mouth full)
- hibernation hangover ever.
- JIM
- GUS
- this ship a long time. The
- runs, and I’ve been on every one. I
- live where she lands until she lifts
- JIM
- How old does that make you?
- Fifty-six.
- But how long ago were you born?
- Oh. Hang on..
- About six hundred years ago.
- (MORE)
- relativity. Doesn’t really count.
- I tell you, I feel about six hundred
- AURORA
- GUS
- (he climbs to his feet)
- meet me beside that tree of yours.
- the Excelsior, you work for me.
- JIM
- AURORA
- Gus waves and walks off. That leaves Jim and Aurora sitting
- After a moment Aurora moves over to the other side. Looks at
- AURORA (CONT’D)
- JIM
- Aurora stares, caught off guard. She gets up.
- See you in the morning.
- Gus and Jim examine the Diagnostic Computer. Jim holds a
- flashlight while Gus pokes around with a voltmeter inside.
- Behind them, Aurora stands watching with a digital slate.
- The CPU’s burned out, can you believe
- rated for five hundred years.
- Can you fix it?
- GUS (CONT'D)
- You don’t fix it, you replace it.
- storage. Make a note. Diagnostic
- this one looks shot.
- Got it.
- Gus and Aurora stand waiting as if for a bus.
- Don’t take this the wrong way - I
- asleep - but I’m glad you’re here.
- Thank you, sweetheart.
- A GROWL of gears. Jim drives up in his souped-up golf cart.
- What’s this?
- The golf cart.
- Gus takes in the bank of batteries, the giant tractor wheels.
- This I like.
- Jim pilots the cart through the stacks. Aurora rides shotgun.
- Gus, in the back seat, plays a flashlight over the stacks.
- Next bay is the ship’s stores. So how
- Jim puts the pedal down. The cart lays rubber on the deck
- plates and shoots down the aisle while Aurora and Gus yell.
- Up on a hydraulic lift, Gus digs components out of storage.
- Hands them to Aurora, who hands them to Jim, who loads them
- 94.
- Gus works on the Diagnostic Computer while Jim looks on.
- Nearby, Aurora thumbs through Gus’s technical manuals.
- Gus clamps a final component in place and nods at Jim.
- Start ‘er up.
- Jim closes a circuit breaker and powers up the computer. A
- The screen flashes a message: RUNNING VESSEL DIAGNOSTIC. A
- progress bar shows that the diagnostic is 0.0% complete.
- The lights on the indicator panel remain dark. The first
- JIM
- GUS
- Days. But it’ll tell us everything.
- Gus strolls through the ship, looking around nostalgically.
- CONCOURSE BAR
- ARTHUR
- GUS
- ARTHUR
- GUS
- lemon. I feel hot as hell.
- Gus mops sweat from his brow and sips his water. His hand
- 95.
- A homey space, filled with Gus’s possessions: pictures of
- fellow spacers and vacation spots on half a dozen planets.
- Gus sits on his bed, on a handmade quilt. Coughs violently
- into a handkerchief, leaving the cloth spotted with blood.
- Aurora stands waiting by the oak tree. Jim arrives with two
- cups of coffee, and hands her one. Aurora smiles, touched.
- Thank you.
- Gus arrives in a fresh coverall, a steaming mug in hand. No
- signs of frailty. He hands each of them a digital slate.
- All right. Last night I checked ten
- were burned out. Twenty percent
- going to see how far the rot runs.
- You. You’re going to walk Decks Two,
- atmosphere station. Green light good,
- Write down what you find, I want a
- AURORA
- GUS
- You. Go down to the Ship’s Stores.
- an inventory of the spares. I know
- ain’t facts.
- Got it.
- I’m going down to the Hibernation Bay
- what went wrong.
- 96.
- That should be interesting.
- Gus kneels in front of the pod, examining the mechanism.
- Alone, he doesn’t hide his difficulty: sweating and panting.
- Something he finds inside the machine makes him forget his
- GUS
- A sound behind him. Gus turns to find Jim watching. He looks
- GUS (CONT’D)
- inventory.
- I finished.
- (holding Jim’s eyes)
- The clock chips burned out. Not
- Jim fidgets. Starts to speak. Gus cuts him off.
- My pod was complicated. A bunch of
- thing went haywire. I think that’s
- (points at Aurora’s pod)
- JIM
- GUS
- JIM
- GUS
- bitch you were, stuck with a beauty
- 97.
- No.
- GUS
- JIM
- Gus thinks that over, shaking his head at the idea.
- I could see there was some trouble
- Gus starts putting his tools away. Jim lays the electronic
- JIM
- machine shop if you need me.
- Gus sits working. Behind him the Diagnostic Computer displays
- Aurora enters with a digital slate.
- I finished the census.
- You saw the hibernation pods?
- Yeah.
- So you know. What Jim did.
- GUS
- AURORA
- She waits, trembling with righteous indignation. Gus doesn’t
- want to get into this: he looks away uncomfortably.
- AURORA (CONT’D)
- Don’t tell me it is.
- No, it’s a bad thing. But..
- Look. When a drowning man drags
- call it right. But he’s drowning. A
- what can you say? You should have
- AURORA
- GUS
- Aurora looks hard at Gus, thinking, and says nothing.
- A rustic restaurant. Gus, Jim, and Aurora sit around a table.
- GUS
- percent of the atmosphere station
- JIM
- GUS
- again if we don’t figure out why it’s
- JIM
- GUS
- You’ve been knocking around this ship
- kill you.
- Gus hacks and coughs. For a moment his weakness is plain to
- see..but robots sweep in and lay dishes on the table. Gus
- 99.
- Here you go. This is the best food on
- GRAND CONCOURSE - CONCOURSE BAR
- Jim, Aurora, and Gus sit at the bar. Arthur stands by.
- So how did you end up in space?
- Only place I ever wanted to be. When
- got onto a lunar shuttle crew. A few
- ships. Made the Venus run a hundred
- the gravity drive came along. Real
- to get onto an interstellar ship. I
- time I saw an alien sun. No going
- seventeen planets in five solar
- JIM
- AURORA
- GUS
- You can’t take much with you, so you
- yourself. The things you do. The
- Gus pushes himself off his stool. Momentarily shaky, he pulls
- He takes a seat at the grand piano and plays - a fine
- beerhall pianist. Gus touches a switch and lifts his hands:
- Gus stands and extends a hand to Aurora. She takes it, and
- Jim watches from the bar.
- (aside, to Jim)
- 100.
- Aurora follows Gus’s lead - but steals looks at Jim. Her eyes
- unreadable. They watch each other as the dance goes on.
- Jim and Aurora wait beside the garden. They’ve been waiting
- JIM
- GUS’S CABIN DOOR
- A doorbell chimes. Jim and Aurora wait in the hall,
- AURORA
- GUS’S CABIN
- A THUNK! The door slides open. Jim and Aurora rush in.
- Gus! Are you all right?
- No. No, I’m not.
- Gus lies in a medical scanner. Jim and Aurora watch as the
- machine bathes Gus in light, sensors floating over his body.
- Couldn’t get up. Weak as a baby. What
- The scanner’s display screen lists not one diagnosis, but
- JIM
- It’s a few things.
- Diagnosis complete.
- Gus hauls himself out of the scanner. Pulls a bathrobe on and
- comes around to look at the screen. He sees it and blanches.
- MEDICAL SCANNER (CONT’D)
- GUS
- MEDICAL SCANNER
- organ failure. Cause unknown.
- (losing his temper)
- hibernation pod is the cause.
- What’s the treatment?
- No treatment known.
- Gus pivots the monitor so that only he can see it.
- Prognosis.
- A series of images flickers over the screen, casting shadows
- GUS (CONT’D)
- MEDICAL SCANNER
- A long moment of silence. Gus turns and exits.
- These sedatives will alleviate
- Pill bottles clatter into a metal bin. Aurora scoops them up.
- CORRIDOR
- Gus settles himself behind the wheel of Jim’s cart.
- Gus!
- Sorry, Jim.
- 102.
- Aurora stumbles into the hall, her hands full of pill
- COMMAND DECK - COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
- Aurora sits at the security console, watching the monitors.
- JIM
- Aurora flips on the intercom, speaks into the mic. Her voice
- AURORA
- We’ll be at the Concourse Bar every
- JIM
- GUS (O.S.)
- They spin. Gus stands in the doorway behind them.
- Guy’s got a couple of days to live
- AURORA
- GUS
- dinner plans?
- No.
- Xanadu at eight.
- Now stop shouting at me.
- Gus makes a tour of the room, touching his photographs and
- He puts on his dress uniform: chest crowded with medals and
- decorations for the planets he’s seen, the voyages he’s made.
- He takes a photograph from a dresser: a handsome woman in her
- forties. Kisses the snapshot. Tucks it in his breast pocket.
- Suddenly he SHOUTS, a wordless cry of anger. Pounds on the
- dresser with his fists. Teeth clenched in pain and fury.
- Then he straightens. Stands at attention. Takes a deep
- STARDOME - XANADU - NIGHT
- Jim and Aurora enter the Stardome to find Gus sitting shaky
- They sit. Gus pours wine with a trembling hand.
- You look magnificent.
- (to Jim)
- (to both of them)
- today, but I didn’t have a lot of
- He sips his wine. Jim and Aurora watch with concern.
- How you feeling?
- Fine, fine.
- Gus, just because some stupid machine
- GUS
- Anyway, I can feel it happening.
- But you just got here. It’s barely
- He takes her hand.
- No point counting the days.
- XANADU - LATER
- Their dinners are nearly done. Gus pours more wine. He’s in
- GUS
- dangerous a place as you can be. A
- there I am with a hammer, trying to
- flow, when one spark will kill us
- punchy. So I can’t stop laughing. And
- soon everybody’s going. Captain’s
- pissed his pants laughing.
- Jim and Aurora laugh. But pain contorts Gus’s face. He grips
- the table with white knuckles. And nobody’s laughing anymore.
- This is happening fast. I got some
- DECK FOUR - STARBOARD E.V.A. ROOM
- On a table at the edge of the plaza, a small pile of objects
- waits. Gus stops beside them. Turns to Jim and Aurora.
- I went through the ship’s manuals and
- something special you should know.
- few days the Diagnostic Computer will
- He takes his shipcard from around his neck. Hands it to Jim.
- This’ll get you anywhere you need to
- JIM
- AURORA
- 105.
- Got no choice about going. But I can
- on my own two feet.
- (shocked)
- GUS
- you wouldn’t ask me to stay.
- Gus extends a hand to Aurora. She throws her arms around him.
- Gus. I can’t stand it. There’s got to
- Gus gently frees himself from her arms.
- (tenderly)
- right.
- Gus turns to Jim. They clasp hands. Slap each other’s
- GUS (CONT’D)
- JIM
- GUS
- Gus turns and opens the airlock. He straightens, squares his
- GUS (CONT’D)
- Aurora covers her mouth. Jim raises a hand in stunned
- farewell. The airlock door closes. Red lights flash.
- Through the porthole they see Gus look out into space.
- Then the outer door slams open and a blast of air shoots Gus
- out among the stars. His body lost in the infinite night.
- Aurora steps into Jim’s arms. Lays her head on his chest. For
- a moment he holds her. Then she pushes him gently back. Meets
- 106.
- INT. GRAND CONCOURSE - DAY
- Arthur polishes glasses, chipper as ever. A SWEEPER ROBOT
- FORWARD OBSERVATION DECK
- Aurora slouches in her writing chair, staring into space - a
- SUBDECK C - MACHINE SHOP
- A CLATTER rouses him.
- Jim’s little pet robot is banging its head against the wall,
- ROBOTICS CENTER
- Jim walks in. Everywhere robots bunch and stumble.
- A pair of sweeper robots fight to enter the same recharging
- niche. They trip up a procession of gangly window washers -
- Chaos spreads. The robots’ clockwork perfection upset.
- Aurora draws a glass of orange juice and gets green sludge.
- COMMAND DECK - DIAGNOSTIC CENTER
- Aurora enters. The Diagnostic Computer’s console is no longer
- dark: it’s a sea of green and red lights. A lot of red.
- The computer’s screen reads “Diagnostic Complete.” It
- 271 Aurora stares in horror at the red lights. 271
- 107.
- There’s trouble everywhere.
- waste systems, robot control.
- (under his breath)
- Aurora goes to the worktable: its surface displays the
- diagnostic report. Thousands of faults and failures.
- It started two years ago. Thirty
- failures in a single day.
- Structural concussion.
- Transient pressure anomaly.
- Sync failure, hibernation pod 1498.
- Pod 1498? That’s me!
- Whatever happened that day woke you
- She pulls up a graph of failures over time: A trickle of
- JIM
- failures. Faster and faster.
- How do we find out what’s going on?
- We start at the beginning. The
- Aurora brings up a map of the ship on the display. Red
- AURORA
- DECK FOUR - AFT FIREWALL
- 108.
- Jim wears his tool belt. Aurora carries a flashlight. Each of
- Jim swipes Gus’s crew card and the hatch opens. They go in.
- A huge space spanning multiple decks at the rear of the ship.
- Here the real heart of the Excelsior throbs in the dark.
- Jim and Aurora emerge into a humming electrical station. Jim
- JIM
- AURORA
- ENGINE COMPARTMENT - MIDDLE LEVEL
- A huge sphere 120 feet across dominates the compartment.
- Signs read: CAUTION - FUSION REACTOR. A deep RUMBLE.
- Jim and Aurora descend beside the reactor on a spiral stair.
- They emerge onto a catwalk at the reactor’s equator and walk
- REACTOR CONTROL ROOM
- Jim cards open a door labeled “REACTOR CONTROL ROOM.” Red
- JIM & AURORA
- Don’t touch anything.
- Banks of control panels - but Jim and Aurora have eyes only
- Inside the reactor is a caged sun: an orb of fire hanging in
- space. Loops and tongues of flame leap from its surface.
- AURORA
- JIM
- AURORA
- 109.
- Gravity. The gravity plant gives us
- contains the fusion reaction. All one
- Aurora watches Jim as he walks among the consoles, studying
- JIM (CONT’D)
- computers running hot.
- The cluster of failures is still one
- ENGINE COMPARTMENT - LOWER LEVEL
- Jim and Aurora emerge from an elevator. They come to a door
- AURORA
- Jim cards the door with Gus’s shipcard. The lock flashes a
- JIM
- AURORA
- Let me try an override code.
- She squeezes past Jim. Taps at the door’s keypad. Jim peers
- JIM
- the door..
- The door begins to slide open.
- A HOWLING WIND sucks Aurora against the crack in the door.
- She screams. Jim grabs at her. A hurricane drags her inside.
- Aurora tumbles into the room and smashes into a column. She
- 110.
- There’s a RAGGED HOLE punched in the hull. Outside, stars
- burn in the vacuum of space. A tornado of escaping air
- Red lights flash. Claxons sound. The door begins to close.
- Jim pulls a HAMMER from his belt and jams it crossways in the
- doorway, propping open the door. The door’s motors whine.
- Jim dives inside. Skids to a stop beside Aurora. Pulls her
- loose from the column and shoves her toward the door,
- Aurora scrambles through the doorway. Jim tries to follow -
- but the hammer suddenly bends and springs out of the doorway.
- The door slams: Aurora outside, Jim in the airless room.
- The last of the atmosphere flashes away into space.
- Aurora screams and pounds on the other side of the door. But
- The last air leaves Jim’s lungs in a silent shout, vapor
- He spins. Scans the room desperately.
- Aurora re-enters the override code. But the code is denied.
- She drops to her knees. Scans frantically through her manual.
- Jim rips open a wide metal drawer built into the wall. It’s
- full of computer components: Jim sweeps them onto the floor.
- Aurora tears open an instrument panel beside the door,
- revealing a yellow emergency button marked “PURGE.” She flips
- IN THE AIRLESS ROOM
- White jets of compressed air blast from the ceiling, turning
- Jim clings for his life, gulping air as flying fragments
- 111.
- The wind tears him from his handholds and hurls him toward
- He falls ACROSS THE HOLE. Metal fangs inches from his body.
- He strains to avoid being speared or sucked out into space.
- The air jets stop. The wind dies as the air escapes.
- Jim lunges back to the open drawer. Pulls the LASER CUTTER
- from his tool belt and cuts the entire drawer free.
- He turns back, holding the metal DRAWER like a shield - and
- OUTSIDE THE DOOR
- Aurora sees Jim falter. Slams the PURGE button again.
- Compressed air blasts into the room, renewing the windstorm.
- Jim rides the wind, sliding across the steel deck and
- SLAMMING the steel drawer across the hole in the hull.
- Jim lunges to an emergency locker and pulls out an epoxy
- foamer - a steel canister like a fire extinguisher. He aims
- ORANGE FOAM blasts out, stiffening into a hard plastic. Jim
- buries the steel drawer and the hull breach in foam.
- His eyes flutter closed. Starved of oxygen, he falls limp.
- Aurora hits the PURGE button. White jets of air blast into
- the sealed room. The pressure comes up. The door slides open.
- Aurora dashes in. Falls to her knees beside Jim. Takes his
- pulse. Listens for breath: he’s not breathing. She presses
- After a moment Jim coughs. He opens bloodshot eyes. She props
- AURORA
- 112.
- JIM
- (his eyes go wide)
- In the center of the room a round column houses the CORE
- COMPUTER. There’s a CRATER blasted in the machine.
- That’s the core computer.
- Jim hauls himself to his feet, leaning on Aurora. He
- approaches the blasted computer. Reaches into the hole.
- Strains. A CREAK..and Jim pulls a melon-sized METEOR from
- COMMAND DECK - DIAGNOSTIC CENTER
- Jim and Aurora sit at the worktable. The meteor sits between
- JIM
- AURORA
- They stare at the meteor: the cause of it all.
- A BEEP: on the Diagnostic Computer’s console, more green
- lights turn red. New errors pop up on the diagnostic report.
- I don’t get it. This thing hit down
- everywhere.
- (a brainstorm)
- since the core computer got blown
- have been carrying the load. Running
- two years. They’re burning out.
- And every computer that burns out
- 113.
- Yeah. The breakdown accelerates. If
- go down.
- I’m trapped on a sinking ship?
- Gus said there’s spares for
- computer, it’ll pick up the load. The
- Another BEEP. Another green light turns red.
- Let’s go.
- Jim pilots his golf cart at breakneck speed through the cargo
- racks. Aurora rides shotgun, reading an electronic map.
- Two more rows, then left!
- CENTRAL COMPUTER FACILITY
- Aurora buries the hull breach in another layer of epoxy foam.
- Jim wrestles a massive crate off the golf cart’s cargo deck.
- CENTRAL COMPUTER FACILITY - LATER
- Aurora inspects the replacement core computer, a manual in
- her hands. The pages she’s consulting are covered with Gus’s
- Jim sits on the floor with another manual. Cables and
- AURORA
- the sync cable, then bridge the power
- run a startup checklist, but Gus made
- to power-up as long as you..
- (MORE)
- Jim!
- Jim is nodding off over his manual. He looks up, blinking.
- You need to sleep. We can’t make
- JIM
- I’m fine.
- You just got sucked into outer space.
- ELITE DECK - BERLIN SUITE - NIGHT
- Jim lies asleep in trousers and T-shirt, dead to the world.
- Aurora wakes. Rolls out of bed.
- Aurora sips coffee. Surveys the Diagnostic Computer’s warning
- lights. Turns to stare thoughtfully at the meteor itself.
- The console flickers. A green light turns red. And another.
- The pattern of red lights spreads like a bloodstain.
- Jim still lies sleeping. He hasn’t moved a muscle. Aurora
- DECK TWO - SWIMMING POOL
- In a bathing suit, Aurora dives into the pool, cleaving the
- She reaches the end of the lane. Kick-turns and swims back..
- The water heaves itself into weird humps and tentacles.
- 115.
- BERLIN SUITE (ZERO GRAVITY)
- Sound asleep, Jim floats weightless from his bed, his blanket
- His eyes open. He shouts in astonishment.
- Gus’ crew card floats in front of him. He grabs it. His
- blanket snarls around him: he struggles to free himself.
- Rippling masses of water float everywhere, dividing and
- In the middle of this chaos, Aurora is trying not to drown.
- Inside the jiggling mass she struggles, running out of air.
- She gathers herself. Lunges through the water. Shoots out of
- She drifts within reach of a railing and grabs hold.
- Jim braces himself in a corner of the ceiling. Spots his tool
- He dives through the air, snags his tool belt on the way, and
- JIM
- ELITE DECK - ELITE PROMENADE (ZERO GRAVITY)
- Jim emerges from a corridor onto the promenade: airborne,
- He’s barefoot in trousers and undershirt, his toolbelt around
- AURORA (O.S.)
- In the middle of the atrium, Aurora drifts mid-air, far from
- any handhold. She wears a damp shirt over her bathing suit.
- What are you doing?
- AURORA
- I’m drifting helplessly.
- We’ve got to get you down. The
- Aurora hadn’t thought of that. She looks down fearfully.
- Jim swings over the railing. Braces his feet. Takes aim.
- Whoa. Hey. Let’s talk about this.
- Hang on.
- To what?!
- Jim dives at her like Superman. Wraps his arms around her.
- They tumble through space until Jim grabs a railing.
- You okay?
- There’s no gravity.
- Yeah. That’s bad.
- Why is there no gravity?
- The gravity plant’s failing. Internal
- engines die..then the fusion reactor
- AURORA
- JIM
- online. Now.
- ENGINE COMPARTMENT - FUSION REACTOR (ZERO GRAVITY)
- A roar of THUNDER. The caged sun shudders. Tongues of fire
- 117.
- Jim and Aurora, getting the hang of it, shoot down a hallway -
- ENGINE COMPARTMENT - CORE COMPUTER ROOM (ZERO GRAVITY)
- Jim and Aurora float into the room and stare: Jim’s golf cart
- and the replacement Core Computer hang tumbling in the air.
- Aurora extends her hand to Jim. He takes her hand, and with
- his other hand grabs a handhold. Aurora floats up and grabs
- the replacement core computer by a cable. A human chain, they
- Aurora holds the new computer down. Jim floats up to the
- ruined old computer. Opens latches. Disconnects cables. Eases
- The room shakes. A deep note in the background falls silent.
- The engines just shut down.
- Consoles alive with warning lights. The room is bathed with a
- A computer burns out with a sputter of flame. The air fills
- FUSION REACTOR
- The caged sun boils and swells. Tentacles of flame graze the
- CORE COMPUTER ROOM (ZERO GRAVITY)
- Jim and Aurora strain at the replacement computer: it’s
- nearly in place. Each shoves with one hand, gripping a
- handhold with the other. Their feet kick in the empty air.
- ANNOUNCER
- Passengers please remain calm.
- Aurora holds the computer in place, gripping two handholds,
- 118.
- Jim floats up, reaches around the computer to connect cables.
- Does the data cable go in the “bus”
- AURORA
- The ship shudders violently, throwing them from side to side.
- Jim forces one cable after another into their sockets.
- JIM
- AURORA
- She strains. The computer slides back into place.
- Jim closes the last connection. Slips out of the niche and
- lowers the clamps that hold the computer in place.
- He throws the heavy power lever. The lights go out.
- A wave of darkness engulfs the ship.
- Floating, Jim and Aurora stare at each other in the dark.
- What’s happening?
- Don’t know.
- The core computer flashes to life. The lights come back on.
- So does the gravity. Jim and Aurora slam to the floor. Inches
- away, the old computer plunges down and embeds itself in the
- deck. Across the room the golf cart bounces on its tires.
- The orb of fire withdraws its blazing tentacles and dwindles
- 119.
- Jim and Aurora lie on the deck, breathing hard. Aurora starts
- JIM
- AURORA
- The engines rumble back to life.
- A distant, rhythmic sound begins: BOOM-CHAK..BOOM-CHAK..
- Jim and Aurora walk wearily.
- We have to replace the other burnedout
- Aurora slides her arm around his waist.
- JIM (CONT’D)
- Aurora stiffens, looking over his shoulder. Outside the
- window, a hibernation pod spins into view. A woman inside.
- (finding her voice)
- He turns. Stares in shock as more pods drift past the window.
- Jim and Aurora sprint into the facility. The sound is loud
- It’s the sound of hibernation pods being ejected. The wave of
- ejections marches down an aisle: one pod after another
- Jim rushes to a CONSOLE. Scans the display.
- The hibernation system rebooted. It
- ejecting the empty pods.
- AURORA
- They’re not empty.
- The ship leaves a trail of glowing hibernation pods.
- Jim slides to a halt in front of a hibernation pod. Pulls a
- power driver from his belt and removes the cover panel.
- An ominous sound approaches. BOOM-CHAK..BOOM-CHAK.. The
- AURORA
- JIM
- He’s not fast enough. The pod slides up and out of sight.
- The pods Jim was working on tumbles out into space.
- Jim slams into the facility at a dead run. Scans the crew
- Aurora enters. Looks at the man inside the hibernation pod: a
- AURORA
- JIM
- The sounds of the ejection wave come closer. Boom-chak.
- You don’t have much time.
- I know.
- BOOM-CHAK! A crewman’s pod vanishes into the ceiling on the
- AURORA
- The wave of ejections reaches the end of the facility and
- JIM
- The hibernation pod hums to life.
- Inside, the Captain opens his eyes. He stares in astonishment
- at the first thing he sees: Aurora, in her bathing suit and
- BOOM-CHAK!
- The pod beside the Captain’s shoots out of sight. He sees it.
- Looks at Aurora in alarm. Reaches out, his hand spread flat
- She reaches back, her hand matching his.
- The Captain’s pod rises through the ceiling and vanishes. Jim
- roars in frustration. Aurora leaps back with a cry of horror.
- Jim and Aurora stare out the windows. In the ship’s wake,
- five thousand pods glitter like diamonds. The cloud of pods
- Stricken, Aurora walks away.
- Jim watches her go, then turns back to the window, looking
- EXT. STARSHIP EXCELSIOR
- The starship recedes, leaving five thousand pods in its wake.
- SUPER: TWO WEEKS LATER
- Jim stands at the Diagnostic Computer. The indicator light
- panel is a sea of green. Only a few red lights remain.
- 122.
- That’s the last of the burned out
- be all green.
- Can we talk?
- Aurora’s writing couch. Jim and Aurora sit facing each other.
- AURORA
- me up, I’d be drifting out in space
- you’d never awakened, the whole ship
- Jim shakes his head at the tangle of it.
- But no matter how we got here, the
- is, when I have a good idea, you’re
- wake up in the morning, I wish you
- just see Jim. And I miss him.
- JIM
- AURORA
- can’t be. We’ve come through too
- the fact is, I love you.
- Jim reaches out and takes her hand. She watches him
- Aurora gazes out at the stars - the endless shining sky that
- AURORA (CONT’D)
- Jim meets her eyes.
- Hell of a life.
- She climbs into his lap, and they kiss. A kiss with a year’s
- EXT. STARSHIP EXCELSIOR - STARBOARD AIRLOCK - DAY
- The airlock opens with a gust of air. Jim emerges in a space
- ATOP THE SHIP
- They walk toward the bow, stars reflected in their visors.
- They sit side by side. Aurora takes Jim’s hand.
- They lean together, helmets touching, and look together into
- FADE TO BLACK.
- EXT. HOMESTEAD II - CAPITAL LANDING FIELD - DAWN
- An orange sun rises over green hills. In the foreground the
- roofs of Homestead II’s capital city glow in the dawn.
- At the city’s edge, timeworn spacecraft sit on their landing
- Colonists gather. They watch the sky expectantly..
- The star grows into a white starship gleaming in the sun. The
- Excelsior sweeps over the field with a rumble of engines.
- The ship’s hull is scorched and abraded from its cosmic
- crossing. But the lights shine, the engines throb, the
- The starship’s gangway lowers. The doors open.
- CHILDREN run down the gangway. Children of all ages, of all
- races. Twenty of them, thirty. They point at the sun, at the
- We move up the gangway, through the disembarking passengers.
- Behind the children: Teenagers. Adults in smaller numbers as
- they grow older. Finally a handful of gray-haired elders.
- INT. STARSHIP EXCELSIOR - GRAND CONCOURSE
- Transformed by the wear and tear of a century’s habitation.
- Paths worn into floors, furniture repaired or re-purposed.
- We move past vegetable gardens. Battered sweeper robots water
- The OAK TREE towers a hundred feet tall over the Concourse.
- We move past walls decorated with murals and carvings.
- At the Concourse Bar, Arthur is slicing vegetables. His
- At the aft end of the Concourse, a high wall. Here a long
- list of dates is inscribed. The last date is the ship’s
- landfall on Homestead II; the first, Jim’s awakening. In
- between: an accelerating tally of births, deaths, marriages,
- catastrophes and achievements..a century of shipboard life.
- At the base of the wall we find a table like an altar, where
- The meteor pried from the Excelsior’s heart.
- A beautiful hand-bound book. In the Blink of an Eye: Our
- Lives Between the Stars, by Aurora Dunn. Beneath these
- In the center of it all, in the place of honor: the photo
- They laugh. They clown. She kisses him.
- Jim looks at Aurora.
- THE END.
ALL VOLUMES CITATION PDF VIEWER. Full Citation: STANDARD VIEW. PSTA leaders are encouraging passengers to bring folding bicycles on board buses even if the front. Passengers has 28 ratings and 3 reviews. 4.11 Rating details 28 ratings 3 reviews. To ask other readers questions about Passengers, please sign up. Recent Questions Where do you get this book? Snake 3d pc game. Store links here are all invalid. Overuse of name 'Passengers' as a book title add to the difficulty.
Passengers By Jon Spaihts Pdf To Word. Digital broadband tv installations. Wintrack v11 0 3d crack stickers. In one version of the screenplay, written by Jon Spaihts, Jim even reads all of Aurora's online articles – she's a journalist – and decides that, based on what she writes, she'd be perfect for him. It's unclear, however, whether this version of events has made it into the final film. Hidden Figures and Passengers: One official story, and another trite one By Joanne Laurier 12 January 2017 €€€Hidden Figures, directed by Theodore Melfi, screenplay by Melfi and Allison Schroeder, based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly; Passengers, directed by Morten Tyldum, screenplay by Jon Spaihts Hidden Figures. Nds emulator android apk.
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Rating details
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Dec 31, 2016Mazouza Sha'ban rated it it was amazing
“She didn't need a protector or a rescuer. But she did need him.”
Yes, it's wrong, people do wrong things, but I can't deny I liked it. Now I wonder how it translated into movie since I've heard some bad things about it.
Aug 12, 2016Lucy rated it really liked it Shelves: jennifer-lawrence-film, made-into, screenplays
'For very unlucky people, we got pretty lucky'
I couldn't put it down! Aurora and Jim stole my heart. I really liked the plotline and even though I found a bit forced the introduction of a certain character overall it's great. I'm very looking forward to seeing how the movie will finally be like with all the special effects and all.
I couldn't put it down! Aurora and Jim stole my heart. I really liked the plotline and even though I found a bit forced the introduction of a certain character overall it's great. I'm very looking forward to seeing how the movie will finally be like with all the special effects and all.
Luisfer Calero rated it really liked it
Jun 14, 2016
Jun 14, 2016
Jonathan Corpus rated it really liked it
Jun 19, 2015
Jun 19, 2015
Justice League Dark
Drew McGregor rated it really liked it
Oct 28, 2014
Oct 28, 2014
Diego Rodríguez rated it it was amazing
Jan 06, 2017
Jan 06, 2017
Marcones Burgos rated it did not like it
May 01, 2017
May 01, 2017
Elise Lum-You rated it really liked it
Jun 17, 2015
Jun 17, 2015
Bantita Cheeptumrong marked it as to-read
Jan 25, 2016
Jan 25, 2016
Lillian Znamenacek marked it as to-read
Sep 22, 2016
Sep 22, 2016
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