"From the very beginning, we have wondered how life began, what our purpose is and where we are headed." "We have struggled to understand time, matter, the infinite universe, who we are and if we are alone." "Great minds have imagined the most wonderful and the most terrifying answers to these questions." "We invite you to join us on this great expedition." "Stitch!" "Stitch!" "Don't move!" "I said don't move!" " Put down your weapon!" " Lay down your gun!" " I said put it down!" " I'll fill you with bullets, you dog!" " I don't speak iraqi, towelhead!" " Do as I say you murderer!" " Drop it!" " I don't understand!" " Put it down!" " I don't understand!" "I need to get to my friend." "My friend!" "I don't want to shoot you, okay?" "I don't want to shoot you either." "You understand me?" "Yes." "You understand?" "Yes." "What's going on?" "What's going on?" "I don't know." "Whatever that thing is, the Colonel needs to see it... posthaste." "Where was he?" "Thrown about 60 feet from the wreck, sir." " Found him unconscious." " And his partner?" "Can you tell me what happened, Captain?" "They've been like that since we found 'em, sir." "Take 'em both back to H.Q. and wait for further orders." "Sir." "The impulse towards violence may be hardwired into our genes, but so is the dream that someday we might rise above it." "And there was no sign of another craft from the wreckage?" "No, sir." "Then where the hell did it come from?" "We're looking into that, General." "And exactly what am I looking at?" "We're looking into that, too, sir." "This is a karyotype of a normal human, showing the 23 pairs of chromosomes we all have." "Now we took scrapings from what appears to be the exoskeleton, and despite its appearance, it is biologically identical to humans... except for one difference." "The 23rd pair of chromosomes is missing." "Please explain, Captain." "It appears to have no gender, sir- no sex." "Well, how is that possible?" "Well, any one of a number of gender mutations is possible in nature, but to have no 23rd chromosome" "I've never seen that." "I doubt anyone has." "Captain, has, um, has it moved yet?" "No, sir." "So do we even know if it's dead or alive?" "It's not dead, Mr. President." "Though it's cold to the touch, we've detected a pulse." "Then, uh, what is this thing?" "By strict definition, it's humanoid." " "Humanoid"?" " Yes, sir." "Well, where do humanoids come from, Captain?" "Are you going to use the "a" word?" "It does pose the puzzling question of how this thing buzzed one of our choppers at 400 feet." "I know what it did, Captain." "I'm asking you where you think it came from." "Not from this neighborhood, sir." "Captain, isn't that, um, well, a little premature?" "I want to make it clear- we ran a large battery of tests on the cell samples we took." "This did not react anything like any known biological organism." "It wouldn't burn." "We even tried irradiating it with PU-239- weapons-grade plutonium." "It denatured the isotope." ""Denatured"?" "It made the plutonium inert." "Whatever this is, it seems impervious to most things of this world." "I can't explain that." "Oh, and, uh... it glows in the dark." "Get me Skynner." "Major Skynner has retired, sir." "We don't even know where he is." "Well, then you find him, and you unretire him." "Yes, sir." "I'm not interested." "Excuse me?" "I said, I'm not interested." "You don't even know who I am." "I don't need to." "Those shoes aren't flip-flops or sneakers, so you sure as hell aren't from around here." "Ergo, I'm not interested." "Well, sir, you certainly live up to your reputation." "What reputation is that, Lieutenant?" "Your formidable deductive reasoning." "How did you know I was a Lieutenant?" "They wouldn't insult me sending anyone ranking less, and anyone ranking higher would've thought it was beneath him... or her, as the case may be, and I haven't been called "sir" in two years." "I said I wasn't interested." "They were insistent that I seek you out and show you this, sir." "Why?" "What'd they find, a weather balloon or some fairy lights stuck in a tree?" "If you could rate the significance of that on a scale of one to ten," " how would you" " Ten, sir." " Ten being..." " Little green men." "It's always interesting what books a person is drawn to in a collection." "Of all the Lieutenants they could have sent, why did they send you?" "I was selected by the N.A.S.A." "program to join this inquiry, sir." "So... you're an astrophysicist?" "Amongst other things." "I also work for S.E.T.I." "Ah." "You're a believer." "I think that it's narrow-minded to discount the possibility of life outside of this solar system, yes... sir." "So you've decided." "It's hard to ignore the laws of probability." "Well, except with no evidence, all you're left with is your faith in the idea." ""Men are probably nearer the central truth in their superstitions than in their science. "" "Thoreau." "But when superstitions become convictions, that only leads to fanaticism." "And when governments surround a subject with such secrecy" "You know, the one critical piece of logic that" "U.F.O. conspiracy freaks the world over always neglect to consider?" "Man's propensity to make enemies." "Sir?" "If we really knew there were aliens out there, we wouldn't be keeping it a secret." "We'd be turning 'em into an enemy and going to war with 'em." "The Pentagon would like nothing better than to have a whole new frontier to battle with." "I've come to dread the day they find something." "That was my job, Lieutenant- to find something." "I'm glad I never did." "Really?" "So you think that there's an explanation or all of this?" "There always is." "They said that you'd say that, sir." "May I?" "Log these notes, please." "Yes, sir." "How long has she been like this?" "They found her about six hours ago." " Hmm." "And the others?" " 36 hours." "And nobody's gotten a word out of any of them?" "That's right, sir." " Major." "Lieutenant." " Just call me Bert, will ya?" "Yes, sir." "I thought you might want to see the patients first." "They're in what's called a waking coma- nonreactive reflexology with arresting tremor  common for people suffering" " Posttraumatic stress disorder." "Well, that's the odd thing." "Their E.C.G. and E.E.G. Results suggest the opposite- an extreme state of relaxation." "They're not traumatized." "They're extremely calm." "It's like they're being held in a state of bliss." "Held by what?" "I'd love to show you." "Have you run an M.R.I.?" "Both C.T. and M.R.I. yielded no results." "You mean inconclusive results." "I mean no results." "It gave off no image." "Its cocoon somehow protects it from any magnetic field or x-rays." " Albert." " Walt." "Strange, isn't it?" "You spend your whole career searching for something, and it winds up running smack into one of your choppers." "Except for the fact that you spent my whole career looking for something, I'd agree." "It's strange." "So what do you think?" "I'm thinking it's a damn good hoax." " Oh, come on, Bert." " I'm thinking, where's its craft?" "Why Iraq?" "Why now?" "We're much more interested in what now." "Well, if you think you know what you got here, General," " what did you bring me for?" " I'm not pretending to know what it is, Major." "We just need to assess its threat." "So far, it's put three people in a coma, and it hasn't even woken up yet." "For all intents and purposes, General, they are not in comas, and they are in no immediate danger, sir." "Let's just say I need a bit more convincing before I let it shake hands with the President, Lieutenant." "I'd be careful there." "Don't get too close to its eyes." "We believe this is how it stunned them." "I have a theory about skeptics" "Deep down inside, they're bigger believers than the rest of us." "They're just too scared to admit it." "Scared of what?" "Of what it would mean to believe." "A few years ago at a family picnic, my wife fell over and couldn't get back up." "So I took her to the hospital, and I found out she had the beginning of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease..." "Uh, an extremely rare disease of the brain where some foreign protein gets into your body, and it screws up all your proteins." "And she caught it from a piece of contaminated dental equipment when she was in for her regular checkup." "How's that for random?" "A microscopic spec on a piece of metal gave my wife dementia." "So you're right." "I... would be scared to believe there was any greater meaning in that." "But something's keeping you here." "What do you see?" "It's communicating." "They're writing the same repeated message in their own language." ""Hear this, you foolish and senseless people. "" "What does that mean, Major?" "Hear what?" "We have cryptologists combing through it, sir, but" "What do you think, Bert?" "What does it want?" "I don't even know what it is, let alone what it wants." ""Hear this, you foolish and senseless people"" "doesn't sound like "Glad to meet you. "" "Do you ever sleep?" "...reports worldwide a bizarre phenomena in the skies" "Thousands of sightings of unidentified objects dropping from out of the clouds are rushing in from around the world, including sightings in Israel, Lebanon," "Taiwan, Kashmir, Ireland and Russia." "The soldiers were fighting." "There was gunfire, and then this thing fell from the heavens there." "There was a flash, and I covered my eyes." "When I opened them, everyone was on the ground unconscious." "U.S. authorities have made no comment so far about the nature of the objects..." " When did this start?" " Or where they are from." "Secretary George Wallace..." " Skynner?" " Head of the national disaster agency, has issued a public appeal to stay clear of the fallen objects until more is known about the phenomena..." "The last thing my wife ever said to me made no sense." "I thought it was her dementia, neurons misfiring." "But... she set right up in the bed, and she looked like she knew what she was talking about." "And she said, "They are watching. "" "This is what they've been writing for hours." ""We are watching. "" "What do you think they want?" "You're asking me?" "I..." "I'm fresh out of explanations." "Not everything has an explanation." "I wasn't brought here to have some... personal experience." "But you're having one." "I think our job as scientists is to stay open to all possibilities." "Isn't it?" "I don't know what they want, but I'm keeping my eyes open." "Get Skynner." "Hear us, you foolish and senseless people... who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear." "You must listen to him." "Seek peace and pursue it." "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation." "Neither shall they learn war anymore." "Hear this, you foolish and senseless people who have eyes but cannot see... who have ears but cannot hear." "You must listen to him." "Seek peace and pursue it." "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation." "Neither shall they learn war anymore." "That, uh, that last line- I've heard it somewhere." "Isaiah, chapter 2, verse 4." "The Bible." "It's a mishmash of quotes from the Koran, the Torah, the gospels of Bhagavad-gita- all the major religious works, from what we can tell." "You're saying this is a message from God?" "It's for you all to draw your own conclusions." "I'm... only relaying the message." "What does that make you, Major" "Moses with the Tablets?" "Maybe we should look at it this way- that the creatures are using our beliefs to communicate with us." "They're giving us back our own words, so to speak." "The question is, "Our words or God's?"" "Well, sir, that's a matter of personal belief." "The quotation does seem to send a message that transcends all creeds." "These other ones that have fallen on the Earth" "What do we know of them?" "Well, they seem to be landing in clusters." "We have reports that they appear to be physically identical and use the same tactics to stun people." "As far as we know, all the coma subjects around the world gave the same message at exactly the same time." "What are you saying, Bert?" "What can we interpret from this?" "Their last quote sums up their intentions, I think, rather unequivocally" ""He can destroy you if he wills" ""and bring into being a new creation." "That is no difficult thing for him. "" "Regardless of who or what sent this message, if we ignore it, I think we can safely assume what the threat is." "Are you seriously suggesting that- that the world disarm itself?" "We are saying that they are suggesting it, sir." " Mr. President, may I?" " Certainly." "How do we know this isn't a ploy to lay down our weapons before these things attack?" "Forget interpreting their words." "Let's look at their actions." "They have invaded us." "There are now thousands all over the world." "We have a country on amber alert, and you're asking us to hand them the keys." "Maybe God is askg us to set things straight." "Maybe he's asking us to set aside our differences." "Or maybe we're being duped by a civilization of extraterrestrials." "And what are you suggesting, General?" "I'm suggesting we prepare to defend ourselves." "Against what, exactly?" "Why are we assuming that these things are laying dormant and not lying in wait?" "Their message is anything but peaceful." "Major Skynner, wouldn't you agree?" "Major?" "I'd have to agree." "Well, then this may be your first war, General, where you can be certain God is not on your side." "Um, excuse me, sirs." "You all need to see this." "What you're watching is live over Washington." "Eyewitnesses say the lights you can see appear from out of nowhere." "It is unclear what they're made of or what is causing them." "This phenomenon is apparently occurring over major cities around the world." "It's confirmed, sir." "They're over all our major cities, every city in the world." "All TV broadcasts have been interrupted." "We're scrambling aircraft now to gather telemetry." " Go to maximum force readiness." " Yes, sir." "Patch in all nations with nuclear capabilities." "Mr. President, you're jumping to conclusions, sir." "Wait a second." "Are you dismissing us?" "Sir!" "Sir, you're making a mistake." " Lieutenant." " Yes, sir." "Where's home for you?" "Ohio." "You okay?" "You know, when I was a little kid..." "My dad used to describe God, and it was... so beautiful." "Maybe God looks better from a distance." "I'm just not ready for this." "I think we all feel that way right now." "I'm sorry if you think I let you down." "I think you let yourself down." "I think you buried your hope with your wife." "It's-it's not that I didn't want to believe." "Where are you going?" "Skynner!" "Okay." "They're shutting down all our warheads, sir." "What are you talking about?" "Somehow, they're disarming our bombs systematically." " Systematically?" " State by state, sir." "At the rate they're going, we have one hour maximum before all our warheads are down." "The Presidents of Russia and China are dialed in, sirs." "We've all received the same threat, and we all face the same dilemma of losing our defense systems." "According to our calculations, we have less than 40 minutes to act before all warheads are decommissioned worldwide." "Considering this diminishing window of opportunity," "I propose a temporary suspension of the guidelines to all relevant international treaties so that we may act swiftly and without encumbrance." "Mr. President, please forgive my interruption." "By "act swiftly," what do you mean?" "I mean to- to mount an offensive against these invaders while we still can." "You mean to attack?" "Yeah." "Then we respectfully disagree with such a move." ""We"?" "Russia, China, Pakistan and North Korea feel the best action would be to comply with the demands." "We are asking the United States and her allies to join us in a coordinated, multiphased decommissioning of all primary weapons of mass destruction." "This should send a clear message that we are cooperating with their demands." "Disarmament would leave all of us wide open to attack from these invaders..." "or anyone." "What do you hope to gain?" "There is nothing to gain, but a lot to lose if we do not comply with their demands." "Demands that are unreasonable." "And does God have to be reasonable?" "God or no God, we feel we are left with no other choice." "We have the choice to defend." "You mean to attack." "They're immobilizing our weapons." "This is an invasion, sir." "Mr. President, we don't even know what these things are made of." "How do you wage an attack against the unknown?" "How do we know what reaction we may provoke?" "So France also would deny our right to- to protect ourselves from these invaders?" "The way to protect yourself and the world would be to cooperate, to disarm." "And if we don't comply?" "We could only view your nation as a threat to the world's safety." ""Threat"?" "What are you saying?" "If the United States fails to comply, we will regretfully have no recourse but to take actions." ""Actions"?" "To destroy your weapons." "President Jing, consider the gravity of what you are saying." "You are threatening first strike on America." "We're being threatened with annihilation." "Either you lay down your arms with the rest of us, or we will do it for you." "We have ten minutes maximum before all our weapons go down." "It will take at least three minutes from the time you give your command to the time we launch, sir." "We need to commit." "Mr. President, we are quickly running out of time." "We need to make a gesture of compliance." "You are leaving me with no choice but to give the command to launch on your country." "President Jing, all of you," "I have a duty to my people to protect them." "I cannot in good conscience do nothing." "I beg you, reconsider your convictions." "I beg you to do the same." "You are putting the whole world in jeopardy." "Demanding compliance through force is not diplomacy." "Yet the United States... has demanded the compliance of many countries through force and called it diplomacy." "Are you trying to provoke a retaliation?" "Of course not." "If they launch, can we intercept?" "Yes, sir, but we're limited to the warheads left." "There is also the issue of fallout, sir." "If we move now, we still have the capacity to knock out China and the invaders." "You want to fight a war on two fronts?" "Mr. President, if we're going to commit, we need to commit entirely." "General, I'm weighing certain destruction against potential destruction." "Respectfully, sir, do you want to be remembered as the President who sat back and did nothing?" "We've got five minutes, sir." "I'm asking all of you for... for some solidarity." " So are we." " Please!" "Is there nothing I can say?" "Are there no words?" "Alert all control systems to await my command." "Yes, sir." "I'm giving the order to launch." "President Jing, please!" "You have brought this upon yourself." "No!" "Skynner!" "Skynner!" "No!" "Oh, Bertie." "Come to me." "Margaret?" "Wonderful..." "Oh, my darling." "Darling?" "I can't hear you." "Skynner!" "Skynner!" "Skynner!" "Skynner!" "Skynner!" "It's... beautiful, Bertie." "They're showing it all to me- everything... the universe." "Listen." "Can you hear?" "That's its sound." "One day, you'll hear it." "One day, they'll all hear it." "They're listening." "They're watching." "Skynner, wake up." "Skynner!" "Skynner!" "I hear it." "I hear it." "Mr. President?" "Okay, I'll speak the truth." "I don't trust you." "I don't trust your countries." "I don't understand your cultures." "I'm afraid of you." "That's why we build the bombs." "Right now, you're proving that all my fears are- are well-founded." "I tell myself I should have no... no prejudices, but I do." "We all do." "We are no different from you." "Let them hear it." "Let-let them all hear it." "We're all the same." "We're all the same!" "Everything is... connected." "Everything is... connected." "We all want the same things, and we're all afraid of losing them." "That's become our commonality- fear." "We imagine fearsome Gods, and we build fearsome weapons." "We're lost to fear." " We must..." " Stop." "Stop." "The fear must... must stop." "Stop the countdown." "I give the order to stand down." "Is anyone listening?" "We're all listening." "What was that?" "He said, we're all listening." "I can understand you!" "I understand you all." "How is this possible?" "Oh, my god." "We've been given a choice today" "A choice to listen to each other and hear the heart of humanity..." "A choice to change things by ourselves, for ourselves, in the knowledge that we are not alone." "Do you think it'll last?" "We can live in hope."