She Blinded Me With Science

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In Chapter 20 of THE INVISIBLE GIRL, university professor Bernard Bee meets with world-renowned scientist Fleming Perkins and convinces him to help him find a cure for his daughter Bettie's invisibility ...


EXT. UNIVERSITY AUDITORIUM - NIGHT
A stately, old performance hall on campus.
Overcome with beautiful vines.

A sign on the wall reads
FLEMING PERKINS TONIGHT.

A stream of STUDENTS and
PROFESSORS walk in.

Bernard comes into view.
Looks at the sign. Goes in.

INT. UNIVERSITY AUDITORIUM - NIGHT
Packed to the gills.
FLEMING PERKINS (60’s) sits in
his wheelchair bathed in warm lighting.

Gnarled, hunched-over.
Limbs at odd angles.
Eyes burning with intelligence.

FLEMING
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity
offers the possibility that we could
create and maintain wormholes --
little tubes that connect
different regions of space-time.
If so, we might be able to use them
for rapid travel around the galaxy --
or even travel back in time.
(beat)
Of course, we haven’t seen
anyone from the future yet --
or have we?

A smattering of chuckling
from the audience.

BERNARD
Looks at his watch. Sighs.

INT. UNIVERSITY AUDITORIUM - BACKSTAGE AREA - CONTINUOUS
Fleming sits in his chair speaking
with a trio of DISTINGUISHED-LOOKING
SCIENTIFIC TYPES (60’s).

WHITE-HAIRED SCIENTIFIC TYPE
Quite intellectually stimulating,
Mr. Perkins.

FLEMING
Please. Call me Fleming.
All Nobel Prize laureates do.

PLUMP SCIENTIFIC TYPE
I must say you frightened me
with your comments
on space exploration.
Do you really think
things are that dire?

FLEMING
You should be frightened.
Look at what happened in Japan.
And that was an accident.

Bernard joins the group.
Looks at Stephen eagerly.

BERNARD
Great talk, Mr. Perkins.
I was wondering if I could
ask you a question in private?

FLEMING
Why the need for secrecy?

BERNARD
Top secret research.
(beat)
And a young girl’s
life is in danger.

Scientific Types raise
their eyebrows. Nod. Shuffle away.

FLEMING
A most effective way
of clearing the room.
I’ll have to remember that one.

BERNARD
I wasn’t joshing, Mr. Perkins.

FLEMING
Fleming.

BERNARD
Fleming.
(clears throat)
I have developed a serum that
refragments subatomic particles
so that the atoms are cloaked in
a sub-setted spatial plane
apart from ours --

FLEMING
Which would make someone invisible.

BERNARD
Exactly. I’ve spent over
twenty years working on it --

FLEMING
And I would assume that
the young girl that
has taken the serum is
someone you’re close to,
like a daughter, perhaps?

BERNARD
Indeed.

FLEMING
And I would further assume
that you’re asking me for help?

BERNARD
I know you’re a busy man,
but she’s disappeared
and I’m worried sick that --

FLEMING
Say no more.
Take me to your lab.
We have nubile,
young flesh to rescue.
(shouts)
She blinded me with SCIENCE.

BERNARD
Excuse me?

FLEMING
Sorry. New medication.
(mumbles)
YOU try sitting in a
wheelchair forty years --