Script – Season three

Episode 17

Brett:	Come on, Kal. You can’t just stay down here forever. You’ve got to get your head around it. Neri’s not just your friend. She’s Jason’s, too, and mine, and…
Kal:	Neri… My friend.
Brett:	Yeah, but you can’t just own someone, Kal, and you don’t just have one friend, I’ve got heaps.
Kal:	Not me.
Brett:	What about the ORCA kids, and Cass, and Benny? You like them, don’t you?
Kal:	Not same.
Brett:	Yeah, okay. So Neri’s special. But you can’t just have things the way you want. What about the synchronium? We’ve only got four pieces. There’s heaps more to get. Neri says we can’t get it together without you. You going to let her down on that?
Kal:	Maybe.

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Brett:	He’s just trying to figure stuff out, that’s all.
Jason:	What stuff?
Brett:	You know, people stuff. He’s just a great big kid, thinks everyone’s here for him. Well, he’s just figuring out that it doesn’t work like that. Doesn’t know how to take it.
Jason:	So, is he going to come out out of the spaceship and join the human race again?
Brett:	Well, he’s not human, is he? [?] who knows?

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ORCA:	Hold it. This area is off limits.
UBRI:	I’ve got instructions.
ORCA:	No entry till the tribunal gives the all clear.

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Hellegren:	These accusations are pure fantasy.
Dianne:	And I suppose the fault line’s a fantasy, too, and the fact that it began opening within a kilometre of your blasting site?
Hellegren:	Pure coincidence.
Dianne:	I think not.
Hellegren:	There is not one single solid piece of evidence to link link our construction work with any of these earth tremors of late.
Dianne:	Oh, you can shrug them off as tremors now, doctor, but when that gap in the sea floor widens, we’ll be looking at a full-blown quake.
Hellegren:	This is absurd. This woman is a marine biologist. Her subject is fish. She is unqualified to be making making these specs.
Commander:	I think the tribunal had better make that decision. I’ll call the meeting for tomorrow.

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Kellar:	If this project’s delayed much longer, it’s going to cost UBRI millions. Perhaps it is time we called in an expert witness. You remember professor Danks. We fund his research department. He’ll know exactly what needs to be said.

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Danks:	From a scientific perspective, Dr. Bates’ is a nice theory, but one that has no creditability what’s so ever.
Dianne:	I am well aware of professor Danks’ expertise on the subject of earthquakes, and I accept that he disagrees with my opinion, but with respect, I think he is mistaken.

(Rumbling)

Dianne:	And I firmly believe any further use of explosives on the ORCA city site would…

(Rumbling)

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Brett:	Watch out, Benny!

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Neri:	Charley. Charley. Charley, no. Please, Charley, go back. Please go back.

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Brett:	Neri, what’s wrong?
Neri:	Charley.
Lena:	What?
Neri:	Turtle beach, the sandbank. He can’t get off.
Brett:	He’s beached.
Neri:	Have to help him. You come.
Brett:	Right, come on, guys. Let’s go. Come on.

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Jason:	Station 0029 is back on.
Sallyanne:	Yep. Out of all the duties we could have drawn, we get stuck baby-sitting a computer. Hi, Brett, what’s up?
Brett:	Ah, I just got to talk to Jason.
Jason:	Oh, I’ll just be a second, okay?
Brett:	Come on. Charley’s beached on the sandbar at turtle cove. Neri’s gone back to stay with him until we get there.
Jason:	I’m on duty. I can’t leave. Morgan’s on my case. She’ll come down and check for sure.
Brett:	Jase, you have to. We need everyone we can get. Mum and Winston are in the tribunal. There’s no one else. No one who knows about Neri and and Charley, anyway.
Sallyanne:	Leave your post? While we’re on watch for tremor responses. You could get disciplinary charges for that, or even thrown out.
Jason:	Look, I can’t explain, but it’s majorly serious. If you don’t want to cover for me, fair enough. I’ll just have to go wear it myself. But I’ve got to go.
Sallyanne:	No. Of course I’ll cover for you, but couldn’t you at least tell me where you’re going?
Jason:	I will when I can. Sallyanne, thanks. I owe you one.

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Brett:	No use. He’s dug right in.
Jason:	We’ll need at least another three feet of water to float him off. How long till high tide?
Neri:	No. Too long. We must do it now.
Brett:	We can’t, Neri, even if we had another ten people and a stack of equipment. We can push, but we can’t lift him. He weighs 40 tonnes.
Benny:	High tide in six hours.
Neri:	It is heavy for him, too. He can’t breathe properly and he’s hot. The sun is burning him. He must get back to the water or he’ll die here.
Jason:	Okay, we can handle most of those things. We can keep him going until we figure something out. Okay, let’s go.

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Kal:	Neri?

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Kal:	You see Brett?
Boy:	Nay, left a while ago.
Kal:	Cass?
Boy:	Nope, she went off with Benny somewhere. Probably find them on a clean-up detail. Tremor’s left a bit of a mess.
Kal:	The tremor?
Boy:	Yeah?

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Brett:	Yep, that’s the high tide mark. When the water gets to there, we should be able to get him off.
Jason:	Right. Ready? Neri says he’s not used to having so many people so close that he can’t get away from and it’s freaking him out.
Neri:	We must be quiet, gentle. He likes touch on the side best. He doesn’t like the sand. It hurts his eyes.
Jason:	Try not to kick it up too much. No stomping around, no yelling. Let’s go.
Neri:	He breathes air, not water.
Cass:	Sorry. Sorry, Charley.
Neri:	Too much sun. He cannot take it.

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Commander:

To sum up the tribunal’s deliberations, we find Dr. Bates has raised several issues and valid doubts. We therefore rule that the ban on further blasting remain in place. However, we find no provable connection between the recent tremors and any activities of UBRI in the area. We thus withhold judgment on this point and confirm that, with the exception of blasting, UBRI be allowed to proceed with with the development of ORCA city unem[?].

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Dianne:	In other words, Hellegren wears no responsibility for the the blasting and can go ahead with any other work on ORCA city he likes.
Winston:	…regardless of the consequences.
Dianne:	Well, I’m not going to stop until I find some evidence to nail him with.
Winston:	Bully for you.
Dave:	Ready?
Dianne:	Yeah. Thanks for your moral support, Dave.

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Brett:	See if you can shove that leaf a little bit further in the net. Can’t afford for any to fall out.
Cass:	Yeah, sure.
Lena:	More?
Brett:	Yeah.
Jason:	Come on, keep it moving.
Benny:	I can’t. I’ve got to lie down for a second.
Lena:	Benny, come on. It’s only a couple more loads.
Jason:	If you don’t feel to good. Think about how Charlie feels.

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Commander:	Cadet Taylor. Anything to report?
Sallyanne:	No, commander. Everything’s in order, sir.
Commander:	Isn’t cadet Bates rostered on duty with you here, too? Well?
Sallyanne:	Yes, commander.
Commander:	Where is he then?
Sallyanne:	Well, he’s, um…
Commander:	Not here, apparently.
Sallyanne:	No, sir. Not right at this moment. He’s reporting to engineering. We’ve had a blib, a possible power surge. They shut out common unit down while they check the circuits, so he’s had to go down in person.
Commander:	I see. Well done. You’re both relieved from duty. Wallace and Shar will take over.

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Jason:	Ready? Here it comes.
Brett:	All right.
Cass:	Okay.
Jason:	Take it easy.
Neri:	It’s not enough.
Jason:	Neri, you won’t be able to help him at all if you knock yourself out.
Neri:	I have to try.
Jason:	Come on.
Neri:	He is going.
Jason:	We’re doing our best, okay? So is he.
Neri:	I cannot lose him, Jason. He is my other half.
Jason:	A couple of hours and we can have another go at trying to shift him.
Neri:	We cannot wait. We cannot wait for the water to rise.
Benny:	Hey, we mightn’t have to. I’ve been thinking. If we could get some kind of sling underneath him, we still couldn’t lift him, but if there there we be able to slide him off.
Jason:	Or a couple of zodiacs. Rig him up to the boat and tow him. I’ll be back.

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Sallyanne:	Oh, hi. Kal, isn’t it?
Kal:	See Brett?
Sallyanne:	Not since this morning. I can’t find anyone. Everything’s all out of sync today.
Kal:	Well, Brett say come here.
Sallyanne:	You were supposed to meet him?
Kal:	He say come here.
Sallyanne:	You don’t know what’s going on, do you? I mean, I know you’re a friend of his.
Kal:	Don’t know.
Sallyanne:	You, too? Why do people do that? I mean, it’s like they don’t trust you or something. Sorry, do you want some?

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Jason:	Where’s mum?
Winston:	Out diving near ORCA city.
Jason:	We need help right away. It’s Charley.

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Cass:	They’re here!
Jason:	We dig out as much of the sand under Charley as we can and wedge the sling under as we go. We’ll need, I think, about another foot of water to make it. When it reaches about here we should be ready.
Winston:	There’s nothing wrong with Charley. It’s the electromagnetic field he uses to navigate by that’s gone wrong.
Neri:	The earth shake does this?
Winston:	Yes, it’s still quite disturbed. A little more stable than an hour ago.
Neri:	What will happen if we take take him back to deep water?
Winston:	If he tries to navigate by what’s right to him, he may swim right back to the beach again.
Neri:	No. I will not let him.
Jason:	Is it clear?
Brett:	Yes.
Winston:	Underneath him. Hold this.
Jason:	We can’t wait any longer.
Winston:	Okay, let’s give it a go. Slowly, slowly. Okay, good. Steady as she goes. Don’t rush it. Okay, let’s go.
Jason:	He’s moving!
Winston:	Well done, everybody!

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Kal:	Maybe I do more classes. Is good to learn. I try to understand, but not always work.
Sallyanne:	I know what you mean. Sometimes I think I only get half the picture. Look, um, there’s Jason. I’ve got to go, but I’ll see you around, maybe.
Sallyanne:	Jason, got a minute?
Jason:	Yeah, yeah, sure.
Sallyanne:	Um, the commander came in and I told him you were down in engineering. I don’t know where I got it from. It just came to me.
Jason:	Well, whatever. It was pretty inspired.
Sallyanne:	It was a whopping great lie. I never thought I could do that.
Jason:	Well, it was a good cause.
Sallyanne:	And I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me.
Jason:	One day – when I can.

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(Whale calls)

Neri:	Charley is happy. No more sick.
Kal:	Good.
Neri:	You come back?
Kal:	No, just for coconut. Where Jason?
Neri:	I think at ORCA.
Kal:	He help save Charley, too?
Neri:	Yes, everyone helped.
Kal:	You not ask me.
Neri:	No time to find you. You hungry? I cook fish.
Kal:	No. I go now.
Neri:	Kal.

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(Camera clicks)

Kellar:	Can you see him? Has he surfaced? There are more of them.