Sam Scene 2

Act X, Scene Z

Scene "Truce"

(In the war room of the Elites. AVARICE is there, a piece of paper in hand, accompanied by GREED. Three SOLDIERS stand before them.)

AVARICE

"Bring this to the rebel camp under a flag of truce. Tell them that if they surrender on these terms, we will grant them peace. If not, we will destroy them utterly."

(He hands the paper to the foremost SOLDIER.)

"Deliver these to Justice and Diligence only. If they give you any trouble about it, tell them that you are under strict orders not to divulge these terms to anyone except those two. Understood?"

SOLDIERS

(In unison) "Yes, sir."

AVARICE

"Excellent."

SOLDIER 1

"If I may ask, sir, what are the terms?"

AVARICE

"They will lay down their weapons and forfeit the right to own arms of any sort. We will take ten hostages to ensure their compliance, to be released after the period of eight years. These hostages will be chosen by us from among their leaders, excepting Justice and Diligence. In return, their rebellion will be completely forgiven, and no retaliatory action will be taken."

GREED

"You do know that General Justice will never accept these terms, right?"

AVARICE

(Shot of Avarice’s face, which displays a knowing smile.) "Oh, I don’t expect him to."

GREED

"Well, what’s the point of sending him terms if you know he’ll reject them?"

AVARICE

"There are… other benefits to having three of our operatives inside their camp."

GREED

(Horrified) "You would… but… under a flag of truce?"

(Cut again to AVARICE’s face. He smiles crookedly and nods subtly.)

"But… if you go through with this, the rebels will never agree to peace!"

AVARICE

(Turns on GREED.) "They never would agree to peace! Not so long as Justice and Diligence are leading them. Get rid of those two, though, and they’ll likely lose their spine. It won’t be long after that that they come crawling back to us, looking for mercy. With Justice and Diligence gone, this war is as good as won."

GREED

"I see, sir."

AVARICE

"Good. (To SOLDIERS) You’ll leave immediately. We have a helicopter waiting to carry you to the rebel base. Remember: deliver the terms to Justice and Diligence only. No one else."

SOLDIERS

Yes, sir.

(They turn and leave.)

End of Scene