TITLE: JANUARY, 1865

TWO MONTHS HAVE PASSED SINCE ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR IS NOW IN ITS FOURTH YEAR

EXT. A SHIP AT SEA - NIGHT

A huge, dark, strange-looking steamship, part wood and part iron, turreted like a giant ironclad monitor, is plowing through the choppy black waters of an open sea.

Lincoln is alone, in darkness, on the deck, which has no railing, open to the sea. The ship's tearing through rough water, but there's little pitching, wind or spray. The deck is dominated by the immense black gunnery turret.

             LINCOLN (V.O.)

It's nighttime. The ship's moved by some terrible power, at a terrific speed.

Lincoln stares out towards a barely discernible horizon, indicated by a weird, flickering, leaden glow, which appears to recede faster than the fast-approaching ship.

             LINCOLN (V.O.)

Though it's imperceptible in the darkness, I have an intuition that we're headed towards a shore. No one else seems to be aboard the vessel. I'm alone.