Harbinger Down

Hi, Sadie.

Stephen, hurry up. You're letting all the cold air in.

- Happy you're making yourself so useful. - You told me to videotape, remember?

Yes, I remember... and I regret it already.

Oh, God. The poles.

Can you put that down and be of some use?

Hey, I'm doing my job.

- Ready to roll. - Oh, why aren't you driving?

Stephen wasn't comfortable with that.

You'd think they could at least de-ice the windshield

when we rent the vehicle from them.

God.

All right, we are on our way.

Hold on.

Okay. Windshield.

It's making it worse.

Mount Ballyhoo? Really? That's not a native Aleutian name.

They usually begin with A. Got Aleutian,

Amokmok, Alaska.

- Hold on. Hold on. - Okay.

- Sorry! - I'll navigate.

Ulakta trail will take us to the wharf.

Ulakta? With a U?

Oh, my goodness.

You said don't blow the budget.

Captain's very punctual.

Well, it is archetypal.

Attention all hands, we needed to shove off at 1800 hours.

We did not do that.

Deckhands meet in the galley after 5:00 to discuss.

Atka, get up here, take the wheel.

All right, Bo. Have fun.

On time.

What's a sister doing here on a crab boat in Alaska?

Hi, Rick.

Sadie.

I'm Dock.

The ship's doctor, perfect. I am...

They call me Dock, because I used to live under one.

- Nickname. - Right.

Great, like one of the seven dwarves.

Yeah, and they call him Grumpy.

Why would this be in my locker?

I wouldn't know. What would a cold fish have to do with you?

You got problem with me, you handle it like a man.

- Now, Svet, calm down. - He's begging for an ass kicking.

If anybody's going to be delivering an ass kicking, it's gonna be me.

You pull a knife on my ship, and I'll gut you with it.

Now, if the rest of you are done with this goddamn tom-fuckery.

Do you kiss my grandmother with that mouth?

Hi.

Sadie, what the hell are you doing here?

You know what I thought? You were gonna be here next month.

I sent you texts.

Do I get text on this doggone thing?

Pop-Pop, these are my friends, Ronelle and Stephen.

- Hello. - Hi, hi.

Guys, this is Captain Graff.

You know, I was trying to explain to my crew about the benefits of punctuality.

- I think I'll let you brief them instead. - Well, it's Stephen's project.

You could... you tell them.

We're tracking a pod of Beluga whales that have been tagged with GPS devices.

They're very sensitive animals

and the breaking of the ice caps has affected their migratory patterns.

What happens to them is an indicator of what could happen to us.

So, you're getting paid for this?

The two of us are working on our degrees. Stephen's our professor.

We're funded by NOA...

Research grants are nothing but white people's government cheese.

Yeah, and something tells me that you don't vote

- and you sure don't pay taxes. - What?

Okay, okay, knock it off.

These people are here to get some work done. So are we.

We crab at night. Can you work during the day?

There's bad weather coming up.

We'll run into the first string around 11:00 tonight.

G, set them up in the old radio room.

All right! You heard the captain. Let's go.

Well, I guess this is our room.

Okay, now this, I am definitely curious about.

- You want to know about this thing? - Sure.

This is cutting edge. It's a portable molecular analyzer.

Place the sample in this cartridge and it could tell you everything,

from what species it is and whether or not if it has a cold or cancer.

Hey, Bowman, I wonder if that thing can analyze a fart.

Okay, leave now, cavemen. Go wrestle sharks

- or whatever you do. - All right.

Wait, I thought you guys were just tracking the whales.

Yeah, but if we can get a teeny sample we can see how climate change

is affecting their migration pattern as well as their biology.

Let's add some visual aids.

Here we are and here are the whales.

- Can you tell if they're acting normal? - Sadie to the wheelhouse.

Sadie to the wheelhouse.

Hi.

You all settled in?

It's kinda strange to be back.

Your mom and dad loved the ocean as much as I do.

We got seawater in our veins, you and I.

Take the wheel.

I'm gonna try to get some rest.

Sadie...

don't let fear hold you down. They wouldn't want that for you.

Ronelle, wake up!

It could be an old navy buoy.

Let's just check it out and then we can throw it right back.

What is that?

Don't know, the whales were attracted to it.

Whales? Why didn't you wake me?

Hey! Hey, that thing could be a Jap sea mine.

Here, shoot video.

Sea mine wants to be invisible. Blinking red light defeats the purpose, no?

Any more guesses?

Maybe Fukushima.

Lower it!

What do you think?

Well, it isn't new ice.

The older it is, the bluer it is.

What about this... satellite, maybe?

Can we kill the work lights, get a spot on this?

Somewhere in the Bering Sea, aboard the crabbing ship Harbinger.

Wait, hold on. Let's cut. Cut.

We are aboard the crabbing ship Harbinger, somewhere in the Bering Sea.

Behind me, a mystery.

At this point, the contents of this ice chunk are frozen in mystery.

The... back on me. The unmistakable blue-ish hue you see here

tells us it is not a new piece of ice.

And here, keep me in the frame...

these rounded edges speak of melting, not breaking off...

no doubt caused by climate change.

There's a palpable sense of urgency, excitement

and perhaps, yes, trepidation.

Again, this is Dr. Stephen Lichte aboard the Harbinger.

We'll be checking back in with you...

as the mystery reveals itself.

Great. I think we got it.

Control panel.

Some things should stay frozen.

Pop-Pop, look at this.

Is that an animal or something?

Soviet.

This thing's been frozen since the 80's.

We're gonna need to turn this over to the authorities.

- No. It's property of the university. - Bullshit. How do you figure?

Found by a University representative, so...

It's safe to assume the Russians are gonna want it back.

Correction. It's from the Soviet Union, which no longer exists.

He's right, Pop-Pop. Salvage law, whoever finds it, owns it.

Okay. Then it belongs to Sadie.

And everything on this ship is under my control.

The weather's turning bad. We're gonna knock the ice off.

And put this hunk of junk in the hold and nobody's gonna touch it

until we get in Dutch Harbor.

Hold on a sec.

- Captain's orders. - This may...

What part of this don't you comprehend?

Can he do that?

- You want me to keep rolling? - Turn it off!

Roland, that storm's headed our way, pushing ice. It's probably dragging our pots.

We're gonna wait it out in the shallows.

Burnt to a crisp. Man, any way to die, but that.

All right. We gotta ice these crabs. We're gonna be here a while.

Hey. Come on, careful with that. You're gonna freeze us up into an Eskimo...

Eskimo pie. Yeah, I'm Inuit, by the way, asshole.

Yeah, but Inuit pie isn't as funny.

What the fuck?

What's wrong with you, man? That shit ain't funny!

Come on! Damn.

I got a heart condition. You can't be doing that shit. That ain't funny.

You should get to work.

- You're breaking up. Received a mayday. - No mayday, Dutch Harbor.

Informing you we've dredged a piece of wreckage with human remains.

What is it? Are you signaling a mayday?

No mayday, Dutch Harbor. Repeat, negative mayday.

Harbinger out. Goddammit.

Sadie, we need to talk about our find.

You know, as well as I do, it is not within Pop-Pop's purview

to simply assign ownership.

Are you guys getting any cell service?

It's the storm. Internet will be down, too, until it passes.

Thanks.

Look, I'm sure he means well

but it is not going to look good for you at the university

if you countermand my authority on this expedition. You're my student.

So any theories as to what brought down your spaceman?

Soviet spacecraft design isn't exactly my area.

You know, ownership has not technically been established.

- Aren't you curious? - Her curiosity is irrelevant.

I'm just saying, if I was a scientist, I would be down there science-ing.

Science-ing? Good Lord!

You don't just jump into this sort of thing hickety-pickety.

Okay? C.S.I: Alaska.

Look, Sadie, I know you're excited.

Me, too. And kudos to you for playing a huge part in finding this thing.

It's gonna be wonderful for your career, but it's a big deal.

Okay? And it needs to be managed properly.

And you just don't have the experience, kiddo.

That's where I come in, okay?

And I will look out for you.

We got it.