Alien vs. Hunter Page #2

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I was his graduate assistant at MI and he offered me a position here.

What position is that?

Dr. Brecher warned us about you.

You're not talking about Kate Brecher,

are you?

Dr. Brecher.

Welcome to Rundell Peak.

- Good to see you again, Dr. Gierach.

- Yes.

When John said you were coming,

I was delighted.

I've followed your career off and on.

That's exactly what it's been.

Your time with SETI

must have been memorable.

Yes, my lost-in-space days.

And so, there it is.

In compliance with COMNAP provisions...

we've kept the room at a temperature...

that won't abnormally accelerate

the melting process.

And as you see,

it seems to be melting at an unusual rate.

What do you think is inside it?

My first guess would have been...

a shale slag caught in a glacier.

The radio signal rules that out.

Could it be the work of SETI?

There is no more SETI.

The government has no interest

in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

They pulled the funding.

If this is really what it appears to be...

this technology is way beyond

what any of us were working on.

For the sake of argument,

let's say it was placed here...

by something else.

You said it, not me.

Alexie, they need you in the corn lab.

We'll talk later.

What did NASA say when you told them

about this?

- I haven't.

- Why not?

Our work here is in a very sensitive stage...

and we both know

how paranoid NASA can get.

Hello, Julian.

- You okay?

- Yeah.

I feel better now.

Save the endearing charm for Nyla.

- I'm not sure she's my type.

- Too old?

- Maybe a little.

- You don't have a type.

I got lots of types.

What happened to what's-his-name,

speaking of types?

It ended.

Don't screw this up for me, Julian.

What we're doing here is important.

What makes you think

I'm going to screw it up?

Experience.

I'll show you to your room.

It's not The Plaza, but it's the best we have.

All I need is a bed.

Counting Nyla,

there's four women working here.

Try not to set any records.

Hello?

I'm just checking to see

if you want breakfast.

- What time is it?

- A little after 10:00.

Are you going to do some calisthenics?

It just makes it easier...

because of the antibacterial showers

when I'm working in the fields.

When I first came here...

I worked in the seeding labs by myself.

Sometimes the pollens are so thick

they're hard to wash out of your clothes.

- So I worked naked.

- Sounds perfectly logical to me.

- Dr. Brecher made me stop.

- Shame on her.

This is the future.

Genetically engineered,

hydroponically grown food.

- How big is it?

- 3.2 acres.

The wheat lab is slightly larger.

I've got to get to work.

You're finally up and about?

- This is some place.

- Yeah.

Who's your friend?

Dr. Michael Straub.

He's a brilliant geneticist.

I think he's got a sock in his Speedo.

- Very funny.

- I'm not trying to be funny.

I'm just making an observation.

I watched the two of you laughing...

- and happened to notice.

- Actually, we were talking about you.

I'll take that as a compliment.

So, what's up with you

and what's his name? Stubb?

- That guy, Strobe? Strubb?

- Straub.

It's none of your business.

- What are we gonna talk about?

- I don't want to talk about anything.

I want you to do whatever it is you

have to do and get out as soon as you can.

Do you have any idea what we're doing?

You're wearing bathing suits

and growing corn.

Everything's always a joke with you, isn't it?

We've made a breakthrough in genetics

that'll put us in the running for a Nobel.

For the first time in my life

I'm part of something truly significant.

I'm sorry.

You're always sorry. Then it always

turns into jokes and innuendos.

That's not gonna happen.

How did you squeeze

this kind of money out of NASA?

They're obsessed with selling Congress

on planetary colonization.

Agrigenetics is one of the first steps.

A lot of this came from your SETI labs

after NASA pulled the plug on the funding.

It's impressive.

Almost as impressive as your cornfield.

What do you really think

is in that block of ice?

I'm sorry for what I said.

I know how much your work meant to you.

You look good.

What do we know about this Julian Rome?

Killed in an automobile accident.

He graduated from Stanford University

with a degree in Applied Linguistics.

Top of his class. On a fast track

for a doctorate when he got in trouble...

with a female student in one of his classes.

He never finished his doctorate.

He ended up working for SETI

as a decoding cryptologist.

- He's an alien hunter.

- Was an alien hunter.

When NASA pulled the plug,

he left SETI and returned to teaching.

This time at Berkeley.

He's been there for two years.

What's the connection

between Gierach and Rome?

Gierach actually contacted Dr. Bachman

that I told you about.

Bachman turned it over to Rome.

There's something else.

What's that?

The student he had the affair with,

her name is Katherine Brecher.

She's one of the researchers

down at Rundell Peak.

- "Osler"?

- Wait till you read this.

- That's my brother and me.

- Sorry.

I'm Grisham, Communications Officer.

I know. I read about you

when you were with SETI.

You must've been really desperate

for entertainment.

The kind of stuff you guys are doing

really interests me.

Were doing. It's all history now.

I found the signal

when they brought the block in here.

How'd you read it?

When the weather's good

we use a Landsat satellite.

- It was in the background noise.

- Between 2 and 6 gigahertz?

Yeah, how'd you know?

That's where we always kind of

expected it would be.

So you really think it's artificial?

I know it's artificial.

Could be an elaborate hoax.

Could be.

- Hello, Julian.

- Hello.

- Sit down.

- Thank you.

- Join us.

- I'd like to get some coffee.

- There.

- There? Great. Thank you.

Who haven't you met yet?

I haven't met anybody.

This is Abell, our maintenance officer.

And these lovely ladies are Shelly Cline...

- Hello.

- Hi.

...and Dacia Petrov.

I don't think you've met Dr. Straub, Julian.

You look much smaller

with your clothes on.

- You're still here?

- Yeah, for a while.

The weather seems to be getting worse.

You were employed by SETI

as a cryptologist.

What exactly do you do?

- It's like an interpreter.

- Interpreting what?

Messages from outer space, my dear.

"E.T. Phone home."

Cryptologists determine

if a valid communication's been received...

and then they try and decipher

and interpret it.

Just exactly how many signals

have you interpreted?

None, exactly.

Since you've never heard from them,

do you still believe they're out there?

- Do you believe in God?

- Yes.

- Have you ever heard from him?

- No.

- How about a drink?

- Think I'm gonna turn in.

Been kind of tired.

How long do these communication

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

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