Scene 3.25 - Mutiny
EST: EXT. Eliza - Mid-afternoon
INT. ELIZA BRIDGE
CU: ASIMOV, his bandage hanging limply from his forehead, blood-stain, bump, but no bruise!
(LEAH brings up the Guardian Of Infinity on the monitor.)
LEAH
Zack, honey, I got a visual on Dr. Wells.
ASIMOV
Vaht is thit?
CLARKE
Distorted readings indicate that this is the source of the Clarke-effect.
ASIMOV
Explinn.
CLARKE
I can’t.
ASIMOV
At a loss for verds? Zat’s a new von.
CLARKE
It appears to be an apex of para-dimensional worlds, Isaac. It seems that we are actually passing through ripples in time.
ASIMOV
Arthur, could thit be ze vay out?
CLARKE
Very likely, Isaac. Time-space distortion suggests that there is an unseen doorway into other realms inside that anomaly.
SIMAK
(Hits from the flower near him:) Aye, avay back to Earth, back to the mudderland!
CLARKE
It would seem so, Smokey. Isaac, I have located trace energy-signatures of the Mental Floss. This seems to be its last course and heading.
(A highlighted path showing the ship running into the skyscraper appears. Right before the impact, Earth was in full frame of the skyscraper’s display. CLARKE pauses and zooms in on that frame.)
ASIMOV
Thit’s it! Mitch thit heading.
LEAH
Heading 317, mark 4.
ASIMOV
We vill go vere no von hiss gone before.
SIMAK
Except for the Mental Floss, she’s beat us to the punch. Aye, Verne’s replicants know something we don’t.
ASIMOV
It dizz nit mitter. (Hits flower.) Ve vill make a lovely garden on ze Earth and bring Paradise to all of vits inhibbitints.
LEAH
Zack, we’re being hailed.
ASIMOV
Onscreen.
(VERNE in the cockpit, ill-humored. We don’t see the co-pilot in this scene. He’s using RONNIE’S blast-shield-face-plate as a two-way monitor.)
VERNE
Isaac, what in blazes are you doing?
ASIMOV
Ve are ticking the ship bick to ze Earth!
VERNE
Not on my watch, you’re not! Who died and made you Captain? Are you bonkers? Get out of my chair, that’s for grown-ups. (Pause.) Clarke, stop him, he’s not rational!
CLARKE
(Smiling, momentarily pausing from some heavy-petting with the women flanking him.) I’m afraid I can’t do that, Jules. No one is listening to you anymore.
VERNE
What’s wrong with you people? We’re in a paradox, you can’t leave! I can fix it!
ASIMOV
Hey, Zules! (Pronounced as in Za-Za Gabor.) I got my lucky quarter. Vy don’t you call someone who cares, hmm?
(All aboard The Eliza laugh.)
VERNE
Blast it! (Pounds dashboard.) Have you all gone insane? What’s the matter with you?
(VERNE lights a cigarette to calm his nerves.)
LEAH
We know what we’re doing, stay clear.
VERNE
Azalea!
LEAH
My name’s Leah now.
VERNE
Whoever you say you are, you realize once you pass through that portal, you’ll lose me, your only chance at a real life again. You’ll forever be locked outside of your body, your real body. There won’t be any way for you to become yourself again.
LEAH
(Levitates upward five feet, stretches, floats over to viewscreen, looking all sexy.) As you can see, I like what I have now even better. (Backs through helmsman’s station, sits into chair.) Keep the corpse, Captain. I won’t be needing it anymore.
VERNE
You discorporated because of a quantum-accident! I can re-align the field, I can contain it this time, I can put you back!
LEAH
Nah, I think I’ll just stay the way I am, thanks tho.
VERNE
Has the entire crew gone completely nuts? What, are you all hooked-on some sort of Tellusian crack? Look at you! You all look like you’re tweaking or something. (They are all smiles. Pause. Desperate:) Smokey, can’t you talk some sense into them?
SIMAK
Now why would I want to go and do that, hmmm? (Sniffs flower.) As me fadder would say in the old country, a bush in the hand is worth two birds-
VERNE
I don’t care what anyone said in the old country! Have you all gone mad? This is mutiny! You land that vessel or I’ll-
ASIMOV
Or you’ll vaht?
VERNE
(Veins out, red faced, the most angry so far:) I’ll, I’ll, I’ll make you all wish-
ASIMOV
I only vish you vould be quiet already! (Gives a cut-throat gesture to LEAH, the transmission link is severed, girls giggle, men laugh.) Arthur, vaht did he mean about all that stiff about ze paradox?
CLARKE
We were in a quantum quandary on New Trinity, until our replicants were all reassimilated. It’s old news.
ASIMOV
Then he vas lying to us?
CLARKE
He may still think there’s a paradox, and my examination of the trace-energy signatures suggests that Verne One had a significant number of near-matter quantum phantasms accompanying him to the apex. Plus, once within the event horizon, there was a temporal displacement of the craft as it ventured toward Earth.
ASIMOV
And vaht does thit min?
CLARKE
It means that through that portal, Captain Verne One and his clones have escaped the Phantom World by going back into Earth’s history.
ASIMOV
Vell, if zey kin do it, vee kin do it.
LEAH
Zack, we’re being hailed again.
ASIMOV
Till the Kiptin vee are not interested in a magazine subscription and sinned him on his vay!
LEAH
It’s coming from the anomaly, Zack. It’s an automated transmission.
ASIMOV
Vaht? Onscreen. (ASIMOV 1 is on the screen.) Vaht? Vaht does ziss mean?
ASIMOV 1
(Standing before rest of the replicant crew.) I’m sending this message, Isaac, in case you ever try to use the Guardian Of Infinity to escape the Phantom World.
ASIMOV
How did you git bick it if me body?
CLARKE
A warning message, Isaac, from our former, replicant captors. It must have been pre-recorded and designed to play under a certain set of circumstances.
ASIMOV
Git bick into me body!
CLARKE
He can’t hear you, Isaac. It’s automated. If I were in the captain’s chair, we would be seeing me.
ASIMOV ONE
(The beginning under previous lines, almost no accent throughout:) We decided as a crew to form the New Trinity Rebel Alliance, a cause whose objectives may not seem to clear to you. If we truly have been reassimilated, you must know that in your mind, there’s a latent part of us inside, hoping you may escape. Hopefully, you are in command for some other reason than you are the only one left alive. Use our knowledge to overcome your obstacles. Upon entering the influence of the portal, a series of override command codes will temporarily take over the ship’s functions. This is normal, and should not be a cause for concern. We’ve set it so that the Guardian Of Infinity will tether you to this world, so you may return and try again if you are unsuccessful at finding a way back to our present-day Earth. Mr. Clarke has speculated that it is indeed possible. You will know you have reached the correct time-stream when there is no alteration in your physical form and presence. If you somehow travel out of the time-phase, you will be altered to conform to the time-stream of the era you are in, so as not to create additional paradox. Again, this is normal and should not be any cause for alarm. (The ship thumps, like it got caught in a tractor beam.) As you are now tethered, we, the remnants of the New Trinity Rebel Alliance wish you luck throughout your journey ahead. Today’s in-flight movie will be Mastering Mary Jane. Enjoy the movie, and see you on the other side, when the two of us are finally re-assimilated. Good luck, and have a safe flight.
(A movie begins playing on the secondary monitors. It is ignored by the crew throughout.)
ASIMOV
(Takes a whiff.) So vaht was all thit stiff about anyvey?
CLARKE
(Snorting flower:) He lost me around the time he was talking about his alliance.
LEAH
Zack, baby, the anomaly has taken over the ship’s controls. We’re going in.
SIMAK
(Snorting:) Aye, we’ll get to Earth, all right, paradox or no. Verne can’t scare us with all that philosophical gumbo. (Hits flower:) Aye, a mental, Mulligan’s-stew, it is.
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