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C++游戏开发书籍的实例非常适合初学但又又想往游戏开发方面发展的人学习哦

"Think excitement, talk excitement, act out excitement, and you are bound to become an excited person. Life will take on a new zest, deeper interest and greater meaning. You can think, talk and act yourself into dullness or into monotony or into unhappiness. By the same process you can build up inspiration, excitement and surging depth of joy."- Norman Vincent Peale HUMOUR "Have you ever noticed? Anybody going slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac." - George Carlin "From the moment I picked up your book until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.." - Groucho Marx"The hard part about being a bartender is figuring out who is drunk and who is just stupid." - Richard Braunstein "If high heels were so wonderful, men would be wearing them." - Sue Grafton INSPIRATIONAL "We tend to make courage too dramatic. Courage is often doing something simple, unpleasant, or boring again and again until we get it down pat. People who are physically challenged and who have the determination to get around their handicaps are great examples because their courage makes them test their limits every day."- Dave Thomas, Founder of Wendy's "There are two kinds of people who never amount to much: those who cannot do what they are told, and those who can do nothing else." - Cyrus Curtis "All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me ... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you." - Walt Disney CELEBRITY "I searched through rebellion, drugs, diets, mysticism, religions, intellectualism and much more, only to begin to find that truth is basically simple - and feels good, clean and right."- Chick Corea "When choosing between two evils I always like to take the one I've never tried before." - Mae West "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it." - Ferris Buehler's Day Off "A day without laughter is a day wasted." - Charlie Chaplin "I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself." - Mikhail Baryshnikov FEATURED "Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes."- Oscar Wilde "Happiness is like a cat. If you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you. It will never come. But if you pay no attention to it and go about your business, you'll find it rubbing up against your legs and jumping into your lap"- William Bennett "Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why."- Eddie Canto"When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity."- Albert EinsteinCast: KATE WINSLET... Rose DeWitt Bukater LEONARDO DICAPRIO... Jack Dawson KATHY BATES... The Unsinkable Molly Brown BILLY ZANE... Caledon Hockley BILL PAXTON... Brock Lovett Written and Directed by: JAMES CAMERON 1 BLACKNESS Then two faint lights appear, close together... growing brighter. They resolve into two DEEP SUBMERSIBLES, free-falling toward us like express elevators. One is ahead of the other, and passes close enough to FILL FRAME, looking like a spacecraft blazing with lights, bristling with insectile manipulators. TILTING DOWN to follow it as it descends away into the limitless blackness below. Soon they are fireflies, then stars. Then gone. CUT TO: 2 EXT./ INT. MIR ONE / NORTH ATLANTIC DEEP PUSHING IN on one of the falling submersibles, called MIR ONE, right up to its circular viewport to see the occupants. INSIDE, it is a cramped seven foot sphere, crammed with equipment. ANATOLY MIKAILAVICH, the sub's pilot, sits hunched over his controls... singing softly in Russian. Next to him on one side is BROCK LOVETT. He's in his late forties, deeply tanned, and likes to wear his Nomex suit unzipped to show the gold from famous shipwrecks covering his gray chest hair. He is a wiley, fast-talking treasure hunter, a salvage superstar who is part historian, par adventurer and part vacuum cleaner salesman. Right now, he is propped against the CO2 scrubber, fast asleep and snoring. On the other side, crammed into the remaining space is a bearded wide-body named LEWIS BODINE, sho is also asleep. Lewis is an R.O.V. (REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLE) pilot and is the resident Titanic expert. Anatoly glances at the bottom sonar and makes a ballast adjustment. CUT TO: 3 EXT. THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA A pale, dead-flat lunar landscape. It gets brighter, lit from above, as MIR ONE enters FRAME and drops to the seafloor in a downblast from its thrusters. It hits bottom after its two hour free-fall with a loud BONK. CUT TO: 4 INT. MIR ONE Lovett and Bodine jerk awake at the landing. ANATOLY (heavy Russian accent) We are here. EXT. / INT. MIR ONE AND TWO 5 MINUTES LATER: THE TWO SUBS skim over the seafloor to the sound of sidescan sonar and the THRUM of big thrusters. 6 The featureless gray clay of the bottom unrols in the lights of the subs. Bodine is watching the sidescan sonar display, where the outline of a huge pointed object is visible. Anatoly lies prone, driving the sub, his face pressed to the center port. BODINE Come left a little. She's right in front of us, eighteen meters. Fifteen. Thirteen... you should see it. ANATOLY Do you see it? I don't see it... there! Out of the darkness, like a ghostly apparition, the bow of the ship appears. Its knife-edge prow is coming straight at us, seeming to plow the bottom sediment like ocean waves. It towers above the seafloor, standing just as it landed 84 years ago. THE TITANIC. Or what is left of her. Mir One goes up and over the bow railing, intact except for an overgrowth of 襯usticles" draping it like mutated Spanish moss. TIGHT ON THE EYEPIECE MONITOR of a video camcorder. Brock Lovett's face fills the BLACK AND WHITE FRAME. LOVETT It still gets me every time. The image pans to the front viewport, looking over Anatoly's shoulder, to the bow railing visible in the lights beyond. Anatoly turns. ANATOLY Is just your guilt because of estealing from the dead. CUT WIDER, to show that Brock is operating the camera himself, turning it in his hand so it points at his own face. LOVETT Thanks, Tolya. Work with me, here. Brock resumes his serious, pensive gaze out the front port, with the camera aimed at himself at arm's length. LOVETT It still gets me every time... to see the sad ruin of the great ship sitting here, where she landed at 2:30 in the morning, April 15, 1912, after her long fall from the world above. Anatoly rolls his eyes and mutters in Russian. Bodine chuckles and watches the sonar. BODINE You are so full of shit, boss. 7 Mir Two drives aft down the starboard side, past the huge anchor while Mir One passes over the seemingly endless forecastle deck, with its massive anchor chains still laid out in two neat rows, its bronze windlass caps gleaming. The 22 foot long subs are like white bugs next to the enormous wreck. LOVETT (V.O.) Dive nine. Here we are again on the deck of Titanic... two and a half miles down. The pressure is three tons per square inch, enough to crush us like a freight train going over an ant if our hull fails. These windows are nine inches thick and if they go, it's sayonara in two microseconds. 8 Mir Two lands on the boat deck, next to the ruins of the Officer's Quarters. Mir One lands on the roof of the deck hous nearby. LOVETT Right. Let's go to work. Bodine slips on a pair of 3-D electronic goggles, and grabs the joystick controls of the ROV. 9 OUTSIDE THE SUB, the ROV, a small orange and black robot called SNOOP DOG, lifts from its cradle and flies forward. BODINE (V.O.) Walkin? the dog. SNOOP DOG drives itself away from the sub, paying out its umbilical behind it like a robot yo-yo. Its twin stereo-video cameras swivel like insect eyes. The ROV descends through an open shaft that once was the beautiful First Class Grand Staircase. Snoop Dog goes down several decks, then moves laterally into the First Class Reception Room. SNOOP's VIDEO POV, moving through the cavernous interior. The remains of the ornate handcarved woodwork which gave the ship its elegance move through the floodlights, the lines blurred by slow dissolution and descending rusticle formations. Stalactites of rust hang down so that at times it looks like a natural grotto, then the scene shifts and the lines of a ghostly undersea mansion can be seen again. MONTAGE STYLE, as Snoop passes the ghostly images of Titanic's opulence: 10 A grand piano in amazingly good shape, crashed on its side against a wall. The keys gleam black and white in the lights. 11 A chandelier, still hanging from the ceiling by its wire... glinting as Snoop moves around it. 12 Its lights play across the floor, revealing a champagne bottle, then some WHITE STAR LINE china... a woman's high-top 襣ranny shoe". Then something eerie: what looks like a child's skull resolves into the porcelain head of a doll. Snoop enters a corridor which is much better preserved. Here and there a door still hangs on its rusted hinges. An ornate piece of molding, a wall sconce... hint at the grandeur of the past. 13 THE ROV turns and goes through a black doorway, entering room B-52, the sitting room of a 襭romenade suite", one of the most luxurious staterooms on Titanic. BODINE I'm in the sitting room. Heading for bedroom B-54. LOVETT Stay off the floor. Don't stir it up like you did yesterday. BODINE I'm tryin? boss. Glinting in the lights are the brass fixtures of the near-perfectly preserved fireplace. An albino Galathea crab crawls over it. Nearby are the remains of a divan and a writing desk. The Dog crosses the ruins of the once elegant room oward another DOOR. It squeezes through the doorframe, scraping rust and wood chunks loose on both sides. It moves out of a cloud of rust and keeps on going. BODINE I'm crossing the bedroom. The remains of a pillared canopy bed. Broken chairs, a dresser. Through the collapsed wall of the bathroom, the porcelain commode and bathtub took almost new, gleaming in the dark. LOVETT Okay, I want to see what's under that wardrobe door. SEVERAL ANGLES as the ROV deploys its MANIPULATOR ARMS and starts moving debris aside. A lamp is lifted, its ceramic colors as bright as they were in 1912. LOVETT Easy, Lewis. Take it slow. Lewis grips a wardrobe door, lying at an angle in a corner, and pulls it with Snoop's gripper. It moves reluctantly in a cloud of silt. Under it is a dark object. The silt clears and Snoop's cameras show them what was under the door... BODINE Ooohh daddy-oh, are you seein? what I'm seein?? CLOSE ON LOVETT, watching his moniteors. By his expression it is like he is seeing the Holy Grail. LOVETT Oh baby baby baby. (grabs the mike) It's payday, boys. ON THE SCREEN, in the glare of the lights, is the object of their quest: a small STEEL COMBINATION SAFE. CUT TO: 14 EXT. STERN OF DECK OF KEDYSH - DAY THE SAFE, dripping wet in the afternoon sun, is lowered onto the deck of a ship by a winch cable. We are on the Russian research vessel AKADEMIK MISTISLAV KELDYSH. A crowd has gathered, including most of the crew of KELDYSH, the sub crews, and a hand-wringing money guy named BOBBY BUELL who represents the limited partners. There is also a documentary video crew, hired by Lovett to cover his moment of glory. Everyone crowds around the safe. In the background Mir Two is being lowered into its cradle on deck by a massive hydraulic arm. Mir One is already recovered with Lewis Bodine following Brock Lovett as he bounds over to the safe like a kid on Christman morning. BODINE Who's the best? Say it. LOVETT You are, Lewis. (to the video crew) You rolling? CAMERAMAN Rolling. Brock nods to his technicians, and they set about drilling the safe's hinges. During this operation, Brock amps the suspense, working the lens to fill the time. LOVETT Well, here it is, the moment of truth. Here's where we find out if the time, the sweat, the money spent to charter this ship and these subs, to come out here to the middle of the North Atlantic... were worth it. If what we think is in that same... is in that safe... it will be. Lovett grins wolfishly in anticipation of his greatest find yet. The door is pried loose. It clangs onto the deck. Lovett moves closer, peering into the safe's wet interior. A long moment then... his face says it all. LOVETT Shit. BODINE You know, boss, this happened to Geraldo and his career never recovered. LOVETT (to the video cameraman) Get that outta my face. CUT TO: 15 INT. LAB DECK, PRESERVATION ROOM - DAY Technicians are carefully removing some papers from the safe and placing them in a tray of water to separate them safely. Nearby, other artifacts from the stateroom are being washed and preserved. Buell is on the satellite phone with the INVESTORS. Lovett is yelling at the video crew. LOVETT You send out what I tell you when I tell you. I'm signing your paychecks, not 60 minutes. Now get set up for the uplink. Buell covers the phone and turns to Lovett. BUELL The partners want to know how it's going? LOVETT How it's going? It's going like a first date in prison, whattaya think?! Lovett grabs the phone from Buell and goes instantly smooth. LOVETT Hi, Dave? Barry? Look, it wasn't in the safe... no, look, don't worry about it, there're still plenty of places it could be... in the floor debris in the suite, in the mother's room, in the purser's safe on C deck... (seeing something) Hang on a second. A tech coaxes some letters in the water tray to one side with a tong... revealing a pencil (conte crayon) drawing of a woman. Brock looks closely at the drawing, which is in excellent shape, though its edges have partially disintegrated. The woman is beautiful, and beautifully rendered. In her late teens or early twenties, she is nude, though posed with a kind of casual modesty. She is on an Empire divan, in a pool of light that seems to radiate outward from her eyes. Scrawled in the lower right corner is the date: April 14 1912. And the initials JD. The girl is not entirely nude. At her throat is a diamond necklace with one large stone hanging in the center. Lovett grabs a reference photo from the clutter on the lab table. It is a period black-and-white photo of a diamond necklace on a black velvet jeller's display stand. He holds it next to the drawing. It is clearly the same piece... a complex setting with a massive central stone which is almost heart-shaped. LOVETT I'll be God damned. CUT TO: 16 INSERT A CNN NEWS STORY: a live satellite feed from the deck of the Keldysh, intercut with the CNN studio. ANNOUNCER Treasure hunter Brock Lovett is best known for finding Spanish gold in sunken galleons in the Caribbean. Now he is using deep submergence technology to work two and a half miles down at another famous wreck... the Titanic. He is with us live via satellite from a Russian research ship in the middle of the Atlantic... hello Brock? LOVETT Yes, hi, Tracy. You know, Titanic is not just A shipwrick, Titanic is THE shipwreck. It's the Mount Everest of shipwrecks. CUT TO: 17 INT. HOUSE / CERAMICS STUDIO PULL BACK from the screen, showing the CNN report playing on a TV set in the living room of a small rustic house. It is full of ceramics, figurines, folk art, the walls crammed with drawings and paintings... things collected over a lifetime. PANNING to show a glassed-in studio attached to the house. Outside it is a quiet morning in Ojai, California. In the studio, amid incredible clutter, an ANCIENT WOMAN is throwing a pot on a potter's wheel. The liquid red clay covers her hands... hands that are gnarled and age-spotted, but still surprisingly strong and supple. A woman in her early forties assists her. LOVETT (V.O.) I've planned this expedition for three years, and we're out here recovering some amazing things... things that will have enormous historical and educational value. CNN REPORTER (V.O.) But it's no secret that education is not your main purpose. You're a treasure hunter. So what is the treasure you're hunting? LOVETT (V.O.) I'd rather show you than tell you, and we think we're very close to doing just that. The old woman's name is ROSE CALVERT. Her face is a wrinkled mass, her body shapeless and shrunken under a one-piece African-print dress. But her eyes are just as bright and alive as those of a young girl. Rose gets up and walks into the living room, wiping pottery clay from her hands with a rag. A Pomeranian dog gets up and comes in with her. The younger soman, LIZZY CALVERT, rushes to help her. ROSE Turn that up please, dear. REPORTER (V.O.) Your expedition is at the center of a storm of controversy over salvage rights and even ethics. Many are calling you a grave robber. TIGHT ON THE SCREEN. LOVETT Nobody called the recovery of the artifacts from King Tut's tomb grave robbing. I have museum-trained experts here, making sure this stuff is preserved and catalogued properly. Look at this drawing, which was found today... The video camera pans off Brock to the drawing, in a tray of water. The image of the woman with the necklace FILLS FRAME. LOVETT ...a piece of paper that's been underwater for 84 years... and my team are able to preserve it intanct. Should this have remained unseen at the bottom of the ocean for eternity, when we can see it and enjoy it now...? ROSE is galvanized by this image. Her mouth hangs open in amazement. ROSE I'll be God damned. CUT TO: 18 EXT. KELDYSH DECK - NIGHT CUT TO KELDYSH. The Mir subs are being launched. Mir Two is already in the water, and Lovett is getting ready to climb into Mir One when Bobby Buell runs up to him. BUELL There's a satellite call for you. LOVETT Bobby, we're launching. See these submersibles here, going in the water? Take a message. BUELL No, trust me, you want to take this call. CUT TO: 19 INT. LAB DECK / KELDYSH - NIGHT Beull hands Lovett the phone, pushing down the blinking line. The call is from Rose and we see both ends of the conversation. She is in her kitchen with a mystified Lizzy. LOVETT This is Brock Lovett. What can I do for you, Mrs... ? BUELL Rose Calvert. LOVETT ... Mrs. Calvert? ROSE I was just wondering if you had found the "Heart of the Ocean" yet, Mr. Lovett. Brock almost drops the phone. Bobby sees his shocked expression... BUELL I told you you wanted to take this call. LOVETT (to Rose) Alright. You have my attention, Rose. Can you tell me who the woman in the picture is? ROSE Oh yes. The woman in the picture is me. CUT TO: 20 EXT. OCEAN - DAY SMASH CUT TO AN ENORMOUS SEA STALLION HELICOPTER thundering across the ocean. PAN 180 degrees as it roars past. There is no land at either horizon. The Keldysh is visible in the distance. CLOSE ON A WINDOW of the monster helicopter. Rose's face is visible, looking out calmly. CUT TO: 21 EXT. KELDYSH - DAY Brock and Bodine are watching Mir 2 being sweng over the side to start a dive. BODINE She's a goddamned liar! A nutcase. Like that... what's her name? That Anastasia babe. BUELL They're inbound. Brock nods and the three of them head forward to meet the approaching helo. BODINE She says she's Rose DeWitt Bukater, right? Rose DeWitt Bukater died on the Titanic. At the age of 17. If she'd've lived, she'd be over a hundred now. LOVETT A hundred and one next month. BODINE Okay, so she's a very old goddamned liar. I traced her as far back as the 20's... she was working as an actress in L.A. An actress. Her name was Rose Dawson. Then she married a guy named Calvert, moved to Cedar Rapids, had two kids. Now Calvert's dead, and from what I've heard Cedar Rapids is dead. The Sea Stallion approaches the ship, BG, forcing Brock to yell over the rotors. LOVETT And everyobody who knows about the diamond is supposed to be dead... or on this ship. But she knows about it. And I want to hear what she has to say. Got it? CUT TO: 22 EXT. KELDYSH HELIPAD IN A THUNDERING DOWNBLAST the helicopter's wheels bounce down on the helipad. Lovett, Buell and Bodine watch as the HELICOPTER CREW CHIEF hands out about ten suitcases, and then Rose is lowered to the deck in a wheelchair by Keldysh cewmen. Lizzy, ducking unnecessarily under the rotor, follows her out, carrying FREDDY the Pomeranian. The crew chief hands a puzzled Keldysh crewmember a goldfish bowl with several fish in it. Rose does not travel light. HOLD ON the incongruous image of this little old lady, looking impossibly fragile amongst all the high tech gear, grungy deck crew and gigantic equipment. BODINE Excuse me, I have to go check our supply of Depends. CUT TO: 23 INT. ROSE's STATEROOM / KELDYSH - DAY Lizzy is unpacking Rose's things in the small utilitarian room. Rose is placing a number of FRAMED PHOTOS on the bureau, arranging them carefully next to the fishbowl. Brock and Bodine are in the doorway. LOVETT Is your stateroom alright? ROSE Yes. Very nice. Have you met my granddaughter, Lizzy? She takes care of me. LIZZY Yes. We met just a few minutes ago, grandma. Remember, up on deck? ROSE Oh, yes. Brock glances at Bodine... oh oh. Bodine rolls his eyes. Rose finishes arranging her photographs. We get a general glimpse of them: the usual snapshots... children and grandchildren, her late husband. ROSE There, that's nice. I have to have my pictures when I travel. And Freddy of course. (to the Pomeranian) Isn't that right, sweetie. LOVETT Would you like anything? ROSE I should like to see my drawing. CUT TO: 24 INT. LAB DECK, PRESERVATION AREA Rose looks at the drawing in its tray of water, confronting herself across a soan of 84 years. Until they can figure out the best way to preserve it, they have to keep it immersed. It sways and ripples, almost as if alive. TIGHT ON Rose's ancient eyes, gazing at the drawing. 25 FLASHCUT of a man's hand, holding a conte crayon deftly creating a shoulder and the shape of her hair with two efficient lines. 26 THE WOMAN's FACE IN THE DRAWING, dancing under the water. 27 A FLASHCUT of a man's eyes, just visible over the top of a sketching pad. They look up suddenly right into the LENS. Soft eyes, but fearlessly direct. 28 Rose smiles, remembering. Brock has the reference photo of the necklace in his hand. LOVETT Louis the Sixteenth wore a fabulous stone, called the Blue Diamond of the Crown, which disappeared in 1792, about the time Louis lost everything from the neck up. The theory goes that the crown diamond was chopped too... recut into a heart-like shape... and it became Le Coeur de la Mer. The Heart of the Ocean. Today it would be worth more than the Hope Diamond. ROSE It was a dreadful, heavy thing. (she points at the drawing) I only wore it this once. LIZZY You actually believe this is you, grandma? ROSE It is me, dear. Wasn't I a hot number? LOVETT I tracked it down through insurance records... and old claim that was settled under terms of absolute secrecy. Do you know who the claiment was, Rost? ROSE Someone named Hockley, I should imagine. LOVETT Nathan Hockley, right. Pittsburgh steel tycoon. For a diamond necklace his son Caledon Hockley bought in France for his fiancee... you... a week before he sailed on Titanic. And the claim was filed right after the sinking. So the diamond had to've gone down with the ship. (to Lizzy) See the date? LIZZY April 14, 1912. LOVETT If your grandma is who she says she is, she was wearing the diamond the day Titanic sank. (MORE) LOVETT (CONT'd) (to Rose) And that makes you my new best friend. I will happily compensate you for anything you can tell us that will lead to its recovery. ROSE I don't want your money, Mr. Lovett. I know how hard it is for people who care greatly for money to give some away. BODINE (skeptical) You don't want anything? ROSE (indicating the drawing) You may give me this, if anything I tell you is of value. LOVETT Deal. (crossing the room) Over here are a few things we've recovered from your staterooms. Laid out on a worktable are fifty or so objects, from mundane to valuable. Rose, shrunken in her chair, can barely see over the tabletop. With a trembling hand she lifts a tortoise shell hand mirror, inlaid with mother of pearl. She caresses it wonderingly. ROSE This was mine. How extraordinary! It looks the same as the last time I saw it. She turns the mirror over and looks at her ancient face in the cracked glass. ROSE The reflection has changed a bit. She spies something else, a silver and moonstone art-nouveau brooch. ROSE My mother's brooch. She wanted to go back for it. Caused quite a fuss. Rose picks up an ornate art-nouveau HAIR COMB. A jade butterfly takes flight on the ebony handle of the comb. She turns it slowly, remembering. We can see that Rose is experiencing a rush of images and emotions that have lain dormant for eight decades as she handles the butterfly comb. LOVETT Are you ready to go back to Titanic? CUT TO: 29 INT. IMAGING SHACK / KELDYSH It is a darkened room lined with TV monitors. IMAGES OF THE WRECK fill the screens, fed from Mir One and Two, and the two ROVs, Snoop Dog and DUNCAN. BODINE Live from 12,000 feet. ROSE stares raptly at the screens. She is enthraled by one in particular, an image of the bow railing. It obviously means something to her. Brock is studying her reactions carefully. BODINE The bow's struck in the bottom like an axe, from the impact. Here... I can run a simulation we worked up on this monitor over here. Lizzy turns the chair so Rose can see the screen of Bodine's computer. As he is calling up the file, he keeps talking. BODINE We've put together the world's largest database on the Titanic. Okay, here... LOVETT Rose might not want to see this, Lewis. ROSE No, no. It's fine. I'm curious. Bodine starts a COMPUTER ANIMATED GRAPHIC on the screen, which parallels his rapid-fire narration. BODINE She hits the berg on the starboard side and it sort of bumps along... punching holes like a morse code... dit dit dit, down the side. Now she's flooding in the BODINE (cont'd) forward compartments... and the water spills over the tops of the bulkheads, going aft. As her bow is going down, her stern is coming up... slow at first... and then faster and faster until it's lifting all that weight, maybe 20 or 30 thousand tons... out of the water and the hull can't deal... so SKRTTT!! (making a sound in time with the animation) ... it splits! Right down to the keel, which acts like a big hinge. Now the bow swings down and the stern falls back level... but the weight of the bow pulls the stern up vertical, and then the bow section detaches, heading for the bottom. The stern bobs like a cork, floods and goes under about 2:20 a.m. Two hours and forty minutes after the collision. The animation then follows the bow section as it sinks. Rose watches this clinical dissection of the disaster without emotion. BODINE The bow pulls out of its dive and planes away, almost a half a mile, before it hits the bottom going maybe 12 miles an hour. KABOOM! The bow impacts, digging deeply into the bottom, the animation now follows the stern. BODINE The stern implodes as it sinks, from the pressure, and rips apart from the force of the current as it falls, landing like a big pile of junk. (indicating the simulation) Cool huh? ROSE Thank you for that fine forensic analysis, Mr. Bodine. Of course the experience of it was somewhat less clinical. LOVETT Will you share it with us? Her eyes go back to the screens, showing the sad ruins far below them. A VIEW from one of the subs TRACKING SLOWLY over the boat deck. Rose recognizes one of the Wellin davits, still in place. She hears ghostly waltz music. The faint and echoing sound of an officer's voice, English accented, calling 襑omen and children only". 30 FLASH CUTS of screaming faces in a running crowd. Pandemonium and terror. People crying, praying, kneeling on the deck. Just impressions... flashes in the dark. 31 Rose Looks at another monitor. SNOOP DOG moving down a rusted, debris-filled corridor. Rose watches the endless row of doorways sliding past, like dark mouths. 32 IMAGE OF A CHILD, three years old, standing ankle deep in water in the middle of an endless corridor. The child is lost alone, crying. 33 Rose is shaken by the flood of memories and emotions. Her eyes well up and she puts her head down, sobbing quietly. LIZZY (taking the wheelchair) I'm taking her to rest. ROSE No! Her voice is surprisingly strong. The sweet little old lady is gone, replaced by a woman with eyes of steel. Lovett signals everyone to stay quiet. LOVETT Tell us, Rose. She looks from screen to screen, the images of the ruined ship. ROSE It's been 84 years... LOVETT Just tell us what you can-- ROSE (holds up her hand for silence) It's been84 years... and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. He switches on the minirecorder and sets it near her. ROSE Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams. And it was. It really was... As the underwater camera rises past the rusted bow rail, WE DISSOLVE / MATCH MOVE to that same railing in 1912... MATCH DISSOLVE: 34 EXT. SOUTHAMPTON DOCK - DAY SHOT CONTINUES IN A FLORIOUS REVEAL as the gleaming white superstructure of Titanic rises mountainously beyond the rail, and above that the buff-colored funnels stand against the sky like the pillars of a great temple. Crewmen move across the deck, dwarfed by the awesome scale of the steamer. Southanmpton, England, April 10, 1912. It is almost nnon on ailing day. A crowd of hundreds blackens the pier next to Titanic like ants on a jelly sandwich. IN FG a gorgeous burgundy RENAULT TOURING CAR swings into frame, hanging from a loading crane. It is lowered toward HATCH #2. On the pier horsedrawn vehicles, motorcars and lorries move slowly through the dense throng. The atmosphere is one of excitement and general giddiness. People embrace in tearful farewells, or wave and shout bon voyage wishes to friends and relatives on the decks above. A white RENAULT, leading a silver-gray DAIMLER-BENZ, pushes through the crowd leaving a wake in the press of people. Around the handsome cars people are streaming to board the ship, jostling with hustling seamen and stokers, porters, and barking WHITE STAR LINE officials. The Renault stops and the LIVERIED DRIVER scurries to open the door for a YOUNG WOMAN dressed in a stunning white and purple outfit, with an enormous feathered hat. She is 17 years old and beautiful, regal of bearing, with piercing eyes. It is the girl in the drawing. ROSE. She looks up at the ship, taking it in with cool appraisal. ROSE I don't see what all the fuss is about. It doesn't look any bigger than the Mauretania. A PERSONAL VALET opens the door on the other side of the car for CALEDON HOCKLEY, the 30 year old heir to the elder Hockley's fortune. 褻al" is handsome, arrogant and rich beyond meaning. CAL You can be blase about some things, Rose, but not about Titanic. It's over a hundred feet longer than Mauretania, and far more luxurious. It has squash courts, a Parisian cafe... even Turkish baths. Cal turns and fives his hand to Rose's mother, RUTH DEWITT BUKATER, who descends from the touring car being him. Ruth is a 40ish society empress, from one of the most prominent Philadelphia families. She is a widow, and rules her household with iron will. CAL Your daughter is much too hard to impress, Ruth. (indicating a puddle) Mind your step. RUTH (gazing at the leviathan) So this is the ship they say is unsinkable. CAL It is unsinkable. God himself couldn't sink this ship. Cal speaks with the pride of a host providing a special experience. This entire entourage of rich Americans is impeccably turned out, a quintessential example of the Edwardian upper class, complete with servants. Cal's VALET, SPICER LOVEJOY, is a tall and impassive, dour as an undertaker. Behind him emerge TWO MAIDS, personal servants to Ruth and Rose.  WHITE STAR LINE PORTER scurries toward them, harried by last minute loading. PORTER Sir, you'll have to check your baggage through the main terminal, round that way-- Cal nonchalantly hands the man a fiver. The porter's eyes dilate. Five pounds was a monster tip in those days. CAL I put my faith in you, good sir. (MORE) CAL (CONT'd) (curtly, indicating Lovejoy) See my man. PORTER Yes, sir. My pleasure, sir. Cal never tires of the effect of money on the unwashed masses. LOVEJOY (to the porter) These trunks here, and 12 more in the Daimler. We'll have all this lot up in the rooms. The White Star man looks stricken when he sees the enormous pile of steamer trunks and suitcases loading down the second car, including wooden crates and steel safe. He whistles frantically for some cargo-handlers nearby who come running. Cal breezes on, leaving the minions to scramble. He quickly checks his pocket watch. CAL We'd better hurry. This way, ladies. He indicates the way toward the first class gangway. They move into the crowd. TRUDY BOLT, Rose's maid, hustles behind them, laden with bags of her mistress's most recent purchases... things too delicate for the baggage handlers. Cal leads, weaving between vehicles and handcarts, hurrying passengers (mostly second class and steerage) and well-wishers. Most of the first class passengers are avoiding the smelly press of the dockside crowd by using an elevated boarding bridge, twenty feet above. They pass a line of steerage passengers in their coarse wool and tweeds, queued up inside movable barriers like cattle in a chute. A HEALTH OFFICER examines their heads one by one, checking scalp and eyelashes for lice. They pass a well-dressed young man cranking the handle of a wooden Biograph inematograph" camera mounted on a tripod. NANIEL MARVIN (whose father founded the Biograph Film Studio) is filming his young bride in front of the Titanic. MARY MARVIN stands stiffly and smiles, self conscious. DANIEL Look up at the ship, darling, that's it. You're amazed! You can't believe how big it is! Like a mountain. That's great. Mary Marvin, without an acting fiber in her body, does a bad Clara Bow pantomime of awe, hands raised. Cal is jostled by two yelling steerage boys who shove past him. And he is bumped again a second later by the boys? father. CAL Steady!! MAN Sorry squire! The Cockney father pushes on, after his kids, shouting. CAL Steerage swine. Apparently missed his annual bath. RUTH Honestly, Cal, if you weren't forever booking everything at the last instant, we could have gone through the terminal instead of running along the dock like some squalid immigrant family. CAL All part of my charm, Ruth. At any rate, it was my darling fiancee's beauty rituals which made us late. ROSE You told me to change. CAL I couldn't let you wear black on sailing day, sweetpea. It's bad luck. ROSE I felt like black. Cal guides them out of the path of a horse-drawn wagon loaded down with two tons of OXFORD MARMALADE, in wooden cases, for Titanic's Victualling Department. CAL Here I've pulled every string I could to book us on the grandest ship in history, in her most luxurious suites... and you act as if you're going to your execution. Rose looks up as the hull of Titanic looms over them...a great iron wall, Bible black and sever. Cal motions her forward, and she enters the gangway to the D Deck doors with a sense of overwhelming dread. OLD ROSE (V.O.) It was the ship of dreams... to everyone else. To me it was a slave ship, taking me back to America in chains. CLOSE ON CAL's HAND IN SLOW-MOTION as it closes possessively over Rose's arm. He escorts her up the gangway and the black hull of Titanic swallows them. OLD ROSE (V.O.) Outwardly I was everything a well brought up girl should be. Inside, I was screaming. 35 CUT TO a SCREAMING BLAST from the mighty triple steam horns on Titanic's funnels, bellowing their departure warning. CUT TO: 36 EXT. SOUTHAMPTON DOCKS / TITANIC - DAY A VIEW OF TITANIC from several blocks away, towering above the terminal buildings like the skyline of a city. The steamer's whistle echoes across Southampton. PULL BACK, revealing that we were looking through a window, and back further to show the smoky inside of a pub. It is crowded with dockworkers and ship;s crew. Just inside the window, a poker game is in progress. FOUR MEN, in working class clothes, play a very serious hand. JACK DAWSON and FABRIZIO DE ROSSI, both about 20, exchange a glance as the other two players argue in Swedish. Jack is American, a lanky drifter with his hair a little long for the standards of the times. He is also unshaven, and his clothes are rumpled from sleeping in them. He is an artist, and has adopted the bohemian style of art scene in Paris. He is also very self-possessed and sure-footed for 20, having lived on his own since 15. The TWO SWEDES continue their sullen argument, in Swedish. OLAF (subtitled) You stupid fishhead. I can't believe you bet our tickets. SVEN (subtitled) You lost our money. I'm just trying to get it back. Now shutup and take a card. JACK (jaunty) Hit me again, Sven. Jack takes the card and slips it into his hand. ECU JACK's EYES. They betray nothing. CLOSE ON FABRIZIO licking his lips nervously as he refuses a card. ECU STACK in the middle of the table. Bills and coins from four counrties. This has been going on for a while. Sitting on top of the money are two 3RD CLASS TICKETS for RMS TITANIC. The Titanic's whistle blows again. Final warning. JACK The moment of truth boys. Somebody's life's about to change. Fabrizio puts his cards down. So do the Swedes. Jack holds his close. JACK Let's see... Fabrizio's got niente. Olaf, you've got squat. Sven, uh oh... two pair... mmm. (turns to his friend) Sorry Fabrizio. FABRIZIO What sorry? What you got? You lose my money?? Ma va fa課 culo testa di cazzo-- JACK Sorry, you're not gonna see your mama again for a long time... He slaps a full house down on the table. JACK (grinning) 'Cause you're goin? to America!! Full house boys! FABRIZIO Porca Madonna!! YEEAAAAA!!! The table explodes into shouting in several languages. Jack rakes in the money and the tickets. JACK (to the Swedes) Sorry boys. Three of a kind and a pair. I'm high and you're dry and... (to Fabrizio) ... we're going to-- FABRIZIO/JACK AMERICA!!! Olaf balls up one huge farmer's fist. We think he's going to clobber Jack, but he swings round and punches Sven, who flops backward onto the floor and sits there, looking depressed. Olaf forgets about Jack and Fabrizio, who are dancing around, and goes into a rapid harangue of his stupid cousin. Jack kisses the tickets, then jumps on Fabrizio's back and rides him around the pub. It's like they won the lottery. JACK Goin? home... to the land o? the free and the home of the real hot-dogs! On the TITANIC!! We're ridin? in high style now! We're practically goddamned royalty, ragazzo mio!! FABRIZIO You see? Is my destinio!! Like I told you. I go to America!! To be a millionaire!! (MORE) FABRIZIO (CONT'd) (to pubkeeper) Capito?? I go to America!! PUBKEEPER No, mate. Titanic go to America. In five minutes. JACK Shit!! Come on, Fabri! (grabbing their stuff) Come on!! (to all, grinning) It's been grand. They run for the door. PUBKEEPER 'Course I'm sure if they knew it was you lot comin?, they'd be pleased to wait! CUT TO: 37 OMITTED 38 EXT. TERMINAL - TITANIC Jack and Fabrizio, carrying everything they own in the world in the kit bags on their shoulders, sprint toward the pier. They tear through milling crowds next to the terminal. Shouts go up behind them as they jostle slow-moving gentlemen. They dodge piles of luggage, and weave through groups of people. They burst out onto the pier and Jack comes to a dead stop... staring at the cast wall of the ship's hull, towering seven stories above the wharf and over an eighth of a mile long. The Titanic is monFADE IN:EXT. NEAR THE GERMAN FRONT - 180 A.D. - DAWNThe rising sun unveils steep hills and luxuriant mountains untouched by man. Snow flurries dart in the frigid air and on the horizon ROWS gather.EXT. DIRT ROADA column of Praetorian Cavalry flank two enclosed wagons as they rattle along a rock and log accordion road. On all sides a forest rises like some kind of primordial soul: limitless and dark. With every step 'steam' whooshes from the nostrils of the horses.The first wagon halts as a Praetorian Guard jogs back. He straightens his tunic and helmet and raps on the wooden door as the second wagon stops behind. The door swings aside and another Praetorian Guard leans out.1ST PRAETORIAN GUARDSir, we must be getting near.INT. FIRST WAGONLUCIUS AELIUS AURELIUS COMMODUS huddles in the back of the wagon: Dark hair, handsome, beard; as Commodus rises we see he's a large, powerfully built young man and though barely twenty years old he already has the caution and arrogance of a Caesar.Opposite A GAUNT MAN climbs from a heap of blankets:GALEN of PERGAMUM, probably the most frozen, unhappy manon earth. The wagon is lined with pillows and blankets.Baskets of bread and dried fruit are stacked in one corner and an oil lamp hangs from a pivoting cleat like the swinging lamp in a ship.2ND PRAETORIAN GUARDCaesar, we're nearly there.EXT. WAGONCommodus steps down and pulls his cape up against the bitter cold. Galen follows, curiously overcoming his natural hatred of discomfort. TRIBUUS, burly Praetorian Guard commander salutes Commodus and leads him to the edge of a gully. Tribuus is an old-timer for whom Commodus is just another royal pain-in-the-ass.THE GULLY IS BLACK WITH CROWS -- with their endless CAW- CAW-CAW" they feast on corpses and in the shadows below ROMAN SOLDIERS bury dead comrades. Compared with the burnished perfection of the Praetorian Guards these typical infantry grunts are grizzled and battered.COMMODUSSoldier! What happened here! A legionnaire stops working, spits, leans on his shovel so he can shout up toward Tribuus and Commodus. Galen squats beside a corpse, fascinated.LEGIONNAIRE We had a battle! COMMODUS I can see that. You leave your dead on the field? LEGIONNAIRE General Narcissus beat the Germans here and now the whole army is moving fast! No time to let them get away! THE SECOND WAGON -- as a twenty-five year old ATTRACTIVE YOUNG WOMAN opens the door. She is LUCI LLA -- Commodus' sister. Lucilla pulls her coat tight against the wind. LUCILLA Where are we now, Commodus? Can you see the camp? My Gods! The air is turning into ice!COMMODUSWe're nearly there, Lucilla. LUCILLA That's what you told me two days ago! COMMODUS Will you please get back in your wagon? And stay there? LUCILLA I'm tired of being stuck in that wagon. Embarrassed by Commodus' childish spat with is sister, Tribuus gestures to the 2nd Praetorian. TRIBUUS Soldier, help the Emperor's sister. As a soldier jogs back up toward Lucilla Commodus looks down at the legionnaire leaning on his shovel. COMMODUS Where is my father? TRIBUUS Where is the emperor and the army, soldier? The legionnaire points up the road. Commodus and Tribuus return to the wagon. Galen rolls the dead soldier over and sticks his finger  into a gaping chest wound, then notices the legionnaire glaring at him. GALEN I'm a doctor. The legionnaire studies him a second, then the corpse as if giving a second  opinion. LEGIONNAIRE Well, you're too late. Galen pulls back in revulsion at his impudence. He scrambles to follow Commo dus. The legionnaire spits and gets back to work. EXT. DIRT ROAD - DAWN The wagon crests a hill with a precipitous view of the valley and torches that seem to fill the lingering dark far below. The wagon makes straight for them. AND COMMODUS... Riding on a seat on the front of the wagon, wrapped to his chin in a bearskin blanket -- absolutely set on catching up with the army. EXT. GERMAN FRONT - VINDOBONA - 182 A.D. - NIGHT  On the edge of a forest sixty year old EMPEROR MARCUS AURELIUS stands in the back of an unharnessed supply wagon surrounded by a dark so black it's barely moved by blazing torches. A WOLF -- living symbol of Rome -- stand before the wagon held on a leash by a battle-hardened SENIOR CENTURION: SERVIS. Marcus wears the purple robe of imperial power over his leather and copper segmented upper body armor (LORICA SEGMENTATA). His breath clouds in the bitter cold; the man is tired to the bone. OPPOSITE STANDS THE ROMAN ARMY This is the mighty army of the Danube, yet it seems like these men -- buried  in the shadows and as frozen and worn as their leader -- have come to the very edge of the world to be swallowed by this wilderness. NUMIDIAN ARCHERS, tall Africans, out of place in this freezing land, stand behind their leader -- JUBA -- who has the whip-like body of a dancer. Each carries his recurve bow as if it were a delicate musical instrument.Quivers of brightly colored arrows hang from their backs.Field commanders -- CONTUBERNIUM -- stand by each row ofsoldiers. Less numerous, and above the Contubernium, are the CENTURIONS, and at the front line of the mass of cohorts are four TRIBUNES.BEFORE THE ENTIRE ARMYmounted on magnificent grey horses, are two LEGATE, the overall commanding generals, wearing ornate lorica segmentata. The first Legatus is QUINTUS CLARUS, Rome Army General: fair-haired, fit, forty. He has the face of a boy.The second is NARCISSUS MERIDAS, General, Spanish GeminaFelix VII Army: dark hair, proud and though about Quintus' age his face is like a map of a soldiers's hard life. Narcissus' eyes are locked on Marcus like the eyes of a long-suffering pilgrim on the icon of his single hope.THE WAGONJust before Marcus is about to speak, Commodus steps into the wagon looking out of breath. Surprised, Marcus embraces him and then Commodus stands behind his father wrapped tightly in his bearskin robe. He's trying to look tough but unlike his father he's not used to this rigorous life.NARCISSUS & QUINTUSswap looks as if Commodus were the last person they were expecting...MARCUS AURELIUSCitizens!Marcus' voice booms out tough and firm as if defying the cold and dark.MARCUS AURELIUSToday may be the last day in the life of Rome... For nine hundredyears Rome has lived! For nine hundred years architects, mathematicians, poets, and philosophers have fled within her arms sheltered from superstition, prejudice, hate, and every form ofhuman cruelty. We Romans have become a light in the barbariannight!ON NARCISSUSNo trace of feeling, just his breath slowly clouding in the frigid air.AND MARCUS...Seeming to look at each legionnaire as he speaks.MARCUS AURELIUSFor nine hundred years this one heart of humankind has been defended by the likes of Pompeii, Mark Anthony, Julius Caesar, The Divine Augustus, Claudius, Trajan, Hadrian, and my own father Antoninus Pius. Now, it has come down to us!It has come down to this one day...He leans forward on the rail of the wagon, a gesture that seems to bring him closer to the men.MARCUS AURELIUSFive years we've lived together, you and I, in a state of total war. Wehave shared cold, rain, heat, bitterly watched the deaths of beloved friends. We are not alone. Look around you! Consuls and Senators have forsworn the luxuries of home and moved with us to the front to ensure that the administration of our government radiates from the source of her bravest citizens.OUTSIDE A FIELD TENTStand SENATOR GAIUS and SENATOR FALCO wrapped to theirchins against the staggering cold.Both men are in advanced middle age. Gaius looks like a stoic: impassive, plainly dressed. Falco wears an expensive fur trimmed robe with gold and asbestos.Flanking them are CONSULS and various OFFICIALS. Lucillastands by Gaius and a very stately, attractive NUMIDIAN WOMAN, MELA, Juba's wife.MARCUS AURELIUS (O.S.)The link between us and Rome is a solid chain of unbroken purpose!For nine hundred years the Roman Senate has stood one with the army in dignity and resolve!AND COMMODUS...watching the troops, seeming to weigh any response with the utmost calculation.AND MARCUSeyes dead-ahead on the troops.MARCUS AURELIUSBut on this day I ask you to put those nine centuries down -- they'retoo heavy for us to carry into battle again! So, we'll leave themhere for the Senators to guard for us!QUINTUSallows himself a smile as the troops grin and laugh. He looks across at Narcissus who manages the faintest of smiles -- a very serious man...MARCUS AURELIUSThis day I want you to fight for the cold and the heat and the filth --and for all those friends who will never feel the sun on their facesagain! I want you to fight for you!For at the moment of battle you and you alone are Rome!THE SOLDIERS...Rank after disciplined rank: not one sideways look, not one sound...AND MARCUS...As his eyes pass from cohort to cohort.MARCUS AURELIUSHow quickly all things sordid and perishable in the universe disappear. Yet throughout time the remembrance of great deeds grows only fresher bringing life again to those who dare perform them...(pause)Legate Narcissus Meridas and Legate Quintus Clarus, I must ask you and your legions for one more day out of nine centuries! Will you give it to me?The troops HOWL their support. Marcus pulls his sword and half turns aiming it behind him.MARCUS AURELIUSThere is the enemy of Rome!Commodus steps forward to join his father and the uproar grows.NARCISSUSremoves his helmet as a sign of respect. Now the stoic veneer of his face cracks into a mixture of reverence and perhaps even love for the emperor.AND COMMODUS...taking every single bit of this in. He seems particularly interested in Narcissus.NARCISSUS & QUINTUSMove their horses close and dismount.QUINTUSI see the emperor's little boy has finally caught up with the army.NARCISSUSLet's hope he doesn't start giving orders.Servis approaches and salutes. It starts to RAIN.SERVISAt your command, sir.EXT. FOREST - EARLY MORNINGIn a howling RAINSTORM Felix Division breaks through thedense woods like a moving human wall behind their rectangular shields.They're in the midst of MASS COMBAT -- spears, arrows andstones crash off shields, taking out soldiers.The ZING of arrows and WHOOSH of spears saturate the air.Because there are no explosives EVERY SCREAM and ARROWSHOT is HEARD.NARCISSUSleads his troops on foot in the thick of battle. ACONTUBERNIUM walks beside Narcissus tugged on by theleashed WOLF MASCOT as painted GERMAN WARRIORS dart out of the woods hurling spears. NARCISSUS YELLS OVER THE SOUNDS OF BATTLE, WIND AND RAIN.NARCISSUSTribune! The right flank is falling back! If we lose the flank we'reall dead!The Tribune salutes and dashes off and Servis rushes in from another direction.SERVISSir! There's a fortification ahead!The Germans are waiting for us!Should we slow the men down?AHEADJuba leads his Numidians in  fluid, disorderly formationinto the thickest part of the forest. Just before he dodges into the woods Juba locks eyes with Narcissus -- and he's GONE.NARCISSUS --jerks his shield up in time to stop an ARROW. But aLEGIONNAIRE is SLAMMED IN THE CHEST by another as sniper- shots whiz in.Now, from the distance comes the rolling roar of DRUMS andHOWLS. Then a horrendous THUNDERCLAP and a bolt oflightning tears the lead grey sky.NARCISSUSCome on, Servis! Forward!Servis turns and runs down the front line as the storm becomes more intense. The YELLING and DRUMMING getLOUDER...THE GERMAN FORTIFICATIONA chaos of interlocked logs rimmed at the top withsharpened stakes. GERMAN WARRIORS SHOUT WAVING SPEARSAND CLUBS.THE FELIX DIVISIONscatters the German snipers and rearguard before it,closing on the fortification.TRIBUNEWhere the hell are the damned archers?NARCISSUSDon't worry about Juba; just keep our own damned troops moving!German warriors loose an avalanche of rocks and spears.NARCISSUSTortoise!TRIBUNETortoise! Form a tortoise!As the call echoes legionnaires furiously overlap their shields on all sides and overhead forming a perfect BOXjust as the stones and spears crash against them...INSIDE THE TORTOISErocks slam the wall of interlocked shields with ear- splitting resonance. But the tortoise holds.OUTSIDEsoon as the barrage stops the Germans unleash FIGHTINGMASTIFFS. The dogs tear into the legionnaires. One leapsat Narcissus and he kills it with a single chop of his Spatha sword.SERVISHere they come!German warriors charge the shields as the legionnaires level their spears. Singing and screaming the warriorsIMPALE THEMSELVES ON THE SPEARS and grasp the shafts. ASECOND WAVE charges the line on the heels of the first.THE LEGIONNAIRES --In a well rehearsed movement twist their spears releasing the tips. As the dying warriors drop with the quick- release spear tips embedded in their bodies, the Romans reverse their spears over the top and -- no problem:Roman spears have points on BOTH ENDS. So the German second wave is met by an intact position.Still they power into the line chopping at the Romanshields with axes.FAR BEHIND...a legionnaire blows a piercing note on a brass horn and a second, thin line of legionnaires APPEARS OUT OF THEFOREST. Narcissus turns, yelling to a contubernium behindhim.NARCISSUSnswer that signal!A red 'flag' on a long pole goes up answering the trumpet, and the line of the fresh cohort parts in segments revealing ONAGERS -- portable catapults -- and SCORPIONS -- powerful precision-fire crossbows that launch javelins.THE ARTILLERY FIRES...cannonball-size shot driven at a hundred miles an hour rip over the heads of Narcissus' troopers and slam against the fort walls.ONAGER CREWSreload with incredible speed from wagons filled with hand-picked rocks -- some bear SCRAWLED EPITHETS essentiallythe Latin equivalent of "EAT THIS HANS!" Onagers launchbarrage after barrage, their backs leaping off the ground like recoiling 45 millimeter field guns.SCORPION OPERATORSpicks their targets. The Germans are leveled by a sheet of scorpion javelins as their crude log fortification splinters under the onager barrage. The Germans are being pulverized by superior technology.THE WHOLE GERMAN ARMY --led by tall GREY BEARDED MAN, pours from the log blockadeand hurls itself against the Roman line.Again the Romans are staggered as the Germans collapse more of their shields, battering through the front line with clubs and axes.NARCISSUS --fights desperately refusing to give ground. A German rears up from behind and slams Narcissus in the back with a club and HE GOES DOWN.Narcissus is nearly trampled as another GERMAN WARRIORthrows himself on Narcissus holding his sword arm about tokill him with a club -- there's a blur of fur and blood asthe ROMAN WOLF LEAPS INTO THE WARRIOR'S FACE.Narcissus lurches back to his feet and seeing he's in themidst of the whole German army he goes wild. Yelling andslashing out with his sword and the knife-edge top of hisshield, in seconds he's drenched with blood.LIKE SOME FANTASTIC ROMANTIC PAINTING --Narcissus climbs onto a HEAP OF BODIES flashing his swordwith the snarling Wolf of Rome at his side.CENTURIONS AND LEGIONNAIRES --see this supernatural vision of their leader battling for life --SERVISRomulus! The gods of Rome arefighting with general Narcissus!Others join the cry as more legionnaires turn and there'san irresistible surge of the army back toward Narcissus.NARCISSUSjoined by Servis, then another, then two Contubernium,then ten legionnaires... the legionnaires fight desperately to hold their ground around Narcissus.Then with a sound of a hundred out-of-tune violins theGermans are SWEPT FROM BEHIND BY ARROWS.JUBA'S NUMIDIANSline the edge of the forest four deep pouring arrows intothe Germans. Juba stands on a log in front shoutingPIERCING SING-SONG ORDERS easily heard over the screams ofbattle.NARCISSUS & HIS TROOPSDIVE behind their shields for cover from the cloudburst of arrows.Arrows fired by almighty recurve bows hit the Germans with the power of .44 magnum rounds: arms splinter like twigs; shields are nailed to chests; skulls explode.The Germans turn and charge the Numidians but they may aswell hurl themselves against a machine gun nest as they'remowed-down in whole lines. They hurtle back in disorder into the forest.THE ROMANSlower their shields. Narcissus catches a fast smile from Juba, then jumps to his feet...NARCISSUSCome on men! Forward!RIVER BANKThe retreating German army spills out of the forest following their leader into a shallow narrows, Narcissus and his division on their heels.ABOVEon the opposite bank is a single Roman on horse back.It's Quintus. He draws his sword and spurs ahead -- then right behind him rush his fresh ROME COHORTS.THE TWO ROMAN ARMIES --crash into the Germans in the middle of the river -- throwing aside his shield and holding his sword with two hands Narcissus chops his way into the enemy with a fury.Wild chaos of horrendous fighting in knee-deep water -- spray, blood, flashing swords and flying spears as men desperately kill to stay alive.Then the two Roman armies close like a fist and the surviving Germans squeeze through the fingers in disarray.NARCISSUS & QUINTUSmeet in the middle of the river and at that moment the legionnaires realize they've won. They howl and stab at the heavens with their swords to intimidate the gods.Narcissus pulls off his lorica segmentata which literally drools blood and heaves it into the water. Then in the vortex of the cheering cohorts, he and Quintus embrace.FROM ABOVEThe Danube runs RED...EXT. ROMAN CAMP - VINDOBONA - NEAR DUSKSurrounded by cheering legions Narcissus rides his greyhorse slowly into camp. Servis walks ahead leading the beloved wolf mascot on a leash. Quintus rides beside Narcissus, but it's clear all this adulation is forNarcissus.Narcissus dismounts and finally the crowd parts revealingCommodus outside the Roman headquarters flanked by slavesand Praetorian Guard. Commodus strides forward and embraces him as a cheer goes up from the soldiers.COMMODUSWelcome back from your great triumph Narcissus Meridas. My father sends his heart felt praise. Sadly, Marcus is in dark humors -- nothingto worry about, but he needs rest.Likely just the weather.NARCISSUSRespectfully Caesar, Quintus and I must report.COMMODUSOf course, but not now. However, if he continues to be unwell, you may report to me.A challenging look from Commodus -- clearly Narcissus is not in the mood to report to this boy. Quintus steps in.QUINTUSGladly, Caesar. And, if you'd like we can take you for a tour of thefront at first light.COMMODUSI'm certain father will be in better humors by then. Now, honor us with your presence at dinner. I'll join you as soon as I see my father'sphysician.For a second Commodus eyes the shouting army... it makes him NERVOUS. Then he turns to enter the building.NARCISSUSWhat the hell was all that about?QUINTUSWhat the hell do you think it was about? There's nothing an unprovedheir to the throne likes less than glaring competence in others.NARCISSUSWhy don't we try to keep politics out of the conversation.QUINTUSWell, we can try...INT. ROMAN HQ - EARLY MORNINGInside the single large building at the Vindobona central base, a wraith-like FORTUNE TELLER stands with her eyes closed, hand on Falco's head.TRIBUNES and high ranking HANGERS-ON bask near a blazinghearth like over-fed dogs. Senator Gaius sits apart near Juba and his wife Mela. All are fixated on Falco.FORTUNE TELLER... a great man: great of birth -- great of girth!(laughs all around)Your fate in flame and bronze is wrought... the rest in haze is sought.FALCOSmoke from the fire no doubt!She opens her eyes and Falco hands her a coin.NARCISSUSFire and bronze -- symbols of strong character, Senator!All turn toward Narcissus and Quintus.FALCOGeneral Narcissus, it's your turn!Everyone in this room would love to know your future. Go on, ask him if he'll stand for the Senate!Applause as Narcissus catches a smirk from Quintus.NARCISSUSNo future-telling, please, I've been terrified enough for one day.LUCILLANarcissus! Terrified? You? The only thing he's scared of is me.Lucilla greets Narcissus with an embarrassingly intimate embrace. Looks like she's been hitting the sauce pretty good.GAIUSSlave! Wine and meat for our generals! The saviors of Rome!FALCOJudging from your adoring troops and what we heard, Narcissus, you are personally responsible for our victory.Lucilla hangs onto Narcissus' hand taking him around the room like he was her date.LUCILLAYou know our two most senior Senators: Gaius Cantus and FalcoVerus?NARCISSUSOnly from a distance.GAIUSWell let's not be so distant, general. Now that this war is ending Rome needs good men off the battlefield as well.JUBAThe Wolf of Rome fought beside him.I saw it with my own eyes.Narcissus looks at Juba as if to say 'thanks a lot.'LUCILLAYou see? The Gods favor you for greatness! Tell us about it -- allabout it.VOICESYes/Tell us/Tell all!NARCISSUSThe truth is I got into a little trouble and when the army came torescue me the German counterattack broke around us. An example ofbeing in precisely the wrong place at exactly the right time.(off their laughs)It was Juba and his archers who finally got them running. ThenQuintus arrived with the Rome legions just in time to cut off their retreat.Commodus and Galen suddenly step into the light; it'sunclear how long Commodus may have been listening in thedoorway. Everyone rises...COMMODUSNarcissus Meridas, you win the battle and deny you had any hand itit. But if we had lost, you would have taken complete responsibility.Senators, Rome needs more such models of humility and courage.(pause)My father sends regrets that he will not join us after all as he continues to be unwell.Commodus reaches over to fill Lucilla's cup which is nearly brimming.COMMODUSMore wine, sister? Surely you can drink more than that.LUCILLAI was suddenly thinking about going to bed.COMMODUSOh, stay...(that was an order)Don't you want to join the chorus of praises for Narcissus' glory? Just remember, he is a married man.NARCISSUSDo you expect Marcus to be well enough by morning for an udience?COMMODUSThat's difficult to say, general.NARCISSUSPerhaps, Master Galen, you may say.GALENIt's difficult to name a time...COMMODUSMay I remind everyone that MasterGalen is the finest medical philosopher in the Empire and his detailed assessment of the Emperor is delicate and confidential and isthe business of the immediate family alone.NARCISSUSI would venture, with all respect: the Emperor's health is the businessof every soul in the empire.GAIUSYes! The days of Imperial Prerogative and disdain for the Senate are over -- thanks to your father! Now report to the Senate, Master Galen: what is Marcus' state?COMMODUSReport, Master Galen, by all means.The Senate demands it...GALENWe are talking simply about a disturbance of the hues. Nothingmore. In precisely one hour I will analyze the Emperor's bile and thenmy assistants and I will stand by in an unfailing vigil until his feverbreaks. Now with your permission Caesar, Senators? I must return tomy patient.Commodus gestures him out as if he were just amused.COMMODUSOne doctor now knows his place in the empire. Congratulations,general, your victory seems to inspire courage everywhere.Quintus stops flirting with Lucilla's slaves and starts paying close attention to the developing dynamics.NARCISSUSThe battle was won, today, and Iprefer to believe it was a gift ofJanus, the eldest God of Rome. Godof my ancestors.FALCOGod of passages and changes?NARCISSUSI believe we are arriving in an enlightened age; an age of peacethat will bring Rome her greatest glory. Thanks to Marcus Aurelius.FALCOYou know, general, there is a Gate of Janus in Rome which is onlyclosed in time of peace. Sadly, it has remained open for three hundred years.NARCISSUSI've read of it.FALCOBut have never been?NARCISSUSMy only visits to Rome, Senator, have been through books. But thewar's over, time to close the door of war once and for all.COMMODUSThen you'd be out of a job.NARCISSUSGladly Caesar.COMMODUSOr perhaps into a new one. But here's to your God and the courageof our legions...GAIUSAnd the man who gives them this extraordinary courage.Gaius stands and raises his cup. But Quintus is amused tosee him get as close to Narcissus as he can -- nearly hiding behind him.COMMODUSQuite so. Narcissus and his courageous men; may they live longto serve Rome...LUCILLAAnd Caesar! Let's not forget to serve Caesar!Falco in turn moves to stand near Commodus.FALCOThey are one and the same my lady.Which is why we senior Senators have chosen to be here on the front to share the hardships of our courageous Emperor -- MarcusAurelius and his son -- may the gods protect them!LUCILLAOh, yes, my father is a raving genius -- poet, essayist, philosopher, warrior... It's a wonder he doesn't drift off like a cloud he's so damned ethereal.'Marcus Aurelius Etherealus'... But he should cast his divine eyesearthward once in a while and see how fallible some of his decisionshave been! Of course I don't mean you, Commodus -- gods know you're perfect. As far as sharing in his glory and suffering -- well, Icertainly didn't want to be here.Isn't that true, darling brother?Commodus, I believe, was afraid that if I stayed in Rome I might foment a rebellion! Seize power for myself!Commodus glares at Lucilla as she trails off in laughter.Mela decides it's time to rescue Lucilla from herself.She rises and crosses to sit beside her.MELAIf you men are going to talk politics leave us out of it.JUBAShe's not so bashful about politics when we're alone.MELAOnly when it concerns Numidia. And, we're far from home so I'll play the good Roman woman and listen -- perhaps Lucilla we could play that part together.COMMODUSWhat do you say, Narcissus? Where are you in this great new balancebetween the Emperor or the Senate?GAI