Agiss III

 		 
	FADE IN
	EXT.	MARS COLONY AGISS III                DAY
	EXT.	AGISS III BIO-CENTER - COLONY TARMAC

	ROLF LANDERS is the CHIEF OF MARS COLONY AGISS III. 
	He revels in the past as to how hard it was to get
	the Atmosphere Generators going for the BIO-CENTER. 
	The AGISS III BIO-CENTER is a three story building 
	resembling a MAYAN PYRAMID. It looks very Ominous 
	standing in the middle of the colony tarmac. It 
	provides a complete Earth environment. The only 
	special gear the staff requires outside of the 
	Bio-Center is a small tube hanging under their 
	nose with an Oxygen bottle on their belt. He looks 
	over his shoulder and sees his Deputy FRANK MAY 
	motioning him to return to quarters. For a man of
	thirty-eight, May looks older, maybe because he 
	worry's too much. 


					MAY
			Rolf, we  need some data on the
			new diggings on the Beta Plateau,
			some of our guys are getting very 
			anxious and want to continue the 
			dig.

					ROLF
			Frank, you can tell them we have
			to wait till the Core samples are
			analyzed, and that could be 
			several days.

	Both men walk back to the AGISS III Center and go 
	in the front door.  The inside of AGISS III is very 
	comfortable and anyone could get used to the extreme
 	isolation being on the third Mars Colony. The staff 
	is FRANK MAY, Deputy Chief, JON ODIN the chief 
	Engineer, MYRA JENKINS the Health Officer, ANDREA 
	LONG ASTRO-BIOLOGIST and SKIP OMEIR the chief
	mechanic.	They all say hi to their boss and Jon
	motions for Rolf to see him. 

					ROLF  (Cont.)
			Yes, what is it Jon, are we still
			having morale problems?

					JON
			We have a more pressing problem at
			hand, Rolf, my guys just found
			something near the last core sample
			in a small cave. It looks like some
			kind of prior civilization was here 
			and what we have found looks like
			a Time Capsule. 

					ROLF
			Well what is it and where
			is it?

					JON
			We have it over at the
			science lab. 

	The Science Lab is a large Bio-Tent with about 
	three-thousand square feet. The two men walk in 
	through the front door and observe the Lab Tech 
	Andrea Long a young lady in her early thirties 
	has something in a Closed cell.
 
					JON
			Andrea, will you please show 
			the boss what we found? 

	She looks at Jon then Rolf, and motions them to come
	over to her side.

					ANDREA
			Hi, Rolf, you wont believe what
			we've found.

	She has her hands inside protective gloves and opening
	a box she removes what appears to be a 2 quart cylinder
 	having a screw top.

					ANDREA (Cont.)
			Rolf, we wanted you to be present
			when we opened it just in case we
			have a problem, ok.

					ROLF
			Sure, let's see what we 
			have here.

	Andrea opens the stainless steel cylinder and as 
	the top is removed a sound of air escaping is heard.
	A device looking like a tape-recorder is seen inside.
	A row of small buttons are visible along the top edge 
	of the device, Andrea places her index finger on the
	green one.

					ANDREA
			Well shall we go for it? 

					ROLF
				(Rolf stares at 
				 the device)
			What if it's a nuclear device 
			and we set the sequence on? 

					ANDREA
			We've already scanned it for
			explosives and found nothing.

					ROLF
			Ok lets go for it!

	As Andrea places her finger on the button, she pauses 
	then presses it.

	A blue haze engulfs the device and a small laser beam 
	directs itself from the device and an image forms.  A 
	monotone voice is heard from the image which is made 
	up of a Holographic Projection of a middle age man 
	dressed in what appears to be a takeoff of a World War 
	One German Officers uniform. The language is Alien to 
	everyone. Andrea turns on an overhead switch turning 
	on the USA Universal Translator.

					VOICE  (V.O.)
			Welcome to the red planet, we hope
			your stay will be beneficial to
			yourself and your people.  We're
			sorry, we can't be here to welcome
			you, but at least you will have 
			this image and voice from our 
			civilization. We are the LYRAN'S
			and we have come from a planet 
			outside of this nine planet 
			solar system.

					JON
			LYRAN'S?

					VOICE   (V.O.)
			Our people arrived here just after
			the great flood on the blue planet.
			When the water on the blue planet 
			receded, we decided to send a team
			of our scientists to see if anyone
			had survived, and of course if
			someone had we would assist in any
			way we could. After months of 
			searching we found nothing. Our 
			Elders decided to send a small 
			group of our people to the Blue
			Planet in an attempt to repopulate
			it.

					ROLF
			Amazing!

					LORAL  (V.O.)
			I'm LORAL the leader of this Colony,
			and whoever finds this time capsule
			needs to know this planet which we
			call the RED Planet has certain 
			dangers that all of your people 
			should be aware of.  This threat 
			was so bad we moved our entire
			colony to the Blue planet a few 
			years after land was visable.

					ANDREA
			The great deluge!

					LORAL  (V.O.)   (Cont.)
			When we first arrived on this planet
			we felt very fortunate because we 
			were lucky enough to find a planet
			that fit our needs. We had initially
			wanted to settle on the third planet
			from the sun which we call SOL III,
			but because of the lack of land space
			we settled on the fourth planet from 
			the sun which we named SOL IV or the
			Red Planet.  The prior civilization
			had constructed large canals to bring
			water from ice melting from the south
			pole. We had everything we needed. The 
			proper atmosphere, water, an abundance
			of flora and fauna. Yes, we had found 
			paradise. Our civilization prospered 
			for years, then it happened.

					ROLF
			Nuclear war.

					LORAN (V.O.)
			In late summer this planet started
			Volcanic activity which we thought 
			was just a seasonal event, but it
			continued for several SOL IV years.
			It was so bad we decided to move to
			another suitable planet.  In waiting 
			for the third blue planets water to 
			recede we decided to dig in. We 
			developed several cities underground
			to escape the volcanic flow and gases.

					ANDREA
			No wonder it's so barren here!

					LORAN  (V.O.)
			In the development of the third 
			underground city we encountered a
			major problem during the excavation.
			In a deep underground chamber our 
			workman discovered what appeared to
			be remnants of a prior civilization.
			On further examination the discovery
			of "Pods" of some form of Alien 
			species that had lived here prior
			to us.  At the depth that we found
			them, it is now apparent to us that
			this planet goes through some kind
			of a regenerative life cycle where
			all the inhabitants at that time 
			have to go underground. We moved 
			some of these pods to one of our 
			research centers for closer 
			inspection. Our scientist's isolated
			them and we started the inspection
			process. After inspecting the first
			one for any element that would be 
			biologically unsafe for us we 
			started the autopsy.

					ROLF
			Autopsy?

					LORAN (V.O.)
			There were three membrane covers 
			we had to go through to get to
			the thing inside the pod. After
			the covers were peeled off the
			creature was wrapped in a thin 
			membrane sac. We removed the sac
			and upon closer discovery the
			creature resembled one of us
			but with one exception it was a
			unisex being, or Hermaphrodite.

					ANDREA 
			Oh please.

					LORAN (V.O.)
			Upon closer inspection, our scientists
			discovered the being was in a suspended
			animation state and could possibly be
			awaken with electrical impulses. We
			received authorization from the council
			elders to attempt an awakening of this
			being.  After several attempts we finally
			succeeded in getting a heart beat.  

					ROLF
			Andrea can you turn it off 
			for a minute?

	As Andrea places her finger on the Red button, she 
	pauses then presses it.

					JON
			Do we have a problem?

					ROLF
			Andrea, are you still recording
			everything said in the science lab?

					ANDREA
			Yes, it's voice activated. At the 
			end of the day I place the Disk 
			in the media safe and load a 
			new Disk in the recorder.

					ROLF
			I need for you to play this disk
			for the rest of the crew later.

					ANDREA
			Consider it done.

					ROLF
			Ok, turn it back on.

					LORAN  (V.O.)
			After several days the Alien woke 
			up and sat up on the hospital bed.
			It spoke a language unknown to us
			and also was not able to write.  
			We have named it ALPHA and we're
			able to use our translation 
			equipment in an attempt to capture 
			the language it speaks. After 
			several weeks we finally were able
			to communicate with it by using, 
			sign language. We decided to revive
			the other six pods and we obtained
			the same success as the first one.
			We gave them a bio tent to themselves
			and we noticed they were communicating
			with each other. The diet we had them
			on was the same as ours.  However they
			would only have "rare" meat. We also
			noticed they preferred the meat bloody. 

					JON
			Sounds like they revived a bunch
			of Vampires.

					ROLF
			Yes it does, yes it does.

					LORAN (V.O.)
			We were able to obtain all the 
			meat they needed by slaughtering
			small venison that roamed the
			local mountains. We continued
			to communicate in sign language
			with Alpha and we used it
			to find what the needs or the 
			problems were of the other six.
			They just couldn't get enough 
			red meat so we decided to show
			them how to hunt and gave the
			responsibility to ALPHA to
			forage food for the others.
			The weapon we gave them was a 
			short-range shotgun using rubber
			bullets. The bullets would knock
			down the animal then they could
			slaughter it. We found less meat
			was spoiled using this method.

					ROLF
			That was a mistake!

					JON
			I agree with you, never give a 
			weapon to something that can 
			use it against you.

					LORAN (V.O.)
			After several weeks we saw very 
			little of them and they made no 
			attempt to contact us.  Their 
			leader ALPHA finally contacted
			us and said he and the others 
			wanted to move away from us. 
			They seemed very friendly and 
			never provoked us or made any 
			attempt to get involved in our 
			day to day activities. Alpha 
			said they were moving to a very
			large Chasm about seventy five
			miles from us. The area they were 
			going to was a vast Northern 
			Plain of the Red Planet that had
			shown it to be much flatter than
			previously thought, and it was
			possible that it was once covered
			by an ocean larger than the largest 
			ocean on the blue planet.
 
					ANDREA
				(Pushing the Red then
 				green button)
			It sounds like Mars was like the
			Earth millions of years ago and 
			something happened and now it's
			barren.

					LORAN (V.O.)
			Originally on one of our exploratory
			trips our  altimeter instrument had 
			detected a chasm about 2.5 miles deep.
			We think that's were they moved.

					JON
			I know where that deep Chasm is,
			shit it's bigger and deeper than
			our Grand Canyon back home is.
 
					LORAN (V.O.)
			They finally moved out and we 
			never saw them again until that
			terrible night. One night while
			we were all sleeping they came
			into our tents and kidnapped 
			three of our women.  We followed
			them back to their home and a 
			fight ensued where we lost two
			of our men and three of them were
			killed. We overpowered the 
			remaining three and placed them
			in cells where they stayed for
			a very long time.  We found out
			later that they had eaten the 
			three women that were kidnapped. 
			They ate the women raw, including 
			the intestines. 

					ANDREA
			Worst than vampires!

					LORAN (V.O.)
			We thought everything was under
			control until we discovered all
			of us were infected with a toxic
			Virus passed to us by the aliens.
			Our people started dying by the 
			hundreds, I am the last of our
			species and to the best of my
			knowledge the virus is
			indestructible. This Virus is
			airborne and ……. once infected
			death is within twenty-four hours.
			First indication of infection is
			a nose bleed, then chills then
			death.

 					JON
				(Nervous)
			You know, I had a nose bleed
			yesterday.

					LORAN  (V.O.)
			We were able to isolate the virus 
			and we think it's a member of the 
			virus family called FILOVIRIDAE.
			There are two strains of the virus.
			Both of these strains are extremely
			fatal to humans. They both operate
			very quickly and are quick to destroy
			their hosts. These viruses can enter 
			the body a number of different ways, 
			through any opening through which 
			air is taken in because the virus can
			travel airborne, and the virus can also
			enter the body through any opening in
			the skin, specifically cuts. This 
			Virus is very complex and is more
			complex than our scientists imagined.

					ANDREA
			Shit that's all we need up here!

					LORAN  (V.O.)
			Once either strain has entered the
			body, it enters a cell and proceeds
			in multiplying or reproducing in the
			cells cytoplasm. Once the one virus
			has become an army of viruses inside 
			the cell, it leaves the cell to 
			attack more cells. This is happening
			in millions of cells all over the
			body. It has the ability to spread 
			from cell to cell very quickly. Once
			we knew a person was infected we
			bagged the body and burned it. 
			I'm very weak now and I'm bleeding
			from every orifice in my body.
				(Cough . . .)
			Goodbye and Good Luck.

					ROLF
			Has anyone dated the container?

					ANDREA
			Yes, I dated it when it was 
			brought into me and we're 
			looking at it's origin in
			a time from ten to twelve
			hundred years ago. 

					JON
			Maybe, just maybe that's 
			what caused the death of
			the Agiss I and Agiss II
			exploration team.

					ROLF
			Andrea, is there anything else
			in the container?

					ANDREA
			There is a small vial inside.
			It probably contains a sample 
			of the virus. Do you want me 
			to remove it?

					ROLF
			Ok, hold it right there, don't
			do a damn thing yet. I'll call
			command and see how they want 
			to handle this. Everything
			stays on hold until  we hear
			from them.  

					CUT TO:


	EXT.	MARS COLONY AGISS III         NEXT  DAY
	INT.	COLONY BRIEFING ROOM

	Rolf Landers the Colony Chief of Mars Colony 
	AGISS III has grouped all of his staff for 
	an urgent communiqué received from Earth
	Command Center.
 
					ROLF
			We were instructed to send 
			the results of a spectrograph
			of the sample in the vial and 
			I'll play a recording of what
			command found.

					COMMAND VOICE  (V.O.)
			Emergency studies from US Space Alliance
			Medical Research Institute of Infectious
			Diseases and one preliminary study from
			CDC Atlanta show evidence for possible 
			airborne transmission of the most lethal 
			strain of virus every found. Researchers 
			from USSAMRIID have done formal aerosol
			experiments in which as little as 400
			plaque-forming units of a virus with same
			characteristics and properties as the 
			spectrograph sample from Mars Agiss III 
			have caused a fatal disease in lab animals
			within four to five hours. All exposed 
			animals developed HEMORRAGIC FEVER and
			virus particles were found in many 
			different areas of the respiratory system,
			including the air space. 

					ANDREA
			This is really bad shit!

					COMMAND VOICE  (V.O.)
			Lab reports describes secondary transmission
			of Agiss III Virus in two of three control
			animals that did not have direct contact
			with experimentally inoculated animals
			held in the same room. A third USSAMRIID 
			study, shows how two of eight monkeys
			exposed to aerosolized virus developed 
			severe respiratory infection, with 
			infectious viral particles present in the 
			upper airway. A preliminary CDC study, 
			found that this virus is sometimes present
			in the air sacs of the lungs from the lab
			animals.  Virus has been found on the
			inside and outside of alveolar cells, which
			exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen in
			human lungs. This Virus is so lethal, we
			are now in the process of getting state
			department permission to shut down 
			your operation and have a rescue ship 
			launched immediately. Colonel Rolf Landers,
			you are to contact your commander by
			secured transmission for further details.

					CUT TO:

	EXT.	MARS COLONY AGISS III         EVENING
	INT.	COLONY BRIEFING ROOM

	Rolf has grouped all of his staff for an urgent
	communiqué received from his commander.
 
					ROLF
			I was instructed by Commander 
			JULES LE BLANC to shut down 
			this base immediately and 
			remain confined to quarters 
			until the rescue craft arrives
			from USA Space Station Alpha.

					ANDREA
			Rolf, we've only been here
			two months, and shit it 
			took us a month to get here.

					ROLF
			I'm sorry Andrea, but orders 
			are orders. The rescue should
			be here in about ten days.
			Andrea, button up the virus
			sample in the time capsule
			and Jon, have the crew place
			it back where you found it.  

						CUT TO:

	EXT.	MARS COLONY AGISS III         NEXT DAY
	EXT.	AGISS CORE SAMPLE BASE - BETA

	The landscape is that of a hostile environment 
	and the cold chill from the winter air has 
	just set in. Three scientists dressed in bright 
	orange bio-suits are seen placing a time capsule
	in a small cave and upon placing it one of them 
	collapses on the red sand. Jon quickly attempts
	to contact Rolf back at Agiss III. He looks at
	his friend Skip and sees he's bleeding profusely 
	from the eyes, nose, ears and mouth. He shows
	stark terror in his face.

					JON
				(In shock)
			Rolf, Rolf this is Jon, Skip
			has just gone down and it looks
			like he has the Virus. Shit
			how could this happen, the vial
			is inside the container and we
			placed it back in the cave where
			we found it. And shit we're
			wearing bio suits, the damn
			virus must have gone right
			through the suit!

					ROLF  (V.O.)
			Jon, don't panic, please don't
			panic, listen carefully. I want
			you and Andrea to leave Skip
			there in the cave and start 
			back right now! 

					ANDREA
				(Panicked)
			Rolf , , , I think my nose is
			bleeding, oh shit! 

					JON
			Oh my god, Andrea is infected
			too, what do I do know Rolf!

					ANDREA
			Please don't leave me Jon!
				(Coughing up blood)
			Please don't leave me!!!

					JON
				(Yelling)
			Rolf, what should I do?
			I can't leave her here,
			what should I do?

					ROLF  (V.O.)
			Don't panic, Jon you must 
			leave both of them there
			and get back here before
			you're infected too!

 	Jon looks at Andrea as she's clutching his
	suit and crying.

					ANDREA
			Please don't leave me, 
			please ,,,,,,

	Andrea drops in the sand and rolls over. She's 
	bleeding from her eyes, mouth and ears, coughing
	blood across the inside of the plastic faceplate
	and she stops breathing.

					JON
			She's gone, she's gone. It was
			so quick, what if I get it too
			Rolf, what shall I do?

					ROLF  (V.O.)
			Start back now!!!  Don't wait
			any longer.

	Jon starts to run and pulls off his face mask 
	and dumps his air tank and in hops and jumps
	peels off his Bio-suit. He grabs his microphone
	from his belt and yells into it.

					JON
			Rolf ,,,, Rolf ,,, I dumped the
			fucking suit, like it really 
			helped Andrea and Skip.

					ROLF  (V.O.)
			Take it easy Jon you can't run
			full speed for two miles, take it
			easy.

	Jon is seen running madly across the Mars sandy
	surface where boulders are strewn from past
	Volcanic activity as he continues he trips on a
	large rock and goes down. As he lifts himself
	up he starts coughing and bright red blood is
	seen on the sand. 

					JON
			Oh shit, it's happening to me
			too.  Oh dear god, Rolf I have
			it too. 

					ROLF  (V.O.)
			Jon, Jon are you there?

	Jon is seen lying across the Mars surface and as 
	he rolls over on his back, bright red blood is shown
	all over his face. He trembles then dies.

				ROLF  (V.O.)
		Jon ,,,,,, Jon  ,,,,,,
						CUT TO:

			TO BE CONTINUED