The Abyss Page #3

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BUD:

Hey, you guys are milking that job.

CATFISH:

(Kentucky drawl)

That's cause we love freezin' our butts off out

here sooo much, boss.

OMITTED19

INT. DRILL ROOM 20

Bud turns from the window and crosses the drill floor. The working heart of

the rig. THUNDEROUS MECHANICAL ROAR. The drill crew, in hardhats and mud-

plastered overalls, tend the massive spinning turn-table in the center of the

chamber. The semi-automated system requires only five men to operate. The

others are LUPTON MCWHIRTER, DWIGHT PERRY, JAMMER WILLIS, and TOMMY RAY

DIETZ. Bud hears his names called above the din by Jammer, a massive

roughneck/diver who stands a good head taller than the rest.

JAMMER:

(yelling)

Bud! Hippy's on the b*tch-box. It's a call

from topside. That new company man.

BUD:

Kirkhill? That guy doesn't know his butt from

a rathole. Hey, Perry!

One of the roustabouts, a wiry Texan, turns to him.

BUD:

Do me a favor and square away the mud hose and

those cable slings. This place is starting to

look like my apartment.

Perry chuckles and sets to the task cheerfully. Bud EXITS, ducking his head

through a low watertight hatch.

INT. CORRIDOR/TOOLPUSHER'S OFFICE 21

Bud tromps down the narrow corridor, his work boots gonging on steel.

P.A. (HIPPY'S VOICE)

BUD, PICK UP THE TOPSIDE LINE URGENT.

BUD:

I'm coming. Keep your pantyhose on.

He enters his office, a tiny cubicle with stacks of paperwork, dust-

gathering tech manuals and waterstained Penthouse fold-outs. He picks up the

phone... punches down a line.

BUD:

Brigman here. Kirkhill? What's going on?

(pause)

I am calm. I'm a calm person. Is there some

reason why I shouldn't be calm?

HOLD ON Bud's expression, darkening, as he listens.

INT. CORRIDOR/CONTROL MODULE 22

The control module is a long narrow cabin like the inside of a Winnebago,

packed with instrumentation. At the end is a small bay with multiple

viewports. Outside, at a 'Christmas tree' pipe installation, a lone diver

can be seen welding. He is accompanied by a large submersible, FLATBED, and

by a Remotely Operated Vehicle, or ROV, call LITTLE GEEK. Little Geek is an

underwater robot which operated on the end of a cable-like control TETHER.

It has a single video 'eye' in front, by which the operator pilots the little

machine. The rig's ROV pilots is ALLEN 'HIPPY' CARNES, who stands by the

window twiddling his joysticks and drinking coffee. His pet white rat,

BEANY, crawls contentedly around his shoulders. The door BANGS OPEN.

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