Contact Page #10

EXT. HIGHWAY (NEW MEXICO) - NIGHT

Ellie's tense face lit by the dash. She picks up a piece

of paper with scribbled directions on it. Turns onto a

dirt road.

EXT. HIGHWAY (NEW MEXICO) - LOW ANGLE POV - NIGHT

of Ellie's CAR ROARING by SWINGS to reveal a jackrabbit

sitting at the side of the road, its nose twitching.

EXT. DESERT - NIGHT

Ellie's car approaches a small, private airstrip; a black,

unmarked helicopter is waiting.

HIGH ABOVE UTAH - DAWN

The strange rock formations of southeastern Utah almost

resemble another planet.

EXT. LARGER AIRSTRIP (UTAH)

As the helicopter sets down, we see two Lear jets and

another Helicopter... service vehicles for the enormous

Russian transport plane that sits beyond them.

A dark-suited Japanese MAJOR DOMO helps Ellie out of the

helicopter.

MAJOR DOMO:

You should be flattered. He hardly

lands for anyone.

INT. TRANSPORT PLANE

The Major Domo leads Ellie down a corridor of the plane's

custom interior. Through one door we can see into a room

where several very beautiful, very young women sit

watching TV with vacant eyes. Ellie only catches a

glimpse before the Major Domo nods for her to enter the

main room and takes his post outside.

Ellie cautiously enters the interior of what appears to be

a flying Dascha; dark, heavy on the chintz. Bookshelves,

an exercise machine... and a wall of monitors, filled top

to bottom with scrolling hieroglyphics. Ellie reaches out

to them --

HADDEN (O.S.)

Dr. Arroway, I presume.

Ellie turns to see S.R. HADDEN. Thick glasses, wearing a

cardigan, he stands by a silver samovar.

ELLIE:

S.R. Hadden...

(beat)

You compromised our security codes.

HADDEN:

Once upon a time I was a hell of an

engineer. Please, sit, Doctor. I

have guests so rarely, it's

important to me they feel welcome in

my home.

(turns to the

samovar)

Did you know this was once Yeltsin's

flying dascha? That dent is where

he threw a bottle of vodka at the

pilot. At least that's what the

people who sold me the plane said...

As he speaks, he slowly and with great effort raises a

glass to the samovar, fills it with tea.

ELLIE:

You live here.

HADDEN:

I find it convenient to keep my

interests... mobile. Anyway, I've

had my fill of life on the ground.

After spending much of this century

pursuing the evils and pleasures the

world has to offer -- after

outliving three wives and two

children...

(a bare flicker of

emotion)

I find I've had quite enough of

planet Earth.

ELLIE:

Why am I here, Mr. Hadden?

HADDEN:

(smiles)

The infamous, unfashionable

bluntness.

(turning)

You're here so we can do business.

I want to make a deal.

ELLIE:

What kind of deal?

HADDEN:

The powers that be have been quite

busy lately, falling over each other

to position themselves for the game

of the century, if not the

millennium. Perhaps you've noticed.

(as Ellie reacts,

Hadden smiles)

Perhaps I could help deal you back

in.

ELLIE:

I didn't realize I was out.

HADDEN:

Oh, maybe not out -- but definitely

looking for you coat.

(beat)

I understand you've had some

difficulty locating the -- what are

you calling it? The 'primer' that

will make decryption possible...

(he turns to her,

simply)

I've found it.

ELLIE:

You've... found it.

(catching her breath)

What could I possibly have that you

would want, Mr. Hadden?

HADDEN:

I've had a long time to make

enemies, Dr. Arroway. There are

many governments, business

interests, even religious leaders

who would like to see me disappear.

And I will grant them their wish

soon enough... But before I do, I

wish to make a small contribution --

a final gesture of goodwill toward

the people of this little planet

who've given -- from whom I've taken

so much.

ELLIE:

If I knew you any better I'd say

that doesn't sound like you.

HADDEN:

(a dazzling smile)

That's my girl...

(then)

Lights.

The lights dim. The wall monitors take center stage.

HADDEN:

Forgive the theatrics, it's a

weakness.

Hadden pulls on a pair of gloves for an imaginary VR

keyboard. He gestures for Ellie to sit beside him, facing

the monitors. He begins to type as the monitors scroll

hieroglyphics --

HADDEN:

Page after page of data -- over

sixty-three thousand in all, if I'm

not mistaken... and at the end of

each...

ELLIE:

A page-break signal. A period.

HADDEN:

Not if you think like a Vegan.

ELLIE:

You're saying... there is no

separate primer in the message --

because it's on every page so the

recipient can decipher it wherever

he is --

HADDEN:

-- even if he doesn't receive the

entire transmission. Heaven is the

mustard seed.

Hadden ghost-types a series of commands. The monitor wall

syncs into a giant vidscreen --

The hieroglyphics begin to enlarge. An almost invisible

dot in the lower right corner of the screen -- the page-

break signal -- grows larger and larger, until it reveals

a level of complexity and detail greater than that of the

hieroglyphics themselves.

ELLIE:

(breathless)

Holy sh*t...

These new symbols begin to mutate change... something is

happening, Hadden leans in to Ellie.

HADDEN:

You'll like this part. A little

flashy...

ON SCREEN:

The symbols metamorphose into strange, fractal shapes;

like crystals, they begin to grow and shift, interacting

in a stunningly beautiful and intricate ballet --

ELLIE:

Some kind of circuitry...?

HADDEN:

Very good, Doctor. I've also

detected structural elements, back

references, a general movement from

the simple to the complex -- all of

which would seem to indicate

instructions -- an enormously

complicated set of instructions --

for building something.

ELLIE:

A machine.

(off Hadden's nod)

But a machine that does what?

HADDEN:

(smiles)

That would seem to be the question

of the hour.

(turning to her)

I want to build it, Doctor. Of

course I'm already lobbying through

the usual channels of influence and

corruption -- but as I said, my

colorful past has made many of those

channels... difficult to navigate.

I need someone on the inside.

ELLIE:

And in return?

HADDEN:

In return... you get the primer --

and with it the power to stay in the

game. Do we have a deal?

Ellie pulls herself away from the hypnotic display.

ELLIE:

Mr. Hadden, I'm a scientist; I don't

make deals... But. If you wish to

give me, in good faith, access to

your information, I can assure you

that I will exert all reasonable

efforts to promote your cause

wherever it doesn't conflict with

the best interests of science... or

my better judgment.

HADDEN:

(delighted)

That's my girl. Done.

Ellie turns to watch the screens as the fractals continue

to coalesce. Dazzled --

CUT TO:

EXT. CAMP DAVID - AERIAL SHOT - DAY

The snow-covered Presidential retreat in its forest

setting.

INT. CAMP DAVID - BRIEFING ROOM - DAY

Charts display a decoded periodic table, the slice of

circuitry; monitors scroll through hundreds of decoded

pages.

ELLIE:

... And while its function remains,

for the moment, a mystery, my best

guess is that it represents a

transport of some kind.

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