Welcome to Pantheon

Written by Brian Coyle

TITLE CARD: WELCOME TO PANTHEON: CITY OF GODS. EXT. OLYMPIC SQUARE - DAY Grayscale. MEN and WOMEN drive futuristic cars along a street. Children are buying ice cream from a vendor and Dozens of pedestrians walk down the street. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) Welcome to Pantheon, where everyone is a god among men. INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY Grayscale. A man dressed in a robe and slippers sits on a recliner while smoking a cigar. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) After a long day at work, residents love nothing more than to sit back and enjoy the finer things. He taps the cigar, ash falls onto the floor. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) Mess got you down? No need to worry. A ROBOT enters the room. It vacuums the ash off the floor. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) Mr. C-Bot will take care of the mess for you. The robot bows before the man and exits the room. INT. RESEARCH FACILITY - DAY Grayscale. Several SCIENTISTS are running experiments with various tools and materials. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) How are we able to power the luxurious Pantheon has to offer? To answer that, we must step back to where it all began.

2. EXT. ASTEROID - NIGHT Grayscale. A space ship is parked on the mouth of a crater. Three ASTRONAUTS are digging up a vein of glowing metal. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) During a routine exploratory mission, a crew of astronauts discovered a rare element not found on earth. INT. POWER CONTAINMENT CHAMBER - DAY Grayscale. Two men in hazmat suits place a chunk of glowing metal into a reactor. A light blinks on and a power meter fills up. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) And thus industrium was born. But what does the future hold for Pantheon? TITLE CARD: 2264 Galactic Fair, Keppler-22b. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) Pantheon has been selected to present Industrium to this years, Galactic Fair. TITLE CARD: See you soon. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) So come on down to Pantheon. Where everyone is a god among men. INT. GAMBLING PARLOUR - DAY SCOTTY HUNTER, 35, wearing a pin striped suit, sits at a poker table next to three GAMBLERS and a DEALER. Small piles of money sit on the table next to each man. Four cards lay face up on the table. The dealer lays down a card face up, an ace of clubs. Scotty slides a card from his hand under the table and takes one from his sleeve without anyone noticing. Its an ace of clubs. SCOTTY Im all in, boys. He slides all of his money into the middle of the table.

3. GAMBLER #1

Im out.

Gambler #1 slide his cards away from him. GAMBLER #2 Fuck this hand. Gambler #2 throws his cards at the dealer. He glares at Gambler #2. DEALER You pull that shit again and Ill throw you out of my parlour. Gambler #2 groans and counts his money. Gambler #3 stares Scotty down. GAMBLER #3 Youve got to be bluffing. Scotty licks his top lip. Gambler #3 smirks. I call. GAMBLER #3 (CONTD)

He slides his money to the middle of the table. Show em. DEALER

Gambler #3 turns over his cards. GAMBLER #3 Straight, king high. SCOTTY Thats a good hand. Scotty flips his cards over. SCOTTY (CONTD) Its almost as good as mine. Full house, kings over Aces. He chuckles as he pulls the center pile of money towards him. Gambler #3 stabs a knife into the table near Scottys hands. GAMBLER #3 Wait just a minute. Gambler #3 grabs at Scottys cards.

4. GAMBLER #3 (CONTD) Seems like you hid the wrong card up your sleeve. He pulls a pistol from its holster and points it at Scotty. GAMBLER #3 (CONTD) I dont like cheats. Scotty raises his hands. SCOTTY Come on, man. Its just a game. Right, fellas? The rest of the men draw their guns. SCOTTY (CONTD) There must be some mistake. It was probably a bad deck. DEALER You callin me a dirty dealer, boy? The dealer pulls the hammer back on his gun. SCOTTY No need for violence, fellas. Im sure we can settle this like gentlemen. Scotty flips the table. The dealer and gamblers stumble backwards. Scotty runs for the door. After him. DEALER

The gamblers start towards the door. Gambler #3 stops them. GAMBLER #3 No, hes mine. Gambler #3 runs out the door. EXT. BACK ALLEY - DAY Gambler #3 chases Scotty down a back alley. He shoots at Scotty, missing him each time. GAMBLER #3 No use running, boy.

5. Scotty turns down a corner, Gambler #3 follows. A MUTANT is devouring a corpse. Scotty backs away from the mutant. Gambler #3 sees the mutant and drops his gun. GAMBLER #3 (CONTD) What the fuck? The mutant turns towards Gambler #3 and snarls. Gambler #3 tries to run away but the mutant pounces on him, tackling him and tearing at his flesh. GAMBLER #3 (CONTD) Help me! For Gods sakes help me! Scotty watches the mutant tear at Gambler #3 for a moment, then runs away. EXT. CITY STREET - DAY Scotty walks down the street. Shrieks and gunfire can be heard in the distance. A body is thrown through a window and into the street. Two mutants jump through the same window and fight over the body. WESLEY BROWN, 39, whispers to Scotty from a nearby storm drain. WESLEY You, hey, you. Over here. Scotty looks around to find no one. Down here. WESLEY (CONTD)

Scotty finds Wesley in the storm drain. SCOTTY Whats going on here? WESLEY Ill explain later. You have to get in here. Dont let them see you. Scotty approaches the storm drain. As he is doing so, he steps on a metal can, it crunches. One of the mutants looks up. Scotty slides into the drain before it notices him. INT. SEWER - DAY Scotty falls into a pool of muck. He stands and attempts to wipe off clumps of muck from his jacket.

6. SCOTTY This was my favorite suit. Wesley sighs. WESLEY Theres more important things to worry about right now. Follow me. Wesley walks down a side tunnel. Scotty hesitates, wipes more of the muck off, and follows. INT. TUNNEL - CONTINUOUS Wesley leads Scotty to a large chamber. A small cot and lab equipment are set up within the chamber. WESLEY Welcome to my humble abode. Scotty examines the chamber, he kicks at a pile of muck. SCOTTY A literal shit hole. Wesley glares at Scotty. SCOTTY (CONTD) No offense.