Alien: Rubicon

Just a quick stop, then we hit the road, promise.

Saturday, Uncle Robin and his minion offspring

will beat us there and

we'll get the worst camping spot again.

There are no worst spots.

There's just slightly less desirable ones.

There are bad, terrible spots, and we always get them

because we keep making these quick stops.

Honey, new observatory, new boss, new responsibilities.

Could have turned the job down.

Oh, yeah.

Hey, how is that new and very expensive phone

working out for you? Huh, kiddo?

Point taken.

I liked it better when you worked at George Washington U.

My in there was pretty much guaranteed.

Still is, champ. I left on good terms.

I thought you hated the people there.

No, no, I hate the politics, not the people.

I liked being a professor at the Space Policy Institute.

I didn't care for their politics around their policies.

I prefer to get science done efficiently.

How does that help me?

I'm still friends with all the smart people.

That combined with your straight As should do the rest.

Besides, now we got way more time for camping.

Do we?

Because we're not getting to that campsite for at least

another three hours.

And you still have to go in and grab those papers.

And I'll be really quick.

Hey, pinky swear.

Wait, I'm going to go with you.

What? I have to pee.

Ugh.

Hey. Let's wait in the car, okay?

-You remember the code, right? -Of course I do.

I'm just making sure.

It's got to be here.

Ah... Woo!

I feel much better.

I just need two files, then we're gone.

I can keep myself occupied.

Found them.

Could have waited until Tuesday.

No one else is working until then.

No way. You're going to be doing nothing but staring

at wide open night skies.

What better time to corroborate our new findings?

Dad, look at this.

Probably just something on the lens.

No, it's advancing with each image.

Come on here, take a look.

Slide over.

What is it?

I've never seen any space junk or spaceship like this,

at least that you've shown me before.

Do you think this has anything to do

with the fast burst anomaly signal

that you picked up last year?

I mean, it's coming from the same direction.

-The Rubicon signal? -Yeah.

I don't know what we're looking at,

but maybe I can figure out the trajectory.

Hey, it's probably just private sector, maybe even military.

You know, we're not always made privy to their builds,

especially the international ones.

We're usually made aware of a launch date.

Dr. Devlin, this is Dr. Morrow at the Maryland Observatory.

We have a UAP sighting, possibly military or maybe private,

but I'm not seeing anything on the schedule.

Yeah, sending images of coordinates now.

Adam, go wait outside.

But I want to listen.

Go. Change of plans. Go back to the farmhouse.

-I'll be out in a minute. -But I'm the one who found it.

Go. Now.

Yes, I'm still here.

Of course.

First sighting was at 0813.

Thank you, Dr. Morrow. We'll be in touch.

Get me on the phone with President McCoy

or SECDEF Greer, now.

Mr. President, sir, I just confirmed the UAP

with Dr. Kate Devlin at NASA.

Are you sure it's not just a failed satellite

that's falling out of orbit?

No, sir. It appears to be a nearly perfect sphere.

No known configuration matches this.

Russia and China deny involvement.

They're watching it, too.

What's the trajectory?

NASA and our military placed it directly

towards the East Coast, sir, near New York City.

All right. All right, let's put the National Guard on standby.

We'll issue a shelter in place from Manhattan

that surrounds an area.

-That should do it. -Will do, sir.

I'll also divert AWAC to intercept the monitor.

No, Ashe. I want a lot of eyeballs on this.

President McCoy saves the world.

Copy, sir.

Hello, chief?

Yes, put all carrier strike groups on alert.

Everybody's sufficiently scienced out.

Can we go have fun now?

Wait till you hear what we found.

Is it more important than camping?

Hey, I'm really sorry, honey,

but we gotta follow up on something we found.

I found it.

Yes, champ. You found.

Damn it.

Shouldn't gotten rid of the 250.

No way. EV all the way.

You made the right choice, Dad.

What's wrong with that?

What am I doing wrong?

Whoa. We're zapped and we have no idea how to fix it.

-Right, Dad? -Hey, hey, we can fix this.

See?

Told you.

All right.

Seat belts.

Mr. President.

It's half the size of the capital rotunda.

The estimate is 40 feet in diameter.

And it's just sitting there?

Yeah.

Well, sir, this is our science advisor,

Dr. Grace Whitney.

Thank you, Secretary.

There's no detectable activity in the UAP

since its arrival. It's an anomaly.

Why is it an anomaly?

Mr. President, it's a perfect sphere.

That's not natural, except in geodes

and those would shatter like glass on impact.

Couple with the fact that no agency,

military intelligence, or the scientific community

believes this is of terrestrial origin.

Okay, we know what it isn't. But what is it?

No, we can't ignore the possibility

of an extraterrestrial hostile threat.

We need to swiftly assess the situation, sir.

Agreed.

We get an investigative team on the ground right away.

Doctor, the scientist who originally spotted the anomaly,

do you have any background on him?

Yes, sir.

Dr. Jeff Morrow, widower, two kids,

he is an astrophysicist with a PhD from Caltech,

specializing in astrobiology.

He was at that space policy institute just a few months ago.

He discovered that fast radio anomaly,

the one that he nicknamed the Rubicon signal.

You met him last year.

Yes, and you dismissed his theory then.

He thought it was an attempt at communication.

First contact.

That's why he named it what he did.

Our entire universe would change if this was extraterrestrial.

And no scientific community ever confirmed that.

It was radio signals emitted by hydrogen.

Unusual, yes, but not completely unheard of.

In fact, most likely some are saying

that it would be a neutron star in its final death throws.

Or a precursor of a giant metal ball falling from the sky.

He obviously knows his stuff. He's not afraid to speak up.

And if we had listened to him then,

we'd be in a better position now.

I want him on the team.

Yes, sir.

Sir, we must consider the potential dangers here.

I recommend full mobilization.

Ashe, I understand your concern,

but we need more answers before we start pointing guns at it.

No answer.

I told him it was urgent and to call me back.

We don't have time for this. Have them send a chopper.

Sir, there's got to be people available

with similar or better qualifications.

Maybe, but clearly, Morrow has a clarity that they don't have.

And we need that now.

Grace, I want you to coordinate the military and NASA.

Ashe, you have to make sure that our troops

are prepared for any scenario.

Yes, sir.

Really, Adam? A whole box of beef jerky?

When the aliens attack, you'll be thanking me.

Dad, it's not really aliens, right?

Why don't you kids go inside and make some lunch, okay?

I'll finish up here.

Dad, it's only 9:30.

And I know when you're dodging a question.

Going in the house.

Dad, what's going on?

I don't know. You stay here.

Dr. Morrow?

Yes, I'm Dr. Morrow.