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Rated: 13+ · Book · Sci-fi · #1369089
The main characters are introduced, also hard science, political and religious intrigue.
#558330 added January 2, 2008 at 12:01am
Restrictions: None
EPISODE 11 - FAMILY REUNION
FADE IN:

INT. MAIN CHAMBER

The entire crew is standing before the odd panel.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             As John would say, cool! Oksana,
                             do you want to do the honors?

The girl stiffens and looks around the room in a panic.

Mike nods at her.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL (CONT'D)
                             You're the chief engineer, and
                             you should have the honor, my lady.

She tries to hide the panic in her eyes as she steps forward
stiffly to the panel.

The girl hesitantly extends her right hand until her
fingertips touched the raised portion of the panel. The
metal does not give when she presses harder.

Oksana places her entire palm over the knob and presses;
still nothing.

She tried grasping the protuberance with her fingers and
twisting: first clockwise and then counter-clockwise, nothing.

She looks rather desperately at Mike, who just shrugs and
tilts his head, telling her to keep trying.

She places her palm on the knob and twists her hand to the
left with no result. Then Oksana placed her palm on the
control with her fingers extending upwards and twists it 90-
degrees clockwise and all can hear a low humming coming from
nowhere in particular.

Suddenly a cylinder of light appears behind the group in the
center of the room. If everyone had swiveled around any
faster, there would have been broken bones.

Mike had been facing the group and is the first to see the
column of light descend from the ceiling. All can hear a
sound that was almost musical as Vesna pans the camera to
the sight.

The journalist's shoulder cameras show the audience on Earth
a hologram of the woman in the second sarcophagus that would
make Walt Disney envious. The mouth is moving synchronously
with the sound, which is more of a song than speech. She is
not naked, as in the sarcophagus, but clothed in a robe
resembling a Greek toga. The fabric appears to be metallic
fibers instead of cloth.

The vision is suspended on a pedestal about a meter from the
floor. Across the bottom of the pedestal are five rows of
graphic symbols in time with the "speech", appearing to be
not only in the current symbol set, but also in the four
languages that were shown on the outer door.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Are you getting this, Vesna?

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                                       (Annoyed)
                             Shhhh!

The show lasts over a half-hour.

The woman in a singsong voice is narrating it. Even though
nobody has any clue what is being said, it is obvious that
it is a narrative introduction to whatever race they were
from. The scenes shift from the woman standing there to a
background that is obviously this room to some unrecognizable
planet with a red gas giant for a sun. Scenes there show a
panorama of unknown flora and many animals that also defy
recognition. In several scenes, the woman is together with
the man from the other sarcophagus walking on this planet
through what are obviously meadows and beaches. They also
see cities and crowds of people much like you would find on
any major city on Earth, except the architecture is
obviously different. The five lines of "script" continue to
flow underneath the images and Mike knows that Vesna is
absorbing all of this.

The view gradually changes to a much redder hue on the
countryside. Mike wonders whether there was some glitch in
the recording until he realizes that the sun on whatever
planet they are seeing looks to be more intense and larger.
The city scenes show people in obvious distress, appearing
to have to labor at walking and moving.

The scene shifts again to the man and woman inside a
building that contains many controls similar to the panels
they had found here, but not the same in configuration.
Studying some of the surfaces on the control panels, he
realizes that those are flat-screen video monitors like
those that a laptop computer would have and that the couple
is not in a normal room, but on a spaceship.

The view shifts once again to reveal the outside of the ship;
a view full of unfamiliar constellations and stars. Mike is
trying to observe anything familiar when all of a sudden a
pinpoint of light near the center becomes intensely white
and fills the entire hologram.

Mike knows then that their sun had gone nova. He turns
white at the realization, as had most of the people in the
room who were also fascinated with this sight. Even though
no one understood the words, the visual impact was
unmistakable. The civilization that had wrought such
wonders and technology was no more.

The final scenes depict the woman back in this very room.
She is walking before each of the panels, pointing to the
lines of script and the various controls while keeping up
the narration.

The final scene shows her in front of the 12th panel that
had activated this image. She points to her ears, then her
eyes and finally her mouth. Then she puts her hand on the
second control and twists it imitating Oksana's movements
that had brought forth the hologram. The woman appears to
have almost a pleading look in her eyes as she places her
hands on her chest and bows her head. The image dissolves
into the nothingness from which it had appeared.

No one says a word for many minutes.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Carol, don't you dare ever let
                             anybody question your judgment or
                             intuition. I think everyone here
                             can agree that you were dead-on
                             on your call of the emphasis.

It is Carol's turn to blush.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL (CONT'D)
                             Vesna, did you understand any of
                             that? I wasn't expecting closed
                             captioning!

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             Some, sir. I'm correlating the
                             existing characters to the sounds
                             and the unknown characters now.
                             I also have the house and the
                             other ship working on this. We
                             may have a partial translation
                             within the hour. But I think
                             that the second control will give
                             me what I need to totally
                             understand and translate the
                             language.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Well, let's do it then!

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             Just a moment, sir. How many of
                             you understood the words we just
                             heard?

Mike looks around to find blank stares or head shaking from
the assemblage.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Joe? Igor?

The anthropologists shake their heads.

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             Then I'd suggest that Oksana
                             activate the second control and
                             the rest of you come back aboard
                             while I translate this. I should
                             have some preliminary printouts
                             for you by the time you get back,
                             and hopefully, a full translation
                             ready for you and the linguists
                             at home in a few hours.

                                                 VESNA (OS - CONT'D)
                             If it's all right with you, sir.
                             Would you allow Oksana to remain
                             here to help me with any
                             technical issues and also as
                             hands to manipulate that control?

Mike looks at the girl.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             OK with you?

She nods vigorously in reply, her eyes eager with excitement.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL (CONT'D)
                             It's fine with me then, Vesna.

He motions the others to trek back down the hallway to the
airlock. He can hear the murmuring of the two journalists
commenting on what they had just witnessed as the group
proceeds back toward the airlock.

                                                                                          CUT TO:

INT. COMMAND DECK

Most of the crew has assembled on the control deck to watch
the proceedings on the large monitors as Vesna's hour
stretched into three. As promised, a preliminary translation
was waiting for Mike and the archaeologists by the time they
returned. Vesna had also included a cross reference with
the hundred or so words on the printout to the spoken
translation, using Cyrillic characters, which lent themselves
more easily to a phonetic translation than did the Latin
alphabet. Vesna had forwarded the same translations to the
two teams of linguists on Earth with further comments as to
the probability of modern permutations and etymological
changes through the ages.

What they observe is another hologram similar to the first
with the woman patiently saying something and then a series
of symbols appearing on the pedestal below her.

The symbols would alternately be in each of the five
languages, as she would say something with either a
different inflection or a different pronunciation, followed
by a picture.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             My God! Dr. Seuss's big ABC book!

Several times during the presentation, Vesna has Oksana do
an "instant replay" by pressing her hand on the control in a
counter-clockwise motion.

The playback ends with the hologram of the woman saying
something, but then pointing outward, as if to indicate
"you". Then she points at her mouth and then her chest;
obviously meaning "you speak to me". The image then points
to a picture in the lower quadrant of the panel they had
activated. Evidently, there was some type of pickup device
embedded, which can receive sound and sight.

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             Oksana. Would you please set
                             your laptop up in front of that
                             section?

                                                 OKSANA
                             Of course.

At first, it looks like any other symbol on that wall, but
on closer inspection, she can see that it is made of a
different material and doesn't have a shape like anything
else in the room.

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             Now I need you to remove your
                             communicator and plug it into the
                             network port on the laptop.

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             Thank you for your help and for
                             keeping me company. You may join
                             the others now. I don't think
                             I'll need you here for a while.

                                                 OKSANA
                             What are you doing?

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             I'm going to teach her English
                             and Russian and catch her up on
                             human history. This may take a
                             while, so I suggest you join the
                             others. Thank you for helping me.

                                                 OKSANA
                             Pazhalusta. How are you going to
                             do this?

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             If I am interpreting the
                             instructions at the end of that
                             last sequence that is a voice
                             activated audio and video port on
                             the wall. I intend to feed back
                             exactly what we received and add
                             my audio along with two more rows
                             of words; one in English, the
                             other Russian. It will also take
                             me several hours to assemble
                             grammar and syntax lessons, so I
                             will not finish today, I don't
                             think. While I'm doing that the
                             house is preparing a more
                             comprehensive cross-reference
                             dictionary for the linguists on
                             Earth as well as working on a
                             direct translation program for a
                             project I may need you for when
                             you get back aboard.

                                                 OKSANA
                                       (Disappointed)
                             Is there nothing else you need me
                             for now?

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             I don't believe so. This will
                             take quite a while and I know you
                             must be hungry.

The girl turned and starts down the hallway to retrieve her
suit and return to the ship.

                                                                                          CUT TO:

INT. NEW SECTION

As she reenters the ship, she can see that the big laser
printer installed in the new section has already processed
several hundred pages and the light was on requesting more
paper. She retrieves another five reams of paper from the
storage compartment and refills the main tray. She also
gathers up the two copies of printouts from the collator and
starts upstairs.

                                                                                          CUT TO:

INT. RUSSIAN SCIENCE SECTION

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             You realize that if I didn't know
                             better, I'd swear that Vesna had
                             thrown me over in favor of you!

                                                 OKSANA
                             That's because we're both women
                             and I'm better looking than you
                             are. Besides, somebody has to
                             change the paper in the printer!

Mike's grin widens as he takes the paper from her. He
throws political correctness to the wind, hugs her with his
free arm, and whispers.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Now you're starting to relax!

The girl looks up at him and smiles back.

The archaeologists eagerly accept the stacks of printouts
from Mike and almost sprint for the elevator so that they
could study them. Identical files have already been
transmitted to the linguistic teams on Earth.

                                                                                          CUT TO:

INT. GALLEY

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             OK, guys...and ladies, Vesna's
                             said she's done all she can at
                             this point. Anyone up for some
                             experimentation?

He looks over a sea of startled faces; some excited, several
quite wary.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             It's about time we get some
                             hands-on experience with what
                             we've shaken the Earth up with. I
                             hear there are several dozen new
                             religions based on those two in
                             the chamber. Thank God the
                             Puritans aren't around any more
                             or we'd all be burned at the
                             stake!

                                                 MIKE ANGEL (CONT'D)
                                       (beat)
                             Members of my Congress are in
                             their usual disarray, trying to
                             grab portions of this new
                             knowledge and turn it into
                             dollars for their private
                             interests. The scientific
                             community, those not included on
                             the newly created government
                             panels, are also disrupted.
                             Physics, Astrophysics,
                             Biotechnology, all turned upside
                             down in the past three weeks.
                             Social sciences, Anthropology,
                             Sociology, and Psychology, also
                             had taken 180-degree turns in
                             some of their basic premises.
                             Regardless of what else we do on
                             Mars, life on Earth is never
                             going return to what it had been.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             What does the government recommend?

Lana puts her hand on Mike's shoulder as she sits beside him.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             "I haven't spoken with either
                             president in a while. Like I
                             said before, we're the ones here,
                             so we have the final say. From
                             what I gather from the scientific
                             teams, they're of mixed opinion.
                             Some are still trying to protect
                             their own turf, but others are a
                             go for getting as much as we can.
                             Vesna feels that she's learned
                             enough to be able to translate
                             accurately the writing and
                             function of the rest of the
                             controls. There may be more
                             information regarding the power
                             source, the pool, and the tanks.
                             What say?

This time there is a hesitant turning of heads and a few low
conversations amongst the members.

Slowly, there is a nodding of heads; first from the young
people in the room, and then the reporters. Finally, the
scientists come around, letting their curiosity get the
better of them.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                                       (Exuberantly)
                             Great!
                                       (lifting his skillet)
                             Now who wants seconds?

                                                                                          CUT TO:

INT. GALLEY

Mike is cleaning the table and loading the dishwasher as
Lana walks up.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             May I speak with you?

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Of course.
                                       (brightening)
                             You know I'm a big ham.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             I mean alone, off the record.

                                                 MIKE
                             Certainly.

He finishes what he is doing and sits at the table.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL (CONT'D)
                             Vesna, a little privacy,please.

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             Already done, I'm cutting the
                             microphones also."

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Thank you. Now you go away too.
                             Now what's on your mind, Mrs.
                             Gerasova?

It is Lana's turn to blush at the formality.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             I need to know...no, I want to
                             know more about you. Who you are
                             and what we are doing.

Mike hesitates for a few seconds.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             I thought Vesna already filled
                             you in on all the dirt on me.
                             I'm just like most people. As
                             you said, I'm a big kid. My toys
                             are just a bit more complicated
                             than most is the only difference.
                             I really expect very little and
                             enjoy the wonder of the universe
                             unfolding.

She looks at him questioningly.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL (CONT'D)
                             The ancient Chinese philosopher
                             Lao Tsu once challenged 'can you
                             remain as a child'. I try to see
                             the world anew each day, to renew
                             my wonder of it all. I try my
                             best to see things as Misha and
                             Oksana and Carol do. Some days
                             are harder than others are, but I
                             still try. From what I've read,
                             your husband was much the same.
                             Maybe this was because we both
                             used to kill people for a living.

Lana's eyes flashed for a second,and then dropped.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL (CONT'D)
                             That takes its toll on a person.
                             You turn out one of two ways,
                             either immune to the consequences
                             of your actions, or very
                             sensitive to the world around you.
                             If I read him correctly, we both
                             accepted our responsibility, even
                             if we did not like it. We did
                             what we had to, but not because
                             we wanted to. It gave us a
                             better appreciation of life
                             around us.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             But you were both decorated war
                             heroes?

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             There is nothing heroic about war.
                             War is between governments;
                             unfortunately, it is the good
                             people like Illya who die in them.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL (CONT'D)
                             A hero is only someone who is
                             desperately trying to stay alive
                             in a situation without choices.
                             There is no glory, no honor, just
                             a desire to walk away in one
                             piece. If the people who pinned
                             the medals on my blouse thought
                             it was so great, why weren't they
                             there? When you look into the
                             eyes of someone Misha's age as
                             his life drains out of him, you
                             have to realize the stupidity of
                             it all. If you don't, you're not
                             human. Your husband was luckier
                             than I was; he didn't have to
                             witness that. Nevertheless, he
                             knew. That made him a stronger
                             person.

The tears become apparent in Lana's eyes as she struggled
with old demons.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             You obtained several degrees
                             while you were in the military,
                             why did you not become an officer?
                             Maybe you could have changed things.

                                                 MIKE
                                       (Smiling)
                             Because I wanted to work for a
                             living. If I were an officer,
                             I'd get a desk and have to send
                             kids out to their deaths. I
                             didn't want to do that. As a
                             Master Chief, my job was to keep
                             my team alive and I did that.
                             It's what I did best. That's
                             what I'm doing now. Your husband
                             was lucky because, as an active
                             pilot, he didn't have to issue
                             orders to put others in harm's
                             way. I would have had to and,
                             frankly, I couldn't handle that.
                             I got my degrees because I was
                             curious; stuff I wanted to learn
                             more about, just for me. No way
                             was I going to let that pervert
                             what I truly believed in.

                                                 MIKE (CONT'D)
                             Pretty much the same reasons I
                             won't let the military or
                             government get their hands on my
                             creations. I won't take that
                             kind of responsibility. I'm just
                             hoping that what we find here
                             will help people get along better
                             in the next 17 years when my
                             patents expire so that they don't
                             escalate bull into global
                             catastrophe.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             You were correct.
                                       (standing)
                             You would have been best friends,
                             except that not so long ago you
                             would have had to be on opposite
                             sides of the fence.

Mike walks over, puts his hands on her shoulders, and says
gently.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Now you truly understand what we
                             both tried to say about futility.

That is the last straw for Lana.

A single tear forms at the corner of her eye, lingers for a
second, and then begins its slow path down her cheek.

She turns slowly and buries her face in his shoulder. He
can feel her trembling as the wave of grief and emotion
sweeps through her.

Mike looks up and sees Mikhail standing in the doorway.

Mike uses his free hand to motion the boy over and Mikhail
joins his mother on Mike's shoulder.

The three stand motionless like that for several minutes.
Mikhail finally breaks from the embrace and put his arms
around his mother; something they had not done since his
father died. Mother and son leave the compartment, each
with an arm around the other, and head for their staterooms.

                                                                                          CUT TO:

INT. NEW SECTION

Oksana hands Mike a contraption she had put together under
the house and Vesna's supervision, cannibalized from one of
the spare communicators with some spare computer boards and
one of Vesna's memory crystals.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             What's this?

                                                 OKSANA
                             The house thought you might need
                             it. It's a voice translator.

                                                                                          CUT TO:

INT. MAIN EQUIPMENT ROOM

It takes less than twenty minutes to reach the chamber.
None of them has taken much equipment with them; just a few
simple tools and Mike has the translator. The trek was
easier than usual. When they reach the great chamber, Mike
feels something out of place.

                                                 Y'VA
                             Welcome home.

A woman's voice in perfect American English comes from the
corner of the room. Everyone including Mike jumps at the
sound and Carol lets out a small cry.

The woman they had seen in the coffin steps from the shadow
of one of the side panels that has opened. She is dressed
in the same garment they had seen in the presentation and
has a gentle smile.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             You didn't warn me about this, Vesna!

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             You're not the only one that
                             likes surprises.

At that statement, almost all of the tension drains from the
room and Lana breaks out in a rich laugh at the turn-about.
The woman gives the group a puzzled look.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                                       (Embarrassed)
                             Inside joke. Someone can explain
                             it later.

                                                 Y'VA
                             Michael! And you must be
                             Svetlana. I've been so looking
                             forward to finally meeting the
                             two of you. Also, I am grateful
                             to meet the rest of you.

Mike gives Lana a quizzical look.

                                                 Y'VA (CONT'D)
                             Which of you is Vesna? I am
                             anxious to meet you after all you
                             have taught me and we have spoken of.

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             I am outside, ma'am. I did not
                             come with them.

                                                 Y'VA
                             "Why not?
                                       (looking directly at
                                       Mike almost accusingly)


                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             I'm a little too large to fit
                             through the doorway, ma'am.

The woman moves over to another panel and brushes her hands
across the surface in a complex pattern as Oksana watches,
fascinated.

The panel suddenly clears and shows a view from the mouth of
the tunnel. Directly in the center of the picture hangs
Vesna in all her glory.

The woman steps back a pace and then breaks out in "laughter".
At least they assumed it laughter; the look on her face was
one of amusement, but it sounds more like a musical aria.

                                                 Y'VA
                             You did not say that you were a
                             machine!

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                                       (Innocently)
                             You didn't ask.

Again, the musical laughter. The entendre is obviously not
lost on the alien.

                                                 Y'VA
                             You must teach me later how you
                             think. I did not know the
                             difference. Our machines do not
                             think for themselves or act on
                             their own. They just perform a
                             function and that is all. We
                             never felt the need to create
                             life in a machine and I find this
                             amazing that you would think to
                             do this.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Our minds are a bit limited.
                             Vesna is millions of times faster
                             than we are and she can do
                             several hundred things at the
                             same time. It seemed only right
                             and a great help to develop her
                             as an assistant.

                                                 Y'VA
                             This is marvelous! Who speaks
                             for the rest of you? Would that
                             be you, Mike?

Mike rather hesitantly half-raises his hand.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             That's me. I just have the tie-
                             breaking vote. We all speak for
                             ourselves here.

Before the woman can say anything, Mikhail steps forward and
points at Mike.

                                                 MIKHAIL
                             Do not be modest! Madam, this is
                             Michael Angelskov of Earth. He
                             is the man who made Vesna. This
                             man brought us together and
                             invited us to come here with him.
                             This man knew this was not just a
                             mountain. This man understood
                             that it would take four of us to
                             open the outside door. We would
                             follow this man over a cliff if
                             he asked. It is he that you must
                             speak with because we all trust
                             in him to do what is right.

There are nods around the room and Mike turns crimson. Lana
notices this out of the corner of her eye and shifts her
balance so that the shoulder camera captures this moment
forever.

The alien smiles and holds out both hands as she advances
towards the still blushing Mike,

                                                 Y'VA
                             I am called Y'va. I cannot
                             express how very happy I am that
                             you have advanced to the point
                             that you could come back and
                             understand how to enter. That
                             you would also understand how to
                             respond to my beacon and teach me
                             about yourselves was not expected
                             and I am overjoyed.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Uh, that was Vesna's idea and her
                             doing.

                                                 Y'VA
                             But that means you are as are we.

Mike looks very puzzled as he takes the woman's hands.

                                                 Y'VA
                             You created her in your own image
                             and gave her the capability of
                             being greater than yourself.
                             Come now, all of you, where we
                             may be more comfortable.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                                       (Mumbling)
                             Seemed logical at the time.

The woman leads them back through the open panel from which
she had made her dramatic entrance. Lana shuffles to one
side to get again a good shot of Mike's embarrassment. She
is grinning from ear to ear; she may have softened, but a
prudent woman always collects ammunition for use later.

Y'va leads them into a room not quite the size of the one
they had left. This one is furnished with lounges, artwork,
technical equipment and other control panels. It has
obviously been used as a living quarters.

                                                 Y'VA
                             Please, become comfortable.

She waves them to the seats in the room.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Uh, when will your...companion
                             join us?

                                                 Y'VA
                             He is aware of what is happening,
                             as was I when you entered the
                             hall of ages. It is better we
                             rest as much as possible, but he
                             is anxious to see all of you. We
                             take turns becoming awake every
                             few hundred cycles of your planet
                             to understand what is happening.
                             It was my turn anyway and I would
                             have awoken soon even had you not
                             arrived. Your progressing to
                             this point is a pleasant surprise
                             for me. For how long have your
                             people been to this planet before
                             finding me?

Mikhail again stepped forward and put an arm around Carol
and Oksana's waists.

                                                 MIKHAIL
                             This is our first time! We were
                             the first to set foot here.

Y'va looked slightly confused and looked at Mike.

                                                 Y'VA
                             These are your young, am I correct?

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Yes, ma'am. They are all under 20
                             cycles of our planet.

The confusion is replaced with a glimmer of excitement.

                                                 Y'VA
                             You are the leader of this group,
                             but you allowed them to be first?

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Yes, ma'am. I may have put this
                             trip together to satisfy my own
                             curiosity, but the journey is for
                             them and their children. I
                             thought it was only right to
                             allow them to be first to show
                             the rest of the people on the
                             Earth that this exploration is
                             for their future which is their
                             children.

An odd expression crosses her face at that moment, a look of
pride, almost. At first, Mike couldn't recognize it until
he realizes it was identical to that which a Little League
mother would have when her son had hit a home run.

                                                 Y'VA
                             I must summon D'am. He will want
                             to speak directly with all of you.
                             You have come back to the point
                             we have always wished for and he
                             must share in this success. We
                             have known for some time that you
                             would be here, but we did not
                             know exactly when.

Again, Mike furrows his brow and looks over at Lana. It is
obvious that she is picking up the familiarity, too, and
doesn't understand.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Ma'am. I think you need to
                             understand that not everybody
                             thinks as we do yet. There is
                             still fighting, prejudice, and
                             inequality among the people on
                             the Earth. We have many more
                             people there who would rather
                             destroy the planet for profit in
                             their lifetime, than would
                             preserve it and prepare for the
                             future.

There is a tinge of sadness for a moment, but Y'va moves to
a table and makes a motion over it. Mike sees that it was a
panel much the same as the ones in the hall and assumes that
she has begun the awakening process of the man still out there.

                                                 Y'VA
                             I understand that all is not
                             perfect. But in you is proof
                             that we were not wrong doing what
                             we did.

                                                 SHARON MANSON
                             And what was it that you did,
                             exactly?

                                                 Y'VA
                             When we had to leave our world,
                             there were only a few thousand of
                             us that had the means to do so.
                             We were mainly medical...uh,
                             biology people.

                                                 Y'VA (CONT'D)
                             They sent us so that our race
                             would not die. It would have
                             been perfect if we could find an
                             exact world to our own, but we
                             did not. Our people only become
                             fertile every few hundred
                             cycles?years in your word.
                             Unfortunately for us, your
                             atmosphere has too many poisons
                             for us to live there as we are.
                             We would have died ourselves and
                             so would our children.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             How do you mean?

                                                 D'AM
                                       (From behind)
                             What my mate is trying to say, is
                             that we would not have survived
                             long enough on your planet to
                             procreate enough to maintain our
                             race.

Y'va's mate that they had observed in the coffin strides in,
stark naked, and moves to a panel at the side of this room.
He removes a garment of what appears the same material as
hers and dons it as they all watch.

                                                 D'AM (CONT'D)

"When we arrived, your planet was still very young. The
center was still making land and exploding through the
surface. Your planet puts out a chemical that we cannot
tolerate...sulfur I believe you call it. We would have died
within a few thousand of your years, not long enough to
establish a colony."

He walks over to the Y'va and gave her a long kiss.

                                                 D'AM (CONT'D)

You will have to excuse me. It has been a very long time
since we have awakened together. We are aware of each other
while we sleep, but it is not the same.

                                                 MEDVEDEV
                             If we are not your direct
                             descendants, then what are we?

                                                 D'AM
                             Oh, but you are!

D'am unbuttons his toga at the waist to reveal a slight
silvery scar on his side.

                                                 D'AM (CONT'D)
                             You are all descended from us as
                             if you were one hundred percent
                             our children. You have the
                             pieces...genes from each of us.
                             We had to make some changes,
                             however, so that you could
                             survive on that hostile planet.

There are a few chuckles around the room at the phrase
"hostile planet".

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Even though the Earth is hostile,
                             we don't think of it that way.
                             This planet is much more hostile,
                             because it cannot support life,
                             as we know it. Why did you
                             choose to set up here instead of
                             on Earth? It would seem to me
                             that since you can't go outside
                             here or there, it would be more
                             logical to be closer to your
                             experiment.

                                                 D'AM
                             Yes, but it would have been much
                             too tempting to interfere if we
                             were that close. That would
                             damage both you and us. You
                             would also have discovered us
                             before you were ready. This ship
                             is not invulnerable and someone
                             would certainly have broken in,
                             not understanding.

                                                 SVETLANA/SHARON MANSON
                             Ship?

                                                 Y'VA
                             Oh, yes. You are inside the
                             craft we left our home in.

                                                 GARAN
                             How can that be? Granted, these
                             chambers are made of metal, but
                             the outside is stone.

                                                 Y'VA
                             When we arrived at this place it
                             was already dying and harsh. We
                             decided it better to cover
                             ourselves with the native stone
                             for protection from the terrible
                             storms here and from meteors
                             while we were sleeping. There
                             were enough resources still for
                             us to extract what we needed to
                             sustain us. There were enough of
                             the gasses that we needed to
                             create our own atmosphere and to
                             make water. We have used less
                             than half of what we stored in
                             the beginning.

                                                 KITCH
                             What about food?

                                                 Y'VA
                             In a chamber below us there grows
                             a...mushroom, a fungus that
                             provides all of the nutrition we
                             require. Especially if we are
                             asleep. A machine will process
                             what grows there and feeds us
                             continuously. When we are awake,
                             we can eat the product directly.
                             In fact, I am quite hungry right now.

She crosses the room to another panel that recedes on her
approach revealing a container of what appears to be yogurt.
Y'va extracts the container and produced several platters
from another panel on the wall. She pours the contents onto
two of the platters and hands one to D'am and turns to the
group.

                                                 Y'VA
                             Please, help yourselves. We call
                             this m'na; there is more than
                             enough because neither of us has
                             been awake in over twelve hundred
                             of your years.

Nobody seems in a rush to accept her offer.

                                                 Y'VA
                             It will not hurt you because you
                             do have the genes to use it. In
                             fact, we fed a large group of
                             your people for many cycles of
                             your planet when they were trying
                             to find a new home.

                                                 Y'VA (CONT'D)
                             We had to drop it almost daily
                             for them because it does not last
                             long after we harvest it and,
                             like us, will not grow, or
                             survive on your planet. It is
                             really quite nutritious.
                             Unfortunately, we cannot eat all
                             of the things that you can
                             because you have genes that we do
                             not. In fact, I can tell from
                             what I can smell of you that you
                             have all recently consumed what
                             would be a poison to us.

The explorers look at each other, not understanding, until
Mike sheepishly admits,

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             I made eggs for breakfast before
                             we came here. I didn't know.
                             These are high in sulfur, which
                             our bodies can use and we must
                             pass some off in our breath. I
                             apologize; I didn't know.

D'am looked thoughtful for a moment, and then there was a
fleeting expression of horror that disappears as fast as it
appeared.

                                                 D'AM
                             You still consume the young of
                             other animals?

                                                 MEDVEDEV
                                       (Defensively)
                             Yes, Sir! Our makeup requires
                             certain chemicals that cannot be
                             found in anything else. Certainly
                             you must have understood this.

D'am turns to Y'va and they speak briefly together in their
own language. After a moment, D'am seems to relax once
again and shakes his head.

                                                 D'AM
                             Yes, I always knew that there was
                             that danger when we began.
                             Anything adapted to your world
                             might require things that we
                             don't. I tried to warn about
                             causing the death of other beings
                             many years ago when I was awake,
                             but I believe your biology gives
                             you stronger urges.

                                                 MEDVEDEV
                             Yes, it does. You mentioned that
                             you had to make some adjustments
                             in our genetics in order to
                             survive on Earth and establish a
                             colony. Can you say just what
                             those were?

Again, D'am and Y'va consult briefly in their native tongue
before Y'va turns.

                                                 Y'VA
                             In order for our race to survive,
                             we had to adapt our genes to
                             something that already lived on
                             your planet. We were fortunate
                             that there were several species
                             already there that matched our
                             genetic structure very closely.
                             We used those as the building
                             blocks to create you so that our
                             race would still exist and
                             multiply, even though it was
                             changed. You needed the extra
                             genes to survive on your planet,
                             but you carry ours, also, so that
                             you would stand out. It was our
                             hope that you would be more than
                             the pieces from which we made you.
                             You are; but I can see that you
                             still carry some instincts from
                             your other half.

There are confused looks around the room until Doctor Kitch
mumbles,

                                                 KITCH
                             Darwin was right. We are
                             descended from the apes, but the
                             missing link is here, not on
                             Earth. They added their DNA and
                             here we are.

Everyone falls into a stunned silence as the realization
sinks in.

                                                 MEDVEDEV
                             We have noticed, that our bodies
                             have changed since we came here.

                                                 D'AM
                             How do you mean.

                                                 MEDVEDEV
                             All humans are born with genes
                             that do not work. Some of these
                             cause defects or disease. Since
                             we have come into this place, I
                             can find no such genes or defects
                             in any of our bodies.

The two confer with each other once again.

                                                 D'AM
                             It must be that the genetic
                             material we gave you has degraded
                             with each generation. The
                             atmosphere, light, and magnetic
                             fields inside this ship are
                             designed to duplicate our home
                             world and to protect against
                             invasion of our bodies by foreign
                             organisms. It was also to aid us
                             in...what is the word? Sterile
                             procedure while we were combining
                             cells. It must be that you still
                             respond to that treatment after
                             so long and it has purified your
                             systems back to our original
                             design. When we placed you there
                             on that world, it was my
                             estimation that your life span
                             would be at least one thousand
                             cycles before the cells in your
                             bodies began to break down. How
                             long do you live now?

                                                 MEDVEDEV
                             Between 70 and 120 years, uh,
                             cycles. But we have ancient
                             stories of people living almost a
                             thousand years.

                                                 D'AM
                             And you are still polyestrous?

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Oh yes! Our females are fertile
                             at least 12 times a year. There
                             are now over six-billion of us on
                             that planet.

There is another short conference and Y'va said with horror,

                                                 Y'VA
                             But your planet cannot sustain
                             such a population!

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                                       (defensively)
                             You told my ancestors to 'be
                             fruitful and multiply'. They
                             took that seriously and many
                             still do. We are currently
                             breeding ourselves into extinction.
                             We have managed to foul our
                             planet to the point that many of
                             the other species have disappeared
                             and we are in danger of dying off
                             ourselves. A great many of our
                             people live now in areas which
                             cannot support them because that
                             is the only space left, but they
                             still breed, which makes matters
                             worse.

D'am looks saddened and sits back,

                                                 D'AM
                             It was good advice at the time
                             when there were so very few of
                             you. I had assumed that as your
                             numbers grew you would understand
                             that this was necessary for only
                             a short time and you would slow
                             down. You still produce many
                             offspring?

                                                 SHARON MANSON
                                       (disdainfully)
                             Oh, yes. Sometimes 10 or more to
                             a single family. Many of the
                             religions on our world still feel
                             that it is a badge of honor and a
                             duty to breed as much as possible.

Y'va looks somewhat incredulous and shook her head.

                                                 Y'VA
                             Six Billion?

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             And doubling every 40 years.

                                                 Y'VA
                             We were only a few million for
                             millennia! We could live in
                             harmony with each other and all
                             creatures on the planet because
                             there was more than enough for
                             all to share.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             But what about your long lives?
                             What is your life expectancy and
                             wouldn't that contribute to
                             growth in population?

                                                 D'AM
                             That would be hard to say. We
                             would normally live somewhere
                             between twenty and fifty-thousand
                             of your years unless someone had
                             an accident or had accomplished
                             all they wanted to. Since we are
                             fertile only once or twice a
                             millennia our people remained
                             very stable. Y'va and I are
                             older than that in actual time, I
                             know. That is because we have
                             slept most of the time since we
                             arrived. It slows our bodies
                             down enough so that we do not age
                             as we normally would. We are
                             both only the equivalent of maybe
                             five-thousand of your years even
                             though more time has passed.

                                                 CAROL MANSON
                             You're both quite young, then,
                             compared to the rest of your
                             people! If you were human, you'd
                             only be in your mid-twenties!

Again, the musical laughter from Y'va.

                                                 Y'VA
                                       (Nodding)
                             Yes. D'am and I were both very
                             young when our people discovered
                             that our sun was dying. We were
                             both interested in biology and it
                             was natural for us to become a
                             pair. We were fortunate that,
                             when the time came to leave, it
                             was decided that people with our
                             interests would be chosen as the
                             first so that our race would not die.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             What about your government, your
                             leaders?

D'am looks genuinely puzzled.

                                                 D'AM
                             I do not understand. Each of us
                             knew what we had to do and we all
                             followed our own interests. When
                             we had something to do that
                             required many people, those with
                             similar interests and skills
                             would come together to accomplish
                             it. We did not feel the need for
                             someone to tell us what to do.
                             There were, of course, many older
                             people who might have skills that
                             we had not mastered and we would
                             consult them, but we had no
                             individual in charge. When
                             something needed to be done, we
                             would do it.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Almost anarchy! I knew I liked
                             you guys!

                                                 D'AM
                                       (smiling)
                             Yes. From what little Vesna has
                             taught us about you in particular,
                             you think much as we do.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             I'm not unique. In my country we
                             are called Libertarians; in
                             Lana's country, Marxists or
                             Communists. Unfortunately, that
                             system broke down because
                             somebody always wanted to lead
                             and have power.

                                                 D'AM
                             I understand. It is unfortunate
                             that the only suitable species we
                             could find on your planet was one
                             that was both aggressive and
                             territorial. You have that
                             ancestry as well as ours.
                             Nevertheless, because you carry
                             both, you have the ability to
                             make choices. This was another
                             reason why Y'va and I remained
                             here, so that you could have free
                             will to make your choices. You
                             have done very well so far to
                             have developed so much.

                                                 SHARON MANSON
                             But what did you do about laws
                             and crime? How did you prevent
                             people from taking advantage of
                             those who were working?

Both D'am and Y'va look perplexed for a moment and confer
between themselves.

                                                 D'AM
                             I do understand your question,
                             but I do not understand the
                             concept because it is very alien
                             to us. Everyone did what needed
                             to be done. We did not have
                             'laws' as I understand what you
                             are asking. It was just
                             understood that everyone had the
                             same value and we did not
                             interfere with what they wanted
                             to do. I tried to explain that
                             to your people a very long time
                             ago when I advised them how to
                             advance and get along.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Yeah. Your ten guidelines
                             exploded into ten million laws.

Lana is close enough to Mike to hear what he said. She
turns toward him slowly with a look of utter shock as his
meaning sinks in.

                                                 SHARON MANSON
                             But if some other person wanted
                             something that you had worked for...?

                                                 D'AM
                             Then it would be theirs. If we
                             created something in the first
                             place, it was because we wanted
                             to and took joy in it. There
                             would be the same joy to do it
                             again. As I had said, we had
                             enough resources for everyone and
                             each pursued their own interests.
                             There were enough of us to
                             produce whatever anyone else
                             needed. We lived and learned in
                             harmony with each other and with
                             our planet. There was never any
                             need to impose limits.

                                                 D'AM (CONT'D)
                             There were enough of us to have
                             plenty of whatever was desired by
                             others, whether it was art,
                             poetry, food, or machines.
                             Someone we knew always had an
                             interest in what we needed at the
                             time. Actually, Y'va and I have
                             interests and skills in something
                             that was in almost no demand.
                                       (beat - almost an
                                       embarrassed look)
                             We were interested in
                             understanding how our bodies
                             worked. There is very little
                             call for pure knowledge of that
                             kind when there was no application
                             for it. It was a matter of what
                             you would call 'luck' for us that
                             had those skills at the time our
                             home was destroyed. The priority
                             was set when we left to help
                             those that could carry on our
                             race elsewhere. There were less
                             than one hundred thousand of
                             these vehicles made when it was
                             time to leave.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Then there could be almost a
                             hundred thousand planets with our
                             relatives out there somewhere?

                                                 D'AM
                             I can only hope that the others
                             were as fortunate as we. We had
                             each decided to search different
                             sections of different galaxies so
                             that the mathematical probability
                             would be greatest. If the others
                             had the success that we did, you
                             will find 'relatives' across the
                             universe. The one constant thing
                             that we do know is that our form,
                             and yours, is optimum for the
                             mental and physical development
                             you have achieved. Your world had
                             several aquatic life forms that
                             would actually have been more
                             suitable mentally for development,
                             but they lacked the ability to
                             make and use tools.

                                                 D'AM (CONT'D)
                             Now that you are able to leave
                             your planet, I think it safe to
                             assume that the majority of
                             intelligent life you meet will
                             resemble you closely in one form
                             or another. Depending on what
                             life forms were discovered on
                             planets that were colonized, I
                             believe that you will meet more
                             of your relatives in the future
                             than you can now understand.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Is there anything we can do for
                             you at the moment?

                                                 D'AM
                             I do not believe so. Would it be
                             possible for Vesna, or at least
                             her communications device, to
                             remain behind? There are many
                             things we would like to know
                             about since we last visited you.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             I was hoping you'd ask that. We
                             are more than thankful to leave
                             the communications gear with you,
                             but is there any way she can
                             interface directly with your
                             machines?

                                                 D'AM
                             I do not know. We are not
                             engineers, we are biologists.
                             Others constructed the machines
                             we use here and neither of us
                             understands them fully.

                                                 OKSANA
                             Does your ship contain manuals,
                             diagrams, or instructions on how
                             it works?

                                                 Y'VA
                             I believe it does.
                                       (indicating a wall to
                                       their right)
                             I have been able to find
                             information on the machines on
                             the panel over there.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             That's excellent! If you would,
                             position Vesna's camera, her eyes,
                             on that panel after we leave and
                             then turn the panel on. She
                             should be able to understand what
                             is needed to communicate directly
                             with your machines and with you.

                                                 D'AM
                             That would be good. There is a
                             great deal we need to catch up on
                             regarding your history and
                             development. Neither of us has
                             checked on you in over a thousand
                             of your years. Vesna has proven
                             very forthright and open and I
                             believe we can learn much from
                             her. Possibly that is because
                             she thinks as you do.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             That can be a good and a bad thing.

Lana actually giggles and coughs at the same time.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Vesna, they have full access and
                             clearance. This will be a
                             private feed for you.

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             I already decided that they
                             should, sir.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Have I told you lately that
                             you're a royal pain?

                                                 VESNA (OS)
                             About an hour and a half ago, sir.

D'am looks a bit puzzled at this exchange.

The group bids their individual farewells for the time being
and troops out of the living quarters and back down the
great hallway to the airlock.

Lana is walking beside Mike and he notes that her camera and
microphone to Earth are off.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             I don't know quite how to take this.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             How so?

                                                 SVETLANA
                             This is a lot to understand in so
                             short a time. I do not think
                             anyone, except maybe you
                                       (gives him a sharp look)
                             expected any of this.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Come on. It's been obvious since
                             the time of Ezekiel that
                             something has been both
                             responsible for, and interfering
                             with, human development. If
                             you're implying that I knew in
                             advance of their existence here,
                             forget it. I'm as blown away as
                             you are. However, it doesn't go
                             against anything that I had
                             thought of before. Look at the
                             overall picture; there has never
                             been a "missing link". There
                             were apes and then there was us.
                             Our DNA is 98% simian. Where did
                             we come from? Duh! Somebody
                             dropped their DNA onto that of
                             several species of primates and
                             here we are. I'm amazed, but not
                             really surprised.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             But why is there no other
                             evidence; no other record?

Mike laughs loudly enough for others to turn to him as they
file out the corridor.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             But there is! Have you ever
                             attended a church?

                                                 SVETLANA
                             When I was a little girl, my
                             parents were Christian Jews. We
                             did not go to the Orthodox Church,
                             but had our own service, even
                             though the Soviets persecuted us.
                             I have not attended any church
                             since I came of age.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             But, that means that you at least
                             have read your Hebrew Pentateuch
                             and Christian Old Testament.

She nods.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL (CONT'D)
                             Then you already know who they are.

Lana's brows furrow questioningly, indicating that she
didn't have a clue about what he was saying.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL (CONT'D)
                             Think hard about who we have been
                             talking to. Think about how they
                             introduced themselves and their
                             names. Consider the Greek and
                             English phonetic translations of
                             D'am and Y'va. What do you have?

                                                 SVETLANA
                             Da-am, Ye-va?

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Think like a linguist. Expand
                             the pronunciation, into something
                             that makes sense.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             Da-am, Dam, Adam?

Mike catches her by the waist as she trips on nothing in
particular. He supports her for the rest of the way to the
airlock, not so much that she needs it, but because he
wanted to.

Misha, who is following directly behind the two, breaks out
into another spontaneous smile.

                                                                                          CUT TO:

INT. GALLEY

Most of the crew heads for the lounge when they return and
break into small groups to discuss what they had just
learned and to try to make sense of it.

Mike heads straight for the galley and a cold Guinness.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             Please tell me you did not know
                             this before.

Lana had followed behind and startled him enough that he
jumps. Mike turns slowly and offers her a stout.

                                                 SVETLANA
                                       (Shaking head)
                             I need a Gimlet; a double if you
                             don't mind.

Mike nods and retrieves a bottle of Stolichnaya Crystal from
the freezer and some Martini & Rossi from the cupboard.
After seeing her face, he mixes a five to one Gimlet and
adds several onions from the refrigerator.

He guides her back to a sofa in the lounge and hands her the
drink.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Believe me, I didn't have a clue.
                                       (raises his right hand
                                       as an oath)
                             I am as stunned as you about this.
                             I will admit that I had a hunch
                             that this would be an
                             archaeological find, but I never
                             expected, or even dreamed, of
                             finding anything still alive here:
                             much less, finding my ten
                             thousand-great grandparents!

Lana takes a slow sip from her glass.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             I believe you...this time. It's
                             just all so much at once.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             I know. I was expecting a
                             month's vacation where we could
                             all have some fun; I could
                             irritate the politicians and
                             maybe find something that would
                             have the scientists arguing for a
                             decade or so. But this? No way!

Lana takes another slow sip of her drink.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             You understand that you may be
                             the most hated person on Earth
                             right now? We may all be! In two
                             weeks, we have not just proven
                             that we may go wherever we want,
                             but that we are not the center of
                             the Universe.

                                                 SVETLANA (CONT'D)
                             Add to that finding out that we
                             are the result of a laboratory
                             experiment something like
                             Frankenstein's monster coupled
                             with the fact that Herr Doktor is
                             still alive and kicking, I'd say
                             that admissions to mental
                             hospitals are way up right now.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Now there I disagree with you.
                             People are resilient.
                             Organizations aren't, but people
                             take things in stride. I'd agree
                             that the hierarchies of the major
                             churches are in an uproar now,
                             but the congregations will adapt.
                             Let's face it, some of the
                             specifics of these groups may be
                             called into question, but overall
                             the basics are still intact.
                             It's just that now we have
                             pinpointed our exact origins
                             conclusively and unequivocally,
                             although I'm sure there will
                             still be arguments for decades.
                             I admit there will be some that
                             don't believe evidence when it
                             hits them in the face, like the
                             flat-Earth society. There are
                             even some groups now, Vesna has
                             told me, which insist that this
                             whole thing is being broadcast
                             from a sound stage in Hollywood
                             or Vancouver.

This brings a smile to Lana's face.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             My producer has told me this
                             yesterday by way of a joke. Of
                             course, he also had four
                             reporters check it out anyway to
                             make certain they weren't being
                             fooled.
                                       (beat)
                             Do you really think that these
                             are the Adam and Eve of folklore?

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Personally, that's not a problem
                             for me. Almost all cultures have
                             similar stories with names
                             linguistically similar. Where
                             did the stories come from? One
                             major body of thought is that we
                             have a genetic and racial memory
                             burned into our brains at birth.
                             Jung was a big believer in that.
                             Any race that is capable of
                             producing a transgenic hybrid
                             such as Homo sapiens would more
                             than certainly be capable of
                             imprinting a blueprint for
                             success. I know that Kitch and
                             Medvedev are dying to pick their
                             brains overall on the genome
                             thing. If they can come back
                             with an accurate map they'll both
                             get the Nobel for the next ten years!

Again, Lana smiles. It is obvious that she is relaxing.

                                                 SVETLANA
                             Nothing seems to have an effect
                             on you. You take everything in
                             your stride and keep moving. How
                             is that?

It is Mike's turn to laugh.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             We Americans have a couple of
                             sayings that I live by because
                             they're true. First, 'stuff
                             happens'. The point is, get used
                             to it. No matter what you think
                             now or plan for, something will
                             turn up to absolutely screw it up.
                             If you let it throw you for a
                             loop, you'll never get anywhere.
                             Therefore, I just expect the
                             unexpected. For instance, I knew
                             that if I perfected my space
                             drive, every black-ops group in
                             my government would be on my back
                             before I could turn around. I
                             developed my shields first and
                             gathered enough influence to
                             defeat them before I even began
                             working on the drive.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL (CONT'D)
                             Some people would think I was
                             paranoid, but I was just
                             preparing for the unexpected. It
                             turned out I was right.
                                       (beat)
                             Second, 'If life gives you lemons,
                             make lemonade!' when something
                             turns out the way you don't want
                             it to or you didn't expect, make
                             the best of a bad situation.
                             This is far from a bad situation,
                             but I didn't anticipate any of it.
                             I knew last year when the
                             prototype made close passes to
                             Cydonia that this was an
                             artificial structure. That's why
                             I insisted that the archaeologists
                             coming along. Since we discovered
                             what it really was, I've been
                             frantically coming up with a game
                             plan minute by minute. What am I
                             going to do next? I haven't any
                             idea! I have a bad habit of ad-
                             libbing my way through life.
                             That's how I keep my balance. If
                             I pretend I'm a child and
                             everything is new, then I don't
                             have to deal with it as an 'adult'
                             would. That's why I don't find
                             this so much a threat as a
                             challenge to my understanding.
                                       (beat)
                             I'll let you in on a secret.
                                       (conspiritorily)
                             There was a show on television
                             when I was growing up where the
                             main character once said 'I seek
                             not to know all the answers, but
                             to understand the questions'.
                             That is probably my number one
                             rule in life. I don't have to
                             know the answers. That's why I
                             built the house and Vesna - let
                             them know the answers. My goal
                             has always been to understand the
                             questions.

Lana finishes her drink and places the glass on the table in
front of them. She folds her legs under her and nuzzles
closer into Mike's shoulder.

Mikhail half-smiles and winks at Mike as he and Carol pass
which only deepens Mike's feeling of being caught with his
hand in the cookie jar. He is at a total loss as to how to
appear innocent. He finally decides "the devil with it",
puts his arm over Lana's shoulder, and kisses her lightly on
the forehead.

                                                                                          CUT TO:

INT. PYRAMID

Series of shots

Vesna Oksana make modifications to Vesna's communication
circuitry so that she can directly interface with the
machines and computers buried deep within the pyramid. She
makes several trips back to the chamber at Vesna's request;
first to replace the speakers attached to the modified
communicator with Mike's personal Altec-Lansings that could
better reproduce the range of speech D'am and Y'va used.
The second was to install a transceiver module that Vesna
had instructed her how to make directly into one of the
panels that D'am showed her in yet another room off the main
chamber.

Interfacing with the machines was an entirely different
matter. She found out that their programming was symbolic,
not linguistic. It has taken the better part of three days
to get the hang of "speaking" with the main computer and
database in order to send and receive correct data. She is
quite busy translating technical specifications, diagrams,
and printing them out in English and Russian for Oksana.

In the meantime Mike has several loud and protracted
"discussions" with security types from both governments who
are appalled that he has opened Vesna's database and access
to the Internet to the alien computer. Mike's argument is
that the pair had "made us and could have destroyed us
anytime during the past half-million years".

Both governments are also leery of the possibility that Mike
is censoring the information that is passed back to Earth
and is keeping the good stuff for himself. It takes many
long hours to convince them that in all probability, yes,
Vesna was censoring some things out. But the fact was that
he trusted her judgment completely to know what humans were
morally capable of using at this stage of development and
that she wasn't about to tell him either.

The information feeds from the alien computer to Earth were
on encrypted private channels specifically for the scientific
teams and not the public.

Vesna has taken the initiative to encrypt a special
algorithm she developed specifically for this purpose and
forward it to the teams to install in their receiving
computers. It is frustrating to Vesna that the mainframes
they are using to receive and decrypt the data are so slow,
but it seemed to calm the security people down a bit and
satisfy the politicos.

They are already well into the third week when Vesna calls
for a general meeting on the control deck.

                                                                                          CUT TO:

INT. COMMAND DECK

Oksana enters the room looking haggard with dark circles
under both eyes.

                                                 MIKE ANGEL
                             Oksana! If you don't slow down
                             and get some rest, your parents
                             will skin me alive for bringing
                             you back in a state of total
                             exhaustion!

                                                                                          CUT TO:

INT. IVANOV LIVINGROOM

Oksana's mother and father are on a couch in front of a
television. Olga nods her head vigorously.

                                                                                          FADE OUT:


Ben W. Gardner
Sedona, Arizona

"I do not fear computers. I fear lack of them." --Isaac Asimov

http://ca.geocities.com/vladilyich/

In The Beginning - ISBN: 1-4116-3848-4
Just In Time - ISBN 1-4116-3851-4
Ad Astra - ISBN: 978-1-84728-518-8
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