Ghost Ship Page #9

GREER:

He'd let you off at the nearest port,

that's for sure.

EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - NIGHT

A dimming purple horizon is giving way to night as the tug

floats under the bow of the Chimera.

EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - ENGINE ROOM - NIGHT

Dodge works up to his elbows in turbine 1 as Greer monitors

a pressure gauge.

DODGE:

How about now?

GREER:

Sixty pounds.

DODGE:

What? You sure?

GREER:

That's what it says.

DODGE:

(geting up to have a

look)

Lemme see.

INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - NIGHT

Through the pilothouse windows, the hull of the Chimera

disappears into the darkness beyond the tug's work lights.

Murphy sits at the chart table as Epps steps in.

EPPS:

Coffee?

MURPHY:

(sitting up)

Yeah. Thanks.

She brings him his cup, seeing the documents he brought back

from the Chimera.

EPPS:

(taking a seat)

What'd you find up there?

MURPHY:

Some charts. A crew manifest.

(looking them over)

Looks like her last voyage was January

1953. The question is where the hell's

she been since.

EPPS:

She was sailing up north, right?

MURPHY:

Her destination was Halifax, yeah.

EPPS:

Well, suppose she got a little further

north than she should have. Got

stuck in the ice. The passengers and

crew evacuated. She froze into the

ice pack, which moved further north,

where it froze in solid. They write

it off. Fifty years later, the whole

global warming thing happens. The

ice melts, she gets loose and floats

around til somebody runs into her.

Murphy nods, considering it.

MURPHY:

As reasonable an explanation as any,

I guess.

Epps takes a sip of her coffee as she thinks about it.

MURPHY:

Ever heard of the Mary Celeste?

EPPS:

Nope.

MURPHY:

She was a two-masted brig boat sailing

out of New York in 1872. One day

she was sighted off the coast of

Portugal by a merchant vessel, the

Dei Gratia. As the crew of the Dei

Gratia got closer, they discovered

that no one was at the helm of the

Mary Celeste. On boarding, they found

her completely deserted. The captain,

his wife, their daughter, and the

entire crew, all gone. The last entry

in their log made no mention of any

trouble. The table was even set for

dinner. And in the nine days after

the last entry, she sailed 700 miles

without anyone aboard.

EPPS:

So what did happen?

MURPHY:

Nobody knows. There've been a lot of

theories, of course. But we'll never

really know for sure.

EPPS:

You think she's sailing without a

crew?

Murphy looks out at the Chimera off the bow.

MURPHY:

I think we'd be surprised where a

drifting ship might wind up with a

little wind and the right current.

EPPS:

You're more practical than

superstitious.

MURPHY:

Only way to be.

Epps nods, takes another sip of coffee, looking on at the

rusting hull of the Chimera stretching off in the light.

EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DECK - DAY

Greer operates the crane arm as Dodge directs him. The crane

hoists out one of the massive turbine fans onto the deck.

Dodge gives him the thumbs up as it comes down easily.

MURPHY:

What's this?

DODGE:

Turbine rotor's shot.

MURPHY:

I thought you said it was just a

blade.

DODGE:

Metal's crystallized. Gotta replace

the whole deal.

MURPHY:

How much longer's that gonna take?

DODGE:

Like I always say --

MURPHY:

I know I know, two ways to do anything --

DODGE:

The right way and the wrong way.

MURPHY:

But how long?

DODGE:

Hard to say.

MURPHY:

We gotta get outa here, Dodge. A

storm blows up and we're history.

DODGE:

I'm telling you, you don't want to

be running that fan like it is.

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