It's invigorating. It's like … taking a shower in light. You lose yourself a little.
C Corazon
Like a floatation tank?
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!
Mace He's right? Of course I'm right! Is anyone here seriously considering otherwise?
May I put a counter-argument?
Mace No!
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.
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.
K Kaneda
You're assuming we'd be able to pilot Icarus I.
T Trey
Which is assuming that whatever stopped them completing the mission wasn't a fault or a damage to the spacecraft.
Mace It's a lot of assumptions.
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.
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?
K Kaneda
Made by the person best qualified to understand the complexities of payload delivery: our physicist.
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?
