He doesn't respond. Then:
VASILY Open the curtains.
She sets the cup down and crosses to the window behind him. Pulls the curtain aside. BRIGHT DAYLIGHT floods in.
Vasily instantly closes his eyes in pain. Lyudmilla quickly returns to his side, and places special, bandaged DARKENED LENSES gently over his eyes.
He waits for the pain to subside. Then...
VASILY
What do you see? Tell me everything.
She turns slowly back to the window. From here, the only view is a dismal array of brutally ugly apartment buildings, and a grim highway just beyond.
LYUDMILLA I see the Red Square from here. The Kremlin, the Mausoleum, Spasskaya Tower...
He nods. Pleased.
VASILY Saint Basil's?
LYUDMILLA Yes. It's beautiful.
VASILY
You see? I told you I'd show you Moscow one day. I told you.
She walks back to him. Sits down. Gently takes his hand. The flesh hangs strangely from his bones, as if it's separating.
LYUDMILLA Thank you, my love.
BEHIND HER - through the interior window facing the hospital hallway, we see a figure in PROTECTIVE GEAR passing by...
325 INT. HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS 325
KHOMYUK strides down the hallway in medical clothing. Rubber gloves. Rubber booties. Sleeves and pants cuffs tucked in.
In her hand, a notebook and pen. She stops in front of a door, then takes a breath, and raises a cloth face-mask in place to cover her nose and mouth.
She opens the door.
INSIDE THE HOSPITAL ROOM - a man stands in a hospital gown, his back to us, staring out the window. He turns slowly at the sound of the door.
It's DYATLOV. His hair is now missing in patches. His eyebrows are gone. But otherwise— he seems oddly fine. No trace of the morphine delirium we saw before.
He gestures to an uneaten tray of food. Contemptous.
DYATLOV
I'm not eating that. It's shit. Bring me something else.
KHOMYUK
I'm not a nurse, Comrade Dyatlov. I'm a nuclear physicist.
Oh really? Her? A sneer, then:
DYATLOV
Well then, Comrade Nuclear Physicist, unless you happen to have a butter and caviar sandwich with you, you can get the fuck out of my room.
And with that, he turns away.
326 EXT. REACTOR SITE - DAY 326
BUSES pull up to the site, just fifty meters or so away from the blown-open reactor building.
The miners get out... and stare in shock at the sight in front of them. Soldiers hand out GAS MASKS to them as they file off the bus.
MINER
Where do we need to go?
SOLDIER Straight ahead.
The miners stumble forward. This is far from a mine. They're unsure what they're doing or where they're supposed to be.
327 INT. MOBILE OFFICE - MOMENTS LATER 327
Legasov sits with Shcherbina. A map of the power plant on the small table in front of them.
Legasov smokes. Worried.
SHCHERBINA
What.
LEGASOV I'm not good at this, Boris.
(beat) The lying.
SHCHERBINA Have you ever spent time with miners?
LEGASOV
No.
SHCHERBINA My advice? Tell the truth. These men work in the dark. They see everything.
A KNOCK on the door, then it opens. A soldier, announcing--
SOLDIER Andrei Glukhov. Crew chief.
Shcherbina nods. The soldier backs away, and GLUKHOV enters, gas mask in hand. He sits himself down unceremoniously, and drops the gas mask on the table. Gestures at it.
GLUKHOV Do these work?
LEGASOV To an extent.
Glukhov shrugs. Better than nothing. Then points at Legasov's pack of cigarettes.
LEGASOV
Of course.
He holds the cigarettes out to Glukhov, who casually takes the entire pack. Lights one up, pockets the rest for later.
GLUKHOV Well? What's the job?
Legasov clears his throat. All right. He points to the map.
LEGASOV
We need to install a liquid nitrogen heat exchanger underneath this concrete pad. There's no way to approach it from the interior of the building. We have to come at it from underground.
GLUKHOV And what's above the pad?
Again, right to the point. Legasov glances at Shcherbina, who gives a tiny nod. "Tell the truth."
LEGASOV
The core of the nuclear reactor, which is melting down.
GLUKHOV (melting down?) What. Like— ?
He makes a dropping gesture.
LEGASOV
Essentially.
GLUKHOV Is it going to fall on us?
LEGASOV
Not if you're done within six weeks.
Glukhov takes a long drag on his cigarette. Staring carefully at Legasov. Then:
GLUKHOV
Dimensions?
LEGASOV (points at the map) You'll break ground here, tunnel 150 metres to here, and then excavate a 30 metre by 30 metre space for the heat exchanger.
(MORE)
LEGASOV (cont'd)
(beat)
And because we need to keep disruption of the ground to a minimum, we cannot use heavy equipment. It must be done by hand.
Glukhov whistles. That's a big job.
GLUKHOV
We'll need more men. At least four hundred. And we'll have to work around the clock. (beat)
How deep do you want this tunnel? Six metres?
LEGASOV
Twelve.
GLUKHOV
Twelve? Why?
LEGASOV
For your protection. At that depth, you will be shielded from much of the radiation.
GLUKHOV
The entrance to the tunnel won't be twelve metres down.
LEGASOV
No.
GLUKHOV
And we're not twelve metres down right now.
LEGASOV No. We're not.
Ah. So this is the situation.
SHCHERBINA We have some equipment here on site, but more will arrive by midnight. You can start in the morning.
Glukhov stubs out his cigarette. Rises. Grabs his gas mask off the table.
GLUKHOV
We'll start now. I don't want my men here one second more than they have to be.
He stares at his gas mask for a moment.
GLUKHOV
If these worked, you'd be wearing them.
He tosses the gas mask back on the table, and exits.
CUT TO:
328 NEAR PITCH BLACK 328
The sound of muffled men shouting to each other. A heavy RATTLE of metal...
TITLE:
MAY 6, 1986
And then a MINER shifts his head to UNBLOCK the lights behind him, and now we see him and a coworker PUSHING a MINE CART full of dirt around a CORNER and--
329 EXT. REACTOR SITE - DAY - MOMENTS LATER 329
They EMERGE from the MOUTH of the tunnel shaft, and quickly TILT the minecart to empty the dirt.
They wear simple white uniforms, and simple white caps, much in the style of the reactor control room workers. But these men are covered in dirt. And dripping in sweat.
There is a SIGN nailed to the side of the shaft entrance... yellow Cyrillic lettering on a piece of brown plywood.
SUBTITLE: Comrades: our goal, 24/7, is to advance the tunnel by 13 metres each day
GLUKHOV emerges from the tunnel, right behind them. Jumps up out of the entrance trench.
GLUKHOV
Quickly. Back in. You two! Behind them.
(MORE)
GLUKHOV (cont'd) (to another miner) Iosif, get another spool of wire, and tell group three to switch with two.
They move quickly, and without care. Jumping down into the dirt. Wiping the sweaty dust from their faces. No one is wearing a mask.
Glukhov looks up at the SUN. It's beating down, and it's not even noon yet.
He walks over to a crude, brown INTERCOM BOX set on top of some SANDBAGS. Pushes a button on it twice. It emits two signal tones. Bweee bwee... then we hear a VOICE, crackling through the tiny speaker.
MINER (INTERCOM)
Yes?