Fantastic Voyage Page #9

192AINT. CONTROL TOWER

A Technician at the Control Panel throws on a switch. Another TV

screen next to the Main Monitor goes on, revealing:

192BCLOSE SHOT - BLIP ON TV SCREEN

Duplicating the blip seen in the Tracking Post. We see the blip is

heading down, at an angle identical with that of the hypo. CAMERA

MOVES IN on the blip, and keeps moving until it fills our entire

screen and becomes:

193EXT. PROTEUS - WITHIN THE HYPO

Diving at a terrific speed, steeply angled like the hypo, through the

clear saline solution.

194INT. PROTEUS

All hold on as if riding a roller coaster at its steepest plunge.

Suddenly all goes pitch-dark.

195INT. BUBBLE

Only the buttons are glowing, and the Minute Recorder, which now reads

. Owens throws a switch. Through the plastic windows the

headlights of the sub are seen coming on. They pierce the darkness

sufficiently to catch the side of the steel wall of the needle, which

is rushing past at a tremendous speed, giving the effect of an

enclosed channel. The beams gradually reveal:

196HOLE OF NEEDLE - P.O.V. BUBBLE

A small aperture in the distance, barely visible.

196AHOLE OF NEEDLE - P.O.V. PRINCIPALS IN KIOSK

Grant and the others see the opening at the end of the needle becoming

bigger and bigger, apparently rushing toward them with great speed.

196BEXT. END OF NEEDLE

It fills the screen, an immense aperture in relation to the tiny sub

which suddenly comes shooting out of it.

197-

198

199MAIN OPS ROOM - P.O.V. CONTROL TOWER

Reid and Carter observe the Grid Officer, wearing headphones and

throat mike, move up to the Arterial Map with a tiny replica of the

Proteus. He places it in the center or the huge channel in the neck,

which depicts the Carotid Artery. The little sub is held magnetically

on the grid. The Minute Recorder now reads . Reid turns from the

window, moves to the Map Case, which contains the same assortment of

charts as in the sub's kiosk. Reid takes out an OVERLAY MAP OF THE

HEAD AND NECK. He places it on a Radarscope. The blip shows it is

traveling up the Carotid Artery.

200LONG SHOT - ESTABLISHING - PROTEUS IN ARTERY

The headbeams of the speeding sub reveal a world of dazzling color and

beauty:
the Arterial Stream. The walls of the vast amber-colored

chamber are lost in the distance. Now the screen is filled with a

floating wonderland: huge red corpuscles, whirling globules,

platelets, particles, minuscule fragments drift with the stream,

reflecting the entire spectrum of color.

201INT. BUBBLE

Owens is slowing down the sub. He gazes in awe at:

202ARTERIAL ELEMENTS - THROUGH BUBBLE

As the Proteus moves through the swirling conglomerations, the

elements are parted, flow over the sub, bounce about it, forming new

fluid galaxies in a universe of amber. And each grouping and

regrouping, every mass and disc, though loosely linked, has a . Thus the Corpuscular drift, the bouncing particles, the

parting and the merging achieve a majestic choreography lyrical in

quality, a fugue of motion.

203INT. PROTEUS

Grant and Cora, strapped in their seats, look on enthralled at the

sheer beauty of the dancing wonder-world visible through the windows.

Duval appears equally moved. Michaels observes with more clinical

detachment.

204INT. BUBBLE

Owens has now slowed down the sub so that it moves slightly faster

than the current, thus enabling him to maintain maneuverability.

OWENS:

You may unfasten your belts...

205INT. PROTEUS

Grant, Cora and Duval quickly slip out of their harnesses, move to the

bow for a maximum view of the scene. Michaels remains at the console,

checking their course on the Neck and Head chart.

205AEXT. PROTEUS - HEAD-ON SHOT

Approaching camera, with the three people looking out of the bow

windows in speechless wonder at what they behold.

206

206AINT. PROTEUS - SHOOTING OVER THEIR BACKS

For a moment the three gaze in silent awe at the dancing drift

directly outside: nuclei are clearly visible in the cells; variegated

tiny organisms sweep like cosmic dust through the orbits of the

spinning globules. Their first sight of the interior world, with its

beauty and rhythmic splendor has affected them deeply. Finally

breaking the silence:

DUVAL:

(quietly, as he looks

on)

The Medieval Philosophers were

right... is the center of the

Universe... We stand in the middle

of Infinity, between Outer and Inner

Space. And there's no limit to

either.

GRANT:

You mean Inner Space is endless?

DUVAL:

Everything can be divided in half,

no matter how minute.

As the concept sinks in, Grant turns to look out again. Cora has never

taken her eyes off what she sees through the bow windows.

CORA:

I never...never imagined it could be

anything...like this.

GRANT:

(equally awed)

I always thought it was nothing but

red.

DUVAL:

Only to the naked eye.

(indicating)

Those corpuscles -- carrying oxygen

-- give the stream its color. But

the rest of the plasma's very much

like sea water. An ocean of life...

GRANT:

Quite a piece of plumbing.

MICHAELS:

End-to-end, a hundred thousand miles

long.

Grant reacts. Of something up ahead:

CORA:

Dr. Duval -- what could those be?

The sub is suddenly engulfed by a mass of very tiny discs in chain-

like combinations, which blot out the rest of the stream.

DUVAL:

(now the scientist)

Never saw . Not even under an

electron-mrcroscope.

CORA:

They're much smaller than

bacteria...

MICHAELS:

Looks like the molecular structure

of proteins.

DUVAL:

(flatly)

I don't agree. I think we ought to

stop and take a sample.

MICHAELS:

That's not the purpose of this

mission.

(up at Owens)

Captain -- keep a straight course --

until you're in the clear.

207INT. BUBBLE

Steering by instruments, Owens remains on course, the massed discs

obstructing his view. Suddenly they float off, revealing:

OWENS:

Arterial Wall to the right!

With him we see:

208LONG SHOT - ARTERIAL WALL

Barely visible in the spill of light, a smooth endothelial wall is

seen in the distance.

209INT. PROTEUS

Michaels consults his chart, brings the co-ordinates into place over

two Arteries.

MICHAELS:

(up at Bubble)

What's our speed?

OWENS' VOICE

(from Bubble)

Fifteen knots.

Michaels makes a rapid calculation with his slide rule.

MICHAELS:

We should reach the Branching Artery

in two minutes.

He switches on the REPEATER.

210INT. BUBBLE

The same REPEATER device is now active on the panel, reflecting the

chart on the console below, with Michaels' navigational calibrators

pointing to the intersect1ng Artery.

MICHAELS' VOICE

(from below)

Keep the Wall at its present

distance when you turn. That'll

bring you safely into the middle of

the Branch.

211EXT. PROTEUS - IN ARTERY

It cruises for a moment through the dazzling elements, the Arterial

Wall in the distance. Then suddenly the sub accelerates and veers off

course toward the Arterial Wall.

212INT. BUBBLE

Owens reacts, tries to slow down the sub and steer it back into the

middle of the channel. But the speed increases, and the sub continues

being swept toward the Wall.

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