INNERSPACE

Joe turns to the woman.

JOE

Oh...and who is it!?

WOMAN

I didn't say anything.

JOE (answering Al)

Why not?

DRIVER

Are you alright?

AL (VO)

You'll find this hard to accept.

JOE

Try me.

The driver thinks this is a challenge.

DRIVER

Alright, get off the bus.

JOE (indignant)

It's not my stop.

DRIVER

You'll have to leave.

JOE

What for?

DRIVER

...creating a disturbance.

JOE

Me?...! You created it. I'm

the one that's being disturbed.

WOMAN

You can say that again.

Joe looks at her, innocent and hurt. He turns back to the

driver. He's gotten up from his seat. He's big and mean.

EXT. BUS

JOE flys out the door, lands hard on his knees and skids into a bush.

JOE

Hey!!!

He jumps up, shakes his fist at the bus as it pulls away.

JOE

I'm reporting you to the

.....transit authority!!!

INSIDE - INT. THE POD -

AL

What's going on?

OUTSIDE - EXT. STREET

Joe, points at the retreating bus...

JOE (furious)

That fucker...he's...he's...

He stops in mid-sentence as he realizes...THE VOICE...He glances

around furtively...at the voice. Now he's starting to feel that

he may be talking to himself...He mumbles self-consciously.

JOE

...reporting....him...

ventriloquism...On a bus

AL (VO)

Don't do that.

JOE

Why not.

He stops in his tracks, spins around...Nobody near him. He

groans, puts his head in his hands.

JOE

Arrrgh!

AL (VO)

It wasn't him.

JOE

Who was it?

AL (VO)

Me.

JOE

Who?

AL (VO)

Al.

JOE (looks around him.)

Where are you, Al?

INSIDE - INT. THE POD-

AL struggles to find the right words.

OUTSIDE

- JOE goes rustling through the bushes...Passers-by look

at him queerly. He passes a mailbox...stops. Looks at it.

JOE

Al.

AL (VO)

Yes?

JOE

This candid camera?

He peers into the mailbox. Pedestrians look at him strangely.

One man comes up to mail a letter...hesitates.

INSIDE - INT. THE POD

- AL hesitates, not quite sure how to tell him. Finally, he just blurts it out.

AL (VO)

I'm in your head.

Joe's reply is flat, toneless.

JOE

You're in my head...

AL (VO)

Yes.

JOE

Your name is Al...

AL (VO)

Yes.

JOE

I see...

Joe turns to see the letter-mailer staring a him.

JOE

No...no...it's nothing..

Rehearsing a play...

(STALKS OFF)

What light through yonder

window breaks...It is Al...

and he's in my head.

AL (VO)

What is your name?

JOE

You're in my head? You don't

know my name?

AL (VO)

I just got here.

JOE

What??? You lose your lease

on a condo?

AL (VO)

Where are we?

JOE

Where are we? We're on the street.

We're walking down the street. We're

talking to ourselves. People are

staring at us.

AL (VO)

What street?

JOE

What street?! We're walking down

QUEER STREET. We coming to Dopey Drive.

We're about to be put somewhere quiet where

they won't mind that we talk to ourselves.

AL (VO)

Why don't we go home?

JOE

Go home. Good idea. Get some rest.

AL (VO)

...I need to make a phone call.

JOE

Do me a favor, Al.

AL (VO)

Yeah?

JOE

Shut up!

INT. JOE'S APARTMENT

... that of a semi-impoverished single man.

Pictures of Baseball players taped to the walls. Half broken

electronic gear all over the place. Joe wanders/rushes in, stands

confused amidst the debris.

JOE

Somebody's been here.

AL (VO)

Where are we now?

JOE

My place, can't you see?

AL (VO)

No.

JOE

You're in my head, you can

talk to me and hear what I say,

but you can't see anything.

AL (VO)

Right.

JOE

Kind of an oversight, wouldn't you say.

AL (VO)

I'm working on it. Soon as I find

the right nerve bundle.

JOE

Nerve bundle! What are you doing?

You just leave the nerve bundles right

where they are.

INSIDE - THE POD - AL

The POD moves slightly in the intercranial fluid. Al senses movement.

AL

What are you doing?

JOE'S APARTMENT

Joe roots through his goods which are strewn all over the floor.

JOE

Wait a minute, they didn't take

anything...I'm not even worth

robbing...This...they just messed it up

(HE THINKS)... Maybe I did it.

He turns, goes into the bedroom and roots around in the closet.

A secret hiding hole behind a board, he brings out a small object

wrapped in a cloth. He opens it up...a pistol and shells.

AL

Who are you?

JOE

Who am I?

AL

Yeah...Who?

JOE

Well...If you're in my head...

to you, I'm...GOD!

Unloads clip, checks it.

AL

Quit screwing around, this is important.

JOE

It's my head, I'll be the judge

of that. Anyway, who are you?

AL

I told you, my name is Al.

JOE

What are you doing in my head, Al?

Slams clip in.

AL

I'm a test pilot...

JOE (patronizing)

...Test pilot. Uh huh.

What do you test?

AL

You've heard of the PEM114...

JOE

That a new Datsun?

INSIDE - THE POD - AL

Worried frantic, he jumps to conclusions.

AL

Don't screw with me, Buster. I don't

know how you got into U.S.T. or

where you got this crazy idea, but

you get me back to the lab right now.

Joe grabs his head in frustration.

JOE

Are you threatening me?

AL

I'm trying to get you to

listen to reason.

Flips off safety.

JOE (condescending)

Reason...Ah hah...

AL (VO)

Look! I didn't ask to be in you.

Don't blame me for it. You did it.

JOE

Me? What'd I do?

AL (VO)

Yeah. What did you do? You explain it.

...why I'm not at the lab right now,

in my tube, with my crew. Explain that!

JOE

I don't know what you're talking about.

AL (VO)

The Nicholson Node. I suppose you haven't

heard of that either.

JOE

No.

AL (VO)

You've heard of U.S.T.?

JOE

I just went there for a job.

AL (VO)

Then how'd I get here?

Joes thinks he's nuts but finally gets mad, yells at the VOICE.

JOE

I don't know. Now Fuck Off!

Strangely, that calms Al down...

AL (VO)

I know...it sounds insane.

JOE

You said it.

Joe chambers a round...Al HEARS, he senses something.

AL (VO)

What are you doing?

JOE

Loading a gun.

AL

What for?

JOE

Kill myself.

AL

Are you crazy?

JOE

Yep.

AL

Don't do it. (thinks a second)

Don't aim at the head.

JOE

Used to be, things were bad.

No job...no money...no girl.

Now I got all that and I'm crazy too.

AL

You're not crazy.

JOE

Hear voices don't I.

AL

Of course you do!

JOE

Then I'm crazy.

He cocks the gun.