dr. arroway, i presume.
once upon a time i was a hell of an engineer. please, sit, doctor. i have guests so rarely, it's important to me they feel welcome in my home. did you know this was once yeltsin's flying dascha? that dent is where he threw a bottle of vodka at the pilot. at least that's what the people who sold me the plane said.
i find it convenient to keep my interests.  mobile. anyway, i've had my fill of life on the ground. after spending much of this century pursuing the evils and pleasures the world has to offer -- after outliving three wives and two children.  i find i've had quite enough of planet earth.
the infamous, unfashionable bluntness. you're here so we can do business. i want to make a deal.
the powers that be have been quite busy lately, falling over each other to position themselves for the game of the century, if not the millennium. perhaps you've noticed. perhaps i could help deal you back in.
oh, maybe not out -- but definitely looking for you coat. i understand you've had some difficulty locating the -- what are you calling it? the 'primer' that will make decryption possible.  i've found it.
i've had a long time to make enemies, dr. arroway. there are many governments, business interests, even religious leaders who would like to see me disappear. and i will grant them their wish soon enough.  but before i do, i wish to make a small contribution -- a final gesture of goodwill toward the people of this little planet who've given -- from whom i've taken so much.
that's my girl.  lights.
forgive the theatrics, it's a weakness.
page after page of data -- over sixty-three thousand in all, if i'm not mistaken.  and at the end of each.
not if you think like a vegan.
-- even if he doesn't receive the entire transmission. heaven is the mustard seed.
you'll like this part. a little flashy.
very good, doctor. i've also detected structural elements, back references, a general movement from the simple to the complex -- all of which would seem to indicate instructions -- an enormously complicated set of instructions -- for building something.
that would seem to be the question of the hour. i want to build it, doctor. of course i'm already lobbying through the usual channels of influence and corruption -- but as i said, my colorful past has made many of those channels.  difficult to navigate. i need someone on the inside.
in return.  you get the primer -- and with it the power to stay in the game. do we have a deal?
that's my girl. done.
a sunrise and a sunset every forty- five minutes.
poor, tired, spinning girl.  how we feasted on her. and now that we've had our fill and given her a giant dose of the clap.  we're pulling out. that's paris, where my daughter was born. moscow, where gangsters rule the night and i gave up smoking. so many battles, so many lives.  all that sturm, and drang. as if it never happened. if it weren't for a few power grids, you wouldn't know we existed.
japanese squid fleet. they use lights to attract them to the surface.  then turn them into sushi.
yes. a shame. still.  it'd be worse if they died for nothing.
oh, not quite yet. at least for their sake.  .  i hope it's not. because they're running out of time.
i think whoever sent the message did it because they're worried about us.
wouldn't you if you saw hitler on tv? come; i want to show you something.
hokkaido island.
mmm. look closer.
as each component was tested and shipped off to texas a duplicate was maintained and assembled in hokkaido -- for backup purposes, of course. we've been right behind you the entire time. you see my problem: i couldn't appear to control too large a percentage; my enemies wouldn't stand for it. so i simply made sure the japanese consortium received the systems integration contract. of course no one had to know the corporations involved were recently acquired, wholly-owned subsidiaries --
want to take a ride?
can't. doctor's orders. the low oxygen. zero gravity environment is the only thing keeping the cancer from eating me alive. it's all right -- i like it here. ever try sex in zero-g?
one more thing, doctor. if you do meet these vegans? ask them if we have to die.