INNERSPACE

RENE

It was you.

JOE

He told me what to do.

RENE

But you did it. It was you.

Joe tries to deny it.

RENE

I know one thing. If it wasn't

you...we're in big trouble...

She sees them bringing up submachineguns. She turns to Joe. His

face takes on a look of resolve.

JOE

It was me. He just told me

how...I wish he could tell me now.

RENE

If he was able, what would he say.

He gathers himself, takes her hand.

JOE

He'd say..."Don't stop now.."

He's up and running for it, with RENE close behind.

THROUGH THE MINEFIELD

He rips open barbed wire, they come to it:

THE FENCE

A LIVE WIRE - He's got to think quickly. He takes off his belt,

loops the buckle on a conductor and pulls it across until two

wires make contact. A BLAST OF SPARKS, the wire grounds out,

shorts, overloads and goes dead. ALARMS GO OFF. From the other

side, Border Police rush up, but can do nothing to help them.

JOE

Come on.

RENE

That's twenty feet high.

JOE

Like Al says..."Under stress,

the human body is capable of

impossible feats.

WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM...Submachinegun fire rattles off the

fence above them.

JOE

This...is stress.

Rene agrees. She puts her foot in his hands, he vaults her to

the top of the fence. She swings over.

He backs off...a BURST OF FIRE spurs him. He runs, leaps for the

fence, barely catches the top, tries to pull himself up. He

can't. Caught, he hangs there, watching the bad guys move up.

JOE

Al, this is your last chance..

The bad guys take aim.

BURR

Three seconds to decide. Then

we will shoot.

Caught, under their guns...Joe looks at them.

INSIDE - EXT. AL'S POD

is hit, mortally damaged...losing pressure.

INT. DIETER'S POD -

DIETER

Give up! Tell Joe to give up!

INT. AL'S POD

Desperation...to get enough power, to aim the laser. As Al

swings it around,Dieter fires again. At the same moment, Al fires

at Dieter. It misses...but hits a NERVE BUNDLE!

OUTSIDE

Joe breaks into laughter...The Tickle-Response.

INSIDE

The paroxysm of laughter spoils Dieter's aim...His POD is drawn

into the throat by the convulsions, where it is battered.

Desperate, Al brings HIS dying POD alongside, pops the hatch,

swims to Dieter's pod, just as Dieter's pod is swept away, out of

control. A vortex tries to tear his grip away. He hangs tough

against the violent wrenches of the current, as the pod swoops

out from under him and spins away. Hand over hand, he reaches a

hatch and enters. Dieter, panicked, at the controls, turns on

him. They fight. The pod tumbles. They tumble. Dieter grabs a

wrench, raises it to slug Al, when the pod hits something solid.

Dieter is slammed against the bulkhead, knocked out. Al gains

control of the pod, wedges it into a crevice and waits for the

paroxyms to die away.

OUTSIDE

JOE'S ON THE WIRE, laughing at something terribly funny. RENE

thinks he's finally gone mad. He may have. The pursuers think so.

They are so amazed by his attitude...his courage...HIS HEART in

the face of death, that when he tumbles off the fence into the

FREE ZONE, they don't even fire.

THE FENCE

The border police come up and cover them. They are safe and

free. Incredibly, Burr shouts through the fence:

BURR

They have stolen state property.

RENE

What a nerve!

BORDER GUARD

What kind of property?

RENE (to Joe)

Just ignore them. Walk away.

BURR

I insist. Return the POD.

Joe starts to walk away, then turns to BURR.

JOE

Okay, if you really want it.

He hawks and spits through the wire onto the man's shoe. The

guards lock their weapons expecting a firefight at this insult.

BURR's assistant leans down, scrapes the lunger off BURR's foot.

BURR, realizing, scrapes the slime from the other's hand and cups

it in his...He turns away, looking for a vessel. The border

guards are flabbergasted.

They look at Joe, Joe shrugs at them as he and RENE walk away.

Toward a familiar Oriental man who waits for them, in front of an

idling helicopter.

JOE

Riuji?

RENE

I told you, I work for him.

INSIDE - INT. THE POD

Al is anxious to get home.