INT. DIRK’S CAR, HIGHWAY 37 — AFTERNOON
Dirk is driving Shelly and Leo back to Mitchell. His phone is in the cupholder. Flori floats teasing in the screen. Everyone else is deep in thought.
FLORI (IN PHONE)
(watching Dirk)
So, where do we go from here?
DIRK
We need
to build a local network, something secure,
some place off the maps where you can work
on building software to destroy the killer
afterversion of Hannah’s dad. I’d code
it up myself, with you telling me what to type,
but that would take forever and a day.
And then we have to find a way to deliver
the software to Hereafter’s servers…
FLORI (IN PHONE)
Right!
But don’t get too far ahead. We’ll cross
that bridge to deliverance when we get there.
SHELLY
(pepping up)
Why can’t we work at home? Dirk’s still got the
computer that he got at school, and isn’t it
made for something just like this?
LEO
(pushing the envelope)
And then
the Officer could make us dinner! I’ve seen
how much he cooks — you guys could use an extra
mouth or two at the table.
Dirk turns to look at Leo, swerving a bit into the other lane before Shelly grabs the wheel.
SHELLY
Dirk…
Dirk swivels back towards the road and straightens his car.
DIRK
I planned
on using my computer — maybe one more
if I can buy a desktop later. But we
can’t work on our connected networks at home.
It would only take one slip, one instant
when someone doesn’t remember to disable
the wireless on their computer, and then
bam! Hereafter would delete Flori
quicker than we could download her onto
a safe computer. Not to mention what
the officer would say if he found out
what we were doing…
SHELLY
It’s worth it if it means
that Hannah would be safe.
Shelly glances down at Flori, pleading silently for help in convincing Dirk to take the risk.
SHELLY (CONT’D)
And I don’t know
anywhere to go but home…
FLORI (IN PHONE)
I’m fine
with that, if it’s what it takes.
DIRK
(somewhat irrationally
dismissive)
But it won’t work.
We need to find a place that’s safe, with power…
a landline…somewhere that, even if they
happen to catch a whiff of someone working
on destructive versions of their own software,
the engineers at Neverland couldn’t find us,
stop us, or delete us from the app.
Dirk swings his car to the right, down a ramp wedged between walls of dripping limestone that leads out of Bedford. The road settles across a bridge spanning a wide valley, where The White River, flooded by the last late-summer thunderstorms, spreads itself out across half-ripe cornfields.
LEO
(suddenly excited)
What about the Treehouse?
SHELLY
(turning to Dirk)
That could work.
DIRK
Did it have power?
LEO
Yeah! Remember when
we spent a whole July trying to beat
Ghost and Goblins?
DIRK
It was so hot up there…
LEO
We even had that little fridge that my dad
was going to throw out.
FLORI (IN PHONE)
(confused)
What’s the Treehouse?
SHELLY
And we could see the town from there — no one
would even know that we were watching them.
LEO
I wonder if that stuff’s still there? I think
we saved the TV, but I don’t remember…
DIRK
Let’s try it, then.
FLORI (IN PHONE)
(bouncing around the
screen, trying to get
attention)
Hey! Will someone fill me in?
CUT TO:
