INDEPENDENCE DAY

PRESIDENT
Why the hell wasn't I told about
this place?

NIMZIKI
Two words, Mr. President.
Plausible deniability.

General Grey shoots Nimziki a pissed off look.  When the
elevator stops, a door SLIDES open.

INT. RESEARCH FACILITIES - CONTINUOUS

Stepping out of the elevator, they walk into a large state of
the art, sterile clean research facility.  It is amazingly
well staffed and organized.

PRESIDENT
I don't understand.  Where did all
this come from?  How did this get
funded?

MOISHE
You didn't think they actually
spent ten thousand dollars for a
hammer and thirty thousand for a
toilet seat, did you?

The President shoots him a look.  They are greeted by a group
of SCIENTISTS in whit coats led by, DR. OKUN.

MITCHELL
Mr. President, I'd like to
introduce you to Dr. Okun.  He's
been heading up our research here
for the last fifteen years.

Dr. Okun is an odd, hyper-energetic man who's spent too much
time in isolation.

OKUN
Mr. President, a real pleasure.
They don't let us out much, you
you.

PRESIDENT
(uncomfortable)
Yes.

OKUN
Well, I guess you'd like to see
the big tamale?  Follow me.

They walk up a ramp at the end of the room.  Large heavily
enforced doors SLIDE open.

INT. STORAGE LAB - CONTINUOUS

The group steps inside and nearly gasps at...

THE ALIEN ATTACKER

Just like the one that chased Steve.  The entourage stares in
horror and wonder.  We can SEE the patch-work repairs they've
made on the ship over the years.

OKUN
She's a beaut, ain't she?

Moishe leans close to David and Constance.

MOISHE
(smug)
Never any space ships recovered by
the government, huh?

PRESIDENT
We've had this for forty years and
you don't know anything about
them?

OKUN
Hell no, we know tons about them.
The nearest stuff has only
happened in the last few days.

The President slowly walks around the ship as Okun talks.
David, mouth agape, just stares at it.

OKUN (cont'd)
See, we can't duplicate their type
of power so we've never been able
to experiment.  But since these
guys started showing up, all the
gizmos inside turned on.  The last
twenty four hours have been really
exciting!

PRESIDENT
(exploding)
People are dying out there.  I
don't think "exciting" is the word
I'd choose to describe it!

The room goes silent, letting the President blow off steam.

PRESIDENT
(calming)
What can you tell us about the
enemy we're facing?

OKUN
Not all too dissimilar to us.
Breathes oxygen, comparable
tolerances to heat,
cold...probably why they're
interested in our planet.
(suddenly excited)
Hey, you wanna see them?

INT. MEDICAL RESEARCH VAULT - MOMENTS LATER

The lights slowly TURN ON, illuminated the vault.  Okun leads
the group to a sealed partition.

OKUN
This is vault, or as some of us
have come to call it, the "freak
show."

Okun hits a switch and the sealed partition lifts revealing...

FORMALDEHYDE TANKS - ALIENS

Three dead aliens float in the milky formaldehyde tanks.  The
murky fluid and condensation obstructs our view.  What we do
see is not pretty.

OKUN
When we found them they were
wearing bio-mechanical suits.
Once we got them off, we were able
to learn a great deal about their
anatomy; eyes, ears, bipolar
digestive system... no vocal cords
though.  We're assuming they
communicate with each other
through other means.

David cannot contain his fascination.  He steps forward.

DAVID
What kind of other means?  Hand
signals, body language?

OKUN
Some kind of extra sensory
perception.  Telepathy.

PRESIDENT
Can they be killed?

OKUN
These three died in the crash.
Their bodies are as frail as our
own.  You just have to get past
their technology, which is, I'm
sorry to say, far more advanced.

The President turns to David.

PRESIDENT
You unlocked a part of that
technology.  You cracked their
code.

DAVID
All I did was stumble onto their
signal.  I don't know how helpful
I can be...

PRESIDENT
Show them what you've discovered.
Work together.  We've got to find
a way to beat them.

EXT. SECURITY GATE - SAME

Four armed GUARDS watch the gate.  An armada of trucks and
trailers heads right for them.  They move into position to
block their entrance as a blue pick-up skids to a halt before
them.  Steve stands up from the back of the pick up.

GUARD
Sorry, Lt. Colonel, I can't open
the gates without clearance.

STEVE
You want to see my clearance?

Impatiently Steve grabs the Guard by the collar, pulling him
over the side of the truck putting him face to face with the
bundled parachute in the flatbed.  Steve rips the fabric aside
revealing...

THE ALIEN CREATURE

Still unconscious, the alien stirs.  The Guard JUMPS BACK,
shitting in his pants.  Quickly he signals for the other to
open the gate.

The armada quickly drives past.

BLACKNESS

Total darkness.  Suddenly light pours in as a  door is open.
We see the faces of Okun, David and three technicians all
peering at us with inquisitive expressions.

OKUN
See the gizmos flashing?

REVERSE - INSIDE ALIEN CRAFT

Sure enough, tons of gizmos with lights flashing.  High tech
meets organic organisms.  This alien ship looks familiar to
our own technology and completely different at the same time.

OKUN (cont'd)
We've been working around the
clock trying to get a fix on all
this crap.  Some stuff we figured
out right away.

David climbs in, fascinated.  He touches everything.  Okun
points to everything as he describes it.

OKUN (cont'd)
This thing we're pretty sure is
the life support for the cabin,
this do-hickey over here is
connected with the engines, this
crap...we have no idea what that
stuff is for.

David is transfixed by it.  He stares at the small screens
with flashing light patterns on them.

OKUN (cont'd)
But this over here is clearly what
they use to navigate and guide the
craft.

But David still stares at the small screens.

DAVID
Someone grab my laptop for me?

One of the technicians rushes off as Okun leans close.

OKUN
Find something interesting?

DAVID
Maybe.

The technician hands David his retrieved laptop which he
quickly flips open and turns on.

DAVID
These patterns here, they're
repeating sequentially, just
like...

David turns his laptop around for Okun to see.  The pattern on
David's laptop flashes identically as the alien screen.

DAVID (cont'd)
...their countdown signal.  Their
using this frequency for computer
communications.  It's how they co-
ordinate their ships.

OKUN
You know, you're really starting
to make us look bad.

The two men exchange a smile.  Another TECHY pops his head
inside.

TECHY
(out of breath)
They got one!  They got one,
alive!

INT. HALLWAY OFF MAIN HANGAR - AREA 51 - SAME

The bundled alien lays on a stretcher that's wheeled quickly
into the hall.  Okun and his staff surround it.  Trailing
behind them is Steve, Russell and Miguel.

OKUN
How long has it been unconscious?

RUSSELL
Excuse me Doctor...

STEVE
Three hours.

OKUN
Get him into containment, stat.

RUSSELL
My boy is very sick, he needs
immediate attention.

Okun ignores Russell, hitting the elevator switch on the wall,
the room begins its hydraulic HUM.

OKUN
He's dying out.  I want him
sprayed down with saline.

Russell SLAMS his fist against the switch, the room stops.  He
GRABS a doctor nearby, gets in his face.

RUSSELL
My boys is slipping into a diabetic
coma.  If you don't do something
about it right now he will die.

Miguel is surprised and proud of Russell as he holds DOCTOR
ISAACS, meaning business.

DR. ISAACS
O'Haver, Miller, come with me.
(to Russell)
Take us to him.

CUT TO:

EXT. ROAD - MAINTENANCE TRUCK - NIGHT

Headlights pierce the darkness as the maintenance truck rolls
to a stop.  Jasmine climbs down out of the truck, her face
ashen.

She walks past a sign reading: El Toro Marine Corps Air
Station.  Tears begin to roll from her eyes.  We follow her
gaze to see...

EXT. EL TORO MARINE CORPS AIR STATION - CONTINUOUS

The entire facility is smoldering, the last remnants of the
fire burning itself to extinction.  Jasmine is devastated.

CUT TO:

INT. AREA 51 COMMAND CENTER - NIGHT

General Grey and Nimziki are in a heated argument.

GENERAL GREY
You were the head of the National
Intelligence Agency!  You knew all
about this.  When were you
planning on informing the rest of
us!?

NIMZIKI
It had been deemed classified.

GENERAL GREY
Christ, why didn't you say
anything about this when they
first arrived?  You could have
warned us before we launched a
counter attack that cost us
hundreds of American pilots!

Just then the President enters along with Constance and some
other ADVISORS.  He examines a paper map of the United States,
tacked to the wall, each major city circled in black.

PRESIDENT
Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia,
destroyed?

GENERAL GREY
(composing himself)
And there are scattered reports of
sightings over Miami, Ft. Worth,
And Memphis.

The President and his team take seats at the large conference
table.

GENERAL GREY (cont'd)
We've learned that NATO and
western allied installations were
the firs to be taken out.  We
were next.  They knew exactly where
and how to hit us.

Grey sneaks an accusatory glare at Nimziki.

PRESIDENT
And our forces?

GENERAL GREY
We're down to approximately
fifteen percent, Sir.
(beat)
If you calculate the time it takes
them to destroy a city and move
on, we're looking at world wide
destruction of every major city
within the next thirty six hours.

PRESIDENT
We're being exterminated.