Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.
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PLOT Category of Capture and Escape. A young girl, Julie
Rayne is caught up in a changing world and finds the courage
to adapt and fight for her friends.
FURRIES IN SPACE
By R L Schliff
EXT -- DEEP SPACE
Against a vast curtain of pinpoints of light something
resembling a brown snail crawls forward. At second glance
it's a Bronze star ship, thousands of little windows spiral
around it. Much smaller opalescent rocket ships swarm it like
flies.
EXT -- DEEP SPACE --MOMENTS LATER
A sleek one-person vessel with a faint leopard paint job
appears suddenly, bringing up the rear.
CUT TO
INT -- ONE-PERSON VESSEL - CONTINUOUS
The snail ship ahead is kept in view through the one-person
ship's oval view ports. A spotted cat's paw flicks an
overhead switch. A young female voice (JULIE) speaks.
JULIE (V.O.)
The ocelot reached over her spotted
head and flicked the switch that
took her ship out of hyperdrive
into normal space.
(WORDS BEING TYPED) COMPUTER SCREEN
(previous words already on
screen new words appear
as they are typed)
Engaging her cloaking device she
slowly stalked the Dhorkian
starliner like her ancient
ancestors pursuing a parrot. As
soon as they left this system,
she'd call in the other raiders. It
was her first time on point and she
wasn't going to blow it!
Following just out of scanner
range, she thought back to how she
wound up here. She was just an
average student in most of her
classes at university except
ancient literature of the days when
brave creatures, never knowing what
they'd find, ventured to the next
unknown horizon. That she devoured
like a starving cat...
EXT - RAYNE RESIDENCE - EARLY EVENING
A wide low car pulls up in front of an A-frame two-story
house on a modern residential street and HONKS THREE TIMES
pauses and HONKS TWICE. O.C., From inside the house A series
of KNOCKS are heard. Then the sound of a DOOR OPENING then
LOUDER TYPING. An older female speaks.
LISA (O.C.)
Julie, you still writing your space
pirate story? The truth is the
overpaid, over-armed, trigger happy
spacefleet slaughtered a bunch of
disorganized brigands and gave them
no chance to fight back or
surrender.
JULIE (O.C.)
I know sis, from a safe distance--
If there were any left around here
they'd be villains, thieves and
rapists. Put a lid on it, Lisa!
It's fiction, I'm making it up!
INT - JULIE RAYNE'S BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Bedroom of a geeky college girl. Well worn stuffed animals,
piles of books and cd's and tapes. Socks and shirts and lacy
undergarments draped over chairs and shelves and wadded up on
bed. A backpack and a clear plastic tote bag are filled to
overflowing on the bed. JULIE (an anthropomorphic ocelot) 20,
wears big round wire rim glasses that magnify her light green
eyes. She has her reddish brown hair in a shag cut shoulder
length. Her nose is jet black. Her figure is well padded.
She's sitting at her computer, wearing denim shorts. She has
her head and one arm through a black t-shirt with a design on
the front. Julie's older sister LISA is just inside the
doorway. She's in her late 20's, wears a knee length black
skirt and button down white shirt. Her long red hair is
combed neatly, with a part down the middle.
LISA
OK kitten, I came to say your
friends are outside.-- Remember,
today's Friday. Stephie, Francine
and you are driving to Steenbok
City for Doc-con. Are you even
packed?
Julie finishes getting dressed and Picks up a shoulder bag
stuffed mostly with books.
JULIE
Ya, got everything I need right
here-- And put a lid on that
'kitten' crap... I'm 20 and in
college! They still prefer Bilail
and Azreal from their Goth days.
Lisa Helps Julie get the backpack on. Now you can see the
design on the shirt, it's a stylized rocket with the logo
"DOC LONG" on it.
LISA
OK then, I think Ash Reel is
honking for you.--
She brushes something off Julie's shirt and acts maternal.
Lisa follows Julie out of the room.
LISA (CONT'D)
If you'd like to hear some good
writing, tune in the "State of the
World" address at 8:00 PM. I helped
compose it.
EXT - DOORWAY OF RAYNE RESIDENCE- MOMENTS LATER
Julie is outside and Lisa is in the doorway.
JULIE
Ya, Lisa dear, I'll listen to
another boring political speech
about how everything is fine and
peaceful on Geode for another
year...
LISA
(sardonically)
George has a surprise that the
spacefleet and arms dealers are not
going to like.
Julie turns her back on home and family and heads for the
car.
INT - PROFESSOR FOSTER'S SEDAN -CONTINUOUS
The car, A '67 SAFELY [like a VW bug only wider], has plush
bench seats covered in fake tan fur. Prof. Foster's niece
AZREAL, (a goth fossa {Cryptoprocta ferox - brown civet cat})
sits in the driver's seat. Azreal's fur is smooth, thick and
reddish brown. Her hair is jet black. She's slim, lithe and
shy. BILAIL, (a punk fennec/vixen {Fennecus zerda}), is in
the back seat. Her fur is yellowish, except where it's dyed
with purple lightning bolts and orange stars on her belly and
legs. Her hair is short, green and spiky. Almost every inch
of her ears has a stud, charm or earring. Julie jumps into
the front seat of the car and tosses her bags at Bilail
playfully.
JULIE
Shall we depart on our great
adventure ladies?
AZREAL
(eastern European accent)
Ve haf to stop my aunt's office....
JULIE
Accent, Accent Stuffy!
AZREAL
Zorry... Sorry. I'm getting better.
We have to stop by my maternal
parental's place of business first.
She wants us to take some research
papers to her colleagues in
Steenbok City.
The car starts off and Julie leans over the seat to get
something out of her bag: her con badge on a lanyard.
BILIAL
Hey, Jar, how come you're not
volunteering to help run the con
this year?
JULIE
Put a lid on it, Last year I was
stuck at the registration table
while Roger Wilmont was on stage
and missed seeing him in person.
Julie faces front, makes a production out of putting on her
con badge and looks mad. As the car moves along, private
houses give way to apartments and then office buildings.
Azreal pulls up in front of a glass and steel structure with
a statue of a black swan out front. CHARLTON (jackalope -
jackrabbit with prong horns. Mythic creature of the SW US)
stands at the curb with a large manila envelope.
EXT S. T. A. R. T. LABS OFFICES
Azreal rolls down her window and Charlton, her aunt's
assistant and husband, hands her a bulky brown envelope.
CHARLTON
Howdy Stuffy... Azreal, Here ya go
this here is the envelope your aunt
wants you to bring Professor
Krazner in Steenbok City. He'll
meet y'all at the hotel. Only give
it to him, no one else.
(beat)
If someone approaches you and says
he's indisposed tell them you'll
wait till he's disposed again. If
you can't deliver it for any
reason,
(turns to other girls)
and you gals listen too now...
JULIE
Now we're secret agent girls, femme
fatale couriers on a life and death
mission.
(to Charlton)
Ya, sure if it was that important
you'd send it by FED UPS.
CHARLTON
...it's a folder, on the cover is a
swan emblem. Embossed. If you stick
a claw into the swan and push
upward the contents will turn to
grits and not a soul will ever read
it.
AZREAL
You mean like this Doctor Forte?
Azreal sticks a claw in the
envelope with an innocent look
CHARLTON
Maybe professor foster thinks it's
safer to send it with 3 shallow fan
girls that nobody'd figure would
have anything important on them.
BILAIL
Pretty big words from a bunny this
close to 3 carnivores. Ladies do we
have time to hunt "cwazy wabbits?"
Bilail growls showing a mouth full of little sharp fangs.
JULIE
Not today, but when we get back...
Julie purrs also showing lots of teeth.
EXT. ON RAMP TO QUICKWAY
Super: Southbound Interstate 7:45 PM
They queue up for the quickway to Steenbok City. Azreal eases
her '67 Safely onto a round edged pallet which in turn is
eased into the south bound traffic stream like one more
corpuscle in an endless bloodstream.
INT. THE CAR MOMENTS LATER
The girls lower all the seats to make a plush carpeted
platform bed, turn on the roof mounted vid screen. The girls
lay back and relax for the three hour trip to their exit.
INT. THE CAR
The vid screen shows 8:00 PM in the lower right corner.
Bilail is pissed when right in the middle of her favorite
Phucking Phasers video it's preempted for George's "State Of
The World Address" GEORGE STEENBOK (ratel {Honey Badger,
mellivora capensis}, looking like he's been stuffed into a
three piece pinstripe suit, dominates the vid.
GEORGE (ON VID SCREEN)
...thirty years ago my father, our
beloved former leader Steenbok,
unified the planet. In the 10 years
since his death, I have tried to
finish his work.
George looks sincere.
GEORGE (ON VID SCREEN)
Today I have taken the last step in
freeing Geode from the expense of a
spacefleet! Our world is now a
member-- a tax-paying member I
might add of the galactic empire.
A map of imperial space appears behind him.
GEORGE (ON VID SCREEN)
The Imperial fleet is bigger and
better equipped then we are. The
Geode spacefleet has served our
planet well and the empire has not
only offered to buy our well
maintained starships, repair
facilities...
Pictures of space ships flash on the screen. A tiny
illustrated ship marked
GEODE SPACE FLEET
stands next to a ship 10 times as big marked
IMPERIAL NAVY.
GEORGE (ON VID SCREEN)
...take any of our brave
spacewarriors into the imperial
fleet and after some retraining
post them at the same ranks they
hold now. No longer will 20% of
your yearly income go to support
our military.
BILAIL (O.C.)
Like the military is just going to
pack it in.
JULIE (O.C.)
They'll have to, unless....
GEORGE (ON VID SCREEN)
My next project, believe it or not
is to put myself out of work. --
With instant web access, the need
for representative government is
slowly becoming obsolete.
The government website appears on screen. Then a white rabbit
typing in his opinion on some issue.
GEORGE (ON VID SCREEN)
...next year, I hope to announce
the dissolution of the world
counsel in favor of an global
online forum in which any citizen
who has an opinion can have an
equal voice. Once that's set up, my
father's dream of a truly united
Geode will have come to pass.
A picture of Johan steenbok (older grayer wider version of
George) on the vid.
GEORGE (ON VID SCREEN)
Thanks for your attention. I would
like to thank my press secretary,
Ms. Rayne and Roger Wilmont for
putting my thoughts into such
eloquent words and Doctor Enoch
Long for his continuing efforts
negotiating on our behalf with the
Empire.
Julie sits up.
JULIE
Ya, That sounds like Lisa's words.
She's a good non-fiction writer but
Mr. Wilmont, the main speaker at
our con? He writes speeches too?
No one answers. Bilail is blasting "Screw the Oxen here come
the Phucking Phasers" in her headphones and Azreal is
sleeping on Julie's shoulder. The engine's off, the windows
are closed. It gets warm in the car, so the girls strip down
and sleep cuddled together
INT. THE CAR - LATER
The alarm sounds to tell them their exit is coming up. They
put the seats back up and drive to the hotel in their undies.
EXT. STEENBOK CITY
On a busy street in downtown Steenbok City Bilail leans out a
window and flashes her furry breasts at the pedestrians.
INT. PROFESSOR'S CAR
Azreal slips her dress on over her head and Julie gets
dressed before they reach the hotel.
EXT. HOTEL MAIN ENTRANCE
Bilail waits till they pull up at the main entrance gets out
and slowly puts her shorts and tee on while the staff and
other guests gawk.
INT. HOTEL MOMENTS LATER
Ornate lobby of lush hotel. DESK CLERK looks down his nose at
the 3 slightly rumpled girls.
JULIE
Rayne, party of three. We have a
reservation. 2 double beds and a
cot. Here's the confirmation. Party
floor right?
DESK CLERK
No worries, No worries at all! Well
maybe one... we don't have any cots
left. Two of you ladies will have
to sleep together.
BILAIL
Hey, No sweat cobber. Come here
luv!
Bilail grabs Azreal pulls her face down and starts to French
kiss her passionately. Azreal turns bright red all over. It
shows through her fur. Azreal stands her ground stoically.
AZREAL (V.O.)
If she vants to play at beink a
dyke, fine. If I fight she'll just
do it longrrrrrrr.
Shortly they break the clinch and both grin at the desk
clerk's startled look. Azreal walks up to the desk
AZREAL
(whispers in clerks ear)
Any messages for a Ms. Foster?
DESK CLERK
Yes ma'am! Right here.
He leans across the desk and hisses
DESK CLERK CONT'D
If you want to try it with a male. I get off at 1:00 AM. Meet
me in the bar.
Azreal, who's 20, gives her most wide-eyed, little girl look.
AZREAL
You poor thing! I get off all the
time! In the bar you say... Can I
go in there I'm only sixteen?
DESK CLERK
Gulp! Never mind miss Foster. What
about you Ms. Rayne I know you're
over 19 you paid with a credit
card.
Before Julie can answer, DREAMAR, a muskrat girl with tons of
badges and ribbons, runs up.
DREAMAR
Julie it's me Dreamar! Did you guys
come by car? The staff car broke
down and Roger Wilmont and his
publisher's rep are at the airport
waiting... can you go pick them up?
JULIE
Ya! I sure could, you gals settle
in I'll be right back!
Julie grabs the parking stub out of Azreal's paw and dashes
for the front door. Zoom!
AZREAL
She never wanted to drive my car
before ..... wonder if she has a
license?
INT. HOTEL ROOM
The bellhop meets them at their room with bags and after
Bilail flashes him, he mimes he'd prefer cash. When he
leaves, the girls each flop on different beds.
AZREAL
(reads her note aloud)
"Ms.
Foster (Jr.),Please join me in the
steam room at Midnight. Come alone
and bring the binder. Uncle Olley"
Azreal neatly folds the note.
AZREAL (CONT'D)
That sounds like Dr. Krazner
auntie's colleague now in S.C. At
the Hexagon.
CLOSE UP OF PHOTO
A picture of Prof. Foster, Azreal, Charlton and DR. KRAZNER
(a white rat) in front of a grand marble building (like a
courthouse)
INT. HOTEL ROOM CONTINUOUS
She examines the envelope. Looks at her watch. 11:45. Bilail
has her headphones on and doesn't even notice when Azreal
leaves the room.
INT. HOTEL - HALLWAYS AND ELEVATORS
It takes Azreal a while to thread through the maze of the
hotel and find the health spa. Her hair is jet black, long
and straight and her bangs are cut straight across her
forehead. She wears a short black-lace dress with thigh high
stockings with alternating horizontal red and white stripes.
INT. HEALTH SPA ON THE ROOF
A harp SEAL male wearing sweat pants and a white tee shirt
eyes her suspiciously from behind a counter. The analog clock
behind him reads 11:59 PM
SEAL
Can I help you miss? Are you a guest?
AZREAL
Yeah. Is Dr. Krazner here? --
...supposed to meet him in steam
room.
SEAL
Third door on the left. The ladies
changing room is first on the
right. -- Room number please?
INT. GIRLS HOTEL ROOM -- SIMULTANEOUS
Bilail takes off her headphones. Pulls out a chain with a
Laminated card on it:
ALL ACCESS BACKSTAGE PASS: PHUCKING PHASERS
"SCREW THE OXEN HERE COME THE PHUCKING PHASERS"
TOUR PEOPLE'S CONCERT HALL, STEENBOK CITY
She puts it around her neck, Glances at the digital clock on
the night table that reads 12:05 AM, and leaves the room.
EXT. STEENBOK CITY AIRPORT NIGHT
Julie, behind the wheel of the Foster's car, careens over
sidewalks, runs over traffic cones and finally drives up onto
to the sidewalk in front of ROGER Wilmont and GREGORY
Mendeliev. Roger is a balding, husky, short hedgehog
{erinaceus europaeus} in a Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts,
wearing sunglasses at night. Gregory is a peccary (dicotyles
tajacu) in an impeccable tan business suit. Julie rolls down
the window.
JULIE
Mr. Wilmont? Your ride's here.
Driving seemed much easier in the
manuals.
ROGER
You see Greg, There's people that
drive worse than me-- Thank you
miss.......?
JULIE
Rayne, Julie Rayne. I think you
know my sister Lisa?
ROGER
Yes! Not in the archaic sense,
more's the pity.
JULIE
(quoting)
"...and Bastet knew her consort and
she begat..." "To know me is to
love me"
GREGORY
Spare me! If it's all the same to
you Mizz Rainy, I'll drive. I for
one would like to arrive alive.
INT. GEORGE'S BEDROOM "PEOPLE'S PALACE" -- SIMULTANEOUS
Ornate well-appointed bedroom suite with embossed velvet
wallpaper, Original oil paintings, and a purple satin covered
canopy bed. GEORGE, is sitting on the bed, talking on the
phone.
GEORGE
Oh, Lisa it's you. What a relief.
I've been fielding angry calls from
'Titans of industry' offering me
everything they can think of and
Admirals offering to kill me every
way they can think of.
LISA (V.O.)
(on phone)
Citizen you've done a very brave
thing. Your father would have been
proud. You accomplished two of the
things he left unfinished...
GEORGE
Last year we found new homes for
the last furrs displaced by the war
of unification. It took 20 years...
LISA (V.O.)
(on phone)
...and with tonight's speech you
not only lifted our biggest tax
burden but ended the last vestige
of slavery on Geode. No Military
equals no F. U. R. N. s. Those poor
young girls and boys forced to
serve as companions for soldiers
and brainwashed into being docile
little servants and...
CUT TO:
EXT. BATTLECRUISER "BATTLE OF BACTAVIA" -- SIMULTANEOUS.
Long cigar-shaped Space ship with multiple gun turrets,
cannons and a forest of antennae/ray guns. It's painted in a
faint tiger-stripe pattern
INT. VIP CABIN ON BOARD BATTLECRUISER -- SIMULTANEOUS.
LENNY, George's younger, thinner brother in a military
uniform dripping with too many medals, gold braid, epaulets
and embroidery, Slams down the phone being held by BUN, a
female white rabbit wearing a skimpy purple thong bikini and
kneeling by his desk. She has a shiny, purple, plastic collar
around her neck. She also has one black eye and a round nick
in one ear. The cabin is very much like George's bedroom
except the bed is bolted to the floor and the pictures are
copies imbedded in the walls. GRAND ADMIRAL MULLER, a serval
({leptailarus serval} medium sized spotted cat with longish
ears) in a less fancy uniform, is in the doorway.
LENNY
Damn, Damn and double damn! I can't
get through to George ta tell him
what an idiot he's being. We need
the spacefleet. I love the
Spacefleet. The spacefleet is the
only thing that can save us from
the invasion of the magic white
bunnies! Right Bun, Bun?
BUN
Yes, master Leonard.
GRAND ADMIRAL MULLER
Citizen Lenny, my good and dear
friend, I have a better Idea. We'll
send a courier. Let us show him one
of the brave sons of Geode he wants
to either unemploy or send off to
fight in foreign wars...
INT. STEAM ROOM HEALTH SPA
Azreal in a towel, carrying the still unopened envelope,
feels her way through the thick, moist fog.
AZREAL
Dr. Krazner.
(pause)
Uncle Olley? You in here?
As her eyes adjust to the dimness, she sees a lighted timer
on the wall that reads 12:15 AM and a figure seated on a high
bench. It's wearing one towel with another wrapped around its
neck.
AZREAL (CONT'D)
Uncle Olley is that you? Say
something. You're scaring me...
She reaches out to him and he falls over. His eyes are wide
open, his tongue is out and there are bruises on his neck.
She listens for a heartbeat and tries C.P.R. Nothing. She
runs through the fog/steam and hits a wall. She feels along
it till she finds the door, but it's stuck or locked. She
slumps to the floor and opens the envelope.
AZREAL (CONT'D)
Poor Uncle Olley. What in Himmel is
zo important?
She holds the folder close to her face and starts to read.
INT. BACKSEAT OF CAR MINUTES LATER
Roger and Julie sit close together. He has one palm resting
on her knee and is speaking softly. Julie is very excited.
ROGER
......so I fixed up Natalie,
Captain Fenkirk, as best I could
and carried her back to the ship.
Doc Long had her back on her feet
in no time and we were outta there.
JULIE
Wow, Mr. Wilmont...
ROGER
Call me Roger. Julie isn't it?
JULIE
Ya, you don't just write about
those adventures, you actually live
them right alongside Doc Long.
Julie stares starry eyed at Roger and puts a hand on his
knee.
ROGER
Well I do embellish things a bit. I
try to make the story come out more
interesting than it was when I
lived it. My latest is about this
cute little brown civet girl we
helped reunite with her lost
family. We had to fight the local
bureaucracy every step of the way.
Much harder than opposing guns and
knives.
JULIE
You saved Stephie Foster from the
relocation camps? She's at the con!
Calls herself Azreal. She's my
bosom buddy. I can't wait to read
your version of her story. She
doesn't like to talk about it much.
Roger puts his arm around Julie's shoulders and his mouth up
to her ear.
ROGER
(whispering)
Make a deal with you. Greg keeps
taking away my booze. Bring me a
bottle of...
JULIE
...Volpone Reserve. I've read ALL
your books. Doc drinks Aldebran
brandy, not to often, and Natalie
drinks warm sake...
ROGER
(whispering)
...Sssh, keep it down please.
Anyway if you sneak a bottle up to
my room, I'll show you the galleys.
Julie hugs Roger from the side, licks his neck, realizes what
she's done and lets go.
JULIE
Deal!
(whispering)
Deal.
Roger looks happy.
Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.