Contact Quotes

Richard Rank: My coalition's phone lines have been flooded with calls from concerned families, wondering if this message signifies the end of the world or the advent of the rapture. We feel that U.S. policy in this matter wants to be extremely conservative - if there's any chance of danger or threat to our way of life perhaps the message and its contents should simply be

disregarded.

David Drumlin: One... there is intelligent life out there, but you'll never contact it in your lifetime, and two... TWO! There's nothing out there but noble gases and carbon compounds, and you're wasting your time. In the meantime, you won't be published, you won't be taken seriously and your career will be over before it's begun!
Ellie Arroway: So what?

It's my life!

S.R. Hadden: Dr. Arroway, I presume.
Ellie Arroway: Mr. Hadden.
S.R. Hadden: I've had my eye on you a long time, Doctor. I consider you one of my most valuable long-term investments. And when it comes to my investments, I always do my homework. Eleanor Ann Arroway, born 25th August, 1964, De Pere, Wisconsin. Mother, Joanna, died from

complications during childbirth. Early testing indicated high predisposition towards science and mathematics. Father, Theodore, advised to provide enrichment activities in these areas, .did so conscientiously until his death from myocardial infarction, November 10, 1974. You graduated from high school in 1979, almost two full years early. Awarded full scholarship, M.I.T, graduated magna cum laude.

Doctoral work, Cal Tech where you worked on the lanthanide-doped ruby maser, dramatically increasing the sensitivity of radio telescopes. Subsequently offered a teaching position at Harvard University which you turned down to pursue SETI work at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Changes in NSF policy gave rise to certain funding problems, at which point you came to my attention.

Mission Director: [Machine systems integration test: Unusual vibrations are occurring] David, we're not seeing anything abnormal down here
David Drumlin: No good! Hold the sequence. I'm gonna take a direct reading.
Mission Director: What the hell's he talking about?
Technician: Can anyone say "grandstanding"?
2nd

Technician: He sure knows *he's* on TV.
Communications: [heavy Texas accent] Back home, that's what we call a "overcooked ham".

Dynamics: 100% target velocity
Electrical: Steve, picking up tremendous E.M.I. levels around the machine. All field measurements are pegged off-scale high.
Dynamics: Steve, we're approaching our abort limits.
Mission Director: [reaches for abort controller]
Ellie Arroway: OK to go!

Mission Director: [unlocks abort control and prepares to push the button]
Dr. Kent Clark: I hear her! I hear her. Barely, but. but she's there.
Ellie Arroway: [weakly] OK to go...
Dr. Kent Clark: She says she's OK to go.
Dynamics: Steve, we're real close.
Mission

Director: Electrical, what's your reading in the core?
Electrical: [puzzled] The internal environment looks normal. Inside the core, the... weather's beautiful.
Mission Director: [re-locks abort control]
Ellie Arroway: [softly] I'm Ok to go... OK to go... I'm OK to go...
Mission Director:

Initiate drop sequence! On my mark. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three two...
Ellie Arroway: I'm OK to go...
[pod drops into machine]
Ellie Arroway: OH GOD!