ACT VIII - RAINBOWS

SCENE 1 - INT. SPACE BOW BOARD OF DIRECTORS - NOON

The door opens - the board of directors meeting room. Eel Mars is sitting at the head of the table, and a logo of "SPACE-BOW - THE ROAD TO OUR FUTURE" is behind him on the wall. Other six members of the BoD are present, equally split on each of the table sides. STEPHAN (33, TALL - BLONDE, GERMAN-TYPE) is taking some notes.

EEL MARS
...We came to the last, but not least, topic of this meeting. I am glad to confirm that today our R&D department is starting the last phase of the Road To Our Future project.

STEPHAN
Our investors are concerned whether we can really meet our deadline and handle public opinion. Our surveys show --

The CEO is nervously tightening a stylus in his hand.

EEL MARS
-- Stephan, you are our External Relations responsible. We expect you to be able to manage these kind of situations. Are you?

STEPHAN
Yes Eel, of course I am.

EEL MARS
Then how the hell did that nosey girl manage to grab a microphone in the middle of a press release? Well done, Stephan. Any other inappropriate doubt or useless question?
(silence at the table)
Wonderful. Dismissed then...

The six members quickly stand up to leave the meeting room. The last two exiting are Stephan followed by Kane.

Kane closes the door and...SNAP! The stylus gets broken in Eel's hand.

He switches his laptop on - an email pops up with an attached file. He clicks the file open. The video of Sky runs.

Eel Mars leans comfortably back on his chair - both hands on the back of his head. A satisfied smile widens on his face.

SCENE 2 - INT. SPACE BOW MAIN HALL - MOMENTS LATER

A warm working environment - pastel blue walls, light oak furniture, colorful doors.

Stephan and Kane are walking from the meeting room to the main hall of the company building. Kane's left hand is on Stephan's right shoulder. They stop at a coffee machine.

STEPHAN
Why is he always putting pressure on me?

Kane is inserting a card into the machine.

KANE
He is doing to everyone, Stephan... Help yourself.

Stephan gestures a thank you. He presses the touchscreen and the machine starts preparing an americano.

STEPHAN
And what's his problem with that teenager? What's her name? Sky ChEw? She's just a voice out of our chorus.

KANE
He got his reasons. Good ones.

Stephan takes his coffee, leaving space for Kane.

STEPHAN
(sipping)
You mean what? Did she kill his dog or what?

Kane touches his hair, while the machine dispenses a second americano.

KANE
Fifteen years ago. The disaster in the subway central station. Remember that?

STEPHAN
Who doesn't? The "Chinese bug". It nearly wiped out the driverless automation project. An unexpected condition in the code, the Chinese software engineer got blasted by journalists.

KANE
The Chinese bug - correct. A witch hunt. That witch is Sky Chow's father.

Stephan freezes for a second. Another sip.

STEPHAN
Ok. So what? Should we keep on hunting the witch's daughter as well?

KANE
Anne-Marie Mars. Seven months pregnant.

Another sip of coffee.

KANE
She was on one of those fucking trains.

The coffee cup stays stuck on Stephan's lips - an endless romantic kiss.

KANE
Eel buried one single foot of his wife. Her body melted into the subway-car metal plates.

The coffee cup slowly peels off the lips.

STEPHAN
Fuck off...

A fleeting glance of Kane to a security camera over the coffee machine.

SCENE 3 - INT. SPACE BOW BOARD OF DIRECTORS - SAME TIME

Sky's video is on pause on Eel's laptop. On another window, a real-time CCTV footage. Kane takes a direct look at the camera.

Eel is sitting on his chair. An emotionless statue.

Music Rhythm for ACT VIII: "Starman" by BONES

https://youtu.be/tRcPA7Fzebw

SCENE 4 - EXT. CHOW HOUSE - AFTERNOON

Five teenagers are walking in the garden on one side of Sky's house - they try to be as silent as possible.

Paco and Alex start testing the drainpipe to climb to Sky's bedroom. Omer is looking up at the window.

PACO
(shaking the pipe)
Will it hold me?

OMER
Let's simply ring the bell. I mean - Alex can come up with something persuasive.

ALEX
Deal.

Alex, followed by Omer, is about to turn the corner of the house - they suddenly crouch shrimp-stepping back.

A police car is about to park next to the yellow Aiways A6. Clang and Bark get off. They walk to the entrance.

The doorbell rings.
Omer brings his forefinger to the tip of his nose. Silence.

Steps of Mrs. Chow into the house, she passes in front of the window spotting the Kidz. Eva answers to her glance making a zip sign over her lips. Mrs. Chow closes the curtain.

The front door opens - steps and voices from inside.
Alex and Akua are helping Paco climb up the pipe.

EVA
(whispering)
We can pass from my bedroom window.

PACO
Yeah, chica. It sounds like a great B-plan. But A-plan - that's the drainpipe.

Eva gestures to Omer to follow her.

SCENE 5 - INT. EVA'S BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATER

Eva is checking her drawers trying to find something.

EVA
It must be here, I am sure.

OMER
Eva -- you are aware of your talent for singing, right?

EVA
Not the best time to chat about music and...and yes! Here it is!

She turns with a sliding hook in her hands. Omer spread his arms, his face as a human question mark.

EVA
Sky and I were using this to secretly meet at night.

She opens the window, hooks the slider to a small iron rope, waves a kissing-bye to Omer, and in a millisecond she is sliding from hers to Sky's room.

SCENE 6 - EXT. CHOW HOUSE - CONTINUOUS

Alex and Akua are holding the drainpipe while Paco is climbing. They don't see Eva passing over their heads.

SCENE 7 - INT. SKY'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS

Eva is in Sky's bedroom.

Rainbow, Sky's cat, purrs curled up next to one of the rainbows on the wall. A grey color tube is open on the floor - some paint dripped out.

A sound of climbing steps and Bark's indistinguishable words. Eva is torn between haste and fear of scaring the cat.

EVA
(soft voice)
Come here clever Rainbow, come here.

Rainbow meows and lays its paw into the paint.

EVA
Come on! It is not the right time to play.

The cat, with a light stroke, adds a grey line to the rainbow. Finally, it runs to jump into Eva's arms.

The steps get closer. Eva hurries to slide back to her room.

SCENE 8 - EXT. CHOW HOUSE - CONTINUOUS

Paco keeps climbing, he is halfway up, but the drainpipe is emitting whiny and weary sounds.

Alex is looking up, he shocks when he sees Eva coming out from the window - Rainbow is in her backpack.

EVA
What about your A-plan, guys?

She slides back to her window with an excited and meowing Rainbow.

POP...CLANG! The drainpipe collapses on the ground together with Paco.

PACO
(suffering)
Fucking A-Plan aborted.

An anxious voice echoes from the open window of Sky's room.

MRS CHOW (V.O.)
It must have been a cat outside...

Alex, Akua, and a limping Paco try to hide quickly diving over the fence dividing Eva's and Sky's gardens.

A frowning Clang looks out of the window. 

A white cat greets him with a meow. The agent smiles and disappears back into the house. A sigh of relief from the Kidz.

Eva and Omer get out of Eva's house.

EVA
Come on guys, time to pack it up. Sky's waiting for us at the Lodge.

SCENE 9 - INT. SPACE BOW LAB CORRIDOR - AFTERNOON

Eel Mars is clanging in a pastel-coloured corridor followed by Stephan, a couple of steps behind.

A first double door, with a retina scanner on each side.

EEL MARS
Thrilled?

STEPHAN
Of course Eel.

They get authenticated and continue into another corridor, with doors opening on both sides.

STEPHAN
I am sorry for the Chinese Bug -- I mean -- your family.

Eel stops. He turns and faces his employee.

EEL MARS
The past doesn't change. We might only try to shape our future. We better focus on that, don't you agree?

He starts walking again without waiting for an answer.

They get to a steel gate. Again one scanner on each side, a big plexiglass cabin.

FEMALE SYNTHETIC VOICE
Prepare for DNA scan.

Stephan steps into the cabin and waits until two tiny needles enter both his arms.

FEMALE SYNTHETIC VOICE
DNA authentication -- ongoing.

STEPHAN
(self-whispering)
Damn, technology.

FEMALE SYNTHETIC VOICE
Authenticated. Level 1. AHOY!

He steps out of the cabin and reaches Eel in front of the opening steel gate.

STEPHAN
Ahoy?!?

Eel burns him with an icy glance.

SCENE 10 - INT. SPACE BOW LABORATORY - CONTINUOUS

The steel doors open up. Eel and Stephan continue walking for ten meters to an amphitheater-like laboratory. A rotor is in the middle of the stage, while a team of technicians is working on the higher part of the room.

Eel heads towards a man turned from his back in a white lab coat. He is checking MILKY-WAY (a chimpanzee), laying on a monitoring bed.

EEL MARS
How is our Milky-Way, Dr. Morgan?

Kane turns...

KANE
Alive and kicking, she is ready.

EEL MARS
The future is now, Stephan. Here and now. Take a seat.

A group of technicians bring the monkey onto the stage, close to the rotor.

The sound of the rotor grows sharper.

Transparent shock-absorbing panels mount up from the floor of the stage, building up a cage around an astonished Milky-Way.

STEPHAN
Sure that it's safe here? This trembling is getting me nervous.

KANE
Everything's fine. The rotor is our bridge for the space jump, but it needs a huge quantity of energy.

STEPHAN
Where does this energy come from? Nuclear reaction?

KANE
(smiling)
Nuclear is too risky. We use the electromagnetic field -- directly from Earth's core. Clean and safe.

Eel Mars, sitting at a console in the upper part, thumbs up a go-signal to Kane.

The wall behind the rotor opens up to a huge tunnel - its length seems endless.
The rotor sound frequency pitches up.

KANE
Ready in 3, 2, 1...

EEL MARS
Activate round trip procedure.

Kane touches the screen in front of him.

Milky-way is gone, disappeared, vanished. The rotor sound starts to pitch down.

And then Milky-way is back, an illusionist, a pioneer monkey.

STEPHAN
(shouting out of his mind)
FUCK!

A NASA applause by the lab team. Eel stands up clapping his hands and smiling.

Stephan is clapping as well, his face as a kid entering a fun fair for the first time in his life.

END OF ACT VIII