3 Body Problem 1x2

1. - Thank you. - Mm.

2. The blinking stars.

3. Yep.

4. Do you have a theory?

5. I do.

6. It's bullshit.

7. Bullshit?

8. It never happened.

9. How can that be? The world saw it happen.

10. Sure, everyone on Earth. But you know who didn't see it?

11. Webb, Hubble, CHEOPS.

12. None of the satellites saw it. You know why?

13. - Why? - Because it never happened.

14. It was a deepfake.

15. Interesting theory.

16. Who pulled this deepfake?

17. That's as far as I got.

18. Whatever you decide, that's the right thing to do.

19. - Love you, Auggie. - Love you more.

20. - Maybe. - Morning.

21. We've seen shifts in apparent magnitude of single stars, but never this.

22. What about some kind of atmospheric distortion?

23. Interstellar dust?

24. Then you'd expect variation between lines of sight.

25. Did you see the flickering stars last night, Dr. Salazar?

26. Um...

27. Yeah.

28. - Any theories?

29. No.

30. - Good morning, Doctor.

31. - Morning. - Morning.

32. - Are you ready?

33. Let's see what happens.

34. Nanofiber array is stable.

35. The synthetic diamond is secured.

36. Just briefly, Dr. Salazar,

37. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say... we thought you were crazy seven years ago.

38. But your extraordinary vision has got us to this moment.

39. - So, thank you.

40. It's been a privilege, really.

41. Whenever you're ready.

42. Go ahead.

43. Raising the diamond.

44. Nanofiber lattice is active.

45. You did it. You made history, Auggie.

46. - Well done!

47. We have to shut it down.

48. Shut it down!

49. I'm Chief Scientific Officer, and I'm ordering you to shut it down.

50. Development stops.

51. This is over.

52. I'd keep moving.

53. Your colleagues will be coming soon.

54. Who are you?

55. Maybe I can help you.

56. Maybe you can help me.

57. I don't think you can help me, Officer.

58. Maybe not, but don't you wanna know why the stars flickered for you?

59. We extend our best wishes to you, inhabitants of another world.

60. We hope to establish contact with other civilized societies.

61. We look forward to working with you

62. to build a better life in this vast universe.

63. We extend our best wishes to you, inhabitants of another world.

64. How long have we been transmitting our message?

65. A few years.

66. And the Americans? The Russians?

67. Longer than that.

68. It's the Fermi Paradox.

69. It comes from a question that Enrico Fermi asked his colleagues at Los Alamos.

70. There are a hundred billion stars in our galaxy.

71. Many of these stars must have planets similar to our own.

72. And many of these planets must have developed intelligent life.

73. So where is everybody?

74. Maybe there's no one out there.

75. Our signal is too weak.

76. 25 megawatts is too weak?

77. It's one of the most powerful transmitters on the planet.

78. Nobody will hear it.

79. I need to contact the scientist who wrote this article. Can you do that?

80. Where is he?

81. California.

82. You want me to contact an American?

83. If they find out they will question us.

84. Then don't tell them about it.

85. Any messages from outer space?

86. I don't know how you do it.

87. It's like listening to the ocean for eight hours.

88. I work out problems while I'm listening.

89. Hmm.

90. What's this?

91. Our secret?

92. Dr. Peterson. California.

93. EARTH

94. On June 12th last year, Dr. Peterson's team in California

95. observed strong bursts

96. of electromagnetic radiation from Jupiter.

97. JUPITER

98. On the same day, we detected an intense radio burst.

99. So we detected the same thing as America?

100. No. Our recordings picked up the burst 13 minutes after Mt. Wilson.

101. And not from Jupiter.

102. From the Sun.

103. SUN

104. From Jupiter to the Earth, it took 38 minutes.

105. From Jupiter to the Sun, it took 43 minutes.

106. From the Sun to the Earth,

107. 8 minutes.

108. 43 plus 8 equals 51. A difference of 13 minutes.

109. I simplified the math for you.

110. The Sun reflected the radio waves from Jupiter?

111. Not just reflected. It amplified them.

112. The signal from the Sun was millions of times stronger than the one from Jupiter.

113. So we can use the Sun as a super-antenna?

114. By aiming our signal at the Sun?

115. Exactly.

116. "We extend our best wishes to you, inhabitants of another world."

117. Ye Wenjie. This is genius.

118. It could take us many years to get a reply,

119. but imagine China leading the world in interstellar communication.

120. I want to take it to Commissar Lei.

121. Yes. We should.

122. This is a radical idea, Comrade Yang.

123. Yes. I've been working on it for some time.

124. It could take many years to get a response, but...

125. Enter.

126. I want her to verify your work.

127. Comrade Yang has devised a way to use the Sun to amplify our transmission.

128. His numbers are compelling.

129. You believe his calculations to be correct?

130. They are correct.

131. You want to aim a super-powerful radio beam at the Sun.

132. At the Red Sun?

133. Have you thought about the political symbolism of such an experiment?

134. Well. Commissar, I...

135. Who is the Red Sun in the heart of the People?

136. This is very disappointing from you, Comrade Yang.

137. And I would think, Comrade Ye Wenjie,

138. that as the daughter of a class enemy

139. you would have warned him

140. how dangerous his ideas were.

141. Sir. Imagine our great Red Sun, our Chairman,

142. amplifying the words of the People, a hundred millionfold.

143. Absolutely not. I forbid it.

144. This could get us all executed.

145. Test transmission in sixty seconds.

146. Test transmission in thirty seconds.

147. Test transmission in ten.

148. Nine.

149. Eight.

150. Seven.

151. Six.

152. Five.

153. Four.

154. Three.

155. Two.

156. One.

157. Begin test transmission.

158. Message sent.

159. Test transmission complete.

160. What do you know about this man?

161. He was at Vera's funeral.

162. Mike Evans.

163. Owns Evans Energy, the biggest privately held oil company on the planet.

164. Now, does it surprise you that Vera had a friend like that?

165. Nothing surprises me anymore.

166. You know what surprises me?

167. This woman you say you spoke to.

168. Here's security footage of the alley you were in.

169. There you are.

170. All alone,

171. talking to no one.

172. No. No, she was there.

173. - Doesn't look like it, does it? - I swear to God she was there.

174. I wasn't talking to myself.

175. I believe you. Look.

176. Your cigarette's unlit, and...

177. Your cigarette's lit.

178. You didn't light it yourself. Your lighter doesn't work.

179. Now, I don't know how, but someone scrubbed her out of the footage.

180. My team couldn't find any trace of it being manipulated

181. but we know it was, which is fucking... pretty weird.

182. Not as weird as the stars turning on and off, but weird.

183. Why did they wanna shut down your lab?

184. I don't know.

185. Well, you must be someone important.

186. I'm not important.

187. Well, you just invented the world's finest nanofiber,

188. 3,000 times finer than human hair,

189. invisible as air, as strong as steel, all that shit.

190. All that shit.

191. Well, it's obviously dangerous to someone.

192. Competitor, maybe.

193. Yeah, a competitor who made the universe flicker.

194. Were you close to Vera Ye?

195. I used to be.

196. Smartest person I've ever met.

197. Then I think I disappointed her

198. 'cause I quit her course and switched into applied science.

199. Maybe that's why she killed herself.

200. This countdown you saw,

201. it disappeared as soon as you stopped your work, right?

202. Has anyone else seen it?

203. They have.

204. A cybernetics professor in New Delhi.

205. An AI scientist at Boston Dynamics.

206. A physicist in London just the other day.

207. Couple of dozen more.

208. What happened to them?

209. They quit working.

210. Either they quit like you,

211. or they quit like Vera Ye.

212. Hey. You said you were gonna call.

213. You okay? Hope so.

214. 'Kay. Bye.

215. Level one.

216. This is insane.

217. - I am the Count of the West.

218. Whoa.

219. Oh wow.

220. Very cool.

221. - Whoa!

222. How dare you touch a man of royal blood?

223. Sorry. I just didn't know you were, um...

224. Are you real? Like, another player?

225. Or no?

226. You're an AI.

227. I am the Count of the West.

228. So, a character in the game, then.

229. Enough talk of games! This is no game.

230. This is my follower.

231. You may call her Follower.

232. I'm Jin Cheng.

233. Please, choose a better name.

234. - Oh. - One befitting a hero.

235. For we hope you will be ours.

236. Uh-huh.

237. Your mission is to solve the riddle of this world.

238. Riddle of this world?

239. All right. How about, uh...

240. Copernicus.

241. Welcome to Civilization 137, Copernicus.

242. Hey...

243. Where are we going?

244. We're going to the pyramid to see Emperor Zhou.

245. This is a chaotic era.

246. A chaotic era?

247. Except for stable eras, all times are chaotic eras.

248. When a new era arrives,

249. the Emperor consults great minds about the movements of the sun.

250. This is a weird fucking game.

251. You must decide whether an era is chaotic or stable.

252. If Emperor Zhou is wrong, an entire civilization will be destroyed.

253. What? How?

254. Like this.

255. Run!

256. Hurry!

257. Hey, don't push her.

258. There's only enough shade for two of us.

259. Count.

260. Well, it can't be me. I must get my prediction to the Emperor.

261. - You won't abandon me, will you? - Go.

262. It's too hot. She's gonna burn up.

263. No, she won't.

264. Is she dead?

265. No.

266. Those who dehydrate fast enough can be preserved.

267. We rehydrate them when a stable era arrives.

268. So, this is how people survive the chaotic eras?

269. If one of us survives, we all survive.

270. Count? Count!

271. What do I do with her?

272. Count!

273. Well, if science can't explain the blinking stars, why can't it be God?

274. Why would He be so subtle about it?

275. In the Bible, He sent down angels of death with flaming swords.

276. He sent she-bears to maul children who fucked with His prophets.

277. Now He's blinking stars to show some kind of stupid code?

278. - What? Does that sound like God to you?

279. Who else can make stars flicker?

280. - No one can do that. - So, how did it happen?

281. I don't know.

282. But if science tells you that something's impossible, and it happens anyway,

283. it means one of two things.

284. Either the science is wrong,

285. or it's a scam.

286. Hey, do you guys wanna drop acid on the marshes?

287. - Yes? Yeah!

288. Hmm. There's no screen.

289. There's no headphone jack, not even a fucking charging port.

290. And usually, there'd be logos all over it if it was a Sony or Oculus or whatnot.

291. - Mm. - It's probably a beta tester.

292. No, this is not beta anything.

293. You don't understand. This was indistinguishable from reality.

294. Do you need a password or anything to log in?

295. No, you just put it on.

296. Okay.

297. Holy shit.

298. This is fucking mental.

299. This is...

300. Fuck!

301. Ah.

302. Whoa.

303. You were not invited.

304. What the fuck?

305. What? What happened?

306. Some bird just cut my head off.

307. This...

308. This is not normal.

309. I could smell the fucking...

310. I could feel the cold. I could taste the fucking dirt.

311. You ate dirt?

312. Do you understand how far beyond the current state of the art this is?

313. I mean, we're talking about... We're talking about fifty years, 150?

314. Yeah, feels about right.

315. This is what Vera was playing before she killed herself.

316. What if this had something to do with it?

317. I really don't think we should play again.

318. Oh no, that's just fucking absurd.

319. Come on.

320. Where are you—

321. I could taste blood that time.

322. So, you said that your man was talking about predicting the movements of the sun?

323. Nobody would make this game for something that boring.

324. There has to be a bigger mission. There always is.

325. So? What's our mission?

326. Our mission, Jin Cheng,

327. is Jack fucking Rooney getting his mortal fucking revenge.

328. - She cut your head off again? Mm. - Cut my head off, yeah.

329. - Well. - So—

330. Oh. I see.

331. So, you're gonna play, yeah?

332. And I'm just gonna sit here and...

333. Right, well, that's, um... That's great.

334. I guess she's not cutting your head off.

335. - Hey, uh...

336. I came as soon as I saw your message...

337. Uh, messages.

338. What happened to the countdown?

339. It's gone.

340. That's good news. Right?

341. - I shut down the project. - What?

342. She told me if I stopped working the countdown would stop.

343. I stopped, and she was right.

344. The board wants to fire me. I mean, of course they want to fire me.

345. They have no idea why I shut down.

346. What was I supposed to say?

347. - That the stars told me to? I— - Yeah. That's...

348. It... It's fucked up.

349. "It's fucked up"?

350. My life is falling apart,

351. and I call you because I need you, and you can't call me back?

352. And now you give me, "It's fucked up."

353. Auggie, can we just...

354. Can we go get a cup of coffee or something and... and just talk about it?

355. You're a child, Saul.

356. It's not cute anymore.

357. Happy birthday, love.

358. I miss ya.

359. I thought I was the only one.

360. Sorry, I... I didn't...

361. mean to interrupt you.

362. Yeah, you... you're all right.

363. I bring my dad coconut cake on his birthday.

364. Oh, right, yeah.

365. Red velvet.

366. It's obscene, isn't it?

367. How fragile we are.

368. My dad thought he'd walk me down the aisle.

369. No.

370. One mistake,

371. one stupid mistake,

372. he's gone.

373. Yeah.

374. What happened to your wife?

375. Uh...

376. Breast cancer.

377. Your dad?

378. Shot in the head.

379. Oh, sorry.

380. Don't be.

381. No, it's a good way to go.

382. So quick.

383. Well, uh...

384. Better get back to work.

385. Keep warm, eh?

386. I will.

387. Level one.

388. Merrie Olde England, is it?

389. Right.

390. Custom skins.

391. I like it.

392. Here we go.

393. I'm ready for you this time, mate.

394. God be with you.

395. I am Sir Thomas Mo—

396. Bastard! Fucking hell.

397. No.

398. How dare you lay your hands upon a privy councilor?

399. - I said, my name is Sir Thomas More— - Yes. All right, pal.

400. Wind your neck in.

401. Sir Jack Rooney.

402. You need to choose a better name.

403. So, if the many worlds theory is true,

404. that means there could potentially be an infinite number of Jessicas or Vishals

405. or Mr. Downings in the multiverse.

406. And some physicists even think

407. that if there are exact carbon copies of your body out there

408. with the exact same quantum processes,

409. then all of your thoughts and feelings are simultaneously arising

410. in an infinite number of elsewheres,

411. an infinite number of times.

412. So, when your consciousness ends in one world,

413. it could continue to exist in another world.

414. In many other worlds.

415. heretic, right?

416. Then, fucking Thomas Moron thinks he knows how to save the world.

417. So Henry VIII's like, "All right, then. Rehydrate the masses!"

418. So we go outside, and I put this biltong—

419. Jack, can... Sorry. Can you shut up a sec? I need to talk to you about something.

420. Oh yeah? What's this big news, then?

421. No, no. Don't tell me.

422. After ten years you finally asked Jin out, now that she's dating an admiral.

423. I have pancreatic cancer.

424. Stage four.

425. It's spread all over.

426. Liver, lungs.

427. Median survival time is, uh...

428. It's, like, two to six months, so...

429. There it is.

430. Fuck that.

431. What?

432. Some NHS doctor says so, and you're just gonna accept it?

433. No.

434. No, no, no. No, no. Fuck that.

435. We'll... We'll go to Switzerland.

436. - Or New York, or somewhere fucking good. - No, Jack. I'm too far gone, mate.

437. All they can do now is to make me comfortable. All right?

438. So they're gonna operate on my tumors, that's...

439. They're gonna... fluff the pillows on the sinking ship.

440. And I said,

441. "Fuck that, pal."

442. - My money says they're wrong. - Come on, Jack.

443. You fucking come on.

444. This is what you always do, man. You— You give up on everything—

445. I didn't give up—

446. You quit physics, thought you weren't smart enough.

447. You gave up on Jin because you thought you were punching above.

448. You're not giving up on your own fucking life.

449. Fuck that.

450. Eat.

451. - I don't feel like eating, Jack. - Will. Just...

452. Try.

453. If I may, Emperor Zhou, the sun is Yang.

454. The night is Yin.

455. Presently we are caught in the chaos of imbalance.

456. But we shall be no longer.

457. I bring you salvation for our civilization—

458. Yes. Yes, get on with it.

459. I have created a code for the universe.

460. And with this code, I can predict the movements of the sun.

461. That's what they all say.

462. I hope your prediction can save us, for your sake.

463. - This is prophecy, not prediction. - What?

464. Speak aloud, child, or die.

465. Emperor. This is the I Ching.

466. It's beautiful, but it's not scientific.

467. Explain.

468. I don't think it will solve your problem.

469. It's divination. It doesn't follow any physical laws.

470. Physical laws?

471. Yeah. The laws of physics.

472. Everything we've observed to be true about the world.

473. Which world?

474. Your Imperial Majesty.

475. The code is complete. It will answer your questions.

476. Very well.

477. When will it be safe to rehydrate the masses?

478. The chaotic era will last another eight days.

479. And when it is over, we will enjoy a glorious stable era for 63 years

480. with a climate so mild, it will be a golden age.

481. Sky. Now.

482. Let the days fly past.

483. Let the days fly past.

484. Hmm?

485. Put your hand on the ground. It speeds up time.

486. There!

487. Stability for 63 years.

488. - Is it possible? - It is, Emperor.

489. I advise you to awaken your dynasty and let it prosper.

490. Rehydrate!

491. You didn't abandon me.

492. Of course not.

493. Count! Look!

494. No.

495. Copernicus!

496. Copernicus, please!

497. Save me!

498. - Copernicus, please!

499. Please, Copernicus!

500. Copernicus!

501. Save me!

502. Please!

503. Save me!

504. Civilization number 137 was obliterated by extreme cold.

505. You did not save them.

506. But you did establish the superiority of science over mysticism.

507. In level two, you must use science to save the next civilization.

508. I received a complaint about you, Clarence.

509. What did I do now?

510. Apparently you've been smoking in your office.

511. Yeah, I'd go outside, but it's a long way.

512. I'll go outside next time.

513. No need. I sacked the guy who made the complaint.

514. If he's worrying about you, he's not worrying about our adversaries.

515. Well, I wish you hadn't fired him.

516. Tell me about Evans.

517. Turns out he likes paying for things.

518. Anti-vax propaganda, 5G conspiracy theories,

519. anti-science politicians around the world.

520. I'd bet money he's behind all the rest of it too.

521. What about the stars? Did he pay for them to disappear?

522. There's someone behind everything. You just have to dig.

523. Well, I dug up this.

524. I was reading up on radio telescopes after the stars blinked.

525. Back in 1977, Ohio State University detected a 72-second sequence.

526. They called it the Wow! signal

527. because it made all the astrophysicists go, "Wow!"

528. They said it looked like an attempt at communication.

529. Attempt from who?

530. Little green men.

531. What's it say?

532. No one knows.

533. No one's been able to decode it,

534. and nobody outside of Ohio State detected it.

535. Except for one observatory in Northeast China.

536. And?

537. Well, it's probably nothing.

538. Funny thing about Mike Evans.

539. Guess where he lived in 1977?

540. No coffee,

541. sorry.

542. No coffee,

543. many years.

544. May I ask why you are here?

545. I'm trying to save lives.

546. The locals?

547. - How are you helping—

548. You hear "lives," and you think human lives.

549. Of course, we always think of ourselves first.

550. I'm trying to save a bird, a subspecies of the northwestern brown swallow.

551. I doubt I'll succeed. The loggers, they work faster than one person can.

552. You planted all those trees yourself?

553. Mm-hmm.

554. How long will you stay here?

555. My whole life if I have to.

556. How many people get the chance to save a species?

557. Ten thousand species go extinct every year because of the greed of one.

558. May I ask why you are here?

559. We are looking for a site to build a radio astronomy laboratory.

560. Here?

561. - This land isn't yours. - It shouldn't belong to anyone.

562. It belongs to the People.

563. And the People will destroy it.

564. Ruin an entire ecosystem for a radio lab.

565. It doesn't trouble you?

566. The stupidity of the People?

567. It isn't up to me.

568. I have work to do.

569. What did he say?

570. He understands.

571. Yes, I understand. Please go.

572. "In nature, nothing exists alone."

573. What's your name?

574. Ye Wenjie.

575. Mike Evans.

576. - I will try to stop them.

577. Ye Wenjie, we have discussed it,

578. Commissar Lei and I...

579. Site 1 fits all the parameters.

580. Minimal electromagnetic interference,

581. access to good roads for construction—

582. That's true of Site 2 as well.

583. The villagers at Site 2—

584. Are desperate for work.

585. Too desperate.

586. They'll see the lab as a piece of meat to take bites from.

587. Commissar Lei and I have decided, together, that Site 2 is better.

588. I know you're disappointed.

589. You're sure it's not because you're trying to help the American?

590. You've been doing good work for eight years. Don't throw it away.

591. There is something I can do for you.

592. The Commissar gave me the names and records

593. of the new arrivals at the work camp in Qiqihar.

594. In case there's anyone who could be useful for us.

595. No scientists, unfortunately. But there's a woman called Tang Hongjing.

596. She used to be a Red Guard.

597. During a struggle session at Tsinghua University in 1966,

598. she dealt a fatal blow to a professor

599. called Ye Zhetai.

600. This is a new era. The past is finished.

601. The past is not finished.

602. You want me to repent?

603. You don't think you should?

604. Then who will repent for me?

605. Who will atone for what I have lost?

606. The Party sent me to Shaanxi to work the wheat fields.

607. After a day's work,

608. I didn't even have the energy to wash my clothes.

609. We slept on the ground at night. Listening to the sound of wolves.

610. My arm was infected with gangrene.

611. The guards pinned me down...

612. and cut it off me.

613. I was just a kid.

614. I was just a kid when I watched you

615. break my father's skull with a belt.

616. They told me you're clever.

617. And you should be.

618. Daughter of an academic.

619. I was not clever.

620. I had no utility.

621. Your mind spared you.

622. Otherwise you would have ended up the same as me.

623. My father's mind did not spare him.

624. Even now

625. I would scythe him like wheat.

626. You will not repent?

627. No one repents.

628. Signal coherence rating: AAAAA

629. Do not answer. Do not answer. Do not answer.

630. I am a pacifist in this world.

631. You are lucky that I am the first to receive your message.

632. I am warning you: do not answer.

633. If you respond, we will come.

634. Your world will be conquered.

635. Do not answer.

636. Come. We cannot save ourselves.

637. I will help you conquer this world.