STAR SEED
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
Copyright 1998 by Rob Perry and NorthStarr Productions
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