Bad Water
(French sightseeing sub - somewhere on the bottom of the Caribbean)
(A teacher is speaking French to children to calm them down, other teacher is speaking into radio in French distress call)
(200 miles east of Jacksonville, Florida)
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
O'Neill: (French on radio) Got 'em. Sir.
Bridger: (coming over) What've you got?
O'Neill: Sounds like the pilot was killed when the sightseeing sub hit bottom. They're trapped ... children are frightened.
Bridger: Where's our nearest rescue launch to the French sub?
O'Neill: No way to tell, I can't zero in on their location. (flips switch and distress signal goes over speakers) Acoustic multi-paths, like they're in a well. Greensboro tracking says the radio signal's gonna be scrambled for at least two days.
Crocker: The weather service is reporting winds of fifty miles an hour and the seas are building.
Hitchcock: We're not getting any help from the surface vessels. They've all vacated the area.
Carlton: Our surge is getting worse, sir. We're bucking a strong four knot gulf stream current to hold our position
Bridger: Welcome to the Bermuda Triangle.
(seaQuest Launch MR-7 )
Ford: (plays with buttons then pounds screen) Engineering 101.
Krieg: What do you want to do about this one?
Ford: (knocks on display) Ah, ignore it. Probably an iron ore deposit nearby. Follow the WSKR. (gets up and goes into back of launch)
Lucas: (Westphalen speaks French, hears only static in return, Lucas takes radio) Submarine to Turismo. (continues in French, but hears only static)
Ford: They can't hear you, Lucas. And even if they did, we can't get a fix on their position.
Westphalen: What about the WSKR?
Ford: Between the solar flares and our crazy magnetic readings ... (shrugs) Most of the other launches have been recalled to seaQuest.
Lucas: Commander, we can't just call off the search and leave them out here to die.
Ford: I know.
Krieg: Commander.
Ford: Yeah.
Krieg: I'm getting another weird reading up here.
Ford: What's it look like?
Krieg: We're getting way heavy.
Ford: (enters bridge, sees WSKR fall down into hole) All stop, hard reverse.
Krieg: Going down hard.
Ford: (over shoulder) Hold on. (ship rocks) Drop weights.
Krieg: Already gone.
Ford: Blow main ballast.
Krieg: Blowing ballast. We're taking on water.
Ford: Drop battery pack.
Krieg: I drop the pack ...
Ford: Do it.
Krieg: Battery packs away.
Ford: Engaging back-up systems.
Krieg: Full reverse, still negative weight.
Ford: Drop manipulator arm.Krieg: Manipulator away.
Ford: Trip tanks.
Krieg: Away. Still falling.
Ford: Survival pod.
Krieg: (pauses, unsure) Survival pod away. (launch starts rising)
Ford: Radio seaQuest.
Krieg: (into radio) Mayday, mayday, seaQuest launch MR-7 in emergency ascent from one thousand meters, location uncertain. Mayday, mayday.
Westphalen: (coming up) Can we make it to the surface?
Ford: If we're lucky.
Lucas: Then what?
Ford: We abandon ship.
Krieg: (into radio) Mayday, mayday, seaQuest launch MR-7 in emergency ascent, heading toward the surface. Mayday, mayday, location uncertain.
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
Ford: (on loudspeaker) Survival pod was destroyed … freshwater sinkhole … seas are calm, minor injuries.
Bridger: (into radio) Do you have any idea where you are?
Ford: (on loudspeaker) The surface, sun directly overhead…
O'Neill: Lost them.
Bridger: Keep trying. He said the sea was calm.
Crocker: Well not on this planet, Cap. The winds are kicking into the high sixties with major thunderheads. Ten more miles and hour and the Bermuda Triangle's gonna give birth to a hurricane.
Bridger: What's the Commander's location?
Ortiz: Their radio signal's refracted to pieces, sir. I've got them in multiple locations inside a sixty kilometer radius.
Bridger: Damn! Right in the eye of the hurricane. Chief, call the Florida Coast Guard. Tell them to put in hurricane chasers, every available aircraft.
Crocker: Yes, sir.
Bridger: Attention. As difficult as it is, I want all of you to put the Commander and his party out of your minds. There's no reason to believe they won't be rescued. Now, we're on a Class Five rescue mission. There's been a sight-seeing sub down with children aboard, there is a clock.
Ortiz: Magnetic variants make this a guess, but Commander Ford was tracking their signal to the west northwest quadrant.
O'Neill: Before they went down…I mean up, sir, the Commander's launch received the strongest signal from the French sub.
Bridger: One quarter ahead, bearing two niner five.
Carlton: One quarter, two nine five degrees, aye.
Bridger: Mr. O'Neill, that's a nine billion dollar communications buoy reeling out behind us, I'd like to hear something in French.
O'Neill: We keep slipping in and out of phase sir, I - I've got Commander Ford.
Ford: (on loudspeaker) MR-7 calling seaQuest, come in seaQuest.
Bridger: (into radio) MR-7, good to hear your voice. Do you have flares?
Ford: (on radio) Affirmative, we have auxiliary raft.
Bridger: (on radio) Here's the plan, Commander, the Coast Guard search planes will find you. We have to concentrate on the downed French submarine.
Ford: (on radio) Understood, we're on our own.
Bridger: (on radio) Radio check will be every fifteen minutes.
(Sargasso Sea - Life Raft)
Ford: (into radio) Fifteen minute check in, affirmative.
Bridger: (on radio) Hang on up there. SeaQuest out.
Ford: (into radio) MR-7 out. How's your head, Lieutenant?
Krieg: Next time I'll let you open the hatch door.
Ford: Lucas, what are you doing?
Lucas: Well, maybe we can use some of this stuff from the launch. At least it floats.
Ford: Good idea. When you're done, I've got a task assignment for you. Inventory our food and water purification tablets; develop a seven day ration plan, just in case. Doctor Westphalen, sort life vests.
Krieg, can you fish?
Krieg: I had a grandfather, yes.
Ford: Good.
Westphalen: (reaches over side of raft, picks up seaweed) This is sargassum seaweed. We're in the Sargasso Sea, which is slightly alkaline, very deep, very clear, extremely high salt content. There are no fish. (throws it back) There's also no wind. The Gulf Stream and other currents swirl around this place, but in the middle, nothing moves, everything remains extremely calm, which is what I think we should do.
Lucas: Columbus got lost in the Sargasso Sea on his way to America.
Ford: Noted. Ax the fishing, but I want the rest of my orders carried out.
Krieg: Excuse me, Gilligan to Skipper, but are you planning on staying out here any longer than we are?
Ford: Listen, knock it off, Krieg, you're a Lieutenant in the UEO navy and I need you to act like one. Look, anything's possible, we prepare for anything.
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
Joshua Levin: We are dealing with karstification: terrain pockmarked by sinkholes. Billions of years ago the continental shelf was above sea level; over the eons, an extensive series of caves eroded into the limestone bedrock. Now water level's risen and we live on the ceiling of the entire system. and when a cavern ceiling collapses, a sinkhole is formed.
Ortiz: I remember reading about a lake getting sucked dry into one of them. Small boats were almost pulled into the whirlpool.
Levin: That's what happens when a cavern beneath is filled with air. But sometimes the reach down so deep they pierce an underground aquifer and they fill with fresh water.
Bridger: As you all know, seawater is more buoyant than fresh water. That's why a submarine carries ballast and makes itself heavy in the ocean. Now, should it run into a fresh water column, it instantly becomes overweight and sinks to the bottom. That's probably why our French submarine doesn't show up on our scans; it's probably down some fresh water sinkhole running out of air. Anything else?
Levin: Well, they can get big enough to swallow seaQuest. (crew looks nervous)
Bridger: Be alert, be cautious, and find me some fresh water. Carry on.
Crocker: Triangle never runs out of stuff to throw at you, does it, Cap?
( French sightseeing submarine)
Teacher: (in French) Claire, our air supply is low.
Claire: (in French) How are the kids?
Teacher: (in French) Not so good.
Claire: (in French) I'll keep trying.
(Sargasso Sea - Life Raft)
Krieg: We're not that far from the coast, you think they would have found us by now.
Westphalen: Is anyone else having trouble with their ears?
Lucas: Yeah.
Westphalen: The barometric pressure's falling, a storm's building.
Ford: Our last position had us near a nasty tropical depression.Krieg: How nasty?
Ford: Probably a hurricane by now.
Lucas: (looking around) Guys, I don't see it.
Ford: That's because we're probably in its eye.
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
Hitchcock: It's got a name now, Captain, Hurricane Sheila. Coast Guard's flying the eye, but it's huge. Once she starts heading westward, all bets are off.
Ortiz: WSKRS tethered and redeployed, sir. Sniffing for fresh water and our downed WSKR. All clear on heading two seven eight degrees for six hundred meters.
Bridger: We can take that heading.
Crocker: Heading two seven eight degrees.
O'Neill: (speaking in French, Bridger comes over, O'Neill talks to Bridger in French) Excuse me, sir, it's been almost two hours since I've had any contact with the French sub. I don't know if they're still … with us.
Bridger: Well, don't jump to any conclusion, their radio may be dead.
O'Neill: What about Commander Ford's party?
Bridger: Our obligation is to those kids down there with no hope of rescue. Someone else will find the Commander's party. For the record, I'm just as concerned as you are. Now, about the Commander …
O'Neill: They're due to check in any moment.
( Sargasso Sea - Life Raft)
Ford: (into radio) This is MR-7 to seaQuest, come in seaQuest. Lucas, is there any way we can increase our signature?
Lucas: If I had some wire.
Krieg: There's a steel thread running through this fishing line, maybe we could use that.
Lucas: Yes, I can magnetize it against the radio's battery pack.
Ford: Here, do it.
(Lucas puts radio on side of raft, lightning strikes, scaring Lucas, who pushes radio over the side, then jumps in after it)
Ford: Lucas!
(Lucas appears triumphantly holding cord, falls under again)
Westphalen: The cord, it's pulling him down.
(Ford jumps in, appears with Lucas, all help Lucas climb back into raft)
Westphalen: (to Lucas) You OK?
Lucas: Yeah, yeah.
Westphalen: (to Ford) Good going.
Ford: Uh huh.
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
O'Neill: Miguel, subsurface tracking.
Ortiz: An implosion at the surface, another at a hundred feet, two hundred feet, s-something's falling.
O'Neill: Commander Ford's radio.
Bridger: All right, it's only their radio. The raft floats, they float. We've got to believe they're alive on the surface. Mr. Ortiz, make something good of this.
Ortiz: I've got a longitudinal fix on the radio's implosions.
Bridger: What about the UEO's satellites?
O'Neill: Flares are still disrupting.
Bridger: Chief?
Crocker: All the surface ships have evacuated the area, Cap. Coast Guard's down to four planes and those are gonna be recalled once the winds hit one ten.
Bridger: Direct them to Mr. Ortiz's coordinates. Our people have to be along that line somewhere.
Crocker: Aye, sir.
Ortiz: It's still just an educated guess, sir. There's an iron ore deposit somewhere beneath us that's corrupting all our data. And since all our acoustic functions are geared for seawater, we can't trust any sounds traveling through fresh water.
Bridger: Suspect everything except the electrogyros. Triple check all calculations, do the math by long hand. Focus on the children, we've got to find them.
O'Neill: Yes, sir.
( Sargasso Sea - Life Raft)
Krieg: (looking at cord from radio) This is not good.
Ford: Definitely not good. The winds are picking up and the seas are getting higher.
Westphalen: I think we should all have something to eat. (takes out box of food) Here you go. (hands food to Lucas)
Lucas: Thank you. Thanks. (Krieg looks at wrapper, rips it out of Lucas's hands)
Westphalen: There's one for you.
Krieg: Will radar bounce off this?
Ford: Absolutely. Tear 'em all open.
Westphalen: Save the food.
Ford: Get the fishing pole. We're gonna need some tape.
Krieg: Check the fist aid kit.
(seaQuest DSV - Sea Deck)
Bridger: Darwin, Lucas and the others are in a small boat on the surface.
Darwin: Darwin find Lucas.
Bridger: Yes, I need you to find Lucas. Now listen to me, do you know the difference between salt water and fresh water?
Darwin: Water is water.
Bridger: Yes, but this is fresh water. Open up. (pours bucket of water on Darwin, Darwin spits it back)
Darwin: Bad water.
Bridger: Yes, bad water. You don't want to swim in bad water, it'll make you heave, it'll make you tired. Stay away from bad water.
Darwin: Darwin find Lucas.
Bridger: Good, good.
( Sargasso Sea - Life Raft)
Krieg: Come on baby, pick me up a little radar. (it flies away)
Westphalen: Oh no!
(They all look dejected.)
(French sightseeing submarine)
(Claire sending mayday in French, teacher comforts kids, then turns on another tank of oxygen)
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
O'Neill: (Ortiz looks at O'Neill, who signals four) Anything on your end?
Ortiz: Zip, all my readings are cockamamie.
O'Neill: I'm looking at the same weird signals. I can't help but think of those French kids slowly suffocating.
Ortiz: Don't, Tim, concentrate on finding them.
O'Neill: I never was any good at math.
Ortiz: I was and I still can't keep up. It's the triangle.
O'Neill: You don't really believe that hokum, do you?
Ortiz: Superstitions get started for a reason. People disappear here, Tim.
Hitchcock: (on headset) Knock it off you guys.
Bridger: (enters, walks over to Hitchcock) You called about the communications buoy?
Hitchcock: The electrical storm is well past regulation limits. Buoy's on a five mile wire, it should be recalled.
Bridger: It's the Commander's only chance to contact us.
Hitchcock: It's a risk, sir, the buoy's one hell of a lightning rod.
Bridger: Leave it out there, but monitor the storm and keep me informed.
Hitchcock: Yes, sir.
( Sargasso Sea - Life Raft)
Lucas: (looking through binoculars) I thought I saw a light. I could swear it was light.
Krieg: Could've been lightning in the storm.
Lucas: They've forgotten about us.
Krieg: This is one of those "character builders," my friend. You hang on tight, you take the whipping, and you come out stronger on the other side.
Lucas: Oh cut the crap, Krieg, I'm not a kid. You don't have to do that morale officer stuff for me.
Krieg: This is who I am. "Glass half full" - that kinda thing.
Lucas: Glass half full of what, Ben? How can you just sit here and make jokes when a hurricane is about to kill us?
Krieg: Well what do you want me to do? Give up? I say as long as we're laughin' we're movin' forward. And it's important to me, it's important.
Lucas: I don't wanna move forward, I wanna get the hell outta here.
Krieg: Wait, would you look at that, look. You're in the eye. How many people ever get this close to an actual hurricane? Bet you didn't think that was gonna happen when you woke up this morning. There's your lights!
Lucas: The seaQuest communications buoy!
(Darwin pops up beside the raft.)
Krieg: And your dolphin.
Lucas: Darwin, I can't believe you found us.
Ford: Darwin, go to Bridger, tell him where we are. Do you think he understands?
Kristin I'm sure he does, that's why he's out here in the first place.
Krieg: (lightning strikes) Woah!
Kristin: Oh my God! What if it hits the buoy?
Ford: Everybody get down. Put as much of your bodies against the rubber as you can.
Lucas: Darwin, go, seaQuest, go.
Krieg: Come on, we gotta go.
(Lightning hits the buoy, electricity rocks seaQuest)
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
Crocker: Well we're still out in every department, Captain.
Bridger: (to O'Neill) You all right?
O'Neill: Fine, sir, thank you.
Bridger: Navigation report.
Seaman #1: Fried, sir, no response.
Bridger: How's he doing?
Levin: He should be all right.
Bridger: Helm, any control?
Carlton: Master gyros erratic, it's a fight to hold her.
Bridger: Do the best you can. How are you?
Seaman #2: Fine, sir, OK.
Bridger: Hang in there. Sonar, what have you got?
Ortiz: Cooked sir, electronic toast.
Bridger: Oh, beautiful. Commander?
Hitchcock: No joy here.
Bridger: Chief?
Crocker: Same, Cap, I got nothing working here at all.
Bridger: Communications?
O'Neill: Communications buoy completely destroyed. We're dark.
Bridger: How long for repairs?
Hitchcock: We may need dry-dock.
Bridger: How are the WSKRS?
Ortiz: Well, can't be certain, but they're grounded against this sorta thing.
Bridger: Leave one on point, bring the other inside.
Hitchcock: Inside?
Bridger: Yes, put it right here. (points to navigation table) Right here. Bring a steel saw and carpenter's levels. Open up those sea doors, Darwin's still outside. Got it?
Hitchcock: Yes, sir.
Bridger: All right. (stands be moon pool, looks dejected)
Crocker: (singing) What shall we do with the drunken sailor? What shall we do with the drunken sailor? What shall we do with the drunken sailor? (O'Neill joins in) Early in the mornin' (others join in) God speed, the whales are comin' God speed, the whales are comin' God speed, the whales are comin' Early in the mornin' Hooray, and up she rises Hooray, and up she rises Hooray, and up she rises Early in the mornin'
(Bridger looks happier)
( Sargasso Sea - Life Raft)
Ford: Lucas, Lucas.
Lucas: Darwin's dead.
Ford: Lucas, you don't know that. Look, Lucas, I need your help.
Lucas: What can I do?
Ford: Can you fix this, (holds up camera) so it winds continuously?
Lucas: Do you, do you care about the film inside?
Ford: No. (turns back to Westphalen and Krieg)
Westphalen: Commander, if any of us is tossed overboard, we'll never get back. So I was thought a fisherman's bend to the raft, and then a slip bowline here. It will hold fast, but look, it releases in a pinch, OK. Here. Here. (Krieg and Ford take the rope, look at it confused) Don't tell me.
Krieg: Knot tying is not a big submariner skill.
Westphalen: Oh, don't I love this.
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
Hitchcock: OK guys, pull it up. Chief?
Crocker: OK, let's strip off six inches of, uh, clean wire, bypass the ship's computer, and run connections from all the stations down to here. No splices, continuous lengths only.
Hitchcock: This guy isn't strong enough to power all the work stations we need, though I can give you all stations at once at a fraction of their capacities, or I can give you one station up full.
Bridger: One station fully operational.
Hitchcock: OK, which one?
Bridger: All of them. Just one at a time.
Hitchcock: (smiles) Hook everything into the guidance timer. We'll give each station thirty seconds of on-line, in sequence.
Crocker: Round and round she goes, huh?
Ortiz: Great idea, Captain.
Levin: (entering) Captain, it's Darwin, Sea Deck.
Bridger: You know what to do. I'll be back. (leaves with Levin)
Continued