Mission To Mars Page #6

- I'm not crazy.

- What'd you mean by its "secret"?

What secret?

Listen, hundreds of millions of years

have gone by, okay? You've got erosion,

lava flow, sand storms,

meteor impacts.

Hell, in that time the whole surface

of the planet would have changed,

so it's no wonder

we never saw it before.

I mean, we saw it,

but not like they meant us to.

There was too much

dirt on it.

Saw what, Luke?

Saw this.

Jesus.

Oh, my God.

Luke, what are you trying to tell us?

- Are you trying to tell us

that's a face?

- That's the face.

It's the face. It's real.

Somebody put that thing there,

and it's not us.

Jim...

It's not possible.

Jesus.

- Look at that.

- My God.

I know.

Luke, what about that sound

you heard before the explosion?

Oh, yeah, good, Jim.

That's the key. That's the key.

You hear that?

Yeah.

- Those pauses.

Do you hear the pauses?

- Mm-hmm.

See, that's what made me

realize it's a pattern.

It's a repeating pattern.

- Mathematical?

- Mm-hmm.

That occurred to me too.

There are distinct blocks

within each pattern,

and within each block,

the tones come in groups of three.

It's three-three-three,

three-three-three.

Always three-three-three.

It's always the same.

For months, I struggled to analyze it,

trying different constructs,

and then I thought about dimensions.

- X-Y-Z coordinate.

- Exactly. Three groups

equals three dimensions.

So I-I assigned different graphic values

to each block, group and tone,

and I came up with this.

- Hello.

- Oh, my God.

Is that what I think it is?

- DNA.

- You see it?

Yeah.

It's a model of DNA.

So...So somebody

left that thing here. Okay.

Somebody other than human.

But, uh,

what is it?

It's a signature.

It's a self-portrait

of whatever species created the face.

Yeah, but that DNA

looks human.

No, it's not. It's missing

the last pair of chromosomes, see?

- It's close. It's damn close.

- Close?

The difference between

man and ape is less than

three percent genetic material.

But that three percent

gives you Einstein, Mozart.

Jack the Ripper.

Yeah, he's right.

Four pallets,

oral, topical medications,

splints, bandages,

one complete med pack.

With eight tubes

of antifungal cream.

Well, at least we won't

rash to death.

Luke.

- How do you feel?

- Lighter.

- A lot lighter.

- Welcome back.

Thanks, man.

The backup generator is salvageable.

So are two of the solar panels.

I'm pretty sure I can get the oxygen

still back into production.

So we're not in

such bad shape, considering.

That's good, Terri.

Good work.

Jesus.

Look at this.

Phil's idea of absolute essentials.

Of course.

Hey, hey, hey!

Hey!

My baby.

It's not a signature.

What?

The noise from the face.

It's not a signature.

It's a test.

It's asking us for the right answer.

It wants us to put in

the missing pair of chromosomes.

- Why?

- To prove that we're human.

We fired radar into that thing,

concentrated radio waves,

and you're saying...

Which it interpreted

as the wrong answer.

It's... It could be like

a security alarm.

When it gets an incorrect response,

it defends itself.

So what happens when it

gets the right answer?

Well,

I don't know that,

Phil.

But we gotta find out.

Luke, what if we

work this the other way?

We figure out which tones would be

equivalent to the missing chromosomes,

and then dub them into

your recording of the signal.

- Is that possible?

- Yeah.

- Yeah, I-I think so.

- Good, good, good.

What about the radar gun?

Will it accept the input...

so we can transmit

a completed signal back to the face?

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Hold on, Jim.

What if you're wrong?

Whoever

goes out there...

I mean, what if you're wrong?

Three people have already

died over that thing.

Four.

Terri.

If we leave here without getting

some answers, they all died in vain.

We don't...

We don't have to

go out there.

Got a lot of static here.

Something's interfering.

Yeah. The antenna got knocked

around pretty badly in the blast.

This is the best resolution

I think we're gonna be able to get.

All right, guys.

I got the nav boards.

I'm sealing the air lock.

- Check the video feed.

- Video feed looks good.

- How close do we have to get?

- I'm not sure.

Maybe I'll stop it

right over there by that rock.

Do it. Good.

Okay.

Here we go.

Look at that, Jim.

It worked.

Oh, God, it worked.

Guys, I don't know

what the hell we just did,

but does that look to you

like a hostile gesture?

No. More like

an invitation.

Or another test.

- Check for radiation.

- Normal.

Seismic normal.

Anemometer steady.

Luke, does the rover

still work?

Phil, do you read?

Yeah, Jim. Your signal's breaking up

a little in the storm, but I read you.

We're at the face.

We're gonna need a few minutes here.

Same deadline.

Launch at 1950 with or without us.

Copy?

Copy that.

Jim, you sure

you want to do this?

I'm not sure

about anything any more.

But I didn't come 100 million miles

just to turn back in the last ten feet.

Yeah.

Please work.

This is gonna work.

Yes. Yes.

Computers are on-line.

I am going to start

loading software.

The surface... seems firm and level.

Roger that.

- The texture's smooth.

- I've got good footing.

No obstructions.

Let's check our P.S.I.

Guys, I gotta tell you...

We're losing visibility here

really fast. Over.

It's solid. We're trapped.

Don't move.

Just keep this orientation.

Guys?

Luke? Terri? Jim?

Phil, can you

still hear me?

Is anyone there?

Over.

God. That's it.

There's no handles. We're not gettin'

out of here unless they let us out.

- Jim, what are you doing?

- What are you doing?

Stop it! Stop it!

- You're depressurizing!

- Seal your suit now!

- There's pressure in here.

- Above Mars atmospheric.

It's impossible.

We're millions of miles from Earth

inside a giant white face.

What's impossible?

There's 12 P.S.I.

in here.

Nitrogen and oxygen.

Otherwise known as air.

Hey, wait Jim. I haven't checked for

lethal trace gases, and I haven't...

What the hell.

Look.

- Is that what I think it is?

- Yeah. It's Mars.

That's where they went.

Look. One stayed behind.

Earth.

Before the continents separated.

My God. That's it.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, there

was a sudden explosion of life on Earth.

The first multi-celled plants

and animals appeared.

No one has ever understood

why or how it happened.

They seeded Earth.

They seeded Earth.

They're us.

We're them.

Luke? Terri? Jim?

Anyone?

E.R.V. to rover.

Rover, this is E.R.V.

Does anyone copy?

Does anyone copy?

E.R.V. to rover. Rover, this is E.R.V.

- Do you copy?

- Phil?

- Oh, thank God.

- Phil, we read you.

Listen, this storm is

getting really bad.

It's going to totally sock us in in

a few minutes. You've got to get back.

- Phil?

- I repeat:
You've got to

get back to the ship.

Phil?

We're in a ship.

This... is a ship.

And the...

countdown's already started.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes