To the Core and Back Page #3

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That's what we live on.

It's 30 miles thick.

The meat here, call it the mantle.

And forgetting all the funky

transitions, it's 2,000 miles thick.

The core, the peach pit

in the centre, that's a tricky one.

There's two parts:

the inner core and the outer core.

Are you following me?

The inner core is...

Well, it's a big solid chunk of iron,

we think.

And that's surrounded by the outer core,

and that is liquid.

Yes, but, most importantly,

this liquid is constantly spinning

in one direction.

So a trillion trillion tons of hot metal

spinning at

a thousand miles an hour, so...

Right, so, Physics 101:

Hot metal moving fast

makes an electromagnetic field.

This spinning liquid outer core

is the engine that drives the EM Field.

And that's where we have our problem.

This engine has stalled.

The core of the Earth

has stopped spinning.

- How could this have happened?

- [people murmuring]

We don't know.

What's the timeline here?

As the EM Field

becomes more and more unstable,

we'll start seeing isolated incidents.

One plane will fall from the sky,

and then two, and then...

...in a few months, anything,

everything electronic will be fried.

Static discharges in the atmosphere

will create superstorms

with hundreds of lightning strikes

per square mile.

After that, it gets bad.

The Earth's EM Field

shields us from the solar winds,

which are a lethal blend of radioactive

particles and microwaves.

When that shield collapses,

microwave radiation

will literally cook our planet.

Dr. Zimsky.

- [clears throat]

- This is the sun.

This is the Earth...

without the EM Field.

- Would you?

- Mm-hm.

Three months, gentlemen,

and we're back in the Stone Age.

A full year, the field collapses...

...and that.

May I?

Feel free to throw up.

I know I did.

So... how do we fix it?

- We can't.

- Not in my vocabulary.

Then you might want

to get one of those

word-a-day calendars, General,

because it's impossible.

The core is the size of Mars. You're

talking aboutjumpstarting a planet.

This is a superheated hyper-fluid

of molten iron and nickel

at 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit,

And the deepest we've ever been

is... seven miles

- with a two-inch drill bit.

- If we can go into space,

- we certainly...

- Well, space is easy. It's empty.

We're talking about millions of pounds

of pressure per square inch.

Even if we somehow

came up with a brilliant plan

to fix the core,

we just can't get there.

[Zimsky] Yes, but...

...what if we could?

Hello, Braz.

Why the hell aren't you dead yet?

OK, this way.

Oh. That went better than I expected.

Dr. Brazzelton,

I see you know Dr. Zimsky.

Yeah. Twenty years ago,

he stole my research. [laughs]

- After that, we kind of lost touch.

- Research that was equally mine.

That's funny, I don't remember a cheque

from any of the patents.

[sighing] All right, Braz,

makes you a prophet and a martyr.

Look, we're here

about your legendary ship.

OK, I'm combining

high-frequency pulse lasers

with resonance tube ultrasonics.

If you've ever seen ultrasonic waves

break up a kidney stone

on the Discovery Channel,

it's the same deal here.

- Uh, you can put your helmets on now.

- [motor starting]

- Firing.

- [powering up]

[shouting]

[shouting]

[engine powering down]

[Braz] Yeah. Oh.

[coughing]

[Spits]

OK, I'm officially impressed.

[Zimsky] Well, all right.

So you've made some progress

with the engine, I will grant you.

Uh, have you begun

to think about a shell?

OK, this is Alex.

OK, Alex. Good.

OK, here we have a concrete block,

and in back of that,

we have a two-inch steel plate.

- [engine powering up]

- OK. We're ready.

And we are... firing.

[engine powering down]

- Voil!

- That's...

- That's impossible.

- [Braz] I combined the crystals

in a tungsten-titanium matrix

at supercool temperatures,

and that's what did the trick.

The applications for this are just...

What do you call this material?

Well, its real name has 37 syllables.

I call it Unobtanium.

- Unobtanium?

- Mm-hm.

The Unobtanium will take

the heat and the pressure

and transform it to energy,

which in turn, reinforces

the shell of the ship, you see.

So the hotter and the deeper she gets,

the stronger she gets, theoretically.

- [Zimsky] Theoretically?

- Theoretically, yes.

This... is Johnson, don't mind him.

This is the prototype

for the cockpit here.

Excuse me, Dr. Brazzelton, when do you

think the ship will be operational?

When I get my fabrication

methods perfected.

Twelve... ten years, ten years.

What would it take to get

it done in three months?

[laughing] Fifteen billion dollars. I...

Will you take a cheque?

Why don't you use a credit card?

You get miles.

Mm.

[pounding]

- [man 1] Sh*t!

- [man 2] Mr. Finch, this is the FBI.

- We have a warrant.

- [pounding continues]

- [Finch] Purge!

- [Computers beeping]

Come on, purge!

FBI! Freeze!

[dings]

[clattering]

OK.

I know these look like computers.

Totally not.

Theodore Donald Finch.

Carnegie Mellon University. MIT.

Worked at Sun, Lucent, RAND Corp.

My handle's "Rat". Call me Rat.

Sixty-three computer fraud indictments.

Sixty-fou r.

Two convictions.

This is strike three, Mr. Finch.

Wait a second.

You guys aren't here

to whack me, are you?

Because I was really, really hoping

to have sex before that happened.

Yeah. I've been told by the FBI,

whose database you crippled last year,

that you are the best in the business.

So you're about to be given a choice.

- What if I say no?

- Excuse me, but

is this really the best we could do?

I mean...

- How many languages do you speak?

- Five, actually.

Well, I speak one.

One, zero, one, zero, zero.

With that, I could steal

your money, your secrets,

your sexual fantasies, your whole life,

any country, any place,

anytime I want.

We multitask like you breathe.

I couldn't think

as slow as you if I tried.

- Do you have any idea...?

- OK, hey. Hey!

Let's just, let's give the kid a break.

OK, it's a phone. It's just a phone.

Rat...

...we got a big... problem.

A lot of people are going to die.

- We need your help.

- What kind of help?

- [blows on wrapper]

- Information control.

We need you to control the flow

of information on the Internet.

You're dreaming.

Nobody controls the Net.

Could you... with unlimited resources?

You want me to hack the planet?

[chuckles]

- [dialling phone]

- He wants me to hack the planet.

[blowing sounds]

[phone dialling]

You've got free long distance

on that phone... forever.

OK. If I decide to do this,

I'm going to need

an unlimited supply

of Xena tapes and Hot Pockets.

- Hot Pockets?

- They help me concentrate.

Sounds fair.

[shoes squeaking]

[door opens]

[man] Major Childs,

they're ready for you.

[swallows]

Major Childs, a clarification:

You and you alone were responsible

for proposing the descent vectors

for the shuttle, correct?

Yes, General.

[General] We have determined

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