Mission: Impossible II

FADE IN:

A WORN SATCHEL (MOVING - DAY)

is being carried by a world weary middle European wearing a black

armband. VLADIMIR NEKHORVICH exits a gleaming building, pausing

for a moment, under a motto clearly visible above his head,

'Where the future is now'. He checks the time.

INSERT - WATCH

set in Countdown Mode. It's at 19 hours forty-seven minutes and

sixteen seconds and dropping, 19:37.15, :14, :13, :12 etc.

O.S. children are singing:

Ring a ring a rosy/a pocketful of posy/

a tissue a tissue/we all fall down.

Nekhorvich looks to see children at play outside the adjacent

Natural History Museum. They are moving in and around an odd

freeform sculpture.

POV - SCULPTURE AND CHILDREN

a blur where the sculpture seems to be distorting the children,

almost like mirrors in a fun house.

NEKHORVICH:

wipes his eyes, a horn honks. He looks toward the sound.

MOVING SHOT - SATCHEL (INT. AIRPORT SECURITY - DAY)

on the belt that takes it thru X-Ray. On the other side a guard

opens the satchel and pokes thru a few toilet articles, personal

items, books, a battleship gray digital camera and - in a small

plastic container marked 'S.G.' - a small, square shiny object,

hi-tech and at odds with the other items. She pulls out an urn-

shaped vessel.

GUARD:

What's this, then?

NEKHORVICH:

(handing her documents)

The ashes of a colleague, I'm taking them

to his family. If you wish to open it,

please be careful.

COMPUTERIZED SCREEN DISPLAY (INT. PLANE - MOVING - DAY)

on the cabin wall displays a colorful map showing the flight

point of departure in Sydney, continuously updating distance,

direction and time to its ultimate destination, Atlanta, Georgia.

CAPTAIN'S VOICE

- folks, we're a little over two and a

half hours from touchdown in Atlanta, but

if you look out your windows on either

side of the aircraft, we'll soon be

crossing the southern section of the Rocky

Mountains, a range which includes more

than 50 peaks rising above 14,000 feet.

The chain's loftiest point, Mount Elbert,

at 14, 433 feet should be coming into view

as we pass over central Colorado shortly..

NEKHORVICH (INT. CABIN - DAY)

seems intent on the map, its changing times and distance. He

checks his watch - the countdown has gone from 20 to three hours

and 32 minutes as Nekhorvich is mesmerized by the descending

seconds whipping by.

ETHAN HUNT sits into shot on the vacant first class aisle seat

beside Nekhorvich.

ETHAN:

You keep staring at that watch as if your

life depended on it, Doctor..

NEKHORVICH:

Well, yes. I suppose I am a bit anxious.

ETHAN:

They're ready and waiting. You'll soon be

with old friends.

NEKHORVICH:

(meaning Ethan)

I'm with an old friend now, Dmitri.

ETHAN:

Sorry it couldn't be under happier

circumstances.

NEKHORVICH:

Yes, I'm sorry too.. 'You're sorry and I'm

sorry..'

(bemused laughter, then looks at Ethan)

- you do know Gradski thought the world of you.

Nekhorvich is overcome. Ethan puts a comforting hand on his

shoulder:

ETHAN:

He was quite a man. Did he know before

the end you two had succeeded?

NEKHORVICH:

Yes, he knew. Just..

ETHAN:

..not in time to save him.

NEKHORVICH:

No. After you've lived with Chimera for

twenty hours, nothing can save you. Not

even...Bellerophon.

Nekhorvich pats the satchel.

ETHAN:

You carry them together? Safely?

With an almost impish grin and a wink:

NEKHORVICH:

Yes, and you'll get us to a safe place

with them, thank god!..left to my own

devices, I'm an old fart too inept to read

a railroad timetable!..

Good-natured laughter. Cut off by a flight steward who passes

by, giving a sidelong silence in Ethan and Nekhorvich's direction.

Oxygen masks suddenly deploy from the ceiling. Passengers are

puzzled and alarmed.

CAPTAIN'S VOICE

You Captain again. We've experienced a

slight but abrupt drop in cabin pressure..

A passenger struggling with his mask. As Nekhorvich fumbles with

the strap on his mask he notes that the display screen shows

their altitude is below 30,000 feet and dropping. He checks the

countdown time on his watch again. Nekhorvich looks around him.

The flight attendants are conspicuously absent and all the

passengers who have on oxygen masks are passed out.

INT - COCKPIT

The flight crew now wearing their oxygen masks.

CAPTAIN:

(into radio)

Pan, pan, pan, Denver Center. This is

Trans Pac Flight two-two-zero-seven, 747

heavy. We are not reading you. We're

unable to maintain cabin pressurization.

We have initiated a descent to one six

thousand.

The Co-pilot is working on the plane's altitude when his hands

slip off the controls. His eyes flutter, then:

CO-PILOT

Captain, I don't..can't..

He passes out. The Captain, HUGH STAMP, turns to verify that the

relief pilot is also unconscious at the controls.

He then removes his oxygen mask, sets the auto pilot, inputting

numbers to slow the plane and descend. As the craft titles

downward...

INT - GALLERY

The flight attendants are pulling on jump suits. Stamp emerges

from the cockpit.

INT - CABIN

Ethan returns. Nekhorvich beckons to him. Ethan sits. Grinning

around, Nekhorvich conspiratorially:

NEKHORVICH:

..it seems we have a problem, Dmitri.

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