The second Reaper and the security guard who had initially accompanied him, lead the prisoner in the opposite direction that the President is headed.
The politician walks down the corridor of the army base, flanked by three members of the secret service.
An associate of the President hands him a typed speech without saying anything.
The second President ascends a metal stairway. A door is held open for him by a security guard. There is music playing in the background and as soon as the politician walks through the doorway the crowd cheer and wave their flags. There are over a thousand people both in front and behind where the microphone wis located.
The Politician waves to the crowd without a hint of a smile before taking his place at the podium. He opens the speech and reads the first two sentences
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: My fellow Americans. It has been an honour to serve you. The past five years have been the proudest of my life. Together we have accomplished many great things. We have annihilated the Changeling threat, proven that climate change is just baloney and re-established family values at the heart of our government. We’ve also stood by our comrades in the NRA. If they want to go around shooting some people who are we to stand in their way?
There was a slight gasp from the audience. President Westwood picked up his typed speech and started to rip it up.
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: You know what, my fellow Americans I’m bored of saying the same things over and over again. Stuff I don’t mean. Stuff that appeals to the lowest common denominator.
For the last six years, since the campaign started I have been appealing to your basest instincts. I have encouraged you to show hatred, to discriminate and to bully. I have let you down. Politics shouldn’t be about “me first”. It should be about us all as equals and trying to do the best for each other as equals.
Believe it or not, I am not the macho guy I appear to be. I’ve picked on guys half my size at school, cried when I don’t get everything I want and lied about everything under the sun. Its a lot easier to appear macho when you have thirty highly trained agents behind you.
Sometimes weak and frightened little boys can boost their esteem in hypocrisy. Whether that is by portraying yourself as better than the next guy because they have a different skin colour or whether they come from a different country or culture or a different planet. Governor Callahan was killed for no good reason other than my ambition to continue as President. It is true to say that changelings live amongst us, but by no means is that a bad thing. What has happened is a gross miscarriage of justice. Changelings are no different than normal human beings. Like humans, some are capable of the kindest acts and some are capable of the opposite. I have used this fear over changelings to my own ends. I have destroyed and executed all of my opponents and all of my followers have supported me throughout this reprehensible behaviour.
Hatred is never the answer. I know how you might feel. I’ve been there. You feel inadequate as a human being. Certain parts of your body don’t function how they should. Girls only show an interest in you if you have money. Discrimination is about two things. Hatred and hypocrisy. If a guy you know is more intelligent than you and better at sports than you amongst other things, finding something that makes you feel superior, such as skin colour or religion, can increase your esteem. Telling lies and spouting hatred to boost your ego will not truly make you happy. Extending the hand of friendship will.
Sometimes people will let you down and not return your offer of friendship. Sometimes they might fart in your face but ultimately you get rewarded for what you give and what you build not what you take and destroy.
The President pauses for a moment. He can almost hear a pin drop.
At this point a heckler from the crowd shouts
HARVEY BURBAGE: You Suck
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: Harvey? Harvey Burbage, is that you?
Suddenly, all heads turn and look at the tall, powerful man forty yards from the podium. Harvey is speechless.
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: Are you a builder or a destroyer, Harvey? What have you to say Harvey?
HARVEY BURBAGE: I said, you suck
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: Come on up here Harvey. I’ve got an important message for you.
The large and powerful man hesitates.
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: Come on up here. I’ve got something to tell you in front of everybody.
Harvey slowly makes his way through the crowd who are mostly silent.
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: Now you all remember Harvey from one of my previous rallies. Harvey is the man who exposed Charlie Morrison and delivered him to the authorities. Since then, we’ve been doing some investigating. It turns out that this man who has just come up on stage here has been keeping a dark secret. His wife Loreen and his three children Bubkiss, Tubkiss and Hallow, have all been found to be changelings. Yes that’s right Harvey your family is a fraud and perhaps you too for all we know.
HARVEY BURBAGE: That’s a lie. Myself and Loreen are true Americans. We’re human beings like everyone else, well almost everyone else. I don’t like what you’ve become Mr President.
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: We have evidence from Doctor Scheintraller himself that your wife and your three kids failed the tests we set them. It wouldn’t surprise me if you failed these tests also. As everyone in the audience knows, Doctor Scheintraller has been hailed for his groundbreaking work on identifying changelings. You were quoted in a local newsletter of saying that Doctor Scheintraller was worthy of the highest honour that the American President could bestow for the scientist’s good work. What do you have to say about that?
Harvey does not respond. Some Secret Service Agents approach him.
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: These men are going to arrest you now. We don’t tolerate aliens in this country of ours now do we Harvey and in my book you’re either a sympathiser underneath it all or a fraud.
HARVEY BURBAGE: I’m not going to no jail. This is a lie.
The secret service men overpower him and handcuff him. It was then that as the powerful man was being lead away, that he started to cry.
HARVEY BURBAGE: Don’t take me away. Please, please. Not my wife and kids. Not me.
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: Now Harvey, there is a way out. You could admit to the fact that the there is little difference between you, me and the Changelings that have done next to nothing to harm us. What do you say Harvey?
Harvey stopped walking from the stage, but didn’t anything.
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: Is it a sham Harvey? Are we all no different from each other?
HARVEY BURBAGE: I just want to see my wife and kids.
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: When changelings are arrested, they say the exact same thing. What do you say Harvey. Are we all the same?
HARVEY BURBAGE: (in a whisper) Yes
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: So that’s a yes
HARVEY BURBAGE: Yes
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: Harvey, you are free to go. When you go home, your wife and kids can embrace you, unlike the thousands upon thousands of Americans who have been executed in the name of progress.
Slowly Harvey Burbage makes his way from the stage.
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: It’s not funny when the tables are turned against you now is it Harvey? That should be a lesson to everyone in this room. Sometimes life isn’t black and white and we should ask ourselves; what if it’s us being taken away to be executed. It’s not funny. What unites all living things is that we all have a heart. I ask of you to show that heart to every other being whether they are changelings or not.
Martin Luther King once gave an “I have a dream” speech. I have dreamed of a time when politicians and the media encourage people to embrace their differences, their inadequacies (and I’ve got plenty), their disabilities, their needs, their backgrounds and everything else that makes them different or appear inferior in any way. Make love, not war. Unite as friends and comrades and do not divide. Do not be afraid to show heart. How can we deal with the problems of our youth if society is not open and honest about what it really is? Thank you and goodnight.
The politician turns and made his way away from the podium. The audience did not know how to react.
After walking for a hundred yards down the corridor the politician stops outside a toilet and addresses his security guards.
2ND PRESIDENT WESTWOOD: I’m going in there alone. I had a big lunch. I might be a while.
A minute later a security guard emerges from the bathroom. The agent is an African American male in his early forties. He turns to the left and walks down the corridor. He reaches the end of the corridor and enters through the last door on the left.
The door leads to a stairway that in turn leads to a basement that is rarely used. He can see two army officers bound and gagged to chairs in a small room. He continues walking and passes through several more rooms. The agent seems to be in pain Eventually the secret agent reaches a small wooden cupboard that has wheels and moves it out of the way. Behind the cupboard was a large cavity in the wall that can easily be passed through. As soon as the changeling passes through, it falls to the ground.
Charlie, Jasper and Jeff surround the changeling who is still in the guise of a secret agent.
JASPER: You need to change form.
The changeling who is finding it hard to breathe and feeling unwell, changes slowly into Dorothy’s form.
JASPER:No, you need to change into your Kylot form or you won’t survive.
Dorothy changes form again. She has a largely green reptilian like exterior with large cat like eyes and a flat nose and small mouth. She is still struggling to breathe.
CHARLIE MORRISON: Sylvia, is that you?
SYLVIA: How do you like me now?
CHARLIE MORRISON: A little bit of make up and you’ll be fine.
SYLVIA: Fuck you.
Inwardly her spirits seem to be lifted. She stops shaking and sweating and her breathing starts to come back to normal.
CHARLIE MORRISON: Well you still look prettier than me. I missed your speech. Was it any good? Did you go on about high street fashion, or your favourite perfume?
JEFF: We have no time to waste. We probably have only five minutes before they find us.
Sylvia climbs to her feet, albeit in changeling form.
CHARLIE MORRISON: Who would have thought that you would make such a good Reaper Jeff.
JEFF: Don’t push your luck.
CHARLIE MORRISON: Well, its definitely you alright.. Are, you still hurt Jasper?
JASPER: Nothing I can’t handle.
They start to walk away
CHARLIE MORRISON: Can you turn into Marilyn Monroe?
SYLVIA: Do you not like my current form? Am I not good enough for you?
CHARLIE MORRISON: Well
SYLVIA: Charlie, what are we going to do now?
INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE INTERROGATION ROOM - DAY
The secret service agents had been waiting outside the men’s room for close to twenty minutes.
BRETT HARRISON: Something’s not right.
BUSTER: I’m not going in there.
The other two secret service agents didn't want to interfere either.
A further twenty seconds passed.
BRETT HARRISON: I’m going in there
He slowly opens the door. The sink and urinals are all unoccupied. He looks at the cubicles. Only one of the four cubicles appears to have its door closed.
BRETT HARRISON: Mr President.
There is no response.
He places his finger on the door and gives it a gentle push..
BRETT HARRISON: Mr President
After another gentle push he realises that the cubicle is unoccupied.
Agent Harrison runs out of the toilet.
BRETT HARRISON: The President is missing. Anyone, did you see where that other agent went?
Agent Harrison and his three colleagues reach the end of the corridor and stand outside the second last door on the left.
BRETT HARRISON: You two go through that door and be on alert. Guns ready.
Agent Harrison and his colleague enter the room. In front of them is a scared security guard who has turned his gun on them without firing. The security guards hands are shaking.
BRETT HARRISON: Put the gun down.
Chester Bucannon lowered his gun.
BRETT HARRISON : What’s your name?
CHESTER: Chester sir.
BRETT HARRISON: Chester, who are those two men with hoods over their heads?
CHESTER: One of them was pretending to be the President and the other one is a fake reaper.
Immediately, Brett Harrison rushes to remove the hoods from both hostages. He discovers that the second man is the US President and ungags him.
BRETT HARRISON: Mr President, an imposter has made a ten minute speech, claiming to be you. What are we going to do now?
President Westwood’s complexion becomes redder, but he is lost for words.
INT. - PRISON CELL- MORNING
Jasmine awakes to the familiar sound of Prison Officer Dickinson rattling the bar of nearby prison cells. He is accompanied by two of his colleagues.
PRISON OFFICER DICKINSON: Today is the big day. And the best thing is that one of you gets to watch the other die.
One of the other prison guards who wears a long beard handcuffs Jasmine.
PRISON OFFICER DICKINSON : We’re running out of changelings to fry. It’s becoming a case of what’s seldom is wonderful.
The sadistic guard, administers an electric jolt to Jasmine’s thigh. She cries out in pain.
Jasmine is led out of her cell towards the male section of the prison facility. There is virtually nobody to berate her as she does so. Those that remain in their cells are somewhat subdued.
Eventually, they reach Jacob’s cell. He looks as though he hasn’t had a good nights sleep in a while. He is quite thin and what had been thick stubble has now grown into a full beard with a hint of grey.
DICKINSON: Isn’t this sweet
Dickinson and two other guards lead them in the direction of the execution room.
GUARD OUTSIDE THE EXECUTION ROOM: Sorry folks, the execution room is out of action. We have a van ready to transport them across the city.
There are two police officers already inside the van, so Dickinson decides that he is to join them in their journey while the two other prisoner guards remain behind. Jasmine and Jacob slump down on either side of the prison van.
PRISON OFFICER DICKINSON: What’s the matter with you? (As he administered yet another jolt to Jacob). You’d swear you were going to die or something.
One of the prison officers stands up
PRISON OFFICER IN VAN: Hey, that’s very cool. Can I have a go?
Dickinson hands the electric baton to the prison officer. Slowly and calmly the police officer approaches Jacob, before swiftly turning and jolting Dickinson in the stomach. In rapid succession Dickinson is jolted six times, before he is handcuffed and left lying on the floor of the prison van.
PRISON OFFICER DICKINSON: Stop, stop.
The handcuff’s are removed from Jasmine and Todd. The gaunt prison officer offers Jasmine the opportunity to exact retribution but she turns it down.
A contented smile forms on her face.
Charlie Morrison is seated in the passenger seat of the prisoner van with a cap down over his head and sunglasses to cover his eyes. He is sporting a red beard and red hair. Beside him is Sylvia who has a smile on her face