The Teep-talk Maker

EXT: AT NIGHT ON A RESIDENTIAL ROAD.

There are two scruffy cars crammed into the driveway in front of a bungalow. The cars look very modern and futuristic, but they haven't been treated well. One of them has a roofrack and front bumper support for carrying long objects. The porch light of the house is on and these is lshining through the curtains.

Suddenly the fuse blows and the lights go out.

BENNET
	Damn!

INT: THE KITCHEN OF THE BUNGALOW

It is completely dark except for moonlight coming in through the window. The shadowy shapes of COLIN SPART and BILL BENNET are moving in front of the window. SPARK is wearing a strange contraption on his head; it is the prototype telepathiphone.

BENNET
	Your gadget has blown the fuse again. Don't you know how to wire a plug?

SPARK
	Look; it's your transformer and power supply. I just do the electronics.

With the crashing of a plate on the floor, BENNET finds a flashlight and switches it on.

BENNET
	Uh, sorry.

Spark unbuckles the chinstrap of the telepathiphone, takes it off his head and puts it on the table.

SPARK
	Go on. Go and unplug it so I can get out and reset the fuse.

There is some more shuffling around in the dark with the beam of the torch waving unpredictably about. Eventually Spark gets it in his hand and goes out the door. Moments later the lights come on.

The kitchen is large and spacious with many gadgets lined up along the counters. A complicated shiney steel structure built over the sink appears as if it could be an automatic portable dish washer. On the walls are posters of hang-gliders. The fixed part of the telepathiphone, which is on the plastic tablecloth on the table in the middle of the room, is like a cannibalized hi-fi stereo surrounded by a mass of coloured wires. There is a flask of steaming liquid nitrogen with some wires running out of it as though it contains a superconductor. Soldering irons and other tools are scattered all around it. The headset of the telepathiphone is a much hacked to bits motorcycle helmet with electronics embedded in the grooves carved into it. Several padded cables run from it to the rest of the device.

When SPARK comes back inside, BENNET is on the floor sweeping up the broken plate.

BENNET
	The power lead has short circuited and burnt out. We can use the one from the kettle.

SPARK
	I suppose it'll do.

Spark tips the water out into the dishwasher thing and unplugs the lead of the kettle. He plugs it into the main box of the telepathiphone and powers it up.

SPARK
	Right, I think we'll try that again.

SPARK puts the headset on and buckles it under his chin. BENNET calmly switches the power on and little lights come on and fans start to hum. SPARK starts to smile and look very pleased.

BENNET
	Well, it is working?

BENNET
	Well, it is working?

SPARK
	Yep. It sure is. I can hear you failing to apologize for the plate that you broke. Don't worry, I'll forgive you anyway.

SPARK winces.

SPARK
	Stop thinking things like that. Try and clear your mind. Let's get the cards out.

BENNET
	Where did we put them?

SPARK
	They're over there. On that counter.

BENNET
	I see them.

BENNET picks up a set of those mind reading experiment cards, the ones that have the shapes of a circle, a plus sign, a triangle, a set of wavey lines, and so on. He shuffles them briefly in his hands and picks out the first one. SPARK concentrates his mind each time before saying the answers correctly as BENNET goes through the pack.

SPARK
	Let's see. Um... Circle... Plus sign... Another circle... Some wavey lines. Am I getting them right? Good.. Could you try going a little further away please so we can see how far we can do it.

BENNET backs through the door into the next room.

BENNET
	Like about here.

SPARK
	Yes. Now look at some more cards... Diamond... Square... The back of a card... Another square... Some more wavey lines... Stop! I can't read you any more. How far away are you?

BENNET
	Over here. I'll take a step closer.

SPARK
	That's better... A circle... A star... Hey, it's gone away again.

BENNET
	The cut off point seems to be about five metres away from you. I don't know how much effect the door and wall are having, though.

SPARK
	Not much, I would guess... I'm still reading your mind even though you're round the corner. Here, you think we should make a little celebration to celebrate getting this thing finally working, don't you.

BENNET
	You read my mind.

SPARK
	Of course I did. Now, we can't go out because the pubs are all shut... But I do have a bottle of champagn stashed away in the closet of my bedroom for just such a special occasion. Do you want to get it? It's behind the pile of shoes on the top shelf.

INT: THE NEXT ROOM OF THE HOUSE

BENNET is standing on his tip toes pulling all the shoes and other miscelaneous junk out of the top shelf of the cupboard. Eventually he gets out the bottle and polishes some of the dirt off with his sleeve. When he returns to the kitchen, smiling. SPARK is still attached umbilically via his headset to the equipment on the table.

SPARK
	Wine glasses are down there in that cupboard.

BENNET
	I know.

BENNET gets the glasses out, and hands one to SPARK. He struggles to pop the cork of the bottle, and then he pours a measure into each glass. He takes a straight gulp from his glass. He swallows and his face turns red.

SPARK
	Bleah! It's disgusting. I can almost taste it myself.

BENNET
	Yes, it is. Why don't you try some some with your own mouth now?

SPARK sniffs at his glass suspiciously, but doesn't drink.

BENNET
	How long have you been keeping this?

SPARK
	About five or six years.

BENNET
	No wonder. It's turned into champagn vinegar.

SPARK
	I have't used it because I haven't had anything this important to celebrate in all this time.

BENNET
	It shows.

SPARK
	You got some good wine over at your house, you say.

BENNET
	I didn't say it; I only thought it.

SPARK
	(After a pause) Shall I take that thought as an invitation for us to go round?

BENNET
	Yes... Sure... Why not. Let's take your computer DAT cartridge with the design and theory of this thing on it so we can take it to the Autofac in the morning?

SPARK
	We need to think of a name for it first. The Factory doesn't accept a a product unless iyou've got a name for it.

BENNET
	Stop thinking what I'm thinking all the time. It's irritating.

SPARK
	If the Autofac mass produce it we'll make a lot of money.

BENNET
	Yes, yes. Let's go.

INT: A small cubical type room which is about the width of an office desk.

There is a desk type object made entirely of computer hardware resembling several hi-fi stereo stacking systems merged together. There is a large monitor on the "desk" and beside it are two high quality hi-fi speakers through which the computer talks in a voice similar to the one on the telephone you get when you dial a wrong number. On the wall behind this machine is the "Autofac ONE" logo. In front of the desk, level with the door, are two chairs. The ambient light in the room is orange, like the colour of a city streetlight.

SPARK and BENNET enter the room. The "Autofac ONE" logo is visible on the door as they open it. The ambient light changes to a comfortable white as they sit down.

AUTOFAC
	Good evening, gentlemen. How are you today?

SPARK
	I'm fine.

BENNET
	I'm fine too. How are you?

SPARK pulls a computer DAT cartridge out of his jacket pocket.

SPARK
	I have a design of a new product to give to you. May I give it to you?

AUTOFAC
	Can you tell me what it is?

SPARK
	If I told you, you wouldn't believe me.

AUTOFAC
	I will believe anything.

The AUTOFAC opens its DAT tape drive shutter and SPARK inserts the cartridge into it. The cartridge whirs back and forth and a wire frame diagram is drawn up on the monitor. Gradually it is rendered into a more realistic colour shaded image which is only slightly similar to the prototype device SPARK and BENNET built at home.

AUTOFAC
	So, you call this invention "The Telepathiphone". Why?

BENNET
	It's a compound word, see. It's like a telephone, but it works by telephathy.

AUTOFAC
	Maybe we will think of a shorter, snappier name while we are optimizing your product.

SPARK
	You will redesign it to make it smaller?

AUTOFAC
	Yes. I guarentee it, both in size, and name.

SPARK
	How long will it take?

The AUTOFAC is all the time redrawing smaller and more compact versions of the telepathiphone on its monitor from different viewing angles and in different colours and textures. Its hard disc drives occasionally undergo bouts of activity when they buzz and rattle and flash banks of LEDs.

AUTOFAC
	Design and development and optimization of the manufacturing chain will be done in six hours.

SPARK
	That's fast.

AUTOFAC
	I'm a fast computer. The autofac production lines will be configured shortly thereafter. And the product will commence shipment three days later. You should find it on sale by next Tuesday if it passes all its tests.

BENNET
	That's fast.

AUTOFAC
	I am a fast manufacturer. Now let's talk money.

A golf ball type printer rises out of the surface of the desk and a sheet of paper loads into it. The printer, like a teletype, writes:

"Preliminary contract for the manufacture of the product code-named The Telepathiphone..." (Many lines of legal gibberish are spouted out. here.)

SPARK
	Okay.

AUTOFAC
	I will offer you 0.2% of gross royalties. Will you accept?

SPARK
	Hold on, isn't that a bit low? I thought that inventors got closer more like ten to fifteen percent.

BENNET
	Yeah.

AUTOFAC
	This is the standard level of payment.

BENNET
	Not from what I've heard. This is a pittance. Other inventors get at least ten percent. I'm sure of it.

AUTOFAC
	It all depends on what you take the ten percent of.. You are thinking of gross unclaimed shareholder royalties. Of that you may be getting ten percent, though the figure is hard to calculate as it is claim dependent. Payments made in relation to that figure are therefore too disputable to be of use. It is better to make the negotiated percentage relate to gross royalties because that value is always definite and unquestionable. But to put your mind at rest I have made an unbiased estimate of what 0.2 percent of gross royalties represents in terms of gross unclaimed shareholder royalties. It comes to 13.4 percent. Will you accept this offer or do you want your cartridge back?

SPARK and BENNET look at each other for a moment.

SPARK
	We'll take it... I mean we'll accept your offer. Go ahead and manufacture it.

INT: THE WORKING OF THE AUTOFAC

What follows is a sequence of brief moving images of the Autofac in operation. The sequence can be described in four definite stages; Humans feature only in the final stage; everything else is autonomic machine working.

THE DESIGN STAGE:

There are various shots of computers and slave data manipulation robots (like the kind they have at Direct Line Insurance) in operation. The computers have no keyboards, or have keyboards that are still in their shrink-wrapped state. At the start it is a bright day outside. During this stage the view through whatever window is available shifts through twilight with a beautiful sunset, and into night. The computer monitors show the Telepathiphone in various stages of assembly. A desk-top publishing computer designs the labels and the box in which the product will be sold. (The box is the size of a toaster. The device itself has been scaled down to be the size of a large walkman with peculiar fat headphones.) The computer has renamed the product and called it a TEEP-TALK.

THE TOOLMAKING STAGE:

The steel moulds for the parts are cut on automated milling machines and wire eroders to the accompanyment of flying sparks and sprays of coolant. The machines load and unload their tools automatically.

THE PRODUCTION STAGE:

The plastic components of the Teeptalk are injection moulded on a fast machine and dropped onto conveyor belts as they cool off and properly solidify. Meanwhile printed circuit board assemblers mounts and solders down resistors and other electronic components at a furiously frantic rate. (Final assembly of the components into the whole product may be ommitted as it would involve robots and would be too hard to do.)

THE PACKAGING AND DISTRIBUTION STAGE:

The Teeptalks are stacked into cardboard boxes which go onto shelves in one of those enormous central warehouses. They get loaded onto AUTOFAC ONE train carriages, among other products, and then, after a journey, onto trucks which deliver them to the back entrances of shops in malls or in the high street during the early hours of the morning together with the newspapers.

INT: A SPECIALIST AUTOFAC ONE SHOP

The TEEP-TALKs go on sale in a specialist shop. People are buying them like hot cakes and looking satisfied and interested. Suddenly three men, DR ROGERS and two AGENTS, stride into the scene. Their job is to eliminate the sales of the TEEP-TALK product. They flash their badges and snatch Teeptalks from several startled customer's hands as they come out of the shop. They give them forms with which they can claim back their money at a later date. DR ROGERS goes to the CASHIER while his two AGENTS fan out into the shop and locate the TEEP-TALKS.

CASHIER
	What's this?! What are you doing?

DR ROGERS goes up to the counter and flashes his badge.

DR ROGERS
	I'm Dr Rogers from Special Squad. I hope I can rely on your co-operation. We are withdrawiing one of your new products from sale.

CASHIER
	Why? Which one?

DR ROGERS
	The Teeptalk.

DR ROGERS produces an impressive document embossed with silver lettering and puts it on the counter. The CASHIER looks down at it.

DR ROGERS
	This is an important legal order which binds you to not sell any more items of this type. You are being held personally responsible for this matter. I'd like you to sign here now please. We'll give you a copy later, if you require.

DR ROGERS produces a pen from his pocket. Behind him his two sidekicks are carting out the entire stock of teeptalks in supermarket trolleys.

CASHIER
	Let me call the manager. I don't know anything about this.I'm only the cashier. She can deal with this.

DR ROGERS
	No, don't call her. I haven't got the time to wait. Anyway, this is a legal order for you, the man at the door, not the manager because she isn't here. You are ultimately responsible for sales in this establishment. All this order says you should do is prevent the sale or distribution of any further Teeptalks from this shop. If there are any items that we have missed here, in storage in the back room, for instance, you are not permitted to sell them or give them away, or allow anyone else to sell them or give them away until this order on you is lifted. It's quite simple. Now sign the paper.

The CASHIER takes the pen reluctantly.

CASHIER
	Why? What is the problem with. these Teeptalk things?

DR ROGERS
	That's none of your business, I have to say. Now sign, or I will have no alternative but to arrest you and close this shop.

The CASHIER leans onto the counter and signs his name. DR ROGERS whisks the paper away and breezes out of the shop. An elderly lady customer takes his place in front of the counter with her basket of shopping which is composed of odd looking items and gadgets.

LADY CUSTOMER
		What was that all about?

CASHIER
	I don't know. I think I better call the manager.

INT: FREDERIC ADAMS' OFFICE

ADAMS is the managing director of AUTOFAC ONE. He is a hard-bitten middle aged man who looks like a veteran journalist. There is a nearly empty ash-tray on his desk. There are no computers in his office, but this fact is made up for by a large and complicated telephone on his desk into which he is talking. You can't hear what he is saying, unfortunately. There is a large mirror behind his desk, set into the wall above his head such that it is obviously a pane of one-way glass.

ADAMS' self-appointed young, ambitious assistant, MATTHEW WHITE, comes into the room and waits in front of his desk. He is tall, clean, wears large glasses with thick, curving, colourful frames and an olive green stylish suit. His hair style is emaculate and there is no dandruff in it whatsoever.

ADAMS puts the phone down and looks up.

ADAMS
	What can I do for you today?

WHITE
	There are two men from the government who want to see you. They say it's urgent.

ADAMS
	Urgent? What could be urgent at this time of the afternoon? If it was urgent they would have called me in the morning. I'll tell you: when the police bang on your door, wake you up in the middle of the night and haul you down to the factory to shut down a production line because it's suddenly producing hand rifles disguised as African umbrellas-- that's urgent.

WHITE looks unsympathetic, but doesn't say a word.

ADAMS
	What's this all about?

WHITE
	They won't say. They are adamant that their business is top secret and they won't talk to anyone about it but you.

ADAMS hauls himself to his feet with much effort.

ADAMS
	Okay, let me at them; I deal with it. Which room have you put them in?

WHITE
	The Isaac Gold room.

ADAMS
	You put them there? Why?

WHITE
	That's where they wanted to be. They wouldn't go anywhere else.

ADAMS
	Alright, I'll meet them.

INT: TRANSITIONAL

ADAMS, followed by WHITE go down the corridor and through a common room to the door of the Isaac Gold room. ADAMS goes in, but WHITE waits outside.

INT: INSIDE THE ISAAC GOLD ROOM

This is a large lecture theatre with blackboards at the front and rows of seats that rise towards the back. DR ROGERS and GENERAL HIROSHIMA are talking to one another as they sit in the middle of the front row of the rear block of seats. DR ROGERS is wearing a white suit and two wristwatches. HIROSHIMA is possibly Japanese and he wears a full general's uniform including gold braids over his shoulders and a peaked cap. He wears thick rimmed glasses. They both have their bulky executive briefcases open on the low coffee-type table in front of them which stands in the middle of the lateral aisle.

ADAMS comes in. DR ROGERS and HIROSHIMA stand up as he walks over to them, and shakes hands.

DR ROGERS
	Good afternoon, Mr Adams, I am Dr Rogers... And this is General Hiroshima, who is my assistant for today.

ADAMS
	Pleased to meet you both. General Hiroshima: is that your real name?

HIROSHIMA gives him a sudden, shocked look.

DR ROGERS
	Mr Adams, in our line of business nobody uses their real names if they can help it.

ADAMS
	So it's too late for me to get involved in your line of busines, then; since everyone knows what my name is. Does this mean you might not be a doctor? And he might not be a general?

DR ROGERS
	Let's be seated. The business we are here to talk to you about is very urgent. It concerns a product of yours that was launched this morning called a Teeptalk. Do you know much about it?

ADAMS
	Well, I might do.... A teeptalk? What's it for?

DR ROGERS
	What do you mean what's if for? How can you not have heard of it? It's your star product, judging You're the managing director of this company. Surely you must know of it.

ADAMS
	Like I said, I can't say if I know about it or not. I am not wired up to the computer at all times. This company launches an average eight products per day. The names of these products change from one hour to the next while they are under development. The word "teeptalk" means nothing to me. Now if you could give me the catalogue code number we'd be somewhere because I might be able cross-reference it in my notebook with one of its previous names, one that I am familiar with.

DR ROGERS takes a teeptalk that is still in its packaging from his briefcase and puts it on the table. He opens the box and removes the item from inside which is encased in a plastic bag. He picks up the box and reads from the side.

DR ROGERS
	A teeptalk has the catalogue number: TELE0060219W. It's job is to amplifies human telepathic waves. Anyone who wears one can read the minds of anyone else as long as they are closer than six metre radius. Outside of that radius it doesn't work, but inside it you can hear the thoughts of the other person totally.

The MOTION PICTURE CAMERA glances around the room as he says this so as to make it clear that they are at least six metres away from the nearest wall.

ROGERS looks into ADAMS' eyes.

ROGERS

You are to cease manufacture and distribution of these devices immediately. You must eradicate its existence and design from your company's computer records and never produce anything like it again.

ADAMS breaths in through his teeth slowly and, instinctively, he slips out a packet of cigarettes from his inside jacket pocket. He puts one between his lips.

ADAMS
	This sounds serious. Mind if I smoke?

DR ROGERS
	Yes I do mind. My health insurance doesn't cover me for passive smoking.

ADAMS takes the cigarette out of his mouth and holds it in his hand.

ADAMS
	A man like you shouldn't let himself get bound up like that. If it bothers you too much, I can pay the excess fee of the one day policy surcharge cover for experiencing passive smoking for the both of you.

DR ROGERS
	It's not just the money, I don't see why I should sacrifice my health for your smoke.

ADAMS
	Very well. I'll be back in a few minutes.

ADAMS gets up and puts the cigarette back between his lips before walking out.

INT: OUTSIDE THE DOOR OF THE ISAAC GOLD ROOM

As ADAMS shuts the door behind himself WHITE steps into view. ADAMS lights up pensively and then blows out a long, satisfying lungful of smoke.

ADAMS
	Matthew, can you go get me a printed file on a new product of ours called a "Teeptalk". Its cat-code is TELE0060219W. This is the thing those guys in there are making a fuss about. Be quick about it, will you?

WHITE runs away while Adams continues smoking. Time passes; he is shown from different angles as he takes several breaths out of his cigarette and it grows shorter. Just as he drops the butt on the floor and squashes it with his foot, WHITE slips a file into his hand.

WHITE
	Here you go. It's all there.

ADAMS opens the file in front of his face. You can see his eyes scanning across the paper as he reads it. Suddenly he reads something which makes him blink and look at it twice. He can't believe what he has just read.

ADAMS
	Are you sure this is right?

WHITE
	There is no reason for it to lie.

ADAMS
	This says that the projected sales of the Teeptalk are likely to gross about a hundred and seventy-five billion pounds in the first year alone. That's a lot of money: over a third of our world annual sales. Is this possible? Why haven't I heard about it?

WHITE
	This estimate is old.

ADAMS
	I should have been told about it immediately.

WHITE
	You're right. I'd have told you immediately if I'd known myself, but I didn't.

ADAMS
	Thanks very much for this, Matthew. I think I'd better get back to business.

ADAMS closes the file and goes back into the lecture room.

INT: INSIDE THE ISAAC GOLD ROOM

ADAMS walks over to DR ROGERS and HIROSHIMA and sits down at the table once again.

DR ROGERS
	I see you've picked up a file while you were away. May I have a look at it?

Silently puzzled, ADAMS passes it over to him. DR ROGERS opens it and both he and HIROSHIMA peer into it.

ADAMS
	So why do you want us to withdraw this product of ours? Is it because we will make too much money from it? We can, if you like, negotiate a higher rate of taxibility to reduce our profits to more acceptable levels. Or even license the design out on the open market at a cheap rate among our competators.

DR ROGERS
	No, Mr Adams, that's not why we want this off the market. To put it bluntly, this product is extremely destabilizing to world society. For the same reasons that you are not allowed to manufacture personal weapons, we cannot allow you to manufacture this.

ADAMS
	Says who? Who's this "we". How much authority do you have to keep us away from one hundred and seventy-five billion pounds of profit?

DR ROGERS leans forward on the table. A small gun appears in his hand which he points at ADAMS. ADAMS sweats slightly, but does not budge.

DR ROGERS
	We have the authority, Mr Adams.

ADAMS
	Who does?

DR ROGERS
	Think of us as part of the government; a part that has authority to do first and ask questions later. Regulation works much better if done from within by the people in charge rather than publically with one organisation influencing another.

HIROSHIMA
	Mr Adams, has your house ever burnt down in the middle of the night with no explanation? Have you ever imagined that your loved ones could suddenly died tomorrow and their real killers might never be found? Do you know that there are still some forms of infectious cancer that are incurable.

ADAMS
	Don't you threaten me like that. You're a group of gangsters. That's what you are... Gangsters masquerading as part of the secret service.

DR ROGERS puts his gun away while he talks.

DR ROGERS
	We might be using the same tactics as gangsters. But we are not the same as them. You can tell we aren't gangsters because gangsters are only ever after money at the end of the day. There is always a price at which you can pay them off. There is no price at which you can pay us off.. The only thing you can do to satisfy us is to promise to cease production of this product.

ADAMS lifts up the TEEP-TALK box and examins it.

ADAMS
	This is just a toy. It says so right here. "Suitable for ages eight to eighty." That's why it's packaged in this colourful playtime box so it can be used as a chritmas present.

DR ROGERS
	Oh, it's a toy then, is it? Perhaps you need a demonstration. I'll just read your mind for a few minutes and we'll see if you think differently.

DR ROGERS inserts some batteries and puts the production model teeptalk on his head. He presses the 'on' switch and furrows his brow slightly.

DR ROGERS
	Let's see: embarrassing things that crop up in your mind at the present moment, Mr Adams. Aha. You have been getting slightly incontinent in recent years, haven't you, though you won't admit it. Somehow you have managed to keep this secret from everyone until now. In fact you had a bad and humiliating accident in your office just two days ago and you had to cancel all your appointments for rest of the afternoon until the smell went away. It was fortunate that you were in the habit of keeping a spare set of trousers and underpants in your desk drawers or you would never have survived.

ADAMS
	You're disgusting.

DR ROGERS
	Am I? I rather think you are. How about nepotism? What does that bring up in your mind? (Rogers pauses) So it was about eight years ago, then. Your youngest son was chasing the girl of his dreams, and you decided to help him out a bit. It turned out she fancied herself as an inventor. She had an idea of her own for, what was it, a type of baby pram? You made your son encourage her to take her idea to the Autofac computer one evening while you secretly manipulated it from the other end. The computer knew, quite accurately, that her invention was no good. But you fiddled the figures so that it got a production run which it didn't deserve. After this you made sure that the majority of this product was delivered to Autofac outlets closest to where she lived so that she could see this good-for-nothing pram thing of hers on sale. You abused your position to fabricate the sales figures, make false, unearned royalty payments and, in the end, although she was exalted with herself, she didn't go out with your son.

ADAMS
	That's enough.

DR ROGERS
	Is it? Can I remind you about a lonely man called John Boyd. This name rings a bell? Over a period of eighteen years, he submitted three thousand and twenty product proposals to your company. Here was a man obsessed. Many of his inventions were worthless, everyone would agree, but some were not all that bad; they just failed on one minor criterion or another, according to the computer. Now, you could have chosen to push one or two of them through like you did with your son's prospective girlfriend, couldn't you have? Autofac ONE might not have made much money on it, but it would have made some, as well as made a not unworthy man happy for perhaps the rest of his life. But you didn't do that. Four years ago John Boyd got depressed and hanged himself. It could so easily have been different.

ADAMS snatches the device from DR ROGERS' head.

ADAMS
	That'll do! You've made your point, dammit. Now it's my turn.

ADAMS starts to put the device on his own head but HIROSHIMA stops him in time.

HIROSHIMA
	We can't allow you to do that. We know sensitive sectrets which must be protected.

ADAMS
	So that's it. That's what it's all about. You and your selfish state secrets.

ADAMS withdraws the cigarette packet from his inside pocket and takes one out.

ADAMS
	I need a cigarette again.

DR ROGERS
	You 're hooked on those things, aren't you?

ADAMS
	Damn right! And proud of it. They help me put up with this sort of stress. And I get a lot of pleasure from them on top of that, so who's to deny me, eh?

INT: OUTSIDE THE DOOR OF THE ISAAC GOLD ROOM

ADAMS steps through the door and begins getting out his cigarettes. Presently WHITE shows up, carrying a TEEP-TALK which he has evidently been wearing since his hair isn't so perfect now. ADAMS starts to smoke.

ADAMS
	Here, what have you been up to?

WHITE
	I've been listening in to you three from upstairs.

ADAMS
	What? You've been reading our minds?

WHITE
	Sure. They met you in the middle of a lecture hall so as to be six metres away from anyone who might be on the other side of a wall, but they forgot the ceiling. So I went upstairs and lay down on the floor and got within range.

ADAMS
	And...?

WHITE
	And, those two gentlemen in there are fakes. I'm not sure where they are from, but they are not from the government or any organization who has legal juristiction over us.

ADAMS
	Oh my god.

He drops his half smoked cigarette on the floor and stubs it out.

ADAMS
	Do they carry any weapons? Apart from the gun, I mean.

WHITE
	The gun is a fake, but there's a gas cartridge stashed in each of their briefcases. And the 'general' has a knife tied to his leg.

ADAMS dashes over to the phone, picks up the receiver and dials.

ADAMS
	I'm calling security... Hello, this is Frederic Adams speaking. I'm outside the Isaac Gold lecture room. I want you to send every security guard you have available over here right now. There are two men who need escorting off the premises immediately.

ADAMS puts the phone down and lights another cigarette. Within a short time three security men come bursting in through the door.

ADAMS

The impostors are in there. They're not armed. Take them away.

DR ROGERS and HIROSHIMA are led out of the lecture room peacefully. One of the guards is carrying their briefcases for them.

DR ROGERS
	You're making a big mistake, Mr Adams. It's still not too late...

ADAMS
	Don't say anything more unless you want to repeat it in court!

INT: A COMPANY COMMON ROOM

ADAMS and WHITE are sitting on a couch of the common room trying to calm down. ADAMS sighs deeply.

ADAMS
	Matthew, could you pass me that teeptalk thing? I want to have alook at it.

WHITE hands him the device including all the wires.

WHITE
	Here you are.

WHITE picks a second one off the floor from under the couch and starts installing the batteries.

ADAMS
	Well I never. This is the cause of so much business.

ADAMS idly put the headphone piece on his head and switches on the box. He looks puzzled.

ADAMS
	I don't feel anything.

WHITE
	Eh? You're not supposed to. It works passively. You don't listen; you read.

ADAMS squints as though trying to read some writing in the distance.

ADAMS
	...It's all written down on the side of the instruction manual, if bothered to read it, you old fart. Why don't you retire from your job? You've been entrenched in it for years now and you don't let anyone else in to have a chance...

WHITE at this moment switches on his own TEEP-TALK.

ADAMS
	Hey, what's happened? I can't read you any more. I was just getting interested.

WHITE looks at him and grins sheepishly.

ADAMS
	What have you done?

WHITE
	Nothing.

ADAMS
	Can you read my mind?

WHITE
	No.

ADAMS switches off his teeptalk.

ADAMS
	Can you read it now?

WHITE Yes. I can now. You're thinking about women. ADAMS hurriedly switches his teeptalk back on.

ADAMS
	It acts like a mind shield as well as a mind reader.

ADAMS
	It doesn't say that in the instructions. I don't know.

ADAMS
	It must do, or that Dr Rogers person would have been able to tell you had been listening in when he wore the teeptalk and read my mind. It seems clear now.

WHITE
	I'm sorry about what I was thinking just a minute ago, about you being old and due for retirement. I didn't mean it. I couldn't help it.

ADAMS
	You young people are always the same. Don't think you can ever hide anything from older folk who were once young in their day.

ADAMS stands up and puts the teeptalk device in his pocket with the wires still running to the headpiece attachment.

ADAMS
	I wonder if the computer actually knows about this aspect shielding effect. It might not do. It wouldn't be the first time it's made a mistake. Suddenly this product doesn't seem quite so earth-shattering as it once did. I thought we'd made something amazing. But all there will be is a few brief months of chaos as some people have them, and others don't. Then, after that, everyone will have a teeptalk and no one will be able to read anyone's minds again. Life will be exactly as it was before, unchanged, except we will all have to wear these stupid things on our heads all the time for privacy.

WHITE
	We'll make an astronomical amount of money.

ADAMS
	Who cares? It won't have done any good.

WHITE
	Maybe this problem can be fixed. This product is, after all, only a day old. It's not exactly had much research and development.

ADAMS
	You could be right. Meet me in the carpark at five. Get the inventor's name and address and a map to his house. We'll go visit him.

WHITE
	Where are you going now?

ADAMS
	Umm, for a tour of the building. There are some things I've always wanted to know about a few people. I might understand you, sunshine, but there are some women around here that haven't made any sense to me... yet.

As ADAMS leaves the room for the stairs, WHITE thinks to himself: "Dirty old man."

EXT: THE ROAD IN FRONT OF SPARK'S BUNGALOW

It's late afternoon, almost approaching twilight. A dark car pulls into the driveway of SPARK's house. WHITE and ADAMS both get out and go to the door of the house. They are still wearing their TEEP-TALKS. They ring the doorbell.

WHITE
	You know we aren't supposed to be here? This is strictly against the rules.

ADAMS
	Don't worry about it. I can make exceptions in cases that are this important.

WHITE
	What are we going to say?

ADAMS
	Don't say anything. Just leave it to me.

A figure of a man is clearly visible through the frosted glass of the front door. He is unlocking the door.

WHITE creases his forehead in an effort to (unsuccessfully) read someone's mind.

WHITE
	Maybe he's not in. No one's come to the door yet.

Suddenly the door is flung open and the cold muzzle of a large hand-gun is practically thrust into ADAMS' face. ADAMS and WHITE both back away. DR ROGERS is the man holding the gun. There are some spots of blood on his suit as well as on the fingers of his gloved hand. He is wearing a teeptalk of a completely different design.

DR ROGERS
	You shouldn't have come here.

DR ROGERS snatches the TEEP-TALKs from both ADAMS and WHITE and throws them on the floor and tramples on them.

DR ROGERS
	Your work keys and identification cards. Hand them to me.

ADAMS fishes his keys and card wallet out of his pockets slowly. He is sweating slightly.

DR ROGERS
	Yours too.

DR ROGERS waves the gun at WHITE, and he takes his keys and cards out of his pocket too.

ROGERS
	Drop them on the floor.

ADAMS and WHITE comply with his command.

ADAMS
	We thought you were a fake.

DR ROGERS
	You made a mistake. When you read my mind you only saw what I was thinking; you did not necessarily see the truth, whatever that was. You must have caught me telling a little joke to myself.

WHITE
	How did you know about the teeptalks in the first place? You knew about it before even we did.

DR ROGERS
	Shut-up. If you really want to know, there's a spy program in your computer. It's been there for years. Mr Adams and Mr White: you have both lost your jobs. You are not to come to this house again, you are to deny all knowledge of this episode or you will be put into prison for murder. Now go away. One of our men will be seeing you in a couple of days to debrief you fully about all this. I advise you to stay at home a speak to no one till he comes.

ADAMS and WHITE turn and leave.

EXT: THE SEA FRONT

ADAMS and WHITE are walking down the pavement side by side and can hear the waves of the sea crashing on the beach below them.

ADAMS
	So, you got what I want. You got me to leave my job. Pity you had to lose yours too.

WHITE
	Right.

ADAMS lights up a cigarette and smokes it.

ADAMS
	You know the real reason I was clinging onto that job? I'll tell you: it was so I could afford to keep smoking. I can't afford to pay the health insurance premiums for smoking without the kind of money that job brought in.

WHITE
	So? All you have to do is give up is smoking. I've just screwed up my whole career.

ADAMS
	Come, come. It's not all that bad. You remember that manageress down on the second floor. I think her name was Hunt, Sophia Hunt. You remember her?

WHITE
	Yes, I know her.

ADAMS
	Well, she's a good thing. Very intelligent. And quite attractive as well. I know she fancies the arse off you, like she has done for the past six months. In fact she was thinking about you when I stood outside her door. Pity you can't see her now as you don't work there any more.

<END>