Armageddon Page #6

Now, we only have one shot

of landing on this rock...

and that's precisely when

the asteroid passes by the moon.

You'll then use lunar gravity

and burn your thrusters...

slingshotting you

around the moon...

coming up behind the asteroid.

- You'll be upward of 11 Gs.

- Yeah, l remember this one.

lt's where the, uh, the coyote

sat his ass down in a slingshot...

then he strapped himself

to an Acme rocket.

- ls-ls that what we're doin' here?

- Rockhound.

- No, no, really, because it didn't

work out too well for the coyote, Harry.

- Hey, Rock.

- Remember that one?

- Well, actually, we have a lot better

rockets than the coyote.

Now, when you've finished

your Road Runner thrust move...

you'll be moving

at 22,500 miles per hour.

Coming around behind the asteroid,

where we're hoping...

that the tail debris'll be

cleared by the moon's gravity.

And you'll land right here.

That's it.

We got separate landing sites

for each team. Softest parts

of the rock as we can figure.

At NASA, we don't take chances.

We double up on everything.

First team

that hits 800 feet wins.

Now this rock is big, it's dense, it's

got some gravity. You can walk around.

But use your thrusters

so you can work easier.

Okay, Mr Truman, let's say that

we actually do land on this.

What's it gonna be like

up there?

Two hundred degrees in the sunlight.

Minus 200 in the shade.

Canyons of razor-sharp rock.

Unpredictable gravitational conditions.

Unexpected eruptions.

Things like that.

Okay, so the scariest

environment imaginable. Thanks.

That's all you gotta say:

scariest environment imaginable.

Okay, so you drill,

you drop the nuke, and you leave.

Now, here's the key:

You're gonna remote detonate the bomb...

before the asteroid

passes this plane-- Zero Barrier.

You do that, and the remaining

pieces of rock...

should be deflected enough

to pass right by us.

Now, if the bomb explodes

after Zero Barrier--

game's over.

Paul, this is Houston.

Fire your rockets.

- Okay, your rockets are maximum.

Beautiful boost.

- Oscar!

Hey, Harry. Hey, how's it goin'?

- Have you seen Grace?

-Yeah, she's over in the hangar

with A.J.

Harry, wait a second. Did you say Grace?

Okay, l thought you said Bear.

Will you marry me?

Grace is old enough

to vote, Harry.

She's old enough to have a drink or

get married if she wants, get a divorce.

Let me tell you something, fellas. When

l get back, when we get this job done...

l will deal with this

in my own way.

Come on, Harry. lt's not like

l'm rootin' for A.J. here.

- l'm just sayin',

Grace is not a little girl any more.

- Hey, Rock, you know, wait a minute.

Let me get a pencil and

a piece of paper. l wanna jot down

all your pearls of wisdom here.

Get serious, Harry. Come on. While we're

off trottin' the globe, hunting mud...

Gracie grew up to become

a full-blown hottie, you know?

- Harry, she is fully hot. She is--

- She's a babe.

Max, Max, okay. You're talkin'

about my little girl, all right?

l think l know

who and what she is, okay?

Okay, but Harry, all we're sayin' is,

we're talkin' about a kid who's

comin' into her own right now.

And she's gettin' curious about her body

and she's exploring her sexuality.

And you know what?

- Oscar.

- That's a natural thing.

You are about five minutes older than

Grace is. Why should l listen to you?

And l know what it feels like to have

your hormones pullin' you in just, you

know, a thousand different directions.

- You don't know which end is up.

- Yo, Harry, no disrespect, man,

but we all helped to raise her.

- So, in part, we all feel

like a bunch of daddies here.

- That's true.

l'll be damned if l worked all

these years so my little girl

can marry a roughneck.

She's better than that.

Better than all of us.

Harry, just sit back, relax.

l'm gonna put on a little

free Armadillo driving clinic for ya.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hey!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

Two shuttle teams. A.J.'ll be

running the drill team with Oscar,

Bear and Noonan on the lndependence.

l'll run the drill team on Freedom

with Chick, Rockhound and Max.

Once we land, we'll have

eight hours to get the job done.

ln order to split this rock

on the fault line,

we're gonna have to drill to 800 feet.

Let's get our game faces on.

Now it's time for underwater simulation.

Come on, lndependence. Keep it up.

Let's go. We're the younger team here.

We're the varsity team.

Take it to 11,000.

Okay, gentlemen, we're gonna

trick 'em up. My computer

will simulate a gas pocket...

at 625 feet and then

hard iron ferrite at 635.

l'm gonna draw up some more O2 in.

We're takin' her up.

- l'm givin' it more torque right now.

- All right, lookin' good, Bear.

Clamp it down. Watch your time,

lndependence team.

Thanks, Harry. Would you mind

lettin' me run my own team?

You're gonna blow the tranny, A.J.

Slow it down, baby.

Take it easy, Bear.

Just relax. She can handle it.

A.J., you're at 600 feet.

Your pipe is long.

Let's back the R.P.M.s down to 8,000.

- We don't have time for 8,000!

- A.J., take it back down.

You're gonna snap the pipe.

l don't wanna blow this transmission.

- Damn it, 11,000.

- Slow it down, A.J.

Bear, come on.

Get on our team for a little bit.

- Whoa, space cowboy.

- Harry, are you listenin' to this?

- Yeah, l'm listenin', Bear.

Harry? You don't work for Harry

any more, okay?

Out there you gotta listen to me.

When we're on that rock,

you gotta do what l say.

Now send more to the turbine.

l'm throttling up to 11,000.

A.J., back it off.

You're gonna blow the transmission.

Hey, Harry, would you let me

run my team, please?

-R.P.M.s are at red line.

-Bear, goddam it, l know what l'm doing.

Come on. She can handle this.

She'll be fine. Trust me.

- A.J., back the R--

- Transmission overload.

- Number one transmission is down.

Oh, son of a--

The computer's wrong, and you know that.

- We did the right thing.

- We're gonna restart the simulation.

lf you wanna replace a member

of the crew, now is the time.

l'll take care of this.

Get him out of the tank, Chick.

- You wanna go home?

ls that it? You wanna be fired?

- No, l don't.

- My crew was doing the right thing.

- Your crew?

- Yeah.

- Your crew just blew

the transmission, A.J.!

Listen, that NASA computer is just

playin' it safe. The machine you built,

the rig, could do it.

Shut up. Just shut up!

Shut your mouth!

Those men in that room

have zero tolerance

for showin' off, hot doggin'...

goin' by your gut instinct or

you tryin' to be a hero, you got that?

- Say the words, A.J.!

- l got it!

- l want my men to have

tomorrow night off.

- What do you mean ''off''?

l mean, off. Out of here. For at least

ten hours. Then we'll go to Kennedy.

Well, there's no possible way we can

do that, Harry. There's a potentially

huge security risk. What if they talk?

- What if they get hurt?

- What if they're too burned out

to do the right thing?

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