"And in a heartbeat, everything and everyone we knew... was gone." "There were five of us." "The crew of the space shuttle Odyssey." "And we were the only survivors." "A mysterious being who called himself The Seeker... rescued us and sent us back in time." "And now we have five years to live over." "Five years to discover who or what destroyed the Earth." "Five years to stop it from happening again." "The argument is very simple." "We, as members of a so-called intelligent species... have a driving compulsion to attach cosmic significance... to every event in our existence." "Simply put, we need to believe that our lives have meaning." "Concepts such as free will and self-determination... are the security blankets we use... to shield ourselves from the cold, hard truth of reality." "And what, may you ask, is this reality?" "We are vehicles." "Mere vehicles." "You can't control me." "I know you're here." "Somewhere." "Oh, my God!" "Down, get down!" "Get away from me!" "Get the fuck away from me!" "Easy." "It's my fault." "I'm sorry." " Top of the morning." " Morning." "I better go." "I gotta meet with my friends." "All right, see you." "Mom." " Dad." " Marc." " Paige..." " Whatever you've got to say... if it's anything to do with time travel or aliens, I don't wanna hear it." "Well, that's good, 'cause I don't feel like repeating it." "I was gonna tell you, you got a postcard from your mother, and we're out of milk." "Your lunch is in the fridge." "You and me again, huh?" "Guess we better get used to it." "What do you think, honey?" "You want Superman or Bobo the Clown?" " Spiderman." " Spiderman?" "I don't think they have any Spiderman." "I'm trying to pick a cake." "What do you think?" "Two- or three-layer?" "Well, it depends on if you're planning on inviting the entire neighbourhood." "Corey's only gonna turn five once, Paul." "Thank God for that." " Accident, Mommy." " I got it, honey." "Oh, yeah, by the way, some woman called last night." "Said she was someone's patient." "I left the message on the counter." " Thanks." " Take it easy, big guy." "Bye, Daddy." "Ed Scrivens wasn't just a flight director." "He was..." "He was an icon." "It's impossible to fill the shoes of an icon." "What changed your mind?" "Well, it's high time the agency had a female flight director." "Unfortunately, that makes what I'm about to tell you that much harder." "The decision's come down from Flight Ops." "You're suspended from the roster indefinitely." "I'm sorry." "I expected it." "I'm pushing to have you assigned to mission training." " That'll keep you in the..." " Putting other astronauts into space?" "I know." "It's not even remotely the same thing." "It's all right." "It'll give me something to do while I fight this." "You know, this is not how I intended to start my tenure... keeping astronauts like you on the ground... while dinosaurs like Chuck Taggart orbit the Earth on a regular basis." "Agency could use a few more dinosaurs like that." "In my view, it's high time some of those dinosaurs were extinct." "High school." "I'll never get used to this." " Hey, man, what's with the hair?" " What were you thinking?" " Some party, huh?" " Yeah, yeah." " Man, my throat's still numb." " I spiked the bong water with mouthwash." " You're an artist." " Why'd you ditch?" "Yeah, man." "You went to use the phone, and you never came back." "Hey." "You haven't called me for two days." "Give me another two days, I'll think of a reason." "You know, you better watch yourself." "Girlfriends like me come around once in a lifetime." "Don't I know it." "This, I could get used to." "His name is Naran Chandra." "He's a professor, Nobel Prize in mathematics, held a chair at MIT... was a charter member of the Down Struck Team." " The Down Struck Team?" " It was named after a George Clinton song." "They were a group of computer scientists who came together about three years ago... to develop the first true artificial consciousness." "The first thinking machine, if you will." "Yeah, and as memory serves, this amalgam of grey matter... this fantastic rock and roll confab of mental tissue..." " lasted about two minutes." " Right about six months." "They had a fundamental disagreement on approach." "Naran Chandra was the first one to go." "He never wrote a line of code." "And we care about this because?" "We care about this, darling, because exactly eight days from now..." "Naran Chandra is gonna burst into this scientific conference... and, in the middle of my presentation, he's gonna put a gun to his head... and blow his brains out." "Oh." " Ruined a brilliant speech, I might add." " I remember reporting on that." "Did he say anything?" "Will he say anything?" "He said something about how it was all his fault... and that and a quote from Mahabharata." " The Mahaba what?" " The Mahabharata." " It's a book in Hindu." " Hindi." " Prayers." " Epic poem." "Okay." "So what's the quote?" "The quote was, "If the radiance of 1,000 suns..." ""were to burst into the sky..." ""like the splendour of the Mighty One..." ""I am become Death..." " "Shatterer of Worlds." - "Shatterer of Worlds."" " You know it?" " Yeah." "It's what Robert Oppenheimer said as he was watching his first A-bomb explode." "Well, that's encouraging." "So what have we got here?" "We got A-bombs, we got seek-within-your-own Hindi prayers." "How am I gonna get my mind around this?" "The point I'm trying to make, Chuck, is I think he saw the end coming." " I think he felt responsible." " And maybe that is the point." "Maybe it's just one person that's responsible." "Maybe it's some individual and his goddamn epic poem." "God knows there's enough wackos walking around right now... ready in the name of God and nation to blow this sphere into shit." "Oh, yeah, and what about Project Bright Sky, Mr Defence?" "Well, what about genetics, Dr Science?" "What about Dr Barantz?" "No, most of his patients won't even talk to me." "Now, how come you guys always quiet down whenever I come over?" "Because beauty is best contemplated in silence, darling." " Smooth, Kurt." "Nice." " Thank you." "Like I was saying, there's one woman." "Her name is Lynda Kessel." "She called me back." "She said she's been having nightmares." "Maybe they got something to do with the experiments." "Yeah, or about whatever they're making inside that tank." "I'm gonna find out." "In the meantime, we're gonna have a talk with your pal Chandra." "Preferably before he puts a bullet in his brain." "This is Professor Chandra's masterpiece." "It's nothing less than Darwin inside a machine." "These are visual representations of computer code." "At this stage, they're no smarter than your average cockroach." "Texas cockroach." "They're programmed to mutate, to fight for survival." "Reaper programmes sweep through the preserve and kill off the weakest." "So only the assholes and intellectuals survive, right?" "In short, you're trying to evolve artificial intelligence." "Computer science has been around for 50 years... and systems like HAL 9000 aren't even on the horizon." "Professor Chandra realised we needed a new approach." "Artificial life is that approach." "A-Life for short." "Is it working?" "We have digital organisms here with the intelligence level of a squirrel." "That may not sound like much... but in the world of computer science, it's a big leap forward." "Anyway, like I said, Professor Chandra's on sabbatical." "He hasn't been around in three weeks... so, if I do see him, I'll tell him you stopped by." "Good." "He never mentioned he had such famous friends." "Well, Naran was never one to drop names." "Mr Gonzales, what would happen if one of these digital organisms... made their way onto the Internet?" "Can't happen." "This is a closed system." "We don't even have an Internet connection." "Yeah, but Chandra can't be the only guy in the world working on this stuff." "No." "Professor Chandra's work has been duplicated all over the country." "So, even if it can't happen here, it can happen someplace else." "The organisms aren't designed to survive in the wilderness of cyberspace." "They're programmed to absorb only very specific streams of code... so they'd probably just starve." "Probably just?" "Thank you for seeing us, Miss Kessel." "We understand you're going back into the hospital." "Well, I'm going back in for surgery again next week." "Seems the benefits from Dr Barantz's treatments were temporary." "Oh, we're sorry to hear that." "Can I ask why you're so interested in my situation?" "A friend of ours was actually involved in Dr Barantz's gene therapy trials." " Oh." " Unfortunately, he passed away." "Not from his illness." "He was involved in an automobile accident." " I'm sorry to hear that." "Please." " Thanks." "The reason we wanted to talk with you is because... we believe there may have been a connection... between the accident and the therapy." "In what way?" "We think his judgement might have been impaired by the therapy." "And when I spoke to you on the phone... you said that you hadn't noticed any particular side effects." "That's why I called you." "What I said before, it wasn't exactly accurate." "Professor Chandra?" "His mail goes back a couple of weeks." "Means that he's either not home, or he doesn't read it." "But I find that hard to believe, otherwise why did he subscribe to this?" " Little tame for you?" " Science is such a lonely pursuit." "Kurt, this is his invitation to your symposium, right?" "Postmarked yesterday." "It's less than a week off." "And where are we going?" "You said this dude was really bad off when he broke into your conference." "That's putting it mildly." "He was practically a walking corpse." "He was probably at the end of his road, and we don't have much time." "Shit." "Hand me that box there." " What are you doing?" " Cover your eyes." "Fucking hell, Chuck." "You wanna get us arrested, of course." "Kurt, we are trying to prevent the world from exploding." "Try to get some perspective." "I have perspective." "It's just centred around me." "Hang out here and be the good eye and try not to do anything too scientific." "Aye, aye, Chuck." "Shit, what a mess." "The joys of married life." "Chandra." "Kurt." "Chandra!" "I'm surrounded by fire." "It's everywhere, all around me." "But it doesn't burn." "There are people standing around the fire." "They're watching me." "Waiting." "It's as if we all share the same secret." "It's that same dream over and over." "I just wish I knew what it meant." "Do you recognise any of the people in the fire?" "I never see their faces." "They're just shadows." "But at the same time, I could swear I know them." "I know it doesn't make any sense." "No, it probably makes more sense than you think." "There's one other thing." "One morning... this was back when I was undergoing Dr Barantz's gene therapy treatment... when I woke up, my legs were covered with rashes." " Rashes?" " Atopic dermatitis." "It's a skin allergy." "It happens whenever I come in contact with any kind of grass." "Weeds, to be exact." " Had you been outside?" " Well, that's the thing." "As far as I knew, I'd been in my bed all night." " Chuckie." " How do you feel?" "Oh, peachy." "I have a third-degree burn under my armpit... and there's an inch of flesh missing from my shoulder." "Well, what the hell were you doing, experimenting on yourself?" "I told you not to do anything scientific." "Frankly, I preferred the bastard when he was blowing his brains out during my speech." "Look, Kurt, you don't have the faintest idea... why Chandra would want a piece of your flesh, do you?" "Call me crazy, but I think he was checking to make sure I was human." " Taggart." " Mr Taggart?" "Are you still looking for Professor Chandra?" "Professor Chandra?" "More than ever." "Who's this?" "I first noticed it about a month ago." "That's when his behaviour really started to change." "How?" "He started spending a lot of time on the computer." "I mean, way more time than he usually did." "He'd sit there sometimes for 36 hours at a stretch." "But he wasn't working on a new programme." "He was searching the Web." " For what?" " I don't know." "Every time I asked, he'd just become angry." "Pretty soon after that, he stopped speaking on the phone." "Said it was bugged." "Said he was being followed." " So who did he think was following him?" " Everyone." "A bag lady, a kid, a cop." "He even bought one of those stun guns." "You know those things?" "Oh, intimately." "Yeah, he kept it at the bedside table." "He was afraid they'd get him in his sleep." "He even spent some nights on the floor... to hear the vibrations in case anyone would sneak up on him." "Don't take this the wrong way... but you seem to be very well acquainted with Professor Chandra's sleeping habits." "We had something going, you know?" " Something going?" " Chuck." "Oh." "If it got out..." " It..." " Won't." "Antonia Reyes has voted to protect violent sex offenders, gang members... drug dealers, pornographers, child molesters and drunk drivers." "Texas needs a strong leader to help build our communities." "Texas needs Brian Perry, war veteran, businessman, devoted father." "Reyes will never know what hit her." "And voters will never know that her voting record is identical to yours." "Well, democracy is an ugly sport... especially when it's played on television." "Well, we're tracking five points ahead, but it's still very early in the game." "Well, don't sweat it, Dad." "You'll win it." "Hands down." "You sound so sure." "Yeah, well, let's just say I have a premonition." "Are you staying for lunch?" "I could have Cookie make up some sandwiches." "No, I've eaten." "Look, what did you wanna see me about?" "Always to the point." "Got a lot on my mind, Dad." "That business over at NASA, you being grounded..." " I could help." " How?" "Well, there's some people over there who owe me." " I could make a couple of phone calls." " No, thank you." "I've already appealed the decision." "Well, from what I hear, the chances of winning that appeal are slim to none." " You've been checking up on me." " I always check up on you, sweetie." "Well, I appreciate that, Dad, but this is my career, and I'll handle it." "I got into space on my own, and I will get back there on my own." "I knew I should never have asked you first." "I should've just gone off and done it." "How do you think other people in the programme would react... if word got out that my father was pulling strings to get me back in?" "Have you thought about that?" "How it'd look?" "Have you thought about how it looks now?" "Oh, okay." "This is about the election?" "So you're concerned about how this reflects on you." " Of course not." " You're unbelievable." " How could this be about anything else?" " Wait a minute." "Listen to me." "This has nothing to do with the election." "I just..." "I just wanna be part of your life again." "You promise me you won't make any calls?" "All right." "All right." "So I thought about what we talked about." " What we talked about?" " Yeah." "I'm ready to go all the way." "Wait, what?" "That's..." "That's..." "That's..." "Yeah." "I didn't know until today, but you just..." "I don't know, you seem so different, and so centred." "It's like, I feel like I can handle it now." " So let's do it tonight." " Tonight?" "Yeah." "Why wait?" "Right." "Why wait?" "I don't know." "Okay." "Let's see, I'll borrow my dad's Mustang... and then we can go out to the docks." " Shit." " What?" "There's something I gotta do." "Just do me a favour and hold that thought." "I'll be right back." "Hey, you guys ever see a shuttle launch from Mission Control?" " Didn't know they did that." " Yeah, if you got the right connections." "Well, Chuck Taggart's your father, isn't he?" " Yeah, so you know I can deliver." " What do you want?" "Access protection's locked up." "It's beyond my powers." "Why not just take it to a pro?" "Some stuff on there I'd rather not get out, if you know what I mean." " This isn't your laptop, is it?" " You are good." " Hi, Lynda." " Hi." "I'm Dr Jamison." "I'm a friend of Sarah's." "I'm gonna be taking you through this memory regression session today." "I want you to put yourself entirely in my hands." "You think you can do that?" " Okay." " Okay." "My legs are sore." "It's from the grass, the weeds." "Where are you now?" "We're in a field." "There's some columns." "Like Roman columns standing there in the woods." " The old Mayfield place." " What are you doing in the field?" "We're burning things." "It's okay, Lynda." "These are just memories." "They can't hurt you." "What are you burning?" "We're burning medical equipment." "Why does that make you anxious?" "'Cause that's not all we're burning." "Relax, now." "Relax." "It's okay." "Go from there." "What do you see?" "They're cutting up something." "We're throwing the pieces in the fire." "What are you cutting up?" "Oh, God!" "I don't wanna see it!" "I don't wanna see it!" "What is it?" "Okay, split up about 20 yards apiece." "Fan out." "Sweep the area." "I hate the goddamn woods." "Watch out." "Watch these goddamn gopher holes." "All right." "Let's see." "Would I sleep with my sexy, slightly underage girlfriend?" " Don't rush me." "It's a tough one." " Yeah, I know, but she's still 17." " Well, so are you." " No." "On the outside, I'm 17." "I'm still 22, man." "I'm a fucking astronaut, for Christ's sake." "I just don't know if it's the right thing to do, you know?" "Oh, let me ask you this." "The first time around, did you do it?" "Yes, but it took another three months to convince her... and the only reason she wants to do it now is 'cause she thinks I'm centred." "Because she senses that inner power that comes with maturity." "It happens to me all the time." "Hey, look at it from her perspective." "How many 17-year-olds is she gonna find with your experience?" " I assume there's experience here." " Oh, fuck off, man, yeah." " I heard you went toe-to-toe with Flight Ops." " Yep." "Threatened to walk off unless I was reinstated." " Yep." " You can't do that, Chuck." " We need you in the programme." " Yeah, well, I need you in the programme." "I don't know how all this lays out yet... but I know the agency played some part in it." "The more people I have on the inside... the better chance I have to stop what's coming." "Besides, you're the best pilot in the rotation." " Thanks." " How's your mind?" "Well, it takes some getting used to, not flying missions." "Yeah, well, don't get too used to it." "Hey, you guys." "Over here." "I found something." " There really was a fire here." " Looks like they covered it up." " What the hell is that?" " Let's see." "That looks like melted glass." "This fire must've been damn hot to melt glass." "Whatever it was those people were making in that warehouse... this looks like they were trying to get rid of the evidence." "Oh, shit." "Hang on." "Hang on." "Don't try to yank that foot out of there." "Just take it slow." "I told you to watch out for gopher holes." "Relax." " Oh, wait, wait, wait." " Get it off me." "Oh, what is it?" "Don't touch it." "I need an uncorrupted specimen." " Get it off me!" " Wait, wait, wait." "Oh, my God." "Damn!" "Filthy!" "So much for the uncorrupted specimen." "Can you see the striated patterns here and here?" "They're much too uniform to have occurred in nature." "In my humble opinion, this is not organic." "This cheeky little fucker was manufactured." "So this is what Barantz's patients were making in that tank." " This is a piece of it, maybe." " A piece of what, exactly?" "I mean, what are we talking about here, some kind of machine?" "This isn't Robby the Robot." "This is a highly sophisticated construct on the level of a biological mechanism." "Jesus." "I really hate it when it does that." "So the next question is, who or what wanted this built?" "More importantly, why?" "Sarah, you gotta get on Lynda Kessel." "We gotta get more nightmares out of this woman." " Good luck." " What do you mean, "good luck"?" "She has ischemic heart disease, Chuck." "It's a severe constriction of the arteries." "It's why she went to see Dr Barantz in the first place." "I called the hospital." "She's stable, but in critical condition." "Okay, Kurt, that leaves you and your pal, Chandra, and that computer." "Yeah, I'm still working on his laptop... but he's got a serious protection system on that thing." "I make one wrong move, we could lose whatever's on it." "Yeah, and we don't even know if there's anything on there we can use." "We know Chandra's gonna show up at the science conference." " Why not just wait for him there?" " We've already interacted with him." "The time stream's already corrupted." "That means he could off himself at any time." "Tomorrow, five minutes from now, right now." "Okay, son, you gotta get into that laptop." "Give me another 24 hours." "I have great minds working on this." "I'd feel a hell of a lot better if I knew where we were going with this." " Would you please be careful?" " Just relax." " We're about to get crazy on this." " Oh, Jesus." "Wait, are you going through the processor chip?" "AUC, Aggressive Umbilical Calibration." "It's our own patented method." " All set?" " Let's do it." " Dude, what are you doing now?" " Establishing rapport." " Ever hear of neuro-linguistic programming?" " Yeah, yeah, yeah." "Well, same basic principle applies here." "Shit." "Yeah, hello." "You were supposed to meet me for lunch." "Holly." "I lost track of time." "I can explain later, okay?" "Why are you acting like I'm some kind of annoying thing?" "No, I'm just in the middle of something here, Holly." "It's really important." "All right?" " Oh, well, don't let me interrupt you." " Holly..." "I..." "Fuck." " Female trouble?" " Yeah." "Capture." " That's it." " We're on the go with it." "That's it." "Okay, let me see." "I'm compiling this document in the event that something happens to me." " Well, that's a blast from the past." " Blast from the past?" "It's a brand new Remington, just came out this year." "Oh." "What, are you going for quail?" "Yeah." "Bernard Creek's supposed to be flush this year." "Where's Neil?" "Dad." "What?" "I've been thinking about what you said the other night... about my not wanting to become an astronaut." "Yeah?" " Well, it was a test, right?" " Test?" "Yeah." "The programme's a tough haul." "A lot of guys fall out." "You're making sure I really want it, you know, for the right reasons." "Well, I just want you to know that hearing you say what you said... it made me realise that I want it more than anything." "I wanna transfer into the programme this year." "This year?" "Yeah, I made an appointment with John Stiles tomorrow morning." "Well, Stiles is a good man." "And he knows a good man when he sees one." "Flight Ops has revised their previous decision." "In lieu of an indefinite suspension from the roster... you are to undergo a Class I fitness review, including psych training... to last a period of no less than six weeks." "You could be back in space in a few months." "Congratulations." "May I ask what prompted this revision?" "I wasn't in on the meeting." "But you know, don't you?" "Word has it that influence was exerted on your behalf." "By Chuck Taggart?" "The holidays are long gone." "Chuck Taggart no longer wields that kind of influence." "Daddy's little girl." "This is all great, but we need something between this and this in size, okay?" "And also with these buttons, we need bigger ones... or make something else, like that big..." "You didn't give a shit about what it would do to me, did you?" " You just went ahead and did it anyway." " Sweetie, this is not the time..." "No, you're wrong, Dad." "The time is right now." "If I were you, I'd go ahead and hire some more help... 'cause you're gonna fucking need it." "I'm compiling this document in the event that something happens to me." "Where did you get this stuff?" " He was uploading it onto his laptop." " It's sort of like a digital safe deposit box." "April 13th." "I believe I've discovered an autonomous agent within the Internet." "An artificial life form of unknown origin." "It moves through cyberspace like a gigantic worm." "It burrows into computer networks, feeds on information." "It has attained a level of intelligence that is off any known scale of measurement." "It could very well be the most intelligent being on the planet." "The most intelligent being that ever existed." "I wonder, have I discovered God?" "Monday, April 22nd." "I can track the Sentient." "That's what I'm calling it now." "It leaves fingerprints, bits of waste code." "I've analysed some of this code." "There can be no doubt." "The Sentient evolved from A-life forms that I developed." "The Sentient is my child." "Note to self." "Buy more coffee." "May 4th." "Okay, look at this." " Jarred Ward." "You know that name?" " No." "Sarah's running a search on it right now, but nothing yet." "I've spotted this man on three separate occasions." "I'm sure he's following me." "Oh, my God." "I've seen him." "Where?" "He came by the lab a couple weeks ago asking for the Professor." "I told him he wasn't there, and he left." "He give you anything, a name, Jarred Ward, or anything?" "No." "I do remember he gave me the creeps, though." " Why is that?" " Something about him was just off." "June 5th." "I was wrong about the Sentient." "It is not the most intelligent being on the planet." "It is not alone on the Internet." "There are others." " That's it?" " That's all there is." " Hello." " I got a hit on the name." "Jarred Ward sold a piece of property... to someone matching Professor Chandra's description." " There's an address." " Shoot." "14435 Falconer Lane... just south of Barclay." "14435 Falconer Lane." "Where are you?" "We're on our way to Houston General." "Lynda Kessel called." "She said she had something important she wanted to talk to me about." "She sounded scared, Chuck." "Yeah, well, so am I. Be careful." " I think we got something." " I'm coming with you." " No, you're staying here." " He's not gonna hurt me." "It's not Professor Chandra we're worried about." "You can't stop me." "Either I go with you, or I follow you, or I go there myself." "14435 Falconer, right?" " Nice." " Well done." "Dr Michaels, call 417." "Dr Michaels, call 417." "Hang on a second." "And what the fuck is that thing?" "This is a model 1871, legal and registered..." "Colt.45 single-action six-shot revolver... that my granddad bought in Fort Worth... when he went raiding Pancho Villa in Mexico with the United States Army." "Unlike those pussy 9 mm guns you see on TV... this.45 will knock a man down." "I feel better already, Butch." "Neil, stay here and keep a good eye with his girl." "Yeah." "Nice neighbourhood." " Professor?" " Chandra?" "Professor?" "Professor Chandra has good friends." "Yeah, no better friend in the world right now than my dad." "It's just, you don't wanna get on his bad side, you know?" "I'll try to remember that." "Professor?" "Five days." "Looks like he was planning a long sabbatical." "Yeah." "Where's the Professor?" "Where's Neil?" "Tessa, is everything okay?" "Fuck!" "I will shoot you." "Where is he?" "Let him go." "Wait." "Are you okay?" "Come on." "We have to get out." "I think I got her." "What do you think of my choice of weapons?" "Come on." "We have to go." "We must get out of here." "Neil." "Neil." "Neil?" " Help!" " Neil!" " Neil?" " Get me the fuck out of here!" " Yeah, hang on, hang on, hang on." " Dad!" "Dad!" "All right." "They're coming." "Go." "Wait, wait, wait." "Where are we gonna find you?" "I'll find you." "Pulmonary embolism." "It's a common cause of death for people with her condition." "No." "I think one of those things you guys saw got her." "They can pass for humans." "They can be anywhere." " Or anyone." " How do we fight that?" "Who's to say they're who we're supposed to be fighting?" " What do you mean?" " Maybe they're here to save the world." "Why would they destroy something they've been trying so hard to create?" "Anyone consider that?" "Leave it to you to cloud the issue." "These things that Chandra detected on the Internet, these Sentients... you think they could be responsible for Tessa?" "I mean, for any more Tessas out there?" "Chandra did say the Sentients are like gods." "And gods do have a tendency to create in their own image, don't they?" "Or people have a tendency to create gods in their own image." "Now, there you go with that silence again." "I'll get your check." "You know, you never answered my question, Chuck." "What, am I having an affair?" "Oh, Paige... we've been married 23 years and if I was fucking around... you'd sure as hell know it." "Remember when we were stationed at Nellis?" "I used to look out my window every 15 minutes... dreading that I'd see that black plume of smoke... knowing that if I did, I'd never see you again." "I feel that way again, Chuck." "I just wish I knew why." "Let me ask you something, Paige." "When we were stationed at Nellis... and you spent all that time worrying if I'd crash and burn... what got you through the day?" "Faith." "Why don't you call up a little of that now?" "I got us a suite." "We can get room service, watch the moon come up over the channel... and then when we get tired of that, you know..." "That sounds great... except for the "you know."" " What do you mean?" " You've been having second thoughts." "You don't have to pretend." "I can tell." "Second thoughts?" "No, no, no." "No." "We can do this." "There's nothing wrong with it." "I've been having second thoughts, too." "If we're really into each other, sex can wait." " Right?" " Right." "Okay." "How long, in your mind?" "I don't know." "Six months?" "A year?" "We're only 17, right?" "We've got all the time in the world." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Yeah." "All the time in the world." "We, as members of a so-called intelligent species... have a driving compulsion to attach cosmic significance... to our existence." "Simply put, we need to believe that our lives have meaning." "Concepts such as free will and self-determination... are the security blankets we use... to shield ourselves from the cold, hard truth of reality." "And what, may you ask, is this reality?" "We are vehicles." "Mere vehicles." "And behind the wheel of these vehicles are the single-minded impulses... programmed into our DNA by billions of years of evolutionary struggle." "Sorry." "We are nothing but a means of conveyance." "But it doesn't mean that from time to time... we can't change the direction in which we travel." "I now open the floor for questions."