Boss?
BUD
Folks, I've just been told to shut down the hole
and prepare to move the rig.
SONNY
She-hit.
BUD
We're being asked to cooperate in a matter of
national security. Now you know exactly as much
as I do. So just get your gear off and get up to
control. There's some kind of briefing in ten
minutes.
CUT TO:
INT. DEEPCORE/COMMAND MODULE 25
The whole rig crew is somehow jammed into the room for the video briefing.
DeMarco is on the main monitor, with his aides and Kirkhill visible b.g.
DEMARCO
At 09:22 local time this morning, an American
nuclear submarine, the USS Montana, with 156 men
aboard, went down 22 miles from here. There has
been no contact with the sub since then. The
cause of the incident is not known.
PAN AROUND the reactions of the various drill crew members... shocked,
hushed, curious.
DEMARCO
Your company has authorized the Navy's use of
this facility for a rescue operation. The code
name is Operation Salvor.
ONE NIGHT
You want us to search for the sub?
DEMARCO
No. We know where it is. But she's in 2000 feet
of water and we can't reach her. We need divers
to enter the sub and search for survivors, if
any.
Bud's scowl has been deepening since DeMarco started to talk.
BUD
Don't you guys have your own stuff for this type
of thing?
DEMARCO
By the time we get our rescue submersible here
the storm front will be right on us. But you
can get your rig in under the storm and be on-
site in fifteen hours. That makes you our best
option right now.
Hippy, born suspicious and recently graduated to paranoid, leans forward...
HIPPY
Why should we risk our butts on a job like this?
KIRKHILL
I have been authorized to offer you all special-
duty bonuses equivalent to three times normal
dive pay.
CATFISH
Hell, for triple time I'd crawl through razor
blades and shower off with lime juice.
FINLER
I'm here to tell ya', you could set me on fire
and call me names.
BUD
Look, I don't know what kind of a deal you guys
worked out with the company, but my people are
not qualified for this... they're oil workers.
DEMARCO
A four-man SEAL team will transfer down to you
to supervise the operation.
BUD
You can send down whoever you like, but I'm the
toolpusher on this rig, and when it comes to the
safety of these people, there's me... then
there's God. Understand? If things get dicey,
I'm pulling the plug.
KIRKHILL
I think we're all on the same wavelength,
Brigman. Now let's get the wellhead uncoupled,
shall we?
CUT TO:
INT. DEEPCORE/COMMAND MODULE AND CORRIDOR 26
Bud stands beside the hatchway as the others file out toward their tasks.
They comment gravely as they pass...
JAMMER
When Lindsey finds out about this, it's not
gonna be a pretty sight.
ONE NIGHT
They're going to have to shoot her with a
tranquilizer gun.
CUT TO:
EXT. OCEAN -- DAY 27
A single Navy Sea King churns through the rain under massive thunderheads.
The sea below is whipped by the storm.
INT./EXT. SEA KING 28
PANNING ALONG BOOTED FEET, four pairs of black military size twelves line
up, onto... a pair of Charles Jourdans fives under shapely ankles.
WIDER, revealing the four-man team of Navy SEALs. And a slender woman in
her early thirties. She's attractive, if a bit hardened, dressed
conservatively in a skirt and jacket. Meet LINDSEY. Project Engineer for
Deepcore. She's a pain in the ass, but you'll like her. Eventually.
She's holding on grimly, sitting crammed in with the SEALs and a bunch of
gear, getting tossed around by the storm. The SEALs are dressed alike in
black fatigues. They are muscular, finely-tuned and extremely dangerous
special-forces types. The leader of the SEAL team, LIEUTENANT COFFEY, makes
his way forward to the cockpit.
The pilot is white-knuckling his stick, trying to hold the great beast of a
helicopter in position. Through the windshield, the deck of the Benthic
Explorer can be seen below, pitching in a violent sea.
PILOT
No way I'm putting her down. I shouldn't even
be flying in this shit.
COFFEY
(cool)
Just hold it over the deck.
Coffey goes back to the crew deck, moving easily in the bucking craft. He
nods to the others SEALs, MONK, WILHITE, and SCHOENICK. In the open side
door, Wilhite clips a 100 foot nylon rope to the airframe and throws out the
coil. One by one the shoulder the gear-bags, grab the rope, and step out.
Lindsey stands swaying in the chopper door, watching the SEALs fast-roping
to the deck. One, two, three. Coffey looks at her.
COFFEY
You want to be on that ship, there's only one
way it's going to happen.
He's sure she won't go for it. It's his certainty that gets her. She sets
her jaw. Opening her purse she takes out a small plastic bag, puts her
shoes and purse in the bag, and grips the bag in her teeth. Then grabs
the rope and slides down.
EXT. BENTHIC EXPLORER/HELIPAD 29
Swinging wildly in the wind like a human pendulum, Lindsey fast-ropes forty
feet to the deck. She steps away an instant before Coffey hits behind her.
Lindsey crosses the rainswept deck with athletic strides. Her nylons are
ruined. An air-crewman in the chopper lowers two additional equipment cases
using the rescue sling. The SEALs catch them as they swing radically across
the deck. They Navy chopper banks and seems to scurry away before the
mounting storm.
CUT TO:
EXT. OCEAN BOTTOM 30
BLACKNESS. Then shafts of light become visible, above a ridge of rock.
Flatbed appears, trailing two heavy two cables. Behind it, the mass of
Deepcore emerges from the darkness, its forward lighting array blazing.
Flatbed is towing it like a tug, aided by Deepcore's own mighty stern
thrusters.
INT. DEEPCORE/CONTROL MODULE 31
Bud, his feet propped up, uses joystick controls to 'fly' Deepcore,
maneuvering against currents and around seafloor obstacles. He is guided
by the side-scan sonar display, with Hippy assisting in the sonar shack.
Through the front viewport, Flatbed can be seen out ahead.
McBride appears on the bridge monitor, holding a sheet of weather-fax.
MCBRIDE (on screen)
Well, it's official, sportsfans. They're calling
it Hurricane Frederick, and it's going to be
making our lives real interesting in a few hours.
INT. EXPLORER BRIDGE -- DAY 32
Bud responds via video.
BUD
Fred, huh? I don't know. Hurricanes should be
named after women.
McBride looks up as the bridge door opens. Lindsey enters in a blast of wind,
wet as a wharf rat and twice as pissed off. Maybe Bud is right.
CUT TO:
INT. DEEPCORE/CONTROL MODULE 33
Bud is surprised to see Lindsey's face appear on the monitor screen.
LINDSEY
I can't believe you let them do this!
BUD
(unpreturbed, almost cheerful)
Hi, Lins. I thought you were in Houston.
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