Early Draft Character Sheet

Second Draft Character Sheet

THE DOCKS/SHORTLY BEFORE DAWN/EXTERIOR/4 a.m.

Side street on the edge of dockland in a large city. No-one in sight. A hot dog van pulls up on the edge of the street. On the roof is a huge model of a hot dog, in the centre of which is an enormous sausage, which sticks out over the front and the back. The van is run by an immigrant man and his wife assisted by a very fat young girl, Zulema. They get ready to open up, pulling down a window for the stall and preparing the cooking equipment. Below them a cargo ship with a deck full of sailors approaches the empty quayside.

In a darkened doorway round the corner a boy is half hidden by the shadows. We can see up to his waist where an aerosol spray gun is very visible in a holster on his belt. He moves out of the doorway and we discover he is wearing a woollen mask. Stealthily he approaches the van, bursts in through the door surprising its occupants. He pulls out his knife and demands money, in a gruff voice. It is empty. The masked man swears, throwing the empty money box at the wall and in so doing giving the old man an opportunity to take him off balance. A struggle ensues in which the old man manages to grab the mask and pull it off, revealing the would-be thief is none other than his son Rael. 'My son he cries, 'how can you steal from your own father? Christ, what is this country doing to my family? You are stupid, crazy idiot! Embracing Rael he says 'One day we will return to the island. We can be happy once more'.

He points to a beloved picture of the tropical island which is hanging on a gold frame on the wall. Rael again menaces his father with the knife saying 'I'm sick of your bloody island'. He pulls out his spray gun and paints an ugly black X across his father's picture.

Rael leaps at the door of the van with his mother screaming at him and pointing to the assistant, Zulema, saying 'How can you leave your fianc e? She has been so faithful to you. You will marry this fine girl. She can give you a good home. She will look after you. Things will work out'. Zulema, who has been sobbing throughout the episode at this mention, clutches the crucifix in her generous bosom. 'With her you have a chance to make a good, decent citizen. You can settle down, earn a lot of money, and then when you re rich things will change. You can take money like the rich people do. You do it in the proper way and you take as much as you want.'.

This view of his future makes Rael so angry he moves back up to his mother and Zulema and sprays big black crosses over their dresses and over his mother's little poodle whose coat has a pink tint to match her own hair. With this attack, the old man finds a new burst of strength and starts screaming for help and for the police. Rael rushes out into the street.

DARK BACK STREET/EXT

Around the corner, a strong hand appears out of the blackness and grabs Rael inside. It is his brother John who is surrounded by three plain blondes. 'Come on my little brother, come and have a look at my three girls. Show them what a big man can do'. One of the girls invites Rael to come up and kiss her. He is embarrassed and is unable to move, and glares up at his brother. The girls sidle up to him, pinch him and carress him. Rael's discomfort turns to anger as his brother calls him chicken.

A tough heavily built docker has overheard the goings-on and walks up to one of the girls saying 'Come along with me beautiful, I can look after you'. He grabs her and John shouts at him to fuck off. A scuffle breaks out. John is knocked out down on the ground and calls to Rael to give him his knife. Rael tosses it on the ground, John grabs hold of it and stabs the docker.

At this point we hear footsteps. It is the police running down the street. John staggers up and gives Rael the knife telling him to hide it. There is not enough time. The policemen, Frank and his two henchmen shout at Rael to freeze. As they see the docker's wound he demands to know who was responsible. John is now very frightened. He says 'It was him' pointing at his brother. Frank moves over to grab Rael and sees the bloody knife. Rael springs back knocking Frank to the ground and running off as fast as he can.

NEW YORK CITY/DAWN/EXT/LOCATION

The camera is taken up by helicopter shooting down at the running figure of Rael. The shot opens up to reveal first the buildings of New York, and then the whole island of Manhatten.

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Side one, Track One. Illustration of song.

And the lamb lies down on Broadway.
Early morning Manhattan,
Ocean winds blow on the land.
The Movie-Palace is now undone,
The all-night watchmen have had their fun.
Sleeping cheaply on the midnight show,
It's the same old ending - time to go.
Get out!

It seems they cannot leave their dreams.
There's something moving in the sidewalk steam,
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.

Nighttime's flyers feel their pains,
Drugstore takes down the chains.
Metal motion comes in bursts,
But the gas station can quench that thirst.
Suspension cracked on unmade road
The trucker's eyes read 'Overload'
And out of the subway,
Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid
Exits into daylight, spraygun hid,
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.

The lamb seems right out of place,
Yet the Broadway street scene finds a focus in its face.
Somehow it's lying there,
Brings a stillness to the air.
Through man-made light, at night is very bright,
There's no whitewash victim,
As the neons dim, to the coat of white.
Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid
Wipes his gun - he's forgotten what he did,
And the Lamb Lies down on Broadway.

Suzanne tired her work all done,
thinks money - honey - be on - neon.
Cabman's velvet glove sounds the horn
And the sawdust king spits out his scorn,
Wonder women draw your blind!
Don't look at me! I'm not your kind.
I'm Rael!
Something inside me has just begun,
Lord knows what I have done,
And the lamb lies down on Broadway.
On Broadway -
They say the lights are always bright on Broadway,
They say there's always magic in the air.

NEW YORK CITY AT DAWN - EXTERIOR

A view of the city from the ocean, showing the main New York drains outlet.

THE DOCKS - AT DAWN - EXTERIOR

A dead fish can be seen in polluted waters.

TIMES SQUARE - AT DAWN - EXTERIOR

Some of the images:

The wind is blowing. The all night cinema is turning out only trams junkies at the end of the show. Chains are lifted from the windows of a drugstore.

The junkies long for the rush of metal in their veins. The traffic in the streets builds like spurts of metal in the veins of the city. We see the tired face of a truck driver moving his vehicle over the bumps and holes in the road. In the subway exit, RAEL, porto-rican boy, sprays bright changing colors in a long line on the wall. He climbs up the exit stairs into daylight. As dawn progresses, the power of the neon lights is dimmed by the oncoming day. And then streets are white washed with fog descending and steam ascending. In the center of the steam, pouring out of a vent, is a sleepy lamb.

RAEL has his aerosol spray-gun and concealed in his leather jacket. He looks around anxiously to check the coast is clear. As he walks along the street, the only person he meets is SUZANNE, the prostitute, who mocks him. There is a shout from the street as a weird long-haired cab driver smoking marijuana pulls down his window and throws up his fist and spits at her. She screams back at him and RAEL find the courage to return insults to her.

TIMES SQUARE/DAWN/EXT/LOCATION

The wind is blowing. The cinema employees kick out the tramps and junkies at the end of the all-night movie. Window guards are removed from the drugstore. Junkies long for the rush of metal in their veins. Trucks and cars in the street rush in spurts through the veins of the city.

Close-up of a tired face of a truck driver as he speeds over the bumps and potholes.

In a subway exit, Rael, is busy with his spray gun, covering the tiled wall with a long line of black xx. He climbs up the exit stairs into daylight.

As the dawn advances, the power of the neon lights is dimmed by the oncoming day. The streets are whitewashed, both by fog descending and steam rising. One cloud of steam coming out of a vent conceals a sleeping lamb.

Rael carries his aerosol spray gun hidden in his leather jacket. He looks around anxiously to check he is alone. As he walks along the street the only person he meets is Suzanne, the prostitute. She calls out to tease him. They both turn round as they hear a shout and see a weird long haired hash-smoking cab driver pulling down his window, throwing up his fist and spitting at her. She screams back at him but her self-confidence is shattered. With the shift of balance Rael too is encouraged to join the cabbie's tirade of insults.

WALL STREET/DAWN/EXT/LOCATION

The streets are empty. Nobody is at work yet. Lying on the pavement are the Wall Street drug addicts. They are conventional well-dressed middle class bureaucrats. They are sniffing all sorts of aerosol spray paints and their noses are multicoloured. Rael walks by them, painting patterns on the wall, taking pleasure in his destructive free self-expression.

Suddenly a police car draws to a halt with its brakes screaming. Six policemen jump out and confiscate the spray paints from the bureaucrats. They clean up their noses with kleenex and brush their suits, instructing them to begin work immediately. The bureaucrats adopt a very serious expression as they slowly and deliberately walk into the office building.

Some of the policemen run after Rael to arrest him. As Rael hurries towards Wall Street there is a song about the double-edged power of the spray. In his hands, it brings freedom, in the hands of the bureaucrats, enslavement.

FIFTH AVENUE/EARLY MORNING/EXT/LOCATION

Rael is moving fast down the street spraying black Xs all over the windows of the fancy stores of Fifth Avenue. He stops at an exotic pet shop noticing a window full of white doves. He is intrigued, but his attention is diverted as he catches sight of Frank the policeman in the reflection on the window. He hurls the spray gun at his image, breaking the window and shattering it. The doves fly out in a cloud. Rael dodges Frank and runs away down the street. The camera turns to the broken window to see an eagle fly out of the store.

DOWNTOWN BACK STREET/EARLY MORNING/EXT/LOCATION

Rael arrives in a dark street and finds a large store, displaying a thousand sprays in its window. It is run by young people for young people. Through the glass he can see what appears to be a spray paint training centre. He watches enviously as a group of boys and girls practice with spray guns under the instruction of a teacher. Pedestrians pass by him in the street with the top half of their bodies all tied up by rope. One man approaches Rael and asks if he could be kind enough to re-tie the knots which have become undone. Rael has no money to buy a spray but besides the stall he notices the bloodbank. Some poor people and drunks sit outside waiting to have their blood taken. Rael resolves to give himself some cash for the sprays. He goes in and is led to a strange grey-haired doctor (Dr G), who extracts the blood and offers him a quarter, explaining that immigrant blood is not worth too much. It is not enough for Rael to buy a spray. He leaves disappointed, dizzy and weak.

SMALL SQUARE/EXT/LOCATION

Rael arrives in a small square in the centre of which is one park bench where an old man is seated. Rael is faint. He sits beside the old man who seems to be alcoholic. He is mumbling incomprehensibly. The old man puts out his hand like a beggar. Rael gives him the quarter. Immediately the old man sobers up and asks Rael what his problem is. Rael explains about the police taking his spray. He feels he is impotent and frustrated without it.

The old man sticks out his hand like a beggar. And RAEL gives him the only money he has. Suddenly, the old man is not drunk at all and asks him why he is so sad. RAEL answers him: "Because the police took his spray and he has no way to express himself without it". - "Don't worry" said the old man "I have another spray for you". He puts his hand in his breast pocket and brings a golden spray. RAEL wants to take it very quickly. But the old man does not let him. "If you want it, you must be able to do what I do" Watch ! 'I tap my fingers on the ground so the worms think it is raining and come to the surface". He does it and a worm comes out. The old man grabs it immediately and eats it, like a bird would do. "Now, you do it". RAEL taps on the ground very inapt. "No, it is not this way" says the old man "You think too much, don't use your will. Put your fingers in the air, forget them no they drop like rain". RAEL tries and after few times, guided by the old man, succeeds. A blue worm appears. He takes it immediately but he is disgussed to eat it. The old man shows him the spray and RAEL wants it so much that he closes his eyes and swallows the worm. He starts to be a little dazzed with the worm. The lights change and grow unreal. The old man applauds, gives him back his money, and says "this spray is not as any other spray. Nobody can take it from you, except if you give it yourself". Euphoric, RAEL takes the spray and proceeds along the street spraying designs in gold which light up the darkness of the street. Meanwhile, the old man dissolves into a mysterious beautiful woman, LILITH.

The old man has another spray for him. He puts his hand in his jacket pocket and brings out a golden spray. Rael moves to take it but the old man snaps back demanding that if he really wants it, Rael must do exactly as he does. He instructs Rael to watch him and taps his fingers on the ground. Rael thinks he is crazy. But he explains that the worms will think his fingers are raindrops falling on the surface. They will come out. Sure enough, a fat worm slithers out. The old man grabs it and pops it straight into his mouth like a bird. He swallows then tells Rael to do the same. Rael bangs his clumsy fingers on the earth. The old man mumbles he will not fool any worms like that. He instructs him not to think so much, to stop using his willpower and allow his fingers to drop freely from a horizontal position. After a few more attempts under the guidance of the old man, Rael masters the technique. A big blue worm appears. Rael pulls it up immediately but is disgusted at the thought of eating it. The old man waves the spray in front of Rael and Rael finds the determination to put the worm in his mouth He closes his eyes and swallows it. He wants to throw up. His eyes are dazed and the light outside seems to change, as if it is lit by moonlight. The old man applauds, giving him back his money in one hand and holding the golden spray in the other. He says to Rael "This is no ordinary spray. Unless you give it of your own free will, no-one can take it from you". Rael relaxes and starts to enjoy the experience. He takes the spray from the old man and moves down the street spraying circles in gold which light up in the darkness. Back in the square we see the old man dissolve into a beautiful mysterious woman, Lilith.


TIMES SQUARE/MORNING/EXT/LOCATION

In an adjoining street, Rael goes to a poster promoting a good image to the local police. It is a photo of Frank with a big grin on his face. His arms are around two boys, both immigrants. Rael sprays his gold onto the pictures and chains appear around the neck and hands of the boys and Frank's face is transformed into that of a monster. Delighted at the change Rael does not notice Frank sneaking up behind him. Frank's nostrils are twitching. He has picked up the powerful, intoxicating scent of the spray. There is something special, something marvellous about this scent, and he is filled with a need to own it.

Frank's hand makes a grab for Rael's wrist, but as he clutches the spray with his other hand, he is knocked back as if by a powerful electric shock from the can. Rael rushes off with the spray in hand.

AMUSEMENT ARCADE/MORNING/EXT/LOCATION

Further down the street, Rael is attracted to the noise and lights of the arcade, and tossing his own coin into the air, he marches in.

AMUSEMENT ARCADE/INTERIOR/ADAPTED LOCATION

Inside there are lines of young people many with headphones, playing computer games of gunfights, hunts, car crashes, air crashes and all manner of human, animal and mechanical destruction. Each is alone in the world of the game. The building is alive with the sound of electrical screams and explosions. Rael looks over all the machines to make his choice. He goes for a gun duel with a policeman who bears a peculiar resemblance to Frank. He puts his money in and becomes totally absorbed in his attempt to outshoot his opponent.

At the front of the arcade, a middle-aged lady, tarted up like a teenager walks around the boys playing the machines. She is flaunting herself in an attempt to interest them. Moving to the centre of the room she screams in an attempt to get their attention. Her voice is not human. It is the cry of a seagull. The noise of the machine is too loud and all are unconcerned. She walks to the back of the room, close to Rael and begins a striptease. Still no attention. With all her clothes off she begins to fondle herself, finding a zip in between her legs which she pulls up through her stomach, through the breasts, neck, face, over the top and down her back. She uses her fingers to work her body into two halves which when separated drop to the floor. A fluorescent tube is left hovering in the air where she had stood. The tube is giving off a strange pulsating light and moves towards Rael caressing him as it floats through the air. He is annoyed. He picks up the spray can without thinking and throws it at the tube as if he were brushing a fly from his face. The tube shatters.

FRONT OF AMUSEMENT ARCADE/EXT/LOCATION

The can, spraying clouds of gold, falls out onto the road and into a drainhole which it disappears in. A strong wind blows down the street,

AMUSEMENT ARCADE/INT/ADAPTED LOCATION

Back inside, Rael finishes his game and then notices the arcade cleaner sucking up the shattered glass and flesh of the woman with the large pipe of an industrial hoover. Suddenly he realises he has lost the spray and rushes out into the street to look for it.

STREET/EXT/LOCATION AND MODEL FOR SPECIAL EFFECTS

The dark cloud has settled over Manhattan Island and begins to lower like a balloon into Times Square. It spreads out along 47th Street like a wall. The wind blows down from the north, drying the wet surface and picking up the dust from the ground, which collects and clings to Rael's face and body. He tries to brush it out of his eyes but it collects and grows thicker and thicker. The wall of cloud in 47th Street becomes solid, changing into a screen, a perfect two-dimensional image of the city behind it. It seems to Rael that everything is being sucked toward and onto the screen. He tries to run away, struggling through the oncoming wind, but each time he turns to look back the wall seems to have moved forward a block, like a game of granny's footsteps. He is caught by the screen like a fly on a windscreen and his flattened image is lifted up in the air, twisted and turned as if it was in water. His feet touch the ground again. He pulls away from the screen. A trail of the cloud follows him like glue. He pulls himself free, and runs as fast as he can, only to discover there is another wall ahead of him.

On this screen his body begins to lose matter until it is a black hole with a human profile. The silhouette is moved about the screen, which is full of unusual images of American heroes, (e.g. some of the beautiful Broadway stars of old shown as they now are). For more information see lyrics).

Once again, he escapes from the screen and turns left to find another wall, then right to find yet another. At this point there is an aerial shot showing four streets forming a cross, with RAEL standing at the center, from which he cannot escape. There is a sudden rain and Rael lies defeated on the grill in the centre from which steam is pouring.

A little boy of two years, coming out of the fog, plays with needles and pins, as if injecting himself.

Again he manages to escape from the screen and turns left to find another wall then right to discover yet another one. At this point there is an aerial shot showing the four streets as a cross with Rael standing at the centre trapped. There is a sudden heavy rainfall and Rael lies down defeated on the grille in the centre and out of which steam begins to pour.

A little two-year old boy coming out of the fog, plays with needles and pins, as if injecting himself.

Fly on a Windshield

There's something solid forming in the air,
The wall of death is lowered in Time Square.
No-one seems to care,
They carry on as if nothing was there.
The wind is blowing harder now,
Blowing dust in my eyes.
The dust settles on my skin,
Making a crust I cannot move in
And I'm hovering like a fly, waiting for the windshield
on the freeway.

Broadway Melody of 1974

Echoes of the Broadway Everglades,
With her mythical madonnas still walking in their shades:
Lenny Bruce, declares a truce and plays his other hand.
Marshall Mcluhan, casual viewin', head buried in the sand.
Sirens on the rooftops wailing, but there's no ship sailing.
Groucho, with his movies trailing, stands alone with his punchline failing.
Klu Klux Klan serve hot soul food and the band plays in the Mood'
The cheerleader waves her cyanide wand, there's a smell of
peach blossom and bitter almonde.
Caryl Chessman sniffs the air and leade the parade, he knows
in a scent, you can bottle all you made.
There's Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes, smiling at the
majorettes smoking Winston Cigarettes.
And as the song and dance begins, the children play at home
with needles; needles and pins.

JAIL/INT/SMALL SET

In the Cage
There's sunshine in my stomach
Like I just rocked my baby to sleep,
There's sunshine in my stomach
And I can't keep me from creeping sleep,
Sleep, deep in the deep.

Rockface moves to press my, skin
White liquids turn sour within
Turn fast - turn sour
Turn sweat - turn sour.
Must tell myself that I'm not here.
I'm drowning in a liquid fear.
Bottled in a strong compression,
My distortion shows obsession
In the cave.
Get me out of this cave!

If I keep self-control,
I'll be safe in my soul.
And the childhood belief
Bring's a moment's relief,
But my cynic soon returns
And the lifeboat burns.
My spirit just never learns.

Stalactites, stalagmites,
shut me in, lock me tight.
Lips are dry, throat is dry.
Feel like burning, stomach churning,
I'm dressed up in a white costume
Padding out leftover room.
Body stretching, feel the wretching
In the cage
Get me out of this cage!

In the glare of a light,
I see a strange kind of sight;
Of cages joined to form a star
Each person can't go very far;
All tied to their things
They are netted by their strings
Free to flutter in memories of their wasted wings.

Outside the cage I see my Brother John,
He turns his head so slowly round.
I cry out Help! before he can be gone,
And he looks at me without a sound,
And I shout out 'John please help me!'
But he does not even want to try to speak.
I'm helpless in my violent rage
And 'a silent tear of blood dribbles down his cheek,
And I watch him turn again and leave the cage.
My little runaway.

In a trap, feel a strap
Holding still. Pinned for kill.
Chances narrow that I'll make it,
In the cushioned straight-jacket,
Just like 22nd Street,
When they got me by my neck and feet.
Pressures building, can't take more.
My headaches charge. My earaches roar.
In the pain
Get me out of this pain

If I could change to liquid,
I could fill the cracks up in the rock,
But I know that I am solid
And I am my own back luck.
But outside John disappears and my cage dissolves,
and without any reason my body revolves.

Keep on turning
Keep on turning
Turning around
spinning around.

IN THE JAIL - INTERIOR

IN A CELL

He wakes up, lying down on a vent from which steam comes up. He is in a stone cell. A luminous blue liquid is dripping from the ceiling. It forms a stalagmite or a stalagtite around RAEL. From one stalagtite to the other, there is a spider weaving his web. We follow another spider coming down from the ceiling and discover RAEL's body, wrapped in a cocoon woven by the spiders.

MUSIC of CUCKOO COCOON and of IN THE CAGE.

RAEL feels secure in the foetal position. But his feeling of security turns sour because FRANK and two other policemen, one fat and one thin, storm into the cell, breaking the stalagtites and stalagmites, tearing off the cocoon and throwing a bucket of cold water on his face. FRANK grabs him by the hair and screams to him : "What did you do with the golden spray ? Where is it ?!". They frisk him. "Where did you hide it ? " RAEL answers : "I don t know ! I lost it" - "It is not true, confess !" - The three guys kick him and take him out of the well with brutality.

JAIL- GIGANTIC TORTURE CHAMBER - INTERIOR

The torture chamber is a large room with five levels. Each level is full of stoned human figures which open up to trap a prisoner inside their rigid frame. Rael is thrown inside the most uncomfortable box and locked inside. RAEL starts struggling, rocking the box and with other prisoners joining him as they hear the commotion. There is an area on the ground- level where the guards play with the prisoners. Some of the boxes are lined up like a bowling rink with guards trying to knock them over. Others are laid in awkward positions (see drawing) which the guards kick and beat as if there were no stone at all. In the darkest corner one of the guards is screwing a large hippopotamus. On the wall above is the symbol of justice : a blind hippo holding the scales of justice Another guard feeds his plants (clover) with the blood from an open wound on the arm of a prisoner - the prisoner's box in the shape of a watering can.

RAEL, in the darkness of his cell, beats the wall.

Rael wakes up in a cell, lying on a vent from which steam is rising. A luminous blue liquid is dripping from the stone ceiling. It forms stalactites and stalagmites around him. A spider is weaving a web from one stalactite to another. The camera follows as another spider comes down from the ceiling and we discover Rael's body wrapped in a cocoon woven by the spiders.

Possible instrumental music of songs 'Cuckoo Cocoon' and 'In the Cage'.

Rael feels secure in this foetal position. This sensation is lost as he hears footsteps approaching. It is Frank and ten other policemen. They storm into the cell, breaking the stalactites and stalagmites, tearing off the cocoon and throwing a bucket of cold water at his face. Frank grabs Rael by the hair and demands to know where he has hidden the golden spray. They frisk him but Rael is carrying nothing and he tells them that he has lost the spray. The men kick him and brutally drag him out of the cell.

JAIL/PASSAGE:CORRIDOR/TORTURE CHAMBER/ADAPTED LOCATION

Rael is led down a passage past cells where the guards are dishing out food. They perform this task with a soft rhythmic ballet as they beat up the prisoners. The doors are opened, the prisoners stand with open mouths like baby starlings and the guards slurp soup in their faces and toss down bedpans which are taken away seconds later. All movements are meticulously well-timed. At the end of this passage is a long wide corridor, at the end of which ten man-sized skittles are standing in line. Rael watches in horror as ten prisoners are led to the skittles, hands securely tied to them. In a flash Rael recognises the face of his brother John. However much he shouts at him, John seems unable to respond. As Rael is taken out of the corridor he hears the laughter of the guards directing the ramp for the huge concrete ball. It is released and crushes into the human skittles. We hear the screams and Rael is most frightened and angry.

The central chamber is a real jail with three floors, stairs and balconies with metal banisters. The doors of some of the cells are open and inside we see plaster figures in plaster rocking chairs looking at plaster TV sets. The plaster figures are in fact cleverly designed torture boxes which open out to trap prisoners inside their rigid frame. Many cells contain plaster figures in a variety of positions, some standing, some sitting, all with movements restricted. In a dark corner on the first floor one of the guards is screwing a large hippopotamus. In the centre of the wall above him is the symbol of justice; a blind hippo holding the scales of justice. On the second floor a prisoner is standing with his cast broken off just below the shoulder and a guard is feeding his plants with the blood coming from the wounded arm.

Rael is led to the end cell where one of the rocking chair figure casts is opened up and he is thrown inside. The guard calls a group of men from the outside who begin to paint the plaster figure and the television in the hyper-realistic fashion to look like a real prisoner watching a live television programme.

Footsteps and polite conversation can be heard approaching. It is the governor with a party of journalists. He is telling them all about his open and progressive prison, pointing out the open cells and leading them into Rael's room. The chair has by this time been set in motion and the press see the prisoner with a contented expression blankly staring into the television. The cameraman take pictures. The governor beckons them to come over the window and look at the sporting activities in the yard. Outside various prisoners trapped in athletic looking positions struggle to move their limbs inside the plaster boxes. They are pathetically making toward a ball. The governor then takes his party away.

Rael screams in the darkness of his plaster boxes and beats his arms and legs against the side of it with what little movement he can muster. He succeeds in a rocking movement This can be heard by some of the other prisoners and they join in. Soon the entire place is in a frenzy and a large group of guards is called out to beat up the plaster figures.

There is a sudden crash. A hole bursts open in the prison wall and a flock of doves flies through. They go everywhere, terrifying the guards who have an obsessive fear of the free flying birds. The doves fly out of the hole almost as suddenly as they had arrived. The guards come out once again and return to the cells to finish beating the prisoners, with renewed vigour.

There is a second crash. The doves enter and leave once again causing the guards to run and hide. The prisoners sense what is happening and rock their boxes wildly.

A child's hand appears through the space at the bottom of the wall. It is holding a toy space-warrior which it sets off marching across the floor. The guards are actually frightened. Eventually Frank finds the courage to come out, he stamps on, and kicks it across the floor. We see the child's hand once again through the hole reaching for the toy which it cannot find, withdrawing slowly.

Frank and two policemen go over to Rael's plaster box which he is still rocking hard and open the door pulling him out. They ask him again where he put the spray. When he repeats it was lost they throw him into the interrogation room. It is a metal room whose walls are pitted with sharp nails.

There are two metal chairs and his brother John is sitting in one of them. John begs Rael to tell them where the spray is otherwise he certainly will be killed. After some persuasion Rael reluctantly tells John where he had lost the spray. At this point Frank and four guests burst in and Rael realises they have been watching. John's plea for help has been a set-up. Rael curses his brother and accuses him of being a cheap double dealer, getting a kickback supply of spray paints from the police. Frank gets angry with the two of them, kicks them both and instructs the guards to take them up to the two worst concrete boxes, nicknamed the 'comfy coffins'. They are led to the uppermost stone boxes on the third floor. They are shut up inside and the guards hammer them with their truncheons as if they were made of flesh.

The other prisoners are excited by this row and there another crescendo of screams and noise roars through the prison. As this reaches a climax we hear thunder. A rain of acid burns its way through the roof and down into the cells, where it slowly corrodes the stone figures, giving them the appearance of lepers. The prisoners react wildly, knocking some of their plaster figures over.

As the rain subsides, Frank and the other guards come out of their hiding places, with a cement mixer and hose. They pour the cement over the more aggressive prisoners making even the slightest movement impossible. They start on the lowest level and as they advance through the prison, they bring a silence cell by cell. On the top level in the torture cell Rael is able to set his box spinning. He succeeds in knocking both John's box and his own, slowly down the gradient toward the open cell door. They look like overweight, oversized toys, as they topple through the metal bannister and crash down on the ground floor.

The 'comfy coffins' break open like eggshells and Rael and John run out.

For a third time the doves burst in and out of a new hole. Rael points at it and screams at his brother to follow him out through it. Frank is also shouting at John, from a position of safety, about what he will do to him if he tries to escape. John remains where he is. Rael runs out alone and picks up the broken space-warrior toy as he leaves.

EMPTY STREET/EXT/ADAPTED LOCATION

Outside the prison wall the street is empty except for a sad ragged bald child (later to be 'Golden Boy'), around whom all the doves are perched. Rael offers him the remains of the soldier. The child looks up at him, staring deep into his eyes and in return he gives Rael the golden spray. Rael is amazed but before he can ask the child about the spray they are interrupted by the sound of a band playing a funeral march. As they come round the corner we see the band is composed of futuristic space-men, followed by a weird and wonderful space vehicle, carrying the coffin of the space warrior. It is driven by an armless veteran who holds the wheel with his feet.

Behind him are the mother and father, also dressed in futuristic costume, each carrying a frame with half of the photo of the face of the young warrior. They are wearing all of his medals, and they smile proudly. The child is delighted and rushes up to one of the space soldiers in the band and tugs at his leg, tripping him up. The soldier falls unconscious and the child pulls him back to his corner. He puts his hand into the stomach of the soldier and pulls out a new toy soldier in identical uniform. Around the corner, Rael walks forward, happy to be making designs with his golden spray again. He catches sight of Frank and another group of policemen searching for him and rushes into the nearest door.

MODERN RECEPTION/FACTORY/INT/ADAPTED LOCATION

The door leads him into a reception for a factory of some sort. Rael hides as he watches the salesgirl explaining to an important industrialist that her organisation has a wide range of consumers for him to choose from. The consumers are unknowingly being offered for sale to the manufacturer.

The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging

"The last great adventure left to mankind"
-Screams a drooping lady
offering her dreamdolls at less than extortianate prices,
and as the notes and coins are taken out
I'm taken in, to the factory floor.

for the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
-All ready to use
the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
-just needs a fuse.

Got people stocked in every shade,
Must be doing well with trade.
Stamped, addressed, in odd fatality,
That evens out their personality,
With profit potential marked by a sign,
I can recognise some of the production line,
No bite at all in labour bondage,
Just wrinkled wrappers or human bandage.

The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
-All ready to use
It's the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
-Just need a fuse.

The hall runs like clockwork
Their hands mark out the time,
Empty in their fullness
Like a frozen pantomime.
Everyone's a sales representative
Wearing slogans in their shrine.
Dishing out failsafe superlative,
Brother John is No 9.

For the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
-All ready to use
It's the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
-just need a fuse.

The decor on the ceiling
has planned out their future day
I see no sign of free will,
so I guess I'll have to pay,
pay my way,
for the Grand Parade.
for the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging

THE GRAND PARADE OF LIFELESS PACKAGING/INT/ADAPTED LOCATION
(Warehouse/factory)

The salesgirl explains to her customer that the packaging is vitally important and Rael realises that she is talking about the superficial appearances of the consumers, not the goods. He sneaks past the receptionist into an aisle full of special exhibits, in which Mr and Mrs Average, of each income bracket, and colour are lined up with all the goods they will buy from birth to death. Beyond that, is the manufacturing area, where he sees hundreds of dummies stored according to race and earnings. In the head of each dummy, is a microprocessor pin. When the assistant pulls out the pin and places it in the computer in the centre of the room, the computer gives a read-out of all the details of the dummies past and future life and its consumption record. Rael stands motionless in amazement and two workers take him for a dummy, carrying him back to the cheap immigrant section.

(An animated dance begins here with the dummies exaggerated jerky movements choreographed and juxtaposed with Rael's very small fluid movements).

Rael is beginning to look a little like some of the dummies. He recognises some familiar faces, those of his gang back in New York, his mother and father and his first girlfriend, Zulema, and his mind wanders back to his childhood (flashback before dance with dummies begins fully).

FLASHBACK ONE/DISTORTED IMAGE/LOCATION/EXT

Seeing some of his gang as dummies brings back memories of fighting days in the city - how he would act tough with the gang, taking his gas bottle everywhere, leaving a trail of fires behind him. He remembers the relationships inside the reformatory, the chainfights and the trainrides, in bikes and in cars. Another strange image comes to mind that of his heart being taken out of his chest. The long hair which growing all over is shaved off. Illustration of lyric:

Back In N.Y.C.

I see faces and traces of home back in New York City -
So you think I'm a tough kid? Is that what you heard?
Well I like to see some action and it gets into my blood.
They call me the trail blazer - Rael- electric razor
I'm the pitcher in the chain gang, we don't believe in pain
'cos we're only as strong, as the weakest link the chain.
Let me out of Pontiac when I was just seventeen,
I had to get it out of me, if you know what I mean, what I mean.

You say I must be crazy, 'cos I don't care who I hit, who I hit.
But I know it's me that's hitting out and I'm not full of shit.
I don't care who I hurt, I don't care who I do wrong.
This is your mess I'm stuck in, I really don't belong,
When I take out my bottle, filled up high with gasoline,
You can tell by the night fires where Rael has - been, has been.

As I cuddled the porcupine
He said I had none to blame but me,
Held my heart, deep in hair,
Time to shave, shave it off, it off.
No time for romantic escape,
When your fluffy heart is ready for rape. No!
Off we go.

Your sitting in your comfort you don't believe I'm real,
You cannot buy protection from the way that I feel.
Your progressive hypocrites hand out their trash,
But it was mine in the first place, so I'll burn it to ash,
And I've tasted all the strongest meats;
And laid them down in coloured sheets.
Who needs illusion of love and affection
When you're out walking in the streets with your mainline
connection? connection.

As I cuddled the porcupine
He said I had none to blame, but me
Held my heart, deep in hair.
Time to shave, shave it off, it off.
No time for romantic escape,
When your fluffy heart is ready for rape. No!

FLASHBACK TWO/

Noticing the dummy of Zulema, he remembers his first sexual experience. He has studied for weeks from a guidebook which describes in detail the correct procedure from an ideal sexual encounter. All these are timed to the last second. He followed the book religiously and bewildered Zulema with his counting out aloud.

ILLUSTRATION OF LYRIC/INT/ADAPTED LOCATION/SITTING ROOM

Counting Out Time

I'm counting out time,
Got the whole thing down by numbers.
All those numbers!
Give me guidance!
O Lord I need that now.

The day of judgement's come,
And you can bet that I've been resting,
for this testing,
Digesting every word the experts say.
Erogenous zones I love you.
Without you, what would a poor boy do?

Found a girl I wanted to date,
Thought I'd better get it straight
Went to buy a book before's too late.
Don't leave nothing to fate.
And I have studied every line, every page in the book,
And now I've got the real thing here, I'm gonna take alook,
take a look.

This is it Rael!

I'm counting out time, hoping it goes like I planned it,
'cos I understand it. Look! I've found the hotspots, Figs 1-9,
-still counting out time, got my finger on the button,
"Don't say nuttin - just lie there still
And I'll get you turned on just fine."
Erogenous zones, I love you.
Without you, what would a poor boy do?

Touch and go with 1-6
Bit of trouble in zone No 7.
Gotta remember all my tricks.
There's heaven ahead in No 11!
Getting crucial responses with dilation of the pupils,
"Honey get hip! It's time to unzip, to unzip. Whippee!"
-Move over Casanova-

I'm counting out time, reaction none too happy,
Please don't slap me,
I'm a red blooded male and the book said I could not fail
I'm counting out time, I got unexpected distress from my mistress,

I'll get my money back from the bookstore right away.
Erogenous zones I question you-
Without you, what would a poor boy do?
Without you, mankind handkinds thru' the blues.

THE FACTORY/INT/ADAPTED LOCATION

Movement on the factory floor brings Rael's attention right back. The dummies start a bizarre dance. It is the dance of the consumer, mindlessly they buy, buy, buy. Rael feels he is getting sucked into it and notices his movements are stiffening (sometimes we see the live actor, sometimes we see the dummy of Rael). Rael grabs his mother, father, Zulema, and John and tries to drag them out of the hall. As he is pulling them away, he feels John's hands preventing him moving. They are around his neck. Frank enters at the back of the factory, and John screams that he has caught Rael. Frank clamps handcuffs onto Rael's arms, and lets John go, after John reminds him of their deal. Once again Frank demands to know where the spray is. Without saying a word, Rael pulls it out of his trousers and shows it to Frank. Frank is cautious about taking it remembering the electric shock, so he asks his henchmen to take it. A strong shock knocks them back. Rael struggles with Frank, but the other dummies help Frank restrain him, attacking him like the furies. Rael feels he will be pulled into a thousand pieces.

At the back of the room is a huge fridge door which opens suddenly. Inside there is a back panel which has been lifted up revealing a dark corridor in which we can see a child's hand beckoning. Rael knows it is waving to him and struggles with the dummies of his father, mother and Zulema into the fridge, which is full of hanging animal carcasses. They get out of the back which closes immediately behind them. Frank and the dummies try to follow, but the carcasses in the fridge burst into flames and a tongue of fire shoots ,out, of the front, as if it was the mouth of a dragon. The others are unable to approach.

CORRIDOR/INT/LOCATION

Images in part illustrating the song "The Carpet Crawlers" - Rael follows the three dummies down the passage and notices the floor becoming soft underfoot: It is a lambswool carpet. It leads them around a corner into a long dark corridor full of hundreds of semi-conscious bodies, crawling toward a distant staircase. It is a bizarre procession.

Many of the crawlers have hats like miners' helmets with lights in the centre. They all wear dark glasses with only one lens. Each is holding a pole with a board on which is a large illuminated plastic eye. The ceiling is covered with birds who are stuck to a substance like fly paper. The birds are in agony. At the end of the corridor a huge bell is swinging from side to side calling the carpet crawlers on. A group of them carry a whale in a boat, in the mouth of which a man is praying in ecstasy. Behind them an albino child in mourning clothes carries a silver tray with two black wings on it. Behind the child is a chariot pulled by crawlers with ropes. On it a woman is giving birth to a baby. It comes out of the womb with the one-sided dark glasses already on. Zigzagging across the corridor at the back of the child is a young lady playing a brilliant white cello which has ice skates attached to it, as supporting legs. She is followed by a matador with the skinned head of a cow under his arm with a red apple pushed into its mouth. Illustration of lyrics:

The Carpet Crawlers

There is lambswool under my naked feet,
The wool is soft and warm,
gives off some kind of heat.
A salamander scurries into flame to be destroyed.
Imaginary creatures are trapped in birth on celluloid.
The fleas cling to the golden fleece,
Hoping they'll find peace,
Each thought and gesture are caught in celluloid.
There's no hiding in my memory.
There's no room to a void.

A weak and ill photographer carrying a huge polaroid camera is helped by two men, one dressed as a rat and the other as a dog. The photographer takes a photo. A white swan is born through a crack in the wall on the opposite side of the corridor, the photographer captures it on film. The giant polaroid slides out of the camera, flies straight across the corridor and flattens the swan against the red ochre wall, leaving dark red bloodstains. The photo is all that is left of the swan and it slowly develops (like polaroid SX70 film). The albino child runs up and demands to have his picture taken. Rael who has been watching the proceedings tries to persuade him to stop. The child bites Rael's hand and shouts at the photographer "Take me"! The photographer presses the button. The child is flattened and the photo is all that is left of him. The photographer disappears under a huge crowd of people crying "Take me! Take me!"

Rael struggles with the dummies to get them through the crowd and slaps their faces in an effort to bring them to life. He shouts out that it is essential they get back home. The father in his dazed state agrees at once that they should go back home, home for him being his island. Rael argues that they come from another place far beyond that which they now have to find.

Rael tries to draw his father and mother and Zulema forward but every few paces they lose their humanity and return to the unconscious dummy state becoming heavier and heavier. Each time, their bodies stiffen, the carpet crawlers try to pull them down on their knees. As dummies, they are still vertical and the other crawlers are outraged at the sacrileges of standing. They become so angered they make a barrier to prevent them going ahead. In despair Rael tries to knock some more life into them, to persuade them to kneel. He fails. The crowd comes closer surround them, pulling down hard on their arms. At last Rael has an idea to spray a path of gold on the carpet. As he fires his spray gun the crawlers back away in awe and he is able to follow the line of the spray. He drags the dummies halfway down the corridor until they reach a bed of burning coals.

The Carpet Crawlers Verse 2

The crawlers cover the floor in the red ochre corridor.
For my second sight of people, they've more lifeblood than before.
They're moving. They're moving in time to a heavy wooden door,
Where the needles eye is winking, closing on the poor,
The carpet crawlers heed their callers:
"We've got to get in to get out
We've got to get in to get out".

The red hot coals are there to test the strength of the crawlers faith. Beyond that is a series of trap doors which divides the crawlers according to their sex. For the men in the middle of the floor the trapdoors open to reveal a mattress with a naked woman. Those that jump in are shut in, the doors closing immediately. For the women, who have not eaten for days, many cakes and pastries shoot out of the wall to tempt them, those that take them sink through the floor as if in quicksand. One man is preparing to go through the temptations and holds a few pill bottles full of miniature gold sacred objects (little crosses, buddhas, jewish candelabras, moslem hands, etc). He takes the bottles to a food mixer, empties the sacred objects in the liquidiser, with holy water and drinks the resulting golden liquid. He gets drunk and puts on a false beard and halo and begins to make benedictions. Metal claws are lowered from the ceiling snapping onto his ankle and hoisting him up to the top.

Rael braces himself and struggles still kneeling, to pull the dummies across the coals. At the hottest point he hears cries coming from behind and sees the feet of the dummies' beginning to burn. The extreme pain injects life back into them and they are enabled to run off the coals alive. They join the other crawlers on their knees. A spiral staircase is just visible in the distance.

The Carpet Crawlers Verse 3

There's only one direction in the faces that I see;
It's upward to the ceiling, where the chambers said to be.
Like the forest fight for sunlight, that takes root in every tree.
They are pulled up by the magnet, believing they're free.
The carpet crawlers heed their callers:
"We've got to get in to get out
We've got to get in to get out".

The family pass a group of crawlers making penance by slapping their backs with ugly deep sea fish and come to a new set of obstacles in the corridor. Beams of wood are shooting out from one side of the wall to another which the crawlers immediately begin to saw away. They pass through these and see the large white carthorse standing near the spiral stairs with a beehive on its back. There is a little garden growing out of his haunches, and his long coat has turned to grass.

The Carpet Crawlers Verse 4

There's only one direction in the faces that I see;
It's upward to the ceiling, where the chambers said to be.
Like the forest fight for sunlight, that takes root in every tree,
They are pulled up by the magnet, believing they're free.
The carpet crawlers heed their callers:
"We've got to get in to get out
We've got to get in to get out".

The staircase is more clearly in view. There are several columns either side. In each stand five dwarf virgins. On one side the five have cups of fire on the other side upturned cups with wine flowing out (Compare Notre Dame cathedral).

There are two tables on either side of the stairs. On one side there is a harvest feast laid out. The table is full of rats dressed in dinner jackets and bow ties with lady rats in long dresses. In the centre of that table, there is a cock and a hen dressed as bride and groom. On the other side is a table which looks like a long hot cooking grill. All the crawlers have been carrying an egg and at this grill they crack the eggs open, to fry them. There are thousands of fried eggs. We see one man crack his egg only to find a little chicken inside. He is ashamed, and smashes his hands together, throwing away the chicken and pulling out another egg.

The Carpet Crawlers

The porcelain mannikin with shattered skin fears attack.
The eager pack lift up their pitchers - they carry all they lack.
The liquid has congealed, which has seeped out through the crack
and the tickler takes his stickleback,
The carpet crawlers heed their callers:
"We've got to get in to get out
We've got to get in to get out".

The crowd is packed in front of the staircase and Rael is not hopeful about getting through the people. In front of them is porcelain mannekin with two heads - half an old man reclining, and half a young man struggling to get away. Both parts try and hold Rael back. In front are a group of women carrying pitchers on their heads but each pitcher has a crack from which vital liquid is escaping and it is drying up like blood. Other women are carrying baskets of wheat to the tables. They are all determined to keep their place in the queue and not to let Rael and his family pass.

In desparation Rael places the three dummies one on top of each other but even then when he climbs on top he cannot reach the ceiling. Suddenly, a child appears behind them floating down the corridor. He is wearing the golden costume of a pope. A duck on a silver tricycle circles around him like a satellite. The child stops in mid-air opens his mouth and speaks. It is not a human voice it is the roar of a lion. This is Golden Boy, the same child that was playing with the toy soldier. He floats to Rael's hand and pulls all four of them upwards in a line through the hole in the ceiling. The duck circles their ascent on his tricycle but cannot follow through the hole and falls into the fried eggs.

CIRCLE OF HOUSES/EXT/LOCATION OR SET

The Chamber of 32 Doors.

At the top of the stairs, there's hundreds of people,
running around to all the doors,
They try to find themselves and audience,
their deductions need applause.

The rich man stands in front of me,
The poor man behind my back.
They believe they can control the game,
but the juggler holds another pack.

I need someone to believe in, someone to trust
I need someone to believe in, someone to trust

I'd rather trust a countryman than a townman
You can judge by his eyes, take a look if you can,
He'll smile through his guard,
Survival trains hard.
I'd rather trust a man who works with his hands,
He looks at you once, you know he understands,
Don't need any shield,
When you're out in the field.

But down here,
I'm so alone with my fear.
With everything that I hear.
And every single door, that I've walked through,
Brings me back here again,
I've got to find my own way.

The priest and the magician,
Singing all the chants that they have' every heard;
they're all calling out my name
Even academics, searching printed work.

My father to the left of me,
My mother to the right,
Like everyone else they're pointing
But nowhere feels quite right.

And I need someone to believe in, someone to trust,
I need someone to believe in, someone to trust.

I'd rather trust a man who doesn't shout what he's found,
There's no need to sell if you're homeward bound.
If I choose a side,
He won't take me for a ride.

Back inside
This chamber of so many dooors;
I've nowhere to hide,
I'd give you all of my dreams, if you'd help me,
Find a door
That doesn't lead me back again
-take me away.

They find themselves in a ring of houses with no apparent exit. The cobbled surface of the road has a labyrinth marked out in white stones. In the centre is a grille with steam coming out and the child asks Rael to follow him there. In each house is a different person, each of whom has their own idea of the way out. They all call Rael to come and follow them. When they see Rael's attention caught by the child beckoning at him once again, they laugh at Rael saying "Look at that idiot, he allows himself to be led by the little fool".

His mother, father, and girlfriend, now more awake, are unanimous for the first time in encouraging Rael to push away the child. He does as they bid and the papal costume of the child disintegrates into grey rags. The child walks on sadly and lies down on the grille in the centre (like the lamb).

Each one, the mother, the father and Zulema are magnetised toward a different direction in the circle of houses - the father to a house where he can see men playing pool, the mother to a house with a beauty parlour, and the girl to a church. They all shout at Rael to follow them.

Rael rejects his family's solutions and tries several doors on his own, looking for a way out. Each reveals a room with an exit sign above the back door but as Rael opens these he finds they are all bricked up. He walks back to the centre of the ring and notices there is one front door that is closed. There is no light in the room. Attracted by its unusualness he decides to try it.

Lilywhite Lilith

The chamber was in confusion - all the voices shouting loud.
I could only just hear, a voice quite near say, "Please help
me through the crowd"
'Said if I helped her thru' she could help me too, but I
could see that she was wholly blind.
But from her pale face and her pale skin, a moonlight shined.

Lilywhite Lilith,
She gonna take you thru' the tunnel of night
Lilywhite Lilith,
She gonna lead you right.

When I'd led her through the people, the angry noise began to grow.
She said "Let me feel the way the breezes blow, and I'll show
you where to go".
So I followed her into a big round cave, she said "They' re
coming for you, now don't be afraid".
Then she sat me down on a cold stone throne, carved in jade.

Lilywhite Lilith,
She gonna take you thru' the tunnel of night.
Lilywhite Lilith,
She gonna lead you right.

She leaves me in my darkness,
I have to face my fear,
And the darkness closes in on me,
I can hear a whirring sound growing near.
I can see the corner of the tunnel,
Lit up by whatever's coming here.
Two golden globes float into the room
And a blaze of white light fills the 'air.

LILITH'S ROOM AND LABYRINTH/INT/SET AND LOCATION

Inside the house is an empty room in the middle of which stands a very old, pale blind woman. She is crying. She is like a creature of the caves who has never seen daylight. Rael suddenly realises she is the same woman as in the amusement arcade. She holds a broken fluorescent tube in her hands. He feels a rush of compassion and takes her in his arms. Then he collects the pieces of the tube and using the golden spray as a glue puts them back together again. Light once more returns to the tube. Rael puts it in the hands of the woman. So doing, the blind lady turns into a beautiful dark haired woman, Lilith. The tube disappears but Lilith has the fluorescent light emanating from the palms of her hands. She says to Rael "You've got to get in to get out". (from the song "The Carpet Crawlers"). They go out of the front door making for the centre of the circle of houses. As they step outside the patterned stones of the labyrinth grow into a wall. Lilith guides Rael with the light streaming out from her hands. They meet the powerful wind of the labyrinth which hurls different objects at them. A song at this point has lyrics saying that the travellers cannot lose their way if they continue moving. Perseverance brings rewards.

Eventually, they reach the centre. Rael sees a jade throne with two sphynxs, one on each arm, one red the other blue. Lilith leaves Rael with the words "they will come for you. Don't be afraid!" Lilith steps back and suddenly a circular wall drops around Rael. Enclosed again, he looks upward for a possible way out and sees an enormous chimney stretching forever. His attention is taken away by the sound of a telephone ringing. At first Rael cannot see a telephone anywhere. It drives him crazy. He decides to look underneath the throne, finds a red telephone, picks it up and smashes it onto the ground. It shatters as if made of glass and a strange green blood flows from the debris. The silence does not last for long. There is a mechanical whirring sound. Rael sees a light growing bright at the end of the chimney above him. Two cats, one black, one white, fall with the light down toward him. Both the animals spin around turning into two spheres and Rael is frightened. The light and the sound become unbearably strong, he panics, breaks off a piece of the throne and hurls it towards the centre of one of the spheres. There is an explosion and the wall collapse around him.

When Rael wakes he sees the bodies of his father, mother, and Zulema struggling in the rubble. They are in agony as are some of the other survivors. Out of the distance, comes the figure of death, a juggling joker (cf. English playing cards).

SUPERNATURAL ANAESTHETIST

Here comes the supernatural anaesthetist
If he wants you to snuff it
All he has to do is puff it
-he's such a fine dancer.

Rael hears Death's laugh. He looks round and sees the strange figure. He carries a heavy can with a pipe and spray attached, like a fruit pesticide spray. Attached to it is a black butterfly net. He begins his work, releasing a puff of laughing gas into the face of each struggling body. This has the effect of releasing a smile from each corpse before they drop. Death then opens hidden compartments in their heads. Rael sees him approach his mother, father and Zulema and pull out electric blue butterflies from the head of each which he collects in his black velvet box. Death comes for Rael terrifying him. He tries to cover his head and mouth but cannot keep back a scream. Death releases the spray in his face. Rael experiences a grand moment of joy and enlightenment and dies. Death opens his head and a red butterfly darts out and escapes. The joker, Death, runs after the butterfly to catch it with his net, but the butterfly disappears in the sky. Death hears a distant explosion, shrugs his shoulders, and walks off, after other butterflies. When he disappears the red butterfly comes down and returns to Rael. Rael wakes up and closes the compartment.

As Rael staggers to his feet, his ears are filled with an aphrodisiac music coming from a huge open door which has opened up in the wall. Rael moves towards it, attracted by the soft pink glow and enters into another world.


CLASSSICAL GARDEN/INT/LARGE SET

Special effects

The Lamia

The scent grows richer, he knows he must be near,
He finds a long passageway lit by chandelier.
Each step he takes, the perfumes change
From familiar fragrance to flavours strange.
A magnificent chamber meets his eye.

Inside, a long rose-water pool is shrouded by fine mist,
Stepping in the moist silence, with a warm breeze he's
gently kissed.

Thinking he is quite alone
He enters the room, as if it were his own
But ripples on the sweet pink water
Reveal some company unthought of -
Rael stands astonished doubting his sight,
Struck by beauty, gripped in fright;
Three Vermillion snakes of female face
The smallest motion, filled with grace.
Muted melodies fill the echoing hall,
But there is no sign of warning in the siren's call:
"Rael welcome, we are the Lamia of the pool.
We have been waiting for our waters to bring you cool".

Putting fear beside him, he trusts in beauty blind
He slips into the nectar, leaving his shredded clothes behind.
"With their tongues, they test, taste and judge all that is mine.
They move in a series of caresses
That glide up and down my spine.

As they nibble the fruit of my flesh, I feel no pain,
Only a magic that a name would stain.
With the first drop of blood in their veins
Their faces are convulsed in mortal pains.
The fairest cries, 'We all have loved you, Rael".

Each empty snakelike body floats,
Silent sorrow in empty boats,
A sickly sourness -fills the room,
The bitter harvest of a dying bloom,
Looking for motion I know I will not find,
I stroke the curls now turning pale, in which I'd lain entwined,
"O Lamia, your flesh that remains I will take as my food"
It is the scent of garlic that lingers on my chocolate fingers.

Looking behind me, the water turns icy blue,
The lights are dimmed and once again the stage is set for you

Rael finds himself in a classical garden in Roman style in which everything is pink. Tall columns surround a square and around these honeysuckle and roses have been trained. At the centre, is a pool with pink water over which is blowing a warm wet breeze. In the centre of the pool is a large shell similar to that from which Aphrodite was born. Thinking he is alone Rael enters the water. He picks one of the pink lilies and three beautiful creatures swim out toward him. They have the beautiful faces of girls with deep green eyes and snake-like vermillion bodies. They are the lamia.

They invite Rael to drink some of their water as this will make him strong again. He drinks it but his body begins to sweat a strange blue luminous liquid which they lick from his skin. (It looks like the blue liquid in the jail scene). They carress him with their sensual bodies and Rael surrenders to them. The lamia curl their torsoes around him giving him ecstatic pleasure. With their tails, they form a cradle in which they rock him gently like a baby. The more the lamia lick the blue essence coming from his body the more his body dries up._ It is like a piece of food having juice squeezed from it. Rael's skin flakes as if taken by leprosy - the lamia have sucked his vital essence dry. (The blue liquid drips in flames making the sound of burning plastic dropping into water). Rael is totally immersed in his experience and is oblivious to his gradual metamorphosis into an old leper. The lamia, having finished with him, take him to the shell, lie him down in it and turn it upside down plunging him into darkness.

SLIDE TO THE CAVERN/INT/SMALL SET

Rael falls on a slippery enclosed slide which spirals down into a narrow corridor covered with green slime. The slime sticks to him and at each attempt to stand up he slips back down into it.

Two leprous hands lift him up. It is his brother John. While he tries to lead him to the end of the corridor John tells Rael that he has been waiting for him. He too has been a victim of the lamia, as are innumerable others. They arrive at a flat black wall.

"Do you have a dollar?" John asks Rael. "What the hell do you need money for down here?" Rael replies. "You need money everywhere" John says. "Look". So saying he pulls out the dollar bill and sticks it to the center of the black wall. He instructs Rael to study the eye on the top of the pyramid on the back of the dollar. Rael agrees and the dollar grows and grows in size before his very eyes, until it is a huge circular cavern with a real pyramid at the centre.

HUGE CAVERN/INT/ADAPTED LOCATION OR SET

The cavern is populated by a colony of lepers, all of whom have been lured there by the lamia. The chamber is identical to the design of the back of the US dollar, except everything is covered with the green slime. Rael, the eternal optimist asks John if there is any way out. John replies the only chance is to visit Dr G who is the only one able to perform the necessary deed: the cutting off and surrendering of the middle finger. Legend has it that this provides instant cure from the disease. Rael cannot understand why if that is all that has to be surrendered all the lepers are still there.

John explains that in the colony the middle finger is very important for all serious contracts and money transactions have to be signed with the middle finger. John points to some lepers signing documents with their fingers. Rael still fails to understand and insists John take him at once to Dr G. At the back of the cavern is Dr G's surgery and Rael is surprised to see a distinguished looking old man in a masonic apron dressed in an 1850 costume. There is an eagle watching from above dressed in a T shirt decorated with stars and stripes.

Dr G indicates for Rael to put his hand on a gold bar with his middle finger sticking out straight. Dr G pulls out his scalpel and cuts it off cleanly. He reaches under his desk for a clean hygenic yellow plastic tube in which he places the finger and instructs Rael to wear it around his neck. As soon as the tube is placed over his head Rael's leprosy disappears. Rael cries to John to do the same. "There's nothing to it" he says.

But John is terrified. The finger is too precious to him. However, with his new strength, Rael forces John's hand down on the gold bar and insists that Dr G cut it off, Dr G does as asked without batting an eyelid and places the finger in the new tube. The miraculous cure is seen once again. John thanks his brother. They return to the pyramid and are able to open the heavy door at its base using the yellow tubes as keys in the circular keyhole. The top of the pyramid has been detached and is inside the base somewhat like a space capsule. There is just enough room for the two of them to get in it and they fight off the other lepers pushing their way through. The capsule then ascends all the way to its rightful place on the top of the pyramid. The whole pyramid glows and the lepers fall on their knees as if witnessing the corning of their saviour. Rael and John; who have not been able to see outside, feel the capsule come to a halt, and open the door.

SCENIC LANDSCAPE/EXT/LOCATION

When Rael and John open the door they find themselves in a beautiful landscape and step out, deliriously happy to have been freed.

Blood is rushing from the stump of Rael's middle finger. He soon becomes very weak. John shouts at him to pull his finger out of the tube and to stick it back on the stump. In this new atmosphere of this strange world the severed finger is like an oxygen mask - and to survive it seems essential to wear it on. Rael takes the tube off his neck but Dr G's eagle dives from nowhere out of the sky and grabs the tube in its beak flying away. Rael calls to John to chase it but John is afraid that the eagle's snatching of the finger is an omen of certain death. But Rael runs after the eagle without any hesitation. John eventually decides to follow him at a safe distance behind.

They take a narrow path that opens up to reveal the side of a huge ravine at the bottom of which is a river. The eagle drops Rael's tube into the water. As Rael looks at the tube splashing into the surface he notices a window in the rockface above him. Through it, he gets a glimpse of New York City and is pulled two ways, one the rescue of the tube, the other running for the image of New York. But he hears a voice from down below where John has gone after the tube. He is in trouble with the currents. Rael looks up once again at the window of New York fading fast, and is again stuck in a dilemma of whether to go for home or for his brother. He goes for his brother and slides down the loose rocks of the canyon face with a mass of rolling stones to the river.

Illustration of lyric - 'Riding the Scree'

Struggling down the slope, there's not much hope,
I begin to try to ride the scree
But the rocks are tumbling all around me.

If I want John alive,
I've got to ditch my fear - take a dive
The chase is on, the pace is hot
But I'm running so very hard with everything I've got.

He leads me down an underpass
Though it narrows he still flies very fast
When the tunnel stops I catch sight of the tube,
Just as it drops, on top of a bank too steep to climb
I see it hit the water just in time to watch it float away.

While I've still got my drive to survive
Evel Kneivel you've got nothing on me,
Here I go! '

In the Rapids

Moving down the water
John is drifting out of sight,
Its only at the turning point
That you find out how to fight.

In the cold, feel the cold
all around
And the rush of crashing water
Surrounds me with its sound.

Striking out to reach you
I can't get through to the other side
When your racing in the rapids
There's only one way, that s to ride.

Taken down, taken down
by the undertow
And I'm spiralled down the river bed,
My fire is burning low,
Catching hold a rock thats firm,
I'm waiting for John to be carried past,
We hold together and shoot the rapids fast.

And when the waters slow down
The dark and the deep
have no-one left to keep.
Hang on John! We're out of this at last.
Somethings changed, that's not your face.
Its mine!

John had managed to grab hold of the tube taken by the force of the raging river. Rael jumps into the rapids and is sucked underneath. He fights to grab onto a rock, clambers onto it and waits for his brother to be carried past him. He dives in latches himself onto this brother's body and together they are thrown down the rest of the rapids over the waterfall into the still waters below.

John knows that he is dying. In his last breath he offers Rael his finger so that Rael may be strong again. Rael solemnly pulls out of his pocket another piece broken off from the throne and takes off John's finger placing it on his stump. At this point Rael stares into his brother's face and sees not John but himself and they slowly merge into one. There is a flash of light and everything is covered in a purple haze. The eagle flies down to the ground and transforms into the golden child. The child gets smaller and smaller and then floats into the centre of Rael's heart.

With the child in the centre of Rael's heart we see the interior of Rael's body as if it were hollow and Rael were falling through it towards his heart. The heart is huge like a cathedral with an open door through which Rael walks. The golden walls of the heart are pulsating with life and light. As Rael steps inside he goes through the whole universe in a flash, past planets and galaxies, through black holes to the very- edge of the universe. When he gets to this frontier he destroys it and travels outside the universe. He looks back and sees it as a jewel. It is like a diamond or a prism with many faces made entirely of stars. As he moves further away he sees that the jewel is in reality the centre of an eye. It is his own eye and he sees the whole universe as himself staring back at him. He comes back again travelling through the eye of this universe and he finds himself once again in the landscape. The brother, the child and the eagle have all disappeared and he is emanating a golden light from all his body. He is completely changed. His body is totally hairless. He looks like a buddah. His chest is transparent and inside we see his fiery heart beating, beaming with light on each heartbeat. As Rael enters his heart to travel through the universe the chorus of the Carpet Crawlers - "you've got to get in to get out" is played like a mantra.

Down the river a beautiful boat is drawing close. A crystal temple stands in the centre of it. Rael climbs onto the boat and the boat sets sail to the sea, for New York City.

The boat approaches Manhatten at dawn through a mass of little craft. They are the homes of the tramps and the middle-class junkies. Rael leaves the docks and is led into the immigration building by the local officials. Whites and non-whites are separated. The queue of non-whites is longer and the forms they are required to fill in are much longer. Rael claims he is a native of the city. The official demands to see Rael's passport. It is duly produced and when the official opens the page with the photograph the photograph sticks its tongue out at him. We see the officer recoil in shock and then look at the passport photo once more and then this time beams of light are coming out of the eyes of the face. The officer instructs him straight away to get to the queue of non-whites.

When another official gives Rael his form the ink that comes out of his pen burns the paper as he writes and the man goes inside his box notifying his superiors in a hidden central office. As Rael approaches the front of the queue he sees that the applicants who are able to fill in the forms are moved to another queue with a yellow line at the front. They cannot cross it until so invited by the officer. There is a glass enclosure ahead of them in which a huge electrical sphynx is sitting. The sphynx is made up entirely of neon advertising signs and has a menacing deep mechanical voice. Rael watches in horror as the would-be immigrants are led to the sphynx, asked a question and those who fail to give the correct answer are immediately destroyed. In another glass room the officials are dealing with the special cases.

When it is Rael's turn we see him led in front of the sphynx. It becomes louder and brighter as he approaches. Rael's arch enemy Frank is seen manipulating the sphynx from the hidden control room with knobs and levers. As the question is asked knives are thrust out from the claws of the sphynx and the question "What is the way?" is projected above Rael in enormous flashing fluorescent letters. Rael answers calmly: "If I am wrong the right way will follow me, if I am right the wrong way will follow me. Always the way will follow me". The right answer has been given for the monstrous sphynx destroys itself.

In the middle of the debris, astonished and defeated, Frank is seated. He looks very different now. A helpless victim. he cries out he is defeated, and that he will never have the golden spray. Rael takes pity and gives him the spray telling him that he has no further use for it. Frank surprised and very happy sprays himself with it as if it were a deoderant or water shower. At once, his body starts to steam and to dissolve slowly. The spray disappears. His empty uniform sticks to the floor and a golden lion appears standing on it just in the place where Frank has been.

BROADWAY/MORNING/EXT/LOCATION AND SET

The golden lamb walks to Rael like a dog to a master. They walk out into the street on Broadway. There are clouds of steam corning out of the grilles all the way down the street. As Rael and the lamb pass one cloud a plain white lamb walks out of it and joins them. Further down the street another lamb joins from another cloud and so on and so on, till Rael and the golden lamb are walking with a flock of white lambs. At a distance in front of them in the centre of the road Rael sees another white figure curled up on a grille. He lifts the sheepskin blanket and sees Lilith in a bridal dress. He lifts her up.

A dark cloud above bursts into a torrent of rain, flooding the streets, We hear the crashing of buildings, and flowerbuds burst from the roofs of New York skyscrapers, which open in full bloom. The tall buildings are the stems of giant flowers, their leaves breaking out through the windows filling the island with a mass of plant life. The sun can be seen at the end of the road. Rael, Lilith, the golden lamb and the flock of lambs still drenched with water walk towards the sun.