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.Escape from Land of the Giants Season 2	By : keithcompany Category: G through L > Land of the Giants Views: 1504 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Land of the Giants show, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
(Medical tent. Medics hover around a cot with Andy in it. He lays limp with several tubes and wires writhing around him. Pat and Debbie sit on either side of the cot. Some doctors consult a few feet away)
Doctor1: Everything's shutting down.
Doctor2: No, all his systems are in overdrive.
Doctor3: And when they burn out, everything will shut down.
Doctor4: No, no. His readings are all over the place. Some are accelerated, some are depressed.
Doctor1: What the hell were those giants thinking?
Doctor3: They thought they could poison a dying kid. Maybe they thought we just wouldn't notice that it wasn't the cancer that killed him.
Roth: That's not possible. What Lessala gave him may have been a toxin, but it's purpose wasn't poison.
Doctor2: You don't know that.
Roth: Actually, yes, I do.
Doctor3: Look, the one thing everyone agrees on is that the giants are evil. I know, I've spoken with some of the refugees.
Cheryl: (stepping into the group) So have I. I've been on this planet for a few years.
Doctor2: As a pet!
Doctor3: So you know!
Cheryl: I know that those two have bent over backwards to get people through and around processing. To stretch the rules to keep families together. To help humans, even in spite of their governments.
Roth: I know Crane would agree that Vertag can be a rotten bastard, politically, but he would never jeopardize the Exchange. Listen, he violated orders to save a young Marine's life. He wouldn't turn around a kill a child.
Doctor1: (thoughtfully) But it wasn't Vertag that poisoned… (Cheryl and Roth both shoot him a look)…okay, it wasn't Vertag that delivered the 'dose' of whatever it was.
Cheryl: Yes, but Vertag's the one that's been acting strange since he heard about Andy's condition.
Roth: (sudden expression of inspiration) I wonder…
Cheryl: What?
Roth: How is Andy's cancer?
Doctor1: (sourly) Terminal.
Roth: No, no.   We've been concentrating on changes to his life signs.
Doctor3: Yes. Impending death tends to focus a doctor's attention.
Roth: Right. But has anyone checked to see if this 'sweetle' is affecting his cancer directly?
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Roll Titles
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(Vertag is at his desk. He holds a cattle prod in his hand and looks from it to an instruction manual. The elevator opens and Janet steps out. She passes the SOG and stands glaring at the giant)
Vertag: Hello, Janet.
Janet: (terse) Hi.
Vertag: How are you this morning?
Janet: (still terse) Fine.
Lessala: (Pokes her head through the door) How's Andy? (Janet glares at her. Lessala hangs her head and retreats)
Vertag: Don't be mad at her. As you constantly point out, I'm the bastard.
Janet: You couldn't just come out and say you had a cure for can-
(Vertag drops what he's holding and cups his hands over Janet)
Vertag: Shh!
Janet: What? Why?
Vertag: Don't talk about that.
Janet: Why not?
Vertag: The topic is a secret.
Janet: (slowly and deliberately) Then let's talk about this funny story I heard in the mess tent. (she waves towards a desk drawer and mouths: 'play the tape!')
Vertag: Janet, I don't mean, don't talk about that where another giant might hear, I mean don't talk about that. At all. Anywhere.
Janet: Why the hell not?
Vertag: It's a very, very sensitive matter. Even for the SID agents listening right now.
Janet: Then why did you even perform the experiment? Aren't they going to go nuts when they find out?
Vertag: THEY gave me permission. And it wasn't an experiment.
Janet: It surely was! You gave that boy-
Vertag: The precise dosage he needed. Too much would be fatal. Too little would have had no effect.
Janet: But why-
Vertag: That's all I'm prepared or authorized to discuss.
Janet: What? I'm not leaving until you explain what went through your mind when-
Vertag: Then I have to go. (stands) Bye-bye. (walks out of the office and out of the building to the street. Janet watches in frustrated anger)
Janet: (shakes her head then yells) Lessala!
Lessala (poking her head back into the office) Janet?
Janet: Just… Just tell me you were trying to help, not hurt?
Lessala: (rushes to the desk) Oh, of course not! He told me everything would turn out okay. I believed him.
Janet: So it's entirely Vertag's fault?
Lessala: I certainly think so.
Janet: Fine. Fine. Okay, we're not thrilled that you were part of…whatever happened. But we'll only be angry at your boss.
Lessala: And we're okay? You and me?
Janet: Yes, Lessala. We're okay. I just (puts hand to her forehead) I just need to go talk to some people.
Lessala: Okay. Okay, sure. And tell Andy I'm sorry.
Janet: For nearly killing him, you're sorry?
Lessala: No. He passed out during his kiss. I'm sorry about that.
Janet: I suspect he is, too. Okay, we'll talk later. (turns and goes to the elevator. Lessala watches her go then goes back to her desk)
(Fade out. Fade in on Vertag's bedroom. It's dark, Vertag and Lessala sleep on the bed. Lessala tosses a bit then stands and goes to the bathroom. As soon as the door shuts behind her, a human team comes out from under the bed. Perez leads a squad dressed for ninja ops. They work silently, by hand signs. Climb the bedsheets and aim a bazooka-sized dart gun at Vertag's arm. They fire.)
(Lessala comes out of the bathroom. The light through the door shines on the squad. Four of them are carrying a stretcher with a human-sized Vertag unconscious upon it. The squad pauses, looking to Perez. Lessala opens her mouth)
(Perez puts a finger to her lips to indicate silence. Lessala nods and gestures zipping her lip. Then she kneels by the stretcher. The squad takes a few steps back. Lessala smiles and points to her chest. Then she holds out her arm.)
(The Marine with the dart gun looks to Perez. Perez rolls her eyes, then shrugs. She nods and he fires at Lessala. She giggles then falls to her side)(Fade out)
(Fade in on the interior of a Hummer. Vertag wakes with a start. He's dressed in human refugee coveralls. His wrists are handcuffed. He glares at Perez in the front passenger seat. She gestures for silence again. He shrugs and looks out the window and watches the compound rush by. He looks out the other side and finds Lessala sitting across from him. She is dressed and bound as he is, has a big smile and gives him a thumbs up. He rolls his eyes.)
(Cut to a view between the tents in the Earthling Building. A Hummer rushes up the rows of tents, stopping before one marked 'Mess Tent Number 24.' Marines open the doors and usher the giants into the taller-than-average tent. Lessala looks around the giant room in curiosity and wonder. She should spend most of her time at this size walking around as if on an amusement park ride. A 'so this is what it's like to be human' sign could be on her shirt.)
(Inside the mess tent we don't see tables. Instead, a small trailer fills the space. A very thick door opens and reveals a dim interior lit by red lighting. The giants are led inside. Once the doors close, the lights turn white. There is a long conference table. Adams sits at the head, with Janet, Roth, Cheryl, Brown and one of Andy's doctors.)
(Perez was the last one through the door. She murmurs something to a technician standing beside it, then reports to Adams.
Perez: We're tight, sir. (She remains standing beside Vertag and Lessala. A few other Marines stand near the bound giants)
Adams: Very good, Major. Vertag, Lessala, welcome to the Bell Jar. It's our secure conference room. There's nothing the giants…(pauses with a shake of his head) There's nothing your people have that'll pick up this conversation.
Vertag: So we were shrunk to fit inside it? (he raises his handcuffed wrists) Why are we restrained?
Perez: (taps his left shoulder, he turns to face her) A little bit of unfinished business. (A hand taps his right shoulder. He turns to face that. One of the Marine guards turns out to be Pat (Andy's father) who slugs him on the jaw. Vertag rocks back against Lessala who steadies him)
Pat: You nearly killed Andy, you son of a bitch! (raises his fist for another blow)
Perez: (leans against the wall, speaks in a monotone) No, don't, he can't defend himself. You're just supposed to yell at him.
(Pat slugs Vertag again. Vertag rocks back once more. This time Lessala lets him fall to the floor)
Vertag: (surprised look at Lessala) What was that for?
Lessala: He's right! You nearly killed my boyfriend!
Pat: Andy's not your boyfriend!
Lessala: He is until I take this idiot back.
Vertag: I did NOT nearly kill the kid. (rolls awkwardly to his feet) Okay, shrunk to talk to, shrunk and bound to beat up. Fine. Is there a point in the plan I can talk back?
Janet: That's next. Damerae?
Perez: Yes. (to Pat) You're done. I don't think he was going to give you any more free shots anyway. (steps between Pat and the giants. Undoes the handcuffs on Lessala.)
Pat: What do you mean?
Perez: I mean, I've seen him in action. (takes off Vertag's cuffs) Figure he thinks he needs to be punished.
Vertag: Not at all. I just guessed that everyone here would take his side. (Pulls a chair out for Lessala to sit, then sits himself. Lessala bounces a bit in the chair, as if trying to see if sitting is different from the human POV)
Lessala: Pretty much.
Vertag: Right. So. Who do we have to thank for the shrink ray or potion or whatever?
Janet: We developed it from the formula the Order uses.
Vertag: The false Order that shrank me?
Perez: Yes.
Vertag: (relaxes a bit) Alright. Well, let me say this again, this wasn't an experiment.
Adams: No. It was a message. (Vertag nods at the Colonel.)
Cheryl: What was the message? (Perez moves to stand behind Vertag. He glances at her movement but then ignores her.)
Roth: That the giants have a cure for cancer. A cure humans can use. And they know it. (Vertag nods at the doctor)
Janet: But why do you want us to know it if you won't discuss it?
Vertag: It's a long story.
Lessala: I'd like to hear it.
Perez: You don't know?
Vertag: Not everything. She's not SID.
Lessala: This is where we pass popcorn around, right?
Perez: No microwaves in the Bell Jar, Lessala.
Lessala: Awwww. I wanted to try human popcorn.
Adams: Ahem?
Vertag: Okay. There are…several diseases that First Nation has cures for. The cures go back to the escape from Atlantis.
Lessala: Atlantis?
Vertag: Ancient city on Earth. Anyway, the cures are kept secret.
Cheryl: Why would you keep cures from your people?
Vertag: We don't. We just don't tell anyone about them.
Roth: How do you-?
Vertag: (holds his hand up for silence) Quick example. One of the treatments expectant mothers get is vitamin shots. One of those shots has vitamins plus a treatment that inhibits skirries. Cancer. For the life of the child.
Lessala: Really?
Cheryl: That's why it's so rare.
Roth: But some giants DO get cancer. Our research confirms that.
Janet: So, what, you only give the treatment to politically cooperative women? That's cruel
Vertag: It would be in character...   No, we give it to everyone. Everyone in our society. First Nation and all the ones we manage. Which means, if someone does show signs of… cancer, then we know that their mother wasn't a citizen.
Lessala: Oooooh.
Adams: What ooh? Why does that matter?
Perez: If their mother wasn't a citizen, then they are probably foreign. In the Directorate's eyes, they'd be spies..
Vertag: Or from one of the unsanctioned communities. Or a few other possibilities.
Perez: Either way, SID won't want them running around unnoticed.
Janet: But how many spies develop cancer? You can't base your security on that.
Vertag: We don't. It's just one of several ways to identify infiltrators. But this one is foolproof.
Roth: But that's a prophylactic, not a cure.
Vertag: And we do also have a cure. That's kept under even tighter security. I had to get permission from the Directorate to get a dose for Andy. It took three tries. The mindset is generally that anyone who has cancer is an outsider, a threat to our government, and deserves to die.
(Everyone winces at the image. Pat looks more shaken than anyone. He moves to sit down next to the doctors. Cheryl pats his hand)
Vertag: I used the head office and went through headquarters. Finally convinced them that this could be a good thing. Got Dordell to endorse it.
Lessala: You had to ask Dordell for a favor?
Janet: Wow. (glances at Pat) That's…Vertag, I'm sorry.   For what I said.
Vertag: Thank you.
Adams: How did you convince them?
Vertag: The number of humans being turned over is dropping dramatically. So the flow of new tech is dropping. My superiors are starting to worry. We're almost out of Earthlings but we still can't build anything to match the shuttles we see every week.
Perez: But if you have something else we want…
Brown: Just like the T-Rexes. We went a little crazy over the chance to examine living dinosaurs. They have to know we'd go ape over a cure.
Vertag: It's given them hope that the end is not near. Which means they don't have to panic and hoard the last few handfuls of humans.
Adams: So, what was it that your government thought was going to happen?
Vertag: Oh, you get really excited about Andy being cured, apparently by accident. You ask for the cure, we say no. Then you start asking my people to treat your people. You bring your sick, and your tech, we cure them and everyone goes home happy.
Janet: You cure them.
Vertag: Yes.
Roth: We'd rather have the cure itself.
Vertag: They realize that. But then we'll have nothing else to buy tech with. You'll get the last humans, you'll go away and we'll be techno-less.
Janet: I thought that was what you wanted?!?!
Vertag: I do. But it's not what the Directorate wants.
Lessala: The evil greedy bastard Directorate.
Pat: (softly) And we'd do it.
Cheryl: Pat?
Pat: We'd go along. Instantly. We'd bitch about how greedy the giants were being, but we wouldn't hesitate. I know. If Vertag had asked me yesterday, and I had a fusion reactor, I'd have given it to them, with the blueprints, just for a chance that the sweetle could make Andy better.
Cheryl: Any parent would.
Vertag: And they're counting on that. Miss Tomms' prep material made it clear just how bad that disease is, how many people are affected. (shakes his head) I'm sure they started salivating at the prospect.
Janet: At all the humans dying?
Vertag: No, at the idea that on the next Exchange, they'll be the ones setting the price.
Brown: That's evil.
Lessala: That's the Directorate. (shrugs) But Earthlings don't have anyone that would put profit before human lives? (everyone looks away briefly. Down at the floor, at the walls, at their fingers. A moment of silence.)
Janet: Well, we can still look for the cure, can't we? (looks around the room) We can infiltrate hospitals? See if we can figure out which of the prenatal treatments is the preventative?
Perez and Vertag at the same time: No! (they look at each other. Perez nods at Vertag to talk)
Vertag: No. They can't have a hint that you're poking around on this. For one thing, it will put them back in panic mode. For another, it's not just a secret from you. It's a secret from most of the planet.
Lessala: That the Directorate's evil? Sweetheart, that's not a secret.
Vertag: But if the citizens start realizing just HOW evil? What tools they use to manipulate and control, everything that they're supplying and denying to hold their position?
Lessala: Ah. That could be upsetting.
Roth: Why did you say no, Major?
Perez: Mostly the panic thing.
Cheryl: Mostly?
Perez: Also, Vertag's a professional liar. I'd say that wherever this preventing drug is, the pregnancy shots are the absolute last place I'd look. It'd be a waste of our time.
Janet: You think he's lying to us?
Perez: I think he's sure that this is the best plan for everyone. And if he doesn't tell us the right place to look, we'll never find it on our own. Then, if we can't find the mystery medicine, we'll have to do it his way.
(Everyone stares at Vertag. He looks back calmly. Not a word spoken)
Lessala: (snorts) Boy, she has your number.
Janet: Vertag…(She stands, walks around the table to stand beside him. Puts a hand on his shoulder) Vertag, however this turns out, I'm glad to know you're trying to do a good thing. But why…(she grabs his ear lobe and twists)…didn't you put up the jamming devices AND EXPLAIN?!?!
Vertag: (grimaces) Because you guys have a leak. (Janet snatches her hands away) I don't know who or how. But before you go spreading this story around, I wanted a chance to warn you.
Adams: How do you know we have a leak?
Vertag: Friends at the top. Well, associates. People at Headquarters are always in power plays and exchanges. They ask me to confirm things they've heard elsewhere. Things only me and 'my' humans should know.
Lessala: (quietly) You, too?
Perez: What?
Lessala: I get…similar questions. But it's my people trying to confirm stuff they got by spying on the Directorate. Our analysis is that it's not a spy, they just hacked into your communications.
Perez: Crap.
Adams: Brown?
Brown: It shouldn't be possible, sir. They don't have the tech or the know how to crack our comms.
Perez: But they may have humans in custody that have both.
Lessala: That's our analysis.
Vertag: I figured that this skerries cure would motivate you to find a way to get me alone and secure. (he looks around the room) I have to admit, I never imagined this.
Lessala: This is great! It's like First of the First and my birthday and a wedding present rolled up into one!
Adams: Then I'm glad they brought you. (shoots Perez a look) Against their orders. (she shrugs)
Vertag: Now, you can't go about changing your communication procedures too suddenly or they'll-
Lessala: Sweetheart? I think they can figure that out.
Perez: Yeah. Teach your grandmother to smuggle eggs, Vertag.
Adams: Okay. Okay, I think we're done here. Unless there's anything else you'd like to reveal? Any more turds in the punchbowl?
Janet: Ick!
Vertag: No, not me. You?
Lessala: That's all I got. Um…
Janet: What?
Lessala: Can we see Andy?
Perez: The shrinking potion is still a secret. You can't see him like this.
Lessala: He saw me! (points at Pat)
Perez: He's a retired Marine. Or he was. We reactivated him. He's got the clearance to sit it on this meeting. But Debbie and Andy don't.
Pat: I'll tell them you asked about him. And… That you weren't trying to poison him. (he gives a small laugh) Andy hasn't believed anyone that's said that anyway. He wants to see you.
Lessala: We have to finish the kiss. Of course.
Perez: Right. Well, let's get you two back. (murmurs some orders to one of the guards. He turns the red lights on and the white lights off. The door opens and people file out. Janet squeezes Vertag's hand and gives Lessala a hug before they walk out)
(Cut to the human-sized door of the Earthling Building. The guard answers a phone)
Guard: Doggie door, how can I help you, sir or ma'am? (silence) Well, yeah, we do. You want what? (pause) I- Yes, Major. Right away. (hangs up the phone.) Corporal!
(Cut to the Hummer. Lessala keeps tapping Vertag on the shoulder and pointing at interesting things that go by. He glances and nods.)
(It runs through the tent rows, around tanks and trucks, past a few MPs touring the spaces. It pauses at the gate. The guard steps to the window and passes in a bag of microwaved popcorn, still steaming. Happy squeals issue from inside the vehicle, followed by at least three people saying 'Shhhhh!')
(Fade out. Fade in on Vertag's office. The whole camera, cancer kid, crowd of onlookers has been assembled again. Lessala's back in her go-go outfit. She lifts Andy to her face and they kiss. The Marines on the desk cheer.)
(Close up on a happy Pat and Debbie hugging each other as they watch.)
(Close up on Charity whispering something to the cameraman. He zooms onto Andy's ecstatic face.)
(Close up on Vertag. He's calm. Janet sits on his shoulder. She leans over to press her head against his throat. Then he smiles.)
(As Lessala lowers Andy to the desk, where his parents ease him from her fingers to his wheelchair, Charity's voice narrates)
Charity: And as it turned out, more than one dream came true. By a happy accident, it was discovered that something on the giant's planet had cured Andy's cancer. Doctors are frantically attempting to discover what environmental condition or combination of conditions could hold the long-sought cure. In the mean time, negotiations have begun for a more immediate relief. It's hoped that we can get the giants' cooperation in bringing sick people here and getting them cured. So what started as a last wish, an ending if you will, may turn out to be the start of a whole new world. This is Charity Tomms, at the Coastal City Exchange.
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Roll credits
- 17
- 18
- 19
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.Escape from Land of the Giants Season 2