Adam

My favorite children's book is about a little prince...

who came to Earth from a distant asteroid.

He meets a pilot whose plane has crashed in a desert.

The little prince teaches the pilot many things...

but mainly about love.

My father always told me I was like the little prince.

But after I met Adam...

I realized I was the pilot all along.

- Morning, Adam. - Good morning, Kelli.

- Good morning, Lulu. - Good morning, Adam.

I don't know what to say.

- Say anything. - Okay.

Adam Raki is the cutest guy in the office. How's that?

- That's fine. - Morning, Adam.

- Good morning, Mr. Klieber! - Morning, Kelli.

- Good morning. - Good morning, Adam!

- How did she do that? - What?

How did she know it was me and then you talking?

Voice recognition.

I put in voice patterns from some people and added SPLICE to the recognition system.

SPLICE stands for "Stereo-based Piece-wise Linear Compensation for Environment."

- It's an algorithm that I placed... - Adam. Adam.

Did Chatty Patty have SPLICE?

Did Big Mouth Billy Bass have SPLICE?

But you said I could make her sound like Kelli.

I said she could sound like Kelli. I didn't say to give her free will.

She doesn't have free will.

5,000 at a hundred dollars, not five at a thousand dollars. Capisce?

- Good-bye, Mr. Klieber. - Good-bye, Adam.

All of which gives us the rare opportunity...

to explore the mysterious terrain...

that lies between fame and craft...

between the public persona and the private, precious self.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Actors Studio is proud to welcome...

an actress we admire...

Julia Roberts.

Perfect.

- Oh. - Is this open?

I mean, to residents. Do you have a key?

Yes.

I just moved in. Beth Buchwald, 3A.

Adam. Second floor. Two.

You're not doing your laundry?

Oh. Yeah.

Looks like a bit of an emergency.

Would you mind letting me in?

- Yeah. Yeah. Sure. - Thanks.

I mean, I loved it. Downtown's my hood.

But this place is bigger and it's right around the corner from Wildwood.

Can you see the sky from the third floor?

I guess I would if the windows weren't covered in soot.

Some nerve, right...

calling a school in the middle of Manhattan Wildwood?

It's just temporary, actually.

The job, not the name of the school.

I'm a writer. For children. So it's a good experience.

What do you do?

I help make toys.

Oh, you're an elf?

No, I'm an electronic engineer.

Oh. You need a card for the wash.

No, I've got one.

Funny. I think I left mine upstairs in my packet.

Could I borrow yours for now?

Okay.

Oh. Right.

Thanks.

Good. Good work, Beth.

Hi, neighbor.

There are new images of Saturn from the Cassini Project.

Oh.

God.

I always wish I knew more about space.

You did? Like what?

I don't know. You know, what's out there.

You have to narrow that down.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

Well, I have books, telescopes, star charts.

You could borrow some stuff.

We could go out, look at the sky... t-tonight.

Maybe sometime. Sure.

Okay.

Well, I'll just be hauling these enormous grocery bags upstairs now.

Okay.

Okay.

What are you doing?

Oh.

People watching.

Anyone in particular?

Just people.

Listen, I'm going out with some friends tonight, later, if you want to come.

Oh.

They're people, so you might want to... watch them.

Uh-huh.

But if not, you know, that's fine.

No, I want to go, but, um, I... I don't think I can.

- Okay, if you're busy. - No.

I mean, it's not a date. It's just a little moving-in celebration, you know.

When?

8:00. 8:00-ish.

Uh-huh.

Look, there's no pressure.

I'll just knock on your door on my way out, and if you can, you can.

- Okay. - Yeah?

- Yeah. - Okay.

Adam?

Adam.

- See you later! - Good night!

I'm sorry I didn't come out with your friends.

No problem.

I get kind of overloaded.

I have something to show you.

Come in. Come in.

Oh, my!

You said you want to know more about space.

Because it looks like this people think of it as still...

even though we know its expanding.

All parts of the universe are moving away from one another...

most of them faster than the speed of light, except for...

I thought nothing went faster than the speed of light.

Right, right. Nothing goes through space faster, but space itself g...

Do you know about the Big Bang?

A little. In the beginning, God crea...

The inflation theory says the Big Bang came from as little as a 20-pound chunk of space...

about 14 billion years ago...

that expanded to the size of the universe in 10 to the minus-39 seconds.

Ten to the minus-39?

A decimal point, 39 zeros, and then a one.

That's the fraction of a second in which the universe was formed.

That's billions and billions of times faster than light.

Ooh, that's... fast.

Yeah.

Wow!

These are all pictures of stars and galaxies that have been traveling away from us...

for hundreds of millions or billions of years.

But that's still nearby compared to most of the universe that we'll never see.

Never?

Well, things that move apart faster than light can't ever see one another...

because the light from one never catches up to the other.

After the Big Bang...

the expansion of the universe slowed down.

But then, after seven billion years...

for some reason it speeded up again...

and it's been speeding up ever since.

Someday everything you see here will disappear forever.

And eventually the night sky...

will be almost completely dark.

That's kinda sad.

Sad?

Hmm.

I have been talking too much, so...

No, it's... fascinating.

- But I talk too much when I get excited. - No, really.

It's... It's amazing.

Well, I could tell you quickly about M-brane theory.

Oh, no, it's okay. Maybe next time.

Okay. It's very speculative.

Well, I should go.

Good night, Beth.

Good night.

Thanks. I love your planetarium.

Oh. You're welcome.

Oh, I could have waited, Daddy.

Not another day. I wanted you out of that rat trap for five years.

- They were mice. - But I was right, wasn't I? You love it.

It's okay. It's not like the Village. I've only met one person so far.

- It's new. - He did have a planetarium in his living room though.

You were in someone's living room.

He's cute. He lives in the building.

Whatever happened to Rich Lippmann?

Not going there.

But what was the name of his company? Founder's Fund?

Okay. Okay.

So, your neighbor's an astronomer?

No, he's an electronic engineer, whatever that means.

- But he hasn't even said hello to me since the first time, so... - So, he's an idiot.

No, it's me.

Didn't anyone tell you and Mom that only children are emotional retards...

spoilt, too trusting and unequipped to cope?

What were you thinking?

That we had one perfect child.

How's school?

We just started.

"The course of civilization is a race between catastrophe and education."

- John F. Kennedy. - I know.

Well, if you marry an investment banker...

you could do whatever you want.

Rich Lippmann is a dick, Daddy. Can we leave it at that?

Don't say "dick" to your father.

No one's perfect, Bethy. That's all I'm saying.

But their sensor systems have detected an error in analyzing space radiation.

Adam, I'm having lunch.

- Speak English. - I'm sorry.

You see, the Star Tracker system is...

No. No more background radiation black holes or Mars robots.

Lunchtime is for guy talk.

Two guys talking about women, the weather and such. You got it?

- But the Star Tracker system... - No.

Hmm.

A woman moved into 3A.