Sunshine

Searle:
It's invigorating. It's like … taking a shower in light. You lose yourself a little.

Corazon:
Like a floatation tank?

Searle:
Actually, no. More like … in psych tests on deep space, I ran a number of sensory deprivation trials, tested in total darkness, on floatation tanks. And the point about darkness is, you float in it. You and the darkness are distinct from each other, because darkness is an absence of something, it's a vacuum. But total light envelopes you. It becomes you. It's very strange. I – I recommend it.

Mace:
What's strange, Searle, is that you're the psych officer on this ship, and I'm clearly a lot saner than you are.

Mace:
Do I have to spell it out for you? We have a payload to deliver to the heart of our nearest star. We're delivering that payload because that star is dying. And if it dies, we die. Everything dies. So that is our mission. There is nothing, literally nothing, more important than completing our mission. End of story!

Trey:
He's right.

Mace:
He's right? Of course I'm right! Is anyone here seriously considering otherwise?

Searle:
May I put a counter-argument?

Mace:
No!

Searle:
Captain?

Kaneda:
Go ahead.

Searle:
It would, of course, be absurd to alter our trajectory to assist the crew of the Icarus I. Even if we knew that some or even all of that crew are still alive, their lives are entirely expendable when seen in the context of our mission. As are our own lives.

Mace:
Exactly.

Searle:
However, there is something on board the Icarus I that may be worth the detour. As you pointed out, Mace, we have a payload to deliver. A payload, singular. Now, everything about the delivery and effectiveness of that payload is entirely theoretical. Simply put, we don't know if it's gonna work. But what we do know is this: if we had two bombs, we'd have two chances.

Kaneda:
You're assuming we'd be able to pilot Icarus I.

Searle:
Yes.

Trey:
Which is assuming that whatever stopped them completing the mission wasn't a fault or a damage to the spacecraft.

Searle:
Yes.

Mace:
It's a lot of assumptions.

Searle:
It is. It's a risk assessment. The question is: does the risk of a detour outweigh the benefits of an extra payload?

Mace:
We'll have a vote.

Searle:
No. No, we won't. We are not a democracy. We're a collection of astronauts and scientists, so we're gonna make the most informed decision available to us.

Mace:
Made by you, by any chance?

Kaneda:
Made by the person best qualified to understand the complexities of payload delivery: our physicist.

[Long pause]

Capa:
Sh*t.

Cassie:
It's different. Being afraid that you won't make it back home. And then knowing that you won't.

Capa:
Our survival depends on what we can salvage from Icarus I.

Cassie:
No. We're gonna die out here. Like the other crew. I know it. So do you. Are you scared?

Capa:
When a Stellar Bomb is triggered, very little will happen at first. And then a spark will pop into existence, and it will hang for an instant, hovering in space, and then, it will split into two, and those will split again, and again, and again. Detonation beyond all imagining – the big bang on a small scale. A new star born out of a dying one. I think it will be beautiful. No, I'm not scared.

Cassie:
I am.

Pinbacker:
I am Pinbacker, commander of the Icarus I. We have abandoned our mission. Our star is dying. All our science. All our hopes...our dreams are foolish! In the face of this, we are dust, nothing more. Unto this dust, we return. When he chooses for us to die, it is not our place to challenge God.

Mace:
Okay, that make sense to anyone?

Capa:
Icarus?

Icarus:
Yes, Capa?

Capa:
Run an update on biometric signs for all crew. Check oxygen consumption.

Icarus:
Checking …

Capa:
Thank you.

Icarus:
Capa?

Capa:
Yes?

Icarus:
You are dying. All crew are dying.

Capa:
We know we're dying. As long as we can live long enough to deliver the payload, we're okay with it.

Icarus:
Capa, warning: you will not live long enough to deliver the payload.

Capa:
Please clarify.

Icarus:
Twelve hours before crew will be unable to perform complex tasks. Fourteen hours before crew will be unable to perform basic tasks. Sixteen hours until death. Journey time to delivery point: 19 hours.

Capa:
It is impossible. Corazon is certain we have remaining oxygen to keep four crew alive.

Icarus:
Affirmative. Four crew could potentially survive on current reserves.

Capa:
Trey is dead. There are only four crew members.

Icarus:
Negative.

Capa:
Affirmative, Icarus. Four crew: Cassie, Mace, Corazon and me.

Icarus:
Five crew members.

Capa:
Icarus?

Icarus:
Yes?

Capa:
Who is the fifth crew member?

Icarus:
Unknown.

Capa:
Where is the fifth crew member?

Icarus:
In the observation room.

Pinbacker:
Are you an angel? Has the time come? I've been waiting so long.

Capa:
Who are you?

Pinbacker:
Who am I? At the end of time, a moment will come when just one man remains. Then the moment will pass. Man will be gone. There will be nothing to show that we were ever here … but stardust. The last man, alone with God. Am I that man?

[Capa reaches out to touch him, as soon as he does, he flinches. A flashback suddenly occurs, starting from Pinback's video log to the decoupling of the two ships.]

Capa:
My God...my God. Pinbacker!

Pinbacker:
Not your God. Mine!

Robert Capa:
Our sun is dying. Mankind faces extinction. Seven years ago, the Icarus project sent a mission to restart the sun, but that mission was lost before it reached the star. Sixteen months ago, I, Robert Capa, and a crew of seven, left Earth frozen in a solar winter. Our payload: a stellar bomb with a mass equivalent to Manhattan Island. Our purpose: to create a star within a star. Eight astronauts strapped to the back of a bomb. My bomb. Welcome to the Icarus Two.

Robert Capa:
By the time you get this message, I'll be in the dead zone. It came a little sooner than we thought, but this means you won't be able to send a message back. So, I just wanted to let you know that I don't need the message, because I know everything you wanna say. Just remember, it takes eight minutes for light to travel from sun to Earth, which means you'll know we succeeded about eight minutes after we deliver the payload. All you have to is look out for a little extra brightness in the sky. So if you wake up one morning and it's a particularly beautiful day, you'll know we made it. Okay, I'm signing out, and I'll see you in a couple of years.

Robert Capa:
Are you asking me to weigh the life of one person against the future of the humanity?...Kill him

Cassie:
Only dream I ever have … is it the surface of the sun? Everytime I shut my eyes … it's always the same.

Cassie:
We have an excess of manliness breaking out in the Comm center.

Searle:
Hey Capa, we're only stardust.

Searle:
Prescription: two hours in the Earth Room. And get a haircut, Mace.

Searle:
Kaneda! What do you see? Kaneda! What do you see? Kaneda! Kaneda!

Pinbacker:
Are you an angel? Has the time come? I've been waiting so long.

Pinbacker:
For seven years I spoke with God. He told me to take us all to Heaven.

Pinbacker:
[From trailer] Nothing will survive … not your parents … not your children … not even … stars!