BEING IN THE NIK OF TIME

Scene Synopsis:

SCENE 1: Kerwin arrives at Nik’s apartment to take him to the reading of his father’s will. He shows Nik the eviction notice he found on his door (not his first). Nik is unconcerned – convinced that he is about to come into a substantial inheritance which will make this and many of his other problems go away.

SCENE 2: At Teknoptiks, Graves is testing the wormhole projector originally invented by Prof. Savage, which is capable of changing the transportation and aerospace industries forever. During the initial test, things go terribly awry. Nancy Myers disappears within a “hypersphere” which, among other things, leaves behind part of a man’s severed body – all while an almost unnoticeable fourth-dimensional being watches closely.

SCENE 3: Nik and Kerwin are moving Nik’s things into a new apartment-loft – part of an inheritance that Nik is none too thrilled about. In the bustle of boxes and new surroundings, revealed are a locket that Nik still clings to as a reminder of a love lost 15 years ago, Kerwin’s training of Nik in swordplay, and Nik’s upcoming birthday.

SCENE 4: In an alley outside of a pub, Nancy Myers reappears, naked, and approaches a pub patron who has stepped into the alley to relieve himself. He thinks he is about to receive a sexual favor, but what we see is a mysterious play of lights through which Nancy emerges wearing the man’s coat and a handful of cash. The man is nowhere to be found.

SCENE 5: Inside a pub, Nik and Kerwin are drinking heavily as Nik relays a story about he and his lost love (Carla). Kerwin tries to convince Nik to forget about her (it has been 15 years), as Nik muses about “going back to correct mistakes.” A painful memory of Kerwin’s past is subtly hinted at.

SCENE 6: Richard Graves arrives home to discover Nancy has somehow returned. We get a glimpse of his softer side as he welcomes her. She covers some odd behavior and words toward Graves with sex, but we can tell she is not the same Nancy who disappeared in the lab.

SCENE 7: Nik is having a disturbing nightmare about himself and Carla. It’s a combined image of the first time they held hands with the appearance of an unidentified, frightening creature who, in the end, consumes Carla’s life energy as Nik watches helplessly.

SCENE 8: In Graves’ office, we are introduced to Mike Ransom, who has been sent by Graves’ supporters to ensure the success of future experiments with the wormhole projecting device. He orders Graves to retrieve from Nik what is needed to make his father’s device operate properly by any means. In the background is Nancy demonstrating more odd behavior.

SCENE 9: Nik and Kerwin are practicing swordplay in a park. Nik expresses that he is distracted by the dream about Carla – he has been having it for quite sometime. Convinced that all Nik really needs is closure, Kerwin volunteers to talk to Carla on Nik’s behalf. Nik agrees –if Kerwin can pull it off, but implies that closure is not necessarily what he wants, Is it a second chance he wants?

SCENE 10: In Chalmer’s office, it is revealed that Teknoptiks is aware of the accident in the lab and Graves’ experiment is being shut down. We get a glimpse of the beast within Nancy as she coldly and effortlessly reduces him to a pile of ashes.

SCENE 11: Mouse is being taunted by some older boys in an alley. She steals some of their ill-begotten money and makes a run for it in retaliation. She chases a cat through a hole in the wall of Nik’s “new” loft – each is startled upon the discovery of the other. Irritated, Nik kicks her out despite her protests, the finds himself her unwitting defender against the boys she robbed outside. The two end up parting thinking equally ill of each other.

SCENE 12: Graves and Ransom meet with Nik and Kerwin in Graves’ office. They make an offer to Nik for his inheritance, and he realizes that he has a lot of bargaining power here. Nik and Kerwin leave after Nik says he will have his attorney send them a counteroffer. When they have left, Ransom assures Graves that no amount of money is too much for the information he is sure that Nik possesses.

SCENE 13: Nik basks in the glory of his impending fortune, courtesy of Mr. Graves and Ransom.

SCENE 14: Nik and Kerwin arrive at Nik’s loft. Nik has already figured out that there is a surprise birthday party waiting for him inside. Nik doesn’t “do” his own birthday due to memories attached to – yet again – his history with Carla. Nik agrees to be a good sport about the party anyway, and they go in.

SCENE 15: At his “surprise” party, Nik’s mother gives him his father’s journal, which only serves to aggravate his attitude even more towards his father and his lousy inheritance, and his girlfriend breaks up with him – because he can’t get over Carla.

SCENE 16: Later that night, Nik is awakened by the sudden appearance of a hypersphere – similar to the one in the Teknoptiks lab disaster – in the loft. It disappears as suddenly as it appeared, leaving behind a CD-ROM marked with the same symbol that dons the cover of his father’s journal. Intrigued, Nik is driven to read the journal cover to cover.

SCENE 17: In Graves’ bedroom at night while he sleeps unawares, it is revealed that Nancy is possessed by an alien being who communicates by trance with her/its superior in another dimension, named Kithog. Using the life-energy of beings in cubicles around his chamber, Kithog can see with enhanced psychic ability an image of Nik reading his father’s journal. Kithog tells Nancy (Varsilon) that if Graves fails to obtain the control resonance, then she (Varsilon) should steal the journal.

SCENE 18: Nik explains to Kerwin the events of the previous late-night. If Nik’s interpretation of his father’s journal is correct – that the hypersphere is the key to travel across space, time and dimensions – Graves’ offer wasn’t even in the ballpark.

SCENE 19: Nik, while awaiting Kerwin’s arrival at the loft, is approached by Mouse who offers him $30.00 to baby-sit her. He tells her no, he has plans, then bites her head off when she inquires about the girl in the locket on the table. We find out that Mouse is much more intelligent than your average 10-year-old. Kerwin arrives, and they decide to drop Mouse off at home on their way out.

SCENE 20: In a bar, Nik explains to Kerwin that he has figured out the key to the device encoded in his father's journal -- a code that only Nik could ever decipher. We see then that Nancy is there, observing. She approaches Nik – they dance sensuously. Kerwin leaves the bar; we know that Nik is going to take Nancy home for the night…

SCENE 21: Nik and Nancy arrive at the loft to find Mouse inside watching television. While Nik and Mouse argue over why Mouse must leave now, in the other room, Nancy is rummaging through Nik’s desk. She pockets a letter to Carla – returned to sender – and the journal and leaves unnoticed. Mouse has explained to Nik that she saw he and Nancy followed. Rushing into the other room, Nik finds Nancy and the journal long gone. He knows it’s Graves’ doing.

SCENE 22: The audience is given a glimpse at Mouse’s home life. Mother, a strung-out prostitute with an abusive boyfriend/pimp. Nik attempts to return Mouse, but they are both kicked out by the boyfriend. Nik begins to feel a lot more empathy toward Mouse and her situation.

SCENE 23: A softer side of Nik is back at the loft putting Mouse to bed. They talk about both of their fathers and families – Mouse’s situation. Nik gives Mouse his old Grover doll to sleep with.

SCENE 24: Nik is returning Mouse home. Her mother, battered and disheveled, ends up conning Nik into baby sitting once a week for her.

SCENE 25: Graves’ people are unable to decipher the journal. Ransom wants something to hold over Nik to try to convince him to help decode the journal. Graves hands over the old letter that Nancy stole from Nik – it has Carla’s name and return address on it.

SCENE 26: Nik checks out the CD-ROM that was left behind by the hypersphere. Mouse sneaks in and observes/experiences the downloading of information directly from the CD into Nik’s brain. This was his father’s final gift to him. Nik now has the knowledge to successfully operate the hypersphere. Later, Nik has been reminiscing about Carla. He starts to program the wormhole projector coordinates/times – he’s going to spend a few hours with Carla in the past! We see he has a time stabilizing device that he wears as he goes into the hypersphere. Mouse is still watching from the shadows…

SCENE 27: Nik appears in Carla’s house 15 years ago in a scene that we have already heard Nik recant to Kerwin. They dodge Carla’s mother and spend the night together talking, making love. Their love for each other is deep and genuine. When morning comes, Nik must leave before the hypersphere pulls him back. Carla, none the wiser, leaves a kiss in his palm “…for later.” As he leaves, he takes one last look – his feelings now are as strong as they were 15 years ago when this scene originally played.

SCENE 28: Nik arrives back to find Kerwin in the loft. The two argue about Nik’s choice for a test trip. They exchange emotional blackmail – then Kerwin is called away, but not before he orders Nik to stay put. Later, Nik has been drinking, and is inspired by an old episode of “Quantum Leap” to go back in time to guide his younger self away from the mistakes that drove (will drive) Nik and Carla apart. In the rush of emotion and alcohol, Nik forgets to put on the time stabilizer as he disappears into the hypersphere once again.

SCENE 29: When Nik appears back in time, in order to prove to his younger self who he is, he produces the locket with Carla’s picture in it – the younger Nik has just bought this locker. As Nik hands the locket to his younger counterpart, their hands touch, causing the release of temporal energies. As a result, the young Nik is knocked unconscious and never goes on his first date with Carla, older Nik is transported violently back to the present putting him into a coma. In his transport back to the present, we are given another look at the fourth-dimensional being glimpsed in the lab – what it is, what it does. The Sumykans (presently in another dimension) are now able to take control of a stable wormhole, which remained in flux during Nik’s visit. The earth is in danger of being invaded as a result.

SCENE 30: A doctor explains to Kerwin and Nik’s mother that Nik is in a coma, but they can’t determine why.

SCENE 31: In his hospital room, Nik, in his coma, has a vision – an alien being appearing to him, calling himself Fordem. He tells Nik he is a “guardian of time,” and informs Nik of the impending invasion by the Sumykans through the wormhole. Nik must “fix” the anomaly he created in two days, or be “excised” by the Fordem.

SCENE 32: Fordem brings Nik out of his coma. Nik dresses and leaves the hospital with Kerwin.

SCENE 33: On the way home, Nik explains the details of his vision to Kerwin – who has a hard time swallowing it. Kerwin agrees to go along and help, but only because he’s “curious as hell to see where this ends up.”

SCENE 34: They arrive at the loft to find is ransacked and the wormhole prototype missing. As the go to pursue Graves, they find an armed escort in Mr. Ransom waiting to take them.

SCENE 35: They arrive at the Teknoptiks lab to discover Graves and Nancy holding Carla hostage. Nik is able to see the alien inhabiting Nancy now through Fordem’s eyes, and explains to Graves how he has been manipulated by her. Disguise now being unnecessary, the alien dissolves Nancy’s body, revealing himself. We find that the Sumykan now have control of Nik’s wormhole which is being projected before them – wobbly and unstable. The Sumykan attempt to come through it, but one is destroyed because of its instability.

Varsilon orders Graves and Carla into the sphere, which forces Nik to activate his device to stabilize the bridge. Stepping into the now-stable sphere, Varsilon threatens Carla with a weapon, demanding Nik’s “control resonance.” A fight ensues between Nik, Kerwin, and the Varsilon in which Ransom is horribly injured, Varsilon is destroyed, and the hypersphere connection is severed with no apparent way for Nik and Kerwin to follow. But, Nik has another way tucked in the pages of his father’s journal…

SCENE 36: Inside the warehouse side of Nik’s loft, Nik and Kerwin begin to accumulate and open several crates, oddly marked “ERP-1.”

SCENE 37: In the Sumykan world, Graves barters with Kithog for his life. He does not wish to become one of the poor souls that now surround him – held captive in cubicles in constant agony.

SCENE 38: As Kerwin arrives with supplies for the trip, unveiled is a completed Stardust-1 – an interspatial/interdimensional traveling machine. The pieces fit together seemingly by magic, as it hovers effortlessly.

SCENE 39: Kithog orders one of his warriors to get the “control resonance” from Nik. Their world can no longer support his hunger for life energy. To demonstrate to urgency of his order, Kithog sucks some of the warrior’s life energy – he needs more victims soon.

SCENE 40: Nik and Kerwin are inside the Stardust-1. Fordem relays information to Nik as he programs the shipboard computer – and tape deck – for their destination. We see the Stardust-1 generate it’s own hypersphere and disappear into it.

SCENE 41: Nik and Kerwin embark upon a game of cat and mouse with Sumykan fighters almost immediately upon their arrival in their next dimension. We get to see the remarkable agility of the Stardust-1 as well as Nik’s ability to operate it. Revealed are the awesome Sumykan mothership (approximately 15 x 25 miles), the crashed remnants of a floating city, and an enormous temple shaped exactly like the symbol on the front of Nik’s father’s journal.

SCENE 42: Now out of immediate trouble, the Stardust-1 is out of power and sets down in a desert. Much to Nik’s dismay, we find Mouse stowed away in the ship. Her mother has been murdered by her pimp, and Mouse blames herself for it. Needing food and supplies, they head toward a floating city with the guidance of Fordem.

SCENE 43: As they walk along, Fordem begins to reveal to all three how the Sumykan first came to this world.

SCENE 44: The party reaches the city and with Fordem’s help, find the transport tube to get up to the city’s level.

SCENE 45: Fordem directs them to an outdoor market where it is determined that these people barter with energy instead of money. The only “energy” they have is in their flashlight batteries.

SCENE 46: Inside the Sumykan mothership, Graves observes as it is revealed that the Sumykans now know where our three heroes crash-landed, and are after them!

SCENE 47: When Nik takes his battery to the market to get parts, we find that he is rich by their standards! After getting the parts, they notice Sumykans herding people into a ship. They are looking for Nik, Kerwin and Mouse. They rough up the trader who sold Nik the parts, and eventually capture the three and take them back to their shuttle.

SCENE 48: As the shuttle arrives at the mothership, it is even more intimidating than before. The shuttle enters and docks inside the mothership.

SCENE 49: They are put in a cell. The power of the Sumykans is again demonstrated when another prisoner rebels – resulting in his death. Graves appears and lets them out of the cell. Fordem tell Nik that Graves can be trusted. He has had a change of heart – he is bitter about what they did to Nancy, and intends to help them. On the way out, they pass Carla’s cell, and Nik convinces Graves to release her too. (“Would you do it if it were Nancy?”)

SCENE 50: As they pass through the corridors, they come across a wormhole projector. Graves gets them safely to a ship – it is already preprogrammed to their ship’s coordinates. As they launch, they see Graves being sucked dry of his life energy and dissolving before their eyes.

SCENE 51: Being chased and fired upon by the Sumykans, the ship quickly deteriorates. Even with Fordem translating the controls to Nik, they are overwhelmed and begin fly into the atmosphere of the planet below them.

SCENE 52: They have crashed, but all four are safe. They head for cover with all of the supplies they can gather from the ship.

SCENE 53: There is not time enough to reach the wreckage of the Stardust-1 before dark, so they must make camp for the night.

SCENE 54: Camp has been set, and dinner cooked. Nik explains to Carla about the timeline which no longer exists for her because of his test trip through the wormhole. He shows her the locket he still keeps, and begins to tell her about their relationship as he has experienced it.

SCENE 55: Nik and Kerwin have already ventured out and are returning at sunrise to declare that the Stardust-1 is not where they left it. Are they trapped?

SCENE 56: On their way, they spot another city – crashed. They head that direction to get supplies. Once inside the city, Mouse turns up missing. Nik finds her uncovering a new friend – a sort of hovering robot (Mobius). Together again, they enter an eatery/bar of sorts. A brawl breaks out between Nik, Kerwin and an alien – but it is a test, not a fight, and they pass. They have found a friend in this confrontational alien. He agrees to take them to the people who are symbolized by the diamond crest on Nik’s father’s journal.

SCENE 57: We are introduced to the preferred mode of transportation – the giant sand weevil. (Preferred because any burst of energy is detected by the Sumykans and attacked.)

SCENE 58: On their way to Shondeye’s ship, they are attacked by scavengers. They are able to fight them off, but Kerwin gets a flesh wound. They continue on their way.

SCENE 59: Inside a cave, the group takes off in Shondeye’s ship – it sails on the winds. Six Sumykan fighters appear. As the sun rises, the “sails” change to work off of solar winds, and they are able to outrun them to safe place. Shondeye drops the troupe off to continue on foot, then takes off. We see the dogfight with the Sumykans fade into the distance.

SCENE 60: Camp is set up. They are not far from their destination. Nik and Carla have a chance to talk more – they discuss again their relationship in both timelines. With old emotions stirred again, Nik blows up at Carla who is both sad and confused. Nik storms off.

SCENE 61: After walking in the sweltering heat, they come across an oasis. Nik apologizes to Carla for his behavior the night before. As they close in on the oasis, they all strip and dive into the cool water. Nik and Carla playfully recite/play out the skinny dipping scene from “Logan’s Run” – including the kiss.

SCENE 62: As the walk deeply into a crevasse, they are surrounded by Scavoss who are convinced that they are Sumykan spies. The apparent leader of the Scavoss (Le`Tier) comes forward – they are not spies. As he reveals his face, he declares that he knows they are not spies because one of them is a son of his (Nik).

SCENE 63: Le`Tier explains to the group how he became trapped on earth over 80 years ago, and covered his recent exit by faking his death. The Scavoss have recovered the Stardust-1. They all feast.

SCENE 64: Carla and Nik talk in Nik’s “room.” He finishes explaining his purpose for going back in time. Carla confesses that she always had a thing for Nik. As they start to make love, we fade into…

SCENE 65: The Scavoss are evacuating, using hypersphere bridges to get to other camps. Enter the Sumykans who shut down the bridges. There are casualties and hostages – among the hostages are Carla and Mouse. To manipulate Nik, they take Mouse aside to “absorb” her life energy, but Carla breaks loose, knocks Mouse from the Sumykan’s grip, but is absorbed and reduced to a pile of ash in her place as a horrified and helpless Nik watches. The hyperbridge suddenly comes online again, and Nik is through it like a shot. He goes postal, firing in vain at the departing Sumykan ships. Le`Tier calls a meeting to regroup.

SCENE 66: Nik is burying Carla’s ashes, and along with them the locket. Kerwin tries to comfort Nik by sharing his own personal tragedy. Nik is touched. Nik mourns for Carla, but he realizes that Mouse is still alive and needs to be rescued.

SCENE 67: It is a tactical meeting. We are shown several defense weapons for their battle, including a grenade that can shatter the Sumykans, a sonic projector with a 100-yard range, and a suit that can protect against their life-draining touch – but only for two minutes at a time. Le`Tier plans to trade the Sumykans exactly what they want for Mouse…

SCENE 68: The details of the plan to rescue Mouse are laid out.

SCENE 69: Rescue teams arrive in the mothership’s prison bay. Nik and Kerwin are the first to experience eerie and chilling destruction of a Sumykan.

SCENE 70: On the planet below, a female assault team arrives to disable the conduit that keeps the mothership in its orbit.

SCENE 71: Nik and Kerwin demonstrate the effects of one of the grenades, then travel along an impressive transport system to a control center.

SCENE 72: The evacuation of the Scavoss off of the mothership is going better than expected. We see a fleet of carrier pods taking off in formation.

SCENE 73: As Nik and Kerwin attack the control center, we see the Sumykan have a way to diffuse the grenades! In this battle, we see a Sumykan morph into a terrifying spider-like thing with dozens of razor-sharp appendages it can wield like the blades of a Cuisineart. Kerwin is injured, but manages to destroy the bladed Sumykan. After letting lose with another grenade, Nik allows himself to be captured. As the evacuation/rescue continues, the hyperbridge is knocked out. They have to remove the remaining Scavoss vie a carrier pods we saw earlier.

SCENE 74: On the planet, the female commandos are still working to debilitate the conduit.

SCENE 75: The carrier pods are met by Sumykan fighters. A dogfight ensues.

SCENE 76: Nik is brought to Kithog’s chamber. We see the elaborate milking of life energy from numerous victims directly into Kithog, and the agony it causes. We spot Mouse in one of the pods. Kithog tortures her some to find out if Nik has brought him what he desires – he says he has.

SCENE 77: The delay of the arrival of the carrier pods forces the evacuation team to do battle with the Sumykans. Varsh is wounded, but the suit he wears saves his life.

SCENE 78: Outside, one carrier pod is destroyed. Two pods get to the mothership, attach, and launch mines out around to protect them. They are ready to receive evacuees.

SCENE 79: Inside, two openings appear where the pods have attached outside. The evacuation resumes quickly. Le`Tier goes to assist Nik and Kerwin.

SCENE 80: Kerwin is captured and brought to Kithog’s chamber. He gets a dose of life energy sucked out to weaken him. The Sumykans search him and find the resonator control in his pouch. Kithog orders it taken tot he bridge, and Earth’s coordinates to be programmed in. Alone, so to speak, with Kithog, Nik threatens to destroy the resonator control by remote with his “watch.”

SCENE 81: Our female commandos get their bomb placed on the conduit core. Their leader is killed, and they are forced to evacuate on foot due to the Sumykans shutting down the hyperbridge. Five minutes until it blows…

SCENE 82: Outside the core, our commandos are trapped. They are attacked by six Sumykans, who merge into one huge battle machine. It mows them down like weeds, and fires crystal spears at those out of reach.

SCENE 83: Some carrier pods break through the line of Sumykan fighters to let four full pods through – most of the pods escape intact.

SCENE 84: Le`Tier arrives where Kerwin should be. He is concerned, but the Scavoss then manage to get the hyperbridge up in short spells – it appears before Le`Tier allowing a dozen men to come through as reinforcements.

SCENE 85: In Kithog’s chamber, we see him suck energy from Nik – making him too weak to fight back, Kithog destroys Nik’s watch-device.

SCENE 86: The conduit core is breaking down. The remaining women warriors are transported away from the core by the Sumykan transport system. At their jumping off point, they are surrounded by more Sumykans including one of the spider-like Cuisineart monsters.

SCENE 87: Just outside of Kithog’s chamber, Le`Tier and the other Scavoss are forced by time constraints to evacuate through the through the hyperbridge, but three Sumykans are able to follow.

SCENE 88: As the last Scavoss come through the other side of the hyperbridge, the three Sumykans appear, morphing into the “battle spiders.”

SCENE 89: The initial explosion from the conduit enables the last of the female commandos to run free. We watch as the chain reaction from the ground unit makes its way across the surface and up to the mothership.

SCENE 90: Nik and Kerwin are encased next to Mouse, having their life energy leisurely and agonizingly drained by Kithog. Nik begs Fordem for help.

SCENE 91: Floating in a psychedelic realm, Nik shames Fordem into helping them the only way he can – by merging with Nik’s being. In this form, Fordem stops the flow of energy into Kithog, the we see Nik morph into a physical manifestation of the two as one. It is an awesome and mesmerizing sight.

SCENE 92: As the Scavoss destroy the last of the “battle spiders,” they can see that the mothership’s orbit has been broken. They have to pinpoint Nik’s location quickly so that they may open the hyperbridge and get the three out of there.

SCENE 93: We see the mothership skew and brush the edge of the atmosphere out of control.

SCENE 94: Fordem destroys Kithog in an impressive show of energy and sound as he also frees Kerwin and Mouse – replenishing their energy with that which he ha released.

SCENE 95: The mothership is streaking through the atmosphere.

SCENE 96: As the hyperbridge opening appears in Kithog’s chamber, Nik/Fordem directs Kerwin, Mouse, and others of Kithog’s victims through.

SCENE 97: As Kerwin, et al, get through, we find this was the last time they would be able to activate the hyperbridge – but Nik/Fordem is still on the other side.

SCENE 98: The mothership is breaking up in the atmosphere.

SCENE 99: On the planet’s surface, the survivors watch the incredible crash of the mothership.

SCENE 100: Mysteriously, a hypersphere appears, and Nik steps through disoriented. Cheers!

SCENE 101: The original three who arrived on Treah in the Stardust-1, now leave in it. However, this time, the hypersphere is a sort of dream world of The Fordem.

SCENE 102: As The Fordem watch the Stardust-1 leave Treah, they decide they must do one last thing for Nik.

SCENE 103: In a dream, Nik sees his original relationship with Carla rebuilding as the old time line is restored.

SCENE 104: Nik awakes from his dream, still dressed as he was on Treah. He discovers the locket hanging next to the bed. Kerwin and Mouse are in the living room. Nik leaves the locket next to the phone as the three leave to get breakfast. When the door has been closed, the phone rings. The machine picks up – it is Carla. She wants to get together with Nik…

TO BE CONTINUED…