LEGASOV I'd prefer one of those.
She looks at him oddly. Uhh, okay. She takes one of the glasses he wants, and pours him his drink.
The HUSBAND AND WIFE have stopped chatting. They've noticed this. Legasov doesn't realize they're looking at him unticlass="underline"
LOCAL WIFE
Moscow?
He looks over at her. What? Oh. His clothes... or his face? He nods. Lost.
LOCAL WIFE Superstitious?
Your strange request about the glass?
Oh. Yeah. Superstitious. He turns back to his drink, but:
LOCAL WIFE Are you here because of the fire?
Please stop asking questions. Legasov nods. Yes. The wife and husband share a look. Then:
LOCAL WIFE Anything we should be worried about?
Legasov turns to them. They're trying to disguise their concern... their fear... but doing a poor job of it.
A long pause. Tell them. Tell them. Tell them.
LEGASOV
No.
The couple do another poor job of disguising their relief. They each raise a glass to him. He raises his to them, and then he drinks. Fast.
CLOSE ON LEGASOV: the bottle enters frame. Pours another.
We stay CLOSE ON LEGASOV, soaking in his fear and guilt and frustration, and all sound FADES TO SILENCE.
DISSOLVE TO:
235 EXT. ABOVE THE PRIPYAT FOREST - MORNING 235
WE MOVE SILENTLY IN THE AIR - over the pine forest. What started as a narrow band of reddish/brown trees has widened. Death is spreading.
236 INT. FOREST - CONTINUOUS 236
A thick mist hangs over the ground. The only sound is the occasional creak of wood.
The mist shifts, and now we see the forest floor. Blanketed in dead pine needles.
The corpse of a deer.
Now we hear: a faint whup-whup-whup-whup
In the distance, PINE NEEDLES are blown off of dead trees... the sound grows to a DEAFENING ROAR... the wave of air and pine needles rushes closer, and:
LOOK UP THROUGH THE TREES TO SEE: a squadron of SOVIET AIR FORCE HELICOPTERS flying by in formation.
237 EXT. ABOVE THE FOREST - CONTINUOUS 237
The helicopters bank around toward Chernobyl. TITLE:
MORNING, APRIL 27 30 HOURS AFTER THE EXPLOSION
238 OMITTED 238
239 EXT. ROOF OF ADMIN BUILDING - CHERNOBYL - CONTINUOUS 239
LEGASOV stands on the roof, watching the helicopters through binoculars.
Shcherbina stands next to him. Behind them, set up on a small portable table, is a STASIUK, a RADIO OFFICER with a radio and microphone.
We hear the squawk of voices over the radio.
BASE COMMAND (RADIO) Boris squadron, maintain altitude, hold at 5 kilometers. Anna squadron proceed to pattern. Lead One begin approach. Keep clear of the construction cranes on the south edge of the zone, and move in from the east.
As Legasov watches, four helicopters come closer. Three
remain in a holding pattern while the LEAD COPTER begins to
move slowly toward the reactor site.
PILOT (RADIO) Anna squadron to pattern, Lead One on approach from east.
The lead helicopter BANKS as it begins to move toward the
PLUME OF SMOKE. Legasov watches. Nervous.
LEGASOV
Remind them about the perimeter.
Stasiuk looks to Shcherbina for the okay on that.
Shcherbina scowls. Doesn't like taking orders from Legasov.
But nods. Fine.
STASIUK (into mic) They cannot fly directly over the fire. A minimum of a ten meter perimeter.
BASE COMMAND (RADIO) Ten meter perimeter, copy.
A bit of static, then:
BASE COMMAND (RADIO) Lead One, per preflight-- maintain minimum ten meter perimeter.
PILOT (RADIO) Cop[distortion].
Legasov continues to peer through the binoculars.
Shcherbina just watches with his eyes. Unblinking.
The helicopter moves slowly toward the plume of smoke.
PILOT (RADIO) Forty meters. [distortion]-five Thirty.
The smoke suddenly SHIFTS, and washing over the helicopter, partially obscuring it.
Legasov lowers the binoculars. He's lost sight of the copter.
ON THE RADIO - the signal is starting to distort. Then:
PILOT (RADIO) (breaking up) —visibility, I [can't]—
(breaking up) —twent[y]—
BASE COMMAND (RADIO) Lead One, repeat.
PILOT (RADIO) [distortion] are we [distortion]
BASE COMMAND (RADIO) Repeat. Repeat.
The wind shifts, and the smoke moves away, briefly REVEALING THE COPTER. It's drifting RIGHT OVER THE FIRE.
LEGASOV
No no no— they're too close.
The smoke returns, OBSCURING THE HELICOPTER again.
Stasiuk looks to Shcherbina.
LEGASOV (no time for this) They cannot go over the core-- tell them!
Shcherbina gives Stasiuk another nod. Do it.
STASIUK
Lead One is too close, I repeat they are too close!
BASE COMMAND (RADIO)
Copy.
(beat)
Lead One, you are inside the perimeter. Abort. Abort.
PILOT (RADIO) [distortion] can't [distortion]
As the wind buffets the smoke, we catch GLIMPSES of the helicopter. It's hovering RIGHT OVER THE FIRE, now facing the wrong way.
STASIUK Abort. Abort. Abort.
BASE COMMAND Abort abort. Lead One—
PILOT
[distorted] I can't [distorted] oh... oh... [distorted]
ON THE RADIO - LOUD STATIC... worse than silence. Then: Legasov, Shcherbina and Stasiuk watch in horror as the wind shifts the smoke away, revealing:
The helicopter is still just hovering there. Right over the mouth of the open reactor.
BASE COMMAND (RADIO) Lead One. Lead One.
Nothing. Radio silence.
And then the helicopter slowly DRIFTS toward a CONSTRUCTION CRANE... off kilter, tilting ODDLY as if drunk...
...and its rotor blades STRIKE the steel cable hanging from the crane... the BLADES DISINTEGRATE, and—
—the helicopter ROLLS OVER and PLUMMETS from the sky.
Legasov turns away. Doesn't want to look. But he hears the distant THUD of the impact. His stomach turns.
Shcherbina hangs his head. The worst possible beginning.
The radio's distorted signal drops to a muted HISS. Then:
BASE COMMAND (RADIO) (solemn) Please advise.
STASIUK (shaken)
Sir? What do I tell the others?
SHCHERBINA
Legasov.
(nothing)
Legasov, is there another way to do this?
Legasov shakes his head "no". Shcherbina turns back to Stasiuk.
SHCHERBINA Send the next one in. And tell them to approach from the west.
Legasov walks away. Overwhelmed. Shcherbina lets him go.
OMITTED 240
OMITTED 241
OMITTED 242
OMITTED 243
OMITTED 244
OMITTED 245
EXT. KURCHATOV INSTITUTE - MOSCOW - DAY 246
The most Soviet building imaginable. A four story, brown
box with a band of ugly orange tiling just under the roof.
We hear a PHONE RINGING.
INT. MARINA'S OFFICE / KHOMYUK'S LAB - CONTINUOUS 247
MARINA, 40's, scientist in a lab, answers the phone.
MARINA
Kurchatov Institute Laboratory 4.
INTERCUT WITH: KHOMYUK, in her lab, on the phone. Dmitri sits with her, listening to Khomyuk's end of the conversation.
KHOMYUK
Marina Gruzinskaya, it's Ulana Khomyuk from Minsk.
Marina tenses. Already knows what this is about. Glances at her phone, with its lit up buttons. This is a nuclear lab in the Soviet Union. No such thing as a private call.