"STARMAN" Screenplay by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon with Dean Riesner (uncredited) DRAFT SCRIPT FADE IN: EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT The wail of a siren grows out of the distance and very faintly through the fog we see the headlights and flashing blue rack lights of a police car coming toward us. It drops into a dip, reappears almost immediately, hurtling down the center of the deserted highway. It gets closer and closer until the lights and siren fill our senses then zooms past us. INT. POLICE CAR - NIGHT A frightened SECURITY GUARD is tensed forward off the back seat, his hands clutched into the fabric between the two regular POLICE OFFICERS in front. GUARD (an edge of fear in his voice) It's coming up... Slow down... (he points out between them) There, right there... Through the windshield we can see the headlights pick up a billboard announcing a 'new' housing development. EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT The squad car skids off the asphalt in front of the sign and starts up a rutted dirt road. The sign tells us we are headed for 'Pinewood Estates,' a housing development financed by the Farmers Bank of Wisconsin. INT. POLICE CAR - NIGHT The Security Guard is becoming more agitated. He wipes a cold sweat off his brow. The blue flashers reflect off the fog onto the faces of the men. Suddenly the Security Guard lunges forward and slaps off the rack lights and siren. OFFICER (startled) Benny, God, take it easy... BENNY (GUARD) I don't want to scare them away. The two Police Officers exchange an indulgent look. EXT. HOUSING TRACT - NIGHT Using only its parking lights, the police car creeps up the dirt road between skeletons of unfinished houses. INT. POLICE CAR - NIGHT The windows are rolled down. Periodically one of the men leans out for a better look at the terrain around them. SECOND OFFICER Smells smoke... BENNY I told you. EXT. HOUSING TRACT - NIGHT The police car comes around a curve on the hillside and stops. Above them on the next hill, a necklace of embers from a grass fire and a burning tree flicker through the fog. The men get out of the car. BENNY (loud whisper) There!! Up on the hill!! The officer steps forward for a better look. Benny hangs on his shoulder. BENNY Right in line with that burning tree. OFFICER I don't see anything. BENNY It's there. The fog's thicker now, but it's there. What do you think started those fires? The officer strains to see through the fog. OFFICER Benny, there's nothing there. BENNY There is. They came out of the belly of the ship and then went to the first terrace and flew down into the houses. OFFICER Flew?! Oh, come on Benny... The second officer is peering intently at something down among the houses. OFFICER You hear that, Mike? Now he's telling us... MIKE (SECOND OFFICER) What's that? Benny and the officer look to where Mike is pointing. What appears to be the beam of a powerful headlight bobs among the houses below them. Further into the track another beam of light moves slightly from right to left but seems otherwise stationary. BENNY What did I tell you? OFFICER Probably kids. One of the lights rises over a house and settles on the other side. MIKE (not convinced) Probably... EXT. HOUSING TRACT - NIGHT A light shines directly into our eyes. As it swings away from us we realize that it was the searchlight on the police car which is idling along the dirt road with its running lights off. The fire on the hill gives the fog down here a red tint. INT. POLICE CAR - NIGHT The police officers are beginning to feel anxious. Benny's nervous fidgeting in the back seat doesn't help them any. BENNY Don't you think you should call a backup? OFFICER No, we can handle this. EXT. HOUSING TRACT - NIGHT The police car passes a road perpendicular to the one it is on. A couple of houses down that road a faint glow spills over the sides of an industrial dumpster. As we watch we hear an eerie high pitched whistle, a shaft of light slowly rises out of the metal box and seems to fly off between the houses. INT. FINISHED HOUSE - NIGHT As a humanoid silhouette passes in front of the picture window, a shaft of light floats by in the fog outside. The silhouette continues around to look at the kitchen. It raises a hand to eye level. There is a sharp "SNAP" and a hard-edged cone of light shoots out of the darkness to capture the inside of the kitchen and pulls back a three-dimensional image of stove, sink, cupboards, electrical fixtures and walls to the silhouette. EXT. HOUSING TRACT - NIGHT The police car is parked in the middle of the dirt road. Benny and the officers are intent on a light that reaches them only in strobes as it moves through the houses in the direction of the fire on the hill. The police searchlight swings onto the house. OFFICER (over outside speakers) This is the police. Identify yourselves. It is deathly silent. Carrying a shotgun the officer motions Benny and Mike to fan out on either side of him and, guns drawn, they cut across the tract to where they last saw the bobbing light. The fog quickly isolates them, heightening their fear. Each man becomes acutely aware of the loudness of his breathing and the crunch of his footsteps on the ground. They drift in and out of visual contact with each other. Benny freezes as he hears a burst of the high pitched whistle sweep by on his left. He turns slowly to see, through the ribs of an unfinished house, a shaft of the white light pointing at a cement mixer. BENNY (to the officers, his voice cracking) There's one over here... The brilliant light swings toward him. Benny, his hands trembling, raises the gun. BENNY Stop!! Police!! The light fixes on Benny and terrified he shakes off a couple shots. The light goes out immediately. MIKE (in Benny's direction) What happened? BENNY I think I shot one. MIKE Jesus, Benny. What are you doing? INT. FINISHED HOUSE (BEDROOM) - NIGHT We are looking at the back of the humanoid figure. It crosses to a high window and looks out. The reddish tinge of the fog outlines him. EXT. HOUSING TRACT - NIGHT The men strain to see something through the silent fog. OFFICER You see anything, Mike? Before Mike can answer, a strange percussive clicking sound is heard. He pumps a shell in the chamber of his shotgun and swallowing his fear moves toward the voices. They stop. OFFICER This is the police. Identify yourselves. Benny, his flashlight throwing a feeble beam in front of him, inches around the house looking for what he shot at. He gets to where it should be but it's not there. His light searches the area. There is nothing but a stack of lumber. Shaking visibly he shuffles to it and peers around its corner. Nothing. Benny relaxes and allows himself to breathe again. BENNY (shouts to the officers) You wanna give me some help over here. MIKE Okay... Benny continues around the house. He flashes his light into a doorway. There is nothing but framing. When he moves on, a figure steps out of the darkness to fill the space, then raises its arms. With a sharp snap cylindrical devices swing off its wrist into its hands. At the corner of the house Benny hears the snap and stops. The high pitched whistle starts behind him. He stumbles around to face a brilliant white light flying directly at him. Benny screams in terror and fires at it. The light swerves and a laser streak from one of the hand rockets sears Benny's chest and knocks him to the ground in pain. Holding his shoulder he watches the light rise and fall erratically between the houses. The officers watch in awe as the beam wobbles through the air, then crashes to the earth. OFFICER Mike, call for back-up. (shouting) Benny, you all right? BENNY I don't think so... (clutching his shoulder) OFFICER (waving the beam of his flashlight, shouts) Benny, this is me. I'm going to take a look. Benny's beam flashes back. BENNY Don't leave me. I'm coming. The two men begin to trot toward the light. It swings wildly around and, accompanied by the high-pitched whistle, starts to stagger back up the hill. Benny and the officer break into a run. They are on their way up the hill when the light in front of them crashes to the earth. It rolls over and lays still, the beam shooting straight up into the air. Benny and the officer slow their pursuit, terrified of what they might find. Suddenly a high-pitched whistle is bearing down on them from behind. Before they can turn a light rockets over their heads. With a rumble the hill begins to vibrate. As they follow its flight, they see lights beginning to ripple to life across the skin of a saucer-shaped spacecraft resting at the edge of the forest on top of the hill. With a rumble the hill begins to vibrate. Frightened, the officers stop. INT. FINISHED HOUSE - NIGHT The humanoid figure walks rapidly down the hall into the kitchen. An indistinct image plays on the inside of its faceplate and we hear the faint sounds of a percussive language. Through the window over the sink we can see the lights of the spaceship. The rockets flip into the humanoid's gloved hands and it is airborne out the open back door. EXT. HOUSING TRACT - NIGHT From the road Benny and the officer watch as the humanoid figure that just blasted over them flies between the trees and into the white light emitting from the underbelly of the spacecraft. The noise from the ship's power plant is deafening as it begins to rise above the trees. With Mike at the wheel the police car, its rack lights flashing, fishtails up the dirt road and slides sideways to a bone-jarring stop next to Benny and the officer. As they jump out of the way they find themselves facing into the super white beam of the figure that was in the house. They are between it and the ship. At the angle that it is coming up the hill, the light looks like it is heading directly for them. This is too much for the officer and in terror he raises his shotgun and fires wildly at it. The figure veers off and disappears into the fog. With an awesome roar the spacecraft reaches escape velocity and hurtles into the night sky. The concussion waves knock Benny and the officers off their feet. EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - NIGHT The escaped figure's light comes out of the fog at tree height. We hear the high-pitched whistle of its rockets. A burst of percussive language comes from behind the faceplate. SUBTITLE Lander four to Mapmaker Wind. Fix position for rescue. Repeat. Fix position for rescue. EXT. HOUSING TRACT - NIGHT The fires on the hillside have been renewed. Shaking, Benny and the officer rise to their feet and start toward the light shafting straight up from the figure lying on the hillside. The only sound is police chatter coming out of the radio in the open squad car. EXT. LOGGING ROAD - NIGHT An 18-wheeler with a load of logs lumbers past us. INT. TRUCK - NIGHT It feels cozy with the wipers slapping the rain off the windshield. The DRIVER is trying to steal a cigarette out of his snoring PARTNER'S pocket without waking him up. He gets one and reaches for the lighter. EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - NIGHT The escaped figure banks around a blind corner. INT. TRUCK - NIGHT The driver gets a glimpse of something in his headlights and slams on the brakes, but it is too late. The figure hits the spoiler above the cab. We hear the smack of impact. One of its boots scars the windshield. EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - NIGHT The figure bounces off the jack-knifing truck and like a wounded bird tumbles through the air into the trees. With the light spinning crazily, it plunges through the boughs and smashes face first into the mud at the bottom of an embankment. The strip lights on the sides of its helmet go out. EXT. TRUCK - NIGHT The driver and his partner, standing in the shafts of the high beams, are peering into the woods. PARTNER What the hell was it anyway? DRIVER Damned if I know. EXT. WOODS - NIGHT The figure thrashes over on its back and tries to close a shoulder-to-hip tear in its life-support suit. By the faint identification light that flickers on and off inside its helmet, we see a MAN FROM THE STARS. His skin is translucent coral. He is gasping as our atmosphere mixes with his and threatens to suffocate him. Under his translucent skin a maze of veins and arteries extend from a white mass that sits in the upper half of his head. He is hairless. Underneath a graceful fore-head, transparent eyelids droop over black pupilless eyes. The thin lips that delineate his mouth are chalk-white. He tries to clutch the edges of the tear together but is too weak. His hands drop limply from the suit, allowing the rent to gape open and reveal the translucent body underneath. PARTNER (V.O.) Come on. I'm getting wet. DRIVER (V.O.) It musta been a bird. PARTNER (V.O.) How about if I drive now? Behind the faceplate a piece of white light breaks off from the shining mass in the STAR MAN'S head and moves down his neck. Through the hole in the suit we see it arrive at the top of his single lung. The white light spreads throughout the organ like a phosphorescent tide. The STAR MAN lapses into unconsciousness as we hear the truck pull away. INT. HELICOPTER (COCKPIT) - DAWNBREAK A light rain is falling. We are looking through the windscreen at the gray landscape passing under the helicopter. MARC SHERMIN, a grizzled man in his mid-fifties with an honest stubborn face, shifts his attention from the right side to the left side of the craft. Below him he can see the road leading into the housing tract is blocked by police cars. The helicopter leans into a banking turn and the spacecraft's blackened landing site comes into view. Below it an orange nylon tent has been erected over the dead extraterrestrial. It glows from the inside. An Air Force helicopter is parked on the other side of the burn. EXT. HOUSING TRACT - DAWNBREAK A man in a white contamination suit is helping Benny and the two officers into the Air Force helicopter. The three men are glassy-eyed and wrapped in blankets. Benny has a bandage across his chest. They look up at Shermin's descending helicopter. They are still looking at it when they disappear inside. Shermin's unmarked S65 settles on the clearing. The nose door is open and Shermin, carrying the hood of his contamination suit, comes down the ladder. A tall homespun man, also in a hoodless contamination suit, steps forward to greet him. MAN (around a cigarette) Major Aaron Bell... SHERMIN Marc Shermin, National Security Agency. Shermin takes a moment to look over at the tent, the green hillside and the forest beyond. It is pastoral in the soft light of dawn. SHERMIN This has always been my favorite time of day. MAJOR BELL (MAN) Very beautiful country up here... SHERMIN Any signs of biological contamination, excessive radiation, anything like that? MAJOR BELL Not on the landscape. We're trying to get a tube under the faceplate for a reading on possible deadly lifeforms but it's hard going. SHERMIN Can you see under the faceplate? MAJOR BELL No. Bell's hands shake as he lights a new cigarette off the one in his mouth. SHERMIN There's a good chance you could be wrong about this thing then... MAJOR BELL Wait'll you see it. He throws away the cigarette and begins to put on his contamination hood. Shermin follows as they start for the tent. MAJOR BELL We had a flight of F16's play tag with the spaceship over Michigan for an hour. Then it shot straight up and disappeared. SHERMIN Was there visual contact? MAJOR BELL No, sir. Radar. SHERMIN It could have been anything. EXT. BLACKENED LANDING SITE - DAWNBREAK Hooded, Bell and Shermin make their way past three suited scientists examining the landscape with geiger counters and other sensing instruments. With the coming of dawn and Bell's handlight we can clearly see the pod indentations and the huge black glass cup of earth that was fused by the energy blasting out of the spaceship's power plant. MAJOR BELL After I called in, I had a chance to sit down with the three locals. They swear there's another one that didn't make the ship... It might be alive. SHERMIN People have made mistakes in these situations before. MAJOR BELL I've been investigating sightings for seventeen years, Mr. Shermin. This one's real. We have a dead extra- terrestrial in that tent and another one in the area that might be alive. We've been visited. It's finally happened and the sooner Washington accepts that and starts figuring out how we're going to deal with these beings, the better off we're going to be. EXT. FOOT OF EMBANKMENT - DAWNBREAK It is still raining. The STAR MAN stirs and awakens with a start. He parts the tear in his suit and looks at his lung through his translucent body. It has changed in color from brown to a rich yellow ocher. He takes several deep breaths of our atmosphere and his lung expands and contracts easily. He conducts a quick inventory of his damaged spacesuit, then struggles to his knees and stands up. INT. BIOQUARANTINE TENT (HOUSING TRACT) - DAWNBREAK The sound of a powerful slow-speed drill greets Bell and Shermin as they enter. The extraterrestrial is still on its back with its helmet lights shining straight up. A hose that extends from a portable gas chromatograph has been suction- sealed to a corner of the faceplate. A SCIENTIST is making adjustments at the chromatograph while his COMPANION is monitoring the progress of the drill into the faceplate. Both are wearing contamination suits. A foam-lined coffin-shaped metal box is on the ground next to one of the walls. Bell and Shermin approach the body. Shermin's first look is at the faceplate, but all he can see is his own reflection. His eyes travel down the body. MAJOR BELL Look at the hands. The gloved hands of the figure have only three fingers and a thumb. Shermin takes Bell's flashlight. He angles it at the faceplate. As he leans in to follow the beam, the pitch of the drill rises. He shifts the light. The drill breaks through and the faceplate explodes out of the helmet. The men throw themselves back in panic. When they turn back to look, distorted impressions of the face inside the helmet reflect on the glass of their contamination hoods. (Pause) SHERMIN Oh, Jesus. MAJOR BELL (moving toward the body) We better get it into the box. Come on... The other men approach the body but before they can bend to it a burst of percussive language, followed by a low buzz, comes from inside the extraterrestrial's helmet. The men freeze. There is another burst of percussive language and a projection beam shoots out of the helmet throwing the image of the escaped STAR MAN onto one of the scientists. He jumps aside and the beam falls out of focus and indistinct on the tent wall behind him. SUBTITLE Mapmaker Wind. Do you hear me? SHERMIN (incredulous) The other one is alive! EXT. FOOT OF EMBANKMENT - DAWNBREAK The STAR MAN is standing. We hear the sounds of his percussive language coming from behind his mirrored faceplate. STAR MAN (subtitle) Mapmaker Wind. Do you hear me? His answer is nothing but the low buzz. He taps a series of buttons on his chest panel and speaks again. STAR MAN Mapmaker Wind. Do you hear me? Again the buzz. STAR MAN Mapmaker Wind. Do you hear me? The buzz continues. He is very still for a moment. Then he presses the palms of his hands together, prayer fashion, and concentrates. When he pulls them apart, a blue force field pulses between them. He stops at shoulder width. A solarized aerial view of the United States forms on the force field. A green dot appears in the area of western Wisconsin, a red dot in the area of Death Valley, California. He drops his hands to his lap and sits very still. The solarized compass remains floating in the air in front of him. After a long moment he reaches up and squeezes it into a ball that disappears when his palms come together. INT. HELICOPTER - DAWNBREAK Shermin steps through the open bay door into a communications room. The radar and radio consoles each have a TECHNICIAN. A third technician, LYMAN, sits in front of a square of six medium-sized television screens. LYMAN Is it for real? SHERMIN Get Fox. Lyman taps a code into the computer keyboard. There's a shower of static on one of the TV screens. When it clears up GEORGE FOX, mid-forties, hair slicked straight back, round wire- rimmed glasses, is peering intently into the camera. SHERMIN (before Fox can speak) It's real, George. FOX There's no mistake? You're absolutely sure? SHERMIN I saw it with my own eyes. We've killed an extraterrestrial and... FOX Is there any possibility that it's a hoax? Could you be mistaken? SHERMIN None. And there's another one in the area that's alive. I don't know if it's the only one. I don't know if it was left here by accident or it's part of an inva... FOX Get the body out of there. Load it on the Air Force chopper and get it to Wright Patterson. They'll take it from there... We didn't expect this, Shermin. SHERMIN (answering the accusation) Neither did I. Major Bell enters the helicopter. FOX We're going... Damn! (he shakes his head in disbelief) We'll tell the press that there was an accident. Chemical warfare spill. That cover cannot be violated in any way. Understand me, Shermin? MAJOR BELL Major Bell here, sir. We have to tell these people that we're friendly. That this whole thing was a mistake. Is anyone trying to contact the ship? FOX (ignores this) Shermin, I want you and Bell to start looking for the one on the ground. SHERMIN We'll need a lot of help, George. You could hide an army up here. FOX I'm going to the White House right now. I'll try and get you everything you need. SHERMIN Wait, wait... What are my orders if we find this thing? Fox sits silently for a second. FOX Contain it and get back to me. SHERMIN What do you mean by 'contain?' Fox knows Shermin is looking for a definite order. FOX Just what I said. The television screen is reduced to static. Shermin stares at it blankly then Lyman turns it off. EXT. HOUSING TRACT - MORNING The lift off of Shermin's helicopter reveals contamination -- suited scientists slipping the dead extraterrestrial's coffin into the Air Force helicopter. EXT. WOODS - DAY The STAR MAN, still in his life-support suit, looks surreal in the twilight world under the canopy of firs. The morning rain has gone. A hum of traffic pulls him across the hill to a stand of alders that border the forest. Through the leaves he can see a highway entering the sprawl of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The cars and trucks zipping along the asphalt are of particular interest to him. When he has absorbed them he walks through the trees to get a better look at the town. On the wind he can hear shouts from students boarding a line of yellow buses in front of a grade school off to his right. Suburban houses have begun to snuggle up to the base of the hill he is on. Keeping to the tree line well above them he continues his search for an avenue of escape. His head swivels to watch a Volvo station wagon come down the street. It swings into the driveway of the house directly below him and stops next to a Mustang Hatchback. The back door opens and JENNY HAYDN, a pretty girl in her mid-twenties, gets out carrying a crudely lettered be-ribboned sign 'Welcome Back, Mrs. Haydn.' Female voices drift up to the STAR MAN from inside the car. VOICES It was great to have you back... The kids loved it. We loved it. You're doing the right thing... EXT. HOUSE - DAY JENNY I hope so... We'll see... See you tomorrow... Bye. Bye. VOICE (as the Volvo backs out of the driveway) Remember you're required to have a lesson planned tomorrow. Jenny laughs and waves. With the Volvo moving away up the street Jenny picks her newspaper off her walk and goes into the house. EXT. HILLSIDE - DAY The STAR MAN presses on through the trees. He hears a light plane overhead. He stops and watches until the branches cut off his view. A path between two logs leads him to the tip of a promontory. From behind the cedars growing there, he sits and looks down on the center of Eau Claire. Arm in arm, a YOUNG COUPLE meander through the trees. The boy has a blanket over his shoulder and the girl's hair is disheveled. Without seeing him, they walk past the STAR MAN crouched in a thicket of small pines. After they've gone by, he straightens up and watches them walk down toward the highway. EXT. HILLSIDE - LATE AFTERNOON The sun is setting over suburban Eau Claire. The colors are reflected in the STAR MAN's faceplate as he watches Jenny push a hand mower over her back yard. He takes a dusty gray marble out of a leg pocket and while Jenny finishes the lawn he rolls it between his gloves. It turns a glowing gold as it grows in size. When it reaches the dimensions of a baseball, he brings it close to his faceplate and speaks into it. STAR MAN (subtitles) Iron channel message. Suit and rockets destroyed. Radical mixture of this atmosphere and ours in helmet allowed chemo-ion response time to adapt my body to this air. Am going to attempt extreme transformation in order to cross land mass to site of our practice landings. If transformation is not fatal, second message ball by next darkness. He opens his hands and the ball rises quickly into the sky. Jenny is dumping the grass clippings into a garbage can at the side of the house when the sudden motion of the message ball catches her eye and she watches it quizzically until it disappears. EXT. WISCONSIN SKIES - LATE AFTERNOON We are on the belly of Shermin's helicopter looking at the tree tops rushing underneath. INT. HELICOPTER - LATE AFTERNOON Shermin is standing back of Lyman and Bell who are seated in front of the square of television screens watching various shots of the wooded landscape flowing by under them. Shermin scrubs his hands over his face then bends over to stretch his back. SHERMIN Aghh... I'm supposed to umpire a little league game tomorrow. LYMAN I wouldn't worry about it... There might not be any little league tomorrow. Pause. MAJOR BELL I'm telling you they're probably friendly. LYMAN Then why did they try and sneak in the back door? Tell me that. Why didn't they contact us first and say... RADAR TECHNICIAN (loud) UFO coming out of the grass. SHERMIN Lock in. RADAR TECHNICIAN Got it. Lyman and the technicians tap out orders to their tracking units and the views of the forest on three of the television screens change to images from their microwave scanners, neutron back scatters and doppler radar. On a fourth screen the forward-looking infrared module begins creating a picture of the UFO. The men relax as they recognize the configurations of a light sea plane. LYMAN This is crazy. What were we going to do if that had been the ship? We have two thirty calibre machine guns, three M16's and some handguns. SHERMIN Give it a rest, Lyman. MAJOR BELL (after a pause) I've never once heard of anybody being hurt by an extraterrestrial... Shermin goes hand over hand along the overhead straps to the radio operator. He begins to flip through a stack of telex messages. LYMAN That's because the ones that were hurt, died. They couldn't talk to you. SHERMIN (to technician, after a look at Lyman) Any reports about monsters, people in Halloween masks, anything like that? TECHNICIAN No, but there sure were a lot of people who saw lights in the sky last night. Reports are still coming in. MAJOR BELL (under above) I've heard of blood being drawn, sometimes they were taken for a ride in the ship, a lot of times they said they had sex... But nobody was ever hurt... LYMAN But you decided those weren't real. This one is. There is a buzz and a red dot appears in the center of one of the screens. LYMAN (over his shoulder to Shermin) Fox. He taps a three digit code and Fox comes into view. FOX I've got something for you. A photograph of a very thin slab of yellow plastic pops up on a second screen next to Fox. Above lines of glowing colored dots are symbols of a hydrogen atom, pulsars, a nude man and a woman and Earth's position in our solar system. FOX Recognize this? MAJOR BELL It's a copy of the plaque NASA sent into space on the Pioneer probes. FOX Houston found it in the extraterrestrial's suit. MAJOR BELL They must have picked it up in space. SHERMIN Then it's not an accident that they found us. FOX We don't think that's necessarily bad. At least it's a point of contact. SHERMIN Not necessarily bad! If they knew we were here why didn't they let us know they were coming? FOX We'll get those answers when you find the one you're looking for. SHERMIN That's not going to happen, George, unless you get us the help you promised us. FOX We've been back and forth on this all day and keeping in mind the panic that would occur if this got to the general public, it's been decided not to expand the search at this time. SHERMIN Don't let them do it this way, George. It's too important. We can't find this thing alone. FOX You have to. We're trying to contact the ship. If we do, I'll let you know immediately. Good luck. The television screen is reduced to static. Lyman shuts it off. RADAR TECHNICIAN You get the feeling we're expendable? SHERMIN We always were. EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT We are looking through the living room window at Jenny watching television while she irons the clothes she plans to wear to work tomorrow. The STAR MAN stands just outside the light-fall in the back yard watching her. A commercial interrupts the old movie with a jolly fat MAN in a jumpsuit touting his used cars. The two words 'We have...' are repeated constantly during the pitch. 'We have automatics... We have sticks... We have colors... We have financing...' ... We move in close on the STAR MAN'S faceplate. STAR MAN (practicing the human sound) Wehave... (more precise) Wehave... (well-formed) Wehave... Jenny finishes the skirt, unplugs the iron, picks up the clothes, shuts off the television, the light and heads upstairs. Half way up she stops. JENNY (faint through the glass) Damn! She turns around and looks down indecisively, then hurries upstairs. A light goes on in the bedroom. The STAR MAN backs away to look up at it. He can't see anything. He is on his way to try and get in the side door when Jenny comes clumping down the stairs in an old sweatshirt and pulling on a pair of jeans. She disappears into the kitchen. Without warning the door ahead of him is swung open and Jenny rushes out. The STAR MAN barely has time to step into the shadows. Jenny grabs the handle of one of the garbage cans lined against the house and drags it down to the street. When she comes back for the second one we see that the STAR MAN is no longer in the shadows. INT. HOUSE - NIGHT Jenny comes in and locks the door. She passes through the kitchen and is on her way to the stairs when the STAR MAN steps out of the darkness in the living room. A scream catches in Jenny's throat. STAR MAN (precise) Wehave... Jenny bolts for the front door. At the end of the hallway her foot catches in a phone cord pulling the phone off an end table. The receiver is jarred out of its cradle. Jenny regains her balance and gets to the door ahead of the STAR MAN. She jerks it open, but the guard chain stops it three inches from the jamb. Frantically, she tries again but the chain holds. The STAR MAN slams the door shut and reaches out to grab her. She flails back at him. One of her hands strikes the panel on his chest and the identification light comes on inside his helmet. At the sight of the STAR MAN, Jenny begins to scream. He presses her back against the wall and puts a mittened hand over her mouth. STAR MAN Wehave... Jenny ceases her struggle and begins to cry. The STAR MAN takes his hand away from her mouth. JENNY Please don't hurt me... please... please. Holding her with his eyes he grasps one of Jenny's hands and lifts it up to look at it. He raises a piece of skin off her wrist, rolls it between his thumb and forefinger. Jenny lets out a blood-curdling scream and strikes out at him. Flashes of light erupt off his exposed chest where she hits. The ferocity of her attack knocks him aside and she sprints up the stairs. The STAR MAN recovers and starts after her. INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT Jenny gets there two steps ahead of the STAR MAN. She slams the door in his face and locks it. With him POUNDING ON THE OUTSIDE, Jenny throws open the closet and begins rummaging madly through the side pockets of her jackets and coats. The POUNDING STOPS. It takes her a moment to hear the silence. When she does, she whirls toward the door expecting the worst, but it remains closed. She waits. All she can hear is the sound of the rain. She intensifies her search. JENNY (hysteria creeping into her voice) It's got to be here... it's got to be here... She finds it in the pocket of a down jacket. The Army issue .45 looks big in her hand. She releases the safety and, with a wary eye on the door, reaches for the phone on the night table next to the bed. Long before the receiver gets to her ear, she can hear the "BLEET" caused by the PHONE BEING OFF THE HOOK for so long in the living room. She hangs up and walks around the bed to sit on the corner facing the door. In the distance, we can HEAR the THUMP OF AN APPROACHING HELICOPTER. After a moment's indecision, Jenny gets up and releases the lock. Again she waits. Nothing happens. With the gun ready, she turns the knob and opens the door a crack. The hallway is empty. She kicks off her shoes and lets herself out of the bedroom. INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT Jenny creeps toward the stairs in her stockinged feet. She looks in the bathroom. The STAR MAN isn't there. She decides to go downstairs. INT. HOUSE - NIGHT The STAR MAN isn't in the living room. Jenny sidles along the wall for the front door. At the archway to the den a hissing sound stops her. She peers around the molding. The spill from the stairwell light provides the only illumination. The STAR MAN is sitting on the edge of a chair with his back to her. He is naked. A dot of light is HISSING around his head. The shadows in the room make it difficult for Jenny to tell exactly what is going on. Pointing the .45 at the STAR MAN, she steps into the room for a better look. The floor creaks and the STAR MAN turns to her. Jenny shudders at what she sees. The STAR MAN is holding an 8x10 color photograph of Jenny and a man in his mid-twenties standing on a beach in their bathing suits. The dot of light is copying the man's features onto the STAR MAN'S translucent head. The top two-thirds of the face is already done. Everything is perfect, even the eyes. Jenny begins to tremble and lowers the gun. JENNY (in a small voice) No... please don't... She sags against the armchair, racked by sobs that are drowned out by the FLAP OF THE APPROACHING HELICOPTER. The STAR MAN, with the dot of light stopped on his left cheek, gets up and takes the gun from her. He drops it on the couch and raises his eyes to the sound of the helicopter NOW DIRECTLY OVER THE HOUSE. THROUGH THE WINDOWS, we can SEE the searchlight scouring the hillside next to the back yard. The STAR MAN returns to the picture and resumes his transformation. He completes the chin, then continues downward weaving skin and filling in the human characteristics over the entire body. DISSOLVE TO: INT. CLEAN ROOM (HOUSTON) - NIGHT We come down an electrical cord that ends in a micro-phone, then down further to DR. BERGEN, a tall thin balding man in his late fifties dressed in the medical equivalent of a contamination suit. DR. BERGEN The creature was hit three times... Using a laser light indicator Dr. Bergen shows us where. DR. BERGEN ...the arm, the abdomen and the upper chest, the one in the chest being the cause of death. It shattered, for want of a better term, the creature's backbone. It's not really, because it's not jointed. It's simply a hollow shaft of very pliable silicate material, as is its entire endoskeleton. The creature seems to have tremendous regenerative powers. Although it must have died within minutes of receiving the fatal wound, the arm and abdomen wounds are almost totally healed and the bullet here... (indicates with the light) has begun to dissolve... INT. SMALL RECTANGULAR ROOM - NIGHT Fox, another CIVILIAN and two MEN in uniform are watching the autopsy on a bank of screens which show Dr. Bergen, the room and various close-ups of the dead extraterrestrial lying on a white glass table lit from underneath. DR. BERGEN It has veins but no blood. We think, and this is just speculation, that some form of energy flows from the brain, which is much more sophisticated than ours, throughout the rest of the body... We don't think there is any danger of bacterial contamination. Our biochemistries are too different... INT. HELICOPTER - NIGHT Shermin and his crew are glued to the monitors, watching the autopsy from Houston. DR. BERGEN (V.O.) The flesh is gelatinous, the skin is very porous and very moist. This is another guess, but it probably comes from a planet that receives only reflected light, perhaps from a ring of moons. Its atmospheric pressure is slightly less than ours and it contains a great deal more water... FOX (V.O.) Dr. Bergen, George Fox here in Washington. Can you give us an idea of why they're here? DR. BERGEN (V.O.) They're so advanced... I... eh... can't imagine what they would want from us. I know they could be dangerous. But they could also be the greatest thing that ever happened to mankind... Shermin and his crew share mixed reactions. INT. JENNY'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - DAWNBREAK Jenny, sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees, is reflected in a mirror fastened to the back of the closet door. The STAR MAN edges around the door to look at himself in the glass. In baggy tan cords, a windbreaker and a plaid shirt, buttoned all the way to the neck and a button in the wrong hole halfway down the front, he looks like an innocent abroad. He notices the shirt is askew across his chest and, with his new hands, awkwardly resets the buttons. He looks himself over. His movements resemble a human's but are noticeably more precise. The clothes seem right so he leans into the mirror to inspect his face. He squeezes the skin on his cheeks, examines his eyes, turns his head as far as he can to inspect the sides of his face, folds his ears forward to check the skin behind them and he even gives a good two-fisted tug to his hair to see if it is on securely. He turns from the mirror and goes over to where the .45 and a leg pouch from his life-support suit are lying on the bed next to a snapshot of the man whose identity he has taken. In the picture the man is dressed exactly as the STAR MAN is now. The STAR MAN picks up the gun and the pouch and, speaking to Jenny in his own language, steps to the door and motions for her to follow. Jenny consciously ignores him. The STAR MAN comes over, reaches down and grabs her arm to pull her to her feet. Jenny squirms back, but he holds her tight. She looks at the hand, almost touches it, then up at the familiar yet disturbingly unfamiliar face above her. STAR MAN Please... JENNY Don't... don't do this... please... The STAR MAN gets her to her feet and hustles her out of the room. On the dresser is Jenny's wedding picture. The man the STAR MAN has become is her husband. INT. HOUSE - DAWNBREAK The STAR MAN pulls Jenny down the stairs. JENNY (struggles to free herself) You're hurting me. Stop. The STAR MAN guides her into the entryway and reaches for the front door. Realizing his intentions, Jenny increases her struggle and manages to pull away. JENNY Oh, God, no! I'm not leaving this house with you. You're going to hurt me, I know... The STAR MAN looks intently at her, then opens the front door. He taps his chest, points to Jenny and motions to the dawn outside. JENNY (through tears) I can't. I'd like to help. You look like Scott, but I know you're not. I don't know what you are. You gotta understand, I'm afraid of you... As Jenny backs into the living room, the STAR MAN closes the door. He raises the gun, examines it quickly, then with his finger around the trigger, points it at Jenny. STAR MAN Please. JENNY Why are you doing this to me? I'll give you whatever... The STAR MAN swings the muzzle sights across Jenny's body and FIRES. A FLOOR VASE EXPLODES. Jenny turns to look at the remains, then back to the STAR MAN. EXT. JENNY'S HOUSE - DAWNBREAK The Mustang is backing out of the driveway with Jenny behind the wheel and the STAR MAN perched nervously on the passenger seat. INT. MUSTANG - DAWNBREAK Wary of what will happen next, the STAR MAN watches Jenny move the gear selector to the drive position. The car jerks forward and he grabs the dashboard to keep from toppling back in the seat. During the ride up the block, his head swivels from side to side trying to take in as much of the darkened urban landscape as he can. When the car stops at a 'stop' sign, he looks at Jenny questioningly. STAR MAN Please... JENNY Which way do you want to go? She motions ahead and he turns to look at an inter-section with streets running in three directions off of it. His eyes question Jenny again. JENNY You can go that way... (points left) That way... (straight ahead) That way... She points right. After another look at Jenny, the STAR MAN presses the palms of his hands together, concentrates briefly, then slowly draws them apart. The force field appears between them. On it the solarized view of the United States rotates until the red destination dot is on his right. He drops his hands and points to the right. STAR MAN (measured) That way. The satel compass continues to hover over the dashboard. JENNY (staring incredulously at the compass) God, what are you? She starts her right turn without looking left and fails to see a little MG approaching from that direction. The WAIL OF THE AIR HORN startles Jenny and reflexively she slams on the brakes. The Mustang stalls and the MG squeals around them. Jenny checks the STAR MAN. He has pressed himself against the passenger door. The gun lies on the seat next to him. They both look at it. The STAR MAN recovers and picks it up. JENNY (starting the engine) I'm sorry... This time when Jenny puts the car into drive, the STAR MAN is ready for the acceleration. The car completes the turn and the compass rotates to its new heading. Looking at it from this angle, Jenny suddenly recognizes it for what it is: an aerial view of the United States. JENNY That green dot, that's us, isn't it... and the red's where you want to go?... You don't understand me, do you? The STAR MAN looks at her uncomprehendingly. JENNY (to herself) I gotta get out of here. EXT. STREET - DAWNBREAK The Mustang cruises through the industrial section of Eau Claire. INT. MUSTANG - DAWNBREAK The STAR MAN is watching Jenny drive. A set of headlights rushes TOWARD US in the other lane. Jenny twists around to follow the car as it goes by and we SEE the desperation on her face. When she returns her attention to the road, she sneaks a glance at the STAR MAN to see if her action has given away her state of mind. His expression hasn't changed. Jenny takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Uttering a phrase in his own language, the STAR MAN touches the steering wheel. JENNY (startled) What? STAR MAN (thinking the steering wheel is called 'what," he repeats) What. With the same phrase in his language, he points to the 'gear shift.' JENNY (realizing her mistake) Ah... no... STAR MAN (repeats) Ah no. He points to the dashboard. Jenny senses there is going to be a great deal of misunderstanding if she uses more words. She shakes her head 'no' and touches the steering wheel. JENNY (enunciates) Steering wheel... STAR MAN (correcting her) What. Jenny shakes her head 'no.' JENNY Steering wheel. STAR MAN (repeats) Steering wheel. JENNY (points to the gear shift) Gear shift. STAR MAN Gear shift. JENNY (slaps the dashboard) Dashboard. STAR MAN Dashboard. Jenny sees a police car creeping across the intersection ahead of her and interrupts the lesson to stare at it. The STAR MAN looks to where she is looking. STAR MAN (alarmed) What?! JENNY Eh... police. STAR MAN (remembering) Police... He raises the gun off his lap. Jenny tries to distract him. JENNY (raps on the steering wheel) What?... With his eyes on the police car the STAR MAN ignores her. JENNY Steering wheel... (she points to the gear shift) What? The STAR MAN is intent on the police car. Jenny gives up trying to distract him. The patrol car passes out of their view. The STAR MAN lowers the gun and looks at Jenny. STAR MAN (unprompted, points correctly at each item) Steering wheel... gear shift... dashboard... JENNY (this frightens Jenny even more) Good. STAR MAN Good. EXT. INTERSECTION - DAWN We COME DOWN FROM a red light TO FIND the Mustang stopped behind the limit line. JENNY (V.O.) Which way? STAR MAN (V.O.) That way. The light changes and the car proceeds straight across the intersection. STAR MAN (V.O.) Good. INT. MUSTANG - DAWN While the STAR MAN picks through the contents of the glove compartment, Jenny looks for a way to escape. An all-night laundromat is a possibility, but it's deserted. The STAR MAN finds the switch on a flash-light and flicks it on and off. STAR MAN What? JENNY (distant) Flashlight. He puts the flashlight in his lap along with the owner's manual and gas slips and takes a stack of Discount Coupons out of the glove compartment. STAR MAN What? JENNY Coupons. Jenny sees a set of headlights turn into the oncoming lane. She slides her eyes toward the STAR MAN. He is busy looking through the Coupons. Jenny measures the distance between the Mustang and the oncoming lights. The STAR MAN holds up one of the Coupons and points to a picture of the product. STAR MAN What? JENNY (curt) Pancakes. STAR MAN Pancakes. He points to the cluster of letters that spells SAVE 35¢. STAR MAN What? Jenny doesn't answer. The distance between the two vehicles is narrowing rapidly. STAR MAN What? Jenny sets her jaw and wrenches the steering wheel violently to the left. EXT. STREET - DAWN The Mustang skids sideways across the center line. The oncoming van jams on its brakes and swerves to its left. Locked in a skid, it drifts toward the Mustang. INT. MUSTANG - DAWN The STAR MAN sucks himself back in terror as the van descends on him. It swings past his window and clips the rear fender of the Mustang. Both vehicles shudder to a stop. Jenny claws at her door. It swings open. She is halfway out before the STAR MAN manages to grab the tail of her sweatshirt. Jenny begins to scream at the top of her lungs and keeps it up while he tries to wrestle her down on the seat. EXT. STREET - DAWN A tall, raw-boned MAN in his late twenties storms around the front of his van. MAN You stupid son of a bitch!! He kicks the Mustang. JENNY (screaming) Help me!! MAN You could have killed us both!! JENNY (battling to maintain her grip on the door frame) He's kidnapping me!!! The Man bends down to look at the struggle. MAN Jesus Christ!! You crazy people... JENNY Call the police!! MAN (not sure he wants to get involved) Hey buddy... let her go... The STAR MAN increases his efforts and Jenny loses her grip on one of the door frames. JENNY Help me!!! MAN (grabbing her other arm) Hey, she doesn't want to go with you. Come on. The STAR MAN frees his right hand and blindly searches the floor for the gun. He comes up with it and, shoving the barrel in the Man's face, barks a harsh command in his language. The Man freezes and Jenny stops struggling. It's suddenly very quiet on the street. MAN Oh God, man... don't shoot me... My mistake... I'm sorry... JENNY He doesn't understand... just walk away... The STAR MAN claps a hand over her mouth. MAN I promise I'm not going to tell anybody about this... None of my business... I'm going to move now, okay... (takes a step to one side) You guys want to fight, that's up to you... (takes another step) I'm leaving now... I won't say a word... He keeps his eyes on the STAR MAN until he reaches the back of the Mustang, steals a quick look at the license plate, then blots for his van. The STAR MAN takes his hand off Jenny's mouth and slams her back into her seat. Uttering an expletive in his language he points the gun in her face and keeping it there indicates the red dot on the satel compass floating undisturbed above the dashboard. STAR MAN Go. EXT. STREET - DAWN The Mustang moves back into the correct lane and continues on. INT. MUSTANG - DAWN JENNY Could you put the gun down? The STAR MAN just stares at her. She points to the gun. JENNY Gun... Down... Down. Slowly, he lowers it to his lap. JENNY Thank you. EXT. ABANDONED LOGGING CAMP - EARLY MORNING Shermin's helicopter is taking on fuel from an Army tanker truck. The pilot and co-pilot are catching forty winks on the grass next to the old bunkhouse. INT. HELICOPTER - EARLY MORNING Major Bell, bleary-eyed and unshaven, is huddled in front of the television screens eating a breakfast off a styrofoam plate. On the top left screen is a satellite picture of Northern Michigan and half of Wisconsin taken with a Doppler radar. On the lower left screen is an infrared view of the same area. Over both these views is a schematic of the state boundaries and major cities. On the screens to the right of these views are blow-ups of smaller sections of the overview. Lyman and the radar technician are asleep on the floor. Seated in front of the radio console Shermin is going through the telex messages. Next to him the radio technician is bent over the desk with his head in his forearms. SHERMIN There's nothing... No reports of sightings or landings or anything... in the other parts of the country or overseas... Seems like a totally isolated incident. MAJOR BELL It was only an accident that we discovered them. SHERMIN I know, but... Shermin continues on through the messages. Bell asks the computer to change the pictures on the screens. Rhythmically, a sequence of images appears and disappears. SHERMIN You married, Major? MAJOR BELL Twenty-eight years. SHERMIN To the same woman? MAJOR BELL (smiling) Yes. SHERMIN I tried it once... Fourteen years ago... 'I was a lousy husband and a worse father. The only thing I'm good at is this... At least until yesterday. Bell stuffs his breakfast plate into a garbage bag and goes to get a breath of fresh air in the open doorway. Shermin stops at a point on the telex sheet. He reads the message to himself again. SHERMIN How would you describe the sounds we heard coming out of that thing's helmet? MAJOR BELL (after trying to imitate them) It was kind of like clicking, maybe a language wasn't it? SHERMIN Listen to this. (paraphrasing the telex) A woman was kidnapped in Eau Claire this morning. When a citizen went to her rescue the kidnapper threatened him with a gun and shouted at him in a strange 'clicking gibberish'... MAJOR BELL It was a man though... right? SHERMIN The police think he was high on drugs... Bell shrugs. SHERMIN What do you think? EXT. WISCONSIN FOREST - EARLY MORNING With a rush the helicopter rises out of the trees and thunders away. EXT. JENNY'S HOUSE - MORNING There are Eau Claire police cars on the street. Shermin is out back watching Bell pick his way down the hill. Through the windows we see uniformed policemen in the living room. MAJOR BELL (slides the last few feet down the hill) Nothing up there... The grass is matted down in a few places, but that could have been anything. SHERMIN It was the husband. The police finally got a hold of the witness at work and showed him a picture of the woman. The man standing next to her in the picture was her husband and the witness said that was the guy who kidnapped her. MAJOR BELL It's the right area, that's for sure. Throughout the above, Shermin has noticed a WOMAN in the house next door peeping through her blinds at the activity around Jenny's. She closes the drapes suddenly when she realizes Shermin has spotted her. SHERMIN Why the clicking language though? EXT. NEXT-DOOR HOUSE - EARLY MORNING Shermin knocks and waits on the steps with Bell for someone to answer. We hear a chain being pulled off and the door is opened by a freckled-face MAN in his late thirties, dressed in a business suit and wiping the traces of a breakfast from around his mouth. SHERMIN Sorry to disturb you, sir, but there's been some trouble next door. I'd like to ask you a few questions. MAN What happened? SHERMIN There's a possibility that Mrs. Haydn's been kidnapped. We're hoping you might have seen something. A WOMAN in a robe opens the door a little wider to include herself in the conversation. She is as freckled as the man and about the same age. WOMAN (to the Man) I told you... MAN Judy, that's stupid. WOMAN Well, maybe these men won't think so. We were asleep when a helicopter woke me up. It made me so nervous I went into the kitchen for something to eat. I happened to look out the window and there was Scott Haydn with this green thing draped over his arm pulling Jenny down the walk to the car. MAN You know that's impossible! WOMAN I know what I saw. I've seen him enough times. MAN (giving up on his wife and addressing Shermin and Lyman) Scott Haydn is dead. He died about three months ago. We went to the funeral. Shermin and Bell exchange a glance. EXT. INTERSTATE - DAY Jenny's Mustang is sailing through the beautiful Wisconsin farmland. STAR MAN (V.O.) R-r-S-s... INT. MUSTANG - DAY The STAR MAN is copying the letters, upper and lower case, from the Owner's Manual he found in the glove compartment, onto the back of an envelope. STAR MAN T-t-U... He draws the upper case but has to check the manual for the lower case. STAR MAN u-V-v... The STAR MAN looks up as they go by a farm. STAR MAN (pointing correctly to the various animals) Cow... Dog... Pig... He looks to Jenny for confirmation. She nods absently. He returns to the alphabet. STAR MAN W-w... He forms both the upper and lower case 'X-x' and shows them to Jenny. STAR MAN What? JENNY (knows what's coming) X... Without smiling the STAR MAN opens his mouth and emits a short chirping laugh. JENNY What's so funny about X? The STAR MAN laughs harder. Jenny watches him warily. He starts to hiccup. He is unable to control it through the laughter. DISSOLVE TO: INT. SMALL RECTANGULAR ROOM - DAY Shermin's image waits on the television screen. He is gaunt, tired and visibly shaken. The picture sizzles and breaks up intermittently. Fox and the three men who watched the autopsy stride quickly into the room. SHERMIN (V.O.) (his voice quavering) George, we've just confirmed the existence of the live extraterrestrial. FOX (after a beat) When can we expect containment? SHERMIN (V.O.) Well, we're in pursuit of a green Mustang... FOX (very controlled) It's in a green Mustang? SHERMIN (V.O.) Yes. It's kidnapped a woman at gunpoint and from what we can make out is forcing her to drive it somewhere. MILITARY MAN (to the room) This one has a weapon. SHERMIN (V.O.) No, no... A .45, it probably got it in the woman's house. They were last seen in downtown Eau Claire... FOX Why did you let it get into a populated area? SHERMIN (V.O.) It's taken on a disguise. FOX Clarify that. SHERMIN (V.O.) It's made itself look like the woman's dead husband. Static breaks up the t.v. picture. When it returns, Fox leans toward the screen. FOX Repeat the last item. Almost reluctantly Shermin holds up Scott Haydn's picture. SHERMIN (V.O.) The extraterrestrial now looks like this. FOX (softly) Oh shit!!! EXT. INTERSTATE - AFTERNOON Jenny's Mustang moves along through the traffic. INT. MUSTANG - AFTERNOON We are CLOSE ON the back of a ten-dollar bill. STAR MAN (O.S.) (reading slowly) The United States of America. In God We Trust. Ten dollars. We pull back as he holds the ten up to Jenny. JENNY Money. STAR MAN Money. He holds up a quarter. JENNY Money. Confused, the STAR MAN puts the money back into Jenny's wallet and reads the first card through its plastic window. STAR MAN Mi-chi-gan driver li-see-ens... Jennyhaydn... Money? JENNY (shaking her head 'no,' exhausted) We're going to have to stop for gas soon. Under the license is a picture of Jenny smiling broadly. The STAR MAN looks at Jenny, back at the picture, then imitates the smile for Jenny. STAR MAN What? JENNY Smile. STAR MAN Smile... good? JENNY Yes. He practices curling the corners of his mouth up into a smile. One of them freezes as the Interstate curves and a glistening skyline backlit by the afternoon sun comes into view across a river. STAR MAN (impressed) What?! JENNY Minneapolis. STAR MAN (reaching into the leg pouch he took from his life-support suit) Minneapolis... Minneapolis... JENNY What are you doing? He takes out his camera. JENNY ...What's that? He points the white disc at Minneapolis. With a 'POP,' a cone of light flashes out. It sucks back, almost instantly, bringing with it a three-dimensional image of the skyline. STAR MAN Minneapolis... good. JENNY You're full of tricks, aren't you? The car starts across the twin cities' bridge. JENNY (taps the fuel gauge) We need gas. The STAR MAN looks at the gauge. Jenny scrunches against the door to avoid contact with him. JENNY No gas. STAR MAN No gas. JENNY This car runs on gas. She presses the accelerator to the floor. The car jumps forward. JENNY Gas... She takes her foot off the accelerator and the car quickly slows down. JENNY No gas. EXT. BRIDGE - AFTERNOON JENNY (V.O.) Gas. The Mustang spurts forward a few yards. JENNY (V.O.) No gas. It staggers down to a crawl. JENNY (V.O.) Gas. The car leaps forward again. JENNY (V.O.) No gas. It drops back to a crawl. INT. MUSTANG - AFTERNOON JENNY No gas... car dead. (her head lolls forward on her chest) We need gas. I don't want to get shot for running out of gas. STAR MAN Gas good? JENNY Yes. Very good. INT. MUSTANG - AFTERNOON We are LOOKING DOWN Jenny's arm AT a gas station just off Interstate 169 in the Minneapolis suburbs. JENNY Gas... The STAR MAN contemplates the station as they pass it, then turns to Jenny, puzzled: STAR MAN Go. JENNY It's closed... closed. We need one that's open. STAR MAN Closed? JENNY You'll see. There are no more gas stations in sight. The STAR MAN becomes bored with the silence. He picks up Jenny's wallet. The driver's license is familiar so he flips to the next window. In it is a picture of an older man and woman standing in front of a church. STAR MAN What? JENNY (snaps) Not what. Who. What is for things. (touching the steering wheel, dashboard, seat, gear shift) What? What? What? What? For people you use who. Who is he? (points to the man in the picture) Who is she? (points to the woman) Who are you? (points to the STAR MAN) Who am I? She touches her chest. STAR MAN (mirrors her gestures) Who is he? Who is she? Who are you? Who am I? (pause; it clicks for him and he points at Jenny) Who are you? JENNY I am Jenny Haydn. STAR MAN (flips back to her license and reads) Jennyhaydn. Jenny nods. JENNY Who are you? STAR MAN I am... We HEAR MODULATED CLICKS of his percussive LANGUAGE. JENNY That's a big help. Where are you from? STAR MAN From? JENNY (leans forward and points through the windshield at the sky) Are you from up there? Space? STAR MAN (leans forward to look with her) Space? JENNY Up there... I... eh... can't explain... (leans back) But that's the only place you could be from. The STAR MAN spots a station on the other side of the Interstate. STAR MAN Gas. JENNY (shakes her head 'no') Closed. He taps the fuel gauge which has dipped below empty. STAR MAN No gas. JENNY I know. They both scan the horizon for a gas station. When one doesn't come up immediately, the STAR MAN flips to the next picture in the wallet. It is of the man he has become. He is leaning against a fire truck, in uniform. STAR MAN Who? JENNY My... husband. STAR MAN I am husband? JENNY No. I don't know what you are, but you're not Scott. Silence. The STAR MAN catches her mood. A tear rolls down Jenny's cheek. JENNY (brushes it away angrily) Shit. STAR MAN Shit? JENNY No, no... don't say that. Bad word. STAR MAN (likes the sound of it) Shit... shit... what shit? JENNY (screams) Stop!! Enough!! Jesus! You're worse than a parrot!! Like closing a zipper, she slides her fingers across her mouth. JENNY Mouth closed... closed. The STAR MAN does as he is told. He doesn't like it, but he does it. With his lips puckered, he looks straight down the road. The car rises out of a gulley. Topping a knoll straight ahead is a gas station with an enormous Exxon sign revolving above it. With his lips firmly pressed together, he tugs Jenny's sleeve and points. JENNY I see it. The STAR MAN reaches forward and squeezes the satel compass back into his palms. EXT. GAS STATION - AFTERNOON The Mustang comes up the off-ramp toward the pumps. INT. MUSTANG - AFTERNOON The STAR MAN'S hand closes around the butt of the .45 when he sees the ATTENDANT step out of the office. STAR MAN Who? JENNY Attendant. He'll give us gas. Put the gun down. Under the seat. Under the seat... STAR MAN No. JENNY Oh God! You're going to get us both killed. Okay... in your pocket... She shoves her hand into the pocket of her slacks showing him what to do. JENNY In your pocket... pocket... Jenny eases in next to the pumps and stops. The Attendant is already coming around the front of the car. JENNY In your pocket, please... STAR MAN (draws his fingers over his lips) You. Mouth closed. JENNY Okay. The STAR MAN stuffs the gun into the left pocket of his baggy cords just as the Attendant arrives at the driver's door. ATTENDANT Morning, folks. Fill her up? The STAR MAN looks at Jenny for help. She sweeps her fingers across her mouth to indicate her lips are sealed. The STAR MAN peeks around her at the Attendant. STAR MAN (overly loud) ...Gas... ATTENDANT You got it. He leaves the window. The STAR MAN watches him until the nozzle is in the Mustang, then pleased with himself, turns to Jenny and lifts his face into a 'smile.' JENNY I'm going to the ladies' room. You stay here. EXT. GAS STATION - AFTERNOON Jenny gets out of the car. When she straightens up, she finds the STAR MAN staring at her over the roof. She slams the door and strides rapidly in the direction of the ladies' room. Stuffing the green pouch in his pocket, the STAR MAN trots after her. JENNY (wheels on him as he catches up) Go back to the car. The STAR MAN looks at her but doesn't move. Jenny snarls in frustration, then with the STAR MAN on her heels, stalks to the ladies' room and throws open the door. INT. LADIES' ROOM - AFTERNOON The STAR MAN follows Jenny inside. JENNY See. It's a bathroom. I'm not trying to escape. I just have to go to the bathroom. He checks out the stall. JENNY Satisfied? Now get out. Out. STAR MAN No. Furious, Jenny steps around him and opens the door. She points to the sign on it. JENNY Women... me. She continues out. The STAR MAN goes after her. EXT. RESTROOMS - AFTERNOON Jenny points to the sign on the next door. JENNY Men. You go in here. She cracks the door for him. JENNY Come on. He takes the door from her and pushes it open for a look inside. Jenny ducks into the ladies' room. He is confused for a moment then takes a long look at the men's room. It means nothing to him. He backs out and tries the ladies' room. It is locked. Not knowing what to do, the STAR MAN stands uncomfortably in front of the door, then like a child waiting for his mother, he sits on the curb. He watches the Attendant lift the Mustang's hood and reach in for the dipstick. The numbers on the pumps turn over, adding up the gallons and the cost of the gas. Everything is peaceful and quiet within the circle of light cast by the gas station. The STAR MAN pulls the camera disc out of his pocket and points it at the pumps. The cone of light flashes out and pulls back its three-dimensional image. The Attendant turns around and waves genially at the STAR MAN, who waves back a perfect imitation of the gesture. The SHARP RUMBLE of a SOUPED-UP HONDA MOTORCYCLE coming up the off-ramp shatters the mood and the STAR MAN gets to his feet. He is startled by the image of the RIDER. In a one piece driving skin and helmet he looks amazingly like a space traveller. The STAR MAN steps cautiously forward for a better look and mutters something to himself in his language. The rider stops his bike at the second row of pumps and swings himself stiffly out of the seat. RIDER Do I need a key for the head? ATTENDANT It's open. Without taking off his helmet, the Rider sets out for the men's room. RIDER (over his shoulder) Fill it up. ATTENDANT You got it. The rider's approach frightens the STAR MAN. He backs up to the ladies' room door and knocks. There is no answer. He tries the knob. With the other hand he inches the gun slightly out of his pocket. INT. LADIES' ROOM - AFTERNOON Jenny is bent over the sink dabbing nail polish around the corners of a paper towel. Her head snaps around to look at the doorknob. It holds. JENNY Just a minute. EXT. RESTROOMS - AFTERNOON The STAR MAN tenses and forces a smile as the Rider passes in front of him. A VOICE comes from behind the faceplate. RIDER Howdy... can't get her out. STAR MAN (thru the smile) Gas. RIDER I know how she feels. The rider enters the men's room. As the door closes behind him, the STAR MAN's face falls and he knocks frantically on the ladies' room door. Jenny opens it under his knuckles. He blocks the doorway and she backs up as he steps inside. INT. LADIES' ROOM - AFTERNOON The STAR MAN looks around. Jenny's eyes widen at what is happening behind him. The pneumatic arm above the door is pulling it shut to reveal her paper towel pasted to the back. The message on it, written in red lipstick, reads: KIDNAPPED GOING W ON 169 JADE MUS. LIC#PXV237. JENNY (stepping around him) It's still a toilet. Hasn't become a ballroom. She tries to swing the door open and hide her message against the wall, but she is too slow. The STAR MAN sees it and steps forward to read. STAR MAN Kid-nap-ped... go-ing W o-n... Jenny realizes he doesn't know what it means. JENNY (on her way out) That's very good. Other graffiti on the door helps convince the STAR MAN Jenny's message has nothing to do with him and after a last look at it, he follows her. EXT. GAS STATION - AFTERNOON A CAN of Coke CLATTERS DOWN the chute of a drink dispenser. Jenny picks it up and, with the STAR MAN hovering at her shoulder, moves on to the candy machine. He watches a quarter disappear into the slot and when Jenny picks another one out of her purse, he points to it. STAR MAN Money. JENNY Yes. She inserts the quarter and makes her selection. A Reese's Peanut Butter Cup drops from its position into the pickup bin. STAR MAN What? JENNY Candy. Using the change from this and another quarter, she selects an Almond Joy. STAR MAN (as it tumbles into the bin) Money... candy. ATTENDANT (to the STAR MAN) That'll be fifteen fifty, sir. JENNY Here. She hands him a twenty. ATTENDANT Thank you. He goes to make change. STAR MAN (to himself) Thank you. Jenny pops the top on the Coke can and on the way to the car takes a sip. STAR MAN What is... (reads off the can) ...Coke? JENNY A drink. STAR MAN (holds his hand out for it) I... JENNY You want to try it? STAR MAN I want to try it. JENNY This stuff could kill... (changes her mind and smiles) Be my guest. The STAR MAN fills his mouth, swirls it around and swallows. STAR MAN (after a loud burp) Good. He hands the can back to Jenny. She looks at it and knows there are alien bacteria there her body would not like to meet. JENNY Eh... you keep it. I've had enough. The STAR MAN takes another drink. He stops dead when he lowers the can. Jenny continues for a few steps before she realizes he isn't with her. She looks back over her shoulder. Her eyes go immediately to where he is looking. The license plate PXV 237 hangs like an accusation on the front bumper of the Mustang. Jenny decides to brazen it out. JENNY What's the matter? STAR MAN (throws the can to the ground) Shit! INT. MUSTANG - AFTERNOON Jenny and the STAR MAN ride along in tight-lipped silence. STAR MAN What is kidnapped? Jenny ignores him. STAR MAN (yells) Kidnapped!!! She flinches but remains silent. The STAR MAN snatches the paper towel off his lap and flaps it in her face, jabbing at the word violently with a forefinger. STAR MAN Kidnapped!!! What is kidnapped?!! Jenny can't take it anymore and screams back at him through tears. JENNY Kidnapped is what you're doing to me now!!! Kidnapped is pointing a gun at me and taking me from my house! Kidnapped is changing yourself into my husband. I don't know what you are and I don't care. I just want to get away from you! Jenny's outburst rocks the STAR MAN back into silence. He waits for her to calm down, then slowly takes the gun out of his pocket. STAR MAN Jennyhaydn. She doesn't dare look at him. STAR MAN I am good. (and he slides the .45 under his seat) EXT. INTERSTATE - NIGHT Jenny speeds up to pass a truckload of horses. STAR MAN What is that? She doesn't answer. The car passes the truck. The highway before them is empty. JENNY (finally) Horses. STAR MAN (without looking at her) Horses. Jenny TURNS ON the RADIO and finds a COUNTRY AND WESTERN STATION. STAR MAN What? JENNY Music. It is pleasing to him and he listens for a while, then reaches in his pouch and takes out one of the dusty gray marbles. He rolls it between his palms. It changes to a glowing gold as it grows to the size of a baseball. JENNY (alarmed) What are you doing?! The STAR MAN brings the globe close to his mouth and speaks into it. STAR MAN (subtitles) Iron channel message. Transmute was successful. Have captured one of them. It is taking me to the pick-up point in a land vehicle. (eyeing Jenny) I think I can control it by mastering its language, which is primitive and easy to learn. Will arrive on time. Wait for me. The STAR MAN opens his hands and, to Jenny's astonishment, the ball rises quickly and seeps through her roof without leaving a trace. EXT. INTERSTATE - NIGHT The Mustang swerves violently, then straightens itself as the ball comes through the roof and surges into the sky. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Unexpectedly, Shermin's helicopter storms into view. It is so close we can count the rivets. As it clears, we go to: INT. HELICOPTER - NIGHT The flow of traffic on the Interstate below is being fed into the six television screens from infrared cameras on the belly of the craft. The image on the screen under the master begins to move and ends in a close-up of a green Mustang. It's not Jenny's. With a buzz the red dot appears and Fox's face interrupts the view of the Mustang. FOX (V.O.) I just came from a meeting with the Security Council and (the picture breaks up, but the voice continues) in view of the extraterrestrial's radical change and the fact that all our efforts (the picture re- assembles) to contact its ship remain unanswered, it was decided to issue a ten state 'all points bulletin' for Scott Haydn, Jenny Haydn and the green Mustang. The officers have been instructed not to approach the people or the vehicle but to contact you. You will then move in and contain the subjects. Shermin rubs his hands over his face while he digests this. SHERMIN (sorting it out) You sure you want this, because... that's putting an awful lot of faith in people we have no control over... FOX (V.O.) I'm afraid the situation demands that kind of risk. SHERMIN I don't like it, George... FOX (V.O.) Dammit Shermin. Earlier you were asking for help. What's changed? SHERMIN It's messy... the thing's got a gun... We're just asking for somebody to get killed... FOX (V.O.) We don't know what else to do. We need results. SHERMIN (accepting) You'll get results one way or the other, that's for sure... Okay. FOX (V.O.) I'm gonna be here if you need anything. His image is replaced by one of the highway. MAJOR BELL They're gonna let some local cop blow him away. LYMAN Save us all a lot of trouble. MAJOR BELL Jesus Lyman, you're an ignorant fool. LYMAN Bullshit! MAJOR BELL You have no conception of this, do you? LYMAN You jerk! You look at all the sweetness and light and goodness you think'll come out of this. You know what's gonna come out of this... The end of religion, the end of civilization, the end of the earth. We could become slaves, we could become a colony of these things. Don't you see that? Are you too stupid to see that? SHERMIN Are you ladies through?... Bell and Lyman look at their feet. SHERMIN Good... It looks like we might be the welcoming committee, so I think we should try and figure out what we're gonna do if we have to come face to face with this creature. LYMAN Bell wants us to get down on our knees and bow. SHERMIN (to Bell) Did your people have any contingencies rehearsed? MAJOR BELL No... I guess we never thought it would happen. It's Shermin's turn to look at his feet. SHERMIN Terrific. On one of the screens behind him the camera has picked up a lighted billboard advertising 'Kellogg's Corn Flakes' with its slogan 'HAVE A GREAT DAY.' EXT. HIGHWAY - EARLY MORNING Jenny's Mustang is barreling along well over the speed limit. As it PASSES US, we PAN WITH it TO a sign: SLOW FOR INTERSECTION. EXT. INTERSECTION - EARLY MORNING A truckload of corn is hurtling down ON US from the north. An empty semi is rumbling up from the south. The light is in their favor. INT. MUSTANG - EARLY MORNING The STAR MAN is driving. It is obvious that he doesn't see the red light facing him. But Jenny does. And she also sees the trucks closing in from either side. JENNY (loud) Red light! The STAR MAN doesn't see it, doesn't believe her, doesn't slow down. JENNY (screams) Stop!!! EXT. INTERSECTION - EARLY MORNING It is as if all three vehicles have heard Jenny. They slam on their brakes at the same time and begin to skid toward each other. It's going to be close. INT. MUSTANG - EARLY MORNING The prows of the trucks loom over Jenny and the STAR MAN and, for a fleeting instant, it looks like they will join the bugs imbedded in the radiators. EXT. INTERSECTION - EARLY MORNING The Mustang barely squeaks through and the trucks slam into each other behind it, spilling corn all over the highway. INT. MUSTANG - EARLY MORNING It finally comes to a stop on the center line. JENNY That was a red light!! I told you you have to stop at a red light!! STAR MAN (sheepish) It was yellow. JENNY You didn't even see it. The STAR MAN looks back for the traffic light. It is hanging from a pole in the middle of the road. Under it the truck DRIVERS are climbing out of the cabs. STAR MAN I will see it next time. JENNY You better. The STAR MAN angles back into his lane and begins to pick up speed. EXT. SIOUX FALLS - SOUTH DAKOTA - DAY Deftly, the STAR MAN moves in and out of the afternoon traffic. A bus coming in the other direction hits a pothole filled with water and the SPLASH covers the Mustang. INT. MUSTANG - DAY Jenny watches the STAR MAN calmly turn on the wipers and the washer and clean the windshield. T