Major Project

Draft One Version Two

Written By
Mark Stamp

Address
Phone Number

I/E. AIRLOCK
Door opens to a lab scattered with papers. Camera moves
forward as scientist's voice can be heard
SCIENTIST
(Voice only)
This is a record of progress on
project codename Chiavora. Pioneers
delivered a few biologically stable
samples but so far no life form has
survived containment save for a
species of moss that after some
genome therapy has adapted to an
oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere.
INT. SPECIMEN LAB
View passes several specimen containers, all dead save for
one label. Label is marked 'Four'
Two hundred billion miles and a
tenure for [company] and they set
me on moss duty. What an
opportunity.
A week after planting the moss
began developing a bulb underneath
the soil. First detected when it
was three centimetres in diameter,
after two weeks it's grown to
thirty-five. No sign what it is but
MRI suggests something is growing
inside it. Cannot tell what yet.
Aside from jsut getting bigger it
doesn't appear that remarkable.
[Company] is going to love we
discovered an alien species of
turnip and amde it edible.
An open dossier on the moss sits next to the desk. Marked in
red over the open page is "rejected" accompanied by the
company logo. A monitor shows an email asking for something
more exciting.
View changes to a photograph of a newspaper cutting of a
young man, headline reads "The next Tesla? $250,000 grant
awarded to Tharsis chemistry graduate."
Dr. Gaden tells me his nephew just
got his grant. Lucky kid's working
on superconducting high-temperature
magnets on Mars. Apparently his
grant was for developing a new
(MORE)

high-temperature compound. Dr.

Alfonse tells me his son is working
on some nano project for [Company]
Medical. I suppose with all these
discoveries my chance at scientific
recognition are next to nil.
INT. DORMITORY
View passes over framed documents. Journal cuttings and
academic certificates over a bunk. View moves to screens
showing soil shifting as a grub-like creature emerges from
the soil.
We discovered this bulb was a
cocoon of some variety. Inside was
some sort of grub that emerged out
of the soil after a month and a
half maturing in the ground. The
moss was feeding it...maybe I do
have something interesting on my
hands.
Computer footage shows the grub munching on moss sample.
Accompanying footage shows grub munching on small insects.
Next to the computer is a portrait the camera centres on
before moving.
We've been getting word from our
supervisor that [company] wants
results. The alien turnip
suggestion is now off the table and
likely want to know how we can take
advantage of the pupa. Sadly it
simply eats, nothing more.
Chemistry department took some of
the moulted chitin for study, we
hope there's something there.
Unlikely, we're not even sure it
can be trained as a housepet.
At first I was a little unsettled.
No insect alive can grow this
large. The biology department wants
to dissect it. They want to know
what's inside. No. Four is our life
cycle study, it's too early to cut
it up. Best option is get some
pioneers to recover more moss to
cultivate for study.
View passes a series of broken cases holding soil samples.

Inside one set of boxes are large cocoon fragments, some are
on desks as they were being studied.
Subject Four created a cocoon
around itself after reaching three
feet and seven inches long. This
could be the kind of breakthrough
[company] wants; what uses could
this shell have? What is Four
metamorphosing into? We have to
know. [Company] can't pull the plug
now we HAVE to know.
View pays momentary focus to a letter mentioning funding
cuts. Near a far wall are signs of a smashed mug, stains on
a whiteboard that reads "More cuts? Now?"
Two months ago the cocoon opened.
First Four was a moss, then a grub,
now something much more. I's
intelligent. When I observed it
emerging think it imprinted, it
looked at me with large curious
eyes. It...I think it likes me.
Does it see me as family?
View passes over recordings of the immature third stage of
the creature as it looks at the scientist on the other side
of the screen. Other videos show the creature accomplishing
simple puzzles.
[Company] wants more. We sent some
of the cocoon fragments to the
materials lab. I don't have my
hopes up but this creature...It's
smart. Very smart. It can grasp, we
gave it puzzles its rate of
learning is remarkable. There might
be promise but...But is it right?
It's intelligent, maybe self-aware.
Is it right to treat it as some
specimen to be exploited?
Photos adorn the wall of a dormitory, showing the creature
inside the base. A whiteboard listing a series of uses for
the creature, all crossed out in red. At the bottom "Four is
no weapon" written in bold red.
[Company] is getting eager to the
point of irritation. The board
wants results but Four is not yet
fully mature, once we can be
certain it's fully grown then we
can start thinking of practical
applications. I can't let them take
(MORE)

it. It cannot go to some dissection

table not now. Not when it has
developed so much. Not when it
could be the key to my life meaning
something!
INT. BASE DEVASTATED
Blast door opens to show a base that is more dilapidated.
The glass of interview rooms ahs been shattered. Clipboards
are scattered around the room, marked in lots of red. The
voice of the scientist changes to imply the voice is coming
from a speciifc location.
They're sending investigators. The
lab has not seen so much outside
interest since the first phases of
the colony. They want answers but
they're not getting them-(Tone changes, something
is happening behind the
scientist and he becomes
distracted, turning to
address the noise.)
Hey HEY that is very delicate
equipment it's almost impossible to
replace out here.
Further rooms have bloodstains, claw-marks, the recordings
are accompanied by the muffled sounds of struggle.
Four...if you are listening to
this. I'm sorry. I did what I
could. Those in high places, they
wanted results, they wanted to use
you. If you see any bearing the
[company] logo...protect yourself.
But they are just doing their job.
Camera moves to reveal Four, a mature creature, laying on
the floor next to a console playing the recording, visibly
wounded with the life in its eyes passing away. Four is
breathing heavily as the last moments of life escape it.
THE END