The Giant Squid

> “The Giant Squid” → *Brinicle and the Swarm*

**Logline:** A growing **brinicle** snares the sub; enemies become crew; the choir chooses a side.

# Beats 1. **Trap forms:** A super-salty plume spawns a falling ice finger; NAUTILUS’s comms boom ices over. 2. **Fault lines:** Ned curses corporate cost-cuts; Nemo snaps back—his family name a live wire in the room. 3. **Action:** Conseil routes heat loops; Ned clips in for an exterior cut; Aronnax keeps the choir on the speakers. 4. **Intervention:** The choir clusters around the brinicle, etching micro-channels that slow its growth—*helping*. 5. **Release:** Ned shears the frozen boom; Nemo pulses thrusters; the sub rolls free. 6. **Aftermath:** Aronnax hears the three-note motif modulate into four—first **variation**. 7. **Button:** Nemo, quiet: “If this is code, someone taught it kindness. If it’s life, it just chose us.”