The Beyond Page #2

[HIGH-FREQUENCY WARBLING

OVER RADIO]

A NAME WAS GIVEN

TO THIS ANOMALY.

WE STARTED CALLING I "THE VOID",

WHICH IS WAY BETTER

THAN "ANOMALY 234-B."

[ALEX]

IT HAD THE APPEARANCE...

WELL, SIMILAR TO THE REMNANTS

OF A SUPERNOVA.

BUT, DUE TO ITS PROXIMITY

TO EARTH,

WE KNEW IT WAS SOMETHING

COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

BUT DURING ITS APPEARANCE,

WE ALSO DETECTED

A SHORT-BURST RADIO WAVE

AND THE SIGNAL WAS...

IT WAS...

TRANSMITTED IN A VERY

SPECIFIC FREQUENCY,

1420 MEGAHERTZ.

[HIGH-FREQUENCY WARBLING

OVER RADIO]

[JAKOB]

THIS 1420 MEGAHERTZ FREQUENCY,

A VERY STRANGE:

AND COMPLEX PHENOMENON,

ALSO KNOWN AS:

THE "HYDROGEN LINE,"

THE RADIO ASTRONOMERS

WHO FIRST RECORDED IT,

THEY CHASED THEIR TAILS TRYING

TO FIND THE SOURCE OF THE...

OF THE SIGNAL,

TO NO AVAIL.

AND THEN IT DISAPPEARED.

ALL THESE YEARS LATER,

WE'RE STILL TRYING

TO FIND THE SOURCE.

[REPEATING TONE]

NEVER REOCCURRED.

IF WE MISS ANY OPPORTUNITY

TO INVESTIGATE THIS NOW,

WE MAY HAVE TO WAIT FOR ANOTHER

25 YEARS FOR IT TO REAPPEAR,

IF IT REAPPEARS.

AND WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW IS,

WHO PUT IT THERE?

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

IS IT INTELLIGENT?

IS IT TRYING TO:

COMMUNICATE WITH US?

I MEAN, THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS

THAT WE NEED ANSWERS TO.

SO WE HAVE RECONNAISSANCE

PROBES IN ORBI TO DO ROUTINE EXTERNAL EXAMINATIONS OF

SPACECRAFT AND SATELLITES IN ORBIT,

AS WELL AS:

PLANETARY EXPLORATION,

WHEN THE TIME COMES.

SO I MADE A CALL TO AUTHORIZE

A PROBE BE SENT ON A RECON

MISSION INTO THE VOID.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

MANEUVERING IN SPACE

ISN'T QUITE AS SIMPLE

AS IT'S OFTEN PORTRAYED

IN THE MOVIES.

UM, TO MOVE FROM

ONE ORBIT TO ANOTHER

TAKES QUITE A LOT OF ENERGY.

SO WE HAD TO...

ADJUST THE CRAFT'S ORBI TO INTERSEC WITH THAT OF THE VOID.

IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG HERE

WITH THE PROBES,

THAT MIGHT BE IT.

IT MIGHT BE OUR ONLY CHANCE

TO HAVE A LOOK.

[RAPID BEEPS]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[RAPID BEEPING]

[SUSTAINED BEEP]

WE ALWAYS EXPECTED

TO LOSE COMMUNICATION,

JUST NOT NECESSARILY THAT SOON.

BUT, THANKFULLY,

ALL IS NOT LOST.

OUR PROBES ARE FITTED WITH

STATE-OF-THE-ART, HIGH-DEFINITION CAMERAS

THAT STREAM DIRECTLY

TO OUR SERVERS HERE.

AND, EVEN IN THAT BRIEF,

BRIEFEST OF WINDOWS,

WE WERE ABLE:

TO MAINTAIN A SIGNAL,

AND WE CAPTURED IMAGERY.

AS OUR PROBE MOVED CLOSER,

WE NOTICED THIS:

TUNNEL-LIKE STRUCTURE,

JUST DIRECTLY AHEAD OF US.

NOW, HAVE A LOOK AT THIS

LIGHT AT THE CENTER.

THIS IS LIGHT AND COSMIC MATTER

ENTERING AND LEAVING,

SO WHAT WE'RE POTENTIALLY

LOOKING AT HERE:

IS A WORMHOLE.

AND, YOU KNOW, WE ALL KNOW THA THERE IS AN ENTRANCE AND AN EXIT,

SO IF THIS INDEED

A WORMHOLE,

THEN THE NEXT QUESTION IS,

WHAT IS ON THE OTHER SIDE

OF THE VOID?

IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE DEALING

WITH A WORMHOLE.

WE STILL NEED TO RUN MORE DATA

AND HAVE A LOOK OVER ALL THE

IMAGES THAT WE'VE BEEN SENT BACK,

JUST TO KNOW EXACTLY

WHAT WE'RE DEALING WITH HERE.

[JAKOB] TECHNICALLY, THIS

IS NOT A WORMHOLE, HUH?

WELL, NOT IN MY OPINION.

IN THE CASE OF THE VOID...

WELL, WE ARE SURE

THAT AN ENTRY POINT EXISTS.

WE CALL IT "THE THROAT."

THE QUESTION IS WHETHER

A SECOND THROAT EXISTS,

AN EXIT POINT.

WOULD WHATEVER WE SEND IN THERE

EMERGE THE OTHER SIDE

OR WOULD IT REMAIN STUCK THERE

FOR ETERNITY?

OUR FINDING WAS:

A LITTLE BIT LIKE, UH,

JUMPING AND LOOKING

OVER A REALLY HIGH WALL,

BUT ONLY GETTING A GLIMPSE

OF WHAT'S ON THE OTHER SIDE.

HOWEVER, EACH TIME YOU JUMP, YOU

CAPTURE A LITTLE BIT MORE INFORMATION.

AND WHAT BEGAN TO EMERGE FOR US

WAS A KIND OF FLASH FRAME

OF WHAT APPEARED TO BE A

SPHERICAL SHAPE IN THE DISTANCE.

NOW, UPON CLOSER EXAMINATION

OF THIS FLASH FRAME,

WE BEGAN TO SEE THE POTENTIAL FOR

THIS SPHERICAL SHAPE TO BE...

ANOTHER PLANET.

WE COULD BE LOOKING AT THE FIRS CONTACT WITH INTELLIGENT LIFE.

THAT IS A MAJOR POSSIBILITY

THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT RIGHT NOW.

NOW WE HAVE SOMETHING,

SOMETHING REALLY BIG.

PERHAPS TOO BIG.

I DON'T THINK WE'RE PREPARED

OR HAVE THE RESOURCES

TO INVESTIGATE FURTHER.

I MEAN,

SOMETHING OF THIS MAGNITUDE.

[HIGH-FREQUENCY WARBLING

OVER RADIO]

[GILLIAN] I WANT TO SEND

OUR ASTRONAUTS UP THERE.

I UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED TO JIM MARCELL.

I CAN APPRECIATE THAT.

I WANT IT NOTED:

THAT I FLATLY OBJECT.

I CANNOT SUPPORT THAT.

THE REALITY IS THA WE HAVE TO GET INFORMATION.

HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET IT?

WE CAN'T CONTINUE

TO SEND PROBES UP THERE,

THEY DON'T HAVE THE CAPABILITY.

WE NEED TO BE:

IN COMMUNICATION

WITH SOMEBODY:

ON THE OTHER SIDE.

SAME CONVERSATION

FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS.

IF WE MISS THE WINDOW,

WE MISS OUR OPPORTUNITY.

WHAT STAGE ARE THE PROBES AT?

WHAT STAGE ARE WE A WITH THEIR DEVELOPMENT?

[ALEX] WE'VE LOST THEM.

THEY WENT THROUGH,

AND WE HAVE NO SIGNAL

WHATSOEVER.

TOTALLY INTERRUPTED,

TOTALLY BLACKED OUT.

IT SAY HERE THAT SO FAR WE'VE

LOST A TOTAL OF, UH,

$3.5 MILLION IN TECHNOLOGY

WITH THE PROBES.

IT'S NOT A BOTTOM-LINE THING HERE,

WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT A SPREADSHEET,

WE'RE TALKING ABOUT PROBABLY ONE OF THE

MOST IMPORTANT THINGS THAT HAS HAPPENED

IN... IN SPACE EXPLORATION,

AND I THINK WE NEED TO

MOVE FORWARD ON THA AND I THINK WE NEED TO

MOVE FORWARD NOW.

WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST?

OUR IMMEDIATE FOCUS

IS TO DEFINE THIS MISSION.

SEVERAL IDEAS WERE DISCUSSED, BUT NOBODY'S

INTERESTED IN SENDING MORE PROBES.

THE DETERMINATION WAS TO

FINANCE A FULL MISSION.

AND WE WERE ABLE TO RAISE

A LARGE SUM OF FUNDING.

IN FACT, THE LARGEST SUM

OF FUNDING EVER RAISED

IN THE HISTORY OF

SPACE EXPLORATION.

BECAUSE...

THE MERE GLIMPSE OF A

POTENTIALLY HABITABLE PLANET,

WELL, I HAVE TO TELL YOU, THA RAISED AN AWFUL LOT OF INTEREST.

REGARDLESS, IT WAS AGREED UPON

TO KEEP THIS MISSION CLASSIFIED,

FOR NOW.

A COMPLETE MEDIA BLACKOUT,

UNTIL WE HAVE:

A GREATER UNDERSTANDING

OF WHAT EXACTLY IT IS

WE'RE DEALING WITH.

THE FIRST STEP WE TOOK WAS TO

PROVIDE A COVER STORY TO THE MEDIA

IN ORDER TO PROVIDE A DISTRACTION

AS PART OF THE MEDIA BLACKOUT.

IN TIME, WE WILL PROVIDE

FULL DISCLOSURE TO THE MEDIA,

BUT, RIGHT NOW, THE SPACE AGENCY

FEELS THAT THE PUBLIC

IS JUST NOT READY TO KNOW ABOU THE MISSION INVOLVING THE VOID.

[HIGH-FREQUENCY WARBLING

OVER RADIO]

THIS NOTION OF THE...

SPACE AGENCY'S

TO SEND A HUMAN ASTRONAU THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE...

IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

BECAUSE, PHYSICALLY,

WE AS HUMAN BEINGS

COULDN'T POSSIBLY ENDURE

THE EXTREME STRESSES

THAT SUCH A VENTURE

WOULD ENTAIL.

[ALEX] FOR DECADES, WE'VE

BEEN DEVELOPING SUITS

TO PROTECT OUR ASTRONAUTS

FROM THE DANGERS OF SPACE.

WHAT WE'RE GONNA NEED

TO DO NOW TO...

TO PROTECT OUR ASTRONAUTS FROM TRAVELLING

THROUGH THE VOID IS SOMETHING...

QUITE FRANKLY, I DON'T THINK WE HAVE

THE TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITIES TO DO.

AS I'VE IMPLIED

A FEW TIMES BEFORE,

SENDING A HUMAN ASTRONAU WOULD BE SUICIDAL.

IN ORDER TO SURVIVE A WORMHOLE,

HE OR SHE WOULD HAVE TO ENDURE

GRAVITATIONAL WAVES THAT WOULD

SPAGHETTI-FY THEM.

THE ONLY FEASIBLE,

THOUGH PROBLEMATIC, SOLUTION

WOULD BE TO USE:

ROBOTICS OR PROBES.

[CHIME]

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes