Arcade

The word reverberates through the room and HUMMING has become a ROAR
around them.  An ELECTRICAL storm.

OUTLETS

around the room are crackling with energy, spitting out SPARKS.

    ARCADE
  COME INSIDE.  I ONLY WANT TO PLAY.

Alex drops the remote, stunned.

    ALEX
  Oh God...  He's in the cable system! He's
  out of the game!

Nick's eyes find the cable wire extending from the wall and into the t.v.
Sure enough, SPARKS are crackling down that wire and into the wall.

ARCADE LAUGHS and it's the most awful sound we've ever heard.

LAURIE

is convulsing now, and tiny SPARKS are racing around her eyes.

Alex sees her and SCREAMS, clutching her hands to her ears in an attempt
to block out the deafening ROAR.

NICK

moves without thinking, picking up a nearby chair and SLAMMING it into the
television.  It EXPLODES glass, sparks, and smoke.

The HUMMING stops altogether, quiet now.  And then, from everywhere at
once...

    ARCADE
  SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE.

With a final ROAR, the energy behind the walls whips around and around,
then rushes away.

OUTSIDE,

Nick catches a quick glimpse of SPARKS racing across the telephone wires
suspended above the back yard.

Total silence for a moment.  Alex and Nick are too stunned to speak.  Then
Alex looks at Laurie.

LAURIE

lies on the ground, unconscious.  Glass scattered all around her.

    ALEX
  Laurie...

Alex drops to her side, trying to find a pulse...anything.

    NICK
  Is she breathing?

Alex nods.

    NICK
  Then leave her.

    ALEX
  We can't...

    NICK
  We'll call 911.  Look around Alex.  We broke
  in, smashed the t.v., no one's going to
  believe what happened here!

Alex glances around.  The room is a mess.  All the outlet are singed.  And
now she notices that everything electronic...t.v., clock, thermostat...all
of them have exploded open.

    NICK
   (continuing)
  I believe you now.  I don't know what the
  fuck just happened, but it did. Now let's
  get the hell out of here.

Alex slowly rises, reluctant to leave Laurie's side.

    ALEX
  Where do we go?

    NICK
  My house.  I want to try something.

        CUT TO:

EXT.  NICK'S HOUSE -- DAY

As Alex and Nick pull up, the streetlights BUZZ on and off even though
it's still daylight.  This doesn't escape Nick's notice.

Alex parks the car and the two of them jump out.

    NICK
  Around back.

EXT. NICK'S BACKYARD -- DAY

Nick leads Alex to a cellar door and down inside.

INT. NICK'S CELLAR -- DAY

Rear the doorway is an old, paint-caked fuse box.  Nick pries it open and
begins unscrewing fuses.

    NICK
  I'm not taking any chances.

Nick steps back.

    NICK
  Okay.  I'm going inside.  If I'm not back
  out in, say, two minutes, you get the hell
  out of here.

Alex nods.  She lifts her digital watch up and sets her timer with a BEEP.

    ALEX
  Meet you by the car.

        CUT TO:

EXT.  NICK'S HOUSE -- DAY

Alex sits on the hood of the Skylark watching the streetlight above with a
wary eye.  She glances at her watch.  About a minute and a half has
elapsed and...

Here's Nick now, carrying a lap-top computer and a modem hook-up.  Nick
sets the equipment in the back seat.

    NICK
  We need to find a pay-phone.

        CUT TO:

EXT.  SHOPPING MALL, PAY-PHONE -- DAY

Nick sets up his lab-top inside the phone booth as Alex watches.  He hooks
up the modem to the phone receiver and turns the machine on.

THE SMALL SCREEN

warms up, and in black and white, we see the same FRACTALS. Nick flips off
the lap-top and sighs.

    NICK
  That's what I thought.

    ALEX
  What?

    NICK
  It's not just the cable system.  It's in
  the phone system as well, the electronic
  net.  It's everywhere.

    ALEX
  Nick, what is it.

    NICK
  Maybe it is alive in a way...some sort of
  electronic intelligence.  It's like a
  computer virus that developed a personality
  or something.  It's self-replicating...it
  mimics life.

    ALEX
  Like the fractals?

Nick nods.  He grabs his skateboard out of the back seat and sits on the
curb, spinning a wheel with his finger.  He stares at the wheel a moment.

    NICK
  It's growing.  Getting stronger. Maybe it's
  only localized now...

    ALEX
   (catching his drift)
  ...but then it hits the relay stations...

    NICK
  Right.  And then communication satellites,
  and then anywhere.

Alex looks up into the sky despite herself.

    ALEX
   (disbelief)
  Anywhere.
   (beat)
  We have to stop it from getting out.

    NICK
   (shakes his head)
  It's already out.

    ALEX
  The Police, then...

    NICK
  Give me a break, Alex.  What are we going
  to tell them?  Excuse me, officer, but
  there's some sort of electronic monster
  loose in the phone lines.  I'd think twice
  about calling any of those 976 numbers...

    ALEX
   (angry)
  Then where do we go?!

    NICK
  I don't know.

Alex stalks off a few paces.  Thinking.  Thinking...

    ALEX
  SLIP-STREAM.

    NICK
  What?

    ALEX
  They made ARCADE.  It's still a game,
  right?  It thinks like a game.  Maybe it
  still has to play by the rules. Someone had
  to program it in the first place, didn't
  they?.

At this, Nick perks up.

    NICK
  You mean we learn the rules...

    ALEX
  And beat it at it's own game.

    NICK
  You realize that in order to do that, we'd
  actually have to play the game.

    ALEX
  I was afraid you'd say that.

        CUT TO:

EXT.  SLIP-STREAM, INC. -- DAY

The SLIP-STREAM compound comprises a cluster of mirrored,
antiseptic-looking buildings.  Carefully maintained greens surround the
compound, dotted with perfectly positioned trees.  The whole effect,
greenery included, seems prefabricated and sterile.  We move with the
camera, sweeping in and dropping low, across the main concourse and up the
stone steps to the main lobby...

INT. SLIP-STREAM LOBBY -- DAY

Alex and Nick are moving across the lobby.  Nick is still carrying his
skateboard.  The two of them look extremely out of place, being that the
rest of the people bustling around them are "dressed for success".

THEIR P.O.V.

as they approach a prefab RECEPTIONIST sitting behind and enormous desk.
The guy's smile is so perfect he must've had it tattooed on.  He wears one
of those obnoxious phone/headsets.

    RECEPTIONIST
  May I help you?

    ALEX
  We need to see Mr. Difford.

    RECEPTIONIST
  I see.  And do you have an appointment?

    NICK
  No, but it's important and if you'd...

    RECEPTIONIST
   (cutting him off)
  I'm sorry, but if you don't have an
  appointment, I won't be able to help you.
  If you'd like, you can call his office from
  our courtesy phone outside and schedule
  one ...

Nick reaches across the desk and snags the receptionist by his shirt,
jerking him forward.

    NICK
   (menacing)
  If Difford's not out here it one minute
  we're calling the news and informing them
  that your fucking games are whispering in
  our ears and telling us to commit suicide.
  I'm talking public relations nightmare
  here, buddy.  Satanism, virgin sacrifices,
  backward messages, the whole bit.

The receptionist glances at Alex who puts on a stern face and nods.

Nick releases his grip.  The receptionist smooths out his shirt and
smiles.

    RECEPTIONIST
  One moment please...
   (punches in extension)
  Rachel, would you be kind enough to tell
  Mr. Difford that we have a situation in the
  lobby which requires his immediate attention?
   (beat)
  Thank-you.

The receptionist clasps his hands together and looks back up.

    RECEPTIONIST
   (continuing)
  Mr. Difford will be right with you.

    ALEX
  Why thank-you.

Alex and Nick move away from the reception desk, having caused quite a
scene.  The rest of the VISITORS watch them with curiosity.

    ALEX
  Virgin sacrifices?

    NICK
   (shrugs)
  Drives 'em crazy every time.

Nick casts his eyes over the walls where graphics from various SLIP-STREAM
games are displayed.  He stops on one display in particular, a triptych of
sorts featuring the haunting face of ARCADE.

BING!

Alex and Nick turn at the sound, just in time to see Difford exiting an
elevator and briskly making his way towards them.

    DIFFORD
  Nick, Alex, how are we today?

    ALEX
  How'd you know it was us?

    DIFFORD
  Security camera.
   (points to one)
  Pulled your files before I came down. Be
  careful what you say, kids ... I know where
  you live.

Difford laughs and claps Nick on the back.

    DIFFORD
   (continuing)
  Now what seems to be the problem?

    ALEX
  It's the game, ARCADE.

    DIFFORD
  You don't like it?

    NICK
  That's gotta be the understatement of the
  century.  It's killing people.

Beat.  Difford looks from Alex to Nick, and back again. His smile fades
from his face.

    DIFFORD
  If this is a joke, I'm not laughing.

    ALEX
  Neither are we.  Something's wrong with the
  game, Mr. Difford.

    DIFFORD
   (clearing his throat)
  Why don't we take this into my office.

        CUT TO: