- EXT. SPACECRUISER FLANK - OVER ATLANTIC - RED MOON NIGHT
- 20W 1N 100 mi. high atmospheric deorbit level-forward E-NE 5 mi./sec. 550 mi. to the nearing west coast of Africa 12W 7N faint in the red glow of lunar eclipse 40W 70 deg. high.
- (00:00 blocks - You Will become Jealous/Marquisard)
- SHUTTLE DETACHES
VERNIERS
LIGHT-THRUSTS west-aftward
- (00:06)
- Passes the impaled Croaker Probe
and beyond aft, pitches down toward Earth's ocean reflection of the lunar eclipse
- (00:11 "mmm")
- Undershield eastward, MAIN-THRUST 50 ft./sec-sec. 0.5 mi.
- (00:21 clanks)
- EXHAUST DWINDLES to idle as it recedes down 1 mi./10 sec.
- (00:31 voice, sinks)
- EXT. SHUTTLE - OVER WEST AFRICA 20E - (RED MOON PREDAWN)
- 75 mi. above Earth, 30 deg. nose-down bottom-forward E-NE
- POV BEHIND: Idle exhaust blows straight back-westward
- BOTTOM AEROGLOW begins pale red
with yellowish streaks
- Slow conic roll to 30 deg. nose-up upright
- POV FRONT: Red Moon at 40 deg. above a red horizon trace
- (01:13 exalt bursts)
- BOTTOM BLOOMS BUSY-BLUE WHITE AMID STRONG AEROGLOW AURA
- POV ABOVE: Illuminating the Earth nightside mid Africa
- POV BEHIND: 450 mi. west of approaching mid-lower Nile
- CUT TO:
- EXT. MID-LOWER NILE SHORE, THEBES 32E - (RED MOON PREDAWN)
- 4000-BC-Egyptian spearfishermen pole in round basket boats;
- (01:24)
- West BLUE-WHITE NOVA CROSSES into the red moon at 15 deg.
- One fisherman points hushed attention to it, "Mul-gi"
- 1 deg. souther the trailing space-city-ship-engine NUCLEAR-FLASH 1 SEC. BLUE-WHITE;-- eliciting excitement, "Mul-ki"
- 3 sec. later the LIGHT-ECHO WHITENS THE RED MOON, 1 sec.
- (01:35 fades, settles, glide)
- CUT TO:
- INT. SHUTTLE, 38E 40 MI. UP - AEROGLOW THINNING, DAWN 05:25
- Leveling, 3 mi./sec. dropping 0.3 mi./sec. below sunrise
- TfNi controls; Gabe monitors. Adam is seated behind.
- An orange dragon-curve draws on the communications console.
- Aeroglow dims to clear: MORNING STARS RISING FAST
- (01:45 voice)
- Communications sweeps for acquisition
and decimates
and again
and communications acquires
.
- (02:00)
- The display refreshes to [Mike face] repressing worry amid alarms, warnings, data, diagrams, re city-ship separation
- Gabe talks with him ad lib
passing over the HEJEZ RANGE
- (02:10)
- COLLISION-AVOIDANCE INDICATORS;--
- AUTO-BANKS-DODGES-BOBS-ABOUT FIREY METEORS SHOOTING AHEAD
- Ahead 100 mi. 75-MI. CEILING GLOWS ORANGE OF PLASMA-PLOWING ROCKET ENDS, 3, pirouetting heady 6+9 deg. apart, preceding 1.5 mi./sec., cleaving-off mile chunks storming and hordes of freed meteors chasing showering the sky, lagging
- [Mike face] IMAGE-STALLS repeatedly
then only telemetry
- 06:00 AM daylight burns on the horizon
- (02:27 exalt bursts)
- SUNRISE BREACHED: A SUN-OUT-SPOT solarizes in the window as the Shuttle 20 mi. high glides over the Hejez east slope
- (02:48 knocks, settled)
- E-E-NE, 100 mi. north of Pishon
WAKES POP AND BUFFET
- (02:59 voice, piano, resumes)
- CALMS to hypersonic cruise across a wet-desert mid-Arabia
- Rocket Storm 3 sections fully broken, tumbling, 90+140 mi. apart (6+9 deg.), extending 250-650 mi. ahead
lowering
METEORITES BEGIN PEPPERING the landscape diffusely below
- And a SLOWEST GRAVEL CLUSTER BLASTS THE LAND 29.7N 45.4E
And a FIRST CHUNK PLOWS a 3-mi.-wide furrow 31.5N 45.5E
- CUT FAR AHEAD TO:
- EXT. WET DESERT, PALMS - EARLY PLOWER ONCOMING - FIERY SKY
- Fast approaching, PLOWS: SPLASHING-UP mile crests of dirt
- PASSES-- BLASTING THE LAND BARE
to ZERO-VISIBILITY DUST
- CUT BACK TO:
- INT. SHUTTLE, 45E 5 MI. UP - MORNING BECOMING EAST-OBSCURED
- (03:40 exalt bursts)
- STORM PLOWS 46.5E E-E-NE: 30.2N, 31.7N: FLAMING, LIGHTNING; DUST BILLOWS 300 mi. across, obliterating morning sunlight; 28N STEAMS the Persian Gulf
and FLASHES UP THE RIDGE
- The spreading pavis caps the mountain range 31-32N 51-53E
- A LAST HEAVY RAMS MID-MOUNTAIN BELOW-- PLUMING-UP A SPIKE
- (04:06 fade, settles)
- Shuttle 5 mi. high 1 mi./sec. approaches first impact zone 150 mi. west of the Euphrates to Pishon-Batin north bend
- TfNi, Gabe, exchange concerned looks.
- (04:12)
- (04:14 end -out-)
- DISSOLVE TO:
- EXT. SHUTTLE - OVER PISHON NORTH BEND - DENSE HAZE 06:30 AM
- Looping subsonic 2 mi. above thick billowing dust, as TfNi, Gabe, search for a site along the north bend 30-30.2N 47.2-47.4E impact zone 100 mi. west of Euphrates; a flame-tinged dust shroud across the east; forest fires up the mountains.
- DISSOLVE TO:
- EXT. SHUTTLE LANDING - PISHON NORTH-BEND - OBSCURE 07:00 AM
- NB. SPACER EARTH VOICES TIP-OF-MOUTH QUIET TENOR-SOPRANO.
- Persian range looms in smoke, dust, forest fire; Foreground is rubble-razed, tree stumps shattered, trunks scattered, bashed; Pishon-Batin muddy riverbed is at walking distance.
- ENGINE SHUTS DOWN
.
- Mr. Gabriel, TfNi, Adam disembark.
- Gabe gives TfNi a hug
And kneels to Adam--
GABE
- (neon high voice)
- Adam: You and your Mother have a long assignment here on this Earth-planet:- Be obedient to every word she tells you: She's a Lieutenant Commander; She's the only commander you will have on this planet;- And there is much to learn about this day-type-six planet: It's not like our spacecruiser: It's much bigger, and you can explore.
I must return to the cruiser; And I'll come visit you again when you've established your homebase with the staple seeds I've given you in these leaf-sacks;
- (holds up a garland-sack)
- You have ample resources around you to multiply and build, ten, cities.
- (a hug
stands to TfNi)
- TfNi, Go west, upriver, along the bend where it nears the city-ship atterrissage,- until you find fish and vegetation surviving, to feed you and Adam while you seed your farm; Eastward, the razed land will be barren and the river muddy for a season.
And, Take these with you.
- (holds 3 broken watchers)
TFNI
- (surprised)
- They're broken,- and Mr. Michael said it's best I shouldn't.
GABE
- Actually these are repaired, but look broken: to disguise them. Take them with you, TfNi: We can monitor your progress.
Mike agrees, but we had to be sure you'd get-away clear from suspicion here so we left them damaged in case anyone challenges you: Bargain one for three measures of grain-meal: That will make any simple man smile at the thought of reciprocal multiplication.
- (to both)
- God-be-with-you, TfNi, and Adam;- I must tend to space-city-business.
- (returns to the Shuttle)
- TfNi, Adam, retreat
- Shuttle EXHAUST
Lifts and accelerates eastward into haze.
- (~~:~~ - more: Isle of Her/Marquisard)
- They turn, take hands, and walk away to the river
- EXT. PISHON RIVER NORTH-BEND - MILE-WIDE SHALLOW - HAZY SUN
- TfNi, Adam wading warm muddy water, walk westward upriver
- (~~:~~ -subsides-)
- A CAT hiding dusted behind a snapped tree stump banded by a straplike fragment, awakes and watches them pass near;
TFNI
- (points west-to-east)
-
and the rain washes down the slopes of the mountains and hills and the land itself, and gathers into streams; and the streams run-together into rivers and cross the plain; and from here, flow to fill lakes and bigger seas and oceans.
ADAM
- (switches subjects)
- Mommy,-- Where's the toilet?
TFNI
- On unbuilt planets, we improvise.
- She leads him to a bush spared behind another tree stump.
- And behind the bush, Adam squats,-- and leaves it.
TFNI
- And back to the river: to clean-up.
- She soil-covers his leavings while he returns to the river.
- And she catches him at the river shore
and both wade-in.
- The Cat rises, sneezes dust, and comes inspects the toilet.
- And watches TfNi clean Adam with a handful of river sand
- AT THE SHORE:
- And she shows him how to clean his hands using river sand--
TFNI
- (works sand under water)
- And wash your hands in the sand and water.
- (sniffs hand; withholds)
- And wash thoroughly.
- (reworks with fresh sand)
- They come out, and walk the shore upriver; Cat trailing
ADAM
- Mommy, Can we dry-off?
TFNI
- It's warm today:- Let's walk;- We may swim some more.
- MILES FURTHER - MIDMORNING (MILD-HAZY SUN ABOVE-BEHIND)
- The river is gradually clearing; trees stand barren here
TFNI
- Adam, Can you identify the types of day, here?
ADAM
- (ponders, points)
- There are plants, and trees:- Those are day-type Three.
- (looks up, around)
- This river of water is day-type Two
And the daylight, and the clouds earlier are day-type One
But the sun is clearing:- That is day-type Four
Can we stop and look for fish in the river waters?
- She nods Yes.
- They stand at the water's edge, talking quietly--
TFNI
- Do you know what a fish looks like?
ADAM
- It's gray, long, smooth except its fins stick-out
There,- Is that a fish?- They live underwater.
TFNI
- Could it be a dark rock?
ADAM
- (watches a moment)
- There, It moved
I think
See?
TFNI
- Yes, That is a fish:- a small fish.
ADAM
- And fish are day-type Five;--
- (looks up, around)
- But I don't see any birds;- And we won't see stars until nighttime,- except a moon sometimes: A moon and stars are day-type Four
But
Are we the mankind of day-type Six?
TFNI
- We are visitors to this planet: We may find mankind;- And we will see animals too.
ADAM
- (peers about the horizon)
- Not right here:- This planet must be mostly day-type Four or Five.
TFNI
- Actually this planet is bigger than we see here,- which is already much bigger than our spacecruiser
. We may have to go far to find animals and mankind,-- but they are here.
ADAM
- (a beat)
- Mommy, Where does this, river go?
TFNI
- It flows a long way down the slope of the land, to the ocean.
ADAM
- (looks around)
- Are we on a slope?
- THE VIEW IS FLAT;- the mountains are still in smoky haze.
TFNI
- Yes, a very gentle slope,- enough for shallow water:-- Come, watch:
- She finds a bush-stick
and tosses it into the river
TFNI
- (squats with him)
- See: A stick of wood floats, and goes with the water current, which itself is flowing down-slope
.
ADAM
- (watches the stick)
- Can we make a river-ship to carry us?
TFNI
- (quick looks about)
- We may,- with a lot more wood.
- They continue walking;
ADAM
- Where are we going?
TFNI
- We will go to our select base-camp, and set-up there.
ADAM
- How far is our base-camp?
TFNI
- It is about two miles from here:- We did not want to land the Shuttle right on top of the base-camp;- We should scout-around first, and see what's near and far;- See, Here are some berries, in bushes.
- She leads him quickly to her discovered berry bush still intact and viable behind a small clump of barren trees
- And gathers sprays of berries, mid-high;
TFNI
- (blows dust off)
- These may be edible.
- She heads back to the river; He follows, interested
- AT THE SHORE:
- She washes the berries
and lets him try one--
ADAM
- (eats
smiles)
- It's tart, and sweet!--
- (and eats more)
- Why didn't we have these on the spacecruiser?
TFNI
- (eating too)
- We had the giant Balaustine berries you liked
I think Mr. Gabriel has included some in the seed pouches.
There are too many kinds of fruits, to grow them all onboard a cruiser.
- They treat on the berries while she fashions two spears of stiff water reeds: fitting a splinter of rock in each tip.
TFNI
- (holds-up a spear)
- This, is a spear for catching fish.
- She leads to the water's edge
.
TFNI
- Stand still and be quiet while we fish with a spear.
- He quiets
. She strikes the spear into the water
a couple times
and finally spears a fish;-- He smiles.
TFNI
- Fish are food for mankind:-- fish from clean fresh river water.
- She stands her spear upright; kneels and scoops handfuls of water two-handed-tipped-forward to her mouth, drinking
- He kneels and imitates
but has a hand-sieve
- And leans down prone, mouth to the water, And slurps
ADAM
- (wiping mouth)
- Yes, it's fresh water.
TFNI
- Plants that grow fruit right at the ground are unclean on Earth but are clean in outerspace;-- Do you know why?
ADAM
- Planet soil is unclean
And we use hydroponics in the spacecruiser;-- But, Mommy, The plant nutrients are not for people.
TFNI
- Hydroponics are finished and wash freely;- But soil is unfinished and does not wash off readily;- It gets wet in the rain but leaves a stain. Plants that grow tall, are clean.
ADAM
- How high do they have to grow?- Like trees?
TFNI
- Trees are high enough; Clean plants have elevated fruits, higher than
- (squats with him; quiet)
- Do you know about the very small animals?
ADAM
- You mean the worms and bugs?
- (TfNi nods Yes)
- They crawl on everything.
TFNI
- (nods Yes again)
- Yes, Elevated fruits must never sway to the ground.
ADAM
- So, the berries are clean?
TFNI
- Yes, Berries are clean,- but, Leave those near the bottom, near the ground:- Animals must eat, too.
ADAM
- (considers admittingly)
- What do fish eat?
TFNI
- (smiles)
- Not berries, but very tiny plants, and bugs.
ADAM
- And worms?
TFNI
- I suppose they can, but worms bury into the dirt out of reach. And big fish may eat tiny fish:- there are so many fish in all the waters.
This fish will be our dinner, with these berries;- the fish-tail is for children.
- They walk-on, with speared fish and sprigs of berries.
- (00:00 windwhistle - more: Under the Sun/Marquisard)
- A DAYTIME FIREBALL MEANDERS tightly in the W-SW sky
- (00:06 cry)
TFNI
- (looks, pauses)
- Wait a moment, Adam.
- It descends
to the due-west horizon
- But just stillness on the horizon
.
- (00:15 +drum tap excitement beat)
TFNI
- Let's keep going.
- They walk-on in the midmorning blazing sun.
- (00:24 evaporates -stop before voice-)
- DISSOLVE TO:
- EXT. NILE SAND BEACH - OTHER SHUTTLE - LANDING - MIDMORN
- DESCENDING NEATLY vertically
Inside are Copilot Ra, Pilot THOTH twin-100, Ptah and the twin-WIVES in back
- TO THREE-POINT atop a groved hill (NB. No pyramid 4000 BC).
- ENGINE SHUTS DOWN
.
- The men disembark
and independently look about
- Last out--
PTAH
- (foot out gingerly)
- Well, well
So this, is a planet!- Haven't seen one of these in aeons
- (a beat; one-foot stomp)
- Terra
Solida
Cognita
.
- (one step out, to feet)
- One small step for the younger gods
One giant leap of faith, for me
RA
- (fast-flatfooting away)
- There's a beach
a beach!
Gabe is missing all this
!
PTAH
- (follows less-enthused)
- Not-too easy to miss a whole beach-front planet
Just takes good aim.
- Thoth walks-after for the shore
where Ra slides in sand:
PTAH
- (watching Ra slide)
- Terra, not-so-solida
.
- Ra flops full in the water,-- and splashes right back out--
RA
- (jumping soaked)
- Eigh-yigh-yigh
this is cold
!
PTAH
- (stoops to touch sand)
- The sand is hot: Dry-off on this.
RA
- (tests; sits; lies back)
- Ooh
Ahh
!- This is warmer
!
- Ptah takes tentative steps
but more-downhill accelerates flatfooting
sideways
and flops on the sand near Ra.
PTAH
- (laments loud)
- Sekhmet
!-- We forgot, to simulate gravity with, hills,
!
- (calms, to Ra)
- Should be in the sun for a while
- (supine a beat, leans up)
- And easier
too
Like zero gee
.
- All-three lying on the beach
spread-eagle
RA
- So, Which are we going to do first?
PTAH
- I think we go for the gold
first.
RA
- Silver, will beat gold
It was rarer on Mike's spectral map
.
PTAH
- But gold has sunnier color.
RA
- (trying to sit up)
- Only looking at a pinhole-obscura
- (flops back)
- And, We have to sit, up, first.
PTAH
- (tries to sit up)
- Aah
yuh
Later--
- (flops back)
- Thoth swim-scrapes a 'sand-angel'
props and looks about
THOTH
- This could get real boring real fast.
PTAH
- Is that any different than on-ship?
THOTH
- I
suppose not
But we could do things better than lying around
.
RA
- We could do lying-around, better
.
PTAH
- Think of this planet as a larger ship
What would you do?
THOTH
- I'd start, by finding-out where we're going
.
RA
- Did we know where we were going on the ship?
THOTH
- We knew we were going to land one of these planets, eventually
.
RA
- Then we know where this planet is going:- Same direction as the ship.
THOTH
- (a beat)
- So we've upgraded to a bigger ship?
PTAH
- (a beat)
- Long as we don't land this planet, ship, on a bigger, planet
ship
.
- Thoth and Ra look mutually--
RA
- (confides quieter)
- You'd better, find-out where we're going
.
- Sekhmet calls-out from the shuttle--
SEKHMET
- (loud)
- Any of you men going to come retrieve us women
?!
- The men in unison "Aah!"--
PTAH
- Chivalry, is the universal, cosmic, timeless, ageless, interstellar, interplanetary, constant
.
- FADE TO:
- EXT. PISON - NEARING GOOD GROVE - WEAK HAZE, LATE AFTERNOON
- Parallel beyond the river is the raised entry lip of the first miles-long impact crater. Tfni, Adam, water-frolic
TFNI
- (breaks off)
- We've played long-enough, Adam;- Let's go rest.
- And come out
a LIZARD scampers, stops
and runs again
ADAM
- (pointing to lizard)
- What's that?
TFNI
- That's little more than a snake with fully developed legs.
ADAM
- It's fast;- Does it live underground too?
TFNI
- When the days are cooler it spends more time beneath.
ADAM
- Will we build a camp underground?
TFNI
- (looks at Adam, smiles)
- I hope it doesn't get that cold.
- A BIRD SWOOPS DOWN passed
and grabs-away the lizard.
ADAM
- Oh!- What was that?!
TFNI
- That's the bird you didn't see earlier:-- They fly in the day.
ADAM
- Where do birds go in the night?
TFNI
- They find a safe place high in the trees;-- maybe here.
- EXT. THE GOOD GROVE, LARGELY LOW DATE PALMS - (CONTINUOUS)
- The Cat, approaching the grove, chases the taunting BIRD.
ADAM
- (points)
- What's that?
TFNI
- A land-animal;-- What would you like to call it?
ADAM
- (pauses)
- Does it have a name?
TFNI
- Every planet has its own types of animals;-- We can name them here.
ADAM
- (watches)
- It's trying to catch a bird:-- Let's call it a, Catcher.
TFNI
- How about if it only tries?
ADAM
- Okay, a cat: It's a small, -maybe- catcher.
TFNI
- (nods Acknowledging)
- And how would you describe a cat, to me?
ADAM
- It's long; it has four legs, and a longish tail, and short ears; it's brown.
TFNI
- And if there were another that were white?- Would that be a cat?
ADAM
- (considers)
-
Yes;- This is a brown, cat.
TFNI
- And if it had a short tail,-- Would it be a cat?
ADAM
- (considers)
-
I don't think so
. Do you think there are any?
TFNI
- This is a small base-camp;-- We'll see what we find. But, Adam: Don't you chase wild animals;- Do you understand me?!
ADAM
- Yes.
TFNI
- And don't squeeze your pet animals hard, like you do Mommy and Daddy.
Let's prepare dinner:
- (takes dangling branches)
- Let's gather dry brush and sticks for a fire.
ADAM
- (helps gather dry brush)
- Okay.
- She rubs or flints a fire
TFNI
- We will make our fire of sticks tonight,- but we must find more tinder soon: Sticks grow in season and in place,- and have other uses.
- And prepares the fish
- DISSOLVE TO:
- EXT. NILE SAND BEACH - SHUTTLE LANDING - LATE AFTERNOON
- All tanned: They're busy unloading about the shuttle
RA
- (loud from Shuttle Comm)
- Mike says they've found Tefen!- And he's very alive,- Sneezing wildly
!
PTAH
- Good
! We should hide the shuttle
!
RA
- (gets out leisurely)
- Spinning, cooling evenly just above freezing
suit intact
breathing, slowly, on spare heat and air
But four, days, still, is a long time
PTAH
-
After we figure-out where we are!
RA
- (joining)
- He'll be up-and-about presently:-- They're sending him right down.
- (looks-about)
- Frightened clean out of his wits
- (a beat, resumes)
- Stiff hangover of proton radiation.
- (a beat, about)
- Hmmm
Could sink it in the river
Or impact it in the hillside
Bury it deep, unseen that way
.
PTAH
- Excellent
As soon as we unload.
RA
- (a beat)
- And they've renamed him
- (enunciates)
- His most-excellent-majesty, King, Khon-Shw
PTAH
- King, Khon-Shw
?- Tefen?-- King
-- Shw
?-- Why
?!
RA
- They're convincing him he has died and taken a magical ferry boat ride to the third planet of heaven: and received his eternal-secret name.
- Ptah lets out a goodly cackle.
RA
- (as Ptah eases)
- And here he will rule over the gods and the wo-gods of the whole world.
PTAH
- (abruptly sober)
- Does he believe, it
?!
- And Thoth cackles-up laughing
RA
- We will send him east, at the first opportunity.
- FADE TO:
- EXT. PISON GROVE - LATE DUSK - DARKENING (A THOUSAND STARS)
- Soft desert BREEZE RUSTLES the trees; CRICKETS CHIRP.
- They finish dinner.
- She prepares a bed of fronds-leaves while he tosses bone-scraps to invite the Cat.
- She takes him in her arms to rest.
- An occasional meteor streaks across the sky
TFNI
- (quietly)
- Do you know the stars in the sky?
ADAM
- Mr. Gabriel assigned us research to learn them.
There's Sirius:-
- (points)
- It's bright red
- And Adara
- And there's Rigel
- And Betelgeuse
- And Aldebaran:- it's red too
- And there's the 'cluster-of-seven', but that's not their name
- And there's Capella
- And over there's Procyon,-
- And Pollux
- (looking around)
- The stars appeared on the fourth-day-type
- A METEOR STREAKS
ADAM
- (surprised, points)
- And a meteor!
- (a beat)
- There are also lots of stars we can see from the other side.
- (a beat)
- Mommy, Will we get to visit the other side of the Earth?
TFNI
- Not very soon, Adam; but eventually we may
. We'll see how we like living on this side;-- But, you remember what you told me about the planets revolving around the sun?
ADAM
- (ponders)
- Yes
Oh: We don't have to go to the other side, to see the other stars!
- (exuberates on discovery)
- When will we see them
?!
TFNI
- In a hundred and 83 days: about two times it takes for fruit to grow.
ADAM
- (figures)
- Then we will, see the other stars.
TFNI
- Yes, many times,-- maybe a thousand times again.
ADAM
- Okay.
- (redirects)
- But, Mommy, There were more stars on this side, before.
TFNI
- From our spacecruiser, in space the sky is clear to see dimmer stars that on a planet, the deep sky hides.
Most stars we see are very near our sun, in this galaxy arm
yet during the day the blue sky obscures even those.
Do you know which lights we see during the day?- and which of them are stars?
ADAM
- The sun is the star nearest this planet,- but, What other stars?
- (pauses)
- And we see the moon too, and maybe other planets.
TFNI
- We may see comets and supernovae sometime.
ADAM
- Mr. Gabriel said, a supernova is a big star that burns like a billion suns, in six hours, and then glows brightly as it blows-away in space; And these are rare now.
TFNI
- Rare, yes;- but when the universe began there were very many.
ADAM
- (a long beat)
- Are there people, like us, living near every star?- Or are they like the sixth-day-type mankind?
TFNI
- Sixth-day-type planets abound in the galaxy; But Adam, We must never endanger their peoples with our technologies. Do you know why?- or where their technology comes-from?
ADAM
- It comes from partial knowledge of planet surface physics.
TFNI
- Right, you are:-- a thousand times too slow and too shallow for us.
ADAM
- Will they ever become like us?
TFNI
- In a thousand times as long before your adult-teeth come-in.
ADAM
- (2 beats thinking)
- How long is that?
TFNI
- Six thousand planet years, they'll get their spacer-teeth;- But only if you help them and never hurt them.
ADAM
- (drowsily)
- They'll be adults for a very long time.
- They quiet, to sleep.
- FADE TO:
- INT. SPACECRUISER - CHILDREN'S HALL - RED (DREAM FLASHBACK)
- (00:00 heehoo - Exquisite Marquise/Marquisard)
- POV: TfNi ranger-goggled walks amid personnel scattering
- COLLAGE: Assault at Jupiter: LIGHT FAILS TO GOGGLE VIEW
- (00:08 +rhythm, grinding strains)
- Goggle DATA, FAINT STROBES;-- EXPLOSION INTO HALL, Croakers enter GUNFIRING, Armoried Crew return LASERGUN-PATTERNS
- TRANSPARENT DANIELESQUE Tefen, white robe, golden sash, standing amidst, arms raised to the sky, long hair blowing, ruby eyes, and as-it-were-water dappling about his feet
- (00:17 string, smooth-wipe-spread)
- RESOLVE TO:
- EXT. A NARROW RIVER, SANDBAR AMIDST - (CONTINUOUS LAST)
- Two loin-clothed, oiled MUSCLE-GUARDS: Mr. Michael on this side, Mr. Gabriel the other, facing opposite, arms crossed; TfNi seated unclad (BACKSIDE), breathing hard, reaching up;
DANIELESQUE
- (arms high, prophesying)
- By His irrefutable Word created the Almighty the sun and moon and every star and planet in their courses, and set the heavens in motion;
He spreadeth His understanding before the foundations of the Earth
He weigheth His wisdom upon the scales of the sky
His truth divideth the minds of the nations
- (00:35 cry, tinkle)
DANIELESQUE
- that it should be counted two times and weighed for a time and parted for half a time
and then shall it be parted again for half a time and weighed for a time and counted two times
'til all be fulfilled
.
- (00:45 -stop before voice-)
- MELD TO:
- EXT. GROVE - DARK NIGHT, STARS (PRESENT AWAKE)
- MELD: TfNi breathing excessively
wakes,-- calms
- Adam remains sleeping, breathing quietly.
TFNI
- Good night, Adam.
- FADE TO:
- EXT. GROVE, PISHON RIVER - DAWN
- TfNi rouses;
- Takes palm fronds and half the remaining berries;
- Walks to the mile-wide river shallows;
- Washes the berries and eats, looking across at the crater;
- Looks back at Adam sleeping
and around
and crosses
- DISSOLVE TO:
- EXT. ALONG THE NILE - SANDY SHORE - EARLY DAWN
- They're hiking with spacer backpacks, Ptah wading
PTAH
- (looks about)
- We're going to have to change to local clothes
plaited leaves
or sewn-up fishskins
.
RA
- Fishskins:-- I can wear that
!- Get me one of those deep sea creatures: Something bloated and terrifying
!
PTAH
- You're supposed to be Sun-god
not terrifying.
RA
- Think there are any golden sun-fish with radial spines
at least?
PTAH
- (stoops and picks up)
- Regard
a gold, fleck
See: Gold is the first, rarest to be found
.
RA
- That makes silver rarer
when we find it
.
- DISSOLVE TO:
- EXT. GROVE - RETURNED - SUN UP AN HOUR
- PAN TO JOIN: Wearing frond-slippers, she washes the last of the berries in a frond-plate at the shore
ADAM
- (approaches carrying Cat)
- Mommy, The cat likes me.
TFNI
- Speak to the cat: Tell it the truth, You are the master.
ADAM
- (to Cat)
- You are one, cat, on this planet, in the cosmos: Your place is here.
TFNI
- Adam, Come see the things I found at the river.
- Adam comes close, loosing the Cat
TFNI
- (handling pitch lumps)
- This is oil-sludge: We can use it for our cooking fires: instead of dry twigs and leaves.
ADAM
- What is oil-sludge?
- Cat circumspects TfNi;
TFNI
- Wash your hands in the water, and eat some berries.
- He rubs his hands in the water and sand, to wash.
- She gives him the frond-plate of berries: He eats while she demonstrates oil-sludge that floats;
TFNI
- This oil-sludge is a blend of deep-Earth carbons, plus the slick gooey remains of plants and animals that lived long ago and got stuck in it. It makes a sludge underground where it collected thousands and millions of years:- Oil-sludge is not clean; It comes to the surface because it floats above the water table here;-
- (tosses it on the river)
- Oil and water can seep through tiny cracks in the ground, and ooze-up, and collect. And oil burns in fire.
ADAM
- How do animal remains get underground?
TFNI
- Everything the animal leaves of its body adds to the soil and is washed with rain, and mixed with the dusts of Earth and outer-space, settling from the wind
. Plants grow in the soil, and everything a plant leaves that the animals don't eat, adds to the soil until it is very deep, in tens of thousands of years. We will plant a garden, with trees, in soil like this, of the seeds we brought.
ADAM
- (touches oil-sludge)
- Will we make oil-sludge too?
TFNI
- Not for ten thousand years
But we may find more things that have oil: The seeds of many grain-plants are rich in oil clean for making food.
ADAM
- (sniffs finger)
- This doesn't smell like food.
TFNI
- Eating-oils must be made fresh, and used fresh, and eaten fresh
. This sludge is very old, and was made of already-eaten foods.
We'll collect this for our cooking fire, and keep it in pots made of clay.
Would you like to help?
ADAM
- Okay.
But where do we get clay on this planet?
TFNI
- (scoops deeper clay)
- The kind of clay we will use here, is very fine, soil, thick and damp; and is found deeper under the sand.
ADAM
- Oh:- Mr. Gabriel said, Soil is like our toy-modeling clay.
TFNI
- (works and shapes clay)
- Yes, but we have lot's of clay-soil here
And we will bake it very hot till it's very hard and dry,- after we fashion-out pots.
- A BEE buzzes-by Adam "vv
vv"
and alights on a flower bud.
ADAM
- (searching delighted)
- What's that?!
TFNI
- It's smaller than a bird.
ADAM
- Let's call it a, Vee: It sounds,
- (enunciates)
- "Vvv
vvv".
TFNI
- Where does the Vee, go?
ADAM
- (watches it crawl buds)
- It is stopping on little plants and inspecting the flower buds, before these open.
TFNI
- It is a worker-insect:
- (joins, watches)
- A pollinator.
ADAM
- What does work mean among insects?- What work is pollinating?
TFNI
- It means, It doesn't eat the plants but tends and promotes the fruiting for seeding by collecting grains of flower-pollen and leaving specks on other flowers of the same species.
It keeps most of the pollen for its own food,- as flowering plants have much extra.
- (appends)
- We, will tend the plants we, grow.
ADAM
- Will we pollinate the flowers?
TFNI
- We can let the Vees do that:- there are many more
. We will water and feed the plants:- the whole plants.
- (new subject)
- Now, Would you like to help, gather the oil-sludge, and the pot-making?
ADAM
- Yes.
TFNI
- (presents frond-slippers)
- Put-on your shoes,- and let's begin this day's work.
- He puts on the frond-slippers.
- COLLAGE: A DAY'S ACTIVITIES:
- MORNING HOURS
- She teaches him to fashion pots of moist clay-soil
- While she makes a larger kiln of clay in a place for it
- And they set the pots out aside to sun-dry
TFNI
- We will let these dry thoroughly,- And then bake them all very, dry.
- She builds an open fire of oil-sludge-dipped-pebbles, while he watches, alternately petting and playing with his Cat
- NOON
- She finishes cooking fish and vegetation-stalks on wet leaves steamed over the remaining fire and hot pebbles
- And they eat, with a side-order of palm dates.
- AFTERNOON HOURS
- She teaches him to fashion frond-baskets
- And they scoop river-pebbles and-clay for the next task:
- LATE AFTERNOON HOUR
- They pour a large fire-hearth of clay and pebble filling
smoothing it with fronds
And leave it to dry.
TFNI
- This will dry in a few days.
- She tries fashioning several clay spear heads, and chipping a few -softer- rocks, for knife-like tool pieces.
- DISSOLVE TO:
- EXT. RIVER, SHORE - EARLY EVENING
- They frolic and splash in the river ad lib until dinner
TFNI
- (stops from play)
- Adam. Before our evening dinner, It is time for the special discovery of today:- Let's cross the river.
ADAM
- Can I take the cat?
TFNI
- Do you remember what I said?
ADAM
- You said to not squeeze it.
TFNI
- (purses a smile)
- Yes.
- He retrieves the cat
and They cross the shallows to the far side
Adam holding his Cat high in waist deep water
- And beyond
until they come to:
- POV: 100 PACES DOWN THE STEAMY-MISTY BARREN CRATER SLOPE
They appear and stop at the lip
He lets Cat loose.
- SURVEYING the 3 mi. wide 10 mi.-along 100 ft. deep crater
ADAM
- Is this, the special discovery?
TFNI
- Yes: See how far it is, across.
ADAM
- But it's plain:- There's nothing growing down there.
TFNI
- It just started today;- This will be your garden:- You will grow it.
ADAM
- (surprised)
- The whole garden?!
TFNI
- Yes, With the seeds we brought, we will plant it,-- and we will divert the river to water it when the rain does not
. This is all yours: You will tend it,- And later in the year, its harvest will feed us.
- Adam marvels the extent
- DISSOLVE TO:
- EXT. NILE - SANDY BEACH - MIDDAY (MONTHS LATER)
- All in fishskin suits, Ra welcomes SHW (Tefen), except who is still spacer-suited, sullen, exiting from a shuttle--
RA
- (a hand support)
- Welcome to
the third, planet, of Heaven, Shw
.
SHW
- (looks at him funny)
- Et tu, Ra
?- You guys have turned all weird, since I got back
.
RA
- You've joined-up with the gods
!
- Shw out and away, Ra waves-off the Pilot;-- Shuttle rises
RA
- You'll get use to planet living
And you'll have to change to one of these fishskins suits
unless you prefer scratchy leaf loincloths
- Ptah is careful-footing along wet beach above the water:--
PTAH
- (watching his feet, loud)
- Look at this
Look, at, this
!
- Ra, Shw, walk over
RA
- (quiet to Shw)
- Say, Hi.
SHW
- (coming near)
- Hi.
What did you find?
PTAH
- (occupied: to his feet)
- I step on wet sand and it instantly oozes-up water
We can channel wet sand and run flat-bottom barges and transport tons of gold: A thousand-man army can build magnificent gold temples
for worshipping us
.
SHW
- Oh.
- Ra knows what's coming, with just a smile:
PTAH
- (looks at last: taken)
- Ahh
!-- Shw
!
- (a hung beat)
- Shw,- You've got, to keep your mind active, down here
You know why we called you, Shw:- You were one air-headed little baby
.
SHW
- My birth name was, Tefen.
PTAH
- And a typhoon, you were! -Lord!- We were amazed, at the abundance we'd achieved:-- We could hear you from one end of the ship to the other
- (A FOOT-TEST BEAT)
- Ten miles, away
We were going to call you, "Echo"
but you quieted down when you married Tefnuit
!-- But we were prepared for worser
- (careful-foots away)
- And you can't go puttering across the cosmos blowing wind 9-thousand years like Ptah, Shw
You'll go nuts
!
- FADE TO:
- EXT. CRATER GARDEN, PISON - SUMMER EVENING (FIRST HARVEST)
- Flourishing nursery-size trees; berry bushes; wheat field;
- Adam routes slope-stream water by pick-hoe, to tend trees;
- TfNi, near term, sings ad lib, occupied at a potter wheel;
- Watering done, he spreads compost
- A hungry WOLF creeps stealthily amid bushes
Cat scats
- She notices each
Reaches for a frond-sling and stone
- Wolf approaches behind Adam
She turns, smoothly slinging the stone --the wolf looks-- into the wolf's forehead;--
- The wolf drops.
- Resolutely, she takes the wolf by the scruff and drags it away
up-slope to the river whence it came.
- DISSOLVE TO:
- EXT. CRATER LIP, GRASS FIELD ALONG RIVER
- Walking a ways
she HEARS HUNGRY CUBS
and approaches
- Finds a den of 4 wolf cubs;-- Looks at her limp wolf,- and places it amid the cubs,- which suckle.
- (00:00 - The Sun in the Stream/Enya)
- SUN GLINTS IN THE RIVER, in her face
Tears welling, she breaks to sob, face in hands, wailing
- (00:14 sad sax reed)
- Standing, showing fully pregnant herself.
- DISSOLVE TO:
- EXT. GARDEN
- "WING FOG" GROWS DOWN from the far W-NW lip of the crater.
- TfNi brings the Cubs by the scruff 2x2, to Adam.
- (01:00 -melt away before reed-)
ADAM
- What are they?
TFNI
- These are cubs, the children of an animal:- Their mother is no longer available to them;- We'll take care of them till they are grown.
ADAM
- Can we name them?- They have short tails;-- They're,
- (enunciates)
- Dockts.
TFNI
- Alright, we'll call them, Dogkts.
- He plays with the cubs while she invents cub mash
- And they feed them
[Note Adam's prior surgery belly scar]
TFNI
- Adam, I want to tell you a special secret.
ADAM
- What is a secret?
TFNI
- A secret is something you didn't have to pay attention-to before I tell you.
ADAM
- What is the secret?
TFNI
- The secret is, You are going to have a little baby-sister.
ADAM
- What is a baby-sister?
TFNI
- A baby is someone who is like you now, and when your sister grows-up she will be a mommy like me;- You will be a daddy.
ADAM
- How will she be like me?- I am I
You are like me
.
TFNI
- She will start little and quickly grow to your size, and then you can play together.
ADAM
- Where is the baby-sister now?
TFNI
- The baby is in my belly.
- Inquisitive, he looks at her, her belly, but unsure where
TFNI
- (taps his belly)
- Below the rib-bone
. But you are never to poke your sister! You may play with her, but never, animal-play with her: not like playing with your cats and dogks: She is the same flesh as you.
ADAM
- (thrusts-out his belly)
- Will I have a baby, too?
TFNI
- (laughs)
- No, Only mommies have the baby in the belly. But you will have to help me take care of your baby-sister. Do you think you are ready to help me by doing what I tell you, when I tell you?
ADAM
- I think so.
TFNI
- Good. Your baby-sister will come soon: I will tell you when.
- (begins away)
ADAM
- Mommy
- (a beat)
- When will Mr. Gabriel come again?
TFNI
- (staying)
- Adam:- Mr. Gabriel has his own work to tend; --as you have yours;-- He will visit when he has the season
. But we always have what we already know of him.
ADAM
- Yes.
- The fog rolls past; he watches it flow and fill about him
ADAM
- What is that?
TFNI
- That is fog: a cloud on the ground.
ADAM
- (grabbing at it)
- It feels wet
.
TFNI
- It is, water, finely misted in air.
ADAM
- (dunks under, a beat)
- I can breathe in it.
- The fog covers him, and the plants
TFNI
- (a long beat)
- Adam,- Where are you
?
ADAM
- I'm still right here.
- (a Ptah-cackle-laugh)
- The fog spreads across the crater-depression-garden floor
- [NOTA BENE: TfNi dresses in wolfskin-fur hereafter]
- FADE TO FOG
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The Son Dey School of Christ Science