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INT. MIRANDA’S DORM ROOM – NIGHT

Miranda sits on her bed, Toozie sits at the desk.

TOOZIE

Thanksgiving sorta sucks when you have to stay at college.

MIRANDA

Everyone goes home and the dining halls close, as does everything else.

TOOZIE

And I was hungry and lonely and thought you might be as well, so I came by and brought what food I could.

Toozie reaches into her sweatshirt pocket and pulls out two sardine cans, which she hands to Miranda to inspect.

MIRANDA

What is this, Toozie?

TOOZIE

Fish of some kind, beyond that I don’t know.

MIRANDA

What language is this label printed in?

TOOZIE

I’m afraid I don’t know that either.

Miranda LAUGHS.

MIRANDA

Well, it’s protein anyway. Look…

Miranda takes down a can of some kind and a hot pot from a shelf.

MIRANDA

I have one can of soup, and I have some crackers which I hope aren’t too stale, and we can pool our resources and have our own little thanksgiving dinner.

TOOZIE

Sounds good to me.

MIRANDA

I’ll fetch what’s necessary.

The women speak as the action goes on: Miranda fetches two bowels and spoons and a box of crackers. She plugs in the hot pot, pops the lid off the can of soup, and pour it in to heat.

TOOZIE

So why didn’t you go home like everyone else?

MIRANDA

Scholarship student. My financial aid only pays for two trips home a year, and I’d rather go home at Christmas. You?

TOOZIE

Well, I…

(contemplates for a moment)

I don’t have parents to go home to. They died in a car accident when I was twelve.

Miranda stops her preparations, shocked, genuinely sympathetic.

MIRANDA

Oh, Toozie, I didn’t know! I’m so sorry…

TOOZIE

It was hard, but for me it’s just something I’ve grown to accept. And I suppose at least now the loss of my parents is over. It’s not something I ever have to spend time dreading.

MIRANDA

Still, that’s terrible.

TOOZIE

I get to spend my Thanksgiving with you.

Miranda looks deeply moved, and almost as if she is about to cry.

TOOZIE

After Mama and Baba died I was brought up by an aunt and uncle who I don’t think liked me very much. Enough was left from my parents’ estate to pay for my schooling, so aunt and uncle packed me off to boarding school and I didn’t see very much of them.

MIRANDA

That’s really sad.

TOOZIE

The point is, I guess, that I don’t really feel like going “home.” I have plenty of studying to do.

Toozie pulls a lid off one of the cans of fish, sniffs it.

TOOZIE

It is…fish?

(looks up at Miranda)

Do you want to know something, Miranda?

MIRANDA

Yes, sure.

TOOZIE

This might be a very meager and humble meal, had by us in this big empty lonely dorm on a dark November night and yet…this is the first Thanksgiving in a long time when I’ve actually felt thankful for something.

MIRANDA

Oh, Toozie.

Miranda gives Toozie a big hug.

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INT. DORMITORY HALLWAY – NIGHT

The hallway is empty and quiet. Toozie, in stocking feet and wearing a big oversize sweatshirt with pockets, pads down the hallway and KNOCKS on one of the doors.

The door opens. It is Miranda, who breaks into a smile on seeing Toozie.

MIRANDA

Oh, hi!

TOOZIE

Mind if I come in?

MIRANDA

I’d love to have you come in.

Toozie goes in.

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INT. WAREHOUSE CONFERENCE ROOM – DAY

Ernie gets up and takes the place of Rosalie as well as her pointer ticker. Rosalie sits down. Ernie clicks to an animation of flashing and throbbing tissues inside the creature.

ERNIE

The thing is, the creature is generating a frequently repeated signal consisting of what analysis shows to be packets of binary information conveyed via a modulating and demodulating carrier wave at a consistent frequency of two-point-four gigahertz. Do you realize what this means?

HARRY

I’m a doctor, Ernie, not an electrical engineer.

ERNIE

Well, I’m not sure exactly how to say this, Dr. Lal, so I guess I’ll just say it.

(looks at his shoes for a second)

The Creature is trying to connect to WiFi.

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INT. WAREHOUSE CONFERENCE ROOM – DAY

Rosalie clicks again. A graphic appears on the screen showing the ends of five kinds of tentacles: “Grabber,” “Mouth,” “Eye.” “Claw,” and “Phallus.”

ROSALIE

The external tentacles are remarkably sophisticated structures, arranged in pentagonal patterns at nine sites around the creature’s body, for forty five tentacles in all. The ones we designate “eyes” and “mouths” appear to contain various sensory organs. The grabbers allow the creature to manipulate objects in its environment, and the “claws” probably have a defensive purpose. The last category, which for want of a better term we are calling phalloi, are mysterious as to exact function.

JOE

(half under his breath)

I could imagine a function…

HARRY

(snapping)

Keep it professional, Joe.

JOE

Sorry, Dr. Lal.

(turning toward Rosalie)

You were saying, Dr. Quisp?

ROSALIE

But the most mysterious anatomical feature at all are broad bands on neuromuscular tissue located beneath and around the brain.

Rosalie clicks to animation showing this.

ROSALIE

These tissues are in many ways similar to those found in electric fish, but they have some properties never before seen in the natural world. These are why I invited Dr. Albertson to join this presentation. Ernie?

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INT. WAREHOUSE CONFERENCE ROOM – DAY

Rosalie clicks on her device. On the screen appears a sort of animated cutaway showing food moving through the creature’s top siphon into a stomach.

ROSALIE

The gross anatomy of this creature is bizarre, though, as if some latter-day Frankenstein stitched it all together as some sort of prank. The top siphon serves as a breathing and feeding organ leading to a simple stomach.

Geometric shapes move down the animated siphon.

ROSALIE

The stomach contains various internal organs of manipulation, almost an internal mirror image of the tentacles it has on its outside. After some experimentation we discovered that the creature seems to have a preferred diet of live animal protein.

HARRY

Live?

ROSALIE

It seems to especially like eating whole goats, Dr. Lal. Fortunately for the company, goats are cheap.

Rosalie turns to the screen and clicks.

ROSALIE

The brain is a toroidal structure that surrounds the lower end of the feeding siphon. It’s probably at least ten times the mass of a human brain.

The brain appears on the screen, a giant doughnut around the siphon inside Gynophage.

ROSALIE

We’re not really sure what the creature needs all those neurons for.

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