The Abyss Page #2

---

DEMARCO (V.O.)

No light from the surface. How deep are they?

MCBRIDE (V.O.)

Seventeen hundred feet.

WIDER, showing the Navy contingent crowding the control room. DeMarco is

hardcore military, brusque and efficient. Kirkhill is a small man with

pinched features, wearing a shirt and tie, which on a drill ship means

company man and/or d*ckhead.

DEMARCO:

I need them to go to over two thousand.

KIRKHILL:

They can do it.

(to McBride)

Get Brigman on the line.

CUT TO:

EXT. UNDERWATER -- DAY (TOTAL DARKNESS) 18

1700 FEET BELOW. A submersible oil-drilling platform, DEEPCORE II, an island

of light in the vast blackness. Its main framework connects two "tri-

modules" consisting of three cylinders each. These contain living and work

areas in a pressurized environment. An umbilical cable, thick as a man's

thigh, runs up from the oil rig into the darkness, to the Benthic Explorer

at the surface. In a bubble-like dome port window we see the rig foreman, or

"toolpusher," BUD BRIGMAN. He's talking (via headset) with two divers

working outside... 'CATFISH' DE VRIES, AND LEW 'BIRD-DOG' FINLER.

BUD:

Hey, you guys are milking that job.

CATFISH:

(Kentucky drawl)

That's cause we love freezin' our butts off out

here sooo much, boss.

OMITTED19

INT. DRILL ROOM 20

Bud turns from the window and crosses the drill floor. The working heart of

the rig. THUNDEROUS MECHANICAL ROAR. The drill crew, in hardhats and mud-

plastered overalls, tend the massive spinning turn-table in the center of the

chamber. The semi-automated system requires only five men to operate. The

others are LUPTON MCWHIRTER, DWIGHT PERRY, JAMMER WILLIS, and TOMMY RAY

DIETZ. Bud hears his names called above the din by Jammer, a massive

roughneck/diver who stands a good head taller than the rest.

JAMMER:

(yelling)

Bud! Hippy's on the b*tch-box. It's a call

from topside. That new company man.

BUD:

Kirkhill? That guy doesn't know his butt from

a rathole. Hey, Perry!

One of the roustabouts, a wiry Texan, turns to him.

BUD:

Do me a favor and square away the mud hose and

those cable slings. This place is starting to

look like my apartment.

Perry chuckles and sets to the task cheerfully. Bud EXITS, ducking his head

through a low watertight hatch.

INT. CORRIDOR/TOOLPUSHER'S OFFICE 21

Bud tromps down the narrow corridor, his work boots gonging on steel.

P.A. (HIPPY'S VOICE)

BUD, PICK UP THE TOPSIDE LINE URGENT.

BUD:

I'm coming. Keep your pantyhose on.

He enters his office, a tiny cubicle with stacks of paperwork, dust-

gathering tech manuals and waterstained Penthouse fold-outs. He picks up the

phone... punches down a line.

BUD:

Brigman here. Kirkhill? What's going on?

(pause)

I am calm. I'm a calm person. Is there some

reason why I shouldn't be calm?

HOLD ON Bud's expression, darkening, as he listens.

INT. CORRIDOR/CONTROL MODULE 22

The control module is a long narrow cabin like the inside of a Winnebago,

packed with instrumentation. At the end is a small bay with multiple

viewports. Outside, at a 'Christmas tree' pipe installation, a lone diver

can be seen welding. He is accompanied by a large submersible, FLATBED, and

by a Remotely Operated Vehicle, or ROV, call LITTLE GEEK. Little Geek is an

underwater robot which operated on the end of a cable-like control TETHER.

It has a single video 'eye' in front, by which the operator pilots the little

machine. The rig's ROV pilots is ALLEN 'HIPPY' CARNES, who stands by the

window twiddling his joysticks and drinking coffee. His pet white rat,

BEANY, crawls contentedly around his shoulders. The door BANGS OPEN.

Hippy jumps, slops his coffee. Bud strides in. Not calm.

BUD:

Son of a b*tch.

He kicks a chair out of the way and slams his palm down on a switch marked

DIVER RECALL. A SIREN, blasting through the water from a big hydrophone

loudspeaker.

BUD:

All divers. Drop what you're doing. Everybody

out of the pool.

EXT. DEEPCORE/CHRISTMAS TREE A22

Flatbed's pilot, LISA 'ONE NIGHT' STANDING, can be clearly seen behind a

bubble canopy. She is a no-nonsense lady who holds her own in the mostly

male environment by being one of the best submersible drivers in the

business. She controls a hydraulic manipulator arm, assisting the diver,

ARLISS 'SONNY' DAWSON, in his work. Little Geek hovers around them like a

tiny helicopter. One Night moves the Flatbed arm to Sonny and hands him the

pipe.

ONE NIGHT:

Here you go, hon'.

SONNY:

Just in time, sugar.

They react to Bud's recall, looking toward him up in the control module.

ONE NIGHT:

Dammit, we just got out here.

SONNY:

There was a time when I would have asked why.

One Night makes a grab for his butt with the manipulator claw, which he

narrowly avoids.

CUT TO:

EXT. DEEPCORE/UNDER SUB-BAY23

Flatbed moves underneath the rig, a few feet above the seafloor, with Sonny

riding on its top deck. It passes under a lit opening and rises toward the

surface of the water in the chamber above. Little Geek follows like an

obedient dog.

INT. SUB-BAY/MOONPOOL 24

The opening is called the moonpool, and Deepcore's submersibles are launched

through it. From inside the sub-bay it looks just like a swimming pool.

Flatbed surfaces, nearly filling it. The chamber also contains CAB ONE, a

similar submersible. Jammer, Perry, and some of the other drill-room boys

are helping the divers out of the water. The water at this depth is only

about six degrees above freezing, and these folks are cold and prune-

fingered. Finler pulls off his demand-helmet, revealing a round, boyish

face.

FINLER:

What's goin' on? How come we got recalled?

SONNY:

Hell is I know.

One Night jumps 'ashore' from Flatbed's broad deck and joins them. Catfish

is unzipping his bulky dry-suit.

CATFISH:

Just follow standard procedure, will ya...

flog the dog till somebody tells us what's

happening.

JAMMER:

Hey, Catfish, I'll sell you my October Penthouse

for twenty bucks.

ONE NIGHT:

Save you money, darlin'... the pages are all

stuck together by now.

Bud enters, approaching the group.

JAMMER:

What's goin' on, Boss?

BUD:

Folks, I've just been told to shut down the hole

and prepare to move the rig.

SONNY:

She-hit.

BUD:

We're being asked to cooperate in a matter of

national security. Now you know exactly as much

as I do. So just get your gear off and get up to

control. There's some kind of briefing in ten

minutes.

CUT TO:

INT. DEEPCORE/COMMAND MODULE 25

The whole rig crew is somehow jammed into the room for the video briefing.

DeMarco is on the main monitor, with his aides and Kirkhill visible b.g.

DEMARCO:

At 09:
22 local time this morning, an American

nuclear submarine, the USS Montana, with 156 men

aboard, went down 22 miles from here. There has

been no contact with the sub since then. The

cause of the incident is not known.

Rate this script:5.0 / 2 votes