billy --
your chinatown drawing. we have to have it. it's a crisis panic emergency. the printers are killing us --
0 sixteen. i hate this thing. the elevator stops at their floor, and the doors open. billy follows marla out into 18 int. office area.----''s 18 the advertising department of daniel clamp's empire occupies modern, "open-plan" offices -- endless beige partitions form tiny cubicles full of "ergonomic" furniture. unseen speakers pipe in "white noise" -- low-volume static to insulate conversations.
listen, this deadline. its not my fault. they're making me miserable so i have to make you miserable. it's a complete heart attack disaster horgor story. as billy and marla walk, t ass a worker who's -t4ing to get a drink from the d ar ygr water_ when he pushes the button, the f ain'ss ,got' vershoots by several inches, splashing onto the worker contorts himself to get, a drink,,b is face splashed when the fountain surges. billy and marla a4lie at billy's cubicle, whose "work station" consists of a dra g board and several drawers. the phone is equipped with a video screen. spot a small, struggling potted plant, and, pinned to the cubicle wall, billy's drawing of the main street of kingston falls. on billy's drawing board is an illustration of clamp's projected chinatown building -- _a l s monstrosity with insane pagoda touches. but billy has tried to breathe some' 3 e into it, wit r t the street, kids flying dragon kites, etc. marla looks over billy's shoulder at the drawing.
that courtyard looks cold. that'd be nicer with the trees.
elms.
hi, mister forster. forster nods at marla, runs an eye over billy's cubicle.
billy, this is just what i don't need right now. do you realize we've got department review in three weeks? this is a nuclear meltdown disaster, i mean it.
mister clamp -- sir, i'm marla bloodstone, i'm the department head here, if there's anything i can --
did you hear that? "people who produce. i've been working here six years, and i've never even seen him in person.
this is big, billy. t i.s career opportunity,q4 cement window.for both
clearly. we can talk about it at dinner.
tonight.
i've got something tonight too, billy. a brochure for the clamp cable archery channel. it's a total suicide trauma red alert deadline situation. and you know what? i'm letting it go to have dinner with you.
what ,g with that drawer, billy? i know every feature in this building. we don't have anything that opens itself.
billy, are you keeping some kind of ppi in there? it's a good thing mister clamp likes you so much, because --
great. there's this very chic new restaurant. it's canadian. they clean the fish right at your table.
let me just grab my coat, and i'll be right back. as marla goes o.s., billy slips gizmo's drawer open and talks into it.
ready?
did you always know you were going to be an artist?
i had crayons too, i y. and when i was four years old, i was using them to write dos to the other children. even then, i knew. c_j
isn't this great? we' _jinally getting to know each otdr. you can't do that in an office.
right. now, let's talk strategy. you realize, this changes everything -- for you, me, the department.
your relationship to mister clamp. your access. i can see a future, billy. i see more office space. embossed letterhead. i see us -- -- swallowing up the publicity department.
you have talent, billy, and that's wonderful. it's a god-given blessing situation. but even an artist has to have goals.
i can help you reach those goals, billy. if we join forces.
oh, that's okay --
-- see you tomorrow.
good morning, billy. that was so aim, last night. we're going to have to do that again --
isn't anybody around here? come on. i nee light in my -- suddenly, marla is startled by a booming amplified voice -- the subliminal tapes from the systems control center, jacked up to more-than-audible volume.
what?
thank god you're here.
look -- about billy. nothing happened. really. i asked him to go out to dinner with me, but it was just business. 40 kate shakes her head, impatient.
okay. wait. i'm going to be honest with you. it'll be a cathartic openness thing. it wasn't business. i tried to get something going with him. but i couldn't get to first base. does that help?
oh.
yes, sir. very, very hard. clamp nods, looks at her -- as if for the first time. something promising passes between them.  .as the doors to the building open, admitting sheila futterman and a small crowd of reporters. sheila sloshes hurriedly through the goo to murray's side.
oh, it was a complete nightmare disaster. we had to stop work completely.  .as billy and kate commisserate with clamp.
and then, some of the mogwais apparently ate after midnight, and whenever that happens.  .and clamp and rand are in conference