UF: Altered Appleseed Act 1

[Don't Let's Start]

Catching Up With Gryphon
[Altered Appleseed]

The day begins; Ben is seen climbing onto a suspiciously
familiar and moderately enormous black motorcycle. With
Jane's Addiction blaring in his ears, he goes roaring off
into traffic. One could almost swear he's wearing some sort
of uniform. As the camera pans back, it can be seen that
he's in a very large city dominated by a vast arcology. The
planet is Earth, or at least very Earthlike.
At the end of the song, he pulls into a parking slot,
gets off the bike, and tosses the keys in the air as he walks
away--in a closeup we can see the keys are marked "BAHAMODE".
He climbs a set of stairs and enters a building. The
building is marked "OLYMPUS POLICE DEPARTMENT".

Roll opening credits.

ACT I
Scene 1.

Ben is at his desk, asleep, face-down, in a huge mass of
paperwork. Deunan walks by and notices this, and, with a
wicked grin, picks up a large hardback book entitled _Kicking
Ass With UNIX 40.3_ from his desk, dropping it flat to the
floor.

Ben: Yaaaaa! (He bolts upright, scattering paper
everywhere.)

Deunan: Sleeping at work again, eh? For shame.

Ben: It's the damn paperwork, Deun'...knocks me right out. I
mean...hell, why can't they computerize this like everything
else?

Deunan: Guess it's their way of keeping us honest. (She
smiles.)

Ben: I suppose. Thanks for waking me up, I guess. (He
sighs, picking up his pen, as Deunan begins to leave.) Oh,
hey, Deunan--where's Briareos?

Deunan: He took the day off. Something about tuning his
targeting gear.

Ben: (snorts derisively) Yeah, right. He just wants to put
off his range forms. Jerk. (He grins. So does Deunan. She
waves and departs.) Hm. (He looks down at his paperwork
again.) Angst! (His head hits the desk again.)
Fade to black.

Scene 2.

His day's work done, Ben heads home. On the way into his
apartment, he notices loud music coming from the one across
the hall; taking out a key, he lets himself in to find
Briareos listening to a very loud metal disc.

Ben: Yo! Bri! (He knocks on Briareos' head.)

Briareos: Huh who where? Oh, hi, Ben. (He turns down the
stereo) What's up?

Ben: Not much, I-- (He pauses, recognizing the music.) Hey--
this is The Assistance, but I--waitasecond... (He fixes
Briareos with a sardonic grin.) "Iron Man"?

Briareos: Great song. (He kicks back, his hands behind his
head.) You were saying?

Ben: I was? Oh, yeah-- (he sits down) --I'm very
disappointed in you.

Briareos: (looks surprised--you figure out how yourself) Me?

Ben: Yes, you. You skipped out of work today on some bogus
cybertech thing to avoid doing your range forms until Monday.

Briareos: (attempting to seem innocent) I didn't! I really
needed to get my gyrocompass realigned!

Ben: (triumphant) Aha! You told Deunan you had to get your
targeting system tuned.

Briareos: I did? Oops. (He shrugs.) Oh well.

Ben: Oh well indeed. (He sits back.) You just better hope
Deunan doesn't find out.

Deunan emerges from the kitchen.

Deunan: I know already. Here, have a drink. (She throws a
can of Pepsi at Ben, but misjudges the force needed; it's
going so fast when it hits him in the chest it almost blows
him off the sofa.) Sorry. Depth perception's dogmeat with
this damn patch.

Ben: No-- (coughs) --problem. I've had the experience
myself. It sucks major amounts of wind.
Deunan hops over the back of the other couch, opening a beer
and handing one to Briareos.

Deunan: Anyway--I know all about how my dear Briareos skipped
out on his paperwork today. (She grabs one of his "ears" and
tweaks it.)

Briareos: Ow!

Deunan: And he's never going to do it again--are you? (She
gives the "ear" a tug.)

Briareos: No! I swear! Never again! Now leggo!

Ben is almost on the floor with laughter at this point.

Briareos: What're you laughing at?! This is part of my
anatomy she's trying to pull off here!

Ben: (manages to choke out) I wouldn't touch that line--

Briareos: (in a small voice) Help!

Fade to black on the three of them laughing.

Scene 3.

It's the weekend and Ben is out for a ride on his Garland;
it's around six in the evening, so the shadows are
lengthening. (It's early summer.) He seems a bit peeved,
maybe it's running rough; also, he's listening to "Bringin'
On the Heartbreak", and so may be a tad angstful. As he
rides, he notices a police cordon around a rather damaged
housing project--one he lived in when he first came here. He
skids up and shows his badge.

Ben: ESWAT. What's going on here?

Random Cop: Some nutcase with a landmate is tearing the place
apart. Says she's looking for someone named "Gryphon".

Ben's eyes go wide(r); he's not gone by that name for ages.
Not since--

Ben: I'll handle it.

Cop: Sir, she's got a landmate and she knows how to use it.
Maybe you should wait for armored backup, the 7th Tac is on
their way--

Ben reaches down and hits a control on his bike; it
transforms rapidly into a ~12' 'bot with a fully enclosed
cockpit and heavy-looking armor.

Ben: I said I'll handle it.

Cop: Yes, sir!

Ben walks to the building and pauses for a second; inside the
cockpit, we see him wipe some sweat from his forehead, take a
couple of deep breaths, and try to stop his hands from
trembling. We see a brief instant of flashback; it's from
his point of view, him being shot in the chest by a very
beautiful and very angry-looking red-haired woman. Then it
passes; he shakes his head violently, pushes aside the
hanging door, and enters the building.

He enters cautiously, unslinging a 25mm autorifle from the
Garland's shoulder. The inside of the building is dark; the
air is thick with dust. Sensors at full, Ben begins to
search, slowly, carefully.

Alarms howl; he throws the machine aside as a flight of
missiles scream by to blow something thoroughly up. Burst
fire from a projected particle weapon accompanies it; six
bolts of energy slam into the flooring, chasing him across
the room as his surprisingly agile mecha tumbles across. He
gets eyes on his target as he rolls the mecha to its feet;
it's not a landmate, as he suspected it wasn't from the
beginning. It's the one thing he didn't want to see, ever,
at the other end of his autorifle--a #142-A WOW That's Black
VR-052 Battler Cyclone with a shattered red heart painted on
its right shoulder. Pointing an EP-37 Particle Beam Cannon
at him.

Ben screams, ripping off a five-round burst and leaping the
Garland out of the PBC's path of fire. Sparking impacts
scatter across the Cyclone's chest as its shot bores right
out of the building. The Garland tackles the Cyclone, the
impact blasting the two of them right through the wall and
starting the tape player going again. Music fills the
Garland's cockpit. Ben is too busy to turn it off.

Ben: No! Don't do this! Not again, do you hear me?

The impact with the pavement disengages them and sends them
tumbling in opposite directions; the Cyclone regains its feet
first. Ben rolls his mecha away from another particle gun
shot. The black Cyclone makes no reply to his screamed
statement, just closes in mercilessly, as Ben rights his
Garland. He jets up away from a third shot, perching on the
roof of the half-ruined building to blast the Cyclone in the
chest with a rolling burst that mangles one of the missile
covers. (Not that it matters, they've all been fired
anyway.) The Cyclone puts a shot into the building under
Ben's feet; surprised, he eats asphalt and is momentarily
stunned. The black Cyclone walks calmly over, levels the
PBC, and prepares to fire as the Garland get s slowly to
hands and knees.

Cyclone: (woman's voice): It's finally over...you bastard.

Ben: No! (Ben jumps the Garland up and over in a somersault,
his jets howling; the Cyclone's pilot puts her last shot into
the pavement.) You're out of ammo. Now can we discuss this
rationally? Won't you even explain why you believe I could
do such a thing, why you want me dead so much? You used to
love me, or so I thought. (The Cyclone discards the empty
EP-37 and draws a Gallant H-90 from its holster; the pilot
makes no response.) WON'T YOU AT LEAST TELL ME WHY?!

The Cyclone notes the howl of the approaching ESWAT armored
backup; reducd to a holdout weapon, the pilot takes the
better part of valor. Firing a quick burst to keep Ben's
head down, she fires her own thrusters, leaping a good fifty
feet away. The Cyclone folds out as she kneels on landing;
then, extracting herself, the CVR-clad pilot converts it
fully back to motorcycle mode, mounts, and rides away.

Ben: Not this time--!

The Garland sets off after her at a dead sprint, then
transforms smoothly and hits the road wide open. (The
forgotten tape has gone on by this time to "Comin' Atcha
Live".) The two cycles blaze through the streets. Despite
the Garland's amazing street prowess, the Cyclone has a
definite agility edge. The pilot uses this and her microjets
to good advantage, and Ben is soon, despite his own skill,
his cycle's abilities, and his siren and lights, far behind.
The Cyclone darts into a side alley and, snap-transforming,
vaults a wooden wall; a few seconds later, Ben slews his
Garland around the corner and rams it right through the wall.

The Cyclone is nowhere to be seen.

Ben: (getting off the Garland) ArrrrrrrRRRRR--AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Thoroughly dejected, his primal scream of rage and
frustration having taken something out of him, he gets back
on the bike and rides home.

Fade to black on a slowly outpanning view of the city.

Scene 4.

Ben is slumped on his sofa; the lights are low and he looks
very depressed. He puts something on the stereo and
contemplates a photograph of a pretty red-haired woman (the
one from the flashback) during the intro. When the words
come in, he sings along, softly, to the photo.

Ben: Every time when I look in the mirror
All these lines in my face gettin' clearer
The past is gone
It went by like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay
I know
Nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know
'N everybody's said
You got to lose to know how it ends...

(He doubles over and a tear or two fall on the picture
as it drops from his hand; then he recovers somewhat to
continue.)

Half my life's on ghostwritten pages
Livin' learned from fools and from sages
You know it's true
All the feelings come back to you
Sing with me
Sing for the year
Sing for the laughter sing for the tear
Sing with me
Just for today
Maybe tomorrow the Good Lord'll take you away

(He cries again during the solo, then violently
recovers, tearing his glasses off and casting them aside,
picking up the picture to beg of it plaintively:)

Sing with me
Sing for the year
Sing for the laughter sing for the tear
Sing it with me
Just for today
Maybe tomorrow the Good Lord'll take you away

(He comes to bitter reality hard, throws the picture
away from him, drops to the couch and upbraids himself
angrily:)

Dream on
Dream on
Dream on
Dream until your dream come true

He continues, getting angrier and louder, until the end of
the "Dream on" section, including the screaming. He then
flops face-down to the couch, spent, crying and not singing,
for the rest of the song.

There is a loud knocking at his door; it becomes more and
more insistent and then, forgetting her key, Deunan kicks in
the door.

Deunan: What the--Ben? What's wrong?

Ben looks up, his face red and streaked; he hasn't stopped,
nor does he show signs of doing so anytime soon.

Ben: (haltingly, he's still crying) Hi--D-Deunan...it's n-
othing...h-having a b-bad day is all...

Deunan puts away her gun and, motioning him to make room,
sits down on the couch beside him.

Deunan: We've been friends for a long time now, and I've
never seen you like this. What's the matter?

Ben: You heard about the fight tonight?

Deunan: Yeah; some nut in a pirate landmate tearing up your
old project--

Ben: Not a landmate. A Cyclone. Transforming motorcycle
mecha unit. And its pilot was gunning for me. Ripping up
the building was a calculated attempt at getting my
attention, or maybe she thought I still lived there.

Deunan: But why?

Ben: Simple. She used to love me.

Deunan: What?!

Ben: Look, you and Briareos both know I'm not from the
badside, originally. You've seen me regenerate from bullet
wounds, you know I'm not a normal human. (Deunan nods.) I'm
382 years old. For 298 of those, I was very much in
love...(he pauses, this isn't easy)...with a woman named Kei.
And she with me, or so I thought.

Deunan: What happened?

Ben: I don't know. One day we were running a rescue op on a
city under attack by Buma troops. I was running covert
behind lines, mopping up in back of a school where there was
a hostage situation, while Kei and her partner Yuri took the
front. We were to meet in the middle of the building. I
came around a corner and I could swear I saw myself running
past; then I walked through a door and she shot me. I
survived; I keep the scars deliberately, to remind me. (He
indicates the earring he always wears.) This is hers. This
is all I have left of her. (A series of racking sobs shakes
his body; he fends Deunan away with a hand, composes himself,
and continues.) For 66 years she's been tracking me. For the
past seven I've lived here. She's chased me all over the
cosmos, and nearly kills me every time she catches me.
Remember when I told you I had an eyepatch for a while? She
put out one my eyes with a vibro-shiv once. I regenerated
it; sentiment aside, as you can attest, being blind on one
side bites industrial strength wind.

Deunan: And you never found out why she doesn't believe you
didn't do it?

Ben: No. She'll never tell me. I always ask,
but...she'll...never--tell--me...why... (He breaks down
again. Instinctively, Deunan takes him into an embrace,
letting him cry on her shoulder.) No--(he tries to get
away)--this--

Deunan: Shh. It's okay. Bri will understand. You just need
a friend right now...

There is a long pause.

Ben: Deunan?

Deunan: Yeah?

Ben: She knows I still love her, even after everything she's
done...I don't understand any of it--

Deunan: Shh. People are hard to figure out sometimes.

Ben: If she'd only tell me why...(the thought intensifies his
sorrow, as such thoughts tend to, and he clings to Deunan
desperately)...just...j-just hold me...

Which she does, gently, but with strength, as he cries
himself to sleep. Presently, she falls asleep as well. At
some point in the late evening, Briareos enters the
apartment; he sees them together and nods, as promised,
understanding perfectly. He of all people is very familiar
with the concept of angst and needing someone to hold on to,
and has no problems. (I suppose he trusts them implicitly as
well, which always helps.) His instincts tell him something,
and you don't live as long as he has by not trusting them; he
goes to the window, surveys the city for some time, and then
positions himself in an armchair near the door and, gun at
the ready, drops into a light, alert sentry's sleep.

Fade to black.
End of Act I.