FADE IN: A NOTE ON LANGUAGE: The Vrakali language spoken by the Eastern European delegation is fictional. Key words are: cheva (shall, binding), mora (may, permissive), vulen (must, obligatory), posson (could, conditional), obligan (required, non-discretionary), encurajat (encouraged, advisory). These distinctions are the film's engine. All other dialogue is in English unless otherwise noted. INT. PALAIS DES NATIONS, INTERPRETER BOOTH A, GENEVA, 8:47 AM The building is older than most of the crises it has housed. Grey limestone, long corridors, the particular silence of institutions that have decided their purpose is permanent. Outside, the lake is invisible. January fog has erased it entirely. The interpreter booth is a glass-enclosed rectangle suspended above the main conference hall. Twelve feet wide, eight feet deep. Acoustic tile walls, sound dampening carpet, a narrow shelf running the length of the glass. On the shelf: two paper cups holding pencils. A yellow legal pad, unused. A space where coffee usually sits but today holds nothing. ANA VASIC (36) comes through the booth door with the controlled efficiency of someone who has entered this exact kind of room four hundred times. She is dark-haired, still in her winter coat. Her scarf has not been unwound yet. Sharp-featured, economical in her movements, the kind of woman who notices exits and load-bearing walls before she notices decor. She removes the coat. Hangs it on the hook beside the door. Sits. Unfolds her reading glasses: wire frame, slightly crooked, bought in1