Event Horizon Page #4

WEIR:

It was the ship's maiden voyage, to

test the drive. The Event Horizon

moved to safe distance using ion

thrusters. They received the go-ahead

to activate the gravity drive.

(beat)

And the ship vanished from all our

scopes. No radar contact, no enhanced

optical, no radio contact of any

kind. They disappeared without a

trace.

(beat)

Until now.

MILLER:

Where has it been for the last seven

years?

WEIR:

That's what we're here to find out.

CUT TO:

EXT. INTERPLANETARY SPACE - MODEL

The Lewis and Clark flashes silently past, heading deeper

and deeper into space.

INT. LEWIS AND CLARK - BRIDGE

The crew assembled.

WEIR:

We haven't been able to confirm any

live contact, but TDRSS did receive

a single transmission from the Event

Horizon.

Weir punches a button on a console. The transmission BLARES

from the bridge's speakers, STATIC and NOISE and, underneath

all, INHUMAN VOICES.

The crew listen, look at one another. The recording ends

abruptly.

SMITH:

What the hell is that?

PETERS:

It doesn't sound like anything human.

WEIR:

Houston has passed the recording

through several filters and isolated

what appears to be a human voice.

He activates a different file. The resulting WAIL is more

human but no less terrifying, a cry of despair. The last

message from a drowning man...

SMITH:

Jesus...

MILLER:

What is that?

DJ:

It sounds like Latin.

COOPER:

Latin? Who the f*** speaks Latin?

STARCK:

No one. It's a dead language.

DJ:

Mostly dead.

MILLER:

What does it say?

WEIR:

NSA encryption specialists have

deciphered some of the message...

Weir plays the HELLISH INCANTATION for a third time.

WEIR:

There:
"...liberatis me..." They

haven't been able to translate the

rest, it's too distorted.

DJ:

"Liberatis me." "Save me."

COOPER:

From what?

MILLER:

(to Weir)

You're convinced the crew could still

be alive? After seven years?

WEIR:

The Event Horizon only had life

support for eighteen months. It seems

impossible, but in light of the

transmission... I have to think that

someone has managed to endure until

now.

COOPER:

Skipper, do we get hazard pay for

this?

MILLER:

You heard the tape, Smith. We're

looking for survivors.

CUT TO:

EXT. NEPTUNE - LEWIS AND CLARK - MODEL

The Lewis and Clark closes in on the blue planet.

INT. LEWIS AND CLARK - BRIDGE

The flight crew assembled. Data flashes across the main

monitors on the bridge.

STARCK:

Crossing the horizon. Optimum approach

angle is fourteen degrees.

MILLER:

Come around to three-three-four...

SMITH:

(echoing)

Heading three-three-four...

MILLER:

(continuing)

...Make your approach vector negative

fourteen degrees...

SMITH:

One-four degrees...

EXT. LEWIS AND CLARK - NEPTUNE ORBIT - MODEL

RCS thrusters pivot and fire as the ship enters Neptune orbit,

dropping lower and lower into the dense blue clouds...

INT. LEWIS AND CLARK - BRIDGE

The ship begins to rock as it encounters atmosphere, a growing

vibration.

GRAPHICS flash across the main window's HUD. Neptune's dark

shadow fills the screen.

SMITH:

We have a lock on the Event Horizon's

navigation beacon. It's in the upper

ionosphere, we're in for some chop.

MILLER:

Bring us in tight. Starck, get on

the horn, see if anyone's listening...

STARCK:

(into radio)

This is U.S. Aerospace Command vessel

Lewis and Clark, hailing Event

Horizon, Event Horizon, do you

read...? This is the Lewis and Clark,

hailing...

(she continues B.G.)

SMITH:

(over Starck)

Matching speed... now. Range to target

ten thousand meters and closing...

Skipper, I got a bad feeling about

this...

MILLER:

We're all on edge, Smith. We're a

long way out...

SMITH:

That's not it. That ship was built

to go faster than light... That's

just wrong, it goes against everything

we know...

MILLER:

What are you trying to say? "If God

had intended Man to fly, he would

have given us wings?"

SMITH:

Something like that, yeah.

Miller grins grimly.

MILLER:

I guess we're about to find out.

Keep us slow and steady.

SMITH:

Yes, sir.

MILLER:

Dr. Weir...!

Weir sticks his head into the bridge.

MILLER:

I think you want to see this.

Weir climbs up the ladder to the flight deck.

WEIR:

Where is she?

SMITH:

Dead ahead, 5000 meters.

Suddenly, the ship SHUDDERS VIOLENTLY.

Weir braces himself in the doorway, staring out the forward

window into the roiling azure clouds.

Smith grimaces, his knuckles white at the controls.

SMITH:

We've got some weather.

MILLER:

I noticed. Starck, anybody home?

STARCK:

If they are, they're screening their

calls.

SMITH:

Range 3000 meters and closing.

WEIR:

I can't see anything...

Only turbid clouds of methane ice whirl past the Lewis and

Clark's windows.

SMITH:

1500 meters. We're getting too

close...

MILLER:

Where is it?

STARCK:

(checking her console)

The scope is lit, it's right in front

of us...

SMITH:

1000 meters...

A red warning light begins to flash in time with a shrill

BEEP.

SMITH:

Proximity warning! 900, 800 meters,

700... we're right on top of it,

we're gonna hit!

MILLER:

Starck...

STARCK:

It should be right there...

She looks up, trails off...

STARCK:

My God.

EXT. EVENT HORIZON - AGAINST NEPTUNE - MODEL STARCK'S POV

...the clouds break, revealing...

THE EVENT HORIZON, right in front of them. A black

labyrinthine blasphemy against Neptune's arctic blue. Cloud

banks encircle the ship as if it were the eye of a hurricane.

INT. LEWIS AND CLARKE - BRIDGE

MILLER:

Reverse thrusters full!

EXT. LEWIS AND CLARK - DWARFED BY EVENT HORIZON - MODEL

The Event Horizon looms enormous as the Lewis and Clark hangs

off the port stern, dwarfed by the giant ship.

INT. LEWIS AND CLARK - BRIDGE

The turbulence subsides. The bridge crew stares at the massive

craft. The only sound, the PROXIMITY WARNING. Finally:

SMITH:

Jesus, that is one big ugly fat

f***er...

WEIR:

She's not ugly.

Miller reaches over Smith's shoulder, turns off the proximity

warning. Smith snaps back to business.

SMITH:

Range 500 meters and holding.

Turbulence is dropping off...

STARCK:

Picking up magnetic interference.

MILLER:

Put it through TACS. Smith, you up

for a flyby?

SMITH:

(he is not)

Love to.

EXT. NEPTUNE - LEWIS AND CLARK - EVENT HORIZON - MODEL

The Lewis and Clark maneuvers in close to the Event Horizon,

dwarfed by the dark ship.

INT. LEWIS AND CLARK - BRIDGE

Smith keeps a tight hand on the controls. The crew stare out

the viewport at the abandoned craft.

STARCK:

Look at the size of that thing.

Weir explains the view out the cockpit window.

WEIR:

Foredecks. Crew quarters, bridge,

medical and science labs, hydroponics,

what have you. That central section

connects the forward decks to the

Engineering containment area. Can we

move in closer?

SMITH:

Sh*t, Doc, any closer and we're gonna

need a rubber...

MILLER:

Do it.

Smith grimaces. His hands move carefully over the controls.

EXT. NEPTUNE - LEWIS AND CLARK - EVENT HORIZON - MODEL

The Lewis and Clark moves even closer. Vanishing into the

shadow of the Event Horizon.

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