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"Ships in a Bottle"
"Ships in a Bottle" is a light hearted time travel/computer adventure that
pits 17th Century Carribean pirates against a team of engineers for control of
their computer. "Ships in a Bottle" is copyrighted and registered with the Writers League.
Jim Isbell
Copyright 1996
Austin Texas USA
FADE IN
EXT. AN ANCIENT SAILING SHIP AT SEA - NIGHT
An ancient galleon at sea. A fierce storm blows, wind tears the sails from
the masts. The ship pitches about helplessly totally out of control.
INT. BELOW DECKS AT THE BRIG - NIGHT
A 17th century sailor, GABE, bearded, scruffy, tries to open the lock of the
brig. The pitching of the ship makes it difficult for him to get the key
into the lock. There are two men, CURLY and JACK, scruffy bearded sailors,
and a girl, MARUSHA, 25, pretty but dirty, in a peasants dress, in the cell.
Gabe fumbles with the lock.
GABE
The ship is sinking! They've left
us to drown. The bastards have
left us to drown.
The lock comes open and the three prisoners escape. The group heads up the
passageway onto the deck.
EXT. ON DECK - NIGHT
On the deck they run about as if searching for something.
Finally they find it. There is one longboat still hanging from a divot on
one end. The other end has fallen to the deck.
The four get the boat lose and over the side into the water. They jump into
the water and climb aboard the boat.
Just then, before the longboat can pull away from the ship a bolt of
lightning hits the top of the mast and sets the uppermost sails afire. A
blue aura overtakes the entire ship and the longboat from the top down.
The sea suddenly calms and a haze settles over the scene.
The longboat pulls away from the ship as it lies sinking and burning in the
background.
EXT. THE MOTHER SHIP - DAY IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE
The "Mother Ship" is a company composed of a group of buildings made of a
terra cotta colored adobe clustered along a short street separate from the
rest of the town near a small lake and field of reeds.
The fronts of the buildings are decorated like store fronts and are the
homes of each of the different departments of the company.
EXT. STORE FRONTS - DAY
The names on the fronts of the "stores" are "Go Cafe", "Fiddle", "Ships
Store" and others. The names are in neon in some cases and in others are
painted on the glass fronts. The whole scene has the effect of a small town
in New Mexico in the late 50s (Art Deco).
EXT. FISHING VILLAGE - DAY
Some distance from the Mother Ship toward the small (about 25 acres) lake is
a small cluster of buildings that look like a fishing village. They are
right at the edge of a field of reeds and Cat tails. The wooden exteriors
are gray and weathered and the several store fronts seem to be selling
crafts and fishing supplies.
The cables from all the offices of the Mother Ship all lead to this cluster
of fishing buildings. From here they lead into the reeds to a small cluster
of duck blinds that have many dish antennas aimed overhead.
INT. THE MAIN OFFICE AT THE MOTHER SHIP - DAY
On the desk is a huge glass bottle lying on its side. Inside the
bottle is a model of an old sailing ship that is made of computer chips and
electronic components. The wiring of the circuit makes up the rigging and a
large black umbilical cord comes out the otherwise sealed mouth of the
bottle. The umbilical cord goes into a fitting on the wall nearby. JIM,
50's, gray, dark slacks and white shirt, ROGER, 35ish, dark slacks, white
shirt, COL. MARTIN, 60ish, three piece dark suit and BILL 20s, blue jeans
and tee shirt, mild British accent, are in the room.
JIM
Well, there it is.
Jim waves toward the bottle on the desk.
JIM
We just were able to fit it into
the bottle. Every circuit needed
to control El Paso is in there.
Looks great doesn't it?
ROGER
I would have liked the steam ship
model better. It really represented
the technological progress we've
made on this system recently. But
it does look good, I'll give you that.
COL. MARTIN
On another subject, you two guys are
the Gurus on this project and I need
some of your expertise in Greenwich.
Jim turns to look at Bill.
JIM
Bill is pretty well versed in this
project. He speaks English too. Not
American, but real English.
He spent two years in Salisbury,
just outside of London, studying
Stonehenge.
Jim pauses
JIM
Damned if I can figure out how you
could spend two years looking at a
bunch of rocks, but he did learn
the language.
COL. MARTIN
Yeah, I know but he just doesn't have
the confidence of the stock holders and
we have to keep them happy too.
JIM
Damn the stockholders, we have a job
to do.
COL. MARTIN
Well we need someone who can teach
those Limeys a thing or two. They
just don't understand our technology.
ROGER
You know,... one of those idiots
wanted us to make fog. Hell, that's
why we started this whole thing in
the first place, to eliminate smog
and fog.
JIM
I think Bill is a good choice too,
but if you need one of the two of
us I guess one of us will have to
go.
ROGER
I really don't think I can leave
here. This system is an evolving,
living, thing.
JIM
If I'm away for any length of time,
even just a month, I'll be unable
to catch up to its evolution.
ROGER
I think that we should alternate.
First JIM goes then I'll go. We
could alternate every two weeks.
BILL
If you're through with me, I'll
get back to the bench.
Bill leaves the room.
COL. MARTIN
I think that's a perfect solution.
Since you thought of it, Roger, you
can go first.
ROGER
Maybe we should get the rest of the
board to look at it first.
COL. MARTIN
Hell no, if we let them discuss this
it would be six months before they
made a decision. By then London would
be destroyed.
Jim turns and looks at Roger.
JIM
Do you know what those Limeys did last
week? They let it rain for 4 hours at
3 inches an hour on Clappham South. It
flooded the subway.
COL. MARTIN
And the resulting short on the electric
utility blacked out the entire city. It
was worse than the Blitz!
JIM
I had one old man call me and say that
he thought we had done more damage in
two days of incompetence than Hitler did
in two years of bombing.
Roger looks depressed.
ROGER
Okay, when do I leave?
COL. MARTIN
In the morning, the tickets are on the
way up now. By the way, you'll like the
Greenwich office. It's patterned after
an old sailing ship down at the docks.
JIM
Looks something like this.
Jim jerks a thumb toward the computer.
INT. MARY'S OFFICE AT THE MOTHER SHIP - DAY
Roger and Jim talk with Mary. Roger looks very self-conscious
Jim is quite at ease.
The two men are like two stags trying to impress the young female.
ROGER
All I have to do is make some changes
in the config.sys file and it should
work.
MARY
How do you figure out what parts of
the file to change?
Jim grins.
JIM
He just guesses.
Roger shows irritation with a frown.
ROGER
No, there is method in my madness. I
have a good idea of what it should be
doing.
Roger trails off.
JIM
Really its quite simple. You just
eliminate all the lines you know are
not needed immediately....
Mary interrupts Jim.
MARY
Is this going to be real technical?
JIM
No, its real easy. after you find
the right line then you figure out
what is wrong with it. Simple, right?
Jim leans on the desk and looks intently into Mary's face.
JIM
Computers really aren't too hard to
fathom. Just takes lots of experience
for it to be natural.
MARY
Well, they have always seemed somehow
like magic to me.
JIM
Those of us who are "Gurus" like to keep
it that way. We like being the Merlin's of
our society.
MARY
You aren't keeping it a secret.
JIM
No, but then, just as Merlin, I am a
sucker for an attractive woman.
Roger throws his hands into the air in a gesture of victory.
ROGER
Eureka, I've done it. I don't think you'll
have anymore problems with it now.
Roger swivels around in his chair to face the other two.
ROGER
One of the drivers was installed too
early and it was stealing time from
every clock cycle.
MARY
I'm really impressed.
JIM
Well, for a young kid he did Okay, but
he needs more years before he becomes
really good at anything.
ROGER
What are you doing here anyway?
JIM
Oh,.... I just came by to see what the
schedule was. The Chamber of Commerce is
planning a picnic.
MARY
Here's a schedule for the next two weeks.
JIM
They're planning a picnic for Saturday
afternoon in the park at Jaurez. Can we
hold the rain to the north side of the city
until after 5pm?
Jim turns toward Mary.
JIM
I'd like to take you to the picnic if
you're free.
Jim takes her hand and kisses it while bowing in a very exaggerated way.
Mary pulls her hand back quickly.
MARY
Hey, you can get germs that way.
EXT. THE PARK IN JUAREZ - DAY
Jim and Mary spread a blanket on the grass.
There is a wicker picnic basket nearby.
MARY
I wish Roger had been able to join us
for the picnic.
Jim shakes out the blanket and lays it on the ground.
JIM
Yeah, its too bad that equipment I ordered
was coming in this afternoon and needed his
signature. I should have thought about that
when I ordered it.
MARY
Do you think we should be so far from the
rest of the crowd?
JIM
Trust me, I know Jaurez and I can tell
you that this is the best location in the
park.
Mary and Jim situate themselves on the blanket and open the picnic
basket.
Jim withdraws a bottle of wine with no label.
JIM
I made this myself. I have a huge Mustang
grape vine in the front yard.
With an exaggerated movement he reaches into the basket and withdraw a white
linen towel to wrap around the bottle then finds a cork screw and carefully
screws it into the top.
JIM
You have to be very careful when you open
home made wine.
Jim pours wine for Mary and himself then spreads out a small table cloth and
covers it with a spread of food of all kinds.
Mary's eyes open wide at the display.
MARY
I have never seen so much food. Where did
you learn to cook.
JIM
I did it in self defense. When I lost my
wife,.....
Jim puts on a mock sorrowing look as if he is about to cry.
JIM
it was either cook or starve.
EXT. THE GREENWICH FACILITY - DAY
Roger arrives at the Greenwich facility. The ship is a very good replica of
a genuine sailing vessel. It is tied up at the dock. There are real cloth
sails tied to the yardarms and real longboats hang from the davits. The only
thing to give it away is the group of dish antennas on the foredeck.
Roger walks up the gangplank and straight into the front office.
INT. THE MAIN OFFICE AT THE GREENWICH FACILITY - DAY
SEAN, 30ish, very English accent, is seated behind a desk watching a small
TV screen on the corner of the desk. Roger walks into the office.
ROGER
What the hell are you doing? Don't you
know there's a fog alert at the airport?
Sean sits up removing his feet from the desk.
SEAN
Yes, and it will last for another 20
minutes. Who the hell are you?
ROGER
Your boss.
SEAN
Oops, you must be Roger Michaels.
ROGER
You got it! Now lets get this fog
cleared up and we'll discuss protocol
later.
SEAN
(mocking drawl)
Circle up the wagons, Partner.
ROGER
First I want to know why all
the fog?
SEAN
That's what people want, we have always
had it.
ROGER
Did you ever take a poll? How do you know
that's what they want?
SEAN
Well, its the way we have always done it
and I don't see any reason to change it.
ROGER
You weren't on that airplane when we came
in to Gatwick in 'zero-zero'.
SEAN
They say its safe, as being in your mothers
arms.
ROGER
I know computers too well to trust them. I
think if you've gotta have fog you should
keep it away from the airport.
SEAN
I happen to like fog, and besides the computer
is doing it without any help from me. I say let
sleeping dogs lie.
ROGER
Like the sleeping dog that lifted its leg and
pissed on Clappham South last week?
SEAN
We've seen worse in London. I don't see why
we should get all excited over just a computer
glitch.
ROGER
That's the problem with you Brits, you never
see any reason to get excited.
SEAN
Life is to short to get excited over every
glitch and bump.
ROGER
Life is too short not to get excited. ...
Which reminds me I brought over a case of
Wick Fowlers Four Alarm chili.
SEAN
Not again? We did that once.
ROGER
We're gonna have a party and I am gonna
show you guys how to eat, none of that
boiled lamb.
SEAN
I happen to like Lamb just as much as I
like fog.
ROGER
Well, were gonna have real Texas style
chili, tortillas to scoop it down with and
Lone Star beer to wash down the pipes.
SEAN
I'd better warn the chaps. Some of them are
still seeing their gastroenterologists from
that last visit.
ROGER
The trouble with the English is they don't
know good food when they eat it.
SEAN
The trouble with Americans is that they
think everyone has a cast iron stomach. You
chaps have stomachs that will digest tin cans.
ROGER
It comes from a discerning diet.
SEAN
It comes from living with those Indian savages
for the last 300 years.