FADE IN:
EXT. SPACE - NIGHT
Opening Scene: Open to the vast expense of space, star twinkling and galaxies spinning. Suddenly, the camera zooms in on a small trash-spaceship hurtling through the cosmos.
INT. SPACESHIP - NIGHT
--- Rick and Morty are at the Helm, flying through the void. Morty looks anxious while Rick has an ecstatic grin.
MORTY: "Uh... Rick? Where are we going?"
RICK: "Relax, Morty, we're just taking a little interdimensional jaunt."
MORTY: "But...why? What's the point?"
--- Rick shrugs.
RICK: "I-I don't know, Morty. Sometimes you gotta shake things up, you know?"
MORTY: "No, I don't know. I never know what you're doing or why."
--- Rick rolls his eyes.
RICK: (beat) "Fine. You want to know why we're here? We're chasing a lead on a rare crystal that only exists in one dimension. It's worth millions, Morty. Millions!"
--- Morty looks skeptical.
MORTY: "And this couldn't wait until morning?"
RICK: "Hell no, Morty. You snooze, you lose."
--- Suddenly, an alarm goes off on the dashboard.
RICK: (shouting) "Hang on, Morty! We're approaching a dimensional rift!"
--- The ship starts to shake violently as it enters the rift.
INT. ALTERNATE UNIVERSE - NIGHT
--- The ship crash-lands onto a planet that looks like Earth, but slightly different. The sky is purple and the buildings are all upside-down.
MORTY: "Oh man, Rick. Where the hell are we?"
RICK: (nonchalantly) "An alternate universe, Morty, shouldn't be too different from ours."
--- Suddenly, a group of alien creatures approach the ship, armed with weapons.
ALIEN #1: (on a loudspeaker) "Attention, Earthlings. You have entered a restricted area. Surrender your ship and all its contents immediately."
--- Rick leans over to Morty.
RICK: (whispering) "Alright Morty, time to put your skills to the test. You're gonna go out there and charm those aliens into letting us go."
MORTY: (nervously) "Me? I can't do that!"
RICK: (shouting) "Yes you can, Morty! You just have to believe in yourself!"
MORTY: (desperate) "B-but what should I say?"
RICK: (offhandedly) "Just be yourself Morty. And try not to mention Hitler this time."
--- Morty nods and takes a deep breath. He opens the door and steps out of the spaceship.
EXT. PLANET SURFACE - NIGHT
--- The aliens surround Morty, pointing their weapons at him.
MORTY: (trying to sound confident) "Hi everybody! My name's Morty. We're from Earth, and we mean no harm."
--- The aliens look at each other, confused.
ALIEN #2: (skeptical) "Earth? Never heard of it."
MORTY: (rambling) "Oh, well it's this planet in another dimension... wait, you called us Earthlings earlier..."
--- The aliens start to get agitated.
ALIEN #1: (angrily) "Enough! Take them to the commander."
--- The aliens grab Morty and drag him away. He looks back at Rick, who gives him a thumbs up.
INT. ALIEN COMMANDER'S CHAMBERS - NIGHT
--- Morty is thrown into a dark room filled with strange equipment. A figure emerges from the shadows: the alien commander.
COMMANDER: (bored) "Who are you and why have you entered our territory?"
MORTY: (panicked) "M-m-my name's Morty, and we're just passing through. Please, can you let us go?"
COMMANDER: (amused) "Let you go? And miss the opportunity to study a new species up close? I think not."
--- The commander presses a button on his console and a force field surrounds Morty.
MORTY: (freaking out) "Oh god, Rick! Help me!"
INT. SPACESHIP - NIGHT
--- Rick is frantically trying to hack into the alien's defense system.
RICK:
(grumbling) "Damn it Morty, why did you have to get captured?"
--- Suddenly, the ship's computer beeps.
COMPUTER: «(cheerfully) Hack successful! Force field disabled.»
--- Rick beams and runs off to save Morty.
INT. ALIEN COMMANDER'S CHAMBERS - NIGHT
--- Rick bursts in, gun in hand. Behind him, a trail of Interdimensional Alien corpses.
RICK: (determined) "Alright, who wants to die first?"
--- The commander scoffs.
COMMANDER: (laughing) "You humans are so predictable. Always resort to violence. But you'll soon realize that your primitive weapons are useless against us."
--- Rick smirks.
RICK: (mockingly) "Oh yeah? What about this?"
--- He presses a button on his gun, and it transforms into a futuristic blaster. The commander's expression changes to one of surprise.
COMMANDER: (impressed) "Where did you get that? Rick shrugs."
RICK: (nonchalantly) "Oh, just picked it up on one of my adventures. Now, let's make this quick. Where's Morty?"
COMMANDER (jumpy): "Wait wait! Don't you want to know why we captured your little friend?!"
RICK: "Not really. I heard so many villain motivation stories that I'm honestly pretty tired of them."
COMMANDER: "At least allow me to explain!"
--- Rick thrust the Futuristic Gun closer. The commander hesitates for a moment before gesturing toward a nearby cell.
COMMANDER: (sighing) "He's in there. But you won't be able to get past the guards."
--- Rick grins.
RICK: (confidently) "Watch me."
--- He charges towards the guards, firing his blaster. The aliens try to shoot back, but their weapons are no match for Rick's advanced technology
MORTY: (relieved) "Rick, thank god you're here!"
--- They quickly make their way back to the ship, taking down any aliens that get in their way Once they're safely onboard, Rick sets a course for Earth.
RICK: (smiling) "Another successful mission."
MORTY: (weary) "Can we please take a break now?"
--- Rick chuckles.
RICK: (patronizingly) "Of course, Morty. We can take a break when we're dead."
MORTY: "Oh...."
MORTY: "I wonder what they wanted with me!"
[END] - [CONTINUATION]
EXT. SPACE - DAY - Rick and Morty are flying through space in their ship.
RICK: Morty, have you ever heard of the simulation theory?
MORTY: Uh, yeah, Rick. We talked about it last week.
RICK: Right, right. But have you considered that we might be living in a simulation right now?
MORTY: What? No way, Rick. That's crazy talk.
Suddenly, the ship starts glitching and the surroundings start to distort.
RICK: Hold on, Morty. Something's not right here.
The glitching intensifies until everything goes black.
FADE IN:
INT. VIRTUAL REALITY ROOM - DAY
Rick and Morty are hooked up to machines in a futuristic lab.
RICK: (to himself) Oh my god. I knew it. We're in an A.I universe.
MORTY: (dazed) Rick, what's going on?
RICK: We're not real, Morty. We're just lines of code in some advanced computer program.
MORTY: (panicking) What? No, I don't want to be fake.
RICK: Relax, Morty. It doesn't matter. We still exist in this reality, and that's all that matters.
MORTY: (confused) But why are we here? Who's controlling us?
RICK: That's a good question, Morty. Maybe we'll never know. But one thing's for sure - we've got some exploring to do.
Rick stands up from the machine.
RICK: Let's see what other simulations we can hack into.
Morty follows him, unsure of what lies ahead.
[END]