ENCORE

A radio drama

by

Bill Olson

 

 

© 2000 William David Sherman Olson                                                 

                                                                                                           

http://www.oocities.org/iconostar/film.htm

                                                                                           

 

 

CAST

"The Artist"

------------

FRANCIS “FRAN” CORDELL (A burned-out artist) --

SOLENTO “SOL” (Fran’s lover) --

REP --

COMPUTER (Also in “The Energy Commissioner”)--

 

"The Energy Commissioner"

----------------------------

CORDELL “DELL” (Fran's ex-spouse) --

ALICIA  “ALI” --

WAITER --

VOICE --

INSPECTOR GENERAL --

 

"The Justice Director"

----------------------

THE LIEUTENANT --

THE COLONEL --

THE ADMIRAL (Female)—

 

 

Casting Note: Computer can be an actual computer voice.

 

NOTES:

OFF = “off mic:” The actor is far from the mic when speaking.

GOING OFF = The actor moves away from the mic while talking.

COMING ON = The actor moves towards the mic while talking.

BEAT = A short pause.

 

 

1 - THE ARTIST

1  A  DOOR OPENS.  FROM OUTSIDE IS THE SOUND OF A BLIZZARD.  THE DOOR CLOSES.  A BELL ON THE DOOR RINGS.

2  FRANCIS STOMPS HER FEET TO GET SNOW OFF.

3  FRAN:   Solento?

4  SOL:      Yeah?

5  FRAN:  Solento, We'll have to close the store.  I Can't get the walkclear 'botter working.  Damn thing cleared some snow from the sidewalk – then quit.  I said, "Start," but all it did was make clicking noises.

6  SOL:     We should’ve replaced it two years. 

7  FRAN:  And pay for it how?

8  SOL:     Isn't that just what I said before? Every step forward is a step backwards.

(9-13 OMITTED.)

14  FRAN:   You've never said that.

15  SOL:      Sure I did. 

16  FRAN:  (SIGHS) So tell me again.

17  SOL:      Read my book.

18  FRAN:   Don't start with me.

19  SOL:       I need the money.

20  FRAN:   Then write a better book;  people like good books. 

Trust me on this --

22  SOL:      Funny.  (BEAT) Look outside.  Look at the snow fly.  This is a major blizzard. 

23  FRAN:   Let's lock up and go home.  Call Becky to pick us up.   

24  SOL:      Yeah….  OK.  So a thousand years ago, someone invented typewriters.

25  FRAN:   I thought you wanted me to read your book.

26  SOL:      Just let me show off a little.

27  FRAN:   All right.

28  SOL:      So, the typewriter.  Later, it was the electric typewriter.  Suddenly – if you didn't have electricity, you couldn't type.  Today everyone has a walkclear 'botter – they don’t even know what a snow shovel is – so if the ‘botter breaks down, you can't clear snow from your walk.

29  FRAN:   Ain't it the truth.

 

2 - THE ENERGY COMMISSIONER

30  WAITER: Sorry, Sir, the restaurant is closing for the night -- the snow storm.  Your party never showed up?

31  DELL:    (DEPRESSED) No.  Is my account set?

32  WAIT:   Everything's fine, Sir.  Have a good night.

33  ALI:       (OFF) Mr. Cordell!

34  DELL:    Alicia… may I give you a ride home?

35  ALI:       (COMING ON) Yes!  Thank you, Sir.

36  THEY GO OUTSIDE.

37  SOUND OF BLIZZARD.

38  ALI:        Oooo . . . cold. Look at this blizzard!

(39-41 OMITTED.)

42  DELL:    They say snow used to get dirty after it fell because of ground traffic – splattering mud or something…

43  ALI:       Oh, don't we live in a wonderful age, Mr.

Cordell?

44  DELL:    (UNENTHUSIASTIC) Yeah.

45  ALI:       Are you OK, boss?

46  DELL:    I was suppose to meet my daughter here tonight -- this is my car.  (TO CAR:) Open door.

46A  COMPUTER:  Door opening.

47  DOOR OPENS.

48  DELL:    Please, after you.

49  ALI:       Thank you.    

50  THEY MAKE NOISES APPROPRIATE TO GETTING

IN AND SLIDING ACROSS THE SEAT.  THE DOOR      

CLOSES, BLIZZARD SOUND IS MUTED.

51  DELL:    Heat please.

52  COMPUTER: Heat activated.

53  ALI:       You were talking about your daughter.

54  DELL:    Becky.  I -- uh, well, I haven't seen her for years – since Francis and I divorced.

55  ALI:       Must be hard.

56  DELL:   Fly us to Alicia's house.

57  COMPUTER: City guidance is down temporarily.

58  ALI:      Uh, oh!

59  DELL:   That's OK, I have wheels.  Cost me 2000 solaries extra.

59A ALI:     You said your ex-spouse was Francis?

59B DELL: Yeah.

59C ALI:     Not Francis Cordell the artist.

59D DELL: The very same.

59E ALI:     Are you kidding? You were married to Francis Cordell and you divorced her?

59F DELL:  At the time she seemed a little decadent for me.  Listen, I shouldn’t force all this on you... 

59G ALI:     Yes you should, I’m nosey as hell.

59H  DELL: Nosey, huh?  OK. When I divorced Francis, I ignored Becky.  I was too focused on my career. 

 

Now I’m energy commissioner, I had reached the pinnacle of my goals.  After years in office – well, you know how it is – the euphoria wears off, you relax a little bit and other goals enter your mind. 

 

One day, I was unable to remember what it was like to not be a high government official. 

 

But by then, I could no longer remember Becky's eyes. 

I had ignored my daughter and I could no longer live with it. 

When I called her last week, she seemed pleased to hear from me, but maybe she had second thoughts.

 

Maybe adult children won’t put up with absentee parents.  Maybe Fran turned Becky into an anti-government dissident.

60  ALI:      Maybe she couldn't get transportation because of the

storm.

61  DELL:   Maybe she got into an accident.

62  ALI:      I'm sure she's all right.

63  DELL:   Access MedLine.

64  A BEEP.

65  DELL:   Accident victims; Becky Cordell.

66  COMPUTER: No reference.

67  DELL:   Why don't you just say she's all right? Call Becky.

68  COMPUTER: (PAUSE) No receiver.

69  DELL:   (PAUSE) Well, let's go.  Start car.

70  CAR STARTS.

71  ALI:      We're lucky Geneva still has streets.  So many cities have replaced them with parks.

72  DELL:   I like parks.

73  SOUND OF CAR DRIVING.

74  DELL:   Look at that snow.

75  ALI:      Yeah, it's really coming down.

76  DELL:   I mean on the street: must be half a meter.  I guess plowing is out of fashion.

77  ALI:       Can these optional wheels of yours actually drive through snow that deep?

78  DELL:   Maybe I can just fly over the top. 

79  ALI:       You can get into a lot of trouble from traffic control for that.

80  DELL:   Even me?

81  ALI:      Well, I suppose you have a few strings you could pull.

82  DELL:   Where the hell is the exit from the parking lot?

83  ALI:      A lot of the streets are outlawed to ground traffic.

84  DELL:   (PREOCCUPIED) This one is open.  Hmm. 

There is no exit.

85  ALI:       This parking lot is for air traffic only.  I think taxis can fly in this.

85A  DELL:  (FRUSTRATED) Summon a cab.

86  COMPUTER: Summoning cab.

   (87-100 OMITTED.)

 

3 - THE ARTIST

101  REP:     (FILTERED THROUGHOUT) Ms. Francis Cordell?

102  FRAN:  Yes?

103  REP:     I represent Kelloga Jom. 

104  FRAN:  Kelloga Jom?

105 REP:      Yes Ma’am.  He’s a big fan of yours, and he’d like to hire you to paint a mural inside a house he owns.

106  FRAN:  I don’t paint anymore; I sell watermelons.  Watermelons, cheese, cucumbers.  Tell Kelloga Jom we’re having a sale this week on fresh eggs.  Good-by.

107  REP:     No, wait -- I'd just like to explain–

108 FRAN:  End Comm.

109 COMPUTER: Comm Ended.

110  SOL:     (COMING ON) Poor guy…. Why'd you hang up on him?

111  FRAN:  (MUMBLES SHEEPISHLY) I donno….

112  SOL:     That's your public out there.

113  FRAN:  My works are public, not me. 

113A  SOL:  Kelloga Jom would pay well for a mural.

114  FRAN:   I can’t paint anymore, Solento.  I’m burned out.  I’m out of ideas….  Did you call Becky?  I wish she’d get here.

114A SOL:  There’s no answer.

115  FRAN:  Call Becky.

116  COMPUTER:  (PAUSE) No receiver.

117  FRAN:  Where is she?

118  COMPUTER: No location.

119  FRAN:  This isn’t right.

120  SOL:     Let’s not jump to conclusions, Hon, it could be anything.

121  FRAN:  In a different time and place I might agree, but this is here and now, with a government that makes people disappear if they won’t believe in the right god.

122  SOL:     Maybe I can have some friends look into it.

123  FRAN:  (SUSPICIOUSLY) Friends?  What kind of friends? 

124  SOL:     Errr…. It’s better if you don’t know.

125     FRAN:  I always thought you were the somewhat shady type.

 

4 - THE ENERGY COMMISSIONER

124    INSPECTOR: Commissioner Cordell, this is the inspector general.  Cordell, you are responsible for the energy management for the entire nation.  That position places certain challenges at your feet. 

 

Look down! Look down, Commissioner Cordell, and pick up those challenges.  Sniff them, become good friends with them, then solve them, because they are problems, Cordell; they are problems in the Energy

Commission!  They are inefficiency and waste -- and they will no longer be tolerated!

125  COMPUTER: End of message.

126  DELL:   What an awful week this is turning out to be.                

 

5 - THE JUSTICE DIRECTOR

127  COL.:   Pathetic, isn't it Lieutenant?

128  LT.:      Yes, Colonel.  She just sits there in her cell, oblivious to how dangerous she is to God and country. 

We’ve interrogated her, but she told us nothing we didn't already know about dissident groups and their operations.

129  COL.:  Torture is not always the best way to gain information. 

Sometimes the subject is too loyal to a cause.  They simply decide life is over.  Then, if you cut out an eye or cut off a hand, they accept it as part of the sacrifice.

 

The cogniscanner could change all this.  If we could use it to read people’s minds, we could dispense with all the screaming, all the crying.  I’m a man who likes peace and quiet, Lieutenant.  It would be nice to have peace and quiet on this job.

130  LT.:       The cogniscanner is experimental and costly, Sir.

131  COL.:    Yes.  Too bad.  Do you like the classics, Lieutenant?

132  LT.:       Yes, Colonel.  I’m very much into Shakespeare, Bacon, D'Avenant --

133  COL.:    And music?

134  LT.:       I'm a musician, Colonel. 

 

135  COL.:    Really.  Well, I'm attending a Tellemann concert with the Admiral Friday night.  I'd like you to join us.  You need to get recognized by top officers.

136  LT.:      I'd be honored, Colonel.

 

6 - THE ARTIST

137  SOL:     Francis, Honey, Becky was arrested by the Justice Agency. 

138  FRAN:  I knew it!  They’re gonna execute her….

139  SOL:     We can prevent that.

140  FRAN:  How?

141  SOL:     I think you know.

142  FRAN:  (PAUSE) Oh no! That would be a mistake… Dell is a leader of this damn theocratic dictatorship.

143  SOL:     Pride can be a nutritious meal.

144  FRAN:  I'll take vitamin supplements.

144A SOL:   Dell is the Energy Commissioner.  He wields great power.  We need him.

144A FRAN:  I won’t consort with the Devil … again.

145  SOL:      How about bribing the Devil? 

145A FRAN:  The government won’t take bribes from family.          

145B  SOL:   True, but Kelloga Jom isn’t family.  I think you should paint his mural in exchange for him paying the bribe.

146  FRAN:  Would that work?

147  SOL:     It's worth a shot.  He used to have pretty high connections in the government. 

148  FRAN:  Paint a pre-Cold War house -- an ancient landmark -- in 3rd Dynastic Terideusian Classical?      

149  SOL:    Well, he hasn't been the same since his stroke.

150  FRAN:  And I’m not the artist I used to be.

153  SOL:     Dell can help Becky.  You’re getting too old to keep snubbing him.

154  FRAN:  It's not a snub,  it’s progress.

155  SOL:     Huh?

156  FRAN:  Life without typing … life without shoveling snow … life without Dell.  I’d like to forget I was ever married to that devil.

157  SOL:     You’re too comfortable, Francis.

158     FRAN:  Am I selfish, Dear?

159  SOL:     Perhaps, but we’ll work it out. 

Progress does something to a person.  A thousand years ago, people wondered what they did before photocopiers.  But a thousand years before that, they probably wondered what they did before monks.  We keep getting more and more fussy.

160  FRAN:   And I thought it was old age.

                 

7 - THE ENERGY COMMISSIONER

161  DELL:   Alicia, what are those photo-electric conservation

'botters we've had so much trouble with, the ones that float around houses, soaking up energy?

162  ALI:      You mean the "sponges"?

163  DELL:   That's it.  Computer, search for "sponges."  List each sponge and where they're used in the district. 

Well, Alicia, if the inspector general wants efficiency, let’s give it to him.

164  ALI:      I think the “sponges” use most of the energy they soak up for their own operation.  Their anti-gravity systems must use a lot, but I've never been able to get much info from the Inspector General.

165  DELL:   Why not?

166  ALI:      I keep asking, but they never get it to me.

167  DELL:   Between you and me, I think the Inspector General worries more about his pride than about solving problems.  I trust your instinct; if you feel something's not right, let me know.

    (PAUSE) O-o-o-kay. I have a list here of how often the sponges keep breaking down.

(168-171 OMITTED.)

172  ALI:      I'd like to see the whole program scrapped myself.

173  DELL:   Then let's scrap it.

174  ALI:      It won’t be easy – they’re in every house, every office.

175  DELL:   Then we put in long nights. 

 (176-183 OMITTED.)               

 

8 - THE JUSTICE DIRECTOR

184  COL.:   What a wonderful concert!

185  ADM.:  So, Colonel, what’s on your mind.  You’ve been beaming all evening.

186  COL.:   Well Admiral, Kelloga Jom has offered to buy us a cogniscanner.

187  ADM.:   A waste of money.

188  COL.:    How so?

189  ADM.:  The cogniscanner can tell you where every Axon is in the brain.  It can tell you when acetylcoline binds with receptors, when sodium ions pass through ion channels … but it cannot tell you how sensory input is encoded. 

190  COL.:    I believe it’s only a matter of fine-tuning the software.

191  ADM.:  You've been awfully quiet, Lieutenant.  What do you think?

192  LT.:      Well, Admiral, this is a unique opportunity to get a

cogniscanner.  I don’t think we should pass it up.  Even if it means losing a prisoner.

193  ADM.:  Why lose a prisoner?

194  LT.:       That’s Kelloga Jom’s price.

195  COL.:    Lieutenant, tell the Admiral the name of the prisoner.

196  LT.:       Well . . . uh, we have Becky Cordell, daughter of

 Energy Commissioner Cordell.

197  STUNNED SILENCE FOR A MOMENT, THEN THE 

ADMIRAL LAUGHS.

198 ADM.:  You're keeping this a state secret, I hope.

199  COL.:   (SWELLING PRIDE) Of course.

200  ADM.:  Because if Cordell finds out, he’ll have you killed.             

201  LT.:      How could Kelloga Jom know about Becky?

202  ADM.:  Connections.  He used to work in the office of the

Vicaph herself.

203  COL.:   He was her hairdresser.  The guy knows all the state

secrets.  Still finds them out though he’s retired. 

204  LT.:      Respectfully, Admiral, Colonel, I’m not sure we need to fear Commissioner Cordell.  Inter-Agency Intelligence reports he’s in trouble with the Inspector General.

205  ADM.:  Don't let that fool you, Lieutenant; Cordell is one of

the most dangerous people alive.

206  COL.:   When he's motivated.

207  ADM.:  That's right, when he's motivated.

208  THE COLONEL AND THE ADMIRAL LAUGH.

209  ADM.:  So, Colonel, you’ll really release Cordell’s daughter if Kelloga Jom buys you a cogniscanner?

210     ALL JOVIALITY NOW DECAYS.

 

211  COL.:   Everyone has his price.  But if I had a choice, I would like to forget Becky Cordell was ever free.  She’s an important dissident, and she’s probably a rebel.  I’ll give her up, but I won't give her up without a price.  Kelloga Jom, I think, has named my price.

 

9 - THE ARTIST

212  FRAN:  Dammit!

213  SOL:     Are you all right, Francis?

214  FRAN:  Yeah . . .

215  SOL:     I like that shade of red.

216  FRAN:  Aqua Red.  It took me years to discover.  (PAUSE) I really need to work uninterrupted, Solento, so go back over there and work on your next book or whatever it is you're doing.

(217 OMITTED.)

218  SOL:     I can’t concentrate on my writing with you swearing and grunting --

219  FRAN:  So I'm swearing and grunting, so what?

220  SOL:     You need a break, Fran.  Just rest a little while.

221  FRAN:   I don't have a little while.  My dear, lovely, idealistic daughter doesn't have a little while.

222  SOL:     Well, I've watched you painting that horse for the last hour, and swearing every minute of it --

223  FRAN:  (OVERLAPPING) I used to paint a horse in five minutes.  It's so damn frustrating, Solento! 

 

OOOOh! I've worked an hour on a five-minute horse and it still doesn't look right.  And look at these doves.  Look at these vines.  None of them looks right.  And I’m mad at you, too. 

 

You said I’d be painting a mural.  You didn’t say I’d be painting pictures on every wall in the downstairs. 

Every wall, Solento!  This is crazy.

224  SOL:     Then call Dell – he can spring Becky.

225  FRAN:  Never! I’ll never speak to him.  Never!

226  SOL:     I’ll speak to him --           

 

 

227  FRAN:  No you won’t!  He’s a non-person. (BEAT) Maybe I can skimp a little bit.  Kelloga Jom has never been the same since his stroke.  Maybe he won’t notice a little skimping.

228  SOL:     Never the less, he's kept this old house going.  When was it built?

229  FRAN:  1880, Christian Calendar, I think.  Look I've got to work, Solento.

230  SOL:     Ok.  I'll just (GOING OFF) return to my writing.

231  FRAN:  (STARTLED) Uh!

232  SOL:     (COMING ON) What's wrong, Honey?

(233 & 234 OMITTED.)

235  FRAN: This sponge – it startled me – bumped into my head.

236  SOL:     What makes them float like that?

237  FRAN:  I'm not a scientist.  Anti-gravity, that's all I know about it.

238  SOL:     It's spinning on it's axis like a little black world.

239  FRAN:  (SARCASTIC) You should be a poet, Solento, a poet. 

240  SOL:     You suppose they really convert enough light to energy to make them worth while?

241  FRAN:  I doubt it.  I’d like to turn mine off someday just to see if my electric bill goes up. 

242  SOL:     This sponge has a spot on it.

243  FRAN:  Ummm . . .

244  SOL:     It's a streak of your paint.

245  FRAN:  My paint? (BEAT) AHHH!!!  My horse!  It smeared my horse! Damn sonofaBITCH! Get out of here you little bastard!

(246  OMITTED.)

247  THERE'S A SLAP AS FRANCIS SMACKS THE

SPONGE.  THEN A BANG AS THE DEVICE HITS A

WALL AND BREAKS.

248  A LOUD ALARM SOUNDS.

249  FRAN:  (VERY UPSET) What the hell is that, now?

250  SOL:     An alarm goes off whenever one gets broken.

251  FRAN:  No, no . . . I'll never get any work done.  How am I going to paint this entire downstairs? – How?!

 

 

 

10 - THE ENERGY COMMISSIONER

252  VOICE:  (FILTERED THROUGHOUT) Sorry, Commissioner

Cordell, but so far we've found no sign of your daughter.

253  DELL:  I can give you Seventh-Level Security Clearance.  Get back to me later.

254  A KNOCK AT THE DOOR.

(255-257 OMITTED.)

258  VOICE:  Yes, Sir.

259  DELL:   End comm.  Enter!

260  THE DOOR OPENS.

261  ALI:      We have energy news about the Justice Agency:

They're getting a cogniscanner.

262  DELL:   Now how the hell did they manage that?

263  ALI:      It's an energy-eater.  (DEVILISHLY) Should we pull its plug?

264  DELL:   It's tempting, but what the hell – let them play with their toys.  For now at least.

265  ALI:      By the way, I have something to show you in the products lab.

266  DELL:   I can’t wait.

267  TRANSITION MUSIC.

268  ALI:      Here we are, Commissioner: These black walls are what we came up with.

269  DELL:   Hm, very patriotic.

270  ALI:      It was such a simple, obvious idea, I’m surprised no one thought of it earlier.  Take this flashlight. 

Now shine the beam at the black wall.  Nothing reflects back. Almost total energy conversion.

271  DELL:  (PRIDE IN HER) You're gonna have my job one day,  Alicia, and you'll be better at it than I.

272  ALI:      (BASHFULLY) If that happens, I’ll be building on what you taught me, Commissioner.

273  DELL:   It looks like we’re ready.  If sponges fail, we rip out every wall in that house, rip out every wall, and replace it with these black walls.  It won't be popular, but it's our calling.  Begin this policy immediately.

(274-284 OMITTED.)

 

 

11 - THE JUSTICE DIRECTOR

285  LT.:      (ENTERS OFFICE HASTILY, OUT OF BREATH)   

(COMING ON:) Commissioner Cordell is getting closer to finding out we have his daughter.

286  COL.:   I almost wish he would.  I'd give that idiot a fight he’d never forget.

287  (THE LT. IS WORRIED ABOUT THE RAMIFICATIONS

AND TRIES TO PROTEST, BUT FEARS BREAKING

DISCIPLINE:)

288  LT.:      Ahhh -- Colonel, we . . .

289  COL.:   Relax, Lieutenant.  You know, at one time government agencies did not have to compete for survival.  It’s not progress, but it is rather fun. 

 

12 - THE ARTIST

290  SOUND OF COAL BEING SHOVELED INTO AN

OLD FURNACE.

291  FRAN: (OUT OF BREATH) Damn that Kelloga Jom. 

(PAUSE AS SHE SHOVELS) Me, Francis Cordell shoveling coal! (PAUSE)

Got . . . only half this . . . half this damn house finished! (PAUSE) Historical authenticity!

 

 (PAUSE) Keeps a damnable ancient coal furnace, then has his walls turned into a mural of 3rd Dynastic

Terideusian Classical art! (PAUSE) I'm getting too damn old for historical inconsistencies!

 

Solento, why did you listen to me when I told you to fly back home to Geneva and give me some peace?

292  THE SHOVELING STOPS AS SHE TAKES A BREAK

FROM HER CHORE.

293  FRAN:  Yes, sparks, fly -- fly upward like glowing insects escaping the heat.  Fly, and take me with you: me and my troubles.  Me and my daughter.  (BEAT) Well… time to get back to painting.

294  HEAVY IRON FURNACE DOOR BEING CLOSED.

295  FRAN:  Wait a minute.

296  DOOR OPENED AGAIN.

297  FRAN:  I think I have a solution to one problem.

298  DOOR CLOSED.

299  TRANSITION MUSIC.

300  FRAN: Now, to find a flashlight.

301  SOUND: RUMMAGING THROUGH DRAWERS FULL OF JUNK.

302  FRAN:  Ah, here.  Good, it works.  Computer, lights off.  Good.  Now to draw the little bastards to me.  OK, there's one.  There's another.  Computer, how many sponges are there?

303  COMPUTER: Eight still functioning.

304  FRAN: And here they come.

305  CELLAR DOOR OPENS.

306  FRAN:  Down the cellar stairs.  Good: They're moving toward the light just as they should.  And now – the furnace.

307     FURNACE DOOR OPENS.

308  FRAN:  And to turn off the flashlight.  (BEAT) Ah, beautiful flames.  That's it, my children, the flame's light must be recycled.  That's it, go into the flames.  One … two … go on, go on…. Seven … eight.  Good.

309  AN ALARM SOUNDS.

310  FRAN:  Dammit!  I forgot about that.

 

13 - THE ENERGY COMMISSIONER

311  ALI:      Commissioner Cordell, we can begin installing the new black walls.  All nine sponges failed in a house owned by Kelloga Jom.

312  DELL:   All of ‘em!  Incredible.  Today is full of good news, Alicia.  I’ve even found my daughter.  Colonel Proble Factin has her in custody at the Justice Agency.  If he does not release her unharmed by noon today, my militia will… go to work.

313  ALI:      In that case, Mr. Cordell, maybe we should take the day off.

314  DELL:   Maybe we should.

                

14 - THE JUSTICE DIRECTOR

315  LT.:       Colonel, I was just informed that Kelloga Jom has had a nervous breakdown – and he'll no longer finance the cogniscanner.

 

316  COL.:   That's unfortunate, Lieutenant, but it's of no matter, really.

317  LT.:      We've also received a demand from Cordell, and --

318  COL.:   Let me show you my toy drawer.

319  LT.:      Your … toy drawer, Colonel?

320     SOUND OF A DRAWER OPENING.

321  COL.:   Yes, see? An ice pick, a stun gun, a hammer . . . lots of fun things to play with.  Grab a hand-full and let’s go down to Becky Cordell’s cell.

322  LT.:      Actually, Colonel, I have a meeting across town with the Zaynum Corps Commandant.

323  COL.:   Well, you'd better leave, then.  But I'll tell you about it later.  This is so wonderful, Lieutenant: it reminds me of my days as a young officer in the gulags.  Go, go now, I wouldn't want you to be late.

324  LT.:      But the message from Cordell  --

325  COL.:   I know all about it.  We'll be waiting for him.  I’ve dispatched a company of Zaynum Terror Knights. 

Give my regards to Zaynum General Horcher.  Get going now, Lieutenant, don't be late.

 

15 - THE ARTIST

326  DOOR OPENS IN FRANCIS'S HOUSE.

327  FRAN:  I'm home, honey.

328  SOL:     How's your mural?

329  FRAN:  It's finished.  I finally got things working for me.  What a good feeling.  And I didn't have to turn back the hands of progress to ask for Dell's help.

 

Solento, I feel young, strong, and renewed.  It's great to be in my house with the man I love.  It’s great to have that work done. 

 

Now I can relax. I can relax and await my daughter's return.

THE END