EXT. OVER THE FLORIDA STRAITS - NIGHT

            A flight of F-4 PHANTOMS drops INTO FRAME, lights flashing.

                                THE PRESIDENT (V.O.)

                      -- I have directed the Armed Forces to

                      prepare for any eventualities.

            INT. OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT

            A beat.  And the President looks up from his notes.

                                THE PRESIDENT

                      And third: it shall be the policy of

                      this nation to regard any nuclear

                      missile launched from Cuba against any

                      nation in the Western Hemisphere as an

                      attack by the Soviet Union on the United

                      States, requiring a full retaliatory

                      response upon the Soviet Union...

            The chilling words hang there in the air.  BLEEDING IN: the

            rising and falling WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP which becomes --

            EXT. CARRIBEAN SEA - NIGHT

            -- the voice of the Essex battlegroup: sparkling, alive, a

            constellation of lights scattered across the sea.  One by one

            the escort ships answer the carrier's SIREN with their own

            wailing cries, an alien chorus among the ships, disappearing

            and reappearing in the swells.  The communication crescendos

            to its fever pitch --

            -- and then the battlegroup goes to blackout.  Like a dying

            universe, the answering sirens cut off, the life-lights wink

            out, and an appalling darkness falls across the sea...

            FADE OUT

            BLACKNESS, LIKE BEFORE A CURTAIN RISES.  And then a

            flickering: a FLUORESCENT LIGHT COMES ON.

            INT. BATHROOM - WEST WING - DAY

            SUPER: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23RD.  DAY 8

            Kenny, stripped to the waist, Sorensen and Bundy shave in

            nearby sinks.  Bobby barges in.

                                BOBBY

                      We're getting the Soviet response.

            INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - MOMENTS LATER

            Specks of shaving cream still on his face, Kenny paces, reads

            the inky carbon as Bobby, Bundy and Sorensen read copies.

                                KENNY

                      This is all rhetoric.

                          (realizing)

                      They don't know how to respond yet.

            Kenny looks up.  The President enters from the Oval Office.

                                THE PRESIDENT

                      So now you're Khurschev.  What do you

                      do?

            INT. CABINET ROOM - DAY

            Kenny, arms folded, stands behind the President, the rest of

            EXCOM is looking at him.

                                KENNY

                      -- run the blockade.  They'll run the

                      blockade.

            ADMIRAL GEORGE ANDERSON, 50s, dapper, the Chief of Naval

            Operations, nods from the far end of the table.

                                ADMIRAL ANDERSON

                      Which is exactly what they appear to be

                      preparing to do, Mr. President.  We're

                      tracking 26 ships inbound to Cuba.

                      There's no sign they're changing course.

                      The closest ships, the Gagarin and the

                      Kimovsk, will make the quarantine line

                      by this time tomorrow.

                                MCNAMARA

                      We're concerned about the possibility of

                      an incident with an innocent cargo

                      carrier.  If it turns ugly, the Russians

                      could use an ugly incident and bad world

                      opinion as leverage to force us to

                      remove the quarantine.

                                MCCONE

                      Or they could use it as an excuse to

                      escalate.

                                BOBBY

                      Admiral Anderson, if the ships do not

                      stop, what exactly are our rules of

                      engagement?

            Anderson signals A BRIEFING OFFICER who hits the lights and

            an overhead projector which SMASH CUTS TO:

            INT. BRIDGE - U.S.S. JOHN R. PIERCE - DAY

            The bridge of the U.S.S. John Pierce, a Gearing class

            destroyer.  A RADIO OPERATOR addresses a mike in Russian.

                                ADMIRAL ANDERSON (V.O.)

                      Russian-speakers have been transferred

                      to all of our ships.  Once the

                      quarantine takes effect in the morning,

                      our ships will attempt to make radio

                      contact with the approaching vessels.

                      They will be ordered to reduce speed and

                      prepare for inspection.

            INT. WEAPONS' LOCKER - U.S.S. PIERCE - DAY

            MARINES in flak jackets grab M-16s off a rack, race by.

            EXT. U.S.S. PIERCE - AFT DECK - DAY

            A ship's boat full of Marines lowers away, hits the water,

            engine spraying as it launches forward - in dress rehearsal.

                                ADMIRAL ANDERSON (V.O.)

                      An inspection party will then board and

                      search the ship.  If weapons are found,

                      the ship will be ordered to leave the

                      quarantine area or be towed into port

                      upon refusal.