The Girl from Tomorrow

PJ:
Alana, it's time to wake up.

Alana:
I am awake.

PJ:
Good. It's time for your morning exercises.

Alana:
PJ, now is not the time.

PJ:
My time function is accurate to one millionth of a second.

Alana:
I think I'll have to reset your time function. This isn't the year 3000 and we're in trouble.

Alana:
Can you help me?

Guard:
What's the problem?

Alana:
I'm lost.

Guard:
Where do you live?

Alana:
I'm from the year 3000. I was kidnapped by a warrior from the year 2500.

Guard:
[quietly] Kids.

Mrs. Bloomington:
Colds are such a nuisance. I don't know why I'm always getting so many.

Alana:
You're too fat. If you lost weight, your immune system would function more efficiently and you wouldn't get colds.

Mrs. Bloomington:
I don't care where you're from, someone ought to teach you some manners!

Alana:
Why are you all so horrible to one another?

Irene Kelly:
Oh. We didn't mean anything by it. It's just the way families behave. We still love each other.

Alana:
It's a strange way of showing it.

Irene Kelly:
Oh, Alana. This must seem like a terrible world to you.

Alana:
I'll never belong here.

[Alana and Silverthorn are looking over Sydney Harbour]

Silverthorn:
Look. It's beautiful, isn't it? By the year 2500, all this will be gone. In my time, Alana, the harbour's dead. The city destroyed by war. Packs of starving people fight each other in the rubble over every last tin of food. I had to live like an animal. Just try to imagine it. Without a mask, the air would choke you. Clean water's more precious than gold. We're a special people, Alana. You and I know what's in the future. But who's to say we can't change it for the better? We can do it, Alana. You and me. But there'd be people here who'd be jealous. They'll try to destroy us.

Alana:
Why should I help you, Silverthorn? If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here.

Silverthorn:
I'm sorry, but nobody's perfect. You left me to die in a rubbish dump.

Alana:
I was scared.

Silverthorn:
So was I! Look, I'm not blaming you. We do what we have to to survive.

Alana:
Where's the Time Capsule? I want to go home.

Silverthorn:
It's gone. Buried in the dump. We're stuck here for good.

Silverthorn:
If I can't control the future, I'll try the past.

Alana:
Smog it!

Alana:
I hate this place. Only children have wars.

[after Alana's first day at school]

Irene Kelly:
How did she cope?

Jenny Kelly:
Terrible. She can't even lie.

Irene Kelly:
Was anyone suspicious?

Jenny Kelly:
Mr. Rooney was a bit, but I think we got away with it. Just she knows a lot about some things.

Irene Kelly:
And nothing about others, right?

Jenny Kelly:
Miss Durkin teaches History. All you have to do is sit down, look interested and write down whatever she says.

Alana:
But how do you learn anything that way?

Jenny Kelly:
Good question.

[Alana walks into Mr. Rooney's classroom laughing loudly]

James Rooney:
You're obviously enjoying yourself, Alana.

Alana:
Oh, yes, thank you, Mr. Spunkarooney.

Jenny Kelly:
Alana!

Alana:
You said that's what all the girls called him.

Irene Kelly:
Sit down and have some breakfast, Alana. What would you like? There's, uh, cereal, fruit, toast?

Petey Kelly:
Human flesh.

Irene Kelly:
Petey!