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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
- 19
- 20
(Vertag has the minions out in the compound staging area. They're in loose formation. Lessala is to one side. The main humans are on the steps to the Earthling Building, watching)
Vertag: Okay. Last week, we raided a weapons manufacturing company to get a human they were hoarding. The resistance was stiffer than we'd anticipated.
Stogga: Well, they are a weapons plant.
Vertag: Yes. Working for the government, on government contracts. It should have resembled a a raid on a 2nd Level Patriotism class, it turned out to be a small war.
Tettskin: We didn't lose anyone.
Vertag: We were lucky. They were waiting for us. Most of the company employees stayed home that day. Our surveillance didn't notice because other people showed up and filled the building. The bodies we found…Dordell's office has identified several mercenaries.
Lessala: That's a lot of effort for one human chemist.
Vertag: It is. The story we're telling the Directorate is that it was a front for rebel activities. They thought we were arresting them for some as-yet-unknown plot and overreacted. But the fact is, they knew we were coming and made arrangements. We have a leak.
(Fan over the faces of the minions. Some are surprised. Some nod)
Vertag: I don't know who. A lot of people knew we were going in. Could be one of you. Could be a human somewhere in their chain. Dordell's people listen to us. Could be someone we don't even know is listening.
Stogga: How can we find them?
Vertag: I'm going to have to start threading through the possibilities. I'll be playing some cards close the chest, give some people information, others disinformation, deny others any information. I'll be disappearing now and then, seeing who tries to follow me. I want you all to go about your duties, but keep an extra eye on each other. Any questions? (everyone shakes their head) Okay. Back to business. (they filter away. Lessala steps close to him)
Lessala: You don't…you don't suspect me, do you?
Vertag: Professionally, I have to. Personally, I don't.
Lessala: Thanks. (starts to hug him)
Vertag: (blocking her) Of course, one of the things you like about me is my professionalism?
Lessala: Yes.
Vertag: Good. So you won't mind if I give you disinformation or cut you off?
Lessala: I'd expect no less. (They kiss)
(Cut to the steps of the Earthling building. Janet and Perez stand watching the giant couple)
Janet: Those two are just freaking insane.
Perez: I don't know… I think it's sweet.
Janet: You are also insane.
Perez: You don't know the half of it.
(The giants split. Vertag steps over to the step and reaches down)
Vertag: You ready?
Janet: Yep.
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Roll Titles
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(A giant alleyway. Vertag walks along it. Janet rides in the holster)
Janet: So, how are you keeping track of which disinformation you spread to who?
Vertag: I'm not.
Janet: What?
Vertag: It doesn't matter. Right now, everyone has to behave as if they believe what I tell them. Even if they're a leak, they can't act as if they believe I'm lying to them, or as if they have an information source that proves I'm lying. That might give them away.
Janet: And they can't be caught trying to follow you for the same reason.
Vertag: Yep.
Janet: They can't read your mail or tap your phone. Or if they do, they can't act on any information they get.
Vertag: Exactly. (he stops at a wall and starts counting the bricks from a pipe to the middle of the wall)
Janet: And if they catch you doing anything illegal or against orders, they and Dordell have to assume you're doing it to defeat the spy.
Vertag: Seven…eight…nine…
Janet: Vertag? (he pauses, finger on a brick) Vertag, you're not the one that leaked the information, are you? Because you seem to be benefiting the most from the fact.
Vertag: You're asking if I set it up so that my friends and my girlfriend would be exposed to lethal risk so I could get some room to maneuver.
Janet: Well….yes.
Vertag: No. No, I did not do anything like that. Ten, eleven… (presses on the brick. The wall opens, he slips inside, the wall shuts)
(Cut to the interior. He lights a flashlight and moves swiftly along a dark, narrow, dusty corridor)
Janet: So you're just pretending to be a super counter-intelligence spy, when you're really just lazy.
Vertag: Lessala's right, you guys do have my number. (he pauses at an intersection, shining his flashlight down two different passages. Janet peers along the beam of light)
(Down at his side, behind his back where Janet cannot see, he pushes a button set into the wall)
(Cut to the control room of the Excelsior. A Fleet technician sits up straight at his console.)
Tech: Commander! (she steps over)
Commander: What is it?
Tech: The giant! His transponder just stopped transmitting. We don't have a track on his location.
Commander: But he's still with Crane, right?
Tech: Um…her transponder went out, too.
Commander: Uh-oh. Call her. (Tech pushes a button. Pushes it again)
Tech: No signal.
(Back to the passage)
Janet: What are you looking for?
Vertag: Trying to remember which way to go… I think it's this way. (he moves off through the darkness)
(Fade in at the Exchange office. The minions hang around outside the front door.
Minion 1: So. Anyone know where the boss is?
Minion 2: Why do you ask?
Minion 1: I just asked.
Minion 4: Maybe you're trying to confirm something?
Minion 1: What could I be confirming?
Minion 3: Whether or not you were disinformed.
Minion 1: But if you just lied to me, I'd never know, would I?
Minion 4: Unless that's what Vertag ordered you to do. To see if I would lie.
Minion 1: That sounds like something he'd do.
Minion 2: It does.
Minion 3: Why doesn't he just fire us, then?
Minion 4: Why should he?
Minion 3: If he doesn't trust us, why not just ask Dordell to rotate new people in?
Minion 1: That wouldn't be Vertag's style. He likes to keep his enemies close. Until they're not enemies anymore.
Minion 3: Not enemies? How do enemies stop being…
Minion 1: There are no politics…
Minion 1, 2 and 4: In the graveyard.
(They look from face to face, then all shrug)
Minion 4: So, where are we going for lunch?
Minion 2: Why do you ask?
(Fade out on the round of suspicious looks everyone fires at everyone else)
(Fade in on a new alley. A bum limps slowly into view. He stands up straight, glances around and scampers down the way. He moves a pile of trash and ducks into the door that's revealed.)
(Cut to a dim passageway lit by a single exposed light bulb. At the end of the passage the guy disguised as a bum steps into a carpeted reception area. Millious, a pretty receptionist, looks up at him and nods.)
Millious: Go right on in, Number twenty three. He's expecting you.
23: Right. Uh, what's this about?
Millious: Go right on in, Number twenty three. (He nods back and goes past her. The room beyond is a conference room with a long table. Several people dressed for various occupations sit along it, including a butcher, cops, other bums, a nurse from the Nursing Home episode, and several civilians. Number 23 nods at a few faces and sits down. A few more bodies file in and take places. We don't see all the people yet.)
(After everyone seems to be seated, an assembly lowers from the ceiling. There are microphones pointing at most of the table and a circle of speakers. When it's fully lowered, one of the cops stands up and faces it.)
1: Sir? Coastal City, Number 1. We're all here.
Chief (voice): Yep. All of you. You notice that? Every single member of our organization is here. Including-
(Cut to a narrow office. Several shelves line the walls with an enormous number of files and stacks of paper and boxes of documents. There is a speaker and a microphone on a desk in the center. A man stands behind the desk, the Chief)
Chief: -everyone that should be following Vertag. Our single greatest SID target of interest took it in his mind to slip all his tails and he did so. With no real effort. Anyone see a problem with that? (pauses) Put your hand down, thirty one, you look like an idiot.
(Cut to the conference room. One of the civilians has his hand up. He lowers it, looking around sheepishly)
Chief (voice): So. Does anyone have the slightest clue where Special Investigations Department Agent Vertag is? (no one replies) When you all figured out you didn't know where he was, did any of you look to see if he was following you? Did anyone lead him to this meeting?
(Looks of shock appear on most of the faces)(Cut to the Chief's office)
(he walks away from the table, to the side wall. There is a line of windows, all with the curtains drawn. Shadows pass the windows with regularity and we hear a clicking/clacking. It becomes apparent that the Chief's office is in a train car. He peels back a corner of the curtain and glances out carefully.)
Chief: One day, I keep hoping, I'll have a competent crew in Coastal City. Then maybe I can have an office that doesn't move. Maybe I can park it for more than two hours in one place. Hell, maybe I can have an office in a building. What would that be like? (Turns back to the desk) So. Does anyone know where to begin looking for the Agent? Or the Earthling?
Speaker voice (Female): Sir? I don't know where they are-
(Cut to the conference room. Pan the row of faces looking to one end of the table as the voice continues)
Female: But I think I know what they're doing.
Chief (voice): Alright Number three. What are they doing?
(Finish panning across the table. The last face we see is Lessala. She opens her mouth to answer)
Lessala: Well, they're meeting with someone very-
(cut to a dark passageway. Vertag pauses before a bare door. He's speaking, we catch him in mid-sentence)
Vertag: -very important member of the Directorate.
Janet: I'll be polite.
Vertag: I don't need polite. I need you to understand who you're dealing with. He's the one to make THE decision on the cancer cure.
Janet: Trust me.
Vertag: I do. But for the next few minutes, you can't trust me.
Janet: What?
(he opens the door and they go inside. The room has a table, one chair on each side. An older man sits on the far side from the door. He doesn't stand when Vertag enters. Vertag gives a small bow, the man nods back. Vertag removes the Earthling holster and puts it down. Janet starts to climb out and down the side.)
Vertag: Director Tolag. It's an honor to meet you, sir.
Tolag: Agent Vertag. I've heard many things about you.
Vertag: Of course, sir.
Janet: (stepping forward) Hi.
Tolag (eyebrows rise in surprise as he sees her face): Oh my!
Vertag: Sir?
Janet: Yes?
Tolag: (waves away the issue) Nothing. Nothing. Just… Well, it's nothing.
Janet: Okay. Well. We, Earth, want to buy the cancer cure. We can offer-
Tolag: It's quite impossible.
Janet: We were told that. We hope you'll reconsider, but for now, we want to arrange some way to purchase individual doses.
Tolag: So we understand. (relaxes back in his chair) How much do you know about the cure?
Janet: Not much. It's one dose. The right amount cures, too much kills, too little does nothing.
Tolag: Oh, that's not quite right.
Vertag: What?
Janet: What?
Tolag: Too little cures the cancer. Or at least, it appears to. The symptoms clear for a day or a month. Then the condition returns. Virulently. Ten to twenty times as bad as before. It's always lethal on the return.
Vertag: I didn't know that.
Tolag: It hasn't been your job to know that.
Vertag: I…guess not.
Janet: Well, that doesn't affect our desire to get cures for our citizens.
Tolag: No. But you should understand this. If you people short the patients, trying to get some samples to test? You're not just risking their lives, you're killing them.
Janet: Yes, sir. I understand that. I'll make sure my superiors understand that.
Tolag: But that won't really be a problem. There's something else to understand about the cure. It's a synthetic product. Very useful, but very unstable.
Janet: It could change? Become a poison?
Tolag: No, no. It's just that certain types of radiation render it inert.
Janet: What kinds of radiation?
Vertag: That would be classified.
Tolag: Of course.
Janet: Um…okay. So… You're saying that you could give us the cure and you could take it away? With a beam of some sort?
Tolag: I'm saying that we have to be sure that you can't reverse engineer the cure. So we're going to flood the area the patients are in with one of the radiation types.
Vertag: The type that doesn't affect living tissue.
Janet: What? That's insane.
Tolag: Could you explain it to her?
Vertag: (pulls a folder out from under the table. There's a picture of the Tank that the Exchange uses.) Janet, there's an extra Tank left over from the River City Exchange office. We're going to set that up in the Tank room in our compound
Janet: Okay….
Vertag: Patients and a small number of doctors will be put inside. We'll deliver scheduled meals and some other materials. Plants, types of dirt, samples of things from our planet.
Janet: Placebos.
Vertag: No, not false medicines, but false cures. We're pretending that some unknown quality of our planet cures diseases on yours. And we're pretending that we don't know what it is.
Janet: So it's a shell game.
Tolag: What's a shell game?
Vertag: Carnival Confusion, sir. Where you mix the cups around to hide the pea so
Tolag: Ah. I have it.
Vertag: So, the whole time, the Tank Room will be subject to an unspecified form of radiation.
Janet: That's dangerous.
Vertag: No, of course it won't be. It's completely harmless to any living being. Me, you, the patients, the refugees, even Drury.
Janet: We'll want to test this.
Tolag: We'll get to that. (Vertag and Janet both stare at him for a second.)
Vertag: Aaaaaaaaanyway, when the doses are delivered, the radiation will be turned off for an hour. The cure will start to affect everyone, then the radiation will come back on.
Janet: Won't that stop the cure?
Tolag: It'll be broken down already by then. But this prevents anyone sneaking a sample out.
Janet: I don't think we can agree to this. I'll have to talk to my engineers and doctors, but what we'd rather do, I think-
Tolag: Miss Smith, this isn't a negotiation. It's a briefing. (Janet visibly expresses shock)
Vertag: Crane, sir.
Tolag: What?
Vertag: Her name is Crane, Director, not Smith. (Janet hides her face for a second, visibly calm when she lowers her hand)
Tolag: Oh. Of course it is. (turns down to Janet. ) I'm sorry. It's just, when I was processing captured Earthlings, it seemed that they were all named John or Jane Smith.
Janet: It's alright, Director. A common mistake.
Tolag: Yes, well, I do apologize. Anyway, as I was saying, it's a briefing. Either you abide by these terms or you do not. There's nothing to change.
Janet: I'm just worried about the radiation.
Tolag: Well, I did mention a test. (he pulls a small object from his pocket. It's a black disk about the size of a human military canteen. There is a strap attached to it. From another pocket, he pulls out a clear plastic box with a sliver of yellow in it, much like the sweetle that Andy ate in Episode 2-17. He keeps the two objects widely separated in his hands.)
Janet: What is that?
Tolag: This is the cure. And this is a radiation source.
Janet: What are you going to do with those?
Tolag: It's what you're going to do. You take the, I think you've been calling it sweetle?
Janet: But that's a poison.
Tolag: Of course. Then you put the radiation source on. Carry that for one hour and all the sweetle in your system will be broken down. This will prevent your dying.
Janet: That's not happening.
Tolag: This is crucial. We want to see how dedicated you are to getting this cure. And we want to show you how dangerous it will be to mess around with our established dosages. And how futile it will be to try to secure samples for testing. And how safe the radiation itself is.
Janet: You're insane.
Tolag: Not an unusual response for an Earthling seeing how our government works, is it, Agent Vertag?
Vertag: Usually, she calls me a miserable bastard. But insane isn't unheard of.
Janet: But…there's so many risks in this!
Tolag: We don't think so. As long as you do exactly what you're told.
Janet: (very stressed, very un-Janet lack of confidence. Stares at the cure in the box. Wrings her hands.) Look, we're willing to pay-
Tolag: We. You should be saying 'I.' As in 'I'm willing to cooperate. I'm willing to take direction from the giants. I'm willing to do this your way for once.
Janet: Yeah. Yeah, I can see that. I just… (she turns to look up at Vertag.) What do I do?
Vertag: You do what you have to do, to save people. To save all the other Andys. You do what he wants.
Janet: Are you sure?
Vertag: You'll be fine, Janet. Take the drug, pick up the source.
Janet: Um…(swallows) Okay. Okay, okay. I'll do it.
Tolag: Wonderful. (offers her the box. She can't quite pop the lid. Vertag opens it for her, tips the drug into his hand. She takes it, looks him in the eye, eats it.) And now this… (she takes the source.)
Janet: How do I wear this?
Tolag: Anywhere on your body will be sufficient.
Janet: (loops it over her shoulder) One hour?
Tolag: One of your Earth hours is more than sufficient. It'll break down well before that, but that's the safest margin.
Janet: Okay.
Tolag: So. You and Vertag will hang around in the city for an hour. Agent, you'll recover the source and dispose of it. Then go back to the compound. Doctors will run tests and find you in the pink of health. And they'll find the same chemical tags they found in little Andy's blood. And you'll contact the Directorate. You'll say yes, or you'll say no. (he stands. Vertag shoots to his feet so he can bow to Tolag)
Vertag: Thank you, Director.
Tolag: It was a pleasure meeting you, Agent. And you, Miss Crane.
Janet: Yes, thank you. (he leaves. Vertag picks up Janet and the holster, turns to go out the door he came in)
Janet: I don't suppose you'd be willing to go straight to the medical tent?
Vertag: You heard him. (clips the holster on and slides through the passageway, still holding Janet in his hand.) I can't disobey. But we don’t have to stay in dingy tunnels all afternoon. There's a restaurant with Islander food near the exit. Want lunch?
Janet: I'm not hungry.
Vertag: Okay. But I am.
Janet: Fine. I'll try not to puke from stress while you're eating, okay?
Vertag: That's the spirit. (fade out as he progresses out of sight.)
(Fade in as he exits into the alley he first entered the tunnels in. He slips out and the door closes behind him. He turns and walks up the alley.)
Janet: So, how much longer until I can take this thing off.
Vertag: (looks at his watch) Oh, about-
Lessala: (steps out from behind a dumpster) Take what off, Janet?
Janet: Eep!
Vertag: (stops walking and steps a bit away from her) You're not supposed to be here.
Lessala: Neither of YOU are supposed to be here, technically.
Vertag: What do you want, Lessala?
Lessala: (looks down at his hand and Janet) Whatever she's wearing. I think it's something my boss would love to have his hands on.
Vertag: Not really.
Janet: Lessala, this is just-
Vertag: Don't tell her.
Janet: But it's only-
Lessala: Only what? You can tell me! I'm your friend.
Vertag: You're a Second Nation spy.
Lessala: Hah, those collaborators? They only think I'm one of them. (pulls out a pistol and aims it at Vertag) Give me the Earthling, Special Investigations Department Agent Vertag.
Vertag: No.
Lessala: Don't make me kill you to get what I want.
Vertag: Don't make me kill you to get… I mean to keep what you want. To keep it from you, that is.
Janet: Guys, guys! This isn't worth a showdown!
Lessala & Vertag: Shut up, Janet.
Janet: GUYS! You're both my friends, right?
Lessala: Of course, Janet. Just give me that whatever it is.
Vertag: She is your friend, Janet, but her Chief isn't.
Lessala: You know about the Chief?
Vertag: Maybe more than you do.
Lessala: (shrugs) Maybe. Doesn't change anything. (Cocks her gun) Hand Janet over.
Vertag: If you take it, she'll die.
Lessala: If I don't take it, I'll die.
Vertag: Oh. So it's that sort of mission.
Janet: Guys, can we go to the restaurant? Eat Islander food and talk it over?
Lessala: Islander? I'd rather die. (laughs. As she does, Vertag kicks at her hand. The gun flies away. He whips around the back of the dumpster. He drops to the ground and lowers Janet to put her beside the base of a pile of trash)
Vertag: Hide (draws his gun). Lessala? (cheerfully) I'm armed and Janet's hiding. Give up? (no response. He glances down, Janet isn't where he put her. He stands and eases out from behind the dumpster, searching for Lessala.)
(He moves carefully to the center of the alley, scanning the alley over the sights of the pistol. As he turns, Lessala jumps up from behind a pile of boxes and swings a two-by-four at his arm. Gun goes flying. He slugs her. She swings the lumber back at him, clocking him one across the face.)
(He spins around and comes at her. They lock hands around each other's throats and start to choke each other.) (fade out)
(Fade in, back seat of a limousine. Director Tolag climbs in and sits down. The car starts to move. He turns to a passenger on the other side of the bench. We see it's Dordell)
Tolag: I want you to put some extra surveillance on Vertag.
Dordell: Yes, sir. May I ask why?
Tolag: The Earthling trusts him. She took his advice in a life-or-death matter.
Dordell: Well, surely he gave her the answer you wanted.
Tolag: Of course he did. But he's done something. There's a reason she thinks she can trust his answers.
Dordell: Oh. Yes, I can see that. I'll see to it, sir.
--
Roll credits
- 19
- 20
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.Escape from Land of the Giants Season 2