The Abyss Page #10

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HIPPY:

Everything is.

One Night is pounding down the corridor from the sub bay.

ONE NIGHT:

Hurry up! Coffey's splitting with Flatbed! He

got me to show him the controls, then his guys

suited up and they're rolling.

Bud breaks into a run, passing her.

BUD:

Goddamnit! D'you tell him we need it right now?

ONE NIGHT:

I told him we had to get the umbilical unhooked

ASAP.

INT. SUB BAY85

Bud clears the door in time to see an empty moonpool, roiling with turbulence.

He runs to the edge and looks down. Flatbed is a vague shape moving off.

BUD:

Unbelievable.

CUT TO:

EXT. EXPLORER BRIDGE -- DAY86

The sky is charcoal, the sea is a mountain range of gray slopes. Waves

thunder over the foredeck, whipped by eighty-know winds. Men in life

jackets scurry like insects. Off the port bow, the ASW destroyer ALBANY

vanishes and reappears among waves sixty feet tall. McBride scream orders

that can't be heard to the crewmen on deck. He staggers back along the bridge

railing.

INT./EXT. BENTHIC EXPLORER BRIDGE -- DAY 87

McBride steps into the quiet of the control room. He turns on De Marco.

MCBRIDE:

We're trying to get unhooked and get out of

here... and your boys go sightseeing!

DEMARCO:

They'll be back in two hours.

MCBRIDE:

Two hours?! We're gonna be getting the sh*t

kicked out of us by our friend Fred in two hours!

De Marco's expression is infuriatingly calm... icy. McBride looks at his

watch and swears under his breath.

CUT TO:

EXT. USS MONTANA WRECK SITE88

For a second time the black hull of the ballistic missile sub is illuminated

by diver's lights. Tiny figures, the divers move like moths around a distant

streetlight. Wilhite, Monk and Schoenick are clustered around an open missile

hatch. Using a large lift bag, they are removing the frangible fiberglass,

or 'diaphragm'. Coffey pilots Flatbed with increasing deftness, deploying

the big arm to aid in the work.

DOWN ANGLE as the diaphragm lifts away... revealing the blunt nose of the

TRIDENT C-4 MISSLE. Like looking down the barrel of a gun at the bullet

aimed right at you.

CUT TO:

INT. DEEPCORE/MESS HALL 89

TIGHT ON VIDEO SCREEN: A HELICOPTER SHOT of a warship burning, rolling

ponderously as it sinks in stormy seas.

NEWS ANCHOR (V.O.)

Little is known at this hour about the events

leading up to the collision. The US Navy guided

missile cruiser Appleton apparently struck the

Soviet 'Udaloy' class destroyer in low visibility

conditions...

VARIOUS CUTS of men in life jackets among huge waves... Rescue helicopters

hovering. Shaky camera work. Wind blasting. INTERCUT WITH REACTIONS of the

rig crew watching.

NEWS ANCHOR (V.O.)

In violent seas little hope remains for over a

hundred Russian crewmen still missing after the

sinking an hour ago.

SHOT OF AMERICAN CRUISER, burning, listing to one side in heavy seas.

Replaced by SHOT OF NETWORK ANCHORMAN.

NEWS ANCHOR:

Soviet military spokesmen have claimed that

the collision constituted an unprovoked attack.

This was denied--

It continues. Bud looks at Lindsey. She turns to him, expression grim.

LINDSEY:

Bud, this is big time.

CUT TO:

EXT. MONTANA WRECKSITE90

The divers are working head-first in the missile's launch tube. Monk reads

from a plasticized card, directing the other two step by step. The arcane

litany is punctuated by the hissing rasp of their breathing.

WILHITE (filtered)

Separation sequencer disconnected. Next?

MONK (filtered)

Remove explosive bolts one through six in

counterclock-wise sequence.

SCHOENICK (filtered)

Check... removing bolt one.

INT. DEEPCORE 91

ON THE RIG CREW, watching. Bathed in the light of the video screen.

NEWSCASTER (V.O.)

... just learned that Soviet negotiators have

walked out of the strategic arms limitation

summit in protest over the incident this morning.

Bud switches the channel.

ANOTHER NEWSCASTER

... US and NATO military forces have been put on

full alert worldwide this morning in the wake

of...

BUD:

It's on every channel.

Bud switches again. Reception is getting worse as the storm affect the

satellite down-link to Explorer. THE SCREEN shows a reporter on a city

street, stopping people at random. Their answers are edited together:

YOUNG WOMAN:

You just feel so hopeless. You can see it coming,

but what can you do? What can anyone do?

CONSTRUCTION WORKER

Hey, they don't want war any more than we do.

You think about it, you say... hey, they love

their kids too. So why are we doing this?

He is replaced by a self-righteous, middle-aged woman.

WOMAN:

If the Russians sank that submarine, they deserve

what they got and a lot more, if you ask me,

and you did. I think we've been pussyfooting

around with them long enough.

EXT. USS MONTANA 92

It is now clear what the SEALs are doing. Using large lift bags and Flatbed's

big arm, they have pulled one of the Trident C-4 missiles partway out of its

launch tube, and have partially disassembled the nose-shroud, exposing

several of the MIRV warheads within.

Moving very carefully, Wilhite and Schoenick ease one of the individual MIRVs

out of its bracket. Hanging under a lift-bag in a jerry-rigged harness, the

three-foot long warhead is move gently by the divers to the back of Flatbed.

INT. DEEPCORE/VIDEO SCREEN 93

Another man in the street interview, tortured by static.

MAN:

Scared? I'm scared ____-less. But if it happens

it happens, nothing I can do about it. Right?

So why think about it?

CUT TO:

INT. SUB-BAY94

Flatbed surfaces in boiling foam. The rig crew are all waiting. Like a

crack pit-crew Bud's people leap onto Flatbed while its deck is still awash

and start to work on to Navy divers, unsealing their helmets and uncoupling

their umbilicals. Hippy and Bud start to untie a cylindrical object wrapped

in one of the SEAL's gear bags. Coffey emerges from the hatch.

COFFEY:

Don't touch that. Just step away. Now!

HIPPY:

Excusez moi.

BUD:

Coffey, we're a little pressed for time.

COFFEY:

Monk, Schoenick... secure the package.

The two SEALs unlash the object in the black bag. Bud an Lindsey exchange a

glance. He glares at Coffey as they pass each other. One Night nimbly

climbs the hatch-tower and drops in. Bud swings the heavy hatch up,

balancing it, and grins down at One Night.

BUD:

This ain't no drill, slick. Make me proud.

ONE NIGHT:

Piece of cake, baby.

He swings the hatch closed with a CLANG.

CUT TO:

EXT. DEEPCORE 95

The big A-frame, massive as a railroad bridge, to which the umbilical from

the Explorer is attached. Flatbed rises INTO FRAME arcing around the

coupling mechanism F.G. One Night deploys the big hydraulic arm.

It unfold from Flay bed like a huge steel spider leg, its claw-like 'gripper'

opening.

INT./EXT. BENTHIC EXPLORER BRIDGE -- DAY 96

An ALARM sounds stridently on the dynamic-positioning console.

BENDIX:

We're losing number two thruster. Bearing's

going.

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