MOBY-DICK – Revenge and Redemption – A Filmscript - 4. Part 6 – Visionless Visions & Part 7 – Recovery

.

[Part 6 – Visionless Visions – I: Third Lowering]

EXT. SURFACE OF WATER – NOON

FLASK, STUBBS and STARBUCK are leading their respective boats in chase. A rising perspective reveals a massive pod of whales swimming downstream in one direction. As the shot arcs and re-descends it lands amid a swelling rise of spouts like a cityscape of chimneys and steeples. Some whales break off from the pack, and Stubbs and Flask break with them.

 

INT. STUBBS’ BOAT

PIP is among the crew, sitting at an oar at the stern of the boat. TASHEGO rises. He aims his harpoon. The flank of a whale comes near the bow, and Tashego lets loose. The whale is struck, turns ninety-degrees, and smacks the bottom of the boat right below Pip’s seat. Pip jumps up and over the side. He dives headlong into the water, and at the same time, another barb is sunk into the whale. The line is secured around the kingpost, and tightens under Stubbs’ hold of it. The whale takes off and tows the boat with it.

 

STUBBS

Don’t fret, Pippin, my boy! The Pequod will be along to pick you up.

 

EXT. SURFACE OF WATER

PIP treads water without panic, but soon all around him grows ethereally calm and quiet. Pip rotates in the water three-hundred-sixty-degrees – no ship is to be seen. He begins to look very worried indeed.

 

INT. STARBUCK’S BOAT

QUEEQUEG and STARBUCK wrestle with an already harpooned whale. They attach the lines to the kingpost and the whale speeds off. The boat begins to rock violently side-to-side over the swells. Up ahead, REDBURN sees the whale is taking them straight into the heart of the ‘city of spouts.’

 

A RISING SHOT

Shows several mile-long rings of whales swimming in concentric circles. In the center is a protective calm. Starbuck’s boat and the towing whale are heading right for the outside line of defense.

 

INT. STARBUCK’S BOAT

As the whale gets to the circle, the crew braces hard. The boat is pulled through the roiling rings of creatures with the bow gliding up and over whale-flanks and nearly tipping several times. The crew leans and hangs on through the blinding foam and almost deafening rush of surf and wood on flesh. Eventually the whale pulls them through. The crew blink in wonder, for though a hurricane of living tumult, the center is pure stillness. The whale slows and tows them to near the center, then stops. The men look about in wonder; the lines of opposite-moving spouts are about a half-mile in all directions. Suddenly STARBUCK hears a faint cracking noise. He looks down in horror to see the line around the kingpost tighten almost to breaking; the whale is diving. The boat begins to lower in the water from the pressure. Starbuck pulls out his knife, drops to his knees and desperately hacks at the line. The boat tips farther, the waterline comes up close to the gunwales, but finally the fraying line snaps like a firecracker, and the boat bobs upright. The men breathe a sigh of relief; many stand and try to measure the distance to the other side of safety. Faint sounds of Flask and Stubbs SHOUTING can be heard over the whales’ submerged chatter. Suddenly QUEEQUEG drops to his knees and grips the gunwales. He spreads his elbows flat and peers into the water. Some others follow his actions.

 

UNDERWATER SHOT

From a slowly descending shot of Queequeg’s face with blue sky behind him, we sink to find mother whales and calves approaching the boat. Some of these are very young and stick close by their mothers; some are teenagers, who dash ahead rollicking with each other. They are all curious about the boat and not afraid in the least.

 

AN AERIAL SHOT

Shows dozens of whales of all sizes surrounding the boat. Spouts come up playfully.

 

INT. STARBUCK’S BOAT

QUEEQUEG looks around for REDBURN.

 

QUEEQUEG

Look! One baby is in trouble.

 

UNDERWATER SHOT

As the teenagers begin to lose interest and roam off, one mother shields her newborn from their antics. This infant, perhaps only hours old, still has the long line of his umbilical cord attached, making it difficult for him to swim.

 

INT. STARBUCK’S BOAT

QUEEQUEG stands, takes off his hat and plops it on REDBURN’s head. He rips off his shirt, placing it in his mate’s arms, then takes his knife and clenches it between his teeth.

 

REDBURN

Queequeg, no!

 

Queequeg dives in the water.

 

INT. UNDERWATER

QUEEQUEG gets orientated and swims to mother and infant. The baby presses against his mother’s side, but Queequeg deftly dives below it and cuts the umbilical cord. It sinks out of sight. As the Polynesian begins to head for the surface, the mother and he make eye contact. She sees what he has done and silently thanks him.

 

INT. STARBUCK’S BOAT

During the following voiceover, crewmembers help QUEEQUEG on board. They slap his back in congratulations and REDBURN comes up to him and pulls on his neck. They touch foreheads, and Redburn places Queequeg’s hat back on him. Queequeg stands upright beaming; his body is all rippling masculinity in the glinting tropical sun.

 

REDBURN (V.O.)

I have heard that tranquility lurks in the heart of every commotion, and I fell in love with him all over again, for Queequeg’s centeredness is like that of the universal mind of love bent to a human heart. He was the light of the world to that fish, as he had been to me in the fog.

 

There are harsh SOUNDS from Flask in the distance.

 

INT. FLASK’S BOAT

In mid-attack, a whale thrashes. FLASK at the stern grits his teeth and uses a long spear to try and ‘hamstring’ the whale. He misses, but gashes the rear flank deep, and drives the victim mad with pain. The whale lurches, and the spear – which is already attached to the whale by another line – flies out of Flask’s grip. The whale takes off, towing the boat with him.

 

INT. UNDERWATER

The panicked whale swims towards the circle. Flask’s spear flails behind him in broad sweeps on a long line.

 

INT. FLASK’S BOAT

FLASK runs forward, balancing his hands on crewmembers’ heads.

 

FLASK

Hold on, boys!

 

The whale pulls them into the spouts.

 

UNDERWATER SHOT

The concentric circles of whales are paused by the onrush of the fleeing whale, but in the moment he passes, the spear slashes them mercilessly left and right. Blood, shrieks and confused chaos follow in his wake.

 

INT. STARBUCK’S BOAT

All the men pause; Flask’s SHOUTS become louder. Suddenly his boat breaks through the wall of moving spouts. The mother and children whales begin to gather around Starbuck’s boat as if for protection. The whale towing Flask’s boat heads straight for them. REDBURN and QUEEQUEG sink to their knees to watch the scene down below, over the gunwales.

 

UNDERWATER SHOT

The teenage whales rush up to Flask’s victim, and get gouged left and right. The mothers panic and begin to stampede, during which, many young ones are pushed aside and into the path of the slashing blade. Soon the mothers are gored too, and the whole environment is awash in screams and blood. Now the outer protective circles stop swimming and begin to gather in.

 

INT. STARBUCK’S BOAT

STARBUCK stands, cups his hands and shouts.

 

STARBUCK

Flask! For God’s sake, cut the line!

 

UNDERWATER SHOT

The mother and infant that Queequeg helped, watch as Flask’s whale heads straight for them. As he gets close, he suddenly turns. The spear flies right at the baby and kills him. The corpse begins to sink in a trail of gore, and the despondent mother slowly drops into the deep to follow her child.

 

INT. STARBUCK’S BOAT

Flask has cut his line and his boat comes to rest near the other. REDBURN and QUEEQUEG rise and look heartsick at each other. STARBUCK keeps his eyes at the perimeter of the circle. The spouts are closing in on them.

 

STARBUCK

(quiet)

Oh, God.

(rising shout)

Arm yourselves, men – we’ll have to fight our way out of this! Up sails! Row – row for your lives, damn ye!

 

Both crews do as told. Soon their oars are battling through gaps in the press of whales trying to escape, and those trying to see what the trouble is. STARBUCK, FLASK, DAGGOO and QUEEQUEG all stand with spears and slash fore and aft to make a path for the boats to escape the roiling sea of fish and bloody spray.

 

EXT. SURFACE OF WATER

As the gory SOUNDS fade from the previous scene, PIP continues to tread quiet water; only now his eyes are wide and fixed with the horrors of the visionless visions he’s having of the Pequod’s ultimate fate.

 

[Part 6 – II: A Shotgun to the Face]

INT. CABIN OF THE PEQUOD – EVENING

A pan of the room shows a gun case near the door, the lamps lit, and FEDALLAH and AHAB sitting at the table poring over charts. DOUGHBOY is busy at the credenza with a teapot and a plate of biscotti. PIP sits alone and silent in one corner. His vision is fixed on something unseen and far away. Doughboy takes the tray loaded with the tea service to the table. As Fedallah removes the maps, and Doughboy lays the items, Ahab regards Pip with intense interest.

 

AHAB

How is he?

 

DOUGHBOY

Not recovered, sir. He hasn’t said a word since his rescue. Something happened to him out on the water. Now he seems to be looking at something profoundly disturbing, but won’t say what.

 

As Doughboy walks back to the credenza, he pauses by Pip’s side. He glances, sees Ahab and Fedallah are not looking, so he touches Pip’s cheeks with the back of his fingers. Pip does not react. Doughboy carries on: picks up the tin of biscotti and heads for the door. As he opens it, STARBUCK rudely pushes his way in. Doughboy exits, but leaves the door standing open.

 

STARBUCK

(heated)

Sir!

 

The Captain does not bother to see who’s come in. He’s bust pouring tea.

 

AHAB

Who’s there...? On deck, begone!

 

STARBUCK

Captain Ahab mistakes; it is I. The oil in the hold is leaking. We must haul in sails and break out the hold.

 

AHAB

(astounded; slowly rising)

Halt, now that we are nearing our goal? Heave to for a week to tinker with a parcel of old hoops?

 

STARBUCK

What we’ve come twenty thousand miles to get is worth saving, sir.

 

AHAB

(distracted)

So it is; if we get it.

 

STARBUCK

(angry)

I was speaking of the oil in the hold, sir.

 

AHAB

(comes closer)

And I was not thinking of that at all. Let it leak. I don’t stop to plug the leak in my head, why so for one in the Pequod? On deck with you.

 

STARBUCK

And what will the ship’s owners say, sir?

 

Ahab slowly reaches for a shotgun, but holds Starbuck’s gaze.

 

AHAB

Let the owners speak for themselves. Let them, like my conscience, stand on a Nantucket beach and try to out yell all the typhoons of the Pacific.

 

He raises the gun to Starbuck’s face, and looks down the barrel at him with one eye closed.

 

AHAB (CONT’D)

Do you dare to think critically of me...?

(cock)

There may be but one God in heaven, but there is definitely only one lord and master on this ship.

 

STARBUCK

Beware, Captain. Not of Starbuck; but Ahab. Be wary of Ahab.

 

Fedallah rises and stands to the side to see the faces of both men. His expression is odd: ‘sneering in triumphant for Ahab; a fearful despair meant for himself.’

 

AHAB

Up there, Mr. Starbuck, or from down below, someone has thrust these cards into my hands, and by God, or what is left of Him, I will play these and no others. I’ll live in the game, and die in it too. Now, on deck with ye.

 

Starbuck retreats backwards to the door, and leaves. For a moment, Ahab leaves the gun aimed in the air. His eye opens as Fedallah closes the door. He uncocks the rifle, and slowly sets it back in the gun case. Both men sit.

 

FEDALLAH

(distracted)

Pip and Doughboy are a matched pair; same age, but contrasting in the rest. The Steward is dull; Pip bright; Doughboy a set of reactions; Pip a parcel of plans.

 

AHAB

(vehement; elbows on the table)

Tell me again what you have seen. Will the white whale be mine?

 

FEDALLAH

My predictions are simple: you won’t find the whale until you have seen two hearses on the sea; I will go before you, but still I will show you the way.

 

AHAB

And Moby-Dick?

 

FEDALLAH

I have seen what I have seen. The rest is up to your destiny.

 

[Part 6 – III: Spirit-Spout/Faustian Bargain]

EXT. MAIN DECK OF THE PEQUOD – DUSK

TASHEGO, QUEEQUEG and REDBURN quietly smoke near the bow. The sun has set ahead of them, and all is eerily serene.

 

REDBURN

The calm before the storm, eh? Tonight will blaze with our rendering fires. ‘And he shall purify…for he is like a refiner’s fire.’

 

TASHEGO

Aye, lad. A hard time ahead—

 

Tashego sees a spout break the water about five miles ahead of the ship. It is large and phantasmal in its whiteness. He stands upright and points.

 

TASHEGO (CONT’D)

Did you see that!

 

QUEEQUEG

Yes, the ‘spirit-spout,’ as the boys call it. It has led our ship on the whole journey from Valparaiso. It is too far to chase, and many say it is Moby-Dick watching us.

 

REDBURN

The one we chase, leading us from out

in front?

 

TASHEGO

It makes me nervous.

 

Tashego looks around; spots FEDALLAH coming out of

the cabin.

 

TASHEGO (CONT’D)

The men say Fedallah is an agent of the devil – they say that he is sailing us to our damnation. Our blood oath to Ahab was sucked up by him to offer to his master, Lucifer.

 

QUEEQUEG

Men are men, and Fedallah is one of us.

 

AHAB appears and stands by Fedallah’s side.

 

REDBURN

But that mark on Ahab; look at him standing there. There is a crucifix in his face, and some mighty woe upon his shoulders. He breeds himself in all of us, for as every creature reproduces its kind, misery begets its like.

 

[Part 6 – IV: Hell Fire]

EXT. QUARTERDECK OF THE PEQUOD – MIDNIGHT

REDBURN stands at the helm, wearing Queequeg’s gifted poncho. Above him, a perfect night twinkles with stars in the rigging. A light and crisp snap in the sails catches the tropical breeze. Far forward, the rest of the watch lounges near the windlass. Their eyes are fixed on the glowing fire from the try works. Here, QUEEQUEG, TASHEGO and DAGGOO, all shirtless and glowing with sweat, use pitchforks to feed the fire with whale cracklings and bones. Amid the smoke and orange-red glow they look devilish. His hackles are raised, and he suddenly sees PIP has been staring up at him from the main deck right below him. Pip’s stare is profoundly blank and disturbing. In a moment, DOUGHBOY comes out and leads Pip back into the cabin by the shoulders. Redburn’s attention drifts back to the men with pitchforks.

 

REDBURN

(to himself)

Devilish business.

 

Staring at the light from the binnacle to his lower right, he begins to nod off. He rouses himself, shuffles feet. He stares at the fire again; his eyes close and open. Now he sees a flash of FEDALLAH’s face. He snaps to with bright eyes and peers around. Fedallah is nowhere to be seen. Again he glances at the binnacle, then fades out. The sails SNAP.

 

 

BEGIN ‘DREAM SEQUENCE’ SERIES OF SHOTS:

 

A) EXT. SURFACE OF THE WATER – DAY

Pip treads water on a calm tropical ocean.

 

REDBURN (V.O.)

Pip floats on a perfect day…

 

EXT. MAIN DECK OF THE PEQUOD – DAY

Flashback of Redburn and Queequeg holding hands in the vat of sperm.

 

REDBURN (CONT’D – V.O.)

…A squeeze of myself into him – Love…

   

C) EXT. SURFACE OF WATER – DAY

Pip grows more and more frightened. He squints painfully at the burning sun.

 

REDBURN (CONT’D – V.O.)

…But there is no love for Pip. Out from the center of the sea, Pip turned his head to the sun, another lonely castaway, though the loftiest and brightest. But the intense concentration of the self in such a heartless immensity, despite the burning company….

 

D) INT. UNDERWATER – DAY

During the following voiceover, Pip descends through the sea as if an astronaut in space. There is no panic; he will not drown. Things glow; minute specs seem to possess their own intelligence. They curiously investigate Pip, gather and interact with him, and lead him farther down. Pip descends to the bottom of the sea, while slowly, an indistinct object comes into murky focus. It is a three-mast ship with balls of flames atop each one. She sits upright on the bottom with a mighty hole in her starboard bow. As Pip continues to get closer, some familiar features come into view, like whale teeth set in her bulwarks. Finally Pip alights on the deck and approaches the mainmast. There, looking preternaturally new and brilliant, is the gold coin Ahab nailed to the mast of the Pequod.

 

REDBURN (CONT’D – V.O.)

…Is an awful loneliness. So Pip’s horizons began to expand around him miserably, and although the jeering sea kept his finite body up, it drowned the infinite in his soul. Not drowned entirely, though. Rather, it was carried down alive to wonderful depths, where strange shapes of the unwrapped primal world revealed itself among cold, heartless, ever-juvenile eternities. Pippin saw the multitudinous, Nature-omnipotent, coral insects that out of the firmament of the waters heaved colossal orbs as big as planets. He saw Creation’s foot upon the treadle of the loom, and knew Man’s insanity is heaven’s sense, and despite all his impotent worries, Man can still come to some celestial reason – namely, that reason itself is absurd. In that place, that primordial seat, Man can feel that nothingness is next to Godliness – from there he can be as indifferent, and as callous, as his God.

 

E) INT. UNDERWATER – DAY

Suddenly Redburn is in the water on a bright day, as if he had just jumped in; champagne bubbles engulf him. He stops, looks down, and Toby is there. As Redburn reaches out to him in rising panic, Redburn loses some air in the form of large bubbles from his nose and mouth. An odd expression spreads on Toby’s face – of pity, concern, and of love. Toby holds out his arms, but descends in a field of rising bubbles. Redburn grits his teeth to dive after him, but suddenly there is motion next to him. Queequeg stays him with one hand on his arm and shoulder. He slowly shakes his head to Redburn’s pleading eyes. Redburn grabs onto his mate, and Queequeg takes him to the surface.

   

END ‘DREAM SEQUENCE’ SERIES OF SHOTS.

 

 

EXT. QUARTERDECK OF THE PEQUOD – MIDNIGHT – LATER

While the Doxology theme reasserts itself in the MUSIC, REDBURN slowly opens his eyes. Oddly, there is no light from where the binnacle should be. He hears the sails SNAP, but realizes the sounds come from behind him. He’s standing with the helm at his back, so, in shock, whips about and grabs the wheel. The coarse checked and corrected, he glances around; all on deck is as it, except now FEDALLAH stands where Pippin had been, staring at Redburn with a devilish grin. The red-orange glow from the rendering fire licks the side of the harpooner’s face and long white turban of hair.

 

[Part 6 – V: Dark Times]

EXT. SURFACE OF THE WATER – DAY

Sun glints off Pacific whitecaps; a running shot reveals waterfowl circling in the air, then wanders over to the Pequod bearing down from a distance in full sail. A spout rises up suddenly to lead the ship on. The view glides back and continues to the bow of the ship cutting the surf in powerful furrows. From the ship’s point of view, dark clouds loom ahead where the ‘spirit spout’ leads her.

 

EXT. FOREDECK OF THE PEQUOD – DAY

ARCHY and CABAÇO smoke near the forecastle hatch. FOOTSTEPS are running up the ladder, then DOUGHBOY appears with a determined cast to his features.

 

CABAÇO

Doughboy! What’s the hurry?

 

Doughboy, looking intent to run aft, stops, turns and cautiously goes up to the men. He glances down the hatch to ensure his words cannot be heard down there.

 

DOUGHBOY

Queequeg’s fever is worse. Much worse; it looks like he will die.

 

INT. CABIN OF THE PEQUOD

PIP and AHAB are alone. Ahab paces; Pip sits in a chair and watches. Ahab goes to the window, looks out, then becomes distracted by Pip’s frank stare at him. Ahab tracks Pip’s intent to the table, where he pulls out a chair, turns it to before the boy and sits facing him only a matter of inches away. He tries to match Pip’s intensity, but the young man is unaffected.

 

AHAB

Shark got your tongue, boy?

(then more serious)

Won’t you speak? Reveal what ye have

seen, Pip.

 

PIP

Pip...? Who’s Pip? Pip died out on the water – the coward!

(spits contemptuously on the floor)

All cowards who jump from whaleboats deserve to be abandoned.

 

AHAB

What did you see?

 

PIP

(leans in)

Hubris, sir. Of the folly of puny Mankind

against It.

 

AHAB

(takes Pip by the shoulders)

What is ‘It,’ boy?

 

PIP

(profoundly sad – slips his hand into the Captain’s)

You know, sir, I can see you do by the fire in your eye. That the visible world may seem formed in Love; but the invisible spheres are wrought in fear; that by its very indifference, the white whale shadows forth the heartless void of a universe which stabs out at us with thoughts of annihilation, and of mortality worse than death.

 

DOUGHBOY barges in. He makes Ahab jump to his feet, dropping Pip’s hand.

 

DOUGHBOY

(pausing only a moment)

Sorry, sir. I need a compress for Queequeg in the forecastle. He is much worse, and Ishmael…well….

 

Doughboy goes to the credenza. He roots around, puts some hand towels in a basin, and makes for the door. He pauses; comes over to them.

 

DOUGHBOY (CONT’D)

I’ll just take Pip with me to the forecastle; leave you to your solace, sir.

 

PIP

Who’s…Pip?

 

[Part 6 – VI: The Cross]

INT. FORECASTLE – DAY – LATER

Lamps are lit. QUEEQUEG lies in a bunk in a shivering delirium. REDBURN presses the back of his hand onto Queequeg’s forehead, then – as his mate opens his eyes – down Queequeg’s cheek.

 

REDBURN

You’ve worked yourself too hard…. Think of yourself first for once.

 

Redburn begins to hum the Doxology softly as he strokes his partner’s face, and as Queequeg’s eyes become fixed on his.

 

REDBURN (CONT’D)

Your eyes, Queequeg, they are just the same. The ones that rolled away the stone from the tomb of my heart, under the roof of The Spouter Inn; in Peter and Sal’s almighty bed. The eyes, Queequeg, death cannot hide a person’s soul. Lest his eyes reveal it again.

 

Redburn leans down; a tear wets Queequeg’s cheek, and the Polynesian sinks into sleep as Redburn kisses him, once.

 

 

BEGIN ‘QUEEQUEG’S DREAM’ MONTAGE:

■ Redburn and Queequeg in bed together in “The Spouter Inn.” Queequeg kicks his legs over his partner’s and draws them to his body. Redburn laughs and play-resists.

■ Redburn and Queequeg walk in Valparaiso. They pause at the cross on the wall, and Queequeg points to it in question.

■ The cross grows plain – becomes a silhouette – then Queequeg sees it floating on the sea.

END ‘QUEEQUEG’S DREAM’ MONTAGE.

 

 

Suddenly Queequeg inhales sharply. He half-sits upright. Redburn tries to restrain him.

 

QUEEQUEG

I don’t want to die by sharks. Do you

hear me?

 

REDBURN

…Sharks….

 

QUEEQUEG

Do not, partner, stitch me in a hammock and feed me to the deep.

 

Redburn supports Queequeg’s back.

 

REDBURN

Why think of that….

 

QUEEQUEG

Do this for me, Tommo – make me one of those boxes for the dead.

 

REDBURN

A coffin?

 

QUEEQUEG

Aye. Let it be watertight to carry my body to some pleasant shore and roost there among the roots of trees. Do this….

 

REDBURN

Yes. Don’t worry. I will.

 

EXT. SURFACE OF THE WATER – DAY

In a repeat of the sequence from the earlier ‘spirit spout’ time lapse, the mysterious whale leads the Pequod from out in front. The shot trails back and lands on the aft section of the main deck, where the carpenter is planing the nearly finished top of Queequeg’s coffin. It rests on sawhorses, and is orientated head-to-foot with the bow and stern of the ship.

 

EXT. MAIN DECK OF THE PEQUOD

AHAB comes out of the cabin. He is stopped dead by the sight of the coffin.

 

AHAB

(to self)

So, Fedallah – the Pequod herself is the first hearse.

(looks menacingly to the three masts)

One step closer.

 

ARCHY, CABAÇO, REDBURN and PIP take the coffin to show the dying man.

 

INT. FORECASTLE

Lamps are lit. ARCHY, CABAÇO, REDBURN and PIP place the coffin in the center of the floor. They stand upright; look awkwardly at it, and then at each other. Archy and Cabaço exit. Redburn goes to QUEEQUEG’s side.

 

REDBURN

Queequeg, it’s ready.

 

QUEEQUEG

Help me.

 

Queequeg starts to rise. Redburn calls Pip over, and together they help Queequeg stand.

 

QUEEQUEG (CONT’D)

I must test it out.

 

Pip takes off the lid.

 

QUEEQUEG (CONT’D)

Watertight...?

 

REDBURN

Chinked and caulked better than the Pequod herself.

 

QUEEQUEG

It is not ready. Place my harpoon in it.

 

Pip acts out the directions.

 

QUEEQUEG (CONT’D)

Yes. Then a flask of water; line the sides with sea biscuits; make me a pillow of sailcloth. Yes, like that.

 

Once done, Redburn and Pip help him in. Queequeg lies down quietly, folds his hands, and closes his eyes. After several moments, as the shot nears his face, he sits up, startling the two.

 

QUEEQUEG (CONT’D)

Yojo...!

(pleads with his mate)

I must have Him.

 

Redburn goes to Queequeg’s bunk and finds the man’s holy icon. He kneels down by Queequeg’s elbow and places Yojo in his hands. Queequeg raises it up and kisses it, then he extends it wobbly towards Redburn’s lips. Redburn sighs, grabs his partner’s hand to support it. He glances wryly at Pip, then briefly busses the figure. Queequeg, content, settles and closes his eyes with the godhead folded on his chest.

 

QUEEQUEG (CONT’D)

Now – place the lid.

 

As Pip and Redburn maneuver and lower the lid, Pip begins to sing.

 

PIP

(SINGS)

“Death is but the launching unto

A region of the strange untried.

For there the hint remote that died

Is there to wither

On a shore untrue.

 

To the longing that such men knew,

All-receptive the oceans spread.

Their arms embrace an eager bed

Where terrors quiver

As new fears ensue.

 

And so the mermen sing on cue

‘Come ye here, broken-hearted men.

Know a second life for ye then;

For come ye hither

And we’ll marry you.’”

 

[Part 7 – Recovery – I: The Rachel]

EXT. HIGH SHOT OVER THE WATER – DAY

Two ships are stopped alongside each other at a distance of an eighth-mile: the Pequod and the Rachel, of Nantucket. As the shot descends, a longboat is seen alongside the Pequod. A man is climbing up the rope ladder.

 

EXT. QUARTERDECK OF THE PEQUOD

STUBBS and FLASK watch as Captain GARDINER is helped onto the main deck.

 

FLASK

(joking)

I’ll wager that motivated spring in Captain Gardiner’s step means the Rachel’s Captain has lost something.

 

STUBBS

Aye, or had it stolen – his coat, perhaps;

or his watch.

 

AHAB and STARBUCK come up to the taffrail. Gardiner is walking towards them on the main deck.

 

AHAB

Hast seen the white whale?

 

GARDINER

(startled)

Aye, yesterday…it stove two of my boats, killed a man, and ran off with another crew.

 

Ahab swallows down his excitement and glares with vindictive vindication at Starbuck.

 

GARDINER (CONT’D)

(desperate)

Have ye seen a whaleboat adrift!

 

EXT. MAIN DECK

The officers have come down. The rest of the CREW – except Redburn, Queequeg, and Pip – gather around to hear. AHAB trails behind.

 

GARDINER

A whaleboat? Our whaleboat?

 

STARBUCK

Captain Gardiner, we have not—

 

AHAB

(interrupting)

Where is he?! – Not killed. Not killed! How was it you saw Moby-Dick?

 

GARDINER

We were upon a shoal, the boats out about four or five miles from the ship, when Moby-Dick attacked the attackers.

One boat affixed a harpoon, and he towed them off….

 

AHAB

Good – not dead.

 

GARDINER

(pleads)

My boy – my own boy is on that boat.

 

STUBBS

(aside to Flask)

I take back that about the coat; his

watch too.

 

GARDINER

For God’s sake, Ahab, I beg! – For forty-eight hours let me charter your ship. Together we can

sail just within sight and scan miles farther than just one.

 

ARCHY

(aside to Cabaço)

He’s drowned with the rest of them. Last night we all heard their spirits walking….

 

AHAB

There’s nothing to be done.

 

STARBUCK

(rough)

His son! For the love of your own son, you must help him.

 

GARDINER

I will not go till you say Aye to me. Do unto me as you want done unto you.

(Ahab seems moved)

Yes, you relent.

(to the crew)

Men, run. Run men of the Pequod and stand square in the yards with those of the Rachel.

 

AHAB

Avast. Touch not a rope yarn.

 

Ahab narrows his eyes; advances on Gardiner to push him back. His voice is low and smoldering.

   

AHAB (CONT’D)

Captain Gardiner, I will not do it. Even now I lose time. Good luck to ye. If there is a God in heaven, may He help thee, for I cannot.

(perfunctory)

Starbuck, look to the binnacle watch, and in three minutes from this instant precisely, warn all strangers away,

then brace forward, and let the ship sail as before.

 

Ahab turns his back on Gardiner.

 

STARBUCK

(biting down bile)

Aye, aye, sir.

 

[Part 7 - II: Power to Renew]

EXT. WINDLASS OF THE PEQUOD

Through the commotion of Ahab and Gardiner’s conference midship, REDBURN and QUEEQUEG sit quietly together. Queequeg is holding a steaming mug, which he lifts to his mouth. Redburn dotes on him, adjusting the blanket on his partner’s shoulders. PIP sits on the deck nearby and watches them.

 

REDBURN

You are better, much better. We’ll have the coffin removed from the forecastle.

 

QUEEQUEG

No. Tie it up, but leave it. I’m going to carve my face on it for you to remember me by.

 

REDBURN

Don’t talk like that. Your strength returns…

(fatalistic)

…but, how I don’t know.

 

QUEEQUEG

I have more to do, that’s how.

 

REDBURN

(tries to laugh it off)

But a man can’t make up his mind to live, if his body refuses.

 

QUEEQUEG

(in POLYNESIAN, with subtitles)

If a man needs to live, for a purpose, then not even death can take him.

 

Redburn leans in. They press foreheads; then kiss briefly. Pip jumps to his feet and acts like a preacher for them.

 

PIP

So it is with the resurrection of the dead –

What was sown in corruption

Is newly raised in purity;

 

What was cast in dishonor

Will be raised in dignity;

 

What was scattered in contempt

Has the power to love renew.

 

Queequeg fumbles with his blanket. He fishes our Yojo, which he presses into Redburn's hand.

 

QUEEQUEG

He protects you now. I can no longer be helped, but believe me, everything will be all right.

 

[Part 7 – III: The Second Hearse]

EXT. QUARTERDECK OF THE PEQUOD

As the Pequod gets underway, AHAB and FEDALLAH stand alone and look towards the Rachel. As Captain Gardiner’s boat draws away, a white-shrouded form is slipped off the Rachel’s deck.

 

FEDALLAH

Like Rachel from the Old Book, she goes crying for her dead and her lost children.

 

AHAB

The second hearse, seer: the Pequod the first; the Rachel, the second.

 

FEDALLAH

Aye. You grow closer to your goal.

 

_