PANEL 1

High above the vast, deep Atlantic ocean, the airbus is nothing but a dark silhouette. A bank of clouds rises from the horizon. A lot of space. Sure would be a disaster if the plane exploded and did a fiery belly flop into the abyss right about now.

CAT: (off-screen, thinking) How many clouds are we gonna fly through?!

CAT: (off-screen, thinking) Why are there so many over this part of the ocean anyway?

PANEL 2

Inside the plane cabin. CILLIAN dozes, his head tilted and lightly clutching an arm. CAT stares out the window, still terrorized.

CAT: (thinking) Oh, please don’t let there be a storm over the ocean! Please, don’t let there be—

PANEL 3

View of the airplane wing. As she stares out the porthole, CAT’s terrified expression changes to even more terrified. Maybe even horrified. I’m sure there’s a difference between the two.

PANEL 4

From CAT’s point of view, the gremlin from earlier is climbing the wing, a la Monty Python’s “Climbing the North Face of the Uxbridge Road” sketch. The eye visible to the viewer is covered in a translucent brown film. One set of claws is firmly lodged into the wing metal while the other comes ramming down.

SFX: KR-SCREE

PANEL 5

Back inside the cabin. CAT’s legs bounce up as she appears ready to assume the form of a pretzel. She yells to the rest of the cabin. CILLIAN startles awake.

CAT: (yelling) There’s something on the wing!

PANEL 6

Outside the plane. Several people crowd around three portholes. Phones come out. CAT is pressed against the surface as people try to get a look at the gremlin.

PERSON #1: Look at the kitty cat, Mommy!

PERSON #2: Ohmigod, lookit!

PERSON #3: Oh!

PERSON #4: I can’t believe it!

PERSON #5: It’s so adorable!

PERSON #6: Eee!

PERSON #7: Look at all that fur!

PERSON #8: Get a picture!

PERSON #9: Move! I wanna see!

PANEL 7

View of the plane from the front and slightly below as it wobbles portside.

CAPTAIN: (cabin announcement) This is your captain speaking…

CAPTAIN: (cabin announcement) If you’d be so kind as to move away from the left side or we’re all in trouble.

PANEL 8

Inside the cabin. CILLIAN leans over CAT’s shoulder to get a peek out the porthole, his hands perched on the armrest. CAT has retained her horror, clutching the edges of the porthole frame.

CILLIAN: What have we got here?

CILLIAN: Hey, we’re not in any trouble! It’s only a gremlin!

CAT: A gremlin?!

CAT: Oh, God, it’s the same one running through the airport!

EXTERIOR. PLANE WING.

PANEL 9

A wide view of the wing. The gremlin turns into a loaf while his claws dig into the metal, securing his position in the whipping winds.

SFX: SCREE SCREE

CILLIAN: (off-screen) I remember hearing about that!

CILLIAN: (off-screen) He’s a Canadian breed, by the looks of it. He’s got the thick fur and brown nictating membrane.

CILLIAN: (off-screen) Ah, he’s tucking in for a midflight nap, cute lad.

PANEL 10

Inside. CILLIAN still hovers over CAT’s shoulder. CAT looks back on him, her terror fading.

CAT: He’s not going to tear up the wing like that, is he?

CILLIAN: Nah, that whole “taking down aeroplanes” thing is a myth.

PANEL 11

CILLIAN has taken the seat right next to CAT. She leans back in her own, hands off the porthole frame and now on the armrest.

CILLIAN: Now your electronics are a different matter.

CILLIAN: Get a gremlin in a room full of computers or servers and he’s in heaven!

CAT: I can imagine.

PANEL 12

Exterior view of the port side of the plane as it continues its flight. The speech bubbles float over the plane, taking up a good portion of the sky.

CAT: How do you know all this?

CILLIAN: I study them. I’m from the Department of Paranormal Research and Representation of Ireland.

CILLIAN: In fact, I just got off an assignment in southern Virginia, studying a whole tangle of gremlins in a mobile home park, the biggest one ever found in modern times!

CAT: They were tangled up in each other?! Like a rat king?

CILLIAN: Oh, no! That’s what we call a group of gremlins! I can understand your horror, though.

CILLIAN: It’s a shame they’re considered pests. They’re clever little beggars. Wherever they hear the hum of a machine or a device, they’ll make a home.

CILLIAN: And they’re quite the voyagers too, as you just saw.

PANEL 13

Back in the cabin. CAT is sitting properly in her seat, grinning nervously at CILLIAN. He watches her as she speaks, maybe a bit puzzled.

CAT: I want to be like a gremlin.

CAT: As far as being a voyager, that is.

CAT: Not the whole “tearing up metal and screwing up machines” part.

CAT: I can do that pretty well, though…

PANEL 14

CAT’s mouth twists into an unsure grimace.

CAT: Heh heh…

PANEL 15

CILLIAN smiles warmly.

PANEL 16

The two share a handshake.

CILLIAN: Cillian Foy. Pleasure to meet you!

CAT: Cat Modean. Pleasure is, uh, mine… too…

PANEL 17

CILLIAN spreads his arms open in a warm gesture while Cat looks on, her expression unreadable.

CILLIAN: So what’s bringing you all the way to Ireland?

PANEL 18

The scene blurs into a white, papery background. It’s the rough ink sketch from CAT’s imagination in Scene 1. The chasm is still there, along with the “Old Life” sign on the other side. The difference is that the bridge has been burned away. Piles of smoking ash take up the edges where the bridge once connected the two cliffs.

The ink sketch of Cat is running off, fists in the air as a victorious grin breaks on her face. She runs toward a patch of green in the lower right corner.

CAT: (V.O.) Adventure.