The Temple, from a story by H.P. Lovecraft adapted by Julie Hoverson (19 Nocturne Boulevard reissue of the week)

The crew of a U-Boat in the Great War find
some danger runs very very deep

CAST

Cap. Karl Heinrich - Rick Lewis
Lt. Keinze - J. Hoverson
Crew:  Shawn Connor & Bryan Hendricksen

Music by:  Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com)

Recorded with the assistance of Ryan Hirst of Neohoodoo Studio
Editing and Sound:   Julie Hoverson
Cover Art - Brett Coulstock

"What kind of a place is it?
Why it's a U-boat of the Kaiserliche Marine - can't you tell?"
______________________________________________________________

THE TEMPLE

Cast:

Lieutenant Commander Karl HEINRICH, Graf von Altberg-Ehrenstein, Lieutenant-Commander in the Imperial German Navy, Prussian (mid 30s?)

Lieutenant Jurgen KIENZE, second in command, "womanish Rhinelander" (30)

Boatswain MULLER, elderly "superstitious Alsatian swine"

SCHMIDT [mid 20s - goes mad]

ZIMMER [mid 20s - leads delegation to get rid of idol]

BOHIN [mid 20s - goes mad]

RAABE [early 20s - engineer]

SCHNEIDER [early 20s - engineer]

OLIVIA      Did you have any trouble finding it?  What do you mean, what kind of a place is it?  Why, it's a U-Boat of the Kaiserlich Marine, can't you tell?  (That's World War I, for all you younger folks...)

[My apologies for any mischaracterization of Germans - it's all from Lovecraft's original text.  His complete lack of knowledge of U-Boats also - But I had to leave in the portholes to support the story.  Any mistakes in military etiquette of the time are probably mine, though.]

MUSIC

SCENE 1.

AMBIANCE     U-BOAT ENGINE

SEAMEN     [murmuring voices]

SOUND     HATCH OPENS, CLANGING FOOTSTEPS

KIENZE     Achtung!  Kapitanleutnant Heinrich on deck!

SEAMEN     [instantly silent]

HEINRICH     [commanding, slightly angry sounding]  Ser gut!  I have been reviewing the log regarding the sinking of the British freighter Victory, and I must say [getting ominous] that you are - most definitely - [spitting out the words] the single, absolute, most efficient U-boat crew in the Atlantic.  [laughs]  At ease, at ease.

SEAMEN     [Excited chatter]

KIENZE     I myself cannot wait to view the film we took.

HEINRICH     Ya, ya.  [aside] The camera was off before we sank the lifeboats?

KIENZE     As always, Kaleu.

SOUND     HEARTY CLAP ON SHOULDER

HEINRICH     Most excellent.  Come Kienze, I have a bottle of some fine Schnapps.  You must help me celebrate.

MUSIC     in then under

 

SCENE 2.

HEINRICH     [on a recording, tired sounding] On August 20, 1917, I, Karl Heinrich, Graf von Altberg-Ehrenstein, Lieutenant-Commander in the Imperial German Navy and in charge of the submarine U-29, deposit this bottle and record in the Atlantic Ocean at a point to me unknown but probably about North Latitude 20 degrees, West Longitude 35 degrees, where my ship lies disabled on the ocean floor.

MUSIC      HAS FADED OUT

 

SCENE 3.

SFX     SUBMARINE SURFACES

SOUND     HATCH OPENS

AMBIANCE     CALM SEA, OCCASIONAL BIRDS

SOUND     FOOTSTEPS ON METAL

HEINRICH     [grunt - stretching noise]  There is nothing like the first step out on deck after a victory, eh?.

KIENZE     A "Victory"?  [chuckles]  Ya.  Very amusing.

MULLER     [off]  Kaleu, sir!  Come!

SOUND     FOOTSTEPS ON METAL

HEINRICH     What could be so--  Oh!

MULLER     He must be from the Victory, sir!

KIENZE     Alive?

HEINRICH     Don't be foolish, Kienze, we were far too long submerged.  He would have had a better chance if he let go and braved the waves.  [shouting off]  Remove the corpse!

[NOTE - red text will come back at the end in echoes]

ZIMMER     Sir!  His hands are in a death grip! 

HEINRICH     Fingers break more easily than railings.

ZIMMER     [hesitantly] uh... Aye sir!

SOUND     POUNDING NOISES

HEINRICH     [sanctimonious] One more victim of the unjust war of aggression the English schweinhunds are waging upon the Reich.

KIENZE     Truly, he is our victim.  Nothing more.

HEINRICH     You do not see the whole picture - [amused] Just like a soft-headed Rhinelander.  If you were a solid Prussian like myself--

SEAMEN     [OFF - NOISE OF AN ALTERCATION]

HEINRICH     Vas is los?  Go and see.

SOUND     FOOTSTEPS ON METAL

KIENZE     What is this?  What is this?  Achtung!

SOUND     SCRAMBLE OF MEN GETTING TO THEIR FEET

KIENZE     What is so very exciting?

ZIMMER     Sir!  Schmidt took something from the pocket of the ... [gulp] d-dead one.

KIENZE     Schmidt?  Would you show this to me?

SCHMIDT     It is nothing, Leutnant. 

KIENZE     I will judge that.  Give it me.  [beat]  Well, this is... certainly something.  I am confiscating it - now put that over the side.

SOUND     FOOTSTEPS ON METAL

HEINRICH     So?

KIENZE     A bauble.  Ivory, I think - looks like a classical bust, ya?

HEINRICH     Not a senator, though - this one is much too young and handsome.

KIENZE     Possibly a kaiser? 

HEINRICH     Or a god.

KIENZE     [reluctantly] It is yours, if you want it.  It might be valuable--

HEINRICH     No, no. I have not the sentimental--

MULLER     [off, screams]

SOUND     FOOTSTEPS RUNNING ON METAL

HEINRICH     [puffing only slightly] What is it?

SCHMIDT     [shivering with fear] Muller, sir - it is Muller!

KIENZE     Muller's unconscious.

HEINRICH     Wake him.

SOUND     SLAPS

MULLER     [wails]

SOUND     ANOTHER SLAP

MULLER     [gasps, is silent]

HEINRICH     Get him up here.  [command] Stations!

SOUND     RUNNING FEET CLANG AWAY

KIENZE     Are you going to talk sense now?

MULLER     [hollow]  His eyes!  His eyes!

KIENZE      Whose eyes?  Speak sense!

SOUND     SLAP

HEINRICH     Enough!  Muller.  Tell me what is wrong.

MULLER     Ya, mein kapitan!  [trying to calm down]  The body - the eyes were closed.  But when they rolled it over the side, they opened - and they were mocking us!

HEINRICH     [casual] Superstitious rubbish.  Muller, you have seen corpses before now, and--

MULLER     Sir!  But that is not all!  He--  [sullen, inward] You will not believe me!

KIENZE     You are under orders to speak.

MULLER     I-- watched as the body hit the water.  I saw it sink beneath the waves, and--

HEINRICH     And--?

MULLER     [almost a whisper] It drew its limbs in, and swam away.

KIENZE     You filthy lying--! [grunt as about to slap him again]

HEINRICH     Nein, Leutnant.  [calming]  Muller.  You know this cannot be true, don't you?

MULLER     But I saw--

HEINRICH     Water is deceptive.  It is strange, ya, that the body simply sank - but that is probably due to its waterlogged condition after being held under on our railing for hours.  Beyond that--?  It is all a trick of the light.

MULLER     Truly?

HEINRICH     I will hear no more about it, ya?

MÜLLER     But you should keep no part of him on the ship - it is bad luck.  The statue--

HEINRICH     Is nothing.  It is a trinket.  You go about your duties now, Boatswain.

SOUND     RELUCTANT FOOTSTEPS AWAY

HEINRICH     Pfaugh.  [muttered growl] Superstitious Alsatian swine!  Why am I surrounded by inferior--

KIENZE     Kaleu?  Do you wish that I throw the bust overb--

HEINRICH     Nonsense.  We do not give in to fear.  We are men of the twentieth century - and, more importantly, officers in the Kaiserliche Marine. 

KIENZE     I could... tell them I threw it--

HEINRICH     Do not show weakness.  It makes you sound unreliable.

MUSIC     in and under

 

SCENE 4.

HEINRICH     [canned] The next day a very troublesome situation was created by the indisposition of some of the crew.  Evidently suffering from the nervous strain of our long voyage, they had had bad dreams.  When weather turned choppy, we descended to a depth where the sea was comparatively calm, despite a somewhat puzzling southward current which we could not identify from our oceanographic charts.

MUSIC      HAS FADED OUT

 

SCENE 5.

SOUND     HATCH CLOSES

SFX     SUBMARINE SUBMERGES

SOUND     FOOTSTEPS ON METAL

RAABE     Under-Engineer Raabe, here to make a report, sir!

HEINRICH     Where is Schneider? 

RAABE     He is ... unwell, sir.

HEINRICH     What is wrong?

RAABE     He... did not sleep well, sir.

HEINRICH     What?

KIENZE     It is the same with many of the men, Kaleu.  They are feverish and say they have had bad dreams.

HEINRICH     If they are shirking, I will--

RAABE     Sir, no!  Schmidt is burning up with fever, screaming all night in his berth. 

HEINRICH     [sympathetic] Then you did not sleep well either, I expect?

RAABE     Nein, Kaleu.

HEINRICH     [very pleased] Yet you are here, like a good sailor.  Good man--

MULLER     [muttered off] It is the idol.  It is accursed.

HEINRICH     What?  Muller?

MULLER     [panicky] Nothing.  I said nothing sir.

KIENZE     He said--

HEINRICH     [grim] I heard what he said.  Muller, I will have none of this wild peasant superstition on my ship!

KIENZE     [amused undertone] You forget, mein noble Kapitan, I am a commoner as well.

HEINRICH     [dismissively] Burgher stock.  [teasing slightly]  And they made you an officer - you must have some good qualities.

MULLER     What does it matter?  We are all doomed!

RAABE     [dismissive] Doomed?  Because some men are sick?

HEINRICH     Sehr gut.  We must remain rational at times like these.  Retain our iron German will.  [sharp] Kienze?

KIENZE     [snapping to] Ya mein kapitanleutnant?

HEINRICH     Remove Boatswain Muller. 

KIENZE     Ya, Kaleu. 

MUSIC     in and under

 

SCENE 6.

HEINRICH     [canned]  The moans of the sick men were decidedly annoying; but since they did not appear to demoralize the rest of the crew, we did not resort to ... extreme measures. It was our plan to remain where we were and intercept the liner Dacia, mentioned in information from agents in New York.

MUSIC      HAS FADED OUT

 

SCENE 7.

SOUND      INSIDE THE BOAT.  MANY FEET RUNNING ACROSS METAL, FEET STOP ABRUPTLY

CROWD     [muttering, backs up Zimmer throughout the scene.]

HEINRICH     Und vas is los?

ZIMMER     [clears throat]  Kapitanleutnant, we must request - most strenuously - that you--

HEINRICH     Is this about that knickknack?  What sort of Gypsies are you, to believe such phantasms? 

ZIMMER     But what could it hurt, sir?  It is surely not so valuable that it is worth risking--

HEINRICH     What?  Risking what?  The only thing we are risking here is our mission.

BOHIN     We will all die!

ZIMMER     Shh.  [trying to sound reasonable] Morale, mein kapitan.  It is such a small thing, yet would mean so much to the men.

HEINRICH     [low, despising] I see no men here.

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 8.

HEINRICH     [canned] Everyone seemed inclined to be silent now, as though holding a secret fear. Many were ill, but none made a disturbance. Lieutenant Kienze chafed under the strain, and was annoyed by the merest trifle - such as the schools of dolphins which passed the U-29 in increasing numbers, and the growing intensity of that southward current which was not on our chart.

MUSIC      HAS FADED OUT

 

SCENE 9.

SOUND     HATCH CLANGS SHUT

AMBIANCE     UP TOPSIDE

SCHMIDT     That makes seven of us.  We can surely--

ZIMMER     Muller is still in irons.  He can be no help.

BOHIN     Muller saw them!

ZIMMER     Shh.  None of the crazy talk, Bohin.  We cannot let ourselves--

BOHIN     [too intense to be sane] I have not seen them, but they call to me!  Their voices are like the waves - but waves that make words!

SCHMIDT     [sigh] So there are six of us.

SOUND     HATCH OPENS, A COUPLE OF FOOTSTEPS

RAABE     What is going on here?

SCHMIDT     [snort] We are planning a party.  What does it look like?

RAABE     What is happening that makes everyone so--

BOHIN     There!  In the WATER!  They have come!

RAABE     --Crazy?

SOUND     RUNNING FOOTSTEPS, A STRUGGLE, A BODY SLAMMED AGAINST METAL.

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 10.

HEINRICH     [canned]  He was in a detestably childish state, and babbled of some illusion of dead bodies drifting past the portholes; bodies which he recognized, in spite of bloating, as having seen dying during some of our victorious German exploits. And he said that the young man we had found and tossed overboard was their leader. This was very gruesome and abnormal.

MUSIC     HAS FADED OUT

 

SCENE 11.

RAABE     Seaman Bohin tried to leap off the deck.  We had to hold him down until the madness left him, sir.

KIENZE     All for such a small thing.

SOUND     SMALL IVORY STATUE SET ON TABLE

RAABE     That is what this is all about?

KIENZE     Just that.

SOUND      FOOTSTEPS, STATUE IS SNATCHED UP AND PUT AWAY IN A POCKET

ZIMMER     Sir!  Leutnant Kienze?  Bohin is gone!  He is nowhere on the ship. 

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 12.

HEINRICH     [canned]  It at length became apparent that we had missed the Dacia altogether. Such failures are not uncommon, and we were more pleased than disappointed, since our return to Wilhelmshaven was now in order.

MUSIC      HAS FADED OUT

 

SCENE 13.

SOUND     MEASURED FOOTSTEPS

AMB     INSIDE

SEAMEN     [Muffled, CHEERS!!!]

HEINRICH     [sigh]  This soft-headedness is not good.  Morale is the result of willpower, not coddling.

KIENZE     Still, I too will be glad when this trip is over.  That southern current we have blundered into bothers me.

HEINRICH     It explains how we missed our target.  Not every inch of the ocean is charted properly. 

KIENZE     But it is so strong - to be overlooked.

RAABE     [clears his throat]  Sir?

HEINRICH     Schneider still not feeling well?

RAABE     He prefers to remain in the engine room, sir.  He does not like ... being near portholes.

KIENZE     Portholes?

RAABE     His dreams haunt him.  [hurriedly] But he is not impaired in his job.

HEINRICH     [teasing] Well, certainly you did not come all this way to tell us Senior Engineer Schneider does not like portholes.  Out with it!

RAABE     Something fantastic has happened.  The boat - it is surrounded by -- dolphins.

HEINRICH     Dolphins?  How many?

SOUND     KIENZE'S FOOTSTEPS GO AWAY

KIENZE     [off] Ya, come and look!  They are everywhere!

HEINRICH     Finally something the superstitious can interpret as a good sign, ya?

KIENZE     [jubilant] Just as we decide to return to Schlicktown!  This should truly mollify them.

HEINRICH     [dry] How fortunate.

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 14.

HEINRICH     [canned] At noon June 28 we turned northeastward, and despite some rather comical entanglements with the unusual masses of dolphins, were soon under way.

MUSIC      HAS FADED OUT

 

SCENE 15.

SOUND     SNORING [HEINRICH]

SFX     EXPLOSION

HEINRICH     [wakes up] What?  What?

SOUND     MANY RUNNING FEET, SOME BARE, ONE PAIR OF BOOTS STOMPS THROUGH CALMLY

HEINRICH     Report.  Someone report!

SCHMIDT     This is your fault, you swine!  You made us‑‑

SOUND     SLAP, BODY HITS METAL WALL

HEINRICH     SHUT UP.  Is there anyone who can talk sense?

KIENZE     [breathless, and coughing]  They have the fire out.  The explosion was in the engine room. 

HEINRICH     What caused it?

KIENZE     They have found no cause as yet.  The damage is extensive.  All systems have not yet been tested, but it is certain we have no steering.

HEINRICH     No--?  What about the air compressors?

KIENZE     They appear undamaged.  But, mein freund--

HEINRICH     Ya?  What is it?

KIENZE     Schneider and - and Raabe - they were killed instantly.

HEINRICH     [long indrawn breath, then cold as he can be]  That is most unfortunate.

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 16.

HEINRICH     [canned] Our situation had suddenly become grave indeed; for though the chemical air regenerators were intact, and we could use the devices for raising and submerging the ship and opening the hatches as long as compressed air and storage batteries might hold out, we were powerless to propel or guide the submarine.

MUSIC      HAS FADED OUT

 

SCENE 17.

SOUND     SNORING [KIENZE]

SOUND     CURTAIN OPENS VERY STEALTHILY, HUSHED FOOTSTEPS, RUSTLING

KIENZE     [snoring stops]

SCHMIDT     [gasp]

SOUND     SCUFFLE

SOUND      COCK OF GUN

KIENZE     What is it you think you are doing?

SCHMIDT     [nutso] He demands it!  He will not let me sleep until it is returned to him!

HEINRICH     [off] Was iss?

KIENZE      A mutiny, kaleu.

MUSIC     VERY BRIEF

HEINRICH     [muttered] Can we do without Schmidt, short as we are of hands?

KIENZE     Hah!  With no engines to maintain, I must always find make-work for the men.  They will go mad [bad choice of words] -- they are restless if left sitting on their hands.

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 18.

HEINRICH     [canned] German lives are precious, but the constant raving of Schmidt concerning a terrible curse was most subversive of discipline, so drastic steps were taken. The crew accepted the event in a sullen fashion.

MUSIC      FADED OUT

 

SCENE 19.

AMBIANCE     INSIDE

SOUND     HATCH OPENS

ZIMMER     [jubilant, yelling down from above] A ship!  We are delivered!

HEINRICH     [composed]  Excellent.  You see, Kienze?  It is never so dark that there is no light.  Come along.

SOUND      STEPS CLIMBING LADDER, THEN OUT ON DECK

KIENZE     Give me the glasses.

ZIMMER      But it is a ship, leutnant, isn't that enough?

KIENZE     [suspicious]  Glasses, now!

SOUND     A BEAT, THEN HEAVY ITEM PUT IN GLOVED HAND.

HEINRICH     Vas ist?

KIENZE     [disappointed and disgusted] Yankees. 

ZIMMER     But surely surrender is better than death--

HEINRICH     [cold] Zimmer?

ZIMMER     [braced for the worst]  Ya, kapitanleutnant?

HEINRICH     [colder] Prepare for a dive.

SOUND     GOING DOWN LADDER.

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 20.

HEINRICH     [canned] We did not descend far.  After several hours, we decided to return to the surface, however, the ship failed to respond to our direction in spite of all that the mechanics could do. Some of the men began to mutter again, but the sight of an automatic pistol calmed them.

MUSIC      HAS FADED OUT

 

SCENE 21.

KIENZE     Kaleu, the men are very restless.  They fear the worst, being trapped and drifting.  They blame us for making a bad decision.

HEINRICH     [offhand] It was the only decision to make.  None but a weakling would surrender to the Yankees. 

KIENZE     Any man may turn weak in such conditions--

HEINRICH     [self-satisfied] No Prussian.  And if I must be the backbone so my crew can stand straight as men, so be it. 

KIENZE     The men are restless.  Angry.

HEINRICH     [dangerous] If they will not stand, then I will put them down and stamp their bodies into pulp fit only to paint the walls.

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 22.

HEINRICH     [canned] It was about 5 A.M., that the general mutiny broke loose. The six remaining pigs of seamen, suspecting that we were lost, suddenly burst into a mad fury, roared like the animals they were, and broke instruments and furniture indiscriminately. Leutnant Kienze seemed paralyzed and inefficient, as one might expect of a soft, womanish Rhinelander.

MUSIC     HAS FADED OUT

 

SCENE 23.

SOUND     FADING IN, SIX GUNSHOTS, ECHO FADES AWAY

HEINRICH      [breathing hard]

KIENZE     [gasping, almost hysterical]

HEINRICH     [deep breath] Get up.

KIENZE     [gasps] Did you--?  Was that ... necessary?

HEINRICH     [scornful laugh] You saw them.  Now, stand.  We need to clean house.

KIENZE     What do you plan to do?

HEINRICH     What else?  Put them out.  We can’t keep them here to stink up the place.

SOUND      SCUFFLING, THEN SHUFFLING FEET

KIENZE     We can use the top hatch--

HEINRICH     Ya, ya.  [going off] Make sure they are all dead, will you? 

KIENZE     [calling] Where are--?  This will be easier with two.

HEINRICH     [turning back, briefly] So would killing them, but I had to handle that.  This is your part.  [leaving again] Let me know when you need help getting them up into the hatch.

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 24.

HEINRICH     [canned] Our compasses, depth gauges, and other delicate instruments were ruined by the rampage of those swine; henceforth our only reckoning would be guesswork, based on our watches, the calendar, and our apparent rate of drift.

MUSIC     FADED OUT

 

SCENE 25.

SOUND     FEET COMING IN [KEINZE]

HEINRICH     Look at this.

KIENZE     [coming in]  Ya?  Oh, ya, more dolphins.  Very exciting.

HEINRICH     No, no - this one here.  See the one with the scar?

KIENZE     Ya.

HEINRICH     How deep are we, did we determine?

KIENZE     Too deep for dolphins, certainly, but--

HEINRICH     I have been watching this one in the searchlight for two hours now - and he has not left our side.  Delphinus delphis is a cetacean mammal, unable to subsist without air.

KIENZE     Perhaps they are magic dolphins.  [trying to chuckle] I'm not interested in them until we run out of other rations.

HEINRICH     It is a very important discovery.  Perhaps a new sub-species.

KIENZE     [sigh] I'm sure the dolphins will be fascinated when you present your paper to them.

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 26.

HEINRICH     [canned] With the passage of time Kienze and I decided that we were still drifting south, meanwhile sinking deeper and deeper. I could not help observing, however, the inferior scientific knowledge of my companion. His mind was not Prussian, but given to imaginings with no value.

MUSIC     HAS FADED OUT

 

SCENE 27.

SOUND     SEARCHLIGHT COMES ON

KIENZE     Fabulous, isn’t it?

HEINRICH     Sunken ships? Interesting, yes, but fabulous?  What else are you likely to find on the ocean floor? 

KIENZE     No, no - look there.  To the right.  You see?  That peak.  It is --

HEINRICH     A rock.

KIENZE     No!  It is too regular for a rock.  You will see when we get closer.

HEINRICH     Wake me when you can see it, then.  I think I will have some sleep.

KIENZE     You don't care?

HEINRICH     Ya, ya.  Do you need me to remain?

SOUND     SITS IN CHAIR

KIENZE     [beat] We have lost our escort.

SOUND      LEAFING THROUGH A BOOK

HEINRICH     Vas?

KIENZE     Your beloved dolphins.  They have finally abandoned us.

HEINRICH     I am more surprised they remained with us so long.

KIENZE     [beat] What are we to do?

HEINRICH     Do?  About the dolphins?  I am sure they can take care of themselves.

KIENZE     You know what I mean!  What are we to do when we run out of...  of... everything

HEINRICH     That is days, perhaps weeks away.  Why waste angst?

KIENZE     But - there is no hope.  We will ... we must die.

HEINRICH     Everyone must die.

KEINZE     We could try and get to the surface - one of us - in the diving suit. 

HEINRICH     And how deep did we decide we were?

KEINZE     [beat, sigh] very deep.

HEINRICH     If you want to take the suit, and try to get it to the surface, you are welcome.  But you know what will happen.

KEINZE     It is possible to survive caissons disease. ["the bends"]  Even drastic decompression--

HEINRICH     As a cripple?  With joints that never work without pain?  With skin so damaged no one can look you in the face?  Perhaps paralyzed, even?  Incontinent?

KEINZE     [sigh]

HEINRICH     Better to die as a man than live as a beast.  Of course you might be lucky and have an embolism on the way up, and then ride the waves as a corpse. 

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 28.

HEINRICH     [canned] His mind was tired, but I am always a German, and was quick to notice that the U-29 was standing the deep-sea pressure splendidly. Our southward speed, as gauged by the ocean floor, was about as I had estimated from the organisms passed at higher levels.

MUSIC     FADE AND OUT

 

SCENE 29.

SOUND     BOTTLE POURS

KIENZE     [slightly drunk]  Ya, plenty of air and food, but this [long gulping swig] won't last forever.

HEINRICH     Not at the rate you are abusing it.

KIENZE     I cannot lose myself in study as you do.  What is the point?  So you know so much more before you die. 

HEINRICH     It is not impossible we will encounter another u-boat.

KIENZE     Wake up Karl!  This boat - it is our tomb.  We are dead men.  All we have left to do is lie down.

HEINRICH     Go to bed, Leutnant.  There is no point in talking when you are totalblau.

KIENZE     [laughs bitterly]  You are going to give me orders yet?  What if I disobey?  You clap me in irons?  You will shoot me?

HEINRICH     [close and dangerous]  I will remind you that you are a man, a trained soldier, and an officer of the kaiser's navy, and as such you should have the will to face death. 

KIENZE     I am a soldier, ya.  I can face death in battle.  It is this lingering, drifting fate that horrifies me.  It is like having a fatal disease - you know you must die, but you cannot know when.

HEINRICH     Very well, then.

SOUND     GUN OUT OF HOLSTER, CLICK AS BULLETS ARE CHECKED, GUN DROPPED ON TABLE

HEINRICH     More air for me.

SOUND     RATTLE OF CURTAIN, FOOTSTEPS LEAVE, RATTLE OF GUN ON TABLE

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 30.

HEINRICH     [canned] The fact of our coming death affected Kienze curiously.  I was very sorry for him, for I dislike to see a German suffer; but he was not a good man to die with. For myself I was proud, knowing how the Fatherland would revere my memory.

MUSIC     FADES OUT

 

SCENE 31.

SOUND     SNORING [KIENZE]

KIENZE     [waking with a horrified start, screaming] He is calling! He is calling! I hear him!

SOUND     FOOTSTEPS, DOOR

HEINRICH     [coming on]  What is wrong?

KIENZE     We must go!  He will not call forever!

SOUND     SLAP

KIENZE     [gasps, breathing hard, almost sobbing]

HEINRICH     [commanding] Calm down. Remember yourself, man.

KIENZE     V-v-vas?  Kaleu?

HEINRICH     There you are.  [disdainful] You were having a nightmare.  Now you are better. 

SOUND     FOOTSTEPS BEGIN TO WALK AWAY

KIENZE     No.

SOUND     FOOTSTEPS STOP

HEINRICH     [sigh] Vas?

KIENZE     It was not a dream.  It was a voice.  I still hear it, you see!  I still hear him.  He calls to me - to us.  I don't know why you cannot hear him!

HEINRICH     You are still drunk.  Or deluded.

KIENZE     I am not.  Truly.  If you do not believe me, look out the porthole, and you will see his face.  It is right in front of us. 

HEINRICH     What?  Show me.  Ah - blackness.  Precisely what is between your ears.

KIENZE     The searchlight - kommen-zie!

SOUND     FOOTSTEPS, SEARCHLIGHT COMES ON

KIENZE     There!  There!

HEINRICH     Mein gott!

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 32.

HEINRICH     [canned] I am not given to emotion of any kind, but my amazement was very great when I saw what lay revealed in that electrical glow. And yet as one reared in the best Kultur of Prussia, I should not have been amazed, for geology and tradition alike tell us of great transpositions in oceanic and continental areas. What I saw was an extended and elaborate array of ruined edifices; all in various stages of preservation.

MUSIC     OUT

 

SCENE 33.

HEINRICH     [pleased] Atlantis!  And we, Germans, have discovered it!  This is stupendous.

KIENZE     He is out there.  His temple lies still before us, and he watches us from afar.

HEINRICH     You saw this in your dreams?

KIENZE     [disturbingly reasonable] He told me.  We should go.

HEINRICH     Go?  Where?

KIENZE     To him.  Come now - do not wait until later; it is better to repent and be forgiven than to defy and be condemned.

HEINRICH     You think we should go outside?  We have only one diving apparatus.

KIENZE     [laughs disturbingly]  A suit?  We need no suits - he will gather us to him. 

HEINRICH     You have finally crossed into madness.  I will find you some medication.

KIENZE     You cannot cure this with your science, Karl.  You are so sensible, and what does it get you?  Nothing.  Nothing!  Come now, or there will be nothing left for you!

HEINRICH     You are mad. 

KIENZE     [losing it] If I am mad, it is a blessing. May the gods pity the man who in his callousness can remain sane to the hideous end! Come and be mad whilst he still calls with mercy!  

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 34.

HEINRICH     [canned] As he spoke he took his ivory image from the table, pocketed it, and seized my arm in an effort to drag me up the companionway to the deck.  When that did not work, he fled.  In a moment I heard the grind of the first hatch, and understood that he meant to open them both, exposing the U-29 to the water outside, a vagary of suicidal and homicidal mania for which I was scarcely prepared.

MUSIC     OUT

 

SCENE 35.

SOUND     THE HATCH WHEEL SPINS

SOUND      GUN COCKS

HEINRICH     One more move and I shoot.

KIENZE     [laughs hysterically]  Shoot?  I have nothing to fear.  He will welcome me.

HEINRICH     Did I say I would kill you?  I will shoot you in the leg, and clap you in irons.

KIENZE     You ... would do that!?

HEINRICH     Ya.  [jaunty]  But, I am not one to hold a man back.  If you wish to go, go.  I will even run the hatches for you.

KIENZE     You... why?

HEINRICH     Further, I will watch and make sure he finds you, once you are adrift.

KIENZE     [plaintive] But you will not come with me?

HEINRICH     Nein.  I have things yet to accomplish.

KIENZE     Very well.  But he will not be pleased with you if you ignore his summons.

MUSIC     IN AND UNDER

 

SCENE 36.

HEINRICH     [canned] After I saw that Kienze was no longer in the boat I threw the searchlight around the water.  I wished to ascertain whether the water-pressure would flatten him as it theoretically should, or whether the body would be unaffected, like those extraordinary dolphins. I did not, however, succeed in finding my late companion, for, owing to the abruptness of the change of angle, a wire was disconnected, which necessitated a delay of many minutes for repairs.

MUSIC     OUT

 

SCENE 37.

SOUND     SEARCHLIGHT OUT

[NOTE: "HIS ECHO" REFERS TO HEINRICH'S OWN WORDS FROM EARLIER IN THE SHOW - COMING BACK TO HAUNT HIM.  THEY WILL BE PUT IN IN POST, AND HEINRICH SHOULD NOT REALLY PAY ANY ATTENTION TO THEM AS HE SPEAKS, AS THEY AREN'T ACTUALLY CONVERSING.]

HEINRICH     [slow sigh]

HIS ECHO     [very quiet] He would have had a better chance if he let go and braved the waves. 

HEINRICH     Alone.  To survive until I die.  [deep breath] Very well. 

SOUND      FOOTSTEPS

HIS ECHO     [very quiet]  One more victim of the unjust war of aggression...

SOUND      PULL OUT BOOK, OPEN AND PAGE THROUGH.

 

SCENE 38.

MUSIC IN

HEINRICH     [canned] I must be careful how I record my awakening today, for I am unstrung, and much hallucination is necessarily mixed with fact. Psychologically my case is most interesting, and I regret that it cannot be observed scientifically by a competent German authority.

HIS ECHO     If you were a solid Prussian like myself--

HEINRICH     Upon opening my eyes my first sensation was an overmastering desire to visit the rock temple that stood before the now-stationary U29.

HIS ECHO     No, no. I have not the sentimental--

HEINRICH     a desire which grew every instant, yet which I automatically sought to resist.

MUSIC OUT

 

SCENE 39.

SOUND     VAGUE CHANTING, DEEP UNDER.

HEINRICH     [Waking suddenly]  Heh?  What is this?

SOUND     SCRABBLE OUT OF BED, CROSS ROOM

HEINRICH     Light?  Where is this coming from?  [wild hope] Could it be?

SOUND     RUN THROUGH SHIP

HEINRICH     Where?  Another ship?  [muttered] Port side, port side.  Aha! [sound of triumph turns into sound of dismay] 

HIS ECHO     Superstitious rubbish. 

HEINRICH     It is alight!

MUSIC UP

 

SCENE 40.

HEINRICH     It is well that the reader accept nothing which follows as objective truth, for the events are necessarily the subjective and unreal creations of my overtaxed mind.

HIS ECHO     It is all a trick of the light.

HEINRICH     When I attained the conning tower I found the sea in general far less luminous than I had expected. But the door and windows of the undersea temple hewn from the rocky hill were vividly aglow with a flickering radiance, as from a mighty altar-flame far within.

HIS ECHO     I will have none of this wild peasant superstition on my ship!

HEINRICH     The light showed that the friezes which covered the front of the temple, clearly carved from the solid rock of the cliffside, depicted many repetitions of but one face - the same face as the ivory bust which Kienze had carried back to the sea with him.

HIS ECHO     --this one is much too young and handsome.

HEINRICH     The rest is very simple.

HIS ECHO     --a god.

HEINRICH     My impulse to visit and enter the temple has now become an inexplicable and imperious command which ultimately cannot be denied.

HIS ECHO     This soft-headedness is not good. 

HEINRICH     My own German will no longer controls my acts, and volition is henceforward possible only in minor matters.

HIS ECHO     Do not show weakness.  It makes you sound unreliable.

HEINRICH     When first I saw that I must go,

HIS ECHO     That is most unfortunate.

HEINRICH     I prepared my diving suit, helmet, and air regenerator for instant donning,

HIS ECHO     --have an embolism on the way up, and ride the waves as a corpse. 

HEINRICH     and immediately commenced to write this hurried chronicle in the hope that it may some day reach the world.

HIS ECHO     This is your part. 

HEINRICH     I shall seal the manuscript in a bottle and entrust it to the sea as I leave the U-29 forever.

HIS ECHO     Better to die as a man than live as a beast.

HEINRICH     I have no fear, not even from the prophecies of the madman Kienze.

HIS ECHO     None but a weakling would surrender

HEINRICH     What I have seen cannot be true, and I know that this madness of my own, will at most lead only to suffocation when my air is gone.

HIS ECHO     you should have the will to face death.

HEINRICH     The light in the temple is a sheer delusion, and I shall die calmly like a German, in the black and forgotten depths.

HIS ECHO     Why waste angst?

HEINRICH     This demoniac laughter which I hear as I write comes only from my own weakening brain.

HIS ECHO     blackness.  Precisely what is between your ears.

HEINRICH     So I will carefully don my suit and walk boldly up the steps into the primal shrine, that silent secret of unfathomed waters and uncounted years.

HIS ECHO     If you wish to go, go. 

END