Silence of the Sea
© 2021 Jason Scalfano
EXT. OCEAN FLOOR - SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE - DAY
A figure trudges through an infinite expanse of darkness on the sea floor. PETER (14) an onboard android assistant, walks aimlessly, as he is no longer onboard, and there is no one to assist. He looks something like a crash dummy, a selection of barnacles and sea greens have made their home on his person.
A "LOW BATT" symbol dimly flickers on his temple. A twisted turbine hangs from his back. Each slow step is preceded by a metallic hiss and the click of a joint locking in place.
Small clouds of sediment arise from each step.
A giant isopod scuttles clumsily over bones nearby. Peter makes a beeline towards the movement. The isopod escapes, slowly.
PETER
PETER
Hi there, my name is Peter. May I assist you?
Peter's voice is crunchy and muffled, reminiscent of garbled walkie talkie chatter. The isopod pays no mind and continues on its path. Peter follows.
Peter walks through an area thick with waves of crustaceans and other bottom feeders, feasting on a deadfall whale.
Barnacles on his head open and filter feed with feather like appendages. Tufts of putrid blubber slowly snow down over him. Peter attempts to make contact, facing the chewed up whale corpse.
PETER
PETER
How do you do? My name is Peter. Do you require assistance?
He stops by the colossal, very decomposed, jaw of the sperm whale.
PETER
PETER
It seems you are feeling under the weather. I will come back later.
Teeth dislodge from the jaw as a hagfish wiggles its way out of the whales mouth.
Peter trudges on.
A bright digital tone chimes off. Peter stops mid-step. After a beat the tone repeats, the audio is choppy, like Peter's voice. A light on Peter's head flashes on with each chime. The chime echoes, gradually crescendoing into a single drone.
BEGIN FLASHBACK
INT. MARINER II RESEARCH VESSEL - NIGHT
The chime comes back into focus. A man stands over a clean, barnacle free, Peter inside the cramped interior of a submarine. THOM RIVERS (41) smiles a well creased smile under his salt and pepper mustache. He is very Canadian.
THOM
THOM
Listen bud, it gets hairy out there in the abyss. If you lose visual contact, follow the bells yeah? And you'll make it back home, got it buddy?
PETER
PETER
I have got it, Major Rivers. Thank you.
Thom shakes his head, fondly exasperated.
THOM
THOM
Oh come there bud, please call me Thom, we are family down here. Go on... Don't make me do it manually, champ.
PETER
PETER
Anything to assist you, (beat) Thom.
Thom wrinkles up his eyes in a smile once again, and pats Peter on the back.
From a few feet away, OUMIE (32) calls out to Thom. She is at the helm, her Poetic Justice braids and thick glasses illuminated by the buttons and dials.
OUMIE
OUMIE
Thom! Get over here, come see what I'm seeing.
Behind Oumie sits DIWATA (26). She moves her long black hair out of her face with her tablet stylus and turns to get a look out the front view window. SPELTZ (32) pokes his bald head up from a work bench. He is basically Stanley Tucci.
DIWATA
DIWATA
It better be a new species of siphonophore, I'm playing discovery bingo with Speltz.
Speltz ducks into the cockpit area.
SPELTZ
SPELTZ
I also hope it is a siphonophore, because they're fascinating and I'm not a petty jackass.
Diwata blows a raspberry and chuckles.
SPELTZ
SPELTZ
Seismic activity looks steady, by the way.
Thom takes his position in the second chair, and looks out through the viewing window.
THOM
THOM
Oh, boy. Rivers under the sea, sure, but its always wild to see a lake.
Diwata and Oumie groan at the dad joke. Outside the window, a great expanse of milky brine sits still on the sea floor.
Tubeworms cluster around volcanic vents, the brine billows up and falls under the lighter sea water.
OUMIE
OUMIE
We have got to get some samples and shots of the extremophiles at these vents, yeah? Thom?
SPELTZ
SPELTZ
Sounds like a job for Peter.
DIWATA
DIWATA
Oh yeah, Peter work for sure.
Thom pauses to think.
THOM
THOM
We have to be extra, extra careful... at this pressure... but he was built for this. What do you say bud? Wanna get up close and personal with some fellow extremophiles?
PETER
PETER
It would be my pleasure to assist you and the crew, Thom.
THOM
THOM
You're crew too bud, don't forget that.
Thom smiles. But it falls from his eyes when he looks back out the window.
THOM
THOM
We could try the arms first?
OUMIE
OUMIE
I can handle the controls pretty tight, Thom, but we really need computer precision. We don't want to upset the delicate balance. Life may have started around these vents... even just using our lights down here is risky.
THOM
THOM
I know, I know. Just prolonging the inevitable. Ok, bud. Lets get you set up for depressurization, yeah?
PETER
PETER
Yes, Thom.
Thom and Peter walk to the back of the small submarine, Thom connects a hose to a brass coupling on Peter's back, and gently shuts him inside a heavy metal door, turns a large valve to shut it tight. A series of chimes go off to indicate the change of pressure.
END FLASHBACK
EXT. OCEAN FLOOR - NIGHT
Peter continues his stride through the dark of the abyss. His joints hiss and click in steady intervals. The yellow light on his head flickers with each chime as he picks up more pings, ostensibly from The Mariner II. The "LOW BATT" message on his temple flashes red and ever more frequently.
He comes across a great hole, the pings are strongest here. The chasm expands across a huge area, it swallows even the faintest light Peter produces.
He pauses at the edge. After a long beat, he presses forward, and quietly falls off into the dark.
As he free falls down the hole, the chimes echo. BEGIN FLASHBACK
EXT. OCEAN FLOOR OUTSIDE MARINER II - NIGHT
EXT. OCEAN FLOOR OUTSIDE MARINER II - NIGHT
Peter steps off the back of the submarine, drifts slowly down the small ladder to the ocean floor. A cloud of sediment rises from his feet. The team speaks over a group communication device.
THOM (OS)
Ok bud, the pressure seems good. How are you doing down there?
PETER
PETER
I am fantastic, Thom. Thank you.
OUMIE (OS)
OUMIE (OS)
Peter, the vents are to your left, can you get some samples and photos?
PETER
PETER
Absolutely I can, O-Umie.
OUMIE (OS)
OUMIE (OS)
Just... "ooo - me", Peter, thanks.
DIWATA (OS)
DIWATA (OS)
Gross.
THOM (OS)
Oh now who's weirdly attached?
OUMIE (OS)
OUMIE (OS)
Shut it.
Peter walks towards the vents, and the towers of tubeworms surrounding them. He bends down, and produces a container with a pressure valve on the lid.
SPELTZ (OS)
SPELTZ (OS)
Getting seismic activity. Just got a spike out of nowhere.
THOM (OS)
THOM (OS)
Shit, better pack it up there bud.
Peter packs the sample inside the container, snaps some photos with his "eyes", two black lens protruding from the rubber composite skin of his head.
Peter turns around. A crack opens in the ocean floor. Sediment and blisteringly hot brine rushes out against the bottom of the Mariner II.
INT. MARINER II RESEARCH VESSEL - SECONDS LATER
INT. MARINER II RESEARCH VESSEL - SECONDS LATER
THOM
Jesus Murphy! What was that?!
SPELTZ
SPELTZ
I think something just fucking blew!
OUMIE
OUMIE
I can't see shit!
THOM
THOM
Peter can you see whats going on?!
PETER (OS)
PETER (OS)
A volcanic fissure has opened a new vent. Thom, please make your escape now. The hull integrity won't last-
THOM
THOM
(grimly)
No time. Peter you're gonna have to-
The "black smoker" blasts forth extreme heat and particles, and creates a hair line fracture in the hull. In a matter of seconds the pressure of the deep sea takes advantage.
A spray of water rips Speltz' arm clean off, in the same second the interior is filled with sea water and crumples in on itself. All screams and then nothing, in the blink of an eye.
EXT. OCEAN FLOOR OUTSIDE MARINER II - SECONDS LATER
EXT. OCEAN FLOOR OUTSIDE MARINER II - SECONDS LATER
Peter stares as his world is consumed in billowing clouds of smoke and sand. The ground beneath him is giving way. He pulls a tab on his chest and escape turbine opens from his back. The turbine is struck by a falling rock and he flies off course, his lights disappear into the dark of the abyssal zone.
END FLASHBACK
EXT. ABYSSAL ZONE HOLE - NIGHT
Peter falls slowly down the hole.
He lands on a patch of tubeworms. They retract into their tubes in fear. Peter walks through the tubeworms, each step disturbs them terribly.
Vents shoot up white clouds here.
PETER
PETER
(In Speltz voice) Seismic activity looks steady.
Peter clicks on a light in one of his eyes. He searches the area. He finds a mass of metal covered in deep sea life.
Peter uses his hands to scrape clams off to reveal the "Mariner II" logo painted on the side.
Peter pauses.
After a beat, he forces a metal panel off the shipwreck. "LOW BATT" flashes violently. He enters through the hull of the Mariner II.
INT. RUINED MARINER II RESEARCH VESSEL - NIGHT
INT. RUINED MARINER II RESEARCH VESSEL - NIGHT
Peter carefully steps through the ruined carcass of his ship. He finds several broken skeletons forced together covered in scavengers. Peter steps down to them. He shoos the crustaceans away and begins disassembling the pile of bones and torn fabric.
Peter collects four ID cards from the pile and holds them close to his chest.
He walks over to the helm, scraping sediment off the dash and plugs himself into a port.
PETER
PETER
Mission files uploading (beat)
File transfer complete.
"BATT CRITICAL" flashes on his temple. Peter takes a long look at the inside of the ship and the remains of the crew.
After a beat, he steps back outside.
EXT. ABYSSAL ZONE HOLE - NIGHT
Peter steps down, and with great effort sits down by the wreck of the Mariner II. He holds the ID cards in his hands. He looks over their faces, wipes away grime with his ruined fingers.
PETER
(In Thom's Voice)
You're crew too bud, don't forget that.
Peter tears at his scalp. He peels a patch of rubber off and extends an antenna.
PETER
PETER
Transmitting mission files. Searching for connection.
Peter's head dips down, slowly. EXT. RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY
Peter finds himself at the sidewalk outside a perfect little house. He walks past the bright pink mailbox, under a flowered archway missing from a wedding, up to the bright blue door.
Peter enters.
INT. RESIDENTIAL HOUSE - DAY
The room is bright and full of life. Plants, excessive bowls of fish, and cats adorn as many surfaces as possible. Four faceless people sit at the table, they pretend to eat hotdogs. Peter walks closer, the hiss and click of his joints in total dissonance with the setting.
The ID photos of Thom, Oumie, Diwata, and Speltz are now superimposed over the blank faces of the house people.
OUMIE
OUMIE
You made it, Peter!
DIWATA
DIWATA
Heck yes! Ain't a party without P!
SPELTZ
This guy! I tell you what, no one who ever lived is as helpful as Peter.
OUMIE
OUMIE
We have been so assisted, it's crazy.
Peter stands next to the table. He now wears a colorful golf polo and checked trousers. Outside the windows tubeworms wave.
THOM
THOM
You did it bud, I never doubted you for a second.
PETER
PETER
I love you, Thom.
THOM
THOM
I love you too, son.
Peter beams, as well as an android without facial articulation can beam.
THOM
Oh! Let me get you a chair, we are eating hotdogs.
PETER
PETER
I love hotdogs.
THOM
THOM
Of course you do, you're part of this family, aren't ya bud?
Peter now has a full head of hair and human hands.
THOM
Tomorrow I'm gonna teach you how to play hockey, gotta learn that tout de suite!
EXT. ABYSSAL ZONE HOLE - NIGHT
EXT. ABYSSAL ZONE HOLE - NIGHT
Peter sits in the dark outside the wreck of the Mariner II. His lights dimly flicker.
PETER
(distorted)
Searching for connection. Searching for connection.
Searching for connection. Searching for connection.
"BATT FAILURE" flashes on his temple.
PETER
PETER
(very distorted)
Connection found. Transmitting data. Transmission compl-
All lights dim. He goes completely limp. Peter is covered with coral.
SUPER - SILENCE OF THE SEA BY JASON PAUL SCALFANO
BLACK SCREEN
