Ghost Ship - by Mark Hanlon - First Draft
"GHOST SHIP"
(formerly "CHIMERA")
by
Mark Hanlon
First draft
FADE IN
INT. BARGE - DAY
Crewman EPPS (29), wearing a life vest and tool belt, jumps
down into the darkness. She stands in a great hollow cavern,
oily, wet, resonant with the sound of creaking, rusty steel
and WATER MOVING OVER ITS HULL on the other side.
INT. BARGE - LATER - DAY
Epps comes to a low point in the darkness, shining her light
on a lake of salt water sloshing against the bulkhead. She
kneels. As the water sloshes back she sees that it is leaking
in through the seams in the steel plate of the hull.
EXT. BARGE - LATER - DAY
Epps pulls herself onto the deck from below. She stands on a
rusting 5000 ton tank barge being pulled in the open ocean
by a brawny marine tug at the end of a 150 foot tow cable.
It is a typical summer day in the southern Bering Sea, which
means a healthy chop and a stiff cold breeze out of the north-
west. She closes the hatch behind her and makes her way
forward.
EXT. BARGE - BOW - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Up ahead, the tug pulls steadily, grey-black clouds of diesel
smoke rising from its massive turbine vents.
Epps cinches and checks her body harness, focused and
professional. The product of a rocky childhood in the Pacific
Northwest and a few years of hard living, she's found her
true calling now. And under some grime, several polypro shirts
and a pair of orange men's Insulite pants she might even be
considered pretty.
She clips her harness into the tow cable where it attaches
to a heavy pair of eye cleats at the bow. She climbs onto
the cable, hanging out over the water as it breaks on the
bow beneath her. She pulls herself forward on a roller bearing
that fits over the width of the cable and starts off toward
the tug at the other end.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - LATER - DAY
DODGE and GREER look on from the stern, where the boat's
name "Arctic Warrior" is emblazoned on the transom. Dodge
(37), scruffy chief engineer, wearing de rigueur greasy
coveralls and nicotine stained fingers, is an expatriate
Texan and former merchant marine. GREER (42), is the boat's
first mate, African American, originally from some sweltering
red-neck hellhole, now a tug pilot intentionally well to the
north.
They watch as Epps pulls herself toward them, the cable
occasionally dipping a few feet with a spray of water as a
passing swell slackens it. Epps pulls herself to the stern
where the cable winds into a tow anchor.
EPPS
It's a slow leak.
She unclips and drops to the deck.
GREER
What's slow?
EPPS
Maybe twenty gallons an hour.
DODGE
Where from?
EPPS
Amidships starboard at the beam.
Just under the waterline. I don't
think it's a problem.
GREER
Hear that, Dodge? Epps don't think
it's a problem.
DODGE
I'll sleep good tonight knowing that.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The view from the pilothouse commands 360 degrees as radar
and GPS navigation displays glow. MURPHY, the ship's master,
pilots the boat. He is 48, at sea all his adult life, and
most of the rest, a fact written on his face and one that
every crewman who's ever worked for him has been willing to
bet his life on. A walkie-talkie CRACKLES AWAKE.
GREER (V.O. RADIO)
Greer to Murphy.
MURPHY
(lifting the radio)
Go.
Murphy turns back to see Greer, Epps, and Dodge looking up
at him from the stern.
GREER
The number nine on the starboard
side's half flooded. Epps says it's
a slow leak just under the waterline,
about twenty gallons an hour. They
must've pumped it before we left
Sitka.
MURPHY
Of course they did.
GREER
Let the buyer beware.
MURPHY
What do you say, Dodge?
DODGE (V.O. RADIO)
(taking the radio)
If it started out at twenty an hour
the piece of shit'd be at the bottom
of the Gulf by now. Whether it'll
make St. Lawrence is anybody's guess.
EXT. OPEN OCEAN - DAY
HIGH AND WIDE as the Arctic Warrior pulls the barge against
the swell of a grey ocean and a darkening sky.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. PORT GERMAINE - ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND - DAY
The shores of St. Lawrence Island open into a small port
town of mainly pre-fab buildings as the Arctic Warrior
approaches with the barge, now pathetically listing to one
side as it moves into the harbor.
EXT. PORT GERMAINE - DOCKS - LATER - DAY
A smaller harbor tug helps the Arctic Warrior jockey the
listing barge to the dock as Epps and Dodge jump off to tie
her up.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Greer feathers the tug into position and shuts down the
turbines.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy jumps down from the pilothouse to the deck as a fat
Russian man, Vasili (60) and a MECHANIC in grease-covered
orange coveralls approach from the dock.
VASILI
I thought you say Tuesday.
MURPHY
Better late than never.
VASILI
(seeing the listing
barge)
What's this?
MURPHY
You got a leak in the number nine
compartment.
VASILI
No, no. You got leak.
MURPHY
You pump it out and re-seam the hull,
she'll be good as new.
VASILI
That cost me twenty grand at least.
MURPHY
Fifteen, at the most.
VASILI
Twenty. You knock off twenty and
then we see. After my guy looks at
it.
INT. VASILI'S OFFICE - DAY
In a prefab office with a view of the shipyard, Vasili cuts
a check as Murphy and Greer look on. He tears it out of the
book, handing it across the desk to Murphy, who inspects it.
MURPHY
You're kidding, right?
VASILI
You want fair pay, make hamburger
for Mickey D. Otherwise, please to
sign.
Vasili pushes a transfer register toward him. Murphy signs.
EXT. SHIPYARD - DAY
Greer and Murphy walk back toward the dock.
GREER
Not bad for dragging a leaky tub
half way to Russia.
MURPHY
He'll sell the scrap for three times
what he paid.
GREER
I must be in the wrong business.
MURPHY
You got that right.
GREER
(imitating Vasili)
Better than "making hamburger for
Mickey D."
INT. BAR - NIGHT
A typical port town bar. Except this one is on an island in
the middle of the Bering Sea. Epps lines up a shot at the
pool table as a couple of SEAMEN check out her ass and a
tattoo of Wiley Coyote poking out of her pants. Greer reads
a paper near-by.
Murphy enters, crossing to the bar where Dodge nurses a beer
and a cigarette. Murphy throws down an envelope with Dodge's
name on it. Dodge picks it up, thumbs through a thick stack
of hundreds.
DODGE
Much obliged, skipper.
INT. BAR - LATER - NIGHT
The place is a little more crowded now as Epps pushes her
way through to the bar, a cigarette dangling from her mouth.
She buys two beers and pays the BARTENDER from her envelope
of cash. She takes the beers back to the far wall where a
young off-duty COASTGUARDSMAN stands. He takes one, they
laugh.
AT A TABLE
Beers, cigarettes and pay envelopes on the table before them,
Dodge, Greer and Murphy look on at Epps across the room, who
is showing the coastguardsman a birthmark on her neck.
GREER
Looks like Epps' gonna get some
tonight.
DODGE
With that coxswain dickhead.
MURPHY
You aren't jealous, are you Dodge?
DODGE
Are you kidding me? Jealous? Epps?
Gimme a break.
Greer and Murphy trade looks as Dodge raises his beer.
DODGE
What a laugh.
A MINOR COMMOTION can be heard as they sit there.
WOMAN'S VOICE (O.S.)
I'll show you, bitch!
They look over to see the coastguardsman's GIRLFRIEND, late
20s, hefty in a red miniskirt and big hair.
GIRLFRIEND
You want to mess with me, I'll kick
your bitch ass, girl.
WITH EPPS
Epps coolly puts out her cigarette as a circle has gathered
around her and the girlfriend, anxious to see a girl fight.
EPPS
I don't know what you're talking
about. I just bought this guy a beer.
GIRLFRIEND
This "guy" is my man, honey.
COASTGUARDSMAN
Darlene --
GIRLFRIEND
You, shut up.
EPPS
(starting off)
Listen, I don't want any trouble,
okay -- ?
GIRLFRIEND
(stopping Epps)
Uh-uh. No. We're gonna fix this right
now.
MURPHY
(stepping up)
What seems to be the trouble, ladies?
RIVETER
Whyn't you mind your own business,
chief.
Murphy turns to see a shipyard RIVETER, a big man holding a
beer, still wearing his welding leathers. Murphy turns back
to Epps and the Girlfriend.
MURPHY
As I said, what seems to be the
trouble?
RIVETER
Didn't you hear me, grandpa? Or you
got your hearing aid turned down?
MURPHY
I heard you. But I'm choosing to
ignore you. Epps, let's go.
Epps starts forward but the Riveter stands in her way, taking
Murphy by the collar.
RIVETER
These ladies was having themselves a
discussion and you're interrupting
it.
MURPHY
You got about two seconds to get
your paws off me, Tarzan.
RIVETER
Or what?
Or WHACK! Murphy can't help but wince as a pool cue breaks
in two over the Riveter's head.
Dodge, cigarette in his mouth, takes a look at the cue half
he still holds, shaking his head.
The Riveter's hands fall from Murphy's collar and his legs
buckle. Some of his BUDDIES hold him up as Greer reminds
some of the others he's holding a pool cue of his own.
MURPHY
Epps?
He looks to Epps like let's get the hell out of here. She
grabs her coat.
COASTGUARDSMAN
Wait.
Epps holds there as the Coastguardsman steps up to his
girlfriend.
COASTGUARDSMAN
Darlene. It's over.
He gives her the ring from his finger. Murphy rolls his eyes
as the others look on.
COASTGUARDSMAN
I don't love you anymore.
Darlene breaks into tears as they all look on, some pat her
on the back.
COASTGUARDSMAN
(to Epps)
Come on, Candy. Let's get out of
here.
The Coastguardsman takes her by the hand. Epps looks to Murphy
and the others as he leads her out.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DAY
Murphy, Greer, and Dodge ready the tug to leave as Epps
approaches on the dock. She jumps down onto the deck, a spring
in her step and a song in her heart.
EPPS
Morning everybody.
GREER
Show your tatoos to that coxswain
last night, did you Epps?
EPPS
Showed him a hell of a lot more than
that.
GREER
I bet you did.
MURPHY
Candy?
EPPS
It's my pen name.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - DAY
Murphy throttles up the turbines and backs the tug away from
the dock as Greer studies the dawn sky.
GREER
Red sky at night, sailor's delight.
MURPHY
Red sky in morning, sailor take
warning.
EXT. PORT GERMAINE - DOCKS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
As the tug turns into the harbor channel, the sun rising
under a cloud bank of brilliant red and orange.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CREW QUARTERS - NIGHT
Dodge and Epps play cards at the galley table.
DODGE
Fuck it.
He puts down his hand. Epps takes another drag from her
cigarette, collecting her winnings.
EPPS
One more?
DODGE
Why not.
She gathers the cards, shuffles.
DODGE
What is your first name?
EPPS
What?
DODGE
It just occurred to me I don't know
your first name. All this time and I
don't know it.
She deals the cards in silence.
EPPS
(finally)
Maureen.
DODGE
What?
EPPS
Maureen.
DODGE
Maureen?
She looks on at him as he holds there, takes his cards.
EPPS
What's yours?
Dodge takes a drag from his cigarette, thinking about it.
DODGE
Roger.
EPPS
Roger?
DODGE
Yeah.
She wants to laugh, but only studies her cards.
DODGE
You think that's funny
EPPS
(lying)
No.
She takes a hit from her cigarette as she plays her hand.
EXT. OPEN OCEAN - BERING SEA - NIGHT
THE SONG "SOS" BY ABBA BLASTS as the tug plows westward
through a steady chop and a mild swell.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - NIGHT
The MUSIC COMES FROM HERE. Greer has the CD player cranked
as he mans the helm in the glow of the pilothouse. He checks
the radar, holds there a beat. He turns the MUSIC DOWN and
picks up a walkie-talkie.
GREER
(into walkie)
Greer to Murphy.
Greer studies the radar display as he waits.
MURPHY (V.O. RADIO)
Yeah.
GREER
There's a large vessel out about ten
miles to the north-west.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - MASTER'S QUARTERS - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
Murphy sits at his desk over the ship's log, holding his
radio.
GREER
I been watching it for close to an
hour and it hasn't moved. I can't
raise it on the radio either. Makes
me think it might be in trouble.
MURPHY
Alright. I'll be right up.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - LATER - NIGHT
CLOSE ON RADAR DISPLAY as the sweep-refresh reveals a bright
point of light in the middle of nowhere.
MURPHY (O.S.)
Merchant vessel at position one seven
four one five west, five seven seven
five north.
Murphy holds the radio mic as Greer looks on, Epps and Dodge
standing back.
MURPHY
This is tugboat Arctic Warrior whiskey
alpha sierra bravo four zero niner
two. Over.
Only the quiet hiss of white noise comes back from the radio
speaker as the bright point flashes on the radar screen.
MURPHY
(to radio)
Merchant vessel at one seven four
one five west, five seven seven five
north, this is tugboat Arctic Warrior
whiskey alpha sierra bravo four zero
niner two. Over.
Again, only white noise comes back as the point flashes on
the screen.
MURPHY
Too deep to anchor out there.
GREER
Looks like it's adrift.
EPPS
Could be a fishing boat.
GREER
Too big. More like a freighter.
MURPHY
What the hell would a freighter be
doing up here? It's way out of the
lanes. There's not a port for 800
miles.
DODGE
Smugglers maybe.
GREER
Smuggling what? Tundra grass?
A beat as Murphy holds there. He raises the radio mic.
MURPHY
Merchant vessel at position one seven
four one five west, five seven seven
five north, this is tugboat Arctic
Warrior. Do you copy? Over.
Again, only the quiet hiss of static comes back.
GREER
Call the Coastguard?
MURPHY
Steer to one eight five. Let's check
her out.
EXT. OPEN OCEAN - NIGHT
The Arctic Warrior cuts a foamy break in the ink black water.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - NIGHT
CLOSE ON RADAR DISPLAY as the phantom point flashes closer.
Murphy looks on as Greer pilots, Dodge and Epps watching.
MURPHY
Alright. Back it off.
Greer throttles back and the boat slows.
MURPHY
Hit the lights.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
The halogen flood lights flare to life, brilliantly
illuminating the water in front of the boat.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
The four of them look intently into the darkness beyond the
light. Murphy reaches for the spot control, sweeping a broad
beam of light with a joy stick.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
As the tug moves along, servo motors sweep the searchlight
over the bow of the boat and into the darkness.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
They peer into the night beyond the boat as it slowly moves,
when a shadow looms into view.
MURPHY
Whoa, whoa.
Greer throttles down all the way and they drift, as the shadow
looms bigger before them in the light from the boat.
As they approach, the shadow appears to be a giant rusting
bow, rising up from the water, disappearing in the darkness
above them. Murphy sweeps the searchlight to reveal more of
what appears to be a large, darkened ship. As they come
around, the name "CHIMERA" can be seen above the anchor
alleys.
MURPHY
"Chimera."
Murphy reaches for the mic, hits the LOUD HAILER.
MURPHY
Chimera.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
The tug is dwarfed by the massive rusting hulk of the Chimera
rising above it.
MURPHY (O.S. LOUD HAILER)
This is civilian tugboat Arctic
Warrior. Is there anyone aboard?
The quiet rumble of the tug's turbines is the only sound.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
Murphy raises the mic again.
MURPHY
Chimera, I am hove to at your port
bow. Is there anyone aboard?
They wait, looking on at the silent, darkened ship under the
glare of their lights.
MURPHY
Epps, come with me. You guys sit
tight.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - LATER - NIGHT
Epps and Murphy, in heavy parkas, climb a hydraulic deck
crane up to the Chimera as Dodge man's the controls against
the movement of the water.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
Greer holds the tug steady as Epps and Murphy can be seen
making their way up under the floodlights.
EXT. CHIMERA - FORWARD DECK - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT
Murphy pulls himself up and jumps down onto the deck. Epps
jumps down behind him. Murphy throws his light up on the
superstructure. All remnants of paint have been rusted over,
lending a still darker ominousness to it.
EXT. CHIMERA - FORWARD DECK - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT
Murphy and Epps move cautiously along, shining their lights
as they go. Despite the omnipresent corrosion, everything
seems to be in order. The decks are clear and there is no
apparent damage. They come to a hatchway. Epps shines her
light down the darkened passage. Murphy moves in.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
Murphy and Epps move down the passageway. Even the walls in
here are rusted. They come to a flight of stairs.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
Greer and Dodge wait. Greer reaches for his radio.
GREER
(into radio)
Talk to me, skipper.
After a moment, Murphy comes back on the radio.
MURPHY
We're in a stairwell just under the
main superstructure.
INT. CHIMERA - STAIRWAY - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
Murphy and Epps climb the darkened stairway.
MURPHY
This is definitely an old boat, maybe
sixty years old. She hasn't been in
service for at least twenty years.
Probably a lot longer.
They top the stairs and walk into a wider passageway which
takes them into an open area. Their lights shine around them,
revealing sinks and counters and racks of old kitchen
equipment, a few pots still hanging.
They move through the galley and into another, narrower,
passageway.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
Greer and Dodge look on.
MURPHY
It's funny.
GREER
How's that?
MURPHY
Besides a little rust, everything's
pretty well-preserved.
Greer and Dodge look at each other.
MURPHY
How she got out here is one hell of
a good question.
(a long beat, then)
Jesus.
Dodge and Greer hold there, waiting. Only silence from the
other end.
GREER
What is it?
No answer.
GREER
Murphy.
No answer.
GREER
Murphy, goddamit.
MURPHY
(finally)
Sorry.
Another beat in silence.
GREER
What is it?
INT. CHIMERA - BALLROOM - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
Murphy and Epps stand at the top of a stairway, looking over
an immense ballroom. Murphy raises his radio.
MURPHY
It's a passenger ship. It's a damn
passenger ship.
Though it is dark, there is enough light to see its ornate
opulence, tables and chairs in place near a large dance floor
and orchestra well, and a magnificent crystal chandelier
hanging over it all.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - FOREDECK - NIGHT
Epps and Murphy climb down the deck crane as Greer and Dodge
meet them at the bottom.
MURPHY
(jumping down)
There's nobody on that boat.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CREW QUARTERS - NIGHT
Dodge, Epps, Greer and Murphy sit around the galley table.
DODGE
Probably slipped her moorings, got
tangled up in a current.
EPPS
Out here? What, so a seven hundred
foot passenger liner drifted out of
Spokane harbor and nobody managed to
bump into her until now?
DODGE
Somebody's probably looking for her
as we speak.
MURPHY
Whatever the reason, she's adrift
and abandoned. We've got every right
to salvage her.
GREER
You mean tow her back? That's a thirty
thousand ton ship you're talking
about.
MURPHY
We've done it before.
DODGE
Yeah, from one side of the harbor to
the other. But we got half the Bering
Sea and the whole Alaskan gulf to
drag her over.
MURPHY
You have any idea how much a ship
like that could be worth in salvage?
The fittings alone could go for a
few million.
DODGE
If you get it back in one piece.
MURPHY
It's a risk I'm willing to take.
GREER
All we got to do is hit some rough
weather and you can forget about it.
MURPHY
So we cut her loose and wait it out.
A little weather couldn't be anything
she hasn't seen before.
DODGE
It's a bloody navigation hazard.
One boat can't control a ship that
size.
MURPHY
The damn thing's been floating around
for God knows how long and it hasn't
hit anything yet. So we take it easy.
A little of the old push pull.
A long beat as they hold there.
MURPHY
Listen. Forget this job's just a pay
check for a minute. You know I've
been good to you. But I'm prepared
to offer you something better now.
(a beat)
If we do this right, it's worth a
lot of money. A lot of money.
They hold there looking on at him, waiting.
EPPS
Go on.
MURPHY
Salvage fees on a vessel like this
could come in around four million
bucks. At least. Who knows, could be
more. Could be a lot more.
(a beat)
What I'm proposing is... we split it
four ways.
A beat. Dodge looks to Epps and Greer.
MURPHY
Think about it. A million bucks a
piece.
(a beat)
You want to spend the rest of your
days drag-assing tank barges on the
gulf coast, fine. Otherwise, let's
get to work.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DAY
The tug is tied up alongside the Chimera, whose dark hull
stretches off for seven hundred more feet in the light of
day.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - DAY
Murphy brings up the radio mic as Greer and the others look
on.
MURPHY
(to radio)
United States Coastguard, United
States Coastguard, United States
Coastguard. This is tugboat Arctic
Warrior whiskey alpha sierra bravo
four zero niner two. Over.
After a moment, a distance-warped, coolly professional, female
voice comes back.
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (V.O. RADIO)
Arctic Warrior, Arctic Warrior, Arctic
Warrior. This is United States
Coastguard Station North Island.
Over.
MURPHY
North Island, I wish to declare myself
salvor-in-posession under section
four two charlie of the International
Maritime Convention.
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (V.O. RADIO)
Affirmative, Arctic Warrior. What
type of vessel?
MURPHY
A passenger liner. Over.
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (V.O. RADIO)
Say again. Over.
Murphy looks to the others, almost smiling.
MURPHY
A passenger liner, north island.
Over.
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (V.O. RADIO)
What is the vessel name, registry,
and present position? Over.
MURPHY
Passenger vessel "Chimera." I will
spell: charlie hotel india mary echo
romeo alpha. No registry information
is available at this time. I have
determined to the best of my ability
that the vessel has been abandoned
on the high seas at position one
seven four west, five seven north
at...
(checking his watch)
Two zero one four hours zulu time.
Over.
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (V.O. RADIO)
Affirmative, Arctic Warrior. Please
advise your salvage authority pending
registry check. Over.
MURPHY
Roger, North Island. Arctic Warrior
over and out.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - STERN WINCH - DAY
Dodge, Epps, Murphy and Greer are standing on the stern of
the boat under the power winch.
DODGE
Okay. We're gonna use a heavier than
usual twin cable rig this time,
consisting of a pair of number three
gauge braided wire tows.
(a beat)
We'll tie off through the anchor
alleys. And come down to the aft
port and starboard pins. Here. Thus,
we need to get two of these...
(indicating the cable)
Up there.
He indicates the bow of the Chimera.
DODGE
Seeing as though a foot of one of
these fuckers weighs about a hundred
pounds, it ain't gonna be what you'd
call easy.
(a beat)
Any questions?
EPPS
Supposing one of those cables breaks
under tow.
DODGE
Then we'll all be doomed. Any other
questions?
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DAY
Murphy has backed the tug up to the bow of the Chimera. Greer
operates the deck crane, one of Dodge's mammoth cables
dangling from it down to the winch on the stern.
WITH EPPS
Epps hangs on to the top of the crane as it comes to the
starboard anchor alley in the bow of the Chimera. Dodge pokes
his face out from the other side.
DODGE
Ready?
EPPS
Bring it on, dude.
Dodge disappears from the hole and his hand comes back with
a smaller pilot cable, which Epps takes and threads through
the loop at the end of the tow cable. She places the end of
the pilot cable in a vice collar and uses a wrench to tighten
it down, with the effect of joining the two cables.
EPPS
OK.
Dodge disappears, pulling up the slack from the pilot cable
through the anchor alleys.
DODGE (O.S.)
(finally)
Hit it!
Epps reaches over and unhinges the crane hook and the tow
cable explosively drops, banging loudly against the Chimera's
hull with a shower of black rust.
EXT. CHIMERA - WITH DODGE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Dodge cranks a portable pulley winch on the deck, the pilot
cable slowly pulling the tow cable up through the anchor
alley.
It is heavy and the winch shows the strain as Dodge cranks
it. He continues, when something gives in the winch mechanism
and the whole thing slides forward on the pilot cable,
entangling Dodge's leg and dragging him on his ass along the
deck.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - WITH EPPS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The tow cable creates a spray of rust and smoke as it spills
out of the anchor alley before Epps.
EXT. CHIMERA - WITH DODGE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Dodge slides toward the anchor alley like a piece of meat
toward a sausage grinder, when the winch slams into it and
stops dead, the cable continuing on with a loud shriek
dangerously close to his face, until...
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - WITH EPPS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The last of the cable explosively whips out of the anchor
alley in front of Epps and splashes in the water below. A
beat as she holds there.
EPPS
Dodge? You alright?
EXT. CHIMERA - WITH DODGE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Dodge lies tangled in the winch.
DODGE
Yes!
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DAY
Two tow cables extend from the Chimera's anchor alleys down
into the water and come up again from the water to the tow
anchor on the tug's stern.
Dodge looks on as Greer and Epps stand by. He raises his
walkie.
DODGE
Alright, skipper, real easy.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy slowly throttles up, moving the boat forward. He turns
to see as the Chimera drops back behind them.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The tug moves slowly away from the Chimera as Epps, Greer
and Dodge look on.
WIDE ON TUG AND CHIMERA
As the tug widens the distance, leaving the Chimera in place.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy holds the helm steady as the Chimera recedes.
DODGE
Steady as she goes.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Dodge, Epps and Greer look on as the tow cables begin to
rise in their wake.
DODGE
(into radio)
Throttle back.
The tug slows as the cables rise slowly from the water.
DODGE
More.
The tug slows still more.
DODGE
More.
It slows still more, until the tug just creeps along, and
the massive tow cables rise entirely out of the water,
straightening as the slack is pulled out.
EXT. CHIMERA - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Some fifty yards behind the tug, the tow cables come taught
in the anchor alleys of the Chimera.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy holds the throttle.
DODGE
Right there, skipper. Right there.
Murphy eases forward on the throttle and the turbines rise
in pitch.
EXT. CHIMERA - CONTINUOUS - DAY
As the tow cables stretch and the bow of the Chimera inches
forward.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The turbines grow louder as Greer, Epps, and Dodge look on
at the Chimera behind them, the massive tow cables bowing
under their own weight.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy eases forward on the throttle, picking up speed.
EXT. CHIMERA - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The giant ship CREAKS AND MOANS as it starts forward, a small
bow break forming on its hull.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The tug is kicking up a foaming wake as it pulls the Chimera
along behind it. Dodge lets out a hoot, exchanging high fives
with Epps and Greer.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy smiles as he looks back at the Chimera following
behind.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - DAY
CLOSE ON A CHART. The south Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska.
A pencil traces a route.
MURPHY (O.S.)
I figure we go through at the Unimak
Pass here. Refuel at Sanak Island.
Greer looks on from the helm as Murphy, Dodge and Epps stand
over the map table.
MURPHY
With a little extra fuel, weather
permitting, we should make Sitka in
five days without another stop.
DODGE
Sounds reasonable.
GREER
Hypothetically speaking, what if we
get this boat to Sitka and find out
somebody wants it back?
DODGE
They shoulda thought of that when
they let her float away.
GREER
I don't care what, ain't nobody just
gonna let us walk away with a ship
that size.
MURPHY
The law's on our side. If they want
to challenge it, let them try.
EPPS
They must've scuttled it. Nobody
just lets a ship float away.
DODGE
Nobody just scuttles a passenger
liner either.
EPPS
Ever heard of insurance, big boy?
MURPHY
Either way, we found it. It's ours
now -- .
An EXPLOSIVE THUD shudders the boat. They look to each other.
DODGE
(moving for the door)
What the...
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Dodge jumps down from the pilothouse as another LOUD THUMP
BLOWS OUT OF THE TURBINE VENTS, SHOWERING OIL OVER THE DECK.
DODGE
(shouting up to the
pilothouse)
ALL STOP! ALL STOP!
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Greer shoves the throttle back.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The boat goes dead in the water, thick black smoke billowing
from the turbine vents.
EXT. CHIMERA - CONTINUOUS - DAY
as the bow slows in the water, the tow cables coming slack.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - ENGINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Dodge pulls open the door. The place is thick with smoke as
he makes his way to the turbine gauges, Epps and Murphy
behind. Dodge opens the number one turbine cover, looks
inside.
DODGE
Mother fucker!
MURPHY
What is it?
DODGE
Threw a turbine blade.
Dodge looks over the smoking turbine, pulls back an aluminum
intake blade, hot to the touch.
DODGE
Son of a bitch!
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DECK - DAY
Greer, Dodge, Epps, and Murphy confer on the deck.
DODGE
The number one turbine's pretty well
trashed. Number two runs, but it's
way underpowered.
MURPHY
How long to fix?
DODGE
Hard to say. I gotta get in there
and have a look. At least a couple
days. Depending.
GREER
You think the extra strain caused
it?
DODGE
Nah. Everything was cool. It's just
one of those things.
EXT. CHIMERA - DAY
The Arctic Warrior floats tied to the side of the Chimera.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - ENGINE ROOM - DAY
Dodge has both turbines opened up as he works.
INT. CHIMERA - MEZZANINE DECK - DAY
Lights shine on what was once an elegant interior promenade.
Murphy and Greer stand looking on at it.
MURPHY
Some classy tub in it's day, huh?
GREER
Yeah.
EPPS (O.S.)
Check this out.
AT THE PURSERS DESK
Epps looks through a file cabinet behind a heavy wood counter
as Greer and Murphy approach.
EPPS
Everything's still here. Ticket
records, receipts, books of account.
Greer picks one up.
GREER
One first class passage. Elizabeth
James. Dubayy to Halifax. January
29th 1953.
Murphy takes it, looking it over.
MURPHY
Chimera. Flag ship of the Dobbins
Kirk Line. Nova Scotia.
INT. CHIMERA - "B" DECK - DAY
Murphy, Epps, and Greer top a staircase out onto a long,
darkened corridor. They move down. Some of the doors are
open, faint light from port holes showing small cabins with
beds, desks, a few chairs.
INT. CHIMERA - TOP DECK - FORWARD PASSAGE - DAY
Murphy, Epps, and Greer come to a hatchway marked "BRIDGE."
INT. CHIMERA - BRIDGE - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
The forward windows show the expanse of the ocean before
them and the rusting foredeck about 150 feet below. Light
from the windows illuminates the bridge as Murphy, Greer and
Epps look around. Despite a little corrosion and a layer of
dirt, everything seems in its place.
MURPHY
(looking through
scattered charts and
papers)
I'd sure like to get my hands on the
general log.
Epps steps up to the wall, where several framed photos hang.
GREER
That must be the old man right there.
The uniformed man in the photo is a gaunt, stern-looking man
from another century, with dark, hollow eyes.
EPPS
Looks like one hell of a stick up
his ass.
GREER
He'd let you off at the nearest port,
that's for sure.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - NIGHT
A dimming purple horizon is giving way to night as the tug
floats under the bow of the Chimera.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - ENGINE ROOM - NIGHT
Dodge works up to his elbows in turbine 1 as Greer monitors
a pressure gauge.
DODGE
How about now?
GREER
Sixty pounds.
DODGE
What? You sure?
GREER
That's what it says.
DODGE
(geting up to have a
look)
Lemme see.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - NIGHT
Through the pilothouse windows, the hull of the Chimera
disappears into the darkness beyond the tug's work lights.
Murphy sits at the chart table as Epps steps in.
EPPS
Coffee?
MURPHY
(sitting up)
Yeah. Thanks.
She brings him his cup, seeing the documents he brought back
from the Chimera.
EPPS
(taking a seat)
What'd you find up there?
MURPHY
Some charts. A crew manifest.
(looking them over)
Looks like her last voyage was January
1953. The question is where the hell's
she been since.
EPPS
She was sailing up north, right?
MURPHY
Her destination was Halifax, yeah.
EPPS
Well, suppose she got a little further
north than she should have. Got
stuck in the ice. The passengers and
crew evacuated. She froze into the
ice pack, which moved further north,
where it froze in solid. They write
it off. Fifty years later, the whole
global warming thing happens. The
ice melts, she gets loose and floats
around til somebody runs into her.
Murphy nods, considering it.
MURPHY
As reasonable an explanation as any,
I guess.
Epps takes a sip of her coffee as she thinks about it.
MURPHY
Ever heard of the Mary Celeste?
EPPS
Nope.
MURPHY
She was a two-masted brig boat sailing
out of New York in 1872. One day
she was sighted off the coast of
Portugal by a merchant vessel, the
Dei Gratia. As the crew of the Dei
Gratia got closer, they discovered
that no one was at the helm of the
Mary Celeste. On boarding, they found
her completely deserted. The captain,
his wife, their daughter, and the
entire crew, all gone. The last entry
in their log made no mention of any
trouble. The table was even set for
dinner. And in the nine days after
the last entry, she sailed 700 miles
without anyone aboard.
EPPS
So what did happen?
MURPHY
Nobody knows. There've been a lot of
theories, of course. But we'll never
really know for sure.
EPPS
You think she's sailing without a
crew?
Murphy looks out at the Chimera off the bow.
MURPHY
I think we'd be surprised where a
drifting ship might wind up with a
little wind and the right current.
EPPS
You're more practical than
superstitious.
MURPHY
Only way to be.
Epps nods, takes another sip of coffee, looking on at the
rusting hull of the Chimera stretching off in the light.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DECK - DAY
Greer operates the crane arm as Dodge directs him. The crane
hoists out one of the massive turbine fans onto the deck.
Dodge gives him the thumbs up as it comes down easily.
MURPHY
What's this?
DODGE
Turbine rotor's shot.
MURPHY
I thought you said it was just a
blade.
DODGE
Metal's crystallized. Gotta replace
the whole deal.
MURPHY
How much longer's that gonna take?
DODGE
Like I always say --
MURPHY
I know I know, two ways to do anything --
DODGE
The right way and the wrong way.
MURPHY
But how long?
DODGE
Hard to say.
MURPHY
We gotta get outa here, Dodge. A
storm blows up and we're history.
DODGE
I'm telling you, you don't want to
be running that fan like it is.
MURPHY
What about running number two by
itself?
DODGE
It's a full 2500 horses down. We
couldn't drag that boat down hill on
ice with it.
MURPHY
How long, then?
DODGE
I gotta pull the blades and re-seat
everything in a new rotor -- .
MURPHY
How long?
DODGE
Three, four days.
MURPHY
Goddamit, Dodge.
DODGE
What do you want me to tell you,
that we can throw this sucker back
in and start pulling her like nothing
happened? Can't do it, skipper.
A beat as Murphy stands there, knowing he's right.
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (O.S RADIO)
(from the pilothouse)
Arctic Warrior, Arctic Warrior, Arctic
Warrior. This is United States
Coastguard. Over.
A beat.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Murphy enters the pilothouse as the distance-warped VOICE
comes back on the radio.
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (V.O. RADIO)
Arctic Warrior, Arctic Warrior, Arctic
Warrior. This is United States
Coastguard Station North Island.
Over.
Murphy raises the radio mic as Epps, Dodge, and Greer step
in.
MURPHY
(to radio)
North Island, North Island, North
Island. This is tugboat Arctic
Warrior. Over.
After a moment, the same professional, distance-warped voice
comes back.
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (V.O. RADIO)
Arctic Warrior, we have submitted
your section four two charlie salvage
notification. However, the
International Maritime Authority
record for a passenger vessel Chimera
indicates it was lost at sea in the
Gulf of Oman day two month two year
one nine five three. Over.
A beat as Murphy holds there.
MURPHY
North Island, please repeat? Over.
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (V.O. RADIO)
Arctic Warrior, passenger vessel
Chimera was lost at sea day two month
two year one nine five three. Over.
Another beat as Murphy holds there, as the others look on.
MURPHY
North Island, have you got any
additional information? Over.
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (V.O. RADIO)
Affirmative, Arctic Warrior. The
vessel Chimera was registered to The
Dobbins Kirk Line, Halifax. Nova
Scotia. Date of commission day nine
month seven year one nine three two.
Over.
A long beat as the static of the open channel comes back.
MURPHY
Roger, North Island. I am tied to
the passenger vessel Chimera. And
she is afloat. Repeat, she is afloat.
Over.
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (V.O. RADIO)
Roger, Arctic Warrior. I say again,
our records indicate the passenger
vessel Chimera was lost at sea.
Over.
MURPHY
Roger, North Island. Please advise
pending further information. Over.
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (V.O. RADIO)
Affirmative, Arctic Warrior. This is
United States Coast Guard North Island
Station. Over and out.
A beat as they hold there, thinking about it.
MURPHY
Obviously it's some kind of screw
up. The shipping records aren't a
hundred percent accurate.
DODGE
Man, it gives me the creeps. We got
no business towing a ship that size
anyway. I say we fix the turbines
and hit the highway.
GREER
Are you crazy? Do you realize we got
ourselves a ship? We own a ship,
Dodge.
DODGE
Yeah, a ship that's supposed to have
been lost at sea fifty years ago.
You don't think that's just a little
freaky?
EPPS
If this thing turns out to be a ship
everybody thought sank a long time
ago, we just hit the jackpot.
DODGE
Yeah, well how the hell you get
something like that wrong? That's a
damn big boat. It's either sunk or
it ain't.
MURPHY
We all want to get outa here, Dodge.
Especially me. With that boat in
tow. You got three days. Make the
most of it.
A beat as Dodge looks back, then out at the Chimera.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - MASTER'S QUARTERS - NIGHT
A pencil point on a map follows across Saudi Arabia, coming
to the Persian Gulf and tracing the coast of the Arab Emirates
to Dubayy.
Murphy sits at his desk over the map. His pencil point follows
the Persian Gulf from Dubayy, through the straight of Hormuz
into the Gulf of Oman. Murphy marks an "X" there. A beat as
he looks on at it.
He opens a large envelope he found aboard the Chimera. He
empties it on the desk. He looks through it, docking receipts
from various ports of call, bills of lading, etc. He looks
over the passenger manifest.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - MASTERS QUARTERS - DAY
Murphy wakes. He lies on his bunk, having fallen asleep last
night in his clothes, still holding the envelope and some of
the papers inside.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DECK - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Dodge disassembles the turbine fans on deck as Greer reads
in the shade of the deck house. Dodge's hand slips and he
skins his knuckles.
DODGE
Fucker!
GREER
Take it easy, Dodge. It's only a
piece of metal.
DODGE
(inspecting his skinned
knuckles)
Damn mind of it's own.
GREER
(seeing Murphy)
Morning, skipper.
Murphy has stepped out into the sunlight.
MURPHY
Morning.
GREER
You're up late.
MURPHY
Guess I must've fallen back to sleep.
Where's Epps?
DODGE
Went aboard.
MURPHY
She take a radio?
GREER
Yeah.
Murphy nods. A beat.
INT. CHIMERA - PUBLIC ROOM - DAY
Epps steps from a passageway into a large public room. Tables
and chairs are scattered haphazardly, light falling in from
windows along the wall where tattered curtains hang. She
walks on.
A pair of empty glasses sit on a table, an empty sherry
decanter beside them. An ashtray sits beside that. Epps stops,
reaching down. She pulls back a half-smoked cigarette,
lipstick smudging the end, yellowing and fragile from time.
And, as she stands there, we see a FIGURE, IN MURKY
SILHOUETTE, MOVE PAST THE DOORWAY IN THE BACKGROUND. In an
instant it is there and gone.
She puts down the cigarette, having sensed a presence. She
turns to the doorway across the room, but there is nothing
to be seen now.
INT. CHIMERA - PUBLIC ROOM - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
A doll's white face, eyes haunting and coldly blue, stares
into the middle distance. It lies on a love seat as Epps
steps up. She lifts it. Several other toys lie scattered
about as she studies it, when the sound of a TICKING CLOCK
CAN BE HEARD.
A beat as Epps holds there. She turns, trying to locate the
sound. From across the room, Epps stands, listening. As the
TICKING CLOCK sounds from here. She turns, putting down the
doll, holding a beat. She approaches, crossing the room,
coming finally to a stop before us and what we come to see
is an ancient grandfather clock.
All but it's minute hand has fallen off its corroded face,
but from inside it emits a weak though steady TICKING.
Epps stands there as the clock ticks, looking on, when the
TICKING CEASES. A beat as she holds there, as the clock faces
her, now silent.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - LATER - DAY
Epps shines her light in the darkness as she comes to a door
where daylight falls from a small port. She looks through
it.
INT. CHIMERA - SWIMMING POOL - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps stands in a white tiled room. Light falls from port
holes high in the wall. Running its length is a small swimming
pool, it's rusted fixtures and stained surface creating
bizarre patterns.
INT. CHIMERA - SWIMMING POOL - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps comes to a row of changing stalls. Old clothing hangs
there, unused for fifty years. A pair of woman's shoes lie
on the floor.
INT. CHIMERA - SWIMMING POOL - LATER - DAY
Epps moves along, passing through a doorway into
INT. CHIMERA - GYMNASIUM - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps enters another room scattered with old exercise equipment
circa 1950, a wooden rowing machine, barbells and a medicine
ball.
She steps up to the wall, where pictures hang. The Chimera
can be seen in better days, sailing full speed on a calm
sea.
INT. CHIMERA - SUB-DECK - LATER - DAY
Epps jumps down to a lower deck. She shines her light up to
see that she is in an engine compartment, showing a massive
diesel burner. She passes through into another compartment
where the giant pistons of the ship's power plant rise up to
the ceiling.
INT. CHIMERA - SUB-DECK - PASSAGE - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps moves, passing still more diesel burners, towering over
her in the cavernous space. She moves into a narrowing
passage, piping and machinery ducts winding their way into
the depths of the ship.
Finally the passage opens into yet another compartment,
apparently a cargo hold. Crates and boxes are stacked on
loading palettes.
In the corner, a rotting canvas drape covers something. Epps
comes to it. She lifts the canvas, which crumbles away to
reveal a 1951 Ferrari sportster. For the exception of a coat
of dust and a small amount of corrosion, it is perfectly
preserved.
Mail bags lie in piles along the wall, stacked between more
wooden crates and palettes, when something catches Epps'
eye.
A heavy, metal door in the wall is twisted on it's hinges,
as though blown back from some terrific explosive force.
Epps approaches, coming to the twisted door. She shines her
light inside.
A clutter of debris, shelving and wood, are visible in the
shadows, when her light catches a glint of something. She
swings her light back, revealing a yellowish bright object
between broken wood slats.
Epps steps in. She kneels, shining the light closer. The
yellow glint is metal. Epps pulls back a slat, sliding away
some of the debris to reveal that it is cast from a kilogram
ingot of gold.
She reaches out. She raises it, completely untouched by the
years. She pulls back still more debris, revealing a stack
of gold ingots, some having tumbled to the side. She slides
away a large trunk that has fallen, pushing off more junk to
see that the stack is much larger, perhaps four feet high
and five feet across.
A beat as Epps stands there, looking on at $50,000,000 in
gold.
INT. CHIMERA - CARGO COMPARTMENT - DAY
The debris has been cleared away to reveal a clean 5'x 5' x
4' stack of gold ingots.
DODGE (O.S.)
What the fuck we gonna do with it?
Greer, Murphy, Epps, and Dodge all look on.
GREER
What the fuck you think we gonna do
with it? It's ours, baby. It's all
ours.
Murphy has stepped forward, taking an ingot, inspecting it.
GREER
How much you figure that's worth,
skipper?
MURPHY
(still looking it
over)
Hard to say. Maybe forty, fifty
million.
GREER
Ho, baby!
EPPS
That's a lot of money for somebody
to just let float away.
Murphy looks up at her from the gold.
MURPHY
Yes, it is.
A beat as they all hold there.
MURPHY
It's a hell of a lot of money.
DODGE
What, you think there's something
funny about it?
MURPHY
A ship with fifty million dollars in
gold aboard, adrift? And nobody seems
to care enough to come looking for
it?
GREER
If they thought it was lost at sea,
they probably just wrote it off.
MURPHY
Not for fifty million. An ocean liner
maybe. But fifty million in gold,
they come looking for.
EPPS
Maybe they didn't want it back.
Maybe the whole fat deal was insured.
MURPHY
Maybe. But there's always somebody
whose interest's at stake.
GREER
All I gotta say is it looks like
that somebody's us right now.
Greer cackles as he high fives Dodge.
EPPS
And it looks like somebody got here
before us too.
The steel hatch is twisted, as from a great hand ripping it
back from the wall.
DODGE
(inspecting it)
Didn't happen yesterday, I'll tell
you that. Torn parts rusted bad as
the rest of the boat.
MURPHY
Then it happened before they scuttled
her.
EPPS
You mean, before she sank.
GREER
Cargo like this could make a crew
think twice.
MURPHY
That it could.
A beat, as they all look on at the gold.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CREW QUARTERS - NIGHT
After dinner, Murphy, Greer, Dodge and Epps sit around the
galley table.
GREER
Then why didn't they take it.
EPPS
Probably didn't have time.
DODGE
Or somebody stopped them.
MURPHY
Either way, they must've had a pretty
good reason.
GREER
Must be a damn good reason to jump
ship and leave fifty million dollars
aboard.
A beat as they consider it.
DODGE
So what're we gonna do. That's the
big question, right?
MURPHY
A salvage claim to a vessel's cargo's
as valid as a claim to the vessel
itself. It's ours.
DODGE
Then we're rich. We're damn, filthy
stinking rich.
MURPHY
It looks like it.
A beat as they let this sink in.
GREER
So what? We gonna unload the gold
and get a move on?
MURPHY
We leave it where it is. Stick to
the plan.
DODGE
You gotta be kidding? What the hell
we need that tub for, we got fifty
million bucks?
MURPHY
So we get a little more for the boat.
Besides, the gold'll be safer where
it is.
GREER
Yeah, but we still gotta haul that
big piece of shit all the way back
to Sitka.
MURPHY
It's worth the effort. Believe me.
Besides we're gonna need her to prove
the salvage.
EPPS
Why not call for help?
MURPHY
For now the best thing we can do is
to keep quiet about this.
DODGE
Last thing we want is extra partners.
EPPS
Or uninvited guests.
GREER
I heard that.
MURPHY
Dodge, you gotta get on those repairs.
DODGE
Yeah, yeah. I'm on it.
MURPHY
The sooner we get under way, the
sooner we are to spending what's
ours.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - ENGINE ROOM - DAY
Dodge, wearing a welding mask and gloves, braises an aluminum
fitting over one of the open turbines.
INT. CHIMERA - SUB-DECK CARGO COMPARTMENT - DAY
Epps finishes stacking the gold ingots in a cleared space
beyond the twisted hatch.
GREER
Two hundred twenty. Two twenty one.
(as Epps stacks the
last one)
Two twenty two.
Greer makes a note.
GREER
Two hundred twenty two kilograms of
solid gold.
EPPS
That's what I call a payday.
GREER
Hell yeah.
They slap hands.
INT. CHIMERA - TOP DECK - PASSAGEWAY - DAY
Murphy moves down the darkened passage, coming to a door
marked "CAPTAIN." The door is ajar. He pushes it open.
INT. CHIMERA - CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy stands in the doorway of a spacious cabin panelled in
dark wood. A large desk occupies a corner of the room by the
windows. Though dirty and worn with time, everything is
ordered and in its place.
Murphy comes to the desk. He sits down in the chair behind
it. The surface is clear and uncluttered. He pulls out the
drawer to reveal pens, writing paper, a ruler, compass and
protractor amidst other sundry items.
INT. CHIMERA - CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS - BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATER -
DAY
Murphy steps in. The room is undisturbed, light falling in
on the taught green bedspread through dirty, tattered
curtains. A robe hangs on the back of a chair. A pair of
slippers lie beneath it.
INT. CHIMERA - CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS - BATHROOM - MOMENTS LATER -
DAY
Murphy stands in the bathroom. The tile has yellowed with
time, but everything is exactly as it was left. Even the
shaving kit is neatly arrayed on the sink as Murphy looks on
at it. He looks up, seeing himself in the mirror, when an
EXPLOSION SOUNDS.
EXT. CHIMERA - TOP DECK - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Murphy comes to the railing, looking out over the bow of the
ship to see black smoke rising from where the Arctic Warrior
is tied.
EXT. CHIMERA - FORWARD DECK - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Greer and Epps run to the side to see billowing smoke rising
from the Arctic Warrior as Murphy climbs down the crane to
the deck.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy jumps down to the deck. Flames belch from an open
hatch as Murphy grabs a fire extinguisher from a deck locker,
coming to the engine room door.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - ENGINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy enters to find the engine room engulfed in flames and
black smoke. He finds Dodge spraying at it with an
extinguisher of his own.
The flames belch up from an oil fire in the turbine well,
the heat searing paint on the metal covers. Murphy sprays a
cloud of halon and the fire dims, but only for a moment.
Dodge grabs another extinguisher, his leg burned, face and
hands singed.
An EXPLOSION ROCKS THE BOAT and molten flames hurl through
the air, catching Murphy's pant leg. He's so engrossed in
fighting the flames, he doesn't realize he's on fire.
DODGE
(over the roar)
Murphy!
Murphy looks down to see his pant leg is on fire, as Dodge
turns a cloud of halon on him, putting it out.
DODGE
Propane tanks're gonna go!
Murphy crosses in the smoke, coming as close as he dares to
the most intense part of the flames. He turns the extinguisher
into them, holding it there.
The flames dim, as Dodge joins him on the other side, turning
his extinguisher on it too. The fire seems to dim yet again
as clouds of halon rise up.
Fire belches from a duct, crawling across the ceiling. Dodge
fires his extinguisher at it, pushing it back across to the
wall again.
Murphy extinguishes the last of the flames in the turbine
well as Dodge brings a snaking tendril of fire down to the
deck, and finally out.
They stand there in the sudden silence, the air heavy with
smoke. A fine layer of halon powder lies over everything,
but the fire is out.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DECK - DAY
Dodge smokes a cigarette, now starting to feel his burned
leg, which is oozing as Murphy and Greer look on.
DODGE
One minute I'm minding my own
business, the next thing I know the
whole place is burning up.
(taking a drag)
An oxygen tank must've blown on the
welder. Started an oil fire.
GREER
Looks like it took out the backup
genny too.
MURPHY
Terrific.
Epps arrives with a first aid kit.
MURPHY
How's that leg?
Epps cuts back the burned pant leg to see the burn.
DODGE
Seen better -- Ow!
Epps cleans the burn with hydrogen peroxide.
EPPS
This's gonna hurt a little.
DODGE
Thanks for the warning -- Ow! Damn!
Epps keeps cleaning as Dodge bears it.
GREER
What now?
MURPHY
We could call for help.
GREER
And get a bunch of fools sniffin'
around here?
EPPS
What other choices have we got?
DODGE
I tell you one thing, we're not gonna
be towing no ship now.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOT HOUSE - NIGHT
A gas lantern sits on the map table illuminating Murphy as
he holds the radio mic.
MURPHY
(to radio)
United States Coastguard, this is
tugboat Arctic Warrior whiskey alpha
sierra bravo four zero niner two.
Radio check. Over.
A moment, then:
COASTGUARD DISPATCHER (V.O. RADIO)
Arctic Warrior, Arctic Warrior, Arctic
Warrior. This is United States
Coastguard Station North Island.
Your radio check is affirmative.
Over.
MURPHY
Roger that, North Island. Arctic
Warrior whiskey alpha sierra bravo
four zero niner two. Over and out.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CREW QUARTERS - NIGHT
Dodge pours out a few cans of cold chili into a bowl and
takes it to the table where Epps, Greer, and Murphy sit under
the stark light of a gas lantern.
GREER
Fifty million four ways. That's twelve
million and change a piece. What
you gonna do with your share, skipper?
MURPHY
Not much at all, I guess. Retire.
Live out my golden years and all
that.
DODGE
I'm buyin' me a nice outrigger.
Spend my time hauling rich Seattle
business men through the Puget.
MURPHY
How about you Epps?
EPPS
Guess I'll just keep working.
DODGE
What're you crazy?
EPPS
I like my job.
MURPHY
Greer?
GREER
Moving to Sweden.
DODGE
What's so great about Sweden?
GREER
It's a beautiful country. Very clean.
Very civilized. And cold.
EPPS
That's a good thing?
GREER
Hell, yeah. I like it cold. Colder
the better.
DODGE
Yeah, but not as cold as those Swedish
girls you only gonna dream about.
GREER
We'll see who's dreamin', m'man.
MURPHY
Dreamin's all any of you're gonna be
doing if we don't get this boat
running.
DODGE
Yeah, yeah.
A STRANGE SOUND BEGINS. IT IS LIKE A DISTANT SHRIEKING, AS
OF METAL AGAINST METAL, BUT ALMOST HUMAN, DISTANTLY ECHOING.
GREER
What the hell is that?
The SHRIEKING CONTINUES, ECHOING EERILY AS IF FROM THE SEA.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DECK - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT
Dodge, Epps, Murphy and Greer emerge on deck.
The DISTANT SHRIEKING IS LOUDER HERE, BUT SEEMS TO BE
EMANATING FROM DEEP IN THE SHIP as they stand facing it on
the bow.
EPPS
It's coming from inside.
They hold there listening as the SHRIEKING CONTINUES.
DODGE
Sounds like the hull.
MURPHY
Warm water current maybe, making the
metal expand.
GREER
That shit is seriously bizarre.
The DISTANT SHRIEKING ECHO continues as they hold there.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DECK - DAY
The engine room is black with soot, the turbines covered in
halon powder. Dodge stands there looking at it. He sighs.
INT. CHIMERA - GALLEY - DAY
Greer goes through shelves of supplies, finding a stack of
sterno cans and warming candles. He throws them into a wooden
crate of other supplies he's gathered.
INT. CHIMERA - FIRST CLASS STATEROOM - DAY
Epps slowly pushes open the door. She holds a sack with a
few items she's managed to scavenge. Light falls from
curtained windows onto the room. A divan sits against the
wall. A table stands in the middle of the room, a moth-eaten
velvet table cloth sitting under a brass lamp on top. Two
twin beds stand on either side. They are covered in dust and
are moth-eaten, unmade, as if the occupants had just gotten
up, fifty years ago.
In one corner is an armoire. Epps steps up to it, pulling
back the door to reveal a rack of woman's clothing hanging
there undisturbed.
INT. CHIMERA - STATEROOM - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
A pair of slippers lie on the floor beside a chair, over
which is draped a woman's robe. Epps lifts it, the material
crumbling in her hands.
INT. CHIMERA - STATEROOM - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
A drawer comes back to reveal a number of personal affects,
a man's billfold, cuff links, tarnished silver cigarette
holder and case, coins, black horn-rimmed glasses, pocket
watch and fob, and a room key.
Epps pulls back the billfold. She opens it. Inside she finds
a Canadian passport a picture of a dark-haired man with a
mustache and black horn-rimmed glasses, circa 1950. In the
folds she finds three hundred Canadian dollars. An insert
holds pictures, of a suburban home, children, and a woman,
presumably his wife.
INT. CHIMERA - "A" DECK PASSAGE - LATER - DAY
Epps steps from the room. She turns to close the door, but
stops, holding there, strongly sensing something.
THE CAMERA SLOWLY COMES AROUND TO HER OTHER SIDE, revealing
the long passageway behind her, each bulkhead hatchway
creating the impression of a tunnel of mirrors that frame
one another and, standing at the very end of this tunnel in
the foggy light from a porthole, a MAN in dark clothing.
Epps slowly turns her head to see what she already senses,
the man standing at the end of the passageway facing her. A
beat as they hold there. The man only stares back at her,
then turns to walk away.
EPPS
Hey!
Epps moves off as the man walks around the corner.
EPPS
Hey, wait a minute! Hey!
MOVING WITH Epps as she breaks into a run, going down the
passageway. She comes to the corner, rounding it out onto
another passageway. The man is nowhere to be seen.
Epps moves quickly down the passageway, coming to the next
corner, rounding it out to see only another long passageway.
She turns back, running right into Murphy.
MURPHY
Take it easy, you'll live longer.
EPPS
Did you see him?
MURPHY
Who?
EPPS
The guy. He just came this way.
MURPHY
What guy?
EPPS
There's somebody else on this boat.
MURPHY
What? What the hell're you talking
about.
EPPS
I saw him. Just a minute ago. Some
guy.
MURPHY
Are you sure?
EPPS
Of course I'm sure. I saw him.
MURPHY
You sure it wasn't me?
EPPS
It wasn't you. It was somebody else.
There's somebody else aboard.
A beat as Murphy looks back at her.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOT HOUSE - NIGHT
Greer, Dodge, Murphy, and Epps stand around by lantern light.
DODGE
Light in those passages ain't so
good.
EPPS
I'm telling you, I saw somebody. I
don't know who it was. But I saw
somebody.
GREER
What'd he look like?
EPPS
Maybe six feet. Lanky. I didn't get
a good look. He was far away. But I
saw him. I saw him as sure as you're
standing there.
DODGE
Where's his boat, then? Where's his
crew? He ain't gonna be out here by
himself, that's for damn sure.
GREER
She's so big somebody could come
alongside her on the other side and
we'd never know it.
EPPS
Maybe that is his boat.
DODGE
Gimme a break.
A beat as they sit in silence.
MURPHY
If somebody's aboard her already,
she ain't ours. She's theirs.
DODGE
Bullshit. That boat hasn't made steam
for fifty years. We found her. She's
ours.
MURPHY
Not in the eyes of the law.
EPPS
So, we find this guy and make a deal
with him.
MURPHY
We don't exactly have the best
bargaining position.
DODGE
I say fuck the motherfucker. We're a
professional salvage crew going about
our business. What's some yahoo doing
way out here by himself anyway?
MURPHY
And what do you propose? That we
knock this guy off?
DODGE
Why not? Why the fuck not?
A beat as Murphy, Greer and Epps exchange looks.
DODGE
Fifty million dollars. Fifty million.
We gonna let this guy just take it
from us? One guy?
EPPS
So we kill him?
DODGE
I'm saying we gotta do whatever we
gotta do to preserve our interest.
GREER
I don't know.
MURPHY
Let's just take it easy here, alright?
Nobody's gonna kill anybody.
GREER
Supposing he wants to get bad with
us?
DODGE
One guy isn't gonna be so stupid.
EPPS
Maybe he isn't alone.
They consider this a moment.
GREER
I say we off-load some of that gold
now.
MURPHY
Would you hold on just a minute here,
please? Look, there's no reason to
panic now. Epps saw somebody. Fine.
It's a big boat. Chances're real
good he doesn't even know about the
gold. If we stay cool, nobody'll be
the wiser.
(a beat)
The gold stays where it is til we're
ready to go. Like I said, it'll be a
hell of a lot safer there than here.
DODGE
What if that fucker finds it before
we're ready to go?
MURPHY
We'll stand a watch. Four on, eight
off. Low man first.
EPPS
Guess that'd be me. Again.
MURPHY
Dodge, get on that turbine. I don't
care if you don't sleep for a week.
The sooner you're done, the sooner
we can get out of here. How's the
food situation?
GREER
Pretty low all around.
MURPHY
We'll have to take it easy then. I
don't think we'll find much aboard
the ship, but it's probably worth
looking around.
EPPS
Say we run into this guy again.
A beat as they consider this.
MURPHY
If he's reasonable, maybe we can
make some kind of deal. If not.
We'll have to re-consider our options.
DODGE
Yeah, reconsider fucking his shit
up.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - WARD LOCKER - NIGHT
Epps is dressed in her cold weather gear as she opens a
locker, revealing a flare gun and a shotgun. Epps pulls back
the shotgun and a box of shells.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DECK - NIGHT
Murphy and Dodge look on as Epps loads the last of several
shotgun shells into the pump action short barrel 12-gauge.
She expertly shuttles a round into the chamber with one hand.
Dodge takes a hit from his cigarette as Greer crosses from
the deck house.
DODGE
Pretty handy with that scatter gun,
Epps. You raised on a farm?
EPPS
(setting the safety)
Seen a lota movies.
MURPHY
No cowboy shit up there, understand?
EPPS
No cowboy shit. Right.
Greer extends a thermos to Epps.
GREER
Coffee.
EPPS
(pocketing it in her
coat)
You're a pal.
She checks the squelch on her radio, pockets it too.
MURPHY
Got your light?
EPPS
Yup.
DODGE
Smokes?
EPPS
Oh yeah.
Her bravado does little to hide her apprehension as she slings
the shotgun on her back.
EPPS
See you boys later.
(to Greer)
Don't be late, I need my beauty rest.
She looks up, climbs onto the crane and up toward the darkened
ship above them.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT
A flashlight beam cuts through the darkness as Epps
approaches. If this place is creepy in the daylight, it is
terrifying now. She comes to a ladder and climbs down.
INT. CHIMERA - CARGO COMPARTMENT - LATER - NIGHT
Epps shines her light as she passes through, coming to the
cargo hold. She crosses in the darkness, her light catching
the tarnished glint of the gold. She comes up to it, stopping
there, looking on at it, a perfectly symmetrical fortune.
She looks around for a place to sit. She drags a palette to
the bulkhead, settling in to face the rest of the compartment.
She puts her shotgun down beside her and takes out her thermos
to pour herself a cup of coffee.
INT. CHIMERA - CARGO COMPARTMENT - LATER - NIGHT
Epps has dozed off when a CLATTERING ECHOES DISTANTLY
somewhere in the ship. Epps wakes. It is silent, as she holds
there, not sure she heard anything, when a DISTANT BOOMING
SOUNDS. She reaches out for the shotgun, intently listening.
As Epps holds there, another deep BOOMING sounds distantly
somewhere. Epps turns, her blood running cold.
INT. CHIMERA - CARGO COMPARTMENT - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT
Epps moves along in the darkness when the DISTANT BOOMING
CAN BE HEARD BRIEFLY AGAIN. She stops, holding there, in the
silence.
INT. CHIMERA - SHAFT ALLEY - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT
Epps jumps down into the shaft alley where the ship's massive
propeller shaft hangs suspended above her. Epps moves along.
Finally she comes out into...
INT. CHIMERA - ENGINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT
Where the propeller shaft extends into a large turbine. She
continues on, past huge rusting diesel burners, disappearing
into the darkness above her, when ANOTHER BOOM SOUNDS.
She turns, shinning her light back from where she came.
Nothing moves. Not a sound, but for her breathing and maybe
her heart pounding in her chest. ANOTHER BOOM SOUNDS, again
echoing distantly in the silence. She shines her light through
the line of burners. Nothing moves.
Epps moves quietly between the burners. She comes to a massive
watertight door at the bulkhead. She steps through, finding
herself standing between a row of huge oil storage tanks.
THE BOOMING SOUNDS AGAIN, closer, as suddenly stopping.
She moves on, cautiously walking between the tanks, holding
her light out before her. She comes to the end of the
compartment and another bulkhead. The BOOMING SOUNDS, still
closer. She turns the light into the recesses, showing rusting
machinery and a stack of oil drums.
She approaches, holding the shotgun up. As she nears, the
BOOMING SOUNDS AGAIN. She stops. It is coming from here.
She tenses, raising the shotgun, holding the light as steady
as she can manage. The BOOMING SOUNDS YET AGAIN. It is
metallic and staccato.
She stops in the corner beside an oil drum. Several drums
have toppled and lie scattered in a pile when a draft stirs
her hair. She shines her light up to see that she stands at
the bottom of a giant hatchway shaft rising all the way
through the ship to the top deck and an echoey breeze that
betrays a throughway to the outside.
The BOOMING SOUNDS AGAIN, this time coming from the pile of
oil drums. She steps closer, raising the shotgun, ready to
fire. A beat as she summons her courage, then reaches out to
push a drum with her foot, when A BLUR EXPLODES OUT AT HER.
She fires the shotgun and a spray of buckshot glances off
the steel bulkhead in a shower of sparks, a flurry of frenetic
flapping whizzing by her head as she looks up to see a large
albatross flying back up the hatchway shaft toward the top
of the ship and freedom.
MURPHY
Murphy to Epps.
She settles back, exhausted.
MURPHY
Murphy to Epps.
EPPS
(taking her radio)
Epps.
MURPHY
You just shoot at something?
EPPS
Yeah. Just a bird. Just a stupid
bird.
She wipes her brow on her sleeve, holding there a moment,
when she smells something really awful.
She steps forward, following the smell, pushing aside the
toppled oil drums to see an unidentifiable form in the beam
of her flashlight. She steps still closer, training her light
on the form to see that it is a human torso. A large gash
runs up its middle and the clothing has been torn by
scavenging birds.
She hesitates, then steps still closer when she steps on
something. She starts, then shines the light on the deck in
front of her where the body's decaying head looks back with
wide, unseeing eyes.
It takes everything she has just to hold there. She shines
her light back to the headless torso.
She shines her light beyond that, and up, to reveal a bent
steam pipe hanging out over the deck, stained with dried
blood, a pair of legs dangling from the pipe when, just behind
her, a booted foot comes into frame, lightly touching her.
She spins around to see another body above her. Except this
one hangs in one piece, suspended from another bent steam
pipe. It has been impaled length-wise on the pipe from rectum
to mouth.
One of its arms has rotted off and lies on the deck below
it. A few feet away, a third body hangs impaled from another
bent pipe.
INT. CHIMERA - ENGINE ROOM - LATER - NIGHT
A lantern illuminates the impaled bodies and their various
rotting parts.
GREER (O.S.)
Ho-ly shit.
MURPHY (O.S.)
Couldn't have happened much more
than a month ago.
Greer, Dodge, and Epps look on as Murphy kneels over the
remains of the headless torso.
MURPHY
Bodies're too fresh.
DODGE
Fresh ain't the first word that comes
to mind.
Murphy checks the pockets, finding a wallet. He looks through
it.
MURPHY
Greek citizen. Merchant navy.
(standing)
Obviously we aren't the first to
come across this ship. They probably
stumbled across it just like we did.
GREER
And look what happened.
DODGE
Damn barbaric is what it is.
MURPHY
Could be meant as a warning.
GREER
Stay away. Or else.
EPPS
Because of the gold.
MURPHY
That'd be my guess.
DODGE
So whoever did this might still be
around.
GREER
Maybe Epps's mystery man had something
to do with it.
MURPHY
Maybe.
A beat as they consider the implications of this.
EPPS
So, what? We report this? Call the
Coastguard?
Another beat as they hold there.
DODGE
Let's not be too hasty.
GREER
Yeah. Hell, what difference does it
make if we report it now or later?
We call this in now, gonna be
Coastguard, FBI, who knows who, all
over the place.
A beat as nobody's too sure about this.
MURPHY
Dodge, if this isn't incentive enough
to fix that boat, I don't know what
is.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - ENGINE ROOM - DAY
Dodge fires up a compressor, which feebly comes to life,
turning over the turbine, then sputtering out in a cloud of
smoke.
DODGE
All the seals and gaskets're shot.
Anything that was rubber burned up.
Murphy stands at the doorway, looking on.
MURPHY
Can't you use something else?
DODGE
I might be able to find something on
the ship. But it's gonna take time.
MURPHY
Do what you need to do. Just do it
fast.
DODGE
Right.
INT. CHIMERA - CREW QUARTERS - DAY
Epps sleeps in her bunk.
INT. CHIMERA - BETWEEN DECKS - DAY
Dodge and Greer climb down in the darkness.
DODGE
I need lag bolts, especially one
inch standard. And sheet metal.
Preferably steel, about a sixteenth
of an inch. Aluminium, even tin'll
do.
GREER
I ain't no mechanic, just so you
know.
DODGE
You find anything that even looks
like a compressor. I don't care what,
grab it.
INT. CHIMERA - RADIO ROOM - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy stands in the cramped room, full of radios and
communications equipment. He looks through the shelves and
cabinets, when he opens a drawer to find a dusty bound book.
He pulls it back, opening it to see that it is a radio call
log. He takes a seat, paging through it.
INT. CHIMERA - GALLEY - WITH GREER - LATER - DAY
Greer works to disassemble a compressor mechanism. He has
difficulty getting the right purchase with his wrench, when
he slips.
GREER
Dammit!
A beat as he inspects his hand. In the silence A DISTANT
SHRIEK SOUNDS, maybe metal against metal or maybe human,
somewhere in the ship. He holds there, listening.
GREER
Dodge?
He moves on, shinning his light as he goes.
INT. CHIMERA - GALLEY - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Greer moves along in the darkness when he hears THE SHRIEKING
AGAIN coming from somewhere in the ship.
GREER
Dodge!
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Greer walks up a stairway, stepping into a darkened
passageway. The SHRIEKING SOUNDS, THIS TIME CLOSER, as it
echoes through the ship. He stops, holding there to listen.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Greer comes out onto another deck, stopping there. He looks
down the passageway a beat, then moves on. He passes through
a hatchway in a bulkhead when A MUSIC BOX CAN BE DISTANTLY
HEARD. He stops. The song is "DAISY" ("Daisy, Daisy, give me
your answer do. I'm half crazy, oh for the love of you.").
He holds there, listening intently. A door stands open at
the other end of the passage. The MUSIC COMES FROM HERE. He
moves forward, walking toward the end of the passage, and
the light falling from the open door.
INT. CHIMERA - RADIO ROOM - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy pages forward to the last page of the radio call log
book.
On the page his finger runs down the columns of entries,
coming to "TRANSMISSION 1 Feb 53 21:34 hrs GMT. Engine trouble
notification made to passing vessel 'St. Charles.'"
His finger moves down to the next entry, coming to:
"TRANSMISSION 2 Feb 53 09:52 hrs GMT. Dead in Water.
Notification made to passing vessel 'Normandy.'"
His finger continues: "TRANSMISSION 2 Feb 53 14:07 hrs GMT.
Captain relieved of command. Notification made to passing
vessel 'China Sea.'"
MURPHY
Captain relieved of command.
He holds there a moment, moving his finger down to the final
entry, reading: "TRANSMISSION 2 Feb 53 21:24 hrs GMT. General
SOS."
He turns the page to see only the words "GOD SAVE US" scrawled
in faded red ink. A beat as he holds there, when a CHANNEL
OPENS WITH A SHORT BURST ON MURPHY'S RADIO. He looks to it,
but there is no response from the other end. Another SHORT
BURST AND THE CHANNEL OPENS AGAIN. This time it remains open,
but no one says anything on the other end, UNTIL THE CHANNEL
CLOSES AGAIN.
Murphy takes the radio.
MURPHY
This is Murphy. Anybody trying to
call me? Over.
He waits as no response comes, then THE CHANNEL OPENS AGAIN.
Only silence from the other end as someone seems to be there,
but is not saying anything. Murphy presses the talk button.
MURPHY
Greer? Dodge?
Again, there is no response, until the CHANNEL OPENS. Murphy
holds there as he is answered by silence, WHEN A GRAVELLY,
STRANGELY DISTORTED MALE VOICE COMES BACK ON THE RADIO:
VOICE (V.O. RADIO)
"Cock-a-doodle-doo," said the rooster
to the crow. "Where are you now? I
know, but won't say so."
Murphy is momentarily stunned. He hits the talk button.
MURPHY
Who is this?
The RADIO CHANNEL OPENS. Only silence comes back, as if
someone were there but not speaking.
MURPHY
Who is this!!
The CAMERA PUSHES IN AS MURPHY LISTENS.
VOICE
Penny whistle toy. Penny whistle
toy. Penny whistle toy. Penny whistle
toy.
The CHANNEL CLOSES as the CAMERA STOPS CLOSE ON MURPHY.
Murphy squeezes the talk button.
MURPHY
Greer! Dodge!
Only silence comes back from the radio when A MAN'S BLOOD
CURDLING SCREAM sounds from somewhere in the ship.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Murphy moves quickly down the passageway when his radio
sounds.
DODGE
Dodge to Murphy.
MURPHY
(taking radio)
Murphy.
DODGE
You better get down here quick,
skipper. I'm on "C" deck. Cabin 400.
MURPHY
What is it?
DODGE
I think you better see this for
yourself.
INT. CHIMERA - STAIRWAY/PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Murphy comes down the stairs and into the passageway we saw
Greer in earlier. At the end, the light from the cabin falls
from the open door as he approaches.
AT CABIN 400
As Murphy comes to the door to see Dodge standing in the
middle of the cabin.
DODGE
I found him like this.
Greer is lying supine on the floor. His legs are rigid and
his trunk is extended. His arms are flexed and twisted so
that the palms are facing away, fingers splayed, wrists
quaking over his chest as they fight to touch each other.
Murphy kneels beside him. Greer's eyelids are half closed,
his eyes rolled up into his head. His jaw is clenched, face
contorted in a bizarre grimace. And he speaks, uttering
nonsense words in harsh expulsions, as though speaking in
tongues.
GREER
Oragishlaoomnudrasadrafantoshviska
getofedobrodijotosiantosg.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CREW QUARTERS - DAY
AN EYE - EXTREMELY CLOSE
As a light shines in it, the pupil is fixed and dilated.
EPPS (O.S.)
Hard to say.
BACK TO SCENE
Greer lies unconscious on a bunk, now quiet, no longer seizing
as Epps shines a flashlight into his eye, Dodge and Murphy
looking on. She turns it off, standing upright.
EPPS
I'm no doctor. But I'd say he's in a
coma.
DODGE
A what?
EPPS
I don't know what else you'd call
it. He's breathing on his own, but
his pupils are completely blown out.
He's totally unresponsive to pain.
(a beat)
What happened up there?
DODGE
I heard a scream. When I got there I
found him on the floor. He was having
some kind of seizure. I didn't see
anybody else.
MURPHY
He must've seen something.
A beat as they consider this.
EPPS
Other than the obvious, there's
nothing wrong with him that I can
see, not on the outside.
DODGE
Then what the hell happened to him?
Another beat as they hold there.
MURPHY
Just before I heard him yell there
was somebody on the radio.
EPPS
Greer?
MURPHY
I don't know. No. Not Greer.
Somebody.
Another long beat as they think about this.
MURPHY
It was a man's voice. Repeating some
sort of children's rhyme. I don't
know, it didn't make any sense. You
didn't hear it?
DODGE
Not me.
Another beat as this sinks in.
EPPS
(looking to Greer)
He needs a doctor.
MURPHY
I'll call us in. Dodge, see how many
signal flares you can scrounge up.
(to Epps, meaning
Dodge)
Keep an eye on him.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOT HOUSE - NIGHT
A gas lantern sits on the map table illuminating Murphy as
he holds the radio mic.
MURPHY
(to radio)
United States Coastguard, United
States Coastguard, United States
Coastguard. This is tugboat Arctic
Warrior whiskey alpha sierra bravo
four zero niner two. Over.
No response.
MURPHY
(to radio)
United States Coastguard, United
States Coastguard, United States
Coastguard. This is tugboat Arctic
Warrior whiskey alpha sierra bravo
four zero niner two. Over.
Again, no response. He holds there, then finally:
MURPHY
(to radio)
Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. To any vessel.
This is Arctic Warrior. Arctic
Warrior. Arctic Warrior. Whiskey
alpha sierra bravo four zero niner
two. Last known position one seven
four west, five seven north. I am
afloat and drifting. Require
immediate medical assistance for one
person, possibly comatose. I am a
one hundred twenty foot civilian
tug, hove to at port bow of disabled
passenger liner Chimera. I repeat,
Chimera. Over.
Only the desolate WHITE NOISE OF EMPTY AIR COMES BACK.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CREW QUARTERS - NIGHT
Greer lies unconscious as Epps looks on at him. The door
comes open and Murphy steps in.
MURPHY
How's he doing?
EPPS
Same. Any luck?
MURPHY
No. I'll try again later.
A beat as they look on at Greer.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CREW QUARTERS - NIGHT
Murphy and Epps sit at the galley table. Epps reads the log
book Murphy found in the radio room.
EPPS
(reading it)
They're dead in the water that
morning. Four hours later the
captain's relieved of his command.
And that evening they issue a general
SOS.
MURPHY
Possibly false. Hence the IMA record
of being lost at sea. I don't think
mutiny's out of the question here.
DODGE
(taking a seat)
On a passenger ship in 1953?
MURPHY
If they knew what they were carrying.
EPPS
You're saying they mutinied for the
gold?
MURPHY
If they were close enough to shore,
they probably figured they could get
away in the lifeboats.
EPPS
Only something must've gone wrong.
DODGE
Yeah, way wrong.
A beat as they consider it.
DODGE
So. I got a question. Just from a,
you know, purely technical standpoint.
We call the Coastguard. Coastguard
shows up. What exactly is the plan?
MURPHY
How do you mean?
DODGE
Well, they're gonna be asking a lot
of questions. About us. About those
bodies. About the gold. Seems like
we oughta be prepared is all.
MURPHY
I guess the best strategy's just to
tell them the truth.
DODGE
Yeah, well. The truth is one thing.
When there's more than a few hundred
million dollars involved, that's a
whole new deal.
MURPHY
What do you propose?
DODGE
For starters, getting that gold off
the ship. What they don't know about
isn't gonna bother them.
A beat as Murphy holds there.
MURPHY
There's no way we're gonna hide a
few thousand pounds of gold from the
Coastguard here. Besides, it'll be
safer where it is.
DODGE
With all due respect, skipper.
(a beat)
Part of that up there's mine. I'd
kinda like to have a little say in
what happens to it.
A beat as Murphy looks on.
MURPHY
Tell you what, Dodge. Once we get
back to shore, you can do whatever
you want with your share. But until
then, the gold stays right where it
is.
Dodge holds there. He looks to Epps a beat, takes a drink of
coffee.
EXT. CHIMERA - DAY
The sun comes up over a spectacular cloud bank as the Arctic
Warrior drifts alongside the Chimera.
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DAY
Murphy crosses to the deck house, climbs the stairs.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - PILOTHOUSE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy opens the door, stopping dead in his tracks. A beat.
He steps forward, crossing to the corner.
The radio set lies before him, dented in and completely
demolished, as if someone had taken a bat to it.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - ENGINE ROOM - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Dodge works on one of the turbines when he is grabbed from
behind and shoved into the wall. Murphy holds him fast.
MURPHY
Just what the hell do you think you're
doing?!
DODGE
I don't know what you're talking
about?
MURPHY
I think you know.
DODGE
Maybe you can tell me then.
Murphy shoves him hard into the wall.
MURPHY
The radio!
DODGE
(not having a clue)
The radio. Oh, yeah, the radio.
Murphy tightens his grip.
DODGE
Take it easy, willya? What about the
radio?!
MURPHY
You smashed it!
DODGE
What?!
MURPHY
Don't lie to me!
DODGE
What the fuck -- ?
MURPHY
You didn't want us calling anybody.
Too liable to ruin your big payday.
DODGE
I didn't touch the fucking radio.
Murphy tightens his grip still more.
DODGE
I didn't touch the fucking radio!
(a beat)
Ever occur to you there's somebody
else on that boat, skipper?
MURPHY
Conveniently enough for you.
DODGE
Look, I didn't touch it. Alright?
Murphy holds there a beat longer. He shoves Dodge back letting
him go.
DODGE
Jesus.
Dodge checks his throat as Murphy looks on.
EPPS (O.S.)
Murphy.
They turn to see Epps in the hatchway.
EPPS
It's Greer.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CREW QUARTERS - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Greer stands at the galley sink finishing off the last of a
jug of water as Murphy and the others step in. He turns to
see them.
GREER
Never been more thirsty in my life.
MURPHY
Drink up then.
Greer smiles, raising the jug to drink as the others take a
seat, looking on at him.
MURPHY
How're you feeling?
GREER
Lost my sea legs.
EPPS
Any dizziness?
GREER
No.
EPPS
Headache, nausea, lights?
GREER
Lights?
EPPS
Sudden flashes of light.
GREER
I feel fine.
DODGE
What day is it?
GREER
I don't know. Tuesday?
DODGE
Wrong. It's Friday.
EPPS
Try Wednesday.
DODGE
Right. Wednesday.
A beat as they all hold there. Greer takes a seat.
GREER
What happened?
MURPHY
You don't remember?
GREER
Last thing I remember I was aboard
the Chimera. Down somewhere in there
scavenging around.
MURPHY
You've been out for about a day.
GREER
Say what?
MURPHY
Dodge found you out cold in one of
the cabins.
Greer only holds there.
GREER
Oh, man.
MURPHY
We heard you scream. Any idea what
you might've seen?
GREER
I wish I could tell you. I'd be real
interested to know myself.
Another beat as they hold there, as Greer takes another drink
of water.
MURPHY
The ah... the radio's out.
EPPS
What?
MURPHY
Somebody took it out of commission
last night.
A beat as they all hold there.
MURPHY
Smashed it up pretty bad.
EPPS
But, who -- ?
DODGE
The skipper seems to think I did it.
That I'm more interested in that
gold than my own safety or the safety
of my fellow shipmates.
A beat as they hold there, as Murphy looks back.
EPPS
Did you?
DODGE
Hell no. You think I'm crazy?
Another beat as they hold there.
MURPHY
Regardless of how it happened, there
isn't much of a chance to fix it.
The odds of another vessel in range
of the walkie-talkies are almost
astronomical. So, as of today, we're
pretty much on our own out here.
INT. CHIMERA - STAIRWAY - DAY
Epps and Murphy, carrying the shotgun, make their way in the
ship.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - FIRST MATE'S QUARTERS - DAY
Greer stops before a mirror to see himself. He finds an
aspirin bottle, goes to open it. And as he does so, he sees
that his hand is shaking uncontrollably.
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - ENGINE ROOM - DAY
Dodge works over the turbine. He stops, holding there. He
looks on at the plugs and wires and hoses. A beat.
He begins pulling out the hoses and wires, grabbing at them,
yanking them loose, breaking them off.
INT. CHIMERA - RADIO ROOM - DAY
The chassis comes off an old radio to reveal a dusty
assortment of tubes and condensers. Murphy looks on at it.
WITH EPPS
A tattered, bound book lies in the refuse of a forgotten
corner. Epps picks it up. The cover has been ripped off and
the pages are torn. But, as she looks through it, she sees
that it is the ship's log.
EPPS
Murphy.
Murphy steps over as she pages through the log book to the
very end. The last pages have been ripped out.
EPPS
Looks like part of the general log.
Epps points to a page that has been incompletely ripped out.
EPPS
"The crew have gone mad with greed
and fight among themselves like wild
dogs over fresh kill."
MURPHY
February first.
EPPS
The same day she supposedly went
down.
MURPHY
Must not've been the captain's entry.
He was probably out of the picture
by then.
Epps continues to read.
EPPS
"Their lacking diligence has
undoubtedly caused the collision.
Distress calls have been made."
MURPHY
Collision? With what?
EPPS
The page's missing. Then their SOS
was real.
MURPHY
But where's the damage?
EPPS
Maybe the other ship took the worst
of it.
MURPHY
If it was a ship she hit.
A beat as they hold there, when his radio CRACKLES TO LIFE.
DODGE
Dodge to Murphy!
Murphy reaches down for his radio.
MURPHY
(to radio)
Yeah.
DODGE
You better get down here right now!
We're taking water! Big time!
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - DAY
Murphy and Epps jump from the deck crane as the tug is
starting to list to one side. He crosses to the deck house
and the open engine room hatch to see that it is rapidly
filling with seawater as Greer and Dodge scramble to set a
pump hose over the DIN OF THE PUMPS.
MURPHY
What the hell happened!
DODGE
Turbine chamber on number two must've
blown! Took out part of the hull!
GREER
We're not gonna be able to pump it!
MURPHY
Alright. Everybody grab your gear!
This' is where we get off!
EXT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
The tug is listing radically to the side, its deck awash
with seawater, as Epps, Greer, and Murphy scramble with their
gear to the crane.
Water is starting to pour out of the deckhouse hatch as the
towering framework rising over the pilothouse stabs
precariously at the bow of the Chimera.
Murphy stops to shout back at the deckhouse.
MURPHY
Dodge!
INT. ARCTIC WARRIOR - CREW QUARTERS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Water is starting to pour in as the entire cabin lurches to
one side. Dodge wades through toward the door.
EXT. CHIMERA - FORWARD DECK - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps pulls herself up onto the deck, Greer following behind,
then Murphy.
Dodge can be seen stepping from the deckhouse on the tug,
which now lists at a near 45 degree angle.
WITH DODGE
Dodge stumbles toward the bow, slipping on the wet deck. He
goes down, sliding into the water that washes over the
starboard rail.
He pulls himself up, using a cleat to push off. A deck locker
opens and the contents tumble around him. He struggles to
pull himself up to the base of the pilothouse. He climbs up
and edges his way toward the bow.
WITH THE OTHERS
Epps, Greer and Murphy look on as Dodge climbs up on the
skewed deck crane.
WITH DODGE
The tug is slowly lurching over as Dodge climbs the crane,
the top of which is sweeping away from the Chimera.
Below, the decks of the tug are swept with seawater as it
sinks lower and lower.
WITH THE OTHERS
They look on as Dodge climbs toward them, the sinking tug
pulling Dodge and the crane away from the ship.
Greer pulls back a line, tying it into the deck railing.
WITH DODGE
As Dodge makes his way up, he's forced to climb onto the
other side of the crane to keep from dangling over the water.
Above, Greer casts a line. It falls near, but out of reach
as the swell of the water starts to swing the crane to and
fro. Dodge reaches out for the line again, his hand coming
close but not close enough.
The swell brings the crane toward the boat one last time and
Dodge reaches out, his fingers just coming to the line,
coaxing it into his grasp. He pulls it back and hangs on, as
the crane sways back with the foundering boat.
The crane falls away from Dodge, leaving him hanging in space
by the line from the bow of the Chimera.
WITH THE OTHERS
Murphy, Greer and Epps look on as Dodge hangs over the water
and the tug as its stern slowly sinks beneath the waves.
Dodge climbs the line toward the bow railing as the tug rolls
still further to port, the pilothouse dipping into the sea,
slipping lower and lower.
WITH DODGE
As he pulls himself upward, coming to the bottom of the rail
well on the Chimera where Murphy reaches out, just short of
Dodge's hand.
A SCREECHING SOUNDS and they turn to see the twin tow cables
coming taught against the hull in the anchor alley's of the
Chimera as the sinking tug pulls them tight.
With a CONCUSSIVE STRIKE, one cable is freed, snapping against
the Chimera's hull like a giant steel guitar string. It
starts sliding along the hull as the tug drifts, pulling the
cable with it, toward Dodge as he dangles in mid air.
Dodge pulls himself up, reaching for Murphy, but still short.
A LOUD HISSING SOUNDS and Dodge turns to see misty air
escaping from ports and deck vents as the encroaching water
forces it out of the tug below decks.
The tow cable LOUDLY SCRAPES THE HULL in a shower of rust,
as Dodge struggles to pull himself up.
Murphy reaches out as Dodge extends as far as he can, their
hands barely reaching.
The tow cable is a mere few feet away and closing, ready to
scrape Dodge into the water or smear him across the hull
like a bug on a windshield, when Dodge pulls himself up with
everything he's got and Murphy grabs his hand.
Murphy pulls, lifting Dodge, as Greer grabs Dodge's other
hand and they pull him up, the tow cable sweeping by with a
SICKENING GRINDING SOUND OF HEAVY STEEL AGAINST STEEL.
Dodge turns to see the bow of the tug dip below the surface,
slowly going under until disappearing with a last exhalation
of misty air. The pilothouse is next to go, the last of it
slipping into the frothing water, then the crane, finally
disappearing altogether into the depths.
A long beat as they hold there in the sudden silence, phantom
bubbles rising to the surface where the tug once stood.
EXT. CHIMERA - TOP DECK - DAY
A boot punches through a rotten wood hull.
MURPHY (O.S.)
That just about says it all.
Greer stands at the bow of a lifeboat suspended from halyards
above the deck.
GREER
Rotten stem to stern. Guess you
couldn't expect much else.
Greer jumps down as Murphy, Dodge, and Epps look on.
GREER
We ain't exactly in what you'd call
your high traffic neighborhood either.
MURPHY
The coast guard has our last position.
They'll send somebody out soon enough.
A ship this size you can't exactly
miss.
EPPS
It's a good bet they'll be asking a
lot of questions when they get here
too.
MURPHY
Let 'em ask. This ship's legally
ours now.
DODGE
When they find out what it's carrying,
they may not be so interested in
what's legal.
GREER
Maybe you shoulda thought a that
before you scuttled our boat.
Dodge turns to see Greer. A beat.
DODGE
The turbine blew.
GREER
Lemme see, was that before or after
the oil fire?
A beat. Dodge takes a swing at Greer.
MURPHY
(grabbing Dodge)
Easy, easy.
Murphy holds on to Dodge as he will have none of it.
GREER
Gettin' a little hot under the collar,
I'd say.
MURPHY
Shut up.
GREER
Must be a little too the truth, eh
Dodge?
Dodge jumps forward again, but Murphy hangs on.
MURPHY
I said, shut the hell up.
Murphy shoves Dodge back.
MURPHY
Both of you. I don't want to hear it
again.
A beat as Greer and Murphy hold there.
MURPHY
So just stow it. You understand?
(a beat)
We don't need this right now.
EXT. CHIMERA - FOREDECK - NIGHT
A fire burns in an oil drum as Epps, Murphy, Dodge and Greer
sit around it in silence.
INT. CHIMERA - 4TH OFFICER'S STATEROOM - NIGHT
Epps steps in. She shines her light on the room. It is exactly
as it was left. She crosses to the bed, shining her light
under it. She sits down, trying it.
INT. CHIMERA - CARGO HOLD - NIGHT
Dodge moves in the darkness, coming to the corner where the
stacked gold ingots rest. He looks on at them.
MURPHY (O.S.)
You shouldn't be down here alone.
Dodge turns to see Murphy standing there.
DODGE
Just wanted to check on our little
baby.
A beat as they look on at the gold.
DODGE
That oughta buy a man pretty much
anything he wants.
MURPHY
If money can buy what he wants.
DODGE
I don't figure there's much I want
money can't buy.
MURPHY
Then you're a lucky man.
Murphy tosses the shotgun to Dodge, who catches it.
MURPHY
We'll stand the watch on deck tonight.
You're up first.
DODGE
Right.
Murphy holds there a beat longer, then turns to go, as Dodge
looks after him.
EXT. CHIMERA - DAY
A grey chop gently rocks the Chimera, smoke rising from the
top deck.
EXT. CHIMERA - TOP DECK - DAY
Greer and Dodge tend the flames of three fire barrels, adding
broken up furniture to create heavy signal smoke.
INT. CHIMERA - PANTRY - DAY
Murphy moves through the pantry area with a pillow case,
scavenging for food.
INT. CHIMERA - GALLEY - DAY
Epps scavenges for food in the semi-darkness of the large,
open galley, when a MOVEMENT CAN BE HEARD SOMEWHERE BEYOND
THE ENTRY separating the galley from the outer passageway.
EPPS
Murphy?
No one answers. She looks off across the stillness of the
galley. Nothing.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps steps into the passageway. Directly across is the entry
to the swimming pool. She walks on.
INT. CHIMERA - SWIMMING POOL - DAY
Epps steps in. Light falls in from the dirty port holes at
the ceiling, every movement echoing off the hard tile walls.
She holds there a beat, then turns to go when she sees a
GIRL of about 16 facing her on the other side of the pool.
Epps holds there, as the girl only looks back. She is
porcelain white, flaxen hair drawn behind her head, her
clothing hanging loosely from a frail body.
GIRL
You must leave.
A beat as Epps stands there.
EPPS
(finally)
Who are you?
From this distance and in the light it is hard to fully
discern the girl's features.
GIRL
There's great evil here, more than
you can know. Leave now or you may
never leave.
EPPS
But --
A HATCH CLOSES SOMEWHERE IN THE SHIP. Epps turns to look.
When she turns back the girl is gone. A quiet "TICK" SOUND
ECHOES in the pool. She looks down to see that the pool is
now very, very deep, like a mine shaft falling away into the
depths. And, as she stands there, dark water is quickly rising
up from the bottom.
She steps back as the water gradually fills the pool to the
top. It is very dark and the bottom is indiscernible, when
the water begins to churn, as from bubbles of air reaching
the surface. Epps steps closer, looking on as a faint red
glow can be seen deep in the water below the churning bubbles.
As she watches, the red glow grows in intensity. The glow
spreads, illuminating a broad area until it becomes clear
that the water is not water at all but blood.
And, as the light grows still brighter, a figure is
illuminated, well below the surface as it seems to rise up.
Epps looks on as the figure rises higher into the light. It
is a MAN, fighting desperately to reach the surface. The
bubbles that rise up are produced from his silent screams.
Epps starts forward, but another figure rises to the same
point, a WOMAN, also struggling. Another MAN floats up, then
another, and another, people floating up, fighting desperately
to reach the surface, unable to do so, drowning in blood.
EPPS
My God....
Epps reaches out over the edge, plunging her hand into the
blood, reaching for the man's hand, but they are too far
apart.
She struggles desperately as the man fights to get to the
surface.
The others are fighting for the surface too, as Epps reaches
out, near tears, helpless to do anything.
EPPS
No!!
Everything suddenly stops. A beat as Epps only holds there.
The blood is gone, as are the people. The pool is back to
its normal state as though nothing had happened, Epps looking
on in disbelief.
MURPHY (O.S.)
You okay?
Epps looks up to see Murphy standing at the door.
EPPS
Yeah.
(looking back to the
pool)
Yeah, fine.
A beat as she holds there, looking on at the pool.
EXT. CHIMERA - FOREWARD DECK - NIGHT
Greer, Murphy, Dodge, and Epps sit on deck around the fire.
DODGE
You'd think on a ship this size
there'd be something left to eat.
GREER
After fifty years there ain't nothin'
left but shoe leather.
MURPHY
Tomorrow we'll see if we can't find
some line and tackle. Use some of
those bodies below decks for bait.
DODGE
There's a charming thought.
GREER
We can always start shooting birds.
Epps coaxes a hit out of her last cigarette.
DODGE
What say, Epps? You up for some
roasted albatross?
EPPS
(snuffing it out)
Why not?
INT. CHIMERA - 1ST OFFICER'S STATEROOM - NIGHT
The SOUND OF SOMEONE BREATHING HARD CAN BE HEARD in the dark
room. As the CAMERA SLOWLY MOVES INTO THE ROOM, we see that
it is Greer, lying on the bed. His body is tense and his
arms arch rigidly toward his chest. His jaw is clenched and
he expels harsh, guttural utterances, experiencing something
between a night terror and a seizure.
INT. CHIMERA - WHEELHOUSE - DAY
Sheets of rain come down on the deck in the grey light of
morning. Murphy stands on the bridge, looking off at it coming
down when Greer steps in.
GREER
Looks like we're in a strong current.
(closing the door)
Must be making almost five knots
full on ass backwards.
Greer crosses to the window, stepping up.
GREER
Nasty little swell outa the north
west too.
Murphy nods as he looks out.
MURPHY
Let's just hope somebody sees us
first out here.
INT. CHIMERA - PURSERS OFFICE - DAY
A file drawer comes open, revealing ticket receipts.
Epps looks on at it. The receipts are labeled "FULL FARE
PASSAGES" and are divided by first, second, and third class.
She goes through them, coming to a section that says
"ACCOMPANIED CHILDREN."
She pulls out the folder, laying it on the counter, opening
it. The first page is a receipt for a single passage to
Halifax for a Tatterly, Stephen age: 14. She pulls it back
to reveal another, Wilson, Harold age: 4. Another, Vitti,
Angela age: 17.
She pages through the stack, looking at the ages: 3, 15, 6,
11, 1, until coming across a 9. She looks to the name, Klein,
David, a boy. She continues paging through the receipts coming
to another 9. She stops, looking to the name, Nichols,
Katherine age: 16. A girl. She looks to the cabin assignment:
"400." She notes that it is the same cabin where Greer was
found, when a REVERBERANT CONCUSSION SOUNDS THROUGH THE SHIP.
EXT. CHIMERA - TOP DECK - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Dodge runs to the side to see a 15 feet wide by 40 feet tall
steel and concrete mid-ocean buoy bounce off the transom as
the ship drifts into it.
WITH GREER AND MURPHY
They come to the side at the wheelhouse, seeing the bright
orange letters "NOAA" emblazoned on the buoy's float pod as
the ship drifts by.
MURPHY
It's a Noaa buoy.
GREER
A what?
MURPHY
Government weather. It's got a
transmitter aboard.
EXT. CHIMERA - FORWARD DECK - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Dodge quickly ties a loop in a coil of docking line as Greer,
Epps, and Murphy look on at the approaching buoy.
MURPHY
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Dodge finishes as Epps ties the other end off to a cleat.
ON THE BUOY
As it drifts along the side of the Chimera. Murphy drops the
line down, the buoy bouncing on the swell.
BACK TO SCENE
Murphy pulls the loop up as the buoy nears, aiming to hook
it on its wind gauge.
ON THE BUOY
The buoy approaches, rising and falling with the swell.
BACK TO SCENE
Murphy corrects.
EPPS
Higher. You're gonna miss it.
Murphy holds the loop steady.
ON THE BUOY
The loop is too low. It's going to miss the mark as the buoy
drifts toward it, when the swell drops and the buoy goes
down.
BACK TO SCENE
Murphy yanks on the line.
ON THE BUOY
And the loop catches on the wind gauge.
BACK TO SCENE
As the line goes taught he pulls his hands away just in time,
the line snapping hard against the rail. Below, the buoy
heels over as it's pulled.
ON THE BUOY
It drops with the swell, the line stretching, then swinging
the giant concrete buoy float into the side of the hull with
a huge BOOMING CLANG.
BACK TO SCENE
The line is smoking with the friction, the steel railing
bowing a little with the weight as they look on.
GREER
We're still drifting.
MURPHY
The mooring hasn't come taught.
EPPS
It's not gonna hold us.
MURPHY
Doesn't matter.
ON THE BUOY
As the buoy falls again with a swell and slams into the side
of the ship. The water returns, lifting it high.
The ship is dragging it back and it begins to rise up as its
mooring comes taught. The line rises with it and soon the
buoy is at a steep angle as it comes out of the water.
BACK TO SCENE
The buoy is held fast between the docking line and its own
mooring.
ON THE BUOY
The buoy rises fully from the water, all three tons of it,
and as it does, the wind gauge's steel mount begins to bend.
BACK TO SCENE
As they watch the buoy suspended over the water between the
creaking docking line and its own underwater mooring cable.
DODGE
No fucking way.
ON THE BUOY
The gauge mount snaps and the docking line flails free,
sending the buoy hurtling back into the water in a curtain
of spray, whipping wildly from side to side.
BACK TO SCENE
The buoy swings back and forth as it rights itself, rising
on a swell, passing beyond the bow of the Chimera.
MURPHY
Damn it.
They look on in silence, the buoy slowly receding as the
ship drifts away.
EXT. CHIMERA - FOREDECK - NIGHT
Murphy stands watch by the fire as Epps joins him.
EPPS
Hey.
MURPHY
Hey.
EPPS
Couldn't sleep.
MURPHY
Wish I could say the same.
They watch the fire in silence for a moment.
EPPS
What do you think happened on this
boat?
MURPHY
I guess that's the sixty four thousand
dollar question, isn't it?
EPPS
The what?
MURPHY
Never mind. Before your time.
(a beat)
I think at least some of the crew
went a little nuts. The usual stuff
that happens when people stumble on
a fortune. Equal parts greed and
paranoia, usually resulting in
homicide. What happened after that
is anybody's guess. But, judging by
our Greek friends down below, it
doesn't look like the last time.
EPPS
Are we smart enough to avoid that?
MURPHY
I don't know, are we?
A beat as she looks back at him. She looks back to the fire,
watching it.
EPPS
When you found me yesterday, at the
pool. I'd seen... something. Someone.
MURPHY
Not our mystery guest again.
EPPS
No. Someone else. A girl.
(hesitating, a beat)
I'm not sure she was... real.
She looks up to Murphy.
MURPHY
Not real?
A beat as she only looks back.
MURPHY
What, like some kind of ghost?
EPPS
I don't know what else you'd call
her. One second she was there, the
next she was gone.
Another beat as he looks on at her.
EPPS
And I had a kind of hallucination.
(a beat)
There were others. I saw them in the
pool. Drowning.
A beat as Murphy looks back, as she sees him.
EPPS
Maybe hallucination is the wrong
word. It was more than that. As though
they were showing me.
MURPHY
Showing you what?
EPPS
What happened.
MURPHY
Maybe it was one of them did the
handy work on those Greeks.
EPPS
No. I think they are, were, just
passengers. Innocent victims.
MURPHY
Victims of what?
EPPS
Something bad happened here, Murphy.
MURPHY
That much I think we've already
established.
EPPS
More than just a mutiny. More than
just the gold.
A beat as he holds there.
EPPS
She said the ship was evil. That we
had to leave right away. That if we
didn't, we might never leave.
MURPHY
What's that supposed to mean?
EPPS
I don't know.
A beat as she looks back.
MURPHY
Why you? How come the rest of us
haven't seen these people?
EPPS
Just lucky I guess.
Another beat as he holds on her.
MURPHY
Well. Getting off this ship's exactly
what we're trying to do. Short of
that, I don't know what else to tell
you.
She only looks back at him, then into the fire.
MURPHY
Do me a favor and wake up Dodge.
He's next on.
She starts to get up.
MURPHY
And Epps?
She stands, looking back at him.
MURPHY
You can tell the others about this.
But, for my money, I think it's best
you keep it to yourself.
She holds there a beat longer, then turns, walking off.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - LATER - DAY
Epps comes to the 2nd officer's door, knocks.
EPPS
Dodge.
(no answer, knocking
again)
Dodge.
DODGE (O.S.)
(finally, from inside)
What?
EPPS
Get up.
DODGE (O.S.)
Yeah, yeah.
INT. CHIMERA - 4TH OFFICERS ROOM - NIGHT
Epps sits down on the bed. She lies back, not sleepy. A beat
as she holds there in the darkness.
EXT. CHIMERA - FOREDECK - NIGHT
Murphy still sits by the fire as Dodge groggily approaches
from the officers quarters, carrying a blanket and a jug of
water.
MURPHY
You're late.
DODGE
Sorry.
MURPHY
(handing him the
shotgun)
Don't fall asleep.
DODGE
(laying out his blanket)
Right.
INT. CHIMERA - 1ST OFFICER'S STATEROOM - NIGHT
Greer lies asleep on the bed. But his sleep is fitful,
increasingly agitated, tormented. It is as if he tries to
speak, but cannot. As THE CAMERA PUSHES SLOWLY IN, his words
are forced and garbled, speaking in the same nonsensical
language he spoke earlier, when he wakes with a start.
EXT. CHIMERA - FOREDECK - NIGHT
Dodge dozes, cradling the shotgun in his arms, when MUSIC
CAN BE HEARD VERY DISTANTLY. Dodge wakes. It is "Daisy"
playing on a music box somewhere in the ship.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT
Dodge moves along as the MUSIC BOX DISTANTLY CONTINUES.
INT. CHIMERA - STAIRWAY/PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT
Dodge moves cautiously down the stairway into another
passageway.
He approaches from the other end. He passes the open doors
of stateroom after stateroom. The MUSIC BOX IS CLOSER HERE.
It stops.
He holds there in the darkness. He turns, shining his light
back down the passageway. A beat. It is silent, when the
CHANNEL OF HIS RADIO OPENS WITH A SHORT BURST.
He raises his radio. But no one says anything, the CHANNEL
REMAINING OPEN, a discernible presence on the other end.
DODGE
Dodge.
SOMEONE'S POV - FROM THE FAR END
SLOWLY MOVING TOWARD DODGE as he can be seen from the other
end of the passageway.
BACK TO SCENE
He gets no response, then presses the talk button.
DODGE
This is Dodge. Over.
He is answered by silence, the CHANNEL REMAINING OPEN, WHEN
THE GRAVELLY DISTORTED VOICE THAT MURPHY HEARD COMES BACK ON
THE RADIO:
VOICE
"Cock-a-doodle-doo," said the rooster
to the crow. "Where are you now? I
know but won't say so."
Dodge hits the talk button.
DODGE
Who is this?
The RADIO CHANNEL OPENS, but only silence comes back.
DODGE
Identify yourself, motherfucker!
SOMEONE'S POV - FROM THE FAR END
SLOWLY MOVING TOWARD DODGE as he can be seen from the far
end of the passageway.
BACK TO SCENE
Only silence returns on the radio as Dodge holds there, then:
VOICE
Penny whistle toy. Penny whistle
toy.
THE CAMERA PUSHES SLOWLY IN ON DODGE as he listens.
VOICE
Penny whistle toy. Penny whistle toy --
.
Dodge senses something behind him. He turns, and before he
can draw a breath to shout, SOMETHING HEAVY SLAMS INTO HIM
IN THE DARKNESS, his flashlight tumbling away in a squiggle
of light.
ON SHOTGUN
As the shotgun clatters to the deck, the muzzle resting in
frame as the radio falls a few feet away. A beat. The shotgun
muzzle slides out of frame as some unseen person or thing
pulls it away.
EXT. CHIMERA - DAY
A grey overcast stretches to the horizon.
EXT. CHIMERA - FOREDECK - DAY
Murphy comes out onto the deck. Dodge is nowhere to be seen.
MURPHY
Dodge?
INT. CHIMERA - GALLEY STORAGE COMPARTMENT - DAY
Epps shines her light on something.
EPPS
Check it out.
Greer raises his light to reveal rows of canned goods. They
are industrial sized cans, from the 1950s. Greer takes one.
GREER
I don't even want to know what that's
gonna taste like now.
EPPS
Better than starving to death.
Epps' radio CRACKLES AWAKE.
MURPHY
Murphy to Epps.
EPPS
(raising the radio)
Epps, over.
MURPHY
Either of you seen Dodge?
She looks to Greer who shakes his head.
EPPS
Nope.
MURPHY
He's not on deck and I can't raise
him on the radio.
EXT. CHIMERA - FOREDECK - LATER - DAY
Dodge's stuff is laid out under the shelter of a vent duct
as Greer, Epps, and Murphy stand over it. A blanket, a pillow
and a plastic jug of water are all that remain.
MURPHY
He took the shotgun and a light.
GREER
Must've heard something below deck
and went down to check it out.
A beat as they hold there.
MURPHY
Alright. We stay together. Nobody
goes any further than earshot.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS - DAY
Greer and Epps move along as Murphy raises his radio.
MURPHY
(into radio)
Murphy to Dodge. Murphy to Dodge.
Over.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Dodge's radio lies in the detritus of the ship as Murphy's
voice can be heard on it.
MURPHY
Murphy to Dodge. Do you copy? Over.
INT. CHIMERA - ENGINEERING - LATER - DAY
Epps moves cautiously along in the darkness.
MURPHY (O.S.)
Epps? You there?
EPPS
Right here.
WITH MURPHY
As he moves along as well, eyes open.
MURPHY
Greer?
WITH GREER
As Greer moves along too.
GREER
Yeah, yeah.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS - LATER - DAY
Epps jumps down, shining her light over machinery and across
bulkheads when a WHISPERING CAN BE HEARD somewhere. She holds
there, listening. It is echoey, distant.
EPPS
Murphy?
No response as Epps holds there. The WHISPERING SOUNDS AGAIN,
far off, unintelligible. It stops.
She moves on, shinning her light.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps moves along in the darkness, holding the flashlight
before her, when the WHISPERING SOUNDS AGAIN.
Epps stops, holding there in the silence. She reaches for
her radio. The WHISPERING SOUNDS AGAIN. Epps turns to pinpoint
it, coming from somewhere in the cavernous space.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps passes under a catwalk. She moves on, passing a row of
standpipes. Epps stops, listening. Somewhere, the WHISPERING
CAN BE HEARD, then stops.
It is absolutely silent. In the darkness behind her, the
GIRL (KATIE) PULLS BACK INTO THE SHADOWS.
Epps holds there a beat, then turns, running into Greer with
a start.
GREER
Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you.
She holds there a beat, looking around.
GREER
You okay?
EPPS
Yeah. Fine. I just thought I heard
something is all.
GREER
What?
EPPS
Nothing. Let's get outa here.
They start to leave, when Epps notices something. She stops.
Beyond the standpipes, a faint glow can be seen in the
darkness. Epps steps forward, crossing to it. Greer follows.
MOVING WITH EPPS
As Epps approaches, Greer behind her. The light is dim and
low to the deck. She stops.
WITH THE LIGHT
As Epps starts toward it again. She and Greer come up to it,
stopping there. She kneels, the dim glow shining on her. She
reaches out toward it, pulling back Dodge's flashlight, still
on.
She turns it off, standing. She shines her light into the
darkness and starts off, Greer following.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps and Greer move along, shining their lights as they go,
when something catches in the beam of Epps' flashlight.
It is Dodge's radio. They stop over it. Epps picks it up,
inspecting it. She looks to Greer, when a single dark spot
appears on Epps' cheek. It begins to run, a crimson tear.
She raises her hand to touch it, inspecting her finger to
see that it is blood.
She looks to Greer. They both look up to see, hanging
suspended above them, Dodge's face staring back down at them
from the darkness.
He has been imperfectly impaled, the sharp point of a high
pressure steam pipe protruding from his neck, head hanging
limp beside it.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS - LATER - DAY
Greer and Murphy lower Dodge's body on a rope as Epps guides
it to the deck. They stand looking on at it a moment.
GREER
Can't find the shotgun.
MURPHY
So whoever did this now has our
shotgun.
GREER
Doesn't look like it much matters.
EPPS
What do we do with him?
MURPHY
Leave him till we can get some help.
(a beat)
From now on, nobody comes down here.
GREER
What about the gold?
MURPHY
Leave it.
GREER
Now hold up just a minute. Let's be
reasonable here.
MURPHY
You think whoever did this is
reasonable?
GREER
All I'm saying is that gold's worth
a lot more to us now than it ever
was.
EPPS
I can't believe you. Dodge's dead
and all you can think about is cashing
in your share.
GREER
I didn't sign up to go home empty
handed. And I sure ain't gonna roll
over for the freaky motherfucker did
this.
MURPHY
Nobody's going anywhere with that
gold now. Anybody tries to board,
we'll know about it.
(a beat)
You can do what you want, Greer.
But neither of us is gonna risk saving
your ass down here if it comes to
that.
GREER
Fine with me.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - DAY
Epps enters the dim passageway from the bright daylight. She
moves down the passage, coming finally to the stateroom where
Greer was found, room 400.
She holds there a beat, then reaches for the door, hesitating.
She opens it.
INT. CHIMERA - STATEROOM - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The door comes open and Epps steps in. It is dark, though
spacious. It is divided into two rooms. Beyond the sitting
room in the front, is a bedroom.
Epps steps in. A dressing table sits against the far wall.
A large bed is unmade. Suitcases lie open on stands at the
foot of the bed, still half full as if they were in the
process of being unpacked.
From one, she pulls back a woman's gown, a blouse. The other
contains shirts, trousers, socks, and underwear.
Across the room a smaller suitcase can be seen lying open on
an Ottoman in the corner. Epps crosses to it. She finds a
few shirts, and a red print dress, some books. She takes one
of the books, opening it.
Inscribed on the inside of the cover is: "This book belongs
to:" and then written in by hand: "Katie Nichols."
A page is marked with a purple ribbon. She opens it to see a
children's poem "The Rooster and the Crow" and a drawing of
a rooster and a crow and a stanza of a poem: "'Cock-a-doodle
doo,' said the rooster to the crow. 'Where are you now? I
know, but won't say so.'" She puts it down. A tin penny
whistle sits on the table. She picks it up, examining it.
She opens a small picture book, thumbing through to see photos
of a family, a young mother and father at the beach, the
mother and a girl of about 9 years, the girl and an older
girl of about 16, the girl she saw at the swimming pool,
KATIE. Epps holds on this picture, when A MUSIC BOX SOUNDS.
She looks up to the dressing table. On it a music box slowly
plays "Daisy."
AT THE TABLE
Epps crosses to it, looking on at the music box as it slowly
winds down, then finally stops. A beat. She picks it up,
looking at it, when she looks up to see Greer standing there.
A beat.
The dirty white light falling into the room through the
windows falls on him as he looks off at something we cannot
see. His expression is empty, hollow.
EPPS
Greer?
He does not hear her as he stands there. She approaches,
stepping up.
EPPS
You okay?
Another beat, as he looks off, into the light, when he slowly
turns to see her.
A long beat as she looks back. He holds there, the same empty
look about him, when he grabs her by the throat and squeezes
hard.
She is stunned, breathless, but raises her hands to grip his
wrists, fighting him.
EPPS
Greer!
His grip tightens. He is much stronger and her efforts make
little difference.
EPPS
Let go!
She hangs on, starting to choke. She drops one hand, searching
with it.
GREER
Oragishlaoomnudrasadrafantoshviska
getofedobrodijotosiantosg.
He speaks nonsense, his face distorted in an ugly grimace,
eyes bulging as Epps fumbles over the table, a tray of glass
and silver crashing to the floor as he pushes her back, still
choking her.
He backs her to the wall, pushing in, closing her windpipe
the rest of the way.
Her hand searches behind her, knocking over a small vase, a
basket, some books. It comes to a brass desk lamp. It falls,
a little out of reach.
She is going to black out any second, as Greer strangles
her.
Her hand comes to the desk lamp, grabbing it.
She raises the lamp, swinging with all her might, connecting
with Greer's head.
He stumbles back, a gash laid into his face, as Epps sucks
in air, gagging and coughing, her neck purple with finger
marks. She fumbles her radio up.
EPPS
(into radio)
Murphy! I'm on C deck, cabin 400!
Get down here now!!
Blood is running down his face as Greer comes for her again.
She throws down the radio.
A bed stands between them. She feints right, then left. He's
dazed and has blood in his eyes. She manages to slip by, but
he dives, taking her down.
He drags her back along the floor, spinning her around. He
raises a fist to ram into her face when WHAM!
Epps has shoved the butt of her flashlight into his crotch
and he comes up SCREAMING. He grabs her face, striking her
with his other hand.
She swings the flashlight again and cracks him across the
head. He swings yet again and connects, knocking her across
the floor.
She lies in a heap as Greer climbs to his feet, enraged and
bleeding.
He unbuckles his belt as he approaches, pulling it from his
waist to do God knows what.
Epps looks around to see him approaching. And we see that
she has unhinged her gill knife.
As his foot steps near, she lets go and drives the knife
with all her might into his boot, plunging the blade through
his foot and into the floor. He SCREAMS.
After a moment he stops, looks to her. He is a bloody,
wretched, enraged mess. He starts toward her as Murphy appears
in the doorway.
Just as Greer is upon her, Murphy blind sides Greer from
behind at full speed, knocking him down.
Greer and Murphy struggle as Epps climbs unsteadily to her
feet. She staggers to them and raises the flashlight over
Greer, bringing it down on his head.
CUT TO BLACK
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - LATER - DAY
Epps and Murphy carry Greer's unconscious body.
INT. CHIMERA - AQUARIUM TANK - LATER - DAY
Greer tumbles down a sand bank in an empty aquarium. He stops
at the bottom, now starting to come to.
OUTSIDE
Murphy slams the door shut as Epps looks on. She puts a steel
pipe across the hatch lever so that it cannot be opened.
INT. CHIMERA - AQUARIUM TANK - LATER - DAY
Greer sits in the tank, visible through a large piece of
armored aquarium glass, amidst the fake coral. He sits in
the sand hugging his legs to his chest, bobbing slightly as
he speaks in his nonsensical language.
MURPHY (V.O.)
Must've been him all along.
Murphy and Epps look on from the outside in the promenade.
MURPHY
Smashed the radio. Scuttled the boat.
Killed Dodge. Would've killed you.
He's off his nut, no doubt there.
They watch him in silence a moment as Greer mutters and bobs.
MURPHY
What do you think?
EPPS
Could be a stroke. Who knows?
(a beat)
The general log said the crew were
fighting among themselves. "Like
wild dogs."
MURPHY
Over the gold.
EPPS
Maybe it was more than that.
Greer gets up, comes to the window, looking out at them. He
presses his face to the glass.
EPPS
They went crazy.
MURPHY
Crazy with greed. Not crazy. Not
like him.
A beat as Epps looks off. In the window Greer drags his
hideously distorted face over the glass, the blood from his
wounds smearing in broad red streaks.
EXT. CHIMERA - TOP DECK - DAY
A partial hull of a rotting life boat falls into frame. Epps
and Murphy stand over it.
MURPHY
We lash a few of these together it
might get us far enough into the
shipping lanes to be rescued.
A beat as they look on at the rotting hull.
MURPHY
Hard to say which is worse, staying
here or taking our chances in open
water.
EPPS
If the weather holds it might not be
so bad.
MURPHY
It's not the weather I'm worried
about. The wrong current could drag
us as far as the Aleutians before we
come across another boat.
EXT. CHIMERA - TOP DECK - DAY
Epps and Murphy work to lash parts of the rotting boats into
a single usable raft.
INT. CHIMERA - AQUARIUM TANK - DAY
Greer lies asleep on the sand bottom of the tank, the white
light from the skylight falling on him from above.
INT. CHIMERA - STORAGE AREA - DAY
Epps has found a reel of wire and some metal braces, making
her way into the darkness, when her radio CRACKLES TO LIFE.
The channel remains silent a moment, then closes. She stops,
raises the radio.
EPPS
(holding down talk
button)
Murphy?
She waits, holding there as only silence comes back.
EPPS
Murphy, this is Epps. Do you copy?
Again, only silence comes back until, after a moment, the
channel opens again. No one speaks, though there is a palpable
presence on the other end.
EPPS
(raising the radio)
Who is this?
The channel opens again, only silence returning. The sound
of the MUSIC BOX CAN BE HEARD, "DAISY" COMING BACK OVER THE
RADIO.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps walks along in the darkness AS THE MUSIC BOX CONTINUES
TO PLAY OVER THE RADIO. She comes to the end of the corridor,
stopping there.
At the other end the light falls from the door at room 400.
The MUSIC FROM THE RADIO STOPS, leaving in its absence the
MUSIC AS IT CAN BE HEARD COMING FROM THE ROOM AT THE END OF
THE CORRIDOR.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps approaches the other end, from where the MUSIC EMANATES,
coming to a stop at room 400. A beat as she holds there.
INT. CHIMERA - ROOM 400 - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps steps in as THE MUSIC BOX PLAYS IN THE OTHER ROOM.
The sitting room is dark as she holds there. After a moment,
she continues on, coming to the bedroom.
Epps steps in. Across the room the MUSIC BOX IS PLAYING.
She crosses, coming to it as it continues, when her radio
CRACKLES TO LIFE. The channel remains silent a moment, then:
VOICE
"Cock-a-doodle-doo, said the rooster
to the crow. Where are you now? I
know but won't say so."
She holds there a beat, then crosses to the table to find
the book of nursery rhymes. She opens it to the nursery rhyme
"The Rooster and the Crow," seeing the same words on the
page, when the radio CRACKLES AGAIN.
VOICE
Penny whistle toy. Penny whistle
toy. Penny whistle toy. Penny whistle
toy.
On the table is the penny whistle she saw earlier. She takes
it, holding on it a moment. She raises it and THE CAMERA
SLOWLY PUSHES IN as she puts it to her lips and lightly blows
a C-SHARP WHICH BECOMES A C-SHARP FROM A PENNY WHISTLE across
the room.
MOTHER
"Cock-a-doodle-doo, said the rooster
to the crow. Where are you now? I
know but won't say so."
On the other side of the room, the younger girl from the
photo plays the penny whistle. She is sitting on the floor
with the MOTHER who reads from the book we saw earlier.
MOTHER
"Cock-a-doodle-doo, said the rooster
to the crow. Where are you now? I
know but won't say so." Cassandra,
if you insist on playing that while
I read I'll just stop right now.
THE GIRL
Sorry.
The room is warm with light, restored to its original
condition some fifty years ago as Epps stands there, unseen,
no longer holding the whistle.
A man, the FATHER from the photos, steps from the bathroom
wearing a new coat.
FATHER
What do you think?
MOTHER
He certainly did shorten it, didn't
he?
FATHER
I thought this was all the rage.
KATIE
Maybe last year.
Katie joins them from the outer room.
FATHER
What about this year?
KATIE
It's not your color anyway.
GIRL
I like it, daddy.
FATHER
Well thank you!
GIRL
Daddy, how much longer before we
start moving again?
FATHER
They're working on the engines, honey.
As soon as they fix them we'll be on
our way.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT
Epps steps from room 400 into the passageway. It is lit with
sconces running its length and the elegant furnishings and
objets d'art stretching to the far end are all in their
original condition. DISTANT MUSIC FROM THE BALLROOM CAN BE
HEARD as Epps stands there. She moves along.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT
Epps walks in the passageway. Doors are open and she looks
in to see people doing various things, some packing and
putting their things in order.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT
Epps walks down the passage, rounding the corner to see three
STEWARDS fighting with a fourth MAN in a tuxedo. They lift
him up and carry him off down the stairs as he shouts and
protests. She moves on, through a pair of double doors, into
INT. CHIMERA - STORAGE COMPARTMENT - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps moves through the now lighted storage area off the
galley. A group of CREWMEN stand around at the other end
and, as Epps nears, she sees that four figures can be seen
among them. They are four men, OFFICERS, swaying gently from
the ship's movement as they hang from ropes around their
neck, dead. Epps keeps moving, through doors at the other
end.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT
A commotion can be heard at the other end of the passageway
as Epps keeps moving. A WOMAN SCREAMS, and is cut off when a
door slams shut.
The DISTANT MUSIC HAS BEEN REPLACED WITH INDISCERNIBLE
SHOUTING, as of someone commandeering the microphone somewhere
As she walks, she passes an open door where several CREWMEN
fight over a steamer trunk, which breaks open, scattering
the contents.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT
Epps walks along, coming to another door where a dead man
and woman are laying in the middle of the room as a STEWARD
takes money from a wallet. The steward looks up, reaches
over and slams the door shut. She continues on.
Another door stands open as she comes to it, back at room
400. She stops. A REPETITIVE SOUND CAN BE HEARD, coming from
inside.
INT. CHIMERA - ROOM 400 - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps steps in as the SOUND CONTINUES. She crosses the sitting
room, coming to the doorway of the bedroom to find several
MUTINEERS, some in stewards attire, others wearing ships
officers caps, obviously taken from their rightful owners.
The repetitive sound comes from here, bed springs. And, from
between the men, a woman's bare legs hang over the end of
the bed as a pair of man's legs in boots lie between them,
the bed rocking, the others looking on.
Epps turns to see the father. He is on his knees, hands tied
behind his back as he is forced to watch from the foot of
the bed.
EPPS LOOKS DOWN TO SEE
EPPS' POV
a geometric pattern of a lotus on the Persian carpet at her
feet. When she looks up again she sees what the father sees.
The mutineer finishes, climbing off the woman. Another of
the men pulls her up to reveal that she is no woman at all,
but Katie.
The mother and sister lie in a bloody heap near-by as one of
the other mutineers steps up to Epps.
MUTINEER
You like that, daddy? I'll show you
something else now.
The mutineer steps back to the bed. He sits Katie down so
that she faces us on the end of the bed. He raises an axe
over her, bringing it down as the world becomes a whirling
blur --
EPPS (V.O.)
NO!!!!
BACK TO SCENE
The CAMERA STOPS ON KATIE standing on the other side of the
room, now empty of people, returned to its shabby, abandoned
state.
KATIE
It isn't real.
Epps looks back at her from the other side of the room where
she stands.
KATIE
Many bad things have happened here.
But you mustn't allow the evil inside.
I tell you this because you can see
me. The others can't. But you must
leave. You must leave.
A LOUD GUNSHOT SOUNDS SOMEWHERE IN THE SHIP. When Epps turns
back Katie is gone.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps moves quickly along, raising her radio.
MURPHY
Epps to Murphy.
Only WHITE NOISE COMES BACK.
EPPS
Epps to Murphy.
Only WHITE NOISE COMES BACK as she rounds the corner out
onto the promenade. At the other end, the aquarium can be
seen.
As she approaches she sees that the tank is empty. Greer is
nowhere to be seen and the skylight at the top is broken
out.
A GREAT BOOMING SHUDDER rocks the ship. A LOUD SCREECHING OF
METAL follows it.
EXT. CHIMERA - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The ship's hull being scraped at the waterline by a jagged
mid-ocean island no bigger than fifty or sixty feet across.
The ship has entered a small archipelago of such islands, a
mine field for a drifting ship.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps moves quickly along, coming to the stairway, moving up,
almost running into Murphy on his way down, carrying a canvas
duffle.
EPPS
What happened?
MURPHY
We hit land.
EPPS
What?
MURPHY
We're in an island chain. It's only
a matter of time before we hit another
one.
EPPS
Greer's gone. He broke out of the
tank.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps and Murphy move quickly along, when another HUGE BOOMING
shudders the ship and the SHRIEKING OF METAL follows.
EXT. CHIMERA - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The ship bounces off another of the small, jagged islands as
it drifts past, buckling the steel plate of the hull
precariously.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy and Epps run toward the other end of the ship. As
they do, something can be seen lying in the middle of the
passage some distance down.
AT THE OTHER END
Epps and Murphy slow to see that it is a body, lying face
down in the passage.
They step up. Epps kneels as Murphy looks on. She rolls the
body over. It is Greer, dead.
EPPS
He's been shot.
Murphy kneels too, looking on at Greer's lifeless eyes.
MURPHY
Let's get the hell out of here.
INT. CHIMERA - STAIRWAY/PASSAGEWAY - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Murphy and Epps come up the stairway, crossing to the doors.
EXT. CHIMERA - FORWARD DECK - CONTINUOUS - DAY
As Epps and Murphy come out, moving toward the make-do raft.
MURPHY
It should be enough to get us to one
of those islands. Gimme a hand,
wouldya?
She joins him and they lift it off its stand, taking it to
the rail.
MURPHY
Prop it here. We need to pull these
braces off. There's a hammer on the
stand. There.
Epps crosses back to the stands.
AT THE STANDS
Epps kneels. No hammer. She pulls back Murphy's canvas duffle,
folding back the flap to reveal a shotgun, the shotgun Dodge
had when he died.
A beat as she holds there, when Murphy's hand grabs it.
MURPHY
I'll take that.
A beat as she looks to Murphy.
EPPS
It was you.
He only looks back at her as she stands there.
EPPS
You killed them.
MURPHY
It was only a matter of time before
somebody killed somebody.
(a beat)
You saw it coming as well as I did.
Dodge had his plans, starting with
scuttling the boat. And Greer too,
except he went nuts. Couldn't take
it, I guess. Could've happened in
the middle of downtown Anchorage.
But did it make him any less
dangerous? I don't think so.
EPPS
So you killed them?
MURPHY
The way I figure it, it was them or
me. I thought putting Dodge up on
that pipe was a nice touch? Bought a
little time. Made it look like whoever
killed those Greeks was still around.
But it's just us on this ship. Us
and your... spirit friends.
EPPS
And now you're gonna kill me, is
that it?
MURPHY
I didn't want it to turn out this
way.
EPPS
Murphy, don't you see what's
happening?
MURPHY
I think I see it pretty well.
EPPS
It's the ship. The ship's making you
think this way.
MURPHY
I know a little bit about human nature
and what I've seen only confirms
that.
EPPS
It's a trap. There was no way we
were gonna get away with that gold.
Nobody ever does. It's just the bait.
This ship sucks people in and it
never lets them out.
MURPHY
I think maybe you been on this boat
a little too long, with all that
supernatural mumbo jumbo. There's
nothing supernatural about greed.
And that's what it comes down to,
pure and simple.
EPPS
I don't give a damn about the gold.
MURPHY
I wish I could believe that. Either
way, you know what I've done. I've
got no choice.
He raises the shotgun.
MURPHY
I'm sorry.
He prepares to fire, when a CONCUSSION ROCKS THE SHIP. Epps
ducks and Murphy fires, a spatter of buckshot shredding the
vent behind her. A SCREECHING OF METAL DEEP IN THE SHIP SOUNDS
as she gets up, diving for cover as Murphy shuttles the gun
again.
WITH EPPS
Epps scrambles behind a deck vent.
EXT. CHIMERA - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The ship has bounced off yet another small island, the jagged
rocks loudly scrapping the hull with a deafening shriek.
EXT. CHIMERA - FORWARD DECK - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy crosses toward the deck vent.
MURPHY
There's no reason to make this any
more difficult than it has to be.
WITH EPPS
As Epps holds there she sees the vent opening. She pulls
herself up and climbs inside.
INT. CHIMERA - AIR SHAFT - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps climbs down the air shaft where a giant fan spans its
width. She squeezes through the fan blades and drops down
where several vent ducts lead in different directions below
it.
EXT. CHIMERA - FORWARD DECK - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy comes to the vent duct where Epps went down.
INT. CHIMERA - AIR DUCT - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps crawls through. She comes to a vent that leads out to a
passageway.
INT. CHIMERA - STAIRWAY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy runs quickly down the stairway, shotgun at the ready.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The vent is shoved out and falls to the metal catwalk.
INT. CHIMERA - STAIRWAY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The CLANG FROM THE VENT SOUNDS HERE and Murphy stops.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps extends her feet and climbs down into the passage.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy rounds the corner, moving on the same deck.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps moves along on a metal catwalk in the darkness when
something can be heard ahead of her. She stops.
FOOTSTEPS SOUND at the end of the passage. Epps pulls back
into the shadows, holding there.
The footsteps sound as if they are coming down stairs at the
other end, when the FOOTSTEPS STOP.
Epps holds there, listening intently in the silence when, at
the other end, THE SOUND OF CREAKING METAL, as from a hatch
slowly opening, can be heard. It stops. All is silent, WHEN
THE HATCH CREAKS AGAIN at the other end. She begins moving
toward it.
As she approaches, she can see that the hatch is half open,
swaying slightly with the movement of the ship.
A CREAKING SOUNDS behind her. She turns, just as Murphy steps
into view. She ducks as he fires and a spray of buckshot
ricochets off the metal around her.
She scrambles on her belly as Murphy fires again. She swings
down from the catwalk, letting herself fall to the next deck.
AT THE BOTTOM
Epps gets up, runs.
WITH MURPHY
Murphy climbs down a ladder to the lower decks.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS WITH EPPS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps moves quickly along.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS WITH MURPHY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy follows, when A RUMBLING SOUND CAN BE HEARD.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS WITH EPPS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps stops where she is in the cavernous engine room, looking
on at the massive hull rising above her as the RUMBLING GROWS
IN INTENSITY. Though it seems to resonate throughout the
ship, it seems to originate from here, from directly below,
as though the hull were being dragged over a rocky bottom.
She steps back as the sound grows still louder, until it
becomes absolutely deafening.
The ship begins to shudder. The steel bulkheads visibly move
and the steel plates in the hull can be seen to bend back
and forth.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS WITH MURPHY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy slows and finally stops.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS WITH EPPS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
A few rivets pop in the hull. Then a few more, as the RUMBLING
GROWS STILL LOUDER.
Epps puts her hands to her ears and begins to back away,
when the RUMBLING REACHES A PINNACLE. The rivets are springing
out of the hull like machine gun fire when the steel plate
of the hull gives way, A MASSIVE CRAG OF ROCK SMASHING THROUGH
WITH A TREMENDOUS BOOM AND A TORRENT OF SEAWATER.
Epps ducks for cover as the crag tears a diagonal line through
the Chimera's hull like a jagged claw through paper in a
HORRENDOUS TUMULT OF NOISE AND STEAM AND SPARKS.
EXT. CHIMERA - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The Chimera is impaled broadside by a particularly devious
rock promontory of a small island.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS WITH EPPS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The giant claw begins to pull back, as the ship drifts off,
water pouring in behind it.
EXT. CHIMERA - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The ship is drifting free of the island with the current, a
huge gash rising on its port side.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS WITH EPPS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
A massive torrent sweeps over Epps as seawater pours in
through the breach.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS WITH MURPHY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy stops where he is to see water rushing in at the end
of the passage. He begins backing away.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS WITH EPPS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps is forced under as the water in the hull is already
half way up the side, the ship listing WITH A GREAT GROANING
EXERTION.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS WITH MURPHY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy moves down the passageway, coming to the cargo
compartment.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS WITH EPPS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps comes up for air. A clatter of all manner of debris,
tools and general detritus hammers against the far bulkhead
as the ship eases over. A boiler breaks loose of its stays.
Epps looks up to see it coming right for her. She ducks under
the water as the boiler slams into the bulkhead where she
was.
WITH EPPS
Epps is forced down by the boiler, trapped between it and
the bulkhead.
INT. CHIMERA - CARGO HOLD - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The gold slides off the palette, crashing into the far wall.
Murphy hurries to it, collecting ingots and putting them in
his pockets.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps struggles under the water to free herself, but she is
trapped, the heavy boiler and its broken stays caging her.
ABOVE THE WATER
The level of the water has now almost completely reached the
deck above, filling the ship almost entirely below decks.
INT. CHIMERA - CARGO HOLD - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The water is threateningly high as Murphy pockets one last
ingot and makes his way for the exit.
INT. CHIMERA - BELOW DECKS - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps is trying to pull back the boiler stays, without luck.
She swims down lower, finding a pipe fitting she pries at
the stays, without luck, when a form drifts into view in the
murky water.
Several more forms appear. They are human, suspended in the
water. As Epps looks, the several forms have become many.
They are the bodies of the dead she saw in the pool before.
As they look on at her from where they are, one form emerges.
It is Katie.
She reaches toward Epps, as if beckoning her to take her
hand from the other side. Epps raises her hand, taking it.
The girl leads Epps down into the murky darkness where she
finds a way out. She takes her back further, coming to the
breech, leading her out and into a cool green void of water.
Katie stops at the breach. Epps turns to her. She only looks
back at Epps. Epps turns away, swimming upward toward the
light of the surface.
EXT. OCEAN SURFACE - MOMENTS LATER - DAY
Epps breaks through, gasping for air. She looks to see the
Chimera, listing heavily to one side, its bow decks fully
awash.
INT. CHIMERA - PASSAGEWAY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Murphy staggers through the flooded passage.
EXT. OCEAN SURFACE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The Chimera is getting lower in the water, the bow submerged
and the stern beginning to rise.
Epps sees another small island some distance off. She begins
swimming toward it.
INT. CHIMERA - STAIRWAY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Water runs down the stairway as Murphy struggles toward the
top.
EXT. ISLAND - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps swims as the ship sinks in the distance.
INT. CHIMERA - PROMENADE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
A river of water rushes through as Murphy crosses with
difficulty.
EXT. ISLAND - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps reaches the jagged rock of the island. She pulls herself
up.
EXT. CHIMERA - TOP DECK - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Water rushes in as Murphy wades out onto the Chimera's top
deck. He is heavily weighted down and periodically goes under
as he half wades half swims, the length of the ship's aft
portion rising above him as the bow sinks.
EXT. ISLAND - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps collapses on the rocks.
EXT. CHIMERA - TOP DECK - CONTINUOUS - DAY
As the ship moves lower, Murphy pushes off. He bobs under
momentarily, then comes back up with difficulty. The forward
smoke stack has dipped under and is now taking on water, the
current from the rushing water pulling him toward it.
EXT. ISLAND - CONTINUOUS - DAY
Epps looks on as the giant ship angles higher and higher.
EXT. CHIMERA - WITH MURPHY - CONTINUOUS - DAY
As the ship dips lower, the rushing water forms an eddy that
pulls at Murphy. Murphy struggles, too heavy to resist as he
is pulled closer and closer to the sucking maw that is the
smokestack's opening.
The ship sinks further and Murphy is pulled to the edge of
the stack. He frantically grabs for something to hold on to,
without success, until he is finally pulled into the smoke
stack and sucked into the bowels of the ship by the rushing
water.
EXT. ISLAND - LATER - DAY
Epps sits perched under a rock out of the wind, looking on
at the Chimera, her stern rising high above water as she
goes down, when the RUMBLE OF ENGINES CAN BE HEARD.
She turns to see a Coastguard plane sweeping low over the
Chimera, then banking back and flying right over as she shouts
and waves her arms.
EXT. ISLAND - LATER - DAY
The Coastguard plane flies by one more time, this time
dropping a survival pack.
The Chimera's stern rises up out of the water, almost vertical
now, slipping further and further under.
Epps looks on one last time, as the ship goes down.
EXT. OCEAN - WITH CHIMERA - CONTINUOUS - DAY
The afterdeck of the Chimera sinks slowly, slowly down, the
CAMERA PUSHING IN TO "CHIMERA" as the name comes to the water,
then slips slowly beneath the surface. And THE CAMERA FOLLOWS,
MOVING INTO THE WATER to reveal that, beneath the surface,
there is no ship at all, only the vast empty depths of the
ocean.
FADE TO BLACK
THE END
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