Contact Page #5

In the b.g. we can see the majestic twin dishes tilted up

toward the hard blue sky. An awkward moment, which Ellie

fills by extending her hand.

ELLIE:

Ellie. Arroway.

PETER:

Peter Valerian.

ELLIE:

Sounds like a Russian general.

PETER:

Yavol.

DRUMLIN:

(calling back)

You're out of shape, Valerian.

What's the matter, eat too many

tacos down there in Puerto Rico?

He pronounces it "tackos" in his distinctive Montana

twang.

ELLIE:

I read your paper on ETI's. It's

brilliant.

PETER:

(embarrassed but

pleased)

Keep it down, okay? Drumlin thinks

I'm enough of a flake as it is.

(then)

Look -- everyone here has their

little fetishes. Caven goes to

topless bars, Vernon's got his

carnivorous plants... mine just

happens to be extraterrestrial

intelligence.

ELLIE:

What a coincidence. It happens to

be my fetish too.

A brief but electric moment between them. They both feel

it. Drumlin calls back from the head of the group:

DRUMLIN:

You two coming along or you just

gonna do it right here in the sand?

The other students laugh good-naturedly. Ellie and Peter,

rather than being embarrassed, seem to be considering the

idea.

EXT. MOJAVE CLIFFS - LATE AFTERNOON

A dusky orange sun hangs over the mountains, the Goldstone

telescopes visible in the distance. Ellie and Peter walk

along a windswept cliff overlooking a vast desert lake.

ELLIE:

... I'm just so sick of feeling

defensive about the things I care

about! Or being lumped in with the

lunatic fringe by people like

Drumlin, when if they'd just put

aside their preconceptions for two

seconds and look at the facts...

PETER:

They can't. I think it's against

human nature to admit to that level

of... insignificance; to not see

yourself as basically the center of

the universe.

ELLIE:

It's like the pre-Copernicans who

swore the sun revolved around the

Earth, or the Victorians at the end

of the last century who concluded

that all major discoveries had now

been made. I mean... try to imagine

civilization a thousand years ahead

of us -- then imagine trying to

explain... I dunno, a microwave oven

-- to someone even a hundred years

ago -- I mean the basic concepts

didn't exist...

PETER:

(murmurs)

'Any sufficiently advanced

technology...'

ELLIE:

(finishing it with

him)

'... is indistinguishable from

magic.'

A moment... and then Peter takes her hand like it's the

most natural thing in the world.

PETER:

I dunno. I know I should be

objective, ice-cold hard-assed

scientific about it, but just on an

intuitive level -- what's the point

of a universe so vast if we're the

only ones it it? It'd just be such

a... waste of space.

Ellie stops, looks at him -- and then slowly, carefully

leans in and kisses him. A pleasantly awkward beat.

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