A small command module is tucked beneath the forward navigation bulb.
The ship passes above the Baja Peninsula.
The habitat wheel begins to rotate slowly.
INSIDE HELLAS
YING
All systems five by five.
ROSEGARDEN
Artificial gravity at twenty percent
Earth normal.
BIX
Debarking Earth orbit in T minus one
minute.
OUTSIDE HELLAS
The Hellas passes above Africa.
INSIDE
ROSEGARDEN
Artificial gravity at thirty eight
percent Earth normal. Standard Mars
surface gravity achieved.
YING
This is it, people. Firing thrusters in
five, four, three...
OUTSIDE
The Hellas' thrusters fire.
It slowly leaves Earth orbit.
The habitat wheel becomes sluggish, jerky. Three quarter smooth rotation, one quarter strained rotation. The cycle repeats with regularity.
INSIDE
The strained rotation ECHOES throughout the ship.
Auditory agony. Earplugs are distributed.
ROSEGARDEN
I think we should shut it down,
Commander.
YING
I agree, Colonel. Disengaging rotary
couplings.
Ying flips switches. Pulls a lever. Nothing happens.
She repeats the procedure. Nothing.
YING (CONT’D)
System not responding. Contact Microcore
Earth Command.
ROSEGARDEN
(into transmitter)
MPV Hellas to Microcore Earth Command.
Please Respond.
MICROCORE EARTH COMMAND (V.O.)
Microcore Earth Command to MPV Hellas.
We've been monitoring the situation.
ROSEGARDEN
Rotary couplings will not disengage.
Please advise.
MICROCORE EARTH COMMAND (V.O.)
I'm sorry, Colonel, we don't have remote
access to that system. Do you believe the
crew is in imminent danger?
ROSEGARDEN
To be honest, I'm not sure.
MICROCORE EARTH COMMAND (V.O.)
Roger that. We'll work on establishing a
link with the rotary system from here. In
the meantime, try to make the best of the
situation. MEC out.
YING
You heard it people, we're just going to
have to deal with the noise and the
variable gravity until we can get this
resolved.
INT. NAVIGATION BULB - HELLAS SPACECRAFT
Mars is visible through a large window.
Jeremy and Bix are there alone.
Their conversation is timed between the cycles of strained rotation.
JEREMY
What's going on, Bix? I can hardly get
the time of day from anyone around here.
BIX
You're going to find out soon enough, so
I may as well tell you. NASA satellites
detected an object moving straight away
from Earth at near light speed. They were
able to track it back to its point of
origin.
JEREMY
Where did it come from?
BIX
Microcore. The object is moving toward
the constellation Eridanus. That's where
the E.T. signal came from back in 2018.
The government believes that Cecil is in
contact with those aliens.
JEREMY
That's ridiculous.
BIX
Is it? There were at least five similar
incidents detected between 2018 and 2021.
They may have been exchanging information
or technology during that time.
JEREMY
Why are you telling me this?
BIX
Colonel Rosegarden and Commander Ying
think that you're involved somehow.
They've learned that your brother has
been assigned to the Orbital Receiving
Platform and that your wife is at CRATER
COVE on the moon. They find it suspicious
that she would be at the NASA site
instead of Underworld.
Bix leans in close to Jeremy.
BIX (CONT’D)
Tell me about The Venus Project. You were
one of a handful of people in that
department. Why was it so super secret?
JEREMY
What does the Venus Project have to do
with any of this?
BIX
There's a rumor that Cecil is
terraforming Venus for the aliens.
JEREMY
That's the most ludicrous thing I've ever
heard. Do you actually believe that?
BIX
I don't know what to believe. They think
your brother's article is just a cover.
You must admit, The Book of Alec very
conveniently explains away the incidents
observed between 2018 to 2021. And now
you're all chummy with Cecil. I must
admit, it looks like you're involved up
to your neck.
JEREMY
Cecil's innocent.
Jeremy exits.
EXT. MICROCORE - DAY
Military helicopters and ground vehicles swarm just outside the complex.
Search warrants are presented at each entrance.
The vehicles enter en masse.
INT. CECIL'S OFFICE - DAY
General Hayes tosses a search warrant on Cecil's desk.
COLONEL BRODEN stands behind him.
HAYES
We have evidence that you are in
possession of foreign technology that
endangers the national security of this
country. Under the Anti-Terrorism Act of
2015, we are authorized to-
CECIL
I'm aware of the law, General.
HAYES
That probe you launched last month was
quite impressive. Tell me, Mr. Millikan,
how is it that you suddenly discovered a
means of propulsion that accelerates a
spacecraft to near light speed?
CECIL
Spacecraft are my business, General.
HAYES
Where is Jeremy Ash? His wife? His
brother?
CECIL
Let's see. Jeremy is on Mars, his wife is
on the moon, and his brother is on my
Receiving Platform in orbit.
HAYES
How convenient. The Ash household is
being searched as we speak.
CECIL
This matters to me because...?
HAYES
You test my patience, sir. We're going to
find this data crystal one way or
another, and then try you for treason.
CECIL
Treason? You're way out of line, General.
HAYES
We'll see about that. Search the office.
BRODEN
Yes sir.
The General exits. Broden begins searching Cecil's desk.
INT. HELLAS LANDING SHELL - MARS ORBIT
The crew enters the landing shell.
Bix seals the hatch.
The sound of the straining habitat wheel is subdued.
BIX
Disengaging landing shell.
Bix pulls down a lever.
EXT. HELLAS SPACECRAFT - MARS ORBIT
EXPLOSIVE BOLTS FIRE.
The landing shell disengages from the main spacecraft.
INSIDE LANDING SHELL
Rosegarden is visibly relieved. Pure silence ensues. The strained rotation of the habitat wheel is visible through a portal. No one dares speak. They bask in the silence as the landing shell inches away from the main spacecraft.
INT. THE OVAL OFFICE - WASHINGTON D.C. - DAY
PRESIDENT SILVERSPOON is on a videophone.
He is speaking to BI ZHEN HAN, the Chairman of the People's Republic of China.
BI ZHEN HAN
I thought we had an agreement.
PRESIDENT SILVERSPOON
I'm telling you, we didn't find the data