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Text - Sci Fi - Heinlein, Robert A. - Starship Troopers Script - Part 4.txt
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2003-08-15
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817 lines
think you're gonna like...
The briefingplays on "head up" displays and the ready room screens. A
captive BUG WARRIOR clicks and shrieks as FEDERAL SCIENTISTS
torture it. The troopers cheer.
OFFICIAL VOICE
Everyday Federal scientists are looking for
new ways to kill bugs and you can help...
The head scientists turns and speaks to camera. It's Carl.
Johnny and Dizzy share an amazed grin, noticing a difference in
their old friend, something that speaks of... authority.
CARL
To defeat the enemy, we must know the
enemy. Take for instance your basic
Arachnid warrior. Minimal IQ, armored,
completely lethal. You can blow a limb off...
Carl picks up apulse gun and blows one of the bugs legs off.
The insect screams.
CARL
... and it's still 86% combat effec-tive.
But here's a tip: Aim for the nerve stem
and put it down for good.
Carl fires again. The bug kicks and squeals as it dies.
Carl tosses the pulse gun aside.
CARL
Now while you are out killing bugs,
we want you to be our eyes and ears.
The bugs use some kind of plasma burst
to divert meteors and aim them toward Earth.
We need to know how they do this. If you
encounter any plasma, report it immediately
to your superior. Good luck and good hunting !
The briefing ends as klaxons sound.
P.A. (O.S.)
This is the Captain speaking.
All personnel prepare for drop.We
are at D minus three and counting.
LT. WILLY
Move out !
Johnny and the other troopers climb into capsules on the port track.
Dizzy gives him "thumbs up". The capsule seals as it moves with
the others down the firing tube.
101 INT CAPSULE - JOHNNY
gets the shakes as the capsule bumps and booms toward the firing
tube. Lt. Willy appears on the "head up" display.
LT. WILLY
Smash the entire area, kill anything that
has more'n a couple legs , and don't any
of you loafers come back aboard with
unexpended bombs. Get me ?
JOHNNY ET AL
Yes, sir !
FIRE CONTROL (O.S.)
Five seconds...
Sweat rolls down his face, hyperventilation... WHAM !
102 EXT SPACE - KLENDATHU ORBIT - SILVER CAPSULES
stream toward Klendathu from the rear tubes starships of Bull Run.
We move down the line past Mannerheim, Dauntless, George Marshall,
and Yamamoto to the Rodger Young.
103 INT RODGER YOUNG - COMMAND AND CONTROL - CARMEN
holds Rodger Young in tight maneuver. Suddenly, a burst of BLUE BUG PLASMA
rips past the starboard bow.
CARMEN
Plasma, ma'am... from the planet.
DELADIER
Bug Batteries... According to Military
Intelligence, it'll be random and light.
Drop status ?
ZANDER
Drop is 35% complete, ma'am.
Two more bursts of bug plasma streak past.
DELADIER
Steady as she goes, Number 1.
104 EXT KLENDATHU - HIGH ATMOSPERE - NIGHT - THE CAPSULES
burn when they hit atmosphere, outer skin tearing away in big silver sheets.
105 INT CAPSULE - NIGHT - JOHNNY
takes in ENTRY DATA from the heads up display.
GUIDANCE COMPUTER (V.O.)
...surface in twenty-fivr seconds
...LZ has been identified
...beacon is in place...
106 INT RODGER YOUNG - COMMAND AND CONTROL - CARMEN
watches nervously as deadly bursts of bug plasma fill the heavens around the
battle group. Below, the surface of Klendathu fairly bistles with outgoing
defensive fire.
DELADIER
This isn't random or light.
Someone made amistake...!
ZANDER
That's it, we're empty ma'am !
Out the front screens, a blast from below hits George Marshall amidships
and it reels into Yamamoto. Both starships begin to burn.
DELADIER
Someone made a big goddam mistake !
Get us out of here, Number 1 !
Carmen dodges past burning ships, avoids collision with Dauntless,
and then KA-WHAM ! they're hit. Carmen flies out of her
station and into CAMERA hard.
107 EXT KLENDATHU - CLOUD LAYER - NIGHT - THE SECOND SKIN
tears away. Johnny is sitting on air.
GUIDANCE COMPUTER (V.O.)
...surface in fifteen seconds...
deploying chute now...
The chute pops. Across the sky, lit by outgoing bug plasma, he can see hundreds
of cap troopers in ordered rows drifting down into the cloud layer.
It's quiet in the clouds, then:
108 EXT KLENDATHU - NIGHT - FROM THE AIR - JOHNNY
looks down as he passes out of the clouds and sees the battlefield.
Plasma blasts exploode into the sky. THOUSANDS OF BUGS boil
out of the ground to defend against the invader.
GUIDANCE COMPUTER (V.O.)
...surface in five... four ... three...
Johnny burns his chute off, drops the last hundred feet and lands
on the bounce.
109 EXT KLENDATHU - NIGHT - JOHNNY'S POV - THE FLASH PULSE
of bug batteries, screaming voices on the com, concussions shaking the ground.
None of it compares to the sound of his own racing HEARTBEAT.
Lieutenant Willy shouts.
LIEUTENANT WILLY
Up there on the ridge ! We'll nuke those bug positions
from theAAAAAAAA !
A HOPPER (an airborne Arachnid warrior with powerful rear legs and "pop out"
wings for gliding) lands on Lieutenant Willy and cracks his head like a nut.
ACE
KILL IT !
Johnny and Ace open fire, backing away. Pulse rounds tear it apart, bug guts
gushing.
JOHNNY
Lieutenant's bought the farm.
Where's the Sarge...?
ACE
I didn't see him !
Now comes a flood of WORKERS building ever advancing fortifications,
and with them, hundreds of deadly ARACHNID WARRIORS.
KITTEN SMITH
Here they come...!
DIZZY
Ace, what're we doing ?
ACE
I uh... uh...
Dizzy and the others open fire simultanously. The whole area goes white hot
in the magnesium flash of so many pulse cannons. Shujumi fires wildly at
advancing insects.
SHUJUMI
You want some ? Here's some !
C'MON !
JOHNNY
Don't waste your ammon on the
workers !
Shujumi can't hear. A warrior finds him, rips his leg off, hurls him back
into the waiting jaws of the oncoming bugs.
SHUJUMI
AAAAAAAAAAAA !
He fights, screaming. A claw reaches for his face, ripping the top of his head off.
KATRINA
Let's get out of here !
Now the ground opens behind her and a huge (6 meters) TANKER BUG
lumbers out of the ground, it's funnel-shaped snout extruding above
multiple eyes.
DIZZY
Look out !
The tanker bug sprays and hits Katrina. She screams, as her legs melt out
from under her.
KATRINA
AAAAAAAAAAAAA !
Warriors converge to feed on her. Ace wants to help her, but Johnny blocks him.
JOHNNY
C'mon, Katrina was right. We
gotta get out of here !
110 EXT KLENDATHU - NIGHT - JOHNNY
and the other survivors on the bounce. The entire surface of Klendathu seems
to be churning with insects as more and more bugs come to the surface to
repel the invasion.
JOHNNY
It's a general retreat ! The boats are
coming down.
They come to the rear lines where the Net Correspondent and his
CAMERAMAN are doing live coverage of the invasion.
NET CORRESPONDENT
We've just landed here on what cap troopers
are calling the "Big K" with the 6th Mobile
Infantery Division. It's an ugly planet, a bug
planet, a planet hostile to life as we kow iGKKKKK !
The Correspondent is cut in half by a warrior. Johnny blows it away.
JOHNNY
C'mon, let's go ! ON THE BOUNCE !
The cap troopers move out. Kitten Smith looks up as a purple beacon
streaks acroos thr sky.
KITTEN SMITH
I can see the beacon...!
ACE
Retrieval !
A hopper pounces on Kitten Smithm, and he goes down screaming.
JOHNNY
KITTEN !
Johnny touches down, stares in horror as Kitten Smith's head rolls past his
fee. Johnny opens up with his pulse cannon. The hopper attacks, puts a claw
right through Johnny's thigh.
JOHNNY
AAAAAAAAAAAAA !
Crushing jaws close around him, crushing, cutting his flesh. Johnny brings the muzzle
of the pulse gun under the hopper's nerve stem and SPLAT ! blows its head apart.
DIZZY
Johnny ! JOHNNY ! WHERE ARE YOU ?
JOHNNY ! Johnny...!
But Dizzy can't find Johnny, and soon she's lost in the smoke. Johnny looks
down at the terrible hole in his leg where bright arterial blood gushes.
JOHNNY
Medic... MEDIC...!
Now two more Arachnid warriors close in on him through the enveloping
smoke. He fires his pulse rifle empty, and dropping it, crawls desperately,
dragging his useless leg.
JOHNNY
Oh, God... Oh, God, help me...
please help me...!
A third Arachnid warrior rears up in front of him, deadly jaws slashing down
toward him, when suddenly it is blown to pieces in the blinding blast of a
point-blank pulse cannon.
VOICE (O.S.)
Take my hand !
Johnny reaches out. A STEEL HAND takes his, dragging him back as bugs
attack. His rescuers's pulse cannon thunders overhead. Bug parts fly as
insects swarm in for the kill.
FADE OUT
111 FROM THE FEDERAL NET - 100, 000 DEAD IN ONE HOUR !
Actual pictures of the battlefield, man and insect lying dead together on the blood
drenched plains of Klendathu.
OFFICIAL VOICE
Crsisis for Humankind ! Fleet official
admit they underestimated the
Arachnid's defensive capability.
Would you like to know more ?
112 SKY MARSHALL RESIGNS !
Retiring Sky Marshall Dienes salutes incoming SKY MARSHALL TEHAT MERU, 75,
bfore a gathering of the Federal Council.
OFFICIAL VOICE
Accepting responsibility for Klendathu,
Sky Marshall Dienes resigns. His successor,
Sky Marshall Tahat Meru, outlines her new
strategy.
SKY MARSHALL MERU
Until we understand the bug better, we
must proceed with caution...
We can ill afford another Klendathu.
113 SCIENTISTS SUSPECT MYSTERIOUS BRAIN BUGS !
FEDERAL SCIENTISTS display an organizational chart of the
Arachnid species topped by a QUESTION MARK.
OFFICIAL VOICE
To explain the intelligent military actions
of the Arachnids, Federal Scientists postulate
the existence of a leadership caste...BRAIN BUGS !
114 SOMETIMES LOVED ONES DIE FOR A GOOD REASON !
Names scroll by designated KIA, WIA, and MIA accordingly.
OFFICIAL VOICE
Families oof those who have died or become
incapacitated by Federal Service are entitled
to benefits ! If you see the name of a loved one,
please do not call. A Federation official will call
you. Would you like to know more ?
115 EXT FLEET BATTLE STATION TICONDEROGA - THE RODGER YOUNG
limps to port, a huge chunk ripped out of its mid-section. Although stable,
she flies inverted.
CARMEN (O.S.)
Ticonderoga, this is Rodger Young requesting
approach vector...
TICONDEROGA C&C (O.S.)
Affirmative, Rodger Young...one zero zero
niner five two... welcome back.
116 INT RODGER YOUNG - COMMAND AND CONTROL - ZANDER AND
CARMEN
stare at the BATTLE-SCARED STARSHIPS and BURNT-OUT HULKS that line the
docks of Ticonderoga.
CARMEN
You know, we're lucky to be alive.
A bloody bandage wraps Carmen's head. Zander nods grimly.
117 INT RODGER YOUNG - GANGWAY - THE DEAD BODIES
of CREWMEN and CAP TROOPERS are being off-loaded via conveyer belt.
Zander and Carmen make their way up the steep companionway beside the
ghastly conveyer belt.
ZANDER
Give me hand, willya ?
Carmen takes his hand. Zander kisses her.
ZANDER
I was thinking. Maybe we should get
married, Carmen.
CARMEN
You weren't thinking...you were dreaming !
ZANDER
If we're gonna be a team, why not be a
real team ?
CARMEN
There's a war on. I want a command,
I want my own ship, you do, too...
ZANDER
So ?
CARMEN
So who's got time to get married ?
Carmen lets his hand go and leaps through the hatch. Zander falls back
onto the conveyer belt, finds himself eyeball-to-eyeball with a horribly
maimed trooper, scrambles to get off.
118 INT BATTLE STATION TICONDEROGA - COMMON AREA - ZANDER
joins Carmen in the crowded common area where dead bodies compete for space
with wounded awaiting triage. Survivors watch casualty lists scroll ba on a
Federal Net terminal.
ZANDER
Fleet encourages marriages among flight
officers. You'd probably get a promotion
out of it.
CARMEN
Funny...
ZANDER
I'm not kidding. Marriage is -
CARMEN
No, funny there's almost no wounded at all.
ZANDER
Hey, bugs don't take prisoners.
Carmen looks at the words at the Net terminal: WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW
MORE ? She bites her lip, enters Johnny's name. In an instant, she has the news:
RICO, JOHN D. - KIA
CARMEN
Oh no.
Tears fill her eyes.
ZANDER
Carmen...?
CARMEN
Excuse me...!
She rushes away. Zander looks at Johnny's name on the screen, shrugs, presses
the ERASE button.
119 INT TICONDEROGA - CORRIDOR - ZANDER
finds Carmen, sagging against a wall, weepimg.
ZANDER
I'm sorry, Carmen.
CARMEN
Please, I... Everybody's lost someone
by now. This shouldn't be any
different...
Zander puts an arm around her. She holds on tight.
CARMEN
No, I... Oh, Zander, I'm a fool.
ZANDER
You're upset, that's alright.
Zander kisses her hair. Tears roll down her face.
CARMEN
No, don't you see ? No one can wait for
anything anymore... You're right...
We should get married...
Zander holds Carmen as she sobs, feeling lucky.
DISSOLVE TO:
120 INT STASIS TANK - DAY CYCLE - JOHNNY'S BODY
floats, suspended in fluid, mouth hanging open, his skin white as death.
A low underwater KNOCKING wakes him. He opens his eyes and sees
Ace and Dizzy outside the tank.
Ace holds up a KIA list, pointing at Johnny's name, laughing: Rico, John V - KIA.
Their voices are distant and garbled. Dizzy cups her hands against the side of the
tank.
DIZZY
Two more days.
Johnny's wounds are now mostly scars except for his leg where delicate robotic
arms culture layers of new tissue. Johnny gives a weak thumbs up. The knocking
sound continues.
Johnny turns. A STEEL HAND taps the side of the tank. Johnny grins, astonished.
The man wearing it is his former high school teacher, now a Lieutenant, Jean Rasczak.
121 EXT SPACE - AQZ - A BATTLE GROUP
consisting of STARSHIPS, their tender, FREIGHTERS and other SUPPLY CRAFT.
122 INT TROOP TRANSPORT - M.I. QUARTERS - JOHNNY
stows his gear along with Ace and Dizzy. Acroos the room, a collection of
battle-hardened vets check out the newcomers.
ACE
Dizzy says you two knew this Rasczak
character in Buenos Aires...
JOHNNY
He was our teacher...
He was great.
ACE
Yeah, well, I hear he's a real
nutbuster.
DIZZY
The Roughnecks killed more bugs than
any other outfit in 2nd Brigade...
Only took 15% casualties on Big K.
They size up the Roughnecks. There are scars, power prosthetics, and one,
big SUGAR WATKINS, 26, wears a bug claw on a chain around his neck.
JOHNNY
Seeing as how we're about all that's
left of 1st Brigade, you'd have to call
that an improvement.
(to Sugar Watkins)
You top kick ?
SUGAR WATKINS
Are you kidding ? They always get killed.
You want the job ?
JOHNNY
I wouldn't mind.
CORPORAL BIRDIE, 24, turns, gives Johnny the once over.
BIRDIE
I would. Nice earring.
Dizzy looks her over. Not too big, but she's tough.
DIZZY
Where you been besides Big K ?
BIRDIE
Outer rings. Zegema Beach.
JOHNNY
I always wanted to go to Zegema Beach.
SUGAR WATKINS
Good luck. It's not there anymore.
ACE
Is your Lieutenant as bad as they say ?
Birdie belts him, and Ace goes down.
BIRDIE
No one talks about the Lieutenant that way.
He saved my life !
Ace jumps up, ready to fight, but other Roughnecks block him.
SUGAR WATKINS
Mine, too.
OTHER ROUGHNECKS
Same for me... me, too...
Johnny and Dizzy shrug. Ace's on his own.
ACE
Sounds like he is quite a guy.
SERGEANT GILLESPIE, 28, steps into the room.
GILLESPIE
Attention !
Everyone snaps to. Rasczak enters.
RASCZAK
This is for you new people. I only
have two rules. Rule one, everyone
fights. Rule two, no one quits.
If you don't do your job, I'll kill you
myself. Do you get me ?
JOHNNY, DIZZY AND ACE
We get you, sir !
He points at Johnny's earring with his steel hand.
RASCZAK
Get rid of the jewelry. I hate it.
Welcome to the Roughnecks.
BIRDIE
Rasczak's Roughnecks !
The Roughnecks cheer. Rasczak smiles vaguely.
RASCZAK
Alright. There's a new Sky Marshall and
a new plan. We're gonna clean out the
systems outlying Klendathu one planet
at a time. Tomorrow we hit Tango Urilla.
After Fleet glasses the planet, M.I. mops up.
123 EXT TANGO URILLA - DAY - BUG WARRIORS
stand sentry on earthworks that tower the entrance to their colony where an
endless line of WORKERS enter bearing foodstuff appropriate to this exotic
jungle planet.
A distant sound. A warrior looks up, curious. Suddenly a FORMATION OF TAC
FIGHTERS screams down from high orbit and a white hot nuclear firestorm burns
consumes the landscape.
Bugs scream as they twist and kick in the wall of flame. Heat melts the dirt into
dark glass. Ash turns the sky red. The out of the smoke come Rasczak and his
Roughnecks.
RASCZAK
Spread out, teams of three. When you
locate a bug hole, secure it, gas it,
and close it.
124 EXT TANGO URILLA - FLATS - DAY - TAC FIGHTERS
streak by overhead. On the ground, Johnny, Dizzy and Ace are on the bounce.
Ace spots a bug hole where workers and warrors have broken through the
glassed surface.
ACE
There.
Rockets take out warriors. Bug guts go flying. Dizzy sets workers on fire.
Johnnx and Ace step over burning bug carcasses to the rim of the hole and
fire their gas rounds.
JOHNNY
Fire in the hole !
Johnny drops an H.E. round, and they're in the air when the explosion collapses
the entrance to the bug city.
BIRDIE (O.S.)
You new guys over there...
WE could use some help...
125 EXT TANGO URILLA - MOUNTAINS - BUGS
boil out of the ground. Birdie, Sugar Watkins and other Roughnecks are about to be
overrun when Johnny touches down wuth Ace and Dizzy.
JOHNNY
Looks like you've got a little bug
problem, ma'am...
BIRDIE
Stow it, trooper. Give it verything
you've got !
The cao troopers let the bugs have it, but the insects keep coming, the living
crawling over the dead, and now, trudging up out of the ground, comes a
TANKER BUG.
JOHNNY
WATCH OUT !
The tanker bug starts to spray, creating a toxic perimeter around the hole.
Rasczak arrives just as Birdie takes a chemical hit, falling to ground minus
an arm, screaming.
BIRDIE
AAAAAAAAAAAAA !
Johnny jumps, landing behind the tanker bug in the mouth of the hole. It turns
with surprising speed. Johnny flips up onto its back, cracks its armor with his
pulse cannon.
RASCZAK
Sugar, in for pick up !
Rasczak and Sugar Watkins pull Birdie to safety. Johnny fires a rocket into
the hole he's made in the tanker bug's back, and jumps clear. KA-WHAP !
The big bug explodes.
RASCZAK
Gas that hole and close it !
The Roughnecks fire gas rockets into the bug hole. Johnny touches down
beside Rasczak.
RASCZAK
Where'd you learn to do that, soldier ?
JOHNNY
Uni High Tigers, sir. Don't you
remember ? I was captain of the
team.
RASCZAK
I'm not interested in nostalgia, Rico,
I need a corporal. You're it until you're
dead or I find someone better.
Rasczak turns away, gives Birdie prosthetic thumps up as she is carried past
to meet an arriving skimmer.
RASCZAK
Don't worry, Birdie, your next arm comes
with a factory guarantee !
Dizzy and Ace gather around Johnny, clap him on the back.
DIZZY
Way to go, amigo !
JOHNNY
I'm gonna need a squad leader.
ACE
No way. Big K taught me I ain't executive
material.
JOHNNY
What about it, Diz ?
DIZZY
(a snappy salute)
Looks like I'm your girl, sir.
Tac Fighters reel by over head. WOMP ! Suddenly, BUG PLASMA shoots skyward
from the flatlands below. Several Tac Fighters are blown out of the air.
Flaming debris rains down.
RASCZAK
Saddle up, Roughnecks. That's
our trash !
Roughnecks head out on the bounce.
126 EXT TANGO URILLA - RIDGE - DAY - JOHNNY
and the others look down a sheer cliff on the bug battery, a charred circular
pit some ten meters across. Inside, something is moving.
JOHNNY
What kind of stinkin' bug is that ?
Johnny jumps the magnification on his "head up". Down in the pit, a giant
translucent PLASMA BUG rears out of one of the subterranean tunnels
that ring the battery.
SUGAR WATKINS
You never seen how they do it before ?
Johnny shakes his head. Swollen BREEDER BUGS gather around the
plasma bug to inject it with their catalytic jelly.
ACE
Agghh ! It's making me sick...!
The plasma bug writhes in pain and begins to swell, color changing from
yellow to blue in accordance with some violent internal chemical reaction.
SUGAR WATKINS
It's gonna pop !
WOMP ! The plasma bug explodes in its cauldron. A blast of bug plasma
streaks past them towards the heavens. Now a new plasma bug crawls into
the pit to begin the cycle anew.
GILLESPIE
Sir, look !
Sergeant Gillespie points. A hole opens near the battery and dozens of warriors
rampage out of the ground and up the cliff face toward the Roughneck position.
RASCZAK
We must be right over the colony.
Let's get some air support, eh ?
GILLESPIE