Deep Impact Page #4

he'd get his ass busted.

That's right.

All I'm saying is, the moon did not have

a rotational cycle of 14 hours.

I mean, we only have 7 hours of dark

when the sun's not up

to land on this thing.

It was light when he landed.

This is gonna be dark.

We're not gonna be able to see.

You can't see now, Gus.

Don't worry, don't worry, don't worry.

We what?

We can do it.

No, no, no. Sit down.

I woke up this morning,

and I realized...

none of you want me here.

You don't even really know

who I am, which is OK.

I walked on the moon,

but I didn't belong to you.

I belonged to your daddies.

Now, if I ask you

to ask your daddies

what I meant to them,

to explain to you what I'm doing here,

that's only gonna make things worse.

So...what do we do?

You haven't trained for this mission.

We respect you.

I appreciate that.

But you're here...you're here

because the powers that be

think we need a familiar

face on this trip.

You're here for public relations.

No, no. I'm here because

the powers that be

know that I'm the only

person on this mission

who's ever landed on the moon.

And I have 500 landings

on aircraft carriers.

We've trained on--

On flight simulators.

Right?

I mean, this is not a video game, son.

It really isn't.

It really isn't. No.

We are go for auto-sequence start.

Atlantis' 4 on-board computers

now have primary control

of all the vehicle's critical functions.

OK, all flight controllers,

we're at T-minus 30 seconds

and counting.

Let's take a close look.

APUs look good,

LOX and LH2 are pressurized.

We're go for auto-sequence.

Roger, Jerry.

Good luck and Godspeed, Atlantis.

Thanks, Mitch.

3, 2, 1 .

Propelled by 500,000 pounds of liquid fuel,

the shuttle crew heads toward

their initial destination.

When the crew enters the Messiah,

they will find a payload

of 8 nuclear devices

that will eventually be

used to blow up the comet.

The Messiah itself will be powered

by an experimental

nuclear propulsion system

that was originally created

for a very different purpose.

That program was called Orion.

Now, with the help

of Russian engineers,

a technology designed to propel

weapons of mass destruction

will power the ship

that will intercept

the greatest threat

our planet has ever faced.

Orion burn...

in 1 0, 9,

OK, Beth, White House reactions.

Marianne, the whole world watching.

We have enough

satellite space?

Tim, Mission Control in Houston.

Ira, the science guys lined up?

If they got a Ph.D., we own them.

All right, this is the most

important story four lives.

Let's not muck it up.

Stuart, what about me?

- You're on the anchor desk.

- Whoa!

And you could have

been there a lot sooner.

What are you talking about?

You know what I'm talking about.

Don't ever hold back

a story from me again.

Messiah, Houston.

Transfer trajectory is go.

We'll cancel MCC-1 .

You're go to configure for coast.

Roger, Houston, we're looking good here.

Jesus, that's big.

Holy sh*t.

Wow.

Sweet mother of God.

All circuit breakers are open.

Master arm is off.

Roger.

And the detonator

system is safe.

Messiah, Houston.

Stand by for an uplink

of the final mole coordinates.

Confirm when complete.

Wilco, Houston.

Hey, how's it comin'?

Loading first nuke now.

R-dot 3, 5-X, 2-Y.

R-dot point 3...3-X,

Go for auto trajectory.

We're there.

- Residuals are mulled.

- Disengage Orion.

Orion disengaged.

You're on bi-prop.

This is a special presentation of MSNBC News

with Jenny Lerner.

Good evening.

Sometime in the next hour,

the Messiah mission will

enter its most critical phase:

the interception of Wolf-Biederman

and the setting of the nuclear devices

that will deflect it off its

collision course with Earth.

But first, Captain Spurgeon Tanner

will have to guide the spacecraft

through the blizzard of rocks, sand, and ice

that make up the comet's tail, or coma.

The crew will have to complete

its work before the sun rises.

Sublimator looks good, Mick.

Disengaging auto now.

I'm eyeballs out

from here on in.

How come that doesn't

make me feel any better?

I heard that.

Light's on.

Camera's on.

On the Mississippi River

in Mark Twain's time,

there were riverboat pilots

who only knew a few miles of the river.

I mean, conditions changed so much,

you couldn't know the whole trip.

Floods, sandbars, fallen logs--

It was all a riverboat pilot could do was to

know his little piece of the puzzle.

So for the next few hours,

this is my ship.

We start our approach.

are images from cameras

mounted inside the cargo bay

of the Messiah.

Now, these images are delayed

by approximately 20 seconds,

due to the distance

they must travel.

OK, you can see that the image

is breaking up a bit.

Uh, Houston is prepared

for this.

They've informed us that

due to the uncertain make-up

of the comet's coma,

they're unsure whether or not

transmission will be possible.

OK, now, now, it ap-appears

we're losing reception here.

OK, we've--we've

lost picture now.

But we will stay on the air.

We'll stay with you

through all of this.

Dap is in descent.

Roger, descent.

Oh, my God.

Look at these. They're the size of houses.

Yeah, I know.

I see.

Jesus Christ.

Cabin press, 5.7

Negative guidance errors.

Whoa!

Use your primary thrusters.

Primary thrusters.

What's the descent rate?

Fire tether pitons.

Pitons fired.

She's leveling out.

Depressurizing bay.

Opening payload doors.

Don't let that little bit of gravity

down there go to your heads.

OK.

Start the clock.

If all is going according to schedule,

the astronauts should

now be placing the moles

on the comet surface.

The moles are, well,

they're what they sound like.

They are drilling machines that

burrow to a depth of 100 meters,

where they wait to be detonated.

Each one carries

a 5,000 kiloton warhead.

How's our time?

It's getting tight.

It's taking too long.

Yup.

What happens if they do not get off

the comet's surface in time?

The sun striking the comet

will cause the temperature

to rise 350 degrees in just a few minutes

and activate the high-speed gas jets.

Well, if that happens, it will be

like trying to work in a minefield.

Mark, what's your mole 4 readout?

Mole 4 running true at 75 feet.

Son of a b*tch.

What?

It's stuck.

Try backing it up.

What's your depth?

Is that enough?

No. That'll just break

pieces off the surface.

That's not deep enough.

Yeah, Fish, I know that's not deep enough.

I'm going in.

- Oren, no.

- No, I'm gonna see if I can free it up

Stand by, tether attached.

All right, I gotcha.

Oren, suit pressure, 3.5

Come on, come on.

How's my time?

23:
57

Another 6 minutes, they won't

have time to get back to us.

Blow the tethers.

Let's go get 'em.

If we go after them,

we may not have enough fuel

to get off the surface.

Blow the goddam tethers.

Mole 3 at depth.

We're heading your way, Oren.

Calculate exactly how much prop

we need to get off this rock.

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