The Big Blue Page #6

A couple of llamas are huddled up against the hut in attempt

to protect themselves from the storm.

JOHANA is bewildered. Shacks in the middle of the Andes,

the lake of the "Demon", and now llama that have to be

pushed aside to enter one's home.

As FRANK opens the door, a man is leaving the hut. The

man is JACQUES MAYOL. JOHANA and JACQUES pass each other

in slow motion. Everything seems suddenly suspended: time,

sound, cold...

JACQUES MAYOL instantly makes an impression on her. He is

now 34, still dark-haired, with dark eyes. He is wearing

a red diving suit and a pair of round goggles. He looks

like some legendary creature one would dream about.

Everything finally regains its formal speed. The door

slams, the man is gone. She and FRANK are in the middle

of the entrance hall. JOHANA hasn't yet gotten over the

vision she has just had, but she regains composure and

enters the next room.

INT. QUONSET HUT

JOHANA happily takes her gloves off.

FRANK puts down the bags and walks into the next room.

It's a sort of laboratory, filled with ultra modern

equipment.

A big bay window overlooks the lake on which is built a

long wooden dock.

Sitting in a corner, an old Peruvian man is preparing hot

drinks. JOHANA drops into a chair.

FRANK:

A drink to warm up?

JOHANA:

Yes, thank you. Intravenous if

possible.

FRANK:

(pulling out a flask)

Tea... or whiskey?

JOHANA:

... both. Did I just see a man in

a red suit and goggles?

FRANK smiles and pours some whiskey in her tea cup.

FRANK:

... right.

(calling out)

Dr. Lawrence? The insurance man...

uh... The insurance person is here!

LAWRENCE:

It's about time!

FRANK smiles and pours JOHANA some tea. She warms her

hands on the cup. She asks blankly.

JOHANA:

Would it be out of place to ask

what he's doing?

FRANK:

Who?

JOHANA:

The guy in the Halloween suit!

LAWRENCE comes in from the other side of the room.

He walks straight over to the bay window.

LAWRENCE:

Did you have a nice trip? We were

getting restless, it's been three

weeks since the accident.

JOHANA walks over to the bay window and starts staring at

something in the distance.

EXT. DOCK - ON JACQUES

At the end of the dock, JACQUES who is sitting on the edge

of a hole which is cut in the ice, is putting a pair of

gloves on. He then grabs the handles of a strange machine

which emerges from the water and starts taking deep breaths,

oblivious to the cold, his mind completely elsewhere.

BACK IN LAB:

JOHANA watches JACQUES. She just

can't believe her eyes.

LAWRENCE is bent over one of his machines, fiddling with

different switches.

LAWRENCE:

(to Johana)

You should get things moving, you

know. We're out of equipment and

we

can't do half of our experiments...!

Frank, check the program!

JOHANA is finally able to speak.

JOHANA:

Who... Who is that?

LAWRENCE:

Mayol... Jacques Mayol.

JOHANA:

That's the experiment? Dumping a

guy into a frozen lake?

LAWRENCE turns one last knob.

LAWRENCE:

... The truck fell into a very

deep crevasse. We weren't able to

save the equipment.

JOHANA:

I'll have to talk to the driver.

LAWRENCE:

In the spring when he melts!

JOHANA walks closer to the window. She isn't hearing a

thing he's saying.

JACQUES is putting on his flippers.

JOHANA can't believe it.

JACQUES is standing by a hole cut in the ice. He is holding

onto the machine in the water. He is waving a mask.

JOHANA:

(dumbfounded)

You really send him under the ice?

He isn't a slave or a convict or anything?

LAWRENCE:

My dear, science is a cruel

mistress.

JOHANA:

But... how is he going to breathe?

LAWRENCE:

He isn't going to breathe.

JACQUES takes a deep breath, turns a handle and a weight

yanks him straight down into the water. LAWRENCE sets his

stop watch off and flips a few switches.

JOHANA grabs his arm as if they could do something about

it.

LAWRENCE:

Listen...

He raises the volume: we hear the man's heartbeat through

a small speaker.

LAWRENCE:

That's his heartbeat.

(excited)

Can you hear the speed at which

it's slowing down, it's incredible.

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