small moves, captain, small moves.
try again between the static and 'hey jude'; that's where they're hiding.
talk to him.
just be yourself, captain. find out where he is.
give you a hint: orange juice.
on that old shortwave? maybe on a clear night. come on now, under the covers.
big enough radio, i don't see why not.
mmm, that's a good one. maybe his echo.  okay, no more stalling.
that's a beauty, captain. now get some sleep.
well let's see.  the universe is a pretty big place.  and the one thing i know about nature is it hates to waste anything. so i guess i'd say if it is just us, an awful lot of space is going to waste.
time to sleep now, captain. but you can ask more questions in the morning, okay?
morning, captain.
i've missed you.
it's okay.
i'm sorry i couldn't be there for you, sweetheart.
that's my scientist.
am i artifact or dream? you might ask that about anything.
we thought this might make things a little easier.
 although this is nice too.
originally just another species like yourselves. well, not like you at all actually, but.
small moves, captain, small moves.
you contacted us. we were simply listening. we've been listening for millions of years.
many others.
oh, we didn't build it. the transit system has been in place for billions of years; we're just its.  caretakers.
we don't know. whoever they were, they were gone long before we ever got here.
not all. some choose to stay at home and dream their dreams. some never make it this far.
you have your mother's hands.  there are no tests, ellie. we don't sit in judgment. think of us more as.  librarians. curators of the universe's rarest and most valuable creation.
as many civilizations as we've found, compared to the vastness of space.
 life is unspeakably rare. so whenever we do find another civilization, especially one that's.  struggling.  we send a message. sometimes we can offer help. sometimes we can't. but we always try. life is simply too precious not to.
you're an interesting species; an interesting mix. capable of such exquisite dreams; such horrifying nightmares. technologically you've advanced very quickly -- some think too quickly.  and yet.
you're so lost. so cut off.  and so sad.
we are alone. for millions of years we've searched the cosmos.  and after all the suffering, after all the chaos and desolation of the void -- the one thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other. that's why i sent the message. that's why i made contact.
am i one.  or many?
you always have been. we're all descendants of the same stars, ellie. all made of the same primordial atoms.
now.  you go home.
if we don't engineer a consistent causality it'll work itself out on its own, and that's almost always worse. ellie, according to your physics none of this is possible. a lot of it you're simply not capable of understanding, not yet. no offense.
eventually you'll get here on your own. this was just the first step; in time you'll take another.
that isn't the way it works.
no more stalling, captain.
ellie.  this is the way it's been done for billions of years.
 but we'll consider your request.
it's time to go home now.
childhood is over, ellie. it's time to grow up.