of determining what the chemical and mass composition of any planet is--
DARYL
Did you just say that? I mean is that you speaking, or the dimwit who wrote this piece?
NANCY
That's me speaking.
DARYL
Wow, that's very clever of you. I wrote this piece, by the way. I guess I'll need some more work at news writing before I publish again.
The newsroom people laugh, and Nancy blanches. Jake and his family laugh.
NANCY
Oh, God, I am so sorry! Oh, God, I just took the Lord of the Name in vain in front of a million Utahns! Agh! I did it again!
DARYL
The Lord of the Name? Is that anything like the Lord of the Flies, or the Lord of the Rings?
The newsroom, Jake, and his family laugh hard.
NANCY
AAGH! Anyway. Sorry. And thank you for the compliment. And sorry for insulting your work.
DARYL
It was worth it to write badly just to invade your space.
The newsroom laughs again. She blushes, and clears her throat.
NANCY
So, uh...yeah, scientists can determine from a variety of factors what some distant planets and stars are made out of. And they are very sure that this binary Earth-analogue, or two planets like Earth--they are very sure that they are rocky planets with liquid water and oxygen-hydrogen atmospheres. They also orbit their stars at a distance which gives them a surface temperature very much like Earth's, so that Earth-like or other life could survive on these planets. If there is any other place in the universe besides Earth on which life could exist and thrive, this newly discovered binary world is the best candidate that Astronomers have ever found.
The newsroom, Jake and his family silently take in the weight of this announcement. Daryl speaks seriously, for a change.
DARYL
Wow. That's awesome.
NANCY
Mind-blowing. This is the coolest thing I've heard for a very long time. Oh! Also, it was a Utah man, an amateur Astronomer who lives in Utah, who had ideas which led to Astronomers making this discovery. His name is Jake Carter, and we were fortunate enough to get a taped interview with him, and also the Astronomers he collaborated with--
VICKI smiles in admiration at Jake.
INT. KITCHEN--DAY
Jake pulls up the login for his blog via the PC, while Vicki reads a children's book to the kids, on the sofa.
JAKE
Wow!
VICKI
Wow what?
JAKE
Four hundred thousand hits on my blog in the past hour! Four hundred thousand! This is beyond gangbusters!
VICKI
You gonna capitalize on it?
JAKE
Actually I saw this coming, and I started displaying ads at my blog. I'm going to rake in advertising money.
VICKI
Woohoo!
JAKE
But guess what else I'm going to do with my new-found power?
VICKI
Uh-oh.
JAKE
Yep. The same as nearly any man does when he acquires any power, as he supposes. Abuse it. I'm going to post a rant.
VICKI
Woohoo?
He types. The computer clock display says 2:21 PM. He scowls and types. It says 3:21 PM. He frowns and types. It says 4:32 PM. He beams. He looks at the time. His face says "what?!" He turns around to see Vicki and the children, who all play the game board "SORRY!"
JAKE
Did I really just type for two hours straight?
VICKI
Yep. I think you didn't hear us giggling, while you were "in the zone," but it was pretty funny to see your expression change over time.
JAKE
Huh? Why?
VICKI
So bitter at first, but finally you looked like you were enjoying yourself.
JAKE
I haven't posted it yet. Here's the draft.
VICKI
Will it get money?
JAKE
Uh, I think so. Wait, how did you know I'm trying to raise money? And don't you want to read it?
VICKI
Yes, I want to read it, but my friends who worship your new-found fame will ingratiate me with every detail of your post, if it manages to get all the money you want. And I bet it will. I therefore, in the future, will know more about it than I could possibly ever want to know. However, at least this way the first of a hundred times that I hear this or that detail about it, it will give me one chance to enjoy hearing it as genuinely new and interesting information, from a friend who otherwise will irritate the heck out of me because YES I KNOW my husband is ridiculously smart and famous and OH MY GOSH he raised SO MUCH MONEY, which nobody will actually directly say to me but that is why they will all talk my ear off.
JAKE
Ha!
VICKI
And to answer your other question, I didn't know you were trying to raise money, that was just a guess, which you confirmed is correct by asking me how I knew. And the reason I made that guess is partly that you kept muttering the word "fricktillion" and laughing to yourself.
JAKE
Oh, sheesh. Remind me never to write in an internet cafe. I decided not to use that word, despite every temptation to. You just don't ask people for huge sums of money with language that casual.
VICKI
People have collected six-digit donations on Kickstarter with language that is too casual and even blatantly syntactically erroneous or ungrammatical.
JAKE
Seriously?! But anyway, does anyone want to review this? Oh, wait, I just asked that. Okay, here goes.
He moves the computer cursor to his blog's "POST" button, and clicks it.
EXT. SPACE--NIGHT
Twin suns spill their glorious, fiery white light over two Earth-like planets, which orbit each other. One quarter of the day side is visible on each planet, where visible are green, light brown, and white alien continents, blue oceans, and patchy, streaky blankets of clouds. The day side crescent wanes as we orbit toward the night side.
JAKE (V.O.)
Since I've helped discover binary Earth and Sun analogues, I've been asked to lobby for more NASA funding. I answer yes and no. Yes, because NASA has historically produced incredible educational and financial returns--never mind the pure gee-wiz wow factor--all on a relative shoestring budget.
INT. HOUSE ONE--DAY
A television set in a living room displays a news program. Protestors with signs which read "OCCUPY WALL ST." etc. fill the rabble-strewn streets amid skyscrapers.
JAKE (V.O.)
No, because I sympathize with the imposition of my government (which is twenty trillion dollars in debt), where it really can't provide much for NASA. Frankly, NASA seeks answers too expensive for any one superpower nation to fund.
INT. SCHOOLROOM--DAY
A giant poster spans a wall behind high-school-sized school desks. It is captioned: "HUBBLE DEEP SPACE PHOTOGRAPHY: THE EDGE OF OBSERVABLE SPACE." It has regional blowups of galactic and solar diagrams. A vertical dimension arrow spans one side, labeled "300 MILLION LIGHT YEARS." The main image of the poster is of super-clusters of thousands of galaxies.
JAKE (V.O.)
What's the price tag for the question "What is out there among the stars?"
EXT. SPACE--NIGHT
The night sides of two Earth-analogue planets rotate into full view. Our view adjusts to the dark, and dim lights appear from the surfaces of the planets. The lights grow not-so-dim. City-sized clusters and lines of light become visible for only a very brief moment--
CUT TO:
EXT. CANARY ISLANDS--NIGHT
Atop the peak of a grass-topped volcanic mountain, the giant dome of Roque de los Muchachos Observatory splits open.
JAKE (V.O.)
A question which I believe we are at the precipice of answering is: are we alone in the universe?
EXT. SPACE--NIGHT
Our be
loved Blue Marble, Earth, hangs in front of the Sun.
JAKE (V.O.)
Fittingly, however, to answer this question will require astronomical amounts of money. So let's front that money. You can donate to NASA--you just can't tell them what to do with the money. Suggestions, however, are allowed. May I suggest also that our politicians have ludicrously co-opted NASA for utter silliness, and that NASA desperately needs an extremely strong "money vote" like this to urge them back in the right direction.
EXT. SPACE--NIGHT
The Hubble Space Telescope orbits Earth.
JAKE (V.O.)
People of the world, I invite you to donate ten billion U.S. Dollars to NASA, and attach a note like this to your donations: "Please build a telescope big enough to capture detailed images of extrasolar planets. Oh, and please photograph those pesky, mostly invisible trans-neptunian objects, too."
EXT. SPACE--NIGHT
Our beloved Blue Marble, Earth, hangs in front of the Sun.
Our view rotates away from Earth, to a bright star. We race toward it at near light-speed, as manifested by the parallax effect: nearer stars slowly creep more toward the edge of our field of view.
JAKE (V.O.)
It is possible to build such a telescope, and it may be the only immediate way to discover life on other planets.
INT. HOUSE TWO--NIGHT
On a TV screen in a living room, images of the tragedies of humanity rapidly flash across the screen, e.g. soldiers who have lost limbs, left for dead on a beach, nuclear blasts, street protests, fetuses in dumpsters, soon-to-be-exes who bicker in front of TV therapists and an audience, Pamela Anderson wrapped in an American Flag, villagers in a desert somewhere nigh starved to death,
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