Copyright 1998 by Rob Perry and NorthStarr Productions
All Rights Reserved
STAR SEED
by
Rob Perry
PROLOGUE
Studies point to space as origin of life's seeds. A new
theory cast more light on how life originated on Earth,
painting a picture in which space dust provided the
seeds, and a warm, volcanic environment supplied the
incubator. Scientists at the Anglo-Australian
Observatory in New South Wales, Australia, said
they had found more evidence that amino acids
some of the basic building blocks of life came from
space.
It boils down to CHIRALITY, the property of a molecule
to exist in mirror-image versions known as left-handed
and right handed forms. The amino acids found in nearly
all living organisms only exist in a left-handed form. In
1969, a Meteor known as the MURCHISON Meteor fell
to Earth, and recent analysis found it contains organic
material full of left-handed amino acids. Some people
said this provides evidence that amino acids from space
may have seeded life on Earth.
Scientist's know that when a substance containing equal
amounts of right and left handed molecules is exposed
to light that has been circularly polarized, most of the
molecules will become either left handed or right handed.
They looked into space and found lots of circularly
polarized infrared light in the constellation of Orion
specifically in a star forming region known as OMC-1.
Star forming regions contain many organic molecules.
Scientists believe that ultraviolet light could have had
the same effect on particles in space, producing tons
of left handed amino acids, which could then be carried
to Earth on asteroids or Meteors.
The idea is you start with an RNA world, and you
somehow get to a world that has amino acids and
proteins. You somehow get a genetic code. RNA
is used by the cell to read the genetic code from
DNA and translate it into protein. But many
scientists think that RNA, made from basic
molecules known as nucleotides, might have
existed long before proteins. Parts of RNA
can, on their own, form a peptide bond, a
first step to building life.
CNN/AP
CHAPTER ONE
EXT. GREENLAND DAY
Mineral Exploration Limited (MEL), a company in Austin Texas
has received an urgent request from NASA to find a meteor in
Greenland. The company dispatched their team of four experts
in their executive aircraft, a Gulfstream II. They fly over northern
Canada, Baffin Bay ,Goose Bay, Labrador then Thule. Ice, snow,
and bleak dirty gray land and seascape is all that's visible.
They are not that far north out of Goose Bay when all vegetation
vanishes, to be replaced by gray.
CUT TO:
EXT. THULE GREENLAND
EXT. THULE AFB TARMAC
They land at Thule Air Force Base, 800 miles from the North Pole.
A magnetic compass points nearly due west, into northern Canada,
at the magnetic pole. The Base built in the lowlands below the ice
cap on Baffin Bay at the mouth of WOLSTENHOLM FJORD.
Formerly a Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomber installation,
Thule was being used as an Air Defense Command (ADC)
tactical fighter base. The base is also a stopover for aircraft
who re-supply the far north weather station, ALERT, in northern
Canada. DUNDAS VILLAGE, an Eskimo and Danish village
is just north of the base and the airfield is south of the main
base complex.
EXT. THULE GREENLAND BASE COMPLEX
Greenland is a possession of Denmark and if one were to describe
Thule in a single word, it would be bleak. What vegetation exists
is small and low to the ground. Most of the snow which fell on
the base was not a result of local precipitation, but rather was
blown off the ice cap which had hundreds of thousands of
square miles of year-round snow.
EXT. BALLISTIC MISSILE EARLY WARNING SYSTEM
Situated on a high bluff, several hundred feet above and overlooking
the head of WOLSTENHOLM FJORD and about three miles from
the ice cap, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS)
commanded a magnificent view of the fjord!
Meteors are bits of the solar system that have fallen to the Earth
and most come from asteroids, and some believed to have come
from comets. A large number of meteors are of Martian origin,
and one of the Martian meteors, known as ALH84001, is believed
to show evidence of early life on Mars. Meteors believed to have
originated on Mars are called ACHONDRITES.
CUT TO:
EXT. WASHINGTON DC DAY
EXT. NASA MAIN CONFERENCE HALL
It's an overcast day in WASHINGTON DC and the NASA main
lecture building is full of Scientists and dignitaries from all over
the world. Today is the NASA QUARTERLY REVIEW and DAN
GRODIN the NASA Director is giving a briefing on Mars and a
Martian Meteor. GRODIN is in his early fifties, tall with snowy
white short hair and speaks with a New England regional accent.
GRODIN starts the review. His aide projects the first NASA chart.
He directs a red dot using a small laser pointer.
GRODIN
Thank you all for coming. The Big Bang theory says that all matter
in the Universe was, at one time, concentrated in a giant mass, a
black hole that blew apart over 20 billion years ago and is still
expanding. About 5 billion years ago, some of the matter condensed
until forces were so strong that thermonuclear reactions began,
and this was the origin of our sun. A disk shaped cloud of matter
still orbiting the sun condensed into the planets. Thus, about 4.6
billion years ago, the planets coalesced, and it is thought that
Earth began as a cold world. Later the planet heated up enough
to melt and sort into layers by density, core, mantle and crust.
GRODIN adjusts the microphone and takes a small drink of water.
GRODIN (Cont.)
The first atmosphere was made largely of water vapor and as the
surface of Earth cooled again, torrential rains of this mixture
formed the first seas, the primordial soup.
The next chart is seen on the large screen.
GRODIN (Cont.)
Lightening, ultraviolet radiation, volcanic action all were more
intense than they are now. The first step is thought to have
been the ambionic synthesis of organic monomers in other
words, putting inorganic chemicals like methane, carbon
dioxide, and ammonia together to form simple organic
chemicals like amino acids, simple sugars, fatty acids, and
nucleic acids.
A tall man in his early thirties stands up identifies himself and
asks a question.
LEWIS
Sir, I'm Dewy Lewis from CNN and frankly isn't this just a theory,
there's no real proof that this was the way we started.
GRODIN Clearing his throat, and motioning to the aide to go
to the next slide.
GRODIN (Cont.)
Yes, the closest thing we have to proving out this portion of the
hypothesis was later tested by an experiment done by a scientist
using a sterile, enclosed system consisting of a flask over a heat
source, a spark chamber, and various other tubing. Heat was
applied under the flask to simulate volcanic action, and this was
enough to turn a significant portion of the water into steam.
LEWIS continues with his questioning.
LEWIS
Sir, are you convinced this was an experiment to convince
everyone of how our planet started?
GRODIN (Cont.)
A spark chamber periodically discharged electricity into the
gasses to simulate lightening. This experiment started out
with transparent water and transparent gasses. However,
after only one week, the scientist had a brown, murky soup.
Subsequent chemical analysis showed the presence of a
number of amino acids and other organic compounds.
Lewis continues with his line of questioning.
LEWIS
That was the German experiment which has been challenged for
many years, isn't that correct?
GRODIN
Yes, but from this experiment, scientists generalize that if this
can happen in a lab, it could have happened in a similar way
on early Earth.
LEWIS
Sir, don't you think that's really stretching it?
Grodin attempts to establish a good foothold on his presentation.
GRODIN
The next step in going from non-living to living is thought
to have been the ABIOTIC synthesis of organic polymers.
LEWIS
So what you are saying is that if the proteins involved happen
to be enzymes, these globules can even carry on metabolic
activity, although they have no means to replicate themselves.
GRODIN
Yes, it is thought, then, that about 4.1 to 3.5 billion years ago,
the first prokaryotes organisms without a true nucleus like
bacteria came into existence.
LEWIS
What proof does NASA have?
GRODIN
We have found space dust and a meteor that we believe came
from Mars which has the ingredients to create life with a Mars
generic identification.
Lewis comes back with his hard line of questioning.
LEWIS
Sir, are you saying that the Earth's Generic beginning is from
the planet Mars?
GRODIN
Yes I am!
The entire audience is stunned and small discussions start
among the reporters, politicians and scientists.
LEWIS
Sir do you have a date when this alleged
seeding of Earth from Mars took place?
GRODIN
It's difficult to pinpoint a date for this because bacteria doesn't
have skeletons to leave behind. The first fossils of prokaryotes
seem to be this age.
LEWIS
This age that you say is thought to be 4.1 to 3.5 billion years ago?
GRODIN
Once the first living organisms, the first prokaryotes came into
existence, then the Theory of Evolution takes over to provide
an explanation for how, not why these primitive cells diversified
into the five kingdoms of life which we recognize today.
A young lady stands up and gets GRODINS attention. He points
to her, and says,
GRODIN
Yes my dear you have a question
The young lady is in her late twenties, tall well dressed and very
attractive, talking with a New England accent,
SILK
Sir, I'm Jane Silk the Science Editor for the Washington Post.
So what you're saying is Life began in Mars as microscopic
spores then later landed on earth to act as seeds. Similar to
amino acids found in Meteors?
GRODIN
Yes, of course there also existed Amino Acids in Meteors
and interstellar clouds then as now.
SILK
Ok, man's ancestors - 3-4 million years ago. If this report is
valid then isn't it possible that maybe the seeds had just a
pit stop at Mars, but actually came from some other planet
in the Solar System, thus exogenous delivery of amino acids
to the Earth?
GRODIN
Ms Silk, we've used ALPHA-AMINOISOBUTYRIC
ACID (AIB) as an indicator of EXOGENOUSLY
derived ORGANICS. This amino acid was selected
because it is abundant in many CARBONACEOUS
CHONDRITES, is readily synthesized in PREBIOTIC
simulation experiments, but is a rare component of
BIOGENIC material.
SILK
So what you are saying that after careful examination of the
BIOGENITIC material it could only have come from Mars?
GRODIN
Yes, that's correct my dear. We have analyzed polar ices, seawater,
Antarctic micro Meteors, lunar soils and a Martian Meteor for the
presence of AIB.
SILK
Any other clues or evidence?
GRODIN
So far, AIB has been detected in a 4400 year old ice sample from
Greenland and in a sample of about 30 micro Meteors collected
from the Antarctic ice sheet. We estimate from these results
that the flux of AIB to the Earth today from micro Meteors is
about 99% Mars, which is in good agreement with the predicted
exogenous AIB flux on the planet Earth.
SILK
Sir, is it possible that humans existed on Mars millions of years
ago and their seed found it's way here to Earth?
GRODIN
Our studies show that humans or a species similar to earth humans
existed on Mars and they had an atmosphere like ours.
SILK
Sir, do we know what happened to them?
GRODIN
We believe Mars was struck by a giant asteroid about three million
years ago and within several years life ended there. As we speak,
a select team of International Scientists are searching for a very
large meteor in Greenland and when we find it and we will find it,
it will gives us answers to more of our mysteries of creation.
LEWIS
(Standing)
Sir you said your studies show that humans or a species similar
to earth humans existed on Mars and that they had an
atmosphere like ours, and how did NASA arrive at this
assumption?
GRODIN
The only life currently known to exist in our universe is on the
planet Earth. Therefore, the Exobiology research program
focuses on these conditions, substances and chemical reactions
of primitive Earth and its extraterrestrial environment, beginning
about 4.6 billion years ago.
A tall thin man in his late twenties, a Scientist on Grodins staff
adds a support pillar,
LUBBOCK
I'm Geoff Lubbock ,NASA deep space Team. Bio-markers are the
oldest geological record Aggregates of APATITE with inclusions
of ISOTOPICALLY light carbon appear to be fossilized remnants
of MICROBIAL MINERALIZATION, and are found in aqueous
sediments of all ages.
GRODIN
We're interested in finding out how far back in time these
bio-markers extend, thereby expanding the time span for life
on Earth and offering possibilities for similar studies on
meteoritic materials identified as being from Mars, and on
any future samples returned from the Martian surface.
LUBBOCK
Currently, our findings of these indicators extend into the
oldest sedimentary rock formations known on Earth, with
ages in excess of 3.87 billion years. We are now trying to
push this limit further back in time the present occurrences
are sufficiently old to place some constraints on the
geophysical and geo Chemical events associated with
the formation of the Earth.
An elderly lady from the Associated Press gets Grodins attention.
AUSTIN
Sir, I'm Sharon Austin from the Washington Bureau of AP and I
know it's difficult to discuss Science without Scientific Terms,
But I have a Masters in Biology and I'm barely keeping up with
you and your staff, will you please try to use layman's terms
if at all possible?
Grodin smiles and continues,
GRODIN
Of course my dear, now let's see where were we, oh yes, Life is
often portrayed as spontaneously arising from some sort of,
primordial soup. There it is quiet, tranquil, warm nutrients in a
primitive sea, a lightning strike in the distance is imparting the
energy of life soon life will be emerging to the shores.
LUBBOCK
To explain the origin of life by non-supernatural means we must
have a plausible explanation for each of these steps. Science
sometimes even considers the possibility of life dropping in
from outer space, called the theory of PANSPERMIA. Biological
evolution descent with modification from a common ancestor,
once life existed is a subset of the larger picture.
GRODIN
So if there are no other questions I would like to go on with the
next bit of business. You all probably have heard about the huge
explosion last week that was 12 billion light years from Earth,
that in one second released almost as much energy as all the
stars of the universe.
SILK
Will the shock wave hit Earth?
GRODIN
The explosion was too far away to affect the Earth or the sun,
but astronomers say they are astounded by the might of the
blast and baffled about what might have caused it. The energy
released by this burst in its first few seconds staggers the
imagination. For about one or two seconds, this burst was as
luminous as all the rest of the entire Universe. In a region about
ten thousand miles across, the burst created conditions like
those in the early universe, about one millisecond after the
Big Bang.
SILK
I was astounded when I first heard about this, at first I could
hardly believe it, but now I'm convinced it's true, and it makes
the Universe bigger and more exciting than I ever thought
before. I understand the gamma ray explosion came from a
faint galaxy known as GRB 971214.
Lewis raises his hand,
LEWIS
Sir there are some prominent scientists in the country that
have their own opinions about the unexplained explosion
in GRB 971214."
Grodin takes a long drink of water and says,
GRODIN
And what is that Mr. Lewis?
Lewis coughs and replies,
LEWIS
They think the explosion is a failure of the Universe to keep
itself together and when the force of the space SHOCK wave
hits our solar system it's power is going to tumble all of our
planets, is any of this information being entertained by
NASA?
Grodin replies,
GRODIN
Gamma ray bursts are common, occurring once or twice a day,
but the rays are invisible and can be detected only by
satellites orbiting above the Earth's atmosphere.
LUBBOCK
Scientists detected this gamma ray burst with the BEPPOSAX
ORBITING OBSERVATORY and quickly alerted scientists at
Columbia University. They relayed the information to
astronomers operating telescopes at KITT PEAK near Tucson,
Arizona, who were able to photograph the burst.
GRODIN
Yes, and later, the Hubble Space Telescope and others photographed
the explosion's afterglow. They analyzed the energy and light
released from the object and concluded it was a very faint and distant
galaxy about 12 billion light years away.
Jane Silk stands up to be recognized.
SILK
So what you are saying sir, is the Earth is no danger of any Space
Shock Wave from this event? And if we are in danger, how long
will it take for the space wave to hit us?
GRODIN
We speculate that such an explosion may occur when a black hole
swallows a neutron star. A black hole is a collapsed object that is
so dense that its gravity permits not even light to escape, a neutron
star is a massive collapsed star.
LUBBOCK
Astronomers believe the immense explosion sent matter, such as
neutrons and electrons, streaking outward at near the speed of
light. About a day later, the matter smashed into gas and dust
particles, and the violence and heat of the collisions created
gamma rays, X-rays, and then visible light.
GRODIN
Most of the theoretical models proposed to explain these bursts
cannot explain how this much energy might have come from a
rotating black hole.
LUBBOCK
On the other hand, this is such an extreme phenomenon that it's
possible that we are dealing with something completely
unanticipated and even more exotic and unknown.
Jane Silk continues,
SILK
So what you are saying is that NASA has no idea if we're
going to feel the results of this mystery explosion?
Grodin concedes,
GRODIN
Yes I'm afraid that's the case in this anomaly, we just don't
have enough data to even hazard a guess! When we have
more data and can come up to any sort of a educated
guess I will call a press conference. If there are no other
questions on the explosion in space I will go on with the
next bit of business. Mr. Lubbock has a report on our
elusive Meteor in Greenland.
LUBBOCK
We've received the first pictures of dust from the meteor
that landed in Greenland. They are Brown particles,
originally fine crystalline material. Sharp fragmentation
edges probably formed by an explosive event, surface
smoothed by subsequent melting. The grains and
fragments were found from snow samples taken over
an area from the fall region representing more than
100 square miles of ice surface.
GRODIN
The hope is that the melting of the snow will have laid bare
the so-called blue ice, facilitating the search for bigger
fragments. This search will be quite demanding for the
Exploration Team, as the thawing is revealing exactly how
many crevasses are in the search area. In principle, they
all have to be searched, making it very necessary to
descend with rope and ice axes into hundreds of crevasses.
LUBBOCK
Analysis of the dust filtered from snow samples now show
microscopic red and blue particles stemming from the meteor.
There's no information about particular patterns or
concentrations in the samples taken during the present
phase of the search. However, samples taken during the
preparatory expedition in July show a high concentration
of particles further to the north.
GRODIN
It has therefore been decided to move the base camp to
CHALK HILL on the northern edge of the assessed
impact zone, which is just as well, since there has been
a storm brewing for the last two days. With gusts of
66 knots, the refraction causes the ice to melt rapidly
creating multiple currents of melting water growing
by the hour.
LUBBOCK
A search party of four made a six-hour search today,
but could only make it three miles out, being constantly
harassed by sludge swamps and crevasses.
GRODIN
We were told as the 2nd day on the ice draws to an end,
a gale is building up from the southeast.
LUBBOCK
Computer E-mails have come in via the INMARSAT-PHONES
from scientists in Europe, confirming to some degree the
assessment that the bigger fragments of the meteor must
have fallen at a more westerly position. But there's still
the considerable task of finishing the collecting of snow
samples to be sifted for Meteor dust, just in case no bigger
fragments are found.
GRODIN
Already the analysis of dust collected in late July has
produced evidence that the meteor did indeed fall
somewhere around there, but the dust particles are
oo small to tell anything about the crystal structure
or the origin of the meteor.
LUBBOCK
New analysis of samples show a very high concentration
of tiny, drop shaped glass particles, probably molten
remnants of the Meteor.
LEWIS
So maybe the expedition is looking in the wrong place,
unless they only want to find meteor dust.
Grodin replies,
GRODIN
As search parties roam the 50 square mile impact zone,
scientists back at base camp are examining snow
samples for microscopic particles, which might give
more exact clues as to the location of bigger fragments.
LUBBOCK
The work of the search parties is harassed by constant
drizzle, making prolonged stays in the field impossible.
GRODIN
The surface of the glacier is like fresh snow, and you
only have to dig down a few inches before it becomes
cool, clear water running down towards the west where
it will converge into wild currents reaching for the
Davis Strait.
Grodin sighs,
GRODIN
There is no trace of the violent event that happened
on that cold winter's night over six months ago, as
the Meteor came thundering down through the
heavens. But the remnants of the Meteor could be
hiding anywhere.
LUBBOCK
Astronomer's calculated that the interplanetary intruder had
landed within an 10 mile by 10 mile area near Frederick Island,
on the inland ice just 10 to 15 miles from the edge. American
satellite images confirmed this data.
GRODIN
But later searches closer to home came up empty-handed.
In January, scientists of the Danish Center for Remote
Sensing (DCRS) scanned the ice by plane using special
radar, called EMISAR. It was a careful survey, yet they
found nothing, probably because the radar could not
detect objects smaller than 30 to 50 meters in diameter-
which the impact site may well be.
LUBBOCK
Based on the video and on eyewitness accounts, it's clear
that the Greenland meteor entered the atmosphere at a
velocity around 10,000 miles per hour and that it must
have weighed at least several tons. So too, they know that
the meteor exploded some 15 to 20 feet above the ground,
pelting the ice with at least 20 cosmic rocks. Many of
these rocks were large enough--and fell fast enough
that witnesses claimed to have tracked their glowing
paths all the way down to the horizon.
GRODIN
To add to the problems our Greenland Meteor Exploration
Team is having with the weather they now have another
event to compound their problems. An eruption started
beneath the VATNA GLACIER in Central Greenland late
last night. The eruption was preceded by an unusual
sequence of earthquakes, beginning on with a magnitude 7.4
event at the northern rim of the BARO CALDERA.
Similar earthquakes have occurred beneath the BARO
VOLCANO many times during the last 50 years. None
of the previous large earthquakes had significant
aftershocks, or were followed by magmatic activity
such as this last earthquake.
LUBBOCK
Numerous earthquakes, including 3 with magnitude over 6,
were recorded in two hours following the M 7.4 earthquake
by the two analog seismic stations situated in VONARSKARO,
just northwest of BARO, and GRIMSFJALL, at the southern
rim of the GRIMSVOTN CALDERA. Shortly after 1300 hours
Science Institute seismologists informed the Civil Defense
authorities as well as the scientific community about this
unusual seismic activity and the possibility of impending
eruptive activity.
GRODIN
The cauldron formation indicated that the glacier was being
melted by an eruption on a 4 mile long fissure beneath the
glacier, which is 400-600 feet thick in this location. The
fissure was located within the water divide of the GRIMSVOTN
central volcano at approximately 64 DEG 30 min N and 17
DEG 22 min W so the melt water from the eruption site
drained into the GRIMSVOTN CALDERA, raising the ice
shelf on the GRIMSVOTN CALDERA. The cauldrons
widened and deepened during the day, and it is estimated
that 10,000 acre feet of water were added to GRIMSVOTN
LAKE in less than 24 hours.
LUBBOCK
This morning one of the active craters had melted its way
through the glacier and a massive steam column rose
from the cauldron up to an elevation of 30,000 feet.
GRODIN
The eruption is entirely sub-glacial. The erupting fissure
is 4-5 mile long NNE. Two main ice cauldrons have
formed above the fissure.
LUBBOCK
The eruption is taking place on a 9 mile long fissure trending
North, North West to South, South West and volcanic
products pile up above the fissure forming a mountain ridge
which in places is expected to be 200 yards high. About
half of the area of GRIMSVOTN has been covered by a
thin layer of ash.
GRODIN
Greenland is a hot spot, but contains in addition an actively
spreading ridge system, in which crust is being formed at
the rate of 2 feet per year. Volcanism in Greenland is
concentrated on central volcanoes and their associated
fissure swarms. Each central volcano has episodes of
unrest separated by longer periods of relative quiescence.
The general style of magma eruption during unrest
episodes is characterized by the accumulation of magma
into small crusted magma chambers, followed by episodic
lateral migration of this magma away from the magma
chamber into dikes along the fissure swarm.
LUBBOCK
The BARBO and GRIMSVOTN volcanoes are located in the
central area of the Greenland hot spot, right above the
center of the causative mantle plume. They are among the
largest and most productive volcano's in Greenland. The
seismic activity at the beginning of the present activity
strongly suggest that the eruption is triggered and most
likely fed by an intrusion from a magma chamber
underneath the BARBO volcano. The melt-water from
the eruption flows into the Caldera lake of the neighboring
volcano GRIMSVOTN, which is filling to the level where
the ice dam will be lifted.
GRODIN
Unless you have additional questions to the material I've
presented this ends this press conference.
LEWIS
Sir we were just told by our news agency that a new Mars
Meteor was just found in the Sahara Desert
Grodin shuffles through his papers and finds what he's
looking for.
GRODIN
A meteor discovered in the Sahara Desert was positively
identified Monday as originating from Mars. Out of
METEORS found worldwide, the 4.8-pound rock is
proven to be from the red planet. Scientists hope this
latest discovery, will tell us more about environmental
conditions on Mars and aid in the search for evidence
of life on the planet. And this particular meteor is
exciting because it seems to be from a different
formation and possibly a different age than the others.
LUBBOCK
The meteor's age is not yet known. But Scientists said it left Mars
at least a million years ago, when a comet or asteroid smashed into
the planet's surface. After drifting through space, the meteor
eventually crashed onto Earth, where it probably lay undiscovered
in the desert for about 40,000 years. Other Martian meteorites
have been found to be 4.5 billion years old.
GRODIN
The new Mars meteor weighs about 125 pounds, and has been
tentatively classified as a SHERGOTITE, the most common type
of Mars meteors. This is all I have for now and if we get late
breaking news of any importance I will call a news conference,
thank you all for coming.
CUT TO:
EXT. THULE GREENLAND
EXT. METEOR SEARCH SITE
THE TEAM
The Mineral Exploration Limited (MEL) team is out of the
Canadian Office, Montreal, Quebec.
WES JORDAN, President of MEL Since 1980, has concentrated
all of his efforts in the natural resource field covering oil and
gas and mineral exploration companies. Jan Perry, who has
over 25 years of world wide mineral exploration experience.
His mining activities in Canada and other parts of the world are
well recognized from his first engagement as general manager
of the Sullivan Mine in Val d'Or, Quebec, which, due to his
knowledge and ability, became one of the largest gold producers
of the camp during its mine life. CLAUDE GAUTHIER, Geologist,
began his career in 1985 working in Latin and North America in
all facets of the mining industry for such companies as
GULF SULFUR where he was responsible for its Mexican sulfur
operations. JOSEPH SIMMS began his career with HOLLINGER
GOLD MINES in 1985. He was General Manager of the Oman
Mining Company L.L.C., Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. MARCEL
VALLÉE, Geologist and Engineer, began his career in 1986 with
the Iron Ore Company of Canada as a geologist. He has been
directly involved in the discovery and production of 4 mines in
Quebec. He first worked on the Quebec projects in 1985 and
joined the team as senior program manager in 1994.
In Greenland the Exploration team is deep into a Crevasse and
one of the team members lets out a yelp.
SIMMS
Guys look at this!
The other team members crowd around him and imbedded in
the ice is an outline of what looks like a large humanoid.
PERRY
Shit do you think the meteor was really a space ship and
this is the passenger?
Upon closer examination it turns out to be a large seal that fell down
a crevasse and froze solid.
CUT TO:
EXT. THULE GREENLAND MORNING
EXT. METEOR SEARCH SITE
The next morning special arctic clothing and equipment is
distributed to the staff, and they are trained on how to
put up the WEBER MALAKHOV tents. The temperature
ranges from -10° to -20°C. The entire trip is made in 24
hour sunlight. The expedition will have a portable radio,
portable e-mail device and emergency satellite locator
beacon. The team will board an AN-74, a "STOL" jet
specially designed for work in the Arctic and will take
them to the new impact zone. New trajectory calculations
move the impact zone 15 miles north Following analysis
of data from a U.S. Department of Defense satellite. The
direction of the trajectory of the meteor has been
changed from 280 DEG. to 270 DEG. Thus, the search
area has been moved to the north of the DALAGER
NUNATAK. An extensive helicopter search along a
grid pattern has been performed over the highly crevasse
sector of the glacier South of KANGILLA NUNATAK.
The entire trip is made in 24 hour sunlight. The team leader
is geologist Claude Gauthier who has flown several
sorties in a specially equipped helicopter with sensitive
instruments calibrated to sense the mineral makeup of
the Meteor. Doug Perry is the expert on a mineral
called "shocked quartz," which only forms in the heat
and pressure of an meteor impact or a nuclear bomb
blast According to Perry, the asteroid that made
such a huge dent, was traveling at a speed e
stimated at 12 miles per second. Jan Perry asks Claude
Gauthier a question.
PERRY
Claude, your familiar with this terrain, what are
we looking at?
GAUTHIER
Normal obstacles include pressure ridges up to
1500 feet high, areas of broken ice and cracks,
leads of open water from a few inches to
several feet wide. The temperature ranges
from -10° to -20°C.
The Meteor Exploration team has settled down in their
large PRE-FAB arctic hut flown in from Thule. It's forty
by thirty feet and it's super insulated. The crew has
started a fire in the butane stove and everyone is
huddled around trying to get as much of the warmth
as possible. The temperature outside has dropped
to 30 degrees below zero.
PERRY
Claude do you think we will ever see a strike by an
asteroid large enough to end all life on Earth?
GAUTHIER
Earth is likely to take a hit from an object that large only
once every 10 million years or so. But the chance of
a strike from a smaller asteroid is 2,000 or 3,000 times
more likely, or once every few thousand years. The
Los Alamos model shows that an asteroid a mere
1,300 feet in diameter would still cause enormous
devastation, raking the coasts with tsunami more
than 300 feet high.
PERRY
Claude, don't asteroids smaller than about 600 feet across
burn away and lose most of their energy in the atmosphere?
GAUTHIER
Yes, but even these smaller strikes are far from innocuous.
It was an object of this type that exploded in the air near
the Tunguska River in central Siberia in 1908. The
Tunguska shock wave flattened 800 square miles
of forest, the force is estimated to have been 1,000
times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. About once
in every 300,000 years a comet strikes Earth.
PERRY
Don't most scientists now accept the theory that an
asteroid about 5 miles in diameter crashed into
Earth 65 million years ago, killing off more than
half the species of life, including the dinosaurs.
GAUTHIER
Yes, this crater, called CHICXULUB and located in
the YUCATÁN PENINSULA, may be the largest
impact basin to form on Earth in the past billion
years.
SIMMS
Claude, how big is the ice cape here?
GAUTHIER
The Greenland ice-cap has an area of 800,000 square miles
and a thickness of up to 2 miles and is the second largest
in the world, only Antarctica is bigger. It stretches 1,100
miles from north to south and up to 1,000 miles from east
to west. The ice cap was formed over a period of many
hundreds of thousands of years some of the bottom most
layers have been dated to have been formed around
2 million years ago.
VALLÉE
I heard almost 10% of the world's fresh water is contained
in the ice-cap, and if it were to melt, sea levels world wide
would rise by about 20 feet. I wonder if there is really life
on Mars?
JORDAN
Last night on TV NASA unveiled a photograph that proves
for the first time that there was once a flowing river across
the planet. NASA scientists say the photograph does not
confirm when the river existed. But they estimate that it was
about 1 billion years ago. Also they revealed evidence of
horizontal layers on the surface of Mars which could prove
Mars has something similar to the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
GAUTHIER
Ok, guys suit up and let's hit the ice!
The team is seen walking out on the ice and they all share
a safety rope to protect themselves from falling into a
hidden crevasse. The search team trudge on, knee deep
in sludge to cover their assigned quadrants, but progress
is slow, a maximum of one half mile per hour, as they
constantly have to probe the wet snow for hidden
crevasses. An extensive helicopter search along a grid
pattern has been performed over the highly crevasse
sector of the glacier South of KANGILLA NUNATAK.
After two days of gale-force winds and rain, a Gulfstream
G3 jet from the Royal Danish Air Force Ice Patrol makes
a low pass over the teams camp, dropping supplies.
There's no trace of the violent event that happened on
that cold winter's night over six months ago, as the meteor
came thundering down through the heavens. The remnants
of the meteor could be hiding anywhere. The team returns
to the hut and settles in for the long stormy night. They
are all grouped around a TV fed by satellite transmission
out of Canada. A newscaster is reporting late news.
NEWSCASTER
Scientists say the Milky Way's gravitational pull is ripping
apart two smaller neighbor galaxies, By tugging on the
nearest edges of the MAGELLANIC clouds, letting loose
a vast stream of hydrogen gas. The MAGELLANIC clouds
are small galaxies less than one-tenth the size of the Milky
Way, which contains Earth. The scientists used a new
multi-beam instrument of a Radio Telescope that usually
searches for faint hidden galaxies that cannot be found any
other way. Some scientists believe the hydrogen gas being
stripped out of the MAGELLANIC clouds as they travel
through the outskirts of the Milky Way, confirms the other
theory, that material is being stripped from the near edges
of the clouds by the Milky Way's gravitational force.
Scientists used radio telescopes to measure the motion of
the object at the center of the galaxy. They found that it
stood relatively still compared to the rest of the galaxy
which is consistent with a black hole. Another team of
scientists found thousands of stars exist in the area around
the black hole, zipping around in tight circles, suggesting
that the black hole grows more and more massive by sucking
in stars over the eons and eventually swallowing them.
We now switch to the WASHINGTON to give you the
latest on the Presidents problems… Gauthier points the
remote at the TV and turns it off.
GAUTHIER
Men, I've just received a note from one of the Greenland guides
and he says they've found a deep cave with items we may be
interested in.
CUT TO:
EXT. THULE GREENLAND MORNING
EXT. METEOR SEARCH SITE LARGE CREVASSE
The discovery team is seen descending into a very deep crevasse
where a large deep cave has opened up. They enter the cave
and are seen disappearing into the mouth. As they enter the
deeper part of the ice and rock cave the temperature keeps
dropping where all seven of the search party have a heavy
visible breath. The guide stops and points to a large object
resembling a nuclear bomb. He brushes off the light ice on
the metallic cover exposing foreign writing.
GAUTHIER
(Pointing to writing)
Jan, what do you make of this writing
you're the expert in foreign languages!
PERRY
(Touching the raised letters)
Claude, I've never seen anything
like this before in my life. The closest is
a very rare dialect of SUMARIAN!
JORDAN
(Touching the object)
It looks more like a time capsule!
SIMMS
I think it looks like a bomb
of some kind.
GAUTHIER
Ok! let's get a gurney set up and
let's get it out of here before
the next storm hits or the crevasse collapses.
CUT TO:
EXT. DEEP CREVASSE
EXT. LARGE HELICOPTER HOVERING ABOVE
The discovery team is seen waiting patiently down in the crevasse
while a helicopter is dropping a cable to lift out the mystery object.
The hook finally is near the mystery object they have dragged out
of the cave. Gauthier inserts the hook in the harness they have jury
rigged and he waves to the chopper pilot to take it out. As the cargo
blocks out the sunshine the team picks up their belongings and
head for their camp.
CUT TO:
EXT. THULE GREENLAND MORNING
EXT. METEOR SEARCH SITE
INT. INTERIOR OF THE PRE-FAB ARCTIC HUT
The Meteor Exploration team has started a fire in the butane
stove and everyone is huddled around trying to get as
much of the warmth as possible.
GAUTHIER
(Holding a sheet of paper)
I just received the dating report on our find and until we can
get something better it looks like 2.5 million years old.
PERRY
What about origin?
GAUTHIER
Near as my lab guy can tell it's not of this earth!
SIMMS
Well Claude, did he find out what it is?
GAUTHIER
(Looking at report)
He was a afraid to x-ray it so he did an ultra sound and
he said it doesn't appear to be explosives. He thinks it's
a time capsule with a body inside.
JORDAN
My god, a time capsule and body over two and a
half million years old.
GAUTHIER
The Danish Government is going to pick it up tomorrow
and will run more extensive tests.
CUT TO:
TO BE CONTINUED
GO TO CHAPTER TWO
AntiOnline
Copyright 1998 by Rob Perry and NorthStarr Productions
All Rights Reserved