Interstellar Page #9

But what if there is, dad? What if

there's something we can salvage?

Cooper thinks it over. Murph scrambles to get his shoes.

EXT. COOPER'S HOUSE -- DAY

The shriek is still muffled. Cooper walks over to the well,

putting in a pair of earplugs.

A line is staked off, leading down into the well below.

Cooper begins hauling the line up.

As the probe breaks the surface of the water, the SHRIEK

returns to its normal volume. Cooper rolls the probe out

onto the ground.

INT. PIPER CUB -- DAY

The probe CHIRPS next to Murph in the backseat as Cooper

spins the plane and guns the throttle and they bounce along

the dusty runway and into the air.

EXT. CALIFORNIA COAST -- DAY

The tiny plane follows the mountains south.

EXT. SKIES OVER LOS ANGELES -- DAY

Cooper flies in low. Los Angeles looks much the same way it

did in the early 20th century -- small settlements in Santa

Monica and Downtown. Wildfires and earthquakes have shaken

and burned what was left of the homes in between.

26.

EXT. PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, MALIBU -- DAY

Cooper puts the plane down on the old highway and taxis up

to a gas station. Ahead, the Coast Highway peters out and

disappears beneath rows of wild grass -- Malibu has become

ranchland, once again.

EXT. GAS STATION, MALIBU -- DAY

An OLD MAN looks up as Cooper steps out of the plane and

checks it over.

COOPER:

Got any diesel?

OLD MAN:

Plenty. Shame you can't eat it.

Cooper stretches the hose over to the plane.

INT. PIPER CUB -- DAY

Cooper rests a hand lightly on the controls as he follows

the coast. Murph gazes out the window. In the backseat,

the probe is HUMMING.

A light marine layer beneath them parts, revealing SANTA

CRUZ ISLAND, a large, uninhabited island.

As Cooper soars over the island, the probe HUMS, insistent.

MURPH:

I think it's home.

Cooper circles the island until he finds a long, flat

grassland in the center of the island.

EXT. FIELD, SANTA CRUZ ISLAND -- DAY

The plane bounces and hops to a halt in waist-deep grass.

Murph and Cooper climb down from the plane. Cooper slings a

rifle over his shoulder.

A few dozen yards from the plane they reach the tree line.

Murph stops, mesmerized by a patch of weeds studded with

bright red -- strawberries.

MURPH:

Dad, what are these things?

COOPER:

I don't know. Don't touch them.

27.

Cooper spots something in the foliage ahead that looks a

little off. He walks over.

He pokes at the undergrowth with his rifle. The rifle CLANKS

against something metal. Cooper reaches -- it's a camouflage

scrim. He gently pulls it aside, revealing a chemical

transport truck.

Cooper steps back, alarmed. He brings up his rifle.

COOPER (CONT'D)

Murph?

He looks around. Murph is nowhere to be seen. Cooper curses

and heads into the forest to look for him.

EXT. CLEARING, SANTA CRUZ ISLAND -- DAY

Cooper walks through a glade. He stops to get his bearings.

Leans against a tree. Snatches his hand back -- the trunk

of the tree is red hot.

Cooper steps back -- it's not a tree at all, but a camouflaged

chimney stack. He looks up: the tree is venting steam.

Cooper walks a little further, until he finds several massive

tanks. The tanks are filling with a bubbling liquid -- some

kind of industrial process is taking place beneath him.

Cooper finally catches up with Murph at the edge of a

clearing.

COOPER:

Careful. There's some kind of

underground facility here. We

might...

Cooper notices his son is frozen, staring at something:

Standing bolt upright in the middle of the clearing, wearing

an old straw hat, is an eight-foot-tall military spec ROBOT.

MURPH:

Is it still... alive?

COOPER:

Can't be. It's a marine. Haven't

made them for thirty years. I've

never seen one intact before.

Cooper steps closer to the robot, which is frozen. Its alloy

frame heavily tarnished and weather-beaten. It looks like

it might have been standing here for decades.

28.

Cooper moves closer to it, looking into its blackened eyes.

He steps back, clearly a little spooked.

COOPER (CONT'D)

I think we need to go, Murph.

MURPH:

But can't we take it back? You could

fix it up, get him to do chores.

COOPER:

No. I don't know what this place

is, but we're leaving.

Murph, ignoring his father, steps forward to touch the robot.

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