Chapter 2:

Document 2: CCTV Transcript (extract, 15/5-16/5)

Facility A Report - The Strzelecki Desert facility incident

DRUNKEN EXCHANGE

(Captured on Facility CCTV on 15/5 at 21:47 In the break room)

HIGH ANGLE SHOT, FROM CORNER. NO MOVEMENT. EDITED TO LOOK LIKE CCTV FOOTAGE

Jack, Matthew and Tristan playing cards against humanity.

MATTHEW

I'm getting another beer. D'you guys want anything?

TRISTAN

Nah, mate. I'm good.

JACK

Get me back my old boss.

MATTHEW

Pauses. Looks at Jack inquisitively.

What the hell are you talking about, Jack?

JACK

He's acting weird. I think there might be an issue with the project.

MATTHEW

What makes you say that?

JACK

Puts down cards in hand.

He's almost never in here. If you go to the security room and check the footage, he hasn't been to his quarters for more than five minutes in three days.

TRISTAN

Mate, calm down. He's the hardest worker out of all of us. Don't think that three all-nighters in a row is out of the question. You're being melodramatic. I've pulled similar hours when we had that bad server crash a few weeks ago. I'm totally fine.

MATTHEW

If I recall correctly, You were a grumpy little arsehole for the rest of the week and burned through the entire tin of instant coffee. How does one man drink enough coffee to single- handedly use up a whole three kilo tin in under a week?!?

TRISTAN

how does my love of coffee relate to this? I like the taste and caffeine has saved my arse more times than I call to recount.

MATTHEW

The WHOLE TIN?

TRISTAN

You're exaggerating. Everyone had some of that coffee.

JACK

We burn through one tin of coffee every three weeks on average. We burnt through that specific tin in six days.

Stares at Tristan

Explain that.

TRISTAN

Whatever. While you’re up, get me another stubby. Arguing with you two makes me thirsty.

MATTHEW

Fine. What kind?

TRISTAN

Four X gold, the good stuff.

MATTHEW

Mutters to himself

Fucking Queenslander.

Walks casually over to bar fridge. Grabs a can of VB and a bottle of XXXX gold.

MATTHEW (CONT'D)

Here you go, one Four X.

TRISTAN

Cheers, mate

JACK

Are we gonna play or what. I need my dose of political humor.

MATTHEW

Jack, you know you absolutely suck at this?

JACK

Yeah I know Sighs, looks down

Let's keep playing Grabs cards

Tristan and Matthew pick up their cards.

MATTHEW

Alright, my turn to be Card Czar. "The school field trip was going fine until blank"

Jack and Tristan play their chosen cards Matthew reads aloud

MATTHEW (CONT'D)

"The school field trip was going fine until a vague fear of something called ISIS". Ok, kinda shit. "The school field trip was going fine until standing on your balcony, sniping Jews,shirtless"

Thinks

MATTHEW (CONT'D)

I'm going with the second one. that was funny, Tristan.

TRISTAN

I'm a funny guy.

JACK

Looks down and mutters to himself Funny in the head, you mean?

TRISTAN

Are you looking for trouble Jackie boy?

JACK

Mate, calm the fuck down.

MATTHEW

Break it up guys. I think it's time we went to bed.

All silently pack up the cards.

TRISTAN

goodnight.

JACK

See ya.

MATTHEW

Bright and early tomorrow?

JACK

Right.

CUTS TO STATIC

2. LATE NIGHT TALK

START WITH STATIC FOR 0.5 SECONDS, THEN CUT TO LABORATORY

(Captured on facility CCTV on 15/5 at 22:03 In the main laboratory)

CALEB

Sitting at a bench with his head in his hands. Surrounded by paperwork.

this just keeps getting more out of hand. How am I going to justify all this extra cost? I can't continuously add debt to the project.

JORJA

Walks in, holding two big mugs of hot coffee.

You okay Caleb? Looks at Caleb, concerned

CALEB

We're running out of money for the project at this rate. Even if we received all of the money Facility D made for us, I can't balance the books without hurting the project.

JORJA

We always pull through tough times. How do you think we got to where we are now?

CALEB

You're right. We can still do this. Care to help with the paperwork?

JORJA

I brought two coffees for a reason.

Looks at Caleb seriously. Pulls up another stool and sits next to him.

CALEB

We need to start by finding a way to make the budget we've set stretch out to cover all the roadblocks we've hit. We also need to put in some fail-safe measures for future problems.

JORJA

The original schedule is too aggressive. I told you it wouldn't be a good idea to expect such quick progress.

CALEB

I had to.

JORJA

You didn't

CALEB

Oscar asked for the schedule to be

accelerated. I couldn't turn him down.

JORJA

You could've told him that the speed he wanted would hurt the project.

CALEB

That's the beauty of hindsight. It's always 20/20.

JORJA

When did you lapse back into the emo teen phase?

CALEB

'Bout the same time the project started to go off the rails.

JORJA

We both know that what we're doing is important.

CALEB

I know.

Looks away. seems sad

JORJA

We're worried about you okay? I'm worried about you. We're not just your colleagues, we're your mates. If you need help just ask. We can help you.

CALEB

Thanks Jorja, It's nice to know that your here to help.

CUTS TO STATIC

INSPECTION TOUR

START WITH STATIC FOR 0.5 THEN CUT TO LABORATORY. SAME CAMERA PLACEMENT AS PREVIOUS SCENE

(Captured on facility CCTV on 16/5 at 10:27 In the main laboratory)

Oscar walks in and looks around

OSCAR

Mornin' Caleb. How's our little pet

project comin' along?

CALEB

Mornin' Oscar. Not too well, I'm afraid. We've hit a lot of unexpected hurdles and our budget is starting to get thin.

OSCAR

I'm rich! Why didn't you shoot me an e- mail asking for a bigger slice of the company budget? I would've doubled

your projects funding in a heartbeat.

CALEB

I was afraid to ask, sir.

OSCAR

what've I told you about calling me sir? I'm not just your boss, I’m your friend.

CALEB

Did you want specifics on the project?

OSCAR

I would very much like that, and so would our investors.

CALEB

I think our current progress rate is incredible, but there are some strains on the team. If you want details on our tech, go talk to Tristan.

Oscar walks over to Tristan, who is working on some servers attached to tanks of a clear liquid.

OSCAR

Tristan, how's our production methods lookin'?

TRISTAN

I've managed to get stable results consistently, but Jorja says that the problem with the growth patterns is genetic. I can handle things from here.

Oscar strolls over to Jorja's workstation. She is working on

a computer with strands of genetic code being displayed

OSCAR

I've heard there's some growth issues. Care to elaborate?

JORJA

Yes. there have been some issue with size limits and growth rate. I can't get them to grow to the ideal size for testing without drastically reducing iteration time.

OSCAR

Is it possible to increase the growth rate?

JORJA

Not without increasing the mutation rate to the level where no two subjects will be anywhere in the ball park of similar.

OSCAR

What's the issue?

JORJA

The genome construction and printing process. It can't handle a high growth rate without falling apart.

OSCAR

Is there any way to improve the construction process to allow us to get to our ideal size?

JORJA

I might be able to look into it, but I'll need a good amount of help from Tristan to get the technical side working. I'm a geneticist, not an electromechanical engineer.

OSCAR

I'll tell him that on my way out.

Oscar walks over to Jack's station. Jack is working on creating the chemical components of the project.

OSCAR (CONT'D)

How's the primordial soup solution coming along, Jack?

JACK

On schedule, Oscar. We should be able to control the chemical composition of the subjects bodies to within 0.1 micrograms.

OSCAR

Very impressive

JACK

Very necessary. We need exact control to make sure they form properly.

Otherwise physical deformities cannot be easily corrected.