RETURN OF THE APES by Terry Hayes first draft 1996 DEEP SPACE. No atmosphere, no life, nothing. Just a web of lights- a billion stars hang in a velvet void. The only sound is the howl of the cosmic wind. The light of a distant sun strikes a rising planet. We see ragged continents and oceans wreathed in cloud. This is earth rise. Our world spins slowly in space, a thing of beauty, of awesome majesty. In all this nothingness - life. We push in on the planet - in to the Americas. The wind grows louder - A PUEBLO VILLAGE. A broken-down pick-up bumps into a God-forsaken villagea cluster of adobe houses, blinding flurries of dust and sand. The pick-up stops in front of a crumbling church. A man in his 60s gets out carrying a medical bag. This is the DOCTOR. ' A WOMAN'S FACE. Screaming. She's very young - a South American Indian - lying on a bed in a corner of one of the houses. She is in the final throes of childbirth, a sheet draped over her loins. The Doctor works between her legs, encouraging her in Spanish. The local PRIEST, not long out of the seminary, crouches at her side counting off the beads of a rosary. He looks like he is about to pass out. SUDDENLY THE WOMAN BITES DOWN HARD ON HER LIP. A THIN LINE OF BLOOD COURSES DOWN HER CHIN. THE BREATH EXPLODES FROM HER LUNGS AS SHE PUSHES REALLY HARD - DOCTOR Arriva! He lifts the child from her loins, but it makes no sound. We don't see the baby - just the shock on the Doctor's face. The mother struggles up to see her child. The Doctor grabs the sheet from her torso and covers the baby with it. He thrusts the bundle into the Priest's hands. DOCTOR (CONT'D) (in Spanish) Dead - the child is dead. Now go! We hold on the mother's anguished face. Dissolve to A HELICOPTER Off the roof of a tall hospital building. As it rises up into the night we see a red cross painted on its side. It's an air ambulance. The chopper turns away. The Manhattan skyline, every skyscraper a blaze of lights, opens up behind it. The chopper swoops over the Brooklyn bridge and into the night. GROVE OF TREES Winter's coming on - every leaf is a different shade of amber and gold. The helicopter drops down between the branches and lands on an immaculately tended lawn. Surrounding it are the gracious buildings of a great university. Harvard. Two paramedics clamber out of the back of the helicopter and load a stainless steel casket onto a gurney. They wheel it fast towards one of the buildings. As they go' through the front doors, we hold on a sign etched into the stone DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY A PAIR OF MECHANICAL HANDS slide a long cylindrical "key" into the stainless steel casket. We pull back to reveal the casket lies in a sealed, uncontaminated room. A group of people in lab coats -scientists and researchers - stare through the glass walls. A young TECHNICIAN, working at a console, keyboards in a series of commands. Sswhish. The top of the steel casket swings open. Clouds of white gas stream out -whatever's inside has been nitrogen cooled. The gas clears. Lying inside is the body of a newborn child - except that the baby has the skin, the face and the features of a man of eighty. The scientists and the researchers react - shocked. One of the mechanical hands glides towards the baby. In its fingers it holds a long steel scalpel. This is the highest-tech autopsy you've ever seen. The scalpel drives down, about to open the chest cavity - BLOOD SPRAYS But not from the baby's chest - it's in glass vials, exploding as white-hot flames consume them. A plastic-gloved lab assistant, silhouetted against the flames, is emptying hospital waste into a furnace. He slams the door shut. He turns we see his face. He's in his 4Os, handsome in a rough-hewn way - a strong jaw and a muscular body. There's a cool intelligence in his eyes, but a two-day beard and a worn-out uniform make him look like a man who, between youth and middle-age, lost his way. And so he has. His name is WILL ROBINSON. He takes a steel trolley, wheels it through a set of swing doors and out of sight. CLOSED CIRCUIT TV SCREEN features the image of one of the scientists we recognize from the autopsy. She's in her 30s - attractive, long hair left loose on her shoulders, an air of authority about her. Her name is BILLIE RAE DIAMOND. She is a Professor of Biology. We tilt down from the screen. It hangs from a wall in a deserted laboratory -overhead lights, rows and rows of wire animal cages. Moving down death row, feeding the lab animals, is Will Robinson. TWO SAD-EYED CHIMPS, CLEANING EACH OTHER IN THEIR TINY CAGE, TURN AND STARE AT HIM. SUDDENLY WILL STOPS - HE'S HEARD SOMETHING ON THE SCREEN THAT HAS CAUGHT HIS ATTENTION. HE TURNS AND LOOKS - DIAMOND The exact cause of death is still unknown. What is certain - we're dealing with something we've never seen before. Every organ in the body is affected... Superimposed over Diamond's face is a three dimensional, computer-generated graphic of the baby's body. Will forgets about what he's doing. He walks towards the screen. We push in on it. Screeds of new data appear Vascular System ...............Atrophied Neurological Function .........Senile dementia We hold on Will's eyes - he stares at it. AN AUDITORIUM Billy Rae Diamond stands on a podium continuing her briefing. About forty scientists are sitting in front of her in a dimly-lit lecture hall. Diamond is even more impressive in person - she is tall and gracious but you don't become a Professor at Harvard' at her age without having an iron will and a sparkling intelligence. She speaks with great authority - DIAMOND (CONT'D) The baby in question, Michael James Flanagan -she points at the computer-generated graphic on a huge screen was born at New York Hospital yesterday. MAP OF THE WORLD ILLUMINATES AN ADJOINING SCREEN - DIAMOND But the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta has received similar reports from a village in Bolivia, two cities in Australia, seven countries in Europe, a cluster of cases in Namibia and Mexico. Forty-two cases in all. As she speaks, pinpoints of light on the map identify the exact locations. They dot their way across the entire globe. Dr Diamond turns to face her audience- DIAMOND (CONT'D) Like Michael Flanagan, they were full-term babies. Two hundred and seventy eight days since conception and yet, by all reasonable medical standards, they have completed their entire life cycle. They have gone from conception to death, not in three score years and ten, but in slightly less than nine months. Michael Flanagan died of old age. Silence as Diamond lets the scientists and researchers absorb it. On a balcony high above, another man is taking notes. He sits alone, almost hidden in shadow. It's Will Robinson. SHEETS OF ICE ON A SHUTTER DOOR Will crouches in front of a row of self-storage units on the edge of town. It's night, the place is deserted. He slips a rusted key into a padlock. Snapl The key breaks. Will curses. He grabs a piece of timber and pulls a nail out of it. He slides the nail into the padlock and manipulates the tumblers. The padlock springs open. SPIDERS weave a web in a corner of the storage unit. A work light hangs from the ceiling. Will is ripping open stacks of boxes from long ago. He puts together a pile of yellowing files and old floppy disks. PULLS OUT A CASSETTE TAPE AND STARES AT IT, UNSURE WHAT'S ON IT. HE TAKES A CASSETTE PLAYER FROM OUT OF THE JUNK, SLIDES IT IN AND PRESSES "PLAY"A HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE. AS IT DIES, WE HEAR A MAN'S VOICE. IT'S WILL, SPEAKING FROM YEARS AGO - WILL (on tape) I would like to thank the faculty and staff for this great honor... We push in on Will's face as he listens to himself... WILL (CONT'D) have had the opportunity to work with three talented colleagues. I'm privileged to also call them my friends - A shadow of pain crosses his face. He shuts off the tape and sits motionless. LAFAYETTE PARK Night. Homeless people in the park build cardboard shelters against a coming storm. Across the road, the first drops of rain splatter against the White House. A string of Government cars pass through the huge gates and pull up in front of the West Portico. From inside, we hear a man's voice - well-spoken, authoritative PRESIDENT (O.S.) There's no mistake - you're sure? JEFFERSON LIBRARY Diamond sits in the President's study - book-lined walls, a fire in the hearth. A group of men sit on the sofasthe Surgeon-General, the Chief of Staff, the National Security Advisor, the Secretaw of Health. A table is littered with graphs end files. DIAMOND We've got five thousand cases now, Mr President. That's in three weeks. The number is doubling every hundred and sixty-eight hours. The President stands near a window, half in shadow, the firelight playing across his face. He's in his 50's but the strain of office makes him look older. DIAMOND (CONT'D) That's a geometric progression, sir. In three months there'Il be over seven million cases. After that we hit the wall - She pushes a thick, bound volume across the table. DIAMOND (CONT'D) According to this, there won't be a live birth on the planet. The President looks at her for a moment. Then he reaches down and picks up the bound volume. It's hundreds of pages of numbers and projections. PRESIDENT These are just computer projections - species don't disappear that fast. DIAMOND Tell that to the dinosaurs, sir. He looks out the window at the winter storm sweeping down on them. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR What date - when exactly do we hit this wall? DIAMOND Six months and twenty-one days. Silence. The President keeps looking out the window. PRESIDENT Can't somebody tell me - what exactly are we dealing with. Is it a virus or what? DIAMOND We don't know, sir. The President turns to the Chief of Staff. PRESIDENT Whatever they need, Bob - anything. Harry Truman put together the Manhattan Project - you understand? The Chief of Staff nods his head - yes. PRESIDENT (CONT'D) (softly) A world without children -it's inconceivable. And what about the rest of us - what do we do? Just sit and watch our species die? Will the last person to leave the planet turn out the lights. Silence again. Finally a young woman - the White House Press Secretary - speaks. PRESS SECRETARY We're going to have to manage the public. Right now, the truth may be inoperative - PRESIDENT Of course we're going to have to manage itl We're going to have to manage a whole lot of things. But can't we take at least one moment to be human? He looks around the room. We hold on their somber faces. A CHEAP APARTMENT Through the window - the neon sign of a gas station. This is Will's place, He lives alone - a bed in the corner, run-down furniture, dishes in the sink. The kitchen table has been turned into a desk - Will sits at an old computer, surrounded by the yellowing stacks of files and floppy disks. He stares at the screen - the notes and equations are blurred. He's been at this so long, he can barely focus. He rubs his hand across his eyes. A small mewing sound. Will turns to an alcove in the corner - a cat lies in a basket, panting. Will goes to her. She's giving birth - the first of her new-born kittens lies next to her. Will strokes the mother's head, looking at the miracle of new life. He puts his fingers in a water bowl, about to moisten the mother's mouth. Then he stops. He looks again at the kitten - there's two of them now. A beat as he just stares - WILL (softly) Jesus Christ... of course! A LUXURIOUS BATHROOM Through frosted glass we see the silhouette of a woman taking a shower. Whoever she is, she's got a great figure. The sound of a doorbell. The shower door opens -Diamond sticks her head out. She looks at a clock - it's almost midnight. VIDEO ENTRY PHONE A video screen monitors the front door. On it we see Will - his hair tousled, an old overcoat buttoned to the neck, a battered briefcase under his arm. Diamond - a towel around her shoulders, hair dripping - picks up the phone. DIAMOND Who is it? WILL (O.S.) Will Robinson. DIAMOND I think you have the wrong house. WILL (O.S.) I work at the department. He turns and looks straight into the camera. Instinctively, Diamond covers her breasts. She looks at him - recognition dawns. AN ELEGANT ROOM Will and Diamond sit in the living room of a gracious townhouse - wooden floors and beautiful rugs. Diamond doesn't wear any make-up -just jeans and an oversized shirt. She looks even more beautiful. It does nothing to ease Will's nerves. He's got his briefcase open in front of him, speaking from sheaves of notes and papers. DIAMOND (interrupting) Hold on - how do you know about the case load? The Government's trying to manage this - they've withheld that information. WILL The Internet, Doctor. It's a highway - you can ride it anywhere you want. I got into 'the Center for Disease Control. I had a look at their raw data. DIAMOND Jesus. Do you know what you're doing? This is the White House we're talking about. WILL (Heated)) No, it's a disease and it doesn't come any worse than this - that's what we're talking about. HE LOOKS AWAY, CALMING HIMSELF. HE SHUFFLES HIS NOTES. HE SPEAKS AGAIN, QUIETLY - WILL I've listened at the lab - I think I know where you're looking. Bacterias mostly, but there's a strong push into the retro-viruses. You're wrong, Doctor. DIAMOND Really - and I thought I was arrogant. But then, I'm just a professor. WILL No virus or bacteria has ever discriminated on the grounds of sex. DIAMOND I can think of one. WILL Sure, it can start in pockets but it never stays there. This thing does. It only affects women of child-bearing age. What - it's so smart it can recognize motherhood? I don't think so. No, this is into the very heart of what we are. This is genetic. This is part of the DNA. DIAMOND Thank you. A hundred thousand genes make up human DNA - that really narrows it down. WILL As a matter of fact it does. There's only one part of the DNA that's passed exclusively through women. Thirty-seven genes, the oldest part of the human organism - DIAMOND (realizing) The mitochondrial DNA. WILL Over the years there's been speculation -not all of it crazy either - that somehow it triggers aging, He slides a sheaf of yellowing extracts from scientific journals across the table. She doesn't pay them any attention - she's thinking. DIAMOND You realize what you're saying, don't you? A bacteria - I think we'd get it for sure. A virus -you'd have to say we've got a chance. But say you're right. The mitochondrial DNA - that's so far out on the frontier, we can barely see it. WILL Like I said - it doesn't get any worse than this. She keeps staring down at the documents and notes lying on the table. A beat. WILL (CONT'D) Are you okay? DIAMOND Sure. WILL LOOKS AT HER FOR A MOMENT - WILL Shit. You're pregnant, aren't you? DIAMOND Nine weeks. THEIR EYES MEET - SHE SHRUGS, TRYING TO PUT A BRAVE FACE ON IT. SHE GETS TO HER FEET - DIAMOND Do you want a drink - coffee, a sandwich or something? WILL (Recoiling) No...no, I'm fine thanks. Watches as he picks up his papers and puts them back in his battered briefcase. AN EMPTY STREET It's late at night. Will clutches his briefcase under his arm, heading home. A bitter wind blows out of the north. He looks a lonely and forlorn figure as he makes his way through the pools of light cast by the streetlights. CONVOY OF N.A.S.A. TRUCKS RUMBLE THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING - THE CITY IS JUST WAKING. THE TRUCKS, DOZENS OF WHITE EIGHTEEN-WHEELERS, TURN THROUGH THE FRONT GATES OF HARVARD. THEY STOP IN FRONT OF THE GROVE OF TREES. WE CRANE UP FROM THEM TO A WINDOW IN THE BIOLOGY BUILDING - HAND HITS A TABLE IT'S DIAMOND - SHE'S ANGRY. BREAKFAST TRAYS CLUTTER THE TABLE -SHE'S IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONFERENCE WITH A GROUP OF SCIENTISTS. SHE GLARES AT AN ARROGANT YOUNG NEUROLOGIST - DIAMOND It's just an idea, Bob. All we're doing is taking it for a walk around the block. A man in his 60s - distinguished, diplomatic - intercedes. DE MAUPASSANT There was a lot of work done on it in the 7Os. I can't recall the details but someone had the idea that mitochondriel DNA was like a genetic memory. If you could unlock it, you could physically travel back down it. Through evolution - like a time machine. BOB Wowl Those 70s, man. I'm really sorry I missed them. Everyone - Diamond included - laughs. OLD PHOTOS OF A SAILING BOAT They hang on the wall of a tiny room - not an office, just a hole-in-the-wall Will has turned into his own. He sits at a table, making notes. A knock - Diamond enters. DIAMOND I thought you'd like to know - we're looking at mitochondrial DNA, WILL Thanks for telling me. THEY LOOK AT ONE ANOTHER. IT'S AN AWKWARD MOMENT - NEITHER ONE QUITE SURE WHETHER OR HOW TO CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION. DIAMOND SEES THE PHOTOS - DIAMOND Is that you? She points at a man in his 20s standing on the deck in one of the photos, Will nods. DIAMOND (CONT'D) Seattle. Is that where you went to school? Will hesitates - we sense that he doesn't really want to answer. WILL No. Princeton. DIAMOND Expensive. WILL A scholarship. Then I did some post-graduate work... I never really finished. Something in the way Will says it - some sense of loss - makes Diamond pause. She recovers and looks in her wallet. She pulls out a photograph and hands it to Will. It shows a small sailing boatgaff-rigged and a varnished hull. WILL (CONT'D) It's a Kestrel 24 - I haven't seen one of those in years. She's a beautiful boati DIAMOND My grandfather left it to me. I don't sail it much any more - it's too hard to find a for'etd hand. WILL What about your husband - doesn't he sail. DIAMOND I don't know - I haven't met him yet. WILL LOOKS AT HER. HIS EXPRESSION SAYS IT - WHAT? SHE SHRUGS - DIAMOND I wanted a baby but I'm thirty-four-years old. Sooner or later you realize that somewhere along the way you've missed the man you've been waiting for. WILL What did you do - ask a friend? DIAMOND I thought of it. WILL Lucky friend. DIAMOND I went to a clinic. Not exactly romantic, but it worked. (pauses) Good idea, bad timing. WILL How many people have you put on the mDNA? DIAMOND Seven. WILL That's all?! DIAMOND That's all I can spare. It's just a theory -one of dozens of theories. Will looks away in disgust. DIAMOND (CONT'D) What is it with you - it's not just science is it? Why are you so passionate about this? WILL I know I'm right. It's a mutation. A hundred thousand years it's probably been lying there -shifting, weaving into the mDNA. You either go back and change evolution or you engineer it out. Seven peopleYou might as well shoot peas at a dam. DIAMOND You haven't answered my question - why so passionate? WILL The question's not relevant. The only thing I'm interested in is the science. He turns back to his work. We hear the door close as Diamond leaves. A GEODESIC DOME White, space-age, is being erected on the lawn. Workmen are unloading the NASA trucks. We pull back through a high window of the Biology building. A woman stands there, looking out. Her name is KRIS McQUADE. This is her office - MCQUADE You want to tell me what's going on? She turns and looks at Diamond, sitting on the other side of the desk, DIAMOND Don't ask, Kris, I'd have to lie and I don't want to do that to my best friend, MCQUADE The rumor is, you've done something really big. They say the Defense Department is taking it over. Diamond just sits there, staring straight ahead. McQuade waits. Finally - MCQUADE (CONT'D) Okay, okay - I'm sorry I asked. So what about this guy - what's he done? DIAMOND He hasn't done anything - I'm just interested. MCQUADE Ten thousand employment records I've got on file and you want to know about a lab assisant? DIAMOND The smartest assistant I've ever known. MCQUADE What - he can mop and fart at the same time? She picks up pages from a computer printer - including a copy of Will's photo I.D. MCQUADE (CONT'D) He's handsome, at least I'll say - (a thought strikes her) Jesus - you're not interested in him like that, are you? DIAMOND No, but he's the most unbelievable smelling man. MCQUADE Smelling? You're pregnant - obviously your hormones have gone crazy. What exactly does he smell like? DIAMOND You know... (searching for the right word) .., wholesome. MCQUADE Of course he does - that's the Lysol. Diamond laughs but McQuade barely notices it. She's leafing through WiU's file - MCQUADE (CONT'D) That's strange - there's supposed to be a background sheet. Family, school -all that shit. It must have gotten lost. Before Diamond can say anything, a young man enters. He's McQuada's assistant. ASSISTANT Your secretary's on the line, Dr Diamond. There's a call for you. DIAMOND Tell her to take a message. ASSISTANT It's the New York Times. MCQUADE What do they want? DIAMOND I think Washington's news management just went south. THE WHITE HOUSE Night. Scores of television news vans are parked outsideDutch, Japanese and French reporters are doing stand-ups live-to-air. We hear Peter Jennings of ABC. JENNINGS (O.S.) We're standing by to go live to Washington as events continue to unfold on this remarkable day. I don't think there's a person anywhere who's not sitting by a radio or television now. I'm told the President is on his way to the press room - FIFTH AVENUE is totally empty - just a young man on rollerblades. He skates effortlessly down the deserted avenue - past Tiffany's and the Trump Tower, all silent now. PRESIDENT (O.S.) My fellow Americans... The rollerblader passes the cathedral of St John. The front doors are open. Someone is playing the organ - Mozart's Requiem. The rollerblader fades into the night. STEEL DOOR OPENS A sharp-faced caretaker - scruffy clothes and a limp - escorts Will into a vaulted basement. All we can see are silhouettestowers of crates, racks of equipment... CARETAKER This used to be the basement of the Psychology Department. We just sort of stacked everything around 'em - He flicks a switch - the storage room floods with light. He points at two long iron cylinders - like small submarines - rigged up to a series of valves and pipes. CARETAKER (CONT'D) Flotation tanks. They used 'em for experiments in sensory degradation - WILL Deprivation - sensory deprivation. CARETAKER Yeah, well - whatever. SHAFT OF LIGHT WILL OPENS AN IRON HATCH THAT GIVES ACCESS INTO ONE OF THE TANKS. HE DROPS INTO IT AND WALKS FORWARD, EXAMINING IT. THE DARKNESS CLOSES AROUND HIM. HE STARES AHEAD. VOICES DRIFT OUT OF MEMORY - YOUNG MAN (O.S.) Now I know what a mole feels like - YOUNG WOMAN (O.S.) (lightly) It feels like a fucking coffin, that's what it feels like. Other voices laugh. They're all young and like the young they think they'll never die. CARETAKER (O.S.) Hey, fella - what are you doing? HE'S PEERING DOWN THROUGH THE HATCH. WILL DRAGS HIMSELF OUT OF THE PAST. HE TURNS - WILL Just looking. I'll be coming back - I'll need a key. The caretaker shrugs - sure. Will climbs out of the tank. WILL (CONT'D) One other thing - don't tell anyone, huh? CARETAKER Who would I tell? They treat me like shit Worse than shit. All work, no appreciation. The phantom of Harvard. Someone should write a fucking musical about me. CIRCLES OF LIGHT Desk lamps, glowing in an office. Diamond and a team of researchers are working through piles of old journals and extracts from scientific papers. RESEARCHER Here's another one - "Mitochondrial DNAA Map to the Past." DIAMOND Who's it by? RESEARCHER Same guy - Doctor Robert Plant. DIAMOND Jesus, what did this guy do - write the book on it? Who is he? HUGE BOOK BEING OPENED It's a scientific directory. The researcher flicks the pages and stops at "Plant". RESEARCHER Wow - I thought your career was impressive. Diamond looks up from her reading. RESEARCHER (CONT'D) Degrees in medicine and microbiology. A PhD at 24, a member of the Academy of Sciences, published twenty times by 1974... DIAMOND And then? RESEARCHER Then nothing. DIAMOND REACTS. SHE GETS TO HER FEET, COMING CLOSER - DIAMOND Where did he go as an undergraduate? RESEARCHER Princeton. DIAMOND On a scholarship? A CORRIDOR It's late at night. The scientists and their staff are working around the clock. Will wheels a trolley laden with bottles, vials, and catheters down a crowded corridor. Diamond pushes through the people behind, trying to catch up to him. Scientists turn to speak to her but she ignores them. DIAMOND (CONT'D) Robert! Will keeps walking, heading for an elevator. Diamond skirts around a knot of people. DIAMOND (CONT'D) Doctor Plant! Will hesitates - one split second - then keeps going. The elevator doors slide open. Will steps in, turns and hits a button. He watches Diamond pushing towards him. For a moment their eyes meet. She comes closer. Sswhish! The doors slide shut. DIAMOND'S OFFICE She sits behind her desk, listening to the chief of campus security. SECURITY OFFICER The equipment you saw him with was taken from three labs. It includes a range of genetic material- (hands her an inventory) We've checked all the buildings your team is using - he's not in any of them. DIAMOND What about hie house? SECURITY OFFICER He asked his landlady to look after his cat. She hasn't seen him for three days. IN THE BASEMENT there's a make-shift bed and a hot-plate with a battered saucepan. Next to it is a rack of medical equipment and laboratory vials. Will is sit'ting in front of three computers running in parallel - data and equations reel across them. The caretaker comes out of the shadows, carrying two mugs of thick coffee. He puts one down next to Will - CARETAKER You wanna tell me what exactly you're doing? WILL Looking for a date. The caretaker stares at the confusion of diagrams and equations on the screen - CARETAKER What's wrong with a calendar? WILL These are chemical sequences - they represent human genes. By following a trail of mutations, I can date them. I'm trying to find out when a major change occurred in something called the mitochondrial DNA. CARETAKER The mitochondrial DNA? Yeah... well that makes sense. But Will barely hears it. Suddenly he's leaning forward, keyboarding in complex commands. The caretaker watches him - CARETAKER (CONT'D) You've found it? WILL Maybe... He has illustrations of two long-chain molecules on the screen. He moves them together. Aa they overlap, we see they're not identical - the tail of one kicks upwarda. Will starel at it - WILL (CONT'D) (softly) Yeah - I've found it. CARETAKER So - what's the date? Will presses a key. Faster than the eye can follow, the first long-chain molecule starts to shift and mutate. Finally it resolves itself into the second molecule. Will looks at a graph on the side of the screen - WILL The best computer science can do? One hundred and two thousand years ago. CARETAKER Sort of what I figured - give or take a day or two. DIAMOND'S OFFICE Diamond is poring through scientific articles written by Will. She flicks a page -there's a photo of Will, 20 years younger, surrounded by three colleagues. He's got his arm around one of them - an attractive young woman. Diamond lifts the photo, looking at it more closely. She starts to read the caption. We push in on it and hold on the words... "UC Berkeley". WE ARE FLYING swooping and soaring - through a weird landscape of towering cliffs, tumbling streams and primordial forest. There's something unreal about it - we pull back to reveal they're computer-generated images, playing on the screens in the basement. The caretaker has pulled up a chair. He and Will are watching the images generated by a CD-ROM. WILL This is someone's version of the prehistoric world. I'm interested in the geography, the atmosphere -that sort of stuff. CARETAKER Where are we? WILL Africa - that's where Mankind started. Will keeps looking at the strange images. The caretaker gets to his feet - CARETAKER I'll see you in the morning. WILL Yeah. The caretaker limps towards the door. Will looks up - WILL (CONT'D) Thank you - for helping me, I mean. CARETAKER It sounds like you're leaving or something. WILL No. I just wanted to say it, that's all. The caretaker keeps looking at him - CARETAKER What exactly are you doing? You're a bit old to try and make your mark, aren't you? Anyway, nobody listens to people like us. WILL Fate can be kind - sometimes a man gets a second chance. Do you know what it's like to be ridiculed, to have your ideas thrown back in your face? And that was the easy part. I guess that's what I'm doing - I want to prove that I was right. CARETAKER You're lying to me. WILL What do you mean?! CARETAKER You are going somewhere. I don't know where it is. I'm not even sure I can imagine it. Good luck, though. I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for. WILL Thanks. CARETAKER No point in getting you breakfast, huh? Will shakes his head - no. They smile at each other. The caretaker turns and goes. DIAMOND'S OFFICE Diamond looks up from the papers and articles littering her desk. Her Secretary stands in the doorway - SECRETARY I've got Eleanor Wilkins on the phone. She runs the archives at Berkeley. DIAMOND (into phone) Ms Wilkins? We push in tight on Diamond's face as she listens. Anxiety and alarm register on it. OUTER OFFICE The security officer and several of his men are looking at maps of the campus. Researchers and scientists have gathered in the office, rumors are flying. Everyone turns - Diamond stands in the doorway to her office. She looks at deMaupassant. DIAMOND (CONT'D) You were right, Luc. That work you remembered from Berkeley - he was the one that did it. He said man was the last step on an evolutionary trail. Within every one of us is the history of our race. It's imprinted on our genes - like a map. Anyone that can find the chemical key can travel back down it. Through the womb. Through time and space - (she looks at them all) That's what he's doing. He's going back. He's going to try and change evolution. SECURITY OFFICER Is that possible? DIAMOND He was the best of his generation. He thinks so. He's got the genetic material for the key. All he needs are flotation tanks. THE FLOTATION TANKS The valves are open - warm water is pouring into the tanks. Will sits next to the rack of medical equipment, beads of sweat on his forehead. He slides a syringe into his forearm and inserts a catheter. He opens a series of tiny valves on the glass vials. A cocktail of fluid - minutely measured doses - flows down the clear plastic towards his arm. The fluid hits his blood stream and drains into it. A LONG CORRIDOR Diamond and the others run fast through pools of light cast by naked bulbs. Ahead -a pair of swing doors - BOB A theory's one thing - do you really think he'll try it? DIAMOND He's spent fifteen years as a lab assistant. He lives in a two room walk-up with a cat. No family, no friends. What's There's left for him here? Of course he'll do it. Smack! They push through the doors, into another corridor. AN IRON LADDER Will climbs up the side of the flotation tank. Suddenly he stops - a tremor, a rippling wave, passes from his feet to his head. It's his muscles contracting. It wracks him with pain. He gasps at the intensity of it. Smash! The steel door into the basement shudders as someone tries to get in. Will looks up - the door twists and moves. His vision is starting to distort. He grabs the access hatch and swings through - Splashl He drops into the water. Clang! He closes the hatch. Barn? The steel door flies open. The security officer lowers a sledge hammer. Diamond steps in end throws a light switch. DARKNESS IN THE TANK Will floats on his back, the only sound is the rapid thump of his heartbeat. The water sloshes back and forth - his muscles are going into spasms. We push along his body - up to his face. His eyes roll back into his headl All we see are the whites of them. They shatter into a web of capillaries - WILL'S POV red mist swirls in front of him. It resolves itself into a web of interwoven tendrils -the double helix of the DNA molecule. Will starts to travel through it - INSIDE THE TANK Will is morphing, shedding cells - we're losing him in the warm, dark fluid of the tank. It's like the womb. His body seems to be disintegrating, dissolving into it. Water flows through the sockets where his eyes once were. His hollow mouth opens. From far away we hear him scream - a primal scream. OUTSIDE THE TANK Not a sound escapes. The security officer is about to try and open the hatch. DIAMOND (O.S.) NO! The security officer turns - Diamond is holding the catheter in her hand. DIAMOND (CONT'D) If we open the hatch, I think we'll kill him. It's too late - it's his journey, he's going to have to take it. INSIDE THE TANK Will's body is like a shadow, almost one with the water, growing less distinct by the moment. What is left of his face - a strange, shifting shape - floats towards us. Closer... closer. It melts completely into the water - WILL'S POV He spirals down a tunnel - into a whirlpool of white light. As he hits, it shatters into a million fragments of light. It looks like a comet, wheeling through the heavens. A cosmic wind blows it forward. Will is traveling through space and time - OUTSIDE THE TANK Diamond and the others are gathered around the computers. Bob is working the keyboard. Diamond is looking.through the piles of papers, notes and star charts. DIAMOND Everything's here - he kept a record of every step. He can even tell the date -forty hours after he arrives there's a solar eclipse. BOB Billie - there's a note for you. Diamond looks over his shoulder at the computer screen. She reads what is writ'ten - DIAMOND "I won't be here, but if I solve this thing make sure you tell them, Billie. Tell them it was Robert Plant, Doctor Robert Plant of UC Berkeley." THE FRAGMENTS OF LIGHT blaze through the heavens. They draw together, changing and reconstituting into a shape we recognize - the interwoven strands of DNA molecules. The strands connect. A blast of light! It's the rays of - THE SUN streaming into a cave. Will lies in the fetal position, bleeding from his nose and ears. The light grows stronger - it's dawn. Will drags himself up and stumbles towards the entrance. We tilt up from him. He doesn't see it, but we do - prehistoric cave paintings are etched into the rock. A CRAGGY PEAK Will steps out of the cave. Sunrise sweeps over a world born brand new - plains and jungle and primordial forest. Rising above it is a snow-capped mountain that looks like Kilamlnjlro. A ragged gash runs across the earth - a rift valley. Will stares at it. He raises his face to the sun. He did it. The first step's over - and he did itl He looks down - rising out of the valley is a tiny pillar of smoke. A FOREST CLEARING In the middle are the smoldering remains of a camp-fire. Will moves cautiously towards it. He stops - several bodies, terribly mangled, lie on the ground. Will turns one of them over - he's got matted hair, a heavy brow and a short, muscular body. As primitive as he is, there's no doubt of his species. He is a man. A Paleolithic man. This was a hunting party -scattered weapons and the trussed carcasses of dead animals lie nearby. For a moment Will thinks the hunters must have been torn apart by wild animals. Then he looks up into the trees - more bodies of the hunters. But no animal did this - they hang from iron chains, left there as some sort of trophy. Or a warning. CRUSHED LEAVES AND BROKEN PLANTS Will is following a tiny trail through the forest. He's taken what is useful from the bodies of the hunters - an otter-skin water bag, two short-handled spears and a bed-roll made from an animal pelt. He moves on - deeper into the shadows of the forest. A SPARKLING STREAM Will splashes through the crystal water. He looks upstream - a small lake. A flock of strange birds - like huge flamingos take flight in a blaze of pink and gold. He steps out of the stream and along a path beneath a canopy of over-arching trees. We hold on his feet - whip! He triggers something. A net of woven vines engulfs him. He drops the spears and bedroll. Suddenly he's soaring through the air. He jerks to a halt - he's a netted animal hanging high in the trees. The faces of two Paleolithic men, crouched on boughs, stare at him. PLUME OF WATER cascades a hundred feet into a hidden gorge. Smoke curls up from fires. Scores of stone-age people - man, women and children - turn and look. Will, roped and bound, is being hauled into the encampment. The primitive people - nervous but intrigued - circle around him. They are dressed in skins and fur. talismans hang from their necks. The warriors carry not only weapons but ritual scars across their foreheads. It makes them look even more savage. Will is led past the haunches of soma massive animal cooking in a pit. A pile of ivory tusks lie nearby. The two captors jerk on the leash - it stops Will in front of a cave. Hanging from the roof is the giant pelt and head of their totema saber-toothed tiger. This is the Tribe of the Tiger. A man emerges from under its outstretched paws. He's in his late 20's - proud and strong. His name is Kip-Kena - he is their leader. He and Will look at one another. Kip uses his hands to sign to Will in the formal language of his race. Will stares at him - he has no idea what it means. He shrugs. Kip tries a new tack - he speaks. The sounds are rough and guttural - but understandable, KiP Where is your tribe? Will pauses, searching for an answer- where do you start? He gives up. WILL I don't have a tribe. A rolling murmur of disbelief from the surrounding tribe. KIP No man can live without a tribe! How would he hunt the mighty animals? Who would keep his fire burning? WILL I come from far away... I'm a traveler. KIP What is traveler? Is that a tribe? Again Will's at a loss. Something catches Kip's eye. He reaches forward and rips the water bag out from under Will's coat. The tribe reacts - KIP (CONT'D) You carry things taken from our hunters! Kill him. He turns away. Will throws himself at him - WILL NO! Whackl A blow to the back of Will's neck knocks him to his knees. He looks up -two warriors have their spears raised, about to plunge them into his chest. A sound like thunder - it's hooves. The warriors turn. Will follows their gaze - half an army, mounted on horseback, surges into the gorge, They are heavily armed, dressed in armor but it's not their weaponry that astonishes Will. These are apes! The tribes-people scream in terror. They turn and run. The two warriors forget about Will. He dives for cover in a pile of rocks. As he tears himself free of the ropes that bind him, he looks out - The apes charge in to the camp. At their head is a huge gorillarippling muscles and intelligent eyes - deep set and yellow, like pissholes in the snow. He wears a suit of black armor ribbed in silver. His name is Drak. He is the Lord of the High Rivers, supreme commander of the ape army. On either side ride his elite Praetorian Guard. Woo-woo-woo! Kip swings a hollow piece of wood above his head. It's a bull-roarer. The warriors of the tribe know its meaning - they rally to Kip's side. Armed only with spears and primitive bows they stand between the apes and their panic-driven people, trying to buy them time to get into the cave. Sswhish! The sound of arrows. The apes carry triple-barreled iron crossbows. Short iron bolts cut several of the tribesmen down. Dust and smoke swirls across the camp. Kip and his men, fighting all the way, retreat towards the cave. A baby's cry! Will turns - a toddler sits at a hearth, left behind in the confusion. Will half rises to his feet, about to go for him. Too late - there's a blur of movement irt the trees. A tribe-boy - too young to be a warrior - has come back for the child. Out of the dust and smoke - Drak! Foam flies from his horse's mouth. He's seen the boy and the child. He locks what looks like a Gatling gun tight under his huge bicep. Will screams a warning. The boy turns - he sees Drak as he fires. A hail of iron darts - twenty or more - cut him and the child down. Rage flashes in Will's eyes. He scrambles over a boulder and rips a crossbow from a dead ape's hand. He slides bolts into the barrels and grabs a lever with both hands -you need the strength of an ape to cock it. A sound behind him - little more than a whisper. He swings -It's an arrow. Whackl It rips into his shoulder, hurling him to the ground. Ape infantry - foot soldiers - are coming into the gorge behind him. In their midst are three huge steam-driven machines - like iron erector sets. One is the Claw, one is the Balls and the other is the Flame. THE CAVE ENTRANCE Kip and his warriors have seen them too. They scramble into the cave. Men and women are inside, swinging closed two huge stockade doors made from tree trunks. Other warriors, caught outside, run for the closing gap. On their heels is Will - still clutching the crossbow, blood streaming from his wound. The doors are closing... closing. Will dives through the gap, almost crushed - INSIDE THE CAVE Slam! The doors fly shut. Wham! A huge cross-beam drops into place. Will, sprawled in the dust, looks up - chaos. By torchlight, the medicine man is tending the wounded, children are screaming, women and old people are clambering up a series of ledges. High above is a tiny slash of daylightanother entrance. From deep in the cave Will hears the roar of some animal but he doesn't have time to think about it. Smash! The great wooden doors shudder from some mighty blow. OUTSIDE THE DOORS The three machines are in place. The first of them has two huge stone balls suspended by chains from an overhead jib. An ape sits right on top, operating it. The balls dance and swing wildly - smash! They hit the door, opening a hole. INSIDE THE CAVE Daylight streams in. Kip and his warriors have ranged themselves high around the walls, ready to attack when the apes pour in. A pair of huge iron jaws appear in the hole. This is the second of the apes' machines - the Claw. Another roar from the animal. Will watches the Claw reach in and grab the massive crossbeam. It snaps it like a twig. Will gets to his feet and runs. He sees Kip signal - AN OLD WARRIOR is perched high on a series of wooden bars that seal off a corner of the cave, turning it into a cage. He opens it. Crash! The stockade doors at the front of the cave burst open. The first of the ape cavalry charges in. A roar from the unseen animal. The apes' horses catch the scent of it. They whinny in terror. Will stares as a blur of striped fur and muscle flies out of the cage. The tribe's totem is a living thing - the saber-toothed tiger ia three times the size of its Bengal cousin, a head the size of an ox and two ten-inch teeth curved down either side of its jaw. The horses are bucking and rearing. The tiger leaps towards the door, heading for freedom. A dismounted ape raises his weapon. The tiger doesn't even break stride. One lazy swipe from his paw tears open the armor and flesh of the ape's chest. Will can smell the animal's breath as it flies past. An ape officer, still on his horse, turns - another swipe from the.tiger's paw rips out his throat. Kip and his warriors hurl their spears and stone tomahawks at the cavalry - half of them dismounted, all of them in disarray. The tiger runs soars through the doorway - OUTSIDE THE CAVE Drak fights to control his mount as the tiger lands once and bounds into the forest. ON THE LEDGES Kip's men are fighting as they retreat, heading towards the opening at the roof of the cave. Will, clutching his wounded shoulder, makes his own way up the wall. Beneath him, Drak and the apes roll in the third of the machines - a long iron tube in a rolling superstructure. Feeding it are a series of oil-filled bladders. One of the apes touches a torch to a firing hole. A tongue of fire erupts from the end of the tube. It's a flame thrower -The fiery tongue shoots up towards the roof of the cave. The flame engulfs two warriors. Skin blazing, they plummet to the ground. The flame thrower fires again - scorching the rock wall, filling the cave wit a pall of smoke. It hits the tiny patch of daylight, cutting off escape. Will - trapped - runs along a ledge, over a pile of rocks and jumps. Into mid-air! He lands on the back of a riderless horse and drives his heels into its flanks. The apes and the surviving warriors turn. For a moment they just stare - nobody's ever seen a human ride a horse before. Will flies towards the entrance. He sees Kip on a ledge just above, battling three huge apes. WILL Jump! Kip sees Will galloping towards him. One of the apes raises a double-bladed sword. Kip jumps sprawling across the horse's neck, grabbing on to its flowing mane. Drak stares at Will - he's never seen anything like him. He wheels his horse around and spurs it forward in pursuit. OUTSIDE THE CAVE Will's horse bursts out of the cave - past the Claw and under the Balls. The apes turn and look - astonished. They scramble for their horses. Drak charges through. Will hurtles towards the trees. Kip, hanging on for life, looks behind - Drak raises his Gatling gun and aims. Kip wrenches Will's head down - zing! The arrows skim past. Drak can't outpace them - and he can't re-load at the gallop either. They charge out of the camp, into - THE DAPPLED LIGHT OF THE FOREST Drak rises up in the stirrups and hauls himself on to the saddlethe huge ape stands on the back of the charging horse! He jumps - his rippling arms catch hold of an overhanging bough. He swings himself up into the tree - he is an ape, after all. He throws himself from branch to bough, traveling at incredible speed. Will glances back - he sees Drak's riderless horse. His eyes dart in confusion -where is he? We crane up - he's in the trees above! Drak jumps - Wham! Hundreds of pounds of gorilla blast into Will's shoulder, lifting him out of the saddle and hurling him to the ground. Kip hauls down on the horse's bridle - wheeling the stallion around. Will looks up from the dust - Drak towers above him. Will sees Kip coming back - WILL (CONT'D) Run! A volley of arrows whiz past Kip - other apes are galloping through the trees. Kip grabs the bridle and kicks - the horse spins and gallops away. massive, armor-clad paw grabs Will's head. He looks straight into Drak's face. The ape reaches out and rips a claw down Will's cheek. Will tries to stifle the scream. Drak touches the wound and tastes the blood - DRAK So - it's human, after ell. He spits the blood out in revulsion. Will stares into the piu-holes in his face. Never has he seen eyes so cold. Will tries to rise to hie feet. His wounded shoulder has weakened him - he staggers. Drak's clenched fist, clad in chain mail, drives straight et Will's jaw. Smashl Fade to black. THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN It's Will's point of view - he-s lying on his back in a horse-drawn cart. He's very weak, his shirt drenched in blood. He rolls over and the image rights itself. He drags himself on to all fours but he can't get any further - his legs are chained. WILL (fevered, disoriented) Where the fuck am I? Will looks up - a huge ape sits guard in the back of the wagon. GUARD (smiling) The end of the road. Will - confused, panicky - grabs the side of the cart and hauls himself to his knees. He looks past an escort of ape cavalry - they are traveling down an avenue of idols -towering statues of apes, sculpted out of stone, old as ages past. Fires burn somewhere within them giving the eyes a red, flickering glow. Will turns away. Behind him he sees humans, rows of them - dead - hanging upsidl down from long poles like trophies. Everything comes flooding back - he slumps against the side of the cart, eyes barely focused. Blood trickles down under his shirt and forms a pool between his legs. He doesn't even notice it. MASSIVE IRON AND WOOD BRIDGE spans a roaring river. Drak and his convoy clatter across it. We crane up - laid out before is a city. Terraces are cut into both sides of a jagged ravine. Opening on to them are caves and houses and buildings made out of stone. Apes are everywhere - hammering stones to enlarge a house, chattering in the trees, swinging hand-over-hand along horizontal ladders - crossing from one side of the ravine to the other. Will has roused himself. He stares at the city through feverish eyes - to him, it appears to float. Buildings swim in and out of focus. His shoulders shake - he starts to laugh, an edge of hysteria to it. WILL A city... of course. Ape city! I've destroyed my mind. Or maybe I'm dead and this is God's last joke - hell is ruled by apes. Whhish - the end of a whip sails through the air. Crack! It hits Will's back, doubling him over. GUARD Quiet, animal! RIPPLES OF WATER run across the surface of a beautiful pool. A black shape glides along underwater. The head breaks the surface - it's an old gorilla, the fur on his face gray and balding. This is NAZGUL. He is the Ghan - the President - of the Council of Elders. He walks out of the water. Other old apes - all male, their days of warring and building over - lie around the pool. Several of them, draped only in rough loin-cloths, groom each other, picking nits out of their fur. The sound of a gong! Nazgul picks up a loin cloth and walks the end of the pool. He looks straight down the ravine - at the far end, Drak and his troop come into view. NAZGUL The raiders are home. OLD APE (lazily) Good hunting? Nazgul squints against the sun. He sees the poles carrying the dead humans. NAZGUL By the look of it. GRAY-BEARDED WARRIOR, HIS CHEST MARKED BY THE SCARS OF MANY BATTLES, GETS UP - GRAY BEARD (proudly) Not as good as when we rode the high ridges, I'll warrant. NAZGUL Times are different now. Back then, a could go out and come back with a brace of animals. They're far scarcer now - OLD APE Not scarce enough, I say. There's a murmur of agreement from the other apes. A TINY BOAT is wreathed in woven leaves. Lying in it is the dead body of a young ape. The boat drifts down an underground stream. All around it rise the stone walls of a huge cavern. Torches light up the gloom - this place is a temple. A group of apes - mourners - walk along a path, keeping pace with the funeral boat. They make a humming sound deep in the back of their throats - a dirge for the dead. At the head of the procession, swinging a smoking censer, is an ape wearing a lion-skin cloak. His face is scarred and twisted - he has one cruel eye, the other is just an empty socket. Beneath the cloak, one arm and a leg are withered. The whole effect, rather than diminishing his power, enhances it. His name is MA-GOG. He is high priest of the apes, defender of the faith, keeper of the Book of the Lore. The funeral boat gathers speed in the current. It thrusts towards sunlight pouring through an arch. A ROCK PLATFORM The mourners step through the arch and on to a slab of rock. We pull back to reveal where they stand - a huge crouching ape has been carved out of the face of a cliff, Its bowed front legs form the archway, the entrance to the temple of the ape. CLOUDS OF MIST AND WIND-BLOWN SPRAY SWEEP OVER MA-GOG AND THE MOURNERS. ALL AROUND THEM, THE SOUND OF ROARING WATER. THE FUNERAL BOAT FLOATS OUT OF THE TEMPLE AND INTO A ROARING RIVER. MA-GOG SWINGS THE CENSER OVER THE WATER - MA -GOG (intoning) In the beginning was the word, and the word was the Book of the Lore. It says God created the ape in His own image. Alone among His creatures, the ape has a soul. One crosses the river now but death is only a door. He will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen The mourners beat their chests with their fists. They repeat the word "Amen". For a moment the clouds of mist clear. Now we see where the boat is headed - half an ocean of water pours over a sheer drop. These are the Falls of No Return. The boat races forward - over the waterfall it goes. The sound of cheering voices, very faint, drifts towards them. Ma-Gog turns and looks up the river towards the city - APES HANG FROM THE 'LADDERS' looking down on Drak and his troops. The convoy passes along a road cut into the side of the ridge. Apes have come out of the houses and buildings to greet them. Will lies in the back of the cart, unconscious. Faces of apes stare in at him - they've never seen anything like it. A young ape - a little boy - stands with his grandfather. KID What is it? GRANDFATHER Some... sort of human. KID But look at the eyes, 'Pa - they're the color of the sea. Where's it from? GRANDFATHER I don't know - a traveler, maybe. Nobody knows what lies beyond the Tower of the Moon. THE WORD "TRAVELER" IS PICKED UP BY OTHER APES. IT RIPPLES THROUGH THE CROWD. A WOMAN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WAGON CALLS OUT - WOMAN No it's not - it's a mutant. LABORER Put it in the zoo! A female ape pushes them aside. She's heavy-set, bright eyes, an air of authority about her. Over her shoulder she carries a leather satchel with a series of steel instruments dangling from it. Her name is ZORA - she is a doctor. She and her ASSISTANT - a young male - swing themselves on to the cart. Kneeling beside him, Zora puts her hand down and grabs hold of Will's crotch. ZORA Whatever it is, it's male. She rips open Will's shirt - his chest is covered in blood from the gaping wound. ZORA (CONT'D) Probe. The Assistant hands her a steel instrument. She slides it towards the wound. We hold on Will's face - a strangled cry but he doesn't regain consciousness. Zore returns the bloodied probe to her Assistant. She calls out - ZORA (CONT'D) Drak! The leader of the ape warriors, riding close by, turns - ZORA (CONT'D) The animal's bleeding to death, my Lord. Drak rides up to the wagon. DRAK I didn't bring him all this way just to have him die. ZORA (to the assistant) Ben-Guri - get a vet. Quicklyl AN APE IN A LEATHER APRON uses a grinding wheel to sharpen a gruesome looking knife. This is the VET. Will lies on a stone slab nearby - it's a sort of medical centersinks along the walls, racks of equipment, hoses to wash down the blood. The Vet cuts the clothing away from Will's wound. He turns to Doctor Zora - VET We're going to have to give him blood. PRISONER IN A CELL He's a tribesman - in his late 40s. Despite his tattered furs and hollow cheeks, he carries himself with dignity - he's a proud man. His name is ARAGORN. On a chain around his neck he wears a metal ornament, like crescent moon. Etched into it are strange markings and the totems of various tribes. The sound of a key in lock. Aragorn turns - the cell door is thrown back. Three ape guards enter. Two of them, armed with spears, drive Aragorn into a corner. The third ape has a leather collar on the end of a pole. He drops it over Aragorn's head. Aragorn struggles but the ape jerks the collar tight. They drag him from the cell. TEAM OF HORSES - their flanks drenched in sweat - walk in a circle. They turn a huge wheel that controls a series of pulleys and winches. Attached to the end of a heavy cable is a wooden platform - a primitive elevator. It runs from a series of impressive house, down the side of the ravine, to the center of the city. Standing on the platform are Nazgul and several other elders. They look down on the central square. It's crowded with apes - soldiers are being greeted by their kin. ARAGORN LIES ON HIS BACK He's strapped to a slab, half-naked, in the medical center. They've put a gag in his mouth and though he struggles to free himself, he can barely move. Will, still unconscious, lies on a table next to him. Nazgul peers down at him. NAZGUL It's human, you say? Doctor Zora nods - yes. NAZGUL It's even uglier than the others. He pulls a covering aside and looks at Will's naked legs. NAZGUL (CONT'D) How can he hunt with legs like those -they're like twigs. Maybe he's diseased. Everybody shrugs - who knows? The Vet heats a steel needle over an open flame. The other end of the needle is attached to a length of animal intestine. It acts as a tube. The Vet grabs Will's forearm and slides the red-hot needle into the vein. Will's body jerks with the pain. Nazgul and the others spring back. For a moment Will's wrenched back to consciousness - he sees a light-filled room, a bandage on his chest, a bladder full of blood hanging above him. His puts it together the only way he knows - he thinks he's in hospital WILL (groggy) Help me. I've got health insurance. Honest... His eyes close as he slips back into darkness. Nazgul looks at Doctor Zora. NAZGUL What is health insurance? DOCTOR ZORA Some sort of religion...? The Vet turns and makes an adjustment to the bladder. Another length of tubing snakes out of it and is attached by a needle to Aragorn's arm. It's his blood. Now we realize - this is the ape version of a blood transfusion. NAZGUL Do you think this'Il work? VET You can never tell with animals. Their bodies aren't as sophisticated as an ape's. Sometimes their blood fights with each other. Either way, you know really quick -they get up and walk around, or they're dead. The Vet turns a little tap - Aragorn's blood flows down the tube. It hits Will's vein. WORDS CHISELED INTO STONE "An Ape without knowledge is a fire without light." Euripadape III It stands over the doorway of a building high on a ridge. This is the Hall of Learning. Ma-Gog - his lion skin cloak billowing behind him - hurries up the steps. THE BLADDER OF BLOOD is empty. Guards are collaring Aragorn, preparing to drag him out. The door into the room is thrown open. Ma-Gog enters. Nazgul and the others greet him but he barely acknowledges it * MA-GOG Show him to me. The Vet grabs Will's hair. He lifts up his head so that Ma-Gog can see his face. The high priest takes a step back - there's something about Will that fills him with loathing. Anger flashes in his one good eye. He stares at Will. His voice is Iow, almost to himself - MA-GOG (CONT'D) All my life I've dreaded this day. (turns to the others) Kill him. DOCTOR ZORA We've just spent an hour trying to save him - MA-GOG Kill him! He grabs the stand holding the bladder and throws it to the ground. Doctor Zora takes his arm, stopping him - DOCTOR ZORA The animal's unique, my lord. At least we should look at his brain. Maybe it's possible to remove the frontal lobes without killing him. Imagine - a tame human! MA-GOG Man can't be tamed. Alone among God's primates he kills for lust or greed. He will murder his own brother to possess his brother's land. NAZGUL The doctor's only asking for a chance to experiment. The benefits would be enormous. A tame species of human could double food production, at last we could dam the rivers. MA-GOG You don't know what you're dealing with. NAZGUL It's just an animal, Ma-Gog. MA-GOG It's not. That's the trouble. A movement on the stone slab. They turn and look - Will's eyelids are fluttering. He's starting to come round. itl He turns to Nazgul In the name of God - summon the Council of Elders. Will's eyes are open now. Like through a glass - darkly - he sees the ape guards coming for him. He tries to struggle but he's very weak. They haul him off. HEAVY IRON DOOR set in a rock wall - on one side a key-hole. We tilt up the door to a narrow set of bars high above it. A face, straining with effort, rises up to peer through the bars. It is Will - looking like death but forcing himself to do it, desperate to see where he is. INSIDE THE CELL The muscles across his shoulders ripple. His one good hand clutches the bars. He hangs by it, supporting his weight, staring out at a vaulted underground cavern. It looks like a cattle-yard, broken down and disused nowa series of long pens, wooden chutes and a primitive conveyor belt. Will can't support himself any longer - he tumbles to the ground. He crawls across the floor and examines the door. It fits tight to the rock. There's no hope of picking the lock - the key-hole doesn't even come all the way through. Suddenly he stops. Nothing for a moment, then he hears it again - a scraping sound. He peers under the wooden bed at the stone blocks that form wall. One of the blocks moves. Will grabs hold of it and hauls it into the cell. Aragorn squeezes through from the adjoining cell. He looks at Will - ARAGORN So you lived, then? WILL What did they do? ARAGORN They gave you blood. He holds up his bandaged forearm - Will realizes where it came from. WILL I hope you had a medical. Aragorn looks at him - confused. From a distance, the sound of horses whinnying. WILL (CONT'D) What is this place? ARAGORN It was a slaughterhouse. WILL For horses? ARAGORN They use it for stables now. No - s different kind of animal. For humans. Will stares, taken aback. Aragorn starts to gather twigs from the corners of the cell. ARAGORN (CONT'D) In my father's time, the apes rounded up tribes and brought them here. Young apes killed some during their manhood rites, the others were made sport of in the corrals. At the end, the bodies were thrown onto the belts and fed to the fire. Aragorn has made a pyramid of twigs and leaves. From out of his cloak, he takes two pieces of flint and strikes them. A spark starts the fire - ARAGORN (CONT'D) (softly) Death is stuck to these walls, stranger -sounds not even s thousand winters can take away. Sometimes of s night they speak to me - I can hear the screams of my people. Will looks at him. Firelight plays across their faces. WILL Why haven't they killed you? ARAGORN They keep me ss bait. My name is Aragorn - He lifts his hand to Will - palm outwards. It's some form of greeting. Will returns it. ARAGORN (CONT'D) I am the Ranger of the Easterlings, the Leader of the Seven Tribes. They hope the warriors will come and try to free me. WILL And will they? ARAGORN Not if they fear my anger. I was taken in summer and now winter's almost gone. Even the apes grow tired - soon they'll make me walk the Paths of the Dead. Will looks at Aragorn's eyes - they're fearless. The ornament glints on his chest. Will points at it - WILL what is it? ARAGORN It's called the Crescent of Light - it's the talisman of my rank. WILL Silver. ARAGORN Mithral is how we name it.. Will reaches his hand towards it - WILL Can I borrow it? Aragorn recoils - this is the most precious thing in the world to him. His hand closes around the insignia - ARAGORN Who are you? What brings you to the valley of the tribes? WILL I meant you no harm. I'm looking for woman, one of my own kind. Do you know of people like me? ARAGORN Never. Will nods his head, accepting it. Slowly he reaches his hand out - WILL If you want to get out of hare. I need the talisman. Aragorn. The two men look at each other. A beat - then Aragorn reaches up and unfastens it. THE TEMPLE OF THE APE Torches burn on the walls. They cast a glow across the temple - the underground stream, pools of water, shelves of rock hewn out of the walls. Several apes crouch on them, praying to a golden idol of an ape. Mist rises off of the pools. Moving through it, we see Nazgul, Drak and e group of old apes. The Council of Elders is gathering. They pass through a narrow door - THE TEMPLE'S INNER CHAMBER Oil lamps - hidden in alcoves - illuminate Ma-Gog. He stands in front of an ancient book - strange symbols, like Sanskrit, run across its pages. This is the Book of the Lore. Ma-Gog looks at the Council of Elders seated in front of himNazgul, Drak and five other huge apes - all leaders in their time. MA-GOG How many scrolls are there in the Book of the Lore? Nobody replies - the question is so obvious it needs no answer. MA-GOG (CONT'D) One-hundred-and-seventy-six, you say -every child knows that. (softly) But every child is wrong. There is one more scroll - the last scroll, sealed with seven seals, handed down from high priest to high priest... He slides his hand under the top of the pedestal and releases a hidden catch. The top - the Book still resting on it - tilts up, revealing a secret compartment. It is lined with gold leaf. Lying in it is a slim folio of pages - MA-GOG (CONT'D) It is called the Scroll of Revelation. The Council of Elders stare in awed silence. Ma-Gog takes the pages out and unfastens the seals. He reads - MA-GOG (CONT'D) "And it was given unto me to know the wisdom of ages. A silence fell and I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Like through a glass, darkly, I saw the future." The Council of Elders stare at him. He limps forward and stops in front of them. He recites from memory - MA-GOG (CONT'D) "Behold - there rose out of the earth a pale horse and the name of the horse is Death. Those that ride on him are beasts, but like no beasts born before. Their limbs are weak but their eyes are as cold as the sea. They are given power over the earth to kill with the sword and with famine and with fire. And let him that hath understanding know the number of these beasts. It is the number of Man." He raises his eyes and looks straight at the Councilors. MA-GOG (CONT'D) Today we saw that beast. Mark those words, my Lords - "their limbs are weak but they are given power over the earth". Now will you listen? Kill him! And if we don't? Then all hope will fail in this bitter winter. He lays down the secret scroll and closes the secret compartment. Nazgul looks from one to the other of the elders. Nobody says a word but he can read their grim expressions. He turns to Drek - NAZGUL Kill him. Kill him with the sword and with fire. Kill himl THE KEYHOLE TO THE CELL It's a shining bright image, slightly distorted. We pull back to reveal it's a reflection. Aragorn's silver ornament has been polished to a brilliant luster. It's fixed to the end of a length of wood sticking through the bars high above the iron door. INSIDE THE CELL The wooden bed has been smashed to pieces. Both Aragorn and Will have used parts of their clothing to harness themselves so they can see through the bars. Aragorn controls the pole with the "mirror" on the end of it. By looking into it, Will can see the keyhole on the other side of the door. He has a pole with a nail attached to the end of it. He turns the pole, guiding the nail towards the keyhole. He's trying to pick the lock. WILL Do you understand time.., what time is it? Aragorn looks at the shadows in the slaughterhouse - ARAGORN Seven hours since the rising of the sun. WILL Just after noon... ARAGORN Shouldn't we wait until night? WILL (concentrating) If I'm right, it's gonna be dark a lot sooner than you think. The nail is almost in the key-hole. Half an inch to go... a quarter. It slides off. Will curses and starts again - THE SUN beats down from a cloudleu sky. Drak and two huge Praetorian Guards - Max and Hannibal - come through a huge stone portico. It's another entrance to the Temple -one that opertl onto a central square. Orak and the two guards hurry across it. towards the slaughterhouu. THE NAIL at the end of the pole slides into the keyhole. Will - barely breathing in case it breaks his concentration - listens carefully. He moves the end of the pole. The nail turns. HUGE SET OF DOORS are thrown open. Daylight spills into the slaughterhouse. Drak, Max and Hannibal enter. Drak stops - he listens to the horses whinnying and stomping their hooves - DRAK Something's wrong! (turns to Max) Get the dogs. HANNIBAL moves cautiously along the side one of the corrals, trying to see what's wrong with the horses. Behind him - a movement in the shadows. Sswhish. The sound of something slicing through the air. He turns - It's the side of Aragorn's hand. It chops hard into the ape's throat, shattering his larynx and blasting him into unconsciousness. He crumples to the ground. Aragorn and Will strip him of his weapons. Will starts to go but Aragorn tears a strip off both their shirts. He ties the fabric around the ape's ankles. WILL What are you doing? ARAGORN Watch - they're going to bring in the dogs. THE DOGS aren't really dogs at all - they're a much earlier ancestor. We call them wolves. There are two of them, on the end of heavy leather leashes. Their handlers have them in Will's cell, rubbing parts of the abandoned harnesses in front of their noses. The wolves take the scent. Drak watches as the handlers unfasten the leashes. The wolves leap out of the cell. HANNIBAL rises groggily to his feet, clutching his injured throat. He takes a few steps forward -Grrrr! He turns - the two wolves fly towards him. He tries to yell but the only sound he can make is a squeak. He runs - the fabric, unseen by him, trails from his ankles. The wolves pound after him. He glances over his shoulder. First one wolf - then the other - leaps. Fangs and claws glistening, they hit him in the back, hurling him to the ground. He writhes on to his back. One wolf tears at his ankles, the other goes for his throat. Rip! Blood sprays as the artery breaks. A STONE PASSAGE-WAY Will and Aragorn are running, plunging down in to darkness. Arches and corridors open off of it. It's like a labyrinth - WILL This doesn't seem like the way out. ARAGORN We're not going out - not yet. WILL STOPS, GRABBING HOLD OF HIM, TURNING HIM ROUND - WILL So what are we doing? ARAGORN (softly) We're going killing. WILL Killing?! Don't be stupid - Will jerks on Aragorn's arm, starting to haul him back. Aragorn throws off his hand - ARAGORN You do what you like! But I'm the Ranger of the Easterlings -I won't leave here until it's done. From behind them - the sounds of pursuit. WILL Shit! He starts to run. Together they disappear into the gloom ahead. ROW OF CAGE-LIKE CELLS Will and Aragorn glide past them. They're taking it slowly, very carefully. Now we see why - ahead of them is a set of steel doors. Torches on either side illuminate a guard post but there's no sign of the sentry. Will and Aragorn move closer. They pass - CREVICE IN THE ROCK We hold on the narrow opening, looking deep into the shadows. A big ape, heavily armed, stands there. He has his back to us, his legs spread. A trickle of water runs down the rock and drains away - he's taking a piss. A shadow flickers on the wall above him. He sees it -THE PASSAGE-WAYMore shadows -Will and Aragorn are move through the torchlight. The steel doors are straight ahead. The sentry slides out of the crevice - he