"It shouldn't be here." "Moving on to Wolf 336, F-class star at right ascension 7.36] 5.21 declination." "I thought that was the last one." "Why'd you think that?" "Because you said that it would be." "No, I distinctly remember forgetting that." "I don't know why I put up with this." "Oh, yes, I do." "Because I let you drive." "I'm a ride-share hostage." "F-class star." "Recent variability." "14.6 light-years away." "This is nuts anyway." "The whole approach." "SETl's tough enough on microwave band." "Now you wanna search FM?" "With all that noise?" "Might as well look for a needle in a haystack of needles." "Station 5." "Is my voice even vaguely familiar to you, Zane?" "Honey, I'm trying to get out of here, but as usual, Calvin's holding me up." "Should be home by 1, 1:30." "One-thirty Tuesday?" "Wednesday?" "A.m.?" "P.m.?" "What can I say?" "I'm a ride-share hostage." " I'm gonna go pee." "Look, I will try to" " Where are you?" " Oh, I'm having a drink with Becky." "You're in some bar while I'm here working?" "There's a hockey player too." "He's only in town for one night." "All right." "I give up." "What do you want?" "I want your ass in bed, Zane." "Okay." "I'll leave now if you leave now." "But do not talk to any strangers on the way out." "I'll see you at my place in 83 minutes, okay?" "Swear you'll be there?" "I don't want a repeat of last week." "If I say I'm gonna be there, I will." "End of story." "There is nothing more important to me right now than our" "Good solid spike." "Nice symmetry to the modulation." "Detection protocol." "Now." "Zane." "Zane." " Confirmation phase one." "Swing dish five degrees off-axis." "And signal fades." "Looking good." "Now swing dish back on target." "And signal returns." "Definitely sky-based." "Wolf 336, you are howling." "Phase two." "Initiating software check." "Jumping ahead to phase three, second source verification." "Who's still online?" "Green Bank'?" "Ohio State?" "Moffett Field." "Checking here." "Still checking." "Be there." "Just be there." "We gotta get another ear on this." "Software self-checks." "Phase two complete." "Come on, Moffett." "You're killing me." "I'm dying here." "Just pick up the phone so we can confirm this." "Nothing." "Zaminsky!" "Zaminsky." "This is not valet parking." "Stalled out on me." "Stalled on me." "This piece of" "Sorry, sir." "Sorry." "That's it?" "Forty-two seconds." "We listened all night." "All night, all morning, and the sound never repeated." "It's 42 seconds of non-random, non-Earth-based signal." "This could be it, Gordy." "Sounds compressed, like a military burst communication." "No way." "No way." "Not at 107 megahertz." "107?" "What the hell are you doing so far below the microwave?" "Good question." "So this is a variable star, this Wolf 336?" "Fourteen point six light-years away." "All right." "Okay." "So if it is a variable, it expands and contracts dramatically." "Gentlemen, maybe you can explain to me how intelligent life can actually develop in such a volatile environment." "It's only been unstable for what?" " Fifty years or so." "Fifty years." "Which means it's possible some form of life could still exist." "Exactly." "Maybe this is a distress call." "An S.O.S." "Maybe they're sending out their Encyclopedia Galactica jettisoning their knowledge before it goes down." "Zane." "It lasted 42 seconds and it never repeated." "That's why we have to stay on this one, Gordy, in case it does." "I'll pull double shifts." "I'll pull triple shifts if I have to." "But I want priority status and I want dish time." "Serious dish time." "During normal business hours, preferably." "Calvin, why don't you go home, get some sleep, okay?" "Go ahead." "Zane." "It's a mandatory 2O percent cutback." "Tracking station has a fixed operating cost." "I can't touch that." " I've got to look at personnel." "Are you even shitting me?" "Look, I can swing a month's pay, you know, instead of two weeks." "Maybe extend the health benefits two weeks beyond that, but" "Let me see if I got this straight." "I come to you" "I come to you with what may be the preeminent discovery of the 20th Century:" "the possibility of extra-solar life." "And I get shit-canned for it?" "Zane I know how important this is." "But searching for E.T.s in this political environment is a tough sell on Capitol Hill." "If we don't start spending money on harder science, we're gonna lose it." "Let's forget about me for a second." "What about the signal?" "I'm skeptical but it is interesting." "I'll pass it along to Decoding." "See if there's a pattern recognition there, but" "I don't have to tell you." "You know the rule." " If you can't confirm it" "Then it doesn't exist." "What asshole made up that rule?" "Can we fire him instead?" "It doesn't please me to be losing the brightest and the best." "I wish there was another way." "I honestly do." "Well, it is finally cooling off in the southland after a day of near-record temperatures." "But hot again tomorrow and hot again on Thursday with no letup" "How are you doing for money?" "If you need me to, I could" "No." "There's a SETI program up north." "Guy who runs it, Bill Wyatt, was begging me to come up." "Might give him a call." "You're not really thinking about going back to it, are you?" "We had a bell ringer this morning." "Really good signal." "I just couldn't confirm it in time." "You had something really good last year too." "Turned out to be what?" "A broken microwave oven." "What's your point?" "There's always something to give me false hope?" " That I'm wasting my life?" "I didn't say that." "But, you know, it's interesting that you did." "Well, come on." "Someone is watching." "What?" "How in the hell did I wind up with somebody like you?" "I got tired of rich guys with good futures." "No." "Really." "What is it you see in me?" "What made you call me the first time?" "Boy, when their self-worth goes:" "Okay, I see a man of great intelligence dedication, cute little kind of insecurity." " Little paranoia" "This went to shit fast." "Zane, why do we always have to analyze everything?" "Can't you trust that I love you?" "Algorithms I trust." "Boolean logic I trust." "Beautiful women, they just mystify me." "Two years and we're still talking about trust?" "It's amazing." "I should shut the hell up, huh?" "Look, it's your career, Zane, and I will support any decision that you make but if we are gonna make it we've gotta take care of our problems here on planet Earth." "And that is just a little hard when you're always off looking at the stars." "Listening." "Listening." "Are we falling apart here?" "Is that it, Char?" "I don't know, Zane." "Are we?" " How'd you do on the test?" "Pretty good." "No, I'm saying it's incomplete." "There's no chemical breakdown." "There's no broadband chart analysis." "Want me to go on?" "That information isn't available at this time." "This information was promised me two months ago." "Come on." "These are not national secrets." "This is a routine analysis of the atmosphere." "Why should I" "There's a problem with that satellite." "It's blind to certain trace gases." "Really?" "As of when?" "I believe it lost a solar panel." "Some functions were shut down to save energy." "Well, look, here's my problem." "I've devoted my sabbatical to greenhouse trace gases." "If I don't get this data, I might as well be counting cow farts in Montana." "You'll have to wait until the new satellite is in place." " Okay." "When's the launch date?" " NA SA doesn't have that information." "Round and round we go." "Thanks for naught." "Moffett Field." "Bill Wyatt, Zane Zaminsky." "How are you, man?" "Oh, yeah, Zane." "Hi." "I know you said you'd get back to me, but I felt obligated to let you know about a job offer that came up." "Telecommunications." "Looks pretty sweet too." "I mean, the health plan alone, you know?" "Well, good." "You should take it, Zane." "I don't think things are gonna work out here." "But I thought you were looking for radio astronomers, Bill." "Some good creative thinkers?" "Isn't that what you said?" " I remember you saying that." " Creative is one thing." "Too creative is another." "I'm not tracking." "I'm not sure I should be saying this but I talked to Phil Gordian at J.P.L." " He wouldn't quite" " The indication was-- dust say it." "He said you were faking signals in order to keep your job." "I do believe this permit's expired, Zaminsky." "Why haven't you?" "Zaminsky!" "Zaminsky!" "To raise the temperature of the planet tenfold to change the atmosphere into one suitable to colonization to construct farms and cities and build an infrastructure capable of supporting thousands of colonists." "Make no mistake about it." "Never before have we undertaken a task" "Have we undertaken a task of this size." " The terraforming of Mars." "Do you know who Phil Gordian is?" " The key to all of this is polar ice." "ls Phil Gordian here?" "If enough heat-generating factories could be built the heat would be enough to melt" "Excuse me, but perhaps you'd care to use the microphone." "Yes." "Yes, I would." "Thanks." "Phil Gordian?" "Has anybody seen him?" "I'm looking for Phil Gordian." "Anybody seen Phil Gordian?" "The man was in the middle of a seminar, Zane." "Why don't we step outside." "Let him finish." "Did you even give it to Decoding?" "Did you even see what was there?" "Zane, why don't we take this outside." "If you're not gonna analyze it, I want my tape back." "I'm sorry." "I just don't know what you're referring to." "Why don't you show me how smart you are by leaving right now." "What's going on?" "What are you doing this for?" " Back it up." "Let's go." "Why are you telling them lies?" " I said, now." "Let's go." "Why?" " Come on." "Let's go." "Why?" "I'm sorry." "He's a troubled young man." "A very troubled young man." "My apologies." "Please, continue." "Where was I?" "Polar ice." "Yes." "After the polar ice has been melted the atmosphere begins to grow thicker." "Finally, a kind of critical mass is reached." "And at this point, the atmosphere begins to work for us." " Station 5." "Tell me I'm not losing my mind." " Just tell me." " Zane, where are you?" "They're acting like it never happened." "It's like we never gave him any tape." " Listen, Zane" "But then I remembered." "It should be on the backup system." "We should have a copy." "Well, yes and no." "There are some D.O.D. guys here, Zane, going through our stuff as we speak." "Apparently, it was a burst from a spy satellite." " What?" "Yeah, Zane." "It's a defense thing." "You know, which is probably why Gordian couldn't tell us about it." " We weren't cleared for this spy shit." "Cal." "Cal, listen to me very carefully." "Satellites do not move like stars move." "We tracked this thing in stereo time, in star time, okay?" "I don't know who these guys are, but I do know they're lying to you." "Is this everything?" "Cal, if you haven't told them about the backup system, don't." "We have it all?" "Don't you tell them, Cal." "Don't you dare." "There" "There's a backup system." "H9)'" "So if this was a spy bird, why was it moving like a star?" "Not really sure." "We'll have to get back to you on that." "It's a very aggressive company." "With the federal mandate for air bags they're perfectly positioned to dominate the market." "Blade Co." "Technologies." "All right." "I'll send you a prospectus." "Are you at the same address?" "Okay, Doug, can I call you back in, say, 1O minutes?" " So I get this signal." "How about 5:00?" "Signal from an F-class." "Just like our sun but hotter." " First they act like it's nothing." "Great." "Thanks." "Now they're going to unimaginable pains to make it disappear." "Zane, I thought you had a new job." "Something is going on here, Char." "Why would they do that?" "What is it they're trying to hide?" " Maybe we could talk later." "I need to talk about this now." " I called last night twice." "I got the messages." "Thought the problem was I wasn't around enough." "Now that I am, you're not." "Is this Tales from the Darkside?" "I guess I have been avoiding this." "Yes." "Okay." "Define "this."" "Zane, the brokerage is strongly suggesting that I head up the office in San Diego soon." " It'd mean moving there." "Okay." "Can you tell them no?" "Thank you, Zane." "I tell you I'll support any career decision you make." " When it comes to my work" "You're considering this?" "Char, it's Mr. Morgan on line five." "And?" "I gotta take this." "By any chance is he going to San Diego also?" "Stick your paranoia back in your pants and get out of here." " I will call you." "Fine." "No problem." " When?" "Whenever I get to it." "Tuesday?" "Wednesday?" "A.m.?" "P.m.?" "Go." "Right now." "They could be talking to us right now." "An array." "Phased array." "Good morning, Mr. Carbiner." "I'm Horace with your local satellite company." "Good morning." "Morning." "Morning." "Can I see your dish?" "What a glorious morning." "Hot enough for you?" "For a limited time, we're offering a free upgrade on a totally automated control system." "All this at no extra cost to you." "No extra cost to you." "One of the many ways we're improving the quality of service to our customers." "Can I see your dish?" "Jesus." "What are you doing here?" "How soon can you leave?" " What are you doing here?" "I live here." "Do you mind?" "I mind you grabbing on me." "Let go." " I'm trying to help you down." "I can do it myself." " My butt is stuck." "You live next door." "With Mrs. Roosevelt." "That it?" "I live in L.A. Just kicking it here a minute." "I don't want anybody nosing around here." "If I were gonna steal your stuff, it would be done." " Okay?" "What do you know about my stuff?" "What are you doing climbing roofs at 1:00?" "Shouldn't you be out tagging freeway signs?" "I don't gotta tell you shit." "Fine." "Hang there all night." "Hey." "Where you going?" "Get me down out of here." "What are you doing?" "I told you to wait downstairs." "What's this?" "It's a cooling jacket for a low-noise amp." "Don't touch it." "What's that blinky shit over there?" "Will you just sit down?" "Put this on your ankle." "I don't want that thing." "It's cold." "Just keep your butt down, your foot up and your mouth shut." "You can watch, but don't touch anything." "So, what are all them dots?" "They're satellite dishes." "Each one." "You string enough of them together it makes one big radio antenna, basically." "But what's it do?" "It lets you get close to the stars." "See if you get 92.9, K-BUMP." "Greetings from beyond the solar system." " That, my friend, is Voyager 2." "What's that?" "Voyager is a planetary probe launched in the '70s." "They don't teach science in school anymore?" "Too busy patting us down to see if we're strapped." "I assume you mean guns." "They find one on you?" "Not me." "Just everyone else." "That's how come the folks want me out of L.A. Crazy stuff going on." "Can I come in now?" "So this is the star, Wolf 336." "We check the spectra at different magnifications looking for anything unusual." "But unfortunately, all we find is the typical radio noise of an F-class star." "But you talked to them before, huh?" "The aliens?" "This channel?" "This star, this frequency." "But we can't really talk." "It takes years for a radio wave to get here." "So all we can really do is just listen." "But what'd they say?" "Before." "Maybe how to live forever." "Maybe how to make nuclear power safe." "I don't know." "Maybe they were ordering out for a pizza." "We won't really know what they're saying." "At first." "But that doesn't make it less important." "If I can confirm this signal, if we can find it again then we will finally, finally know that we're not alone." "I wonder what they're gonna look like." "Warning:" "Your sleep period is over." "Get out of bed." "Warning:" "Your sleep period is over." "Get out of bed." "Warning:" "Your sleep period is over." " Jesus." "You gonna try again?" "Tonight?" "If you are, I could wait up and sort of, you know, help some this time." "Didn't tell anybody about our little clubhouse, did you?" " What am I?" "New?" "What about your grandma?" "She doesn't care if you stay up late?" " Not after 10:00." "What happens at 10:00?" "She passes out on cough syrup." "Tell you what, whenever I'm up there, you can come over." "But only, only if you got the proper l.D." "So where I get that at?" "What about me, huh?" "When can I do something?" "Okay." "Hit that key." " What one?" "That one." " This one here?" "Yes." "Are you sure it's okay?" " I'm sure it's okay." "This one under my finger?" " Give me your badge." "You're fired." "I'll do it." "I'll do it." " So, what's this signal gonna look like?" "it's just a spike." "A big one or a little one?" "Because I got a big one." "That's it." "That's exactly what Calvin and I saw." "No, no, no!" "Come back." "And I didn't touch nothing, okay?" "It's the same thing." "Same signature, same periodicity." " What the hell is this?" "What is that lambada shit?" "It's gotta be a bounce." "Radio wave kicks off the inversion layer, bleeds back in through the system." "It's coming from Earth?" "Some Mexican radio station on the same frequency tells us where the bounce came from, but it doesn't" "But it's wack." "All of it?" "Wait a sec." "The first signal was definitely sky-based." "We verified it." "But this one is Earth-based." "Two identical signals." "One comes from space, the other from Earth." "I'm all screwed up here." "It doesn't make any sense." "Unless they're talking." "Last night you were telling me we couldn't talk because it'd take" "Cal." "I gotta talk to Cal." "I don't know." "Somebody said something about a faulty heater." " Carbon monoxide poisoning." "Really?" " Taking him to County?" "Yeah, sure, but this guy's D.O.A." "What have we got here?" "Huge concentrations of trace gas in Central Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil." "Look." "You can see for yourself." "Seven hundred percent increase over the last five years?" " How can that be?" "My very question." "Just how accurate is this data you sent us, Ilana?" "It's hard to say." "We cobbled it together from ground stations weather balloons, Uncle Earl's aching corns." " Some of your numbers are there." "No satellite data?" "NASA's bird has a bum wing." "You've obviously got some ratty data." "We checked this as best we could." "George, run me a future cast, will you?" "Say, 10 years, assuming the same increase." "Of course." "This had better be wrong." "According to this, we're looking at an increase of 12 degrees centigrade over the next decade, and that's just" " Catastrophic." "I was gonna say impossible." "But, yep, that too." "Central Mexico." " Excuse me." "You come to see the ruins, my friend?" "I take you to some much very good places." "No, let's just head for town." "When does it start to cool off down here?" "In San Marsol?" "This is cool off." "This dial right?" "Right, left." "Both ways." "This radio station?" "You know where this is?" "Very far." "Not close to town." "Let's go there." "How about the ruins?" "You want see the ruins, my friend?" "The radio station." "I need to go there." "I gotta talk to the people." "Accidente, he say." "But no persons was here" "When the fire come last night." "I'm too late." "I'm one day too late." "Posada San Marsol." "One of our much very best hotels." "You see those things?" "These TV dishes." " You know of any big ones?" "Big?" "Big." "Not small like these, but big." "Fifty, 60 feet wide." "Big." ""One of our very much best hotels."" "This is Peter Dowling from Sierra Satellite." "Just wondering if you were sick or dead or something." "Because if you're not, you're fired." "Sorry, pal." "Yeah, Zane, this is Doug." "I heard about you and Char." "I heard it was skidsville." "Man, I'm sorry to hear that." "I know what it feels like." "If you wanna get together anytime, you know, let's do it." "We'll talk it through." "I'm there for you, man, okay?" "Oh, and would you mind if I got her number?" "You know, I wanna talk to her about some investment possibilities." "All right?" "Thanks." "I called this morning." "Just didn't leave a message." "Are you there now?" "Well, I guess I didn't get back to you that night because I was mad, Zane." "I get so tired of being questioned about even the basic things and maybe I was feeling guilt too for steering you away from what you should be doing from what you love the most." "But you were such an ass the last time we talked." "Damn." "I can't remember if this machine lets you ramble so I better just admit this quick." "I miss your weird paranoid brain." "Call when you can." "Where are you, Zane?" "Move." "So just who the hell are you, huh?" "Because I saw you in town." "I saw you at the airport." "You were waiting for me." "You knew, didn't you?" "How the...?" "Where do you hide a 20-meter dish?" "Research." " Jesus." "Hey." "Excuse me." "Excuse me." "What's going on here?" "I don't know." "These guys are stealing my stuff." "They're taking my equipment." "I was trying to work here." "Excuse me." "What?" "Hey!" "Take it easy." "Will you guys take it easy?" "Get out." "Well, I know I should say thanks but that was a dicey stunt you pulled back there." "You could have got us both shot." "You're welcome, and you're right." "I saw you in town last night, didn't I?" "Zane Zaminsky." "Am I still bleeding?" "Yeah, a little. llana Green." "Damn." "It's hot in here." "Think they'd have air-conditioning in this place." "I don't like blood." "So why were they rousting you, anyways?" "Something about my gear they don't like." " What is all that stuff?" "it's technical." "It looks like some kind of radiosonde for atmospheric sampling." "That's right." "That's absolutely right." "Just who are you?" " Can I ask what I've done wrong?" "I wish to apologize to you both." "We have overreacted in this matter." "As for the equipment, it seems to be ruined." "If you give me a local number" "Wait a second." "Why was I detained?" "Why did these men take my gear?" " You were on private land." "But isn't this a public facility?" "Please try to understand." "This is a new type of power station." "And with new technology come those who would like to steal it." "You're staying at San Marsol, yes?" "What do you mean, "new type"?" "You still burn fossil fuels, right?" "With great efficiency, very few emissions." "What kind of emissions?" "I'm not an expert in this matter like yourself." "Perhaps if you were to leave me a local number" " Perhaps if you give me" "No, no." "Call it a push." "Come on." "They say there's a twin for everyone in the world." "No." "That's not it." "Roll the genetic dice often enough, they're gonna land on top of each other." "Trust me, Ilana." "That is not it." "Nice of them to bring our cars here." "Follow me back to town and don't make any stops, all right?" "I understand you do residential work." "I've got a little weeding problem I'm hoping you can help me with." "It's really a very small job." "Here's the address." "We saw Gulf hurricanes in March." "Right now there's a drought in the Sudan, killing thousands." "So we're talking global warming, right?" "Yes and no." "Yes in that we're showing an increase in global temperature over the last decade." "It's not much, but if you factor out the cooling effects of volcanic-- it's happening" "Our factories can't pump out 7 billion tons of CO2 a year and not do damage." " This is the Arctic?" "Yeah, 90 miles from the Pole." "Well, what's it doing there?" "Taken by itself, it's just another anomaly." "But as a whole" " The Arctic is incredibly sensitive to environmental change." "That's why we go there, because things happen first in the Arctic." "It's like a window on the future." "So you're talking about something a lot bigger than global warming." "I see some major climatic ordeal happening." "God." "I get so damned apocalyptic when I drink." "But you have to remember, every major turning point on this planet including the demise of the dinosaur, began with a shift in climate." "Even a 10-degree increase will melt 7O percent of the polar icecap wipe out all agriculture" "Raise the temperature of the planet to change its atmosphere into one suitable to colonization." " Terraforming." "What is that?" "This guy at J.P.L., he's been giving talks about Mars and how its whole environment can be changed." "We can terraform it and live there." "It'll never happen, of course." "It'd cost hundreds of billions." "But he did say something about" "After the polar ice has been melted, the atmosphere again grows thicker." "Finally, a kind of critical mass is reached." "What?" "I don't know." "Might give him a call if it's not too" "Jesus, I did the time warp dance here." "Before I go around saying the sky is falling or even warming I've gotta get new gear from NCAR." " When do you leave?" "First thing in the morning." " You?" "I don't know yet." "I still haven't seen everything I need to see." "Maybe a couple of days." "You know, I must say, Zane, I really enjoyed our talk tonight." "It's uncommon for me to find someone who can actually grasp the things I'm passionate about." " Yeah, I hear you." "So where you staying?" "I was in room 302 at the big pink place until it merged with room 402." " Some kind of an accident?" "Everything is lately." " How is this dump?" "it's not bad with the lights off." " Maybe I'll get a room." "Well, look." "I'm gone first thing in the morning." "Why don't you just stay here now and keep the room tomorrow?" "You mean share it?" "Well, there is a couch." "We could at least keep the appearance of respectability." "Yeah, I suppose we could." "Not that I don't find the proposition intriguing." "Not that you just propositioned me." "Did you?" "Boy, that's a lot of guilt for someone who hasn't done anything yet." "I take it there's a warm body in bed at home." "Out of my bed, still in my head." "I don't know." "I guess there's still something to be said for abstinence." "You think?" "In moderation." "Terraforming." "If you find anything, get it to me, care of UCLA." "I Will." "Oh, Hana?" "What?" "Yes?" "Just be careful." "Change for the phone?" " Man, it was good to hear your voice." "Zane..." "Look, I'm really sorry about before, but I tried to" "No, no, no." "You're right." "I was a complete asshole." "And we will get back to that, but you still get downloads at home, right?" " Stock stuff?" "Yeah, but" "Planecorp Industries." "Check it out for me, will you?" "Slow modem." "Still waiting." "So when are you coming home, Zane?" "I'm not exactly" " Who said I was gone?" " I stopped by yesterday." "The papers were stacking up so I put them inside." "Okay, here we go." "Ticker P.L.C., Planecorp Industries." "A leader in clean air technology." "Looks like they buy up old power utilities, overhaul and put them back online." "Ecuador, Peru, three facilities in Mexico." "Wait a minute." "Back up." "There's more than one plant?" "As of January 1st, they have eight facilities online. .." "...and 12 more planned, all in Third-World countries." "Twenty plants?" "Where's all the money coming from?" "American investors." "Your mutual funds at work." "Well, thanks for the help, Char." "What?" "That's it?" "After four weeks, you call me up for a stock report?" "I" " I don't know what else to say." "How about "I miss you"?" "I shouldn't have to say it." "If that's it, how big does that make the" "Oh, my God." "I'm sorry." "Do you want to see the ruins, my friend?" "Mr. Zaminsky, we caught you speeding on the wrong side of the road." "Then you said you were in the cantina last night with Sefiorita what's-her-name?" " Green. llana Green." "Right." "I suppose you were drinking." "We had a couple of beers." "Big deal." "That has nothing to do" "This week is Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead." "Yeah, so what?" "As an American, you're not familiar with these costumes with all these things we see all around." "Wrong." "What I saw was no costume was no papier-méché skeleton." "It was nothing like that." "The captain of security for the power station has called to report an accident." "That a man, intoxicated killed someone with his car last night." "An American man." "No, that is not what happened." " That is to say you were involved." "They are lying." "It's up to me to decide who's lying." "That's why I make the questions, and you give me answers." "Now, again, were you involved in this?" "I hit something with the car." "Now, who it was or what it was, I'm not sure but if they're saying I killed someone, I wanna see it." "Bring the body here." "I demand to see it." "There's no need to demand that, Mr. Zaminsky." "That's exactly what they're doing." "Don't go anywhere." "Oh, no." "Our word for an attorney is abogado." "' Suggest you" "Mercury peaks at around 99 degrees today." "Yes, that will be a record for this day in October." "But nowhere is it hotter right now than in the hallways of NASA where officials are still trying to explain what happened to that atmospheric satellite that blew up just 32 seconds after launch." "Press conference now underway at J.P.L. in Pasadena." "Anybody gonna lose their job over this?" "Ari, I'm really not the right p" "Zane." "You don't look too good." "Actually, I look like a can of smashed assholes." "Here's a tip." "If you ever get the chance to travel with a Mexican rodeo..." """9883." "Look, Zane, about before, I'm sorry." "D.O.D. was putting pressure on me to keep a lid on things." "You start asking questions in front of people." "No, no." "Forget it." "No hard feelings." "I just wanted to drop by and pay you a visit." "Check up on my old buddy Gordy maybe see what's really what, who's really who." "I tell you, Zane, you're really not making very much sense." "We should walk over to the infirmary." "It didn't make a lot of sense to me either the first time I saw your face on another guy." "Genetic dice?" "No, I don't think so." "I think somebody just screwed up." "As good as you are, you do make mistakes, don't you?" "They should have broke the mold, Gordy." " What do you want, Zane?" "What do I want?" "I wanna blow a hole in your head and donate your organs to science but there are a few things I need to know first." "Fucking NRA." "It's just so easy to get one." "Let's have a chat." "Yeah." "Okay." "Media Center." "Somebody stole some camera gear." " You want it?" "A real crime." "Okay." "Somebody's on the way." "So who was targeted?" "Anyone in SETI?" "Well, not anyone." "Who, then?" "Look in the mirror." "Prime intellect." "Nonconformist reasoning." "Capacity for lateral thinking." "Isn't that what you see?" "And then what?" "A control is assigned?" "Somebody like you?" "Could I actually see this gun of yours, Zane?" "Oh, sure, but if I pull it out, Gordy, it'll be the last thing you ever see." "Well, I think it's possible to say that you've been watched for quite a while now." "So which programs besides SETI?" "NASA?" "Ask yourself why an antenna won't deploy on a deep-space probe." "Or ask how they could launch a $6 billion telescope without testing its mirror." " So what you're saying" "I'm saying nothing." "I'm just listening to you ask questions." "Then I'll ask about Planecorp." "Planecorp." "Sorry, I don't know what that is." "You know, it's that factory down in Mexico." "It's outside my knowledge." "One of 20 being built in Third-World countries." " Outside." "Where no laws protect the air." " Outside my knowledge." "You build where it's hot." "Because you like it hot, Gordy, don't you?" "Zane, if you force me to answer you you will be hearing your own death sentence." "Now, as much as you think you know, you don't know the half of it." "Right now, you're just one little guy with a big conspiracy theory and no proof, and the world is full of them." "So Zane, you take great care in what else you choose to learn." "They're terraform factories, aren't they?" " Yes." "You're pumping out greenhouse gas." " Now you're dead." "You're changing the air." " The temperature, the whole ecosystem." "We're just finishing what you started." "What would've taken 100 years we'll do in 10." "Just speeding along your own demise." "Like you sped Calvin along, and Ilana Green, right?" "If you can't tend to your own planet, none of you deserve to live here." "You're dead." "Don't tell me that's who I think it is." "We have a problem here?" "No." "No." "No problem." "I'm gonna handle this myself." "Jeez." "Zane, what are you doing out here like this?" "You scared the living" "Who's been here?" "Anyone?" " Anybody watching my house?" "Nobody I seen." "I can't believe they wouldn't be." "Kiki, I'm gonna say something that's gonna sound completely insane but I'm telling you because I think you might actually believe me." "I'm also telling you because I can't be the only one who knows in case they find me before I finish this." "Well, tell me." "I followed the signal to Mexico because we thought somebody was" "Yeah, yeah." "They weren't "us," Kiki." "Well, so what was they?" "Do they got these little flashlight fingers that" "Maybe they got these big metal teeth that come out and sort of" " Well, what does they look like then?" "Like you." "Like me." "Like anyone." " Then what they doing here?" " I'll show you." "I'll show everyone, as soon as I fire up the array." "Shit." "You been evicted." "I gotta get out to Oro Valley, out to the big dish." "Hold this." "Don't drop it." "What game does it play?" "Man, where's the start button?" "Char." " Zane." "You gonna let me in'?" "Who's Char?" "I can't stay." "If they're not here now, they will be soon." "Who, Zane?" "The police?" "What about the police?" "They came to my work, Zane." "Some detective." "He said something about manslaughter charges in Mexico." "You're a fugitive?" "Oh, that's phat." "The whole thing was fabricated." "They set me up." "I don't understand." "Why would the police want to" " Not the police." "It was them." "Them." "Who's them?" " Forget it." "Probably the aliens." "Who is this child?" "And does he mean illegal aliens, Zane, lhope?" " I'll take your car." "Give me that." " No, no." "No, you won't." "Not until I know what is going on here." "Look, it sounds nuts, but I know what I saw." "I know why they're here." "I know about the poppy field in the Arctic." "Their whole master plan about the air and the" " Give me the keys." "I can't let you go, Zane." "Not alone, not like this." "You don't have to come." "I wouldn't believe it unless I'd seen it myself." "But, Char, I must leave now." "If you think I'm letting you out of my sight, you are nuts." "Can I come?" "Can I come?" "Get off me." "This isn't a field trip." "I left my grandma a note." " I wanna come." "I wanna help." "Drive." "Pull over at the on-ramp." "I'll drive." "I've got shotgun." "Zane, I think that you've got to deal with this somehow." "If it means both of us going to the police and explain" "I can't get stuck in some jail." "Not now." "Please, pull over." "All right." "We're here." "Now what do you hope to accomplish?" "Keys." "Keys." "Keys." "I" "Where's Char?" "What are you doing?" "Getting my stuff out of the car." "Is that all right?" "I just" " The strangest thoughts." "Kiki, if it says "power," you push it." "These monitors, this stuff here." "Light it up." "Everything." "Find Omnistar 5." "I'll need two sets of coordinates:" "right ascension and declination." "I don't see how listening to some star" "It's not a star, and this time we're talking, not listening." "So this is some kind of satellite in orbit?" "It's a co-op weather satellite one that about 5O TV stations pull a continuous feed off of." "Hundred thousand watts ought to get their attention." " And they'll understand what this means?" "We're gonna find out right now." " Shit." "What is it?" "What's happening?" "What is wrong with this thing?" "Gardening." "I didn't see any gardens around here, Zane." "What are they doing here, Char?" "Like I should know." "You made a call from the car." "Zane, when you start talking about aliens and master plans and this woman being killed in Mexico" " Did I mention that it was a woman?" "The police told me, okay?" "And that's who you called, right, Char?" "You called the police." "Yes, it is." "You were scaring me." "You're scaring me now the way you're" "As soon as I left SETI, you left." "As soon as I got back from Mexico, there you were, waiting for me." "Because I thought you might need me, Zane." "Like I needed all that career advice?" "The gentle persuasion the little nudges about how I was wasting my life'?" "Cold." "Too cold." "I'm sorry." "I am just so sorry." "I didn't believe about" "You've got to trust me when I say that I only called the police and only because I wanted" "Then what are they doing here, Char?" " Who told them to find me here?" "I don't know." "I honestly do not know." "Kiki watch this screen." "When you see my face, I want you to hit the red key right there." " The one next to you." "The transmit key." "You ain't leaving me here, are you?" "Don't worry." "They'll be chasing us." "We're gonna give this one more shot." "Go." "No, no, no." "It's this way." "Go." "Give me the chain." "You can move the dish from here, right?" "So go." "I can do this." "Zane, for once in your paranoid life, would you please just trust me?" "NOW, Kiki." "NOW, Kiki." "Hit it now!" "Kiki, the red transmit key." "Hit it now." "Kiki, for shit's sake, hit it now." "Now!" "Now!" "Hit it now!" "Like I said, Zane you didn't know the half of it." "Zane, what happened?" "Why did they leave?" "They didn't." "How do you know?" "Because we aren't dead yet." "Help me." "Move!" "Zane, can we get out of here now?" "Not that way." "I'll be right behind you." "Not so fast." "Zane!" "Oh, please." "Oh, please." "Please." "Why did it have to be like this?" "Why couldn't you just come and ask for our help?" "Then you tell them." "You go back and tell them that I know, that she knows that others will know." "It's not gonna be easy." "Not anymore." "Summer is just refusing to go away." "Record highs again in the Big Apple while New England states report a delay of the fall foliage season." "In fact, it's been warmer than normal up and down the entire Eastern seaboard." "They're terraform factories, aren't they?" " Yes." "You're pumping out greenhouse gas." " Now you're dead." "You're changing the air." "The temperature, the whole ecosystem." "We're just finishing what you started." "What would've taken you 100 years we'll do in 10." "Just speeding along your own demise." "Like you sped Calvin along, and Ilana Green, right?" "If you can't tend to your own planet, none of you deserve to live here."