Ghosts of the Abyss Page #2

this is "Mir-2."

What is your depth?

Over.

"Mir-2," "Mir-2,"

this is "Mir-1."

Depth is 3,353 meters.

See you on the bottom.

Jim out.

I see bottom.

It's bottom.

Oh, yeah.

You see it?

Yeah.

Just barely.

Bottom of the ocean.

Look at that.

Look at that.

It looks like

the dark side of the moon.

PAXTON:

It wasn't just the idea

of putting your faith

in these little submarines

and going to the bottom

of the sea.

There's thousands of tons

of pressure against you.

But where we were going,

where we were going.

We'll see more debris as we go.

There's a piece right there.

Yeah, look. There's some china.

See the china?

Yeah, we got her.

You want to see "Titanic"

on the sonar?

You're gonna love this.

- It's, like, there she is, baby.

- Oh, man.

Okay.

Bill, it's the bow.

Oh, look at that.

Oh, God.

There it is.

What a sight.

What a sight!

So Medusa is lighting it up.

Look at that.

Oh, man.

Oh, now you get a sense

of the size of this thing.

My God!

This was the "Titanic. "

This is the fabled liner

that lies in its grave

at the bottom

of the North Atlantic.

You approach it

with incredible reverence.

Bill, it is bow anchor.

Oh, God.

Its port side

in good conditions.

That is incredible.

Look at that.

Look at that!

It's dug in all the way

up to the anchor.

Oh, it's amazing just to be

floating above it.

Gosh, you could just reach out

and touch it.

We're near the anchor crane.

It's right there.

See it?

Look.

Right here.

Okay.

Oh, yes.

Okay. Okay.

You're clear.

I knew we were gonna get close,

but not this close.

PAXTON:
The experience of being

in one of the submersibles

is almost like

an astral projection.

The way you float around it,

it really is an ethereal,

kind of ghostly experience.

We're here.

It's Hatch Number One.

Oh, yeah.

Look.

You can see right down

the cargo hatch.

Boy, it just falls into

just a black well.

Oh, there's the crow's-nest door

right there.

They climbed up

inside the mast

to get out to the crow's nest.

That's where Fleet stood.

Right there

when he saw the iceberg.

[Bell dinging]

MAN:

Iceberg right ahead!

PAXTON:
You see the... it looks

like the port electric crane.

What is that?

Yeah, it's a gate.

- Yes, it's gate. Yes.

- Closed gate.

Officers locked that

to keep the steerage passengers

down below decks.

Of course, I'd have been

just climbing over that thing.

Oh, God. So that's

right where the bridge was.

And there's the telemotor.

The helm.

The helm of the ship.

PAXTON:

Try to imagine

what it must have been like

to be on the bridge that night.

First Officer William Murdoch

is on duty.

Quartermaster Hichens

at the wheel.

That split-second decision

Murdoch had to make.

[Bell dinging]

MAN:

Iceberg right ahead!

PAXTON:
He can go left

or he can go right.

[Men shouting indistinctly]

Quickly!

Murdoch is suddenly staring

an iceberg

right down the barrel.

Murdoch knows how many

passengers are onboard,

how few lifeboats there are,

what grave danger

the ship is in.

Golly.

That is history right there.

We are touching the legend.

[Lisa Torban's

"Darkness, Darkness" plays]

# Darkness, darkness #

# Be my pillow #

# Take my hand #

# And let me sleep #

Wow. Just like a cliff

just falling in the abyss.

# I n the coolness #

# Of your shadow #

# I n the silence #

# Of your deep #

"Mir-2," "Mir-2,"

be advised that we are...

We're gonna be going up.

Did they start up?

Well, let's clear "Titanic"

before we turn the lights off.

"Titanic" was good to us today.

[Speaking Russian]

Goodbye, "Titanic. "

[Indistinct voices on radio]

Oh! Oh!

[Groans]

Hello, again.

Hello, Sergei.

Whoo.

Welcome to "Keldysh. "

Quite a ride.

If the bow is so dug in,

you just don't get that depth.

And seeing that wall going

all the way down

and falling into nothing,

even just with

the "Mir-2's" lights,

really was like, "Holy cow.

This thing is so big. "

PAXTON:

What exciting work.

We were exploring the "Titanic"

with new technologies

and these incredible

new cameras.

Have you ever been in any sub?

Only at Disneyland.

This is different.

[Speaking Russian]

Good luck.

See you later.

These dives,

every one is so precious.

I want to make sure

we pack as much information,

visually and historically,

as I can possibly get

into these eyeballs.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

PAXTON:
You know, you have

historians, scientists.

It was a great camaraderie.

I screamed like a girl

the whole time.

Crying like a kid?

Cried like a baby.

The R.O.V.S were fascinating.

Initially they were called

Bot 1 and Bot 2.

But ultimately they were named

Jake and Elwood.

MIKE:

My name is Mike Cameron.

I'm the R.O.V. Creator.

The vehicle is not unlike

a little creature.

It's got a brain.

It's got a computer onboard.

It's got eyes

in a couple cameras up front.

CAMERON:

Give it a little forward.

You are in, Daddy-O.

You're in.

MIKE:
It's got this character

about it that's alive.

PAXTON:
The real revolutionary

part is the fiber-optic spool.

It's like a spider

spinning out its own silk.

Come in here,

explore these rooms,

come back out.

If these bots worked

like we were hoping they would,

we could go through

the entire ship.

The bots are finally going

to "Titanic. "

Three years in the making.

PAXTON:
"Mir-1," Jake's just

coming out of his hooch. Over.

CAMERON:

Here he comes. He's out.

PAXTON:
I think we were so

intent on watching the screens.

Very quickly,

I forgot where I was.

The R. O.V. Had just

unconsciously become our eyes.

This is what it's all about.

Cruising around at 12, 000 feet.

CAMERON:

Jeff, stand by.

We're about to launch Bot 1,

a. K. A. Elwood.

Sight enabler.

Com link.

Camera power.

All right.

I think we're ready to fly.

Elwood's coming out.

Pretty cool.

Looking good, Elwood.

Tell them we'll meet in the

center of the grand staircase.

LEDDA:
We're gonna meet in the

center of the grand staircase.

PAXTON:

Copy that.

MARSCHALL:
The grand staircase

on "Titanic"

was, in my opinion, the most

beautiful feature of the ship.

And the dome,

the wrought-iron dome overhead,

was just beautiful.

It's really a blessing

that this staircase

did break apart and float out,

because it allows easy access

to the interior of the ship.

What's Elwood's 20?

CAMERON:

Right above you.

Getting ready to start

our descent. Over.

Okay.

We see him.

That's them.

Okay.

We see you.

Okay.

Proceed slowly.

PAXTON:

Proceeding slowly.

This is so much

like flying a helicopter.

PAXTON:
We knew the beauty

of the grand staircase was gone.

But no one knew what we'd find

deep inside the ship.

MARSCHALL:

Continue down one.

You're crossing the floor

of "B" deck right now.

You're looking

into "C" deck right now.

- Do not go into "C" deck.

- Awaiting instructions.

"C" deck. "D" deck.

There's "D" deck.

All right. He's in position

to enter "D" deck.

Stand by there, Jeff.

Your first move

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