CLEARCUT

Written by

Kenneth White

Kenneth White
1108 Wellesley Avenue
Modesto, CA 95350-5044
(209) 567-0600
Ken1White@aol.com
 CLEARCUT

FADE IN:

EXT. PACIFIC OCEAN - OFF SAN FRANCISCO - DAY

Sixty miles out. Open ocean. Two Zodiacs lashed together.

Mild chop. Two men. One mission.

Hand-painted on the side of one Zodiac: "Live Free or

Die." On the other: "It's Not Nice to Fool Mother
Nature."

HUNTER
Another day, another mountain.

HUNTER REED, samurai buccaneer, stares through the

binoculars. The lines are deep in his face. The wear of
too many years running at the red line is beginning to
show. He wears a "Cal" Berkeley baseball hat. He checks
his antique, Boy Scout compass.

WYATT
Any regrets, Hunter?

WYATT O'LEARY, media shaman, rides shotgun. He's

remarkably fit for a man whose doctor greets him each year
with an incredulous, "You're still alive?" He wears a
floppy campaign hat with "Greenpeace" stitched across it.

HUNTER
Just one. Never won the longboard
championship in Maui.
A silver DOLPHIN breaches the surface, startling Hunter.
His compass pops into the air and PLOPS into the water.
Hunter grabs for it, but it's gone.

The dolphin pops up on its tail fin, CHATTERING at the two

friends. It glides up close to the Zodiac. Hunter strokes
its glistening head.

WYATT
Unfinished business?

HUNTER
None, Wyatt. You?

WYATT
I worry sometimes.

HUNTER
That?
 2.
WYATT
Jesus drinks himself to sleep worrying
about us.

HUNTER
Let's send him some Jack.

WYATT
We sure dodged some bullets since we
were kids.

HUNTER
We're all just one bad decision from
disaster.

The dolphin backpedals away and dives below the ocean's

surface.

WYATT
Remember Mount Rushmore? That human
chain we formed with those Sioux.
Pissed all over Washington's nose.

HUNTER
Where'd that come from?

WYATT
Must be all this wet stuff.

Hunter scoops a handful of ocean.

HUNTER
There is something about water.

WYATT
Maybe 'cause we once had gills and
webbed feet.

Hunter shoots him a look.

HUNTER
If there's magic in this world, it's
in water.

On the horizon, a WHALE jumps out of the ocean. Hunter

points.

HUNTER
Thar she blows.

Tattooed into the weathered flesh on the back of his right

hand is a Trident -- the three-pronged spear of the sea-
god, Neptune.

In the distance, the pod of WHALES flees. A fleet of

Russian WHALERS chases.

Hunter and Wyatt unlash. They zoom their Zodiacs between

 3.
the whales and their pursuers.

Hunter locks onto the eyes of the HARPOONER in the lead

whaler.

O'Leary fires up his compact, digital video camera and

begins recording.

A swell hits. The whaler sinks into a watery trough. The

mast -- and the flag bearing the JADE EYE -- disappear
below the angry gray water. The ship re-appears and the
harpoon gun EXPLODES.

Hunter and Wyatt watch as the metal shaft tears into the
body of an ADULT FEMALE.

HUNTER
Dickless pricks!

A BULL WHALE stops and turns back. He roars past the

Zodiacs and ...

Slams into the killing boat.

A second harpoon EXPLODES, ripping into his body.

The bull leaps into the air, stalls out and SPLASHES back
into the sea. His unblinking eye fixes on Hunter and
Wyatt. And then it goes blank.

WYATT
Who could do that?

HUNTER
Always the same ones.

WYATT
There oughta be a law.

HUNTER
We're it.

WYATT
Some day ... they're gonna get
what's coming.

HUNTER
Some day's here.

Hunter leaps onto the carcass and ties himself to the shaft
of the harpoon.

WYATT
This is crazy.

HUNTER
If we don't, who will?
 4.
WYATT
It's not what. It's how.

HUNTER
Better to burn out than fade away.

The whaler slides alongside the dead whale. The DECK HANDS
snag it with gaffing hooks.

Hunter is nearly crushed as the two behemoths bob in the

turbulent water.

The deck hands spin the whale. Hunter disappears beneath

the water. He reappears, SPUTTERING like a half-drowned
kitten.

EXT. SHIP'S DECK - MOMENTS LATER

The deck hands hoist the dead whale and its Ahab on board.
A sumo-sized, ham-fisted FIRST MATE cold-cocks Hunter with
a belaying pin.

The deck hands cut Hunter loose and toss him overboard.

BACK TO OCEAN

as Wyatt fishes Hunter out of the water. They stare into

the dead eye of the whale as it's lowered into the hold
... past the flag's unblinking Jade Eye.

Wyatt slowly backs the Zodiac away. The whaler pushes off
to re-join the fleet.

WYATT
Your day will come.

A sudden GUST of wind hits Wyatt's face. He turns ...

Out of nowhere, a mammoth swell rolls up, slams into the

whaler and flips it like a scale-model Pequod in a backlot
sea.

EXT. PACIFIC OCEAN - SANTA CRUZ - PLEASURE POINT - MORNING

Hunter waits for a wave. He straddles his O'Neill

longboard -- the kind of board the guys at Redondo and the
Pipeline used to use to shoot the curl in the Sixties.

HUNTER
Mother Nature bats last.

GOOFY FOOT, a young surfer punk with long, stringy,

bleached blonde hair, floats on his "No Fear" board next to
Hunter. The kid's board is shorter, quicker and more
suited to the pyrotechnic showboating of Gen X hotdoggers.
 5.
GOOFY FOOT
Way it's gotta be.

A monster wave churns up. The man and boy paddle.

GOOFY FOOT
Grow up, old man. Make room for the
rest of us.

HUNTER
Earn it, grunt.

And they catch it.

GOOFY FOOT
Off my wave, squid.

HUNTER
It's yours, kid. If you can take it.

The two slice and dice side-by-side. Neptune's Children.

Hunter takes the point, balls out.

Goofy Foot rips it up in his wake.

Hunter walks the nose then ...

HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE! WIPEOUT! Hunter eats it. His

body goes one way, his board another. The rogue wave
gobbles them both up.

Goofy Foot pulls out. He scans the water. He paddles

closer to shore. He stands on his board and looks around.

Hunter's board pops into the air, followed by Hunter,

snorting sea water. He clambers back on his board,
vomiting brine.

GOOFY FOOT
Point's to ride it, not drink it,
dude.

HUNTER
Didn't know which way was up.

GOOFY
Ain't that the truth.

HUNTER
Drop it, already.

GOOFY FOOT
Could've died, bait.

HUNTER
Not my turn ... yet.
 6.
EXT. SANTA CRUZ - BEACH - LATER

An intricate sand castle. Flanked by an equally detailed

windmill.

Goofy Foot grabs his backpack, salutes Hunter and trots off
toward the Boardwalk.

Hunter stuffs his gear into his O'Neill wet bag. He spins
the popsicle stick on the windmill. Then follows in Goofy
Foot's tracks.

EXT. SANTA CRUZ - BOARDWALK - MOMENTS LATER

Goofy Foot hands out leaflets for the Surfrider Foundation.

GOOFY FOOT
(to PASSERSBY)
Considering what these cheap thrill,
metal rides cost, what's twenty-five
bucks to keep the original one open?

From a distance, Hunter watches. VACATIONERS and LOCALS

walk on by.

GOOFY FOOT
It's your ocean, people. It needs
your help.

Two Santa Cruz COPS approach Goofy Foot. They're both

surfer dudes gone over to the other side. One's got a few
more miles on him than the other.

COP #1
ID, son?

Goofy Foot shows it.

GOOFY FOOT
Locals call me "Goofy Foot."

COP #1
Figures.

COP #2
You know what they say about lefties?

GOOFY FOOT
Heard it all my life.

COP #1
Move across the street, please. You
can't distribute political material on
private property.

Goofy Foot flashes a big smile and hands them a pamphlet.

 7.
GOOFY FOOT
My old man told me a story once.
'Bout Vietnam. This lieutenant's
standing in the middle of a village
that's just been napalmed back into
the stone age. He tells a bunch of
media types, "Hey, we had to destroy
it to save it."

COP #1
We did.

Hunter turns and walks off down the Boardwalk.

EXT./INT. GREENLAND - ICE CAVE - DAY

A toothless GREENLANDER drills a hole in the glacier.

A tight-jawed ENGINEER scans a computer screen.

A three-fingered PYROTECHNICIAN rigs a dynamite charge.

EXT. OUTSIDE CAVE - MOMENTS LATER

Hunter punches out an armed SECURITY MAN. He slumps

against a snow mobile and trailer filled with explosives
and mining equipment.

Hunter jumps in the saddle. Wyatt hops in the shotgun

seat. They BLAST off across the ice floes. Hunter glances
over his shoulder.

Two snow cats cut through the icy mist.

Wyatt turns around and begins recording.

WHINING engines. RUSHING wind. SPITTING snow.

The two bushy-bearded SECURITY MEN, astride the pair of

pursuing snow mobiles, pull even with Hunter and begin to
squeeze him from both sides.

Hunter veers into one and SLAMS against the other. Ski
runners BANG together. It's Ben Hur on ice.

Wyatt hangs on for dear life with one hand while continuing
to record with the other.

Dead ahead. A rock outcropping. Hunter just sees it and

swings right.

The snow cat to his left hits the rock full-speed, dead-on.
The driver catapults left while the cat flies right.

The cat SMASHES to earth, CRASHES through the ice pack and
vanishes below the blue-black water. The driver THUDS to
 8.
earth, unconscious.

The other security guard pulls out a rope and twirls it

over his head in ever-widening circles.

Wyatt dives backward into the trailer and flattens out.

Hunter leans forward against the handlebars.

The guard flings the lasso. It arcs slowly through the air
and drops around Hunter's throat. He throws up a forearm
between his neck and the tightening noose just in time.

The guard jumps on the brakes, yanking Hunter out of the

seat like he'd been hit in the chest with a shotgun blast.

The snow mobile slides to a stop. Wyatt scrambles into the

driver's seat, whips it around and hurtles back toward the
charging security man.

Wyatt reaches down and yanks a wooden pike out of a sheath

attached to the side of the cat. He clutches it to his
right side and lowers it.

The guard grabs his own wooden pike from its sheath.

The two men gallop toward each other like medieval

jousters.

Wyatt's lance jams his opponent hard in the chest. The

lance splinters, knocking the guard ass-over-teakettle off
the back of his snow cat.

The guard SMASHES into the hardpack, struggles to stand,

and collapses.

Wyatt loops back, scoops up the groggy Hunter and scoots

off toward the horizon.

EXT./INT. MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM - OUTER BAY - DAY

Outer Bay is one of the biggest artificial habitats on

Earth. It's a million-gallon, three-story indoor ocean
contained behind the largest window on planet Earth.

Elementary-aged STUDENTS stare wide-eyed at the marine life

inside the huge "aquarium."

KIT, their young, attractive teacher hovers. She removes

her Eddie Bauer baseball cap and Ralph Lauren sunglasses to
get a better look at ...

HUNTER
You don't have to go to Mars to visit
an alien world. It's right here.

The children are entranced. So's their teacher.

 9.
Hunter's T-shirt features the image of Neptune holding a
Trident.

LITTLE GIRL
Lookit that.

A large SUNFISH swims a lazy circle.

HUNTER
That's an ocean sunfish. It can get
as long as ten feet and as heavy as
one-and-a-half tons.

LITTLE BOY
Cool. Parachutes.

Purple-striped JELLYFISH gracefully chute through the cool,

blue waters.

HUNTER
That's a jellyfish. We've got the
largest collection of these ocean
drifters in the US.

LITTLE BOY
Jaws!

A BLUE SHARK knifes through the indigo darkness.

HUNTER
Blue shark. We've got soupfin sharks,
barracudas, stingrays ... and other
deadly beauties.

Hunter makes eye contact with Kit.

LITTLE GIRL
Cowabunga.

A green SEA TURTLE paddles into view.

HUNTER
Nature's full of surprises. Once you
get beneath the surface.

The children scurry toward the next exhibit.

Kit touches the angry red welt around Hunter's neck.

KIT
She use the whips, too?

HUNTER
Work, not play.

KIT
I like a hard working man.
 10.
She slips him her business card.

EXT. IDAHO - NEZ PERCE NATIONAL FOREST - DAY

A human FOOT steps in the fresh tracks of a huge animal.

HUNTER
Griz.

WYATT
Those'll make you humble.

HUNTER
Need to be.

EXT. NEZ PERCE FOREST - LOGGING ROAD - LATER

Hunter and Wyatt sledgehammer the engines of a bulldozer

and front-end loader.

Hunter wears an "Earth First!" T-shirt. Wyatt's has a

spotted owl perched on the bald head of former Interior
Secretary James Watt. It reads: "Nuke the spotted baby
whales."

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (V.O.)

We log it because it's ours. We can
do what we want.

REPORTER (V.O.)
That's pretty arrogant.

CEO (V.O.)
That's fact.

REPORTER (V.O.)
But this view. It's breathtaking.

CEO (V.O.)
Can't eat the view.

REPORTER (V.O.)
This cut's uglier than a baby with a
black eye.

Wyatt and Hunter flee through the forest. In hot pursuit,

several LOGGERS in hard-hats and flannels.

CEO (V.O.)
Some people share your opinion. Up
here, we call them "tree huggers."

REPORTER (V.O.)
We don't. We call them the only ones
who can stop people like you from
raping Mother Earth.
 11.
CEO (V.O.)
She opens her legs, it's not rape.

EXT. NEZ PERCE FOREST - LOGGING CAMP - NIGHT

A logging truck drags Hunter and Wyatt down the dirt road
into camp. The truck stops. The LOGGERS untie the two men
and lash each to his own crude, wooden crucifix.

LOGGER #1
Eco-freak shitheads. See how you like
this.

The LOGGERS buzz-cut Hunter and Wyatt's hair.

LOGGER #2
Clearcut that, butt plug.

EXT. SAN FRANCISCO - PIER 39 - DAY

Crawling with TOURISTS, VENDORS, STREET ARTISTS, and

HOMELESS.

INT. EAGLE CAFE - SAME TIME

Hunter and Wyatt sip beers. Hunter's T-shirt shows Smokey

the Bear smoking a joint with the caption: "It's Nature's
Way." Wyatt's just has a bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

AQUAGIRL
Nice hair, sugar.

SAVANNAH LEE, better known as "Aquagirl," affectionately

rubs Hunter's stubbled scalp.

Aquagirl's an ocean child of the South Carolina tides and a

marine biologist at Scripps Institution in La Jolla.

Look close enough and you might see webs between her toes.
But beware, she has red hair. Mambo calves and piledriver
thighs. She's easily half Hunter's age, but who's checking
IDs.

HUNTER
Don't need a comb.

WYATT
Or a towel.

GOOFY FOOT
Just shake off the water. Like a
horny old yard dog, eh moke?

Goofy Foot is. Checking IDs that is. He wears a long-

sleeved, white T-shirt with just two words printed in
 12.
green: "Nature Up!"

WYATT
Well, this turd bird here and yours
truly have officially been asked to
turn in our Greenpeace cards.

HUNTER
People make mistakes.

AQUAGIRL
Cut off the only balls they got.

GOOFY FOOT
What was it this time, coach?

WYATT
They don't like people who hit first
and ask questions later.

GOOFY FOOT
Not like you never been warned.

HUNTER
Earth's in trouble, bud. Got to act
now, apologize tomorrow.

GOOFY FOOT
"No one's saved till we're all saved."

Said like he's heard it a thousand times before.

HUNTER
Today's stealing from tomorrow. It's
time to pay the bill.

GOOFY FOOT
Can't you slow it up a bit?

HUNTER
Mainstream it like you?

GOOFY FOOT
Following the rules gets results.

HUNTER
Only got three rules. Don't kill
anything. Don't get hurt. Don't get
caught.

GOOFY FOOT
Gonna throw dirt, you gonna lose
ground.

HUNTER
Do nothing and your children don't
have a chance.
 13.
GOOFY FOOT
How would you know?

HUNTER
It's my job.

GOOFY FOOT
Can't get enough, can you? Always
gotta be John Wayne.

Hunter drains his beer and SLAMS it on the table.

HUNTER
You'll never understand, Chance.

Hunter stands.

HUNTER
Refills? Anybody?

Everyone shakes their heads.

HUNTER
Savannah?

AQUAGIRL
I'm good.

HUNTER
Yes ... you are.

Hunter saunters over to the bar.

GOOFY FOOT
He just can't stop putting people's
lives on the line.

AQUAGIRL
His own most times, Goof.

GOOFY FOOT
Yeah, most times.

WYATT
Just likes working without a net.

GOOFY FOOT
Self-destructive yo-yo.

Goofy Foot flips his long hair off his face and gets up.

GOOFY FOOT
He's right, man. I don't get it.

WYATT
He's still your father, Chance.

Goofy Foot scratches the Trident tattoo on his right hand.

 14.
GOOFY FOOT
Ain't it the truth.

Goofy Foot turns to leave. He's stopped by the SOUNDS of a

SCUFFLE. He glances over at the bar as ...

Hunter grabs the right fist of a beefy LONGSHOREMAN just as

he's about to punch the red-eyed, SOBBING WOMAN on the bar
seat next to him.

HUNTER
Don't ever ... hit a woman.

With his left hand, Hunter snatches the man by the balls,
lifts him off the barstool and slams him against the wall.
Then motions with his head for the woman to leave. She
does.

Hunter lets go of the dickwad, backs away, joins the woman,

and escorts her toward the door.

GOOFY FOOT (O.S.)

Heads up!

Hunter ducks and the bottle flies over his back and SMASHES
the woman in the forehead.

Hunter leaps back across the room. The longshoreman

crouches in a wrestler's stance. So does Hunter. The two
men circle.

Hunter shoots in, grabs the man behind the knees, flips him
on his back, gets him in a cradle, and pins him. Faster
than you can say "Hulk Hogan."

Wyatt SLAPS the floor with the flat of his hand. Pinned.

Hunter crouches across from his defeated opponent. Goofy

Foot steps between them.

GOOFY FOOT
Right question, wrong answer. Again.
And again. And again.

Hunter stands to face his son.

GOOFY FOOT
And you haven't changed a thing.
She'll get more of the same, only
worse, 'cause you had to save her.

Goofy Foot walks back toward their table. Hunter follows.

The longshoreman's drunken BUDDIES help him back on his

stool.

Aquagirl leads the bleeding woman to the bathroom.

 15.
Hunter stops at the table and motions for the WAITRESS to
bring another beer. Wyatt joins him.

WYATT
Still got the old wrestler's moves.

HUNTER
Some things you never forget.

GOOFY FOOT
For a fact. Later.

Goofy Foot leaves.

HUNTER
On that up note, I gotta go bleed my
lizard.

Hunter goes to the can.

Aquagirl returns to their table. She pulls a red

handkerchief from her fanny pack and dabs at the blood on
her shirt.

EXT. HALF MOON BAY - HUNTER'S HOME - NIGHT

A Japanese-style home fit for a poet-warrior. Gardens,

ponds and waterfalls. Elegant, simple, orderly. In stark
contrast to the rough-hewn man who lives here.

Hunter hand-feeds the KOI in the large, elaborate fish pond

in the center of his compound.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Got blood stains all over me.
WYATT (V.O.)
He's got 'em on his memory.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
He's pushing way too hard.

Hunter removes a nylon rope from its packaging. He uses it

to anchor a spawning net in the pond.

WYATT (V.O.)
All the craziness in this world comes
from people like Hunter who haven't
sat down and had a little chat with
their guilt.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Chat! Hell, they need to shoot
tequilas.
 16.
INT. HUNTER'S HOME - VARIOUS ROOMS - LATER

It's hard to believe, but he's a man of predictable

routine. A creature of habits, a closer of circles.

We follow Hunter as he performs his daily routine. Tai

Chi, meditation, veggie meal, old Beach Boys surfing TUNES,
and tea.

INT. HUNTER'S HOME - TEA HOUSE - LATER

Hunter sits cross-legged on the tatami mat and sips his

green tea. He stares at the only decorations in the room.

A FAMILY PORTRAIT rests on a low, teak table. Hunter,

Goofy Foot, and a woman we will come to know as RACHEL, his
wife and Chance's mother. At a luau in Hawaii.
Next to the photograph, a three-pronged, Trident knife
hangs in a clear, glass case.

EXT. HUNTER'S HOME - KOI POND - THAT NIGHT

The bad moon rising reflects off the bloated white bellies
of the dead koi floating on the pond.

Hunter tears the nylon rope loose from its mooring, wraps
it around his fists, and rips it in half. He hurls the two
pieces at the moon.

EXT. PACIFIC OCEAN - SANTA CRUZ - PLEASURE POINT - MORNING

Hunter floats on his surfboard. It's a bad day for

surfing. The waves are glass-pane flat. There's no one on
the water but him.

And a dead silver DOLPHIN and its BABY.

HUNTER
Goddamned gill nets.

The face of the mother dolphin changes into ...

The face of Rachel in the FAMILY PORTRAIT.

A black ORCA rises up out of the water next to Hunter.

ORCA
Protect the Earth and its creatures.
By any means.

A harpoon hits the whale and EXPLODES, spewing thousands of

SCORPIONS into the air. Each has a Jade Eye tattooed on
its tail.
 17.
A rainbow appears in the sky above the ocean. And morphs
into a multi-hued WARRIOR. He swats at the poisonous swarm
with his Trident spear.

EXT./INT. SEDONA - THUNDER MOUNTAIN - SWEAT LODGE - SUNRISE

The HOWLING wind dies. Replaced by a low FLUTE.

Hunter opens his eyes. And sits up. He focuses on the

CRACKLING pinon fire.

The flames throw shadows on the face of JESSE BITTERWATER,

Navajo shaman. It's hard to get a fix on what he looks
like because the shapes and shadows thrown by the fire
shift continuously across his dusky face.

His FLUTE SONG rises with the smoke of the fire, animating
it with powerful images of a world filled with hope and
dreams.

Jesse finishes and lays down the flute.

HUNTER
How long was I out, Jesse?

BITTERWATER
Almost two nights.

Hunter stares at the images forming in the woodsmoke.

HUNTER
Birds fell from the sky. Fish floated
in the streams. Deer died in the
forest.

BITTERWATER
The day of reckoning.

HUNTER
Everything was dark. Then a rainbow
appeared. And the whole world fought
together to end the destruction.

BITTER
Our legends foretell of Rainbow
Warriors.

Hunter draws a circle in the dirt. He doesn't close it.

HUNTER
There was a flaming hoop. Cut in
fourths.

He scratches out four quadrants.

BITTERWATER
The four seasons and ages of man.
 18.
EXT. SEDONA - CATHEDRAL BLUFF - DAY

Bitterwater leads Hunter toward the summit.

HUNTER (V.O.)
It held stones and trees, animals and
man.

BITTERWATER (V.O.)
The circle of life.

INT. CATHEDRAL BLUFF - CAVE - LATER

A Navajo ARTIST sifts powdered, colored stone and arranges

it in the fourth quadrant of a circular sand painting.

HUNTER (V.O.)
It wasn't closed.

BITTERWATER (V.O.)
The eternal return. The moment of
death and rebirth.

HUNTER (V.O.)
Each ending is a new beginning.

INT. CATHEDRAL BLUFF - BIRTHING CAVE - TUNNEL - LATER

Hunter squirms on his belly down the long, thin, dark tube.
Alone. He inches toward the tiny light at the end.

BITTERWATER (V.O.)
Only God can close it. Not man.

HUNTER (V.O.)
And a new circle begins.

EXT. CATHEDRAL BLUFF - BIRTHING CAVE - LATER

Hunter squirts out of the cave into the light. He's

covered with slimy, amniotic muck. A slender, curved limb
dangles limply from his belly button. He tears it loose.

Hunter rubs his eyes. When they finally adjust to the

light, he notices something carved in the rock next to the
cave mouth. It's a petroglyph of ...

THE JADE EYE

THUD! THUD! THUD! CLANG!

Hunter turns toward the sound. He walks around a bend.

On a narrow ledge, two COYOTES guzzle mescal, play

horseshoes and LAUGH.
 19.
EXT. NORTH PACIFIC - OFF SEATTLE - PRE-DAWN

One hundred miles out. The ship slices through the slate
flat ocean. Her hull is dark green. A Jolly Roger --
white skull and two crossed monkey wrenches on an evergreen
background -- SNAPS from the mast.

Razor and barbed wire encircle the Neptune, stem to stern.

No one gets on board this ship without giving up a little
blood.

It's QUIET. The kind of muted, eerie stillness that

precedes a killer storm. Or the end of the world.

A flute SERENADES the rising sun. Bitterwater plays the

same song that Kokopeli the trickster played when he fooled
the mighty eagle into giving the Hopi their homeland.

EXT./INT. ABOVE AND BELOW DECKS OF THE NEPTUNE - SAME TIME

The CREW makes last minute preparations for the anticipated

showdown.

BRIDGE

Painted on its side are eight kill flags. Each represents

whaling ships sunk. There are three Russian, two Japanese,
one Icelandic, one Taiwanese, and one South Korean.

Hunter surveys the vast emptiness of the Pacific Ocean.

DECK

Stunt pilot and "Desert Storm" ace, AUSTIN DUROY -- aka

"The Green Baron" -- prepares his ultra-light for flight.
He's a good ole' boy from deep in the heart of Texas. Two
things he learned growing up in the Panhandle. How to
drink and how to fight. He wears a crisp, green uniform
creased sharp as a razor's edge.

JAMES FORDHAM -- MIT graduate and former Jet Propulsion

Laboratory chief engineer -- readies the ram at the ship's
prow. He's an oxymoron. A nerdy Aussie. Yes, he wears a
pocket protector. And a Bush hat.

RACK SLIDER -- Cajun, one-time carny and convicted cat

burglar -- unravels the grappling hooks while wolfing down
mouthfuls of some kind of mystery meat doused in jalapeno
Tabasco sauce.

GODFREY MARLEY -- rasta-man and reggae outlaw -- slips into

a forest-green wet suit and checks his scuba gear.
 20.

WYATT (O.S.)
(into camera mic)
A ship of lunatics ... led by a
fool.

DECK

Wyatt PANS the motley crew with his video camera. He wears
a T-shirt with the old DuPont logo and tag line: "Better
Living Through Chemistry."

Strewn across the deck is a non-lethal arsenal of pre-

industrial, pre-gunpowder weapons. Blow guns, wooden
staves, bolos, sling shots, boomerangs, and spears.
Weapons designed to embarrass and disable, not maim or
kill.

Hunter holds a Trident spear in his right hand. On his T-

shirt, a Rainbow Warrior straddles the Earth.

INT. CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS - SAME TIME

Goofy Foot sits at his Mac laptop. He wears a Surfrider

Foundation T-shirt. He monitors the Internet and all ship-
to-shore communication.

EXT. NEPTUNE - BRIDGE - DAWN

Aquagirl serves Hunter a cup of black coffee.

AQUAGIRL
Just the way you like it, Hunter.
GOOFY FOOT (O.S.)
You ain't his secretary.

AQUAGIRL
My call.

GOOFY FOOT
Wouldn't get too close. Might get
hurt.

HUNTER
She's a big girl. She can take care
of herself.

GOOFY FOOT
I'd still keep a safe distance if I
was you.

HUNTER
You're not, boy.
 21.
Goofy Foot swivels on his father and ...

WYATT (O.S.)
Ship Ho!

Hunter points his spear at ...

Their prey, floating on the horizon.

HUNTER
Prepare to ram!

Everyone scatters to their assigned posts.

Slider straps Wyatt to the bow. Fordham hands him his

video camera.

Duroy slingshots his ultra-light off the starboard-side,

catches some air, circles around to the bow, and takes the
point.

Aquagirl loads a bank of flare guns.

Everyone waits, resolute.

EXT. DECK OF THE HSIEN CHIEH CHUU NO. 37 - DAY

MEN harvest SQUID from the nets.

Other MEN cut dead DOLPHINS from the killer nets.

Miles of more drift-net SCREAMS out into the calm sea.

On the bow of the ship, the painted Jade Eye keeps watch.

EXT. NEPTUNE - DAY

Hunter approaches on the port-side.

HSIEN CHIEH CHUU NO. 37

The men continue slaving at the net.

NEPTUNE
Hunter BLASTS the air horn.

HSIEN CHIEH CHUU NO. 37

A huge SHADOW crosses the deck. The men finally look up.
 22.
NEPTUNE
Aquagirl fires a warning FLARE across the bow.

Hunter flings his Trident spear into the sky. It slices

through the air and ...

HSIEN CHIEH CHUU NO. 37

THUDS into the bridge.

Duroy strafes the deck with green paintballs.

NEPTUNE/HSIEN CHIEH CHUU NO. 37

The ships collide, like two churning, burning locomotives
crashing head-on.

Metal GROANS, decks crumple, engines GRIND.

The two ships become one, then slowly uncouple and slide
apart.

The season is suddenly over for the Hsien Chieh Chuu No.
37.
AQUAGIRL (O.S.)
Man overboard!

OCEAN

Bitterwater disappears in a rolling trough of water.

HUNTER
(SHOUTS from the
bridge)
He can't swim!

NEPTUNE
Wyatt flings a life preserver over the side.

Marley and Aquagirl dive into the rough sea.

Hunter reverses the engines. The Neptune GROWLS.

OCEAN

Marley stuffs Bitterwater through the center of the life

preserver. Aquagirl grabs it and tows him toward the ship.

Slider lowers a body harness over the side. Aquagirl

straps Bitterwater into the harness. Slider reels him back
 23.
on deck.

NEPTUNE
Goofy Foot helps Bitterwater out of the harness. Fordham
helps Aquagirl and Marley back on board.

BITTERWATER
Thank you James ... Aquagirl ...
Godfrey.

GOOFY FOOT
I don't know nobody who can't swim.

BITTERWATER
Not much water in the desert.

MARLEY
Wot you be doin' in de mid'l of de
ocean den, mon?

BITTERWATER
Looking for the pony in the pile of
manure?

SLIDER
Lache pas la patate. Never let go of
that potato, gator.

MARLEY
Well, den. If'n I kin learns to be
like de fish, you kin learns to be
like de fish.

EXT. NEPTUNE - DAY

Hunter cranks the diesels back up and takes a run at a
second ship.

Aquagirl fires more FLARES over the head of the CREW.

Duroy rakes the ship with green fire.

EXT. DRIFT NET SHIP - SAME TIME

The CREW returns fire. They shoot flares at Duroy's ultra-

light and hurl the tear gas canisters back at the Neptune.

EXT. NEPTUNE - SAME TIME

Hunter turns on a third ship. But the Neptune is too old

and slow. The fugitive ships scurry home across the
Pacific.
 24.
INT. KORYO CORPORATION BOARDROOM - NIGHT

In the teak-paneled, silk-shrouded corporate boardroom,

it's silent as death with a head cold.

A monstrous HOLOGRAM of a Jade Eye stares unblinking above

the shadowy, sinister faces of the BOARD MEMBERS.

A titanic video wall fills an entire side of the room. We

see images of the whale slaughter in the Pacific,
deforestation in the Amazon, fur factories in Siberia,
mineral mining in Iceland, clearcutting in the Nez Perce,
nuclear waste dumping in the North Atlantic, and the
ramming of the Hsien Chieh Chuu No. 37.

The DIRECTOR listens impatiently to NISHIMURA, his crew-

cut, bespectacled Japanese aide.

NISHIMURA
(in Korean)
He is everywhere. On water, on land,
in the air.

VIDEO WALL

as Hunter's image fills the entire screen.

NISHIMURA
(continuing in
Korean)
The Earth is ours to use. He is in
the way.

Everyone waits.

DIRECTOR
(in Korean)
Stop him. Whatever it takes.

EXT. RUSSIA - MOUNTAIN RANGE - DAY

The train trails rusted tank cars as it inches up the

forested mountain. The yellow sign on the side of each car
warns of the radioactive waste inside.

As the train RUMBLES under a bridge, several MEN swing out

of hiding on ropes. They rapidly repel downward until they
drop onto solid footing a few cars behind the engine.

The boarding party splits. One group races forward while

the other moves back toward the caboose.

INT. TRAIN ENGINE - MOMENTS LATER

The saw-toothed, armed GUARD in a too-tight, military-style

 25.
tunic swivels as ...

Slider fires a tranquilizer dart into the man's neck. He

flops to the floor.

Duroy checks his pulse. Alive, but not kicking.

Slider motions for the rummy-eyed, greasy-fingered ENGINEER

to jump. And he does.

Duroy takes over the throttle.

DUROY
He lied to me, Rack. This isn't
anything like my Lionel. But I like
it. Yes sir, I like it a lot.

SLIDER
Lordy, Lordy Austin. We's got us
catfish on the table and Zydeco in the
air.

Slider TOOTS the steam whistle.

EXT. RUSSIA - MOUNTAIN RANGE - LATER

The train crests the mountain ridge and descends. It pulls

off the main track onto an abandoned spur.

EXT. RAILROAD SPUR - LATER

Camouflaged netting covers the track. Duroy powers down

the engine.

Slider directs the unloading of the toxic cargo into the

waiting trucks.

Hunter rips the flag with the Jade Eye from the caboose.

EXT. NEW MEXICO - HIGH DESERT - NIGHT

It's the largest coal strip mine in the world.

Hunter, Bitterwater and the rest of the posse sit astride

four-wheelers on the bluff above the slag heap.

Hunter gazes through his night vision binoculars.

BITTERWATER
(in Navajo)
Land of room enough and time.
(in English)
It is sacred land.
 26.
WYATT
They got the rights to all of it. For
a buck.

SLIDER
Gift from Uncle Sugar.

MARLEY
Godfrey would be likin' a rich uncle
like dat.

WYATT
He's talking about the government,
Godfrey. You know, Uncle Sam.

GODFREY
He got a wife, den?

Bitterwater walks to the edge of the bluff. He leans down

and grabs a handful of dirt.

BITTERWATER
Who we are is the land. Most
Americans see it as empty space they
must fill. We see a universe of
living relatives. A sacred circle of
life that man is only part of.

Marley picks up a rock.

MARLEY
(to Bitterwater)
Uncle?

Bitterwater ignores the grinning rasta man.

BITTERWATER
The view is so different. It is no
surprise so much blood has been
spilled here between our peoples.

HUNTER
There will be more. Until they get
it.

BITTERWATER
My ears ring with the whispers of my
ancestors.

Marley grabs a dry bush and RUSTLES it.

EXT. COAL MINE SITE - LATER

Absolute CHAOS and pandemonium. MINERS in various states

of undress chase after several pieces of heavy equipment
lumbering toward the excavation pit.
 27.
HUNTER (V.O.)
What do they say?

BITTERWATER (V.O.)
Protect it.

Hunter dives out of the cab of an earth mover and rolls

clear as it rumbles over the edge and drops into the abyss.

Around the perimeter of the pit, other trucks and dozers

and graders plummet into dark nothingness.

Slider and Marley zip through the confused MOB on their

ATVs. They stop along the way, pull each of the other
posse members aboard, and BLAST off toward the next.

BACK TO THE BLUFF

Two MEN kneel where Hunter and his crew stood moments
before. One sights in with an infrared video camera. The
other WHISPERS into the collar microphone of a walkie-
talkie.

EXT. PACIFIC OCEAN - OFF DAVENPORT - DAY

A wind-whipped, turbulent stretch of angry, open ocean.

Daredevils from all over the world come here to test their
windsurfing skills.

A rainbow of sails scuds across the whitecaps as

WINDSURFERS grab air and dive back to earth.

BEACH

Goofy Foot, Aquagirl and Marley help amateurs Wyatt, Duroy,

Fordham, and Slider rig their sailboards.

Hunter helps Bitterwater squeeze into a wet suit.

BITTERWATER
Good thing Indians do not have any
body hair.

HUNTER
Whatever you had'll grow back.

BITTERWATER
This redskin is going to be.

Marley picks up a starfish.

MARLEY
Sistah?

Bitterwater kicks sand at Marley.

 28.
MARLEY
De problem wit you, Jesse, is you gots
to know de diff'rnce 'tween right and
wrong. Me, I gots to know de
diff'rnce 'tween wrong and fun.

OCEAN

They all paddle out. Goofy Foot stands, pulls up the sail,
catches the wind, and rockets away. The rest follow suit.

All but Bitterwater, who can't keep his balance and pull
the sail up at the same time. He falls in, gets back on,
stands up, yanks at the sail, and falls in. Finally, he
gets his balance, sets the sail in place ... only to have
the wind rip the board and sail out from under him.

Hunter zips up in time to haul him out of the water.

BITTERWATER
We were born to ride horses, not
waves.

HUNTER
You're nothing if not persistent.

BITTERWATER
The Great One did not bring me this
far just to leave me.

HUNTER
Flick it in?

BITTERWATER
I will walk the water as I once walked
the sand.

Aquagirl cruises up, towing Bitterwater's board as ...

Goofy Foot and Marley jet by -- a dead heat on the cold

ocean -- racing for a buoy in the distance.

Marley gets the inside track. Goofy Foot swings wide as

they make the turn and shoot back toward shore. They're
nose-to-nose as they approach the breakwater.

Goofy Foot hits a swell and hits the silk. He finally

plummets back to earth just as Marley reaches the beach.

BEACH

Goofy Foot washes ashore moments later. Marley helps him

out of the choppy surf.

GOOFY FOOT
Smoked me, ziggy.
 29.
MARLEY
I 'tink de Lord Mudder our God gabe me
da choice swave on de cut.

GOOFY FOOT
Rematch?

MARLEY
Sixer a Red Stripe?

GOOFY FOOT
Deal.

AQUAGIRL
I'll take some of that.

HUNTER
Make it a four-way.

MARLEY
Four bein' a crowd, me tinks.

Marley bows to Hunter.

OCEAN

Hunter, Aquagirl and Goofy Foot zigzag back and forth until
all three are lined up. Wyatt BLASTS an air horn and
they're off.

Hunter takes the early lead. He's strong and aggressive,

but ragged in technique.

Aquagirl's calf muscles harden as she leans into it. She

tilts her sail, catches a gust and blasts by Hunter.

As they approach the buoy, Goofy Foot hits a wave and

leapfrogs his father on the inside turn.

Aquagirl loses her grip for a second, which allows father

and son to pull close in behind her.

All three shoot for the beach.

Hunter's strength keeps his sail full and his board

straight.

Goofy Foot showboats a little as ...

Hunter pulls even with Aquagirl and ...

His grip bar SNAPS in half.

Hunter nose-dives into the brine and ...

Aquagirl pulls away, just beating Goofy Foot to the beach

as ...
 30.
VOICES (O.S.)
Shark!

A FIN slices through the surf.

LIFEGUARD (O.S.)
(SHOUTS through
megaphone)
Everyone! Out of the water! Now!

Hunter surfaces and looks for his board.

BEACH

A female LIFEGUARD fires up a Zodiac. A male LIFEGUARD

jumps in and they race toward Hunter.

OCEAN

The shark does a hard ninety degree turn and bears down on
the treading Hunter.

Hunter spots his board and swims toward it.

The male lifeguard stands up in the prow.

Hunter climbs onto his board and ...

Sees the fin.

He yanks the sail out of its housing, flattens out on the

board, and starts paddling toward shore.

The shark fin cuts through the waves.

The Zodiac circles around behind Hunter and the male

lifeguard tosses him a tow rope.

Hunter grabs the line, stands and balances on his board.

The female lifeguard points the Zodiac toward the shore and
guns it. The slack line yanks tight and Hunter's toes dig
in.

The Zodiac accelerates, towing Hunter in its wake.

The shark closes.

The Zodiac hits a nasty swell. The line goes loose, snaps
tight and jerks Hunter off his board.

Hunter belly flops hard against the waves once, somersaults

and bounces back up onto his feet. He skips barefoot
across the water.

The shark CHOMPS Hunter's board in two and keeps going.

 31.
The Zodiac slams into the beach, catapulting both
lifeguards onto the sand.

The rope yanks Hunter off his feet. He dives into the last
wave and body surfs to the beach. He peels off at the last
moment and barrel rolls onto the beach as ...

The fin disappears and ...

The two chunks of Hunter's board wash ashore.

INT. SANTA CRUZ - HARBOR - WAREHOUSE OFFICE - DAY

The office sits above the O'Neill surf shop at the harbor.
It isn't much, but it could be worse. Out the bay window,
there's beach volleyball by day and the stars and ocean by
night.

Stored on shelves and stacked along the walls are Wyatt's

video gear, file boxes, several Zodiacs, and a collection
of surfboards.

On the radio, KPIG plays its unusual mix of alternative

country, Celtic, folk, rock, and novelty TUNES.

The whole team gathers around the laptop as the Jade Eye
fills the display.

GOOFY FOOT
A real rat's nest. Holding companies.
Dummy corporations. Finally cut
through the crap.

COMPUTER SCREEN

as the company name and profile come up.

GOOFY FOOT
Koryo Corporation. South Korean
cartel based in Seoul.

WYATT
Damned octopus.

GOOFY FOOT
Into all kinds of nasty business.

SLIDER
Ya, ya. I bet squid cooks up real
sweet in gumbo.

Goofy Foot pages through the data base of text, SOUND, and
image. His T-shirt has a silk-screened rendition of an
underwater scene of Lahaina painted by Robert Lyn Nelson.
 32.
GOOFY FOOT
Factory farms, medical waste, uranium
mines, nuclear waste, clearcutting.

WYATT
Good for them. Bad for Mother.

HUNTER
Kill them. Softly.

SLIDER
Say what, jambeaux?

GOOFY FOOT
Soft war.

DUROY
Soft what ... sir?

GOOFY FOOT
The world lives on chips and salsa.

Confused looks all around.

GOOFY FOOT
Computer hardware and software.

FORDHAM
There's not much that isn't controlled
by computers anymore. Every
government and corporation has an
exposed underbelly.

MARLEY
Like 'dis.

Marley pulls up his shirt and his belly button dances a

nasty little number. Aquagirl SLAPS his butt.

GOOFY FOOT
Like this.

He holds up a CD-ROM.

FORDHAM
Everything important runs on a
software system of some kind.

HUNTER
Softwar neutralizes those systems. I
want Chance to sabotage the software
that controls everything they need to
survive.

WYATT
21st Century warfare.
 33.
AQUAGIRL
Scuttle 'em, Nemo.

Everyone leaves.

Goofy Foot stares at the Jade Eye on the monitor.

GOOFY FOOT
Download this, rasterbator!

He punches some keys and hits "Enter."

EXT. HARBOR BEACH - SAME TIME

Near a collection of beached catamarans, two MEN in

sunglasses and crewcuts watch Hunter et al as they exit the
warehouse office and head for the parking lot.

INT. LOS ANGELES - KOREAN BAR - NIGHT

The door BURSTS open. A MAN strides in like Robert Mitchum

entering a Tombstone saloon on Saturday night. He's
shadowed by SKINHEAD, a bald-headed, eyebrow-less BODYGUARD
decked out in an expensive, black Italian suit.

The man crosses to a table occupied by a pock-marked, one-

eyed Korean MAN flanked by two steroidal BODYGUARDS.

MARLOWE
Marlowe.

The Korean extends his hand. Marlowe leaves it there and

sits.

A nervous, saliva-flecked WAITER quickly brings a bottle of

scotch, a glass and a bucket of ice.

CALEB MARLOWE is an angry man with a heart full of hate. A

real cold jaw.

KOREAN MAN
Are you interested?

The B-GIRLS at the next table WHISPER and GIGGLE. Marlowe

spins and knocks one out of her chair with a savage
backhand.

MARLOWE
Respect.

The prostitutes scamper away. He turns back.

MARLOWE
I am.
 34.
KOREAN MAN
Do you know this man ... Hunter
Reed?

A dark look of pain and anger washes over Marlowe's face

before he controls it.

MARLOWE
I do.

EXT. KOREAN BAR - DIRT ALLEY - LATER

Marlowe pulls a Trident knife from a shoulder sheath behind

his neck. He throws it at the bare earth.

KOREAN MAN (V.O.)

Can you help us?

Blood oozes from the wound. Suddenly, the earth bucks and
rolls. Car alarms SHRIEK. The wind MOANS. Dogs HOWL.

MARLOWE (V.O.)
I can.

Marlowe SQUEALS away in a gas-guzzling, ozone-killing

Barracuda.

EXT. BERKELEY - PEOPLE'S PARK - DAY

It's Earth Day. And her children celebrate Mother.

There are informational booths, food and music. And drums.

Lots of drums. And HIPPIES, old and new. Tie-dyed,
dreadlocked, spaced out, blissed out, and just groovin'.

Hunter does a wild dance with Aquagirl. His T-shirt has

the ecology "e" symbol.

At a distance, two MEN lounge. They seem at odds with

their surroundings. The costumes are right, but the hair's
all wrong. And the government-issue shades are a dead
giveaway.

PASSERSBY give them a wide berth. The men could care less.
They're focused on one thing and one thing only. Hunter
and Aquagirl.

GRASSY KNOLL

Above the festival, a MAN watches the watchers.

EXT. SANTA CRUZ - BOARDWALK - NIGHT

It's jammed for "Back to the Fifties" night.

 35.
EMPLOYEES, VENDORS and TOURISTS are dressed in poodle
skirts and pony tails; white T-shirts, tight Levi's and
ducktails.

STAGE

An oldie-but-goodie, one-hit wonder ROCK BAND grinds

through a set that hearkens back to the days when Ike was
President and the world was safe for democracy.

INT. ARCADE - LAZER TAG ARENA - SAME TIME

Hunter's pack forms one team. A bunch of SKATE RATS forms

the other. The two teams stalk each other through the eye-
numbing black light and smoke.

PHIP-PHIP-SKREE! And another one bites the dust. SKREE!

And another one down. SKREE! And another one down.

Minutes later, our kids emerge ... victorious.

BOARDWALK

The crew cruises.

DUROY
Come on, you big 'Roo. Chile dog and
beer at this end, chili dog and beer
at that end.

FORDHAM
Gives me gas.

DUROY
You're a real daredevil, James. Bet
you like driving around with no spare.

FORDHAM
I don't have a license.

BUMPER CARS - LATER

Bitterwater and Marley, Duroy and Fordham, Wyatt and Goofy

Foot engage in a little tag-team destruction derby.

Hunter and Aquagirl watch from the sidelines.

AERIAL TRAMWAY - LATER

A SET of DARK SUITS and SUNGLASSES try to act like they

belong there as they ride along in one of the airborne
buckets. They look about as inconspicuous as a tarantula
on a wedding cake.
 36.
BOARDWALK - LATER

Bitterwater and Marley walk ahead of the rest.

BITTERWATER
American Indian.

MARLEY
West Indian.

BITTERWATER
Firewater.

MARLEY
Rum.

BITTERWATER
Shaman.

MARLEY
Gri-Gri-Man.

BITTERWATER
Red skin.

MARLEY
Black skin.

BITTERWATER
Loco weed.

MARLEY
Ganja weed.

BITTERWATER
Genocide.

MARLEY
Genocide.

BITTERWATER
Yellow legs.

MARLEY
Redcoats.

BITTERWATER
Slavery.

MARLEY
Slavery.

BITTERWATER
My ancestors met the Mayflower.

MARLEY
My people met de Columbus mon hisself.
And ... dat'l do it.
 37.
Marley does a little reggae-inspired rain dance around
Bitterwater.

GOOFY FOOT
What's up with that?

HUNTER
Running debate over who's the real
Indian.

WYATT
That's like asking if a tree really
falls in the forest when no one's
there.

AQUAGIRL
I didn't hear anything.

LOG JAM - LATER

Bitterwater sits in the front of the log as it splashes

down the final ramp, soaking him and the rest of the posse
sitting behind him.

BIG DIPPER - LATER

The final ride of the night. And they're all there for the
last thrill.

Another set of DARK SUITS and SUNGLASSES lounge at the

"Catch a Wave" photo booth across the way.

EXT. LOS ANGELES - APARTMENT COMPLEX - NIGHT

High rent, low key. The kind of place where notorious

people with money buy anonymity.

INT. APARTMENT - SAME TIME

Barren except for a set of free weights, a large-screen

television, a fully-loaded laptop PC, and a sofa opened out
into an unmade bed.

On the bedside table is a framed photograph of a young,

blonde BOY. He wears a "Smokey the Bear" ranger hat that's
five times too big and tilted at an angle.

Sitting at a TV tray, Marlowe finishes devouring a "Hungry

Man" beef TV dinner and washes it down with scotch. A
Merle Haggard tune PLAYS in the background.
 38.
EXT. WATSONVILLE - PAJARO VALLEY - AERIAL - MORNING

The black bi-plane with the Jade Eye painted on its wings
swoops over the strawberry fields. It trails a cloud of
misty chemicals.

Most of the spray drifts over and blankets the temporary

migrant camp located in the next field.

At the end of the field, the plane pulls up and banks over
a farm house and a rural road, dripping chemicals on both.
A car SPLASHES through the toxic puddle.

As the bi-plane climbs to get over the power lines and

prepares to descend again, a green plane drops down out of
the sun. An evergreen Jolly Roger is taped to its
fuselage.

Duroy drops quickly and gets close enough to the crop

duster to THUMP its top wing with his wheels.

The duster PILOT almost loses control, before ROARING

beneath the power lines at the end of the field. He banks
away and heads for the company's private runway.

Duroy is faster. He gets wing-to-wing with the bi-plane.

The duster pilot executes a text-book barrel roll to

escape. The "Green Baron" stays with him.

The pilot does a loop to get behind his pursuer. Duroy

anticipates with his own loop. Once again, they're wing-
to-wing.

Duroy hurls a projectile at the crop duster. It SMASHES

against the cockpit in a burst of green paint.

As the other pilot banks away, Duroy gives him a wing

salute and pulls into a steep climb. At the top of his
ascent, he stalls out and begins to plummet to earth.
Moments before impact, he pulls out and skims along the
surface of the field.

Crossing over a river, he spots a tractor and spray rig

dousing a cotton field. He approaches head on, challenging
the tractor to a game of chicken. He buzzes so close, the
DRIVER bails out.

The tractor rolls crazily toward the river's edge and

plunges over the embankment as the Green Baron climbs back
into the sun.

EXT. MONTEREY - FISHERMAN'S WHARF - UNDERWATER - AFTERNOON

Hunter and Aquagirl scuba dive. It's a whole other world.

Neptune's Kingdom. If you dive too deep, there's deadly
rapture there.
 39.
They play hide-the-abalone among the submerged pilings with
a frisky SEA OTTER.

HUNTER (V.O.)
(recites)
"You'd think this rocked-in gorge
would be the last place in the world
to bear the brunt, but it's not so."

EXT. CARMEL - SEVENTEEN MILE DRIVE - SUNSET

Hunter and Aquagirl gaze at the Lone Cypress. On his T-

shirt, Royal Robbins scales El Capitan.

HUNTER
"They told me this is the prow and
plunging cutwater. This rock shore
here, bound to strike first, and the
world will watch us endure prophetical
things and learn its fate from our
ends."

AQUAGIRL
It's breathtaking, Hunter.

HUNTER
Robinson Jeffers wrote it. About the
view from a bluff overlooking the
Pacific near here. But he was talking
about California ...

AQUAGIRL
Destiny.

HUNTER
... and doing the right thing.

EXT. APTOS - NEW BRIGHTON BEACH - AQUAGIRL'S HOUSE - NIGHT

The house sits on the sand at the base of a bluff.

Hunter and Aquagirl relax on the front porch. They watch

the waves roll in.

AQUAGIRL
Are we?

HUNTER
I don't know.

AQUAGIRL
What if we got some help?

HUNTER
From?
 40.
AQUAGIRL
The media. The government. Some
international agencies. We're
spending a lot of time and money just
to make some waves.

HUNTER
Didn't work before.

AQUAGIRL
For you.

HUNTER
Sound like Chance.

AQUAGIRL
Your son's a smart boy.

HUNTER
Enough waves, pounding long enough,
can change the world.

AQUAGIRL
But ... size gets attention.

He gives her a look.

She gives him a smile.

INT. AQUAGIRL'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Hunter and Aquagirl sit in the darkness. Hunter touches

her cheek.

AQUAGIRL
Beware, beware, I eat men like air.

HUNTER
A vegetarian cannibal's like an honest
politician.

AQUAGIRL
Can't help it. Never could say no to
a thick, juicy steak.

They make love. He's tentative, she's not.

Cuddle, fondle, kiss, embrace, cuddle-cuddle, touch, kiss,

fondle-fondle, kiss-kiss, strip, kiss, strip, fondle-
fondle-fondle, kiss, deep breath, sex, orgasm-orgasm,
breathless.

HUNTER
You make love like a landslide.

AQUAGIRL
You like it?
 41.
HUNTER
Once in a while.

AQUAGIRL
More?

HUNTER
Keep on pouring till I shout.

She rolls on top of him for another round.

As they lie on the floor, feet entwined, we see they both

have webbed toes.

INT. STRIP CLUB - NIGHT

Marlowe empties the shot glass and adds it to the row of

dead soldiers lined up in front of him.

INT. MARLOWE'S APARTMENT - LATER

Marlowe reaches behind his neck. He yanks the three-

pronged Trident knife out of its sheath and hurls it at
...

A GREENPEACE POSTER

on the far wall. An anthropomorphic Mother Nature stands

in the box. She waves a rainbow-colored Louisville Slugger
like the mighty Casey. In the stands behind her sits the
Earth.

The caption reads: "Mother Nature Bats Last."

The inscription reads: "Smokey -- No more curves --

Neptune."

BULLSEYE

The knife quivers in the heart of the Earth.

INT. SANTA CRUZ - HARBOR - WAREHOUSE OFFICE - MORNING

Goofy Foot stares at the monitor of his desktop Power PC as

Hunter settles into a chair with his coffee. On his T-
shirt, Hoover Dam has sprung a leak. The lettering reads:
"Water Wins." Goofy Foot's has the Microsoft logo X'ed out
with gray duct tape.

HUNTER
Howzit, brah?

Goofy Foot leans closer to the screen.

 42.
GOOFY FOOT
Every day's a tryout.

HUNTER
Boy, somebody's not getting any.

Goofy Foot swivels on his father.

GOOFY FOOT
She's half your age, dink.

HUNTER
She is. And it's still none of your
business.

GOOFY FOOT
You hurt her and I'll ...

HUNTER
Bail on me. Like everyone else.

GOOFY FOOT
What'd you expect? You was only
thinking about yourself. As usual.

HUNTER
It wasn't my fault.

GOOFY FOOT
Not what I heard.

HUNTER
Better check your compass.

GOOFY FOOT
All's I know is some arrogant granola
bar got macho and got my mother
killed.

HUNTER
Rachel was in the wrong place at the
wrong time.

GOOFY FOOT
And you weren't.

HUNTER
I'd give anything to change places.

GOOFY FOOT
I ain't gonna let that happen again.

HUNTER
It's not your turn.

Hunter leaves.

The computer BEEPS as an e-mail message comes in. Goofy

 43.
Foot calls it up.

A QUICKTIME MOVIE

shows huge concrete pipes SPITTING fresh, clear water into

a brackish ditch known as the San Luis Drain.

HUNTER (V.O.)
Why?

FORDHAM (V.O.)
They can't use it all, so they
"dispose" of it.

WYATT (V.O.)
Why don't they sell it, James? Or
spread it around?

FORDHAM (V.O.)
That would keep their competition in
business.

EXT. SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY NEAR MERCED - SAN LUIS DRAIN - DAY

Hunter, Wyatt and Fordham watch the gushing water pour into
the scummy drainage canal. Hunter's T-shirt: A mirage in
Death Valley and the caption, "Cool, Clear Water." Wyatt's
T-shirt: A petroglyph of KOKOPELI – jester, bringer of
rain and seducer of women.

WYATT
Anything wrong with it?

Fordham fills his cupped hands with the water and drinks.

HUNTER
Who decides who gets it?

FORDHAM
The State of California.

HUNTER
From where?

FORDHAM
Sacramento. The Operations Control
Center of the Central Valley Water
Project.

HUNTER
Who controls it?

FORDHAM
Engineers.
 44.
HUNTER
No ... who controls it?

FORDHAM
The big farmers. And their allies.
Some foreign governments.
Multinational cartels.

EXT. MERCED - SUN MAID WATER TOWER - DAY

Marlowe watches the three men through high-powered

binoculars. He adjusts the volume on the monitoring device
in his ear.

HUNTER (V.O.)
(through earpiece)
Like Koryo?
FORDHAM (V.O.)
(through earpiece)
Like Koryo.

EXT. SANTA MONICA BAY - UNDERWATER - MORNING

WHOOSH! The medical waste EXPLODES from the submerged

discharge tubes like a torpedo shot out of a sub.

Hunter and Aquagirl swim up and place a thick, plexiglass

cover over the discharge pipe. They attach it with hard-
rubber bungee cords. Wyatt videotapes.

Right next to them, a rusted-out barge suddenly shifts and

starts to slide down a slippery marine slope. A metal
cable SNAPS, whips around Aquagirl's leg and drags her
behind it.
Hunter dives after her. Aquagirl claws at the jagged
metal, but can't unwrap it.

The barge BANGS off a rotting wooden ship and rolls to the
lip of a deep water channel. It TEETERS on the brink.

Aquagirl THUDS into the soft sand. Hunter reaches her. He

pulls at the cable. It starts to loosen.

CREAK! The barge rolls over and ...

Hunter pulls Aquagirl's leg loose as ...

The barge disappears into the black sea hole.

EXT. SANTA MONICA BAY - SURFACE - LATER

In an anchored Zodiac, Hunter cleans Aquagirl's leg with

disinfectant.
 45.
AQUAGIRL
Just a bruise. That's all.

WYATT
This time.

HUNTER
She can handle it.

WYATT
Thought nobody was gonna get hurt?

HUNTER
Nobody.

EXT. SANTA MONICA HARBOR - SAME TIME

Marlowe leans against the railing of a tug boat anchored

between two cargo ships. He focuses the high-powered
binoculars.

EXT. PLUMAS NATIONAL FOREST - LAST CHANCE CREEK - DAY

An old-growth Redwood Forest.

PUBLICIST (V.O.)
It's empty space. We want to fill it
with something good. Something
everyone can use.

A sign at the entrance to the sacred forest reads:

"Legends -- A Destination Golf Resort -- Play in the Shadow
of the Gods -- Opening this Summer."

REPORTER (V.O.)
This forest was here before Christ was
born.

PUBLICIST (V.O.)
What isn't growing is dying.

A row of Jade Eyes borders the bottom edge of the sign.

REPORTER (V.O.)
The local Native Americans claim this
land is theirs. It's sacred.

PUBLICIST (V.O.)
Interior Department says otherwise.

A bright-eyed, lanky WORKER fires up his chainsaw. He lays

the churning blade against a tree's bark and cuts.

SCREECH! The blade bites into something metallic. It

shatters and ...
 46.
CLANG! Bangs against the worker's hard-hat. He slams
against the base of the tree, out cold.

REDWOOD TREE - NEARBY

An effigy of SMOKEY THE BEAR hangs from a limb.

Marlowe rips it down.

EXT. UC DAVIS - RESEARCH LAB - NIGHT

HANDS unlock the cages.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Diseased. Every last one of them.

The MONKEYS hesitate, hop out of their cages, through the

open double doors, and into the night.

WYATT (V.O.)
Those animals were part of a research
project on biological warfare.

EXT. UC DAVIS - RESEARCH LAB - NEXT MORNING

A lab-coated SCIENTIST chats with a campus POLICE OFFICER

who leans against his bicycle.

HUNTER (V.O.)
If I'd known, ...

GOOFY FOOT (V.O.)

If you'd asked the question first,
you'd've known.

Marlowe sits in a car across the street.

EXT. SOUTHERN UTAH - MONUMENT VALLEY - DAY

A John Ford, stagecoach CHASE across the floor of the

valley. Past the Mittens and the Three Sisters.

Two covered trucks, stuffed to the roofs with boxes,

CLATTER down an open highway.

The Jade Eye billows on the tailgate flaps of both trucks.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
They can't sell the baby formula in
the states, so they sell it to Third
World countries. At a huge profit.

Hunter chases in a pickup. Wyatt stands in the truck bed

and shoots tape.
 47.
Duroy swoops his ultra-light back-and-forth in front of the
fleeing trucks.

Fordham and Slider gun their ATVs in close beside each

truck. Bitterwater and Marley leap from the back of each
ATV and onto the running boards of each truck.

Bitterwater climbs through the passenger-side window of the

trailing truck just as the watery-eyed DRIVER swan-dives
into the sand.

Marley yanks open the driver-side door of the lead truck.

The speed-freak DRIVER bails out the passenger-side door.
Marley slides in and grabs the wheel. He stomps on the
brakes. Nothing. And jams on them again. The truck still
won't stop.

WYATT (V.O.)
Lab says there was nothing wrong with
that formula.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
There'll be some hungry babies in
Mexico tonight.

KA-WOOF!

The ultra-light starts smoking. Duroy fights to keep it

straight. He lines it up to land on the road. It hits the
rutted surface and pops right back up in the air. It hits
again and the wheels collapse. It SKIDS to a stop as ...

Hunter slides up. Wyatt leaps out the back of the pickup,
races to the ultra-light and drags Duroy away as ...

Bitterwater and Marley bail out of the truck cabs just

before ...

Both trucks SLAM into the ultra-light and ...

BOO-BOOM! Explode into flames.

MARLEY (V.O.)
I be 'tinkin. If'n we didn' hev bad
luck, we be hevin' no luck at all.

SLIDER (V.O.)
Somethin's really pissing off our
karma.
From a desert bluff, Marlowe stares at the black smoke.
And smiles.

HUNTER (V.O.)
Or someone.
 48.
EXT. PACIFIC GROVE - ASILOMAR CONFERENCE CENTER - NIGHT

Everyone's there. Huddled around a CRACKLING bonfire. At

the edge of the beach. Roasting marshmallows.

Bitterwater noodles on his flute. Marley taps out a tune

on his steel drums. It's dueling Indians.

HUNTER
Whatever it takes. Remember?

WYATT
What happened to your three rules?

GOOFY FOOT
You're getting reckless. Again. And
innocent people are getting hurt.
Again.

HUNTER
Not what I intended.

Duroy takes a pull off his Lone Star and passes it over to
Fordham. Fordham shakes his head.

DUROY
Good intentions go bad, sir.

Duroy nudges Fordham in the ribs. Fordham takes a small

sip and COUGHS it up.

HUNTER
They were accidents, Austin.

FORDHAM
(still choking)
Accidents happen ... when you get
careless ... mate.

WYATT
Keep it up and we'll be hanging out
there all by our lonesomes.

GOOFY FOOT
Ask questions first. Hit back only as
a last resort.

HUNTER
Mother Nature ... .

GOOFY FOOT
Listen to me, hack.

HUNTER
I am.

GOOFY FOOT
Then you ain't hearing me.
 49.
HUNTER
Then you "ain't" saying anything.

GOOFY FOOT
That's it. I'm outta here. I'm tired
of being around people who make me
hold my breath.

Goofy Foot tosses his roasting stick into the fire and
walks away.

EXT. ASILOMAR BEACH - LATER

Hunter and Wyatt huddle in the dunes.

In the distance, we hear Bitterwater begin a CHANT. Marley

weaves in and out, singing a melancholy reggae SONG.

HUNTER
The coastal tribes used to call this
shoreline the brink of the world.
They would dance on the shore. Over
and over, they would sing that they
were dancing on the brink of the
world.

Hunter walks to the water's edge. Wyatt follows.

HUNTER
You get a sense of destiny living on
the coast. This close to the edge.

Hunter reaches out and clenches his right fist.

HUNTER
We Californians like it like that.

Wyatt skims a stone across the water sheeting over the sand
at their feet.

HUNTER
Am I pushing too hard?

WYATT
Maybe a little.

HUNTER
I only know full throttle.

WYATT
Couldn't hurt to ease it back a
little.

HUNTER
But I've got them on the run.
 50.
WYATT
They're not the only ones.

HUNTER
He's different. I can't figure any of
them out.

WYATT
Kids are no different now than they
were thousands of years ago. What's
different is we're cutting 'em loose
sooner.

HUNTER
I wasn't there to see him walk. Or
say his first words.

WYATT
We need to listen to them. They need
to talk to us.

HUNTER
It went from "You wanna play catch?"
to "Can I borrow the car keys?"

WYATT
No matter how hard we try, they end up
acting like the people who raised
them.

HUNTER
One day I realized. He'd grown up
just like me.

WYATT
A father teaches his son what it is to
be a man. A son teaches his father
humility.

HUNTER
Funny how we can't get what we want
and only want what we can't get.

WYATT
He'll be back.

HUNTER
I hope so. I can't afford to lose
another one.

WYATT
You're doing the best you can, Hunter.

HUNTER
That's too easy an out, Wyatt.

Hunter begins to dance ... alone ... along the shore.

 51.
INT. LOS ANGELES - GROCERY STORE - NIGHT

Marlowe pushes a grocery cart down the candy aisle. He

grabs boxes of sweets without looking at them and tosses
them into his cart next to the TV dinners, bags of chips
and jars of salsa.

EXT. SACRAMENTO - OPERATIONS CONTROL CENTER - MORNING

State Department of Water Resources EMPLOYEES arrive for

work.

Hunter, Wyatt, Aquagirl, Fordham, Slider, and Duroy

materialize from different directions and melt into the
crowd. They carry briefcases and sack lunches like the
rest of the worker bees.

Marley and Bitterwater drink coffee near the entrance.

As they enter the building, each EMPLOYEE -- including

Hunter's crew -- flashes an ID badge at the humorless
SECURITY GUARD.

INT. OPERATIONS CONTROL CENTER - SAME TIME

A warehouse as big as four football fields. Filled with a

scale model of the entire water system for the Golden
State. Every creek, river, lake, watershed, canal, and
dam.

There's a model of San Francisco Bay, the Sacramento Delta,

the State Water Project, Hetch Hetchy, the Central Valley
Project, the California Aqueduct, the Colorado River
Aqueduct, the All-American Canal, and the entire system of
Wild and Scenic Rivers.

All of it monitored and controlled by a Cray supercomputer.

HUMMING mindlessly and efficiently one floor below ground.

INT. OCC - CONTROL ROOM - MOMENTS LATER

TEAR GAS fills the room. Hunter and Slider easily overcome
the two pimply-faced ENGINEERS.

Wyatt and Duroy guard the door to the control room.

Fordham punches up codes.

FORDHAM
Matilda!

COMPUTER MONITOR

as a map of the complete water system comes up.

 52.
HUNTER
Don't waste any. Just move it around.
Give some to the little guys.

FORDHAM
If I hold back enough, it'll knock out
Koryo's factory farms.
HUNTER
Do it.

NRAH - NRAH - NRAH! The alarm BLARES.

Hunter rushes out the control room door, past Wyatt and
Slider. Fordham follows.

MARLOWE (O.S.)
Been a long time ... "Neptune."

Hunter turns in the direction of the VOICE and looks up.

CATWALK

where Marlowe stands, flanked by Skinhead -- wearing East

German, army-issue camo instead of Armani and packing heavy
artillery.

HUNTER
True story ... "Smokey."

MARLOWE
Welcome ...

HUNTER
... said the spider to the fly.

MARLOWE
Wasn't sure you'd take the bait,
Hunter.

HUNTER
Didn't know it was a trap, Caleb.

MARLOWE
Two can play computer games. Your boy
didn't cover his tracks very well.
Left some huge gaps in his firewall.

Hunter and Wyatt step in front of Fordham and Slider. They

all back toward the exit.

MARLOWE
Got nowhere to run ... or hide.

CLANG!

Aquagirl drops from a catwalk directly above and knocks

 53.
Skinhead to the floor below. His automatic rifle CLATTERS
on the metal catwalk at her feet.

Marlowe drops down into a wrestling stance. He shoots in

for her legs. She dances away as ...

Slider fires a tranquilizer gun. The dart hits Marlowe in

the thigh. It's just strong enough to slow him down, but
not knock him out.

Aquagirl grabs Skinhead's rifle and rams it under Marlowe's

chin. The lightning authority of her moves is surprising.
She pushes Marlowe down the stairs and toward the rear
exit.

Hunter and the others follow.

The rest of Marlowe's MEN swarm toward them. They stop as

Aquagirl shoves the gun deeper into Marlowe's neck.

MARLOWE
Save it.

INT. OCC - EXIT TUNNEL - MOMENTS LATER

Aquagirl pushes Marlowe down the tunnel.

Hunter, Wyatt, Slider, and Fordham use boomerangs, bolos,

blow guns, and wooden staves to easily disable several
members of the STATE POLICE. Family men and lifers not
accustomed to this kind of excitement.

EXT. OCC - EXIT DOOR - MOMENTS LATER

Aquagirl hustles Marlowe out the exit toward the waiting

rental truck. The rest follow.

Bitterwater fires up the truck.

Marley slides up the rear door.

INT. RENTAL TRUCK - MOMENTS LATER

Duroy ties Marlowe's hands behind him with duct tape.

Slider notices the tattooed Trident on Marlowe's right
hand. Wyatt and Hunter exchange a look.

HUNTER
Who you working for, Caleb?

MARLOWE
Freelance.

HUNTER
Never been before.
 54.
MARLOWE
Times change.

HUNTER
You can bet on that.
(to Fordham)
Check his pockets.

Fordham rummages through Marlowe's pockets. He finds

nothing but a business card. He hands it to Hunter who
holds it up to the interior light.

THE CARD

The Jade Eye stares back at Hunter.

EXT. SACRAMENTO - RICE FIELD - NIGHT

Marlowe stands strapped to a concrete drain pipe in the

middle of a salt-caked field. Draped over his head is a
cloth bag.

HUNTER (V.O.)
Let's cool our jets a while.

WYATT (V.O.)
Sure thing.

HUNTER (V.O.)
What's that?

The spotlight of the SHERIFF's cruiser sweeps over Marlowe.

SLIDER (V.O.)
Bet that gator never met Will Rogers.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
You two have a past?

HUNTER (V.O.)
Why?

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
He called you "Neptune."

FORDHAM (V.O.)
You called him "Smokey."

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Like you were old friends, or
something.

The light stops on the evergreen Earth First! Jolly Roger

crudely painted on the bag.
 55.
HUNTER (V.O.)
Long story on a short pier.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Whenever you're ready.

EXT. ANO NUEVO STATE BEACH - DAY

Elephant SEALS dance on the beach. A MALE mambos with a

FEMALE. Several PUPS do a line dance. SEA GULLS wheel
above the aquatic circus.

Wyatt and Goofy Foot enjoy the show. Wyatt wears a T-shirt
featuring Jacques Cousteau and Calypso. Goofy Foot's has
Duke Kahanamoku standing next to his long board on the
beach at Waikiki.

GOOFY FOOT
Always the brown end of the board.
That's all's I ever get.

WYATT
It'll come around.

GOOFY FOOT
He really pisses me off sometimes.

WYATT
That's what fathers and sons do.

GOOFY FOOT
What's he want?

WYATT
Your love.

GOOFY FOOT
He knows he's got that.

WYATT
Does he?

GOOFY FOOT
I can't do that stuff, Wyatt.

WYATT
It's got to be there. And got to be
unconditional.

GOOFY FOOT
Only moms can do that.

Goofy Foot squats down and picks up a sea shell.

GOOFY FOOT
I miss her.
 56.
WYATT
Him, too.

GOOFY FOOT
Couldn't tell.

WYATT
Where do you think all that anger
comes from?

GOOFY FOOT
By me.

WYATT
He blames himself.

GOOFY FOOT
He should.

WYATT
Sure, why not? Everyone else did.
Especially her family.

GOOFY FOOT
Never knew there was any.

WYATT
There was.

GOOFY FOOT
How come they never wanted to know me?

WYATT
It was ... awkward.

GOOFY FOOT
Was it his fault?

WYATT
I wasn't there, but I've given him the
benefit of the doubt. You should,
too.

GOOFY FOOT
Some day ... maybe.

WYATT
Sooner's better than later.

GOOFY FOOT
We'll see, okay.

WYATT
Tell me, Goof. What do you want?

GOOFY FOOT
His approval.
 57.
EXT. PINE CREST - LAKE - DAY

Hunter and Aquagirl hike around the pristine lake nestled

in the Sierra Foothills above Sonora.

EXT. STANISLAUS RIVER NEAR STRAWBERRY - DAY

Hunter balances on a log above the rushing water. He wears

a T-shirt showing activist Mark Dubois chained to a rock.
It reads: "Save the Wild and Scenic Rivers."

Aquagirl approaches the log bridge from the bank. She

leans against her hiking stick.

Hunter picks up a stout pine tree branch from the ground

and twirls it confidently. He strides along the log toward
her.

HUNTER
(in his best Errol
Flynn voice)
Give way, lusty lady.

Aquagirl hops up on the log.

AQUAGIRL
(in her best Alan
Hale voice)
Only to a better man than meself.

HUNTER
He stands before you.

She LAUGHS heartily.

AQUAGIRL
Let's see what you're made of.

HUNTER
It's your skull, not mine.

Hunter playfully lunges at her. Aquagirl swats his stick

away, hard.

HUNTER
Looks like you've come to the right
man.

AQUAGIRL
Where is he?

HUNTER
Here.

He parries and thrusts. She knocks his stick away, again.

It's a real contest now.
 58.
The forest RINGS with the sound of staff on staff.

AQUAGIRL
My puny friend, I should ask payment
for what I am teaching you here today.

Hunter leaps forward, swinging his stick like a broadax.

And smotes her shoulder.

HUNTER
There's something on account.

Aquagirl sticks him in the ribs.

AQUAGIRL
There's your change.

She thumps him below the knee and smashes his toe. Hunter
grabs his toe, loses his balance and SPLASHES into the
river. Aquagirl hauls his sorry butt out of the freezing
water.

AQUAGIRL
Hunter ... iron never wins.

INT. PINE CREST - RUSTIC CABIN - NIGHT

Hunter stokes a ROARING fire. He leans back and scratches

the face of John Muir on the front of his T-shirt.

Aquagirl hands him a glass of brandy.

HUNTER
I love it up here.

AQUAGIRL
It's peaceful.

HUNTER
No people.

AQUAGIRL
As close to a virgin Mother Earth as
we'll ever get.

HUNTER
That's what it's all about.

AQUAGIRL
Is it?

HUNTER
The more we try to pervert nature, the
more we're at her mercy.

He sips his brandy.

 59.
HUNTER
I was swimming at a nude beach near
Hilo on Hawaii once. Some days, some
dolphins swam with us. A male and
couple of females. I was floating
face-down, just drifting. I must have
been thinking about something nasty
because I had a mondo erection.

Aquagirl moves closer.

HUNTER
Suddenly, I felt something sucking on
my penis.

He EXHALES.

HUNTER
It was one of the females.

Aquagirl straddles him.

AQUAGIRL
Mermaids dive deeper.

INT. CABIN - LATER

Hunter stares into the coals, lost ...

AQUAGIRL
Where are you now?

HUNTER
Arcata, California.

FLASHBACK - SERIES OF SHOTS

EXT. ARCATA - DAY

Hunter, a very pregnant Rachel, and a crowd of crunchy

granola ACTIVISTS march in the small Northern California
town.

Hunter, Rachel and the others sing SONGS of protest.

Hunter and Rachel unfurl a banner that reads: "Save the

Old-Growth Forests."

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Doing what?

HUNTER (V.O.)
Marching. Blockading logging roads.
Singing. Making citizen arrests on
corporate suits.
 60.
Hunter and Rachel link arms with other lighter-than-air
PROTESTERS encircling a mammoth redwood tree.

HUNTER (V.O.)
Anything to save the trees.

Hunter and Rachel stand in front of their VW van. It

blocks a logging road. Directly in front of them, a
brutish logging truck IDLES.

HUNTER (V.O.)
Then they moved the goal posts.

EXT. WILLOW CREEK - EVENING

It's the end of a long day. A handful of scruffy

PROTESTERS drag their signs, banners and asses back to
their cheap hotel.

SHOTS ring out.

The protesters duck and scatter for cover.

EXT. ALTURAS - DAY

Hunter and a young, peach-fuzzed MAN lie face down in the

dust. They're bound, gagged and naked as the day they were
born.

A young TOUGH slams his logging boot hard against Hunter's

kidney.

EXT. LIKELY - AFTERNOON

A MOB of locals throw rocks and bricks at a fleeing group

of tie-dyed ACTIVISTS.

EXT. FORTUNA - DAY

Hunter, Rachel and an elder GENTLEMAN slump against the

redwood trees they're tied to.

A LOGGER grabs Hunter by the hair. We hear the CLICK and

WHIR of hair clippers. The logger shaves Hunter's head,
Rachel's and the old man's.

HUNTER (V.O.)
Loggers call it "clearcut." Pigs
looked the other way. Said we had
head lice.
 61.
EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - OUTSIDE RIO DELL - DAY

Hunter's VW van reaches the top of the hill and starts

down. The morning is cool, so the windows are a little
fogged up.

CLANG! A logging truck slams into the van's rear bumper.

The van swerves, then lurches back under control.

CLANG! The truck hammers it again.

The van hurtles off the road and SMASHES into a tree.

The truck ROARS away.

The van door swings open and ...

Rachel stumbles out. Blood gushes from her forehead. A

patch of dark red spreads across her dress just below her
round belly. She removes the bandanna covering her shaved
head and starts mopping wildly at the blood. She stumbles
to her knees and faints.

EXT. ARCATA - HOSPITAL - NIGHT

Hunter BURSTS through the doors of the emergency room.

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - LATER

An intense, young FEMALE INTERN restrains Hunter as a

tight-mouthed NURSE covers Rachel's lifeless face.

Off-screen, we hear a baby's WAIL.

Hunter pulls the divider screen back to reveal a very small

BABY BOY squirming in an incubator.

EXT. SANTA CRUZ - HOUSE - DAY

An elderly MAN and WOMAN watch Hunter's damaged VW van limp

away. They look at each other, then at the baby cradled in
her arms.

HUNTER (V.O.)
I gave him a name. And gave him to my
parents.

EXT. SANTA CRUZ - CEMETERY - DAY

A solitary Hunter squats before the simple headstone.

 62.

HUNTER (V.O.)
It took a long time to make it up to
him. And them. All of them.

BACK TO CABIN - PRESENT

Hunter stares into the fire.

AQUAGIRL
He forgive you?

HUNTER
Never. And didn't forget.

AQUAGIRL
What about Marlowe?

HUNTER
He never made it.

AQUAGIRL
Where?

HUNTER
Her funeral.

AQUAGIRL
You lost me. You said you were going
to tell me about you and him.

HUNTER
Yes ... I forgot ... I did.

AQUAGIRL
We're on a longer pier now.

FLASHBACK - SERIES OF SHOTS

EXT. NATIONAL FOREST - DAY

A younger Hunter and Marlowe wear the uniform of Special

Agents of the United States Forest Service.

HUNTER (V.O.)
We were Special Agents in the Forest
Service. Partners. It was our job to
bust dopers, poachers and eco-geeks.

Marlowe adjusts his ranger's hat, tilting it down over his

right eye. A brand new Trident tattoo adorns the back of
his right hand.

Hunter squints through binoculars.

 63.
HUNTER (V.O.)
I nicknamed him "Smokey the Bear."
Because of that hat. He called me
"Neptune." Could never figure out why
someone who loved water and the ocean
as much as me worked for the Interior
Department.

MARLOWE
(SINGS to himself)
"All day I face,
The barren waste,
Without the taste of water.
Cool, clear water."

A rail-thin HIPPIE CHICK climbs a tree and roosts in a

platform at its peak.

HUNTER
This sucks.

MARLOWE
It's our job.

HUNTER
We wouldn't be here and she wouldn't
be up that tree if the big dogs would
stop selling logging rights to the
highest bidder.

Marlowe pulls a Trident knife from its quiver behind his

neck and hurls it, impaling a redwood. He walks over,
yanks it out and sheathes it. Then pisses on the tree.

MARLOWE
They'll grow back.

HUNTER
When we're long gone.

MARLOWE
They know what they're doing, Neptune.

HUNTER
Do you?

MARLOWE
Deep watering this tree.

Marlowe zips it up. He walks behind Hunter, pulls on some

gloves, grabs a chainsaw, walks over to the tree the girl's
sitting in, and starts sawing.

HUNTER (V.O.)
That's around the time we both got
black-out drunk and got tattooed.
 64.
AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Water brothers.

HUNTER (V.O.)
The more stupid the government got,
the more Caleb defended them. He just
didn't get it. He never saw the
wrecking ball waiting just outside the
window.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Maybe you just saw things differently.

HUNTER (V.O.)
True enough. He's always been a
straight line. Me, I'm a circle.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
That why you two have a problem?

HUNTER (V.O.)
And the fact he took the money. To
cover up the big dogs' shit.

BACK TO CABIN - PRESENT

Aquagirl rakes the coals.

AQUAGIRL
You know he'll be everywhere we are
from now on.

HUNTER
We'll get there first.

AQUAGIRL
He wants to stop us.

HUNTER
He wants me.

A BIRD flies through an open window and suddenly finds

itself trapped. It flails and BANGS against the rafters
then SLAMS against a closed picture window and flutters to
the floor. Its neck broken.

EXT. GRAVEYARD - NIGHT

Marlowe plants a redwood seedling at the base of a simple

headstone.

EXT. UPSTATE NEW YORK - NIGHT

It's after midnight on a moonless night in a rural forest

near Canaan.
 65.
Two armed, hooded and night-goggled MEN stand guard.

Three other MEN, wearing cleanroom "bunny suits," shovel

dirt into a large earthen trench stuffed with unmarked
barrels filled with toxic ooze. The Jade Eye painted on
the barrels glows in the dark.

Hunter, Wyatt and Aquagirl watch through night vision

binoculars.

Hunter signals to Marley, Bitterwater, Slider, Duroy, and

Fordham. They circle the dumpers.

Hunter fires a flare into the dark night sky. Followed

immediately by a BARRAGE of flash grenades, more flares and
tear gas canisters.

The guards FIRE wildly into the night.

One of the guards swats at something near his neck. He

yanks it loose. It's a tranquilizer dart. He does a
double-take. And collapses.

One by one, the rest of the dumpers take darts to the body
and fall unconscious to the ground.

EXT. CANAAN FOREST - MOMENTS LATER

Hunter stares down at Fordham. Blood drips from his

shoulder.

HUNTER
Get a doc.

Hunter pushes past Duroy.

INT. VAN - SAME TIME

The interior is tricked out with sophisticated monitoring

equipment. On the computer CRT, we see a fuzzy CLOSE-UP of
Hunter alone in the forest.

EXT. CAPITOLA - BAR - DAY

In one of many outside bars that line the beach of this

tiny seaside resort town, the crew sips drinks and eats
lunch.

Marley holds up a piece of parsley. Bitterwater just

shakes his head.

Slider soaks his French fries in Tabasco.

 66.

WYATT
Have some fries with your Tabasco,
Rack Man.

Slider squirts a little more liquid hell for good measure.

AQUAGIRL
Must have guts made of steel.

WYATT
Just watching makes me reach for the
Maalox.

Hunter doesn't join in the light-hearted baiting. Nor does

Duroy.

SLIDER
Awful quiet 'round here, kids.

MARLEY
I can hear dem snails breedin'.

AQUAGIRL
Something wrong?

HUNTER
Nothing.

WYATT
Smells like guilt.

HUNTER
One of us got hurt. That's not
acceptable.

DUROY
Those "good intentions" can get you
killed ... sir.

WYATT
Having some doubts about the answer?

HUNTER
Still the same question. Just not
sure how hard I can push Koryo.
WYATT
Or Marlowe?

HUNTER
Or Marlowe.

AQUAGIRL
I am.

Hunter stares hard at her.

 67.
HUNTER
You would be.

The edge in his voice gets everyone's attention.

Hunter tosses a flat chunk of heavy black leather onto the

table. It THUNKS.

Aquagirl frantically pats her fanny pack and realizes ...

HUNTER
It's yours.

Wyatt lifts the leather cover to reveal ...

The shield of a Special Agent of the FBI.

SLIDER
Told you, roux. She no mermaid.
She EXHALES.

BITTERWATER
And I am no John Wayne.

WYATT
And I don't dress up in women's
underwear.

Hunter flashes Wyatt a small smile in spite of himself.

WYATT
'Cept once. As I recall, you looked
pretty nasty in black lace.

Hunter kills the smile and turns back to Aquagirl.

AQUAGIRL
I was going to tell you.

HUNTER
When?

AQUAGIRL
When we got around to that long pier.

HUNTER
We stepped off it.

WYATT
You never frisked her?

HUNTER
Never wore it in bed.

MARLEY
We be screwed and tattooed.
 68.
DUROY
A spy in the house of love.

AQUAGIRL
I'm on your side.

SLIDER
Prove it, cher.

She stares straight into Hunter's eyes.

AQUAGIRL
If we wanted you busted, it would've
happened by now.

WYATT
Maybe "we" were just giving us more
rope.

AQUAGIRL
Had enough to hang you long ago.

Hunter leans in close, waiting.

AQUAGIRL
It was my job to get inside.

HUNTER
Mission accomplished.

AQUAGIRL
Assess intent and impact.

WYATT
Impact?

HUNTER
The higher we climb, the farther they
fall.

AQUAGIRL
We've been tracking corporations
suspected of environmental crimes for
years. Koryo kept popping up on every
list. For political reasons I can't
go into, we couldn't touch any of
them. Especially Koryo.

WYATT
But a pack of renegade cowboys like us
don't have those problems.

AQUAGIRL
If they act on their own. And have no
official government affiliation or
acknowledgment.
 69.
HUNTER
And ... they're successful.

DUROY
Bet our names got on some of those
"name and date deleted" memos.

AQUAGIRL
You got some attention.

EXT. REYKJAVIK, ICELAND - HARBOR - NIGHT

Three whaling ships sway at anchor. The Jade Eye FLAPS in

the stiff, Arctic wind.

WYATT (V.O.)
They like what they see?

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Enough to want you to broaden the
fight.

SLIDER (V.O.)
Laissez le bon temps rouler! Let the
good times roll!

INT. PROCESSING PLANT - NIGHT

A SHADOW methodically blow-torches the insides of the

computer system that runs this whale rendering factory.

The Jade Eye enameled on the side of each metal cabinet

melts down with the rest of the equipment.

HUNTER (V.O.)
Let's step up the cut.

INT. WHALER - LATER

A SHADOW pulls the ship's sea cock.

EXT. HARBOR - LATER

The whalers sink. The Jade Eye slips quietly below the
waterline.

EXT./INT. LOS ANGELES - APARTMENT - NIGHT

Marlowe stares at Nishimura's face grinning back at him

from his laptop's CRT.
 70.

NISHIMURA
Your account will reflect our
gratitude.

Marlowe terminates the videoconference.

He walks to the closet. Opens the door. Reaches in.

Removes the plastic garment bag. Takes it to the bed.
Unzips it. Removes a jacket. Slips it on. Walks to the
dresser mirror.

The U.S. Forest Service uniform still fits. The lines in

his face soften and the permanent frown disappears as he
reels back in the years.

FLASHBACK - SERIES OF SHOTS

INT. GYM - DAY

Hunter and Marlowe pose in their UC Berkeley wrestling

uniforms.

EXT. ACADEMY - GLENCOE, GEORGIA - DAY

Rachel snaps a photograph of Hunter and Marlowe at their

graduation from training for the Forest Service. They
change partners and Hunter takes a photograph of Rachel and
Marlowe.

EXT. TATTOO PARLOR - NIGHT

Hunter and Marlowe, drunk on their butts, extend their

right hands to the CAMERA. We see brand new, identical
Trident tattoos.

EXT. NATIONAL FOREST - CABIN - DAY

Marlowe mugs for the CAMERA in his new U.S. Forest Service
uniform. He tilts his "Smokey the Bear" ranger's hat at a
rakish angle.

EXT. SANTA CRUZ - DAY

A very pregnant Rachel and Hunter pose by their VW van.

BACK TO APARTMENT - PRESENT

Scotchtaped to the mirror are each of the photographs taken

in the previous scenes.

Marlowe touches a different photo of Rachel -- pregnant,

wearing a red bandanna, and standing next to a stubble-
 71.
headed Hunter as he gases up the VW van.

Beside that photograph is another photo of all three of

them together. Beside a fire, toasting the CAMERA with
bottles of beer at a campsite alongside the Stanislaus
River.

And below that is the same photograph of Hunter, Goofy Foot

and Rachel at the luau in Hawaii that we saw before in
Hunter's home.

INT. SANTA CRUZ - HARBOR - WAREHOUSE OFFICE - MORNING

Wyatt stands in the middle of the debris. Pieces of

videotape cameras, recorders and tapes lie scattered across
the floor.

WYATT (V.O.)
Alarm system, smoke detector, motion
sensor. All disabled.

The Zodiacs lie in shreds, their engines smashed to bits.

WYATT (V.O.)
Thrash band next door rehearsed all
night. Obvious they didn't hear
anything.

Empty file boxes and their tattered contents carpet the

floor wall-to-wall.

WYATT (V.O.)
Whoever it was knew our routine.

EXT. ICE PACK OFF NEWFOUNDLAND - DAY

A faceless, hard-scrabble MAN savagely brains harp-seal

PUPS.

Hunter yanks the club out of his raised hand and smashes
the man to the ground with it.

In the snow around the unconscious man, he draws a circle

and ...

Closes it.

EXT. APTOS - NEW BRIGHTON BEACH - NIGHT

Aquagirl trudges along the beach headed home.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Moon was out. Ocean was flat. I was
horny. Figured some salt water might
clear my head.
 72.
HUNTER (V.O.)
Alone?

She hears SOMETHING. She spins around. Nothing but sand

and eucalyptus trees along the GURGLING creek at the base
of the bluff.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Did it all the time ... "BH."

HUNTER (V.O.)
"BH?"

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
"Before Hunter."

She starts walking. Faster.

A branch CRACKS.

She yanks a revolver out of her backpack and ...

HUNTER (V.O.)
What was it?

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Never saw anything. But someone was
watching. I could feel their eyes.

EXT. RIO DE JANEIRO - SEASIDE MANSION - DAY

DOLPHINS frolic in a large, saltwater pool at the back of a

gated, private residence. But something's out of sync
here.

There are gray rectangles, about the size of a cigar box,

strapped to the back of each dolphin.

Poolside, a Korean WOMAN holds a radio transmitter. She

wears a headband stitched with the Koryo logo.
She pushes one button and all the dolphins jump into the
air.

She pushes another and they all dive.

She pushes another and they all torpedo underwater straight

toward ...

The floating scale model of an oil drilling platform.

EXT. RIO DE JANEIRO - SEASIDE MANSION - NIGHT

Hunter opens the sea-lock between the pool and the open
ocean.
 73.
Marley paddles through, followed by the dolphins -- an
aquatic Pied Piper. Hunter closes the sea-lock.

INT. HALF MOON BAY AIRPORT - RESTAURANT - NIGHT

Duroy finishes a cup of coffee. He stares out the window

at the tarmac.

In the hangar light, a brand new ultra-light sits on the

back of a hauler.

DUROY (V.O.)
Arrived a little after 1800 hours. I
was scheduled to fire it up at 0600
the next day, sir.

BA-BOOM!

Truck and glider both EXPLODE in a tornado of flames.

DUROY (V.O.)
Hadn't even touched it. Hadn't even
smelled the leather, sir.

EXT. ZIMBABWE - DEEP JUNGLE - DAY

Hunter, Wyatt and several NATIVE MEN release MONKEYS and

ORANGUTANS from their cages.

In their place, they lock up the POACHERS who imprisoned

these defenseless, priceless animals.

Hunter rips the armband with the Jade Eye stitched on it

from one poacher's right arm. And stuffs it in the man's
mouth.

EXT./INT. SANTA CRUZ - APARTMENT COMPLEX - SUNRISE

Goofy Foot's home is a tiny, one bedroom apartment on a

bluff above the beach along East Cliff Drive. Walk out the
front door and you're staring at nothing but the blue
Pacific.

Inside, Goofy Foot flies the dawn patrol in his KPIG T-

shirt. He ices through layer after layer of security
firewalls protecting Koryo's information infrastructure.
GOOFY FOOT (V.O.)
Was a gnat's ass from dropping the
Billabong virus inside Koryo when ...

KRUFF! CRACKLE! SIZZLE! POOF!

The desktop computer monitor IMPLODES. Goofy Foot dives

for cover.
 74.
GOOFY FOOT (V.O.)
They nuked me with some kind of
electromagnetic wave shot down my ISDN
line.

A firestorm erupts inside the computer's case.

WYATT (V.O.)
Phone line's not that big.

GOOFY FOOT (V.O.)

Hey, my pipeline's so fat, they coulda
shot a rhino at me.

Goofy Foot pokes at the fried equipment.

WYATT (V.O.)
You seen this before?

GOOFY FOOT (V.O.)

Cable companies do it all the time.
Shoot a little juice down the line to
fry pirate decoder boxes.

BACK TO APARTMENT - PRESENT

Goofy Foot holds up a scorched 1 gig disc.

GOOFY FOOT
Got this before they got me.

He pops it into the Jaz drive of his Mac laptop.

GOOFY FOOT
Maybe the old man can use it.

LAPTOP SCREEN

A world geo-political map fills the computer display. Each

continent is marked with several symbols that identify
hazardous biochemical materials.

Goofy Foot clicks on all of them. Each one opens to reveal

a major metropolitan area located on that continent.
Baghdad. San Francisco. Sydney. Peking. Los Angeles.
Buenos Aires. Paris. Tokyo. Tel Aviv. Moscow. New
York. London. Manila. Seoul.

He clicks on a calendar icon. A "Month-At-A-Glance"

calendar appears. The last day of the month is two weeks
away. And it's covered.

With a Jade Eye.

 75.
EXT. TURKEY - HIGHWAY - NIGHT

The convoy of trucks IDLES on the roadside. The back of

one is open. Inside sits several small, plastic
containers. Each stamped with the biohazard symbol.

Fordham, his arm in a sling, scans the shipping manifest.

He translates the Korean.

FORDHAM
(reads)
Contents: Clostridium botulinum.
(to Hunter)
Common bacterium that causes botulism.
The most potent neurotoxin known.
Extremely small quantities can cause
immediate death.

HUNTER
The poor man's atom bomb.

FORDHAM
(reads)
Destination: Baghdad. Owner: Koryo.
WYATT
They'll sleep with anybody.

HUNTER
Not for free ... for long.

Hunter glances at Aquagirl.

WYATT
The kid nailed it.

HUNTER
They're stockpiling biochemical
materials.

WYATT
For what?

HUNTER
Knowing where this was headed, I'd say
biological weapons.

WYATT
But the other cities. They're not war
zones. What's the connection?

HUNTER
I wish I knew.

Hunter taps his wrist watch.

HUNTER
I wish I knew.
 76.
EXT. MONTEREY - DAY

Hunter and Kit, the young teacher we met a lifetime ago at

the Aquarium, walk the historic streets of old downtown
Monterey.

KIT
No scars?

HUNTER
Where?

She touches his neck.

HUNTER
I heal quickly.

KIT
Love is a battlefield.

HUNTER
Yes ... it is.

KIT
Why'd you call, Hunter?

HUNTER
It was a mistake.

KIT
You love her?

HUNTER
Pretty much ... sorry.

KIT
Don't give up then. It's too easy.
And too many people do.

HUNTER
I'm one of them ... usually.

KIT
Not this time.

HUNTER
No ... not this time.

EXT./INT. CANNERY ROW - RESTAURANT - DAY

Hunter and Kit enjoy the view of the Pacific Ocean from
their window seat.

HUNTER
It's easy to be green when you're
rich. It's the ones trying to get
there we're trying to stop.
 77.
KIT
Hunter, it's not enough to stop them.
You have to have an alternative to
offer.

HUNTER
(snorts)
Lobby the legislature. Pimp the
media. Bribe the politicians.

KIT
You've probably spent enough in excess
baggage alone to change some minds.

HUNTER
Got to get their attention.

KIT
You may have chopped off the top of
the weed, but the roots are still
spreading below ground.

HUNTER
It's a start.

KIT
Good guy environmentalists can fight
bad guy industrialists all day long
and the outcome is irrelevant because
tomorrow we're still stuck with the
same problem.

HUNTER
And you think I'm a cynic.

KIT
You are. And blind. You have no
vision, no plan to kill the roots.

HUNTER
Besides hitting first.

KIT
It's what you know.

HUNTER
What would you do?

KIT
What I know ... and love. Real
change starts with education and kids.

HUNTER
Teach your children.

KIT
It's their world next.
 78.
HUNTER
That's what my son Chance has been
saying all along.

KIT
Sometimes we need to listen.

She takes something out of her purse and clasps it tightly

in her fist.

KIT
If we truly believe that a better
world is possible for ourselves and
our children, then maybe we'll
actually step up and take
responsibility for making it happen.

Hunter leans forward, rests his elbows on the table and

opens his palms.

HUNTER
I'm just one man. What can one man
do?

KIT
Dream. Love. Change the world and
make it work again.

She unclenches her fist and drops something in his open

hand.

It's a toy compass.

INT. APTOS - AQUAGIRL'S APARTMENT - LATER THAT NIGHT

A KNOCK on the door. Aquagirl looks through the peep hole.

She opens the door.

It's Hunter. He holds out his hand and opens it.

Aquagirl takes the compass from the palm of his hand.

He enters. She closes the door.

EXT. NEVADA - BLACK ROCK DESERT - DAY

Labor Day Weekend. Seventy miles north of Reno. An

absolutely vast and oceanic patch of alkaline flat. No
bush or bump, rock or blade of grass interrupts this wide
expanse.

The parched Calico and Granite mountain ranges rise to the

East and West.
 79.

HUNTER (V.O.)
Hualapai means "people of the pines."
Hualapai Playa is the dead lake bottom
of a prehistoric inland sea that once
was Lake Lahontan. We'll camp on its
shore.

To the North is Fly Springs, the legendary oasis. Super-

heated waters GUSH in plumes that petrify into brightly-
colored terraces of stone.

EXT. STAGING AREA - DAY

The parking lot overflows with motorcycles shaped like

exotic beasts and fruits, RVs, trailers, pickups, and Merry
Prankster school buses with destination signs that read
"Gaea," "The Other Side," "Home," and "Turtle Island."
Clumps of PEOPLE trek from the staging area across the
endless, cracked whiteness toward "the beach." They haul
their own shelter, food and water. They kick up clouds of
fine, white dust.

HUNTER (V.O.)
They call it "Burning Man."

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
What is it?

HUNTER (V.O.)
What you make it.

AQUAGIRL (V.O.)
Are we?
HUNTER (V.O.)
We're there.

EXT. HUALAPAI PLAYA - BURNING MAN CITY - DAY

An instant, temporary metropolis floats like a space

station -- or some kind of alien seaport -- along the
shores of the dry lakebed. Before the celebration ends,
the population will swell to ten thousand.

The encampments are organized according to addiction --

pyromaniacs, performance artists, piano-burners, gamers,
windsurfers, drummers, ravers, industrial grungers, polka
lovers, programmers, sculptors, sail-planers, gun-and-ammo
freaks, journalists, and cops. Lots of COPS.

The NATIVES shelter in pup-tents, pop-tents, huts, awnings,

parachutes, and lean-tos. In temporary neighborhoods
around a Central Plaza and ...
 80.
THE MAN

himself. Forty feet tall. A wood and neon sculpture.

Straddling a pyramid.

Hunter and Aquagirl stand at the base of the pyramid.

Hunter wears a caftan, cowboy boots, shades, and his "Cal"

baseball hat -- Lawrence of Strawberry Canyon.

Aquagirl wears Hunter's old U.S. Forest Service uniform,

goggles, a floppy straw hat, and Hi Tec "Magnum" cop boots.

AQUAGIRL
Who's Cotton Soledad?

HUNTER
My touchstone. He was my oceanography
prof and wrestling coach at
Beserkeley.

AQUAGIRL
He know Marlowe?

HUNTER
Kicked him off the team for punching a
ref.

EXT./INT. BURNING MAN CITY - TEEPEE - DAY

Hunter and Aquagirl sit cross-legged at the back of the

teepee.

COTTON SOLEDAD holds court with an audience of JOURNALISTS,

HIPPIES, SLACKERS, METALHEADS, and STRAIGHTS.

Soledad is an ageless hippie witch doctor. He's a flat-

bellied sparkplug. He still has his wrestler's body. And
could probably win the nationals at 160 right now. His
gray hair and beard are cropped close to the skin.

SOLEDAD
It's an anonymous zone. Disneyland
through Alice's looking glass. Cirque
du Soleil on hallucinogens.

INTERCUT

shots of Soledad with shots of Burning Man City.

SOLEDAD (V.O.)
At Burning Man, there are no
spectators. You are what you do.
Your character is your destiny.

REVELERS gather at the foot of the Burning Man. Some

 81.
dance. Some pray. Some SING. Some make love.

SOLEDAD (V.O.)
The Burning Man is your milestone.
He'll remind you where you really are
... in the food chain.

EXT. FLY SPRINGS - DAY

MEN, WOMEN and CHILDREN -- in varying degrees of nakedness

-- frolic in the hot-spring ponds. Most of the bathers are
caked head-to-toe in mud.

Soledad, Hunter and Aquagirl stand at the edge of the

springs. They strip and slide into the steaming water.

AQUAGIRL
Now this is more like it.

SOLEDAD
Desert really makes you appreciate the
liquid stuff.

HUNTER
(SINGS)
"You don't miss your water ..."

HUNTER/AQUAGIRL
(HARMONIZES)
"... till your well runs dry."

EXT. BURNING MAN CITY - NIGHT

Torches, flares, lanterns, and bonfires cast an eerie,

prehistoric glow.

Soledad, Hunter and Aquagirl walk the city.

AQUAGIRL
It feels like the afterlife.

SOLEDAD
That's permanent. Everything here is
temporary. Can't throw anything away.
Can't leave anything behind. Can't be
any trace we were ever here. Not even
footprints.

AQUAGIRL
It's a tough place to get to.
Discourages some I'll bet.
 82.

SOLEDAD
We only want the survivors. To get
where you need to be, you've got to
take some risks. At least for three
days.

HUNTER
Nothing worth having is easy.

Aquagirl looks at Hunter.

Two MEN roll in the dust, LAUGHING and grabbing ass. Kids
again.

SOLEDAD
Ever see Caleb?

HUNTER
Our paths have crossed.

SOLEDAD
Still hitting the wrong people?

HUNTER
Getting paid for it now.

A FATHER and SON play catch with a fluorescent Frisbee.

SOLEDAD
How's Goofy Foot?

AQUAGIRL
They had a spat.

SOLEDAD
Sibling rivalry.

HUNTER
He keeps changing.

SOLEDAD
And you don't.

HUNTER
I like the way I am.

That gets another, less affectionate, look from Aquagirl.

SOLEDAD
A sullen adolescent who refuses to
grow up. Our culture is filled with
adults who are children and children
who don't want to be adults. A
sibling society. There are no elders
and no children ... no past and no
future. Our children, our elders and
(MORE)
 83.
HUNTER (CONT'D)
anyone who's not us gets thrown out
with the bath water. But they'll be
waiting for us down the road. Believe
me, they'll get what's theirs.

HUNTER
I've tried to get through to him.
Nothing works.

SOLEDAD
That's because you're here.

Soledad places his hands on each side of his eyes --

indicating blinders -- and looks down at his feet.

SOLEDAD
When you need to be here.

He removes his hands, stretches out his arms, looks up at

the moon, and LAUGHS.

SOLEDAD
Lighten up, Hunter. You got to be a
little crazy so you don't go insane.

AQUAGIRL
(quotes)
"The old man who will not laugh is a
fool. And the young man who has not
wept is a savage."

SOLEDAD
Sorry, girl. No tears in the desert.
Water's too precious.

Soledad walks away. Hunter reaches out for Aquagirl's

hand. She takes his. They leave.

The desert WIND erases their footprints.

EXT. BURNING MAN CITY - CENTRAL PLAZA - NIGHT

The CROWD ripples in concentric circles away from the

Burning Man. He glows neon blue. A full moon casts loony,
blue shadows.

Soledad, Hunter and Aquagirl wait at the edge of the ninth

circle.

CROWD
(CHANTS)
Burn the man! Burn the man!

SOLEDAD
It's time to light him up.
 84.
They torch the man. And the CROWD gets its motor running.

CROWD
(CHANTS)
Burn, baby, burn!

CROWD
(CHANTS)
Ashes to ashes!

CROWD
(CHANTS)
Dust to rust!

The Burning Man EXPLODES, spraying massive showers of

sparks.

SOLEDAD
(SHOUTS)
Liberty is something you enjoy alone.
But freedom ... freedom is something
you share with others.

The sulfurous shower silhouettes a lone MAN wearing a flat-

brimmed, Park Ranger's hat.

EXT. BURNING MAN CITY - DAWN

Old Sol is awakened by the WAIL of didgeridoos and the

THUMP of Japanese taiko drums.

INT. TEEPEE - SAME TIME

Soledad, Hunter and Aquagirl sit alone in the soft morning

light. The sun's barely up and it's already skillet hot.
SOLEDAD
We're surrounded by cycles. This
teepee was made round like a bird's
nest. The seasons always come back to
where they began. The life of a man
is a circle from childhood to
childhood. The circle remains
unbroken. And so it is in everything
where power moves.

Soledad places a necklace around Hunter's throat. Dangling

from a leather thong is a silver circle. Inside is a lapis
Trident.

SOLEDAD
Made it myself.

He puts a similar necklace on Aquagirl. She looks closely

at the incisor-sharp chunk of silver-capped ivory hanging
from it.
 85.
HUNTER
Whale's tooth.

SOLEDAD
Very sacred and powerful to oceanic
cultures.

HUNTER
What now?

SOLEDAD
It's presumptuous to explain the life
of anyone. All I know is you're
blessed with the beauty of blind
pursuit. But, the world is calling.
Take the time to listen. If you
don't, you'll be filled with regret.
And your final days will be a plague
of doubts.

HUNTER
I'm doing the best I can.

SOLEDAD
Do better.

Hunter looks at Aquagirl. She smiles.

HUNTER
You used to make us run marathons. So
we'd have the stamina to finish
strong.

SOLEDAD
You got the legs to win this match?

HUNTER
We don't have what they have. We
can't muscle our way through.

Hunter picks up an iron horseshoe.

HUNTER
They've got the iron. And iron ...
iron always wins.

He glances at Aquagirl.

Soledad wipes the sweat from his brow and sprinkles the
salty drops on the iron.

SOLEDAD
But ... rust never sleeps.

INT. KORYO CORPORATION BOARDROOM - NIGHT

The video wall casts images on the stone face of the
 86.
Director. Each monitor displays the latest assaults
spearheaded by Hunter.

Iceland, Newfoundland, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Turkey.

Marlowe stands to one side.

THE DIRECTOR
(to Marlowe)
One of you must die.

Marlowe leaves.

The Director motions to Nishimura. The aide joins him on

the dais.

The Director WHISPERS something. Nishimura nods and

leaves.

The Director walks to a fresh water aquarium. He sprinkles

fish food inside. The FISH feed.

He removes a rubber stopper from a test tube. He pours the

liquid into the aquarium. And walks away.

THE AQUARIUM - SECONDS LATER

Every fish floats belly-up.

EXT. AUSTRALIA - OUTSKIRTS OF SYDNEY - NIGHT

The rocky terrain outside the city is blanketed with

eucalyptus groves and pock-marked with abandoned coal
mines. A river runs wild toward Sydney.

INT. CAVE - LATER

SHADOWS push rubber-wheeled dollies, weighted down with

metal canisters, past the sweat-stained, ABORIGINE MEN
laying tied and face down on the cave floor.

EXT. CAVE ENTRANCE - LATER

The truck's hydraulic lift WHINES. Duroy rolls a dolly off

the lift and into the truck bed. Slider removes the
canister and slips it inside a Styrofoam shipping crate.

EXT. CAMP - SAME TIME

Hunter and Wyatt wait and watch inside an open jeep parked
on the only road out.

POOF! POOF! POOF!

 87.
Phosphorescent lights kick on, blinding both men.

A dark SILHOUETTE steps in front of the bright lights. It

walks into view on the road directly ahead of them.

It's Marlowe.

Hunter gets out of the jeep and moves toward Marlowe.

WHIFF-WHIFF-WHIFF-THUNK!

A stick of dynamite whips through the air and lands between

Hunter and Marlowe.

They lock eyes. And grab some earth.

THWOOM!

Dirt rains down on both men.

Hunter leaps to his feet.

Marlowe rolls over. Stunned, but alive.

Wyatt ROARS up. Hunter jumps in and casts one last look at
Marlowe as Wyatt falls in behind the escaping truck.

On a hill above the cave, something small and round

reflects the bank of white lights.

EXT. SAN FRANCISCO BAY - ANGEL ISLAND - NIGHT

The TOURISTS have gone for the day.

All that's left are the pleasure craft in the tiny harbor,
the corporate yachts anchored around the island's
perimeter, and the GHOSTS of thousands of soldiers, POWs,
and Pacific Rim immigrants who passed through here -- the
West Coast's Ellis Island.

EXT. MISSILE SILO - NIGHT

And the PARK RANGERS who live on the island year round.

Two of whom now lie unconscious next to the silo doors that
lead to the abandoned Nike Missile Site below ground.

INT. MISSILE SILO - TUNNEL - SAME TIME

Two wiry, angry-eyed Vietnamese MEN stand guard.

Four teen-aged, Vietnamese GANG-BANGERS push rolling carts

down a ramp. Each is over-loaded with metal canisters.
The biohazard symbol stenciled on each warns of the
poisonous contents.
 88.
EXT. ANGEL ISLAND - BREAKWATER - SAME TIME

A corporate yacht floats at anchor on the southeast side of

the island near Point Blunt.

The Jade Eyes keep watch from both sides of the bow.

BACK TO SILO TUNNEL

One guard leads, the other protects the rear as the lethal
procession RUMBLES toward the freight elevator.

WHUUP-WHUUP-WHUUP-THUD!

The boomerang WHACKS the rear guard and cuts him down.

WHIR-WHIR-WHIR-WHACK-WHACK-CRACK!

The bolo wraps around the front guard's neck. The hard
leather balls CRACK against the man's skull. He drops like
a lead balloon.

The gangers whip out their Saturday Night Specials, scan

the dark corners, and sprint for the elevator.

The doors open to reveal ...

An unconscious Vietnamese GUARD.

PHIP-PHIP-PHIP-PHIP!

The teen-agers yank at the darts suddenly protruding from

their necks. They sink to the floor.

Hunter, Bitterwater, Slider, and Marley step out of the

shadows. They blow on the tips of their dart guns and
holster them.

Wyatt drops from the ceiling of the elevator.

EXT. ANGEL ISLAND - SILO-SIDE HARBOR - LATER

The harbor looks out on Alcatraz and the San Francisco

skyline.

Hunter and his crew load the last of the lethal canisters
onto the fiberglass rafts tethered behind the two jet skis
straddled by Aquagirl and Duroy.

MARLOWE (O.S.)
You can't win this.

Marlowe stands above them at the edge of the forested hill

that slopes down to the water. Hunter turns to face him.
 89.
HUNTER
I heard you twice the first time.

Marlowe gestures. Uniformed MEN appear behind him.

MARLOWE
I know where you live.

HUNTER
You can't hurt me.

MARLOWE
If that were true, there'd be no one
in your life.

Marlowe looks past Hunter at Aquagirl.

HUNTER
It's not about them. It's about me.

MARLOWE
Always has been.

HUNTER
You and me, then. Right here, right
now.

MARLOWE
Finally.

Hunter takes a step toward Marlowe as ...

Automatic weapon FIRE erupts from somewhere out in the

Golden Gate Bridge side of the harbor. It lays down a
jagged pattern from the jet skis back up the slope.

The bullets churn up the water and chew into the sides of
the rafts.

Hunter ducks, dodges back to the shorebreak and dives into

the back of Aquagirl's raft. The flotilla jets away toward
the Bay Bridge.

The bullets nick several of Marlowe's men and rip through

the turf heading for Marlowe.

He dives behind a tree. The bullets saw it in half. He

scrambles behind a rock. The bullets stop. He peeks over
the rock and sees ...

A tiny reflection, like the moon hitting a piece of glass.

EXT. TIBURON - RESTAURANT - MORNING

It's one of those cloudless, balmy, clear light days that

contribute to San Francisco's legend and reputation as the
"Riviera of the West."
 90.
Hunter drains his Bloody Mary. And dabs at a spot of
tomato juice staining the image on his T-shirt of Mother
Earth in flames.

Aquagirl lays the napkin across her empty plate and takes
his hand.

AQUAGIRL
Marry me.

HUNTER
I'm too old, Savannah.

AQUAGIRL
You're too afraid, Neptune.

HUNTER
It's too dangerous.

AQUAGIRL
I can handle the heat.

HUNTER
I've noticed.

AQUAGIRL
If I was afraid I'd get hit by a car
every time I left the house, I'd never
get past the front door.

HUNTER
When it comes to marriage, I don't
even know where the front door is
anymore.

AQUAGIRL
Take a chance.

HUNTER
Just leave me where Jesus tossed me.

AQUAGIRL
Can't.

HUNTER
Can't save me either.

AQUAGIRL
Or change you.

HUNTER
There's some curves ahead.

AQUAGIRL
I know the road.

HUNTER
Maybe when it's over.
 91.
AQUAGIRL
Promise?

Hunter crosses his heart.

HUNTER
Hope to die.

EXT. SAN FRANCISCO - GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE - LATER

The wind buffets the VW bus.

INT. VAN - SAME TIME

Aquagirl wrestles to keep the van from careening into the

oncoming traffic.

Hunter reaches over and tweaks her right breast.

She SLAPS his hand away. And nearly loses her grip on the
wheel.

HUNTER
(SINGS)
"Keep your hands on the wheel,
Keep your snoopy eyes
On the road ahead.
I'm sittin' ..."

KA-BLAM!

The van bucks, like a Brahma bull that's just been spurred
out of the chute.

The windows EXPLODE, shattered by shrapnel.

The driver and passenger-side doors BLAST across two lanes

of traffic, past strolling TOURISTS and over the sides of
the bridge.

The van wobbles drunkenly and finally rolls to a smoking

stop at the toll booth.

EXT. SAN FRANCISCO - UC MEDICAL CENTER - LATER

The afternoon fog chokes the air.

INT. EMERGENCY ROOM - HALLWAY - LATER

It's dark and cotton swab QUIET.

The only color in Hunter's face is the dried blood on his

forehead.
 92.
A fresh-faced INTERN flips through a medical chart.

INTERN
The explosion drove the seat springs
into her back. The nails sliced her
lower torso up pretty badly.

HUNTER
She's tough.

INTERN
She'll have to be. We've done all we
can.

HUNTER
Someone planted a bomb.

INTERN
You'll have to ask the police.

HUNTER
It's not a question.

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT

The only light comes from the illuminated dials on the

equipment monitoring Aquagirl's vital signs.

Hunter sleeps. His bandaged forehead rests on his folded

arms.

A right hand with a Trident tattoo reaches out and ...

Touches the same tattoo on Hunter's right hand.

VOICE (O.S.)
Surf's up.

Hunter snaps awake and sees ...

GOOFY FOOT
Can't stop tilting at windmills.

HUNTER
That make two of us?

They embrace.

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - LATER

Father and Son sit side-by-side next to Aquagirl's bed.

Hunter's T-shirt: An Ansel Adams photo of Half Dome.
Goofy Foot's: A painting of the "Whaling Whale" by Wyland.
 93.

GOOFY FOOT
Cops said a bomb was stashed under the
driver's seat.

HUNTER
I was too drunk to drive.

GOOFY FOOT
She'll forgive you.

HUNTER
I'm running out of favors.

GOOFY FOOT
She's in good hands.

Hunter glances at the sleeping Aquagirl.

HUNTER
I can't leave her.

GOOFY FOOT
Best you can do for her now is finish
it.

INT. HOSPITAL - CORRIDOR - LATER

Father and Son share a cup of vending machine coffee.

HUNTER
This stuff could strip paint.

GOOFY FOOT
After Wyatt called last night, I got
an e-mail message. Who's "Smokey the
Bear?"

HUNTER
A ghost from the past. Who needs to
go back ... for good.

GOOFY FOOT
Had a message for you.

HUNTER
What'd it say?

GOOFY FOOT
Nothing. Just music. Some old cowboy
song.

HUNTER
"Cool Water" ...

GOOFY FOOT
How'd ... ?
 94.
HUNTER
Another day.

EXT. PACIFIC OCEAN - OFF TOKYO BAY - UNDERWATER - DAY

Hunter flippers up to the cache of ominous looking, plastic

barrels. Each stamped with the biohazard symbol.

Marley and Wyatt motor up in a mini-sub, pulling a shark

cage.

CORAL REEF

Behind the white mass of skeletal deposits, Marlowe and a

group of FROGMEN in black wetsuits sit astride two-man
mini-subs. One navigates, the other holds a Gatling-style
spear gun.

OCEAN FLOOR

As Hunter, Marley and Wyatt load the last barrel into the
cage, they see the approaching frogmen. They close the
cage door, jump aboard the mini-sub, and WHIR away.

The black divers open fire.

Spears ZIP past the fleeing men and BANG off the sub and
shark cage.

EXT. OCEAN - UNDERWATER - SHIP'S GRAVEYARD - LATER

Hunter, Wyatt and Marley scoot toward the remains of

several World War II fighter planes and combat ships --
American and Japanese. The watery graves of a lot of
brave, young men.

Marlowe kicks it into second gear. And another volley of

spears flash through the ocean.

Hunter, Wyatt and Marley dart behind a Japanese submarine.

The spears CLANG off the sub's barnacled hull.

Marlowe motions for his divers to fan out. They duck

inside at different points along the ghostly labyrinth.

Hunter, Wyatt and Marley ZOOM past an endless line of

twisted metal. Marley hangs a left and ...

Enters a boxed canyon. A mammoth U.S. aircraft carrier

blocks their way straight ahead. It's flanked by the two
Japanese destroyers that sunk it. They spin around in time
to see ...

Marlowe ... and the muzzles of four spear guns.

 95.
Hunter flippers forward alone.

Marlowe flippers forward alone.

The two men stop. Fifty feet separates them and ...

Hunter extends his right hand.

Marlowe extends his.

We see that the tattooed Tridents are, in fact, identical.

Marlowe clenches his hand into a fist and ...

A weighted chunk of bloody meat plummets between them.

Then another ... and another.

The ocean is suddenly filled with bloody bait. And just as

suddenly, it's filled with SHARKS.

FEEDING FRENZY!

Frogmen fire. Sharks attack. Frogmen madly flipper in

circles or squirm to break free. Sharks SNAP at bleeding
rubber suits.

Wyatt and Marley jump inside the shark cage and pull the
door shut just as Hunter dives in, pursued by a monster
pair of jaws.

The shark THUDS against the cage.

Marlowe guts one of the man-eaters with his Trident knife.

He looks around, then disappears through the torpedo hole
of a sunken U.S. mine sweeper.

As the frenzy moves away toward a group of bleeding, black-

suited divers, Marley hops back into the mini-sub and
shoots for the surface, towing Hunter, Wyatt and the cage.

Beyond a nearby reef, a motionless scuba faceplate reflects

the carnage.

EXT. HONOLULU - ROYAL HAWAIIAN HOTEL - DAY

Hunter and Wyatt walk the grounds of the Pink Palace.

Hunter wears an O'Neill T-shirt and Wyatt's is Primo.
Marley, Bitterwater, Duroy, Fordham, Slider, and Goofy Foot
walk ahead.

Marley picks up a seashell and holds it out to Bitterwater,

who smiles and takes it.
 96.
EXT. WAIKIKI BEACH - LATER

Hunter and Wyatt watch the tide roll in.

Under an ancient Banyan tree nearby, Duroy gives Fordham a

boxing lesson. Slider referees.

HUNTER
The Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert
don't understand the concept of the
afterlife. Or a person's soul.

Marley wades chest-high in the surf. Bitterwater lies flat

across the Jamaican's outstretched arms.

HUNTER
They say, "The wind blows away our
footprints and that is the end of us."

Bitterwater dog-paddles and kicks his feet, splashing water

in Goofy Foot's face.

HUNTER
Will anyone remember what we've done?
Or care?

WYATT
We've changed some things. For good.

HUNTER
What's my legacy?

WYATT
You've got a son.

HUNTER
Has he got a father?

WYATT
He thinks so.

HUNTER
He's a good boy, isn't he?

WYATT
He'll make a difference some day.
Just like his old man.

As they walk away, the waves erase their footprints in the

sand.

EXT. OAHU - NORTH SHORE - DAY

The Pipeline. The Mecca of Surfdom. The place where

Mother stacks up row upon row of 20-foot faces to show us
who really wears the cajones in this family.
 97.
Today, the "Quiksilver Eddie Aikau Memorial Pro-Am" surfing
competition rules the beach.

There are SURFERS, ORGANIZERS, SPECTATORS, MEDIA, SPONSORS,

and HANGERS-ON from around the world. KPOI supplies the
MUSIC -- punk, rock and surf. There's information and
souvenir booths. Some touches of old Hawai'i. A bikini
contest. Oh ... and some surfing.

OCEAN

A WOMAN straddles a MAN's shoulders as they finish their

tandem exhibition ride.

BUFFALO KEAULANA points his longboard toward the beach

while his DOG sits at the point.

Bitterwater churns through the surf. He wears a life

jacket, but at least he's swimming. Marley glides
alongside, a proud papa smile creasing his face.

BEACH

Duroy sucks on a Primo beer. Slider splashes some Tabasco

on his poi to the bemused wonder of some LOCAL BOYS.

STAGE - LEADER BOARD

TITUS KINIMAKA tops the Pro's. Goofy Foot heads the

Amateurs. GREG TOMLINSON leads the Industry Division. And
Hunter sits atop the Legends.

ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
(into P.A.)
Time for the annual surf-off. Champs
of each division, head-to-head. One
wave, one ride. Top score is top dog.

BEACH

Outside their pavilion, Fordham shadow-boxes, using some of

the moves Duroy taught him.

Inside, Hunter and Goofy Foot check out their equipment --

like knights preparing for the joust. Hunter waxes his
board. Goofy Foot checks the fins on his. Wyatt offers
bottled water to both men.

WYATT
Momma's lining up some real hairballs
out there, boys.

GOOFY FOOT
No fear.
 98.
HUNTER
Let's knock her out of the box.

ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
(into P.A.)
Surfers ... catch a wave.

BEACH

The contestants shake hands, trot through the surf and

paddle out to meet the oncoming swells.

OCEAN

A prime curl rolls in. Kinimaka drops down and takes the
inside position. He comes off the bottom and over the top
with a big bash. A real Lip Devil, he free falls back down
and accelerates up the line. Does a roundhouse wraparound
into the lip and finishes with a nice tail slide.

Tomlinson, the SoCal Hippie, gets stuffed immediately.

Total meltdown. They'll probably find his board in
Australia.

Hunter osterizes the face. He does a big snap off the top
and waxes off the froth. Executes a nice upside down move.
Gets under the lip and shoots the tube. The door slams on
his ass on his way out. Just as he exits, Goofy Foot drops
down beside him.

Father and Son free-fall, side-by-side. They drive down

the inside and execute identical cutbacks and wraparounds.
Hunter winks and explodes through the lip ... leaving the
wave to his son.

Goofy Foot tracks along the top edge of the lip, drops down
into the open face, and executes a gouging cutback. He
blasts through the lip all the way to Jupiter, crashes back
to earth and slam-dunks a 360 degree New School move. And
finishes with a big snap. Pure juice.

STAGE

The BIKINI QUEEN places the lei around Goofy Foot's neck
and gives him a throatful of tongue. The CROWD gets rowdy.

Goofy Foot lifts the trophy over his head. Hunter showers
him with Primo beer.

GOOFY FOOT
Thanks.

HUNTER
It was yours all the way.
 99.
GOOFY FOOT
If you say so.

The two men butt chests.

EXT. MOSCOW - NIGHT

MEN, WOMEN and CHILDREN shuffle through the bleak, decaying

urban canyons of this once magnificent city.

INT. UNDERGROUND SEWERS - SAME TIME

The catacombs of the ancient sewage system honeycomb the

city.

The chipped wheels of the old wooden carts CREAK and GROAN
under the weight of the shiny aluminum tubes stacked in
their jet-black horizontal carrier.

The dim light of the dusty incandescent bulbs illuminates

the biohazard symbol etched on each tube.

Hunter leads. Wyatt takes the rear guard. Goofy Foot,

Duroy, Slider, Marley, and Bitterwater each push a cart.

MAN'S VOICE (O.S.)

Give it up.

A cigarette lighter bursts into flame next to the mouth of

the tunnel just ahead. It reveals a hand, an arm, a body,
and ...

Marlowe, as he lifts the lighter to his face. His eyes

flick to something small and round reflecting the flame off
to his right.

HUNTER
Koryo's still in business.
MARLOWE
I'll have to kill you.

HUNTER
Not a game anymore?

MARLOWE
It's you or me. Those are my orders.

HUNTER
Always the good soldier.

WHOOSH!

The flame goes out. Blown out by a blast of cold air

pushed ahead of ...
 100.
A WALL OF WATER

Marlowe dives back into the tunnel as the wave sweeps by.

Hunter's crew has nowhere to go. They hop on board and

ride the wave all the way to ...

EXT. MOSCOW RIVER - LATER

The spillway spits them all into the icy river.

As he swirls by, Hunter grabs a metal ladder that leads up

to the street. He grasps Wyatt who snags Goofy Foot. Each
grabs the next in line until a human chain is formed. The
last one hooked is Bitterwater.

EXT. LOS ANGELES - APARTMENT COMPLEX - NIGHT

The night sky is on fire.

Marlowe's apartment burns.

INT. APARTMENT - SAME TIME

Everything burns. The photograph of Hunter and Marlowe at

graduation. The U.S. Forest Service uniform. The
Greenpeace poster of Mother Nature. The photograph of the
young boy. The photograph of Hunter and Rachel, Rachel and
Marlowe.

EXT. HALF MOON BAY - HUNTER'S HOUSE - DAY

Hunter scoops the dead koi from the pond.

INT. HUNTER'S HOUSE - LATER

It looks like a tornado ripped through it.

INT. TEA HOUSE - LATER

Leveled. Trashed. Hunter searches through the rubble. He

finally finds the Trident knife. He tucks it into his
belt. He rummages some more until he finds ...

THE FAMILY PORTRAIT

Where Hunter's face once was, there's a jagged rip.

 101.
EXT. PACIFIC OCEAN - SANTA CRUZ - PLEASURE POINT - EVENING

Hunter straddles his surfboard, waiting for a wave.

There's no one on the water but him and ...

The riderless surfboard that floats up and bumps into him.

He turns.

It's Goofy Foot's board. He recognizes the "No Fear" logo.

And the Jade Eye branded into the wood.

EXT./INT. SAN FRANCISCO - APARTMENT - NIGHT

Slider opens the door to the second floor apartment.

Hunter pushes Aquagirl's wheelchair through. Slider
glances around before closing it.

Hunter wheels Aquagirl into the living room.

AQUAGIRL
I want to sleep in my own bed.

HUNTER
He knows where you live.

AQUAGIRL
That's my problem.

HUNTER
And mine.

AQUAGIRL
Should I make a call?

HUNTER
Let me finish it.

AQUAGIRL
I'll be your lighthouse.

HUNTER
And safe harbor.

EXT. BIG SUR - VENTANA RESTAURANT - DAY

Hunter and Wyatt stare down at the ocean. They can see the
WHALES spouting as they migrate toward Mexico. Hunter's T-
shirt: Turtle Island. Wyatt's: St. Stan's Brewery.

HUNTER
Last time I felt like this, the forest
was on fire. I could only watch it
burn. Saddest thing is ... I
survived.

Hunter touches the Trident necklace.

 102.
HUNTER
I keep hurting the people I care the
most about.

WYATT
That's how it works.

HUNTER
I just got him back, Wyatt.

WYATT
We know where to look.

HUNTER
Think I can learn to ask questions
first?

WYATT
Find Chance. The rest'll fall in
place.

HUNTER
Let's go surfing.

INT. SANTA CRUZ - HARBOR - WAREHOUSE OFFICE - DAY

Wyatt stares over Hunter's shoulder at the laptop screen.

A QUICKTIME MOVIE

The RED QUEEN runs faster and faster, but gets nowhere.
She stops. She drinks a glass of water. And dies.

Hunter clicks on the Quicktime icon again and plays the

sequence again.

WYATT
The Red Queen ... "Alice in
Wonderland."

HUNTER
Message from Marlowe.

WYATT
Sure?

HUNTER
It's from a book I gave him. To raise
his consciousness. "Cadillac Desert."
About the politics of water in
California. One of the chapters was
called, "The Red Queen."

WYATT
About?
 103.
HUNTER
Los Angeles. The Garden of Eden with
a desert heart.

Wyatt SNAPS his fingers.

WYATT
They're going to poison LA's water.

HUNTER
It's not about money anymore.

WYATT
That means Colorado River or Owens
River Valley.

HUNTER
Fifty/fifty chance.

WYATT
Can't afford to guess the wrong fifty.

HUNTER
Let's see if we can reduce those odds
some.

EXT. BOULDER CANYON - COLORADO RIVER - NIGHT

Behind some boulders, Hunter stands at the helm of his

IDLING Zodiac. He wears a T-shirt with the words: "Rust
Never Sleeps." He checks the Trident knife sheathed on his
left hip. He lifts the binoculars to his eyes.

UPRIVER - SAME TIME

The hover craft LAPS at anchor. MEN lug plastic containers

down the gangplank, onto the river bank and into a huge
cave.

INT. CAVE - SAME TIME

The men set the containers in a line along the lip of a

massive fresh water cistern. Each is marked with the
biohazard symbol.

BACK TO THE RIVER

as Hunter speaks into his walkie-talkie.

HUNTER
Lick your lips, girls. You're on.

A wedge of Zodiacs appears. Each is manned by Hunter's

posse -- Wyatt, Fordham, Bitterwater, Duroy, Marley, and
 104.
Slider. They move out.

UPRIVER

As the pincer closes, a sleepy-eyed GUARD on the hover

craft hears a soft NOISE. He turns to face down river and
sees the dark shapes closing in. He launches a flare. It
EXPLODES, turning night into day. He fires a rifle BURST
into the sky.

The dumpers stream out of the cave and clamber aboard. The
hover craft raises anchor and ZOOMS away upstream.

Hunter and his cavalry kick on their halogen running lights

and begin the chase.

The hover craft is fast, but it's no match for the Zodiacs.
It lopes along like a crippled water buffalo trying to
outrun a pack of starved hyenas. Hunter closes in.

The hover craft jets past a small tributary. Followed by

Hunter and his outriders. As they do ...

A pack of black Zodiacs fish-tails out of the tributary.

The Jade Eye stenciled on the prow of each.

In the lead boat stands Marlowe.

HUNTER
(into walkie-talkie)
We've got company.

WYATT
(back at him)
Almost like they got an invitation.

HUNTER
(into walkie-talkie)
Who's zoomin' who?

Hunter flashes a mischievous, shit-eating grin and clicks

off.

Marlowe taps Skinhead's shoulder. He fires a flare into

the sky.

The hover craft abruptly does a three-sixty and roars back

towards its pursuers.

Hunter's Zodiacs scatter like cockroaches at first light.

The hover craft blasts over the top of a stalled Zodiac,

capsizing it and knocking Bitterwater into next week.

Hunter whips his raft around and shoots back toward a

thrashing Bitterwater, who's about to go down for a third
time.
 105.
Hunter slows down just long enough to net the bedraggled
Navajo. And they rooster-tail back upriver just as Marlowe
closes in.

The SOLDIER next to Marlowe sights in on Hunter's back.

Marlowe yanks the rifle loose and clubs the shooter over
the side of the raft.

Hunter turns in time to see this surprising act of mercy.

Then zooms past Wyatt to take the lead.

INTERCUT WALKIE-TALKIE CONVERSATION

WYATT
Call the cops, Hunter.

HUNTER
Not their fight.

WYATT
We don't have the horses. Or the
weapons.

Hunter holds up his cellular phone. It leaks.

HUNTER
Water wins again.

EXT. HOOVER DAM - NIGHT

A 726-foot tall concrete curtain. In the sharp moonlight,

its pristine concave face gleams white against the harsh
rusts and taupes and mauves of the rock canyon it spans.

Hunter's fleet of Zodiacs reaches the U-shaped powerplant

at the base of the dam that houses the generators.

They tie up at the dock below the spillway. Hunter stares

up at the engineering wonder.

HUNTER
A lot of men died here. Just to make
a desert bloom.

WYATT
Us too if we don't move it.

Wyatt and the rest of the crew scatter.

Hunter turns a moment to watch Marlowe's approach. Then

strides toward the powerplant entrance.

The desert wind HOWLS through the canyon.

 106.
EXT. VISITOR CENTER - LATER

A NIGHT WATCHMAN blocks the door. Wyatt faces him.

WYATT
Call this number. Or we're all fish
bait.

The foreman looks at the card then past Wyatt. Down below,
he sees the swarm of Zodiacs at the foot of the dam.

DOCKSIDE - SAME TIME

Marlowe's men drop anchor and assemble on the pier.

MARLOWE
Hunter's mine. Kevork the rest.

Skinhead slings a heavy backpack over his shoulder, then

hauls a blindfolded, gagged and bound Goofy Foot from the
bottom of the Zodiac.

EXT. DAM SURFACE - LATER

In the lunar clarity of the desert night, bronze SCULPTURES

of tomorrow's muscular citizens clutch sheaves of grain
toward heaven.

In their heavy shadow, Duroy and Fordham stand back-to-

back, battling Marlowe's SOLDIERS hand-to-hand.

A STAR MAP

traces a sidereal revolution of the equinox and fixes

forever -- for all time and for all who can read the stars
-- the exact date the dam was dedicated.

Across its marble face, Slider duels a MERCENARY. Stave to

stave.

VALVE HOUSE

as a SOLDIER flies out of one of the needle valves.

Marley steps to the lip of the hole. He twirls the bolo

around his index finger.

CABLE-WAY

The metal man-carrier inches across the twelve-hundred foot

chasm. It rocks violently.

A hand filled with chain appears above the lip and hammers
 107.
down.

Wyatt stands. He flips the chain over the cable, grabs

each end of the chain, and slides down the cable to the
cable-way control house.

INT. POWERPLANT - SAME TIME

Five hundred feet down inside the canyon wall. Ten acres
of floorspace. Cranes WHINE overhead. Generators ROAR.
Transformers HUM.

The grating where Hunter stands VIBRATES.

This is where the water is. Where the water sucked out of
Lake Mead blasts through thirty-foot penstocks and into
thirteen-foot penstocks and finally into the turbines.

The NIGHT CREW lies scattered around the powerplant floor,

twisted in question marks.

Marlowe faces his old friend and partner. Backed by

Skinhead and a phalanx of MERCENARIES.

HUNTER
Glad you could make my party.

MARLOWE
Thought it was mine.

HUNTER
Invited all my closest enemies.

MARLOWE
No crying if it doesn't turn out the
way you want.

HUNTER
Where's my boy?

Skinhead hands Marlowe the metal switch box. He punches

the "Up" button.

We HEAR the clanking WHINE and WHIR of heavy metal chains.

Goofy Foot is hauled up from the turbine room. He dangles,

hands tied to a behemoth, metal hook. Lashed to his feet
is a deadly looking package.

Marlowe holds up a small, electronic remote control device.

MARLOWE
I press this, we surf all the way to
the Gulf of Mexico.

HUNTER
You okay, Chance?
 108.
GOOFY FOOT
Basketball game's gotten better.

HUNTER
Son, this here's Caleb Marlowe. We
were in the Forest Service together.

MARLOWE
In another lifetime.

HUNTER
He forgot whose side he was on. Took
their money and buried their shit.

MARLOWE
We were never going to win, Neptune.

HUNTER
Mother Nature always bats last,
Smokey.

MARLOWE
She could never hit the curve ball.

HUNTER
Now what?

Marlowe hands the remote and switch box to Skinhead.

MARLOWE
You took mine, I take yours.

HUNTER
He's got her blood.

MARLOWE
And yours ... unfortunately.

HUNTER
Chance ... meet your Uncle Caleb.

GOOFY FOOT
Uncle? When'd ... ?

HUNTER
The day you were born.

GOOFY FOOT
Why'd no one ... ?

HUNTER
He didn't want to know you.

MARLOWE
Blame me? If it wasn't for you, my
little sister'd still be alive.
 109.
HUNTER
That day's been buried.

MARLOWE
Should've been you.

HUNTER
My old buddy here bailed on me like
all the rest. Only his hate twisted
him up.

MARLOWE
Opened my eyes.

HUNTER
Made it his mission to rid the world
of tree huggers like me. Became a
full-time mercenary. A hired gun for
rapists like Koryo.
MARLOWE
Isn't rape if the lady's willing.

HUNTER
Name the game.

MARLOWE
Payback.

HUNTER
Being right is the only revenge.

HUNTER/MARLOWE
(simultaneous)
I am.

HUNTER
You're the closer. The old girl's
crowding the plate. What's it gonna
be? High heat, curve, or screw ball?

Marlowe's MEN snap-level their artillery at Hunter.

Hunter doesn't flinch.

VOICE (O.S.)
Fast ball. Right down Broadway.

The CAMERA MOVES UP the food chain. Little fish to big

fish to shark. Hunter to Marlowe to ...

The Director. Flanked by Nishimura and a company of

Koryo's elite WARRIORS.
THE DIRECTOR
Kill them both.

Marlowe whips the Trident knife from its sheath behind his
 110.
neck and flings it.

SQUISH!

Burying it to the hilt in the Director's neck.

No one moves. It's suddenly very STILL. So quiet you

could hear a rat pissing on cotton.

MARLOWE
Shift over. Time card punched ...

The Director pitches forward and ...

MARLOWE
... out.

ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!

Marlowe's men saw away at the Koryo troopers. They return

a withering BARRAGE.

FLASHING muzzles. ZINGING bullets. RIPPING flesh.

Squirting blood. CRUNCHING bone. Metallic RICOCHETS.
Brutal SCREAMS. Blue smoke.

Skinhead takes a slug to the temple. The control box and

remote control SKITTER across the floor.

Marlowe darts from cover and reaches for the remote. He's
forced back by a THUNDEROUS volley.

Hunter works his way along the other side of the turbines
until ...

He jumps out, rolls and scoops up the remote. He guts it

with his Trident knife. He looks up.

Goofy Foot's still there, hanging in the balance. A BURST

of gunfire forces Hunter to dive back behind the turbines.

Hunter pops up once, then again. He scans the battlefield,

gauging what it'll take to reach the catwalk closest to his
son.

Bullets CLANG off the metal next to his face.

VOICE (O.S.)
(into megaphone)
Attention! This is the Federal Bureau
of Investigation. Cease ...

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

The megaphone flies through the air and CLATTERS to the

floor.
 111.
UPPER CATWALK

The MEN in blue jumpsuits and baseball caps with "FBI"

stitched on them SPRAY the powerplant floor with lead.

HUNTER

races up the stairs. He reaches the catwalk. He dives for

the hook. And grabs it. He pushes his weight against the
hook and its chain. It starts to swing. Back and forth,
back and forth.

MARLOWE

inches toward the switch box. It still lies where Skinhead

dropped it.

HUNTER

grabs for a metal, horizontal ceiling support girder as the

hook swings back to the catwalk. He misses. The hook
swings away. And back again. He reaches for the girder.
And misses again.

MARLOWE

gets to within a few feet of the switch box.

HUNTER

leans into the metal hook with everything he's got. He

swings back and grabs the girder. Just by his fingernails.

MARLOWE

reaches for the switch box.

HUNTER

loops an arm over the girder and a leg around the hook. He
slices the ropes holding his son.

MARLOWE

hits the "Down" button. The hook drops like a free-falling

elevator.

HUNTER

cuts the package loose from his son's legs.

FATHER AND SON

drop to the catwalk below and hustle down the stairs to the
main floor. They dart through a door that leads into a
diversion tunnel that runs parallel to the river on the
Nevada side of the dam.
 112.
MARLOWE

dives through a similar door and into another diversion

tunnel on the Arizona side.

DIVERSION TUNNEL - NEVADA SIDE

These tunnels were originally used to channel the mighty

Colorado away from its stream bed while the dam was being
built.

Ground water seeps through the rock pores of the tunnel

walls.

Hunter and Goofy Foot reach the stairs at the end of the
tunnel. They climb.

DIVERSION TUNNEL - ARIZONA SIDE

Marlowe reaches a matching set of stairs on the opposite

side. He climbs.

DAM SURFACE - INTAKE TOWER - NEVADA SIDE

Hunter and Goofy Foot exit onto the concrete walkway that
connects each intake tower to the rim of the dam.

DAM SURFACE - INTAKE TOWER - ARIZONA SIDE

Marlowe bursts into the bright moonlight on the opposite

intake tower walkway.

INTAKE TOWER - NEVADA SIDE

Hunter moves toward the dam. Goofy Foot follows. Hunter

stops and turns to face his son.

HUNTER
Brother to brother.

Hunter walks on.

RIM OF THE DAM

as Hunter and Marlowe reach the rim and turn toward the
center.

In the distance, we hear sporadic GUNFIRE. The battle

winds down.
 113.
EXT. VISITOR'S CENTER - PARKING LOT - SAME TIME

The mop up has begun. Emergency lights. CRACKLING radios.

Armageddon's aftermath.

An unmarked government car SCREECHES into the lot. The

back door opens. Aquagirl grabs the door and stands.
Wyatt walks over to her.

Duroy and Fordham share coffee with some Nevada STATE

TROOPERS and county SHERIFFS.

Slider, Bitterwater and Marley huddle with some PARAMEDICS.

As one, they all turn to witness the final showdown. High

Noon at Hoover Dam.

EXT. RIM OF THE DAM - SAME TIME

Hunter and Marlowe face each other.

MARLOWE
This day's been on the books for a
while.

HUNTER
Hoped it'd never come to this.

MARLOWE
You afraid?

HUNTER
Death's a problem only when you've got
regrets. Or unfinished business.

HUNTER/MARLOWE
(simultaneous)
I don't.

Marlowe gets down in a low, wrestler's crouch.

MARLOWE
Let's see if you've got any moves
left.

The two men circle.

Hunting. Stealthy, stalking, aiming, firing.

Marlowe grabs Hunter's legs, lifts him and slams him hard
on his back.

Wrestling. Primitive, grappling, primal, fighting,

survival. No teammates to blame for the loss. Just you
and him. Wrestling.

Hunter reverses and gets on top.

 114.
Backs arching and squirming. Like fish out of water.
GASPING for air. Both trying to stay alive.

Marlowe chomps down on Hunter's ear.

Hunter SCREAMS and releases.

Marlowe rolls away and stands. Hunter turns to face him.

HUNTER
Coach would've kicked your ass for
that.

MARLOWE
Coach wasn't into winning.

HUNTER
He was. But not that way.

MARLOWE
Whatever it takes.

HUNTER
Not any more.

Marlowe looks past Hunter.

AQUAGIRL

limps to the lip of the dam.

GOOFY FOOT

stares back at his uncle.

FLASHBACK - SERIES OF SHOTS

The photograph of Hunter and Marlowe at graduation.

The photograph of Rachel next to her brother, Marlowe.

The photograph of Hunter and Rachel next to the VW van.

The photograph of the young boy wearing a "Smokey the Bear"

hat.

BACK TO MATCHED SHOT

of Goofy Foot. That same young boy, now a man. And a dead
ringer for his mother.

Marlowe suddenly deflates. He seems visibly smaller.

Vulnerable for the first time in his life. A frequent
flyer on the guilt trip. And checking in for his final
flight.
 115.
MARLOWE
Never complain, never explain. The
cowboy way.

HUNTER
Tough to live up to.

MARLOWE
You know it is.

FLASHBACK - SERIES OF SHOTS

Hunter and Marlowe in the Forest Service.

Hunter and Marlowe drunkenly comparing tattoos.

Two young men. Two friends. Enjoying life and each

other's camaraderie.

BACK TO A MATCHED SHOT

of Hunter. That same young man, now an enemy.

Marlowe deflates still more. A haunted look inflames his

eyes. He holds out his hands.

Scars. Painful, bleeding, deep. The kind that won't let

the past die.

MARLOWE
You see it?

HUNTER
What?

MARLOWE
The blood.

Hunter glances at Goofy Foot and Aquagirl.

HUNTER
They'll heal. He's young. She's
tough.

MARLOWE
It was me.

HUNTER
Me what?

Marlowe scrubs his hands.

MARLOWE
No matter how hard I try ... I can't
get rid of these stains.
 116.
HUNTER
(SCREAMS)
What?!

MARLOWE
The windows were steamed up. I
couldn't see who was driving the van.

HUNTER
My God ... Caleb.

MARLOWE
I just ... nudged it.

HUNTER
You ... killed Rachel.

MARLOWE
It was supposed to be you.

HUNTER
Your own sister.

MARLOWE
I'm ... sorry.

HUNTER
There's not enough water on this
planet to wash you clean.

Something in Marlowe's eyes finally snaps.

MARLOWE
But ... there is.

Marlowe looks from Hunter -- friend and father -- to Goofy

Foot -- nephew and son. He smiles a crooked smile and ...

Begins to dance. On the rim of the dam, at the brink of

the world.

He stops. He turns and ...

Runs toward the precipice and ...

Leaps into the air. For a moment, he's suspended in

flight. An eagle, searching for home.

HUNTER
No more!

The SCREAM shatters the moment and ...

Marlowe plunges into nothingness.

Hunter and Goofy Foot race to the rim as ...

Marlowe disappears into the CHURNING water of the tailrace.

 117.
EXT. HOOVER DAM - SUNDOWN

The wind WHINES. Splendid in its absolute isolation, the

dam patiently, confidently waits for the day when we're all
gone. And it can transmit power and release water to an
empty world.

HUNTER (V.O.)
Water always wins.

SERIES OF SHOTS

Hunter stares down a panel of SENATORS.

Hunter and Wyatt preview the finished documentary in the

dark edit bay of KQED, the PBS affiliate in San Francisco.

Hunter and Goofy Foot hand out Surfrider Foundation

pamphlets on the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

Hunter and Marley finish a presentation about whales and

dolphins to the CHILDREN in Kit's class.

Hunter and Aquagirl sit in chairs on the set across from a

popular TALK SHOW HOST.

Hunter, Duroy and Fordham pass out compasses to PASSERSBY

at their informational booth in Berkeley on Earth Day.

Hunter, Slider, Wyatt, and Goofy Foot answer telephones,

roll up posters, and stamp envelopes in a small storefront
office.

EXT./INT. SAN FRANCISCO - EXPLORATORIUM - DAY

Hunter and his crew supervise several hands-on

presentations about environmental issues, such as global
warming, clearcutting, drift nets, acid raid, and
groundwater contamination. Curious ADULTS and CHILDREN
crowd the exhibits.

EXT. MONTEREY BAY - SUNRISE

Hunter stands at the helm of the ocean-going catamaran. He

checks his new compass.

Goofy Foot stands ready at the wheel.

Savannah sits between father and son.

A WHALE breaches the ocean's surface.

HUNTER
Thar she blows.
 118.
The boat is filled with WHALE WATCHERS. All dressed in
bright orange slickers and life-jackets. Eager to witness
one of nature's most dramatic spectacles.

Savannah stands and puts her arms around Hunter's waist.

Slider toasts his capitaine with a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Marley hands Bitterwater a life jacket. Bitterwater shakes
his head and grins.

Duroy and Fordham square off for one last shadow match.

Wyatt opens the main sail to catch the wind. And the boat
does, sailing off toward the whale and the setting sun.

FADE OUT: