Making History

MAKING HISTORY

47° 13’ N 10° 52’ E

FADE IN:

EXT. MICHAEL ’ S HOUSE — NIGHT

Establishing shot of the Newnham house. All the lights are on. An owl hoots. A thumping, scrabbling SOUND is heard inside.

CUT TO:

INT. MICHAEL’S HOUSE, BEDROOM — NIGHT

Inside the house MICHAEL is in the bedroom, looking under the bed. He talks to himself.

MICHAEL: Come on baby…I know you’re here somewhere.

He moves to the wardrobe and opens it. It is empty. He searches on the floor.

MICHAEL: Come on!

He slaps his thigh in frustration as he stands. He checks the top of the wardrobe. Nothing.

He moves to the bathroom.

CUT TO:

INT. MICHAEL’S HOUSE, BATHROOM — NIGHT

MICHAEL flings open the bathroom cabinet above the wash basin.

He has been rather too violent. All the contents of the cabinet tumble out. Shaving-cream, toothpaste, toothbrushes, tubes of ointment, bottles of pills.

MICHAEL: (yelling furiously) Arse! Pants! Double pants!

He scrabbles all the things together and tries to cram them back in. This doesn’t work well.

MICHAEL: Panty arse-fuck!

He snatches at a razor, cutting his hand as it closes around it. MICHAEL sucks at the blood, enraged.

MICHAEL: Jesus-ing bollock-pants…

He stamps through to the kitchen muttering.

MICHAEL: Arsey pant-pant bollocky damn.

CUT TO:

INT. MICHAEL’S HOUSE, KITCHEN — NIGHT

MICHAEL runs his hand under the tap and goes moodily to the central table.

On the kitchen table his wallet lies open. The contents are spread out. Some money, credit cards, driving licence, scraps of paper.

MICHAEL sits moodily at the table and goes through these items. He puts his fingers in the wallet and checks each corner of each compartment.

MICHAEL: (muttering to himself) Somewhere safe! That’s a joke.

He puts his head in his hands and rocks backwards and forwards in misery.

MICHAEL (as Olivier in Marathon Man): Is it safe? Is it safe? (as Hoffman in the same film)

Sure it’s safe. It’s so safe you wouldn’t believe.

He howls at himself furiously.

MICHAEL: You moron. You arsehole. You couldn’t be trusted to keep a…a…cold, could you? WHY? Why the fuck couldn’t I just…

SUDDENLY, he raises his head…

MICHAEL: Hey!

A smile grows.

MICHAEL: Yeah…

It becomes a beam.

MICHAEL: Why the fuck not?

He stands up and runs to the study.

CUT TO:

INT. MICHAEL’S HOUSE, STUDY — NIGHT

MICHAEL goes, not to his half of the study, but to Jane’s. There are the boxes still, neatly labelled, ready to be sent on.

MICHAEL: She won’t have remembered it. She won’t have remembered. She can’t have remembered…

He opens the bottom drawer of Jane’s desk and feels towards the end.

MICHAEL: (mimicking Jane) ‘Always keep a spare’…I always keep a spare’…

His hand finds something.

MICHAEL: Yes!

His hand comes out bearing…A dusty CREDIT CARD. MICHAEL blows on it. CLOSE on the card.

Not a credit card, but some sort of I.D. There is a photo of Jane on it, looking severe.

MICHAEL kisses the card, and runs his finger along its magnetic strip.

MICHAEL: Bitch. Sow. Cow. Darling. Mwah!

CUT TO:

EXT. GENETICS LAB — NIGHT

MICHAEL, in black polo-neck, black trousers and black gloves, leaps somewhat unconvincingly from bush to bush outside the laboratory.

He gazes at the building. The lobby is lit, but there are no other discernible lights.

MICHAEL looks at his wristwatch.

MICHAEL: Pants.

He hops out from behind a bush and walks towards the glass doors, more or less confidently.

We see beside the main door a security lock, with a slit for swiping cards.

MICHAEL takes up the card, swallows twice and slides the card through.

A red light turns to green and we hear a satisfying CLUNK.

MICHAEL pushes open the door and goes in.

CUT TO:

INT. GENETICS LAB, LOBBY — NIGHT

MICHAEL pads quietly across the lobby towards the lifts. He looks left towards a reception desk. There is no one there. Everything is eerily quiet.

MICHAEL presses an elevator button and the doors sweep open.

He swallows nervously, enters the lift and the doors close behind him.

CUT TO:

INT. GENETICS LAB, THIRD FLOOR — NIGHT

A silent passageway, barely lit. PING!

Light floods in as the elevator doors open and MICHAEL emerges, looking nervously left and right.

He feels his way along the corridor until he comes to a door he knows.

He peers at the security lock and slides down his card once more.

Another satisfying clunk!

He steps into the room and turns on the lights.

MICHAEL: All right…!

CUT TO:

INT. GENETICS LABS, JANE’S LAB — NIGHT

LIGHT flicks on from overhead fluorescent strips as MICHAEL steps into the centre of the room.

He is on familiar ground here. He stares around for a moment, accustoming himself to the glare of the tube lighting.

He moves forwards to the bench.

MICHAEL: Now. Where are you my beauties? Don’t say.

He stares at a corner of the bench which is empty. His hand strokes the bare surface.

MICHAEL: No. No, that would be…stay calm, kid. Always calm.

He stands back, trying to keep a lid on his mounting fears. He looks at the bench, as do we…

Deep sinks with rubber-hosed faucets. Electrical equipment. Centrifuges. Racks of test-tubes. Below and above the benches, there are cupboards, like in a fitted kitchen.

MICHAEL takes a deep breath and goes to a cupboard. He pulls it open.

CLOSE on MICHAEL’S face.

We look at the cupboard…

EMPTY

MICHAEL: Arse.

He opens another cupboard…EMPTY

MICHAEL: Pants.

And another…EMPTY

MICHAEL: Double-arse.

Another…

EMPTY

MICHAEL: Double-pants.

Yet another…

FULL.

What was that? MICHAEL’S brows shoot up.

Yes! Full!

The cupboard is filled with large glass jars. One of them contains orange pills. We have seen these before. Scarcely able to breathe in case this is all a mirage, MICHAEL leans forward and takes up the glass jar of pills.

He sets it down on the bench tenderly, opens it and takes out a handful of pills.

He stares at them, breathes a deep sigh and begins to fill his pockets.

CUT TO:

INT. GENETICS LAB, GROUND FLOOR LOBBY -NIGHT

The lift doors open and MICHAEL steps out. He crosses the lobby and is just about to open the door and leave when.

A SOUND.

MICHAEL pricks his ears.

We HEAR a strange muffled HOWLING. MICHAEL turns and looks down the corridor, frowning in puzzlement.

Intrigued, MICHAEL pads along the corridor. The HOWLING sound grows.

He stops outside a door. It is mostly wooden, but there is a vertical strip of glass. MICHAEL presses his eyes to it.

From MICHAEL’ s POV we look in as well. Dimly lit, we make out CAGES.

Inside the cages there are DOGS. The cutest puppies you’ve ever seen, nosing softly and sadly against their steel bars.

MICHAEL (whispering): Hey there, pups!

The HOWLING grows, the cages begin to rock.

MICHAEL: Sh! Hey guys…shush, okay?

MICHAEL feels for his security card and swipes it through. He steps in.

CUT TO:

INT. GENETICS LABS, ANIMAL TESTING ROOM -NIGHT

MICHAEL switches on the lights and surveys the room. All around him are cages filled with puppies.

The whimpering, scrabbling and howling has grown to horrific proportions.

MICHAEL (nervously): Hi there fellers…shush, now.

The sound grows even louder.

MICHAEL: You puppies…me Pup. Glad to know you.

More scrabbling and howling.

MICHAEL: Listen, I can’t set you free. You’re too young. You’d die. Believe me. It’d be cruel. I’m sorry.

DIFFERENT ANGLES on the puppies. Somehow they begin to look almost sinister. Huge, malevolent. The noise swells, the cages rock.

It looks as if the locks might give way.

MICHAEL backs away, scared. He leaves the room and shuts the door behind him.

CUT TO:

EXT. GENETICS LAB — NIGHT

CUT TO:

EXT. MADINGLEY ROAD — NIGHT

MUSIC: MICHAEL is bicycling along at top speed. He leans round a corner and down the drive towards the Cavendish laboratories.

He thrashes along to the car-park and to the front of the building, where LEO is waiting outside, carrying a portable computer bag and looking a little impatient. MICHAEL dismounts and lets his bicycle drop where it is.

LEO: Any later and we would have missed the satellite.

Sorry.

MICHAEL (panting):: I had to.

MICHAEL runs from the building, the howling of the puppies still echoing in his ears.

LEO: Never mind. You’re here. Let’s go.

LEO turns to the door of the building. MICHAEL takes his briefcase from the rear of his fallen bike and follows.

MICHAEL: (under his breath) Jawohl, me in Hauptmann! Schnell, schnell!

CUT TO:

INT. SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS ROOM — NIGHT

LEO has set up the machinery. TIM is plugged in. Cables and flat cords fan out from its rear.

We notice that a dymoed label saying ‘T.I.M. ’ has been fixed above the screen.

MICHAEL: I lost the pill. Can you believe it? I was sure I’d put it somewhere safe, but I’d lost the sucker. Had to go and get some more. That’s why I was late.

LEO: (concentrating on what he is doing) You lost it?

MICHAEL empties his pockets. There are at least thirty of the pills.

MICHAEL: It’s okay, I got all these now. Maybe it’s no bad thing. I mean would one have been enough? We don’t really know anything about these suckers, do we?

LEO looks at the pills.

LEO: True.

MICHAEL: How many, do you reckon?

LEO: We’ll see. We cannot even be sure if Alois will drink.

MICHAEL: Sure he’ll drink. Think of his hangovers in the mornings. All he will want to do is drink gallons and gallons of water.

LEO: Such is our hope. Now, if you please. The coordinates.

MICHAEL opens his briefcase and consults his notes. He calls out the coordinates.

MICHAEL: Forty-seven degrees, thirteen minutes, twenty-eight seconds north, ten degrees, fifty-two minutes, thirty-one seconds east.

LEO goes to the satellite communications desk and inputs these figures as they are called out.

We see the TV monitor picture from one of the satellites change its attitude and angle on the earth. A caption beneath reads: 47° 13’ 28” N, 10° 52’ 31” E

LEO: Check.

LEO goes to TIM and takes a cable which he jacks into a socket that emerges from the satellite comms desk.

LEO goes to TIM and switches it on. There is a small flash of light, but no image.

LEO: Now. The dates.

MICHAEL: We agreed on June 1888.

LEO: All right. Let us say 1st June 1888.

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, 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 (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…

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 diving 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