ARMAGEDDON SCRIPT
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