Contact Page #6

JOSS (V.O.)

(TV)

Don't get me wrong -- we're smart,

Larry. We shop at home, we surf the

net... and we feel emptier and

lonelier and more cut off from each

other than at any other time in

human history...

Fisher eats a Baby Ruth and sips a Coke as he watches.

Willie, heavy into his Gameboy, has a sudden epiphany.

WILLIE:

Y'know who'd make great astronomers?

Vampires. Think about it; the

perfect synthesis of career and

lifestyle.

FISHER:

(engrossed in TV)

Shut up, Willie.

INT. ELLIE'S ROOM - NIGHT

Ellie lies crashed out on the couch, headphones on. All

we hear is STATIC...

... and then, beneath the static, we begin to hear another

sound, barely audible but definitely there...

A faint irregular PULSING, FADING IN AND OUT of reception.

Ellie slowly swims up to consciousness. After a moment

her eyes open. She sits up --

TIGHT ON BOOMBOX

still playing REGGAE. A hand reaches in and turns it OFF.

INT. VLA CONTROL - ROOM

Willie and Fisher look up in surprise as Ellie goes to the

main console, starts checking instrument readings.

WILLIE:

Got a bogey, boss?

ELLIE:

I'm not sure. You mind checking

right ascension 18 hours, 34

minutes; declination plus 38 degrees

41 minutes?

FISHER:

What's the frequency?

ELLIE:

4458.8 gigahertz.

Fisher and Willie look at each other significantly.

ELLIE:

It's probably nothing.

They start typing in coordinates.

THROUGH WINDOW - GIANT RADIO TELESCOPES

turn one by one, fixing on the same point in the sky.

INT. VLA CONTROL - CONTINUOUS ACTION

Willie puts on headsets, flips a switch, twists a dial.

WILLIE:

(in wonder)

Hydrogen times pi...

(calling to Ellie)

Got it. Strong sucker.

ELLIE:

Put it on speakers.

He punches a button. An eerie, PULSING METALLIC SOUND.

Willie and Fisher run their routine checks with a

practiced calm --

WILLIE FISHER:

Could be AWACS from Glitch in number

Kirtland; verifying seventeen.

intensity. Wasn't Monochromatic, strong

seventeen where we found too. That was twenty-

that owl's nest lastthree, besides I got

month? signal across the

board.

Around the room a few night owls are watching with growing

interest. Ellie types rapidly on a keyboard, watching a

monitor above her: SEARCH)STAR FIELD ORIGIN OF SIGNAL)

FISHER:

Checking interferometric position.

Somewhere in Lyra, I think...

ELLIE:

Vega...?

WILLIE:

That can't be right; it's only

twenty-six light years away.

ELLIE:

I scanned it at Arecibo; negative

results, always.

FISHER:

Linearly polarized; a set of moving

pulses restricted to two different

amplitudes --

WILLIE:

Air Force isn't supposed to be on

this frequency.

ELLIE:

That's what they always say; punch

up the darks.

Another display shows all satellites and major debris in

orbit; "darks" glow in red.

ELLIE:

(murmurs)

How's the spying tonight, guys?

WILLIE:

NORAD's not tracking any spacecraft

in our vector including snoops;

shuttle Endeavor's in sleep mode.

FISHER:

Interferometry now rules out a

Molniya-type orbit.

WILLIE:

Confirming sidereal motion; whatever

it is, it ain't local.

Ellie fights to stay calm -- but the excitement rippling

through the gathered is palpable --

ELLIE:

Display absolute intensity.

On another monitor a sound spike leaps with each pulse.

WILLIE:

Reading over a hundred janskys --

Ellie puts on headsets, shuts her eyes in fierce

concentration as she listens -- for a moment only a signal

echoes through the control room --

ELLIE:

Numbers. Those are numbers, each

pulse is a set -- break it down --

Now with each pulse, long strings of zeros and ones

appear. On the monitor: PROMPT: CONVERTING TO BASE 10)

OPERATION COMPLETED

MAIN DISPLAY:

With each pulse a number appears: 59 61 67 71 79 83

89 91 --

ELLIE:

79 -- 83 -- 91 -- they're all

primes, no way that's a natural

phenomenon -- !

The room ignites. Ellie shouts over the din --

ELLIE:

Okay, let's just slow down. Pull up

the starfield signal origin.

KENT (O.S.)

It can't be coming from Vega, the

system's too young.

Kent stands sleepily in the doorway, wearing Kermit the

Frog pajamas and an old robe. Willie punches up a screen:

ELLIE WILLIE:

Maybe they didn't grow up Constellation Lyra,

there, maybe they're just brightest star Vega,

visiting. A-zero main sequence

dwarf, estimate several

KENT million years old.

The system's full of debrisDistance 26 light years

-- any spacecraft thataccretion disk, no

stayed for long would get known planets.

clobbered.

NEARBY SKEPTIC:

Not if they took evasive action and

used their photon torpedoes.

ELLIE:

Or if they're in polar orbit -- but

no, you're right. If we go public

and we're wrong, that's it -- it is

over for us.

(the room grows

quiet)

Vega will set in a couple of hours;

it's probably already risen in

Australia. Let's call Ian and see

if we can get some verification on

this.

Willie picks up the phone and dials. All eyes on Ellie.

ELLIE:

Okay. We have an intense, not very

monochromatic signal, linearly

polarized as if coming from an

antenna, source moving with the

stars so it can't be an airplane or

spacecraft; on and only on a

frequency whose only significance

would be to an intelligence that

wanted to be directed. If anyone

can come up with any plausible or

even implausible explanation besides

ETI I want to hear it, now.

Silence. Willie on the phone --

WILLIE:

Yeah -- yeah, just a sec --

He looks up at Ellie. She looks back --

EXT. CSCIRO RADIO TELESCOPE (AUSTRALIA) - DAY

IAN (V.O.)

(phone)

... We put it smack in the middle --

INT. CSCIRO CONTROL ROOM - CONTINUOUS ACTION

IAN BRODERICK, head of SETI down under, reaches across a

star map surrounded by other excited technicians --

IAN:

Vega.

As his finger hits the map --

INT. VLA CONTROL ROOM - SAME TIME

ELLIE:

(pausing)

Thanks, Ian. Can you just keep

tracking it as long as you can and

we'll get back to you.

(slowly puts down

the phone, then)

Get this out to every observatory

and radio array on the planet.

Um... and get me the President's

Science Advisor.

Outside the sun is coming up. They all look to the

windows. The telescopes are silhouetted against the pale

light.

Ellie goes. They watch her -- then turn to look out at

the rows of mechanical flowers pointing up at the new

dawn.

INT. ELLIE'S ROOM

Ellie shuts the door behind her. She sinks to the

floor, looks up, breathless --

ELLIE:

Hello, Pensacola...

ELLIE'S E-MAIL

as it types out on various screens at radio telescopes in

exotic locations around the world; various teams gather

round --

ANOMALOUS INTERMITTENT RADIO SOURCE AT RIGHT

ASCENSION 18 34m, DECLINATION PLUS 38 DEGREES 41

MINUTES, DISCOVERED BY VLA SYSTEMATIC SKY SURVEY.

FREQUENCY 4458.8 GIGAHERTZ, LYRA/VEGA SYSTEM.

174 AND 179 JANSKYS. EVIDENCE AMPLITUDES

ENCODE SEQUENCE OF PRIME NUMBERS. FULL

LONGITUDE COVERAGE URGENTLY NEEDED. E. ARROWAY,

DIRECTOR, PROJECT ARGUS, SOCORRO, NEW MEXICO, U.S.A.

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