Holy Grails
(Science fiction)
The question is not if we are going down the rabbit hole, but how deep.
JESSE and FRANKLIN are two agents of an observation unit designed to hunt down the HOLY GRAILS, once known as Deus Ex Machinas. When these two hunters are sitting in a deserted diner in the middle of the night, it is not by accident.
Mr. Introvert and Mr. Extrovert. Franklin is the smart and serious kind of guy, whereas his partner Jesse is the impulsive one with a rotten sense of humor. They know the diner is just a front. The observation confirms that the bots hyper-evolve at this very location, which is always a sign for a strong presence of the Grails. Now their mission is to find the source and to destroy it.
They extract a cook and a waitress from the diner and place them in an abandoned apartment building for enhanced interrogation. In the course of the events, they find out that the cook is an assembler, JIRARY by name. A nanobot that can build and manipulate things precisely at an atomic and molecular level. Right behind the Grails, the assemblers are the most dangerous entities to humanity, so men think.
Jesse and Franklin are trapped. Jirary, the assembler, re-assembles the scene, down the scale to the last nanite where there is no spoon.
Opening scene
FRANKLIN (O.S.): Wipe this stupid smirk off your face, you nit.
JESSE (O.S., croaking laugh): This face is designed to smile. I can't help it, mate...
JESSE: ... and can't stand it either. It hurts me.
FRANKLIN: Get the spoon out of my face!
JESSE: Try the pie. Come on! Do you think it's made with love?
AGNES: Maybe you shouldn't eat the pie
with a spoon.
FRANKLIN; Jeez, give me the spoon. (tries the pie) No, there's no love in it. It feels a bit disappointing.
JESSE (angry): Disappointing! They never get the emotions right! Evolution, my ass!
JIRAYR: Thank you, Agnes. I take it from here. My favorite customers. Eat first, complain
later. Let me explain it to you, because you're what?
101 generation? Kind of slow, right? Taste is ultimately in the brain. It's our brains that perceive flavor. So, my pie is fine. You're just too stupid to get
it.
JESSE (O.S.): Now, who is stupid?!
JIRAYR (O.S.): If you have to ask, you'll never know.
JESSE (O.S.): Now that is a bad attitude. Right there!
FRANKLIN: What is wrong with you?
JESSE: You know how it works. To get him out of the system he has to bleed to death. Somehow. There is no standard procedure for this part of the job. That makes me creative.
JESSE: You know what your problem is, Frank? You can't appreciate the beauty of a flower.
FRANKLIN: I'm not nutty. But you sure as hell are. That is my problem!
JESSE: You're moody today. Not your real self.
FRANKLIN: Maybe there wasn't a real me at the first place.
JESSE (shrugs): Perfect. No self. No problem.
POOLS of BLOOD everwhere on the floor. MOVING.
Franklin sees the crimson trail. It creeps towards a newspaper, covers it. He picks up the paper.
JESSE (O.S.): Jesse here.
OBSERVER (V.O.): I have news for you.
JESSE: Guess what? His name is Jirayr. He's...
FRANKLIN: ... an assembler.
OBSERVER (V.O.): When there is an assembler, there is a Grail.
FRANKLIN: Masaru.
JESSE: In this part of the city? Masaru it is. Jackpot!
FRANKLIN: Observer? That doesn't feel right. Way too easy. Could be a trap.
OBSERVER (V.O.): OK, I'll run a scan. Be careful.
FRANKLIN: What a mess.
JESSE: Yeah, we're in serious need of some interns.
OBSERVER (V.O.): Hey guys?! Get out of there! Now!
Agnes is curled up in the corner. Jirayr eyes her.
JIRAYR (under his breath): Boy Scouts.
FRANKLIN: What was that?
JESSE: Hope not his safeword. (to Jirayr) Too late for that.
Agnes stands up and the TRANSFORMATION begins. Franklin is staring at her.
FRANKLIN: What the...!
For a moment... nothing. Then, a SHOCK WAVE takes off, hitting Jesse and Franklin. The room COLLAPSES.