Teaser
Gillian giggles. She sips her red wine and watches Cal over the rim of her glass as he gives Emily a faked grin. It's late; the evening is black outside of Cal's kitchen windows. They're sitting at the island and the remnants of an eaten meal is evident by the dirty plates in front of them and the pile of pots in the sink.
"You can't actually believe half the drivel that comes out of your own mouth," Emily complains as she takes her plate to the sink. "Do you believe him?" She asks Gillian.
Gillian puts her glass down. "The thing with your Dad is that you have to let him believe he's right."
"Ow!" Cal complains instantly, pushing back his chair. He gets up. "At least half of what I say is actually true whether you believe it or not."
Gillian gives him an amused grin as he takes his plate to the sink. Emily is stacking the dishes to one side so she can fill the sink. Cal flicks water at her. "Hey!" Emily complains loudly. "You can't end a debate by throwing things like a child."
"Can too," Cal pouts at her.
Suddenly the entire house shakes and a low rumble rolls towards them. The hanging lights sway, glasses rattle in the cupboards, a pot lid slides loose and clatters to the floor. The shaking gets more violent. Cal wraps an arm around his daughter's waist and just about throws her into the kitchen doorway while the house quivers around them. Gillian is two seconds behind them and bumps into Cal heavily as she comes to a standstill.
"Dad!" Emily sounds panicked. "What's happening?" She's standing behind Cal. With the three of them in the same doorway it's rather cramped.
"Must be an earthquake," Cal calls back while he stares down at Gillian. She's clinging on to him tightly, her blue eyes peering up at him intently. "Right?"
Day. Street. Snow.
Gillian is wrapped up snugly as she walks along the street in her favourite red woollen coat. She has a blue scarf wrapped around her neck and her breath mists as she strolls. Her hands are in black leather gloves, a tray with two coffees carried in her right. There is snow all over everything, casting the world in purity and suspended time. Her cheeks are slightly reddened, as is the tip of her nose and as she clips up the path leading to the office building she breaks into a smile. Cal is approaching from the opposite direction and he comes to a stop just outside the door to wait for her. "Good morning," he greets pleasantly.
"Morning," Gillian's smile widens.
"Fancy seeing you here," he holds the door open for her.
Gillian steps through and then turns to offer him one of the coffees. Cal gives her a suspicious expression. "What is it?"
"It's coffee," Gillian answers using her spare hand to unwrap her scarf.
"Yeah but one of them foamy caramel double shot mocca-ry things that has more sugar than coffee in it?"
"No Cal," Gillian starts to walk away. "It's just coffee." She turns back as she walks away. "Don't you believe me?" Cal smirks at her back and follows.
They push on the doors to the Lightman Group. Gillian starts pulling her gloves off. "I didn't feel one aftershock," Cal announced.
"Maybe you slept through them."
"I didn't sleep much last night," Cal admits as they walk towards the reception desk.
"Oh yeah?" Gillian arches an eyebrow.
"Em, she got all worried about a second quake."
"Right," Gillian responds as if she doesn't believe him at all.
Cal widens his eyes. "It's true."
"Did you hear about the meteor?" Anna asks as she hands Gillian a stack of mail.
"Meteor?" Gillian queries.
"It's on the news," Anna points to the TV just next to her on the wall.
There's a female anchor talking about the size of the meteor that struck last night and its relative location. There's also a very vague photo sitting on the anchor's left shoulder.
"Turn it up," Cal requests.
"That was no meteor," a male voice behind them calls out.
Cal turns quickly to see the speaker. Gillian is slower in moving but she sees a well groomed man wearing the dark blue winter uniform of a naval officer. Cal walks up to him. "What was it then?"
"It wasn't a meteor and it wasn't an earthquake."
Cal looks over his shoulder at Gillian and then back to the visitor. "What was it, and what's it got to do with you being here right now in my office?"
"It's a crashed UFO."
Opening Credits