The Devil's Window
(Equatorial Mid-Atlantic - Depth 400 feet)
(seaQuest DSV - Sea Deck)
Raleigh Young: Beneath the crust of the Earth is an unimaginable heat, so hot, rock melts and seeps through the ground in a liquefied state. It’s a mile and a half beneath us, a place where no life should be able to exist. It is where we are about to go. We are about to reach into the birth canal of Mother Earth. There they are, look at them son, Black Smokers, tube worms. I’m a hungry man. Don’t blink, they’re rare sights. (looks through some drawers, pulls out a frozen lobster) Ah, can you eat this?
Westphalen: There’s a thought.
Lucas: This is a hydrothermal vent, an underwater volcano; seawater … lava… smoke.
Young: Yes.
Lucas: So what?
Young: That smoke is laced with the Earth’s most carcinogenic minerals. When a factory dumps them in a river, the river dies. But here, here they’re dumped in their most concentrated form, yet around them grows life. Why? Is it the seawater, two tons per square inch of pressure, or is it something in the vent?
Westphalen: What’s in the vent are hundreds of species of bacteria we know nothing about.
Young: They’re living creatures.
Westphalen: They’re deadly organisms.
Young: Surviving organisms. We’re about to open the door to the how and why of their survival.
Westphalen: Or we’re about to open Pandora’s box.
Young: Show me my platform, Nathan. (screen changes from bottom of ocean to platform under seaQuest) Beautiful, isn’t it? Once the platform is anchored over the vent, the heat emanating from the Smoker will be transformed into energy, powering the platform’s survey systems. Spectral analysis, immunochemistry, thermal evaluations … an absolute dissection of a yet unexplored habitat.
Bridger: It is exciting. I mean, if this thing works, we’ll know in weeks what normally would have taken years.
Young: Exactly.
Bridger: On the other hand, we could end up at the bottom of the ocean in little bits. seaQuest wasn’t designed to haul around your fantasies, Raleigh. (looks at screen) Is that Darwin?
Lucas: I don’t know. I let him out to eat, he’s been roaming around since we got here.
Bridger: Call him back in, Lucas. (Lucas leaves)
Young: We’re going where stone roils and shrieks defiance as it’s delivered into a gelatinous ooze swarming with the elements that cause life.
Westphalen: You can get off your soapbox now, Raleigh, the boy’s gone.
(Sea Deck – Near the Moon Pool)
Lucas: (into vo-chorder) Darwin, Darwin, Darwin, Darwin . . .
(Outside seaQuest)
Crewman #1: (on radio) SeaQuest, this is sea crab one, container has ruptured, leaking core samples.
Crewman #2: (on radio) That’s poisonous, jettison the container.
Crewman #1: (on radio) Affirmative.
(seaQuest DSV – Bridge)
Ford: Boat stands ready, Captain.
Bridger: Take her down, Commander.
Ford: Begin descent.
Bridger: Ya know, it’s aggravating enough diving through a thermocline without your platform attached to us, Raleigh. I don’t know how seaQuest is going to handle this.
Young: Oh, she’ll rise to the occasion.
Bridger: One of our sea trucks was rising through that layer and ruptured the only sample container we had ready. I don’t think we should underestimate the severity of the temperature changes.
Young: Are you losing your enthusiasm, Nathan?
Bridger: Not at all, just being realistic, that’s all.
Ortiz: Two hundred meters above the thermocline.
O’Neill: Report, mount points positive.
Ortiz: WSKR telemetry optimal.
Ford: Position us at alpha point. Lateral strain?
Hitchcock: Within tolerance.
Ford: Mr. Ortiz?
Ortiz: Attitude trim and level.
Helmsman: Three hundred fifty meters; four hundred.
Ortiz: Shear force is increasing.
Ford: Commander Hitchcock?
Hitchcock: Within tolerance. (ship rocks, Darwin’s tank overflows)
Bridger: Close that tank.
Hitchcock: Hydrodynamic stress overload.
Helmsman: The helm is fighting, sir.
Ford: Mr. Ortiz.
Ortiz: Shear is in tolerable limits.
Hitchcock: Captain, structural stress ninety-five percent.
Bridger: If you need to drop that platform, Commander —
Young: You can’t drop my platform.
Westphalen: Raleigh. (restrains Young)
Bridger: Drop it if you need to.
Helmsman: Helm can’t hold depth, losing attitude control.
Ortiz: Rolling back through, yaw increasing.
Bridger: You wanna back off?
Ford: Not yet, sir. Commander Hitchcock, would you join me at the helm?
Bridger: Go ahead, I’ll take it.
Hitchcock: Thank you, sir.
Ford: Clear first seats, please. (Ford and Hitchcock sit down) OK, forward planes neutral.
Hitchcock: Planes neutral. Come two degrees starboard.
Ford: Midships’ planes, five degrees up.
Hitchcock: OK, five degrees.
Ford: Countersteer rudder.
Ortiz: I’m getting green indicators.
Helmsman: Descending, five hundred fifty meters.
Ortiz: Stabilizing, boat is clear and level.
O’Neill: All indicators are green.
Helmsman: Six hundred meters, seaQuest is in position at alpha, Commander.
Ford: (to Hitchcock) Way to go. Nice work.
Young: Magnificent performance.
Bridger: Yes, but don’t expect an encore.
(Bridge – Later)
Westphalen: (looking at Bridger) Nathan, are you all right?
Bridger: I’m fine. A little warm. (almost collapses)
O’Neill: Captain!
Bridger: Something’s wrong. (sees Darwin, opens tank and gets in) Kristin!
Westphalen: Get him to sea deck, I’ll prep diagnostics.
Ford: Quick, grab that rebreather. (O’Neill gets in tank, Ford and Hitchcock put rebreathers on Bridger and O’Neill) Let’s go.
Young: Nathan! My platform! (follows Westphalen) Kristin, you can’t leave, you’re the senior science officer.
Westphalen: I’m also the chief physician.
(Bridger’s Folley)
O’Neill: I think Darwin talked to me, in my head, on the bridge.
Bridger: I heard it too, but it wasn’t clear.
O’Neill: It scared me. (distraught) Where are we?
Bridger: I don’t know, I failed to put directions down here. Must be a design flaw.
O’Neill: Well, what are we gonna do?
Bridger: It’s all right, we’re gonna dive down, below the wall. The light is the continuation of the tunnel, all right?
O’Neill: OK.
Bridger: All right, now Darwin, you’re gonna do the same thing. Gonna dive down, underneath the wall, and follow the tunnel to the end, to the end, all right? I think you better take a nice big breath. Here we go.
(Sea Deck – Near the Moon Pool)
Westphalen: Saline drips? Hypodermics? Good. Where are they?
(Bridger’s Folley)
O’Neill: It’s not working.
Bridger: Calm down, take it easy, take it easy. We’ve got ten minutes of air left. Breathe slower.
(Sea Deck – Near the Moon Pool)
Westphalen: OK, lower the net, boys.
Crewman: That’s it, Mike, that’s it. Bring it around.
Lucas: (into vo-chorder) Darwin!
Crewman: Elevate it slowly, let’s keep him level.
Westphalen: Pull it around, this end to me. Over. Get that cradle up. Where’s that hypodermic? Thank you. Hold still. (gives Darwin a shot)
Lucas: (into vo-chorder) Darwin. Darwin.
Bridger: It’ll be all right, my friend.
Lucas: What’s wrong?
Bridger: You’re gonna be all right.
(Sea Deck - Later)
Bridger: What’s the diagnosis?
Westphalen: We don’t have one, so I’m pumping him full of antibiotics and monitoring his vital systems. Shouldn’t you be on the bridge?
Bridger: Ford can handle that.
Westphalen: And Raleigh?
Bridger: Ford can handle him too. Thanks.
(Moon Pool)
Bridger: How you doing?
Lucas: I can’t get this to work.
Bridger: Let’s see. (into vo-chorder) Darwin, what’s wrong?
Darwin: Darwin sick.
Bridger: Seems all right. What kind of sickness?
Darwin: Dark.
Bridger: What’s dark?
Darwin: Light is dark and one.
Lucas: He keeps saying that light is dark and one. I have no idea what he’s talking about.
Bridger: Is it the computer, or is he really saying that?
Lucas: I don’t know. It’s beta software, and it’s not finished. I’m sorry, I’m just past the edge of what I understand here.
Bridger: That’s OK, come on, come on, you’re doing fine.
O’Neill: (walking in) How is he?
Bridger: He’s sick, how ‘bout you?
O’Neill: Um, can, can I pet him?
Bridger: Sure.
O’Neill: I’m fluent in six languages, OK in a dozen more. But when Darwin talks or thinks at me, I feel like it’s coming at right angles. We have to let him go.
Bridger: Light is dark and one.
O’Neill: Yes.
(Bridger’s Room)
Bridger: (enters, looks in address book, changes his mind) I can’t call this man, he’s crazy. (comlink buzzes)
Westphalen: (on comlink as Young enters) Nathan, Darwin’s white cell count is extremely high and rising. I don’t know if I can stabilize him.
Bridger: Well, what’s the matter with him?
Westphalen: (on comlink) It may be viral, it may be bacterial, I don’t know.
Bridger: Thank you.
Young: Nathan, this project is much larger than tube worms and Black Smokers. We’re reaching into the very skeletal system of the Earth. This (holds out thing) is a model of a magma buoy. It’s a ceramic alloy designed to withstand extreme levels of heat, common in the subsurface river of lava. This is the most essential element of our mission.
Bridger: Why didn’t I know about this?
Young: Has to remain classified until we get it in the magma flow, because we don’t know where or when it will spit out. Oh, Nathan, think of it, if this works…
Bridger: It can anticipate volcanic stresses, earthquakes.
Young: Exactly.
Bridger: It’s brilliant, but it’s going to have to wait a few days.
Young: But Nathan!
Bridger: A member of my crew is sick and that comes first. (walks out)
(Ward Room)
Bridger: Come on, Downy, come on, come on. (screen shows kitchen) Malcolm, hello, Malcolm Landsdowne?
Malcolm Landsdowne: (voice on screen) Uh, I don’t know, he owe you money?
Bridger: It’s Nathan Bridger, you clown.
Malcolm: (appears on screen) Good heavens, Nathan, where have you been? You in jail?
Bridger: I’m on a submarine.
Malcolm: (on screen) Oh, yeah, right, right, I heard, seaQuest. Hey, I want ya to meet my mom. Mom. (pulls older lady into view on screen) Nathan, this is mom.
Bridger: Hi, mom.
Malcolm: (on screen, pulling two other men into view on the screen) Emile, Bill, don’t be shy, don’t be shy. Emile, Bill, meet Nathan.
Bridger: Hello, how are you?
Malcolm: (on screen) Family barbecue. Once a year sort of thing. Mom blimps over, stays the week, brings the cousins, enjoys the sunshine.
Bridger: Malcolm, listen to me, Darwin is very sick. I think he may be dying.
Malcolm: (seriously, on screen) Let me get this in the other room. (leaves screen, everyone stands looking uncomfortable; screen changes) Symptoms?
Bridger: Elevated white blood cell count, his color is off, fever. My medical chief thinks it’s bacterial or viral.
Malcolm: (on screen) Usually takes an postmortem to tell. Where’s he been?
Bridger: On seaQuest mainly.
Malcolm: (on screen) Contact with other dolphins?
Bridger: No, not that I’m aware of.
Malcolm: (on screen) Exactly what parts of what oceans have you been in recently? There was a red tide off the Yucatan.
Bridger: No, nowhere near that.
Malcolm: (on screen) Bad oil spill in Bahrain.
Bridger: No, we’ve been in the Equatorial Mid-Atlantic.
Malcolm: (on screen) I need to see him, Nathan.
Bridger: Well can’t you —
Malcolm: (on screen) You’re just around the corner. I need to see him.
Bridger: I’ll get back to you.
(Bridge)
Bridger: (entering) Where are we?
Ford: Twenty meters off the sea bed, two hours to get the platform down, make the tenants to secure it.
Bridger: Can we release the platform now?
Ford: I suppose so.
Young: Are you mad? We can’t drop it, the placement’s critical.
Bridger: It’s right over the Black Smoker, exactly where it’s supposed to be. Let it go.Young: Nathan.
Bridger: It’s not going anywhere, Raleigh.
Young: No, you will not. (Ford stops him, Bridger hits button, dropping platform)
Bridger: Set course for Caicos Key. (leaves)
Young: (follows Bridger) Nathan! Who gave you the authority? You can’t play God! (both enter Mag-lev) I’ve invested years, teams of scientists, millions of dollars, the UEO, for what? So you can toss it away for what, a dolphin.
Bridger: A member of my crew.
Young: In some parts of the world, that crew member is an ingredient in bouillabaisse. (follows Bridger as he enters sea deck) You’re not a scientist. You’re a self-absorbed, ego-maniacal dictator. This boat isn’t your personal fiefdom.
Bridger: Look him in the eye.
Young: I’ll do no such thing.
Bridger: Look him in the eye. (Young looks)
Darwin: Light is dark and one. (Young thinks, and leaves)
(Ward Room)
Young: Relieve him of command. He’s … irrational.
William Noyce: (on screen) Commander Ford?
Ford: I don’t agree, Admiral.
Noyce: (on screen) Doctor Westphalen?
Westphalen: He’s distraught, withdrawn, even belligerent, but he’s not irrational.
Noyce: (on screen) Doctor Young, I, I promise, your project won’t suffer for a few days’ wait.
Young: I can’t be snowed with promises, Admiral. I’ll go to Secretary General Dre. I’ll not be given the run-around by a flock of vapid lackeys.
Noyce: (on screen) I’ll wait for your apology, Doctor.
Young: (looks around) Very well, I’m sorry.
Noyce: (on screen) Thank you. I share your concern, but Captain Bridger must have a good reason for his actions.
Young: He most certainly does — he’s lost his mind. Driving all over the ocean searching for spiritual dolphin healing. I’m sorry I didn’t bring my own personal astrologer along.
Noyce: (on screen) Doctor Young, Captain Bridger retains my full confidence. Until I see good reason to think otherwise, his decisions are final aboard seaQuest. Thank you, and good day. (screen goes blank)
Young: (angrily, while pushing buttons) Get me the Secretary General. I want to speak to Secretary Dre. Which one of these buttons…
Westphalen: (trying to restrain him and taking his pulse at the same time) You had better lie down, you’re going to give yourself a heart attack.
Ortiz: (over loudspeaker) Commander Ford.
Ford: Ford here.
Ortiz: (over loudspeaker) We’re at Caicos Key’s outer sonar ring, sir.
Westphalen: Commander, could Chief Ortiz please send the WSKR to give us something tranquil to look at?
Ford: Chief?
Ortiz: (over loudspeaker) I have one near a reef right now, channel seven bravo.
Ford: Thank you.
Westphalen: Come on, let’s sit down for a while, come on, (moves Young to chair in corner) there, there we are. I am going to dial up an outside view, soft music, lay back.
Young: Everyone’s abandoned me. My whole life, whatever it was, if I didn’t clutch on like a drowning man I’d lose it.
Westphalen: You’ve accomplished a great deal, don’t go popping a vessel now. You won’t be around to enjoy it.
Young: How can I stop struggling now?
Westphalen: (whispering) Just relax, relax.
(Sea Deck – Moon Pool)
Bridger: Be strong, my friend.
Darwin: Darwin understand.
Bridger: Understands what?
Darwin: Darwin sick, Bridger hurt.
Bridger: Yes.
Darwin: Why?
Bridger: I want you to be well.
Darwin: Light is dark except…
Bridger: Except, what does that mean, except?
Darwin: Bridger is family.
Bridger: You’re family too. You really are.
Darwin: Darwin loves Bridger.
Bridger: I love you too.
(Moon Pool – Later)
Westphalen: OK, let’s go. Nice and gently. Can you take the IV, please? Stop…and lower.
(Caicos Key Dolphin Research Center)
Malcolm: My, don’t you look terrible. A little elbow room here please, nothing you haven’t seen before. (looks in Darwin’s blowhole) Well, the breath’s not bad, it’s not respiratory.
Westphalen: I’ve done a complete blood history.
Malcolm: And you’ve got him on antibiotics.
Westphalen: Including cyclines, and sulfas…
Malcolm: And you got no response from white cell count or T-cells.
Westphalen: That’s right.
Malcolm: Well, doesn’t make my life any easier. Watch out, watch out. Get a urine sample. Marine veterinary medicine is about as sophisticated as voodoo. (Westphalen laughs) Nathan, why don’t you all get a bite to eat in the kitchen. I’ll find you later.
Bridger: Thanks, Downy. (all go to leave)
Malcolm: (stops Westphalen) Doctor Westphalen, I could use your help.
(seaQuest DSV - Ward Room)
Young: (knock on door) Come in.
Ford: (entering) You all right, Doctor?
Young: Just fine, thank you.
Ford: I thought you might like some lunch.
Young: That would be nice.
Ford: You’re sure you’re all right?
Young: Commander, I assure you, I’m just fine. (Ford leaves)
(Caicos Key Dolphin Research Center)
Malcolm: Nathan, (Bridger walks over) come walk with me. (Bridger and Landsdowne go to beach)
Bridger: He’s going to die.
Malcolm: I think so. I looked at Doctor Westphalen’s results. I’ll know more in a few hours, but, I wouldn’t expect much. It’s just that we’ve learned so little about how they heal themselves. I wish I could tell you otherwise. (they reach a shack) So, you want a beer?
Bridger: Sure.
Malcolm: (enters shack and reappears with two beers; looks down the beach) Is that Raleigh Young?
Bridger: He’s aboard the seaQuest running a project for a couple of weeks. I really feel sorry for Lucas. Darwin’s the closest thing he’s had to a pal, it’s going to be very hard on him. Raleigh, you know Malcolm Landsdowne. (shake hands)
Lucas: Well I guess I’ll be heading back.
Malcolm: Why don’t you ask him to stay, Nathan?
Bridger: Lucas, stick around.
Malcolm: Yeah, sure, sit down. I’ll get ya a beer.
Bridger: He’s only sixteen, Downy.
Malcolm: I’ll get him two. (goes inside)
Young: (sitting down) Nathan, I understand why you’ve done what you’ve done. I don’t agree with it, but I understand it. I’ll suffer the wait.
Bridger: Thanks, Raleigh.
Young: How long?
Bridger: Raleigh.
Malcolm: (reappears in doorway of shack) So, what would we like to hear… blues, New Orleans jazz, zydeco … I haven’t bought anything new since they stopped making CD’s.
Young: Not to be rhetorical, but where are we? Don’t you have island music?
Malcolm: Tourist. (comes out of shack and over to the table, giving each person a bottle) Jamaican ginger beer, no alcohol, plenty of bite.
Young: Thank you. Is your dolphin going to die?
Bridger: (looks at Lucas) Probably.
Young: How long?
Bridger: I don’t know. Death doesn’t punch a clock.
O’Neill: Can’t you feel anything when you look at Darwin? Don’t you know he’s a thinking, and feeling creature that’s scared?
Young: The importance of my work —
O’Neill: Your work is an inanimate object. You selfish old man.
Malcolm: Boys, boys. You strip away the education, billions of dollars worth of machinery, what do ya got? Us, couple of bucks worth of chemicals. Who understands any of it?
Young: To life.
Bridger: And death.
Malcolm: Beer. (O’Neill gives him a strange look)
Lucas: The light is dark, and one.
Malcolm: What?
Bridger: Lucas is our computer whiz. He’s designed a program that translates Darwin’s clicks and whistles.
Malcolm: You mean he can speak and understand English?
Lucas: A little bit, sometimes, it’s experimental.
Malcolm: Amazing. What does he say?
Bridger: Since he’s been sick, all he says is light is dark and one.
Malcolm: Incredible, knowledge is light.
Bridger: Than darkness is the absence of knowledge. He’s faced with losing everything he knows.
Malcolm: And one?
Bridger: And one is alone. Light is dark and one. He doesn’t want to die alone.
(Landsdowne nods his head in agreement)
O’Neill: We have to let him go.
Lucas: He’s too weak to swim.
Malcolm: No, no, no, dolphins will support a member of their pod if they’re hurt. You can find Darwin’s pod, his community, and return him to it. You didn’t find him far from here.
Lucas: His pod could be anywhere within hundreds of miles from here.
Malcolm: Find the signature whistles, you’ve got Darwin’s recorded. Search for familial similarities.
O’Neill: We could configure the sonar.
Lucas: I could program the computers.
Young: Try, Nathan, you must.
Part Two