The StarTrails Game [act 3] 'The real mission'

INT. GARDEN DECK - NUCLEAR-POWERED DAY-BRIGHT (WEEKS LATER)

Exotic TROPICAL BIRDS SWOOP among FLOWERED 20-FT. TREES and berry bushes in bloom, and bird feeders and birdbaths … A foursome lunches on a picnic blanket …

Across the field Mi-Kee relaxes on an e-capable park bench; At center is the double-sealed Elevator core like a water-tank in a field environed by surround-mirror-images …

BRIGHT SHADOWY CLOUDS DRIFT ACROSS the day-blue ceiling … spawning, coalescing, dissipating, at infinite corners …

A male-female pair of Crew-Astronauts walk pass Mi-Kee …

In laptop-headset, she listens to e-mail: secretarial PC-VOICE (VO) responds as she speaks mechanical instructions:

Delete it!

Message deleted.

Last E-mail Deleted: Inbox empty.

Checking for new mail …

REVISED INBOX: One e-mail, sent weeks earlier;--

You have one new message:-- From: admin-sim-at-ames-dot-nasa-dot-gov. On: July 19, 2-thousand-9, at 23-27. To: Commander Mi-Kee. Subject: Priority-One: Eyes-Only.… Would you like me to read it?

(checks laptop, ponders)
July 19 … Pre-flight training day!- What's this doing…?- I read all my e-mail…. Priority One … NASA….

(insists)
Say: Read the header! Or, Read message! Or, Skip this!

Show the header!

E-MAIL HEADER, "Video-Formant, Loading: James Oglethorp":

From: NASA Administration admin-sim@ames.nasa.gov
Sun Jul 19 23:20:16 2009
X-Apparently-To: "Commander Mi-Kee" anonymo@ps.us
via mdd201.mail.ps.us
Received: from h-192-203-230-10.nasa.gov
(HELO ames.nasa.gov)
(192.203.230.10) by mta113.ps.us with SMTP;
19 Jul 2009 16:27:51 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from hyperon (hyperon.nasa.gov) by
ames.nasa.gov (LSMTP for Windows NT v1.1b) with
SMTP id <2009.0719.234642.AXp7Y@ames.nasa.gov>;
Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:27:51 -0700 (PDT)
Video-formant: james.oglethorp.fmt/male/full
From: admin-sim@ames.nasa.gov | Valid address
Return-Path: admin-sim@ames.nasa.gov
Errors-To: admin-sim@ames.nasa.gov
To: <anonymo@ps.us>
Subject: PRIORITY ONE - EYES ONLY
Reply-to: admin-sim@ames.nasa.gov
X-MailCaster-ID: anonymo@ps.us
Comment: Authenticated sender
Precedence: Secure
X-Mailer: SMIMECaster 1.3
MIME-Version: 1.0
User Agent: Crayzilla/6.3 (Windows; U; NT4.3;
en-US; rv:1.0.3) Gecko/20060509 Episcape/7.03
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary=3D"---nASa-V-RiDe-toMorRoW---"
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:28:16 -0500 (CDT)
Status: R
Content-Length: 3731104
Priority: One; Encrypted; EYES-ONLY; Severity 7
Path-History: Resolved: NASA; NASA; NRO Archive.

(skip-reads, pondering)
Admin … ames-dot-nasa-dot-gov … Valid address … Authenticated Sender … Path-History: Resolved: NASA…!- NASA doesn't fudge dates…!

Read, Body, please.

Video-formant avatar for, James Oglethorp,- loaded.…

VID-MAIL: Lifelike [Admin:Avatar] (VO) at a NASA-like desk:

(mechanical rote)
Greetings, Commander: This e-mail message and attachments were stored in your onboard relay-server cache before you launched.… Because you are reading this, we must presume that you have not been instructed to delete it: and we must therefore consider that our situation on Earth has changed.…

She SUBTLY EYES -ABOUT- her vicinity;

(a paragraph beat)
Commander, You recall when I told you, you are criticality-one on this mission … I did not tell you everything: In fact, Only 3 of your Crew know of its purpose…. We did not include you, nor your second,- to prevent mutiny fomented by any senior officer including yourself.… As the delay between Earth and your vessel is now above 6-kilo-hesits, your Navigation computer includes an 8-day dummy file, of predicted telemetry appearing normal: should you need postauthorization….

She nonchalantly returns Eyes to watch again;

(a paragraph beat)
The attached video is of a meeting at NASA with executives in the News Television industry 4-months before this mission launched.… The upshot of that meeting was that, while we at NASA had approached this mission openly, the collective News-media itself decided this item should be secreted from public knowledge for the duration … Commander.

POV Mi-Kee: Repositions her laptop to view popup NASA telescope-sighting images of one marked-up reticuled point:

NB. HEADSET is laptop-scene stereo; ambience is wide-field.

(a rule beat, explains)
Nine months ago, astrophysicists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Mission Development Office, using the new GAMMA-RAY LARGE AREA SPACE TELESCOPE, discovered a fast-moving source near our solar system. The sighting was refined, confirmed and triangulated, with ULYSSES, HETE-2, INTEGRAL, and WIND-SOLAR, gamma-ray astronomy satellites; plus X-Ray and U-V platforms.… Visual-contact, with the HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE was not successful.… It is fast-moving, and should pass our solar system in 30-years. There will be tremendous interest in the scientific research community…. At tangent, it may be 14-hundred astronomical units from Earth:- Close enough to send a fast nuclear-powered rocket,- But more importantly, close-enough to affect solar system dynamics: This we felt was reason to go public, But in the discussion with News-media, they found reason to hush and cover with another, story,- which impinges on your, mission. You may consult your crew, on your course of action.…

Images off: Just himself, but [DISPLAYED-CU]:

(a paragraph beat)
Just why we have not communicated sooner on this, I cannot guess: Our cover story may have blown; Our radio channels monitored, decrypted by amateur experts watching our every move; Or the story itself may have leaked and we cannot divulge our awareness of it yet….

The attached E-mail-video is ready; She last-checks about …

The video attachment is queued-up: Say, Play it now, or, Save it.

Play it.

She reviews the "Rogue Hole" conference video-file:

ZOOM CLOSE IN … (CAN INTERCUT GARDEN ATTENTION, LAPTOP VO)

INT. NASA HOUSTON PRESS CONFERENCE - ROOMLIGHT (PLAYBACK)

The real explanation, for the Outer Story:

TITLE:

"Dateline: 2009-02-01 13:15 Houston"

WIDESCREEN PC-DISPLAYS on walls, for impressing news-media with NASA high-technology telecommunications facilitation, logarithmic-compressed solar-system ORRERY, labeled planet icons, moving 60-days/sec., controllable;

SHE, a lipsticking, Research-Director; HE, a NASA-emblemed white-shirted, Assistant; [SENIOR SCIENTIST] on Display; a 2ND-SCI sits with HDTV-NEWS EXECUTIVES in jacket gear: ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC, XBC (Christian-cross broadcasting),--

Consulting in jaded disbelief NASA's dilemma yet openness, gradually becoming science-thinkers and decision-makers:

(amused)
Earth-hazing comets… planet-busting asteroids with cute names… are just not Media priority … NASA must have lost another budget-bout:- How much did you ask?- 50-billion…? 1-50…?

(stern punctuation)
Asteroids are gypsy-jive: The O-C-O I'm talking-about is a rogue, black hole, a gravity singularity, with a mass of 3-suns, packed in the space of Washington D-C cubed, moving in…

PARTIAL LOUD-CHUCKLES OVERRIDE …

(just audible)
Picasso-Braque Blockparty in 20-20…

MORE CHUCKLES.

(continues on quiet)
… moving, in the vicinity, outside, our solar system … but deep inside, the main interstellar… Oort… Cloud…

(clips serio-nonchalant)
And this New World-Order coming our way, is going to hit… Paris… China? How many people are we talking-up-- annihilated, by a rogue, --Was that a rouge…?-- black hole…?

ALL CHUCKLE.

Aren't they all?- If we didn't have lipstick armageddons every weekend, we'd have to invent a war, to raise dickies at the next House picnic.

PARTIAL CHUCKLES.

(moderating)
Let's keep the subject to objects.

(hypothesizes)
Would this, be, the ejected core of the Adamic supernova, in the sky 5-thousand years ago?- Moving a tenth percent of light-speed could put it near us in our era … Seth's columns marked the flood… Maybe this is the fire-coal coming to destroy Earth…!

(a beat)
Hypothetically… We don't know that…

(lightens-up)
Let's play, Spin-The-Headline:- Who wants, "Black Hole Heads For Earth: Not…!?"

PARTIAL CHUCKLES.

(sly)
Depends on whether it causes global restroom power outages, or not….

A thinking beat … BUST-UP ROUND LAUGHTER … and looking at--

Fox goes for the 1-2-punch topper:--

(envisions grandiose)
Full-page, black-spread, opposite, Army, Builds, Near-Missile, Base….

SPORADIC "K"-SQUEAKS AND GIGGLES …

(steps to Her aid)
NASA is being as forward on this as we can: It's not annihilation: It's receptivity … We've learned lessons about, secrecy, we do-not, want, to repeat … And the President agrees-- We need, see, how the world reacts…

(quick)
And we've got how, many years?- Why isn't NASA more forward on this…?!

We are telling, you, as much as we can, compute … This rogue hole, is fairly dry: It must have swallowed its debris rings long-ago:- We can barely detect it is there, at all.

How do you know it, is, there,- at all?

It has detectable gamma, and X-ray, signature halos … arcs … sometimes.

What's your limit on precision…?

(shakes Defeat)
10-to-80 years … best estimate….

Is this Dr. Forward's Dragon's Egg?

Robert researched condensed matter: neutron stars. This is a mass-hole: what happens when the velocity of light across the surface of a very, massive neutron star, gets exceeded by its gravity, and falls down: And neutrons themselves can't stand up, and the star collapses wholely into its own hole….

Well… Gravity sucks,-- my kids say.

PARTIAL CHUCKLES.

(mocks to ABC)
Don't say that:- NASA will kick us out for profanity on the premises…!

SPORADIC CHUCKLES.

What's your scenario? Why aren't we keeping this little secret, little, and you guys sendup a team and plug the hole?-- Why isn't this under tight-security pre-leak wraps?

NASA, officially, operates on open-information policy:- Only specifics predetermined to impinge national security and intelligence-gathering are ever pre-secured … And we never really-keep anything from you-guys…

(mock postulates)
So, what-happens is: The rogue hole grazes the Oort-cloud, and throws a handful of rastyoids into our inner system:- One threatens the Duchy of Lichtenstein and America will grant trillions of new dollars to pay for their national… spaceguard defense?

That was, Grand Fenwick.

BREAK-CHUCKLES.

We don't believe the rogue hole may get that close: No closer than TAU: a thousand astronomical units.

(digs)
X-ray damage unseen at one-thousand astronomical units … Loss of a few interstellar asteroids?- What's the deal?- You need billions to convert the Shuttle to nuclear propulsion and do a rogue-hole flyby-mission…?

Well …: (eyes at She)
That would be nice …: (to them)
Bolden, said, Go through regular funding channels on that…. We've …: (soft-guffaw at She)
We're … How do we tell them…?--: (tentative to them)
It may -just may,- get close-enough to our solar system … to revise the orbital elements and ephemerides of the outer planets, Neptune, Uranus: just, slightly … like a… Planet-X….

(exasperates)
Change your amateur sky charts!? Is that what's worrying NASA? Big-news NASA Announces Astrology Nightmare: Uranus Babies To Live Longer!- Beat the Global tabloids to their punch, with America's New-News Syndicate…?

A bit of half-giggly background …

(quietish to ABC)
You just said a mouthful.…

ABC flashes a grin …

Oh, No:--: (shakes head in hands)
This is more headache than Y-2-K…!

PONDEROUS SILENCE …

(mechanical slower)
Oh, Lord: Calendars may change: The equinox move, leap-seconds per day, an hour per year … Bye-bye Zeller's Congruence … Hello Vatican defrocks Pope Gregory …

PONDEROUS SILENCE … (2 beats)

How often, do, these occur? Is this the first of a series?

(shakes No)
One in 70-million years: if: maybe.

(suggests unanswerably)
Could explain dinosaur extinctions?

(compromises)
We can, news a new theory about how the cosmos works: But you've got to keep it to two good, P-C, theories.

(restarts)
What theories?!- This is an act of God:-- We can't tell people how to prepare for all, wildly improbable outcomes: until one is sure!- This could create panic: confusion about what we do-and-don't, know:-- We're commercial, not schoolbook errata.

Then, What do we say? Can we get an amateur to D-V-camcord his computer calendar?-- This affects everyone!

(a beat, inserts)
You might cover with other discoveries.

(split to She)
Is there something you haven't told us?

No.: (polite to Scientist)
Can you example for us?

I am recalling relatable evidences recorded by Ken Lande, back in '74.

Good … Detective-work … Cooperation is always newsworthy….

Dr. Lande set-up the first neutrino experiment in the Homestake Mine … Almost immediately he got a result, and published in Nature, that year.

He, to a podium, keying-in "Homestake, neutrinos, Lande, 1974, Nature," invoking lists of articles on some Displays;

(proffers)
Neutrinos, are evidences of black-holes?

He bubbles his search finger-dragging '1974 under Nature'-- the article isolated, Nature 251 p485 1974, with charts;

Not in the quantity we detect them: We can, see, our sun, in neutrinos, barely: We catch one-a-day in giant N-D-E tanks; 25-percent more during daytime: But 24-detection-events in a fraction of a second at Homestake evidenced a supernova we never saw: Dr. Lande got a fat burst in a tiny tank … Sensitivity we can't repeat.

Little green men didn't contribute to this?

CHUCKLES.

(smiles)
This was real … But only once,- and he couldn't reconcile the dominance of antineutrinos over neutrino; And until the Magellanic supernova, in, February '87, we had no comparison.

(inserts)
Lande's title is, Extraterrestrial…

(chuckles)
Ken's sense of humor:-- I think he meant extrasolar.

CHUCKLES. He, keys-up a supernova-neutrino cross-section-animation with energies received at Earth NDE water-tanks;

Old evidence, rediscovered:- That's news … Could it have come from this rogue hole?- Something we missed?

No. The rogue hole must be ancient, or its nearby nova would have fried most of us larger life-forms;- And it would still wear a debris-halo.

(a grinning postulate)
A new cause for global warming…?

(a beat)
Okay:- You're handing us something to work-up.…

(envisions sincere)
New Science Directions:- Gamma-ray discoveries open a can of galactic objectivity….

(to Scientist)
Can you tell us where Dr. Lande's neutrinos came-from?-- Behind the dust barrier of our galaxy center?

It wasn't setup for directionality: We'd expected telescopic followups.

Then, How do we use that to develop a story?- If Dr. Lande's supernova, was hidden by galactic dust … How-- strong?- Any quantitative measure?

Thousand times stronger, 2-hundred times faster, than the '87 event.

(thinks-aloud)
That means… 30-times… closer: about 5-thousand light-years… nearer than the galaxy core … And no remnant to tell its distance and direction…!?

None.

(and to 2nd-Sci)
I thought supernovae left remnants visible in radio spectra … Another piece of your puzzle?

Yes, they do eventually.

(laments)
Sounds like we missed some-thing…!: (one more try)
And 3-decades isn't enough time…!?

It is.

Then, What are, we missing?-- Could it be a failed, supernova? Could it be closer?- Could we be inside its remnant?- Could we distinguish that against the cosmic background?

Yes, Yes, Yes, and No by geometric symmetry; but not likely together.

(clears a beat)
35-light years… the wrong neutrinos … Would anything, work, altogether?

A re-nova: the collapse of a moon-size asteroid on the surface of an already hard neutron star-- Nearby.

He, keys-in "re/nova, asteroid, neutron star," invoking 3-5 articles and impact-re-nova-neutrino animations;

(thinks aloud)
But how does this help us?-- If the rogue is not emitting neutrinos but is near to us, And the other, is a neutron star,- or is it a pulsar?

There is no pulsar noticed with either of these two detections.

Yet one is, moving in the vicinity of our solar system:- We can update our recognition of the numerosity of these objects in interstellar space: It's beginning to crowd …: (to CBS)
That's news.: (to 2nd-Sci)
How often do you expect to find these?- Supernovae are rare: every hundred years…?

Yes, galactic supernovae tend to be rare events,- but there's nothing preventing two appearing close in time:- We just don't expect it.

(catching-up)
What would distinguish a re-nova caused by the fall of a moon?

Its neutrino rate would be faster and shorter; and very local to us….

(builds)
Like what you were describing for Dr. Lande's easy, detection?

Yes.

(curious)
How much, shorter faster?

Hundreds, thousands, times shorter faster,- depending on the size and elemental composition of the moon.

And generates the wrong neutrinos?

We now believe that may have been a thresholding effect: Both-neutrinos are generated during the bounce but antineutrinos are bunched together.

(curiouser)
But a falling moon, would be much less productive of neutrinos …: (worries)
A millionth…?- How big is a moon in solar masses?

Any tiny fraction: Our, moon is 37-billionths the mass of our sun; And neutron stars are more massive than our sun by a factor up-to-3.

(curiouser)
Then, If these two aren't the same … Now I take it, they must both, be close to us:- this… hot re-nova, at the square-root of… 37… billionths… 5… thousand times closer:-- A light year, away…!?

It could be.

(awe-irked)
It's practically in our own, solar, system!-- What are we dealing-with, here?! We're News-media: not C-I-A!

All silent …

(2 beats)
Christian, is right: We're not into spoofing secrets … We have, when we saw the public was being cheated of its own truth;- But you've plainly, told us things you don't understand yourself … Or, can you tell us more about this: either of these?

(frank)
We don't know more about either: We don't have the funds to find-out….

(airs)
And split-decisions… Explains why they need billions, more… But,--: (restarts to Scientists)
Excuse me, for returning to an earlier subject: You said, Bolden is already asking … Why, then, are we discussing what you don't know?

(inserts)
He's a Senior Scientist:-- That question is my responsibility.

And, your answer, is…?

(fills)
If, we go with what little we have, now, we have an armageddon scenario with no guns: only the powder burns … and big boulders on the hill.…

And violent assumptions!-- What powder burns?- Or, is NASA getting hyped on jargon?

We don't have … NASA does not have … a public psychology department … none we can trust on this: We just discuss these things openly with all, our people.…: (beat)
You remember the '60's astronaut-family-burn-out: It hurt us badly: We did a lot of soul-searching on that, and decided we can't expect our people to just accept on duty and faith, whatever we tell them: The same with you: We're telling you what we know, and what concerns us deeply, as people, as adults, as citizens, -religious men and women, of every faith- … And leave you to develop your public news-story.

Any hint as to what your people do, think, of it?

Armageddon … powder burns without guns … boulders on the hillside …

LAST OVERLAPPED till paused by Outer Story:

(easy)
Hi,… Mi-Kee…!

(2 beats)
Pause!

VIDEO PAUSED.

The video attachment is paused.

PULL BACK TO REVEAL:

INT. GARDEN DECK - (OUTER STORY)

ICE CREAM CONE for Mi-Kee (POV) as she removes the headset;

Would you like an ice cream cone?

The 2 Crew astronauts lick theirs; Several Crew leap-jog the steeply tilted -springloaded- circumferential racetrack;

(takes; checks seating)
Thank you.

(remains standing)
This is our taste-of-space special, a little warmer than absolute zero: The machine is fixed, at long-last.: (smiles and to both)
We're only G-S-13 astronauts here, Not high-tech dispenser repairmen;- Though in a pinch we can remote-control the giga-scope probots.…

(but to Man)
Ice cream dispensers tend not to respond to giga-scope probots.…

He shrugs Okay …

Do you suppose the aether of space has a flavor?

Didn't think of it quite that way … But I suppose The Creator, may say.

It would be cosmic vanilla, Mi-Kee.

(humored to Woman)
Are we going to start that, again?

(defends her theory)
It's a plausible Relativity theory: We are moving at a tiny fraction of light-speed and molecular electrons travel slower-forward no-matter-how you scale your timebase: and change their durations in different parts of each molecule:-- differentially changing chemical reaction rates:- resulting in a taste on the tongue or in the brain … like the stellar aberration of corotating stars….

(pseudo-plain to Mi-Kee)
Vanilla molecules in a moving frame smell like hot-vanilla in the solar reference frame … And, she, agrees, with every message NASA sends, us …: (sly unto Woman)
Are we dreaming-this-up together…?

I noticed it first in a dream, but I've checked: It's real-- vanilla … And the numbers, agree,-- But can't tell us why, vanilla….

(nonchalant humor)
I'm glad it is, vanilla: Now we can really, enjoy the taste of speed.

They giggle … and get extra licks around the cone edges …

What caused it to break?-- You feed it milk-cream and sugar every day…?

(not containing a smile)
We did, Yes … Don't really know … But a part-by-part cleanup helped.

Pamper it like a baby, Mi-Kee: It loves, the attention and details.

They smile … And watch-about, licking cones, a moment …

Sure is a nice day out … in here….

The one thing I miss, is the rain.…

Well… It doesn't rain in here: That is true … But, Turn-up the humidity to misty, and shut-off the ceiling-daylights, And it'll drizzle once….

(2 beats; nonchalant)
Do either of you know of a special purpose, for this mission…?

Special, purpose … No…. Altogether?

Ask Commander Haise, or, Aldrin, Mi-Kee: They're more senior -G-S-14 archaic,-- And may know who does if they-themselves don't.

Okay … Thanks.

(to Woman)
Special purpose … Find Planet X…?

Not in my prebriefing.…

They stroll-on, leaving Mi-Kee:--

Catch you later, Mi-Kee … Enjoy your iced,-of-the-cream….

Thank you….

(over her shoulder)
Later, Mi-Kee….

Later.

(resumes to Man)
Mr. Einstein's theory concerned the roundtrip time of photons yet there was directional time-dilation too.…

One rocket man's vanilla is another observer man's chocolate?

The Chocolate-Vanilla-Twin Paradox.

They're talking beyond:- She resumes her laptop video-file:

ZOOM CLOSE IN …

INT. CONFERENCE - (PLAYBACK RESUMES)

Video has backed over a short, last dialog: restarting:--

Armageddon … powder burns without guns … boulders on the hillside.

What, is, that powder-burn, stuff?

All await:

Some, of our people are more… religious, -Scriptural, -We hire without discriminating…,- But when you're thinking about the future, scientifically, you run-into all kinds of… well… frankly… spooky, concerns.… They feel, Any religious fervor, that clings to any colossal impending upheaval, preceding, or succeeding, does a lot of damage in our communities: meaningless riots, prurient public broadcasting … And, they don't want responsibility for answering unnecessary questions.

(feeling offensive)
Oh,- So your people are afraid the media is too inquisitive: too overt … Well, Why don't you just announce 9-to-2 luncheon-colloquia and we'll attend at our convenience…!

They are not offended.… As He said: They feel we are all in this one, together, for better or worse: They said to tell you what we have, but don't ask them or NASA for answers we don't, have.

(retrying)
But, where, is, the powder burn…?!

(to NBC)
What do you mean?- It's metaphoric, saying, historic evidence is on us.

A powder burn without guns, if it's not a woman's fast facial, means: highly explosive, terrorism.…

What terrorism?- You think America will surrender to this…?

N-B-C is right: But I can't explain what everyone-else knows more about … One scholar suggested, that Saint John, of New Testament Revelation, may have actually heard the horn-like buzz of supernova neutrinos.

I don't recall us reporting any horn-like tones from S-N-19-87-A….

(ponders aloud)
An interesting piece of the puzzle: Everyone else knows more about this than any scientist or reporter, And therefore we cannot publicize this without talking childish or stupid.

(to CBS)
S-N-19-87-A was too far away to be detected as loud as a horn.

German and American astrophysicists computed harmonics in the neutrino burst of 87-A at 5-Hertz multiples.

5-Hertz, is not audible: You'd need a hundred or thousands, to hear it.

Yes. A reduction of Dr. Lande's '74 neutrino data suggested a thousand Hertz:- very high B or C, if you're musically inclined.

(recites, excerpting)
"I … heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last … and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength … saying unto me … I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore … and have the keys of hell and of death" …: (half a beat)
Wow … I never realized …: (realizes)
But he had in his right hand seven stars:- that would be the Pleiades: Could that be?

The Pleiades are near the ecliptic, where the known planets go.

Then, We should publicize this: The Churches will eat this up!

(quips)
And make your belly bitter.…

(crank-concludes)
… As long as we're publishing children's books …: (to Scientists; She; He)
How long can we stall here?- We can put two researchers on this and run prep. for a year…. Can we agree to return to NASA for another meeting, and publish altogether whatever is then current, -hopefully more than we have today…?

I'll agree to 6-months delay but we don't have the resources to run our reporters through astronomy college … We'll have to ask that NASA work with them on reeducating the public … Adult-Ed: We did this back in the '60's for the Apollo moonflights:-- It took us a few years to get into the swing of Show-and-tell,- but we know how to gear-up for this…. Are you, NASA, going to send anything?: (cancels the faut pas)
Cancel, that: Too many years late …: (retries)
What telescopes are following this?

We pointed Hubble an hour a day for weeks … Didn't get much … It didn't change much…. We are rescheduling available radio telescopes, X-ray, and Gamma-ray platforms.… We didn't make anything to watch nearby rogue black-holes:- Nobody thought how …

ABRUPT FADE TO NASA FILE-END LOGO.…

PULL BACK TO REVEAL: LAPTOP FRAME.

[Admin:Avatar] (HEADSET) resumes [DISPLAYED-CU]:

What transpired next, is for school history books: The News-teams ruled by super-majority for silence while they prepared the nation: Hopefully none would break the story early as might seem too fanatic … fantastic; But they are watching each-others' throats as we get closer.… At this juncture, the update is:-- We have, learned, in recorrelating year-long S-N-O Day-Night Neutrino signature, that it, or something out there, is not a black hole yet, but a heavily cloaked neutron star … And … What will happen in three weeks, I can't predict … It is in your, hands, to decide whether you can, get, close-enough to stellar-item-2 … You have our search for it and you're closer than we'll ever be to finding it.: (a paragraph beat)
It's your choice, Commander: Your mission already counts as a success for getting this far;- You can come home to Earth and let the rain fall if you wish … Your choice.: (a paragraph beat)
Sincerely. NASA Administration.

PULL BACK TO REVEAL:

INT. GARDEN DECK - LAPTOP - (OUTER STORY)

Vid-mail finishes with its encrypted-blank seal-signature.

End-of-e-mail-transmission: NASA-Admin, 'Disstaf' Mission-Control, End-of-e-mail-file-record. Java-crypt-lock event-mode released. Do you want me to record your reply,… Replay this message, or the video-attachment, Or a portion of it,… Read your old e-mail, …

Stop…. Good bye.

Bye.

E-mail screen reverts to normal E-mail listing.

Mi-Kee keys her Commlink-PA,--

Commanders Haise and Aldrin:-- I want to meet with you in my office at the Watch-break.…

She closes her laptop, and takes to the Elevator …

FADE TO:

INT. MI-KEE'S QUARTERS - HER OFFICE - (LATER)

From her desk, Mi-Kee stares at the future: thoughts adrift in controversy, reminisced of teachers, preachers, pastors, pupils, carolers, (Overlap-echo: in effect, memory-thinking rapid complete ideas, reverberating in deeper registers):

(00:20 - Le Plaisir/Nitro/UFO Mix - w/o grind)

Pluto was for decades the farthest known planet in our Solar System … Actually, Two moon-size planetoids co-orbiting each other.… Its solar orbit is skewed from the ecliptic-plane:- Scientists first believed it may have once been a large moon of Neptune, and pulled away:- It crosses Neptune's orbit so that for 20-years Neptune is farthest.…

REVERB:

"Revelation 22: I am the bright and morning star" … This is a metaphor: It means, The nearest star before the first day Earth was lit by our own sun … though to astronomers it means planet Venus in the morning.…

(reads aloud)
Before Abraham was, I am.…

The astrologers never compute this, Michelle, because it exists outside their trust in the limitations of their clients' senses and beliefs.…

I am not from this world: I am sent to do my father's will.…

The morning star has been unnoticed since the foundation of the Earth,- but for the Christ that lights every man in the world.…

And Moses called that One, the I-am, that I, am!…

(stroll-by, Noel)
"And to the Earth, it gave great light: And so it continued both day and night: Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel."

"If thine eye be single, then the whole body is full of light":- See the point, dear child of God: Then, The whole span of vision is seeing!

One cannot know the fullness of man without searching out the fullness of reality, Michelle: Walk-on from the card readers and astrologers.…

(reads aloud)
"If I do not depart from you, the holy ghost will not come unto you."

(obtrudes at Entry)
Captain…?

REVERB DWINDLES …

I must go unto the father: But I will come again unto you.…

(revived)
Come in!

Cmdr. Haise, Cmdr. Aldrin, enter and sit:

(entering, nod)
/ Commander. / Captain.

(Grand-Admiral formal)
Please, be seated, Commanders …: (a beat)
I don't know whether you know this, But we have the potential for a bit of dissension within our ranks….

(hesitant)
Impossible, Captain;- We've walked on the moon,- And we know, what is, and is-not, possible.

(nods Yes)
Thank you, for your reassurance and complete, confidence, Commander … But, Do either of you know what a… little hidden Navigation dummy-file … named, "Capricorn Three," … is…?

(a beat, at Haise, back)
Yes… We were prebriefed. And I feel it will not be necessary for our 23 Crew.

She relaxes-back, looking patiently at Haise …

(a beat)
It will not be necessary at this time, Captain.

(smiles broadly)
Good…!-- We'll be skipping Neptune!

INT. SAME - (MINUTES LATER)

Mi-Kee alone, opens a laptop CELESTIAL NAVIGATION PROGRAM …

Mouses efficient-path-to-hyperbolic-approach alternates to current path, passed NASA's vague, black-hole coordinates …

Final-tweaks her best not-too-wild spaceflightpath … and …

Uploads it to Comm-deck, password "Christsword3":--

(typing password)
This can work.: (keys Vidlink)

VIDLINK TWINKLES-IN.

Command deck,- Communications.

Comm: Have Engineering bring-up the Booster drive to standby-critical power, and put…

(interrupts)
Booster drive, Sir?- Orders are to conserve Booster drive, except for emergency and mission-agenda gravity maneuvers.

Booster drive, Lieutenant, -on my orders;- And have Navigation verify us to the coordinates I uploaded to Comm-deck, from my laptop … Put the ship on Yellow-Alert, And advise me when we reach Coordinate-Commit…!

(puzzles)
New coordinates?- Yes … sir.…

VIDLINK DISCONNECTS.

INT. DINING AREA - CONVERSATION NOOK - (DAYS LATER)

OCCASIONAL LIMINAL AREA-FLASHES, SOFT ONE-EAR-CLICKS; Feet up, alone, Mi-Kee VOICE-TYPES E-MAIL to her parents:--

(ponderous)
… I have to do this, Mom:- It's the wrong decision to give a child, but adults can't make this one … It's stupid, but they'll keep-on hiding, unless I do it: We're here, -NASA isn't,- And we have to decide now … If I, don't, they'll call it a safe successful mission … I don't want, just, safe-success: It's got to be, the right, safe, mission:- even if it's not as success-full as Mission Control wants…. This is not like schoolwork, where you pick a topic and do your best:- We have to give-up one objective: Like Dad's second teddybear when he was a kid during the flood …

WALL-VIDLINK TWINKLES-IN.

(interrupts, surprised)
Commander: Nearing your coordinates and registering wild magneto-sensor fluctuations: maybe cross-currents in the heliosphere….

I'll be right there, Lieutenant.: (exiting, to laptop)
Wildfair: Send and exit;- Bye!

Auto-sending; Logged-out! Bye!

Mi-Kee gone; LAPTOP AUTO-SENDS, LOGGED-OUT … LOCKS-DOWN….

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. COMMAND DECK - OPERATIONS LIT (MOMENTS LATER)

YELLOW ALERT. Whipple shields up; RADIATION-ALERTS PINGING; Random ONE-EYE-FLASHES, ONE-EAR-CLICKS, NEBULOUS BUZZ-TOOTS PEPPER-about gradually increasing intensity and occurrence: neutrino bursts as they near the black-hole coordinates …

NB. Each 'buzz' 20-clicks evenly-spaced diminishing random-phase-stereo 'in-brain', many weak-15KHz to few 4KHz-loud: from asteroids crushing-to-nuclear-density;

(rechecking displays)
Something massive, best be waiting, Or we're taking the long-way home!

Mi-Kee enters directly,-- Surveys; Orders deliberately, but events and Crew respond reluctantly albeit efficiently:

(turns-to)
Commander's on the Bridge!

(advises)
Captain: We're approaching your coordinates: E-T-A 1-kilohesit.

(advises)
Booster drive is on-line, sir.

(advises)
Captain: We have unregistered course-trajectory variants …

(00:00 splash drums - Gloria/Laura Branisan)

(adds, worried)
And, we have high magneto-sensor flux readings climbing the scales!

(00:03 descend)

(urgent)
Velocity gradient field increasing: We're losing course designation!--

KLAXON TWICE … NAV FAILS--

(00:08 musichord)

* NAV * LOCK * LOSS *

Get Nav-lock back on-line!: (sits)
Helm: Prepare for orbit insertion!

Orbit insertion, sir!?- Ready.

Engineering: Ready maximum thrust!

Aye … Booster thrust, Ready!

(00:22 words)

Science Officer: Give us full optical aperture: Main screen!

Full optical, Commander … Compensating aperture …

Main Display STARS BRIGHTEN uniformly …

(advises)
Heuristics predict a planet mass …

NAV-LOCK RESTORES, with a diagrammatic invented planet.

We have Nav-lock, again, sir.

Full thrust now, Helm!- Circular orbit!

BOOSTER COMES UP … TO FULL RUMBLE;

Deboosting-thrust … Circular orbit.

Bring us down as close as you can!- Engineer: Synchronous rotation!

SHIP SWAYS EASILY under gravity forces …

(controls)
Commander, We have-not, sufficient thrust for deeper, Unless you want to wait-out the kilohesits;- We're synchronous!

(00:51 exults, piano)

Micro-tidal Gravity Alert …

Hold it steady, Helm! Science Officer: Give us telescopic zoom!

Telescopic, sir!?

(watches Display)
Maximum magnification!

FAINT RINGS MAGNIFY … AS THEY PASS distant edge-on;

(summary)
Give me visual of what we're orbiting …

(01:02 musichord)

I want to see this … Thing …: (a beat)
Why don't we see it?

Nothing there.

(01:06 "Gloria" chorus)

TELESCOPE DISPLAYS: AN IMAGE-JOSTLING SPHERICAL black hole circled by arcs of starlight, amid larger tenuous rings …

Increase liminal acuity!

DARKEST GAMMA LUMINATES dim stars and multiplies prior-unseen…

We should be seeing an inner ring …: (a beat)
Push gamma all the way to clip!: (a beat)
Give me radar signature… No, Wait: Belay radar!

No radar, sir? Why hold-back radar?

I don't want to interact with it!

(01:19 "don't answer")

(doubts)
You think there's something, alive, down there!? It's as dark and empty as a hole in the vacuum!

Is your vision in the objects you see or in the black of your retina?

(01:28 musichord)

(winces)
I see your point, sir.

(orders)
Ready 2-orbit-field-probes!

(keys a beat)
Probes: Ready.

(01:32 "Gloria"+chorus)

FAINT-SPARKLY BLACK-HOLE, EDGEWARD-MORESO …

(sees it)
There:-- The event-horizon!

We're seeing virtual-pair photons.…

Launch the field-probes, now!

(keys)
Rail-launching: Probes, Now….

ROOM LIGHTS DIP, EQUIPMENT POWER SUPPLIES WHISTLE-DROOP-SQUEAL, at rail-launch … Then up inaudible, worrying Mi-Kee;

(reassures her)
Normal power-surge whining in switching-style power-supplies, Captain.

(01:46 words "don't remember")

Rail-launch, normal: 18-point-7 kilometers-per, and increasing.

Give us audio interpretation, all possible channels!

AUDIO CHANNELS WARBLE (PA) child-in-sandbox-play-like;

(keyed; monitors)
Audio-render is On … Telemetry-lock is restabilizing … Data is good …

(01:57 musichord)

(rapid re-keys 2 sec.)
Magnetic readings up maximum range!: (a beat)
Magnetic going off-scale…! Telemetries pushing phase-lock…!

(02:05 glide-up)

WARBLES RE-ATTENTION TO QUESTION-LIKE;

E-T-A point-3-5 kilo-hesits….: (a beat; surprised)
Probe-trajectories: Skew!--

ONE WARBLE STOPS, One continuing;--

(02:09 glide-up 2nd)

(checking)
One probe gone, Captain…!

LAST WARBLE STOPS; EMPHATIC BUZZ-TOOTS; ALERTS PONGING;--

(looks-up)
Both gone…! Captain!

(to Sciencer, Engineer)
What's that tooting?!

It's not, a ship sound…!

(02:16 words)

Perhaps emanating from the edge of the hole:-- Dust crushing into the hole at nuclear density percolating neutrinos and gamma-ray pulses, penetrating our hull and impinging audibly in the ears …

ROOM SWAYS ABRUPTLY, CREAKING, as if being played-with;--

(urgent at displays)
Magnetic detectors, Crowbarred Off!

ROOM SWAYS AGAIN, CREAKING …

(urgent)
Losing orbit,- Decaying rapidly!

ROOM SWAYS LONGER …

(holding armrests)
Rotate forward, Full thrust! Get us out of here now…!

NAV DISPLAYS: Spaceship rotation to forward;

(keying)
Aye!-- We're out of here…!

BOOSTER RUMBLES-UP FULL;

Thrust, coming-up!

Take us away, Helm:- We've got, our answer!

ORBIT IMPROVES, TOOTING DIMINISHING …

(trying keys, irked)
Way-off-course…!-- Bearing, Perpendicular to the solar plane…!-

(02:45 exult "don't remember")

(rekeying, firm)
This is going to be one bear, to navigate on schedule:-- It's going to take us 3 extra weeks…!

Mi-Kee somber …

Ease-up, Guy: You're getting warm, over a maneuver.

(hot irked)
Man-euver…!?-- Our angle of attack…

(02:56 +musichord)

(exposits)
must be maintained, at all times: Which means, Maintaining speed, At all times:--

(03:00 "Gloria"+chorus)

Mi-Kee tearing-up …

(spreads attention)
Which means we can't side-slip much … Which means,- It may take a month to correct the perpendicular … This may, be, the singular, matrix, transform, NASA, missed…!

(punch-enunciates)
Guy!--

Mi-Kee in full tears, rises, exits to the elevator;-- 2nd-Capt. quick, follows her …

(forced easing)
NASA wouldn't forget. Dig into your archives. There must be a solution.

(03:13 words)

(concludes)
We're not in danger … Yet.: (forces grin)

Mi-Kee waits facing the elevator door, restrained crying;

(keys, grumble-grunts)
Nngh!

(arrives, conciliatory)
You did, alright, Mi-Kee!- You had a command, decision to make:- You couldn't know, how inaccurately Navigation fixed the black-hole:--

(03:25 musichord)

(forced laughed)
That's, the nature of black-holes…!

Mi-Kee quiets … blinking tears … Psychologist arrives;

(03:29 chorus+horns)

(a beat, perceives)
You believe it's the entrance-point to an aether-slip-stream…?

(blearily)
You know, about that?

My kids would have told me if I hadn't seen the movie.

(worried)
You wanted to go closer…?

Mi-Kee looks-up at the ceiling, blinking the last …

(reassures)
We don't know enough about these astronomical objects, Mi-Kee …

(03:42 fade to end 03:48)

We don't know all it might be, -Not yet;- We have to take this slowly, and visit a few times:- This is our best behavior in the sciences.…

FADE TO:

INT. COMMAND DECK - (HOURS LATER)

Crew somber, occupied at chores in Deceleration Maneuver, BUSY-WHISPER … Psychologist talking with Mi-Kee UNHEARD …

(tentative to Mi-Kee)
Captain,-- We've reduced velocity to 79-kilometers-per-hesit with a sunward-component of 37,-K…. It's close, but not really:- You don't want less speed in unknown space:- We still have orbital and cometary bit-debris at 16-K; plus cosmic.: (accepts)
If no other solution is presented, I recommend we rotate forward and swing the long arc homeward: We'll miss Jupiter rendezvous, and take 8-days extra.…

Thank you, Navigator.

Mi-Kee, Psychologist, resume UNHEARD … then finally,--

(confides)
All right: I will add that to my report: Captain.: (exits)

(resumes watching)
Thank you.

DISPLAYS: Logarithmic space-atmosphere parameters rising …

(keys, to Mi-Kee)
Commander: You should see this.

(comes-over)
What do you have?

(points in Display, low)
Local solar windflow has ceased and we have background, scattering, and absorption … thermal gas-molecular, mass-spectra … These N-M-R, photon, and velocity spectra signatures all indicate increased density,-- above deep-space vacuum range level one.…

(leaning-in)
What should the values be?

(points)
About here,- A log-tenth lower.…

An ion-storm?- Maybe the black-hole magnetically steers the solar wind, and we're crossing its tail flip…?

(00:00 slack howl - Intro, Meditation 1/Continuo)

Velocity is orders-of-magnitude too low, And hot ions register a spread continuum not spectral lines: These lines are distinct:- This is cold, space gas, non-ionized,- though its composition is, neutral solar wind.

(00:12 flute-spirt)

(puzzles)
Are we near a moon, orbiting the black-hole?

A possibility; But radar analysis, crosschecked with Nav-radar yields no results.… We are interferometry- scanning single-photon detections, in case we can find a background variance: Any low-albedo outgassing moon, should show-up.…

(views Main, considering)
What is it?!

I don't know.

Is there anything out here?

Dwarf planets, -astronomers' fame;- No significant atmospheres.

(00:35 flute-spirt)

(rereads, reports)
Second range density; Rising.

We'd better prepare for atmospheric intercept.…

(00:41 piano)

(orders)
Engineer!- Bring-up Booster drive! Helm:- Ready for maximum steering!

(keys)
Aye: 20-hesits to Booster drive.

(keying)
Aye: Preparing max-evasive.

"MANEUVER / ALERT" DISPLAY AND WALL-READOUTS blink--

* ALERT * MANEUVER * ALERT *

Background temperature is rising.…

Can you tell direction?

Not yet: We're on the outskirts: It could be anywhere within millions of kilometers.… This is still empty space;- just not clean vacuum.

(01:00 flute-spirt)

Run deep-space omni-radar, again.

(keys)
All right … Radar pulse: C-D-M-A spectrum …

(01:05 lull)

DISPLAYS: Radar pulse, biphase-sinusoid pseudonoise 1-sec.…

(2 beats to Main)
Is there anything, there…?: (a beat)
It seems so empty….

(01:09)

DISPLAYS: Background MAYBE-WEAK-NEW-STATIC smooth noise …

(examining, building)
Background noise … subcorrelation …: (excited)
Sync!-- Positive Contact, Captain!

(to Main Display)
Where is it?!

(reading, deliberates)
0-point-6-3-3 million kilometers,--

(01:16 harpsichord)

(elated to Main Display)
20-grads 4-o'clock off our heading!

(to Sciencer)
What is it?

TELESCOPE DISPLAYS: A dark fuzzy, small, moon-planet …

(keys-up analyses)
A tiny moon … 24-hundred-kilometer diameter: barely larger than Pluto…: (puzzles)
But its radar-mass-reflectance is a hundredth as much: Albedo is nearly sub-luminal…?: (surprised)
F-E-Laser-reflectometry has water-signature, And, molecular oxygen!- Central atmospheric density is 30-bars at 3-hundred-25 degrees-K: A warm, dwarf, gas-planet!

(01:40 +strings)

How close will we pass the center?

2-hundred thousand kilometers.…

(to Engineer)
Engineer: Can we use the atmosphere as a shield from space-debris while we slow and turn?

(smiles)
Aye! That we can, lass: We can turn on a quarter, with Booster drive.

(orders)
Navigator: Program a turnabout in shallow atmosphere; Helm, stand-by!

(smiles)
Standing-by heading auto-revision.

(keys, quiet elated)
We'll be back on-track in one day…!

(02:04 +drums rhythm boost)

INT. COMMAND - DWARF GAS-PLANET AT 60K MI. - (5-HRS. LATER)

Faint plasma-aeroglow hampers 2.5-deg.-planet-views; Its upper atmosphere writhes with electro-glowing streamers …

Exosphere density rising rapidly: 70-percent neutral hydrogen, approaching ionopause energies … We have slight aeroglow.

Course-program for deceleration and rotation, Prompting for execution, Captain: Velocity, 47-K.

Commence the Deceleration sequence.

Auto-maneuver commencing, Captain.

BOOSTER RUMBLES-UP MILD …

A JOLT-- THROUGH A THERMOCLINE, THE SKY LIGHTENS SILVERN …

(surprised loud)
Atmospheric thermocline, Captain:- Significant molecular hydroxide-ion-pressure-fraction!- Temperature has jumped to 1-hundred-70 degrees Kelvin and rising!

GLOBAL DYNAMIC AURORAS; LIGHTNING BRANCHES in deep clouds …

The inner sky is lighted, 2-point-3 watts per square meter … Like an autumn sunset…!

(ponders to main display)
Why is it warm, without the sun?- Is there a central heat source?

(to data)
Nothing in gamma-ray to infrared.…

How can it be getting hotter?

Kinetic temperature increases as molecules fall like bouncing balls…

(02:51 howl, deep strings)

Does the center reach boiling-hot?

(divides attention)
No.… As temperature rises, Thermal radiance rises faster; Pressure and density less so … Its gravitational mass is mostly its mesosphere;- The central atmosphere is uniform to 5-hundred kilometers … Terminal drop-velocity may reach a few meters-per hesit,-- like walking in a dream.…

(to Sciencer)
No one could get hurt, falling?

(03:10 horn remind)

(bemused)
Possibly so….

No force could conquer this planet?

(admits)
Little ground-traction in one-tenth gravity … Airspeed efficiency runs a sixth in 30-atmosphere …

Could there be lakes or oceans?

(ponders)
Depends on water abundance, And its size too-small for continents … And warm-dense atmosphere redistributes vapor orders-of-magnitude faster….

(Scriptural)
And there were no more seas….

(advances)
The sun is too far:- Where does it get light?

(03:33 horn remind)

(ponders)
Various resources:-- The Solar wind captured in the magnetic-star-field of its black-hole host: megatons of ionic hydrogen, kilotons of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, daily, yield hot-bright auroras and replenish losses of atmosphere to space,… Turbulent greenhouse effects create lightning … The thermocline is reflective …

(erudite)
At evening time it shall be light--

(03:53 +frizzle)

Like sparks rubbed off lamb's wool: For the Lamb is the light thereof.…

Mi-Kee smirks to a grin;--

(03:57 horn remind)

(carries-on plainer)
Low-gravity engineers could rebuild the moon structure, twelve thousand furlongs deep and wide:-- One city, lying foursquare-cubical though I'd have opted for spherical, of convex paves: Trained as a moon-engineer …

(grinning to Engineer)
You think this is the new Earth?

(grins-back)
Cooould-be…!

(thoughtful to Sciencer)
Could the moon-planet be hollow?

Possibly,- as would be consistent with its unexpectedly low density.…

(retraces)
Could it really be inhabited?

(04:21 horn remind)

(reads detail)
Humidity near dew-point: Vegetation will flourish in moist clay….

(04:25 piano)

And, Carbon-composition surface features absorb radar reflections.…

Maybe we should…: (orders)
Comm: Transmit Hello-code, Class-B!

(keys)
Transmitting, Hello-code-B.

Good guess, Captain: There might be other, intelligent space travelers, visiting: The Watering-hole effect.

Can we detect their signals?

(keys up)
We have, a comprehensive digital-communications processing package …

(04:44 horn remind)

SCIENCE DISPLAYS: PROCESS INSIGNE 'Dragon-curve' …

Comm: Transfer auxiliary process-and-control, to Science station…!

"Acquisition: Loaded."

(ready, depresses key)
1-point-4-mega-functors: consigned.: (turns to other work)

(04:50 lull)

"Scanning…" DISPLAY BUILDS signal-bit/length shortest-to-longest temporal coherence of carrier-frequency-spectrum slowest-to-fastest phaselet-rotation … overall mottled …

(monitors)
Wideband multi-comb phaselets … E-H-F-M … acquisition … narrow-beam …

Uniform until feature edge contrast enhancements stand-out…

(notes)
That's not digital C-D-M-A….

(smiles unto her)
Stealth technology: U.S. Air-Force:

(04:57 +frizzle)

A bright tall swath builds amidst; a taller-diffuser swath ca the fast-side; a thin line resolves to slow-side point …

Developed to test MilSTAR robust-data-rates:--

(05:01 voice operatic)

Touching THE BRIGHT SWATH, MAGNIFIES AND SHARPENS …

Code name, 'Peanut Butter Fork',-- mega-base cumulates the R-F band, time and frequency, delineating bit-length coherence and spread …: (points at mid swath)
Tall bars are spread-spectrum …: (points at line-point)
Points are low-data-rate beacons …

(05:13 +orchestra)

Non-optimal cracking strategy … but effectual for our use;- Invented by the same engineers who programmed MilSTAR: Engineer-types never leave good-enough alone …

Engineer flash-grins. A SIGNAL SLIDES THRICE THROUGH A PIP;

Perfectionists in perpetual motion: Always revising, improving, … High-tech companies ship their products, to get their engineers to sign-off! Only movie-actors, do more takes …

Displays: "Acquired: Timebase" mode;--

(reports)
Markovian code-scatter …: (mild surprise)
We have non-random pseudo-code correlation!- Decrypting modes …

(05:37 orchestra takeover)

Displays: Abacus-like signal-regroupings-resizings …

Frequency-hopping was patented by movie-actress Hedy Lamarr in 19-41, But was decades-ahead of her time …

Displays: "Data-rate: 7-8 Lock" mode;--

(reports)
Convolutional clustering …: (excited)
Modulus-lock!- Rate 7-8ths lingo-code:-- Translating mixed-mode …

(05:49 +drums)

Displays: "Decoding: Audio" mode; AUDIO-FORMANT-SWEEPS …

Decoding!- We have acquisition of an audio transmission,- Captain!

Put it on!

(keys)
22-megahertz frequency-hopping, and pattern-division-multiplexing: Air-traffic-control users: We are… Now.

[NEOARTH] Spacer Guidance is high-soprano female voice:--

Neoarth Guidance with Unknown space vessel proceeding on Entry Landing Course-27 Port-52 … Configuration to digital glide-path navigation is uploaded … Local Traffic with space vessels-N-D-1-9-9-7 on Exit Course-23 Port-53 -and- N-C-N-4 on Entry Landing Course-31 Port-47.… Neoarth welcomes Unknown Commander.

NAV DISPLAYS LIVEN with planet system traffic control …

(to Mi-Kee)
Plain English:- They understood our Hello-code.…

(orders; sits, her chair)
Comm: P.A.-Reply…

You're on, Captain.…

(06:24 howl, harpsichord)

(2 beats, enunciates)
Neoarth Guidance, This is Commander Mi-Kee of the U.S. NASA 'Disstaf' … We are from planet Earth third from the sun on a deep-space exploratory mission at the edge of our solar system…. We are not equipped for landing on arbitrary planetoids … We request permission to execute a turnabout and by-pass landing here.

(06:43 horn remind)

She waits, All wait, expectant, the signal-loop 5 sec.

(inserts quiet)
2-hesit loop delay.…

(at 5 sec.)
Commander Michael of the U.S. NASA Distaff, temporary designation code I-F-Oh-3-9 cleared for wide-passage Bypass Course-27-5 … Local traffic with guide vessel-C-1-3-3 … I-F-Oh-3-9 has one, message, waiting …

(order as to a laptop)
Read it!: (contrite to Sciencer)
Please…!

Signal was already in transit …

From the Head of Security it reads:

God bless your pass over, Commander Michael!

(07:07 horn remind)

(resumes)
It is signed: Lieutenant Commander Tfni Yhuvegh-Ra.

(restrained excitement)
Thank you;-- And God bless you too!

(07:12 +piano)

(settled)
Captain. We're slowed to 11-K, and sufficiently atmospheric to rotate for mission-designated course-heading with zero-risk.

Thank you, Navigator.: (orders)
Helm, Retract the stern Whipple shields and close-up the mid-sides: And, Commence turnabout maneuver …

(group morale)
Thank you, Captain:--: (keys)
Activating, Nav-program …

(07:30 horn remind)

NAV DISPLAYS: Spaceship begins slow turnover to broadside …

Scoop for third-base tag, and home-run! Time to put-on your seatbelts, kiddies!

(07:35 lull)

(2 sec.… abrupt up alert)
Captain Storer,-- You have the Command:--: (exiting to Elevator)
I want to see this passover from the Observation deck.

(07:43 +frizzle)

(bemused smile, sits)
All right, Captain: I'll hold-up this end of the fort….: (seatbelt)

INT. OBSERVATION DECK - WINDOWS DARK - DIM (MOMENT LATER)

(07:47 voice operatic)

WHIPPLES UP. Mi-Kee enters to a stereo-televiewer …

Removes the joke-sign: "Best view / of cosmos / 75 cents" …

Sits … Powers-up Viewer … Seatbelt …

IMAGE STABILIZES … LOCKS ON the central moon-planet …

(07:59 +orchestra)

TELESCOPIC RAPID-ZOOM-IN 200,000Km …

AND SPEED-LOCKS THE FAR-PASSING CITYSCAPE …

SCANNING: Realistic 'Jetsons' bubble-car traffic swooping amid puffy white clouds, building-tops, hyper-tall towers connected by transparent tubes; spaceports; starships in transit; Beacon lights metricize the planetscape; 10 sec.

Rotation terminating…!

ROOM BACK-SWAYS, as ship rotation stops …

BOOSTER RUMBLES-UP MEDIUM …

Booster coming-up, 1-gee … Exiting the atmosphere…!

Something arriving close outside, OBLITERATES HER VIEW;--

(08:23 orchestra takeover)

She readjusts Viewer zoom focus … But it can't clear …

Rechecks it … Then at the control panel, keys:--

Mid-side WHIPPLES LOWER 3 sec.… TO SEE--

2 HYPERJETS, one very near, paralleling, engines blazing …

(08:35 rhythm boost sand-blocks)

She rush un-belts, and steps to the window,--

Waving to them; one hand holding balance on the window …

Black-suit Pilot of the nearer, Tail#C133 in high-tech cuneiform-esque, waves-back … and,

Maintaining speed parallel, checks Tracking Display 5 sec.…

Then a salute-wave Bye, And both jets begin to drift away …

EXT. SAME WINDOW - POV RECEDING/INT. SOUND - (CONTINUOUS)

Mi-Kee, both hands holding on the window, watches them go …

Drifting faster away …

HER WHOLE SPACESHIP proceeds upward onward, leaning just …

Neoarth Guidance bids us, Bon voyage.

EXT. SAME WINDOW - JUST OUTSIDE/INT. SOUND - (CONTINUOUS)

Still both hands on the window, pondering their lifestyle--

(memorably)
"Bone home-age," Commanders!

She frees a hand and tries the Pilot's salute-wave …

Attention:-- Approaching the thermocline.

INT. OBSERVATION - LOOKING OUT - OPEN SKY - (CONTINUOUS)

Mi-Kee watches the now-distant-low Hyperjets veering away …

THE ROOM JOLTS, through the thermocline … to NIGHT STARS …

(09:10 lull "ooh")

Attention:-- Thermocline cleared!- Course laid-in: Earth via Jupiter! Booster drive coming up: 2-gee aspect trim…!

BOOSTER RUMBLES-UP FULL …

(braces, talks order)
Engineer:-- Let's go home!

The atmosphere haze clears: from night sky to space 3 sec.

BOOSTER STOPS;- She relaxes her brace.

Space-normal aspect achieved: Resuming ice-ion-thrust:-- We're going home!

(09:28 slack flute)

Outer space looks normal again … stars … black … clean …

(09:34-38 fade, end)

DISSOLVE TO:

Petry System Family Wision USA

in conjunction with

project NEMO

presents

How far can reality go?
The StarTrails Game
Never say, simulator, again!

a contemporary space sciences adventure, PG-13 Sci⁴fi feature

Mr. Raymond Kenneth Petry, Strategic Director
a Wision--SesQuaTercet USA production

"Before NASA sends men to another planet it will be simulated a thousand times."

[index][script][music][sets&settings][budget][prospectus][roles]

[Music specified in this screenplay is the Strategic Director's selection]

Act 3

'The real mission'

[Act 4]

The theory of measurement propounded in this work is not to be cited (as) considering contraband or corpses; Nor are the intellectual appurtenances hereïn to be used for or in the commission of crimes against persons, peoples, properties, or powers (States).

© 1997-2002, 2006-2008 Mr. Raymond Kenneth Petry

Petry System Family Wision USA

in conjunction with

project NEMO

presents

How far can reality go? The StarTrails Game Never say, simulator, again!

a contemporary space sciences adventure, PG-13 Sci4fi feature

Mr. Raymond Kenneth Petry, Strategic Director a Wision--SesQuaTercet USA production

"Before NASA sends men to another planet it will be simulated a thousand times."

[index][script][music][sets&settings][budget][prospectus][roles]

[Music specified in this screenplay is the Strategic Director's selection]

Act 3

'The real mission'

[Act 4]

The theory of measurement propounded in this work is not to be cited (as) considering contraband or corpses; Nor are the intellectual appurtenances hereïn to be used for or in the commission of crimes against persons, peoples, properties, or powers (States).

© 1997-2002, 2006-2008 Mr. Raymond Kenneth Petry

How far can reality go?
The StarTrails Game
Never say, simulator, again!

a contemporary space sciences adventure, PG-13 Sci⁴fi feature

Mr. Raymond Kenneth Petry, Strategic Director
a Wision--SesQuaTercet USA production