ACT THREE
RESUME:
INT. THE CORE
Hobbes is still hunched over Waters' carving; he runs his fingertips over the etching, feeling the letters.
HOBBES
No way out.
PINOCCHIO
This is getting us nowhere fast.
(stands)
We gotta move.
HOBBES
Move where?
PINOCCHIO
I guess you got a decision to make.
(points to Red-brick)
The one we just came from...
(points to Hedgemaze)
The one from The Shining...
(points to Mirrored)
The one from the funhouse...
(points to Wood-panel)
Or the one that looks like the living
room at my Aunt Margaret's house.
Florence stands and Hobbes finally follows, looking around the portico. He glances down to the carving one last time, then heads for the wood-paneled doorway. Before he can step through the entrance, though, Pinocchio grabs his arm.
PINOCCHIO
Whoa; slow down, Chief. Don't go
getting ahead of yourself.
Florence passes them, followed by Pinocchio, putting Hobbes at the rear of the platoon. They head into the corridor.
INT. WOOD-PANEL HALLWAY
The trio heads into the wood-paneled section of the Maze. After a few yards, they turn a corner, and the doorway to the Core disappears. A few turns later, Hobbes speaks.
HOBBES
What the hell was that about?
Florence glances back to Pinocchio, who looks to Hobbes.
PINOCCHIO
What was what about?
HOBBES
Pushing me to the back, like I'm a
damn kid who doesn't know what he's
doing. I ran ground-recon in Salâh-
ad-Dîn before the air campaign.
PINOCCHIO
And I hit four homeruns in JV base-
ball back at Lincoln High School.
Hobbes blinks at Pinocchio, caught by the non-sequitur.
PINOCCHIO
This is a different playing field.
If you are what you think you are,
then it wouldn't do much good for
you to walk into a trap or step on
a landmine, now would it?
HOBBES
And if I'm NOT what you seem to
think I think I am?
Pinocchio glares at Hobbes, who presses the issue.
HOBBES
You talk about how much bull these
"prophecies" are, but you seem to
throw yourself in front of me a
little too often.
PINOCCHIO
What are you trying to accuse me of?
Believing? Wondering? CARING?
HOBBES
I just can't imagine that hanging
around me is the best way to serve
your own self-interest.
PINOCCHIO
Hobbes; I really could give less than
half-a-living-sh--
Florence stops, blocking Pinocchio with an arm that cuts him off cold. He looks at her, then ahead down the hall. At first, he doesn't see why they've stopped, but then the air in the corridor CRACKLES as a GLITCH twitches.
HOBBES
Is it a way out?
PINOCCHIO
How do you always manage to be such
an irrepressible optimist? "No way
out" means "no way out," not "maybe
a way out will magically appear in
the middle of the friggin hallway."
Pinocchio and Hobbes stand by as Florence takes a slow step toward the anomaly, hand extended. In another second, her hand disappears behind the digital haze of the glitch. She pulls her arm back, shaking her head; this is nothing good.
HOBBES
What is it?
PINOCCHIO
(looks to glitch)
It's a Scrambler, kid; another part
of the Maze. Nasty little bastards.
HOBBES
Where's it go?
PINOCCHIO
Well there's the rub. I walk through
it, I get spit out somewhere in the
Maze. YOU walk through it, you end up
somewhere ELSE in the Maze.
HOBBES
Why the hell would -- ?
PINOCCHIO
C'mon Hobbes; I know you were Infantry,
but use your head. We're in a training
program designed to push players beyond
their psychological limits. So what's
the advantage to making sure that those
players are alone?
HOBBES
(beat)
Are you're seriously quizzing me?
PINOCCHIO
Absolutely. You're gonna earn this one.
HOBBES
You gotta be kidding...
PINOCCHIO
(smirks)
Take your time.
HOBBES
This is ridiculous; alright.
(thinks)
It's a single-player sim; the players
aren't SUPPOSED to be in groups.
(Pinocchio nods)
So...the program must be...designed to
read each player, and adapt the game.
Pinocchio nods again.
HOBBES
Scramblers break up groups so that...
the program can target each player's
weakness, hit them individually.
PINOCCHIO
(almost proud)
THERE you go. I knew you could put
it together.
Pinocchio looks back to the hallway they've been following.
PINOCCHIO
Either we go back, or we go through.
HOBBES
What's the difference?
PINOCCHIO
Right now? Jack-squat.
HOBBES
We can all go through?
Pinocchio grabs the arm of Florence's shirt with one hand and the arm of Hobbes' shirt with the other, then nods.
PINOCCHIO
Sure.
Florence nods; the three of them slip through the glitch.
TIME CUT:
INT. HEDGEMAZE HALLWAY
The trio trudges between a pair of shrubbery hedges that form walls on either side. The tops of the plants overgrow the hallway to form a ceiling; the path is lined with dirt.
Pinocchio leads with Florence following and Hobbes behind.
HOBBES
What did Santiago do when he found
out you cheated in his program?
PINOCCHIO
What makes you think he found out?
HOBBES
He didn't find out?
PINOCCHIO
Of course he did; it's his program.
He was so impressed, he put my friend
at the head of his R&D department, and
assigned me to the head of his army.
Pinocchio follows his words with a look that implies it wasn't the greatest thing that's ever happened to him.
PINOCCHIO
At the time, I thought it was the
greatest thing that could have hap-
pened to me. Get me close to the
top, give me a chance to figure out
his plans, then take him out.
HOBBES
What went wrong?
PINOCCHIO
He turned my allegiances around.
Took me up to the roof of Government
House one morning as dawn broke over
the City. Now I'm no poet, and I'm
definitely not an artist, but that
scene woulda made a painter famous.
FLASHBACK:
EXT. SANTIAGO CITY, GOVERNMENT HOUSE (DAWN)
A fiery sunrise spills over the City. Reds, purples and oranges sparkles off the steel and glass of the Empire.
OMAR SANTIAGO stands on the roof with MIKE PINOCCHIO, both dressed in fresh Republican Guard uniforms. Pinocchio is Young, sharp, important. Santiago watches the sunrise.
SANTIAGO
I come here every so often to remind
myself that there is a force at work
in the universe that cares nothing
for the petty will of Men.
Santiago pauses, takes a deep breath.
SANTIAGO
Call it my absolution.
Pinocchio glances to Santiago, but doesn't answer.
PINOCCHIO
I'm don't know art, sir; but I know
what I like.
That earns a laugh from Santiago, and he sighs.
SANTIAGO
Despite the rumors you may have heard
about the infamous Mr. Santiago, there
are many things that I do not know.
(beat)
But; information being the currency of
this modern age, there are many more
things that I DO know.
(beat)
I know, for instance, that you are a
fierce loyalist who does not treat his
devotions lightly. I know that you
came here at the behest of men whose
goal is to destroy what I have created.
Pinocchio looks to Santiago; there is no fear in his eyes.
PINOCCHIO
Yes sir.
Santiago meets Pinocchio's eyes, smiles at his honesty.
SANTIAGO
I know that you saw an opportunity
to infiltrate my Guard as an agent
of the United States military. To
perhaps learn my motivations and
goals in order to fulfill your own
objective.
(beat; frank)
To kill me.
Pinocchio's eyes do not waver; he holds Santiago's gaze.
PINOCCHIO
True enough, sir.
Santiago looks out of the sunrise, which is mellowing.
SANTIAGO
I respect you, Michael. First for
the loyalty you would not so flip-
pantly abandon, even when it might
endanger your life; and second, for
the respect that you have shown me
through your honesty.
PINOCCHIO
Thank you, sir.
SANTIAGO
And I will show you respect in equal
measure by reciprocating with honesty.
Santiago looks to Pinocchio again, his eyes.
SANTIAGO
The men who sent you here call me a
renegade and a traitor, because my
objectives no longer correspond with
their own. But our disagreement in
purpose stems from a difference in
understanding.
Santiago looks to the bustling metropolis and smiles.
SANTIAGO
As Lucifer understood that Mankind
deserved more than God was willing
to give and was cast into perdition
for it, I too understand that the
inhabitants of this world deserve
better than the perdition into which
their world has been perverted. A
Tartarus that was created by us...
(looks to Pinocchio)
You and I; the people you represent.
The people I used to represent.
Santiago pauses, looks out over the sunrise
SANTIAGO
But no longer. This is not a game,
Michael, and those people that you
call "virtual characters"; they are
no less real than you or I. This
world is theirs. We are the foreign
trespassers; we are the invaders.
Pinocchio looks out over the City as the sunrise finally melts to the brilliant goal that marks the new day. He looks to Santiago, who is so enrapt in the sight of his own creation that he doesn't notice Pinocchio watching him.
SANTIAGO
You have a decision to make, Michael.
At that, Santiago unholsters his sidearm. He drops the clip to check the ammo, slides it back into place, chambers the first round and pulls back the hammer. Pinocchio watches with a visible degree of trepidation, but looks genuinely confused when Santiago offers him the loaded weapon.
SANTIAGO
Follow your orders and kill me; or
do the right thing, and join me.
Pinocchio looks at the gun, then meets Santiago's eyes.
BACK TO SCENE:
INT. HEDGEMAZE HALLWAY
Pinocchio heads carefully down the corridor with Hobbes following; Florence covers the rear a few paces back.
PINOCCHIO
That sonuvabitch could talk the Devil
into lightning himself on fire.
HOBBES
(understanding)
"A perfect society and a beautiful
way of life, free of strife."
PINOCCHIO
(sad smirk)
He makes it sound pretty good, huh?
HOBBES
So what changed?
PINOCCHIO
What always changes? Power corrupts,
and absolute power corrupts absolute-
ly. I don't know when he crossed that
fine line, but at some point his goal
changed from repairing this world to
destroying ours. He started talking
about a Final Solution, and I knew --
Pinocchio turns a corner and goes abruptly silent.
HOBBES
You knew what?
Pinocchio still doesn't answer; Hobbes turns the corner to find the hallway entirely empty. Pinocchio is gone.
HOBBES
Pinocchio?
CUT TO BLACK
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