Back Flash

By
Daniel Cohen and Michael Hathaway

Based on an Idea by Daniel Cohen and Michael Hathaway

Creative Commons by-nc-sa [email protected]

[email protected]
EXT. DEEP SPACE - DARK AS USUAL
A small deep space ship, designed to hold less than 5
people, cruises through the frame, a number S210N is printed
on the side. The screen flashes with 2100 C.E: Sector 3

GROUND CONTROL (V.O)

ISS Prypiat this is Houston, we
have an emergency systems check for
you to do.

PRYPIAT
Go ahead Houston!
GROUND CONTROL (V.O)
Do a reactor shut down and then try
and do a powerup with the turbine’s
rotational energy until the APU
powers all the way up.
PRYPIAT
Ok, we have reactor shut down! No!
No! We don’t have enough power from
the turbine, doing emergency power
up.
Astronaut pushes the "Control Rods" switch up, labeled in
english and russian

GROUND CONTROL (V.O)

Roger that!
PRYPIAT
Ok, my shift is over. Franklin is
taking over for the next bit.

Astronaut pokes Franklin who wakes up and puts on

headphones.
PRYPIAT
OK Houston, Franklin Here!
GROUND CONTROL (V.O)
Franklin, how’s the reactor doing?
PRYPIAT
Dammit, I’m getting warning lights
across the board! What the heck did
Ivanov do? The core temperature is
shooting through the roof!
Klaxon sounds in the background, red lights flash.

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 2.

GROUND CONTROL (V.O)

Ok, we read that your main coolant
systems are down, we need you to
turn them on or you will have a
meltdown!

PRYPIAT
Roger that! Coolant on!
Franklin turns on "Main Coolant Pump" The temperature gauge
stops moving and then starts going up again

PRYPIAT
Damn! It didn’t work the
temperature is too much! S***, I
can’t start the auxiliary pump, the
core hasn’t come entirely up yet,
Houston, we’re going to do an
evacuation!
Ivanov and Franklin close the hatch leading to the cockpit
and Ivanov pushes the escape button, the cockpit detaches
from the ship and rockets away.

PRYPIAT
We have escape!
Shot out cockpit window as Prypiat explodes. Happy music
stops, as beeping starts.

IVANOV
Crap! This thing is imploding on
us. The damn reactor’s gonna black
hole in 2 minutes.

FRANKLIN
Punch it!
The space capsule lurches forward.

IVANOV
We’ll be able to escape the event
horizon, but we’ll be out of fuel.
FRANKLIN
Houston, we’ll need assistance,
Sector 3, about 10x7, beware of the
black hole.
CUT TO:
 3.

ARECIBO OBSERVATORY - DAY

Opening shots of Arecibo Observatory. Text appears reading
Arecibo, Puerto Rico, 2010. Final shot of computer room.
ANDRE
What’s with that interference
comming from 13, 4 over there?
KEVIN
Uh, don’t know, lets see...

Kevin pushes a button and a flashing message comes up

reading "Gimbal". It disappears. A modem sound plays through
the speaker.
ANDRE
What the heck is that?
KEVIN
I don’t know, some sort of
terrestrial interference is what
I’d propose.

ANDRE
Where is it even coming from?
KEVIN
Hmmm, empty space, nothing for
light years around it!
ANDRE
Odd, let me give a call over to
Harvard Astrophysics and see if
they know anything...

Andre gets a phone and starts dialing...

ANDRE
Hey Kurt, I have a question for
you, have you noticed anything
lately around Right Ascension 13
hours 35 minutes, 37 seconds and
Declination 4 degrees, 35 minutes,
16.4 seconds?

Reads of computer screen

KURT(V.O)
Yeah, our observatory saw what
appeared to be a black hole form
there about 3 hours ago, we can’t
explain why it happened but its a
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 4.

KURT(V.O) (cont’d)
big one, been ripping stars out of
their orbits...
ANDRE
Yeah, we just picked up some
interesting "digital sounding"
noise from there.
KURT(V.O)
Really! I’d definitely encourage
you to investigate it!
ANDRE
OK Kurt, will do, see you later,
bye.

Andre hangs up the phone.

ANDRE
Kevin, what’s the text look like?
KEVIN
Gibberish, audio is too, I really
don’t know...
ANDRE
What about T...

KEVIN
Tried it, its not PAL, NTSC, SECAM
or any other terrestrial standard.
ANDRE
Hmm... Is Pencil still here?
KEVIN
Hey, Pencil, get in here!
Pencil, a short man wearing eyeglasses and carrying a
multimeter enters.
PENCIL
Yes!
KEVIN
Can you decrypt this?
Gestures to monitor.
PENCIL
Let me see, yes, yes, this might
work.

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 5.

Pencil sits down at the computer, sticks in a flash drive

and starts working.
PENCIL
Ah ha!

Pencil turns around

PENCIL
I looked at the bit structure and
it looks like digital video of some
sort, still working.
Turns back around. Does an ah ha and a little dance.
PENCIL
OK, so its a form of interframe
compression so we might have some
issues with quality but these
commands look very simple, I think
I can modify a decompresser to read
it. Where did you say you got this
again?

KEVIN
We picked it up from above the
milky way rim, we figure its just
some bozo in his garage
transmitting on the wrong
frequency.
ANDRE
Distance corrected, how many watts
would you estimate it was
transmitted with.

KEVIN
Oh wow, 100,000 watt looks about
right.

ANDRE
No bozo transmits with 100,000
watts.
PENCIL
Ok, ready!

Pencil steps back to reveal a video.

ANNOUNCER
Good after noon ladies and
gentlemen. I am Bob Segert, today
the World Parliament passed a law
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 6.

ANNOUNCER (cont’d)
stipulating that all nuclear
weapons must be destroyed by August
2102. The Arab League refuses to
comply, pooling all their weapons
in the former Iran. From Tehran,
Jodi Smith.
JODI
I am here outside the Persian
Provincal Capital. Just behind me
you can see the Caspian Sea, the
site of a new undersea nuclear
storage and launching facility.
Just this morning the last of the
weapons were loaded into the
facility. The leaders of many
provinces have gathered there, so
as to shelter themselves from
Armageddon. From Tehran this is
Jodi Smith.
ANNOUNCER
Well folks, all we can do now is
wait and hope that this tense
moment passes like the Cuban Missle
Crisis did over 100 years ago.
We’ll have the latest in....

The signal changes to static.

ANDRE
Damn!

KEVIN
Sure looks like a Bozo to me, some
big hoax I presume, pretending to
be from the future.
ANDRE
The only thing that looks fishy to
me is the fact that it came from
the black hole Kurt found, it may
be coincidence, but I have a hunch
its not.

PENCIL
A hem! I know I’m not an astronomer
but I was reading in last month’s
copy of "Computers in Science" that
a couple researchers verified that
you can hypothetically understand
messages that traveled through a
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 7.

PENCIL (cont’d)
wormhole, if they existed. They
used this awesome computer called
the Cheetah Accelerator, I mean
that baby’s got like 10 Terraflops
and like a bazillion gigabytes of
ram and its--
ANDRE
Pencil, thank you.

KEVIN
A news flash from the future.
ANDRE
A Back Flash.

KEVIN
Shit! We need to get Australia on
this, let me zip them an Email!
ANDRE
While you’re zipping them an email,
why don’t you alert the Observatory
Network in case they catch
something we don’t.
KEVIN
Gotcha!
Kevin starts typing.
KEVIN
Whoo! Boy are we lucky!

ANDRE
Why?
KEVIN
Parkes Observatory in Australia was
mirroring us today, they got the
whole thing!
PENCIL
I’ll get it from their servers...

Pencil types and a second later, the video starts again.

ANNOUNCER
..and now we turn to--
A klaxon goes off in the studio.

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 8.

ANNOUNCER
Breaking News! The World Parliament
Command, WPC picked up an ICBM
launch targeted for Washington D.C.
newsnow.com main stream is over and
out, now to Lisa in Washington.
LISA
I’m here in Washington, there is
panic in the streets, everyone is
running and trying to find shelter.
Laser Batteries are firing all
around me, the noise is almost
deafening. They’re trying to bring
down the stream of missiles. Before
they....

The broadcast stops. A message flashes: "Connection Lost to

Remote Node 10.121.132.7"
Kevin hits a few keys
KEVIN
That’s part of the message, we’re
still connected to the servers at
Parkes.
ANDRE
So what does this mean for us?

PENCIL
Well, I would think it means we
should contanct someone in the--

ANDRE
That was a retorical question
Pencil, yet I agree with you we
should contact the Government.
KEVIN
I’ll put you through to the FBI.
ANDRE
Thank you.
Kevin dials on the phone, and hands it to Andre.

ANDRE
Hello, Andre LaMont here, Areceibo
Observatory, we just received a
message from above the milky way
rim that is a Back Flash from the
year 2100, it describes a nuclear
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 9.

ANDRE (cont’d)
war, I figured that as director, it
is my responsibility to notify the
authorities.

FBI AGENT
Are you pullin my leg kid? Huh? Get
lost! Wait! Before ya go, let me
give ya a little hint eh? Give a
call to George over at SPIRA! Tell
im AaayJaay sent ya. Kay?

The FBI Agent hangs up.

KEVIN
What next?

ANDRE
SPIRA
KEVIN
Ok.

Kevin dials the phone and hands it to Andre.

ANDRE
Hello, George, Andre LaMont,
Arecibo Observatory, AayJay told me
to call you about a transmission we
got from above the Milky Way’s rim,
is is a Back Flash from the year
2100, it descibes a nuclear war, as
directory, I feel obligated to
inform the authorities.

GEORGE
2100? What is this an elaborate
hoax?
ANDRE
The Parkes Observatory in Australia
also witnessed it sir.
GEORGE
I don’t give a damn about the
aussies, why should I give a damn,
its a hundred years from now, I’ll
be dead, let my grandkids deal with
it, they’re young a vigorus. If you
have something more immediate let
us know.

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 10.

ANDRE
But sir this has to be addres--
GEORGE hangs up.
ANDRE
We’re out of luck unless we can
find something more imminent.
PENCIL
That’s government for you.

KEVIN
Hey guys, we’re getting something
from the VLA!
ANDRE
Awesome, put it up!
Andre clicks a button and the broadcast starts playing
KEVIN
Sorry, its really bad quality, its
a little cloudy in New Mexico
today.
NARRATOR
These events are unprecedented, not
since the Nuclear Skirmish of 2011
between Iran and the western world
have so many people been---
The broadcast deteriorates to static
ANDRE
You know what this means right?
KEVIN
Yeah, next year Iran is going to
try and blow the living daylights
out of us.
ANDRE
Right?
PENCIL
That would qualify as imminent.
ANDRE
Get me--

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 11.

KEVIN
George!
ANDRE
Right!

Kevin gives Andre the phone.

ANDRE
George, Andre LaMont again, we have
something much more imminent

GEORGE
Yeah, I’m looking at it right now,
the Very Large Array people sent it
over 5 minutes ago, can you prove
this is not some looser in his
garage?
ANDRE
Yes, according to our calculations,
the message was originally
broadcast with 100,000 watts, that
means that--
GEORGE
I know young fella, I did plenty of
ham radio back in my day. I get the
picture, we’ll see what we can do.

PENCIL
Do you guys know what time it is?
ANDRE
No?

KEVIN
What time is it?
PENCIL
6:00 AM

ANDRE
Jesus, I have a meeting in two
hours, I’m gonna hit the sack.

KEVIN
Me too.
PENCIL
Good night!
 12.

ANDRE’S HOUSE - DAY

Andre wakes up to the blare of his alarm clock.
ANDRE
Uhhhhhhh!

A series of airplanes streak overhead, Andre walks out of

his front door and sees military jets and troop carriers fly
to the east.

ANDRE
What the heck?
Andre walks back inside and turns on the radio
PRESIDENT
Therefore in light of the work of
the Arecebo Observatory, the Very
Large Array and the Parkes
Observatory in Australia, I’d like
to ask for a Declaration of War
against the Islamic Republic of
Iran.
ANNOUNCER
We have a vote! 69-31, for the
declaration of war

ANDRE
What have I done! What have I done!
Screen fades to black the sound of planes changes into the
sound of gunfire and screams, it too gradually fades.

Roll Credits