SPHERE
BY
PAUL ATTANASIO
Based on the novel by
Michael Crichton
BARRY LEVINSON VERSION SHOOTING SCRIPT
NOTE: THE HARD COPY OF THIS SCRIPT CONTAINED SCENE NUMBERS
AND SOME "OMITTED" SLUGS. THEY HAVE BEEN REMOVED FOR THIS
SOFT COPY.
FADE IN:
EXT. OCEAN FLOOR - DAY
BEGIN TITLES.
MOVING AMONG the hallucinatory variety of creatures --
barbaric, distorted, sublime -- that haunt the ocean floor.
All but unknown to man except in the deep preconscious brain
that houses the family album of the race... Where we remember
that they are us... Then...
DISSOLVE TO:
BALLET OF ODD SHAPES
and exotic colors -- like a living abstract painting --
tropical fish moving in the f.g... Aquarium fish -- fish we
know -- fish of the lesser depths, as we RISE UP TOWARD the
surface...
Then nearer the surface still, fish dart and flee before a
distant RUMBLE... that GROWS LOUDER AND LOUDER...
HELICOPTER
ERUPTS INTO WATERY VIEW as it blasts across the ocean...
CUT TO:
EXT. PACIFIC OCEAN - DAY
A tropical morning sun paints its luster on the sea-chop. A
helicopter hurtles across the Pacific Ocean.
CUT TO:
INT. HELICOPTER - SAME TIME
NORMAN GOODMAN, 50s, a day's growth of beard and eyes sandy
with sleep, wakes up. Adjusts his steel-framed glasses.
Unballs the tweed jacket he's been using as a pillow. He's
nearly sitting in the lap of the PILOT, 30s, a tightly wound
military type, as they zoom across the waves.
PILOT
Good sleep?
NORMAN
Not bad. So, where are we?
PILOT
Where'd they bring you in from?
NORMAN
San Diego. Left yesterday.
PILOT
So you came Honolulu-Guam-Pago-here?
NORMAN
Yeah.
PILOT
Long trip. What kind of work do you do,
sir?
NORMAN
I'm a psychologist.
PILOT
A shrink, huh? Why not. They've called
in just about everything else.
NORMAN
How do you mean?
PILOT
We've been ferrying people out of Guam
for the last two days. Physicists,
biologists, mathematicians, you name it.
Everybody being flown to the middle of
nowhere in the Pacific Ocean.
NORMAN
What's going on?
PILOT
They're not telling us anything, sir.
What about you? What'd they tell you?
NORMAN
They told me that there was an airplane
crash.
PILOT
Uh-huh. You get called on crashes?
NORMAN
I have been, yes.
PILOT
And why is that, sir?
NORMAN
I'm on a list of psychologists the F.A.A.
brings in when a plane goes down.
(beat)
So, where exactly are we now?
PILOT
Well, I'm not supposed to tell
you...let's just say we're two hundred
miles from nowhere, sir.
NORMAN
You're not supposed to tell me?
PILOT
No, sir.
Norman looks out of the helicopter, at the ocean.
NORMAN
Don't you get bored looking at that?
PILOT
To tell you the truth, no, sir. I'm real
happy to see it flat like this.
NORMAN
Why?
PILOT
Good weather. It won't hold though.
There's a cyclone forming up in the
Admiralties, should swing down this way
in a few days.
NORMAN
What happens then?
PILOT
Everybody just clears the hell out.
Weather can be really tough in this part
of the world. I was stationed in Florida
and I've seen a lot of hurricanes, but
you've never seen anything like a Pacific
cyclone, sir.
NORMAN
You never met my first wife.
PILOT
Don't be so sure.
That's where we're headed, over there.
Here take a look.
He hands Norman binoculars.
NORMAN'S POV THROUGH BINOCULARS
A salvage ship surrounding four other, smaller craft in
concentric circles. A mile long circle of bouys.
CLOSE ON NORMAN
as he absorbs this new information. What's going on?
NORMAN
All this for an airplane crash.
PILOT
I never mentioned a plane crash.
(beat)
CUT TO:
EXT. SALVAGE SHIP - DAY
The helicopter lands on the salvage ship helipad. Norman
hesitates at the door. A seaman coaxes him and he jumps down.
Blasted by the downdraft of the rotors, Norman humps his
duffel bag across the deck, hustles after his escort.
CUT TO:
INT. SALVAGE SHIP - LATER
Norman follows a SEAMAN, 20s, as he carries Norman's duffel
bag along the narrow corridors belowdecks...
SEAMAN
You have any other gear, sir? Watch your
step.
NORMAN
I'd like to call my family.
SEAMAN
We'll get you settled in quarters,
sir. You're to remain there until we
send for you.
NORMAN
I want to get started right now.
SEAMAN
We'll send for you.
NORMAN
It's critical that I see them, because --
SEAMAN
See who?
NORMAN
The survivors. If I don't get to them
within the first twenty four hours...
SEAMAN
What survivors?
NORMAN
The survivors of the plane crash.
SEAMAN
Plane crash?
NORMAN
Listen carefully. I deal in post-
traumatic stress and survivor guilt --
maybe I should talk to someone who knows
what's going on.
SEAMAN
You can talk to the ship's psychiatrist.
NORMAN
I'm a psychologist, that's why I was sent
down here.
Norman follows the Seaman through a hydraulic door...They
come upon TED FIELDING prowling the corridor.
TED
(to Seaman)
Look, I told you people over an hour ago
I need a phone. A phone.
The Seaman brusquely continues past with Norman's duffel
bag.
SEAMAN
You'll have to discuss that with
Mr.Barnes.
TED
That's fine...Barnes. Give me a phone,
I'll call him.
He recognizes Norman.
TED (cont'd)
Norman...what are you doing here?
The Seaman grabs Ted's arm.
TED
Would you take your hands off me, please.
Do you have any idea who I am?
NORMAN
He will if you just tell him the name of
the book you wrote.
TED
It's called 'Astrophysics You Can Use'.
It was a Book of the Month Club Main
Selection.
The Seaman turns, ramrod-straight, and fixes Ted with a
steely Aryan gaze.
SEAMAN
Never heard of it. Now back in your
quarters.
NORMAN
(to Ted)
You really thought that he read your
book...after all these years? You
haven't changed.
TED
Well, it's written for the layman.
NORMAN
He's not impressed.
TED
They don't read.
(to Seaman)
Is there a phone in here?
The Seaman grabs his arm again.
TED (cont'd)
Would you stop doing that! I can go to
the room myself.
NORMAN
I've been trying to call my wife for the
last 15 hours.
SEAMAN
(sharply to Ted)
Sir?
Ted backs off toward his room, opens the door.
The Seaman continues on his way with Norman, unlocks a door --
Norman's quarters. Norman glances up the hall...
NORMAN'S POV - BETH HALPERIN
Thirties, a mordant beauty, stands at the threshold of her
room. Watching him. A lot going on behind those eyes. She
and Norman exchange a look. Then without a word, she returns
to her room.
CLOSEUP - NORMAN
As the Seaman ushers him inside.
NORMAN
Beth?
Then the Seaman closes the door on him.
CUT TO:
INT. NORMAN'S QUARTERS - LATER
Norman lies on his cot, stares at the ceiling, his tweed
jacket folded up like a pillow beneath his head.
There's a knock at the door and it is opened by HARALD
COTESWORTH BARNES, 40s, an imposing man in dark glasses and
dark dress.
BARNES
Goodman! You been here long?
He shakes Norman's hand.
NORMAN
I've been here three hours.
Barnes sweeps him along into the hallway.
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY - SAME TIME
Barnes leads Norman along the hallway and down some stairs.
BARNES
Welcome aboard. I don't mind telling
you, this thing scares the hell out of
me.
NORMAN
It's probably already too late. You
might as well put me on a helicopter and
send me back. Whatever damage was done to
the survivors, is already done. You know
what I mean?
BARNES
Hold on, we'll get to that.
NORMAN
I don't even know who you are.
BARNES
(admiring)
Well, I sure know who you are.
NORMAN
Who are you...Navy...military? What are
you?
BARNES
You ever hear of the O.S.S.A.?
NORMAN
Yes.
BARNES
(proudly)
Well, they don't know who I am. That
should reassure you.
Barnes takes Norman aside.
BARNES
Look, you haven't talked to anybody about
this, have you?
NORMAN
Well, I talked to the helicopter pilot.
BARNES
What'd you tell him?
NORMAN
What did I tell him. I told him I was
here to see the plane crash. That's my
job.
Barnes chews this over thoughtfully...
BARNES
The plane crash. Good.
NORMAN
There was no plane crash?
BARNES
(confidentially)
Spacecraft.
NORMAN
Spacecraft? I guess that explains a lot.
NASA?
BARNES
That doesn't surprise you?
NORMAN
Well at least it explains the secrecy.
BARNES
The secrecy's critical, Norman. You made
that explicit in your report.
NORMAN
What report?
BARNES
The ULF.
NORMAN
(remembering)
I wrote that for the Bush Administration.
BARNES
And that's our Bible here. Every jot and
tittle.
NORMAN
But that was a report about a possible
encounter with an alien being.
Norman laughs nervously, looks at Barnes. Barnes isn't
laughing. Suddenly Norman isn't laughing either.
BARNES
You want to come with me?
NORMAN
Oh, boy.
CUT TO:
INT. BRIEFING ROOM - LATER
A video image of SEAMEN aboard a telephone-cable ship showing
the sheared fiber optic cable to the camera as Barnes, laser
pointer in hand, delivers a briefing.
BARNES
About three weeks ago, a ship laying
fiber optic cable between Honolulu and
Sydney hit an obstruction a thousand feet
underwater. Cut the cable clean as a
shears. The Navy got interested -- sent
out a search ship.
ANGLE ON BETH
As she watches... SUPERED below:
DR. BETH HALPERIN: PHYSICIAN/BIOLOGIST
ANGLE ON HIGH-RESOLUTION TV IMAGE
A sonar image of an enormous triangular fin jutting abruptly
from a ridge of coral...
BARNES
... Turns out what did it was this -- We
took this with the side-looking sonar --
an aerodynamic fin longer than a football
field. Bigger than any known wingspan.
ANGLE ON TED
As he watches.... SUPERED below:
TED FIELDING: ASTROPHYSICIST
TED
You have any idea what it's made of?
BARNES
We sent the SCARAB robots to snip a piece
out of it...
ANGLE ON MICROSCOPE IMAGE
of the composition of the fin...
BARNES
It's a titanium alloy in an epoxy/resin
honeycomb. It's more sophisticated than
anything we can duplicate.
TED
The Russians don't have anything like
this?
ANGLE ON SONAR IMAGE
This one composed of fine dots.
BARNES
You tell me. That's the fuselage. Ultra-
high-res S.L.S. bottom scan, came in a
week ago. There it is...buried under
about eight yards of coral.
BETH
There's something wrong with that
measurement. Pacific coral grows at a
rate of an inch a year. You can set your
watch by it.
BARNES
That's right.
BETH
So, you're saying the spacecraft crashed
in the year...
HARRY (O.C.)
1709.
They all turn in the direction of the voice...
REVERSE ANGLE ON HARRY ADAMS
As he watches, bemused, from a chair in the corner, his
fingers forming a steeple. A black man with a dour manner
and lightning eyes, Oxford shirt and chinos. SUPERED BELOW:
"HARRY ADAMS: MATHEMATICIAN."
BETH
You're saying this spacecraft crashed
three hundred years ago?
HARRY
Two hundred and eighty-eight.
BETH
But that's impossible.
BARNES
It's not impossible if this spacecraft
came to earth from an alien civilization.
A long beat of wonderment...
TED
You think this is an alien spacecraft?
HARRY
You see, it's not impossible. It's
ridiculous.
BARNES
We believe this spacecraft contains an
unknown life form. That's why you're
here. You're the human contact team
recommended in the Goodman Report.
(gestures to each)
We have a biochemist to assess the
physiology of the Unknown Life Form, we
have a mathematician, because that'll
probably be our common language... and we
have an astrophysicist to locate its
place in the cosmos.
HARRY
Led by a psychologist.
BARNES
That's right.
HARRY
That's what the little green men say
nowadays? 'Take me to your therapist'?
Norman bites his tongue. He's used to it. Barnes refers to
his copy of The Goodman Report...
BARNES
(reading)
'Contact teams meeting an unknown life
form, or U.L.F., must be prepared for
severe psychological impact. Stress
reaction when confronted by unknown life
has not been sufficiently studied and
cannot be entirely predicted in advance.
But the most likely consequence of
contact is absolute terror.'
(beat)
That's from Norman's report.
TED
I'm sorry...are these parameters correct?
BARNES
Yup.
TED
So, you're saying you have a fuselage
from a spacecraft over a half-mile long
that crashed in the ocean three hundred
years ago, and it's completely intact?
BARNES
That's right, and the kicker is, our
sonar's picking up a low hum.
Something's still running inside.
A beat as they all look at each other...
HARRY
Hold on a second. There's no way that
coral could've grown faster than an inch
a year?
BETH
No.
TED
Well, that's why we're going down there
to see, isn't it?
HARRY
Who said we're going down there?
TED
Are you kidding? This is the greatest
scientific discovery since Copernicus!
Bigger than Copernicus! The idea that
we're not alone? It'll change
everything. We have physical evidence
that there's extra terrestrial life. You
don't want to see that?
HARRY
This is not an equation that needs to be
solved. No.
NORMAN
Harry's got a point. I'm not too sure
about this idea of going down a thousand
feet either.
BARNES
How deep have you been, Norman?
NORMAN
I can snorkle ten to fifteen feet.
BARNES
Good. You do that, and I'll take care of
the rest.
HARRY
I have got to say, I resent this briefing
very much.
TED
Oh, Jesus!
BARNES
Why is that, Harry?
HARRY
Did you decide you have to break the news
to us gently?
BARNES
What news?
HARRY
About the door.
BARNES
Harry, we have divers cutting through
excavation trenches as we speak,
searching for that door.
HARRY
You know exactly where the door is, am I
right. Am I right?
BARNES
You're right.
HARRY
One other thing. If Norman's report calls
for a biologist, a mathematician, an
astrophysicist, and a psychologist...
then why are you here?
Barnes grins enigmatically.
BARNES
I'm not here.
(he turns)
Physical protocols begin in half an hour.
He leaves.
HARRY
He's not here. What the hell does that
mean?
NORMAN
Harry, I'm impressed. You knew he
wasn't telling the truth about the door.
How did you know that?
HARRY
Oh, there's lots of things he's not
telling us about. He's not telling us
any of the important things.
TED
Like what?
HARRY
You wouldn't believe it if I told
you...but you'd probably publish it.
CUT TO:
INT. SHIP - SICK BAY - LATER
NORMAN AGAINST A WHITE BACKGROUND.
MEDIC (O/C)
Do you wear glasses all the time?
NORMAN
I just started wearing these...er...
CUT TO:
TED AGAINST A WHITE BACKGROUND.
TED
...Why? Are the glasses a problem?
Because I don't actually need them.
Clinically speaking they're just for
reading. They're more of a crutch
really.
(takes off glasses)
I see fine without them.
MEDIC O/C
Could you read the fifth line please.
TED
Sure.
(beat)
From here?
CUT TO:
NORMAN AGAINST A WHITE BACKGROUND.
NORMAN
They said there was no problem, but they
didn't anticipate that I would be going a
thousand feet under the water. I find it
interesting that a part of me wants to
find a way to get out of this, and
another part of me is not trying to get
out of it.
MEDIC O/C
Does this concern you?
NORMAN
Going down a thousand feet under the
water where no fish live but that's where
you want to send me? Mildly.
CUT TO:
BETH AGAINST A WHITE BACKGROUND.
MEDIC O/C
Do you take any prescription medication?
BETH
No.
MEDIC O/C
None whatsoever?
BETH
You know once in a while...sometimes I
might take like a piece of Xanax or
something ...if I'm nervous. Something
like that. Not...much.
CUT TO:
HARRY AGAINST A WHITE BACKGROUND.
MEDIC O/C
Would you consider yourself in good
physical condition?
HARRY
Yeah.
MEDIC O/C
According to your doctor, in 1990...
HARRY
Wait a minute -- you talked to my doctor?
CUT TO:
NORMAN AGAINST A WHITE BACKGROUND.
NORMAN
What do you mean, I'm off the graph? I
mean, is that a problem?
CUT TO:
HARRY AGAINST A WHITE BACKGROUND.
HARRY
Knee surgery. Complete reconstruction of
ACL right knee. Still have a steel pin
here...
(points to areas in leg)
...steel pin up here...little medial
collateral damage.
CUT TO:
TED AGAINST A WHITE BACKGROUND.
TED
I just take over the counter
antihistamines. I have some allergies.
Not to water, which is good.
CUT TO:
HARRY AGAINST A WHITE BACKGROUND.
MEDIC O/C
Do you feel comfortable about this dive?
HARRY
No. Hell, no! I don't feel comfortable
about this dive. Why would I? It's not
something I do on a normal basis.
CUT TO:
INT. CLASSROOM - LATER
Norman struggles to stay awake as a DIVE INSTRUCTOR
drones.
DIVE INSTRUCTOR
Let me remind you of a few points. This
will be a saturation dive. You're going
to be taken to a Habitat at a thousand
feet. We have an atmosphere of 21% OT and
79% Nitrogen, which means that the PO2
would be .21 and .79. In this case we
will be compressing on HE.
ANGLE ON HARRY, TED, BETH AND NORMAN as the Dive Instructor
continues.
DIVE INSTRUCTOR (CONT'D)
Compression to a thousand feet will then
occur, using pure helium. As you
compress, you will experience a warming
of the environment and you can also
expect to experience High Pressure
Nervous Syndrome. HPNS is manifested by
trembling, feelings of confusion,
disorientation and possible
nausea.
NORMAN
I got that now.
The Dive Instructor drones on.
DIVE INSTRUCTOR
These symptoms should subside after a
short time on the bottom.
You will also notice marked voice change
as the PPHE increases.
CUT TO:
EXT. SUBMARINE - CLOSE ON NORMAN - DAY
Peering up through the dome of the submarine as it drops away
from the mother ship and descends...
CUT TO:
INT. SUBMARINE - LATER
Norman takes a seat inside the cramped sub.
NORMAN
Sit anywhere?
The rest of the team sits, knee-to-knee. Ted sweats
profusely.
NORMAN (cont'd)
Everybody happy?
Barnes sits alongside a PILOT in the sub's cockpit, separated
by a wall of Plexiglas.
BARNES
(over intercom)
The descent will take about thirteen
minutes descending at a rate of eighty-
feet per minute. It'll get a little
chilly. Try and relax.
The sub rocks a little.
NORMAN
Next time, just tell us when you're going
to push the button.
Barnes flips a switch and a MOZART HORN CONCERTO BLARES
cheerily on the PUBLIC ADDRESS... Harry ties his shoes.
HARRY
Mozart. Horn Concerto in E Flat. K-447.
BETH
I'm surprised to see you here, Harry.
HARRY
Everybody went down but Harry -- written
down in some secret government file
somewhere.
Harry turns to Ted, shivering in a cold sweat of nerves...
HARRY
How you holding up there, Captain
Nautical?
TED
I'm loose.
HARRY
You're loose?
TED
I'm loose. I'm loose.
Then the sub lurches suddenly...
TED
I'm a little uptight...What was that?
The sub rocks again.
NORMAN
Are we okay? Why don't I have a
seatbelt?
Barnes' VOICE INTERRUPTS the MOZART.
BARNES
Oh, shit!
BETH
Shit?
TED
What was that?
BARNES
(over intercom)
We had a little flame out. But don't
worry, we'll ride this current until we
get power back.
TED
Did he just say we lost power?
The group contemplates this as the Mozart cheerily resumes.
NORMAN
Flame out? What's a flame out?
BARNES
Don't worry about it. We're in the river
now.
NORMAN
What river?
BARNES
It's a temperature salinity differential
that flows like a river inside the ocean.
NORMAN
We're in the middle of the ocean under
the ocean and there's a river?
BARNES
That's right.
NORMAN
You couldn't tell us that when you de-
briefed us?
BARNES
Need to know.
BETH
It's a good thing, Norman.
NORMAN
It just, you know...lessens the stress
response -- the more you know in front.
Ted is looking very tense.
NORMAN (cont'd)
You okay, Ted?
TED
No, I'm not okay.
NORMAN
Look at me.
Beth tries to soothe Ted. He gets more tense.
NORMAN (CONT'D)
Maybe you shouldn't touch him, Beth.
(to Ted)
Just look at me. I want you to breathe.
Just look at me. You want to take a
breath. On the count of three...one...
Ted breathes. Harry begins to hum.
TED
You're not breathing either, Norman.
NORMAN
I know I'm not breathing. We're going to
breathe together, okay? We're both
nervous, yes? Breathe in through your
nose...one, two, three and out. It's
just a stress response. Out.
BETH
You're not giving birth here, Ted.
NORMAN
In and out...two...three...four...
Ted and Norman exchange a smile. Harry's humming gets
louder.
TED
Would you cut that out please, Harry?
NORMAN
(to Ted)
You're having a stress reaction. That's
Harry's stress reaction, okay? A bunch
of adolescents here.
Beth is holding onto Ted's hand.
BETH
Okay, man?
She lets go of his hand.
TED
Thank you, that's better. I'm better.
He laughs with relief.
The sub continues to descend.
NORMAN
Those noises we're hearing, that's
normal?
BARNES
Those noises are the pressure of the
water attacking the integrity of the sub.
BETH
You know a little something about that,
don't you? Norman? How the pressure can
attack your integrity?
NORMAN
Come on...be nice this trip.
BETH
Were you nice last time?
TED
You two want to sit together?
Norman wipes sweat off his brow.
CUT TO:
EXT. OCEAN - LATER
The sub descends into the gloom... Not much light down
here... In the distance, the shadowy monolith of the tail fin
looms, like some ancient misplaced totem.
CUT TO:
INT. SUB - LATER
Ted peers out of the porthole. Then his jaw drops.
TED
My God! C'mere -- look at this!
Ted gestures to Norman, and Norman joins him. Peers out...
THEIR POV
Emerging INTO VIEW from behind a ridge...
THE HABITAT
A visually breathtaking network of cylinders and domes, in
yellow steel and glass, lit up from inside and out -- like a
vast underwater sculpture -- as fish dart around it...
BACK ON NORMAN AND TED
as Barnes comes over the intercom...
BARNES
(over intercom)
That's the habitat.
TED
It ain't the Motel 6.
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
The sub nestles beneath the imposing structure... a HYDRAULIC
HISS as the sub's hatch connects with the airlock...
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
JANE EDMUNDS, the unit archivist, monitors the video feed. A
video image appears of the team entering through the hatch to
the moon pool.
EDMUNDS
They're here.
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT MOON POOL - SAME TIME
The team crawls through the narrow hatch...
CUT TO:
INT. MOON POOL ROOM - LATER
The team are squeezed face-to-face in a cold steel-walled
chamber...Barnes stands outside and talks to them over an
intercom.
Then a scary HISSING sound as GAS under pressure enters the
chamber.
BARNES (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Alright. We're gonna pressurize you now.
I know it's hot in there, but you're
going to feel coolness. That's the
helium.
NORMAN
Helium?
TED
Was I the only one paying attention?
Ted is so captivated by his pompous explanation that he
doesn't realize his voice is getting higher and
squeakier...In fact, all of their voices have been distorted
by the helium.
TED
Oxygen is a corrosive gas in the same
family as chlorine and fluorine.
Hydrochloric acid. Hydrofluoric acid.
Everyone's smirking at Ted's seriousness and his squeaky
voice.
TED (cont'd)
Essentially that's why we're breathing
helium down here because oxygen at any
level higher than 2.3 becomes toxic.
NORMAN
Can you run that by me again, Ted. I
don't speak fluent balloon.
Everyone laughs -- a squeaky, high-pitched helium laugh...
TED
(off their laughter)
Yes...that's my voice. The helium
resonates differently with my vocal
cords.
BETH
Wait a second...
HARRY
Follow the yellow brick-road...
BARNES
(intercom)
Alright, kiddies, cut it out. The voice
regulators are behind you. Put 'em on.
NORMAN
(helium voice - to Beth)
How do you like it?
BETH
(helium voice)
It's nothing compared to the drugs I've
done.
Everyone laughs - helium laughs.
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT - POV FROM FIN OF SPACECRAFT - SAME TIME
And the dim sounds of the LAUGHTER inside... As if someone is
watching...listening... and the habitat is a craft full of
aliens.
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - VIDEO ROOM - LATER
TEENY FLETCHER, a gruff O.S.S.A. lifer in her late 30s, works
the controls (joystick, slide switches) for a remote
robot... Jane Edmunds monitors the video feed.
ANGLE ON TEAM
Clustered around, watching... They all now wear talkers
around their necks that normalize their speech.
BARNES (V/O)
Change the angle - different plane.
ANGLE ON MONITORS
A large hole has been excavated through the coral, revealing
what appears to be a door in the spaceship beneath... As
Teeny manipulates the joystick, a suction arm emerges from
the robot, latches onto the door...
FLETCHER
Alright.
BARNES
Get the plane...get the suction plane
flat.
FLETCHER
This has been a little difficult, sir.
No, no...you're doing good. Keep the
rubber plane flat.
Fletcher continues to manipulate the robot.
FLETCHER
There we go.
BARNES
Rotate the clamp.
FLETCHER
Come on!
BARNES
No, other way.
FLETCHER
Okay.
Ted is playing with his "talker" - the black box around his
neck that regulates his voice.
TED
I can't believe these things...mmmmmm
(starts to sing in helium
voice)
"Ole man river......that ole man
river...."
BARNES
Turn it to forty five degrees.
TED
Mmmmmm....
(replaces "talker")
I'm back.
BETH
Is that the door?
BARNES
Looks like it. We did sonar imaging of
the interior compartments. That's our
best bet.
(to Fletcher)
Damn it! It won't budge will it?
HARRY
Has it occurred to anyone that maybe we
shouldn't open that door?
NORMAN
Why do you say that?
HARRY
We always assume these creatures will be
green, or insect-like, but basicaily
human. But what if they inhale air and
exhale cyanide gas? It's perfectly
plausible.
BETH
Or live forever -- like a virus. Or a
yeast.
NORMAN
Why would you assume that an unknown life
form would want to kill us?
HARRY
A creature that can't be killed wouldn't
think killing was right or wrong. They'd
simply have no concept of it.
Ted noses up to the monitor, getting in everyone's way.
TED
How tall is that robot?
FLETCHER
Five feet.
HARRY
Instant extinction. It's what all the
serious scientific literature is about --
what little there is on the subject.
(to Norman)
That is in your report, isn't it, Norman?
NORMAN
It's in there.
BARNES
(to Fletcher)
Put some suction in it. Is that piston
broken?
TED
That's roughly the same size as an
airplane door, isn't it?
BARNES
Excuse me, Ted.
TED
I just think that's worth taking note of.
Don't you?
BARNES
Ted!
(to Fletcher)
Knock the suction up to point-four.
TED
Look at how clumsy this thing is. Three
million dollars worth of technology and
it can't open a door.
BARNES
Alright, Ted!
FLETCHER
(through her teeth)
There's nothing clumsy about the robot.
TED
I'm sorry. All I'm saying is I think any
one of us could do better with a crowbar.
BETH
Any one of us, Ted? Which any one of us
would that be?
TED
Okay, okay...I admit it. Nothing wrong
with a little glory in the name of
science? Jesus!
CLOSE ON BARNES
as he looks at the robot flailing impotently at the door...
Then looks at the team.
FLETCHER
We're not going to be able to control it
from here, and all the divers have pulled
out.
CUT TO:
INT. SUIT ROOM - LATER
Lockers with nameplates for the team... Inside each, a diving
suit and helmet... Heavier than scuba gear -- more like
spacesuits. The team sets about changing into them.
NORMAN
I'm not too thrilled at the prospect of
this, you know.
BETH
You know what, Norman...don't think of it
as swimming, think of it as walking.
NORMAN
The walking part I can do, it's the
underwater part. You drown underwater.
(adjusting equipment)
If I break anything, does that mean I
don't have to go?
TED
What if I have to go to the bathroom?
HARRY
Just go down your leg, Ted.
TED
Really? You can urinate in these?
HARRY
You can. Question is, would you want to?
NORMAN
(looking at helmet)
Where's the switch?
BETH
Okay, let's go.
CUT TO:
INT. MOON POOL ROOM - LATER
Barnes opens a hatch to the ocean, kept at bay by the
positive pressure in the airlock room. Suited up, the team
jumps through the hatch and down to the ocean floor.
CUT TO:
EXT. OCEAN FLOOR - CONTINUOUS
Norman emerges from a cloud of bubbles onto the ocean floor,
kicking up sand and clouding up the already murky view...
NORMAN'S POV
The LABORED sound of Norman's BREATHING as we look out from
inside his helmet.
BARNES
(over intercom)
Alright, Fletcher. We're at one thousand
and twenty two feet, ambient temperature
thirty four degrees, heading out north,
north west three thirty. It's a firm
bottom, intermittent coral.
Norman turns and sees a blinding light... shields his eyes --
it's the light on Harry's helmet.
HARRY
(over intercom)
Norman, your light's off again. Try the
switch at your waist.
INSERT - NORMAN'S GLOVE
As he fumbles with the switch on his waist... His helmet
light flashes on...
WIDER
The team makes its way across the ocean floor, their helmet
lights sweeping the foggy bottom like headlights...
BETH
(over intercom)
This is great you guys. Wow!
(beat)
Hey, Norman. You know, a space launch
costs a hundred million dollars. You
could come down here once a day every day
for fifty years for that. The ocean is
the oldest living environment...so much
older than the land, yet we don't know
anything about it.
BACK ON NORMAN'S POV - LONG, HIGH WIDE SHOT
He can barely make out the others... This is a long way from
sherry at the faculty club. Then he HEARS...
BETH
(over intercom)
Oh, my God!
TED
(over intercom)
Look at the size of that thing.
BARNES
(over intercom)
You see that tunnel...we go there.
That's the "heart of darkness".
They continue across the ocean bottom.
BARNES (cont'd)
(over intercom)
We're in the coral pipe now, approaching
the airlock.
NORMAN
(over intercom)
I'm feeling pressure in my ears, is that
normal?
BETH
(over intercom)
Just use your equalizer.
Norman adjusts his equipment.
NORMAN
A little better.
BETH
You know, the most toxic creatures on
earth live down here. The venom of a
land animal is nothing by comparison.
Even the weakest sea snake is inveritably
lethal.
NORMAN
(over intercom)
Is that supposed to make me feel good,
Beth?
HARRY
(looking at coral)
Amazing. This stuff only grows an inch a
year?
BARNES
Airlock's in sight now.
TED
(re: spacecraft)
This thing is enormous.
Norman looks up...
LONG, HIGH, WIDE SHOT - THE TEAM
As their little helmet lights sweep up towards...
SPACECRAFT
Buried under a mountain of coral, it's about as big as an
airport terminal. With the titanium fin looming beyond...
ANGLE ON BARNES
Near the entrance -- carved through the coral and lit by
tiny hanging bulbs. Barnes waves them on and they follow him
down.
BARNES
This is our airlock. It'll take us from
a wet to a dry environment. We're
assuming the inside of the ship is
sealed.
ANGLE ON NORMAN
as he descends awkwardly, grabbing clumsily at the bulky iron
pitons drilled into the coral walls... till he reaches...
PORTABLE AIRLOCK
A large Plexiglas tube reinforced with steel struts, butted
against the door of the spacecraft. Norman and the rest of
the team enter. Barnes seals it shut...there's a rush of
incoming gas which pushes the water out...
CLOSE ON NORMAN
as the water recedes down past his face-plate... Then he and
the rest of the team turn toward...
DOOR
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACECRAFT/INT. PORTABLE AIRLOCK - LATER
Barnes labors over the robot, the innards exposed, with an
Allen wrench, Ted hovering over him.
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Fletcher watching the team on the bank of videos.
FLETCHER
Alright. What's happening here guys?
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACECRAFT/INT. PORTABLE AIRLOCK - SAME TIME
Barnes struggles with the robot.
BARNES
Put a light in the digit, Norman.
Norman shines his flashlight inside the robot hand.
BARNES
Yeah...maybe it's the hydraulics. The
pressure messes everything up at this
depth.
In frustration, Ted grabs a hammer from Barnes' tool kit.
TED
Time for a demonstration in basic
physics, gentlemen.
He goes to the door and bangs on it...
BETH
What is this, a pinata party?
BARNES
No. Dr. Fielding is demonstrating
advanced applied physics for us.
ANGLE ON HARRY
as he notices something... moves toward the door... runs his
finger along the edge... Norman moves alongside him...
NORMAN
What is it, Harry?
HARRY
Take a look.
Norman looks closely at the door.
HARRY (cont'd)
It's chipped.
Then the others gather around them.
BARNES
It's chipped. So what?
HARRY
I thought you said there was no damage in
the crash. That this titanium alloy was
super-strong, there was no way you could
hurt it.
BARNES
I did.
HARRY
But it gets chipped just from some
scientist whacking on it with a hammer?
ANGLE ON BETH
As she feels the door with her palms...
BETH
Is there heat coming off this thing, or
is it just happy to see me?
BARNES
Get away from there, Beth.
BETH
Just one minute.
BARNES
I said back off! Now!
Barnes yanks Beth roughly and shoves her aside. Angry,
she glares at him. The door starts to RUMBLE...Barnes
unstraps a weapon... Then the door opens... revealing
blackness inside.
HARRY
Is anyone else here wondering who opened
the door?
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Fletcher at bank of videos.
FLETCHER
Yeah. I'd like to know who hit the
button too.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACECRAFT/INT. PORTABLE AIRLOCK - SAME TIME
Norman and Harry exchange a look. Then, ever so cautiously,
Norman moves in, followed by Ted, Harry, Beth and Barnes who
closes the door behind them.
TED
How did that happen?
BARNES
I'm not sure about the atmosphere.
Helmets stay on.
TED
We come in peace.
(to Harry)
I always wanted to say that.
CUT TO:
INT. SPACECRAFT - SAME TIME
Norman enters, his helmet light leading the way...He
realizes he is walking along a five-foot wide catwalk...
NORMAN'S POV
as his helmet light sweeps forty feet down into the maw of
the craft, a dense web of struts and buttresses...Beth heads
along a separate path of the catwaik...Looks down. Stops.
BETH'S POV
as her helmet light sweeps the path...footprints.
BACK TO SCENE
BETH
Somebody's been here.
HARRY
What?
BETH
Yeah. There's footsteps, and they ain't
ours.
Harry joins her. Looks down. Then Norman joins them.
HARRY
What do you say, Norman? Time to turn
around?
NORMAN
I'm a little curious.
BARNES
Let's break up into two squads. We'll
never cover the ground otherwise.
HARRY
Split up?
TED
He's got a point. We've got maybe a half-
hour of gas left.
BARNES
Ted and Harry you come with me. Beth and
Norman stick together. Come on.
HARRY
I think the people who built this place
would call that divide and conquer.
NORMAN
Whoever built this thing wanted us dead,
we'd be dead already.
(beat)
As a matter of deductive logic, Harry.
CUT TO:
INT. SPACECRAFT - LATER
Barnes, Harry and Ted move ahead, their helmet lights
sweeping the surfaces and structures of the craft -- both odd
and oddly familiar. Barnes inspects one of the girders with
his gloved fingers, then whacks it with the crowbar.
BARNES
Look at this, Harry...cross-stress
bracing for the outer hull. Tremendous
support along all axes. This is
interesting. This material -- strong and
soft at the same time. Better than
rubber, better than steel.
(off insulation)
Heck of a lot of radiation shielding.
Wonder what that's for?
HARRY
You seem to know a lot about this.
BARNES
Huh?
(beat)
Yeah, I, uh, studied aeronautical
engineering at M.I.T. Isn't that where
you got your Ph.D.?
TED
Where I got mine. All three of them.
A regular hotbed of academic envy though.
HARRY
Ain't that the truth. I hated M.I.T.
TED
Envy?
HARRY
Puberty.
TED
Puberty? How old?
HARRY
First Ph.D, eighteen.
TED
Damn! One year, Harry. You beat me by
one year, Harry.
HARRY
(singing)
"What a difference a year makes...."
TED
Where'd Dr. Halperin get her Ph.D.?
BARNES
On her knees, is what I'd guess.
HARRY
You might be underestimating her.
BARNES
Oh, yeah?
(beat)
Let's push on.
ANGLE ON TED
as he looks around for a place to sit.
TED
Man. They didn't tell you how heavy
these things were out of water.
He finds a box. Brushes the silt off the top. Double-
takes...
TED
What the hell --
(to others)
Come here -- look at this!
Barnes and Harry join him. Peer down with their head-
lamps...
INSERT - BOX
Where Ted brushed the silt off, it reads, "TRASH/BASURA".
BARNES
(reading)
'Trash/Basura'?
HARRY
Trash?
CUT TO:
INT. SPACECRAFT - HALLWAY AND ELEVATOR - SAME TIME
Norman and Beth move through the craft. Beth finds a door
with a control button.
BETH
What do you think?
Norman shrugs. Beth moves to press the button. Norman stops
her.
NORMAN
Listen, Beth, I've got a dilemma. I have
to tell you something about the report.
BETH
Okay.
NORMAN
You know, I needed the money. Ellen
wanted to buy a house and I was broke --
the divorce had cleaned me out... These
guys show up with a federal grant to
study the psychological effects of an
alien invasion --
BETH
What are you saying, Norman?
NORMAN
I mean...I needed money to buy a house.
BETH
Uh, huh...
NORMAN
So I made it up.
BETH
You made what up?
NORMAN
I made up the report.
BETH
You made up the report?
NORMAN
Not all of it. I mean, I did research
on half of it.
Beat.
BETH
Well, who did the other half?
NORMAN
I borrowed from, you know, good writers.
Isaac Asimov...Rod Serling.
BETH
Rod Serling? This isn't the Twilight
Zone, Norman, and I can't change the
channel, so what do you want me to do
now?
NORMAN
I'm just telling you, Beth. I mean, who
the hell would think that anyone would
ever read those government reports?
What's the odds of it? You know what I
mean? I show up and I've got half the
Pacific Fleet here. I didn't know what to
do. I just wanted to tell you, that's all.
Beat.
BETH
Would this fall under the same category
as "Gee, Beth, I thought you knew I was
married?"
NORMAN
Boy, you don't forget, do you? I don't
think we have enough oxygen to talk this
through now.
BETH
I don't think there's nough oxygen to
talk this through...ever.
Beth angrily presses the button and she heads inside, then
stops. Norman tentatively follows her. Suddenly they're
elevated with a fast jolt. Beth screams.
NORMAN
Who pushed the button? Did you push
something?
BETH
No.
INT. SPACECRAFT - FLIGHT DECK
Norman and Beth arrive at the flight deck. It is extremely
dark. They discover a large, contoured console -- but with
no instrumentation of any kind. Norman feels his way around
what seems to be a leather chair...
NORMAN
This must be the cockpit. Hold
on...here's a chair.
He sits down.
NORMAN (cont'd)
You know, this is fairly comfortable.
BETH
Norman, do you hear a kind of gurgling
sound?
NORMAN
Gurgling... Aaaaargh!
Suddenly the chair grabs him... Squeezing his shoulders,
grabbing his hips, wrapping around his head... as if it was
swallowing him... Beth screams.
BETH
Norman!
NORMAN (cont'd)
Oh, yeah. You know, they're seatbelts.
CLOSE ON NORMAN
As he disappears into the chair... Being swallowed up by it.
Beth screaming, "Norman! Norman!" And then it stops.
NORMAN
I'm okay.
Then a loud WHIR as the CHAIR snaps forward, zooms up tight
to the console.
NORMAN (cont'd)
Er...Beth, I could use a little
help. Beth.
CLOSE ON NORMAN
He maintains his composure by dint of will. Then his face is
bathed in a soft Christmastime glow of colored lights.
BETH
Norman! Norman!
He gestures down with his eyes. She follows his gaze...
ANGLE ON CONSOLE
As it begins to take on depth... The instrumentation is
somehow within the surface of the console, like a hologram...
"POS THRUSTERS"... "F3 PISTON BOOSTER".."GLIDER".."SIEVES"...
NORMAN
Beth, you still with me?
BETH
(reading)
Yeah. The symbols...the symbols are in
English.
NORMAN
English?
BETH
Yes, English. Our mother tongue.
NORMAN
There must be an explanation.
BETH
Well, there's something weird going on
here, Norman. There's something Barnes
isn't telling us.
NORMAN
Well, Beth, while you're ruminating, do
you think you can find the chair release
button.
BETH
Oh!
(reading)
Ignition...
NORMAN
No, not that one.
Beth explores the console. Finds the appropriate control.
Touches it.
BETH
Here. This is it, I think.
The chair unwraps around Norman.
NORMAN
There you go.
Norman relaxes. Beth turns and sees that the chair beside
Norman has opened as well. And there's a skeleton in uniform
inside it.
BETH
Aaaargh!
NORMAN
Oh, God!
Beth examines the skeleton with her scientific sangfroid.
BETH
Jesus! It's human.
NORMAN
You mean humanoid?
BETH
No, Norman. I mean human.
(off skeleton)
Blunt force trauma. You can see by the
direction that the fracture runs, that he
was hit in the back of the head.
NORMAN
What's in his hand?
BETH
I don't know.
Norman takes a small package from the skeleton's hand.
BETH
What is it?
NORMAN
Smokehouse almonds?
They look at each other a beat.
BETH
My God -- it's an American spaceship.
They exchange a look as they absorb this stunning revelation.
NORMAN
It can't be an American spaceship. It's
three hundred years old. There weren't
even Americans, let alone spaceships.
BETH
Well, it can't be, but it is.
NORMAN
Okay. Let's see if there's some kind of
flight recorder or data computer that we
can ring up a flight history. Just punch
punch... punch... punch something!
BETH
Alright. Let me try this thing again.
Beth touches the console...
ANGLE ON THEIR FACEPLATES
As data starts to spool out on the console... RV-LHOOQ...
DCOMl... ASSIMILATING DATABASE...
BETH
Alright. Look at this. Okay, good.
Here we go.
ANGLE ON CONSOLE
As Norman punches another button...
FLIGHT DATA ENTRIES
FDS 01/01/43-12/31/45
FDS 01/01/46-12/31/48
FDS 01/01/49-12/31/51
FDS 02/01/56-UNKNOWN ENTRY EVENT
NORMAN
Look at the dates. That can't be --
BETH
It could be. It could be 2043 or 1643.
I don't know which one is weirder.
NORMAN
'Unknown Entry Event'? Press that.
BETH
Are you sure?
NORMAN
Yes.
Beth presses the console at "Unknown Entry Event"...
ANGLE ON SCREEN
As it expands... A sort of hologram created all around
them...As they streak through a galaxy, stars and planets all
around them... They feel like they're falling into outer
space...
Then in the middle of the screen, a black spot... That gets
bigger... Then suddenly has a white cluster in the middle of
it... As if they're flying toward a giant black donut...
And then...nothing... They sit a beat in the eerie blankness
and silence...
BARNES (V.O.)
(over intercom)
This is Barnes. Norman?
Norman and Beth exchange a look.
NORMAN
Yes, I can hear you. I can't explain it,
but I think we're inside an American
spacecraft.
BARNES (V.O.)
It gets better.
NORMAN
This is enough.
CUT TO:
INT. SPACECRAFT - CARGO BAY - LATER
The Sphere, a giant metal ball with an iridescent surface,
ten meters across, is held suspended by a giant claw-like
apparatus in one of the forward bays. Something mesmerizing
about it... The team approaches tentatively...
TED
What the hell is it?
BARNES
Whatever it is, it seems to be what this
bird was designed to do. Go out into
space and gather things like this up and
bring it back.
TED
Yeah...but back from where?
HARRY
Don't get too excited, Ted. We'll turn
it over and it'll say, 'Made in Korea.'
TED
Somehow I doubt that, Harry.
BARNES
What do you think, Norman?
NORMAN
I'm still working on what the hell is it.
BARNES
No hinges... No doors of any kind...
TED
I bet if you put a laser micrometer on
this you'd find it's a perfect sphere. I
mean a perfect sphere -- down to a
thousandth of an inch. That's a message
in itself.
HARRY
Really.
BARNES
What do you mean?
TED
I mean when Pope Benedict asked Giotto
for a drawing to prove his worth as an
artist, what he did was draw a perfect
circle freehand. Perfection is a powerful
message.
BETH
I know what the Zen masters would say.
HARRY
What's that?
BETH
The ball wants to be caught.
BARNES
Nobody built a thing like this looking
into his third eye. They went to a lot
of trouble. And they didn't do it for
nothing. Something put it out there to
get picked up and brought back. Are you
forgetting the Trojan Horse? It could be
a trap.
TED
That sounds a little paranoid, don't you
think, Barnes?
BARNES
Paranoia is a disease. Fear is useful.
Defense is basic -- down to the simplest
one-cell organism. Us. Them.
(checks watch)
We'll leave a video camera here, keep an
eye on it.
NORMAN
Can I ask you something about this
reflective surface --
Barnes edges up to the sphere.
BARNES
It looks like it's made of mercury.
Except mercury is a liquid at this
temperature.
NORMAN
No. That's not what I'm talking about.
What worries me is that it's reflecting
everything but us.
Barnes steps back to get a better look. The team edges up
beside Norman...
NORMAN (cont'd)
I hate to be the one non-scientist who
picks this up, guys. You know what I
mean? What do you think it is?
THEIR POV
It's true. A perfect mirror image of everything in the cargo
bay but them.
BARNES
I don't know. Whatever it is, it's
alien.
SPHERE POV
Through a convex lens, of the team looking in.
BACK ON NORMAN
As he watches Barnes gingerly reach out and touch the surface
of The Sphere.
CUT TO:
INT. BARNES' ROOM
CLOSE ON TELETYPE MACHINE
A message types out:
"ADMIRAL MANNION HAS LEARNED CIVILIANS AT SATURATED DEPTHS.
DEMANDS THEY BE SENT TOPSIDE IMMEDIATELY."
Barnes reads message, crumples it into a ball and throws it
away, then types a response.
"COULD NOT DE-CODE LAST MESSAGE. TRANSMISSION SCRAMBLED.
PLEASE RE-SEND."
"CYCLONE DUE 0800 HOURS. GALE FORCE CONDITIONS AND SOUTHEAST
SWELLS TOPSIDE. CONTACT TEAM MUST EVACUATE TWO HOURS OR
REMAIN HABITAT FOR DURATION OF STORM. OSSA."
CUT TO:
INT. BARNES' ROOM - LATER
Barnes talks on the radio transmission speaker to the
surface.
BARNES
Sounds like it's gonna get pretty
hairy up there. What's the word from
meteorology?
CUT TO:
INT. CAFETERIA - MOVING INSIDE
to the galley, where the team, now in their blue jumpsuits,
confers over hot coffee. Fletcher bakes something in the
oven...
TED
An American spacecraft -- materials and
technology more advanced than anything we
know of -- crashes into the ocean --
HARRY
If it crashed how come it's not damaged?
TED
The materials are obviously superstrong.
HARRY
If that's the case, how come the door
chipped just from you banging on it?
Fletcher brings them a tray of fresh-baked muffind. They all
dig in.
TED
Okay. Better. It didn't crash. It
arrived. Three hundred years ago.
BETH
From where?
TED
Not from where, from when.
BETH
So, you're saying, this thing took a
wrong turn?
TED
Yes, that's right. What if the craft
inadvertently flew into a black hole. It
arrived in our past from its present.
What about those dates you saw on the
flight recorder.
NORMAN
'43, '47 --
TED
That's right. That has to be two thousand
forty three...two thousand forty seven.
That image that you told me you saw on
the monitor...from what you describe that
sounds exactly like a black hole...a tear
in the space...
HARRY
We know what a black hole is, Ted.
NORMAN
I don't know what a black hole is.
HARRY
A black hole is a collapsed dead star
that has so much gravity it acts like a
huge vacuum cleaner, sucking everything
into it. A light interstellar dust...
time...
TED
Time.
HARRY
It's possible, but not plausible.
TED
It's more than probable, it's rudimentary
astrophysics. We just haven't been able
to fly into one and prove it.
HARRY
Well, Ted, sounds like you've got this
all figured out.
Barnes enters.
BARNES
Well, I just got off the horn topside.
Expecting a bad blow-up there. They're
pulling us out.
TED
Pulling us out? Wait a minute...what do
you mean, pulling us out? What does that
mean, pulling us out?
HARRY
What part of 'pull out' don't you
understand, Ted? Extraction...we're
leaving.
TED
No...no...that's ridiculous. I mean,
we haven't even begun to scratch the
surface down here.
BARNES
If you've ever seen these Pacific
cyclones -- what we call a tornado is
nothing more than a little fart, so I
suggest you go back to the dormitory and
take a nap. You need to lower your
metabolism before the decompression.
TED
You're just gonna leave a time-traveling
spacecraft at the bottom of the coean?
BARNES
I'm just going to follow my orders, Ted.
BETH
We're the Welcome Wagon for the aliens,
right? There's no aliens. It's all Made
in America.
TED
(to Beth)
What's your point?
BETH
My point is I'm a biochemist. There's no
life down here, and you guys are bugging
the shit out of me.
TED
What is wrong with all of you? That
doesn't mean there's nothing left to
learn -- nothing to explore -- Jesus!
BARNES
(cutting him off)
She's right, Ted. You guys are the human
contact team for an Unknown Life Form.
There is no Unknown Life Form.
(beat)
So, we're pulling out at oh-nine hundred.
TED
Norman, will you please say something to
him.
NORMAN
What?
TED
I don't know. Do you not have an opinion
about this?
NORMAN
Yes. I'm delighted we're going back up
top. You know what I mean?
I mean, I don't know about you, this
might look like a road-side diner, but in
the meantime, my ears won't pop...if I
pull this thing away from my neck I sound
like someone's squeezing my testicles.
Let's go home.
Ted takes Barnes aside.
TED
Look, why don't you tell me. What is it
you don't want us to find out, huh?
BARNES
I don't want you to find out what I
really think of you.
ANGLE ON HARRY AND NORMAN
NORMAN
Harry. Doesn't it seem odd to you that
Barnes was so excited about coming down
here, but he wasn't the least bit upset
about going up?
HARRY
We're on the same page.
Norman puts his finger in his ear to release pressure.
HARRY (cont'd)
Equalize, Norman.
NORMAN
What do you mean?
HARRY
You know how to equalize, don't you? Just
pinch your nostrils together and blow.
NORMAN
Don't get racy.
CUT TO:
INT. BARNES' ROOM - LATER
CLOSE on LAPTOP SCREEN as words appear...
"DESPITE RISKS CONTACT TEAM ELECTS BY UNANIMOUS VOTE TO
REMAIN HABITAT FOR DURATION OF STORM. BARNES."
REVERSE ANGLE
Barnes hits TRANSMIT BUTTON.
BACK ON LAPTOP
As the message appears: "TRANSMISSION COMPLETE"
BACK ON BARNES
As he looks around furtively. Turns off his laptop and
closes it.
CUT TO:
INT. DORMITORY - LATER
Beth and Ted sleep. Harry reads a paperback novel to mask his
anxiety. Norman brushes his teeth.
HARRY
...Barnes is wrong, you know.
NORMAN
What do you mean? Wrong about the storm?
HARRY
No...about The Sphere.
NORMAN
What about The Sphere?
HARRY
It's alive.
Norman stops a beat. Thinks. Then turns to Harry.
NORMAN
Why do you say that, Harry?
HARRY
There's something inside it.
NORMAN
How could there be anything inside it?
There's no doors, no seams...
HARRY
The Sphere chooses what it will and won't
reflect. Doesn't that seem like the
actions of a conscious being to you?
NORMAN
Okay...pop psychology - you want to know
what this is really about I think, for
what it's worth? Your anger towards our
friend, Ted in there, is because he
figured this out before you did.
Beat.
HARRY
You really think so?
NORMAN
I don't know. This is my first
underwater session.
They laugh.
HARRY
You're right. Ted did figure it out
first, didn't he? Good shrinkage.
Harry takes a slow, rueful, ruminative beat. Then:
HARRY
We're all going to die down here, you
know.
This stops Norman.
NORMAN
What? What?
HARRY
You see, it's curious, Ted did figure it
out. Time travel. And when we get back,
we're gonna tell everyone...how it's
possible. How it's done. What the
dangers are. But then why, fifty years
in the future, when this spacecraft
encounters a black hole, does the
computer call it an 'Unknown Entry
Event'? Why don't they know? If they
don't know, it means we never told
anyone, and if we never told anyone, it
means we never made it back. Hence, we
die down here.
(beat)
Just as a matter of deductive logic,
Norman.
CLOSE ON NORMAN
As he absorbs this...
HARRY
Damn! I wish I could get inside that
Sphere.
CUT TO:
INT. BARNES' QUARTERS - CLOSE ON PRINTER - SAME TIME
As it TYPES... "... 30 knots... ETD -- 00:19 MIN..."
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY
ALARMS sound and lights flash as Norman hustles past
Fletcher.
NORMAN
What's wrong?
FLETCHER
Talk to Mr. Barnes...
NORMAN
Where is he?
FLETCHER
Video feed room.
NORMAN
Where's that? I don't know where the
hell anything is.
CUT TO:
INT. SPACECRAFT - SAME TIME
Harry walks towards the Sphere.
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - LATER
Norman joins Barnes in the video room.
NORMAN
What's going on?
BARNES
I don't know, Norman. You tell me.
Barnes punches up an image on the monitors. They look up...
REVERSE ANGLE - MONITOR
Harry, in his diving suit, inside the spacecraft as he
approaches The Sphere...
BACK ON NORMAN AND BARNES
As they look up. Then look at each other.
NORMAN
What the hell is he doing?
BARNES
I don't know what he's doing. Do you
know what he's doing? Come on, Norman,
there's no time. I need to know what you
know.
NORMAN
Nothing. He said he wanted to go inside,
I just didn't think --
BARNES
We are inside, Norman. You mean outside?
NORMAN
He said inside.
BARNES
Inside what? Inside the spacecraft.
NORMAN
I think inside The Sphere.
BARNES
The Sphere...
INT. SPACECRAFT - SAME TIME
Harry approaches The Sphere... Unlike before, his image is
now reflected in the luminous surface... Harry smiles ...
Then his image revolves, faster and faster... His grin
growing wider and wider... And then the reflection isn't
there...
REVERSE ANGLE
And neither is Harry.
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
As Barnes and Norman watch this scene on the monitors...
BARNES
Holy shit!
NORMAN
Oh, my God! Did he go inside?
BARNES
I don't know. I don't think he went
inside.
NORMAN
Well, what the hell's going on? He
didn't just disappear.
BARNES
I don't know. I don't think he
disappeared. I think it's a glitch in
the video.
Fletcher hustles back inside.
BARNES
Fletcher, can we get playback on that?
FLETCHER
Playback coming to you now.
BARNES
(turns to Norman)
You knew he was going to do this and you
did nothing.
NORMAN
I didn't think --
BARNES
You didn't think, Norman?
NORMAN
Fella...okay...Mr. Barnes...I was
sleeping, you know. I'm a little
disoriented.
BARNES
You're disoriented?
NORMAN
I didn't think it was possible.
BARNES
Disoriented? Where are Beth and Ted?
NORMAN
I don't know.
BARNES
You don't know?
NORMAN
No, I don't know. I woke up...I heard
bells ringing.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM - SAME TIME
Edmunds, puzzled, fiddles with a control knob...
REVERSE ANGLE
The gauge marked "SUB DESCENT"... It's not moving.
EDMUNDS
(to microphone)
I'm not getting an image on the sub, sir.
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Barnes pulls on his headset.
BARNES
That's impossible. I just got a cable in
my quarters.
(checks watch)
They're gonna be here in twenty five
minutes or less.
EDMUNDS (V.O.)
(over intercom)
The only logical explanation is that the
sub is still at the surface.
BARNES
Isn't it also logically possible your
sonar's messed up?
Barnes punches up some controls.
ON MONITOR
As Harry's image revolves around The Sphere and then Harry
disappears.
NORMAN
Okay, let's just calm down, alright? He
didn't just disappear. We're not going
to leave him.
BARNES
You got that right, Norman. We're not
going to leave without him. I'm not
going to lose a civilian on my watch...
so you have just screwed up our trip to
the surface. We're not going up to the
surface until we find Harry.
(to intercom)
Harry. We're not going up. Harry, can
you hear me? Harry?
ANGLE ON MONITOR
Harry's grinning, whirling image on The Sphere as it plays
back on the monitors...
BACK ON BARNES
As he barks into the intercom... Then starts talking to
Norman, but Norman's not there.
BARNES
This is not a triage situation here..
(turns towards where he expects
to see Norman)
Norman?
Norman's disappeared.
BARNES (cont'd)
(to Fletcher)
Go and find me Ted and Beth.
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
Norman runs through the corridor toward the dressing room...
BARNES
(over intercom)
Norman... Norman...
CUT TO:
INT. SUIT ROOM - SAME TIME
Norman climbs into his diving suit...
BARNES
(over intercom)
Stop now, Norman.
(beat)
Norman, that's an order.
INT. HABITAT - CORRIDOR TO MOON POOL - ANGLE ON EDMUNDS
As she runs down the corridor... Enters the dressing room.
EDMUNDS' POV - MOON POOL
No Norman. Beyond -- to the airlock -- no Norman.
CUT TO:
INT. BARNES' QUARTERS - SAME TIME
The PRINTER TYPES, "ETD -- 00:05 min"...
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
Norman plunges down from the airlock to the ocean floor in a
cloud of bubbles...
NORMAN'S POV
The door to the spacecraft illuminated by the airlock tube in
the distance... The sound of his BREATHING as he trudges
across the ocean floor...
Norman goes through airlock.
Norman runs on spacecraft catwalk.
Norman runs through spacecraft hallway.
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Barnes watches on the monitors as he punches up different
views of the habitat...
EDMUNDS (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Sir, I'm still getting no reading on the
sub.
BARNES
(to microphone)
Forget about the goddamn sonar. When Beth
and Ted get here, keep your eye on them.
Make sure they don't go anywhere,
alright?
(mutters)
I don't need a submarine, I need a
schoolbus.
CUT TO:
INT. SPACECRAFT - CARGO BAY - LATER
With some trepidation Norman turns the corner...
NORMAN'S POV
The Sphere... Its luminous, opalescent surface...
BACK ON NORMAN
As, cautiously, he approaches The Sphere...
Norman approaches The Sphere... Gets closer, till it looms
above him...
REVERSE ANGLE
The curious surface of The Sphere, reflecting the room but
not Norman...
BACK ON NORMAN
As he glances over, doubletakes... Harry has appeared,
unconscious, right beside him...Norman kneels...
NORMAN
Harry. Can you hear me?
He checks the vital signs on Harry's breastplate...
NORMAN (cont'd)
Harry?
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Barnes at the monitors watching Norman.
BARNES
Norman, is he alive?
CUT TO:
INT. SPACECRAFT - CARGO BAY - SAME TIME
Norman checking Harry for signs of life.
NORMAN
Barnes. We have a problem. Harry's out
coldhere. His pulse is normal...all his
vitals are normal. I don't get it.
(shaking Harry)
Harry!
The Norman lifts Harry in his arms, looks up. Something he
sees stops him...
REVERSE ANGLE - THE SPHERE
Now Norman is reflected in the liquid surface...
CLOSE ON NORMAN
As he stops, frozen --
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROM - SAME TIME
Barnes watches on the monitors as Norman approaches The
Sphere...Suddenly the monitors go black. Then the lights
flicker off...
FLETCHER
Hello...hello...
BARNES
Norman. Can you hear me? We lost video
here. Can you hear me, Norman. Norman?
(beat)
That tears it.
FLETCHER
What, sir?
BARNES
We're on internal power.
FLETCHER
I don't follow you.
BARNES
(right back)
They cut us loose, Teeny. The sub has
gone to the surface.
FLETCHER
I'm not following you.
BARNES
Get out your Five-Day Deodorant Pads.
We're down here for the duration.
CUT TO:
EXT. OCEAN FLOOR - LATER
The power cable detaches from the habitat.
CUT TO:
INT. DORMITORY - LATER
Harry lies unconscious on his cot. Beth finishes taking his
vital signs as Fletcher assists her.
BETH
Everything's normal.
Ted enters. Looks down at Harry as he sleeps.
TED
What's going on? Is it true? Harry went
inside? What did he say?
(off Beth's look)
I get it -- he didn't say. He can't
talk. He's aphasic.
Beth rolls up the stethoscope, hands it to Fletcher.
BETH
He's asleep, Ted.
TED
I can't believe he went into The Sphere.
He didn't say anything. How? There's no
door. No entry hatch... How'd he get in?
BETH
(cutting him off)
He sweet talked his way in.
Beth exits, Fletcher following. Ted thinks a beat.
TED
(to Harry, still sleeping)
Okay, I get it. In an alternative
universe you're actually charming.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM - CONTINUOUS ACTION
Barnes talks on a phone, refers to his watch. Edmunds
fiddles with the sonar equipment beside him.
EDMUNDS
... I don't know why we didn't see the
sub on the sonar.
BARNES
Forget the sub, Edmunds. I think as long
as we're stuck here, I want to do another
'reccie' of the spacecraft, only this
time I don't think we need to involve the
civilians.
EDMUNDS
Right, sir.
Beth enters.
BETH
So now what?
BARNES
Everything's going to be fine, Beth.
BETH
How much oxygen do we have left?
BARNES
The storm'll only last 72 hours. At the
outside, four days. There's plenty of
oxygen, barring any unforeseen --
BETH
Unforeseen? You mean like Harry going in
The Sphere?
BARNES
What exactly is your point?
BETH
My point is, Harry should never have been
anywhere near that sphere. If you were
doing your job instead of fuddling around
here like some middle-aged man who's lost
his keys, we'd all be breathing fresh air
right now instead of worrying about how
much oxygen...
BARNES
For someone who's worried about oxygen,
you sure are using it up.
BETH
I know you're not with O.S.S.A. You're
doing a good job of pretending, turning
dials and flipping switches, but you
don't know one end of a rudder from the
other. We're all counting on you like you
know something about how to get us back
safely. Or even care.
BARNES
I know enough not to get killed down
here.
BETH
Good for you.
Barnes gives her a hard look.
BARNES
Beth, let me ask you a question. What
exactly are your qualifications for being
here?
BETH
Guess.
BARNES
Well, I mean Norman chose Harry - a
genius kid from the slums of Philadelphia
...in six years he had a Ph.D;
Norman chose Ted - a whiz kid
astrophysicist...and Norman chose you.
Why are you here? Are you the most
qualified in your field? Norman must
have thought so. Then again, the report's
a few years old, maybe things have
changed.
Beth glares at Barnes. He stares her down. She storms out.
INT. CONTROL SHAFT - LATER
The guts of the habitat. Fletcher adjusts a valve as Barnes
comes over the intercom.
BARNES (V.O.)
... Can I have your attention? We have
lost contact with the surface. The
habitat is now operating solely under
internal power...
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - CORRIDOR - SAME TIME
Beth strides angrily down the corridor...
BARNES (V.O.)
... We have plenty of food, oxygen, and,
fresh water to sustain us until the storm
is over and we re-establish contact with
the surface.
CUT TO:
INT. DORMITORY - CLOSE ON HARRY - SAME TIME
As he sleeps in his bunk. Visible beneath his eyelids, rapid
eye movement as he dreams...
BARNES (V.O.)
(on the intercom)
...But until that time, this mission is
subject to emergency authority under my
command. This is Barnes. Over and out.
PUSHING THROUGH PORTHOLE
Jellyfish swarm outside the habitat...
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - LATER
Barnes with Ted and Fletcher as he punches a few commands at
the computer. Takes a videotape out of the console. Stacks
it up with the other videotapes.
FLETCHER
I'm going to take this out to the mini-
sub, sir.
BARNES
You're up on the duty roster?
FLETCHER
Yes, sir.
BARNES
Alright.
Fletcher.
TED
Where's she going?
BARNES
Procedures. Everything in the habitat is
videoed, so every twelve hours we take
the video storage out to the mini-sub and
press the reset button. The idea is, if
something happens to us and we don't
reset it, the sub goes to the surface
automatically, so if we're all dead, they
at least have a partial record of what
went wrong.
(off Ted's look)
Cheerful thought, huh?
(getting up)
Mind the store a minute.
Barnes exits. Ted swivels into position to watch...
ANGLE ON MONITORS
An exterior view of the habitat as Fletcher splashes down
out of the airlock...
CUT TO:
INT. BATHROOM - SAME TIME
Beth stands in front of a sink. She opens a bottle of pills.
Takes a pill out, breaks it in half and washes it down with
water. Then she swallows the other half pill and washes that
down.
INT. DORMITORY - CLOSE ON HARRY - SAME TIME
Harry suddenly opens his eyes wide.
EXT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
Fletcher sweeps through a pretty cloud of pink jellyfish...
Like tiny dancers with blooming pink petticoats... The mini-
sub visible in the distance.
FLETCHER
(to intercom)
This is beautiful. It's snowing down
here. There's got to be a million
jellyfish down here.
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Ted looks at the view on the monitors...
FLETCHER (V.O.)
(over intercom)
I'm having a hard time seeing.
TED
(to intercom)
Hello...hello...hello...hello...
FLETCHER (V.O.)
(over intercom)
They're sticking to my face-plate.
TED
(to intercom)
Fletcher, this is Dr. Fielding. Swim
through them. They're harmless.
Barnes enters, turns to the monitors and his jaw drops...
ANGLE ON MONITORS
Fletcher all but lost in a dense snowfall of jellyfish...
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
Fletcher struggles through the sea of jellyfish...
FLETCHER
(over intercom)
Hey, guys...I think they feel the heat
from my legs --
Then Fletcher howls.
BARNES (V.O.)
(to intercom)
Fletcher, get out of there.
FLETCHER
(over intercom)
They're stinging me through the --
(beat)
Aaaaaargh!
BARNES (V.O.)
(to intercom)
Fletcher, I want you back at the habitat
on the double.
Fletcher thrashes...
FLETCHER
(over intercom)
I can't move my legs. It's burning!
BARNES
(to intercom)
Come back to the habitat.
FLETCHER
(over intercom)
They're inside my suit! They're inside my
--
BARNES
(to intercom)
Keep moving...keep moving. Just keep
moving...
Fletcher thrashes as the water rises inside her
faceplate... And then a jellyfish swims up... stings her in
the eyeball... Then they're swarming into her nose, her
mouth...
BARNES (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Fletcher, come on.
FLETCHER
Aaaaaaaaaaargh!
TED
Jesus Christ! Can't you do something?
BARNES
No.
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Barnes and Ted watch, horrified, powerless, as Fletcher
disappears in the cloud of jellyfish. And then her SCREAMS
STOP. And there's just the jellyfish.
TED
Jesus Christ! She's dead, there's no
bubbles.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATION ROOM - SAME TIME
Edmunds supervises the computers. Suddenly a series of
numbers spools across the screen --
00032125252632 032629 301321 04261037 18 3016 06180
8213229033005 1822 04261013 0830162137 1604 083016 21
182204261013 0830162137 1604 083016 21 1822
03301313043200032125252632 032629 301321 04261037 18 3016...
EDMUNDS
What the hell's that?
Irritated she presses buttons. More numbers appear.
BARNES (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Edmunds?
EDMUNDS
Yes, sir?
BARNES (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Come on down here. Something happened to
Fletcher.
Edmunds hustles out.
CLOSE ON MONITOR
As Edmunds exits in the f.g. And the numbers return...
... 00032125252632 032629 301321 04261037 18 3016 06180
29033005 1822 04261013 0830162137 1604 083016 2104261013
0830162137 1604 083016 21033013130432...
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - SICK BAY - LATER
Fletcher lies dead on a gurney, her naked body studded
with jellyfish. Beth wears scrubs, a surgical tray
beside her. Norman, also in scrubs, watches as Beth
reaches for a long stainless-steel tweezers...
BETH
At this level of toxicity, the blood
vessels dilate. Blood pressure falls
through the floor. They go right into
shock.
I saw a little boy down at Orchard Beach
attacked by a school of jellyfish.
NORMAN
You've seen jellyfish aggressive like
this?
BETH
I haven't seen piranha aggressive like
this.
(starts working on Fletcher)
Okay...rock and roll.
CLOSE ON FLETCHER
As Beth probes with the tweezers up Fletcher's nose and into
her sinus cavity... Norman grimaces, looks away as Beth pulls
out a jellyfish.
BACK TO SCENE
BETH
What's the matter, Norman? You never saw
a dead body before?
NORMAN
As a matter of fact, I've seen one dead
body in two different counties.
BETH
Ouch. The plane crashes. I forgot.
NORMAN
I've just never seen a jellyfish coming
out of a human being's nasal cavity
before.
BETH
Well, you live and learn.
NORMAN
When I was five years old, I was out in a
boat with my father, he told me not to
jump in so of course I had to. Right
into a school of these guys. Not this big
though. I think everyone had a shot at
me. I don't know what this lady felt,
but man, it went beyond pain...it
was...it was...
BETH
Would it make you feel any better if I
tell you this isn't exactly a jellyfish?
NORMAN
What do you mean?
Beth pokes at the jellyfish on the tray.
BETH
Jellyfish like this are unheard of.
NORMAN
Well, congratulations. You've just
discovered a brand new species.
BETH
You know, Norman, if you had spent a
much time as I have sitting at a lab
bench, you would know when something had
been touched by the hand of God.
NORMAN
I'm just complimenting you. Why are you
angry? I'm not being critical.
BETH
I'm just saying...God didn't make this.
Okay. It's fictional, it's a forgery,
it's a copy...it's...moving!
INSERT - JELLYFISH
The jellyfish moves toward Beth as she adroitly impales it
with a scalpel.
NORMAN
Beth, are you sure it's moving?
BETH
No, Norman, I lied.
NORMAN
Maybe I don't understand. I was just
trying to make the point that you of all
people, I would think, would want to keep
this creature alive to study, not hack it
up...if it was alive.
BETH
Look, don't try to get inside my brain,
okay?
NORMAN
I care about you.
BETH
Great! I like to work alone. Thanks.
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT CORRIDOR/SHOWERS - LATER
Ted heads down the corridor. Hears a SOUND coming fron
Harry's room. Sidles up to the door. Hears from inside,
HARRY SINGING exuberantly from 'South Pacific'.
HARRY (O.S.)
(sings)
Where the sky meets the sea./ "Here
I am, your special island!/ Come to me,
come to me!"/ Bali Ha'i, Bali Ha'i, Bali
Ha' i!
CLOSE ON TED
As he thinks to himself.
TED
(to himself)
Harry?
CUT TO:
INT. BARNES' QUARTERS - LATER
Barnes reads through the cables with his feet up on his bunk.
A KNOCK at his door.
BANRES
Come on in.
Norman enters.
NORMAN
You called for me?
BARNES
Have a seat, Norman. Coffee?
NORMAN
No thanks.
Barnes refills his mug from a Thermos.
BARNES
How long have you known Dr. Halperin?
NORMAN
I used to teach at UC San Diego, years
ago. She came to do her master's there.
BARNES
What'd you teach - psychology?
NORMAN
They require a pretty full teaching load--
that's one of the reasons I left.
BARNES
They squeeze you, don't they? Then you
have to see patients on top of it.
NORMAN
They're gonna get their money's worth,
one way or another.
BARNES
You and Dr. Halperin seen pretty close.
NORMAN
We've fallen out of touch over the years.
Why?
BARNES
Well, don't take this personally, Norman,
but I assume she wasn't a romantic
interest of yours.
NORMAN
I'm sorry...don't take what personally?
BARNES
She's a tall, vibrant, younger woman...
NORMAN
And I was married.
BARNES
Then you saw her as a patient.
NORMAN
I'm not at liberty to discuss that. You
understand.
BARNES
What I understand is that an exotic-gas
environment a thousand feet underwater
with no link to the surface is just about
the most dangerous place on the planet.
If there's a problem, I need to know.
NORMAN
Beth is fine.
BARNES
Beth is fine? Beth is fine?
NORMAN
She's very fine.
Barnes suddenly throws a fax transmission at Norman.
BARNES
Beth's fine? Okay...what about this?
You want to read it? What does it say,
Norman?
NORMAN
(reading fax)
These are my actual notes. How in the
world did you...
BARNES
What does it say, Norman?
NORMAN
She was having some problems with a
boyfriend.
BARNES
Does it say 'suicide attempt'?
NORMAN
How did you get a hold of my papers?
BARNES
Does it say 'electric shock therapy'?
Isn't that what it says, Norman?
NORMAN
What's your point?
BARNES
My point is you didn't feel it was
important enough to mention this to
somebody? You're willing to jeopardize
the lives of all of these people by
having someone here who could in fact be
mentally unstable?!
NORMAN
Are you aware of the term 'over-
reacting.'
BARNES
Don't play with me, you little shit!
We're 160 fathoms down and now we've got
a nut bag down here who can flip-out and
crack up. why didn't you tell me that?
NORMAN
I can't believe you had someone go into
my office...take my personal records.
BARNES
You chose the team, Norman. Why didn't
you tell me this?
NORMAN
When I wrote this report, I didn't know
the team was going to be a thousand feet
underwater.
BARNES
It doesn't matter if it's a thousand feet
or ten feet, why didn't you tell me about
her past mental history?
NORMAN
I didn't think it was pertinent.
BARNES
It was not for you to make that decision.
NORMAN
It was a passive attempt.
BARNES
A passive attempt?
NORMAN
Yes. People who really want to kill
themselves get a gun and shoot
themselves, or go off a bridge, they
don't call their boyfriend and say: "I
just took 20 Nebutol...help me."
BARNES
She took twenty yellows and you're
telling me she's perfect?
There's a KNOCK at the door.
BARNES
Yeah?
Ted enters, thoughtfully rubbing his chin.
NORMAN
What's going on?
TED
It's Harry.
NORMAN
He's awake?
TED
He's really awake.
CUT TO:
INT. CAFETERIA - LATER
Harry eats a big farmer's breakfast with great gusto as the
team, skeptical and scared, surround him at the table.
Norman prepares food for the others at the stove.
HARRY
... Man oh man, you got a problem with
me, Barnes.
(gestures to Norman)
Because as long as my good buddy Norman
keeps cooking like this I ain't leaving.
Wheeee! Ummmmm-ummm. I mean, this
toast is good, and the bacon is better.
But the eggs are fantastic! What've you
got in here? Wait, don't tell me.
(closes eyes, inhales deeply)
Parsley... Chives... Tarragon... Chervil!
Is it chervil?
NORMAN
Yes, it is. I'm glad you like it.
HARRY
Eggs! I'm telling you, eggs? I love
eggs!
BETH
They sure have improved your mood.
HARRY
(to Beth)
How 'bout it? You keep laying them and
I'll keep eating them.
He elbows her and nearly knocks her off her chair.
ANGLE ON NORMAN
Watching Harry, as if he's under a microscope...So is Barnes.
They exchange a look. Then Barnes gingerly launches in.
BARNES
Harry, with you and The Sphere -- do you
remember what happened?
HARRY
Of course I remember what happened. I
went inside.
TED
How did you get inside? There are no
doors.
HARRY
This place is full of doors and we can't
get out. We're still here.
Barnes forces a chuckle.
BARNES
So we are, so we are...
TED
You still didn't answer my question,
Harry.
Harry resumes eating his eggs. From behind Harry's back,
Norman assesses Harry with a shrewd, appraising gaze. As if
he has eyes in back of his head, Harry catches him doing it.
HARRY
Why are you looking at me like that,
Norman?
Then Harry turns. Norman's eyes crinkle in a kindly
smile.
NORMAN
Er...I'm jealous, Harry. I love eggs,
but my cholesterol...You're making me
hungry.
Harry laughs heartily. Norman brings a big platter of
calamari to the table... Harry spears a few with his fork.
BARNES
(circling back)
Are you saying we shouldn't still be
here, Harry?
HARRY
(looking around)
Hey, where's Teeny? I thought she did
all the cooking. Not that I'm
complaining, Norman, this is great. And
grits, you got everything down here.
Where did you learn to cook grits,
Norman?
NORMAN
I wasn't sure you'd like them.
HARRY
You had a nanny.
(laughs)
So, where is Teeny?
BARNES
Teeny had an unfortunate accident. She
was killed.
HARRY
Killed? How?
BEAT.
BARNES
By jellyfish.
HARRY
Jellyfish? That's strange.
BARNES
(beat)
Yes, it is strange, isn't it.
Norman brings Harry another plate of food.
NORMAN
Here you go, Harry.
Harry digs in.
HARRY
Whoa, onion rings.
NORMAN
It's not onion rings.
HARRY
Good though.
NORMAN
Guess what it is?
HARRY
What?
NORMAN
Calamari.
Suddenly, Harry spits out his calamari... Starts to gag...
HARRY
Uccch! Aaaaargh! Squid!
Ted runs around the table and gives Harry the Heimlich
maneuver... Harry struggles to say something... Ted
vigorously pumps at Harry, lifting him high in the air...
TED
Okay, Harry, bring it up! Bring it up,
big fella!
NORMAN
Ted. Ted! I think he's trying to say
something!
Ted stops the Heimlich maneuver. Harry shrugs him off.
HARRY
I'm not choking, you asshole! I just
hate squid!
Ted backs off.
TED
I m sorry. I was trying to help you.
Barnes warily takes the platter of calamari away. Harry sits
down again. Norman sits opposite him.
HARRY
I hate squid!
NORMAN
As long as it wasn't my cooking, okay?
(beat)
Can I ask you something, Harry? Before
you went inside The Sphere, you were
convinced that we were all going to die
down here.
HARRY
I remember that.
NORMAN
Do you still believe that?
HARRY
(nods)
Are you afraid to die, Norman?
NORMAN
You know, I just thought, if we're gonna
die, thought I'd have a couple of eggs.
Go out in style.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATION ROOM - SAME TIME
Edmunds is sitting at the bank of computers which are all
blank. She looks relieved. Suddenly numbers start scrolling
up on the monitor directly in front of her. She hits the
keyboard to clear the screen, but the numbers keep
coming...on another computer screen, then another and
another, until all the screens are scrolling numbers. She
frantically hits keys, but the numbers remain.
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
Camera moves around the Habitat.
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY - SAME TIME
Ted and Norman walk away from the Cafeteria.
TED
Bullshit! Bullshit! He's hiding
something.
NORMAN
What are you talking about?
TED
He was in there. He went inside the
Sphere. Whatever it was he saw, he
doesn't want to tell us.
NORMAN
He doesn't remember anything.
TED
Oh, come on, Norman. You bought that?
No! no! That whole food thing, it was
all a diversion. He wants to keep it all
to himself. Think about it. The guy's
willing to put all of our lives on the
line because he doesn't want to share
information...
NORMAN
Ted, I think....
TED
I can see it right now...he's making
notes for his new book. Wants to win the
Nobel Prize.
NORMAN
And you don't?
TED
No! ...yeah. Norman, you've known me
since I was 17 years old. I would love
to be the guy who gets the recognition.
NORMAN
Have you any idea how respected in your
field you are?
TED
I'm not. What have I done? No. I've
written one "Fun with Dick and Jane" book
on physics. I mean, for christ sake, Neils
Bohr, he published 'The Quantum Theory
of Atomic Structure' I think when he was
28. Einstein - "Relativity", 26...Newton
- "Gravity", 23. Norman, in physics, if
you haven't done it by the time you're
35, the chances are you never will.
NORMAN
And this has nothing to do with being
competitive with Harry?
Ted gives Norman a look.
TED
Harry?
NORMAN
Harry.
TED
Harry...19. Wunderkind!
NORMAN
I rest my case.
TED
Norman, I'm thirty years old.
NORMAN
I wish I was.
Ted laughs.
Then Edmunds comes toward them.
EDMUNDS
Mr. Barnes would like to see you, Ted.
TED
Why?
EDMUNDS
There's something wrong with the computer
system.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM - CLOSE ON BANK OF COMPUTER SCREENS
- LATER
The numbers Edmunds saw earlier - on all of the monitors:
00032125252632 032629 301321 04261037 18 3016 06180
8213229033005 1822 04261013 0830162137 1604 083016 21
182204261013 0830162137 1604 083016 21 1822 033013130432
REVERSE ANGLE - TED
as he tinkers at the keyboard, Barnes beside him.
BARNES
Try purging it.
TED
Every time I purge it, it comes back.
BARNES
You think it's a discharge from the
buffer memory?
TED
I ruled that out.
Edmunds enters.
EDMUNDS
You figure that out yet?
TED
Not yet.
EDMUNDS
You want me to take a whack at it?
TED
Why not? I only have three advanced
degrees. It's not like I went to
cosmetology school.
EDMUNDS
(brittle, to Barnes)
The sonar's still malfunctioning, sir.
I'm going to go see if I can't clear off
the transducer ports. Manual labor --
maybe that's more my speed.
BARNES
Okay. Just be careful out there.
EDMUNDS
Yes, sir.
Edmunds exits. Barnes turns back to Ted.
BARNES
Why'd you have to bust her chops, huh?
She's the only person who knows how to
run this joint. A little respect wouldn't
kill you.
TED
Point taken. I'm sorry.
(beat)
I think the helium is getting to the
chips. Saturation effect.
BARNES
If that's true, what are the options?
TED
You'd have to replace the chips.
BARNES
If we have to operate this place on
manual it's gonna be a long four days.
ANGLE ON HARRY
as he enters, eating an apple. Glances over at the computer.
HARRY
Hey, boss. Ted.
(off computer)
You figure that out yet?
TED
It's some kind of saturation effect.
HARRY
I don't think so. If it was a saturation
effect it'd be random.
TED
What do you mean?
HARRY
This has a pattern. See, it's like a
code.
Harry leans over to the keyboard, highlights the sequence
that repeats. Ted moves closer -- upset that he missed it.
Harry grabs a pad and pencil, starts to write...
BARNES
A code from where?
TED
(re: Harry's code letters)
How do you do that?
BARNES
How do you see that?
HARRY
Try it in binary.
Ted rattles at the keyboard.
ON SCREEN
The numbers change to a string of "0"s and "1"s... They stare
at it a quick beat.
HARRY
It gives you the letter breaks.
TED
Do you think it's coming from The Sphere?
HARRY
Don't know.
BARNES
Harry, this whole mission is classified
Ultra Top Secret. Any messages you
decode are for my eyes only.
Harry shows them what he's been writing...
INSERT - HARRY'S PAD
He's pencilled in the alphabet as it's arrayed on a computer
keyboard.
BACK TO SCENE
HARRY
If you were it, how would you know the
alphabet? The way it's organized on the
keyboard.
Ted thinks hard...
TED
But, reflected in an orb, spherically.
(off Harry's look)
A keyboard, but spherical. Take the
keyboard and wind it around a sphere.
Then starting at the center key "g",
number the letters, spiraling out.
Harry stops, stunned. Then breaks into a broad smile.
HARRY
Ted! You're the man!
Harry tosses aside the pad, sits down at the computer. Works
frantically. Ted rubs his hands together.
TED
I'm telling you, I still got it. I still
got the juice.
ANGLE ON NORMAN
putting on his glasses to get a better look.
NORMAN
Oh, boy!
TED
(to Norman
They let you keep those?
Norman offers his glasses to Ted.
ANGLE ON COMPUTER
As a topographical model of a sphere appears on the screen...
Then the computer winds the keyboard around it, starting in
the middle with the letter "J" and then spiralling around...
HARRY (O.S.)
Now all that's left is to plug in the
numbers...
Harry selects the sequence of the numbers that repeats, types
a command into the computer.
ANGLE ON HARRY
as he presses enter, the others gather expectantly...
CLOSE ON COMPUTER SCREEN
as it reads.
THE SPHERE
(on computer)
HELLO. HOW ARE YOU? I AM FINE.
WHAT IS YOUR NAME? MY NAME IS
JERRY.
BACK ON GROUP
As they stare at this in amazement... The epiphany of
contact with an extraplanetary being...
HARRY
My friends, in eight thousand years of
recorded history, this is a first. You
are on-line with an alien intelligence.
Ted reaches out, touches the screen reverentially...
BARNES
You've got to be kidding me. You must
have messed up the translation.
HARRY
I don't think so.
BARNES
If this translation is right, this alien
sounds like an idiot.
BETH
It could be something to consider -- a
stupid alien.
(off Ted's look)
Well, they must have them.
HARRY
The content certainly appears childish.
But when you think about it, it's highly
logical. A simple message -- lucid,
friendly, unthreatening -- the way you'd
address a small child. Or a dog.
BARNES
You must've made some mistake
translating it.
ANGLE ON SCREEN
As more numbers type out...
TED
Look at this.
BARNES
It's making a speech.
Harry hits a command and presses enter and the message is
translated...
THE SPHERE
(on computer)
I AM PLEASED TO BE IN CONTACT WITH
YOUR ENTITIES. I AM ENJOYING THIS
MUCH.
BARNES
Ask him for his last name.
HARRY
What?
BARNES
I want a full name for my report. I'm not
going to write in my report that a crew
member died on a deepsat expedition to
find an alien named Jerry. Please.
Jerry?
TED
I think we should tell him we're enjoying
it too.
BARNES
I still can't believe we had a President
named Jerry.
NORMAN
Ask him where he's from.
ANGLE ON COMPUTER
As Harry types... "WHERE ARE YOU FROM?" Then more numbers.
THE SPHERE
I MAKE A JOURNEY. YOU MAKE A
JOURNEY. WE MAKE A JOURNEY TOGETHER.
BETH
I think Jerry is channeling Deepak
Chopra.
HARRY
A journey from where?
THE SPHERE
I AM HAPPY.
TED
He's happy.
NORMAN
He's crafty.
ANGLE ON COMPUTER
As Harry types... 'A JOURNEY FROM WHERE?' But no response.
Norman peers at the screen...
HARRY
I think he's gone.
BARNES
Did you -- ? Did you get a full name for
the report?
HARRY
Oh, please!
BARNES
Oh, man!
TED
We're not alone. We are definitely not
alone. Harry, it's trying to make
contact with us.
HARRY
Whatever it is, it was inside that
Sphere, now it's out, and free to act.
TED
What do you mean by that?
HARRY
Free to take over our computers...free to
call us on the phone, free to come over
and knock on the door if it wants to.
TED
A physical presence.
BARNES
What are you thinking about, Norman?
NORMAN
This last part. Where he says, 'I am
happy.'
HARRY
What's the matter, Norman? Don't you
want Jerry to be happy?
NORMAN
Honestly?
BARNES
What's on your mind, Norman?
NORMAN
I would be happy if Jerry had no emotions
whatsoever. Because the thing of it is,
once you go down that road -- here's
Jerry, this emotional being, cooped up
for three hundred years with no one to
talk to, none of the socialization, the
emotional growth that comes from contact
with other emotional beings...
HARRY
Yeah?
NORMAN
What happens if Jerry gets mad?
An exchange of looks all around.
CUT TO:
INT. CAFETERIA - LATER
Ted fixes coffee. Barnes and Harry sit at the table. Ted
brings the coffee to the table, slides one to Barnes. Then
Beth enters, approaches Ted with sheaf of papers.
BETH
You have to look at this.
TED
What?
BETH
There's a record here of a transmission
to the surface. Just before the
submarine was due to pick us up.
BARNES
Let me take a look at that.
Beth debates turning it over to him. Barnes gives Beth a
sardonic look, takes the page and reads it...
BARNES' POV - INSERT
as he reads the transmission...
"Although advised of risks, all personnel elect to remain
down for duration of storm to continue investigation."
BACK TO SCENE
Barnes thinks a beat. Then smiles his Cheshire cat grin.
BARNES
(humoring her)
But Beth, we never elected to remain. We
elected to return.
BETH
Exactly.
TED
Who sent the message?
BETH
The signature is encoded. Remember what
happened? The submarine was coming but
Edmunds said she wasn't getting a
reading. But the truth is, the submarine
was never coming.
(looking at Barnes)
Somebody told it not to come.
BARNES
What are you saying -- you think it was
me?
BETH
Was it?
BARNES
I don't know, Beth -- maybe it was Jerry.
BETH
Jerry doesn't know the code. And he
can't read minds.
BARNES
(chuckling)
Maybe he can. Maybe he can read minds.
BETH
It had to be you or Edmunds or Fletcher --
you're the only ones who knew the codes.
BARNES
And there's no place else this message
could have come from? Like maybe you made
it up?
Beth looks at Barnes. Turns to Harry.
BETH
Harry, you think we're going to die down
here. How? They told us we'd be safe.
Who wants us to die?
HARRY
(shrugs)
I don't know.
TED
It's not Barnes, Beth. It's jellyfish
and God knows what.
BETH
Don't you see what's going on? He wanted
us to stay down here.
TED
I wanted to stay down here all along.
BETH
But he said we were going back. Why did
he lie? Why did he send the submarine
back?
Ted shrugs. Goes back to making his coffee. Barnes
grins his enigmatic grin.
BARNES
You sure are a lot of woman. I wish I
could've seen you in the old days. From
what Norman tells me you were quite...
Barnes lets it hang there. He and Beth exchange a look.
BETH
What did Norman tell you?
BARNES
Let's put it this way. If Jerry could
read your mind, he'd sure be bored with
ours.
Beth looks at Barnes. In an instant she knows that Norman
betrayed her. She exchanges a look with the others -- do
they also know? Then she miles.
BETH
Okay. So that's how it's gonna be then.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATION ROOM - SAME TIME
Norman sits alone looking at static on the computer screens.
We hear THUMP...THUMP...THUMP...Norman looks around.
NORMAN
(calling out)
Edmunds. What's that sound? Did you
hear it?
There is no response.
NORMAN (cont'd)
Edmunds, can you hear me? Did you hear
that thump? Edmunds, what is that sound?
Edmunds....can you hear me? Edmunds.
She's not there.
NORMAN (cont'd)
Hell .oh, shit.
He rushes out.
CUT TO:
INT. CAFETERIA - SAME TIME
Ted, Harry, Beth and Barnes sit drinking coffee. No-one
speaks. Then:
HARRY
What's that noise?
TED
What noise?
HARRY
Listen.
Dimly, we hear THUMP... THUMP... THUMP...
BARNES
Christ, Edmunds is still out there.
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT MOON POOL - LATER
Norman and Beth jump into the "pool"...
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Barnes sits. Watches Norman beneath the habitat as Beth
plunges down beside him in an explosion of bubbles...
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
Norman and Beth move cautiously on the ocean floor...
NORMAN'S POV - THROUGH FACEPLATE
Beth marches in formation alongside him, spear gun at the
ready...
BETH
Norman. What did you tell Barnes?
NORMAN
About what?
BETH
About me, Norman? You told him I took
twenty Nebutol and tried to kill myself,
didn't you?
NORMAN
He had my notes, Beth. What did you want
me to do?
BETH
Did you tell him who I called, Norman?
NORMAN
At the risk of changing the subject,
Beth, I think that thumping noise is
coming from right about there.
Norman looks up.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM - SAME TIME
Barnes on intercom.
BARNES
Norman, Beth - did you find that
thumping, yet? Norman...Beth...come in.
CUT TO:
EXT. UPPER HABITAT - REVERSE ANGLE
As Edmunds' body waves limply in the currents, her helmeted
head thumps against the wall of the habitat -- her foot
caught in the trestle structure underlying the habitat...
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATION ROOM - SAME TIME
Barnes on intercom.
BARNES
Would you hit your call back button,
please.
CUT TO:
EXT. UPPER HABITAT - LADDER - BACK ON NORMAN AND BETH
As they hurry toward Edmunds... Norman reaches her first. As
he grabs her, her body swivels and he sees --
EDMUNDS' FACE
Smeared inside her squashed helmet... Norman loses his
grip... As he slips, Edmunds' boot hits his glass face plate.
As he struggles to get away, Edmunds' boot slides off,
revealing a pulpy, enpurpled foot. Containing his nausea, he
grabs Edmunds...
BARNES (V/O)
(on intercom)
Norman...is everything alright out there?
ANGLE ON BETH
As she moves to help Norman with Edmunds, she grabs Edmunds'
foot... Shocked as her fingers sink into it... She reaches up
to feel Edmunds' ankle, her shin...
BETH
My God, Norman, she's like a rag doll.
Her body's been completely pulverized.
NORMAN
Beth, I don't get it. What could have
done this to her?
BARNES (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Norman, is everything okay?
BETH
Let's get her and get out of here. She's
stuck in the thing....let's get her out
of here.
BARNES (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Norman?
Norman and Beth turn, hauling Edmunds toward the habitat.
Then a single luminous, glossy white ball, about the size of
a baseball, falls slowly through the water between them...
like the pearl in the Prell ad...
Norman looks up...
THEIR POV
Thousands of these balls float down through the water, swirl
in the currents, catching glints of light, trailing streaks
of mucus and falling softly in the sand at their feet.
BACK TO SCENE
BETH
What is this?
NORMAN
Beth, what does this mean?
BETH
There's something up here.
Then a PONG... PONG... PONG... Heard dimly from the inside of
the habitat as Barnes talks on the intercom...
BARNES (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Get inside. I'm getting a reading on the
sonar. You're not alone out there.
BACK ON NORMAN AND BETH
Beth around her... Turns to Norman.
BETH
What the hell makes eggs this size?
The eggs surround them.
BETH (cont'd)
Come on, Norman! Jesus, Norman let's go!
NORMAN
Alright! Alright! Alright.....!
BARNES (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Eighty yards and closing! Move!
BACK ON NORMAN AND BETH
As they run with Edmunds' body... Stumbling through the
sticky eggs as they pile high on the ocean bottom... The
PONG... PONG... PONG... audible over the intercom...
NORMAN
What the hell is it?
BARNES (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Sixty yards... how close are you?
NORMAN
I can't breathe.
BETH
Oh, my God!
BETH
Norman, you're going the wrong way.
BARNES (V.O.)
Forty yards...Move! Move! Move! Move!
Move!!
BETH
We can't see anything through the eggs.
BARNES (V.O.)
Move! Twenty yards...Move! Move!
(beat)
Whatever it is, it's directly overhead.
NORMAN'S POV - THROUGH FACEPLATE
THROUGH a heavy fog of condensation, Norman sees a shaft of
light coming down through the airlock... Eggs falling
everywhere... Norman breathing heavily...
Then suddenly hands grab Norman... and pull him up to safety.
INT. HABITAT MOON POOL - SAME TIME
As Barnes yanks Norman inside, passes him to Harry, who help
him to get out of his suit, swaddle him in a blanket...
Barnes reaches down again and pulls Beth aboard... Then turns
as Edmunds' squashed head bobs up through the opening.
Grimly, Barnes reaches down, pulls Edmunds' body aboard.
BARNES
I need a report, Beth.
BETH
I don't know what the hell's going on out
there...there's eggs everywhere.
BARNES
You should have brought one back.
BETH
I wasn't up for an Easter egg hunt. Maybe
that's what Edmunds was doing. Did you
get anything on the sonar?
BARNES
Whatever it is, it's too big for the
sonar.
Norman shivers in his blanket. The distant PONG... PONG...
PONG... of the sonar in the video room, audible over the
intercom. Then it suddenly GROWS SOFTER. And STOPS.
TED
(over intercom)
It's gone.
Scared looks all around.
CLOSE ON NORMAN
As he shivers...
NORMAN
I want to talk to Jerry.
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - CORRIDORS TO VIDEO ROOM - LATER
Norman leads the others through the corridors toward the
video room.
BARNES
I think we need a game plan when we talk
to him.
HARRY
We need to be specific. What is our
objective? What do we want to address?
Specifics.
Barnes goes first into the video room.
INT. VIDEO ROOM - CONTINUOUS ACTION
The others file in behind Barnes. A message awaits on the
computer...
THE SPHERE
(on computer)
WHAT IS A GAME PLAN?
BACK ON TEAM
BARNES
Oh, my God!
As Norman gapes at the screen. The others edge in closer,
gape also. Is it possible?
NORMAN
Jesus!
(beat)
Jerry? Jerry, can you hear me?
THE SPHERE
(types on computer)
YES, NORMAN.
NORMAN
You've heard everything we've been
talking about?
THE SPHERE
YES, NORMAN.
BARNES
Oh, great.
THE SPHERE
I AM HAPPY ALSO.
TED
Jerry, hi, this is Ted here. You know,
I'm the guy who actually de-coded the
keyboard thing that you.....
BARNES
Shut up! Tell him we need to discuss this
together. Alone.
NORMAN
Jerry....
THE SPHERE
IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO STOP. I DO
NOT WISH IT.
BARNES
Well, it's necessary to me.
THE SPHERE
NO. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE. I DON'T
AGREE. NO!
ANGLE ON SCREEN
As a series of "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO" unspools across the
entire screen...
NORMAN
Jerry, use your words. He's mad. Jerry,
use your words.
BARNES
Just pull his plug.
NORMAN
I'm not sure it's that simple, sir.
BARNES
It's plenty simple. We leave him alone,
he leaves us alone.
NORMAN
Maybe he doesn't want to be left alone.
He's been down here in isolation for
three hundred years. Maybe Jerry is
lonely.
BARNES
Lonely? That's like saying an artichoke
is lonely.
NORMAN
(whispering)
He hears everything we're saying.
BARNES
It's just a figure of speech.
NORMAN
Tell him. Tell Jerry.
THE SPHERE
I WANT TO TALK. NOW. NOW. RIGHT
NOW. NOW.
Then suddenly the SONAR lights up... PONG... PONG...PONG..
NORMAN
Jerry, someone wants to talk to you.
BARNES
I'm not talking to a television.
NORMAN
I think that's more than a television.
Beth enters.
BETH
What's that?
Barnes moves to the console. Pushes buttons and turns
dials...
BARNES
Sonar. It's picking something up out
there.
NORMAN
Jerry, we all find you a fascinating and
wonderful entity. And we wish to talk to
you for many, many hours, Jerry -- you
know that.
THE SPHERE
I DON'T WANT TO STOP. NO.
PONG... PONG... PONG... Getting LOUDER and more frequent...
NORMAN
In your great understanding and wisdom,
Jerry, you must understand that entities
such as ourselves need to talk alone
sometimes.
THE SPHERE
ARE YOU AFRAID?
NORMAN
No, Jerry, we're not afraid. We're just a
little uncomfortable.
THE SPHERE
HAVE I OFFENDED YOU?
NORMAN
You're tops in our books, Jerry. It's
just the way we're built, that's all.
THE SPHERE
DO NOT BE AFRAID.
ANGLE ON SCREEN
As it goes blank. PONG!... PONG!... PONG.'...
NORMAN
Jerry?
(beat)
Goddammit!
BETH
Where did he go?
Then Barnes turns suddenly alert. He moves to adjust a
couple of knobs beneath the gas plasma readouts on the
console. Pulls on the headphones...
HARRY
What's going on?
BARNES
Something's clogging everything up out
there.
Beth goes to the porthole.
BETH
Norman, come here!
Norman joins her...
THEIR POV - ON MONITOR
Thousands of eggs on the monitor, like the ones they saw
earlier, falling through the water, streaking mucus...
Some of the eggs stick to the window, then more, till their
view is obliterated...
BETH (O.S.)
It's back.
ANGLE ON BARNES
As he works furiously at the console... Turns to Ted.
BARNES
Positive thermals on in-line perimeter.
They hear a distant METALLIC CLANK...
BETH
What was that?
BARNES
It's hitting the grid.
BETH
Don't we have any defenses?
BARNES
High voltage. We can run it across the
surface of the Habitat. Every time we've
tested it it's started an electrical
fire.
Suddenly red lights and an ALARM...
BARNES (cont'd)
Peripheral sensors activated. I'm going
to try and image it on the fast acting
sonar.
PONG!... PONG!... PONG!...
ANGLE ON SCREEN
As Barnes looks at it... An amorphous, streaky blob...
BARNES
Building image... Eighty yards and moving
fast...
ANGLE ON SCREEN
A new image, not a lot sharper... A blob with streaks
spraying out from the center...
BETH
Can you tell what it is?
TED
My God, it's forty feet long.
BARNES
Fifty yards.
(off sonar)
Re-imaging.
ANGLE ON MONITORS
A blurred mass and a spray of what might be tentacles fanning
out from the center...
BETH
It looks like a giant squid.
TED
A giant squid the size of this entire
habitat? There's no such animal.
BETH
That may be, but that doesn't mean it's
not out there.
BARNES
Re-imaging. Thirty yards.
Another slightly clearer image... It sure looks like a
squid... On the video surveillance, blurred images -- a
tentacle ringed with suckers, an eye -- too close and too
fast to make out. Then suddenly, all the monitors and
sensors go blank.
TED
What's going on?
NORMAN
Jerry...Jerry...Jerry...if you can hear
me, it's Norman. If we've made you
angry, or if you're upset about
anything...
BARNES
Norman, you're psycho-analyzing a
toaster.
(looking at control monitor)
Oh, we've got a pressure drop. Ted, go
into the control room. Wait there for my
instructions.
TED
Why?
BARNES
Just go, please!
Ted exits at a run... Then they hear a METALLIC CLANKING...
NORMAN
What's that sound? What is that?
BARNES
It sounds like he's right above us.
NORMAN
I know where it is, but what is it?
Then suddenly the MONITORS FLASH ON...
THE SPHERE
(on computer)
I AM HERE.
CUT TO:
INT. CORRIDOR - LATER
A view of the empty corridor as it SHUDDERS... The harsh sing-
song of METAL UNDER STRESS...
CUT TO:
INT. CAFETERIA - SAME TIME
Like an earthquake -- doors swing open on their hinges,
DISHES CRASH to the floor... The large viewing SKYLIGHT
CRACKS...
INSERT - SEAM IN WALL
As it slightly fissures...
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT CONTROL SHAFT - SAME TIME
Ted fights his way through debris to arrive at the Control
Shaft.
TED
(to intercom)
I'm in the control shaft. We've got a
leak in here. Hello!
More water gushes towards Ted.
BARNES
(over intercom)
Ted... Ted...
Ted doesn't hear him.
TED
Holy shit!
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Barnes fusses with the controls...
BARNES
(to intercom)
Ted, do you hear me?
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT CONTROL SHAFT - SAME TIME
Ted drenched with water.
TED
Yeah, glad you could join me.
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Barnes into intercom.
BARNES
Alright, Ted, listen to me carefully.
The computer's showing we've got
structural damage. We've got seams
compromised, and we're taking on water
all over the habitat. You've got to
increase the positive air pressure and
drive the water out, do you understand
that?
CUT TO:
INT. CONTROL SHAFT - SAME TIME
Ted stumbles to his feet, looks for the knob...
INTERCUT WITH VIDEO ROOM
TED
Increase the pressure? Won't that use up
the air supply?
BARNES
(over intercom)
Ted, you're a smart guy, try to follow
this one. If the Habitat is full of
water, you'll be dead. Now, open the red
gate valve.
TED
Don't get technical with me, Barnes.
What's a gate valve?
BARNES
(over intercom)
It's a red knob.
TED
Good. I can understand knobs. Er...which
knob?
BARNES
(over intercom)
Ted, the pressure is dropping. It is
dropping, Ted! We'll be crushed like a
tin can! Find the red knob, Ted! It's
the only one in the room. It's over the
console.
TED
Which console?
BARNES
(over intercom)
It's the one with the schematics on it,
you cretin. What do you have a Ph.D
for?!
Ted looks for the knob.
TED
Layout...layout...layout...layout. Bad
time not to have my glasses. Shit!
Then he finds it.
TED (cont'd)
Got it!
BARNES
(over intercom)
Turn it counter-clockwise right away.
Alright, good. We're getting positive
pressure. Alright, not too much now.
Start to ease it back.
BANG! Electric sparks fly into Ted. He hits his head and
falls to the floor.
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
Bubbles emerge from the seams in the walls...
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
As Beth and Norman run. Norman stops and watches as water
outflows--as if the film is in reverse motion.
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Barnes watches the digital and analog gauges as the gas
pressure climbs...
BARNES
Ted, turn it back. We've got too much
pressure, you'll blow the Habitat.
Clockwise, Ted, closes it.
CLOSE ON GAUGES
As the pressure continues to climb...
BARNES
Ted, turn it back...the pressure is too
high. Ted, we'll explode! Can you hear
me? Ted, turn it back!
CUT TO:
INT. CONTROL SHAFT - SAME TIME
Ted unconscious, his hand clawlike on the pressure knob...
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT CORRIDOR - SAME TIME
Norman and Beth run till -- BANG! -- another impact bounces
them like pinballs along the narrow corridor...
CUT TO:
INT. CONTROL SHAFT - SAME TIME
A seam bursts and water surges into the control room as
Norman and Beth rush in and see Ted, practically unconscious.
NORMAN
We're here! Jesus, Ted.
BETH
I got him...I got him...
She pulls Ted upright out of the water as Norman shuts off
the pressure gauge...
BARNES (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Norman? Norman? Can you hear me?
NORMAN
What? Jesus!!
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
The monitor crashes next to Barnes. Barnes struggles up off
the floor, reaches for his headset...
BARNES
Norman, turn the red gate valve.
CUT TO:
INT. CONTROL SHAFT - SAME TIME
INTERCUT WITH VIDEO ROOM
Norman struggles to regain his footing...
NORMAN
Which way?
BARNES
(over intercom)
Clockwise. Close it.
Norman closes the valve. The pressure goes down.
BARNES (cont'd)
(over intercom)
Good.
NORMAN
Done. Barnes! We're still leaking.
BARNES
(over intercom)
It's not the outer shell, it's the
internal pipes. They're just leaking.
We're okay.
BANG! Another impact and the habitat shakes violently...
BETH
What the hell's out there?
BARNES
Norman, listen to me, whatever this is,
it's not letting go. You've got to pull
the green lever marked 'High Voltage
Defense System.'
BETH
No! He said it would start a fire.
Don't do it! Barnes, you said it would
start a fire.
BARNES
(over intercom)
We're gonna die down here. Pull it!
BETH
Don't do it!
NORMAN
Barnes, do you hear her?
BARNES
(over intercom)
Don't listen to her, she's crazy. Pull
the green lever. Norman, pull the lever!
BETH
What are you trying to pull? He's trying
to pull something. Don't do it!
NORMAN
Do you hear her?!!
CLOSE ON NORMAN
Torn by indecision... Then another JOLT to the habitat...
BARNES
(over intercom)
You can't listen to her. Pull the goddamn
lever!
BETH
Norman, what do we do if there's a fire
down here? It'll eat up all our oxygen.
Don't do it.
WHAM! Another strike throws Norman against the box... He
grips the lever... He and Beth exchange a look.
BARNES
(over intercom)
We've got failures all over the place,
Norman...we're taking on water...
BETH
No, don't do it, Norman!
NORMAN
What am I gonna do?
BETH
Norman, it'll start a fire. There's no
way out!
NORMAN
Shut up! What am I gonna do....what am I
gonna do?
BETH
Don't do it!!
BARNES
(over intercom)
You're gonna be squid food. Pull it!
NORMAN
What am I gonna do? We're falling apart.
Norman and Beth exchange a look. Then Norman pulls the
lever...
NORMAN (cont'd)
(relieved)
We're okay. We don't have to be right
all the time. Right? Okay.
BETH
Right. Okay.
Ted suddenly stands up, somewhat dazed.
TED
Has anybody got some Advil?
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - VARIOUS ANGLES - LATER
on the corridors as a loud ELECTRICAL HUM suffuses the
habitat... The lights brown out...
CUT TO:
INT. CONTROL SHAFT - SAME TIME
Beth looks around, listens, but suddenly it's guiet -- just
the HISS and CHIRP of WATER LEAKING...
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Barnes picks himself off the floor... Poised for another jolt
that doesn't come. He checks the monitors, the gauges...
ZOOM IN -- a red light...
On a fire annunciator... Beneath a label marked
"COMMUNICATIONS ROOM..."
BACK ON BARNES
As he sees this...
BARNES
Oh, hell.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM - SAME TIME
FIRE ROARS through the walls... Seems to jump out from the
walls to flammable materials on the tables, the chairs, that
EXPLODE in sudden flame...
INT. CONTROL SHAFT - SAME TIME
Beth, Ted and Norman all look around as the FIRE ALARMS and
red lights activate...
BARNES (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Oh, God! Norman, we've got a fire in the
Comm Room. Get up there. I'll meet you
with gas masks in case we need them.
Beth gets up.
BETH
Like hell I'm staying here.
Norman watches as Beth exits. Then moves to help Ted.
INT. HABITAT CLOSET HALLWAY - SAME TIME
Barnes sloshes around the supply depot, piles his arms
high with gas masks... Turns to see, at the end of the
corridor...
ANGLE ON EXIT
As the doors automatically close to seal off the leak...
BACK ON BARNES
As he runs with the gas masks, out of the supply depot and
down the narrow, winding corridor...
BACK ON DOOR
As it closes...
BACK ON BARNES
As he runs for daylight... It looks like he's going to make
it... He smiles.
Then he slips on the wet floor...
The steel door closes on him... Barnes groans... Wedges a gas
mask in the door... Wriggles to get free...
INSERT - BARNES' HAND
As he reaches for a handhold on the other side of the door...
Then it's in his grasp...
He moves to pull himself through... Then the gas mask
slips...
ANGLE ON BARNES
As the steel door closes down on him... Barnes howls... Then
a terrible CRACKLING CRUNCH --
INSERT - DOOR INDICATOR
As it lights up: SECURED.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM - SAME TIME
Beth runs toward the fire, grabs a fire extinguisher...She
sprays the extinguisher on the flames...Ted arrives right
behind Norman.
NORMAN
Where are they?
BETH
Over here...there's one there.
NORMAN
I got it. How do you work it?
TED
Pull the pin.
NORMAN
Pin?
TED
Are there any more?
BETH
I saw some in the door.
NORMAN
We've gotta get out fast or we're gonna
die.
Ted exits at a run... Norman takes off his sweat jacket and
does his best to swat at the flames...
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM - SAME TIME
Ted runs to a supply closet... Finds two fire extinguishers.
Turns to run. And for the first time he notices...
INT. DORMITORY - TED'S POV - HARRY
asleep. Snoozing like a baby in his bunk. Ted takes a beat -
- puzzled and amazed by this. Ted tries to rouse him.
TED
(shaking him)
Harry. Harry!
But Harry's out. Ted then runs with the fire
extinguishers...
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT - FAST-MOVING POV - SAME TIME
GLIDING IN ominously ON the habitat... The preternatural
quiet of the deep...
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
All the monitors are down from the power drain of the high
voltage. Suddenly, the computer screens flash on...
THE SPHERE
I WILL KILL YOU ALL.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM - SAME TIME
A horrible IMPACT -- like a devastating EARTHQUAKE -- bounces
Norman and Beth off the walls as all the lights go dead...
NORMAN
It's coming through the ceiling panel.
Try to get it through the Cafeteria.
BETH
Alright. I'll go up. Get back!
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
Beth makes her way to the Cafeteria as everything explodes
around her.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM - SAME TIME
As Ted runs with the fire extinguishers with flames at his
back.
TED
Norman...Norman. You okay?
He tries to extinguish the flames.
Norman sits stunned.
TED (cont'd)
Get out! Go! Go!
A heavy console falls on top of him...Norman still sits
stunned.
TED
Norman! Norman, get out!
He screams as he's barbecued on the grid.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMUNICATION ROOM - SAME TIME
There are explosions and the fire increases. Norman passes
out.
INT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
Beth is frozen.
FADE TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
INT. DORMITORY - LATER
Norman wakes up to the sound of a distant voice.
MALE VOICE O/C
Dr. Goodman... Dr. Goodman... Dr. Norman
Goodman...Dr. Goodman...
NORMAN
Yes...yes....okay.
He gets up, moves toward the door.
NORMAN'S POV - THROUGH PORTHOLE
The Pilot and Seaman from earlier scenes, in full dress
uniform, stand guard across the corridor. Norman opens the
door.
NORMAN
Thank God you guys are here.
SEAMAN
Yes, sir.
NORMAN
It's been like a nightmare...the
fire...Ted's dead, and the fire got out
of control. We did what we could.
PILOT
Yes, sir. Just follow us.
INT. CORRIDOR - SAME TIME
Norman walks between the Pilot and the Seaman.
NORMAN
Fletcher's dead...Edmunds is dead. I
think Barnes is dead.
PILOT
Yes, sir.
NORMAN
Are we leaving now?
SEAMAN
Yes, sir.
NORMAN
When did you guys get here?
SEAMAN
Just now, sir.
NORMAN
And do the others know yet?
PILOT
The others, sir?
NORMAN
The others. There's three of us
left...Harry and Beth. We've had a rough
time.
PILOT
I can see that, sir.
NORMAN
Rough time...So, shouldn't we go and get
them?
SEAMAN
Yes, sir.
NORMAN
When?
The Seaman and Pilot walk away. Norman stands alone in the
corridor.
NORMAN (cont'd)
When? When? When do we get 'em? When?
When we do we get 'em? When are we gonna
get 'em? When?
INT. VIDEO ROOM
Norman is asleep and wakes himself up with the same refrain.
NORMAN
When are we gonna get 'em...? Get
'em...when? When?
He sits up straight in his chair, looks around - nobody
there.
NORMAN (cont'd)
Jerry?
(beat)
Jerry, it's Norman. Is that you, Jerry?
It's Norman.
(beat)
Jerry, who put out the fire? Jerry?
THE SPHERE
(on monitors)
WHERE IS THE CONTROL ENTITY HARALD
C. BARNES? I DO NOT SENSE THAT
ENTITY NOW.
Norman moves closer to the monitors...
ANGLE ON SURVEILLANCE MONITORS
Norman sets about flipping switches -- different views
and angles, some flooded and sealed off, all deserted...
NORMAN
I don't know, Jerry. I just woke up. Do
you know where he is?
THE SPHERE
HE WAS NOT FRIENDLY. HE DID NOT
ENJOY TO TALKING WITH ME.
NORMAN
I know. He's a difficult entity
sometimes. Can you tell me what happened
to him, Jerry?
THE SPHERE
I DO NOT SENSE THE ENTITY TED.
CLOSE ON NORMAN
NORMAN
I know. Something happened to Ted, Jerry.
THE SPHERE
BRING HIM BACK.
NORMAN
I can't.
THE SPHERE
BRING BACK THE ENTITY TED. HE WAS
HUMOROUS.
NORMAN
I can't do that, Jerry. It's not in my
power.
(beat)
There was a fire and I froze. I didn't
help him. I wanted to, but I didn't help
him. I knew him since he was seventeen
years old and I let him go.
(beat)
Okay, but I'd like to just deal with this
at a later time. So, do you want to tell
me about the others?
THE SPHERE
DID YOU LIKE THE GIANT SQUID?
NORMAN
You made that, Jerry?
THE SPHERE
DO YOU LIKE IT? I CAN MANIFEST IT
MORE FOR YOU.
NORMAN
No, no. Don't do that. Nothing more
right now, thanks.
THE SPHERE
I DO NOT WISH TO STOP.
ANGLE ON MONITORS
As Norman punches a view of the galley... Harry placidly eats
a sandwich and reads a book... Then Norman resumes punching
up other views of the habitat...
NORMAN
You see, the problem is, Jerry, your
manifestations injure our entities. And
pretty soon, there'll be no entities to
play with, and you'll be all alone again.
All because you can't control yourself.
Because with all your power you don't
have the power to stop, do you, Jerry.
A long beat as Norman waits for a response. Then:
THE SPHERE
STOP CALLING ME JERRY.
NORMAN
What name do you want? Jerry...Jerry.
What name do you want? Jerry...
Norman waits. No response.
CUT TO:
INT. CAFETERIA - SAME TIME
Harry munches on his sandwich and reads his book -- 20,000
LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. Norman enters.
NORMAN
Hey, Harry. How you doin'?
HARRY
(looks up)
Norman.
NORMAN
Wow, can you believe what happened?
HARRY
What?
NORMAN
You know. The attack on the habitat?
(off Harry's look)
You know there was an attack on this
place?
HARRY
I must've slept through it.
NORMAN
You slept through it.
HARRY
(yawns)
I was dead tired.
NORMAN
It's a good thing you don't have a living
will, Harry. We would've had to have
given all your organs away.
Harry laughs.
NORMAN (cont'd)
So the smoke didn't bother you? All the
leaking...you know...
HARRY
(with book)
Did you ever read this? Twenty Thousand
Leagues Under the Sea? I found it in the
john -- probably somebody's misguided
attempt at levity. I always loved this
book. I could never get past page eighty-
seven, though. Too scary.
NORMAN
You seem to be, uh, strangely detached,
Harry. Given our predicament.
HARRY
I dunno, Norman. With all your panic and
running around, what have you
accomplished?
Norman looks at Harry's unnerving, serene smile. Then eases
back into the corridor, looks up and down for Beth...
NORMAN
You knew I was running around?
(beat)
Have you, uh, seen Beth?
HARRY
(shrugs)
No, I thought she was with the others.
NORMAN
What others? Barnes and Ted are dead,
Harry.
(off Harry's look)
There's nobody down here who knows how to
run the place anymore. The fire screwed
up the electronics. We've used up most of
our reserve gas...you're reading your
book...
Harry is saddened by the news of Barnes and Ted. Then his
gloom lifts suddenly.
HARRY
Look on the bright side, Norman.
NORMAN
What's that?
HARRY
With Barnes and Ted dead, we don't need
as much gas. And with half this place
flooded, we don't have to worry about
filling that space with gas either.
NORMAN
That's a helluva bright side, Harry.
HARRY
It is what it is.
Suddenly Beth hustles inside. Heads for the refrigerator
for a bottle of water...
BETH
Somebody has to go reset the minisub. If
we don't reset it every twelve hours it
floats to the surface. Remember?
HARRY
I'll go.
NORMAN
(quickly)
No, no. I'll go.
HARRY
You sure?
NORMAN
Yeah.
BETH
It might be our only way out of here.
HARRY
(brightly)
See, there's another bright side, Norman.
NORMAN
Yeah?
HARRY
With Barnes and Ted dead -- the minisub
only holds three people!
Norman looks at Harry, grinning at him.
NORMAN
Beth, could I talk to you for a second?
Norman grabs Beth and hurries her out of the galley. Harry
returns to reading his book.
CUT TO:
INT. CORRIDORS - LATER
Beth and Norman head toward the moon pool.
NORMAN
I don't want Harry anywhere near that
minisub.
BETH
You think he'll leave without us?
NORMAN
Oh, I think he's already left without us.
I think Harry's in a whole 'nother place.
(beat)
Did you know he slept through the attack?
You don't think that's a little strange?
A beat between them as Beth considers this...
BETH
Well, I guess it's me and you, Norman.
Just like I said at the beginning. It's
good I have someone down here I can
trust.
NORMAN
(smiling)
You and me Beth.
BETH
You'd better get going. I'm not sure how
much time we have. I'll keep an eye on
you from the control room.
(beat)
And Norman...it's not like swimming, it's
walking.
Norman smiles.
NORMAN
Not swimming, but walking. Got it.
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT MOON POOL - LATER
Norman splashes down out of the air lock. Walks out from
under the habitat... Turns a corner...
NORMAN'S POV - THROUGH FACEPLATE
The minisub, illuminated, moored in an open-girdered dome
hangar, about a hundred feet away...
Norman starts out toward the minisub...
CUT TO:
INT. SUB DOME HANGAR/INT. MINI-SUB - LATER
The minisub rocks gently, as if someone's clambering on top
of it. Then the hatch opens... And Norman drops down inside.
He hums as he situates himself in the cockpit.
ANGLE ON CONSOLE
As Norman's hands run over the controls...
NORMAN
(mutters to himself)
Reset... Reset...
Then, up above the dashboard, he finds a flashing red button
marked "TIMER HOLE" beside a digital clock that's running
down... Norman presses it and a small screen glows...
TIMER RESET -- COUNT: 12:00:00
It starts counting down... Norman smiles with
satisfaction.
CUT TO:
EXT. SUB DOME HANGAR - SAME TIME
Norman plunges back into the water...
NORMAN'S POV - THROUGH FACEPLATE
Of the habitat in the distance... Then the faceplate starts
to fog up... Norman's view is a little woozy... Then he LOOKS
DOWN at his gas hose as bubbles slowly start leaking out.
NORMAN (O.S.)
Beth, something's happened to my hose.
ANGLE ON NORMAN
He fumbles, all thumbs with gloves, his faceplate
fogged...trying to tighten the valve where bubbles are coming
from. Instead, he loosens it, and more bubbles are released.
NORMAN
Beth, I've got bubbles coming out.
(beat)
Beth!
NORMAN'S POV THROUGH FACEPLATE
Of the habitat, the nimbus of the lights THROUGH the fog of
the FACEPLATE. It looks really far away.
NORMAN
Beth, can you tell me what to do. It's
fogging me all up here.
ANGLE ON NORMAN
He looks like he's running in place and getting nowhere...
His feet slipping on the silty bottom...
NORMAN
Beth, there's something wrong here. I've
got to get out of here...I've got to get
out of here. Where the hell are you!
NORMAN'S POV THROUGH FACEPLATE
Thoroughly fogged now... Norman stomping blindly through the
ocean, his BREATHING panicked, the INDICATORS BLEEPING in
alarm... Then suddenly Harry breaks in over the intercom.
BACK TO SCENE
HARRY (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Hey, watch out for that rock. It's me,
Harry.
NORMAN
Harry...
HARRY (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Come around the rock... go to the right of
the stanchion.
NORMAN
Harry, I'm hurting. Come around which
way? I can't breathe Harry...
HARRY (V.O.)
(matter-of-fact)
Yes, you can. You just have a loose
valve. It's not gonna kill you. You've
got plenty of gas. Can you see the
airlock? It's right in front of you.
NORMAN'S POV THROUGH FACEPLATE
Heavily fogged, he can dimly MAKE OUT the shaft of light
coming down from the airlock.
ANGLE ON NORMAN
as he stumbles toward the airlock... then his indicator
flatlines...Norman looks down at his loose gas hose...
INSERT - GAS HOSE
No more bubbles...no more gas.
BACK ON NORMAN
In a total panic, holding his breath.
NORMAN'S POV THROUGH FACEPLATE
The fogged glass and murky water... Can't see...
BACK ON NORMAN
thrashing through the water...
NORMAN'S POV THROUGH FACEPLATE
As he swims furiously, he sees the light from the moon pool
and the ladder leading down, right in front of him... he
grabs for the rungs of the ladder... it's a...
SEA SNAKE
The sea SNAKE HISSES, then snaps at Norman as Norman lets go,
falls to the ocean bottom...
NORMAN'S POV THROUGH FACEPLATE
As the snake swipes at his face, its forked tongue smearing
slime across the faceplate... then the snake scurries away
as...
HANDS
Grab Norman and pull him up to safety...
CUT TO:
INT. SUIT ROOM - CONTINUOUS ACTION
Harry helps Norman pull off his helmet... Norman gulps for
air... then stumbles as Harry helps him to sit down...
NORMAN
Where is she?
HARRY
Try and relax your breathing. You're
gonna hyperventilate.
NORMAN
Where is she? She said she'd...keep an
eye out for me.
HARRY
I looked through the whole habitat, I
couldn't find her. I thought maybe she
was with you.
NORMAN
Where is she? Where is she?
Norman looks over... we follow his gaze...
ANGLE ON BETH'S LOCKER
Where Beth's suit and helmet are stored, under a nameplate
that reads "Halperin"... It's empty.
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Norman and Harry watch on the monitors, scared...
THEIR POV - MONITORS
A surveillance view of the airlock tube, as Beth enters
from the spaceship and it fills with water.... then Beth
emerges and heads toward the habitat...
BACK ON NORMAN
He and Harry exchange a look.
NORMAN
(whispering)
Did she tell you she was going out?
Then Norman addresses the mike.
NORMAN (CONT'D)
Beth?
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Norman? I can't hear you.
NORMAN
(to Harry)
If she can't hear me, why did she answer?
Beth, what are you doing?
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom)
I went out looking for food. We're out
of food.
Harry covers the mike with his hand.
HARRY
There's plenty of food. I was just in
there.
Norman and Harry exchange a look.
NORMAN
You went to look for food in the
spacecraft? That seems a little odd,
don't you think?
INTERCUT WITH:
BETH
As she walks toward the habitat...
BETH
Why, what's odd about it?
NORMAN
If there was food? Beth, uh -- wouldn't
it be three hundred years old?
BETH
I was hoping our luck would change and
I'd find a cryogenic freezer. Or a bottle
of bordeaux.
HARRY
She's lying.
(off Norman's look)
Norman, she's lying about everything.
BETH
Is Harry there, Norman?
NORMAN
Why don't we just talk when you get back?
Meet me in the galley. We'll have a cup
of coffee.
(charming)
We still have coffee, don't we?
BETH
Very funny. I'll take mine black, like
my mood.
NORMAN
All right. See you soon.
Norman turns off the microphone. Turns to Harry.
HARRY
Norman, what we have here are two
ingredients -- Beth and this underwater
environment... you put them together and
you've got one big ass bomb.
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - CORRIDOR - LATER
Beth walks up from the corridor from the moon pool toweling
her hair dry...
INT. CAFETERIA - CONTINUOUS ACTION
Beth enters. Norman and Harry wait for her, drinking coffee.
Beth takes a mug off the counter, pours for herself...
BETH
How'd it go with the mini-sub?
NORMAN
It was a little disconcerting out there,
actually.
BETH
Oh?
NORMAN
Weren't you supposed to be watching out
for me from the control room?
BETH
Harry said he'd take over for me.
(off Harry's look)
He sat down right in front of the
monitors and -- Norman, what happened?
NORMAN
I was in trouble. Where the hell were
you?
BETH
What's going on, Norman?
NORMAN
All I know is, going out to find food in
the spacecraft when there's plenty of
food here isn't exactly normal.
BETH
What do you mean, plenty of food? I was
just here. There's nothing in the --
Beth goes to the cupboards, opens them.
ANGLE ON OPEN CUPBOARDS
Spilling over with food... Beth takes a beat to size up the
situation -- she can sense their eyes on her.
HARRY
A veritable horn of plenty.
BETH
He must've hidden it.
HARRY
You think I hid all this food?
BETH
I don't know what's going on here, but
twenty minutes ago I was standing right
here and there was no food in the
cupboards and no food in the
refrigerator.
NORMAN
Why, Beth? Why would Harry do that? Why
would he set you up?
BETH
I don't know what happened. All I know
is this food wasn't here.
HARRY
Paging Dr. Halperin. Please report to
reality. Dr. Halperin?
BETH
Shut up!
(to Norman)
Okay, you can see what he's doing to me.
NORMAN
You were supposed to be watching, Beth.
That's the facts. You think Harry said
something he didn't. That the cupboards
are empty when they're full...Clinically,
we would call that a psychotic break.
BETH
I'm not crazy, Norman. What're you gonna
do? Write me a prescription? Just get
rid of me? Well, it's not that
convenient down here, Norman, okay. I am
not psychotic.
NORMAN
What about a mini-psychotic break.
BETH
It's not fair.
NORMAN
Beth.
BETH
What?
NORMAN
Beth, I'm down there...I'm
hyperventilating, I can't breathe...I'm
hyperventilating. The man saved me!
BETH
But I....
NORMAN
Wait a minute. Now you want me to
believe that the man set me up. Why?
This isn't 'Alice in Wonderland'.
Remember 'just you and me babe'? Is it
unrealistic to think that at this point
you are a danger to yourself - you are a
danger to us...that your misguided anger
towards me for something that I don't
know what it was that happened decades
ago is spewing out like poison. I was
out there. You almost got me killed.
The man tried to save my life! You now
want me to disbelieve Harry?
BETH
Yes, I want you to disbelieve Harry. I
want you to look at me and believe me for
one time, Norman. Don't you...? Just
look at me, Norman! Am I telling you the
truth?
NORMAN
You weren't there, Beth.
BETH
You want to believe Harry, Norman, then
that's fine, because he's done everything
but part the sea for you since we've been
down here, but I'm telling you that he is
not telling you the truth.
NORMAN
This is not about Harry, okay?
BETH
(right back)
He didn't tell you what's inside The
Sphere.
(to Harry)
You didn't tell him, did you? You didn't
tell him what's inside the Sphere, did
he?
An exchange of looks all around.
HARRY
And how would you know that, Beth?
Norman looks at Beth.
NORMAN
Beth, did you go inside The Sphere?
Beth smiles enigmatically.
NORMAN (cont'd)
Answer me. Did you go inside the Sphere?
Beth just looks at him.
NORMAN (cont'd)
Why won't you answer me, Beth? It's a
question.
BETH
You don't want to talk to me, remember?
NORMAN
Answer the question.
She gives him a hard look. Then walks out.
NORMAN (cont'd)
What do you think, Harry. Do you think
she went into the Sphere?
Harry says nothing.
NORMAN (cont'd)
Here. You dropped your book.
Norman picks up the book of "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" to
hand to Harry, but sees that he's still reading the book.
Norman thinks a beat. Then opens a cupboard to reveal rows
and rows of books of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" arranged
neatly inside.
Puzzled and scared, Norman opens another cupboard - more
copies of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea...row after row of
books...
BACK ON NORMAN
His fear accelerating... struggling to think, to put the
pieces together...
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - LATER
Norman broods alone... Then he turns to the monitors...
NORMAN
What isn't Harry telling me? I know
you're there, Jerry. What's inside the
Sphere, Jerry? Jerry, I know you're
there. You're always there.
(beat)
Harry is reading this book "20,000
Leagues Under The Sea". What makes me
nervous is that after page 87...
(he ruffles through the book)
...it's all blank pages. Harry's
upstairs sitting in the cafeteria reading
blank pages. Why? Why did he go into
the Sphere and come out like this? Why?
Why? Why, Jerry? Why is this book half
a book, Jerry? Why? What's going on,
Jerry? Why, Jerry? Why? Why? Why?
No response.
Then Norman turns back to 87. Reads...
JUMP CUT
BACK ON NORMAN
as he works out the code of Jerry's original message with a
pencil...
NORMAN
So, it's 'g' being one spiraling out from
the center and 2 is 'b', that means that
h' is 3 and 4 then is 'y'.
He completes the sentence: "My Name Is Harry." A piece of
the puzzle may be in place. He goes back to the dormitory to
check on Harry.
INT. DORMITORY - SAME TIME
THROUGH the Porthole in the door, Norman looks in on Harry
who is still thoroughly engrossed in 20,000 Leagues Under the
Sea.
CUT TO:
INT. ENGINE ROOM - LATER
The noise of the various PUMPS and COMPRESSORS... Norman,
his nerves frayed, juggles a copy of 20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea, the printout and the pad as he confers with Beth.
NORMAN
He makes it real for you, he makes it
real for me...he has made it real for
everybody. It's really frightening
because you don't know whether it's
really real or whether he's made it real
for us to believe it's real, and it's
because of the Sphere.
BETH
Our Harry... our Harry is Jerry?
NORMAN
Come on, Beth, I'm just as tired as you
are. Come on, I know you can get this,
okay? Here.
He hands her a copy of "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea".
NORMAN (cont'd)
Harry said he couldn't get past page 87
because he said it was too scary, okay.
BETH
If there's nothing on the pages, where's
the rest of the book.
NORMAN
Read what's on page 87.
BETH
(reading)
'... According to calculations of some
naturalists, one of these animals, only
six feet long, would have tentacles
twenty-seven feet long. That would make
a formidable monster.'
(closes book)
NORMAN
Yes. And what does Harry hate?
BETH
Squid.
NORMAN
And when he read that, it scared him.
Getting the picture? Do you remember
when all those jellyfish attacked. What
was Harry doing?
BETH
Sleeping.
NORMAN
He was dreaming, and this is the really
wild part - what he dreamed....
BETH
Happened.
NORMAN
It happened.
BETH
You're telling me that because Harry went
inside the Sphere, he now has the power
to manifest his dreams, his fantasies,
his emotions, his fears.
NORMAN
Manifest. He manifested it...he made it
happen.
BETH
Well, we'd better not piss him off.
INT. DORMITORY - CLOSE ON HARRY - SAME TIME
Still reading "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea". Then he stares
into space.
CUT TO:
INT. ENGINE ROOM - SAME TIME
Beth and Norman still figuring things out.
NORMAN
It's like an E-ticket ride for Harry's
subconscious. It's the wildest ride you
could imagine. It's the ultimate acting
out. It's not that different when you're
a child. A child when it imagines
something, thinks that it's real, but
it's not.
In Harry's case, it's in fact so real
that it's not only real to Harry it's
real to all of us...and what I can't
understand is that ever since he went in
the Sphere, the Sphere has some kind of
power that projects every subconscious
thought that Harry has, out to the
computer. It prints it out, and we
interact with it. We thought it was
Jerry. It's not Jerry, it's Harry.
Harry's Jerry.
BETH
Does Harry know this?
NORMAN
No, and what I don't understand is that
you went in The Sphere and nothing
happened.
BETH
'Cos with my subconscious, can you just
imagine? It'd be like Liquid Drano out
there.
NORMAN
But nothing happened.
BETH
Obviously I didn't go in the Sphere.
NORMAN
Beth. You never went inside the Sphere.
You didn't go in there?
BETH
I was so angry at you, I wanted you to be
scared.
NORMAN
Maybe you had a right to be.
BETH
Thanks.
Norman looks at her.
NORMAN
You're sure you didn't go in there?
Beth thinks a long beat.
BETH
We have to kill Harry.
NORMAN
No, no. We don't have to kill Harry.
BETH
Yeah, we do.
NORMAN
Why?
BETH
Because, I don't know about you, Norman,
but I don't feel like dying down here.
NORMAN
We don't have to kill him. We just have
to find something to put him under,
right? So he's in some kind of deep,
unconscious sleep.
BETH
Dreamless sleep, I hope.
NORMAN
A dreamless sleep, yes. How do we do
that?
BETH
Well, I've got a bunch of drugs up there.
NORMAN
Fancy that.
CUT TO:
INT. LAB - LATER
Norman and Beth fumble through the habitat's pharmacy...
NORMAN
Diphenyl paralene.
BETH
Burns.
NORMAN
Ephedrine hydrochloride.
BETH
Motion sickness.
NORMAN
Valdomet.
BETH
Ulcers. You might want to keep that.
NORMAN
Sintag.
BETH
Sintag is a synthetic opiate. It's a
painkiller. I might want to keep that.
NORMAN
What about Parasolutrine?
BETH
Really? I've got paracin trichloride -
that's an anesthetic.
NORMAN
What do you do, combine it?
BETH
(holding up vials)
Huh, huh. If you've got 20 cc's of this
one, six of this one, you're in business.
NORMAN
(vial in hand)
Here's some more Parasolutrine. Will
that be enough?
ANGLE ON HUGE HYPODERMIC
Norman looks on as Beth fills it from the vials...
BETH
This'll put him under for three to six
hours.
NORMAN
Can't we give him a little boost?
BETH
You want to kill him?
NORMAN
Yes and no.
CUT TO:
INT. DORMITORY - SAME TIME
Harry sleeps. A shaft of light as the door opens and Beth
and Norman tiptoe in, Beth with the hypodermic.
NORMAN
(whispers to Beth)
I'm gonna hold him.
They exchange a look. Then Norman grabs Harry as Beth
plunges the needle into him. Harry howls, more from surprise
than pain, as Beth pushes the plunger and injects him.
HARRY
What's going on?
NORMAN
Nothing. Go back to sleep.
HARRY
I was asleep.
Harry's eyes roll back into his head and he falls asleep.
BETH
I wasn't sure it would be that fast-
acting. Thank God.
NORMAN
We didn't kill him, did we?
BETH
I don't think so.
NORMAN
Okay.
BETH
Okay.
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - NIGHT
Beth sits at the monitors while Norman stands close by.
BETH
Come on! Come on! Come on!
ANGLE ON MONITORS
CQX VDX MOP LKI...
BACK ON BETH AND NORMAN
BETH
Here we go.
NORMAN
It's a code. How the hell are we supposed
to be able to...oh, it's decoding itself.
ANGLE ON MONITORS
As the letters unjumble and resolve into a decoded message...
WEATHER CONDITIONS NORMAL SURFACE SUPPORT VESSELS RETURN.
ETA: 16:00:00 hours
Then the 16:00:00 begins to count down...
BETH
Weather conditions normal surface
support vessels return." 16 hours and
we're out of here.
CLOSE ON NORMAN
As he breaks into a smile... Turns to Beth.
NORMAN
It's over. If you trust it.
BETH
You know me. I believe everything.
NORMAN
Do you trust it?
CUT TO:
INT. BATHROOM - LATER
The sound of RUNNING WATER as Norman washes his face.
Then turns OFF the WATER. He hears a HISS like water
leaking. He tightens the faucets again. Still that HISS.
Norman runs his hands along the pipes, reaches under the
sink...
INSERT - NORMAN'S HANDS
As they run beneath the sink... To where the pipe turns
into...
BELCHER'S SEA SNAKE
A wriggling white streak with a long thin fin and black
stripes...
CLOSE ON NORMAN
As he freezes... His skin goes cold and clammy... He peers
around the edge of the sink to get a look...
NORMAN'S POV - SNAKE
As it HISSES and SLURPS its forked tongue at him, bares its
fangs... Its body coiling and uncoiling...
BACK ON NORMAN
As he faces the snake... Then hears another HISS... Looks
down and sees a SECOND SNAKE coiling its way up his leg...
NORMAN
Aaaaargh!!! Get out! Get out!
Aaaaargh! Get out! Get out!
Then the door opens and Beth enters. Sees the snakes...
BETH
What time is it, Norman?
NORMAN
What?
BETH
What time is it, Norman?
It is all Norman can do to unstick his dry mouth and reply...
NORMAN
What?
BETH
Norman. What time is it?
NORMAN
I don't know.
BETH
Norman, you're scaring me.
NORMAN
(struggling with snake)
Aaaaargh! Get out!
BETH
Look at your watch, Norman!
NORMAN
What, are you crazy!
NORMAN'S POV - LOOKING DOWN
The SNAKE around his leg HISSES and bares its fangs as Norman
slowly turns his wrist... But the crystal is fogged.
BACK TO SCENE
BETH
Is it day or night?
Norman thinks hard, trembling with fear...
NORMAN
It's day. It's morning.
(to snakes)
Get out!! Get out!!!! Get out!!!!
With cat-like quickness, Beth plunges in, grabs the snakes
right behind the head... Holds them up to inspect them...
BETH
They're Belcher's sea snakes, Norman
They're the most poisonous snakes in the
world, but they're nocturnal. They're
only dangerous at night.
(holding up snake)
Say "Good morning, Beth."
NORMAN
(weakly)
Good morning.
Beth moves with the snakes to exit. She turns, holding the
snakes in her hands...
BETH (cont'd)
Freud would have a field-day with this.
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
Beth's voice comes OVER the INTERCOM.. as we see Norman
slowly climb the stairs to the lab.
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Norman, it's Beth could you meet me at
the lab, please? Norman, can you meet me
at the lab, please? I want to show you
something. Norman!
CUT TO:
INT. LABORATORY - LATER
Norman enters. Beth's not there He enters further, looking
around... Looks on a notepad to see if she left a note...
NORMAN
Beth?
Then, on the dissecting table, Norman sees something... He
moves closer...
NORMAN'S POV - DISSECTING TABLE
Alone on the table, a hypodermic needle filled with fluid...
BACK ON NORMAN
As he hears a CLICK behind him. Turns to see that the DOOR
is now closed... The wheel spins... Norman hurries to the
door. Can't budge it. He locks eyes with Beth THROUGH the
porthole in the door...Then a SUCTION noise as the DOOR SEALS
SHUT... And Beth disappears. Norman knocks on the glass.
NORMAN
Beth?
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
Beth hurries down the hallway toward the video room...
CUT TO:
INT. LABORATORY - SAME TIME
Norman, struggling not to panic, tries to figure a way out...
INTERCUT VIDEO ROOM WITH LABORATORY
NORMAN
What are you doing?
(beat)
Beth? Why are you locking me in here?
Beth! Beth!
He looks around the lab and sees jars full of liquid on
shelves.
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Norman! Norman! Up here...up here.
Norman, it's me, Beth. I'm up here.
NORMAN
Why aren't you here? Why am I talking to
you like this.
BETH
I'm talking to you from the video room.
Norman, listen to me. Turn around. Turn
around and look on the table.
Norman turns around and sees a hypodermic needle on the
table.
BETH
Do you see the hypodermic needle, Norman?
NORMAN
Yeah.
BETH
I want you to inject yourself, Norman.
NORMAN
What?
BETH
It's the same thing we gave Harry. It's
almost the same amount.
NORMAN
We gave that stuff to Harry because he
was manifesting -- to make him
unconscious. I don't need to take that
stuff.
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Beth talks into the intercom, watches Norman on the monitors,
like a caged laboratory rat, pacing off the perimeter...
BETH
Norman, you're manifesting your fears.
The snakes, Norman...the snakes were you.
Harry is asleep. It's your fears. You
manifested the snakes.
CUT TO:
INT. LABORATORY - SAME TIME
Norman, trapped, looks at the snakes in their specimen
jars... He searches the room for a way out...
NORMAN
Why would the snakes have anything to do
with me? I didn't go inside The Sphere.
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Then how did the snakes get there,
Norman?
NORMAN
Maybe they're just snakes. I mean...did
you ever think of that?
BETH
(over intercom)
Pick up the needle and inject yourself.
NORMAN
I'm telling you, I didn't go in the
Sphere.
BETH
(over intercom)
Obviously you went in the Sphere, Norman.
NORMAN
If I went in the Sphere I would have told
you now.
BETH
(over intercom)
If you don't use the hypodermic needle,
I'm going to have to defend myself.
Norman, don't make me do this. I don't
want to do this.
NORMAN
I didn't manifest anything. I didn't
manifest anything....I didn't manifest
anything...
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Beth moves a slide switch marked "A CYL--LAB"... As the gas
pressure gauge dips...
INT. LABORATORY - SAME TIME
There's a SOFT HISS and the ALARM BADGE on Norman's wrist pad
starts to BEEP...
NORMAN
Beth, what are you doing?
(beat)
The pressure gauge begins to dip.
NORMAN (cont'd)
Beth. Why does it say that its low
level? Why are you taking the oxygen out
of this room?
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom - squeaky voice)
It's not oxygen. It's gas, remember?
NORMAN
Beth, why are you taking the gas out of
the room? Beth? It's my air...
A glass explodes.
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Think it through. Whose childhood fears
were the jellyfish? Remember, Norman...
remember?
NORMAN
Yes, but -- anyone could be afraid of
jellyfish, Beth.
BETH
(over intercom)
Norman, look at your wrists. Remember
when you told me about getting burned.
You're manifesting fire, Norman...you're
manifesting jellyfish. The squid were
Harry's, but everything else is you.
Isn't it possible that you went inside
The Sphere and you just don't remember.
NORMAN
Beth, you would've seen it on the video.
BETH
The video blanked out and you were gone
for two hours. So, where were you,
Norman?
NORMAN
Your logic is screwy, okay. Because if
I'd gone in the Sphere, I would have been
different when I came out. I'd have been
strange like Harry.
BETH
(over intercom)
Just use the hypodermic needle, Norman.
NORMAN
Okay, we're not gonna have time to go
back and forth on this.
Norman opens and closes his jaw, wiggles a finger in his ear
as his ears pop... The water level rising on the floor...
Then Norman jumps as the medicine BOTTLE BURSTS...
NORMAN
Beth. What's with this water?
The bottles with liquid, now contain snakes. The bottles
explode and the snakes are released.
NORMAN (cont'd)
Beth...Beth...It's not me!
BETH
(over intercom)
It's not me. You're doing
it.
NORMAN
Beth...Beth...oh, my God! Beth! Beth!
More bottles explode.
BETH
(over intercom)
Norman, you're manifesting this. Water
is your fear, Norman. You said you
hadn't been in the water since you were a
kid. Norman, inject yourself with the
hypodermic needle.
NORMAN
Oh, my God!!
BETH
(over intercom)
Norman, use the hypodermic needle. It's
snakes, it's fear. You can make it go
away, Norman. You can make it go away.
Pick up the hypodermic needle and inject
yourself, Norman.
NORMAN
No. I'm not going to.
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Norman, you can make it go away.
NORMAN
No, I'm not going to use it. I told you,
it's not me! I can't breathe, Beth.
Then a BANG! as another BOTTLE EXPLODES...
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Beth watches Norman on the monitors.
BETH
Norman, I'm begging you. Pick up the
hypodermic needle.
INT. LABORATORY - SAME TIME
Water rises around Norman.
NORMAN
No, I'm not gonna use it. It's not me!
It's too late anyway! Beth...Beth...what
are you doing? You're going to kill me!
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom)
I can't help you, Norman. I'm not doing
this.
Norman pulls himself up out of the water, hanging onto
equipment in the habitat.
NORMAN
Beth....!
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Try not to be so afraid, Norman. Let go
of your fears and it will all go
away...and the ships will come and we'll
all get out of here and we'll be fine.
You're doing the right thing.
CLOSE ON NORMAN
Terrified as he watches the water rise around him...
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Just climb up. Just get as high as you
can get. Try to take a deep breath,
Norman.
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Beth watches as water rises in the lab...
BETH
Try to pull yourself together, Norman.
Your fears are going to kill all of us.
CUT TO:
INT. LABORATORY - SAME TIME
Norman opens a cupboard and finds a first aid box...
Inside, a small gas tank with a fire mask... He breathes
deeply.
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom)
The oxygen in that tank will only last
about three or four minutes. It's not
gonna save you, Norman.
Just get a hold of yourself. Take a few
breaths. It'll calm you down.
WIDE ANGLE - LAB
As water rises rapidly...
NORMAN
The water's gonna blow you out, Beth.
CUT TO:
INT. LABORATORY - SAME TIME
Norman falls into the water. Then he looks up...
NORMAN'S POV - HATCH
At the ceiling of the lab... Carrying his fire mask, Norman
climbs up on the counters...
BETH (V.O.)
(over intercom)
Norman, Norman...you can stop it. Norman,
what are you doing? Norman, don't open
the hatch, you'll kill yourself. Norman,
please!
He shoves hard at the lever... Shoves again and the hatch
door flies open...
WATER
explodes down into the laboratory as Norman shoots out...
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
As Norman shoots out in a cloud of bubbles... The gas tank in
one hand, he grabs wildly at a steel pipe that runs along the
habitat... Without weights he has to pull hard to keep from
floating to the surface...
INSERT - NORMAN'S HAND
Purpled by the cold, as Norman pulls himself along the
pipe... Then, from below, a thick flock of jellyfish drift
out from beneath the habitat...
ANGLE ON NORMAN
In a panic, he fumbles the fire mask... Jellyfish swim past
him, brush against his flesh, his face... Norman looks
down...
NORMAN'S POV
The fire mask as it tumbles, bubbling, to the bottom... The
GAS TANK COLLIDES with the habitat WALL with a CLANK!
ANGLE ON NORMAN
Desperately, he pulls himself down, reaches for the fire
mask -- can't get it... Reaches again as it continues to
leak... His fingers clumsy from the cold... He reaches
again... And suddenly the bubbles stop...
No more gas.
CLOSE ON NORMAN
The veins bulging in his face, his neck... He uses the pipes
to pull himself under the habitat -- eyes closed against the
pain... Then his eyes flutter open and he sees the airlock...
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Beth watches as all the monitors go static and flash on and
off.
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
Barely conscious, Norman bangs his head against the habitat
and begins to float.
WE HEAR the echoed voice of Harry.
HARRY (V.O.)
....if we never told anyone, it means we
never made it back. Hence, we die down
here....
CUT TO:
INT. VIDEO ROOM - SAME TIME
Beth watches the monitors as the words we're hearing from
Harry are printed on the screens.
"WE DIE DOWN HERE. JUST AS A MATTER OF DEDUCTIVE LOGIC."
Beth rushes out of the video room.
CUT TO:
INT. MOON POOL - SAME TIME
Norman bursts up into the moon pool, gulping for air... He
clumsily pulls himself up, then slips and falls back into the
pool... flails in the water...
Then he heaves his chest over the rim and flops onto the
deck of the airlock... He peers through heavy-lidded
eyes...
NORMAN'S POV - MOON POOL ROOM DOOR
Leading inside to the habitat...
BACK ON NORMAN
He blows into his hands, trying to get warm. Coughs through
chattering teeth... He stumbles toward the airlock door...
CUT TO:
INT. CORRIDOR - SAME TIME
Beth ducks around the corner, spins the wheel of a corridor
door and it opens... But WATER SURGES in, BLASTS the door
Beth throws her body against the door, trying to close it,
but the force of the water is too strong. She slips and
falls... The water sweeps her down the hall. Then a huge
wave sweeps toward her, carrying --
BODY OF BARNES
Beth finds himself in a macabre embrace with Barnes'
severed torso, Barnes' face flush against her...
BETH
Aaaaaaaargh!
CUT TO:
INT. DORMITORY - CLOSE ON HARRY - SAME TIME
He wakes up with a start.
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - ANOTHER CORRIDOR - SAME TIME
Lights flicker in the hall. A DISTANT BEEP... BEEP...
BEEP...
ANGLE ON NORMAN
Wading furiously through knee-deep water like a Marine
storming a beachhead...
CLOSE ON
a limp hand knocking against the floor. It's Beth. She's
rolled up in a ball on the floor and is in a stupor.
NORMAN
Beth...Beth...Beth...
She looks up at him.
BETH
Norman...? Are you real?
NORMAN
What?
BETH
Are you real?
NORMAN
Real as the water that almost killed me.
What are you doing?
BETH
Part of Barnes....
(she sobs)
NORMAN
What? Part of Barnes...?
BETH
Part of Barnes went by me in the water.
NORMAN
Where?
BETH
Right here.
NORMAN
Here?
BETH
Here.
NORMAN
There's no water here. It's dry and your
clothes are dry. You must have
manifested.
BETH
I don't know what's real any more.
NORMAN
Elizabeth?
BETH
Huh?
NORMAN
You went into the Sphere, didn't you?
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - ANOTHER CORRIDOR - SAME TIME
WE SEE the figure of Harry making his way along the corridor.
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - PREVIOUS CORRIDOR - SAME TIME
Beth gets up.
NORMAN
Beth. Beth. You want to answer me?
BETH
I don't know what to think, Norman. I
feel like I can't breathe.
ANGLE ON HARRY watching them from a grating above them.
BETH (cont'd)
I can't breathe...I'm losing it, you
know, and I'm trying...I'm trying to get
it back...
HARRY
What's going on? Why did you put me out?
Just what are you guys up to?
NORMAN
You went in the Sphere, Harry. So did
Beth, so did I...I think.
HARRY
And if so, what?
NORMAN
Whatever the Sphere is, it makes what we
feel, real.
HARRY
Meaning what?
NORMAN
It happens. What we're thinking, what
we're feeling...happens. Like those
three astronauts in the spacecraft, Beth,
remember? We went in there...the guy,
the astronaut in the chair, what did you
say about his head?
BETH
He had blunt force trauma. He got hit in
the head.
NORMAN
They went in the Sphere one by one, and
they became more and more afraid of each
other until they killed each other off,
and we're doing the same thing.
BETH
I don't want to kill you, Norman.
ALARM VOICE (V.O.)
Your attention please. All construction
personnel must exit the blast area
immediately. PANTHER explosives are now
activated. Mark thirteen minutes and
counting...
HARRY
Does somebody want to tell me what that
voice is?
BETH
They had explosives down here to blast
through the coral, so when I went out
before, I set up a defense perimeter
around the door of the spaceship. You
know, when I went to look for food,
Harry. Something must've triggered it.
HARRY
What?
BETH
Something from inside the Sphere.
HARRY
There's nothing in the Sphere, Beth. You
know that. You've been inside it.
NORMAN
Then what?
HARRY
I don't know.
NORMAN
Then who...?
BETH
It's me.
NORMAN
What?
BETH
Oh, God! I was just thinking about the
explosives...they just flashed inside my
mind, and it must have triggered them.
I was thinking about wanting to die.
HARRY
You put explosives near the spacecraft?
BETH
Yes, I did, but they're about a hundred
yards away.
HARRY
There's a lot of liquid hydrogen left on
that spacecraft. If it explodes it'll
disintegrate everything for ten miles.
NORMAN
What do we do?
HARRY
Mini-sub. Now!
CUT TO:
INT. CORRIDOR - OUTSIDE B CYLINDER - SAME TIME
Norman, Harry and Beth hustle through the flooded corridor...
ALARM VOICE (V.O.)
Your attention please. All construction
personnel must exit the blast area
inmediately...
CUT TO:
INT. SUIT ROOM AND AIRLOCK ROOM - SAME TIME
They hurry into their suits...Harry signals and they all jump
down into the pool...
CUT TO:
EXT. OCEAN FLOOR - SAME TIME
Norman, Beth and Harry, in their suits now, run toward
the minisub... The explosives arrayed by the spacecraft
blink red in the distance...
ALARM VOICE (V.O.)
Eight minutes and counting...
CUT TO:
INT. SUB DOME HANGAR - SAME TIME
In a panic, Norman moves to climb up onto the sub and
slips. The others help him... Clumsily, they climb up on
the sub...
CUT TO:
INT. MINISUB - SAME TIME
Harry drops dawn into the minisub as Norman hustles into the
driver's seat...
BETH
Okay, hit it! Come on, let's go!
NORMAN
Wait...wait...wait...
HARRY
Come on!
BETH
Norman, let's go.
NORMAN
Wait, wait...it's not like I drive subs,
Beth, okay.
BETH
Well, you're driving one now, honey.
ANGLE ON CONSOLE
Buttons that read: ANGLE OF DESCENT... ANGLE OF ASCENT...
SECURE... SHUTDOWN... BALLAST... THROTTLE...
NORMAN
Let's see... 'Shutdown'... 'Ballast'...
'Throttle...'
As Norman runs his fingers over the console. Then stops.
REVERSE ANGLE - NORMAN'S FACEPLATE
Reflected there, we see the monitors of the video room...
NORMAN
Oh, my God!
INT. HABITAT - VIDEO ROOM - WIDER
They're back inside the video room...
BETH
What's going on?
NORMAN
I don't know.
BETH
Why are we inside the spaceship?
NORMAN
I don't know.
ALARM VOICE (V.O.)
Seven minutes and counting...
HARRY
I don't know either, guys but we don't
have time to figure it out. Let's get
out of here.
They run out of the video room...to the elevator and get
inside.
NORMAN
It's not moving. Anybody hit the button?
What the hell? Wait a minute, this was
an elevator before, right?
BETH
Which one of us is doing this?
NORMAN
Oh, God!
They get out of the elevator and run down a corridor.
CUT TO:
INT. HABITAT - CORRIDOR - SAME TIME
Beth, Harry and Norman run down the corridor and come to a
wall.
HARRY
It's a dead-end.
BETH
Where are we?
HARRY
It's an illusion.
BETH
It doesn't look right, guys. Come on.
She leads them down another corridor.
NORMAN
Beth, which way? Harry, where do we go?
HARRY
Where? Where's where, Norman?
Around that corner -- down this corridor -
- what's there, huh?
THEIR POV
ANOTHER NORMAN, HARRY AND BETH STAND AT THE END OF THE
CORRIDOR
HARRY
(double)
Another blind alley in the maze of our
minds. An illusion.
BACK ON OUR TEAM
As Norman, Harry and Beth stop.
BETH
He's right, Norman.
REVERSE ANGLE - TEAM TWO
NORMAN
(double)
If he's right, we're dead.
ALARM VOICE (V.O.)
Your attention please. All construction
personnel must exit the blast area
immediately...
BACK ON OUR TEAM who are frantically looking for a way out.
HARRY
Just go on. Leave me. Leave me alone.
BACK ON SECOND TEAM
NORMAN
(double)
Harry, no...no. It's not your time,
Harry. Not your time.
ALARM VOICE (V.O.)
... Four minutes and counting...
BETH
What's the point, Norman?
She shines her flashlight on the habitat floor.
BETH (cont'd)
Somebody's been here.
BETH
(double)
There's footprints, and they ain't ours.
NORMAN
(double)
Look, I don't know where we are, Beth and
I don't know where we're stuck in.
HARRY
Where we are, we are...stuck in the
illusion that we can change the future.
It's a dead-end, Norman.
HARRY
(double)
It's just like I said all along, we die
down here.
NORMAN
I'm not going to die down here.
NORMAN
(double)
No...no, you're not going to die down
here. Beth's not gonna die down here.
I'm not gonna let you die, Harry.
They run down another corridor.
HARRY
(double)
You have to push the button, Norman.
NORMAN
What button?
HARRY
(double)
The button. Push the button!
NORMAN
What button?
BETH
(double)
He doesn't know.
HARRY
Button...the button, Norman.
NORMAN
I can't see the button. I can't see the
button.
HARRY
(double)
See the button...
NORMAN
I can't see the button!
HARRY
(double)
See the button.
NORMAN
I don't know what to do!
HARRY
(double)
Push the button. The button -- push the
button.
ALARM VOICE (V.O.)
Two minutes and counting...
SMASH CUT TO:
INT. SUB DOME HANGAR/INT. MINI-SUB - EXTREME TIGHT SHOT
OF RED BUTTON - SAME TIME
as it lights up... ASCEND...
WIDER - TEAM
Inside the minisub now. They look at each other. Then a
RUMBLE...Harry jumps in the driver's seat - Beth and Norman
jammed in next to him, as the minisub drops down out of its
mooring... The WHIR of the ELECTRIC MOTORS STARTING...
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
A high-pitched WHINE as the BALLAST TANKS FILL WITH AIR
and the minisub noses sharply up, pulls away from the
habitat...
CUT TO:
EXT. OCEAN/INT. MINISUB - SAME TIME
Harry looks at his watch, steers the minisub while Beth
straps herself into the shotgun seat with Norman squeezed in
between the two of them.
BETH
Oh God. Thank God. We're out!
HARRY
Don't celebrate yet.
NORMAN
Why not?
HARRY
I don't think we're moving fast enough.
NORMAN
Fast enough for what?
HARRY
A blast underwater creates a suction.
It'll pull us right back down there. If
the shock wave doesn't kill us first.
Norman looks out the rear porthole...
NORMAN'S POV - THROUGH PORTHOLE
The ring of explosive red cones with their little digital
countdown timers flashing...
CUT TO:
EXT. MINISUB - SAME TIME
As the minisub accelerates...
CUT TO:
EXT. HABITAT - SAME TIME
The PANTHER explosives start to flash red as the countdown
timers rattle down...
Attention, please. You must exit the
blast area immediately. This is the last
warning you will receive. Thank you for
using PANTHER brand, the first choice of
blasting professionals, and have a nice
day.
INSERT - COUNTDOWN TIMER
As it counts down from ten... nine... eight...
CUT TO:
INT. MINISUB - SAME TIME
Harry runs full throttle... Looks at the depth gauge...
HARRY
Six hundred forty feet...six hundred
thirty...six twenty...six hundred ten...
(beat)
You a religious man, Norman?
NORMAN
I'm an atheist. But I'm flexible.
INSERT - COUNTDOWN TIMER
INT. MINI-SUB
Inside the minisub... Five... four... three...
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACECRAFT - SAME TIME
As the countdown timer goes to zero and the EXPLOSIVES
DETONATE... A giant underwater FIREBALL...
CUT TO:
INT. MINISUB - SAME TIME
They all hold on for dear life as the BLAST spins the minisub
like a toy, upends it. A blinding, blistering, white-hot
fireball races directly toward the windshield... They all
scream.
NORMAN
Hold on! Hold on! Hold on! Hold on!!!
HARRY
Oh, my God, we got turned around. We're
going into the blast. This is the wrong
way!! We're piling into it!!! Come on
Norman, come on!!!
And the screen goes WHITE.
CUT TO:
INT. SHIP'S DECOMPRESSION ROOM - LATER
A bright white room.
ANGLE ON NORMAN
As he wakes up in his bunk. Looks over. Sees Harry snoozing
in his bunk. Beth looks out the porthole, then turns... She
and Norman exchange a look. She sits on the edge of his
bunk.
NORMAN
What's going on?
BETH
More of nothing.
(beat)
I want to thank you for saving my life.
NORMAN
An interesting life to save.
She squeezes his hand. Kisses him on the cheek.
BETH
Get some more sleep.
He watches her as she heads back to the porthole to look out
at the ocean. Then he rolls over, goes back to sleep.
CUT TO:
EXT. SHIP'S DECOMPRESSION CHAMBER - SAME TIME
TWO CREWMEN peer inside through one-way glass.
CREWMAN #1
Which one is Jerry?
CREWMAN #2
That's our problem, we really don't know.
CUT TO:
EXT. SHIP'S DECOMPRESSION CHAMBER - LATER
Norman, Beth and Harry sit at a card table. A long beat --
an unspoken question hangs in the air. Then Beth breaks the
ice.
BETH
So, what are we going to tell them?
HARRY
We can't tell them that we found an alien
sphere on an American spacecraft from our
own future, and we definitely can't tell
them we discovered the power to manifest,
just by imagining, killer jellyfish, a
giant squid, sea snakes --
BETH
No. They're definitely not ready for
that.
HARRY
The greatest discovery in the history of
mankind, and we destroyed it. And it's
better that we did. What if it fell into
the wrong hands?
NORMAN
We were the wrong hands. That's the
scary part, isn't it? All three of us,
relatively enlightened, ethical, educated.
We think of ourselves as good people.
But when The Sphere gave us this power,
what did we do with it?
BETH
We freaked out.
NORMAN
Yes. We were given the greatest gift in
the history of mankind.
We were given this magic ball and it
says: "Imagine what you will and you can
have it", and we're so primitive, we have
so many fears that we carry with us, that
we manifest the worst in us rather than
the best in us....and that ain't gonna
change.
BETH
Maybe we still have it.
NORMAN
What?
BETH
The power.
(beat)
Maybe we still have the power to manifest
what we will.
NORMAN
If we do still have the power...
(off her look)
Then we have the power to forget. To
manifest a world in which we don't have
the power.
They look at each other.
HARRY
I say we do that. On a count of three.
They all hold hands. Close their eyes...
NORMAN
One... two... three.
Then all open their eyes.
HARRY
Three what?
NORMAN
What?
HARRY
You said three?
NORMAN
(blankly)
Three? Why are you holding my hand?
They all laugh.
CUT TO:
INT. SHIP - DEBRIEFING ROOM - LATER
One by one, Beth, Harry and Norman respond to questions - all
against a WHITE BACKGROUND. They seem confused.
NORMAN
What do you mean? What happened to the
Habitat?
HARRY
Wait...wait...something happened to the
Habitat?
BETH
The Habitat exploded?
NORMAN
A sphere?
BETH
Like a circle?
HARRY
Sphere?
BETH
Sphere?
HARRY
No...
BETH
Barnes?
NORMAN
Barnes?
HARRY
Major Barnes?
BETH
Edmunds and Fletcher?
NORMAN
I haven't seen Edmunds and Fletcher since
we were brought back up.
HARRY
Something happened to them?
BETH
Maybe the women...Edmunds and Fletcher
are the women.
NORMAN
Ted? Where is he?
HARRY
I just assumed he had stayed wth Mr.
Barnes.
BETH
Ted Fielding?
NORMAN
I would think you could tell me.
HARRY
He had to go out there and change the
tapes.
NORMAN
The tapes are blank? What do you mean
the tapes are blank?
BETH
The tapes are blank?
NORMAN
Now why don't you tell us, but you're not
telling us.
CUT TO:
EXT. HELIPAD - DAY
Norman runs to a waiting helicopter, his hair whipped
around by the backwash of the WHIRRING ROTORS... He
climbs into...
HELICOPTER
The PILOT we saw earlier turns to Norman.
PILOT
So how'd it go, Doc?
Norman looks at him, confused.
NORMAN
(blankly)
What?
PILOT
You know, what they brought you in for.
NORMAN
I don't know.
PILOT
Oh, I get it...classified, big secret,
huh?
(beat)
Hang on. Here we go.
CUT TO:
EXT. SHIP - SAME TIME
Beth emerges on the bridge. Watches as Norman's helicopter
takes off...
CLOSE ON BETH
Thinking... As if she harbors some secret... We FOLLOW
her gaze out TO the horizon and OVER the ocean... Then we
DIVE DOWN INTO the water... The debris gets thicker as we GO
DEEPER... The water gets murkier... Till it clears and we
see...
The Sphere.
FREEZE FRAME.
FADE OUT.
THE END