Everyone ready to find out more about that rock?

Mike: I am.

Micky: Definitely.

Emilio: Me too.

(We open in a large lab. Unlike your typical science lab, this one is huge and filled with odd gadgets. Some fly, some roll, some make noise, some even swim in an old, oversized fish tank. A blue-skinned man with huge white hair and a white lab coat putters around what looks like an ATM machine with a really large slot.)

Rocco: (As he leads the group in) All right, look lively. No knowin' what we might step in 'round here.

Marlena: Are you sure this is a good idea, Roc? This guy is a nut.

Rocco: Hey, don't you go callin' me mate a nut! He's just...

Iggy: Off his whack.

Mike: Lauren, go retrieve Micky. I'm sure he's droolin' over half the stuff in here. I don't want him settin' anythin' off.

Lauren: I'll be right back.

(Micky leans over a huge computer-like machine churning out reams and reams of paper.)

Lauren: Mick! Come on!

Micky: Hang on, babe...

Lauren: Mick, NOW!

Micky: *Frowns* All right, all right... *Follows Lauren as they rejoin the group.*

Rocco: (He goes up to him) Hey Hector, how's everythin'?

Hector: (He turns around...and nearly jumps a mile) Rocco! Oh, my word! It's been ages since we've last seen each other!

Rocco: I've had work. How's your inventions comin'?

Hector: Oh, they come and they go. That one the young fellow was admiring ( points to the huge computer) is measuring the exact distance of the universe. It could take a long time, you know. That one (points to a long conveyor belt with what looks like Art Deco heat lamps over slices of bread) is a faster way to make toast.

Mike: Don't look faster to me.

Rocco: Oh, meet me new friends. You know the cabbies, but these are outlanders. They're from Earth. Mike, Micky, Emma, and Lauren. Gang, this is Dr. Hector Windjammer, DOE.

Mike: What does "DOE" stand for?

Hector: Why, Doctor of Everything, of course.

Marlena: Rocco, you still haven't told us why we're here.

Rocco: (Turns to his friend) Hector, are you still workin' on that rock machine?

Hector: You bet your sweet fire-eating flumunger, I am! (He leads them to the large, ATM-like machine) This is my latest, and greatest invention. I call it the Rock-O-Rama Mineralia Finding Machine.

Mike: The huh?

Hector: (Pushes a button; the screen in the front of the machine switches on) Now, (indicates the large slot on the right side of the machine), would someone like to put a rock in the slot?

Mike: Still got your rock, Mick?

Micky: *Produces his rock* Right here. *He puts the rock in the slot.*

Hector: Right. Thank you, young outlander. (We see the rock on the screen) My computer will analyse any form of rocks, soil, or dirt to find the minerals and gems embedded within it.

Iggy: Hey, that's cool. Maybe we could find out if there's really any Acjax left, or if Sinestral's just blowin' his stack for no good reason.

Hector: My computer will tell you all about that, and more. Micky, did anything seem strange about your rock?

Mike: I dunno. Just seemed like some old rock to me.

Hector: Did it seem oddly heavy to you, or make a kind of hollow sound?

Micky: It did seem pretty heavy, actually.

Rocco: Heavy? What does that have to do with...

(Suddenly, the computer lets out a loud BEEP! It spits out a ream of paper and shows the results on the screen. The early computer graphics show the insides of the rock, including metallic shimmery pebbles.)

Hector: Ah HAH! It has everything to do with it, my boy! You've found it! (He dances around, waving the paper) You've found it! I knew I invented something useful!

Marlena: Well, what IS it?

Hector: (Takes Micky's arms and dances around the room) It's Acjax! You've found the first Acjax sample seen in Zlotnick in 65 parcepts!

Micky: That's...wonderful!

Rocco: You're kiddin'!

Marlena: Damn. I guess it's either really buried, or they ain't been lookin' in the right place.

Mike: Oh, we're in deep trouble now.

Rocco: (Frowns) Why, mate? This is the best news Zlotnick has had since the Namtiev-Areaok Wars ended in 3208!

Hector: (Stops dancing) You know, I hadn't considered that. Master Sinestral and the other Glubforians will be looking for this. They want Acjax so badly for their own planet!

Emma: Maybe we ought to get out of here.

Rocco: Maybe we ought to hide this thing until we can alert the Grand Imperial Leader about it.

Hector: And I know just the place for it!

Mike: (Turns to Emilio) We're gonna need back-up. This Sinestral guy ain't playin' games. He wants to invade OUR planet...and we ain't never heard of this Acjax stuff! Maybe you ought to bring in those squadrons of yours.

Emilio: That's what I'm thinking. We need to alert them.

Iggy: I can take someone over to the squadrons in my cab.

Beth: Maybe I should go, just so Sinestral doesn't get the idea to come after me again. :P

Mike: That's a good idea. We're gonna need Emilio.

Micky: *Turns to Lauren* Babe, I think you should go with her. You could try to help out the Leader, or at least keep him company.

Lauren: Well...

Micky: Babe, I know you came because you wanna help, but I worry about you. I worry too much about something happening to you *slight smirk* and the little one.

Lauren: *Nods* I understand, Mick. *Smiles and turns to Beth* Need a hand?

Beth: The more, the merrier!

Emma: Don't worry, Lauren. Marlena and I will make sure the boys don't cause too much trouble.

Marlena: You betcha, girl.

Lauren: I know you will.

Iggy: Ok, ladies. Let's go. Your Grand Imperial Carriage awaits.

*The ladies hook arms and head off with Iggy.*

Rocco: (Chuckles) Figures the guy with four arms would get the girls.

Mike: You think your Squadrons are ready to handle Sinsestral, Emilio?

Emilio: Of course they are! I think this is just what they've been waiting for.

Rocco: (Turns to Hector) Now, mate, what was this place you had in mind to hide the Acjax sample?

Hector: It's down by the riverfront. I used to work there in my younger days, when they were still mining Acjax. Come on. (He heads out. The remaining members of the group follow. We see two men in dark Glubforian uniforms watching them through small black-and-white items that look like miniature painted View Masters without the little round levers.)

Guard #1: (Picks up a small phone in the ship) Master Sinestral, we've found them. They're heading for the waterfront.

(Cut to an exterior shot of a crumbling Art Deco-ish, boxy building. Cut to inside. Through the dim green light shining through the dirty windows, we can see huge, rusted old machines framing criss-crossing catwalks and connecting bridges. Mike frowns and shivers as the group enters the building.)

Mike: This place? Man, this place would be a dump even on Earth!

Marlena: This place is giving me the scaries.

Rocco: Hector, what are we doin' here? You know what the waterfront's like! These old Acjax factories are mainly used by small rodents and teens and nasties lookin' for a place to beat each other to a pulp.

Hector: First of all, this place holds many memories for me. I used to work here, before the Acjax supply ran out. Second (shrugs, smiles) I worked here as a boy. This was my first job. I credit it with giving me my life-long love of machines.

Micky: Mind if I browse these?

Hector: Go right ahead. They haven't worked in years.

*Micky wanders amongst the machines.*

Rocco: I thought the Grand Imperial Leader was pushin' to tear these down and build skyhomes.

Hector: (Shakes his head) These are too far from the city epicenter for people to want to live here. (He stops by one of the largest machines) Micky, please hand me the Acjax sample.

Micky: *Pulls the rock out of the machine* Here ya go. *hands it to him*

Hector: Thank you. (He places the Acjax in a small box in the machine) That should hold that.

Mike: (Sniffs) Man, maybe it's what this planet does to my head, but I feel like we're bein' watched. (He sniffs again) Smells like it, too. I'm smellin' somethin' familiar.

Rocco: Yeah, probably sixteen gangs of warrin' juveniles.

Marlena: I really don't like this.

Hector: There. (He turns to the others) Now, we must go to our Grand Imperial Leader and meet up with Emilio's squadrons. They'll know best about the course of action that should be taken next.

Mike: (He's still sniffing) I'm sensin' danger here. Smell somethin'... (frowns) dirty? Like they've been wallowin' in a coal mine...

Marlena: Mines...

Mike: I think we'd better get out of...

(The windows above them burst open before Mike can finish his sentence. Everyone jumps and ducks out of the way as Glubforian troops swing or fly via jetpack into the main room. Cunland's the last one in. He miss-times his fall and ends up on his rear. He's still dirty from the mines.)

Cunland: Arrest these creatures! They were going to keep a sample of Acjax from our Head Master!

*Micky sneaks away and starts messing with one of the machines.*

Rocco: It's not for your ol' Master. It's for the people of Zlotnick. It's our blasted rock!

Cunland: (Crosses his arms and looks smug) But we're in charge now.

Mike: You bastard. You're stealin' from these people! This is their land, not yours! (He tries to make his sword appear...but gets a plastic flamingo) Damn it, I forgot our powers go haywire on this planet.

Marlena: (Puts up a fist) Get out, or I'll make 'ya.

*One of the machines suddenly begins to spark wildly!*

Cunland: (Grins and kisses her hand) I'd love for you to make me. How about in your ship after we finish here?

Marlena: Ok, you asked for it. ("Steam Engine" begins as Cunland flies into another machine...and the one that sparks seems to suddenly grind to life!)

(Mike hits three of the guards over the heads with the flamingo. It knocks them onto a machine with four vats. They land in the first vat...only to jump right out again, following the wisps of steam. It's hot in there!)

(Marlena tosses two more into another machine. There's the sounds of threshing and cutting and shoving as the machine's rusty pistons go up and down. We see the men tossed around and slapped into crates in the windows of the machine. When they come out, their heads are sticking out of green wood crates with the words "Waterfront Acjax Company" stamped on them.)

(Emma tries to make her field hockey stick appear. She gets a bucket of water instead. She dumps the water on the floor and gets out of the way as three of the men chasing her slide across the floor. Micky and Mike open the door to another machine. When they poke their heads out of the top, we see they're covered with years-old garbage. The machine is a trash compactor. Micky and Mike shake hands, hitting their noses with their hands as they do it.)

(Two of the guards chase Micky over to the machine he set off. It's really sparking now!)

*Micky runs around it, keeping it between himself and the guards.*

(Rocco makes a flying leap onto a loose floorboard. It sends two guards flying into the air and out the broken windows.)

(One of the guards makes a grab for Micky, but he misses...and lands in the machine!)

(The other guard tries to push Micky into the machine, even as we hear his mate scream as he goes through the rock-sorter.)

*Micky swings the other guard into the machine as well.*

(We see the guards get shaken across the conveyor belt, looking like they're doing a weird dance. Rocco and Marlena cha-cha their way past them.)

(The guards step off the conveyor belt at the end, still looking like their doing weird dances.)

(Marlena punches Cunland through a wall, leaving a neat Cunland-shaped hole in the crumbling stone.)

(Mike taps two guards on the shoulders and points upwards. Two buckets of old rock samples burry them.)

*Micky waves down, grinning.*

(Rocco's being chased by two goons on the catwalks. He makes a flying leap for a chain near the edge of the catwalk and swings over, making Tarzan yells all the way. The guards try to follow, but they land in another machine instead. This one stretches and squishes them like taffy, until they both come out at least eight feet tall.)

(Two goons pass by an ornamental tree. What they don't see is the tree spray a grayish gas on them. The gas surrounds them, making it cough. When it subsides, the "men" are now five-year-old boys in short pants carrying lollypops.)

(Marlena rolls one guard into a ball and plays basketball with him. She throws him through a window.)

(Mike and Micky do the "patty cake" routine, hitting two guards into another machine. We see them go through a series of rollers...and waddle out flat as boards on the other side.)

(Emma and Marlena are on the catwalks. They're being chased by at least ten guards coming at them from all sides! Both sets of guards leap for them at once! They duck right in time as the men all hit each other head-on. The women run past the tangled guards, so wound up in each other that they can't get out.)

*Micky pokes at the sparking machine until it REALLY starts to spark. He moves away just before it explodes!*

(The smoke covers the arrival of a fresh group of guards as most of the back end of the building where the machine was seems to collapse. Cunland makes it in just as Master Sinestral and his men make their way into the ruined factory.)

Guard #2: (He runs up to Sinestral) Sir, we haven't been able to locate the outlanders or the rebels, but we found this. (He hands Sinestral the Acjax sample.)

Master Sinestral: (Smirks; even his smirk is unnaturally handsome) So, this is the little rock that will rebuild my empire. (He turns to the man) There must be more where this came from. And if they found this in the mines, there must be more. (To the Guard) Our slaves will have to work twice as hard and go deeper into the mines. There IS Acjax in there! This proves it!

Guard #2: But it's only a little sample. It might be a leftover from the previous mining colony there.

Master Sinestral: There has to be a way to find more...or make it. (He sees a shaken Cunland and two more guards dragging Hector over. Hector struggles angrily.) Is this the scientist they went to visit?

Cunland: My men heard them talk about a machine he has that can detect any hidden metals in rock.

Master Sinestral: You're going to rebuild that machine on my spaceship. Glubforia needs you.

Hector: Get outta my face. You're so pretty, you're ugly.

Master Sinestral: (Narrows his eyes) Take him away. (Turns to Cunland) Search the area. The outlanders and the rebels may still be in the rubble.

Cunland: Yes, Master Sinestral, sir. (He gathers the remaining guards to search the rubble as the camera moves slowly across the piles and the twisted, smoking machines. We see long greenish shadows across the back alley where Mike, Micky, and the remaining cabbies hide.)

Mike: Quick thinkin' Mick, gettin' us all outta there before that thing blew.

Micky: Thanks.

Rocco: Blast it! The bloody arses got Hector!

Emma: They got the Acjax sample, too.

Juniper: Perhaps it would be sensible at this time to employ some outside help.

Mike: We've got to get Emilio and his squadrons.

Emma: And fast!

Rocco: Ok, mates. Good thing we parked the cabs around the corner. They should be ok. (The group walks away in the waning light...and look up as Master Sinestral's space ship flies over them, the camera focusing on it as we fade out.)