1. HOTEL CONFERENCE ROOM - NIGHT
We are close on the face of SETH BRUNDLE, aging molecular physics wunderkind. He is not aging too badly, however, and looks much younger than his 38 years - playful child face, slightly heavy - a big kid. Even his arrogance is somehow engaging, especially now as he talks to someone who is, for the moment, off camera. Someone he seems eager to impress.
BRUNDLE
What am I working on? I’m working on something that will change the world and human life as we know it.
The off-camera voice that replies is female and matter-of-fact, and belongs to VERONICA QUAIFE, who is evidently someone not likely to be easily impressed.
VERONICA (OC)
Change it a lot or just a bit? You’ll have to be more specific.
Brundle lifts a glass of Scotch to his mouth and takes a sip. He glances around the room which we have not yet seen.
BRUNDLE
You want me to be specific here, in this room, with half the scientific community of North America eavesdropping?
CUT TO VERONICA
who is a very attractive woman in her mid-twenties. She is as focused and analytical as Brundle is sloppy and puppyish. She toys with a drink but does not taste it.
VERONICA
Is there another way?
Brundle chews nervously on a fingernail.
BRUNDLE
You could come back to my lab. I’ll make you a cappuccino. I have a Faema of my very own. Not the dilettante’s plastic kitchen model. A real restaurant espresso machine.
Veronica studies Brundle carefully.
VERONICA
Somehow I get the feeling you don’t get out much.
BRUNDLE
AMAZED
You can tell that?
VERONICA
Yeah.
BRUNDLE
Actually I’ve been alone working for a long time now.
Veronica picks up her bag - it's big and leathery and full of notes and books - and starts to move off through the room. Brundle grabs his drink and follows her. Scotch slops all over Brundle's hand and cuff, but he doesn't seem to notice it.
BRUNDLE
Hey! How about it? Are you coming with me?
VERONICA
Sorry, I've got three other interviews to do before the party's over.
We pop back and take a look at the room Brundle and Veronica are in. It is an enormous HOTEL CONFERENCE ROOM full of rather eccentric science types. A GAUDY BANNER running the entire length of the room proclaims:
BARTOK science industries
FOURTH ANNUAL
MEET-THE-PRESS LUNCHEON.
Brundle has to struggle through the crowd to keep Veronica within earshot.
BRUNDLE
Yeah. But they're not working on something that will change the world as we know it.
VERONICA
They say they are.
Brundle manages to wedge himself in front of Veronica and slow her down. He takes a quick sip of his drink, but there's almost nothing left: it's all on his sleeve.
BRUNDLE
Yeah, but they’re lying.
PAUSE
I'm not.
Veronica takes a closer look at Brundle. Despite his soggy sleeves, he is very convincing.
INT. VERONICA’S CAR - NIGHT
Veronica drives through the night in her clapped-out Renault Le Car. Brundle is turning green.
VERONICA
Are you sick?
BRUNDLE
QUEASY NONCHALANCE
Oh, sure.
VERONICA
You’re not a very accomplished drunk.
BRUNDLE
I’m always like this. Motion sickness. When I was a kid I puked on my tricycle. I hate vehicles.
VERONICA
Should I drive more slowly?
BRUNDLE
No, just turn left. We’re almost there.
EXT. LAB WAREHOUSE - NIGHT
Le Car pulls up outside a huge, dilapidated warehouse by the waterfront under a freeway. Veronica helps Brundle out of the car.
VERONICA
This is it?
BRUNDLE
It's cleaner on the inside.
2.WAREHOUSE STAIRWAY - NIGHT
Veronica and Brundle climb the warped wooden stairs to the fourth floor. Brundle is breathing hard, very out of shape. He uses the ornate railing to haul himself from step to step.
VERONICA
Nice rai1ings.
BRUNDLE
BREATHING HARD
Yeah. They’re original.
VERONICA
You doing marine experiments?
BRUNDLE
No, why?
VERONICA
That fishy smell.
BRUNDLE
Oh, that. Used to be a packing house for fish. It’s deserted right now, except for me. I’ve got the whole fourth floor. The top floor.
VERONICA
Want me to carry you?
BRUNDLE
Maybe next time.
3.LAB - NIGHT
Veronica and Brundle enter Brundle’s lab through an ancient steel-and-rotting-wood sliding door. It is immediately obvious that the lab is not just a lab: Brundle lives here, and he lives messy. There is junk everywhere, amongst which are a couple of mattresses lying on the floor.
The immense warehouse space is only partially divided by a couple of brick half-walls and by the square wooden pillars which soar up to a system of interlocking sky 1ights above.
Almost unnoticed amid the chaos stand TWO GLASS BOOTHS with molded plastic bases. They are at opposite ends of the room and look very much like an Italian designer's version of hi-tech telephone booths or, possibly, portable shower stalls.
The whole thing feels completely wrong to Veronica.
VERONICA
Listen, maybe this is a bad idea.
BRUNDLE
JOKING
Too late. You’ve already seen it. I can’t let you leave here alive.
VERONICA
I haven’t seen anything.
Brundle carefully points out the glass booths.
BRUNDLE
Those.
VERONICA
Designer phone booths. Very cute. I’ll bet you’ve got a really neat jukebox in here somewhere, too. Over there, maybe?
She points to a huge shape in a corner covered by a tarpaulin.
BRUNDLE
No, that’s the prototype of these. First one I had made. It works, but it’s clunky.
Brundle pulls a blue bathrobe being used as an impromptu dust cover off an extremely serious-looking control module complete with computer console and monitor. The information storage system is all laser disc. The module is on wheels, but is plugged into a heavy-duty wiring loom at the base of one of the pillars.
Brundle flips a couple of switches. Lights come on. The monitor flickers to life. Very bright white interior lights also come on in the two booths.
BRUNDLE
I call them telepods. They’re controlled by this.
VERONICA
SARCASTIC
Thank God for that.
Veronica takes a careful look at Brundle.
VERONICA
You’re very eccentric.
BRUNDLE
GENUINELY PLEASED
You think so? That would be great. I’ve always considered myself invisibly middle-class.
VERONICA
I don’t think you should worry about it. OK. So what do they do? The phone booths?
BRUNDLE
Telepods.
PAUSE
All right. As the magician says, 'Give me something personal, an item of clothing or jewelry, something uniquely you.'
VERONICA
You’re joking.
BRUNDLE
INGENUOUS
No, I'm serious.
Veronica studies him once again. Yes, he’s serious.
VERONICA
OK. Here goes.
Veronica hikes up her skirt and slips off her panties -an impulsive act rather than a calculated one. She holds them out to Brundle. They’re lacy and pretty. Brundle is shocked.
BRUNDLE
Ah... well...
VERONICA
I don’t wear jewelry.
BRUNDLE
Yeah. OK.
He takes the panties, gingerly.
BRUNDLE
Nice.
VERONICA
Thanks.
Brundle walks over to the nearest telepod and presses a button on the doorframe. The door unlatches with a click.
Brundle carefully places the panties on the floor of the telepod, then closes the door again.
Brundle returns to the computer, sits down on an old steno chair, and starts to click away at the computer keys. Veronica looks over his shoulder.
The screen fills with techno-babble. This soon makes way for a three-dimensional graphic of Veronica’s panties which rotates on the screen. A DATA LIST appears in the corner of the screen outlining the panties’ vital statistics - weight, dimensions, density, molecular configuration, etc.
Satisfied, Brundle smiles, presses the ACCEPT button, and points to the first telepod.
BRUNDLE
Watch.
The first thing that happens is that the automatic door latch on the outside of the telepod slides shut. The latch is substantial, even massive, suggesting that IT WOULD NOT BE A GOOD THING FOR THE DOOR TO OPEN ACCIDENTALLY.
Now, as Veronica watches, the PANTIES BEGIN TO DISINTEGRATE in the telepod. It’s almost as though we can
see the atoms breaking off from the cloth itself and begin to float, swirl, swarm about in the bright cold light of the telepod. In moments, there is nothing left of the panties.
The telepod lights flash once, then go out.
Brundle turns proudly to Veronica.
BRUNDLE
Well?
VERONICA
Great. The world’s largest microwave oven. I’m glad I didn’t give you my Rolex.
BRUNDLE
No, no - you’re missing the point. Look.
Brundle points to the screen. The words TELEPORTATION SUCCESSFUL are flashing on and off.
VERONICA
CONFUSED
Teleportation?
Brundle gets up and takes Veronica by the hand.
BRUNDLE
Now come with me.
Brundle marches Veronica across the room to the second telepod. Inside the telepod are her panties.
VERONICA
Wait a minute. Is that a hologram? Where are my panties?
Brundle press the door button and the door to the second telepod pops open.
BRUNDLE
That’s them. The real ones. Go ahead. Pick them up.
Veronica hesitates a beat, then reaches into the telepod and picks up her panties. She crumples them in her hand. They feel the same.
BRUNDLE
NIGHTCLUB MAGICIAN VOICE
Examine them carefully for authenticity. Make sure nothing has been lost in translation.
Veronica looks at the label, the lace trim. It all checks out.
VERONICA
I don’t think I get it. What happened?
BRUNDLE
You get it, all right. You just can’t handle it. Your panties have just been teleported from one pod to another. Disintegrated there, and reintegrated there. Sort of. It’ll change the world as we know it, right? Want me to autograph them?
VERONICA
This is incredible. How have you managed to keep this quiet? How could you do this alone?
BRUNDLE
I don’t work alone. There’s a lot of stuff in there I don’t even understand. I’m really a systems-management man. I farm bits and pieces of this stuff out to guys who are much more brilliant than I am. But none of them knows what the project really is. I say - build me a laser this, design me a molecular analyzer that - and they do. I just stick ’em together.
VERONICA
And the money? Bartok Science Industries finances this?
BRUNDLE
They leave me alone. I’m not expensive. They know they’ll end up owning it all, whatever it is.
VERONICA
You haven’t told them?
BRUNDLE
When I’m ready.
An insistent little beep begins to sound from somewhere under Veronica’s chic padded jacket. She drops the panties onto a coffee table, fumbles around in her jacket and pulls out a small tape recorder from an inner pocket.
Brundle is stunned: she’s been taping him.
BRUNDLE
Oh, no! Not that!
Veronica deftly flips over the cassette, sets the machine on RECORD, and drops it back into the pocket.
VERONICA
Why not? You want me to get the quotes right, don't you?
BRUNDLE
Don't do it. If this gets out now, it'll be a disaster.
VERONICA
Oh, I'm sure you're exaggerating.
BRUNDLE
But I'm not exaggerating...
VERONICA
SUDDENLY ANGRY
What do you think I'm doing here, anyway? Don't give me that naïve bullshit. I'm a journalist. I was sent to that party by PARTICLE Magazine. You knew that.
BRUNDLE
But I thought this was... you know, personal. I wouldn't tell any of this stuff to a journalist.
VERONICA
But you did tell this stuff to a journalist. And you know what? I think you did it intentionally. I think you want me to tell the world about this. You just haven’t admitted it to yourself.
SHE HEADS FOR THE DOOR
Listen - it’s been real.
Veronica’s almost out the door. She obviously has no intention of hanging around to discuss it. Brundle picks up her panties from the coffee table.
BRUNDLE
WITH RISING ANGER
Hey - you forgot something!
Veronica pauses, turns. Brundle balls up the panties and throws them at her. They unfold in midair and flop harmlessly on the floor between them.
Veronica shrugs and smiles a "What can I do?" kind of smile. She leaves. Brundle slides the door closed after her with a slam.
EXT. MONOLITH PUBLISHING BUILDING - MORNING
Establishing shot of sleeko modern office building.
4.PARTICLE MAGAZINE EDITORIAL OFFICES - MORNING
We are in the office of STATHIS BORANS, the Editor-in-Chief of PARTICLE Magazine. The office itself oozes power and influence - the office of a starmaker in the arcane world of modern science. Stathis himself seems a bit more like the editor of a self-consciously chic New York glossy, say VANITY FAIR. He wears small, round, horn rimmed glasses and immaculate classic clothes. Despite his stylistic pretensions, however, his background is solidly scientific, and the walls are covered with his degrees, both honorary and hard-science.
Veronica is draped comfortably over an art-deco couch - obviously very much at home. They are listening to her tape.
VERONICA (ON TAPE)
You just haven’t admitted it to yourself.
PAUSE
Listen - it's been real.
BRUNDLE (ON TAPE)
Hey... you forgot something!
Veronica flicks off the tape recorder.
VERONICA
That’s it. What do you think?
STATHIS
I think you’re an opportunistic slut.
VERONICA
IGNORING THE COMMENT
What do you think about teleportation?
STATHIS
It’s a joke.
VERONICA
What?
STATHIS
He’s conning you. He’s doing an old nightclub routine. The two cabinets. And you fell for it.
VERONICA
Hey, wait a minute...
STATHIS
Are we having lunch?
VERONICA
Listen, that was no nightclub routine.
The intercom buzzes.
STATHIS
PICKING UP PHONE
Yes?
PAUSE
Sure. Send him in.
Stathis hangs up.
STATHIS
You must have made an impression.
VERONICA
What do you mean?
STATHIS
Your magician has followed you here.
A young woman wearing a brisk business suit shows Brundle in. Stathis smiles a professional smile and extends his hand.
STATHIS
Stathis Borans. I’m the editor of PARTICLE Magazine.. Nice to meet you.
BRUNDLE
Uh... Seth Brundle.
STATHIS
KNOWINGLY
Oh, I know who you are.
Brundle is about to ask "How?” but doesn’t get the chance.
STATHIS
Listen... why don’t you two use my office? I’ve got to run.
TO BRUNDLE
If you plan to make anything disappear, let me know. I have an assistant editor who’s outlived his usefulness.
Stathis leaves.
BRUNDLE
You haven’t wasted any time.
VERONICA
I’m not getting any younger.
BRUNDLE
I take it he wasn’t too impressed by your tape.
VERONICA
PACKING UP TAPE MACHINE
He thinks you’re a con man.
BRUNDLE
BRIGHTENING
Excellent!
VERONICA
Yeah? Well, let’s see what the people at Omni think about it.
BRUNDLE
Hold on, hold on. Look. I’ve come here to say two magic words to you.
She stops at the door.
VERONICA
Yeah?
BRUNDLE
Cheese-burger.
Brundle says these words as though they are indeed magical, irresistible. Veronica shakes her head and laughs. For her, it’s Brundle himself who’s rapidly becoming irresistible.
INT. EDITORIAL OFFICES. HALLWAY - MORNING
Veronica leaves with Brundle. They are showing signs of liking each other. Stathis watches them through the glass wall of the conference room. His eyes are laser bright.
He is not smiling. He picks up the phone.
STATHIS
Renee? Get me everything you’ve got on Seth Brundle. Yeah. He’s with Bartok. Yeah - their stable of geniuses. He was part of their dog and pony show two days ago. Yeah. But I mean, everything, including personal. Dig deep, darling. Thanks.
5.MACDONALDSESQUE RESTAURANT - DAY
CU Burgers sliding down a ramp in assembly-line style.
CU cheese slices being slapped onto each burger by machine.
Brundle is taking Veronica out to lunch.
VERONICA
You always eat here?
BRUNDLE
I hate surprises. Scientists love things to be repeatable. Every time you walk in, it’s exactly the same thing. I love it. Makes me feel secure.
Veronica takes a bite of her burger. It is obvious that she is used to better things.
VERONICA
It’s a high price to pay for security.
BRUNDLE
Let’s talk turkey.
Veronica is amused at Brundle’s turn of phrase. He hasn't been on the streets since he was eight years old.
VERONICA
Sure. Turkey.
BRUNDLE
You were right. I’ve been working alone too long. I have a very strong urge to talk about what I'm doing. But still... if this gets out now, it'll kill me. The Bartok people will kill me, my colleagues will kill me. It's not ready yet.
VERONICA
Seems to work OK.
BRUNDLE
No. Something important is missing.
VERONICA
Yeah?
BRUNDLE
HE WON'T TALK
Yeah.
VERONICA
"Yeah” what?
BRUNDLE
HE DECIDES TO TALK
I can only teleport inanimate objects. Dead things.
VERONICA
Are you criticizing my taste in underwear?
BRUNDLE
BRIGHTENING
No! I love your taste in underwear!
VERONICA
What happens when you try to teleport living things?
BRUNDLE
MAKES A FACE, SHAKES HIS HEAD
Not while we’re eating.
VERONICA
LAUGHS, INDICATES BURGER
It can’t be worse than this.
PAUSE
You’re not doing a very good job of convincing me. I think the world should know about it now, and I think I should be the one to tell it.
BRUNDLE
How about half of that?
VERONICA
What do you mean?
BRUNDLE
You should tell it, but not yet. Look, what have you got so far?
VERONICA
Just enough to make you nervous.
BRUNDLE
Why not get more? Let me become your major project. I’m talking about a book, not a magazine article. Follow me and my work day by day, in as much detail as you can stand. I don’t have a life - so there’s nothing for you to interfere with. Research the background. Cover the process.
PAUSE
You could even move in with me if you wanted to. I mean... you know, in a professional context.
VERONICA
Sure. I know.
BRUNDLE
WRITING HER DUST-COVER BLURB
"The complete record of the most earth shattering invention ever. The one that ended all concepts of transport, of time and space, of borders and frontiers.”
DRAMATIC PAUSE
And your book will end with me transporting myself fifteen feet through space, from one telepod to another. That’s what’s really missing. Wait for me that long.
Veronica has mustard on her upper lip and her eyes are bright. Brundle is pushing the right buttons.
VERONICA’S APARTMENT. LIVING ROOM - DAY
Veronica opens the door to her apartment - one of those places in which something stylish has been done with not really very much. As she dumps the day’s accumulated gear onto a floppy couch, she hears the shower going in the bathroom.
VERONICA’S BATHROOM - DAY
Veronica cautiously approaches the bathroom. The door is open. Veronica approaches the shower and, taking a deep breath, pulls aside the shower curtain. Stathis is calmly taking a shower.
VERONICA
What are you doing in my apartment?
STATHIS
I happened to be in the neighborhood, felt a bit scummy. Rough day.
Veronica pulls the shower curtain back into place in disgust and slams the bathroom door on the way out.
INT. VERONICA’S LIVING ROOM - DAY
Veronica is drinking coffee and sorting through some papers when Stathis walks into the room, fully dressed but still toweling off his hair.
STATHIS
No coffee for me?
VERONICA
As far as I’m concerned, you’re not here.
STATHIS
The invisible man.
VERONICA
How did you get in?
STATHIS
I still have a key. You gave it to me, remember?
VERONICA
I knew I should have changed the locks.
STATHIS
I knew you wouldn’t.
VERONICA
Yeah?
STATHIS
Yeah. That’s because, unconsciously, you want me to come back to you, move in again.
VERONICA
No. That’s because, very consciously, I’m lazy and disorganized.
STATHIS
You new playmate is an interesting guy.
VERONICA
What playmate?
STATHIS
The nightclub act. Brundle.
VERONICA
Yeah?
STATHIS
Yeah, I was wrong. He’s really very brilliant. He was the leader of the F32 team. Remember that? An inch away from the Nobel Prize for physics. He was only twenty at the time.
VERONICA
Well, he acts like he’s sixteen right now.
PAUSE
I'm not sure I'm going to do Brundle. I'm still considering the Psychology Today gig.
STATHIS
SUSPICIOUS
That's not like you.
VERONICA
WRY
How would you know? We only lived together for two years. You were just beginning to not ice me when we split up.
STATHIS
Now that is like you.
VERONICA
Are you getting out or am I?
STATHIS
AMIABLE
I'll go. I've got to put this issue to bed. Shall I come back later?
VERONICA
No.
HOLDS OUT HER HAND
Key.
STATHIS
I'll keep it, for old time’s sake. You want to keep me out, you change the locks.
He leaves.
BRUNDLE’S LAB - NIGHT
On a video monitor, we are close on a small monkey, the monkey is in the sending telepod. We pop back to a general view of Brundle1s lab. He is, indeed, about to transmit a monkey and is hard at work at his computer keyboard.
Veronica is also hard at work.
She’s got the entire place wired now - videotape, still cameras, sound tapes. Tapes recording his computer screens. She’s trying to keep track of everything from behind a small bank of video monitors stacked on a table.
Brundle plays the keyboard like Glenn Gould at his most eccentric - he mutters, mumbles, sings to himself.
Finally, he sits back in satisfaction and presses the ACCEPT button.
CU the MASSIVE TELEPOD DOOR LATCH as it slides shut.
The control monitor diagrams the monkey, the outlined figure on the screen duplicating the movement of its real-life counterpart inside the transmitter. The animals vital satisfies are calculated and appear. Then...
The light goes on in the transmitter, lancing through the ape who is frozen in fear. The animal disintegrates.
Brundle dances up from the keyboard and runs over to the receiving telepod. As he peers through the window, SOMETHING, presumably the monkey’s body, lurches with a thump against the window. A RED SPLOTCH smears across the glass pane. From inside the chamber comes a sickening, tormented thrashing sound as the bloody, misshapen lump - a monkey turned inside out - splatters itself all over the glass of the telepod.
Veronica turns away from the spectacle, sickened. Brundle is devastated.
QUICK DISSOLVE TO:
Brundle, in CU on monitor and in life. Brundle’s expression says "despair." We hear Veronica’s voice off-camera as she interviews him.
VERONICA (OC)
We’ve got to do this, Brundle. Talk to the tapes. Get in the habit. The world will want to know what you’re thinking.
BRUNDLE
Fuck! Is what I’m thinking.
VERONICA (OC)
Good. The world will want to know that. What else? Why didn’t it work?
BRUNDLE
I think it turned the monkey inside out.
VERONICA (OC)
Why?
BRUNDLE
It can’t deal with flesh, with living things. It only seems to work with inanimate objects. Nothing that’s alive.
THOUGHTFUL PAUSE
It must be my fault.
VERONICA
Why?
BRUNDLE
Computers are dumb. They only know what you tell them. I must not know enough about the flesh myself. Gonna have to learn.
HEAVY, RAGGED SIGH
I don’t want to talk now.
INT. LAB. BEDROOM AREA - NIGHT
Brundle lies on his mattress, despondent. Veronica sits nearby.
VERONICA
Do you ever change your clothes?
BRUNDLE
Huh?
VERONICA
Your clothes. You’re always wearing the same clothes.
BRUNDLE
No... these are clean. I change my clothes every day.
Veronica gets up and goes over to his free-standing closet. She opens the canvas door. Inside are neatly hung five versions of exactly the same clothes - sweater, pants, etc.
VERONICA
Five sets of exactly the same clothes?
BRUNDLE
I learned it from Einstein.
VERONICA
Repeatability?
BRUNDLE
Yeah. This way, I don’t have to expend any thought on what I’m going to wear. I just grab the next set on the rack.
Veronica lets the canvas door of the closet swing closed and drifts back to Brundle.
VERONICA
I bought some steaks. Can I make you one?
BRUNDLE
We could go out
VERONICA
Cheese-burgers?
BRUNDLE
NOW SELF-CONSCIOUS ABOUT IT
Well, I...
SHRUGS
We don’t have to go there...
Veronica gets on the mattress with him..
VERONICA
You’re very cute.
BRUNDLE
NERVOUS
Am I?
VERONICA
Uh-huh.
She runs a finger over his lips. He tries to talk while she does this.
BRUNDLE
I... I think you’re very beautiful.
Veronica’s finger ends up stuck in one corner of his mouth. She laughs.
Veronica bends close to Brundle and kisses him full on the lips. It makes Brundle very nervous.
Brundle tries top roll elegantly out from under Veronica’s advance but instead rolls half off the mattress and onto something sharp which has been lying on the floor. He yelps in pain.
BRUNDLE
Ouch!
Brundle detaches himself from Veronica.
VERONICA
What happened?
BRUNDLE
I rolled onto something sharp. Take a look.
Brundle turns his back to Veronica. Stuck to his back at the end of three tiny streaks of blood staining through his shirt is an old circuit board.
VERONICA
Oh, God. Something’s stuck to your back!
BRUNDLE
COOL
Well, pull it off.
Veronica is - perhaps surprisingly -squeamish. She grimaces as she pulls the board away. Three sharp metal connectors are the culprits. She shows it to Brundle.
BRUNDLE
Oh, yeah. I was wondering what happened to this.
Brundle feels for the scratches and brings back blood on his finger tips.
VERONICA
We’d better take a look.
Veronica begins to unbutton Brundle’s shirt.
BRUNDLE
NERVOUS
Uh... I can do that.
Veronica brushes his hands away.
VERONICA
SEDUCTIVELY
No, you’ve lost some blood. Better let me do it.
Veronica takes Brundle’s shirt off, caressing his shoulders as she does it. There are three long, deep scratches high on his back near the shoulder blade. Each scratch ends with a puncture mark.
VERONICA
Have you got any disinfectant?
Brundle hands her a nearby dusty old glass of Scotch.
BRUNDLE
This oughta do the trick.
Veronica dabs it on the scratches with her fingers.
Brundle gasps at the sharpness. Veronica gives his shoulder a gentle bite.
BRUNDLE
Ah, please. No more pain.
VERONICA
Sorry. I just suddenly wanted to eat you up. You know - that’s why old ladies pinch baby cheeks. It’s the flesh, it makes them crazy.
BRUNDLE
DISTRACTED
Uh-huh. The flesh. Yes. Wanna try an experiment?
VERONICA
EXCITED
Sure.
To her consternation, Brundle jumps out of bed and heads for the kitchen.
BRUNDLE
Let’s make a steak.
ON MONITOR...duplicating Brundle’s reintegration in the receiver. A human outline fragmentedly appears.
ON BRUNDLE...as the light shuts off abruptly. He shakes himself as though coming out of a daze.
Brundle opens the receiver door and steps out.
THE CAMERA PANS PAST BRUNDLE TO THE INTERIOR OF THE GLASS WINDOW -- BUT THERE IS NOTHING THERE!
Brundle looks around for his audience. He sees the monkey cowering on the sofa. Brundle smiles at it triumphantly.
BRUNDLE
Now you tell me - am I different somehow? Is it live, or is it Memorex?
LAUGHS, PERHAPS A LITTLE TOO GIDDY
Too bad you missed it, Ronnie. Too bad.
In a mood of righteous anger, Brundle grabs the champagne bottle and finishes off the champagne.
DISSOLVE TO:
LAB WAREHOUSE - NIGHT
Veronica’s car pulls up and stops on the desterted street outside the lab warehouse. She gets out of the car and looks up. All the lights in the lab are out.
LAB WAREHOUSE. STAIRWELL - NIGHT
Veronica makes her way up the stairs. It is spooky there in the dark, alone with the echo of her footsteps.
LAB. LIVING ROOM AREA - NIGHT
Veronica slides open the big front door. No sign of Brundle.
LAB. BEDROOM - NIGHT
Veronica creeps in to Brundle’s bedroom. He’s asleep. She slips off her clothes and gets into bed with him. She gently strokes his shoulder.
Brundle stirs, wakes up, turns sleepily to Veronica.
BRUNDLE
SLEEPILY
I missed you last night.
VERONICA
It’s still night. I came back.
PAUSE
You had to celebrate without me. I'm sorry.
BRUNDLE
PAUSE
I went through last night.
VERONICA
You went through? Without testing the monkey?
BRUNDLE
I was a bit drunk. I was upset.
VERONICA
UPSET
You could have killed yourself! You’re like a little pouty kid. I can’t believe it!
BRUNDLE
Me neither. I keep surprising myself.
PAUSE
Are you sleeping with Stathis Borans?
VERONICA
What are you talking about?
BRUNDLE
I dunno. I just have that feeling...
VERONICA
INCREDULOUS
That's why you were upset?
BRUNDLE
I got jealous.
VERONICA
Oh, God.
PAUSE
But... you don't have to be jealous. He’s an old boyfriend. He was teaching at college, I was a science major. He got me started in journal ism.
BRUNDLE
Did you manage to scrape him off your shoe?
VERONICA
We’re just platonic. We talk business.
BRUNDLE
Is he still in love with you?
VERONICA
LIGHTLY
How could he not be?
PAUSE
What about our deal? You went through and I wasn’t there!
BRUNDLE
Don’t worry. I taped it for you.
VERONICA
You did?
Brundle nods.
VERONICA
But why? You were mad at me.
BRUNDLE
I wanted to hurt you. But I'm finding that if I don’t share everything with you, then it's... as if it hasn’t really happened.
VERONICA
That sounds like love.
BRUNDLE
It does?
VERONICA
Yeah, it does.
BRUNDLE
Well, you know about these things, right?
VERONICA
Yeah, I do.
She kisses him. They begin to make love.
The camera finds Veronica's hands as they clasp Brundle, then follows one of her hands as it moves down Brundle's s ide.
There, we see that the skin in the area of the three scratches has taken on a strange, rough texture. Even more startling, we see that HAIRS are growing out of the scratches - three from the top one, one from the middle scratch. And these hairs are decidedly NOT HUMAN: they are coarse, strong, and METALLIC-GREEN in color.
Veronica’s fingers glide past the hairs without quite touching them.
DISSOLVE
LAB. BEDROOM - VERY EARLY MORNING
CU BRUNDLE, asleep, lying on his back. We hear a faint buzzing. A FLY hovers near Brundle1s cheek, then lands.
He unconsciously brushes it away.
The FLY continues to buzz over Brundle1s head. Suddenly, Brundle makes an instinctive, eyes-closed grab for the insect.
With an amazing display of reflexes and speed, Brundle’s hand sweeps through the air and snatches the fly. We hear it BUZZING in Brundle’s hand.
The hand has not moved. Brundle’s arm remains in mid-air.
His fist clenches. He opens his eyes, now stone-cold awake, fully realizing what he’s done.
Brundle stares up at his hand. He slowly opens his fingers, releasing the fly. It buzzes off.
