"It's obviously a major malfunction." "their President is a crook." "Well, I'm not a crook." "Robert Kennedy was shot in that ballroom." "Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" "A sniper has fired at President Kennedy." "Or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?" "Hi-yo, Silver!" "1941  a date which will live in infamy." "We bring you the final edition of our Maxwell House Good News of 1939." "Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. North America, and all the ships at sea." "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." "CQ this is W-9 GFO." "CQ, this is W-9 GFO here." "Come back?" "CQ this is W-9 GFO here." "Come back?" "CQ, this is W-9 GFO." "is anybody out there?" "Not getting anything." "Small moves, Ellie." "Small moves." "CQ, this is W-9 GFO here." "Come back?" "Copy, W-9 GFO." "K-4 WLD here." "What do I say?" "Just be yourself." "Where are you, K-4 WLD?" "Come back?" "Pensacola." "Over." "Pensacola, where's Pensacola?" "I'll give you a hint." "Orange juice." "Copy that, K-4 WLD." "How's the weather down there in Florida?" "Pensacola, Florida." "I have to tell you, Sparks." "1,116 miles." "Pretty good." "That's the farthest yet." "Can we hear all the way to New York?" "Sure." "Can we hear all the way to California?" "I don't see why not." "Can we hear all the way to Alaska?" "On a really clear day." "Can we hear all the way to China?" "On a really, really clear day." "Could we talk to the moon?" "If it's a big enough radio, I don't see why not." "Could we talk to Jupiter?" "Or what's the one after that?" "Don't tell me." "I'll give you a hint." "Hula-Hoops." "Saturn!" "Could we talk to Saturn?" "Dad, could we talk to Mom?" "I don't think even the biggest radio could reach that far." "All right, no more stalling." "Pensacola!" "That's a beauty." "Now get some sleep." "Hey, Dad?" "Do you think there's people on other planets?" "I don't know, Sparks." "But I guess I'd say if it is just us it seems like an awful waste of space." "CQ, this is W-9 GFO." "Repeat." "This is W-9 GFO." "Come back?" "I'm going to need a bigger antenna." "What do you think, Doc Arroway?" "Isn't she a beauty?" "It'll do." "The village is five miles away." "There's a general store in the cantina." "They can order anything from San Juan." "When can I get dish time?" "Dr. Clark said you couldn't wait." "Your first shift is tonight." "Go back." "Try back a little bit." "You had something there." "There!" "Right there?" "You hear it?" "Right there, that's it." "All right, 1221.46." "That's well within the L-band." "Check off-axis." "On it." "It's not in the neighborhood." "Here it is." "J-1741  + 2748." "Catalogued November 4, 1982." "Pulsar." "Must've been the glitch in the timing's what threw me." "Must've been a starquake." "I think it's great that you listen." "Most don't do that anymore." "It's just an old habit." "It makes it feel more real." "Ellie." "Kent Clark." "They said you'd been up at Owen's Valley working under Drumlin." "How'd you like him?" "That much?" "About what I'd expect after what he had to say about you." "And what was that?" "That you are brilliant driven a major pain in the ass and obsessed with a field of study he considers tantamount to professional suicide." "Anything else?" "Those were the highlights." "Davio, Dr. Vernon." "Dr. Arroway." "Believe you've already met our tireless research assistant, Mr. Fisher as well as his cologne." "Brook's looking at the black hole in M-87." "Eli's studying Markarian 541, a major gamma ray source." "Dr. Arroway will be spending her precious telescope time listening for listening for...." "Little green men." "One down a couple billion to go." "Arecibo, right?" "Does it show?" "Cracker Jack?" "No, thanks." "Mind if I sit down?" "I hear the locals, they call it "El Radar."" "Convinced it has some dark military purpose." "I think we're harmless." "Palmer Joss." "Ellie Arroway." "Nice to meet you, Ellie." "What are you studying up there?" "The usual." "Nebulae, quasars, pulsars, stuff like that." "What are you writing?" "The usual." "Nouns, adverbs adjective here and there." "I work on a project, seti." "Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence?" "That is out there!" "Are you a student or something?" "I'm a writer." "I'm writing a book." "I'm here doing research about how technology affects Third World cultures." "I'm also looking for this guy, David Drumlin." "He's head of the National Science Foundation. I want an interview." "I take it you know him?" "You could say that." "SETl." "That's fringe!" "I've crossed paths with him." "Something like that must really chap his ass." "Compass." "That's for you." "You better keep this." "Might save your life someday." "Have dinner with me tonight?" "I don't make a good research subject." "I'm not quotable." "No quotes." "Scout's honor." "Good meal, good company." "I've got to go." "Drumlin's coming in Tuesday." "Now I remember why I took that desk job." "Dr. Drumlin, how are you?" "Glad you could make it." "If I'd known it took 3 planes, I might've reconsidered." "How is that new office?" "Still settling in." "They already want to give half my budget to the Pentagon." "Still waiting for E.T. to call?" "Good to see you too!" "Asshole!" "Looks like it's going to be a long night." "Science must be accountable to the people paying for it, the taxpayers." "We must stop wasting money on pie-in-the-sky abstractions and spend it on practical, measurable ways to improve the lives of the people who are paying." "Not unlike my L-band, globular clusters work." "You want to do away with all pure research now?" "What's wrong with science being practical?" "Even profitable?" "Nothing, as long as your motive is the search for truth." "Which is what the pursuit of science is." "That's an interesting position from a man on a crusade against the evils of technology Father Joss." "I'm not against technology, Doctor." "I'm against the men who deify it at the expense of human truth." "Kent, I need to have a word with you." "Over here, please." "You think that hurt my chances with that interview?" "You're a priest?" "Not really." "I got my Masters in Divinity then left the seminary to do secular humanitarian work coordinating Third World churches." "I couldn't live with the celibacy thing." "You could call me a man of the cloth without the cloth." "You want to get out of here?" "You see that large W-shaped constellation there?" "That's Cassiopeia." "And Cassiopeia A gives off a whole lot of radio signals." "I listen to them a lot." "It's a remnant of a supernova." "When did you know you wanted to be an astronomer?" "When I was about eight years old watching the sunset, I asked Dad, "What's that bright star over there?"" "He said that it wasn't a star." "It was a whole planet called Venus which should be over there soon." "He said, "You know why they called it Venus?" "Because they thought it was so beautiful and glowing." "But they didn't know that it's filled with deadly gases and sulfuric acid rain."" "Wow, I thought, "This is it!" "I'm hooked!"" "There are four hundred billion stars out there just in our galaxy alone." "If only one out of a million of those had planets if just one out of a million of those had life and if just one out of a million of those had intelligent life there would be literally millions of civilizations out there... lf there wasn't it'd be an awful waste of space." "Amen." "So I was lying there, just looking at the sky." "And then I felt something." "I don't know." "All I know is that I wasn't alone." "For the first time in my life I wasn't scared of nothing not even dying." "It was God." "And there's no chance that you had this experience because some part of you needed to have it?" "I'm a reasonably intelligent guy, but this...." "My intellect couldn't even touch this." "No." "I've been to Sunday school a few times." "And?" "I kept asking all these really annoying questions like "Where did Mrs. Cain come from?"" "And pretty soon they asked my dad if he wouldn't mind keeping me home from now on." "Your dad.... ls it this guy?" "Yeah." "You're close to him, aren't you?" "I was." "He died when I was nine years old." "I never got to know my mother." "I'm sorry." "That's got to be tough." "Being alone." "What do you say we pack a picnic tomorrow and hike up to Mount Arecibo?" "I don't think I can." "I've got to work." "How about dinner tomorrow night?" "I know a great dive." "No, I don't think so." "Ellie, did I miss something?" "No." "Shit, I'm late!" "I told Kent that I'd be there at 10:30." "I'm not trying to push you." "I've wanted to look at this sector for weeks." "Just hang out and sleep in." "There's food in the fridge." "How can I reach you?" "Just leave your number." "I'll call you." "Dad!" "It's starting, you're going to miss it!" "Dad, there's another one!" "Hurry up!" "In a minute, Sparks!" "I'm almost done." "There's another one." "Come on, hurry up, Dad!" "I'll get the medicine." "I know it's hard to understand this now but we aren't always meant to know why things happen the way they do." "Sometimes, we just have to accept it as God's will." "I should have kept medicine in the downstairs bathroom." "Then I could've gotten to it sooner." "CQ this is W-9 GFO." "Do you copy?" "Dad, this is Ellie." "Come back." "This is Eleanor Arroway transmitting on 14.2 megahertz." "Are you there?" "Come back." "Are you there?" "Dad, this is Ellie." "Hi, Kent." "What are you doing up so early?" "I was thinking we'd make a pretty good team." "We could put together an ad hoc SETl program." "You know the Very Large Array in New Mexico?" "It's a dynamite place to do SETl work" "What are you talking about?" "Drumlin pulled the plug." "We're homeless." "It's true, you pulled the plug?" "You can't see it now, but I'm doing you a favor." "You're too promising a scientist to waste your gifts on this nonsense." "I don't consider what could be the most important human discovery nonsense!" "400 billion stars" "And two probabilities." "One, there's intelligent life but too far away to contact in your lifetime." "And two!" "You're making a decision" "There's nothing but gases and carbon compounds and you're wasting your time!" "In the meantime, you won't be taken seriously." "Your career will be over!" "So what?" "It's my life!" "Hey, Kent." "You were right." "Screw Drumlin." "We'll raise the money ourselves." "We'll go to New Mexico." "Chicago's set." "Let me know how it goes." "I've got more corporate stops on the East Coast for you." "Did that investor from Houston ever get back to us?" "I'll hit him up on my way to L.A." "Beg for some of that Hollywood money!" "They've been making money off aliens for years." "Begging is good for the soul." "We'll see." "Just do me a favor." "Try not to be too...confrontational." "Confrontational?" "Me?" "What do you mean?" "I'll see if I left anything." "It's a unique time in our history, in the history of any civilization." "It's the moment of the acquisition of technology." "That's the moment where contact becomes possible." "The Very Large Array in New Mexico is the key to our chances for success." "With its 27 linked radio telescopes we can search more accurately than at any other facility." "We've gotten approval to buy the telescope time from the government." "Now all we really need is the money." "A nice presentation, Doctor." "But while our foundation arm has a mandate to support experimental programs, your proposal seems less like science, and more like science fiction." "Science fiction." "You're right." "It's crazy." "In fact, it's even worse than that: nuts!" "Want to hear something nutty?" "Two guys wanted to build a thing called an airplane." "People go in it and fly like birds." "Ridiculous, right?" "What about breaking the sound barrier or rockets to the moon, or atomic energy or a mission to Mars?" "Science fiction, right?" "All I'm asking is for you to just have the tiniest bit of vision." "To step back and look at the big picture." "Take a chance on something which could end up the most impactful moment for humanity, for the history of history." "I'm sorry." "I just spent 13 months..." "You're my last chance." "Sorry I wasted your time." "Doctor." "Yes, sir." "You have your money." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Perfect cast!" "Come on, fishy!" "Frank, look at the size of that son-of-a-bitch!" "Welcome back, Dr. C." "How'd it go?" "How was the trip?" "I've had better." "Drumlin!" "is this a personal vendetta now?" "There's been enormous pressure from other scientists as well." "It doesn't matter." "Hadden's funding us for 2 more years." "The government doesn't want their telescopes used by the high priestess of the desert anymore." "What?" "Staring at TV static for hours, listening to washing machines." "These stories get out!" "I was seeking patterns in the chaos!" "It doesn't matter, we're a joke to them." "They want us out!" "We've got 3 months till the paperwork goes through." "I'll start looking for other funding." "Could you face reality?" "Just this once?" "We lost." "It's over." "Fine." "I'm not stopping." "If I have to, I'll go it alone." "I've done it before." "My guest tonight is author and theologian Palmer Joss." "He's become a spiritual counselor, and a recent fixture at the White House." ""God's Diplomat," according to The New York Times." "His latest book, "Losing Faith," is currently number one on that publication's bestseller list." "Thanks for being here." "You've had quite a ride the last few years." "Yeah, I sure have, Larry." "Fish, I was thinking." "Who would make the best astronomers?" "Think about it." "Who has the perfect synthesis of career and lifestyle?" "I give." "Vampires!" "Are you anti-technology and anti-science?" "No, not at all." "The question that I'm asking is this:" "Are we happier as a human race?" "is the world fundamentally a better place because of science and technology?" "We shop at home, we surf the Web but at the same time we feel emptier and more cut off from each other than at any other time in human history." "We're becoming a synthesized society in a hurry to get to the...." "We're looking for the meaning." "What is the meaning?" "We have mindless jobs, take frantic vacations." "Deficit finance trips to the mall to buy things that we think will fill these holes in our lives." "Any wonder we've lost our sense of direction?" "Holy shit!" "Right ascension 18 hours, 36 minutes, 56.2 seconds!" "Declination + 36 degrees, 46 minutes 56.2 seconds!" "Confirm!" "Right ascension, 18 hours, 36 minutes 56.2 seconds!" "is anybody awake in there?" "I'm moving the array!" "Confirm!" "Boss has a bogey!" "Right ascension, 18 hours...." "We're on it!" "36 hours 47 minutes and 1 second!" "Strong possible pulse chain on sub-array four!" "I'm moving the rest." "Confirm coordinates!" "Check the status of the array." "She's doing all the dishes." "Systems nominal." "Hello." "Full systems check!" "Coordinates confirmed." "Willie's checking the system." "Stay on top of the systems diagnostics!" "Check reference point offsets." "And I want you off-axis on 27 the second we get there!" "And tell Willie to break out the big boy!" "Copy that." "Yeah!" "Go, Ellie!" "I hear it on the headphones." "We got to be sure about this." "Give me another array status." "Her four are online, the rest are tracking in." "But there's a bad drive on 16." "The four are online, the rest are tracking in." "There's a bad drive on 16." "Copy that?" "What shall I do about the source queue?" "Forget it and hold the queue." "Get ready to set the target frequency to manual the second we're aligned." "Do you copy?" "I want you to go off-axis on 27 the second we're there!" "And leave the LO frequency where it is!" "Don't let it get away!" "If you lose it, scan the band!" "Run every frequency you can think of." "How you doing?" "Talk to me, guys." "Partially polarized moving pulses, amplitude modulated." "We're locked." "Systems are fine." "What's the frequency?" "4.46 23 gigahertz." "Hydrogen times pi." "Told you!" "Strong sucker too!" "I got it!" "I'm patched in!" "Let me hear." "Listen to that." "Make me a liar, Fish." "It could be AWACS out of Kirkland jamming us." "But I doubt it." "See if F.U.D.D.'s reading it too." "Patch it back and give me the off-axis." "We recording?" "Never stopped." "Thank you, Elmer!" "AWACS status is negative." "White Sands?" "On this frequency?" "No." "I'll punch up the darks." "How's spying tonight?" "Come on!" "NORAD's not tracking any snoops in this vector." "Shuttle's in sleep mode." "Okay, point source confirmed." "Whatever it is, it ain't local." "Position?" "I checked interferometry." "Somewhere in Lyra." "Vega?" "Can't be!" "It's only 26 light years away." "Peak intensity?" "Coming up!" "Vega." "Vega. I scanned it a bunch of times at Arecibo. lt was always negative." "Got it!" "Reading over 100 janskys." "Jesus!" "I can pick it up on my...." "No!" "Come on!" "It's restarting." "Wait a minute." "Those are numbers." "That was 3, before it was 2." "Base 10 numbers." "Count and see how far we get." "One." "Seven." "Those are primes." "2, 3, 5, 7 are all prime numbers." "No way that's a natural phenomenon!" "Let's just calm down and pull up the star file on Vega." "It doesn't make any sense." "The system is too young." "It can't have a planetary system let alone life or a technological civilization." "Maybe they're not from there, they're visiting." "Spacecraft?" "This system's full of debris. lt'd get clobbered." "Not if they used their laser blasters and photon torpedoes." "That's not funny." "How else can we explain it!" "He's right. lf we go public with this and we're wrong it's over." "We're cooked." "I wish Kent was here." "Whatever it is, let's do something." "Vega will set." "Position confirmed." "We've got 4.4623 gigahertz, confirmed." "We've got 112 janskys." "Do you have a source location yet?" "We put it right smack in the middle." "Vega." "Thanks." "Keep tracking and we'll get back to you." "Right-o." "101 ." "The pulse sequenced through every prime number between 2 and 101 ." "Who do we call now?" "Everybody." "The rumors are flying, the implications extraordinary." "Detection of an unidentified radio source from space can neither be confirmed nor denied." "But the military arriving...." "Sources close to the VLA report they have been contacted by some form of intelligent being living outside our solar system." "Again, there is no confirmation." "I want all of these people out of here." "Where's the girl?" "22 stations worldwide now confirm the signal." "Vega's now below our horizon." "You're hearing the signal from the Russian" "Get decryption people here." "Lunacharsky's visiting at Cal Tech." "Explain this to me." "If the source of the signal is so sophisticated...why the remedial math?" "Why not just speak English?" "Maybe because 70% of the planet speaks other languages." "Mathematics is the only truly universal language." "It's no coincidence that they're using primes." "I don't get it." "Prime numbers." "integers only divisible by themselves and 1 ." "We think this may be a beacon, an announcement to get our attention." "If it's attention you want, you got that." "One thing:" "Vega." "People have looked at Vega for years, with no results." "Yesterday they start broadcasting primes." "Why?" "It's hardly yesterday." "The signal's been transmitting for 26 years." "Excuse me, who are you?" "Michael Kitz, National Security Advisor." "Your reputation" "First, ask the gentlemen with the guns to wait outside." "This is a civilian facility." "With all due respect" "Excuse me." "Hi!" "I'm so glad you're back!" "Come hear this." "is this great?" "Who are all these people?" "l have no idea." "Sit down." "We need help with the spectrum analysis." "l'll get on it." "Headsets." "I'll just come right to the point." "Announcing this all over the world may well be a breach of national security." "It's not a person-to-person call." "You think a civilization sending this message intends it just for Americans?" "You might have consulted us." "The contents could be very sensitive." "You want to classify prime numbers?" "Due to earth's rotation, we're in line with Vega only hours a day." "The only way to monitor the signal is to cooperate with other stations." "If Dr. Arroway hadn't acted quickly, we'd have lost key elements." "Fine, they've got the primes." "But if a more significant transmission is to come" "We need help to receive and decode." "You understand that my job is to protect...." "Listen." "l hear it." "Hear what?" "Harmonic." "Bingo!" "I had Willie ask Rattan to retune to 8.9247 gigahertz." "There's a lot more here." "Get on the negative sideband." "l'm already on it." "What is it?" "Another signal!" "A second signal at double the frequency." "Looks like...." "Get a TV monitor!" "Patch it into the image processor." "Want the new data?" "Yeah, the new one we just recorded." "David, explain this to me, please." "There's another signal." "Looks like a TV transmission." "We're hot." "Go get the blinds." "There is a lot of glare." "You're patched in." "It's definitely an image." "Let's try and stabilize it." "What do you make of that?" "It's two different interlaced frames." "I'm framing one." "lt's just noise." "Trying frame two." "I've got an offset carrier." "I think it's audio." "Plug it in!" "Center that segment." "Centering." "Can you clean it up?" "I'm working on it." "What the hell...?" "Try zooming out." "Freeze!" "Reverse values." "Try zooming out again." "Rotate 90 degrees counterclock..." "My God!" "What's going on?" "You're not going to believe this." "Does anybody speak German?" ""l declare the Games in Berlin at the celebration of the first Olympics of the New Era as opened."" "Get me the White House." "20 million people died defeating the bastard and he's our first ambassador to outer space?" "The broadcast of the '36 Olympics was the first TV transmission that went into space." "Sending it back is a way of saying, "Hello, we heard you."" "Or, "Sieg Heil, you're our kind of people."" "Hitler's politics have nothing to do with this." "It's unlikely they understood it." "People must understand" "The people are in very good hands, Doctor." "We'll take it from here." "Smile, folks." "We're on." "A message of unknown origin from deep space was received by American scientists." "Now to the White House." "We're told the President will have only a few remarks about today's extraordinary events and that he won't be taking any questions from the press." "Good afternoon." "I'm glad to be joined by my Science and Technology Advisor." "This is the product of years of exploration by some of the world's most distinguished scientists." "Like all discoveries this one will continue to be reviewed examined and scrutinized." "It must be confirmed by other scientists." "But clearly the fact that this is being explored is a vindication...." "Fish, what is the story over here?" "I thought Ellie was supposed to be on." "I don't know." "Guys?" "Those interlaced frames we thought were noise?" "This has structure." "I'm hearing structure." "If this discovery is confirmed it will be one of the most stunning insights into our universe that science has ever uncovered." "Its implications are as far-reaching and awe-inspiring as can be imagined." "Even as it promises answers to some of our oldest questions it poses still others even more fundamental." "We will continue to listen closely to what it has to say as we continue the search for answers and for knowledge that is as old as humanity itself but essential to our people's future." "Thank you." "is there a renewed assessment of security threat?" "I'll answer your questions after a few corrections." "The message was received Friday at 6:31 a.m. Mountain Standard Time." "It was largely mathematical and in spite of reports to the contrary appears to be completely benign in nature." "Let me say that again." "The message is completely benign." "The President has contacted the world's heads of state and every security measure is being taken." "To better explain the events of the last 48 hours is the leader of the scientific team that made this remarkable discovery Dr. David Drumlin, special Science Advisor to the President." "Thank you, Rachel." "Hello." "In 1936 a very faint television signal transmitted the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games as a show of German superior technology." "That signal left Earth at the speed of light and 26 years later.... ...arrived in the vicinity of the star we call Vega." "That signal has been sent back to us hugely amplified an unmistakable sign of intelligence." "Kent, go ahead." "The Adolf transmission used 25 frames per second but we're receiving 50." "So we put the other 25 through search algorithms." "We found a series of markers on the top of each frame." "Are you ready?" "Yeah, go ahead!" "Send it, Willie." "Here it comes." "It's digital massive amounts of data which extend right to the higher harmonics." "Jackpot!" "All right, as you'll see interlaced with the frames of the original Hitler image we found these sections." "We thought they were noise, but they're actually data huge amounts of it." "When we combine this with the data from the original signal we get these encrypted pages of text." "No two are alike and we've uncovered over 10,000 already." "What does it mean, Doctor?" "We have no idea." "It could be anything." "Volume 1 of an Encyclopedia Galactica." "Instructions for us on their colonization procedures." "Moses with a few billion new commandments." "How long will it take to decode it?" "It could take forever." "We really need a primer" "We need to get the best decryption people we have." "I intend to use the VLA as my command post." "In the meantime, my office has made out a preliminary budget." "Wait a minute." "This is a privately-funded operation." "We lease dish time from the government" "This is a clear-cut case of eminent domain." "I'm recommending to the President we militarize this project." "What?" "!" "This is my project!" "Nobody knows more about this than I do." "David, tell them" "Excuse me!" "Could we calm down here?" "I'm going to recommend that Dr. Drumlin coordinate the decryption effort." "But in light of Dr. Arroway's long experience in these matters for the time being, she will direct operations at the VLA understanding that future discoveries will be kept in strict confidence until such time as the President can decide the most suitable course of action." "Understood?" "Yes." "This is CNN Breaking News." "The President called the message from Vega "a stunning insight into our universe--"" "Attendance at religious services has risen a dramatic 39% in recent days." "...as police clashed with neo-Nazi protesters." "So, there's life on other planets." "Boy, this will really change the Miss Universe contest." "Health officials worldwide are concerned that the message from Vega might trigger a rash of mass suicides not unlike recent cult deaths near San Diego" "Even a scientist must admit there are some pretty serious religious overtones to all this." "Here's someone whose organization is accused of conducting its own inquisition:" "Richard Rank, head of the Conservative Coalition." "Thank you." "This is yet another example of science intruding into matters of faith." "This means they have been reacting to TV signals from the 1930's." "They're just getting them." "Imagine how disappointed they'll be if they're Cubs fans." "We now go to Jeremy Roth, who is reporting from the Very Large Array near Socorro, New Mexico." "Like a bolt from the blue it came." ""The Message from Vega" has caused thousands of believers and non-believers to descend upon the VLA facility here in the desert of New Mexico." "Many have come to protest, many to pray but most have come to participate in what's become the best show in town." "Well, I saw the thing coming out of the sky lt had one long horn and one big eye I commenced to shaking and said Oo-ee" "Looks like a Purple People Eater to me" "Hail to Vega Hail to Vega" "But they have failed!" "It's the same people who, again and again have brought us to the brink of destruction!" "Who've polluted our air, who've poisoned our water!" "Now these scientists have had their chance." "Are these the kind of people that you want talking to your God for you?" "Efforts continue around the clock." "But for now, almost 2 full weeks after the message's arrival scientists here at the VLA still have no answers only more questions." "Jeremy Roth, CNN, Socorro, New Mexico." "More on the quest for the message's meaning, after this." "They have to line up somehow." "This one doesn't fit, either." "We've tried over a million permutations." "Always, I can only get three corners to fit." "I don't understand their significance." "Somebody broke in" "Hello?" "Whoever you are, you broke into the database" "What?" "Now?" "Where?" "I'll be there." "You should feel fortunate." "He hardly lands for anyone." "Dr. Arroway." "I presume?" "Mr. Hadden." "I've had my eye on you a long time, Doctor." "I consider you one of my most valuable long-term investments." "And when it comes to my investments I always do my homework." "Eleanor Ann Arroway born 25th August, 1964 De Pere, Wisconsin." "Mother, Joanna, died from complications during childbirth." "Early testing indicated high predisposition towards science and mathematics." "Father, Theodore advised to provide enrichment activities in these areas did so conscientiously until his death from myocardial infarction, November 10, 1974." "You graduated from high school in 1979 almost two full years early." "Awarded full scholarship, M.l.T.... ...graduated magna cum laude." "Doctoral work, Cal Tech where you worked on the lanthanide-doped ruby maser dramatically increasing the sensitivity of radio telescopes." "Subsequently offered a teaching position at Harvard University which you turned down to pursue SETl work at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico." "Changes in N.S.F. policy gave rise to certain funding problems at which point you came to my attention." "You compromised our security codes." "Once upon a time I was a hell of an engineer." "Please, sit, Doctor." "I have guests so rarely, it's important they feel welcome in my home." "You live here?" "I find it convenient to keep my interests mobile." "Anyway, I've had my fill of life on the ground." "I guess I should...." "l guess I should thank you for having bailed me out all that time." "I know a good bet when I see one." "Earl Grey." "No sugar, no milk, I believe." "What am I doing here?" "The powers that be have been very busy lately positioning themselves for the game of the millennium." "Maybe I can help deal you back in." "I didn't realize that I was out." "No." "Maybe not out but certainly being handed your hat." "I've had a long time to make enemies, Doctor." "There are many governments business interests even religious leaders that would like to see me depart this earth." "And I'll grant them their wish soon enough." "But before I do, I wish to make a small contribution." "A final gesture of goodwill to the people of this planet who have given from whom I have taken so much." "You found the primer." "Clever girl!" "Lights." "Pages and pages of data." "Over 63,000 in all." "And on the perimeter of each" "Alignment symbols, registration marks, but they don't line up." "They do if you think like a Vegan." "An alien intelligence has got be more advanced and that means efficiency functioning on multiple levels and in multiple dimensions." "Yes, of course!" "Where's the primer?" "You'll see." "Every three-dimensional page contains a piece of the primer." "There it was all the time, staring you in the face." "Buried within the message itself is the key to decoding it." "Within the layering of the matrix, we have these basic equations:" "So with this very elementary foundation, they have given us a kind of general scientific vocabulary." "We now have the symbols for true and false" "This was the key that allowed us to decipher their language for physics, geometry, chemistry." "Next frame, Ellie." "Yes, and when we apply this to the rest of the message we find this." "Those look like engineering schematics, almost like blueprints." "Yes." "It is our belief that the message contains instructions for building something, some kind of machine." "A machine?" "That does what, Doctor?" "We don't know." "It might be some type of advanced communication device, or a teaching machine of some kind." "Or it might be some kind of a transport." "Transport?" "There's no proof of that." "The fact is you don't know what it does. lt could be anything." "A Trojan Horse." "We build it and out pours the entire Vegan army." "Why risk the personnel?" "It could be a weapon." "Right." "Some kind of a Doomsday Machine." "Every time they detect a new civilization they fax construction plans from space." "We poor saps build this thing and blow ourselves to kingdom come." "There's no reason to believe their intentions are hostile." "Why is it the egghead position that aliens are always benign?" "We pose no threat to them." "It'd be like us going out of our way to destroy microbes on an anthill." "Interesting analogy." "How guilty would we feel if we destroyed a few microbes on an anthill?" "I hope you're right." "I really do." "But my job is to protect American lives from any threat so I am obligated to assume the worst." "Yes, and I am forced to agree with you." "My problem is this:" "The content of that message is morally ambiguous at best." "Our internal numbers show support for this is incredibly soft." "If the President stays this course his numbers will be going south like ducks in winter." "This is nuts!" "Excuse me Miss." "We know nothing of these creatures' values." "We don't even know whether they believe in God." "This doesn't make any sense. lf" "Excuse me, Dr. Arroway." "We won't be suppressing any opinions here today." "No, of course not." "I understand." "What I meant to say is the message was written in the language of science." "If it was religious in nature, it should have taken the form of a burning bush or a voice from the sky." "But a voice from the sky is exactly what you found, Doctor Arroway." "I'm sorry I'm late, ma'am." "I agree with Mr. Rank that there are unavoidable religious implications at stake." "But that doesn't justify being an alarmist." "I hope that we can find a common ground break through obstacles that may have kept us apart." "Listen, I need to make one thing very clear." "Our organization will not be placated with flowery New Age rhetoric" "Mr. President!" "The President met with top advisors regarding the latest efforts to decode the message." "While there has been some progress, the official line remains cautious." "If you're asking when we'll find out what the purpose of that Machine is maybe tomorrow, maybe next year, maybe never." "There he is." "The man with his finger on the nation's spiritual pulse." "It's so good to see you." "You too." "Your discovery, all of this." "It must be a real vindication." "I'm really happy for you." "Are you?" "Mr. Joss, the President's waiting." "The President's waiting." "See you at the reception?" "Yeah, I wouldn't miss it." "Miss Constantine, may I speak to you?" "Certainly." "I have a big problem." "Do you know where l can find a really great dress?" "God created man in the form of Himself, not in the form of monkeys!" "Get a job!" "Don't waste my tax dollars!" "You look beautiful, Ellie." "So do you." "You really do." "I read your book." "Here we go." "You want me to quote you?" ""Ironically the thing people are most hungry for meaning is the one thing science hasn't been able to give them."" "Yeah." "It's like you're saying that science killed God." "What if science simply revealed that He never existed in the first place?" "I think we need to get some air." "And a few more of these." "Thank you." "A little chilly out here." "Yeah, this is nice." "I got one for you." "Occam's Razor." "Ever heard of it?" "Hoccam's Razor." "Sounds like some slasher movie." "No, Occam's Razor is a basic scientific principle which says:" "Things being equal, the simplest explanation tends to be right." "Makes sense to me." "So what's more likely?" "Thank you." "An all-powerful God created the universe then decided not to give any proof of His existence?" "Or that He doesn't exist at all and that we created Him so we wouldn't feel so small and alone." "I don't know." "I couldn't imagine living in a world where God didn't exist." "I wouldn't want to." "How do you know you're not deluding yourself?" "I mean, for me I'd need proof." "Proof?" "Did you love your father?" "Your dad, did you love him?" "Yes." "Very much." "Prove it." "Kent." "The White House." "No excuses." "Whoever's responsible, I want their head on a platter." "What happened?" "You were right all along." "The team at the VLA has worked around the clock and the hard work has finally paid off." "This key section uncovered tonight, and obtained exclusively by CNN shows an illustration of a human figure inside a geometric structure of some kind." "This and other contextual clues now lead scientists to believe the message is, in fact..." "President called an emergency meeting." "l imagined he would." "...designed to take a single human occupant into space presumably to the star Vega." "Tell me." "They will build it." "Who goes?" "The President's gone international to spread the risk and cost" "Who goes?" "Well, it's complicated." "They have formed a group of international candidates." "Now, it's your discovery." "They understand that." "You're at the top of a very short list." "But they're also forming a selection committee." "It's made of scholars, theologians, scientists, philosophers" "You're on it." "I've been asked, yes." "I guess that means that you're a selector, I'm a selectee and we can't...." "Yeah." "What you don't understand, Ellie, is-- l understand." "I want you to know, whatever happens, as far as I'm concerned...." "Good luck." "Whatever you do, make sure he doesn't monopolize the committee." "He is not on the committee, Ellie." "He just resigned." "He wants to be the one to go." "The President is already feeling the financial pinch." "Sources say the cost of the project is spiralling to more than a third of a trillion dollars making this perhaps the most expensive single project in all of human history." "Months of debate finally reached a conclusion last week as 10 candidates were selected by the l.M.C. representing a cross section of political and religious views." "Many are the same experts who have consulted on the Machine's design and function." "They will actively participate on-site, during the construction process." "The choice of these 10 candidates has been controversial." "One-third of the candidates are American." "And many international observers ask why." "The U.S. is shouldering a large part of the cost-- lsn't it true that contractors, like Hadden lndustries are making contributions in exchange for technology rights?" "Different nations are being compensated in different ways." "Japan made headlines by opting to forego candidate representation in exchange for the systems integration subcontract." "On what basis do you choose a human being to represent humanity?" "Good question, Larry." "If nothing else it should be somebody fluent in the language the message was given in." "Science, in this case." "Despite your obvious enthusiasm there's been a lot of criticism that this endeavor is simply too dangerous." "Some of that criticism from scientists." "One Nobel Prize winner noted, his words:" ""There is every indication that this is beyond our capabilities, that this endeavor will fail and that the Machine's occupant will pay for it with his life."" "How do you respond?" "This message is from a civilization that may be anywhere from hundreds to millions and millions of years ahead of us." "I have to believe that an intelligence that advanced knows what they're doing." "Now all it requires on our part is...." "Faith?" "I was going to say, a sense of adventure." "And in breaking news astronaut John Russell considered to be the leading American candidate for the Machine seat has dropped out of the running." "Russell met with reporters today at his Houston home." "I told my dad I didn't want him to go." "Daddy, don't go." "Nothing would give me more pride than to represent my country." "But what can I say to this?" "Consortium officials had no comment, but inside sources have disclosed that Dr. Arroway appears to now be the front-runner for the Machine seat." ""Meet me at noon." "Must talk."" "I didn't expect a message like this from you." "Thanks for coming." "is this kosher?" "Fraternizing with the enemy?" "Selectors and selectees mingling around?" "Can we talk about Einstein?" "Yeah, sure." "Special relativity." "This Machine if it works, you travel to Vega at the speed of light." "When you come back-- -lf you come back." "If you come back you'll be 4 years older, but over 50 years will have passed here on Earth." "Basically." "And everybody that you care about will be gone, dead and buried." "If you came back, if you survived at all...." "Look, Palmer, nobody's saying this isn't dangerous." "The rest of the candidates and myself understand the risks we're taking." "Why?" "It's a historic opportunity." "The world needs" "You, Ellie." "You!" "You personally." "By doing this, you're willing to give your life." "You're willing to die for it." "Why?" "From as long as I can remember, I've been searching for something some reason why we're here." "What are we doing here?" "Who are we?" "If this is a chance to find out even a part of that answer...." "l don't know, I think it's worth a human life." "Don't you?" "You're an incredibly brave woman, Ellie." "Or incredibly nuts." "I'm really confused." "So am I." "I think I speak for us all when I thank you for your patience." "Myself, I have one final question, Dr. Arroway." "If you should meet these Vegans and were permitted only one question to ask of them what would it be?" "I suppose it would be:" ""How did you do it?" "How did you evolve?" "How did you survive technological adolescence without destroying yourself?"" "That more than any other question is one I personally would like answered." "Not too bad, Mike." "I join Dr. Bergeron in expressing thanks for your patience, Dr. Arroway." "We're all impressed with your candor and your stamina." "I think we're ready to move on to your final statement." "I have one more question." "Yes, Mr. Joss." "Would you consider yourself a spiritual person?" "I don't understand the point of the question." "I consider myself a moral person." "We're sure that's the case, but what Mr. Joss is in fact asking" "Do you believe in God?" "As a scientist I rely on empirical evidence, and in this matter I don't believe that there's data either way." "So your answer would in fact be that you don't believe in God." "I don't understand the relevance of the question." "95% of the world's population believes in a Supreme Being in one form or another." "I believe that makes the question more than relevant." "I believe...." "l believe I've already answered that question." "I'm proud of what we've achieved as a species and as a civilization." "I would hate to see everything we stand for all that we have fought for for a thousand generations all that God has blessed us with betrayed in the final hour because we sent a representative who did not put our most cherished beliefs first." "Thank you." "Why'd you do it?" "Our job was to select someone to speak for everybody." "I couldn't in good conscience vote for a person who doesn't believe in God." "Someone who honestly thinks the other 95% of us suffer from some form of mass delusion." "I told the truth up there." "Drumlin told you exactly what you wanted to hear." "With full humility and utmost gratitude I accept this great honor and I promise I will do my best to represent my nation my planet and my God on this historic journey." "I thank you from the bottom of my heart." "There's a carnival atmosphere at Cape Canaveral as the lnternational Machine Consortium hosts as much a media event as a systems test." "David Drumlin is supervising the on-site portion of the test." "We spoke with him earlier today." "We'll be able to monitor the stresses and effects using the robot passenger who we lovingly call Elmer." "The press wants to ask you a few questions as soon as they're done with Dr. Drumlin." "When we release the pod, a substantial amount of energy will be generated." "We'll be able to monitor the stresses and effects using our robot passenger, who we lovingly call Elmer." "Thank you." "You're welcome." "They're ready for you out at the site." "Yeah, just a minute." "Congratulations." "Glad you could come." "Didn't expect to see you here." "Well, I'm still Crew Ops at the Control Center." "I suppose the fact that I discovered the message means I have PR value." "Of course." "I know you must think this is all very unfair." "And maybe that's an understatement." "What you don't know is, I agree." "I wish the world was a place where fair was the bottom line where the idealism you showed at the hearing was rewarded not taken advantage of." "Unfortunately, we don't live in that world." "Funny I always believed the world is what we make of it." "Excuse me!" "Good luck on the test." "Thank you." "Test director everything looks good." "Ready to go." "I want things double and triple checked here." "We only get one shot at this." "Let's get it right." "Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready for start-up." "All controllers, I need a go-no-go for test initiation." "Mechanical?" "Go." "Electrical?" "Dynamics?" "Communications?" "Pod systems?" "Safety?" "Crew Ops, verify all pre-test procedures are complete." "Yes, verified." "I'm go." "Pad Leader, is everything okay with you?" "Roger." "The pad is a go." "Test initiation, on my mark." "5 4 3 2 1 ." "Mark." "Test start." "Rings are unlocked." "Power levels show a good start." "We've begun the test of earth's first system built by sharing knowledge with a neighbor in space." "All power sources on core induction bus." "lPV power transfer." "Ring motion detect." "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie." "Gerry, how are we looking?" "Looks good." "We're underway." "Looks like a normal start-up." "Roger, David." "It's looking good here." "We are moments away from the initiation of the drop sequence." "All systems are go." "Mechanical, you still happy?" "Roger." "It's very exciting from up here." "We've got 4%." "We're confirming 4%." "Frequency 9.85." "Harmonics in the green." "G-level 1.1." "5%." "Confirmed." "We are at 5% ." "David, how's it looking to you?" "Okay. I'm going to take a look and show you what we got." "Instrumentation looks good." "We have a good picture from Dr. Drumlin's PRD." "Hope you guys are seeing what I'm seeing." "All systems are go." "This is really something!" "For purposes of this test Dr. Drumlin will be on top of the Gantry crane that's over the Machine." "We've got some video animation to show just how this Machine-- it is thought--will work." "The passenger pod will release." "It will come down through the center of the rings and into the Machine's core." "The question everyone here is asking is what happens then?" "Some believe the rings function as some sort of an accelerator or something sending its energy into the pod making it rocket away at near light speed." "Others believe it might open up a doorway to some other dimension." "Who's right?" "That's what today's test is all about." "35%." "Subsystems ready?" "40% normal acceleration." "Confirm 40%." "Controllers stand by to initiate drop sequence on my mark." "All systems ready for drop sequence." "45%." "We're in 45%." "Verify closure." "46." "All controllers stand by to initiate lPV drop sequence." "On my mark." "48%." "I'm feeling a very strange vibration." "Are you feeling it down there?" "Gerry, can you confirm?" "Everything looks good." "Crew Ops?" "Nothing wrong." "We see nothing abnormal here." "No good." "Hold sequence." "I'll take a direct reading." "What's he talking about?" "Can anyone say grandstanding?" "He sure knows he's on TV!" "Back home that's what we call an overcooked ham." "I'm reading 10 kilohertz!" "What do you read on the first and second order G-levels?" "G-levels are right on!" "We confirm Drumlin's readings." "All normal." "We're go." "I think we're okay, but we'll let him finish." "Mechanical, you still okay?" "Roger." "Right on the money." "Security problem!" "Ellie, are you sure?" "He shouldn't be there." "I know him." "Gerry, execute the rapid shutdown sequence." "Security, move emergency response team into position." "Get Drumlin on a secure loop." "You got him." "Can you hear me?" "Yes, I hear." "We've got a security breach here." "Behind you." "The tall guy." "The technician." "See him?" "He shouldn't be there." "Something's in his hand!" "Him!" "Take him!" "Security breach!" "A bomb!" "I want that emergency response team up on the gantry." "Now!" "Stage One Alert!" "Move all fire and rescue personnel into position one." "All right, back to your stations." "I need you to be professional." "Settle down!" "Pad Leader, do you copy?" "The scene earlier today, when David Drumlin advisor to two Presidents and winner of the National Academy of Sciences lifetime award was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery." "In a related story..." "Can I help you?" "I've got some mail for you." "...the apparent suicide note of the terrorist now believed responsible for the explosion in Florida this week." "What we do we do for the goodness of all mankind." "This won't be understood, not now but the Apocalypse to come will vindicate our faith." "Welcome home." "Comrade Arroway we have been expecting your call." "One moment, please." "Mr. Hadden?" "Doctor!" "How kind of you to call." "Mr. Hadden, where are you?" "The Russian government was kind enough to give me accommodations on Mir." "You're living on a space station?" "It's quite simple, really." "The low oxygen, zero gravity environment is the only thing keeping the cancer from eating me alive." "Actually, I quite like it up here." "My little room has one hell of a view." "I want to show you something." "Hokkaido Island." "The systems integration site." "Look closer." "First rule in government spending:" "Why build one when you can have two at twice the price?" "Only, this one can be kept secret." "Controlled by Americans built by Japanese subcontractors who also happen to be recently acquired wholly-owned subsidiaries of Hadden lndustries." "They still want an American to go, Doctor." "Want to take a ride?" "Augmenting our restraint and is your personal recording unit." "Normal, infrared and ultraviolet lenses." "Digital microchip good for thousands of hours of recording." "Okay, look, I understand the reason for recording and documenting the mission." "But I just want to go on record one more time." "The transmitted specs never said anything about any chair or a restraining harness or survival gear." "Why can't we just trust the original" "Doctor, both the imc Board and the Sl team reviewed the material and concluded that the design impact is negligible." "Bottom line is we're not putting anyone aboard this Machine unless there is some sort of minimal protection." "End of story." "We've given these to the astronauts since the start of the space program." "It's never been made public, of course." "It's fast and it's painless." "I'm going to travel 26 light years to commit suicide?" "Something may go wrong." "There may be an unforeseen mechanical failure." "You could be marooned, unable to return." "There are 1,000 reasons we can think of to have this but mostly it's for the reasons we can't think of." "Come in." "Dr. Arroway, time to get ready." "Thank you." "I know there's not much time." "As soon as I found out about it, I called the President." "I came with Kitz." "I had to see you one more time." "Oh, God, I'm sorry." "No, I'm glad you came." "There's something I got to say to you." "The reason I didn't vote for you was a good one, but not the real one." "I didn't vote for you to go because I don't want to lose you." "Now you find your way home, all right?" "23 hours ago, the world was stunned by the announcement of the existence of another Machine and its passenger, Eleanor Ann Arroway." "Now the question that's on everyone's mind:" "Will history repeat itself?" "With a piece of engineering this complex with so many unknowns, could the unthinkable occur?" "The security in Hokkaido has been incredibly tight." "No reporters whatsoever have been allowed near the site." "Restraint secure." "Life support functions normal." "Roger." "This is Control." "Do you copy?" "Reading you five-by-five." "Give me Ellie's PRD." "Video unit recording and transmitting." "Are you reading me?" "That's affirmative." "Video looks good." "Copy, Control." "Ellie, we're going to proceed to button you up." "I'm ready." "Confirming walkway retraction." "Communications?" "Go." "Life support?" "Go." "We are go for closure." "I'm go here." "Mechanical, initiate lPV closure sequence." "Let me get you a chair." "lt's nice to smell you again, Mr. Kitz." "You too." "Wouldn't peg him as a Polo man." "I got a visual on the door." "The door is looking good." "Door alignment looks good." "We're green across the board." "Copy that, Control." "lPV is secure." "We are at 30%." "Copy that, 30%." "How you doing in there?" "Kent?" "is that you?" "That's a big affirmative." "Who let you in there?" "A higher power intervened." "I'm glad you came." "35%." "Copy that, 35% ." "Mechanical?" "We're good." "40%." "I'm picking up a moderate vibration." "Dynamics, can you confirm vibration?" "It looks good here." "She's feeling the same thing they felt at the Cape." "Vibration's normal." "We are at 50%." "All systems nominal." "Copy that, 50%." "Vibration's a little stronger now." "We're picking up some low frequency noise." "Mechanical, confirm?" "It looks fine to me." "Roger." "Jerry, what do you think?" "I'm still go." "People, we are still go." "Something's happening." "You see that light?" "I'm seeing" "I can't tell if it's daylight." "There it is again." "It's coming from the bottom." "Let me show you." "See that?" "Negative." "You're breaking up." "Can we boost signal?" "lt's at maximum." "65%." "The material is changing." "It's bordering on translucence." "The system's intact." "It has to be some kind of electromagnetic field." "Do you read this?" "We see only interference." "It's becoming translucent." "I can't describe it." "I can't even explain it!" "70%." "We have intermittent comm, but we are go!" "lnitiate secondary drive systems." "lnitiating auxiliary booster sequence." "We're go for ignition." "We have auxiliary ignition." "Life support, how is she?" "Heart and respiration are high but within limits." "Ellie, do you copy?" "If you hear I am okay to go." "80%." "All vibration and G-levels are in the green." "Control, if you're reading me I am okay to go!" "Okay to go!" "85%." "All tips are on the profile." "90%." "We're detecting some structural instability." "ls she holding?" "We're within limits, barely." "I'm okay to go!" "I'm okay to go!" "My God!" "Okay to go!" "I'm okay!" "100% target velocity." "Tremendous emi levels around Machine!" "Field measurements are off-scale." "We're approaching our abort limits." "Okay to go." "I hear her!" "I hear her." "Barely, but she's there." "Okay to go." "Says she's okay to go." "Steve, we're real close." "Your core reading?" "lnternal environment looks normal." "Inside the core, the weather's beautiful." "I'm okay to go." "I'm okay to go." "lnitiate drop sequence." "On my mark." "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2... I'm okay to go." "Oh, God!" "Ellie to Control." "Ellie to Control, do you read me!" "Ellie to Control, do you read me!" "I'll try to keep recording!" "I'm going through some kind of a tunnel!" "There's a light source ahead!" "Brilliant blue-white." "Residual radiation?" "It's a star." "I must have gone through a wormhole." "It's Vega!" "I'm in another wormhole now!" "I had no idea!" "A series of them!" "They're alive." "It's like some kind of a transit system." "A subway!" "Oh, God!" "I have to keep talking." "It's a triple no, a quadruple system." "Beautiful!" "They're alive!" "Another wormhole!" "This one's much more violent!" "Some celestial event...." "No!" "No words!" "No words to describe it!" "Poetry!" "They should have sent a poet." "It's so beautiful!" "Beautiful!" "So beautiful." "I had no idea." "Hi, Sparks." "Dad?" "I missed you." "Aren't you--?" "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you, sweetheart." "You're not real." "None of this is real!" "That's my scientist." "When I was unconscious, you downloaded my thoughts, my memories." "Pensacola!" "We thought it might make things easier for you." "Why did you contact us?" "You contacted us." "We were just listening." "There are others?" "Many others." "They all travel here through that transit system you built?" "We didn't build it." "We don't know who did." "They were gone long before we ever got here." "Maybe someday they'll come back." "All the civilizations you find come here?" "Not all." "ls this some test?" "No, no test." "You have your mother's hands." "You're an interesting species an interesting mix." "You're capable of such beautiful dreams and such horrible nightmares." "You feel so lost so cut off, so alone." "Only you're not." "In all our searching all we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other." "What happens now?" "Now?" "You go home." "Home?" "But I have so many questions." "Do we get to come back?" "This was just a first step." "In time, you'll take another." "But other people need to see what I've seen" "This is the way it's been done for billions of years." "Small moves, Ellie." "Small moves." "We've got video on Ellie!" "She's through!" "She is in the net." "She's alive." "Get the President on the phone!" "What's going on?" "How is she?" "Ellie, this is Control." "You copy?" "What's going on?" "l don't know." "She's alive." "Put her on P.A." "Ellie, hold on tight." "We're still trying to determine the nature of the malfunction but the important thing is you're okay." "What?" "It's all right." "The important thing is you're safe." "What malfunction?" "What happened?" "What day is this?" "I'm sorry." "Did you say what day?" "How long was I gone?" "The lPV dropped straight through the Machine." "You didn't go anywhere." "But I did." "I did go." "That's what I've tried to tell everyone." "But the headset didn't record a single image?" "Just this." "Static." "Thank you." "Let me show you what we saw." "43 separate remote cameras show exactly the same event." "The lPV dropped straight through." "Everyone saw exactly the same thing." "Nothing happened." "How do you explain this, Doctor?" "I can't." "I'd encourage you not to inflame this situation beyond the facts." "Let us deal with this on the facts." "We are monitoring what has actually happened." "We are taking what we believe are factually appropriate steps." "Amid a flurry of accusations and counter-accusations by the nations representing the Machine Consortium the President has ordered a special inquiry." "But the appointment to the committee of Michael Kitz who has resigned as National Security Advisor has raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill." "I have made no decision to run for Congress, announced no candidacy." "I resigned as National Security Advisor in order to devote all of my energy to this inquiry." "The people of the world have a right to know what really happened." "Yet every scientific instrument confirms the lPV was out of contact for only a fraction of a second." "Isn't that correct, Doctor?" "A fraction of a second Earth time, yes." "Earth time?" "Senator, I believe that the Machine opened up a wormhole a tunnel through space-time, also known as an Einstein-Rossen Bridge." "Due to the effect of general relativity, what I experienced as 18 hours passed instantaneously on Earth." "Isn't it true these wormholes are merely theoretical predictions?" "There is no evidence they actually exist?" "There is no direct evidence, no." "Tell me why would these aliens go to all this trouble?" "Bring you thousands of light years, then send you home without proof?" "They said it's how it's been done for billions of years." "You have no proof because they didn't want you to have any." "A phenomenon known in psychiatric circles as a self-reinforcing delusion." "You think I was delusional?" "I do think you may have suffered some kind of an episode." "Yes, I do." "I'd like to propose an alternate hypothesis and I'd like you to bring your scientific expertise to bear on it." "To fake a signal from Vega what would you need?" "You'd need a satellite to transmit it, but it would be impossible to" "You'd need a satellite and launch capabilities to orbit it." "And the message itself." "To put something like this together so complex, drawing on many disciplines" "Would be impossible." "lmpossible?" "is there anyone who might have been up to the challenge?" "Someone with extraordinary technical expertise enormous financial resources someone perverse enough, eccentric enough to come up with the idea?" "Hadden?" "S. R. Hadden." "You're implying that this was some kind of a hoax?" "That he engineered this?" "S. R. Hadden a legendary power broker in perhaps his final bid for immortality." "Maybe he wanted to exploit new technologies having world governments pick up the tab." "Perhaps this was his final altruistic gesture to unite the world in some common goal." "Maybe all of the above." "S. R. Hadden, a brilliant and complicated man." "Doctor, are you familiar with the scientific precept known as Occam's Razor?" "Yes." "It means the simplest explanation generally tends to be the right one." "Exactly." "You tell me." "What is more likely here?" "A message from aliens results in a magical machine that whisks you to the center of the galaxy to windsurf with Dad and a split second later returns you home without a single shred of proof?" "Or that your experience is the result of being the unwitting star in the farewell performance of one S.R. Hadden?" "A man with the means and motive to play you and all of us as pawns in the most elaborate, most expensive hoax of all time?" "You come to us with no evidence, no records no artifacts-- ...only a story that, to put it mildly, strains credibility." "Over half a trillion dollars were spent." "Dozens of lives were lost." "Are you going to sit there and tell us we should just take this all on faith?" "Please answer the question, Doctor." "is it possible that it didn't happen?" "Yes." "As a scientist I must concede that." "I must volunteer that." "Let me get this straight." "You admit you have no physical evidence to back up your story?" "Yes." "You admit you may have hallucinated this whole thing?" "You admit if you were in our position you would be as incredulous and skeptical as we?" "Then why don't you simply withdraw your testimony and concede that this journey to the center of the galaxy never took place?" "Because I can't." "I had an experience." "I can't prove it." "I can't even explain it." "But everything I know as a human being, everything I am tells me it was real." "I was given something wonderful, something that changed me forever." "A vision of the universe that tells us undeniably how tiny and insignificant and how rare and precious we all are." "A vision that tells us that we belong to something that is greater than ourselves, that none of us are alone." "I wish I could share that." "I wish that everyone, if even for one moment could feel that awe and humility and hope." "That continues to be my wish." "Dr. Arroway, can I get a picture, please." "Reverend Joss!" "What do you believe?" "!" "As a person of faith, I'm bound by a different covenant than Dr. Arroway." "But our goal is one and the same." "The pursuit of truth." "I, for one, believe her." "So what happens now?" "We give her a medal?" "I'd say at least a healthy grant." "You read the confidential report from the investigating committee?" "I flipped through it." "I was very interested in the section on Arroway's video unit." "The one that recorded the static." "Continue." "The fact that it recorded static isn't what interests me." "Continue." "What interests me is that it recorded approximately 18 hours of it." "That is interesting, isn't it?" "And you can see over there, we're building 45 brand new dishes." "That means when you put them together with all the radio telescopes all over the world we'll hear farther into space than anyone has ever heard before." "Are there other people out there in the universe?" "That's a good question." "What do you think?" "I don't know." "That's a good answer." "Skeptic, huh?" "The important thing is that you all keep searching for your own answers." "One thing about the universe, though." "The universe is a pretty big place." "It's bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before." "So if it's just us it seems like an awful waste of space." "Right?"