Heroines of Chaos

(The immigration official beckons Ferenc forward. Using one stick, he hobbles forward, presents his travel documents, which are eventually stamped.)

(Ferenc moves slowly toward exit.)

(On the whiteboard, Zsófi draws Baja California Peninsula, top right. At bottom left, she draws the Australian east coast, plus New Zealand.)

(Zsófi holds out the board-marker pen to the Colonel.)

(Colonel comes forward, takes the pen. He stands uncomfortably close to Zsófi, invading her own space.)

(Colonel stops, puzzled at the impossible task. Zsófi eases away from him.)

(Zsófi erases the land, and begins a new drawing.)

(She puts a tiny red dot on the whiteboard.)

(Zsófi then draws a graph on the whiteboard. Along the bottom, left to right, she marks the years 1800, 1900, 2000, 2022. The vertical Y-axis shows global population, from one to eight billion. Large label: HUMAN POPULATION. )

(Zsófi then draws a ‘hockey stick’ curve, with the stick at 1.0 billion in 1800, slowly rising to 1.6 billion in 1900, and a sudden kick up to eight billion in 2022.)

(Colonel looks puzzled.)

(Colonel returns to front row, and stares at Zsófi.)

(Colonel remains standing, holding the back of the chair.)

(Zsófi shakes her head. Colonel moves toward her again.)

(Zsófi, shaken, clenches fist, bites her lower lip, nods.)

(SOUND: The door creaks open. Zsófi, now hooded, comes out of the stage wings, and looks around. She’s hesitant, like an animal emerging from its den. Her eyes dart back and forth, scanning faces, cars, details.)

(Zsófi begins to walk down the sidewalk, keeping close to the buildings. She passes the glittering facade of a high-end department store, its windows reflecting distorted images of the street. She avoids eye contact with everyone. She glances furtively backwards over her shoulder.)

(In front of her, Zsófi suddenly spots the photographer, who is taking photos of her. Zsófi turns around and heads back in the other direction. But the two men-in-black emerge to block her path.)

(Zsófi turns again and runs off into the stage wings opposite the service door.)

(Tamara turns the radio off.)

(SOUND: the whirr/buzz/whine of a drone approaching. The drone descends and hovers. Zsófi stands in front of Tamara. Tamara turns her face away.)

(SOUND: The drone lifts up and away into the distance.)

(Tamara goes and hugs Zsófi.)

(PLATFORM MANAGER, whistle to mouth, checks around. SOUND: train doors closing. Ferenc appears at head of platform, hobbling with a stick. Whistles blow. At the last moment, the PLATFORM MANAGER sees Ferenc, and holds the train while helping Ferenc board. More whistle-blowing. The doors close, and the train moves off. )

(Two stretcher-bearers approach the nurse, bringing a new patient.)

(Two stretcher-bearers stop and begin to turn around.)

(Ferenc limps slowly up the farmstead driveway using one stick. Ferenc stops and waves the stick high, then moves on, a little closer, and stops. Hallooes:)

(Zsófi is startled, looks up, wondering. Then screams:)

(Zsófi rushes to Ferenc, screaming with joy.)

(They hug and hug amid tears.)

(Tears roll down his cheeks. Zsófi screams with joy.)

(Altan brings biscuits from inside the farmhouse.)

(Ference sighs. His hands are shaking.)

(Ferenc takes a biscuit.)

(Ferenc shakes his head.)

(Ference sighs again.)

(Ferenc puts his head in his hands.)

(The only sound in the quiet of the night is of the crunch of her footsteps on the gravel. SOUND: Then: the noise of a big diesel. Two headlights appear, coming toward her. Zsófi stops.)

(SOUND: car doors slam! Out jump four masked men in their late thirties, who look like professional assassins. They move toward her. Zsófi backs away.)

(SOUND: whizz of a bullet. A bullet snickers the ground between Zsófi and the men. The men immediately drop to the ground like professional soldiers.)

(Zsófi runs away back up the track into the darkness. SOUND: Whirr as another bullet hits the ground near the prone men, who promptly begin to wriggle and roll back toward the SUV.)

(One man gets in and reverses the SUV while the others shelter and run alongside. The SUV turns round, the men outside pause, peering.)

(The men jump on board as the SUV drives off.)

(Tamara and Zsófi, wearing white beekeeping suits, enter and walk together toward the hives, carrying smoke puffers.)

(They reach the first bank of hives. No sound of bees.)

(Together, they lift off the lid on the first hive. Tamara pulls out the first frame and inspects it. They lift and drop it back. Then the second, and third. Tamara ponders.)

(Tamara keeps pulling out more frames one at a time, and puts them back, until she finds one with the queen.)

(Tamara shows the frame to Zsófi, and then replaces it. They move on to another hive, and repeat the process.)

(They move on to another hive, and repeat the process.)

(Tamara looks grim.)

(Zsófi looks nonplussed.)

(Zsófi strides off toward the hills.)

(IF SAFE: Zsófi pretends to light the hives and black smoke appears.)

(Tamara holds out her hand to Salvadori. Salvadori gives Tamara a hug. Tamara cries.)

(Salvadori departs. Tamara turns to Zsófi.)