20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Page #4

hoping to learn Nemo's secrets.

I believe we owe the world

that much, Ned.

- Have you a better plan?

- Yeah.

I want to get off.

Of course I don't mind

going with my pockets full.

I can't believe

you could be so foolish.

Why not? He's got a king's ransom

aboard here.

Don't call it stealing,

because that's the way he got it.

If we could take this thing over,

we'd be rich.

I'd have a ship of me own,

and you wouldn't have to be starving

on a professor's pay.

Don't look at me with

those soft-boiled eggs.

I caught the grin of gold in them

when that chest busted.

Ned, listen to me.

I want you to forget this idea.

Promise me that you won't start

anything on your own.

I won't promise that, Professor.

At least try my way first.

I know I can win the captain's confidence,

but I need time, and I need your help.

Can I count on you?

All right. Well, I go this far.

I won't try any one-man mutiny. Yet.

It is the best way, believe me.

There's one thing you ought

to know, Professor.

Nemo's cracked.

I've yet to see the day you can

make a deal with a mad dog.

So while you're feeding him sugar,

I'll be figuring a plan to muzzle him.

Fool.

He simply cannot grasp

the significance of all this.

Here we are within reach of

the most fabulous discoveries of all time,

and he patters of gold, escape.

Trivialities. Nonsense.

- That depends on your point of view.

- What do you mean by that?

I just think that Ned values his life

above scientific achievement.

His life means nothing.

Nor does mine or yours,

compared to what's behind all this.

We can't have him crossing Nemo.

Today we encountered

a fearsome storm.

An ordinary vessel

would have suffered heavy damage.

Safe and serene,

the Nautilus cruised

beneath the tempest.

There was much to occupy me,

so I left my apprentice

to deal with Ned Land.

Although he had

apparently settled down,

I knew he bore

constant watching.

Aye, sir, I'll check

all decks below.

Got a whale of a tale to tell you, boys

A whale of a tale that's true

'Bout the flappin' fish

And the girls I've loved

On nights like this

With the moon above

Cute, isn't she?

As the voyage continued,

the Nautilus and its motive power

excited my utmost curiosity.

At my host's invitation,

I inspected the ship.

He seemed determined

to show me everything.

We went to the very

heart of the vessel,

the propulsion unit.

It was apparent that Captain Nemo

had discovered

what mankind has always sought,

the veritable dynamic

power of the universe.

This secret alone gave him

mastery of the sea.

I can hardly believe it,

how one could conceive

and build such a craft.

And in a single stroke,

harness power beyond

the wildest dreams of science.

Why, such a secret could

revolutionise the world.

Or destroy it.

See how peaceful it is here.

The sea is everything,

an immense reservoir of nature

where I roam at will.

With seeming indifference,

Captain Nemo held the key

to the future of the world.

As I studied him,

I became aware that powerful forces

were at work within this strange man.

Think of it.

On the surface, there is hunger and fear.

Men still exercise unjust laws.

They fight, tear one another to pieces.

A mere few feet beneath the waves,

their reign ceases,

their evil drowns.

Here on the ocean floor

is the only independence.

Here I am free.

Imagine what would happen

if they controlled machines

such as a submarine boat.

Far better that they think

there's a monster

and hunt me with harpoons.

After travelling 10,000 leagues

under the sea,

I still had not solved

the mystery of Captain Nemo.

But then one day he asked me

to go ashore with him.

I felt at long last

I was to have my answer.

The prison camp of Rorapandi,

the white man's grave.

I thought it had been abolished.

Nothing is abolished that turns

a profit to that hated nation.

You'll see better

what I mean through this.

What is in those sacks

they are carrying?

Nitrates and phosphate

for ammunition, the seeds of war.

They're loading a full cargo of death,

and when that ship takes it home,

the world will die a little more.

I was once one of those

pitiful wretches you see down there.

Look at it again.

I don't want you to forget

what you've seen here today.

I've seen enough.

It's burned everlastingly in my memory.

I did not escape from there alone.

There were others, and most

of them are still with me.

The crew of the Nautilus?

They are dedicated men

with a plan for living,

but also a plan for dying.

We seized one of their ships

and fled beyond maps,

a place known to me simply as Vulcania.

Vulcania? It sounds remote.

Remote and useful.

It was there that we built the Nautilus.

You will have the privilege

of seeing all this firsthand.

When our mission is completed,

the Nautilus is going home.

They're getting up steam, sir.

Very good.

That ship that flies no flag

sails with the tide.

But the evil in its hold

will never reach its destination.

- You have your orders.

- Aye, sir.

- Go to your stations.

- Go below, Professor.

- You are going to sink that ship?

- I said go below!

Stay in your quarters!

Stand by engines.

Half ahead.

Collision speed, full!

Collision speed, full!

Professor?

Are you all right?

All those men,

they didn't even have a chance.

They were sailors, same as me,

slaughtered by that monster

you're trying to make friends with.

Ned, don't.

I don't know how you feel, Professor,

but I feel like a knife that's just

stabbed a friend in the back.

Go to your quarters.

I've had a bellyful.

Damage report, sir.

Rudder and starboard

diving planes disabled.

Muster a repair party.

We'll make temporary repairs here.

Aye, sir.

I asked you to leave, Professor.

You also asked me ashore,

to show me man's inhumanity to man.

Why? To justify this?

You are not only a murderer.

You are a hypocrite.

The proof lies out there.

You call that murder?

Well, I see murder, too!

Not written on those

drowned faces out there,

but on the faces of dead thousands!

There are the assassins,

the dealers in death. I am the avenger.

Is murder a right reserved

for that hated nation

that has taken everything from me?

Everything but my secret,

the secret of my submarine boat

and the energy that propels it.

They tried. They cast me into prison,

and when they failed...

When they failed,

they tortured my wife

and young son to death.

Do you know the meaning

of love, Professor?

I believe I do.

What you fail to understand

is the power of hate.

It can fill the heart as surely as love can.

I'm sorry for you.

It's a bitter substitute.

The explosions scattered

everything all over the place.

I was just trying to tidy up.

- Professor, I'd like to speak to you.

- About what?

Well, I believe things

have gone far enough.

Murder means nothing to him.

I think he enjoys it.

You're sure of that, are you?

Quite sure?

I can only judge him

by what I've observed.

Rate this script:1.0 / 2 votes