The voices are raspy. Strained. Turn a page...
MEMORY (O.S.) Vasily Ivanovich Ignatenko. 6th Paramilitary Fire/Rescue Unit...
Turn a page... the weakened voices begin to blend...
MEMORY (O.S.) Svetlana Zinchenko, physician... Anatoly Andreyevich Sitnikov, deputy chief engineer...
Aleksander Genadyevich Kudryavtsev, trainee...
She closes her eyes. She was with them all. Listened to them all. Knew them all.
MEMORY (O.S.) Electrical engineer... Turbine operator... Security guard...
She opens her eyes. Looks down at the page.
MEMORY (O.S.) My name is Aleksander Fyodorovich Akimov, Unit 4 Shift Leader.
She looks up from the notebook. An idea. And now more than an idea. A decision.
She snaps the book shut, and:
CUT TO:
513 INT. LEGASOV'S APARTMENT - KITCHEN - DAY 513
Legasov stares at: TECHNICAL SCHEMATICS spread out on his table like a visual representation of a CONTROL PANEL.
He smokes. Studies them silently. The table clock tick tick ticks. The cat pads softly over stacks of BOOKS.
Legasov notices: two strands of HAIR on the schematics. Long. Like they fell from the root.
He reaches up to his head and runs his fingers through his hair. A few more STRANDS pull away without effort.
He studies the hair in his hand, shakes it off and wipes the schematics clean. This isn't the first time.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Legasov snaps out of it. Startled. Heads to the door.
514 INT. LEGASOV'S STUDY - MOMENTS LATER 514
Khomyuk sits across from Legasov, the file box on her lap. Neither of them sure who's supposed to talk first. Then:
LEGASOV Did you take a train?
Oh for god's—
KHOMYUK
Yes, I took a train, now let's talk about Vienna.
(as he reacts) I haven't come to scold you. I know how the world works. I'm a realist, no matter what Shcherbina thinks.
LEGASOV Then why are you here?
KHOMYUK
Because I'm brutally stubborn. Which you were hoping for.
Right. So. As if to convince her...
LEGASOV
Charkov is saying they're going to fix the reactors after the trial.
KHOMYUK Do you believe him?
A pause. No. Of course not. But Khomyuk leans in.
KHOMYUK
The State will never willingly fix the reactors, because acknowledging the problem means admitting they lied. They will have to be forced.
Forced? What is she on about?
KHOMYUK
At the trial, you're going to tell the truth. You're going to convince a jury.
Legasov stares at her as if she's lost her mind.
LEGASOV
It's a show trial. The "jury" has already been given their verdict...
KHOMYUK
I'm not talking about them. The Central Committee has invited members of the scientific community to observe the trial. Our colleagues. From Kurchatov, from Sredmash, from Minenergo...
And now Legasov sees where she's going.
KHOMYUK
They will be sitting in the crowd, listening to every word you say. A jury only we know is there. (MORE)
KHOMYUK (cont'd) And when your testimony arrives at the moment of the explosion... that is when our jury will finally hear the truth.
LEGASOV And do what with it?
KHOMYUK
Insist on reforms. Not just to the RBMK, but the entire industry.
LEGASOV KHOMYUK
No, no, no... no. They need us to function. If
we refuse to work unless—
LEGASOV
Do you know what happened to Volkov? The man who wrote the report you found? They just removed him from his position at the Institute. Sacked for the crime of knowing. And you think these scientists, handpicked to witness a show trial, will somehow be stirred to action? By me? Because of some heroic stand I take in defiance of the State?
KHOMYUK
Yes.
LEGASOV
Why?
KHOMYUK
Because you're Legasov. And you mean something. I'd like to think if I spoke out, it would be enough. (beat)
But as I said, I know how the world works.
LEGASOV They will shoot me, Khomyuk.
Khomyuk lifts the lid off the box. Pulls out her notebooks, and begins stacking them in a PILE on Legasov's table.
KHOMYUK You told me to find out what happened. I talked to dozens of people. Every word they said, I wrote down. All in these books.
The stack is about twelve books high. She pulls out two more notebooks, and places them next to the larger stack.
KHOMYUK (the two books) These are the ones who are still alive.
(the twelve books) These are the ones who are dead. They died rescuing each other. Putting out fires. Tending to the wounded. They didn't hesitate. They didn't waver. They simply did what had to be done.
LEGASOV
So have I. I went willingly to an open reactor. I've also given my life. Is that not enough?
KHOMYUK I'm sorry. But it is not.
RISING SOUND: a distant, whistling wind
515 EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - DAY 515
CLOSE ON: a RUSTING CAR.
We SLOWLY RISE to reveaclass="underline" more cars. And buses. Trucks. Fire engines. Bulldozers. Helicopters. Acres and acres of DEAD, CONTAMINATED VEHICLES, stacked in rows. A CEMETERY.
A BARBED WIRE FENCE dotted with garish red and orange RADIATION SIGNS surrounds the vehicle graveyard. We move to FIND: a convoy of cars moving down a distant ROAD in the background.
TITLE
CHERNOBYL EXCLUSION ZONE JULY, 1987
516 INT. CAR - COUNTRYSIDE - AS THEY DRIVE 516
517
A limousine. Khomyuk, Legasov and Shcherbina sit in a row in the back. Somber. Straight ahead. On their way.
517 OMITTED518 OMITTED 518
519 EXT. MILITARY CHECKPOINT - AS THEY DRIVE 519
CLOSE ON: the GAS MASK face of a CHECKPOINT SOLDIER. In the dark lenses of the goggles, a DOUBLE REFLECTION of the approaching line of CARS.
The GAS MASK SOLDIER waves them through.
As they proceed, we RISE UP TO SEE the caravan enter: THE ABANDONED CITY OF CHERNOBYL. Rural. Small, squat buildings ensconced among the trees.
The convoy proceeds to the LARGEST BUILDING. The Hall of Culture. And looming behind the city in the distant B.G, the nuclear power plant.
520 INT. TRIAL ROOM - DAY 520
CLOSE ON: ANDREI STEPASHIN, 50, the STATE PROSECUTOR, suit and tie, reading rapidly and monotonically from a typed speech.
STEPASHIN The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. has determined that justice be carried out on behalf of the People in accordance with the general goal of our Party as determined by its 20th, 21st and 22d Congresses, which is a Leninist goal. It was, is and will be the only immutable goal in the Soviet state.
THE TRIAL ROOM - a small, repurposed auditorium setting. Against the NORTH WALL of the room, a RED DAIS on the low stage. Three middle-aged men in suits. Ceremonial chairs. The man in the center is JUDGE MILAN KADNIKOV, 55. Behind them, an orange-yellow curtain.
Against the WEST WALL, a pale blue curtain. In front of it, a DEFENDANT BOX. Bryukhanov, Dyatlov and Fomin sit in the box. Suit jackets. Two RED ARMY SOLDIERS stand guard on either side.
THE REST OF THE ROOM - auditorium seats. Civilians, Soviet officials, military. Near Stepashin, an EXPERT WITNESS TABLE. Legasov, Khomyuk and Shcherbina.