This screenplay is copyrighted to its author. All rights reserved. 
This screenplay may not be used or reproduced without the express 
written permission of the author.

 



COUNTER FORCE


"SUN STORM"

(Working Title)


by George Erskine and lan Cameron


Draft screenplay of an estimated 120 minute feature film production based on 
characters and ideas from the Counter Force books by George Erskine and Ian 
Cameron, published by Armada Books, a subdivision of the Harper Collins 
publishing group.





Fade in with a quick zoom in to a computer terminal screen till it occupies 
almost all the screen area. As soon as this shot is established a series of 
letters print across the screen in a typical computer display.

Experimental Mega-Computer Prototype: XP1. Code Name: BABY. Data File: 3567/A.

COUNTER FORCE: Melville family and friends. Engaged in secret war with invading 
aliens named TEKTRONS.

TEKTRONS: Artificial electronic intelligence from nearby star system now 
concealed in Earth computers and machinery.

PURPOSE OF TEKTRONS: Total conquest of planet Earth.

As this display finishes printing in big letters on the screen, the background 
dissolves to a star-filled space panorama.

SPECIAL F/X SHOT. STAR FIELD.
The display scrolls up and off the top of the screen and a tiny point of light 
in a lower corner of the screen climbs up towards the centre, enlarging as it 
goes into the glittering main title.
SUN STORM


The title expands and seems to explode off screen in a shower of tiny sparkling 
meteorites hurtling towards the camera as we run the title music sound track and 
roll the opening credits.

F/X SHOT. SPACE VIEW WITH SPACE STATION.
During the credit sequence, the view tilts down the star-field to take in a long 
shot of the Sky Base space station floating in miniature against the immense 
glowing curvature of the Earth beneath. We slowly move in towards the space 
station which appears bigger and bigger as we approach. Other orbital stations, 
satellites and factories can be seen emerging in the background of this shot. As 
the view gets closer, the station can be seen to be an enormous structure with a 
slightly unfinished appearance about it as if construction work on parts getting 
added on is still continuing. Parts of it are revolving slowly to create 
artificial gravity inside. 

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. ANOTHER SPACE VIEW WITH SHUTTLE.
A large, sleek-looking space shuttle coming into view with the curve of the 
Earth in the background and the space station away to one side. The shuttle's 
engines are burning as it climbs upwards away from the Earth's gravity.

CUT TO:

INT. INTERIOR VIEW OF SHUTTLE.
A wide interior shot of the shuttle shows passengers sitting reading, talking or 
watching the in-flight TV.

CUT TO:

INT. INTERIOR SKY BASE TRAFFIC CONTROL ROOM.
A busy interior shot of the space station's traffic control room. There are a 
lot of huge screens showing graphic trajectories of the various forms of space 
traffic arriving or leaving the station. As the camera slowly tracks round 
inside the huge room, it can be seen that there are many men and women manning 
the various computer terminals in front of the screens. It has all the usual 
controlled confusion of a typical space-traffic control centre with the 
controllers communicating in soft voices with the various forms of space traffic 
served by the Sky Base control centre.

CUT TO:

INT. INTERIOR SHUTTLE.
A quick shot of the interior of the shuttle's flight cabin with a view through 
the narrow slit windows of the Sky Base station up ahead which is repeated in 
graphic form on the pilot's display screens. The shuttle pilot is speaking into 
his mike.

PILOT:
"Sky Base Control. This is Space Bus 139. We have completed final correctional 
burn for matching orbital insertion. Retro-burn for docking manoeuvre at Earth 
Dock 3 in minus four minutes and twenty-four seconds. Please confirm."

CUT TO:

INT. SKY BASE CONTROL ROOM.
The Sky Base control centre again. The view shows a close shot of a young woman 
looking intently at the graphic screen display in front of her. She enters a 
combination on her console and a string of figures lights up on the screen. She 
checks this and speaks into her mike.

CONTROLLER:
"Roger Space Bus 139. Computer verification matches your approach mode. Your are 
go for retro burn in minus four eighteen corrected. Earth Dock 3 is cycled for 
docking manoeuvres in minus six minutes and twelve seconds. Stand by for 
computer aided tracking and guidance lock in minus 5 seconds and counting . .  4 
. . 3 . . 2 . . 1 - and lock. Your guidance is now slaved to Sky Base master 
control. Go to auto-remote and stand by for retro-burn." 

CUT TO:

INT. SHUTTLE CONTROL CABIN.
A close shot of the pilot's face as he replies.

PILOT:
"Roger Sky Base control."

CUT TO:

INT. SHUTTLE PASSENGERS.
The interior of the shuttle again. We move into a close shot of two passengers 
talking to each other. They are both wearing shiny gold Inspector badges on 
their lapels. A smiling stewardess passes by and speaks to them. It transpires 
they are Peter and Elenor Galloway.

STEWARDESS:
"Anything else I can get you before we dock, Mr Galloway? Or you, Mrs Galloway?"

The couple both smile back at her but refuse politely.

PETER AND ELENOR:
"No, thank you."

Peter waits till the stewardess has moved on before resuming his conversation.

PETER:
"Anyway, I just hope Lavalle has got everything ready for our inspection this 
time, Elenor. We've had trouble with him before, remember, and we don't have 
time to waste on this tour of duty."

ELENOR:
"Yes, I know, Peter. Still, it will be nice to be with Amber again. I've been 
missing her while we were away on Earth debrief."

PETER:
"So have I. But, never mind, we'll be seeing her soon."

They both smile at each other and sit back in their seats.

(End opening credits and title music.)

CUT TO:

INT. CAFETERIA ON SKY BASE.
The brightly lit interior of a huge cafeteria somewhere in the Sky Base. It is 
full of people in various styles of brightly coloured civilian clothing mixed 
here and there with an assortment of uniforms on some of the Sky Base personnel. 
There is a noisy, bustling confusion of sounds as the camera moves into a shot 
of a remarkably pretty 18 year old girl sitting at a table next to a wide window 
showing an outside view of space. Sitting with her is a good-looking older boy 
of about 20 years who is wearing a Space Corps uniform. As we move closer in we 
see that they are laughing and chatting amiably to each other between the times 
she gazes intently out the window. It is also obvious that the girl is quite 
besotted with her good-looking older companion. She frequently touches his hand 
or arm flirtatiously as they talk. The girl is Amber Galloway and the young man 
is William 'Biff' Baker.

BIFF:
"C'mon Amber. Admit it. You can't wait for your folks to get in on that shuttle. 
I'm just surprised you're still here and not jumping up and down and making a 
nuisance of yourself in the Arrival Lounge."

She makes a face at this.



AMBER:
"In the first place, Squad Leader Baker, I never make a nuisance of myself and 
in the second place, I've been here long enough to know better than to jump 
around anywhere in low gravity."

Biff groans and holds up his hands in mock surrender at this.

BIFF:
"Okay, okay, hot-shot! Has anyone ever told you that you have a painfully 
literal mind? All I meant was..."

Amber suddenly grins at him cheekily.

AMBER:
"It's okay, dummy. I know what you meant. But a girl has a right to tease now 
and again. Especially a handsome young Space Corps Cadet who is so vain he can't 
bear to pass a mirror without checking that his hair is regulation and his Squad 
Leader badge is polished."

CUT TO:

INT. ANOTHER ROOM ON SKY BASE WHERE PROF LAVALLE WORKS.
Another part of the space station where a group of men are standing in front of 
a large screen watching the incoming shuttle. One smaller man is sitting in 
front of a computer console looking worriedly at a numerical countdown. A tall 
thin man with a coldly, calculating face is leaning over him looking at the same 
display. Eventually the small man presses a control and a series of figures 
start to ripple down one side of the screen. The small man, who is called 
Chalmers, looks up and addresses the other as Professor Lavalle.

CHALMERS:
"Our guidance replacement program for the shuttle has taken over and is running 
now, Professor Lavalle. But I'm still not sure that..."

LAVALLE:
"Calm yourself, Chalmers. Everything is proceeding smoothly. Our masters have 
ordered this and they are infinitely wiser than we are. Besides, getting rid of 
those meddlesome Galloways, and their constant nit-picking inspections, will be 
a distinct pleasure."

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. SPACE VIEW OF APPROACHING SHUTTLE.
The shuttle has been swooping smoothly in towards Sky Base using occasional 
puffs of its directional jets to correct its course. We move into a closer shot 
as its main engines suddenly fire hurtling it forward uncontrollably.

INT. SKY BASE CAFETERIA.
The Sky Base cafeteria again. Biff and Amber are laughing at some joke when 
there is a sudden loud repeated blaring from a klaxon and a voice makes an 
announcement over a loudspeaker.

P.A. VOICE:
Emergency. Emergency. Malfunction on inbound shuttle. All Space Corps personnel 
to deployment points. Emergency. Emergency."

Biff and Amber jump to their feet in alarm.

AMBER:

"Biff, that's the shuttle my parents are on."

BIFF:

"I know, Amber. I'm sorry but I've gotta go."

AMBER:
"Wait Biff. I'm going to the Arrival Lounge. See me there later if you can."

Biff waves a hasty acknowledgement and they both dash off through the panicky 
crowd around them as the klaxon goes on blaring and the P.A. message is 
continuously repeated.

CUT TO:

INT. SKY BASE CONTROL CENTRE.
The Sky Base control centre. It is full of activity and confusion as the 
controller urgently tries to find out what is happening.

CONTROLLER:
"Space Bus 139. You have unauthorised inbound velocity vector. Report please. 
What is happening, Space Bus 139?"

CUT TO:

INT. SHUTTLE FLIGHT CABIN.
The shuttle flight deck. The pilots are pushed back in their chairs under fierce 
acceleration. The space station is angling up to them with terrifying speed.
PILOT:
"Sky Base. We are out of control. Instead of retro-burn, the main engines fired. 
They're jammed on full thrust and I can't shut down. Stand by for impact."

He starts to raise his arm up over his face.

CUT TO:

INT. SHUTTLE PASSENGER SPACE.
Quick cut to the interior of the shuttle. The passengers are all looking panicky 
and frightened.

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. SPACE VIEW NEAR SKY BASE.
An exterior view of the shuttle flashing up towards the station and narrowly 
missing the Dock. It catches one of its wings on a framework girder which 
buckles in a bright flare of sparks and tears a section of the wing off.

CUT TO:

INT. SHUTTLE PASSENGERS.
An interior shot of the shuttle with people screaming and being thrown around by 
the impact.

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. NEAR SKY BASE AGAIN.
An exterior shot showing the shuttle going off in an uncontrolled spin.

CUT TO:

INT. INTERIOR OF ROCKET SLED HANGER ON SKY BASE.
A rapid series of intercut shots of the interior of a large hanger inside the 
space station where a group of young men and women are hastily donning space 
suits and running towards a line of rocket sleds. Biff can be seen snapping his 
helmet down and shouting orders to his squad as he throws himself towards his 
sled and clips himself on. There is a babble of shouted orders and questions as 
they all get on the sleds. Service personnel hastily run back as a huge door 
starts to descend behind the line of sleds. There is a deep booming thump as the 
door connects with the floor followed by an immediate drone of evacuating air. 
Another huge door in the hanger in front of the sleds opens up and their engines 
fire almost simultaneously as the flight takes off and sweeps out into space in 
pursuit of the shuttle. The camera follows them out as they pursue the dwindling 
shape of the shuttle rapidly disappearing into the star-filled darkness. Away to 
one side another flight of rocket sleds can be seen exiting from another hanger 
and angling up to join the first one.

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. SPACE VIEW OF ROCKET SLEDS.
A series of shots showing the flight leader communicating to the others as they 
strive to catch up with the shuttle. They are on maximum thrust but the gap is 
steadily widening and it soon becomes obvious that they are not going to be able 
to get near enough. Finally the flight leader calls on his intercom.

FLIGHT LEADER:
"We're losing them. Squad Leaders Baker and Ivanov, spread out beside me. We 
have one last shot. We'll try to use the hi-boost magnetic grapnel rockets. If 
we all shoot together, there's a chance one of us may connect. Stand by to fire 
on my mark. 3-2-1 - fire."

We move to a close-up of the flight leader's hand thumbing a switch next to a 
small graphic display screen targeting the shuttle. This changes to a side view 
of the sled as a mini missile launches from under the sled structure. A wide 
angle shows the miniature rockets with lines attached shooting out from each of 
the three rocket sleds and angling towards the shuttle. Each of the three little 
rockets makes a valiant attempt but their fuel runs out and they fall short. The 
shuttle finally disappears in the distance.

CUT TO:

A close shot of the flight leader again. He speaks calmly to the others but the 
tone of his voice reveals his disappointment.

FLIGHT LEADER:
"All sleds, we are reaching the maximum limits of our returnable rescue 
capability. Abort mission and return to Sky Base now."

CUT TO:

INT. LAVALLE'S ROOM AT SKY BASE.
Lavalle is congratulating his assistant but Chalmers still seems worried and a 
bit doubtful.

LAVALLE:
"Excellent, Chalmers. Our masters will be pleased."

CHALMERS:
"Perhaps Professor, but I can't help wondering if there wasn't a better way. All 
those lives on that shuttle. What will become of them?"


LAVALLE:
"Sometimes great sacrifices are necessary to accomplish great ends, Chalmers - 
but I hope you are not entertaining any disloyal second thoughts about our 
purposes at this late stage. You know what the penalty is for treason to our 
masters, and you don't want to end up like these others, do you?"

Lavalle turns and gestures towards two of his men who are standing stiffly in 
the background with blank, expressionless stares on their faces. A quick close 
shot of the men's faces shows that their eyes have a strange electronic glow in 
them as though they are not quite human anymore. Chalmers shudders as he looks 
at these two zombies and shakes his head.

LAVALLE:
"Good! Then let us have no more of these useless histrionics. Think how 
fortunate we are to have been chosen by our masters to help them in their Great 
Purpose. Come now, we will go to them and report our success."

CUT TO:

INT. ROCKET SLED HANGER.
As the rocket sleds return and slot in, the doors close and air hisses back in 
as the squads slowly dismount.

CUT TO:

INT. ARRIVAL LOUNGE AT SKY BASE.
The arrival lounge at Sky Base. We see Amber waiting along with a lot of other 
worried people. Just then she hears a shout and Biff can be seen making his way 
through a press of people at the lounge entrance and hurrying towards her. 
Amber's face lights up as she sees him and Biff hurries over and embraces her.

AMBER:
"Oh Biff. What's happening?"

BIFF:
"I'm sorry, Amber. We couldn't reach them. We tried - but they were just too far 
away. Still, we've managed to re-establish contact with the shuttle pilot. There 
was some damage but the hull wasn't breached and everyone on board is safe for 
the time being."

Amber's face lights up at this again.


AMBER:
"So, Mum and Dad are okay?"

He nods and she gives him a big hug at this good news.

BIFF:
"Yes. We're computing the shuttle's present course away from the station and the 
Space Corps are already working on rescue plans."

Amber's face starts to get worried again.

AMBER:

"Oh Biff, will they be able to get them back safely?"

BIFF:
"Of course, they will. Don't worry; the Space Corps are experts at this sort of 
thing. We'll get them back - somehow."

CUT TO:

A close shot of his face as he says the last word. He is trying to reassure 
Amber but we can see his worry.

CUT TO:

INT. PLUS F/X SHOT. LAVALLE'S ROOM ON SKY BASE.
Lavalle's place in Sky Base. Lavalle and his men move to the end of the large 
laboratory and Lavalle touches a button which causes a whole workbench and its 
apparatus to swing away from the wall. Behind this, a concealed door slides open 
and they move into a smaller room with a row of computer banks at one end and a 
single computer terminal in front of them. The door closes and the bench swings 
back into place. Lavalle moves to the terminal and switches it on. As he does so 
the camera zooms into a close-up of the terminal as the shot dissolves to a 
close up interior view of a large mass of computer circuitry. Music builds up 
here playing the menacing Tektron theme. This is played over a sequence of 
computer animated graphics of the blue electronic glow flashing along through a 
maze of computer circuitry. This gets bigger and bigger till the crackling blue 
glow seems to fill the whole screen with a baleful, threatening luminescence and 
explodes outwards in the Tektron logo which hangs in an enormous pulsating blue 
aura over the top of the terminal.

Lavalle and his men are looking at this nervously. Then a harsh, atonal voice is 
heard coming from the region of the Tektron logo. The voice sounds like many 
voices all speaking in chorus.


TEKTRONS:
"Report."

LAVALLE:
"Masters. I have carried out your orders. My plan for eliminating the humans 
known as Galloway, the two Inspectors of Biological Research Control, has 
succeeded."

TEKTRONS:
"They are still alive. You were ordered to destroy them."

LAVALLE:
"Yes masters, but Galloway and his wife are now on the shuttle which I caused to 
have an 'unfortunate accident' before arrival. Rescue attempts will take time 
and, even if they succeed, the Inspectors will be too late to interfere with the 
distribution of my secretly altered compound DLX 23 to the whole world. My plans 
are..."

The Tektron voice booms out harshly interrupting this reply.

TEKTRONS:
"OUR PLANS, human Lavalle! Do not forget you are now servants of the GREAT 
TEKTRON PURPOSE. We will soon control planet Earth totally by means of your DLX 
23 chemical and then you will be rewarded - but only if you obey our orders. 
There is one more Galloway here. She is known by the human name of Amber 
Galloway. DESTROY HER!"

Chalmers suddenly steps forward and protests passionately.

CHALMERS:
"But, she's just a young one, masters. Surely she can be no threat to your..."

The Tektron logo swirls violently and releases an energy bolt which hits 
Chalmers and knocks him almost unconscious to the floor. As his stunned eyes 
look up, the Tektron voice thunders out again.

TEKTRONS:
"All Galloways are a threat. They are connected to the Melville humans who are 
known to us as the COUNTER FORCE. We dealt with the computer genius, Dr. Clark 
Melville, by discrediting him with false evidence when he threatened to reveal 
us, but the young ones of his family unit have impeded our progress repeatedly. 
They are the only humans on Earth who know the secret of our existence and still 
live to oppose us. THEY ARE THE ENEMIES OF THE TEKTRONS."

Lavalle again interposes ingratiatingly.

LAVALLE:
"Then we will destroy this Counter Force for you, masters. Just let us...."

TEKTRONS:
"Do not concern yourself with them. They are being dealt with by us. A plan is 
now underway for our Earth humans to catch and destroy them in a trap which they 
cannot possibly escape. The Counter Force enemy will soon cease to exist on 
planet Earth."

The music builds to a climax and the scene changes to an overhead aerial view of 
a huge complex of buildings on Earth.

CUT TO:

EXT AERIAL VIEW THEN OUTSIDE OF BUILDINGS.
The camera swoops down and we cut to an outside view of a huge nameplate by the 
main door. It says 'Institute of Advanced Computer Technology and 
Cyberdynamics'. 

INT. INTERIOR OF INSTITUTE.
In a series of dissolves the camera moves into the building to an outside view 
of an office door marked 'Security Department - Office of the Director of 
Security'. The camera shot widens to show two men walking up to this door. They 
knock and then enter.

CUT TO:

INT. INTERIOR OF DOWD'S OFFICE.
The inside of the office and the camera moves in to the scowling face of Herbert 
Dowd, head of the department, as he addresses his two top agents, Whittaker and 
Bentley. He is furiously angry as usual.

DOWD:
"Whittaker, Bentley! This farce has got to stop. As you are aware, we found 
abundant evidence that Dr. Clark Melville attempted to steal secrets from this 
Institute when he was Head of Research here. It is also obvious that the only 
people who will certainly know where he is hiding are his family. It's been well 
over a year since his disappearance so he must have been in contact with them 
somehow. Yet, in spite of all the superior surveillance technology, money and 
manpower this department has to offer, you two idiots have consistently failed 
to either find him or even establish his methods of contact. This failure is the 
greatest source of personal embarrassment to me with my superiors on the Board 
of Directors. That, of course, is quite apart from the humiliation of having 
those Melville kids continue to make utter fools of you, and me, and this 
department. Do you understand?"

WHITTAKER AND BENTLEY:
"Yes, Mr. Dowd."

DOWD:
"Good! Then I will tell you what you are going to do. You are going to pick up 
one or more of the members of that family and you are going to interrogate them 
till you discover the present location of that traitor, Clark Melville. Now, is 
that perfectly clear?"

Whittaker and Bentley both nod quickly.

DOWD:
"Very well. Our latest information is that the Melville family are in London 
attending an Open-Air Rock Revival Concert. Go there, find them and bring me 
back the information I require to arrest Melville."

He passes them a sheet of information and the two men exit as the scene fades to 
a roar of music and applause.

CUT TO:

EXT DAY. OPEN AIR STADIUM WITH ROCK CONCERT.
Sound F/X of a huge crowd cheering and applauding to the accompaniment of 
amplified rock music as the scene opens on to a huge stadium filled with people 
watching a 21st century Rock Revival concert. There is a series of intercut 
shots as the camera pans round the stadium, cutting to shots of sections of the 
crowd to shots of the rock group that are playing in the middle of the stadium. 
The group are also accompanied by a large company of dancers doing exciting 
dance routines to the music. In some of these shots, the camera shows a small 
blimp hovering over one side of the stadium.

The camera finally moves in to a group shot of the Melville kids and their black 
Jamaican friend 'Sparks' sitting in the audience. With the exception of Mike 
Melville, they all seem to be enjoying the show. As the camera closes in we see 
Mike speaking to Sparks, who nods and moves away. (Note: Approximate ages of 
kids - Gerry and Janey 18, Mike and Sparks 16, Lily and Lulu 14).

GERRY:
"Hey, Mike. Relax and enjoy yourself. We already checked that blimp thoroughly 
with our scanners before anyone got on board. No sign of Tektrons anywhere on it 
or near it. There aren't even any strangers up there since Henry volunteered to 
pilot for Mum and Janey."

MIKE:
"Maybe, but I can't help feeling something's wrong."

Both boys look upward and we cut to an outside view of the blimp hanging fairly 
low over one end of the stadium.

At this point Mike hears a buzz on his wrist terminal followed by the electronic 
voice-over of 'Baby', the amazing personal computer of the Melville family, 
calling them.

Baby can actually be carried, in miniature form, as a part of Mike's wrist 
computer/communicator terminal. For this reason, his wrist terminal is a bit 
more bulky than the others - although all the kids wear wrist 
computer/communicators as routinely as wrist watches.

Mike presses a switch to answer Baby's call and we see a close shot of the 
miniature screen on Mike's wrist terminal, which displays Baby's face pattern. 
It is a kind of computer animated baby face.

BABY:
"Master. Master, Mike. It's your computer slave, Baby, here."

MIKE:
"Ah, c'mon, Baby. I already apologised for shouting at you before - what more do 
you want?"

BABY:
"A little grovelling would help."

MIKE:
"Okay, okay. You're the best micro-mega-computer in the world. Now this is just 
wasting time, so what is it?"

BABY:
"I used my Internet links to hack into the computers of that Airship Charter 
company, as you ordered, and surveyed the pre-flight checklists of today's 
flight. No sign of Tektrons and everything appeared normal except one unlisted 
bill for a Hydrogen gas delivery instead of Helium."

Mike's face looks puzzled at this. We also see Gerry's face looking over his 
shoulder in the same way.

MIKE:
"Did the check show if the blimp was topped up or completely refilled?"

BABY:
"Completely refilled. Is that usual?"

The faces of the two boys change at this news and Mike speaks again.

MIKE:
"No, it isn't. Thanks, Baby. End line, but stay on channel please; I may need 
you again in a hurry. Out."

Mike and Gerry look up worriedly at the airship. 

CUT TO:

INT. INSIDE OF AIRSHIP CABIN.
An inside view of the blimp gondola with Mary Melville busy at some complicated 
looking equipment and screens which show views of the stadium beneath. She is 
being helped by Janey Robertson, Gerry's very attractive 17-year-old girlfriend. 
Henry Armstrong is piloting the blimp and Janey is looking at a screen beside 
her.

JANEY:
"Wow! What a view. I can even see Gerry and the others. I'll bet they're kicking 
themselves now for not being up here with us."

MARY:
"Yes, I don't know why they changed their minds at the last minute. They were 
all included in the invitation from the organisers when I got this job."

She turns to address Henry and the shot widens to include him.

"Sorry, Henry, but could you bring us a bit lower down, please. I need to do a 
small correction on the focus here."



HENRY:
"No problem, Mary. And thanks for my invitation, too. It gives me the chance to 
get a few more airship piloting hours in free."

We see him adjusting the controls and the view from the large blimp windows 
swings down slightly and then steadies.

CUT TO:

EXT STADIUM.
Gerry and Mike still looking up worriedly while Mike does his best to raise the 
blimp on his wrist communicator.

MIKE:
"Mum, Henry, Janey. Respond please. This is Mike. Please respond. Come in, Mum, 
Janey, Henry. Anybody, please answer."

GERRY:
"That's strange, Mike! Their reception must be fouled up there on the blimp. 
Listen, is Baby sure they filled it with Hydrogen instead of Helium? I 
mean...everyone knows that Hydrogen is inflammable; that's why it's never used 
anymore."

MIKE:
"Baby was designed by Dad, Gerry. He just doesn't make mistakes. Anyway, if 
everyone knows about Hydrogen being inflammable, you can safely bet the Tektrons 
know it too. And you also know how easily they can trick people into doing 
things they want. But we'll know soon enough because there was something else I 
asked Sparks to check."

CUT TO:

Sparks as he comes puffing back up the aisle and the camera angle widens as he 
joins his friends.

SPARKS:
"You were right, Mike. I looked at those lasers they'll be using for the light 
show when the main group comes on - heavy Tektron reading on my scanner as soon 
as I got near."

He points down to the stadium.

Move to a wide shot of a battery of lasers ranged along one side near the rock 
group's stage. There is also a sinister-looking technician standing nearby. We 
hear Sparks talking in voice-over during this shot and as we go in closer to the 
technician's face, we see his eyes have the same fixed electronic glow that 
denotes he is a servant of the Tektrons. 

SPARKS:
"Two of the lasers in the set were disguised to look like the others but they 
had heavy power cables attached and I'm sure they're 'hot'."

Move back to Sparks and the others.

SPARKS:
"Anyway, I distracted that weird technician long enough to nudge them off their 
settings a bit."

MIKE:
"Now do you believe me? It's another Tektron plot to destroy us all and make it 
look like an accident. When it gets dark the light display will come on with 
those two secret 'hot' lasers targeted up there - on the blimp we were all 
supposed to be on, remember. One good laser shot into that Hydrogen gas bag, and 
it's certain to catch fire. It's so big, they can't even miss."

Gerry nods, his face getting even more worried as he takes in the implications.

GERRY:
"If that blimp goes on fire, it won't just kill Mum and Janey and Henry, Mike, 
it will drop down here and kill hundreds more. We've got to warn them to move it 
away from the stadium and get off. How long till it gets fully dark?"

Mike glances quickly at his wrist terminal.

MIKE:
"Not long, but they may not wait till then. The main group will be on soon and 
it will be dark enough to start the light show anytime after that. We've got to 
do something - fast."

Sparks gestures up towards the top edge of the stadium where the tip of a huge 
T-shaped crane can be seen just protruding against the skyline.



SPARKS:
"Listen, I know it's a crazy idea, but couldn't we get up on that crane, over 
there? It looks as high as the blimp and maybe if we get close enough we could 
attract their attention, somehow."

GERRY:
"Hey! That's a good idea, Sparks. It's worth a try, anyway."

Lily and Lulu have edged closer to find out what is going on.

LILY:
"What's worth a try?"

GERRY:
"We've got Tektron trouble again. In the meantime, I..."

Lulu is looking away and turns to point to something off screen at that moment.

LULU:
"In the meantime, Tektrons aren't the only trouble we've got. Look who's here."

Move to a long shot of Whittaker and Bentley making their way up the aisle 
towards them.

Move back to Gerry and the others.

GERRY:
"Oh, no! It's those two Security Agents from the Institute where Dad used to 
work. And they're heading right for us. What do they want this time?"

Mike takes a look at the two men hurrying purposefully towards them and pushes 
Gerry and Sparks away.

MIKE:
"We haven't got time to mess around with them, Gerry. We'll have to split up. 
You and Sparks try to get on that crane, and the twins and I will lead those 
guys off."

GERRY:
"Right! Get rid of them as fast as you can, Mike - and keep your comm-channels 
open so we can stay in touch."

The kids split up and the camera follows Mike and the twins as they deliberately 
distract the two Security men into chasing them in the opposite direction from 
Gerry.

WHITTAKER:
"Hey! Come back here, you little monsters. We want to talk to you."

The kids ignore this and dive off into the crowd. There are some rapid intercut 
shots of Mike and the twins leading the two men into the crowd and dodging away 
from them. This sequence is interspersed with a few short, sharp bits of visual 
comedy bizz where Lily and Lulu cheekily dart in and out of hiding to harass 
their pursuers, creating havoc in the crowd and generally discomfiting the two 
agents in the process. Soft drinks are upset, popcorn flies everywhere and the 
two men always end up getting the blame and taking the brunt of the annoyed 
spectators' displeasure. The kids have great fun.

There is a rapid shot of Gerry and Sparks as they get through the crowd and out 
of the stadium.

CUT TO:

EXT OUTSIDE THE STADIUM.
Gerry and Sparks coming out a side entrance at ground level and looking around. 
Gerry points to one side and pulls Sparks with him.

GERRY:
"This way. I can see the edge of it near the stadium wall."

There are now some long shots of Gerry and Mike racing towards the crane and 
these are intercut with a few shots of Mike and the twins losing the Security 
men in the crowd then heading for the exit.

CUT TO:

EXT INSIDE STADIUM.
Whittaker and Bentley, who stop and look round them in disgust as they realise 
the kids have vanished.

BENTLEY:
"Looks like we lost them."

WHITTAKER:
"I can see that, you idiot. All right, we'll split up and search outside. Circle 
round and meet me by the main entrance."

They set off again.

CUT TO:

EXT OUTSIDE STADIUM AT BUILDING SITE WITH CRANE.
Gerry and Sparks as they run up against a wire fence surrounding a building site 
where the crane is sited. They look at the fence and the camera pulls in to show 
barbed wire at the top.

GERRY:
"We can't climb it - but there's a gate. Come on."

As they reach the gate, Sparks is already pulling something out of a pocket and 
starts fiddling with the lock. After a second there is a sudden click as it 
opens.

Sparks takes off the lock and swings the gate open. They both rush in and over 
to the crane. We can see disused building materials and heavy machinery and a 
large dump truck in the background as they move up to the crane. When they reach 
it they stop and look up to the top.

It seems to tower up into the sky. They can make out the shape of the tiny 
control cabin at the top of the gantry.

Gerry starts to climb a vertical ladder on the side of the gantry.

GERRY:
"We need to get up there, Sparks. Can you make it?"

SPARKS :
"Sure, Gerry. You go first and head out along the boom. I'll try to get into the 
control cabin. I may be able to help from there."

The next few shots alternate long and close views as we see the boys climbing up 
the dizzying height of the crane gantry.

CUT TO:

EXT. STADIUM EXIT.
Mike and the twins, who are now hiding in a corner of the stadium exit and 
watching the Security men moving off and going outside. Mike checks to see that 
they have gone then beckons the twins to follow him out.

MIKE:
"Okay, they're out of sight. Let's go. And make sure you don't get spotted when 
we're outside."

We see them moving off out of shot.

CUT TO:

EXT. TOP OF CRANE.
A close shot of Gerry and Sparks arriving at the top of the crane gantry. They 
are panting heavily, and pause for a moment to look down. The ground looks a 
long way down.

Sparks gets into the control cabin and we see him settling himself on the seat 
and surveying the controls.

Move to Gerry, edging along the side of the cabin and out on to the boom.

Move to Sparks again. He raises his wrist terminal to speak to Gerry.

SPARKS:
"Gerry, hang on tight for a moment; I'm going to start this thing up and try to 
swing the boom around closer to the blimp."

He manipulates the controls and we hear an engine starting up, then the end of 
the boom slowly starts to swing round over the stadium in the direction of the 
blimp. It finally slows to a stop with the boom pointed almost exactly at the 
blimp. We can also see down into the stadium.

Move to Gerry again as he slowly crawls out along the boom.

Back to Sparks watching him.

Gerry gets near the tip. He stops there and gets himself into a more secure 
position then starts waving wildly at the blimp. We can hear the wind whistling 
and see it tugging at his clothes and hair. We can also see that, though there 
is still light in the sky, the sun has almost set.

CUT TO:

INT. BLIMP CABIN.
A medium shot of the inside of the blimp gondola and the camera shows Mary, 
Janey and Henry all busy at their tasks and listening to the music piped in from 
the concert on the gondola speakers. They don't notice the figure of Gerry 
waving frantically on the end of the crane.

CUT TO:

EXT. TOP OF CRANE.
Gerry again at the top of the crane. He waves a bit longer, then stops and calls 
Sparks on his wrist communicator.


GERRY:
"No good, Sparks. I don't think they can see me. They're facing the wrong way."

He looks around him desperately. Finally he spots the crane hook hanging just 
below him. This gives him an idea and he calls Sparks again.

GERRY:
"Sparks. I've got an idea. Raise the hook a bit closer to the top so I can reach 
it."

There is a long shot of the crane hook moving slowly upwards.

Gerry waits for it to get close. Eventually there is a grinding jerk and the 
hook comes to a stop, bobbing a few feet below the tip of the boom.

Gerry manoeuvres himself down to get under the tip of the crane boom. He reaches 
out for the crane cable but it is just beyond his reach. He moves around a bit 
more and finally, by stretching himself as far as he can go he manages to get a 
grip on the cable. At this point there is sudden gust of wind which causes him 
to lose his grip on the boom. He grabs on to the cable with both hands and finds 
himself swinging precariously below the boom.

There is a down shot into the stadium below. It swings dizzily from Gerry's 
viewpoint.

Move to Sparks standing up in the cabin and shouting into his wrist-comm in 
panic.

SPARKS:
"Gerry! Gerry! Are you all right?"

We then hear Gerry's voice shouting back on the wrist-comm.

GERRY:
"Ahhhh ... Of course, I'm all right. I'm just enjoying a little swing on the end 
of this crane a couple of thousand feet up in the air."

Sparks sits back down on his chair in relief.

SPARKS:
"Oh! That's okay then. I thought you were in trouble."

Move to Gerry who lets out one long exasperated wail.

CUT TO:


EXT. STADIUM.
In the stadium a small girl sitting on her Dad's shoulders is trying to attract 
her parents' attention upwards. They just pat her hands and ignore her while all 
their attention is on the stage.

CUT TO:

EXT. TOP OF CRANE.
The top of the crane again. Gerry swings his feet up and manages to catch them 
on the underside of the crane boom. Then with a lot of difficult manoeuvring he 
slowly edges his body back up on to the boom and pauses in exhaustion before he 
gives a wave to Sparks. He then pulls the hook up towards him by the cable and 
calls Sparks again while he is doing this.

GERRY:
"Sparks. Let the brake off the cable very gently so I can pull it in."

There is a whine of machinery and Gerry slowly starts to crawl back along the 
boom towards the cabin, pulling the hook along beneath him.

Move to Sparks manipulating the controls very carefully.

Move to Gerry as he reaches the cabin and pauses there for a moment to speak to 
Sparks again.

GERRY:
"Sparks, listen. I'm going to use the hook cable to swing me over to the blimp."

Move to a very alarmed Sparks:

SPARKS:
"Are you crazy? You'll never make it. It's suicide!"

CUT TO: 

GERRY:
"No it isn't. Anyway, it's the only chance we've got. Here I go."

Gerry poises himself and then taking a firm grip of the cable he swings himself 
into space off the side of the boom.

A quick shot of Sparks peering over the side when he hears a Tarzan-like yodel 
from Gerry on his wrist speaker which alarms him even more.


SPARKS:
"Gerry? Gerry?"

He groans and covers his eyes with his hands.

Switch to a long shot of Gerry on the upswing. As he gets to the apex of the 
swing he reaches out and manages to grab a strut on one of the gondola's 
outboard engines. He lets go the cable and grabs on with both hands to the 
strut.

CUT TO:

INT. BLIMP CABIN.
Inside the blimp gondola. It rocks suddenly and Henry has to do a quick 
correction.

MARY:
"What was that?"

HENRY:
"I don't know. Maybe a sudden downdraft. It's okay; I've got it now."

CUT TO:

INT. TOP OF CRANE CABIN.
In the crane cabin, Sparks is still covering his face with his hands. Finally he 
opens his fingers just a chink and peeks through.

Move to a long shot of Gerry hanging on the outside of the blimp and trying to 
pull himself up.

Move to Sparks letting out a long sigh of relief and dropping his hands.

CUT TO:

EXT OUTSIDE OF BLIMP GONDOLA.
The outside of the blimp gondola. Gerry has now swung himself up on to the 
strut. He gets hold of a control cable leading from the gondola to the engine 
and very carefully swings himself along it till he is poised just over a window 
at the rear of the gondola. He uses his feet to bang on the glass.

Move to inside the gondola. Everyone turns and gasps in surprise as they see the 
dangling feet outside the window.

Janey is the first to react and she throws herself over to the window and opens 
it. She grasps Gerry's legs and helps him to slide in where he pauses in 
exhaustion for a moment.


JANEY:
"Gerry! How on earth did you get here?"

GERRY:
"Oh, just thought I'd drop in for a while."

At that point he looks over her shoulder in horror as the camera cuts to a view 
of the stage area on one of the blimp's TV monitors showing the main group of 
the evening coming on. The view then cuts back to Gerry's horrified face.

GERRY:
"Oh, no! The laser show will be starting any second now. Henry, start the motors 
and get us away from here fast."

Move to Henry looking bewildered at this.

HENRY:
"What for, Gerry? What's the matter?"

Move to Gerry as he goes on desperately.

GERRY:
"This blimp is full of Hydrogen and it could go on fire at any moment. There's 
no time to explain. Please, Henry, just do as I ask."

Move back to Henry. He looks at Mary in total perplexity. Mary, however is 
already looking at Gerry and has realised he is deadly serious.

MARY:
"Please, Henry. Just do as he says for now."

Henry gives her one last startled glance but reluctantly decides to comply. He 
starts the motors and slowly backs the blimp away.

CUT TO:

EXT. STADIUM.
Cut back to the stage area where the main group are now starting to play. We see 
the lead guitarist in a fancy black and silver costume who does a complicated 
riff on his instrument which finishes with a huge dramatic chord from the rest 
of the band. And with this, the light show starts. Huge batteries of coloured 
lights come on and flash in time to the music, accompanied by the lasers 
shooting out beams and fans of light which dance around and interweave with each 
other. Fireworks also start going off and the camera cuts to the laser battery 
and zooms into close-up on two of the lasers tracking round separately towards 
the blimp up above. There is another chord of music and they fire, but narrowly 
miss the retreating blimp.
CUT TO:

INT. BLIMP CABIN.
The inside of the blimp cabin. We see the beams stabbing into the sky from the 
gondola ports. At this, Gerry hurls himself forward and pushes the engine 
throttle levers to full thrust. The engine noise rises to a scream as Henry 
roars with shock and tries to throttle back, but Gerry hangs on to the levers 
and won't let go.

HENRY:
"Gerry, what do you think you're doing? Let go. You'll exhaust the power 
batteries."

GERRY:
"Sorry, Henry. But I've got no choice."

CUT TO:

EXT STADIUM.
There is a close shot of the weird technician leaping forward to deal with the 
two dangerous 'hot' lasers as he tries to compensate for Sparks' earlier 
sabotage. He lines them up again and fires at the blimp, just disappearing over 
the rim of the stadium. Both beams hit the top edge of the stadium wall and 
there is a shower of sparks where they hit.

CUT BACK TO:

INT. BLIMP CABIN.
The interior of the blimp cabin. Gerry is still hanging on to the controls and 
staring out the window as he sees the beams vainly trying to cut up past the 
edge of the stadium wall. There is fire and smoke beginning to come up from this 
spot and now even Henry and the others can see this.

HENRY:
"Hey, what's happening down there? Those aren't supposed to be 'hot' lasers. We 
could have been hit."

At this point the camera shot, which still favours a view through the ports, 
shows the blimp moving well back from the stadium then turning out of range of 
the laser beams.

Gerry at last relaxes his grip on the levers and Henry throttles the screaming 
motors back to a more normal pitch. Henry then sits back in his chair and 
surveys Gerry grimly while Mary and Janey look on anxiously in the background.

HENRY:
"All right, Gerry; time for explanations. What, exactly, is going on?"

Gerry is about to reply but is cut off abruptly by a sharp explosion in one of 
the control panels which immediately starts buzzing and sparking with short 
circuits accompanied by smoke pouring out. Gerry immediately dives across and 
grabs a fire extinguisher under a panel. He pulls it out and rapidly starts 
spraying the fire in the control board.

GERRY:
"This thing isn't safe, Henry. We've got to get off it as fast as we can."

Henry immediately puts his attention back on the controls and tries each of them 
in turn. All his efforts meet with failure, however.

HENRY:
"The controls aren't responding. I think that short circuit - or whatever it was 
- has affected the on-board flight control computer."

Move to Gerry again as he looks out the window and the camera shows a tall 
apartment building dead ahead of them.

GERRY:
"Henry! - look over there. If we could lose height, we might be able to get off 
on that roof."

CUT TO: 

HENRY:
"Okay, Gerry, I'll try to reduce our lift. If I cut the motors, there may be 
enough power left to do it."

He manipulates the controls.

CUT TO:

EXT. APARTMENT BLOCK.
A long shot exterior view of the apartment block with the blimp drifting up to 
it in the background.
CUT TO:

INT. BLIMP CABIN.
Inside the gondola. Henry is still busy at the controls and the others are 
anxiously looking out of the windows.





GERRY:
"I think it's working, Henry. We seem to be getting lower."

HENRY:
"Tell me if we get too low. The instruments are out so I don't know how fast 
we're coming down."

GERRY:
"Right!"

CUT TO:

EXT EXTERIOR VIEW OF BLIMP.
An outside long shot of the blimp again. It is steadily losing height as it 
drifts down towards the building in its path.

CUT TO:

INT. BLIMP CABIN.
The interior of the blimp cabin. There is a tense silence as we see the roof of 
the building slowly swinging up through the view ports.

CUT TO:

EXT VIEW OF BLIMP.
A view of the blimp can now be seen from the roof of the building. It looms 
closer and closer as it comes down.

CUT TO:

INT. BLIMP CABIN.
The blimp cabin again. We can see the edge of the roof nearly below the 
gondola's window ports.

GERRY:
"Steady, Henry. I'm going to open the door now so Mum and Janey can jump as soon 
as we're low enough."

Gerry goes over to the door and starts to unlock the door handle. Move to a 
close up view as he pushes the handle down then his expression changes and he 
pushes it up again.
GERRY:
"Sorry, Henry - the handle's stiff or stuck or something. Can you lend a hand?"

Henry leaves the controls and comes over as Gerry makes way for him. He gives a 
great heave on the handle and the door swings open quite suddenly, sending Henry 
sprawling out.

CUT TO:

EXT APARTMENT BLOCK ROOF.
A wide view from outside shows the gondola bumping on to the roof just as the 
door opens. Henry is spilled out and Gerry rapidly pushes his Mum and Janey out 
after him then starts to close the door again. The others immediately scream in 
panic at this.

JANEY, MARY AND HENRY: (almost together)
"Gerry. Gerry. Come on, jump quickly."

Gerry calls to them from the door as the gondola surges upwards with the sudden 
decrease in weight.

GERRY:
"It's okay. I'm going to stay on board and try to bring it down somewhere safe. 
This thing is too dangerous to leave flying around on its own at night."

Mary and Janey scream at him again and Henry shouts in exasperation.

HENRY:
"Come down, Gerry. You're not qualified to fly that thing."

Even as he says this, however, it can be seen that the blimp is already too high 
for Gerry to jump safely. He just waves cheerfully to them as the blimp drifts 
off again.

CUT BACK TO:

EXT STADIUM.
The rock group in the stadium is bowing to thunderous applause and screaming 
adulation from the crowd. They then launch into a hard driving rock number with 
a strong, pulse-pounding beat. This music is played as background to the next 
series of events and counterpoints them as they happen.

CUT TO:

INT. BLIMP CABIN.
Gerry is sitting down at the controls of the blimp. He uses his wrist 
communicator to call Mike.




GERRY:
"Mike. Mike, come in please. I need your help."

CUT TO:

EXT STREET OUTSIDE STADIUM.
Mike and the twins are now hiding behind some trash cans on a street opposite 
the stadium. Mike is listening to his wrist communicator and whoops with delight 
as he turns to the twins. 

MIKE:
"It's Gerry"

CUT BACK TO:

INT. BLIMP CABIN.
We see Gerry and hear Mike's voice from Gerry's wrist-comm.

MIKE:
"Okay, Gerry. Janey just told us what happened. Mum and Henry are calling the 
Airship charter company to rescue you."

GERRY:
"Great, but I think they'll be too late. We'll have to do this ourselves. Listen 
- find Sparks and tell him about that loaded dump truck I saw in the building 
site beside the crane. If you can get it going, follow me. I'm out of control 
and drifting towards the dock area by the river. Meet me there and I'll try to 
get low enough so you can tow me to a safe place."

CUT TO:

EXT STREET OUTSIDE STADIUM.
The weird-looking technician is now outside the stadium and frowning up into the 
sky. He can be seen turning slowly while adjusting the tuning control on a 
small, but powerful looking, hand receiver set. As he does so, we hear Mike's 
voice coming from it.
MIKE:
"Gotcha, Gerry. We're on our way."

At this, the Tektron-controlled technician lowers the receiver and we cut to a 
camera view along the axis of the aerial. The focus pulls and we see Mike and 
the twins scurrying out from behind their hiding place across the street and 
running off.


Move to the technician again and we see him dial in a combination on the 
transceiver then lift it to a speaking position. He has an evil smile on his 
face as he begins to speak.
TECH:
"This is Mr. N.Theta."

CUT TO:

EXT DUSK. DERELICT AREA NEAR RIVER.
We see wide view of a rough looking gang of jet bikers lounging around a 
derelict area next to the river. The sun is just setting and it is nearly dark.

One of the bikers takes a call on his bike's receiver. He beckons over the 
leader of the gang and hands him the transceiver set.

BIKER:
"It's the man with the weird name again. Got another job for us. A 'special'! 
Worth a lotta hard cash, he sez."

The leader just sneers at this as he swaggers over and takes the transceiver to 
answer.

LEADER:
"Oh, yeah! How much?"

CUT TO:

EXT. DUSK. BUILDING SITE.
Mike, Sparks and the twins are at the building site. The camera shows a long 
shot of them in the truck roaring up towards the open gate and through it. 
Whittaker and Bentley come puffing up as the truck thunders past them and out of 
shot.

BENTLEY:
"I think they just stole that truck."

WHITTAKER:
"I can see that, you half-wit. Get the car so we can follow them. They can't get 
far ahead of us in that thing."

CUT TO:

EXT NEARLY DARK. BACK STREETS NEAR DOCKS.
A wide shot of eight of the bikers mounted on their machines roaring through the 
back streets near the docks. Two of the bikes are mounted with pillion 
passengers. This is followed by a few intercut shots divided between the bikers, 
the truck and the Security Agents' car, all following the blimp's overhead 
progress by different routes. It is now getting quite dark and street and 
vehicle lights are coming on everywhere.
CUT TO:

INT. TRUCK.
Inside of the truck, Sparks is driving and Mike is looking at his wrist computer 
screen which shows a lighted blip moving across a grid map.

MIKE:
"Left here, Sparks. We're close to the dock area now, but hurry, we need to get 
there before Gerry drifts any further."

CUT TO:

EXT DARK. STREET SCENE. STREET LIGHTS ARE NOW ON.
An outside view of the truck shows it reaching an intersection and swinging left 
round the corner. Even as it does so, the Agents' car comes into shot and passes 
them going the wrong way. Both their heads shoot round as they see this.

CUT TO:

The biker gang suddenly swinging out of the opposite corner and turning right to 
pursue the truck. There is nearly a head-on collision with the Agents' car and 
they both swing wildly to avoid each other. The bikers are more manoeuvrable, 
however, and swerve past.

CUT TO:

INT. AGENTS' CAR.
In the inside of the Security Agents' car, Whittaker is beating the luckless 
Bentley over the head and screaming at him.

WHITTAKER:
"Turn around, you numbskull! They're going the other way."

CUT TO:

EXT OUTSIDE OF AGENTS' CAR.
An outside view of the car weaving all over the road as it narrowly avoids other 
traffic at the intersection.

CUT TO:

INT. BLIMP CABIN.
Gerry in the blimp. The camera angles past him in the view ports and shows the 
river and dock area in front. He uses his wrist radio to call Mike again.


GERRY:
"I'm nearly at the docks, Mike. There's enough space now to risk coming down, so 
get ready to catch the mooring line when I lower it."

CUT TO:

INT. TRUCK.
The interior of Mike's truck.

MIKE:
"Right, Gerry We see you."

CUT TO:

EXT OPEN AREA NEAR DOCKSIDE.
A wide angle view showing the blimp slowly coming down in an open area near the 
riverside. Followed by a view of the truck moving in below it.

There is a close shot of Lily leaning out of the truck window with her sister 
holding on to her as the blimp mooring line comes down close to the truck. 
Sparks then drives the truck in closer still and Lily grabs for the line. She 
misses and the camera tracks alongside as Sparks slows and swerves alongside the 
line. As he does this Lily succeeds in grabbing it. She then quickly hauls it in 
and ties it to a handgrip on the panel in front of her. The kids can all be seen 
cheering as she finishes this.

CUT TO:

EXT. HIGH ANGLE VIEW LOOKING DOWN ON THE OPEN AREA.
A wide angle view from above of the jet bikers roaring up beside the truck and 
circling it dangerously close.

CUT TO:

EXT GROUND LEVEL VIEW OF OPEN AREA.
The bikers charge their machines in close to the front of the truck causing 
Sparks to swerve wildly towards the side of the river. Their plan is quite 
clear.

CUT BACK TO:

INT. BLIMP 

GERRY:
"What's happening, Mike? Who are those guys?"

CUT TO:

INT. TRUCK.
MIKE:
"I don't know, Gerry, but they can't hurt us inside the truck. We'll be okay as 
long as we keep moving."

Move to a shot of the two bikes with the pillion passengers seen through the 
truck windscreen. They are up ahead of the slow moving truck and swerve suddenly 
to face it. The camera zooms into a tighter shot and we see that there are 
batteries of mini-missiles mounted on the front of the bikes. The pillion 
passengers have hand-held radio controllers which they use to launch two of the 
rockets towards the truck. The kids all yell as Sparks swerves again.

CUT TO:

EXT TRUCK.
An exterior view of the truck. One rocket narrowly misses the windscreen and 
explodes on a corner of the main truck body. The other missile hits the ground 
in front of the truck and explodes almost under the wheel, throwing the truck 
even further over towards the riverside.

CUT TO:

INT. TRUCK.
A shot of the screaming kids inside the truck again as Sparks wrestles with the 
wheel. The camera view shows him careening wildly though piles of boxes and 
bales stacked around the area, scattering everything in sight.

CUT TO:

INT. BLIMP. 

GERRY:
"Those thugs mean business, Mike. Cut the line and get out of there; I'm slowing 
you down too much."

CUT TO:

INT. TRUCK.

MIKE:
"No way, Gerry. We might get away if we let go, but they'd get you for sure. 
Hang on, the twins are going to try something."

Mike turns to the twins and the camera angle shows them opening the door and 
moving out with their jet skate-boards under their arms. There is a closer shot 
looking out the truck door as Lily then Lulu drop out and on to their jet 
boards.

CUT TO:
EXT. VIEW OF TRUCK.
The camera tracks with them as their jet-boards fire and they streak out and 
swerve across two of the bikers coming up on the inside. The two girls lean over 
and haul on the bikes' handles till the machines collide with one another and 
spill their riders on to the road with yells of rage.

CUT TO:

INT. TRUCK.
Inside the truck Mike and Sparks cheer happily at this then Mike speaks urgently 
into his wrist phone again.

MIKE:
"Lily, Lulu. Take out the bikers controlling the rockets first. They're the 
dangerous ones."

CUT TO:

EXT DOCK AREA AND STREETS.
A rear view of the docks past the truck shows a long shot of the two missile-
carrying bikes in the background turning round and pursuing the truck which has 
gone past them. They ready another shot. But Lily and Lulu dodge one or two of 
the other bikers and sweep round towards the missile bikes. They accelerate side 
by side in a straight line right for them.

The bikers are also heading side by side straight at Lily and Lulu towards the 
back of the fleeing truck. The pillion passengers on the back are almost 
standing up in their saddles with the radio controllers in their hands to make 
sure they get a clear shot.

As we get a closer tracking shot of Lily and Lulu again we see Lily tapping on 
her right wrist and gesturing to Lulu. Lulu just grins and nods.

There is now a long shot taken from just behind the missile bikes. We see two of 
the rockets firing again and leaping up into the sky towards the truck.

At this point Lily and Lulu arrive almost opposite them. Lily flings out her 
right hand and aims it at her sister and a spring-loaded wrist lasso shoots out 
from inside her sleeve. Lulu catches her end and pulls the line taught as they 
separate to each side of the speeding bikes. The line catches the two pillion 
passengers who are upright and brings them crashing to the ground behind.

Move to a shot of the rockets, no longer under control, showing them weaving 
away from their target and diving harmlessly into the river.

CUT TO:

INT. BLIMP.
Gerry shouts with delight at this.
GERRY:
"Power-on, Lily and Lulu! Whoopee!!"

We can hear accompanying shouts of glee from Mike and Sparks over Gerry's wrist 
speaker.

CUT TO:

EXT DOCK AREA.
The lead biker on one of the missile bikes as he comes back with his companion 
to pick up their fallen comrades. He roars at the two men as he comes back.

LEAD BIKER:
"Hurry up and get back on, you stupid bird brains. We need those radio 
controls."

At that point one of them wails out in shock.

BIKER:
"My set's broken."

The lead biker snarls in fury at this but the other biker grins at him stupidly 
and triumphantly holds up the other set.

OTHER BIKER:
"Mine's still working."

Even as he says this, however, we hear the scream of approaching jet boards 
behind him. He turns to see what is happening and Lily and Lulu flash into shot. 
Lulu neatly plucks the control set from the biker's upraised hand with a sweet 
smile and says:

LULU:
"Thank you."

They sweep out of shot again and the grinning biker abruptly loses his grin and 
just looks even more stupid as he watches them go.

The lead biker shouts in rage.

LEAD BIKER:
"Get after them and get that set back."

He doesn't even bother to pick up the two men. He and the other biker just roar 
off leaving the two stranded men running after them, and shouting vaguely to 
come back.

Move to the lead biker roaring up to join his other bewildered men who are 
milling about uselessly.

Just as the lead biker joins them, Lily and Lulu zip into sight again, cheekily 
brandishing the control set.

This is enough to lead the bikers off in pursuit of them instead of the truck - 
which is just what the twins want.

Move to a wide shot of two of the bikes gaining rapidly down a narrow side 
street when the twins suddenly swerve to each side and use their wrist lassos 
again. The loops fall over the two bikers and Lily and Lulu streak back and whip 
round a lamppost and pull the lines taught.

The two bikers crash to the ground as the lassos pull them off.

Lily and Lulu strike each other's hands in congratulation. But, at that point an 
ominous roar is heard and they look round.

Move to two of the bikes now idling slowly up towards them from one end of the 
alley. The bikers are brandishing chains and lengths of pipe in their hands and 
grinning evilly.

Lily and Lulu look concerned as they slowly retreat. Then another roar of sound 
is heard and they turn their heads towards this.

The reverse angle view showing the two missile bikes coming down the street from 
the opposite end to join the two fallen bikers still firmly tied up in the 
lassos.

Lily and Lulu looking at each other in consternation. They are now trapped.

The first two bikers get off their bikes and advance up the street waving their 
weapons menacingly.

At the other end the lead biker and his friend have closed up with the fallen 
bikes to form almost a complete barrier across the street. The lead biker casts 
a withering look at the two tied men then ignores them and calls to the twins.

LEAD BIKER:
"Hey, kids. Why don't you let us have that control set? Just hand it over, nice 
and easy, and maybe we'll let you go."

His companion just laughs nastily at this.

Lily and Lulu retreat slowly back from the looming shapes of the two bikers 
walking up towards them. The twins now look very frightened.

We see the two advancing bikers again. They are getting very close.

Back to Lily and Lulu again. They are both aware that they are now in serious 
trouble.

At that moment, however, Lulu gets an idea and whispers to her sister who nods 
in agreement.

Lulu hastily gets a pair of strange looking metallic gloves out of her jacket 
and puts them on. We move in to a closer shot as we see these click in under the 
sleeves and light up at the wrists.

Move now to a wider view of the twins as they turn and face the advancing men, 
holding out the control set enticingly.

LULU:
"Okay, we give up. Come and get it."

The men close in. One of them sneeringly holds out his hand and Lulu moves to 
put the set in his hand, then at the last second throws it to her sister who is 
already moving away. Lily catches the set and easily dodges round the men who 
are now too close together and surprised to stop her. The two men spin round as 
she flashes away down the alley.

The lead biker shouts in rage and again starts his bike forward.

LEAD BIKER:
"You clowns! Grab the other one, quick!"

Lulu grins warningly up at the two men looming over her.

LULU:
"I wouldn't, if I were you."

The men lunge at her and Lulu grabs their outstretched hands and squeezes. They 
immediately howl in agony and double over to their knees in front of her. Lulu 
explains conversationally as she does this.

LULU:
"These power-gloves were invented by my brother and his friend. Good, aren't 
they?"

At this point, the lead biker and his friend come into shot beside them on their 
bikes.

LEAD BIKER:

"You miserable..."

Just then he looks down in shock as the missile carrier on the front of his bike 
abruptly spits sparks and another mini-missile shoots out.

We see Lily in the background guiding the missile with the control set.

Move to a long shot as the missile curves up into the sky and then loops over 
and starts to come down towards the lead biker and his friend.

As they see this, the lead biker and his friend suddenly realise what is 
happening. They scream in panic and scorch off on their bikes with the missile 
in hot pursuit. They streak past Lily who smiles and waves as they pass.

LILY:
"Bye!"

The two bikers followed by the missile shoot out of the end of the alley and 
straight towards the dockside. They are so busy looking behind them in fright 
that they don't notice where they are heading and roar straight off the dockside 
into the river with a tremendous splash. The missile dives in right after them. 
There is an explosion which hurls the two bikers out of the water with howls of 
agony before they splash back in again.

Move back to Lily skating up beside Lulu. Lulu finishes off the two kneeling men 
in front of her by letting their hands go and using her power gloves to bang 
their helmeted heads together with a loud 'bong'.

CUT TO:

EXT OPEN AREA AT DOCKSIDE.
Mike and Sparks stand beside the truck and hold on to the line from the truck as 
the blimp comes down in an open space beside the river and Gerry jumps out. He 
runs up to them.

GERRY:
"Great stuff, Mike and Sparks! Are the twins okay?"

MIKE:
"Yeah, sure. They just called in to say they had finished off those crazy 
bikers. So..."

At this moment they hear the noise of a powerful car gliding up near them. The 
camera angle widens to show Whittaker and Bentley diving out, running over and 
grabbing the three boys.

WHITTAKER:
"Got you little devils, at last! Now we are going to make you pay for all the 
insults we've had to suffer. Tell them the charges."

BENTLEY:
"Breaking into a locked building site. Theft of a truck. Speeding and reckless 
driving of same by under-age persons. Theft of a chartered airship and hazardous 
flying of same by an unauthorised pilot. Illegal parking of airship without the 
authorised safeguards."

Gerry squirms in Whittaker's grasp and protests indignantly.

GERRY:
"But none of that's true! The blimp was out of control and dangerous. We just 
borrowed the truck to rescue it."

WHITTAKER:
"Maybe. But we're going to take you to the Institute Headquarters and press 
those charges anyway unless..."

We see Mike and Sparks being held by Bentley.

MIKE:
"Unless what, you overmuscled pea brain?"

WHITTAKER:
"Unless you co-operate and tell us the secret location of that traitor, your 
father - Dr. Clark Melville."

Mike struggles vainly to break free of Bentley's firm grip.

MIKE:
"Our Dad isn't a traitor. He was framed with a bunch of false evidence and if 
you had any brains at all, you'd know it. So why don't you take your co-
operation and go dive in the river."

Whittaker turns to Bentley and addresses him grimly.

WHITTAKER:
"All right! We'll see about that! March them over to the car."

Move to Lily and Lulu arriving unobserved near the truck and watching this. They 
quickly confer for a moment then Lulu zips out of shot.

Move back to the three boys being sullenly hustled over to the car when Lulu 
suddenly whips into sight in front of them.
LULU:
"Excuse me, but we'd like you to let our brothers and friend go, please."

WHITTAKER
"Get out of the way, or we'll arrest you too. Move it, Bentley, we've wasted 
enough time as it is."

Move to Lily who has sneaked quietly up behind Whittaker as he is saying this. 
She has a length of rope in her hand with a loop on the end. She quickly throws 
the loop over Whittaker's shoulders and pulls it tight. Whittaker gives a yell 
of rage and tries to turn round, which allows Gerry to break free. 

WHITTAKER:
"Get this thing off me."

Even as he says this, however, the camera tracks back to reveal the fact that 
the rope is the mooring line from the blimp which, free of the restraint of the 
heavily laden truck, is beginning to rise up and drift away.

Bentley looks stupefied as his boss begins to rise slowly into the air, 
screaming in outrage as it happens. Bentley promptly lets go of Mike and Sparks 
and makes a dive for his boss. He manages to tackle Whittaker round the legs as 
he lifts but, far from helping to bring his boss down, he is also lifted into 
the air.

The kids all laugh in delight as the two raving, screaming men are slowly 
transported up into the air along the dockside.

At this point a screaming klaxon can be heard approaching and the camera pans 
round to show a large hover van with the letters 'ICARUS AIRSHIP CHARTERS' on 
its side comes swishing up, followed by another car. The car rapidly disgorges 
Mary, Henry and Janey as a couple of airship service men get out of the van and 
dash off in pursuit of the dangling men. Janey rushes over to Gerry and hugs him 
tightly as Mary and Henry come up beside him.

MARY:
"Gerry, are you all right? We got here as soon as we could."

GERRY:
"Sure, Mum. Everything's under...well...sort of under control."

He looks over at the receding blimp as we cut to a closer view of the two men 
yelling in fright as they sway towards a barbed wire fence which catches 
Bentley's legs. As the blimp rises and tugs them away, Bentley's grip pulls 
Whittaker's trousers down to reveal a pair of oversized pink boxer shorts 
flapping in the wind below his jacket. Bentley slides down as the trousers end 
up around Whittaker's ankles and he clings on there grimly. The airship men can 
be seen still in pursuit in the background of the shot but unable to help.

Move to another view of the two men being pulled out over the river. The airship 
men rush up to the edge of the docks but are too late to stop the agents being 
hauled out. The blimp bobs downwards and ducks Whittaker and Bentley in the 
river as it hauls them onwards. They arise soaking, with Whittaker still 
screaming all the insults he can think of as they carry on, with Bentley doing a 
walking on the water act. The airship men can only watch helplessly as the men 
and airship move off down the river. The two airship men turn to go saying:

AIRSHIP MAN:
"Come on, let's get back to the van. We should be able to snag them when they 
get to the bridge."

Move back to a shot of the kids with Mary and Henry. Henry just looks at this 
strange scene in total mystification.

HENRY:
"What happened to the airship? - and what are those two men doing?"

Gerry casts a sly look at the rest of the kids who are trying hard to look the 
picture of perfect innocence. He shrugs and says:

GERRY:
"Well we managed to get it down and moored okay, then those men came along and 
insisted on taking over from us. What could we do? We just had to let them 
handle it their way."

The rest of the kids all nod in agreement at this as Gerry looks warily at his 
mother. Mary, of course, isn't fooled a bit. She just gives him a very old-
fashioned look then says:
MARY:
"Well the airship rescue people are here now so let's get back to the hotel. My 
radio-pager told me there's an urgent call waiting there for me from Sky Base."

She turns to Henry.

"Would you like to join us, Henry?"

Henry throws up his hands in horror.




HENRY:
"Oh no! I'm going to take you to your hotel then go home. Any other adventures 
you want to get involved in - include me out."

Mary smiles ruefully at this.

MARY:
"All right, Henry. You're a good friend - and I promise one day I will explain 
all this to you."

With this they all start moving back towards Henry's car and we get a close-up 
of Mike's face whispering to the others.

MIKE:
"A message from Sky Base?"

They all look up at the night sky as the scene dissolves.

INT. A ROOM ON SKY BASE.
The scene moves to a view of Amber in a small brightly-lit room pacing up and 
down and biting her lips. Suddenly there is a loud beep and she goes over and 
sits down in front of a video-phone screen which clears as the camera tracks 
into a tighter shot. It shows the Melville family all gathered round a couch 
facing the screen.

AMBER:
"Hi, Aunt Mary. Hi gang. Oh, I'm so glad to see you."

We see Mary replying on the video-phone screen.

MARY:
"Hello, Amber. We're glad to see you too, but what's the matter, dear?"

Back to a close up of Amber's face.

AMBER:
"Oh, Aunt Mary, I didn't know what to do. I just had to call...s-s-someone..."

Her face crumples into tears as she tries to carry on speaking.

"Th-th-there's just been a terrible accident with the shuttle bringing Mum and 
Dad back up here to Sky Base. There was an engine malfunction and now it's 
drifting off into space out of control."

We move back to Mary on the video screen and she raises her hand to quieten the 
confused babble of voices in the background as the kids all try to speak at the 
same time.

MARY:
"All right, darling. You'd better tell us all about it."

As Mary finishes speaking, Amber nods and wipes her eyes. She starts to speak 
and we dissolve to:

INT. HOTEL ROOM.
The hotel room where the Melville family are gathered. Mary is facing them all 
and
looking very serious.

MARY:
"All right, all right! I agree that your cousin Amber needs some support until 
we know the outcome of the Space corps rescue attempts, but there's no point in 
any of us going up to Sky Base. It would be much more sensible for Amber to come 
down here and stay with us for a while."

There is silence for a moment then Mike shakes his head worriedly.

MIKE:
"I'm sorry Mum, but there's another reason for us to go up there urgently - 
Daddy-Long-Legs."

MARY:
"What do you mean, Mike?"

MIKE:
"Daddy-Long-Legs is the orbital computer system which controls almost everything 
in space - including Sky Base docking guidance. That shuttle accident should 
never have happened. I smell Tektrons. And, if they're up in space and using 
Daddy-Long-Legs, it means big trouble. I really think we need to get up there 
and investigate."

MARY:
"And if it is Tektrons up there, you could all get killed in the same kind of 
accident. No thank you!"





MIKE:
"No Mum, they're not stupid enough to pull that trick again so soon; too much 
investigation going on. In fact, this would probably be the safest time to go."

Mary looks very determined.

MARY:
"Well, you are not going to go. I absolutely forbid it."

With this there is a tremendous roar of sound and the shot dissolves to:

F/X SHOT. NEAR SKY BASE.
An exterior shot of a shuttle curving up towards Sky Base.

CUT TO:

INT. SHUTTLE PASSENGER CABIN.
We see Gerry, Janey and Mike all sitting together as a smiling stewardess pulls 
herself past them on a line down the centre aisle. Gerry and Janey are holding 
hands and Gerry turns and grins at Mike.

GERRY:
"See, I told you Mum would come round. Especially after I told her Amber was the 
great secret love of your life."

MIKE:
"Very funny. I like Amber, but it's only because she's bright, that's all. She's 
nearly as intelligent as I am, in fact."

JANEY:
"We know that, Mike. I mean, it obviously wouldn't have anything to do with the 
fact that Amber's a very pretty girl, would it?"

MIKE:
"Aw, shut up"

Gerry and Janey just grin at this and relax back in their seats.

CUT TO:

INT. LAVALLE'S ROOM ON SKY BASE.
Lavalle comes out of the secret door into the laboratory where they had 
previously been seen. The camera tracks in as he calls out to Chalmers who hands 
over a small polished canister he has been working on to one of his assistants 
and hurries over.
LAVALLE:
"Chalmers, come over here. I have just heard from our masters that their trap on 
Earth has failed and some of this Counter Force team are now on their way here. 
They must be destroyed before they can find out anything about our plans. 
Another 'accident' will have to be arranged as soon as possible - including 
Amber Galloway. Do you understand?"

Chalmers looks unhappy about this again and protests it in the only way he can 
think of.

CHALMERS:
"Yes, Professor, I understand the danger. But surely we must give first priority 
to completing our immediate work. Our schedule is already very tight and if 
we..."

LAVALLE:
"I am aware of the schedule, Chalmers. I take it we are still launching on 
time?"

The camera tracks Lavalle and Chalmers as they move further down into the 
laboratory, talking as they go and referring to the various bits of apparatus 
that can be seen being assembled by several white-clad technicians.

CHALMERS:
"Yes, of course, Professor. Thanks to our masters' control of the Daddy-Long-
Legs computer our project is proceeding exactly as planned."

He indicates the scene on a large display screen as they come up to it, which 
shows another area of the space station where two technicians are loading the 
same type of canister he had been handling earlier into a hatch which has 
'DANGER - JETTISON HATCH' in large red letters over it. As we watch, the 
technicians close the hatch and pull a handle, which causes a loud hiss and 
thump to sound behind the hatch.

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. OUTSIDE SKY BASE.
An outside view of the canister being ejected from the side of the station and 
we see it hurtling down towards the curve of the Earth beneath.

CUT BACK TO:

INT. LAVALLE'S ROOM.



CHALMERS:
"As you can see, the miniature bio-gas capsules are bombed into a different part 
of the Earth's ozone layer every day. And look at this."

He enters a code on a nearby terminal and the screen changes to show a rather 
'snowy' picture of a grim looking Earth news broadcaster talking against a 
background of charts, diagrams and Earth views.

BROADCASTER:
"More reports have come in to swell the already alarming statistics of 
widespread deteriorations in the Earth's ozone layer. Investigations by several 
leading scientific bodies have, so far, been unable to pinpoint the cause of 
these deteriorations. Research is still continuing but Government agencies 
throughout the world are becoming increasingly concerned about the harmful 
effects to life which may be brought about from exposure to dangerous solar 
radiations let in by the thinning ozone shield."

As this speech finishes there are several scenes of the devastation that is 
being caused by the vanishing ozone layer accompanied by a low moaning of 
disturbing music. Scenes of parched fields with desiccated, dying crops. Herds 
of dying animals. Pictures of people and animals quite clearly suffering from 
advanced forms of skin cancer. It goes on and on then finally stops.

Move back to Lavalle who smiles triumphantly then leans over and switches the 
screen off.

LAVALLE:
"Excellent! The capsules are too small to be detected and burn up anyway. The 
gas tears holes in the ozone layer and the fools down there panic precisely as 
we expected. Working for our masters is such a joy, Chalmers. At last, I know my 
genius has been recognised."

CUT TO:

INT. DOCKING AREA AND ARRIVAL LOUNGE OF SKY BASE.
We now move to the Sky Base docking area where a stream of people are coming out 
of the shuttle and along a glass walled passage leading to the Arrival Lounge. 
Gerry, Janey and Mike can be seen among them.

CUT TO:


INT. ARRIVAL LOUNGE.
There is a wide view of people in the Arrival lounge where Amber and Biff are 
standing glaring at each other. They have evidently been having some sort of an 
argument. 

AMBER:
"Of course they won't be a nuisance. They're too intelligent for that - 
especially my cousin, Mike, who's a genius - his I.Q. is nearly as high as mine, 
as a matter of fact. So there's no need for you to worry."

BIFF:
"Maybe, but they have no experience in space so they'll have to be escorted all 
the time in case they get into trouble. It took you long enough to get used to 
being here, remember - and that was with me helping most of the time. So who's 
going to look after them? I can see it coming - me again."

AMBER:
"Oh dry up, Biff. I already told you, I'll look after them. Now you promised..."

BIFF:
"Okay, okay, hot-shot. I promised I'd be nice to your cousins - including Mike, 
the genius - and I will be. But I just don't see any point in them coming up 
here. The Space Corps are doing everything that..."

Suddenly Amber smiles, waves and hurries forward.

AMBER:
"It's them, Biff. Come on."

Gerry, Janey and Mike come into shot and move forward as Mike shouts excitedly.

MIKE:
"There she is. Hey, Amber."

They all meet in the middle and hug each other. Biff is seen coming rather 
hesitantly into sight behind Amber.

AMBER:
"Gerry, Mike - and you brought Janey too. Wow! I can't believe it! It's going to 
be like old times again. Except for...well, you know..."

As Amber trails off Janey gives her another big reassuring hug.
JANEY:
"Yeh, we know, Amber. We were all real sorry about what's happened to your Mum 
and Dad. That's why we decided to come up and see you. If there's anything we 
can do to help, just name it."

At this point Amber turns, links her arm with Biff and pulls him into the little 
group with her.

AMBER:
"Thanks, Janey. Oh, I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine, Squad Leader 
Bill Baker of the Space Corps. He was on the first rescue attempt when they 
tried to catch the shuttle with rocket sleds. Bill, this is my friend, Janey, 
and my two cousins, Gerry and Mike."

During all this, Mike has been sullenly watching Amber's proprietorial handling 
of Biff and doesn't like it at all. However, he smiles back sweetly as Biff 
smiles and shakes hands with all of them, Mike last.

BIFF:
"Hi there. Just call me Biff. All my friends d-awooooo!"

Mike stops smiling at Biff's howl of pain and manages to look very concerned and 
apologetic.

MIKE:
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Biff. I was using an articulated power-arm to help me carry 
the baggage in. I was so excited at meeting you I guess I forgot to switch it 
off."

BIFF:
"An articulated - what?"

Mike grins and shrugs modestly while Gerry, Janey and especially Amber look on 
with growing suspicion.

MIKE:
"Just a little invention of mine...and, uh...I'm real sorry, Biff. How's your 
hand?"

Biff massages his hand while glaring at Mike then remembers his promise to 
Amber. He casts a glance in her direction and forces himself to smile and carry 
on.

BIFF:
"Oh, don't worry about it, Mike - old buddy. Listen, I booked a robo-slider so 
why don't we all jump on and I'll take you to the hotel. It's the Sky Base 
Hilton, of course - the best there is! You might find it a bit expensive 
unfortunately, especially on top of your expensive trip up here, but it's very 
comfortable for a short visit. How long did you say you'd be staying, by the 
way?"

So saying he starts guiding them all over to the robo-slider and gets everyone 
seated with their bags. There is a music build-up and the shot dissolves.

INT. LOUNGE IN THE SKY BASE HILTON.
The next shot shows a beautiful space panorama with the Earth taking up a large 
part of the screen and revolving slowly beneath and to one side. The camera 
slowly tracks back and reveals that this view is actually through a huge 
panorama window in the lounge of the Sky Base Hilton. As the shot widens it 
takes in a view of the kids all seated in a comfortable sitting area next to the 
window. The camera pans round and zooms in slightly on Gerry who has been 
explaining the Counter Force story. The music fades down and we catch the end of 
his speech.

GERRY:
"So, that's about it. Like I said, the Tektrons are a kind of electronic 
artificial intelligence that somehow managed to beam over here to Earth. Now 
they're hiding in our computers and machinery waiting for the day when they'll 
be strong enough to take over. They may even be up here in the Sky Base main-
frame computer. They've managed to spread just about everywhere by using the 
Internet - the ultimate computer virus. Dad discovered them first but he's still 
in hiding because of that Tektron trick to discredit him. He's still secretly 
helping us, but we can't go to the authorities now because no one would believe 
us - the Tektrons are too well hidden. The result is that we've been fighting 
them, more or less on our own, ever since - and they are very, very dangerous."

Move to Amber and Biff sitting side by side listening to all this. The 
expression on Amber's face is open-mouthed and slightly awe-struck. The 
expression on Biff's face is totally disbelieving and disgusted. As Gerry 
finishes, Amber gives a little shake of her head and looks at Biff. She sees the 
expression on his face and starts to laugh. She laughs harder and harder, 
finding it difficult to speak through this.

AMBER:
"Oh, wow...! That's the best...I mean, you really had me going there. And you 
all sat there so seriously..."

Move to Gerry, Janey and Mike who look perplexed at this reaction.



AMBER:
"Thanks Gerry, you've really cheered me up. Aren't they great, Biff?"

Biff swallows what he had been about to say and just gives a slightly sick 
smile.

BIFF:
"Oh sure, Amber. Just great! Ah...yeh, well...if you folks will all please 
excuse me - duty calls. Nice meeting you and I expect I'll see you all later 
some time."

He gets up and starts to move away. Mike has to make room for him to get by and 
he smiles at Biff as he passes and holds out his hand to shake. Biff is now wary 
of this and pulls his hand back.

MIKE:
"Well, thanks for all your help, Biff - old buddy. What can I say? - except - 
you've been a real Neanderthal."

Amber glares at Mike as she walks over to the door with Biff.

AMBER:
"Yes, thanks for everything, Biff. You've been great!"

BIFF: (looking suspiciously back at Mike)
"Sure, Amber. By the way, what's a Nea...? Neande...?

Amber hustles him hastily out the door.

AMBER:
"Oh nothing! It just means someone who's quite - sort of - strong. Anyway, don't 
worry about that; I'll see you later when you come off duty. Bye, now. Bye. 
Uuurgh Mike!!"

Amber strides furiously back to join the others.

AMBER:
"Mike, that was absolutely disgraceful! I don't know what you've got against 
Biff."

MIKE:
"Nothing - apart from the fact that he's an intellectual pygmy disguised as a 
gorilla."



GERRY:
"Hey, power-down, Mike. That was uncalled for, and you know it!"

MIKE:
"Aw, come on, Gerry. Can't you see what he's like?"

AMBER:
"All right, Mike - I can see you don't like Biff. But you and Gerry and Janey 
are supposed to be my friends - that's why you came up here, isn't it? Well, 
Biff is my friend too. He's also one of the Space Corps experts who are working 
non-stop to help get my Mum and Dad back safely. So, if you can't make an effort 
to get along with him, I think you might as well go back home again, right now."

There is a short silence. Mike looks at the other faces around him and realises 
he is beaten.

MIKE:
"Okay, okay! I'm sorry, Amber. You obviously think the guy's wonderful, so I'll 
try to be nice to him for your sake. I just wish you'd realise we aren't lying 
to you, though."

AMBER:
"If you're referring to that fairy-tale you were all telling me earlier..."

JANEY:
"Hey, hold on, Amber. That's one thing Mike doesn't have to apologise for. He's 
not a liar, you know. And neither are we."

AMBER:
"But that was a joke, wasn't it..."

The three faces look at her very seriously and Amber is now thoroughly confused.

AMBER:
"You mean, it wasn't a joke? Then - I don't understand."





MIKE:
"Listen, I know I'm not your favourite person at the moment, and I guess what we 
told you is hard to believe, but suppose we could find a way to prove it to 
you?"

AMBER:
"I ... Well, I can't think of any reason why you should all be putting me on 
just now. All right, I'll go along with it, for the moment. But, I warn you, 
Mike - whatever low opinion you have of Biff's intelligence - just remember I'm 
not stupid! So, this - old buddy had better be good."

With that the shot dissolves.

INT. CORRIDOR AND OFFICE IN SKY BASE.
The next scene shows the kids all walking along an empty corridor on Sky Base. 
Amber stops in front of a door and keys in a code which opens it. They go in to 
a disused looking office with a small computer terminal at the desk. They all 
immediately cluster round this.

AMBER:
"This terminal is due to be renovated soon - that's why it's not being used much 
any more - bit it's still connected up and it still works okay."

Mike leans forward and examines it closely. He then leans over the back and 
attaches a small disc to the wiring at the back of the terminal. After this he 
extends his arm to show Amber his wrist comp/comm with a small display unit on 
it.

Move to a close shot of this as he begins his explanation then widens to show 
Mike's face and Amber.

MIKE:
"That thing I attached puts out a low-power jamming field which will isolate 
this terminal. Now, if you look here - this scanner was designed by Dad to 
detect activity on the 24 milli-micron wave-band - which is what the Tektrons 
operate on. As you can see it's registering a very high reading - proof that the 
Tektrons are here - but when we use the anti-Tektron maser weapon the Tektrons 
will be destroyed and the reading will drop to zero. Got it?"

Amber nods her understanding.

We then move to a wider shot of them all as Mike takes what looks like a fat pen 
from his pocket. He aims carefully at the terminal and squeezes the clip near 
the end. A faint buzz can be heard coming from it but even as he does this an 
alarm bell goes off with a sudden shocking effect. The kids all look up startled 
at this. Amber is the first to react.

AMBER:
"That's a radiation hazard warning."

She lifts her own wrist terminal, manipulates a control and looks at the display 
screen. A quick cut to the screen in close-up shows a read-out giving the 
section of the station where the hazard is. Amber's face suddenly looks utterly 
horrified.

AMBER:
"Oh, no! The location of the hazard is right here in this room. Mike, what have 
you done?"

CUT TO:

INT. LAVALLE'S ROOM.
There is a wide view of Lavalle and his men in another part of the station. They 
are all looking at a display screen with a diagram of the station and flashing 
lights blinking on it. Tighten in to a closer shot of Lavalle.

LAVALLE:
"Got them! Our masters were right; they are trying to interfere with our plans."

He keys a button on the control panel and the display screen changes to show 
some of the Sky Base Security men pouring out of a door and running swiftly down 
a corridor.

CHALMERS:
"That's Station Security on it's way now, Professor. They will soon find them, I 
think."

LAVALLE:
"No, they will not, but some of my own men disguised as Security will. Then, 
with a little bit of careful manipulation, I think we can get rid of all our 
troublesome spies permanently."

CUT BACK TO:

INT. DISUSED OFFICE.
The kids are still in the room with the alarm ringing. They are all worried and 
Amber is looking angrily at Mike who is defending himself indignantly.


MIKE:
"I keep telling you - I checked with Baby and there's no radiation hazard. This 
is just another Tektron trick to get us into trouble - or worse."

GERRY:
"He's right, Amber. The maser weapons we use are totally harmless to anything 
but Tektrons."

AMBER:
"Okay, okay - but Station Security will be here any minute and they'll never 
believe your Tektron story. We've got to get out of here and make sure they 
can't find us. Now listen, I know my way around here so you'd all better follow 
me - and, whatever you do, don't split up - this place is like a maze if you 
don't know where you're going."

Amber moves to the door. She opens it and peeks out. She then turns back and 
hastily beckons the others over.

AMBER:
"Come on, the corridor's clear."

CUT TO:

INT. CORRIDOR ON SKY BASE.
We see an exterior shot of the door. They all hurry out the door and run off 
down the corridor.

CUT TO:

INT. ANOTHER CORRIDOR.
A wide shot of six Security men hurrying along a corridor in another part of the 
station. They disappear round a corner, but at that point a door opens and four 
more security men come out. They watch the others go off and, as their leader 
starts speaking, it becomes obvious they are Lavalle's men.

LEADER:
"All right, that's the real security out of the way checking that false 
radiation alarm. That leaves us free to deal with those spies instead of them. 
Keep your comm channels open so the Professor can guide us to the right area. 
Once we're closer we can use the infra-red sensors to track them by their body 
heat. Let's go."

The men split up into two pairs and head off in different directions.
CUT TO:

INT. CATWALK AND CORRIDORS.
We see a long shot of the kids running along a narrow catwalk high up on the 
side of a wall. They get to the end of the catwalk and go through a door which 
brings them into a corridor with another two smaller corridors branching off it.

GERRY:
"Which one now, Amber?"

Amber pauses undecided which one to take. She cautiously looks around one of the 
corners and is just about to lead them on when she spots two of Lavalle's 
Security men coming in that direction. They give a shout as they see her and 
start running forward. She hastily ducks back and informs the others.

AMBER:
"Security men. Quick - the other way."

They all dive into the other corridor and are brought up short.

CUT TO:

INT. OTHER CORRIDOR WITH GUARDS.
There is a reverse angle shot of another two security men heading towards them 
as well. One of them is the leader we saw earlier. He immediately speaks into 
his wrist phone to the others.

LEADER:
"Got them! They're heading in the right direction, so let's keep them moving."

CUT TO:

INT. CORRIDOR WITH KIDS.
The kids look around them desperately as they start running off along the main 
corridor they are in. Amber speaks as they go.

AMBER:
"I didn't want to go this way, but we've got no choice now. It leads to the 
outer areas of the station which are closed to everyone except authorised 
personnel. That means they're dangerous, so stay close."

They come up to a door at the end of the corridor. Amber enters a code on the 
lock and it opens. They dive through and the door closes after them.

CUT TO:

INT. CORRIDOR WITH GUARDS.
The bogus security men still pursuing the kids. They have all joined together 
again and continue running along the corridor they are in till they come to the 
same door the kids have just gone through. The leader stops here to speak into 
his wrist phone.

LEADER:
"They've gone exactly where you predicted, Professor. There's nobody else around 
so we can deal with them any way you want."

He listens for a moment and then replies again with a nasty smile beginning to 
spread over his face.

"Yes, sir. I understand perfectly."

CUT TO:

INT. CORRIDOR WITH KIDS.
The kids have stopped and are looking cautiously around another corner in the 
corridor they are in. Amber is about to signal them all to follow on then does a 
double take when she notices Mike isn't with them.

AMBER:
"Where's Mike?"

They all look back the way they have come but the bend in the corridor hides the 
view. They look at each other in panic.

GERRY:
"He was with us till just a minute ago. Janey, didn't you see him?"

JANEY:
"Yes, he was falling back for some reason and I told him to hurry up. I thought 
he was right behind me. What do we do now? Can't we call him?"

Gerry lifts his arm to speak into his wrist phone but Amber stops him.

AMBER:
"No, Gerry. We can't use our communicators. All the internal wave bands are 
monitored by Security. They'd home in and find us in seconds. That's why I told 
you we mustn't get split up. Oh, Mike, I could kill you!"

CUT TO:


INT. CORRIDOR WITH GUARDS.
The false security men are running along a section of corridor. When they have 
all passed by, a small hatch in the corridor slides open and Mike wriggles out. 
He checks that they have all gone and whispers into his wrist terminal.

MIKE:
"Okay, Baby, they've gone. Now where's the place that was giving such a heavy 
Tektron reading on the scanner?"

We get a close-up of Mike's wrist terminal with Baby's miniature display screen 
lighting up.

BABY:
"I've plotted the quickest route to it on this reference grid, Mike. Just follow 
the dotted line."

Mike looks around then starts to move off.

MIKE:
"Great, Baby! Keep monitoring the security channels in case they get close and 
use your wide-scan radar to warn me if anyone else is around. End line."

BABY:
"Okay, Boss."

CUT TO:

INT. CORRIDOR WITH KIDS AGAIN. 
They are looking very worried.

AMBER:
"I'm sorry, Gerry, but we can't go looking for him now. We'd just get caught by 
security and that wouldn't help him or us."

GERRY:
"Okay, Amber, I suppose you're right. So, what's next?"

AMBER:
"Well, I noticed that security patrol had tracking equipment with them which 
probably means heat-sensors tuned to our body masses. If that's the case, 
there's only one place they won't find us."



JANEY:
"Where's that?"

AMBER:
"Outside the station. Come on."

CUT TO:

INT. LAVALLE'S ROOM.
Lavalle and Chalmers in the same place they were in before. They are still 
studying the screen with the lighted display which shows the disposition of 
their own men and the kids. Lavalle is issuing instructions into a microphone.

LAVALLE:
"Well done, group leader. Make sure that all the other exits in that section are 
blocked then close up a little more."

CHALMERS:
"I don't understand, Professor. That leaves only one place they can go - and 
surely they won't go there."

LAVALLE:
"Oh, but they will, Chalmers. They will. And that is precisely what our masters 
want."

CUT TO

INT. CORRIDOR WITH MIKE.
Mike comes into sight hurrying along a short corridor with glass walls looking 
out on to space. He keeps looking at the display on his wrist every now and then 
to check that he is moving in the right direction. He comes to a locked door at 
the end. There is a sign with large red lettering on the door announcing: BIO-
CHEMICAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES. NO ADMITTANCE BEYOND THIS POINT. Mike looks at 
this then examines the coding lock by the side of the door. He pulls a wire with 
two small clips out of the side of his wrist terminal and attaches the clips to 
the lock then keys in a sequence on his terminal.

The screen is rapidly running through a sequence of numbers. Eventually it 
bleeps softly and shows only one series of numbers left on the screen.

Mike takes off the clips then keys in that number on the door lock. The door 
swishes open and he peers cautiously through. There is a short corridor with 
glass panelling down to about waist height along one wall with a door near the 
end and some large bins stacked against the end of the corridor next to the 
door. He enters, and bending low, starts to make his way along beneath the glass 
panelling. He finally stops and very carefully raises himself to peek over the 
side and through the glass.
Move to a view looking into the room and it can be seen that this is the same 
laboratory and workshop which Lavalle and Chalmers had been in earlier. Mike 
sees some men walking up to the windows and quickly hides himself behind the 
stack of large bins. The laboratory door opens and two men come out with one of 
the tiny canisters which had been seen earlier on. They are accompanied by 
another man in a technician's coat who pauses to address them as they go.

TECHNICIAN:
"Remember, the next launch window is at 0.8.41 exactly so you'd better hurry in 
case there's anyone else trying to use the ejection hatch at that time. Then get 
straight back here. There'll be another one ready for launch soon."

The men nod and move off. The white-coated technician goes back inside and the 
door closes. Mike breathes a sigh of relief then his eye catches the stencilled 
lettering on the side of the bin next to him. It says: DLX 23: Uni-Corp Space 
Industries. We see his face reacting as he reads this then he speaks softly into 
his wrist phone.

MIKE:
"DLX 23 made by Uni-Corp! That festering bunch of Tektron lovers, I might have 
guessed they'd be tied up in this somewhere. Baby, I've got to find out what's 
in that lab."

BABY:
"Wait, Mike. Extend my sensor antenna please. There's something I want to 
check."

Mike hesitates for a second then shrugs. He quickly extends a long antenna with 
a tiny rotating camera on the end from his wrist computer.

CUT TO:

INT. OPEN SPACE NEAR AIRLOCK.
Gerry, Janey and Amber running through a large open space filled with huge 
packing crates, boxes and other pieces of equipment. They run up to an end wall 
with a huge double door set in the side. This has a large sign which says: 
AIRLOCK - DOCK 7 on it. They pause there and look back behind them. No sign of 
pursuit, so Amber immediately goes to the airlock door. Gerry is horrified.

GERRY:
"Wait a minute, Amber - that's an airlock. We can't go in there."

Cut to Amber who is now busy at the door lock entering a code to open the doors. 
She completes this and eventually the huge doors slowly winch open to each side. 
Amber stops them when there is a big enough gap to let them through. During all 
this she is casting an eye at an unlighted red warning light over another big 
LED sign which says: LOCK AIR PRESSURE - 18, while working on another open panel 
with electrical wiring in it.

AMBER:
"Yes we can. I'm jimmying this air pressure indicator to give a false reading. 
It'll show there's no atmosphere in the airlock so they won't bother to check in 
here."

GERRY:
"Suppose someone decides to come in this dock, Amber? We could be in real 
trouble."

AMBER:
"They won't; this dock's never used. Come on, let's get inside before they spot 
us going in."

The kids go through into the darkened airlock beyond and the door slides shut.

CUT TO:

INT. LAVALLE'S ROOM.
Lavalle with Chalmers listening to a report on a terminal speaker from his false 
security men with great satisfaction.

LEADER: (in voice-over)
"They are now in position, as planned, Professor."

LAVALLE:
"Excellent, group leader. You can get rid of those uniforms now and return 
here."

He switches off the speaker and smiles unpleasantly at Chalmers.

LAVALLE:
"Another most unfortunate accident is about to occur, Chalmers. And the rest - 
as they say - will be history."

CUT TO:

INT. SKY BASE CONTROL CENTRE.
The Sky Base control room where one of the controllers is looking at a readout 
on his terminal screen. He turns to one of his supervisors who is standing 
nearby and addresses him. 




CONTROLLER:
"Sir, we've got a routing change on cargo shuttle 204 coming up from Baikonur. 
Computer routing is indicating it should go to Dock 7 instead of Dock 6."

The supervisor comes over and bends over the controller's shoulder to look at 
his display screen.

SUPERVISOR:
"Hmm! It's unusual but the authorisation code is correct so there must be a 
reason for it. Inform the shuttle and adjust your traffic pattern accordingly."

He turns and moves away as the controller gets on with his job.

CUT TO:

INT. LAVALLE'S ROOM.
Lavalle is sitting next to a viewscreen showing an approaching shuttle. He 
begins to laugh as he sees it.

CUT TO:

INT. THE INSIDE OF THE AIRLOCK.
Back in the airlock with the kids, the camera angle shows it is a very large 
space. It is also quite dark as the only light is from a few dim emergency 
lights high up on the side walls of the chamber. Gerry, Janey and Amber can be 
seen all huddled together, shivering and looking very nervous.

JANEY:
"Boy, it sure is cold!"

AMBER:
"Yes, but the security patrol's sensors won't locate us in here; the inner walls 
are too heavily insulated."

Gerry puts a comforting arm around Janey and rubs her shoulders.

GERRY:
"Don't worry, Janey; it probably won't be for long. Then we can get out and try 
to find Mike - wherever he is"

CUT TO:




INT CORRIDOR OUTSIDE BIO-LAB.
Mike still outside the lab. Baby's antenna is up and looking over the bins and 
through the glass walls of the lab.

BABY:
"I'm picking up heavy security scanning behind that door, Mike."

MIKE:
"Isn't there any way past it?"

BABY:
"Negative. Not unless I can get access to that security program and change it - 
it's on the other side."

MIKE:
"Okay, Baby. I'll have to get back to the others and work out another way to get 
us in. Anyway, we know the Tektrons are here in force now - and planning 
something big."

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. OUTSIDE VIEW OF THE STATION WITH CARGO SHUTTLE. 
There is an outside view of the station and the camera slowly moves in to a 
bulky cargo shuttle with Russian identification markings on it which is closing 
the gap to the station.

CUT TO:

INT INSIDE AIRLOCK.
Gerry, Janey and Amber in the airlock are blowing on their hands and hugging 
themselves in an attempt to keep warm when suddenly all the lights in the Dock 
go on and a strident warning klaxon can be heard. They all look at each other in 
panic.

JANEY:
"What's that?"

AMBER:
"Oh no! I don't believe it! This shouldn't be happening. The airlock's starting 
to cycle for a docking. We've got to get out of here fast."

Amber frantically codes in the door opening code. She waits a second then does 
it again. Nothing happens.



GERRY:
"What's happening, Amber?"

AMBER: (in a very panicky voice)
"The door won't open, Gerry, and they'll start evacuating the air in a minute."

Gerry grabs Amber and shakes her.

GERRY:
"Amber, listen to me. You may not believe it, but this is another Tektron trap 
aimed at us. Those things are totally ruthless and they intend to kill us. Now, 
never mind about getting into trouble; is there any way of contacting anyone 
outside?"

Amber's face looks doubtful but she eventually lifts her arm and keys a button 
on her wrist communicator.

AMBER:
"Hello, Sky Base Central. Come in please. Come in... anybody at all. Can anyone 
hear me? Respond please. Oh, please..."

There is no reply and finally she looks round at Gerry and Janey and shakes her 
head.

AMBER:
"Nothing, Gerry, I'm sorry. I got you both into this... and now we're going to 
die."

CUT TO:

INT. INSIDE OF RUSSIAN SHUTTLE.
Inside of the Russian shuttle's control deck. The pilot is speaking into his 
microphone as he pilots it in. The camera viewpoint shows a view of part of the 
Sky Base station through the control cabin windows. It is now very close.

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. SHUTTLE NEAR AIRLOCK.
Outside, the shuttle can be seen manoeuvring on its attitude jets to match spin 
with the Dock nearby.

CUT TO:


INT. INSIDE AIRLOCK.
Inside the airlock again, there is a rumbling thump followed by a deep, 
whirring, droning noise and the lights start flashing on and off. The kids look 
around them in even greater alarm than ever.

Gerry grabs Amber's arm and shouts in her ear.

GERRY:
"How long does it take to pump out the air?"

AMBER:
"About three minutes, I think. But why?"

GERRY:
"Well that gives us about two minutes to attract some attention before the air 
gets too thin to breathe. Come on, help me quick. I need you both to hold me up 
so I can reach that wiring duct above our heads."

So saying the two girls bend over and hoist Gerry up between them so he can 
reach the wiring duct. He takes out what looks like an ordinary small torch and, 
adjusting it to laser mode, starts cutting into the duct. Meanwhile the droning 
gets louder and louder.

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. SHUTTLE NEAR AIRLOCK.
The shuttle is now directly above the Dock doors and in place.

CUT TO:

INT. INSIDE AIRLOCK.
There is a close shot of Gerry cutting into the duct amid a spray of sparks from 
the intensely bright light of his torch laser. During this we see Amber's and 
Janey's faces looking up; they are panting heavily and struggling to hold on. 
Gerry continues cutting but Amber's and Janey's eyes are beginning to roll and 
finally Amber slumps down followed almost immediately by Janey. As Gerry starts 
to slide down he grabs on to the duct with one hand and, gasping for air, keeps 
cutting with the laser. Finally his eyes can also be seen to start closing as a 
small trickle of blood comes from his nose. His hand falters on the laser as 
another rumbling noise is heard.

CUT TO:

INT. INSIDE OF RUSSIAN SHUTTLE.
Back in the Russian shuttle, the pilot keys in several controls then sits back 
in his seat as the camera view through the windows shows a battery of lights 
coming on over the Dock.

CUT TO:

INT. SKY BASE CONTROL ROOM.
Sky Base control room. We go to a close-up of the same controller as a loud 
beeping suddenly starts to sound and several bright red lights start flashing on 
his board. He immediately keys a switch and starts to speak rapidly into his 
microphone.

CONTROLLER:
"Emergency. Emergency. Dangerous electrical fault in Dock 7. Abort docking cycle 
and get a Space Corps maintenance crew there on the double. Shuttle 204, come in 
please. This is Sky Base Control. Hold your docking procedures till further 
notice. I repeat - hold your docking procedures."

CUT TO:

INT. INSIDE OF AIRLOCK.
We see a close shot of Gerry as he struggles to keep his eyes open and hang on. 
Suddenly there is a loud crash and the droning noise stops and is replaced by a 
loud, fierce hissing as air is rapidly pumped back in. Gerry raises his head as 
the breeze lifts the hair on his forehead slightly and starts to grin before he 
faints clean away.

CUT TO:

INT. LAVALLE'S ROOM ON SKY BASE.
Lavalle glares at the display screen then angrily switches it off before turning 
and striding furiously away. We see Chalmers' worried little face looking after 
him and as the camera tightens the shot on his face, he slowly begins to smile 
as the music builds up and the shot dissolves.

INT. ANOTHER ROOM ON SKY BASE.
The music fades and the scene changes to the inside of a small brightly-lit room 
and as the camera pans slowly round it reveals Gerry, Janey, Mike and Amber all 
sitting glumly looking down at their feet in silence. The camera holds this for 
a little longer then there is a soft swishing sound. The door of this room 
slides back and Biff comes striding in talking to one of his friends outside as 
he does so.

BIFF:
"Dimitri, stay outside and guard the door please."

He walks into the centre of the room facing the others and glares at them all 
indiscriminately. It is obvious that he is furiously angry. The kids all look up 
at him then look away uncomfortably.

BIFF:
"Have you any idea how much trouble you've caused me? I've bent so many rules to 
hush this mess up, I could get thrown out of the Space Corps if it ever comes 
out."

AMBER:
"I'm sorry, Biff."

BIFF:
"You're sorry! Yeh, I'll bet. Don't worry, Biff, you said. They're all 
intelligent, Biff. They won't be any trouble, Biff; I'll look after them. 
Remember that?"

Amber gives a barely perceptible nod at this.

BIFF:
"So how come, you nearly got killed in an airlock where you had no right to be?"

At this point he turns and shouts angrily at Mike.

BIFF:
"And that reminds me! Where were you when all this was going on?"

Mike is about to say something but Amber interrupts him.

AMBER:
"It wasn't his fault. He got separated from the rest of us and got lost. You 
know how easily it can happen."

BIFF:
"Lost, huh! Maybe. But I'll tell you what I think, Amber. I think your 
wonderful, intelligent cousin exerted all his brilliance to find a nice safe 
hidey-hole somewhere and crawled into it until all the trouble was over. He had 
plenty of time to try and get help - he could easily have contacted me - but the 
fact is, he did nothing."

Mike glares at Biff but decides that nothing he says will make any difference so 
he just looks away again.

BIFF:
"Well, Amber may be very impressed with you, Mike, but as far as I'm concerned 
you're a snivelling little coward."

Mike still doesn't respond but his face is very grim. Amber just looks at him 
pityingly.

AMBER:
"Oh, Mike...!"

BIFF:
"Right!! All this dreck about finding Tektrons..."

At this the others all start to protest, but Biff raises his hands and shouts 
them down.

BIFF:
"Ah, shut up. I don't want to hear it. There's just one more thing I want to 
say, and that's this: Despite appearances and despite all the propaganda, living 
in space is never safe. You have to be alert at all times because there are just 
too many things that can go drastically wrong - which you've just experienced, 
haven't you? The point is, you could have seriously endangered other people with 
your stupid games, as well as yourselves. As it is, you tied up important 
manpower, resources, computers and a lot of other things at a time when the 
Space Corps is planning and mounting an extremely difficult rescue operation. 
Now, I have a lot of respect for Amber and her parents so, instead of handing 
you all over to Station Security, I've arranged for your immediate return to 
Earth - by the next shuttle."

He sweeps them all with a final angry glare before stomping out the door and 
taking his friend outside with him.

There is a moment of embarrassed silence after this as the kids all look at each 
other and don't know what to say. Amber is clearly very troubled. She is torn 
between her loyalty to her cousins and her desire not to displease Biff anymore. 
At the same time she is also becoming aware through the experience she has just 
had, that there may be more going on than meets the eye. Eventually, Gerry is 
the first one to break the silence. 

GERRY:
"Well, it looks like we're not too popular around here at the moment."

AMBER:
"I'm sorry, Gerry. Don't take it personally. Biff's just mad because I promised 
to look after you, and didn't. I mean, I'm glad you came up to see me, and 
everything - but you've got to admit a few things have gone wrong since then."


Gerry and Janey look at each other for a moment then Gerry replies very 
seriously.

GERRY:
"I expect you feel we've embarrassed you pretty badly, Amber, and I'm really 
sorry about that. But - you've got to believe us - this thing isn't over and, if 
you stay here, you'll still be in danger. The proof of that was what happened to 
us in the airlock. Look, you may have to wait a while before you get any more 
word about your folks, so why not spend the time with us down on Earth? It might 
help take your mind off things, and Mum would love to see you again, I know. 
What do you say?"

Amber looks away from them then slowly gets to her feet.

AMBER:
"I don't know, Gerry. So much has happened and I'm not sure what to do."

She pauses, looking wistfully at the door Biff has just gone out, then turns 
back and smiles slightly.

AMBER:
"Still, I'm not too popular here at the moment either, so it might not be a bad 
idea to get away for a little while."

There is now a wide shot of them all and Gerry and Janey bounce up smiling 
happily. Even Mike begins to look hopeful again. There is a music build-up and 
the shot dissolves to.

THE TEKTRONS' ROOM ON SKY BASE.
The scene moves to a close shot facing the huge Tektron logo pulsating 
menacingly in the air over its terminal. The camera pulls back and widens the 
shot to reveal Lavalle and his men all standing in front of it with bowed heads 
and looking very nervous.

TEKTRONS:
"You have failed us, Professor. The young Melvilles and Amber Galloway are still 
alive. What is worse, the Galloway adults are also still alive and may return to 
this place to threaten our plans if their rescue succeeds."

LAVALLE:
"With respect, masters, the failure was only partial. The young members of your 
Counter Force enemy have learned nothing useful and will soon return to Earth. 
The Galloways may be rescued but, if so, they will be delayed long enough for us 
to complete our work before they arrive. Surely, then..."

TEKTRONS:
"Enough! Your excuses are meaningless. It is obvious that you humans have always 
been the greatest weakness in our plans. For this reason the Tektrons on Earth 
will now assume the task of destroying the Counter Force without any further 
human error. We are approaching the most critical phase of this operation and 
there can be no more miscalculations. You, Professor, will not fail us again."

There is a loud, dramatic chord of music and the scene dissolves.

F/X SHOT. SPACE VIEW. THEN EXT EARTH VIEW DAY.
The shot dissolves to an outside space view of the Earth and the camera zooms 
down into close-up through rapid dissolves to a wide shot of the outside of the 
Institute of Advanced Computer Technology and Cyberdynamics. The camera 
establishes this shot then dissolves to inside the office of Herbert Dowd, the 
Director of Security.

INT. DAY. DOWD'S OFFICE.
Dowd is once again issuing orders to his two agents, Whittaker and Bentley.

DOWD:
"All right, your checks showed that Clark Melville wasn't up at the Sky Base 
space station when those kids went up there. But they're back now and our latest 
surveillance reports show that they've all gone to Florida. Florida! And have 
you two geniuses any idea why?"

BENTLEY:
"Uh ... perhaps they've gone to meet Dr. Melville there, sir."

DOWD:
"Perhaps? Perhaps? But, there's only one way to make certain, isn't there?"

WHITTAKER AND BENTLEY:
"Yes, Mr. Dowd."

DOWD:
"Well, I'm glad I have your agreement, gentlemen, because that is just where you 
are going to go - but not on an airship. That last fiasco with you two idiots 
attracted so much bad publicity to this department that I nearly lost my job. 
Now get out of here. Go to Florida, trace those kids and don't come back till 
you've arrested Clark Melville."

EXT DAY. FLORIDA. ESTABLISHING SHOT - FLORIDA STREET AND HOTEL.
The shot dissolves to a long aerial shot of Florida beaches with waving palm 
trees and beautiful hotels. The camera zooms down and the shot dissolves again 
to all the Melville kids and Amber and Sparks and Janey with Mary Melville 
walking out of a spacious hotel foyer.

CUT TO:

EXT FLORIDA STREET. VIEW FROM CAR.

An outside view of the roadway alongside the hotel foyer and the camera zooms in 
to a car parked on the other side of the road. In the car interior looking back 
at the hotel foyer, Bentley and Whittaker are sitting slumped down but looking 
watchfully at the hotel entrance. From this viewpoint we see Mary and the kids 
coming out and waving to each other. A doorman summons a taxi for Mary but the 
kids all walk off in another direction. Whittaker grunts in irritation when he 
sees this.

CUT TO:

INT. INSIDE OF CAR IN FLORIDA STREET.

BENTLEY:
"They're splitting up. What do we do now?"

WHITTAKER:
"Follow the kids. This time we'll get them before they can pull any of their 
fancy tricks."

Whittaker starts up the car and slowly pulls off into the traffic after the 
kids.

CUT TO:

EXT STREET SCENE. FLORIDA.
We follow the kids walking down to the beachfront highway. As they walk, the 
camera cuts ahead to show a brightly dressed figure cavorting in the street in 
front of them. He is wearing sandwich boards which say: 'The Menace from Space. 
Beware the Radiation Hazard.' He is also busy selling a collection of parasols 
with silvery mirror coatings on the tops. Many people are obviously worried 
enough about this that they are actually stopping and buying them. This scene is 
repeated with other sellers in different scenes.



SALESMAN:
"Come on, folks. Don't be caught out by the deadly cosmic radiation from space. 
Buy your anti-radiation parasols here. Full protection guaranteed."

At this point the kids draw level with him and he offers his wares to them too, 
shouting out insistently in his rapid-fire sales patter.

SALESMAN:
"Here you are young ladies and gents! How about one each? No? You must be crazy! 
Everyone knows about the radiation leak from the ozone layer. Government says 
it's going to get real serious. Okay, you buy two and I'll throw one in free. 
No? Come on, ladies, you don't want to see your lovely complexions getting 
ruined by hard ultra violet radiation, do you? Still no? You're crazy! Crazy!"

The kids all laughingly refuse these blandishments and eventually he leaves them 
to find some other sucker.

After this we close in to see Amber, Gerry and Janey talking together while the 
others follow on behind. Janey looks a bit concerned, however.

JANEY:
"You don't think there's anything in what he's saying do you, Gerry?"

GERRY:
"I don't know, Janey A lot of people are getting worried about it - but one 
thing's for sure - those fancy umbrellas aren't going to help if we're in any 
real danger."

AMBER:
"Which reminds me, guys; there's something else I wanted to ask about. You don't 
have to tell me any more about the Tektrons, I'm convinced - especially since 
Aunt Mary talked to me - but this isn't just a holiday, is it?"

GERRY:
"No, Amber - not for us anyway. Look, we got kicked off Sky Base before we could 
find out what the Tektrons were doing and stop them. So we have to continue the 
fight here, that's all."


AMBER:
"Well, I'm with you now, so how about letting me in on what we'll be doing 
here."

GERRY:
"Okay. First of all, we're meeting a couple of old friends of ours who will 
probably be surfing down at the beach by now."

CUT TO:

INT. AGENTS' CAR.
We see Whittaker and Bentley in the car. The viewpoint from the car window shows 
the kids up ahead with the twins straggling a bit behind.

Bentley points this out to Whittaker who nods and starts closing in fast.

CUT TO:

EXT STREET SCENE AND CAR.
The car screeches up besides the twins and the men jump out and grab Lily and 
Lulu and throw them into the back of the car. Bentley can be seen reaching over 
the back with handcuffs to put on the two terrified little girls as the car goes 
screeching off round a corner.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET SCENE.
The rest of the kids all turn to see what is happening but the whole thing is 
over before they can do anything about it. Amber shouts out in dismay but the 
others just shrug then turn round and walk on as if nothing has happened. Amber 
is utterly outraged by this attitude.

AMBER:
"D-d-did you see that? Did you see what those men just did?"

Mike nods casually and continues to wander on.

MIKE:
"Yeh, it's those Security Agents from the Institute where Dad used to work. They 
follow us around sometimes. Looks like they just snatched Lily and Lulu."




AMBER:
"Well, aren't you going to do something? Gerry, call the police. Tell them your 
sisters have just been kidnapped."

Gerry appears to give this some thought then shakes his head.

GERRY:
"No, I don't think it's worth it."

MIKE:
"Yeah, why bother. They're always getting into trouble anyway."

The others all nod in agreement with this and carry on. Amber is horrified and 
bewildered by this. She shouts angrily at Mike then turns to the others for 
support.

AMBER:
"Oh, I might have expected that from you! But the rest of you - you can't be 
serious! Gerry, they're your little sisters, for gosh sake. You can't just let 
them be taken off like that. They may be hurt or in danger. Come on. They were 
telling me only a little while ago about all the things they had done to help 
you fight the Tektrons."

MIKE:
"Yeah, but I'll bet they never told you about the times they've got us into 
trouble with their pranks, did they?"

SPARKS:
"Nearly got us arrested once for causing a riot in a department store - that 
they started. They are bad."

Amber again appeals to Gerry in desperation.

AMBER:
"Gerry!! Do something."

Gerry again shakes his head and marches resolutely onwards. Amber is about to 
appeal to Janey when she hears a shout and the twins come strolling out of the 
side street where the car had gone earlier and come back to join them. Amber is 
utterly overjoyed and hugs them both ecstatically.

AMBER:
"Lily, Lulu. Are you all right?"


LILY:
"Sure, Amber. Those guys just wanted to talk to us but we...uh...persuaded them 
to let us go."

Amber gets very angry at this.

AMBER:
"Well, of all the nerve! They had no right to just come up and snatch you like 
that. There are laws against that kind of thing, you know. Now if the rest of 
your family aren't going to do anything about this - I am. Just you show me 
where those men are and I'll tell them I'm going to lodge a very serious 
complaint. The cowardly brutes!"

Lily and Lulu look slightly uncomfortable at this suggestion however.

LULU:
"Oh, I wouldn't bother them just now, Amber."

LILY:
"Nah! They're...well...kind of tied up at the moment."

They both look back at the corner they have just come round.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET SCENE AND TRAFFIC JAM.
We zoom down to this and cut to a scene of a massive traffic jam down that side 
street. There is a lot of loud shouting and hooting of horns from angry 
motorists at a car which can be seen parked right across the middle of the road.

CUT TO:

INT CAR.
An interior shot of this car shows Bentley and Whittaker with their arms, legs 
and apparently every other part of them all twisted together and tied up with 
handcuffs connected to wrists and ankles in a total tangle with the steering 
wheel. Whittaker can be seen shouting and swearing in fury, but quickly falls 
silent as the car door opens to show a large American policeman peering in at 
them sternly.

CUT TO:

EXT STREET SCENE.
The scene changes back to the kids all grinning at Lily and Lulu. Amber still 
doesn't really understand what is going on but some realisation is beginning to 
dawn. Gerry smiles sardonically at her then addresses the twins.

GERRY:
"Right! Now if you two are finished playing games, maybe we can get on."

Lily and Lulu just grin at this. 
LILY:
"Sure, Gerry. Sorry! "

LULU:
"It was just too good a chance to miss."

With this, they come along giggling happily to each other.

CUT TO:

EXT DAY. BEACH.
We see the kids come into shot and look down the beach. After a moment or two 
looking around they spot two figures among the many surfing into the beach and 
give them a wave. The two figures wave back and pick up their boards and trot 
over to join the kids. As they get close it can be seen that they are a couple 
of good-looking boys of about 18 or 19 years old. As they come up they are 
greeted with whoops of delight and big hugs by Janey and the twins and delighted 
handshakes by the others.

GERRY:
"Hi, guys. It's good to see you. This is our cousin, Amber Galloway just down 
from Sky Base. Amber, meet the Elliot brothers from Texas: Billy Joe and Tommy 
Jeff. Original founding members of the Counter Force team in America."

Both boys look at her admiringly and shake hands with old-fashioned courtesy. 
Amber responds to this and primps herself coyly.

BILLY JOE:
"Glad tuh meet yuh, Miss Amber. But jes' plain ol' BJ and TJ to you, please."

TOMMY JEFF:
"Likewise, Miss Amber."

Amber is a bit overwhelmed by this but Janey's laughter breaks the spell.

JANEY:
"Don't let these two good ol' country boys fool you, Amber. They are pure charm 
and very little else. How many broken hearts have you two notched up by this 
time, hey?"

The two Texans look pained by this accusation.

BILLY JOE:
"Aw, shucks, Janey! Now, you know..."

However, at this point Gerry breaks in.

GERRY:
"Sorry to break this up, guys, but we're a bit pressed for time. Did you bring 
the gear?"

The two boys immediately turn serious at this.

BILLY JOE:
"Sure thing, Gerry. It's on the pick-up we got parked over there. Y'all come on 
over now and take a look at it"

They all turn and move off in the direction that BJ has indicated.

CUT TO:

EXT PICK-UP TRUCK NEAR BEACH.
They come up to an old fashioned pick-up truck and TJ pulls back a tarpaulin to 
reveal the stuff in the back. Amber looks in with the others then squeals 
ecstatically.

AMBER:
"A hot-air balloon! Wow! Fantastic! I've always wanted to go hot-air 
ballooning."

Quick fade and CUT TO:

EXT DAY. AERIAL SCENE IN THE BALLOON. THE VIEW DOWNWARDS IS OVER A REED-GROWN 
SWAMP WITH TREES AND PATCHES OF WATER BETWEEN.
A close-up of Amber's face shows that her expression has changed totally as she 
looks over the side at the land swaying dizzily beneath her with the balloon's 
motion in the wind.

AMBER:
"Over a swamp!! Oh no, it's not fair! It's not meant to be like this. Where are 
the waving crowds? Where's the champagne? Where's the...?"

Janey's pale face suddenly leans over next to her.



JANEY:
"Where's the sick bags?"

Move to an interesting rear view of the two girls leaning over the side and 
being heartily sick. Mike and Sparks, standing next to Gerry at the other side, 
look back at this with some amusement. The twins are also there but they are 
quite happy and enjoying the flight. Gerry is checking a map and then speaks 
into his wrist phone.

GERRY:
"Come in Texas Team. This is Scout Team. Are you receiving me?"

A quiet female voice-over can then be heard on Gerry's wrist speaker. It is his 
mother, Mary.

CUT TO:

EXT THE PICK-UP TRUCK MOVING ALONG A ROAD NEAR THE SWAMP. THE BALLOON CAN BE 
SEEN IN THE BACKGROUND.
Mary Melville can be seen speaking into a microphone. She is seated next to BJ 
and TJ. BJ is driving.

MARY:
"Loud and clear, Scout Team. This is Mother Hen here. I can still see you and 
you're looking good. I am now on the way to the rendezvous point with the Texas 
Team. How is your status?"

CUT TO:

EXT OUTSIDE VIEW OF BALLOON.
There is now an outside aerial view of the balloon sweeping majestically along 
in bright sunlight. Gerry's voice can be heard over this background in voice-
over.

GERRY:
"Everything's fine so far and we are heading almost exactly where we planned. 
Wind speed is rising to 10 knots so estimated arrival time to target area is now 
slightly less than two hours. See you later, Mother Hen. We'll be in touch. 
Out."

MARY:
"Lotsa power and good luck, Scout Team."

CUT TO:



INT. INSIDE THE BALLOON GONDOLA.
The view switches back inside the balloon gondola. Mike has been checking his 
own wrist terminal in consultation with Baby.

MIKE:
"At our present rate, I make it one hour and 47 minutes, Gerry. We'll need to 
lose height before then, of course. Now, I've got Baby checking on our deep 
probe radar but the Tektrons may be shielded against that so we'll also need to 
keep a sharp look-out."

GERRY:
"Right, Mike. Thanks."

At this point Amber and Janey turn back and slide down to sit leaning 
exhaustedly against each other in the cramped confines of the gondola.

AMBER:
"What are we doing here in this rotten balloon, anyway? I was so excited I 
forgot to ask earlier on."

JANEY:
"Hunting Tektrons, as usual. Mike got a coded email from his Dad that a lot of 
secret activity, which may be connected to the Sky Base Tektrons, was coming 
from somewhere in the Big Cypress Swamp here in Florida. We're using this rotten 
balloon because the swamp area is huge and searching any other way would take 
too long. By air we can see a long way and cover a lot of territory."

AMBER:
"Well, I sure hope we find them soon."

Mike, who has overheard this last remark, slides over beside them grinning 
sadistically.

MIKE:
"I hope we find them soon too, but if we don't, we may have to do this for a few 
days more over different parts of the swamp. There's no other way."

AMBER:
"Oh, great! But tell me, cousin genius, why couldn't we have chartered a light 
plane? Wouldn't that have got the job done quicker?"


MIKE:
"Sure it would. But a plane can't land in the middle of the swamp if we need to 
take a closer look. This thing can"

Amber gives him another disgusted look at this but is too miserable to say much 
more.

CUT TO:

EXT. VIEW OUTSIDE BALLOON.
There is a build-up of background music here and we get several different views 
of the balloon in flight both aerially and from the ground. The kids all keep on 
watching from the sides and looking down as time passes. Occasionally they get 
views of people and habitations on the ground. A fisherman in an airboat can be 
seen looking up at them. And etc.

CUT TO:

INT. VIEW INSIDE GONDOLA.
Finally we get another view inside the gondola. Amber and Janey are now much 
recovered and the twins are as cheerful as ever but Gerry, Mike and Sparks are 
beginning to look despondent. They have all been watching carefully for some 
time through their binoculars but nothing indicating the Tektrons has appeared.

GERRY:
"What do you think, Mike?"

Mike just shakes his head gloomily.

MIKE:
"I don't know, Gerry, but I'm pretty sure we haven't passed anything so far. I 
think this trip is a washout. We may as well head on to the rendezvous point 
with BJ, TJ and Mum and try again tomorrow."

GERRY:
"Yeah, I guess you're right. The sun will be going down soon and then it'll be 
too dark to see anything anyway. I'll call the Texas Team and get an up-dated 
position fix so we can get down near them."

Just then there is a shout from one side of the gondola. The twins have been 
watching out there and have spotted something. Janey slides over beside them.

JANEY:
"What is it, Lily?"

Lily points and we get a view of what seems to be a large flight of birds coming 
up towards them over the trees at one side of a large open lagoon beneath them. 
They are easily seen as they are silhouetted against the setting sun.

CUT TO:

INT. INSIDE GONDOLA.

LILY:
"There. It looks like a flock of birds coming up over those trees. I'm not sure, 
but they seem to be flying in this direction."

Janey is inclined to be dismissive of this.

JANEY:
"Well we've seen plenty of birds before."

LULU:
"Yes, but they usually fly away. These ones are flying right towards us. And 
I've never seen so many."

Mike puts his binoculars on this sight and immediately shouts out in 
astonishment.

CUT TO:

EXT VIEW THROUGH BINOCULARS.
We get a closer view as seen through Mike's binoculars. What he sees are quite 
obviously bats. And they are rapidly getting very close.

CUT TO:

INT. GONDOLA.

MIKE:
"Those aren't birds, they're bats."

Amber and Janey promptly exclaim in horror.

AMBER AND JANEY (together)
"Bats!! Ughhh!!!"

CUT TO:

EXT VIEW OF BATS.
Another view of the bats in close-up shows them to be large, fierce and 
menacing.


CUT TO:

INT. PLUS F/X SHOT OF BATS AND BALLOON GONDOLA.
Back in the gondola, Sparks has also been looking at them through his binoculars 
and they are approaching the balloon rapidly.

SPARKS:
"Uh, guys...I don't like the look of those things. I think we should get out of 
here."

He is interrupted from saying any more when the first wave of bats hits them. 
The air is suddenly full of screeching, diving, furiously attacking bats. The 
kids all try to defend themselves. They hit out wildly but the bats are 
everywhere. The next few shots are full of noise and shouting and confusion 
during the bats' attack. We move to various views of the kids desperately trying 
to fight off this unexpected attack. Gerry, however has managed to shout a 
warning as the attack starts.

GERRY:
"Helmets and gloves on, everybody. Bats can sometimes be rabid so don't let them 
bite you or scratch you."

The kids are all kitted-up ready for the Tektrons so this only takes them a 
moment. It quickly proves to have been a good move as great clusters of the bats 
swarm all over them so they can hardly see what they are doing and all their 
time is taken up with swiping the dangerously infuriated creatures away. Gerry 
yells at Mike and Sparks for help.

GERRY:
"Mike, Sparks, help me with the flame controls. Bats don't usually fly very high 
so we've got to gain height."

The two boys come over and try to beat off the bats while Gerry is reaching for 
the flame controls. Even as they are doing this, a shout from the twins warns 
them off a fresh danger.

LULU:
"Look out, they're attacking the balloon. They're ripping holes in it."

The kids all look up and we get a view of the bats ripping into the canopy of 
the balloon itself. This immediately starts swaying dangerously as air starts 
escaping from it. They also start losing height rapidly as this goes on.

AMBER:
"We're going down! Can't we shoot them off, or something?"

JANEY:
"No. If we use our lasers we'd cut into the balloon fabric and just go down 
quicker."

AMBER:
"But there's water below us! What do we do if we land in that - drown??"

But as she says this she screams in fright and we get a view of them all hanging 
on and screeching as the balloon suddenly plunges downwards amid a cloud of bats 
to land in the lagoon with a tremendous splash.

CUT TO:

EXT. DAY. A LARGE OPEN LAGOON IN THE SWAMP SURROUNDED BY TREES .
There is another sequence of quick intercut shots as the gondola bobs back to 
the surface under the spreading shape of the balloon which begins to collapse 
over them as it also comes down. The gondola of the balloon however is really a 
kind of inflatable boat which blows up as it hits the water and Gerry shouts 
instructions to get them free.

CUT TO:

EXT BOAT ON LAGOON.

GERRY:
"Mike, Sparks, cut the lines. We've got to get out from under the balloon canopy 
or it'll drag us under."

Mike and Sparks turn to do this, free from attack for a moment as the bats wheel 
around in confusion. While they are busy with this, Gerry is unshipping a small 
outboard motor which he puts over the side and starts up. He has one or two 
false tries as we see the balloon canopy floating rapidly down over them. 
However, he succeeds just in time and the boat suddenly roars out from under 
leaving the main canopy of the balloon to float gently on to the water and get 
dragged slowly under by the weight of the flame mechanism. The bats now 
concentrate on the boat and the kids find themselves under attack yet again. 
This time there is nothing to stop them defending themselves, however, and they 
use their lasers to shoot back.

AMBER:
"What's the matter with these things, anyway? Bats don't usually attack people 
like this, do they?"

MIKE:
"No. But these are pretty strange bats. My guess is that they're a mutation of 
some sort."

LILY:
"What mutated them? - Tektrons?"

GERRY:
"You could be right, Lily. And if that's so, we may be closer to them than we 
thought."

MIKE:
"It makes sense. The Tektrons could even control them with certain kinds of 
supersonic or radio signals to attack any outsiders who get too near."

JANEY:
"Well, that doesn't help us much. Our lasers aren't doing much good as a 
defence. There are just too many of them."

The point is illustrated as she fires again and again killing bats as she does 
so but there are always more who press on with the attack.

SPARKS:
"I've got an idea which may help. Reverse the connections on the power-belt 
clips to our suits. It'll short out the lasers but the power will go straight 
into the outer suit fabric and electrify them. Watch, I'll show you."

As he is saying this, he quickly pulls out two wires from under the sides of his 
power-belt and reconnects them again in a different order. The effect is 
immediately apparent. His laser winks off but the next bats that get close are 
promptly stunned by the suit's electric charge and fall away in showers of 
sparks. The other kids all copy this with the same result. The bats continue to 
attack but more warily now.

GERRY:
"Great, Sparks! But they're still dangerous. I'm going to head for those trees. 
We may find some shelter under there somewhere."

Gerry turns the tiller on the little outboard motor and opens the throttle to 
its full limit. The boat surges round and takes off towards the trees as the 
bats wheel round in surprise then follow it. An outside view shows the boat 
speeding forward out of range but still pursued by a column of bats. However 
they manage to get into the shelter of the trees and manoeuvre the boat in 
between the trunks, slowing down as they go. The bats follow them in but just 
then Janey gives a shout and points over to one side.

JANEY:
"Look! Over there!"

CUT TO:

EXT. LONG SHOT VIEW OF HUT.
The kids all look and a dim view can be seen of an old dilapidated hut built up 
on a platform of stilts but partly collapsed into the water where a tree has 
fallen over the back end of it.

GERRY:
"Okay, Janey Let's see if it will give us a hiding place. Maybe those mad bats 
will lose interest if they don't see us for a while."

CUT TO:

EXT. LANDING STAGE OF HUT.
With that he steers the boat over to the old hut and brings it up alongside a 
rickety landing stage that has also partly collapsed into the water with age and 
neglect. The part of the landing stage left above water slopes up to the dark 
hole of an open door into the front of the hut. Gerry secures the boat to this 
and holds it as the others get off and start to move up to the door. The sun is 
now very low and the atmosphere of the place is distinctly eerie.

The kids all move up as hastily as the rotten planking will allow, with Lily and 
Lulu in the lead. They reach the door first but, just as they are about to go 
in, they are suddenly confronted by a monstrous alligator which charges out at 
them hissing with rage. The kids all shriek in fright. The twins turn to run but 
Lily's foot goes through a piece of rotten planking and she is caught as the 
monster waddles swiftly down towards her, it's huge mouth open wide. Lulu turns 
and bravely tries to defend her sister but has forgotten that her laser is no 
longer working due to the power-belt reconnection. The monster snaps at Lily's 
arm but immediately lets go when it is shocked by the electric charge in Lily's 
suit. It retreats a pace and waggles its head in fury.
MIKE:
"Hold on Lily, we're coming."

Mike and Sparks run up and help Lulu haul Lily up and out of her trap then beat 
a hasty retreat.

GERRY:
"Back in the boat, guys, quickly. That thing is going to charge again."

The kids all tumble back into the boat and Gerry hastily pushes it away and 
tries to restart the motor. The huge alligator rushes down the ramp in pursuit 
and glides into the water. The motor catches just as the alligator's enormous 
jaws are opening up to bite on the rubber sides of the boat. They snap close on 
empty air as the boat surges away from it. Gerry shouts over at Lily anxiously 
as they go.
GERRY:
"Lily, are you okay?"

Janey has been checking Lily's arm and replies immediately.

JANEY:
"I think she's all right, Gerry. Her arm's a bit bruised but I don't think 
anything's broken."

Gerry nods then twists and turns the boat through the trees in an effort to 
escape the twin evils of the bats and the angry alligator, but even as they move 
off, another problem presents itself. They are mostly looking behind them but 
Mike looks ahead and spots the fresh danger.

MIKE:
"Gerry! Slow down - there are more of them up ahead."

CUT TO:

VIEW OF LAGOON WITH ALLIGATORS.
As he points we see the evil-looking snouts of several more alligators 
converging on them. The boat slows and Amber screams as she sees this.

AMBER:
"What are we going to do now? We're surrounded."

MIKE:
"Head for the open water, Gerry. We can outrun them there."

GERRY:
"Right! "

He spins the boat round and they head out of the trees again, dodging through a 
narrow gap in the massed alligator ranks who twist and snap at them as they 
pass. Once again they come out into the open water still hotly pursued by the 
bats and now the alligators as well. The sun is now almost set and it is obvious 
that it will be dark very soon. Gerry opens the throttle wide and the boat leaps 
forward leaving the alligators well behind. The kids all start to cheer but this 
is cut short abruptly as another armada of alligators can be seen approaching 
them from one side. Gerry turns the boat sharply away only to be confronted by 
yet more alligators coming at them from the new direction. He turns the boat and 
manages to escape yet again.

JANEY:
"This is hopeless! Everywhere we turn there's more of them. We can't even shoot 
because the suits need all the power to repel the bats. Where can we go?"

GERRY:
"I don't know, Janey, but I have a funny feeling we're being herded in the 
direction of that island over there. It seems to be the only safe direction away 
from the bats and these crazy alligators."

AMBER:
"Listen, if it will get us away from these ugly horrors, then let's just go - 
please."

GERRY:
"Sure - but I don't like it.

CUT TO:

EXT DUSK. A TREE-SHROUDED ISLAND IN THE LAGOON.
With that there is silence for a while as the boat speeds away from the pursuing 
alligators and bats straight towards a low island overgrown with trees and dense 
bush. It does not look very inviting but it appears to be the only refuge in 
sight. Finally the boat can be seen coming in and nudging its way slowly into a 
little creek overhung by branches and creepers. The kids duck down as the boat 
slowly makes its way in. At last a clear space is seen ahead and Gerry heads the 
boat into it and up into the reeds. The kids all pile out and pull the boat up 
behind them. Strangely, there is no further sign of pursuit from either the bats 
or the alligators.

CUT TO:

EXT A CLEARING ON THE ISLAND.
They pause and Amber looks around in some relief,

AMBER:
"Well, it looks like we've lost the nasties, at long last."

GERRY:
"Yes, and that's just what I was afraid of."

AMBER:
"Why?"

Gerry taps his wrist communicator.

GERRY:
"Because, I've been trying to raise the Texan Team for the last couple of 
minutes and all I'm getting is a very strong jamming signal."



MIKE:
"Tektrons?"

GERRY:
"What else? And I'm pretty sure they're somewhere close."

At this point there is a loud beep from Baby on Mike's wrist terminal. Mike 
thumbs a control and Baby's voice is heard.

BABY:
"Mike, I have a direction on that jamming signal. It's coming from near the 
centre of this island. Range, approximately three hundred yards directly ahead."

MIKE:
"Thanks, Baby. Well, that confirms it - we've found the Tektrons, so let's go."

Amber interrupts him hastily as he says this, however.

AMBER:
"Hey, hang on, guys. Uh...we just got out of a load of trouble, so do we have to 
go looking for more? Wouldn't it be a better idea to wait till morning? I mean, 
it's so dark now we can hardly see anything anyway."

Gerry just shakes his head as he answers.

GERRY:
"Sorry, Amber, but the Tektrons know we're here now, which means we'll have to 
move fast before they can spring any more surprises on us. You can stay here by 
the boat if you want."

Amber looks around her and shivers with distaste at this suggestion.

AMBER:
"On my own? Thanks, but no thanks. Okay, chief, lead the way. All you need is an 
old fedora hat and a twelve foot bullwhip."

GERRY:
"Huh?" 

AMBER:
"Never mind."
GERRY:
"Okay then, we'll head off in the direction of Baby's position fix. Oh, by the 
way, we'd better convert our power-belt connections back to normal. It looks 
like we'll need the lasers and maser weapons again soon."

The others all nod and make the adjustments as they push off through the 
undergrowth following Mike's directions from Baby.

CUT TO:

EXT SCENE OF KIDS MOVING THROUGH THE UNDERGROWTH.
There is a music build up here as the next few shots show the kids tracking 
through the trees. Eventually, the trees and bushes start thinning out and Gerry 
sees something which makes him caution the others to slow down.

CUT TO:

EXT DUSK - NEARLY DARK. A CLEARING IN THE TREES WITH A HUGE LOW CIRCULAR 
BUILDING IN IT.
We get a view of a slight rise in the land with a strange low building on it. 
The kids move forward cautiously. Gerry halts them as they are about to emerge 
from the trees and they all crouch down in the shelter of the spreading roots of 
a big tree while they look at the building in front.

GERRY:
"What do you think, Mike?"

MIKE:
"Tektrons, definitely - and plenty of them. My scanner's just about going off 
the dial."

Gerry clicks round an image intensifier in his helmet to survey the site. We get 
a view of this slow panning survey as he does it. The building looks like an 
enormous round concrete bunker with a slightly domed roof broken by occasional 
strange protrusions. There is also a wide concrete 'skirt' running round the 
edge of it. The whole thing has been coloured to disguise it, and there are lots 
of plants and creepers growing over it at many places, which provide further 
camouflage.

GERRY:
"Looks like that building is roughly circular and pretty big. I can't see any 
entrance from where we are now so I think we ought to split up and circle round 
till we can find a way in."

MIKE:
"Right!"

GERRY:
"You take Amber and the twins, I'll take Janey and Sparks, and we'll meet up on 
the other side. Power-up but go carefully! Remember, we can't keep in touch by 
radio while that signal's jamming us."

MIKE:
"Okay, Gerry. Power-up and I'll see you on the other side. Come on, guys."

CUT TO:

EXT SCENE ROUND BUILDING.
The kids move off cautiously in two parties to each side of the low building. We 
follow Gerry's party for a while as they move slowly round, searching the walls 
and behind the creepers as they go. The viewpoint changes to Mike's party for a 
while doing the same thing. Back to Gerry again and we see them coming up to a 
particularly big section of bushes and creepers and undergrowth which has grown 
right up the side and over the roof of the building. It is in their way so Gerry 
motions the others to wait and pushes through first. Janey and Sparks wait for a 
moment or two expecting him to come back, but there is no sign of him. Growing 
anxious they also push through and disappear in the bush. This is immediately 
followed by a muffled noise and then silence.

Move back to Mike's party, he turns to say something to Amber then notices that 
the twins are no longer with them.

MIKE:
"Where are the twins?"

Amber looks behind her then shakes her head uneasily.

AMBER:
"I don't know, Mike. The last I saw, they were looking behind those bushes 
growing up against the wall back there."

MIKE:
"Those little pests! I told them to stay close. Come on, we'd better go back and 
look for them."

They turn and go back to where Amber has pointed. Mike looks into and around the 
bushes for a moment but there is no sign of the two girls. He rejoins Amber on a 
bit of the concrete 'skirt' beside the bushes.




MIKE:
"No sign of them. Are you sure you saw them here?"

AMBER:
"Well, I think I did. After a-a-a-a...!!"

She gives a sudden shriek as the concrete gives way beneath them and they are 
both plunged down a long twisting metal ramp that finally deposits them in a 
huge eerily-lit six-sided chamber.

CUT TO:

INT. PLUS F/X. AN ENORMOUS SIX SIDED CHAMBER, RATHER DIMLY LIT.
Right in front of them they can see Gerry, Janey, Sparks and the twins in the 
middle of what appears to be a hexagon with each of its sides lit with sparkling 
lines of golden light along the floor and with more lines reaching up to the 
ceiling at each of the intersection points of the hexagon. The six sides formed 
by these lights are quite open but seem to shimmer in an odd sort of way.

The others all turn as Mike and Amber shout. Mike and Amber run over towards 
them but the others all start frantically shouting and waving them back. The 
reason is soon obvious. As Mike reaches one floor line of the lit hexagon he 
runs slap into an invisible wall which bounces him back, giving off a sort of 
psychedelic flash as it does so. Gerry and the rest crowd over to the side of 
the invisible wall nearest them and shout through. Their voices are a bit 
muffled but can be heard.

GERRY:
"Stay away, Mike. It's a force field of some sort. We think it's being projected 
from the sidewalls up near the roof where those lights are."

Mike and Amber look up and see the pulsating glows of the projectors at the top 
of the six walls of the chamber around them.

MIKE:
"Right, Gerry. We'll try shooting them out with the lasers."

Mike and Amber extend their arms and, as the arm-lasers spring into their palms, 
they shoot. The laser beams, however, only produce a couple of loud crashes 
accompanied by showers of sparks. The force field doesn't even waver.

AMBER:
"No good, Mike. They're obviously shielded in some way."

As she says this, another sinister happening occurs. The six sides of the force 
field suddenly contract, throwing Gerry and the others back as they do so. They 
all pick themselves up and look at this. The area they are in is now smaller and 
the walls of the force field are shimmering much more obviously. As they look, 
the field contracts again to an even smaller space. The field's shimmering 
effect is brighter than ever. Faint psychedelic patterns can now be seen glowing 
and moving the air and the projectors get brighter as this process happens and 
repeats itself. The field generators give off a low-pitched whine which rises at 
each move. While this is going on, Amber becomes fascinated by the nature of the 
field.

AMBER:
"Look, isn't it fantastic, Mike? It obviously follows the Inverse Square Law - 
the more it shrinks the stronger it becomes. We've never been able to develop a 
workable force field. If only we could get the secret of that thing from the 
Tektrons."

MIKE:
"Hey, you're right, Amber. If we could get a closer look at the field 
generators, I'm sure we could figure out how they work."

At this point they hear a desperate shout from inside the field.

GERRY:
"Hey, guys. In case you hadn't noticed, your fantastic force field may get small 
enough to crush everyone in here to jelly. So, if you could forget your 
scientific curiosity for a minute, we'd sure appreciate some help."

Amber and Mike hastily come back to themselves at this.

MIKE:
"Sorry, Gerry. Listen, shooting at the projectors is doing no good. We need to 
find the controls - which are probably outside this room. Hang in there - we'll 
get you out somehow. Come on, Amber."

They both turn and run over to the wall nearest them and start to search for a 
way out. As they are doing this, a deep rumbling sound can be heard and a wide 
section of the wall, nearby, slowly starts to slide up and open. They hurry over 
and are about to go plunging in when they suddenly stop and stare into the gloom 
of the huge doorway in front of them in sudden fright. Something monstrous and 
terrifying is starting to emerge from the darkness.

MIKE:
"O-o-oh....!" 



AMBER:
"Shi-i...i!"

There is a thunderous noise and, as they slowly back away, a gigantic and 
terrifying figure comes more fully into view. It reveals itself as the most 
enormous robot they have ever seen. It is roughly humanoid in shape, but there 
is something subtly alien about it. Mike and Amber retreat from this in total 
horror. They end up with their backs against one of the force field walls with 
the kids inside yelling at them to shoot. Finally this seems to penetrate 
through their haze of terror and the arm lasers once more leap into their hands 
and they shoot again and again - with absolutely no effect at all. The robot 
monster is apparently too well armoured to be hurt by their weapons.

It advances implacably onwards towards them then stops and holds out one of its 
enormous arms. At the end of the huge mechanical claw-hand a spark of light 
appears and slowly grows into a glittering fan of multi-coloured light. The kids 
stare at this in awe, but just as they are wondering what it is meant to do, it 
reaches out to them in a huge zip of fizzing energy. Amber and Mike promptly 
slump to the floor, either dead or unconscious. Gerry and the rest of the gang 
are shouting and raving inside the field, but are powerless to do anything about 
it. They can only watch helplessly and scream furious insults as the huge figure 
bends over stiffly and lifts Mike and Amber up and tucks them under its huge 
arms. It then turns and clumps over to the huge doorway and slowly disappears 
into the darkness inside. The massive door then begins to rumble slowly down 
again.

Inside the force field, the kids are still yelling in outrage and vainly beating 
on the walls of the field when suddenly it contracts again. The area inside is 
now quite small and it is obvious that only a few more of these contractions 
will crush them altogether. The kids are forced back again, the projectors 
glaring brighter than ever as the noise from the generators increases.

JANEY:
"Oh, Gerry! Poor Mike and Amber. Do you think they're dead?"

GERRY:
"I don't think so, Janey. The Tektrons would have trapped them along with us if 
they had intended that. No...hey, what are you two doing?"

This last is shouted at the twins, who have moved back and, as Gerry speaks, 
they press buttons on boxes on their chests which shoot out two lines with 
suction clamps on the ends. These stick to the roof above them behind a sort of 
low projection.

LILY:
"Saving our asses. Look, that doorway is the only way out of here and we've got 
to get to it before it closes."

As she says this, Lily and Lulu are quickly winched up to the roof where they 
use suction clamps on their knees and elbows to flatten themselves against the 
ceiling behind the shallow projection. Their position is quite close to one 
pulsating wall of the force field. 

GERRY:
"Are you crazy? The field will scrape you as flat as melted butter when it 
contracts again. Get down."

SPARKS:
"No, Gerry. I've been noticing the same thing they have. The roof of this place 
isn't even and the field has to adapt to that as it moves in. The twins are 
small so they might make it through."

Just as he finishes this, the field takes another leap inwards. There is a sort 
of flare as it jumps under Lily and Lulu who are squashed upwards for a second 
as it passes. However, as it stabilises in its new position, the twins can be 
seen clinging on outside it. Gerry, Janey and Sparks give a shout of triumph at 
this and the girls quickly unclamp themselves and drop down to the floor. They 
then rush over to the door, which is now only about a foot from the bottom. Lily 
takes something from her belt and pushes it into the wall. It goes off with a 
sharp crack and the door jams tight. They throw themselves under the remaining 
space and get through.

CUT TO:

INT. THE DARKENED CORRIDORS BEHIND THE DOOR.
Lily and Lulu switch on lights in their helmets and run off along the passageway 
they are in. The corridor curves round and they come to an intersection where 
they stop to look around.

LULU:
"Which way?"

Lily has stopped and we can hear booming thuds from nearby.

LILY:
"I can hear the robot. This way."

She points down one side of the corridor and they run off again.

CUT TO:

INT. THE INTERIOR OF THE FORCE FIELD.
The force field gives another jump inwards and suddenly the kids are close up 
against each other. The walls of the field are now glowing and pulsating so 
strongly that they have almost lost their transparency. Gerry, Janey and Sparks 
are all leaning outwards and desperately trying to push the field walls back.
GERRY:
"Come on, Lily, Lulu. There's not much time left."

CUT TO:

INT. PLUS F/X SHOT. THE CORRIDOR OUTSIDE.
We see Lily and Lulu running up the corridor and coming round a corner. The 
robot is just ahead of them. As the kids run up closer, it reaches a place where 
the corridor widens out into an open space. Suddenly there is a deep rumbling 
and a curved portion of the roof above this area starts to slide open to the 
night sky above. The robot turns round to face them and it can be seen that it 
is still holding Mike and Amber unconscious under its arms. Even as the twins 
run up towards it, they can see it sprouting a strange contraption from its 
back, which turns out to be a set of helicopter blades. These start revolving 
very quickly and the robot lifts up and out of the gap in the roof. The twins 
run forward and gaze up as it disappears. In desperation, Lulu aims her laser 
and is about to fire when Lily stops her.

LILY:
"No! You might hit Mike or Amber."

LULU:
"But, Lily, it's getting away."

LILY:
"There's nothing we can do about it now, but the others are still in trouble. My 
scanner's showing Tektrons behind the corridor wall we just came past. Stand 
back, I'm going to use a plasma charge."

She takes a torch-like gadget from her belt and aims it at the wall. A round 
ball of glowing light shoots out, expanding as it goes and explodes against the 
wall in a shower of sparks, blowing a huge hole in it. The twins both promptly 
dive through the smoking sides.

CUT TO:

INT. VIEW FROM JUST OUTSIDE THE FORCE FIELD
The field contracts again and the kids inside are now jammed tight together. 
There is no more space at all. They can hardly even breathe.

CUT TO:

INT. PLUS F/X SHOT. THE INSIDE OF A ROOM FILLED WITH STRANGE ELECTRONIC 
MACHINERY.
As the twins roll to their feet inside, they are met by a raging barrage of 
electronic bolts. They quickly raise their shields and, as they fire back, the 
Tektron theme music builds and the glowing Tektron logo forms and pulsates 
furiously over the machines in front of them.
LULU:
"How do we find which ones control the force-field?"

Lily just screams at her.

LILY:
"We don't have time. Blast them all."

With that, their lasers and masers flash out their deadly beams again, sending 
up great gouts of sparks and smoke wherever they hit. As the Tektron logo forms 
over the biggest machine in the centre, the twins concentrate their beams on 
this and there is a final thunderous crash and flare of sparks and smoke as this 
explodes, throwing them both backwards.

CUT TO:

INT. THE ROOM WITH FORCE FIELD.
There is a close-up of the three faces squeezed together inside and dimly seen 
through the glittering field. They are in agony and nearly unconscious. Even as 
this view is seen, however, there is the sound of an explosion and the high-
pitched scream as the generators cut off and the force field abruptly 
disappears. The bright glare from the wall projectors fades to a dull glow as 
the kids all stumble away from each other and slump to the floor panting for 
breath. The twins have been just in time. They are all alive.

A moment later there is a shout from behind the huge door and Lily and Lulu 
slide in under it again. They hurry over and help the others up. Gerry grins and 
shakes his head when he sees them.

GERRY:
"Great rescue, guys, but next time please don't cut the timing so fine."

They both grin back at him then turn more serious as Janey speaks.

JANEY:
"Did you see any sign of that robot thing that took Mike and Amber?"

LILY:
"Yes, but it got away before we could stop it."

GERRY:
"Where?"

LULU:
"It flew out through the roof."

Gerry just stares at her as she says this.

GERRY:
"What??"

The twins look at each other and sigh. They know it is hard to believe.

LILY:
"Come on, we'd better show you."

CUT TO:

INT. CORRIDOR AND OPEN ROOF
The kids can be seen coming up to the area under the open roof where the robot 
has flown off. They look around and then up at the star-filled night sky above 
them.

GERRY:
"Well, it obviously got out of here somehow, and took Mike and Amber with it. 
We'll go on looking for it, of course, but it could be anywhere by now."

LILY:
"We tried to stop it, Gerry, but we were...just...too late."

She starts to get tearful at this and Gerry quickly hugs both the twins.

GERRY:
"Hey, come on, guys - we all know you did your best. Anyway, that thing 
obviously took Mike and Amber for a purpose so there's a good chance they'll 
both be okay. Don't worry, we'll find them and bring them back somehow. Now, 
let's get out of here and make our way back to Mum and the Texas team. Oh, boy - 
am I going to have some explaining to do this time!"

He sighs heavily and looks up at the night sky again as the scene fades.

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. SPACE VIEW NEAR SKY BASE.
There is a music build up and the scene moves to an outside view of sky Base. 
This in turn dissolves to an interior shot.

CUT TO:



INT. GLASS-WALLED CORRIDOR.
We now see the inside of a glass-walled corridor with views looking out into 
space and other parts of the space station. Biff Baker walks along this corridor 
up to a door marked: BIO-CHEMICAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES. NO ADMITTANCE BEYOND 
THIS POINT. Biff is towing a sort of small trailer behind him as he walks.

He stops at the door and enters a code on the door console. There is a buzz and 
Biff speaks into an intercom.

BIFF:
"Squad Leader Baker. I'm reporting to you per your request for help on setting 
your external DLL antenna relay. I have a space suit and full kit with me. 
Please scan and confirm."

We see a small video camera swivel round to him then a voice answers almost 
immediately.

ANSWERING VOICE:
"Okay Squad Leader, ID and X-ray scan are all positive. Opening up for you now."

CUT TO:

INT. THE INTERIOR OF ANOTHER CORRIDOR BEYOND THE DOOR.
The door opens and two men are waiting there carrying short metal rods in their 
hands. Biff tows his trailer in and turns to greet them in a slightly bored way.

BIFF:
"Okay, gentlemen, what's your problem?"

One of the men facing him answers. 

MAN:
"You are."

Without further warning he touches Biff on the chest with the metal rod which 
turns out to be an electro-prod. Biff yells in agony and is thrown to the floor 
with the convulsive force of the electric charge. He slowly gets to his feet and 
staggers angrily towards the man who had shocked him. He is brought up short by 
the other man, who moves forward with his own prod at the ready. Biff knows he 
is beaten. He might be able to beat one of them but not two.

BIFF:
"Who are you guys? What's going on?"

The first one answers.

MAN:
"You'll find out. Now, move it. This way."

He gestures down the corridor and Biff stumbles along ahead of them, still 
protesting but unable to do much about it. They come to the intersection of 
another corridor and Biff gets another surprise as he bumps straight into Mike 
and Amber who are being escorted along by another pair of armed guards. The 
guards all join forces to march them round the corner and along the next 
corridor.

BIFF:
"Amber - and the boy genius! What are you doing here?"

Amber promptly throws herself into his arms but is roughly grabbed and pulled 
back by one of the guards. They continue to be hustled along the corridor but 
manage to talk as they go.

AMBER:
"Oh, Biff, I'm so glad to see you. We've been kidnapped. We were knocked out by 
a huge Tektron robot in the middle of a swamp and then smuggled up here on a 
cargo shuttle."

BIFF:
"Oh, right - kidnapped - by a Tektron robot in the middle of a swamp. Now I know 
why we're in trouble: Super-cousin! - and his vivid imagination!!"

This, last, is addressed to Mike, who answers angrily.

MIKE:
"She's telling you the truth, you oversized anthropoid. And, in case you hadn't 
noticed - you're a prisoner too."

BIFF:
"Yeh, and I've also noticed that I've been making a complete idiot of myself for 
the past couple of days trying to contact you guys. And now I find you've been 
up here all along. Okay, you know what I think...?"

MIKE:
"I don't even know if you think."

At this stage they are halted in front of an enormous door at the end of the 
corridor. One of the guards enters a code on the door and it rumbles open. They 
push the kids inside with Biff still talking angrily to Mike.

CUT TO:
INT PLUS F/X SHOT. THE TEKTRON STRONGHOLD ON SKY BASE.


BIFF:
"Very funny. I'll tell you what I think. I think all this business about plots 
to enslave the world and Tektrons and stuff like that is the biggest bunch of 
..."

At this point Biff stops dead and his eyes nearly bug out of his head. We cut to 
a reverse view of the scene he is looking at. It consists of Lavalle, Chalmers 
and several of the Tektron zombies standing in front of a bank of computers and 
electronic machinery. They are staring right at Biff and the kids with cold, 
expressionless faces. Above all this is the huge, swirling, pulsating blue aura 
of the Tektron logo. It looks bigger and more menacing than ever. The music 
builds up to a huge dramatic climax as the scene fades.

CUT TO:

INT. A TV NEWS BROADCAST.
A news broadcaster can be seen talking on a TV news broadcast. As he talks, the 
various points he is making are illustrated in the background with computer 
graphics, animation and live video coverage.

NEWS PRESENTER:
"Fears are still growing about the latest ecological threat which is now 
reaching crisis proportions. Leading scientists who have been studying recent 
sunspot activity are predicting that unusually high levels of solar radiation 
will be occurring soon. This, taken along with the mysterious 'holes' that have 
started appearing in the Earth's ozone layer, now constitute a major hazard to 
large areas of animal, vegetable and human life. It has been estimated that 
damage to agricultural crops alone could cause widespread food shortages and 
famines for many years to come. We go over now to our Science Correspondent at 
the United Nations Headquarters where urgent measures to deal with this crisis 
are now being organised."

The TV image cuts here to a view of the UN Headquarters which is full of worried 
looking people milling about in a mass of furious activity.

CORRESPONDENT:
"Hello, everybody. The latest news is that tests of a new bio-chemical formula 
developed in one of the orbital research laboratories in space have just been 
carried out. If these tests are successful then the chemical can be injected 
into the upper atmosphere to repair the ozone layer before the impending solar 
radiation hits us. Time is running out, however, while everyone waits anxiously 
on the...Just a second - it looks like a message has been handed to the 
Secretary-General, who is standing up to make an announcement."

We now go to a close-up of the Secretary-General standing up at the central 
podium.

SECRETARY-GENERAL:
"My fellow delegates, the results of the tests on compound DLX 23 have been 
found to be successful. The ozone layer can be repaired in time."

There is a storm of applause at this and the camera shows a few happy scenes of 
people rejoicing at the good news.

CUT TO:

INT. TEKTRON STRONGHOLD ON SKY BASE.
The camera pulls back to show that this broadcast has also been showing on a 
screen in the room. They have all been watching it when we pull back to get a 
view of Lavalle looking triumphantly at the kids. Suddenly the harsh voice of 
the Tektrons booms out.

TEKTRONS:
"You, young humans, are now prisoners of the TEKTRONS. You are hostages to the 
good behaviour of the rest of your Counter Force. You will be safe provided they 
do not attack us. Our plans are nearing completion and our time is too valuable 
to be taken up with this trivial matter, therefore, you will be dealt with by 
our servant, Professor Lavalle."

Lavalle bows to the Tektrons. The humming presence of the Tektrons slowly dies 
away. There is still some sign of their blue energy in the background but it is 
very little. In the meantime, Mike is beginning to understand what is happening 
and as Lavalle turns to them, he bursts out.

MIKE:
"DLX 23. That's the chemical you're making right here."

Lavalle smiles contemptuously at this and applauds lightly.

LAVALLE:
"Oh, well done, my little hero. DLX 23 is indeed manufactured here. It is my 
invention to serve the will of my masters, who will soon achieve their greatest 
triumph."

MIKE:
"So it has nothing to do with repairing the ozone layer?"

LAVALLE:
"Oh, but of course it does. That is the simplest of its functions. It's what 
else it does that's important - and you happen to be just in time for a 
demonstration."

Two of Lavalle's men are brought over in handcuffs by another pair of guards. 
They are pushed into a transparent box like a large telephone box and the door 
is locked behind them. They look utterly terrified. Lavalle saunters over to the 
box and takes a small glass phial of powder out of a fridge and places it into a 
small drawer in the side of the box's glass door. He explains as he carries this 
out.

LAVALLE:
"Watch closely now. You should find this interesting. I am putting in an 
extremely small amount of the DLX 23 powder which is kept frozen. As soon as it 
warms up, it starts to emit a colourless gas to the air inside the chamber."

He does this, and the men inside watching him, beat frantically on the glass 
walls in an effort to beg for mercy. Lavalle shows none. He simply pushes the 
drawer in and the men inside recoil in horror and try to retreat as far from the 
drawer as possible. They claw at the glass walls in a useless struggle to get 
out, but it is too late. Their movements soon slow and stop. They both stand 
quite still for a second or two, their shoulders slumped. Suddenly they 
straighten up and look out the glass doors of the box with inhuman 
expressionless faces. Their eyes now have the strange electronic glow which 
shows they are now Tektron zombies. Amber hides her face in Biff's shoulder, 
sickened by this.

LAVALLE:
"Isn't it wonderful! After one small exposure they become perfect slaves who 
will do only what they are told. And soon the whole population of Earth will be 
the same when my chemical is put into the atmosphere."

MIKE:
"I don't understand. If you had the stuff up here all along, why didn't you 
release it into the Earth's atmosphere yourselves, instead of going through all 
that charade with the ozone layer?"

LAVALLE:
"Because of quantities, my young genius. The quantity of chemicals needed to 
tear a few holes in the ozone layer was very small - and therefore undetectable 
- but to saturate the atmosphere with enough DLX 23 to affect everyone on Earth 
required much more. This way, you see, the foolish Earth authorities have agreed 
to do the job for us. An elegant solution, don't you think?"

AMBER:
"There's something else I don't understand - why have you involved Biff...I mean 
Squad Leader Baker - in all this?"

LAVALLE:
"You were brought here as hostages, but Baker was drawing unnecessary attention 
to your absence on Earth with his repeated attempts to contact you. Your Counter 
Force companions were keeping the matter quiet, but an official investigation 
could have pointed in this direction. He had to be stopped."

Amber looks at Biff questioningly. He shrugs and smiles slightly.

BIFF:
"It was good news, too. The Space Corps rescue was successful. Your parents are 
on their way back here now, along with all the others on the shuttle."

Amber smiles in relief at this and gives him a big hug.

AMBER:
"Oh, Biff. That's wonderful!"

They both look up in time to see the next sinister turn of events. The two men 
in the glass box have now been taken out and Lavalle gestures hospitably in its 
direction with a sardonic smile.

LAVALLE:
"Your rejoicing may be a little premature, I fear, as it is now your turn in my 
little chamber. Please enter. There's plenty of room for all of you, as you can 
see."

The guards start to hustle them forward but just at that moment there is a 
tremendous blast of noise from a klaxon horn. Everyone looks up in alarm. 
Chalmers, who has been missing for a while during this scene suddenly comes into 
shot at Lavalle's elbow again.
CHALMERS:
"It is the cosmic radiation warning, Professor. The solar storm is on its way 
sooner than we expected. We cannot waste time on the prisoners now. I suggest 
you turn them over to me. You are more urgently needed to help with our masters' 
preparations to transfer to Earth."

LAVALLE:
"You are right, of course, Chalmers. My masters need me. Take the prisoners 
away."

Chalmers bows hurriedly and hustles the prisoners away while Lavalle and his men 
rush over to the consoles and start working at them. The blue aura of the 
Tektrons is back in evidence again and they are roaring for Lavalle to attend 
them. Two of the guards who have been with the kids come with them as Chalmers 
takes charge and they all move quickly out of the room leaving a scene of 
tremendous bustle and activity behind them as everyone gets busy at their own 
duties.

CUT TO:

INT. CORRIDORS OUTSIDE THE TEKTRON ROOM.
Chalmers hurries them all down the corridor and they go round one or two 
intersections till there is no one else in sight. Chalmers checks this quickly 
and then calls to the two guards.

CHALMERS:
"Guards, halt. I must give you special instructions"

The two guards stop and move back a few paces to listen to Chalmers. He is quite 
a small man so he beckons them to bend over and put their heads down to hear him 
whisper. As soon as they do this he sprays them both in the face with a tiny gas 
canister. The guards promptly fall to the floor unconscious. The kids look at 
this in astonishment but Chalmers is already beckoning them over to him.

CHALMERS:
"Come here, quickly. Help me get them into this store cupboard. I am going to 
help you escape but we don't have much time."

The kids need no second urging and move quickly. They put the guards' own 
handcuffs on them and start bundling them into a small store cupboard at the 
side of the corridor.

BIFF:
"I thought you were on their side."



CHALMERS:
"That isn't important any more. This business has got to be stopped somehow, and 
you are my only hope. I have followed Professor Lavalle faithfully for years, 
but I know now that he is quite mad."

BIFF:
"I'll vouch for that."

CHALMERS:
"Now listen carefully, I triggered the radiation alarm early to stop you being 
put in the DLX 23 chamber, but the solar storm is coming. It would only have 
been a short time before the alarm went anyway. The storm will be upon us in a 
matter of hours but before then you must get away from here and get word to your 
friends on Earth to stop the DLX 23 from being put into the atmosphere. I will 
tell you where it is."

MIKE:
"Can you get my wrist terminal back and my power belt?"

BIFF:
"And my space suit and kit?"

CHALMERS:
"Yes, yes, I have them all hidden in a safe room which is where I am taking you 
now. But we must get there unseen, so hurry, please."

The scene fades as he says this.

CUT TO:

EXT CAFETERIA IN AN OUTDOOR SHOPPING MALL IN FLORIDA.
Gerry and the twins and the Texas boys, BJ and TJ, are sitting at a table in the 
cafeteria looking gloomy. They have all been served some food but none of them 
are eating much. Janey comes over to join them and sits down beside Gerry.

JANEY:
"Hi, guys. Still no word?"

She is greeted by rather hesitant smiles from them all.




GERRY:
"Hi, Janey No, still nothing. We're just waiting for Sparks. Poor guy! He's had 
his wrist terminal continuously tuned to Mike and Baby's call frequency since we 
got back  and tried every Internet web-site we can think of but he's heard 
nothing so far."

JANEY:
"It's so frustrating. I wish there was something we could do - instead of just 
waiting."

GERRY:
"So do I, but there isn't anything we can do while they're being held by the 
Tektrons. We all fell for that trick in the swamp and now I've had to promise 
Mum we won't make any move against those electronic devils while Mike and Amber 
are missing."

Just then, Gerry hears a nasty chuckle from behind him. He looks up to see 
Herbert Dowd's fat face leaning over him. Whittaker and Bentley are standing 
uncomfortably in the background.

DOWD:
"According to my surveillance reports, it appears you've misplaced another two 
members of your family as well as your father. Oh dear! What a pity!"

The kids all groan and try to ignore this, but Dowd pulls up a chair and sits 
down beside them.

DOWD:
"It seems to me that the time for a little bit of co-operation between us has 
finally arrived. And since you've developed such an aversion to speaking to my 
two men, I thought I'd try the personal approach. Now look, I want to find your 
father - you want to find the other members of your family. So, it's quite 
simple, really - you help me and I'll help you. What do you say?"

At this point, Sparks comes running up to their table. He is laughing and 
gesticulating in excitement.

SPARKS:
"Hey, hey, hey - we got them! I just heard from Mike and Amber. They're back on 
Sky Base and they're both safe. Come on - we've got to get to Alaska in a hurry 
- we've got work to do."

The kids all look at each other in awe and rise from the table in a total hubbub 
of happy excitement. Dowd's face gets mean and angry as he realises he is losing 
them.

DOWD:
"Now, wait a minute. This is your last chance. If you kids don't co-operate with 
me now, I'll..."

Anything else he might have said is cut off as he receives a large plate of 
apple pie and cream right in the face.

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. SKY BASE, EXTERIOR GIRDER SHOT.
Biff can be seen in his space suit pulling himself along the girders on the 
outside of Sky Base.

CUT TO:

INT. INTERIOR OF AIR DUCTS ON SKY BASE.
Mike and Amber are crawling along a narrow air duct. There is a considerable 
pressure of wind blowing against them. Mike is in the lead with Baby helping him 
to find the way. Amber is not enjoying the experience.

AMBER:
"I told you these air ducts would be windy. Why are we getting out this way, 
anyway?"

MIKE:
"Because, dummy, all the normal exits are too heavily guarded and we don't have 
space suits to go outside like Biff. Now will you shut up and keep moving."

AMBER:
"No, I won't shut up. And I'm not a dummy."

Mike just groans theatrically.

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. SKY BASE, GIRDER SHOT.
Biff can still be seen moving along the girders. He finally comes to a hatch and 
starts to turn the handle to open it.

CUT TO:

INT. INSIDE THE AIR DUCTS.
Mike and Amber are still moving forward and the rushing noise of the air is 
steadily getting louder and louder. Just then, the duct they are in comes out on 
to a huge vertical tunnel. The noise is now deafening and it soon becomes 
obvious why. Mike looks down, and below him he can see the huge spinning blades 
of the turbine which keeps the air moving. Amber crawls up beside him and pokes 
her head over his shoulder to see what is happening. She takes one terrified 
look and starts to try and go back. Mike, however, grabs her arm and points to a 
narrow girder which spans the gap across to the other side. Amber looks even 
more terrified and shakes her head vigorously. Mike finally leans over and 
shouts in her ear to make himself heard over the noise. 

MIKE:
"There's no other way. We have to go across it."

AMBER:
"No, no, no, no, no...there is no way you are going to get me to go out on that 
thing."

MIKE:
"Fine, I'll go on alone and leave you to the DLX 23 treatment. It might even 
keep you quiet for five minutes."

He starts to turn away but Amber grabs him and, after another fearful look down 
below her, reluctantly nods her head. Mike gives her hand a reassuring squeeze 
and sets off over the girder. He inches out slowly, his whole body flattened out 
on it with the tremendous suction of the wind trying to pull him off and down. 
Eventually he reaches the midpoint where there is some sort of a wind gauge set 
in a round box. He carefully makes his way over this and slowly slides on to the 
other side. Next, it is Amber's turn. She follows Mike's lead and slides slowly 
out to the midpoint. It is here that she gets into trouble. She has great 
difficulty getting over the box. She tries and fails and tries again. It is on 
this second try that she loses her balance and falls off the beam. She is left 
hanging by one hand and this is slowly slipping. Mike hurriedly makes his way 
back over the beam again and manages to grab her hand just as she is about to 
let go. After a desperate struggle he manages to get Amber back on to the beam 
and back over to the other side. In the air duct further in on the other side, 
they both stop to rest for a minute. Eventually, Amber stirs herself and turns 
to Mike.

AMBER:
"Biff was wrong about you. I guess I was too. I'm sorry."

MIKE:
"That's okay. I know I'm not very good at all this physical stuff. So...next 
time I'll just leave you."

They both grin at each other as the scene fades.

CUT TO:

EXT DAY. SNOW SCENE AMID SOME TREES AND SNOWY SLOPES. THERE IS A LARGE BUILDING 
IN THE BACKGROUND.
Gerry and the rest of the kids are all gathered in the shelter of some trees 
looking over a long snowy slope in front of them. They are all on skis and 
wearing funny-shaped metal backpacks. On the other side of the slope is a huge 
building with the Uni-Corp logo on it. The kids are all looking at this 
silently. Gerry is studying it through his binoculars. 

GERRY:
"Sparks, are you sure that's the place Mike said the DLX 23 is being kept?"

SPARKS:
"Yes, Gerry. They keep it here because the huge quantities of it need to be kept 
cold and this is one place you don't need expensive refrigeration. Nature is 
already doing the job just fine."

Gerry looks around him. Apart from Janey, Sparks and the twins, there is nobody 
else around.

GERRY:
"There don't seem to be any guards anywhere - which is strange - Uni-Corp 
installations are usually crawling with them."

JANEY:
"Maybe, they're inside."

GERRY:
"Maybe. Listen, I put out a general call to get help from some of the other 
Counter Force teams around, but it looks like they weren't able to make it, so 
we'll just have to do the job ourselves. I'm going down there to have a closer 
look and I want you guys to stay here and keep watch, okay?"

They all nod and he sets off. He skis silently down the long slope and straight 
towards the building. The funny shape of the backpacks then becomes obvious. 
They are jetpacks which enable the kids to jet-ski even on level ground or 
uphill.

The kids watching from further up the slope see him ski right up to one end of 
the building then they gasp in shock as they see him continue straight on. He 
starts up the jetpack on his back and skis right into the building. The view 
follows right along the side of the building as a strange noise seems to build 
up inside. Finally, Gerry's skiing figure is spat out the other end. Even as he 
appears, he is followed by a whole string of snow-scooters who follow him out. 
The kids all cry out and set off to ski swiftly down the slope to join him. As 
they pull up alongside him he comes to a slow reluctant halt, looking straight 
in front of him. We then see that there is huge line of snowmobiles perched 
along the top of a ridge in front.

GERRY:
"It's a trap. They were waiting for us."

As he says this, a bugle sounds the charge and suddenly a whole troop of Counter 
Force kids also with jetpack skis and led by BJ and TJ come sweeping down in 
between the snowmobiles and start leading them and the scooters off. The Counter 
Force kids all cheer with delight as more and more of the Counter Force cavalry 
arrive from all directions to give them help.

The battle that follows is fast and furious as the kids continually thwart the 
Uni-Corp snow-scooter and snowmobiles. The kids on their jet skis are not only 
faster, they are also more manoeuvrable. There are scenes of snowmobiles 
colliding with other. There are high-speed chases through the trees with the 
snow-scooter riders being knocked off or banging into the trees. Etc, etc, etc.

We move back to a view of Gerry, Janey and Sparks coming up to the top of a hill 
and laughing as they watch the twins cause another round of mayhem and damage to 
their frustrated opponents.

GERRY:
"Power-on, Lily, Lulu. Hey!! Right, now that the Uni-Corp guards are all busy, I 
think it's time we went and dealt with those stores of DLX 23."

JANEY:
"Yeh, let's go."

The three kids all ski down to the building and inside. Only to be greeted by 
another nasty surprise. The building is completely empty. They all look at each 
other in amazement and shock as the scene changes.

CUT TO:

INT. SKY BASE, BESIDE AN AIRDUCT COVER AND THE CORRIDOR BEYOND.
Mike and Amber have reached a portion of the airduct where there is a grill 
opening in its side. Mike consults with Baby.

MIKE:
"Baby, is this the right opening?"

BABY:
"Yes, Mike. Be patient. I am in touch with Squad Leader Baker now and he will be 
here any second."

As Baby finishes saying this, there is the sound of running feet and the grill 
cover is taken off. Biff is waiting there looking anxiously up at them as Mike 
and Amber climb stiffly out.

BIFF:
"What kept you?"

Mike and Amber just look at each other, then Mike answers.

MIKE:
"We stopped to do some sight-seeing."

BIFF:
"Well, I'm glad you didn't take much longer, old buddy. We need to start 
preparing the radiation shield rooms before the solar storm hits, and there 
isn't much time left."

To Biff's surprise, Mike shakes his head at this.

MIKE:
"You two can go in if you want. I've still got things to do."

AMBER:
"Like what?"

MIKE:
"Well, Chalmers said that the Tektrons are preparing to transfer back to Earth 
before the storm gets here. That can only mean one thing. The radiation from the 
storm is as deadly to them as it is to us. Unless they can get back beneath the 
Earth's atmosphere in a very short time, they will all be wiped out. 
Understand?"

AMBER:
"Oh no, not again! Not another one of your crazy schemes."

But Mike carries on excitedly.

MIKE:
"Come on, guys. We can't let them get away. If they get back to Earth, even with 
DLX 23 destroyed, they'll still be a never-ending menace to all of us. You know 
how dangerous they are now. This is our chance to wipe most of them out 
completely."

BIFF:
"How?"

MIKE:
"Well, Baby and I have come up with a plan. But we're going to need help. A lot 
of help."

AMBER:
"Oh boy! I just know I'm not going to like this."

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. OUTSIDE SKY BASE LEADING UP TO A MASSIVE DISH ANTENNA ON A LONG ARM OF 
GIRDERS STICKING OUT TO ONE SIDE. Mike and Amber in space suits are clipped to 
this assembly of girders where the antenna arm joins on to it. They have tools 
out and they are both busy working on the antenna arm mountings. A close-up of 
Amber's face can be seen inside her helmet.

AMBER:
"I knew I wouldn't like it. What are we doing out here, anyway?"

MIKE:
"We're here because that antenna in front of us is the main transmission antenna 
that the Daddy-Long-Legs computer uses to communicate with Earth reception 
stations. The Tektrons are just a form of electronic energy so they will be 
using it to transfer themselves down to Earth. So, we're going to change the 
direction of the antenna to prevent that."

At that moment a high energy laser bolt glances off one of the girders near 
them. The metal almost melts through in that one hit - showing how deadly the 
weapon is. The beam is seen coming from a battery of projectors mounted on a 
movable swivel near the base of the antenna. 

AMBER:
"What was that?"

MIKE:
"Uh-oh! I was afraid of that. It's the antenna's meteor defence system. 
Unfortunately, the Tektrons control it now. But Biff said he would take care of 
that...So, come on, take care of it."

At that moment, a flight of rocket sleds led by Biff sweeps into view. They 
angle down towards the antenna and Biff speaks to Mike and Amber on their helmet 
radios.

BIFF:
"Okay, Mike. I persuaded some of my friends to help. We'll draw off the laser 
attack - you take care of the Tektrons. Power-up, old buddy, and good luck."

With that, the sleds make a dive towards the antenna and draw off the laser fire 
towards themselves. The rocket sleds manoeuvre in a rapid complicated dance to 
avoid the laser barrages and all the while Mike and Amber are steadily turning 
the great antenna arm further and further away from Earth and more and more 
towards the Sun and the approaching solar storm.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE DOORWAY TO THE UNI-CORP BUILDING IN ALASKA.
Gerry, Janey and Sparks can be seen coming out the door looking stunned when the 
twins come sweeping up on their jet-skis in great excitement.

LILY:
"Gerry, we just heard from one of the other teams that the DLX 23 consignment 
was shifted to a railhead and loaded on a train earlier today. The railway 
passes about a mile away from here and the train is due to come past here soon."

GERRY:
"Thanks, Lily. Okay, Sparks, please stay here with the twins and keep these Uni-
Corp guards occupied. I'll take Janey. We've got to stop that consignment of DLX 
23 reaching the space launch."

Gerry and Janey set off and there is a sequence of shots of them skiing 
frantically, intercut with shots of the train drawing nearer. Finally we see 
Gerry and Janey come skiing down a slope to the railway track as the train 
passes just below them. They ski alongside the train for a short distance till 
they come to an open space and Gerry aims his chest grapnel. The grapnel shoots 
out and makes contact high up on the side of the train. Gerry is then pulled 
along by the rope attaching him to the grapnel. Janey skis along with him to 
keep watch and give help as necessary.

Suddenly the train moves out of the shelter of the surrounding trees and Janey 
gives a shout of fright when she sees what is ahead. It is a deep gorge spanned 
by a narrow bridge. There is no room for her to go any further and she falls 
back, shouting to Gerry in alarm. He looks up and tries to disengage himself but 
it is too late. The train thunders on to the bridge and he has no choice but to 
follow. There is no room on the bridge so he is plunged straight over the rim of 
the gorge. The rope, however, allows him to swing along, pulled by the train, 
from one side of the gorge to the other. He skis happily up the slope on the 
other side and continues being towed along by the train.

He looks back to see Janey watching him anxiously from the other side of the 
gorge and gives her a reassuring wave. He then gives her a brief message on his 
wrist communicator.

GERRY:
"I'm okay, Janey. Go back to the others. I'll get on board this thing and deal 
with the DLX 23 somehow."

JANEY:
"Okay, Gerry, take care."

With this, we see Gerry pulling himself close to the side of the train by the 
rope and finally getting a handhold between two of the carriages. He kicks off 
his skis and pulls himself fully on to the train. Then with a bit of effort he 
pulls himself round to a side window and, after smashing it, pulls himself 
inside.

CUT TO:

INT. THE INSIDE OF THE TRAIN CARRIAGE.
He shucks off his jet-ski backpack and looks around him. The train is deserted. 
The carriages are nothing more than long refrigerators with the chemical inside 
them. He moves to another carriage through the interconnecting door and it is 
exactly the same. He looks at these thoughtfully then talks quietly to Janey on 
this wrist comm.

GERRY:
"Janey, Janey, it's all in freezers. If I just disconnect the freezer controls 
the whole consignment will warm up and its hypnotic effect will be ruined. 
According to Mike, the rest of the chemical will still be okay to repair the 
ozone layer. Also, no guards around, so this should be easy. Out."

He moves through to another compartment and finds the freezer engines and starts 
working to disconnect them. As he is doing this he becomes aware of a movement 
behind him and turns to see what it is. He looks up and his eyes open wide in 
shock and dismay. It is the same huge robot that had kidnapped Mike and Amber 
from the Florida swamp.

He staggers back from it in alarm and the robot moves towards him, its enormous 
pincer hands opening and closing with nasty, rasping clicks. Gerry pulls his 
laser and fires it wildly as the robot advances on him, but discovers, just as 
before, that the robot is too heavily armoured to be damaged. It keeps moving 
towards him relentlessly. He fires and fires again - to no effect. He is finally 
backed right up against the end wall of the carriage and can go no further. He 
smashes the laser gun at the robot as it gets near but it grabs the gun and 
crushes it completely. It looks like nothing will save Gerry then, but he looks 
up and sees an overhead hatch in the roof. He quickly swings himself up towards 
this and, with a desperate heave on the handle, pushes it open. He springs up 
and gets his head and shoulders through when the robot catches hold of one of 
his legs. It starts to squeeze and pull him down. He is in agony as he strains 
to pull himself free but there is no hope. He is steadily pulled down. His cool 
thinking doesn't desert him, however. He takes one hand and pries out one of the 
metal struts which had been used to secure his jet backpack on, and pulls it 
free. He then carefully aims down through the hatch below him and smashes the 
short bar of metal into one of the robot's eye cameras. The blow smashes it and 
the robot momentarily lets go. Gerry is quick to take advantage of this and 
scrambles out on to the roof, hauling his injured leg behind him. He slams the 
hatch closed.

CUT TO:

EXT THE ROOF OF THE TRAIN.
He no sooner gets out on the roof, when he sees a monstrous arm smashing through 
the hatch cover and tearing the roof open all around. A few moments later the 
head and shoulders of the robot appear through the widening gap in the roof and 
the robot is again in pursuit. It clumsily hauls itself up and begins to walk 
slowly along the roof towards him. Gerry retreats before it. Suddenly it opens 
one of its hands and the strange electronic fire appears that had stunned Mike 
and Amber before. Gerry realises what this is and throws himself flat on to the 
next carriage roof. The beam passes harmlessly over him.

After this, it is a mad scramble to keep away from the robot. Gerry retreats 
steadily, moving back along the train. The robot keeps coming after him. At 
last, Gerry reaches the end of the last carriage and has nowhere left to run. He 
turns to face the monster again but his footing slips and he falls over the back 
of the carriage. Luckily he manages to grip a handrail at the end of the roof 
just as he slips and doesn't quite fall off. He is clinging on to this and 
looking up as the robot moves triumphantly up to him, its huge pincers cracking 
and clacking.

At this point something strange happens. Gerry looks up at the robot and starts 
to laugh. He laughs harder and harder. Finally, he frees one hand long enough to 
point at it and manages to shout a few hysterical words.

GERRY:
"You're such a great big invincible monster, nothing can stop you. But I know 
something you don't. Look behind you."

The robot hesitates and swivels its head round. As it does so, it sees that the 
train is fast approaching the entrance to a tunnel. The train enters the tunnel 
and the robot erects its helicopter gear and starts to turn the rotors as 
hastily as it can. But it is too late. The last carriage plunges into the tunnel 
and the robot is swept off on to the snow-covered rocky embankment overhead.

For one moment there is a view of the tunnel entrance and a huge, man-shaped 
outline in the snow above it. It looks exactly like a scene from a Tom and Jerry 
cartoon. Then there is a huge explosion and the shape disappears as the robot 
inside explodes. We get a quick cut of Gerry coming out of the tunnel at the 
other end. He looks at the empty roof of the train in front of him and grins 
delightedly. With this, the scene changes again.

CUT TO:

FIX SHOT. THE SKY BASE GIRDERS NEXT TO THE ANTENNA.
Mike and Amber are both heaving on a huge spanner which is slowly turning a 
ratchet wheel beneath it.

MIKE:
"One...more...push, Amber. And we...can...finish it."

They heave again and both look out at the antenna. A distinct blue glow is 
building in the middle of its huge dish.

CUT TO:

INT. THE TEKTRON STRONGHOLD.
Lavalle and Chalmers are there along with a few other people. Lavalle is in a 
state of almost mystical triumph.

LAVALLE:
"At last, Chalmers. At last. My great dreams - my ambitions - will soon begin."

CHALMERS:
"I think not, Professor. Please look at this."

He turns on one of the huge wall screens and manipulates the controls till it 
shows the antenna. It appears full of a huge pool of boiling blue Tektron energy 
which suddenly changes to a bright blue beam stabbing out towards the sun. 
Lavalle stares at this with suddenly bulging eyes.

LAVALLE:
"What? It can't be! My wonderful masters are being beamed straight at the sun. 
They will all be destroyed by the solar storm. Quickly, Chalmers, we must stop 
them."

He dives for a console and is just about to use it when suddenly there is a 
buzzing crackle and a series of electrical explosions ripple across all the 
consoles, turning off all their lights and leaving them utterly dead. Lavalle 
just looks stunned at this. He runs frantically from one console to another but 
nothing is working anymore. Finally, he slowly bends over and his lips begin to 
froth as he mutters and drools in a state of complete insanity. Chalmers comes 
over and gently guides him into a chair.



CHALMERS:
"My poor professor. My poor dear professor. I feared this might happen - but I 
had no choice, you see. You made a pact with demons - and they drove you insane. 
Poor professor Lavalle. Poor, mad, mad Lavalle."

CUT TO:

F/X SHOT. GIRDERS NEAR ANTENNA.
There is a tremendous build up of music at this point and we can hear Biff's 
squad and Mike and Amber all cheering. Biff and Dimitri pick up Mike and Amber 
and the triumphant Counter Force music plays its theme as the scene fades.

CUT TO:

INT. THE ARRIVAL LOUNGE AT SKY BASE.
The whole Melville family are there as well as Janey and Sparks and Amber and 
Biff and Dimitri. They are all looking towards the Arrivals entrance. As they 
watch, there is a loud ringing, the doors open, and several passengers come out 
to be greeted joyfully by people waiting in the lounge. Suddenly, Amber gives a 
tremendous shout of joy and rushes forward. It is her parents, Peter and Elenor 
who have just come in. There is a tearful and joyful reunion with Amber and the 
whole family.

CUT TO:

INT. A WIDE SKY BASE HALL THRONGED WITH HAPPY PEOPLE.
A little later when all the excitement has died down, Mike and Amber and Biff 
are standing a little aside from the others. Amber has her arms linked with both 
Mike and Biff.

AMBER:
"My two heroes. None of this would have been possible without you both."

BIFF:
"Hey, don't associate me with that troublemaker."

MIKE:
"Nor me with that replica simian."

They both grin as they say this, however. Biff holds out his hand and shakes 
hands with Mike.


BIFF:
"I gotta go, good friends. Duty calls. But there is one thing I want to say to 
you, old buddy. I found out what Neanderthal means and if you ever imply I'm 
subhuman again I will start to act like it - on you."

Mike considers this.

MIKE:
"I'll make a deal with you. You don't call me old buddy any more and I won't 
call you subhuman. Oh, and by the way, I got a present for you. Uh...don't open 
it till later though."

They both grin as Biff takes the parcel and they finish shaking hands.

BIFF:
"Deal. And thanks. See you later, Amber."

Biff kisses Amber and walks away with his friend Dimitri. Meanwhile, Mike is 
looking a bit uncomfortable. It is never easy for him to apologise.

MIKE:
"Listen, I just wanted to say that I understand now about you and Biff. I didn't 
like it much at first... jealous, I guess, 'cause we've always been so close, 
But...uh...he's a very good guy."

AMBER:
"Well, of course he is, dummy. It just took a little while for you to get to 
know each other. And, listen, we'll always be close, you know that, Mike? After 
all, we geniuses have to stick together, don't we?"

MIKE:
"Sure."

AMBER:
"And, I'm sure you and Biff will eventually be good friends too."

At this point Mike shrugs with a slightly mysterious smile.

MIKE:
"Yeh, well...maybe.

Amber smiles happily at him then takes his arm and they move off back to join 
their family.

CUT TO:

INT. A CORRIDOR IN SKYBASE.
Biff and Dimitri are ambling along together.

DIMITRI:
"So, all ends well, and you finally make friends with the little cousin, hey!"

BIFF:
"Yeah, well, we had our differences...but the little squirt's okay. He even gave 
me a present and promised to stop calling me an ape. (He chuckles). I wonder 
what he's given me."

Biff stops and shakes the box curiously then decides to open it. He pulls out 
the packing and...takes out a banana. He holds it up in front of him in 
astonishment as Dimitri starts to laugh delightedly.

Freeze frame on this last shot. Cue end music. Roll end credits.



COPYRIGHT (c) GEORGE ERSKINE AND IAN CAMERON, 2003. 
Counter Force and associated characters are registered trademarks of Dram 
Enterprises. All rights reserved.






George Erskine 		Dr Ian Cameron 
26 Waverley Court		35 Inverary Avenue 
Caskieberran		Pitteuchar 
GLENROTHES        	GLENROTHES 
Fife              	Fife
KY6 2LU           	KY7 4QN 
Scotland          	Scotland

Tel: 01592 566391 	Tel: 01592 773456

e-mail: geomart@blueyonder.co.uk
ERSKINE/CAMERON
SUN STORM

Return to SimplyScripts.com