Gravity Page #13

For a long beat Ryan merely sits there. She is gently humming a

tune.

It is a LULLABY.

SHE SURRENDERS.

SHE WEEPS.

A quiet deep sorrow that silently grows in intensity and that

finally explodes into-

A SOFT WAIL.

TEARS float around her like tiny satellites.

The cold and the gentle humming of the Soyuz cradles Ryan.

She closes her eyes, and as her breathing relaxes she begins to

fall asleep, until-

CLICK CLICK CLICK.

Ryan opens her eyes, startled.

CLICK CLICK CLICK.

Ryan turns in confusion and looks at-

THE PORTHOLETHROUGH

THE GLASS, the helmet of an astronaut is looking in.

IT IS MATT.

He knocks once more, this time louder.

CLICK CLICK CLICK.

Ryan is still drowsy and does not understand what is going on,

when she sees that-

The latch on the porthole begins to move.

RYAN (CONT’D)

No... no.. don’t.

But the latch continues to open.

Ryan immediately straps herself to the commander chair.

The latch keeps turning.

Ryan covers her eyes and face with her hands when

THE LATCH RELEASES and

THE HATCH SWINGS OPEN.

The VACUUM of space sucks in one sharp gust all the air inside

the cabin and with it every sound.

The straps hold Ryan back as objects gush out through the hatch.

Her hands press tightly covering her face.

On the Control Panel alarms begin to flash.

A SHADOWY FIGURE makes its way in and with one sharp motion-

Turns and closes the hatch. Presses a green button and-

The cabin begins to pressurize.

And sound re-emerges with the beeping of the alarms as-

The red-orange-green graph on the control panel show the

atmospheric levels reaching green.

Ryan uncovers her face and stares from the shadows at the

figure, who straps into the seat next to her. He unlocks the

ring around his collar and-

TAKES OFF HIS HELMET.

COUNTRY WESTERN MUSIC escapes into the cabin.

MATT:

Ahhhh! Alright, check your watch. 13

hours, 11 minutes. Call Anatoly, tell

him he's been bumped.

The figure glances around.

MATT (CONT’D)

Bit gloomy in here. How ‘bout a little

light?

He taps a few buttons on the console and a face blooms:

Matt.

Ryan stares, mouth agape.

RYAN:

How did you?

MATT:

Trust me, it’s a hell of a story.

RYAN:

But how did you?

He reaches out and effortlessly flicks a myriad array of

switches. Instantly, the alarms go silent.

MATT:

That’s better.

RYAN:

How?

Ryan looks at him wide eyed, wanting to know how-

MATT:

I found a little extra battery power.

I’m just happy you’re still alive. To

be honest, I thought your chances were

slim to none. By the way, did you find

the vodka?

RYAN:

You never told me where.

Matt fishes a SMALL FLASK from under his seat, spins off the

cap...

MATT:

Oh well... To Anatoly! Na zdorovje.

...and takes a big gulp. He offers the flask to Ryan, who

appears to be dozing off. She blinks, shakes her head.

RYAN:

No.

He studies her.

MATT:

No? Right, let’s get out of here.

He looks at the monitors, where the Chinese Station is seen.

MATT (CONT’D)

We’re ‘bout a hundred miles to the

Chinese Station. A little Sunday

drive.

RYAN:

We can’t.

MATT:

Course we can.

RYAN:

There’s no fuel. I tried everything.

MATT:

Well, there’s always something we can

do.

RYAN:

I tried everything.

MATT:

Did you try the soft landing jets?

RYAN:

They're for landing so.

MATT:

Well landing is launching it's the

same thing, didn't you learn about

that in training?

RYAN:

I never got to land the simulator, I

told you.

MATT:

But you know about it.

RYAN:

And I crashed it every time.

Ryan is falling asleep. Matt studies her as she dozes off.

MATT:

Listen you want to go back or do you

want to stay here? I get it, it's nice

up here, you can just shut down all

the systems turn out all the lights,

and just close your eyes and tune out

everybody.

Matt starts flipping through buttons on the console, turning the

cabin lights off.

MATT (CONT’D)

There's nobody up here who can hurt

you, it's safe. Then what's the point

in going on, what's the point of

living?

When the cabin is in darkness, he turns and looks at Ryan.

MATT (CONT’D)

Your kid died, doesn't get any rougher

than that, but still it's a

matter of what you do now. If you

decide to go that you've gotta just

get on with it, sit back enjoy the

ride. You have to start living life,

Ryan.

Ryan is having trouble keeping her eyes open.

RYAN:

How did you get here?

MATT:

Ryan, you have to learn to let go …

Hey?

Ryan is almost sound asleep.

RYAN:

What?

Ryan is asleep.

MATT:

It's time to go home.

Her eyes snap open.

Her gaze shifts. The flask is floating in front of her. But no

Matt. She turns. THE CABIN IS EMPTY. She turns back.

CLICK CLICK CLICK.

Ryan notices that the gate of the ventilation duct is shaking,

making a percussive sound.

A SOFT COOL LIGHT shines in through the condensation that has

frozen on the glass. It is-

THE MOONLIGHT caressing Ryan’s face.

RYAN:

Landing, landing. Landing is

launching.

With a new surge of determination she TURNS ON THE CABIN LIGHT.

She pulls the HELMET floating above her and puts it on.

She connects the umbilical to her suit, opens the Oxygen Valve,

and begins to breath.

As the Oxygen flows back into her brain a new surge of

determination brightens her face.

She opens the valves of the other two umbilicals, allowing

Oxygen to flow, pressurizing the cabin.

She grabs the MANUAL.

RYAN (CONT’D)

Okay, landing, landing, landing is

green.

She opens the green binder and browses through its index.

RYAN (CONT’D)

Okay, okay landing, alright.

She stops, turns some pages and stares closely at the manual.

Ryan notices the Energy Bar floating by her. She grabs it and as

she opens the wrapper, she stares intently at one page of the

MANUAL, where there is-

A DIAGRAM-

An ILLUSTRATION of the Soyuz Capsule two meters before landing

and hitting the ground. A thrust is shooting out from under its

bottom, cushioning its fall: THE SOFT LANDING ENGINES.

RYAN (CONT’D)

Soft landing jets trigger

automatically at three meters before

landing. … you're a clever son of a

b*tch Matt. So to land I need to get

rid of the BO and Engine module, okay?

She puts on the communication headset.

RYAN (CONT’D)

Listen to me Matt. You're going to see

a girl with brown hair. She's Sarah,

her hair is probably a mess. That's

okay, she doesn't like to brush it.

She looks out of the porthole, down at Earth.

RYAN (CONT’D)

Tell her mommy found her red shoe. She

was so upset about that shoe Matt, but

tell her it was right under the bed.

She turns back to the console and places her finger over one of

the buttons.

RYAN (CONT’D)

You give her a big hug and a kiss for

me and tell her mamma misses her. Tell

her she's my little angel and that she

makes me so proud, so so so proud, and

that I promise I'll try and make her

proud too. You tell her that I'm not

quitting, that I'm going to keep

fighting. You tell her I love her

Matt… I love her so much.

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