Chaos Genome

This is a project I started working on but haven't gotten around to finishing much of. Like most of my writing, the entire story has already played out in my head, I just need to put it on paper.

SPACE

The scene opens on a view that seems familiar yet alien. We see a view of earth from space, much like the images seen on science documentaries. This is not the earth that we remember. In orbit around the blue and green body is a second moon. About the same size as Earth’s usual moon, this moon is red in color but otherwise from this far out it resembles the earth’s usual moon. As well as this second moon, there is a ring of debris surrounding the earth like the rings seen on Saturn and Jupiter. The debris in this ring ranges from the size of dust particles to a couple of miles across. The biggest change is the Earth itself. In the middle of the Atlantic ocean, bridging between the Caribbean and the straights of Gibraltar, is a massive continent. The Earth has changed as a result of this new continent: shorelines around the world have changed dramatically, Florida is under water, as is the entire region once fed by the great plains aquifer, The amazon basin is flooded and shattered into thousands of islands, California has finally broken off from the North American continent and now rests a hundred miles out into the pacific ocean, and the Grand canyon is now a great lake. These are just some of the changes that have happened due to the new continent rising from the ocean. Over the entire scene we see the words “EARTH 2055”.

CUT TO:

VALHALLA AIRBASE - DAY

We see a giant military complex. Valhalla airbase, an airborne military base held aloft by four antigravity thrusters that are visible sticking through the domed underside of the base. Besides the usual military buildings, the upper levels contain more mundane structures such as a gymnasium, movie theater, and public park. Where the upper levels meet the lower dome, there is a railing that runs the entire circumference of the base. The entire structure is massive, more egg shaped than circular, the base is nearly half a mile wide and 3/4 of a mile long. Large antennae and dish relays cover the lower dome as well as the largest building in the center of the base that appears to be the command complex. As the base floats past the screen we see the words.

VALHALLA AIRBASE

CURRENT POSITION: UNKNOWN

VALHALLA LABS - DAY

The scene opens in what is definitely a medical lab. Tables covered in beakers, microscopes, centrifuges and other medical equipment are spread around the room. We hear a gunshot but don’t see the shooter. A female form falls into view. She is in her 40’s but still very attractive. She is wide eyed in surprise, obviously already dead from the bullet hole in her chest.

VALHALLA STREETS - DAY

Figures are running through streets. It quickly becomes apparent that these figures are soldiers chasing someone. We only catch shaded glimpses of the figure they are chasing, the figure appears to be human, male, but we never get a clear view of the man’s face. The figure is wearing combat fatigue pants, boots and a sleeveless shirt that sticks close to his toned form. The entire outfit is black.

THE CAMERA FOLLOWS three soldiers chase the figure down an alleyway with a dead end. As they near the cornered figure, the man leaps up to a fire escape and springs onto the rooftops. The soldiers are yelling over radios.

SOLDIER 1

"The target has gone roof-side. I repeat, the target has gone roof-side. Flank and contain."

More soldiers run through alleyways and streets trying to keep pace with the mysterious figure as he bounds easily from rooftop to rooftop. 

SOLDIER 2

"The target is heading for the rim. Do not let the target escape."

The figure bounds from one more rooftop and lands in the center of a park area. Hitting the paved courtyard hard, the figure rolls to his feet and keeps running, coming to a stop as he reaches the railing at the edge of the base, overlooking nothing but open air.

FROM THE FIGURE’S P.O.V. Soldiers come flooding into the courtyard from all sides forming a semi-circle perimeter around the man. 

SOLDIER 1

"We have the target surrounded. What are your orders General Prometheus?"

FROM A SOLDIER’S P.O.V. For the first time we get clear view of the mysterious figure. He looks young, early twenties. Very handsome, the figure brings to mind a statue of a Greek Hero or God. We are immediately drawn to his face. He has shoulder length black hair rimming his tanned face, with a few strands falling in front of his striking emerald eyes. Those eyes are outlined with black designs like the Eye of Horus or the Eye of Ra. Those emerald eyes glow in anger, but they hold a keen mind behind them. As we see the figure, the words

PROJECT SIEGE

DESIGNATION: CLASSIFIED

Appear on the screen. This is Seth.

THE VIEW CHANGES to an aerial shot of the courtyard where we can clearly see the soldiers surrounding Seth who has his back to the railing and nothing but open air behind him. The ground can be seen far below like a view from a plane. There is a city below, this is New Denver.

GENERAL PROMETHEUS

"This is Prometheus, contain the target and return him to the center. Contain the target and return."

We see Seth again, he obviously heard Prometheus over the radio and doesn't like what was said. He glances back and then turns to the soldiers once again, a confident smirk on his features as he casually places one hand on the railing.

SOLDIER 1

"Target is preparing to jump"

GENERAL PROMETHEUS

"Do not let the target escape. I repeat do not let the target escape. Dose him! Dose him!"

We catch a close-up view of the soldier’s guns as they fire. They are armed with some type of advanced dart gun. The camera pans across the firing soldiers to Seth as he leaps over the railing. The darts connect while Seth is in mid air, but it’s too late. He’s already over the edge. A few soldiers rush to the railing, watching the plummeting figure below.

SOLDIER 1

"Sir the target has escaped."

CUT TO:

IMHOTEP’S OFFICE

We see a room that is obviously an office. Book shelves line one wall filled with many volumes that range from crisp and new to manuscripts that look ancient as time itself. A large desk in the center of the room holds a computer and piles of paper. One such pile has a cover page with the words “Project Siege.” Medical instruments litter a table along the back wall taking up space alongside beakers and test tubes. Pictures of Egyptian and Aztec ruins share the walls alongside the familiar medical posters depicting the workings of the human body. Two men are in the room. The larger man standing before the desk would still tower over the smaller man even if he were not sitting in a chair behind the desk. The larger man is apparently annoyed.

GENERAL PROMETHEUS

"How did he escape your facility? You were supposed to be keeping an eye on him."

As he speaks, we see the words 

GENERAL PAUL MARCO, CALL-SIGN: PROMETHEUS.

The view shifts to the smaller man behind the desk as he rummages through a few of the papers before him.

DR. IMHOTEP

"I was only supposed to be keeping tabs on his progress. You cannot have expected me to prevent him from getting out of the compound."

As he speaks, we see the words 

DOCTOR MORGAN CANSTREP, CALL-SIGN: IMHOTEP.

GENERAL PROMETHEUS

"I expected you to be aware of any complication that may have led to this little incident."

DR. IMHOTEP

"I have kept..."

Prometheus cuts him off

GENERAL PROMETHEUS

"I don’t want excuses. I want to know what happened. And I want to know where he is. Now!"

CUT TO:

HIGHWAY THE BORDER - DAY

We see a busy highway on the outskirts of New Denver’s inner city, the area known as the border. On one side of the highway the city looks run down and nearly deserted. On the other side the city looks prosperous, about a block in there is a large wall that surrounds the entire inner city. People are busy traveling to whatever destination they have as the figure of Seth comes falling out of the sky crushing the front end of a car and embedding himself in the hood. The girl that was driving gets out of her now ruined vehicle. She is young as well, late teens or early twenties. This is Serina, she has red hair with purple highlights. Attractive, she wears shorts and collared a top that leaves her stomach bare. She has tribal tattoos running from just under her chest to her waist on each side of her abdomen. She usually has a small jacket and large boots. As she moves to the front of the car to inspect what has just happened, we hear her complaining to herself.

SERINA

"Great, just great. I just boosted this car."

She steps in front of the car to see an unconscious Seth laying where her engine used to be.

SERINA (CONT'D)

"How in the heck. . ."

As she speaks, she casts a confused glance skyward before finally bending down to check on Seth.

SERINA (CONT'D)

"Hey dude from the sky, you alive?"

She doesn’t get an answer but manages to find a pulse. She pulls a cell phone out of her pocket and hits a few buttons.

SERINA (CONT'D)

"Hey Darius, your truck out of the garage yet? Good, I’m gonna need a ride."

CUT TO:

HIGHWAY THE BORDER - A FEW MINUTES LATER

A man in a black truck comes driving up to the ruined car, Serina is sitting casually on the trunk of the car watching the truck pull up. The man gets out, he looks like the kind of guy that has grown up on the streets and is used to a hard life. He takes a few steps towards Serina before noticing the unconscious Seth still laying on the hood of the car.

DARIUS

"What in the he..."

SERINA

"Took you long enough to get here. I though the patrols were going to come past before you ever showed."

Darius is still looking over at Seth.

DARIUS

Well if you had told me there was a dead guy on the hood of your car I might have been here sooner.

He finally looks at the car and then to Serina.

DARIUS (CONT’D)

"Where did you pick this one up anyway?"

SERINA

"Got it from a checkpoint just off the border. The driver went in to talk to the guards about something. I cut the tracking feed and boosted the car before anyone even noticed I was there."

DARIUS

"I knew there was something we kept you around for."

SERINA

"You keep me around cause you love me and you know it."

DARIUS

"What can I say? You’re just like the little sister I never had. Now what are we going to do about this body?"

Serina hops down off the trunk and gives him a light pat on the cheek before making her way to Seth’s side.

SERINA

"Just remember not to be getting any ideas with this little sister. I bite. And he’s not dead, just unconscious. We should probably get him to the clinic."

She picks up one of the darts that is laying around him and begins to examine it idly.

DARIUS

"You sure you want to get him to the clinic? We all agreed to look after you when your brothers died, but this looks like some kind of military uniform. You sure you want to take the chance?"

SERINA

"It not a uniform I recognize. Who says he’s an enemy? Besides, it’s not everyday a man falls from the sky."

DARIUS

"Falls out of the wha. . .?"

DISSOLVE TO:

CLINIC - DAY

The scene opens on a white walled room. It is immediately obvious this is a medical facility. There is a woman, early to mid 30’s, she’s cleaning up, putting away different vials of drugs and wiping down tables. She moves to a computer for a moment and begins to look over some files when there is a knock at the door. Before she can get up to answer, Serina comes walking in.

SERINA

"Angela, I need your help with something."

Angela looks over at Serina with a smile and closes a few things on the computer before standing up and making her way toward the younger woman.

"ANGELA

What is it? I got you some medication last week you should be fine for at least another week or so."

SERINA

"No, no, it’s not me. It’s. . . Well I’m not really sure what it is but. . . Darius bring him in."

Darius enters the room with the still unconscious Seth over his shoulder.

DARIUS

"Can we hurry this along a bit? This guy is about six feet of dead weight at the moment and that’s not exactly light."

Angela looks confused for a second then snaps out of it and motions to an examining table.

ANGELA

"Set him here."

She helps position Seth on the table and then begins examining him, checking his eyes with a flashlight, checking for a pulse, opening his mouth, the usual preliminary checks to see what’s wrong. As she examines him she talks to the other two.

ANGELA (CONT'D)

"What happened? Who is this?"

DARIUS

"Talk to her. I just helped drag the guy in here."

SERINA

"Don’t exactly know, he kind of landed in my lap in a manner of speaking."

ANGELA

"Manner of speaking?"

SERINA

"Alright, he fell out of the sky and landed on the hood of my car. You happy now?"

ANGELA

"He landed on the hood of your car? Where did he fall from?"

SERINA

"I’m not quite sure on that point. I was driving along the border and he just landed on my car. I didn’t see any planes or anything above me and there wasn’t a parachute."

ANGELA

"Was there anything with him? Anything that might let us know where he came from? Bodies don’t exactly fall out of open sky you know."

SERINA

"Actually there was."

She pulls out a cloth bundle and carefully unwraps it. Inside are ten of those darts.

SERINA (CONT'D)

"He was stuck full of these when he landed."

ANGELA

"What are they?"

DARIUS

"Kind of hoping you could tell us Doc. They look like darts but I’ve never seen the kind."

Angela stops her examination of Seth for a moment and sets her tools down.

ANGELA

"Well he doesn’t seem to have any immediate life threatening problems that I can see at the moment. Let me look at those and see if we can’t figure something out."

DARIUS

"Well while you two figure I’m gonna go ghost our trail, make sure nothing from that wrecked car leads back to us."

Darius turns and heads back out the door. Angela takes the darts from Serina and goes over to a table with a microscope. She places the dart under the scope and a few lights flash, tracing lines across the dart before bringing up a 3D image on the computer screen. There are tiny symbols inscribed all over the dart, from the needle up through the resevoir.

SERINA

"Are those what I think they are?"

ANGELA.

"Runes."

They both turn toward Seth with confused looks on their faces.

SERINA

"Who is this guy?"

DISSOLVE TO:

CLINIC - SAME DAY

Angela is running tests on Seth. She currently has him in an EKG machine. Serina is pacing randomly and looking back at the machine every few seconds. As the table slides back out of the EKG, Serina’s phone rings.

SERINA

"What is it?"

CUT TO:

HIGHWAY THE BORDER - SAME DAY

Darius is ducking back behind a building just off the edge of the highway. In the background we can see the car still where they left it. There are four armed soldiers examining the vehicle and a fifth sits in the drivers seat of what looks like an armored dune buggy.

DARIUS

"Looks like your little present from the sky there may have kept you out of trouble. The company is all over that vehicle already."

SERINA - OVER THE PHONE 

"What? How did they find it so quick I cut the tracking feed."

DARIUS

"They must have had a secondary feed. Looks like this car might have belonged to someone important."

CUT TO:

CLINIC

Serina is standing next to the table as they talk. She looks down at the unconscious Seth and smiles.

SERINA

"I still don’t know who you are soldier boy, but you may have just saved my life this morning. I guess that earned you a kiss."

She leans down and kisses him softly on the lips.

FADE TO:

SETH’S MIND

We see a view of Seth’s brain. The camera pans around for a moment and then zooms forward to

FADE TO:

SETH’S MIND

We see nerve cells communicating. Electrical pulses jumping between the endings on the cells. The camera pans again then zooms forward to

FADE TO:

SETH’S MIND

We see the inside of a cell, the strands of DNA, the camera closes in on a section of the double helix as a pair of chromosomes suddenly lights up.

CUT TO:

CLINIC

Serina stands back up slowly as Darius’ voice comes over the phone again.

DARIUS

"Looks like more trouble coming this way."

CUT TO:

HIGHWAY THE BORDER

Darius is still back in the shadows behind the building. We can see the soldiers taking cover behind the car and the buggy as another group fires on them.

SERINA

"What, what’s going on?"

Gunshots keep ringing out as the soldiers fire into the buildings across the road. Suddenly, a large man steps out from the alley, he could only be described as a beast. His left arm is clearly mechanical and it is producing a small energy field about the size of a trash can lid. Every once in a while a bullet bounces off the field. He is carrying a large gun like the one mounted on the buggy, and is firing into the soldiers. Behind him come five more men each looks to have a few cybernetic parts and they are well armed.

DARIUS

"Duke and some of his crew just showed up. I think it’s about time to call this wreck lost and cut our losses."

CUT TO:

CLINIC

SERINA

You probably should get out of there. Hope they don’t see you. I’ll come find you after Angela and I see if we can get any more information on this guy."

She turns to Angela who is busy at a microscope bringing up different images on the screen. She appears to be looking at X-rays and blood samples.

ANGELA

"I can’t tell  you who he is yet, but I can tell you he isn’t entirely human."

Serina looks up slightly confused and makes her way over to stand behind Angela.

SERINA

"What do you mean? Is he a half breed?"

ANGELA

"No nothing like that, he seems to have had his genetics tampered with. I can’t say for certain by who but this isn’t streetware work and I don’t think the military has this high grade of work. That only leaves the company."

She picks up one of the darts and holds it out to Serina.

ANGELA (CONT’D)

"Like I said, I can’t be certain right now but from what I can tell these darts contained an engineered retrovirus to shut down his engineered systems. Judging from this bloodwork his body is fighting the serum but there is a lot of it. It could take a long time before his body finally flushes out all of it."

SERINA

"You’re telling me someone went and modified his genetics for some reason or another and then shot him with something to shut those modifications off? Why would they do that?"

ANGELA

"If I had to guess, whoever made him couldn’t control him. He was escaping so they shot him. They just didn’t manage to bring him back. He’s still extremely healthy though. I don’t know how far he fell but the only things I can find wrong with him are a few bruises and a massive concussion. He’s one lucky guy."

Seth suddenly sits up from the table and takes a deep breath startling the two women. He looks around confused for a moment and then turns toward Angela.

SETH

"Where am I? What happened?"

The two walk over to him slowly, Angela beginning to examine him again.

ANGELA

"It’s ok, I’m a doctor. You’ve had an accident, do you remember anything?"

SETH

"I, I"

FADE TO:

VALHALLA STREETS

Seth has a flashback to the moment he got shot and just as he begins to fall

FADE TO:

CLINIC

SETH

"I remember soldiers, lots of soldiers. They shot me with something and then it all went black."

Angela continues to examine him as she talks.

ANGELA

"Is there anything else? Do you remember anything before the soldiers?"

SETH

"No, nothing. I don’t remember anything."

Angela looks back up at Serina. 

ANGELA

"Well I guess that rules out him being a major threat. The memory loss should only be temporary from the head trauma and the doses of serum.

SETH

"Where am I?"

ANGELA

"You’re in a clinic, she brought you here after your accident."

SETH

"Accident?"

SERINA

"You landed on the hood of my car. Of course you showed up just in time to keep me from getting pinched by the patrols so I guess I owe you."

Serina grabs her coat and then looks to Angela.

SERINA (CONT'D)

"I don’t think there’s much to do for him at the moment. You mind if I show him around?"

ANGELA

"Actually I’d prefer it. Getting some fresh air and a bit of exposure might jog his memory a bit. Besides, I have a lot of work to do looking over the results from those tests."

Serina holds out her hand to Seth.

SERINA

"You can call me Serina. Do you have a name."

Seth looks confused for a moment and then something comes to him.

SETH

"They called me Seth."

He doesn’t seem to know what to do about Serina’s hand.

SERINA

"It’s called a handshake. It’s a greeting. Here, like this."

She grasps his hand and shakes firmly.

SERINA (CONT'D)

"There you go. Now come on Seth I’ll show you around see if we can get anymore of your memories to come back."

Seth stands up and she leads him out the door as Angela takes a seat at her computer again. She looks over a few more files, trying to find answers.

ANGELA

"I wish I knew where you came from."

FADE TO:

IMHOTEP’S OFFICE

Imhotep is still sitting at his desk as Prometheus enters again.

GENERAL PROMETHEUS

"Have you managed to find anything yet?"

DR. IMHOTEP

"Actually yes I have. We found Purity’s dead body in the lab."

GENERAL PROMETHEUS

"Purity? What was she doing in the lab. No never mind that, do you know who killed her? Was it Siege?"

DR. IMHOTEP

"We aren’t sure at the moment why she was down there or who killed her, but we know that’s the last place Seth was seen before he made his run."

GENERAL PROMETHEUS

"But why would he run? He was controlled. Were there earlier problems you never informed me about?"

DR. IMHOTEP

"No nothing that we noticed. He was the perfect specimen, or at least as close as they ever came. He was programmed not to have any emotion."

GENERAL PROMETHEUS

"I’m aware of that. It was to make him a more loyal soldier. Do you have any idea what set him off?"

DR. IMHOTEP

"Nothing, he was acting in a way we have never seen before. He isn’t even supposed to have emotions, they were almost entirely removed. It would take an unknown variable to bring them back."

JUMP CUT TO:

CLINIC

We see a quick flash of Serina kissing Seth and then

JUMP CUT TO:

SETH’S MIND

We see a sped up view of Seth’s brain. The camera pans around for a moment and then zooms forward to

FADE TO:

SETH’S MIND

We see sped up view of nerve cells communicating. Electrical pulses jumping between the endings on the cells. The camera pans again then zooms forward to

FADE TO:

SETH’S MIND

We see sped up view of the inside of a cell, the strands of DNA, the camera closes in on a section of the double helix as a pair of chromosomes suddenly lights up.

JUMP CUT TO:

IMHOTEP’S OFFICE

DR. IMHOTEP

"There has to be something I’m missing."

GENERAL PROMETHEUS

"Well figure it out. I want a full report of what he can do on my desk in the morning, and find out what happened to Purity."

Author's Note

I haven't written many screenplays so it's a bit rough