Higher Power

---

1

(typing)

(intense music playing)

(beeping)

(typing)

I know about your work.

(intense music continues)

I know they turned

their back on it.

What if I told you

I had a plan?

A plan to finally see it

come to life.

(typing)

Because I know for a fact

that it's the only thing

powerful enough to stop

what's coming.

(typing)

(music rising to crescendo)

Voice:
The end.

Reporter:
Joining us today is

astrophysicist Michael Swaford

from MIT's Kavli Institute

for Space Research

to discuss his new book,

In the End There Was Light.

Welcome to the show.

This light you describe as,

"The brightest and most violent

event in our known universe",

is what, exactly?

It's a gamma ray burst

or a GRB.

And you believe, Mr. Swaford,

that this light,

this gamma ray burst is

the last thing that mankind

will see before we are

blown out of existence?

Yes. That's correct.

Where do they come from,

these GRBs,

and how are they made?

When a high mass star

collapses,

gravity crushes its core

into a black hole.

This black hole immediately

begins to devour the dying star

around it at a rate of

1 million

Earth masses per second.

Now that's far too much energy

for the black hole

to consume at once,

so a majority of that energy

is blasted back out

into the universe.

In the form of two narrow beams

of intense radiation.

And you believe, Mr. Swaford,

that there is a dying star

right here in our own

Milky Way Galaxy, AWR104

- that could be a likely GRB candidate?

- Yes, that's right.

And that Earth is

lying directly

in the path

of the beam zone.

We are essentially staring down

the barrel of a gun.

(ominous music playing)

(eerie music playing)

(typing)

(eerie music playing)

- (soft piano music)

- (waves crashing)

(seagulls squawking)

Joe:
Hey, you know, I've been

thinking of a couple of names.

Heather:
Oh yeah?

Let's hear them. (echoes)

Joe:
What about Rhea?

You know, like a ray of light?

Rhea.

Rhea Steadman.

I love it.

What about if it's a boy?

Joe:
Oh, that's easy.

Joe Junior.

- Joe:
What?

- Yeah, I don't think so.

- (Heather laughing)

- Joe:
Yes! Come on.

Uh-uh. Zoe Lorraine, let's go!

S'more time.

Joe:
No, no, I got her.

Zoe:
Wait, you forgot a prize.

- Joe:
A prize?

- Zoe:
This one.

It's got magic powers

that make you strong.

Joe:
Thank you.

I always wanted magic powers.

Zoe:
I spy a secret light!

Joe:
I spy a secret light. Okay.

- Is it that one?

- Zoe:
No.

- Joe:
Is it that one?

- Zoe:
You win!

Joe:
You know

that's a lighthouse, right?

Check this out.

Watch how it blinks.

One four three.

That stands for...

I.

L. O. V. E.

Y. O. U.

One four three.

- What does that spell?

- Zoe:
I love you!

I love you, too, baby girl.

(sirens blaring)

(beeping)

Primary subject:

Joseph Steadman. Forty-five.

DNA analysis concludes

possible match.

- Further testing required.

- Joe:
What's up, man?

- (indefinite chatter)

- Joe:
Anytime bro.

(beeping)

Control:
Undergoing psychiatric

treatment for depression,

suicidal tendencies

and recurring

anger control issues.

And the anger.

Have we maintained control?

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I...

- You remember what happened last time.

- I know. Yes, it's...

That's never gonna happen

again.

I'm doing work. I am, really.

Psychologist:
Remember, if it

starts to happen you have to...

Joe:
Think with my head before

my heart.

- I know.

- Psychologist:
Precisely.

- Precisely.

- You're in control of your emotions.

They're not in control of you.

Control:
His condition remains

unstable.

(instrumental music playing)

Zoe Steadman.

Daughter of test subject.

Twenty-five.

Unable to forgive her father

after the mother's death,

when he left.

- Michael:
Surprise!

- (gasps)

Michael:
I got take-out.

Control:
Currently putting

herself through nursing school.

Zoe:
I didn't hear you come in.

- Control:
She's headstrong...

- Zoe:
It's okay.

- Control:
...independent and self-sufficient.

- It's my favorite.

A direct contrast to her

younger sister, Rhea Steadman.

Substance abuse.

Started at seventeen.

When she decided to follow

in her father's footsteps.

Zoe's attempts at reaching out

have been met with resistance.

Opiates, I'm afraid, have

twisted her perspective.

(Rhea humming)

(Nico whistling)

Control:
Lost would be the best way

to describe her current situation.

Nico:
I know you're in there.

Just one more time.

I... I promise.

Rhea:
Just don't do this to me.

I told you I'm done

with that sh*t.

Pretty please?

Nico:
I miss your touch, baby.

(door lock clicking)

(door squeaking)

(tense music playing)

Agent:
I've got eyes

on Subject B.

She just entered the library

on 2nd Street.

Intercepting

the security camera feed now.

Okay, the image should be up.

Michael:
What do we have here?

The Anatomy and Physiology

of Health and Illness.

Oh, sounds like a page-turner.

So are we done here? Can we go?

There's one more.

Michael:
Oh, goody.

So, Dr. Apocalypse, I um...

Finally finished it. Your book.

- Oh, good. I'll just be over here...

- (Zoe chuckles)

No, it's just you're...

you're surprisingly chipper

for someone who thinks we're

all gonna get wiped out by...

What'd you call it? A cosmic

beam of concentrated energy?

I'm impressed. That's good.

But you know what?

Uh, I've actually been

doing a lot of thinking lately and

don't tell anybody else about this

but just recently somebody really

inspiring came into my life.

And they kind of changed the way

that I look at things.

- Really? How so?

- Hmm.

Well, I guess you could

say that they convinced me

of the possibility of a more

optimistic future for mankind.

- Oh, shhh. Sorry.

- (Zoe snickers)

- Look! Fate page.

- What?

- What?

- When a book falls like that it's a fate page.

Me and my sister,

we used to play this game.

We kind of just dropped them

on purpose

And see what page

they open up to.

- Uh-huh.

- Okay, wait. Just close your eyes.

- Just do it. Just close your eyes.

- (Michael sighs)

- Okay, so you take your finger.

- Mhm.

- Pick it up.

- Mhm.

You move it kind of around

the page.

- Okay.

- Zoe:
Circle it.

And you just drop it down.

Okay, don't move it.

You can open your eyes.

It's kind of like a fortune.

You can see how it applies

to your life.

What does it say?

(clears throat)

During an infection, apoptosis,

whatever the hell that is,

can serve a protective function

by killing off

virus-contaminated cells before they

spill over with virus particles.

This act of self-sacrifice

hampers the spread of infection

and can save the whole organism.

That is completely

not informative.

No, you have to look

past the words.

You know, like...

Like maybe you're the apoptosis

- serving a protective function.

- Oh! Right.

That is such a sound theory.

You know what?

I think I saw the mental health

section back there.

- We should probably just go...

- Okay.

- ...take a gander over there. What do you think?

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