FADE IN :
Blackness. Then a hint of green becomes EARTH. It lies across an
expanse of space. Richly colored. Fertile.
A GIGANTIC ASTEROID cuts into frame, Burning into EARTH'S
ATMOSPHERE and striking down in the currant area of Guzumel,
Mexico.
Voice : An impact
equivalent to ten thousand nuclear weapons detonating
simultaneously.
A HUGE
DINOSAUR FOOT steps down hard and is VAPORIZED with a deafening
ROAR.
Voice : One hundred
trillion tons of dirt and rock hurled into the atmosphere.
EARTH, seen from space, is rocked with an IMMENSE SHOCKWAVE. A
SHEET OF DEBRIS washes across the North and South Hemispheres.
Voice : A blanket of dust
the sun is powerless to penetrate. For five thousand years our
world is robbed of light as a nuclear winter falls. In that
darkness, a civilisation is
removed
from existence.
EARTH is
now completely entombed in a dark, cold hell. Letters push
towards us--
"A R M
A G E D D O N"
65 MILLION
YEARS LATER
EARTH, reflected off the face of ASTRONAUT PETE SHELBY'S HELMET.
It appears close enough to touch. Shelby, attached to SHUTTLE
ATLANTIS BY LIFELINE, struggles to replace a piece of the
shuttle's operational arm.
Shelby : (with radio
squawking) Houston, I can't get this thing to work...
EXT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY
In a hub of computers and tracking equipment, we find DAN GOLDEN,
former Astronaut from Apollo 8 (first crew to orbit the Moon) and
now N.A.S.A's second-in-command. Golden is watching Shelby on a
SERIES OF VIDEO SCREENS. FLIGHT DIRECTOR WALTER CLARK sits with
rows of N.A.S.A Techs. Golden stands over him, arms on the back o
his chair.
Clark : Atlantis, what's
the problem?
Shelby : (V.0) It just isn't working. Any suggestions?
Clarke : Hang on Pete. We'll figure something out for you.
Golden taps
Clark and sits down.
Golden : (to Shelby) We got
the top scientific minds in the world working on this. (a slight
smile) Try "whacking" the thing.
Shelby : Okay, Houston, commence whacking.
Selby
begins Whacking the satellite with his glove. The SATELLITE comes
n-line, lights up like a Christmas tree.
A HORRIFYING RUMBLING SOUND. SHOTGUN LIKE PELLETS assault the
satellite. SHRAPNEL rips into it's delicate gold skin. The
satellite EXPLODES. Shelby's lifeline breaks; he spins off, suit
leaking from twenty punctures.
INT. SHUTTLE ATLANTIS
COMMANDER JAMES TURNER turns to his left
General : "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"
EXT.
SHUTTLE ATLANTIS
STOTGUN LIKE PELLETS shred through Atlantis' N.A.S.A. logo,
peeling the shuttle down to her ribs. FIERY EXPLOSION.
EXT. SPACE
CLOSE ON SHELBY as he twirls away from Atlantis. His helmet is
fogging. He gasps for air, wretching, his eyelids leaking blood.
He tries to form words:
Shelby : Ple...he...me....
Shelby's
SHOULDER-CAM angle spins end-over-end....
INT. N.A.S.A - MISSION CONTROL
MONITORS go dead.
N.A.S.A. Technician #1 :
All systems crashing!
N.A.S.A. Technician #2 : Massive failure. We lost them.
Utter
silence. Utter desolation. DOLLY IN ON GOLDEN'S FACE. Utter
disbelief.
INT. WKU MOUNTIAN OBSERVATORY - NIGHT
THEO and PEARL (at telescope), and JIMBO (at the console), 20's,
are star-gazing. Astronomy books, Starbucks cups, etc.,spread all
over. Nine Inch Nails plays on the radio. These three could land
a date if only they would lose the road flares (plaid shirts,
glasses) that signal the painful fact that they are die-hard
science nerds THEO'S POV - THROUGH WKU TELESCOPE - Far off in
space is a dusty, murky swarm of matter - something resembling a
FLOATING EXPLOSION.
Jimbo : When are we going to let N.A.S.A in on what we've found?
Theo : We don't even know what we have yet. Comet, asteroid - it
could be anything up there. And don't be so eager to red flag
N.A.S.A. They don't call us when they discover anything.
Jimbo : Yeah, but this is their sandbox were playing in.
Theo : This is our discovery. We're going to hold a press
conference. We're going to be famous. SPACEWATCH'll name this
thing after us. Job offers are going to fly in from all the big
companies. J.P.L., that think tank up at M.I.T., hell even
N.A.S.A. 'll be chasing us.
Pearl : I'm going on Oprah, Larry King, Letterman...
Jimbo : Hell with them, I'm going on Howard Stern....
Pearl : (concentrating) This things really acting up tonight. We
should find out if anyone else knows about this.
Theo : How?
Jimbo : (master of factly) Call N.A.S.A
Theo : And say what? "Hi, we're a couple astronomer geeks
who found something really bitchin; floatin' in space." You
can't just call N.A.S.A. It's like calling the White House.
Besides, you'll never get the number.
Jimbo : I have the number. I got it from "Mega
monster."
Pearl : Who?
Jimbo : He's some super-hacker, I went to high school with. Guy's
totally wired into every encrypted government installation.
Theo : He's also an ex-con.
Jimbo : They never proved he shut down the power in those seven
states.
Theo grabs
the phone.
INT. HOUSTON TEXAS - JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - NIGHT
Golden and his crew, devastated and exhausted, search for
answers. We cut around the room.
Clark : What the hell was
that?
Technician 1 : Space junk?
Technician 2 : Too big, too much. It took out the whole shuttle.
Clark : The press is going to want answers. What are we going to
say?
Golden : Nothing. Not until we know what happened.
INTERCUT -
N.A.S.A. MISSION CONTROL/WKU OBSERVATORY
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Two N.A.S.A. techs, FLIP and SKIP, looking very haggard,
furiously typing numbers into the circulator. The phone RINGS,
Flip answers.
Jimbo : (whispers to Pearl
& Theo) I got mission control....!
Flip : Yeah, Mission Control.
Jimbo : (into phone) Uhh hi, I'm an astronomer in Kentucky, and I
was wondering if you guys had seen some strange activity in the
southern middle quadrant of the asteroid
belt
between Antares Major and Epsilom Scorpio....
Flip : Who is this?
Jimbo : My name? Uhh....Louis Lipshitz...
Flip : This is a restricted line. How did you get it? Where are
you?
Jimbo : Lexington... Massachusetts.
Flip : Can you tell me the exact co-ordinates..?
Theo : Hang up! Hang up now!
Jimbo hangs
up the phone.
Theo : Lexington..
uhh...Massachusettes. Idiot. I told you not to call them.
EXT.
MANHATTAN ISLAND - SUNRISE
Establishing. The sun rises over the Brooklyn Bridge.
EXT. MANHATTEN - MADISON AVENUE - EARLY MORNING
LITTLE GUY, still yawning, exits an apartment with a Jack Russell
terrier on a long RETRACTABLE LEASH. TERRIER'S POV as the little
dog attacks the city, looking for a place to relieve himself. The
Man stops in front of a "Crazy Eddie's" T.V. store.
Floor-to-ceiling T.V.'s in the window broadcasting E.S.P.N.'s
"Morning Exercise Show" with hot women SWEATING.
The Jack Russell strains on the leash to a FIRE HYDRANT. A SHOE
is next to the hydrant, connected to a HUGE SAMOAN GUY watching
the pelvic thrusting on T.V. The dog lifts his leg and pees,
hitting both hydrant and shoe. The huge Samoan guy kicks the dog.
The dog YELPS.
Little Guy : You kick my dog again and I'll go nuclear on you.
The T.V.
images BLINK and STATIC. A massive SONIC BOOM emanates directly
above. The huge Samoan guy looks up as---
A ROCK, the size of a basketball, strikes him and EXPLODES into
the pavement, spewing sparks and concrete, throwing PEDESTRIANS
to the sidewalk.
INT. "CRAZY EDDIE'S" T.V. STORE
FIFTY T.V.s are BLOWN across the showroom floor. SALESMEN and
CUSTOMERS dive to the floor, SCREAMING.
EXT. MANHATTEN - "CRAZY EDDIES"
Little guy,
lying on the sidewalk, recovers. His DOG LEASH runs from the
leash grip into a 10 FOOT CRATER in the sidewalk. The huge Samoan
guy's LEGS protrude.
Little Guy : Samson?
Pedestrian : Somebody call 9-1-1!
INSIDE THE
CRATER - THE JACK RUSSELL dangles by the leash. Embedded in the
hole 30 feet below is A SMOKING, RED HOT OBJECT.
INT - N.O.R.A.D. - CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN
The U.S.'s Early Warning Air Defence. Two U.S.A.F RADAR
TECHNICIANS are hunched over radar screens.
Radar Tech 1 : I got one,
two, three boggies...the whole board's lighting up!
The RADAR
TECH 2 hits a KLAXON, stabs phone line buttons.
EXT. MANHATTEN - MORNING
Traffic is ground to a halt. CAMERA MOVES into a cab. STU, the
Cabbie, with an ASIAN TOURIST, who's craning his neck out the
window.
Asian Tourist : What's the
problem? Stu : Could be a couple of things: shootin', stabbin',
dead guy (shrugs) Well, it's Friday, payday. Could be a jumper.
A
projectile the size of a dump truck SCREAMS through the sky and
blasts through three huge buildings.
More projectiles explode in the intersection. Cars get thrown
everywhere. Stu's cab slams upside down into JOHNNY'S BAR.
ONE BLOCK DOWN. THE ENTIRE TOP FIVE STORIES -- A sheared section
topples and hits the street below. Bricks, mortar and gargoyles
everywhere.
EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - PENTAGON - DAY
Establishing, over which we hear RINGING PHONES.
EXT. PENTAGON - GENERAL TEMPLE'S OFFICE - DAY
Chaos in the corridors. GENERAL TEMPLE, Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, a man of stature, bursts out of his office, met
by his SECRETARY.
Secretary : We're getting
reports as far away as Greenland and parts of Mexico!
Temple : Get me Dan Goldman on the secure phone.
Temple
enters his office and picks up a secure phone.
INT. MISSION CONTROL - INSIDE THE GLASS-ENCASED ROOM
Golden enters the room and sits down. Technician Flip hands him a
secure phone. Golden sinks into his chair. In the b.g., VIDEO
MONITORS show twenty live feeds from T.V. stations across the
country.
Temple : (V.O.) Can you go
secure?
Golden : (presses a button on the phone) I am secure. Go ahead,
General.
He
listens...WE HEAR the distinct gargled voice of a secure line.
Golden : When?
Temple : (V.O.) Twelve minutes ago. Now you know what happened to
your shuttle.
INTERCUT -
GOLDEN / TEMPLE
INT. PENTAGON - GENERAL TEMPLE'S OFFICE - DAY
Temple paces in his office.
Temple : I'm going to brief
the President. What's going on here, Dan? Why didn't we have
warning?
Golden : Tell the president it's called "budget cuts."
We don't have enough telescopes to track the skies.
Temple : Is it over?
Golden : I don't know. We'll figure it out. (hangs up)
INT.
MISSION CONTROL - INSIDE THE GLASS-ENCASED ROOM
Flip enters the room. Skip writes notes....
Golden : (to Skip and Flip)
Fly a team up to New York. Contact every Space Watch facility in
the world. We gotta find what part of the sky this is coming
from.
Skip : I'll call J.P.L. and get the Hubble telescope on it.
Golden : Did we find who made the phone call last night?
Flip : The F.B.I.'s on it.
INT.
KENTUCKY - DORMITORY ROOM
Theo is sleeping. The door is RAMMED in. Two F.B.I. AGENTS ROAR
into the room, overwhelming him.
EXT. KENTUCKY - COLLEGE CAMPUS
Pearl and Jimbo are walking across campus. TWO BLACK SEDANS pull
up. The kids increase their pace.The sedans SKID to a stop.
F.B.I. AGENTS spring from the cars, cuff them and CUT TO :
MANHATTEN - JOHNNY'S - DAY
Stu's upside down cab, in front of Johnny's. A tow truck removes
dented cars from the trashed intersection. Career drunks, FRANK,
FRED and WILLIE, stand in the threshold looking out at the
devastated intersection. Stu sits on top of his cab, Listening to
the guys:
Frank : This city sucks...
Fred : What the hell was it?
Willie : They're sayin' it's space rocks.
Stu : Rocks from space, my ass. That, my friends, was the work of
the big Saddam. That was big-ass Iraqi missiles
INT.
MANHATTAN - SUBWAY - DAY
F.B.I. AGENTS and N.A.S.A. SCIENTISTS examine a CHUNK OF
ASTEROID, still smouldering, which has ripped through the roof
and floor of a subway car. The plastic seats and aluminium
panelling of the car has melted.
EXT. KENTUCKY - INTERROGATION ROOM - AFTERNOON
Jimbo, Theo and Pearl sit in front of three F.B.I. AGENTS. Two
N.A.S.A. ASTRONOMERS look over the kids' TELESCOPE PHOTOS with
concern.
Jimbo : So, that N.A.S.A. guy wasn't kiddin; about bein' arrested
and....
Federal Agent : Please shut up.
Jimbo : Yes, absolutely, yes sir.
N.A.S.A. Astronomer : I'm a N.A.S.A. astronomer. When were these
photos taken?
Federal Agent : And which of you called N.A.S.A. Mission Control
last night?
Jimbo : (points at Theo) Him.
Theo : (points at Jimbo) Him.
Jimbo : I was calling the Houston area code, which is 713. I was
calling 712, which is outside Spokane, Washington, where my Aunt
Zelda....
N.A.S.A. Astronomer : Tell us the exact ascension angle of your
telescope when this was taken.
Theo : It's our discovery. No way.
N.A.S.A. Astronomer : Your "discovery" killed close to
100 people in New York alone - people who could've used a
warning.
Jimbo, Theo
and Pearl lower their eyes.
Jimbo : Our math must've been off! we thought it was gonna pass
the Earth!
Pearl : Ascension 712, retention 345.
F.B.I. Agent 2 : And you've told no one about this- not your
teachers, not your friends?
N.A.S.A. Astronomer : (into cellular phone) J.P.L., please.
Search co-ordinates...
INT.
PASADENA CALIFORNIA - J.P.L. - NIGHT
N.A.S.A.'s Jet Propulsion Laboratory: home of the HUBBLE SPACE
TELESCOPE. Two J.P.L. TECHNICIANS man the Hubble's control
console.
J.P.L. Technician 1 : New
info! Plot co-ordinates 712 by 345. Let's move on high-resolution
imaging.
J.P.L. TECHNICIAN 2 punches the co-ordinates into a control
console.
EXT. OUTER
SPACE - CONTINUOUS (DAY)
The HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE floats by in geosynchronous orbit. The
telescope tilts, repositioning in view.
INT. PASADENA CALIFORNIA - J.P.L. - NIGHT
Images from the Hubble arrive on a high resolution printer.
J.P.L. Technician 1 grabs four PHOTOS from the printer.
Technician 2 swipes stuff off the console, making room. Together
they arrange the four photos. They star silently at the awesome
COMPOSITE PHOTO.
J.P.L. Technician 1 :
Motherfu......
INT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - ENCLOSED ROOM - NIGHT
Golden and all his TECHNICIANS crowd around a console, staring at
a smaller version of the COMPOSITE PHOTO.
Golden : Copies to the
Pentagon, Colorado Space Command, and the Washington office. We
gotta compute size, composition, speed, impact point
WE SEE the
photo -- A HUGE ASTEROID
EXT. OUTER SPACE - CONTINUOUS - DAY
CAMERA PUSHES THROUGH A CLOUD OF ROCKY, ICY DEBEIS, penetrating
the cloud until the HUGE ASTEROID CORE comes into clear view -- a
mass of dirt and ice -- rough, craggy, menacing. INT. N.A.S.A. -
BRIEFING ROOM - NIGHT
Golden and Clark enter. A group of ten N.A.S.A. SENIOR
TECHNICIANS are all talking at once.
Golden : Okay guys, one of the worst days in N.A..S.A history
just got worse. Ten million to one. A rogue comet came from deep
space and collided with an asteroid. Some
kids
actually got a picture of the collision event and told no one.
The stuff that hit this morning was the collision's
forward-thrown matter, mere pebbles from what's
about
to come. Walter?
Clark : A big asteroid. E.T.A., eighteen days. A lot bigger than
the five mile one that obliterated the dinosaurs. Golden : The
size of Texas.
Silence.
Everybody stares at each other.
The phone CHIRPS.
Golden's Secretary : Director, the Pentagon.
Golden hits a button.
A LARGE T.V. SCREEN establishes AUDIO/VISUAL link.
INTERCUT; PENTAGON - SITUATION ROOM/ N.A.S.A. - BRIEFING ROOM
INT. PENTAGON - SITUATION ROOM - NIGHT
Temple sits with the Joint Chiefs, White House Chief of Staff,
the Directors of the N.A.S.A., C.I.A., etc.
Temple : Dan, we're all
here. Tell us what we're up against.
Golden : (V.O.) In it's simplest terms? The end of Mankind. One
asteroid, one mile wide or bigger, impacts the Earth with the
equivalent force of all the nuclear weapons in the
world,
times a thousand. Half our population will die within 24 hours
from tidal waves and heat pulses. The other half won't be so
lucky. In the end, it will be men
eating
the flesh of other men. (beat) It's not the end of the world,
General, the world - Earth - will still be here. But there will
be no life - maybe cockroaches and
some
resilient strands of bacteria.
Temple : Well, that's really positive, Dan. The President just
got off the phone with the Russians. They're just about to launch
a new Mars Probe on the biggest rocket in the
world.
Golden and the N.A.S.A. BRASS exchange sceptical looks.
Golden : (V.O) With the worst guidance system in the world. Their
Mars Probe in '96 was found by a pygmy tribe in Africa.
Temple : They're going to pull off the probe and replace it with
four Atlas Class IV nuclear warheads. Enough punch in their
opinion - not to break it up - but to slow it down
enough
to miss Earth's orbit. Golden : (V.O) Their launch date is set
for next month.
Temple : They're going to move it up.
Golden : (V.O) To when?
Temple :
Sixteen hours from now.
All the N.A.S.A. Technicians CLAMOR at once.
Golden : (V.O) What are
they gonna do, glue, spit, and scotch tape it together? Even if
they get a nuke out to the asteroid, a surface nuclear detonation
is not going to work.
The
only way is to split the thing in half and hope the two pieces
slide past us.
Temple : Thank you for bringing up the impossible, Dan.
Colinswood : People, the President's joining us, Mr. President?
President : (V.O) Well, this has been a tough day. The media's
all over this. They're going to get nothing. Telling the public
we might all be dead in eighteen days achieves
nothing
but panic.
Golden : (V.O) Mr President, finding this speck in the sky is a
very hard thing to do unless you have the exact co-ordinates.
There are only twelve telescopes powerful enough
to
see it right now. You've got a full moon goin' for four days -
makes it all but impossible to see.. Once these things draw
closer to Earth, you'll never keep a lid on
this.
No way.
INT. N.A.S.A. BRIEFING ROOM - NIGHT
The video screen blinks off. Golden looks at his Techs.
Golden : How many of you are as scared as I am?
Golden
raises his hand. All the other N.A.S.A. Techs, one by one, raise
their hands.
Golden : One giant leap for Mankind. Everyone remember that? This
is what we are going to do. We're going to fly to that asteroid
with a nuclear device, implant it and get off
before
it blows. Quincy?
All eyes
turn to N.A.S.A. Chief of R&D, RONALD QUINCY. Quincy has coke
bottle glasses and a 198 I.Q.
Quincy : Look: set a fire cracker off in your open palm, you get
a third degree burn. Close your fist, It'll do some serious
damage. If we can get a nuke deep in one of the
asteroid's
fault lines, she'll split in two, like a diamond.
Golden : You're all looking art us like we're crazy. We're not.
Skip : Dan, our currant shuttle fleet is too old and too slow.
Golden : What I'm going to tell you is a breach of national
security and could land me in jail, but in eighteen days there
arnt' gonna be any jails, so....We're not gonna use a
current
shuttle. Gentlemen, I'm talking about the X-71.
Skip : It's done?
Quincy : Has been for three months.
EXT.
ARIZONA DESERT - FLIGHT TESTING FACILITY - DAY
N.A.S.A.'s flight testing facility. A flat, hard, dry area
dominated by an ENORMOUS HANGER. The HANGER DOOR is open; breeze
blows back a BLACK SILK TARPAULIN, revealing the X-71's NOSE.
Technicians come and go.
INT. N.A.S.A - BRIEFING ROOM - DAY
Golden : Time is our enemy.
This is like the race to the Moon, guys - what this Agency was
founded on.
Skip : Boss, we're good at space travel, but you're talkin' about
drilling a hole.
Golden : Quincy's been working on excavating the ice from the
Moon - he's gonna reorient his thinking. Right, Quince?
Quincy : Right. And the first thing I'm gonna do is talk to the
guy I ripped off. His name is Harry S. Stamper. He's the best oil
driller in the world.
Golden : I don't care who he is, what he's doing.
EXT. NORWAY
COAST - NORTH SEA - "TROLL" OIL RIG - DAY
SUPER : DAY TWO
Close on a GOLF BALL. THWACK! The golf ball EXPLODES off the tee
from an oil rig. The "TROLL" is the largest man-made
structure in the world - 12 aircraft carriers big and 1200 feet
tall. A self-contained city.
HARRY STAMPER, world's foremost expert on offshore deep drilling,
immaculately attired in golf attire and spikes, stands on a patch
of Astroturf with a five iron in his hand. Piped-in MOZART drown
out the rig noise.
EXT. "TROLL" - DRILLING PLATFORM - "A"
DERRICK - DAY
The main drilling platform. On "A" derrick, Chief
Driller, A.J. FROST, 30, handsome, is at the controls. Roughnecks
"JUMBO" CARTWRIGHT, "BEAR" BROWN,
"CHICK" CHAPPLE, TITO GUEVARA, and MAX LOGAN, handle 20
foot sections of PIPE DRILLING SRTRING with a HYDRAULIC TONG AND
CLAMP.
Roughneck BENNIE MORGAN, late 20's an ox of a man, comes across
the platform, pulling an oily green coveralls and donning his
hard-hat. Bennie examines the rig's DOWNHOLE PRESSURE GAUGE.
Bennie : Chick! take a look
at this!
Chick : Pressure's been up all morning. She kicked twice on me.
A.J.'s eyes
move to a TALL BLOND MAN on his lunch break across the rig.
A.J. : What did our always-at-lunch-Swedish geologist say?
Bennie : Jah, jah, jah. No bleeper. Too much pressure.
Chick : You askin' the old man?
A.J. nods
and walks off.
EXT. "TROLL" RIG - TOP TIER
Harry HITS another ball. WE REVEAL his target, a GREENPEACE BOAT
anchored off the rig. The BALL strikes the side of the boat, just
missing the head of ONE of the PROTESTERS.
Harry : Almost caught that little bastard.
He admires
his shot as his daughter, GRACE, walks up. Grace is late 20's,
business dress, Harvard Law.
Grace : Having fun?
Harry HITS
another ball. It misses the boat, skips across the water.
Grace : Sure sliced the shit outta that one. (frowns)
Harry : Watch your language, Gracie.
Grace : Seagulls swallow those and they die.
Harry : Stupid birds.
Harry's
EYES move to a GROUP OF GREENPEACE PROTESTERS across the rig,
being held back by Stamper Oil SECURITY GUARDS.
Grace : I just talked with
A.J.
Harry : Talking to him quite a bit these days....
Grace : (awkward pause) "A" rig's acting up. The drill
string kicked twice this morning, gave Chick a nasty bruise in
the head.
Harry : Good. He's not vulnerable there.
Grace : Chase Manhatten okayed the bridge financing for the
Micronesia Project, but at 21 percent interest. And Lloyd's of
London refuses to underwrite the Venezuela>
Project....
Harry : Thieves and cowards, all of 'em. Twist their arms.
Grace : I am.
Harry : Keep twisting. Like a pit bull.
Grace : Oh, and that magazine article - they want some human
interest stuff - likes and dislikes. "Likes" I said
Golf, Fly Fishing, Single Malt Scotch, Old Movies. What about
"Dislikes?"
Harry : Any kind of flying and oil company executives. Go deal
with 'em. I always look better when you're doing the talking.
Harry HITS another ball. CLANG.
Grace : You know you donate
300 grand a year to Greenpeace.
Harry smiles at the contradiction.
Harry : What'd your mother call me?
Grace : Complicated.
Harry : Yeah well....I'm complicated.
Grace walks
off, passing A.J., winking at him. A.J. winks back.
A.J. : What's his mood?
Grace : Complicated.
A.J. walks
up to Harry.
Harry : I understand we're
having problems with "A" rig.
A.J. : I'm on top of it (Harry picks up his bag) Harry, you have
a second?
Harry : Yeah. One.
A.J. : I'll hurry. I've worked for you for a long time.
Harry : Twelve years.
A.J. : And you've been real good to me....
Harry : Another company make you an offer, kid?
A.J. : No. The reason I am here, today, standing here, talking to
you. I'm obviously talking to you...but it's, you know, not,
uhh...it's not an oil-related matter exactly....
Harry : You're sweating, A.J.
A.J. : You know there comes a time in a man's life when...(to
himself) No, that's a cliché...(to Harry) Can I start again? I,
uhh, fell...I've fallen...
Harry : You hurt yourself?
A.J. : In love, I mean. Fallen in love. It's the damnedest thing,
but this person you...know...really well.
ACROSS THE
PLATFORM - Grace escorts five angry OIL INDUSTRY EXECUTIVES over
to Harry. A KLAXON SOUNDS. Harry, alarmed, rushes right past
them, toward the "A" Derrick. They follow, snapping at
his heels:
Oil Executive 1 : You explicitly promised results at 25 thousand
feet.
Harry : We have results.
Oil Executive 2 : But we don't have oil. We've given you
everything you've asked....
Harry : Horseshit. What the...? Chick! Bennie! Somebody better
tell me why the hell "A" derrick is not turning!
Chick
hurries up to Harry.
Chick : The uhh....the Greenpeace guys.
Harry
approaches "A" Derrick. Five MEMBERS of Greenpeace have
handcuffed themselves in a circle around the drilling pipe.
Harry : Hey there, what can
I do for you?
Greenpeace Leader : This is an official protest.
Harry : 'Course it is. I love you guys. You like dolphins and
whales, I like 'em too. Hey, I know you. You too. Didn't you have
shorter hair?
Greenpeace Leader : Stamper, do you know what this thing does to
the eco-system?
Harry : How'd you get out here? Canoe? Rowboat? Oh, that boat
down there with a thousand horsepower diesel!
Greenpeace Leader : How can you wake up every day and look at
yourself in the mirror?
Harry : The same way you did when you blow-dried your hair this
morning. And you used a curling iron, I betcha. Did you know most
electricity's from burning oil? I'' stop
drillin'
when the world - stops usin' it. Bennie, start 'er up!
Greenpeace Leader : Wait........
Harry : Can't wait! I'm a businessman! Those goons over there
gave me 57 mil. to find oil and they ain't leavin' till I do!
'cause they have no lives!
The drill
string begins to turn in the hole.
Greenpeace Leader :
We....we threw away the key.
Harry : Sorry. Time is money. BENNIE!
The MASSIVE
HYDRAULIC KELLY begins to descend on the Greenpeace Activists'
heads.
Greenpeace Leader :
STOP!!!!
Harry : Bennie! Third gear!
The
Greenpeace Leader miraculously produces a key and frantically
begins unlocking the handcuffs.
Grace turns to the oil executives.
Grace : He's good at public
relations.
A.J.
approaches Grace; they watch Harry.
Grace : So? (A.J. stares at
her) What? (no response) What? (no response) A.J.?
Suddenly,
across "A" Derrick, a KLAXON SOUNDS.
Chick : She's kickin'!
The
civilians get the hell away.
Harry and A.J. run toward the rig.
Chick : Pressure's north of
seven thousand!
A.J. : We gotta clear the Derrick!
Harry : (looks at wellhead) Chick, rig up another pipe. (Chick
and Bennie look at Harry with uncertainty) NOW, NOT TOMORROW.
CHick and
Bennie begin clamping, and tong a PIPE STRAND onto the DRILL
STRING like an INDY PIT STOP CREW.
A.J. : Harry, we've hit
pressure. We gotta bleed it off. e go any deeper, we'll blow the
rig.
Harry : Thanks for that opinion. Chick, full speed!
A.J. : The bit's five thousand feet down! Full speed'll rip the
pipe apart!
Harry : You learn all this in college? I been doing this thirty
years, kid. Get on the controls.
A.J. moves
reluctantly to the DRILLING CONTROLS. Chick nods to A.J., who
engages the gears. The PIPE STRING turns at FULL SPEED. The new
drill pipe descends ten feet into the hole, then....
The torque rips the NEWLY ATTACHED PIPE from the drilling string.
The drill spins freely.
A.J. hits the "stop! lever and stares at Harry.
The roughnecks converge around the wellhead.
A.J. : I'm goin' down.
Reattach it. Gimme a wrench and a band coupling.
Chick hand
the items to A.J.
A.J. descends into the drilling hole.
INT. DOWN THE DRILLING HOLE - DAY
A.J., holding his breath under water, shimmies down the drilling
pipe feet-first, inside the water-filled concrete tube running
from the rig to the ocean floor.
A.J. begins wrestling the disconnected sections together. EXT.
RIG - "A" DERRICK
The wellhead KICKS. The rig platform shakes and shudders.
SEAWATER erupts from the wellhead.
Chick : The drill hole's flooding!
Grace : A.J.!!
Harry
strips off his jacket and climbs into the wellhead. He takes a
huge breath and disappears into the brine-filled drilling hole.
INT. DRILLING HOLE
A.J. is pinned against the hole wall by one of the disconnected
pipes. Harry comes down the hole. He plants his back against the
hole wall and kicks the pipe, freeing A.J. A slow, deep, RUMBLE
emanates from below. The Briny water inside the hole suddenly
turns BLACK and VISCOUS.
A.J. and Harry exchange an alarmed look. Harry, then A.J., pull
for the surface, up the drilling hole as --
EXT. DRILLING PLATFORM - "A" DERRICK - DAY
-- the wellhead KICKS again. The rig platform SHUDDERS violently.
The derrick sways. SEAWATER SPEWS up from the wellhead.
Chick : Get back, she's
gonna blow!
Grace,
Chick, Bennie and the other Roughnecks huddle around the flooded
drilling hole, waiting. Tense, agonising seconds pass.
Harry scrambles out, covered in....CRUDE OIL.
He grabs Grace and pulls her away.
Grace : Where's A.J.!!!?
Harry : RIGHT BEHIND ME! RUN!
The
platform SHAKES. Harry, Grace, and the others sprint away as --
A GEYSER OF CRUDE OIL erupts from the drilling hole, blowing A.J.
out of the hole fifteen feet above the wellhead. A.J. crashes to
the platform floor.
CRUDE OIL rains down on Grace and the Roughnecks...they run to
A.J.
Grace : Never do that
again!
CLOSE ON
A.J. - he's looking back at the DRILL HOLE, panting, traumatised,
greasy oil raining on his head.
A.J. : You know how I told
you there were two obstacles? I didn't do the first,'cause he's
tough...but I did the second...! (pulls out case; opens it) I got
it at uhm..Tiffany's. I
can't give it to
you until I talk to him, but try it on.
She reaches
for the ring. It slips from A.J.'s hand and falls through the
grated floor, pinging off the rig's steel pylons, 100 feet into
the sea below.
Grace : Don't worry!
Tiffany's insures up to a week from purchase!
A.J. stares
despondently over the railing.
Harry, black with crude oil, staggers past A.J.
A.J. : (pointedly) Good
plan, Harry.
Harry : (walks over to Oil Execs) There's your oil, gentlemen.
Now get the hell off my rig.
INT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY
Golden, Clark, Skip, Flip and the rest of the Mission Control
Technicians watch a live feed from Russia. A RUSSIAN ENERGIA
SUPER BOOSTER ROCKET sits on its launch platform.
Flip : Look it that sucker.
They got a nuke up there in sixteen hours?
Skip : It'll never fly. Never.
Clark : Three things the Russians make well, guys - vodka,
gymnasts and rockets. Don't count 'em out.
Golden : It's the late 20th century, I run the U.S. Space
Program, and I'm praying to God the Russians are better at this
than we are....
EXT. RUSSIA
SPACE CENTER - SMOLINSKAYA A.F. BASE - DAY
The ground begins to SHAKE uncontrollably. EXHAUST billows out
from the Rocket's BOOSTERS. The Russian rocket blasts off and
lifts into....
Something's wrong. The Rocket stops accelerating and stands still
for a moment. It falls to Earth; BLOWING UP in a thunderous
inferno.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY
Golden, Clark, and all the N.A.S.A. Techs stare at the burning
rocket.
Golden : So, where's our
oil driller?
EXT. RIG -
"A" DERRICK
A champagne cork POPS and WIDEN TO Harry, Grace, A.J., and all
fifty Roughnecks. The wellhead's been capped; pumping 2500
gallons per minute.
Harry : To Hole Number
Seventy-Six!
Roughnecks : (UNISON) Hole Number Seventy-Six!
The Oil
Executives stand off, watching.
Oil Executive 1 :
Seventy-Six?
Oil Executive 2 : This is Harry's Seventy-Sixth straight hit.
Oil Executive 1 : The man's a legend.
We hear the
WHOP, WHOP, WHOP of HELICOPTER BLADES. Harry, Grace and A.J. turn
toward the noise.
TWO U.S. ARMY BLACKHAWK HELICOPTERS whirr across the choppy
ocean.
EXT. OIL RIG - TOP TIER HELI-PAD - MINUTES LATER
The helicopters land on the heli-pad on the oil rig's top tier,
MAJOR STINSON, 50's, wearing formal dress and sunglasses along
with two strapping ADJUTANTS stride across the rig.
Major Stinson : Harry
Stamper? I'm Major William Stinson, United States Army. I need a
few words with you. In private.
Harry : Say it now, say it quick, or get off my rig, Major. I've
got a business to run here.
Major Stinson : You've been summoned back to the States.
Harry : Who's doin' the summoning?
Major Stinson : Your Government, Mr Stamper.
INT.
SOMEPLACE IN KENTUCKY - HOLDING CELL - NIGHT
Jimbo, Theo and Pearl sit
in a holding cell some place. Jimbo's banging on the door.
Jimbo : Hey, zipperheads! Ever watch "L.A. Law?" Right
to remain silent, right to an attorney? My brother's a bad-ass
lawyer - he's gonna sue your asses to Mars. I was in pre-
law
for a month - you can't put somebody in jail for makin' a phone
call!!!
Pearl : It isn't about that, Jimbo. We saw something we weren't
supposed to.
Theo : Something they're not telling the public.
Jimbo : Yeah, that's why they were so hot for the co-ordinates.
Do you think it's an asteroid? Or comet?
Theo : I dunno - but I bet it's a whopper.
INT.
N.A.S.A. FLIGHT MISSION ROOM - DAY
Harry, AJ. and Grace are led into the room by Stinson. Quincy's
eyes move to Harry --
Quincy : He's here.
Quincy,
Clark and Golden stand, approach --
Quicy : (cont'd) Dan
Golden, meet Mister Harry Stamper, the finest oil driller in the
world.
Golden : Mister Stamper..(shaking hands) Dan Golden, I'm Director
of --
Harry : I know who you are. I watched T.V. once. Apollo 8, right?
First manned lunar orbit.
Golden : That was a long time ago. I run this place now. And
we've got a serious problem on our hands that Quincy here thinks
you might be able to help us out with --
Quincy
eagerly outstretches his hand. They shake. Quincy doesn't let go.
Quincy : I'm a big fan, Mr.
Stamper.
Harry : I kinda caught that. (to Golden) What's the problem,
gentlemen?
Golden : I wonder if we might speak alone?
Harry : These two are my right and left arms. Grace Stamper and
Albert Jack Frost. Stupid name, so we call him A.J.. (handshakes)
They run my company. You talk to me, you
talk
to them.
Golden : Okay.
Golden
direct everyone into --
INT. N.A.S.A. - BRIEFING ROOM - DAY
Golden, Temple, Clark, Harry, Grace, and A.J. sit in a dark room
viewing a VIDEOTAPE. Quincy stands beside the projector,
supplying narration. On the tape we see Harry on a rig platform
shaking hands with an ARAB BUSINESSMAN --
Harry : Great, home movies.
Grace and
A.J. smile.
Quincy : Nineteen eighty
five. The first well drilled over 50 thousand feet. They said it
couldn't be done. You did it. Incredible.
ON THE
SCREEN - Harry's on another rig, shaking hands with an INDONESIAN
BUSINESSMAN. Harry leans over and kisses the bit. The Businessmen
shake their heads, awed.
Quincy : (cont'd) Nineteen
Ninety-One. Directional drilling through two miles of anthracite.
They also said that couldn't be done. You did it. Incredible.
Harry looks
at Quincy strangely; this sure is a bizarre form of celebrity.
Quicy : (cont'd) Ninteen
Ninety-Three. The first hole over seventy thousand. Once again
they said --
Golden : Move it along, Quincy.
Quincy : Right, sorry. Mister Stamper, you're the world's
foremost expert in deep drilling. You hold specialized patents in
high speed bits, drilling fluids, downhole motors
Can I call you Harry?
Harry : Stick with Stamper.
Golden : Well, Mister Stamper, we need you to drill a hole. It's
in a difficult place.
Harry : I've drilled in them all.
Golden : Not...this place. This is really out there. (beat)
Space, Mister Stamper.
Harry : As in...outer?
SATELLITE
PHOTOS OF THE ASTEROID come up on the screen --
Temple : You've watched the
news the last 24 hours? You heard about the meteor shower? (Harry
nods) What you don't know is that an asteroid is on a collision
course with
Earth.
If it hits us, Earth as we know it will be over.
Golden : We're manning a mission to that asteroid to plant a
nuclear device in it's core. To do that we need to drill an eight
hundred foot hole.
Harry looks
at A.J. and Grace.
Harry : A.J., is this guy
shitting me?
A.J. : I don't think they shit people at N.A.S.A., Harry --
Harry : An eight hundred foot hole. On a moving asteroid. In
space.
Golden : All we want is your advice in perfecting our drilling
arm, any help you can provide. We'll pay your usual consultancy,
of course. Harry : Show me your rig.
INT.
N.A.S.A. - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT - DAY
Quincy leads Golden, Harry, A.J., Grace, and Clark through
N.A.S.A.'s Research and Development area. This place looks like
"Q's" weapons shop from the James Bond movies as funded
by every company on the fortune 500 --
Huge, clinically clean, dominated by MASSIVE ROCKET ENGINES.
TECHNICIANS in white coats and hairnets work on a variety of
equipment.
TECHNICIANS hunch over a ROVER VEHICE, not the golf cart used on
the moon. This is low, squat, sturdy, with an enclosed airlocked
passenger compartment.
Quincy : The
"Armadillo" - our fourth generation rover. It carries a
six-cell solar engine with 824 horses. This was a joint venture
with the Germans. (winks) It's designed by
Porsche.
Quincy
motions to TWO TECHNICIANS. They roll over a ROBOTIC ARM on a
gurney, powered by an ELECTRIC MOTOR. The robotic arm is
connected to an OIL DRILLING BIT.
Harry : Where's the Kelly?
Quincy : This baby works without one.
Harry : How does it work?
Harry
starts to inspect the bit.
Quincy : It works through a
series of complexly designed differential gears.
Harry's
face tightens, as he studies the bit further --
Harry : This is my Patent.
Quincy : "Drilling Power Transfer Without Conventional
Hydraulics," by Harry S. Stamper. You registered it with the
U.S. Patent Office last year. Harry : You stole it.
Quincy : We just borrowed it, Mister Stamper.
Quincy
unpockets a remote control panel and presses a button. The drill
bit presses down into a block of concrete and begins to rapidly
CHEW through it, as Harry marvels at the realisation of his
design.
Quincy : (cont'd) We built
this arm to mine ice from the moon -- greatest discovery in space
in thirty years.
Harry : What'd this cost?
Golden : Ten million.
Quincy : Twenty-our million.
Harry : Boy, I'm in the wrong line of work. So, that's where my
taxes go. For thievin' incompetent, government employed rip-off
artists?
A.J. : No torque adjustment, no pressure release valve....a big
hunk of junk.
Quincy : We're working on that.
Harry : What happens if you hit gas? You have three seconds.
Drill faster, run like hell, or pray. (beat) Time's up. You're
dead., The rig just blew.
Golden : Gentlemen, gentlemen, wait a second. The crux of the
matter....
Harry : Hang on. I betcha everyone in this room has a PH.D.
Golden : Or three....
Harry : I left school after tenth grade. I earned my PH.D every
day offshore drilling holes. You can't get it in a book. Drilling
holes is about instinct - about smellin' it. Drillin'
holes
is an art. You want the crux of the matter?(beat) You stole my
patent, and you don't have a goddamn idea how to use it. As for
this piece o' crap, don't insult me.
(walks
around the rig) I'll rebuild it - the right way - and drill the
hole for you.
Grace : Uhm, pop, could we discuss this...?
Harry : Just give me a space suit.
Golden : You won't need one. You're not going up.
Harry : You don't have a choice. I think all you PH.D's know
that.
Harry walks
off. Grace and A.J. follow.
Golden : (calling after
Harry) Harry. Let's figure this out.
INT.
N.A.S.A. - CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
Harry sits opposite Golden and Temple. Grace and A.J. stand
behind him.
Harry : First of all,
you're going to buy my patent.
Temple : Of course, completely in order. What is the price?
Harry : Fifty million dollars.
Uncomfortable
pause. Temple clears his throat.
Temple : Mr. Stamper, this
mission is to preserve the future of....
Harry : You're right, too low. I'm still pissed. Seventy million.
Temple : Done.
Harry looks
to Grace.
Harry : Give that money to
my Greenpeace buddies. (smile) Told you...complicated.
Harry goes
to shake, pulls back --
Harry : (cont'd) And I
never want to pay taxes again.
Temple : I'll call the I.R.S., try to uhm, explain the situation.
They begin
to shake. Harry withdraws his hand.
Harry : I have this great
log cabin in Montana. It's kind of a nature...getaway...thing.
Temple : You want us to buy that, too?
Harry : No. I fly fish there. But the fly fishin's sucked ever
since they put in that goddamn hydro-electric dam. I want it gone
by the time I get back.
Temple
reluctantly nods. They stand to shake, Harry pulls away again.
Harry : (cont'd) Now about
my crew.
Golden : The deal was for you, not others.
Harry : I'm only as good as the men I work with. The ones in
those home movies of yours.
Golden : It's out of the question.
Harry
half-smiles to Grace.
Golden : (cont'd) Okay,
who?
Harry :My chief tool pusher. You game A.J.? A.J. : Wouldn't miss
it, Harry.
Harry : And my roughnecks, Roustabouts, and Rockhound?
Temple : Rock what? Is that a dog?
Harry : No. Just a meek, geek geophysicist.
Golden : What kind of men are these?
INT.
SUPERSTRETCH LIMOUSINE - DAY
Bennie, Chick (30's, a street philosopher), Max (35, hulky),
TITO, and ROCKHOUND (small, wiry) are riding in high style. Chick
is hanging out of the sun roof with his shirt off. Radio's on
full blast. Rockhound's pouring whiskey from the fancy decanters.
Chick : We're living LARGE!
Bennie : (talking on a cellular phone) Give me nickels on Miami,
Washington, San Diego, and Green Bay. (listens) Quit whining.
Last thing I need is to be friends with my bookie. (listens, then
angry) (MORE)
Bennie : (cont'd) Look, when the entire Mexican Army had Butch
and the Sundance Kid trapped in that Hacienda, did they wait to
die? Hell no. They went out guns blazing. I live
by
the code of that movie, man.
Bennie
hangs up the phone, he looks across from him at -- Tito Guevara,
late 30's, stocky, tattooed, Latino, (reformed 118th Street L.A.
o.g. gangbanger who was rescued from the streets ten years back
and put to work on a rig by Harry) is reading a book: "Men
are from Mars, Women are from Venus."
Chick drops down into his seat, continues his heated discussion
with Max.
Chick : Charlie Bronson
could kick Steve McQueen's ass and have enough left over to duke
it out with Burt Reynolds in his "Smokey and the
Bandit" period.
Max : I'm glad you qualified that shit 'cause you know the Burt
Reynolds of "Deliverence" would have kicked Charlie's
ass. Chick : Burt was trouble in that flick.
Max : What would you say the all-time, slam-bam,
take-no-prisoners, kick-ass Charlie Bronson movie is?
Chick : All time? Well, let me think. "Dirty Dozen,"
the first "Death Wish." No, no! That movie where he
hunted the buffalo. I don't remember the name but he hunted a
buffalo
and he said like three words
during the whole picture. That's my selection.
Max : Fine. The buffalo movie. That's your pick. You relly think
that buffalo Charlie could have thrown-down with the Steve
McQueen form "Bullitt?"
Chick : He'da whooped his ass and then his father's. We'll settle
this right now. Rockhound? You heard the debate. You're the
Supreme Court. What's the final verdict?
Rockhound : Tough call. But for me though, one name --
Poncherello. Eric Estrada. You know, "Chips."
Chick and
Max just look at him. A beat. Then --
Max : What did you ask him
for? Guy makes his living looking at rocks.
The limo
pulls over and stops. The DRIVER gets out and walks to the rear
door. Opens it.
EXT. N.A.S.A. - FRONT OF FACILITY - DAY
The Roughnecks get out in front of the JOHNSON SPACE CENTER. They
stare up at the familiar N.A.S.A. LOGO imprinted on the building.
Chick and Bennie exchange looks --
BEHIND THEM :
A battered Ford pick-up pulls up, driven by 71 year-old
"MAMA" MABEL BROWN. Mabel's six foot-five, 375 pound
son, BEAR, gets out of the car.
Bear : 'Bye, Mama.
Mabel : Reginald, get over here and kiss your Mama goodbye.
Bear : In front of the guys?
Mabel : Never too old to kiss your Mama.
JUMBO,
six-foot five, 375 pounds, bald, pulls up on a HARLEY DAVIDSON
motorcycle. He climbs off the bike.
Chick : There ain't no oil
in this place. What the hell are we doing here?
INT.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - MEDICAL WING - DAY
Harry has just briefed his crew on the mission.
Bear : ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR
MIND?
Chick : Harry, this is some "Star Wars" shit. This
ain't for us.
Harry : It's a job, like any other. Just a different location.
Max : We work rigs. We understand rigs. We don't know dick about
being astronauts.
Rockhound : (pointing) I might add that to get us up there
they're going to have to strap our asses on one of those rockets.
That means fire, involuntary shit release, and a
slew of other stuff I can't hang with.
Jumbo : We don't have "The Right Stuff," know what I'm
saying? (looking around) We're Roughnecks. Harry : I'd rather die
up there fighting this thing than sit here waiting for
it.
Harry's
line hangs in the air. Everyone exchanges looks.
Bear : I don't like the
idea of waiting around to croak. It's wimpy.
Chick : If Harry-the-iron-ass is going, I'm going with him.
Bear : Hell, I'm going just so I can say I went. (shrugs) Once we
get up there, it's making hole.
Tito : I'm in.
INT.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY
Max, Chick, and Tito sit in HOSPITAL SMOCKS on two examination
tables. They have tattoos, long hair. A cigarette dangles from
Tito's lips. AIR FORCE NURSES are everywhere. A NURSE clips a
SWATCH OF HAIR from each of the men. She comes to Tito. He grabs
her arm. Takes the scissors from her.
Tito : Nobody touches my
hair but me.
He cuts a
SWATCH of hair, gives it to her. A SECOND NURSE is in front of
Max and Tito.
Max : You're not taking any
more blood. You vampires already have enough to feed your coven
for a year.
Nurse : (nasally-voiced) We need to know what substances you've
recently ingested.
Tito : What, uhh, "substances" you talkin' about?
Nurse : (matter of fact) Drugs.
Ma and Tito
eye each other nervously. Head Nurse, HELGA, stands before Chick
with an ENAMA PROBE and a JAR OF VASELINE.
Chick : An Ena-WHAT?
Helga : Enema.
Chick : And you want to stick it where?
Helga
sticks the ENEMA PROBE in a jar of VASELINE.
Chick : (cont'd) No way,
lady. I came here to drill.
Helga : So did I.
INT.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING CENTER - DAY
Chick sits before a hugely endowed but square female N.A.S.A.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST.
Psychologist : Say the
first two words that come to mind, beginning with each letter.
Chick : Bodacious and....Bountiful. (she holds up "S")
Succulent and Sinful.
She holds
up the letter "F" and HOLD ON CHICK'S REACTION.
INT. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY
Harry sits before the Chief Physician, DR. BANKS. Golden looks
out the window. Dr. Banks, dead-serious, flips through the
medical and psychiatric test scores.
Dr Banks : Mr. Stamper,
your men...are...take Mr. Chappel. I believe they call him Chic.
Harry : Charles, but if you call him that, he'll kill you.
Dr Banks : (nervous laugh) I assume you're joking. (no response)
Your men show aggression, extreme maladjustment to their
surroundings, anti-social behaviour --
Harry : With all due respect, Doctor, I don't know too army guys
who are social when someone is trying to jam a tube up their
butt.
Dr Banks : Does your company have a drug testing program? These
toxicology reports are a throwback to the sixties. All show huge
levels of nicotine and alcohol. Three of the,
four show
illegal drugs. A couple I had to look up. One of them had
"Kematine" -- a very potent sedative.
Harry : A lot of people take sedatives.
Dr Banks : This one is used on horses.
Harry : I don't tell my men how to live their lives. They're with
me to do a job and they do it well.
Golden : This is getting us nowhere. Can they fly, or not?
Dr Banks : (flipping through physical records) Failed. Failed.
Really failed. Under the circumstances...(locks eyes with Golden)
They're the finest physical specimens I've ever
seen.
INT.
N.A.S.A. - LONGSHOT
Harry's crew walk together in newly issued N.A.S.A. jumpsuits.
Bear and Jumbo have ripped the sleeves and collars off their
X-Large suits.
They walk past two N.A.S.A. mathematicians.
Mathematician 1 : (to
mathematician 2) We're screwd.
PULL BACK
TO REVEAL:
Temple and Golden standing there with their arms crossed,
watching the motley crew of Roughnecks. They're joined by
U.S.A.F. test pilots COLONEL SHARP, a young Chuck Yeager type,
and LT. COLONEL LUCAS TRUMAN, 30's, rigid and muscular.
Sharp : I mean, they kind
of look like Armstarong, Lovell, and Glenn. (turns, soberly to
Golden) So, my wife and little girls' lives are in their hands,
sir?
Golden : We need to drill. Do you know how to drill, colonel?
(beat) Neither do I. They're going up.
Temple : (pointing to his lapel) With my stars came the power to
be blunt. These drillers are not trained for this, Dan.
Truman
shakes his head. Sharp eyes Golden, waiting for a response.
Golden : General, it's our
job to get them ready to go into space. They're there to do the
drilling. (beat, then) And Colonel Sharp, we all have families.
A hard look
from Sharp to Temple, as Golden walks away.
Temple : (to Golden) If
they can't drill this hole, my men are going to take over.
INT.
N.A.S.A. - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DAY
Quincy is face-to-face with Golden. TECHS work on the drilling
arm in the b.g. Harry and the Roughtnecks are across the room.
Harry : That Armadillo car.
Get it in here.
In rolls
the Armadillo, two TECHNICIANS pushing it. Harry and the guys
look at it. Quincy shows it off.
Quincy : Pressurised
titanium alloy cab. Airlocked life support. The chassis's by
General Motors. Heavy duty suspension and six wheel drive.
Harry : How were you going to power your drill arm?
Quincy : Turbo-jet engine fuelled by Kerosene and liquid oxygen.
Harry : I need to be able to start and stop. I need different
speeds, and I need reverse.
Quincy : A jet engine can't do that.
Harry : It can if it's hooked up to a clutch. A.J., get me a Mack
truck transmission.
Quincy : That's so simple it's brilliant.
Harry : I'm a simple man. But don't underestimate me.
A.J. : Chick, Max! Mack truck tranny!
Chick and
Max hurry off. A.J. smiles at Harry.
INT. JOHNSON CTR - ASTRONAUT TRAINING - WORKROOM - DAY
Harry, A.J., Bennie, Chick, Max, and Tito sit before Quincy, who
demonstrates a series of components on the N.A.S.A. SPACE SUIT.
Quincy : The new generation
EMU - Extravehicular Mobility Unit - provides oxygen for seven
hours, a pressurised enclosure, and temperate control. The gloves
and helmet slide
on
and lock with a twist, like this. The cap is worn underneath. It
contains a mike and headphones for two-way communication. We'll
be able to see you from a small
video cam mounted
inside the helmet. The Undergarment has 300 feet of plastic
tubing circulating cooling water. Owen...
OWEN THE
TAILOR, five foot nothing & bald, stands in front of the men.
Owen : These are made for
men 5'8" to 6'2", between 140 and 200 pounds. All of
you fit within those parameters - thank God we won't have to do
any re-tailoring....
Owen stops
because --
Bear and Jumbo stand in the doorway --
Jumbo : Yo. This where we get our suits?
Bear : Sorry, we're late. Doc said we had... What do we got?
Jumbo : Cholesterol difficulties. Said we gotta enter "The
Zone."
Bear : Shit, the only zone I know is the one around my mama's
grill.
Jumbo : (holding up form) But we're approved.
Owen looks
at the human mountains standing before hi, and then at the tiny
EMU suit. Alterations will be necessary.
INT. JOHNSON CENTER - ASTRONAUT TRAINING - MORNING
Clark briefs Harry and the mildly attentive Roughnecks. Sharp,
Truman, CO-PILOTS MEGAN WATTS (30's, tough as nails) and STAN
WESTON stand in the back along with N.A.S.A. Engineers JACK CROSS
and RAYMOND SEARS.
Clark : United States astronauts
train for eighteen months. You have nine days. Officers Sharp,
Truman, Watts and Weston are your military instructors and the
only pilots to
have
flown the spacecraft. (beat) Each is a combat decorated officer
and among the finest men and women we have in the service. Pay
attention to them.
Sharp : We spend six months on emergency training - we're
throwing that out. If we fail, everyone dies. Game over. That's a
heavy load but it's ours to carry. The purpose of
 this
is to train you in the physical and mental rigors of working in a
weightless enviroment so that you will not panic. So you can do
your jobs. (beat) You will vomit.
Your
eyes will be sucked into the back of your heads. You'll be so
tired you can't eat but that won't matter 'cause you'll be so
sore you can't take a dump. By the
way...good
morning.
INT.
NEUTRAL BUOYANCY TANK - DAY
Splash, Splash. Harry and the Roughnecks descend underwater. They
look like Michelin Men in their thick space suits. Navy divers
are around them as they are lined up.
Through the underwater speaker, WE HEAR a trainer giving them
instructions for their weightless aerobic training. WE HEAR a
loud, embarrassing gastric sound from Bear's suit.
Bear : Houton, we have a
problem. That is some vicious methane.
Harry gives
a "shut the fuck up" look. Time passes as the guys are
dying, HUFFING and PUFFING. One by one, they reach exhaustion. A
cabled harness hoists each out.
INT. JOHNSON CENTER - CARDIO LAB - DAY
Harry and his team, in T-shirts and running shorts, jog on a
series of threadmills, wired to EKG machines, nostrils taped
shut, breathing tubes locked in their mouths. EXT. N.A.S.A. T-38
JET HANGER - DAY
A gleaming spit-shine hanger full of fifteen N.A.S.A. T-38
fighter jets. Our drill team walks up looking worn out. They are
met at the open hanger door by pilots CHUCK JR., Vietnam vet,
leatherneck-take-no-pussy-bullshit-type-of-guy and HAMMER.
Chuck Jr. : On this
mission, they tell me you will experience the worst G-Forces in
the history of flight. It's like an elephant sitting on your
chest. So, I intend to flip you, spin
you,
splat your bodies till your bones hurt. Now load up and enjoy the
flight.
The
Roughnecks, wearing flight suits and helmets, board the planes.
Harry does not like the look of these things. Bear is trying to
figure out how to fit inside.
Bear : Thing's made for a
child - like my kid's car seat.
Chuck Jr.
and Hammer walk up to a nervous Harry.
Chuck Jr. : What's the problem, Texas tough guy?
Harry : I've got a thing about flying.
Chuck Jr. : Not good for an astronaut. (looks to Hammer) Hammer,
go easy, don't rip his guts out.
Hammer : Sure thing, Chuck.
INT. JET
FIGHTER.
Harry plastered to the seat, MOANING so scared he can't puke. The
plane barrel-rolls and dives straight to the ground. Harry is
GRUNTING and sweating trying to stay conscious.
EXT. N.A.S.A. T-38 JET HANGER - DAY
The T-38's are pulling up and letting the drill crew out. They
walk back with white sweat, soaked faces and wobbly legs. Harry
exits the plane.
Harry : I hate to fly. I
hate to fly. I hate it so much.
Harry leans
over to puke.
INT. N.A.S.A. T-38 JET HANGER - DAY
The Roughnecks walking to the T-38 Hanger. Sharp stands on the
stairway to the 707 and calls everyone to attention.
Sharp : Trainees, AT EASE (in command) We are not done here.
We're taking you for a little ride. This bird will climb to 40
thousand feet and drop to 10 thousand feet to give
you
the feeling of weightlessness for 30 seconds. Welcome to
N.A.S.A.'s Vomit Comet.
INT.
VOMIT COMET
The plane drops. The Roughnecks lift off inside. Everyone's
flying around the cabin. It's a disaster. Guys bump heads. Bear
floats like a beached whale. Jumbo rams the roof. Hary hold a
barf bag as he floats. An alarm SOUNDS, then the plane levels
off, the guys go slamming into the floor.
INT. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER BATHROOM
Tracking past a row of stalls, WE SEE the soles of a pair of
shoes peeking out. Then another pair, another, and another over
the multiple sounds of guts being tossed into the toilet.
Golden, Clark, and Sharp stand outside the stalls.
Golden : This is like
putting the Hell's Angels in space.
INT.
N.A.S.A. RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Harry and the Roughnecks are welding the Armadillo, working tough
and hard.
INT. N.A.S.A. LOCKER ROOM - NIGHT
The Roughnecks are getting dressed.
Max : (to Chick) We're going to go pound some brews where they
have a lot of sweaty, naked women. You in?
Chick : (shakes head) No. I got to take care of something.
The
Roughnecks walk out, leaving Chick behind.
INT N.A.S.A. CAR - NIGHT
Driven by a uniformed N.A.S.A. TECH, Chick pulls up to a house in
a residential neighbourhood. He sits there with a beat, unsure of
what to do.
EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT
Chick walks up to the house, KNOCKS. DENISE WILLIAMS answers the
door.
Chick : Hey, Denise.
Denise : What do you want, Chick?
A big
six-year old boy, TOMMY, runs up behind his mom.
Tommy : Who is it, Mommy?
Chick looks
at Tommy, smiles.
Denise : It's um...just a
salesman, honey.
Chick : Hi.
Tommy : (looking straight up) You look like big foot.
Chick
kneels, extends his hand. Tommy smiles and shakes it. Chick
doesn't want to let go.
Chick : I got a feeling you're going to be pretty big yourself.
Denise : Go inside and play, Tommy.
Tommy : Okay, mommy. 'Bye, Big Foot.
Chick : 'Bye, Tommy.
Chick
watches Tommy run off. He looks to Denise.
Denise : What was I
supposed to tell him? We've got a life here now, Chick, with
someone we can depend on.
Chick : What I did before was wrong. Every day of my life I
regret it. I can see you've got a good thing going, Denise, I'm
not trying to mess that up. But this thing's come my
way
and I got the chance to do something really right.
Denise : This another one of your scams, Chick?
Chick : It's no scam. You might just be proud of me.
Denise
opens the door a little wider, SHE SEES the car in the driveway.
The N.A.S.A. logo stencilled on the door. The N.A.S.A. Tech
waiting.
Denise : What's going on,
Chick?
Chick : I can't tell you now. But if it comes out good, I'll be
back. (beat) Then maybe you'd consider telling Tommy I'm not
a...salesman. It's good to see you. You look really
beautiful.
Chick turns
and walks away.
Denise : Hey, Chick. (Chick
turns) You be careful.
INT. LUCKY
LAURIE'S - NIGHT
A seedy Houston drinking hole. All the Roughnecks sit at the bar.
The bar is littered with EMPTY MUGS AND SHOTGLASSES. A WOMAN
looks at Bennie.
Woman : What are you boys
doin' down here in good 'ol Houston?
Bennie : (burps) We're in astronaut training.
This gets
the reaction you'd expect.
INT. JOHNSON CENTER - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT - LATE NIGHT
Harry and Quincy go over a list of stuff to order and logistical
problems. N.A.S.A. Tech rushes into the room.
N.A.S.A. Tech : Space Command spotted more incoming.
Quincy : (springing up)
Where' it headed? How big?
N.A.S.A. Tech : Don't know.
They start
to run out of the room. Harry follows.
INT. ROCKET ENGINE DEVELOPMENT ROOM
The camera follows up a long ladder to a huge rocket bell housing
where A.J. and Grace are kissing passionately. They notice Harry
and Quincy, and the other Techs heading for Mission Control.
Harry locks eyes with A.J. He doesn't like it. A.J. and Grace
know something is up. They follow Harry and the others into
Mission Control.
INT. MISSION CONTROL - LATE NIGHT
The room is lit up. Men are scrambling. Phones and satellite
charts pop up. Tracking devices PING. Golden on top of the chaos.
A TRACKING TECH plots on a map. Clark stands over a N.A.S.A. TECH
reading a computer screen.
Golden : Projected impact
tracking. I need stats!
Tracking Tech : Eastern Asian Hemisphere... someplace...ETA 17
minutes.
N.A.S.A. Tech : We have confirmation. The incoming is about the
size of the Astrodome.
Clark : We've got to warn.
Golden : Warn who? The whole South Pacific?
Golden,
with lack of sleep and stress, falls back into a chair. He closes
his eyes, opens them -- finding Harry in the upper Mission
Control Deck. They lock eyes for a long moment.
INT. SHANGHAI - ESTABLISHING - NIGHT
The city ablaze in neon. The harbour, floating junksmanned by
Chinese merchants. A loud sonic boom CRACKS in the sky. There's a
BRIGHT FLASH in the sky. Night becomes day for two seconds.
The world slows down, motion creeps. The bright FLASH catches the
face of a little BOY reaching out for his father's hand. The
asteroid SHRIEKS down, hitting the harbour's surface in a red hot
FLASH-BOILED at 100 thousand degrees.
INT. MISSION CONTROL - NIGHT
The room is silent. Reports are starting to come in about the
devastation. Golden walks up to Harry who is standing with Grace
and A.J. He pulls Harry aside.
Golden : Stamper, answer me
one question - have you ever let anyone down?
We go close
on Harry's face. Searing flashbulbs popping, WIDEN TO:
INT. WHITE HOUSE PRESS ROO - NIGHT
WE SEE him from behind as he addresses the massive crowd. The
U.S. PRESIDENT stands before a throng of reporters.
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Papers headlines, CNN reporters flash on screens. Images of
people watching the news in bars, at home. A NEW YORK POST slams
down on the pavement, the headline: SHANGHAI DISASTER, MASSIVE
DEATH TOLL RISING.
INT. SOMEPLACE IN KENTUCKY - HOLDING CELL - DAWN
Jimbo is talking to an F.B.I. AGENT who is on the other side of
the bars holding a newspaper.
Jimbo : If it's over then
why aren't you lettin' us out of this goddamn cell?
F.B.I. Agent : Be real soon, son.
The agent
flips the newspaper into the holding cell and walks away.
Jimbo : Don't walk away, I
want to talk to my lawyer. You hear me?
Peral : (refering to the newspaper) This says that the asteroid
came from the Southern Hemisphere.
Theo : Southern Hemisphere?
Pearl : No kidding. It's a big sky - they want people to look the
other way.
INT.
MANHATTEN - TAXI CAB
Stu the cabbie is riding with a WALL STREET GUY.
Stu : Kennedy lied about the Bay of Pigs, Nixon...Watergate, say
no more. Clinton. One word. 'Women.' If I know one thing; ALL
PRESIDENTS LIE.
INT. N.A.S.A. - TRAINING ROOM - MORNING
Morning after the devastating disaster in Shanghai. Harry walks
into the quiet room. Harry's all business.
Harry : Forty thousand
people died last night. But I guess that didn't concern any of
you. I hope you all had a good time last night.
The
Roughnecks look around. They know there were wrong.
Chick : I gotta tell
you...I'm scared.
Harry : Well, you should be scared. We all should be. 'Cause if
we fail, they say the Earth will die.
Harry sits
down, looks out the window at N.A.S.A. Techs working in the room
down below.
Harry : You think these
N.A.S.A. guys are a bunch of clean-cut pussies, that's it. They
can out think you, they can outrun you. This job, gentlemen, is
as real as it gets. I need
every
one of you. (he looks them in the eye) If you're not up to it,
then walkout of that door.
Finally.
Theo and Pearl, frustrated, go to the TWO-WAY MIRROR, blocking
Jimbo from view.
Theo : I'm hungry! When're
we gonna eat?
Pearl : I have p.m.s.!! I need some ibuprofen!
Jimbo grabs
Randy's legal pad and writes:
HELP!! BIG ASTEROID GOING TO HIT EARTH. COORDINATES 712 BY 345.
Randy stares at the message.
Randy : Okay, I'm done
here!
The door
opens. Two F.B.I. AGENTS lead Randy out. Jimbo looks at Theo and
Pearl.
Jimbo : He flunked the bar three times.
INT.
N.A.S.A. - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
-- Harry shows Quincy his DRAWINGS of the DRILLING ARM - the way
Harry wants it.
-- Harry, A.J. and Quincy work with the TURBO PROP ENGINE,
transforming it into a JET FUEL GENERATOR.
Quincy : We'll run your
liquid oxygen from the shuttle through a tube into the intake
manifold. No problem.
A.J. : I figured out how to bring up the slag. Direct the jet
turbine's exhaust down the drill pipe. It'll blow the stuff right
up the hole.
Harry : Good, A.J. Good.
-- Chick,
Bennie, Bear, Jumbo welding new pieces of the DRILLING ARM
together. The Roughnecks have changed. Chick and Bennie now have
crew-cuts.
-- A.J., Harry, Max and Tito build the drilling arm.
EXT. ARIZONA - SHUTTLE TAKE OFF AREA
TWO X-71 SHUTTLES in the hanger. TECHNICIANS scramble around,
preparing the shuttles for the mission.
Harry : (points) From all
of your intel, the deepest fault line is here. This is my sweet
spot. If I can get a clean hole in there, She'll blow in half....
Golden : ....and the two pieces will slide right past us. You
cannot shatter it. Getting hit with 20 smaller asteroids is as
bad as one big one. You have to drill, plant the nuke,
lift
off, and detonate -- all before the asteroid reaches this
position. (demonstrates position) You have eight hours. Remember
it. You must detonate by this point or,
the
two halves will hit us.
Harry nods and walks off.
Sharp : Drill an
eight-hundred foot hole in eight hours? Is that possible?
Harry
doesn't like to be questioned --
Harry : You just worry
about getting me on that rock, Colonel. Let me worry about the
drilling.
A moment of
conflict between them.
EXT. JOHNSON CENTE - ASTRONAUT TRAINING - DAY
ONE OF THE ARMADILLOS, complete with drilling arm, sits at the
bottom of the tank. Harry and six Roughnecks are already at the
bottom, in pressure suits and helmets.
Golden, Quincy, Clark, Sharp, Truman, and all of the N.A.S.A.
BRASS, observe.
A.J. is the last to enter the tank.
INT. N.A.S.A. NEUTRAL BUOYANCY TANK - UNDERWATER
A.J. descend to the tank's bottom. Harry, Chick, Bennie, Max and
Tito are in bulky white pressure suits. Jimbo and Bear wear the
largest pressure suits ever made. They talk through their helmet
radio links.
One drilling arm starts turning. The Roughnecks turn toward a
STACK OF 20 FOOT LONG STAINLESS STEEL DRILLING PIPES on the
tank's bottom. ABOVE WATER - SIDE OF TRAINING TANK
Golden hits a stopwatch.
Golden : (into intercom)
Go.
INT.
N.A.S.A. NEUTRAL BUOYANCY TANK - UNDERWATER
Bear and Jimbo grab a pipe string and handle onto the mock-up
drill arm. They clamp it on. Bennie and Chick screw a drill bit
onto the pipe string. They are good, very good. The work with the
manic intensity of a pit crew at Indy.
Harry : Done!
ABOVE WATER
- SIDE OF TANK
Golden hits his stopwatch. Smiles. The N.A.S.A. Brass is
impressed.
Golden : These guys are
fast. Harry, interior gauge check.
INT.
N.A.S.A. NEUTRAL BUOYANCY TANK - UNDERWATER
Harry : We're on A.J.
A.J. : Let's see what this baby can do.
Harry and
A.J. move the Armadillo's AIRLOCK DOOR. It has an exterior
open/close button. Harry punches it. The side door opens. Harry
enters, then A.J.
INT. ARMADILLO - UNDERWATER
Harry and A.J., still underwater, climb inside. Harry presses the
PRESSURIZATION button. Simulating pressurisation in space, the
water in the cab is blown out, and air WHOOSHES IN.
Harry and A.J. sit dripping in the watertight cab. Through the
front window WE SEE the other Roughnecks in the tank. Harry
unlocks his neck seals. Pulls off his helmet.
Harry : Lose the helmet,
A.J.
A.J. snaps
out of it. His hands go instinctively to the helmet and in one
motion...CLICK. It's off.
Harry : (clicks radio) We're in. Run the simulation.
The
interior PRESSURE GUGE NEEDLES and MONITORS (engine torque, drill
direction, etc.) start bobbing. The drill starts to cut into a
BLOCK OF CONCRETE.
Golden : (V.O) How's she
look?
Harry : Torque adjuster's good. Fuel level good. A.J., downhole
pressure?
A.J. : We can do better. I'm increasing the RPM's to seven
thousand. We can get more torque.
Golden : (V.O) Negative, A.J. Don't exceed ix thousand. Not on
this run.
A.J. : Relax. I built this thing. She's got more in her.
Increasing the RPM's.
Golden : (V.O) Negative, A.J.
A.J. increases the RPM's. The gauge starts to rise. The N.A.S.A.
Brass shifts uneasily in their seats. They're not accoutomed to
seeing their astronauts disobey orders. Golden : (V.0) (cont'd)
A.J., shut the Armadillo down now.
A.J. : We can push it, further. Let's see what she can do.
Suddenly, the RPM''s shoot into the red. A red siren spins in the
control room. The Armadillo SHAKES violently. The DRILLING BIT
grinds to nothing. The Armadillo BLOWS a tranny.
Harry's eyes close. He's pissed.
IN THE CONTROL ROOM
The N.A.S.A. Brass looks to Golden. One of them shakes their
head. Sharp and Golden exchange a look. Sharp shakes his head.
INSIDE THE TANK
A.J. presses a button and the cabin, simulating
"depressurisation" in space, begins to fill with water.
INT. NEUTRL BUOYANCY TANK - SIDE OF TANK - DAY
Everyone around him just watches, as A.J. climbs out of the tank.
After a minute, A.J. looks up, sees all the eyes in the room on
him.
EXT. CREW QUARTERS - NIGHT
Harry is outside, smoking a Coheba. Harry runs his hand over a
SMALL METAL MEDAL that hangs from his neck. Golden approaches.
Golden : A.J.'s off the
team. We need a list of names from you to fill the slot.
Harry : A.J. would be the first name on my list.
Golden : We don't want independent thinkers. And we don't need
heroes. We need a team.
Harry : You have to have confidence in the men you send up. I
understand that. But I'm the one that has to land on that rock.
Not you. (firm) I pick my own team.
Golden : One shot. Pull him in line or send him home.
INT . HUB
OF ROCKET SIMULATOR - NIGHT
A.J. and Grace are there talking. Grace is on A.J.'s lap.
A.J. : I pushed it, I
screwed up.
Grace : These astronauts train for years for what you're training
for in a few days.
A.J. : I don't know why I didn't just listen to them.
Grace : So, tomorrow you listen.
A.J. and
Grace share a look.
A.J. : I love you, Grace.
A N.A.S.A.
Tech approaches.
N.A.S.A. Technician : Harry
wants to see you.
INT. DESIGN
AND PROTOTYPE ROOM - NIGHT
Harry and A.J. stand in the centre of a high-tech supply room.
SPARE PARTS from shuttles, PROTOTYPES and WORK TOOLS are
everywhere.
Harry : You tell me what
the hell you think you're doing?
A.J. : I'm trying to work with the team.
Harry. : Bullshit. You're trying to lead this team. You're trying
to be me. You're not me.
A.J. : What do you want? You want me to quit?
Harry : If you can't bury this cowboy shit, yeah, I want you to
quit.
A.J. : I don't have to prove anything to anybody, Harry.
Harry : I listen to N.A.S.A., you listen to me. That's the chain.
Either you follow it, or you're done.
A.J. : I'll follow it.
Harry : I stood up for you, because I've made a life of proving
people wrong.
Harry's
hand slides down to the medal hanging from his neck.
Harry : (cont'd) When I was
about your age, I was in Galveston, Texas. I scraped together
some money, bought some old equipment, a little land. I set up a
rig and drilled my
first
hole. Then I sat there and watched her soak up the sun for six
months - waiting for this baby to pop. Everybody told me to quit.
I wouldn't listen. My wife ran off
with
a drill-rigger, left me with Grace. Everybody in town thought I
was a fool. But I stayed with it. And in the last hour of the
last day, she popped. She spit out that
black
gold and I danced in it like a wild Indian. (reflective ) I
captured the magic (holding medal) This is the last piece of pipe
that struck gold that day.
Harry takes
off the medal. Sets it on the table. He grabs a cutting vice and
cuts the medal in two perfect halves. He hands one half to A.J.
Harry : (cont'd) Here, take
it up there.
QUICK
MONTAGE
Inside the neutral buoyancy tank -- Harry's crew goes through all
DRILLS one final time (final mission checks) in quick succession.
Everything runs perfectly. The Armadillo is rebuilt and shown
functioning without error. A.J. works as part of the team.
INT. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - DAY
The hour of the mission. The two teams sit in the orange N.A.S.A.
flight pressure suits. Golden enters and stands before the room.
Golden : In the book of
Revalations, the Bible speaks of a final day on Earth, when all
mankind shall perish, shall cease to exist. This day is known as
Armageddon. (firm) Right
now,
that day conflicts with six billion schedules. (beat) For the
first time in the history of this planet, s species possesses the
technology to prevent it's own
extinction.
(beat) I've been with N.A.S.A. my entire adult life. Eleven years
as an astronaut, another fifteen on the ground at Mission
Control. Twenty-six years I've had
to
answer one question -- why? Why more money? Why the race for
space? Why do we need to know what is up there? (beat) When we
come through this, I'll take
comfort
in the fact that I won't ever have to answer those questions
again. You are our warriors up there. You are our last hope. God
be with you.
The crew
stands......
EXT. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - RUNWAY - DAY
Two sleek BLACK LEAR JETS are parked on the runway. Harry studies
them. Grace approaches.
Harry : You know I was
thinking, Gracie. Over the years, I should have patted you on the
back more....
Grace : Dad, you don't need --
Harry : No father has ever been prouder of his child, Gracie. I
want you to know that.
Grace's
reaction makes it clear that Harry has never said anything like
this before.
Grace : I love you, Dad.
Harry : I love you too, Gracie.
Grace : (as they hug) Keep an eye on A.J. for me.
Harry
climbs up the metal stairs --
A.J. and the rest of Harry's crew comes out of the building. A.J.
moves to Grace as she watches her father disappear into the jet.
A.J. : Excuse me. (Grace
turns) You're really insanely gorgeous and I was jost sort of
wondering if you --
Grace : I'm engaged. But my father hasn't given him his blessing
so you might still have a chance. (smiles, then serious) Promise
me you won't do anything stupid up there.
A.J. nods.
They kiss passionately. Harry's crew sees this and applauds.
Grace blushes, embarrassed.
A.J. : I love you, Grace.
Grace : I love you. Come back, Okay?
Harry's
crew boards LEAR JET 2. A.J. starts toward LEAR JET 1. Grace
watches him walk away, eyeing his suit.
Grace : A.J.--
A.J. : (turning) Yeah?
Grace : When you get back, ask them if you can kep the suit
(winks) It's kind of sexy.
EXT.
ARIZONA DESERT - BY SHUTTLE FREEDOM
The cone-shaped noses of the two X-71's are towering silhouettes
against the sun. Massive CRAWLERS move the shuttles to the launch
tower.
EXT. SHUTTLES FREEDOM & INDEPENDENCE LAUNCH - DAY
Seen from a distance as silhouettes behind a sun-soaked sky,
sixteen figures walk toward us. As they grow closer, WE SEE the
intense game faces of Harry, A.J., Bennie, Chick, Jumbo, Tito,
Rockhound, Max and others approaching the launch site. They look
like N.A.S.A.'s version of the "Dirty Dozen."
Harry carries a LARGE MYSTERIOUS METAL CASE, that we've not seen
before now.
INT. LAUNCH TOWER ELEVATOR - LATER
Harry exits the elevator and start to walk to the CATWAL to the
Freedom shuttle. Harry carries his suitcase.
N.A.S.A. Tech 1 : Sir, was
that case authorised for transport?
N.A.S.A. Tech 2 : Our weight to fuel ratio's calibrated to the
kilogram, sir. How much does that weigh?
Harry : Sixty pounds.
N.A.S.A. Tech 1 : That can't go up with you, sir.
Harry : Wait here.
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - AFTERNOON
Harry enters the cabin. N.A.S.A.'s crack seven-member
"Strap-in-Team" goes to work. Harry's crew are
outfitted with their HELMETS and CHUTE PACKS. Each step is
methodical, each piece of equipment is checked and rechecked.
Harry : Hey you. Yeah you.
Come here.
A YOUNG
N.A.S.A. TECH approaches. Harry gestures at a row of METAL
COMPONENTS housed in the wall.
Harry : What's all this crap?
N.A.S.A. Technician : (pointing to various) Multi-track C.D.
player. Anti-gravity hand washer, utensil washer, and micro-wave
oven. (proud) We worked hard to make the X-71 feel
more
like home.
Harry just
looks at the kid.
EXT. ARIZONA DESERT - BY SHUTTLE FREEDOM - DAY
Metal components one after the other come out of the shuttle
hatchway and SLAM into a heap on the lake bed. Harry then appears
in the hatchway.
Harry : We don't need music
and we don't mind dirty utensils.
Harry picks
up his LARGE METAL CASE and ducks back inside the Freedom. The
N.A.S.A Techs stare at the ruined components at their feet.
INT. MISSION CONTROL - DUSK
Golden and Clark prepare for the launch.
N.A.S.A. Tech : (into intercom) T-minus six minutes and counting.
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT - DUSK
Sharp and Watts settle in. MAJORS PITTS and FISK, two stern Army
demolition experts, finish tying down their equipment.
Mission Control : (V.O)
Roger, Independence and Freedom, auto ground launch sequencer
commencing.
Sharp looks
at Pitts and Fisk
Sharp : You two ready?
Pitts : (enthusiastically) AIRBORNE!
INT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DUSK
Golden, Clark and the N.A.S.A. Techs study the CENTRAL BOARD as
final preparations for take-off commence.
Technician : Shuttles Freedom and Independence you are cleared
for lift off.
EXT. ARIZONA DESERT - SHUTTLE TAKE OFF ZONE - DUSK
The ground TREMBLES like an earthquake. EXHAUST BILLOWS out of
the ROCKET BOOSTERS, filling frame.
Shuttles Freedom and Independence ROCKET OFF from dual launch
pads, STREAKING BETWEEN CAMERA, climbing to the heavens.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT - DUSK
Sharp and Watts flip switches, check gauges.
Sharp : Instituting roll
manoeuvre. We have S.R.B. Sep, over.
INT
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DUSK
Technician : You are a 'go'
for ET separation.
EXT. UPPER
ATMOSPHERE - DUSK
Freedom and Independence scream away from Earth, dropping their
booster canisters.
EXT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - DUSK
Harry, Chick and the others experience their first G-Forces.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DUSK
Clark : Lookin' real good,
Freedom.
Golden : When you meet the Russian, you might want to go easy on
the guy. He just broke the record for the longest solo - thirteen
months, seven days.
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Chick : (to Harry) Thirteen months, seven days. (beat) What the
hell has he been doing all by himself?
INT.
RUSSIAN MIR STATION
Life inside, like the cluttered glove-box of an old car. George
Michael's "Freedom" plays on a piped-in sound system.
COSMONAUT LEV ANDROPOV dances and sings.
Lev : FREEDOM! FREEDOM! GOT
TO GIVE WHAT IT TAKES....Hello Yankees! I love you America.
(reading from English book) Would you prefer an appetiser or
aperitif?
EXT.
RUSSIAN MIR SPACE STATION
PULL OUT of the MIR's window to see Lev dancing with joy. He's
celebrating the forthcoming arrival.
PULL FURTHER BACK to catch a wider view of the Russian
multi-module Space Station -- a white winged steel seagull.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Through the cockpit window, the BLUENESS of Earth's atmosphere
becomes the BLACKNESS of space.
INT. MISSION CONTROL
Clark : Freedom,
Independence. You're looking good. Prepare to start docking
procedures at the MIR.
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Sharp addresses the crews of both shuttles over the radio --
Sharp : Listen up -- the
MIR will be spinning to give us gravity so we can work faster.
You might feel queasy or dizzy. We'll dock, transfer the fuel,
then detach from the MIR.
Fast
and safe. This stuff is very volatile.
INT.
RUSSIAN MIR SPACE STATION - DOCKING PORT
Lev is working feverishly, running highly insulated liquid oxygen
and hydrogen PROPELLANT TRANSFER HOSES from the MIR's several
LABORATORY and LIVING MODULES to the MIR's twin docking ports.
A BLUE INDICATOR LIGHT FLASHES. Lev looks out of the MIR's
portside window. His eyes light up. He smiles.
EXT. SPACE - LOW EARTH ORBIT - MIR DOCKING PORTS
Freedom and Independence approach the MIR station. The MIR is
T-shaped, with TWIN DOCKING PORTS at each end of the T's
crossbar. Freedom begins docking at one end., Independence at the
other.
INT. SHUTTLES FREEDOM/INDEPENDENCE - AIRLOCK PORT TO MIR
Truman : Fuel teams prepare
to unload.
A RED LIGHT
(unsafe) turns GREEN (safe). The docking port's HATCHWHEEL spins,
and the door slides open. Harry, Sharp, Watts, Chick, A.J.,
Bennie, and Truman enter the MIR.
INT. MIR SPACE STATION - DOCKING MODULE
The TEAM comes through the docking module and out pops Lev,
hanging upside down in frame.
Lev : HELLO YANKEES!
Welcome to the home of me, Cosmonaut Lev Andropov. (MORE)
On a wall,
A COMPUTER BOARD that monitors the fuel transfer is filled with
GREEN LIGHTS.
INT. CENTRAL ROOM - CENTER HUB OF MIR
Harry, Bennie, and Lev are talking in the combination kitchen/
rec room of the MIR -- a little bigger than a walk-in closet. Lev
grabs a VIDEO CAMERA and starts video-taping Harry and Bennie.
Lev : I hear rumour on
radio. My country broke. No steaks in freezer. They plan to sell
me and the MIR (moving in closer, conspiratorial) Can you confirm
this?
Bennie : We
wouldn't know. What's the camera?
Lev : Oh, I also di-rec-tor. Russian cinema. MIR movies. Each has
title.
Lev grabs
remote control. On a large TELEVISION screen VARIOUS IMAGES OF
LEV appear.
Lev : "Lev loves
cargo." "Lev sleeps." "Lev prepares for
Americans." "Lev gets bored so he gets drunk."
Funny but...too long.
Bennie : Looks like you have a lot of free time on your hands.
Lev : Yeah. I alone by myself.
Watts comes
into the room. The first woman Lev has seen in a very, very long
time. Lev moves the camera all over her.
Lev : Hello, fellow space
colleague.
Watts nods.
Watts : I'll be in the
docking port.
Lev : Please allow me to escort you. (as they walk out) You
California girl?
INT. MIR
SPACE STATION - REAR MODULES
Harry and Bennie enter the MIR's rearmost module. Two propellant
hoses run into TWIN PROPELLANT OUTPUT VALVES on a rear panel.
Bennie's eyes move to a LAUNDRY LINE. BOXERS hang from the line.
Bennie : This Lev guy is a
little off.
On the
computer board, a small RED LIGHT replaces the GREEN LIGHT. Then
another. No one notices.
INT. MIR STATION - DOCKING PORTS
CAMERA FOLLOWS MICROSCOPIC AEROSOL BUBBLES OF LIQUID OXYGEN
(MACRO SHOT) DRIPPING from a valve onto a COMPUTER CIRCUIT BOARD.
INT. MIR - FUEL STORAGE
THE GAUGE STARTS TO rise. A.J. WATCHES. One hundred
eighty-five...190...195...
A.J. : (into intercom) Lev,
the pressure's climbing.
INT. MIR
CORRIDOR
(EXTREME MACRO) The Liquid Oxygen oozes into the circuit board.
Surgeon-like microscopic camera tracks it under the keys,
reaching a COMPUTER SWITCH. It SPARKS.
INT. DOCKING PORT
Lev, Sharp, and Chick are walking toward the shuttles. The
ELECTRICITY in the MIR FLUTTERS. Lev stops. Sharp stops. Lev
looks over his shoulder toward the central hub. A chill runs down
his spine. DOLLY INTO LEV'S EYES -
Lev : (whispering) Leak.
Run.
Lev and
Sharp run toward the central hub. Lev punches a KLAXON.
Lev : (cont'd) LEAK! RUN!
Chick takes
off running past Lev and Sharp.
Sharp : (to Chick) E-vac.
E-vac. Unhook the shuttles. Move!
INT. MIR -
FUEL STORAGE
A.J. reacts to the KLAXON, starts to climb up the shaft ladder.
A.J. struggles under the heavy weight of his cold suit, finally
reaching ---
INT MIR - CORRIDOR ABOVE FUEL STORAGE
Circuits pop VIOLENTLY all around A.J., as the mixture of
chemical in the air starts to CHEW the MIR's walls.
INT. MIR - CENTRAL HUB
Lev, Sharp, and Chick RUN into the hub as the leak continues,
growing rapidly worse, EATING the walls. Sharp sees the LEAK.
Runs back toward the docking port.
Lev : (to Sharp) Seal door.
As Sharp
SEALS the hatch, Lev returns to look for A.J.
INT. MIR STATION - REAR MODULE
Harry and Chick react to the KLAXOX BLARES.
Harry : Unhook the shuttles.
Harry and
Chick RUN out of the rear module and race through the maze of
twisting corridors.
INT. MIR CORRIDOR
A.J. runs through another corridor, heading for the docking port
as the walls around him POP! Lev files around the corner almost
smashing into A.J.
INT. MIR STATION - REAR MODULE
The smoking circuitry SPARKS, and the REAR MODULE explodes in a
VIOLENT CONCUSSION, LAUNCHING A LONG TONGUE OF FLAME into -- INT.
MIR STATION - UPPER MODULES
Harry and Chick race for the DOCKING MODULE as -- BEHIND THEM, A
SECOND MODULE fills with FIRE and EXPLODES, rocking the MIR. Then
a third. Fire starts to RIP THROUGH corridors in the MIR.
EXT. MIR STATION - SPACE
The MIR shudders and begins to TILT TO ONE SIDE.
INT. MIR STATION - UPPER MODULES
Everything is SIDEWAYS. Lev is KNOCKED to the ground. A HEAVY
COMPUTER BOARD falls, separating A.J. and Lev.
Attempting to reach A.J., Lev turns back and runs from where he
just came.
INT. MIR STATION - UPPER MODULES - SEALED CORRIDOR
A.J. looks left, then right. He doesn't know how to get to the
docking port. He starts running.
INT. MIR STATION - DOCKING PORTS
Sharp re-joins Bennie and Truman. They unhook the FUEL LINES to
the shuttles. Sharp and Chick run aboard Shuttle Freedom. Truman
boards Independence.
INT. MIR CORRIDOR
A.J. is at the corridor fork. Right or left? The Russian writing
above both paths doesn't help. Just as he's about to go left --
Lev suddenly appears, grabs A.J., and PUSHES HIM into the RIGHT
CORRIDOR.
Lev : Run Yankee!
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Sharp : (to Watts as he
sits and buckles up) Shut the doors and fire her up!
Watts : We still have people out there.
Sharp : It's them or ALL OF US. CLOSE THE DOORS NOW!
As the
doors are closing, Harry and Chick rush into Shuttle Freedom.
Harry's fingers grab the doors just in time. The doors retract
back.
Harry : Did A.J. make it?
Chick : I didn't see him.
INT.
SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE
Truman buckles himself in, fires up the Independence.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Freedom is fired up. The MIR shudders again. TILTS further.
Sharp : We have to GO!
INT. MIR
CORRIDOR
A.J. and Lev are running hard as DEBRIS falls behind them and the
walls start to TEAR APART. They turn a corner, headed toward the
docking port --
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Harry is at the door, eyes frantically searching for A.J. --
Sharp : WE GO NOW!
Sharp stabs
a button on his pilot console. The AUTOMATED DOORS BEGIN to slide
shut.
INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE
Truman stabs a button on his pilot console. The AUTOMATED DOORS
BEGIN to slide shut.
INT. MIR DOCKING PORT
A.J. and Lev race into the docking port from a rear corridor.
Harry sees them. Lev dives into Independence just as the doors
close. A.J. dives head-long through the shutting Independence
doors.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Sharp : (to Watts) Full thrusters!
EXT. MIR STATION - SHUTTLES FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE
The two shuttles RELEASE AWAY from the MIR Station on FULL
THRUSTER POWER, just escaping as --
THE MIR STATION EXPLODES in an eternal flash fire, blowing out
sections of wall panels and sending a SOLAR PANEL shooting toward
Freedom that just misses her! The collapsed MIR STATION drifts
off into the oblivion of space.
INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE
A.J. sits panting on the floor of the shuttle next to the docking
port door. Lev stares down at him.
Lev : I am Cosmonaut Lev
Andropov, what your name?
A.J. : My name is A.J.
Lev : You just blew up my home.
SUPER :
TWENTY THREE HOURS TO THE MOON
Golden and Sharp sitting around going over data. New images of
the closer, meaner asteroid approaching.
INT. FREEDOM
Interior small sleeping area. Max hanging upside-down in zero
gravity. Wakes up yawning. He looks to Bear.
Max : Oh, man, did I have a dream.
Bear : So did Martin Luthor King.
Max : No, this was a bad dream. We were drilling and the ground
ate the bit. Then it ate the pipe, then the derrick. Then it ate
us.
Bear : That's a dumb-ass dream.
Max : I'm not coming home.
They look
at each other.
INT. FREEDOM COCKPIT
Harry, Bear, Chick, and Sharp stand looking out the cockpit rear
window toward the brilliant blue Earth.
Bear : What are you
thinking about, Chick?
Chick : My kid. You.
Bear : My Mom, she'd be proud to see me as an astronaut.
Chick : Harry, what are you thinking?
Harry : (looking at Earth) How beautiful it is. Thinkin' about
all that oil I sucked out and spit into the air.Funny how a man
can live 46 years and realize he ain't been doing the
right
thing.
INT.
N.A.S.A. - PRESS CONFERENCE ROOM
BEHIND A CURTAIN - Golden confers with Collinswood.
Collinswood : The President
is counting on you to put out the fire, Dan. Say whatever you
have to. Just do it.
Golden
walks from behind the curtain. Walks up to the podium, ten VIDEO
CAMERAS swivel into position.
For a long moment Golden just stands there, saying nothing.
Golden : I work for the
President of the United States. (long pause; looks over at
Collinswood) But I think it's my duty as a scientist to tell the
world what is happening. Three,
days
ago a manned space mission was sent to intercept an asteroid
which has entered the Earth's orbit. (REPORTERS all chatter) This
is a difficult mission. In all
frankness,
it is the most difficult mission anyone has ever flown. (beat) A
little over fifty years ago we sent our Armed Forces half-way
around the world to save the
world
from an evil empire that threatened mass extinction. The men and
women of this nation united, answered the calland preserved our
freedom. (beat) Once again
we
face a threat to our way of life. And once again we look to our
military to preserve our future. The men and women selected to
lead this mission are America's
finest
and most decorated career officers in the military. Our hopes and
prayers are with them. Thank you.
Golden
walks off. The REPORTERS CLAMOR:
Reporters : (UNISON) Director Golden! DIRECTOR GOLDEN!
BACKSTAGE -
Golden approaches Collinswood.
Collinswood : Golden, your
drillers better not let us down.
Golden : We'll do your best.
EXT. SPACE
- APPROACHING THE MOON
The two Shuttles approach THE MOON, Freedom in the lead,
Independence following.
Beyond the Moon, too distant to see clearly, THE ASTEROID is on
its trajectory toward Earth. It is a HUGE, GRAGGY MASS surrounded
on all sides by a DEBRIS CLUSTER of rock and ice, the ice
glinting on and off in reflected sunlight, like millions of
fireflies.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
Watts : (unbelieving) My
goodness, look at that thing....
Sharp : We have visual of target, Houston. Velocity thirty-three
hundred miles an hour.
INT.
HOUSTON - MISSION CONTROL
Clark sits with Techs Flip and Skip. Golden and Temple pace
behind the console.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - REAR CABIN
Harry, Chick, Bear, and Max finish buckling into their seat
restraints and harnesses.
INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE - REAR CABIN
A.J., Lev, Bennie, Jimbo and Tito buckle on harnesses. Bennie
looks at A.J. nervously.
EXT. SPACE - APPROACHING THE MOON
The Shuttles rapidly close on the moon. The dead, luminous sphere
looms larger in frame.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
THE LUNAR SURFACE completely fills the cockpit windshield. We've
lost sight of the oncoming asteroid.
Sharp : Visual contact with target lost, Houston.
IN THE REAR
CABIN - Harry, Chick, Bear, and Max stare in awe at the
ever-approaching Moon.
EXT. SPACE - APPRAOCHING THE MOON
Shuttles Freedom and Independence shoot toward the Moon, pulled
by the lunar gravitational field.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD - THE LUNAR SURFACE is only 150 miles
down, looking close enough to reach down and touch.
EXT. SPACE - APPROACHING THE MOON
The two Shuttles whip into lunar orbit, moving around the Moon,
continuing to accelerate, nearing its Dark side.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Clark : (into headset) How
we doin', Freedom, over?
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
Watts : Nearing the Dark
Side, Houston, a minute thirty and counting.
EXT. SPACE
- THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOON
On the Moon's opposite side, THE ASTEROID roars into frame, its
trailing fragments motionless in relation to each other,
travelling as a swarm, a cluster of debris. As it nears the
Moon's gravitational field --
TRAILING FRAGMENTS peel away, drawn into the Moon by its lunar
gravity. A relatively DEBRIS-LESS CORRIDOR begins to form on one
side of the asteroid.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Skip : Twenty seconds till
we lose radio contact, Director.
Clark : You're on your own, Willie. You've got to raise your
velocity 17 thousand miles an hour or you won't catch the target,
over.
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
Sharp : See you on the
other side, Houston.
Skip : (V.O) Entering Dark Side, Freedom, and counting: ten,
nine, eight, seven...
INT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Skip : Radio contact
terminated.
The radio
crackles with STATIC. ON THE TECHNICIAN'S CONSOLES, all of
Freedom's and Independence's COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM MONITORS
(pressurization, oxygen, electrical power, fuel capacity, etc.)
GO DEAD.
Golden : They'll be pullin'
nine and half G's for eleven minutes, General.
Temple : Anyone done that before?
Flip : Yeah. That Russian monkey in 1957.
Clark : We'll pick 'em up again in sixteen minutes, Danny.
Golden : If they're still alive.
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - AROUND DARK SIDE OF MOON
The radio is STATIC.
Watts : Rockets ready for
burn, Willie.
Sharp : (over shoulder to Harry and others) Time to suck it up,
people. Just pretend you're on the big roller coaster at
Disneyland...(mumbles under breath) ...times a
hundred....
Sharp
reaches for the BOOSTER ROCKET SWITCH. He gives Watts one last
look, then throws the switch.
EXT. DARK SIDE OF THE MOON - FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE
Freedom and Independence fire their BOOSTERS. The two SHUTTLES
explode forward, hurtling around the Moon's DARK SIDE with a
degree of increasing velocity never before experienced by man.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - REAR CABIN
Harry, Chick, Bear, and Max get hit with the first G-Forces.
Their torsos press back against their seats. They flex their
arms, breathing deeply, expanding their chest cavities as they
were taught in training.
Harry : I hate to fly, I
hate to fly, I hate to fly....
INT.
SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE - REAR CABIN
A.J., Lev, Bennie, Jumbo, and Tito get slammed back by the first
wave of G-Forces.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
Watts reads her VELOCITY INDICATOR under G-Forces so bad she
speaks through clenched teeth:
Watts : Fourteen
thousand....sixteen thousand...twenty thousand miles an hour,
Willie...!
INT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Silence. Tension. Technicians stare at their consoles.
Clark : They're hittin' the
big G's right about...now.
Golden : Come on, Willie, you can do this....
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - REAR CABIN
Excruciating, gut-wrenching, turn-your-intestines-inside-out
G-Forces. HARRY and CHICK'S FACIAL MUSCLES distort hideously;
their rubbery cheeks and lips flatten out. They continue anti-G
exercises, tensing every muscle, trying to keep blood flow evenly
distributed.
INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE
A.J. and Bennie's distorted faces, likewise, go through the anti
G-Force exercises, tensing every muscle.
EXT. LUNAR ORBIT - MASTER SHOT
IN ONE AWE-INSPIRING SHOT, we see --
Shuttles Freedom and Independence rocketing around the Moon in
darkness, further and further, until finally WE SEE,
increasingly, a staggering, mind blowing visual --
THE ASTEROID'S TRAILING DEBRIS appears, a HUGE CLOUD of tiny ICE
CHUNKS AND PEBBLES, and much larger BOULDERS, and ICEBERGS the
size of houses, the ice glinting with reflected sunlight,
throwing off a dazzling SPECTRAL SHOWER OF LIGHT in all
directions, and finally --
THE ASTEROID'S HUGE CORE - it has just cleared the Moon and now
flies straight for it's destination - the cool, blue PLANET EARTH
dead ahead across an expanse of space.
Shuttles Freedom and Independence slingshot out of the Lunar
orbit and fall in behind the asteroid, settling into the
DEBRIS-LESS CORRIDOR.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Continued STATIC on the radio. Everyone sits nervously waiting.
Suddenly the shuttles' computerised SYSTEM MONITORS begin to
click back on.
Clark : Freedom, come in,
over. Independence, come in, over.
Nothing.
Golden grabs the mike.
Golden : Willie? Come in, over. Willie, can you hear me...?
Total
silence. A pin could drop. The N.A.S.A. Technicians stare
nervously at the Central Board.
Then, suddenly through static:
Sharp : (V.0) Houston, you
gotta see this to believe it....
Elation.
Held breaths are exhaled. Golden and N.A.S.A. TECHNICIANS smile.
No one is more relieved than Grace.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
Sharp and Watts stare through the windshield at --
THE ASTEROID, below them and dead ahead. We get our first (and
only temporary) clear glimpse of the designated landing field, a
relatively smooth, unobstructed plane on the asteroid's surface.
Harry is green, looks like he's gonna blow chunks.
Sharp : We're awake, we're
not pukin'....(looks over shoulder at Harry) ....well, Harry is.
And we got a clear path to the target. Houston, over.
INT.
SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE
Truman smiles.
Truman : Copy that,
Freedom.
INT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Clark gives Golden a thumbs up.
Clark : We'll take you in,
guys.
EXT.
SHUTTLES FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE
Freedom, in the lead, and Independence, following to the rear and
side, descend through the debris-less corridor to the waiting
asteroid.
Suddenly a CLOUD OF ICE AND PEBBLES wafts in front of the
Shuttles.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM COCKPIT
In one terrifying second, visibility is cut to twenty feet. Then
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
PEBBLES and SMALL ICE CHUNKS strike the windshield, chipping and
denting it. The impacts are violent; the interior is buffeted
around. It's the space equivalent of bad hailstorm.
Sharp : Damn it....!
Clark : (V.O) What is it, Willie?
Sharp : Problem, Houston. We've got debris all over us!
REAR OF
COCKPIT - Harry and the others, alarmed, are buffeted around
violently.
INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE - COCKPIT
No visibility here either. Ice chunks and pebbles BANG against
the windshield.
Truman : I've got no
visibility. I've lost orientation to the target!
Suddenly,
as sudden as it came, the debris clears.
But a HUGE ICE BOULDER the size of a three-story building twirls
into Independence's path. It hits a BOULDER which collides with
another.
Truman : Big guy! Dead
ahead!
Truman
stabs his directional thruster button. Shuttle Independence veers
to the right....
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Sharp hits his directional thruster, and Freedom veers to the
left....
EXT. THROUGH THE ASTEROID'S TAIL
Freedom goes left, Independence right, splitting the ice boulder.
Freedom clears the ice boulder by a foot. Independence, not so
lucky, clips the ice boulder, ripping her left thruster clean
off. With one thruster, Independence careens out of control,
twirling and spinning.
INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE
Truman : (panicked) I lost
left thruster! No control! I have no control!
In the
Independence's cargo bay, one of the Armadillos RIPS free from
its moorings and plunges through the CARGO BAY DOORS.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Sharp steers Freedom past the ice boulder.
Watts : Where's the other
ship....?!
Suddenly
the Independence, with a RIPPED OPEN CARGO BAY DOOR, careens
directly across Freedom's path, filling Freedom's cockpit window,
nearly colliding with her.
Sharp hits his thrusters, veering away from the damaged
Independence.
Sharp and Watts watch Independence twirling toward the asteroid.
Suddenly BANG!!!
The INDEPENDENCE'S ERRANT ARMADILLO strikes the Freedom's nose,
spider-webbing the WINDSHIELD. Sharp and Watts recoil in terror.
Watts SCREAMS.
INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE
The fuselage is spinning. A.J., Bennie and the others are in
terror. In the cockpit, Truman SCREAMS over the radio:
Truman : Houston, MAYDAY,
MAYDAY, we're going down!
The
Shuttle's roof collides with a rock. We hear SCRAPING METAL. The
CEILING dents in, dislodging INTERIOR CEILING PANELS filled with
wires and electrical components; they rain down on A.J. and the
others.
Choas. The SPARKING CABIN fills with smoke.
Truman : Crew, go to life
support!
Everyone
grabs for their HELMET, frantically trying to get them on. A.J.
gets his on, but he can't lock his neck seal. He fidgets with the
little SEAKL LOCKS.
A.J. rips off the helmet. It slips from his fingers and floats
off through the zero-g cabin!
A.J. : Goddamn it!
A.J. throws
off his seat harnesses and goes after his helmet. In
zero-gravity, the sides of the twirling cockpit revolve around
A.J. as he moves.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
We hear a CACOPHONY OF VOICES and BANGING ROCKS against
Independence's fuselage.
Truman : MAYDAY, HOUSTON,
MAYDAY....!!
Golden and
the N.A.S.A. personnel can only sit and listen, horrified,
impotent to do anything.....
INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE - REAR CABIN
AT THE BACK OF THE CABIN - A.J. reaches his helmet and
frantically gets it back on. The fuselage is still twirling
around him.
Bennie, strapped in and freaking out, throws off his seat harness
and bolts for the SAFETY EMERGENCY HATCH equipped with EXPLOSIVE
RELEASE CHARGES.
Truman sees Bennie at the Emergency Hatch. BIG ROCKS smash off
the windshield in front of Truman; the windshield's safety glass
is weakened, splintered, to the point of bursting.
Truman : Get away from that
door!!!!
Bennie is
wild-eyed, crazed.
Bennie : Go to hell, man, I
ain't dyin' on this thing!!!!
A SERIES OF
QUICK CUTS:
A ROCK SMASHES through the windshield, gouging into Truman.
Depressurisation. Truman and Co-pilot Weston are sucked out
through the windshield.
Bennie BLOWS the Emergency Hatch's explosive charges. The hatch
door pulls Bennie out into space...to his death.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
FLASH CUTS: Independence's System Monitors flash off:
PRESSURIZATION goes to zero; CABIN OXYGEN goes to zero;
INDIVIDUAL LIFE SUPPORT MONITORS go to zero.
Independence's radio transmissions are STATIC and PANICKED
VOICES. Golden runs down the aisle to Independence's monitors.
Skip : No cabin pressure!
Systems-wide failure!
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - REAR CABIN
Harry and the Roughnecks are SMASHED around in their seats.
IN THE COCKPIT - THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD
A BOULDER the size of a house looms downslope. Shuttle Freedom is
skidding straight for it.
Sharp and Watts watch helplessly as the Shuttle skids toward the
boulder.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE
Freedom hits a SMALLER ROCK, which changes its skid angle. It
clears the boulder by a foot and skids to a stop at the base of
the slope.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - REAR CABIN
Harry and the others JOLT to a stop. No one moves. No one
breathes. It's scary as hell.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL Golden and the other Technicians
wait breathlessly for some response. Golden GRABS the mike.
Golden : Freedom. come in.
(no response) Independence, come in . no response) Come in,
Freedom.
Nothing.
Skip buries his face in his hands. Flip chews his pencil. Golden,
having lost one crew already, twists his wedding ring.
Sharp : (V.O) Houston, it's
Freedom. We just landed on this son-of-a-bitch, over.
Golden and
the Technicians breath a sigh of relief.
Watts : (V.O) What's the
status of Independence?
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - REAR CABIN
CAMERA PUSHES IN ON HARRY, as he waits for Houston's response to
this last question.
Sharp : (V.O) We lost her.
CAMERA
TIGHT ON HARRY. He's lost men before, many men on oil rigs. But
not A.J.....
Chick : (O.S.) Harry,
Harry, Jesus Christ, this can't happen....
Harry snaps
out of it, turns to Chick.
Harry : It did happen.
They're gone. Deal with it. We got a lot of work to do.
Harry
unharnesses himself and rises.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Golden looks at Grace. She looks back. A tear slides off her
cheek to the console. Harry's daughter doesn't say a word, or
break down. She just quietly rises and walks to the back of the
room. Grace rubs her bare ring finger. A BEAT.
CAMERA SPIES the ZERO BARRIER CLOCK. Seven hours, 52 minutes, 000
feet drilled.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Chick, Bear, and Max prepare to disembark, donning helmet and
glove assemblies, clicking neck and wrist seals into locking
position.
Harry comes into the cockpit. Watts is flipping switches and
reading gauges. Sharp's on the radio. A haze fills the cockpit.
Watts : Engine ignition
system isn't responding.
INT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
INTERCUT - FREEDOM/ MISSION CONTROL
Golden : What's the
problem?
Flip : Engine ignition. Starting diagnostics.
Sharp : Houston, I don't know where we are. Tell me how far we
overshot Harry's sweep spot. Advise on currant location, over.
Skip
motions to Golden and Clark. They hurry over to his console. On
Skip's computer screen is a MAP OF THE ASTEROID containing its
geological fault lines.
Skip : They overshot their
landing 26 miles. There's a different fault line, but it's
deeper.
Golden : How much deeper?
Skip : Two hundred feet.
Golden
exchanges a look with Temple.
Golden : Harry, your fault
line's fifty yards off the starboard side.
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Harry stalks to the rear.
Harry : Rockhound.
Rockhound : Yes, sir.
Harry : I'm gonna get you some surface samples and you're gonna
tell me what I'm up against.
Rockhound : Rocks are my life.
Watts : Willie, we might be stuck.
Sharp
exchanges grim looks with Pitts and Fisk over this bad
information.
Harry : The good news just
keeps comin'. Load up, guys.
Sharp
watches Harry and the guys exit to the rear.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Freedom's cargo door opens; its RAMP unfolds to the asteroid's
surface. HARRY looks out.
Freedom is in a small, cold, dark valley. The asteroid's face is
tilted away from the Earth and Sun. THE MOON is huge on our rear
horizon. The place is eerily calm and tranquil. Harry walks down
the ramp onto the asteroid surface.
INT. FREEDOM CARGO BAY - INSIDE ARMADILLO
Chick, at the Armadillo's controls, engages gears.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
The Armadillo rumbles out of the cargo bay, carrying Bear, Max,
Rockhound and Pitts over the wheel wells.
The Armadillo drives 50 yards from Freedom and parks. The guys
hop down, turning on their PRO-GRAVITY THRUSTERS. Bear begins
off-loading 20-foot long DRILLING PIPES.
Harry takes readings from a SEISMIC INSTRUMENT. Pulls out a SOIL
SAMPLER, a small shovel on a telescoping shaft. He digs it in
with his boot. Clang. It doesn't dig in at all. He walks around,
stabbing it into the ground. CLANG. CLANG.
Chick exchanges nervous looks with Bear and Max.
Harry : Bedrock. Whole
goddamn place is Bedrock.
Harry
examines the ground. Not satisfied. He finds a spot he likes;
digs an "X" in the soil with his boot.
Harry : (cont'd) Here. Fire
up the Bad Boy bit.
Chick, Max
and Bear go into action. Max screws the Bad Boy bit onto the
first drilling pipe. Bear hoists the pipe up to the DRILLING
MECHANISM, muscles it onto the DRILL DRIVE, then clamps it on.
Harry plugs a TEE and GOLF BALL into the craggy surface. He
waggles his club, a 5-IRON HEAD, screwed onto the soil sampler's
shaft.
Pitts : What's he doing?
Chick : Wildcatters are superstitious, Colonel. Harry does this
every time we break ground.
He
swings....WHACK! The ball rockets off the tee and keeps
going...and going...
Harry : HOLE NUMBER 77. Let
'er rip!
Chick
throws a lever, lowering the BAD BOY BIT into the rocky, icy
surface. Down the drill pipe goes, unimpeded, 10 feet just like
that. It suddenly stops. It's turning, but not drilling. Bear and
Max approach the drill hole.
Bear : What in hell's down
there?
Harry : Chick, bring 'er up!
Chick
throws it in reverse. The DRILLING ARM reverses out of the hole.
The Bad Boy bot comes up CHEWED TO SHREDS. Harry and the guys
examine the drill bit. Everyone exchanges a worried look.
Max : The dream. It's my
dream.
Harry : Shut up, Max. (looks at Bear) What's with the look? Get
that off your face. You've seen bits get eaten before.
Bear : Not after ten feet.
Chick : The first ten better be the worst ten.
Harry : Go to the Terminator.
Chick grabs
Harry's mysterious METAL CASE. Harry pops open the metal case,
revealing THE TERMINATOR, a super high-tech bit.
Harry : I designed you. I
built you. You are the enemy of all subterranean shit. You are
the king. It's showtime.
Harry
passes it to Bear, who screws it onto the drilling pipe,
Rockhound scoops up a COLLECTION OF DOWNHOLE ROCK CHIPS.
Harry : (cont'd) Hit it,
Chick.
The DRILL
PIPE turns. Sediment comes WHOOSHING out of the hole and -- THE
DRILL PIPE descends like a bitch.
INT. FREEDOM
Sharp, Watts, Pitts and Fisk have a PANEL removed, exposing the
guts of Freedom's wiring and components. Watts and Sharp are
inside the panel, scrunched against the fuselage wall, unbolting
a large COMPONENT. Watts hands Pitts and Fisk a SMALLER
COMPONENT.
Watts : Unbolt the housing.
There and there.
INT.
ARMADILLO
The rock CHIPS spew into the COLLECTOR in front of ROCKHOUND.
Harry looks on.
Harry : What do you make of
that?
Rockhound
picks up several chips. Draws them close to his eyes.
Rockhound : Oh my. Oh my,
my, my. This isn't rock. It's uhh, it's uhh, it's......iron.
Harry : Iron deposit?
Rockhound : (shakes head) No. It's been melted. Forged rather.
I've only seen this once - at a volcano in Hawaii. (looks up at
Harry) You're drilling into a big slab of cast-iron,
Mr.
Stamper.
INT.
FREEDOM
Harry picks up the radio.
Harry : Give me Dan Golden.
INTERCUT -
MISSION CONTROL / FREEDOM
Golden's handed the phone.
Golden : Yeah, Harry.
What's your situation?
INTERCUT -
GOLDEN AND TEMPLE IN MISSION CONTROL / HARRY ON FREEDOM
Harry : Situation? You put
me down on the worst possible place on this asteroid. I'm
drillin' into something I shouldn't. The hole just ate one of my
diamond-tipped bits in
thirty
minutes. That has never happened to me in twenty years.
Golden : You're forty minutes in. You should be down 150 feet.
How far are you?
Harry : Not far. (beat) Twenty-three feet.
CLOSE ON
Golden as he looks at Temple.
Temple : This is an
exercise in futility.
Golden : (to Harry) "Don't tell me what you can't do, tell
me what you can." Remember that, Stamper? Go faster.
Harry : We will.
Golden : How?
INT.
FREEDOM CARGO BAY
Sharp and Pitts enter. Fisk hands Sharp the phone.
Sharp : Sharp, over.
PUSH IN on
Sharp in EXTREME CLOSE-UP. His jaw tightens. His eyes dart.
Sharp : (cont'd) Sir, the
bird can't fly.
Temple : (V.O.) Well, you need to get it fixed unless you want to
die along with that asteroid.
A LONG
PAUSE, as Sharp listens.
Sharp :(cont'd) Yes, sir.
Temple : (V.O.) And, I don't want those drillers knowing about
this. They have enough to worry about just drilling the damn ole.
Collinswood : (V.O.) Colonel Sharp, this is Chief of Staff
Collinswood. Have Pitts and Fisk prepare to detonate that nuke on
the surface. Too many lives are at stake here. Have
them
standing by.
Sharp : On your order sir.
EXT.
ASTEROID SURFACE - A TINY VALLEY - ESTABLISHING
The gnarled WRECK OF SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE lies below. Twisted
metal and cabin materials strewn everywhere.
INT. INDEPENDENCE CRASH SITE
CAMERA moves through the wreckage of Independence. Nightmarish.
EMERGENCY LIGHTS still on battery flicker. The shattered
windshield; the blown emergency hatch; A CORPSE lies face down,
helmet half on, half off; Independence's huge tubular NUCLEAR
DEVICE.
Something moves on the ceiling. REVEAL A.J. hanging upside down,
caught in the twisted fuselage skin. A.J. cuts himself down. He
twirls to the ground. Sees LEGS MOVING UNDER RUBBLE.
A.J. throws off the rubble, revealing Lev, dazed but alive. A.J.
helps him to his feet.
Lev : What happened to the
others....
A.J. and
Lev move toward the cockpit.
A.J. : (grabs the radio)
Freedom, come in, over. Freedom, come in, over.... Freedom...?
(shaking head) It's you and me.
A.J.
smashes the radio in frustration.
EXT. FREEDOM - DRILLING SITE
Chick and Bear screw on a new length of drill pipe. Chick engages
the gears. The drill pipe descends. THE TERMINATOR is working.
Harry approaches from the shuttle.
Harry : How far?
Chick : Almost 60 feet and startin' to kick ass!
Suddenly
GRRRR. CLANG. BANG. The drill pipe stops. Harry walks over to the
hole.
Chick : (cont'd) That did
not sound good.
Harry : Increase r.p.m.
Chick
throws the lever. The drill pipe turns faster, but still doesn,t
descend. Harry and the guys crowd around the drilling hole.
Max : Freaky, man.
Bear : I got one of those big-time crappy feelings about this.
Harry : We gotta get more power down to this bit. (thinks; looks
up at Chick) Full throttle.
Chick : You sure?
Harry : Yeah, I'm sure.
Chick : I don't think she can take it.
Harry : She's gonna have to.
Chick : The last time we ran her at full throttle we ripped her
up!
Harry : I don't have time to argue, Chick, now goddamn it,
throttle up, or I'll come up there and do it for you.
Chick
reluctantly throws the lever to FULL THROTTLE. The TURBINE ENGINE
ROARS. The DRILL PIPE turns faster in the hole. The TURBINE
ENGINE is shaking the Armadillo. The drill pipe is descending
again. Suddenly BANG!! The CLUTCH rupture, spewing the CLUTCH
PLATES and GEARS into space.
Harry : Stop!
Chick
throws it into reverse. Up comes THE TERMINATOR, CHEWED TO
SHREDS. Bear and Max look at it, then each other. Very worried
now.
Bear : The Terminator's
terminated.
Chick : The clutch is dead.
Harry : We're goin' to the second rig.
Harry
stalks off toward the Shuttle.
Harry : (cont'd) We need
the second Armadillo.
Sharp : We'll bring it out to you.
Harry moves
to get his pipe tongs. Fisk and Pitts are next to the uncovered
nuclear bomb. Harry looks at the bomb.
EXT. FREEDOM - DRILL SITE
Chick, Bear and Max listen to Harry over the inter-crew link.
INTERCUT WITH ABOVE.
INT. FREEDOM
Harry : Why don't we cut to
the chase, fellahs? What the fuck is going on with that other
nuke?
Harry
stares at the nuclear weapon.
Sharp : Stamper, if you
can't drill the hole, we're detonating this thing on the
surface....
Chick and
the guys eye each other. Harry walks off, pissed off....
INT. MISSION CONTROL
Golden and Clark are hunched over monitors. Two MILITARY AIDES
carrying a NUCLEAR COMMAND LINK (FOOTBALL) SUITCASE.
Golden, alarmed, tries to figure out what they have.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Chick, Bear and Max enter through the airlock. Everyone turns and
stares at Sharp.
Sharp : There's no way in
hell you're gonna get that hole dug, and you know it.
Harry : Well, it wasn't my scientists that told me about the
fucking fire cracker inside the hand story. Are we detonating on
the surface or are we gonna drill?
Bear : I didn't come up here to die.
Chick : I say we drill. They say we have until Zero Barrier.
Sharp : (freaked out) That hole better be dug in two hours, or
we're detonating. Whether you're on this godforsaken rock or not!
Harry : We're drilling.
Harry and
his crew file out.
INT. MISSION CONTROL - NIGHT
Golden : (to Temple) What
is going on up there?
Temple : Your drillers aren't doing the job, Dan.
Golden : After 15 minutes? What do you expect?
Temple : Golden, we are preparing for surface detonation.
Golden : A surface detonation isn't going to do it, General. My
scientists have already told you that. It must be detonated inside
the asteroid. The alternative is that the Earth
will
be bombarded by smaller matter which will be just as
catastrophic.
Temple
stares off pensively into the sky.
Temple : We have a lot
better chance of surviving the "smaller matter." The
drillers have two hours (to the Aides) I want you ready on my
command.
The
Adjutants prepare the nuclear command link.
Military Adjutant : Sir, we have interface with the weapon.
Remote detonator standing by.
INT.
INDEPENDENCE - CRASH SITE
Lev is sitting on the ground, head in his hands, completely
demoralised.
Lev : I feel like Skywalker
Luke when he learn Darth Vader his father. What I should do?
A.J. : Get up, we got work to do.
Lev : A.J., let me cash in my chips.
A.J. : Lev, we're getting off this rock, if I have to drag your
ass the whole way. (off Lev's look) Now get up!
A.J. walks
into the Independence cargo bay, detached from the nose section.
Then climbs into Independence's Armadillo.
A.J. : C'MON LEV, PUT YOUR
WEIGHT INTO IT!
EXT.
INDEPENDENCE - WRECKAGE OF CARGO BAY
Lev is prying open the cargo bay ramp door (the hydraulics are
shot).
LEV : YOU COME PUSH,
YANKEE....
INT. -
MISSION CONTROL
Golden turns to Temple.
Golden : The asteroid's
surface is heating up.
Temple : What does that mean?
Golden : It means they may not be able to work on the surface for
much longer. The temperatures will be unbearable.
EXT.
INDEPENDENCE - WRECKAGE OF CARGO BAY
The Armadillo, engine rumbling, is poised to roll Independence's
long tubular NUCLEAR WEAPON which has been ejected with other
debris from the broken fuselage.
Lev : Wait A.J.! We drive
over nuclear weapon and we finished before we started. A.J. : So
move it.
Lev jams a
pipe between the ARMING DEVIC and the nuke. As he rolls the nuke
over, the arming device detaches, rips off, and clatters to the
ground.
INT. MISSION CONTROL
Temple : Golden, tell your
drillers the clock is ticking. I have 6 billion people down here
relying on them!
In the b.d.
hangs a crayon drawing of sunny day by Temple's daughter.
Temple : (cont'd) A lot of
people are die....
INT.
INDEPENDENCE - CRASH SITE
The ARMADILLO blasts through the cargo bay door. A.J. and Lev
roll off away from the Independence.
A.J. cranes his neck looking out through the Armadillo. A RIDGE
with THRE TALL SPIRES is in the distance, ringed with LIGHT from
Freedom's FLOOD LIGHTS.
A half-smile from A.J: hope.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Sharp comes back from the cockpit, carrying the detonator.
Harry's on the phone to Golden.
Harry : ...You told me that
the only way to deal with this hunk 'o crud is to get a nuke 1000
feet down. You sticking with that?
Golden : (V.O.) Firmly.
Harry : Great. Glad we have that understanding.
Golden : (V.O.) IF you're gonna pull this off, we have to have a
little talk about time...and temperature. Zero Barrier's in two
hours.
Harry : Wait...wait..what about temperature? When did
temperatures come into the picture?
Golden : (V.O.) Harry, your suits are good upto 150 degrees
Celsius....
Harry : And...? How hot is it going to get?
Golden : (V.O.) We didn't anticipate you being on the asteroid so
long. The clock is ticking...
Harry : How hot is it going to get?!
Golden : (V.O.) Three hundred and fifty degrees.
Harry's
face drops.
Harry : Thanks for telling
us now, Golden....I don't think my bits can handle those kind of
temperatures....
INT.
FREEDOM - CARGO BAY
Harry clicks off the radio.
Watts : We've still gotta
fix this shuttle, Stamper.
Harry : Give me some more good news. You've got two new
assistants who can fix your shuttle. Bear, Max, hop to it.
There's not a machine they can't fix. We can handle the
hole
from here.
EXT.
SHUTTLE FRREDOM
The airlock opens. Sharp and Pitts are led out by Harry.
Harry : Colonel Sharp, if
we're going to blow this hole, you gotta help ME. I need some
more manpower....
EXT.
FREEDOM DRILL SITE - MINUTES LATER
The SECOND ARMADILLO rumbles out of Freedom's cargo bay. Chick
and the Roughnecks work like a NASCAR pit crew. Sharp and Pitts
lay on their backs holding down a 1000 pound axle, fighting
zero-g.
Suddenly, the ground begins to tremble.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - FRONT OF "THREE SPIRES RIDGE"
A.J.'s ARMADILLO rumbles over a little hill revealing the RIDGE
WTH THREE SPIRES directly in front of them. THE SUN is moving
over the asteroid's FAR HORIZON, causing a "sunrise."
It is breathtaking, spiritual...and frighteningly bright.
INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO
A.J. : Over the hill.
Suddenly,
the ground under the vehicle shakes sharply. A.J. stops the
Armadillo.
The ground around the vehicle heaves up and down. The GROUND
SPLITS. One TECTONIC PLATE rises 15 feet in the air. The ground
breaks like a wave, up and down.
INT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Here, too, the ground shakes. Bear, terrified, drops a DRILL
PIPE. Max is shaken to the ground.
Chick is nearly thrown off the Armadillo.
Chick : Clear the rig!!!
Chick jumps
down, bouncing. Everybody gets the hell away from the drilling
hole.
INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO
The asteroid shakes violently, throwing A.J. and Lev around the
cab. ROCKS BANK down on the Armadillo's top and hood. The
ASTEROID SURFACE continues splitting apart across the slope's
fall line.
A.J. : EARTHQUAKE!
The
asteroid RUMBLES a few more seconds, then the quake slowly stops.
All is stll.
A.J. : (cont'd) Let's take
a look.
EXT.
ASTEROID SURFACE
Lev gets out; he nervously paces back and forth across the lip of
the fissure.
Lev : This bad. (repeating,
mantra) Darth Vader. Darth Vader.
A.J. : Listen, Mr. Negative. Everyone thinks we're dead. We're
not. So, suck it up. Because if we don't drill that hole, six
billion people are going to die. And I'm not lettin'
Harry Stamper get
all the freaking credit for saving the world. (firm) We're gona
do this, then we're going home.
Lev : I l-o-v-e this American confidence! Like John Wayne.
(sotto) This why I suspect you won Cold War.
A.J. : Hep me get these rocks over there.
A.J. and
Lev start dragging rocks to use as a "kicker ramp" for
the jump. Lev is oblivious. They pull embedded rock out,
revealing DIAMONDS. A.J. holds up a large chunk.
A.J. : (cont'd) This outta
cut into a sweet wedding ring.
Lev : (holding chunk) With this I can rebuild my MIR.
EXT.
ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Chick, Bear, and Max cautiously approach the drill hole.
Everything seems okay. Chick climbs back up to the drill-drive
platform.
Chick : Back to work!
Bear grabs
the drill pipe and hoists it: back to work.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - "THREE SPIRES RIDGE"
A.J. is walking along the GAPING, JAGGED FISSURE, 50 feet wide,
50 feet deep, stretching across the entire slope.
Lev : This bad, this very
bad, very, very bad...
A.J. : Stick a cork in it, Lev. I'm tryin' to think.
A.J. stares
at the fissure, his eyes roaming from the fissure...to the
Armadillo...back to the fissure.
A.J. : (cont'd) Hop on the
back. Get our weight distributed better.
Lev : (uncertain) And why to do this?
A.J. : Because I'm askin'. And turn your suit's thrusters off.
Trust me, okay?
A.J. gets
in the Armadillo. Lev goes around back, climbs on the REAR
BUMPER. He clicks off his pressure suit's pro-gravity thrusters.
Lev : Okey-doke.
The
Armadillo begins backing down the slope.
INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO
A.J. throws it in neutral. The Armadillo stops.
A.J. : Hey, Lev, we're gonna see what this Porche engine can
do....
He throws it in drive. The Armadillo lurches ahead.
EXT. A.J..'S ARMADILLO - BACK BUMPER
The Armadillo's REAR TIRES CHURN FORWARD, slinging rocks and
gravel which, in zero-g, shoot off in a stream into space, never
falling. Lev holds on for dear life.
A.J.'S Armadillo churns up the slope like a Bronco 4X4, slinging
gravel, heading for THE JAGGED FISSURE. It FLIES over the
fissure's edge as --
INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO
-- A.J. punches the Armadillo's PRO-GRAVITY THRUSTER
"OFF" SWITCH.
EXT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO - ROOF
-- the Armadillo's roof-mounted PRO-GRAVITY THRUSTERS shut down.
EXT. ASTEROID - "THREE SPIRES RIDGE" - JAGGED FISSURE
The Armadillo, no longer thrusting downwardly, flies across the
jagged fissure in zero-g. The heavy steel vehicle doesn't fall.
It ascends, and amazingly, shoots across the entire 50 foot
expanse of jagged fissure.
EXT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO - BACK BUMPER
Lev looks down. The FISSURE passes beneath him, then SOLID GROUND
again. They've cleared the fissure....but they're not coming
down.
Lev : A.J., up is bad!
Down!
INT. A.J.'S
ARMADILLO
A.J. punches the PRO-GRAVITY THRUSTER "START" SWITCH.
Nothing....
EXT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO - BACK BUMPER
The thruster nozzles SPUTTER, but no thrust. The Armadillo is 50
feet off the ground and still ascending...into outer space. Lev,
his next stop being Planet Mars, panics. He climbs the roof and
peers inside the front windshield, POUNDING ON THE WINDSHIELD.
Lev : Down! Not up! Up is
bad! Down!
INT. A.J.'S
ARMADILLO
The Armadillo continues lifting into space, from which there is
no return. A.J. toggles the "start" switch. The
swtich's INDICATOR LIGHT FLICKERS.
A.J. : HOLD ON, LEV, I GOT
HER WORKIN'!!
EXT. A.J.'S
ARMADILLO
Not quite. Only the right-front and right-rear THRUSTER NOZZLES
fire, pushing the right side downward, rolling the Armadillo over
on its side. Lev, on the bumper, clings to the rear-mounted TOW
WINCH AND CABLE ASSEMBLY.
Suspended in zero-g, on its side and in mid-air, the Armadillo is
pushed by thrusters, tires-first, against the SHEER, 90 DEGREE
CLIFF FACE next to the slope. All four Armadillo tires slam
against the cliff. The Armadillo bounces off.
Lev, grabbing the Armadillo's TOWING CABLE, flies off the rear.
The cable spools out and LEV, hanging on for all he's worth,
SLAMS against the cliff face and descends....
INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO
A.J., lying sideways, keeps toggling the thruster START SWITCH.
The indicator light finally FLASHES "IN" and A.J. rams
it into drive --
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - CLIFF FACE / ARMADILLO
-- the Armadillo, all four thrusters now working, drives sideways
across the cliff face dragging Lev, who bounces against the cliff
face and gradually falls, until he's bouncing on the asteroid
surface.
The Armadillo finally falls down the cliff face and skids to a
stop.
INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO
A.J., shaken, takes a deep breath and gets out.
EXT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO - REAR
A.J. walks to the rear. Lev splayed out 50 feet from the back of
the Armadillo, covered in asteroid surface dirt and grime, looks
up at him.
Lev : Very bad idea, A.J.
EXT.
FREEDOM - DRILLING SITE
Harry orders his crew to start the drill up. The men drill a
shitload of feet in record time. They finally burst through the
rock and hit easy sediment.
The asteroid is spinning toward sunlight. Here, too, there is a
sunrise. Bear's face sweats inside the helmet. Chick's vision
begins to blur. Tito takes a seat on a nearby rock, exhausted.
Chick : Mutha...it's
getting warm.
Bear : (worried) We got that sunrise, Harry. These bits are gonna
fry up......
Suddenly
the TRANSMISSION LINKAGE in the Armadillo BLOWS.
Harry : Goddamn it!
(thinks) We'' take the tranny from the other rig! And if you
wanna complain about the heat, go to some other fucking
asteroid....Toughen up.
Sharp : (to Roughnecks) Let's move it.....let's go, guys.
EXT.
ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Chick and Bear yank the detached good TRANSMISSION HOUSING from
inside Armadillo 2 and carry it across to Armadillo 1.
INT. ARMADILLO 1 - CABIN
Max finishes unbolting the BROKEN TRANSMISSION HOUSING. He passes
it to Chick who dumps it on the surface. Sharp and Truman work
with Bear and Chick who feed in the good transmission housing.
Max presses the airlock. The doors close and the cabin
pressurises. Max clicks off his helmet. He begins installing the
transmission housing and the linkage.
EXT. ARMADILLO 1
Chick and Bear, atop the drilling platform, begin installing the
clutch plates and transmission linkage.
Harry : Move guys, move
it.....
Bolting,
bolting, bolting, connecting, connecting.....
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY
Skip is analysing the asteroid's THERMAL READINGS. A
MULTI-COLORED THERMAL IMAGE MAP shows most of the asteroid is
GREEN (no heat), but around the chosen landing site are numerous
RED SPOTS (heat).
Skip : Look at these
thermals. This is BEFORE sunlight hits the drill site. She's
really heating up....
INT.
ARMADILLO
Max is bolting. The DOWNHOLE PRESSURE GAUGE NEEDLE jolts. Max
doesn't see it. He keeps working.
EXT. DRILLING SITE
Harry's watching the work. Out of the corner of his eye... THE
DRILLING ARM KICKS. Harry turns to it. Nothing happens. His eyes
move back to Chick and Bear, then back to the drilling arm. It
kicks up again. Just a few inches.
Harry : Chick. Unbolt the
tranny.
Chick : We just put it in.
Harry : Do it. NOW.
Chick,
confused, starts unbolting the tranny. Suddenly the well kicks
hard, one foot high. Chick's jostled. BANG!! The RIG KICKS HARD,
THREE FEET, bucking Chick off.
Chick scrambles back up to the drill platform.
The ground shakes. a terrific TREMBLER rumbles through the
valley. Harry, Max and Bear cling to the side of the Armadillo.
Chick's nearly thrown off.
Harry : (cont'd) GET THE
TRANNY OUTTA THERE! WE LOSE THE TRANNY, WE'RE DEAD MEN!!
Harry
climbs up to the DRILL PLATFORM. The GROUND SHAKES violently,
throwing harry and Chick around the top of the drill platform.
Harry : Max, you gotta get
those bolts undone!
INT.
ARMADILLO - REAR COMPARTMENT
Max is furiously unbolting the TRANNY HOUSING. There are two
bolts to go. He ratches one off....
Max : I'm doin' it, I'm
doin' it.
Max gets to
the last bolt....
Harry : (V.O.) Go Max, go
Max, get the last bolt....!
Max gets
the last bolt undone.
Max : DONE!!
EXT.
ARMADILLO - DRILL PLATFORM
Chick and Harry pull the unfastened TRANNY HOUSING out of the
Armadillo as --
INT. ARMADILLO - REAR COMPARTMENT
Max stares at the DOWNHOLE PRESSURE GAUGES, groping through the
compartment for his helmet.
Max : Pressure's through
the roof! Shit, where's my helmet....!?
EXT.
ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Suddenly the DRILLING ARM jolts upward, lifting the ARMADILLO SIX
FEET off the ground.
Chick : She's gonna blow!
Harry : MAX, GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!!!
INT.
ARMADILLO - REAR COMPARTMENT
Max is thrown against a wall of the rear compartment.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
The DRILLING ARM KICKS again, six feet this time, tossing the
Armadillo over on two wheels.
INT. ARMADILLO - REAR COMPARTMENT
Max is SLAMMED against the wall again. Terrified, he grabs for
his helmet and locks the NECK SEALS.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
A DEEP RUMBLING emanates from the drilling hole, coming seemingly
from the ASTEROID'S CORE. Harry gets to his feet and SLAMS HIS
FIST against the Armadillo's SIDE.
Harry : CLEAR THE RIG!
Everyone
scatters....
INT. ARMADILLO - REAR COMPARTMENT
Max, helmet on, is frantically scrambling to the airlock, but
there's no time...
Max : I CAN'T
DEPRESSURIZE!!
EXT.
ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
WIth an awesome force, the DRILLING HOLE BLOWS. The DRILLING PIPE
EXPLODES upward, lifting the DRILLING ARM and the ENTIRE
ARMADILLO VEHICLE with it. THE ENTIRE RIG blows upward into
space.
INT. ARMADILLO - REAR COMPARTMENT
Max punches the DOOR LOCK without depressurising the cabin and is
sucked violently out of the rear compartment into open space.
EXT. SPACE OVER ASTEROID SURFACE
FIFTY FEET OF DRILL PIPE, THE DRILLING ARM, and the entire
ARMADILLO RIG with MAX trailing, BLOWS into space. MAX'S FACE is
a screaming mask of terror and confusion, reaching out, but
there's no one to catch him....Harry and the guys watch in
helpless silence as the drill rig and Max ascend into space.
Chick : Max.....No. No. No.
INT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY
Skip motions to Golden. He comes over.
Skip : They just lost the
rig. The hole blew out.
Golden
takes the news stoically. He thinks, looking across the room at
Temple. He looks at the clock. ONE HOUR AND FORTY MINUTES TO GO.
Golden : Say nothing.
EXT.
FREEDOM - DRILLING SITE
Silence. A stark tableau. Harry and the men standing there, just
watching. Devastated, confused, in shock. This is a total
catastrophe. The mission is over.
Sharp nods to Pitts. Pitts picks up the REMOTE NUCLEAR DETONATOR.
Sharp : Stamper, you ready
to blow this? Let's get outta here...!
Harry
ignores him. He won't accept defeat.
Harry : Chick, get your
butt over here.
Chick drags
his ass over to Harry.
Chick : Yeah.
Harry : We're gonna fix this - make it work. If we weld those two
together and go in one speed....
Chick : Harry....
Harry : Get your ass up here!
Chick
doesn't move. The two men stare at each other.
Chick : I've been with you
fourteen years. I've never said this to you, never thought I
would. It's over.
Chick walks
off toward the shuttle. Bear joins him.
Harry, atop of the Armadillo, looks around. His head drops...he's
burning up. His fist clenches the HALF MEDALLION in his hand
(where is it - clipped to suit - in pouch of suit?) His eyes shut
tightly. He is going to will victory from defeat. He will not
give up.
CAMERA'S at low angle, giving Harry a larger-than-life look.
Harry hears something. A LOW RUMBLE. It is confusing. It sounds
like......an ARMADILLO ENGINE.
Harry opens his eyes. He slowly turns and looks --
ACROSS THE VALLEY - ON THE DISTANT RIDGE - The front bumper of
A.J.'s Armadillo inches over the ridge crest.
HARRY, for the first time on the asteroid, smiles. Miracles do
happen.
HARRY : CHICK...BEAR!!!
Chick and
Bear about ready to enter the Freedom's airlock, stop and turn.
They see A.J.'S ARMADILLO ROARING down the hillside onto the
drilling site.
EXT. FREEDOM - DRILLING SITE
A.J. and Lev roar up to the drilling site in the Independence's
Armadillo. They come down a hill spectacularly without brakes and
it piles into shit, knocking things down.
Lev and A.J. bounce up to Chick and Bear.....hugs and high-fives
go around.
Bear : A.J. Frost. Back
from the dead.
Chick : Now you can die with us.
Harry : All the bits are gone, A.J. I've been inventing drill
bits for twenty-five years and I don't know what to use.
A.J. : You wouldn't happen to need a diamond tipper, would you?
A.J. pulls
out the POUCH OF DIAMONDS, found on the ridge.
Harry : Boys, we're back in
business!
INT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY
Golden stares at the wall. Grace is curled up on a chair in the
corner.
Harry : (V.O.) We have good
news folks. A.J. and the Russian just showed up. No other
survivors.
Grace shuts
her eyes, smiling. Sobbing.
EXT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - AFTERNOON
Chick shuts off an ARC WELDER and moves aside, letting Harry view
a DRILL BIT with A.J.'S DIAMONDS mounted on the top like diamonds
in a ring setting. Harry and the guys smile.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
The NEWLY CREATED DRILL BIT lowers into the drilling hole and
begins turning. It CHEWS into the shit down below, WHIRRING and
RIPPING and......descends quickly.
Chick : It worked! She's
goin' through her like a hot knife through butter!
BEGIN
MONTAGE:
The men drill a shitload of feet in very little time. It is a
feverish pace, their teamwork perfectly timed, as if
choreographed.
QUICK CUTS:
--A.J. working the levers on the drill platform.
--Hydraulic tongs clamping, unclamping on pipe.
--Bear hoisting pipe.
--Chick and Bear waiting with connecting pipe.
--The drilling arm going up and down.
--Newly connected drill pipes descending into the hole.
--Harry watching, shouting orders.
--There are serious wind storms, giving Harry, A.J., and the
other guys problems. So severe they knock guys across the
asteroid.
END MONTAGE
INT. MISSION CONTROL
Skip looks at thermal readings with alarm.
Skip : Dan, the surface is
heating up!
EXT.
ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Harry : Time, A.J.
A.J. : One hour.
Harry : Distance, Chick.
Chick : Eight hundred and twenty feet, Harry.
Harry : We gotta do 180 in thirty minutes.
Chick : Downhole pressure's goin' through the roof!
Harry : Stop! Shut down.
Chick
throws the lever. The drill pipe stops turning.
A.J. : Harry, we can't
stop.
Harry : Got to, kid. No choice.
A.J. : Drill right through the pressure to pay dirt.
Harry : That's crazy.
A.J. : Sometimes crazy works.
Harry and
A.J. stare at each other.
Harry : Chick, A.J.'s
callin' this one.
A.J. : Full throttle!
Chick
throws the lever. The DRILL PIPE descends on full throttle.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY
All the TECHNICIANS stand, staring at the CENTRAL BOARD, where a
graph shows the drilling progress.
Flip : Nine hundred and
eighty...Nine ninety...they're into the fault, they're doing it.
Golden
looks at the CLOCK. THIRTY-ONE MINUTES TO GO. He twists his
wedding ring.
Golden : Now just get the
thing in the hole.
All the
TECHNICIANS stare at their monitors. The atmosphere is thick with
tension. Clark chews his nails.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
The HOLE'S finished, the drill pipe's been pulled; A.J. drives
the ARMADILLO safely away from the site.
Watts and Sharp roll a GURNEY containing the NUCLEAR DEVICE (a
massive stainless steel tube) down Freedom's cargo bay RAMP
toward the hole. Harry and all the Roughnecks stand by the HOLE.
Harry : One thousand feet.
Chick : (smiles) Thousand and three, Harry. With a half hour to
spare.
Sharp and
Watts roll the NUCLEAR DEVICE GURNEY past the Roughnecks up to
the drilling hole.
Harry : Get the pipe and
bit outta there.
Chick gets
inside the Armadillo. Grabs the stick-shift. Compresses the
clutch and throws it in reverse.
THE DRILL PIPE begins to reverse out of the hole.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Skip : She's gettin'
hotter! Gotta mean gas - methane, helium, probably water vapor.
EXT.
ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
The DRILL PIPE turns sloely, retracting from the hole. Bear, atop
the drilling platform, is working on something with a wrench.
Bear accidently drops his wrench. It falls on the turbine's
RIPPED MESH PROTECTIVE SCREEN and hangs there. Bear looks at it
nervously and reaches...THE WRENCH falls into the turbine
spinning at six-thousand r.p.m. With a GRINDING SQUEAL, the
wrench shrapnel blows out of the turbine and --
THE DRILLING ARM reverses speeds and VIOLENTLY THRUSTS THE PIPE
FORWARD, buckling it. A piece of the drill string is BLOWN OUT,
smashing into Sharp's helmet, spider-webbing his faceshield. He's
out cold.
Harry and the guys dive away from the hole. Chick, confused,
works the clutch furiously to no avail. THE DRILLING ARM RAMS THE
PIPE back down the hole, where it BUCKLES, BENDS AND BREAKS IN
HALF.
Tito tends to Sharp..his face has lost all color. Harry
approaches the hole. Looks down. FIFTY FEET DOWN IS A MESS OF
MANGLED PIPE, blocking the hole.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY
Golden continues looking at the THERMAL IMAGING.
Golden : Harry, c'mon, we
got thirty minutes.
EXT.
ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Harry : Well, Dan, you're
just going to have to goddamn wait 'CAUSE WE GOTTA BIG PROBLEM UP
HERE IN HELL. (turns to guys) Somebody's gotta go down there.
Chick : Don't look at me.
Bear : I can't even get my foot in there.
Harry turns
and eyes A.J. A.J. stares down the hole.
Harry : Do or die, kid.
CLOSE ON
A.J. as he peers into the hole.
A.J. : Something I've been
meaning to talk to you about. When this is all over and we're
back home, I'd like to marry your daughter....
Harry
stares at A.J., the look priceless.
A.J. : (cont'd) Maybe I'll
ask her again later....
Harry turns
around..looking up at the star-filled sky. A.J. walks over to
Sharp...who's coming to now.
Harry : (to Golden) Oh
yeah, Golden?
Golden : (V.O.) Go ahead, Harry.
Harry : Your shuttle pilot just took a nasty shot from a drill
string....
Golden : Is he alright?
Harry : I hope so, he's gotta get us off this shithole.
INT.
DRILLING HOLE
A.J, tied to a SAFETY TETHER, comes down the hole with a
HAND-HELD CUTTER and a LENGTH OF ROPE. He reaches the
obstruction. The DRILL PIPE has been mashed, bent, buckled.
Severed ends stab into the sides of the hole. A.J. starts cutting
with the hand-held cutter.
EXT. DRILLING HOLE
The guys stand there, watching. Nothing happens. Agonising
seconds pass. Suddenly the ground rumbles. Another EARTHQUAKE. It
slowly starts to subside.
INT. DRILLING HOLE
The hole shakes. A.J. freezes, sweating.
Harry : (V.O.) A.J., we
need you. I need everything you got.
A.J.
wrestles with the severed pipes, untangling them, tying the ROPE
to them. He gives the rope a tug. Chick and Bear, above, pull up
the broken pipes.
EXT. DRILLING HOLE
Sharp : Enter interface
with the weapon.
Pitts
clicks a six digit code into a DIGITAL PAD on the DEVICE'S REMOTE
DETONATOR.
Pitts : Device armed.
The NUCLEAR
DEVICE has a small SLED with RATCHET WHEELS to let it slide down
the hole slowly. Sharp and Watts lift one end of the gurney. THE
NUCLEAR DEVICE slides off the gurney toward the MOUTH OF THE
DRILLING HOLE.
NT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY
The thermal and seismic sensors BEING TRANSMITTED FROM FREEDOM
START GOING CRAZY
Skip : It's a mess up
there...!
EXT.
ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
ANOTHER TEMBLOR hits, the worst yet, 9.7 on Earth. Watts falls,
losing her grip on the gurney; her end collapses. THE NUCLEAR
DEVICE lurches sideways off the gurney and rolls away from the
drilling hole......
The NUCLEAR DEVICE slides off the gurney....
INT. DRILLING HOLE
A.J. experiences the DEEPEST, MOST SINISTER RUMBLE YET, emanating
form the asteroid's core, something from hell. There's a
horrendous WHOOSHING SOUND.
A WINDSTORM OF PEBBLE, like a blowing tornado, whooshes up from
the hole, smashing into A.J.'S FACESHIELD.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Everyone whirls around in the sound's direction as --
ACROSS THE VALLEY FLOOR - A 100 FOOT METHANE GEYSER erupts,
spewing a PLUME OF HIDEOUS GREENISH GAS into space. Then another
200 FEET HIGH! Another 500 FEET HIGH! The ASTEROID has become
alive. The geyser's eruptions loosen the asteroid's surface
material and --
INT. DRILLING HOLE
A.J. : THIS SUCKS....
A.J. is
whooshed violently out of the hole.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
PEBBLES AND HOT STEAM BLASTS from the drilling hole. Everyone
recoils....
Harry : Get back!!
A.J. shoots
out of the pipe, tethering the SAFETY LINE behind him, blowing
into space. The safety tether snaps and RIPS off. A.J. is 70 feet
off the surface. Harry dives for his ripped tether. Catching it,
inches before A.J.'s thrown into space.
Harry and Bear grab A.J.'s safety tether and begin to pull him
down. Chick stares at something O.S., his jaw drops.
Chick : This thing
definitely doesn't like us.
CHUNKS OF
THE ASTEROID, some as big as trucks, others as big as houses,
dislodge from the ASTEROID SURFACE and, slowly at first, but with
terrifyingly increasing speed and momentum.....
.... they start rolling.
HARRY AND THE GUYS just stand there, disbelieving what they're
seeing.
On come the ROCKS and ICE CHUNKS, rolling. As they hit smaller
surface rocks, they take little hops, and bigger hops, until they
are BOUNDING across the surface. Harry lashes A.J.'s tether to
the Armadillo.
Harry and the guys run for their lives.
In the midst of this --
-- A 500 FOOT HIGH GEYSER erupts next to the drilling hole. Pitts
gets blasted by the geyser, which blows him across the asteroid
floor, SLAMMING him into the parked Armadillo. A BOULDER rolls at
Pitts and squashes him against the ARMADILLO , killing him.
A 20 FOOT ICE BOULDER rolls toward A.J.'s SAFETY TETHER.
A.J., suspended 70 feet off the asteroid surface, looks down at
the ONCOMING ICE BOULDER. A.J., terrified, tries to unbuckle the
tether, but he can't in time.
The boulder hits A.J.'s tether, rolling over it, flattening it to
the asteroid surface, which causes --
--A.J., with a JOLT, to be yanked toward the surface. A.J.
scrambles with his safety harness.
Chick, next to the Armadillo, sees A.J.'s plight. He dives
inside, engages the gears. The Armadillo ROARS toward the
oncoming ICE BOULDER.
A.J., terrified, continues to descend as --
Chick, driving the Armadillo, rams the ICE BOULDER just as it's
about to roll over A.J. The boulder hops up, SMASHES down on the
Armadillo's hood, CRUSHING the steel compartment around Chick,
and gently rolls over onto --
A.J., who log-rolls under the Armadillo, as the ice boulder
WHOMPS down and keeps rolling.
THE NUCLEAR DEVICE is rolling across the asteroid's surface.
Pebbles and debris CLANGING off the device's REMOTE
DETONATOR.....
Harry bounds toward the Armadillo. THE LARGEST, JAGGED ROCK rolls
at the vehicle. Harry's caught. There's no place to turn. The
rocks rolls straight at him. Twenty feet....10 feet....Harry
FALLS heavily to the ground.
Harry gets up and dives down inside a fox-hoe-sized INDENTATION
in the asteroid surface....
The BOULDER rolls right over him.
Finally the quake stops. The situation stabilises. Everyone gets
to their feet. Harry and A.J. get up. They look off at --
The MASSIVE BOULDERS rolling away in the distance, smashing into
other rock formations.
Harry picks up a DIAMOND. It SPARKLES in the light. Chick grabs
one. Holds it up, marvelling at it. The MASSIVE BOULDERS rolling
away in the distance, smashing into other rock formations.
Harry picks up a DIAMOND. It SPARKLES in the light. Chick grabs
one. Holds it up, marvelling at it.
Sharp, with bruises on his face, looks through his cracked
faceshield down at Pitt's corpse.
Sharp : He's dead.
Harry : Put it down, Chick.
Chick
tosses down the diamond and follows Harry. Everyone checks
themselves. Looks at others. There's no talk, no time to lose.
They reconvene, by the NUCLEAR DEVICE. It's dented. The alumniium
gurney is smashed, mangled.
Sharp : Three on that side,
the rest over here.
They hoist
the nuclear device and carry it to the drilling hole. They plug
one end of the nuke in the drilling hole and lift the other. The
NUKE begins to insert down the hole. Suddenly Sharp tries to grab
a TUBULAR PIECE OF ALUMINIUM from the broken gurney.
Sharp : (cont'd) Stop...!
-- rams it
into the wheels of the NUKE'S RATCHET-WHEEL DELIVERY SLED. The
nuke stops inserting into the hole. Sharp inspects the REMOTE
DETONATOR.
Sharp : (cont'd) The
remote's shot. (looks up) It'll have to be manually detonated.
Chick : What's that mean?
Pause.
Harry : Means one of us
ain't leaving.
INT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Golden addresses the room.
Golden : The situation: the hole is drilled but the remote
detonator is not functional. One of the crew is going to stay
behind and....(deep breath) ...manually detonate the device.
Golden looks over at Grace. She is stunned. The news is just
sinking in.
Golden : Don't stay for
this.
Grace : I'm not leaving.
Temple : In 18 minutes we will be at Zero Barrier. (to Grace)
Your father better be a man of his word.
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - CABIN
PAN FROM HARRY...to A.J. to...to Chick....to Lev...to Bear.
Everyone is huddled inside the cabin.
The SMASHED REMOTE DETONATOR, a 2000-foot spool-drum of
ELECTRICAL WIRE and a KNIFE sit on the table.
Sharp : (stoically) I'd
trade places with any one of you. But we need two people to fly
this mother back. So, we either all stay or you guys draw.
Sharp
raises a BUNDLE OF ELECTRICAL WIRES in his hand. The crew's going
to draw straws. The highest tension yet. No one breathes, no one
moves.
Sharp : Who's first? (no
response) Clockwise then.
Sharp holds
the WIRE STRAND BUNDLE in front of Lev.
Lev stares at it. He smiles nervously and reaches...and draws.
The strand is LONG. Lev exhales. Next...
Chick, Chick stares at the bundle, sweating. He grabs a strand.
Pulls slowly. LONG. He exhales. Next...
Bear. He stares at the bundle, thinking, choosing. He grabs and
pulls quickly, decisively. LONG. Two strands remain, and two men,
Harry and A.J. It's A.J.'s turn....
A.J. stares at the wire strands - not a bundle now. A.J. shifts
in his chair. The matter will be decided on this last pull. A.J.
looks at Harry. They lock eyes.
Harry : Your turn.
A.J. : I ain't gonna draw against you Harry.
Chick : (starts to get up) I can't watch this.
Harry : (stern, hard) Sit down, Chick.
Chick sits
down. Harry looks at A.J.
Harry : Draw.
A.J. stares
at the two strands. Gets used to the idea. He reaches and begins
to pull. Stops. Chooses the other strand. And pulls. It is SHORT.
A.J. stares at the SHORT STRAND OF WIRE in his hand. We see a
fear on his face that gets covered by a small smile.
A.J. : Well, I guess I won.
Now I'm the guy who gets to save the Earth.
A.J. takes
off the half medallion. Harry takes off his half medallion.
A.J. : We said we'd join
these after we drilled the hole. It just ain't gonna be on Earth.
They slide
the two halves together to make a whole. Harry and A.J. exchange
a long look.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
Watts flips switches. Suddenly the jets ignite!
Watts : Ignition! She's
started!
INT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Skip turns to Golden excitedly.
Skip : They got Freedom
goin'!
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - CARGO BAY
A.J. and Harry stand in the airlock, helmets on. Harry carries
the two thousand foot spool-drum of wire. The airlock opens.
Harry and A.J. descend onto the asteroid.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Golden looks at the CLOCK running down:
10:33....10:32....10:31...
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Harry and A.J. approach the NUCLEAR DEVICE. It's half in, half
out of the drilling hole, as they left it. Harry and A.J.
alligator-clamp the end of the wire spool-drum onto the nuke's
DETONATION DEVICE.
A.J : You never answered my
question.
They finish
attaching the wire.
A.J. pulls the piece of TUBULAR ALUMINIUM out of the nuke's
ratchet wheel delivery sled. The NUKE descends downhole, slowly
spooling out wire from the SPOOL DRUM.
A.J. : About Grace, Harry.
(laughs nervously) I know it ain't gonna happen now, but....if
things were different...What would you say...?
Harry walks
back toward Freedom. A.J. follows.
Harry : I always wanted a
son. And if I had....I'd want him to be like you.
Harry hands
him the pipe section.
Harry : (cont'd) You're
going to need some magic in the world. You can marry her, A.J.
A.J.
laughs, being told at this dire time in his life. He looks at
Harry with a hint of bittersweet smile.
A.J. : Mean "could
have...?"
Harry : No. Go home, A.J. Marry Grace.
A.J. : I'm not going home Harry.
With one
hand, Harry stabs the airlock door, and then with a small pipe
clamp, rips A.J.'s air tubes off.
Harry : It's my hole, I
drilled it, and I'm staying with it till the end.
Harry grabs
him, throws his kicking, screaming body into the airlock. A.J. is
choking.
Harry : (cont'd) She's
always going to be my little girl.
The door
shuts automatically. Harry is now alone.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - AIRLOCK
A.J. explodes from the airlock into the cabin.
A.J. : Goddamn it,
HARRY....!
A.J. lunges
for the airlock.
Sharp grabs A.J. with his good arm, helped by Bear..holding him
back.
A.J. : LET ME GO....LET ME
GO....!!
SHARP : YOU HAVE NO OXYGEN...YOUR TUBES ARE RIPPED...LET IT
GO....!!
A.J.,
sobbing, furious, POUNDS on the AIRLOCK WINDOW, staring at Harry
outside.
A.J. : (pounding on the
door) HARRY!!
Harry turns
and walks back to the drilling hole. Sharp looks at him.
Sharp : This guy really is
a hero....
INT.
N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL REAR ROOM
Skip : Director? It's Mr.
Stamper. He wants to talk to his daughter.
Golden
looks over at Grace. Their eyes meet....
A N.A.S.A. Tech hands Grace a mike and exits. She stares at the
static on the monitor. Harry's face fades in and out. Grace knows
something is very wrong from her father's strained, tired face.
She forces a smile. INTERCUT with Harry inside the Armadillo:
Grace : Daddy.
Harry : (V.O.) Grace. I...(sighs) This is so hard for me. I don't
have....
Tears start
to well up in her eyes.
Harry : (V.O.) (cont'd)
...I just....want you to know how much I love you.
Grace : I'm so proud of you, Daddy.
Grace wipes
a tear from her face.
Harry : (V.O.) (looking at
Earth) It's so beautiful up here. So pure. (swallows hard) I
remember something I read once..."The world is a fine
place...and worth fighting for."
looks
at Earth, smiles) Gracie, I'm just an iron-ass-warrior doin'
what's best. (pause) Take care of A.J. I'll look in on you from
time to time....
Harry pulls
off the video link. Grace's monitors go black. Grace touches the
monitor, as Harry's face fades away.
Her knees buckle. She sinks to the floor.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Harry looks at the detonator in hand.
Harry : You have three
minutes and I'm not waiting.
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
Watts and Sharp settle into the cockpit and begin flipping
switches.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Harry, all business now, situates himself next to the nuke. The
manual detonator in his hand.
Harry : Let's go, Sharp.
Get the hell off this rock. I WILL push this button.
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
Sharp hits the THRUSTER SWITCH.
EXT. FREEDOM
The booster rockets SPUTTER and die.
INT. FREEDOM - COCKPIT
Nothing happens. He HITS it again. Again.
Watts unbuckles and goes to the ENGINE IGNITION SYSTEM.
The timer continues counting down to 1:34...1:33...1:32....
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Skip : The thrusters are
down! 32 seconds.
EXT.
ASRTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Harry looks irritably at the SHUTTLE'S SPUTTERING THRUSTER.
Harry : Sharp, you better
get those engines goin'.
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - SERVICE HATCH
The timer counts 23...22...21.
Watts is frantically adjusting the FUEL MODULATOR'S VALVES...
Sharp : Watts, we gotta get
that thing going!
Watts : THE INTERIORR VALVE'S STUCK!
Lev crowds
in next to her.
Watts : (cont'd) (to Lev)
BACK OFF!! YOU DON'T KNOW THIS COMPONENT!!
Lev backs
off. Keeps looking at the modulator, curiously.
IN THE COCKPIT - the Timer reads 10...9...9...SHARP keeps hitting
the THRUSTER SWITCH.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Golden paces. Technicians stare pessimistically at consoles.
Golden : Stamper, you gave
me your word. You have five seconds. PRESS THE BUTTON!
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
Temple : (V.O.) Sharp, I
NEED A SOLUTION!
BACK TO LEV
, Watts and Sharp.
Sharp : Sir with all due
respect, if I knew the PROBLEM, I'd give a SOLUTION, SIR..!
Temple : Well, find a solution!!
EXT.
ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Harry is looking at the shuttle. Close-Up on finger ready to pull
the trigger.
Harry : SHARP, WHAT THE
HELL ARE YOU DOING? GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!
Harry's
eyes close as the clock counts -10...-11...-12.
Temple : STAMPER DETONATE!
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM - SERVICE HATCH
Lev : (to Watts) WE HAVE
JUST THE SAME SHIT PART IN RUSSIA!! SOMETIMES IT NOT WORK SO WE
HIT!! YOU GOTTA GIVE IT WHACK!! WHACK!! HIT!!
Watts : WHAT!!?
Lev : GIVE IT WHACK!!
Lev grab a
wrench and goes ballistic. SMASHES it down on the component,
AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. We hear JET FUEL COURSE through the
component and --
-- SHARP hits the IGNITION SWITCH and the THRUSTERS FIRE.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - SHUTTLE FREEDOM
Shuttle Freedom lifts off the asteroid on full REVERSE THRUSTER
POWER, like a Harrier jet. It ascends backwards, falling away
from the asteroid, away from Earth, toward the Moon.
Harry is a solitary figure, left behind.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
Sharp, Watts, A.J., Lev and Bear watch Harry becoming smaller and
smaller on the asteroid.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Harry takes his final breaths. Looks around.
Harry : All right,
son-of-a-bitch, it's just you and me....
Harry's
FINGER compresses on the detonator button....
A GEYSER OF STEAM next to the drilling hole BLAT up to five feet
away. A SECOND GEYSER, directly underneath Harry, BLOWS. The
MANUAL DETONATOR flies from Harry's hand as he's knocked backward
--
-- into the drilling hole!
INT. DRILLING HOLE
Harry falls ass-first down the hole, his PRO-GRAVITY THRUSTERS
pushing him further and further down. Harry's FINGERS GOUGE into
the walls of the hole. He scissors his legs. HIS BOOTS scrape the
sides. He begins climbing up out of the hole....We see that his
air has been punctured. He's losing pressure. He starts to choke.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM
They've ascended to a safe distance.
Sharp : Something's wrong.
A.J. : Don't worry. He'll come through.
Sharp : We should have detonation by now.
A.J. : Harry doesn't fail.
Sharp : We're going back.
A.J. : What?
Sharp : Every life, that you know, will die....unless that nuke
is detonated.
EXT.
ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
HARRY'S GLOVED HANDS grip the sides of the hole. Then his helmet
appears. He looks across the asteroid surface to the MANUAL
DETONATOR, lying in the dirt.
The nuke has now descended several hundred feet into the hole.
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM
WE MOVE DOWN the faces of the terrified men, looking down on the
craggy asteroid....
Chick : (unsure) That means
we might die too....
Sharp : Watts, prepare for re-landing. NOW!!
Watts,
frozen with fear, begins hitting switches.
EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE
Harry crawls out of the hole.
The nuke is at the bottom of the hole. Harry runs, gasping for
air, bounding across the asteroid surface, dodging geysers and
rolling debris. He dives for the detonator. He stares long and
hard. A TEAR wells in his eye. His finger presses on the
detonator...sweat pours over his face....
Harry : I beat you.
SLOW-MOTION
CLOSE-UP on Harry's finger as it presses the detonator.
EXT. SPACE
The nuclear device DETONATES. A spectacular concussion. The
ASTEROID SPLITS in two halves, as planned, like a split diamond.
The TWO BLOWN PIECES wing off into space, on new vector angles
which might miss the Earth....
INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT
The detonation ROCKS the cabin. Everyone's violently buffeted
around.
Watts : Houston, we have
detonation!
Watts
fumbles for the reverse switches as the flames from the explosion
grow CLOSER....She hits the directional THRUSTERS, jamming it as
hard as it will go...the flames bite up at them. The shuttle
veers off toward Earth.
A.J. : Harry....
A.J. and
the others stare out the cockpit window as the NUCLEAR FISSION
EXPLOSION FLAMES OUT, the halves of the asteroid wing off.
EXT. AROUND THE WORLD - MONTAGE OF IMAGES
IN EXTREME SLOW MO, we see images around the world. WALL STREET
deserted....a crowded BAR with people huddled around a
T.V....Extremely tight on a TEAR falling form a woman's
face....ENGLISH FARMERS in a corn field.....a FATHER holding his
SON as they watch the brilliant flaming sky....Golden closes his
eyes and falls to his seat....Arms raise in unison....PEOPLE
embrace....AT THE PYRAMIDS, dappled in firelight, hundreds
praying....
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
Grace is quietly weeping.
THE ASTEROID'S DETONATION is computer-imaged on the Central
Board. WE SEE the ASTEROID'S TWO HALVES, moving in new
directions. The Technicians stare in wonderment.
Golden : Where are they,
Flip? Give me some angles, give me some directions, give me
speeds...
Flip : (analysing new data) The new courses are....they're gonna
miss us!
The
Technicians CHEER. Grace looks up. Wipes her tears. Golden
approaches her.
Golden : I just want to
tell you I'm proud to know the daughter of the man who just saved
the world.
EXT.
ARIZONA - SHUTTLE LANDING AREA
Shuttle Freedom touches down. N.A.S.A. QUARANTINE VEHICLES race
out to meet it.
INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL
N.A.S.A.TEHNICIANS sit at consoles, exhausted. There are Coke
cans, coffee mugs, cigarettes overflowing ashtrays. Jimbo, Theo
and Pearl, wearing V.I.P. VISITORS BUTTONS, stand at the back.
Jimbo : This definitely
doesn't look like a glamorous job.
INT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM
A.J., Chick and Bear unbuckle, begin to rise from seats.
Chick : I'm dyin' for a
Budweiser.
Sharp : Stay seated. Let the medical quarantine trucks set up.
Bear : I ain't gettin' another enema from Nurse Ratchet.
A.J., Chick
and Bear look at each other.
A.J. : What would Harry do?
Bear : I think he'd go get a beer.
EXT.
SHUTTLE FREEDOM
The EMERGENCY HATCH DOOR BLOWS in front of surprised N.A.S.A.
QUARANTINE TECHNICIANS.
EXT. ARIZONA - SHUTTLE LANDING AREA
A.J., Chick and Bear walk away from the shuttle. All he N.A.S.A.
QUARANTINE MEDICS are looking for them.
Chick : What are you
lookin' at?
Bear : Yeah, okay, you're right, we're the studs who just blew up
the Death Star.
A wave of
fans are held back by MILITARY POLICE.
Sharp, holding his shoulder in pain, is helped across the tarmac
by Watts. A VET BYSTANDER comes up to Sharp and drapes an
American flag over his shoulders.
Temple, with a huge grin, approaches Sharp. Temple salutes Sharp.
Among the masses, Chick catches sight of Denise. Tommy stands
next to her, waving a small flag, proud as can be.
Grace runs toward A.J.; he sees her and runs to her.
They fall into each others arms. Grace is crying. A.J. is crying.
They kiss. A.J. looks up at the sky.
A.J. : He's up there,
Grace. And he'll never die. Will you marry me? I gotcha a new
rock....
A.J. pulls
out one of the DIAMONDS from the asteroid surface, as big as a
doorknob, about two thousand karats. It glitters in the sunlight.
Grace stares at it, agog.
As we PULL BACK and CAMERA TILTS TO THE SKIES ABOVE.
Where Harry Stamper's soul remains.....
THE END
All material
regarding the film "A R M A G E D D O N" is trademark
and copyright of Touchstone Home Video/ Disney Pictures/ Valhalla
Pictures.
This page content : 1999 Phill Leigh.