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7.8 磅 0 2 Cell FADE IN: A SPECK OF DUST Grains of sand dance in the wind. As we glide over a VAST DESERT, the speck of dust becomes a HORSE AND RIDER. CATHERINE YOUNG straddles the beautiful black animal, her
cases, I work with children.
But even a
kid lies. They love it when
they get
you to believe something that isn't
true. Don't you think
Stargher would do
the same?
NOVAK
Sometimes... Once they've been caught
they feel a need for disclosure.
They
have so much they want to tell.
But they've never had a sympathetic ear.
They
need someone to understand why.
(focusing on Catherine)
Stargher used to hide the bodies very
carefully. It was part of
the ritual.
Some weren't found for weeks and any
physical evidence had been meticulously
wiped clean. But these last
three...
They were still in water - always in
water - but
(clarifies)
Listen, he wasn't just careless.
It
went beyond that...
CATHERINE
Okay. Let's assume he
wanted you to
find him,
that some part of him hated
what he was doing... Most likely, that
part is dead.
Schizophrenics with
Whalen's Infraction sever all ties with
the real world. I'm sorry,
I really am.
RAMSEY
Is it possible?
CATHERINE
If he came to trust me, yes, but it
takes months to build that kind of
trust. Someone like
Stargher can't
distinguish between fantasy and reality.
It's all the same. He might
tell me
she's in Timbuktu and absolutely, one
hundred percent believe it to be true,
but she's...
JOHN (O.S.)
Julia.
They turn to John Tracy.
His vulnerable, barely audible
voice forcing everyone to listen.
JOHN (CONT'D)
Not "she." Julia. Not thing, or it, or
her. Do you know anything
about her?
Do you know what we've been through?
Julia is everything to me.
Can you say
that about anyone?
Catherine hangs her head.
And finds herself looking at
photograph of the girl in question. A smiling Julia Hickson
looking right at her.
WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP.
POUNDING REVERBERATIONS...
EXT. CAMPBELL CENTER - DAY
WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP. A
HELICOPTER descends onto the pad.
A stretcher is
removed from the side door of the helicopter.
INT. CAMPBELL CENTER - VARIOUS/TRAVELLING - DAY
The STAFF watches with a mixture of fear and curiosity as a
stretcher bearing the catatonic Stargher is wheeled FAST
through the corridors by an FBI escort team.
INT. CAMPBELL CENTER - CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
Hundreds of photographs, drawings, diagrams, maps,
blueprints, and documents - Novak's case material - cover
every inch of wallspace.
The table is littered with
reference books, atlases, telephones, a fax machine, short
wave radio, and computer/Internet terminal. An FBI
TECHNICIAN completes the electronics work and points out the
"speed dial" functions to Novak and Ramsey.
FBI TECH
(listing them)
Quantico. San Diego Field
Office.
S.D., L.A., and San Francisco P.D.
California, Arizona, Nevada State
Police. Nine and ten are
open lines.
(re: radio set up)
Direct link to the chopper.
(re: the computer)
That gets you into the Bureau Database.
NOVAK
Thanks.
Once he's gone, Ramsey takes this moment "alone" to question
his partner.
RAMSEY
You sure you want to go through with
this?
NOVAK
What else do we do?!
RAMSEY
I don't know, Pete, but for god's
sake... This is nuts. Do
you really
understand what they're going to do?
NOVAK
I
don't have to.
RAMSEY
Why jeopardize what we've already done?
We caught the sonofabitch.
Carl
Stargher. That's going to
be like
Bundy,
Gacy, Dahmer. A case that makes
careers. But if we push our
luck. If
this is all bullshit and we come out
smelling like it.
NOVAK
Tell you what. If this
thing burns us,
I take that heat. I give
you permission
to point your finger at me and say "It
was all his idea."
RAMSEY
(offended)
That's not what I'm talking about, Pete.
I'm talking about waking up and
realizing this girl's gonna die.
The words are anathema to Novak.
NOVAK
That won't happen.
Cooperman appears in the doorway and informs them...
COOPERMAN
They're ready.
Ramsey looks to his partner, but Novak is already on
Cooperman's heels.
Resignedly, Ramsey follows.
INT. CAMPBELL CENTER - LABORATORY - DAY
Cooperman guides Novak and Ramsey into the lab. The FBI men
are impressed, but neither is quite sure what to make it all.
The FBI escort team leader gets Ramsey's signature and Novak
undoes the cuffs from Stargher's wrists and ankles.
Following Miriam's direction, the escorts guide the gurney
carrying Stargher into the procedure room. As Cooperman
shows them out, Henry seals shut the door. Miriam assumes
responsibility for Stargher's care and checks his pulse, IV,
pupil dilation, and vital signs...
HENRY
Shouldn't we get a catheter in him?
MIRIAM
They took care of that, thank you,
Henry.
(getting him out of her hair)
MIRIAM (CONT'D)
Why don't you give our guests a little
tour?
Proud of his computer, but uncomfortable around strangers,
Henry directs Novak and Ramsey to the console.
HENRY
Gentlemen, you stand before the one and
only Neurological Cartography and
Synaptic Transfer System.
Although he's listening, Novak's eyes never really stray from
his prisoner as Miriam uses safety scissors to cut away
Stargher's clothes.
HENRY
(CONT'D)
It provides a highly detailed map of the
human mind. Not the brain -
any MRI can
do that. The mind.
(self-impressed)
It
reads and processes electronically
allowing information to be transferred
and interrupted.
(for the laymen)
Let's say your thoughts could be stored
on DVD. If someone had the
right kind
of player, they could watch and listen
to what you're thinking.
Novak observes Miriam as she "undresses" Stargher and Ramsey
pokes around the lab.
HENRY (CONT'D)
But we can't record or store the data.
The connections between nerve cells are
constantly being modified.
Miriam needs a moment to fully take in the scars. Henry
continues, eager to focus attention back to him, but even he
is fascinated by Stargher's skin.
HENRY (CONT'D)
It's like the
early days of television.
The subject sends out a live feed and
you receive it during time of broadcast.
Whatever happens, happens.
All you have
to do is "tune
in."
Miriam gives Stargher an alcohol bath, the clinical procedure
taking on the quality of ritual.
Her wash cloth moves under
Stargher's chin and over his face.
She's careful around the
eyes and
finds herself unable to look at them for long.
HENRY (CONT'D)
But you do more than tune in... You
become part of the snow.
Catherine enters from a dressing area wearing the bodysuit.
Filled with curiosity, Novak watches Miriam and Catherine fit
Stargher into his suit.
NOVAK
I still don't understand why I can't do
this... This isn't some "troubled kid"
you're dealing with.
CATHERINE
I realize that...
NOVAK
How hard could it
be...?
Catherine and Miriam try to hide their laughter.
CATHERINE
The first... What? Six or
seven times I
went in. Remember
what happened?
MIRIAM
Disorientation, nausea, migraines,
hallucinations, insomnia, paranoia.
CATHERINE
Like a New Year's Day hangover.
MIRIAM
He needs to be turned over.
Novak and Catherine roll Stargher onto his stomach.
NOVAK
This man is deeply disturbed, he...
CATHERINE
You don't know the procedure.
NOVAK
I know him.
MIRIAM
That may be true, but you don't have
Catherine's gift. She...
(distracted by Stargher's back)
What happened here?
We see a series of EIGHT BANDAGES.
RAMSEY
We removed eight metal rings.
Miriam peels away a bandage and examines the flesh.
CATHERINE
Then he should like this.
Catherine connects Stargher to the SUSPENSION APPARATUS and
it HOISTS him off the table.
CATHERINE (CONT'D)
They're comforted by the feeling of
weightlessness. Like
floating in water.
Henry catches Ramsey poking his nose near a THIRD SUIT AND
APPARATUS in the dressing area.
HENRY
Don't touch that, please.
RAMSEY
Sorry.
Miriam prepares a series of CHEMICAL CARTRIDGES and loads
them into a container connected to the IV-like tubes linked
to the suspension device.
MIRIAM
(intimate, quiet)
This isn't your responsibility.
Remember that. Don't let
them use guilt
as a tool. If you want to
stop, say so.
CATHERINE
I'll be fine.
MIRIAM
She said convincingly.
Catherine focuses on the procedure and makes the necessary
connections. Reluctantly,
Miriam retreats to the monitoring
station. She "locks
down" the procedure room and joins
Henry, Novak, and Ramsey at the console.
NOVAK
(eyes on the chemical/drug
monitors)
That's the stuff?
HENRY
About twelve years of research, right
Miriam?
MIRIAM
Don't remind me.
RAMSEY
What is it - are they - exactly?
That's like asking her to explain the rules of cricket.
MIRIAM
Psychostimulants, serotonin,
stabilizers, meprobamate, Neurontin,
lithium carbonate. And my
baby. It
duplicates and expands upon the effects
of a chemical called oxytocin, forcing a
break in the neuron connections that
hold experience. So new
experience can
form.
Ramsey is utterly lost and just sort of nods, but Novak is
