The Alien Encounters1979

Allan Reed:
Steve, why do you think some... alien civilization out there would care enough about... us... travel light years away from their planet, just to teach us how to build a machine to prolong our lives? Doesn't really make sense, does it?

Steve Arlyn:
Maybe they're, uh... not like us?

Allan Reed:
You mean there are certain things Man can not understand... doesn't have the intelligence to comprehend?

Steve Arlyn:
Of course we don't understand... we're still trying to keep track of which nations hate each other the most. [pause] But it's not like that on certain other planets.

Allan Reed:
No? What's it like then?

Steve Arlyn:
[Deep breath] Hard to explain... it's not that Man doesn't have the brain power or the senses to understand... it's a matter of how people have conditioned their minds.

Allan Reed:
We limit our thinking.

Steve Arlyn:
And reasoning, and feeling... we limit the use of all parts of the brain. You've heard that a million times, right?

Allan Reed:
[Nodding] Huh.

Steve Arlyn:
Picture a place... out there... inhabited by beings who look... pretty much like we do. Their planet's about the same age as Earth... they've evolved at the same rate... with one exception...

Allan Reed:
Their mental abilities are much greater than ours?

Steve Arlyn:
You've heard that idea before too!

Allan Reed:
[laughing] In every science fiction movie I've ever seen.

Steve Arlyn:
Well, it's for real.

Allan Reed:
Are you telling me... there actually is another planet like ours, with people who look like us?

Steve Arlyn:
Not just one, millions of 'em that have been discovered so far. You heard signals from one of them.

Allan Reed:
Barnard's star!

Steve Arlyn:
That planet's a lot like Earth, except drier... more deserts... with only a third of its surface covered with water... but it's beautiful really. That's what my dad said.

Allan Reed:
Your father... was visited by people from Barnard's Star... so they told him how to build a machine to prolong life. [pause] Why?

Steve Arlyn:
So maybe we could live long enough to use what we'd learned.