"Ladies and gentlemen, tech pioneer Darius Tanz." "Sir, my name's Liam Cole." "I'm a student at MIT." "In 186 days, an asteroid's gonna collide with Earth, and we're all gonna die." "Previously on Salvation..." "What about you?" "What important savetheworld work are you doing at MIT?" "I'm creating a map of space." "Professor Croft, it's Liam." "There's something there that was" " not there three months ago." " Really?" "People need to see this immediately." "911?" "My professor, he disappeared." "I'm onto something that someone, somewhere doesn't want public." "The sky is falling, and you may be the only person that can do something about it." "You run DOD point" " for all things NASA." " Is there a problem?" "Depends on whether a planetkilling asteroid is heading our way." "Grace Barrows, DOD Public Affairs." "You wanted to see me?" "Dr. Eduard Acosta discovered an asteroid large enough to cause an extinctionlevel event." "So what is the plan?" "A gravity tractor." "That would deflect the asteroid through gravitational pull." "I'm sorry." "I never wanted to burden you with this." "You're confident this will work?" "Yes." "You don't have to stay." "I can't leave, but if I stay, no more secrets." "There was a burn test today." " And how'd it go?" " Perfect." "Not sure what they were testing, but they failed." "What the...?" "You're right, Darius." "The government's plan won't work." "You said the technology doesn't exist yet." "If you're so damn smart, invent it." "Come work with us." "Hi." "Where can I put my stuff?" "Okay." "Passport, antibiotics, cell phone charger... ooh, and the ambassador's cell number." "If you have any problems, he's a personal friend." "Mom, it's Africa, not Jupiter." "But I'm just a Skype away." "Okay." "What's happening?" "I'm sorry." "I should have told you." "Told me what?" "Happy birthday." "Okay." "Whoa, hey, there's fire here." "Sorry." "Sorry." " Bad dream." " Yeah." "Bad night, apparently." "You all right?" "Yeah, yeah." "Yeah, I must have just conked out on the couch." "I'm still working on your birthday gift." "But in the meantime, gluten and dairyfree for the woman that likes to live on the edge." "Thank you, baby." "Make a wish." "So Darius Tanz left the embassy ball with a Pentagon flack and a kid from MIT, and you think that's a story?" "They had a secret meeting in his compound in the middle of the night. not The Washington Post." "We do not have the money to fund goose chases." "A Pentagon employee was murdered the next day." "My guy at Metro Police slipped me the file." "His name's Walter Carnahan, he was in satellite operations with top security clearance." " So what's the autopsy say?" " There was none." "Someone's trying to keep this quiet." "The question is why?" "Happy birthday, boss." "Thanks." "Older but not wiser." "Delivery just came for you, but there was no card." "Secret admirer?" "Yeah." "You know me, got them lining up out the door." "Thank you for the flowers." "What flowers?" "Hey, I, I also got you a little something." "You didn't need to..." "No." "I did." "A4 security badge." "The way to a woman's heart." "If you're gonna be on the task force, you need the highest level clearance." "So I can tell you everything." "The rocket test failed, Grace." "I couldn't tell you before, but now..." "No more secrets." "No more secrets?" "So..." "Your birthday dinner." "You know, once upon a time, we had plans." "Well, you just gave me the highest level clearance." "What would it look like if anyone thought we were...?" "Yeah, I know, I know." "We need to keep this professional, but..." "We could have a professional dinner." "Could we?" "Really?" "Yeah." "Come on, I don't want you to be alone on your birthday." "Me, neither." "Yeah?" "They're ready for you." "As we're all aware, the rocket test failed." "We can't launch a gravity tractor up to the asteroid in time to divert it off its path." "But our planetary defense team has a viable alternative plan." "Dr. Strauss." "Thank you, Deputy Secretary." "After reviewing the alternatives, we believe that this is the next best option." "The IO Probe." "A NASA spacecraft currently orbiting Jupiter." "The plan would be to redirect it from Jupiter's orbit, and propel it into the asteroid." "The impact could alter its trajectory just enough for it to miss Earth." "Throwing rocks at an oncoming train, a bold strategy." "I'll be right behind you." "You have an issue with this plan?" "Yes." "In a word, it stinks..." "That's two words, actually." "What Captain Planet here fails to mention is that a highvelocity kinetic impact could just as easily smash our asteroid friend into several pieces..." "Now you've turned one problem into ten." "It's raining asteroids, each of which may cause cataclysmic damage." "I take it that you have a better idea?" "You had it right the first time:" "The gravity tractor." "Send it up, do a flyby, the mass of the GT pulls the asteroid off its trajectory." "No muss, no fuss," " no loss of life." " Darius," "I just said, we don't have" " the technology..." " Not yet." "All we need is a working EM drive, and I can build it." "An electromagnetic drive?" "You're insane." "You're not the first to say so." "What exactly is an EM drive?" "Liam?" "A rocket can only carry so much fuel." "Right?" "So you get one big initial push from the thrust, and that's as fast as it's ever gonna go." "But with an EM drive, the force is small but it's constant, so it keeps accelerating, getting faster and faster as it goes." "With an EM drive, we can get to the moon in hours instead of days, to Mars in a few weeks instead of months, and to our asteroid friend here, with just enough time for a gravity tractor..." "You had it right the first time..." "To save us all from extinction." "No one has ever built a working EM drive." "It violates the laws of Newtonian physics." "Andand Newtonian physics violated Aristotelian physics back in the day, you know, laws were made to be broken." "II could drone on about pilot wave theory and quantum vacuum fluctuations, but seeing as we have approximately 181 days left to live, I'd rather just go off and build the damn thing, if you don't mind." "And what would it take to "build the damn thing"?" "$2 billion." "To start." "Okay, a request that large would have to go through congressional oversight." "The White House doesn't want us raising any red flags in Congress." "Any leak, at all, could cause widespread panic, anarchy." "Especially when there's no proof that this thing actually works." "They said the Manhattan Project would take ten years." "They did it in two." "They got together the greatest minds on Earth, and they did it because they had to." "I'm sorry, but this is no time for bureaucracy." "Darius is saying he has a plan to save us all, so let him do it." "Or at least try." "All right." "Half." "I'll get you half." "The world's going to be reduced to a ball of ash in six months, but no, let's all play but the rules." " Darius, stop." " Yeah, well, I agreed to work with the Pentagon." "I thought it'd be a twoway street." "He just got you a billion dollars in there." " That's something." " You told me you'd do whatever it takes." "Get me what I need." "Fine, what else do you need?" "100 kilos of enriched uranium." "Let's make it 1,000 while we're asking." "You're insane." "Why does everyone keep saying that?" " It's kinda true." " No one is going to approve the transfer of radioactive bombmaking materials to you without asking questions that we can't answer." "Exactly." "Grace, bureaucratic red tape will kill us before the asteroid ever gets here." "We need to think bigger than the government does and move a hell of a lot faster." "So what are you suggesting?" "We both know Harris is one of a handful of people with access codes that would allow for the transfer of nuclear material." "No, he'll never agree to this." "I know." "So you want me to go behind his back." "Betray my boss." "Your "boss"?" "It's treason." "This is where rubber meets road, Grace." "You want to help me save the human race or don't you?" "So, in order to save the world we need a billion dollars we don't have, uranium we can't get, and technology that doesn't even exist?" "So far, so good." "If Superman caught the villain on page two, what fun would that be?" "Fun?" "That's what this is?" "Darius, the satellite team needs five minutes and the telecom group sent design specs." "Push everything." "You have the TID?" "This opens up any door at Tanz." "Almost any door." "Hey, so about those three impossible tasks..." "You see roadblocks, I see challenges." "Well, no, Newton's third law isn't a roadblock, it's a brick wall." "I've had a team working on EM drive for three years." "We've made progress, I just need help to expedite it over the finish line." " What kind of help?" " Malcolm Croft." "My professor?" "He's been experimenting with EM drive theory." "Yeah, I know, but he's gone, he's gone AWOL." "It's not so much him we need as his research." "It may be the missing piece." "Well, my buddy Diego was Croft's T.A." "I can call him and see what he knows." "You'll do better than that." " You're going to Boston." " I am?" "Helicopter's waiting out back." " Helicopter?" "But I..." " Hate airplanes." "Yeah." " Helicopter." " No, I hate sky." "You know, and the potential to fall out of it." "I like trains." "Yeah, why don't you just saddle up a snail?" "It's not like the fate of the world's hanging in the balance." " This is..." " Some walkingaround money." "You never know when it's gonna come in handy." " Where are you going?" " To find a billion dollars." "Why bring Darius in if you're not gonna give him everything he needs to get the job done?" "Two billion dollars?" "What else has he got on his shopping list... nuclear weapons?" " And if he did?" " I'd say no." "Grace, I want Darius to succeed." "We all do." "But this is a governmentrun operation under the tightest veil of secrecy." "There's protocol here." "What good is protocol if we're all dead in six months?" "Harris." "Okay, send it in." "I got to take this." "Yes, Mr. Vice President." "Catherine." "Darius." "What's so pressing it couldn't wait?" "Let me guess." "You're busy saving the world again." "Someone has to." "Yeah, still amazes me." "All you've built." "We built." "To think it all started with a deal signed on a cocktail napkin." "And a weekend in Fiji." "But you didn't ask me here to walk down memory lane." "What if I told you I'm embarking on the biggest project I've ever undertaken?" "One that could pay financial dividends for centuries?" "How much do you need?" "A billion, to start." "You'd get one of the first seats to Mars." "Why don't you just come up with the money yourself?" "I've already emptied my own pockets for this one." "Your passion gets in the way of your business sense." "Nothing's worth doing unless you're willing to lose everything." "And you have." "Twice." "But I'm not willing to lose everything, so perhaps you should show me what you got." "That can be arranged." "Diego?" "Dude, I thought you went to work for Darius Tanz." " II did." "I am." " You lucky sack." "You know you're the envy of every student on campus." " Is it epic?" " Epic does not capture." "Look, I can't explain, but have" " you heard from Croft?" " No, man." "I guess that, sabbatical thing was real." "He bounced." "Don't think he's coming back." " Did he leave behind any of his research?" " Cleaned out his office." "You know how paranoid he was." "He'd never leave anything behind." "The EM drive... did you work with him on that?" "Yeah, for, like, ten minutes." "It was a dead end." "Croft said it was kind of like trying to fly by pulling yourself up by your hair." " Only works in cartoons." " Crap." "Although, there was this one time he took all his T.A.s out for dinner, and had a little too much to drink, and started rambling about having a super secret backup hidden at his place." "Backup drive?" "Like I said, paranoid." "Dude, you rock." "Thank you." "Hey, whatever happened to that girl with the notebook?" " What's her name?" " Jillian." "What if no one comes?" "You finished a novel." "That's an accomplishment." "You got to get used to sharing your work." "Yeah, my selfpublished work, 'cause no one wanted it." "And I'm reading it in my parents' bookstore." "Hey, what about that boy from, from MIT you met?" "You could invite him." "He moved to D.C." "That's too bad." "Yeah." "Grace, press briefing in ten." "Thank you." "Setting the table for renewed military cooperation between the United States and India." "Any other questions?" "Hey, Frank." "New tie?" "Your wife has good taste." "Thank you, everyone." "Ms. Barrows, can you comment on the recent murder of DOD employee Walter Carnahan at his home?" "For reasons of privacy, we cannot comment on personal employee matters." "Thank you." "Professor Croft?" "I can't believe... this is my life." "911?" "My professor..." "His place is trashed, and he didn't show up for class." "Damn." "Hello?" "What are we looking at?" "The Tanz Goliath 2 rocket." " They failed." " Shut it down, Carn." "Shut it down!" "Excuse me." "I'm looking for Carnahan?" " Who?" " Walter Carnahan." "This is his station." "DDo you know what happened to him?" "Beats me, I'm the new guy." "Pete." "Grace?" "Did we kill Walter Carnahan?" "Harris." "Grace, listen to yourself." "You really believe the U.S. government carries out hits on its own people?" "I don't know what I believe." "I just know my friend is dead." "Why would the government want to kill a lowlevel sat tech?" "Maybe he accessed files he wasn't supposed to." "What files?" "I don't..." "Hey, hey, Grace." "Look, with everything we know, it's easy to get paranoid." "But there's nothing here." "Maybe you're right." "Grace." "I, I'm so sorry, your assistant sent me up." "She said you were finishing up a meeting." "And we are." "Grace Barrows, Catherine Adams." "Grace is my government liaison for the Mars project" " I was telling you about." " Yes." " Nice to meet you." " Catherine and I have been intertwined for many years." "She funded my very first creation and possibly my next." "Good to see you again, Darius." " I'll be in touch." " Soon, I hope." "Um..." "I'm meeting Mark Cuban tomorrow and you know he doesn't like to share the wealth." "You didn't tell me there was any competition." "There's always competition." "Lucky for me, I always win." "I'm not even gonna ask." "Good, 'cause I'm not gonna tell." "Now, I assume you're here for a reason." "You were right." "We can't trust the government." "We have to do this ourselves." "Uranium." "I know where to get it." "She tried to cover, but I could tell she was rattled by the Carnahan thing." "If I could just talk to her in person, just the two of us..." "Yeah, I'm sure she'll go for that." "Maybe Ms. Barrows needs a little motivation." "Okay, we both just got promoted." "Please do not do anything stupid." "Are you kidding me?" "I'm gonna put us on the map." "Don't screw this up." "This is grim." "Well." "It's all right." "Today, there's four people." "Next time, there will be eight." "Get 'em." "Okay..." "Hi there." "Thank you all for coming." "I'm Jillian Hayes and this is Shadow Side." "Thanks, Dad." "Hey, guys." "Do you want to make some quick cash?" "What you talking about, man?" ""Vel Durok had been stranded before."" "Once in Yosemite, when a freak snowstorm hit." "Another time when she was" ""in the Gobi Desert when her camel died."" ""She always managed to outrun fate, to cheat death."" "But now she was over two lightyears from home, trapped alone on the shadow side of a planet" ""that as yet had no name."" "I wasn't sure you were game after our last conversation." "Neither was I." "What changed your mind?" "Things." "You sure the government can't track what we're doing here?" "This computer, this room, is surveillance proof." "I should knowб I built it myself." "Okay." "There are a handful of uranium storage facilities around the country." "This one's our best bet." "The WIPP." "A Waste Isolation Pilot Plant." "Out near Wallops." "20 miles from here." "They store radioactive waste from nuclear weapons processing." "So, you've enlisted Harris to help?" "No, his hands are tied." "But mine aren't." "You're stealing the code." "Every day Harris is issued a new authorization code, allowing him to approve the transfer of nuclear material." "Now, I can get into the WIPP facility, but I can't get the uranium without that code and it expires at midnight." "And he keeps it in his briefcase secured with a biometric lock." "Yes." "How are you gonna access it?" "We're having dinner tonight." "Look, this is a complex plan." "There's no guarantees." "But you wouldn't be here if you didn't think you could pull it off, would you?" "Darius, I don't want Harris implicated." "Okay?" "If anything goes wrong, I take the fall." "You sure about this?" "Am I sure?" "I've been a rulefollower my whole life." "I never drive alone in the carpool lane." "If it says ten items or less, I have less." "And now I'm considering stealing uranium from the United States government." "And betraying a man you love." "Am I sure?" "Absolutely not." "But like you said, we're talking about the fate of the world." "The rule book just went out the window." "This just came for you, handdelivered." "Thanks." "So glad you could join me." "You have the subtlety of a hand grenade." "You know there's nothing going on between me and Darius Tanz." "What do you want?" " The real story." " Okay." "Amanda, you've been a journalist for, what... five minutes?" "And I hesitate to use the word "journalist."" "I have a master's in Journalism from Columbia." " I interned at the Post." " Well, then you should know real reporters don't publish fake news." "A DOD employee with high security clearance was murdered." "That's not fake." "Yes." "A robbery gone wrong." "Yeah, so wrong that his body was released to his family without a formal autopsy?" "That's at the M.E.'s discretion." "Happens under the rarest of circumstances." "This falls way outside normal protocol." "I bet you could find a conspiracy in a game of solitaire." "I spoke with Walt Carnahan's sister." "She said he was troubled about something that happened at work." "Troubled how?" "He saw a file he wasn't supposed to see, apparently." "Project Atlas." "Atlas?" "I've never heard of it." "She said if anything happened to him, that it wasn't an accident." "Look, Amanda, I've never heard of Atlas." "And what happened to Walt Carnahan is tragic, but it's not a conspiracy." "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to be somewhere." "And feel free to publish those photos." "Red's my color." "Yeah, right here is fine." " Thanks." "Keep the change." " Hey, thanks." " Professor Croft." " Shh, shh, shh." "It's not safe." "Come on." "When you left," "I called my friend at NASA just to check your math and about two hours later, these spooks show up, no warrant, no nothing." "Tossed everything and I escaped out the back door." "Your discovery has rattled someone, Liam." "How did you know I was in your house?" "A remote security camera." "Jesus, you really are paranoid." "Well, it turns out I have reason to be." "I have a way to protect us both, but I need to know where your research is on the EM drive." " The EM drive?" " Please, tell me you have that research saved to a cloud somewhere." "No, the cloud's not safe." "But this is." "What's on this?" "Everything." "Professor." "We need to go." "Right now." "Back door." "Here's to you... and another trip around the sun." "Hopefully not our last." "Harris." "What's Atlas?" "Where did you hear that name?" "A reporter from Capitol Eyes." "Carnahan told his sister if anything happened to him, it was because of Atlas." "Grace, don't say that word to anybody... ever." "Okay, I..." "I'm sorry." "Itit's..." "There are still things above your clearance level." "You understand?" "Yeah, yeah, of course." "My God." " I'm so sorry." " No." "It's okay." "You know what, let me, let me go change." "Okay." "Just give me a minute." " Sorry." " It's all right." "What gets red wine out?" "Was it salt or peroxide?" "Hydrogen peroxide mixed with dishwashing soap." "No, no, no, no, no." "You know, if you wanted my pants off, you could've just asked." "Hey." "Grace, you're shaking." "Look, I'm sorry." "I didn't mean to scare you." "You know, it's just thisthis job, you know... the things we know." "Darius?" "Right now?" "It's almost 10:00." "Yeah." "Okay." "Okay." "I'll be there." "Darius has the money on the hook." "He needs me to sell our collaboration to an investor." "Go, go." "That's what's most important." "I wish I didn't have to leave you on your birthday." "There's a lot of things we wish we didn't have to do." "You go." "I'll lock up." "Code 95723." "Charlie, Victor." "Authorizing transfer of four P9 barrels of Uranium235 from the WIPP facility in Maryland." "This had to be tonight?" "I'm just doing my share, Deputy Secretary, by selling my investor on the Mars project." "And you don't mind lying to her about where her money is really going?" "If we beat this thing, then Mars is a go." "If we don't, then... a lie's a bit inconsequential, don't you think?" "Good evening, gentlemen." "I understand you have a proposal for me." "A4 clearance." "Yes, ma'am, what can I do for you, Ms. Barrows?" "95723 Charlie, Victor." "Your authorization code is verified, looks in order." "Hope so." "Dragged my ass out of bed for this." "You just need to wait 20 minutes until my supervisor can sign off." "I don't have 20 minutes." "Sorry, ma'am, but that's not..." "Corporal Nevins," "I know you've got your orders..." "I appreciate that." "But I've got my orders as well." "It's now ten minutes to midnight, and my authorization code's about to expire." "You saw my clearance level, correct?" " Yes, ma'am." " Then you know my supervisor is Deputy Secretary of Defense." "Not the world's most patient man." "If I go back to the Pentagon emptyhanded, you know the first thing he'll ask?" ""What was the stumbling block, Ms. Barrows?"" "I'm gonna have to tell him the stumbling block was you." "Now, can we get on with this?" "The United States wants to see an American flag on the surface of Mars just as much as Mr. Tanz." "Tanz Industries will have full access to previously classified defense technologies that could save tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars in RD." "We're talking advanced radar, hyperlight composites, and nextgen manufacturing techniques." "Imagine what we could do with DARPA's toy box at our disposal... you'd get a piece of everything." "Ticket sales, patents on the scientific research." "Evolving fields of medicine, energy, physics." "Small contribution to change the course of history, don't you think?" "Why the sudden spirit of collaboration between Darius and the government?" "Not to be cynical, but... your relationship hasn't always been so amicable." "Politics makes strange bedfellows." "We don't want anyone else getting there first, do we?" "And all you need from me is a billion dollars." "Load it up, guys." "Yes, ma'am." "That's the last one, ma'am." "Let's move out." "Stop right there!" "Ma'am, you're not authorized to be inside this facility without my approval." "I'm sorry, Lieutenant, we were on a tight timeline." "This is not proper protocol." "I'm gonna need to call your supervisor." "Supervisor?" "Deputy Secretary Harris Edwards." "So this is what billionaire scotch tastes like." "Between us, that's hundredmillionaire scotch at best." "Come back after we save the planet," "I'll break out the really good stuff." " Could have sworn that was me." " No, that's me." "Sorry, I should actually take this." "Thanks for the drink." "Yes... this is Harris Edwards." "Yes, sir." "Sorry for the delay." "You're all clear." "Just tell me we're one step closer to saving the world." "The entire human race." "You were able to clone Harris' phone?" "It's a Tanz phone, like all governmentissued phones." "One of my first big contracts with the U.S. of A." "And you're sure there'll be no blowback on him?" "All communications related to this endeavor have been erased from existence." "Just one of the perks from owning your own satellite fleet." "You really care for him, don't you?" "Good night, Darius." "And Grace... happy birthday." "And many more." "You got it?" "Croft's research?" "I got you more than that." "Malcolm Croft." "Darius Tanz." "For a "C" student," " you've certainly done all right for yourself." " I get by." "I've been trying to crack the EM drive for years." "And I'm not the only one." "Then let's compare notes, see if together we can't do the impossible." "Hey, what the hell, Darius?" "This is Lazlo Simms, my chief of security." "You put a tail on me?" "Next time a headsup would be nice, so you don't scare the living crap out of me." "A good businessman always protects his assets." "Professor, you'll be comfortable here, and safe." "Karissa, my assistant, she's downstairs." " She'll..." "She'll show you to your room." " All right." "Liam, what happened to the money?" "You were right, it came in handy." "The girl?" "He went to see her." "She's gonna be more of a problem than I thought." "I don't care about the rules." "If this is all the time we have left..." "Come on, earring, please be in here." "Looks like I got a real story now."