Pioneer

This film contains very strong language

LABOURED BREATHING

It's all air.

OK.

FEEDBACK ON COMMS

-Hi.

-Hi.

Slight change of plans. I need you to step into the other chamber.

Don't break his heart, sir.

No, not Pete, you.

-Sorry, Mike, I have to take you out.

-What the fuck you talking about?

What'd I do? I didn't do shit.

Just do as you're told for a change.

Get into the other chamber. Or you're off the entire programme.

OK.

HISSING

495...

'496...'

BIRD SQUAWKS

What are they talking about?

MUFFLED LAUGHTER

LAUGHTER

Goddamn it, they're hallucinating.

500!

MUFFLED CHEERING

Let us handle the gas next time, OK?

'What would you say are the biggest challenges when diving this deep?'

'In very deep water the air basically turns to poison inside the body

'so a gas needed to be developed to help the divers

'breathe down at such depths.'

TV OFF

CLATTERING

HELICOPTER WHIRS

-Welcome aboard.

-Thanks.

Let's get below.

Yeah.

Give me a minute here. Fellas, straight on, I'll join you in a minute.

There's no doubt in my mind that this is the right group of men,

but we still have to prove it to the ministry,

that's the sole point of this verification dive.

It's only going to be 320 metres, three-man teams, 12-hour shifts,

you know the drill.

Focus on the job right in front of you

and we'll all end up making a lot of money together.

Who goes out first?

The Norwegians.

Why?

Cos I'm saving you for clean up.

-English, motherfucker.

-He said you're an idiot.

'Team One, enter the valve.'

'Going for the seal.'

How are you feeling, boys?

-Doing good.

-Never felt better.

Excellent. Petter, you're first, Jorgen will stay in the valve.

Good luck, boys.

Open gas supply, divers.

Gas opened.

'Diver one out of the bell.'

Diver one leaving the basket.

Petter.

'Petter.'

That's one small step for a man...

'Diver two, leaving the basket.'

'Do you have a visual?'

'I have a visual.'

OK, you can enter the habitat.

'Diver one inside the habitat.'

'Diver two, inside the habitat.'

HISSING

'Full trip.'

THEY LAUGH

HISSING

LABOURED BREATHING

BREATHING STOPS

HE GASPS

I got a seal!

RINGING

-Bell on the surface!

-Bell on the surface.

SHOUTED INSTRUCTIONS

Petter.

HE SOBS

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

MAN: So sorry, that's really tough.

Maria, we're ready to go.

Ferris? Just get me out of here, man.

-As quick as you can.

-You know I can't do that.

-Just put me on the emergency table.

-I can't take that chance.

I'm afraid you'll get decompression sickness.

Sorry, you've got to stay in there two more weeks.

HELICOPTER WHIRS

Listen, you need some sleep. Do yourself a favour and take those pills.

KNOCKING

Ferris isn't here.

Where is he?

We had a cut, I had no gas.

I was out of it before the explosion.

Just to try to relax, we'll figure it out as soon as you get out of there.

There's nothing to figure out, we both know who controlled the breathing gas.

That's not true, I kept an eye on the breathing gas.

OK, this conversation is over.

HISSING

WAVES CRASH

Ferris?

I'll talk to you later.

Where is Trond?

He's not on board.

I sent him home.

Why?

This touches everybody, Trond as well.

Look, Pete, we can have the best technology in the world,

we can take...every precaution in the world,

but still...

..mistakes get made. Don't they?

HELICOPTER WHIRS

Listen to me, son.

Nothing's going to bring your brother back.

Speculating, pointing fingers, that's not going to do anybody any good,

not Maria, not Martin, and certainly not the project.

There's a hell of a lot at stake here, you understand me?

I'll take care of the press.

-There's no...

-Shut the fuck up, man, you have nothing to do with this.

Hi.

Jorgen...

Help!

Would you mind putting that out?

We have hydrogen right behind you.

-<

-Leif.

Ferris would like to talk to you.

Now.

Ronald.

I'd like to see Jorgen's EEG tests.

Rats seem to stand pressure better than us.

OK, Jorgen's EEG tests...

See?

Normal.

I need a copy.

Staff medical information is confidential.

It belongs to Deep Sea Diving. They co-funded the project, so...

Pete, please, if there was something wrong here, I would tell you.

Honestly.

Tests like these are...they're really open to interpretation.

We also judge divers on their performance.

It really comes down to how you feel.

So how do you feel?

Fine.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Hey, Ronald.

Ronald?

DOOR CREAKS

Are you there?

DOOR SQUEAKS

HORN TOOTS

BIRD CAWS

BIRD CAWS

-Hei.

-Hei.

-Hei.

-Hei.

CAR DOOR SLAMS

You all right?

ENGINE FALTERS

What happened?

You tried to kill me.

That's...that's what happened.

Couldn't avoid you.

You broke into me.

Flipped that car...

Who asked you to steal these?

What?

These EEG tests. Was it Leif?

Where's mine? I want mine.

Where the fuck is mine?

-Why do you want it?

-Cos that shit could end my career.

You know your friend - Leif?

He's a fucking hack.

Says I'm neurologically damaged.

ENGINE REVS

KNOCK AT DOOR Ow!

Mmm.

HEAVY BREATHING

SCREAMING

DOOR CREAKS

TELEVISION CHATTERS Hello?

Leif?

Leif?

THUDDING

Leif?

DOOR CREAKS

Leif?

Leif?

Leif?

Hei.

CLATTERING

SHOUTING

Hei!

Hei!

BRAKES SQUEAL

Hei!

Hei!

DOG BARKS

CREAKING AND CLATTERING

HE COUGHS

ENGINE GROWLS

Leif died as a result of a morphine overdose,

according to the police.

The medical examiner has yet to verify that

but, erm...

I know at least some of you are aware of the courageous efforts that

Leif made to battle his addiction.

In fact, he's supposed to be in rehab this week.

Unfortunately, he never checked himself in.

For obvious reasons,

the family would prefer that the manner of his death

not become a matter of public knowledge.

It's up to each one of us to help protect a colleague's reputation.

Let's observe a moment of silence in memory of our friend

Leif Lindberg.

SHE WHISPERS Hmm?

Not after everything you've been through with your brother.

You need a break.

Besides, you're physically not prepared.

These boys have been training for weeks.

-Of course I'm physically prepared.

-Pete, that's my final decision.

-Maria, do you have a...

-SPEECH FADES

DISTANT CHATTER

HE CHUCKLES

Mm?

DOOR SLAMS

I'm sorry about your friend. Leif.

We all get what's coming to us.

Hey, missy,

you're a scientist,

inspect this!

THEY LAUGH

HELICOPTER APPROACHES

Huh?

Pete, you think your ready for this?

What?

You ready for this?

Yeah. You don't think so?

Slow. Perfect.

'Petter is going first, Mike.'

Fuck you, he's going first.

It's my fucking record, sir.

'This is not about your record, Mike.

'We're here to prove that we can build a pipeline.'

-It's all right, Trond.

-'No, it's not.'

He can take Phil with him and I can turn the bell.

'Just do as you're told, guys.'

This is bullshit.

'Open gas supply, divers.'

Yeah, it's open.

HISSING OF GAS

PETTER'S BREATHING ACCELERATES

Come on, Pete. Pull yourself together.

INDISTINCT VOICE ON RADIO

-TROND ON RADIO:

-'Begin to pressurise.'

'Philip, you have to do the welding.'

I'll do it when I'm ready.

'OK guys...'

..give me an update on the welding.

Guys?

FIZZING OF WELDING IRON

'Still there?'

'OK. How long do you have left?'

Should be done in an hour.

'OK.'

You pay for your photo, pin-up girl?

That's why you're here, right?

To celebrate all the work we've done for you?

WOLF WHISTLE

Is that Niagara Falls or are you just happy to see me?

-Welcome back.

-How you been?

-All right.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Mike. Mike.

-Yeah, man.

-Do you know where Ronald is?

I don't know, maybe he's still downstairs or something.

Petter? Petter?!

You leaving?

I've proved what they hired me to do.

I've got a sample of your breathing mix.

-Where?

-You tell me what's in it first.

I can get someone to test it for me.

And I will go public with it.

It's a secret, it's how I make my living.

By drugging us?

HE SIGHS

Let me show you something, Pete.

At the depths at which you boys need to work,

the nervous system is affected by the pressure.

You need an anaesthetic to work down there.

Anaesthetic?

Drug. Call it whatever you like.

You need something to overcome the effects of that pressure sickness.

HISSING

Have a look.

I want to explain to you why you need an anaesthetic.

Without it, you'd collapse.

We're just past 500 metres.

The big glass has no anaesthetics.

Which would you rather be?

I collapsed on drugs.

And my brother died because of it.

You blacked out, yes, but not because of my gas.

I know what happened, I saw the tape. Leif showed it to me.

Think about it, Pete. No-one else fainted, only you.

Jurgen was fine, and so was your brother until you passed out

-and caused the explosion.

-Jurgen's a mess!

Yes, both you and Jurgen are clearly affected, but not Mike.

And Mike's been on my gas more than anyone.

What does that tell you?

Why did you take him out of the pressure chamber, then?

Because I didn't want to expose him to Leif's misguided experiments.

And it turned out to be the right goddamn decision.

Your blackouts were caused here, by Leif.

He took away my gas, the one thing that could sustain you.

No-one can handle a gas change like that at 500 metres.

You began hallucinating, remember the albatross?

That's when both you and Jurgen began having blackouts.

So you're saying, what?

That my brain is damaged?

Because of Leif?

Why didn't you tell me?

You sent me down there, and you knew!

-You knew! Why didn't you tell me?!

-I tried to stop you from going down.

I tried to stop you, Pete, you wouldn't...

You wouldn't listen to me.

HEAVY BLOW AND A THUD

'Hey, Pete.

'Can you hear me?

What?

You've got something of mine and I want it back.

What do you mean?

You know what I mean.

The gas sample will be given to Jeger if something happens to me.

Hey, son, this is not a negotiation.

HE GRUNTS IN DISCOMFORT

HISSING

Pete, you're going to sit there until you tell me where it is.

Where is it?

Take him down again!

HE GASPS FOR BREATH

HE GROANS IN PAIN

Stop!

Stop!

Talk to me, son.

-I'll show it to you.

-No, you won't show me.

You're going to tell me where it is,

we're going to go get it and then I'm going to let you out of here.

Where is it, son?

Damn it!

Down!

It really doesn't have to be this hard, son.

Move.

MACHINE POWERS DOWN

What do you think you're doing?

If you want to kill him, you'll have to do it yourself, sir.

You need him alive, don't you?

The stubborn son of a bitch...

-Come and get me when he's out.

-Pete?

Pete, can you hear me?

All right, I'm bringing you back up.

-What about the decompression?

-We'll deal with it later.

If you bounce him back this fast, he might not be around later.

HATCH OPENS

-Do you have a pulse?

-Faint.

-All right, check his breathing.

I'm going to go get Ronald.

Aargh!

APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS

We need to bounce him right up.

He's got ten minutes before he gets decompression sickness.

Hey!

HE SNIFFS

TYRES SCREECH

GAS HISSES

GAS HISSES

ENGINE HUMS

SIRENS WAIL

Petter?

HE STAMMERS

THUNDER RUMBLES

Ssh-ssh-ssh...

HE GROANS

FLAPPING OF WINGS

-Hi.

-Hey.

CHILD YELLS

-Hi.

-Hi.

Petter?

The allegations would be laughable were it not for the potential damage

they do to my company's reputation.

They're just not true.

However, Deep Sea Diving did feel a moral obligation

to make an offer of compensation to his widow.

There were no pre-conditions.

I repeat, no pre-conditions to this offer of imbursement.

CAR ENGINE STARTS

ENGINE REVS