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PAGE ONE FIVE PANELS. SIX PANEL GRID. FIRST FOUR PANELS THE SAME SIZE. LAST PANEL GOES ACROSS THE PAGE, INCLUDES TITLE AND CREDITS. Panel One: Story takes place in a military base on Earth sometime in the 22nd century. Seen from behind, we watch futuristic army officer Major Kindred, who is opening a door, with equally futuristic gun in hand. Kindred is rather young for his rank, in his late 30s, and has spent his military career as a paper pusher. Prematurely balding, he wears a finely trimmed beard, acceptable in this futuristic army, though he's probably received a few complaints from higher up about his weight problem. On the door Kindred is entering is a sign reading: Professor Van Vliet -- Authorized Personnel Only. KINDRED: PROFESSOR? EVERYTHING ALL RIGHT? Panel two: We've moved closer to Kindred. He's is in the same spot, but the door is open, and we can now see into the room. On the floor is a human skeleton, but we can only see part of a leg and an arm. There seems to be a phone on the floor next to it. KINDRED: HOLY-- Panel Three: Flipping the point of view, we now see a mid-shot of the skeleton on the floor. It is undressed. Behind it, in the shot, we can see Kindred's boots and his pant legs. In the foreground is the telephone. Panel Four: Kindred is now hold the phone's cradle in one hand, has receiver up to ear. He's sweating, looking around nervously. KINDRED: THIS IS LIEUTENANT KINDRED! CODE V ALERT!! I'M IN VAN VLIET'S LAB. PROJECT PROTEAN HAS ESCAPED! SEND AVAILABLE DETACHMENTS AND SEAL OFF SECTOR! NOW!! Panel Five: Kindred is standing in front of a large counter, with phone sill up to ear. One the wall behind this counter is a glass panel, but it's broken. On the counter, there are various pieces of scientific equipment, a lamp with a prehensile neck and a large notebook. Kindred, has his hand on the notebook, about to open it. KINDRED: YEAH, I CAN STAY ON THE LINE. PAGE TWO SIX PANELS. Panel One: Kindred has his head tilted on its side to hold phone against his ear. He is reading the notebook, a journal with "Project Protean" written on the front. CAPTION: "STARTED WORK ON PROTEAN TODAY. MET KINDRED. NICE SORT OF CHAP, IN A MILITARY KIND OF WAY..." Panel Two: Kindred and an older man, Van Vliet, stand in front of same counter and glass panel as mentioned on page one. Van Vliet is in his late fifties, dressed in a lab coat. Has a full head of straight white hair. There is something inside the glass panel, but we can't really make it out, just a clump of shadows. KINDRED: WELL, VAN VLIET, THIS IS OUR EXTRATERRESTRIAL. VAN VLIET (SMALL): LORD! Panel Three: We've moved in. Kindred and Van Vliet are on either side of the comic panel. Between them, we can see the glass panel and get a glimpse of what's within. The extraterrestrial has no exact form. Truly protean; in its natural shape, it is shifting constantly. What is visible is a blackish, greasy mass of leather-like flesh, writhing and changing. Objects, like body parts, seem to ooze in and out of the alien body, alien body parts, limbs and organs. And especially mouths, lots of mouths filled with long black tongues, and teeth, rows upon rows of teeth. We're only catching a quick peek at it right now, but we'll get a few more chances in upcoming panels. CAPTION: "THE BRIEFING HADN'T QUITE PREPARED ME. I'M AFRAID I FORGOT MY SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVITY." VAN VLIET: IT'S REPULSIVE. KINDRED: MMMM. KINDRED: INDEED. Panel Four: Same as last panel. Kindred is pointing at glass panel. Alien has shifted, so we get to see new disturbing forms within its mass. KINDRED: VICIOUS CARNIVORE, THAT. ATE THREE ENLISTED MEN BEFORE THEY CAPTURED IT. CAPTION (BOTTOM): "I HAD ALREADY RECALLED THIS FROM THE BRIEFING. ONE DOESN'T FORGET SUCH DETAILS." Panel Five: Kindred is tapping the glass with his knuckle. Alien is turning eyes and mouth-like objects in his direction. KINDRED: WELL, IT'S SAFE BEHIND THIS PANEL, IT IS. YOU CAN CONDUCT YOUR TESTS WITH THE ROBOT ARMS. Panel Six: Kindred and Van Vliet are walking away from the glass panel. The black shape of the extraterrestrial is shifting behind the plane.
KINDRED: BY THE WAY, DUE TO THE QUARANTINE ON LUNA, YOUR STAFF WON'T BE HERE FOR ANOTHER WEEK. KINDRED: SO YOU'LL BE ALONE WITH OUR FRIEND THERE FOR A SPELL. CAN'T SAY I ENVY YOU. VAN VLIET: UH, THANKS. PAGE THREE SIX PANELS. FIRST PANEL IS SHORT AND GOES ACROSS PAGE. NEXT ROW IS TWO EQUAL PANELS. THIRD ROW, ALSO TWO EQUAL PANELS, SAME SIZE AS SECOND ROW. FINAL ROW MADE UP OF LAST PANEL, ANOTHER LONG, SHORT ONE, SAME AS FIRST. Panel One: Back to Kindred with phone at head, still looking at book, turning pages. KINDRED (THOUGHT): REMEMBER THAT MEETING. JUST LAST WEEK. KINDRED: OK, HERE'S THE PART ABOUT HIS TESTS. Panel Two: Close up of alien in his compartment. All walls are glass-like, smooth substance. CAPTION: "BEGAN EXAMINATION OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL TODAY. THOUGHT I'D TRY OUT THE CHAMELEON EFFECT MENTIONED IN THE BRIEFING." Panel Three: (Note the caption for this panel should go across to the next panel as well.) Again in the alien's compartment. This time, the alien is next to the lamp described on page one. CAPTION: "THE TRANSFORMATION MADE ME QUEASY." Panel Four: Exact same shot, except the Alien has changed itself into a lamp, an exact duplicate of the first. Panel Five: In the alien's compartment. No alien, just two identical toy balls. CAPTION: "A PERFECT DUPLICATE EVERY TIME." Panel Six: Kindred with phone at head, book in hand. He's looking up from it momentarily, listening. KINDRED (THOUGHT BALLOON): MOSTLY SCIENTIFIC MUMBO-JUMBO AFTER THAT. BETTER FLIP AHEAD. KINDRED: AND WHERE ARE THE MEN I CALLED FOR? PAGE FOUR FOUR PANELS. EACH PANEL SHOULD GO ACROSS PAGE, TAKING UP WHOLE ROW. EACH PANEL SHOULD GET LARGER AS YOU GO DOWN THE PAGE. Panel One: Kindred reading the book, similar to last panel of previous page. He's starting to sweat. KINDRED (THOUGHT BALLOON): MORE BORING TECHNICAL JARGON. BUT WHAT HAPPENED!? MAYBE TRY LAST ENTRY. Panel Two: Close-up on the open pages of the journal Kindred is reading from. The text is the same as the following captions, though mostly cut out of the frame. And its written in such a horribly shaky hand, that it is all but illegible.
CAPTION: "I CAN BARELY HOLD THE PEN TO WRITE. AFTER YESTERDAY'S INCIDENT, I DIDN'T THINK IT COULD GET WORSE." Panel Three: Inside the alien's compartment. There are two cows standing side by side. CAPTION: "WE JUST DEALT WITH FEEDING TIME." Panel Four: The cow to the right has turned into the alien and is devouring the cow with a dozen various mouths. There are still certain cow-like features churning in the black leathery mass of the extraterrestrial. CAPTION: "I DIDN'T THINK THERE COULD BE ANYTHING WORSE THAN FEEDING TIME--" PAGE FIVE FIVE PANELS. SIX PANEL GRID. FIRST FOUR PANELS OF EQUAL SIZE. LAST PANEL TAKES UP BOTTOM ROW. Panel One: Alien and cow skeleton in compartment. CAPTION: "-- NOT UNTIL IT SPOKE." EXTRATERRESTRIAL: GOOD EVENING, DR. VAN VLIET. WOULD YOU PLEASE FREE ME FROM THIS RECEPTACLE? Panel Two: Close up of Kindred, completely flustered. KINDRED: THAT'S IT!? NO MORE ENTRIES? Panel Three: Kindred looks around. Holds up gun. KINDRED: AND WHERE IS THAT THING?
KINDRED: AND WHY HASN'T SECURITY ARRIVED? Panel Four: Kindred holding phone receiver. KINDRED: HELLO? HELLO? IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS LINE? Panel Five: Top of phone receiver has turned into alien head, about to bite off Kindred's head. PHONE: PLEASE DON'T HANG UP, WE'LL BE WITH YOU SHORTLY. CAPTION: THE END
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