©

TERRA INCOGNITA
Screenplay by Dick Croy

Reg: WGAW 9413 Southgate Dr.

Cincinnati, OH 45241
513-600-4042
wordandimage@fuse.net
Terra Incognita: “Unknown Lands”
on the maps of ancient mariners.
What will life in America be like
if the ship of state goes down?
TERRA INCOGNITA 1

TERRA INCOGNITA

FADE IN:

INT. DAY – MAP

The camera glides over a map of the known world from

the 1400s. Names of oceans and continents are in
Latin. Panning left (west) from Europe and North
Africa to the Atlantic Ocean, we come to an area
devoid of any detail but the fanciful illustration of
a sea-serpent-like dragon, which ancient mariners
thought lurked in those unnamed parts of the world
labeled “TERRA INCOGNITA.”

INT. DAY - CAR

RITA, an attractive woman in her late 20’s, behind the

wheel. On her face, a combination of desperation, fear
and despair at what she sees around her.

EXT. DAY – CITY STREETS – POV RITA

Debris, deserted streets, some abandoned cars.

Disorder, an eerie quiet. The few wary people
scurrying along in front of mostly closed shops and
businesses share Rita’s appearance of sheer willpower
restraining panic in a determination to get somewhere.
TERRA INCOGNITA 2

INT. DAY - CAR

A wider angle reveals AARON, a toddler, strapped into

a car seat in back. He appears aware of his mother’s
emotional state but secure in her company.

EXT./INT. DAY – BLIGHTED NEIGHBORHOODS/CAR – MONTAGE

Affected by some scenes more than others, Rita looks

in the rearview mirror to comfort her baby, or
herself. She tenses when, stopped at a stop sign, she
spots a group of...

ADOLESCENT BOYS

...swaggering down the middle of the street toward

her. The 10 or so youths – mostly white, with a couple
of Latinos and a black – react boisterously, more than
with real menace, to the car.

INT./EXT. – CAR

Alarm in Rita’s face. She whips the car to the left

and peels away from them. The baby begins to cry.

EXT./INT. – SUBURBAN NEIGHBORHOODS/CAR – MONTAGE

Increasingly more upscale, though many homes are

rundown. Rita now only slows at stop signs. She has
begun to relax somewhat until becoming aware of what
the audience may have already noticed: an occasional
car parked at the curb with a man behind the wheel,
eyeing Rita as she passes. The cars aren’t marked in
any way, nor are the drivers in uniform. At last, her
face relaxes into an expression of immense relief.

EXT. DAY – PALATIAL HOUSE – POV RITA

Not quite a mansion but an old-money home in an

TERRA INCOGNITA 3

exclusive neighborhood. The lawn is unkempt, the

landscaping a bit neglected, but otherwise the house
appears to be in good shape.

ANOTHER ANGLE

From some distance we see Rita, holding her baby,

enter the frame and, not quite running, hurry across
the large lawn to the front door, which opens just as
she arrives and disappears inside.

INT. DAY - ENTRANCE HALL

Rita and Aaron are embraced by her mother MEREDITH

McALLISTER. Her father BRIAN stands, anxious and
relieved, beside her. In their mid- to late-50s, both
appear intelligent, caring, accustomed to living well.

MOTHER
Here they are!...Oh, I’m so glad
to see you.

Her daughter’s greeting is inarticulate, almost a

wail. The baby bursts into tears again.

MOTHER
Oh, the poor thing! Give him to me,
honey, so you can hug your father.

Father and daughter embrace emotionally. He rocks her

a moment before holding her at arms-length to look
into her face, then starts to say something – but
can’t continue. Rita’s expression conveys both
surprise and tenderness.

LIVING ROOM – LATER

Rita and father are seated. Aaron stands unsteadily,

holding onto his mother’s legs. Rita’s mother enters
with a tray of iced tea, snacks and a sippy cup for
Aaron. A platter of veggies and dip has already been
placed on the coffee table.
TERRA INCOGNITA 4

MOTHER
Let’s all eat, drink and be merry.

FATHER
(after giving her a look)
...So, what about Bill? What have
you told him?

RITA
We’ve talked about it of course.
But he’s so against it.

MOTHER
(sitting beside her husband)
What’s he going to do?

RITA
I don’t know, Mom. You know the
airlines now – he’s been trying to
get out of Phoenix for two days.
I’m afraid to wait any longer.

MOTHER
But we’ve begged you to come stay
with us.

RITA
And I’ve begged you to leave. You
don’t get it.

FATHER
I think we understand the situation,
well enough, Rita. We’re not as out
of touch as you think.

RITA
I hope not, Dad. But I still think
coming here would be a mistake. If
it weren’t for Aaron –

MOTHER
But, honey, it’s Aaron we’re
thinking of. We know you can take
care of yourself. But with Aaron...
TERRA INCOGNITA 5

RITA
It’s Aaron I’m thinking of, Mother.

A tense silence. Meredith gets up and paces.

FATHER
I know you are, baby. We both know
that. But to, to just abandon Bill
like this...

RITA
I know what he’d say. There’d be a
terrible argument – and I’m not
going to change his mind. So the
result would be the same, except
now Aaron would be traumatized,
and I’d be distraught. This is
better. I’ve written him a long
letter.

FATHER
Letter. If you won’t come to stay
here, you’re going to need him,
Rita. We know that much.

His wife stands behind him, her hand on his shoulder.

MOTHER
So, tell us about this, this commune.
How is it going to be safer for you
than our home?

RITA
Not a commune, Mom. An “intentional”
community. They’ve been springing up
all over the country. Terra’s not
just a bunch of hippies.

EXT. NIGHT - DECK

Drinks in hand, Rita and her father stand looking out

at the night over a lushly landscaped back yard.
TERRA INCOGNITA 6

FATHER
Your mother and I have taken
some precautions. I don’t want
you to worry about us.

RITA
I will though, Dad. I don’t put
much faith in a few security
guards scattered around town.

FATHER
There’s a gated community...

RITA
Mom told me. The proverbial
“gated community.”

FATHER
If we feel in need of that kind
of security, it’s available too.

RITA
What if you wait too long? What
if you jeopardize your lives,
just to hold onto...all this.

FATHER
...We’re not ready to walk away,
Rita. We’ll leave if we have to.

INT. NIGHT - BEDROOM

A guest room with a crib in which Rita gently lays her

sleeping child. She and her mother tiptoe away and sit
down on the edge of a bed whose covers have already
been laid back. They speak in hushed voices.

MOTHER
When will your friends be here?

RITA
They said promptly at six. We’re
picking up a family in another
city. They said it’s good to have
two cars anyway, for security.
TERRA INCOGNITA 7

MOTHER
Good Lord. What have we come to?

Her mother notices tears running down Rita’s cheeks.

MOTHER
Why, what’s wrong, dear?

Rita can’t speak. Her mother pulls her close, and Rita
surrenders to her mother’s arms.

MOTHER
...I know this is hard.

RITA
(choking through sobs)
I love him....He doesn’t deserve
this.

MOTHER
I know that, and so does your
father. He doesn’t understand why
you’re leaving Bill for now, but
we’re certainly behind you if you
feel you’re doing the right thing.

RITA
I don’t know if it’s the right
thing....Who knows what’s the right
thing?

EXT. DAWN - McCALLISTERS’ HOUSE

The reverse of Rita’s entrance. A car is parked in

front of Rita’s, its motor running. ANDY, a man in his
30s, escorts Rita and her baby hurriedly to her car,
which CHIRPS when she unlocks the doors remotely. Andy
opens the door and...

RITA

...looks back with great sadness at...

TERRA INCOGNITA 8

HER PARENTS – POV RITA

...standing together in the doorway, her father’s arm

around his wife.

EXT./INT. DAWN - RITA’S CAR

Rita puts the baby in his car seat and looks once more
at her parents.

RITA & PARENTS - WIDE SHOT

They wave. She waves back without conviction.

EXT. DAWN - RITA’S CAR

ANDY
Do you want to...

RITA
(turning abruptly to the car)
Just go.

McALLISTERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD – EXT. DAWN – CRANE SHOT

The two cars drive away as the camera rises for a

panoramic shot of the sleeping neighborhood. Its
streets are deserted.

EXT. DAWN – HOUSING CONSTRUCTION SITE – MONTAGE

Several framed-in houses under construction. The SOUND

of hammers and power tools as carpenters begin the
day’s work.

JOSH

A tall, lean handsome man in his 30s with a ponytail,

is perched precariously on a ladder expertly wielding
some kind of power tool.
TERRA INCOGNITA 9

CONSTRUCTION SITE – MONTAGE

Other angles and Workers. A late-model SUV drives up,

and the FOREMAN, a Latino in his 40s-50s, gets out and
whistles shrilly. The Workers gather around him, their
comments and expressions revealing that they know
what’s coming.

FOREMAN
It’s finished!

The Workers respond with half-hearted objections.

FOREMAN
Unless you want to work for nothing,
for people who’ll never buy one,
we’re through here!

The Workers disperse, gathering up tools, saying

farewells.

BLACK CO-WORKER (HENRY)

Good luck findin’ somethin’,
brother.

JOSH
You too, Henry.

They exchange a complicated but natural-looking

handshake – then grin at the effortless show of it.
Josh gestures to others as he walks to his older,
well-maintained Ford F-350 pickup, the workingman’s
classic, with toolboxes, etc.

EXT. MORNING – SEEDY URBAN STREET

An hour or so later. Josh strides gracefully down the

sidewalk and enters a nondescript martial arts dojo.
He’s annoyed that the door is unlocked.

INT. - DOJO

Past large potted plants and beautiful statuary, Josh

walks through a spacious studio with tatamis on the
TERRA INCOGNITA 10

gleaming hardwood floor to an inner sanctum. He raps

lightly, enters.

EXT. MORNING – CENTRAL COURTYARD

RENJI, an ageless fit Japanese martial artist, sits

tailor-fashion on a straw mat beside a pool fed by a
fountain.

JOSH

bows slightly in the Japanese fashion.

COURTYARD

Renji reciprocates.

JOSH
The front door’s unlocked.

Renji’s expression says, “So?”

JOSH
You’re the last place on the
block still open. Isn’t that
pushing the envelope enough?

RENJI
Front door is always open.

He waits to hear why Josh is here now.

JOSH
(sitting opposite him)
They laid us off. One of the last
sites in the area, that I know of.

RENJI
...What will you do?

JOSH
Have to find work somewhere....I
may be leaving.
TERRA INCOGNITA 11

The atmosphere is charged by what’s unnecessary to

say.

INT. DAY – CAR

BILL, Rita’s husband, a good-looking guy in his early

30s, is driving. Similar to the opening shot of Rita
except that Bill’s intense concern is focused entirely
within. He speaks into his hands-free cell phone.

BILL
Rita? Are you there?
(in an undertone)
Pick up, dammit!
I’ve left you several messages.
I’ll be home in a minute.

EXT./INT. DAY – RITA & BILL’S HOME – MONTAGE

MAIN TITLES over following scenes without dialogue

(pp. 11-14). THEME MUSIC. The house is big and
expensive but not as grand as Rita’s parents’. Bill
enters the drive, parks the car in the garage and
enters the house.

HOUSE – INT. – MONTAGE

Bill strides through the first floor and bounds up the

steps.

BILL
Rita!...Rita!

He looks in the baby’s room first, then enters the

master bedroom, where he spots Rita’s letter on her
dressing table. He picks it up and sits down on the
bed to read it.

INSERT – LETTER

Visible are the words “...another fruitless argument

about all this. You’re blind to what’s happening.”
TERRA INCOGNITA 12

BACK TO SCENE

A) Bill reacts angrily, throwing the sheets of

stationery onto the bed.

B) He’s on the phone, gesturing emphatically, more

worried than angry now.

INT./EXT. DAY - CAR

Bill drives through the same desolate neighborhoods

but, unlike Rita, is oblivious to them.

INT./EXT. DAY - McALLISTERS’ HOUSE

A) Now it is Bill being greeted in the front hall by

Rita’s parents.

B) Bill and her father on the deck, Bill gesturing as

on the phone, angry and distraught. Rita’s father
listens sympathetically and responds, his
expressions and body language revealing that he’s as
perplexed by his daughter’s behavior as Bill is.

EXT. DAY – FREEWAY

Rita’s and the other car are among only a few vehicles
on the road. A military caravan passes them going the
other way.

INT. - CAR

Rita looks from the caravan to Andy, behind the wheel.

She starts to say something then turns instead to
Aaron, asleep in his car seat. Then she (and the
Camera) focuses on the car behind them, where the
heads of a young black family are visible.

FREEWAY – EXT. DAY

TERRA INCOGNITA 13

The two cars speed past us to reveal, in the BG, a

Farmer plowing a field behind a team of two draft
horses.

INT. DAY - PICKUP

Josh speaks into the cell phone he’s holding while

driving, smiling at something the person at the other
end has said.

INT. DAY – HOUSE

In a modest living room, Josh picks up ANNIE, a happy

little 2-year old girl who is reaching up to him.
Scattered around the room, on the carpet and in high-
chairs, etc., are several other young children,
obviously under the care of a Woman in her mid-30s,
tired but pleasant-looking who is talking to him as he
jiggles and sways with the child.

INT. DAY - McALLISTERS’ HOUSE

A road atlas is open on an impressive desk in Mr.

McAllister’s study. Seated, he is apparently tracing
the route Rita has taken for Bill, standing beside
him.

INSERT – ATLAS

McAllister’s finger follows freeways from somewhere in

the Midwest diagonally into western North Carolina.

INT. DAY - RITA’S CAR

Mid-afternoon. Rita, asleep, has made a cushion for

herself against the passenger-side door. Andy glances
over at her with a masculine tenderness, then back to
the highway.

EXT. DAY - SCHOOL PARKING LOT

TERRA INCOGNITA 14

Same time of day. Holding their hands, Josh walks

between SUSIE and MERILEE, Annie’s 5- and 8-year-old
sisters, toward his pickup, where Annie sleeps in a
car seat. Josh holds the door for them, and the girls
scramble into the crowded front seat.

INT. DAY – OFFICE

Bill is in the middle of a heated argument in the

well-appointed office of a slightly older man in a
business suit whom we infer is his boss.

EXT. DAY - COUNTRY ROAD

The sun is low as Rita’s and the following car

approach us through trees on a gravel road in a wooded
hilly landscape.

INT. - CAR

Rita is looking through the windshield with an alert

hopeful expression. Her face brightens when she
sees...

EXT. – ROADSIDE – POV RITA

...a large rock at the side of the road with the name
“TERRA” on a bronze plaque emblazoned by the setting
sun.

INT. - CAR

Rita turns with a delighted smile to Andy, who returns

it.

EXT. DAY - BLUE COLLAR NEIGHBORHOOD

Same time of day. Carrying Annie, Josh is preceded by

the older girls, who are running to their mother MARY,
standing at the door of a modest well-kept tract home.
TERRA INCOGNITA 15

SUSIE
Mommy! Mommy!

MERILEE
Josh spent the day with Annie!

SUSIE
He’s going to take us on a hype
tomorrow!

MERILEE
“Hike,” Susie!

Josh and Mary laugh, then embrace with casual warmth.

MARY
“Hype,” huh? Have you really
been talking this up?

JOSH
(pretending to grimace)
Susie has.

Mary stands aside so the girls can crowd through the

door, then she, Josh and Annie follow.

EXT. DAY – TERRA, AN INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY – MONTAGE

The golden hour, when even the roughest, plainest

structures look inviting. The community of what
appears to be a dozen, maybe 20 buildings, disparate
in size and cost, is set amidst trees in a hilly
landscape. All the roofs are covered with solar
panels. Some scenes are from the POV of Rita’s slowly
moving car as it navigates a well-maintained dirt road
that winds through the community. Others show us
residents responding to the arrival of the cars.

A) Terra from a distance, its rustic mostly newly-built

structures lit by the nearly horizontal rays of the
sun.

B) From within the community, the cars approach

through the wooded landscape.
TERRA INCOGNITA 16

C) At one of the first homes they pass, an older

couple, RALPH and JOY, in their late 50s/early 60s,
stop their work in a large vegetable garden to wave.

D) NATHAN, an unhappy-looking boy 16 or 17, opens the

door of this house to check out the new arrivals.

E) They pass a mill, where a stream turns a waterwheel.

F) Then a studio workshop, whose open door reveals

MARTY, a potter at his wheel, and his wife ALISSA,
weaving a white oak basket on the front porch. She
smiles and waves.

G) The rear car stops at another house, and the black

family of four – JAVON and KIM, late 30s; PAUL, 8;
and LAURA, 6 – climb out wearily and look about.
They’re greeted by ROSE, an Anglo woman in her late
40s or so. She gestures toward the house, clearly
their destination.

H) Finally, Rita’s car is met by SARAH, a woman her age

with long dark hair, holding a baby, JEWEL.

SARAH
Rita!

RITA
Sarah!

Rita jumps out of the car and they embrace, with Sarah
pivoting her baby out of the way.

RITA
This is Jewel.

SARAH
Yes, this is Jewel. Introduce us
to Aaron.

Rita takes him from his car seat and the four of them
stand there getting acquainted. Sarah’s husband RAMÓN,
a strikingly good-looking man with Spanish/Indian
features, exits the house and strides toward Rita.
TERRA INCOGNITA 17

SARAH
Rita...meet Ramón.

He embraces her exuberantly, with Rita executing the

same swivel move employed by Sarah, to maneuver Aaron.

RITA
Ramón! I’ve heard so much about
you.

RAMÓN
(exuberantly)
It’s all true. Whatever she
tells you.

INT. EVENING - HOUSE

Sarah and Ramón’s house is rustically funky (or

funkily rustic): a treehouse for adults, imaginatively
designed and built, with impressive rough-hewn detail
work. Rita is feeding Aaron in Jewel’s highchair at a
long plank table; Sarah nurses Jewel opposite them.
Ramón is seated at the end.

SARAH
There’s plenty of room as long as
you want to stay. Aaron can have
Jewely’s crib. Wait’ll you see the
little bed Ramón made for her.

RAMÓN
You are welcome in our home and our
community. You’re the big news here.

Rita’s not sure how to take this, and Sarah picks up

on her discomfort.

SARAH
Don’t worry, Rita; it’s a small
community but people mind their own
business.

RAMÓN
Most people.
TERRA INCOGNITA 18

SARAH
(smiling at a joke between them)
It’s hard to keep anything really
private but you learn to deal.

RAMÓN
Some people leave because they get
bored. That I don’t understand.

SARAH
Ready to become a field hand?

RITA
Anything. Just show me how.

INT. NIGHT – MARY’S HOUSE

The girls are in bed, Josh and Mary share a sofa, Josh
with his head in Mary’s lap. She tousles his hair.

MARY
You know we can get along on what
I make.

JOSH
For a while. But eventually even the
schools may close.

MARY
If that happens we’ll need you more
than ever.

JOSH
I’ll find something. Whether it’s
working for money, or food, or
something we can barter.

MARY
(wanting reassurance)
...We’re going to make it, aren’t we
Joshua?

JOSH
We’ll make it.
TERRA INCOGNITA 19

We HEAR his next words but apparently just as a

thought, since his lips don’t move.

JOSH (cont’d)
If we trust that whatever happens
is for the best.

INT. DAY – SARAH AND RAMÓN’S KITCHEN

Sarah is feeding Jewel in her highchair at one corner

of the plank table. Ramón sits opposite her, sipping
coffee or tea.

SARAH
How’s your new helper working out?

RAMÓN
About what I expected. Gives him
something to do.

SARAH
It was good of you to take him on.

RAMÓN
Nathan’s not a happy camper – can’t
say that I blame him, being the only
kid his age here. I’d have probably
hated it too.

SARAH
But you’d have made the best of it.

RAMÓN
(shrugging)
Nathan may too. He’s working on a
project of his own right now. He had
some shop in school, so I trust him
with my tools.

Rita enters sleepily, holding Aaron.

RAMÓN
Buenos Días!
TERRA INCOGNITA 20

RITA
Morning.

SARAH
Coffee and hot water on the stove.

RITA
Oh, thanks.

She shuffles over and pours herself coffee from a pot

on a woodstove adapted for cooking, as her hosts watch
fondly. The kitchen and dining area have interesting
green/New-Age features. As Rita returns to the table,
Sarah stands and takes Jewel from the highchair...

SARAH
Changing of the guard.

...and sets her in an infant seat suspended on springs

from a ceiling beam. She immediately begins to bounce
delightedly. Rita puts Aaron in the highchair and
feeds him between sips of her coffee. Ramón stands.

RAMÓN
Time to go back to work.

He puts on a jacket hanging beside the door.

RAMÓN (cont’d)
The kitchen, ladies, is yours.

RITA
See you later, Ramón.

SARAH
Work the wood with passion.

He gestures in the same playful spirit and exits.

RITA
When you said he was good-looking...

SARAH
(sighing contentedly)
I must have earned some bonus
points in a past life.
TERRA INCOGNITA 21

RITA
...Tell me about this life, Sarah.
How do you go from the Lower East
Side to...
(gesturing at outside)
...this.

SARAH
It’s...been an adjustment.

Rita waits for her to elaborate.

SARAH (cont’d)
What we miss most are people. That
hive energy – to say nothing of
friends. But as more of you join
us...there’s a communal guest
house, guest yurt.

RITA
You have such a beautiful place!

SARAH
Thanks. That was important to us.

They look fondly at each other, not needing to speak.

SARAH (cont’d)
...Have you called Bill yet?

RITA
Just to let him know we got here
safely. I left him a voice-mail,
at work. I don’t know what to
tell him.

SARAH
You need time to figure that out.

RITA
I have to call him today....But
as beautiful as it is here, to
think we could be here indefinitely...

SARAH
I can identify, believe me.
TERRA INCOGNITA 22

RITA
And you’re okay with it now?

SARAH
You know what I’ve discovered?
Well, still learning, really. This
isn’t really different. It’s the
same, I don’t know, rhythm that’s
always been there, only covered up.
It’s perception that changes.

RITA
(puzzled)
I don’t...

SARAH
Well everything slows down of
course. And stays slow – that’s
the difference.

Rita’s expression/gesture says, “Go on.”

SARAH (cont’d)
Not the first biggie, but...a
challenging one. But out here,
Rita, it’s kind of like...what
Jewely must have felt, lying over
my heart for the first time. The
pulse, you know? Nature’s heartbeat.
In New York, everything disperses,
metastasizes along the surface.
And that’s the energy you go with.
...It’s deeper out here.

RITA
And you don’t miss it? All the
things you had going on in your
lives?

SARAH
Sure. Sometimes a lot. And it’s
not just what you miss...it’s what
you put up with too.
(getting up)
...But, really, we haven’t given
up as much as you think.
TERRA INCOGNITA 23

Sarah handles kitchen duties while talking.

RITA
How much of your food do you grow?
That was an impressive garden I
saw when we got here.

SARAH
Most of it, all organic. And
barter for the rest – we’re in a
co-op. Plenty of spring water.

RITA
Is that why the coffee’s so good?

SARAH
Makes food delicious. Soups...
(a blissful expression)
We think we have enough power,
if the grid goes down – and stays
down, I mean. And planning for
more. But that’s not even what
I’m talking about, Rita.
Ideas. Energy.

RITA
...I know you’re on the Internet.

SARAH
Satellite – we can download
anything. Music...movies...books.
Ramón was already selling his
furniture online, even in New
York. And there’s way more
information than we need. So
we’re still plugged in, we know
what’s happening. In some ways,
we’re more alive than we’ve ever
been. We just need good friends
to share it with.

EXT. DAY TERRA – MONTAGE

MUSIC. With Aaron in a backpack/infant seat, Rita

strolls through the community and into the woods on a
TERRA INCOGNITA 24

path, as morning sun streams through the changing fall

leaves.

A) She waves to the elderly couple she saw yesterday,

working in their garden again.

B) Stops at the mill waterwheel...

C) ...And looks inside to see that it’s grinding corn.

Waves to Andy, the miller.

D) Sees clothes drying on a line in the sun with a

breeze stirring them gently.

E) Looks in and waves to Ramón and Nathan, the unhappy-

looking teen we saw upon Rita’s arrival at Terra.
Ramón is showing him how to apply glue clamps to
furniture.

F) Passes the guest yurt Sarah mentioned.

G) Checks out a web of plastic piping that catches

water from a spring to channel to several of the
buildings.

H) Looks up to see birds and a couple of squirrels in

the trees, turning so Aaron can see the squirrels.

I) He does.

When they enter the woods MUSIC fades to reveal a

profound stillness, which scattered birdsong and the
faint rustle of dry leaves only enhance, enveloping
Rita and her child on the path. Her eyes linger on
scenes as if this kind of observation has been missing
in her life for some time. She continually turns to
give Aaron a chance to see too.

Rita comes to a rock large enough to sit down on or

lean back against and slips out of the backpack to
take Aaron from his infant seat. MUSIC has been
brought back up unobtrusively by now to set up the
moment we’re about to share with Rita. As she gazes
around her, relaxed and enjoying the morning, holding
Aaron in her arms, some random movement of leaves and
branches above her, against the sun, catches her
TERRA INCOGNITA 25

breath. A time out of time. Aaron sees (feels?) this

too, prompting an expression of sheer delight. When we
see Rita’s face again her eyes have welled with tears.

EXT. DAY - SARAH & RAMÓN’S DECK

Rita is alone, Aaron having apparently been put down

for a nap. She pushes herself on a porch swing,
looking out at a view of wooded mountains in the
spectacular colors of fall, on her face an expression
of serenity that hasn’t been there before. We watch it
change to one of determination. She’s holding a cell
phone. Taking a deep breath, she calls...

INT. DAY – BILL & RITA’S HOUSE

Bill picks up the phone. Cut between Bill and Rita.

BILL
Rita! Is everything all right?

RITA
Hi, Bill. We’re fine.

BILL
I’ve missed you.

RITA
I’ve missed you too. We both have.

Bill’s face registers a range of emotions from relief

through longing to accusation during the remainder of
their conversation.

BILL
...Well, so what’s it like?

RITA
I don’t really know yet. It’s
beautiful...but I haven’t met any
of the people. Except for Ramón –
he’s everything Rita said about
him. And Jewel.
TERRA INCOGNITA 26

BILL
Do they really have enough room
for you? What’s their place like?

RITA
Open...spacious. There’s enough
room for now.

BILL
But, you’re not sure about the
com –
(about to say “commune”)
the community itself?

RITA
Not Terra, no. But we did the
right thing, coming here – I’m
sure of that now, Bill. We need
to find a way for you to –

BILL
(interrupting)
We’ve already gone over this,
Rita! If I want to start over –
become a lumberjack, or a pot
farmer, then, yeah...
(street dialect)
...I’m down with that, baby!

RITA
Oh, Bill...

BILL
I even talked to Shit-hook about
it. I could have been speaking in
tongues.

RITA
You said something to Finch?

BILL
You’re not listening, Rita! What
do we do if I just abandon this
job? All our money’s tied up in
the house.
TERRA INCOGNITA 27

RITA
We’ll think of something. I was
so afraid this might be a big
mistake, coming here. But it
wasn’t. It’s not, Bill. Now we
just have to find a way –

BILL
I’ve gotta go, Rita. I’ll call
you.

He hangs up. Rita ends the call and puts down the
phone, a brief flare-up of anger eclipsed by
resignation and sadness.

EXT./INT. DAY/NIGHT – MONTAGE

With MUSIC. Scenes of Josh are cut with a muscular

sense of rhythm, as if this is the way he moves in
life. His actions are purposeful, with smooth unwasted
motion and a light step. Observing his life unfold is
rather like watching tai chi.

A) Job-hunting. In his pickup Josh encounters one

abandoned residential or commercial construction
site after another. No one answers his cell calls.
He registers all the normal emotions of a fruitless
search without dwelling in them.

B) With Mary and her daughters Josh has an easy grace:

playing board games and cards; tussling with the
girls; in a deserted playground – where, though
attentive to all of them, he never drops his guard,
as when...

C) ...a car cruises past and the two watchful men

inside look the scene over, take note of Josh’s
unconcerned observation of them, and drive away.

D) At the kitchen table in Mary’s house. From the

somber mood and papers spread about, a bank
statement, open checkbook, etc., it’s apparent that
finances are being discussed. Josh reaches across
the table and places his hand on Mary’s. The gesture
and the gentle intensity in his eyes transform her
TERRA INCOGNITA 28

worried frown to an expression of acknowledgment,

which relaxes into a smile of deep, trusting love
for him.

INT./EXT. DAY/NIGHT - BILL’S LIFE – MONTAGE

Montage and MUSIC continue, with scenes of Bill’s

coping.

A) He wanders from room to room in their big empty

house.

B) Finds it difficult to concentrate at his desk at

work. (Whatever his occupation), he obviously has
an upper-level management position, given the
people who report to him and the respect shown him
in the office.

C) Finch, his boss, happens by when Bill is caught up

in his work and smiles tightly with satisfaction.

D) Bill’s housekeeping and grooming gradually

deteriorate over several days as we watch him
grilling and eating a steak...desultorily flipping
through channels on a large flat-panel television...
lackadaisically practicing his golf swing in the
back yard.

E) Answering the telephone, showing concern, he drives

to Rita’s parents’ home. The streets are even more
deserted and derelict than before. His in-laws’
house and others have been spray-painted with gang
graffiti.

INT. NIGHT - PARENTS’ KITCHEN

Rita’s father hands Bill a beer from the fridge.

FATHER
We’ve both about had it.

He pours himself a drink

TERRA INCOGNITA 29

FATHER
You saw how effective our paid
“security” is.

BILL
Some gang’s staked a claim on
your neighborhood.

FATHER
The police won’t respond to
anything that’s not life-
threatening. What’re we
supposed to do – ask intruders
whether our lives are at stake?

Rita’s mother enters and embraces Bill tearfully.

MOTHER
We keep thinking things will
improve somehow. They’re just
getting worse.

BILL
Do you think it’s safe?

FATHER
For now – in this neighborhood.

MOTHER
We feel like settlers inside the
fort.

FATHER
We can move pretty much at a
moment’s notice if it comes to
that.

MOTHER
It can’t be soon enough for me.

BILL
What would you do about the
house?

FATHER
Thinking about trying to rent it.
TERRA INCOGNITA 30

MOTHER
Which we’ll never collect a cent
of.

FATHER
That’s not the point!
(to Bill)
The point is to figure out how
to get someone to take care of
it.

BILL
At least yours is paid for. Rita
seems to think it’ll all just
take care of itself somehow. Job,
mortgage, financial obligations...

MOTHER
It’s all just too much to take in
sometimes.

BILL
Let me know how I can help.

Rita’s father puts his arm around Bill’s shoulders and

the men share a look that communicates everything they
haven’t said about the precariousness of their
situation.

INT./EXT. DAY/NIGHT - MONTAGE

We meet the people of Terra, again under music. Scenes

edited with a graceful flow enhanced by camera
movement.

A) In muted dawn light filtering into their loft

bedroom, Sarah and Ramón make love in their large
hand-made bed.

B) Joy, the elderly woman we’ve seen gardening, lights

a fire in a woodstove similar to Sarah and Ramón’s.
On the burners are a teakettle and covered saucepan.

C) Nathan sullenly slops a couple of hogs, then gathers

eggs in a chicken coop.
TERRA INCOGNITA 31

D) GONZO, a thin long-haired hippie, nets a fish from a

pond for aquaculture beside a large compost area.

E) Ramón begins the day’s work in his studio and is

soon engrossed in the piece of fine furniture he’s
crafting.

F) Sarah lifts Jewel from her bed and carries her

downstairs.

G) Joy and Ralph breakfast with their grandson Nathan

on oatmeal, eggs and fruit.

H) Rose, the middle-age woman who greeted the family of

four in the car behind Rita’s, works on a quilt in
the morning sunlight on a table in front of her.

But this isn’t your great-grandmother’s frontier

settlement.

I) In the next room, Paul and Laura play a video game

on TV, while their father Javon types on his laptop.
His wife Kim enters, glancing at her watch, and
motions for the kids to turn off the TV. They’re
unhappy. When their dad turns and yells at them they
leave the room.

J) Rose, at her quilt, sighs, a sour look on her face.

INT. DAY JOY AND RALPH’S KITCHEN

Clearing the table, Nathan, awkward and out of sync

with his grandparents, blunders into Ralph and drops
the bowl he’s carrying. Ralph starts to say something
but, catching his wife’s eye, restrains himself as
Nathan cleans up the pieces.

NATHAN
You knocked it out of my hand,
Grandpa.

RALPH
You walked right into me....You
need to take hold of yourself,
Nathan. You’re lucky to be here.
TERRA INCOGNITA 32

JOY
We all are.

RALPH
That’s right. You’re just going
to have to make the best of it.

NATHAN
That’s easy for you to say.

JOY
(sweetly, from the sink)
Think of it as a game, Nathan.
The game of life.

Ralph rolls his eyes, sharing a glance with Nathan.

JOY
I know it sounds silly. But
life’s what you make of it.

NATHAN
I tried doin’ that, Grandma. I’ve
tried everything. But I can’t
pretend I’m not out here in the
boonies. My life should be goin’
on back where I belong.

RALPH
You belong right here.

JOY
(shooting him a look)
Who’s to say where you truly
belong?

NATHAN
Well if it’s not there, I don’t
know where the hell it is.

RALPH
Watch your tongue, Nate.

NATHAN
I didn’t ask to come here. I
didn’t want to come.
TERRA INCOGNITA 33

JOY
What were we supposed to do,
with your...your mom and dad
gone, Nathan?

RALPH
We couldn’t just leave you there.
Who knows what might have happened
to you?

NATHAN
(knowing it’s not true)
It couldn’t have been worse’n this.

RALPH
Then you have a serious lack of
imagination.

Nathan exits and Ralph walks over to stand beside his

wife, looking out a window over the sink.

JOY
What can we do to help the boy?

EXT. DAY - TERRA

Paul and Laura are running in the yard outside the

house, having every bit as much fun as they were in
front of the TV.

INT./EXT. DAY - SARAH – MONTAGE

A virtually choreographed dance not merely of

domesticity but of a woman making life a game, a dance
of housekeeping, the whole time keeping her eye on
Jewel around and under her feet.

A) Making the bed, lingering on memories of earlier

this morning.

B) Doing the laundry (in what we learn later is water

heated in copper tubing on the roof), wringing it
out in an old-fashioned wringer, then hanging it on
a clothesline in the back yard.
TERRA INCOGNITA 34

C) Turning on the desktop computer and sound system

(and recording the time in a notebook for logging
electrical usage), then sweeping Jewel up in one arm
to dance with while straightening up the house with
the other. Dancing and laughing in front of a full-
length mirror with her.

D) Picking herbs and vegetables from a garden much

smaller than Joy and Ralph’s.

E) Washing the greens in the sink and preparing lunch.

F) Meanwhile, in this same “dance”, Ramón caresses the

curve of a chair leg he’s working on and...

G) ...the movement is continued on his wife’s bare leg.

With Jewel down for her nap, they’re at it again –
this time with more heat than tenderness in their
love-making.

INT. DAY - SARAH AND RAMÓN’S KITCHEN

Later, wearing little more than playful smiles, they

sit at the table in their kitchen eating the light
lunch Sarah has prepared.

SARAH
Someone worked up an appetite.

Ramón replies with something apparently raunchy from

the look on Sarah’s face, but it’s in Spanish/Indian.

INT. DAY - RAMÓN’S STUDIO WORKSHOP

Nathan is shaping a piece of wood in a vise on the

workbench. When he’s satisfied with it, he removes it
and snaps a short piece of plastic pipe, the diameter
of a gun barrel, into place against the wood.

Ramón enters, and Nathan conceals his handiwork.

RAMÓN
What’re you working on there,
Nathan?
TERRA INCOGNITA 35

NATHAN
Aw, I’d rather show it to you
when I’m done.

RAMÓN
(returning to work)
Okay. Let me know if I can help.

INT./EXT. DAY - SARAH – MONTAGE (CONT’D)

H) Sarah dreamily checks laundry on the line, putting

items already dry in a clothesbasket.

I) Ramón, too, pauses in his work for a moment to

recall something that brings a smile to his face.

J) Sarah is taking down the last of the laundry when

she looks up and sees...

K) ...A man on a motorcycle, nearly hidden in trees

lining the entrance road, looking down at the
community.

L) Troubled, she takes the basket of clothes inside.

When she looks out a moment later, he’s gone.

INT. NIGHT - SARAH AND RAMÓN’S KITCHEN

An entirely different appearance in candlelight, with

the two of them, Rita, and their children seated at
the table for dinner. The pleasant mood at the table
is broken by Sarah.

SARAH
He was here again.

RAMÓN
(putting his fork down)
...Motorcycle Man?
Sarah nods.
RITA
(on alert)
Who on earth are you talking
about?
TERRA INCOGNITA 36

SARAH
We don’t know who he is. Whether
he wants to join us, or what.

RAMÓN
Don’t be alarmed, Rita. We’re not
defenseless here.

SARAH
He may be afraid of who we are.

RITA
The main reason I came here was
because I thought it would be
safer than where we were.

SARAH
So do we, Rita, or we wouldn’t
have asked you.

EXT. NIGHT - TERRA

A long re-establishing shot in the moonlight. A chorus

of insects. It’s a toss-up as to whether the community
in the trees appears more snug and secluded, or
vulnerable.

INT. NIGHT - SARAH AND RAMÓN’S BEDROOM

They’re in bed, covered by a thick comforter.

SARAH
...Do you really think we could
defend ourselves, if we had to?

RAMÓN
(sleepily)
We’re a lot safer here than we were
in New York, Rita.

SARAH
I’m going to bring it up, though –
after the sweat.
TERRA INCOGNITA 37

RAMÓN
Good idea.
(mumbling)
Get the geese out of the woodpile.

Sarah gives him a puzzled look, then sees that he’s

fallen asleep. She herself is unable to sleep.

INT. DAY – JOSH – MONTAGE

MUSIC in this and the following montage.

A) In their bedroom at dawn, the camera glides from

Mary asleep in bed to Josh, meditating straight-
backed at an open window.

B) At the dojo, he warms up with a series of exercises.

C) Later, he and Renji go through a dazzling martial

arts routine in which their movements mirror one
another almost exactly.

INT. DAY – BILL – MONTAGE (WITHOUT DIALOGE)

A) Bill, his boss and others in impeccable business

attire are negotiating at a conference table.

B) Bill and Finch high-five each other outside the

conference room after the meeting.

C) From an upscale bar, Bill calls Rita to share the

success of the deal that’s just been concluded.
She’s properly congratulatory and happy for him, yet
there’s something missing from their connection.

D) Now rumpled and slumped over the bar, Bill has lost
all of his high spirits from the successful meeting.

INT. DAY – DOJO

Renji and Josh sit cross-legged across from each other

on a tatami in the courtyard.
TERRA INCOGNITA 38

JOSH
I hope this isn’t the last time
we see each other, Sensei.

RENJI
What is your intention?

Josh acknowledges the point Renji is obviously making

with a smile and tip of his head.

JOSH
My intentions and what’s in
store for us may be seriously at
odds.

RENJI
Intention – not just yours of
course – can do much to determine
the course of events.

EXT. NIGHT - RITA’S PARENTS’ HOUSE

CRICKETS. The house seems peaceful enough, until the

SOUND of a window shattering. A moment later, Rita’s
father stumbles out, dressed only in shorts, and sets
himself, in an elderly civilian’s version of the gun-
in-both hands stance familiar from TV cop shows,
swinging his arms from side to side. But no one moves
in the dark.

EXT. NIGHT – TERRA SWEAT HUT/BONFIRE – MONTAGE

All the adults we’ve met, and others, gather around a

bonfire encircled by large stones and logs, on which
some people are seated. Reflecting the flames is a
dome-shaped enclosure consisting of old sleeping bags
and comforters covered with plastic and laid over a
framework of saplings which have been cut, bent into
shape and tied down. Some embraces but mostly casual
greetings. Ramón thrusts a pitchfork into the coals
and removes a red-hot firebrick.

RAMÓN
Fire in the hole!
TERRA INCOGNITA 39

Another man lifts a corner of the dome's opening flap

and Ramón disappears inside with the brick, then backs
out with the pitchfork empty. Folks disrobe discreetly
in shadows, then enter the sweat hut in the nude.
What’s notable about this scene is how casual it is.
Most of these bodies are very ordinary, and there’s no
apparent erotic charge in the experience, just smiles.

INT. NIGHT - SWEAT HUT - MONTAGE

Naked bodies seated on logs encircling red-hot bricks

in a fire pit. Ramón dips a cup into a bucket at his
feet and sprinkles water onto the bricks, producing a
hissing cloud of steam and exclamations.

EXT. NIGHT – SWEAT HUT – MONTAGE

The bathers take turns drinking from a hose and hosing

one another off, then dry themselves and dress.

INT. NIGHT - LODGE/GREAT ROOM – MONTAGE

Now clothed in comfortable clothing, the bathers file

past a table laden with healthful food and assemble at
a large oval table to eat and visit with one another.
As the meal is winding down, REBECCA, a 30-something
woman we haven’t met, stands to address the table.

REBECCA
Bless-ed be.
(table responds)
Tom asked me to remind you that
he’ll be going into town
tomorrow. So give him your lists
in the morning.

TOM, Rebecca’s husband and about the same age, is the

one who opened the sweat hut for Ramón. He’s a
pleasant but no-nonsense kind of guy.

TOM
Eight o’clock sharp. Rides on a
first-come basis.
TERRA INCOGNITA 40

Some people gesture to be included.

REBECCA
Luke’s asked for volunteers for
winter wheat plowing tomorrow.
Weather permitting. See him after
the meeting.

Gonzo, whom we saw at the pond, raises his hand.

REBECCA
Gonzo?

GONZO
We’re gonna be pourin’ footers
For the new wind turbine
tomorrow. Helping hands welcome.

REBECCA
Sarah, you said you had something
you wanted to talk about.

Sarah hands Jewel to Ramón and stands.

SARAH
Anyone else see our friend on
the Harley again?

Others respond: “Heard him.” “Yeah, I saw him.”

TOM
What’s the consensus? Is he a
wannabe or a potential threat?

SARAH
That’s what I want to discuss.
I think we should review our
defenses too. Ramón’s going to
talk about that.

Nathan, who’s been paying little attention, exits...

EXT. NIGHT - LODGE

TERRA INCOGNITA 41

...into the night. He looks up at the stars, then

wanders aimlessly, lost in thought.

EXT. NIGHT - LODGE/GREAT ROOM

MUSICIANS tune acoustic and electric guitars inside.

Among people leaving are Rita, carrying Aaron, Sarah
and Ramón, holding Jewel. The children are asleep.

RAMÓN
You feel any better, Rita?

RITA
More secure? Not really. Let’s
face it – if someone wants to do
us harm, all they need is enough
guns. My parents have finally been
forced out of their house. I just
haven’t let myself think about it.

Ramón starts to say something but when Rita looks to

him for a denial, his response is little more than an
expression of acknowledgment.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Nathan, purposefully now, approaches them. Though he

glances their way, having no doubt overheard the
conversation, he walks past those leaving the Lodge to
his...

INT. NIGHT - GRANDPARENTS’ HOUSE - MONTAGE

...where in his bedroom he hurriedly stuffs clothes

and toiletries into a backpack, then hides it and
slips into bed.

FADE OUT
FADE IN:

EXT. DAWN - FOREST

TERRA INCOGNITA 42

The trees are shrouded in fog...from which Nathan

emerges in the distance, wearing a jacket, his
backpack, and a cap turned backwards.

EXT. DAY - NATHAN’S TRIP - MONTAGE

The sun burns away the fog as Nathan hikes through

forest, then emerges through an overgrown meadow to a
paved two-lane road. He passes farms and isolated
homes, most surrounded by outbuildings, waving to a
some people who eye him suspiciously, one ignoring the
greeting, the other returning it half-heartedly. He’s
encountered no vehicles and has begun looking over his
shoulder impatiently. Finally he stops to resettle his
backpack and stands at the side of the road looking
back the way he’s come. He’s startled when...

A FARMER

...leaning against a gnarled post on the other side of

a barbed-wire fence, breaks the silence, behind him.

FARMER
If you’re lookin’ for a ride,
better tie them shoes up tight.

WIDER ANGLE
NATHAN
Huh?

FARMER
...You’re gonna cover a lotta
ground before anyone comes down
this road.

Nathan is about to say more, but the man’s bored,

hostile expression sends him on his way.

EXT. DAY – NATHAN’S TRIP - MONTAGE (CONT’D)

Finally, much later, a faint sound announces the

approach of what turns out to be a muddy battered old
pickup truck splattered with bird or chicken shit.
TERRA INCOGNITA 43

Desperate, Nathan stands in the middle of the road and

waves it down. The elderly Driver’s not all there.

NATHAN
(opening door, climbing in)
You headed as far as the highway?

The Driver looks at him with a vacant expression, then

starts back down the road. Nathan’s OK with that.
After a couple of crossroads they eventually come to a
junction with a more significant, though still 2-lane,
highway.

NATHAN
I’m goin’ north, which way you
headed?

The Driver glances over at him before turning, south,

into the highway without stopping.

NATHAN
Hey! Stop the truck! I’m goin’
the other way.

When the Driver continues to ignore him, Nathan

reaches over, turns the key in the ignition, and yanks
out a bulging key ring, which he tosses in the man’s
lap when the truck has come to a stop. He gets out,
giving the Driver a look somewhere between disgust and
pity before closing the door.

NATHAN
Thanks for the ride.

There’s more traffic on this highway, but no one even

slows for him. Nathan keeps walking, at first stopping
to stick out his thumb for approaching vehicles, then
just throwing his hand out without turning around.
Later, the dilapidated remains of one of the last of
the finned Cadillacs pulls to the side of the road
ahead of him. He hurries toward it but, as he gets
closer, observes that its...

EXT. DAY - CAR

TERRA INCOGNITA 44

...three occupants resemble the mountain men in

Deliverance. He slows and approaches cautiously,
reaching back into a side pocket of his backpack.

WIDER ANGLE

The BEARDED REDNECK riding shotgun gets out and

gestures toward the open door of the car.

BEARDED REDNECK
This yer lucky day, boy.

Nathan stops, his hand still in the backpack.

BEARDED REDNECK
You want a damn ride or doncha?

When Nathan doesn’t answer, the wild-looking man

curses under his breath and starts toward him.

NATHAN – POV BEARDED MAN

comes out of his pack with what looks like a handgun

and, holding it in both hands, sets himself to fire.

BACK TO WIDER ANGLE

BEARDED REDNECK
(stopping, holding up a hand)
Hold on there!...Walk yer ass to
Johnson City, I don’t give a damn.

He turns and starts to get back in the car. But

there’s a suspenseful moment as the others argue with
him. Are they going to leave or not? He looks back at
Nathan...then finally gets in, provoking a loud,
cursing altercation, before the car rattles away.

NATHAN

watches tensely, then slowly relaxes. With a mixture

of pride and relief, he holds...
TERRA INCOGNITA 45

INSERT - THE GUN

...up to examine. It’s a realistic-looking wooden gun:

apparently what he was working on in Ramón’s woodshop.

EXT. DAY/NIGHT – NATHAN’S TRIP – MONTAGE (CONT’D)

Nathan puts the “gun” back in his backpack and starts

walking again as night descends and traffic virtually
disappears. When it’s too dark to see where he’s
going, he picks his way off to the side of the road,
unrolls his sleeping bag and is asleep almost as soon
as he’s crawled inside.

EXT. DAY - NATHAN

He awakens to the sight of a country church steeple

towering over him, which neither he nor we were able
to see in the dark.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Still half asleep, wearing his backpack again, Nathan

stumbles to the road, where he is confronted by a sign
announcing the name of this deserted little town:
Hallelujah Junction. MUSIC: preferably the John Adams
piece of the same name, for a town like this one.
Nathan, looking from sign to church steeple, walks
into the middle of the street. His expression (or lack
of it) tells us he’s experiencing a quiet little
epiphany, similar to Rita’s in the woods at Terra.

NATHAN – POV STEEPLE

Below us in the street, Nathan stands in the middle of

the crossroads at the center of town.

ANOTHER ANGLE – CROSSROADS

TERRA INCOGNITA 46

Ground level. Nathan’s getting his bearings when the

SOUND of an 18-wheeler down-shifting, and airbrakes,
turns his head.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Pulling a tarped load, the 18-wheeler stops at the

crossroads stop sign. The black TRUCKER calls to
Nathan from the cab.

TRUCKER
Take you t’ the highway?

NATHAN
Sure!

He scurries to the passenger side and climbs inside.

INT. - TRUCK CAB

The big muscular truck-driver, a man in his 30s in the

prime of health, has the blues blaring on his XM
radio.

NATHAN
You’re not goin’ as far as Ohio
are you?

TRUCKER
Goin’ through it.

NATHAN
Can you take me that far?

TRUCKER
Long as you like the blues.

NATHAN
Great! I was startin’ to think I
was gonna have to walk the whole
way.

TRUCKER
Now you’re gonna boogie.
TERRA INCOGNITA 47

Nathan high-fives the driver, both of them laughing.

INT./EXT. DAY/NIGHT – TRUCK – MONTAGE

MUSIC. Nathan and the Trucker having a good time

together as the rig makes its way onto the freeway and
heads north toward the Midwest through a near-future
America in the throes of economic depression and
social disruption. Nathan eventually crawls into the
sleeping compartment in the rear of the cab while the
Trucker, high on music and whatever else keeps him
going, drives through the night.

EXT. MORNING - TRUCKSTOP

The 18-wheeler pulls into a truck stop guarded by

heavily-armed Homeland Security soldiers in fatigues.

INT. MORNING - TRUCK CAB

The Trucker pounds on the side of the sleeping

compartment.
TRUCKER
This is where you get out. Meet
me inside if you want breakfast.

EXT. DAY - TRUCK STOP

The Trucker, easy in his walk and his place in life,

strides to the restaurant. A flurry of activity is
visible through the windshield of the rig’s cab.

INT. - RESTAURANT BOOTH

Nathan and the Trucker sit with coffee.

TRUCKER
Everybody gettin’ the fuck outa
Dodge, you’re goin’ the other way.
TERRA INCOGNITA 48

NATHAN
(shrugging)
This is where I grew up.

TRUCKER
This is where I grew up. It’s a
third-world country now.

NATHAN
Better’n where I just came from.
I got friends here.

TRUCKER
(grunting)
How long you been gone?

NATHAN
Almost a year.

TRUCKER
Lot’s happened since then – here
same as everywhere. You saw what
it’s like outside. Homeland
Security’s at every truck stop
now.

NATHAN
I’ve kept in touch.

TRUCKER
(unimpressed)
You have a weapon?

Nathan gestures subtly to his backpack.

TRUCKER
Be ready to use it.

A surly, haggard Waitress sets breakfast before them.

EXT. DAY - TRUCKSTOP

Nathan and the Trucker say their good-byes beside the

rig.
TERRA INCOGNITA 49

TRUCKER
Remember, year may not seem like
a long time, but you’re in
foreign country now.

NATHAN
I’ll be careful. You got me here,
Dude.
TRUCKER
Glad for the company. Y’all take
care now.

He climbs into the cab. Nathan places a call on his

cell, under MUSIC, then begins a long walk through the
deteriorating...

EXT. DAY - CITY OUTSKIRTS - MONTAGE

Several miles past...

A) A smattering of homeless camps of people of all ages

and walks of life, including families.

B) The continual prowl and loiter of gangs, not all of

them young. Working men, and women, mingle uneasily
with groups of Hispanics, blacks, skinheads, preppie
white jocks, skateboarders, etc.

C) Boarded-up storefronts, vacated gas stations, long

lines of mostly slovenly-looking people snaking
around fast-food joints advertising menu items that
could be part of a standup comic routine.

EXT. LATE AFTERNOON - COMMERCIAL-RESIDENTIAL STREET

Nathan stops for a breather in the rundown

neighborhood. A group of Skinheads spot him, then head
in his direction. As they’re crossing the street
toward him, we HEAR the sudden arrival of a...

DIESEL PICKUP
TERRA INCOGNITA 50

...scattering the Skinheads. HUMVEE, a guy who’d be

the star linebacker in a high-school football flick,
stands in the bed holding a shotgun. Riding shotgun in
the roomy cab is RICKIE, a tough-looking Hispanic kid.

HUMVEE
Get in, Nathan!

NATHAN
Didn’t think you were gonna show!

HUMVEE
Hurry up! Get your ass in here
before one a these fuckers tries
to be a hero for the fatherland!

A choice medley of epithets from the Skinheads as

Nathan throws his backpack in back and scrambles in
behind it, and the pickup speeds away.

INT. DAY - FINISHED BASEMENT

Nathan and his friends – besides Humvee and Rickie,

they are TYKE, named derisively for the pugnacity of a
guy who might otherwise be called “Spike”, in the body
of someone 3/4 that size; and their leader DEDALUS, an
arrogant young cynic of obvious intelligence – are
playing pool at Humvee’s parents’ house.

NATHAN
Where’s the rest of your family,
Humvee?

HUMVEE
Who knows? They wanted me t’ go
with ‘em, but this looked like
more fun.

NATHAN
Fun?

HUMVEE
Yo. Survival of the fittest. No
rules...no teachers, or coaches.
No parents.
TERRA INCOGNITA 51

RICKIE
Hardly any cops.

TYKE
They don’t show their ass unless
HomeSec’s got their backs.

RICKIE
You missed a lotta good times,
Dude. We’ll help you catch up.

DEDULUS
You back to stay, Nathan?

NATHAN
Affirmative, Dude.

HUMVEE
Dedulus said you was livin’ in the
mountains somewhere down south.

DEDULUS
Carolinas.

NATHAN
Bitch gettin’ back.

TYKE
The hell you doin’ in “the
Carolinas”?

NATHAN
My grandparents. After my
parents...

DEDULUS
Nate was residing in an
“intentional community.”

HUMVEE
What the hell’s that?

RICKIE
Like one a those hippie communes?

Humvee and Tack guffaw.

TERRA INCOGNITA 52

HUMVEE
Good ganja, Dude?

TYKE
Hippies? What’d they call the
place, “Hillbilly Heaven?”

NATHAN
Terra.

HUMVEE
(with a look at the others)
Tara? You shittin’ me?

TYKE
What the hell’s “Tara”?

DEDULUS
(melodramatically)
Tomorrow...is another day!

HUMVEE
Some old pre-boomer fogey flick.
You never seen that on late-
night, back in the day?

TYKE
Who the fuck watches TV?

NATHAN
It’s not spelled that way.
T-E-R-R-A – like the earth.

HUMVEE
Who gives a fuck how it’s
spelled? You’re home now, Dude.

TYKE
Jack is back.

HUMVEE
Except, this is Nate, Dude.

TYKE
Said it before, Big Guy: too
many helmet-to-helmets.
TERRA INCOGNITA 53

Humvee gives him a menacing judo chop-like gesture

which is not meant to be taken seriously.

DEDULUS
Would you morons shut the fuck up.
We’ve got to let Nathan in on this
evening’s operation.

INT. NIGHT - DIESEL PICKUP

Nathan’s riding shotgun now. Tyke still sits in the

middle.

DEDULUS
Awful quiet over there, Nate.

TYKE
Hippies got ‘im pussy-whipped.

DEDULUS
It’s not like anyone’s gonna get
hurt.

TYKE
(sniggering)
Not us anyway.

NATHAN
Hey, I’m just along for the ride.

DEDULUS
This is what we do now, Nate.

TYKE
It’s how we make a living,
flowerchild.

EXT. NIGHT - DOJO

The pickup pulls up in front of Renji’s dojo. Nathan

and Tyke get out, Humvee and Rickie jump down from the
back. Dedulus stays behind the wheel with the engine
running. Nathan hangs back awkwardly as the others
approach the dojo. Prepared to break in, they’re as
TERRA INCOGNITA 54

surprised as Josh was earlier to find the door

unlocked. With Humvee standing guard outside, holding
a handgun against his leg...

INT. - DOJO

...Rickie and Tyke enter quietly and begin dropping

the statuary, none too carefully, in plastic garbage
bags. In the doorway, Nathan looks on with dismay and
disgust; Rickie opens the door to the...

EXT. COURTYARD – REVERSE ANGLE

When the door opens, Renji sits motionless, silently

and unemotionally confronting the surprised intruder,
who draws a handgun.

COURTYARD – ANOTHER ANGLE

Renji effortlessly holds Rickie in his gaze.

TYKE (O.S.)
Yo! See anything back there?

Rickie, realizing he’s not in danger and mesmerized by

Renji’s icy calm, puts the gun back. Nathan’s
astonished face appears over his shoulder.

RICKIE
(turning away)
Nah! Bag that shit and let’s
get outa here.

Nathan stands there a moment looking in at Renji

before turning to follow Rickie.

STUDIO – POV RENJI

Through the open door he watches Tyke bagging the last

of the statuary. Leaving the front door open, with a
last lingering look behind by Nathan, they exit.
TERRA INCOGNITA 55

COURTYARD

Apparently unruffled, Renji returns to his meditation.

EXT. - DOJO

Again Nathan stands behind, outside the door of the

dojo, as the others walk quickly to the pickup. Humvee
vaults easily into the back.

RICKIE
Hey, you comin’ or aincha?

DEDULUS
Get the fuck in, Nathan! We
can’t sit around waiting for
you to master your scruples!

Nathan appears as confused as the others.

NATHAN
...I’ll catch up to you later.

HUMVEE
Suit yourself, Pilgrim. Get the
fuck outa here, Dedman!

The pickup peels away. Nathan watches it go...looks up

at the sign over the door...peers inside.

NATHAN – POV RENJI

Framed in the doorway, he is startled when he spots...

INT. – RENJI – POV NATHAN

...still seated in the courtyard beside the pool but

now staring at him intently.

NATHAN – POV RENJI

TERRA INCOGNITA 56

NATHAN
...I – I’m sorry. They took
all your stuff.

INT. RENJI – ANOTHER ANGLE

Something about his eyes: his expression softens

subtly.
RENJI
What can I do for you?

NATHAN – EXT.

is affected as strongly, though positively, in Renji’s

presence as Rickie was: he appears a little more sure
of himself than before. He takes a deep breath and
enters the dojo.

NATHAN
You could, maybe...help me
find someone.

WHITE OUT
WHITE IN:

(Or some transition other than a dissolve or fade

out/fade in.)

EXT. DUSK - MARY’S HOUSE

The camera Steadicams toward the familiar door.

REVERSE ANGLE

Nathan approaches, with a combination of hesitation,

fearfulness and determination.

WIDER ANGLE

He rings the doorbell and Merilee, Mary’s 8-year-old,

opens the door.
TERRA INCOGNITA 57

INT. - LIVING ROOM

Nathan sits anxiously on the couch talking to Josh.

Mary tries to keep her three giggling, whispering
daughters occupied with something in an adjacent
family room but they keep peering in at the two men.

JOSH
...All the statuary?

NATHAN
And dropped it in plastic bags.

Josh wrestles emotionally with the thought of this.

JOSH
...Then he invites you back in.

NATHAN
I went in. I guess he could see
that I wasn’t really – I couldn’t
have done anything to stop it.

JOSH
And then he sends you here.

NATHAN
He even drew a map.

JOSH
(shaking his head, chuckling)
When I’m foolish enough to think
I’m finally on his wavelength...
so, tell me some more about Terra.

INT. NIGHT – MARY AND JOSH’S BEDROOM

They’re lying in bed together.

JOSH
It wouldn’t even have occurred
to me, if Renji weren’t involved
somehow.
TERRA INCOGNITA 58

MARY
It’s all just so...strange. If
it weren’t for the girls –

JOSH
All of you will be better off
here for now, Mary – than going
somewhere we know nothing about.
I haven’t had much time to think
about it, but this seems best.

MARY
Oh, Josh...

JOSH
(caressing her face)
You’ll be safe here for awhile.
The girls are in good schools and
child care. You’re still making a
living. If that’s a better place
for us, I’ll come back for you.

They embrace.

EXT. DAY – MARY’S HOUSE

Nathan walks to Josh’s pickup, parked in front, while

Josh kneels to hug Mary’s unhappy daughters. She’s
being upbeat for their sakes.

JOSH
I need my three Wise Women to help
your mother out while I’m gone.
Can you do that for me – for her?

They tearfully promise to. Josh stands to hug Mary,

kisses her tenderly, looks deeply into her eyes, then
turns and walks to his truck, where Nathan is already
seated. Josh waves to the family and gets in.

EXT. DAY – McCALLISTERS’ HOUSE

Rita’s mother and father, his arm around his wife,

watch a moving van pull away from the house.
TERRA INCOGNITA 59

RITA’S FATHER
...A new beginning.

His wife isn’t buying this. Sobbing, she buries her

head against his chest.

INT. DAY – RAMÓN’S STUDIO WORKSHOP

Ramón and the other men of Terra are gathered for a

meeting.

TOM
Ralph here’s as good a shot
with a deer rifle as you could
ask for, but we can’t expect him
to be our only means of defense.

MARTY
I didn’t say that. I said Ralph
gives us a good place to start.

GONZO
A resource, someone to build on.

RAMÓN
With one other decent rifle we’re
not going to get it done with
guns alone.

MARTY
Not against AKAs

GONZO
Better known as AK-47s.

Amusement at Marty’s expense.

MARTY
Whatever. We don’t know what
they’ll have.

TOM
We don’t even know who “they”
are.
TERRA INCOGNITA 60

JAVON (the new arrival)

Or might be.

RALPH
We’re really flyin’ blind here.

MARTY
We need to concentrate on who
and what we’re protecting, not
some unknown adversary.

Some agreement by others.

RAMÓN
Marty, if you don’t know who the
hell you’re fighting, you don’t
even know if you’re prepared or
not.

EXT. DAY – THE WOODS

Rita and Sarah are walking their babies in carriers.

RITA
When you first came down here, I
thought you were over-reacting.

SARAH
A lot of people did. But when we
started looking into it there
were, I don’t know, maybe a
hundred communities like this.
And more all the time.

RITA
That’s what I told my parents.
They’re moved into their “gated
community”. I hope they’re safe.

SARAH
I sure hope so, Rita....Jewely
said her first complete sentence
this morning. She said, “Daddy
working.”
TERRA INCOGNITA 61

RITA
Aww. Aaron really misses his dad.
Poor little guy....And I do too.

INT. DAY – RITA AND BILL’S HOUSE – MONTAGE

Bill is showing a REALTOR, a woman in her 40s who

makes little effort to appear enthusiastic, around the
house. She’s written nothing in a notebook she’s
carrying. Bill becomes increasingly more annoyed.

BILL
You’re not even taking notes.

REALTOR
(defensively at first)
Look, you have a beautiful
home...
(sighing)
...but I told you up front. I’ll
list the house. I’m still trying
to make a living. But...

BILL
We can’t get what we need for it.

REALTOR
I thought maybe...maybe I’d see
something.

BILL
We’ve put a lot of work into
this house.

REALTOR
I can see that.

She glances around distractedly.

REALTOR (cont’d)
I was in this subdivision just
two weeks ago, maybe three. I
can’t believe it. It’s like time
lapse photography. Have all your
neighbors left?
TERRA INCOGNITA 62

For the first time, she connects with Bill; she

appears on the brink of losing it.

REALTOR (cont’d)
...I don’t know what to do. My
house isn’t paid for either. Not
even close.

He, too, drops his role in the house-showing routine,

softening toward her.

BILL
Thanks for coming out. I knew it
was pretty futile.

INT. DAY – MARTY & ALISSA’S HOUSE – MONTAGE

The potter’s wife shows Rita how to make a white oak

basket. We watch it take shape in many steps.
(IMPROVISE DIALOGUE.)

EXT. DAY – TERRA TURN-OFF – POV TREE STAND

Josh’s pickup exits the 2-lane rural paved highway

onto the private gravel entrance road to Terra.

TREE STAND

Gonzo, with binoculars and holding a cell phone, is on

sentry duty in a camouflaged platform 20 feet above
the ground.

GONZO
(into cell)
Ford F-350, two men.

INSERT – PICKUP – POV BINOCULARS

GONZO
Hell, one of em’s Nathan. Can’t
ID the driver.
TERRA INCOGNITA 63

EXT. DAY - MARTY & ALISSA’S HOUSE

Rita, sitting on the front porch, is working on her

basket as Josh’s pickup approaches.

JOSH – POV RITA

glances at her from behind the wheel as the truck

passes.

EXT. – PORCH

Rita looks after it, then returns to her work.

INT. NIGHT - RAMÓN’S WORKSHOP

A meeting of the men to introduce Josh.

NATHAN
I wasn’t even planning on comin’
back here....But it really is a
lot different out there. Back
home even.

TOM
I still don’t...pardon my
skepticism, but I can’t
understand why you’d just leave
everything behind to come down
here with Nate.

JOSH
There’s a lot of it I don’t
understand. But once Nathan told
me about your situation here, it
made a lot of sense.

RAMÓN
Maybe you could expand on that.

JOSH
There’s no more work in construction
(MORE)
TERRA INCOGNITA 64

JOSH (CONT’D)
– anywhere, that I know of. Mary’s
still teaching but I don’t know how
long that’ll last either. Or how
long it’ll be safe where we are.
Nathan showing up seemed like a
possible answer to some of my own
concerns. After Renji got involved.

TOM
See, that’s the part I’m having
trouble with.

NATHAN
(standing)
Listen up, everybody. When I
left, you were all talking about
how you need to defend this
place. Josh here is willing to
show us how. We talked about it
on the way down. I don’t know how
this all “happened”, but he’s
here.

JOSH
It’s really no more mysterious
than needing a safe place for a
woman and three kids. Now that
I’ve had a chance to look around,
I think this could be it. If
you’ll have us.

The men glance at one another for reactions.

RAMÓN
How do you see us making it
safer?

EXT./INT. – DAY TERRA – MONTAGE

MUSIC. Minimal dialogue. The following scenes are

Josh’s answer. (Though they have no dialogue, Sarah
and Ramón appear in enough of the scenes that we don’t
lose touch with them.)
TERRA INCOGNITA 65

A) A whitetail buck in a forest clearing suddenly

lurches to its knees. Only then do we HEAR the crack
of a high-powered rifle, as the camera SWISH-PANS to
the tree stand a long way away.

B) In the stand, Ralph lowers the scoped rifle while

Josh, on the top step of the stand, looks through
the binoculars Gonzo held earlier.

C) Through the binoculars we see the antlered buck

lying on the ground in the distance.

JOSH (V.O.)
Sniper...check.

D) Target practice, with a .22. Josh and others look on

as Tom fires at bottles and hits nothing.

TOM
(lowering the rifle)
Never could hit anything with
this. He hands the rifle to
Marty, who shatters a bottle near
the end of the row.

TOM
Thought you were aiming at the
one in the middle.

MARTY
I was.

JOSH
Half an hour a day, anyone willing
to take the responsibility. Is
there enough ammo?

RALPH
We’ll get it.

JOSH
How many handguns do you have?

TOM
(looking at the others)
...I’m not sure we really know.
TERRA INCOGNITA 66

JOSH
Well, you’d better find out. We’ll
have handgun practice too. Anyone
who might possibly use one has to be
able to hit what they’re aiming at.

E) Josh is showing a small group of men defensive

positions overlooking the community when they’re
confronted by Alissa, Rose and Rita, with Aaron on
her back.

JOSH
All of these positions need to be
camouflaged to hide a lookout.
Don’t ever man one without a cell
phone.

He looks questioningly at the women.

ALISSA
...We have a problem with all the
guns and gunfire.

JOSH
What kind of problem?

ALISSA
Guns and violence is what most of
us came here to get away from.

JOSH
Do the rest of you feel the same?

ROSE
Well, yes. I think Alissa has a
point.

JOSH
What about you, Rita?

RITA
Actually, I guess I’m here more
as an observer. I understand the
concern about violence – that’s
one reason Aaron and I came here.
(MORE)
TERRA INCOGNITA 67

RITA (CONT’D)
But the other reason – the other
side of the same problem really –
was for more security. I think
that’s important.

Alissa looks betrayed; Rose is caught in the middle.

ALISSA
But aren’t we just repeating the
same...vicious cycle? It was so
peaceful here, and now there’s all
this gunfire. It’s very upsetting.

JOSH
I understand, believe me. The lack
of ammunition alone will keep that
to a minimum. We’re just feeling
our way here – who we can rely on,
If there’s ever some kind of...
intrusion by unwelcome visitors. We
have to assume that could happen.
And being prepared, being reasonably
well-defended, is a better way to
avoid violence than –

TOM
Than just hoping it won’t happen.

JOSH
I assure you, it’s my intention
to avoid any unnecessary violence.

Rose and Alissa are unconvinced, but Rita is impressed

by Josh’s quietly commanding presence. The two of them
share a smile.

JOSH (cont’d)
Any of your homes have a panic
room, secret passageway – anything
like that?

RAMÓN
...We have a closet with a sliding
panel and a crawlspace behind it.
TERRA INCOGNITA 68

JOSH
Good. Maybe you can help the rest
wall off a place to hide in an
emergency.
(gesturing to the ground)
We’re also going to build an
outhouse. Underneath it...
(pacing off a rectangle)
...will be a room big enough for all
of us, for several days if necessary.

He looks around for questions or objections; though

there are a few raised eyebrows, no one challenges
Josh. As they disperse, he falls in beside Rita.

JOSH
What’s the little one’s name?

RITA
Aaron.
(turning to look at Aaron)
Aaron, this is Joshua.

JOSH
Hello, Aaron. Sounds kinda like
Bible class doesn’t it?

She laughs. Josh has a positive effect on the baby.

RITA
I understand you have three of
your own?

JOSH
Yeah! Well, not biologically. Their
mother and I aren’t married so I’m
not even their adoptive father. But
yeah. Merilee, Annie and Susie.

RITA
I hope we can meet them soon.

JOSH
Me too.

The attraction between the two of them is obvious.

TERRA INCOGNITA 69

INT. NIGHT – SARAH AND RAMÓN’S HOUSE

Sarah, Ramón and Rita are in the kitchen, preparing

dinner, entertaining the two babies, when Tom, Ralph
and Gonzo knock on the door and are admitted by Ramón.

RAMÓN
What’s up?

TOM
We need to talk for a few minutes.

RAMÓN
Sure.

He ushers them into the living room. In the...

KITCHEN

...Rita and Sarah exchange raised eyebrows.

LIVING ROOM
TOM
We want to make sure we’re doin’
the right thing, handing the reins
over to someone none of us know. I
mean, Josh seems to know what he’s
doing. I have no complaints...

GONZO
I don’t either, but we’re kinda
ridin’ off in all directions all
of a sudden. Know what I mean?

RALPH
Which is probably good. These are
things we probably shoulda done
before, but –

TOM
We think maybe it’s time for a
heads-up. Just to take stock of
where we’re going, what our
objectives are.
TERRA INCOGNITA 70

Rita and Sarah are standing in the doorway to the

kitchen.

RITA
I’d like to say something if I may.

RAMÓN
Sure, Rita, go ahead.

RITA
I agree with what you’re saying,
completely. I’d just like to voice
an opinion. Aaron and I hadn’t
been here very long before I began
to have a real sense of uneasiness
about the lack of security –
although it took me a while to
realize what was bothering me. And
then I wondered if it was my place
to say something, since we were the
“new kids.”

SARAH
In other words, whatever you guys
decide in terms of hierarchy or
pecking order or whatever, let’s
be sure to go down a path that’s
going to leave us better protected.

TOM
I’d say the ladies have spoken.

GONZO
Eloquently.

TOM
So, do we need to develop some
kind of guidelines here, or do we
just plunge ahead?

Sarah gives Rita an amused “Men!” shrug and the two of

them return to the kitchen.

EXT./INT. DAY – TERRA – MONTAGE

TERRA INCOGNITA 71

Intercut scenes of TARGET PRACTICE...camouflaging of

the LOOKOUT POSTS...construction of the new WIND
TURBINE as well as HIDDEN CHAMBERS in various homes...
and excavation for the GROUP SHELTER. Ventilation
shafts extend beyond the perimeter of the structures.
Rainy as well as sunny days; this isn’t paradise.

TOM
Does it need to be this deep?

JOSH
Deep enough to survive a fire.

Josh and Rita, with and without Aaron, find themselves

together increasingly more often.

EXT. DAY - TREE STAND – MONTAGE

Electrical wire for a motion sensor beneath the stand

is unspooled into a shallow trench bordering the road.
At the other end the wire is connected to an alarm
bell and floodlight atop a pole in the center of the
community.

GONZO
I wondered if you were expecting
us to stand a 24-hour watch.

JOSH
We have to be realistic.

MARTY
What’s to keep someone from
sneaking up on us through the woods?

JOSH
Nothing but human nature. There’s
no way we could wire the perimeter
anyway. Even if we could afford to,
animals, birds, swaying branches
would set it off every few minutes.

INT. NIGHT – RITA AND BILL’S HOME

TERRA INCOGNITA 72

Bill, in rumpled suit, tie askew, sprawled in an

armchair in his unkempt living room, calls Rita on his
cell. She answers at Sarah and Ramón’s. Intercut Bill
and Rita.

RITA
Hello, Bill. It’s good to hear
from you. I’ve been meaning to
call.

BILL
Good to hear your voice, Rita. I
sure miss you and Aaron.

RITA
You know where we are. We have a
new person here now. Really neat
guy. I think he’s going to make us
a lot safer.

BILL
Oh? Safer how?

RITA
He’s doing – having us do – all
kinds of things. I don’t know how
we lucked out but I feel a lot
better about coming down here.

BILL
Things are going to hell here. Do
you have any idea what’s going on,
in the rest of the country?

RITA
We try to stay informed – we’re
online, after all. I think our
safety depends on that.

BILL
...I don’t see how you can just
walk away, from the life we had.

A prolonged, and painful, silence.

TERRA INCOGNITA 73

RITA
...I don’t either, Bill. Sometimes
I feel like I’m in a trance. Then
I realize it was before we came
down here. The life I was living
there was the trance.

BILL
Rita, I don’t know what’s true
anymore. What’s true, what’s lies,
what’s paranoia. I just don’t know
anymore. But if you feel you’re
safer there, you and Aaron...then
I’m glad you went.

Another silence but this time not so painful.

RITA
...It’s so good to hear you say
that....What do you plan to do?

BILL
Selling the house isn’t an option.
Our capital, what’s left of it,
is frozen. I’m sure that’s just
a euphemism for “looted” – I’m
not going to say more on the phone.
...I really don’t know what to do.

RITA
Just leave it. Give it up, Bill.
I did. We’re not just surviving
here. We’re starting over.

BILL
...Have you heard anything from
your parents?

RITA
Not for a couple of days. I’m
starting to get a little worried.

BILL
I haven’t been able to get hold of
them either. I’ll call ‘em again,
tell them to get in touch with you.
TERRA INCOGNITA 74

RITA
Thanks.

BILL
I love you, Rita.

RITA
Come back to us!

BILL
Back to you? You’re – no, forget I
said that. You did what you thought,
what is the best thing for you and
Aaron. Do you think he misses me?

RITA
I know he does. He can’t understand
why he doesn’t see you anymore.

BILL
Poor little guy....What about you?
Do you really still want me there?

RITA
Oh, Bill, of course I do.

EXT. DAY - RURAL RESIDENCE

A house Nathan walked past before meeting the Trucker.

The Farmer he spoke to is talking to the three
Rednecks who tried to force Nathan into their car.

FARMER
Oh yeah, they’s a buncha hippies
livin’ up on Raccoon Ridge
somewheres. Don’t see much of ‘em.
(he spits)
Young fella come past a few days
ago though. I figured he was
prob’ly one of ‘em.

The Rednecks exchange a look. The bearded man Nathan

pulled his wooden gun on speaks.
TERRA INCOGNITA 75

BEARDED REDNECK
The hell’s Coon Ridge?

FARMER
(gesturing behind his house)
The road yer on runs alongside it
for 10-15 mile. It widens out up
the road a piece. Good deer huntin’
up there.

REDNECK DRIVER
This some kinda hippie commune up
there?

FARMER
Commune? Just a buncha them
“new-age” type a houses, all I
hear. Solar panels and such.

BEARDED REDNECK
How many of ‘em are there?

The Farmer thinks he sees where this is headed; a

subtle guardedness comes into his speech and manner.

FARMER
...Don’t rightly know. They
generally keep to theirselves.

The Bearded Redneck sweeps his eyes over those of his

companions and they turn to get into their battered
old Cadillac.

BEARDED REDNECK
Thank you much. You take care
now.

The man just nods and watches them get in the car and
drive away.

INT./EXT. DAY - FREEWAY

Bill, with new enthusiasm in his face, is in the fast

lane.
TERRA INCOGNITA 76

EXT./INT. DAY TERRA – MONTAGE

The floor and walls of the underground shelter are

poured...the ceiling is framed in...and secret rooms
and passages in various homes are being completed.
Camouflaged ventilation ports for the underground
bunker are virtually invisible.

EXT. DAY - FOREST

A glorious Indian Summer afternoon. Rita, with Aaron

on her back, walks through trees losing their leaves,
to the spine of Raccoon Ridge. Shielding her eyes from
the sun near the horizon, with the wind scattering
leaves over her head and pulling at the bottom of her
skirt, she gazes out over a landscape that is settling
in for winter.
FADE OUT

FADE IN:

INT./EXT. DAY – TERRA – MONTAGE

Scenes so ordinary and every-day we know we’re being

set up.

A) Rita bathes Aaron and Jewel in the tub. She has a

blissful smile watching them enjoy the water and
each other.

B) Sarah walks out of the bathroom in the master

bedroom suite with a towel around her, twisting her
hair into a long plait behind her back, radiating
contentment.

C) Too far away for us to hear them, Ramón and Josh

stroll toward Ramón and Sarah’s house in animated
conversation. Josh says something Ramón finds
hilarious.

D) Rita towels off Jewel, while Aaron still sits in the

tub playing.

E) Ramón and Josh enter the house.

TERRA INCOGNITA 77

RAMÓN
...so the bartender says, “Not
in my house you don’t.”

Josh laughs appreciatively then spots a beautiful

wooden bowl on a table and walks over to examine it.

JOSH
Is this Nathan’s bowl you were
talking about?

RAMÓN
Yes. He has a good touch with the
lathe, don’t you think?

INSERT – BOWL IN JOSH’S HANDS

JOSH
Beautiful how he’s used the
grain pattern.

BACK TO SCENE
RAMÓN
That you can’t teach. This
feeling for the wood.

JOSH
He trusted his life to it.

RAMÓN
Oh, you mean the 9-millimeter.

JOSH
You can’t teach that either.

RAMÓN
(chuckling)
In Spanish it’s “cajones.”

INT. - MASTER BEDROOM

A cell phone rings O.S.

TERRA INCOGNITA 78

SARAH
Rita! Your cell!

RITA (O.S.)
I heard it! Can you watch the
kids for a minute?

Sarah goes into the...

BATHROOM

...where both children stand beside the tub in hooded

terrycloth towels.

SARAH
I’ll get them dressed.

Rita exits as Sarah takes over. They’re having a good

time until Rita’s SHRIEK O.S. startles all of them.
The children start crying.

SARAH
Rita! What is it?

JOSH AND RAMÓN

exchange a startled expression.

BATHROOM
SARAH
(to children)
It’s all right. Mommy’ll be
right back.

She runs out, leaving the two children standing there

crying.

STAIRWAY

Ramón runs up the stairs two at a time, pausing only a

moment to look in at the crying children, before
entering the...
TERRA INCOGNITA 79

GUEST BEDROOM

...where Sarah embraces a sobbing Rita.

INT. NIGHT - SARAH AND RAMÓN’S HOUSE

Rita lies on a sofa, her head in Josh’s lap, an arm

over her eyes. She is exhausted from crying. Josh
caresses her hair. Sarah and Ramón are seated in
armchairs opposite the sofa. Sarah mouths the
question, “Is she asleep?” and Josh nods.

RAMÓN
(quietly)
She did everything she could
to get them to leave.

SARAH
A lot of good gated walls do
when security sells you out.

RAMÓN
What a surprise.

A light knock on the door makes everyone jump, but

Rita is not awakened. Ramón gets up and opens the door
(some distance from where the others are sitting).
It’s Tom, with Bill.

TOM
Ramón, Bill – Rita’s husband.

Ramón is taken by surprise. In the moment it takes him

to welcome him, Bill looks through the room and
sees...

RITA AND JOSH

...together on the couch, Josh still caressing her

tenderly. Josh and Sarah, talking quietly, are unaware
of Bill’s presence at the door.

EXT/INT. - BILL
TERRA INCOGNITA 80

Though Bill immediately clamps down on his reaction,

Ramón notices and puts a hand on his shoulder.

RAMÓN
Do you know about Rita’s parents?

BILL
What about them?

RAMÓN
They were killed yesterday. Rita
found out a few hours ago. She
finally just fell asleep. Come in.

Ramón nods to Tom, who leaves. Bill enters in some

confusion.

BILL
...Where’s Aaron?

RAMÓN
In the guest bedroom upstairs.
Would you like to see him?

BILL
Yes, of course.

Bill looks toward Rita, then follows Ramón upstairs to

the...

GUEST BEDROOM

...where Aaron is asleep in Jewel’s crib. Bill goes to

the crib, his eyes welling as he looks down at his
son.

BILL
Hi, Buddy.

He caresses Aaron’s head lightly, then grips the top

rail so tightly his knuckles turn white.

RAMÓN
This is Rita’s room. You must
have some luggage.
TERRA INCOGNITA 81

Bill nods wordlessly, still gazing at Aaron.

RAMÓN (cont’d)
Stay here as long as you want.
I’ll go down and wake Rita.

BILL
No, let her sleep. I’ll be down
in a few minutes.

Ramón exits and Bill turns back to Aaron, struggling

to control his emotions as he gazes down at him.

EXT. NIGHT – TERRA – MONTAGE

Scenes expanding on the establishing shot on p. 36.

Now the camera glimpses residents through their
windows – rooms lit with (propane) gas mantle lamps or
candles or both.

A) Ramón returns to the living room, obviously, from

Josh and Sarah’s response, announcing Bill’s
arrival.

B) With a sense of family that was missing before,

Nathan, Ralph and Joy are laughing together at
their table.

C) Tom, having apparently just returned from

delivering Bill, enters a room where his wife
Rebecca is knitting, with a couple of cats for
company. She looks up to hear his news.

D) Gonzo, Marty, his wife Alissa and a couple of other

residents are playing music around a fireplace.

F) The young newly-arrived family sit together on a

sofa. Javon reads to the two children, his daughter
squirming impatiently on her mother’s lap. Rose,
whose house they’re staying in, leans over a counter
between living room and kitchen, listening. When Kim
says something cross to her daughter, Laura runs in
tears to Rose, who ushers her into the kitchen for a
snack.
TERRA INCOGNITA 82

INT. DAY – GUEST BEDROOM

Bill and Rita are both asleep, with Rita curled into
fetal position within her husband’s embrace. Excited
BABY NOISES O.S. ending in a piercing SHRIEK of
delight, reveal that the scene is from the POV of...

AARON

...standing in his crib shaking the top rail.

BILL AND RITA

awake with a start.

RITA
He’s excited to see you!

BILL
(leaning sleepily on elbow)
Hi, Buddy!

RITA
(smiling)
Go get him before he destroys
Jewel’s crib.

Bill stumbles out of bed and lifts Aaron from the

crib.

BILL
Oh, you’re getting heavy.
Daddy’s missed you, Buddy.

He hugs his son, then lifts him above his head, much
to Aaron’s delight.

BILL
What a big boy you are!

Bill carries him to the bed, where the reunited family

cuddle together. Rita is smiling but there’s a lot of
pain in her face.
TERRA INCOGNITA 83

RITA
He’s so happy.

BILL
No happier than his old man.

RITA
Hungry too.

BILL
I’ll shower while you’re nursing
him. Then we’ll go for a walk so
you can sleep.

RITA
(giving Aaron the breast)
I don’t know if I’ll be able to.

Bill heads for the guest bathroom, then stops in the

middle of the room.

BILL
What’s the water situation?

RITA
There’s plenty but in the morning
it’s warm, not hot. I don’t know
what it’ll be like this winter.

Reading Bill’s expression, we might guess that he

doesn’t see them living here that long. In...

THE SHOWER

...giving himself up to the water, Bill appears to be

a man savoring the morning-after...on the brink of a
future he realizes he hasn’t a clue about.

INT. DAY - GUEST BEDROOM

Rita is sprawled on the bed in deep sleep.

TERRA INCOGNITA 84

EXT. DAY - TERRA

Bill carries Aaron through the community in the

backpack. They encounter Gonzo.

GONZO
You’re Rita’s husband!

BILL
In the flesh. And you’re?

GONZO
Gonzo. Man of action. Not always
well-directed.

BILL
(amused, some kind of handshake)
Glad to meet you, Gonzo. Bill.

GONZO
Will you be joining us?

BILL
Well, I’m not sure exactly. Rita
and I haven’t discussed it.

GONZO
She and Aaron have sure made a
place for themselves here.

BILL
(moving on)
That’s Rita for you. Good meeting
you, Gonzo.

Gonzo starts to walk away but is stopped by Marty.

MARTY
Rita’s husband?

GONZO
May be a little too uptight for
a “commune.”

MARTY
Think so?
TERRA INCOGNITA 85

TERRA – EXT. DAY

A moment later Marty encounters Javon.

JAVON
I hear we’re no longer the “new
kids.”

MARTY
Don’t count on that. The new
guy’s not into Little House in
the Wilderness.

More puzzled than amused, Javon drops in on Ralph and

Ramón in the woodshop.

RAMÓN
Hey, Javon. Here to pick up the
end table?

JAVON
Yeah....So what’s up with Rita’s
husband? Is he going to take her
away?

RAMÓN
Don’t ask me. He just got here.

He points out the beautiful end table.

JAVON
That’s gorgeous, man!

NATHAN
I thought maybe Rita and Josh’d
get together.

He and Javon look to Ramón for his opinion.

RAMÓN
Hey, leave me out of your
gossip, ladies.

NATHAN
Hah! Listen to Mr. Macho Man.
Sorry – back at it, boss.
TERRA INCOGNITA 86

He returns to work and Ramón shares a grin with Javon.

EXT. NIGHT - SARAH AND RAMÓN’S

Ramón is grilling a combination of fish and maybe soy

burgers. Josh and Gonzo are keeping him company.

RAMÓN
Think Rita can talk him into
staying?

JOSH
I hope not.

His answer surprises Ramón.

JOSH (cont’d)
If he doesn’t make that decision
on his own, he’d be a disruptive
influence.

Ramón gets it. A moment later Bill comes out on the

deck, with a glass of beer.

RAMÓN
There he is. Understand you’ve
met Gonzo.

GONZO
(gesturing toward Josh)
Josh, our resident samurai.

BILL
We met last night.

Though Bill covers it easily enough, there’s some

obvious antagonism on his part toward Josh.

JOSH
Been checking out the community?

BILL
Beautiful setting you have here.
TERRA INCOGNITA 87

GONZO
Great people too.

BILL
I’ve met some of them.
(toasting them)
Some of you.

There’s an unease (though not with Josh) that carries

over into the next scene, at the...

INT. - TABLE

...where everyone is seated following dinner. Dishes

are cleared, coffee and dessert served, etc., during
the following dialogue.

RAMÓN
Another beer, Bill?

Bill’s a little lit but in control.

BILL
Yeah, I’ll have another one. My
compliments to the brew-meister.

GONZO
Tom. You can tell him tomorrow.

SARAH
(feeling no pain herself)
Every batch is a little different.
This is the best yet.

RITA
You’re lucky you’re no longer
nursing

SARAH
I know. I missed the buzz.

GONZO
See? The beer alone makes this a
good place to live.
TERRA INCOGNITA 88

BILL
But don’t you feel, I don’t know,
kind of...

JOSH
Irrelevant?

Bill is startled that Josh has just articulated what

even he didn’t know he was trying to say.

BILL
Yeah, I mean, the world’s going
all to hell –

SARAH
That’s why we’re here.

BILL
But you can’t just give up, run
for the hills.

RAMÓN
We haven’t given up anything
worth holding onto.

SARAH
What you hold onto is life.

GONZO
What we gave up was complicity.

BILL
What about trying to make a
difference? Complicity?

RAMÓN
Hey, if that’s what you’re doing,
more power to you.

GONZO
Willful ignorance – denial – is
complicity, dude. We all knew what
was going on. We’ve known it for
years – and so did our parents.
But being born into it’s no excuse.
TERRA INCOGNITA 89

BILL
(to the table at large)
What the hell’s he talking about?

The only answer he gets is a direct look from everyone

else at the table. Rita is the first to glance away,
out of compassion or embarrassment for Bill.

GONZO
No one’s blaming you, man.

RAMÓN
If we don’t demand the truth
we’re not likely to get it.

SARAH
We let them get away with it. We
all did.

JOSH
As long as you’re still part of
the system, you really don’t have
much choice.

RAMÓN
So you’re really part of the
problem. A very small part, but...

GONZO
Just another li’l cancer cell.
And that’s tonight’s vocabulary
lesson. “Complicity” will be on
your test.

BILL
How about “smug” and “self-
righteous”?

GONZO
(laughing good-naturedly)
You’re right, dude.
(to the table)
Love these dedicated students.

SARAH
Think of your child.
TERRA INCOGNITA 90

Rita’s face and body language reveal her painfully

caught in the middle in this conversation.

EXT. NIGHT – SARAH AND RAMÓN’S DECK

Later that evening. Everyone’s sitting or milling

about: getting drinks, nibbling fruit, whatever. We
sense there’s been an interlude of silence and small
talk. Emotions, except for Bill’s and Gonzo’s, have
cooled. People are giving Bill, who’s very agitated,
the opportunity to have his say.

BILL
...This is still America. We have
to stand together.

GONZO
“America”’s been plundered. Now
they’re just suckin’ it dry.

SARAH
It’s always been as much myth as
reality anyway. Power brokers
done called in their chips.

GONZO
Show’s over.

BILL
That’s pathetic.
(falsetto, throwing up his arms)
“Show’s over.” It was all one big
conspiracy, wasn’t it? The
Founding Fathers were proto-Neocons
in wigs and fancy pants –

GONZO
(interrupting with a guffaw)
That’s great: “Founding Fascists.”

BILL
You moron!
TERRA INCOGNITA 91

RITA
Bill!

GONZO
(brushing it off)
That’s okay. The truth hurts.

BILL
Truth? Who the hell knows the
truth?

RAMÓN
That’s a big part of the problem.
How can democracy survive without
it?

SARAH
And when we repress what we don’t
want to know?

JOSH
Mary and I got a sitter for the
kids and went to the multiplex
just before I came down here. We
made a mistake and got there in
time for the trailers. One
paranoid kill-fest after another,
at the decibel level of an airport
runway. We just looked at each
other. “This is a sick society.”

SARAH
Sure. We keep hiding from our real
monsters behind make-believe ones.

No one has anything to add. Bill’s face is

expressionless.

INT. NIGHT – GUEST BEDROOM

Rita is furious with her husband, who’s half drunk.

RITA
We’re their guests here, Bill.
(MORE)
TERRA INCOGNITA 92

RITA (CONT’D)
They’ve taken Aaron and me in and
made us part of the community.
They’ve shared their food, given
us this wonderful place to stay.
You can’t just come down here and...

She’s at a loss for words, exhausted. Bill sits there

looking miserable. Suddenly the community ALARM BELL
SOUNDS O.S.

INSERT - EXT. NIGHT - ALARM BELL

is still ringing.

EXT. NIGHT – TERRA

Josh runs into the central cleared area, followed by

several others. Ralph and Tom are holding their rifles

JOSH
Ralph, man Number-1. Tom, Number-
2. First shot’s a warning shot.
Don’t fire unless you absolutely
have to. The rest of you
underground.

MARTY
(holding a handgun)
Let me back you up, man.

JOSH
Marty...

He points emphatically at the ground, and Marty

doesn’t argue.

INT. NIGHT - GUEST BEDROOM

Rita hurriedly packs things for Aaron into a shoulder

bag while Bill wakes him and lifts him from the crib.
TERRA INCOGNITA 93

RITA
Bring his blanket.

EXT. NIGHT – TERRA – MONTAGE

A) Residents hurry to the clearing in various stages of

dress and bedroom attire and descend into the not-
quite-finished bunker. There’s something bizarrely
sinister about a line of people disappearing into an
outhouse in the moonlight. Bergman meets Fellini,
with the camera at crazy angles. Aaron and Jewel are
crying while Javon’s kids think it’s a blast.

B) Ralph and Tom take their places at the lookout

posts, removing concealed ammunition, laying out
cell phones, etc.

C) POV tree stand, a string of a dozen or so

motorcycles stream beneath us, slowly, to minimize
engine noise. Javon speaks into his cell held close
to his lips.

D) In the underground shelter residents spread out on

thick blankets on the cement floor. A babble of
hushed voices.

E) Ralph and Tom check their rifles, release the

safeties.

F) Josh does some kind of meditation in motion,

concentrating his energy and concentration.

G) The Bikers enter the community and converge on...

EXT. NIGHT – THE CLEARING

The LEADER: tall, rangy, long hair, sunglasses (at

night).

LEADER
Who are you, the Seventh Samurai?

JOSH
Welcome to Terra. Please state
your business here.
TERRA INCOGNITA 94

LEADER
Excuse me?
(looking around)
Is this invisible army of yours
well-armed?

JOSH
Well-enough. What’s your
business here?

LEADER
Oh I don’t know, just your run-a-
the-mill rape and pillage I guess.

We are increasingly aware of Josh’s extraordinary

presence, a sort of super-charisma emanating from him
to the Bikers. We can see it in their response to him,
from initial arrogance and contempt to wary confusion.
There is a long suspenseful pause after the Leader’s
last words before the Biker beside him suddenly whips
out a handgun. Before he can get off a shot, Josh
high-kicks the gun from his hand – then spins into
another Biker, disarming him as well. But there are
too many for Josh to take on alone. A...

THIRD BIKER

...who’s drawn a handgun, is blown from his bike by...

RALPH’S

...lethal shot.

TOM’S

woefully off-target shot does even more damage.

WIDE SHOT - CLEARING

As the Leader reaches for his gun, in...

TERRA INCOGNITA 95

SLOW MOTION SFX: THE BULLET

...aimed for him pierces the gas tank of...

ANOTHER BIKE

...which explodes, while meanwhile...

SLOW MOTION SFX: THE BULLET

...ricochets from yet another bike – a wickedly

wobbling missile (with SOUND FX) – that catches...

THE LEADER

...in the throat. He falls from his bike.

WIDE SHOT - CLEARING

BIKER #2
Let’s get outa here!

In a chaos of confusion, the bikes roar to life as the

panicked Bikers maneuver to get away.

JOSH

is an island of calm intensity at the center of this

commotion, pivoting with the flow of movement.

WIDE SHOT – CLEARING

BIKER #2
These fuckers are crazy!

A BIKER ON FIRE

whose bike blew up, staggers in flames to his feet...

TERRA INCOGNITA 96

WIDE SHOT – CLEARING

...and jumps onto the back of the last bike.

BIKER #3
Owww! Get off! Get the fuck
off!

The bike wobbles and upsets, dumping both of them.

While its owner rights it, the...

BURNING MAN

rolls and flails about to smother his flames, then...

WIDE SHOT – CLEARING

...jumps onto the bike again – smoldering but

flameless now – as it roars away.

JOSH

surveys the damage – two dead bikers and the flaming

wreckage of a third motorcycle – then looks up at...

RALPH

...and

TOM

...emerging from their lookout posts.

WIDE SHOT – CLEARING

Josh is not happy.

JOSH
Nice “warning” shots!
TERRA INCOGNITA 97

RALPH
The guy I shot had you dead to
rights, Josh!

Josh is too upset to talk. With a gesture of futility,

he walks away.

EXT. NIGHT - TERRA TURN-OFF

Spewing gravel, the Bikers fishtail onto the 2-lane

blacktop...past the Rednecks’ battered Caddie at the
side of the road. Its doors are open and their
lifeless bodies lie sprawled around it, one half-in,
half-out of the car.

INT./EXT. NIGHT – BILL & RITA’S BEDROOM

Bill lies awake beside Rita, who’s sound asleep. On

his face an expression of anguish. He’s had his wakeup
call: a long dark night of the soul awaits him. He
slips out of bed and stands beside Aaron’s crib,
looking down at the sleeping boy; stealthily opens the
sliding door to a deck outside the bedroom; sits there
in the moonlight in great emotional pain, thinking.

INT. NIGHT, BEDROOM – MONTAGE

Now he’s on his laptop curled up in a chair in their

guest room. His expression has been transformed; it’s
confident, registering his eager pursuit of some
vision or idea he’s working out via the keyboard.
Several times he pauses to Google something on the
Internet, always returning with furious expert typing
to incorporate what he’s just learned or thought of.
Now he’s typing away at a desk in the bedroom, now
back in the chair, as the sky gradually lightens with
the approach of dawn.

INT. DAY – RALPH & JOY’S KITCHEN

The two of them and Nathan are eating breakfast.

TERRA INCOGNITA 98

NATHAN
That must have been some shot,
Grandpa.

Joy gives her husband The Look.

RALPH
Pretty easy actually. Less than
a hundred yards, no wind, plenty
of light. It’s a pity.

NATHAN
Grandpa! It was him or Josh. Then
maybe all of us.

JOY
Your grandfather knows that,
Nathan.

RALPH
Taking a life, any life...

NATHAN
I still can’t believe Tom hit
one of ‘em.

RALPH
Neither can I, frankly.
Something...

NATHAN
Something what?

RALPH
Oh, I don’t know. Just...a
strange experience. Glad it
come out the way it did.

JOY
You did a very good thing,
Nathan, bringing Joshua to us.

NATHAN
(shrugging)
I’m just glad he came.
TERRA INCOGNITA 99

INT. DAY - SARAH AND RAMÓN’S KITCHEN

Sarah, Ramón and Josh are at the table when Rita and
Bill, holding Aaron, come down for breakfast. Bill
looks a little wild. He obviously got little or no
sleep last night. Jewel is in her infant seat

RITA
(singing it out)
Good morning!

Her greeting is returned as Rita goes immediately to

Josh (who like Ramón has risen at their entrance) and
gives him an emotional, wordless hug.

BILL
(when they’ve parted)
Good job, man, whatever you did.
Rita’s told me about all your
preparation that went into it.

JOSH
(uncomfortable)
Everyone’s cooperated. That
makes a difference.

SARAH
Tell them the good news, Josh.

JOSH
(brightening)
Yeah, I’m going up to get Mary
and the girls. We’ll be staying
in the guest yurt –

RAMÓN
(interrupting)
But not for long. We’re going to
have an Amish-style house-raising.
If we all pitch in, we can have
it up in a week.

RITA
Oh that’s great! I’m so looking
forward to meeting them....We
have some good news of our own.
TERRA INCOGNITA 100

SARAH
Well let’s have it.

RITA
Bill’s going to join us.

Everyone responds enthusiastically.

RITA (to Bill)

Tell them what you shared with
me this morning.

BILL
Oh, I don’t – I’ve got to give
this a lot more thought.

SARAH
Hey, if Rita thinks it’s ready
for prime time, let us hear the
first draft at least.

RAMÓN
What is it, Bill? We need all
the good ideas we can get.

Gonzo and Nathan enter.

GONZO
Yeah, lay it on us, man.

He flashes the peace sign and a big smile. Bill

appears more than ready to put last night behind them.

BILL
...Well, remember, this needs
a lot more work. But I see how
important the Internet is to you.
It never occurred to me that
you’d even have it. I pictured
you living out in the woods
without much of anything, cut
off from the rest of the world.

TOM
Yeah, as long as the satellites
stay up we’re good to go.
TERRA INCOGNITA 101

JOSH
I’m sure they will. In some ways,
they’re the easiest part of what’s
left of the infrastructure to
maintain.

BILL
The trade-off in revenue versus
information control is certainly
in favor of it. Viral marketing
alone, which is what my company
– my former company – does, was
a $50 billion-a-year business
before the market crashed. Are
you all familiar with “massively
multi-player gaming”?

GONZO
World of Warcraft – best designed
reality out there. So far.

BILL
You got it. We had one of the
licensing agreements with
Warcraft. But forget the name –
focus on the concept. Alternate-
reality gaming can revolutionize
the new world we’re facing now.

GONZO
I was wondering when you were
gonna cut to the chase.

BILL
(flashing him a smile)
Thanks to the Internet, you’re
not isolated here at all. Not
only that, but multi-player
gaming gives communities like
Terra an opportunity to help
reshape the future. A future
we want to live in, and that’s
sustainable.
TERRA INCOGNITA 102

SARAH
With computer games? Computer
games is how people escape from
life.

BILL
From the kind of lives we’ve
been living, Sarah. The kind of
life that’s been sold to us.

NATHAN
I thought that’s what you were
doing. Internet marketing.

Bill holds a hand up in mock surrender.

BILL
That’s what our investors thought.
That’s what our business plan was.
But there are some really smart
people who see multi-player
gaming as a lot more than just a
marketing tool. There’s an
organization called the Institute
of the future –

GONZO
“World without Oil” – that was
their gig wasn’t it?

BILL
Right. For a month or so, some
1800 people lived as if there
really was the oil shortage we
have now. Players created blogs
and YouTube videos, manga – did
interviews on the street...

SARAH
So what good did all of this do?

BILL
Under the “leadership”...
(tone of disgust)
...we had then, it didn’t get
(MORE)
TERRA INCOGNITA 103

BILL (CONT’D)
much beyond the blueprint stage.
Players came up with a lot of
good potential solutions –

RAMÓN
Which were the last thing the
oil companies wanted.

BILL
But it helped show the way.

RITA
So what Bill was talking about
last night is how all the
intentional communities
springing up – all over the world,
not just here in America – can
collaborate, in spite of our
geographical separation...

She searches for the right words. Bill supplies them.

BILL
...To create a real global
community. “Global market” and
“global warming” have given the
word a negative connotation,
but it’s what we are, or can be:
a global community.

GONZO
I get it, the new Occupy: Occupy
Community – Intentional Community.
Everybody plugged in and playing
on a global scale.

EXT. DAY – FOREST

Josh and Nathan stand just outside a line of trees,

looking down at the homes of Terra.

NATHAN
What do you think of what Bill
was talking about this morning?
TERRA INCOGNITA 104

JOSH
I think it’s a great idea. And
I’m glad he decided to join his
wife and child. Gonzo’s too.

NATHAN
Occupy, you mean? Yeah, Gonz
cuts to the chase doesn’t he?

JOSH
I’m thinking maybe even beyond
either of those ideas. You ever
hear of the Maharishi Effect?

NATHAN
I’ve heard of the Maharishi, back
in the ‘70s – TM, and the Beatles.

JOSH
Can’t you just hear Gonz? ‘TM?
What the hell’s that, some kinda
new-age time? A.M., P.M. and T.M.’?

Nathan chuckles.

JOSH (cont’d)
Anyway, the Maharishi claimed that
with Transcendental Meditation,
or any kind of serious meditation,
if just 7,000 people – that’s all,
just 7,000 – meditated together as
a group, they could [air quotes]
transform society.

NATHAN
Really? Oh man, that’s hard to
believe. What do you think? I
mean, even if it was true,
could it work if the group’s
not all in one place?

JOSH
Scattered all over the globe? I
don’t know, it just occurred to
me this morning, when Bill was
(MORE)
TERRA INCOGNITA 105

JOSH (CONT’D)
talking. Could it really work? I
have no idea. It sure appeals to
me. All these global communities
tuned in together at the same
time...Maharishi wasn’t even the
first to come up with something
like that. Ever hear of the
‘noosphere’?

NATHAN
Noosphere?

JOSH
(gesturing with his hands)
A web of consciousness around
the earth. Biosphere, atmosphere,
noosphere. Life, air, mind.

NATHAN
You mean like some kind of
planetary consciousness?

INT. NIGHT - SARAH AND RAMÓN’S KITCHEN

Seated at the dinner table with Josh, Rita and Bill.

JOSH
Then he says, “Sounds good. We’re
making this up as we go anyway.”

The table gets a chuckle out of this.

JOSH (cont’d)
I said, “That’s right, Nathan,
we’re in unfamiliar territory
now: ‘terra incognita’.”

RAMÓN
And that would mean?

BILL
(melodramatically)
“Unknown Lands,” on the maps
of ancient mariners.
TERRA INCOGNITA 106

RITA
I think Terra’s a great name.
When we drove in here and I saw
your marker welcoming us –

RAMÓN
What marker?

SARAH
What’re you talking about, Rita?

RITA
Well, that, that bronze plaque or
whatever it’s made of where your
gravel drive leaves the highway.

RAMÓN
There’s no marker there.

RITA
But...I’m sure I saw it.

SARAH
I think you were just really
glad to be here, baby.

Rita looks from Sarah to Bill.

BILL
I didn’t see anything. Maybe we
should put one up.

JOSH
It would only call attention to
us.

The sudden sound of a HELICOPTER flying at high speed

overhead spooks everyone a little.

RITA
...When can we expect the next
intruders, do you think?

JOSH
Could happen any time.
TERRA INCOGNITA 107

RAMÓN
Same as it ever was.

JOSH
Exactly. But we’re alive. Life’s
a gift, and a responsibility. We
we have to learn cherish every
moment of it, as best we can.

His simple yet profound statement takes a moment to

sink in. Then, one by one, they get what Josh is
saying and turn to share with one another their
understanding, and acceptance, of the challenge he’s
laid down.

EXT. DAY – FIELD

Nathan is heading out for his early morning chores

when he stops in his tracks and stares at the pasture
field ahead of him. His mouth is open in amazement but
we don’t see what he sees.

INT. DAY – NAHAN’S GRANDPARENTS’ KITCHEN

Joy and Ralph are having breakfast when Nathan bursts

through the door.

NATHAN
In the field! You gotta see
this!

EXT. DAY – CORNFIELD

Nathan and his grandparents join a group of silent

Terra residents already gathered on a low hilltop
overlooking a large field of corn whose stalks are
tall but not yet fully mature. Everyone is looking,
spellbound, at an enormous, very complex and beautiful
CROP CIRCLE in the middle of the field.

NATHAN
It wasn’t there last night.
TERRA INCOGNITA 108

JOSH
...Not all of our visitors will
be intruders.

FADE OUT

Over END CREDITS, in a DIGITAL ANIMATION of the slowly

revolving Earth, pinpoints of light begin popping up
all over the planet. And as they become more profuse,
a faint surrounding veil of light gradually brightens
into radiance.

(This will be the final scene and the background for

End Credits at the conclusion of every episode.)

THE END