- PRELUDE AND FANFARE:
- (music - Words/Missing Persons)
- (music - Leave It/Yes)
- FADE IN:
- EXT. OBSOLETE NAVY STATION, CALIFORNIA BAY - WEST FULL MOON
- ESTABLISHING SHOT - STARRY SKY OVER BAY BRIDGE - SPRINGTIME
- TITLE CREDITS ON THE SKY:
- Petry System Family Wision USA, and
- N E M O Nuclear Emergency Management,
- - present -
- a Wision--SesQuaTercet USA production
- -THIS WEEK THE UNIVERSE-
- PROFESSORS' SPRING BREAK
- Raymond Kenneth Petry, Strategic Director
- Remain fixed like stars
while SCANNING DOWN to
the
- COASTAL ROADWAY, TRAFFIC - FAR SHOULDER - (CONTINUOUS)
- (00:00 instrumental - It's My Life/Dr. Alban)
- Huddled on this far side, four tall RUNNERS nonuniformly black-clad,
black-jackets, blackened-faces, await their opportunity to cross; one wears a
visored "1_0" cap
- The Road clears momentarily,--
- (00:07 +clanking cowbell rhythm)
- And they dash across next-distant oncoming headlights
- Passed a closed guard station cracked with tall weeds
- Across the time-warped vacant parking strip
to--
- THE BARBWIRED FENCE
- -FIRST- hangs a folded sheet-metal-and-carpet piece atop;
-FIRST-
- Hit the wall!
- (00:15 +"ahhh
")
- Each climbs over
and joins the huddle for reassurance:-- their
black-greased -FACES- (CU) maybe military
- -LAST- takes and tosses the piece aside, catching-up;
-THIRD-
- (confides)
- Faster than swimming the bay.
- (00:22 +tambourine)
- And all recede quickly into the MOVING SHADOWS scattered by the now-passing
cars headlights
- DOCKSIDE
- Regathered crouched scanning the lay of a low-profile bluish-black SUBMARINE
- (00:29 fast foghorn, deep rhythm)
- They rush the gangplank
- Up
and regathering furtively behind--
- THE SUBMARINE CONNING TOWER-MOUND
- Lift the hatch and biggest-first climb down into the dark
- (00:44 -unto- drone)
- INT. CONNING TOWER - LADDER - OPEN DARKNESS (CONTINUOUS)
- CLUNKING down
one-by-one flicking-on their FLASHLIGHTS:--
- HARRY (30-35, med. tall sturdy male model, college-football-hero),
Christian, Republican, nuclear chemistry professor;
- PETER (27-30, tall slim blue-eyed male model), Christian, Republican,
first-year nuclear physics research professor; potential suitor-up for
- GWEN (35-40, tall slender blue-eyed blond Swedish Amer. female supermodel),
Christian, demure listener, mathematics professor; obscured chic wearing the
"1_0" cap belonging to
- DANIEL (30-35, med. tall trim male model), Jewish, Democrat, understandable
Bostonian, engineering professor;
- Leaving the hatch open
- Stepping CLUNKILY onto the hollow deck, Harry starts into the corridor for
the engine room; Peter lets Gwen pass him for the control room--
PETER
- (tending her, quiet)
- We need more light.
DANIEL
- (plain voice)
- Find the light switch.
- (lands CLOMP)
HARRY
- (loud-whispers)
- Quiet!- We may not be alone!
DANIEL
- (counter-whispers)
- You think someone knows we're coming!?
HARRY
- (exits quieter)
- You have reservations, Seenyor?!
DANIEL
- (counter-quiet)
- I think Gwen may have a more interesting lead-in
- The LIGHTS COME-ON blindingly bright;--
ALL BUT GWEN
- (squinting, loud)
- / Hey! / Cut the lights! / Too bright!
- Lights out, PITCH-BLACK EXCEPT TWO FLASHLIGHTS:
- Peter and Daniel, proceeding warily slowly--
DANIEL
- (contritely)
- A thicker, gourmandise cut, please?
PETER
- (leading)
- Gwen, What did you find?
- Momentarily reaching
- THE SUBMARINE COMMAND CENTER
- Gwen seated busy at three adjacent wide displays, fingers flying, touching
diagram-display points, pop-ups, keys that correspondingly light,
chain-spelling, teaching her
DANIEL
- (flash-mocks)
- Wow,-- It's a computer-console from the future--!
- They watch (straight) a moment
PETER
- How did you start it?
- She points to A BUTTON marked-taped on the wall above her--
GWEN
- I pressed this button with tape over it.
- He peels the piece of tape, and reads under his flashlight:
PETER
- "Chinga."
- (a beat)
- Looks, Spanish, in syntax, maybe
?
- Daniel's face grease twists about bafflement and cognition;
GWEN
- Common slang, Peter.
PETER
- (notices Daniel 2 beats)
- Does he have a printout button
?
DANIEL
- (done,- quick playout)
- Spanish, Gypsy, Mexican, American-South,
Chinese by an etymological
stretch but doesn't translate well: Means everything, and nothing: Root meaning
is motherhood, but by quick extraction gets used in everything, from, flunk
yourself, to, get lost, take a long junket -essentially the same word-
to,
battle cries of the oppressed, outcast, and terrorized.
PETER
- Who'd have put it there,- if it starts the computer?
DANIEL
- (shrugs, normal)
- Docked help, maybe?
- Harry returns sans jacket, holding a clear red plastic-tank fire
extinguisher half full--
HARRY (OS)
- (from the corridor)
- Hey, guys: This thing's got really strange equipment:
- (enters, exudes)
- Look at this!
- He slides his hand into the back-sleeve of its flared tube;
DANIEL
- A giant spritzer-- half-full,
- (leans to: mock-peers)
- of cherry-cola-berry juice.
HARRY
- (reexamines: ponders)
- Mmmaybe so
But why do you suppose it's only half full?!
DANIEL
- (handles it, cute)
- Did you drink any?!
- (awaits no answer)
- We're just not the first to see it.
PETER
- Okay, boys, Put away your fire-extinguisher.
DANIEL
- (hugs tank: invites)
- How do you know it's a fire-extinguisher?!- Did you read, the invisible
label?!
- (examines as reading)
- Let's see what it says here: Mmm-m-mmm-m-m-mmm-mmmmm-mm-m-m-mmm
HARRY
- What's Gwen got there?
PETER
- A computer.
- Harry comes, leans and looks over Gwen's shoulder
.
HARRY
- Just your favorite flavor, Gwen?
GWEN
- It works.
HARRY
- What's it do for you?
GWEN
- Single-point control for the ship.
HARRY
- You mean, We could go for a ride?
GWEN
- Depending on the conditional integrity of the Zirconium-96 cata-mutators
DANIEL
- (joining up)
- Hah,-- Gwen, you Swedes have such a delicious sense of meatball humor.
HARRY
- One-to-one, Dan, I think she's onto something:-- These look like the
diagrams for a nuclear reactor.
- (more quietly to Gwen)
- What do you think, Gwen,-- Will it?
- She touches a sequence on her center ENGINE-DISPLAY
--
- MARKS, LINES, BAR-GRAMS, flashing, diagram operations;
HARRY
- (continuing quietly)
- How soon will you know whether it's operational?
GWEN
- Watch the bar-grams.
- A FAINT HUM b.g. begins increasing
PETER
- We'd better close the hatch if this thing is going to move.
HARRY
- (quick to conning tower)
- Right,-- and heave anchors, and mooring ropes
- (trailing-off-view)
- And, or, whatevers
- (CLUNKS up ladder steps)
PETER
- Think it'll go, Gwen?
GWEN
- No adverse warnings,-- but these,
- (points to a bar-gram)
- must come above the line
I think.
PETER
- Let us know when you're ready.
- Harry's heavy CLUNKING FOOTSTEPS PASS overhead on the hull, and They look-up
about, listening a moment
DANIEL
- Gwen:
- (over her shoulder)
- What do these blinking dots represent?
GWEN
- Zirconium-96 cata-mutator reactor telemetry checkpoints.
DANIEL
- (stuffily)
- Good, Gwen, real-ly good;-- I believe it, yup,-- sure, do.
- BAR-GRAMS above the line, indicate Engines nominally ready.
GWEN
- It's hot, Peter.
- Harry's FOOTSTEPS CLUNK BACK, overhead
PETER
- Okay: As soon as Harry gets back, you can try the throttle.-- Okay with you,
Dan?
DANIEL
- Sure, Peter: Anything you suggest-- just keep it below 55.
PETER
- No rush, Gwen.
- The conning tower HATCH CLANKS SHUT,--
- Its locking-WHEEL CREAKS several turns
- Harry's FEET CLUNK noisily down the ladder
- Pause,-- AND PLOP together on the landing.
HARRY (OS)
- (announcing, enters)
- Okay: Break!
PETER
- (nods to Gwen)
- Sure: Nudge it, Gwen:-- Let's see if this'll go
- Gwen presses a sequence of key-spots on Eng-display;--
- BAR-GRAMS STAND UP
RIGHT DISPLAYS NAVIGATION
- THE ENGINES WHINE-UP b.g.--
- THE FLOOR ROLLS SLIGHTLY
- A TWANGY SNAP resounds forward, in Harry's first room.
DANIEL
- Think you missed a rope, Harry?
HARRY
- (hesitantly)
- No
I got them all.
DANIEL
- An antenna, struck an overhang
?
PETER
- We should check before we go too far;- Gwen, Are we doing all right?
GWEN
- Yes, nominally.
DANIEL
- Was there a boat on the other side of the sub?
HARRY
- Didn't see any;-- kind of dark.
PETER
- Gwen, Can you do a systems check?
GWEN
- (points)
- Continually: It appears
- A KLAXON reverberates;--
- THE ROOM LURCHES-ROLLS to Gwen's side,--
- Impolitely throwing them back, but Daniel reaching,--
- Finger-snags Gwen's chair;
- NUCLEAR-DIAGRAM WARNINGS flash as ENGINES WHINE-DOWN half
- The Room slowly rights;
GWEN
- Uh-oh.
PETER
- What happened there, Gwen?!
DANIEL
- (points at Eng-display)
- What's the flashing X-cross-- and that flashing line?!
GWEN
- The cross is the reactor-to-drive feed-balance mixer: It looks like we have
a thermal shutdown on one reactor, and a blocked crossover: which threw us the
lurch.
- (resumes poking display)
HARRY
- Guys
I think I'm smelling smoke.
PETER
- Nnnn-- may-be
HARRY
- (quick to corridor, loud)
- Oh, my jacket!
DANIEL
- (quick-after with tank)
- Hey, wait, Harry! Your fire-extinguisher!
- The two exit, clomping, talking noisily--
- B.G.
HARRY
- (exits)
- It was so warm in there, I took off my jacket, and forgot it.
- (CUE F.G.)
DANIEL (OS)
- Why would it be warm in there, and not throughout?
HARRY (OS)
- Probably the engine room.
DANIEL (OS)
- Engines cool after a day,-- And this place is abandoned.
HARRY (OS)
- Maybe it's nuclear, and warm forever,- or thousands of years.
DANIEL (OS)
- Then Gwen's estimate may be right: This could be special.
- F.G.
- Gwen looks-up blackened-faced at Peter, politely;
PETER
- (nonchalant)
- Gwen: Did anyone ever tell you, you look gorgeous in grease paint?
GWEN
- I model part-time.
PETER
- In marine-surplus?
GWEN
- Whenever the work is decent, and the pay is good.
PETER
- (a beat)
- Gwen.
GWEN
- Yes, Peter.
PETER
- Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
GWEN
- Sure, Peter.
- (touches a button)
- ROOM LIGHTS COME-ON bright: They squint;--
DANIEL (OS:DISTANT)
- (yells)
- Ahhhgh!-- Cut the lights!
- INT. COMMAND CENTER - LIGHTED (MOMENTS LATER)
- Gwen seated, reviews her console; Peter standing, oversees;
- Harry returns with his melted nylon windbreaker soaked in fire-extinguisher
goo, sleeves intact; Daniel hand-o'nose:
HARRY
- (enters defeated)
- My jacket's a total loss:
- (exhibits it)
- I left it on a warm pipe, and it melted to bits.-- Sorry, guys.
DANIEL
- (wrinkles nose)
- Palladium in the pockets, Harry?
- (voice rising squeezing)
- I say it's cold-fusion.
PETER
- It's not cold in here-- and that stinks.
DANIEL
- (squinches and blows)
- Chwww--
Yes!
HARRY
- (wanders away)
- I'll find a dumpster.
DANIEL
- What happened, Gwen: Did you figure it out yet?- Is this tub any good?
GWEN
- We encountered an engineered fluke.
DANIEL
- Great, And thereby flaps a tale to wail
GWEN
- (explains diagram)
- Harry's jacket caused overheating on a heat transport conduit, on one
reactor-line: The ambience-controls in its cladding presumed a thermant leak,
and scrammed that reactor,- keeping the outflow going to flush the supposed
heat-pressure excess,- which is why the crossover remained open: and its loss of
power-moment in the corresponding drive-turbine threw us the lurch.
If you
guys cleaned it up, maybe both will run again. Otherwise we can balance the
remaining reactor through the cross-feed-mixer.
DANIEL
- Harry scraped his jacket off the pipe, -it'd cooled enough to come off in
one piece, but it was still too hot to wipe spotless;- And, we closed all the
access shells.
And by the way, it must have triggered the automatic
fire-extinguisher in there: The place was a gooey mess.
PETER
- (acknowledges)
- The pop we heard
Gwen, Can we recover a scram?
GWEN
- I think it has cleared already: It appears to have been modal:-- it's got
lots of modes: They didn't use fuzzy logic on this one.
DANIEL
- Try it again, Gwen,-- please: Maybe without Harry's jacket it'll run.
GWEN
- (finger at display)
- Okay? It seems ready to go
PETER
- (nods yes)
- Let's, go.
- She presses the display button.--
- The ENGINES WHINE-UP again;--
- The Room rolls slightly
LIGHTS DIM TO RED-running;
DANIEL
- How do you steer this boat?
GWEN
- (points to Nav-display)
- It's got Nav-diagrams of the bay: These are ship-relative.
- Daniel and Peter lean-in at Nav-display, identifying diagram ship-mark
position and motion in the bay;
PETER
- (at Ship-mark low-center)
- This must be us,-
- (off center)
- and the other island in the bay.
- (and up)
- And the mouth of the bay.
- Harry reenters--
HARRY (OS)
- (exults)
- O-kay! That's one stinky windbreaker dispossessed!
DANIEL
- (leans from huddle)
- Did you stuff it in a torpedo tube, in case we need jetsam and flotsam?
PETER
- (to Daniel)
- Friends of yours, Dan?
HARRY
- (joins, mock-sincere)
- Should have taken you, along-with.
DANIEL
- (mock-captains)
- Ahead, One-quarter impulse-power, Helm!
- Gwen keys her panel: Eng slides left; Nav to her center;
HARRY
- (follows Eng, mock-helms)
- Aye, Cap-ten: But that'll reduce main galley power by 50-percent.
PETER
- How fast are we going, Gwen?
GWEN
- We're up to 15 meters-per-hesit.
DANIEL
- (surprised)
- Gong!
- (innocent)
- What's a per-hesit?
GWEN
- (actuates right panel)
- Read your instruction manual.
- RIGHT DISPLAYS LIBRARY DATA over a copy of Engine diagrams;
- Daniel squirms to it, right of Gwen, passed Peter--
DANIEL
- (affecting silly)
- Of course, --the instruction manual when in doubt: Read the instruction
manual;-- silly me.
- (sits)
GWEN
- It comes with a nice computerized instruction manual.
DANIEL
- (stabs keys: NO EFFECT)
- All right,- all right: Let's see what this machine can really do:
- (stabs display; emotes)
- Lingo-cipher ana-grams
- Exo-rhetorial al-gebra-ish
- His Lib-DISPLAY POPS-UP corresponding sub-texts
PETER
- (more to Gwen)
- How fast can this really go?
GWEN
- It doesn't say:-- no top speed indicators.
PETER
- Curious.
- (softly enunciates)
- And, just what is, a hesit?
DANIEL
- (STABS SUB-TEXT, exults)
- Here it is!- The:
- (reads aloud)
- DISPLAYED SUB-TEXT EXPLANATION:
- Metric Hesit: A base unit of metric time: Equaling one
ten-thousandth of one-quarter Earth-average helio-centric rotation: I.E. A
centigrad of a mean solar day; Epoch A-D 2-thousand; Chiefly Nautical usage. See
also Demur, equals a kilohesit.
DANIEL
- (concludes)
- That, explains it!
PETER
- And, how much is that in plain English?
DANIEL
- (muses momentarily)
- Hmmm
Wwellll: The plain, English, use the, revised, French, Systeme
metrique,- which is the System International, using old-English seconds with
new-English meters,
while the Germans, use old-English hours and new-English
kilometers on the autobahn; And we Americans, use the old-English measure, with
miles and hours,- which means: A hesit is 6 hours divided by ten-thousand, or
about 2-point-1-6 seconds,-- which, also means: A meter-per-hesit, or metric,
m-p-h, is about, plainly
- (genuinely surprised)
- One mile-per-hour!
How'd they do, that?!- Science just full-circled!
HARRY
- That was fantastically fast, fastidiously fancy arithmetic, Dan.
DANIEL
- (clarifies disinterested)
- One mile-per-hour is 6 miles in 6 hours, which, times 16-hundred-9
meters-per-mile, is 3-and-a-half percent less than ten thousand meters in ten
thousand hesits, -the next-centimeter tire-size on your car:-- Very convenient.
- TWO ASTERISKS APPEAR on Nav-display, flashing far-left and far-right,-
heading centerward;
GWEN
- We've got company,-- I think.
PETER
- (eyes-about subdued)
- Where?!
GWEN
- (controls not pointing)
- Onscreen: The flashing asterisks on both sides.
- All lean attentively toward Nav-display;-
- The ENGINES WHINE-UP EXTRA;
- (00:00 - Another Night/Real McCoy)
PETER
- Can we avoid them?
GWEN
- (tentatively)
- They are closing fast.
- THE SHIP SWAYS with deliberation;-- They brace hands-on;
- A DOG-BARK display-right: ITS ASTERISK SPINS and twinkles;
DANIEL
- (notices-- points)
- That right asterisk is twinkling.
- A DOG-BARK display-left: ITS ASTERISK SPINS and twinkles;
HARRY
- Ranging and firing!- Gwen, Get us out of here-- now!
- THE SHIP SWAYS as the Engines whine-up TO A MILD ROAR; Harry sits, left;
Peter holds-on to seat-back-rails;
- Gwen controls Nav-display steering-directives
- Ship-mark becomes an asterisk flashing inside a circle,--
DANIEL
- (focused on her display)
- Now, our, ship is an asterisk: Are we firing back at them?
GWEN
- No: We're a locked-in-target.
HARRY
- (exasperates)
- Move it, Gwen,-- please!
PETER
- Press-it, Gwen: Do we have any override speed?
GWEN
- Not that I can tell: We're running 55 meters-per-hesit,- accelerating.
- The twinkling-spinning ASTERISKS LAUNCH TO MEET THE SHIP
- Nearing
steering into a chase
- SHIP-MARK INVERTS to a circle inside a hollow asterisk--
HARRY
- (huffs relief)
- We're clear!
- (reemphasizes)
- But don't let-up!
- They cheer under-breath as CHASING ASTERISKS DISAPPEAR shy.
GWEN
- We're clear.
PETER
- Keep going, Gwen: We can't turn-back; Take us out of the harbor.
HARRY
- (relieved)
- Must have been torpedoes: slow, heavy, torpedoes.
DANIEL
- It may not be torpedoes next time. How fast were we going?
GWEN
- We reached 85 meters-per-hesit about the time.
PETER
- We'd best avoid returning for a while:- We don't want to risk further
contact;-- and I'd rather avoid thinking about firing-back on them,-- if we can:
They're sure to be better "aims".
- Ship-mark exits the harbor for the open ocean;
DANIEL
- We can't stay-out all night
what time is it getting to be?
GWEN
- 4:35 A.M.
- EXT. SUBMARINE - HARBOR MOUTH - WEST MOONLIT (CURRENT)
- Riding just under its wave, the submarine exits harbor
- (--:-- -unto- drone)
- INT. COMMAND CENTER - DIM RED RUNNING (RESUME)
- Engines whining, a distant roar; Gwen controlling; Harry, Daniel, watching;
Peter stands at working ease, holding-on;
- AN ASTERISK APPEARS onshore left behind their Ship-mark;--
HARRY
- (leans-in low disquieted)
- Gwen: Is this another asterisk, off-port?
GWEN
- (presses display buttons)
- Yes: We've got new company, guys.
DANIEL
- Treble trouble: We'd better "up" the acceleration: They know we can outrun
their cheaper torpedoes.
- ENGINES WHINE-UP EVEN MORE ambient roar;
PETER
- Maybe we should consider diving
Gwen: Can you take us below anytime soon?
GWEN
- The controls say I can.
HARRY
- Do you think this boat is hermetically sealed?
DANIEL
- Do we have any escape pods?!
- A DOG-BARK: THE ASTERISK SPINS and twinkles;
GWEN
- Here it comes.
- SHIP-MARK BECOMES A CIRCLED FLASHING ASTERISK--
- A FLEET OF 6 flashing asterisks leaves shore,- spinning;
HARRY
- Why is our asterisk still inside its circle? How fast are we going?
GWEN
- (checks Nav-display data)
- 1-hundred-30 meters-per-hesit, and increasing.
DANIEL
- Surface-to-surface missiles: This could go supersonic: Can we?!
GWEN
- (checking display)
- We also have some additional company:-- a fleet, I think.
DANIEL
- (peers closer)
- Yow!- Five, six: They must have scrambled the Air Station!
HARRY
- They're seeing metal on the horizon:-- us!
PETER
- Gwen: Dive when you're ready.
GWEN
- (fingers display)
- All right: We dive, in: 10 hesits.
HARRY
- Gwen, Take us down slowly,-- just in case.
- The Lone Asterisk launches,-- racing acceleration; a RUMBLY GRINDING
RESONATES through the ship
PETER
- (hesitantly)
- Gwen? Are we going to survive this?
- The ENGINES SCREAM to highest pitch
Asterisk is half way;
DANIEL
- (equally loudly)
- E-T-A: 5 hesits;-- the noise being the limiting factor
!
- (grimaces)
- Gwen's Nav-display indicates submerging
slowing, 120mph
- THE SHIP PULLS-BACK harder;-- They lean and hold-on:
GWEN
- The drag is increasing: We're slowing to compensate!
PETER
- How fast are we going?
GWEN
- (anticipated)
- Current speed is 1-hundred-5 meters-per-hesit; submerging and decreasing
rapidly,-- 95,
- (reads aloud)
- 90,
- (reads again)
- 85.
- The pursuing Asterisks disappear
GWEN
- (confirms a beat)
- Another close call, Superman-- and no phone-booth!
- Submarine seamounts appear as sub-island contours
- THE SHIP SWAYS to avoid a seamount;--
GWEN
- We've got seamounts as obstacles;- But the air fleet has disappeared.
DANIEL
- Just not visible down here.
PETER
- Keep going
Gwen: How long before the missile would have arrived?
GWEN
- (reads Nav-display data)
- E-T-A got down to 2 hesits.
PETER
- Take us on a new course away from this general area for a couple minutes,
and then bring us up to the surface again.
GWEN
- (reactuates right panel)
- Aye
Captain.
- Lib slides far; Near displays LIVE-VIEW seamounts veering;
DANIEL
- Un-silent! Un-deep!
HARRY
- (reflects)
- You thinking they didn't know we're a submarine?
PETER
- (nods slow yes)
- Ungh-hungh: Missiles aren't much use against submarines:- They guessed we're
a speedboat.
DANIEL
- Now, what time is it getting to be?
GWEN
- It's 4:55 A.M. on the surface.
HARRY
- The sky will be light soon.
PETER
- "Up" periscope.
- Gwen touches a right-panel button:--
- Live-view CLEARS WATER AND REFOCUSES 360x90 around the dragline periscope
skimming the moonlit ocean;--
DANIEL
- (stretches back, yawns)
- This is basically, an incredible, machine.
HARRY
- You like the programming?
DANIEL
- Ultra-clean nuclear, Zirconium-96 cata-mutator reactor power lasting a
hundred years; ultrasophisticated computer support, navigation and guidance
documentation
Add koa-wood furnishings and a refrigerator and we could be
pirates!
HARRY
- Oh yes: It has koa-wood furnishings in the Captain's Quarters.
GWEN
- (interrupting)
- Where's that?
HARRY
- Entry corridor, third doorway on the right.
- Gwen anticipating, ups, caps Dan, and quickly exits;--
DANIEL
- (as she's away, quiet)
- Shouldn't forget things like that.
PETER
- We're all a bit tired from that high-speed chase.
Daniel, Can you figure
what course Gwen has set us? Or where we're going?
DANIEL
- (leans over her seat)
- Just, straight, south
maybe the South Pole,-- but that's rather far
No,
actually, at top speed, it's only a few days: We could visit the Antarctic, and
return before school resumes next Monday.
HARRY
- Maybe we'd better ask Gwen, when she gets back,-- if she gets back: Those
were nice quarters.
DANIEL
- (yawns)
- I could use a respite myself:
- (mildly exasperates)
- I'm bushed!
HARRY
- (cutely)
- I thought you were a Democrat, Dan.
DANIEL
- (closedly)
- Ex-act-ly
and this is not the first time I've been bushed
- (re-exasperates)
- And you elephantile Republicans never, forget!
PETER
- (politicks)
- Boys, boys: On behalf of citizen Gwen, who could not be present on this
occasion, and myself, I want to take this opportunity to thank you both
generously for your fine show of continuing bipartisan support
- (softly emphasizes)
- Now, Dan: Go get some rest.
DANIEL
- (rouses, objects to each)
- What?!- You can't retire me like this: I'm three months from tenureship with
a majum curriculum vitι in haggard-culture: -I am income-bent for life, you
understand!-
- (stands with assist)
- You can't all do this to me!
HARRY
- (steadies seat, Frenchly)
- Dan-Dan
Eez oh-right: You get severance, and variance!
PETER
- There you go, Dan: You've earned your Fifty-first United-statehood!
- (semi-hushes)
- Tread peaceably!
When Gwen gets back, we can carry-on without you.
DANIEL
- (caps him, exits; taunts)
- Hah! I knew it: There's nothing new under the sun, but green, vultures!
HARRY
- How about you, Peter?
PETER
- Someone had better stay and watch our progress.
HARRY
- I'll take the first shift-- if you two want next.
PETER
- (caps him, exits)
- Thanks: Call us all immediately if you get any asterisks!
HARRY
- (shifts to Gwen's seat)
- Sure
Watch the asteriskies: tweet, tweet.
- (adjusts cap)
- FADE TO:
- INT. COMMAND CENTER - EQUATORIAL WATERS - (BEFORE NOON)
- Harry, "1_0" cap cycling operators [">≥→≈
.:|·-χ+±≠√/Χ^"] visor low,
siesta-eyes displays: Nav, diagrams open ocean, their ship figured at
low-center, a red bar winking slowly top-middle-right; Live-display shows
outside 360x90 around the ocean surface passing at 270 mph; far-right
Lib-display still has Daniel's documentation perusal; Eng left.
- He yawns
- Gwen enters quietly, face cleaned, hair combed-out, wearing stylish warm
submariner crew-clothes:
GWEN
- How are you doing, Harry?
HARRY
- (perks)
- Hi
You want your seat back?
GWEN
- Sure, if you want a rest;- Pete and Dan are still asleep in the bunks.
HARRY
- (admiring)
- I'm doing fine
Gwen, you're gorgeous in the morning.
- (shifts right to Dan's)
GWEN
- Thank you, Harry. It's almost noon.
- (sits at hers)
- Looks okay
- (quickly punches buttons)
- Any troubles?
HARRY
- I didn't touch a thing.
GWEN
- How'd you stay awake?
HARRY
- (honestly)
- University classroom training.
GWEN
- (placidly)
- Anything happen, interesting?
HARRY
- No asterisks
Just watched the far islands pass-by.
GWEN
- (flipping display views)
- Where did you send us?
HARRY
- (surprised)
- Me!? Send us!? We thought you, set the course for the South Pole!
GWEN
- No, I left that to you-guys: This is your, mission,-- remember!
HARRY
- We didn't change your settings: It resurfaced by itself,-- and it's clipping
at 2-60.
GWEN
- (ponders)
- It must be an automatic course.
HARRY
- Great! We're the guests;- Who's our host?
GWEN
- The builders and programmers.
HARRY
- But that must have been decades ago: Suppose the destination doesn't exist;
Or the ice moved!?
- Daniel saunters-in, clean face, sleep-disheveled hair:
DANIEL
- (groggily)
- Heard you talking: How'd you sleep, Gwen? Great: Obviously better-than.
HARRY
- You could get more rest, Dan: Gwen's taking-over.
DANIEL
- Later;- What's this about the ice moving?- Are we at the South Pole already?
GWEN
- A quarter of the way.
HARRY
- Is there a way to change the programmed destination?
GWEN
- Haven't found it: Looks like we go: and then, maybe, come back.
DANIEL
- (startled)
- May-be come back!?
GWEN
- It's not at the controls:-- not like an elevator.
DANIEL
- (reexits groggily roused)
- May-be we'd better tell Peter,- before he wakes up
I mean: By himself.
- Peter enters, clean face, hair combed; preventing him:
DANIEL
- (spins passed, resumes)
- Whoa,-- dι-jΰ prι-vu
!
PETER
- (grins)
- Good, morning, Dan.
- He saunters over to Gwen and Harry; followed by Daniel; The display red bar
is blinking faster;
PETER
- Harry,-- how about you get some rest, yourself?!
HARRY
- (slowly gets up)
- Sure, Peter, but you've got to figure-out what Gwen's computer is doing to
our futures.
- Harry begins his exit, blearily mock-saluting in passing: Peter smirks;
Daniel rockets a counter-salute;
PETER
- (at Gwen's display)
- Ungh-hungh,-- And what's that red bar blinking at the top, slightly to the
right of center?!
- Gwen retouches her display
HARRY
- (pauses,- back in)
- Oh,- that's been there for an hour, -winking slowly; I thought it might be a
course-latitude marker near the equator.
GWEN
- (unsettled, keys several)
- Wakeup time: You should have called me sooner.
- The ENGINES WHINE-UP LIMITLESSLY; Daniel sits right, and seat-belts, and
calls-up ship-documentation; Harry returns to stand behind Dan, next to Peter,--
HARRY
- Why? --it didn't twinkle, change or move
What is it?
GWEN
- It's an over-the-horizon indicator of, something, out there far away.
PETER
- How soon will it be within primary range?
GWEN
- Looks like a few hundred hesits, present course and speed --several
minutes;-- we're just in time.
PETER
- What is it? Can we simply avoid it?
GWEN
- Very large;-- appears to have no systematic motion: We can skirt it.
- She adjusts their ship-course, left,--
- The red bar drifts more to the right; but then--
- Emanates several spinning-twinkling asterisks--
- Gliding-down --some fast, some slow,-- toward their Ship-mark, which becomes
a circled asterisk;
HARRY
- (slightly dazed)
- An island base? An armada? Are they waiting for us?
DANIEL
- Should we find out? Maybe we could just pass-by near-enough to look across
at it.
GWEN
- (keys more)
- We have several incoming,- missiles and torpedoes.
PETER
- (leans in)
- Their over-the-horizon detection is as good as ours: We know what that means
DANIEL+HARRY
- (mutually deliberate)
- We know, that they, know, that we, know, that they, know, that we're, here,
and they're there.
- (handshake)
DANIEL
- (completes)
-
and we're, trying, to avoid them.
GWEN
- Shall we dive? Captain?
DANIEL
- (keys, quips)
- You can't trick an old teacher with a new dodge.
HARRY
- (reviving gradually)
- Let's rush them, Gwen:- They're not expecting it; and we have a vantage in
our high-speed approach to their missiles
we just have to be more agile. And
we can dive at the last instant. -Or, No:- Let's jump, over your lazy puddle's
torpedoes!
PETER
- Gwen: Can we do that?
GWEN
- (examines her controls)
- Sure
Like a breaching whale
But it'll bounce on nose-first reentry: Its
dive-mechanism will absorb that but it won't have the power to push its way
under: It'll jerk severely.
DANIEL
- (consulting Lib-diagrams)
- Propellers and tractors will free-spin: But they're tach-limited.
PETER
- Strap in: We're going for the goal-line leap.
- Peter and Harry swap-sit left and far-right, and seat-belt;
GWEN
- (intent on her controls)
- Maneuver, programmed:-- We're ready for hop-scotch.
- And hurriedly latches her seat belt;--
DANIEL
- Here they come.
PETER
- Can we track all incoming?
GWEN
- (touches right panel)
- Tracking three-sixty by one-eighty.
- Live-view BECOMES FISHEYE 360x180, Live missiles above, diagrammatic
torpedoes below, tracking markers on all.
- The spinning-twinkling Nav-asterisks converge rapidly
- Their circled-ship-asterisk evades, left-right; They lean:
- (00:00 - Mallorca/Loft)
[COMPUTER](VO)
- (forewarning)
- Gauch!
- (SHIP VEERS LEFT)
[COMPUTER](VO)
- Dur-droit!
- (SHIP VEERS HARD-RIGHT)
[COMPUTER](VO)
- Dur-gauch!
- (SHIP VEERS HARD-LEFT)
- Their submarine adroitly evaded the barrage of missiles
- The torpedo-asterisks following, coming next, more slowly
HARRY
- Now the torpedoes.
- The GRINDING-RUMBLING NOISE resumes;
- The missile-asterisks swing around behind their ship;
- Speed reaches 550 mph as the torpedo-asterisks converge;
- The ENGINES SCREAM to highest pitch;--
- The ship NOSE LEAPS abruptly upward: seating them deeper;
- And whalelike slowly ARCS OVER; letting them buoy-up
- The display momentarily shows flashing-not-twinkling torpedo-asterisks
passing in the water beneath;
- Then arcking down, they brace against the console forward--
- THE SEA HITS,- whipping them forward against their brace;--
- Live-view of spray, seawater, as they dip under to 450 mph;
HARRY
- (calmly)
- Now the big-berthas.
DANIEL
- (excites)
- Gwen: The missiles are coming-back, behind us!
GWEN
- Hang-on to your faith: We're closing-in.
- Their ship-asterisk aims tween two battleships; Speechless they await Gwen's
controlled near-miss
- Live-view dithers, shallow at 500 mph, washing-up a sheet of water over the
bow and top,- thickening to obscuration
- CUT OUT TO:
- EXT. TWO-BATTLESHIP ARMADA - REAR - (AS CONTINUOUS)
- The cocktailing submarine flushes through in 1 sec.
where
- The trailing missiles are just now arriving midair
HARRY (VO)
- (loud over engine-scream)
- Beat-it, Gwen: Those missiles are still angry!
- Avoiding only the armada, MISSILES COLLIDE IN EXPLOSIONS
- CUT BACK IN TO:
- INT. COMMAND CENTER - (AS CONTINUOUS)
-
a rainbow blaze behind their Live-view cocktail spray
DANIEL
- (ecstatic loud)
- Score, Two hits, One run, No error!
- Speed exceeds 600 mph
GWEN
- (loud)
- 6-hundred meters-per-hesit!
- (a beat)
- Going trans-sonic
!
- (a beat)
- Hold-on!
- INTERIOR SHAKES TO BLUR as the sound-barrier is breached
- (--:-- -fade-)
- BLUR OUT
- FADE IN:
- INT. COMMAND CENTER - SOUTH POLAR ICE CAP - (LATE NEXT DAY)
- Moderate cruise; Gwen seated at her console; Daniel on her right; Peter,
Harry, seat-leaning around them; clean faces, hair combed, stylish warm
submariner clothes; watching the approaching majestic glacial ice cap:
DANIEL
- (responds to unheard)
- No thanks: It's more inviting to stay and watch-- inside.
HARRY
- (a beat)
- Any idea yet where the entrance is?
GWEN
- Not yet, It's still on autopilot.
PETER
- (switches subject)
- I'm glad this machine held together
I thought we were goners when we got
close to the battleship: They should have fired on us with their Aegis,-- not
that it'd have done us any good, but make trouble.
DANIEL
- (interrupts: confides)
- Aegis is very good against direct, flying, missiles: Gwen's dithering kept
them guessing late.
HARRY
- Gwen's water-shield helped a whole lot too: Radar is useless in water:
Wave-backscatter and our spray must have out-challenged their Aegis
hunt-and-fire-control programs.
DANIEL
- (adds)
- Anyway, besides, This thing's got a depleted-uranium hardened sub-shell
inside an aramid sleeve:-- Aegis, might, send dents.
PETER
- (pauses)
- Maybe they never expected us to get close.
GWEN
- Why didn't they fire another round of missiles at us after we passed?
- A low GAP APPEARS in the glacier ice wall before them;
PETER
- (admits)
- Maybe they didn't need to sink us.
- (corrects)
- Maybe they're following us by satellite radar.
HARRY
- Then we'd better be quick about landing, and turning around and getting out
of here again promptly.
PETER
- (muses a beat)
- I think this submarine was designed for automated research, with people and
ferry capacity.
DANIEL
- Considering the way it shallow-dives and jumps on the surface, they should
call it, a transmarine.
HARRY
- They should have hired you to help with their nomenclature.
DANIEL
- No big deal:- I'd have consulted by e-mail for reduced fee
Speaking of
which: When do I get paid?
HARRY
- Out here we pay in fiche-- virtual fiche: You want a virtual fiche!?
- They approach the ice-port's tunnel
and slow
in through the passage
dimly lit by their conning floodlights
DANIEL
- I could go a sandwich: My picnic-basket ran-out early this morning.
PETER
- Gwen: Was there any food in the Captain's refrigerator?
GWEN
- No, but there was a pantry of canned and freeze-dried foods,-- partially
filled.
DANIEL
- (unnecessarily loud)
- Par-ty!
HARRY
- You really think it's worth eating? It's been there for years; decades.
DANIEL
- (gets up)
- Canned foods last centuries
Freeze-dried maybe longer.
- (exits to corridor)
PETER
- Gwen, Did you inspect any of the storage foods?
GWEN
- I opened one freeze-dry package: It smelled good after I added water, and
reheated it
but I didn't eat.
- Harry up, follows after Daniel;
DANIEL
- (calls back)
- Last chance for a party, guys!
HARRY
- (exits loud)
- Polar celebrities:-- We invite the penguins
DANIEL (OS)
- (loud in the corridor)
- And the kissing-seals:-- Can't have a party without kissing-seals.
PETER
- Interested, Gwen?
GWEN
- I'll watch the docking procedures.
PETER
- (calls after)
- Bring us something, Dan!
- (returns to her)
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