The Final Generation

THE FINAL GENERATION

by

Rick Haley

EXT. UNITED NATIONS BUILDING - DAY

         The camera pans out from space to show the United Nations building in New York City. Suddenly, an alien spacecraft hovers into view and lands silently near the building's front steps.

Cut to:
INT. UNITED NATIONS BUILDING - DAY

         The delegates of the General Assembly are gathered in the main hall, all eyes fixed on the alien spacecraft. Suddenly, a humanoid-looking alien steps out and approaches. The crowd of delegates part and back away as the alien walks past them to the stage of the General Assembly. He stands silently at the podium as the crowd surges in. All televisions, radio stations, and the internet are immediately tuned in to his appearance. Each person hears the alien in their own language.

ALIEN: (in a deep, booming voice) Greetings, humans of Earth. I have no ill intent to you or your planet. I come in peace, from a civilization thousands of light-years away. Many, many thousands of your years ago, we planted our planet’s life pod on your ocean floor to mature. This was necessary so we may survive on our home world. Our life pod takes 60,000 of your years to mature. It is vital to our species' survival.

The delegates of the General Assembly listen in stunned silence as the alien continues to speak.

ALIEN: Unfortunately, due to your industrial and war-like actions and your planet's ongoing degradation, the life pod is in danger of being corrupted. This is unacceptable to us. It is against our species' natural order to inflict harm upon yours. However, your species must be stopped from continuing to harm our life pod. I have released an undetectable agent into your atmosphere that will prevent human beings from reproducing. There is a way to reverse what is done. We, at our great council, have decided that in this way, we can ensure our survival without causing harm to a single human being. Hopefully, the fragile creatures that you are, will die a peaceful death. Though, that is highly unlikely, as you insist on destroying one another and the planet for power and gain. We have monitored your behavior since before you crawled as animals. You are a broken and flawed species in the universe. I leave you to your fate.

The alien suddenly vanishes and his spaceship streaks away.

Cut to:
EXT. HOSPITAL - DAY

         The camera pans out from space to show a hospital in the heart of the city. Suddenly, the doors burst open, and a man and a pregnant woman, run in. The woman is in the last stages of labor. Moments later another couple in a similar situation burst into the emergency room. The doctors quickly assist in the delivery of both. One couple gives birth to a boy, the other a girl. Both babies are healthy and thriving. They are Adam and Eve, the last two human beings to be born on Earth.

Cut to:
INT. GOVERNMENT COMPOUND - DAY

         Adam and Eve grow up, surrounded by the chaos of a world collapsing. Riots, wars, and lawlessness abound and have significantly reduced the world’s population. Child abductions are commonplace. Those not killed or murdered by the initial chaos begin to grow old and die off. The government tried in vain to find an antidote to the alien's agent but failed in every attempt. In an effort to preserve what remains of humanity, the government trains all remaining young people in government-protective schools and compounds. Adam and Eve receive extensive training and education in medicine, farming, mechanics, and survival tactics as well as other subject matter.

Cut to:
EXT. ABANDONED CITY - DAY

         The camera pans out from space to show an abandoned city, its buildings and infrastructure falling into disrepair as nature begins to reclaim it. Wild dogs roam the streets of the city. Zoo animals freed of their enclosures bred and multiplied now hunt the streets as predators. Feral hogs, cougars, cows, bears, wolves, and well as imports from zoos roam the country freely. Adam and Eve struggle to survive in a world without people, relying on their training to keep themselves alive.

Cut to:
INT. GOVERNMENT COMPOUND - DAY

         Adam and Eve now live in a government compound, well into their sixties. Suddenly, the alien reappears, and they turn to face him.

ALIEN: (in a deep, booming voice) You are not the only ones we have chosen Adam and Eve. We have chosen many other couples like you around the world and provided for them, as I have you. All of them, like you, are now with child. Do better than your ancestors have done. We will continue to monitor your progress. We will be back.


The alien suddenly vanishes before their eyes, and the long unused ham radio suddenly lights up and crackles. A voice calls out over the radio,

VOICE 1: Hello. Can anyone hear me? Is anyone out there!?

VOICE 2: Aye mate, We read you loud and clear. That is and the Misses I do!

Then, another voice responds, And then another voice calls out in a foreign tongue, then another, and another, until a chorus of voices fills the air.

ADAM: (smiling through tears) We're not alone.

EVE: (crying tears of joy) We're not alone
.
The scene fades to black.

FADE OUT.