Alien Hunter Page #3

blackouts last?

Seen it go a couple of weeks before.

Once in a while

there's intermittent signals...

that last long enough to make contact

with the Brits at McMurdo.

Till then we're totally cut off?

When it gets like this,

nothing can get in or out.

Sno-Cats are useless,

and they wouldn't chance an icebreaker.

I can't believe how much it's melted.

You can almost see inside it now.

Am I crazy, or does this thing

seem to be giving off a low-grade impulse?

I can feel it in my joints.

It's really strong if you touch it. Careful.

Was the signal harmonic

when you first intercepted it?

- No.

- What does that mean?

Two or more separate frequencies

combined in one signal.

I think one's a locator pulse

and the other's plain text.

- An actual message.

- It's a lot of work just to create a hoax.

This is no hoax.

How long do you think it would take us

to rig up some kind of a horn antenna?

Hard line here?

If I can't communicate with the satellite,

I'll have to intercept the signal here.

There's an old dismantled one

in maintenance.

Abell and me can rig it up

in a few hours, I guess.

What are you gonna do?

Try and find out what's buried

in the harmonic.

How?

Mathematics.

- Any luck?

- No.

The primary signal's...

almost too obvious.

It's like some sort of beacon.

- What's your brother do?

- He's dead.

I'm sorry.

He died in a flight training accident.

You guys train together?

Yeah.

I lost interest after the accident.

I'm gonna find a real bed.

Think I ought to wake her?

No, let her sleep.

Beacon.

This is the signal we received

from NASA yesterday.

Now watch this.

- What happened to the sound?

- Nothing.

That was recorded by Osler in '47.

The signals appear identical.

Same transmission, same frequency,

same polytonal harmonics.

There's no denying the similarities

of these two events.

The moment a window of opportunity

opens in that storm...

we have to make contact with

this man Rome.

Because of his background, he's the most

likely to comprehend what we tell him.

- Bring Bachman here immediately.

- Why?

What Mr. Rome is going to hear

is best heard from somebody he trusts.

- What's the matter?

- Abell woke us up.

Said it was something with the ice block.

- What happened?

- I've never seen anything like this before.

Looks like it was created

in a volcanic environment.

Looks like a big old clam.

A giant mollusk that ate Antarctica.

- It's not a mollusk.

- What is it?

Don't touch it.

You all right?

You okay?

It's got some sort of electrical charge to it.

I'd say it's igneous rock

formed by some sort of eruption.

My guess is rhyolite, or basalt.

It didn't come from Earth,

it came from space.

It's a meteorite.

Meteorites don't broadcast radio signals.

The signal's harmonics

are exactly like aircraft retrieval data.

It's a black box.

First I thought it was a location bounce...

for celestial navigation,

but it's a little simplistic.

Then Grisham mentioned it seemed

like a beacon, and that's when it hit me.

This came here by mistake,

and the signal's meant for whoever lost it.

- Aliens.

- This is nuts.

Maybe not, Michael. It all makes sense.

There's something else.

The primary signal is a cryptographic key...

that unlocks the message

buried in the harmonic.

So I compared the cipher text

against itself...

and the coincidences between

the character strings. A deviation arises...

from strings of intervals divisible by five,

bit repeats at shifts of 70 and 125.

- What the hell are you talking about?

- I'm talking about this.

What?

That? That's a message?

It's part of a message.

This is the great pearl of galactic wisdom...

that we've all been waiting for.

I've been waiting for.

Could there be more to the message

that's not being deciphered?

There could be several cryptographic keys.

Shift intervals can change, strings vary.

Endless possibilities.

But it could still be uniquely random.

- I just don't think so.

- Yes, but it's a possibility.

- Anything's possible.

- I think Julian's right.

- It looks extraterrestrial.

- You're all talking nonsense.

No offense, Nyla.

You wouldn't know an ETI

if it walked up to you and bit you.

Neither would you. So why are you

so goddamn sure that it's not?

Alexie, what do you think?

I agree with Julian.

Anything is possible.

Everybody, I think you better come back

down to the maintenance bay.

There appears to be a crease

in this thing's surface.

Can we open it?

If you can discharge it, I can pry it open.

I can rig up something

to ground the charge.

Maybe that's not a good idea.

It's a way to find out if you're right.

I'm not so sure it's a good idea, either.

There may be pathogenic organisms inside.

- An infection could wipe out all our work.

- The labs are sealed environments.

I say first thing tomorrow morning

we pop this thing open.

If Julian's right, we go down in history.

If I'm right, we eat linguini for a week.

Okay, bring him in.

Welcome, Dr. Bachman. Please, have a seat.

I know this must be very unnerving for you.

Yes, it is a bit, sir.

I can't imagine

why I should be brought here.

What we're about to tell you, Dr. Bachman,

is truly beyond your imagination.

- You believe it's ETI in origin, don't you?

- Everything certainly points to it.

I hope you're wrong, Jules.

Nobody's called me that for a long time.

Why do you hope I'm wrong?

Because if you're right,

we could be Neanderthals in comparison.

That may not be so bad.

Think of what we might learn from them.

Maybe they won't have the patience

to teach us.

So it'll just be survival of the fittest.

Same rationale we've used to kill

everything below us on the food chain.

Maybe they're an even more effective

predator than we are.

- Kate.

- Don't.

- You don't know what I was gonna say.

- You were gonna apologize again.

Just let it go.

- Am I interrupting something?

- No. We're done.

Was I interrupting something?

It's a long story.

Will you do me a favor? I wanna...

Will you watch this program? I wanna

grab a shower, get something to eat.

Would you like some company?

That would be nice.

But I better not.

See you in a bit.

Be careful with that thing.

Now hold it still.

Here.

- Is this gonna work?

- It should.

All right, let it drop.

Turn it off!

Something's generating current inside of it,

but it should be safe to work on.

Would you like something to drink?

Some water, coffee?

- Brandy.

- Brandy, please.

The weather systems have prevented us

from making contact.

Our satellite systems will alert us

at the first opportunity.

What if this is really true?

What if we're already too late?

We've considered that.

Measures are being initiated as we speak.

NEW ZEALAND, SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN

RUSSIAN SSGN SUBMARINE

The message from the Americans is

properly formulated, sir.

All ahead two thirds. Set depth for

six hundred feet.

All ahead two thirds. Depth set for

six hundred feet.

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