CUT TO:

EXT. INCEPTION/GAMBLING DEN, MOMBASA - DAY

Crowded, bustling, smoke-filled. Cobb follows Eames. Eames mysteriously produces two stacks of chips and puts them down in front of the cashier. Cobb pulls one off the top, squints at the embossed name.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
You’re spelling hasn’t improved.

Eames GRABS the chip. Hands it to the cashier.

EAMES
Piss off.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
How’s your handwriting?

Eames takes his money. Smiles at Cobb.

EAMES
Versatile.

CUT TO:

EXT. BALCONY OF A COFFEE HOUSE - LATER

A ramshackle balcony overlooking a bust street. Eames pours.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
Inception.

Eames’s glass stops halfway to his mouth.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
Don’t bother telling me it’s impossible.

EAMES
It’s perfectly possible. Just bloody difficult.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
That’s what I keep saying to Arthur.

EAMES
Arthur? You’re still working with that stick-in-the-mud?

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
He’s a good point man.

EAMES
The best. But he has no imagination. If you’re going to perform inception, you need imagination.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
You’ve done it before?

EAMES
Yeas and no. We tried it. Got the idea in place, but it didn’t take.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
You didn’t plant it deep enough?

EAMES
It’s not just about depth. You need the simplest version of the idea-the one that will grow naturally in the subject’s mind. Subtle art.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
That’s why I’m here.

EAMES
What’s the idea you need to plant?

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
We want the a fugetive on the FBI's most wanted list to have a sudden heart change and surrender.

EAMES
See, right there you’ve got various political motivations, anti-monopolistic sentiment and so forth. But all that stuff’s at the mercy of the subject’s prejudice-you have to go to the basic.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
Which is?

EAMES
The relationship with the father.
(downs drink)
Do you have a chemist?

Cobb shakes his head.

EAMES
There’s a man here. Yusuf. He formulates his own versions of the compounds.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
Let’s go see him.

Cobb stands up, PUSHES into the crowd- faces PEER at him- he moves, trying to blend- TURNS- a SECOND BUSINESS MAN is there. Cobb HEAD BUTTS the Second Businessman, PUSHES past him-

CUT TO:

EXT. INCEPTION/STREET, CHASE THROUGH MOMBASA - CONTINUOUS

EAMES rushes along the street, followed by ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB. They take a short cut through some back gardens, jumping fences along the way.

CUT TO:

INT. INCEPTION/PHARMACY - CONTINUOUS

Row upon row of wooden shelves holding hundreds of dusty glass bottles of all shapes and colors. At the far end, a portly 40-year-old man rises from behind his desk, beckoning. This is YUSUF.

YUSUF
Come, come.

Eames shakes Yusuf's hand. Yusuf stops at Cobb.

YUSUF
Ah, yes. Mr. Cobb. I've heard so very much about you.
(indicates chairs) please.

Yusuf chases a CAT off Saito's chair.

YUSUF
Bloody cats.

Yusuf moves to a shelf and runs his fingers over the glass bottles. None of them has a label.

YUSUF
You work using Somnacin, I think, Mr. Cobb?

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
You're well informed, Mr. Yusuf.

Yusuf places a bottle on the desk in front of Cobb.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
(dubious)
Somnacin?

YUSUF
(proudly)
Yusuf's Somnacin.

Yusuf pulls the stopper, holds it towards Cobb's nose.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
As good as the real thing?

Yusuf WHIPS the bottle away from Cobb, offended.

YUSUF
Better.

Yusuf holds the bottle to the light, marveling.

YUSUF
Binds the dreamers tight. Let's them dream as one. Makes it real. Of course, if you'd prefer, you
could use Somnacin brand. If you could explain to the international control council what you wanted it
for.

Yusuf puts the bottle back onto the shelf. Sits.

YUSUF
You are seeking a chemist?
(Cobb nods)
To formulate compounds for a job?

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
And to come into the held with us.

YUSUF
I rarely go into the held, Mr. Cobb.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
We need you there to tailor compounds to our particular requirements.

YUSUF
Which are?

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
Great depth.

YUSUF
A dream within a dream? Two levels?

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
Three.

YUSUF
Not possible. That many dreams within dreams would be too unstable.

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS COBB:
I've done it before. You just have to add a sedative.

YUSUF
A powerful sedative. How many team members?

ESENIY/FLIX FOOTY FRENZY AS...