Adam

My favorite children's book

is about a little prince...

who came to Earth from a distant asteroid.

He meets a pilot

whose plane has crashed in a desert.

The little prince teaches the pilot many things...

but mainly about love.

My father always told me

I was like the little prince.

But after I met Adam...

I realized I was the pilot all along.

- Morning, Adam.

- Good morning, Kelli.

- Good morning, Lulu.

- Good morning, Adam.

I don't know what to say.

- Say anything.

- Okay.

Adam Raki is the cutest guy in the office.

How's that?

- That's fine.

- Morning, Adam.

- Good morning, Mr. Klieber!

- Morning, Kelli.

- Good morning.

- Good morning, Adam!

- How did she do that?

- What?

How did she know it was me

and then you talking?

Voice recognition.

I put in voice patterns from some people

and added SPLICE to the recognition system.

SPLICE stands for "Stereo-based Piece-wise

Linear Compensation for Environment."

- It's an algorithm that I placed

- Adam. Adam.

Did Chatty Patty have SPLICE?

Did Big Mouth Billy Bass have SPLICE?

But you said I could make her sound like Kelli.

I said she could sound like Kelli.

I didn't say to give her free will.

She doesn't have free will.

not five at a thousand dollars. Capisce?

- Good-bye, Mr. Klieber.

- Good-bye, Adam.

All of which gives us the rare opportunity...

to explore the mysterious terrain...

that lies between fame and craft...

between the public persona

and the private, precious self.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the Actors Studio is proud to welcome...

an actress we admire...

Julia Roberts.

Perfect.

- Oh.

- Is this open?

I mean, to residents. Do you have a key?

Yes.

I just moved in. Beth Buchwald, 3A.

Adam. Second floor. Two.

You're not doing your laundry?

Oh. Yeah.

Looks like a bit of an emergency.

Would you mind letting me in?

- Yeah. Yeah. Sure.

- Thanks.

I mean, I loved it. Downtown's my hood.

But this place is bigger

and it's right around the corner from Wildwood.

Can you see the sky from the third floor?

I guess I would if the windows

weren't covered in soot.

Some nerve, right...

calling a school in the middle of Manhattan

Wildwood?

It's just temporary, actually.

The job, not the name of the school.

I'm a writer. For children.

So it's a good experience.

What do you do?

I help make toys.

Oh, you're an elf?

No, I'm an electronic engineer.

Oh. You need a card for the wash.

No, I've got one.

Funny. I think I left mine upstairs in my packet.

Could I borrow yours for now?

Okay.

Oh. Right.

Thanks.

Good. Good work, Beth.

Hi, neighbor.

There are new images of Saturn

from the Cassini Project.

Oh.

God.

I always wish I knew more about space.

You did? Like what?

I don't know. You know, what's out there.

You have to narrow that down.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

Well, I have books, telescopes, star charts.

You could borrow some stuff.

We could go out,

look at the sky... t-tonight.

Maybe sometime. Sure.

Okay.

Well, I'll just be hauling these enormous

grocery bags upstairs now.

Okay.

Okay.

What are you doing?

Oh.

People watching.

Anyone in particular?

Just people.

Listen, I'm going out with some friends

tonight, later, if you want to come.

Oh.

They're people,

so you might want to... watch them.

Uh-huh.

But if not, you know, that's fine.

No, I want to go,

but, um, I I don't think I can.

- Okay, if you're busy.

- No.

I mean, it's not a date. It's just a little

moving-in celebration, you know.

When?

Uh-huh.

Look, there's no pressure.

I'll just knock on your door

on my way out, and if you can, you can.

- Okay.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Adam?

Adam.

- See you later!

- Good night!

I'm sorry I didn't come out with your friends.

No problem.

I get kind of overloaded.

I have something to show you.

Come in. Come in.

Oh, my!

You said you want to know more about space.

Because it looks like this

people think of it as still...

even though we know its expanding.

All parts of the universe

are moving away from one another...

most of them faster than the speed of light,

except for-

I thought nothing went faster

than the speed of light.

Right, right. Nothing goes

through space faster, but space itself g-

Do you know about the Big Bang?

A little. In the beginning, God crea

The inflation theory says the Big Bang came

from as little as a 20-pound chunk of space...

about 14 billion years ago...

that expanded to the size of the universe

in 10 to the minus-39 seconds.

Ten to the minus-39?

A decimal point, 39 zeros, and then a one.

That's the fraction of a second

in which the universe was formed.

That's billions and billions of times

faster than light.

Ooh, that's... fast.

Yeah.

Wow!

These are all pictures of stars and galaxies

that have been traveling away from us...

for hundreds of millions or billions of years.

But that's still nearby compared to

most of the universe that we'll never see.

Never?

Well, things that move apart faster than light

can't ever see one another...

because the light from one

never catches up to the other.

After the Big Bang...

the expansion of the universe slowed down.

But then, after seven billion years...

for some reason it speeded up again...

and it's been speeding up ever since.

Someday everything you see here

will disappear forever.

And eventually the night sky...

will be almost completely dark.

That's kinda sad.

Sad?

Hmm.

I have been talking too much, so

No, it's... fascinating.

- But I talk too much when I get excited.

- No, really.

It's It's amazing.

Well, I could tell you quickly

about M-brane theory.

Oh, no, it's okay. Maybe next time.

Okay. It's very speculative.

Well, I should go.

Good night, Beth.

Good night.

Thanks. I love your planetarium.

Oh. You're welcome.

Oh, I could have waited, Daddy.

Not another day.

I wanted you out of that rat trap for five years.

- They were mice.

- But I was right, wasn't I? You love it.

It's okay. It's not like the Village.

I've only met one person so far.

- It's new.

- He did have a planetarium

in his living room though.

You were in someone's living room.

He's cute. He lives in the building.

Whatever happened to Rich Lippmann?

Not going there.

But what was the name of his company?

Founder's Fund?

Okay. Okay.

So, your neighbor's an astronomer?

No, he's an electronic engineer,

whatever that means.

- But he hasn't even said hello to me

since the first time, so

- So, he's an idiot.

No, it's me.

Didn't anyone tell you and Mom

that only children are emotional retards...

spoilt, too trusting and unequipped to cope?

What were you thinking?

That we had one perfect child.

How's school?

We just started.

"The course of civilization is a race

between catastrophe and education."

- John F. Kennedy.

- I know.

Well, if you marry an investment banker...

you could do whatever you want.

Rich Lippmann is a dick, Daddy.

Can we leave it at that?

Don't say "dick" to your father.

No one's perfect, Bethy. That's all I'm saying.

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