(A grainy video recording of what we recognise as ELIZABETH's disastrous press conference with the T-rex from the final episode of Season 1. The image fades in and out, eventually cutting out altogether. But we see ELIZABETH unveil the dinosaur and demonstrate its intelligence. The image pans out to show RAUL and EVA watching the footage on a laptop in their house.)
EVA: I liked her more when she was like that.
RAUL: Yeah. She's more like how Dina described her: 'nearly homicidally dangerous'.
(They both laugh)
EVA: Just imagine how useful someone like that would be for us.
RAUL: I know. This country won't know what hit it. To begin with I was thinking of hacking, sabotage, stuff like that, but now, what with virtual reality, body switching suits and who knows what else, the possibilities for chaos are almost endless.
EVA: Yeah, but don't forget that they're both geniuses. We'll have to be really careful with Toby.
RAUL: That's right, but I figure that once we have Elizabeth on our side, we'll let her deal with him. Have you worked out all the details?
EVA (grins evilly): Oh yes. As soon as I saw the body switching suits, it all became crystal clear.
RAUL: Yeah, we've got to get our hands on them.
(They hear a knock at the door)
RAUL: That'll be Dina. Hopefully with some more interesting viewing material for us.
(He goes to answer the door. It is DINA).
DINA (to RAUL): Hi. (kisses him). Hi Eva!
EVA (from the other end of the room): Hi Dina! How was your first day back?
DINA: Weird. Did Raul tell you?
EVA: Yeah, he told me, but he's a guy, so he wasn't able to give me much detail. But I hear some psycho girl has got her claws into your best friend.
DINA: Yeah. To be honest I don't know what to think.
RAUL (surprised): She convinced you she's genuine?
DINA: Not exactly. I mean I'm not sure either way. (sighs) It's so complicated. I have to admit that she seemed sort of nice just now. And everyone else really seems to be giving her a chance.
(RAUL looks with intent at EVA)
EVA: Wait a second. Just because everyone else believes her, doesn't mean you have to. Base yourself on how she behaves towards you. (pause) How is she behaving towards you?
DINA: Outwardly friendly, but with little subtle hints not to annoy her.
EVA: Ah I see.
DINA: Anyway, maybe this will make things a bit clearer. (She takes the USB stick out of her pocket and holds it up.)
RAUL: What it is?
DINA: It's her… (realises that she mustn't actually explain) It's some recordings of her, which she says might help me to believe her.
EVA: Sounds a bit strange.
DINA: Well… maybe.
RAUL: You should watch them. Now, if you like.
DINA: Well I was thinking that I should probably…
RAUL: On your own, of course. You can watch them on the laptop here. Eva and I will go and get dinner ready. Right, Eva?
EVA: Sure. Tell us if you see anything you think is really significant and we can think about what to do about it.
DINA: Thanks. That'd be great.
(RAUL sets up the laptop for her, then joins EVA in the kitchen. DINA starts to watch the memories, which fill the picture so that it is as if we are watching them too.)
(Scene: ELIZABETH is looking darkly into the mirror in her bedroom, as if she is scrutinising herself very hard and not liking what she sees in the reflection. For a moment she looks down and examines her hands, then looks back sadly into the glass. A tear runs down her cheek.
She steps brusquely away from the mirror and sits down quickly at her writing desk. She takes out a piece of paper and starts to write. She gets as far as 'Dear Toby, How can I…' then screws up the piece of paper and pushes it away. She puts her head in her hands and seems to start crying, but we can't see her face.
After a few moments, she appears to hyperfunction. She lets out a little groan of pain, then looks up. Her face is smeared with tears but she seems bleakly determined. She tears off another piece of paper and starts writing mathematical formulae and programming code with frenzied determination.
(Scene: ELIZABETH's lab, the shattered glass roof all over the floor. ELIZABETH is working on an invention. She looks pale and disordered, as if she hasn't been sleeping well. Her laptop is linked up to a small device, which is in turn linked by wires that lead up into her hair, presumably attached somehow to her head. She types a command into her laptop. Almost instantly she winces in pain, holding her head then rubbing her arms, as if they are aching. She types adjustments into her laptop, then types a command. This time the pain is obviously greater, because she nearly screams in pain. Then she starts typing again.
(Scene: Night. ELIZABETH walks slowly and sadly through the dark and empty corridors of Sandy Bay High School.)
(Scene: ELIZABETH is sitting at the writing desk in her bedroom. The blinds are down and she has the same sleepless, haunted look. She stares absently into space, while her hand plays with a small device like a microchip, pushing it back and forward on the desk in front of her.
Suddenly, there is a noise like someone knocking loudly at the front door. She looks around in bewilderment, but otherwise doesn't move. After a few moments there is a second knock at the door, this time even louder. She gets up, puts the microchip into a little box on the bookcase then goes cautiously out of her room, down the stairs and up to the front door. From the glimpses we see of her house it seems empty and untidy. She looks through the net curtain on the glass door then quickly opens it. TOBY is standing outside.)
TOBY: Elizabeth! So you're alive after all.
ELIZABETH (slightly dazed): What?
TOBY: You haven't been answering your phone. People have been worried about you.
ELIZABETH: I doubt that.
TOBY: Well… I've been worried about you.
ELIZABETH (brighter): Have you?
TOBY: Yeah, I have. After that night with the… well you know what, you just disappeared. I even spoke to Verity. She said she came here and knocked on the door but no one answered.
ELIZABETH: Yeah I know. I couldn't face seeing her. I'll tell her I'm sorry when I see her.
TOBY: But you opened the door to me.
ELIZABETH: You're different.
TOBY: Can I come in or are we going to talk on the street?
ELIZABETH (opening the door wider and beckoning him inside): No, let's not talk on the street.
(ELIZABETH leads TOBY vacantly into the living room. The room is dusty and silent, as if no one has been in there for a while.)
TOBY (looking round, slightly concerned): Is your mother here?
ELIZABETH: She's been on holiday for the last few weeks. I didn't go with her. It's much better this way.
TOBY: So what have you been doing in here?
ELIZABETH: Well, I have a lot to think about, don't you reckon?
TOBY: Yeah, I guess you do…
ELIZABETH (thinking out loud): You've never been to my house before. (pause) I wasn't sure you even knew where it was.
TOBY: Oh I knew. But it was kind a case of know your…
ELIZABETH (sighing): Enemy. Toby, I'm not your… (pauses) I never really have been. I was just…
TOBY: I know, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH (sad): I was going to say: completely stupid. The most stupid so-called genius there ever was.
(TOBY reaches out and touches her arm.)
TOBY: Hey. Maybe we don't have to go back there.
ELIZABETH (in a low voice): I'm not out of there.
(At this point DINA's concentration is disturbed by EVA popping her head round the door. DINA quickly switches off the images.)
EVA: Dina? Dinner's ready.
DINA (awkward): Oh ok! Be right with you!
(She sits back in the chair thoughtfully. She goes to switch on the images again then stops, looking at the black screen. She sits in silence for a few moments, then gets up and goes into the other room to eat.)
(RAUL, EVA and DINA are sitting round the kitchen table eating dinner.)
RAUL: How's it going in there?
DINA (hesitant): Interesting.
RAUL: She convinced you?
DINA: Not exactly. It's just I've never seen her act like this before. I've never seen her so close to seeming sincere.
EVA (to RAUL): She sounds like Vanessa Benedetti.
(RAUL laughs derisively)
DINA: Who's Vanessa Benedetti?
EVA (sarcastic): Raul's childhood sweetheart.
(RAUL laughs louder)
RAUL: I don't think that's what I'd call her.
EVA: Oh, why not? Ok, your first love then. You have to admit that you were in love with her. Even after she'd trampled you into the dust a few times.
RAUL (slightly irritated): Does Dina have to hear about this?
EVA: She should. From what I've heard, this Elizabeth is a regular Vanessa Benedetti. Is she blonde by any chance?
DINA: She is actually.
EVA: That settles it. It all fits. Dina, Vanessa was a girl at our school. You could say she had a reputation for being an evil bitch. You know: vindictive, manipulating, and the rest. But she set her sights on poor Raul here. She said that she was attracted by his goodness. She said that liking him changed her, made her want to be good. I told him he must be crazy, but he wouldn't listen. He said he felt a kind of connection with her.
(DINA glances at RAUL. He gives her a significant look by way of reply.)
EVA (continuing): So you went out, how long, a year?
RAUL (bashful): A year and two months in total.
EVA: During which time she had everybody convinced that she had changed, Raul in particular. And all the while she was subtly cutting him off from his friends and - get this - stealing money from him… and also, so it turned out in the end, cheating on him with two other guys. And he still took her back!
DINA: Really?
RAUL (cringing): I was really young. And really naive. I have no problem admitting that.
EVA: Wait, you haven't heard the best part. In the end of course, she dumped him. And then, a few months later Raul started going out with this other girl. She was really well suited to Raul and also a very close friend of mine. Anyway, this girl's walking home one night and some guy robs her and beats her up. Puts her in the hospital. Next day, Raul gets this note sent to him. It said: 'It's too soon for you to be over me.'
DINA (visibly shocked): Oh my goodness.
EVA: Now you can see why we're taking this problem of yours so seriously.
DINA: Well, you've really given me something to think about.
RAUL: Of course, Elizabeth may not be the same as Vanessa.
DINA: Well, she's certainly done some pretty nasty things in the past.
(DINA gets up suddenly from the dinner table.)
DINA: Do you mind if I go back in there and finish watching? I'm sorry. The food is really nice, but I've sort of lost my appetite.
EVA: It's no problem. You need to see how it ends.
DINA (distant, determined): Yeah. We'll see how it ends. (She leaves the room).
EVA: Who'd have thought that Vanessa Benedetti would ever be useful to us?
RAUL: Oh, I owe her a lot. Taught me a lot of what I know about human nature.
EVA: I taught you the rest.
RAUL (smiles at her): Yes, the most important things. Nice touch, by the way, the bit about Vanessa arranging for you to get mugged.
EVA (laughs): Yeah. As if she'd have had the guts to so something like that.
RAUL: And what's funny is that she really thought she was a smart operator. Like this Elizabeth.
EVA: I'll never forget the look on her face when she came back to school after leaving hospital. I wonder if she ever got over it.
RAUL (bitterly): I'll tell you, if this Elizabeth turns out to be like Vanessa, I'm really going to enjoy putting her in her place.