December 20, 2067/Page 5 TEASER: FADE IN EXT. SPACE -- A SHOT OF THE EARTH Turning blue and white and beautiful against a starry background. In orbit around the planet is an amazing amount of crap -- off to the right we see the shimmering structure of HALFWAY, the orbital city in which most of the Solar System's manufacturing takes place. We PLAY OVER: STOMP, STOMP, CLAP. STOMP, STOMP, CLAP -- the sounds of an enthusiastic crowd just _loving_ something. EXT. EARTH -- CLOSER SHOT -- ON NORTH AMERICA We're high enough to see most of North America, but the shot is centered on New York State. The STOMP STOMP CLAP continues, and now we hear the voice of REVEREND ANDY, preaching over: REVEREND ANDY (V.O.) ... and the great Swami Dave Leary said to the Prophet Harry ... FX: EXT. MANHATTAN -- AERIAL SHOT -- DAY This is the Manhattan we all know -- tripled. Buildings -- Spacecrapers -- reach up toward the sky, some of them a mile tall. It's a beautiful city, in its way ... REVEREND ANDY (V.O.) ... give up the waiting of tables, and embrace your destiny! FX: EXT. THE BARRIER -- AERIAL SHOT -- DAY We pass out of Manhattan, out over the East River, and onto Long Island -- a huge BARRIER raises up, bisecting Long Island like some latter-day Berlin Wall. REVEREND ANDY (V.O.) For though barriers are thrown in your way, still destiny calls -- FX: EXT. THE FRINGE -- AERIAL SHOT -- DAY Now we see why the Barrier has been raised -- to keep Manhattan safe from this. This isn't a slum, it's a war zone; picture Cabrini Greens, Watts, Bedford-Stuyvesant ... they're Beverly Hills by comparison. Beirut was never this bad. Gangs patrol the streets, families on their way to church are escorted by armed men, we HEAR the distant FLAT CRACK of small arms fire, the SIZZLE of lasers, all as a general background noise, not really alarming anyone -- EXT. TEMPLE OF ERIS -- DAY Armed men stand on the street outside, guarding the building. We see a small family going inside the Temple -- INT. TEMPLE OF ERIS -- DAY About fifty people, a dozen small families, are gathered here. The Temple pews are arranged in a circle, and light streams in through the stained glass windows showing the life of the Prophet Harry, high above them. Standing in the center, preaching, is Reverend Andy. A huge man, 6'9" or thereabouts, preaching like mad -- sweating, grinning. REVEREND ANDY -- destiny calls ... to those who will listen! (beat; still grinning, he speaks to the late family) And to those who can be on time -- there is a power for those who will trust it, a power inside all of us, the power to believe, and through that belief not merely to move mountains, but to raise them up ... INT. A DARK WAREHOUSE -- WIDE ANGLE -- DAY REVEREND ANDY (V.O.) There is no task too large for the brave, no detail too small for the pure of faith -- His voice, and the STOMP STOMP CLAP, fade into a barely perceptible BG NOISE. WE SEE A MAN descending a rope. He hangs in the blackness, dressed in black, with a black hood that covers everything but his eyes. We can HEAR HIS BREATHING -- relaxed, in control. He's descending the rope one-handed, squeezing and releasing a small device attached to the rope to control his rate of descent. The rope is wrapped around his right ankle -- he's only touching the rope in those two places. Abruptly, in mid-air, he flips over like a gymnast, so that now he's facing downward, still touching the rope at just the wrist and ankle. CAMERA PANS DOWN -- QUICK SHOT We see what he sees. Beneath him are two uniformed guards and a small stand. Atop the stand, laid on black velvet, is a blue jewel the size of a robin's egg. We get just a glimpse of it -- WIDE SHOT -- CENTERED ON THE JEWEL CASE The man on the rope is barely visible at the top of the frame. The guards never look up -- In FG two men are talking -- FAT DUDE and THIN DUDE. They're well dressed, in 2067 "business attire." They obscure the glass case behind them. Their voices are difficult to make out -- WE HEAR the booming sound of knocking on sheet metal. EXT. WAREHOUSE -- STREET -- DAY A young redheaded boy about 15 -- BIRD -- is hammering on the sheet metal with a bat. He turns and sprints away down the street, as an aircar -- a limo, really -- lands nearby. ON AIRCAR -- A 40ish man -- RANDALL GETTY CRISTOPHER -- is in the limo's rear seat. He sees Bird sprint by him. INT. WAREHOUSE -- WIDE ANGLE -- DAY Fat Dude and Thin Dude have walked off toward the sound, leaving the bodyguards behind. We get glimpses of the blue jewel. A weapon appears in the hand of the hanging man in black, and he points it at the two uniformed guards. In the gloom, we don't see anything happen -- they fold soundlessly. The rope the man is hanging on dips downward, and he reaches and lifts the jewel off the black velvet -- FX: SIRENS GO OFF LIKE MAD The man in black vanishes back up into the darkness above -- he's not climbing, the rope is being pulled. Thin Dude comes sprinting back toward the stand, spies the two guards down, looks wildly around -- but doesn't look up. TRACKING THE MAN IN BLACK He's barely visible, black in blackness ... he gets pulled up through a black blanket, and light spills down into the room below. LOOKING UPWARD -- FROM THE THIN DUDE'S POV He sees a brief flash of light, far above him. EXT. THE ROOF OF THE WAREHOUSE -- DAY A young, dark-skinned man hauls on the rope. We don't see him clearly, backlit by the bright winter sky. He pulls up steadily on the rope, muscles straining, until the form of the black-clad man has reached the roof; the man in black takes his hood off. NEW ANGLE We see them both clearly for the first time. One of them is TRENT THE UNCATCHABLE, our Hero, a young, handsome blond man. The other is a couple years older, a dark-skinned racial mix: JIMMY RAMIREZ, Trent's adopted brother. JIMMY You get it? TRENT (grins) It's great to be me. Jimmy unhooks the rope, reties it at the edge of the roof, and shimmies over the side. Abruptly the Thin Dude bursts up onto the roof, holding a laser -- THIN DUDE Stop! Thieves! JIMMY Boy, that was fast. TRENT They're not usually that quick. Jimmy continues climbing down the rope. TRACKING SHOT -- TRENT Trent turns and sprints to the other side of the roof, reaches the edge, and leaps without hesitating. He flies over a wide alleyway, comes down atop another roof, keeps running, jumps again -- glances back -- THIN DUDE -- IN PURSUIT He's not far behind Trent. ON TRENT Trent's shocked by this. He hits the edge of the next roof, drops over the edge and climbs down a drain pipe to the alleyway. He hits the ground running ... and now he runs fast, like a human greyhound. He turns a corner, turns another corner, ducks through a building, into another building, into another -- INT. TEMPLE OF ERIS -- DAY Trent bursts through the open doors, and into the Temple where Reverend Andy is preaching. He slows for only a second -- but it's enough. Right behind him, the Thin Dude charges through the door, weapon in hand, and screams at the Temple full of people, but mostly at Trent: THIN DUDE Nobody move! REVERSE ANGLE -- FAVORING TRENT He's got a weapon of his own. A big, nasty-looking gun, he shot the security guards with it. (We won't even wonder about where he was hiding it during all this. Wherever it was, that's where the blue rock is now.) He and the Thin Dude have each other in a Mexican standoff, amidst the shocked crowd -- END OF TEASER