Arcade

ALEX'S ROOM

is her haven, a virtual library, filled with books which she loses herself
in.  They're stacked everywhere.

And puzzles too.  Half-assembled jig-saws.  Intricate things.  An Escher
print.  The descendants of Rubik's Cube. Boxes within boxes.  This is
Alex's life, what she retreats to.

A PHOTO

of Alex and her MOTHER sits by her bed, neglected and collecting dust.
We'll see her later.

CANDLES

or what's left of them, have dripped and spread across her night table.

ALEX

sits at the foot of her bed, facing her television. Slowly, she draws on
the CyberGloves, testing her fingers. Next, she pulls on the goggles.
Instead of a control panel, the home version has a control box, complete
with joy-stick and a mini "ESCAPE" button.

Alex fingers the "START" button on top of the joy-stick.

THE SCREEN

goes black, black with intermittent sparks.  And the BREATHING begins.

ARCADE'S FACE

appears in the black, a pin-point at first, spinning round and round and
growing larger.  It comes to a rest, eyes glowing.

    ARCADE
   (malevolent)
  HELLO, ALEX.

Alex jumps back, dropping the control box.  ARCADE continues to BREATHE.

    ALEX
  How ...

A thing BEAM OF LIGHT shoots from the ARCADE terminal, playing over Alex's
face.

    ARCADE
  KISS REALITY GOODBYE.

ON SCREEN

ARCADE'S face spins away, to be replaced by a pixel-rendered image of
Alex, dressed in battle gear.

Video Alex sets her thrasher on the ground and mounts it.

    ALEX
   (both frightened and
   fascinated)
  Where's Greg?

And from the screen...

    ARCADE
  IN HERE, OF COURSE.

ON SCREEN,

the vortex of light EXPLODES around video Alex, twisting reality.  And
Alex is spinning round and round, plummeting towards...

THE CIRCUIT GRID

beneath her, a world of geometric shapes and light and... The words:
 "LEVEL ONE"  flash across the screen and we...

        CUT TO:

EXT. LEVEL ONE, THE PLAINS -- DAY

Alex SLAMS into the ground, splashing up water and smoke alike.
We are inside ARCADE now, experiencing what Alex experiences.

THE PLAINS --

In many respects it looks like Earth.  Land, water, sky... Yet certain
things are off.  Small things, like the color of light, a sluggish
smoke-filled RED, or the occasional FLICKER OF LIGHTNING which races
beneath the cloud cover above.

ALEX

pulls herself up from the muck, brushing dirt and water from her face.
She coughs, totally disoriented.  Looks around.

Looks at herself.  She's wearing...

BATTLE GEAR

This is the real thing, as opposed to the cartoon version we saw Nick
wearing when he played the game before.  It's a cross between a
skateboarder's protective guardpads and full-blown armor.  A helmet rests
on her head, with a visor raised up.

Alex glances down and sees a thrasher board resting next to her.  (Note:
Depending on the terrain of each level, the thrasher board will adjust
itself...working as a skateboard, snowboard, or hover board).

ON ALEX'S RIGHT CYBERGLOVE

is an LED display.  In the upper left-hand corner it says "LEVEL ONE".  To
the right, two pulsing bars of light labeled "TIME ELAPSED" and
"STRENGTH".

At this very moment, the "TIME ELAPSED" bar is just shrinking away to
nothing.

BLINK!  Now it's gone.

No rest for the weary.

A SHRIEK/SONIC BOOM

is immediately heard on the horizon, and it's the most god-awful noise
we've ever heard.  It fills up the world.

ALEX

jerks her head up, terrified.

    ALEX
   (to herself, remembering)
  Screamer.

All around her, the world begins to vibrate...

SOMETHING

is rushing towards her now at an unbelievable speed.  The SHRIEK/SONIC
BOOM is deafening.  The world is shaking apart.

And suddenly the thing is upon her!

Alex SCREAMS.

        CUT TO:

INT.  ALEX'S ROOM - NIGHT

Alex flies back from the t.v. screen, violently ripping the goggles and
CyberGloves off.  But the SHRIEK is continuing and then she realizes
that...

The phone is RINGING.

Alex stops shaking.  The phone continues to RING.  She's back in her room.
Everything's fine.  Normal.

She glances at the game.

ON SCREEN

we see the black again, black with sparks racing past. Benign.

Alex reaches over and picks up the phone, all the while keeping her eyes
glued to the screen.

    ALEX
   (dry-mouthed)
  Hello?

    NICK (O.S.)
   (filtered)
  Hey, kid.

Alex clutches the phone, still shaking.

    ALEX
  Nick...

    NICK  (O.S.)
   (filtered)
  Have you played the game yet?  It's
  incredible!  I was just...

    ALEX
   (cutting him off)
  Listen to me!  Greg never came home. I think
  the game has something to do with it.

    NICK (O.S.)
   (filtered)
  What the hell are you talking about?

Alex continues to watch the television screen, almost mesmerized by the
flickering sparks.  Her eyes begin to glaze over...

    NICK (O.S.)
   (filtered)
  You there?  Hello?

Alex snaps out of it, tearing her gaze from the screen

    ALEX
  I have to talk to you.

    NICK (O.S.)
   (filtered)
  We are talking...

    ALEX
  No, in person.  Now.

    NICK (O.S.)
   (filtered)
  It's twelve-thirty!

    ALEX
  I'm coming over.

Alex quickly hangs up the phone and moves back to the television.  She
reaches for the control box and hits the "OFF" switch.

Nothing happens.  Sparks continue to shoot across the screen.

Alex tries it again.  Same result.

    ALEX
  Shit...

Again and again she hits the button, but nothing is happening.

Alex reaches behind the t.v., grabs hold of the electrical cords, and
YANKS.

The fucking cord won't come out!

And then she hears it, an ELECTRONIC WHISPER, both seductive and horrific.

    ARCADE
  ALEX...

With all her might, Alex pulls on the cords. POP!  They fling out of the
t.v. and the screen goes dead.

Alex sits back against the wall for a moment, catching her breath and
trying to calm the rising hysteria within her.

    ALEX
   (to herself)
  Okay...don't think about it...
   (deep breath)
  Okay.

Alex stands up, grabbing her coat off the bed.

INT.  MANNING HOUSE, LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

Alex comes down the stairs, heading for the front door. Only she stops for
a moment...noticing the LIGHT.

ON THE COUCH,

her father is once again bathed in the blue light of the television.
STATIC WHISPERS, the same as before, are coming from the set.

Alex looks at her father.  He hasn't moved.  And yet, the t.v. is on once
again.

THE SCREEN

Blue static.  Unexceptional.  And a face?  Someone in the static?

Alex draws closer to the screen.  She can hear SOMETHING now, other than
static whispers.  Sounds kind of like a VOICE...

THE SCREEN

A definite, ghostly FACE is there.  It turns, looks at Alex (us) and it's
Greg.

    GREG
   (on screen, strange)
  Alex...

Alex jerks and SNAPS off the t.v., spooked as hell.  She stands in the
darkness and all but runs out of the house.

        CUT TO:

EXT.  MANNING HOUSE - NIGHT

Alex races to the Skylark and fumbles with the keys. Finally she gets it
right, guns the gas, and rips out of the driveway.

A STREETLIGHT

above is FLICKERING wildly.  Sputtering, HUMMING, casting strange shadows
across the street.

        CUT TO:

EXT.  NICK DRAKE'S HOUSE - NIGHT

Alex has climbed up to the roof, using a wood pile stacked beside the
house as a boost.  Now she creeps towards a second-story window.

Behind her on the street (and this should be subtle, folks), another
STREETLIGHT is flickering.

WINDOW

It looks in on Nick's room.  Alex draws close and TAPS on the glass.

Nick appears immediately, grinning like an idiot.  He raises the window.

    NICK
  Alex, you don't know how long I've waited
  for this.

    ALEX
  Funny.

Alex climbs in.

INT.  NICK'S ROOM -- NIGHT

The room is an intricate shrine to Nick's obsession...computers and
computer-generated images.  An entire wall is covered with a collage of
cut-out pictures from magazines.  On his shelves are miniature
armatures...flexible models of human musculature.

And of course, there is Nick's computer set-up.

Even as Alex climbs down onto Nick's bed, she notices that his computer is
up and running...connected to the ARCADE home version.

    ALEX
  What's that?

Nick turns back to the computer monitor.

FRACTALS

(as seen earlier) are blossoming on the screen.

    NICK
  Isn't it amazing?  It's a sort of rest
  position in the game, when you're between
  levels.

Nick pulls Alex closer.  She's wary.  But Nick is suitably impressed,
excited even.

    NICK
   (continuing)
  They're fractals.  Visual representations
  of mathematic equations.  The game is
  totally brilliant.  I mean, look at it,
  it's like a DNA molecule or something...

And in truth, the fractals are beautiful.

Alex turns back to Nick.  And for the first time, Nick stops grinning.
It's clear that Alex is upset.

    ALEX
  Something weird's happening.

Nick sits down on his bed.

    NICK
  What do you mean by "weird"?

    ALEX
  Greg never came home.  A few hours is one
  thing, Nick, but this is different.
  Something's happened to him.

Alex glances at the computer monitor again.  On the lower right-hand side
is a little pulsing GREEN light, on and off, on and off, like a heartbeat.

    ALEX
  Can you turn off the game?

    NICK
  I'm in the middle of it...

    ALEX
   (upset)
  Turn if off!

Nick is taken aback, but he rises and turns off the computer all the same.

And this time, the game stays off.  Nick comes back to the bed.

    NICK
  Happy?

    ALEX
  No.
   (frustrated)
  Look, I know you're not going to believe me,
  but listen anyway...
   (carefully)
  I think the game's alive somehow.

The look on Nick's face says it all.  He moves to speak and she stops him.

    ALEX
   (continuing)
  No, wait.  Just listen.  I hooked it up
  earlier tonight, and it said my name.  As
  soon as I turned it on, Nick.  It said my
  name.  How could it know?  And then, I
  asked it where Greg was, and it said, "In
  here".

    NICK
  Alex, I think you're freaking out. Greg's
  gone, I'll give you that.  And maybe he's
  in trouble.  But it's not ARCADE that's
  doing it...

    ALEX
   (insistent)
  It is.

    NICK
  How?!  It's a machine, Alex. Machine's
  don't think.  They're not alive.  It's a
  good program, a brilliant program, it was
  designed so it would act as if it were
  alive, but it's not alive.

    ALEX
  So how did it know my name, then?

    NICK
   (shrugs)
  You imagined it.

Alex is furious.  She rises and begins pacing back and forth, voice
growing louder.  She draws in close.

    ALEX
  See, men always do this.  "Quiet down,
  honey.  Chill out.  Take a Valium". I'm not
  a fucking idiot, Nick!
   (screaming)
  I DID NOT IMAGINE IT!!!

    NICK
   (a strained whisper)
  Quiet.  I do have parents, you know.

Alex spins around and points at the computer monitor.

    ALEX
  There!

THE MONITOR

ARCADE is back on again, fractals unfolding and green monitor light
blinking.

ON NICK

Okay.  Alright.  This does throw him for a second.

    ALEX
  It turned itself back on, Nick.

    NICK
  No it didn't.  It's just a faulty relay or
  something.  It happens.