When a deadly extra terrestrial latches onto a decrepit space station in orbit over the earth, only a homesick botanist and his estranged lover stand between it and the unsuspecting planet below.
LEECH is a feature length Sci-Fi thriller. In 2015, it was a winner in the Page International Screenwriting Contest. INSIDE A LARGE OBSERVATION ROOM, LOOKING OUT ON
THE BLACK, STAR-PRICKED VOID OF SPACE
MICHAEL HART (30s), eyes downcast, crosses a scuffed floor beneath a seemingly endless pane of smudged glass.
Michael plucks at the frayed sleeve of his (archaic) flannel jacket as he fixates on the pliable gray boots seamlessly molded into his worn gray coveralls.
FROM OUTSIDE
The Observation Room is one very small component of an enormous, decrepit SPACE STATION in orbit over EARTH.
Drifting just adjacent to it is a sleek, flawless metal teardrop: THE SEED - two hundred feet long, with a faintly glowing metallic ring rotating slowly around it.
Silence.
Michael's tiny form stops halfway across the room.
INSIDE THE OBSERVATION ROOM
Michael stares at the RED PANTIES lying on the floor in front of him.
He looks back over his shoulder, considering a retreat.
FROM OUTSIDE
Michael gathers resolve and again strides forward.
INSIDE THE OBSERVATION ROOM
He makes it to the hatch at the far side and hits a panel.
The hatch opens and Michael recoils at the unexpected sight of fifty feet of empty space between the station and The Seed.
MICHAEL
Not cool, Iva!
No answer.
He leans out into the emptiness to touch a softly-glowing rectangle. A faint HUM, and a passageway appears - now a fully opaque white.
MICHAEL
Iva!
Michael MARCHES forward, into the...
PASSAGEWAY
He reaches the featureless gray exterior of The Seed.
Michael leans forward - grimacing - as the wall of The Seed faintly HISSES, dissipating on a molecular level to let him through.
MICHAEL
Iva, I know you can...
INSIDE THE SEED
MICHAEL
...hear me.
Michael stops, hearing MUSIC.
SHAWN (20s, blond) sits leaning against the curved wall on Michael’s left, strumming an acoustic GUITAR. Shawn wears gray, fitted coveralls with integrated boots like Michael's.
SHAWN
(singing)
Well I never made a dollar that
I ain’t spent, but I never took
a dime from the government.
Shawn grins at Michael. A space-pilot cowboy-type, he looks suspiciously FLUSHED.
Michael turns to a dimly lit gangway that crosses from the door to a COMMAND SEAT in the center of The Seed, where IVA BROKAS (30s, Lithuanian) works holographic controls.
She, too, wears gray coveralls.
Shawn STRUMS his guitar.
Michael marches up the gangway to Iva, past the thousands of glowing compartments that cover the inside walls of The Seed.
Each compartment holds a bit of organic matter, suspended in a viscous fluid. Many are green and herbaceous. Others WRIGGLE with a sluggish fleshiness.
Michael stops behind Iva.
MICHAEL
Iva.
No response.
MICHAEL
Iva. Are you...
Iva half-turns. Her face, too, is flushed.
IVA
What do you want, Michael?
Michael glances back at Shawn - trying very hard to not connect the dots.
MICHAEL
Chief Li wants you to--
IVA
I'm busy.
She turns back to her controls.
MICHAEL
I know. It’s just there’s
something he wants you to see and you
weren’t answering.
Michael again glances back at Shawn.
MICHAEL
Iva.
Iva spins to face him.
IVA
What?!
Michael can't meet her look.
MICHAEL
Please just turn on your ear-
thingy.
He slumps back toward the exit.
SHAWN
Later, dude.
Michael tightens his jaw and steps out through the “door.”
OUTSIDE,
The passageway is again transparent.
Michael lurches for the glowing control panel.
VOICE (O.S.)
I would rather you did not.
Michael looks up.
There - with head and shoulders stuck through the top of the transparent passageway - is ANDY.
Andy wears the same coveralls as everyone else and appears almost human, but something in his eyes gives him away: Andy is an androgynous, repurposed SEX-BOT.
ANDY
I do not believe it would
decapitate me, but I would also
rather not find out.
Michael flinches back toward The Seed.
ANDY
Is the doctor in?
MICHAEL
She--
HISS.
Iva steps out of The Seed. Sees Michael.
IVA
(disappointed)
Oh. I thought...
She cranes her neck to see past him.
Andy shoves a hand through and waves it.
ANDY
Hello, Goddess.
Iva looks up, sees Andy, and smiles.
IVA
Got your ping. What’s up?
ANDY
Chief Li thought maybe you would
come if it was me. So to speak.
Andy winks at Michael.
Iva reaches for her ear. Stops. Oh, right. She fishes a small, black OBJECT from her coverall pocket, sticks it into her ear, and TAPS it.
As she does, she reaches for the control panel and turns the walkway a solid white - waving Michael away.
IVA
What’s up, Chief?
Andy gives Michael a “thumbs up” from where his body sticks through the top of the now-opaque cylinder.
No decapitation, here.
Iva pushes past Michael toward the Observation Room - suddenly deadly serious.
- - -
Thanks for your interest!
