AUTHOR'S NOTE: An additional two minutes to the end of Contact where Ellie and Palmer discuss their future
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SMALL MOVES
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Ellie was looking out across a small canyon on the southern border of the Very Large Array site near Magdalena, New Mexico. The sun was setting in a cloudless sky. It was one of her favorite spots. She heard the car on the gravel road behind her well before it arrived at the end of the road on the lip of the canyon. Eventually the car pulled in and stopped beside her own. She suspected who it might be, but didn't turn around just yet, waiting for him to come to her instead. The car door shut and she heard his footfalls walk up behind her.
"Did Fish tell you where to find me?" she asked.
Palmer settled himself down beside her and placed an arm around Ellie's shoulder to give her a sideways hug before stretching out his legs and leaning back on his hands. "Nah," he replied. "I figured you'd be out here on such a nice evening. This is one of your favorite spots after all." He tilted his head back towards the two cars. "He did let me use his car though."
"I'm glad your back," Ellie said. She shifted herself a bit and returned his sideways hug, staying a little closer to Palmer afterwards. Their relationship had developed over the past eighteen months. Slowly at first, but the week before, Palmer had surprised her. Small move, Ellie, small moves, she kept telling herself.
"I read that book you suggested," he said.
Ellie lifted an eyebrow.
"It covered it all, didn't it," Palmer continued. "From the Big Bang to the Big Rip, and the laws of physics that explain everything in between," Palmer said.
"Well, we don't know everything," Ellie replied. "Not yet. But we know a lot."
A coyote howled in the distance and both Ellie and Palmer scanned the opposite ridge to see if they could see it in silhouette. Another howl, further off, but they couldn't find it in the fading light.
"The universe is an amazing place," Palmer said with an easy smile. It was hard to say if he was talking about their surroundings and the coyote or the subject of the book. He supplied the answer. "Inflation, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Supermassive Black Holes. Incredible." He paused, and Ellie waited. She knew he wasn't quite finished. Small moves. She was getting to know him and he was getting to know her. He glanced sideways and winked. "But physics doesn't explain all the rest."
"It comes back to that again," Ellie replied, and then narrowed her eyes. "If you're going to say Ipsum Esse, so help me."
"Ipsum Esse," Palmer repeated and then laughed. Ellie laughed too.
"It's a Catch 22. How can science explain the cause of the universe, if by your definition, it lies outside the universe?" Ellie asked. "It's unobservable."
Palmer shrugged. "I think I have some good news," he said instead.
Ellie leaned back, giving in. There were certain things they had agreed that it was okay to disagree.
"Remember when I told you about that confidential report written after your… well, your trip through the wormhole?"
Ellie grunted. "Kitz," she spat. She was still bitter about that congressional hearing and the spectacle Kitz had orchestrated afterward. "I'm glad he lost that election."
Palmer smiled. He wasn't too fond of the ex-government official either. "Anyway, the new administration has decided to declassify it and release it all to the public."
Ellie turned quickly and the two exchanged a smile. "Finally," Ellie sighed. "Finally the truth will be out there."
"The truth was always out there El," Palmer said.
"You know what I mean."
Palmer appeared thoughtful. "There will still be those who won't believe you," he finally said. "It doesn't matter what evidence you have, they won't believe."
Ellie nodded and looked out across the canyon. "I suppose so," she said. What was that saying? Is was from a book Palmer had given her on the writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas. 'For those with faith, no evidence is necessary; for those without it, no evidence will suffice.' Apparently the saying cut both ways. She then turned to face Palmer. "But you always believed me." It was a statement and not a question.
Palmer shrugged again.
"'Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed'," Ellie recited. Now it was Palmer's turn to raise his eyebrows but Ellie raised her hand quickly. "Don't give me that look. You've been reading those books I've given you about cosmology. I can read too." They both laughed again and leaned in closer to one another. "I would say," Ellie added, "I'm still very much like the apostle Thomas."
"Show me the empirical data," Palmer interpreted. "That's my scientist."
It was something her father would say. It was something the alien posing as her father had said to her when she was on the facsimile Pensacola beach when she questioned the reality of the situation. Palmer had a knack for saying just the right thing. The two of them were so different in many ways, but perhaps that was a benefit and not a liability. All those small moves had added up to a big move. Only one small move left really. Suddenly, she knew the answer to a question she had been wrestling with for the past week.
"Remember what you asked me when you left to go to Washington?" Ellie asked.
Palmer swallowed. "I don't want to rush things if you're not…" he began, but was cut off when Ellie put up her hand again. She then reached over and touched the side of his face, turning it more towards her own.
"The answer is yes."
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Author's note: This was my favorite movie for a long time, until another movie ironically also starring Matthew McConaughey took its place. I still consider Contact my second favorite movie. As with Ellie and Palmer's romance in this movie, science and religion are not contradictory but complimentary. I didn't mind the ending of the movie, but if I were to add a couple minutes, I'd like to see that the confidential report was eventually released, Kitz's political aspirations didn't pan out, and Ellie and Palmer stayed and have a future together.
By the way, the book is different in many ways. I think I did like the ending of the book better, but both book and movie are wonderful in their own ways.