| The Ariane Conspiracy Part Three |
| 22. INT THE PARRINDER HOUSE (WE HEAR JOHN AND PAUL CLIMB IN THROUGH A WINDOW) JOHN: Hello is there anyone here? PAUL: Looks like he left in a hurry. Where shall we begin? JOHN: The study, I think. Every discerning scientist keeps his secret documents in a safe in the study. PAUL: (JOKINGLY) And you accuse me of watching too many spy movies? (BEAT) JOHN: Here we are. Just a little TK (FX) and I'll have this desk open in a jiffy… (WE HEAR JOHN SHUFFLING THROUGH PAPERS) Now that's interesting. PAUL: What is? JOHN: Birth certificates for him and Jenny. Passports, driving licences. A veritable plethora of false documents. PAUL: So we're guessing that he's not who he claims to be? JOHN: From what I'm seeing here it looks like Dr. Parrinder doesn't really exist at all. It's not that the aliens, who ever they are, have replaced him rather that they created him. PAUL: Why do that? … Wow! Look at this? Plans for some kind of device, technical specs for the Ariane rocket, calculations, and course projections. If he's working for the European Space Agency shouldn't this kind of thing be kept at work? What is it doing here in his home? JOHN: Maybe they're not official documents at all? Maybe it was Parrinder who sabotaged the rocket? We need TIM to look at these. He'll be able to extrapolate more information than we can. Maybe he can work out what these aliens are doing here on Earth. PAUL: I also think we need another chat with Jenny. If her father's identity is false then maybe hers is too? Whether she knows it or not. I'm beginning to very much doubt whether she's human at all! JOHN: And we just left her alone with Elena! We better jaunt back fast.
23. ELENA'S PARENT'S HOUSE WE HEAR THE SOUND OF SOMEONE PLAYING A VIDEO GAME. JENNY: (YAWNS) When will John and Paul be back? ELENA: It wont be long now. JENNY: Will the aliens try to get me again? WE HEAR ELENA WALK ACROSS THE ROOM AND SIT BESIDE JENNY ELENA: You don't need to worry about that. I'm here now. I'll not let anything happen to you. JENNY: Promise? ELENA: Promise. (PAUSE) Jenny, how long have you lived alone with your father? JENNY: As long as I can remember. We moved to the house five years ago. ELENA: What about before that? Do you remember your mother? JENNY: She died. Daddy told me she died in a crash. We were going away somewhere together and there was an accident. ELENA: I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you sad. JENNY: Have you ever had anyone who died? ELENA: Yes. I had a younger sister. She would be about your age now. You remind me a lot of her. JENNY: What was her name? ELENA: Sophie… her name was Sophie. Mum and Dad had her very late in life. She had long blond hair, just like yours… I miss her… JENNY: Did she have an accident too? ELENA: No, not really. She was taken ill in the middle of the night. The doctors didn't even know what was wrong with her, at first; it was later that they diagnosed meningitis. But, by then, it was too late. I was away at college. I drove back as fast as I could… She was dead by the time I arrived. That's why I promise you, what ever happens I'll protect you. THERE IS THE SOUND OF BREAKING GLASS. JENNY: What's that? ELENA: It's nothing to worry about. One of Dad's collection probably wriggled out of its tank. I'll go take a quick look. You continue with your game. You've got the score up to five thousand points now. (BEAT) WE HEAR ELENA WALK OUT INTO THE CONSERVATORY. SHE TREADS ON BROKEN GLASS. ELENA: Who's here? What do you want? PARRINDER: I want my daughter back! ELENA: (DISBELIEVING) Your daughter? From what Jenny tells me you're not even human. PARRINDER: Human or not, she's my flesh and blood. I'll not let you harm her. ELENA: (ANGRILY) We didn't bring her here to harm her. We only want to protect her. This is our planet; you've got no right to interfere with it. PARRINDER: (REMORSEFULLY) I'm sorry about that; when we came here from Enoidia we had no idea that intelligent life had evolved. You must believe me that the future of our entire race is at stake. If there were an alternative we'd take it. ELENA: Why this disguise? What are you planning that needs so much secrecy? PARRINDER: We studied your history and soon realised that your government would never give us the polar ice caps freely. ELENA: (DISBELIEVING) The ice caps! PARRINDER: I'm sorry about this, Elena. I don't have time to discuss things. Please get Jenny and bring her here and we'll be on our way. THE DOOR SUDDENLY BURSTS OPEN AND JENNY WALKS IN JENNY: Elena, no! Don't let him take me… Don't let him take me… PARRINDER: Jenny, darling. You have to understand that we are not what you thought us to be. I am your father. We are both from the planet Enoidia. ELENA: See what you've done? Scared the life out of your own child. She's not going anywhere with you. PARRINDER: I'm sorry it had to come to this. You Humans cannot be allowed to interfere with our plans. Anderson was right; killing you is the only way… JENNY: No! I wont let you! ELENA: No, Jenny the tank won't take his weight! JENNY RUSHES FORWARD PUSHING HER FATHER INTO ONE OF THE GLASS TANKS. IT SHATTERS UNDER THE WEIGHT AND HE FALLS ONTO THE FLOOR. PARRINDER: (TERRIFIED) Oh my god, spiders! (WE HEAR HIM PANIC, TRYING TO PULL HIMSELF UP FROM THE FLOOR.) JOHN: Dr. Parrinder, stay right where you are! PARRINDER: Or you'll do what? JOHN: I'll do nothing, but that highly poisonous spider will… PARRINDER: Ouch! Damn thing bit me! JOHN: You just wouldn't listen would you? How long Elena? How long until the venom works? ELENA: Just a few minutes. It causes paralyses of the muscles first, followed by convulsions and finally a very painful death. PARRINDER: Help me. You've got to help me! JOHN: You're the one holding the blaster. All we have to do is wait. (PARRINDER THROWS THE BLASTER TO THE FLOOR.) PARRINDER: There, take it. It's vital that I live to help my people… you must understand… the survival of my planet depends on me. JOHN: What about Jenny? PARRINDER: She's from Enoidia too. Our family was chosen above many others to come here for this vital mission. My wife was killed when our space ship crashed. Jenny means the world to me. I would never harm her… please help me… I need you to help me. THEY ALL RUSH FORWARD. ELENA: Paul the antidote is kept in a cabinet over there. I'll use TK to stop the venom spreading any further up his leg. You get every bottle you can find and bring them back here fast. JENNY: Is he really my Dad? JOHN: Yes, Jenny. He is. JENNY: Is he going to die? ELENA: Not if I can help it. PAUL RETURNS AND DROPS THE BOTTLES AT ELENA'S SIDE. ELENA: Good job, Paul. That's the one I need. There you go, Dr. Parrinder. One shot in the arm and you'll be right as reign in no time. I doubt the venom would have done much harm to your alien physiology anyway. JOHN: That's a pretty convincing skin you've got there. In all these years Jenny never even suspected that she wasn't human? PARRINDER: I didn't know how long we'd be stuck here, or whether we'd ever be able to fix our crashed ship. It seemed only logical to let her believe she was human so that she could have human friends and go to human schools. It was a mistake, her seeing me without my skin that night. (TURNS TO HIS DAUGHTER) Jenny, darling, it must have been a terrible shock to see me. I never intended to scare you like that. I'm so sorry. JENNY: That's ok, Daddy. I had Elena to look after me. PARRINDER: I can see now that these are good people who really never meant you any harm. JOHN: Sorry to interrupt but if you're feeling better I think it's about time we had a little chat. Don't you? THERE IS THE SOUND OF BIRDS AND A RUNNING STREAM WEBSTER: Damn fool should have come out by now. What does he think he's playing at? Doesn't he realise what Anderson'll do without him? FOOTSTEPS APPROACH UP THE DRIVE CORPORAL: Your orders, Sir? It's been ten minutes. WEBSTER: We'll wait another five then we'll move out. CORPORAL: What about Dr. Parrinder? WEBSTER: What about him? (PAUSE) The mission can go ahead without him… Get the men to set the incendiaries with a five-minute fuse. CORPORAL: Yes, Sir. Five minutes. JOHN: Why did your people want to crash the Trackstat satellite into the International Space Station? PARRINDER: They didn't, at first, it was a mistake. The plan was to fire the rocket onto a trajectory that would set in on course for the sun. But once it was heading towards the International Space Station it seemed an ideal opportunity to get it out of the way. PAUL: What has the sun got to do with this? I thought you wanted the polar ice caps to use to re-hydrate your own planet? PARRINDER: We do, but we have to reinitialise the drive system on our ships first. They crashed onto the North Atlantic seabed five years ago. There's something in your atmosphere that neutralised the plasma-drive. At first we worked from within the ships trying to re-ignite the drive. We soon realised that we'd have to come ashore, and use the Earth's resources, to get them back on line. ELENA: I'm loosing the thread of this. What has this got to do with crashing Ariane Six into the sun? PARRINDER: Years of research revealed that what we need, to get our ships working again, is a huge burst of solar radiation. The European Space Agency believes that there's a satellite in the payload bay. In fact there's a nuclear device designed to cause a solar instability. This electro-magnetic flare will bath the entire surface of the Earth in enough energy to re-initialise our ships allowing them to lift off and return to orbit. JOHN: And once you're there you can lock onto the polar ice caps and tow them out into space? PARRINDER: Precisely! Of course, none of this was within our original mission brief. We didn't plan to crash land and spend five years living amongst the humans. (WITH SYMPATHY) Neither did we intend to irradiate the Earth. Our forward reconnaissance people, when they surveyed this planet, estimated that you could spare the water. It was believed that although it would affect your evolution slightly, by making the planet more arid for a few generations, that Earth would recover. JOHN: Didn't the reconnaissance party think that this might affect the people on the planet? PARRINDER: At the time there weren't any people. It wasn't until we came back with the tow vessels that we found your evolution had accelerated and produced creatures of higher intelligence. By then it was too late to find another planet. Personally, I don't think Anderson tried particularly hard. He's more concerned about fame and glory than saving the human race. JOHN: I'm sorry to disappoint him but saving the human race is what we intend to do! ELENA: But how, John? If we prevent the Enoidians from taking back the water we're condemning their people too. PAUL: Towing away the polar ice caps seems to be the least of our worries. If they manage to launch Ariane Six towards the sun there wont be any life left on Earth in a fit state to drink the water! JOHN: I'm certain that under the circumstances the Galactic Federation would help us out. Enoidia may be a closed world but I'm sure we can persuade Timus to give us the water your people need. That way you wont need to tow off the ice caps, or to reinitialise the drive systems of your ships. They can remain safely buried on the seabed until we can find another way to retrieve them, without a massive solar flare. PARRINDER: Is this who you work for? Are you agents for this Galactic Federation? JOHN: Yes and no. We are human, born on Earth, but we are the next stage of evolution. We have contact with races on other worlds and have been granted honorary membership of the Federation. We don't exactly work for them as much as working for the Earth, representing human interests to people from across the Galaxy. PARRINDER: And the Federation has the technology to give us the water we require? JOHN: Yes. I'm certain of it! All we have to do now is to convince this Anderson of our intentions and stop him from launching that rocket. Dr. Parrinder, where is your base? Were you working from mission control? PARRINDER: No, not at all. Once we had established our credibility with the Space Agency, and planted our own equipment onto the rocket. We returned to Britain to control things from here. JOHN: If we jaunt over there will he listen to us? PARRINDER: I doubt it. He's brought the recall order forward. His team have already headed back to French Guiana to launch Ariane themselves. He's determined to let nothing stand in the way of his triumph, if you can call it that? JOHN: If we're going to face Anderson at Kourou I think we'll need help from TIM. Tell me, are there still operatives guarding our Lab? PARRINDER: Yes. I doubt that they've pulled out yet. JOHN: Will they obey your orders? PARRINDER: I believe so, as long as Anderson hasn't given up on me yet. JOHN: Ok, put on this matter transporter and come with us. Elena, you and Jenny stay here until the coast is clear.
(JAUNTING FX) ANDERSON: Parrinder, what the hell are you doing here? PAUL: He's with us! ANDERSON: Guards shoot them! THERE IS THE SPAT OF A BLASTER. PAUL: John, look out! JAUNTING FX JOHN: I'm not that easy to catch…Stun them, Paul. Fast! WE HEAR THE HOWEL OF A STUN GUN SWEPT AROUND THE ROOM. PAUL: That's taken care of your thugs! WE HEAR ANDERSON LUNGE FORWARD ANDERSON: In that case I'll just have to kill you myself! PAUL: Oh no you don't. I think it's time we lifted you out of harms way. FX AS PAUL LIFTS ANDERSON FROM THE GOUND WITH TK. ANDERSON: Put me down. Put me down at once! JOHN: Not until you agree to listen to us. You believe us to be agents trying to stop your mission to save Enoidia. You've got it all wrong. We're here to help you and the Earth at the same time. We have the technology to give you the water you need without destroying the Earth's biosphere. ANDERSON: Parrinder, you fool. Have you told them everything? PARRINDER: Listen to them, please. They have a way out for us. You can still be the hero of our people. Just not in the way you originally planned. JOHN: Will you listen to us? Delay the countdown and let us explain our plan to help you? PAUL: (TP) You better hurry John. Just look at the monitor? The security guards are cutting their way in!
ANDERSON: Very well, I'll listen to your proposal. But put me, and your weapons, down first. Being held at gunpoint is not conducive to civilised discussion. JOHN: Paul? (FX AS ANDERSON IS LOWERED TO THE GROUND.) JOHN: Good, now we can talk. ANDERSON: (WE HEAR ANDERSON GRAB THE STUN GUN.) You're such a trusting race. No one is going to steal my moment of glory! (THE GUN FIRES) Pity it's only a stun weapon. PARRINDER: You're insane, Anderson. Quite insane! These people came here to help us. ANDERSON: They served their purpose and played right into my hands. By the time the human's have finished blaming these Tomorrow People for the Ariane crash we'll have what we came for and be half way back across the Galaxy. The preparations for my investiture as ruler, of our planet, are almost complete. PARRINDER: You mean, you knew about them? ANDERSON: Every step, of my rise to glory, was planned to perfection. We detected their kind shortly after the crash. Psionic beings presented a real threat to my scheme. We had to find a way to lure them into the open. A way to keep track of their teleporting. And what better bait than the innocence of a child? PARRINDER: My family! You used my family? We used to be friends, but I hardly know you any more… ANDERSON: It really doesn't matter. They're doomed along with the rest of the Homo sapiens. Destined to a painful death from radiation poisoning. PARRINDER: You're prepared to kill an entire planet just to guarantee your place as ruler? I'm not going to let you do it. One way or another I'm stopping the countdown. WE HEAR PARRINDER FLICKING SWITCHES ON THE CONTROL PANEL. Where's the self destruct switch… there's got to be some way to stop that rocket from lifting off! THERE IS THE EXPLOSION OF A STUN GRANADE. SECURITY GUARDS RUN INTO THE ROOM. GUARD: Stop right where you are, or I'll shoot. ANDERSON: I'm sorry to disappoint you but I've got a space ship to catch. THERE IS THE SOUND OF MACHINE GUN FIRE. ANDERSON: (PAINFULLY) You're too late! No one can stop the countdown. I've bypassed the controls. (HE GROANS AND DIES) GUARD: What's going on around here? Who exactly are you people? JOHN: (GROANS AS HE WAKES) Stun guns… always give… headache…. (SUDDENLY ALERT) Anderson? The rocket launch? PARRINDER: Anderson is dead. He set my family and me up as bait to lure you out of hiding. His desire to rule had clouded his judgement so much that he didn't realise the harm he was doing. JOHN: (WITH URGENCY) The launch. We've got to stop the launch! PARRINDER: I'm sorry, John. He's locked out the controls. From now on everything is on remote. PAUL: (GROANS) What hit me? PARRINDER: Here, let me help you up… PAUL: Look! the gantry is retracting. PARRINDER: I've got to get up there…WE HEAR PARRINDER BREAK INTO A RUN JOHN: (SHOUTING AFTER PARRINDER) Where are you going? There's no time. PARRINDER: There's one chance. If I can get on board I can manually override the countdown. You two stay here; explain to the guards what's going on… (BEAT)
ELENA: What's keeping them TIM? It's been ages. TIM: They've only been gone for seventeen minutes. JENNY: Shall I put this in the rack? ELENA: (DISTRACTED) Yes Jenny, it's good of you to help me clean up. (TP) TIM, I'm worried. All they had to do was to convince Anderson to abort the countdown. Have you got the viewer working yet? TIM: Yes, it is operational once again. I've managed to regain contact with Watchdog two. It seems that they were too late. Please look at the screen. WE HEAR THE BLAST OF ROCKET ENGINES. ELENA: (TP) John, Paul, what's going on? TIM's tracking the rocket launch. PAUL: (TP) We had a bit of trouble, Elena. Anderson locked the controls and we couldn't abort the launch. Dr. Parrinder ran on board before we could stop him. ELENA: (TP) He's gone up with the rocket? JOHN: (TP) Yes, and as it's not designed for a human crew I doubt that he could survive for very long. We're about to jaunt up there ourselves to help him. ELENA: (TP) Do you need me? I could leave Jenny with TIM? JOHN: (TP) We can handle things for now. You better not tell Jenny about her father. We'll be in touch just as soon as we can. TIM: I'm afraid Elena, that I have some other bad news to tell you. ELENA: What's happened this time? TIM: I have just intercepted a call to the Kent Fire Service. It seems that your parent's house has caught alight. ELENA: Oh no, Dad's collection! What can I do? Jaunt me over there immediately please. TIM: I fear that it is already too late. The house has been ablaze for many minutes. JENNY: What about George? We have to save George. ELENA: I'll go TIM. You watch over Jenny. Let me know the minute the boys check in. (JAUNTING FX ACROSS NEXT LINE) JENNY: No, Elena. Don't leave me alone… PROLONGED JAUNTING FX ELENA: (BRUSQUELY) That was a very silly thing to do, Jenny. Grabbing hold of someone mid-jaunt. You could have caused… (SOFTENING) oh never mind we're here now. Lets walk around to the back of the house. (BEAT) ELENA: I don't know what all the fuss in about. Things look fine to me. The conservatory is through… THE NOISE OF A FIRE INCREAES AS ELENA OPENS THE DOOR. JENNY: George! We must save George. ELENA: No, Jenny. Don't go in there. (PAUSE) Come back Jenny. We're too late there's nothing we can do! WE HEAR JENNY RUN FURTHER INTO THE ROOM ELENA: Jenny, no! The roof! (JAUNTING FX) JENNY: (SHOUTING ABOVE ROAR OF FLAMES) I can't find George. His tank's all smashed up. He must be around here somewhere. ELENA: (SHOUTING ABOVE ROAR OF FLAMES) We don't have time to find him, the roof's about to give way. WEBSTER: Stay right where you are! ELENA: Who the hell are you? Are you responsible for this? WEBSTER: Anderson gave the order; you people have interfered in our plans once too often! Come, Jenny… come with me, your father is waiting for you at the launch site. JENNY: No he's not! You're lying. You don't care about us. ELENA: (WITH URGENCY) We don't have time to argue, the roof's about to give way. Jenny please listen to me… you must go with him. (TURNING TO WEBSTER) Take the girl save her… FIREFIGHTER 1: Hey you there… where did you come from? This is the Kent fire service. I'm ordering you to get out of there right now! WEBSTER: Damn! the human authorities… It's too late. I must follow my orders. Who ever you are goodbye. WE HEAR THE GLASS ROOF SPLINTER THEN CAVE IN OVERLAYED WITH JAUNTING FX FIREFIGHTER 2: Dave, who are you shouting to? FIREFIGHTER 1: I dunno. There was a man and woman in there, they were arguing over a kid, just before the roof caved in. FIREFIGHTER 2: Are you sure you don't need your eyes tested? There's no one there now… (THERE IS THE BACKGROUND RUMBLE OF ROCKET ENGINES) (JAUNTING FX) PARRINDER: John, Paul. Did the security guard give you any trouble? PAUL: Nothing we couldn't handle. JOHN: Dr. Parrinder, are you having any luck overriding the computer? PARRINDER: No, John. Someone is blocking every change I make. It must be my people using the navigational uplink. THE ROCKET LUNGES SIDEWAYS AND ITS OCCUPANTS BANG AGAINST THE BULKHEAD PAUL: What was that? PARRINDER: Ariane should be entering into her final roll procedure, just before she jettisons the solid fuel boosters. The ride's going to get pretty bumpy from now on. PAUL: There's plenty of time yet. It'll take us hours to reach the sun. JOHN: We might have lots of time but we don't have much air. This crate wasn't built for passengers. At the moment we're breathing the residual oxygen trapped in the compartment. As soon as we leave Earth's atmosphere it's gonna get really claustrophobic in here. PAUL: How long do we have? PARRINDER: About another two minutes at most. Why don't you two jaunt out of here? This is my mess. I'll work at the controls as long as I can. JOHN: Three minds are better than one. There's no need for anyone to teleport until the last drop of air is used up! PAUL: If overriding the computer isn't working maybe we should try another tack? PARRINDER: I'm open to suggestions. PAUL: You said this thing was carrying a nuclear device designed to cause a solar instability? PARRINDER: Yes, that's right. PAUL: If we were to blow it up would it produce dangerous radiation? PARRINDER: Not really. The explosion is specifically designed to react with the sun's hydrogen to produce a massive solar flare. JOHN: I see what Paul's getting at. Why bother to divert the rocket's course when we can just detonate it before it reaches the sun! PARRINDER: It's a good idea in principle but we have no way to cause a premature detonation. PAUL: What about the new nuclear drive system? When is that due to kick into action? PARRINDER: If the ship has just completed the roll manoeuvre I'd calculate about another three minutes. That's two minutes after the air runs out! In order to blow up the new drive we'd have to cause a catastrophic failure of the fuel inlet valves. It would be possible if we could get inside the payload bay. But I'm afraid it's impossible from here. JOHN: We have other hidden talents than matter transportation you know. Paul lets link. Dr. Parrinder, can you please describe exactly what we're looking for? (BEAT) ALARMS START TO TRIP ALL OVER THE SHIP PARRINDER: She's almost up to pressure… It can't be much longer now. PAUL: About time too. The air's getting really thin. ELENA: (CAUGHS) That was close TIM. I think the fireman saw us jaunt too. TIM: It doesn't matter Elena. No one will believe him when no bodies are found in the debris. ELENA: (CAUGHS AGAIN) But the man… TIM: What man? ELENA: An Enoidian. I think he was the one who started the fire. He tried to take Jenny away from me just before the roof collapsed. There was nothing I could do…I didn't have time… He didn't stand a chance. TIM: There is no need to blame yourself, Elena. Jaunting Jenny back without a matter transporter was dangerous enough. How is she, by the way? ELENA: A bit upset. I insisted she lay down for a nap. Is there any word from the others? TIM: No. The last thing I knew was that they had jaunted onto the rocket with Dr. Parrinder and were attempting to override the computer control. ELENA: Surely they can't still be at it? The ships well above the Earth now, there can't be any air left. TIM: That is my concern too, but I cannot raise them telepathically. ELENA: Let me try. (TP) Paul, John, can you hear me? (SWITCHING BACK TO SPEECH) That's funny I get the strongest feeling that they can hear me but are just too focused to respond. I think it's time I went up there to lend a hand. Set the coordinates please. (JAUNTING FX) AS ELENA APPEARS WE ARE AWARE OF THE OTHERS PANTING FOR BREATH. JOHN: Can't talk. Drive due on line in thirty seconds. ELENA: (ALSO GASPING FOR BREATH) From the look of things you've outstayed your welcome. I think Dr. Parrinder is unconscious. PAUL: Can't leave now Elle, got to make the rocket explode when the new drive kicks into action. Must keep concentrating on the fuel inlet valve. ELENA: Why didn't you say that earlier? (TP) TIM, Jaunt us all back immediately. (JAUNTING FX) JOHN: What on Earth did you do that for? We needed to keep the fuel inlet valve open. ELENA: I know John, but why do it from there when you can do it from here? JOHN: You're right! I didn't think. Link everyone. WE HEAR THEM CLIMB UP TO THE LINK TABLE ELENA: Men rarely do! It takes the woman to save the day… THERE IS A HUGE EXPLOSION IN SPACE. TIM: Well done you did it. JENNY: Daddy, Elena, you're back! PARRINDER: Yes, darling. Back to stay. JOHN: TIM, can you arrange for his Excellency Timus Irnok Mosta to pay us a visit please. It's high time we sent the Enodians back home to their own world. TIM: Certainly John, I will call his Excellency right away. (FADE DOWN) INTO THEME |
