The Thing

Stop!

(MUSlC PLAYlNG OVER HEADPHONES)

Kate.

Shit.

Sorry, Kate. These fellas said that you've been expecting them.

Of course. Thanks, Hank.

Thanks.

Hey.

You forgot, didn't you?

No, no.

l just. . .

Yeah.

He just wanted to. . . Actually, this is him. Okay.

l'm Dr. Sander Halvorson.

Kate Lloyd.

Yes. Do you know who l am?

l do.

Adam told me a little bit about you as well.

He says you specialize in vertebrate paleontology.

Primarily, yes.

And obviously you've extracted specimens from pack ice.

l've worked on several cold-weather digs.

Good.

Um. . .

An old friend of mine, a colleague from Oslo,

runs a geological research station in Antarctica.

Forty-eight hours ago, his team found something

quite remarkable.

Really?

What'd they find?

We're flying down there tomorrow evening to examine the site

and l need a paleontologist.

Doctor, l'm sure you can understand

that l need to know a little bit

about what it is l'm being asked to dig up.

There's a structure.

A structure?

Yes. ln Antarctica?

And a specimen.

That's all l can tell you.

And l guess l don't have any time to think about this?

No, l'm sorry. l need your answer right now.

Well. . .

l'm in.

Great.

Adam will get you the details of our departure.

l'll see you in the car.

Yes, of course. Thank you.

Adam.

What the hell is it?

You now officially know as much as l do.

But l'll tell you one thing. l have worked for that guy for three years

and l have never seen him this excited.

Hey.

She US?

Mmm-hmm.

Look at this guy.

How is that even humanly possible?

I was hoping maybe you could help me with something.

I can't seem to get a hold of a newspaper that's not, you know,

three weeks old, and I'm a man in desperate need of certain information.

Carter, don't do this to yourself, man.

And what information would that be?

I wanna know how the Cavaliers are doing.

Hmm. I don't follow football.

It's a basketball team.

They play basketball.

Barely.

They're the Cavaliers, man.

Sorry I couldn't help you.

That's all right.

Hey, listen, so you guys know, whatever you all are doing,

you might wanna wrap it up in a couple of days.

Yeah? Why's that?

There's a storm moving in.

A nasty one.

Good morning, Griggs.

Yeah, he's right.

And the last place that you wanna be

is cooped up with a dozen Norwegian guys.

Trust me.

Base in sight at my one o'clock.

This is H3 Sea King inbound for Thule. Do you copy?

COLlN ON RADlO: Hello, H3 Sea King. Please approach from the west.

That path is clear.

Throttle coming back.

Good to go, Griggs.

Dr. Halvorson?

Yes.

Welcome to Thule.

Thank you.

Edvard asked you to go to the site right now.

Lars is gonna drive you.

Hi. Hi, welcome.

Please go in the Spryte. Thanks.

Edvard !

Yeah, this is Kate Lloyd.

Columbia paleontology.

Welcome.

Adam Finch, my research assistant.

Welcome. Hi.

This is Edvard, my good friend.

This is some of my team. This is Karl and Juliette.

Both geologists. Hi.

Welcome.

Okay.

Let me show you why you flew

1 0,000 miles.

Holy shit.

We estimate it's been here approximately 1 00,000 years.

We picked up a signal transmitting.

Some kind of distress call, perhaps.

lncredible.

We think the signal got triggered

when the survivor exited the craft.

Survivor?

My God.

How long will it take to get out? Do you know, Kate?

Assuming you have the right equipment, l'd say,

maybe a half a day.

Good.

Uh, the ice,

l should ask you, how fragile is it?

lt's not in the fracture zone, so there's very little risk of fissuring.

And the ice is quite dense, so we think

we can get it out in one piece.

Good.

A rough estimate is about six by 1 2 feet, three and a half feet high.

Probably someplace around three and a half. . .

That's good.

Make sure that everyone stays off the radio.

We don't want any information out.

And the crane, do we have something that's

appropriate for this?

Yeah, it's already there. lt's all set up.

l'm Peder, by the way.

Peder. Nice to meet you.

So you've got it all taken care of.

l don't think you really need me.

What about him? ls he completely disinterested or. . .

Oh, that's Lars.

He doesn't understand English, but he'll work like a bear.

HENRlK: And as you can see from the scans,

the ship carved a 200-meter tunnel into the ice.

Wow.

So let me get this right.

You crash into a glacier,

and then without enough information,

you leave the cozy confines of your ship?

Maybe it was hurt and wanted to find someplace warm.

l guess it didn't find it.

The first night is hard.

l'm sorry. l don't mean to keep you up.

No, no, it's fine.

We'll never look at them the same again.

. . .93 pounds. . .

. . .complete pounds, about 1 , 1 90. Yeah.

What do you need for a transport weight?

To cut it down to a portable weight,

we'll have to take it from here to here.

Start with four inches or so.

l never believed in this shit.

l always did.

We all set?

Nearly there.

Good.

But before we do, l'm going to take a tissue sample.

Do you really think that's a good idea?

Yes, l do.

The conditions are so unpredictable

and we don't have the proper equipment.

Sterilization is an issue.

Edvard, what do you have in the way of a small diameter drill?

Up to 30 millimeters.

Very good.

l think somewhere around here.

Kate.

Just a second.

ln the future, don't contradict me

in front of those people again.

l just thought l'd. . .

You're not here to think.

You're here to get this thing safely out of the ice.

l hope we understand each other.

Here you are.

So, have you ever tasted this before?

No, l haven't. lt tastes very bad.

Gentlemen, ladies.