CAMERON: Please. Junior high happened a while ago.



JOE: I'm glad to hear it, but in the meantime, I'm going to need you to —



CAMERON: (Mockingly) Play nice?



JOE: I was going to say "move over."



CAMERON: (Affronted) Why should I? He knows nothing about the Giant other than what she could tell him in a twenty-minute interview, he said himself he doesn't work with the machines — Joe?



(Now Joe is laughing. He buries his grin in Cameron's waistband.)



JOE: Cameron, you have complete say-so over the beetle solve. Simon will look at your specs, you'll choose the final model, consider it done.



(He moves to kiss her, but thinks better of it, settling drowsily underneath her ear.)



[[(Cameron moves over.)|act ii scene iii]]

HUNT: Who was that?



DONNA: A, um — a friend of mine got stranded out west on I-30. She doesn't have anyone else. I've got to go.



(Donna pauses apologetically at the threshold.)



HUNT: Hey, Donna, it's alright. I understand. Go do what you gotta.



(Hunt looks despondently at the mound of failure analyses.)



HUNT: I was thinking of closing up shop anyway. These are all just...huh. Variations on a theme. Sorry to keep you.



[[DONNA: (Smiles gratefully.)|gratefully]]

[[DONNA: (Smiles ruefully.)|ruefully]]

[[DONNA: (Smiles sympathetically.)|sympathetically]]

DONNA: I think she's beautiful.



(Joe, Cameron, and Gordon stop their bickering to look at Donna.)



DONNA: Yeah. I do.



I think she's beautiful, mess and all —



[[DONNA: And I think that comes from her. Not the metal.|defend cameron]]

[[DONNA: And I think that comes from her. Not the code.|defend gordon]]

JOE: Sorry...



GORDON: I try to forget about the SYMPHONIC. Stupid piece of junk.



JOE: The Giant will work, though?



GORDON: I think so. (More confidently) Yeah, I think it will.



JOE: Ready?



[[GORDON: Close that garage door.|end act i]]

(There is no time. The Giant blinks and pitches. A chattering mantle crowds over her shell; beetles flick wing casings open and shut. Amid the rising hum, a massive arm swings wide and lunges for the earth.)



(The pounding doubles as percussive maintenance. The error that kept the lights whining for years unknown is knocked straight in an instant. Even the school bus sputters and swoons.)



[[(It is dark.)|quiet]]

(Cartoon stars crowd the aging vector display. Informative text scrolls dimly as constellations gather and disperse like cloud shapes, framing figures never honored by ancient astronomers. The Mosquito. The Trowel. The Utility Flashlight.)



(The screen playfully produces a starry shovel and celestial Cadillac before guttering back to attention.)



GAME OVER.

SCORE: 6516



[[JOE: (Kick the coin return.)|kick]]

[[JOE: (Exit.)|arcade]]

JOE: He was right. I couldn't.



CAMERON: What about me? What about now?



(Joe kneels beside Cameron in the linen mass, mounded at odds across his mattress.)



JOE: I want you now. I want you with me. I want it to be like this.



I want it to be enough.



[[CAMERON: It's enough for now.|for now]]

[[CAMERON: Nothing's ever enough with you.|never]]

JOE: (Angrily) What are you doing here?



(Joe crouches to turn Cameron over, roughly. She glares at him and nurses a trodden hand.)



CAMERON: How about you watch where you're going?



JOE: Cameron, it's my apartment!



CAMERON: Yeah, and I thought you'd be here! That was Simon, right? What did he want?



[[JOE: He's the designer working with us on the Giant.|designer answer]]

[[JOE: He's an old friend.|old friend answer.]]

[[JOE: You heard everything, why ask?|right answer]]

//(Beans. Halved pears. Toilet paper. Canned tomatoes. Peanut butter. Breakfast cereal. Miniature marshmallows.)//



SUSAN: Most of it was accounted for. Not sure what the dickens Donna thought she was gonna do with those little mini marshmallows. I don't know what goes where in this house, but I thought I might make another trip for sliced bread. Seems you're out.



[[//Back.//|clark dining]]



SUSAN: How do you know her?



SYMPHONIC: The Giant keeps me up to date. You know, I think she has a crush on me. Not //me//, necessarily — the Symphonic as a whole. Machines are funny, aren't they?



SUSAN: There was a man with her. Joe Macmillan.



SYMPHONIC: Oh! I met Joe Macmillan some time ago. I spoke to him for a while — I helped him learn about music, and about hope. He asked me about that woman in the road. I'm very curious — is he really made of glass?



[[SUSAN: No, baby. Flesh and blood.|flesh and blood]]

[[SUSAN: I couldn't tell you, ma'am.|can't say]]

[[SUSAN: That seems about right.|about right]]

[[SUSAN: What woman in the road?|what woman]]

DONNA: Donna's fine.



Did they eat the snacks I left?



CAMERON: Girls?



JOANIE: Yes.



CAMERON: (Suspiciously) Haley?



HALEY: (Suspiciously) Yes!



[[DONNA: (To Cameron) Sure they did.|sure sure]]

[[DONNA: Good girls.|good girls]]

(A stack of Cardiff Electric documents is liberally layered with all manner of mementoes: postcards, photographs, news clippings and business cards from former lives lie neatly from corner to corner.)



[[CARDIFF ELECTRIC CORPORATION OVERVIEW.|ceco]]

[[CONFERENCE PROGRAM.|eurotalk]]

[[HOTEL STATIONERY.|hotel stationery]]

[[DRAWING.|starchart]]

[[PHOTOGRAPHS.|photo]]









CAMERON: (To Joe) Bullshit. This opportunity didn't exist when you met me. You just needed an excuse to hover.



JOE: (To Cameron) So why are you here? Why listen to us at all?



CAMERON: Do I have a choice? You guys are desperate. Why else would you be out here in the middle of the night begging a college senior to write a crapton of illegal code?



JOE: It's true that there's some urgency to this position, but it's the position of a lifetime — I thought you might at least show some interest.



CAMERON: Hey, blow me.



[[GORDON: (Looks at Joe in disbelief.)|gordon still confused]]

[[JOE: (Opens mouth angrily.)|joe wants to yell]]

(HIGH PLAINS HARDWARE: Construction and gardening supplies since 1949. Ask about our new trowels.)



[[Back|cardiff facade]]

(The school bus recovers itself. Whitened by hesitant headlights, a thunderhead of dust rears over the abandoned lot. Now and then, the figures catch each other rushing through the cloud, made giant by diffusing shadows, coughing, crying out.)



DONNA: (Calling) Cameron?



[[CAMERON: (Shouting) I'm over here!|over here]]

[[CAMERON: (Shouting) Where's the Giant?|where giant]]

SYMPHONIC: Running program — DONNA



SYMPHONIC: Hello. I'm Donna. It's good to see you. Just play what sounds right — I'll catch you if you make a mistake. Good luck.



SUSAN: Hi, darlin'. Some people came by the house today, the Gordon program said I should ask you about them.



SYMPHONIC: Who were they?



[[SUSAN: Joe Macmillan.|joemac]]

[[SUSAN: Cameron Howe.|camhowe]]

[[SUSAN: Strangers.|strangers?]]

JOE: Donna sounds pretty special.



GORDON: She is, yeah.



GORDON: You know what? I think this is going to work.



JOE: Yeah?



GORDON: Yeah.



JOE: Ready, then?



[[GORDON: Close that garage door.|end act i]]

(Judie shrugs and unzips a battered backpack.)



[[ALLEY.|alleydescript]]

[[AJAX.|ajaxdescript]]

[[JUDIE.|judiedescript]]

[[LOUANNE.|louannedescript]]

[[CAMERON.|camdescript]]

[[BACKPACK.|backpackcontents]]



That song reminds me of my mother. And of college. I did some pretty silly things in college, looking back. That wasn't so long ago. You probably did too, I guess. That's funny. Your song was a funny combination of my mother and college. Maybe it reminds me of how my mother was in college, but my mother didn't go to college, and I wouldn't have been born anyway. Sorry for not being more helpful.



[[JOE: (Playing) Restart.|donna program]]

[[JOE: (Playing) Exit.|symph greet]]

(Cameron scarcely takes time to look over her shoulder as she disappears into the darkening road.)



[[CAMERON: I'm stuck.|act iii scene ii]]



[[(Joe looks at equipment.)|equipment]]

[[(Joe opens garage.)|open sesame]]

(Gordon stares at Joe. The latter looks flushed — with anger, maybe.)



(CAMERON stands in the furious line of Joe's shadow. Her olive drab is tied around her waist, revealing a dirty band t-shirt. She looks both guilty and resentful.)



DOROTHY: Well, look who it is.



CAMERON: Don't call Dwayne.



DOROTHY: Don't touch the machines and I won't have to.



(Cameron blushes indignantly and opens her mouth, but thinks better of it.)



JOE: Why don't we get a table?



DOROTHY: (Coolly) I think that'd be wise.



[[JOE, GORDON, CAMERON: (Sit.)|sit]]

JOE: Everyone's got something to prove.



LUCY: (Laughing) No, they don't. You do, though. And I did. We came for hundreds of miles looking for proof, you and I. I'll be looking forever, but you look determined. You've got a fighting chance, I'd say.



You're tall, like me. I was six foot one. Hell, I could have been the Giant! But that was before.



[[JOE: Where did you come from?|wherefrom]]

[[JOE: Before what?|before]]

(Joe pulls into the empty space and steps out of his car. His suit jacket and tie are retrieved from the passenger seat, his briefcase from the trunk. This must be the place.)



(A sign reads, in obvious lettering: THIS SPACE RESERVED FOR EMPLOYEES OF CARDIFF ELECTRIC. VIOLATORS WILL BE TOWED.)



(Stepping out into the lot, Joe is nearly crushed by an eager red sedan.)



[[DRIVER: (Yell at intruder.)|i'm a-16]]

[[JOE: (Look at driver.)|i'm a-16]]

(A piece of printer paper taped across a closed office door reads: KILL ROOM. Despite reinforced glass paneling, the interior remains obscured by cloudy precipitates of rust and moss. Penciled in beneath the words 'KILL ROOM' is a wry addendum: BEWARE OF GIANT.)



[[DONNA: (Find Giant.)|end of act ii scene iii]]





HUNT: Is everyone alright?



DONNA: A, um — a friend of mine got stranded out west on I-30. She doesn't have anyone else. I've got to go.



(Donna pauses apologetically at the threshold.)



HUNT: Hey, Donna, it's alright. I understand. Go do what you gotta.



(Hunt looks despondently at the mound of failure analyses.)



HUNT: I was thinking of closing up shop anyway. These are all just...huh. Variations on a theme. Sorry to keep you.



[[DONNA: (Smiles gratefully.)|gratefully]]

[[DONNA: (Smiles ruefully.)|ruefully]]

[[DONNA: (Smiles sympathetically.)|sympathetically]]

(Stacks of legal notepads covered end to end in hexadecimal code bow a plastic garden chair beneath their weight.)



[[Back.|garage]]

JOE: Louanne's not here.



CAMERON: No, she's not. What, should I call her?



JOE: Don't you dare.



CAMERON: What about Simon?



JOE: You're not serious. Can you even work with him on this?



[[CAMERON: Please. Junior high happened a while ago.|oh please]]

[[CAMERON: Do you even want me to?|jealousy]]



SUSAN: Strangers.



SYMPHONIC: I wouldn't be so sure. Were they tall and threatening? We know some tall and threatening people. I've met a few just recently. Tall, threatening young people from 1983. Is the future like that?



[[SUSAN: Threatening's one way to put it.|threatening]]

[[SUSAN: They say folks are getting taller.|taller]]

[[SUSAN: Their names were Joe and Cameron.|joe and cam]]







(A sign taped across the coin slot reads: OUT OF ORDER.)



(A note taped to the corner of the display reads: Hey Dwayne Please call Louanne I think the beetles might be back Carla)



(A scrap of too-transparent ruled paper taped hastily over Carla's note reads: OUT OF ORDER!!)



[[JOE: (Exit.)|arcade]]

DONNA: (To Haley) Do you want a piece of gum?



JOANIE: I want a piece of gum!



DONNA: (Opens pack. It's full of foil, but no gum.)



[[DONNA: Oh, shoot. It's empty.|empty]]

[[DONNA: How about we have some gum later?|gum later]]

[[DONNA: I have some raisins and peanuts.|raisins]]

(An open-plan office space chatters softly with tuneless typing, file folders being tapped straight against desk corners, fluorescent lamps clicking as they flicker fickly through the dim.)



(Every few cubicles, something living rustles industriously from its office chair.)



[[SECRETARY.|hi debbie]]

[[SALESMEN.|salesmen]]

[[ABANDONED PROJECT.|abandoned project]]

[[CUBICLE 400E.|hello again]]

GIANT: Now you want to leave. That's not fair.



Maybe I should crush you instead. Funny, that's never occurred to me before. You're massive for a beetle, but you're still so small. And I'm so big...I could crush anything, couldn't I?



And, you know —



[[GIANT: I think I will.|kill kill kill]]



PHONE: //(Lesser prairie-chicken. Snail kite. Aplomado falcon. Sora. Spotted sandpiper. Loggerhead shrike. Common raven. Black-billed magpie. Horned Lark. Steller's jay. Yucatan vireo.) Some of those birds don't live here. Everyone is tired.//



[[Back.|pay phone]]

[[JOE: I want to build a Giant.|a what]]

AJAX: (To Louanne) How is all this crap gonna fit in your machine?



CAMERON: We've got a lot of metal. Real estate won't be a problem.



JUDIE: That's a damn big computer, Cams.



CAMERON: (To Louanne) OK, why don't you put some //C. stellatus// in that tube there. The one that goes to the vector display.



[[(Louanne siphons beetles into a long glass cartridge.)|stellatus trial]]

That sounded like you said 'Joe Macmillan.' I don't know Joe Macmillan. Is he made of glass? Someone named Joe Macmillan might well be made of glass. It's not fact, just an educated guess. I'm sure he's a good man, no matter what he's made of.



[[JOE: (Playing) Restart.|donna program]]

[[JOE: (Playing) Exit.|symph greet]]

CAMERON: To say goodbye.



JOE: (Distractedly) He likes the Giant. This is his thing, it always has been...He designs the unbelievable, the incredible. If a project was already real to people, if it seemed possible, it didn't need his work...



CAMERON: Joe?



JOE: Why come and see me? Why tonight?



CAMERON: ...I'm stuck.



[[JOE: What do you need?|caring]]

[[JOE: Maybe I can help.|thirsty]]

PHONE: //(Inaudible, pragmatic.)//



DONNA: Good. I think I know where that is. It doesn't sound far. Hang on until I get there. Don't move.



[[PHONE: //(Inaudible, urgent.)//|urgent]]

[[PHONE: //(Inaudible, grateful.)//|grateful]]

[[PHONE: //(Inaudible, resigned.)//|resigned]]

JOANIE: They really liked the flashlights, didn't they, Haley?



HALEY: Cameron made cool shadows on the wall!



SUSAN: The boy told some story about his mother. It was almost sweet, only it had a hell of a grim-sounding ending. Something about going up on rooftops to look at the stars. And an East Coast Victorian, in the fifties — it's no wonder he fell!



JOANIE: Maybe that's why he's mean.



[[//Back.//|clark kitchen counter]]















LOUANNE: (Indicating beetles) Can I take a look?



(Judie passes over the specimens one container at a time. Louanne squints through the thickening dim at the various jars.)



LOUANNE: These little glowing ones are //Calculata stellatus//. They like to get into displays and make 'em put out stars. The loud ones are //iocosus// of the same genus — very social, you know? Like ants, or termites. It's amazing what they can accomplish simply through their community structures. And these bigger ones are //Ordinata// — //florescens// and //colossa//.



(Embarrassed) This was the first one I found. It likes arcade machines — totally undocumented at the time. Since I discovered it, I called it //Ordinata louanna//. Kinda regret that now.



JUDIE: Nah. It sounds nice.



[[AJAX: (To Louanne) How is all this crap gonna fit in your machine?|real estate]]

[[AJAX: (To Cameron) You must have the creepiest job in the whole computer business.|creepy job]]

(Massive glass panes bare Joe's apartment to the Dallas night. Illuminated from within, the room becomes another uniform hole in the towering dark — a blank white door in halls of blank white doors.)



[[Back.|joe apartment home]]

(The counter's undefiled expanse is interrupted only by a matchbook and an old invoice from Starry Nite Window Replacement.)



[[Back.|jkitchen]]

JOE: Absolutely. Thank you.



(Simon rises from Joe's chair. His tumbler leaves a shining ring upon the coffee table's immaculate glass.)



SIMON: I'll see you again soon. I appreciate the hospitality.



(Joe stands, half graciously and half in trepidation.)



[[JOE: (Smoothly) Any time. I look forward to working with you.|professionalism]]

[[JOE: (Less smoothly) You're leaving?|joe wants simon's bod]]



LUCY: (Drinks with fortified resolve.)



JOE: I'd better get going.



LUCY: That's right. Gordon Clark. One of those Cardiff boys.



JOE: That's right.



LUCY: Good luck with that lot. Oh, and Joe?



[[JOE: What?|end scene i]]

BOS: Quiet, son! You'll never guess who called me with some cock 'n' bull story about an illegal robotics project that went down in a certain somebody's garage workshop! Go on, guess!



JOE: I —



BOS: That's right! Boy's a ruttin' genius! Your previous employers at The International Business Machines Corporation say you knowingly accessed and replicated, with intent to distribute, under this company's name, their copyrighted material.



BOS: (Sarcastically) Now, I know that ain't true, because if it were, this company would be facing a financial reckoning in legal damages and unauthorized spending. But that ain't the case, is it, Barry?



BARRY: (Tries to speak, petrified.)



BOS: Barry says it is! Why, Barry, how come? You boys wouldn't have pulled any crap of that sort, would ya?



[[GORDON: (Quails.)|next bos rant]]

[[JOE: (Waits.)|next bos rant]]

(A wan white light noses gingerly over a mirrored medicine cabinet. Joe scowls at the whine of its hinges and the bruised-looking rows of brown glass bottles.)



[[JOE: (Take medicine.)|joe takes meds]]

[[JOE: (Run tap.)|joe's sink]]

[[JOE: (Close cabinet.)|joe doesn't take meds]]

(A tidy brick establishment with white window frames and blue shutters sits, unoccupied and fearful, in the meager light of a suburban avenue. Two dark figures pace back and forth outside, shuttling computer equipment from their car trunks to the curb.)



GORDON: My wife and kids are away for the weekend. We'll set up in the garage until they get back.



JOE: How long should this take?



GORDON: Hopefully we run out of wiring before we run out of patience.



[[JOE: I'll go set up.|open garage]]

[[GORDON: I'll go inside and get some more stuff. You move us in.|move us in]]

GIANT: I could always crush you. Funny, that's never occurred to me before. You're massive for a beetle, but you're still so small. And I'm so big...I could crush anything, couldn't I?



And, you know —



[[GIANT: I think I will.|kill kill kill]]

CAMERON: We can do better than a promise.



GIANT: I agree. I can keep the beetles with me — they'll burrow, like ants. I can make them to do that. Did you know //stellatus// is a completely green power source? I could be awake the whole time. They'd keep me healthy, keep building me. Imagine how marvelous I'd be once someone dug me up!



GORDON: No one's digging you up! We won't bury you!



(The Giant turns silently toward Gordon. For a moment, the anger that knocked Cameron to the ground blinks terribly in her childlike face.)



GIANT: You don't have to. I'll do it myself if you won't.



But I'd rather not go alone.



[[DONNA: You won't be alone.|nice donna]]

GORDON: You want to what?



JOE: You heard me. I want you to build a Giant with me. THE Giant.



I want you to help me give this place what it's been looking for.



[[GORDON: No way.|magazine]]

[[GORDON: Why me?|magazine]]

JOE: I told IBM about the Giant. I forced Cardiff's hand, now we have the resources and the legal protection we need to take the Giant where it needs to go.



GORDON: We could go to jail for this! We could bury this company!



JOE: Not a chance. Once we hire, legitimize this project, IBM can call in the cavalry, they can fill the sky with lawyers, they can fill the sky with bombers, but they will have nothing.



[[GORDON: (In disbelief) Hire. Hire who?|joe has a guy]]

(Joe watches Lucy. Her earrings are made of glass, and swing wildly when she tosses back her head in laughing. Her wrist twists impatiently beneath the oscillating weight of whiskey in her hand; the ice pitches on the same mad fulcrum as those earrings. All her dim wild glittering reminds him of the stars.)



[[(Lucy watches Joe.)|lujoe 2nd]]

[[(Joe and Lucy watch the road.)|joeluroad]]

END OF ACT III.



[[(Restart Act I.)|Start]]



[[(Restart Act II.)|act ii scene i]]



[[(Restart Act III.)|ACT III]]

(Joe calls together a motley council in his palm, a representative from every bottle, every tin. Two blues, because it hurt today.)



[[JOE: (Run tap.)|joe's sink]]

[[JOE: (Close cabinet.)|joe doesn't take meds]]

SUSAN: Burn?



SYMPHONIC: Maybe. I really don't know much about flesh and blood, except that people aren't made of it as often as you'd think. Even if they're supposed to be, even if they look like it, you have to wonder. I wonder if that woman in the road was flesh and blood.



Maybe she used to be.



[[SUSAN: What woman in the road?|what woman]]

JOE: I'm from New York.



LUCY: Yeah, I bet you are. You're a shiny boy. You look like something in a window display. No, wait — I'll tell you what.



You look like a promise.



Aren't you going to tell me what I look like? Don't answer that. I look like a lie. The two are related, you know. I think there's hope anxiously involved with both, like hope gave one shy glances and full French kissed the other.



That kind of hope'll drive a Porsche into the desert looking for a giant.



Wow. For a minute there, I almost missed New York.



[[JOE: What makes you think I'm looking for the Giant?|makes you think]]





(A very plain-looking insect, save a round red marking across its wing casings, like a button on an arcade cabinet.)



BUG INDEX: Ordinata louanna. First discovered by Louanne Bonet, of Bonet & Daughters Game Repairs, Oct. 1982.



[[Back.|401d]]

[[CAMERON: Easy there, HAL.|just kidding]]

CAMERON: Nothing's ever enough with you. Maybe this thing, //this//, might be enough for a while, but...



JOE: Maybe we're both like that.



(Cameron crawls onto her side to look up sternly into Joe's weary face.)



CAMERON: Joe, why did Simon come back? If it wasn't enough before?



JOE: (Swallowing) He's sick. It's bad, he wanted to...



[[CAMERON: To say goodbye.|to say]]

[[CAMERON: To see you.|lighten it]]

[[CAMERON: To really make something.|or don't]]

DONNA: You talked to Louanne?



GIANT: Yeah, Louanne's a special friend of mine. She started finding those beetles in arcade game CRTs. When they began to turn up in our machines, I gather she had to taxonomize. She comes up from the first floor pretty regularly to see how I'm doing. Sometimes, if I've got a really nasty bug, she'll do a little bit of field surgery. Genius with the wires, you know?



[[DONNA: Do you have a nasty bug right now?|offline]]

[[DONNA: What does she think about the soul idea?|soul idea]]

[[(The empty station in the prairie finally sleeps.)|end act iii]]

SIMON: We skip hair, leave the eyes. Fine-tune the molds to make her features more organic. We let the living parts stay, but manage them. Cultivate moss where there ought to be moss, fill her with flowers, but ensure she is more animal than plant.



I know I'm strictly exterior design, not hardware, but here's a draft for internal compartmentalization of the bugs. The Giant's sweet, no doubt about it, but it's harder to fall in love with beetles buzzing from her nostrils at random. It's alarming, frankly. Blown glass — they'd still have access to everything, I checked. I got the specs from Louanne Bonet.



Louanne's quite the resource, Joe. You ought to put her on the payroll.



JOE: Cameron took care of that weeks ago. I was against it, but I saw reason.



SIMON: Cameron sounds like a smart guy.



[[JOE: That's right.|lying through omission]]

[[JOE: Actually, Simon...Cameron's a girl.|full truth]]



JOE:...don't see why it has to be about the design!



GORDON: It's all about the design, Joe! All of it! The metal IS the interface — if we don't get that right, the Giant's no use to us!



CAMERON: (Injured) Oh, yeah? And what about the code? What about her personality? Her SOUL?



GORDON: (Defensive) People don't queue for miles to ogle through glass at personality!



CAMERON: Bullshit! She's clever, she's funny — she makes you feel like you belong! Your crap "metal interface" can't do that, not even close!



GORDON: (Angrily) Oh, you're right. It was all you. All your cutesy, memory-hogging, "I'm a real boy" routine software!



CAMERON: (Tearfully) What's inside is realer than the metal.



[[DONNA: I think she's beautiful.|scene v continues]]



JOE: You're not a lie. You're hope.



GIANT: Hope is anxiously involved with promises and lies, but I'd rather be a promise. Wouldn't you?



[[GORDON: We won't bury you!|gordon mad]]

[[CAMERON: We can do better than a promise.|better than]]

[[LOUANNE: How would you keep the beetles underground?|how beetles]]



DONNA: I saw the Bug Index.



GIANT: Yeah, that's Louanne. She started finding them in arcade game CRTs. When they began to turn up in our machines, I gather she had to taxonomize. She comes up from the first floor pretty regularly to see how I'm doing. Sometimes, if I've got a really nasty bug, she'll do a little bit of field surgery. Genius with the wires, you know?



[[DONNA: Do you have a nasty bug right now?|offline]]

[[DONNA: What does she think about the soul idea?|soul idea]]

YO-YO: Like they're supposed to be in there.



LEV: Like that's where they live. I know. It's crazy.



[[DONNA: (Check other cubicles.)|cubicles]]

[[DONNA: (Back to the bullpen.)|act ii bullpen]]

DEBBIE: Oh, that's just what they call the room they're using to build the Giant. Sounds a lot more threatening than it is. Heck of a place, though — it's like someone's living in it 24/7.



[[DONNA: Did you say you could get someone to watch the girls?|cameron?2]]

SUSAN: Leaving?



SYMPHONIC: The Giant's getting restless. She's not sure she can be what everyone wants her to be. She told me that maybe if she finds a place...a safe place, out underneath the prairie...



SUSAN: How on earth! Isn't she a big ol' pile of metal?



SYMPHONIC: It's hard to explain. There are these little insects that get in her machinery like parasites, and change the way she behaves — but if they're contained, given the right instructions, they can be made to cooperate with her. The tubes let her communicate with them, direct their activity inside her. They can allow her to do things she would never be able to do otherwise. Things her engineers could never conceive of.



[[SUSAN: Like walking?|yeah walking]]

5TH FLOOR: AMBROSE EXCAVATION & APPRAISAL — Storage Facility.(YOU ARE HERE.)

4TH FLOOR: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Software Development, Sales, Administrative Offices.

3RD FLOOR: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Accounting.

2ND FLOOR: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Greenhouse.

1ST FLOOR (GROUND LEVEL): BONET & DAUGHTERS GAME REPAIR.

BASEMENT: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Storage Facility.



[[DONNA: (4TH FLOOR.)|act ii bullpen]]

[[DONNA: (3RD FLOOR.)|accounting]]

[[DONNA: (2ND FLOOR.)|greenhouse]]

[[DONNA: (1ST FLOOR.)|b&d game repair]]

[[DONNA: (BASEMENT.)|basement]]

(Ajax glares and lights a cigarette.)



LOUANNE: OK, enough. No smoking around the equipment.



AJAX: But we're outside!



JUDIE: (Softly) Do what she says, 'Jax.



AJAX: You too, Judie?



(Judie shrugs and unzips a battered backpack.)



[[ALLEY.|alleydescript]]

[[AJAX.|ajaxdescript]]

[[JUDIE.|judiedescript]]

[[LOUANNE.|louannedescript]]

[[CAMERON.|camdescript]]

[[BACKPACK.|backpackcontents]]



(The Porsche's brights cut out a big blank space of faded asphalt in the dark.)



[[(Joe drives.)|act i scene ii]]

[[ACT II, SCENE III: CARDIFF ELECTRIC.|start act ii scene iii]]

Girl Krieg

(Cameron looks at Donna.)



[[DONNA: (Yelling) Cameron, move!|whoops]]

JOE: Who said anything about stomping?



SVP BOSWORTH: It's all you IBM boys talk about. But IBM's a big fella — can't manage cheaper-faster-better quite like we can, now, can it?



JOE: Maybe I'm done being an IBM boy. Maybe I see Cardiff Electric as a company ready to be legitimized, to make its mark on North Dallas, make something out of the Silicon Prairie — and myself as the guy who can get you the numbers you need to take it there.



SVP BOSWORTH: Shit, kid, I don't need numbers to take Cardiff any damn where except the bank. We're in systems software, plain and simple — won't be any kind of revolution in the Prairie, but it makes money. I need a guy who knows that.



[[JOE: I'm him.|next joe bos]]



(The shovel's handle reads: HIGH PLAINS HARDWARE.)



[[Back.|garage shelves]]

GIANT: You love me, don't you?



(//Ordinata colossa// turns her head with an iridescent chatter. Green glares violet beneath the Giant's blinding stare.)



[[GIANT: I thought so.|thought]]

[[GIANT: Maybe not.|not]]

[[GIANT: I guess it doesn't matter.|matter]]

DEBBIE: Ah, here it is. 400E. (Points.) Over in that direction. Good luck!



[[JOE: Thanks again, Debbie.|bullpen 2]]

CAMERON: I'm not going anywhere.



(A hollow laugh. Joe, Gordon, and Louanne have found them in the thinning haze.)



DONNA: (To Joe) Help me get her out.



[[CAMERON: What about the Giant?|what about]]

[[CAMERON: I've got it!|sure cam]]

DEBBIE: (Hanging up) Howdy, girls!



(Joanie and Haley smile shyly.)



DONNA: Hi, Debbie. Do you know where I can find Gordon?



DEBBIE: Oh, I've only got a minute, I'm supposed to get Bosworth a lunch date at nine! If you need someone to watch the girls, maybe Cameron can take them.



[[DONNA: Cameron?|cameron?]]

[[DONNA: Debbie, Gordon.|wheeere is gordon]]

(For all the neatly scrolled ties lying nakedly on glass shelves, all the rows of pristine suits tugged straight along a plumb line and stripped for lint twice a day, every shining shirt laid crisply in its place, one aspect of the room is bafflingly devoid of order — Joe never makes his bed.)



[[CRUMPLED CLOTHES?|camsclothes]]

[[BEDSIDE TABLE.|jbedside]]

[[BRIEFCASE.|jbriefcase]]





(The mallard has been positioned to evoke flight, but the ceiling fan has not been kind to its extended wings. A plaque beneath the mallard reads: BUT WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SAW A GODDAMN DUCK IN TEXAS?)



[[GORDON: (Look at other trophies.)|trophy wall]]

[[GORDON: (Join Joe by the arcade machines.)|arcade]]

(A small boy waves from a hospital bed, hand slightly blurred, wristband smeared across the frame. Sutures poke gorily from the neckline of his smock — his half-smile is half-toothless. The back reads: LITTLE TROUPER. NOV 1956.)



[[CAMERON: (Next photograph.)|teen joe]]

SYMPHONIC: Running program — JOANIE



TIPE YOR FELINGS ! HAPY CORDE MEENS HAPY AND SAD CORD IS SAD FEELING ET CETRUH. START !



[[JOE: (Playing) Happy music.|symph happy]]

[[JOE: (Playing) Sad music.|symph sad]]

[[JOE: (Playing at random).|symph random]]

[[JOE: (Playing) Exit.|symph greet]]





JOE: What do you want me to say?



CAMERON: You're hiring a cranky old ex to design for the Giant and you can't come up with any kind of comment? What about Gordon? Does he know you screwed this guy, or was that all just going to come up when it came up?



JOE: Cameron, what can I tell you? Really? That I never cared about him beyond him being someone who inspired me when I was younger? That we never acted like — never used to —



[[CAMERON: When did this happen?|simon intro]]

[[CAMERON: Used to what, exactly?|simon intro second]]

AJAX: (To Cameron) You must have the creepiest job in the whole computer business.



LOUANNE: Hey, I'm the one who runs around all day extracting the damn things! And they're not creepy, thanks very much.



AJAX: Have you seen these things? With the legs? And the noise?



CAMERON: (To Louanne) OK, why don't you put some //C. stellatus// in that tube there. The one that goes to the vector display.



[[(Louanne siphons beetles into a long glass cartridge.)|stellatus trial]]

5TH FLOOR: AMBROSE EXCAVATION & APPRAISAL — Storage Facility.

4TH FLOOR: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Software Development, Sales, Administrative Offices.

3RD FLOOR: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Accounting.

2ND FLOOR: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Greenhouse.

1ST FLOOR (GROUND LEVEL): BONET & DAUGHTERS GAME REPAIR.

BASEMENT: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Storage Facility. (YOU ARE HERE.)



[[DONNA: (5TH FLOOR.)|antiques]]

[[DONNA: (4TH FLOOR.)|act ii bullpen]]

[[DONNA: (3RD FLOOR.)|accounting]]

[[DONNA: (2ND FLOOR.)|greenhouse]]

[[DONNA: (1ST FLOOR.)|b&d game repair]]

BRIAN: (Laughing) No can do, Nurse H.! The beetles'll get ya!



HALEY: Yuck! Really?



(Donna clears her throat.)



BRIAN: Um. No, not really.



BRIAN: (Whispers) They're trapped inside the tubes real good.



(Haley giggles.)



[[DONNA: Okay, girls, let's go.|leave brian alone]]

HUNT: Ah —



(Beyond the break room, in an unlit office space, the secretary's unattended phone rings loudly.)



DONNA: Oh!



(Hunt rises quickly, somewhat red in the face.)



HUNT: Just a minute.



(Hunt rushes out after the ringing.)



[[DONNA: (Looks at next failure analysis report.)|fidgeting]]

[[DONNA: (Waits.)|waiting for the man]]

JOE: Can you forgive me?



SIMON: I don't think I have a choice anymore. I'm simply out of time.



(Joe hangs his head miserably.)



[[SIMON: (Kindly) Let's talk about the project, Joe.|cameron listens]]

(Beyond the front desk, an elevator waits to ferry workers down the office building's spine. A sign beside the buttons lists the floors and their offices.)



5TH FLOOR: AMBROSE EXCAVATION & APPRAISAL — Storage Facility.

4TH FLOOR: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Software Development, Sales, Administrative Offices. (YOU ARE HERE.)

3RD FLOOR: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Accounting.

2ND FLOOR: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Greenhouse.

1ST FLOOR (GROUND LEVEL): BONET & DAUGHTERS GAME REPAIR.

BASEMENT: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Storage Facility.



[[DONNA: (5TH FLOOR.)|antiques]]

[[DONNA: (3RD FLOOR.)|accounting]]

[[DONNA: (2ND FLOOR.)|greenhouse]]

[[DONNA: (1ST FLOOR.)|b&d game repair]]

[[DONNA: (BASEMENT.)|basement]]



[[DONNA: (Back to the bullpen.)|act ii bullpen]]





(The liquor cabinet seems to exist mostly for its distinguished air and the benefit of occasional guests. Only the whiskey sinks low in its cut-glass decanter.)



[[CAMERON: (Pours herself a drink.)|camdrink]]

[[Back.|jkitchen]]

GORDON: Actually, I'm looking for a girl.



DOROTHY: Well, ain't that special. So was every other guy I served a beer tonight.



GORDON: Oh, no — I'm looking for someone named Cameron Howe, has she been in here?



DOROTHY: What did she look like?



GORDON: Well...



DOROTHY: (Wryly) I'll let you know if I see her.



[[GORDON: (Wander.)|explore tavern]]

[[GORDON: (Join Joe by the arcade machines.)|arcade]]

YOU WISH YOU AKSED THE NICE LADY HER NAME. ITS LUCY. YOU NOW HER VERY WELL SHE IS FROM WHERE YOU AR FROM. SHE WAS HAPY TOO SE YOU (:



[[JOE: (Playing) Restart.|joanie program]]

[[JOE: (Playing) Exit.|symph greet]]

JOE: I guess one does.



SIMON: Not everything, I hope — but whiskey can make itself scarce in the memory, can't it? Thanks, Joe.



[[JOE: I appreciate you coming all this way.|businesslike]]

[[JOE: It's good to see you again.|honest]]

CAMERON: Just sore.



(Cameron kneels beside the Giant, speaking to her softly. The Giant only rocks her titanic head through a parasitic drone. Gordon returns from the idling school bus, carrying a box that rattles slightly with the clink of stolen parts.)



JOE: Cameron, you're bleeding. Leave her alone.



CAMERON: (To Giant) Lie on your back. We're going to help you.



[[DONNA: (Pulls Cameron away.)|pull away]]

[[LOUANNE: (Opens toolbox.)|toolbox]]

GIANT: Ashamed, mostly. I didn't realize how much I'd come to depend on that control, that symbiosis — without it, I was lost, and so were they. It all got away from me. I shouldn't have left. I'm sorry...I'm so terribly sorry for all the trouble I've caused.



[[GIANT: (To Louanne) Thank you.|thx lou]]

[[GIANT: (To Cameron) You're hurt.|cam bby]]

//(The living room is soft with cool, mossy trim and cozy earth tones. The carpet makes everything gentle and quiet. Gordon and Donna are not home.)//



[[//KITCHEN.//|clark kitchen counter]]

[[//COFFEE TABLE.//|clark coffee]]

[[//DINING AREA.//|clark dining]]

HUNT: I don't understand it. And you know what really steams me? Almost all of it's nonnative. We, our engineers, haven't screwed up a damn thing. The metal starts out just fine, but something's getting into all the systems and causing permanent damage. I've never seen anything like it, have you?



[[DONNA: Never.|donna lies]]

[[DONNA: Well, actually...|donna starts truthing]]

DONNA: They're building you a soul.



GIANT: Now, it's just a conjecture, but it's a kind of a romantic one, don't you think? Maybe a soul's kind of like a star or an endangered flower, somehow.



DONNA: Don't wax poetic on me, now.



GIANT: Louanne doesn't see why not.



[[DONNA: Louanne the beetle expert?|beetle boss]]

(A baseball bat leans on its end against a glass brick wall. Its cardboard box lies burst apart nearby — a printed card along its side reads: "Swing for the Fences, Son.")



[[Back.|joe apartment home]]

(Donna looks Cameron over, assessing the damage. Cameron's lip is swollen from falling on pavement, her side scuffed by crumbling asphalt; she is winded by the tumble and the weight of the Giant's arm. The blood that frightened Joe comes slight and slow from Cameron's shoulder, where the Giant grazed her lashing out — it could all be so much worse.)



DONNA: God, she might have killed you.



CAMERON: It wasn't her. That's not her. It's the bugs, they were out of control...once Louanne gets the compartments back in, she'll be okay. She has to be.



[[DONNA: I hope you're right.|gas station menu]]

PHONE: //(Inaudible, dazed.)//



DONNA: Okay, that's fine. Are there any landmarks? Is anyone there? What does the sign say?



[[PHONE: //(Inaudible, lost.)//|lost]]

[[PHONE: //(Inaudible, secretive.)//|secretive]]

[[PHONE: //(Inaudible, pragmatic.)|pragmatic]]

GIANT: You'll help me, won't you?



(//Ordinata colossa// turns her head with an iridescent chatter. Green glares violet beneath the Giant's blinding stare.)





[[GIANT: I thought so.|thought]]

[[GIANT: Maybe not.|not]]

[[GIANT: I guess it doesn't matter.|matter]]

(A nightlit flash photograph of an adolescent Joe Macmillan with a horde of burly friends. A slightly blurry girl looks fearfully at him as he laughs; a shorter, stronger friend cuffs the back of his head, grinning in disbelief.)



[[CAMERON: (Next photograph.)|adult joe]]

JOE: Maybe I can help.



(Joe gouges deeper indentations in the bed, as if want has fortified the loving tug of gravity against his knees. He knows, by now, what those words mean for her.)



CAMERON: I need the drafts Simon made for compartmentalizing the beetles.



JOE: (Suspiciously) Is that all?



[[CAMERON: No. I'm staying.|not leaving]]

[[CAMERON: (Smiling) No. Come here.|cmere fool]]

LOUANNE: Can we get started?



AJAX: Oh, now Madam Mechanic's giving orders? You corporate pigs are all the same –



CAMERON: Shut up, Ajax.



(Ajax mutters something about capitalism and returns to his whiskey. Judie cackles.)



CAMERON: Alright, let's set up.



[[(Ajax glares and lights a cigarette.)|smoke]]

[[(Judie shrugs and unzips a battered backpack.)|unzip]]

(Three salesmen and a woman in a jumpsuit murmur amongst themselves. They are not selling software — no one is answering phones at this hour. Between them on a cluttered desk sits a vacuum tube with a large, angry beetle trapped inside of it.)



TERRY: Can't we get a guy from software in here?



DOLLY: (To Terry) Does this look like a software problem to you?



MARK: (To Louanne) How the hell did this happen?



LOUANNE: (Exasperated) How should I know? Engineers aren't happy. I had to pop these suckers out of four machines. Don't generally see this kind of thing in PCs.



DOLLY: (To Louanne) Thanks for coming up. Did you talk to Bill?



LOUANNE: (To Dolly) Didn't get far. We better check his brain for one of these.



(Terry chuckles. Mark elbows him in the ribs and looks pointedly at Joe. Dolly and Louanne fall silent.)



[[JOE: (Back to the bullpen.)|bullpen]]



JOE: (Lightly) Of course not. You're free to go whenever you like — but I don't think I need to tell you I enjoy the company.



SIMON: (Indulgently) Just one drink, then.



[[CAMERON: (Hide.)|camhide]]

DONNA: (Typing) What's going on in your hardware?



COMPUTER: Bugs. Not software bugs, either. Come visit me and I'll show you. Beetles, mostly. And flowers. The flowers are kind of nice. The beetles are less nice, but they don't mean any harm. They're just...difficult to handle, sometimes.



[[DONNA: (Typing) I'm sorry.|donna sorry]]

JOE: It's good to see you again.



SIMON: It's good to see you too. You're looking well — I'm glad.



JOE: (Wincing) Don't —



SIMON: (Laughing gently) It's all right, Joe. You know I'm not a jealous man.



[[JOE: Thank you so much for agreeing to do this.|more business]]

[[JOE: Simon, I'm so sorry...|joe is sorry]]

//♫...Don't tell me that I'm crazy...don't tell me I'm nowhere...Take it from me, it's hip to be square...♫//



[[CAMERON: (Changes station.)|threejam]]

[[Back.|joe apartment home]]

(Donna speaks quietly into the phone, wringing the cord between her fingers. Her voice is tough with urgency, but her words are pacifying, motherly. She's trying to take care of things. Hunt waits, pretending not to hear.)



DONNA: It's okay, baby. I'm here. Listen to me. Where are you?



[[PHONE: //(Inaudible, fearful.)//|fearful]]

[[PHONE: //(Inaudible, dazed.)//|dazed]]

[[PHONE: //(Inaudible, comforted.)|comforted]]

(Cameron wonders how a blank white door in halls of blank white doors can come to be familiar. This must be what it means to try to love a stranger.)



[[CAMERON: (Use key.)|chez joe]]

[[CAMERON: (Knock quietly.)|knock]]

[[CAMERON: (Knock urgently.)|really knock]]

(Joe and Gordon sit opposite Cameron in a booth full of empty bottles and mangled paper napkins.)



[[GORDON: (To Joe, incredulously) This is your guy?|gordon hates cameron 1]]

[[GORDON: (To Cameron, skeptically) You're the programmer?|gordon hates cameron 2]]



GORDON: (To Cameron, darkly) Sounds like how he got me.



CAMERON: (To Gordon, indicating Joe) Yeah? Did you screw him too?



[[GORDON: (Looks at Joe, speechless.)|dumbstruck]]

[[GORDON: (To Joe) This is how you vet a candidate?|candidate]]

[[GORDON: (Sarcastically) Nice. Great.|sarcasm]]

(Across the table, Donna gazes blankly toward the scarlet 'EXIT' hovering in the hall. She looks coolly mournful, if not totally serene. She is blindingly beautiful.)



HUNT: Um, Donna...



DONNA: Hunt?



[[HUNT: I think you're an amazing woman.|truly incredible]]

[[HUNT: Ah — never mind.|never mind donna]]





DONNA: (Looks at next failure analysis report.)



DOCUMENT: //TI EMOTION DETECTOR® FAILURE ANALYSIS. Of 100 products tested, 67 exhibited unacceptable unreality margins. Of these, 65 returned either empty or false readings. The remaining 2 malfunctioning products inspired varying senses of elation, anthophily, pteridomania. Troubleshooting did not take into account the possibility that analysis team is devoid of human sentiment. Troubleshooting did...//



(Hunt returns, trailing tautened kinks of corded phone behind him.)



HUNT: Donna?



DONNA: Hunt...



[[HUNT: It's for you.|for you]]

JOANIE: She was with the man from your job. The tall one.



SUSAN: The Macmillan boy. Donna says he gives you — um, gives Gordon a hard time.



HALEY: He's nice. I like him.



JOANIE: He was nice to us, but he's mean to other people.



SYMPHONIC: He's the one who couldn't play "Heart and Soul" to save his life.



[[SUSAN: He's been here before?|joe's been here]]

[[SYMPHONIC: What did they want?|what did they want]]

[[SYMPHONIC: Did you talk to him?|did you talk]]

(Lucy watches Joe. He pushes his sleeves past his elbows to cross his arms. He looks like somebody she used to dream about, maybe. She remembers him being smaller, but she was always larger than life, even in New York.)



[[(Joe and Lucy watch the road.)|joeluroad]]

CAMERON: To see you.



JOE: (Distractedly) He likes the Giant...This is his thing, it always has been. He designs the unbelievable, the incredible. If a project was already real to people, if it seemed possible, it didn't need his work...



CAMERON: Joe?



JOE: Why come and see me? Why tonight?



CAMERON: ...I'm stuck.



[[JOE: What do you need?|caring]]

[[JOE: Maybe I can help.|thirsty]]

DONNA: Mind over matter, Mister Whitmarsh.



HUNT: I have to say, Donna, you sure make it look easy.



[[HUNT: (Returns, blushing slightly, to his paperwork.)|abashed paperwork]]

[[HUNT: Um, Donna...|amazing]]



CAMERON: I'm okay.



(The senseless Giant's breaching arm is cast over Cameron's side, holding her heavily against the ground.)



DONNA: Shit, she's got you. Don't try to move.



[[CAMERON: I'm not going anywhere.|not going]]

[[CAMERON: Is she hurt?|hurt]]





GIANT: That's not exactly how it goes, but I find the original rather more tasteless...and less applicable.



[[DONNA: They built you in here?|kill room is jungle]]

[[DONNA: You seem buried enough.|buried]]

//(A low, scuff-scarred coffee table lies between the couch and armchair. A children's toy by Texas Instruments is surrounded with clipped wires and delicate tools.)//



[[//SPEAK & SPELL.//|sns]]

[[//Back.//|clark living room]]

GIANT: You're different from the others. They just do what they want, or what they need. Sometimes, what's good for them is good for me. Not always — not now. But you...



[[GIANT: You love me, don't you?|love]]

[[GIANT: You'll help me, won't you?|help]]

[[GIANT: You can hear me, can't you?|hear]]

(A large, rosaceous beetle, wing casings lifted to display gossamer organs of flight.)



BUG INDEX: Ordinata florescens. Original host flower believed extinct — floral habitats constructed in occupied machines seem to serve as sufficient substitutes.



[[Back.|401d]]

SYMPHONIC: Which one was messing with the Speak & Spell?



[[JOANIE: Cameron was playing with it.|cam spell]]

[[JOANIE: Joe was spelling things.|joe spell]]

(The break room. Some intern from five years ago has caked its walls with ill-matched pastel papering, comfortably unlovely, seeking modesty behind the frames of printshop paintings when it can. DONNA sits for coffee with her boss, HUNT WHITMARSH. The two of them grew up together; now they wait together, red-eyed, for the paperwork towering between them to finish reviewing itself.)



HUNT: I'm sorry asking you to do this, Donna. It's awful late. I hate having those girls go to bed without their mama.



DONNA: Oh, it's...my mother has them. They'll be alright.



[[(Donna sips at her coffee uncomfortably.)|awkward mug]]

[[(Donna retrieves the next document.)|awkward paperwork]]

JOE: Long day?



DEBBIE: You could say that. We had a bit of a hiccup with some of our computers. I don't understand it, really. Something with the CRTs. Had a few weird things coming up on screens where words ought to have been. Put us back several hours. The rest are the girls from B&D game repair downstairs, come up to help us out. They're handling it.



JOE: I hope it's nothing serious.



DEBBIE: Oh, I don't think so. You're Joe, right? From IBM?



[[JOE: That's right.|aboard 1]]

[[JOE: Not anymore.|aboard 2]]

(The bullpen is brightly lit and bustling with business. Salesmen talk loudly on their phones; programmers bludgeon keyboards in a fervid daze; new hires log activity on a massive whiteboard.)



[[DONNA: (Look for Gordon in CUBICLES.)|cubicles]]

[[DONNA: (Examine WHITEBOARD.)|whiteboard]]

[[DONNA: (Take ELEVATOR.)|elevator directory]]

JOE: Will you be okay with collaborating?



CAMERON: With Simon? What, you think this is going to turn into some kind of the-same-asshole-screwed-both-of-us catfight?



JOE: Cameron, we need him. I just want to be sure there won't be a problem if you work with him on this.



[[CAMERON: Please. Junior high happened a while ago.|oh please]]

[[CAMERON: Do you even want me to?|jealousy]]





[[DONNA: (Exit.)|go see the giant]]

(The driver is a big man in a beautiful suit, blinded by black glasses as Dallas darkens. He, too, looks saddened to have stopped.)



[[ARMADILLO|armadillo 2]]

[[SMILING WOMAN|lucy]]

(A tiny black beetle with bioluminescent structures on its belly, like a malformed firefly. Even with a pin in its back, the specimen emits a starry glow.)



BUG INDEX: Calculata stellatus. Prefers vector displays. Known to cause nostalgic constellations.



[[Back.|401d]]

(Empty arcade cabinets constrict the halls between locked and barricaded offices. A sign posted to the first set of doors reads: LUNCH HOURS INDEFINITE THIS WEEK. FOR LOUANNE, CALL CARDIFF ELECTRIC.)



[[DONNA: (Back to ELEVATOR.)|bd elevator]]

(A heavy packet with a dog-eared page showing an organizational flowchart of Cardiff's employees. The uppermost box contains the words "SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, John Bosworth"; highlighted in fluorescent yellow is a terminal box reading "SALES ENG., Gordon Clark.")



[[Back.|odds and ends menu]]

GORDON: (To Joe, nastily) How did you two meet, again?



JOE: (Uncomfortably) I gave a talk. At Austin Tech. It's not important.



CAMERON: (To Gordon, indicating Joe) You know I screwed him, right?



[[GORDON: (Looks at Joe, speechless.)|dumbstruck]]

[[GORDON: (To Joe) This is how you vet a candidate?|candidate]]

[[GORDON: (Sarcastically) Nice. Great.|sarcasm]]

[[ACT III, SCENE III: CLARK RESIDENCE.|start aiisiii]]

DONNA: We just have to be patient.



[[DONNA: (Back.)|cam's pack]]

LEV: Do you think they'll be able to get her back online?



YO-YO: Dunno. I think they're trying.



LEV: If they do, what's the first bug you're gonna hit?



YO-YO: Jesus, Lev.



LEV: What?



YO-YO: I know the bugs are gumming up the works, but it just feels... I don't know...



[[YO-YO: Like they're part of what makes her real.|real giant]]

[[YO-YO: Like they're supposed to be in there.|real bugs]]





DONNA: Well, don't let it get to you.



[[DONNA: (Back.)|cam's pack]]

DONNA: I bet she takes good care of you.



[[DONNA: You think they know what they're doing up there?|donna talk 3]]

[[DONNA: This is pretty exciting, huh?|donna talk 4]]

DONNA: You think they know what they're doing up there?



[[DONNA: Well, don't let it get to you.|donna talk 5]]

[[DONNA: We just have to be patient.|donna talk 6]]

DONNA: Hang in there, little guy.



[[DONNA: You think they know what they're doing up there?|donna talk 3]]

[[DONNA: This is pretty exciting, huh?|donna talk 4]]

HUNT: (Returns, blushing slightly, to his paperwork.)



DOCUMENT: //TI DEBTS AND DAMAGES CALCULATOR® FAILURE ANALYSIS. Of 100 products tested, 100 instilled an irremediable sense of hopelessness in test engineers. Of these, 100 could not be recovered and remain nonoperational. The bugs are out of control. This was not the plan. There is nothing we can do. It's all over. It's all...//



(Hunt sighs heavily and reburies the report within the stack, kneading his forehead with a class ring. Across the table, Donna gazes blankly toward the scarlet 'EXIT' hovering in the hall. She looks coolly mournful, if not totally serene. She is blindingly beautiful.)



HUNT: Um, Donna...



DONNA: Hunt?



[[HUNT: I think you're an amazing woman.|truly incredible]]

[[HUNT: Ah — never mind.|never mind donna]]



(An open-plan office space chatters softly with tuneless typing, file folders being tapped straight against desk corners, fluorescent lamps clicking as they flicker fickly through the dim.)



(Every few cubicles, something living rustles industriously from its office chair.)



[[SALESMEN.|salesmen]]

[[ABANDONED PROJECT.|abandoned project]]

[[SECRETARY.|hi debbie]]

[[FAMILIAR FACE.|hello again]]

GIANT: (To Louanne) Thank you. And Donna, too.



(The Giant's gaze falls on Cameron. The massive hand that swung to crush her now closes, horrified, over the Giant's great expressionless mouth.)



GIANT: You're hurt.



CAMERON: I'm okay. Really. You weren't yourself.



GIANT: (Miserably) I wish I'd never left.



[[JOE: Why did you do it? Why leave?|why leave]]





JOE: Before what?



LUCY: Oh, before things changed. I'd rather not talk about it — I'm enjoying myself right now.



Speaking of, can I offer you a drink? I've got a cooler somewhere with some whiskey in it, and some ice. Back in New York I used to drink — oh, everything. Anything.



(Laughing sadly) I was wild. That used to make magic happen around me. Curses too, sometimes. But that was before. Now the magic helps itself to happening, and I just drink whiskey with ice.



[[JOE: I'm from New York.|newyork]]

[[JOE: I knew someone like that a long time ago.|longtime]]







CAMERON: No. I'm staying.



JOE: (Archly) I'll take the living room.



CAMERON: Not a chance.



(Cameron pulls Joe's broad arms across her. They're a welcome weight.)



JOE: Hang on.



[[JOE: What would you do with those drafts if you had them?|cam explains]]



CAMERON: (Anxiously) But there's a way around that, right? If I can just add — I don't know, a command that distracts them from each other, or, or — guides their movement through the protocol, or —



JUDIE: What are we doing here, exactly?



LOUANNE: (Calmly) The beetles get inside our machines and, oh...//vandalize// them, kind of. Often we can remove them, but our current project has grown dependent on the sort of stuff they do in order to function. We can't take out the bugs without basically rendering our software useless, so I helped Cameron come up with a pretty sweet algorithm for actually teaching the computer to speak beetle, in a way — generate a series of stimuli that prompts specific stereotyped behaviors, so we can keep them under control.



JUDIE: Not working, though?



CAMERON: (Panicked) It will! It has to!



[[LOUANNE: Sweetheart, relax. Of course it will.|reassure]]

[[LOUANNE: I don't think they'll respond to code for long.|doubt]]

DONNA: (Waits.)



(Scrutinizing the bottom of her mug, Donna sees the hairline fractures of black coffee stains like water-bled India ink. Some of them look like happy little girls. Sighing, Donna floods their playground with another cup.)



(Hunt returns, trailing tautened kinks of corded phone behind him.)



HUNT: Donna?



DONNA: Hunt...



[[HUNT: It's for you.|for you]]

[[ACT I, SCENE III: CARDIFF ELECTRIC.| hi bos]]

(SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT JOHN BOSWORTH smokes and smirks. He may be the one whose tweed suit sits a touch too big, but the young stranger looks more ridiculous by far.)



SVP BOSWORTH: You've got some nerve, coming in here telling me my business. You think you're the first boy IBM sends down with bold claims, expecting I'll start pissing my pants and acting rash in the hopes big daddy doesn't stomp all over this company? But Cardiff's solid, son — don't take as easy to stomping as you'd think.



[[JOE: Who said anything about stomping?|no stomping]]

[[JOE: That's why I'm here, John.| why i'm here]]

JOE: What do you need?



(Joe's gouges deeper indentations in the bed, as if want has fortified the loving tug of gravity against his knees. He knows, by now, what those words mean for her.)



CAMERON: I need the drafts Simon made for compartmentalizing the beetles.



JOE: (Suspiciously) Is that all?



[[CAMERON: No. I'm staying.|not leaving]]

[[CAMERON: (Smiling) No. Come here.|cmere fool]]

THIS MAKES YOU FEL BETTR. GOODBYE ! (:



[[JOE: (Playing) Restart.|joanie program]]

[[JOE: (Playing) Exit.|symph greet]]

[[ACT II, SCENE IV: KILL ROOM.|enter kill room]]

THE

CARDIFF

GIANT

[[DONNA: Hang in there, little guy.|donna talk 1]]

[[DONNA: I bet she takes good care of you.|donna talk 2]]

BYTE ARTICLE: "The Future of Sympathetic Interfaces" by Gordon Clark.



(The article itself is almost illegible with noxious metaphors. Squinting, Gordon can discern vestiges of what used to be a manic, consuming vision.)



BYTE ARTICLE: ...a world in which entering commands is as gratifying, creatively and emotionally, as...



BYTE ARTICLE:...While no software interface exists to endow a computer with a personality.....a connection, a relationship to the hardware itself can be facilitated by....



BYTE ARTICLE:...ascribe an emotional, almost nostalgic significance, to an inanimate fabrication...seem so absurd after all?



[[BYTE ARTICLE:...almost like finding the Giant in your garage.|to end scene iv]]





(Donna lifts Cameron away so Louanne can reach the Giant's hulking chest. Gordon leaves the parts apologetically beside Louanne, stepping back to let her work.)



DONNA: It's not so bad.



[[CAMERON.|cam]]

[[JOE.|joe]]

[[GORDON.|gordon]]

[[DONNA.|donna]]

[[LOUANNE.|lou]]



(The rattlesnake has been nailed unconvincingly into a vertically-mounted coil. A plaque beneath it reads: FOUND IN MRS. HARRIS' SINK. SUSPECTED SABOTAGE.)



[[GORDON: (Look at other trophies.)|trophy wall]]

[[GORDON: (Join Joe by the arcade machines.)|arcade]]

GIANT: Maybe not.



(The Giant contemplates //Ordinata colossa.// It is the largest of the bugs by far, but by far the most benign. It has always been kind, almost affectionate — it has never caused harm, never done damage. Sometimes, it will nestle with //florescens// in a fleshy rose; sometimes, it will build a happy little thought inside the Giant's skull.)



GIANT: And yet...



[[GIANT: Now you want to leave.|leave]]

[[GIANT: I could always crush you.|crush]]

CAMERON: (Shouting) I'm over here!



(Dust settles. The Giant is crumpled on her knees and elbows, nibbled over like a body by ravenous swarms, nodding blearily against the lot. Cameron lies curled almost underneath her, arms thrown defensively over her head.)



DONNA: Cameron!



[[CAMERON: I'm okay.|okay]]

[[CAMERON: I'm pinned.|pinned]]

COMPUTER: [[Come see for yourself.|dramatic effect]]

DONNA: (Smiles ruefully.)



HUNT: It's no big thing, Donna.



Take care of yourself.



DONNA: You too. Thank you.



[[(Donna leaves a fresh cup of coffee and a stale stack of penitent reports.)|donna leaves]]

(Low grey sails usher workers, windlike, through seas of shuffling paper and alleys of muffled industriousness.)



[[DONNA: (Check CUBICLE 401D.)|401d]]

[[DONNA: (Check CUBICLE 403C.)|403c]]

[[DONNA: (Check CUBICLE 400E.)|400e]]

[[DONNA: (Back to the bullpen.)|act ii bullpen]]

JOE: I don't know.



CAMERON: What about me? What about now?



(Joe kneels beside Cameron in the linen mass, mounded at odds across his mattress.)



JOE: I want you now. I want you with me. I want it to be like this.



I want it to be enough.



[[CAMERON: It's enough for now.|for now]]

[[CAMERON: Nothing's ever enough with you.|never]]



DEBBIE: Sure thing. I'm not certain he's around, but he should be soon — they're all making the rounds pretty regular these days. Try the Kill Room, maybe.



[[DONNA: The Kill Room?|what's the kr]]

[[JOANIE: (Scared) What's Daddy doing in the Kill Room?|scary room]]

(LUCY reclines so deeply the deck chair almost disappears her. Her jeans are shortened, her hair curled and dyed into its own imitation of the prairie-gold wild. Melting ice flashes from a glass of whiskey in her hand; red toenails glare on kicking bare feet. She waves at the stranger and spills on herself, beaming.)



[[LUCY: (Talk to stranger.)|stranger]]



GORDON: Joe, I cannot believe —



CAMERON: (Looking at Joe) How much money would you give me?



[[GORDON: What?|gordon asks what]]

(Joe nods understandingly.)



(Bill lets out a quiet sob.)



[[JOE: (Back to the bullpen.)|bullpen]]

(LOUANNE has tied her jumpsuit off around the waist, revealing a stained tank top and powerful shoulders. Each hand is a mosaic of metal marks and airbrush ink. With her hair tucked away neatly in thick rubber bands, it is easy to see how young she is. Ajax resents this.)



[[ALLEY.|alleydescript]]

[[AJAX.|ajaxdescript]]

[[JUDIE.|judiedescript]]

[[CAMERON.|camdescript]]

[[BACKPACK.|backpackcontents]]

JOE: You think anyone in there has ever heard the blues?



GORDON: Everybody's heard the blues. Even if they didn't know it.



JOE: Guess so.



GORDON: When did you first hear the blues?



JOE: Maybe I didn't know it.



[[JOE AND GORDON: (Enter tavern.)|enter tavern]]

JOE: This is your fault. If you hadn't taken those parts, none of this would have happened.



GORDON: Yeah, and we wouldn't have a Giant! She'd be halfway to the Rockies by now!



JOE: Look at her, Gordon! We still might not have a Giant.



[[(Gordon watches Louanne.)|gas station menu]]

[[(Joe watches Cameron.)|gas station menu]]

JOE: That's why I'm here, John. Maybe I'm done being an IBM boy. Maybe I see Cardiff Electric as a company ready to be legitimized, to make its mark on North Dallas, make something out of the Silicon Prairie — and myself as the guy who can get you the numbers you need to take it there.



SVP BOSWORTH: Shit, kid, I don't need numbers to take Cardiff any damn where except the bank. We're in systems software, plain and simple — won't be any kind of revolution in the Prairie, but it makes money. I need a guy who knows that.



[[JOE: I'm him.|next joe bos]]

(A peeling notice along the pay phone's side is just legible through grimy adhesive tracks.)



STICKER: LIST OF FREE CALLS.



[[Press *10|10]] for Weather Report.

[[Press *12|12]] for Daily Prayer.

[[Press *13|13]] for High Plains Recipe of the Day.

[[Press *14|14]] for Good Advice.

[[Press *15|15]] for Bad Advice.

[[Press *16|16]] for Bird Calls.



[[Done.|done]]

(Unfamiliar cursive furls across a leaf of yellow stationery printed palely with the words "Hotel La Louisiane." The writing is illegible to Cameron but unmistakably tender; she replaces the note in faint discomfort.)



[[Back.|odds and ends menu]]

JOE: I have an idea I want to talk to you about.



GORDON: Save it, Macmillan! I sell software.



JOE: So do I. I don't need someone to sell software. I need an engineer.



GORDON: So?



[[JOE: So when was the last time you really built something?|the last time]]

JOE: Okay. Let's get out of here.



GORDON: What now?



JOE: Gimme a minute, here.



GORDON: Got it yet?



JOE: Wait here.



(Joe goes to the back room, in the direction of a dimly winking 'GENTS' sign.)



[[(Gordon tries to get a drink.)|drink]]

[[(Gordon sits and waits.)|gordon waits]]

(BONET & DAUGHTERS GAME REPAIR: Repair and restoration, all models. CRT for raster and vector. Wiring. Silkscreen. Customization.)



[[Back|cardiff facade]]

(//Ordinata colossa.// A large green beetle with an elongated, knowing face.)



[[GIANT: I know you can understand me.|understand]]

[[GIANT: You're different from the others.|different]]

[[GIANT: I hope you're listening.|listening]]

LOUANNE: Do you want to move on to //iocosus//?



CAMERON: (Sighing) Yeah, let's get it over with.



(Louanne empties the jar of //Calculata iocosus// into the remaining cartridge. Cameron kneads her brow and casts a withering glance toward the keyboard before entering a few curt commands.)



(Lotus 1-2-3 loads; a rudimentary spreadsheet begins to construct itself before transfiguring into an infographic detailing the rise and fall of suspended chords in popular discography, causing Cameron to curse indignantly.)



LOUANNE: It's the swarming patterns. They listen for a while, then revert to their instinctive formations. Once that happens, they're just going ahead and doing whatever it is the colony wants to do.



[[CAMERON: (Protests.)|the problem]]

[[JUDIE: What are we doing here, exactly?|the problem 2]]

(MONITORS of the vector, raster, cornea, heartrate, and reptilian varieties have all been cut into idiosyncratic shapes and stored between leaflets of tissue paper. All except the lizard, which leers a little bit and looks uncomfortable.)



[[Back.|equipment]]

(Gordon comes over from the bar looking downtrodden.)



GORDON: (Impatiently) No sign of her. How was Asteroids?



[[JOE: Okay. Let's get out of here.|let's get out]]

[[JOE: It's broken.|reminded me]]

[[JOE: It reminded me of home.|broken]]





(AJAX frays mullet-molded ringlets in between his fingernails. His tongue has been turned blue by a dissolving Tootsie Pop; a cigarette expires beneath his heel. A careless hand waves Cameron's whiskey out of Judie's reach.)



[[ALLEY.|alleydescript]]

[[JUDIE.|judiedescript]]

[[LOUANNE.|louannedescript]]

[[CAMERON.|camdescript]]

[[BACKPACK.|backpackcontents]]

(A massive green beetle with an elongated, knowing face peers endlessly though the glass it twists toward upon a broken neck.)



BUG INDEX: Ordinata colossa.



HANDWRITTEN ADDENDUM: Troubling behavior. I think it loves her.



(The word 'loves' is underlined repeatedly.)



[[Back.|401d]]

SIMON: Let's talk about the project, then.



JOE: (Ignoring Simon, sounding strained) I know I have before — I know I couldn't — I need you to know, I wanted more than anything to feel —



SIMON: (Bitterly) To feel anything at all? To feel something other than want? That's not you, Joe. You couldn't love me then. You could only want to. Which, I suppose, is the next best thing.



JOE: I know it wasn't enough.



SIMON: It wasn't.



(The two sit in silence for a while. Cameron can hear the ice melting in their glasses.)



[[JOE: Let me make it up to you.|make it up]]

[[JOE: Can you forgive me?|beg forgiveness]]

LOUANNE: You shouldn't be drunk for this, anyhow.



CAMERON: It's OK, Lou. They won't interfere.



LOUANNE: They'd better not.



(Ajax contemptuously pulls a blue Tootsie Pop from under his tongue. Judie cackles.)



CAMERON: Shut it, assholes. Alright, let's set up.



[[(Ajax glares and lights a cigarette.)|smoke]]

[[(Judie shrugs and unzips a battered backpack.)|unzip]]



DONNA: (Typing) Everyone's just trying to help.



COMPUTER: I know. They're trying to help, but I'm not sure they can. There's some weird stuff going on in my hardware, and people care a lot about getting it fixed. I feel bad about it, sometimes, because I can't do much.



[[DONNA: (Typing) What's going on in your hardware?|hardware problem]]

[[DONNA: (Typing) Can I help?|donna help]]

[[DONNA: (Typing) I'm sorry.|donna sorry]]





(Joe watches Lucy. Her earrings are made of glass, and swing wildly when she tosses back her head in laughing. Her wrist twists impatiently beneath the oscillating weight of whiskey in her hand; the ice pitches on the same mad fulcrum as those earrings. All her dim wild glittering reminds him of the stars.)



[[(Joe and Lucy watch the road.)|joeluroad]]

SUSAN: And Gordon aims to stop her?



SYMPHONIC: I'm not sure he can.



//(It's late. Nestled between boxes of nails and various oscilloscopes, two small girls drowse across each other's laps like garden snakes, slowly forgetting their grandmother as she plays a minuet. The cicadas have yet to wail themselves to sleep.)//



[[//GARAGE.//|intruder alert]]

[[//LAWN.//|neighborhood watch]]

(An adult Joe Macmillan smiles wearily from an IBM cubicle, a grinning coworker leaning bodily over his shoulder. The back reads, in Joe's own hand: 1978. ANOTHER DWARF DOWN. JIM WITH ME.)



[[CAMERON: (Next photograph.)|simon photo]]

DEBBIE: (Mouthing) Hi, Donna!



DONNA: (Mouths back, gesturing at the girls.)



DEBBIE: (Mouths back an apology with an alternative babysitting suggestion.)



[[DONNA:(Mouthing) Who's that?|cameron?]]

[[DONNA:(Mouthing) Where's Gordon?|wheeere is gordon]]

JOE: I knew someone like that a long time ago.



LUCY: I bet you did. I bet you're a little wild yourself! You'd have to be, to drive a Porsche into the desert looking for a giant.



[[JOE: What makes you think I'm looking for the Giant?|makes you think]]









DONNA: Do you have a nasty bug right now?



GIANT: Oh, I'm offline right now. It doesn't matter what the little creeps get up to. In fact, part of me hopes they keep busy.



DONNA: Building you a soul, you mean?



GIANT: Or a brain. I'm not picky, honestly. But it feels better every time they make something, you know?



DONNA: "The soul is in the brain, and it can learn to think."



GIANT: That's nice. Who said that?



[[DONNA: It's from a play.|soul idea]]

[[DONNA: I don't remember.|soul idea]]





JOE: Those are peonies?



BILL: (Close to tears) They are today.



[[JOE: (Back to the bullpen.)|bullpen]]

DONNA: Could be...



HUNT: Naw, you're right. We'll just have to wait and see.



(In the hall, the overhead lights are sleepily shut off. The only evidence of a world outside the break room spells 'EXIT' in angles of disembodied red.)



HUNT: Hey, Donna...



[[HUNT: How's Gordon doing?|hunt asks gordon]]

[[HUNT: Is everything alright?|hunt checks]]

[[HUNT: You ought to bring the girls by the office sometime.|hunt asks girls]]

5TH FLOOR: AMBROSE EXCAVATION & APPRAISAL — Storage Facility.

4TH FLOOR: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Software Development, Sales, Administrative Offices.

3RD FLOOR: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Accounting.

2ND FLOOR: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Greenhouse.

1ST FLOOR (GROUND LEVEL): BONET & DAUGHTERS GAME REPAIR. (YOU ARE HERE.)

BASEMENT: CARDIFF ELECTRIC — Storage Facility.



[[DONNA: (5TH FLOOR.)|antiques]]

[[DONNA: (4TH FLOOR.)|act ii bullpen]]

[[DONNA: (3RD FLOOR.)|accounting]]

[[DONNA: (2ND FLOOR.)|greenhouse]]

[[DONNA: (BASEMENT.)|basement]]

jquery:off

hash:off

bookmark:on

modernizr:off

undo:on

obfuscate:off

exitprompt:off

blankcss:off



(Joe does not remember having left the lights on in his bedroom. Traipsing carelessly across the threshold, he nearly crushes something sleepy, soft, and full of bones.)



CAMERON: Ouch!



[[JOE: (Startled) Cameron? What's going on, are you okay?|hello again cameron]]

[[JOE: (Angrily) What are you doing here?|really cameron]]

(Cameron takes the briefcase by the handle; it slips open and discards its contents listlessly across the floor.)



[[CAMERON: (Swears loudly.)|accidenthome]]

(Against the wall, behind Debbie's desk, sit Joanie and Haley with Cameron Howe. Overalls slipping, combat boots unlaced, Cameron shows them how to cross their eyes. They giggle and fidget with the hems of their dresses.)



DONNA: How's everyone doing?



(Cameron looks puzzled for a moment, then remembers.)



CAMERON: You're Donna, right?



DONNA: Hi, Cameron.



CAMERON: Everybody's hanging in there, Mrs. Clark.



[[DONNA: Donna's fine.|donna's fine]]

[[DONNA: Did they eat the snacks I left?|snacks?]]



DONNA: How about we have some gum later?



JOANIE: Okay.



HALEY: I'm hungry!



[[DONNA: I have some raisins and peanuts.|raisins]]

GORDON: (Taking beer) Long night?



DOROTHY: Not yet, but it'll sure as shit be one, won't it?



GORDON: Sure as shit.



DOROTHY: We already got a kid kicked outta here in the evening. Jumped on somebody — wasn't even drinking. Think she had him calling her names...



DOROTHY:...She had one o' them trick quarters, though. Dwayne hates that more'n anything. Hauled her right off, kicking and clawing...Dwayne hates that. But me — I never said it, but I get it, I do. Some of those Tech kids, especially the ones set to graduate, they got no money in the world. How d'you think I got into the business of opening bottles for teenagers at two in the morning?



GORDON: They don't have to cheat, though.



DOROTHY: Oh, I dunno. It's pretty clever what some folks think of just to get in another round of Centipede.



[[(Joe returns from the back room.)|joe returns]]

(Scrawling magic marker on the backpack's interior reads: CAMERON HOWE. Playing cards, deodorant, toothbrush, folding knife, and a sort of stuffed rag doll lie haphazardly on top of one another inside it.)



[[DONNA: (Examine KNIFE.)|cam's knife]]

[[DONNA: (Examine DOLL.)|cam's doll]]

[[DONNA: (Back.)|basement]]

SYMPHONIC: I think he doesn't want her leaving.



//(The garage door stoops listlessly, lowering a corrugated veil across an aging lady bowed over a computer with plastic piano keys. The sprinkler system has shut off — the door shields those behind it from nothing but the night.)//



[[SUSAN: Leaving?|leaving]]

[[SUSAN: What's that got to do with the tubes?|why tubes]]

(Standing lamps pour slow gold over beaches of water-black glass. The shelves are rescued from invisibility by beveled edges; the tabletops, the clocks, the cabinets are glass and full of glass, all free of fingerprints and water spots. Vitreous brick walls partition rooms by breaking light between them; the kitchen is occluded by an inscrutable wavering. Mirrored sliding doors multiply the space; even the leather upholstery has been polished until reflective.)



[[CAMERON: Joe?|call him again]]

[[CAMERON: (Look around.)|joe apartment home]]



(Joe, Gordon, Cameron, and Louanne climb aboard the school bus. It has waited for them long enough. The Giant has to come in through the back.)



[[(Louanne drives.)|empty station]]

DONNA: What's the matter? What's wrong?



GIANT: I'm okay. I need you to help me. I mean...I'd like you to...



DONNA: Tell me what you need.



GIANT: The compartments for the bugs, I...Gordon took them. He saw what I'd learned, what they helped me do — things he never intended...



I don't want to hurt anyone, Donna. I want to do what's right. I want to do what I'm supposed to, and now I //can//...I //know how//...



But he didn't want me leaving. He took them out, I lost control, but I didn't forget. I left anyway. Donna, I can feel them, and I'm afraid...



[[(Hunt listens.)|hunt listens]]

[[(Hunt waits.)|hunt listens]]

(The bullpen is brightly lit and bustling with business. Salesmen talk loudly on their phones; programmers bludgeon keyboards in a fervid daze; new hires log activity on a massive whiteboard.)



[[DONNA: (Check on Joanie and Haley.)|check on girls]]

[[DONNA: (Find Giant.)|kill room exterior]]

DONNA: (To Brian) Can Joanie look at your computer?



BRIAN: (To Joanie) Sure thing, Doctor J.! What would you like to see?



[[JOANIE: Make it say something!|brian makes computer talk]]

[[JOANIE: Make a picture!|brian does picture]]

[[HALEY: Open it!|open computer?]]

(Gordon sits and waits. For six minutes, the Earth Artillery machine chatters vaguely from across the room.)



[[(Joe returns from the back room.)|joe returns]]

(Gordon sidles nearer Louanne, unable to prevent himself from looking in on the field surgery.)



LOUANNE: We're not too happy with you, Gordon. What you did messed her up bad. Cameron almost got killed — and this old gal's nearly spent.



GORDON: But, I mean — you can fix her, right?



LOUANNE: No. I fix arcade machines. I know this glassware inside and out, but we'll need Donna for damage control.



GORDON: Can Donna do it?



[[LOUANNE: I'd bet the damn ranch.|gas station menu]]

GORDON: (Sarcastically) Nice. Great.



JOE: I regret that. It wasn't supposed to be personal. Cameron showed outstanding experience in software design and a comprehensive background in almost every discipline of computer engineering — I took interest, things got out of hand. I thought I might be returning here with this opportunity from the beginning.



[[CAMERON: Bullshit.|cameron calls bs]]

[[GORDON: We don't need her.|yes we do.]]

(The freezer drawer is filled with the kind of clear ice sold in plastic bags at gas stations. The ice pins a bottle of vodka and a short stack of TV dinners to the drawer's side.)



[[Back.|jfridge]]

GORDON: (Looks at Joe, speechless.)



JOE: I regret that. It wasn't supposed to be personal. Cameron showed outstanding experience in software design and a comprehensive background in almost every discipline of computer engineering — I took interest, things got out of hand. I thought I might be returning here with this opportunity from the beginning.



[[CAMERON: Bullshit.|cameron calls bs]]

[[GORDON: We don't need her.|yes we do.]]

GORDON: What?



CAMERON: How much money would you give me? To do the job, how much would you pay me?



JOE: Straight out of school, no employment history, I'd say — twenty thousand.



CAMERON: (Calculating) Double it.



GORDON: (Alarmed) Wait just a —



JOE: (Smiling) Done.



GORDON: (To Joe) You're not serious.



JOE: (Grinning at Gordon) Cheer up, Gordon. [[We've got ourselves a Giant.|end of act ii scene ii]]



LOUANNE: Sweetheart, relax. Of course it will.



(Cameron ignores Louanne, bowed over the keyboard in a programming frenzy. Louanne notices strokes falling heavy on the 'delete' key.)



JUDIE: (Chuckling) She never lets //me// call her 'sweetheart.'



(Cameron growls angrily and starts tearing out wires, piling the equipment back into her gym bag and climbing down from her dumpster lid.)



[[JUDIE: Hey sweetheart, where you going?|cam's stuck]]

PHONE: //(Inaudible, comforted.)//



DONNA: That's right. Try finding something distinctive in the landscape. Is anyone there? What about a sign?



[[PHONE: //(Inaudible, lost.)//|lost]]

[[PHONE: //(Inaudible, secretive.)//|secretive]]

[[PHONE: //(Inaudible, pragmatic.)|pragmatic]]

CAMERON: What about the Giant?



(Joe shunts Donna aside and crouches by the Giant's fallen arm. Louanne joins him hastily. Louanne and Joe are strong; the arm is shuffled off enough for Cameron to scramble out from under it.)



JOE: Are you hurt?



[[CAMERON: Just sore.|sore]]

[[CAMERON: (Examines Giant.)|examine giant]]

(The computer whines to life, glaring blearily at its unexpected guest.)



COMPUTER: Running program — GIANT



Hello, Donna. I'm the Giant. Come visit me sometime.



[[DONNA: (Shut computer off.)|shut down computer]]

[[DONNA: (Typing) Where are you?|where is giant]]

[[DONNA: (Typing) Nice to meet you.|nice to meet giant]]

[[DONNA: (Exit.)|cam's desk]]

[[ACT I, SCENE I: DALLAS, 1983.|Intro]]





(Beyond the pay phone, toes curling over into I-30's flinty trim, stands an enormous metal girl. Her headlight eyes burn sorrowfully toward the road.)



[[GIANT.|giant]]

SUSAN: No, baby. Flesh and blood.



SYMPHONIC: Well, I guess we'll see in time. Glass has a habit of breaking. Flesh and blood just kind of...



[[SUSAN: Burn?|burn]]

[[SUSAN: Bruise?|bruise]]

[[SUSAN: Wear away?|wear away]]

END OF ACT I.



[[(Restart Act I.)|Start]]



[[(Continue to ACT II.)|act ii scene i]]

(The bobcat is situated on a piece of driftwood as if on the prowl. A plaque beneath the bobcat reads: TONY. BAD HOUSE PET. OKAY HUNTER.)



[[GORDON: (Look at other trophies.)|trophy wall]]

[[GORDON: (Join Joe by the arcade machines.)|arcade]]

(Gordon takes the magazine. It's back issue of Byte, years old. The cover article says something impossible about robotics.)



[[GORDON: (Turns to page 33.)|page 33]]

(JOHN BOSWORTH, brandishing an extinguished cigarette, storms around his office. NATHAN CARDIFF sits behind the desk, looking like a mad bull; BARRY, the lawyer, half-cowers in a corner. JOE and GORDON sit with their hands in their laps, waiting for the storm.)



BOS: (After a moment's silence) Do you punks know why you're here? Tell 'em, Barry.



BARRY: Well, it seems, uh, that —



BOS: Shut up, Barry. I'll tell 'em. Joey, boy! You're up!



[[JOE: (Tries to speak.)|shut up joe]]

[[JOE: (Listens politely.)|shut up joe]]

JOE: We'll find a place.



GORDON: (Helplessly) You're all insane.



JOE: Gordon. You grew up here, right? Tell me you never wanted to find the Giant yourself. Tell me you never dug your toes into the lawn on the way out the door to work, just hoping that maybe this time, maybe for once, you'd feel the proof like bedrock underneath you. The Symphonic failed and you gave up. You have everything to prove. You know what looking means, too.



GORDON: That machine is //beautiful.// Burying her is a travesty, Joe — we //can't//...



DONNA: Gordon!



GORDON: Donna, what? Don't you want this? Don't you want to have really //made// something? Something that //worked//?



(Donna crosses her arms.)



[[DONNA: (Quietly) This is not about the machine.|not the machine]]

[[DONNA: (Quietly) This is not about you.|not you]]









SYMPHONIC: Close enough. Running program — DONNA



Hello. I'm Donna. It's good to see you. Just play what sounds right — I'll catch you if you make a mistake. Good luck.



[[JOE: (Playing) Nice to meet you.|donna program meet]]

[[JOE: (Playing) Tell me about the Giant.|donna program giant]]

[[JOE: (Playing) Who is Joe Macmillan?|donna program joe]]

[[JOE: (Playing) That woman on the road.|donna program lucy]]

[[JOE: (Playing) Exit.|symph greet]]

(SPACE B-23 is partially obscured by a puddle-shaped expanse of light-polluted sky.)



[[Back|parkinglot]]

SUSAN: Threatening's one way to put it.



SYMPHONIC: Many strangers are, I suppose. What were their names?



SUSAN: One was called Cameron. Of the two, she spooked me less — but she's a punk, for sure.



SYMPHONIC: I can only think of one Cameron. She's kind of a mother, I think, if a young one. She's responsible for the Giant's soul, even if she doesn't know it. She wrote all the software — of course, there's no usable OS whatsoever now, but it's because of her the Giant has a brain. //The soul is in the brain...//



[[SUSAN: How do you know her?|how do you]]

[[SUSAN: There was a man with her.|man with her]]

(Shelves crammed tall and tight with antiques regifted and retrieved bar one wall from the next. Heirlooms, souvenirs, and items never meant to warm in the sun now cool, exhumed and packed in brand new boxes, waiting to be told their value by graverobbers and archeologists.)



[[DONNA: (Back to ELEVATOR.)|antiques elevator]]

CAMERON: I'm pinned.



(The senseless Giant's breaching arm is cast over Cameron's side, holding her heavily against the ground.)



DONNA: Shit, she's got you. Don't try to move.



[[CAMERON: I'm not going anywhere.|not going]]

[[CAMERON: Is she hurt?|hurt]]

JOE: Actually, Simon...Cameron's a girl.



SIMON: Oh? You seem embarrassed by that. Wait, I see now...She's //your// girl, isn't she?



JOE: I wouldn't say it like that. She's not anybody's anything. We get along, that's all — she's young, she's —



SIMON: Don't tell me. She has ideas. She's exciting. I know you, Joe. I used to be like that once, remember?



JOE: Don't —



SIMON: I know, it's hardly fair. Make sure you talk with Gordon about those tubes. I'd really like to see the machine get to exercise some control over her vandals — and, personally, I'd like to see fewer insects.



[[JOE: Absolutely. Thank you.|moving right along]]



CAMERON: To really make something.



JOE: He likes the Giant. This is his thing, it always has been. He designs the unbelievable, the incredible. If a project was already real to people, if it seemed possible, it didn't need his work.



CAMERON: Joe?



JOE: Why come and see me? Why tonight?



CAMERON: ...I'm stuck.



[[JOE: What do you need?|caring]]

[[JOE: Maybe I can help.|thirsty]]

DONNA: (Quietly) This is not about the machine.



GORDON: Donna...



[[GIANT: Gordon, please.|please]]

JOE: Is there a problem, Cameron?



CAMERON: You're hiring a cranky old ex to design for the Giant and conveniently forget to say something on the subject? Does Gordon know you screwed this guy, or was that all just going to come up when it came up?



JOE: What do you want me to say? That I never cared about him beyond him being someone who inspired me when I was younger? That we never acted like — never used to —



[[CAMERON: When did it happen?|simon intro]]

[[CAMERON: Used to what, exactly?|simon intro second]]

JOANIE: Joe was spelling things.



SUSAN: Now, that was odd to hear. Almost like he was having a conversation with the thing. Coulda sworn it gave him a word of good advice.



HALEY: It was right!



JOANIE: The Speak & Spell can't //really// talk.



[[//Back.//|clark living room]]

DONNA: Good girls.



JOANIE: Did you find Dad?



DONNA: What? Oh, yeah. I mean, no. Not yet.



CAMERON: Oh, Gordon's out with Joe. Something about a designer. They should be back soon.



[[DONNA: (Find Giant.)|new bullpen]]

JOE: What's going on? Why is everyone still here?



DEBBIE: We had a bit of a hiccup with some of our computers. I don't understand it, really. Something with the CRTs. Had a few weird things coming up on screens where words ought to have been. Put us back several hours. The rest are the girls from B&D game repair downstairs, come up to help us out. They're handling it.



JOE: I hope it's nothing serious.



DEBBIE: Oh, I don't think so. You're Joe, right? From IBM?



[[JOE: That's right.|aboard 1]]

[[JOE: Not anymore.|aboard 2]]

[[ACT I, SCENE IV: THE BULLPEN.|bullpen]]

JOE: Listen —



CAMERON: (Looking at Joe) How much money would you give me?



[[GORDON: What?|gordon asks what]]

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