FACE/OFF

     Hoag turns to perform the same procedure on Castor.

     Castor's consistent EEG reading suddenly spikes
     radically -- for a moment, it almost seems to stabilize.
     Hoag glances over -- too late -- the spikes have
     disappeared.

     But the CAMERA CLOSES IN ON Castor's ear -- and we sense
     that, somehow, his auditory nerves might be functioning.

                                                DISSOLVE TO:

     INT. RECOVERY ROOM - DAY

     A head swathed in gauze.  The bandages start to fall
     away.

     Tito, Miller and Brodie wait as Hoag removes the gauze.
     The patient looks into a mirror.

     Jon Archer has become Castor Troy.

     he touches his new face.  Archer stares... the cold
     reality chilling his blood.

     Archer buckles -- unprepared emotionally for what he's
     done to himself.  For a moment, he seems to teeter on
     madness.

                             TITO
               Jon -- are you all right?

     Archer can't respond... he's somewhere the others can't
     comprehend.  Finally he emerges... shaken, but in
     control.

     TITO enters.  Instinctively, he grabs for his holster.

                             ARCHER
               Okay... I'm okay.
                      (realizes)
               But my voice... I still sound like
               me.

                             HOAG
               I implanted a micro-chip onto your
               larynx.

     Hoag SWITCHES ON an AUDIO TAPE.  Archer repeats Castor's
     words as Hoag adjusts the chip with a wavelength box.

               CASTOR (V.O.)                  ARCHER
       Okay, I've got a               Okay, I've got a
       confession to make, but        confession to make, but
       you aren't gonna like          you aren't gonna like
       it... (etc.)                   it... (etc.)

     After a few repetitions, Archer's voice matches
     perfectly.

     Archer yawns, squints and furrows his brow -- testing
     every muscle.  He stares into the mirror -- into the eyes
     of his most hated enemy -- now his eyes.  Archer slowly
     turns to...

     Castor.  Motionless, swathed, dead to the world -- but
     something about Castor's smile -- that mocking smile...

                             ARCHER
               Now what?

                             TITO
               We're down to 72 hours.  Let's
               call Lazarro.  Castor Troy just
               came out of his coma.

     EXT. FBI HELIPORT - DAY

     Armed agents take their positions around a helipad.  A
     jet-black helicopter drops from the sky like an angry
     wasp.

     EXT. HELIPAD - DAY

     As Lazarro watches -- Tito escorts out a heavily-manacled
     "Castor."  Two armed agents leap from the chopper and
     take charge of "Castor."  He follows them pliantly,
     until --

                             TITO
               Watch this hard-case -- he'll bite
               your nuts off if he gets the
               chance!

     Archer gets the message.  He starts to resist the agents
     and must be muscled into the chopper.  He's manacled
     down.

     Eye contact between Archer and Tito -- both aware of this
     very real point of departure.  The CHOPPER DOOR SLAMS
     SHUT.  It lifts off like a twister and SCREAMS away.

     EXT. HELIPORT - STAGING AREA - DAY

     The watching team breaks up, wanders back to work.

                             LOOMIS
               What a week for Archer to go on a
               training op.  Maybe we should try
               to contact him.

                             WANDA
               Forget it.  He's knee-deep in
               Georgia swamp by now.

     They pass Brodie and Miller, who watch the chopper
     disappear over the horizon.  So far so good.    

     INT. CHOPPER - FLYING - DAY

     The agent re-checks Archer's chains.

                             ARCHER
               Don't forget -- I ordered a kosher
               meal...

     The agent smashes his elbow into Archer's gut.  The
     second agent presses an INJECTOR against Archer's leg.
     PSSSST.  Archer spasms against the drug -- then sags
     unconscious.

     INT. EREWHON PRISON - DELOUSING CUBICLE

     Archer wakes up as a torrent of delousing spray hits him.

     A guard holds a water cannon on the newest inmate.

     Archer lies gasping on the steel floor, protecting his
     face.  The spray stops -- when head guard "RED" WALTON
     enters.

                             WALTON
               You are now an Erewhon inmate -- a
               citizen of nowhere.  Human rights
               zealots, the Geneva convention and
               the P.C. police have no authority
               here.  You have no right...
                      (slaps on latex gloves)
               When I say your ass belongs to me
               -- I mean it.  Bend over.

     Archer's face reflects the degradation as he bends over
     and exposes all to the cavity-searching Guard.

     Satisfied, Walton lets Archer dress.  Another guard
     places a pair of odd-looking steel boots before Archer.

                             WALTON
               Step into them.

     Archer inspects the lock-down boots.  Hinged steel
     collars hook over the shoe and encase the ankle.  The
     soles are gridded steel with magnetic inserts.

                             WALTON
               Don't sniff 'em, you perv.  Just
               step into them.

     Archer obeys.  A guard squats down and locks the steel
     collars over Archer's shoes.  He tries to move -- but
     can't.

                             ARCHER
               They're too tight.

                             WALTON
               So's a noose.  Now keep your mouth
               shut.

     Walton JOLTS Archer with his HIGH-VOLTAGE SHOCK-STICK.

                             WALTON
               The prison's one big magnetic
               field.  The boots'll tell us where
               you are -- every second of the
               day.
                      (into comm-link)
               201 to Population.

     Walton presses his thumb into a standard FBI scan-pad.
     It forms a print -- positively identifying the guard.
     The heavy blast-door automatically opens.

                             WALTON
               I've got fifty bucks says you're
               dead by dinner.  Don't disappoint
               me.

     Walton prods Archer toward the door.  To Archer's
     surprise -- he can now move.

     INT. GENERAL POPULATION - DAY

     The inmates eat.  Silence descends as Archer enters --
     intensifying the constant HUMMING of the MAGNETIC FIELD.
     Huge Dubov does a slow burn on seeing "Castor."

     Scanning the room for Pollux -- Archer takes a seat next
     to a LITTLE, GOATEED MAN with a French accent.

                             LITTLE MAN
               Hey, Castor -- remember me?

                             ARCHER
               Fabrice Voisine... sure, I --
                      (catches himself)
               -- I believe Jon Archer busted you
               for poisoning five members of the
               the Canadian parliament?

                             VOISINE (LITTLE MAN)
               Those scumbags should never have
               voted against the Quebecois.
                      (a beat)
               We heard you got wasted.

     Archer sees the other inmates sizing him up.

                             ARCHER
               Do I look wasted -- asshole?

     Voisine shakes his head "no" -- then his eyes widen as...

     WHAM.  Dubov leaps onto Archer and starts pummeling him.
     They slide across the table -- spilling everyone's lunch.

                             GUARD
                      (into comm-unit)
               Central.  I have a disturbance in
               population.  Go to lock down --

                             WALTON
                      (into comm-unit)
               Hold that lock down.

     Walton watches as Dubov throws Archer across the room.
     Archer staggers to his feet -- and sees the encircling
     inmates and guards looking at him -- unimpressed.

     Especially his "brother" Pollux -- who watches
     uncertainly.

     Dubov attacks again -- but Archer is ready.  He grabs
     Dubov's fist -- just before it hits his face.

                             ARCHER
               Never -- in -- the -- face.

     Holding Dubov's fist firmly, Archer kicks Dubov
     repeatedly in the groin.  Metal boot meeting soft flesh.

     Dubov staggers back -- hurt.  Archer moves in for the
     kill, savoring it.

     Walton looks skyward.

                             WALTON
               Lock 'em down.

     INTERCUT WITH:

     UP ABOVE - CENTRAL SECURITY

     The prison's nerve center -- with video-feeds and
     monitors designed to keep problems and privacy to a
     minimum.

     The two deputies react to Walton's call.  Identifying
     Archer and Dubov's signature-blips -- they throw the
     appropriate switches and...

     ZAP!  The magnetic boots lock both inmates to the floor. 
     Dubov flails hopelessly -- but Archer's just out of
     reach.

     Crack!  Walton punches Archer in the diaphragm.

                             ARCHER
               What?  He started it!

     Walton smashes Archer harder -- he hits the floor.

                             ARCHER
               When I get out of here --

                             WALTON
               You'll what?

                             ARCHER
               I'm going to have you fired.

     His statement is so ludicrous, Walton laughs.  Everyone
     does.  From the inmates' reactions, Archer knows he's
     been accepted.

                             WALTON
                      (to Dubov)
               That's two strikes, Dubov.  One
               more and you know where you're
               going.
                      (to the others)
               Back to your 'suites' -- or no
               dinner.

     As Archer drops into the line of cons -- he spots Pollux
     waiting for him.  Girding himself for this first
     encounter -- he's got a plan.

                             POLLUX
               Hey, bro...

                             ARCHER
               -- Pollux?

                             POLLUX
               Of course it's Pollux, what the
               fuck's wrong with you?

     Archer stares -- feigning confusion until Walton prods
     him forward.  Pollux watches his "brother" go -- very
     concerned.

     INT. ARCHER'S CELL - NIGHT

     Archer lies on his cot -- staring at the ceiling. 
     Isolated, lonely, he realizes how easy it would be to go
     insane here.

     EXT. HOAG INSTITUTE - NIGHT

     An insanely starry night.  Van Gogh's night.  The night
     he cut off his ear, anyway.

     INT. SURGICAL BAY - NIGHT

     Castor's body lies inert.  His life-support MACHINES
     BLIPPING away.  Until the EEG spikes.  Once -- twice --
     three times.  Brain wave activity increases -- and
     stabilizes.

     Castor's fingers twitch.  Then his fist clenches -- hard. 
     Castor's head is swathed in gauze.  But his eyes pop
     open.

     Reflexively, Castor wrenches from the bed -- tearing out
     the tubes and wires that tether him to life support.  He
     goes down -- in agony -- groaning.

     He struggles to his feet -- staggering through the lab --
     until he catches the reflection of his bandaged face in
     the window.  He quickly unwraps the gauze.

     The discarded bandages fall at his feet... we don't see
     what CASTOR sees -- but we hear him MOAN... then CHOKE...
     then SCREAM -- the only moment Castor ever loses his
     cool.

     Finally composing himself -- Castor's hand grips the
     phone and he dials.

                             CASTOR
               Lars... okay, Lunt, then.
                      (rifling desk
                       documents)
               Something really fucked-up
               happened... I'm in trouble... so
               listen very carefully...

     EXT. HOAG INSTITUTE - NIGHT (LATER)

     A RANGE ROVER SCREECHES up.  At gunpoint, Lars and Lunt
     manhandle Hoag into the lab.

     INT. SURGICAL BAY - NIGHT

     Lars and Lunt hustle Hoag in.  The lab is on.  The
     screens run -- scrolling through the video log of
     Archer's surgery.