Logline:

The first military exploration of the human subconscious.

    THE MENTONAUT   

 

SOUNDS OF MEDICAL DEVICES BLEEPING/PUMPING AIR/SCRIBBLING READINGS/DRIPPING LIQUIDS.

FADE UP

INT. STARK HOSPITAL ROOM. DAY

In the centre of a cold room is the body of an unconscious middle aged man, laying rigidly under the cheap brown tone sheets; only his head peeks out from them. His head has a plastic skull cap strapped to it, with wires protruding out the top like errant strands of hair. Above his left eye is a circular bullet wound that had healed up but has left an indent in the skull that the scabbed skin has filled in.

To his left are multiple medical devices all monitoring him, they bleep, pump bellows full of air, drip liquids from IV’s and spit out strings of paper that have continuous wavy lines on them. 

To his right is another man, he is sitting in a chair parallel to the unconscious man in the bed. He is wearing a long medical gown and is sitting upright but has a belt around his waist and chest to support him upright. This man, to, wears a skull cap with wires coming out its top, some disappear behind the chair and the rest are connected to the unconscious man in the beds cap. He has microphone clipped to his chest, leading off to the tape recorder speaker in the lab room next door.

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. DAY

Adjoining the Hospital room is a lab, separated by a Perspex wall. In this lab room are scientist milling about, chatting to each other, writing on blackboards and taking readings from various machines that pump out strings of numbers on printer paper.

Facing the clear wall is a man sitting at a desk talking into the receiver of a loudspeaker/dual reel recording system. This man is dressed in a suit and tie; between speaking into the receiver he scribbles notes into n open file. The file heading reads “CAPTAIN RENVERS”

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. DAY 

A in the middle of a large sun drenched open field stands a man dressed in army camo; this is the same man that is sitting in the chair at the hospital room. Around his head is a modern looking headset microphone. He is confused by his surroundings and is constantly dazed by the sun when he turns around.

He empties his pockets for clues and lays the items on the ground in front of him. (FILM COMPETITION CAN HAVE AN ITEM HERE) they too, like his surroundings, confuse him. Placing the items back in his pocket he then pulls out a gun which he quickly slips into an empty holster that has now appeared on his belt.

He shouts out wildly for someone, anyone to hear him. Static comes over the headset. This shocks him as he didn’t notice the equipment before. He then, more slowly and confidently, repeats into the mic “Hello”/”Can you hear me?”/”who’s there?” etc

INT. STARK HOSPITAL ROOM. CONT

The unconscious soldier in the chair mumbles “hello”/”Can anyone hear me” etc over and over; dribbling a little as he can’t fully control his actions on this side of waking.

 

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

The man in the suit looks up from his notes and taps the button to turn on the loudspeaker, It SCREECHES with interference at first and as he starts to speak into his microphone saying “congratulations”

 

INT. STARK HOSPITAL ROOM. CONT

 

Over the speaker system in an overblown speaker the words from the adjoining room are heard.

 

The scientists communicate with the Mentonaut buy talking into a loudspeaker system

 

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. CONT

 

Our Mentonaut hears the words but to him it is much more succinct and with a cleaner sound; through his communication device. He is asked for a description of his surroundings and then advised to do recon around the ‘field’, describing as he goes.

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

The two wheel recording device is still on and is capturing the mumbles words coming from the chair bound Mentonaut. At each description the scientists make notes and correlate it to the file they have on the unconscious person beside him.

 

The scientist make notes and confir between one another the more details the get ("Grew up on a farm, of course he prefers the open field as a safe place for his mind to retreat into"....etc

 

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. CONT

 

Not paying attention to where he is walking but repeating back all the details he can see (FILM COMPETITION CAN HAVE AN ITEM HERE), turning round the Mentonaut bumps into a fence; which is at waist height. Looking down one end it goes far off into the horizon but tuning to the other there is a gate a couple of meters down.

 

Getting to the gate he describes what is on the other side, which is another field like the one he was in but the air looks thick and is distorted like looking through a heat wave.

 

He ‘calls in’ to the lab if he should make attempts into this new field on the other side of the fence, still describing the physics defying conditions on its other side.

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

Talking into the loudspeakers microphone, in front of him, the grey suited man aggressive tells the Mentonaut to step away from the fence and get back to the mission at hand; finding any signs of their quarry within the secured mindscape.

 

From behind the grey suited man steps one of the scientists, who leans over grey suited man shoulder, speaking calmly into the microphone; a couple of the other scientists pause and turn around to see what’s happening.

 

Head Scientist:

 

“We’re at the forefront of the psyche Sergeant; much of the subconscious is still uncharted. Just remember the briefing and trust your training. The conscious mind is perpetually vying for dominance all of the time.”

 

“Our researchers in PSI division have solidly hypothesised that a coma patent could have anything, physical or mental, blocking their conscious mind from its normal woken ascendance”

 

 

Turning his head from the microphone the scientist, holding the PAUSE button on the recorder, leans intrusively close to the grey suited mans ear and softly but with conviction whispers

 

Head Scientist:

 

“You will keep him on track, it’s a labyrinth in the mind; one miss step from the control lobe we sectioned and he could be lost forever. We have worked too hard and are losing ground to our enemies.”

 

Releasing the PAUSE button the head scientist turns back to equations on the blackboard he was working at; the rest of the scientists return to their duties.

 

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. CONT

 

Calling into base, through the walky talky, the Mentonaut picks up/puts on a rucksack starts to double back on himself away from the fields fence

 

Mentonaut:

 

“Control? Control, are you there!? I am proceeding back into the sanctioned zone”

 

G-Man:

 

“Acknowledged. Proceed with caution”

 

Rapidly walking towards the fields’ middle the Mentonaut sees strewn along his path a selection of items (ITEM FOR A FILM COMPETITION) he is confused at what they are but continues on for a few more steps till they are actively pilling up more and more in his way.

 

Stopping, he looks around the field but it is still open and clear as before, minus a selection of junk items just in front of him. The Mentonaut and takes a knee by one item, picking it up and looks confusedly down at it.

 

Mentonaut:

 

“Control, there appears to be a (INSERT FILM COMPETITION ITEM), it’s a little worn but intact and..”

 

The Mentonaut plays with the item (crank wheel, spins wheel etc)

 

Mentonaut:

 

“Yeah...it still seems to work”

 

The Mentonaut is slightly mesmerised by the item and its simple functions, spinning/clicking it in his hands

 

INT. STARK HOSPITAL ROOM. CONT

 

The unconscious bedridden man starts to stir, slightly; tilting his previously unmoved head

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

The speaker, connected to the recording device, at the by grey suited mans table spits out STATIC; with the occasional garbled word about the items description. Upon hearing (FILM COMPETITION ITEM) THE Grey Suited man flips open the case/personnel Psych folder of the unconscious patent; turning to the CHILDHOOD tab within

 

 

 

 

G-Man:

 

“Soldier! Put the (FILM COMPETITION ITEM) DOWN! Get a grip and continue the mission or we will actively retrieve you from the zone”

 

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. CONT

Shaking his head, he separates his hands that are cupping the item and lets it drop the ground (IT MAKES NO SOUND AS IT SHATTERS UPON THE FELD)

 

Mentonaut:

 

“(What?).....apologies Control, Mission is back under in play. I’m proc..”

 

Looking up, the field in front of the Mentonaut is no longer strewn with random items but now has, about 100 meters away, a man in dressed in military fatigues. He appears to be digging in a ditch; 2ft deep

 

Mentonaut:

 

“I, I think i have found Subject NOD Sir. He appears to be digging”

 

(V.O.) G-Man:

 

“Repeat soldier”

 

 

 

 

 

Mentonaut:

 

“There appears to be a ditch about 100 meters in front of my position and digging within it is Subject NOD”

 

 

(V.O.) G-Man:

 

“Can you confirm contact?”

 

Mentonaut:

 

“Unable from this position, his back is turned to me but he is wearing army fatigues; moving in to intercept to confirm”

 

Standing straight once again the Mentonaut begins to jog towards the ditch and the man digging within

 

INT. STARK HOSPITAL ROOM. CONT

 

Unconscious bedridden man continues stirring, scrunching his closed eyelids. The Mentonaut, sitting beside him slumps his shoulder slightly; both men’s EKG readings spike a couple of times

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

The scientists don’t seem to notice the EKG spikes, they are still taking readings from the machines in there room only. The grey suted man sits pensively buy the recording device, making notes on the conversations that have already been recorded.

 

 

 

 

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. CONT

 

Reaching the man in the ditch, who still has his back turned away from The Mentonaut, he tries to walk round along the ditches boarder to see the diggers face but the man in the ditch keeps naturally evading the Mentonauts gaze. The Mentonaut shouts at the man

 

Mentonaut:

 

“SIR!”

Mentonaut:

 

“HEY, SIR?! Can you understand me sir”

 

Placing his back pack on the ground by the ditch the Mentonaut calls into base.

Mentonaut:

 

The subject is unresponsive

 

(V.O.) G-Man:

 

Is it him soldier?

Mentonaut:

Im still unable to confirm Control he is making it impossible to see his face; but everything else correlates to the description image we were given in briefing.

 

Can I engage fully Control?

 

The Mentonaut, though engaged in conversation with the base, never once takes his eyes off of the digging man and the ditch he is expanding upon

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

The man in the grey suite turns his body to the scientists behind him but looks for orders from the head man that spoke to him before. The head scientist nods with approval. He spins back under the table, scribbles in his notebook and leans into the microphone

 

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. CONT

 

Over the Mentonauts walky-talky earpiece he hears

 

(V.O.) G-Man:

 

Affirmative

 

The Mentonaut reaches out to take hold of the diggers a shoulder. The illusive digger swiftly shifts his body and the Mentonaut misses by a split second, unfazed and still not acknowledging another’s presence he continues to dig with his spade.

 

Mentonaut:

 

He’s a slippery one; from outside of the ditch he is able to elude me when I reach in to him.....

 

INT. STARK HOSPITAL ROOM. CONT

 

Slumped still in the chair the Mentonaut mumbles into the mic clipped to his chest

 

 

 

Mentonaut:

 

“I am stepping into the excavated area Control”

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

The gray suited man stops what he is scribbling on the pad and speaks into the microphone

 

G-Man:

 

“Repeat soldier”

 

From the tape recorder by his side comes the same mumbled response as before (TAPE RECORD HISS)

 

Mentonaut:

 

“Stepping into the excavated area Control”

 

He scribbles “PHASE 4: Initiated, 09:36” into the pad by his side then leans in to the microphone and confirms the operation.

 

G-Man:

 

“You are clear to go”

 

Turning to the scientist behind, he looks for reassurance but they are lost in their work and discussions between each other to notice the plea for assurance on his face.

 

 

 

 

 

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. CONT

 

Leaving his pack on the ground the Mentonaut slowly and carefully, always looking for a solid footing beneath him; descends into the trench. The man in the ditch is still digging, oblivious to the Mentonauts movements as he cautiously steps up behind him.

 

As the mysterious digger flings a spade full of dirt over his shoulder, depositing the mud he has excavated outside the trench, the Mentonaut grabs for said spade as the digger goes back for another scoop of dirt.

 

He meets no resistance from his grip on the spade but is unprepared and not properly balanced for such little struggle and falls backwards; spade now lying by his side in the ditch.

 

Angry, the Mentonaut springs back to his feet quickly; spade gripped tightly and now wheedled in his hand like a bat.

 

Mentonaut:

 

(SHOUTS SOMETHING INAUDIBLE)

 

But meets no aggression or reaction from the digger to the shouting or even the incident that just happened; he has returned to the digging he was working at before now with a new identical spade as before.

 

INT. STARK HOSPITAL ROOM. CONT

 

The more the Mentonaut interacts with the digger the more our unconscious person in the real world stirs and there corresponding EKG readings spike and slow

 

 

 

 

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. CONT

(builds intensity as mentonaut gets more and more into it)

 

Tensing his grip and arms against the tool the Mentonaut strains in his standing position and shouts violently at

 

Mentonaut:

 

“HEY!”

 

Ignored, he loosens his grip, from spade.

 

Mentonaut:  

 

“Control I don’t know what’s happening here or if I’m affecting anything but I’m changing tack and engaging with the activity; maybe I can speed up the process and fix it from inside here”.

 

Changing tact the Mentonaut starts to dig alongside, back to back with the mysterious digger.

 

The sun is blazing down upon their position, whereas before it was a benign entity; now it is actively beaming brighter and stronger heat waves upon their persons.

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

Three scientists are talking by the chalk board full of equations. One of them sees out the corner of his eyes the stirring bodies in the adjoining rooms. He looks over to the grey suited man, he is making notes in a pad and checking the equipment, not even looking bat the subjects in the other room. The scientist walks away from the conversation he was having and barrels up to the grey suited mans desk/communications area.

 

Head Scientist:

 

Get him on the line!

 

G-Man:

 

“Sir, I’ve just given him clearance to engage, he’ll call back with an update soon or if anything changes.”

 

Head Scientist:

 

“Idiot! He doesn’t even realise that he’s lost control already.”

 

G-Man:

 

“Sir, he’s well trained and prepared for anything, he’s going by the book.”

 

Head Scientist:

 

“No One is trained enough for what’s happening to him. Get him on the line or else he’ll be lost to us. You saw what happened to the original test subjects.”

 

INT. STARK HOSPITAL ROOM. CONT

 

The bed ridden unconscious man’s face is contorted as it strains to awaken and the mentonaut sits slumped in his seat eyes open and vacant only his arms move side to side.

 

 

 

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

Leaning into the window the room of scientist stare at the two subjects.

G-Man:

 

“Oh god, they were like living dolls.....just nothing behind the eyes”

 

The grey suited man scrabbles to his microphone.

 

G-Man:

 

“Soldier! Come in soldier! Abort! Repeat ABORT! Extraction code Alpha!”

 

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. CONT

 

The more they dig the hotter it gets, sun beaming down wave after wave of heat, the more determined and lost in the task the digger and mentonaut become.

 

The mentonaut has disrobed and discarded his flak-jacket, T-shirts they are both now in trousers and sweat drenched vests. STATIC intermittently pierces the walky-talky headset of the mentonaut with the occasional jumble of incoherent words. Till eventually, in a peak of aggression at the distraction form his digging, he rips the communication device from his head and discards it with his other clothing.

 

With the headset to the side now, atop the mentonauts clothes we hear the scrambled abort cries from the lab

 

 

 

 

G-Man:

 

“Sold****** Come **** soldier!

Abort! Rep****** Extraction co******d Alpha”

 

Eventually the Mentonaut CLANGS his spade against metal. The mysterious digger keeps digging on, where as the Mentonaut Pauses exhausted and slightly dizzy. He slumps to his knees and looks at the ground where his spade hit metal. He leans his hand over the trench to where the walki-talky headset was discarded; lifting it to his ears and is hit by a wave of frantic calls from his superiors in the waking world telling him to ABORT and no longer continue his actions.

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

In the waking world the biometric readings are fluctuating wildly for both mentonaut and unconscious person. The various scientists

 

The grey suited man continues to scream for an abort but hears nothing from the recording microphones in the adjoining room. He stands violently and heads to the Lab door but is grabbed by the head scientist who says.

 

Head Scientist:

 

“What do you think you’re doing? That room is pressurised. It’ll take a couple of minutes to reset the equilibrium.”

 

G-Man:

 

He doesn’t have minute’s sir.”

 

 

Head Scientist:

 

“We’ve started the decompression process you jumped up G-man. GET BACK TO YOUR STATION AND KEEP HIM ALIVE. No matter what, keep him Aware.”

 

A pressure gage begins to slowly drop in rapidly.

 

INT. STARK HOSPITAL ROOM. CONT

 

Over the loudspeaker A SIREN whales, between the whaling is the voice of the Grey suited man in the adjoining rooms cries to ABORT/WAKE UP.

 

The unconscious bed ridden person is stirring slightly; the mentonaut sitting next to him is unmoving except for his right arm as it starts to scratch deeply into his thigh, continuously scratching till he breaks the skin and blood drips. Still he continues

 

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. CONT

 

Affronted and visibly confused by the drama on the other end of the walky-talky the mentonaut drops the headset by his side.

 

Still is on his hands and knees the mentonaut feverishly scrapes away the dirt where he struck metal. Finally scraping away the last of the dirt, a metal shard is protruding from the ground. he pauses and stares at it slowly, registering the scouting sounds emanating from his receiver.

 

Shaking off this fugue state he puts the headset back on his head and calmly says

 

 

 

Mentonaut:

 

“Control? Come in control. I think I have found the obstruction... it’s..... So, shiny.

 

It’s almost ....if I just retrieve it from her. I KNOW it’ll, well I don’t know what it will do but IT wants me to do SOMTHING. Maybe if I just touch it I can.”

 

The other figure who was digging alongside him, stops his excavating, his back still to the mentonaut, just listening in.

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

The Grey suited man and s selection of scientists are screaming into the loud speaker system for the Mentonaut to wake up. The head scientist watches the pressure monitor franticly.

 

The pressure gage starts to HISS at the halfway point.

 

INT. STARK HOSPITAL ROOM. CONT

 

The unconscious bed ridden person is stirring slightly, the mentonaut sitting next to him is unmoved but slightly slumped over and mumbling the last line he said back to the lab. EKG readings are going wild.

 

Mentonaut:

 

“Just touch it.....so...it wants me to Know. If only i can make a connection”.

 

 

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. CONT

 

The Mentonaut, on his hands and knees is mesmerised by the protruding metal shard, it glows slightly as he reaches out his hand to touch this shining shard of metal.

 

The digger standing behind him, still facing away from the Mentonaut and shard; turns his head to look over his shoulder. Instead of a face is a formless oval void devoid of features simply 'staring' at the Mentonauts actions.

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

The pressure gage hits 0 and the Grey suited man and head scientist bolt out the lab door. The tape desk recording the experiment still keeps turning as the panic starts to set in the voices of a couple of scientists now sitting at the Grey Suited mans desk; calling into the microphone.

 

Scientist:

 

“Alpha One Abort”

 

EXT. COUNTRY FEILD. CONT

 

The shard of metal gets shinier and the brighter the closer the Mentonauts fingers are to touching it. Till suddenly the metal shard is reached by the Mentonaut finger tip and the screen fades to white instantly

 

INT. 60s PSI TECH MILITARY LAB. CONT

 

In the waking world, instruments are ablaze, whirling loudly. Scientists shouting into the loudspeaker system; Banging on the Plexiglas wall separating the test subjects and the observation lab.

INT. STARK HOSPITAL ROOM. CONT

To the bed ridden mans side is the Mentonaut, slumped in his seat like a marionette with its strings cut, vacant eyes open. His EKG is a slow rhythm like the bedridden mans was originally.

The Head scientist and grey suited man burst into the hospital room in time for the unconscious man to suddenly wake/ sits violently up in shock all over his face, cold sweat drenching his face. The bullet wound in his temple is bleeding slightly. As he sits up violently he breaths in sharply like it’s the breath of life.

 

FADE TO BLACK

The End