INNERSPACE

AL - ALMOST - SHOCKED INTO SILENCE.

AL

Alright guys, the joke's

gone far enough.

MOLLOYS BAR - A NEIGHBORHOOD HANG-OUT. Dazed, Joe enters and

sits at the bar. He's greeted like a regular.

MOLLOY.

Joe. How's it going?

How'd it go with that job?

JOE

What job?

MOLLOY (A beat)

Hey...look...this one's on me.

He sets a beer in front of Joe, moves off down the bar. On the

TV at the end of the bar...a NEWS REPORT. Joe stares at the TV.

TV - A REPORTER does a STAND-UP in front of U.S.T. MAIN GATE.

REPORTER

All we know, is that something has gone

wrong here, but so far...no one is talking

about it. Ron Golloway, with the ACTIONCAM...

INSIDE - INT. THE POD - AL checks his envirnmental analysers.

AL

Stomach acid! This stuff's caustic.

SUDDENLY, THE STOMACH CHURNS...A NEW WAVE OF FOAMY LIQUID ROARS

DOWN THE ESOPHAGUS AND ENGULFS THE POD.

INSIDE - AL - ON THE ANALYSERS - A READOUT: ALCOHOL.

AL

You guy's are...DRUNK! (FURIOUS)

Okay, buster, I don't know who you

are, but if I ever get out of you,

you're in big trouble.

INSIDE THE STOMACH - THE POD SPEEDS TOWARD THE STOMACH

WALL...THE CARBON-DIOXIDE LASER FIRES OPENING A HOLE IN THE

STOMACH WALL. THE POD BLASTS THROUGH.

INSIDE A CAPILLARY - THE POD BREAKS THROUGH THE WALL AND IS

CARRIED AWAY IN THE BLOOD FLOW.

INT. POD -

A WIRE-FRAME REPRESENTATION OF THE BODY

guides Al as he powers the POD ahead. The capillary branches

into larger and larger vessels...The pressure and speed builds

with every branch...Al has to fly like crazy to avoid collision

with solid particles. On the monitors he watchs the sonar/

computer imaging to guide his navigation.

EXT. POD

He enters a main artery. The walls bulge with each

pump of the heart...then up ahead, the heart. he tries to back

down, reverse his thrust but it's no good; He is being sucked in.

Nowhere to turn...no way to escape...He decides and THRUSTS FULL

FORWARD into the heart.

WHOOSH. He is pulled into a VENTRICAL, spun....THE WORLD BLURRS

as he is expelled in a surge of blood and pushed up the artery.

Spinning wildly, he fights for control, swings into a vein.

THE TUNNEL gets smaller. He checks his navigation aids...It

branches..Al cuts into the --- artery and up the neck into the

base of the head...before him...a barrier...a membrane appears...

INSIDE - INT. THE POD

AL pulls up in an eddy and aims the laser at the membrane...It slices a neat hole

through it. The FLOW bursts through the breach and carries the POD with it.

OTHER SIDE OF THE MEMBRANE - Al swings the pod around...He is in

another...region...where the water is still. He swings the laser

around again and spot welds the tear in the membrane....before he

can complete the job...a treelike thing is swept into the hole by

the flood. Other debris collect behind it until the hole is

sealed shut...Slowly the current dies.

INSIDE - EXT. THE POD

Al has just slipped through the BLOOD/BRAIN barrier and has taken up

residence in the left VENTRICLE - A FLUID FILLED CAVITY in the brain.

INSIDE - INT. THE POD

AL stations himself near a nerve bundle.

AL

You'll wish you never

thought of this.

He sets a contact arm of the POD for high-voltage electrical

charge...picks a nerve at random...an hits the trigger.

ZZZZAAAPPP! A charge hits the nerve.

OUTSIDE - INT. THE BAR

JOE flies off the barstool and hits the floor with a thud. He looks around,

dazed...then slowly climbs back up. Molloy rushes over, concerned, but says nothing.

INSIDE - INT. THE POD

Al's envirnment has been agitated a little, but not much. He takes up position

again at the nerve bundle, selects another nerve...hits the charge trigger.

OUTSIDE - INT. THE BAR -

JOE shakes his head...He is seeing the weirdest shit on television...

then all over the walls...VISIONS. All of a sudden it's amusing...very funny.

Very very funny. He falls off the stool again in convulsive laughter.

INSIDE - INT. THE POD - AL

Is getting shaken all over the place. He cuts the circuit.

OUTSIDE - INT. THE BAR

JOE, on the floor again, stops laughing as suddenly as he began. He crawls back up

on the barstool, more confused than ever.

JOE

Well, think I'll go home.

MOLLOY

Are you okay?

JOE

Fine...fine. No problem. Just

tired, that's all...

INSIDE - INT. THE POD -

AL hits another nerve bundle with the probe. Now he gets DISTORTED SOUNDS...

TV REPORTER (VO)

...accident site at UNITED SYSTEMS LABS...

AL

Oh, shit.

A STRANGE LANDSCAPE - THE SAME AS SCENE ONE.

THE SAME SCENE; THE SAME SHOTS. Suddenly time RUSHES FORWARD. Al's voice squeaks, the action accellerates.

LEADER (VO)

Run past this stuff.

THE VISUALS SPEED EVEN FASTER. SOMEBODY is running the tapes of

the EXPERIMENT right before the attack...FAST FORWARD.

INTRUDER

You won't believe this.

INT. LAB - The INTRUDERS SLOW the tape and watch with interest.

CU.- THE BEAKER on the pedestal surrounded by EXOTIC EQUIPMENT.

LEADER

What's the hell is this?

INTRUDER (AMAZED)

They've gone ahead. They did it.

SURVEILLANCE CAMERA POV - THE ATTACK. The INTRUDERS - TAPE WINDS

FAST FORWARD - Someone in authority speaks with a Scottish Burr.

BURR

The craft, that man....

INTRUDER

When we got there, it was gone...

CONTROL ROOM - ANGLE ON COLIN and TECHS.

They look ...drugged.

LEADER

What happened?

INT. LAB - PEDESTAL

- Just then, a door in the B.G. opens. Joe, dizzily enters, looks around, grabs the

first liquid he sees and drinks it down... The BEAKER.

MONITOR - THE IMAGE of Al in the POD breaks up, goes off.

LEADER (VO)

That Idiot!

BURR (VO)

Who is that?

LEADER (VO)

Nobody..just wanted a drink.

BURR (VO)

Someone is the idiot...

TECH 2 (VO)

What about the pilot?

BURR (VO)

How long could his power last?

TECH 2 (VO)

In that envirnment, I don't think

it matters.

INT 3 (VO)

What a way to go!

BURR (VO)

Dead or alive, there's a lot

that machine could tell us.

INT 3 (VO)

We better get to him fast.

INT 2 (VO)

Yeah, one pepperoni pizza,

it might be too late.

EXT. STREET. JOE STOPS AT A BUS STOP - WAITS.

INSIDE - INT. THE POD

AL hears the STREETSOUNDS - Is reprogramming the computer...To transmit.

AL

Hello, Hello. Can you hear me?

He throws a few more switches...

AL

Hello...Hello. Come in...

Whoever you are...Hello!

EXT. STREET - A BUS pulls up, JOE gets on it.

INT. BUS-

EMPTY EXCEPT FOR A WOMAN IN THE BACK. Joe sits a few

seats from her, holding his head. As he watches the passing

street scenes through the window, the SOUND gets louder...then

distorted...enhanced...The SOUNDS FOLD BACK, REVERBERATE on

themselves...AN ACID FLASHBACK, is Joe's first thought...The

SOUND is getting very weird. It slows up, speeds down...Filters

chop the highs, the lows off...He's definitely HEARING THINGS.

A VOICE OVER

Can you hear me?

Joe looks around...No one in the bus but him and the woman. He

turns to her.

JOE

Of course, I can.

Her eyes flick to him, nervously...Then her face becomes a mask.

She stares straight ahead, gripping her bag, tightly.

INSIDE - INT. THE POD -

AL celebrates.

AL

Yahooo! It works!!!...

Excitedly, he hits the transmit button again.

OUTSIDE - ON THE BUS -

JOE stares at his hands...blinking...

AL (VO)

You can hear me!

Joe looks up at the woman.

JOE

You don't have to yell.

She moves a seat away. Joe is confused and insulted. He turns

back to the window, mumbling.

AL (VO)

Then, answer me...

Joe turns to the woman, exasperated...She looks up, worried.

JOE

I did. I said I can hear you

just fine. What do you want?

She turns to him and confronts the problem directly.

WOMAN

Who, me?

Joe looks around...yep, there's no one else there.

JOE

Yes...What is it?

WOMAN

What's what?

JOE

What do you want?

WOMAN

Nothing.

JOE

What did you say?

WOMAN

Nothing.

JOE

What?

WOMAN

I said...I didn't say..anything!

JOE

Then who did?

WOMAN

You did.

JOE

No I didn't. You said something first.

AL (VO)

I said something.

JOE

I know you did!

Joe is confused now, because, although she responded to him, her

mouth didn't seem to move. And now, she does it again!

AL (VO)

No, not her. Me.

JOE (SHOUTING. FRUSTRATED)

Who's you?

The woman's now terrified. She locks eyes with Joe as she

slowing rises and backs away. He shouts after her.

AL (VO)

My name is AL.

JOE

Al ???!!!

He looks wildly around the bus...under the seats. The woman

scurries to the front of the bus. She has a quick word with the

bus driver. The driver looks up at Joe in the rear view mirror.

JOE - A stupid grin on his face. He knows someone is fucking

with him. Maybe this whole thing is a joke. He baits the voice.

JOE

Where are you,...Al?

AL (VO)

You're not gonna believe this...

JOE

Try me.

AL (VO)

I'm...inside you.

A LONG PAUSE WHILE JOE THINKS ABOUT THIS.

FRONT OF THE BUS - The DRIVER and WOMAN stare at this lunatic.

JOE - SUDDENLY, HE JUMPS UP. SCREAMING AND POINTING AT THEM.

JOE

Okay...which one of you guy's

the ventriloquist???!!!

The driver's mouth drops open...He glances back at traffic.

He's about to rear-end a car. He SLAMS the brakes and swerves to

the side...the woman SCREAMS as she's thrown down the stairs.

JOE - swings from a pole as the bus SWERVES... HORNS BLAST as

the driver SWINGS back into his lane, barely avoiding a head-on.

Joe rushes up the isle, irate.

JOE

You trying to kill us? Cut the shit and concentrate

on your driving!

INSIDE - INT. THE POD -

AL is getting bounced all over.

AL

Calm down! Don't worry!

OUTSIDE

Joe talks at the driver...who thinks he's got a madman on his hands.

JOE

Either drive or talk.

Don't do both.

Then I won't worry.

The driver pulls the bus over to the curb. Sets the brake. The

woman painfully pulls herself up.

AL (VO)

It's not him.