Original subtitles

And so, my fellow Americans, I ask that we break down the walls that divide us.

Not just for your own sake, but for friendship's sake.

And for those Americans in need, who seek but cannot find friendship, I

ask that we be your friends.

This is the night, Elizabeth.

Well, there it is, ladies and gentlemen. You want me to pinch you?

I'm wide awake.

Maybe later.

I've got a lot of promises to keep. And you will, Mr. Person.

Or you'll have to answer to the First Lady and 300 million new friends.

The traveler is moving into quadrant L33.

What the hell is going on?

What?

Driver, where are you taking us? We have an emergency situation, Mr. President.

Mr. President, my name is Tarkman. I served as President Burns National

Security. I know who you are. I want to know what this is all about right now.

Sir, we have an emergency situation and not much time. What emergency?

If you and that First Lady would come with me, please. Right now, sir.

Mr. President, approximately an hour ago, NORAD spotted a bright object

toward the Earth from the outer solar system.

They've estimated its speed at roughly half the speed of light.

What is it?

Comet? Meteor?

And what is this place?

We don't know what the object is yet, sir. Please.

We're taking you to the emergency command bunker.

It's the only one deep enough in D .C. to provide you with some protection.

Protection? Yes, ma 'am.

Anything that big moving that fast.

It should wipe out most of the life on the planet in one shot.

How long?

It's about 100 million miles away. That gives us roughly 30 minutes.

30 minutes. My God, do what?

I wouldn't know, sir.

That's up to you.

There is nothing wrong with your television.

Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission.

We control the horizontal and the vertical. We can here lead you with a

channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity and beyond.

We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive.

For the next hour, We will control all that you see and hear.

You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the

deepest inner mind to the outer limits.

Please stand by.

Is man the center of the universe made in the image of his God?

Or is mankind merely the temporary occupant of an insignificant world

about to be extinguished?

How far down are we going?

Hopefully far enough, sir. Several hundred feet.

We were caught between administrations.

None of your cabinet have been sworn in yet, so the only people we have

available are himself and members of the transition team.

We've only had about an hour. An hour?

It took almost that long to establish the object as a threat, sir, because of

the speed. For God's sake, what could be more of a threat? We are doing the best

we can with the time we've got, sir.

We've managed to get President Burns' junior science advisor, Janet Bredson.

The commander of the military space program, General Covington, he's on his

Those are two people we want.

Unfortunately, the former SecDef and SecState are vacationing in Hawaii.

Sir, they would be the secretaries of defense. And state.

Don't patronize me, Mr. Totten. Yes, sir.

Sorry, sir.

As you were.

This place was made to fight a nuclear war.

This bunker goes back to Eisenhower.

It's been updated over the years.

That's it there on the screen.

The object.

Yes, sir.

How much time?

17 minutes.

What about Kyle?

He's on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

What's going to happen to us? Sweetheart, please. With all due

very important the precedent be fully briefed.

If you'll take a seat, please.

Can anybody

tell me what it is yet?

We know it's not a comet.

We've also ruled out asteroid and meteor.

Janet Bresson, sir.

Professor James couldn't be reached, so I'm afraid you're stuck with me. You're

sure it's not a comet? Too fast.

I can't think of any natural object capable of reaching that speed.

Miss Preston, I'd rather know what it is than what it isn't.

We are still gathering data from all around the world, sir. Do you at least

where it's going to hit?

You don't know that either.

No. Somewhere in the eastern hemisphere.

There's just too many variables, sir.

One -tenth of one percent error could move ground zero from Japan to Europe.

But not the United States.

No, sir, but that won't matter.

I'd say it does.

What he means, sir, is there's no place on Earth that will escape the shock of

the impact.

We're talking about 9 .5 earthquakes.

The dust cloud itself. The shroud of dust and debris will block out sunlight

years.

Most of those who survive the impact will freeze in the dark.

Those who manage to find shelter from the cold will starve.

Mr. President, we do have several months' worth of stores in the bunker.

That's some comfort, Mr. Tarkman.

Mr.

President, sir.

General Covington. C &C Space Com, sir.

Since your defense secretary is not yet in place, I will have to report directly

to you.

We have to secure the facility, Mr. President.

I have just spoken with NORAD and SAC, and they concur that you should order

conventional forces to DEFCON 3. We're not at war.

I understand that, sir.

But we need to get our communications... General, do we have anything that can

knock the object out before it hits, like the Patriot missiles during the

War? Mr. President, the object's kinetic energy is... Stop.

From now on, when I ask a question, I want to hear plain English back.

Is that clear? To everybody.

I don't have time to wait for the translation.

Now, can you or can you not shoot it down?

No. It's too big, too fast, sir.

What can we do?

We need you to authorize the DEFCON change, Mr. President.

That was increasing our military readiness appropriate.

With respect, sir, maximizing survival after impact will depend on

communication. We're sitting on a trillion -dollar system that was

work during a nuclear war, but it's got to be up and running before impact. That

means going from defense condition five to three now.

Then do it.

How much time?

Three minutes to impact, sir.

Have the American people been warned?

No, sir, but given the amount of time we have left... Make time. The people at

least deserve to know what hit them. Yes, sir, but it'll only cause panic in

streets. Just do it?

Yes, sir.

Pass me in.

This is General Covington. We have a go at DEFCON 3.

General,

sir, we've got a hotline message from the Russian president.

Go ahead and read it. I believe it's addressed to me.

Authenticator, Charlie Tango Alpha.

President Halvey, I hoped our first correspondent would be in

your great political victory.

Instead, I fear these words may be our last.

We can only pray that God place the moon among the stars in the firmament for

this very day.

President Yuri Karpov. What's he talking about? The moon? I wouldn't know, sir.

I wouldn't.

The Russians got their data sooner because they can confirm it optically.

Our mass estimates were way, way off. It changed course when it swung by Saturn.

This thing is incredibly... English, Miss Braxton.

We are now estimating a 90 % probability that it's going to hit the moon.

Tarkman, put our announcement about the end of the world on hold.

20 seconds to lunar impact.

10 seconds to impact.

9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3,

2, 1.

Impact.

New presidents get to go through this? Or is this a special occasion?

If anybody has a cigar... Hold on a second.

Two of our satellites have detected a heat signature coming from space.

What?

Confidence is high that the object that hit the moon

originated from an approaching spacecraft.

This isn't over.

This is not over.

This is a National News Network update with Rosalind Ashcroft.

From the president failing to show up at his own inaugural ball to the

spectacular and mysterious explosion on the far side of the moon.

It's been a most unusual inauguration day, wouldn't you say, Sam? That's quite

an understatement. It appears that the Earth has just survived what might be

termed a near miss by a comet or asteroid.

And yet there's been no official comments by the new administration.

Well, they'll be trying to avoid that. I want to make a statement before the

media gets ahead of us.

Mr. President, all this speculation could cause a panic if they beat us to

punch. ...from an unnamed Russian source.

Looks like they already have.

The Russians have sold the pictures to the highest bidder.

How much time?

Well, slamming on the brakes pretty hard.

Less than 24 hours before they're on top of us? Yeah, decelerating at something

like 75 Gs. It's incredible.

And they still haven't made any attempt to communicate?

None, sir.

I want to go back to the White House and make a speech from the Oval Office.

No, sir.

You should stay right here.

The American people cannot think I'm hiding out on the eve of a first

Anything you broadcast to the American people will be picked up by the aliens

just a few minutes later, compromising your exact location. After that

demonstration, I think we can assume that... Wait a minute. What

If dropping that object on the moon wasn't a demonstration of power and

superiority, I don't know what is.

But surely that's the point.

You don't know.

You can't assume they're hostile, can you?

I mean, it didn't strike the Earth.

Mr.

President, the far side of the moon is probably still molten rock.

We estimate it's been knocked at least two to four degrees out of orbit.

That means the tides will be severely affected. Who knows what will happen to

the global climate?

The moon could still smash into the Earth for all we know. Hell, maybe they

missed the first time. No, no, no. I've spoken to NASA and JPL.

We're feeding them real -time telemetry now.

The object's velocity was a factor of the alien ship's velocity. In English,

sir, they are slowing down.

Maybe they just let the object go, like the spent solid rocket motors on the

shuttle. We are still talking guesses here.

Educated guesses, sir.

As the First Lady pointed out, if the aliens wanted to kill us, they could

They did not, Nick.

What about the timing of the attack? The transition between administrations? Oh,

come on.

You're assuming aliens, who could obviously crush us like ants, have

planned their foot stomping for a time the ants aren't ready.

Mr. President, that is absurd.

No, I agree with the General.

What is it, a damn testosterone festival? Oh, wait a minute, Janet.

These aliens have come a long way. Light years.

They could have communicated with us at any point on route. They chose to

announce their arrival by showing us how easily they could destroy us. Now

you're guessing.

I don't think so. The coincidence is too much.

An experienced incoming president known to be a dove.

Short on foreign policy. Mr. Tarkman, this is no time to play politics. Sit

down.

It's time I spoke to the American people.

And the aliens.

True, but for the moment, the message is one and the same.

General, is this...

Facility equipped to broadcast an announcement?

Technically, yes.

I assume you don't object to my making a statement from a hardened bunker?

No.

Now, General, is there anything else we need to discuss?

Intelligence, sir.

We need to gather everything we can on these aliens.

How? All we have between us and them is a ring of spy satellites in

geosynchronous orbit.

I want to use their deep radar to get an idea of what's inside those ships.

The Hubble's being aligned now.

Let's see if we can get that on the feed.

Yes, General Covington here.

Thank you.

My people can now identify six distinct plumes from as many

spacecrafts.

An armada?

Yes, sir.

What's the status on the shuttle? We got lucky.

The newest in the fleet midway is already on the pad. Ten hours.

Good.

Space Command has a top secret anti -satellite weapon designed to fit inside

shuttle's payload bay. I've already ordered it flown there. General, this is

conventional weapon.

No, sir.

I wasn't aware that we had such a nuclear weapon in our arsenal.

No, sir.

As I said, it's top secret.

We've not yet had the opportunity to brief you. Such a weapon is in flagrant

violation of international treaty.

Yes, sir, it is.

It's also the only chance in hell we'll get to shoot back if it comes to that.

But won't sending a weapon into space send the aliens the wrong signal?

Ma 'am.

They blow up the moon and you are worried about us sending the wrong

Tarkman. Let the president do his job. Mr. Tarkman.

Sir, with respect, President Burns would never... President Burns is no longer

president. I am. And if you can't accept that fact... I can. If you cannot,

you're welcome to step back out through that door right now. Right now!

My wife and child are somewhere on the other side of that door, sir. I'd

consider it a favor.

People, I realize I am not the man you would have chosen for this job.

Need I confess, you're not exactly who I had in mind either.

But until there is a resolution to this, I am asking for

your friendship.

Your help.

General? Sir.

Actually, sir, I like the whole friendship thing.

I almost voted for you.

Well, that's almost flattering, Miss Bresson.

General, we will not install the nuclear missile aboard the shuttle until we've

properly determined the alien's intentions.

That will jeopardize the launch, sir. That.

is my decision.

Very well, sir.

I, uh... I hope you'll accept my apology, Mrs. Halsey.

My reputation for speaking my mind precedes me, Mr. Tartman. Oh, still,

son is somewhere on the other side of that door, too.

NORAD has an urgent message we'd like to conference here.

Mr.

President, General Morehouse, Deputy C &C. Must be a hell of a first day on the

job, sir.

You're a master of understatement, General.

Sir, we have detected what appears to be a laser beam directed at one of our

primary commsats. The source seems to be the alien armada.

Now, the satellite's still working, but it's heating up pretty fast.

Are you saying one of our satellites is under attack?

Yes, sir. And if it keeps heating up at this rate, our conversation's going to

be cut pretty short.

ISV, we have a problem.

Sir,

I think the alien's intentions are becoming pretty damn clear.

All right.

Load the damn nuclear missile aboard the shuttle.

Very good, sir.

Because we have the option doesn't mean we have to use it.

Not without your order, Mr. President.

So, my fellow Americans, I have faith in both God and in you, the American

people, that we will shine and rise to this wondrous, momentous occasion.

First contact with another world.

I will speak to you again when we've established communications.

Until then, have faith, have hope, and God bless.

Thanks. Will the aliens be able to pick that up? We're boosting the signal with

radio telescopes, but I just don't feel they could penetrate the arc of

interference generated by their engine. If they wanted to talk, they wouldn't be

taking out our communication satellites.

But that's what I don't understand.

Sound military doctrine. First make the enemy deaf and blind.

Yeah, but it only makes communication inconvenient.

What's the point? Hang on. We've just gotten all right back.

Roger that. Coming in.

We've established a land link, Mr. President. There shouldn't be any more

interruptions. How many satellites have been knocked out? Just the one

communications set. You should also know, sir, that the Russians have placed

their strategic rocket forces on their highest alert. One of our listening

posts, pick up the chatter.

Is this in response to our going to DEFCON 3, sir? No, sir. Our alert was

strictly conventional.

The Russian strategic missile force... Is a nuclear deterrent. So why?

Can their land -based ICBMs reach space?

No, sir. No more than ours can.

Keep me informed, General.

Yes, sir.

I thought they were destroying all of their weapons. I thought the treaty...

Sure, of course.

For whose benefit?

The aliens.

The Russians are sending the signal they are not willing to give up their

particular piece of real estate without a fight. Still have the teeth for it,

trust me. Or they're trying to guarantee themselves a seat at the bargaining

table.

Airman. Sir. Take this down for me, please.

President Karpov.

You have brought your strategic nuclear forces to a state of readiness.

Since these weapons are incapable of reaching space, what are your

Morehouse here.

Send that.

Sir. Another satellite's under attack, sir.

Is there anything we can do?

Well, I suppose we could shut it down and play dead, but this one's not

up nearly as fast, though.

Sir, I have a doctor north at NASA who insists on speaking to you about what

alien laser means. Put him on, then. We all want to know.

Mr. President, the laser is not a weapon. The frequency is all wrong. It's

message laser.

They're trying to communicate.

The first laser was too powerful, and so they reduced the intensity, and that's

when I realized that the beam was digitally modulated on our own video

encryption codec. Could you say that again, sir, in plain English?

They're trying to talk to us with light.

So what does the message say?

I have no idea.

But I can show it to you.

You're going to die when you see this.

I sincerely hope not.

Hello.

I never thought I'd see the day.

They want to talk with us.

She's right.

Us.

The Russians and the Chinese aren't going to like being left out.

It doesn't matter.

They're trying to communicate.

They may have said surrender or die for all we know.

We need to find out what the message means. In English, yes, sir. We're

on it.

I want a reply as soon as possible.

We're working on that, too, sir. And I think we should share the alien's

with the rest of the international community.

May I ask why?

Because I don't think it was intended for just me, Mr. Tarkman. They chose an

American satellite by which to communicate. I say that means they want

with our president.

They're assuming he speaks for the whole planet. That's one of the most

egocentric, jingoistic comments I've ever heard.

Why?

They're the ones who made it impossible for the rest of the world to pick up the

message you've accepted.

Mr. President, we just received another hotline message from the Russian

president.

Shall I read it, sir?

President Halsey, the Russian parliament has concluded that these aliens are as

belligerent as they are powerful.

It has therefore been determined that any incursion into our Earth base...

be met with maximum force.

I ask that the great American people join in our stand with the same resolve.

May God protect us all.

President Yuri Karpov.

And with that gives us... Tart Blanche to put our nuclear forces on alert,

Deftron 2.

No. To keep your options open, sir. That would remove options.

The Russians will see there's a sign of solidarity, sir.

You will not, I repeat, not be putting our nuclear forces on high alert.

The aliens were never known to me. Last night, you virtually suggested that the

aliens knew what I'd had for breakfast. No, sir, I did not. Now you're convinced

we can ready 5 ,000 warheads around the world without them noticing. Which is

it, General?

Now, here's what we're going to do.

We're going to release the aliens' message for the entire world to see.

You are going to arrange for me to broadcast a reply, and I'm going to

them.

Do you have a problem with any of that, General?

No, sir.

Upley disappears the moment there's a crisis.

What is President Halsey doing about this alien threat?

That is what we in the Congress want to know, and that is what the American

people want to know.

But what is you doing about the situation, Congressman?

Well, let me tell you something.

I'm about to reply to the alien's message without the faintest idea what

replying to.

Isn't there almost as much meaning in the gesture of communicating as in the

words themselves?

That's a good thought.

In the midst of this bad dream.

You want me to pinch you?

Oh, yes.

Sir, I thought you might like a cup of coffee.

Excuse me.

It's all right, Mr. Tartman.

The U .S. State Department... Sir, we think we may have... Hang on, I want to

watch this. Every major news agency of what appears to be a message recently

sent by the alien to U .S. authorities.

I think... Yes, I think we have that for you now.

I'd better get ready.

Sir, we should have telemetry from the Deep Raider satellite now.

It's in position to scan the alien ships.

Well, the main thing is, will they hear me?

Do you think so?

We're going to bounce the signal off a satellite as it passes by.

As long as it works.

Mr.

President, NASA has a theory as to what the object was that struck the moon.

They don't think it's a weapon at all, sir. They think it's something

And what's that?

A quantum singularity. Uh -huh.

It's a mini black hole.

What does that do for us?

Well, it does nothing for us, but it would have provided an inexhaustible

supply for the alien's trip here.

How is that wonderful?

Because it means it wasn't a show of force.

It might even be a gift so that we can travel to the stars someday. No,

we don't know. We're guessing.

We shouldn't jump to conclusions.

I agree we shouldn't jump to conclusions one way or the other.

Ready when you are, sir.

Friends, welcome.

I'm President Charles Halsey, and I speak on behalf of the American people.

We are a world of many nations.

Many of our leaders, including myself, are wary of your arrival.

We do not yet understand the message you have sent us.

Though we welcome you to our world, we ask that you remain in orbit until we

have established diplomatic relations.

I want to make this clear.

Any incursion into our atmosphere may be met with force.

We can only hope and pray that this day will be celebrated as the day our two

worlds, divided by a sea of stars, became friends.

Very nice, sir.

Should have been a speechwriter.

Yeah, there just may be a job for you here after all, Tarkman.

It's going out to the media services simultaneously.

Aliens should pick up the signal in a few seconds.

You always sweat when you're on camera.

You don't approve.

Of drawing a line in the sand?

I think you know me better than that.

I had to do it, Elizabeth.

What happens if they cross it?

They won't.

What if they do?

Then they would have anyway.

Mr. President?

They

should,

uh...

Be entering orbit about now. We'll know in a few minutes or so if that's where

they intend to stay.

General, if this were an invasion force, what would you expect the next move to

be?

Send a scout to test their defenses.

Locate command and control. Cut it off.

Then?

Kill it.

Sir? Assuming the glass is half full for just a second, we should consider plans

for a summit meeting between yourself and the alien representative.

We'll see, Mr. Tarkman.

We'll have to allow the Russians a voice of some kind now, obviously.

The Chinese, too, probably.

Another message coming in from the aliens.

They'll be responding to my message real quick.

What was that?

One of the alien ships has broken formation and it's coming in hot.

We estimate it will enter the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean in three

minutes.

General Covington?

Sir?

Order our nuclear forces.

The DEFCON 2?

Yes, sir.

The alien ship should hit the ocean about 200 miles northeast of Hawaii.

Sir, when the time comes, I'll require you to authenticate the launch codes.

I've been briefed on the procedure, Johnny. Hopefully it won't get that far.

They've defied your warning.

They may not have understood.

We're getting a picture from one of the spy satellites.

Let's see it.

Panning comms that are 22 degrees.

Those are warships. I don't know what the hell is.

They don't know.

We've got a Navy helicopter off the store within a few miles of the landing

site.

The alien ship should hit the ocean in 10 seconds.

9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4,

3, 2...

That's what it is.

We're getting telemetry from the deep radar satellite.

They hit the water at almost Mach 5. Sir, the alien ships have a liquid

interior, probably water. Of course, they want the oceans.

They're not like us. They're not air breathers. What about their message?

They were clearly not underwater. Not underwater? Then that can't be what they

look like. What are you saying? The image they sent was fake? The background

digitally altered. What don't they want us to know? You spoke in front of a

curtain. What's the difference? Wait a minute, wait a minute.

It's possible that they need a liquid interior to decelerate, like

No, no...

Listen, they live in water. They want our ocean. They just took out the deep

radar satellite.

Mr. President, you need to authenticate the launch code now. Why do they want to

destroy our satellite?

Because they have to be trying to communicate with us again, sir. No, no,

have to assume they're hostile now. We've got another hotline message coming

sir.

President

Halsey,

Russia is a sovereign nation and will remain so.

I warn you that we will brook no capitulation with conquerors and will

capitulation over freedom as an act of war. We try to make friends with the

aliens who are at war with the Russians. They left no room for doubt.

The Chinese and the French are now on full nuclear alert. They declared they

will do everything necessary to ensure their sovereignty. Send a hotline

to the Russian president.

We value our freedom as much as they do, but we'll resort to fighting only when

absolutely necessary.

Mr. President.

The Lost Toads. We may not come to that.

These are the actions of invaders. The leaders of the world seem to agree with

that. I don't care what the leaders of the world agree with. The aliens sent us

false images of their appearance. Now, why? I want that translation. We may

never translate their message. They destroyed our satellites, and now

landed a ship at the bottom of the ocean, ignoring your clear warning not

so. We don't even know if they understood.

If we don't fight now, this thing will be over before it even starts. It

make sense. They could have wiped it out when this thing stopped. Not without

destroying what they came for. I want to wait for the translation. Mr.

President.

Sir, in a few minutes, the Armada will be within just a few hundred miles of

shuttle. They will be vulnerable then and only then.

You're asking me to launch a preemptive. No, sir. They crossed the line. The

president's first words were welcome.

They may have thought they were invited.

What if the preemptive strike failed?

At least the Russians will know we're with them and we can fight them off

together wherever they land.

If you try to cut a deal with these aliens, the Russians will see that as

capitulation and will launch at us.

Don't think they can't or won't do it.

I need time.

What if all they want is a place to live?

Ma 'am, with all due respect, that's just wishful thinking. Mr. President,

running out of time.

Unless you act right now, I will be forced to resign.

He's made his decision, General.

Yes, I have.

What attack option do you recommend?

No. I recommend a submarine launch from parole.

Simultaneous attack from the shuttle.

Do it.

Yes, sir.

This way, sir.

Sir,

the numbers on the card you carry with you must match those I have in my hand.

Only you know the appropriate line. Will you read it aloud, Mr. President?

Yes.

359 -1372.

May I confirm your identification code?

The code word for the attack option you have chosen is dagger.

That's all right. Mr. President, you will have to give the order to the

commander personally standing by.

This is the President of the United States.

It's an honor to speak with you, sir.

I wish I didn't have to ask you to do this.

I understand, sir.

We all do.

I'm authorizing you to launch the missile.

Code word, Dagger.

We'll do a good job for you.

Yes, sir.

I know you will.

We have the alien ships inside, sir.

They're huge, even from this distance.

Farming the missile.

That's a firm launch from a tribe submarine out of Pearl.

Estimated time of contact, nine zero seconds.

Wait a minute, I got a second launch in the Bering Sea.

Must be a Russian sub picking up our lead.

I can't see!

The shuttle just went off our screen. The shuttle's been knocked out. SLBN is

off the screen. Our port has been destroyed.

Both submarines have been destroyed.

The laser picked the missiles right out of the sky.

I've got in cover.

Two objects leaving the armada.

Estimated time to impact, 1 minute 45 seconds.

Where?

Moscow.

Here, Washington.

The leaders of the two countries that attacked them.

Did you try to launch another?

No.

No, we've done enough.

One minute to impact.

One

minute

to impact.

I know.

We ran out of choices.

The rest of the world wants it.

30 seconds to impact.

This just came in.

It was in English all along.

What was?

The alien message, sir.

30 seconds.

The computers finally filtered out the distortion of a liquid environment.

What does it say?

It says...

Let us be your friends.

15 seconds.

10 seconds.

Do those who would fail to heed their own words be warned?

You never know who's listening.