Sphere Page #6

ON NORMAN - his GLOVE -- fumbling at his waist.

HIS HELMET LIGHT - FLICKERS on.

ON NORMAN - slowly, beginning to walk on the ocean floor.

HIS FEET - squashing gently, lightly into the muddy ground.

NORMAN'S POV - can barely make out the others in front of him, their

helmet lights STROBING the dark water, crossing each other, like

searchlights on a foggy night.

CLOSE ON NORMAN'S FACE - eyes cold, BREATHING. Couple beats. And

HEARS:

TED (O.S.)

Look at that thing.

Norman's eyes look up...WE PULL BACK...

LONG, HIGH, WIDE SHOT of the team -- their little helmet lights tiny

and insignificant almost as...

IN FRONT OF THEM - the SPACECRAFT. Dwarfing them in size, looming

large, majestic, like nothing we've ever seen. The enormous tail fin,

in the distance, extends high out of the coral.

In the huge MOUND OF CORAL covering the spacecraft, WE SEE a tunnel --

cut out like a cave -- lined with tiny, dim lightbulbs.

INT. TUNNEL

About 60 feet deep. Narrower than they'd like. Norman descends,

clumsily, awkwardly -- pushing off the bulky, iron handles fastened to

the coral walls.

THE LOUD HISSING OF AIR

INT. SPACECRAFT AIRLOCK

CLOSE ON NORMAN'S FACE as he watches the water recede, down past his

faceplate.

THE LOUD BANGING OF METAL

Ted has wedged a crowbar into the door and BANGS at it with a

sledgehammer.

HARRY:

Easy Ted, we're not mining gold.

TED:

Gimme some room here, will you? Back

off. Gimme some space.

They all back away, cramming into the far corner of the airlock as Ted

keeps swinging.

BETH:

Looks alot like an airplane door,

doesn't it?

Ted stops and looks at the door.

TED:

Alot like. You know, I noticed it

before, but I didn't...

HARRY:

Shutup, Ted. You didn't notice sh*t.

Keep hammering.

NORMAN:

You want me to try?

TED:

You're a 53 year old shrink, what

are you gonna do?

BARNES:

Give him the hammer, Ted.

Norman takes the hammer. Walks up to the wedge. Gets his bearings.

Rears back...then stops.

TED:

What is it, your back give out?

Something has caught Norman's eye. He looks down at the wedge.

BARNES:

What is it, Norman?

NORMAN:

Take a look.

Barnes comes toward him. The others follow. Barnes bends down, looks

closely down at the wedge in the door.

BARNES:

It's chipped.

HARRY:

Chipped? The door? How can it be

chipped?

BARNES:

I don't know how it can be chipped,

but it's chipped.

HARRY:

I thought you said there wasn't any

damage done in the crash?

BARNES:

I did.

HARRY:

Then how can it be chipped?

ON BETH - she touches the door with her palms, feels around.

BETH:

There's heat coming the door.

BARNES:

Back away then.

BETH:

Wait a minute --

BARNES:

I said back away.

BETH:

Would you wait a minute?

THE DOOR STARTS TO RUMBLE

Barnes unstraps a GUN -- nearly the size of an uzzi -- from his

buckle.

BARNES:

Ted, get her away from the door.

TED:

What are you going to do -- shoot

her?

The RUMBLING louder...

BARNES:

Get her away!

THE DOOR begins to slide open.

Beth backs away.

THE DOOR, sliding, is revealing COMPLETE BLACKNESS inside. The door

stops, it's open, it's quiet. They all stand there, looking at

BLACKNESS. A long beat.

INT. SPACECRAFT

ON NORMAN - cautiously stepping inside. His helmet light SHINES on the

others ahead of him, walking along a 5 foot wide CATWALK, suspended

high in the air.

Metallic BEAMS and RAFTERS criss-cross above them.

Norman looks over the railing -- his light STROBES through 40 feet of

darkness, dimly lighting the LOWER HULL, a dense network of STRUTS and

GIRDERS.

TED:

Look at this.

BARNES:

What is it?

Ted SPOTLIGHTS the OUTER HULL.

TED:

Some sort of lead or something.

BARNES:

Radiation shield, you think?

TED:

A foot and a half thick? That'd

withstand a helluva lot of

radiation.

Beth's light SHINES down onto the CATWALK. WE SEE FOOTPRINTS outlined

on the dusty floor.

BETH:

Hold on --

BARNES:

What is it?

BETH:

Any of you get ahead of me -- walk

this far up?

TED:

No. I don't think so.

BETH:

Well, think. Because there's

footprints here that aren't mine.

TED:

Well, they're not mine.

ON THE FOOTPRINTS - large, like the boots they're wearing.

BARNES:

Calm down, alright? They gotta be

somebody's here. Let's stay

together, please.

CUT TO:

LONG SHOT - seeing them suspended high in the air on the catwalk,

walking. Their tiny streams of LIGHT moving about. WE SEE just how

ominous this spacecraft really is.

BETH:

It's empty. Why would someone build a

ship like this?

HARRY:

You'd have to ask them.

They approach a DOOR, at the end of the catwalk.

BARNES:

Alright, Beth, do that thing you did

before.

BETH:

How about I just press the button?

She presses a button near the door. The door SLIDES open.

BARNES:

Or just...press the button.

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