The Storm is coming.
Place: Leo's Office.
Sounds of wind and thunder. Crossfade to phone conversation.
LEO
(To the phone.)
Have they started the evacuations? Good. Speed them up. The storm is coming we don't want anyone to be there when it arrives.
(Pause.)
Okay. I'll call you back after the meeting. Bye.
Leo picks up a paper from the table and starts to read it.
LEO
"10 Beaufort: Storm, Whole gale. Trees are broken off or uprooted, saplings bent and deformed…."
Knock on the door.
LEO
Yes.
C.J. comes in.
C.J.
Leo. There's been a car bomb strike in Jakarta's embassy.
LEO
How bad?
C.J.
No one got hurt in the embassy, but ten Indonesians died. Four of them children.
LEO
(Sighs.)
Has anyone announced they did it?
C.J.
No.
(C.J. sees the paper in Leo's hand.)
What were you reading?
LEO
This is the Beaufort scale. For the meeting.
C.J.
Okay. Where's the storm is at the moment?
CJ walks to Leo.
LEO
There. 11 Beaufort. (Reads from the paper:) "Widespread damage to vegetation. Many roofing surfaces are damaged…"
C.J.
"...Exceptionally high waves. Very large patches of the foam..." You wouldn't want to be at the sea when this one arrives.
LEO
There shouldn't be any ships on the sea then. We are taking care of it.
Safety meeting
Place: The Oval Office
JED
Do we have any worst case scenario about this?
LEO
Tens of thousands dead. Hundreds of thousands injured. One million people without a home.
The damages in the infrastructure are counted in billions of dollars.
JED
(Sighs.)
And you cannot negotiate with the nature, can you.
LEO
The red cross is there already and other organisations are going there too.
JED
That's good. Give them all the support they need. Have they started the evacuations?
LEO
Yes. And they are speeding them up. Coastal towns should be empty before the storm arrives.
But it's not sure if they can do the same thing in bigger cities.
JED
Is the army helping with evacuations?
LEO
Yes, sir. Every troop available are either there or going there.
And the coast guard is clearing the sea from the ships.
JED
Who are they doing?
LEO
Pretty well. However, the commodore said that there's still one carrier group near the coast.
They could probably get it back to harbour before the storm, but they don't know if they can do it early enough to evacuate the crew.
And they wouldn't want to leave the ships as storm targets.
JED
What's the plan, Leo?
LEO
If the carrier group sails to east, as far from the storm as they can,
they should be out of the danger zone before the strom comes there.
JED
Wait a minute. Are you telling me that they should go to the sea to avoid the storm?
LEO
That's the only way to save the ships. If the group goes to harbour,
there's nothing left of it after the hurricane. Well, maybe some multimillion wrecks...
JED
And we don't want that. Okay. Give them an order to sail east. Anything else?
LEO
Jake Kimball came to see me this morning.
JED
What's he doing here?
LEO
Looking a hundred years old. Antares is going to announce the chip recall tomorrow.
JED
How big?
LEO
Everything. They discovered a problem with one of them...
JED
That's got to be 50 million chips!
LEO
80 million. That's the end of Antares. 98 thousand workers, 75 thousand in US.
JED
Plus the kidney punch at NASDAQ…
LEO
I think Jake's going to put a shotgun in his mouth, I really do.
JED
It just keeps getting better, doesn't it. You've heard about Indonesia?
LEO
Yeah. Ten people dead and no one had said that they did it.
JED
For of the casualties were children. On a day like this I really can't understand what's wrong with this world.
(Sighs.)
Anything else?
LEO
Not this time.
JED
Keep the wheels rolling and keep me updated all the time.
LEO
I will. Thank you, Mr. President.
JED
Thank you, Leo.
We move to...
Radio news.
That are telling that the storm is now officially a hurricane. From the news we move to…
What's new Leo?
Place: Oval office
JED
What's new, Leo?
LEO
Not much. Evacuations are in schedule,
but there are still tens of thousands of people that are not going to make it out of there early enough.
Jed is quiet for a while.
JED
Not so long time ago you could easily tell when it were in peace and when we were at war.
You could tell when we were doing economically well and when, well, not so much.
Now we have terrorism and mass sackings. We are in a state of constant storm even when it all should be calm.
The whole present is so stormy, that you would think you've got used to it.
But then again, when a real storm arrives you realize…
LEO
…that a storm is always a storm.
JED
Exactly.
They sit quiet for a while.
LEO
This may not be the right time for this, but I'm not sure if there ever will be one.
We are running out of time and we should talk about helping Antares. It's not like there's nothing we can do.
JED
There's nothing we can do. The government can't be in the business of cosigning loans.
You know that as well as I do.
LEO
We would be just backing the loans to cover the cost of the recall.
Maybe it's a subsidy but it's a small one.
JED
It IS a subsidy and not that small.
LEO
Sir! That was not a failure of business, it was a human error. And Jake's been completely forth...
JED
The marketplace will take care of Antares.
LEO
The marketplace will kill Antares.
(Pause.)
A loan guarantee doesn't cost the taxpayers a nickel.
JED
Unless they go under and either way they've just said "We're open for business".
LEO
For a corporate icon that feeds into tech companies, computers, aerospace…
If Antares goes down, it affects everything. 75 thousand jobless. And it doesn't end there
(Pause.)
You know how many chips have acted up so far? One. Dollars to donuts, he could have gotten away with it.
But he wanted to warn people they may have a problem before… I don't know what happens when 80 million computers stop working right.
But tell me this isn't exactly how we want American business to behave!
Jed thinks about it.
JED
They're announcing end of business tomorrow?
LEO
Yes, sir..
JED
I'm not saying anything, but grab some people and put together some numbers.
Good news – well, mostly.
Leo walks into C.J.'s office. C.J. is holding satelite photos of the hurricane.
Leo
C.J.?
C.J.
Leo.
LEO
What's happening?
C.J.
You won't believe this. Hurricane has shifted direction.
LEO
Where is it heading?
C.J.
Back to the Atlantic.
LEO
Show me those satellite photos.
(Looks at he pictures.)
This is terrific. It will never hit the big cities.
(Break.)
Are you sure this is true? I mean, can a hurricane just shift direction like that?
C.J.
Apparently yes. But there's still a situation.
LEO
What kind of situation? It's moving back out.
C.J.
For some reason, there's a fleet of ships out there.
LEO
(Stricken)
Oh, God...
C.J.
Do you know about this?
LEO
They evacuated a battle carrier group out of Norfolk this morning as a standard safety precaution.
C.J.
They're sitting right in the path of the hurricane.
LEO
Yeah. Can they get out?
C.J.
Leo, the thing is 600 miles across. They're locked in. How bad can this get?
LEO
Catastrophic.
(Dials his cell-phone and is taking to hisself.)
And for once I thought I could take only good news to the President...
(To the phone.)
Margaret? Ask captain Stevens to come to the situation room immediately. And tell Mr. President we are there. He can join us as soon as he can.
In the line of the hurricane
Place: The Situation Room
JED
The hurricane just shifted direction without any warning? They do that?
CAPTAIN
It's not an anomaly, but it's unusual, Mr. President.
JED
Let's look the bright side of this first. The coastal towns are safe now, aren't they?
CAPTAIN
Yes, Mr. President. There will be hard wind and heavy waves for sure, but the people will be safe, sir.
LEO
Not entirely. There's still the carrier group. They're right on the way of the hurricane.
JED
Because we ordered them to sail there.
(Sighs.)
We could have stopped this. All we had to do was to get them to harbour and evacuate the crew.
LEO
It would have been a suicide order back then. The hurricane was coming right to the harbour.
JED
Captain? How big is this carrier group? How many men and how many ships?
CAPTAIN
This battle carrier group is made up of the aircraft carrier, John F. Kennedy, which carries a crew of 5 000 men.
Two guided missile cruisers, two destroyers, and two battleships. All told, Mr. President, it's a little over 12 000 men.
Jed thinks about it for a moment.
JED
How long it takes before the worst of it starts?
CAPTAIN
About 30 minutes.
It's all quiet for a while.
JED
Is there any way I can speak with the fleet commander?
CAPTAIN
It will take 10 or 15 minutes. But we can set a hook up right here.
JED
All right. Let's do it..
CAPTAIN
Thank you, Mr. President.
JED
Thank you.
To the real nightmare
Place: The lobby/The Oval Office
Captain leaves. Leo and Jed are walking back to the Oval office.
LEO
Mr. President. I know this is hard for you. But try to see the bright side in this.
Tens of thousands are saved. Hundreds of thousands of homes stay where they are.
JED
The ones in the carrier group will lose much more than their homes. And it's our fault. We are the ones to blame for this one.
LEO
With all due respect, you tried to save their lives. You cannot blame yourself for a hurricane shifting direction.
JED
Well, I cannot blame the hurricane, neither.
Jed and Leo have arrived to the Oval office. (Ennio Morricone's Old Family Souvenirs starts to play as backround music as Jed starts his story.)
JED
My uncle was a sea captain, Leo. He used to tell me what it was like to sail in a storm.
He said it's like being a mute, a deaf and incapable to move all at the same time.
Being surrounded by moving mountains of waves rising foaming white sea.
Not being able to speak or hear anything because the storm makes sound like non-stop thunder.
I still see nightmares about those stories, I really do.
(Music stops.)
JED
And when I wake up, I feel myself terribly small and powerless.
Jed stays silent for a couple of seconds.
JED
That's how I feel right now. The only difference is that I haven't woken up from a nightmare – this time I woke up into one.
The worst wasn't a dream this time.
Knock on a door.
JED
Yes?
C.J.
Mr. President. Jake Kimball is here.
JED
Send him in.
Something we can do
Place: The Oval Office (continuing from previous scene)
Jake Kimball comes in.
KIMBALL
Mr. President.
JED
Jake... (They shake hands.)
I'm sorry about the delay and I'm sorry that I can't be with you for more than a few minutes.
There's a carrier group in the middle of the hurricane. We send it there, there's no one it can get away from it and there's nothing we can do about it.
KIMBALL
That sounds terrible, Mr. President.
JED
Hopefully we get the captain on the phone. But we have a moment before that happens. Let's sit down.
They sit down.
JED
Leo wanted to see if we could guarantee a loan for you.
KIMBALL
I didn't know that. I... I can't ask you for that.
JED
I appreciate that, and I can't give it to you. But I think I can do Leo one better.
(Pause)
When you announce your recall, you can announce you're keeping your goverment contracts.
Leo will work it out with Congress. We'll stay your biggest customer.
CLARK
(Overhelmed) That's very generous, Mr. President. I appreciate your confidence.
JED
But if I hear that Antares giving huge rases or multimillion options to it's bosses any time soon...
CLARK
You won't, sir. I won't be taking any salary for two years
and my managers will cut their salaries by 50 percent before we even consider laying anyone off.
JED
Sounds about right.
Knock on the door.
JED
Yes?
C.J.
Mr. President. The phone is ready.
JED
Thanks, C.J.
JED
(To Kimball.)
That's my call. I gotta go now.
KIMBALL
Yes, sir. Thank you so much, Mr. President. I have one more question for you: why?
JED
Because you were in the middle of the hurricane, too. And because this time we were able to do something about it.
Jed is leaving
KIMBALL
Mr. President...
Jed stops.
KIMBALL
Thank you.
JED
Thank you, Jake.
The phone call
Bartlet enters to the room where everyone is expecting him.
JED
Good evening, everyone. We got the fleet commander?
LEO
Not yet. The JFK's radios have been knocked out along with communications on the Normandy and the South Carolina.
All we've got is the Hickory. It's a little maintenance and supply boat that sails around with the fleet.
JED
So, I guess I'm going to talk to the Captain of the Hickory?
CAPTAIN
The intercom's been knocked out. They're looking for him, Mr. President.
JED
Is there somebody on the phone?
LEO
The kid in the radio shack.
JED
You'te kidding.
CAPTAIN
No, sir.
It's quiet for a while.
LEO
They are in the middle of the hurricane. Talk to the boy.
Jed nods. Captain Stevens pushes the speaker phone button.
JED
Hello? (Pause.) Hello? Anyone there?
MAN ON THE PHONE
This is the U.S.S. Hickory.
JED
Hickory, this is the White house. Who am I speaking to?
MAN ON THE PHONE
This is Signalman Third Class Harold Lewis.
JED
Son? This is President Bartlet.
(No answer.)
Hello?
HAROLD
Yes, sir.
JED
Is your C.O. around?
HAROLD
Sir, they're getting him right now, sir.
JED
Can I talk to you in the meantime?
(Beat)
Hello?
HAROLD
I'm… yes, sir.
JED
Are you all right, Harold?
HAROLD
I hit my head on... I-I… I hit my head.
JED
Are you bleeding?
HAROLD
Yes, sir.
JED
Can you put something on it?
HAROLD
Well, I need to get to the other… I-I can't reach it and…
JED
You go over and get it. I'll stay right here.
A long pause.
JED
Harold?
(Pause)
Harold, are you back?
HAROLD
Yes, sir. I think the skipper should be here any minute, sir.
JED
Can you tell us what's going on?
HAROLD
Well… (His voice disappears.)
JED
Harold?
HAROLD
Hello?
BARTLET
We're here. Can you tell us what's going on?
(Old Family Souvenirs starts to play.)
HAROLD
Well... we're looking at I guess 80 foot seas with winds up to 120 knots. We're shipping solid green water over the bow.
And we've got a fire in the engine room. We lost our running lights and may get run over by an aircraft carrier that can't see in the dark.
Jed is at a loss of what to say and kneels down.
JED
Well, I don't know, man. Sounds pretty bad, Harold. I think I'm going to ask for my money back. (Pause) Harold?
HAROLD
Yes, sir.
JED
I'm going to stay right here, as long as the radio works, okay?
HAROLD
Yes, sir.
JED
Hang on.
Music goes on for about 30 seconds. Then it fades.