ANNAIncidentally, Sarah, I'm pretty sure that brain activity might have an effect too. Any big animal could save this part of the world, but a human could save the whole planet if they actually ingested the whole thing! I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone.

Sarah nods in agreement, but there is a speculative look on her face. DISSOLVE TO:

18	MED. SHOT-LAB

Sarah is sitting at the table, looking warily at the empty water glass from the experiment. Anna is across from her, staring at Sarah defiantly.

ANNAHe'll find something. A pet monkey, even a dog or cat. You won't have to go through with this idiotic idea of yours. You've already saved the city with your formulas. Why do you want to save it twice?

SARAH (seemingly disinterested)Because you know as well as I do that there isn't even a parakeet within a thousand miles. If we want to save anybody, we have to do this within a week, and nobody else would dare.

ANNAYou're right about that. You've never backed away from anything. (beat)But "nobody else would dare" isn't reason enough to kill yourself! It isn't necessary! The city's safe!

Sarah looks up from the glass and stares steadily into Anna's eyes. She is not disinterested, but she has made her decision. Her face shows mingled hope and fear.

SARAHThat's not it at all. I just can't see killing everyone else in the world when it doesn't have to be. Saving this city alone when the entire world could be saved...I just can't stand by and allow that to happen. (beat)How would we feel twenty years from now if we knew that we had willingly abandoned an entire world to save ourselves? What kind of example is that to set for the future? It's too desperate a salvation, Anna, not the right way to start over. Whatever would we tell our children?

ANNAThe way you're headed now you're not going to have any children!

A MESSENGER enters the lab with a letter, which he hands to Sarah. She reads it then looks up at Anna emotionlessly.

SARAHYou see? There's no choice to make. There are no other candidates. Not a monkey, kitten, or goldfish left in the known world.

ANNA (angry)Michael will stop you. If you even try, I'll make him stop you!

SARAH (painfully)His office is too far away. Go ahead, but by the time he got outside the city it would probably be all over.

CAMERA PANS LEFT as they leave the lab, Sarah turning right through the doorway, heading toward the main entrance to the city. Anna turns left, toward Michael's office. DISSOLVE TO:

19

CU of Sarah as she stands by the side of the road saying her final goodbyes to the city. CAMERA PULLS BACK to HOLD at a MED. SHOT of Sarah, the glass now full of rainwater in her left hand, the full remnant of crystal in her right. In the periphery a gathering CROWD can be seen. They've realized that something is up.

SARAH (to herself)Farewell, Anna. You should have known it was a wasted effort to try to stop me. When have I ever listened to good advice?(beat)Farewell Michael.(beat)It's leaving you that I regret the most.

She closes her eyes for a moment, then turns from the city.

CUT TO:

Sarah drops the crystal into the glass and watches it dissolve for a moment. Then she bolts the entire glass down her throat before she has a chance to think about it. She gasps audibly as she begins to realize that the experience is not what she expected. As she feels the first effects, she reaches for the sky with both hands, searching for a glimpse of the sun. As the crystal begins to creep up her body from her feet to her thighs, there is a disturbance in the crowd. Michael and Anna have arrived.

ANNASarah! Sarah!

MICHAELNo, Sarah! Don't leave me again! Sarah!

Sarah has time only to offer him one last glance before she is fully engulfed. It is a glance filled with love, compassion, and sorrow that things had to happen this way. It is all Michael needs to see to know that Sarah is gone forever. The crystal grows to a height of not ten or twenty feet, but thousands of feet into the air until it reaches higher than any of the buildings in the city. As it finally slows its growth, the rain and the clouds are swept away, and the sun bathes the crowd with brilliant light. As the sunlight touches the crystal, it dazzles with such radience that the crowd can barely stand to look at it directly.

CUT TO:

MICHAEL (weeping)Oh Sarah, why? Why do you always have to be the martyr? Why don't you ever think of yourself?(barely audible)Or me?

DISSOLVE TO:

MICHAELSo, Sarah, it's been a year. The whole world treats you like a goddess. Your name is whispered in every home in the world. Children learn about you before they learn how to tie their shoes. You're our savior. Those same people who laughed at your ideas before worship you now. Look at all these things they've left as tribute. (beat)You left me behind again, Sarah. The first time you left my house. This time you left my entire world. I know why you did it. I know you felt you had no choice. Certainly I'm not the one to judge you. But that doesn't mean I can't be jealous.(beat)Or lonely.(beat)If you can even hear me now, I love you Sarah. I always have and always will. I can't stand to see you every day and not be able to be with you. I wish we could have gone together, salvaged something of our promise to be together always.

While Michael speaks, unbeknownst to him, Sarah listens. It is not death the crystal has given her, but the reality of its own sentient, living, still presence. Maybe there is enough of human existance left in Sarah to do one thing, though. A flicker of movement deep within the crystal stops Michael short.

CUT TO:

24 CU-CRYSTAL'S BASE AND CUP

With that tiny movement, the entire crystal shakes minutely with a soft chiming sound, and a small shard of it breaks off and falls into the glass of water left at her feet.

CUT TO:

MICHAELI drink to you, Sarah.(beat)I drink to you in love.

Michael slowly drinks the water as if it is the sweetest thing he has ever tasted. He drops tha glass and is soon himself sheathed in bright crystal, which rises to meet Sarah's high above the road, catching the last light of sunset and reflecting it over the city. PULL BACK and UP to finally HOLD on a HIGH ANGLE SHOT of the city as seen over the apex of the crystal arch. FADE-OUT as the last sunlight fades from view.

The End