Making history

MICHAEL In the morning. LEO Oh six hundred hours . . .

LEO presses keys on TIM. He switches a switch. There is a hum as TIM's screen comes to life.

CLOSE on the screen. As before, colours swirling chaotically. A veined thread of dark purple runs through. MICHAEL

Is that it? LEO

That's it. Brunau-am-Inn, Upper Austria, 1st June, 1888. MICHAEL

Wow.

LEO and MICHAEL look at each other.

LEO takes four pills and goes to another part of the bench where there is a strange GREY METAL CANISTER with a glass lid. He lifts the lid and places the pills inside. He takes a cable from the canister and attaches it to the rear of TIM.

MICHAEL swallows. MICHAEL

Are you sure we want to do this? LEO stares at MICHAEL.

LEO

We don't have time for a conversation. In ten minutes we lose the satellite.

MICHAEL It's just that . . .

LEO

What are you saying to me? We've discussed this over and over. It's your idea for God's sake!

MICHAEL

I know, I know. But suppose it goes wrong? LEO

Suppose it goes wrong? Suppose it goes wrong? Michael, it has gone wrong. That is the point.

He jabs a finger at the screen. LEO (CONT'D)

Look! There! Look. The most evil force in world history is just ten months away from being unleashed. Misery, pain,

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torture, death, despair, ruin, destruction . . . what else can I say? Language breaks down. And we can stop it.

We CLOSE in on the screen and see the coloured lights as LEO talks.

LEO (CONT'D) (over)

This quiet little street is about to make Pandora' s box look like Barbie's jewel case. And we can do something about it! We don't have to shoot a gun or throw a knife. No bomb, no poison, no pain. Just four little pills and the evil never happened.

MICHAEL

And you will be able to sleep at night. LEO

(angry)

You think that's what this is all about? My conscience? Well .

MICHAEL . it is, isn't it? LEO

So before . . . when you believed I was Jewish. It was all right then? I could seek revenge. But now. Now that you know I am German, the son of one of the beasts of Auschwitz, that makes a difference? It is noble to seek revenge, but not to make amends ?

MICHAEL No, it's not that. I just . . .

LEO takes MICHAEL'S hand. LEO

Pup, listen to me. In this life you are either a rat or a mouse. Nothing in between. But

MICHAEL So who wants to be a rat? LEO

You didn't let me finish. The difference is that a rat does good or evil by changing things around him, by acting. The mouse does good or evil by doing nothing, by refusing to interfere. Which do you want to be?

MICHAEL looks at the screen. At LEO's face. At the pills in LEO'S hands.

MICHAEL

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(taking a deep breath) Hell. LEO smiles.

MICHAEL returns the smile.

MICHAEL (CONT'D) Be a rat and grab that mouse.

LEO picks up the computer mouse that leads from TIM and the image on screen shifts.

LEO

There! The purple is the water. It is your well, no question.

We see the purple thread running through the picture. There is a sudden movement in the background. MICHAEL

Christ, what was that do you think? LEO

Who knows? Maybe an animal. I am zooming further in to the well.

Slowly the picture fills with purple. MICHAEL I don't believe this . . .

LEO takes his hand from the mouse. LEO

You know what to do now. When I give the word. MUSIC begins to build.

MICHAEL goes to the canister that contains the pills. There is a red button on its side.

MICHAEL licks his lips and puts his thumb to the button. LEO meanwhile has his finger on a switch on TIM's keyboard.

The two of them look at each other. The MUSIC builds.

CLOSE on MICHAEL.

CLOSE on the pills in the canister. CLOSE on LEO.

CLOSE on LEO's fingers over the switching gear. CLOSE on MICHAEL's thumb. LEO nods twice and . . .

LEO NOW!

MICHAEL'S thumb presses the button.

We see inside the canister the four pills appear to light up and glow with light. They start to fade as ...

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LEO's finger presses his switch.

Inside the purple image on TIM's screen the dim ghosts of four orange pills emerge and glow.

The pills have disappeared from inside the canister. They have emerged in the well in Brunau.

Suddenly, as MICHAEL watches : everything in the room begins to swirl and morph.

The satellite monitors, the switching gear - even LEO himself - are all changing shape, all taking on swirling liquid form.

As the MUSIC reaches its climax it is clear that everything around him is being gathered into a whirlpool. Matter, light,

energy, everything is swirling into a great tornado of light and colour.

The epicentre of that tornado is TIM's screen. All matter, starting with small objects is morphed and swirled into it. MICHAEL watches as LEO disappears in front of his eyes, sucked inside the screen as if he were no more than a leaf being swept into a drain.

A huge blinding implosion of light and colour and now MICHAEL too is swept from his feet and flies through the screen as if vdiving into an ocean of glowing mercury.

Everything, the universe itself it seems, is instantaneously sucked through TIM which now seems to turn itself out and be sucked into itself leaving only . . .

BLACKOUT

Local History Henry Hall

'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Projectile City ...' 'Owl' -

'Hey, I said "lean your head up on the wall," not "bang it violently," dummy.'

'Gross, totally gross ...' 'Oh man, that is a chuck

'Heck's sake, I got some on my shoe ...' 'His head okay?'

'No blood, but he's gonna feel a bump in the morning.'

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'Someone take his arm

'No way am I going anywhere near ...'

'Why does he do this every darned time! I mean, Jesus 'Shoulda seen him last commencement ...'

'We don't get a move on, we're gonna miss the shuttle.' 'I think he's done.'

'Oh ...'

'Hey! It speaks

'Where the bloody hell am I? 'It speaks strangely ...'

'Don't jerk around, Mikey. We gotta move.' 'How about we grab a Whopper?' 'Oh ...'

'Todd. Not a good idea ...' 'Oh Lord ... he's down again.' 'My legs don't seem to work.' 'No shit, Sherlock ...'

'What is it with you Mikey? I mean, heck's sake, you didn't drink any more 'an the rest of us ...'

Dimly aware through swirling mists of alcohol that we are passing a Burger King. A strange Burger King. And a book shop, A strange book shop. Never seen it before.

Over the road a college gate. Trinity? Not Trinity. St John's? No.

Where then?

Something not right with those cars. It's not just that they swim and wobble like jellyfish. It's not just that their headlights stab my eyeballs. There's something else

I'll work it out in a minute. Meanwhile, concentrate on walking.

See? It's not so hard ...

Try a little straighter. My God, it's so humid ...

Who are these people anyway? Who are those guys?

You're the one with the ideas, Butch.

That's it, focus on what we know. Make sure we're not totally gone.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969, George Roy Hill.

Four fours are sixteen.

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The Battle of Agincourt, 1415. The capital of Corsica is Ajaccio.

Q: Can you tell me Napoleon's nationality? A: Course I can!

The sun is ninety-three million miles from the earth. Give or take.

L P Hartley's middle name was Poles.

The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.

Okay, so no brain damage.

Drunk, though. Well slammed. No doubt about that. And woozy from a bang on the head.

Just go with it, son.

Someone's holding me up so tightly it's tugging at the skin of my underarm.

Hey! What a sweet little bus!

What the hell is the driver doing over there? Maybe I'll try and sleep a little.

Mm ...

'Wake up, vodka boy ...' 'Henry Hall ...' 'Henry Hall? Who's Henry HallY 'Let's just leave him here in the lobby, whadda you

say?

'Grow up, Williams.'

'It's okay, I'll get him to his room ...' 'You're a hero, Steve.'

'Seriously though, where am I?

'Oh boy. Just follow me, man, I'm right behind you. Night fellers.'

'Night, Steve.'

'You think he's okay?'

'He'll be fine, I'll make sure.' 'What is this placer'

'Home sweet home, Mikey. Here we go ... one step at a time.'

'Where the others go?

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'The others have gone to their beds. Now, you must go to yours. Then I can go to mine. Which would be good. Key, please ...'

'Huh? Key? 'Mm-hm. Key.' 'What key?

'Please don't fool around, Mikey. I really need your key.' 'My key? Mikey? Who's Mikey? Who's my key?

'Where is it?'

'Key? I don't have a key.' 'Sure you do

'No key.'

'Yes key. Mikey, we're gonna wake someone up any minute.'

'Hey! What are you doing?

'It's nothing personal, Mikey. I just need to find

'Get your hands out of my pockets, will you? I'm telling you, I don't have ...'.'

'Okay. So what's this, a lucky charm?' 'I've never seen that before in my life.'

'You are seriously weird, you know that Mikey? Are you sure you're okay? Alrighty. In we go ... On the bed

where nice Mr Sandman is waiting to take you away. Far away to the land of dreams where everybody is happy and eats cherry pie.'

'Whose room is this?

'Lie down, don't talk. It's okay. I'm not gonna undress you.'

'I mean, what is going on?

'I just need to make sure you're not gonna puke up and drown, that's all. Look at me Mikey. You're not gonna do any more puking, are you?'

' Who are you?

'Just answer me. Do you need to puke?' 'No. Don't need to puke ..."

'Okay. That's good. Your keys and your money are on the table here

'So hot ...'

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'Hoo, I wouldn't want your head in the morning.' 'Nice bed. Comfy.'

'Sure. It's comfy. Real comfy. I'm gonna switch the lights off now.'

'Night night ... what do I call you? What's your name)' 'Oh boy ...'

'Are you by any chance American)'

'Sheesh ... Sleep tight, Mikey. Don't let the bugs bite.'

Oh Jesus Pants. I thought I never got hangovers. This is a screamer. Think I may just lie here a while. Let the tongue work free of the palate.

Tp-tp-tp. Tp-tp-tp. Work up a little spittle.

Oily-Moily's dirtiest number. A little spittle

It'll

Do the trick. Hm.

Water.

Try opening the eyes. Just a little way. You can do it.

Oh boy ...

It's like when you were young and you used to take the cellophane wrapper from a Quality Street toffee and hold it over your eyes, giggling and chasing your saffroncoloured mother around the kitchen. 'Uer ... you're all yellow, Mummy.'

It's not just that everything's a sick egg-yolk colour, there's another problem. The room is ...

Hold on, this can't be right. It just can't be right. Make a list. Put down what you know. In outline form, one side of your brain only.

usinc

A room, containing: - a table, containing: -

•a bunch of keys

•a packet of Lucky Strike cigarettes

•a train ticket that says:

- New Jersey Transit Co.

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•a wallet

•a mobile phone

•a botde of Evian, containing: - Evian water (I assume)

•a clock that says:

-09:12

a bed, containing: -

•my body, wearing: - strange clothes

- a bump on its head

•my mmd, feeling:

-sick

-weird

-confused

-frightened windows, containing: -

• blinds (shut)

a desk, containing: -

• a computer

-off

•books

•a telephone

•papers

a door (half open), leading to: -

• a bathroom

walls, on which hang: -

• posters of

-bands I don't know

-a baseball team

-cute pop stars (M & F)

•a black and orange flag a wardrobe, containing: -

•clothes (half-glimpsed), belonging to:

_ r>

another door (closed), leading to: -

Nice inventory. What does it tell us? It tells us we have a hangover. It tells us we are somewhere strange. It tells us there is weirdness afoot.

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But we don't panic. We try to relax the mind open, like a constipated man easing a reluctant sphincter. Mm, cute image, Mikey.

Mikey?

Relax. Get used to this light. Water. That's better.

A little flower of memory blooms in the brain. Me, vomiting in a garden.

No, not a garden, a square. A small town square. A Burger King that didn't look like a Burger King. A book shop.

Some cars behaving strangely. Strangely? How, strangely'? We'll come back to that.

More water.

A bus. A cute little bus. Someone saying 'Henry Hall'. Yes, that's right, Henry Hall.

Now carefully, lad. Reassemble the thoughts. Remember them. One step at a time.

One step at a time ... someone said that. Last night, if it was last night, someone said, 'One step at a time.' I'm sure of it.

Steve ... I'm getting the name Steve. It's hard to pierce the veil, dear. But I am getting a call from someone called Steve. Is there a recently passed over loved one in your life by that name? He wants you to know that he's very happy, at peace now.

I'm still getting that other name too. Mikey.

They kept calling me Mikey? Why? No one calls me Mikey. Ever.

I feel for the bump on my head and - Jesus ...

That's another thing. Some arsehole's been and cut my hair!

My beautiful hair ... It was never like, hippie long, but it flowed, you know? It happened. And now it's all squashy and dead.

Shit, I'd better get up.

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