MARINA (stiffly pleasant) Oh, yes, how nice of you to phone. It's been too long.
Khomyuk registers the woman's tone. Good.
KHOMYUK
It has. I was actually calling about our friend-- you know, the one in the country?
MARINA Yes, of course.
KHOMYUK
I wanted to see how he was doing. It's so hot there right now.
MARINA
Yes, it's extremely hot. But— (thinks)
His nephews are flying in, and they always bring cool weather with them.
KHOMYUK Oh? Which nephews?
MARINA
Simka, who's 14, and little Boris, who just turned 5.
Khomyuk looks at the small reference PERIODIC TABLE taped on the wall under some cabinets. Sees the symbols for Si (14) and B (5).
KHOMYUK
Well that's wonderful. Of course, children can make you even hotter when they're crawling all over you.
MARINA
That's true. But what can you do?
KHOMYUK Maybe I'll go visit them.
MARINA
No, they don't want visitors. I'm sorry, I have to get back to work. It's very busy right now. Goodbye.
Khomyuk hears the CLICK as Marina hangs up. She puts the phone down.
KHOMYUK
They're dropping sand and boron on the fire.
DMITRI It's what I would do.
KHOMYUK Yes, I'm sure it is.
She moves across the lab to a low storage unit with wide drawers. Begins pulling open the drawers, looking for—
—there. A set of BLUEPRINTS. She puts them on her desk.
Dmitri joins her, curious, as she hunts through the blueprints for something. Flip, flip, flip, flip -- there.
An elevation of an industrial building. HER FINGER traces down... to a cross-section of two EMPTY SPACES.
She thinks for a second, then FOLDS UP the blueprints and moves to the exit.
DMITRI Where are you going?
KHOMYUK (not looking back) Chernobyl.
248 INT. POLISSYA HOTEL - SHCHERBINA'S SUITE - DAY 248
A minimalist suite. Bedroom with an attached area for a sofa, chair, coffee table. On it, plates of untouched food. Ashtrays full of cigarettes.
They've been holed up in here for a bit.
LEGASOV stands by the window. Staring out and down at something— perhaps on the street below. We don't see what. From outside, the steady drone of distant HELICOPTERS.
SHCHERBINA enters. Legasov turns to him. News?
SHCHERBINA It's been smooth. Twenty drops.
No change in Legasov's somber expression. Shcherbina's short fuse is immediately lit.
SHCHERBINA
What.
LEGASOV
There are fifty thousand people in this city.
So. This argument again.
SHCHERBINA Professor Ilyin— who is also on the commission— says the radiation isn't high enough to evacuate--
LEGASOV Ilyin isn't a physicist—
SHCHERBINA He's a medical doctor. If he says it's safe, it's safe.
LEGASOV Not if they stay here.
SHCHERBINA We're staying here...
LEGASOV
Yes we are. And we'll be dead in five years.
The second the words leave his mouth, Legasov regrets them.
Shcherbina stands in total shock. Gutted.
LEGASOV I'm-- I'm sorry, I didn't--
Shcherbina limply waves him off. Stop talking.
He sits down. Trying to swallow what he's just been told.
THE PHONE RINGS. Jars us. Shcherbina picks it up, in a daze.
SHCHERBINA
Shcherbina.
Legasov watches Shcherbina's face as he listens to the
person on the other end. After a few long seconds...
SHCHERBINA
Thank you.
He hangs up. All of the fight gone out of him.
SHCHERBINA A nuclear plant in Sweden detected radiation. And identified it as a byproduct of our fuel. The Americans took satellite photos-- the reactor building. The smoke. The fire. The whole world knows.
Shcherbina joins Legasov at the window. Stares out. Pale.
SHCHERBINA The wind's been blowing toward Germany. They're not letting children play outside in Frankfurt.
THEIR POV: CHILDREN at a playground just across the street.
MUSIC: the familiar ABC NIGHTLY NEWS fanfare.
249 EXT. PLAYGROUND - CONTINUOUS 249
As children laugh and play, we hear the voice of:
PETER JENNINGS (V.O.) There has been a nuclear accident in the Soviet Union, and the Soviets have admitted that it happened.
In the near distance, the PLUME OF BLACK SMOKE continues to rise from Chernobyl...
250 INT. KREMLIN CONFERENCE ROOM 250
Gorbachev sits alone, watching a VHS PLAYBACK of a Western news report on television. Grim.
PETER JENNINGS (ON TV) The Soviet version is this: one of the atomic reactors at the Chernobyl Atomic Power Plant near the city of Kiev was damaged, and there is speculation in Moscow that people were injured and may have died.
(MORE)
PETER JENNINGS (ON TV) (cont'd) The Soviets may have been fairly quick to acknowledge the accident because evidence-- in the form of mild nuclear radiation--
251 EXT. HIGHWAY - UKRAINIAN COUNTRYSIDE 251
A motorcycle parked on the left shoulder of a WINDING HIGHWAY in the middle of nowhere. A young man is attempting to fix a thrown chain.
His girlfriend stands waiting. Smoking.
PETER JENNINGS (V.O.) --had already reached beyond the Soviet borders to Scandinavia.
An EMPTY KIEV CITY BUS rounds the bend and ROARS past them, heading north down the highway.
Then another. And another. And another.
The girl nudges her boyfriend to get his attention. He rises, and they both watch in confusion as:
Kiev city buses keep coming, one after the other...
252 EXT. PRIPYAT STREET - DAY 252
People walk outside. Push prams. Carry groceries.
A MILITARY truck rumbles into view. There are LOUDSPEAKERS mounted to the truck. A PIERCING electronic SQUEAL.
A female voice echoes out from the loudspeakers. A recording. Slow, deliberate, oddly calm.
LOUDSPEAKER
ATTENTION.
And despite the eerie sedation of her voice, the people on the street immediately begin BACKING AWAY from the truck. Frightened. Whatever this is, it won't be good.
LOUDSPEAKER
ATTENTION.
253 EXT. PRIPYAT - VARIOUS - MONTAGE 253
The LOUDSPEAKER TRUCKS are everywhere, crawling at a snail's pace through the city.
LOUDSPEAKER
ATTENTION.
SOLDIERS begin moving in formation toward groups of people, who put their arms up, submissively moving backwards.
LOUDSPEAKER
ATTENTION.
TITLE:
2 P.M., APRIL 27 36 HOURS AFTER THE EXPLOSION
Soldiers are stopping cars. Gesturing for people to get out. Leave the cars... leave everything in the cars...
LOUDSPEAKER FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE RESIDENTS OF PRIPYAT.
Soldiers head into buildings. Fists POUND on doors.
LOUDSPEAKER THE CITY COUNCIL INFORMS YOU THAT DUE TO THE ACCIDENT AT CHERNOBYL POWER STATION IN THE CITY OF PRIPYAT—
The KIEV BUSES begin arriving. Soldiers clear people out of stores. Panicky parents grab their children from playgrounds.
Teachers leads students out of school in single file lines.
LOUDSPEAKER --THE RADIOACTIVE CONDITIONS IN THE VICINITY ARE DETERIORATING.
In the HOSPITAL - soldiers move through the hallways. Usher patients out of bed. People are removing their own IV's...
Soldiers push the incapacitated out in gurneys. Even they cannot stay.
ZINCHENKO is treating MIKHAIL and OKSANA'S BABY, who is still shrieking in Mikhail's arms.
LOUDSPEAKER THE COMMUNIST PARTY, ITS OFFICIALS, AND THE ARMED FORCES ARE TAKING NECESSARY STEPS TO COMBAT THIS.
A soldier gestures for her to leave. She refuses. He grabs her. Another soldier takes the baby from Mikhail, who tries to stop them, but he has no strength. All he can do is cry.
Zinchenko fights to get to the baby, but they DRAG her away.
LOUDSPEAKER NEVERTHELESS, WITH THE VIEW TO KEEP PEOPLE AS SAFE AND HEALTHY AS POSSIBLE--