My movie plot.

A NASA official has the job of getting the Space Shuttle launched on schedule. He defers to others on matters of their judgment, such as when safety issues dictate launch-or-scrub decisions, where he takes no position, but “My job is, if it is a launch, to get STS-51A lifted off within ten milliseconds of T zero, and I don’t wanna use any more of those ten milliseconds than I have to.”

After an impressive, on-time launch drama, his job is done, so he returns home to Washington, D.C., where his sexy girlfriend is waiting. They plan a ski trip, to leave Saturday morning, 31 December at 8:00.

Naturally, she gets up out of bed at that hour instead of being ready to go, and she makes him wait, and wait.

Due to their late departure, they don’t get much ski time in, but they have dinner. They watch on TV an historic rendez-vous and docking between the Space Shuttle and a Chinese spacecraft. They plan to go downtown where a crowd will gather to ring in the new year, but she gabs on the phone too long and they arrive downtown five minutes too late, as the crowd disperses.

She makes it all worth his while, however, back at the ski lodge, where check-out time is 11:00. At 2:00 he calls the front desk to request a wake-up call at 10:00 because if check-out is 11:00, that gives them PLENTY of time, right?

Missing the 11:00 deadline would mean paying for an extra day, and it would be such a senseless waste of money that he insists she meet the deadline. Finally, he threatens to leave her stranded at the lodge and drive off without her if she does not leave, her hair still wet from the shower, and get into the car NOW.

She gets so furious that he won’t let her miss the 11:00 deadline, that she breaks up with him. She finds another lover-boy, who is on parole and has to be home by 22:00 or he goes back. She also learns that the NASA guy got her pregnant.

When she goes into labor, she wants her lover-boy to bring her to the hospital in a HURRY.

She is not thrilled about having a baby. Lover-boy is not thrilled about the baby, but he likes the girlfriend as a sex toy, and agrees to adopt the baby, reluctantly.

The NASA guy finds a new girlfriend, who is sweet and punctual. He learns that he is a father, and has 30 days from the birth date to claim the kid or lose his parental rights forever, on the last day. This allows for a suspenseful drama. Can he and his new sweetheart complete a simple form and get to the court house? (“We close at five.”) The audience will be rooting for them. They get through security and present the form just in time, only to be told, “You could have faxed it.”

The NASA guy gets to keep his baby, and they live happily ever after.

DETAILS:

The launch drama must emphasize the timing, and talk very understandable technical stuff. The guy speaks to another official who authorized the upgrade of the ignition circuit module.  The new model is safer and more reliable, and the spec is plus or minus only one microsecond, not five, but the delay is 30 microseconds longer. The guy instructs that the activation has to be adjusted by that amount. (“If something is going to take thirty microseconds longer, then obviously we have to start thirty microseconds sooner.”)

The guy mentions that the final upper-level wind shear report, due a T minus 24 minutes, could require a scrub. The audience will feel good that they can understand rocket science: If it’s really windy way up high, then we don’t blast off. They are also in suspense about whether the launch will be a success or a disaster. They think that’s what the movie is about

After the launch, he is in suspense. Was it within the ten-millisecond tolerance? Was it closer to T zero than the Chinese launch? He is told that the launch was early, by 483 microseconds. “Less than one millisecond!” he declares jubillantly.

“Less than half a millisecond. 483 microseconds.”  he is told.

On 31 December, the guy is getting ready to leave home for the girlfriend’s house. He turns on his short-wave receiver in time to hear, “At the tone, twelve hours, four minutes, Co-Ordinated Universal Time.” The beep happens just as his watch shows 7:04. Then the radio continues: “Your attention please. At the recommendation of the International Time Bureau, a leap second will be inserted into the time broadcasts of radio stations WWV, WWVH and WWVB. Commencing at 23 hours 59 minutes 60 seconds UTC on December 31, and extra second will be inserted into the NIST time scale. This adjustment is required to maintain internationally co-ordinated Universal Time, as broadcast from these stations, in close agreement with UT1 or Astronomical Time.”

He drives to her house, arriving at 7:57:23 and waits until 7:59:25 to emerge and approach her front door, ringing the doorbell at 8:00:00 just as his Casio Wave Ceptor watch chirps.

When she is finally done showering, putting on make-up and dressing, he is delighted to see her so pretty. He opens the front door for her, to be a gentleman, and wonders why she is not there. She asks why he is holding the door open when it is cold outside. He thought they were going skiing, but “I haven’t had breakfast yet!” Of course, it is a full-blown, pots-and-pans, cooking breakfast, complete with washing the dishes, pots and pans.

He wears a Casio Wave Ceptor watch which automatically resets itself according to WWVB signal. Real Casio Wave Ceptor watches would have to be resynchronized after the leap second, which ends at 19:00 Eastern Time, but we can pretend he can program this one to observe the leap second, during which time it will display 18:59:60. (The sexy girlfriend thought the leap second happened at midnight local time, but it happens at midnight, Universal Time.) Of course, he keeps it set on 24-hour mode.

This could be an opportunity to get paid to promote Casio Wave Ceptor watches.

The argument in the lodge starts when she answers her cell phone and gabs as precious seconds tick away, then gets into the shower and washes her hair when she does not have time to dry it. (“Check-out is at eleven. Not, check-out is at eleven unless some asshole dials your cell phone number and wants to gab with you. I made it perfectly clear we had to be out before eleven o’clock, and you washed your hair, knowing you would not have time to dry it. What on Earth is wrong with you?”)

She nags her new lover-boy to attend a friend’s baby shower, promising to get him home in time, then gabs there, repeatedly agreeing to leave but gabbing away, until he butts in and starts shouting at her: “What part of GO do you not understand? GO means GO.” He has the right to do this not because of the pressing 22:00 deadline but because she promised to leave by 21:30. That way, he can hold her accountable after 21:30 while there may still be time to get home on time. Her friends suggest he needs to learn some patience. “Try telling that to my parole officer when I’m not home by ten o’clock, and I have to go back because of her.” They are horrified that this lover-boy she is showing off is a criminal.

One scene could have her a supervisor at work, where a temp needs to get his time sheet signed at quitting time, but she gabs on the telephone. If he misses the bus, he won’t make it to the temp agency in time to get paid, and he’ll be evicted from the rooming house for non-payment.


©2009 Tom Alciere