Knight of Shadows
(Captain’s Quarters)
Bridger: (looking at picture of Carol) I wonder if you have any idea how much I miss you. (puts picture in computer, starts hologram) I didn’t have anyone to tell this to. Well, that’s not the truth. I think I wanted to share it with you because, it’s a love story. What just happened to me, I don’t know, it may be something I ate or nitrogen narcosis or maybe I’ve been at sea too long. Anyway, I was reading in bed, last night…
(Captain’s Quarters – Previous Day)
Professor Martinson: Come around to zero nine zero, take her up to two hundred feet, proceed at thirty knots. (repeats constantly in background, Bridger tries to turn it off)
Lucas: (in own room, wakes up to buzzing, into PAL) Yeah.
Bridger: (on PAL in Lucas’s room) Lucas, the hologram is babbling.
Lucas: (in own room, into PAL) Yeah, so?
Bridger: (into PAL) So I didn’t call anybody up.
Lucas: (in own room, into PAL) Well that’s not possible.
Bridger: (into PAL) Precisely.
Lucas: (into PAL) I didn’t do anything.
Bridger: (on PAL in Lucas’s room) I didn’t say you did, but I’d appreciate if you’d come over and take a look.
Lucas: (in own room, into PAL) Yeah, be right up. (leaves)
(As Martinson still repeats, Bridger takes out book and as he looks in it a hand comes out of hologram.)
Lillian Strathairn: Help us.
Bridger: What?
Lucas: (entering) What? You called me up here, didn’t you?
Bridger: Yeah, take a look at this.
Lucas: Why’s it so cold in here? (pushes some buttons, hologram disappears) You had the repeat key locked. Anything else?
Bridger: No, nothing. Thanks, sorry I woke you up.
Lucas: Forget about it. You sure you’re OK? (exits room)
Bridger: Yeah, I’m fine, thanks. (closes door)
Lillian: (hologram comes back on, lady motioning) Help us.
Phineas Wideman: (appears) Get away! (Bridger flies across room)
(Captain’s Quarters – Later)
Bridger: Ouch.
Westphalen: I thought you said you didn’t hurt.
Bridger: I said I awoke strangely invigorated. I didn’t say it didn’t hurt. Well?
Westphalen: Well.
Bridger: Yes.
Westphalen: Well, either you were hit by a small German sports car or you encountered a professional wrestler in the last twenty four hours.
Bridger: I was hurled across my room by an apparition.
Westphalen: Or, you fell out of bed.
Bridger: Anyone on your staff study paranormal experiences.
Westphalen: Um, Levin just did a stint researching hypnotic regression at Cologne.
Bridger: Good, thank you. Have him come to the bridge. (leaves)
Westphalen: (yelling after him) There’re also a couple crewmen in engineering who worship their warts.
(Bridge)
Ortiz: WSKRS tracking zero nine zero off our coordinates at zero hundred hours, we’re at fifty miles, traveling at thirty knots.
Ford: Captain, can you tell me, exactly what are we looking for?
Bridger: I have no idea.
Levin: You saw a corridor?
Bridger: It was a corridor.
Levin: Was it inside, or outside? Was there a light at the end of it?
Bridger; There was an exit sign. There were, there were doors.
Levin: Like in a hotel?
Bridger: Yes, yes.
Levin: Now, doors indicate choices. A corridor or a tunnel may mean anticipation of facing some desperate issues, maybe behind one of the doors.
Bridger: I wasn’t dreaming.
O‘Neill: Captain, I’m getting music.
Bridger: Let’s hear it, Mr. O’Neill. (music comes on over loudspeaker) She was wearing an evening gown.
Levin: Could it have been a relative?
Bridger: No.
Levin: Your late wife?
Bridger: No.
Ortiz: I’m getting a big echo, real big.
Bridger: Sonar, forward screens. Now that’s what we’re looking for, Commander.
Ortiz: I have a WSKR view, Captain. (screen changes)
Bridger: Crocker to the bridge.
O’Neill: (into comlink) Chief Crocker to the bridge.
Bridger: Mr. Ortiz, see if you can get me a name on that.
Ortiz: Aye, sir.
Bridger: Send the probe in for a closer look.
Hitchcock: Aye, aye, sir.
(Crocker enters, Bridger motions to the ship on the screen, WSKR scans hull, finding name, Crocker becomes nervous.)
Crocker: Oh my God, it’s the George.
(Ward Room)
Crocker: It was the summer of 1913, the, uh, George was on her maiden voyage from Southampton. Five days out of Lisbon she went down.
Ford: I don’t remember this shipwreck.
Crocker: Well, it wasn’t actually a wreck, Commander, she just started sinking, very, very slowly sinking. There were nine hundred people on board and all of them survived except for the engineer and the captain.
Bridger: There was a woman.
Crocker: I’m afraid not, Cap. All the other passengers and crew were accounted for. Everybody had plenty of time to get on board the lifeboats. Two days later a fisherman out of the Canaries found them, guided them ashore.
Bridger: The George went down six hundred miles from the Canaries. There’s no way that a lifeboat could have traveled that far in two days.
Crocker: Well, maybe that’s why no one ever found her before, Cap. No one ever thought to look that far out. And then the war started and everyone just sorta forgot about her.
Bridger: There was a woman. (everyone looks skeptical)
Krieg: Uh, if I may, Captain, I found some archival footage in the disc encyclopedia. It’s not much, just this home movie made for the ship’s owner, guess that’s him with his wife. (on screen, girl walks up with kids)Westphalen: (looks at Bridger) That’s her isn’t it?
Bridger: (nods) That’s both of them. Who is she? (watches) Freeze it. (comlink beeps, into speaker) Yes.
Hitchcock: (on loudspeaker) Captain, you’ve got to see what the H.R. Probe is sending back.
Bridger: (into comlink) Thank you. (to group in room) Shall we? (all leave except Bridger and Westphalen)
Westphalen: I think she’s the nanny.
Bridger: Why wasn’t she on the passenger manifest?
Westphalen: Maybe it had to do with the boat. Maybe it was a last minute decision to bring her and she was left off the manifest. (gasps, Bridger turns to see Wideman’s head turn on the screen)
(Bridge)
Bridger: (as group enters) Commander?
Hitchcock: (operating H.R. Probe) I’ve got her running, sir.
Bridger: Put it on both screens.
Hitchcock: (operating H.R. Probe) The stacks are sealed.
Crocker: That was an innovation of the George. Those are harbor covers, they’re supposed to retract once they’re at sea.
Hitchcock: (operating H.R. Probe) Well, they’re closed here, which means the engine room may not be flooded. Than, there’s this, a light coming from this porthole.
Ford: Not possible.
Bridger: And not a dream.
Hitchcock: (operating H.R. Probe) The George has an air pocket, amazing.
Crocker: More amazing than you know, Commander, the George has been sunk for a hundred and five years. (spits over his shoulder) That ship is haunted.
Westphalen: Captain, what did she say to you?
Bridger: She said “Help us.”
(Lucas’s Room)
Bridger: (outside the room) Lucas. (pounds on door)
Lucas: (from inside, in scary voice) Oooh, come in. (Bridger and Levin enter) Uuuhahh.
Bridger: Cut that out.
Lucas: Wahhh.
Bridger: Put the lights on. (lights go on) We’re about ready to go aboard the George, and Doctor Levin wants you to come with us.
Lucas: That’s great.
Bridger: Now look, we’re gonna need your cooperation. We don’t know what we’re going against, and I can’t really define it.
Levin: Now here’s the deal, logical scientific methodology doesn’t apply, we just take that with us. We’re entering into a realm that defies logic and all we have to depend on is myths and superstition.
Lucas: Very cool.
Bridger: Now, you’re going to come along as a bodyguard.
Levin: In many legends, children are immune to the effects of the paranormal.
Lucas: Oh, I’m not a child.
Bridger: We know you’re not a child, but you’re the closest thing we have to one.
Lucas: You two, uh, really believe this boat is haunted?
Bridger: Yes, and I, I don’t know what that means, but we feel we have to pursue it. Pursuit of what you don’t know but instinctively believe in is what science is all about.
Lucas: Let’s go.
Bridger: Good. (all leave)
(Sea Launch)
Hitchcock: We’ve got a seal pressurized to one hundred and ninety feet.
Bridger: OK.
Westphalen: The air in the George is over a hundred years old. Oxygen under pressure transmits harmful levels of nitrogen to the body tissue.
Hitchcock: We’re torching through the cargo lock, we’ll be through in a minute.
Bridger: All right.
Westphalen: Watch out for signs of nitrogen narcosis.
Crocker: Rapture of the deep.
Westphalen: Mmm hmm. Wear these badges at all times, they’ll turn bright red if the air goes bad. And I want these larger ones posted every thirty feet once we’re on board. Look, if you do start getting heady, just stop what you’re doing and take a deep breath of purified oxygen and get out of that area immediately.Hitchcock: Captain, we’re through the lock.
Bridger: OK.
Levin: At all times keep imagining the white light of your aura around you.
Bridger: (enters George, takes readout) We can breath this. (re-enters launch) OK, let’s go.
Crocker: Cap.
(Bridger stops, spits, Crocker stops, spits and enters, Hitchcock stops, spits and enters, Lucas stops, spits and enters, Westphalen looks disgusted, Bridger enters, turns, grabs Westphalen.)
Bridger: Oh, come on. (enters with Westphalen, Levin spits and enters)
(RMS King George – Engine Room)
Hitchcock: Captain, look at this.
Bridger: It’s ingenious.
Lucas: What?
Hitchcock: It looks like the generator was converted to pull electricity from the currents running over the ship.
Lucas: Oh, that would explain the light.
Bridger: It would explain it if it worked.
Westphalen: This would explain how they replenished their atmosphere, osmotic membranes. Lucas, take a look at this. Um, think of a large sponge drawing oxygen out of the water molecules. (Bridger pushes lever, wheels turn, lights go on) Ahhh! Ohh.
Bridger: (rushes over to Westphalen) Give me some light. (sees gun in skeleton’s hand)
Crocker: Those are officer’s stripes.
Bridger: Captain. (picks up head, sees hole) Blew a hole right through his head, suicide.
Crocker: Shiver me timbers. (all look at him) I mean that seriously. There’s nothing more unlucky than a suicide on board a ship, unless of course it’s the captain committing suicide. We oughta get off this barge before we know more than we want to know.
Bridger: I wanna know why this ship sank; I wanna know why the Captain committed suicide, Chief. You wanna wait in the launch?
Crocker: No, sir, if you’re here, I’m here.
Levin: The unhealthy dead. Many parapsychologists feel spirits cling to the physical world out of confusion, or a need to deal with unresolved matters. There’s nothing more confused or unresolved than a suicide.
Bridger: This is who flew me across my room. Commander, take your engineering team down to the lowest deck, try to figure out what sank her.
Hitchcock: Yes, sir. (leaves)
Bridger: Let’s go, come on. (all leave)
(Hallway)
Westphalen: (all enter through door) We should get this over with before narcosis sets in.
Bridger: You feeling all right?
Westphalen: I don’t know what I’m feeling. (all go up stairs)
(Hallway - two decks lower)
Hitchcock: (looks into room, sees body, pulls out PAL) Captain.
Crocker: (hallway, two decks above, into PAL) This is Chief Crocker, Commander.
Hitchcock: (into PAL) Chief, I found a water filled room, starboard side, on the engine level. Its porthole has been sealed with candle wax and there are three skeletons inside. One of them’s wearing an accordion, I think they were part of a band.
Crocker: (hallway, two decks above, into PAL) Everyone in the orchestra survived.
Hitchcock: (into PAL) These three didn’t.
(Hallway)
Bridger: That’s four people who weren’t on the manifest.
Crocker: Counting that woman you saw, sir. (Bridger points to door, Crocker tries it, locked, door opens as Lucas walks by)
Lucas: Captain, this door’s open. (Westphalen looks in open door, is pulled in)
Bridger: Kristin, Kristin, Kristin. (inside room, Westphalen, sees Strathairn; outside room, Crocker touches handle pulls back)
Crocker: It’s hot.
Bridger: (tries handle, pulls back) It’s freezing.
(Stateroom)
Wideman: (Westphalen moves toward Strathairn who disappears, Westphalen turns to door, Wideman appears) You are meddling with forces you cannot comprehend. (drawer flies across room)
Bridger: (outside room) Kristin.
Wideman: I am Captain of the George. Its fate is mine. I want you off my ship. (mattress flies across room, knocking over Westphalen, who falls on diary open to “I hate him”)
Bridger: (outside room) Kristin.
Wideman: My torment, to which you have no right. (pulls up arm to hit Westphalen, stops, looks at diary) I hate him.
Bridger: (outside room) Kristin. (tries to force door open with Crocker)
Wideman: No, no, nooooo. (door flies open into Bridger and Crocker)
(Stateroom – Later)
Crocker: (picking up mattress) Is there any reason why we can’t just leave this place?
Bridger: (to Westphalen) Can you get up?
Westphalen: Yes. (gets up) Oh, my diary, there, my diary. I’m fine, I’m fine, really. (sitting down) I’d just like to sit down for a minute.
Lucas: (Crocker sprinkles salt on doorway) What are you doing?
Crocker: It’s salt, keeps the devil from the door.
Lucas: Is that why you spit?
Crocker: No, Lucas, sailors spit for good luck in the face of adversity.
Bridger: What happened?
Westphalen: (pulls arm away, scared, almost crying) I can’t remember. I hate him.
Bridger: Hate who?
Westphalen: Who?
Levin: Why don’t you, uh, lie back, Doctor. (helping Westphalen lie down) Come on, lie back, there. (to Bridger) I’m gonna run an EKG, maybe you could ask them to step outside.
Bridger: Sure. Let’s wait outside.
Crocker: But, Cap, I just put down the salt.
Bridger: Chief, please.
Crocker: (leaving) Well, thinking about my aura isn’t helping any.
Bridger: (following Crocker out) Well, let’s think about it out here.
Lucas: Hey, Captain, did she just say “I hate him”?
Bridger: Yes.
Lucas: That’s the last entry in this diary, August twenty-sixth, 1914.
Bridger: Nineteen fourteen? That’s a year and a half they survived down here. (reading from diary) This is the personal diary of Lillian Strathairn. If you find it, please do not read it, but kindly return it to me, care of the Deegan family, eighteen Grosvenor’s Square, London. That’s the woman I saw, Lillian.
Lucas: How can you know that?
Bridger: I know. (reading) April one, 1913. I am bout to embark on my first journey outside of London, and it’s taking me around the world. What a day. I’ve been given first class accommodations by Lord and Lady Deegan, and I’ve met a man whose simple presence causes me to swoon.
Levin: (exiting room) Captain. She’s running a very low heart rate. Even with her mood swinging from calm to crying she’s asking for medication.
Bridger: Shouldn’t she have it?
Levin: She’s asking for stimulants. I think she’s had this encounter —
Bridger: Well we know that, Joshua.
Levin: Yes, but what I’m saying is I think she may still be having it.
Hitchcock: (in engine room, into PAL) Chief?
Crocker: (into PAL) Yes, Commander.
Hitchcock: (in engine room, into PAL) All levels below engineering are flooded, and the intake valves are broken off in the open position. Somebody’s been through here with a sledge hammer. The George was sabotaged, and what’s weird is, it must have taken days to sink by flooding it deck by deck through the intake system.
Bridger: (into PAL) Where are you, Commander?
Hitchcock: (in engine room, into PAL) Engineering, level two.
Bridger: (into PAL) All right, I’ll be right down. (to group) I want you all to stay here with Doctor Westphalen, especially you, Lucas. Stay close to her. (enters room, doesn’t see Westphalen) Kristin? (looks around, door opens, Westphalen comes out) Kristin?
Westphalen: Can you hear the music? Would you do me up?
Bridger: (buttoning back of dress) The music?
Westphalen: From the ball room. Thank you.
Bridger: Stay with her, don’t leave the room. (goes to leave)
Crocker: Captain, you shouldn’t go out there wandering around by yourself.
Levin: No, he’s right.
Bridger: Don’t leave the room. (leaves)
Westphalen: Steward, fetch me a brandy.
(Hallway)
Wideman: Get away.
Bridger: You’re not gonna stop me. (turn corner, sees mist, hears scream, walks down hall, sees Wideman)
Wideman: Get off my ship.
Bridger: No. (lights go on, mist and ghost disappear)
Wideman: Bridger, get off my ship. (laughs)
(Hallway - two decks lower)
Hitchcock: (Bridger walks over) Captain, this way.
Bridger: Wait a minute, I don’t think so. (turns, walks other way)
Hitchcock: I’ve already checked those doors, they’re all locked. (door opens, both enter, find body) An engineer’s insignia. Well we found the two people that went down with the ship, captain and engineer. Who are the three people I saw through the porthole?
Bridger: Stowaways.
Hitchcock: A dance card. (opens it) There’s one name written in it over and over again.
Bridger: Lillian?
Hitchcock: How did you know?
Bridger: We have to find Lillian. (looks at paper) Here lies sweet Robert Fitzgerald, my fiancé and unfulfilled love, engineer of the George. Taken to God’s bosom on May thirteenth, 1913. With him goes my heart.
Hitchcock: I don’t understand.
Continued