PLASTIC MAN

She hears the TOILET FLUSH, looks at it, wiggles the

handle.

INT.  SUSAN'S ROOM

Susan is moving around the room, thinking.

In her gloved hands is the glass beaker which she is

wringing nervously, wadding, crinkling, and pulling at it

so intensely it sounds like popping bubble wrap.

She looks at the windows and at the black steel bars

outside.

We RISE ABOVE her, MOVING TOWARD the chandelier, TOWARD

the single light bulb that is apparently burned out.

Until we can SEE INTO the grayish glass and FIND the tip

of the fiber optic cable.

INT.  SECURITY BOOTH - CLOSE ON MONITOR

as if looking through a window down into Susan's room.

                         SIM (O.S.)

          Ubi... Ubiqu... Ubiqu...

WIDER ANGLE

Sim is reading from a dictionary.

                         SIM

          Ubiquitous.  Present, or seeming to

          be present, everywhere at the same

          time; omnipresent.

He looks up.

                         SIM

          I like that.

INT.  PIPES

O'Brien zips through the intersecting, elbowing maze of

pipes.

INT.  BATHROOM

Another toilet seat peeks open.  The room is empty.

O'Brien climbs out.

He grabs a towel, drying himself as he quietly cracks open

the door.

When he sees Susan at the desk he can't believe his luck.

                         O'BRIEN

          Susan!

She nearly jumps out of her skin.

                         SUSAN

          Daniel!

They rush to each other's arms.

                         SUSAN

          I don't believe it.  You're here!

          Oh thank God.

                         O'BRIEN

          You didn't think I could just leave

          you?

                         SUSAN

          I didn't know what was going to

          happen.  I was just so worried

          something was going to happen to

          you.

                         O'BRIEN

          What could happen?  I'm the plastic

          man, remember?

She remembers Argon.

                         SUSAN

          Oh no!  Argon!  We have to stop him

          before he uses the nanobot!  We have

          to get the nanobot!

                         O'BRIEN

          Where is it?

                         SUSAN

          Argon's private lab.

                         O'BRIEN

          Let's go.

They start for the door when Susan whispers.

                         SUSAN

          Wait.  There's a guard.

O'Brien almost laughs.

                         O'BRIEN

          He'll never know what hit him.

He grabs the handle and throws open the door.

Susan can't see what he sees, but she knows by his

reaction, it's not good.

                         SIM

          Savior-faire is everywhere.

O'Brien backs up into the room, pushed by a very large

gun.

                         SIM

          I am Mr. Ubiquitous, ain't I

          O'Brien?

Doby enters behind Sim with several heavily-armed guards.

                         SIM

          You know what ubiquitous means,

          don't you?  It means here we go

          again.

Sim laughs very loudly as Argon wheels in, Poppy at his

side.

                         ARGON

          Welcome to my home, Mr. O'Brien.  As

          you can see we've been expecting

          you.

Sim laughs again.

                         O'BRIEN

          This is wonderfully accommodating of

          you all.  Now I won't have to come

          looking for you.

                         SIM

          You were looking for us?

                         O'BRIEN

          Yeah, I have something I've been

          meaning to give you.

                         SIM

          Yeah, and what might that be?

                         O'BRIEN

          An ass-beating.  Would you like

          yours first, Mr. Sim?

Sim cocks his gun and now O'Brien smiles.

                         SIM

          Just try it!  Come on!  Do

          something.  Move.  Anything.

          Anything!  Just twitch, blink, I

          dare you!  I double dare you!

O'Brien becomes completely rigid, frozen like a smiling

mannequin.

Sim doesn't know what to do.  He looks around the room

when --

O'Brien's tongue lashes out like a frog's, and snatches

the gun.

                         SIM

          That's disgusting.

O'Brien levels the gun at Argon and everyone reacts.

                         O'BRIEN

          I should kill you right now for what

          you did to me!

                         ARGON

          Maybe you should, but you can't.

Susan screams as Doby grabs her and pins a gun to her

head.

                         SUSAN

          Run, Daniel!  Get out of here!

                         O'BRIEN

          I'm not leaving without you, Susan!

                         ARGON

          You don't have to leave, Mr.

          O'Brien.  We've prepared a wonderful

          room for you.  I think you'll find

          it quite comfortable, so

          comfortable, in fact, I doubt you'll

          ever want to leave.

As he speaks they all pull out white oxygen masks.

                         ARGON

          Gardener!

The Gardener appears, sprayer in hand and rushes straight

at O'Brien, aiming the nozzle into his face.

O'Brien tries to back away, to find air but the nozzle is

everywhere pumping a mist that envelops both of them.

Coughing, choking, unable to breathe, the gas begins to

take effect.  O'Brien collapses, the gas-masked figure

standing over the soft rubbery head.

                         SUSAN

          Nooo!

Poppy and Argon exchange quiet smiles.

                         SUSAN

          What are you going to do to him?

                         ARGON

          Do?  Well, I suppose that depends on

          you.

She knows what he wants and her head drops.

INT.  CONSERVATORY

The Gardener adjusts several gas tank valves and we FOLLOW

the feed lines UP TO the top where the humidifier blower

breathes into the sealed cell.

The gasses drift down to the bottom where we see the

supple red puddle of O'Brien.

Floating on the edge of consciousness, O'Brien lifts his

head.  Outside the curved Plexiglas he sees warped faces

staring at him.

                         O'BRIEN

          ... Susa...

His eyes roll and his head pitches forward, slapping and

flattening out against the plexi.

Dr. Bright touches the glass.

                         SUSAN

          What did you use?

                         ARGON

          A light mixture of oxygen, dioxide,

          and sodium pentothal.  He'll sleep,

          that's all.

She takes a last look at him, then steadies herself as she

turns to Argon.

                         SUSAN

          I give you the design, you let us

          both go.  That's the deal.

Argon nods.

INT.  ARGON'S PRIVATE LAB

Makeo and Nebbleman watch as the new assembler tank

finishes its test run.

The tank looks like a cross between a Giger Sarcophagi and

a dry cleaning machine.

The motors and pumps suddenly stop as the lab grows quiet.

                         NEBBLEMAN

          ... it's ready.

INT.  SUSAN'S ROOM

Susan is at the desk, her jaw set, her face blank, in a

kind of analytical trance.

INT.  SECURITY BOOTH

Sim and Doby are alone at the control center.

Sim is trying to concentrate on Susan with the same

intensity that she is concentrating with.

He fails.

                         SIM

          You know why I hate smart women?

Doby says nothing.

                         SIM

          They're always thinking but you

          never know what they're thinking.

INT.  SUSAN'S ROOM

Suddenly she walks to the far wall and turns out the

light.

INT.  SECURITY BOOTH

The monitor goes dark.

                         SIM

          Why'd she do that?

INT.  SUSAN'S ROOM

In the dark, she takes her chair and wedges it under the

door handle.  She puts on the protective gloves.

                         SUSAN

          All right, Argon.  You want a fight,

          you got one.

Then throws open the freezer unit.

INT.  CONSERVATORY

In a drugged haze, O'Brien searches the edges of his

prison.

His head and limbs move with a strange fluidity, rising

and falling like the molten blebs of a lava lamp.

His fingers find the gas line opening in the blower.

Taking a deep breath, he sticks his arm into the tiny hole

and pulls himself up inside.

We FOLLOW the coils of copper tubing DOWN INTO the

different tanks of gas.

We hear the "TINK, TINK" as he pounds against the metal

canisters.

Unable to hold his breath, he rises through the gas-feeds,

back to the opening where he emerges like a giant red

droplet of water --

Falling and splashing back into his cell.

INT.  POPPY'S BEDROOM

Poppy is helping Argon undress.

                         ARGON

          Can you feel it, Poppy?  The

          presence of the moment?  Can you

          feel the weight of its significance?

                         POPPY

          Oh yes, Icky.  I can feel it.

                         ARGON

          This is what my entire life has been

          directed at, this moment, this

          threshold.

                         POPPY

          Okay, arms up, lean forward.

He leans over her shoulder and she holds him up while she

takes his pants off.

                         ARGON

          I stand on the verge of man's

          greatest triumph over the forces of

          nature!

Pants down, she sets him back into the chair.

                         ARGON

          Gently, gently.  My metamorphosis

          will be more than a simple

          transformation.

She pulls his feet free of each pant leg.

                         ARGON

          It will be an ascension.

                         POPPY

          I'm so excited, Icarus.

She stands helping him with his robe.

                         POPPY

          I was wondering if you'd finished

          considering?

                         ARGON

          Considering what?

                         POPPY

          What I asked you earlier?

He realizes what she is talking about.

                         ARGON

          Poppy, please --

                         POPPY

          If you loved me like I loved you?

                         ARGON

          Poppy, this is not the time!

There is a KNOCK on the door.

                         ARGON

          Yes?

Dr. Makeo enters.

                         MAKEO

          We are ready for you, sir.

INT.  HALL

Sim, Doby and several security guards are outside Dr.

Bright's room.

                         SIM

          Dr. Bright.  This isn't doing anyone

          any good.

He knocks, yelling at the door.

                         SIM

          This ain't very cooperative

          behavior!  I'm going to tell Dr.

          Argon that you ain't cooperating!