2043
BLUE SKY
October 3rd, 2043.
[A VAN PULLS UP AND PEOPLE GET OUT]
[THE SLIDE DOOR OPENS]
PAMELA
Clive. Clive, wake up.
CLIVE
What? Wh- What’s happening?
PAMELA
We’re here.
CLIVE
We are?
PAMELA
This is it.
CLIVE
Wait. This is it?
PAMELA
This is it.
CLIVE
This is… This is a house.
PAMELA
I know you thought your money would buy you a cryopod tucked up George Washington’s nose on Mount Rushmore, this is the best we can do.
[CLIVE GETS OUT OF THE VAN AND STRETCHES]
CLIVE
Where the hell are we?
BILL (A TEAM MEMBER)
Last place anyone will look.
CLIVE
Doesn’t look like a very secure place to hang out for the next thousand years.
SHELLEY (ANOTHER TEAM MEMBER)
You’re forgetting, you’re in America now, Mr Schill. Home of the doomsday prepper.
CLIVE
Very reassuring, Shelley.
PAMELA
You want to go downstairs?
CLIVE
[annoyed] Jesus. 20 million dollars for a bungalow in… where even are we?
PAMELA
Willimantic.
CLIVE
Willy… what?
SHELLEY
Willimantic. Connecticut.
CLIVE
Willy Mantic?
BILL
Home of the Windham Frog Fight.
CLIVE
What?
SHELLEY
The Battle of the Frogs.
CLIVE
Am I… Am I still asleep?
[THE DOOR TO THE HOUSE OPENS UP AND A MAN STEPS OUT]
JOSH
Hey. You made it.
PAMELA
Hey Josh. We all good up here?
JOSH
Head on down, Pam. Security’s tight up here. Assuming Mr Schill hasn’t been tracked on his way over here.
CLIVE
I wasn’t tracked, Josh. Nice to meet you by the way.
JOSH
Rumour has it the Overhead nest got busted. Are you sure your old pals aren’t on the lookout for a new place to get their heads down? Or Aubrey Wood isn’t roaming around Connecticut trying to ruin someone else’s day?
PAMELA
We don’t know if that’s even true. And security is your job, Josh. You want to keep talking on the street, or what?
JOSH
Nah. Everyone else is downstairs. You’re good.
[THE GROUP FILE PAST JOSH]
CLIVE
You know for all the money I’ve spent on this you could’ve bought a bigger gun. Josh.
[CUT]
[CLIVE, PAM AND THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE GROUP WALK DOWNSTAIRS TO THE BASEMENT OF THE HOUSE]
PAMELA
Hey guys. This is Clive Schill.
CLIVE
[meekly] Hi guys. Don’t mind me, carry on, carry on.
[THEY PAY HIM VERY LITTLE MIND, A COUPLE OF LOOK UPS AND SHORT GREETINGS]
CLIVE
[quietly] Seriously, Pam. This is going to keep us safe for 10 centuries? A basement in someone’s house?
PAMELA
Clive do you have any idea how hard it’s been these last few years to gather the materials needed to build this place?
CLIVE
There isn’t a Home Depot nearby?
PAMELA
It doesn’t look like much, but this basement is tight as a drum. Everything we need for survival. No matter what happens outside. Extra MBV cells for the pods -
CLIVE
I don’t know what that is.
PAMELA
The batteries, dumbass. [proudly] The batteries that power the pods independently for hundreds of years, we’re also using them to power everything else. Complete energy independence. The pods don’t all look so pretty, no. We’ve had to Frankenstein most of them together. Far less suspicion getting individual parts than trying to source a complete pod on its own. Not an easy feat of engineering.
CLIVE
And you’ve got all the… stuff. You know… The Hartshorn.
PAMELA
You make it sound like crystal meth. Yes, we have the Hartshorn. We’re taking it out of containment very soon.
CLIVE
And we’ve got the right people to like deal with that…
PAMELA
Yes, we’ve got the right people. Clive, I know what I’m doing.
CLIVE
Okay so like, do you need me to study anything, like… do I have to know anything before…
PAMELA
What do you want to know?
CLIVE
I don’t know like, the stewardess always has important information before a flight.
PAMELA
If I were you, I wouldn’t describe anyone in this room as a stewardess. You can’t learn about oxidative DNA repair on the back of a cereal box, Clive. Bit late to worry about any of that now. Look. You funded this. At considerable personal risk. Everyone in this room knows it. You’ve done your job, you can let us do ours. We did it.
CLIVE
We did it.
PAMELA
We’re going to sleep tonight.
CLIVE
It’s a bit like umm… like the old days, all this. You know underground. Exposed brickwork. Cables everywhere. Distinct body odour. Feels like Red Valley.
PAMELA
Well. Hopefully not too much like -
[SUDDENLY THE CLEAR SOUND OF A GUNSHOT FROM ABOVE, OUTSIDE, ELICITING PANICKED REACTIONS FROM THE GROUP]
PAMELA
Everyone quiet! Sh…sh… Shit!
[TWO MORE QUICK SHOTS - THE ROOM REACTS]
CLIVE
[terrified] Pam, what the hell!
PAMELA
Shut up!
CLIVE
Jesus, the last place anyone would look!
BILL
You were followed!
PAMELA
No, we weren’t!
BILL
Of course you were!
CLIVE
Where are your guns?
PAMELA
We don’t have guns. Josh is the only one who’s armed.
CLIVE
[upset] You don’t have guns! 20 million dollars and you couldn’t find the change for a few spare -
[THE BASEMENT DOOR OPENS]
[THE GROUP IS INSTANTLY SILENT]
[TWO SETS OF FOOTSTEPS DOWN THE STAIRS]
CLIVE
Fuck’s sake.
REBECCA
Hello everyone.
CLIVE
Becky? Francesca? How the hell did y-
FRANCESCA
Quiet. And don’t call her Becky, she doesn’t like that.
REBECCA
I really don’t.
PAMELA
Is Josh dead?
FRANCESCA
The guy outside? Yeah.
CLIVE
Uh… Guess the Overhead nest didn’t work out so well.
FRANCESCA
[clearly unstable] No, it did not. Aubrey Wood’s army of twats destroyed it all, and every fucking cryopod in England for all we know. And everyone who’s ever made one has gone to ground. So, er… room at the inn for two more? You’ve got at least one spot open now I’ve blown Josh’s head off. So, one more and we’re all good to go. Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick t-
CLIVE
Wh- Why don’t we put the guns down for a minute and have a civilised conversation -
PAMELA
There’s - there’s no more pods. Everyone in this group has a specific role in making this work, it’s the minimum amount of people you need to run a cryopod nest, barely. For a hypersleep period of this length, we don’t even know if it’s enough.
FRANCESCA
I thought you’d say something like that. Pretty obvious where the weak link is then. Thanks for everything Clive.
[FRAN FIRES A SHOT]
[CLIVE DIVES BEHIND SOME EQUIPMENT]
[GASPS AND SCREAMS FROM THE GROUP]
CLIVE
Fuck it! You really could’ve hurt someone then, Fran!
PAMELA
[panicking] Whoa! Whoa! Wait!
[FRAN STEPS AROUND THE ROOM]
FRANCESCA
You can’t hide from me, Clive! Anything he’s promised you, it’s probably bollocks. We can give you all anything you want. Now we’re awake again, Rebecca is actually CEO of Overhead, so all this really belongs to us anyway.
CLIVE
Oh… oh… Got that in writing, have you?
FRANCESCA
Step out from behind that box, you bloody child.
PAMELA
It’s not a box, it’s the ECMO machine and if you put a bullet through that or anything else in here all of this is going to be a moot point!
FRANCESCA
Just hand him over then. He was your money man. And now it’s us.
PAMELA
You can’t shoot Clive.
FRANCESCA
I bloody can.
PAMELA
I told you, we’re the skeleton team of engineers needed to make this work. There’s only one of each of us! So, we have to be alternates for each other. Not the specialist but skilled enough to manage if we lose somebody. I’m the alternate for Bill, Bill is the alternate for Shelley, and so on.
REBECCA
And who’s Clive the alternate for?
PAMELA
The guy whose head you just blew off. So now Clive is in sole charge of Hartshorn transfusion.
FRANCESCA
Oh, bollocks he is.
PAMELA
You want to wake up with blood toxicity in 8 weeks instead of a thousand years and find out?
FRANCESCA
You can bloody teach us then.
PAMELA
That’s not… it’s taken months to get him up to speed, you can’t just… you can’t just -
CLIVE
You can’t just learn about oxidative DNA repair on the back of a cereal box, Fran!
FRANCESCA
[alarmed] Okay. Okay. Well… well smart people, let’s brainstorm, er… how are we going to manage this? How are we going to manage this?
REBECCA
I know what to do.
[A PAUSE]
FRANCESCA
Rebec -
[A GUNSHOT]
[FRAN FALLS TO THE FLOOR, HER GUN CLATTERING TO THE GROUND]
[AGAIN THE ROOM REACTS WITH SHRIEKS AND WHIMPERS]
CLIVE
Fuck.
REBECCA
She was losing the plot anyway. Poor Fran.
CLIVE
Th- Thank you, Rebecca.
REBECCA
That was all rubbish, wasn’t it? Clive can barely transfuse piss into an open toilet.
PAMELA
Yeah. Yeah, it was.
CLIVE
So, why did you say it?
PAMELA
I don’t know. For your daughter. I guess.
CLIVE
Oh… Thanks.
BILL
Are we all done with the murdering now?
REBECCA
Yeah.
[SHE COLLECTS HERSELF]
REBECCA
I really am sorry for all the fuss, everyone. The last thing I want to do is throw a spanner in the works. I can assure you that no one else knows the location of this site or what exactly you’re doing here. You can believe me because all I want is the same thing as all of you. I want to survive. But not just that. I want to wake up in a future where we can build a better world. And please don’t take this the wrong way, but no matter how good your homemade hypersleep nest is, in a thousand years when you poke your heads out of this little basement, if you don’t have some help you won’t last a week. So, my gifts to you, in return for a place to get my head down for the next millennium, are the resources that were put in place to protect and sustain the Overhead board of directors once they woke up. They won’t be needing them now, so they are yours. Do we have a deal?
[AWKWARD PAUSE]
PAMELA
Sure. Can the gun go away now?
REBECCA
Of course. Awesome. Well then. Don’t mind me, as you were.
PAMELA
Right. Well. Josh was in charge of security and supplies, so… Shelley, can you and Remi take a look at the inventory?
[A PAUSE]
[PAM CLAPS HER HANDS]
PAMELA
Come on, this isn’t the first dead body any of us have seen. Let’s go.
[THE TEAM COME BACK TO LIFE, QUIETLY]
PAMELA
You think you might do something about… uh…
REBECCA
Oh yes, me and Clive will do that. Sorry again, Pam about the mess. Grab her feet Clive.
CLIVE
Er, er… I walk with a cane, Rebecca, I don’t know if I can manage carrying a dead body -
REBECCA
Just do it.
CLIVE
Fuck sake.
[CUT]
[REBECCA AND CLIVE STRUGGLE TO LIFT THE BODY INTO A CAR TRUNK]
REBECCA
Watch her head.
CLIVE
I’ve got it.
REBECCA
Don’t bang her head.
CLIVE
Oh, will I make it worse?
[REBECCA HEAVES FRAN’S LEGS IN AND THEY’RE DONE]
REBECCA
[tired] There.
CLIVE
Okay. You sure this is umm…
REBECCA
It’s fine. And the animals can’t get to her at least.
CLIVE
[sarcastic] It’s what she would’ve wanted, I’m sure.
[THEY TAKE A MOMENT]
REBECCA
Francesca. May you find the peace that so eluded you in life in the boot of this Toyota Prius.
[SHE PUTS A HAND ON THE BOOT LID]
REBECCA
Too bad you couldn’t cut it… Come on, let’s get back.
[SHE SLAMS THE BOOT CLOSED]
[THEY BEGIN TO WALK AWAY DOWN THE ABANDONED STREET]
CLIVE
Beautiful words Becky. Do you have any friends or colleagues you haven’t murdered, betrayed or left for dead?
REBECCA
‘Left for dead.’ We made you CEO.
CLIVE
You know it’s actually much less fun being captain of the Titanic in the second half of the movie.
REBECCA
I could’ve shot you instead of Fran. It could be you taking a dirt nap in the back of a mid-range family saloon.
CLIVE
Oh, thanks so much for not shooting me in the face, Becky! Why didn’t you anyway?
REBECCA
Fran didn’t take very well to being woken up early. She was getting unpredictable.
CLIVE
Whereas I…
REBECCA
You’re an open book, Clive.
CLIVE
And I managed to put together my own cryopod nest.
REBECCA
You managed to pay other people with Overhead’s money to put together a cryopod nest. But yes, clearly our interests are aligned so, here I am. In - where are we again?
CLIVE
Willy - Willymans -
REBECCA
Willimantic. That’s it. Where is everyone? And what’s with all the frogs?
CLIVE
Everyone’s going on about frogs. I don’t know. I slept the whole way here.
REBECCA
You didn’t see the bridge? Giant frog statues. Like 10 feet tall statues of frogs.
CLIVE
I don’t know! We’re in Frogworld Connecticut cos it’s abandoned and they found a big deep doomsday basement to use. I pay them to worry about things, so I don’t have to.
REBECCA
Do you trust them?
CLIVE
I’m about to have a sleepover at their house for a thousand years, yes, I trust them. Can they trust you? I’m afraid I can’t really vouch for you.
REBECCA
We all want the same thing. We need each other now and we’ll need each other at the other end. For what it’s worth I meant it, we’ll have Overhead’s resources that were put aside.
CLIVE
What happened? To the Overhead nest?
REBECCA
Would you like to gloat?
CLIVE
Yeah… I’d love to.
REBECCA
I remember smoke, fire, coughing, lying on the freezing ground next to my pod unable to move or hear or speak. And there she was, just standing over me.
CLIVE
Aubrey Wood?
REBECCA
Yeah.
CLIVE
What did she say?
REBECCA
She didn’t say anything. Or maybe she did, like I said I couldn’t hear anything. By the time I could stand up, she was gone, the nest was beyond repair, and 300 of Overhead’s nearest and dearest just stood about in ridiculous Lycra bodysuits getting cold.
CLIVE
What did you all do?
REBECCA
What everyone at Overhead does. They looked to my father for help. But he wasn’t there.
CLIVE
He wasn’t there?
REBECCA
She took him.
CLIVE
What? Aubrey took him? She kidnapped Malcolm?
REBECCA
Yes.
CLIVE
What for? Where’s she goi -
REBECCA
I don’t know. No ransom, no great gesture. They’d gone. Maybe she ate him.
CLIVE
Wow. Becky, I’m… I always…
REBECCA
[apparently unaffected] Don’t worry about saying anything nice. He tried to screw you over just like I did. You’ve only got one Landry to deal with now at least.
[THEY APPROACH THE HOUSE]
PAMELA
There you are. It’s getting dark, I thought you’d gotten lost.
REBECCA
Just taking a last turn around the block. Pam, you’ve got to tell me about these frogs. I can’t sleep for a thousand years not knowing.
PAMELA
The frogs? Oh. It’s local history. A bunch of townspeople in the 18th century wake up in the night to this terrible sound, this awful roaring noise all around them. They’re convinced they’re under some sort of attack. So, they arm themselves, panic in the streets, people firing guns in the dark. When the sun comes up, they find out what they actually heard. A millpond nearby was drying out and the local bullfrog population made a great big noise fighting each other to the death over the last of the standing water. No soldiers, no armies. Just a bunch of dead frogs.
REBECCA
That’s… so bizarre. What a weird thing to memorialise.
PAMELA
At least they owned it. There’s probably a poignant analogy in there somewhere. Why don’t you head inside and mull it over. We’ve got a week’s worth of bio assessments to get done for you in a couple hours.
REBECCA
Yes, boss. See you downstairs then. Don’t catch cold you two.
[REBECCA ENTERS THE HOUSE]
CLIVE
[concerned] You okay?
PAMELA
Should’ve known something would come along and fuck up our shit today. Happens to us every damn time.
CLIVE
Yeah well… It could’ve been worse. At least it wasn’t Aubrey Wood who found us.
PAMELA
Right.
[IN THE DISTANCE A FAINT BUT DISTINCTIVE NOISE CAN BE HEARD - LIKE CRICKETS, BUT DEEPER AND RUMBLING]
CLIVE
Take a look around Dr Jennings. You’re not going to see the sky again for a long time.
PAMELA
Maybe. Maybe not.
CLIVE
Oh… Have some faith, it’s exhausting having to be optimistic for the both of us all the time. What is that noise?
PAMELA
It’s frogs. Easier to hear them with no one else around.
CLIVE
I thought they all killed each other.
PAMELA
Guess they figured something out.
CLIVE
Want to ask them how they did it?
PAMELA
Don’t speak frog.
[THE NOISE INCREASES, MORPHING INTO A ROAR OF STATIC] [CUT]
BLUE SKY
February 12th, 2064.
[CHAOS]
[MULTIPLE ALARMS BLARE, AUTOMATED VOICES ANNOUNCE WARNINGS - ECMO LEAK, CRYOPROTECTANT TOXICITY AT THRESHOLD, FIRE DETECTED, ACTION REQUIRED]
[NEARBY, MUFFLED THRASHING NOISES FROM A POD THAT HASN’T OPENED. SOME WRETCHING, CHOKING NOISES FROM SOMEONE HALF AWAKE, CHOKING ON THEIR BREATHING TUBE]
[THE SOUND OF A FIRE, SPARKS]
[THE SPLASH OF FOOTSTEPS IN PUDDLES]
PAMELA
Come on. Shelley! Shelley! Wake up! I need the AED! The defib! Shelley, you’re going to be okay - I need - is anyone else fucking awake! Help me!
CLIVE
[groggily] Pam… Pam… Wh- Why are you shouting?… pipe down…
REBECCA
Clive. Clive! Time to get up.
CLIVE
Becky? W- Why is everyone having a go? What’s going on?
PAMELA
Landry! Landry! Get over here, I need you!
REBECCA
[calmly] Pam, Shelley’s gone. We need to get out of here, right now!
PAMELA
This isn’t your fucking show, Landry! These people are my friends! Get over here and help me!
REBECCA
Pam. Look at… look at… look at me. You’re not thinking straight. She’s dead. And we’re going be dead too, unless we get out of here.
REBECCA
Clive. Hey, dipshit!
[SHE SLAPS HIM ROUND THE FACE]
REBECCA
I need you to walk, alright? I can’t carry you. Here’s your stupid stick with the ice cube on it. Now come on!
[SHE HELPS HIM TO HIS FEET]
CLIVE
What’s the date?
REBECCA
I don’t know.
CLIVE
The date. What year?
[MASSIVE ELECTRICAL SPARKS GO OFF VERY CLOSE TO THEM]
REBECCA
Jesus… Pam! I mean it! Let’s go!
PAMELA
The others…
REBECCA
We’re leaving!
PAMELA
Okay… okay… okay…
CLIVE
Wh- What’s the hurry? Why are we leaving?
REBECCA
Cos I am not going to die in fucking Connecticut!
[CUT]
[THE SOUND OF THE CHAOS IN THE CRYOSUITE CAN BE FAINTLY HEARD]
REBECCA
Clive, move!
CLIVE
Oh God it’s cold. Oh - fuck -
[CLIVE LURCHES OVER AND VOMITS]
[REBECCA SHOUTS BACK INTO THE BLAZE]
REBECCA
Pam! I’m not coming back for you! What are you doing?
CLIVE
[more composed] Becky, wha- what happened?
REBECCA
The fuck should I know!
CLIVE
How long… how long did we sleep?…
REBECCA
I don’t know!
[A PAUSE]
REBECCA
This street look a thousand years older to you? Pam!
CLIVE
Pam!
[AFTER A MOMENT PAM EMERGES, COUGHING, BEREFT]
[SHE DROPS TO HER KNEES]
PAMELA
[out of breath] Had to check the computer before… had to know…
REBECCA
How long was it, Pam?
PAMELA
20 years… 4 months… 9 days…
CLIVE
What?!
PAMELA
It’s 2064.
REBECCA
Fffffffuck!
CLIVE
That’s a long way off a thousand years, Pam!
PAMELA
I know… I’m sorry…
CLIVE
Wel- Well maybe… maybe… maybe we can go back in…
PAMELA
No one’s going back in there.
CLIVE
No, no, no, let’s just wait and see, I’m sure it’s just a hiccu -
[UNDERNEATH THEIR FEET, A MUFFLED BUT CLEARLY SIGNIFICANT BOOM, THEN A ROLLING RUMBLE, THEN AN EXPLOSION THAT FIRES OUT OF THE BASEMENT ENTRANCE INTO THE NIGHT AIR, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM]
[A PAUSE]
CLIVE
Alright. Alright. Okay. Let’s, umm. Let’s get out our little black books. Who’s going to have a few spare cryopods in 2064?