M I L L E N N I U M
"SENSE AND ANTISENSE"
Ep. # 2.03 [MLM-203 (5C03)]
Written by Chip Johannessen
Directed by Thomas J. Wright
Edited by James Coblentz
Transcribed by Libby & Brian A. Dixon
[ Second Season ] [Complete Transcript]
[ Final Version ]
U.S. Air Date: October 3, 1997
=====================================================================
"Control of third world populations designated secret national policy."
National Security memo 200 (1971)
[Black and white footage of a war scene is seen -- military vehicles, piles of
dead bodies, refugees, etc. Gun fire can be heard in the background.]
"U.S. Military released from liability for experiments on unwilling and
unknowing human subjects."
U.S. vs. Stanley, Supreme Court (1985)
[More black and white war footage shows people running and tanks and trucks
spewing gas along roadways..]
SEATTLE 11:23 P.M.
[Night. It's pouring with rain. A taxi is being driven down the street.
A man on the sidewalk hails it but the driver switches on the "off
duty" sign.]
MAN: Cab! Cab!
[The taxi drives past. Another taxi comes down the street. The man hails
this one.]
MAN: Taxi! Taxi!
[The man is standing in middle of road, hands outstretched. The taxi
driver, Gerome Knox, notices him in time and brakes.]
KNOX: Whoa! Whoa! No need for that.
[The man walks around and gets into the back of the car.]
KNOX: I'd have stopped for you.
[The taxi drives off.]
KNOX: Yeah, buddy. I know the game. Everyone suddenly off duty. Right?
It's not just the white cats, man. Some brothers play that too.
[The man is coughing.]
KNOX: Yeah, man, ain't nobody care about nobody no more. The color don't
even matter. Black, brown, yellow, white. Don't matter. Everyone only
worries about their own interests.
[The man is now coughing blood, spitting it up onto the plastic barrier
between the front and back seat of the cab.]
KNOX: Man! Don't bleed on my seats, man, they make me clean that up.
MAN: Trucks!
[In a hospital emergency room the man is being wheeled in on a stretcher,
surrounded by medical personnel. Knox is running to keep up with them.]
KNOX: I picked him up in my cab. He was going on about people doing
stuff to him.
DOCTOR: What stuff?
KNOX: I don't know. Two guys after him. He kept saying the trucks, the
trucks.
MEDIC: BP 240.
[The man is coughing up a lot of blood, convulsing on the stretcher.]
MEDIC: BP 260 over 140. This guy's gonna stroke out, doctor.
DOCTOR: IV push and a nipride drip, yield .4 miligram nitro patch. Anybody?
I'm open to ideas.
[The medics continue to discuss the man's condition. Knox looks concerned.]
[A photograph of the man is being shown at the nurse's station.]
PATTERSON: Have you admitted this man?
[A nurse looks up at two men, Wright and Patterson, one of whom is
holding out the photograph. ]
NURSE: I take it you're not immediate family.
[The men don't respond.]
NURSE: They just took him into Trauma.
[Trauma room.]
MEDIC: BP 140 over 90.
DOCTOR: (to Knox) He's going to sleep a long time. There's no need to
stick around.
[Knox still looks concerned. The two men seeking the patient are walking
down the hallway. The patient's eyes open -- his pupils are widely
dilated. The beeping of the monitor increases in speed as he reaches up
to Knox and grabs his jacket lapels.]
MAN: Trucks. The trucks. They want to kill me.
[Wright and Patterson storm into the ER. A doctor tries to stop them.]
DOCTOR: Whoa! Hold up, fellas. I can't let you in here. (The men just
keep on walking.) Where's your ID? This is an emergency room!
WRIGHT: Where is he?
DOCTOR: Who?
[The stretcher is now empty and there is blood on the pillow.]
WRIGHT: All right, listen up! We're from the Center for Disease Control.
This area is under quarantine. Nobody goes in or out.
[The two men are holding up their IDs.]
WRIGHT: Complete body fluid precautions are to be exercised.
[Outside, Knox is helping the patient back into his taxi. He switches on
his "off duty" sign and drives away just as a couple and their daughter
leave the hospital by a nearby entrance. As they walk off, the little girl
steps unnoticing into some blood on the ground.]
[FADE to black... Logo fade in... Music and main titles roll]
M I L L E N N I U M
this
is
who we are
starring
Lance Henriksen (Frank Black)
Megan Gallagher (Catherine Black)
created by Chris Carter
the time is near
--------- commercial segment ---------
[Fade from white.]
"SENSE AND ANTISENSE"
[Episode credits roll during the next scene]
Also Starring
Terry O'Quinn (Peter Watts)
Stephen James Lang (Detective Geibelhouse)
Guest Starring
Ricky Harris (Gerome Knox)
Allan Zinyk (Brian Roedecker)
Badja Djola (Lacuna)
Clarence Williams III (Zero/Kramer)
Music by Mark Snow
Editor: James Coblentz
Production Designer: Mark Freeborn
Director of Photography: Robert McLachlan
Associate Producer: Jon-Michael Preece
Consulting Producer: Chip Johannessen
Consulting Producers: Darin Morgan
Co-Producer: Robert Moresco
Co-Producer: Paul Rabwin
Producer: Thomas J. Wright
Co-Executive Producer: Ken Horton
Co-Executive Producer: John Peter Kousakis
Written by Chip Johannessen
Directed by Thomas J. Wright
[Frank's house. Interior.]
ROEDECKER: So, what type of calls are these. Are they like phone card
solicitations or are they like the "do you have Prince Albert in a can"
variety or are they like a guy breathing and, you know, treating himself?
[Roedecker is sitting on the floor, enmeshed in wiring leading down from
Frank's telephone and computer. Frank is sitting at the desk.]
FRANK: They're not calls, just hang-ups.
[Roedecker gets up and fits a plug into a gadget on Frank's desk.]
ROEDECKER: Well, I'm connecting an ECBH-79 call identification unit to
your phone. The digital readout will reflect the phone number of the
person or persons calling you and put an end to this harassment. You
owe me sixty-five bucks.
[Frank writes a check. In front of him there's a photo on the desk of
Catherine and Jordan.]
ROEDECKER: That your family?
FRANK: MmmHmm.
ROEDECKER: Your wife's a total babe-o-licious. No wonder you're getting
calls.
[Frank gives him an exasperated look. The phone rings. Frank hands
Roedecker the check and then picks up the phone.]
FRANK: Hello.
[He puts his hand over the phone.]
FRANK: This is it.
[Roedecker switches on the gadget.]
FRANK: You ready?
[Roedecker nods.]
FRANK: (into phone) Hello? Hello?
[The phone clicks. Frank puts the phone down. The gadget bleeps.
Roedecker holds it out for Frank to see. The readout notes, "Anonymous
Caller."]
ROEDECKER: Well, obviously whoever called has blocked caller ID. The
phone company does it for a price.
[Frank snatches back the check out of Roedecker's hands.]
ROEDECKER: Whoa, whoa! All you need now is a device to undo their caller
block.
[Roedecker hastily grabs a package from a nearby chair and takes off the lid.
It's another gadget, the LMU-83.]
ROEDECKER: The LMU 83 will override their override very nicely. It's a
little more James Bondian but we are living in a more Blofeldian world.
FRANK: Just hook it up, Q.
[The telephone rings again.]
Roedecker: I'll take care of this.
[Roedecker picks it up and holds a small gadget against the receiver's
microphone. It sends a series of piercing modem-like squawks down the line.
Then he puts the phone to his ear to listen to the caller.]
ROEDECKER: (to Frank sheepishly) Do you know a Detective Giebelhouse?
[Frank just looks at Roedecker.]
[Giebelhouse is standing in a parking lot, wringing a finger in his ear.
He's clearly still having problems with his hearing. Frank approaches him.]
FRANK: Hi, Giebelhouse.
[The two men shake hands.]
GIEBELHOUSE: I hope the Millennium Group doesn't mind I brought you in
on this. These Disease Control guys give me the creeps.
FRANK: What exactly is this Patient Zero carrying?
GIEBELHOUSE: They're keeping tight-lipped, which of course drives my
guys nuts. Afraid if it leaks out we could start a public panic.
[They enter a building.]
U.S. CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES
SEATTLE 9:45 P.M.
FRANK: Any luck with the cab driver?
GIEBELHOUSE: Good and bad. The good luck is we got the cabby's name.
Gerome Knox. The bad luck is he didn't show up for work, and he's not in
his apartment.
[Frank signs for his ID badge at the front desk, then Giebelhouse.]
GIEBELHOUSE: Worse luck, if he's hiding Zero, we now got two infected
guys.
[In the briefing room a slide show presentation is being shown.]
DR PETTEY: The subject we're searching for has been designated Patient
Zero. Two days ago, Zero appeared at the Olympia Plasma Center suffering
from delusions, hallucinations and echopraxia. {1}
[A slide, which is partially obscured by the doctor, shows blood
results.]
DR PETTEY: He wanted to sell his blood, which a routine panel showed to
be positive for many things. They turned him over to us. We found what
we believe is a hemorrhagic pathogen previously found only in the Congo,
similar in structure to Filovirus Simia. {2}
COP: Are we talking wearing the yellow space suits, here? The whole
"Outbreak" number?
DR PETTEY: We're hopeful this is limited to body fluids.
COP: Hopeful!
GIEBELHOUSE: Ginelli! Simmer down.
GINELLI: There's no way I go chasing some toxic boonge until I get a
straight answer. What's with this guy?
FRANK: Paranoid schizophrenic.
[They all look at Frank, including the two original CDC men. Frank moves
forward, looking at the photos of the ER scene.]
FRANK: One neat aspect. Even in his hurry to escape, this man took the
time to fold five pieces of surgical tape back on themselves, leaving
nothing sticky exposed. I've seen this in paranoid schizophrenics. One
neat aspect in a disorganized picture.
GINELLI: So, he's a neat-freak. How does that help us find him?
FRANK: I don't think we should consider this man a fugitive running from
us.
[One CDC man whispers to the other, each watching Frank.]
FRANK: If he was hiding, he wouldn't have talked to the cab driver. I
think he wants to be seen and heard and he wants to tell his story. The
cab picked him up at Yesler and Third, that's a block and a half from
the Seattle Tribune.
[The next slide shows a photo of Patient Zero.]
PATIENT ZERO: (on videotape) The truth is not out there. It's in here.
(points to himself)
[A B&W video recording of Patient Zero is being shown the at reception desk of
the Seattle Tribune. The time index on the tape reads, "10/01/97 11:16:32 PM"]
RECEPTION CLERK: A guy like this starts talking crazy and I call janitorial.
SEATTLE TRIBUNE
10:58 AM
CLERK: Usually ends up with them whipping it out and taking a whiz
(looks at Giebelhouse) right about where you're standing.
[Giebelhouse looks down and edges back a bit.]
FRANK: You see this guy before last night?
CLERK: No. No, working late shift you get to know all the nutballs.
FRANK: (watching the video's time index) Eleven-eighteen. Just before Knox
picks him up in his cab.
[The two CDC guys are also there.]
CLERK: So, I tell him the Seattle Tribune doesn't want his crazy-assed
story. Watch this part. Guy goes bananas.
[The video shows the man shouting at the clerk, screaming, "Truckloads!
Truckloads! Truckloads!"]
CLERK: (looks around him) Lot of personnel for a lunatic. What, he kill
some rich guy?
WRIGHT: If he shows up again...
[He hands the clerk a card. Frank takes it from the clerk.]
FRANK: He won't.
[He turns aside and speaks to Giebelhouse.]
FRANK: He'll go elsewhere. He'll go to some place open to hearing what
he has to say.
[On the video Zero is shouting, "Tuskegee! They denied it.
Apologized, then denied."]
AFRO SENTINEL 12:15 PM
PATIENT ZERO: (shouting) MKUltra, COINTELPRO, DOE, ACTG!
KNOX: (to an editor) Hey, write it down, man, write this down.
PATIENT ZERO: He don't have to write it down. It's everyone! It's
Everywhere!
EDITOR: Hold the phone. Now, who the hell are you?
[Patient Zero, at window, doesn't answer.]
EDITOR: (to Knox) Okay, who the hell are you?
KNOX: (to Patient Zero) Hey man, tell him about the trucks.
EXITOR: He told me about the trucks.
KNOX: Hey, man, you're supposed to be a reporter, brother. I'm telling
you, someone's oppressing this man!
EDITOR: You know how many times have we got to hear that? Brother. And
from everyone. Asians say it's black people. Black people say it's white
people. White people say it's extraterrestrials.
KNOX: No, man. I saw two guys after him, at the hospital.
EDITOR: Two guys at a hospital ain't proof of a damn thing.
[Patient Zero is still at the window, checking through the blinds nervously.]
EDITOR: He could be a criminal for all I know, or you know.
KNOX: Him? Man, they're the criminals! Hey, look, look, look. I know
it's hard to follow -- but this man is coming from a poetic place. Hear
me, man, listen, man. Thirty years ago people said the US government was
using black men as an experiment to die of syphilis was just another
whacked-out conspiracy theory like, like, aliens or something...
PATIENT ZERO: (to reporter) Tuskegee! Tuskegee! Tuskegee! {3}
EDITOR: Tuskegee is over, man. The President has apologized.
KNOX: This man needs an apology. If he lives to hear it.
[There is the sound of squealing tires outside. Patient Zero cries "No!" and
hides in the corner.]
KNOX: Do you hear me, man?
[The editor gets up and goes to the window.]
KNOX: You just gonna ignore me?
[Through the blinds, the editor sees Knox's yellow cab. Frank and
Giebelhouse are examining the car There are voices from outside: "OK, let's do
it." As Knox also looks through the blinds, there are cops moving towards the
building.]
KNOX: They're coming.
EDITOR: Hey! (takes out some keys and gives them to Knox) Down the hall,
black door on the left.
[Knox grabs Patient Zero.]
KNOX: Come on! Hey, move it, pal.
EDITOR: (shouting after them) And the story's ours!
[Knox and Patient Zero run down a corridor.]
KNOX: This way! Come on, come on!
[They reach an outside door and Knox fumbles with the keys.]
PATIENT ZERO: He's with them! Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Yeah!
[Patient Zero launches himself at the door and breaks the glass panel.]
[The police enter through the front entrance. The editor has come
out into the reception area.]
EDITOR: Hold it. This is a place of business. You are now standing in
the public part of that place. Now the rest of this building is private
and off-limits to you without a search warrant.
[A police officer walks by him, slapping a document into his hand.]
COP: How's this?
[The rest of the police officers file past.]
[In an alleyway out back Frank and Geibelhouse approach the door through which
Knox and Patient Zero exited.]
FRANK: (calling out) We're here to help you.
[Giebelhouse checks a garbage bin.]
FRANK: I want to help you.
GIEBELHOUSE: Nothing.
[As Frank looks around, a bloody hand reaches out and grasps his
shoulder. Frank shakes it off and holds up his hands.]
GIEBELHOUSE: Easy does it, guy.
[Frank checks out Patient Zero's dilated pupils.]
GIEBELHOUSE: Easy does it.
[The exit door opens and the CDC guys, Knox, and others exit. Zero is drooling
blood.]
EDITOR: Either one of you ever planning to mention you got the damn
plague?
[Inside Frank's house, in the bedroom, he takes off his watch and ring.
The music of Bobby Darin's "Gyp the Cat" is playing.]
{MUSIC: "Where those bayous wind and them gators swim, sometime late last night
when the moon was dim someone left this life much against his will, and while
Gyp the Cat was alibi-in' you know his clothes were dryin'. Down on Bourbon
Street where the tourists roam, some big financier travelin' far from home lost
his fancy watch..."}
[There's a free-standing mirror. Frank goes past it and we hear the sound of
water running in the shower. The focus stays on the mirror, showing the bed.
Frank comes back in and sits on the bed and takes off his shoes. He catches his
reflection in the mirror, stands up and goes over to have a closer look. There's
blood on the skin of his neck and his undershirt.]
U.S. CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES
SEATTLE 8:12 PM
[Frank drives up in his jeep. He is carrying his shirt in a plastic bag.
He walks towards the building. Through the glass doors he can see that
now the reception area is empty, devoid of any and all furnishings. He opens the
door and stands in the empty area. On the walls are the outlines of the letters
of the US CFID where the logos have been removed. He goes into the briefing room
and switches on the lights. Again, the room is completely empty. The building
has been abandoned and there is no longer any trace of the former CDC offices.]
[Fade to black.]
--------- commercial segment ---------
[Fade from white.]
[Fade in on Frank's shirt in the plastic bag as Giebelhouse carries it through
an office area at the headquarters for the Seattle Police Department.]
SEATTLE PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING
7:12 AM
GIEBELHOUSE: Frank. Finally they've tested the stain on your shirt.
FRANK: What did they find?
GIEBELHOUSE: Nothing. No virus. It's as clean as a kicker's uniform. You
sure it wasn't your blood?
FRANK: No. Definitely his. What about the Centers for Disease Control?
GIEBELHOUSE: They had no idea who I was talking about. The Plasma
Center? Doesn't have any knowledge of this either.
FRANK: Then who was after him?
GIEBELHOUSE: Frank. The guy was nuts. Conspiracy this, conspiracy that.
FRANK: We went to his office. I worked for them. That wasn't his
delusion. And now that office is gone. (pause) We were used, Giebs. He
knew that.
GIEBELHOUSE: How could he know that?
FRANK: I was the only person beside Knox who said I wanted to help him.
He wanted to help me, so he wanted me to know that they were lying about
the virus. That's why he gave me the blood sample. And I gave him up,
too. I don't know who or why.
[Frank returns home to find his telephone ringing. He picks it up.]
FRANK: Hello.
ROEDECKER: (on phone) Mr. Black? It's Roedecker, Brian Roedecker. Is the
LMU 83 functional?
[The readout shows, "Anonymous Caller."]
FRANK: Anonymous.
ROEDECKER: (on phone) Hmm. Activate the switch on the side of the LMU
83.
[Frank does so and a red light shows. The readout shows, "555-0169 Brian
Roedecker."]
FRANK: Got it, got it, got it. Thank you, Roedecker.
[Frank puts the phone down. He then switches on his computer and sits down
at the desk.]
FRANK: Soylent Green is people.
[As Frank sits back we see the living area, with toys and books clearly
belonging to Jordan piled on a coffee table. The computer monitor now shows the
regular Millennium Group startup screen, "Welcome Frank. There are 819 days
remaining." Frank watches again the video recording from the Seattle Tribune.
Patient Zero is shouting: "Oppression! FBI! CIA! COINTELPRO!" Frank stops the
video and writes a note: FBI, CIA, COINTELPRO. He starts the video to listen to
the next part of the tape, then stops it and writes down: JOHN DOE.]
[Later: Frank has been making further notes from the security video as he
listens to Zero scream: TRUCKLOADS, SRI, MKULTRA (crossed through), NSA, DHT. He
writes down: AC-DC, SENSE ANTISENSE. He rewinds the tape and crosses out AC-DC
and writes AC-TC.]
[The phone rings. The readout shows anonymous caller so Franks switches
on the LMU 83. The display still shows anonymous caller. Frank picks up
the phone.]
FRANK: Who is this? Who the hell is this?
[The caller hangs up. Frank replaces the handset and sits back,
frustrated. Then he notices something being pushed through his letter slot in
the front door. He runs over and picks up an envelope and then checks
through the blinds. There's no-one to be seen outside. He opens the envelope.
It's a check made payable to him for ten thousand dollars on which is typed,
"Please consider your services rendered."]
[Later, Peter Watts examines the check.]
WATTS: Why didn't you tell me you took this job?
FRANK: I wasn't currently on a case with the Group.
WATTS: We're always on call.
FRANK: I'm only officially a consultant with Millennium. I'm trying to feed my
family, Pete. The situation with Catherine has created new responsibilities.
I've got two of everything. Two sets of toys, two rentals and a house.
WATTS: We work together, Frank. You should have come to us.
FRANK: It didn't seem like a situation the Group would be interested in.
An infected transient, essentially a missing person. It appeared to have
no deeper meaning.
WATTS: Well, you're right we would have passed on it, but now it does
have a deeper meaning, and not just the obvious conspiracy. They used
you and Giebelhouse. Believing that when you realized the consequences
of their actions you would walk away. That's why I'm working on making
you more than officially a consultant, because you, and I, the group, we
don't walk away.
FRANK: This isn't even about money, now. I'm responsible for this man.
WATTS: We'll take the case.
[Frank throws the case file across the desk. Watts picks it up.]
WATTS: I'll send this over to our photo lab. (he points to the photo) Look
here, it appears to have been retouched.
[They're examining photograph of Patient Zero.]
FRANK: They're hiding something, a tattoo, dog tags.
[Watts looks at Frank's notes.]
WATTS: Antisense.
FRANK: A re-occurring trope.
WATTS: In microbiology, antisense is one side of the double helix. It's
half our DNA. The other side is called the sense.
FRANK: Our genetic matter. It is in us. That's what he keeps saying.
WATTS: Although, how he came up with it, I don't know.
[Watts now sees Frank's note: AC-TC.]
WATTS: Adenine, cytosine, thiamine. Here. (he alters the second C to a
G) Guanine. The four nucleotides of DNA.
[Outside a taxi office Knox and others are leaving at the end of their
shift.]
KNOX: All right, I'll catch up with you guys at the hole tonight.
[Knox looks carefully around, dons his dark glasses and gets into his
cab. He adjusts the rearview mirror and yells in surprise when he sees
there's someone sitting in the back seat.]
FRANK: Nice cab. Brand new.
KNOX: They took mine in for repairs.
FRANK: You'll never see it again.
KNOX: Look, I'm off duty.
FRANK: I'm not.
KNOX: I already talked to your friends.
FRANK: My friends don't lie to me. My friends tell me the truth. He
trusted you. He must have told you who was after him.
KNOX: That's easy, look in the mirror. Yeah, they used you, now you know
how I feel every day.
[Frank sighs.]
KNOX: Tell me, man, am I infected?
FRANK: There was no virus in his body.
KNOX: That's what he said. So, he was telling the truth.
FRANK: You tell me.
KNOX: Trucks! Trucks! He kept saying the trucks was after him or
something. I don't know. Talked about John Does. He kept saying we're
all fantasy, we're all John Does.
FRANK: Here's my phone number. If you think of anything, you give me a
call, alright?
KNOX: So where are you going?
FRANK: To meet John Doe.
[Inside a morgue a body has been labeled "John Doe 10/03/97 #97-3510."]
PATHOLOGIST: We get a lot. Couple of hundred a year.
SEATTLE MORGUE
3:37 PM
PATHOLOGIST: Street bums, transients, mostly. Usually someone comes
Forward, family member, whatever. Most don't stay John Does for long.
[Frank lifts the sheet to uncover the man's face. He looks closely at
the eyes and finds dilated pupils.]
FRANK: The eye -- dilated iris. Just like Patient Zero.
WATTS: Could they be using these people for some experiment, then
slipping them through the morgue when they're done?
FRANK: Using the system to go undetected because no-one cares. (to
pathologist) May we sit in on your autopsy, Dr. Clark.
PATHOLOGIST: Gentlemen, we don't autopsy unless something looks to be
out of the ordinary. Dilated eye usually indicates organic brain damage.
Well, brain-damaged street people, that's kind of our definition.
[Frank sees another trolley with a body on being wheeled in.]
FRANK: I would like blood samples on this man and any other John Does
that come through here with a dilated eye.
PATHOLOGIST: What do you expect to find?
[He covers the face of the dead man.]
FRANK: Nothing.
[On the streets two police officers have drawn their guns on a wild
man with long hair wielding a metal bar. Barrel fires burn in the background.]
COP #1: Ok, drop it, put it down.
[The man is waving the bar around wildly.]
COP #1: Sir, I need you to put the bar down.
MAN: I don't want to hurt you!
COP #1: Sir, I need you to relax. Put the bar down.
[The two cops are edging towards him, one talking, the other pointing
his gun with its laser targeting sight.]
COP #1: Just put it down and nobody'll get hurt. Put it down.
MAN: I can't put it down! I don't know how!
COP #1: I can see you're upset. I want to help. Put the bar down. Nobody's
gonna hurt you.
[The man starts to let the bar drop slowly.]
COP #1: Good. You're making a wise call.
[Suddenly the man lunges out with the bar and strikes the cop across the
head. The other cop fires a taser. The man drops to the ground, groaning
as electricity shoots through him. The first cop starts to get
up, then yells.]
COP #2: He's got something!
[He pulls out his gun and fires. He creeps forward and pulls out from
the man's hand a small stick. The man is lying still. His eyes are
open and his pupils are dilated.]
[Fade to black.]
--------- commercial segment ---------
[Fade from white.]
[An ambulance and further cop cars have arrived at the crime scene. A red jeep
draws up and is stopped by a detective.]
10:07 PM
DETECTIVE: Crime scene. Move out of here.
FRANK: I'm Frank Black.
DETECTIVE: And I'm Joe Yellow. Go on, out.
FRANK: Detective Giebelhouse told us he would meet us here.
DETECTIVE: Even if that was a real name, he ain't here. This is an
Internal Affairs investigation.
WATTS: Who's in charge here?
DETECTIVE: Lieutenant Wobenlottnee.
WATTS: Can we talk with him?
DETECTIVE: Leave it here.
[He moves away and Frank and Watts start to get out of the jeep.]
FRANK: What was it?
WATTS: (mumbling) Wobenlottnee or something.
[The three of them walk away from the car. The detective goes over to
another car and talks with the occupants, the two CDC men. Their car
drives off. Watts goes over to another detective.]
WATTS: Lieutenant? Uh... Wobenlottnee?
[As Watts distracts the lieutenant Frank goes inside the ambulance. The
body is lying on a stretcher, two bullet wounds in his chest. The radio
relays a call to another vehicle as Frank checks the man's eyes and dilated
pupils. He looks around the ambulance, then pulls out a small roll of bandage
and a surgical glove. Putting on the glove, he then presses the end of the
bandage roll against one bullet-hole, taking a sample of blood, then repeats
with the other end of the roll against the other bullet-hole. He pulls off the
surgical glove over the bandage roll. The sound alerts the medical technician
sitting in the front seat.]
TECHNICIAN: Who's there, man?
DRIVER: No idea.
[Frank hides as the technician looks back. Frank spots a tag on the
stretcher: "Authorization D.O.E." The driver and technician go back to
talking. Frank pulls off the tag and exits the ambulance. He walks back
to his car and whistles to Watts, who comes over.]
WATTS: Did you get a sample?
FRANK: Yeah.
[He hands Watts the surgical glove.]
WATTS: Another John Doe out of control?
FRANK: He's not a John Doe. Look at the tag. D.O.E. Abbreviation. It stands
for something.
WATTS: Dead On Examination?
FRANK: D.O.E. The Department of Energy.
[Watts chuckles.]
WATTS: Whoa, easy, Frank. Another leap like that and you'll connect all
this to why Oswald wasn't in the Book Depository.
FRANK: The D.O.E. started as the atomic energy commission, built the atomic
bomb, did radiation experiments on humans. Tests on vulnerable groups,
prisoners, mentally retarded.
WATTS: They have historically developed unconventional weapons.
FRANK: You know what they've gotten into now.
WATTS: The Human Genome Project.
[Later, Frank is watching a presentation on a web page which shows a
computer animation of a spiraling double helix.]
VOICE: The human genome project is a vast undertaking of the scientific
community expected to produce a blueprint of the functional and
evolutionary history of the human species.
[The screen changes to show chromosomes.]
VOICE: The goal of this international 15 year coordinated effort is to
discover all of the fifty thousand human genes and render them
accessible for further biological study.
[Frank switches off the video and picks up a photograph of Patient
Zero.]
FRANK: Further biological study.
[The telephone rings. Frank picks it up.]
FRANK: Yeah.
KNOX: I found another one.
DOWNTOWN SEATTLE 12:25 PM
[In a seedy, between abandoned buildings, Frank is standing by a fire.]
KNOX: This guy is kind of worshipped down here. I'd heard about him on the
streets even before Zero. Had always written him off as just another casualty,
then I finally heard him. (points his finger at Frank) Now you should,
too.
[He gestures to Frank.]
KNOX: Come here.
[Inside one of the abandoned buildings there are people sitting on the floor.]
FRANK: After you.
KNOX: He's just down here.
[Franks starts walking but Knox remains where he is. The place is pretty
derelict. Fires have been lit in various places. The place is fairly
dark with graffiti on some of the walls. The people look to be homeless.
There's an air of hopelessness. As Frank continues a man, Lacuna, steps
out of the shadows and growls at him. Frank backs away and then steps aside.
The man is still growling, then starts yelling and holding his head as if in
pain.]
LACUNA: (loudly) Nowhere on planet earth are people free of the trucks.
They traveled across Rwanda dirt roads. They ride on Kuwaiti highways.
They move through these city streets!
[There are traffic noises outside. Lacuna speaks to Frank.]
LACUNA: (quietly) Can you hear them? Can you hear them? Do you hear
them? The trucks don't care.
[A truck is seen driving down the road outside the building.]
LACUNA: (loudly) They don't care if they're a fire truck or a dump
truck. They don't know if they are a cargo truck or a tow truck. They
don't know, but (quietly, to Frank) we know. We know. Huh? We know what
we are, we know what we do. (loudly) But nature, those vicious blood
trucks. (to a woman) At the minute of birth, a spotted hyena will attack
and kill its twin. That won't make the evening news, no. Male mallard
ducks will attack and gang-rape females until they drown but there will
be no trial on Court TV. No. White female squirrels will attack and kill
every baby in another female's nest and Larry King will not analyze the
handwriting. No. But nature, that bitch has given us conscience so we
must be made to do wrong. Without us knowing, they must make trucks out
of all of us.
[Outside, the truck is getting closer. Inside are the two CDC men. One
is loading a handgun and fixing on a silencer.]
LACUNA: They have the map, the map, they can make us go down any street
they want to. Streets that we would never even dream of going down. They
flip a switch, we go east. They flip another switch, we go north. (to
Frank, quietly) And we never know we have been flipped, let alone know
how.
[The truck drives off. One of the CDC men is left standing there, looking at
the building outside of which there are only two vehicles, the cab and
Frank's jeep. The man puts on a dark baseball cap and pulls his collar
up around his neck.]
[Inside the building, Frank is going down some stairs followed by Knox.]
KNOX: Man, I got a rush listening to him. That man speaks the truth.
FRANK: Gerome, listen to me now. He may speak the truth but it comes
from a place of insanity. He's gone insane.
KNOX: No, man, he is the only one who understands, right. I mean, they
flipped the switch on him but he fought through. I mean, don't you get
it? A truck has no conscience, it just does what the driver wants it to
do.
FRANK: (sarcastic) Oh, now I get it.
[Frank walks on and out of the building. Knox follows him.]
KNOX: He can help us, Mr. Black.
FRANK: People only believe the sane. Maybe they shouldn't but they do.
The only way to help him, or Patient Zero, or anyone, is to find out who
is doing this and stop them. He's too far gone to tell us anything.
KNOX: Maybe you're not crazy enough to listen. (He goes off but
returns.) You just a truck, Mr. Black.
[Knox gets into his cab, muttering, "A truck". He drives off. Frank is
thoughtful for a moment, then suspicious. He runs his hand around the
back of his jeep, then carefully opens the driver's door and looks
inside. He stands up, still looking suspicious.]
[Out of steam on the street a figure is seen holding out one hand. Knox
stops his cab and winds down the passenger window.]
KNOX: Can't help you unless you're going downtown.
MAN: Downtown, then.
[He gets into the back of the cab. It's the CDC man in the baseball cap.
Knox drives off.]
[Fade to black.]
--------- commercial segment ---------
[Fade from white.]
[A document labeled "Chromosome 4 Ideogram" lists genetic markers.]
WATTS: This came from the blood sample you got the other night. We
followed the antisense lead, focused on the genetic material. These
genes are thought to control higher cortical functions.
[Watts and Frank are in Frank's house. Watts is showing Frank various
documents including two the size and color of an x-ray but showing
chromosomes.]
WATTS: Here. Here's Patient Zero, this is the street guy shot by the
cop. They're both insane.
PETER: Nobody would argue that.
WATTS: But they're insane in exactly the same way.
[Frank looks puzzled.]
WATTS: Look. Gene sites, identical to the two men. Exactly the same. Base
pair for base pair. Unless you're going to buy an 18 billion to 1 shot,
there's no way that could happen naturally. It's not like finding a gene
for hair color. They're splicing multiple genes to control complex
behavior.
[Frank turns to his computer. It briefly shows a photo of Jordan then
switches to the Genome web page Frank was looking at earlier.]
FRANK: The Human Genome Project. The biggest science event since the
moon shot.
WATTS: Public records indicate they're not that far along. Technically
the program's unclassified. But in a way it does feel like a top-secret
project. The work's divided among five thousand separate facilities,
each analyzing a tiny strand of DNA, a small piece of the puzzle. The
big picture is controlled from above.
FRANK: What if, during the research, one rogue facility pieced together
something about a strain of genes for their own purposes?
WATTS: There's no way the Department of Energy would be aware.
FRANK: No.
WATTS: Untraceable genetic experiments and untraceable human subjects.
Not a lot to go to.
FRANK: The other John Does.
[At the morgue Watts and Frank are searching through the body storage
lockers.]
WATTS: All of them are gone. Twenty John Does out the door. If we missed
something, it's gone.
[A Pathologist is watching them.]
FRANK: What has happened to the coroner who was here before, a Mr. Clark?
PATHOLOGIST: Maybe he's on vacation, I think. No, they fired him or
something. He's gone.
[Frank sees a body on which is written, "John Doe 10/04/97 #97-3553".]
WATTS: More evidence missing. They're cleaning up. What about our blood
samples?
PATHOLOGIST: What blood samples?
[Frank has pulled the sheet back from the body's face. It's Gerome Knox.
He checks his eyes, then turns his head and sees a bullet wound.]
FRANK: (emotionally) His name is not John Doe. Gerome Knox. That's his name.
Gerome Knox.
SEATTLE PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING
11:15 AM
[Frank stands before a map showing pins joined by tape.]
FRANK: These are all the facilities involved in the human genome
project.
GIEBELHOUSE: And you think one of these has this Patient Zero?
FRANK: Yes, one of them.
[Watts is also there. Roedecker quickly enters the room.]
GIEBELHOUSE: Closed session here.
ROEDECKER: Check the guest list, dumpy.
FRANK: (to Roedecker) Did you get it?
ROEDECKER: I downloaded everything on every facility within two hundred
miles.
[He goes over to a computer with a zip disk which he puts into the
drive.]
ROEDECKER: It started out as a buttload, but I did what you asked.
[The monitor shows a map very similar to the one Frank was examining.]
ROEDECKER: Eliminate every site that was an obvious PR job, high school
science classes, women's colleges, or age clubs. Requires some military
connection and a stand-alone facility.
[The monitor had shown a vast number of connected dots but these are
gradually reduced to four.]
WATTS: Down to four and counting.
FRANK: What about trucks? They use them to recruit their John Does.
ROEDECKER: (using a search) I've got company cars.
WATTS: Try subsidiaries, joint ventures.
ROEDECKER: Well, hang on.
FRANK: A vehicle that could move unnoticed among the homeless.
[The search shows: "Mobile soup kitchen."]
FRANK: There!
[He grabs and clicks the mouse. The monitor focuses in on one facility:
"5C03, William Kramer MD, Ph.D Genetic Engineering, numerous military
degrees, R.O.T.C."]
FRANK: A mobile soup kitchen. They donated trucks.
ROEDECKER: 5C03? Project contact is a Doctor William Kramer MD, PhD in
Genetic Engineering, ROTC. Got his degrees on the GI Bill. (to Frank) I
tell you, it's "The Omega Man" all over again.
FRANK: There it is.
GIEBELHOUSE: I'm supposed to go to a judge and get a search warrant 'cause
this place has soup trucks?
FRANK: No, you're supposed to go to a judge to get a search warrant
because we turned Patient Zero over to these guys. We're responsible.
WATTS: You'll get it because nobody here is going to walk away.
"PROJECT 5C03" BUILDING
2:24 PM
[Armed police are taking up positions outside the building. Giebelhouse
is standing near the front door. A voice on radio asks "... awaiting
further instructions." The SWAT leader responds, "Yeah," then says, "Do it.
Go!" to another cop who uses a very large crowbar to force open the
door. The rest of the force quickly enter, followed by Giebelhouse,
Frank and Watts.]
GIEBELHOUSE: Check every room! No-one leaves! (to Watts) If he's not
here, I'm a dead man.
[Frank shows a photograph of Patient Zero to the receptionist.]
FRANK: Excuse me, we believe this man is in danger. Have you seen him
here?
[The receptionist offers Frank a blank face and doesn't respond.]
[Police, Giebelhouse and Watts come back out into the reception area.]
WATTS: We blew it.
GIEBELHOUSE: Don't even think that.
[Some officers usher in the two CDC men.]
COP: We caught them running out the back.
GIEBELHOUSE: What about Zero?
COP: Just these guys.
WRIGHT: You don't know what you're doing.
WATTS: What is this place? NSA? CIA? MYLAB?
WRIGHT: This is a private biomedical research facility conducting
important research.
GIEBELHOUSE: Yeah, I heard. Wrap 'em up.
[A man comes out of a nearby office, guarded by a police officer.]
MAN: What are you people doing?
[It's Patient Zero, but clearly in complete control of his senses.]
PATIENT ZERO: This is a serious violation of our rights.
GIEBELHOUSE: We had reason to believe you were being held here against
your will.
PATIENT ZERO: Well, maybe some weekends, but only because I work here.
FRANK: We have you on videotape at the Seattle Tribune, ranting,
delusional. We know what this place is. What happened to you? Did they
infect you by accident? Were you experimenting on yourself? How can you
keep doing this when you know, you know.
PATIENT ZERO: I'm delusional? Did you just hear yourself?
[He walks back to his office. The door bears his name, Dr. William Kramer.]
PATIENT ZERO: (to the police) Get out of my way.
WRIGHT: Okay, party's over. (to Giebelhouse) If you people aren't
out of here in thirty seconds, we'll issue warrants for your arrest.
[Frank has followed Patient Zero/Dr. Kramer.]
FRANK: The system runs on John Does. That's what you said. Count 'em.
How many are there? How many.
[They've stopped outside Patient Zero/Dr. Kramer's door. Patient Zero
opens the door and stands there, looking at Frank. Frank looks around
the walls of the office at the diplomas and photographs, including one of Kramer
with a group of military men. He's wearing dog tags. The photograph
has written on it, "Kigali, Rwanda, 1994." {4}]
FRANK: (accusatorily) What were you doing in Rwanda?
[Kramer looks down sullenly, takes his glasses off, then slowly closes the door
leaving Frank outside.]
[Frank exits the building as police cars drive off. Peter also exits. They
stand there together.]
FRANK: Peter, Rwanda, 1994. Thousands of people get up one morning, grab
a machete, and kill the person next to them. A frenzy of blood-letting
like the world's never seen. He was a research chemist, what was he
doing there?
WATTS: In Bosnia, neighbors sent neighbors away for ethnic cleansing. In
this country, 12-year-olds shoot each other in the streets. The world's a
violent place. It's in all of us, if the switch gets flipped. But you
know that.
[Watts walks away. Frank stands there as yellow trucks roll by.]
[That night, at Frank's house, he sits before his desk. The monitor shows "I
love Daddy," his Jordan screensaver. He picks up the check for $10,000 and tears
it up. He looks tired. The phone rings. The gadget shows it's an anonymous
caller. Frank switches on the LMU 83. The readout still shows anonymous caller.
Frank sits back and lets the phone continue to ring.]
[Fade to white.]
"Human Genome Project accelerated for completion by the turn of the
millennium." U.S. Department of Energy (1990)
[Fade to black.]
[The credit fades in from black... ]
Executive Producers: James Wong & Glen Morgan
Executive Producer: Chris Carter
--------- commercial segment ---------
[PREVIEW of next week's Millennium -- no image description]
Frank: "Why is Millennium sending me to a small town where something might
happen?"
Peter: "Just go there, Frank."
Lara: "You've been to the Old Man. That's why you feel what you feel. Why
would they send us here without letting us know?"
Frank: "It's a test."
Catherine: "Tell me about the Millennium Group."
Peter: "I can't tell you that and I never will."
Frank: "There are seven hundred and ninety-nine days remaining."
Lara: "Something is happening, Frank.
[End titles roll]
Ten Thirteen Productions
in association with
20th Century Fox Television (R)
A News Corporation Company
Guest Starring
Ricky Harris (Gerome Knox)
Allan Zinyk (Brian Roedecker)
Badja Djola (Lacuna)
Clarence Williams III (Zero/Kramer)
Featuring
Brian Jensen (Wright)
Chris Nelson Norris (Patterson)
Peter Bryant (Editor)
Forbes Angus (Dr Pettey)
Michael Vairo (Officer Ginelli)
Copyright (c) 1997
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
All Rights Reserved #5C03
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is the author of this motion
picture for purposes of copyright and other laws.
The characters and names depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any
similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Ownership of this motion picture is protected by copyright and other
applicable laws, and any unauthorized duplication, distribution or
exhibition of this motion picture could result in criminal prosecution
as well as civil liability.
========================================================
Millennium
Copyright and TM, 1997
FOX Broadcasting Company
========================================================
{1} echopraxia, or echopraxis [Gr /praxis/ doing] in mental illness, the
imitation of postures of movements of those around.
{2} Filoviruses include Ebola.
{3} http://hsc.virginia.edu/hs-library/historical/apology/
{4} http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1070265.stm
========================================================
Last Updated: June 3, 2003
Webmaster: Brian A. Dixon