Airframe

Airframe Unauthorized Screenplay by Maurice S. Devaraj Dated 1st August, 2001 Based on the novel “Airframe” by Michael Crichton. fade in: ext: pacific ocean – predawn We skim across the smooth sea at an incredibly fast speed, light just beginning to break out. We begin to ascend, slowly at first, increasing rate of ascent and we suddenly enter clouds. White fog and the sounds of a high pitch whine from a Airplane engine can be heard. A moment later we break out of the clouds to see a wide bodied passenger Aircraft moving in sync with us. We see “TRANSCONTINENTAL AIRWAYS” on the side. The tail carries the company emblem and the letters “TPA 545” We slowly zoom in to a port side window. Emily Jansen, a good looking woman, probably late twenties, disheveled hairs squints out. cut to: int: Inside TPA545- day Shot of a baby, P.O.V of a handycam wielded by TIM JANSEN, early thirties. The baby is SARAH, cute, very cuddly, seven months old. tim Sarah.. saaaraaah.. Smile for daddy.. smi..le Tim elevates to include mom. emily Tim.. No Tim.. I look awful. She turns her head away. Sarah puts her foot in her mouth. A couple of people walk by in the aisle in the background. There are both Chinese and Americans. A few are the off duty flight crew in uniforms. tim That taste good Sarah? Not waiting for breakfast? O.S sound of Emily laughing. A sudden mechanical GROAN. Almost imperceptible. SNAP ON Emily whose face carries Alarm. She snaps her head to the window. Fearful of the unknown. emily What was that? tim Take it ease.. The plane jars visibly. There is a sudden impression of the plane falling through air. SCREAMS Tim flies up, hits the overhead compartment. A Chinese woman, fat rolls bumps and lurches along the aisle towards the fore in the b.g. Tim‟s video camera can be seen flying from his hand. He smashes his head into the back of the seat in front of him. Yellow oxygen masks drop down. Tim slams back on the seat. He is pushed back in his seat. The plane is climbing at an incredible angle. Almost vertical. Tim suddenly slams forward into the opposite seat. A teenage boy smashes into the same seat having free fallen from the aisle. A splash of blood hits the POV. The boy tumbles off. The plane is now diving steeply again. A man with his seat belt fastened vomits from his seat. People are being thrown about everywhere. One man crashes head first into the overhead luggage compartment. One of the compartments opens spilling luggage on the seats below. More screams from the passenger. There‟s a sound of a child howling in fear. One man suddenly flies in out of nowhere and hits the ceiling. He seems to stick there. He falls down a long time later with a crash. His eyes stare wide open into the camera. The plane seems to have stabilized into level flight. Dead silence in the b.g for what seems to be a long moment. TIGHT CLOSE IN OF DEAD MAN‟S brown EYE transition to: int: Air traffic control room: day A BLUE EYE. Blinks. Shocked voice of DAVE MARSHALL. It is the Air traffic Approach control room. marshall (Nearly screaming into the mike) FORTY Ambulances? Pilot (V.O) (Slightly indecisive) Affirmative. (Beat) We had turbulence. marshall TPA 545.. you have priority clearance for emergency landing. (Beat) I copy request for forty ambulances. Spins in his chair. Gestures to his assistant, a woman. Mouths words „shit. Forty ambulances‟ His eyebrows raised in inquisition. marshall Any structural damage? Engine failure? (beat) Hijackers? pilot (V.o) Negative. marshall Anyone unconscious? pilot (V.O) No. (Beat) But two dead. Marshall covers the mike with his hand and turns. He frowns at the room in general. He turns back to the mike. Marshall Two dead from turbulence? What the hell‟s going on? He uncovers the mike. cut to: ext: runway –day Still ribbon of black Tarmac. SOUND of ambulance sirens. Increasing in pitch as they near. One by one Ambulances. TPA 545 lands. Doors open Medical personnel swarm every where. Four crew members walk towards an ambulance carrying one of the pilots. He is bare headed and apparently unconscious. Though the shot is three quarters profile, we can make out that they are Chinese. The group seems to move surreptitiously. cut to: ext: glendale, CA- day A street. We precede a pair of jogging shoes and gray sweatpants hitting the pavement rhythmically. As we move upwards towards the person‟s waist, it is obviously a woman. There are short beeps. We see Casey Singleton break stride, panting and check the beeper. Attractive, nearing forties, long limbed. ON PAGER as the words roll. “IRT WAR ROOM SEVEN OR YOUR ASS” cut to: ext: outside casey‟s house- day A Lexus stands and a man Casey‟s ex husband JIM smoking a cigarette waits as their daughter ALLISON ties shoelaces on the steps. Casey Jogs to a stop. casey Jim Jim grins irritatingly. Casey (Panting from her run) I thought we said no cigarettes before Ally. JIM Don‟t try to dictate to me. casey Jim.. allison Bye mom. She reaches for a hug. Casey sighs and turns. She hugs Ally. Her face reflects the wrenching feeling that she feels inside to be parted from her daughter for a week. casey Bye Ally. Remember your sweater. But Allison is already getting in the car and chatting excitedly to her dad ally Will you take me to the beach daddee? Please.. mom says she has no time. And maybe horse riding… The car drives away without either JIM or Allison looking back. Casey stands looking hurt. cut to: int: casey‟s car- day ON CASEY as she drives and fiddles with her radio tuning into one station after another. She gets frustrated after some time. Hits the dash with her fist. The car phone rings. She picks it up. casey Oh morning Norma! Hi. (Pause) What? New Kid? Assistant? She wrinkles her face in distaste. casey Norton family? Shit. Okay walk him to administration. I‟ll pick him up on the way. (Pause) What‟s this about an IRT? (Pause) No Idea? That‟s okay. Bye. She hangs up the phone. We Angle up through the windshield to see the wide gates with a sign reading GATE 7. ON Casey as she hurriedly shows her badge before clipping it to her blouse. The gates open and she drives in. Ahead it is a aircraft plant. Huge. To a side, there is a glass fronted building with a painted sign that reads ADMINISTRATION. cut to: EXT: outside administration- same Casey brings the car to a stop but does not kill the engine. A tall young man saunters over. Boyish looks. Sports coat and tie, khaki slacks and penny loafers. He‟s BOB RICHMAN. richman Ms. Singleton? Bob Richman. Your new assistant. He extends his hand. Casey shakes it hurriedly. casey I‟m Casey Singleton. Get in. We‟re late. richman (Incredulous surprise) Late? It‟s not even seven. casey (Through clenched teeth staring straight ahead and engaging gears) We start at six. Car races off, spinning the wheels for a second before accelerating. cut to: ext: building 64- day The car comes to a screeching stop. Casey climbs out. Richman affecting boredom follows. They walk into the huge hangar and climb up a staircase of metal steps. Their footsteps CLANG. Planes in various stages of construction stand lined up. richman Why‟re we here? casey IRT richman IRT? Casey Sighs casey Incident review team. We meet whenever there‟s an accident (Beat) Or incident. They come to a landing. Richman pauses but Casey keeps going. Richman shouts out after her. richaman You have an incident now? casey Probably yes. That‟s when we get called here. Richman How often do you meet? Casey stops and turns. casey Once in two months at an average. richman That often? Casey does not reply. But simply shakes her head in seeming resignation. Richman catches up with her at a catwalk which they have arrived at. richman Why is this place empty? He points down to the shop floor where the Airplanes stand. Casey looks down at the work floor and up at Richman‟s eyes for a long moment making him feel uncomfortable. casey There are approximately five thousand people working there at the moment. (Beat) But you‟re right. Five thousand is kinda empty. richman Five thousand? She turns away leaving him gaping and walks to a glass walled room at the end of the catwalk seemingly suspended from the roof. casey Welcome to the War room. She goes in. There‟s a round Formica table and simple tubular metal chairs. Five men in shirtsleeves and a secretary are already there. ON CASEY as she stops for a perceptible moment, her face registering surprise. In the room are John Marder, COO, looking slick and corporate. DOUG DOHERTY, glum face, bad dress sense, Nguyen Van Trung, Vietnamese, Ken Burne, Red headed, hot tempered and looks as though he‟s looking for a fight. RON SMITH insignificant and bald but genius. MIKE LEE, Chinese. casey Morning everyone. This is my new assistant Bob Richman. marder Sit down. You‟re late. casey I.. She‟s interrupted by the secretary giving her a thin folder with the company logo on the cover. Casey Thank you. marder (Attention on everyone.) Casey‟s handling press. She‟s now representing Quality Assurance at this IRT. Okay everyone? (Without waiting for any response he continues) Transpacific Air, TPA 545, N-22 fuse, departure from Kaitak, Hong Kong at twenty two hundred hours yesterday. richman (Whispering to Casey) Fuse? casey Fuselage. marder (cont‟d) Hit turbulence at approximately five hundred hours this morning. There‟s a collective groan. marder There were severe pitch oscillations. burne Altitude? marder Thirty seven thousand feet. casey Fatalities? marder Two stiffs. Fifty six injured. casey Weather anomalies? marder None apparently but you‟ll have to go through the sat maps and other flight weather reports. They‟re on the way. trung The crew‟s been debriefed I presume? marder (Pause. Looks at Mike Lee) They caught a connecting flight out. Surprise written large on everyone‟s face and they collectively turn to Mike Lee. lee (Uncomfortable) They have to report and attend the hearing in China. burne Who was the pilot? marder John Chang. Best in the business. Re-certified on our flight simulators only last month. van trung The FDR? Richman leans to Casey to ask a question. Casey beats him to the punch. casey (Whispered) Flight data recorder. The famed black box. doherty Maintenance? marder Faultless. There‟s a long silence. marder We‟ve eliminated human error, weather and maintenance. So what are the possibilities? Mark lee The engineering. There is anger written on the faces around the moon. Everyone starts to talk. Conversation overlapping doherty That‟s THE best wide body aircraft in the world Lee. burne Where‟s your fucking crew lee? Maybe it‟s pilot error after all. Maybe they turned their tails and ran. casey Ken.. Marder Quiet everyone.. (Pause. The shouting continues) I said Shut up. The room goes quiet. Marder We‟re here to find out if N-22 design is at fault. We are here to show that it‟s not N-22 at fault here. ken burne (Glaring at Mark Lee) We‟ll have it nailed John. I have full confidence in the N-22. (Beat. He transfers his look to Marder) I have it nailed within the month. Marder (Clenching teeth) I‟m afraid we don‟t have a month. I have to make an announcement. We have a letter of intent from the Beijing Government to purchase fifty N-22. (Pauses for effect) There is pin drop silence around the room. Every one holds their breath. dougherty (Whispers) Jesus.. It was true after all.. marder And we‟re finalizing the deal at the end of the week. (Another pause) Burne realizes what this means. burne Shit.. marder So you have one week. One week to find out what went wrong with TPA 545. It means life or death for this company. (Beat) And if you fail, the company is in deep shit. And everyone of us is out of a job. He gets up, looks at every individual in the room to stress his point. Turns and walks out of the room. burne Asshole. smith What? burne He‟s setting us up. We‟ve be getting competition from Boeing and Airbus and if he fails at getting the order, he‟ll place it squarely on us. dougherty Either way it‟s lose lose lose for us. trung Let‟s go take a look at the plane. cut to: int: lax maintanence hangar- day An orange mini van comes to a stop. The only aircraft occupying the hangar is the TPA545. The doors open and the IRT members step out. The six IRT members stride abreast purposefully across the hangar. TPA 545 stands in the middle with technicians all over it. Richman follows at a distance looking over the place. burne Let‟s do it. Like a Swat team in action, the engineers break into a run climbing up ladders onto the massive wing. Richman jogs to catch up with Casey. Richman (Critically) They all go right to the wing. Casey It‟s the most important part. Any fault with the aircraft itself would come from there. richman Where are we headed? casey Inside. They go towards the nose and climb a roll in staircase. Richman wrinkles his nose at the top. richman Phew!! What is that smell? casey Vomit. They enter the forward cabin door just behind the cockpit. Casey and Richman stop. Richman Jesus! The scene is like that of the remnants of a hurricane. Odd things litter the floor. Personal stuff. Some oxygen masks hang from the overhead compartment. Many are missing and some are on the floor. Vomit and blood splatters are everywhere. Some seats are broken. Bloody handprints and smears can be seen on the ceiling. richman What the hell happened here? Casey stoops over. She comes up with a mass of broken plastic and entangled tape. She hands it to Richman richman What do I do with this? casey Keep it. She moves forward. casey People were rolled about like dice in a cup. Richman is speechless. Casey goes aft sidestepping Norton IRT clean up crew in blue uniforms collecting the material and putting them in plastic bags. Back, the destruction is even worse. An overhead bin is partially open. Nylon mesh hangs in what appears to be a bunch. Looks like a large bag Almost completely hanging out. One of the clean up crew tries to free the nylon mesh. He pries the door up. Suddenly the mass of plastic swings free to end up just before Casey‟s horrified face. It is the body of a middle aged Chinese man. The mouth and the eyes are wide open and the neck is twisted at an unnatural angle. Casey screams. Sounds of running steps as Richman flees. clean up crew guy Sorry „bout that ma‟am. Looks like his foot is wedged inside. Casey nods. Trying to straighten her composure. casey How did he get there? CUCG Dunno ma‟am. He was just hanging there. Someone‟s wrapped him in the mesh to hide him. He looked gory. Another clean up guy passes by carrying a plastic bag with a blue cap inside. casey Just a moment. I‟d like to see that. The man hands the plastic bag. It‟s a pilot‟s cap with a stripe. Silver wings on the front and the yellow transpacific medallion in the center. casey Where‟d you get this? Clean up man Outside the aft Galley. Near the cafeteria. Casey looks at the cap pensively. cut to: INT: war room- building 64- day Richman gets up as Casey walks into the room. richman Sorry about running out. casey I got unnerved too. The four engineers walk in. casey Anything? van trung Avionics fine. doughtery So is structure. Control systems. You name it. Everything‟s fine. Burne Aircraft‟s perfect. richman Maybe it‟s just turbulence like the pilot said. Burne glares at Richman. Doherty interposes himself. doherty Straighten him out Casey. casey Turbulence is a catch all phrase. It happens but pilots have warning systems. Radar, other aircraft. Even if it hits your plane, there is time for the pilot to change course and evade it. Richman I‟m not sure about that. I‟ve been on flights with pretty rough turbulence. Burne (savagely) Have you ever seen anyone Killed on those ROUGH flights? richman No but.. what else is it? casey That‟s what we‟re here to find out. Casey‟s mobile phone rings. She walks to a distance and answers it. A moment later she joins the group. She looks at all of them. casey That was Mark Lee. richman What does he say? casey Guy‟s you‟re not going to like this. richman Like what? casey He‟s been getting taped eyewitness evidence from the passengers. He probably feels guilty about the crew. richman He has no business doing that. Does he? I mean he represents the carrier. burne Shut up kid. casey A passenger says that there was a groan from a wing. All the engineers groan. Doherty slips to the floor and clutches his head. casey And an Air hostess says that the pilot said it was an.. all the Engg together Uncommanded Slats extension. richman What‟s that? casey Uncommanded slats extension. How do I explain it.. van trung Do we have the UG demo software from UCLA? Show him that. burne Do we have to waste time on this? Jesus we have just one week and we have to teach this guy kindergarten stuff? Our asses are on the firing line. Casey ignores Burne‟s outburst. To Trung. Casey You mean the thing we did for the UG course. The PR thing. richman What‟s that? trung Yes. casey Good Idea. Casey walks to a corner of the room where there is a computer with a twenty nine inch monitor. Casey (back to us as she works on the computer) We had some undergrads come here and do this as a project. A PR thing. A simple solid model commercial jet appears on the monitor with the Norton insignia. As Casey speaks, the relevant pictures appear. casey The airplane flies entirely due to the wing structure. It‟s the most important part of the aircraft. The video shows the wing loom into focus and the wing break into a cut section to show the camber profile. Casey (cont‟d) Do you know Bernoulli‟s principle? richman I am a law graduate. burne Fucking Clarence Darrow. Casey Okay. It‟s a simple concept. When air flows over and under the wing profile, the air flow over the wing surface is relatively slower compared to the air flow below the wing surface. Got that? Richman nods. The video shows fluid arrows demonstrate the airflow around the wing profile. casey Okay. This causes a lower pressure above the aerofoil and a higher pressure under the wing. So the wing lifts and the airplane flies. (Beat) The monitor reverts to the complete plane. As Casey proceeds the relevant control surfaces are demonstrated on the video and the movement that they produce in the aircraft. casey (cont‟d) Now the controls. There are the axes of controls. The pitch, the yaw and the roll. She turns to the monitor. casey These are the control surfaces. The rudder for yaw or turns to the left and right, slats in the leading surface of the wing for initial increased lift combing with ailerons at the trailing surface and the ailerons also give banking movement. That is angled turn. richman All this is interesting but.. casey When we say uncommanded slats deployment, that means that the slats move forward during high altitude flight. Like this. She turns to the computer and the slat deployment is again illustrated on the monitor. casey When that happens at high altitude.. Richman It‟s just going to climb higher. Burne Shut up Clarence and listen. casey The speed and lift produced makes it go up and stall. Pilot tries to compensate nose up flight but it becomes unstable with slats out. So it pitches. She again turns to the computer. casey See what happens? That‟s what is called porpoising. richman So you have a case of uncommanded slats deployment. The aircraft‟s at fault. casey No. Richman raises his eyebrows in a mixture of sarcasm and surprise. richman Has there been a problem with slats? casey Eight separate incidents. richman So uncommanded slats deployment does occur on the N-22. casey It used to. Not anymore. richman No? But that seems obvious it does. You said the aircraft porpoised and you showed that slats deployment causes pitching. It‟s obvious.. burne Nothing is obvious. Come with me. casey Where are you going? burne Back to LAX. I want this slat thing settled for once and all. cut to: int: aircraft cockpit- day Back at the LAX maintanence hangar, everything is quiet now. The clean up crew has finished and just a couple of them remain. Casey Richman and Burne come into the cockpit. It is a typical commercial aircraft cockpit. Burne seats himself in the co-pilot‟s seat and gestures Richman to sit in the pilot‟s seat. burne Now Clarence, This is the pedestal. He points to the central boxy structure between the seats. There are many lever in slots on the pedestal. Burne points to one little lever with a dome covering it. burne Okay. This is the slats deployment lever. An uncommanded slats deployment is when the slats lever is accidentally knocked to the extend position. That is what used to happen earlier. We‟ve fixed it. Now engage the slats. richman (Sarcastic) I‟ve never flown a plane before. burne (Equally sarcastic) Good for us. Pull the lever up, then right and then down. Richman opens the dome and does as instructed. burne Now look at your display. The indicator light reads SLATS EXTENDED. burne Now your slats are extended. Now retract the slats. Richman complies reversing the procedure. burne Good. Now you‟re going to do an unintended slats deploy anyway you can. Go ahead. Anyway you can. Burne leans and closes the dome down on the lever. Richman tries to hit the dome. His hand simply slides off the cover. He tries all angles. The dome doesn‟t even budge. burne Here try that clipboard. Maybe it‟ll give you some leverage. Richman hesitates. burne (Screams at Richman unnerving him) Go ahead. You were the one who said anything was possible. Hit the sucker. (Pause as Richman tries) Are you a wimp? Smash that lever if you can. Richman tries with the clipboard. No effect. richman Maybe the dome was open. Burne Good thinking. Maybe the dome was open. He reaches out and opens the dome. burne Now try. Richman looks doubtfully. He again tries with the clipboard, with his hand. Every time the dome prevents contact with the lever or falls down closing it. Eventually Richman gives up, sweating with the effort. richman Okay. I get the point. Burne has let off enough steam too. burne (Very slowly) An uncommanded slats deployment is impossible on this aircraft. Richman gets off the pilot‟s seat and walks out of the cockpit. Casey begins to follow when she feels a restraining hand. burne A moment Casey. casey Sure. He looks out and around to see if everyone is out of earshot. burne What‟s with the kid? Casey shrugs. casey He‟s a Norton relative. burne What else? casey Marder sent him to me. burne You check him out? casey No. Why? burne I did. My friends in Marketing tell me he‟s a weasel. Check him out. (Beat) cut to: EXT: outside building 64- day Casey and Richman are dropped off by Burne in his car. Richman walks away. Casey comes around to the driver‟s side. casey Thanks Ken. burne Remember what I said about the Kid. Check out what he did before. casey I‟ll do that. burne Right now. The car turns and zooms off. She walks towards her car It is evening. Nearly twilight. Casey‟s POV, Security guards with side firearms teem outside the hangar. She looks around. Richman comes towards her. She starts walking when a burly man with a prize fighter‟s broken nose suddenly accosts them startling Casey. He is DON BRULL, Union leader. Casey recovers but Richman is nervous at the man‟s apparent hostile attitude. brull I need to talk to you Casey. He glances at Richman casey (To Richman) Gimme a moment. If you want anything with me, I‟ll see you back at the office. richman I think you need me here casey Bob.. get lost. Richman reluctantly walks away. Hesitantly. Casey and Brull shake hands. brull Casey.. I like you. I always have. casey Thanks Don. The feeling‟s mutual. brull I think you need to take a break. Maybe a week. casey Break? (Beat) Wait.. Are you making some kind of a threat Don? brull (Looking pained) Listen Casey. I‟ve always protected you. But something‟s big come up. There‟re rumors that the company is moving the wing production to China as part of the deal. They‟ve got document proof. (Beat) I can‟t protect you from something this big. casey Don.. that‟s crazy. No one gives away the wing.. brull Well that‟s what the union believes. And feeling are running high. (Beat) I can‟t protect you from something like this. (Beat) So lay low at least for a few days. He gives her a long hard look and walks away. She turns in the opposite direction at the hangar. The workmen in the distance all look at her. And it‟s menacing. Two men move out, one seemingly brandishing a long tube. He wears a baseball hat and the other wears a red checked shirt. An armed guard stops them and asks them something. Casey decides to make a run for it and walks quickly in the opposite direction. cut to: ext: outside casey‟s house- night Casey drives her car in. Gets out and locks it. She opens the door and goes in. int: casey‟s bedroom- night Casey is undressing. Stretches, yawns. Her phone rings. casey (After a pause) Hello Norma! norma (v.O) Casey I‟m calling about the kid. Richman. casey He‟s a pain. Wet behind the ears. norma (V.o) He‟s a snoop too. I saw him going through your desk and photocopying everything. Casey freezes. casey The son of a bitch. norma And he has long cozy conversations with Marder. Be careful. casey I will. Thanks Norma. I owe you one. Norma Forget it. Just be careful. Casey replaces the phone. She has a thoughtful look on her face. She opens her briefcase and takes out a sheaf of papers. We see her POV of one. It‟s a list of the flight crew. She runs her finger over the list and stops at one name. Thomas Chang. She proceeds further down. After a moment she feels the tiredness. She drops the papers and walks to the bathroom and turns on the taps. The phone rings again. Probably her ex. She picks up the phone. casey Hello Jim.. male voice (V.O) Don‟t be stupid BITCH. You want trouble, you‟ll get it. (Beat) We‟re watching you right now. There‟s a click. A shocked Casey hold the phone in front of her staring. She pulls on a dressing gown and switches off the lights. She goes around the rooms drawing curtains and blinds. She is scared. As she closes one of the living room window, she stops. From her POV we can see a parked car looking ominous. Two men in dark suits stand next to it looking at the house. She quietly runs to the door at a half crouch and bolts it. She turns on the burglar alarm and she picks up the phone and dials. Her hands shake. male voice (V.O) Glendale Police casey (Glancing backwards at the window.) I‟ve got stalkers outside my house. Male voice Your name and Address ma‟am. casey Katherine Singleton. My address is.. OVER TO the window as Casey‟s voice mutes. We see the two men straighten from their leaning positions on the car and walk towards the house. A long moment later, Casey appears the corner of our vision and she sees the two men split and go around the sides. We see one of the two men take out a gun. Only the silhouette can be seen. He seems to be a military type. Casey suddenly jerks towards the front door. Someone is at the door testing the knob. It slowly turns. Finds it locked. Tests again. Suddenly there‟s the welcome relief of a police siren. Flashing lights shine through the window. Casey moves to the window again, a bit boldly this time. We see two police officers get out of the car. The two men walk to them. Their backs block our view of the police officers. A tense moment later all four walk to Casey‟s front door. She opens it. She finds two young cops and the two men, seen more clearly now, crew cut and black suits. cop #1 Ma‟am is your name Singleton? casey Yes. cop#1 You work for Norton Aircraft? casey Yes, I do.. cop#1 These men are Norton security. They say they‟re guarding you. casey (Astonished) What? cop#2 Would you like to see their credentials? casey Yes. (Beat) I would like that. The two men hold out their wallets displaying the authentic Norton security badge. Casey lets out a sigh of relief. guard#1 Sorry if we startled you ma‟am. We thought you‟d been informed. casey It‟s fine. Casey locks the door behind the men and letting out a sigh of relief and a yawn moves to her bedroom and bed. Switching off the light, she gazes at the ceiling, deep in thought. transition to: INT: casey‟s bedroom- day Super: TUESDAY Casey‟s eyes flicker open. It‟s already day. Shots of Casey getting up. Going to the bathroom. Brushing teeth etc., getting dressed and getting out of the house. She locks it. EXT: OUTSIDE CASEY‟S HOUSE – DAY Casey gets into her car and drives off. cut to: ext: a digital electronics lab – day The door opens and Casey strides in. The room is crammed with electronic gadgets of all kinds. Monitors, CROs, digital meters etc., ROB WONG the programmer is seated before a bank of video monitors. He swivels around in his chair. ron High Casey. Sorry we got the data but there‟s a problem. casey (Sighs) Don‟t tell me.. ron Yes there is. There‟s a lot of data missing from the flight data recorder and we can run the simulation. It‟ll take months to do a reference patch up. Casey pouts. ron (After a pause) This is what it looks like. He turns back to the monitors. He has a keyboard in front of him which seems out of place. He taps a few keys and a wire frame model appears on a monitor. ron The model is simulating the actual flight that took place based from the data it has from the FDR.. But sometime later there‟s a lot of data lost which makes the computer virtually unable to correlate the different part of the aircraft. There.. (Pause) See? The airframe on the monitor seems to break up into different parts. The wings and tail seem to go off at different angles. ron I‟m sorry Casey. casey I‟m sorry too. cut to: ext: outside building 64- day Casey drives in to her regular parking space. Richman is waiting. He yawns. richman Morning. casey Morning to you too. They both begin to walk to building 64. casey Where were you before this? richman Marketing. casey So you know Marder before? richman Sort of. I was mostly with Edgarton. (Beat. looking around) Say what‟s the matter.. we have rabies or something today? Casey looks around. Workers stand, hostility written large on their faces. They walk into the building. casey They think the company‟s selling them out. That we‟re giving the wing technology to China. A klaxon sounds. richman What‟s does it mean to them? casey Job layoffs in the thousands. A massive crane lifts and moves a plywood crate as big as a house, very gently towards the door through which Casey and Walkman are walking in. A dozen men accompany the crate guiding it. It dangles at a height of about five feet. Casey turns and sees the flatbed truck that is supposed to receive the crate. When she turns back to the crate, all the men around the crate are gone. casey Uh-oh.. Bob.. RUN!! richman What? Casey pushes him in the direction opposite to the crate and begins to sprint. Richman stumbles and begins to slowly react. We see the massive hoisting chains slip the side of the crate slowly. And then.. CRASH.. The plywood splinters fly. The metal tooling clatter with a horrendous sound and the plywood pieces hit everywhere like spears, embedding in soft places. We see one fly and pierce Richman‟s jacket come out at the side. There‟s silence for a moment. richman Jesus Christ.. What was that? Casey (Beat) That is what is called a job action. Richman takes off his jacket and examines the hole made by the splinter. casey That‟s a warning. It‟s also a method of striking work. Causing damage and delaying. Showing their anger at the wing offset to China. She stops and stares stiffly ahead. Richman senses her tension, looks at her and then at her point of view. The two goons in the baseball cap and the red checked shirt walk towards them. Casey stands her ground. Suddenly a supervisor accosts them. He asks for their badges. The man in the checked shirt glares at Casey. Casey unflinchingly looks back. cut to: INT: casey‟s office – day Norma is behind the secretary desk, busy. Casey walks in, Richman in tow examining his jacket. norma Morning Casey Casey Morning Norma. Casey gestures to Norma to send Richman on an errand. norma Er.. Bob.. would you mind dropping these papers in Marder‟s office please? casey And get me a cup of coffee while you‟re at it. norma Me too. Here you go. She hands him a shead of stapled papers. Casey and Norma watch him go. casey Norma.. everyone‟s making me nervous about this guy. He sticks to me like a leech and.. norma Who else? casey Ken for starters.. norma He may be short on the fuse but he‟s got a good nose. Say is this boy of yours Rich? casey Rich? Out to be. He‟s from the Family. norma Well he‟s been running up a huge expense amount overseas. And he doesn‟t take company flights. All private. casey Where? Norma Korea. I‟ll try to get more. He‟s back. Casey casually straightens up from her crouched stance at Norma‟s desk as Richman walls in carrying three cups of coffee. casey I have to go check with Felix at the pilot training center. I want you to go to Air traffic control at LAX and get the weather reports from other aircraft at that time. Let‟s say one hour around five hours. (Beat) Got that? Richman Are you trying to get rid of me or something? casey Get rid of you? Why should I? We need the weather reports to rule out turbulence completely. If I am not around when you are back, leave it with one of the engineers. Richman Okay. cut to: int: flight simulation/pilot certification building- day It‟s a relatively small room but still big. Two flight stimulators stand in the room and a man with completely white hair in his mid forties stands in the middle. The flight simulators look like truncated nose cones on crisscrossing hydraulic lifts. The man is FELIX WALLERSTEIN. felix Casey! Let me guess. Flight 545? casey Any learned guesses? felix (Shakes his head) You could convince me that the sun rose in the west that day more easily than make me believe what happened to 545. casey Why? felix It‟s just impossible. What is the current idea in the IRT? Possible uncommanded slats deployment? Casey nods her head. felix Well, there is a difference between accidental slats deployment and uncommanded slats deployment. casey What‟s the diff.. oh I get it. felix Accidental slats deployment is human error and uncommanded slats deployment is mechanical error. (Beat) Norton hasn‟t had any of the later actually. But incase one did on this one. felix Let‟s see what happens if that occurs. Shall we? Over here. He leads Casey to one side of the building where the command console stands. Keyboards, switches lights and buttons are arrayed while a bank of monitors stand in front. Instructors sit before the console changing the flight parameters for the pilots in the simulators. Felix talks to the instructors. felix Who‟s in the N-22? instructor Ingram. felix Any good? instructor Average. A rookie. Casey looks up at the monitor that has a label saying N-22 below it. A man in early thirties sits in the N-22 simulator. Felix What‟s the Altitude he‟s flying? Instructor Thirty three thousand feet. felix Speed? instructor Point eight mach. felix Perfect. I think Mr. Ingram‟s getting a little lazy. Deploy his slats. The instructor reaches over and pushes a button. On the Closed circuit television, the pilot leans forward towards the camera and frowns at something. felix (To Casey) You can see what he‟s seeing there. On another monitor, Casey sees a light blinking. She can make out “slats warning” below it. felix And there you see what happens. He points to the flight simulator. The cone rises on the hydraulics with a low whine. The nose goes up. Felix gives a running commentary on what the pilot‟s doing. felix See? He checks to see the Slats lever to see if the lever is deployed. (Beat) No. So he thinks of what to do. He has plenty of time. And the plane is quite steady on autopilot. (Beat) See? He reduces speed and is coming down. Absolutely correct maneuver. So the plane is more stable even if the nose is still slightly high. The autopilot keeps him balanced and steady. (Beat) Let him off the hook. The instructor complies. casey Well the autopilot kept him steady. What if the autopilot failed? felix Good question. (To Instructor) Fail his autopilot. instructor Yes sir. Alarms fill the air. On the screen, the pilot looks at the blinking warning lights and takes the control stick in his hand. felix Is he flying now? instructor Yes sir. felix Altitude and speed? instructor Twenty nine thousand and point seven one mach. felix Deploy his slats. On the video monitors we see the warning lights blink again and the pilot look at them. The simulator noses up again. Felix gives a running commentary. felix See what happens.. (Beat) He‟s noticed the slats deployment. He has no Autopilot to fall back on. (Beat) He pulls back the stick. Slowly.. Delicately.. The flight simulator returns to normal position. felix There!!! He‟s stable. (To the Instructor) Autopilot on and slats deploy off. Continue as before. (To Casey) See? Even a rookie knows what to do. And John Chang was the pilot on 545. casey John Chang is a good pilot? felix No. casey No? felix John Chang is a superb pilot. One of the best I‟ve seen. (Beat) That was no slats accident casey. Trust me. (Beat) Lunch Casey? Casey I‟ll take a rain check. Got to run. cut to: int: war room- day Casey walks in. The engineers sit crowded around a television set. Richman is with them. casey Guys.. Felix says it‟s not slat dep.. burne Look at this shit Casey.. A way clears for Casey as she sees on the screen the video footage of a N-22 wide body with its port engine engulfed in black smoke. The voice of the t.v. reporter can be heard. T.v. reporter (V.O) Miraculously none of the two hundred and seventy passengers on board were injured. The N-22 wide body was revving for take off when the plane was rocked by an explosion from the left starboard engine and the wing was.. Sound drowns out as Burne explodes in anger. burne Left starboard engine? Left starboard engine as opposed to right starboard engine you asshole? casey Ken burne The only reason those people are alive is because of the Norton body you son of a bitch. Not in spite of it. casey Ken I want to listen to it. Please.. The video shows a teenage girl. t.v. anchor .. some reactions.. girl (V.O) It was rully rully scary.. It was a terrorist bomb. Burne Can you believe that? They put up kids opinions. old woman(V.O) (On t.v) I thought we were going to die. The whole plane was filled with smoke. We got down on our knees and prayed.. doherty That‟s right. In your car, you‟d have been smoke you silly twit. You‟re standing alive and talking because you were in a Norton plane. A Hispanic woman in a suit appears in front of the scene on the television. T.v. reporter While passengers now appear to be recovering from their ordeal, their fate was far from certain earlier this afternoon when a Norton widebody exploded.. doherty Fucking shit!! A Norton Widebody? It was a shitty sunstar engine which blew up. The Norton frame protected them you scab faced bitch.. casey Sunstar? burne We warned the airline. The engines had cracked up. Blades notches and vane cracks. They bought the engines second hand not heeding our advice. They couldn‟t pass up a bargain. And now.. (Points to the screen) Norton gets a bad name because of their mistake and bad reporting. richman But it‟s your aircraft.. it‟s your fault.. Burne, anger blazing in his eyes gets up and so do the other engineers. Casey interposes herself between them. casey Bob.. would you blame your car manufacturer for a tire failing on your car? richman No.. but you built the plane. casey No. We build the aircraft. The engine is selected by the buyer. Like you choose between Michelin, Goodyear or Dunlop for your car tire, the aircraft buyer can choose between Pratt and Whitney, Rolls Royce or GE engines. Or if they want, a second hand. (Beat) This is the buyer‟s fault for having put in bad engines. van trung Well.. all I can say is that the vultures are going to be flying if the word of the 545 disaster gets out. richman Vultures? casey The press. The vultures are really going to fly. Casey‟s pager beeps. She takes it off and read the message. “HANGAR 5 RON” casey Ron‟s calling us guys. What‟s there? doherty TPA 545. It‟s been moved in from LAX. casey Let‟s go. The IRT group starts to move. cut to: int: hangar 5- day Casey and others come running up to the wing on which Ron Smith is lying flat on. The leading edge has been removed and the innards exposed. ron Get up here. The engineers clamber up the ladder to the wing. Ron shines a light inside. ron Look at this. richman What‟s that? doherty (Resigned note to his voice) That‟s the slats locking pin. ron It‟s bent. He holds a ruler next to it. The slight bend is obvious. casey How? ron Counterfeit. There‟s stunned silence. richman What does that mean? doherty It means that there is a chance that the slats did slide out uncommanded. The wear on the pin means that it was unable to hold the slats properly. richman So it was an uncommanded slats deployment after all. Everyone ignores him. ron Not only that. The proximity sensor‟s a fake. Engine cowling is a fake. He rapidly moves across the surface to the engine cowling. Everyone follows and inspects the engine. burne Shit.. They installed the seals backwards too. doherty The cowling could do some damage but not what we‟ve seen and no sign of burn anywhere. richman So it‟s the slats. casey I talked to Felix. A slats deployment does not do that. He even demonstrated that with a rookie pilot. burne And the pilot on TPA 545 was John Chang. (Beat) What the hell really happened? cut to: int: war room- day Casey and Richman walk into the room. It‟s getting dark. Casey switches on the lights and the television out of habit. The news comes on. It fills in as background noise. richman So where are we? casey Nowhere. Let‟s go. We have work to do. I need you to get the parts list from.. Oh my god.. richman What? casey Look at that.. cut to: ext: newsline office-new york-day SUPER- NEWSLINE OFFICE- TELEVISION NETWORK- 8:00PM Jennifer Malone segment producer of Newsline, twenty nine, short hair, no nonsense attitude, slightly arrogant and cocky character. Jennifer sits at the desk, her head in her hands. DEBORAH her assistant, thirties, comes to her seat opposite. deborah What happened? Jennifer answers without looking up. jennifer Marty. The Saturday segment. Screwed it. Fucking prima donna. That‟s what he is. She grabs at the pile of faxes. Flips through them. Stops at one. We read “JAA delays certification of N-22 Wide body jet citing airworthiness concerns.” jennifer What‟s this? Deborah peers from her point and shakes her head. Jennifer crushes the piece of paper and is about to throw it away when she stops. jennifer Wait. Norton widebody.. sounds familiar. Was there something on CNN this morning? deborah The airplane explosion? I think it‟s on the Miami channel. jennifer Put it on. Deborah complies. The channel is running a news segment again. news anchor There has not been much change in the middle east and The president‟s proposed trip is being discussed. The anchor stops and gets a paper from the side. He glances at the sheet and looks up at the camera. news anchor We have a breaking news story on the Norton wide body aircraft which seems to have been plagued by accidents since Monday. (Beat) In the early hours of Monday, a Transpacific flight from Kaitak, Hong Kong to L.A suffered severe flight instability resulting in the death of three passengers and injuries to fifty passengers. The Aircraft TPA 545, is yet another Norton N-22 widebody. We have received video footage of what happened on the flight. Video footage comes on. The video shows cuts of horrendous incidents that have occurred on the flight. The footage shows passengers flying through the air, hitting the seats, tumbling, luggage flying, screaming and total pandemonium. The video goes haywire as the camera is buffeted about. news anchor This incident is the second the have occurred today seriously questioning the safety of the Norton N-22 aircraft. Certification.. jennifer DEBORAH.. Deboraaah…call CNN and get a copy of those tapes.. damn.. unbelievable… I‟ve got my damn segment.. Dick will flip when he sees this… Deborah.. ring up Dick for me.. deborah Yes Ms. Malone.. A harried Deborah dials on the phone. Jennifer comes over and grabs the phone. jennifer Dick.. did you see the news? The Norton flying death trap? Saturday night special baby.. dick v.o It‟s not a parts story I presume. jennifer No it‟s not a parts story.. I know how you feel about a parts story. This is a goddamned unsafe aircraft. A whole fucking aircraft. I‟m coming over with teasers. How does this sound? (Pause) Norton N-22 Iron maiden of the skies. The flying death trap. dick v.o The story better be as good. When am I getting the teaser? jennifer I‟ll be there in an hour Dick. cut to: int: war room- day Casey looks wild eyed at the footage. Richman‟s jaw seems to have dropped to his chest. casey There must have been another tape. (Beat) The shit‟s really hit the ceiling now. Her Cell phone rings. casey A moment Bob. (Into the phone) Singleton speaking. jennifer (v.o) Ms. Casey Singleton? Veepee of Quality Assurance? casey That‟s right. jennifer (v.o) I‟m Jennifer Malone. From Newsline. The Norton Incident.. we‟re doing a segment on it. For the Saturday evening slot. casey We‟ll be sending you a press package. jennifer We‟ll be airing it prime time.. Norton‟s.. casey I‟m a bit busy at the moment Ms. Malone. I‟m sure the PR office will be able to help you with whatever you need. jennifer You have to talk to me Ms. Singleton, We‟re going to show that the Norton N-22 is a dangerous aircraft and that.. Casey cuts the phone and stares at the display. The display shows the number and the question “Store?” She presses a button. The display now reads “Stored”. ON JENNIFER as she stares at her mobile. She talks to the dead phone. jennifer I‟ll fix you bitch. I‟ll screw you so hard that it hurts. cut to: int: administration building- casey‟s office- day It is getting evening. Casey sits at her desk and a man opposite her is spooling a tape into a cassette. He closes it. tech There it is. It may be damaged in parts but you can play it on a Beta player. casey Let‟s play it and see. The techie carries a beta cassette player and puts the tape in. He then switches the video player and the television set. A home video of Ellen, Tim and Sarah the baby somewhere in China. casey Forward it. (Pause as the tape forwards) Stop. Play it from there. casey Stop that. ON the monitor as we see Tim goofing off in front of the camera. casey Okay play it. We see the reactions of the people watching the video. We do not see the video itself. Just hear the sound track. casey Shit. What a thing to happen. richman It‟s terrible. casey Breaking rules. Flouting them.. richman What‟re you talking about? casey Nothing. (To the techie) Can I make a copy of it? tech Sure. Want me to do it? There‟s a Beta recorder in here. casey Please do. richman Why? casey Just in case. Excuse me a moment. Casey goes to her desk and picks up a folder. She riffles through a few sheets and takes out one. It is the crew manifest for the TPA545. Casey lays it on her desk and runs her finger through the list. She stops first and John Chang. The proceeds further down. She stops at Thomas Chang. Casey Bingo! She goes to Norma‟s desk and switches on the computer. She sends an email. We read a part of it which says, “SEND PIX OF TPA545 PILOTS JOHN CHANG AND THOMAS CHANG IMMEDIATE VIA EMAIL” ON CASEY as she dials again on the phone. casey Ed? It‟s me Casey. Are you in the office now? I‟m coming right up. cut to: int: legal office- day Ed Fuller Stand up and extends his hand in greeting. Casey shakes it. casey Newline is doing a segment on the N-22. Based on the two incidents. ed Freedom of the press. What else? casey Can‟t we sue them for misrepresentation of facts? ed Unfortunately no. Unless they knew what happened and misreported on purpose. casey I don‟t get you. ed What the newsline people will do is get the opinion of different people. Experts, not so expert and the company itself. And they‟ll project whatever they want to project. They‟ll even go to distort things within rules, cut, splice statements and so on. Till now the cause of the 545 incident is still speculation. (Beat) Now if the cause is known and there is evidence of the newsline people knowing the actual cause but projecting something contrary and libelous to the company, we can sue them. casey So we need evidence that they knew the facts. ed But we don‟t know what actually went wrong do we? casey No. But if we did.. ed Well yes. If we knew the answer and told them, yet they still went on the air misrepresenting the facts.. casey Thank you Ed. She comes out of the office into a corridor. She suddenly stops and retraces a few steps to a door. Casey opens the door. A Black long legged pretty girl sits behind a secretary‟s desk typing at the computer. She is Kim Saddler. Casey Kimmy? Kim Hi Casey. What brings you here? casey You were an athlete in college right? kim (Laughs) Why all of a sudden? casey (Grinning) Can you run? Kim The proverbial Neuces steer. I could have given Flo Jo a run for her money. casey Can you beat three people chasing you? kim (Laughing again) Why? Want me to purse snatch or something? casey Something like that. I want you to rob me. cut to: int: casey‟s office- night Casey and the others are watching the tape again. The door opens and Kimmy enters the room. Everyone turns. casey What‟s it Kimmy? kimmy Mr. Fuller wants some documents. Oh my god.. what‟s that? casey A tape from the flight TPA 545. Everyone‟s attention is back on the monitor. There is silence as the few remaining minutes of the tape runs and ends. casey The documents.. Kimmy Mr. Fuller said you had some documents.. casey Oh yes.. I forgot. Here.. (Beat) She hands Kimmy a file full of papers. Kimmy edges near the video player. We see her remove the tape and hide it in the folder. casey Bob.. We‟re done for the day. I think I‟ll finish some paper work and head home. You can go now. Kimmy heads out of the office as casey talks, quietly shutting the door behind her. casey Get me the tapes bob. Richman takes the original tape on the desk and then goes to the video player. It is empty. richman It‟s not there. Casey stands up and stares at the empty player. Casey It must be her. Kimmy. Quick. richman Her? Why? casey She‟ll make a fortune selling it to a news network. Catch her. Casey Richman and the techie all three rush out of the office. We see Kimmy at the far end of the corridor. She takes a startled look at the three and begins to run. The three give chase through the offices. Kimmy send waste paper baskets, stationary and other office stuff tumbling around as she races through a cubicle partitioned room. The chasers also upset some of the stuff. The techie trips and falls a couple of times. Kimmy goes out and down the stairs. Richman wants to try the lift but it takes a long time in coming. Casey sprints down the stairs. The other two follow suit. They chasers are in hot pursuit as Kimmy exits the building sprinting in the open area. It is obvious that the three chasers are no match to the fleet footed girl. She jumps into her car and reverses it full speed, turning into the three chasers, causing them to turn tail and scatter. She zooms off in her car. The three stop, panting for breath. richman Wha.. wha.. who.. I mean god.. she runs like nothing I‟ve seen. Unseen Casey smiles between gasps of breath. cut to: int: war room- building 64- night Casey walks into the war room. She is carrying computer printouts of two photographs. One is black and white while the other is in color. But they‟re the same picture. She puts them in two different files and places them in a safe. She comes out alone switching off the lights. She runs down the metal stairwell and stops. We see two men, the same ones wearing the baseball cap and the checked cap stand at the foot of the stairs. Casey stops. It is partially dark and she climbs up backwards. She turns and runs up the stairs. We can hear the metal steps clang as the men climb the steps slowly, knowing she has nowhere to run. Casey reaches the top and looks around jerking her head. She sees a narrow beam, a catwalk running from the side of the building. From the POV of the men, we see that they have seen what she sees. They begin to run up the stairs. Casey inches along the side of the building in the narrow supporting girder and gets on the beam. She walks, balancing herself. She pauses and takes off her shoes. She looks back. The men are at the end, hesitant and conferring about what to do. She nears the other and and looks back again. The men are hastily climbing down. She quickly gets on to the ladder and climbs down. Her feet slip off the rungs and she slides down bumping her chin and knees. She can see that the men are coming down almost as fast. She sees a landing to the side and grabbing the railing, swings herself on to it. She walks to the tooling for the plane. She grabs a cable hanging and holding it she tries to go to the other end. The men have reached the bottom of the ladder. As Casey makes slow progression on the cable, the men climb up the ladder and reach the cable. One of them grabs the cable and swings it, trying to dislodge her grip and make her fall to her death. Casey screams as she feels her fingers slip. She finally releases her hold on the high cable and screams, falling down. The lights suddenly come on and we see BRULL standing below looking up. Casey is caught on a safety net below the tooling. Brull Casey is that you? casey Yes. Those two men were after me. brull Which two men? casey Those two.. She looks up. The men have disappeared. cut to: INT: on the floor- night Brull has just helped Casey down to the floor. They walk to the outside, towards Casey‟s car. brull Are you okay Casey? Casey nods. brull I told you to watch your back. Now there‟s a board war, the workers are much more scared. Casey What board war? brull Edgarton and Marder. casey Don‟t be silly.. brull Listen Casey, these guys depend upon every single penny they earn. And they‟ll kill to keep their job. They don‟t make mistakes and if they say there‟s a board room war, then there is one. casey But.. both are working together for this china sale.. brull Well apparently not. I have sources which say one of them is trying to upset it. Casey stands looking shocked. cut to: int: dick shenk‟s office- new york We see a realistic computer generated image of a model of Norton N-22 Wide body flying through clouds, climbing and the fuselage open horizontally like a coffin‟s hatch. The inside of the fuselage is full of long spikes, all pointing inward, reminiscent of the Iron Maidens of the middle ages. A Jolly roger appears and the caption “NORTON N-22 IRON MAIDEN OF THE SKIES” come below. We pan from the image to see that we‟ve been looking at a television screen. Dick Shenks Stands in the middle of the room, a tough customer, crew cut, Iron gray hair and cold gray eyes. Slightly over the top in age. dick Are you sure this is not a parts story.. Jennifer Stay assured Dick.. Dick Because if it is, you are out of a job. jennifer I am sure. dick I want the segment so damned good that the Aircraft company goes bankrupt by the end of the year. (Beat) Got that? jennifer got it Dick. I‟ll screw them. cut to: int: jennifer‟s apartment- day Super: Wednesday Jennifer lies sleeping in her bed. It is obvious from the way the bed cover hugs her body that she sleeps in the nude. Her cell phone rings on the bedside table. Groggily she takes the phone and answers it. jennifer Hello? female voice (v.O) I‟m calling from a public booth in L.A. Who I am doesn‟t matter to you. But what I have does. jennifer I.. female voice. (V.o) I have a copy of a video tape that I‟d like you to see. It‟s a footage from the TPA 545 incident. jennifer It‟s already on CNN female voice(v.O) This is a new tape. Much worse that that tape. Something original for Newsline. jennifer How much? Female Voice (V.O) What? jennifer How much do you want for the tape female voice No. I am not being mercenary. It‟s just a matter of my conscience. I want your fedex charge number so that I can send it to you. Jennifer Okay. Just a moment. cut to: int: an office- day The office of FRED BARKER. Corpulent, reminds one of the term fat cat, balding but well dressed and groomed. Mid forties. He sits behind an eloquent desk. Behind him are rows of bookshelves with very technical books all related to aircraft engineering and or safety. Most noticeable on the desk is a model of the Norton N-22 wide body. Jennifer walks to a chair in front of the desk, away from the view of the three cameras. jennifer Okay Mr. Barker, this is what I‟m going to do. I‟ll be asking you questions to give you the idea of the general direction to take. (Beat) Got that? Barker nods. jennifer Good. Some of my questions will be edited out. So it‟ll be you doing a full explanation on your own in the final cut. Now let‟s go. Cameraman Camera on. Lights on. The strong arc lights come on. We see the actual interview as being recorded on the camera. jennifer Are you okay? barker Sure. jennifer Let‟s begin. You are a former employee of FAA Mr. Fred Barker? Barker That is correct. jennifer And your present occupation? barker I am a private consultant for flight safety. jennifer And what was the cause of your termination with FAA? barker I left. My principles didn‟t coincide with their lax policies. Their rules are more form than function. jennifer There are some allegations of you being terminated from your employment due to malpractices? barker A lie. There is no documentary proof of any malpractice on my part. jennifer I suppose you are familiar with the Norton N-22 aircraft and especially the incident that occurred on Monday morning. Barker‟s face looks very grave. barker Of course I am. Very sad. Very very sad. Especially as it was something that could have been avoided. jennifer Would you care to elaborate on that Mr. Barker? barker The cause of the incident as you call it was the result of an uncommanded slats extension. Look at this model. He picks up the model on this desk. And points as he talks. barker(cont‟d) The Norton aircraft has a history of uncommanded slats extensions occurring. In fact the incident on Monday morning is the eighth to occur. Despite warnings from FAA, the company failed to rectify the problem and the incident of TPA545 was the sad result of criminal negligence. The faulty slats extend during high altitude mid flight and increase lift towards the front. The plane begins to climb at an angle like this. The pilot tries to correct and the plane dives. Again when the pilot tries to bring it up to level flight, the plane over corrects. This is what is termed as porpoising. This is what happened on the flight TPA545. (Beat) The aircraft is so unstable that it is a miracle that they didn‟t crash. He is holding the model plane some six inches over the desk and he drops it to the desk as if symbolizing a crash. jennifer Cut. (Beat as she gets up) Thank you Mr. Barker. That was wonderful. cut to: int: casey‟s office- norton- day The phone rings. Casey picks it up. casey Casey Singleton speaking may I help you? jennifer Hello.. My name is Jennifer Malone. I talked with you the other day. (Beat) You cut me off.. casey Oh! I remember. I‟m sorry. I was very busy and my.. Jennifer We are doing a segment of the question of safety that seems to be affecting the Norton N-22. casey You told me. jennifer To be fair to you, we would like to include your point of view and opinion. casey You should contact the press department.. jennifer I did. I was directed to you by Mr. Marder himself. He says you are the spokesperson for the TPA545 incident. He says that you will handle the interview. casey Interview? What Interview? flash cut to: int: war room – day Casey watches bewildered as Newsline people rush in and out carrying cameras. Jennifer stands in the middle of all the hubbub with a clipboard in her hand. Next to her a very good looking man, suave, polished and the famous Interviewer MARTY REARDON stands talking to her, being pampered by everyone. He‟s a prima donna, very obnoxious but good at what he does. A make up woman comes and grabs Casey. make-up woman You look awful dear. casey I don‟t think.. make-up woman Hold on a second. Sit over there. She makes Casey sit in a chair and begins to work on putting on the make up. She sees the bruises on Casey‟s Chin and neck. make up woman Husband hit you? casey Had an accident. Make up woman gives a „I‟ve seen it all‟ smile. She takes a card from her purse and gives it to Casey. make up woman Just in case you need it. It‟s nothing to be ashamed of. He‟s at fault anyway. Casey is bewildered first. Then she begins to laugh. The make up woman is now confused. She hadn‟t expected this reaction. We move to Marty and Jennifer. Jennifer hands him a sheet of paper. His eyes go theatrically wide open and he whistles. ON Casey as she is fitted with a collar mike. A woman helps her thread the wire under her blouse and clip the transmitter to her waist, out of sight. cut to: int: war room- camera POV-day A bright flash as the lights are turned on. Casey sits in her chair, blinking at the powerful lights. There is a background noise of someone shouting. marty Good evening. I‟m Marty Reardon and we are here at the Norton Quality assurance investigating allegations of safety concerns in the N-22. I have with me Ms. Casey Singleton, Vice president of QA for Norton. (Beat) Did that come out well? jennifer V.o Perfect. It‟s just a back up in case we need an intro. Go on. Marty Are you ready Ms. Singleton? Casey Nods. Marty Ms. Singleton, how do you feel about the incident on the TPA 545? Casey We feel very great concern. marty Very great concern. Do you think that is an adequate response? casey Norton has great concern for air safety and the prevention of such incidents. That is why we build.. marty Three people died, fifty six were injured. Broken necks, broken limbs, concussions, brain damage, two people paralyzed for life and you say you are greatly concerned. Isn‟t there an ethical, Legal and moral responsibility? casey There is. And.. marty Well, if there is, shouldn‟t Norton have an obligation to fix an unsafe aircraft? casey The N-22 is perfectly safe and airworthy aircraft. marty The JAA, the Chinese government and many others do not think so. casey I am not aware of any such doubts. marty Isn‟t that the reason why Norton is selling a hundred aircraft to Korea? Throwing in the wing technology as a bonus? Exporting nearly a hundred thousand jobs to build the wing there. (Beat) Because China isn‟t buying unsafe aircraft.. Casey blinks. She is completely shocked. Marty speaks before she can recover. marty The JAA has refused certification. casey Delayed. And not over Airworthiness. Over noise emission.. marty Anyway you have an history of the same incident that occurred on TPA 545 taking place many times before. On other N-22s Haven‟t you. (Beat) casey No. marty (Eyebrows raised at such a blatant lie) No? casey No. This is the first time. marty Well, I have here a paper citing incidents of uncommanded slats deployment.. casey Which is incomplete. We corrected the problem. Issued the corrections to be made to our customers. FAA mandates the corrections to be carried out for American carriers but the foreign air carriers do not have an obligation to do so. If you will check that paper, you will find that the carriers involved were all foreign carriers. (Casey smiles. Nervously. For the first time.) Marty is visibly off. casey And the problem on N-22 had nothing to do with slats deployment. marty It didn‟t? casey No. marty So the people saying that it was a slats deployment that caused the incident are wrong? casey Yes. marty Mr. Fred Barker is.. casey He is wrong. marty JAA casey If the JAA says so, they‟re wrong too. marty So you‟re saying that it is a safe aircraft. casey Yes. marty You‟d fly on it anytime. casey Yes. marty Your family, friends.. casey Yes. marty So you are saying that it is a safe aircraft? casey Best in the Industry. marty (Smirking) Best in the industry? casey Listen mr. Reardon, Last year, forty three thousand people died in automobiles, forty thousand died from drowning.. how many died from Aircraft related incidents? marty (Chuckling) You‟ve got me.. casey How many? marty (Discomfited) I don‟t know. A thousand? casey Fifty. And the year before that? Sixteen. And how many on a Norton? marty I don‟t know.. casey None. Zero. Zilch. (Beat) The reason why aircraft incidents make the news is that it is rare and rare news is sensationalistic. You want death traps? Safety concerns? Look into the automobile industry. Road regulations. Food industry. Tobacco industry. Carcinogenic materials. We build aircraft with a factor of safety at least three. Which means that they are built to withstand three times the loads they are designed for. (Beat) As for the incident on the TPA 545, it was not an uncommanded slats deployment. We have a preliminary finding and we shall be announcing it tomorrow. After the test flight. Casey gets up roughly and storms towards the door leading to the rest rooms. We see Richman just slipping out. Jennifer looks at the figure of Casey storming out of the door and at Marty. jennifer Jeez. What happened? She made you look like shit. ON Casey as she catches up with Richman. She turns him around, grabs his shirt by the collar and slams him against the wall. casey You son of a bitch richman Hey! Take it easy. casey So you and Marder were planning to sell out the Wing. Only it was to the Koreans after all. richman (Smirking) Hey.. You‟re smart after all. How did you link Korea to me? Casey slams him again hard against the wall. casey And you sent Edgarton to China while you finished the deal with the Koreans. This is a Board war is it? And I am the pawn. Tell me. richman (Pushing her hands away.) You‟re finished. Kiss my ass and maybe I‟ll let you stay on for another three months or so. You think you fixed the newsline guys? They‟ll still run the segment. You won‟t be able to prove a thing on your „preliminary report‟ tomorrow except trash the plane as being unsafe. No one will buy an N-22 again. Except the Koreans. And you and your friends will be out of a job by then. (Beat) But I could keep you on. He looks at her, up and down lewdly. richman You still look good for one or two tumbles. Come over tonight? He leers at her suggestively richman There isn‟t much else you can do. casey (Gritting teeth) Watch me you dirty little bastard. cut to: ext: noron test facility- daybreak SUPER- Thursday, YUMA, ARIZONA Casey stamps her feet on the ground trying to stay warm. She stands alone from the Newsline crew who are unloading equipment. Casey walks into a one story Spanish style bungalow. Jennifer follows her in. jennifer Jesus! It‟s cold outside.. This isn‟t what I expected. She looks around the room. There are numerous monitors, each with a label indicating the angle and the area it covers inside the plane being tested. casey There‟s the cockpit camera.. high mount down, back facing.. and that‟s interior cabin, facing aft.. interior cabin forward, right wing, left wing.. And then there‟s the chase plane camera. jennifer Chase plane? casey An F-14 fighter follows the widebody all through the flight. jennifer Who‟ll be inside the plane? casey Nobody. jennifer You mean the seats will be empty? casey Not exactly. We have crash test dummies in the seat. No people. This is a test flight. This is how it‟s done. jennifer But it doesn‟t look good. Can‟t I go on board? casey It‟s a dangerous flight. The airframe was stressed by the incident. We don‟t know what will happen. jennifer Oh come on! There aren‟t any lawyers here. casey You won‟t like it. jennifer You‟re telling me it‟s not safe? casey I‟m telling you that you won‟t like it. jennifer I‟m going on. (Beat) How about you? casey I don‟t think so. jennifer Well you say it‟s safe.. doubtful about its integrity? casey Oh hell okay. I‟ll come. Let‟s go. They go out to the plane. cut to: int: TPA 545- day The two women shiver in the cold. Fluorescent lights illuminate the seats where test dummies have been placed. In some places, the wall panels have been stripped and the silver padding and bundles of naked wire are visible. Some of the seats are broken. Jennifer and Casey sit together in adjacent seats. A man in coveralls comes up to them and straps the green harness belts. Two come across the shoulder and meet at the waist while one wide strap goes around the thighs. The man in the coveralls pulls the straps tight grunting. jennifer Jeez.. does it have to be that tight? coverall man Ma‟am if you can breathe, it‟s too loose. Now here‟s the release here. Pull it. He points to a small buckle. jennifer Why do I need to know? coverall man Case of emergency. Pull it please. Jennifer pulls the release and the straps spring away. coverall man Now do it up again if you don‟t mind. Jennifer does it up again, slightly loose. coverall man Now tighten it please ma‟am. She pulls it tighter. coverall man Tighter. jennifer If I need it tighter, I‟ll tighten it later. coverall man Ma‟am, by the time you realize you need it tighter, it‟ll be too late. Do it now please. Casey is calmly strapping herself, brutally tight. Jennifer follows suit. coverall man I believe you ladies are pepared. You have a pleasant flight. Casey turns to Jennifer. casey Last call for you to leave the plane. jennifer I‟m staying. TED RAWLEY comes into the cabin from the cockpit. rawley (Almost angrily) Ladies.. I urge you not to do this. casey Fly the plane teddy. rawley That‟s your best offer? casey Best and final. Rawley leaves, entering the cockpit. The intercom clicks. voice over Intercom Prepare to close please The doors close. The intercom clicks again. rawley (v.o) Tower.. this is Norton zero one, request clearance for FT station check. CLICK voice (V.O) Roger zero one, taxi across runway two left contact point six. CLICK rawley Roger tower. The sound of the jet engine‟s whine fills the cabin. A low moan at first, it rises to a higher pitch. After some time of taxiing CLICK rawley Tower, zero one requesting clearance for take off. CLICK voice (V.O) Cleared runaway three contact point six three when off the runway. CLICK rawley Roger The plane rolls forward, the engines increasing from the high pitched whine to a deep roar. The airplane seems to taxi almost interminably. Then the aircraft suddenly takes off. CLICK RAWLEY (V.O) We‟re proceeding to flight level. Thirty seven thousand feet. Brace up. The aircraft suddenly angles up steeply pushing the women back in their seats. This angle stays on for quite a long time. As suddenly as the plane went into steep climb, unexpectedly the plane levels out into level flight. Sunlight streams though the windows. CLICK rawley (v.o) Okay. We‟re now at flight level. Three seven zero or thirty seven thousand feet. Beautiful day in the neighbourhood. Would you ladies please unbuckle your seatbelts and come to the cockpit? jennifer What? She sees Casey already springing loose her harness straps and standing up. jennifer I thought we couldn‟t walk around? casey It‟s okay right now. Jennifer releases her harness and follows Casey to the cockpit. rawley Casey you have someone over sat link waiting to talk to you. casey Who? rawley Edgarton. He gives the microphone to Casey. Casey turns to Jennifer. casey Ms. Malone, if you will excuse me for a moment. Jennifer takes the hint and walks back into the cabin and takes a seat. casey Mr. Edgarton..? this is Casey Edgarton(v.o) Ah.. Hi Casey. How‟re things up there? casey We‟re just going to commence the test. How‟s the China Deal going? Ed I‟ve got the ministry officials with me now. They‟re ready to sign provided you show that 545 was not a Norton fault. casey Can do Mr. Edgarton .. what about the offsets? ed The tail‟s being offset. What‟s this about the workers being arrested? casey Marder. He‟s trying to undercut you on the China deal. He was making a deal for the wing. ed The people here told me. When they found it was a under hand deal, we went back to the negotiating table. What‟s this about the workers? casey Brull and couple of other workers opposed the wing offset. There was some job action. But Marder hired a couple of goons to beat them up. And has them jailed. ed I‟ll look into it. edgarton (v.o) Best of luck. We‟re watching you Casey. casey Okay. She calls out to Jennifer. casey Ms. Malone.. (pause as Jennifer comes) Thanks for being patient. rawley Okay. We get to the problem on hand. Ms. Malone, you interviewed Mr. Barker. Didn‟t you? jennifer Yes. rawley What did he say was the cause of the accident? jennifer He said the slats deployed. rawley This is the slats lever. We‟re at the same cruising speed and altitude as on that day. I am not going to deploy the slats. He reaches for the lever. Jennifer becomes scared. jennifer Wait a minute. Let me get strapped in. rawley You‟re perfectly safe Ms. Malone. jennifer I want to sit down at least. rawley The sit down. Jennifer begins to move back but Casey just leans casually near the cockpit door. She hesitantly remains standing rawley Deploying slats now. Rawley pushes the lever. There‟s a faint rumble and the nose tilts. Then becomes steady. rawley Slats are extended. He points to the instrument panel where the amber light glows. rawley Check the speed, the altitude and that indicator which says slats. We‟ve just duplicated the exact conditions that mr. Barker insists causes the incident on this plane. (Beat) See what happens? The aircraft is rock solid. (Beat) Want me to do that again? jennifer (Unsure) Yes please. Rawley repeats the procedure. rawley See? Nothing happens. jennifer If the slats didn‟t cause the accident then what did? casey A sequence of events. Starting from a bad part. rawley Should start any moment now. jennifer What should? casey A slats proximity sensor is faulty. At cold temperatures it lights up without the slats deploying. jennifer What are we waiting for now? casey For that malfunction to occur. There.. The panel lights up saing “SLATS DISAGREE” rawley There.. (Beat) That‟s what caused the incident. jennifer It did? How? casey A cascade of incidents. One thing lead to another. rawley If you two ladies will go back to your seats and strap yourselves up, I will now attempt to reproduce the event. cut to: int: tpa 545 –day We find Casey in her seat, the harness belt across her thighs and shoulders. She is pulling the straps harder and harder. Jennifer is doing the same except that she is nervous and the harness is not tight enough. Casey glances at Jennifer‟s straps. casey Tighter. jennifer I already did.. Casey reaches over and pulls the strap incredibly tight. Jennifer winces. jenneifer Hey for Christ‟s sake.. casey (Clenching teeth) I don‟t like you much but I don‟t want your little ass getting hurt on my watch. Casey reaches into the front seat pocket and pulls out a white paper bag. casey And I don‟t want you throwing up on me. Jennifer‟s extremely nervous now.. jennifer Do you think we‟ll need that? casey I guarantee it. jennifer Listen.. maybe we should call this off. casey Like changing the channels on one of your programs? jennifer (Intently. She‟s scared) Listen.. maybe I was wrong. casey About what? jennifer About coming on the plane.. maybe we should have just watched. casey Too late now. The intercom comes on. CLICK rawley All right ladies. We‟re initiating the sequence. Everyone‟s strapped in tight? casey Yes. (conversation tight together) Click rawley Chase Alpha.. this is zero one initiating pitch oscillations now. click chase plane voice (V.o) Roger zero one. Initiate on your mark. cut to: int: a communications room in beijing- night Four Chinese and a white man stand looking at a bank of cameras showing the different camera views on the TPA 545 and the chase plane. The white man is EDGARTON. He turns to the Chinese officials in the room. ed Gentlemen. We have only one hurdle to complete this contract. What happened on board the Trans pacific Airlines on Monday morning. (Beat he points to the monitors) Our Quality Assurance team will demonstrate that what happened was not because of Norton N-22 being at fault. On the contrary, the fact is that because of our safe design, more lives were saved. cut to: int: tpa 545- day Casey and Jennifer sit expectantly in their seats, tense. The intercom clicks again. rawley Norton Ground, this is zero one, monitor check. CLICK voice (v.o) Check confirm, one to thirty. rawley Here we go. (Pause) I have now received my slats disagree warning. I am now extending the slats to clear the warning. (Beat) Slats are now extended. View out of the window. The slats move mechanically forward in the leading edge of the port wing. Back on Casey and Jennifer. rawley I am now out of autopilot. The aircraft visibly seems to slow down. SNAP A crash test dummy falls out of the seat. The nose goes up. CLICK rawley I now have a stall.. Harsh electronic alarms sound. A flat recorded voice sounds. recorded voice Stall.. Stall.. Stall.. jennifer What‟s a stall? casey It means that the plane is moving at a very slow speed at which it is dropping down like a ton of bricks instead of flying. Click rawley I am now bringing the nose down to avoid the stall.. We sense the plane suddenly nosing over and beginning to dive. cut to” ext: external view of TPA 545- day The aircraft visibly tilts, slows down as it reaches the peak of its pitch and plunges downwards cut to: int: tpa545 passenger cabin- day Jennifer begins to scream as the angle of dive increases The engines begin to screech in a high pitched whine. There are thuds and crashes as the crash test dummies fall out of the seats, fly and hit the back of the cockpit wall. CLOSE IN on Casey‟s face as she silently counts. Five.. six.. seven.. she is terrified too. The pitch of the engine‟s scream seem to become flatter. The plane seems to come back to a normal flight. rawley I am trying to compensate for the dive. The plane seems to flatten out and then it tilts upwards… it almost seems to have become vertical and we see Casey and Jennifer pushed back into their seats by the pressure, their facial skin distorted. The dummies fly in the opposite direction and crash somewhere behind. Some hit the ceiling on the way. The aircraft seems to be going into an almost vertical climb. Jennifer stops screaming. Her face holds terror. She is nauseated. So is Casey. CLICK rawley Second pitch oscillation. Jennifer begins to scream again. jennifer Stop it… Stop it.. CLICK rawley Releasing the luggage bins. Just to show how it was. The luggage bins open and white Neoprene blocks tumble out. They deform when they hit a crash dummy. The crash dummies tumble everywhere. There is a retching sound and Jennifer vomits over herself. The plane goes into a flat and then begins to dive. Jennifer explosively vomits again. She recovers but is pale and weak. jennifer Stop it.. pleassse casey (Shouting) Teddy. Hands of the controls. Rawley Another two cycles to go. Make great visuals for Ms. Malone. casey Teddy now.. rawley Grinning in the monitor. Taking my hands off the controls now. He follows the action by putting his hands up in the monitor. Jennifer‟s eyes widen. jennifer (Screaming) No.. No.. Nooooooooo There‟s the sound of the dummies falling back to the floor and silence after that. The plane levels out. Jennifer takes a few moments to recover. jennifer What happened? casey Teddy took his hands off the controls. Jennifer looks uncertainly at the monitor. Rawley still holds his hands up. jennifer How then.. casey The autopilot‟s flying the plane. jennifer I don‟t understand. casey All the pilot had to do was take his hands off the column. Even rookie pilots know that. (Beat) And the pilot was John Chang. One of the best pilots. jennifer Then why didn‟t he? casey (Looking at the monitor) Let‟s go back. cut to: ext: runway- norton test facility- day Casey and Jennifer descend the steps. Both are shaky. Casey goes to the Spanish style bungalow. She goes to the rest room and washes her face and dries it. She looks at her face in the mirror. Tired and haggard. The door of the room slams open. Jennifer Malone rushes into the room. jennifer Did you have your fucking fun.. casey Ms. Malone.. jennifer I don‟t know what you were trying to do there. I hope you had your satisfaction in trying to scare the shit out of me. (Pause) Barker is right. Your plane is a goddamned flying death trap. Do you know what the title of the segment is? The Iron maiden of the skies. A flying deathtrap. By the time I‟ve finished, you won‟t be able to sell one of your plane in mars. casey Actually you‟re not going to do it. jennifer You fucking watch me. Casey walks into the first room with Jennifer following her. casey Sit down. jennifer I‟ll be goddamned if I will.. casey Okay. Who do you think released those tapes to you? Who knew you were doing a segment on the N-22? Who knew your cell number? jennifer What are you saying.. wait.. are you saying that you called and you gave me the tape? Casey smiles. casey Look at this. She hands Jennifer a sheet. casey The flight had two crews. The Captain was John Chang. The first officer was Tom Chang. Look at this. She hands Jennifer a photograph. casey That young man is Thomas Chang. Look at his left ear. He wears a stud in his ear. He has close cropped hair. Now take a look at the cassette I gave you. She walks to the television, turns it on and the videotape. She forwards the tape. Then stops. It is a shot of Tim Jansen holding the camera on himself goofing off. A pilot walks behind him. Casey freezes the picture. casey That‟s captain John Chang. He‟s going aft. She plays the tape again. The scenes come on in sequence. On the baby, on the mother, the baby sucking her feet and suddenly the jarring sound and chaos. The camera fallen on, it finally and we can is blurred and after several shots of being trampled on, being of people falling before it and bumping into various things, comes lodged into the cockpit door. It is angled up slightly see the back of the pilot flying the plane. He has close cropped hair and in his left earlobe, there is a stud. He slightly turns and it is very obvious that we are looking at Thomas Chang. Casey freezes the frame. casey Thomas Chang is not certified to fly the Norton N-22. jennifer (Flabbergasted) He let his kid fly the plane? casey (Nods) And he didn‟t know what to do when the slats disagree came on. (Beat) Captain John Chang was in the toilet. Suffered concussion and died. In Vancouver. jennifer That‟s the story? On a commercial airline some fucking guy lets his kid fly the plane? casey Yes. There‟s nothing wrong with the aircraft. It was pilot error. jennifer Not everyone agrees that the aircraft is safe. casey (Voice cold) This is no longer a matter of opinion Ms. Malone. It is a matter of facts. We have provided you with enough evidence to prove that. Not all the evidence. We have some more but that is sufficient. (Beat) You are undeniably in possession of the full facts which show that the aircraft is completely safe. (Beat) If Newsline does not report these facts or if Newsline makes any suggestion that there is anything wrong with the N-22 aircraft based on this incident, we will sue you for reckless disregard and malicious intent. Good day Ms. Malone. Casey leaves Jennifer, mouth gaping and speechless and strides off. We follow Casey as she tiredly walks to where her case and coat are. She takes them and walks to the waiting plane that will be taking her back to LA. cut to: int: casey‟s bedroom- day Super- friday The pager at the bedside table beeps. Casey blinks her eyes open. She takes the pager. We read “BLDG 64 11 BE THERE OR UR ASS” Casey frowns. She gets up. The door bell rings. She answers it. Jim, her ex stands outside with Ally. jim She couldn‟t stay another moment. allison Mommy!! She reaches for a hug and bursts into tears. Casey hugs her and smiles. cut to: ext- casey‟s car- day Casey drives into Gate seven. And stops. The whole of the Norton facility workforce has seem to have assembled there. Casey guardedly gets out of the car. She doesn‟t understand what‟s going on. Ally gets out from the other side comes around and holds on to her finger. Edgarton steps out with a broad smile. Casey can see all her friends. Ron Smith, Ken Burne, Doherty, Van Trung, Norma and others. edgarton Congratulations Casey. Burne slowly start clapping. Everyone joins in. Casey is bewildered. casey Why? What.. edgarton Marder is out. You are filling his seat. And we got the China deal. We‟ve offset the tail and.. A roar goes up from the crowd. edgarton (Cont‟d) (Shouting over the noise) Sixteen billion dollars. All because of you. The noise subsides a bit. Don Brull steps forward. brull Casey.. can I still call you Casey? Casey Aw Don.. She reaches and hugs him. Brull reaches out pins a American flag on Casey. brull On Behalf of the Norton employees Union and the Union of American Workers, I thank you. We‟re getting a bonus. And our apologies for the incidents. I.. we.. Another roar and the crowd of workers surge around Casey shaking her hand and she finally gets lifted up over their heads as does Ally as we go aerial and the credits come on. FADE OUT. THE END Return to SimplyScripts.com