Resurface

THE SKY:

Still. Blue. Scattered clouds below

35,000 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL

An AIRBUS A380 roars past

MINUS 62° FAHRENHEIT

And then it's gone. The sky frenzied in its trail

ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE 3.4 PSI

We’re descending rapidly now Breaking

through clouds Plummeting

faster Towards

a speck in the middle of the ocean Getting

closer Enough

to make out its shape It's

a ship Anchored

in calm waters A

600ft research vessel. High tech. Modern Name

and port painted on the stern

IORV PICCARD-WALSH GUAM

The deck a workshop of submersibles and ocean gadgets

INTERNATIONAL OCEAN RESEARCH VESSEL PICCARD-WALSH

ENGINEERS performing maintenance on the equipment

SEA LEVEL, WESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN

The CHIEF ENGINEER walking and talking with more ENGINEERS

91° FAHRENHEIT

The CHIEF MATE going over plans with DIVERS at the port side

ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE 14.7 PSI

Down a ladder to a diving platform closer to the water Another

group of DIVERS safety checking each others’ gear One

SCUBA DIVER steps forward and pin drops into

2.

THE OCEAN:

Bubbles blanket the SCUBA DIVER before rushing to the surface He

swims towards another crew of DIVERS working on the hull But

we’re descending past that Past

a bale of SEA TURTLES, circling close to the surface More

DIVERS studying the ocean life at depth A

pod of BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS breaking a school of MACKEREL Down

past floating JELLYFISH and gliding STINGRAYS The

light from the surface fading now A

flotilla of SWORDFISH Darker

still A

huge SPERM WHALE hunting a shoal of large SQUID Then

nothing Just

darkness Until

a small light appears An

ANGLERFISH attacking SHRIMP An

EEL passes by the Anglerfish’s bioluminescent light Then

it all fades back to Deep

Dark

Nothing

For

Miles

But

then Faint

light down below Vaguely

making out five tiny objects, all lit up In

one tiny section of a massive trench 43

miles just in width. Bigger than Grand Canyon massive Closing

right in on the illuminated

3.

TRENCH DIVE SITE

One tall structure in the middle. Floodlights on

SIRENA DEEP, MARIANA TRENCH

Four smaller subs working different parts of the site

35,200 FEET BELOW SEA LEVEL

The seabed more like thick soup than sand

34° FAHRENHEIT

But still there is life

ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE 15,656 PSI

SEA CUCUMBERS and PALE SHRIMP scattered around The

tall structure in the middle SUPPLY

LANDER:

Missile-shaped. Encasing a titanium Sphere near the bottom Floodlights

and cameras all over. A hatch on the Sphere Close

by is the first sub CRAWLER

ONE:

Trawling the seabed The

subs are all identical. Spheres in a cuboid shell Thrusters.

Robotic arms. Lights. Cameras. Viewing windows Further

away CRAWLER

TWO:

Drilling into the seabed with one robotic arm Bolting

down a monitoring instrument with the other Further

still CRAWLER

THREE:

Thrusting its way up a steep ridge A

radar instrument rotating underneath the sub A

broken thruster splutters to a stop And

over by the trench wall

4.

CRAWLER FOUR:

Lighting up the face of the rocky surface

Robotic arms carefully scraping and vacuuming samples

A muffled Rolling Stones song vibrating from inside

JOSH (PRE-LAP)

Okay. Petri dish with one bacteria.

Splits into two cells every sixty

seconds. Start at 3pm. At - and this is

important, so pay close attention - at

3:
23pm, the petri dish is half full

The crew visible through the Sphere hatch window

CRAWLER FOUR SPHERE

Cramped 3.5ft radius. Wires. Monitors. Computers. Lights Fold-

down seating for the two crew members JOSH

STRAND. 30s. American. Controlling one robot

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes