11
Ianto still carries Jack's original sunglasses in his hands. "KTLF is clear. Their transmission is going out clean. The signal is coming from somewhere else."
Jack sees him ... And now he sees Jack. He looks shaken, vulnerable. As the meeting continues he takes a couple steps toward him . Stops. Jack stares at him, then leans over to John "I gotta talk to somebody."
Jack moves away, as John examines that wrist watch . . . Jack moves through the crowd They Just stand there looking at each other then finally Ianto asks "Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
"I thought I'd killed you." Ianto admits.
"I thought so too."
"I didn't know ... sorry ... I'm so" he takes a tentative step toward him "Look, I Just want to ... Can we just ... ?"
The wall EXPLODES!
Debris flies through the air!
Ianto is knocked backwards! Jack is hit with debris. Falls. All hell breaks loose in the warehouse!
"Get out! Get out" Eugene yells.
A Guard at the window is riddled with bullets! The front door EXPLODES!
People running. Ianto. Dazed. Being swept off in a crowd of frenzied people. Jack gets to his feet. Sees Ianto. Moves for him ... Ianto, reaching for Jack, being carried off by the flow of the crowd, through the smoke ... John comes up to Jack, as the Family Man is hit! He goes down.
"Come on!" John drags Jack along the alley.
The small alley between the warehouse and another building is right in the middle of a huge fire fight! Drifting smoke. Broken water pipes spew water! • Riot Police surround the alley on fire escapes and brick walls above, firing down! People are running! FIRING BACK at the Riot Police!
Blazing GUNS!
Jack and John are blasting away, moving back down the tiny little alley and in another part of the alley in all the smoke and fire is Ianto. Looking for Jack. he can't find him. Ducks the gunfire.
Jack and John are shooting wildly. There's Eugene with an Uzi, BLASTING! Eugene is hit! Falls.
Jack and John round a corner as in the other part of the alley Ianto is running from the drifting smoke, away from the fire fight.
Jack and John are backing into the end of the alley, trapped now so they FIRE! Riot Police fall from the walls and fire escapes! Jack and John are trapped behind a barricade of Junk and debris.
Quiet.
Drifting smoke.
Jack and John are staring out, hearing the distnt souds of screaming and gunfire. John gasps "they're killin' everybody"
"I've gotta find him" Jack starts forward, but John holds him back.
"Wait a minute, man, are you crazy?"
"I gotta see if he's all right" Jack pulled away but John pulls Jack back into their little barricade.
"Just stay here. There's nothin' you can do out there" Now John fumbles that fancy wrist watch out of his pocket "If I can turn this thing on we can listen in"
"Get set to sweat." Jack warns.
Here comes another squad down rhe alley towards them. They open fire.
Jack and John duck!
The wrist watch falls to the pavement… flashes!
"What was that?" Jack asks with surprise.
But their barricade is riddled with gunfire!
They return fire!
The wrist watch on the pavement ... It's actually glowing, pulsating - then flashing!
The SCREEN GOES WHITE!
And there, suddenly, in the alley floor, ... is a weird tunnel! It glows with blue light! And it goes right down through the ground, six, seven feet! Down below, through the tunnel, is a concrete floor!
A strange, filtered female voice echoes weirdly from inside the tunnel "Attention. This entryway is temporary and will disappear in 20 seconds ..."
Jack yells "Get in there!"
John does a double take as he replies "Say what?"
"Move!"
Coming down the alley toward them, the Riot Cops are a line of firing soldiers moving inexorably toward them! They are wearing body armour and look weirdly almost like Cyborgs or something.
"You have 12 seconds. 11 seconds, 10 seconds ... "
"We don't know what's down there" John is still arguing.
"Now!" Jack screams.
John shrugs and jumps down into the tunnel, falling out of sight! Jack. Lets fire with another couple BLASTS! And drops down into the tunnel ...
... 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds …"
Jack falls to the concrete floor ... and WHAM! A flash of light from above ... . . . and the tunnel in the ceiling just disappears!
Silence.
Jack and John find themselves standing in what seems to be a funky underground passageway. Concrete. Overhead lights. Pipes and wires running along the ceiling. High-tech it isn't. The passageway looks like it goes on forever.
The female voice is still echoing around the walls "If you need assistance in finding your destination , bilingual instructions are posted at the end of each corridor ..."
The voice comes from an old speaker in the ceiling. Now the Female Voice repeats the instructions in a strange, alien language - - Alienese.
"What language is that? And where the hell are we?" John is about to spaz out as he looks around frantically.
"Under the city?" Jack is icy cold calm.
Jack's on the move, John following as he says "There's gotta be a way out of here Jack"
Jack nods "I'm just hoping' they didn't see us drop in"
They move off down the hall into another section of the alien passageway, where one corridor intersects with another. Jack and John approach a corner.
Slow.
Stop.
They listen as they detect a guard station just a few feet down another passageway . To guards dressed in red Berets. Fatigues. Side-arms. Berets. One of them talks into a futuristic-looking walkie-talkie
"Right . Okay ..." he hangs up the walkie-talkie, turns to the other Guard "We got 'em. Wiped 'em out."
Now the two Guards give each other a 'high 5', turn and walk away as in the dark crouches Jack and John listening. Now they quickly slip across the corridor intersection, unseen, and move off down another passageway .
Jack and John come up to another intersection. This time Jack stops and glances down one corridor "I'm hearing' something"
They cautiously enter the corridor .
The Manager or something is speaking "… and you have all put faith in unprecedented loyalty! effort to make this division the success story it is tonight."
CHEERS APPLAUSE.
Jack and John creep along the corridor where beyond is a huge ballroom, as in an expensive hotel. Slowly, Jack and John step in. They are in the back of the ballroom, unseen by over 100 people seated at tables. Humans. In tuxedos.
They applaud a man who addresses them from behind a lectern. The crowd is mostly white. Male. A couple of women . It's like a convention of Yuppies or a small version of the Academy Awards.
"Ever since we initiated mutual cooperation, the gains have been substantial, for both ourselves, and you, the human power elite…"
"Jack and John move cautiously along the rear wall of the ballroom, watching. They can see a few Aliens mixed in among the Humans, listening to the man in his tuxedo... "You have given us entre to the resources we need in our ongoing quest for multidimensional expansion. And in return, the per capita income of you here tonight has grown, in this year alone, by an average 39%"
BIG CHEERS.
APPLAUSE .
"Our projections show that by the year 2025, not just America but the entire planet will be under the protection and dominion of this power alliance. Earth is our stepping stone for a greater galactic purpose!"
CHEERS.
APPLAUSE.
"And I have just received word that our forces have won a major victory. We have destroyed the terrorist underground network on the West Coast. (CHEERS) As of this moment, we are off crisis alert- The situation is normal again ..."
Jack and John watching, as a hand touches Jack's shoulder! They turn, startled - and it's the Drifter from the camp. He's dressed in a tuxedo too . "Whatcha doin', boys? I didn't know you'd been recruited."
Jack and John are speechless.
"You boys should'a dressed for the party - now that you can afford it..." the Drifter glances at the gathering "I'm just proud to be here. Have you seen the whole place?"
"Haven't gotten around to it." Jack answers gamely as John continues to stare in silent confusion.
"Come on, I'll show you." And the Drifter leads them over to another concrete passageway leading off the ballroom "You know, I knew we had alot in common when we first met ..."
They move along a passageway and John finally finds his voice "Excuse me, but where the hell are we?"
"Backstage at the show, boys. I know it's a little funky but it serves the purpose." The Drifter replies with glee "How'd you get here? Use one of these portable jobs?"
The Drifter admires his expensive gold wrist watch "I know we're only supposed to use 'em in case of emergency but they're so much fun ..."
He leads them to another corridor junction, entering a side passageway. The Drifter turns and says "Now if you think that's neat, take a look at this."
They take a few steps down the corridor, stop.
The walls, the floor and ceiling end in a massive loading dock. And beyond the loading dock is blackness. And millions of stars!
Jack and John are frozen, staring in speechless wonder.
