"Stargate Abydos"
 
FADE IN:
MONTAGE - ARCHIVE CLIPS
SUPER:  "JULY 2 1947"
Nazi jet, Swastika prominent, CRASHES on a remote farm in the desert.
Metal debris scatters in an area the size of two football fields.  Detached jet engines in evidence.
Chicago Daily News headline, "Unidentified Aircraft Crashes in Desert."
Text in article bolded and enlarged "...Soviets say it was an experimental jet engine propelled airplane  ...U.S.  authorities say it was a weather balloon  ...Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico."
Giant "Top Secret" STAMPS the newspaper article.
END MONTAGE
EXT. VICTORIAN HOUSE - NEW ORLEANS - DAY
NIKKI Gateaux (rhymes with chateau), mid 30's, attractive, light Cajun accent, dark gothic clothing and make up.  She KNOCKS HARD at the front door.  Opened by KASE, mid 20's,  leaning discretely on a metal walking cane.  Kase has short hair, spiked.
SUPER:  "MARCH 2002"
Fuzzy long haired DIXIE the cat peers briefly out the open door.  Scurries back inside.
INT. HOME/LIVING ROOM - DAY
                          NIKKI
Still got that krypton core titanium walking cane, I see.
Nikki slips past Kase at the door way.  Kase beams as Nikki enters.  She rushes right past.  He stands in the foyer until Nikki is long past, crestfallen.

KASE
How nice to see you again, Miss Gateaux.  You're looking fit and svelte as ever.
(indicating the cane)
And the core is depleted uranium - only kidding.
Kase gets her attention, briefly.  Nikki clears a spot on the sofa.  Sits down.  Ceiling fan wobbles overhead.  Flutters her papers briefly.
NIKKI
You make it impossible for a lady to be ladylike here.
Kase admires her long legs openly.  Grinds his teeth.  Their eyes meet, and hold briefly.
NIKKI
Kase, this is supposed to be your living room.  Not a health club.  Grow up.
KASE
How many times...
NIKKI
Yes, you're in training.  You missed the Olympics though.  Or hadn't you noticed?
She points to a television set covered with moon dust.  Points to a crazy quilt of wires dangling from the back of a TV.
KASE
Amateurs.  Wimps.  I'm a has been psycho basket case, Nikki.  You know that.  They think I'm dead.  They'll stop at nothing...
He glares at her.  Nikki's not listening.  She grasps long straight hair behind her neck.  Wraps it into a single pony tail with a rubber band.  Shakes it free down her back.  She's all business now.
                          NIKKI
You said something about a Pulitzer Prize story on the phone?
Dixie the cat stalks Nikki from the sofa head rest, eyes big:  Watching, sniffing.  Kase steps awkwardly toward the 

sofa.  Eases painfully into a chair opposite Nikki.  Kase struggles to make direct eye contact, eventually succeeds.
NIKKI
I know, Kase - I love you too.  Too bad life had to get in our way, no?
KASE
Yes, life.
(hoisting the cane)
What would we do without it?  - You been on the beat long enough to know anything about the crash in Roswell, New Mexico - back in 1947?
NIKKI
Sure.  Newspapers said it was a U.F.O.  Then the Army said it was a weather balloon.  Right?
Nikki picks up a cat toy from the floor, a little yellow birdie.  There are many other cat toys.
KASE
An area the size of two football fields littered with shredded metal?  Weather balloons back then were made of paper or rubberized silk.
Kase adjusts himself in the chair for painful knees.  Leans forward.  Speaks with conviction.
KASE
The only metal is a few square feet of aluminum foil attached at the bottom to create a good radar signature.
Nikki finishes shorthand notes.  Looks up, skeptical.  Shakes her head.
NIKKI
That's conjecture.
Kase grabs a mouse, does a search on the web on a laptop PC.  Turns the monitor for Nikki to see.
INSERT - ARCHIVE PHOTO OF JAPANESE BALLOON BOMBS
Web article with grainy black and white photograph of a large weather balloon.  It has a small load underneath attached with a web of ropes.  Hyperlinks bolded for 

"Retaliation for Doolittle Raid" and "a thousand balloon bombs reached the U.S. west coast"
BACK TO SCENE
KASE
The Japanese sent nine thousand balloon bombs across the Pacific during World War two.  Three hundred balloon bomb incidents were reported in the media.  All on the west coast.  Naturally, because of the upper air currents and the jet stream.
NIKKI
If so many paper silk balloons had been reported -
(looking up at him)
I'm sure nobody in the U.S. was fooled by the weather balloon explanation for the Roswell crash.
Kase watches her every nuance.
NIKKI
Jets didn't even exist then..?
(peering over bifocals Kase indicates, yes)
What hard proof do you have?
Kase says nothing.  Doesn't appear perplexed.  Nikki relaxes noticeably.  Maybe it's just an elaborate hoax to get her there.  Her rigid crossed legs relax and spread apart imperceptibly.  Nikki gives him a coquettish look.
KASE
It wasn't public knowledge back then, but the Nazis had a fighter jet, the Messerschmitt two sixty two. The British had a simpler jet fighter - to chase down V one buzz bombs.
Kase talks as he maneuvers the mouse.
INSERT - CLOSE ON AIRCRAFT PHOTOGRAPH
Web article showing a restored German Messerschmitt 262.  General specifications.  Bolded text reads, "brought to the U.S. from Germany in July 1945 for flight evaluation."
BACK TO SCENE

KASE
Proof.
Kase stands up and hobbles out of the living room, through a small dining room, into the kitchen.
INT. KITCHEN
Dixie double times it past Kase.  Slides on the wood floor.  The house is cram packed with furniture, close enough together so that Kase can get around without his cane.
NIKKI(V.O.)
Why keep jet aircraft a secret?
Dixie the cat sits by her bowl.  LOUD MEEOW.  Kase hurries to feed her.  Nikki enters.  Sits at a small dining table piled high with stuff - ancient Confederate/Civil War lunch box, little wood goblins, voodoo figurines.  Dixie PURRS while eating.
KASE
Because five hundred Nazi rocket scientists who built the buzz bombs - plus - three hundred train loads of rocket parts - were taken from Peenemunde to White Sands Proving Ground at the end of the war.
Nikki's scribbles notes.  Felt tip pen SCRATCHES.
KASE
The V one and V two cruise missiles killed ten thousand civilians in London - wounded twenty five thousand more.
Nikki sits bolt upright.  Purses lips in concentration as she takes notes.
NIKKI
Government gives amnesty to all those rocket scientists who leveled a million houses in London...  American people get upset.  Sounds like a world class cover up to me.
Nikki stares at a small aquarium.  Air pump JETS and an external filter WHIRRS.  
NIKKI
What's this got to do with us, now - You.  Me.  My - Pulitzer Prize.

Nikki is standing right in front of Kase, arms on hips.
KASE
I just enlisted in the Army.  My test scores were so high I got my choice of job - and location.
Nikki struggles to adjust.
NIKKI
Enlisted?  Are you crazy?  You're an engineer cum laude.  An expert.  My highly placed source...
Kase nods.  Watches the wheels turn in Nikki's face.
NIKKI
You're leaving me?
KASE
I'll train as a weather observer.  Then be posted to White Sands.  It's only a few miles from Roswell.
Kase shrugs.  Nikki sits down.  Her hands tidy up the table mess as she talks in a monotone.
NIKKI
That's insane.  White Sands is the missile defense research site.  They have the highest security in the world - how will you get access to anything?
Kase stares unfocused at the dining room wall opposite, at a framed letter with NASA bold on the letterhead.
KASE
What better place for an expert on the Unified Field Theory.
Nikki groans.  Sits down before her knees buckle.
NIKKI
That still won't get you past the front door.  There are hundreds of scientists doing research out there.
KASE
I'll just have to stir up some major league trouble - to get past their world class security system.

Nikki starts writing, spastic.  Kase maneuvers over to end up standing opposite Nikki's chair at the table.
KASE
These people.  They're powerful.  Rich.  They're connected.  Dangerous.  They embezzled a trillion dollars on this scam.  They destroyed a NASA shuttle.  Sabotaged the TOMS satellite -  stands for Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer - back in September oh one.
Nikki crumbles up a page of notes.  Throws it at Kase.
NIKKI
God damned, Kase.  Why'd you tell me?  You don't need a reporter.  You need James Bond.
(stands up)
Why me?  You're a dissident.  A dead one at that.  But me?  I've got a life.
(hopeful)
Won't your knees keep you out of the Army?
KASE
I got a waiver - I need you to shake them up.  Rattle their scruples.  They'll shadow you.  They'll make mistakes.  I'll find them when they do.
Kase picks up a key chain off the coffee table.  Dangles them in Nikki's face - indicates through a window, a giant blue '79 classic truck out in the front yard.  Tosses the keys in her lap.
KASE
I really need your help, Nikki.  Take the truck.  Keepers.
Nikki's lips tremble with a belated smile.  Her hands fidget keys.  Kase grasps Nikki's wrist.  The living room, too.
KASE
If you can't handle the heat.  I'll get you out of here.
(grasping her shoulder)
Safe.  No one will ever know.

An uneasy silence.  Kase picks up a spring hand exerciser (big chrome spring with two handles) and squeezes it repeatedly.  SPRING SOUNDS.  They both watch the gizmo.
NIKKI
No, Kase.  I'll know.  I'll do it.  I shouldn't.  But I will.  I'll do it...
Nikki gets her notes.  Grabs her things (purse, camera, notebook) in a stumbling dash to the front door.  Turns.  Pulls the pony tail around absent minded.  Hair flows down one shoulder to the front.
NIKKI
...This thing will take years to expose?  Damn, what a fool.  But I'll do it.  Count me in.
Nikki opens the heavy metal door violently.  Walks out onto the front porch.  Kase follows awkwardly.  Leans on his cane, looking vulnerable.
FOYER
NIKKI
You sure know how to show a lady a good time, Kase.
KASE
You're a Goddess, Nikki.
NIKKI
I'll be in touch.
KASE
I know.
EXT. HOME - DUSK
Nikki runs.  Scatters a flock of birds at the feeder in the front yard.  Fires up the truck with a ROAR.  Nikki BURNS RUBBER.  Waves at Kase in the door way.  Smiles big.  Speeds away.  Weaves through a working class Garden District neighborhood with toys in the street, dogs.
MONTAGE - NEW ORLEANS - AFTERNOON
Giant blue pick up with "Leviathan" stenciled bold on the back window, confederate bumper stickers.

Leviathan moves through the New Orleans Garden District.
Panoramic view of downtown, the Big Easy.
Nikki gets out of the jalopy.  Pauses to look at the carefree tourists dismounting a trolley in the Vieux Carre.
Nikki clutches her purse and note pad.  Hustles into the Times-Picayune building, lights blazing in every window.
A police cruiser rolls ominously into the space next to hers.
Nikki spots the police surveillance from the entranceway.  Turns on heel.  Stalks into the building.
Head bows.  Shakes in consternation.  A crooked smile wavers unsteadily upon her lips.
END SERIES OF SHOTS
INT. HOME - DUSK
Kase sits on the sofa.  Out the window, a dozen deer mull around under oak trees.  Kase opens a window.  Tosses deer corn out.  They don't budge.  Tosses pieces of bread out.  They go for that.  Deer eyes, ears focus on Kase as they dine.
SERIES OF SHOTS - FORT POLK, LOUISIANA - DAWN
SUPER:  THREE YEARS LATER
WHIPPING BEAT of a military transport helicopter.
Flies over the U.S. Army Fort Polk military reservation, an oasis of asphalt in the middle of knobby Cyprus swamps.
Chopper heads toward the central parade grounds, surrounded by World War II era wood office buildings, paint peeling.
Small groups of soldiers exercise.  Jog around a perimeter.
The helicopter banks toward a landing pad at one end of the parade ground.
At the edge of an "X" marking the landing zone are universal gyms.  Soldiers pump rusty iron free weights.
Downdraft blade wash scatters all the troops as the chopper hovers lower.

One figure keeps working out as the aircraft lands.   Same exercises Kase was last seen doing.
Out of the helicopter steps a NEFARIOUS MAN (bald, thin, Nordic) in a black trench coat, sun glasses, heavy metal briefcase chained to one wrist.
Chopper ENGINE REVS UP.  Helicopter lifts off, slowly fades away.
The Nefarious Man paces past the lone soldier who is wearing sweat-soaked camouflage pants, green T-shirt.  Pushes up his sun glasses to look at lone soldier briefly.  Hurries on.
The soldier is Kase, now in a bull dog Marine hair cut.
The exercising soldiers straggle quickly back to the universal gym to renew their routines.
Two white medical orderly outfits flank Kase, who is now seen to be shackled to the equipment.
The orderlies unlock the ankle manacles, muscle Kase off the universal gym.  Escort him away in a straight jacket.
END SERIES OF SHOTS
INT. JAG LAWYER'S OFFICES - DAY
STAFF SERGEANT, burly, 20's sits at old wood desk.  Too big for the desk.  Airborne insignia.  Combat photos, patches, and memorabilia on the walls.  He watches helicopter out the window, wistfully.  A telephone on the desk RINGS.  Meaty hand grabs it like it was a live hand grenade.
STAFF SERGEANT
JAG Fort Polk.  Good day.
BELCOHEN (V.O.)
Is this the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's office?
STAFF SERGEANT
Yes, Sir.  How may I help you?
The Army NCO keeps staring out the window as he talks.
BELCOHEN (V.O.) 
Captain Paul Badoui, please.
STAFF SERGEANT
I'll forward your call.  Sir.

BADOUI (V.O.)
This is Paul Badoui.
BADOUI, 30's, Arab-American, robust, jolly.
INT. UNITED NATIONS BUILDING - NEW YORK CITY
BELCOHEN, foreigner, 50's, permanent grimace, one lazy eye (i.e. it focuses wide), double chin.  Sits at a large desk, Star of David flag on a stand nearby.  
INSERT - CLOSE ON DESK
Open folder with Kase's passport photo, letter with a NASA letterhead (same as the one framed on the wall in his home).  Belcohen SLAPS the folder closed.  Over sized death's head ring reminiscent of the Nazis SS.
BACK TO SCENE
Belcohen looks out at ground level at a cascade of colorful world flags arrayed in front of the U.N. building.  He speaks slowly.  Enunciates each word.  Ends long sentences with a swallow, Adams Apple moving.
BELCOHEN
Hello, Captain Badoui.  My name is Nathan Belcohen.  I am attached to the Science Office of the Israeli Embassy.  In New York City.  At the United Nations...  Captain, are you still there?
INT. LAWYER'S PRIVATE OFFICE - DAY
Captain Badoui stumbles out of his chair.  Covers the receiver.  Stretches the phone cord across the small office.  Pantomimes to the Sergeant, two fingers to the lapel, points down the hall.  The NCO runs to comply.  
BADOUI
I'm sorry, but I'm flustered by this call - and, frankly, confused.  Why are you calling me?
BELCOHEN (V.O.)
Sorry to have caught you at a loss, Captain.  I've received a most disturbing communication from a client of yours.

BADOUI
Whom might that be, Mr. Science Officer?
BELCOHEN (V.O.)
A Specialist Fourth Class Cleary, formerly assigned to the Headquarters Company at the White Sands Missile Range.  In New Mexico.
(swallow)
This is your legal case right now?
Badoui jots down notes nervously.  Massages bridge of nose.  Taps pencil eraser end on the desk top.  The small office is spartan.  One wall of leather bound legal books in metal Army issue shelves.  Steel Korean War era desk.  Wood chair.
BADOUI
Yes.  Except little information is available to me.  Just the Inspector General's records.  Everything else is classified.
BELCOHEN (V.O.)
Are you saying, Captain, that you can't discuss the details of this case?
Badoui has an elbow on the desk.  Cradles his forehead with the palm of a hand.  Closes eyes to concentrate.
BADOUI
No!  The documents are classified, and they're out of my reach.  Even as his Defense Counsel - they're just not available.
BELCOHEN (V.O.)
How can you possibly represent this soldier properly?
BADOUI
I do the best I can.  Sir.
Badoui leans back in the chair.  Rocks slightly in the desk chair.  The frame SQUEAKS badly, repeatedly.
BELCOHEN (V.O.)
Let me caution you, mister American J.A.G. lawyer.  Your client is no mere enlisted man.
BADOUI
I don't understand.

The Staff Sergeant pokes his head in the door.  Motions with two fingers to his lapel, sick figure walks.  Two star general is en route.  Combat jungle sign language.
BELCOHEN (V.O.)
Your client, I regretfully tell you, is a talented engineer and scientist with a strong following.  At least in my country.
BADOUI
And my Father's the Prophet Joseph.
BELCOHEN (V.O.)
I am unfamiliar with that anachronism.  I think you should know that Cleary is a scientist of quite respected acumen.
BADOUI
Let me tell you, Mr. Ambassador.  Or whatever you are...
The GENERAL enters, burly, silver hair, bull of a man with a chest full of ribbons.  Curtly motions Badoui to put them on speaker phone.  Stands arms at side, almost at attention (in deference to the caller).
BELCOHEN'S OFFICE
Two physically fit staff - one male, one female - stand by Belcohen's desk.  Listen intensely on parallel phone lines.  One of the Israeli's looks  suspiciously like Nikki.
GENERAL (V.O.)
This is General Fulhurst.  On the speaker phone.  I assure you, Sir.  Specialist Cleary is receiving the best legal advice the United States Army has to offer.
BELCOHEN
Let's understand each other, General.  We have a problem here.  You and I.
LAWYER'S OFFICE
BADOUI
(to the General)
Excuse me, Sir.

(leaning over phone)
What the Hell is this guy doing in the Army, of all places?  And enlisted?
The General silences Badoui with a chopping hand signal.  Badoui leans back in his chair.  Shoves his hands deep into his pockets.  The General's fists are clenched white at his sides.
BELCOHEN(V.O.)
He was at White Sands.  The main research laboratory in the whole U.S. military.  Also - and I apologize if I know something I should not - HELSTAF is there.  That's the anti-ballistic missile defense system.  The High Energy Laser Facility.
The General is Old School.  Acts uncomfortable with conference telephones.  Talks overly loud.  Leans over the phone cradle.
GENERAL
HELSTAF.  Star Wars?   Lasers.  You're sure about that?
BELCOHEN (V.O.)
We - have our sources.
(baiting)
What about your own?
Badoui picks the phone off the cradle.  Hands it to the General.  YANKS OPEN DRAWERS.  Rifles through a mass of untidy documents.  The General AD LIB's with Belcohen.  The General gingerly places the phone back on the cradle.  
BADOUI
I have a confidential report here. Written by the Inspector General.  It's not a pretty picture.
BELCOHEN (V.O.)
I don't understand, Captain.  What's been going on?
Badoui looks quizzically at the General.  Expects guidance.  Gets none.
BADOUI
Cleary got into some trouble at White Sands.  Got an Army Commendation Medal.

This surprises the General.  He grabs the document from Badoui.  Inspects it closely.  Scratches a thin stubble on his chin in consternation.
BELCOHEN'S OFFICE
BELCOHEN
I know that one.  It's one of the highest peacetime awards given by the Army.  Quite an accomplishment for an enlisted man?  Yes?
BADOUI (V.O.)
I'd say it's practically in the miracle category.  No offense...
BELCOHEN
No, Sir.  S. P. Four Cleary must have done something quite extraordinary.  No?  Yes?
INSERT - CLOSE ON DESK TOP
A woman's hand with bright red nail polish pushes a document across the desk.  White Sands Missile Range letter head.  Across the body of the letter is a red stamp bold in Hebrew, smaller font in English "SECRET" translated.
BACK TO SCENE
BELCOHEN
Captain.  General.  Are there any documents you have about what actually happened out there in your Wild West?
BADOUI (V.O.)
I'm looking, Sir.  Damn, nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Most of the words are marked out with a black marker.  All I can find is an obscure reference to the medal he was awarded.
INSERT - CLOSE ON DESK TOP
Red fingernails push another "SECRET" document across the desk.   Official Fort Polk letterhead, Office of the Inspector General.  Most of the text has been marked out crudely with a thick black magic marker.
BACK TO SCENE

The tips of Belcohen's mouth curl up infinitesimally.
BELCOHEN
I do not get it.  First he gets some big time prestigious award.  Then they order him out of there.  Pronto.  I think you better have a talk with your client about all of this.  Counselor.  General.
BADOUI (V.O.)
Cleary's on a psych ward.  There by direct order of the Inspector General.
BELCOHEN
What's the diagnosis?
Belcohen is not surprised by this news.  One of this staff grasps his shoulder.  Indicates he should be acting surprised.
BADOUI
Psychosis.  P.T.S.D.  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  He has flashbacks all the time.  Can't distinguish the present from the past.
BELCOHEN
I, see...  That's awful...  What happens now?
LAWYER'S OFFICE
GENERAL
His final Medical Board Hearing is tomorrow.  He'll be discharged out of the Army by the end of the day.  Close your file on this, Belcohen.  It's over.
The General puts his finger on the phone toggle.  Terminates the conversation.
GENERAL
God damn diplomats.  Slimy bastards.
Badoui stifles a laugh.  Chest full of combat ribbons, Airborne insignia, First Cavalry horse on the shoulder patch.  Badoui has only one row of dull colored ribbons.

BADOUI
General.  You still want me to try and prove service connection to the medical disability?
GENERAL
Whatever it takes to get that soldier out of the military.  Wreck his life.  Gut his career.  Make sure nobody ever believes anything he says.  Ever again.
The General stalks out.  Badoui salutes to the doorway.
BADOUI
Yes.  Sir.  General.  Sir.
INT. BROOKE ARMY MEDICAL CENTER/PSYCH WARD - MORNING
Kase sits in a day room with several other patients.  Patients make an effort at the board game of Risk.   The Risk game ends with violence.  Nikki shows up, hugs and, Kase - is aloof.  She has a large three ring binder.  Sits down with Kase.  Her hair is in two little girl pony tails.
NIKKI
Your trial is next week.  We have to get you ready.
No response from Kase.  When prompted, he sits beside her.  More patients gather around as the show and tell goes on.  Staff hover around. 
SERIES OF SHOTS - KASE's LIFE
Nikki reads off stenciled labels.  Dysfunctional responses at awkward intervals.  Animal pictures strike a sympathetic chord with the patients.  Each photo is briefly animated.
Private Cleary happy in Basic Training.
Kase takes a fist full of aspirins, then...
Runs past the Drill Sergeant with a stop watch.  Passes the fitness exam.  Graduates Basic.
In a Physical Therapy clinic for his knees, wearing new Specialist Fourth Class insignia.
Dixie the kitten.
Posse of baby possums crawling all over Nikki.  Scooter the possum nearby.  Their mom.

Baby possum using Dixie cat's own litter box.  Then...
Adolescent Dixie the cat, in hot pursuit
INSERT - WIDE SHOT OF PSYCH WARD
Nikki pauses while raucous laughing dies down.  Psychos are fun to entertain.  Animal fun goes straight to their hearts.
BACK TO SERIES OF SHOTS
Map of New Mexico, big blue dot at White Sands Missile Range.
Specialist Cleary at the Weather Station.
Spec Four Cleary in front of weather tracking World War two era radar.
Kase letting go weather balloon, aluminum foil kite tail trailing.
Dixie the cat sleeping on the barracks window sill while many soldiers are exercising in the parade ground behind.
INSERT - CLOSE IN PSYCH WARD TABLE
Several hands reach in to stop Nikki at the Dixie photo for a few seconds while everybody ogles cat.
BACK TO SERIES OF SHOTS
Kase outside the High Energy Laser Facility.  Huge white dome.
Enormous parking lot, behind.  Bumper to bumper with parked cars.
Where's the Holiday Inn?  (patients laugh, too loud)
Giant room sized computers.  No people anywhere.
Giant chemical tanks outside.  No people anywhere.
Giant mirrors to focus laser beam.  No people anywhere.
Cow named Uther roasted by a laser test trial - only kidding  (to the suddenly quiet patients).
Detail of World War two era rocket test stands used to study Nazi V-2 cruise missiles.

Kase poses with the Post Commander Fulhurst and Chief Scientist Davy after a technical presentation.  Posters on a podium behind them.
Shakes the Two Star General's hand, proud as a paratrooper.
Close up of Kase beside the tech presentation posters.
Computer printouts and graphs.
Colorful cross section of a Star Wars X fighter, showing all the engineered systems.
END SERIES OF SHOTS
White shirt-sleeve of psych ward staff reaches in, SLAMS SHUT the photo album.  Confiscates volume.  Sends Kase to his room.  Patients are sad.  Nikki is escorted out the locked ward.
SERIES OF SHOTS - SOUTH LOUISIANA
Panoramic view of the swamps.
Fishing boats.
Lakes.
Bayou.
The Fort Polk central parade ground.
Kase works out, a few other psych patients with him - emulating him - supervised by orderlies in white outfits.
Bultaco hovers nearby, arms akimbo.
END SERIES OF SHOTS
EXT. FORT POLK PARADE GROUNDS - DUSK
Nikki gets out of Leviathan.  Walks across thick grass a little shaky in high heels.  Nears Bultaco.  About the only distinguishing feature you can see is a bushy moustache.
NIKKI
Dr. Bultaco?  I'm Nikki Gateaux.  Specialist Cleary's - fiancé.  

BULTACO
Why.  Yes.  I know you've visited him.  You're kind to do that.  S. P. four Cleary - all the patients - brighten up so when you are among them.
Bultaco smiles fiendishly.   Pushes the sunglasses up on his head.  Reaches forward to take Nikki's hand in his.  Nikki pulls it away.
NIKKI
Kase.  He's not crazy - delusional - or paranoid.
BULTACO
...he thinks he went to Annapolis.  Has an engineering degree from Texas.  Presented a technical paper on laser theory at White Sands.
NIKKI
He did go to the Naval Academy.  I knew him there.  I was at his graduation from U.T....
Nikki persists.  Bultaco backs away.  He catches the eye of a subordinate, who starts walking swiftly toward them.
BULTACO
You're as crazy as he is.
NIKKI
No.  Wait.  It's true.
Bultaco hesitates.  Takes the sun glasses off his head.  Stuffs them in a suit pocket.  Motions the subordinate away.
BULTACO
You mean he really did go to the Academy?  There was a nuclear accident?
NIKKI
I was there.
Nikki pulls her blouse loose.  Turns.  Shows Bultaco a wretched scar on her back.
NIKKI
I got this radiation burn before Kase pushed me away - he saved my life.

BULTACO
I thought the paper he presented in an appeal - about the psychological affects of radiation poisoning - was all make believe.
Nikki turns to one side as she tucks her shirt back in.  Bultaco watches intensely, leaning forward slightly.
NIKKI
It's not.  He's in full possession of all his faculties.  You have to believe me.
BULTACO
If his radiation paper is accurate - then he really is quite sick.   Miss Gateaux - you can't have it both ways.
NIKKI
Kase.  He can't be crazy.  I - we're friends.  I miss him.  We...
Bultaco grabs her hand.  Holds it tenderly in both of his.  Nikki looks down at their hands.  Grimaces.
BULTACO
He is strong.  Brave.  I will take care of him for you.
NIKKI
I don't want you to take care of him for me - I want to...
Nikki gathers herself together.  Backs away slightly.  Stands straight up.  Yanks her hand away from him.
NIKKI
Thank you doctor.  You do that.
BULTACO
You will come to visit, often?  You can help.  Promise?
Nikki turns, fighting back tears.  Bultaco turns.  Takes sun glasses out, puts them on.  Turns to watch Nikki get in her truck and leave.  An unmarked government sedan pulls out and follows her.  Bultaco frowns.

INT. TRIBUNAL ROOM - DAY
The Medical Review Board takes place in a Tribunal room.  It has wood furniture with brass accent trim and wood plank floors.  The Tribunal members sit in a long arc shaped table at the head of the room.  Three paces in front are two long tables.  Behind the tables is a banister with a gate in the middle, with half a dozen rows of seats at the back of the room.  Three Army officers: two medical officers and a line officer, who is designated Judge - and a Court Reporter - will sit at the head of the room.  The Judge sits between the two medical officers, the Court Reporter at one end.
Captain Badoui and Kase sit at the defense table.  Witnesses will sit on the prosecution side.  There is no jury in the box to the left of everything.  No spectators are in the gallery.  Nikki arrives, in a colorful spring dress.  Hair in a curly perm, on the wild side.  
INSERT - CLOSE ON TABLE
Kase is absent minded, sketching out a map of New Mexico.
Outlines the large White Sands military reservation on the south of the state; stretching from El Paso to Las Cruces.
Kase is a stick figure in the middle.
To the east is Holloman Air Force Base - sketches a mushroom cloud.  Scratches, A-bomb tests.
A few miles to the north, writes Roswell Army Air Field.
Kase draws a little alien E.T. looking stick figure beside a crude flying saucer.
Draws a short arrow from Roswell to a drum shaped building he's labeled High Energy Laser Facility, HELSTAF.
Scratches it out, labels it Hell Staff.
Image freezes.
BACK TO SCENE
The Judge is the Nefarious Man.  He and two other Tribunal members enter the conference room, and sit.  Everybody is in full dress uniform, shiny medals and insignia everywhere; colorful ribbons - serious faces.

N-MAN
Specialist Cleary, has your counsel informed you of your rights to testify?
Kase doesn't look up from his drawing.   Speaks to the table.
KASE
Yes.  Sir.
N-MAN
Counsel, you may proceed.
Badoui pushes away from the table.  Stands up.  He spends the rest of the Tribunal on his feet.
BADOUI
Members of the Board, my client will prove that:  The illness did not exist prior to service.   His hospitalization was a result of Command Influence.  He did experience trauma in the service but his previous military training at the U.S. Naval Academy...
Kase perks up at the mention of Annapolis.  Nikki sees this.  Grasps his hand in hers under the table.  Memories start to give Kase's eyes tunnel vision.
FLASHBACK - U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY YARD
Staring at the New Mexico drawing in front of him, it's replaced by visions of the past.  It's from Nikki's perspective - the ace photographer snapping pictures of her favorite subject.
Kase in a U.S. Naval Academy sweatshirt.  Go Navy.
Midshipman Kase in the bow of a small sail boat out in the Chesapeake Bay.  Losing balance, falling over board.
Nikki dives in to "rescue" him.
They're swimming after the boat as it sails away from them.
Halyards flop loose in a brisk wind.
Nikki is the  stronger swimmer.
Nikki catches the boat.  Drops the sail.  Hauls Kase aboard with a hand over the side.

At the end, you realize it was all from Nikki's perspective and that she is the one who is flashing back not Kase.
END FLASHBACK
BADOUI
... was sufficient to prepare him for these extraordinary circumstances.  The Medical Board's diagnosis is without any substantial proof or firm documentation.
N-MAN
Duly recognized.
BADOUI
I would like to question Colonel Derrick.
N-MAN
Very well, proceed.
DERRICK grasps Kase's shoulder as he passes behind.  Kase looks up at him.  Gives a floppy Charlie Brown smile, but no recognition.  Derrick sits at the witness table on the isle across from Badoui.
BADOUI
State your name and rank.
DERRICK
Robert E. Derrick, Chaplain.  Colonel, U.S. Army. 
Derrick 50's, African-American, size XL - speaks with a strong southern brawl, overly loud for the small room like the Baptist minister he is.
BADOUI
Colonel Derrick, when did Spec Four Cleary start working for you?
DERRICK
Last summer.  He had just changed jobs.  This was his first assignment as a Chaplain's Assistant.
BADOUI
Did you know at that time the circumstances that led him to Fort Polk?

The Chaplain tenses up.  Shoulders go rigid.  Badoui walks over to stand directly in front of the Chaplain.
DERRICK
Yes.
BADOUI
Did you observe him in his work environment?
DERRICK
Yes.
BADOUI
How well did he perform?
DERRICK
Exceptionally well.
(tentatively)
In fact.  I had put him in for a second ARCOM.  The Army Commendation Medal.
The Chaplain folds his hands deliberately on the table.  Badoui backs away.  Gives the Tribunal a sweeping look.  Focuses on Colonel Derrick.
BADOUI
Were you surprised when they admitted him to a psych ward?
DERRICK
Yes, I was.  I had seen no erratic or peculiar behavior.  Even with the fact that he had come from a very stressful situation.  He was unusually able to blend in with the staff.
Badoui walks over to his table.  Picks through some documents.  Kase looks at the papers on the table.  Nikki searches Badoui's face.
BADOUI
I have entered into evidence a letter from the Chief of Psychiatry, Doctor Gooly.  This document is the evaluation of Specialist Cleary's state of mind at this same point in time.
INSERT - CLOSE ON TABLE

Badoui reads a document, while slowly pacing - facing the Tribunal.
BACK TO SCENE
BADOUI
...A ten page single spaced statement with all the names, places, and dates obliterated for anonymity was given to me for evaluation.  This statement, indicates considerable inner turmoil, distress, and desperation.  I believe the threat to the patient and those around him is sufficiently important to justify an exception to the provisions of I.G. confidentiality.
The Chaplain glares at Badoui's back.  CLEARS his throat loudly.  Badoui turns to face him.  Stares him down.   Badoui turns to again face the Tribunal.
BADOUI
The I.G. - the Chaplain - the Doctor - nobody had authority to divulge any information concerning Specialist Cleary, to anyone.  The Department of the Army transferred Cleary to Fort Polk.  It was a confidential transfer, and all service personnel are obliged to follow the very specific requirements in such circumstances.  The Chief of Psychiatry circumvented this aspect of the military Coda in collusion with the Inspector General.
Badoui looks up from the paper at the Tribunal.  Keeps reading.  The Tribunal members are slightly cowed.   Pull back a little bit from their table.  Hands ball up in a fist, where they rest on the table.
BADOUI
In so doing they have breached the most intimate of confidences in the military - the sanctity of the Chain of Command.  They have also abrogated the oversight by the United States Congress, who directly ordered this transfer.
INSERT - CLOSE ON NIKKI'S HAND AT HER SIDE

Nikki grasps Kase's hand.  Kase jolts in reflex, fidgets.  
BACK TO SCENE
BADOUI
Colonel Derrick, when did you hear of Spec Four Cleary's admittance to Chambers?
DERRICK
It was the weekend.  I visited Kase Monday morning and talked to the nurse that was in charge.  It was a male Captain and we spoke privately.  He and his junior staff on the ward had seen no evidence of mental problems.
The Chaplain looks around the room, nonplussed to see no public witnesses in attendance.  A pencil held in his hands BREAKS.  Piercing look of disapproval from Counsel.  The Chaplain continues.
DERRICK
I read the full statement Specialist Cleary submitted to the I.G., before it was - edited.  My Staff Sergeant had shared it with me.  The writing was lucid and concise.  Neither of us thought anything like the opinion stated in the I.G. doctor's letter.
BADOUI
Did you eventually speak with Doctor Bultaco?
DERRICK
Yes.
BADOUI
What did Doctor Bultaco say to you about Cleary?
Until now the Chaplain had been seated with legs crossed, comfortable in the witness chair.  At this question, he uncrosses his legs and asserts the full weight of his Colonel's eagle Chief of Chaplains status.
DERRICK
I visited the Psych Ward with my Staff Sergeant.  
(MORE)
DERRICK (CONT'D)
The Doctor said he had read only a few pages of Kase's statement and that he was the 'sickest of the sick.'
(indicating quotes with his fingers)
I told him I have had some dealings with psychiatric patients.  That this certainly had not been at all obvious to me.  Could we talk about it.
Derrick puts on bifocals.  Read his notes.  Looks up frequently as if at a sermon to a large congregation.  His arms are crossed.
DERRICK
Bultaco said, 'I've read it.  I've read these few pages.  I've determined what's wrong with Cleary.  Now I'm going to prove it.'
BADOUI
So before Doctor Bultaco even examined him, he believed Cleary was severely mentally ill and set out to prove it?
DERRICK
To the best of my knowledge, he had not even spoken to Specialist Cleary.  So, yes Sir.  You are correct.
BADOUI
Thank you, Colonel Derrick.  I have no further questions.
Badoui waits for the Chaplain to get up and leave.  Derrick remains seated.  Relaxes a little.  Glances at Kase to his left.  The Doctor arrives.  Sits beside Derrick.
BULTACO, late 40's, Hispanic features, chubby face, moustache, speaks with a thick Spanish accent.  He's nervous.  Takes medical  records, spreads them out on the table before him, haphazardly.  Reads off these documents.  
BADOUI
The defense would like to call Doctor Bultaco.
The doctor is sworn in by the Court Reporter.

BADOUI
Why did you diagnose Spec Four Cleary as you did?
BULTACO
He believes that he has developed a special formula of a scientific nature.
Counsel reads from a document with a NASA letterhead.   
BADOUI
I would like to enter into evidence the following document from the Johnson Space Center, NASA.  It reads, in part.  Your concepts about the Unified Field Theory appear to be so profound that you are years ahead of the current scientific thinking in the areas in which you delved. 
Counsel the document to the Court Reporter.
FLASHBACK - NEW ORLEANS, TEXAS
Nikki flashes back, to Kase's Garden District Home.
Kase opens a thick package from NASA.
Reads cover letter with NASA letterhead.
Jumps for joy.
Nikki hugs him.
Kase drops the loosely bound papers.  They spread all over the wood floor.
Detailed drawings, computer code, precise hand sketches of advanced technologies and aircraft.
END FLASHBACK
Both Nikki and Kase are smile.
BADOUI
Doctor, have you read this letter?
BULTACO
Yes, I have.  I have seen the document itself.  Also.

BADOUI
Very well.  Please continue with your diagnosis.
The doctor reads.  His hands are in his lap.  Shoulders hunched forward.  He seems very insecure and unassertive.
BULTACO
His thinking is manifested by persecutory thinking, with concerns about his safety after having made revelations about his peers.
BADOUI
Were you aware of the problems he had at White Sands?  Having turned in drug users?  Then had his life threatened?  How would you categorize the stress he encountered at this time?
The doctor looks directly at the Nefarious Man on the Tribunal.  Says with borrowed authority.
BULTACO
Moderate, routine duties.
Nikki goes rigid in her chair.  Bultaco stands up.  Looks at Nikki.  Winks.  Brings a document to the Court Reporter.
NIKKI
Just type these words into your little machine.
FLASHBACK
Kase's car is on fire.
Kase, in Army fatigues, struggles desperately to extinguish the flames.
Kase is a grease monkey in the Auto Craft Shop repairing Fiat, MECHANICAL SOUNDS.  Then, accosted by the accused, LOUD INDISTINCT VOICES.
A large motorcycle is totaled, wires hang everywhere.
Kase puts motorcycle up on its stand, straggles casually toward the barracks in full view of the whole Company, which is at their morning formation in front of the barracks.

Nikki in tears on the other end of the phone, as he tells her all these things.
END FLASHBACK
BADOUI
Doctor, how would you categorize Spec Four Cleary's predisposition for this condition?
BULTACO
Severe.  He had a history of marginal adjustment to personal, family, social, academic, and occupational demands.
The doctor hesitates.  Makes a point of buttoning his top shirt button.  Tightens his tie.  Badoui prods him on.  Bultaco reads with an even thicker accent, stress.
BULTACO
Specialist Cleary graduated from high school at sixteen.  Attended the U.S. Naval Academy for two years.  Completed college with a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas, with honors.
BADOUI
Witness, what about Spec Four Cleary's social, family, and personal life as exemplified by his military record?
The doctor swallows hard.   Counts items off on his fingers, like a child.
BULTACO
At the Naval Academy he was twenty first in his class, on the Superintendent's List, a Company Commander, Platoon Leader, and on the Deans List - a three point five grade point average.
Nikki straightens up in her chair, proud.  Fidgets with small diamond ear rings.  As her arm reaches up, a sleeve falls back to reveal a petite leather wrist band.
BADOUI
Doctor, please give some details of Cleary's professional life.

BULTACO
After college, he worked for Exxon in exploration drilling for two years and then did research.
Badoui stands directly in front of Kase.  Speaks down to the top of his head.
BADOUI
During which time he completed the technical document reviewed by NASA?
BULTACO
That's correct.  He continued research after enlisting.  Presented a formal paper of the results people at White Sands.
BADOUI
How old are you Spec Four Cleary?
Kase looks like a possum caught in the headlights.
BADOUI
Twenty seven years old...
(answering for him)
By any other measure other than that of Doctor Bultaco, I would call Cleary an over-achiever.  How did the patient do in the hospital?
The Doctor pulls out a pair of glasses.  Breathes on the lenses.  Polishes them clean with a handkerchief.  Leans far over the table to read, after a brief look at the Tribunal members.  Crosses his arms as he reads.
BULTACO
I personally presented his case history to the staff of the Army Medical Center, as a case study.  Of course, his name and identity was confidential.
BADOUI
I see.  Were either of the Medical Officers impaneled for this hearing present at that case study presentation?
Badoui wanders in front of the panel.  Hesitates before each officer in turn.
BULTACO
Yes.  They both were.

BADOUI
The physicians on this very Review Board attended this presentation?
Badoui points to the two Tribunal medical officers.
BULTACO
Yes sir, they did.  But.  The identity of the patient was kept confidential.
Badoui squirms and shuffles a few papers.   The Doctor unwraps a piece of juicy fruit gum.  Swallows it with a big gulp before he speaks again.  Badoui stands near Bultaco.  Speaks directly at the Tribunal.
BADOUI
This is a very unusual case.  Isn't it an exercise in futility to disguise the individual's identity?
(turns to face Bultaco)
Three weeks ago when these physicians reviewed your medical documents - what was their evaluation?
BULTACO
(gulp)  They were unanimously in agreement with my diagnosis.
BADOUI
Yet.  Cleary's two written appeals issued in the previous months were deemed cause to warrant this formal hearing in Judge's chambers?
INSERT - CLOSE UP
Badoui shows two neatly typed statements to the Tribunal members.  They're in stark contrast to the hodgepodge of scrawled notes the doctor has splayed out before him.  The doctor quickly scrambles his papers into a neat pile.
BACK TO SCENE
BADOUI
The defense recommends striking from the record the medical review process preceding this formal hearing.  
(MORE)
BADOUI (CONT'D)
It is prejudged and judgmental due to the legally circumspect way Spec Four Cleary's case was presented by Doctor Bultaco before his peers at Brooke Army Medical Center.
The Nefarious Man, head of the Tribunal, starts to say something, stands.  Badoui cuts him short.
BADOUI
I have no further questions for the witness.
The Doctor gets up from the table.  Starts to exit.  Sits back down.  Kase flinches.  Gets up to work stifffness from his legs.  Nikki supports him as he walks.  She easily accepts all of his weight on her slight frame as he leans on her awkwardly.
FLASHBACK - ANNAPOLIS, OCEAN CITY
Midshipman Kase in dress blues with Nikki at the Ring Dance.
Nikki and Kase touring a fleet nuclear submarine out in the Chesapeake Bay.
At the conning tower, bridge, looking down into the active nuclear reactor core (radiation hazard signs are everywhere).
Blinding explosion.
Kase pushes Nikki out of harm's way.
Kase is trapped behind radiation doors - they drop and trap him at the knees, the bottom of his legs in the radiation chamber.
Nikki watches in horror, as Kase loses consciousness.
Flashing lights of helicopter ambulance.
Nikki holding his hand.
Her dirty face is streaked with tears.
END FLASHBACK
Nikki flinches.  Eases Kase into a chair.  Sits down herself, with an abrupt adjusting of bra straps, smoothing of blouse.  Arching of back.

N-MAN
Counsel is to sum up the balance of the evidence.
BADOUI
Members of the Board.  If the Disability Review Council is to adhere to its original decision that Spec Four Cleary's condition is not service aggravated, it must rely on the medical board's analysis on this case.  However, after careful analysis of the facts, the foundation of the medical board collapses.
Badoui stands in the middle of the two tables.  Faces the Tribunal.  Tightens his belt.  Throws his shoulders back.  Tries to make the most out of a sinking ship.
BADOUI
Spec Four Cleary came to Fort Polk on an "Eyes Only" transfer arranged by his U.S. Congressman.  For his own protection against serious threats to his life made by drug users he'd turned in at White Sands.  When he was admitted his medical and service records - were still at White Sands...
Badoui returns to stand behind the defense table.  Picks up a folder in each hand.  SLAPS them down loudly.
BADOUI
...When the staff on the psych ward asked him for personal history - Cleary said he'd gone to Annapolis - he'd  turned in drug users at White Sands - he'd presented a technical paper to a two star general there - had a serious and very painful knee condition.  This is an unusual history for an E Four.
Badoui steps out.  Throws the two files into a waste basket.
BADOUI
The staff didn't even ask for documents.  They just assumed he was mentally ill, and the knee pain symptomatic...

The Tribunal Judge, cleaning his finger nails, doesn't look up as he talks.  
N-MAN
Get to your point, Counsel.
Badoui wobbles.  Wastes a little more time.  Pulls a handkerchief from his back pocket.  HONKS as he blows his nose.  Starts talking as he's stuffing the handkerchief back in his pocket.
BADOUI
...It wasn't until the medical and service records arrived at my own office a few days ago that I was convinced otherwise.
N-MAN
That's conjecture, counselor.  It's not admissible.
BADOUI
The sole basis of the diagnosis rests on the psychiatrist having a technical competence in physics and laser technology.  Doctor Bultaco did not consult any experts, so the Board must rely on the NASA evaluation.
Badoui looks down disapproving at the doctor's pile of documents, spread out again on the witness table.
BADOUI
Do we want to let a psychiatrist's own views on physics govern the case?
Badoui stands, hands on hips, facing the Judge.
FLASHBACK - ANNAPOLIS/MAIN POST CHAPEL
Nikki in the Chapel basement, John Paul Jones' Tomb.
Kase by her side, admiring striking green marble dolphins.
View of the stained glass windows, in the Chapel itself, a memorial service in progress above them.
Photo of Kase beside that of others fallen in combat.

END FLASHBACK
Badoui puts one hand in trousers pocket, jingles keys and coins pointedly.  Turns to pick up a yellow legal pad from the defense table.  Physically reads from a prepared statement.  
BADOUI
... In retrospect, Spec Four Cleary should never have pushed his ideas in the Army.  His work performance and record were spotless.  His peers and superiors liked him well enough, but he pushed the Army.  He voiced his views.
A subtle smile from Kase.  Badoui steps over to put the legal pad down.  Stands by the defense table.  Faces Nikki.  She crosses her arms in defiance.
BADOUI
He jeopardized himself by turning in his room mates for drug use.  When threatened by them he had to seek help from his Congressman.  He wrote a formal statement asking for an investigation.  The Inspector General locked him up on a psych ward instead.
Badoui is still at the defense table.  Gets a document and brings it to the Court Reporter.  Reads from it as he walks in her direction.
BADOUI
The Chief of Chaplains has testified that Doctor Bultaco told him before Cleary was even examined that he was the sickest of the sick and how he felt the doctor was going to prove it was so.  Is that how the Army wants its psychiatric evaluations done?
Badoui pauses in his walk, several times to read.  Defiant glare at Nikki.  Turns.  Talks to the two medical officers, avoiding the Judge.
BADOUI
For the Army.  Specialist Cleary was a nuisance.  He perused his technical manuals.  Voiced his personal views freely.  
(MORE)
BADOUI (CONT'D)
He stepped on too many toes.  It would be better for the Army to be through with Specialist Cleary.  He caused too many problems.
The Tribunal files out of the room.  Returns quickly.  They issue a statement, read woodenly by the Judge Advocate.  Defense table stands.
N-MAN
Specialist Fourth Class Cleary.  The Board finds you unfit to perform the duties of your rank as a result of physical disability incurred in the line of duty.  The percentage of disability is ten percent.  The Board recommends you be separated from the Service, with severance pay.
Kase manages a manic Mona Lisa smile.  Tribunal members take one last look before exiting, confident they made the right decision.  Nikki gently kisses Kase lightly on the cheek before they take him away.
INT. JAG BUILDING LOBBY - DAY
The Doctor, Chaplain, and Attorney stand around in very defensive postures - arms crossed, or hands held behind their backs.  Nikki's hands are also behind her back, breasts protruding.  Confronts Badoui.  
NIKKI
Why didn't you defend Kase?
BADOUI
At the last moment - hours ago - he told me to change the plea.
NIKKI
Why?
BADOUI
He said just to prove service aggravation.  Not to worry about proving a wrong diagnosis.
Nikki grabs his elbow.
NIKKI
You take orders from a crazy man?  Didn't you argue against him?

BADOUI
He wanted out...
NIKKI
Can't you do anything for him now - for us?
BADOUI
It's over, Miss Gateaux.  I'm sorry.
Badoui pulls out his bill fold.   Hands her a business card.
BADOUI
If there's anything I can do to help you.  Let me know.  I wish you all the best.  I must go now.
Nikki paces.  Straightens her hair.  Smoothes her dress.  Turns to look for the other two Army officers.  Hurries for the exit.
EXT. JAG BUILDING - DAY
A parade.  Soldiers in dress uniform, spectators, band playing marching music.  Nikki spots the Chaplain heading for the Post Chapel.  Runs to catch up with him.  Two Men in Black (all black - suit, shirt, tie, shoes) separate from the crowd and follow her, ear microphones with coiled cord; communicating in transit.
NIKKI
Isn't there some rule about getting soldiers out of a life threatening situation?  Like Kase was in at White Sands after the drug users found him out.  Threatened his life?
Nikki shouts at the Chaplain as he's unlocking the Chapel door.  Reaches him on the threshold, breathing hard.
NIKKI
The U.S.M.J. requires the Army to transfer a soldier immediately, to a post at least a twenty four hour drive away.  Why did they keep Kase there for six weeks of perdition?
The Colonel holds his hands up in front of him, palms out.
DERRICK
He asked to stay there.

NIKKI
What?  Why would he do that?
DERRICK
They were his friends.  He wanted to help them cope with their addiction.
They enter the Chapel.   Walk up the isle toward the Sanctuary and the Chaplain's Office.  The Men in Black arrive and wait outside.
NIKKI
That's insane.  They threatened to kill him.  Blew up his car.  Totaled his motorcycle.
DERRICK
I think not.  His friends were loyal.  The acts of violence were done by somebody else entirely.  That's my belief, after reading his written statement to the I.G.
Derrick looks down.  Nikki maneuvers into his line of sight.  Catches his eye.
NIKKI
Who would do such a thing?  Why?
DERRICK
I think his technical research caused some powerful people to react...
NIKKI
But he's just an engineer.  A simple man trying to do the right thing.  He only wanted to make things better.
DERRICK
What did his ARCOM read...
They both breathe a sigh of frustration.
NIKKI
Staunch individualism...
DERRICK
...and impeccable moral fortitude.

NIKKI
I still don't get it, Chaplain Derrick.
DERRICK
You're distraught.  Upset.
The Colonel grasps her shoulder.  Hands her a card.
DERRICK
When the shock wears off.  Give me a call.  I'll help any way I can.
Nikki shuffles out the Chapel.  The Men in Black shadow her back to Leviathan.   Follow in their vehicle as she drives away.
EXT. HOUSE OF CONGRESS - DAY
SUPER:  TWO YEARS LATER
Nikki steps out of a city cab at the foot of the U.S. Congress building.  Her hair is a single pony tail, braided.  Hurries up the long flight of marble stairs two at a time, having to hike up her long skirt with one hand.  Joggers calves.
INT. COMMITTEE ROOM - DAY
Nikki hurries down a long hallway.  Enters the hearing room.  Looks for an empty seat.  A man in a dark suit takes something off the seat beside him.  Nikki hurries to the empty seat, squeezing past the man.  
It's an old time vintage court room with wood benches, paneled walls, ornate lighting, large outside windows through which bright light streams into the space.  Five senators sit at an arc shaped wood table at the head of the room, with smaller tables behind them for staff.  The Chairman is in the middle, the Texas Senator to his right.  Four paces in front of Committee table is a large table where witnesses sit - Kase will sit in the middle, with the lawyer and doctor on either side.  Behind this table is a wood banister, a gate in the middle behind the witness table.  Twenty rows of seats are for onlookers.
Senators assemble at the dais, staff behind them.  Nikki notices a shiny cane stuffed between her chair and the next.  Turns aside to look.  He smiles, without meeting her eyes.

NIKKI
Kase!
Nikki screams, loud.  Senators all the way up at the dais look up from their paperwork.
NIKKI
But - I thought - you were still in the, um - sanitarium.
KASE
(tears glistening)
Miss Gateaux.  How are you?  What brings you here?
NIKKI
I'm with the Washington Bureau -
of - the Times-picayune, now.
And you?
Nikki looks down at her lap.
KASE
Thirty six hours, Nikki.  Give me thirty six hours...  Please?
INSERT - CLOSE TO NIKKI'S WRIST
Kase grabs her wrist with a fierce grip.  Nikki looks down to see his faded leather wrist band, under a too short shirt sleeve.  Brief flashback to their long ago exchanging the wrist bands at the Naval Academy Ring Dance.
BACK TO SCENE
Nikki sits bolt upright.  Nods.  Puts her hand over his, revealing her own worn leather wrist band.  Cranes her neck to meet Kase's eyes.
NIKKI
I'm with you, Kase.  
Nikki turns to look at Kase.  His seat is empty.  Kase ambles toward the front of the room.  The meeting is called to order with a CRACK of the gavel.  Kase looks lost.  Two Marine ushers hurry forward.  Grab Kase by the arms.  Turn him to try to guide him to the back of the room.  Kase doesn't budge.  There's a scene.  
CHAIRMAN
This meeting is now in order. 
The CHAIRMAN - late 60's, distinguished cookie cutter Senator, full head of white hair.  Coiffure.

Everybody is watching Kase.  The Chairman notices.  Nikki cringes.  Kase maneuvers calmly around the Marines up to the witness table.  Pulls out a chair.  Lays his cane on the table.  
KASE
My name, is William Herndon Cleary the second.
Nikki's jaw drops.  She crawls over the Man in Black in the isle seat to get a better view.  He's disgusted.  They exchange seats.
KASE
I'm here at the request of the Senate Intelligence Committee to testify concerning my professional opinion of the government conspiracy...
CHAIRMAN
We are aware of that Mr. Cleary.
KASE
I am an expert in Celestial Mechanics, author of several books, and technical papers.
Kase tunes his voice to the P.A. system.  
CHAIRMAN
You can start with your theory of Relativity - in layman's terms.
KASE
Einstein's Relativity says space is like a brick wall when you're moving at the speed of light.  Celestial Mechanics says space acts like a virgin's hymen at such speeds - is that layman enough?
Kase chuckles.  Pulls papers out of a thin brief case, pretending to be officious.  Holds the papers up like they are proof.
KASE
A hundred year old analysis in my field shows that space acts just like a fluid when you are moving at the speed of light - not like a brick wall.

The LADY SENATOR from Texas takes the incentive.  Butch short hair, granny glasses, deep slow southern brawl.
LADY SENATOR
Mr. Cleary.  We want to hear first hand why you're so opposed to the policies of this here Committee.
KASE
Once you accept that travel faster than the speed of light is easy - that makes U.F.O.'s possible, if not probable.
A flurry of consternation in the Committee room escalates into a LOW RUMBLE.  Nikki ducks behind some papers out of embarrassment for Kase.
CHAIRMAN
What, pray tell is the matter with Relativity?
KASE
In the early 1960's a committee of leading scientists met to choose between Einstein's Relativity and Poincare's Relativity.  They chose wrong.  That's conspiracy.
Kase leans back in his chair.  Tries to prop his feet up but - checking under the table, there's nothing to rest them on.
LADY SENATOR
Why would they choose the wrong solution?
KASE
So they could develop their own technology behind your backs - using government money to do it.  That's obvious.
The Senators look at each other, in panic.  Study their notes.  Try to select one of their number to ask the first question.  Kase speaks first.
KASE
My old mentor, who was on that committee, told me it was a sympathy vote for Einstein the Jew, because of the Holocaust.

CHAIRMAN
How could they do research behind our backs?
KASE
Just think of all the trillion dollar projects that have been failures.  The Star Wars anti ballistic missile system.  The super conducting super collider.  The joint task force fighter.  They even say the International Space Station is of no further practical use...
Kase has his elbows on the witness table, hands clasped together, looking very confident.
CHAIRMAN
But - the space station isn't even finished yet.
KASE
I'm sure there are many other trillion dollar embarrassments that were never made public?
The Chairman gestures, yes.  Motions Kase to continue.  Kase twiddles his thumbs briefly.
KASE
You are familiar with the alleged  inventions of Nikola Tesla - beyond his seven hundred patents?  Death rays, and the like?  Well, the proof done by Poincare dates from that same era - early 1900's.
Kase says beneath his breath; but still audible over the sensitive P.A. system.
KASE
Did you know that Poincare derived Relativity Theory a generation before Einstein?  By assuming space is like a fluid at ultra high velocities.
LADY SENATOR
What kind of advancements are you talking about?  Is this just some kind of weird science?

KASE
Are you familiar with the Freon Ban?  There's virtually no scientific evidence that Freon twelve damages the ozone layer.  The Ozone Hole gets bigger every year.  Nobody cares.
Kase searches their faces.  Nikki types furiously on her laptop PC with a Machiavellian look of mischief.
INSERT - CLOSE ON NIKKI'S LAPTOP
Nikki presses a send icon on a web mail browser.  Her press release is broadcast to a dozen local environmental groups.  She looks over bifocals at Kase's back.  Smiles.
INT. GREENPEACE OFFICES - DAY
"Green Peace Headquarters" stenciled bold on glass in the outer lobby of richly furnished corporate offices.  Staff hurry to a meeting in a posh onference room with a panoramic view of Washington.  Copies of Nikki's anonymous email are passed around.  A big screen TV is activated.
Kase appears on C-Span.
The environmental activists listen briefly.  Run out of the room, disrobing.  Business executive attire is replace by hippie sweaters, dirty faces, and Keds high top sneakers.  Into the elevator.  Out the lobby.  Into a flower power VW van.
SENATE HEARING ROOM
The Chairman interrupts the witness with a loud RAP of the gavel.  
CHAIRMAN
You're saying the trillion dollar price tag of the Freon Ban isn't helping the environment?
KASE
Freon is ten times heavier than air.
How can Freon make it fifteen miles into the upper atmosphere to interact with the ozone there?  It's impossible.

Kase rolls back away from the witness table.  Runs against the banister separating the gallery.  Rolls back forward with his feet.
LADY SENATOR
Why is the Ozone Hole getting bigger every year, then?
KASE
Freon twelve does deteriorate ozone molecules.  In the laboratory.  It's the real world scenario that's problematic.
The room is quiet.  Everybody leans forward.
GREENPEACE OFFICES
A Man in Black amidst the demonstrators is on the phone.
SENATE HEARING
The Chairman is on the other end of that phone line.
KASE
Freon is so heavy, the only way it can interact with the ozone layer is if it's physically transported up there - by aircraft...
CHAIRMAN
The Ban is good for the economy.  If something isn't broke then we shouldn't try to fix it...
Kase interrupts.  He stands up at the witness table, fingers spread out on the table surface.
KASE
Or else Freon molecules are self propelled smart bodies that get to the upper atmosphere on their own.  ... Tesla and his buddies probably figured out how to engineer Freon to get the self propelled little
nano molecules to power man made vehicles.
Kase mutters under his breath, just loud enough to barely be heard over the microphone; not realizing others can hear.

KASE
In which case some of the aircraft contrails you see in the sky are made by this fancy new lighter than air technology.
Then, loudly into the microphone.
KASE
Which means ya'll know all about this racket because you supported the ridiculous vertical take off and landing joint fighter jet, as the aircraft of choice to replace all existing jets.  Even though it can carry only a fraction of the weapons and armaments.
(stacking his papers dramatically)
I'm going home.
Kase pushes away from the table.  Swivels to the side.  Grabs his cane, and starts to exit.
CHAIRMAN
Just one moment, young man.
(to the Marines)
This Court finds you in contempt.
Place this man under House arrest.
KASE
As you were, Soldier.
The U.S. Marines freeze.
KASE
Mr. Chairman.  It's you who are in contempt.  You and your colleagues and your...
The Marines unfreeze.  Move toward Kase.  Kase hoists his cane and with a huge CRACK, splits the massive oak hearing table right in half.  Maneuvers away from the crumbled table.  The Senators reel backward.  Marines dash forward.  He decks them with the cane.  Joust with their M-16's.   Loses cane.  Falls to the floor.  He reaches out to get the cane.  It's beyond his grasp.  Nikki dashes to the spot from her isle seat.  Bends down to pick up the cane.  She can't. 
NIKKI
It's too heavy.

Nikki plants her rear end on the floor.  Pushes the cane to him with her feet.  Hoists it like it was a toothpick.  Beats the Marines back.  The room is quite silent.  A Marine COCKS HIS WEAPON to fire.  He DISCHARGES A FULL CLIP at the witness.  Kase  DEFLECTS the rounds with the heavy composite metal cane.  Melee.  Kase deliberately buttons his suit coat.  Smoothes his tie.  Maneuvers swiftly from the room.  Disappears into the cloud of smoke from the weapons fire.
EXT. CONGRESS BUILDING STEPS
Kase makes his way down the steps of the House of Congress building.  Hails a cab.  Green Peacers hover around portable TV's nearby.  Nikki arrives.   HAILS another taxi.  It's a cold, windy winter day with a low cloud deck, snow on the ground, flurries in the air.
EXT. VIET NAM VETERANS MEMORIAL - DAY
Kase maneuvers down a walkway.  Nikki's cab pulls up.  She gets out.  Scurries to catch up with him.  Puts on her adorable child selling Girl Scout cookies act.  You can see their breath as they talk.
NIKKI
Excuse me, Sir.  Aren't you William Herndon Cleary?  Don't I know you by another name?  Perhaps?
There's ice on the sidewalk.  Kase nods to her.  Quickly eyes the sidewalk and its patches of ice.  Maneuvers around the ice.  Pauses.  Looks at her squarely.  She's beside him, having metered her gait to match his.  Their eyes meet briefly.
KASE
Though I walk through the Valley of Death - I guess I'm the coward now, running away from the Lion's Den.
Nikki motions toward a nearby park bench.  He nods, heads that way.  She sits.
NIKKI
They're just sheep needing a shepherd. They only behave like a fierce pack of lions in front of the cameras.
Kase maneuvers onto the bench next to her.  Leans a little forward, both hands clasped on the cane before him.  Tries 

hard to meet her eyes, bashfully.  Nikki pulls her braided pony tail over one shoulder.  Toys with the loose ends.
KASE
I'd much rather be out here anyway.  Of course,
(disarming Irish accent)
had I known you would be here, I would 'a left the farm a whole lot sooner.
NIKKI
I think you're like a modern day Job.  A just, honorable man who's lost everything for no reason.  Did you know Job was a pagan?  I suppose that's why even God abandoned him in his moment of greatest need.
KASE
Don't forget his wife, Nikki.
     (violently)
Curse God and die!
Kase leans forward.  Gets a snow ball together.  Tosses it blindly, toward a park bench across the path, narrowly missing a Man in Black trying to sneak behind a tree.  The Man in Black scurries aside.  Forces an elderly couple to lose their balance and fall to the ground.
NIKKI
Did you know Job was one of only three people in the Bible who actually spoke to God?  He got everything back, too: his wife, children, farm.
KASE
What about his self respect?  His faith?
NIKKI
You must return.
Kase sits defensively. Tucks legs under him with ankles crossed.
KASE
Hell, I'm barely a man.  Why, Nikki.
Why must I return?

NIKKI
Because you can make a difference.
Nikki carefully seeks his hand and clasps it.  Waits until he turns to look at her.  Then she breaks eye contact.
NIKKI
What about us - my Pulitzer Prize?
This brings a lump to his throat.  Tears well swiftly into his eyes.  They roll silently down wind reddened cheeks.  He lets them be.  They freeze.  Nikki reaches up and brushes them away.  Rests her head on his shoulder.  Snow begins to fall.
NIKKI
You don't really expect to win this thing do you - seriously, Kase?
Kase gets up.  Starts back toward the thoroughfare.  Hits a patch of ice.  Loses his footing.  Nikki deftly rights him.  Leads him away grasping his free arm in hers.  Kase fights her.  Then visibly relaxes into her arm.  They amble back to the main drag.  Hail a cab.  Get in.  It's driven by a man with a little ear plug.  
INT. LUXURY HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
Small hotel room, homey furnishings.  Crystal vase of dark roses.  Revolutionary War era paintings.  They sit side by side on a sofa.  Warm their hands on steaming cups of hot coffee.  Dixie the cat is camped in a nice warm safe spot.  Plays with leaves on a potted plant.
KASE
My grandfather was an engineer for refrigeration railroad cars - back in the day.  Had a few Freon patents.
Nikki shows only mild interest.  Pulls her hair loose at her back.  It has gentle waves after the braided pony tail.
KASE
He worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad.  Lived in Hollywood.  Made a fortune.  Lost a fortune.  Died broke.  Hated the government.
NIKKI
Why?

KASE
Like most people on the West Coast back then, Grampa Howard knew all about weather balloons - because of the Japanese balloon bombs that caused havoc in California during the war.  Knew damn sure it wasn't a balloon that crashed at Roswell.
Kase makes eye contact only with conscious effort.
KASE
A mysterious letter is a family heirloom.  It's signed by J.F.K.  Thanking Grampa Howard for some great service to America.  Nobody could ever find that he was ever associated with the government in any way.
Nikki finally brightens up.
NIKKI
I thought your grandfather was with the U.S. Forest Service.  Didn't you say he was near Albuquerque after the war?
KASE
That's my other grandfather.  Dadee.  Who once told me he knew all about Roswell.  Saw it all.  Sworn to secrecy - or else.
NIKKI
You can't be serious.
Nikki jabs Kase in the side.  He says with the utmost conviction.
KASE
Hating Washington's not against the law you know.  Not even a sin.  In my family it's the highest virtue.
NIKKI
You don't suppose that accident at Annapolis was rigged?  That they've been after you all this time?  Even before you got onto their scheme?
Nikki shakes in her boots.  Kase smiles.  Shrugs his shoulders.  She gets a long stem rose.  Plucks a thorn by mistake.  Jumps.

KASE
I guess us Cleary's are predictable like that.
Kase is on his feet. Gives her a deep bow.  Nikki sinks into the sofa.  Watches, eyes twinkling.
KASE
Obstinate and honest to a fault.
Nikki grimaces.  Kase is embarrassed.
KASE
How could I be otherwise?
Nikki stands up.  Confronts him boldly, hands on hips, face to face.
NIKKI
Conspirators fear no one more than an honest person in their midst.
KASE
I was doomed the second I arrived at White Sands.
Nikki is confused.  Sits down.  Pulls her legs up underneath her, crossed legged on the couch.
KASE
They never figured I would slam dunk them - turn in all those guys for using drugs on the job.
NIKKI
Why did you do it - really?
KASE
Remember the first shuttle to explode?  The Challenger - back in 1986?
Kase sits.  Turns to face her on the couch.
KASE
That shuttle exploded because of a bad weather forecast.  A fuel line froze right after lift off.  It may seem like a dead beat job, but weather observing is actually quite important.
Kase is quiet, but his chin juts.  They both jump when a giant bolt of lightening STRIKES right outside their 

window, rattling the glass as the THUNDER REVERBERATES.  The lightening freeze frames them.
NIKKI
What makes you think you'll do any better with this Committee?
Kase shakes his head slowly.  Bites his lower lip.  Nikki maneuvers to be beside him, snuggles into his body.  He starts to say something, then just heaves a sigh.
NIKKI
What?
Kase looks steadily into Nikki's eyes for reassurance.  Her eyes leave his swiftly.
NIKKI
I don't want you to go.  It's too dangerous.
A smile of bliss and sadness.  She watches helplessly.  He's nodding off to sleep, hardly paying attention.
NIKKI
You must let sleeping dogs lie!
Nikki shakes his shoulders.  His eyes open, oddly disconnected.  He rocks gently, eyes fluttering.  Some kind of medication.
NIKKI
Just because your grandfathers were both involved...  it's not your responsibility.
She kneels on the carpet before the sofa, where Kase sits.  He nods off, again; eyes closed tight.
NIKKI
Tomorrow's another day.
KASE
Maybe.
Kase responds, in a distant monotone; a sly smile on his lips.  Then, in an unusually deep voice.
KASE
What about your Pulitzer Prize?
VOICE OVER
Reach out and touch Faith.

Both hear it.  They look at each other.  Kase opens his eyes.  Looks at Nikki.  Points to his coffee mug.
KASE
What'd you put in that stuff anyway?
Chicory?
Kase slips into deep sleep.  Nikki dozes off.  She jolts awake.  Reaches impulsively to grasp his hand.
NIKKI
My God.  He's burning hot!
SCREAMING, Nikki pulls her hand quickly away.  SLAPS him.
NIKKI
Oh, no.  No!
Shakes him.  Punches him.  Grasps him.  Drags him toward the bathroom.  End tables and lamps CRASH to the floor.  Dixie the cat scurries out of Nikki's way with a HOWL and raised hackles.
BATHROOM
Into the bath goes Kase.  She POUNDS his chest with clenched fists.  Turns the cold water shower on full.  It SPLATTERS all over, soaking her.  She keeps doing CPR.  Leans heavily on the side of the tub.  Hauls herself up.  Rushes into the hallway.  To the elevator lobby and the ice machine.
HALLWAY
Tears the freezer door open.  SLAMS it on its hinges.  Gets a bucket of ice cubes.  Hustles past startled hotel patrons, including one Man in Black.
BATHROOM
THROWS the ice cubes into tub.  RIPS his clothes off.  Presses the ice all over.  Rips off her wrist band.  Rips his off.  Presses wrists together.  Wraps a towel around their two wrists.  Waits.
Nikki nods, losing consciousness.  Kase stirs.  Smiles.  Bath water turns a dark, thick red.  Nikki sits Kase up in the tub.  Blood seeps from his back.  She swipes it clean with a wash cloth.  Thick red oozes out the pores.  Killer whale image materializes.  Nikki rubs her eyes.  Scrubs his 

back again.  The tattoo returns.  It's real.  Nikki sits back on her haunches.  Aghast.
NIKKI
You're a Goddess.  He told me that.
The Sea.  Kase.  It's your weakness.
And your power.  Oh.  My.  God.
A trickle of blood on his cheek.  Subtle movement out of the corner of her eye.  One hand reaches out into the space before him.
NIKKI
Can't walk.  No balance.  Affinity for all things fluid.  Can it be?
An image flashes into her mind.  The hand of Adam reaching across the Sistine Chapel roof; across, over to grasp the outstretched hand of another.  God himself?  Nikki reacts to the presence in her mind.  Certainty is stifling.
NIKKI
He's found the Ark!  He found it, and opened it.  The Lord is within.
Kase's hand shakes.  Slowly then faster.  Extreme pain in his face.  The shaking hand grabs Nikki's arm.  She wrestles to be free.
NIKKI
He's reaching out, across the mystery of the epochs.
The hand, enormously powerful, jostles her whole body with superhuman strength.  Flash a medieval battle of primitive man against evil demon in a wide fog shrouded cavern.
FLASHBACK - UNDERGROUND CAVERN
Looks like the Osireion at Abydos when it was buried and served as a working Temple to Osiris.  Water along the perimeter.  Dim light from unseen sources.  A large dog kennel sized box with ornate carvings and carrying handles, sitting in the larger of two cut outs in the middle of central court.
Hot.  Damp.
Dark fluid dripping down onto granite floor.
Ghastly forms emerge from the primeval mist.
Behind them is the Ark of the Covenant, glowing.

Looks down.
Body wrapped in some kind of flexible armor.
Looks like early Samurai trappings.
Long, curved, razor sharp sword in arm.
Moving forward, slashing ghouls.
Mega monster behind butt ugly ghouls.
Ark glows, like volcano erupting.
So hot that steam billows from around it.
Blur of a saber toothed tiger.
Big cat slashes ghouls too.  Bravo.
They both dash to the side, up stairs.
Cavern explodes in white hot energy.
Giant monster blocks way.
Monster grabs Kase's arm.
He's desperately fighting back.
Saber toothed tiger tears at monster's legs.
Blood and guts everywhere.
Giant monster won't let go of arm.
END FLASHBACK
Kase is back.  He sees his own hand relax the strangle hold on Nikki's arm.  Goes white with shock.  Nikki crawls away.  Then, presses her hands into his, with a gentleness belying the horror in her features.
NIKKI
You always did have an affinity for death.
They embrace.  He goes limp in her arms.  She  drags him out into the room.

BEDROOM
Nikki drags Kase onto the couch.  Covers him with a blanket.  Then leaves him.  Kase gets up with an effort.  Gets a heating pad from his bag.  Wraps it around his bad arm.  AD LIBs aloud how long it would be this time before his body recovers.  Flash an image, hear a name spoken.
VOICE OVER
I am Mephistopheles.  Archangel of the Abyss.  Fear me.
BATHROOM
Nikki huddles.  Hears the voice.  Runs to the lavatory.  Wrenches, uncontrollably.  With great HEAVING SPASMS, her body wrecked.  Collapses, onto the bathroom floor.  Tears, then a mournful WAIL.
BEDROOM
KASE
Behold, Leviathan!
Defiantly, with fist in the air - toward, out the window, the dome of the House of Congress.
KASE
There will come another day.  And with it - another battle.
Blood seeps through the back of his bathrobe.  Big orca killer whale in blood like a tattoo.  Kase is not aware of it.
Dixie the cat watches the orca from a closet door slightly ajar.  She's buried into a quilt, head peering above like the Sphinx in a sand storm.
INT. HOTEL/GUEST ROOM - DAY
Nikki enters, wrapped in a towel.   Kase exits, wrapped in a bed sheet.  Nikki unwraps the towel.  Modest lingerie beneath.  Sits before a vanity mirror.  Pins he hair up.
NIKKI
Tell me Kase.  Do you always get so efficient first thing in the morning?  You didn't have to make the bed you know.  We are in a hotel...

KASE(V.O.)
Thank the U.S. Navy for that little quirk.  Hospital corners and all!
NIKKI
You got that right honey.
The shower turns off.
KASE(V.O.)
Old sailor's trick after a night on the high seas, Lassie.  You make the bed up good, like tidy and new.  Little lady can't resist the temptation to muss it all up again.
NIKKI
You're hardly out of bed and your mind is already back there.
Kase enters the room.   Nikki is still in the bare essentials.  Leaves vanity.  Adds stockings.  Mini skirt.  Billowing pirate blouse.
KASE
Bed, hell.  I was on the God damn sofa all night.  Warm bed right there too all full of pretty lady.  Shoot, coolie's mind never got off bed.
Nikki blushes purple.
KASE
Navy men.  They got to be prepared to shove off at any time, you see.
Must make the most out of infrequent port calls, you know.
Nikki sits on the bed.  Waits for what looks obliquely like bright red nail polish to dry.
NIKKI
A lady in every port, Admiral?
KASE
Oh-oh.  No, ma'am, No way.  Too many distractions - get you shot in a minute.  Then never make it home to sweet honey.
NIKKI
Good grief.  
(MORE)
NIKKI (CONT'D)
Big Navy man has an answer for everything.  We'll see just how sweet this here honey is.
KASE
Begging' your pardon, ma'am.  But that one's from the United States Marines.
The room is ominously silent.
KASE
You know, the rough guys that always get us flamboyant sailors out of harms way?
Kase makes CHOKING NOISES.  Strangles his neck with his own hands.
NIKKI
Dr. Doom, you best check your notes.
It's the other way around.  Navy pulling Marines off bad beach.
KASE
We going to need a full amphibious landing to rescue this here dumb sailor.
Kase looks genuinely distraught.
KASE
Okay, so you beached my whale on that one.  Had a rough night, didn't I?
NIKKI
You had a rough night!  I invite an old friend to my hotel room to nurse his poor frazzled nerves, and what do I get?  Some raging, high minded, mental crusader hell bent on returning to Eden.
KASE
Well, I got you there didn't I?
Kase peers around the bathroom door with a sweet little cub scout expression.

NIKKI
Brother, to quote one of your heroes, we have met the enemy and he is us.
Kase retreats swiftly back into the bathroom.
KASE
Oh, Oh; oh.  Best ring up the Army.
We in heap of deep do do now.
Steps RUNNING IN PLACE rattle the whole room.  White towel draped around a cane inches out of the bathroom door.
KASE
Truce!
Nikki looks aside.  Kase dashes to the telephone.  Yells into it like he was calling for a strike in a war zone.
KASE
Room service!  Get us two big coffees!
Make that A.S.A.P, soldier!
Kase hangs up with a BANG.  Looks around from the small suite.  He's crestfallen.  Nikki's busy TAPPING on her laptop computer, business like.
NIKKI
Doesn't look like I can make it to the hearing today, dear.
Silence.  Nikki looks up.  Kase is only inches from where he was minutes ago.  Dejected.
NIKKI
Don't worry, I've got you penciled in for dinner.  If they don't kick your insolent ass out before then.  Evening meal too.
Nikki goes back to her work.  Kase tucks his shirt in.  Tailored pants show strong lines.  Turns around to fasten his tie in the mirror.  Nikki admires his trim posterior; pencil to her lips.  Tilts glasses down a bit.
KASE
See there, cow girl.  See what you missed last night?
NIKKI
Well, excuse me, Admiral Kirk.

But does a poor sailor's girl ever get a second chance?
KASE
Maybe.
Kase stands tiptoe to look back through the mirror at her generous décolletage.  Stands back firm.  Makes a big deal out of adjusting his pants, especially in the waist.
KASE
Yea, we'll just call it an extended port of call, shall we?
NIKKI
You're absolutely incorrigible.  I should pity the poor Committee this morning, how you're going abuse them with your attitude.
Nikki turns full around to watch him.  Admires him openly from head to toe.  Kase, absorbed in his preparations for the meeting, pretends not to notice.
NIKKI
Christ, you're in top shape aren't you?!
Kase stumbles past Nikki into the bathroom.
BATHROOM
Kase sits at a small bench.  Pushes pants down.  Wraps both knees with an ace bandage.  With a SCREECH, yanks off duct tape.  Wraps either end of the ace bandages tight.  Stands, pants still at his ankles.  Tests his full weight on each leg.  Hoists the trousers and yanks the suspenders over his shoulders.  
BEDROOM
Kase enters the bedroom, testing his field dressings.  No limp. Nikki notices the plain bright brass military style belt buckle and murmurs.
NIKKI
Now, that doesn't look very business like.
Kase pulls something from a dry cleaner's plastic bag.

NIKKI
Oh, my.
Nikki's hand goes reflexively to cover her face in dismay.  Kase turns.  He blushes, eyes dilating.
KASE
Kase is going to be a United States Army soldier boy again today!
It's the dark dress green Army uniform.  Colorful rows of ribbons.  Kase slips the coat on.  Dons on a dark maroon beret with a little gold orca whale insignia.
NIKKI
Jesus.  What were you?  Green Beret or something -  Navy SEAL's?
KASE
Wouldn't be caught dead with that bunch of wieners.  Excuse me, Ma'am.  Make that hot dogs.  No mustard.
Kase buttons up the shirt.  Turns for her to admire.  He's oddly distant, flashing back.
FLASHBACK - CHESAPEAKE BAY
A clandestine meeting on a U.S. Navy amphibious landing ship, anchored off the Naval Academy sea wall.
The U.S.S. Spartanburg County.
A small captain's boat coasts up to the side.
Kase in work khaki uniform dashes up the ladder.
Greeted by a fleet admiral with gold braid up to his elbows.
They pace around the tank deck, talking; ominous metal monster tanks glisten in the moon light all around them.
They shake hands.  Kase turns to leave.
The Admiral calls after him as Kase reaches the gangplank.  Gives him a rigid salute.
Kase gives him nonchalant wave.  Smiles.  Ducks back onto the motor boat.
Speeds back to the Academy.

END FLASHBACK
Nikki goes up to Kase, to straighten his tie.  Notices the brass Specialist insignia on his lapels.  The metal is burnished black around the embossed eagles.  She reaches out a handkerchief to clean it.  Kase grabs her wrist.
KASE
Don't touch.  They're supposed to be like that.
NIKKI
(blurting out)
But - they make you look like a renegade.
KASE
Yes.  Yes, they do, don't they?
Her knees wobble.  Nikki sits down on the bed.  Nikki looks down.   Fumbles with the tallies on her shirt with bright red fingernails.  Nikki is muttering to herself.
NIKKI
I think I'm glad I'm not going to be there.
KASE
Me, too.
Kase gently kisses her on top of the head.  Reaches down to tilt her head up.  Kisses her gently on the lips.  
KASE
Don't worry, love.  Everything is as it should be.
There is a sudden conviction in his voice.
NIKKI
He's either nuts - or a genius.
Said quietly to herself in soliloquy.  Then her neck snaps up.
NIKKI
Damn it, William Herndon.  You've got me talking to myself just like you.  Stop it.
Fancying the captive, and captivated, audience; Kase takes a few paces around the room.

KASE
Look, princess.  No sugar cane.  The miracle of modern medicine.  A fist full of Motrins will cure anything.
Said with a greatly exaggerated swagger like a drunken sailor.  Then he starts to drag his legs, knees stiff, like a penny actor in a Frankenstein movie.
NIKKI
I'll make a deal with you Kase.
Nikki gets up and starts to get her things together.
NIKKI
I won't ask what you're up to, if you have breakfast with me.  But you must promise.  You won't tell me anything.  Deal?
They shake on it, solemnly.  Nikki is out of the room, the door swinging closed.  Kase scurries after her, a country kid going to Sunday church.
Dixie the cat comes out from hiding.  Jumps on top of the unkempt bed square in the middle of a sunny spot.  Curls up for a nap.
NIKKI(V.O.)
God almighty - William Herndon, act your age will you?
KASE(V.O)
Aye, Aye.
HALLWAY
Nikki turns, off-balance from the deep carpet quiet.  Kase works at getting the military walk and attitude down right.  Hunches his shoulders, rubs his eyes.  Cranes his neck from side to side.  HUFFS and pulls a pair of Pilot issue sunglasses from his inside breast pocket.  Murmurs.
KASE
That'll take care of the Baby Blues.
Kase dons the dark maroon beret at a rakish angle.  Looks himself up and down in the mirror on the burnished metal elevator door.  The elevator BELL RINGS.  He hustles to take the cap off.  Fumbles with it as he walks through the CLOSING DOORS of the elevator.

ELEVATOR
A couple of floors down, after a few well-dressed businessmen enter (including one Man in Black), Nikki says to no one in particular.
NIKKI
On second thought, I think I like you in uniform Spec Four Cleary.  You're much better behaved.
Discrete smiles crack on the other people in the elevator. Kase SHUFFLES his feet.  Looks up to the elevator display.  Says demurely.
KASE
Why, Miss Gateaux.  That's exactly what the Army thought.  See where it got them?  And the Navy, too.
PASSENGER
Maybe you should call in the Marines.
KASE
Bunch of weinerschnitzels.  They ain't got no mustard, either.
Kase gives him a remorseless killer look.  The businessman shrinks back.  Elevator door opens.  Passengers run out.  Door starts to close.  Nikki reaches out and the electric eye BUMPS it open again.  They scurry through awkwardly.  Nikki looks around.  She sets off toward a dining room, Kase in undignified pursuit.  They are seated.  Kase rustles a newspaper in front of him.
NIKKI
Damn, how did he do that?
Nikki holds up her hands.
NIKKI
No, please.  No more Navy tricks, okay?
KASE
Mater D. slid it under my arm as I walked past.
(arching eyebrows, then
 exaggerated wink)
How's that for service, eh?

NIKKI
Right.  How's that for a spiffy disguise, Mister Matrix.
Kase flutters the newspaper.  Looks angrily over the top at Nikki.
KASE
Damn cartoonists.
(ruffles the newspaper)
Crummy political satire in the paper.
Got me dressed like a Neanderthal in a groin cloth, limping toward a coliseum full of Senators and lions all about.
NIKKI
(snickering)
That's loin cloth.
KASE
(Cajun accent)
They gonna get some kind of primitive home boy this bright day, I guarantee.  But not the show they expect.  This is my sea today and even the SEALs will do my bidding!
Breakfast steaks for both of them, washed down with Irish coffee and Irish whisky, respectively.  Kase gives Nikki an impish wink.  Gets up to leave.  There are a hundred question in Nikki's expression.  Kase just puts on his beret and sunglasses, says in his best Terminator.
KASE
Hasta la vista, baby.
Kase leaves, holding up a big fist.  Nikki SNAPS opens her purse.  Makes a cell phone call.  A foreign sounding voice AD LIBS immediately.  They have a brief conversation.  All the softness is gone from her grim attitude.  A Man in Black far into the shadows behind her watches.
INT. SENATE HEARING ROOM - DAY
The Committee comes to order at a loud BANG of the Chairman's gavel.

CHAIRMAN
This Senate Select Intelligence Committee is hereby in session.  Any more witnesses?  No?
The Chairman hoists the gavel.  A man in military garb gets up, makes quite a scene.  Everybody looks that way.
KASE
Not so fast, your damn honors.  I'm not finished.
Kase walks toward the hearing table.  AD LIB Kase introducing himself to the Court Reporter, swearing himself in.  Kase sits in the witness chair.  Waits respectfully.  The Chairman looks around for the Marine contingent, to arrest him.  
LADY SENATOR
Mr. Cleary, you aren't welcome here.
KASE
I'm sorry to have been so petulant yesterday, Ma'am.  I'll try to be more calm and respectable.  I promise.
(three fingers, the French tripartite)
Scouts honor?
LADY SENATOR
(shaking a finger at him like grade school)
You have one more chance.
Kase pulls a yellow legal pad out of a small leather briefcase.  Quickly reviews a few notes.  Puts the notebook down.  Stands up behind the witness table.
KASE
Why didn't the government admit that it was an experimental jet engine powered aircraft that crashed at Roswell?  It may have been a big secret back in 1947 - but now that jets are everywhere, why not just admit it was a jet and stifle all the rumor mongering U.F.O. fanatics?

INT.  GREENPEACE OFFICES - DAY
Loose pages of paper fall to the floor, as elevator doors close in the hallway on a bunch of badly dressed activists.   They run out of the parking lot toward the flower power VW. It's a bright clear day, patches of snow on the ground in shaded spots.
KASE(V.O.)
There's only one possible reason why the government persists to support the idiotic idea it was a weather balloon that caused the huge debris field at Roswell.  They're still protecting a Top Secret jet engine aircraft there
SENATE HEARING
KASE
... a Freon powered aircraft, that exhausts tons of Freon into the upper atmosphere as extreme contrails.
(at the Committee)
Ya'll would destroy the U.V. layer.  That protects all life on Earth - from the dangerous rays of the sun.  To protect this ultra secret project?  Why?
GREEN PEACE OFFICES
After a minute live in the empty Conference room, the screen is given over to the full CNN coverage.  There's a growing crowd of people outside at the steps leading up to the Congress building.
SENATE HEARING
KASE
I'm not the first person to Fight this conspiracy.  The Secretary of Defense, James Forrestal did so back in 1947.
Kase pulls a giant Cuban cigar out of a pocket.  Jams it into his mouth.  Lights up.  Speaks briefly like a Mafia don.

KASE
Forrestal went to the tiny Army Air Station at Roswell just weeks after the incident.  Why would such a busy, powerful man rush to such a minor installation?  To check out a silly media mix up?  I.  Think.  Not.
Kase addresses the audience alone, his back to the Committee.  Kase acts as if the TV cameras are feeding CNN and not just C-Span.  The Senate members aren't even giving their usual rough deference to the TV coverage.
KASE
Then, a few weeks later Forrestal is found dead outside Bethesda Naval Hospital.  The circumstances were mysterious in the extreme.
CHAIRMAN
Mr. Cleary.  If you're leading somewhere, get there quickly.
KASE
President Truman was worried about Admiral Forrestal before he died - or was murdered.
     (snubs cigar out on table)
Forrestal was ranting paranoid about Zionists...  Zionists everywhere.
EXT.  GREENPEACE DEMONSTRATION - DAY
Things are quickly getting organized.  A small crowd of tourists gathers to watch the demonstrators.  Wary police officers watch them all, anxiously.
SENATE HEARING
KASE
Everybody thought the Nazis were over.  Done for.  Not even Truman knew about all the Nazi scientists who were secreted away at White Sands.  Working on rocket propulsion systems.
Kase waggles his finger at the Lady Senator.

KASE
The Secretary of Defense himself wasn't even in the loop.
SERIES OF SHOTS - GREENPEACE DEMONSTRATION
They are now foisting professionally made signs reading
William Tells
Hell Raiser
Kill Bill
Resident Evil
A veteran in ragged jungle fatigues breaks into their midst, toting a makeshift sign that reads (on two sides)
Go Navy - Go Army
He rotates it slowly.  They converge on him.  Wrestle the sign away.
SENATE HEARING
CHAIRMAN
Mister Cleary.
KASE
It was the beginning of the military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us against - at least, the industrial part.
LADY SENATOR
Cleary, please get to your point.
Kase nods.  Desperation begins to shadow his attitude.  Quickly, he turns back to speak to the room.
KASE
Mysterious aircraft crashes at Roswell.  Secretary of Defense makes a surprise visit to an obscure military base.  Nazi's are all over the damn place out there.
              (MORE)
              (CONT'D)
German speaking rocket scientists.  Admiral Forrestal gets paranoid.  
(MORE)
KASE (CONT'D)
They kill him.  Disguise it as a suicide to cover it up.
Kase pauses to wipe his brow.  Woodenly paces in front of the Committee, legs stiff.
KASE
Forrestal was wise to what was going on.  Months later, he had formed the Office of Policy Coordination to investigate.  The O.P.C. was a powerful spy agency that was transformed into the Central Intelligence Agency after he died.  That could never happen while he was alive.  So they harassed him.  Drove him to the brink of insanity.  Then got rid of him.  Gutted his organization.
Kase sits back down at the witness table.  Does a pyramid with his fingers, elbows on the desk.
KASE
No body on the planet hated the Nazis more than Admiral James Forrestal.  No power on Earth would convince him to make Nazis naturalized citizens.
Kase talks with a manic intensity.
KASE
Why did the Army go to such great lengths to hide all those Nazi rocket scientists at White Sands?
GREENPEACE DEMONSTRATION
A phalanx of swarthy Semite looking people approaches the green peace people.  The new comers are equal in number, but better organized.  Police jockey for position versus a nasty confrontation.  A Man in Black in their midst is on a cell phone.
SENATE HEARING
The Lady Senator from Texas is on the other end of the cell phone.

KASE
Nuremberg.  The Nazis were punished there - not just combatants, but leaders in every industry that took part in the war effort.
Every industry but rocket scientists.
They were all given amnesty.
The Senator from Texas gets off the telephone.  Stands up.  Walks over to stand beside the Chairman.  Whispers to him, eyeing Kase as she does.  Kase accelerates his presentation.
KASE
Why?  One inkling of a leak and the nations of the world would riot.  The Nuremberg Tribunal ended only a few months before the crash at Roswell.  Everybody still had blood vengeance at heart.
The Chairman leans forward.  Grabs the microphone.  Slobbers into it, he's in such haste to speak.
CHAIRMAN
It has come to our attention that you are not an active member of the Armed Forces, Mister Cleary.
KASE
This Congress is the same group that sanctioned that cover up.  They recommended to the President that documents related to the Roswell cover up be sealed for all time.
SERIES OF SHOTS - GREENPEACE DEMONSTRATION
The phalanx comes into focus.
Mr. Nathan Belcohen is in the lead (black eye patch over that lazy eye of his), surrounded by Mossad security agents (dark suits, white shirts, Blues Brothers sun glasses, little ear pieces).  Belcohen marches forward, one hand tucked inside his tunic a-la Napoleon Bonaparte.  His subordinates carry signs.
Free Willy
Saint John Paul
Free Saddam

Go Nuke Power
Elvis Lives
When the Israelis reach the veteran, they hoist him on his feet and plant his
Go Army - Go Navy
sign firmly in his hands.
The media push the police aside.
BACK TO SCENE
The Chairman stands up.  Points a finger at Kase like Uncle Sam.
CHAIRMAN
It's a felony to impersonate a member of the military. 
KASE
The French government studied the whole U.F.O. problem.  They decided U.F.O.'s are a real and viable threat to life on Earth.
Kase razzes his short hair with one hand.  Looks side to side with desperation.
CHAIRMAN
Cleary, shut your mouth.
KASE
Who paid you people off, Senator?
CHAIRMAN
Stop right this minute!
KASE
Who was it, Senator?
Bright flashes from a camera.  Nikki walks down the middle isle, flashing pictures rapidly.  She's quickly arrested and hauled away.  The Senators act embarrassed.  The Lady Senator from Texas turns away from the camera.  Powders her cheeks against the spot light glare.
KASE
Who was it?  Dupont?  
(MORE)
KASE (CONT'D)
Or was it a collection of all the manufacturers and suppliers who stand to pocket this trillion dollar Freon fiasco?
The Lady Senator from Texas stands up.
LADY SENATOR
Get out of here.
KASE
So it really was a conspiracy.  Your expressions say it all, Senators.
LADY SENATOR
Bailiff!
Baliff heads straight for Kase.  One hand unbuckles pistol strap.  Marines follows, M-16's at port arms - bayonets attached.  Kase looks like he hasn't slept in a week.  Baliff pulls hand cuffs out.  Kase finds himself starting to hold his hands out for them.
BADOUI
That will not be necessary, your Honors.
The Bailiff looks up.  Kase swiftly yanks his hands away.  Badoui approaches the bench.  Chairman covers the microphone.  The restraining strap on Badoui's pistol flaps loose.  He wears an "MP" Military Police arm band.
EXT. GREENPEACE DEMONSTRATION
Belcohen troops around with his sign.  A blur tackles him.  Has him by the lapels, speaks violently.
NIKKI
Why did you agree so readily to help me, you swine.
BELCOHEN
Isn't this kind of extravagant, for us to meet this way?
NIKKI
I'm on expense account.
Nikki loosens up.  Grabs his hand with a vice grip.

NIKKI
What about this evil ring of yours?
BELCOHEN
A reminder.  Everybody in our Science Office wears them.  To exhort us daily.  To find the monsters who built the technology of the Holocaust - who engineered the gas chambers, the work camps, the incinerators....
Nikki is horrified.  Belcohen rips the ring off, puts it in his pocket.
BELCOHEN
The Times-Picayune sent you here all the way from New Orleans?
NIKKI
No.  Actually.  The French Foreign Legion is footing my bill.
Belcohen jams a fist into her shoulder.   Knocks her back on her heels.
BELCOHEN
Shalom.  I should have known!
If you ever need a job - I have friends at Mossad. (motioning all around them)
Belcohen gives her a little bow from the waist like Jews do at services.  Guides her with a hand at the small of her back, to a nearby street cafe. 
EXT. - PARIS STYLE CAFE
NIKKI
Well - why did you help me?
BELCOHEN
White Sands is untouchable.  Best security in the world.  Bar none.  Your friend's inside information was invaluable to us.
Belcohen turns in his chair with a GRUNT, so that he is in profile to Nikki.  Big belly.  He talks out the side of his mouth, head turned to the side.
NIKKI
What?  Kase bribed you to help me?

BELCOHEN
Not exactly.  Although we Israelis do like his research.  Extremely creative and forward looking.
NIKKI
White Sands - it's always been so invulnerable.  Even to you all?
Belcohen leans across the table.   Glimpses her cleavage with one good eye.  Winks broadly.  Speaks in conspiratorial tones.
BELCOHEN
In World War two the atom bombs were tested at Alamorgordo - a stone's throw from White Sands Proving Ground, as it was called back then.
NIKKI
You were there?
Belcohen turns to face her squarely now.  Nikki backs into her chair, in revulsion to his lizard stare.
BELCOHEN
Are you kidding?  All those Nazis?  Where else would we have been.
(scolding)
Shame on you.
NIKKI
So the security was so tight to keep the Nazis from finding out about the atom bomb tests in the desert?
BELCOHEN
Baloney.  The Nazis weren't interested in atomic bombs.  The Keystone Cops could have protected that place.
Belcohen stands up.  Leads Nikki back to the demonstration.  Motions for his Mossad bodyguards to come.  They talk surrounded by these alert agents, in complete safety.
BELCOHEN
All of New Mexico was under marital law - border to border.  They said it was to keep all the cases of radiation sickness, from attracting any media buzzards.

NIKKI
If New Mexico was under martial law - that means any news had to first be cleared with the military?
Belcohen considers before answering, eyes dart all over.  Nikki watches his face carefully, reading him.
BELCOHEN
Even in 1949 - especially then - with all us Nazi hunters on the prowl - extreme security was needed for the Nazi rocket scientists working on their new jet aircraft.
NIKKI
So.  Both the original U.F.O. article about the crash in the Chicago Daily News.  And the subsequent refutation by the Army were first vetted by the Pentagon.
Nikki bats her eyebrows, the tenderfoot spook/reporter seeking guidance from an old pro.
BELCOHEN
You got that right, Shechinah.
NIKKI
Why would they have security like that?  Does this have anything to do with Kase's Star Wars X-fighter U.F.O. spaceship design?
BELCOHEN
He sent us a copy, you know.
NIKKI
What - that's treason!
Belcohen gestures to their guards, indicating - what do you think we're doing right here, right now?
BELCOHEN
Old trick.  Stir up a storm - then see how the authorities react.
NIKKI
And?
Belcohen becomes deathly serious.  Nikki recoils in terror.

BELCOHEN
You were at his Tribunal.  Isn't it obvious that he triggered an ultra high security protocol, to protect the sanctity of - something.
NIKKI
He was testing the depths of their security...
BELCOHEN
He still is.
Nikki runs away, stifling a scream.  Belcohen watches.  Two Men in Black keep pace with Nikki.  Belcohen motions for several of his men to follow.  Take the necessary measures, he indicates with a chopping motion to the neck.
SENATE HEARING
Badoui approaches Kase at the witness table, SHOOING the Baliff away.  Eases into the chair beside him.  Kase sees him clearly for the first time.  Stands right up.
KASE
Captain, I mean C ...Colonel; good grief.  Badoui?
BADOUI
Sit down you idiot.  For Allah's sake take that obscene dervish jacket off.
The jacket is off.  Kase tosses it into the gallery.
BADOUI
Mr. Chairman, will you please allow me a few moments with my client?
Badoui is wearing dress blues.  There is a little gray at his temples, and Colonel's eagles on his shoulders, mor ribbons.  Kase jolts.
KASE
Your client?  What?
Kase jumps up in his chair again.  Badoui grasps his hand over the witness's mouth.  Grabs a shoulder with the other hand.  Pushes Kase back into the chair.
BADOUI
You better clam up, Spec. 
(MORE)
BADOUI (CONT'D)
Four Cleary.  Or your ass is going to jail right now, for Contempt of Congress.
Badoui cranes his neck toward the Senate panel.  A cold shiver runs down his spine.
BADOUI
Let's just say.  I was in the neighborhood.
Badoui draws a Pentagon with his finger on the oak table.
BADOUI
Well, then.  Get on with it will you?
Badoui says loud enough to be heard over the room P.A. system.  Then a loud, Al Pacino "OoHh ah," marine corps grunt hoot.  Sits down.  Pulls himself up to the witness table like a hungry kid edging up to a Thanksgiving turkey dinner.  
BADOUI
Specialist Cleary, you're the expert witness, man.  Do your job!
The Chairman holds up his arms in consternation.  Points to the Senator from Texas, pantomimes - I disown this man and this situation.  Speaks to her with his hand not quite over the microphone.
CHAIRMAN
He's your prodigal child - deal with him.
The Lady Senator from Texas quickly takes the reigns.
LADY SENATOR
Mr. Cleary.  Has it occurred to you that we might be as surprised in this as you are?
Kase shakes his head, no.
CHAIRMAN
Do you realize what a charade you have made of these hearings?
LADY SENATOR
Oh, shut up, Mr. Chairman.  Let me handle this.  Okay, Cleary.  
(MORE)
LADY SENATOR (CONT'D)
Let me say that I'm so surprised at these accusations.  Speaking, now, for myself alone - I'm contemplating a change of position.  Can you at least accept that?
Kase shakes his head, no.
CHAIRMAN
This conversation has gone on long enough.  Arrest that man, Bailiff.
Kase looks around like he's just run a red light in front of a police station.  Hair on the back of his rough shaved neck, stands up.
KASE
Why would you be interested in what I have to say?   Give me one good reason why I should believe you.
LADY SENATOR
Texas has the highest per capita energy use of any nation or state in the world.  You know, biggest cars, longest distances?  Texas shoulders a very disproportionate percentage of the Freon replacement costs.  Am I correct?
KASE
Especially along the Gulf Coast, where it's real hot and real humid.
The Chairman, himself obviously a Southerner, shows a renewed interest.  He locks eyes with Kase, confrontational.
GREENPEACE DEMONSTRATION
A shiver of indecision divides the ranks, as Southerners on both sides back away.  Somebody has scrawled
Taxation Without Representation
on a poster board.  This is a logo on some DC license plates.  People start ripping them off nearby cars, and build a small mountain of them.

SENATE HEARING
CHAIRMAN
What do you mean?  Are you saying that the Southern states have been slapped with a trillion dollar tax, all by our selves?
KASE
Think for a moment who uses air conditioning the most?  Where are the hottest, most humid places?  The Old South, ma'am.  Sir.  California.  We're the ones who pay most of the trillion dollar cost of the Freon phase out.
Kase looks aside to Colonel Badoui.
KASE
The U.S. military is the single biggest consumer of fuel in the world.
Counsel sits bolt upright.
SERIES OF SHOTS - GREENPEACE DEMONSTRATION
The bona fide, professional activists have arrived now, brandishing elaborate posters that shout
Impeach Bush , with a Swastika replacing the letter "s"
Ban Lobbyists
Iraq no Phobia
Mars or Die
Quick flash of a dame who looks like Nikki, carrying a poster
Vini, Vidi, Vici
...hand grasped around the poster, bright red finger nails.
BACK TO SCENE
The Chairman starts to speak.   Kase holds up a hand and continues.  

KASE
It gets worse!  The phasing out of Freon twelve is only one part of the plan.  The new Freons will be phased out within seven or eight years; then again after that; ad infinitum.
Kase stands.  Stares coldly into the Chairman's eyes.
KASE
They don't need any more trillion dollar boondoggles - Freon is all they'll ever need - to generate a hundred billion dollars a year.  Until the End of Days.
Kase gets up, boogies over to the live TV camera.  Speaks, nose practically touching the lens.
KASE
There's credible evidence that the Freon is not a danger to the ozone layer.  It's a tax to make us pay
(pointing to the dais)
for their New World Order, out of our own pockets.
The gavel RINGS OUT loudly.  Marines pull Kase away from the camera.  Haul him back.  Sit him down.
CHAIRMAN
Mr. Cleary, you aren't going to run out again on us are you?  Your testimony is of utmost importance.  Do you understand?
Kase has a wild look in his eye, feet TAP the floor impatiently. 
CHAIRMAN
Bailiff, see that the witness doesn't leave this room.  Or Colonel Paul Badoui, United States Army; for that matter.
The Committee members leave.  Bailiff approaches Colonel Badoui.  Motions politely for his side arm - and cell phone.
KASE
Welcome to the Mickey Mouse club, Sir.  Comfy, padded room and all.  Colonel.  Why are you here?

BADOUI
I'm wondering that myself, just now.
GREENPEACE DEMONSTRATIONS - SUNSET
Street lights wink on.  Homeland Security vans ring in the perimeter.  Nearby are riot police with helmet shields, tear gas guns, and rubber bullets.  Nikki breaks through security by flashing media credentials.  Makes a quick cell phone call as she high steps it past the riot police.  Races away.  Men in Black are close behind.
EXT. LINCOLN MEMORIAL - EVENING
Bultaco is in the shadows, inspecting Nikki top to bottom, taking her clothes off with his eyes.  She doesn't see him until he speaks.
BULTACO
Madam.  We simply must stop meeting like this.
The Doctor emerges from behind Lincoln's statue, before which Nikki had been pacing.  Bultaco is dressed in a thousand dollar pin striped suit, Blues Brothers hat, Humphry Bogart trench coat.
NIKKI
You should not be in D.C. right now.
BULTACO
What?  At a medical conference?
Pulls a no filter cigarette out.  Lights up.  Follows several skirts - coeds cavorting after a party no doubt - with a practiced eye.
BULTACO
We shrinks are enjoying watching your friend on the CNN monitors.  I am assured that many technical papers will be resulting.  We will be famous!
Nikki goes frigid, forces Bultaco out of his womanizing.
NIKKI
Kase believed there were aliens held in captivity at White Sands.
BULTACO
I assumed as much.

NIKKI
What?  Are you insane?
BULTACO
Sometimes.  We saw many crazies on our psych ward from White Sands.  Raving such things - White Sands being only a few miles from Roswell.
Nikki hauls him by the shirt sleeves to a deserted, dark corner - looking more than a little paranoid.
NIKKI
Could an alien entity cause his condition?
BULTACO
There are rumors.  Secretive military experimentation with low frequency sound waves.  To disorient the enemy.  These are known to cause psychosis.
Nikki hides her shock.  Pretends innocence and ignorance.
NIKKI
So a creature that, say.  Uses sound for echo location could have such an affect on people?
BULTACO
If you are thinking of bats or dolphins.  They use harmless high frequency sounds.  Not dangerous low frequency ones.
NIKKI
Perhaps a machine could do it?  A mechanical machine.  Maybe an electrical machine?
BULTACO
Anything is ...  possible.
Said to Nikki's back as she runs down the marble steps taking four at a time.  Men in Black follow her.  He inches back into the shadows, smokes.   Mossad agents shadow the Men in Black, take them down.  
GREENPEACE DEMONSTRATION
Small groups of people cluster around video monitors.  Anxious faces glow in the quickening dusk.

SENATE HEARING - NIGHT
Kase and Badoui sit at the witness table in the glare of spot lights.  Kase stands up behind the witness table.
KASE
Mr. Chairman.  Need I remind you that I took the oath of an Officer in the United States Navy.  To defend the Constitution against all enemies - foreign - and domestic...
Glares at the Senators.  Turns to address the gallery.
KASE
It's my sincere contention that this country's position on the Freon Ban Treaty is a blatant, subversive, but very real and totally sanguine attempt to destroy the United States of America - completely, utterly, and for all time.
Kase sits right down in his chair.  The entire room bursts into an loud UPROAR.  Outside through the windows it's mayhem.  When the ruckus subsides, Badoui taps Kase on the shoulder.
BADOUI
Hey, trooper.  Why don't you let me take it for a while?  You look bushed.
Kase nods yes.  Colonel Badoui walks around the witness stand.  Goes right up the Committee table.  Paces an arm's length away.  His manner is in stark contrast to Kase's combative, intense style.  The whole room breaths a sigh of relief.
BADOUI
It's no crime, to ask for a second diagnosis - to use modern technology to reconsider old issues?
Badoui turns awkwardly to ask Kase a question.
BADOUI
Can you identify who is actually responsible for this whole Freon fiasco?  Who would profit most?
Kase starts to speak.  A wave of indecision stops him.  He fumbles some with his fingers. 

KASE
Consulting engineers.
BADOUI
What?
Kase bites his lower lip.   Takes a good hard swallow. 
KASE
Chiller jobs - the guts of the big A.C. systems have to be replaced because they can't use the new Freons.  Chiller change outs are the most profitable work in the construction business.  A good engineering firm can make two hundred grand for two days work.
CHAIRMAN
(trying to be chummy)
I suppose you're known in your hometown as an outspoken and honest individual?
Kase smiles an affirmative.
BADOUI
These people figured you would blow the whistle on the whole deal?
KASE
I did blow the whistle.  I wrote it all up in my energy conservation textbook from McGraw-Hill.
BADOUI
What the hell?
Badoui stands directly in front of Kase.  Blocks the Senators from his view. 
KASE
The new Freon is much less efficient -it's the complete opposite of energy conservation.  Of course I had to comment on that...
BADOUI
You didn't...
KASE
I may be brave, Colonel.  I'm not suicidal.  Yet.

Kase starts to say something.
CHAIRMAN
Bailiff.  Will you remove Mr. Cleary from this room.
The burley Bailiff approaches again.  Kase is sick with anticipation.
BULTACO
Mama Maria.  Please, Mister Bailiff man.  You can very well stay where you are.  For a few more moments.
Bultack looks like he just flew in from a vacation -  Magnum P.I. Hawaiian shirt and worn old tennis shoes.  Walks behind Cleary, pats him lightly on the shoulder.  The Bailiff approaches Kase.  Bultaco cuts him off with an extended arm.
LADY SENATOR
What is this outrage?
Bultaco walks to the bench.  Stops in front of the lady Senator.  Gives a little curt bow.
BULTACO
I am Gabriel Bultaco.
He bows his greetings to either side.  Kase is in shock.
BULTACO
I am now Chief of Psychiatry at Brooks Army Medical Center.  Specialist Cleary was a patient of mine a few years ago when I was at Fort Polk.  
Winks to the Lady Senator from Texas.
BULTACO
I am meaning to say that I am - have observed him all this day.  I testify that he is as sane and lucid and logical as anyone in this whole room.  With especial people in mind too.
Glares fiercely at the Committee.
The Chairman signals a recess.  The Doctor reaches over to touch Colonel Badoui on the arm.  When Badoui reflexively reaches out to shake his hand, the Doctor swiftly places a small cell phone in his palm.  Covering up quickly, he 

grasps Badoui's hand in both of his own.  Badoui meanders off to the side of the room.  Bultaco moves to block the Committee's view of Counsel.
INT. MEDICAL CONFERENCE - WASHINGTON DC - DAWN
A large group of psychiatrists in the whole possible range of outfits watch a big screen TV.  Bultaco tosses his hat into the gallery.  A giant cheer goes up.  Three figures sit at a table near the screen, oblivious to the hoopla.  Their table is littered with empty beer bottles, champagne bottles, and a small pyramid of upside down shot glasses.
DERRICK
How come ya'll - to the late, great Post Traumatic Stress conference?
N-MAN
I - I'm getting the courage up to flip off the President of the United States.
(cheers with a whole Champaign bottle)
BELCOHEN
Me?  I'm just following orders...
DERRICK
Isn't diplomacy inversely proportional to drunkenness?
N-MAN
That man, Cleary - in Congress.  I wouldn't give a wood nickel for his chances.
N-man points generally in the direction of the big screen.  Knocks Belcohen's half full glass onto the floor with his elbow.
BELCOHEN
... Actually.  I'm supposed to liquidate this little French man belching at my elbow.
N-MAN
By all means.
(holds out his glass)
Liquidate me.
DERRICK
He means terminate you.  Idiot.

BELCOHEN
... Just waiting for my two back up agents.  Five eyes are better than one.  You know.
N-MAN
What about you, Chaplain?
DERRICK
The misses.  She has P.T.S.D.  Babbles all night long with nightmares.
BELCOHEN
Hey.  She's a chaplain too.  Any juicy secrets?
N-MAN
Yea.
Belcohen and N-man pull their chairs closer.  Belcohen clears his throat, expectorates into an empty ash tray.  They both turn an conspiratorial ear the Chaplain's way.
BELCOHEN
Tell all.  Padre.
DERRICK
Remember 911?  How all three jets went off the F. A. A. tracking radar?  Their homing beacons were disabled.
N-MAN
Sure.  So what?
DERRICK
That can only be done before lift off.  The homing beacon circuits aren't accessible from the pressurized cabin.
BELCOHEN
That's ancient history.  It's a security precaution.  So what?
DERRICK
That means the terrorists couldn't have disabled the homing beacons.
BELCOHEN
Hey.  Don't look at me.  
(MORE)
BELCOHEN (CONT'D)
Only America could replace the Taliban with drug lords - and call it a victory.
N-MAN
Amen.  Afghanistan is back to the number one heroin exporter in the world.  And it all goes to Europe.
The Chaplain weathers hard glares from both men.  Drops his eyes.  Looks around.  Picks up the astray, holds it up so the green phlegm catches the light.
DERRICK
NASA culture in a Petri dish.
The Chaplain waits a tactful moment.
N-MAN
Then somebody...
N-Man slowly raises his finger.  Points sky ward.
BELCOHEN
You mean Divine Intelligence?
DERRICK
No, you drunken sod.
Derrick slowly points his finger toward the big screen TV.
N-MAN
Aliens?
BELCOHEN
No way.  Jose.
DERRICK
We should adjourn.  Discuss this another time.
BELCOHEN
Deal.
N-MAN
I'll have to kill you another day.
BELCOHEN
I'll rain check, too.
Derrick raises his arms heavenward.

DERRICK
Jesus.  Where are the Russians when you need them?
N-MAN
How could they not be here - at the best party in town.
BELCOHEN
You tell me.  At this hour of the day.  It's the only party in town.
They all look out a window to a huge city with almost all the lights out.
N-MAN
What now?
DERRICK
Today?  I'm supposed to be on a tour of the Manassas Battlefield.  Sponsored by my church.  Leaves -
(checks his watch)
well, right now.
N-MAN
You better have a case of breath mints.
BELCOHEN
You're the one who's drunk.
N-MAN
Do me a favor?
DERRICK
Drop you off at the airport?
N-MAN
White House.  Is where I'm going.  But first - do me another favor?  For old time's sake?
They make their way out of the auditorium.  Hail a cab.  N-Man fastens his top button, adjusts his tie as they wait; shines his shoes on the back of his pants legs.  Pulls eye drops out, tries to use them.  Weaves so bad he misses.  The Chaplain has to steady his body, while Belcohen steadies his arm.  A taxi arrives.  They shove N-Man in.
DERRICK
He's going to the White House.

Belcohen shoves some money in to the cab driver, who looks into the back seat.  Sizes up his fare.
CABBIE
Yea.  Like they need another expert yonder.
N-Man sneezes into a handkerchief.  Stuffs it into his front outside suit pocket like a musketeer.  Waves happily as the taxi pulls away.  A battered yellow school bus picks the Chaplain up.  Belcohen sobers right up, as a pair of Mossad agents approach.  Starts to give them directions.  Hesitates.  Looks at the receding bus.  Leads them away.
SENATE HEARING
A ring of the gavel, and the Committee is back in session.
CHAIRMAN
You actually believe consulting engineers orchestrated the Freon Ban?
Kase is deaf, dumb, and mute.  
CHAIRMAN
I find that really hard to believe.
KASE
How so?  It's in the Charter of every professional society in America.
Bultaco and Badoui are both standing now, one on either side.  Kase glances at each for reassurance.  Ducks his shoulders.
KASE
To promote the profession, in this case engineering.  Every state licensing Board follows the same premise.
LADY SENATOR
I don't follow you.
KASE
I'll use a Board you may relate a little better to - the Psychologists Licensing Board.
Bultaco perks up at this.  Steps closer.

KASE
We often discussed in meetings how the Board exists only to promote the profession - to ensure full employment of all its members.
CHAIRMAN
You're going in circles again...
KASE
I published a feature article in a national industry magazine, posing the existence of a possible connection between indoor air quality and psychological illness...
Bultaco moves to be in front of the Chairman.  Stays there.  The Chairman maneuvers to the side to observe Kase.
BULTACO
You are saying that bad air quality can contribute to mental illness?
KASE
Sure, why not?  People spend over eighty percent of their time in air conditioned places.
GREENPEACE OFFICES - NIGHT
Demonstrators straggle in.  Live C-Span coverage is still going on.  The conference room fills with hippie executives, AD LIB random grudging accolades.  A Mossad agent passes around a big bowl of buttered popcorn.  External office lights dim, and everybody squeezes in to watch the show.  Applause.
SENATE HEARING
KASE
The air we breathe is no less important than the food we eat, is it not?  Dietary deficiency contributes to mental instability.
BULTACO
It is a very basic consideration.
Yes, it is.

KASE
(sarcastic)
My, but we are being so cooperative today, Doctor Bultaco.  What are some of the symptoms of oxygen deprivation?
Kase and Bultaco are close enough to talk in conversational tones.  Kase's voice comes out loud over the microphone.  Bultaco's less loud.
BULTACO
Dizziness, nausea, headache, mental confusion, diminishing of short term memory, psychosis and death.  In that order.
KASE
Would this happen sooner at a high altitude?  Such as White Sands Missile Range, which is over a mile high?
BULTACO
Yes.  The official name for the condition is Mountain Sickness.
GREENPEACE DEMONSTRATION
All sides are now watching TV screens, riot police too.  They start to take betting odds.   Random hoots and cat calls.
SENATE HEARING
KASE
The symptoms would be worse, if you have a lower than normal red blood count - like me?   Red blood cells collect and distribute oxygen within the body.
Bultaco nods, yes.  Slowly approaches the witness table.  Anchors his hands on the edge.  Leans forward.
KASE
All this happens if a person doesn't have enough oxygen to breathe?
(Bultaco nods)
Because they get too much carbon dioxide?

BULTACO
Already.  Yes.
KASE
Imagine a room with many people.
(waving his arms, like this room)
The more people, the worse the breathing air is, no?
Bultaco nods his agreement.
GREENPEACE OFFICES
Some of them start to get uncomfortable.  Mossad agent nonchalantly sneaks over to open a window.
SENATE HEARING
KASE
...if no fresh air is provided to a space, then you get signs of mental illness.  The more people, the smaller the space, the sooner the symptoms?
Bultaco nods.  Wanders off to the side.  Kase stops.  Looks from one Committee member to the next.  The Chairman's hands grip the edge of the table in front of him; white.
KASE
One association is responsible for air quality in every building, world wide.  Yet, they have never sponsored any research into even the possibility that air quality might affect mental health.
Kase makes much ado about loosening his tie and unbuttoning the top button.  Talks loudly toward Badoui, who has been standing to one side, hands in his pockets.
KASE
Colonel Badoui, why do you suppose that is?
BADOUI
(weakly)
Liability.
KASE
Louder.

BADOUI
Liability.  I said damn it.
Kase dramatically waves his arms to each side, indicating that this very hearing is happening in a crowded room, in an air conditioned space.  Badoui crosses his arms across his chest.
KASE
Is there no insurance to cover this sort of thing?
BADOUI
No.  Too expensive
KASE
Engineer gets bright idea that indoor air might effect mental illness.  Publishes story about this in international magazine.  Weeks later he's out of a job.  References.  Career.
Kase pounds his fist on the table, with each statement.
INT.  WHITE HOUSE
CNN coverage in the Oval Office, from the East Coast morning shows.  The President watches.  Senior counselors pace the perimeter.  N-Man stands by the President, in muted conversation with him.  
N-MAN
Aren't you afraid, Mr. President - that your Nazi past will come to light soon?
The President ignores him.   Focuses on the TV screen.  Motions with his hand for the N-Man to leave.
N-MAN
That your family - made their fortune by investments in Nazi Germany during the 1930's?
The President punches a button on the desk phone.  The Oval Office door opens seconds.  Secret Service agents manhandle N-Man away.
N-MAN
You won't get away with it.  Your family caused the Great Depression.  
(MORE)
N-MAN (CONT'D)
You caused World War two.  Deo Vindici.  God.  Will.  Vindicate.
The door closes behind the group.  The President leans back in his chair.  Hands clasped behind his back, feet up on the desk.  We never do see his face.
SENATE HEARING
KASE
Naive engineer lobbies the Psychology Board.  Puts his paper alleging a connection between indoor air quality and psychosis - on the Board agenda - what do you suppose happened, Colonel Badoui?
BADOUI
How should I know?
Badoui takes several steps toward Kase.
KASE
You shouldn't.  Just checking.  To see who's side you're on.
KASE
The whole idea was soundly rejected by the Psych Board's legal counsel. Guess why?
Badoui pulls up short.  Stands beside the witness table to Kase's right.
BADOUI
(too quickly)
Mental illness keeps the shrink's couches full and bank accounts fat.
KASE
Doctor.  What are generally the most densely occupied buildings in terms of people per square foot of floor space?
Kase motions the Bailiff to turn down the room thermostat.   Indicates he's getting a little hot under the collar.
BULTACO
It would have to be classrooms in schools.

KASE
Very good.
(CLAPPING loudly)
Is this something a competent engineer, being charged with maintaining the public's health, should be concerned about?
BULTACO
Mr. Cleary, I think it is a problem we should all be very concerned about.  Especially those of us with childrens in school.
A loud murmur starts in the audience behind him.  Kase asks his next question, quickly.  Desperation is creeping into his voice.
KASE
Why would engineers not police air quality.  Why would they actually reduce indoor air quality standards - drastically?
Badoui leans back on his heels.
BADOUI
It saves energy.
(much too quickly)
Less efficient Freon equipment needs more energy.  Reduce outside air standards and when oil prices spike.  No one is any wiser.
BULTACO
No pun intended. 
KASE
Reducing outside air intake is the single, easiest way to reduce the operating budget.  And, god damn.  Wouldn't you know it.  The incidence of mental illness in school age children has gone up exponentially.
Kase turns to face the audience.  SLAMS both fists down hard on the table top.
KASE
Our kids don't need Ritalin.  They need fresh air.

Everyone TALKS LOUD AT ONCE.  The Lady Senator from Texas catches Kase's eye.  
LADY SENATOR
Shoo, ya'll.  Get the hell out of here you idiots!
Kase et al hasten from the witness table.  Make their way toward the exit.  The lady Senator from Texas AD LIBS lambasting the crazy witness and his flimsy testimony.  Badoui's associates from JAG are wait impatiently.  Badoui paces out ahead.
BADOUI
Boy am I glad to see you guys.  Well, come on - let's get out of here!
Bailiffs move to block their exit from the doors.
JAG LAWYER
I'm sorry, Badoui.  We have orders.
High up.  Real high.  To take you people into custody.
Badoui starts to slug the guy.  The Doctor catches his cocked arm.  The three musketeers are bamboozled.  The bailiffs look quite willing to fill them with lead.
EXT. PROTESTS IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE - PRE-DAWN
Cajun expatriates party at a long table on the sidewalk.  It's piled high with crawfish, steaming in the cold night.  Cases of booze everywhere.  They toasting every success - and failure - on C-Span.  Nikki steps out from under a street light nearby.  Joins the happy melee.  AD LIB French words of greeting.  A yellow school bus eases to a stop across the street.
DERRICK
This is living the life.
Nikki looks up from the feast, keeps sucking a crawfish head.
DERRICK
Hell's bells.  I'm working harder now than I ever did in the Army.
The Chaplain introduces as his wife - a striking lady in dress blue Air Force uniform, chaplain's insignia on her collar along with three stars.  She gets a call on her cell 

phone, and has to leave.  AD LIBs something about Project Blue Book being reactivated, as she turns on heel.
NIKKI
Could Leviathan in the Book of Job be an alien entity?
DERRICK
Why do you say that?
NIKKI
Kase said space acts like a fluid at high velocities.  Leviathan is a creature of the water.  Maybe the Bible meant space - as water?
Nikki takes a giant gulp of crawfish - waves her hand, spicy hot.  Takes a long tug at a mason jar of beer.  Swipes the foam from her upper lip, seductively.
DERRICK
Good thing I've been watching the show on TV, eh?  Leviathan, you say?
NIKKI
Kase believes the dog kennel sized Ark of the Covenant was used by ancient Egyptian priests to carry an alien creature around.  It induced a religious euphoria in the people at religious festivals.
The N-Man walks by, escorted by security.  Nikki double takes.  AD LIB N-Man yelling back over his shoulder.  A bearded Cajun grabs a bottle, runs after N-man.  Jams a fist in the face of one security guard - hands the bottle to N-man with the other hand.  N-man chugs the spirits down.
DERRICK
The Hebrews never did lose a battle while they had the Ark.
NIKKI
So the Nazis were right to be obsessed with finding the Ark?  - and the Israelis now, too.
To herself, Nikki mutters.
NIKKI
No wonder they have the world's best security at White Sands - everybody is after E.T.

DERRICK
How's that?
NIKKI
Could proximity to an alien have caused Kase's problems?
Nikki leans forward.  Gives the chaplain a good look at her generous bosom.  Derrick absentmindedly loosens his tie.
DERRICK
He did experience a very dramatic change at White Sands.  Reading his infamous statement to the I.G.
              (MORE)
             (CONT'D)
I recollect there was a dramatic reversal in Cleary's mental status after he visited the High Energy Laser Facility there.
NIKKI
So Leviathan may not be a myth?  That whole facade of a building - and the trillions used to fund non existent research....
Nikki swivels her hips, asserts feminine whiles.  Derrick grabs his beer, downs the whole thing with a BURP.  Turns and leaves, frazzled, as the yellow bus HONKS the horn and pulls up to the curb nearby.
SENATE HEARING
A crowd breaks into the room.  Kase et al turn, hoping for a chance to escape.  Marines, double up on the exit doors and fan out around the perimeters of the room.  The witnesses wearily settle down for another round.  It's starting to get light outside.  
KASE
Good Morning America!
Like the wild and crazy DJ Robin Williams in the movie.   Kase acts like you would if your two thumbs were painted with black fingernail polish, and you (a straight guy) are trying to hide them from everybody.
KASE
Why did Congress act with such haste on the Freon Ban?  
(MORE)
KASE (CONT'D)
You voted for a faster phase out schedule than the original treaty?  Then, a year later, you accelerated it - again?
The Senators cannot answer.
KASE
The noose wasn't tight enough?
The Committee has a smug let the fellow dig his own grave expression on their faces.
KASE
Thousands of kids get Attention Deficit Disorder every year.  No one knows why.  No one is willing to even accept the remote possibility that air quality might be the culprit?
LADY SENATOR
That's bull.  It's just some pie in the sky theory.
The Lady Senator shakes her fist at him.
KASE
What about the universal opposition to my efforts just to get this one little itty bitty question answered?  Yes, it says.  Yes!  Yes!  There is a connection.  A conspiracy.
Pauses to take a sip of water from a Confederate flag mug.  Waits a few breaths to calm down a little bit.  Hoists himself up to sit on the witness table, facing the Committee.  Legs swinging.
KASE
(parodying Nixon)
You're bringing democracy to Iraq?  For what?  So they can elect terrorists like they have in Iran?  In the Palestinian Territories?
(giggling)
Ohhhh  Misstterr President.
Kase hunches up around the microphone.  Hooks two thumbs into loops in his pants.   Hoists them up above his belly button.  Sticks his thumb in his mouth, sucks it noisily.  Says in a President Bill Clinton voice.

KASE
Ohhh.  Just think, honey buns.  Every school boy and school girl in America will learn about us in Civics class.
Bundles up some papers and throws them at the Senators.  Says in his best John Belushi. 
  KASE
Food fight!  
Gets up out of his chair.  Maneuvers slowly around in front of the witness table.  Half steps his way through a speech, gesturing all the while.   Says in a shrill H. Ross Perot voice.
KASE
Why, blow me away.  Nazis figured it all out, decades ago.  Ten times heavier than air nano tech Freon-twelve molecules make it into the upper atmosphere because they're self propelled.  Load a jet with that stuff, it's lighter than air, and all those fancy maneuvers that U.F.O.'s do are suddenly possible.
(Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation)
U.F.O.'s aren't high tech at all.  They're actually quite low tech, and that's why they need this vast Right Wing Conspiracy to sweep it all under the rug.  Bad air quality to lobotomize the whole X generation.              
(Gomer Pyle voice)
Well, GoOoLeeEe Sergeant Carter.  It
was a jet that crash landed at Roswell -
a Nazi prototype that they had at the Peenemunde rocket test facility.
Kase stops abruptly.  Empties out all his pockets onto the witness table.  Turns his pockets inside out.  Speaks seriously.
KASE
The Nazis had precious little oil, and no jet fuel at all - so they found a new energy source.  
(MORE)
KASE (CONT'D)
The bad guys got a hold of one of their jet prototypes.  Tested this new fangled Freon lighter than air like helium trick.  But crash...  Roswell.  Cover Up.  They've been developing the technology ever since at White Sands.  Unbeknownst to the military that's funding them and guarding their secrets - without a clue what they are guarding!  It's all funded by a long string of trillion dollar boondoggles.  Unidentified Federal Outlays...  U.F.O.'s - aliens - Chemtrails.
Open a packet of sugar substitute.  Spreads it on the table top.  Snorts it up like cocaine.   Marine grabs the microphone, rips the electrical wiring out.  
BADOUI
(John Wayne accent)
Well, Pilgrim, so much for Freedom of Speech.
The three fugitives make a little progress toward the door.  Marines maneuver to cut them off.  Kase, on tiptoe, misses his wallet and things.  Derrick bursts into the group.  AD LIBS, things like "Why Excuse Me, Sir" in a voice that is embarrassingly loud, as tourists are wont to do.  
DERRICK
Why, Glory Be!  Hallelujah!
The big voice says, as a bear arms reach out to grasp Kase by the shoulders.   Shake him like a rag doll.
DERRICK
Lord, if it ain't my Specialist Cleary!
Kase fights this fellow in a totally obnoxious combination of suit jacket and pants.  Starts.
KASE
Colonel - I, mean Chap - Chaplain Derrick?
The bailiffs are engaged in extreme questioning from a bunch of persistent, horribly dressed retired tourists with disgustingly courteous southern accents.  The Pentagon JAG men reel back from all this unsolicited good will.  

HALLWAY
Kase and the doctor and Badoui are suddenly outside in the hallway.  Moving with remarkable speed and dexterity.  Derrick grabs his elbow as they both hustle toward the doors. 
DERRICK
A little late with the Calvary.
Kase looks at him skeptical.  Moves aside a few baby steps.
DERRICK
(arms wide)
After all, boy.   We are Southern Baptists.  And we love a Rebel Hero!
INT.  YELLOW SCHOOL BUS - DAY
Out the building and into an ugly yellow school bus.  The bus JOLTS to a start.  Cell telephones materialize.  Laptop computers.  AD LIB high tech protocols.  Gus TRUNDLES down the crowded Washington streets.  AD LIB calls to public officials, news agencies.
BULTACO
Book 'em, Danto.
Kase jumps a foot; with a punch to the arm from the doctor.
KASE
Hey, Bones.  How do you like the show so far?
BULTACO
Rock and Roll, hombre.
Motions like he's got a lasso, running down a bull in the Plaza de Toros.
DERRICK
We in the Bad Lands now.
KASE
Oh my God.  I have a dinner date tonight.
BADOUI
To hell with it.  You're going to call and cancel it.
Badoui hands him a cell phone.

KASE
What?  Are you kidding?
Badoui pushes the phone into his face.  Kase's eyes are solid red bloodshot, so bad they look painful.
KASE
No, I guess you're not.
Dials, the worse look of grief on his face of all that day.  The operator asks something.  Kase thinks briefly.
KASE
Just tell Miss Gateaux - I'm on my way and will be there as fast as the traffic allows.
Kase shoves the cell into Badoui's face.  Kase gets out of his seat.  Hurries up to the front of the bus.   Yells over his shoulder.
KASE
Do me a favor, Badoui.  Call your taxi service and have 'em pick me up.
The bus SCREECHES to a halt.
KASE
See ya'll in hell.
Kase is off and running.  Badoui looks out of the window as the bus waits at the light.  Kase haggles with a street vendor for some flowers.  Vendor yells at him.  Kase has a vice grip on the vendor's pencil neck.  
BADOUI
Oh, what the hell.
Badoui says to the empty seat beside him.  SLAMs up the school bus window.  Tosses a fist full of wadded up dollars in Kase's direction.  Yells out the window.
BADOUI
Have a good time, soldier.  Buy flowers.  Tuxedo.
BULTACO
And that is now doctor's order.
The doctor adds from the seat in front of Badoui, just as the bus starts to pull away.  Fumbles with his own wallet.  Tries to get some bills loose.  Mutters.

BULTACO
Caramba, if Christ ain't on a crutch.
The Doctor tosses the whole damn wallet out the window.
BULTACO
Save sex tonight.
Bultaco settles into a seat.  Across the isle, Badoui pulls a cell phone out of his breast pocket, dials a number.  Hunches over to speak into it so nobody can hear.  Badoui hangs up.  Their eyes meet.
INT. - RESTAURANT - EVENING
Nikki and Kase sit at a nice dining table, both in evening dress.  Nikki is flushed.  Kase is; well, there.  Nikki's hair is a styled perm, luxuriant at back and shoulders.  Kase's hair looks blow dried.
NIKKI
Well, how was it?
KASE
Hey, Doodlebug.  Hey, look there's one of those little Japanese Bushuru trees.
Then Kase notices, from the corner of his eye, three uniformed men approaching.  They look very obvious in the ritzy joint.  Then he starts, as they come into focus.  Damn, Uniforms.  They come up quickly.  Nikki turns to look.
MARSHAL ONE
Federal Marshals.
KASE
Sorry, mate.
(swank Australian)
Nope.  Been there, Done that.  Aussie, mate.  OoRoo.
The officers don't move.  They're trying not to make a scene.  
NIKKI
You heard the gentleman.  We're not interested.  Bug off!
KASE
I beg your pardon.

(the perfect English gentlemen)
Have you no manners?
Kase wrings his arms loose.  Nikki giggles.  Kase picks up a bread stick.  Gives her is best Groucho Marx.
KASE
If this is it, then prison will be worth every second of it.
Nikki puts her wineglass down.  Takes a napkin and dabs a speck of food - bright red finger nails.  Grabs her purse, the model of domestic acquiescence.  Stands.  Pushes the chair aside.  Leaves.  Walks past the U.S. Marshals.  Kase stops struggling.  His shoulders slump.
MARSHAL ONE
Screw you.
(hissing)
And you're whole kind!
Nikki stops dead in her tracks.  Reaches into her purse.  Brandishes a badge, in almost slow motion.  Speaks with a bitterness worthy of Mrs. Job herself, with a very heavy French accent.
NIKKI
My fault.  Mea Culpa.  Butt out, little boys.  French Foreign Legion.
(showing her badge)
I have full diplomatic immunity, and so too does my husband W. H. Cleary Two.
She's so furious a hint of her roots creeps into her voice.  They ignore her.  Kase wrestles his captors.
KASE
Well, viva la revolution - if this don't beat all.
MARSHAL ONE
This man is under house arrest on the authority of the Patriot Act.  Lady, you ain't got no jurisdiction here.  This is Washington D. C.
Two of the Marshals hold Kase.  A third punches him square in the stomach.  Kase spits in his face.  The Marshal reels back.  Motions another thug to take his turn while he cleans the muck away.  One of them turns to Nikki.

MARSHAL TWO
Yea, bitch.  Just you try and stop us.
Nikki rolls her eyes.  Drops her badge.  Says to case, now on the floor.
NIKKI
When are these macho Yankees going to learn, anything?
A Marshal grabs her purse away.  Tries to grab her wrist.  She gives the fellow a move.  The second one tries to follow suit.  He's down on the floor, even faster.  The third Marshall pulls his weapon.  Backs warily away from the long reach of Nikki's lethal limbs.
NIKKI
Can't you see you're out manned, little big man?
Nikki grabs a wineglass.  Dashes wine in the Marshall's face.  A shrill sound from Nikki, and now the number one Marshal is down cold.  She snaps open a cosmetics thing O.  Kase goes up to her.  She kisses him square on the lips.  FBI blazers drag the U.S. Marshals out of the vicinity.  
KASE
Bloody cowards.
Kase calls after them, brandishing a fork high in the air.  Nikki giggles.  Kase grasps her elbow, leads her to her chair.  Pulls it out for her,  settles her in.  Grasps her gloved hand gently.  Gives her wrist a gallant kiss just above her leather wrist band.  Goes back to his own seat.
KASE
Waiter!  Another bottle of wine!
Make that pronto, I say!
Kase speaks gruffly like Caesar in a foreign land.  An FBI agent (earmark plug still in place) in waiter's white coat tails arrives with chilled wine in a silver bucket.
KASE
Damn spunky service, these FBI types.
Nikki grasps a book of matches.  Lights the candles on the table.  The room lights fade dramatically and the candles become prominent.  Nikki picks up a wine glass.
NIKKI
That's a cute trick, love.

Kase is still a little rattled.  The lights flicker.  Kase shrugs his shoulders.  Waiters bring out Texas T bone steaks on super sized plates.  They both have giant mugs of Irish whisky.  Kase gulps half a mug of liquid courage.
KASE
You have cute ears.
NIKKI
Oh, my.  You give my ears a little T.L.C. and I'm putty in your arms.
KASE
Ha!  Mystery solved at long last!  I can see it now.  Super agent Nikki, in the throes of ecstasy succumbing to dissident Kase in big bouncy bed.
NIKKI
No way, mister freaky spook-o.  You think I move fast in this here skirt and high heels?  Sans clothes you be dead.
KASE
Oh, but what a way to go.
Kase leans back in his chair, elbows out and hands clasped on his neck.  Nikki bundles up her napkin.  Throws it in his face.  He almost tumbles over backward in the fragile chair.  Laughs.   Nikki watches mystified.  Joins him with a hearty cheer of her own.
KASE
You know what, Nikki?
(gasping for air)
My ears are the same way.
They both lean forward.  Hold their chests to contain the most uncouth uproarious laughter.
NIKKI
Yea, like that little big eared fellow on that Star Trek Deep Space Nine place.
(between heaves)
Quark, quark.  What's a duck yell when its having an orgasm?
Nikki loses it completely.  Kase is the first to recover.  He sucks in a deep breath.  Leans forward.  Says very seriously.

KASE
You aren't a Vulcan are you?  With those super sensitive ears?
NIKKI
Why?  You met too many women who need sex only every seven years, have you?
KASE
Yes.
Nikki looks hurt.  Kase slows down.  Thinks about it.  Corrects himself.
KASE
I mean NO!
Nikki looks even more hurt.  Kase slows again, thinking.  Nikki bursts into a laugh - she'd been pretending.
KASE
Wait, I mean.  YES.
They both loose it totally.  The lights dim, then darken as their laughter fades away.
INT. HOTEL LOBBY - NIGHT
Nikki is on the phone in a small Kiosk off the lobby proper.  Wearing the same evening dress.  In the background Kase maneuvers toward a restroom.
NIKKI
I must speak with you urgently, mon General.
N-MAN
You cannot discuss on the phone?
Nikki squirms in the chair.  Her expression is bleak.
NIKKI
No.  I speak only in person.
N-MAN
How soon can you be in Louisiana?
NIKKI
You mean - the head of the French Foreign Legion isn't in France?
Nikki almost falls off the small stool in the phone booth.

N-MAN
No.
(jauntily)
How gauche, eh?
NIKKI
You don't even speak like a Frenchman.
N-MAN
Cajun.  Plus American bourbon.  At least.  Hung over.
Nikki starts to get exasperated.  Sighs with resignation.
NIKKI
Sir.  Where do I go?
N-MAN
Fly to Baton Rouge.  Drive North to Saint Francisville.  I'm at the Rosedown Plantation bed and breakfast.
NIKKI
You mean...
N-MAN
Yes.  The birth place of the famous Confederate we Legionnaires idolize so much - Jefferson Davis.
NIKKI
How apropos.
N-MAN
Feel better?
But the kiosk is empty, the phone dangling on a cord.
A Mossad agent steps in to replace the receiver on the hook.  Looks side to side.  Steals into the shadows.
SERIES OF SHOTS
Panoramic view of the Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge.
The Civil War era downtown section.
Leviathan trucking across the Mississippi River bridge.
Ante-bellum homes.

Taking the ferry across to St. Francisville.
Ominous van follows.  Mossad agents in evidence (sun glasses).
Ferry docks.  Leviathan drives off.
Ferry undocks quickly, marooning the ominous van.  Mossad agents furious.
Cajun ferry man pretends not to understand.
END SERIES OF SHOTS
EXT. ROSEDOWN PLANTATION - DUSK
Leviathan moves down a tree lined avenue.  Nikki exits the truck.  Walks up the steps to a magnificent plantation home.  The door is opened before she can knock, by a man wearing dark glasses, holding an ice pack to his head.
NIKKI
But.  You're.  Don't I know you?
N-MAN
How pleasant to meet you at last, Colonel Gateaux.
He drops the ice pack on a table.  Nikki kicks the ground like a bull going after a red cape.
NIKKI
But.  You know Kase?  He's a Legionnaire?
N-MAN
Enlisted.  Your paths seldom cross.
NIKKI
How.  Why not?
N-Man leads Nikki gently away from the house.  They wander through luxurious grounds strife with flowers, roses, and bougainvillea.  Nikki relaxes in the awesome foliage.
N-MAN
I've known the Cleary family since I was a child.  Our fathers met when they lived at Lake Rosemound, a few miles yonder.

NIKKI
You're the U.S. Congressman who appointed Kase to the Academy?
N-MAN
I'm just a Parish judge now.
Nikki rolls her eyes.  Walks off.  Circles a small island of climbing roses.  Returns leaning forward and looking pensively at the ground.
NIKKI
So you know about the accident on the nuclear submarine?  The radiation experiments...
N-MAN
...Tests on service members of that nature have been banned since 1974 by Act of Congress.
Nikki is an arm's length away.  Cocks her head to the side, puts one hand on a hip.  Looks N-Man square in the eye.  Well, square in the sun glasses.
NIKKI
But.  Since Iraq.  Iran's nuclear program.  All those terrorist threats with dirty nuclear bombs.
N-MAN
You aren't supposing...
NIKKI
Kase does things.  He has special powers.  Honest.  I've seen them.
N-MAN
So.  You're his French mistress.
Nikki literally jumps off her feet.  Lands with both feet planted shoulder width apart.  Points to N-Man, then to her self.
NIKKI
No.  He calls me that to you?
N-MAN
Please.  Colonel Gateaux...
Nikki is wringing her hands.

NIKKI
God almighty.  I'll kill him with my very own hands.
N-MAN
(slyly)
We've a small air strip out in the bayou nearby.
He reaches into his pocket and tosses Nikki a set of keys.
N-MAN
Here's the keys to the Mirage.
Nikki catches the keys.  Races off in a fury.  N-Man pulls the glasses up onto his head, revealing solid red blood shot eyes.  Waves them after Nikki.
N-MAN
Drive carefully.  No rockets.  He's a valuable asset to the organization - no machine guns either.  Scares the natives.
Nikki races off, screaming into the air.  N-Man motions to a buxom gardener in a black bikini.  They meet, talk briefly, then get down on their knees and inspect some new hybrids.  A massive jet engine ROARS in the distance and a plume of smoke darkens the sky as a jet takes off.
MONTAGE - NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT
Lightening cascades in the distance as a massive storm approaches across the delta.
The port of New Orleans, U.S. air craft carrier anchored mid river, looking huge.
Famous bridge in the background.
A Mirage fighter jet lands on the carrier deck, French insignia prominent.
Captain's yacht departs the carrier, toward Farmer's Market docks, bubbling surf in wake.
A passenger in all black jumps off, runs at breakneck speed through the Cafe du Monde, splashes through big puddles in Jackson Square, still running, deep into the French Quarter.
A cafe door opens, a wedge of light escapes, then is gone.
A major storm approaches rapidly.

INT. FRENCH QUARTER/RESTAURANT - NIGHT
Kase wobbles onto the stage.  Jazz music outside filters in, as an open door shuts.  Kase is resplendent in a U.S. Marine Corps dress blues, glittering sword at his side.  The cafe is packed with a panoply of ribbons and polished leather.  
KASE
Terrorists.  Drug lords.  Media barons.   Whole industries.  Alas - multi-national corporate entities.  These enemies of Freedom have billion dollar budgets.  They all want to distort Freedom; twist and contort it so they get what they want.
Now pacing back and forth (kind of), swaggering like a young George C. Scott Patton without the American flag behind him.  His hair is in a flat top cut, sides shaved Marine style.
KASE
We do not stand, passive.  We of the French Foreign Legion.  We seek out these subversive organizations - to infiltrate them... then with the full might of Freedom - we destroy them.  Utterly.
Footsteps stride out of a pitch black darkness at the back of the room.  Kase sees the figure and calls.
KASE
Attention on Deck!
The whole cafe rises and stands at attention, while Kase snaps to attention himself and does his best salute.
NIKKI
As you were, Master Sergeant.
Enter Nikki, dressed in a black/gray orca patterned jumpsuit, glistening with sweat, clinging tightly to her figure; worn leather cowboy hat with Colonel's silver eagle, hanging at her back on a buckskin cord.  
Kase relaxes into parade rest.  Everybody else has to remain at attention.  Nikki talks while making slow progress toward the podium, at the same time pulling her long straight hair up off her neck.  Big dark eyes see only Kase.

NIKKI
One in five thousand applicants is accepted to the Foreign Legion...
The weak bug out, and go Navy SEALs...
Nikki is now half way up the center isle.  Notice her shoulder patch, of a killer whale likeness, emblazoned with the letters O.R.C.A. beneath.  Nikki is focused on Kase, intensely; not once losing eye contact with him. 
NIKKI
Do you have what it takes?  How long can you withstand torture - physical agony; mental horror; total isolation; spiritual vacuum; infinite chaos, in every aspect of your life?
Nikki keeps eye contact with Kase as she walks toward him, weaving her way through the tables.
NIKKI
Could you suffer the consequences -of chemical weapons - biological weapons.  Indeed.  Nuclear weapons?
How long?
Nikki does a little cartwheel, jumps up onto the podium to Kase's side.  Kase turns and - arm in arm, they walk off the stage.  Through double doors, outside, into a pouring down rain.  Undaunted, in step, right straight into the downpour.
SUPER:  This was inspired by a true story, of a military Tribunal in March 1985, and subsequent events.
FADE OUT:

 "Act Two"
 
FADE IN:
MONTAGE - ARCHIVE CLIPS
SUPER:  "MARCH 17 1914"
German Imperial flag flies over archaeological expedition working at night under bright antiaircraft lights - a massively constructed tomb fifty feet under the sand.
Teams of diggers exposing floor, structure, environs. 
Giant lightening storm scares workers, they dive for cover. 
Lone archaeologist wearing French Foreign Legion kind of hat stands alone in the Central Court, defying the elements.
London Times headline, "Magnificent Temple Excavated."
Text in article bolded and enlarged "...the most ancient building in Egypt ... same epoch as the Sphinx ... 10,000 years old, if a day ... Abydos, City of the Dead."
Giant "Top Secret" embellished with a Swastika STAMPS the newspaper article.   Stenciled below, "Anenerbe Institute, Berlin"
END MONTAGE
SUPER:  "MARCH 2006"

INT. CASA PACO'S: MADRID, SPAIN - SIESTA TIME
NIKKI late 40's, fit, with indeterminate foreign accent, poured into a revealing dark suit of European cut.  Walks out of the bright sunshine into a dark cool cafe near the bullring.  Squints.  Tries to find somebody.  Does.  Walks quickly over to his chair and sits down without invitation.
LEGIONAIRE 60's is nefarious looking man.
LEGIONNAIRE
M.I. six called.  Double oh seven and eight have been iced.  M asked the Foreign Legion to assist.  It's your assignment now.

NIKKI
To what - be icing on the cake?
LEGIONNAIRE
No.  Their mission is canceled.  Your mission is to avenge.
The Legionnaire pops open a laptop PC on the table top.  Turns the screen toward Nikki.
INSERT - CLOSE ON PC SCREEN PHOTO
A figure, back to the camera, studies at a small desk in a giant library.  A digital caption on the grainy photograph reads Perry Castaneda Library, University of Texas at Austin.  
BACK TO SCENE
LEGIONNAIRE (V.O.)
This is our only lead.  It's a frame recovered from a surveillance camera near where the bodies were discovered on the campus of the U.T. Austin. 
NIKKI
What - were they after some nefarious underworld professor? 
LEGIONNAIRE
Maternity leave - Judith Bond was expecting. 
NIKKI
Le bebe? 
The Legionnaire indicates, no.  Nikki groans.  Curses.   
INSERT - CLOSE ON PC
Nikki's red finger nailed hand toggles the roll ball mouse. Boxes in a nearby wall sized window.  Zeros in on a reflection.  Zooms the image.  Clarifies the image.
BACK TO SCENE
NIKKI (V.O.)
Oh.  My.  God.  It's Kase...
LEGIONNAIRE (V.O.)
You know this man?

NIKKI
He's my...  It's Master Sergeant Cleary.
LEGIONNAIRE
What?  He's one of us?  He's not on the active agents roster.
NIKKI
Field promotion.  Long story.
LEGIONNAIRE
This is most distressing.  We must relocate and discuss this at length.
Legionnaire gets up.  Leaves a few bills on the table under the empty wine jug.  Runs out into the light.
EXT. PLAZA DEL SOL: MADRID, SPAIN - SIESTA TIME
Foot steps on the brick cobble stones echo around the plaza, empty but for a few straggling tourists.  Nikki, in high heels, struggles to keep up.
NIKKI
Mon General.  I can explain.  It is not as it seems.
LEGIONNAIRE
Just now I am not even sure if I can trust you.
NIKKI
But I'm your own flesh and..
LEGIONNAIRE
All the more reason to doubt.
NIKKI
Stop.  This very moment.
They're just outside the subway stairs leading down.
NIKKI
Gunny Cleary...  he is my husband.
LEGIONNAIRE
What?  You did not tell me?  You violate every rule in the coda.
NIKKI
Believe me you.  
(MORE)
NIKKI (CONT'D)
Rules are no match for this one man.  We are much better off without him on the public payroll.
LEGIONNAIRE
Colonel Gateaux.  You disturb me further with each breath.
Down they go into the subway.  Brief shot of train in transit.  Nikki and Legionnaire standing at opposite sides, glaring at each other.  Train stops.  Up the stairs.  Across a street.  Into an elaborate museum.
INT. EL PRADO MUSEUM: MADRID, SPAIN - DAY
They speak in hushed tones while walking through galleries.
LEGIONNAIRE
This rebel husband of yours.  Could he kill two of Britain's best agents - in cold blood?
NIKKI
Last we talked, ten days ago.  Said there were obligations to his previous employer to fulfill before coming in to see you.
LEGIONNAIRE
He could very well be one of them.
NIKKI
Not possible.  I give you my word of honor.
Nikki stops at the exhibit by Hieronomous Bosch.  The tension seems to flow out of her as she paces slowly before his paintings.
LEGIONNAIRE
H. Bosch.  The man was insane.  What do you see in these abstract hells?
NIKKI
Tranquillity.  It makes me peaceful.
LEGIONNAIRE
What?  Are you daft?

NIKKI
Believe me, Mon General.  You will know what I mean, soon enough.
LEGIONNAIRE
Very well.  I entrust the mission to your capable hands.  And for Christ's sake get Gunny Kase out of the field and sitting in my office.  A.S.A.P.
NIKKI
Understood.  Sir.
The Legionnaire takes a bulky envelope from the breast pocket of his suit coat, hands it to Nikki.
LEGIONNAIRE
One more thing.  Deliver this to the address specified.  As long as you are in the neighborhood - save our diplomatic attachment in Houston the trouble.
NIKKI
What?  Now you give me courier's work?
LEGIONNAIRE
Touchy aren't you?  Take the Concorde jet.  Just deliver the package, first ... immediately.  Then you have use of the bird for the duration of your mission.
NIKKI
Touche.
LEGIONNAIRE
Read the briefing papers, will you for once?  Your cover is as a Roman Catholic Sister...  Aperitif - sorry, I did not know of your marriage.
NIKKI
You're kidding.  No.  You're not.
Legionnaire laughs loudly, in the quiet museum.  Nikki's sharp heels CLICK out of the room as she strides out.  Legionnaire jams hands into pockets.  Looks speculatively at the bizarre art of Bosch.

INT. CONCORDE JET OVER THE ATLANTIC OCEAN - MORNING
Nikki in modern Nun's habit, opens a flash message icon on her laptop.  Further instructions from the head Legionnaire.  Nikki reads through the text, becoming increasingly more serious.
EXT. SMALL COUNTRY HOME NEAR AUSTIN, TEXAS - DAY
KASE early 40's, fit, clad in black boxer style swim suit watches birds shuttling food - worms, crickets, grass hopers - to a nest atop a crude wood structure next to him in the carport.  It's stifling hot.  He is wearing Blues Brothers sun glasses, sports an elaborate Celtic Cross tattoo on one shoulder.
KASE (V.O.)
Where were ya'll when I couldn't find any fishing bait?
A dark sedan pulls into the rock driveway.  A figure gets out.  Strides to the front door.  Door bell RINGS inside the house.  AD LIB Kase yells from the carport to step over here.  Shapely legs seen under the awning pacing over.
Nikki noticeably suffers from the heat.  Draws up short when she sees Kase barely clad, glistening sweat from heavily muscled physique.
NIKKI
You...  are Father...  Cleary?
KASE
(long pause)
You...  aren't from the  ...I.R.S.?
Nikki stomps her high heels impatiently, hands on hips, begs.
NIKKI
Please.  Monsignor.  The heat.  You make me suffer.
Kase begrudgingly gets up.  Motions her back to the front door.  Trudges through the house to let her in.
INT. SMALL COUNTRY HOME - DAY
It's not much cooler inside.  Nikki is flustered.  Waves hands in her face.  Glares.  Kase reluctantly turns on the AC.  Sits Nikki down on an unkempt sofa beneath a ceiling 

fan.  She looks at a computer printout in her hands, avoiding his eyes.
NIKKI
His Holiness is at Heaven's Gate.
KASE
CNN already told me that, days ago.
NIKKI
Did CNN say your excommunication had been nullified?  Your mission renewed?
Kase sits down in a rocker across from her, interested now.
KASE
John Paul did this?
Nikki nods.  Pulls the large bulging envelope from her purse.  A heavy gold object falls out, onto the carpet.  Nikki scrambles to pick it up, handing Kase the envelope first.  Kase pulls out a wad of large denomination bills.  WHISTLES.
NIKKI
Apparently you did not plan to itemize this disbursement to your I.R.S.
Kase winks at her.  Gets up to help her find the gold object.  He finds it.  Instantly recognizes it as the Pope's personal Signet Ring.  Nikki translates the letter for him.
NIKKI
It was His last wish.  For you to have this...  His Papal Signet ring.  Yes, Father Kase, His Holiness is now deceased.
Kase, already upon his knees, curls into a little ball and weeps.  Nikki gets up.  Stands beside him with her hand upon his heaving shoulders.
NIKKI
You're spared the Crucifix.  But your prodigal Father is now gone.
Kase gets up, face streaked with tears.  Hands the ring back.  Stuffs the money in her face.

KASE
It is not for me.  Return it and this filthy lucre to the Vatican.
Nikki takes the ring.  Ignores the money.  Delicately wraps the ring in a white cloth.  Places it in the bottom of her purse.   Nikki holds up both hands, palms facing outward.  Stop this nonsense.
NIKKI
I am told to assist you in this mission.  Understand?
Kase sits back in the chair now.  Throws the paper money all around the living room in a fanfare of confetti.  Nikki is icy cold.
NIKKI
What is your mission, Father Kase?  Why all the cloak and dagger secrecy?
KASE
The occult.  I am to find the ultimate source of its power.  Study it.
Nikki recoils.
NIKKI
So the excommunication was a ruse?  Your knowledge of psychology...  the underworld...  your dubious assets...   What have I to offer?
Kase stonewalls.  Nikki acknowledges his suspicion.  Pulls out the ring again.
NIKKI
You doubt me - then you doubt this, too.
KASE
You...  You're an Egyptologist, no?  You know archaeological digs.
Nikki perks up perceptively.  Cleric stoicism evaporates in academic enthusiasm.  Heavily accented syllables overcome careful diction.
NIKKI
Monsignor Kase!  Have you lost your cojones?  
(MORE)
NIKKI (CONT'D)
The Egypt of my thesis is infinitely more powerful than your petit bourgeoisie magics.
KASE
You doubt my authority, Sister Gateaux?
(Rhymes with chateaux.)  Kase smiles for the first time to see her discomfit.
NIKKI
But you're a damned heretic.  No one in their right mind would believe you.
KASE
Genius.  Is it not?
Nikki kicks off her high heels.  Starts crawling around the floor picking up hundred dollar bills by the fist full.  Mutters to the money.
NIKKI
Mother Superior wrote in her letter.  This is a cake walk.  No problemo.  Deliver the goods then come back home to mama Italia.
KASE
Never the Dark Side, he?
He starts to help her.  She scrams him away.
NIKKI
Get yourself clothed.  We must be gone immediatemente - quick -  soon.
INT.  LIMOUSINE, DRIVING THROUGH HILL COUNTRY - DAY
Nikki and Kase sit in the rear, a backpack stuffed with money between them.  Nikki tries to smooth straggling hair.  Kase tucks his shirt in sloppily.  They stop, look at each other; how they are both dressed all in black.
KASE
Cold Sister in a habit.
NIKKI
Grim reaper in the morning.

The driver closes with a WHAM the window separating the passenger compartment, barely muting AD LIB shouts.  A few minutes later they pause.  Notice the vehicle is parked at the Lakeline shopping mall, directly in front of Dillards.
INT. LAKELINE SHOPPING MALL/DILLARDS/WOMEN'S CLOTHING - DAY
Nikki is out the door and into the mall in an instant.  Kase is in close pursuit.  Stuffs crisp bills into every available pocket.
NIKKI
Es magnifique.  Alois.  Amore.
Kase catches up to her in the lingerie section.  She selects several lacy brassieres, very large cups.  Kase sizes her up, tries to tactfully correct her.  SLAP.  Nikki is off.  Kase stands mute.  Nikki scampers back.  Grabs him by the hand.  Hauls him with her to the dressing room.   Staff members keep their smug distance.
INT. LAKELINE SHOPPING MALL/DILLARDS/DRESSING ROOM
They cram into a small change closet.  Nikki jams Kase down in a corner seat.  He closes his eyes.  Opens to see hands beckoning him to affix clasp at Nikki's back.
NIKKI
This feels glorious.
(bouncing on toes)
Is fit good, this one bra?
Nikki pulls his hands around.  Cups them at her chest.
NIKKI
You seem expert in this, me thinks.
KASE
Engineering.  Statics and dynamics, is all.
Kase labors too long.  SLAP.
INT. LAKELINE SHOPPING MALL/DILLARDS/WOMEN'S CLOTHING
Nikki is out the dressing room, clad in loose lacy bra.  Kase runs after her with a blouse.  Wraps it around her.  Staff smirk.

NIKKI
Shouldn't you be in the men's section?
Kase runs away.
INT. LIMOUSINE, DRIVING THROUGH CEDAR PARK - DAY
Nikki and Kase are nicely attired.  Sit happily in the back seat of the limo with a pile of colorful packages stacked between them.
KASE
Is it true that a woman can have excitement, just by rubbing her legs together?
Nikki is silent.  The whole limo is silent but for slight silk rustling.  Eventually Nikki says meekly.
NIKKI
Yes.  I believe it can be so.
Kase stifles a laugh, unsuccessfully.  Points out the window and says loudly.
KASE
Look.  There's Dell Square - world H.Q. of Dell Computers...  Twenty dollars of every Dell computer you purchase goes right into Michael Dell's banking account.
NIKKI
That's criminal.
KASE
Taking from the poor and giving to the rich.
NIKKI
An art form for you Americanos.
MONTAGE - AUSTIN, TEXAS - DAY
They continue down the Interstate.
The University of Texas campus.
The State Capitol.
Downtown Austin.

Town Lake.
BACK TO SCENE
The limo reaches the airport.  Rolls to a stop at a remote hangar beside a sleek black leer jet.  A silver eagle is stenciled on the tail section, with the letters beneath.
NIKKI
S.P.Q.R.  Senatus et Populus Que Romanus.  How clever - for the Senate and People of Rome.
KASE
That was the motto of the Praetorian Guard in the Roman era.  Started out as the Emperor's bodyguard.  They were the power that kept Rome on an even keel for four hundred years.  The Pax Romana.
EXT.  AIRPORT TARMAC - DAY
Nikki concentrates on juggling packages while walking up the stairs into the jet.  Kase hollers from the ground.
KASE
The first Praetorians were recruited from Julius' Caesar's favorite Tenth Legion - Legion X - after he was assassinated in forty three B.C. ...   Emperor Constantine destroyed them in 312 A.D. at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, on October thirtieth... my birthday.
NIKKI
You have a storied pedigree, friend.  Not so interesting as mine, though.
KASE
How so, mademoiselle?
INT. POSH CORPORATE LEER JET - DAY
The stairs are pulled away.  The door is closed.  The engines fire up.  Idle.  Nikki and Kase stand there momentarily ill at ease, until a flight attendant directs them to the cabin.

NIKKI
My ancestors come from the Province of Albe in the South of France.
KASE
... as in the Albigensian Heresy?  The same people the Church created the Inquisition for, to hunt down and burn at the stake?
Nikki nods proudly.  They sit opposite one another.  Buckle up as the jet taxis onto the runway.
KASE
I guess the Church didn't get all the heretics?
NIKKI
We are a secret society within the Church now.  The Albigensian Sisters.
The jet takes off, engines roaring.  Soon they are leveled at flight altitude.
NIKKI
All the rest of France was run by feudal lords with the authority of the Church.  The people of Albe were free.  We were a threat to the Church, the kings - their entire power structure.
Nikki gets up.  Stands belligerently before Kase.  Points at him with her finger.
NIKKI
We were not heretics.  We were revolutionaries.  Freedom was our hall mark.
KASE
So they didn't believe the heresy, Satan and God are on the same level?
NIKKI
Well.  Perhaps just a little bit.
KASE
That God was not supreme over all Creation, and Satan was not a subordinate - but as powerful as God?

NIKKI
How do you know this - about us?
Kase stands up.  Confronts Nikki nose to nose.  They both sway through turbulence.
KASE
Two of my direct ancestors fought for the Confederacy.  One said the famous quote when confronting an overwhelming Yankee force at Vicksburg,
(pantomiming quote with fingers)
Mississippians don't know how to surrender.  He never did.
NIKKI
So - you are still fighting the Yankees?
KASE
Is it true - a part of your heresy is that you believe arousal that is autonomic is not a sin?
Nikki is outraged.  Stomps.  Stands, hands on hips.
NIKKI
How can you know this - it is our most closely guarded secret.
KASE
Well - is it true?
NIKKI
Maybe.  You will not ever know.
KASE
You're blushing, Sister Gateaux.  I believe your autonomic response has betrayed you.
Nikki spreads her legs, provocatively.  Twists slightly at the waist.
NIKKI
How do you know I cannot fake it?
KASE
Because you failed the Dillards test.

NIKKI
Oh.  You mean.  The - store.  Yes, that was quite exciting.  We have no such things... in Convent.
Nikki sits back down.  Sinks deep into the soft cushions. Luxuriates in the feel of delicate lingerie.  Kase turns, adjusts pants to accommodate his autonomic response.  Wanders casually down a short corridor.
Nikki wanders back.  Follows a rhythmic thumping to the rear of the aircraft.  Kase lies flat on his back lifting ankle weights.
NIKKI
To where are we going anyway?
KASE
You aren't going to ask what I'm doing?
NIKKI
I know already - autonomic response.
(kicking him in the side)
And knee therapy perhaps, too.
KASE
Roma.  We go to the Vatican.
Kase gets up.  They wander back to the galley.  Nikki RIFLES through all the cabinets.
NIKKI
Whatever happened to your Praetorian Guards?  Are you a descendent or just a fanatic?
KASE
The survivors went East.  Settled in Transylvania.  ...the fabled Count Dracul of Bram Stoker's Victorian era novels.
NIKKI
You pull my leg, Father Kase.  Is not good to lie, especially to a Sister of the Cloth.
INSERT - CLOSE IN ON MAP OF ROMAN EMPIRE
Highlight Rome on the map on a wall in the cabin; Albe in southwest France, Milvian Bridge just outside of Rome, Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire in Turkey.  Several 

arrows indicate expansion into Eastern Europe.  Line of heads impaled on spears shows where Count Dracul stopped the Turks - and how.
BACK TO SCENE
KASE
Is true.  From Transylvania we stopped the Arabs from reaching Europe - preserving Christendom for a thousand years.  Safe from the Infidels.
NIKKI
I suppose the Vampire idea was a public relations thing?  To scare the bad guys?
KASE
Not at all.  It was vaginal flow we imbibed - kind of like a multi vitamin.
NIKKI
I.  Pardona me.  Something I need from my purse.
Nikki scurries out, to keep Kase from seeing her autonomic response.  Kase rifles through all the kitchen cabinets.
NIKKI (V.O.)
How will you stop the Arabs in this era?  OPEC.  American lust for oil?
KASE
Energy conservation.
NIKKI (V.O.)
Oh.  I forgot.  You are the expert still?
Kase steps back from the cabinets.  Starts preparing something.  Nikki runs back into the space.
NIKKI
No way you cook for this here witch heretic.  Mister kooky vampire.  Le cuisine is no place to conserve energy.  Just you go and sit down. Cool your jets.
Kase settles into a comfortable chair.  Nikki traipses in, blouse unbuttoned to her waist.  Sports brilliant red lipstick, and fingernails; like a stewardess on the Playboy 

jet.  Kase nonchalantly accepts a glass of wine from her.  Slaps her behind as she leaves.  Nikki mutters loudly as she ballerina steps out.
NIKKI
Crass American pigs.  Hooters.  What an abomination.
Kase meanders back to the dining alcove.  Sets a nice table.  Waits while Nikki brings dinner in.
NIKKI
You do dishes as well?
Kase is too busy eating, but manages to get the message across.
KASE
Yes, for hooters babe.
Eventually they manage some real small talk.
NIKKI
How does this energy conservation work?
KASE
Remember the California energy crisis?  If everybody had painted their roofs white it would have been over the next morning.  Lower utility bills by forty percent.  Guaranteed.
NIKKI
Beau?  You aren't jesting?  So my Basque friends white wash house walls, but should be whiting the roofs instead?
KASE
If it's a warm climate.
Nikki runs her tongue around the rim of her wine glass.
NIKKI
Getting warmer...
KASE
You're a radical Basque separatist as well?
NIKKI
You're a red neck Confederate rebel.

KASE
Blood is thicker than wine.
NIKKI
Secretly, amore.  Do you people still imbibe the woman's blood?  You know, like you said...
Kase pretends to have not heard her.  Puts his wine glass down.  Gets up.  Rifles through drawers in the kitchen.
KASE
You seen any straws around here?
Nikki gasps.  Throws her napkin at him with a little scream.  Runs into the bathroom.  BOLTS the lock dramatically.
KASE
You know they nick named me Lucifer at the Seminary.
NIKKI (V.O.)
They were far too kind.
KASE
Not for why you think.  Because of the stigmata...
Nikki is out in a flash, eyes big.  Rolls up his shirt sleeves.  Unfastens a small leather band around one wrist.
NIKKI
You have the mark.  Oh.  But just upon one arm.
(rolling up her sleeves)
Same as me.
KASE
What can it mean?
NIKKI
I bet Pope John Paul knew.  Is why he put us together like this.
KASE
Is now in funerary wrappings...  We'll never know His purpose for us.
The windows are dark.  Nikki returns to the lounge.  Kase cleans up the kitchen.  She's curled on the sofa.  He gets a blanket out of a cupboard.  Covers her.  Makes his way 

back to a conference room.  The door closes with a wedge of light. The cabin is dark.
MONTAGE - ROME, ITALY - NIGHT
Sleek black corporate jet lands after a panoramic flight over Rome and the Vatican City, streaming with light traffic
Two figures trundle out of the jet into a waiting limousine and are whisked away
Ground level view of Coliseum, Aqueducts, the Forum lit elegantly by night
END MONTAGE
EXT. VATICAN PLAZA - DAY
Nikki and Kase exit the limousine just as the sun is rising, illuminating St. Peter's basilica dome.  The plaza is empty but for a few old ladies in black holding candles, in mourning.  The plaza is surrounded by a high security fence.  Police allow them entrance by virtue of their credentials.  They step out across the cobble stones, avoid puddles here and there.
NIKKI
Couldn't we just go to a hostel and save these histrionics for later?
KASE
We are not here for the state funeral.  We depart for the Middle East within the hour.
Nikki, slows.  Shows mixed emotions as they continue in silence across the plaza.  The sun dissipates a light mist.  Nikki runs to catch up with Kase.  Grabs him by the sleeve. Stops abruptly.
KASE
What, you wish to see Mother Superior while we are here?
NIKKI
No.  I worry about your inside information about we Albegensians.  Our heresy.  I grow paranoid.
Kase laughs.  It echoes around the plaza.

KASE
You think me a modern day Inquisitor out to torch the few remaining Witches?
NIKKI
Basta already.  Not so damn loud.
KASE
You have my word.  You have damning facts from my own history.  How more can I convince you?
NIKKI
You may show me kindness.
Nikki slides her arm into his.  Kase stiffens.  Then relaxes. They continue on at a slow pace, chat congenially.
NIKKI
How is it, Father Kase that you have become so very obsessed with Egypt?
KASE
Not Egypt.  The Osireion at Abydos.
Nikki laughs, uproariously.  Kase is mollified.
NIKKI
You believe that Chariots of the Gods - Gods Walked Among Us - crappie in the popular press?  You cannot be so shallow?
KASE
I am accredited by the Vatican Archives as an authority on the Book of Job...  Were you aware the writings on the Osireion walls match the syntax and structure of Job?
Nikki looks intensely into his face.  Becomes introspective thereafter.  Kase smiles.  There's a new bounce in his step.
INT. SAINT PETERS - DAY
A young cleric meets them.  He goes pale when he sees their credentials.  Kase hands over the Papal Signet ring.  The cleric's eyes bug out.  He palms it.  Runs off to do their bidding.  Nikki and Kase wait in the shadow of 

Michelangelo's Moses.  When they're alone, Nikki stands belligerently in front of Kase.
NIKKI
Bon Giorno.  You do not convince me, with your smooth southern talk.  Come on.  Give me the truth.
Kase backs off a pace.  Holds Nikki at arm's length with both arms extended, grasping her shoulders.  Speaks in a conspiratorial whisper.
KASE
Remember the research in Celestial Mechanics that got me in so much trouble in the Army?  Did you never wonder why?
NIKKI
No.  I just thought...  Why?
KASE
My thesis shows Earth really is at the center of our Universe...  because there is not one but two planes of reference.
NIKKI
No.  You mean - just like we Albigensians say there is not one but two powers in the spiritual cosmos?  Say it's not so.
Nikki's voice increases in volume.  Kase clamps a hand over her mouth.
NIKKI
It's vindication.  Deo Vindici.  We...
KASE
Silensio, little Sister.  Any louder and Moses himself will hear you.
The young cleric comes around the corner, wiping a smirk off his face.  Hands a shiny metal locking brief case to Kase.  Hustles away.  Nikki acts like they have been overheard.  Grabs Kase by the elbow.  They all but run out of the Holy See.

INT. LIMOUSINE DRIVING OUT OF ROME - DAY
Nikki pulls a handkerchief from her purse.  SNAPS it shut.  Pretends great grief.
NIKKI
Sob.  I was wanting to be at the funeral.
KASE
You just wanted to show off your new clothes - and schmooze with celebrities.
NIKKI
Merde.  You promise me the City of Angels and give me the City of the Dead?
KASE
Evil Kinevil is...  as he lives.
NIKKI
You mock me with your slippery tongue.
KASE
Would you rather I schmooze you?
They arrive at the airport and disembark at the S.P.Q.R. aerojet.  Nikki stands in the limo door, does a belly dance.
NIKKI
Perhaps I will be a Cleopatra to your Julius Caesar - and embark you on a lascivious cruise down the River Nile.
Kase hauls her up the stairs by the wrist.  Nikki dances the whole way.  They buckle in and take off before Kase talks.
KASE
My namesake King Khasekhemy - the first Pharaoh of any note - had much the same idea.
INSERT - CLOSE IN ON WALL MAP OF ANCIENT EGYPT
Upper and lower Kingdoms, noted.  Alexandria is at the Nile delta.  Abydos to the west a few hundred miles.  In a blow up, there is the Hall of Barques - 2600 B.C.   A few kilometers away is Seti I temple - 1300 B.C.  Next to Seti I's temple is The Osireion - ???

BACK TO SCENE
NIKKI (V.O.)
The Hall of Barques?  ...you are just so crazy as he.  Who in their right mind would leave a dozen fully equipped boats as a monument in the middle of the desert?
Nikki punches Kase, hard in the side
KASE (V.O.)
Not.  Only ten kilometers from the Nile, close to the Osireion.  Besides.  Khasekhemy had his reasons.
NIKKI
Another van Daniken theory of antediluvian Gods, Atlantis, and lost super duper technologies?
KASE
The theory is mine.  Ours?
The plane hits heavy turbulence.  The bottom drops out.  Nikki swoons.
KASE
You know.  Caesar was childless before he was seduced by Cleopatra.
NIKKI
Dream on buckaroo banzai.
KASE
No.  Really.  He was on his third wife, and had intercoursed hundreds of women - but no child.
Nikki applies a fresh coat of glistening lipstick.  Smacks lips seductively.
NIKKI
So.  In your convoluted male logic, it was Caesar who was impotent and Cleopatra the Virgin Mary Goddess of Fertility who gave life to his barrenness?

KASE
Caesarion - their child - disappeared when Cleopatra committed suicide in 30 B.C.  Caesar had been assassinated ten years before.  Caesarion was a teenager at that time.
Nikki crawls her red fingernails on his pants leg.
NIKKI
Let me guess.  The original Praetorian Guards protected the child of their paragon Julius Caesar, keeping his only child safe and sound in Egypt?
KASE
Until...  Caesarion - a.k.a. Joseph - had a child, whom we know as Jesus.
NIKKI
Hmmm...  Rome still feared Caesar's progeny - and had every male child put to the sword.  Only Jesus survived, by the grace of...
KASE
The Praetorian Guard.
Nikki squirms in uncomfortable silence.
INT. HOLY SEE - PAPAL OFFICES - DAY
The young CLERIC enters a richly furnished room, gaudy with gold and dark velvet.  Trots up to a small throne.  On one knee - kisses the Papal signet, hands it to the Holy Father, obsequiously.  The Pope sets John Paul's ring aside.  Speaks with a thick German accent.  The Cleric speaks with an Russian cadence.
CLERIC
Holy Father.  You wished news of the Archangel.
POPE
You have seen them?
The POPE lifts his gaze from out of a thick volume.  Tilts an ear toward the young postulant.

CLERIC
I gave them the briefcase.  As you instructed.

POPE
Dismissed.  
CLERIC
They are, I mean - Archangel? 
POPE
You think too much. 
CLERIC
So it is true.   The signet ring says it's true. 
POPE
Out.  Out I say.  Go!

A heavy door closes behind the retreating figure.  The Vicar of Christ picks up a telephone without any dial or keys.  It's a direct "hot line."
INT. UNIVERSITY CAMPUS PRESIDENT'S OFFICE - DAY
A weasel of a man stands at tall windows looking out on a major university campus.  A few students mill about.  As the BELL TOLLS, thousands of students pour out into the campus mall.  A MUTED RING comes from a giant executive desk.  ECHOES in the wood floor, wood panel office suite.   The ADMINISTRATOR hastens to answer.  Pulls out a drawer.  Extracts the phone from a secret panel.
ADMINISTRATOR
You have delivered the package?
POPE (V.O.)
Per your instructions.
The Administrator speaks without the slightest hint of deference.
POPE (V.O.)
The Archangel suspects nothing.
ADMINISTRATOR
They are en route to...
POPE (V.O.)
...As we speak.

The Administrator hangs up rudely.  Replaces the receiver in the cradle. SLAMS the drawer closed.  Locks it.  Sits down.  Picks up the regular phone.  Dials.
INT. NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE FLOOR - DAY
A TRADER is busy executing orders in mid morning trading.  The floor is already ankle deep with paper.  He stops in mid motion.  Pulls a cell phone out of his breast pocket.  Runs over to stand before giant computer screens showing real time trading activity levels.
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
Any spurious activity?
TRADER
Unfortunately.  Yes.
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
Significant?
The trader watches as graphs of the major stock exchange indices dive, even as they talk.  He looks around the floor at the frenetic trading.
TRADER
All the major indices are falling, despite nothing but good news. Productivity is up.  Oil is down.
(gulp)
Bonds are strong.  Foreign exchanges are holding steady gains.
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
You are in concurrence then?
TRADER
Yes.  The Archangel is for real.
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
I will have them eliminated.
TRADER
Sooner is better.  It's only a matter of time before somebody notices the psychotic behavior of the markets and finds us out.
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
Consider them history.
TRADER
May I ask... 

ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
You think our grammar is bad? 
TRADER
It's just.. 
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
Archangel is an organization - perhaps two - twenty - their numbers may be Legion. 
TRADER
Yes.  I see now.  Thank you.
INT. UNIVERSITY CAMPUS PRESIDENT'S OFFICE - DAY
The administrator hangs up the phone pensively.  The buttons on the complex phone set start lighting up like a Christmas tree.   He presses an intercom switch next to the phone set.
ADMINISTRATOR
Set up a meeting of the Protocols of Zion.  Then answer the phone calls.  Tell everybody when and where.
SECRETARY (V.O.)
Right away.  Sir.
ADMINISTRATOR
Be sure the Council of Five Hundred is there - all of them.
The secretary can be heard slipping through papers.
SECRETARY (V.O.)
Is two days soon enough?
ADMINISTRATOR
Make it so.
SECRETARY (V.O.)
They will need a reason to meet on such extreme short notice.
ADMINISTRATOR
Archangel is here.
SECRETARY (V.O.)
Oh.  Yes.  That will do.  Quite.

ADMINISTRATOR
Get campus security in here.
The administrator lets go the intercom switch.  Sighs.  Gets up and walks to the window.  A small army of vehicles is moving down the mall.  Workers exit and begin cordoning off the walking paths all around the administration building.
EXT. UNIVERSITY CAMPUS - DAY
Ground view of the Tower of the University of Texas at Austin.  The University President looks out a large window near the base of the building.  On the grounds fronting the Tower, workers are already starting to set up tents.
ADMINISTRATOR
Any progress on the murders last week?
SECURITY (V.O.)
Only that it appears to be an act of espionage.
ADMINISTRATOR
Lock down the campus.  Maximum security alert.  Twenty four hours a day.
SECURITY (V.O.)
What?  Why?
ADMINISTRATOR
We have confirmation.  Archangel was here.
SECURITY (V.O.)
You're kidding?  That's only a myth.
ADMINISTRATOR
Don't think.  Just act.  Lock down the campus.  Immediately.
SECURITY (V.O.)
Right away.
Footsteps run out of the room.  An officious looking man darts out to the workers in front of the Tower.  Gives hurried instructions to the supervisor.  A dozen workers pull hidden weapons out.  Set up a perimeter around the work in progress.  More security arrive to reinforce them.  Curious students are brow beat away.

INT. THIRTY YEAR OLD EGYPTIAN TAXI CAB - DAY
They scream through chaotic traffic, dust storms, and NOISE in Cairo.  Pyramids of Giza looming in the distance.
NIKKI
What - did your New World Order buddies yank our credit line?
KASE
We happen to be an equal opportunity secret society.
NIKKI
Blood sucking parasites is more like it...   Well, except for the blood part?  No.  Forget it.
Nikki coyly pulls a tampon out of her purse.  Sucks on it.  Offers it to Kase.  He pushes it away.  Pretending - finger down his throat - to gag.
KASE
There is a Nazi Cohort - we're organized like Roman Legions.
NIKKI
... read terrorist cells.
KASE
Did you know Hitler left written directions, that his body was to be burned with exactly four gallons of gasoline outside the Fuhrer Bunker?
NIKKI
Good for him.
Nikki lights up a thin cigarette.  Coughs drastically.  Stubs it out.
KASE
The Nazi Cohort believes he was asking:  Why would the Nazi high command devote precious fuel - they were always short of gasoline, couldn't even fly their new supersonic speed jets...
NIKKI
Why waste four gallons of gas to burn each of six million Holocaust victims...  
(MORE)
NIKKI (CONT'D)
Got in himmel - that's more oil than the Reich used during the whole war...
KASE
The Confederate Cohort is trying to prove it was the South that freed the slaves...
Nikki reaches up, pulls her eyes apart, to look like a slant eyed oriental.
NIKKI
I suppose the Rising Sun Cohort believes Pearl Harbor was done just to the sleeping giant America involved in the war, to defeat the Nazis?
KASE
Maybe.
NIKKI
...shouldn't we be going toward the Pyramids instead of away?
KASE
Abydos or bust!
Nikki pushes hands under her breasts, heaves them upright, with a wicked smile.  Twists in the seat at the hips.
NIKKI
Driver.  Turn this heap around and get us to a decent hostel.  And you - young Caesar - erase any thoughts of debauching Cleopatra in desert heat.  Is mirage - no can do.  Capiche?
KASE
Shopping then.
Nikki is intense, watches the Pyramids recede in the rear view mirror.  ...The taxi coasts to a halt bayside in the port of Alexandria.
EXT. PORT OF ALEXANDRIA - NOON
NIKKI
I don't think this is Cairo.  
(MORE)
NIKKI (CONT'D)
You tricked me.  Again.  We're in Alexandria.
KASE
We're going to visit the sunken palace of our Queen.  Cleopatra.  You don't mind showing respects?
NIKKI
You Praetorians revere Cleopatra - more than Jesus - or Joseph?  Great idea.  Sure.
They walk away from the taxi.  Kase leads her toward a pier with several fishing boats.  Nikki stops, flustered.
NIKKI
Halt.  How did we get here - why?  We told the driver to bring us to a nice hotel in Cairo.  Oh.  He is Praetorian.  Forgot.  Sneaky.  Forgive me.
Kase helps her by the arm across the bow into a small craft littered with fishing tackle.  Nikki recognizes the taxi driver among the crew.  Gives him a little curtsey.  They sit out of the way.  The crew rigs up the sails.  Gets slowly underway in a light breeze.
NIKKI
How is it Praetorians are associated with the Osireion.  It was built at least fifteen hundred years before Caesar.
INSERT - CLOSE ON CHART
Kase points to a timeline of events along one margin of the nautical chart overlay of Cleopatra's palace.  They show Khasekhemy - 2635 B.C., Rameses/Exodus/Seti I - 1300 B.C., Caesar/Cleopatra/Strabo - 40 B.C., Milvian Bridge - 312 A.D., Alexandria Earthquake - 365 A.D., Neville/Murray/Petrie - 1913.  A series of coin icons lie next to the time line from Cleopatra to Milvan Bridge.  In the body of the chart you see the outline of the palace, the port, the famous Library of Alexandria, and the Lighthouse.
BACK TO SCENE

KASE (V.O.)
It was buried under fifty feet of sand, unknown to anybody.  Then it was unearthed during Cleopatra's reign.  The famous Greek geographer Strabo went there.  It was called Strabo's Well until the modern era.  
NIKKI (V.O.)
Then Mr. Neville and Madam Murray found it again in 1913.  Called it the Hypogaeum.
(holds up her hands)
Yes, I know the party line.  Neville believed it was ten thousand years old; same as the Sphinx.  Then by the 1930's it became just another middle aged temple.
Nikki twists a thick strand of hair into a little braid.
KASE
You know about the coins?  Left in the Osireion through the Roman era? After Caesar and Cleopatra?
NIKKI
(intensely)
What coins - whose?  where?
KASE
A couple dozen coins were found by Neville and Murray.  One from each Roman Emperor from Caesar, all they way until Constantine almost four hundred years later.
NIKKI
As in - the Constantine who defeated the Praetorians at Milvian Bridge, right there in the city of Rome?
KASE
Exactamundo.  The coins span the whole official history of the Praetorian Guard.  There's more.
NIKKI
How more?  What more could you possibly hope for?

Kase sweeps the horizon of Alexandria and the bay, on all sides.
KASE
This entire bay was created forty years after Milvian Bridge.  A massive earthquake submerged the old city.  Cleopatra's palace with it, preserving it from grave robbers.
NIKKI
You're kidding.  No.  You're not kidding.  Alas, Neptune.  I'm feeling sick.
SERIES OF SHOTS - BAY OF ALEXANDRIA - DAY
Tiny fishing boat under sail in the bay, light surf action.  Kase wearing a baseball cap, Nikki a floppy gardeners hat
Kase rolling out a well worn map, showing the floor plan of Cleopatra's palace
Adjusting the sails, tacking around a small area, following Kase's directions, hand waving, and pointing
Kase pointing to distinct lines under the crystal clear water, correlating them to walls on the map
Nikki feigning hunger.  Kase rolls up the map, and they head back to the docks, waves of heat shimmering off the water surface.
EXT. port of alexandria fish market
Nikki and Kase amble through an outside fish market at port side, looking at the merchandise, people, dogs, cats, butchers slicing up live catch, blood everywhere.
KASE (V.O.)
Did you know Cleopatra was in Rome at the very time Caesar was assassinated?  Twenty three Senators stabbed the General in the Senate itself.  The Forum.  Cleopatra was visiting Rome at the time, showing off their Caesarion.  It's even possible she witnessed the bloody spectacle.  
(MORE)
KASE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Cleopatra fled Rome immediately and was in fear for her life for the next fifteen years.  Because any Roman citizen with a drop of Caesar's blood was hunted down and murdered.  Rome so feared any relative of Caesar's claim on the Emperor's throne.  Cleopatra killed herself by affixing poisonous asp snakes to her body.  To keep from being captured by Octavian.  Or made to reveal the location of the young Caesarion.
INT. THIRTY YEAR OLD EGYPTIAN TAXI CAB - DAY
NIKKI
Are there lady Praetorians?
KASE
Of course.  What kind of silly question is that?
The taxi SLAMS into the side of a bus.  Kase and the driver are out in the middle of the thoroughfare.  YELL at the top of their voices.  Block traffic from both directions.  Drivers from cars all around are out and yelling too.  Nikki watches meekly.  Kase pulls out his money belt.  Extracts a roll of crisp clean dollars.  Throws them at the bus driver.  Turns and crunches up more dollars.  Throws them like spit balls at all the other cars and drivers blocked in the traffic.
KASE
Insurance.
Kase explains as he ducks back in the taxi.  They speed away just as the police show up.  They scatter all the drivers and cars.  Pick up a few dollars that remain.  Direct traffic back to its usual dyslexic flow.
NIKKI
Whatever happened to our nice limo?
KASE
Driver had to get back to duty - a fighter pilot for NATO.
NIKKI
A Praetorian buddy.  He just does it for fun, I suppose?

KASE
Sure.  Why not?  Is how the whole organization works - rich folks, corporations let us use jets, cars, helicopters that are idle...
NIKKI
Are you insane?
Nikki says so loud the taxi driver turns around.  Glares at the western woman profaning his vehicle.
KASE
Just like they do back in Austin.  Dozens of big ugly yellow bicycles people ride, then leave; other people ride some more; and so on etcetera
NIKKI
But million dollar jets?  Military helicopters - with bombs and guns?  You people aren't any different from terrorists?  ...How do you organize it all?
KASE
It just kind of happens.  You know.
Kase waves his arms casually.  Nikki is one breath short of hysterical.
NIKKI
Where does the money come from?  Who pays the bills; what's to keep some terrorist or drug trafficker, for God's sake, from riding one of your jets or staying in one of your secret hotel rooms.  You have no security, no nothing.  How does anybody know anybody else?
KASE
We all have our circle of friends. They overlap.
(gesturing with hands)
We make new friends.   Everybody likes a good mission when they have time off - it just works.  Don't knock it - an hour ago you were so impressed.

Nikki unbuttons her blouse, like a harlot on the street.  Tickles herself under the cups of a black lacy bra.  Leans forward to give Kase a peek.
NIKKI
Then how the hell am I to function in this chaotic organization of yours if you're the only person who knows me?
KASE
The chauffeur knows you.  The  people on the boat know you.  The bus driver and the drivers of the nearest cars all know you.  It's a start.
NIKKI
Crap.  It was all a set up.  From the get go.  But, then - who are you?
INT. PRAETORIAN GUARD HOTEL/LOBBY - DAY
They arrive at a hovel of a hotel.  Nikki withers to see it.  As they get out and enter the lobby, it's a paradise of luxury.  Kase answers her jaw dropping surprise with a casual.
KASE
Praetorian hang out.
Kase leans over the desk.  Pleads with the clerk.
KASE
... Cleopatra suite available?  Damsel in extreme distress.  Pretty please?  Oh.  Madame Sister Gateaux...
Nikki grabs Kase by the arm.  Twirls him around forcefully.
NIKKI
Answer me now.  Or I'm going home.  I'm fed up with this delusion - this alternate universe.
KASE
I am Quintus.
Nikki holds up five fingers.  Licks one of them, tongue extended.  Circles the finger tip suggestively.

NIKKI
Meaning....
KASE
What, you never saw The Gladiator?  Quintus is head of the Praetorian Guard.  That's me.  Quintus Maximus.
NIKKI
Okay, hombre.  Get me a damn room - and it better be the best one they have because you're in major big time heap of trouble.
Kase turns to catch the clerk's eye.
KASE
See what I mean?
Eyebrows raised, the clerk tosses a heavy room key to Kase.  Kase guides Nikki with a strong arm around her waist out of the lobby.  Into a gold gilt incrusted elevator.
NIKKI
How come you only got one key?  Where are you going to sleep...
INT. HALLWAY
Their porter is obnoxious.  Holds his nose with one hand. Pulls their luggage in a cart with the other.  Runs away before Kase can tip him.  Nikki runs the opposite direction, into the room.  Kase carefully stuffs the tip money back into his pockets.
INT. PRAETORIAN HOTEL/CLEOPATRA SUITE - DAY
Nikki runs toward the bathroom.  Across a very large and elegant suite of rooms.  Baby grand piano.  Terrace.  Nikki slows perceptively.  Collapses through the bathroom door.  Gleaming fixtures.  Sparkling white towels.
Kase enters from the hallway.  Closes the door quietly.  Collapses into a sofa, feet up.  A pile of clothes is thrown out the bathroom door.
NIKKI (V.O.)
Clean clothes.  Maximums pronto seniore.

Kase scurries to comply.  Stashes the clothes in a plastic bag.  Slides Nikki's luggage carefully into the bathroom like he was feeding a ravenous crocodile.
KASE
We're lucky to get this room you know.  The Cleopatra Suite.
NIKKI (V.O.)
You're the lucky one I didn't blow up on you.  Into some kind of Queen of the Damned.
KASE
We Praetorians...  the poorest members get the luxuries and vice versa.  Good for the soul.  That snotty little porter is actually a fast order cook in Cincinnati.  We took his honeymoon suite.
NIKKI (V.O.)
Send them to the Julius Caesar Suite then.  Order food.  You better remember what I like, Kase.  Trouble, otherwise.
Soon Nikki screams out of the bathroom, Kase right away disappearing into the steam.  Nikki plants herself before a steaming feast on a nicely set table looking out onto the saltillo tile patio with a post card view of Cairo.
NIKKI
Your obnoxious porter friend does good service.  He a friend of yours?
KASE (V.O.)
Damn good at surveillance.  Good cook too.  We'll need him when we get to Abydos and start the dig...  tomorrow.
INT. BATHROOM
Nikki streaks toward the bathroom, just as Kase is leaving the shower.  Gets a good look through the steam.  Turns, but stays in the bathroom.
NIKKI
Oh.  We leave tomorrow?  An archaeological dig.  You said visit.  How?

KASE
Starting tomorrow, you're the boss - Professor Gateaux.  Everything will be there, everyone - esteemed colleagues.
NIKKI
They will be in charge, I am so junior to the profession.
KASE
No.  You are the headliner.  Quintus orders.
Kase emerges from the steam.  Wraps a towel around his waist.  Nikki turns and plants a juicy kiss on his lips.  She's gone before he comes to his senses.
NIKKI (V.O.)
Hurry up Plebe.  Digger.  Slave.
KASE
Paybacks are not looked well upon in Praetorian circles, you should know.
NIKKI (V.O.)
Praetorians be damned.  You'll be living the life, I guarantee.
KASE
Albigensians aren't as ascetic as they say in Webster's are they?
Said as Kase enters the room, tentatively.
NIKKI
You don't know the half of it.
KASE
...the Book of Job is by all accounts the oldest text in any civilization.  If we can connect it to the Osireion, it makes this Temple older than anything else, anywhere - just like Neville said.
Nikki batts her eyelids.  Purses her lips.  Kisses the air.
NIKKI
Sorry brontosaurus.  You aren't going to fact me out of my Albigensian P.M.S. state of mind about you.

KASE
The Osireion was built by the same people who made the Sphinx.  Hydrologists say the water wash patterns on the Sphinx make it at least ten thousand years old.
NIKKI
Stop the monologue, Indiana Cleary.  The Sphinx is our secret - you'll never, ever know.
Nikki materializes a real leather whip from out of her bags.  Bans Kase to the patio.
HOTEL SUITE - LATE AFTERNOON
Nikki startles awake on the couch, bright sunlight directly in her eyes.  Looks out on the patio.  Kase soaks up the rays, lounging on a recliner wearing Pilot sunglasses, reading a comic book.  She opens the sliding glass door.  Kase smiles as she stalks him.  He holds up the hard cover comic book for her to see.
KASE
Asterisk.  A pesky little Celt who caused the Roman Legions no end of consternation.  Like the Druid chieftain Vercingetorix did, to J. Caesar in the Gaelic wars.
NIKKI
You're inviting skin cancer.
KASE
Civilization will be over in twenty years anyway.  What do I care?
NIKKI
Reality check.
Nikki leans over.  Inspects his crotch.  Kase genuflects slightly.
KASE
All known reserves of oil will be depleted in twenty years - all the uranium, too - all the coal - natural gas.  Gone.  Kaput.  Poof.

NIKKI
Nero the chief Praetorian burns while the rest of the world plays the fiddle...  That's what the Praetorians are all about, isn't it?  God's gift to radical fundamentalist terrorists.
KASE
You don't see me bothering anybody do you?  Let Rome burn as far as this home boy goes.
Nikki turns on heel.  Scampers back into the air conditioned hotel suite, muttering.
NIKKI
The world can't be in such bad shape.  Not if Quintus the Barbarian genius is reading some Asterisk comic book.  On a noisy deck in the middle of Cairo, Egypt.
A short while later Nikki emerges, clad in a skimpy bikini.  Stops by Kase.  Stoops down.  Hands him suntan lotion.  He applies some to her back like it was the most natural thing to do in all the world.  Nikki giggles.
KASE
You're trying to loosen my tongue with feminine whiles.
NIKKI
How in the name of Jesus did they ever snap a white collar around your neck, my unscrupulous friend?
KASE
It was kind of a field promotion, really.  I was buried in the Vatican Archives doing some research when I got hired by John Paul.
Nikki stands in front of him as he talks.  Kase jostles his chair over so he's in her shade and he can admire her with his sunglasses pushed onto his head.  Nikki isn't amused.  Nor does she move.
NIKKI
The only reference to you in our Albe Archives database refers to the Swiss Guards and the Vicar's personal staff.

KASE
The Swiss had been linked to billions in art the Nazis had stolen.  They absconded it all in Switzerland during the War.  Kept it there secretly all this time.  The Pope didn't like having those Swiss guards around, especially after the attempt on his life.
NIKKI
So you fixed it for Him?
Nikki runs a finger under her bra straps.  Pulls one down off her shoulder.
KASE
Sure.  Snuck a few Mossad agents into the system, shuffled around some transfers and paperwork, and - viola, Swiss were gone like holes in a chunk of cheese.
NIKKI
Bet you didn't notice an Albigensian among your super secret double oh seven maneuverings?
Pulls the other bra strap down to the shoulder.
KASE
Not possible.  I personally supervised the entire operation myself.  In person.  In Rome.
NIKKI
Hey, machisimo dude.  Just how did  I get to you so fast after John Paul died - with His ring no less?
KASE
You didn't.  You weren't - one of my .. The Swiss Guards?
Nikki leans over so's her top practically sluffs off.  AD LIBs something about knowing a thing or two about men's one track brain.  Kase goes bug eyed.  Then quite serious.
KASE
Mother Mary of God.  How the hell did they ever get you into a nun's Habit?

NIKKI
Just like you.  Security.  Loosen up, Kase.  You one up'd me about Abydos.  Now I can't rub your nose in merde, to make things even?
KASE
I guess we're both fakes.  So far as those black clothes go.
NIKKI
Subtle you.
HOTEL SUITE - DAWN
Nikki crawls out of bed to silence a ringing phone/wake up call.  Sees Kase out on the patio doing calisthenics.  Putters out the door.  Eyes squint as the giant red ball of the sun sneaks above the horizon.  Kase stays in cadence.
HOTEL SUITE/PATIO - DAWN
KASE
Behold.  The Sun God Ra.
NIKKI
My Chuck Norris martial arts ninja turtle.
KASE
Just some old Naval Academy routines to unlax the muscles.
Nikki, wearing only a long night shirt, leans against the wall, mutters.
NIKKI
You have energy to do this.  Now?
She watches Kase's torso glistening with sweat, though.
NIKKI
Swat your workout.  You make me start get excited.  Again.
KASE
Boss lady archaeologist today, you are.  I do your bidding.
NIKKI
My mind is mine.  My body is his.

KASE
Only one martial arts class.  We called it hand to gland one oh one.
Nikki throws her head back and belly laughs.  Grabs herself in the crotch.
NIKKI
Figures.  Gotta be lots of Annapolis jocks in your Praetorian Guard.
KASE
Not on my watch.  None.  Cowards.  Banned me from my twenty fifth reunion last year.
NIKKI
I wonder why.
KASE
You look tense, Nikki.  Care to join me?
Nikki scurries back inside, to the sound of Kase's jumping jacks.  Emerges later in her Indiana Jane outfit.  Commandeers Kase into the room to pack up and get us on our way to Abydos.
HOTEL SUITE - DAY
Kase emerges from the bathroom in his Guerrilla fatigues and airborne boots.
NIKKI
Since when do men take half an hour to bathe?
KASE
A thousand apologies, Drill Sergeant.
NIKKI
Get our bags and let's get on the road.
KASE
You've made arrangements?
NIKKI
Our Humvee awaits.  Pick up our travel and digging permits at the front desk on the way out.

EXT. PRAETORIAN GUARD HOTEL - DAY
Kase scurries out of the hotel lobby over burdened with a huge new assortment of boxes and duffel bags.  Sweaty, crisp creases long since gone, he packs it all in the Hummer and hustles to the passenger side.
INT. LATE MODEL HUMVEE - DAY
KASE
You can drive this - here...
Nikki slams into gear.  Kicks up a cloud of dust.  Peels out, taking up two full lanes of traffic going both ways down a small ally.
KASE
Archaeologists dig.  Don't drive.
Nikki growls.  Kase bundles into the back seat.  Crawls back into the passenger seat a few minutes later with the bright metal locked briefcase picked up at the Vatican.
KASE
Eyes on the road.  Sergeant.  Sir.
Nikki swerves a couple of times, looking at the papers Kase pulls out of the brief case.
KASE
You got any infra red area lights in that junk I packed into the boot?
NIKKI
Who's asking?
KASE
Just pull over at the first good sized mosque you see with a nice big dome.  Will you?  Please?
Nikki waits for several to go by and for Kase's blood pressure to spike.  Pulls up at a smallish mosque with a bright spire spiking above.  Parks.  Turns - but he's out the door, running into the mosque.  Kase emerges at a dead run.  Opens the trunk.  Opens a hidden compartment.  Runs right back loading and cocking an semi automatic M-16.  Several drivers by scream to a halt when they see him.  Nikki ducks under the steering wheel to hide.  
Kase opens the driver side door a little while later.

KASE
My mullah friend here says we can use his place for a while.  Oh.  The rifle's for his staff duty in the Egyptian National Guard.  Unpack the equipment, will you - and make it pronto.
Nikki seethes.  Curiosity gets the best of her.  She hurries to comply.
The Mosque is dark, old prayer shawls cover the windows (Kase hands over wads of bills to buy everybody new ones), infra red lights on.  Kase carefully spreads out dozens of thin sheets of vellum in a checkerboard pattern on the floor.
KASE
These are satellite images from a recent pass over the Red Sea - not so far from here.  Don't ask how or who.  The camera had a special lens to filter out all but a specific frequency - like they do when looking for treasure under water.
Nikki translates for the mullah.  They all three are in stocking feet aligning the papers.  When it's all laid out, they step back.
KASE
Now.  We look for subtle traces in the noise here.  Like those vague lines in the Alexandria bay of Cleopatra's palace.  One maybe two long straight lines that run full length through the reeds at the south end of the Red Sea.
INSERT - CLOSE IN ON MAP OF RED SEA
Kase draws heavy lines showing marshy area thick with Reeds between the Nile and the Red Sea to the east.
BACK TO SCENE
NIKKI (V.O.)
Where, during Exodus the Red Sea was parted...
KASE (V.O.)
...by a massive bolt of energy.  Yes.  
(MORE)
KASE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
As though a gravity string broke loose from a nexus around Earth.  Like what causes Crop Circles in the modern day...
NIKKI (V.O.)
A bolt of energy that would have carved a mark in the bedrock.
INSERT - CLOSE IN NILE/RED SEA SATELLITE IMAGES COLLAGE
More dark outlines of the Nile, Red Sea, major roads.  Random dashes in Red Sea itself.  Heavy marks-a-lot connects dashes near the south end of the Red Sea where it was parted for the Exodus.
BACK TO SCENE
They eke out an intermittent line.  All three stand up to confirm the match.  The mullah falls straight to his knees in prayer.  Nikki and Kase hustle to collect all the papers and equipment.  Hit the road in near panic.  Kase drives.  
Stops at the road side when a small boy waves them down.  They are near the head waters of the Red Sea.  A vast panorama of reeds wafts in the distance.  Nikki translates what the boy said, as they merge back into the traffic.
NIKKI
He said Mohammed your mullah friend send him.  They already confirmed etchings in the bedrock where the satellite images had them.
KASE
Cool.
Nikki is furious.
NIKKI
Cool.  You moron.  That's all you can say?  Cool?  We've just made the greatest archaeological discovery in all time.  All it gets from you is a - cool?
Kase drives on, undaunted.  Nikki starts to hit him with her fists.  Reality strikes.
NIKKI
You've got to be kidding.  You mean this is just a side show?  
(MORE)
NIKKI (CONT'D)
A mere curiosity?  There's more - at Abydos - at the Osireion?  I don't believe it.
Kase drives on, intrepid.
NIKKI
Okay.  I'm ready now.  Hit me.
Kase indicates an area on the map east of the Nile with a few large green shapes.
INSERT - CLOSE ON MAP OF ROMAN ERA SAHARA DESERT
Nile down one side top to bottom, Nile Delta and Alexandria on the Mediterranean.  Abydos marked on the west side several hundred miles south of the Pyramids of Giza.  Large green oasis a hundred miles west of Abydos, the Great Oasis.  North and south of the Great Oasis are lines of green paralleling the Nile.  A darker green is at the middle of the Great Oasis, the location of the Roman fort.  Hand drawn sketch of the Roman fort is indicated on the map near the Great Oasis.  Box at the Osireion, line to the fort labeled Aqueduct.
BACK TO SCENE
NIKKI (V.O.)
That's the Kharaga Oasis.  The Romans called it the Great Oasis.  There is a settlement there now, in the modern day.  A city.
KASE (V.O.)
Tell me about the Roman ruins?
Nikki sits mute, arms across her chest.
KASE (V.O.)
Is there anything unusual about those Roman ruins?  Are they consistent with other relics of the same age and latitude?
Nikki finds a laptop PC in the equipment, pops it open.  Reaches out the car window and puts a magnetic mini satellite dish on the roof.  Logs onto the Egyptology Institute at the University of Chicago.  Searches for a while.  HARD DRIVE SOUNDS.

NIKKI
There's been speculation, about the architectural style of that Roman Fort.  It's unlike any other building made by the Romans of that time; any other time for that matter.
Kase waits patiently.  Nikki is irked.
NIKKI
It's more reminiscent of the very early Egyptian construction methods.   Actually.  Not unlike the structures remaining from your namesake's era, Khasekhemy.
KASE
Connect the dots, professor.
NIKKI
Can I buy a vowel?
Nikki pushes a breast up with one hand.  It pops right out of the flimsy bra.   Kase doesn't notice.  Nikki hurries to cover up.
KASE
Fifteen thousand years ago the Great Oasis was a lush, tropical paradise.  The steady rains diminished ten thousand years ago, until by Khasekhemy's reign it was all desert.
NIKKI
So the Book of Job was written by a real nation, who lived way back then.  They built the Roman fort to protect a trade route.  Why did they build the Osireion?  Holy Christ... they were the Garden of Eden.  The Great Oasis back in the Roman day was shaped just like a serpent.  They built giant arks to ferry all the animals from the Great Oasis to the Nile River sanctuary.
View outside the vehicle - Egyptians poling boats through reeds, much as in Antiquity.  No modern things in sight.

KASE
...The Osireion was the far end of a massive aqueduct, bringing water from the Nile aquifer to the land which was turning into desert.  It's stark architecture matches the design of Roman wells four thousand years later, which they called the Castellum.
NIKKI (V.O.)
But then the aqueduct was destroyed.  Job's civilization ceased to exist.  Over night.  Just like it says in the Old Testament.
KASE
Guess why?
NIKKI
No.  But you will.
Nikki grabs his thigh, pulls herself closer to him.
KASE
Leviathan.
NIKKI
You mean the monster from the sea?  The infinitely powerful creature that God spends more time explaining than he does all life on Earth?
KASE
None other.  Leviathan, here we come!
NIKKI
This theory is not original to you, Kase.  Margaret Murray dubbed it the Hypogaeum originally - meaning water works...
KASE
So you think my theory might hold some water after all?
They have arrived at the (once daily) Nile ferry to Abydos.  Prominent sign, in Arabic and English.  They sit on the tail gate as the ferry makes slow progress toward their side of the giant mile wide river.

NIKKI
All knowing one.  Whatever happened to the people who built it, the Osireion?
KASE
They were the Etruscans.  The strange people who appeared out of no where around 1000 B.C.  To transform a small village named Rome overnight, into a wonder of the ancient world.  The Cloaca Maxima in Rome, the huge underground storm drain, is the oldest engineered structure still in use.  Many of the Roman Aqueducts still carry water.
View outside the vehicle.  An oxen powered pump of ancient design draws water from the Nile to an irrigation ditch.
NIKKI (V.O.)
Let me guess.  This ties in to your whole Praetorian theology.
KASE (V.O.)
You still think it a coincidence that the Etruscans combined twelve tribes around the epicenter, of their new capitol city called Rome?
The ferry arrives.  They drive the Humvee onto the car deck. Mosey over to a side railing.  Watch the magnificent ruins of Abydos come into focus.  Nikki points front and center at Seti I's temple on a ridge outside the flood plain.
NIKKI
What does Seti have to do with all this?  His Temple sits almost on top of the Osireion.
KASE
He didn't build the Osireion.  There are no records of any kind like for his surface Temple - of quarry transportation, work crews, and such.  The wall writings have no semblance to those in Seti's temple - the grammar and syntax is archaic by Seti's standards of usage.

Nikki draws Seti I's cartouche in the dust caked on the hood of their vehicle.
NIKKI
It can't be coincidence that Seti built the Temple over there, and carved his Cartouche in the Osireion - only a few years after Exodus and the parting of the Red Sea by this gravity string theory of yours.
KASE
I need your expertise at the site, to fill in the blanks.  Don't worry, there's plenty of help waiting for us.
NIKKI
I imagine so.  This Osireion is the crown jewel of the Praetorian Guards.
The boat THUDS to a halt at the eastern bank.  Humvee makes slow progress through the sand.  It's dark by the time they reach the dig site.
EXT. THE OSIREION AT ABYDOS - NIGHT
Humvee head lights outline a cluster of square tents aligned precisely in the desert sands.  Coasts to a rest near one tent with a flickering light inside. Kase and Nikki scurry into the tent.
INT. ROMAN STYLE TEN BY TWENTY FOOT TENT - NIGHT
The light in the tent is a candle.  The furnishings are primitive - rough hewn chair and table, simple bedroll, Bedouin rug of coarse weave.
NIKKI
This is much smaller than the Cleopatra Suite...
KASE
One scream and the whole camp will be at the door.
NIKKI
No Roman tricks?

Kase is already asleep, curled up in a blanket still fully clothed.  Nikki swaggers around the tent like a Texan trapped on Long Island.
NIKKI
Mighty fine, compadres.  Behemoth on the floor and Leviathan out yonder in the dark.  The most dastardly threats to Antiquity, and I'm supposed to rest peacable like.
A bird SHREAKS in the distance.  Flying insects IMPACT the tent sporadically, attracted by the light.  Kase SNORES lightly.  Nikki turns Kase on his stomach.  Pauses in the disquiet.  Then turns the blanket out and crawls in beside him.  Stares hypnotized by the flickering candle.
INT. COMMANDER'S TENT - DAY
Nikki flashes awake, sits upright.  The tent is empty.  She walks over and opens the flap.  Peers outside into a time warp.  An authentic Roman camp, right down to the smoldering camp fires, canvas tents, and eagle totems.  Nikki scrambles back inside.  A shadow passes across the threshold.
LEGIONNAIRE
The Commander requests your presence in the Mess Tent.
Strong hands attached to arms clad in leather sleeves pass through a bundle of clothes tied with a crude string.
NIKKI
The Commander asks very much.
Nikki unwraps the bundle, undresses; then delicately affixes the new outfit to her person.  Billowing cotton blouse.  Skirt of dark cloth with outer strips of heavy leather reaching to mid thigh.  Thick soled sandals with leaders that wrap around calves, ending in a bronze clasp.  Nikki stands.  Does a lazy circle inside the tent.  Ties her hair back in a pony tail.  Wraps it up with a thin leather strip.  Traipses out the tent.  Runs into the Centurion.
LEGIONNAIRE
The lady will follow me.
The authentic Roman soldier turns about.  Paces off toward a large tent (you never do see his face, but he has the voice of the Legionnaire General) at the opposite end of 

the camp.  Nikki has to jog to keep up with him.  He opens the tent, in she goes.
INT. MESS TENT - DAY
A dozen people are seated at a long wood table covered with food, bread, jars of water.  All dressed in Roman era costumes  - foot soldiers, slaves, servants, cavalry, and camp followers.  Kase is at the head of the table, in a thick leather breastplate with gold trimmings fit for Caesar in Gaul.  Nikki - starts to run out, but Kase blocks her way.
KASE
Your humble servant, beseeches your presence at his table.
NIKKI
You just want to switch out my sports bra with some new fangled harlot's wrapping.
KASE
Break the fast with us.  It'll take the edge off.
Kase gives a deep bow, leads her to a chair.  AD LIBS introductions to archaeologists and experienced diggers.
KASE
Think of it as an adult summer camp.  Kids go to weave baskets and learn archery.  Adults - to role play characters in their life's work.
NIKKI
Pray tell.  What is my role here?
Kase stands and booms to the group.
KASE
Welcome you all, Sister Gateaux - our team leader.
Cheers.
NIKKI
You can just call me Nefertiti, Queen of the heretic Pharaoh Amenhotep.
Louder cheers.

KASE
Bravo.
AD LIB academics all wrapped up in their work like any other archaeological dig, everybody happy to be in the field and focused on exciting new goals.  The conversation lulls.  Kase talks loudly from the opposite end of the table.
KASE
I've been telling everybody what we discovered yesterday - anything to ad?
NIKKI
Seti discovered the Osireion in 1300 B.C.  Fifty years before was the Exodus.  Fifty years later Amenhotep destroyed his new city Armana looking for Nefertiti after she was abducted.  I believe it's all related...
KASE
... To Leviathan.
This sparks contentious discussion.  Nikki and Kase escape the tent.  Walk to the excavation site nearby.  They stand at the rim of a fifty foot deep crater the size of a football field.  In the middle is a massive stone structure surrounded by a eight foot wide pool of water around the circumference.
KASE
See those small rooms all around the perimeter?  We have dug down thirty feet below the Temple floor, and still the little rooms have no floor.
NIKKI
So you believe they were to tap deep into the Nile aquifer, maximizing the flow of water into the aqueduct.
KASE
They used hydraulic pressure, forcing the water into the large stone channel yonder.

NIKKI
Which points directly inland, toward the Great Oasis and the last surviving city of Job's culture.  Not bad for a barbarian amateur...
They take wood stairs down into the pit.  Ten massive fifteen foot square columns made out of a single block of granite line a basketball sized central court.  Huge blocks of stone are all about, remnants of a massive roof.  Kase carries a folder with some drawings and sketches which he shows to Nikki on and off.
KASE
See these two rectangular cut outs?  I believe this is where the Ark of the Covenant was kept.  With Leviathan inside.
INSERT - CLOSE ON DRAWING KASE PRODUCES FROM FOLDER
Left half shows egyptian priests carrying large box on two poles in a religious procession, Nile in the background.
BACK TO SCENE
NIKKI (V.O.)
Of course.  The Egyptian priests carried the dog kennel sized Ark to religious festivals - and it induced a mild euphoria on people, which they were made to believe was a spiritual ecstasy.  An animal emitting some strange low frequency sound is just the thing to do the trick.
INSERT - CLOSE ON DRAWING FROM KASE'S FOLDER
Right half shows Hebrew army carrying Ark of the Covenant with giant bolts of lightening emerging from it, enemy armies running away or dead in its wake.
BACK TO SCENE
KASE (V.O.)
The Hebrews were never defeated in battle while they had the Ark.  Because the Hebrew slaves were immune to the beast - but enemy armies were not.

NIKKI
That explains the drastic end to the civilization of Job.  Egyptians find strange creature.  They need a secure aquatic environment for it, that is cool and damp.
KASE
They destroy Job's aqueduct and use the Castellum here as a prison for Leviathan.
They wander through the ruins.  AD LIBs assignments for the archaeologists.  Scrape rectangular openings in the middle for Leviathan DNA samples.  Perimeter rooms with bottomless sand floors - maybe they were like cat litter boxes.  Excavate the pipeline leading inland.
Nikki and Kase walk carefully up a secret passageway leading the Seti I's temple on the surface.
KASE
Do you remember the story of Exodus?  About how the Hebrews worshipped the Golden Calf initially...
NIKKI
The Golden Calf was Leviathan.
KASE
And where the Ark of the Covenant was kept after the Hebrews wandered in the Wilderness for a generation.
NIKKI
In a secret chamber in the Holy of Hollies, within Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.
INSERT - CLOSE ON DRAWING FROM KASE'S FOLDER
Hand sketch of the First Temple in Jerusalem, called Solomon's Temple, made out of massive cedar timbers.  Below the sketch is a second diagram showing underground passages, between underground river and the ocean.
BACK TO SCENE
KASE (V.O.)
They recently found a massive complex of underground caverns under the Temple, complete with free flowing fresh water.

NIKKI (V.O.)
Where they kept Leviathan...
KASE (V.O.)
Perhaps you recall when the first Temple was destroyed?
NIKKI
Oh my God.  It was four years before Caesar was assassinated.
KASE
Connect the dots.
NIKKI
Buy a consonant?
Nikki hikes up her skirt to reveal heavily muscled thighs and rough panties.
KASE
Temple complex is far bigger than the Osireion.  Leviathan has grown bigger.
NIKKI
Another one please?
Nikki drops her skirt, threatening to cut off his nookie.
INSERT - CLOSE ON DRAWING FROM KASE'S FOLDER
Identify landmarks for Rome, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Gaul, where Caesar crossed the Rhine River into Germani, then made an crossing at the English Channel into Britannia.  Hand written block letters showing modern day sightings of Loch Ness monster in the Irish fijords.
BACK TO SCENE
KASE (V.O.)
Caesar destroys Temple.  Caesar crosses the Rhine River into Germany, retreats.  Caesar crosses English Channel into Britain, retreats.  Caesar is assassinated.
NIKKI (V.O.)
They took Leviathan - Caesar and Cleopatra did.  Brought it to the British Isles - Germany was cold, but not enough water... set creature free.  The Loch Ness Monster.

Kase is upset.  They wander around the inside of Seti I's Temple.  Duck small groups of tourists to speak in conspiratorial tones.
KASE
You don't act surprised.  You make me paranoid.
NIKKI
Do you remember the date when the last City of Troy was destroyed?
KASE
Around 325 A.D.  Damn.  Right between Milvian Bridge and the earthquake that destroyed Alexandria.
NIKKI
How many Cities of Troy did Schielmann excavate?  ...  Dating back to when?
KASE
Twelve cities.   Around 3000 B.C. - a few centuries before Khasekhemy.
NIKKI
Were there any other odd boat monuments in Egypt?
KASE
Yes.  A much older monument.   Dating from 4500 B.C. - called the First Abydos Fleet.
NIKKI
Connect the periods.
KASE
Buy a few more dots?
Kase gently humps in the air.
NIKKI
When and where did the Celt culture originate?
KASE
Lac Nuchatel, in Switzerland - around 550 B.C. - coincident with the Etruscans.
INSERT - CLOSE ON DRAWING FROM KASE'S FOLDER

Roman era map showing location of Troy on the Turkey coast, the Sphinx in the Nile Delta, Abydos, Lac Nuchatel in Switzerland, with a dotted line from Switzerland to Ireland and the Celt culture's hallmark, Stonehenge.
BACK TO SCENE
NIKKI (V.O.)
Feel familiar now?
KASE (V.O.)
You can't mean...  Your Albigensians go back as far as the Praetorians - back to Job - watching from Troy all the while.
NIKKI (V.O.)
Think Sphinx, my new age barbarian friend...  While yawl shadowed the Hebrews and Leviathan, we shadowed you - and Leviathan.
KASE
So you knew all this, all along?
NIKKI
Of course.
Reaches under he blouse and massages her belly with a hand.
KASE
That's not fair.
NIKKI
Yes it is.  We are both from Job.  We both want justice.  Comprende?
KASE
We both missed something.
NIKKI
I know.  The seven plagues.
KASE
Leviathan caused the seven plagues when the Hebrews stole it.  Leviathan wasn't happy to leave its nice cool comfy Osireion home.
NIKKI
Where did Leviathan come from?
Nikki's hand is in the top of her pants, going deeper.

KASE
I'm thinking Seti is the key - as in..
NIKKI
S.E.T.I.  The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
KASE
Cool.
Nikki SLAPs him.  Turns to run in a burst of exuberance.  Through a crowd of tourists, out into the desert, and back to the camp.
SERIES OF SHOTS - THE OSIREION AT ABYDOS
Electric generators flown in by Sea Horse helicopters, set on concrete slabs over a few dunes away from the Roman camp
Kase and Nikki directing everything from a canopy tent set up in the middle of the Osireion proper
Mobile laboratory set next to the generators
Excavating the floor of the small side chambers, sifting the sand for droppings with devices like they used to sift for gold back in the day
Diverting curious tourists from the dig site
Small gathering of scientists in the evening, each presenting results to the others gathered around
Scraping the two rectangular cut outs, testing the results in the laboratory
Excavating the channel leading inland from the Osireion
END SERIES OF SHOTS
INT. COMMAND CANOPY TENT IN THE OSIREION PROPER - DUSK
Nikki and Kase sit at a large metal table.  Sift through papers and computers and blue print floor plans.  Random archaeologists amble in, look at some papers, AD LIB chatting with Nikki and Kase.  Leave.  Nikki records in a log each event, by hand.  As the pit is cast into shadow by the falling afternoon sun, all is quiet.
NIKKI
Where are the bad guys now, Kase?

KASE
How so?
INSERT - CLOSE ON NIKKI'S P.C. - MAP WITH TIMELINE
Two hundred year time span overlayed on map of Upper Egypt showing Abydos, Amarna, the Pyramids.  Time line shows 1237 B.C. - Rameses becomes Pharaoh; 1225 B.C. - Exodus happens, Hebrew slaves escape Egypt; 1300 B.C.  - Seti I builds the Temple located near the Osireion; 1358 BC - Amenhotep and Nefertiti co-regents/Nefertiti Abducted.
BACK TO SCENE
NIKKI (V.O.)
After Exodus the royal family was decimated.  Seti I was just a soldier.  He became pharaoh because the royal line was no more.  He was the first and last of his line.  Then came Amenhotep and Nefertiti.  They had seven children.  They all died young.  Then Nefertiti herself was abducted, and never found again.
KASE
By the time it was all over, not a sole in Egypt knew about Leviathan.
NIKKI
Like I said.  You and I put the puzzle together.  Somebody else could too.
Kase points two fingers perpendicular to his temples.
KASE
Like say, Petrie - the dufus archaeologist who replaced Neville and Murray's 10,000 year old hypothesis - with the 3,000 year old one.  Like say, the Nazis - Petrie did all this in the 1930's.
NIKKI
Hitler was obsessed with the occult.  With Egypt.  With finding the Lost Ark of the Covenant so they could be invincible in battle.
KASE
Could be they found it.  Managed to puzzle it all out long ago.

They close shop.  Walk up the wood stairs to the surface, now backlit with a brilliant sunset.  Kase feels himself pulled to a stop half way up, by Nikki from behind.
NIKKI
We need to talk.
KASE
No.  We need bath and bed, babe.
NIKKI
Serious.  People are behaving strange.  Haven't you noticed?
Kase answers no, tentatively.  They sit down on the stairs side by side.
KASE
Now that you mention it, their work has diminished in quality - they're slow, sloppy, unprofessional.
NIKKI
Irritated easily.  Cranky.  When they should be excited, frenetic because we're uncovering something so exciting.
Nikki throws a mug of water on her chest.  Points two fingers perpendicular to the protruding nipples on her blouse.
KASE
It's Leviathan, doing this.  They're exposed constantly to Leviathan droppings and dust...
NIKKI
Leviathan was in this place for a thousand years - using the place as a litter box the whole while.
KASE
Speak of the devil...
They look up.  Silhouetted around the perimeter of the dig site are all the archaeologists.  Chanting.  Closing in on them.  Barring their escape up the stairs.  Surrounding them on the Osireion Central Court.  Pushing Kase into one of the rectangular pits.  Stabbing him repeatedly with sharp tools, like Caesar in the Forum.  Nikki screams, immobilized by strong hands.

Gun SHOTS ring out.  Archaeologists fall.  They back away from Kase, who's collapsed in the pit, blood pooled at the bottom.  Geeks in white lab suits from the mobile laboratory run down the stairs, automatic rifles slung on their shoulders.  Haul Kase up the ladder.  Cordon the pit off.  Put a rifle man en guarde.
Reinforcements arrive by helicopter.  A platoon of heavily armed soldiers fan out.  Secure the camp.
INT. COMMAND TENT - DAY
Nikki administers to Kase's wounds.  His chest and upper torso are wrapped with gauze, seeping blood in several places.  Soldier enters - nix the Roman suit; this soldier is in Battle Dress Uniform, special forces to the gills.  Salutes Kase.  Sees Kase is unconscious.  Makes Nikki give him smelling salts.  AD LIB quick conversation.  Hear clearly the words cross, crucifixion.  Soldier leaves.  Kase collapse back into unconsciousness.
Strange noises outside.  Nikki stands up, stiff legs it to the tent flap.  Tries to go outside.  Strong arms stop her.  Push her back into the tent.  Nikki kicks him in the ankle and pushes him into the tent.  She runs outside.
EXT.  ENCAMPMENT AT THE OSIREION - DAY
Nikki stops abruptly.  Falls to her knees in horror.  Two rows of crosses stretch beyond the Roman style tents.  All the archaeologists and diggers are crucified.  A light tornado whirls over the spot, vultures surfing the vortex.  Strong arms pull Nikki to her feet.  Hand her a Holy Bible and Rosary.  AD LIB implore her to administer Last Rites.  Nikki run crazy toward Calvary Hill.
INT.  COMMAND TENT - NIGHT
Kase is propped up, immobilized and drugged up but awake.  Nikki is a wreck, beside him.
NIKKI
Kase, they...
KASE
Yes.  I know.  It had to be done.  Leviathan dust.  Stark raving mad.
NIKKI
But why?  Who?

KASE
Same as for Christ.  Spent too much time sermonizing on the Temple steps.  Got sick.  Crucified.
NIKKI
You knew all along...
KASE
Suspected.  Dreaded.
NIKKI
What now?
KASE
Home.
EXT.  COMMAND TENT - EVENING
Kase is in a chair, soaking in the afternoon sun.  Fewer bandages.  Nikki walks up to him.  Hands him a mug of hot something.  Sits down beside him.  The camp is empty.  Smoldering fires are all that remain of the wood crosses.  The other tents are in various states of disrepair, torn asunder by the searing desert winds.  Mobile lab and generators gone.
In the distance a company of soldiers throws a last few shovel fulls of sand onto a depression under which used to be the Osireion.  Shouted commands.  Soldiers scurry over to a waiting helicopter.  It lifts off.  Nikki and Kase are alone.
KASE
Sayonara.  Bastards.  Nazi turds.
NIKKI
They leave us for the dead.
KASE
Party's over, Nikki.  We're doomed.
Nikki stands up.  Circles Kase.  Looks at him every which way.  Smiles.  SLAPS Kase on the shoulder.  Kase winces, but smiles too.
NIKKI
But you have a plan.  I can tell.
KASE
How so, my Queen?

NIKKI
Your faith is intact.
KASE
What?
NIKKI
You're Quintus reading Asterisk.  You're not worried or anxious or the least bit perturbed.
KASE
Huh.  I'm not, am I?  How very interesting.
NIKKI
Don't push it buster.
Nikki jams a fist in his belly.
KASE
Well, perhaps I do have a Plan B.  Who says you're invited?
NIKKI
Buzzards yonder.  Want to hear my Plan B, mister dead meat scare crow?
KASE
Gulp.  Can't we just relax for a while?  I'm kinda tired.
Nikki leans over.  SLAPS his face so hard he bleeds.
KASE
No.  Can't wait.
Nikki winds up for another good one.  Kase holds up his hands, begs for mercy with hands together as if praying.
KASE
Remember when the soldier man woke me with smelling salts.  We talked?
Nikki is still in the slapping stance.
KASE
Well, I told him he best cover the Osireion with this big plastic cover I had brought in...  To, you know, preserve the place from the elements after they buried it.  After all, it is our pride and glory.  Then...

NIKKI
Faster.  Clearer.
KASE
Well.  It's not exactly what they think.   It's more like a giant rubber bladder.  If you can get inside and pump it up, it makes a nice little room.
NIKKI
How do we get inside?  The whole damn thing is buried.  The Nazi Brown Shirt S.S. will be here any minute to finish us off.
Kase sighs.  Hoists himself up, motions Nikki to support him.  Points toward Seti I's temple.  Fills her in on the details en route.
KASE
The secret passage down to the Osireion from the back of Seti I's temple should still be open.
NIKKI
What..
KASE
Let's worry about that when we get there, pretty please?
INT. SETI I TEMPLE AT ABYDOS - AFTERNOON
They - well, Nikki - moves a heavy statue, finds the secret door to the secret passageway.  The bottom of the stairs is blocked by a thick black rubber thingy.  Nikki laboriously hauls down one after another of compressed air carbon dioxide canisters from the tourist refreshment stand.  Kase hooks them up to metal nipples on the bladder.  It slowly inflates.
NIKKI
What now?
KASE
We cut a hole in the thing and make our great escape.
NIKKI
Won't all the air escape?

Nikki grabs his throat with her hands.  Kase speaks hoarsely.
KASE
If they built this thing to my specifications, as it expands metal supports should lock in place to keep it from collapsing when the pressure is released.
NIKKI
If?  Should?
KASE
Engineering.  There's a first for everything.
Kase instructs Nikki to secure the secret door.  Slowly lets the air out.  Cuts a hole in the bladder.  They crawl inside, stand up.  Shine lights all around.  Shiny metal braces locked into place.  Black walls, floor, ceiling.  Several small crates are scattered around the floor.  Kase opens several, extracts food and supplies.  Nikki runs at the sight of food.  Kase eats a little but then maneuvers around, finds the two rectangular shaped cut outs, clears them.  Carries on a steady conversation this whole while.
KASE
You know how the water table of the Osireion filled up the rectangular perimeter pool just exactly up to the level of the Central Court - but didn't overflow it?
Nikki nods yes, mumbling with a mouth full.
KASE
Imagine back when it was Strabo's Well and Cleopatra was Queen.  Walk down an underground stairs, into the covered Central Court.  It's twenty degrees cooler than the searing desert above.  Massive floor is warm, even hot.  Pour a thin layer of water on the granite floor.  It evaporates quickly.  Sucks the heat out of the room, and all of a sudden it's like a refrigerator.
NIKKI
No wonder Leviathan liked it so much in here...  Plagued everybody when the Hebrews hauled him away.

KASE
I got to thinking - that's a lot of work just to chill out.  Not to mention, a pretty advanced application of technology...
Nikki shivers convulsively.  Grabs Kase around the waist from behind.  Crawls under his belt with one hand.
NIKKI
Your not.  Extraterrestrial.  I mean.  That it predated even Job's civilization - they found it and used it as the source well for an aqueduct; but just like the Egyptians transformed a Castellum into an aquarium; then into a Temple -
KASE
Yes, Nikki.  It was originally a Star Gate.  Hebrews swipe Leviathan, and implode the structure to cover their escape.  This discombobulates the mechanism, disconnects it from the gravity matrix.
NIKKI
Gravity string breaks loose.  Swipes across the land, parts the Red Sea for escaping Hebrew slaves.
Kase reaches under her blouse and SNAPS one bra strap.  Nikki slaps him hard.
KASE
Perhaps not in that order.  Gravity distortion could have caused the Seven Plagues.  Huge bolt of lightening that seared the Red Sea could have terrified the Egyptians so much the Hebrews could make their escape.
Nikki's batteries are recharged by now after eating.
NIKKI
So what now?
KASE
I'm just waiting for the Nazi creeps to return...

Nikki is frantic.  Grabs him by the throat.
NIKKI
You're one of them after all.
KASE
No.  Just need them to drive across the surface a few times to activate this gizmo...   You best stand over there, in the other cut out.
Nikki runs to comply.  Mutters.
NIKKI
This is silly.  You're just keeping me at a distance until your Hiel Hitler friends arrive.
KASE
No.  Extra weigh on the surface from vehicles depress the ceiling supports slightly.  When the vehicle drives off and the supports snap back it siphons water from the pool, and start things going.
NIKKI
Just how did you figure all this out?
KASE
The steps carved into the pool on either end of the central court.  They're rough, uneven, obviously done by hand.
NIKKI
Which Leviathan couldn't have done.  Then who?
KASE
E.T.
NIKKI
What?
Nikki is behind Kase, arms under his armpits, hands clasped over his chest, ready to break his neck with a Nelson hold.
KASE
Egyptians close off the Osireion to imprison Leviathan.  Star Gate keeps working.  
(MORE)
KASE (CONT'D)
Sends little green men here.  They're trapped along with Leviathan.
NIKKI
With nothing to do but while away their time carving steps.  Hiding in the shadows every time Hebrew slaves come to carry Leviathan around in his ark.  Waiting for the next cycle to get whisked back home...  Why didn't they take baby Leviathan with them?
KASE
Baby Leviathan probably liked it here, hid away from them.
NIKKI
So we're going to another planet?
Nikki jumps into the hole by Kase, twirls Kase around, draws him to her.  Waists together, neatly, like a ball room dance move..
KASE
Probably not.  With the roof collapsed and all the damage to the structure we'll probably be whisked to some place on Earth.
NIKKI
Like in the middle of a Crop Circle somewhere?
The ground starts to rumble above them.
KASE
Looks like we'll find out soon.
With a flash of steam and a brilliant flash of light, the room is empty.
EXT. UT AUSTIN/TENT CITY - DAY
Well dressed business executives drift around outside half a dozen see through tents behind heavy security.  From a distance the tents look like testicles around the jutting Tower building.  Many students stand at the perimeter, held at bay by a strong security presence.

CLERK
(Russian accent)
The Administrator has over reacted.
TRADER
We are too obvious here.
(Asian accent)
Meeting like this.  I concur.
POPE
Nonsense.
(German accent)
You've both seen the evidence.  The Archangel is here.
One student stands at the base of a statue, attempts to take photographs of the area with a long zoom lens camera.  Several security accost the student.  Wrestle her to the ground.  Destroy the film.  Handcuff her.  Haul her away.
CLERK
They - Archangel - will be killed soon enough.
(seeping motion of arms)
Then all this will be moot.
TRADER
We have practiced hive mind for years in Nippon.  You westerners are over reacting.
POPE
The concept of hive mind is new in the West.   We must keep even the slightest hint of our existence from surfacing.
CLERK
It's not new - Plato recognized it millennia ago.
TRADER
That is true.  Studies of ant colonies led Plato to correlate his findings with human cultures.
Several ROTC sneak up, fire paint balls at the tents.  Security approach them from behind - on the other side of the barricade - and pull them away.  The cadets resist.  Security show Homeland Security credentials.  Cadets hurry away.

POPE
I still say this Archangel threat is extreme.  We must excise them...
CLERK
Meeting like we are.  It will only confirm Archangel's suspicions.
TRADER
Our powers are great - being able to communicate by intuition.  But our powers exist only because no one else is aware of them.
POPE
All the more reason to kill Archangel before they expose us.
CLERK
You idiot's don't believe all that crapola about hive mind...
TRADER
It's computer trading - the financial models are so delicate they react to trends too subtle for the human mind to perceive. 
CLERK
So - we are trusting an artificial intelligence - to identify the enemy? 
TRADER
No one understands how or why it works.  But it does.  Don't knock it. 
CLERK
So - we are trying to turn Archangel to the Dark Side?
POPE
You do not know their history.  Archangel is incorruptible.
A meeting is called to order.  The three executives open a flap, walk into the large main tent.

EXT. COW PASTURE IN EAST TEXAS - MORNING
Nikki and Kase get up in a open field of tall wheat, giant 200 foot pines and oaks all around the clearing.  It's hot and humid.
NIKKI
Don't tell me.  You know where we are.
KASE
Yonder there is my friend's camp.  We're in East Texas.
Nikki props Kase against a tree.  Walks over to a row of rural mail boxes.  Opens one labeled The Bonds.  Pulls out a water bill, electric bill, and tax bill - all made out to Judith and James Bond.  Walks back.  Stands before him, mute.
KASE
Mysterious NASA shuttle crash not too far from here, in Palestine
(rhymes with philistine)
No known cause.  Obviously a loose gravity string flailing around.
INSERT - CLOSE ON WORN TEXAS MAP
Kase pulls a road map from his hip pocket.  Highlight Palestine in East Texas with exploding NASA shuttle icon nearby, debris field 25 miles long and 2 miles wide.  At the south border of this debris field is Centerville, and a little stick figure house on the Bond's property.  Dashed line indicates Shuttle's east-to-west line of flight along a line from White Sands toward Florida.  Large circle around Centerville property with a hundred mile radius indicates Big Foot sightings in the Big Thicket area.
BACK TO SCENE
Nikki looks skeptical.
KASE (V.O.)
We're right in the middle of Big Foot country - E.T. on steroids.  Strange goings on all the time in this area.
Nikki looks even more skeptical.

KASE
The force is with me.  My friends bought the property - bizarre electric troubles: to big blue truck over yonder - powered equipment.  Put two and two together.  It's rather obvious, don't you think?
Nikki unprops Kase from the tree.  They maneuver down a dirt road toward the Bond's cabin.  A ten by twenty portable building, to exact Roman standards.  It's well stocked with food.  Nikki is hungry again.  They grab an armfull of snacks, and wander through the forest on the property.  Kase leans heavily on Nikki as they walk slowly along rough paths through tall trees, small clearings, thick brush.  Occasional glimpses of the Trinity River - small but very fast flowing, brown as dirt, high banks carved out of orange clay.
NIKKI
So the Nazi's figured all this out?
KASE
Yea.  They wanted a real live Leviathan to make them invincible.  Tried endlessly to get Nellie in Great Britain, failed.  Went to Plan B.
NIKKI
Somehow I think we're back to White Sands and your shenanigans there.
KASE
Half the Nazi space scientists went to White Sands Proving Ground, to test and refine the V two buzz bombs.  A few miles away is Alamogordo, where the atom bombs were tested.
Nikki pulls her blouse apart.  Buttons spring everywhere.
NIKKI
A-bombs attract U.F.O.  Shot down with V two cruise missile.  Recover spacecraft - aliens - but why was Leviathan there?
KASE
Cuddly fun Leviathan.  Never leave home without one.

NIKKI
So your inscrutable psychological symptoms were from exposure to Leviathan?
KASE
Sure.  After I visited the High Energy Laser Facility.  HELSTAF.  Hell Staff.  Leviathan's home away from home.
Nikki unbuttons her bra straps at the back.
NIKKI
Forrestal was right to rave about Zionists after he visited Roswell.
KASE
He was there to set up a super secret organization called the Office of Policy Coordination - sweeping authority over all government agencies.
NIKKI
Enough power to perpetuate the Leviathan myth, and bring their New World Order to fruition.
KASE
It's here.  Now.  Already.
Nikki pulls her bra straps off (her blouse stays on) like they do on the beach, changing clothes.  Bra cups hang loose, held only by bare flesh like a strapless gown.
NIKKI
Central Texas - home of the largest expatriate German population in the world.  President Bush right in the middle.  They didn't all go to Brazil, but to Texas.
NIKKI
The Holocaust.  It was to get Leviathan dust from the Jews - descendent of the Hebrew slaves who had developed immunity to Leviathan.  Then inoculate Nazis to handle Leviathan without suffering the consequences.

KASE
Except I crashed their party.  Tripped alarms when I showed them U.F.O. cross section in the General's office.  They blew up my car, tried to kill me by rigging my motorcycle to self destruct at top speed.
Nikki holds to fingers to her lips.  BLOWS a fire alarm whistle.
NIKKI
So you retaliated.  Turned in a bunch of their people for drug abuse.  Then blew the whistle to the Inspector General.
KASE
Etcetera.
NIKKI
Forrestal's organization wasn't to perpetuate the hoax - but to expose it...  When we crashed your car at Annapolis, that's what started this whole thing in motion.
KASE
It said a lot more than that...  Space behaves just like water at speeds faster than the speed of light.  The Osireion was more than a make believe water aqueduct, but a galactic one too...
NIKKI
You mean this Leviathan is a creature of hyperspace?
KASE
Sure.  A millennium for us is only a few years for them.  Mama leaves baby dragon on Earth.  Then vamooses into hyperspace.
Nikki props him up against a tree again.  Catches her breath.  Circles the tree.  Starts to walk away.
KASE
Hey.  You can't leave me here.

EXT. SAN ANTONIO MHMR COMPLEX - DAY
Nikki and Kase get out of Leviathan.  Head out across the Texas Mental Health/Mental Retardation facility complex, dozens of 1950's era brick buildings sprawling across a hundred acres.  They meander through the buildings, conversing.  Kase is still as bandaged as a mummy from the waist up, barely manages to keep up with Nikki.
NIKKI
Isn't this a little dangerous, for you - wandering around a state mental facility?
KASE
Not unless you tie me to a telephone pole, and turn me in.
NIKKI
I said we needed to get grounded back to reality.  Not this grounded.
KASE
Don't worry.  I know a few people here.
Nikki looks side to side, frantic.
NIKKI
Patients?  Doctors?
KASE
No.  The facility manager.  Plant engineer.
NIKKI
The guy who helped you escape?
KASE
Perhaps you're the one who needs to be tied to a tree... burned at the stake.
Kase suddenly grabs her.  Nikki screams.  They struggle until a few staff in white jackets walk rapidly in their direction.  Kase makes an effort to act normal.
KASE
You asked about my string theory, and the nature of the gravity nexus.
NIKKI
Yes, professor.  Pray tell.  Not illustrate physically.

KASE
You accept that there are two planes of reference...   When they intersect there's a major distortion.
Nikki puts a finger on her belly button.  Twists her hand.  Then moves it down to her crotch.
NIKKI
Like a worm hole vortex.
KASE
Two planes intersect at a line.  Alias a gravity string.  Faster, powerful, more unpredictable than either gravitational regime.
The white jackets are really looking at Nikki and Kase strangely now, maneuvering into position to snatch them.
NIKKI
This was the research you presented at White Sands Missile Range?
KASE
Yes.  I later developed it much further in graduate school studying for a Ph.D. in Celestial Mechanics.
NIKKI
Celestial Mechanics - never heard of it.  Is it similar to Temporal Mechanics, the science that makes Star Trek ships go zoom.
The white jackets move to corral the luney tunes.  Nikki grabs Kase by the arm.  Drags him as fast as they can go, back to the car.  Burn rubber as white jackets watch ominously.  Nikki pulls to an abrupt stop just outside the rusted barb wire topped electrified fence.  They get out and sit on the tailgate.  Watch the white jackets a few hundred yards away.
NIKKI
They knew you.  How?
KASE
Well.  You see, right after I published the paper showing a link between Attention Deficit Disorder and indoor air quality - I was working in Austin at the time - my boss retaliated.  Fired me.

NIKKI
Then you got a job working for that crazy Whore of Babylon lady that haunts you in your nightmares?
Nikki fluffs up her long hair to look Medusa crazy.
KASE
Oh.  You heard...  Whore ...  who finished what the red necks started.  She got a contract with M.H.M.R. to do an energy audit of this entire facility.  Assigned the whole task to me, alone.  Gave me three months to do it - along with a full time work load otherwise.  An audit of a place this old and complicated takes half a dozen experts a year to do...
NIKKI
Eco-terrorist Babylonian fanatic worked you to death, finished your career as an engineer.
Nikki holds two fingers behind her head like horns.  Wiggles fingers.
KASE
I was supposed to have a psychotic break, right here.  While I was working...   I walked out before that happened.
NIKKI
Psycho engineer bitch fails, and white coats lose their experimental patient.
KASE
Paranoia has it's uses, you know.
They get back in big blue truck and drive away as a MHMR security van approaches, lights flashing.
EXT. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN CAMPUS - DAY
It's summer vacation and only a few people are about.  Nikki and Kase step off a city bus at Dean Keaton and walk south straight down Speedway through the center of the famed Forty Acres.  They enter the aerospace engineering building.

INT. WOOLRICH LABS/LECTURE HALL - DAY
Nikki sits a couple rows back, while Kase gives her a pretend lecture.
KASE
My research was on the Earth to Mars trajectory.  I found a way to modify any existing mission to use twenty percent less fuel or arrive thirty days faster.
NIKKI
(clapping)
Saving energy in space.  Sounds like a great project to me, Doctor Dolittle.
KASE
I thought so too.  I'd passed all the other requirements for a P.H.D. I figured to graduate in a semester or two.
NIKKI
They expelled you...
Nikki does a pretend jerk off.
KASE
...without warning, counseling, academic probation or anything...
NIKKI
Your arch nemesis White Sands returns.
KASE
I didn't realize it at the time, but my spiffy Mars trajectory was so fast and efficient...
NIKKI
...because it followed a fold in space...  the intersection between the good and evil gravity planes.
A couple of grad students wander into the lecture hall and  listen intensely.  Nikki and Kase get up and leave.  Walk outside toward the Tower, arm in arm.

KASE
The crisis was sparked when I published a technical article in a UFOlogy journal.
NIKKI
You didn't.  How uncharacteristic of you.
KASE
I showed a hundred year old proof in Celestial Mechanics, how it proves space behaves like a fluid when you reach the speed of light
NIKKI
Not like a brick wall, a la Relativity?
Nikki unzips her tight pants.  Bright blue lace panties.
KASE
I was a little more tactful.  I likened Relativity to a hymen, delicate membrane to the Abyss of space.
NIKKI
You always were a real prude.
Flicks the elastic band of her panties.
KASE
I even wrote a scathing satire of Relativity and Einstein when I was a staff columnist on the Daily Texan, the student newspaper here.
NIKKI
Dare I venture a guess...
KASE
No.  Yes.  They fired me.
A Campus Police car follows them half a block back, matches their pace and traces their path.
KASE
Over there is Welch Hall.  They've  had so many unexplained fires, they had to make all of Speedway a fire lane, banning all traffic - even bicycles.

NIKKI
No doubt you lampooned that in one of your columns too?
KASE
It's my nature.
Kase spies the Campus Police car, now stopped as the driver converses with a couple of uniforms on foot.  Kase steers Nikki down a narrow alley, to the nearest edge of campus.
KASE
Over there is the new Molecular Biology building.  When I was in grad school I ran into an old Construction Superintendent buddy of mine.
NIKKI
Who told you his worse fears, knowing you of all people would act upon them?
KASE
Who am I to blame?  If I have this way with people, like that.
NIKKI
...something evil and ominous behind the graceful facade of that building?
He pushes shades down over his nose.  Picks his nose.  Eats the salty bugger.
KASE
No,  Just a large Wet Lab.  Whatever that is.  Filling out the entire lower floor of the building.
NIKKI
Fast forward two years.  Mad scientist now knows what Wet Lab is?
KASE
My niece worked in Welch Labs after I was expelled.  She said there was no such lab...
NIKKI
Kase.  I think we're being followed.

They walk rapidly toward Dean Keaton a block away, the edge of the Forty Acres.  Kase keeps the conversation going, nonchalantly.
KASE
I think Leviathan is a creature of hyperspace.  It lives at speeds above the speed of light, where space behaves like a fluid.
NIKKI
Mama Leviathan lays eggs on Earth, then swoops back into hyperspace?  No doubt following a fold in space like your Mars trajectory?
KASE
Baby Leviathan takes millennia to mature - mere years in their frame of reference - then becomes, guess what?
NIKKI
A fire breathing baby dragon... kept in the Wet Lab yonder.  Escapes now and then and wreaks havoc in Welch Lab causing unexplained fires.
The Campus Police make their move.  Nikki and Kase dart through heavy traffic to the opposite side.
KASE
We're safe now.  This is property of the Austin Presbyterian Seminary.
Standing on the sidewalk they exchange glances.  They both do a double take.  Look down at the sidewalk under their feet.  Take off at a full tilt run east toward the interstate and the poor side of the tracks.
INT. LEVIATHAN AT PARKING LOT - DAY
Big blue truck named Leviathan (stenciled bold on the rear window) rolls to a stop outside a brand new two story building in South Austin, Nikki at the wheel.  They sit in the truck and look out at the building.
KASE
Bet you can't guess what that cute little building there is.

NIKKI
Smells like garbage.
KASE
Bingo.  It's a garbage transfer station.  Small neighborhood garbage trucks dump load here.  It's compacted then loaded onto larger trucks.  Then brought to a landfill somewhere.
EXT. SOUTH AUSTIN TRANSFER STATION - DAY
Nikki and Kase talk as they exit the truck.  Kase grabs a set of blueprints from behind the seat.
NIKKI
So now I know...  Shouldn't we be vamoosing out of town?
KASE
This is how crazy Whore of Babylon and her engineer co conspirators got their vengeance...  Right before I left the firm, I reviewed the plans and sealed them for bids.
NIKKI
Meaning - approved them for bidding with your Professional Engineers seal of approval?
INSERT - CLOSE ON BLUEPRINT FLOOR PLAN/SATS BUILDING
Kase rolls the plans out on the hood of the truck.  Outline of the building floor plan with the parking lot in front.  He points out the large garbage bay in the back.  Shades in the ductwork out there with a yellow marker, showing a vague  silhouette of a dragon/the Praetorian Guard eagle.
RETURN TO SCENE
KASE (V.O.)
During construction over the next three years they put windows in backwards, re-engineered the air conditioning, and installed a roof with so many holes in it, the building quickly was overcome with mold.
NIKKI (V.O.)
Did anybody get sick?

KASE (V.O.)
A few people threatened to sue the City because they got ill from the fumes.
NIKKI
Ugh.  Who wouldn't?
Nikki holds her nose with her fingers.  Talks funny.
KASE
Right after my last appeal from U.T.  was turned down, I got named in a civil suit by the City of Austin.  They blamed the whole fiasco on me.
NIKKI
But you threatened to testify about your dastardly lady boss, and they settled the suit?
KASE
Not before I had proven to everybody that a hundred dollar vent fan would have saved them a million dollar repair bill.
Walk inside the building, still empty because of the law suit.  Up stairs to the second floor.  Oops.  Stair well door opens inward and almost throws Nikki on her back down the stairs, as a person comes rushing through.  AD LIB Kase acts officious.  They get permission to walk onto the second level.  The smell is horrific.  Nikki gags.  Rushes over to a glass door opening onto a small balcony to the front of the building.  The door won't open.  It's fake.  The balcony isn't.  No windows in the glass wall are operable either.
Kase is standing at a wall sized observation window looking out on the actual garbage transfer bin at the rear of the facility.  Nikki is purple by now.  Goes to stand beside him, fingers on her nose (talks funny).
NIKKI
What's that monstrosity of a mess of sheet metal ductwork?
KASE
Looks kind of like a dragon, doesn't it?
Nikki sucks in her cheeks.  Talks even funnier.

NIKKI
Honest.  What's it for?
KASE
The million dollar solution to bad smells inside here.  Suck the smell out by installing ductwork right above the pile of garbage.
NIKKI
That's ridiculous.  All the garage bay doors are open.  Even a light breeze will evacuate the room completely.
KASE
Not to mention the giant ventilation fans I designed for the place.  See those round ducts hanging from the rafters?
The staff person returns.  AD LIB asks them their business.  Directs them to the building next door.  They walk across the parking lot to a much older building.  Two big security guards at the front desk with a dozen video monitors give them directions.  The whole office building is completely empty.  Nikki and Kase walk back toward Leviathan.
NIKKI
What does a garbage facility need so many security cameras for?
Kase doesn't answer.  They follow the guard's instructions, AD LIB as Kase repeats the guard's directions as Nikki drives.  Exit the parking lot.  Turn right.  Turn right here at this main street.  Turn right again at this warehouse boulevard.  One more right - there's the main office.
NIKKI
Look, Kase.  Right down there is where we came from.  Why didn't he just tell us to turn left and stop at the first building?
Kase shrugs.  They enter the lobby.  Large triangular shape.  Nobody there.  One locking door with a fire bar across it.  Another door marked Staff Only.  They walk through.  A mentally retarded lady in a wheel chair is the only person in the offices.  AD LIB the SATS main supervisor isn't in the building you just left - no offices there; or here either - no offices.  The supervisor you need to talk to is back at the main facility right across 

the Interstate from the UT Austin campus.  Nikki and Kase thank her politely and almost run out.
KASE
Somethings rotten in Denmark...
NIKKI
In Austin, too..
They're in the truck and head out of town, making best speed.
KASE
Nikki.  Tell me.  What if you had a baby Leviathan.  How much would something that big eat?
NIKKI
Enough to fill a garbage truck.  Oh.  I didn't say that, did I?
KASE
A brilliant leap of logic.
Kase makes a tube of one fist, looks through it at her.  Nikki wets a finger, plunges the finger into his fist.
NIKKI
The people didn't get sick because of the garbage smell... but because Leviathan was kept there.  Hence, all the security.  The mis directions.  It's a classic low profile security set up, for a very high profile target.
KASE
Meanwhile, all the strings are being pulled from U.T. Austin.
NIKKI
Roswell Leviathan had eggs.  They incubate the eggs in the Wet Lab.  As they mature they're brought to that S.A.T.S. building.  Where they can haul in truck loads of dinosaur food disguised as garbage.
INT. UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT'S OFFICE - SUNSET
Weasel of a man, dressed in tuxedo, looks out from the Tower on graduation ceremonies in early evening twilight.  Smokes a cigar contentedly.  A RING comes from his desk.  

Gravely concerned, he unlocks the secret compartment and answers.
POPE (V.O.)
A Coptic monk in Alexandria reports suspicious activity in Abydos.
ADMINISTRATOR
I thought the problem was resolved.
POPE (V.O.)
Perhaps not.  You had better check your - financial, sources.
ADMINISTRATOR
I certainly will.
INT. LUXURIOUS HOME IN NEW YORK CITY - NIGHT
A well dressed Trader stands on a balcony with a panoramic view of Grand Central Park and the New York City skyline.  A cell phone in his breast pocket RINGS.
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
Are there any signs?
TRADER
I have already confirmed...
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
Check your most sensitive criteria.
TRADER
One moment while I place you on hold.
INSERT - CLOSE ON FANCY CELL PHONE
The Trader opens a small Windows browser on his cell phone.  Keys in a few symbols, pulls up a graph.
BACK TO SCENE
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
Well?
TRADER
Thirty year treasury bills have been trending lower since we last talked.
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
That means what?

TRADER
An inversion of the curve - in the absence of mitigating circumstances...
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
They are still alive.
TRADER
... means Archangel is still operating.
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
Do the job right this time.
INT. KASE'S CAMP IN CENTERVILLE TEXAS - NIGHT
Nikki and Kase finish up dinner in the small cabin.  Kase washes the dishes while Nikki looks out into the front yard, tall pines and an area street light.
NIKKI
What do we do now?
Kase pulls out a cell phone.  Dials a number.
KASE
We set baby Dino free.
AD LIB as Kase identifies himself on the phone as a Professional Engineer.  Orders power cut off at the South Austin Transfer Station.  Waits briefly for confirmation - smiles at Nikki.  Winks.  Swivels his hips.  YELLS into phone:  Of course disconnect the emergency generator.  You want to make me a crispy critter when I tap into the power grid there?  Waits - rolls eyes at Nikki - gets a confirmation number, jots it down.  Hangs up.
KASE
How much food we got around here?  Let's get everything we have and bring it out to that little fenced in area on the property.
NIKKI
You mean the one with the big log in the middle?
KASE
That's a perch for baby Dino...

Nikki runs out the door with a flashlight and an arm full of groceries, shaking her head in dismay and talking to herself.
NIKKI
Should'a left him in San Antonio.
Kase brings a small car battery powered power source.  Nikki brings the garden hose.  They sit in lounge chairs and wait.  Wait.  Simultaneously they grab the wrist with the leather stigmata band on it.  There's a SHRIEK far overhead.
A giant winged beast is silhouetted above against the bright stars.  Baby dino zooms down on their location, alights on the massive log perch.  Kase rushes to feed it - loafs of bread - whole cabbages - bags of dog food - whole lettuces.  Nikki has turned on the hose full blast, hits baby dino with it.  Steam billows off its back.  Leviathan gets full and cool.  Curls up in a ball still seeping vents of steam.  Goes to sleep.  Kase and Nikki flop down in makeshift chairs, exhausted.
NIKKI
Two fugitives from justice living in dead secret agent's home.  Discovered giving shelter to dangerous man eating space monster.
KASE
Not to worry.  This is Big Foot country.  Nobody will notice a thing.
The following evening sees a repeat of the whole operation.  Kase spots a small pile of bones neatly stacked outside the fence.
NIKKI
Looks like baby Dino is learning to hunt on his own.
KASE
Appear to be deer and coyote bones.
NIKKI
You don't suppose he could save us a few tidbits?
EXT. KASE'S COUNTRY CABIN, CENTERVILLE TEXAS - DAWN
Nikki and Kase sit in front of a cabin at the Fallen Angel Ranch, burning trash in an old oil barrel.  Baby dino is 

sound asleep nearby, steam rising from his body and mingling with a light ground mist.
NIKKI
What happens in the winter - fire breathing monster catches whole County on fire.
KASE
The whole perimeter of the property fills up with water.  Stays that way all winter.  Keeps all the trees moist.  No fire.
NIKKI
They'll find us soon.
KASE
The property's not in my name.  We use cash for everything... how?
NIKKI
The electric and water bills are in the name of Judith and James Bond...  your best friends in all the world?
KASE
Oh.  Nuts.  We gotta leave again?
NIKKI
Not that there's anywhere we can go they won't find us.
Nikki pants, tongue out.
KASE
Well.  Not exactly.   There is one place I can think of....
NIKKI
Yes.  We do have unfinished business.  Will baby Dino be okay?
KASE
I noticed he's burying food in little mountains all over the property.  I think he kind of hibernates in the winter.  He'll have food and water enough until spring time.

EXT. CAIRO AIRPORT - DAY
Nikki and Kase approach one taxi after another at the Airport taxi stand.
KASE
What's wrong - isn't this money green enough?
NIKKI
I think it's more like.  Mummy man wants direct ride to Abydos City of the Dead.  Like.  Hey.
EXT. SETI I TEMPLE IN ABYDOS - EVENING
Nikki and Kase sit at the foot of the giant columns of Set I's temple, watching the sun go down.  They have the whole place to themselves.
KASE
Ugly American tourists.  Couldn't stop telling me to go back to my sarcophagus.  What do they know?
NIKKI
What a hassle.  Flying commercial jets all the way over here.  Can't you make that thing work in reverse?
Thumbs a ride like a hitchhiker, pointing toward the Temple behind them.
KASE
Hell, woman.  I don't even know how that thing works in forward.
NIKKI
Never stopped you before...
KASE
We better make ourselves scarce before the bad guys show up.
INT. BURIED OSIREION CENTRAL COURT
KASE
Why must you wear that silly Roman skirt outfit?

NIKKI
So noble Senator Maximus all wrapped up cannot assert himself upon me as he so obviously wishes all the times.
KASE
Cruel and malicious punishment.
Nikki flips her shirt up.  It tents briefly.
NIKKI
Here we are in the presence of millennia of Leviathan dust - and you're consumed with lust.
KASE
Is how dino dust first manifests itself - remember when we first met in Austin?  The Dillards test?
NIKKI
Hmmm.  Maybe it's not the Nazis after it but industry...  Like when Coke first came out one of the ingredients was real live cocaine.
Nikki sucks her thumb.
KASE
We're talking circles.
NIKKI
I noticed.  It means you're hiding something from me - again.
KASE
Am not.
Nikki twirls around - revealing blanched white thighs - and stalks away.  Of course, there's not very far to go.
KASE
The French are the only government in the world to issue a formal statement in which they go just short of saying U.F.O.'s exist.  A high level commission of their military, defense, and civilian officials have determined that U.F.O.'s could be a threat to the security of France.  If not to the whole world.

NIKKI
We French like to do anything to infuriate the Americans.
Nikki rolls up her blouse top, accentuating loose breasts.  Pours water over her chest, leaving little to the imagination.
KASE
I know the feeling.
NIKKI
What got you started on this whole gravity string - Crop Circle - parting the Red Sea business in the first place?
KASE
The sudden disappearance of the Levitz heiress in Vicksburg, Mississippi a few years ago.  Poof.  Gone from her house.  No ransom note.  No trace.
NIKKI
I remember that story.  Wife of a wealthy Jewish businessman - a pretty but dirt poor Louisiana dame, made her fortune remodeling Civil War era homes - then married owner of Levitz furniture chain.
INSERT - CLOSE ON VICKSBURG MAP
Old Vicksburg (modern Garden District), with  the Mississippi River along the river front.  Current path of the river.  Stick figure at Realtor's office with panoramic view of the Mississippi River bridge, where traces of blood from disappeared heiress were found.
BACK TO SCENE
KASE (V.O.)
A hundred years before the Mississippi River was thrown off course overnight.  Transformed Vicksburg from an awesome river front town into a city far from the river.  No port.  No nothing.
NIKKI (V.O.)
There's a gravity nexus in Vicksburg?

KASE
Ironically.  The only reason I went to Vicksburg in the first place was because I got banned from my Naval Academy twenty fifth reunion.  I was hell bent on a road trip anyway.  Ended up in Vicksburg.
NIKKI
I remember that September.  A major hurricane hit the D.C. area.  That was your reunion?
Nikki jumps into a puddle on the floor.  Splashes Kase badly.
KASE
Awesome, he?  They had to cancel the whole damn thing.  Serves them right...
NIKKI
Okay.  How did you connect U.T. and the S.A.T.S. fiasco?
KASE
Careful inspection of University's written responses to my appeals.  Ditto for the City of Austin's prosecution of their civil suit.
NIKKI
How so?
KASE
The same process as my Tribunal at White Sands.   Same extreme arrogance, disregard of the facts.  Indicating not only exposure to Leviathan dust, but a high level cover up.
NIKKI
So you have documented proof of all this?
Nikki bends down, draws hieroglyphics onto the dusty floor.
KASE
Just like the original Osireion writings match the syntax of the Book of Job.

NIKKI
But there are no writings on the walls here.
KASE
They disappeared in 1913 as soon as the place was exposed to the air.  Fortunately Neville and Murray had copied everything down first.
NIKKI
You have a copy...
KASE
Barely.  No sooner than I had checked out the original Egypt Exploration Society reports by Murray and Petrie, than they were recalled by the University.  They were never returned back to the public stacks.  Luckily, I had xeroxed everything.
NIKKI
Wheels are rolling...
Nikki does a crazy symbol - doing circles with a finger at the side of her head.
KASE
That same semester I took a History Department course on Roman Engineering.  I did a research paper on the design of Roman aqueducts.  Put it all together.
NIKKI
All of which was confirmed when...
KASE
They never taught the awesome Roman Engineering history course again.
 Suddenly a figure barges into the space.
LEGIONAIRE
Nor will the likes of you two ever be heard from again.
Other special forces types materialize down the stair well from Seti I's Temple.  They haul Nikki and Kase out onto the sands by the Nile River not too far away.

EXT. BANKS OF THE NILE - ABYDOS, CITY OF THE DEAD - EVENING
Two rough cut crosses lie flat on the ground.  Nikki and Kase are dragged toward each.  Kase is first bound with piano wire, wrists and ankles.  Nikki escapes.  Is recaptured.  She screams and screams and screams.  Kase is resolved to tough it out, silently.  HAMMER BLOW and Kase's face shatters with pain.  Two more HAMMER BLOWS.  His cross is being raised.  Bloody eyes see Nikki being tied to her cross.  She's still screaming horrifically.
Spine tingling SHREAK.  Dark shape streaks out of the dark sky.  Dragon's breath marshmallows bad men.  Others run away.  Fire breathing flying dragon grabs Kase in talons.  Nikki in other fist.  Swoops away.  Little angry mens toy soldiers are unhappy on the ground.
EXT. BEACH ON MEDITERRANEAN - NIGHT
Gentle waves breaking on the shore.  Still tied to the cross.  Salt water - pain, escalating.  Black out.  Nikki there, her own limbs wrapped in bloody bandages.  Cut off the cross, wire severed; nails yanked.  Blackness.  Floating in the salt water.  A body of pain.  Nikki holding him in her arms, in waves.  Bloody tears of anguish trek down her cheeks.
Flying again.  Dangling below fluttering wings.  Talons gripped deep into his chest.  Across a great sea.  Then a great land, and descend swiftly to the ground.  Many hands grabbing.  He says Nikki's name.  Her hand is in his.  They rush toward a building.  Shriek and a cloud of flame singed his attendants.  They run faster.  More flame.  They run even faster.  Good boy, Dino.  Warm bed; drugged and sleeping.
Long painful days later.  Kase is flat on his back, bundled in bandages from head to toe.  Nikki hoists baby into vision.  Baby cries terrified.
NIKKI
...baby Dino loch'ed up with Nellie... made baby baby Dino.
Nikki hoisting baby baby dino into vision.  Fuzzy little creature pecks Kase's shoulder.  Kase mutters.
KASE
The one place that doesn't hurt, now does.

NIKKI
Dinos like scare crows better than babies like mummies.
KASE
Am I talking?  Is this heaven or hell.  Think.  Must be heaven if Nikki is here...  How are you, Nikki?
Tremendous commotion.  Pretty ankle materializes in Kase's vision.  Followed by beaming Nikki's face.  Another ankle.  Two wrists.  Scars all gone.
KASE
How are your breasts?
Long silence.  Nikki stuffs a straw in his mouth.  Then is attached to bottle.
KASE
Hawaiian Punch Red.  Next best thing.
Nikki screams with months worth of mirth.  Baby screams too, not quite so happily.
KASE
Share?
Face to face, Kase and baby girl have a tug at the Hawaiian Punch Red.
KASE
Where are we?
NIKKI
Aravaca.  A suburb of Madrid.  Spain.  In old pink castle that used to be the H.Q. of Generalissimo Franco during the Spanish Civil War.
KASE
There's a concrete bunker across the road.  I know.  Grew up here.
NIKKI
No Way Jose.
KASE
I guess Leviathan knew to bring us to friends.

NIKKI
But they are Albigensian Sisters here now.  We are a nursing order.
KASE
You're going to nurse me?
More rustling.  Door closes.  Lights dim.  Nikki crawls up on bed.  Her face passes his, smiling.  Then bare neck.  Breasts bulging with milk.  Kase drinks his fill.  Smacks.  Opens mouth for second breast...  gets it.
NIKKI
How's that for a Tour D'France.
KASE
Lucky Romulus and Remus.  God bless the Seven Hills of Rome.
Knock on door.  Nikki rushes to get clothed.  Wipes milk from Kase's chin.  Plugs straw back in.  Hawaiian Punch jar in crook of arm.  Lights on.  Door open.  Angry Sister of nursing order ushers Nikki out.  Toothless smiling old biddy in Kase's face.  Cackles.  Thick bristle brush in face.  Time for bath.  Ug.  Can't I just stink?  No comprendo Engles.
LATER
NIKKI
They've cut your morphine supply off.
KASE
I still have you.
NIKKI
Serious.  They say my sexual favors are against doctor's orders.  That I make your progress slower.
KASE
Hey.  Nobody asked me...
NIKKI
Fools.  I told them it won't work.  Idiots.
KASE
You told them we are honeymooners?

NIKKI
They said a year is too long to be on honeymoon.
KASE
What do they know anyway?
Nikki throws the covers up, and snuggles up to Kase.  Pulls the covers back over them both.
NIKKI
Thy rod and staff comfort me.
KASE
Ever feel lust when you see Jesus naked on the cross?
NIKKI
Along with every other girl not getting enough.
KASE
I pity all those women who can't breast feed because they have fake jugs...  Boy babies grow up sucking long white  bottles.  And we wonder why they turn out gay?
NIKKI
Not to mention girl babies who are sex crazed beyond reality.
KASE
Nothing wrong with that part...
NIKKI
I can't wait to get you in my Valley of Death.
Nikki jams both hands into her crotch, does a vice grip on the hands with powerful thighs.
KASE
Reminds me.  With the ozone layer gone, U.V. rays will roast the earth.  The only people to survive will be Black skinned people...  Michael Jackson will have to go back again.
NIKKI
At least you come by your prejudice honestly.  Your Confederate roots.

KASE
Prejudice.  Hell.  In 1800 when the slave trade with Africa stopped in the Old South, there were 400,000 blacks in America.   Sixty years later there were four million blacks.  A ten fold increase in one generation?  The South wasn't a cruel sweat shop it was a welfare state day care center...
NIKKI
Please hurry up and get well, love.
Kase abruptly throws off the covers and peels off the bandage on one wrist.  Nikki gasps.  It's all healed.  Nikki pokes it with a long red finger nail.  Pinches.  Draws blood.  She sucks it.
KASE
Tell no one.  Promise me.
NIKKI
But why not?
KASE
Now that the U.T.  Center for Celestial Mechanics has been shut down, there are only two left in the world.  One in Moscow.  The other in Barcelona.  Right down the road.
NIKKI
Don't talk bad guys.  I'm tired of that.  We're a family now.  No room for bad guy Foreign Legion heroics.
KASE
Scout us a great escape, will you?
Nikki ducks under the covers, pretends not to have heard.
KASE
You know.  Freud believed that the only thing the Victorian women of his age needed to achieve psychological health was...
Nikki's head pops up.  She says with a giant smile.

NIKKI
...Regular strenuous all day long sex.   All night long sex.  Am I right?
KASE
You make my stitches tear out just thinking about it...
EXT.  CASTELLON DE LA PLANA/VILLA NURILLIAR - PATIO
Nikki and Kase are swinging in a veranda on the patio of a small villa near the ocean.  Baby girl between them.
KASE
You named my baby girl, Beowulf?
NIKKI
I didn't know was man's name.  Thought old Irish story name would put a smile on your face.
KASE
Beowulf was a warrior - a brave hero - who fought monsters.
NIKKI
Fits just right so far as I can tell.
Holds the baby at arm's length, shakes her.  Looks at her with head turned to the side.
KASE
At least Beowulf Gateaux has a svelte lady sound.
NIKKI
Too bad.  Her name is Beowulf Cleary.
KASE
Have I no say in anything at all?
NIKKI
No.
KASE
What was that...  Beowulf called baby baby Dino?

NIKKI
Cato.  After your favorite Roman senator.  The one who had a hundred recipes for cabbage, one for each kind of illness.
KASE
Did you tell her who I was?
NIKKI
No.  You are the Mummy Returns.  Our most favorite movie.
KASE
But I'm daddy...  No wonder she runs when ever I try to be nice.
NIKKI
Come.  Let's send for a sitter, and go play on the beach.  Just the two of us.
EXT. CASTELLON BEACH FRONT - EVENING
Nikki and Kase stroll hand in hand at the edge of the surf.
NIKKI
We haven't figured out how both Praetorians and Albigensians could have originated in Job's era ten or more thousands of years ago.  With a sophisticated agenda they carried out flawlessly...
KASE
I happen to have a theory.
NIKKI
Now that's a first.  Let's hear it.
She turns and plans a wet one on Kase's lips, relishing the sexual freedom of a Mediterranean beach surrounded by French tourismos.  Kase doesn't much mind, himself.
KASE
Did you know that the U.S. Civil War was the first conflict in history in which enemy combatants singled out officers with their weapons?
NIKKI
Yankees...  Did that?

KASE
Confederate leaders complained often about it.  Dozens of the South's generals were gunned down in cold blood - Stonewall Jackson - Earl van Dorn...
NIKKI
Even in all of Antiquity.  All those barbarians never shot leaders at a disproportionate rate to foot soldiers?
KASE
Nope.  It was a universal Code of Honor.
Nikki holds her back artificially straight, juts out her breasts, arches her back to accentuate them.
NIKKI
Sounds to me like humanity is de evolving.
KASE
How could every human being have a nicotine receptor in the brain?  Such genetic traits take millennia to happen.  Smoking has only been in the last hundred years.
NIKKI
Another common trait all people share.  I assume there are many others?
Kase nods.  Kase his hand between her legs at the crotch.
NIKKI
This means?
KASE
You recall the Book of Job.  How it was the Great House that fell upon Job.  Not a structure.  But an organization.
NIKKI
Like the House Atriedes in your favorite Dune books?

KASE
No fundamentalist Christian would argue with me.  They all believe man was created by God.
Nikki pleasures herself on Kase's hand between her legs.
NIKKI
But you're saying humans are an off shoot of an intergalactic empire that broke up before our history began.
KASE
Just trying to rationalize Roswell and the myth of little green hairless alien visitors from out of space.
NIKKI
You're just trying to scare me whitless so that I run into your arms like some bimbo with raisin bran for brains.
KASE
... Time to go to Plan B.
Nikki runs down the beach.  Screaming with delight.  Kase gets close.  Nikki runs into the surf.  Kase follows, tackles her.  They tumble into the waves.
INT.  BEACHFRONT HOTEL IN BENICASIM, SPAIN - DAY
Nikki and Kase sit on a high hotel room balcony looking onto a panoramic beach.
KASE
Race you to that diving platform way out there.
NIKKI
Deal.  Drop Beowulf with the old lady in black next door.
KASE
But that gives you a head start.
NIKKI
Of course.  Your invite.  My rules.

They both scramble into swim suits.  Pacifier in her mouth, Beowulf is dropped of with neighbor woman who rolls her eyes.
OLD BIDDIE
Foreign sex crazed couple is going after it again.
EXT. BENICASIM BEACH/DIVING PLATFORM - DAY
Kase is fast asleep on top of the remote platform.  People cavorting on the distant beech are tiny dots.  Nikki climbs up the ladder, heaving and breathless.  Wearing an old style Planet Betty swim suit
NIKKI
Even with all your wounds you're still a seal in the water.
KASE
Speaking of seals.  You remember the Seven Seals in Revelations?
NIKKI
So sayeth the horned beast.
Nikki grabs his crotch.
KASE
Oil isn't the only resource that will be used up one hundred percent in twenty years.  There's clean water, clean air, minerals used for fertilizers.  Not to mention radioactive waste disposal, over population...
NIKKI
You are going, where - with this?
KASE
There are dozens of professional organizations responsible in each of these areas.  Organizations that set the rules, lobby Congress, and feed facts to the media.
NIKKI
...Organizations, all of which are totally and completely ignoring every last important issue facing modern man.

KASE
They are poisoning everything until its too late.
NIKKI
At which time the whole world will turn over all power, to ...
Nikki unties her bra ties.
KASE
The New World Order.
NIKKI
Nazis.
KASE
The conspiracy includes every Think Tank, university, and Fortune 500 corporation.  World wide, everywhere.
NIKKI
If you're trying to scare me shivering with goose bumps into your arms, you're doing a pretty good job.
Nikki peels off her swim suit.  Snuggles into Kase's arms.  They're standing.  Kase suddenly lowers them to the deck.
NIKKI
I didn't say you could quite go that far.
KASE
No.  What if somebody is watching with binoculars?  Can't we get in trouble for indecent exposure?
Kase turns and moons the coast line.  Nikki roars with laughter, tears in her eyes.
NIKKI
What.  In Baptist America perhaps.  In French Riviera, es impossible.
KASE
We could always tell them we were on a honeymoon...  Except nobody honey moons for eighteen months.

NIKKI
It would make the headlines of every newspaper in France.  American couple have raw sex in full view of entire beach front.  Claim exemption from Baptism nudity rules...
KASE
Are these hooters for real?
Nikki bounces on her feet.  They juggle.
NIKKI
You've poked and prodded them enough.  You tell me.
KASE
Sorry.  Need many more years of testing.
NIKKI
You make me testy, mister.
They get up and get out of the sun.  Sit down in each others arms, backs against a rusting lean to on the platform.
NIKKI
About this conspiracy theory of yours...
KASE
Example.  No beauty pageant in the world allows natural breasted women because even though they may be smaller, they are so much more beautiful as to put silicone technology to shame.
NIKKI
Of course.  All beauty pageant funding comes from silicone breast implant manufacturers.  That's not news.
KASE
How many examples can you think of where sex is used to sell products - like pickup trucks, beer, tobacco..
Kase massages her sweaty bosom.

NIKKI
Women know that too.  Drives you crazy to see men get harder drinking a beer, sucking on a cigar, or driving a big ugly gigantic pickup truck...  When they could be picking us up, sucking our breasts, drinking our juices.
KASE
Modern advertising is harvesting sexuality for filthy lucre no less than it's harvesting the wealth of the Earth for crass profits.
NIKKI
Soon women will be as barren as the Earth now is.
KASE
Girl childs born with no breasts.  No curves.  No sensuality.
NIKKI
Sounds like alien babies to me.  No hair, slug of a body, big head, body of no use at all.
Nikki curls into a little ball, knees pulled up to her chest.
KASE
Exactly.
NIKKI
Exactly, what?
KASE
Intergalactic empire of humanoids shatters for some reason.  Human populations are isolated in remote planets all over everywhere.
NIKKI
Certain advanced planets are far beyond us in technology...  as well as advertising.  Read in terms of degeneration of the genome.
KASE
Little green men search the cosmos for original genes to splice into their bodies.  To get their groove back.

NIKKI
Find beautiful humans on Earth.  Abduct them...  Now you have succeeded...  I am truly scared.
They scurry into the little tin shed.  It rocks violently for thirty or forty minutes of hard sex.  Two ragged figures emerge ten pounds lighter each from the sweat of exertion.  Dive into the ocean below.  Swim suits float to the surface.  Jostle to get the on each other.  Swim slowly toward the beach.  They breaststroke side by side, talking all the way.
KASE
Of course.  The myth of Nazi U.F.O.s could be true.  Super advanced Tesla technology of late 1800's.  Little green Nazis overcome by their own advancements.  Looking for genes to splice back into themselves to become normal again.
NIKKI
Sure.  Just look for little green men with a brush of a moustache.  That'll be Hitler.
KASE
What happens when they get the genes they need.  How will they look then?
NIKKI
Fat as sin.  Like Rush Limbaugh.  Addicted to heroin like him.
KASE
We could call them Rush babies.
NIKKI
I like Bush babies better.
KASE
How so?
NIKKI
You didn't know the Bush family made their fortune investing in Nazi Germany in the 1930's?  It's common knowledge in France.

KASE
They sent billions to Germany during the Great Depression?  That's horrible.
NIKKI
Just compare a picture of your President's profile with that of Hitler.  It's an exact match.
KASE
You make me want there to be aliens now.
NIKKI
Maybe we could hitch a ride to another dimension.
KASE
Gotta be better than this one.
NIKKI
Yep.
INT. HOLY SEE - PAPAL OFFICES - NIGHT
The Pope sits on his throne, talking on the telephone.
POPE
Trader.  Administrator is on the line.  We are in conference call.
TRADER (V.O.)
This is unprecedented
POPE
Silence.  The danger is grave.
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
But - the Americans monitor all overseas calls.
POPE
Shut up.  Archangel is still alive.
TRADER (V.O.)
But my people confirmed killing them.
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
So did mine.

POPE
How's the weather in Texas?
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
We're in the middle of a devastating drought.
POPE
It is a sign, no?
TRADER (V.O.)
Wheat futures are going through the roof.  Billions of people around the world will starve without cheap American wheat.
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
So much American corn is now being processed for gasoline - the food situation exacerbates.
POPE
Morons.  Idiots.  Can you not see what it means...
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
...Archangel lives...
TRADER (V.O.)
...and their influence grows.
POPE
Leverage all our resources.  Worldwide.  Get it done right this time.
TRADER (V.O.)
You don't think there really is a Divine Intelligence?
ADMINISTRATOR (V.O.)
Perish the thought.
POPE
Never happen.
EXT. BEACH IN BENICASIM - EVENING
Nikki and Kase are wrapped in towels, a small mountain of  bottles growing in front of them as they rehydrate.  Well, Nikki is drinking champagne; Kase, Hawaiian Punch Red.

NIKKI
I will be drunk soon.  You need to catch up.
KASE
Just seeing you makes me drunk enough.  Not to worry.
NIKKI
Yes.  You are pretty damn loose all the time.
KASE
I hope that Lady in Black is taking good care of baby Beowulf.
NIKKI
You don't suppose...  No, there are only Men in Black.
KASE
Women are too hard to simulate.  Take the largest computers centuries to model just one moment of woman.
NIKKI
You make my head spin.
KASE
Hey.  I know how we can identify the Men in Black...
NIKKI
Pray tell, Generalissimo.
KASE
You traipse around in front of them.  If they have no autonomous response, they are aliens.... except, well.
Nikki throws her arms around Kase from the back, grabs him across the chest.
NIKKI
Don't worry.  I will watch them for the autonomous response.
KASE
What if they're Baptist?  And have conscious control over that?  Or if they are on viagra?

NIKKI
I just watch for four hours to see if their Tower of Babel collapses.
KASE
You mean.  It only last four hours for them?
NIKKI
Like you were saying.  These are a very primitive species.
KASE
Pity.
NIKKI
Yes.  We could have had a good time here.
KASE
I did so want to...
Suddenly Nikki is pouring champagne over Kase's head.
NIKKI
Avast, ye old pirate.  I know you now.
KASE
How so?
NIKKI
Your birthday.  Same as the Battle of Milvian Bridge.  Same as pagan New Year - Halloween - All Saint's Day...
KASE
Yes?
NIKKI
It's a very, very special day in the solar year.  It's the day when the good and evil planes intersect.  When a single gravity string stretches clear across the cosmos.
Nikki clutches Kase.  They stand face to face.  She grabs his buns with her hands, humps lightly.
KASE
Go fish.  You think my soul was transported across parsecs?

NIKKI
Why else the obsession with Roswell?  The parallels of your life, in every regard, to that event?  You have a built in compulsion.  Not just to find out about Roswell, but to find your pet dragon monster dinosaur buddy pet.
KASE
So.  What if I do?  Millions of other people are even more obsessed than I.  Look at the U.F.O. Disclosure Project.  Ten million signatures, and growing.
NIKKI
Your impenetrable faith.  It's unearthly.  Unnatural.  You're a fish out of water.
KASE
Hey.  Watch how far you go with this.
Kase looks around.  To see people of all ages quite oblivious to their public copulation.
NIKKI
On the other hand, the bad guys know the significance of people born on that date...
KASE
That would explain all my child hood diseases:  Rheumatic fever, spinal meningitis, jaundice...  I spent the first six months of my life in an incubator.
NIKKI
That explains your vexing affinity for machines.  Maybe all your other weirdness too.
KASE
Let's say the Josef Menegle Nazi creeps really did try to kill me.  At least, to disrupt my mind and body enough that I wouldn't mature spiritually.
NIKKI
Oh.  I hadn't thought about that.

KASE
Got you scared all over again?
NIKKI
I'm shivering in me boots.
KASE
Let's go take care of that, shall we?
They run up the beach, feet kicking up sand.  Infiltrate into the crowd.  Follow them from a distance.
KASE (V.O.)
Shouldn't you contact your big boss at H.Q.?
NIKKI (V.O.)
Not necessary.
KASE (V.O.)
How so?
NIKKI (V.O.)
As you American's say.  He's been put out to pasture.
KASE (V.O.)
He'll be back.  Cowabungee, dude...  Lucky him.
SLAP.  Ouch that hurt.  Stop punishing me or I'll hurt you even more.  Quit that.  Oh.  Please, do that here....
EXT. EVENING - SAGUNTO, SPAIN - SUNSET
Nikki and Kase drive through the small town.  Up to the ruins of the old Roman fortifications on top of a mountain overlooking the city.  They park.  Purchase a loaf of fresh bread from a street vendor.  Walk up to the ruins.  Nikki is wearing a matador's suit of lights.  She glitters in the dark.
NIKKI
Why did the Praetorian Guards go back to the Osireion and leave a coin, one for each Emperor?
KASE
Is when they picked up some go juice.

NIKKI
Why?  What were its affects on people?
KASE
Think.  About what happened.  When it all began, around 40 B.C...
NIKKI
Caesar assassinated...  Cleopatra commits suicide...  Joseph a.k.a. Caesarion escapes...
Nikki hunches her shoulders, deftly drops one shoulder strap so a boob pops out, erect nipple caught at the edge of the fabric.  Kase hugs the wall, chugs wine from a giant bottle.
KASE
Temple in Jerusalem...
NIKKI
Destroyed...  New one built...  Gaul is conquered...  Oh.  And Leviathan is set free in Ireland fjord.
KASE
Which means end of go juice, and...
NIKKI
I got it, Kase.  The Jews banned prophecy thereafter.
Nikki massages her breast.  Moans.  Kase hurries to help.  While Kase pleasures her, Nikki tosses bread crumbs to the birds.
KASE
Read.  Jews could no longer prophecy the future, with Leviathan gone.  Meanwhile, the Praetorian Guards meted out what little remained to keep one step ahead of the game.  So the archaeologists back there went insane because?
NIKKI
They were exposed to Leviathan droppings...  saw the future, and it drove them over the edge.

KASE
Just like Jesus and then John, who wrote Revelations.
EXT. MAIN STREET - VALENCIA, SPAIN - NIGHT
The Fallas are going on.  Giant paper mache figures that float above the crowds, then are set afire.  Nikki and Kase mill around with the tourists and locals.  Bundles of glowing paper tumble at random into the crowd near them.
NIKKI
Why didn't the Leviathan dust affect us?  I got the lust bug, but you..
KASE
Who says I'm sane?
NIKKI
Oh...   Nobody does...  You're right.
KASE
You're sane, though.
NIKKI
Am not.
KASE
Are too.
NIKKI
Bosch keeps my engine running.
Nikki grabs his spark plug.  Facing him, they fall into a park bench.  Sit there face to face.
KASE
I won't go there.
NIKKI
Because you're the one who's sane.
KASE
Am not.
NIKKI
Because you're the one whose soul is alien.
KASE
Is not.

NIKKI
Your alien soul is immune to the go juice.
KASE
Maybe I just don't care, so the future doesn't bother me.
NIKKI
Don't care?  About what?  Who?  Us?
KASE
The future...
NIKKI
About ours?  What?  Really?
KASE
Wait.  My head's killing me.  Getting transmission.  From Big Head on Ork.
Nikki explains to people around them.  Drunken revelers give them a wide berth.
NIKKI
He's Mork from Ork.
KASE
No.  It's Ork from Mork.
NIKKI
Oink.  From Pink Pig Panther.  Nanu.   Nanu.
KASE
Arrrrrgeeeehhhhh
NIKKI
If they have go juice now, after Roswell.  How come they haven't caught us?
Nikki looks all around them.  Talks loud enough to be heard over the crowd noise.
KASE
Who says they haven't?  Me?  You?
NIKKI
Arrrgggghhhhhh

KASE
Poor baby Beowulf.  Two crazy parents.
NIKKI
Crazy in love is all.
KASE
Prove it.
NIKKI
And how.  Right now.
They make love under the street light.  The crowd closes in on all sides, the party goes on.
EXT. PONT DU GUARDE AQUEDUCT CASTELLUM: NIMES FRANCE - DAY
Nikki is pushing baby Beowulf in a buggy.  Kase walks along side with a marked limp, leaning heavily on a walking stick.  They begin at the Castellum.
KASE
This is where the aqueduct taps into the aquifer.  Looks like a baby Osireion, doesn't it?
NIKKI
Perhaps...
EXT. PONT DU GUARDE AQUEDUCT: ARCHED RIVER PART - DAY
Now they are walking along the famous part over the river gorge, along a pedestrian walkway from one side to the other.
NIKKI
To think this Pont du Guarde aqueduct would be the favorite hang out for you Praetorian Guards.
KASE
Still functional after two thousand years.  Not to mention a thousand years ago Middle Age idiots removed half the upper level so horses and carts could move across the gorge like we are now.

NIKKI
And no engineering model has ever been able to explain why the structure still stands.  Much less works perfectly.
KASE
Not too bad for a bunch of barbarians.  They didn't even use mortar between any of the stones.
NIKKI
Perhaps your theory about the Osireion being part of an ancient aqueduct isn't so far fetched after all.
KASE
Next I know you'll start liking our progenitor Julius Caesar.
They're now floating down the river, the Aqueduct looms large above them.  Nikki pants with lust.  Beats Kase with her hands.
NIKKI
Actually.  He's as much an Albigensian hero as a Praetorian Guard one.
KASE
Verily, you jest.
NIKKI
Caesar conquered Gaul.  He brought us peace and culture, tolerance.  Not to mention superb roads, fresh water, and good health.
KASE
All the freedoms your ancestors cherished, and died for, at the Inquisition.
NIKKI
And your people, in Transylvania.
Nikki thrusts a hand under her pants.  Pulls out a blood finger.  Gives Kase a lick.
KASE
So we can be friends after all?

NIKKI
Whatever gave you that foolish idea?
KASE
I thought...   Well.   Maybe.
They're now flying above in a tourist helicopter.
NIKKI
Finally.  Silver tongued devil at a lost for words.
KASE
You know.  When Roman legions weren't fighting they were put to work - building aqueducts like this one.  Many soldiers wrote to the Emperor begging for a new Commander because they were being worked to death.
NIKKI
Hmmm.   You give me good new ideas.
Back on the aqueduct road.  Nikki pushes Kase to his knees.  Straddles his head with her legs.  Squeezes Kase until he has to stop (eventually).
KASE
...The Temple to Jupiter in Rome had the largest dome in the world until only a few years ago.  Nobody knows how it works either.  The Romans did it without steel reinforcing rods, and it has a giant round oculus in the middle of the roof too.
NIKKI
So now the Romans knew about Jupiter's Great Red Spot two thousand years before it was observed by Galileo with a telescope?
KASE
Julius Caesar always said he was from Mars...   not Mars the God of War either.
NIKKI
Okay.  I concede.  The Job aqueduct was for real.  Your intergalactic Dune civilization too.

KASE
You're bluffing
NIKKI
Not so.
INT. EL PRADO MUSEUM/BOSCH ROOM - MADRID, SPAIN - DAY
Red fingernails roll in a wheelchair.  The nefarious Legionaire/Centurion head of the Foreign Legion is seated.   Buttoned up in a straight jacket.  They're both looking extremely frayed at the edges.  The lights dim and they roll past Bosch's master pieces, spotlighted on the museum walls.  A smile of bliss calms him then.  Nikki too.  He nods off into contented sleep.
NIKKI (V.O.)
Don't worry, Papa.  Every thing will be all right.  Just like in the movies.  Happy ending.
EXT. EL PRADO MUSEUM PARK/LAKE - MADRID, SPAIN - DAY
Meanwhile.  Kase is in the park outside, baby Beowulf in a belly pack - wearing a tiny French Foreign Legion hat.  They're throwing bread crumbs to ducks in the pond.  One brave duck ventures toward them.  Kase backs up slowly, speaking in a conspiratorial tone to Beowulf.
KASE (V.O.)
You will be brave Inspector Jock Clouseau one day.  Leaving an obvious trail of bread crumbs for fat American duck to follow.  Aaflaaack.
Baby Beowulf giggles.
KASE (V.O.)
Lookee.  Behind giant tree looms fierce Cato ready to pounce.
Dixie the cat is on haunches behind big tree as Kase creeps backward away from the lake, his shadow passing across bad cat's hiding place.  Dixie is poised, ready for the kill.
NIKKI (V.O.)
Alois.  Evil Mama grabs Chief Inspector by scruff of neck.  Sharp fingernails draw blood.

KASE (V.O.)
Too late, my baby heroine.  Cato strikes.  Feathers fly.  Chaos ensues.
NIKKI (V.O.)
Mama says let's get the hell out of here before the Guardia Civil arrive.
KASE (V.O.)
Duck is deceased.  Cato brings trophy  carcass.  Whole happy family retreats to safety of home to brew delicious Duck Soup.
SLAP.  Baby Beowulf breaks into a really loud laugh.
NIKKI (V.O.)
Mama loves daddy.
SUPER:  The Osireion at Abydos is a real place with an historical context as stated.  The events at U.T., S.A.T.S., THE Mars Ph.D. research, the Celestial Mechanics significa, and related incidentals are, as stated.
FADE OUT:

THE END