Original subtitles

Yeah.

Engineering, what is it?

What's going on?

We don't know, sir...

You're going to hear a number of alarming things today.

Just try to remember this is only an exercise.

As a contingennalyst, my job is to scare you,

and, hopefully, prepare you

for the worst imaginable catastrophes.

We have to acknowledge

the very real possibility of a global pandemic

involving a highly-pathogenic SARS-like virus...

The World Health Organization projects that...

For the purpose of this study, we selected St. Louis.

Stage One: The long-term post-nuclear radiation effect.

Stage Three: Preventing widespread panic.

All right, any questions?

* Give a little bit *

* Give a little bit of your love to me *

* Give a little bit *

* Give a little bit of my love to you *

Hey, Monster. * See the man *

* With the lonely eyes *

* Ah, take his hand, you'll be surprised *

* So give a little bit *

* Give a little bit of my life for you *

* So give a little bit *

Hey, handsome.

* Give a little bit of your time to me *

Come on, Monster, pick a spot.

* Now's the time... *

Molly Anne Caffrey?

Name's Cavennaugh. Federal Agent.

One of your plans has been activated.

You're needed in Washington.

Which plan?

Threshold.

You've just become

the most important person on the planet.

Dr. Caffrey?

My name's J.T. Baylock.

I'm... Deputy National Security Advisor.

Yes, I know.

I take it you and Toto have been briefed?

On the ride over.

You wrote this three years ago.

Do you need a few minutes to refresh yourself

before we throw you to the wolves?

No. I'm good to go.

Okay. No dogs allowed.

Jim, watch the mutt.

BAYLOCK: From what I've heard,

the Oval Office seems to think you're some kind of genius.

CAFFREY: Oh, I don't know about that.

But I have advised them on a few occasions.

BAYLOCK: Your modesty's refreshing.

Now drop it.

We need you to take control.

CAFFREY: I'll do my best.

How many people were brought in on this?

How many know?

Defense, Homeland Security, Langley, NASA.

We kept it limited per your protocols.

What about the President? Not yet.

Good luck.

BAYLOCK: Dr. Caffrey, National Security Advisor Andrea Hatten.

It's so nice to see you again, Molly.

Likewise.

Ladies and gentlemen, under Executive Order

221-C, I'm reminding everyone

that what we're about to discuss has been classified Top Secret,

no foreign dissemination.

This image was captured by our Cheyenne Mountain facility.

You're looking at the heat bloom of an unidentified object

entering Earth's orbit

from deep space at 2200 hours.

At approximately 2212,

the object made a number of course corrections.

Course corrections?

That's right, Admiral.

We believe it's under

extraterrestrial control.

We lost contact with the object at these coordinates.

The Coast Guard has informed us

that a Naval vessel in the vicinity has gone silent.

At this point, I'd like to turn the briefing over

to Dr. Caffrey, a senior analyst

at the Blackwood Think Tank.

Dr. Caffrey wrote the protocols

we'll be implementing tonight.

Dr. Caffrey.

Thank you.

Some of you may not know what a contingency analyst does.

I deal in worst case scenarios...

the unthinkable.

And this definitely qualifies.

Now, Threshold was designed

as a rapid response measure

to a First Contact scenario.

Stage One of the plan calls for

an immediate quarantine of the landing site,

or possibly crash site.

After the object is effectively secured

by a Special Ops Force,

the next step calls for the insertion of a Red Team.

Now, their priorities are threefold:

Confirm the presence of extraterrestrial life--

intelligent or otherwise--

attempt to communicate with it,

and, finally, to determine its intent,

whether it poses any possible threat.

CAVENNAUGH: And if it does?

You'll find that on page 45

under the chapter heading "What to do if we're screwed."

So which of the Red Team candidates were you able to get?

We got your microbiologist, Nigel Fenway.

CAFFREY: Perfect.

He's an MD with a background in pathology.

Former '60s radical, stubborn as hell.

If we are dealing with alien life,

he'll help us figure out

how it eats, sleeps and breathes.

Well, next up: Lucas Pegg.

Astronautical engineer,

Jet Propulsion Laboratories, Pasadena.

CAFFREY: Great.

He helped design the Jupiter probe.

If we are dealing with a UFO,

he'll pop the hood, tell us how it works.

Also one of the all-time high Jeopardy winners.

Good to know.

Number three on the hit parade:

Arthur Ramsey.

CAFFREY: Expert in linguistics and applied mathematics.

If our E.T. needs to phone home,

he'll translate the call.

The guy is brilliant.

CAVENNAUGH: Well, he also got

quite a gambling- boozer-stripper problem.

We all have our vices.

Really?

And what are yours, Dr. Caffrey?

I only reveal those

on a need-to-know basis, Mr. Cavennaugh.

CAVENNAUGH: Well, here's your Red Team.

Not exactly Charlie's Angels, are they?

FENWAY: Let me get this straight.

We could be witness to the greatest moment

in human history,

and you people want to keep it a secret?

Damn right.

What if some kind of technology

could be reverse-engineered from what we encounter?

Do we want it falling

into the hands of other countries?

God forbid the government would give the rest of the world

the benefit of the doubt.

PEGG: Here's a thought.

What if they're hostile?

I mean, even if they're benign,

their presence alone

could incite worldwide panic.

Look, gentlemen, we don't know what we're dealing with.

And until we do, whatever we discover,

stays in this room.

Shh. Finder's keepers.

Hey, while we're on the subject of aliens,

I don't appreciate being abducted.

How long is this little field trip gonna last?

Indefinitely.

So what, I'm a prisoner?

That's not gonna fly.

Hey, can I talk to you in private for a minute?

Door Number One or Door Number Two?

Uh...

I don't... What are... what are you talking about?

Door Number One: You bring along a slide rule

and a smile, and you do what you're asked.

Door Number Two:

You disappear into an 8x10 cell for the rest of your life

playing solitaire, courtesy of the federal government.

You can't do that-- that's illegal.

So is subverting national security, my friend.

We're in dark waters here, okay?

So I'm going to ask you again--

Door Number One or Two?

BAYLOCK: We'll be choppering you out to the freighter

with a Navy SEAL escort.

Securing the vessel will be your first priority.

However, we've had a slight complication.

The NSA has informed us that the North Koreans

also detected the object.

They've dispatched a Kilo-class submarine to investigate.

How much time will we have out there?

Five, six hours at best.

( helicopter passes overhead )

What is this, War of the Worlds?

CAVENNAUGH: You ladies good to go?

CAFFREY: Probably not,

but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Have we considered how this might look?

What if they've come bearing gifts?

Believe me, Lucas,

I hope they have.

Ten minutes ago,

you were worried about global panic.

What's that?

Uh, it's...

New Testament, First Corinthians.

How are they going to work aliens into their Sunday sermon?

You making fun of me?

I'm just saying...

I don't remember reading, "And on the eighth day,

the Lord created Klingons."

That's funny. You know, that's very funny.

What's your problem?

Where do I begin?

Is that your father's watch?

What makes you ask that?

That's a Tag Heuer Monaco.

Steve McQueen wore one.

If you were a guy back in the '70s,

that was a must-have item.

My dad thought so, too.

He still around?

I don't know.

PILOT ( over radio ): Uh, Whiskey One,

we are approaching naval perimeter.

Repeat: approaching naval perimeter.

MAN ( over radio ): Roger, Whiskey One.

Proceed with caution.

Naval perimeter has been secured.

Listen up, people,

need to secure the entire ship!

Get down below deck, see if you can get

the power on line!

Heads up, gentlemen--

one crew member down.

Dr. Caffrey.

I'm here.

CAVENNAUGH: We're clean down here, Dr. Caffrey.

No pathogens, no chemical toxins,

no radiological activity.

The crew?

We've found five of them so far-- all dead.

Some of them are pretty deformed.

According to the ship's manifest,

there were 13 crew members on board.

Where are the rest of them?

We don't know.

Get your team ready. You're up.

We're on our way.

CAVENNAUGH: We had to tranq him.

His name is Gunneson, First Mate.

CAFFREY: All right, um, Mr. Cavennaugh,

I'd like your men to search the ship

for any additional life forms.

Freighters like this always have stowaways:

rats, roaches, silverfish...

Capture them alive, if possible.

Dr. Fenway,

you're going to have your hands full.

I want a full workup on Gunneson here

and those corpses and whatever potential menagerie we find.

May I ask what it is I'm supposed to be looking for?

If we knew that, we could all go home.

PEGG: What about the ship's computers?

There might be a-a log or outgoing e-mails-- anything

that can tell us what happened. We'll check it out.

You said you saw some kind of ghost images

on the ship's radar equipment.

Yeah, odd patterns, definitely more than just static.

CAFFREY: Ramsey, take a look.

Lucas, there's

a video camera in the Rec Room.

Let's run it.

Okay.

Call us when he comes to.

Yeah.

MAN: Nice try. Nice try.

GUNNESON: Watch the magic.

Oh-ho!

Who's got game?! Who's got game?!

Who's got game?!

And you also got a big old cheese puff ass.

All right.

Uh, Lucas,

you're the engineer.

Any idea what we're seeing here?

No obvious means of propulsion,

no aerodynamic surfaces.

My God, look at the way it's folding in on itself.

It's almost like

we're dealing with some kind of higher-dimensional geometry,

maybe a Kaluza- Klein Manifold.

English, please.

It means I just soiled my boxers

just a little bit.

Come on, come on.

LUCAS: I think we're looking at a four-dimensional object

in three-dimensional space.

You see how it keeps morphing?

Yeah. I think

because we live in a three-dimensional world,

you see, we're only capable of seeing part of it.

What's it doing?

What's that sound?

Oh, my God.

Are you guys

all right?!

Yeah.

Congratulations, gentlemen.

We've just accomplished the first task of Threshold:

So, you're telling me you've got

nothing more than an amateur videotape?

No, I'm telling you what's on that videotape

will keep our scientists busy for decades.

I'm not interested in the future.

I'm interested in now.

Who are they?

Why are they here?

Come on, dazzle us with some of your celebrated conjecture.

You'll have to do it quickly, Molly.

The North Koreans caught

some friendly currents.

They're due to arrive a few hours early.

Understood.

J.T., any thoughts?

Look at all those sorry bastards out there.

They have no idea

what just dropped into our lap.

They're driving home,

bitching about traffic, thinking about happy hour,

just going about their lives...

and it could all be over.

We don't know that.

We do our jobs right,

they'll never know how close we came.

Molly's going to need someone

to run interference for her, J.T.

Mm.

You know how treacherous

Washington bureaucracy can be.

She'll be pulling resources from every conceivable

government branch. You reassigning me?

Temporarily. Thought I was

on track for your job. Right now,

you have the more important one.

He's in a delicate state,

probably posttraumatic stress.

I'm not sure you'll get much out of him.

Did you find the captain?

No, he-he's missing.

So is most of the crew.

Of the people we have been able to find,

you're the only survivor.

Good.

And why is that good?

Because they changed.

CAFFREY: We looked at the videotape.

Can you tell us what happened?

I don't know where it came from.

We heard a sound first.

Then the equipment started acting funny.

It was blinding.

And the sound-- like knives being sharpened.

Whoo-hoo. See that?

When we came to, it was gone.

Power was on backup.

Then the crew started getting sick...

really sick... having weird dreams...

There was nothing I could do.

These boys need help, Captain.

We should call in an airlift.

Captain?

It was like a forest,

but the trees were made of glass.

Sir, why don't we get you down to sick bay?

In the dream I had...

in the forest...

Sir?

It was like I was really there.

And we never saw the captain again.

Never found his body.

After that, everything

went to hell.

People trying to kill each other.

People trying to kill themselves.

I hid in sick bay, but I could still hear the screaming.

And the missing crew members?

Do you know where they went?

No.

CAFFREY: What about the bodies we found?

What caused those disfigurements?

Listen, people weren't the same.

They weren't themselves.

What about you?

Are you yourself?

Take it easy, buddy.

Take it easy.

You okay?

Yeah.

No, actually, I'm not okay.

I'm completely freaked out.

I'd be worried if you weren't.

Any thoughts on

our mystery object?

You mean that Christmas ornament there?

Look, designing spacecraft is what I do.

And theoretically, there are only

so many ways you can get from one star to another.

Laser-assisted solar sails, fusion engines,

interstellar ramjets, antimatter drives.

And I got to tell you, this thing

definitely doesn't use any of those.

So what does it do?

Do you think it was carrying passengers?

You saw what it was doing, folding in on itself.

Where would they be?

An unmanned probe, then.

Possibly.

Or a weapon.

Right.

MAN: Why don't you cut him down and get him to Dr. Fenway?

Takes real commitment to hang yourself.

My boy here was motivated.

Something must've really scared the crap out of him.

You wanted to see me?

Yeah, I got a little bit of alien voodoo

I want to run past you here.

Now, this interference pattern,

it appears on every bit of equipment on this ship.

What's causing it?

We really should go out some time.

What?

You don't date guys... smarter than you?

I don't know. Never met one.

( camera clicks ) Now, as to what's

causing this pattern,

remember the bomb they dropped over Hiroshima?

The explosion was so hard core that it permanently

burnt shadows of people onto the walls and sidewalks.

I think we have the electromagnetic equivalent here.

( camera clicks ) What about the shape itself?

I've got some ideas, but I need to do a Fourier analysis

before I really nail it down. Hold on, guys!

I want to get some shots before you bag him.

Meticulous.

Details matter.

RAMSEY: I think I saw that embroidered on a pillow once.

You know, Caffrey, you didn't have to concoct

this whole alien conspiracy theory just to get the two of us

alone together. CAFFREY: You're boring me, Ramsey.

You get that, or you need me

to embroider it on a pillow for you?

RAMSEY: I have to amuse myself somehow.

You know, thanks to you, this might be my last job... ever.

You ever consider that-- I mean, did you

think about that when you

picked our names out of a hat?

I was having a perfectly deviant lifes...

It's not all that unusual.

Post-mortem muscle contractions, neuro-electrical discharges.

Discharge? This guy was doing the Macarena.

Look, all I know is his eyes were focused.

There was consciousness.

So maybe our definition of dead just changed.

Okay... give me a couple of hours.

I'll see if I can get you some answers.

Any luck?

I asked our naval escorts to do another sonar sweep,

but, so far, nothing.

So that thing on tape wasn't tracked leaving by air.

Not underwater...

Where the hell did it go?

Nervous?

You really thrive on this crisis stuff,

don't you? ( laughs )

Is it that obvious?

Worst case scenarios?

I mean, what kind of person

picks that for a job description?

The kind of person who lived through one.

LUCAS: You know what, Doc?

I've been thinking. FENWAY: Uh-oh.

I don't know if that object was even a spacecraft.

The way it was built, it could never carry passengers.

It must have been

sent here for another purpose.

Huh.

Whoa.

Hey, there's a wedding ring on this hand.

They ever find the guy this belonged to?

Nope.

Doesn't that bother you?

What bothers me is that we're working our butts off here,

and nobody's said Bo Diddley

about whether we're being paid for this or not.

I'm not worried about that.

I think we got bigger fish to fry.

Well, you're not carrying three ex-wives on your back, are you?

You know, Doc...

This... this is about

the science.

This is about the sense of discovery.

Are you kidding me?

You think people give a flying fart about science?

The day the Mars Rover landed,

what was the top story in the news?

I don't know.

Britney Spears married in Vegas!

I don't know.

Given the state of the world today,

a little alien intervention

might be just what the doctor ordered.

So you're bitter is what you're saying?

Wait. What-what the hell is this?

Come here, Lucas.

CAVENNAUGH: So have you figured out what we're looking at?

RAMSEY: If I give you

the wrong answer, are you gonna make me

choose a door again?

It's a fractal pattern.

Fractional geometry, a type of mathematics

that crops up in chaos theory.

What does it have to do with our UFO?

Could be some form of communication.

Math is a language,

and like any language, it speaks to us.

This pattern is speaking to me.

What's it saying?

It's a graphic representation of an equation

that describes a DNA molecule.

Here. Now...

our DNA... the DNA of every

life-form on Earth, is in the shape of a...

A double helix. A double helix.

So you actually took more than phys-ed.

Keep going, Ramsey. Now, if I

translate into mathematics what this pattern is describing,

things get a little bit bizarre.

A triple helix.

I can't even imagine what life

based on a triple helix would look like.

Well, maybe we're about to find out.

Huh. Whatever it is,

Okay, guys, let's think.

We're up against the wall here.

Who are they? Why are they here?

What do they want?

Doctor, you said you found something unusual?

Well, that's putting it mildly.

These are normal human blood cells.

This is a sample of blood taken from our survivor.

I found the same structural changes

in the corpses and in the rats

and roaches, for that matter.

Something evoked frighteningly-rapid

cellular change in every living thing on this boat.

It's not unlike the work of a viral agent.

Li-Like cancer, but more directed in its purpose.

Exactly.

The ship's clean-- we didn't find any pathogens.

This is what puzzled me, and then I started thinking.

Most of our genetic material is obsolete.

Fact is, we don't know

what most of it does, but...

what if someone else did?

Wh-What if they figured out

a way to manipulate it? CAVENNAUGH: How?

With our mystery object?

With all those lights and sounds?

No. You... you can't hack

into someone's DNA with a signal.

Really?

Used a cell phone lately?

Brain tumors, chief.

Even watching a second- generation copy made us sick.

Which reminds me, Doctor, I'm going to have to take

blood samples of the three of you,

as well.

CAFFREY: Ramsey, you said

the shape was articulating something.

I'm down with Fenway.

Someone's trying to unzip our DNA strands and reassemble them.

So... what?

We're talking about some kind of...

bio-forming?

You've heard of terraforming--

altering the climate of Mars to make ititable.

Why not do the same thing

to people?

Say you want to

colonize another world.

What do you do?

You send troops, an armada of spaceships?

Wouldn't it be more efficient

if you could simply send information?

If you could download a program

into the indigenous population, and...

and turn them into you?

LUCAS: Uh, okay, hold on, though.

We don't know they're trying to colonize.

This could be their way of... saying hello.

Listen, my ridiculously

optimistic little friend,

I know how to say "hello"

in over 200 dialects,

and this most certainly is not a "hello."

Cavennaugh.

Roger that.

We're evacuating.

I was told we had at least another 90 minutes.

What the hell are you doing?!

The North Koreans are breathing down our necks,

so unless you want to stare down a 2,000-ton sub...

Are you blowing up the ship?

We can't destroy

the only evidence of alien life we have ever had.

Look, you have to make do with what you've got.

We can't afford to let them get their hands on it.

The less they know

about what we found out here, the better.

Hey, we got to go.

Come on, Molly.

Gunneson, stop!

Stop!

Turn around!

CAFFREY: Gunneson!

Stay back!

You okay?

Yeah.

I think it's safe to say

we are dealing with a worst-case scenario,

so we move on to Phase Two

of the Threshold protocols:

containment and crisis-management.

Now, there's a lot we don't know.

Like where are the missing crew members?

Where is First Mate Gunneson?

Sleeping with the fishes, no doubt.

No one could have survived out there,

much less made it to shore.

We can assume nothing, Doctor.

The moment we give in to our preconceptions, we're dead.

Which brings us to our object.

Where did it go?

We're plugged

into every surveillance satellite

in the hemisphere.

I can tell you this: It certainly hasn't left.

If it was here,

we would've found it by now.

LUCAS: Not necessarily.

If their technology is based

on four or even five-dimensional physics,

they could come and go, and we'd never even know it.

We have to assume we're dealing with an intelligence so advanced

that its capabilities border on the supernatural.

That's comforting.

There's nothing comforting about this.

Look, uh... we don't have time for fear.

We don't have the-the luxury of self-doubt.

We've got to stare into the face of the unknown

and make damn sure we don't blink.

Why don't you come back tomorrow afternoon?

We'll run another round of tests.

So, uh, what is that, a battlefield scar?

Something like that.

Whoever stitched you up

should be making shoes for a living.

Let me ask you something.

I understand what I'm doing here...

the others...

What exactly is your job title?

I mean, who cuts your checks?

I'm freelance. I do contract work.

( laughs ): So you're a ghost, huh?

You're the guy

they send in

when they can't acknowledge

they've sent someone in.

Should we be worried?

No. I, uh, haven't found any cellular damage

or mutations.

So we're clean.

Sort of.

I, uh,

picked up some unusual activity

in your mid to lower frontal lobes, both of you.

Lucas, too.

Are you saying we're sick?

No, no, no, we're talking brain wave activity.

You see these? These are theta waves.

You're all generating far more

than the average cognitive model.

You're saying the videotape changed the way we think?

Maybe.

Anyway,

uh, I can't see any reason

to keep you here now.

My advice: get some rest.

Even "ghosts" need sleep, right?

Hey, don't you ever sleep?

Can't. I'm still drowning in satellite telemetry.

I just feel like we missed something.

Oh, drown tomorrow.

Go home. You're no good to us fried.

You're still here.

Yeah, well, I don't have a life.

What makes you think I do?

Guess I know who to call when Thanksgiving comes around.

Look, get some rest.

We'll need you back here in eight hours.

Good night.

Good night.

* You got wires *

* Going in *

* You got wires *

* Coming out of your skin *

* You got tears *

Come here, mister. * Making tracks *

* I got tears *

* That are scared of the facts *

* Running down corridors *

* Through automatic doors *

* Got to get to you *

* Got to see this through *

* I seen hope is here *

* In a plastic box *

* I've seen Christmas lights *

( song fades ): * Reflecting your eyes... *

Hello?

It's Cavennaugh.

Are you okay?

Yeah. Why?

I just had this dream.

I can't explain it, but I saw myself...

but it wasn't me.

I know this is going to sound strange,

but it-it... felt like more than just a dream.

And there-there was this place...

It was like I was really there.

It was... it was like a forest.

It was a glass forest.

Molly?

Yeah.

Sorry, uh...

I-I saw it, too.

I was there.

What's happening to us?

I don't know.

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