Granilit.
Sounds like the fluorescent lights in bio lab.
Did Nasedo ever mention a rock collection?
Do you think it can hear us?
We'll come back after school.
After ninth period, we'll go back.
Way to prioritize, Maxwell.
Hey. New gel?
So, um, Portishead tickets went on sale this morning.
Did you get my messages?
Yeah.
Nice.
Hey, our agenda involves the four of us.
There is no time for distractions.
Oh, Max... look, I don't know what to do. Calls keep on coming into Congresswoman Whitaker's office.
- Should I return them or... - Not now.
We'll talk in trig.
You know, mean people suck.
Mr. Guerin, true or false?
We're not even a month into the semester, and you're already failing my class.
This is a new record.
To be perfectly blunt with you, sir, World War II just doesn't do it for me.
Well, try doing this.
The 509th bomb group is in town this week for a reunion.
Your biographical account of one veteran's wartime experience will be on my desk by 5 o'clock.
Old people creep me out.
Then think of them as living history.
What was World War II like?
What do you think?
Ok, moving on. Uh, Roswell...
how is it different now than it was back then?
I don't know. I haven't darkened her doors since '47.
- Look, Hal... Captain Carver.
Let's make this easy.
Why don't you give me a few good details that I can put in this little notebook of mine.
Then I'll just copy the rest out of a book.
Well, when the going gets rough, resort to plagiarism, huh?
You kids today are softer than soap.
You ever heard of, uh, Omaha Beach or the V-1 flying bomb, Yalta, Jane Russell?
- I mean, have you ever... -Taken my teeth out to brush them?
What'd you just say?
B-17G
That's a flying fortress. You like planes?
- You could say I was born to fly. - So was I. That's my picture there.
- So, why did you leave in '47? - Don't you know what happened that year?
Aliens crashed. Humans went bonkers.
Think you could've handled that? I mean,
you had survivors running loose in the streets.
Sounds terrifying.
4 feet tall, silver suits, no hair. Very scary
That's what the crackpots that wrote the books wanted you to believe.
- Look, it's all just a bunch of crazy... - We weren't crazy. We were lied to.
Whatever.
Hey, look, kid.
I'm not one of your hoodlum friends.
You better start showing me a little respect, or i'll kick your ass through this door.
Well, let me save you the effort.
I'm just gonna take this. Then I'll be out of your here, ok?
They have black eyes. Empty. Vacant. Ageless.
You gonna stand there like some slack-jawed simpleton, or do you want to learn something?
You're gonna teach me about aliens?
Ok. let's hear it.
You know, these sissies today that complain about global warming
should have to spend a New Mexico summer on a military base without any air conditioning.
In those days, you could write an invoice without depending on Bill Gates.
Women had curves. Something you could hold on to.
Me, I was a 21-year-old know-it-all.
Well, a little joy-ride that May still had me grounded in a dead-end desk job.
What can I say?
I was nuts about the girl, and she wanted to see Hoover Dam from 3,000 feet.
Carver, get the phone.
So, after 3 years of army cots and cheap cigarettes,
I was gonna do things my way.
Carver, wake up. This isn't kindergarten.
And my way was trouble.
- Hal! - 509th, Carver.
- Is this line secure? - Far as I know..
- There's been a crash. -What? Who?
Don't know, but it's definitely not one of ours.
Excitement in these parts was about as common as pink elephants,
but when Jesse Marcel placed that call, the whole place was buzzing in a heartbeat
Interesting.
Do you always travel with that thing?
Better be safe than sorry.
You know, some people thought maybe it was a glider or a test missile,
but my money was always on the Commies, you know?
Hey, you listening to me?! What's with that hair of yours, anyway?
- The chicks dig it, grandpa. - In my day we wore it high and tight.
You know, classic, respectful.
Really? I thought you said you were all about trouble?
They sent me and Richard Dodie out to the crash site
some 30-odd miles from base.
Dodie and I stopped along the way for a couple of zagnuts.
By the time we got there, the place was buzzing.
Richard was a good guy. He really was.
He was a buddy of mine that worked in the office with me,
but he has a tendency to get his skivvies all up in a bunch.
Next time you need a candy bar,
maybe you could wait until after the mission
I'm telling you, Richie, that gal behind the counter was hot to trot
She gave me 2 zagnuts for the price of one.
- And she's got a sister coming in from... Not interested.
We're talking corn-fed ladies, Richie.
- Holy... - Jimmy Christmas.
Looks too small to be a B-29.
-That's no plane I've ever seen. -Hey! Willie and Joe!
Colonel James Cassidy was the kind of guy that hated guys like me,
and that suited me just fine, because I loved taking on blockheads like him.
A little late to be making yourselves useful, don't you think?
Dodie here was hungry, sir.
- Sir, I, uh... -Stick a cork in it, Dodie.
- What are they collecting, sir? -When that's your business, I'll let you know.
Hey, Colonel! Over here!
All right, check in with Smith, then get down there and help out.
I'll give you "hungry".
- Real funny. - Sure is, Rich.
Risk your can over Frankfurt and Deuren,
emergency land a B-17 in England without putting a scratch on her,
and now they treat us like maids
Orders are orders.
Think it could be experimental aircraft?
Hey, be careful with that!
Get a look at this.
Bet you people would pay good money to see this.
Keep messing around, Hal, and neither one of us is gonna see the inside of a cockpit again.
I'm not taking no for an answer. This is the U.S. Army.
Someone is always in charge.
I live by one simple rule
when it comes to women - a great voice equals great gams.
- Miss Osorio, please, I told you... - These are press credentials from
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, guys.
What am I saying? Fort Worth may as well be Burma to you people.
Who's in charge here?
Colonel, rumor at the local radio station says you folks got yourselves a flying saucer.
Any comment?
This is a restricted area. Get her out of here, Deputy Valenti.
Uh-uh. I have permission to be here. I want some answers. George, snap some shots. Snap some shots! Zrób kilka zdjêæ!
Get the camera.
Hey. Hey! You put one scratch on that lens and I'm billing Uncle Sam.
Now, Deputy!
Welcome back from the war, Colonel.
In case you forgot, we still have the First Amendment here.
Get your hands off me. I said, get your hands off me.
Our senior counter-intelligence agent,
Captain Sheridan Cavitt, was known around the base as Mr. Brain.
So I guess when you're lacking in other assets,
you've got to trump up the one you've got.
Captain.
You see that troop truck?
Take it directly to hangar 20. No stops. No questions.
I don't care if a family of 4 is bleeding on the roadside.
But Roswell needs all the tourists it can get, Captain.
Get another man and head out!
I know the rest. The feds made Marcel the scapegoat.
Blamed the crash on a weather balloon.
And it was all Cavitt's idea if I remember correctly.
That pencil neck. Where did you hear that?
I've been reading UFO magazines since I was 8.
So you want to believe.
You shouldn't smoke.
Look, kid, my doctor says it doesn't make any difference what I do.
Is that why you came back here?
War has a tendency to create an incredible bond between men.
You know what? Some of the best days of my life
were spent right here on this base alongside the boys of the 509th.
So I guess this... is just my last chance to say good-bye.
Do you still fit into yours?
The longer I sit here, the harder it is to think that I could put one on.
Why is that?
'Cause everything I believe that uniform stood for died in '47.
Hey.
A little something from way back when.
You think that reporter's onto something?
She needs an exclusive, plain and simple. Why? Do you think she's onto something?
I didn't until an intelligence officer ordered us to keep our mouths shut
Forget Cavitt.
After Sunday dinner, he probably debriefs his own mother.
I love this country.
What if something's really out there... capable of destroying us?
Destroying everything?
Don't worry, Richie.
You're still gonna get your wife and your white picket fence and your backyard barbecue...
Why are you slowing down?
-What the... - At that moment some strange force seemed to
take control of the truck.
Oh, my God.
Check under the truck!
Hal!
My cousin in the fire department said he saw a crashed disc.
Reverend Deaton's calling it the end of the world.
I say it's just the beginning.
Once these fly-boys leave, we got nothing to keep this town alive.
- But think of the possibilities. Roswell, New Mexico.
-home of the little green men. I wasn't... wasn't seeing things?
- They were glowing, right?
We should have asked what they were.
Before or after Cassidy bawled us out for being 15 minutes late?
Maybe they're waiting to see if they're friendly.
Hell with that.
We should be in the air right now, blasting whatever dropped those things to kingdom come.
This isn't a John Wayne picture.
When it's time to act, they'll tell us.
Your round. I'm going to hit the hay.
2, Pete.
You're one of the guys at the debris field.
You're that little lady who got hauled off by the cops.
No cuff marks on your pretty wrists, I see.
Oh, I prefer the term "police escort". Betty Osorio. Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Hal Carver. No comment.
- How about a drink then? - How about your phone number?
- Hmmm... something tells me you don't call. - Something tells me this time I will.
At the field you were given a special assignment. What was in the truck?
Sweetheart, you just had to go and ruin our fun.
Wait, what were you saying about blowing something to kingdom come?
I can't tell you about that, because if I did
...then they'd have to kill you.
What the hell are you doing talking to that reporter?
She was looking for a free drink, Cavitt. When she realized I wasn't buying, she moved on.
The press can't be trusted. They ruined Major Marcel's
in less than a day.
Well, in case you didn't hear,
Marcel told the world he found a flying saucer.
Correction - a weather balloon. Keep away from her.
Go find a dame to bother, Cavitt
Around this time I had this girl I used to go with,
only she wasn't a girl. She was a woman.
Rosemary had been widowed once and divorced twice... all before her 25th birthday,
and our relationship was simple pleasure.
The cabaret girls in Nice do that.
I guess it's not the only thing we do in common.
You left your socks here.
They're not mine.
Well.
- So you want to hear about my day? - Absolutely not.
That's my girl.
Get on outta here!
Would you like some fries with that shake?
- Give me another one, sweet cheeks. - That'll be your third banana split, sir.
What are you, the dairy police? We're in the middle of a story here.
Oh, yeah, I'm not the one sitting next to an ancient gastrointestinal tract, pally.
- Get the check. I'll tell you the rest later. - You're gonna be at the reunion later.
To tell you the truth, kid, I don't know if I want to go anymore.
The day's young. We'll go hit some of your old haunts.
Well, you got wheels?
I need a favor.
First off, phone protocol works like this. Ready? Messenger leaves message.
Then messengee calls back unless messengee is
deathly ill,grounded, or just a jerk.
- Look, I came in here because... - I would like to think that I've been patient,
the epitome of restraint
...but for God's sake, Michael, she's not even a real blonde.
Who?
Let me set the scene for you, all right? You.
You. Courtney.
The dark alley back there. Me controlling the urge to spew.
Look, this whole jealousy thing is getting a little tired.
Just accept the fact that I'm an alien.
You're human. Our lives do not mix.
you made the exception for bottle job and old man river out there.
Ok, that man out there knows stuff about the '47 crash.
-All right? Stuff specific to me. Ok.
So I want to take him around. I want to jog his memory,and to do that,
and to do that, I need the Jetta.
I'm sorry.
When humans need rides, they take Jettas.
And when aliens need rides, they take spaceships.
Oh! Find one.
Hey, Maria
hanging out with this guy is gonna help him a lot more than it's gonna help me.
Can't you just make an old guy's day?
You know what?
I am only doing this because I forever regretted not
saying good-bye to Breepa De Luca before he died.
Put lunch on my tab, and don't forget the senior discount.
Jerk!
Morning, Captain.
You sure you want to meet here, Miss Osorio?
Because the hotel coffee shop across the street serves a swell cherry danish.
We're right over here.
Hal Carver, this is Yvonne White. She's a nurse at the base.
Thanks for meeting me.
What is this?
Yvonne came to me
because she saw things, things she can't explain.
-So I thought between the two of you... - I'm sorry, ma'am.
It was very nice to meet you, but I can't stay.
Don't call me again.
- Just hear her out - I came here
because I thought this was a date.
Carver, I'm flattered, but would you just see
if your stories match?
Why don't you write this in that notepad of yours? It was a weather balloon.
You don't believe that.
And if extraterrestrials landed in Roswell, Americans have the right to know.
You're not patriotic. You are just hard up for a front-page headline.
That is no way to speak to a lady.
Well, you point one out and I'll watch my language.
Babe, you wouldn't believe...
- Jim. - Hal.
Were the socks his?
The military police were here.
Deputy Valenti was helping me clean up.
I tried calling you at the base, but the switchboard was busy.
Hi, Hal.
Hal!
Why were MPs at my girlfriend's house?
Sorry, sir. I couldn't stop him.
- It's ok, Dixie. Shut the door. - Yes, sir.
She is a civilian, Colonel.
Captain, you might want to think about dropping that tone.
Where have you been all morning? Parker's doesn't serve until 11am.
- So now you're following me?
- You were told to stay away from that reporter. - That's a violation of my rights!
Do you realize
how many first lieutenants are just waiting to slide into the cockpits of B-29s?
You want to get back in the air?
Then you will shut up, stay on base, and finish out your suspension in a compliant manner! Are we clear?!
- Yes, sir. - Are we clear?!
Yes, sir!
Telegrams and letters
have to be sent to the families of 2 privates - Fifer and McCarthy.
They were killed this morning in a jeep accident. Here are the details.
You handle it. Dismissed.
Operator. Yvonne white. Women's barracks.
- Hello? - Yvonne, it's Hal Carver from earlier today.
Maybe we should talk without that damn reporter around.
I can't. I've been transferred to London. I'm catching a bus to the airport tonight.
Wait there.
Two cadavers just like this.
Who was running the show?
Doctors I'd never seen before. They pulled me in to help with the autopsy.
There's no way these things were even mammal.
The epidermis, hands, organs - they were nothing I'd ever seen.
No one would tell you what you saw?
Afterwards some
high-ranking general from Wright Field debriefed me.
He said I couldn't talk about it.
Why did you call betty?
She wanted to listen.
I can't sleep, Captain.
I want to get as far away from Roswell as possible... to try and forget I was ever here.
Good luck, then
Where's the girl? The nurse that was here?
There's no nurse here, pal.
Well, look what the cat dragged in.
Listen, Dixie, how could I locate a troop transport plane going to London?
Look, whatever you're after, I think you should drop it.
People are saying you got a screw loose, Hal, and I know the Colonel agrees.
I'm just trying to make sure someone is ok.
Perhaps you should just take care of yourself.
Thanks for the heads up, sweetheart.
Maybe if you're free sometime, we could go see Hoover Dam again.
Oh, I'm late for my hair appointment. These curls, they don't happen by magic, you know
- At ease.. - Yes, sir.
I'm part of the recovery team that brought the truck to this location.
Colonel Cassidy has requested a follow-up report.
Thank you, Captain. Carry on.
- What's going on, Hal? - Just a little inventory for Cassidy.
I'm sorry. This area's off-limits without proper security clearance.
Which you seem to have.
- The assignment landed in my lap, ok? - Then let me take a look.
There's nothing to see.
Richie, every person on this base,
every radio station and newspaper says this whole thing is because of a downed weather balloon.
You and I both know better.
- Now, I've seen the classified reports. And they prove... - You have to leave.
What are you more afraid of? What you know or what they're keeping from you?
I can't go down that road with you, Hal. I'm sorry.
Just let me do my job.
Captain Carver's done here.
Obviously someone had gotten to Dodie, so I decided to talk to that reporter after all.
Sorry I was late.
- That damned thing has a mind of its own. I could take a look.
Already fixed it. Cars are like men, Carver.
Give their cable a little jiggle and they'll be fine 'til morning.
I didn't know you were so handy, Osorio.
- What have you got for me? -You go first.
Glenn Dennis at Ballard's funeral home contacted me with an interesting tip.
Seems a base mortician called and requested child-size coffins.
- For what? -To bury things. Your turn.
Colonel Cassidy asked me to draft death notice memos for 2 privates who he claimed
died in a jeep accident.
What really happened?
Those kids were at the debris site when they stumbled on 2 sacs 6 feet or so in diameter.
Before they could notify a commanding officer, something came upon them.
Now, one witness says it was 2 figures glowing white.
The men tried to pull their guns. There was a blinding light.
Aliens killed them?
My brother was shot down over Manila Bay. I watched my mother open that telegram.
Those privates deserved more. Their families deserve the truth.
It's all in here.
Are you willing to go on the record? I need to know.
After this story runs, you'll either be a hero or a traitor.
You can run fast,
but time always has a way of catching up.
My friend had one in her car.
- She's a little bit of a drinker. - That firecracker from the diner?
- Yeah. -Are you two going steady?
- No. It's nothing. I mean, well, I mean ... whatever there was, it's over.
Not from where I was sitting.
You know, I'd... um, I'd never been in love before, but
...but on that night beneath the stars and with that woman ... and with all that we knew
...I should have kissed her then.
- Why? What happened to Betty? - Got another beer?
Tough day following orders?
I'm a coward, Hal. Don't rub it in.
- You're drunk. - And don't expect any more than that from me.
What's wrong, Richie?
You were right.
I saw stuff.
I heard... what their plans were.
I... I was a good soldier. I went along with it.
I'm not... I'm not proud of myself.
Makes you wonder if I'm on the right side.
Are we on the right side, Hal?
It's gonna be ok. I've got friends.
We've got people who want to know the truth just as much as we do.
And by tomorrow the world will be one step closer to it.
By tomorrow?
Check the morning paper. It'll all be there.
Now you want a ride home?
All right, then.
Well done, Captain.
Don't touch me.
That morning was like any other.
Too much like any other. The story was never printed.
- Fort Worth Star - Telegram. - Yes. I need to speak to Betty Osorio.
One moment. I'm sorry.
Miss Osorio isn't in. Would you care to leave a message?
No. No, thank you.
-Where's Cassidy? I'm holding down the fort.
Did you know about this? Huh, did you?!
- It was a classified information... - You sold me out!
- I had orders! I didn't have a choice - Well, thanks for being such a pal, Dick.
Sign the letter, Hal, and make this easy. Pack your things. Take the honorable discharge.
You will have to drag me off this base.
You always were a punk, Carver.
Why couldn't you be a lazy, self-centered, son of a bitch this time?
A lot of people are very, very, upset.
They wanted to get rid of you, but I convinced them to treat you like one of us.
SigSign the resignation, Hal, or they're gonna change their minds and take it one step further.
I hope you enjoy your white picket fences, Richie...
cause you sure as hell earned it
The usual, Pete.
Hey, Carver. Something came for you today.
You gonna start using my place as an address, I'm gonna start charging you rent for that stool.
- Hello? - Betty.
- Uh... this is her sister. -Oh, may I speak with Betty?
Betty's dead.
It was a car accident yesterday off Highway 70. Uh, who is this?
Nothing... I'm sorry.
Have you ever heard the sound a mother bear makes
when anything gets between her and her cubs? It's something to be afraid of.
It's something to be afraid of.
Now at that moment, though, I realized I'd been afraid of the wrong thing.
It wasn't us they wanted.
Save them.
Hey!
- Wanna try? -What did you see? What was in those sacs?
I never planned on telling this much of the story, kid. I never have.
Please.
They looked like human fetuses.
There was 4 to a sac. 8 total.
That night, I packed my things and never came back.
The base was on full alert. There was no way anybody or anything else could have escaped...
and that's the story of Hal Carver.
The only time I ever stuck my neck out to save anything ... and it all went to hell.
You saved me.
- Have you seen Max? - Oh, Michael. Um, no.
He said something about stopping by the Crashdown later.
- You ok? - Me? Yeah. Sure. Why?
Well, the whole Congresswoman Whitaker thing. We'll work it out.
- Yeah, I know. - And, uh, and this morning
yeah... I'm sorry.
Thank you.
- Did Max ask you to do that? - What?
- The whole being nice thing. - No. I came up with it myself.
I like it.
Meet the reason I haven't been returning your phone calls.
My God. What is it?
I don't know
but eventually I'm hoping we can find out.
"We?" You didn't even choke on that.
Well, today I had a little history lesson, and here's the thing
I owe more to you than I can imagine.
To Liz, Alex, Valenti,
to some old guy named Hal who lives in Tampa and plays shuffleboard.
I never realized it ... so here it is.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
What's wrong?
You know those pods that housed Max, Isabel, Tess, and me?
Yeah, before you were born?
Well, there's another set of them, and they're somewhere out there.