THE LIBRARIAN AND THE BARBARIAN                  
                                                                         
                          screenplay for a TV series                     
                                                                         
                                  David Shaw                             

                                                                         

                                                                         
                                  contains:-                             
                          Three page concept document                    
                    a complete first draft of first episode              
                a paragraph outline of remaining four episodes           
                     character notes for 3 main characters               

                                                                         

                                                                         

                                                                         

                                                                         

                                                                         

                                                                         

          David Shaw                    David Shaw                       
                                        calibancan@hotmail.com           

                                                                         

                                                                         

                                                                         

                                                                         

   1       CONCEPT DOCUMENT                                              
                                                                         
          Dale Pewsey is a librarian. She is not exactly what most       
          people would expect a librarian to be like though. Twenty      
          two years old, good looking, and a state swimming              
          champion.                                                      
                                                                         
          One of the banes of her life is Eddie O’Bannion, a student     
          son of a multi-millionaire and rated by his teachers as a      
          ’once in a century’ mathematical genius. O’Bannion has a       
          beautiful mind, a handsome face and a ego you couldn’t         
          climb over with a oxygen tank.                                 
                                                                         
          One day Eddie arrives at the library with a wild look in       
          his eyes. He tells Dale he has a remarkably interesting        
          idea he wants to develop. He asks her for a whole set of       
          books and as they arrives he glances through them whilst       
          keying in some kind of long and utterly complicated            
          mathematical program on his lap top.                           
                                                                         
          He tells Dale he is working on a mathematical proof of the     
          many worlds theory, which says that our universe is            
          surrounded by a myriad of other universes where everything     
          that can possibly happen has happened, is happening, or        
          will happen. Dale is not impressed until Eddie runs the        
          program. Then a girl appears in some kind of a pressure        
          suit with a kind of ’terminator’ pistol that turns targets     
          into dust. She also appears to be Dale’s identical twin        
          sister, save for Dale2’s close cropped hair and small scar     
          on her chin.                                                   
                                                                         
          On her arm Dale2 is wearing insignia. One with four            
          horizontal arrows, the other, some kind of a horned pole       
          with several horse tails dangling from it.                     
                                                                         
          The girl appears to only know some kind of an Asian            
          language, though she apparently recognises English to some     
          extent and produces a few halting words of her own: ’By        
          Christ’s wounds and his apostles twelve’. Just then a          
          security guard appears and Dale2 almost turns him into         
          dust. He is only saves by Dale jogging Dale2’s arm and the     
          guard runs out of the room.                                    
                                                                         
          Eddie says they must get Dale2 under a iron cast media         
          contract before they surrender her to the authorities.         
          Dale just wants Dale2 out of the building before anymore       
          damage is done. Going down the fire escape steps Eddie         
          asks her what kind of a crazy history she was born in to       
          speak an Asian language, to have such high tech weaponry       
          and clothing, and yet to only speak a few words of English     
          and those in the style of a medieval nun.                      
                                                                         
          ’Me!’ Dale says. Eddie says of course Dale2 is her. She        
          just happens to come from a different time line.               
                                                                         
          After an escapade in a nearby strip club Dale drops            
          Eddie’s lap top and Eddie disappears into thin air. Dale,      

                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                            2.       

                                                                         
          Dale2 and a Russian stripper who identifies Dale2’s badges     
          as Mongolian are arrested by the police. A Chinese             
          speaking police inspector says that Dale2’s name is Bei        
          Ang Lun and she is the disciplinary Master-At-Arms aboard      
          the Imperial orbiting space station ’Burgan-Qaldan 3’. W       
          asks her what Empire it is that owns the space station.        
          She stares at him in astonishment and says the Empire of       
          the Great Khan. The inspector asks her where the Khan          
          lives. In Khanbalik, of course, she says. The city that        
          rules all under Heaven. On a globe she points to               
          Khanbalik. It is Beijing.                                      
                                                                         
          The police contact Canberra and an interrogation team from     
          the Protective Security Coordination Centre arrive.            
          Valentina the stripper is a history student and has            
          already identified the switch point in Ang Lun’s time          
          line. Khan Ogadei lived several years longer than he did       
          in our history and all Europe fell to the Mongols before       
          his death.                                                     
                                                                         
          Eddie’s laptop cannot be found. Nobody knows whether it        
          disappeared with Eddie or was stolen in the crowd. What is     
          certain is that everybody is terrified that Eddie has been     
          transferred to Ang Lun’s time line and that very soon a        
          horde of bloody thirsty Mongols equipped with high tech        
          weapons will swarm in through some kind of inter-universe      
          portal he has been forced to create. There’s also              
          speculation that any such portal may be linked to Ang Lun.     
          Which is an important consideration when the military are      
          advising that the only sure way of dealing with a              
          Mongolian invading force is to nuke it immediately.            
                                                                         
          Clearly, the Americans will need to be informed. But it’s      
          unlikely they’d want a walking potential nuclear target        
          anywhere on US soil. Plans are made to transfer the girls      
          to an old American airstrip at Exmouth. But Valentina the      
          Russian science student and stripper says that she thinks      
          Eddie was destroyed by Ang Lun’s pistol. She is allowed to     
          handle it and immediately shoots her way out of the police     
          HQ through the walls, hi-jacks a car and heads for a TV        
          station. Dale, Ang Lun and Wing go in hot pursuit.             
          Valentina has already used the disintegrator pistol to get     
          in front of the cameras. She says Russia endured hell          
          under the Golden Horde of the Mongols and she is going to      
          warn her people of what has happened. On reflection, Dale      
          can’t see any reason why the truth shouldn’t be told. She      
          helps Valentina recount what has happened, while Wing          
          translates to Ang Lun. For the first time Ang Lun begins       
          to understand what sort of a world she has arrived in.         
                                                                         
          An international research camp is set up at Exmouth with       
          caravans and tents flying Russian, America, Australian,        
          Chinese and Iranian flags. (The population of Iran didn’t      
          recover to pre-Mongolian invasion levels until 1950 --         
          repeat, 1950).                                                 

                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                            3.       

                                                                         
          Some scientists point out that both Dale and Ang Lin saw       
          Eddie’s program. Neither of them can remember it fully,        
          but perhaps together? There have been experiments in           
          Russia with telepathy between identical twins. Dale and        
          Ang Lun are closer than twins though, they are the same        
          person. Perhaps their minds can be melded together long        
          enough to fully remember what they both saw. The girls are     
          put to sleep, then a hypnotist tries to get them both to       
          think about Eddie’s laptop and talk aloud about what they      
          remember. A voice recorder will pick up everything each of     
          them says. The hope is that Dale and Ang Lun will help jog     
          each other’s memory during the night and one or other of       
          them will wake up with full recall.                            
                                                                         
          Dale does indeed pick up Ang Lun’s thoughts and they give      
          her nightmares. She has crazy images of working in the         
          library, then skinning a man alive for returning a damaged     
          book, of swimming in the pool and then in space, looking       
          down at the earth from orbit, then of gouging out a            
          child’s eyes for making too much noise. She wakes up           
          screaming and runs to her own room, cursing Ang Lun as she     
          leaves. Dale jumps into the bed and pulls the covers over      
          her head. Then she realises she is not alone. She switches     
          on the light and sees Eddie in the room.                       
                                                                         
          She tells him about how terrible she feels from realising      
          what she has become in another life. Eddie gets into bed       
          with her and puts his arm around Dale to comfort her. They     
          make love.                                                     
                                                                         
          Later, in the light of a bedside lamp she asks him where       
          he’s been. On the space station, with the Mongols?             
                                                                         
          He chuckles. No, he says, he’s been to a much more             
          interesting place. A place where intelligence has existed      
          for far longer than on their earth. A place where              
          intelligence completely controls matter and twists time        
          and space into knots. A place where the Gods live. Dale        
          says there are no such things as God -- Eddie touches her      
          forehead and she instantly falls asleep.                       
                                                                         
          In the morning Dale realises the Eddie with her is not the     
          real Eddie. He laughs says the real one will be along any      
          second now that his computer has finally been allowed to       
          reach him. Eddie2 is from a universe which strictly            
          controls inter-dimensional travel. This version of the         
          planet Earth is not licensed for reality computing. Eddie1     
          appears. Eddie2 explains that his computer was diverted to     
          give Eddie2’s world time to make a decision. The decision      
          has been to remove Earth’s timeline: Eddie has been            
          enabled to return as part of the inter-dimensional tidying     
          up. Eddie2 produces a small metal box which he describes       
          as a planet cracker. Dale and Ang Lun use a genuine            
          telepathic power they suddenly realise they do possess and     
          Ang Lun throws the cracker through Eddie2’s departure          
          portal just before it closes.                                  

                                                                         

                                                                4.       

   2      FIRST EPISODE: INT; SWIMMING POOL                              
                                                                         
          Girl is swimming very quickly up and down an Olympic sized     
          pool. A coach is watching her from one end of the pool         
          with a watch in his hand. As she reaches the end of the        
          final lap he clicks the watch and nods approvingly.            
                                                                         
                              COACH                                      
                    Good workout, Dale. OK, that’ll                      
                    do for today.                                        
                                                                         
          Girl climbs out of pool. She has athletic build and is         
          wearing a competition swim suit. She pulls off her             
          swimming cap and towels her face.                              
                                                                         
                              COACH                                      
                    Another month of performances                        
                    like that and you’ll be a real                       
                    chance for the Australian                            
                    national squad. Just stay out of                     
                    the pubs, get plenty of sleep and                    
                    live a quiet life.                                   
                                                                         
          Dale laughs.                                                   
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Jeff, I’m a librarian. How much                      
                    quieter a life can I lead than                       
                    that?                                                
                                                                         
          Jeff shakes his head, looking slightly puzzled.                
                                                                         
                              JEFF                                       
                    I have to admit, until I met you,                    
                    I thought librarians were all                        
                    middle aged ladies who kept cats                     
                    they called Tristam or Ganymede.                     
                    Then again, I was never much of a                    
                    one for visiting libraries.                          
                    Still, they do seem to help you                      
                    out as much as they can with your                    
                    training schedule.                                   
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Only because I keep volunteering                     
                    to work the back shifts, like I                      
                    am today. See you same time on                       
                    Monday. Bye, Jeff.                                   
                                                                         
          Jeff grins.                                                    
                                                                         
                              JEFF                                       
                    Personally, I think they only                        
                    keep you on to heave all the                         
                    encyclopedias about. You must be                     
                    the only one with any muscles.                       
                    Just don’t strain any of them.                       
                    Catch you later, Dale.                               

                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                            5.       

          Jeff watches Dale’s back view with unconcealed admiration      
          as she walks away in her swimming costume.                     
                                                                         
              WEARING SHORTS AND A T-SHIRT AND WITH A BACK PACK DALE     
                  GETS ON PUSH BIKE. RIDES THE BIKE TO STATE LIBRARY     
               BUILDING, LOCKS BIKE OUTSIDE, GOES THROUGH SIDE DOOR.     

   3      FIRST EPISODE: INT; LIBRARY STAFF ROOM                         
                                                                         
          Dale seen inside room with lockers, changing into work         
          clothes. Another girl comes in and grins she she sees          
          Dale.                                                          
                                                                         
                              GIRL                                       
                    Are you doing the back shift                         
                    today, Dale? Who’s a lucky girl                      
                    then? Eddie O’Bannion just walked                    
                    in, everybody’s favourite                            
                    student.                                             
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                         (Pulling wry face)                              
                    Oh, God, not that conceited                          
                    little prick again, expecting me                     
                    to run around after him with a                       
                    trolley load of books nobody else                    
                    has ever heard of.                                   
                                                                         
          Girl leans against locker with her arms folded and smiling.     
                                                                         
                              GIRL                                       
                    So what exactly is your problem                      
                    with Eddie? Is it because he’s                       
                    built like a brick outhouse, or                      
                    because he’s incredibly sexy, or                     
                    because his father’s a                               
                    multi-millionaire? Or is it                          
                    because most of the teaching                         
                    staff at the university think he                     
                    has the best brain for                               
                    mathematics ever to arrive on the                    
                    campus? What is it about Eddie                       
                    O’Bannion that’s such a total                        
                    turnoff for you?                                     
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    His sheer bloody arrogance for a                     
                    start. The last time he was here                     
                    he told me he applied to join                        
                    MENSA but they’d written back and                    
                    said they didn’t take smart                          
                    arses. I can almost believe that                     
                    happened. He thinks he’s God’s                       
                    gift to everybody.                                   
                                                                         
          Girl sighs and runs her hands down the sides of her body.      

                                                                         
                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                            6.       

                                                                         
                              GIRL                                       
                    Well, if Eddie was God’s gift to                     
                    me there’s no way he’d be                            
                    returned unopened, I can tell you                    
                    that. But you’re quite right, of                     
                    course. Take away his looks, his                     
                    muscles, his brains and his money                    
                    and what would you have left --                      
                    apart from a pair of dreamy eyes                     
                    to die for . . . Anyway, if the                      
                    conversation should turn that                        
                    way, just drop a hint that                           
                    Melissa said, hi, and any time he                    
                    wants to take me out on an                           
                    extended loan all he’s got to do                     
                    is wave his borrower’s card                          
                    around.                                              
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                           (grinning)                                    
                    I shouldn’t bother. You’d                            
                    probably come back with your most                    
                    interesting pages all dog eared                      
                    and tattered.                                        
                                                                         
          Both girls laugh. Dale checks her appearance in her locker     
          mirror and closes the door.                                    
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Maybe I can still get rid of him.                    
                    I’ve just remembered something                       
                    that might lure him out of here.                     
                                                                         
          Melissa sighs in despair and casts her eyes upwards in         
          mock despair.                                                  
                                                                         
                              MELISSA                                    
                    You want to get rid of the most                      
                    desirable bachelor this side of                      
                    the Nullabor? You’re spending too                    
                    much time in the water, Dale.                        
                    Unless a guy’s got an Olympic                        
                    gold medal for swimming, you’re                      
                    not interested, are you?                             
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Oh, I’d settle for any man who                       
                    had a medal for breast stroking.                     
                    If he was a swimmer as well,                         
                    that’d be a bonus.                                   
                                                                         
          Both girls laugh again and separate.                           
                                                                         
               DALE RIDES IN THE LIFT AND EMERGES ON A FLOOR WHERE A     
          HANDSOME BOY IN HIS EARLY TWENTIES IS WAITING BY HER DESK.     

                                                                         

                                                                7.       

   4      FIRST EPISODE: INT; LIBRARY DESK                               
                                                                         
          Boy smiles at Dale and slaps a sheet of paper down in          
          front of her.                                                  
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    Hello, Dale my beautiful one. Get                    
                    this lot together and wheel them                     
                    out, as fast as you can. I’ve got                    
                    a hot idea I want to check out.                      
                                                                         
          Dale picks up paper by a corner and looks at in faint          
          disgust. Then smiles at Eddie                                  
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Eddie, I’ve just come back from                      
                    the pool. And as I came past the                     
                    Brass Monkey I happened to spot a                    
                    sign out the front advertising                       
                    that some skimpy barmaids are                        
                    going to be strutting their stuff                    
                    during happy hour. Which is                          
                    starting just about now.                             
                                                                         
          Eddie leans forward on the desk, supporting his chin with      
          one palm.                                                      
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    And your point is?                                   
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    My point is that girls who are                       
                    prepared to parade around behind                     
                    a pub bar with most of their                         
                    clothes missing get paid a very                      
                    generous hourly rate for putting                     
                    up with irritating boys. I, on                       
                    the other hand, do not. So why                       
                    don’t you take your list and                         
                    stick it down the biggest                            
                    cleavage you can find at the                         
                    Brass Monkey. That way you’ll be                     
                    there and having a happy hour,                       
                    and better still, you won’t be                       
                    here and I’ll be even happier.                       
                                                                         
          Eddie regretfully shakes his head.                             
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    It’s a terrible thing to see an                      
                    innocent young girl trying to                        
                    fight an uncontrollable passion.                     
                    But work before pleasure, Dale. I                    
                    need these books straightaway,                       
                    before I lose the ideas that are                     
                    boiling up inside my skull like                      
                    molten lava flying out of a                          
                    burning volcano.                                     

                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                            8.       

                                                                         
          Dale stares at him in astonishment.                            
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    It’s true what they taught me                        
                    when I first started this job.                       
                    All the crazies end up at the                        
                    library.                                             
                                                                         
          She picks up the list and reads it aloud                       
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                         (rather sarcastically)                          
                    ’SCHRODINGER’S CAT PARADOX: A                        
                    CLASSICAL APPRECIATION’                              
                                                                         
                    Wrong place, Eddie, this is                          
                    physical sciences. Zoology is two                    
                    floors down.                                         
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                         (mock Irish accent)                             
                    Ah, Dale, it’s a fine strapping                      
                    girl you are, to be sure. Thank                      
                    God you were spared the trouble                      
                    of brains and it’s a wonderful                       
                    wife you’ll surely be making for                     
                    some lucky son of Erin.                              
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Well, what’s so important about                      
                    some damned cat?                                     
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                         (Con the fruit seller                           
                         accent)                                         
                    Looka, Miss Dale, just for you, I                    
                    tella da truth. I taka da cat, I                     
                    put ina da box. I putta in da                        
                    geiger counter and da poison and                     
                    da radioactivity. Maybe da                           
                    detector picka up a decaying atom                    
                    and killa da cat widda da poison,                    
                    or maybe it don’t and da cat                         
                    lives -- bewdiful!                                   
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                         (Southern American drawl)                       
                    But nobody knows whether old Brer                    
                    cat done cashed in his chips ’til                    
                    they open the box. ’Til somebody                     
                    take a look, old Brer cat ain’t                      
                    exactly dead and he ain’t exactly                    
                    alive neither. Old Brer cat, he’s                    
                    a quantum state just setting and                     
                    waiting to collapse.                                 

                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                            9.       

                              DALE                                       
                    Putting a cat in a box -- that’s                     
                    cruel.                                               
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                         (Normal voice)                                  
                    Bloody hell, girl, it’s just a                       
                    mental experiment, like Einstein                     
                    imagining himself riding on a ray                    
                    of light. Nobody actually does                       
                    it. It’s just a way of trying to                     
                    understand the paradoxes of                          
                    quantum mechanics.                                   
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Is that anything like ’Popular                       
                    Mechanics’?                                          
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    Quantum mechanics underlies all                      
                    the physical forces except                           
                    gravitation and probably that too                    
                    if we could only understand how.                     
                    Without quantum mechanics there’d                    
                    be no lasers, no computers, no                       
                    microprocessors. But what’s so                       
                    bloody frustrating is that all                       
                    we’re doing is applying cookbook                     
                    recipes to the electronic                            
                    problems. We still don’t know                        
                    what electrons are actually doing                    
                    inside atoms. It’s like pushing                      
                    buttons and seeing lights coming                     
                    on without understanding what the                    
                    connection is: it’s monkey-see,                      
                    monkey-do physics. But I’m                           
                    smarter than any monkey                              
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    But you’re not smart enough to go                    
                    to the Brass Monkey, are you? OK,                    
                    I’ll get on with it.                                 
                                                                         
          Dale glances up at clock                                       
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Forty five minutes and then                          
                    you’re out of here, right? Even                      
                    if I have to call security.                          
                                                                         
          Eddie ignores her. He is already setting up his lap top        
          and keying it feverishly. Dale sighs and walks off with        
          list                                                           
                                                                         
                    DALE IS SEEN WALKING ALONG SHELVES WITH TROLLEY,     
           COLLECTING BOOKS AND TAKING THEM BACK TO EDDIE, WHO LEAFS     
               QUICKLY THROUGH THEM AND THEN THROWS THEM ASIDE AS HE     
                                   KEEPS WORKING AWAY ON HIS LAP TOP     

                                                                         

                                                               10.       

                                                                         
   5      FIRST EPISODE: INT: EDDIE’S DESK                               
                                                                         
          Looking over his shoulder Dale can see some kind of a          
          mathematical formula on Eddie’s laptop screen.                 
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    Many worlds, many worlds, it has                     
                    to be many worlds.                                   
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Great words but you’ll need a                        
                    snappy tune to go with them.                         
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    Listen, you potential dummy                          
                    mummy, the only way quantum                          
                    mechanics can work is by not                         
                    having any outside observers,                        
                    otherwise the quantum state                          
                    collapses every time we check on                     
                    whether the cat is still                             
                    breathing. So if the quantum                         
                    state can’t collapse it must                         
                    contain all the possibilities.                       
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Beg yours?                                           
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    A quantum state can only be a                        
                    valid representation if it                           
                    contains everything which could                      
                    possibly ever happen. The fact                       
                    that our experience only shows                       
                    one outcome to every event is                        
                    merely a sensory simplification                      
                    -- and these equations will prove                    
                    it.                                                  
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    For this nonsense I’m getting                        
                    aching feet?                                         
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    Dale, don’t you get it?                              
                    Everything happens, everything                       
                    you could possibly think of and                      
                    everything you can’t. There’s a                      
                    reality where this place                             
                    collapsed this morning because of                    
                    metal fatigue in the support                         
                    girders, there’s a reality where                     
                    there’s no such thing as grass,                      
                    there’s a reality where Bill                         
                    Gates is hustling for cups of                        
                    coffee on a street corner. Why,                      
                    there’s a reality somewhere where                    
                              (MORE)                                     
                                                                         
                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                           11.       

                                                                         
                              EDDIE (cont’d)                             
                    you’re begging me to make love to                    
                    you on top of this table.                            
                                                                         
          Dale takes a step backwards, hefting a book in her hand        
          and clearly considering whether to throw it at Eddie.          
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    You understand, Liz? One cat                         
                    can’t be both dead and alive. For                    
                    that you need two cats, minimum.                     
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Yeah, right, whatever. Do you                        
                    need anything else?                                  
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    If the equations work out when I                     
                    run this program I’ll need a                         
                    street map of Stockholm so I’ll                      
                    know where to go to collect my                       
                    Nobel prize -- no, more likely my                    
                    Nobel prizes.                                        
                                                                         
          Eddie presses a key on the laptop. Strange symbols chased      
          themselves across the screen, then stop. Eddie scratches       
          the back of his head and a three metre wide circle of          
          books and shelving close by dissolves into a cloud of          
          dust. Dale falls on top of Eddie, wind swirls into the         
          library in through a hole where part of the outside wall       
          has somehow disappeared and a figure looms up in the cloud     
          of wind tossed dust.                                           
                                                                         
          The figure stops and seemed to be looking at Eddie and         
          Dale in surprise. They gape at a young female in an            
          indecently skin tight black uniform with a kind of round       
          dark helmet on, a wide belt with blue containers all           
          around it and holding something in her right hand which        
          looks a lot like a pistol. A kind of speaker is located at     
          her throat and it spits out a language which sounds Asian.     
          Asian and alarmed and furious.                                 
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    I bet she’s saying something                         
                    really, really interesting.                          
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Oh, my God!                                          
                                                                         
          Eddie gets up got up and walks towards the strange girl,       
          holding his hands up in a non-threatening way. She takes       
          one step forward, swivels on one heel of a metal plated        
          boot and slams the other one into Eddie’s stomach with all     
          the aplomb of Jackie Chan. Eddie staggers back against a       
          bookshelf and slides down into a sitting position on the       
          floor.                                                         

                                                                         
                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                           12.       

                                                                         
          The strangely dressed girl steps over to the desk and          
          stares down at the laptop screen. Her head turns towards       
          Dale. She seems to be staring intently at Dale. When she       
          speaks again, her voice sounds alarmed and astonished          
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    I’m sorry, I don’t understand                        
                    you.                                                 
                                                                         
          Girl slaps one hand against some kind of a control panel       
          on her left arm. Helmet begins to dissolve and her face        
          becomes faintly visible. It refreshes itself again and         
          again like a image downloading onto a computer. In a           
          second or two the helmet has completely gone -- and Dale       
          finds herself looking at her own face. Almost her own          
          face, anyway. The other girl’s hair is cropped back close      
          to her skull and there is a small scar visible on the side     
          of her chin.                                                   
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Bloody hell!                                         
                                                                         
          The two girls keep staring at each other in disbelief.         
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                         (still on the floor)                            
                    Dale, this may sound like a silly                    
                    question, but she’s not your twin                    
                    sister, is she?                                      
                                                                         
          Dale, still completely stunned by surprise, shakes her         
          head violently. Dale2 leans down, grabs Eddie’s shirt          
          front and hauls him to his feet with a remarkable display      
          of strength. Then she jams the pistol like contraption in      
          her hand up underneath his chin in a clearly threatening       
          manner. Dale reaches out and puts her hand on the other        
          girl’s arm.                                                    
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    No, no, don’t hurt him. He’s a                       
                    friend, understand? A friend! He                     
                    won’t hurt you. We’re friends!                       
                                                                         
          Dale stares at a big badge sewn onto Dale2’s sleeve. A         
          vertical bar or post with a pair of horns on the top and       
          several horses’ tails dangling from it -- that’s what it       
          looks like, anyway. And underneath that odd insignia are       
          four horizontal arrows, the sharp points facing forwards.      
          Dale2 sees Dale looking at her badge. She says something       
          which seems like a question, as if she was asking Dale if      
          she recognised the insignia. Dale shakes her head and          
          steps back, holding her arms out and hands open to show        
          she is harmless.                                               
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Friends! Friends!                                    

                                                                         
                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                           13.       

                                                                         
          Dale2 releases Eddie and steps back, but keeps her pistol      
          ready for use. She seems to be as bewildered as Dale is.       
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                         (sounding dazed)                                
                    Nobel prizes and the Hollywood                       
                    film rights. I’ve got to make                        
                    sure of the film rights.                             
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                         (Wildly)                                        
                    What in Hell’s name are you                          
                    talking about Eddie? What’s going                    
                    on? Where did she come from? Who                     
                    is she?                                              
                                                                         
          Dale2 is staring hard at Dale. She speaks, slowly and          
          apparently uncertain of her words, in strangely accented       
          English.                                                       
                                                                         
                              DALE2                                      
                    By Christ’s wounds and his                           
                    apostles twelve.                                     
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    What?                                                
                                                                         
                              DALE2                                      
                         (Speaking slowly again, as                      
                         if in a foreign language)                       
                    By Christ’s wounds and his                           
                    apostles twelve.                                     
                                                                         
          A security guard rushes into the room, daubed with dust        
          which must have blown down the corridors. He is carrying a     
          fire extinguisher under his arm with a flexible nozzle         
          pointing forward, ready to deal with the fire he obviously     
          expects to find. Dale2 spins around and raises her pistol,     
          Dale pushes her, a roughly oval section of the wall next       
          to the guard explodes out in a cloud of dust, white, red       
          and brown where a piece of Dale’s desk has also                
          disappeared. The guard drops the extinguisher, turns and       
          runs back out of the door, his shoulders hunched as though     
          he’s been caught in an unexpected shower of rain.              
          Meanwhile Dale has jumped in front of Dale2, futilely          
          waving her hands around like a netball player trying to        
          block a basket shot                                            
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                         (Shouting aloud)                                
                    Friends, friends, you trigger                        
                    happy bitch!                                         
                                                                         
          Eddie folds up his laptop.                                     

                                                                         

                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                           14.       

                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    Can we get out of here now? I                        
                    don’t want her talking to anybody                    
                    until I’ve got her under some                        
                    kind of cast iron contract.                          
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                         (Furiously)                                     
                    A contract? A contract? If you                       
                    want a contract you can get one                      
                    to repair this sodding library!                      
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    No worries, my Dad will pay for                      
                    that. But we’ve got to get out of                    
                    here, right now. Where’s the fire                    
                    escape?                                              
                                                                         
          Eddie beckons Dale2 to follow him. She scowls and looks at     
          Dale.                                                          
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                         (Urgently)                                      
                    She won’t come unless you do as                      
                    well, Dale. Get your arse into                       
                    gear.                                                
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Why should I leave here?                             
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    Because in about five minutes                        
                    this place is going to be full of                    
                    cops carrying guns. And once this                    
                    female terminator sees them                          
                    she’ll start using that bloody                       
                    disintegrator pistol again. Do                       
                    you want to be involved in                           
                    turning a dozen cops into a cloud                    
                    of blue dust?                                        
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Shit! This way!                                      
                                                                         
               DALE OPENS FIRE DOOR. THE THREE OF THEM RUSH DOWN THE     
              STAIRCASE, DALE LEADING AND LOOKING BACK FREQUENTLY TO     
          SIGNAL DALE2 TO FOLLOW HER. BUT WHEN THEY REACH THE GROUND     
                   FLOOR DALE THROWS HERSELF ACROSS THE DOOR AND THE     
                              UNLOCKING MECHANISM, BLOCKING THE EXIT     

   6      FIRST EPISODE: INT; BOTTOM OF STEPS                            
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                         (Taking deep breaths)                           
                    Open the door, Dale. Quickly!                        

                                                                         
                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                           15.       

                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Wait! She’s so hyped up she might                    
                    start shooting anybody as soon as                    
                    she gets out on the street. We’ve                    
                    got to calm her down.                                
                                                                         
          Dale2 lifts her pistol and seems to be considering whether     
          to blow away Dale and the door. Dale holds up her opened       
          hands again and tries to smile                                 
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Friend, friend, by Christ’s                          
                    wounds and his apostles twelve.                      
                                                                         
                              DALE2                                      
                    English -- English?                                  
                                                                         
          Dale2 points free hand and finger at Dale.                     
                                                                         
                              DALE2                                      
                    Maid? Maid?                                          
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                         (Nodding head)                                  
                    Maid . . . yes, I’m a maid.                          
                                                                         
          Dale2 turns and points to Eddie                                
                                                                         
                              DALE2                                      
                    Knight -- English knight?                            
                                                                         
          Eddie starts to shake his head, then stops and nods in         
          agreement.                                                     
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    Yes. English knight.                                 
                                                                         
          Dale2 points to herself                                        
                                                                         
                              DALE2                                      
                    English maid.                                        
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    How can she say she’s English                        
                    when she can’t even speak                            
                    English?                                             
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    There’s plenty of people who’d                       
                    call themselves Irish or Scottish                    
                    without being able to speak a                        
                    word of Gaelic. But what sort of                     
                    a world does she come from? A                        
                    Caucasian with an Asian native                       
                    language who speaks a few                            
                    fragments of old English like a                      
                    medieval nun -- and comes                            
                              (MORE)                                     
                                                                         
                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                           16.       

                                                                         
                              EDDIE (cont’d)                             
                    equipped with a ultra high tech                      
                    weapon and environmental suit.                       
                    What kind of a crazy history were                    
                    you born into, Dale, to turn out                     
                    like this?                                           
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    Me!                                                  
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    Of course you. Look at her, she                      
                    is you. Another you from another                     
                    universe. So somehow, whatever I                     
                    did turned a quantum state vector                    
                    in Hilbert space, then collapsed                     
                    that particular probability wave                     
                    in our real time. But why you?                       
                    Everybody knows that quantum                         
                    state measurements are affected                      
                    by the observer. So that must                        
                    have been the role you played.                       
                    You observed and you saw --                          
                    yourself. And then there were two                    
                    librarians. From two different                       
                    realities. The many worlds theory                    
                    is proved beyond any argument.                       
                    It’s a triumph for logical                           
                    reasoning.                                           
                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    I don’t know what the hell is                        
                    happening here, Eddie, but I’m                       
                    bloody sure of one thing.                            
                    Whatever this girl is, she’s not                     
                    a librarian.                                         
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    Yeah, I’ll grant you that. More                      
                    of a barbarian, right?                               
                                                                         
          Dale opens the fire door and peeps out Eddie joins her.        
                                                                         
          SOUNDS OF FIRE ENGINES FILL STREET OUTSIDE. BYSTANDERS ARE     
              STARING UP AT CLOUDS OF DUST DRIFTING OUT FROM SIDE OF     
             LIBRARY SEVERAL STORIES UP. A FIRE TRUCK PULLS UP A FEW     
                            METRES AWAY AND THE CREW JUMP OUT OF IT.     
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    Firemen! That’s how we’ll get her                    
                    to my car. She can just walk down                    
                    the street and people will think                     
                    she’s one of the fire brigade in                     
                    a heat resistant suit.                               

                                                                         

                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                           17.       

                                                                         
                              DALE                                       
                    You moron, we’ll be the ones                         
                    needing a heat resistant suit if                     
                    she uses that pistol again. And                      
                    in case you haven’t noticed,                         
                    she’s practically naked!                             
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    It’s all equality in jobs now,                       
                    Dale, and it so happens that I                       
                    have noticed her body. It’s just                     
                    that I never realised before how                     
                    much of you there actually is.                       
                                                                         
          Eddie leers at D2’s breasts.                                   
                                                                         
                              EDDIE                                      
                    How can you swim so fast with all                    
                    that built in drag around your                       
                    bust line?                                           
                                                                         
          Dale opens her mouth to give him an angry answer but           
          instead a harsh voice comes booming down the stairwell.        
                                                                         
                              VOICE                                      
                                                                         
          This is the police. Surrender now or you’ll be in big          
          trouble.                                                       
                                                                         
                              END OF EPISODE ONE                         

   7      EPISODE TWO PLOT OUTLINE                                       
                                                                         
          D, D2 and E run out of library building. Take refuge in an     
          alley. E tells D that if she’ll help him conceal D2 until      
          they sew up a media contract they can be very rich. He         
          notices D2’s rank badges look like rocket arrows and she       
          seems to be wearing an environmental suit. Sign language       
          indicates that she works on some kind of orbiting space        
          station. To escape from alley D2 dissolves a door with her     
          gun. They enter a strip club. Two bouncers try to grab D2.     
          She knocks them down, produces a miniature cruise missile      
          from her belt and it spreads an irritant around the club.      
          All the men run out tearing off their clothes. D is also       
          affected and has to start undressing with E’s eager help,      
          but D2 uses an aerosol to solve the problem at last minute     
          -- E is bitterly disappointed. They find room with             
          strippers’ costumes and decide to try to disguise D2 in        
          nurse’s uniform. Stripper who was on stage enters. She is      
          Russian girl. She points to horsetail badges on D2’s arm       
          and asks why a European girl is wearing Mongol insignia.       
          D2 runs tube over her body which seems to suck up her          
          uniform. She appears to be wearing nothing underneath. D       
          gets angry at E for perving on D2 and throws his laptop        
          out of window, it lands heavily on pavement and E vanishes     
          into thin air.                                                 

                                                                         

                                                               18.       

                                                                         
   8      EPISODE THREE PLOT OUTLINE                                     
                                                                         
          D and Russian stripper (Valentina) decide to surrender to      
          police. D explains to V she is frightened D2 will shoot at     
          coppers. V tells D to give D2 her own clothes to wear. As      
          V is helping D2 to change she pulls D’s cinch top down         
          over D2’s head while her arms are entangled, then grapples     
          with while hanging onto gun. D pulls mat from underneath       
          them, then dives on D2 as well. Cops come in, garb girls.      
          confiscate gun. While being put on police van in nurse’s       
          stripper uniform D is photographed by media. So is D2.         
          Copper knows D as swimming champion -- says he never knew      
          she had a twin sister. D says he is not as surprised as        
          her mother will be. Senior police officers as bewildered       
          by D’s story, especially about how one the son of a local      
          multi millionaire disappeared like a puff of smoke. Ethnic     
          Chinese police inspector Wing (W) is bought in to try to       
          speak to D2. As soon as D2 sees his uniform and Asiatic        
          features she prostrates herself on the floor and bangs her     
          forehead in submission. It’s an old form of Chinese            
          respect to authority known as ’kowtowing’. W and D2 can        
          speak to each other. She says that her name is Bei Ang Lun     
          and she is the disciplinary Master-At-Arms aboard the          
          Imperial orbiting space station ’Burgan-Qaldan 3’. W asks      
          her what Empire it is that owns the space station. She         
          stares at him in astonishment and says the Empire of the       
          Great Khan. The inspector asks her where the Khan lives.       
          In Khanbalik, of course, she says. The city that rules all     
          under Heaven, the entire world. Police Commissioner says       
          he needs help. The WA state police are declaring a             
          priority one incident alarm to the Protective Security         
          Coordination Centre in Canberra. In the meantime Wing is       
          in charge of the girls because he can talk to BAL. The         
          PSCC will certainly want to know everything he can learn       
          from Ang Lun. W takes a globe from the Commissioner’s          
          sideboard and asks BAL where Khanbalik is. She puts her        
          finger on Beijing.                                             

   9      EPISODE FOUR PLOT OUTLINE                                      
                                                                         
          The police contact Canberra and an interrogation team from     
          the Protective Security Coordination Centre arrive.            
          Valentina the stripper is a history student and has            
          already identified the switch point in Ang Lun’s time          
          line. Khan Ogadei lived much longer than he did in our         
          history and all Europe fell to the Mongols before his          
          death. Eddie’s laptop cannot be found. Nobody knows            
          whether it disappeared with Eddie or was stolen in the         
          crowd. What is certain is that everybody is terrified that     
          Eddie has been transferred to Ang Lun’s time line and that     
          very soon a horde of bloody thirsty Mongols equipped with      
          high tech weapons will swarm in through some kind of           
          inter-universe portal he has been forced to create.            
          There’s also speculation that any such portal may be           
          linked to Ang Lun. Which is an important consideration         
          when the military are advising that the only sure way of       

                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                           19.       

                                                                         
          dealing with a Mongolian invading force is to nuke it          
          immediately. Clearly, the Americans will need to be            
          informed. But it’s unlikely they’d want a walking              
          potential nuclear target anywhere on US soil. Plans are        
          made to transfer the girls to an old American airstrip at      
          Exmouth. But Valentina the Russian science student and         
          stripper says that she thinks Eddie was destroyed by Ang       
          Lun’s pistol. She is allowed to handle it and immediately      
          shoots her way out of the police HQ through the walls,         
          hi-jacks a car and heads for a TV station. Dale, Ang Lun       
          and Wing go in hot pursuit. Valentina has already used the     
          disintegrator pistol to get in front of the cameras. She       
          says Russia endured hell under the Golden Horde and she is     
          going to warn her people of what has happened. On              
          reflection, Dale can’t see any reason why the truth            
          shouldn’t be told. She helps Valentina recount what has        
          happened, while Wing translates to Ang Lun. For the first      
          time Ang Lun begins to understand what sort of a world she     
          has arrived in.                                                

   10     EPISODE FIVE PLOT OUTLINE                                      
                                                                         
          An international research camp is set up at Exmouth with       
          caravans and tents flying Russian, America, Australian,        
          Chinese and Iranian flags. (The population of Iran didn’t      
          recover to pre-Mongolian invasion levels until 1950 --         
          repeat, 1950). Some scientists point out that both Dale        
          and Ang Lin saw Eddie’s program. Neither of them can           
          remember it fully, but perhaps together? There have been       
          experiments in Russia with telepathy between identical         
          twins. Dale and Ang Lun are closer than twins though, they     
          are the same person. Perhaps their minds can be melded         
          together long enough to fully remember what they both saw.     
          The girls are put to sleep, then a hypnotist tries to get      
          them both to think about Eddie’s laptop and talk aloud         
          about what they remember. A voice recorder will pick up        
          everything each of them says. The hope is that Dale and        
          Ang Lun will help jog each other’s memory during the night     
          and one or other of them will wake up with full recall.        
          Dale does indeed pick up Ang Lun’s thoughts and they give      
          her nightmares. She has crazy images of working in the         
          library, then skinning a man alive for returning a damaged     
          book, of swimming in the pool and then in space, looking       
          down at the earth from orbit, then of gouging out a            
          child’s eyes for making too much noise. She wakes up           
          screaming and runs to her own room, cursing Ang Lun as she     
          leaves. Dale jumps into the bed and pulls the covers over      
          her head. Then she realises she is not alone. She switches     
          on the light and sees Eddie in the room.She tells him          
          about how terrible she feels from realising what she has       
          become in another life. Eddie gets into bed with her and       
          puts his arm around Dale to comfort her. They make             
          love.Later, in the light of a bedside lamp she asks him        
          where he’s been. On the space station, with the Mongols?       
          He chuckles. No, he says, he’s been to a much more             
          interesting place. A place where intelligence has existed      

                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                           20.       

                                                                         
          for far longer than on their earth. A place where              
          intelligence completely controls matter and twists time        
          and space into knots. A place where the Gods live. Dale        
          says there are no such things as God -- Eddie touches her      
          forehead and she instantly falls asleep.In the morning         
          Dale realises the Eddie with her is not the real Eddie. He     
          laughs says the real one will be along any second now that     
          his computer has finally been allowed to reach him. Eddie2     
          is from a universe which strictly controls                     
          inter-dimensional travel. This version of the planet earth     
          is not licensed for reality computing. Eddie1 appears.         
          Eddie2 explains that his computer was diverted to give         
          Eddie2’s world time to make a decision. The decision has       
          been to remove earth’s timeline: Eddie has been enabled to     
          return as part of the inter-dimensional tidying up. Eddie2     
          produces a small metal box which he describes as a planet      
          cracker. Dale and Ang Lun use a genuine telepathic power       
          they suddenly realise they do possess and Ang Lun throws       
          the cracker through Eddie2’s departure portal just before      
          it closes.                                                     

   11     CHARACTER NOTES FOR THREE MAIN CHARACTERS                      
                                                                         
          Dale Pewsey is 22 years old, a librarian at the WA State       
          Library, a good looking and very fit girl who is a member      
          of the state swimming team and trying hard to make the         
          national squad. She is happy in her work and happy in her      
          sport but has a steely edge to her character which can         
          sometimes seem intimidating to her peers, especially boys.     
          She also has a rather barbed sense of humour. One of the       
          most regular visitors to the part of the library where she     
          works is Eddie O’Bannion.                                      
                                                                         
          Eddie is the boy with everything. Looks, money, and a          
          talent for obtuse mathematics far above the comprehension      
          of all but a handful of world class experts. Eddie also        
          has charisma, plenty of it, coupled to an almost               
          non-existent supply of shyness. Normally, he has no            
          problem at all in romancing girls but Dale is the              
          exception to the rule. Eddie would very much like to date      
          her but something about her intimidates him, which is not      
          only frustrating but increases his interest in her. Truth      
          to tell, for all his surface banter and bluster, Eddie         
          would like very much to impress the hell out of Dale and       
          manouvre himself into a situation where he can tell her        
          how he really feels about her.                                 
                                                                         
          Dale herself hasn’t a clue about any of this. She              
          certainly finds Eddie attractive, as do most girls. It has     
          just never entered her mind that a boy who can acquire         
          girl friends so easily would be at all interested at her.      
          So she covers up her real feelings by making sure she          
          volleys shot for shot with Eddie’s repartee. And if Eddie      
          hadn’t tried to impress her at the library Dale would          
          never have known that she had a doppelganger in another        
          dimension.                                                     

                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                           21.       

          This is Bei Ang Lun. An exact physical duplicate of Dale,      
          Ang Lun was born into a very different world. The change       
          in history occurred in the 13th century.                       
                                                                         
          1227, Genghis Khan falls from his horse, dies, his son         
          Ogadei becomes the Khan of Khans. 1233, a quarter of China     
          has been conquered by Ogadei. 1236, Ogadei sends 60,000        
          Mongol tribesmen into Europe. 1237, Riazan becomes the         
          first Russian City to be destroyed by the Mongol invaders.     
          1240, and Kiev suffers the same fate. 1241, and the            
          Mongols race into Poland and Hungary -- the twin cities of     
          Buda and Pest are put to the sword then burnt to ashes.        
          The Polish, Hungarian, Croatian and German armies have         
          been cut to shreds with over 200,000 dead. 1242, the           
          Mongols cross over the frozen Danube into the heartland of     
          Europe, carrying fire and death into a defenceless             
          continent. Their scouts reach Klosternburg, just outside       
          Vienna, and Udine, a day’s ride from Venice. And then they     
          turn around and ride back into Russia. Because word has        
          reached the Mongol leaders that Ogadei has died and the        
          Princes and Khans have to return to their homeland to vote     
          for a new supreme leader. Europe has been saved by a           
          miracle from becoming an Asian colony                          
                                                                         
          But not in Bei Ang Lun’s world. In her history Ogadei the      
          Khan of Khans did not die of alcoholic poisoning in            
          December 1241 at the age of 56. In her history he lived to     
          reach the age of 63, two years after the Mongols had           
          crossed the Channel using captured French boats and taken      
          London. Henry III was burnt to death in Westminster Palace     
          after a bombardment of gunpowder filled pots fired into        
          the buildings by a battery of Mongolian catapults.             
          Eventually, there wasn’t a city in the world the Mongols       
          hadn’t stormed. A hundred years after the death of Ang         
          Lun’s Ogedai huge Chinese junks land the first Mongolian       
          explorers on the Western coast of North America. With them     
          are the first horses ever to plant their hooves on             
          American soil. The Mongols ride out into the great plains      
          of the Mid West like men let loose in paradise.                
                                                                         
          Over the centuries the Mongol Empire has been greatly          
          influenced by China. So Ang Lun speaks Mandarin, the           
          lingua franca of the Imperial system that rules the world.     
          The Mongols also organised and systematically advanced         
          such original Chinese scientific developments as printing      
          and gunpowder. By now their technology is at least a           
          century ahead of ours. Serving in the elite bodyguard unit     
          of the Great Khan, the keshik, Ang Lun is fully equipped       
          with the best of Mongolian equipment, especially as she        
          has the vital duty of maintaining imperial discipline and      
          loyalty aboard one of the Empire’s huge space stations.        
                                                                         
          But although she is a ultra loyal servant of the Khan, Ang     
          Lun, like many other members of small ethic minorities,        
          tries to keep alive some trace of her homeland’s original      
          language, even though there is hardly anyone left alive        
          who can still speak English.                                   

                                                                         
                                                         (CONTINUED)     

          CONTINUED:                                           22.       

                                                                         
          However, such cultural sensitivities have no effect on the     
          performance of her duties. She mains, murders and tortures     
          whoever she is told to without thinking twice about it.        
          That is the Mongol way, the way of her world, the world        
          she grew up and shaped her attitudes. By our lights she is     
          a absolute barbarian. And yet, by hers . . . she isn’t.