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.Escape from Land of the Giants Season 1	By : keithcompany Category: G through L > Land of the Giants Views: 2011 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Land of The Giants, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
(Deep in the forest, late on dark and rainy afternoon. Vertag walks along an area with no beaten paths. He is dressed in military fatigues and hiking boots. He consults a folded map and a compass from time to time.)
Vertag: Somewhere around here.
(A Hummer circles a tree near him, veering around his feet to drive off to the side)
Janet (voice over a loudspeaker atop Hummer): Somewhere. There is little value added from that statement.
Janet: (Inside the vehicle, Janet drives with a wide, wide smile. She is in jungle cammies) (Glances at a box on the dashboard, mutters) Damn, I miss GPS. (Box starts to beep) Bullseye! Give or take a city block…
(Vertag almost steps on the car as she brakes to a halt. He recovers, looking around.
Vertag: (Pointing) Is that it?
Janet (voice over a loudspeaker): I think…
(A large tree leans over a ridge. A root cradles a boulder. Beneath the rock is a space that has a small red light blinking, barely visible)
Vertag: Yep. (Starts walking towards the hole)
(Janet floors it and throws up a rooster tail of dirt. The Hummer circles around the giant and races for the target.)
Vertag: Janet! Wait!
Janet (voice over a loudspeaker): Human technology! Human dibs!
Vertag: You have dibs on the Spiders?
(Car brakes in a cloud of dust)
Janet (voice over a loudspeaker): You know, it is your planet…
(Vertag kneels, peers into the dark space. Janet pulls up beside, turns on headlights and a large spotlight on the side. We see the Space Pod, from Lost in Space, used a time or two on the Land of the Giants. It’s what’s blinking.)
Janet: (steps from the Hummer) That’s it! A Space Pod! Right where it’s supposed to be.
Vertag: Right where an anonymous tip told us to find it, without hope of reward or credit.
Janet: You still think it’s a trap.
Vertag: I still suspect it’s a trap, Miss Crane.
Janet: It may be, Agent Vertag, but we can’t ignore it.
Vertag: Nope. Okay, watch yourself. (Reaches into the cavern.)
(View from just over the Space Pod. On the roof of the cave is a spring loaded trap. As Vertag touches the Pod, the trap goes off, plunging a steel tube into his arm. He yanks it back)
Vertag: Ow! Crap, that hurts. (His features get slack suddenly. Camera shifts to his view. Looking down at the human, she gets blurry with colored spikes showing here and there.) Oh. Run.
Janet: Are you okay?
Vertag: It’s a trap. Run. Hide. (he falls to one side, face down on the ground. Janet watches with concern, shifting to horror as she hears giant footsteps in the woods. She takes off running away from the noises.)
(Giant figure steps into view, sneering down at the Agent.)
Trapper: Hah. Big bad SID agent fall down and go boom. (snags the Hummer off the ground, looks it over) Nice. Now, where is that Earthling? (Crouches beside Vertag’s body, rolling it up on one side. This reveals Vertag’s pistol in his grip. It goes off. The intruder staggers to his feet, leans against the tree, holding his chest. Vertag rolls back down on his chest.   The trapper drops the Hummer, then falls forward. His body falls across Vertag’s. Janet peeks out from behind a rock and screams)
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(Janet runs to Vertag’s face) His body is chest-down, face turned to the side (towards the trapped cave). He breathes, but his eyes don’t focus)
Janet: Vertag! Are you alright?
Vertag: Janet! Is he gone? Keep hidden!
Janet: (looks from Vertag to the body sprawled across him) He’s not gone. You shot him.
Vertag: Oh. Well, I was trying to scare him.
Janet: Got it in one try. What’s happened to you?
Vertag: It’s a paralytic. Comes from a type of fresh-water sea-slug. Very popular. We got a tiny dose of it in basic training, to understand what it was like. I recognize it.
Janet: So you’ll be okay?
Vertag: Oh, sure. If I’d had a fatal dose, I’d be blind.
Janet: (steps up closer and waves a hand across his view. No reaction. None, in fact, as she gets closer and closer, waving her hands right next to his eye. When she touches the eyeball, he finally blinks. She leaps back.) Aah! You have an evil sense of humor!
Vertag: Yeah. It affects motor control. And causes some perception problems. But it wears off after an hour per mittitam.
Janet: How many of these mittitams do you think you’ve had?
Vertag: Um…are my eyes bleeding?
Janet: No!
Vertag: Twelve.
Janet: So, twelve hours?
Vertag: Yeah. Look, when it gets dark, there are…things in this forest. Find someplace safe and hole up.
Janet: What sort of things?
Vertag: Rats, lizards, maybe the friends of the guy that set the trap…
Janet: They’d have come up when they heard the gunshot.
Vertag: Oh. Good point. There was a gunshot?
Janet: You shot the guy that set the trap…
Vertag: Yes. Of course I did. Did I scare him off? (Janet winces)
(The Hummer is on its side, on the ground between the two men’s legs. Janet circles Vertag’s boots and runs to the vehicle. She tries to right it, but it doesn’t move. She kicks the windshield in, reaches for the microphone of the radio.)
Janet: Mayday, mayday. This is Janet Crane. I’m stranded in the woods with a wounded giant. I need some assistance. (Silence) Mayday, mayday. Help! Is anyone at the 63^rd receiving me?   (Silence. She reaches into the vehicle and adjusts the controls) Mayday. Mayday. Does any Fleet unit hear me? (Silence, with static) Any giant unit? (As above)
(Back at the giant’s face, she walks around his head from behind.)
Vertag: Is that you?
Janet: Who else would it be?
Vertag: A large brown lizard coming to chew my eyeballs?
Janet: Eugh.
Vertag: Think how I feel.
Janet: I can’t establish communications with anyone. The radio, the phone, nothing works. (Walks over to lean against his shoulder)
Vertag: Jamming. That would be part of the trap. Isolating us. Preventing calls for help.
Janet: I wonder if the Space Pod’s radio works?
Vertag: The Space Pod that’s in a trap?
Janet: They may not have trapped the pod.
Vertag: They may have. I’d rather let your Captain Brown figure out any traps on the tech.
Janet: He’s not here!
Vertag: So stay away from the thing!
Janet: (Rubbing her forehead) Okay. Okay. So, what do we need to do?
Vertag: Covered that. You need to hide someplace to make it through to morning.
Janet: I’m not leaving you.
Vertag: (sniffs) I smell blood.
Janet: (examines his face closely) I don’t see any.
Vertag: Maybe it’s not mine.
Janet: (glances at the body) You remember shooting a guy in the chest, right?
Vertag: Oh. So, I’m smelling his blood.
Janet: You’re covered with it.
Vertag: That’s going to draw…things.
Janet: Oh.
Vertag: Can you get into the Earthling Holster?
Janet: It’s under your chest. You’re laying on it, and the dead guy is laying on you.
Vertag: It hasn’t collapsed. It’s built to take…
Janet: I’d have to move both of you to get to it.
Vertag: Ah. (They are quiet for a while. Janet looks around. The ground is covered with leaf fall. She starts to kick and push the leaves away from his face.)(Fade out)
(Fade in to see a large area of bare dirt cleared around Vertag’s head. The leaves are in a large pile some distance from his face. Janet is dragging two large ammo cases across the ground to a branch nearby.)
Vertag: Janet? Have you found some shelter yet?
Janet: Yes. (grunts) I’m slipping in between you and the world. (Takes strips from an ammo case) Ever heard of det cord? (She quickly breaks the branch up into manageable bits by using the cord as an instant saw. The pieces are round enough to roll so she carries two and kicks one along.(Fade out)
(Fade in: Janet kneels beside a pile, trying to light it.)
Vertag: Janet, did your training cover that bit where wet wood doesn’t catch light and burn?
Janet: Something like that. (she pulls a block of metal out of her pocket, carves a few shavings off. Then she lights the shavings)
Vertag: What’s that sound?
Janet: Magnesium. (Catches fire. Bright fire. Burns well) Burns hot enough to dry out the wood around it, which catches fire, then dries out the wood around IT, which catches fire…
Vertag: Interesting.
Janet: (picks up some more strips of det cord) An old girl-scout trick. (walks off towards another branch)
(Fade out and in for passage of time. It’s after dark. A steady fire burns, with pieces of branch arranged around it, steaming as they dry out. Janet is wrapped with a sleeping bag, curled up against Vertag’s shoulder. Her grenade launcher is across her lap, two rifles are close. Several ammo cases are lined up along the shoulder.)
Vertag: I hear something.
Janet: The fire?
Vertag: No. What’s out there?
Janet: (walks to the edge of the lighted area) I don’t see…(Suddenly, a fox comes into focus. A giant fox watches her, panting slightly) Oh, god.
Vertag: What is it?
Janet: A fox. (she raises the launcher. Just as she points it at the chest, it bolts out of sight)
Vertag: Is it still there?
Janet: No. Just as I took aim…
Vertag: Well, the fox is supposed to be smart. The rats will call your bluff, though.
Janet: (backing up to the shoulder again) Great. (Slides down to sit) (Silent pause) Would you have shot me?
Vertag: Don’t do this.
Janet: Seriously. I’m not going anywhere. Would you have? If Shari hadn’t sacrificed herself?
Vertag: Janet, we covered this.
Janet: Perez says you could never have killed me.
Vertag: Well, I’m not one to argue with an Intel officer of her caliber-
Janet: I told her you’d figure that out. Now, is she right?
Vertag: (puffs air out) I would rather shoot myself than have this conversation.
Janet: (raises the grenade launcher) I can help you with that.
Vertag: Can we talk about the Fosters instead? Did he ever send you that apology he owes you?
Janet: Yes. Would you have shot me?
Vertag: Aaargh. Look, Janet… Hey, do you hear that?
Janet: Hear what?
Vertag: A tugging sensation.
Janet: (turns on a flashlight, stands) Where?
Vertag: I don’t know… (Janet walks swiftly around to the back of his head. As she does, her light shows two rats standing on Vertag’s arm, tugging at the dead giant’s head. It rocks back and forth, blood dripping down from the mouth in a sluggish flow onto Vertag’s arm.)
Janet: Eeek! (drops the flashlight and fires the launcher. A rat explodes, the other runs off)
Vertag: Janet!
Janet: Rats. Eating the guy on top of you. I killed one… (she runs back around to his face. Sweeps the area at the edge of the firelight. Kicks a log up onto the fire.)
Vertag: Well, we don’t care about him. And they won’t get through my boots or trousers quickly. So, stay here, protect yourself by my face.
Janet: What if they start biting you? Your hands, arms?
Vertag: Nothing fatal. Hey, if they get too brave for the fire? Abandon my position. Rat bites won’t kill me. Can’t say the same about you. Okay? Promise me.
Janet: Speaking of my mortality…
Vertag: Thrombeldinbar, hear my plea. Deliver us from single minded…
Janet: (draws her pistol and fires into the air) Dammit! God damn it, Vertag! Just talk to me! Would you have shot me?
Vertag: (calmly) Sit down, Janet. I’ll talk. Okay? (she holsters the weapon but doesn’t return to her seat.) Okay. That’s better. (breathes deeply) Now, you remember when we met? Kobick talked about what a great career I started out with? I was on the fast track. I got special training, a few extra courses. I got to learn about our history.
(Janet sees movement, aims the launcher. Nothing happens, she relaxes but keeps the gun ready)
Vertag: I don’t know how people got to this land, but it was rough at first. We needed a very strong central government or we wouldn’t have survived. Since then, the great authority wielded by our leaders has been crucial to our survival.
Janet: So they tell you.
Vertag: And so I came to understand. Your system is different, fine. Maybe if we had a different system, we’d still survive. But every time we’ve tried to change, society has nearly been destroyed.
Janet: (watches a rat scurry by at the edge of the light. It carries an eyeball in its mouth.) Eugh.
Vertag: Exactly. Eugh. Change has to be handled very carefully. Something I’ve learned from you humans, the more advanced a technology is, the more impact it has on a society. The Blacklist stuff could cause so much change, it could destroy our social order.
Janet: No great loss.
Vertag: Including the production and shipping of food. The enforcement of laws, the prevention of crime, fire fighters,…
Janet: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you would have killed me, to protect your wonderful civilization.
Vertag: (Very softly) No.
Janet: (looks up, trying to gage his expression. He has none, though, the drugs have wiped him clean) What?
Vertag: I’d never have been able to shoot through you.
Janet: Seriously?
Vertag: Yes. To my shame, I could not have done my duty.
Janet: But that’s not a bad thing. You made a friend, and you like your friend more than your government. That’s a good thing.
Vertag: Not for an SID agent.
Janet: Oh. (She walks over towards his face, strokes his cheek.) You should have told me.
Vertag: Confess that I’m a failure? You didn’t want to hear that.
Janet: What do you mean?
Vertag: If I was going to fail as an SID agent, then I should have failed to kill Shari. You’d have hated me. You probably do hate me. I killed an innocent, but I would have tried to keep you safe.
Janet: Vertag…(the light flickers and she notices that the fire is dying down. She runs over to throw more logs on the fire. As she picks up the third one, she finds herself facing a large lizard creature. Looking down and around, we see that she left the grenade launcher over by his chin. The lizard tastes the air with its tongue. Janet draws her pistol and aims for the eye. One of the pieces of wood cracks, sparks flying in the air. The lizard spins and runs away. She runs back to his face and grabs her weapon.)
Vertag: Janet?
Janet: Lizard. A big goddamned lizard. It was a freaking dinosaur.
Vertag: Are you okay?
Janet: Yeah. Yeah, I think so. And… I don’t hate you.
Vertag: Well, I appreciate that. But after this sinks in, you will.
Janet: Vertag…(Deep breath) Vertag, Shari’s alive. (he’s quiet) Vertag? (steps close and puts a hand on his cheek)
Vertag: I heard you.
Janet: Our tech guys. They snuck out, looked inside. They found… They found a way to break the seal, got her out.
Vertag: And the tech?
Janet: (Crosses her fingers) Oh, it all went up in the fire. You didn’t give us enough time to winkle it out of there.
Vertag: But she’s okay?
Janet: Yeah. Roth got her out, turns out the scientist was…wrong.
Vertag: That last conversation we had. When she sacrificed herself?
Janet: That was Brown, running the shell of some remotes. Computers.
Vertag: Wow. Your computers can do anything.
Janet: Just about. (She smiles and strokes his face)
Vertag: I hope the Directorate is very careful about how they handle computing technology.
Janet: Uh, yeah. (Hands into fists, she grimaces and shakes her head) Yeah, hope they’re smart on that score. (makes gagging gestures)
Vertag: I’m…glad that she’s okay. Shooting her…bothered me. More than anyone ever has.
Janet: I… Don’t take this wrong, Vertag? But I’m glad to hear that.
Vertag: Yeah. I’m not sure how I feel, yet. I mean, I still took the shot. Whether she was in there or not.
Janet: Yeah. I know. (Fade out)
(Fade in, Janet is asleep, curled up between Vertag’s chin and shoulder. The last bits of the fire die out. A shadow scurries past. The sound of padding feet wake her up.)
Janet: What? (sees the fire) Oh, crap.
Vertag: What is it?
Janet: The fire’s out.
Vertag: Can you start it again?
Janet: I don’t think so…
(Camera pans to show a circle of rats creeping forwards.)
Vertag: What is it?
Janet: Rats. Lots of lots of rats.
Vertag: Climb under my vest. Maybe it’ll protect you for a while.
Janet: Not yet! (Lifts the gun, fires one round. Seven rats explode)
Vertag: What the hell are you shooting?
Janet: I… Uh…
(Four Hummers appear. Gunners pump rounds into the remaining rodents, who screech but depart. One parks beside the former bonfire. The other three circle around Vertag (and the dead guy’s) body. Shots continue to be heard in the distance)
(The Colonel dismounts and walks over to Janet. He gestures and Marines run in all directions)
Adams: Miss Crane, are you okay?
Janet: Oh, God, I’m fine now, Colonel.
Adams: Sorry we took so long. When your beacon didn’t move for eight hours, two duty officers on the Excelsior thought you were just sleeping.
Vertag: You have a locator beacon? That broadcast through the jamming?
Brown (stepping up beside the Colonel, he offers a thermos to Janet. She snatches it): The jammer may never have heard of the frequencies we use, even he was schooled in your advanced physics.
Vertag: Okay.
Adams: The third duty officer asked why you were sleeping in the woods, no one had an answer, we tried to call you-
Janet: And got jammed. Which made you worry…
Adams: And here we are.
Vertag: Great. (closes his eyes) Now that you’re here, I can stop protecting Janet for a while. Just for a quick nap. (the humans laugh) (fade)
(fade in, Daytime. Vertag walks out of the forest, leaning heavily on a roughly shaped stick. He stops a lot to rest, to reset the stick, to blink. Finally he gets to the car, opens it, sits down. After another small rest, he swings in his legs and shuts the door. He pulls the Space Pod out of a pocket and places it on the seat beside him.)
(At the edge of the forest, five Hummers wait. Janet sits beside the Colonel in his)
Janet: He needs help
Adams: No argument from me.
Janet: I should be with him. I could navigate.
(In the distance, the giant’s car starts to move slowly down the road. The driving is jerky and sluggish but the car proceeds, if haphazardly)
Adams: No one needs to be in that car, right now. Not even him. If there was any way to rig the car so we could drive it, I might try. But for right now, no unnecessary personnel are going to be in that death trap.
Janet: Please. Don’t mention traps. Not today.
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Roll Credits
- 7
- 8
- 9
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.Escape from Land of the Giants Season 1