KNIGHT RIDER 2010
ACT FOUR
FADE IN:
EXT. PARK - DAY
Three o'clock in the afternoon on a beautiful sun-drenched day. The park is dotted with sunbathers on blankets, laughing kids, and patient Mothers, some with strollers.
An Overweight Uniformed Cop strolls by a BILLBOARD featuring a healthy, happy American family. The slogan reads: NO SMOKING IS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY.
ILYA (V.O.)
Put the cigarette away before you get us both busted.
ANGLE ADJUSTS TO INCLUDE -
ILYA AND SERGEI
Seated on a park bench, hidden behind Ray-Bans. Sergei douses the cigarette under his shoe. Both men look up and smile engagingly as the Cop strolls by.
SERGEI
You used to stand up to anything the KGB threw at you, now you shiver at some fat cop.
A Mom with a stroller sits down beside them on the bench, pulls out an ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE and starts to read.
Note: the following scene is to be played in Russian with subtitles except as noted.
ILYA
America gave me a fresh start, a new life and a shot at the jackpot.
The Mom looks up at them from her book. Sergei smiles unctuously. She smiles back and goes back to her reading.
ILYA
You've got a fully loaded ship sitting at the docks in Pozavarik. Let it sail.
SERGEI
There is no ship. The workers are on strike.
ILYA
Save it for the cocktail party circuit. I want my cigarettes and you want the bastard who killed your brother
Sergei fixes him with a look.
ILYA
I always go into a deal with my eyes wide open.
As Sergei considers this for a moment, the Mom walks off pushing her stroller. They revert back to English. -
ILYA
I know all about him and your brother. You want him dead. He wants you.
(a look)
So, don't back me into a corner, Sergei.
SERGEI
You can't threaten me, Dubrovna. I'm a diplomat. I'm a guest in this country.
ILYA
Diplomatic Immunity can't save you from a bullet.
(beat)
Release the ship, and you'll have your satisfaction and I'll have mine.
(a look)
Can I tell my partners we have a deal?
Sergei has little choice but to hand him a pocket phone -
SERGEI
Use my phone. It's on the consulate's secure line.
Off Ilya's look as he starts to punch in numbers -
INT. THE DATANET CYBERSCAPE
A soft electronic buzz underscores a rainbow of color. The spectrum slowly solidifies into a three-dimensional geometric pattern of multicolored lines, then transmutes into an electronic grid pattern.
There is an organic, human quality to the cyberscape - soft curves and sensuously edged forms confirm the presence of life. Welcome to our world of Virtual Reality.
The grid spreads out like a blanket over a schematic of the United States. The pattern of pulsing lines resembles a roadmap of our nation's power and communications systems.
The U.S. Map CLICKS DOWN to the STATE OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. The buzz gradually grows louder, becoming a choir of human and mechanical voices. Everything is interconnected.
Another CLICK and we PUSH IN on the LOS ANGELES METRO DISTRICT. Then, out POV CLICKS DOWN FURTHER to the streets and buildings, then CIRCLES, giving us a constantly swooping birds eye view of a computer-generated Los Angeles.
Suddenly, a bright RED SURGE OF POWER roars by K.D.'s “POV” with the speed of a runaway train, too fast to be identified. She turns to get out of its way. Her POV shifts to see the surging bar and it's comet-like tail originating from the Carpasian Consulate which is identified on a display.
K.D. CLICKS down and pursues the pulsing RED BAR. K.D. catches up with the RED BAR at a CORPORATE BUILDING. A stream of data on the left side of the screen identifies the building as a known Intercrime front.
Suddenly and painfully, K.D. is deflected from the pulsing RED BAR as if from an electric fence.
The pulsing RED BAR both READS OUT and SCREAMS OUT - SECURE LINE! SECURE LINE! NO ENTRY!
Then, a bright red field comes down across the screen like a slamming vault door, followed by the display: ATTEMPTED SECURITY BREACH … CARPASAIAN CONSULATE.
The SCREEN goes white. The electronic BUZZ becomes STATIC -
EXT. K.D. - DAY
weaving in and out of heavy traffic. A soft, sawing NOISE intrudes.
INT. K.D. - DAY
Head thrown back, mouth open, an exhausted Lincoln SNORES behind the wheel. He's got a two-day growth of beard.
K.D. (V.O.)
Lincoln…
(louder)
Lincoln….
K.D. blasts the high-decibled HORN. Lincoln is pulled mercilessly back to reality. His lids fly open. His hands grip the wheel.
LINCOLN
I wasn't sleeping.
Lincoln falls silent.
K.D. (V.O.)
I've been exploring the datanet. It's like swimming through a heaven designed by Steve Jobs.
K.D. exits the freeway onto -
EXT. CITY STREET - DAY
She cruises along the bustling thoroughfare.
K.D. (V.O.)
The datanet is the heart - the cyberscape is the blood stream.
INT. K.D. - DAY
Lincoln regards the dash, disoriented and weary.
K.D. (V.O.)
It's a concerto played by the world symphony.
(beat)
Check this out -
LINCOLN'S POV - THE DASHBOARD DISPLAY
K.D. replays the flight of the pulsing red bar she saw in the datanet.
K.D. (V.O.)
It's a secure phone line from the Carpasian Consulate in Los Angeles to an Intercrime front.
LINCOLN
Did you tap in?
K.D. (V.O.)
No go.
An awkward silence. Finally -
K.D. (V.O.)
Lincoln -
Beat.
LINCOLN
I'm here, okay. I don't know what to say. I don't know why I did this, except to save your life.
K.D. (V.O.)
Lincoln, this isn't life.
LINCOLN
Yes, it is.
K.D. (V.O)
Don't confuse your act of selfishness with resurrection.
LINCOLN
I never wanted to play God.
K.D. struggles, not knowing who or what she is -
K.D. (V.O.)
You didn't.
(questioning it even as she says it)
K.D. Hackett is dead.
She changes the subject, back to business.
K.D. (V.O.)
We have work to do -
EXT. K.D. - DAY
cruising.
K.D. (V.O.)
You have to figure out a way to breach the consulate's security net.
LINCOLN (V.O.)
I can't handle this right now.
As the car accelerates way past the speed limit -
INT. BACK ROOM OF AFTER HOUR'S CLUB - DAY
Odyssey tosses a beer to Lincoln over a parked K.D., then goes back to his computer.
ODYSSEY
I did three years in the joint for hacking. Would have done six, but I broke into the prison's mainframe and gave myself time off for good behavior.
LINCOLN
(halfhearted)
Then it's not that big a deal?
ODYSSEY
I'm retired. Besides, I make it a rule to never play in the Intercrime leagues. I'm not sleeping with any fishes.
LINCOLN
We'll be in and out before they know it.
ODYSSEY
I thought the Knight Microprocessor was the hottest mini-mainframe on-line. What do you need me for?
K.D. (V.O.)
I'm not a computer. My artificial intelligence has enhanced some of the on-board functions -
ODYSSEY
--but it sells the others short. Got the picture.
LINCOLN
Put her one-line with your mainframe. Thirty seconds, max. And we're out of here.
ODYSSEY
In case you forgot, pal, we made some major modifications in that microprocessor.
LINCOLN
And?
ODYSSEY
You're running a big risk here of erasing the program.
(indicating the car)
There's a lot more than eight cylinders and a V-12.
K.D. (V.O.)
Don't treat me like I'm not here. Let us worry about the risks.
Resigned, Odyssey pulls out the computer cables they used earlier. Lincoln grabs them from him and begins the connection himself. Off Odyssey's look -
INT. BACK ROOM OF AFTER HOURS' CLUB - LATER - ON MONITOR
K.D.'s birds-eye POV of a computer-generated Los Angeles. She hovers over a building - the display logo identifies it as the Carpasian Consulate. PULSING RED BARS shoot out of the consulate in all directions, like tennis balls from a throwing machine.
A bleary-eyed Lincoln and Odyssey look down from the big monitor to a second support screen where each of the RED BARS are identified by transmission and reception location.
ODYSSEY
(reading off the screen)
You got three going to Carpasia. Two to the State Department. One to the White House.
(smiling)
An escort service. How much do we really want to know about the private lives of public figures?
LINCOLN
Stay on it.
ODYSSEY
I never heard of Carpasia. Sounds like a social disease.
LINCOLN
Got it!
LINCOLN'S POV - THE SUPPORT SCREEN
He points to the second-to-last transmission -
THE BIG SCREEN MONITOR
CLICKS DOWN to a SINGLE RED BAR arcing downward to the Intercrime front we saw earlier.
K.D. (V.O.)
When I tried to break in, their security system locked down.
ODYSSEY
Flashes a wicked smile. Cracks his knuckles.
ODYSSEY
You're talking to a man who can remove his underwear without taking off his pants.
His fingers fly over the keyboard like a concert pianist pushing Bach into the 21st Century. A high-speed CLICK accompanies his virtuoso digits.
BACK TO MONITOR
K.D.'s POV CLOSES IN on the RED BAR. Suddenly, the RED DOOR we saw earlier clamps down on the screen. The display FLASHES - SECURITY BREACH!
K.D. (V.O.)
This is where I ran into trouble.
ODYSSEY (V.O.)
But I'm going in the back door.
CRACKS appear in the RED DOOR. Parts of it begin to fall away.
ODYSSEY (V.O.)
We're almost inside -
The remaining RED disappears, falling away like shattered glass, replaced by a screen full of ENCODED TEXT.
K.D. (V.O.)
It's code. I'll take over from here.
INT. K.D. - NIGHT - ON DASHBOARD DISPLAY
K.D. furiously tries to translate the scrolling screens of text.
ODYSSEY (O.S.)
Step on it! I can't keep the door open much longer!
LINCOLN AND ODYSSEY
eyes riveted to the monitor.
LINCOLN
What are you getting?
K.D. (V.O.)
Five seconds more -
On which -
ODYSSEY'S MONITOR AND SUPPORT SCREEN
EXPLODE! Lincoln and Odyssey dive for cover, barely dodging the flying plexiglass.
K.D. (V.O.)
Lincoln, are you alright?!
WIDER
As the dust settles.
LINCOLN
I'm fine.
K.D. (V.O.)
I couldn't translate the entire message.
Odyssey jumps up from under a table.
ODYSSEY
Wow! I haven't had this much fun since I drank milk out of a live cat.
K.D. (V.O.)
The Carpasian's are bartering cigarettes for a Knight Rider vehicle.
Lincoln crosses over to K.D. as Odyssey starts to clean up the mess.
LINCOLN
And we just blew any proof when the screens blew.
K.D. (V.O.)
We've got to report back to Major Brady.
There is a long moment of silence.
LINCOLN
It's not that simple. I'm looking at Treason.
ODYSSEY
I hear Cuba's beautiful this time of year.
K.D.'s on-board systems come to life and the engine kicks on with a soft purr. Lincoln looks at Odyssey for help, but doesn't get it. And we -
EXT. KNIGHT RIDER COMMAND - DAY
K.D. slowly glides up to the main gate. Lincoln lowers the window, flashing his I.D. to the GUARD, who recognizes him immediately.
GUARD
(leveling his weapon)
Get out of the car and step away from it, please.
LINCOLN
Just tell Brady I'm here.
GUARD
Get out of the car. Hands on your head. Please.
Lincoln just sits there a moment staring at him, then, wearily, gets out of the car, hands at his side.
GUARD
Hands on your head.
LINCOLN
Don't push it.
Without warning, the Guard hits Lincoln with a BURST from a LASER TASER. Lincoln drops to his knees. The Guard quickly cuffs Lincoln's hands behind his back, and shoves him face down on the hood of the car.
LINCOLN
looks up at the windshield, his bloodshot eyes communicating his emotional state to K.D. As the GUARD pulls out a hand-held communicator and -
GUARD
Tell the Major I've got Lieutenant Pankow and the stolen vehicle at the Main Gate.
K.D. (V.O.)
Correction. Tell him Lieutenant Pankow and Lieutenant Hackett are here to see him.
Off the Guard's shock -
FADE OUT.
END OF ACT FOUR
