We extend our best wishes to you, inhabitants of another world.
We hope to establish contact with other civilized societies.
We look forward to working with you
to build a better life in this vast universe.
We extend our best wishes to you, inhabitants of another world.
How long have we been transmitting our message?
A few years.
And the Americans? The Russians?
Longer than that.
It's the Fermi Paradox.
It comes from a question that Enrico Fermi asked his colleagues at Los Alamos.
There are a hundred billion stars in our galaxy.
Many of these stars must have planets similar to our own.
And many of these planets must have developed intelligent life.
So where is everybody?
Maybe there's no one out there.
Our signal is too weak.
25 megawatts is too weak?
It's one of the most powerful transmitters on the planet.
Nobody will hear it.
I need to contact the scientist who wrote this article. Can you do that?
Where is he?
California.
You want me to contact an American?
If they find out they will question us.
Then don't tell them about it.
Any messages from outer space?
I don't know how you do it.
It's like listening to the ocean for eight hours.
I work out problems while I'm listening.
What's this?
Our secret?
EARTH
On June 12th last year, Dr. Peterson's team in California
observed strong bursts
of electromagnetic radiation from Jupiter.
JUPITER
On the same day, we detected an intense radio burst.
So we detected the same thing as America?
No. Our recordings picked up the burst 13 minutes after Mt. Wilson.
And not from Jupiter.
From the Sun.
SUN
From Jupiter to the Earth, it took 38 minutes.
From Jupiter to the Sun, it took 43 minutes.
From the Sun to the Earth,
8 minutes.
43 plus 8 equals 51. A difference of 13 minutes.
I simplified the math for you.
The Sun reflected the radio waves from Jupiter?
Not just reflected. It amplified them.
The signal from the Sun was millions of times stronger than the one from Jupiter.
So we can use the Sun as a super-antenna?
By aiming our signal at the Sun?
Exactly.
"We extend our best wishes to you, inhabitants of another world."
Ye Wenjie. This is genius.
It could take us many years to get a reply,
but imagine China leading the world in interstellar communication.
I want to take it to Commissar Lei.
Yes. We should.
This is a radical idea, Comrade Yang.
Yes. I've been working on it for some time.
It could take many years to get a response, but...
Enter.
I want her to verify your work.
Comrade Yang has devised a way to use the Sun to amplify our transmission.
His numbers are compelling.
You believe his calculations to be correct?
They are correct.
You want to aim a super-powerful radio beam at the Sun.
At the Red Sun?
Have you thought about the political symbolism of such an experiment?
Well. Commissar, I...
Who is the Red Sun in the heart of the People?
This is very disappointing from you, Comrade Yang.
And I would think, Comrade Ye Wenjie,
that as the daughter of a class enemy
you would have warned him
how dangerous his ideas were.
Sir. Imagine our great Red Sun, our Chairman,
amplifying the words of the People, a hundred millionfold.
Absolutely not. I forbid it.
This could get us all executed.
Test transmission in sixty seconds.
Test transmission in thirty seconds.
Test transmission in ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
Begin test transmission.
Message sent.
Test transmission complete.
No coffee,
sorry.
No coffee,
many years.
What did he say?
He understands.
Ye Wenjie, we have discussed it,
Commissar Lei and I...
Site 1 fits all the parameters.
Minimal electromagnetic interference,
access to good roads for construction--
That's true of Site 2 as well.
The villagers at Site 2--
Are desperate for work.
Too desperate.
They'll see the lab as a piece of meat to take bites from.
Commissar Lei and I have decided, together, that Site 2 is better.
I know you're disappointed.
You're sure it's not because you're trying to help the American?
You've been doing good work for eight years. Don't throw it away.
There is something I can do for you.
The Commissar gave me the names and records
of the new arrivals at the work camp in Qiqihar.
In case there's anyone who could be useful for us.
No scientists, unfortunately. But there's a woman called Tang Hongjing.
She used to be a Red Guard.
During a struggle session at Tsinghua University in 1966,
she dealt a fatal blow to a professor
called Ye Zhetai.
This is a new era. The past is finished.
The past is not finished.
You want me to repent?
You don't think you should?
Then who will repent for me?
Who will atone for what I have lost?
The Party sent me to Shaanxi to work the wheat fields.
After a day's work,
I didn't even have the energy to wash my clothes.
We slept on the ground at night. Listening to the sound of wolves.
My arm was infected with gangrene.
The guards pinned me down...
and cut it off me.
I was just a kid.
I was just a kid when I watched you
break my father's skull with a belt.
They told me you're clever.
And you should be.
Daughter of an academic.
I was not clever.
I had no utility.
Your mind spared you.
Otherwise you would have ended up the same as me.
My father's mind did not spare him.
Even now
I would scythe him like wheat.
You will not repent?
No one repents.
Signal coherence rating: AAAAA
Do not answer. Do not answer. Do not answer.
I am a pacifist in this world.
You are lucky that I am the first to receive your message.
I am warning you: do not answer.
If you respond, we will come.
Your world will be conquered.
Do not answer.
Come. We cannot save ourselves.
I will help you conquer this world.