Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Flexon Noble

               INT.  RUBBER ROOM

               SASHA is in a straight jacket sitting on the floor.  The room
               is bare.  Sasha is filthy, her hair matted, her complexion
               pale.  She has circles under her eyes.  Sasha tries to wipe
               her nose with the elbow of her jacket.

               We HEAR the sound of as door opening.  A bean of light falls
               on Sasha and then fall away as the door shuts with a solid
               thump.

               Sasha looks up at the person who entered.  A plate of food
               slides across the floor, which stops immediately in from of
               Sasha.  We CUT TO to INGRID who rises into frame.

               Ingrid is wearing a uniform, either police-like, maybe a
               touch of military.  A gun is holstered on a belt.  She is
               holding an iPad.  A Motorola walkie talkie is also attached
               to her belt. She swipes through a page or two on her iPad.

                                   INGRID
                         We have learned your name.  Sasha
                         Starr.  It is embarrassing that it
                         took this long.  I think you should
                         eat something.

                                   SASHA
                         I am not a fucking dog.  Take this
                         thing off.

               Ingrid pauses.  She un-clips the walkie from her belt.

                                   INGRID
                             (into the walkie)
                         I'm in Rubber Room 3C.  You got us
                         on the monitor?

                                   WALKIE
                         Check.

                                   INGRID
                         Can you send two orderlies in to
                         remove the jacket.

                                   WALKIE
                         Is that wise?

                                   INGRID
                         Do it.

               Ingrid places the walkie back on her belt.

                                   INGRID (CONT'D)
                         We know you don't work for
                         Greenpeace, or the Wildlife Fund.
                         The National Resources Defense
                         Council is virtually a subsidiary
                         of my employer.  The United States
                         Environmental Protection Agency,
                         the US Fish and Wildlife Service
                         and the National Park Service are
                         all line items on our budget.  No
                         one in these organizations has any
                         record of you.

               The door opens, two men in orderly uniforms walks in, yank
               Sasha up to remove her straight jacket, which they do iwth
               marvelous speed.  They rip it off and toss Sasha down on the
               floor.

                                   INGRID (CONT'D)
                         You can leave.

               The orderlies leave.  The door shuts.  Sasha goes to the
               plate of food on the floor and eats the scrambled eggs with
               her fingers.

                                   INGRID (CONT'D)
                         We own the 350.org Group.  Green
                         Cross International is essentially
                         a lobby for Flexon Noble, not to
                         mention the Nature Conservancy, the
                         Rainforest Alliance, Earthwatch,
                         The Green Alliance, the John Muir
                         Foundation and the Earth Liberation
                         Army.  To name a few.  We support
                         all these organizations. And not
                         one...not one has heard of Sasha
                         Starr.

               Sasha has finished the eggs.  The food is blissful for Sasha
               and gives her a sense of well being and strength.

                                   INGRID (CONT'D)
                         So who do you work for?

                                   SASHA
                         Fuck you.

                                   INGRID
                         Your hostility is really rather
                         quaint.  Without Flexon Noble, a
                         the world's economy as we know it
                         would cease to exist.

                                   SASHA
                         Flexon Noble will one day cease to
                         exist.

                                   INGRID
                         Yes.  Of course.  Who do you work
                         for?

                                   SASHA
                         I work for myself.

                                   INGRID
                         Platform 47, otherwise known as
                         Deepwater Skyline, was destroyed by
                         123 carefully rigged aluminum tubes
                         packed with Semtex.  The Semtex was
                         wired to a wireless receiver that
                         served as a trigger.  When all 123
                         tubes of Semtex exploded, the four
                         spires holding the oil platform
                         collapsed, snapping the drill pipe,
                         and killing all 68 men and 3 women
                         on the rig.  Thankfully the blowout
                         protector shut preventing an oil
                         spill.

                                   SASHA
                         Am I supposed to laugh that Flexon
                         gives a shit about oil spills.

                                   INGRID
                         I think you miss the point.  You
                         murdered 71 human beings.

                                   SASHA
                         Then why not turn me into the
                         authorities?

                                   INGRID
                         Because we are the authority, Ms.
                         Starr.  The terror perpetrated on
                         Deepwater Skyline required the
                         planning of dozens of people.  It
                         necessitated money and expertise.
                         Who do you work for Ms. Starr?

               Sasha walks up to Ingrid.  Ingrid takes this as a threat and
               pulls her gun from the holster, aiming it at Sasha.  But
               Sasha does not stop and before Ingrid can do anything, Sasha
               hots the gum out of Ingrid's hand.  The gun flies to the
               floor.  And then Sasha leans into Ingrid and spits on her
               face.

               Sasha backs off and starts to laugh.  Ingrid remains calm.
               She pulls a handkerchief from her pocket and wipes her face.
               The door flings open.  Two orderlies rush in and grab Sash
               and through her violently to the floor, restraining her.  The
               orderlies hold Sasha's arms tightly behind her back.  Sasha's
               knees are on the floor, and she looks up at Ingrid with crazy
               eyes.

               Ingrid settles, walks calmly to her gun, picks it up and
               holsters it.  She looks at her iPad and swipes through a few
               pages.

                                   INGRID (CONT'D)
                         One of our assets in the EPA was
                         gracious enough to run your name
                         through a computer and discovered
                         that you have a step sister who is
                         the administrative assistant to
                         Michael Brune, the Executive
                         Director of the Sierra Club.  Your
                         step sister's name is Hilda Muir
                         Funk.  Hilda Muir Funk is the great
                         great great granddaughter of John
                         Muir, the founder of the Sierra
                         Club.  The connection was odd, but
                         we dismissed it as coincidence.  We
                         have viewed the Sierra Club as
                         nothing more than an over-eager
                         hiking organization.

                                   SASHA
                         Hilda had nothing to do with this.

                                   INGRID
                             (to the orderlies)
                         You may leave her.  She ate the
                         eggs.

               The orderlies drop Sasha to the floor and leave.  Sasha's
               anger rises and she hits the plate which had contained the
               scrambled eggs.  She is starting to feel weak.

                                   INGRID (CONT'D)
                         I believe you have just confirmed
                         that hiking is only part of what
                         the Sierra Club is all about.
                         Perhaps they have a terrorist wing.

                                   SASHA
                         You enslave me in this prison, you
                         drug me and starve me. Who is the
                         terrorist?

                                   INGRID
                         Flexon Noble that gets to define
                         who a terrorist is.  Because, well,
                         because we are the law.  We are
                         performing our moral duty to make
                         certain the world receives every
                         drop of oil it needs to make
                         people's lives better.  Taking away
                         oil is the same as taking away
                         oxygen.  And we will eliminate
                         anyone that threatens peace,
                         tranquility and the livelihood and
                         health of mankind.

                                   SASHA
                         You feel it necessary to convince
                         me.

                                   INGRID
                         It is my job description to abscond
                         and convert.  I am converting.

                                   SASHA
                         Never.

                                   INGRID
                         Tell me about the Sierra Club?
                         Does their terrorist wing have a
                         name?  Who supervises its
                         operations?

                                   SASHA
                         What did you give me?

                                   INGRID
                         Shall I assume it is Hilda Muir
                         Funk?  You know it has been our
                         experience that blood is thicker
                         than money.  Blood interferes with
                         the business of oil.

                                   SASHA
                         Hilda has nothing to do with this.
                         I told you.   Please leave her
                         alone.

                                   INGRID
                         Just give me a name.  Give me
                         something.  I need something,
                         Sasha.

                                   SASHA
                         There is no name.

                                   INGRID
                         You would murder 72 of our
                         employees and yet feel so
                         passionate about saving the life of
                         your step sister.  Morality is a
                         relative thing, isn't it.

                                   SASHA
                         When you have all the power, you
                         are in no position to make moral
                         judgments.

               Sasha falls further to the floor.  Ingrid unclips her walkie.

                                   INGRID
                             (into the walkie)
                         Ingrid in Rubber Room 3C. I wish to
                         maintain jurisdiction over subject.

                                   WALKIE
                         Copy.

               Ingrid re-clips the walkie.

                                   INGRID
                         There will be no further need for
                         the straightjacket.  That is my
                         gift to you.  You are a strong
                         woman, Sasha.  I respect that.
                         And...I like you.  We'll continue
                         our work.  In this...complicated
                         world, it is important to have
                         friends.

               Ingrid turns and leaves.  The CAMERA dollies into Sasha, who
               is on the floor, but looks up.  Her knowing rage is a beam of
               light punching out from the drugged haze she is feeling.  As
               the door opens, a light shines on her face.  When the door
               shuts, we...

                                                       CUT TO BLACK.

               THE END.

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