Cathy nods. Then:

Now Cathy regards Edie for a tender moment. Then:

Cathy opens her arms, embraces Edie.

The two women laugh, acknowledging the friendship that has grown between them, as we:

in Central Park, half-turned -- from Pierson’s evening of observation.

INT. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - LECTURE BOWL - DAY

The lights are out, and Pierson stands before the large screen upon which the slide changes. Pierson shields his eyes from the bright light, until the next slide drops in -- this one of Vincent facing at the camera. (PRODUCTION NOTE: as with the video tape from which these have been taken, these blown-up photos of Vincent should appear murky -- enough to cause skepticism as to their veracity.)

The lights come up, and we find Pierson addressing three colleagues from the Department of Anthropology. They are sitting on the ground level of a steep lecture bowl. There’s a moment of awkward silence. LELAND QUINT, the head of the department, now speaks.

Pierson is silent. Quint continues sympathetically:

Quint considers this, looking to his colleagues, who don’t care to venture an opinion. But their disapproval is made apparent by their neutral faces. Then:

This touches Quint and the others where they are most sensitive. Their faces heat. Pierson backs down.

Quint stands, and as he and the other professors file out past Pierson:

31, graduate student, standing on the upper rim of the bowl, looking down at the older man through small, round wire-rimmed glasses. The intensity of his gaze is alarming.

Cathy stands at the iron gate, trying to find some solace in the stillness and quiet of the underground. She peers down the tunnel. Nothing. Finally, she turns to leave and sees Vincent against a far wall, deep in shadow.

She stops and is haloed in a shaft of light. A long beat.

Cathy senses an enormous reticence in Vincent, as if it’s too painful for him even to look at her.

Vincent is silent. Cathy struggles to say what she has come to say.

Vincent remains perfectly still.

Long beat. Finally;

Vincent motions to leave. Now Cathy intercepts him, holding his arm.

Vincent halts, but he won’t look at her.

He raises his head, and their eyes lock -- complete understanding.

Cathy releases Vincent’s arm, flushed by her own intensity.

Vincent shakes his head sadly.

Cathy is about to call to Vincent as he disappears down the tunnel, into the shadows, but she stops herself.

who has rounded a corner and now fully reacts to the impact of Cathy’s news. He’s devastated, punched in the heart, and slumps against the wall.

Cathy looks out over the sleeping city, as the wind blows, pressing her nightgown against her body. The CAMERA MOVES IN as she wipes a tear from her face, and we see now that she’s been crying. Hold. Then, we:

bushed and busted at 8:00 A.M., behind a desk pied high with case files, jotting something from a legal tome. There’s a knock at his door.

THE DOOR

opens to reveal Cathy, as she steps into the office, and closes the door behind her. Now Maxwell looks up from his work, and notices that Cathy also hasn’t slept a wink.

Maxwell reacts to the meaning of the tense. Then:

Maxwell regards Cathy for a moment before he nods, and laughs softly.

He shakes his head, and leans back in his chair, regarding Cathy with more than a trace of emotion.

On Cathy, who tries to smile with the satisfaction that she’s made the right decision, we:

FATHER watches him, concerned.

Father’s tone stops Vincent, who looks away, searching within himself.

With which Vincent moves to exit...

But Vincent is already gone. And on Father’s face, helpless

and worried, we:

A small cubicle lined with books, overlooking a common. Pierson sits behind his cluttered desk, grading papers, eating malomars from an open box. Over this, an andante movement of the Brandenberg Concerto PLAYS, interrupted by a knock at the door.

Jonathan Gould steps into the office and stands before

Off Pierson’s quizzical look, Gould smiles. It’s a remarkably seductive and charming smile. Then he turns suddenly serious.

Pierson isn’t sure how to take this, but his interest is definitely piqued. He puts down his pen.

Pierson gestures to a chair before his desk. Gould sits.

Gould picks up come archeological trinket from Pierson’s desk. Fingers it as delicately as he phrases what follows:

Pierson smiles, appreciating the young man’s bravado -- seeing himself thirty years before. He begins to assume the role of master to Gould’s willing apprentice.

Gould shakes his head, disgusted, and rises.

He crosses to the door, as:

This stops Gould. He turns to face Pierson, standing over him.

to reveal that the silhouette is Gould’s. Pierson sits behind the wheel, visible in b.g. through the windshield. Gould reloads his rifle with practiced speed, then takes off after Vincent, as:

Pierson guns the engine. A pistol rests on the seat beside him. The van lunges forward.

after Vincent, who scrambles up a steep bank toward a line of trees. Gould kneels on one knee, aims, and fires. Vincent stumbles, hit in the back of the leg. He yanks out the dart and continues up over the bluff, under the cover of trees, before Gould can finish reloading his rifle. Gould scans the tree line, catches a glimpse of Vincent’s running figure, and sprints off toward him.

Gould runs, first losing, then regaining sight of Vincent, who slaloms among the trees through moonlight and shadow.

as Pierson turns the wheel onto a path parallel to the tree line. With the search light he rakes the trees, and catches a glimpse of Gould two hundred yards away, before losing him again, as:

Cathy wheels toward the sound.

who stands off in the shadows, his face etched with concern. Cathy snicks off the flashlight. Her eyes adjust to the darkness as she moves to Father.

Cathy tries to articulate her confusion, but before she can say anything:

Cathy is silent, shocked by the full realization of the news. Then:

CATHY

Father half-turns toward her...

He then slips out of the earth-orange light, into the shadows, leaving Cathy alone to digest the difficult news, as we:

Vincent is prostrate on a long, steel examining table -- naked under a white sheet. An operating light illuminates his face. Heavily tranquilized, be is connected to an array of equipment and monitoring devices.

Electrodes all over his body register heartbeat, body temperature, breathing rate, etc. Pierson and Gould stand adjacent at a data center, trying to make sense of the incoming information.

ANOTHER ANGLE. PANNING VARIOUS INSTRUMENTS

with Vincent’s body in the foreground. HOLD on Vincent’s head, and bring his face INTO FOCUS. Over this:

NEW ANGLE - FAVORING PIERSON

who seems vitally rejuventated.

Pierson turns toward Vincent. Gould follows. They stand over the creature.

Pierson looks over at him.

Pierson moves a few steps away from the examining table -- the bitter taste of the past rising up in his throat.

Gould gazes at Pierson for a long beat. Then, quietly, but with intensity:

The two men exchange a tense look. PUSH THROUGH THEM to Vincent, cauterized, unconscious; as we:

The sun is setting as a tug boat chugs languidly down the river. CAMERA FINDS Cathy walking slowly along the strand, passed by joggers and young mothers pushing perambulators.

CLOSER ANGLE - CATHY

tired-looking and emotionally spent, she sits on a bench and stares vacantly out over the river. Then:

Overcome by her helplessness, she breaks down and buries her face in her hands, as we:

as Pierson notices the graph registering Vincent’s heightened brain activity, etc. He approaches the apparatus, then regards Vincent -- whose limbs, torso, and neck are now fastened to the table with thick leather straps. And on Vincent’s unconscious face, we:

Cathy digests this information with renewed hope. Then:

Trask regards Cathy, a sycophant’s smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Then:

As Cathy rolls her eyes, we:

Winnie, a pursy overfed poodle, sits at ANNA’S feet as she speaks with Cathy. The old woman, clearly a little batty and definitely a character, is excited by the company -- animated and theatrical. The apartment is a museum of exotica and travel memorabilia: stuffed birds, carved ivory, Indian shields, etc. Anna’s high-backed chair commands a spectacular corner view of Central Park through a large picture window, and that is where she now gestures grandly:

She gives Winnie a gentle nudge with her tiny slippered foot.

Anna rests her hand lightly on the antique telescope.

She swivels the telescope on its stand toward Cathy.

Politely, Cathy accepts it.

Cathy bends down to the telescope and makes a pretense of looking through it.

Anna trails off.

Anna’s eyes narrow as she slowly brings the power of her memory to bear.

Anna shrugs, looks through the telescope, adjusting it.

Cathy bends to look through the telescope again.

The same angle Anna had on the night of Vincent’s capture.

As Cathy starts to leave:

Cathy walks the area, her eyes peeled for evidence of blood, for... anything. She turns at the dead-end and starts back toward the street. Her eyes scan the wall. She kicks some grocery boxes out of her way, and something clatters along the ground. She bends down and picks up one of the tranquilizer cartridges. Studies it. She sees another and stoops down for that one also. She straightens, rolling the two cartridges in her hand, thinking. Then she looks up at the old woman’s window.

CATHY’S POV - ANNA

a tiny figure in her third story window, once again at her telescope. Cathy herself has now become another event in the old woman’s visual history.

caged, his face buried in the crook of his arm.

Vincent looks up: his face is sallow, his feverish eyes focus somewhere o.c. His condition has worsened considerably.

WIDER - TO INCLUDE PIERSON

pacing beside the cage, haggard and anxious. In b.g. boiler pipes of varying diameters climb the wall, crisscross the ceiling.

But Vincent stays silent, continues to regard Pierson intensely.

Pierson stops and regards Vincent through the bars, astonished anew by the creature’s ability to speak. Indeed, everything that follows from Vincent sparks and kindles Pierson’s great wonder.

Pierson looks down, suddenly ashamed. Perhaps it is Vincent’s tone. Perhaps Pierson already knows it himself, or has known it all along. A secret knowledge he was willing to bear from the outset in exchange for the magnificent creature who is now before him.

Vincent swallows. Blinks slowly as he nods. Then:

Long beat. Then Vincent lowers his eyes.

Pierson breathes deeply, sensitive to the fact that his is a difficult question.

Pierson regards Vincent: he knows Vincent is right. But the burden of this possibility is too much for Pierson, as he turns and steps away from the cage.

Now Pierson turns to Vincent.

On Vincent, whose very life seems to be draining from him, then on Pierson, deeply troubled by his indecision. Hold.

Then:

joking among themselves, as their peers cross on their way to class. RACK FOCUS, and we are:

as Pierson stares out his window at the activity below. Recent events have exacted a visible tali an the old professor. The KNOCK at the door startles him. He doesn’t do anything at first. Another KNOCK, more urgent this time. He moves apprehensively to the door.

Pierson reacts to this strange female voice, at once relieved and guarded.

A moment of decision, and then Pierson steps back and opens the door. Cathy enters the room apprehensively.

From her shoulder bag, Cathy fishes out the tranquilizer cartridge, and hands it to him.

Pierson ponders Cathy’s path to him as be fingers the cartridge.

Pierson returns to the window, stares out. Cathy moves closer.

A long beats then:

Pierson shakes his head -- overwhelmed, saddened by the truth of this.

Pierson drops his gaze, ashamed of his own weakness. But the color rises very rich in Cathy’s throat and face.

.

Pierson raises his eyes.

ON Pierson, moved by Cathy’s impassioned plea, and faced with a monumental decisions as we:

The screen is black. We HEAR a key turning in a lock. A margin of light appears around the door before it pushes open. Pierson enters and turns on the overhead lights. Cathy ENTERS FRAME -- shock and concern spread over her face.

HER POV - VINCENT

curled in a fetal position on the floor of his cage. With an effort, he raises his head slightly to observe Cathy and Pierson, then lays it back down.

RESUME SCENE

Cathy rushes to the cage.

She kneels down and reaches through the cage to touch him.

ECU - VINCENT

whose eyes come alive at her touch.

RESUME SCENE

Cathy turns to Piersom.

GOULD

steps into the room, casting a long shadow.

Standoff. With Pierson between Cathy and Gould, frozen.

But Gould steps toward Pierson, who backs away, toward Cathy and the cage, as:

Pierson has almost reached the cage, when Gould rushes him and throws him against the wall. As Gould rifles through Pierson’s pockets for the keys, Pierson grabs a pipe wrench off a nearby valve, an swings it across Gould’s brow. The blow sends Gould staggering backward, into a glass firehose box which shatters. Gould falls to the floor while Pierson scrabbles to his feet, and moves to the cage. And as be fumbles for his keys:

ANGLE - GOULD

recovering, he picks up a foot-long triangular shard of glass from the broken pane.

Gould rushes Pierson.

as Pierson simultaneously pivots and steps toward Gould, who buries the glass knife deep into Pierson’s belly. Pierson falls heavily against Gould, his eyes vide with disbelief. Long beat. Then Gould releases Pierson, who falls to the ground. The keys skitter several feet away from him, toward Cathy, who picks them up. Gould extends a bloody hands -- his voice is eerily low, coarse, and calm.

As Gould moves threateningly toward her, Cathy clutches the key, looking for something to use as a weapon. Nothing. Then: an idea. Cathy brandishes the key so that it protrudes from her fist. She swipes at Gould, who deftly parries the strike and grabs her, and:

VINCENT

climbs to his feet with excruciating effort -- only to watch helplessly as the struggle continues, well beyond reach. Gould locks his arm around Cathy’s throat. Cathy drops the key, and struggles to pry Gould’s unyielding hands from her throat. But it becomes clear that Gould no longer wants the key, but intends to squeeze the very life from her. Cathy is on her last few breaths as she swings Gould around, smashing him into the cage. Vincent’s arm shoots out from between the bars, and hooks Gould’s head. Vincent lets go a resounding ROAR and yanks Gould’s head toward him, at once twisting it and smashing it against the bars of his cage. Gould slumps to the ground, dead, as;

CATHY

gasps to fill her lungs. Recovering, she moves to Vincent, who clings to the bars of his cage for support.

But it is too late for Pierson, who lays bleeding on the floor, near death. Cathy kneels beside him. Takes his hand in hers. He regards her with a weak smile, and his words come out heavy, broken.

But Pierson’s eyes close, and the words die with him.

CAMERA PULLS BACK, then ROLLS, framing the bloody aftermath

Several days have passed, and Vincent’s convalescence is evident: he sits in a chair, reading in the soft light, when Cathy enters. There’s a tentativeness between them.

She sits nearby on the edge of Vincent’s bed. Something weighs heavily on both of them, something between them that is unspoken and unfinished.

Vincent stops, and slowly raises his eyes to her.

Vincent’s heart swells with joy, but caution creeps into his voice.

Vincent silently acknowledges this as the source of his hurt.

After a long beat:

Cathy smiles. They regard each other tenderly in the warm light, as we: