Meteor

Outerspace.

Limitless and timeless.

Filled with cosmic explosions

and endless turbulence.

An infinite playground

forthat occasional blazing visitor,

the comet.

At first comets terrified man.

He thought they were signals

of impending catastrophe.

But he got used to them

and he gave names to them

and waited for them

to drop by like old friends.

This one has come from behind the sun,

moving across the heavens

at 108.000 miles an hour,

and has neverbefore

been seen by man.

The asteroid belt.

A vast junkyard

of metal and rock orbiting the sun

between Jupiter and Mars.

Thousands of fragments,

some as small as a fist

some as large as a city.

And amongst these Orpheus.

Twenty miles In diameterand undisturbed

forcountless generations...

...until now.

Give me the horn.

What do you want?

- Is Dr Paul Bradley aboard?

- Who's asking?

I've gotorders from NASA

to bring in Dr Paul Bradley.

Is he aboard? This is an emergency.

So's this. We're tryng to win a race.

We're going to have

to cutacross your bow.

All right goddammit. We're coming in!

Mr Sherwood told me to get you off

the boat and on your way to Houston.

There's a special jet for you.

- You would've cutacross my bow?

- Yes, sir.

I would've rammed you.

And gone straigh tto the bottom, sir.

Don't go away. I could be right back.

Dr Bradley,

it's good to see you again.

Good to see you again.

- You owe me $10.

- I do?

- I got my handicap down to 12.

- No wonder it's good to see me again.

- Yes?

- Bradley's here.

Good. Send him In.

It's yours. Mr Sherwood..

Oh, good to see you. Come in, come in.

- Sorry to do this to you.

- Not at all.

Yes, I did that I called Helen

and asked her to send your clothes.

Hello? Mr Sherwood.'s office.

I, uh...

I didn't know that you and she were...

- You've met General Easton.

- Once, in Washington.

- Good of you to come.

- Sam Mason, CAP commander.

Peter Watson, our flight director.

Put that down

and let me fix you a small Scotch.

A large one.

- Good.

- We could all use one, I think.

Why don'twe sit around the table?

Take your coat off.

- How big is your boat?

- Fifty-two feet

An awful lot's been happening here,

Paul. And none of it good.

Harry, I left NASA five years ago.

- Why am I back?

- Let me tell you.

Gentlemen, help yourselves.

Seven days ago, Palomar Observatory

reported the discovery of a new comet.

- General.

- Thank you.

Nothing unusual in that

They spot nine or ten every year,

either themselves

or other observatories.

But... it's where this one

seemed to be going.

- The asteroid belt.

- Go on.

When they called me, it was a couple

of hundred thousand miles from the belt.

Challenger II, our space probe to Mars,

was in the vicinity.

General Easton's son,

Tom, was commanding.

We got in touch with them,

and then we...

I...

...changed their programme.

That was last Friday.

Challenger II,

do you read me?

We read you.

How do you feel

about making a slight detour?

Anything to break the monotony.

Whatdo you call slight?

Two days, four hours and 32 minutes.

What happens to our schedule?

Don't concern yourself, Tom.

We'll take care of everything.

- Mars will have to wait.

- Whatever you say.

- Where are we going?

- The asteroid belt.

- What for?

- A Comet's about to go through it.

- They go through all the time.

- It's a first for this one.

It was wrenched out of orbit

by Jupiter's gravitational pull.

- How big is this comet?

- 480 kilometres in diameter,

which makes its nucleus large enough

to do real damage if it hits anything.

It's headed straight toward Orpheus,

the big one in the centre.

Where do we park?

Park alongside Vesta,

about 25,000 kilometres this side.

You'll be there three hours

before the comet.

We want all the information you can

give us on size and orbital elements.

- Take a few pictures?

- A lot of pictures.

We've already started things down here.

You'll change course in five minutes.

- Is my old man with ya?

- He's here.

- Tell him hello.

- Will do.

As I said before, that was last Friday.

Yesterday, Sunday morning,

at 1100 hours,

they started to pull up alongside Vesta.

- We got it?

- Yes, we've got it

- Can you zoom in on Orpheus for us?

- Can do.

Beautiful.

- Let's have some information.

- I'll take some measurements.

For the next hour and a half,

they read the belt for us.

Then what we were waiting for

finally appeared.

Magnetic field measuring zero.

It'll go straight through like salt.

It's gonna hit it!

- Get away from there.

- It's coming apart in a million pieces!

I don't think I can ever forgive myself.

- I should have figured...

- No guilt Harry.

- We'd all have given the same orders.

- Who knows about this?

Nobody at the moment.

We'll have put out a release

right after this meeting.

Why am I here?

A chunk of Orpheus is heading

towards Earth, a pretty big one.

There are a lot of little pieces

with it and in front of it

It's the big one we're worried about

The figures haven't been worked out,

but six days from now we could be hit.

- We have to be prepared.

- That's why we put Hercules up there.

Will you let me finish?

I've convened a meeting at NASA

headquarters in Washington fortomorrow.

Lucas, Steinberg, Fillmore,

others you know will be there.

I want you to come to that meeting.

- I'll come to your meeting.

- We appreciate it Paul.

I've delayed a flight

You're leaving in one hour.

Up-to-date material on Hercules.

Something to read.

Your hotel room has been booked.

Gladys has yourexpense arrangements.

Why don't you stick a broom up my arse?

I vould sweep the carpet on the way out.

Haven't changed, have you?

See you in the morning.

The Coast Guard towed

Rob Samuelson to harbour...

Among the other nine who failed

to finish was Dr Peterson's Maverick,

who was disqualified

for crossing the line prior to start.

John Slabin's Mary Bee collided

with Arnold Parker's Swan.

Both suffered

sufficient damage to withdraw.

The big surprise

was Paul Bradley's Blithe Spirit,

which withdrew for no apparent reason

early in the race.

John Dunning

had a running battle with...

- Hello.

- it's late, I wanted to...

Paul. Where are you?

Why aren't you on the boat?

Uh, Washington.

- How are the kids?

- Jimmy's gota cold.

And Julie's bound to get it

and we're still fighting about homework.

Apart from that, they're fine.

- What are you doing in Washington?

- I'm not sure yet

I was phoning

to let you know where I am.

How are you?

Oh... Not bad, you know.

- Paul?

- Tell the kids I love them.

A chunk of Orpheus

is heading towards Earth.

A big one. There are a lot of little

pieces with it and in front of it.

But it's the big one

we're worried about.

The figures haven't been worked out,

but six days from now we could he hit.

Sorry I'm late.

You and everybody else.

- Let me tell you about that

- Either we're in the wrong room,

or a lot of brainpower's lost.

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