"1.567 makes it 8 degrees." "Altair, Alpha Centauri, Sirius." "Matt Shepherd?" "It's just a party, and he asked me." "He's really nice." "Yeah, to you, maybe." "You guys getting some good work done over here?" " Yeah." " Yeah." "Yeah, sounds like it." "What's the bright one?" "Uh..." "Mizar." "It's a double star." "Good." "The one next to it?" "Uh..." "Alcor." "Good, Biederman, and the one next to that?" "Uh..." "I don't know." "It's Megrez." "I don't think so." "Well, you just said you didn't know." "Well, it's not Megrez." "It's something else." "Look." "It's south about 10 degrees." "It's probably a satellite." "Let's take another picture." "We'll send it to Dr Wolf." "Yes, sir." "It's Megrez." "Not Megrez." "It is." "It's not." "It is." "Hmm." "Hmm." "Hmm." "Well, hello there, little fella." "Do I know you?" "Where are you going in such a hurry?" "And there." "Come on." "Damn it!" "Biederman." "Come on, you miserable piece of crap." "# Still on the bottom #" "# And he can't # # dig out of the hole #" "Come on, come on." "# You're winning now #" "# Driving his future #" "# Right into... #" "You have reached the Department of Planetary Sciences." "# The further he goes... #" "If you know the extension of the person you're calling..." "# Bottom, but he can't... #" "Ow, Jesus!" "Press that number now." "Damn it!" "This is relating to the recall of American troops from abroad." "Tragedy struck today as a charter aircraft carrying an army unit returning from duty in Japan crashed this morning..." "White House Press Office says Secretary of the Treasury Rittenhouse is resigning because his wife is sick." "So who passed Rittenhouse the hemlock?" "AFL/ CIO wanted him off the Council of Economic Advisors for not supporting the pension bill, and the president's going to need labour next fall." "And State's still fuming about the trade office screw-up at the G-8." "Pentagon is unhappy with his readiness reduction proposals." "Greenspan dislikes him." "Christ, who didn't this guy piss off?" "No wonder the wife's sick." "She's not sick, she's a drunk." "How do you know that?" "Mike Woodward over at Treasury." "Mrs Rittenhouse started drinking a couple of years ago when her husband had a series of affairs." "Stepped it up last summer after their son died of leukaemia." "You want to do something on the price that wives pay?" "Mike Woodward?" "Wife, 3 kids?" "He's been after me for months." "So I threw him a breakfast and hit him up about Rittenhouse." "Bob Campbell's leaving, so midnight Saturday anchor shift is opening up." "Why would I want to give up the White House for a graveyard weekend..." "No, no, no, not for you, for me." "No." "Beth." "We'll talk about this later." "Very calm." "The president will be back from Camp David tomorrow." "Business news, Ira." "Just keep working on Rittenhouse." "Maybe Mike's available for dinner." "Do the usual research, background information." "OK, that's it." "Beth, wait." "Listen, Beth, what if it wasn't permanent?" "Oh, God, Jenny, please." "Honey, this is how it works." "You've done 2 years of research." "Now do 3 as a segment producer." "5 on air doing domestic features, another 2 in some cholera-ridden hellhole." "And then I'll quit if they don't give you a weekend anchor shot." "Hello, Caitlin." "There you are." "Are you protecting me or just holding me back?" " Yes." " OK." "Rittenhouse tape and text on my desk by 4:00 tomorrow, and we'll drop in the reverses for the 5." "OK." "At this moment right now..." "Thank you..." "The pretty little girls are walking down the aisle." "They're spreading flowers." "The twins." "What are their names?" "Emma and Susanna." "They're walking down the aisles, and they're dropping rose petals, and everyone's smiling at them, and now she's walking down the aisle." "Yes, and she stands beside him." "And the priest says, "Dearly beloved..."" "Judge." "The judge says, "Blah, blah, blah."" ""Sickness and health, blah, blah, blah."" ""Do you, Jason Lerner, take Chlorine Whatchamacallit?"" "Mom, Chloe." "What did I say?" "You said "Chlorine"." "Her name's Chloe." "Oh." "Well, it's still a terrible name." "Jason says, "Lie, lie, lie, till death do us part, blah, blah, blah,"" "and she says yes, and he says yes, and it's kissy, kissy, kissy, and congratulations." "Jenny, you now have a new stepmother who is 2 years older than you." "The check." "Well, anyway, as much as I'd like to stay here and get silly with you, Mom," "I can't." "I gotta go." "I know, I know, I know." "I'm sorry about this." "We'll get over it." "I love you." "I love you, too." "Be good." "I was with the secretary since he's been governor of Connecticut." "I came to Washington with him." "I moved here because I was dedicated to his career." "I trusted the man... and then he fucked me." "He what?" "No, I didn't have sex with him." "I should say "I" didn't have sex with him, but somebody sure did." "It was about to come out, so he resigned." "But because I was hired from outside the government pool," "I don't get conveyed to the next secretary, so now I'm out a job..." "Because he couldn't keep his hands off women." "Do you have proof?" "He thinks he was being so clever." "He had a private phone line installed in his office." "Nobody else could answer it." "I picked it up once." "Said hello, and it's nobody home." "It rings, he shuts the door." "Why not hang a sign?" "Do you have a name?" "This is what I get for talking to the press." "I'm selling my soul right now." "I can feel it." "I can feel it." "I name a name and get someone into trouble." "So you do have a name." "Just a first name." "Oh, my God." "I'm going to say it." "Ellie." "Ellie." "Nothing else?" "I think the president knows about it, too." "Overheard the secretary talking to him about her." "Isn't Washington sick?" "Hi." "How you doing?" "Can I help you?" "Well, actually, we're looking for your mom." "Is she around?" "My mom's sick." "She's not here." "Gosh, I love boats." "Are you going on a trip?" "Yeah." "That's exciting." "Looks like a long trip, huh?" "So, listen, do you know where you're going?" "She's going back to the house." "Hey, you want to stop that?" "Lily, please." "Lily, that's a pretty name." "Lily." "Do as I say." "Go on." "If we could just get a minute of your time." "What do you want from me?" "We'd like to talk about your resignation." "My wife is sick." "She's in the hospital." "That's why I resigned." "Everybody knows this." "We could talk about your wife, or we could just talk about Ellie." "Turn the camera off." "If you want to talk to me, turn it off." "We know everything." "Nobody knows everything." "Well, we know about the secret phone lines and the whispered calls to the president and about a secretary of the Treasury who's kept his entire department in the dark about what he's really doing... about a cover story about his resignation" "that just fell through." "You want me to go on?" "And you're just gonna break it?" "Well, that's what we do for a living." "Well, congratulations." "You now have the biggest story in history." "Good luck to you." "Personally..." "I think it's a mistake to run the story, but hey, what the hell?" "Why not?" "What difference does anything make any more?" "Look." "I know you're just a reporter, but you used to be a person, right?" "I wanted to be with my family." "Can you understand that?" "OK, Secretary of the Treasury Alan Rittenhouse resigns because of a mistress named Ellie." "The biggest story in history?" "What an ego." "Now, if it was the president..." "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "The president has a mistress named Ellie, and Rittenhouse pretends that he's having the affair and takes the fall and resigns, and the president buys him a yacht?" "Son of a bitch." "Oh, shit." "Oh, shit." "Right!" "OK, OK!" "Oh, God." "Oh, God." "FBI." "If you would, please, ma'am." "What do I do with my car?" "We'll take care of your car." "Just step back to my car." "Get her car here." "Let's go." "Would you come this way please?" "Morton Entrekin, Ms Lerner." "I'm expected back at MSNBC at 6:00." "I think I should be there." "People knew about the Manhattan Project, you know, and they kept it a secret." "That was just the creation of the atom bomb." "Hmm." "Ms Lerner, Tom Beck." "I understand you've come into some information." "Ms Lerner was just expressing her lack of enthusiasm for matters of national security where journalistic competitiveness is at stake." "Mr President, I'm not interested in using Ellie to further my career." "What do you know about E.L.E.?" "I know you should have picked a better cover story than a sick wife." "See?" "What did I tell you?" "We'd always thought the deadline for going public was the publication of the budget, since we've spent more money than we can hide." "The budget comes out in 2 weeks." "I don't suppose I could convince you to sit on this for 2 weeks." "No such thing as 2 weeks in the news business." "And I can't appeal to your sense of what's in the nation's best interest?" "I always thought the truth was in the nation's best interest." "You want to hold her?" "What if we go public in 48 hours?" "Now that's doable, isn't it?" "That would be very difficult, Mr President." "Morton, if she knows, how long can it be before CNN or the "Post" breaks the story?" "This was never gonna be a secret as long as you wanted it to be." "Give us 2 days, Ms Lerner." "You'll get second row, centre, at the White House press conference." "Now, from what I know of your career, that's a promotion." "I want exclusivity." "Now, listen, young lady." "This is a presidential favour." "I'm letting you go because I don't want another headache." "And I'm trusting you because I know what this can do for your career." "It might seem that we have each other over the same barrel, Ms Lerner, but it just seems that way." "I want..." "Want?" "May I..." "May I have the first question?" "We'll see you Tuesday, Ms Lerner." "Come on, come on." "E.L.E., E.L.E." "Paleontology?" "Paleontology?" "What's paleontology have to do with anything?" "Come on." "Hey." "Hey." "Look who's working late." "How's Rittenhouse going?" "No sign of the wife yet." "Is she missing?" "No." "We're still working on it." "We'll get there." "I know, it's a dull story." "Next time we'll get you something more exciting." "Great." "Are you OK?" "Yeah." "Want to come to dinner with us?" "I can't." "I have plans." "OK." "We'll see you tomorrow." "Thank you." "Ah, here she is." "Jenny." "Hello." "Hi, Chloe." "Would you like some champagne, miss?" "Martini... big." "I missed you." "I mean we missed you yesterday." "I must say, I'm..." "I'm disturbed that you didn't come to our wedding." "Jason, you promised." "I know I promised, but it was a beautiful event, and I missed her." "You should have been there." "The twins, they were running around like mad and throwing flowers." "It was wonderful, especially Emma." "You know, the little one." "She loves you." "It was beautiful." "She missed you, too." "All right." "This is from us for you." "Are you not going to open it?" "I knew she wouldn't..." "You can exchange them if you don't like them." "Jenny, I know this is hard." "I just want you to be happy." "Happy." "Well," "I would like to propose a toast to happiness and to..." "Mmm." "Mmm." "Are we going to have an evening or not?" "Jenny, I know that you hate me." "I know that you have terrible things that you want to say to me." "You have to get over it." "Life goes on." "Life goes on?" "OK." "What's so funny?" "Life..." "We'll see." "What's so funny about "life goes on"?" "Life going on?" "I don't think it's funny that life goes on." "Dad, you need to get back together with Mom." "She's all alone in the world, and she needs you right now." "OK?" "Jenny." "I just got married." "I know, and I'm sorry." "Chloe, this has nothing to do with you." "Well, it has to do something for me, for Christ's sake." "This is insane." "I have to apologize for my daughter." "It's not your fault." "I'm sorry." "I have to go." "I know you think I'm a bad person." "I'm really not." "And I don't hate you." "I just..." "I gotta go." "'Cause for her, it doesn't..." "Excuse me." "Jenny." "Hey." "What are you doing here?" "Uh, yeah." "Did Stuart send you here without telling me?" "No." "If Stuart thinks he can push me out of the White House..." "Ms Lerner." "Hi, Beth." "Right this way." "I've got you right down here." "Excuse me, please." "OK." "He'll find you for the first question." "Then you're on your own." "Hey, how are you?" "Ladies and gentlemen." "Ladies and gentlemen, please." "The president will begin by addressing the nation." "Please hold your questions until he's finished his remarks." "Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States." "Hello, everybody." " Mr President." " Hello." "10 seconds, Mr President." "5, 4." "Good evening." "A few minutes ago the United States ambassadors to every country in the world told the leaders of those nations what I am about to tell you." "It's a bit complicated, so it will take some time, so I hope you will bear with me, hear what I have to say." "A little over a year ago, 2 American astronomers, Marcus Wolf and Leo Biederman, working on a mountain top in Arizona..." "Shh." "Nobody say anything." "Saw something in the night sky that caused them great concern." "A comet." "But the comet was, well..." "There was a remote possibility that the comet was on a path that could bring it into direct contact with the Earth." "Now... we get hit all the time by rocks and meteors, some of them the size of cars, some no bigger than your hand." "But the comet we discovered is the size of New York City." "From the north side of Central Park to the Battery." "About 7 miles long." "Put another way, this comet is larger than Mount Everest." "It weighs 500 billion tons." "Now, chances are..." "Astrophysicists, geologists and climatologists." "Where the hell is Science?" "Check with Tokyo, Tel Aviv." "I want everybody." "The Hale-Bopp stand-ups." "Graphics!" "I need graphics!" "Comets begin far out in space." "They're what's left over from the creation of the solar system after the planets were formed billions of years ago." "These chunks of space debris are in an elongated orbit around our sun, but every now and then one of them gets bumped like a billiard ball on a pool table and is knocked into a different orbit." "If this comet continues on its path around the sun and keeps its present course, sometime on August 16, roughly a year from now, there's a chance that we might have impact." "So for the past 8 months, the United States and Russia have been building the largest spaceship ever constructed." "It's being built in orbit around the Earth." "And we call it the "Messiah"." "Right now a team of American astronauts and one Russian are at Cape Canaveral in Florida." "In 2 months, they will leave on the shuttle "Atlantis"" "to board the "Messiah"." "This is the crew that will stop the comet." "I'd like the world to meet some extraordinary people." "First is Mission Commander Oren Monash." "Commander, would you introduce us to your team?" "I'd be honoured, sir." "Pilot Andrea Baker." "Medical Officer" "Gus Partenza." "From Russia, nuclear specialist" "Colonel Mikhail Tulchinsky." "Navigator Mark Simon and Rendezvous Pilot Spurgeon Tanner." "Hello, Mr President." "Captain Tanner, you flew 6 shuttle missions." "You were the last man to walk on the moon, weren't you?" "Yes, sir, but Oren here will be doing most of the flying on this one." "I'll just be taking us down to the comet's surface." "Well, it's good to know we're going to have your kind of experience up there, Captain." "Thank you, sir." "Godspeed to you all." "We're counting on you." "Thank you, sir." "Got Beijing, Rome, Sao Paulo, Cairo, Berlin!" "Does anyone know how big the one was that killed all the dinosaurs?" "Something majestic, mysterious, with a fanfare for the intro and a theme for the longer promos." "You want it hitting the goddam Earth?" "Well, that's what he's saying." "Bring that up again." "It'll scare the shit out of them." "We will not tolerate any disruption of our way of life." "Our society will continue as normal." "Work will go on." "You will pay your bills." "There will be no hoarding." "There will be no sudden profiteering." "I'm freezing all wages, all prices." "What a bottle of water cost you yesterday... it will cost you tomorrow." "Now we'll take a few questions." "Mr President!" "Ms Lerner." "Ahem." "Ahem." "Uh, Jenny Lerner, M..." "MSNBC." "Jenny Lerner?" "Son of a bitch." "Um, Mr President, why wasn't this announcement made sooner?" "Well, until we knew we could build the rocket and the comet could be intercepted, we saw no reason to alarm the planet." " Sir!" " Mr President!" "Do you have another question, Ms Lerner?" "Yeah." "Um..." "Is..." "Is there a connection between the comet and the recall of American troops from abroad?" "Our fighting men and women are coming home because we felt it prudent, in light of domestic security concerns, to have them available." "Although I certainly hope we don't need to use them." "Next question." "Mr President!" "Actually, Mr President, if... just one final question, sir." "Um..." "MSNBC has learned that Secretary Rittenhouse did not leave for the reasons announced by your administration." "In fact, isn't it true, sir, that not everyone in your administration is convinced that the "Messiah" will save us?" "Secretary Rittenhouse served his country with full devotion." "He resigned for personal reasons." "Now, I can promise you this, Ms Lerner, all of you, everyone in this room and everyone listening to my voice, that at some point over the next 10 months, all of us will entertain our worst fears and concerns." "But I can also promise you this." "Life will go on." "We will prevail." "Mr President!" "Please!" "Sally." "Sir, what is the comet's name?" "The 2 scientists who found the comet were killed in a car crash while racing from their observatory to alert the world." "So we named it for them." "Wolf-Biederman." "Leo Biederman, they said it again." "Shh!" "Leo, is he talking about you?" "He is, isn't he?" "Can you get that, please?" "Janie, get the door." "Well, we have the technology to build the ship." "They have the technology to make it go." "There's someone at the door for you, Leo." "You've been watching live coverage of President Tom Beck..." "I can't believe this." "This is so weird." "Dr Wolf from Astronomy Club?" "Yeah, I guess so." "I think it's really neat." "Nobody on our block discovered the world was gonna end before." "He's still very much alive." "He's still alive, everyone." "He's right here, and he's still alive." "OK?" "Hey, Leo, cool!" "As far as we know, what happened was that Doctor Wolf saw the comet in my photograph, so he shared the discovery with me, and then he was killed in that crash and everything got mixed up in Washington," "so the president thought I was dead, too." " Leo!" " Leo!" "Jasmine." "How does it feel having your name on it?" "I don't want anyone to think that I'm trying to take something away from Dr Wolf, because I'm not, but it's kind of cool." " Leo!" " Leo!" "Jason." "You know, you're gonna have sex a lot more now than anyone else in our class." "Don't listen." "Don't." "Really?" "Thank you for your sexual insight, Mr Thurman." "You can sit down now." "Famous people always get sex, Mr Perry." "That's the main reason it's good to be famous." "Fruit... a reactor, bottle... a rocket, OK?" "A nuclear reactor in space?" "Yes." "Isn't that dangerous?" "No, no, no." "This is all Russian design." "Russian science." "Uh, the same people who designed Chernobyl." "Chernobyl?" "Chernobyl almost worked." "# Fly me to the moon #" "So what happens after you plant the bomb?" "Well, we have 7 hours." "We're gonna put the bombs inside the comet." "I'm gonna follow these two." "I don't trust that combination." "After 7 hours, the 14-hour rotational cycle of the comet spins." "We're gonna get married." "God knows I want to marry you, but the day I get back, the last thing I'm gonna do is step inside of a church." "I don't do churches well." "'Cause there's only 7 hours of darkness." "Then the sun starts hitting the surface of the planet..." "These are your orders." "Upon first entering Earth's atmosphere, proceed immediately up the exterior of the mother ship." "When the sun hits the surface, there's gonna be explosive outgassings that are very dangerous..." "Gus, he's 7." "Brittany." "You boys were, what, 4 and 6 when I went to the moon?" "Yeah." "Now, you saw me go into space 7 times, didn't ya?" "I came back every time, didn't I?" "Yeah." "Your mother and I used to play a game when she was still alive." "Now, the game was, if there was a chance I might not be coming back, she wouldn't say it, and I wouldn't say it." "OK?" " Yes, sir." " Yes, sir." "Hey, Fish." "How about a beer?" "You remember my boys, don't you?" "Steve and Dwight." "Of course I do." "Gentlemen, welcome to Houston." "Let me steal your old man for a second." "Can I take your picture, please?" "OK." "Thank you." "So, what do you think of the crew?" "Heroes all." "That's the finest group I ever had the privilege of working with." "Yeah, yeah." "Off the record, huh?" "Well, they've been trained in ways I'll never understand." "They're smarter and in better shape than we ever were in the old days." "They're sober, serious." "I guess I'd be a little happier about this whole thing if I thought that any of them were as scared as I am." "Well, they're not scared of dyin'." "They're just scared of looking bad on TV." "Now, look, I wish I'd been to the moon." "I got respect for everybody who's gone to the moon, but this mission ain't going to the moon." "That's right." "Frank Gifford, he was a great football player in his time, but if he played now, he'd get his ass busted." "That's right." "All I'm saying is, the moon did not have a rotational cycle of 14 hours." "I mean, we only have 7 hours of dark when the sun's not up to land on this thing." "It was light when he landed." "This is gonna be dark." "We're not gonna be able to see." "You can't see now, Gus." "Don't worry, don't worry, don't worry." "We what?" "We can do it." "No, no, no." "Sit down." "I woke up this morning, and I realized... none of you want me here." "You don't even really know who I am, which is OK." "I walked on the moon, but I didn't belong to you." "I belonged to your daddies." "Now, if I ask you to ask your daddies what I meant to them, to explain to you what I'm doing here, that's only gonna make things worse." "So... what do we do?" "You haven't trained for this mission." "We respect you." "I appreciate that." "But you're here... you're here because the powers that be think we need a familiar face on this trip." "You're here for public relations." "No, no." "I'm here because the powers that be know that I'm the only person on this mission who's ever landed on the moon." "And I have 500 landings on aircraft carriers." "We've trained on..." "On flight simulators." "Right?" "I mean, this is not a video game, son." "It really isn't." "It really isn't." "No." "We are go for auto-sequence start." "Atlantis' 4 on-board computers now have primary control of all the vehicle's critical functions." "OK, all flight controllers, we're at T-minus 30 seconds and counting." "Let's take a close look." "APUs look good," "LOX and LH2 are pressurized." "10, 9..." "We're go for auto-sequence." "Roger, Jerry." "Good luck and Godspeed, "Atlantis"." "Thanks, Mitch." "3, 2, 1." "Propelled by 500,000 pounds of liquid fuel, the shuttle crew heads toward their initial destination." "When the crew enters the "Messiah", they will find a payload of 8 nuclear devices that will eventually be used to blow up the comet." "The "Messiah" itself will be powered by an experimental nuclear propulsion system that was originally created for a very different purpose." "That programme was called Orion." "Now, with the help of Russian engineers, a technology designed to propel weapons of mass destruction will power the ship that will intercept the greatest threat our planet has ever faced." "Orion burn... in 10, 9," "8, 7, 6, 5," "4, 3, 2, 1, 0." "OK, Beth, White House reactions." "Marianne, the whole world watching." "We have enough satellite space?" "78 uplinks." "Tim, Mission Control in Houston." "Ira, the science guys lined up?" "If they got a Ph.D., we own them." "All right, this is the most important story of our lives." "Let's not muck it up." "Stuart, what about me?" " You're on the anchor desk." " Whoa!" "And you could have been there a lot sooner." "What are you talking about?" "You know what I'm talking about." "Don't ever hold back a story from me again." ""Messiah", Houston." "Transfer trajectory is go." "We'll cancel MCC-1." "You're go to configure for coast." "Roger, Houston, we're looking good here." "Jesus, that's big." "Holy shit." "Wow." "Sweet mother of God." "All circuit breakers are open." "Master arm is off." "Roger." "And the detonator system is safe." ""Messiah", Houston." "Stand by for an uplink of the final mole coordinates." "Confirm when complete." "Wilco, Houston." "Hey, how's it comin'?" "Loading first nuke now." "1,000 feet to stand-off." "R-dot 3, 5-X, 2-Y." "500 feet," "R-dot point 3... 3-X, 1 point 5-Y." "Go for auto trajectory." "We're there." "Residuals are nulled." "Disengage Orion." "Orion disengaged." "You're on bi-prop." "This is a special presentation of MSNBC News with Jenny Lerner." "Good evening." "Sometime in the next hour, the "Messiah" mission will enter its most critical phase:" "The interception of Wolf-Biederman and the setting of the nuclear devices that will deflect it off its collision course with Earth." "But first, Captain Spurgeon Tanner will have to guide the spacecraft through the blizzard of rocks, sand, and ice that make up the comet's tail, or coma." "The crew will have to complete its work before the sun rises." "Sublimator looks good, Mick." "Disengaging auto now." "I'm eyeballs out from here on in." "How come that doesn't make me feel any better?" "I heard that." "Lights on." "Cameras on." "On the Mississippi River in Mark Twain's time, there were riverboat pilots who only knew a few miles of the river." "I mean, conditions changed so much, you couldn't know the whole trip." "Floods, sandbars, fallen logs..." "It was all a riverboat pilot could do was to know his little piece of the puzzle." "So for the next few hours, this is my ship." "We start our approach." "...are images from cameras mounted inside the cargo bay of the "Messiah"." "Now, these images are delayed by approximately 20 seconds, due to the distance they must travel." "OK, you can see that the image is breaking up a bit." "Uh, Houston is prepared for this." "They've informed us that due to the uncertain make-up of the comet's coma, they're unsure whether or not transmission will be possible." "OK, now, now, it ap-appears we're losing reception here." "OK, we've... we've lost picture now." "But we will stay on the air." "We'll stay with you through all of this." "Prop 96%." "Dap is in descent." "Roger, descent." "Oh, my God." "Look at these." "They're the size of houses." "Yeah, I know." "I see." "Jesus Christ." "Prop, 88%." "Cabin press, 5.7." "Negative guidance errors." "Whoa!" "Use your primary thrusters." "Primary thrusters." "What's the descent rate?" "3 feet per second. 2." "Fire tether pitons." "Pitons fired." "She's levelling out." "Depressurizing bay." "Opening payload doors." "Don't let that little bit of gravity down there go to your heads." "OK." "Start the clock." "If all is going according to schedule, the astronauts should now be placing the moles on the comet surface." "The moles are, well, they're what they sound like." "They are drilling machines that burrow to a depth of 100 metres, where they wait to be detonated." "Each one carries a 5,000 kiloton warhead." "How's our time?" "It's getting tight." "1:36:30." "It's taking too long." "Yup." "What happens if they do not get off the comet's surface in time?" "The sun striking the comet will cause the temperature to rise 350 degrees in just a few minutes and activate the high-speed gas jets." "Well, if that happens, it will be like trying to work in a minefield." "Mark, what's your mole 4 readout?" "Mole 4 running true at 75 feet." "Son of a bitch." "What?" "It's stuck." "Try backing it up." "Baker:" "What's your depth?" "75 feet." "Is that enough?" "No." "That'll just break pieces off the surface." "That's not deep enough." "Yeah, Fish, I know that's not deep enough." "I'm going in." "Oren, no." "No, I'm gonna see if I can free it up." "Stand by, tether attached." "All right, I gotcha." "Oren, suit pressure, 3.5." "Come on, come on." "How's my time?" "23:57." "Another 6 minutes, they won't have time to get back to us." "Blow the tethers." "Let's go get 'em." "If we go after them, we may not have enough fuel to get off the surface." "Blow the goddam tethers." "Mole 3 at depth." "We're heading your way, Oren." "Calculate exactly how much prop we need to get off this rock." "We'll shut it down when we hit it." "Will do." "It opens up into a cave down here." "Mole got jammed against the side." "OK, Fish, team 2 at location 4." "Give me your hand." "What the hell happened?" "I don't know." "I don't know." "Everything was going great, and we got jammed up at 75 feet." "OK, hold up." "All right, try backing it up." "Roger that." " That's it." " A little more." "Shut it down." "No, they always put extra in these tanks." "Fish, shut it down." "OK." "Come on, you bastard!" "Come on!" "Time!" "1:02." "Figured we'd better pick you kids up after school." "Check your 6, 100 yards." "I think we'd better hurry, boys." "All right, it's going!" "It's going!" "Mole's at 125 feet." "The sun's rising behind you." "It's coming up fast." "Face shields down!" "Oh, Christ!" "Get the hell out of there!" "Aah!" "Oren, get your visor down." "Get your visor down!" "Oh!" "My eyes!" "Ohh!" "All right, we got him." "Oh, God!" "My eyes!" "Oh, God, we're losing one." "He's got escape velocity." "1,000 feet and climbing." "Aah!" "Mark, Mikhail, get the hell out of there!" "Firing primary thrusters." "Payload doors still open." "Close 'em as we go." "Tanner, Over Speaker:" "Houston, all moles are at depth." "Nukes hot and ready." "We lost Partenza to explosive outgassing." "And Monash is injured." "We have to go get Gus." "There's no time for that." "Repressurize the cargo bay." "He's going to die out there!" "We can still find him." "He has a beacon." "I don't have time to argue with you." "Just sit down and be quiet." "Turn on the fuckin' locator!" "We've used most of our propellant to get us out of the coma." "We can't just leave him." "We have to go back!" "If we go back for Gus, we all die." "We can't just leave him in space!" "Sit down, Mick." "Sit down." "It's OK." "The "Messiah" has safely lifted off the comet." "But sadly, Gus Partenza has been lost." "Gus Partenza, a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University, joined the NASA Space Programme shortly after completing his medical training at Duke University." "Dr Partenza was selected specifically for this mission, not only for his medical expertise, but also for his dedication to the advancement of space technology." "Yeah." "With the loss of Dr Gus Partenza and with Oren Monash injured," "Captain Spurgeon Tanner is now in charge of the mission." "The "Messiah" has successfully docked with the Orion-powered boosters and is now prepared to detonate the bombs planted on Wolf-Biederman." "The "Messiah's" exterior-mounted camera will show us the detonation, but not before being temporarily blocked out by the nuclear blast." "Once again, let me remind you, there is a 20-second delay, so when the picture comes back to us, the comet should already have been knocked off its present course." "Prepare to remove safeties and fire." "Safeties removed." "Weapons armed." "3, 2, 1..." "Now." "So now we're just waiting for the picture to come back." "Decompression in area 6." "Mick!" "I'll get the halon!" "Aah!" "Yes." "I'm still here." "We're live in 10 seconds." "Cue the president." "Mr President, 5, 4, 3..." "Hello, America." "It is my unhappy duty to report to you that the "Messiah" has failed." "This computer-enhanced radar image from Houston shows how the detonation succeeded, however, did not destroy the comet." "There are now 2 pieces..." "one 6 miles wide, the other, a mile and a half." "Both are still on a path towards Earth." "We've lost communication with the "Messiah" spacecraft, although we continue to track it visually." "We don't know how many are alive." "We don't know their condition." "Now, we have to make some decisions together." "What do we do?" "You have a choice." "We have a choice..." "Right now." "Ever since the comet was discovered, we've been hoping and working for the best, but we've also been planning for the worst." "Our strategy has been twofold." "First, our strategic missile command is preparing to coordinate with the Russians a massive strike of Titan missiles to intercept the comets." "If we can deflect these comets enough, they will bounce harmlessly off our atmosphere and head on out into space." "Unfortunately, the Titans cannot be launched until the comets are only a few hours away." "And while we are confident the missile attack will succeed, it is only prudent that we now take cautionary steps to ensure the continuation of our way of life, to guarantee that there will be enough of us left" "to rebuild a new world in the unlikely event that the comets do strike the Earth." "So, in the soft limestone of Missouri, we've been preparing a network of immense caves, and they're almost finished." "And we can put a million people in them." "And that million people can survive there, underground, for 2 years, until the air clears and the dust settles." "Now, the cave is more than a dormitory." "It's our new Noah's Ark." "We're storing seeds and seedlings, plants, animals, enough to start over." "On August 10th, a computer will randomly select 800,000 Americans to join the 200,000 scientists, doctors, engineers, teachers, soldiers, and artists, who have already been chosen." "Other countries are preparing similar caves along whatever lines they feel are best to preserve their way of life." "This is ours." "Beginning tonight and continuing until the crisis passes," "I am declaring a state of martial law." "The armed forces and the National Guard are working with local law enforcement." "A national curfew begins at midnight tonight." "Now, wherever you are, go home." "Stay off the roads after sunset." "Crimes against persons or property will be dealt with swiftly and harshly." "News stations around the nation are being faxed copies of the lottery procedure as we speak, and they'll be broadcasting the details to you in a few moments." "I wish..." "No." "Wishing is wrong." "It's the wrong word right now." "That's not what I mean." "What I mean is..." "I believe in God." "Relax." "I know a lot of you don't, but I still want to offer a prayer... for our survival." "Mine included." "Because I believe that God, whomever you hold that to be, hears all prayers, even if sometimes the answer is no." "So, may the Lord bless you." "May the Lord keep you." "May the Lord lift up His divine countenance upon you... and give you peace." "And in 5, 4, 3, 2..." "We now have the details for the national lottery." ""Those of you who have been preselected will be notified within the next few minutes."" ""For the rest, on the night of August 10th, those whose social security numbers have been randomly selected by computer will be notified."" ""While some Americans..." "over 50 years of age have been preselected for the ARK due to their expertise in a necessary field of study, no men and women over 50 in the general population will be included in the lottery."" ""The..." "The evac..." "The evacuation of those who have been selected for the ARK will take no longer than 2 days, beginning on August 12th."" ""During this 2-day period, no unofficial travel will be permitted."" ""Those selected will be taken by bus and train to the underground ARK site by military personnel."" ""Civil defence teams have been formed in every town with a population over 5,000."" ""They will distribute supplies and organize group shelters in underground parking facilities and other appropriate sites."" ""Construction plans..."" ""Equipment lists, and locations for securing the necessary provisions..."" "Hello?" "Yes, this is Ellen Biederman." ""...on how to grow your own food underground and how to purify water" "We've been preselected." ""...fcda." "Gov."" "Chuck?" "Chuck?" "Where are you going?" "Our phone." "They could be calling." ""...beginning on August 9th."" ""The only phones that ring will be those of the people selected."" "That's it." "That's all there is." "The interior camera circuitry is shot." "So, Andy, can we get back into the cargo bay to reroute the video functions?" "Starboard cargo porthole's blown." "We could go in with the EVAs, but there's not much left in the life-support packs." "We should be able to raise Houston on the low band once we get closer." "And the Orion is still functioning?" "System check was OK, but I don't know about the radiation shielding." "So, if we fire it up, we beat the comet back to Earth, but we may end up glowing in the dark." "Right?" "OK, so, uh..." "Anybody?" "Let's go home." "OK." "I have to say it's liberating knowing that I'm not going to be called." "I don't think I've ever been happier." "I've even stopped smoking." "What are you gonna do with all that extra money you save?" "Do you know the National Gallery is saving all of the art?" "They're shipping it to the caves." "I've given them my beautiful 18th-century desk from New England and all the Sheraton silver." "I really feel like I'd protected something when I gave them." "You should see my apartment." "There's nothing there." "It's practically Japanese." "Seems kind of unfair that I got picked." "You know, I'm not a doctor or a scientist." "People need continuity." "Everyone knows you." "And they trust you." "But I... can't help you." "Don't worry about me." "I'm gonna be happy as long as I know you're going to live." "Mr Hotchner?" "Who did I think I was going to be when I bought that bike?" "Well, every kid on the block wants one now." "Every parent on the block hates you for it." "That's the best news I've had in years." "Um, sir?" "Could you give me a hand over here for a second?" "Yes, sir." "I just want to get these bars up." "Hi, Mrs Hotchner." "A mob attacked and killed a Miami rental yard operator who was charging $5,000 an hour for backhoe and tractor rentals." "Marines intervened to stop the violence." "Mrs Hotchner?" "Sarah's on the hill." "Thank you." "Where were you today?" "I've been looking all over for you." "Why weren't you at school?" "My dad said I didn't have to go." "He said there's no point." "I talked to Civil Defence." "They said if you and I got married we'd be family, and I could get you in." "What about my parents?" "They're not your family." "I don't want to go without my parents." "You don't have to." "I'm the famous Leo Biederman, and I haven't used my fame for anything, but I got them to let your family go, too." "You..." "This is your only chance to survive." "Across the country, looters continue to set fire to abandoned stores." "The fires have been left to burn since many firefighters have been called to help prepare shelters." "Throughout Latin America's major cities, business districts have been abandoned to looting gangs..." "Airlifts have been ruled out as too dangerous." "More street fighting in Moscow as food and fuel shortages continue." "Believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." "When I was a child, I spoke like a child," "I thought like a child," "I reasoned like a child." "When I became a man, I gave up childish ways." "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face." "Now I know in part, then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood." "Do you, Leo, take Sarah to be your wife... to have and to hold from this day forward... for better, for worse... for richer, for poorer... to love and to cherish?" "I now pronounce you husband and wife." "Here, let me help you." "I'll get it." "Yeah." "How you feeling?" "All right." "I want to tell you something." "You children didn't bring any real books to read, did you know that?" "I brought "Moby Dick" and "Huckleberry Finn"" "and Baker and Simon had never read them." "Now, I'm afraid to ask you, have you ever read Melville or Twain?" "Hmm?" "Hey, I'm a child of the movies, Fish." "OK, I see." "So..." "You got a shitty deal, Oren, you know that?" "You really did." "Don't worry about me." "Yeah." "I mean that." "Really." "Don't worry about me." "My whole life I..." "You know how it is for guys like us." "You..." "You and I, we're the same." "What do you mean by that?" "Gotta be the best." "Oh, I see." "Be... the best." "Sometimes I see flashes of light..." "You know, like... colours." "Yeah." "I fall asleep... and I dream." "But there's a part of me that's always awake." "And I can see myself dreaming." "I'm seeing things differently, Fish." "Well, that's good." "Fish... why the hell do they call you "Fish"?" "Well, I..." "Spurgeon, sturgeon, fish." "Took about 15 minutes of my first day at the Naval Academy." "Yeah." "Your kids go there?" "Yeah, they did." "They did." "And they're good men, both of them." "I don't see as much of them as I used to when Mary was alive." "You don't have to talk about it." "It's OK." "No, it's OK." "It's OK." "You're a married man." "You know what it's like." "Every marriage has its good years and bad years." "We ended on a great year." "Yeah." "Anyway, let's get started." ""Call me Ishmael."" ""Several years ago, never mind how long precisely, having little or no money in my purse grim about the mouth..."" ""Whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul, whenever I find myself knocking people's hats off, then I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can."" "Listen up!" "Hold it right there!" " Biederman?" " That's us." "IDs, please." "Yeah." "Got them right here." "There's 4 of us." "Lewis?" "This is my wife Sarah." "We have a marriage licence." "Um, I have it right here." "OK." "All right." "Let's go." "Let's move it out!" "Mom?" "Sir?" "My parents are coming, too." "Wait!" "The Hotchners." "H-O-T-C..." "H-N-E-R." "It's not here." "It has to be there." "FCD A sent their names to the White House." "They're not there." "Check the list again." "They must be there." "Give me your bag, sweetie." "They're not on the list." "I'm sorry." "Let's go!" "Sir!" "Could you check it one more time?" "I put you on the list." "They said you're on the list." "I put them on the list!" "We're not on the list." "I need the Biedermans on the bus now." " What?" " I want to stay." "No, no, no, no!" "I need to stay with you!" "Sarah!" "Sarah, you need to go." "No." "I have to stay with you." "I'm not going anywhere without you!" "Honey, get on the bus!" "Young lady, this bus is moving out." "On the bus!" "Get on the bus!" "Chuck, we'll work it out when we get there." "Jenny?" "There's a phone call for you." "Yes?" "This is she." "Is Robin Lerner my mother?" "When?" "Uh, 61." "I'll come down there then." "Thank you." "Thank you very much." "Jenny, do you want us to do something?" "You're too late." "I already took care of everything." "Come." "Inside the car." "You're getting sick." "Please." "I want to talk to you." "Please, come." "I don't give a shit." "Go home and tell it to Chloe." "I can't." "She left me." "She's with her mother." "They both got scared." "Come." "I want to talk to you." "I need you." "How does it feel?" "I feel like an orphan." "Jenny!" "Jenny!" "Stop." "Welcome to the ARK." "I'm section leader for Orange 254." "That's where you'll be calling home the next 2 years." "So gather your things and follow me to the orientation gallery." "If you have been designated as a civilian section officer, report to section Red 116 upon entering." "Once again, if you have been designated as a civilian section officer, report to section Red 116 upon entering." "Leo..." "I'm not coming." "Leo, come with us right now." "I have to go back for Sarah." "Leo..." "Mom, I'm going." "Don, what are you doing?" "Giving him something to trade, that's what I'm doing." "I want you to take this." "Dad, that's enough." "Goddam it." "You take care of yourself, OK?" "I'm gonna make it." "What about Entrekin?" "I don't know." "He hasn't returned my call in 2 weeks." " Excuse me, Jenny?" " Yeah?" "Your father's here." "Hello." "Hello." "I can't stay long." "I'm leaving the city, but I wanted to show you something." "I wanted to show you that you're not an orphan." "I have proof that you're not an orphan." "Here." "Look." "Where's Mom?" "Behind the camera." "She took this?" "Mm-hmm." "And this one, too." "She was such an artist, don't you think so?" "You don't remember when we take them, hmm?" "I'm 5 years old." "How would I remember that?" "Some people do remember when they were 5 years old." "It was such a beautiful day." "All alone on the beach." "And, of course, she would have been in the picture, but there was no one else to hold the camera, and... she insisted." "You know how she is." "How she was." "Jenny." "It was such a good day for all of us." "Don't you remember?" "Keep them." "Goodbye." "We have now confirmed the launch of all the Titan missiles from their positions in North Dakota and Wyoming." "The comets are now approximately 14 hours outside of Earth's atmosphere, and we are told it should take these missiles less than 20 minutes to reach their target." "OK, here's what we're looking at." "All of the Titans have been launched." "We still won't know if they've made a difference." "The comets have to travel for a while before the radar tracking stations can see if they've been pushed to a safe course that'll bypass the Earth." "So, one more time we have to wait." "Are we on?" "We're on, Mr President." "Our missiles have failed." "The comets are still headed for Earth... and there's nothing we can do to stop them." "So, this is it." "If the world does go on... it will not go on for everyone." "We have now been able to calculate the comets' final trajectories, and we have determined where they're going to strike." "The smaller of the 2 comets, Biederman, will hit first, somewhere along the Atlantic Seaboard probably in the waters off the coast of Cape Hatteras in just under 12 hours at 4:35 p.m. Eastern daylight time." "The impact of the comet is going to be..." "Well, disastrous." "There will be a very large tidal wave moving quickly through the Atlantic Ocean." "It will be 100 feet high, travelling at 1,100 miles an hour." "That's faster than the speed of sound." "As it reaches shallow water, it's going to slow down, but the wave height, depending on the depth of the shelf off the coast, will be anywhere from 1,000 to 3,500 feet high." "Where the land is flat, the wave will wash inland 600 to 700 miles." "The wave will hit our nation's capital 40 minutes after impact." "New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia... all will be destroyed." "If you have any means of getting away from the path of this wave, leave now." "The impact of the larger comet will be nothing less than an extinction-level event." "It will strike land in Western Canada 3 hours after Biederman." "Within a week, the skies will be dark with dust from the impact and they will stay dark for 2 years." "All plant life will be dead within... 4 weeks." "Animal life within... a few months." "So that's it." "Good luck to us all." "Could I bother everyone for a minute?" "Let's take a look at the big one." "Now, the outgassing has created a vent a half mile wide and at least 2 miles deep." "Comet gets closer to the sun, sun melts the ice, ice turns to steam, we get a big hole, OK?" "So, how many nukes do we have left in the back?" "4." "If we can get the remaining bombs in that vent, there shouldn't be anything left bigger than a suitcase." "We can't do anything about the little one, but it just might give them a chance." "Without the arming codes, we're going to have to wait to set the bomb timers until we get closer to Earth to raise Houston." "We may not have enough life support left to get back into the cargo bay for the nukes, much less to go down to the comet." "We sure as hell don't have enough propellant left in the "Messiah" to manoeuvre with." "How are we supposed to get back off the surface once we've gotten down there?" "We don't." "Well, look at the bright side." "We'll all have high schools named after us." "Houston, this is "Messiah"." "Houston, this is "Messiah"." "We were beginning to wonder what you were doing up there." "Admiring the view, Houston." "Fish, is that you?" "Yep." "We don't have time to talk, Houston." "There's nothing we can do about the smaller one, but we do have a plan." "We need the arming codes for the last 4 nukes." "Arming codes?" "What the hell for?" "We can do or we can teach." "What's your pleasure?" "Get the arming codes!" "Get the goddam codes!" "We have one helicopter." "Holds 7 people." "We can ferry 6 people to high ground in West Virginia and take Jenny to the ARK." "Short stick goes." "I thought it was women and children first." "If you get the short one, you can give up your seat." "Thank God." "Well, that makes sense." "I got a stick." "I got a stick." "I'm sorry, Beth." "OK, honey, here we go." "Let's go now." "Beth..." "There's always the road." "We'll be OK." "Come on." "Ah, that's my girl." "OK, that's it." "Sarah!" "Sarah!" "Where's that key?" "Where's the key?" "Come on!" "Hurry up!" "Come on!" "No, wait." "What are you doing?" "!" "We have to go now." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Beth, what are you doing?" "The road was so crowded." "We weren't gonna make it." "I thought if the wave comes, we should be here because she likes it here." "And we're on the 15th floor, so maybe we'll be OK." "Say goodbye to Jenny..." "What are you doing?" "!" "Move!" "Come on!" "Go!" "Jenny!" "Oh, my God!" "Caitlin!" " Come on!" " Caitlin!" "Catie!" "Come on!" "Faster!" "Faster!" "No!" "No!" "Come on!" "Let's go!" "Hang on." "No room for this!" "She's going with you!" "You're taking my seat!" "Come on!" "Go!" "Go!" "Jenny, thank you!" "Get her in there!" "That's too many." "I'm not going." "What?" "I'm not going, Erik." "Go!" "Sarah!" "Sarah!" "Sarah, look!" "Leo!" "Leo!" "Leo Biederman!" "Leo!" "Leo!" " Leo!" " Oh!" "You don't have any time." "You have to go now." "No!" "Put this on!" "Daddy, what are you doing?" "I want you to take the baby." "What?" "No!" "Mom!" "No arguments, please!" "I don't want to go!" "Grab his foot, honey." "Let's go." "Mom?" "Mom!" "Sweetheart, listen to me." "Let go." "Put this on." " I love you, too." " I love you." "I've always loved you." "I love you." "I don't want to go!" "Take care, honey." "Put this on." "I'll see you soon!" "I'll see you soon!" "Get out of here." "Go to high ground." "When I was 11, I took $32 from your wallet." "When you were a baby..." "I once dropped you on your head." "When you came to the studio and brought those pictures," "I lied when I said I didn't remember." "I remember everything." "I remember that we were right over there, and that's when Mom got that picture of the house." "It was a perfect, happy day." "I came down here to let you know that." "Thank you." "I've missed you since then." "I missed you, too." "Biederman." "Daddy." "Hold on!" "This is "Messiah"." "We're ready to begin our run." "Are our families there yet?" "Disengage auto path." "Here we go." "We're at perigee." "Wolf contact in 4 minutes, 45 seconds." "We'll never be closer to home than we are right now." "Come on!" ""Messiah", we got some people here that want to talk to you." "Wendy, honey... you promise me you'll keep doing your church thing, and I'll be there right next to you, haunting you." "You better come back and haunt me." "I love you." "There's Mommy." "Hello, Mommy." "Hey, you take care of Daddy for me, OK?" "She does a good job." "She misses Mommy." "I miss you." "I love you, Mommy." "I love you." "Very, very much." "David." "You know what I want to say." "I know." "Come on!" "Wolf contact in 2 minutes, 30 seconds." "Oren, Mariette's up at your folks' place in Utah." "We sent a plane, but she isn't here yet." "Fish, your sons are both on active duty." "We tried to get them back, but we couldn't get them here on time." "I'm sorry." "Well, Mitch, uh..." "I want to say goodbye to Mary." "I want to tell her I love her... and that ever since we've been apart, every day, I think about her." "Mary, I'm coming home." "Coming up on target, 625 miles." "Range 600 miles." "Wait!" "Oh, God, wait!" "Wait!" "I'm coming!" "Oren?" "Oren, are you there?" "Mariette?" "I'm here." "I can hear you." "Hi, sweetie." "This is your father." "His name is Oren." "I named him after you." "Hello, Oren." "Show him what you brought him." "He's holding up a little rocket." "That's a mighty powerful rocket you got there." "He's laughing." "I can hear him." "I know." "Mariette..." "I'm hugging you both right now." "I'm holding you." "25 seconds." "Prepare to synchronize the nukes." "23... 22... 21... 20... 19... 18... 17... 16... 15..." "It's been a pleasure serving with you, Commander." "The honour's all mine, Andy." "Be good, Oren." "Be good." "We watched as the bombs shattered the second comet into a million of pieces of ice and rock that burned harmlessly in our atmosphere and lit up the sky for an hour." "Still, we were left with the devastation of the first." "The waters reached as far inland as the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys." "It washed away farms and towns... forests and skyscrapers." "But the water receded." "The wave hit Europe and Africa, too." "Millions were lost." "Countless more left homeless." "But the waters receded." "Cities fall... but they are rebuilt." "And heroes die... but they are remembered." "We honour them with every brick we lay... with every field we sow... with every child we comfort and then teach to rejoice in what we have been regiven." "Our planet." "Our home." "So now... let us begin."