Light Years Apart

1. FADE IN

2. 
   

3. Act 1

4. 
   

5. INT. LIVING ROOM - 11:45

6. 
   

7. Sunlight slants through the curtains. The hum of the city filters in from outside. PETER sits beside his WIFE on the sofa.

8. 
   

9. WIFE: There's a 12:30 film. At the mall cinema nearby...

10. 
    

11. PETER: Can I join you?

12. 
    

13. WIFE: It's a Hong Kong film about UFO...

14. 
    

15. PETER: UFO?

16. 
    

17. WIFE: I'm curious about the film's success in Hong Kong...

18. 
    

19. PETER: Curiosity is fine. Let me keep you company.

20. 
    

21. WIFE: You won't buy it....

22. 
    

23. PETER: I'll buy the tickets.

24. 
    

25. Act 2

26. 
    

27. INT. CINEMA - 13:30

28. 
    

29. Peter and his wife are among the AUDIENCE.

30. 
    

31. On screen, the film shows a group of children characters pointing at the night sky.

32. 
    

33. PETER (V.O.): The sky is quiet not because no one is out there. But because even if someone shouted the moment Earth was born, the voice would still be light years apart from reaching us.

34. 
    

35. On screen, the film shows a UFO - glowing disc - hovering over Wah Fu Estate, being witnessed by the children characters.

36. 
    

37. PETER (V.O.): A UFO crosses from another galaxy? Galaxies are light years apart. It isn't a challenge. It's a fact.

38. 
    

39. On screen, the film shows the children testifying their UFO sighting.

40. 
    

41. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The film shows it's a fact, not their imagination.

42. 
    

43. Peter suppresses a sigh.

44. 
    

45. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Some people talk about UFOs like they're given. But there're necessary conditions...

46. 
    

47. Pausing.

48. 
    

49. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): First: the habitable zone. Not too hot, not too cold. Liquid water. Stable star. That already rules out most planets.

51. Pausing.

52. 
    

53. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Second: life. Not just molecules, self-replicating, evolving life. We've one example: Earth. It took hundred of million years just to get bacteria. To jump to complex life? Another two billion years.

54. 
    

55. Pausing.

56. 
    

57. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Third: intelligent life. Not every living thing becomes smart. Dinosaurs ruled for 165 million years. No spaceships.

58. 
    

59. Pausing.

60. 
    

61. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Fourth: technological competence. Civilization can be intelligent but never invent the wheel. Or they burn their planet.

62. 
    

63. Pausing.

64. 
    

65. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Habitable zone planets: rare. Life on them: rarer. Intelligent life: rarer still. Technological civilization that doesn't destroy itself and decides to travel across galaxies?

66. 
    

67. Later, the film ends. Peter and his wife stand. Peter stretches.

68. 
    

69. INT. MALL - 14:40

70. 
    

71. Peter and his wife walk side by side.

72. 
    

73. PETER: They never once addressed the vastness of spacetime. Even at light speed, the nearest galaxy is 2.5 million light years away.

74. 
    

75. Pausing.

76. 
    

77. PETER (Cont'd): Evolution on another planet wouldn't sync with ours.

78. 
    

79. Pausing.

80. 
    

81. PETER (Cont'd): And multiverses? If they exist, the distances become meaningless - each universe isolated. No visitation. Ever.

82. 
    

83. WIFE: You've stopped imagining...You've traded wonder for data.

84. 
    

85. PETER: No. I've traded false wonder for real understanding. Imagination without physics isn't curiosity - it's wilful ignorance.

87. Peter and his wife argue passionately.

88. 
    

89. PETER (Cont'd): And ignorance kills one's ability to investigate. One should ask better questions.

90. 
    

91. They remain affectionate.

92. 
    

93. PETER (Cont'd): What I'm saying is this: one needs a disciplined, evidence-based framework (like physics) to separate genuine mystery from simple misunderstanding.

94. 
    

95. They arrive at an exit.

96. 
    

97. WIFE: I need to apply for an international driving licence...

98. 
    

99. PETER: My routine has changed today. I'll have afternoon tea first, then go swimming.

100. 
     

101. Act 3

102. 
     

103. INT. LIVING ROOM - 22:00

104. 
     

105. Peter uploads an image to a draft on his laptop. It shows a deep-blue sky with glowing light - show constellations made of star-shaped decorations.

106. 
     

107. PETER (V.O.): Even if the aliens launched their UFO the day the dinasaurs died, they'd still be light years away from shaking a human hand.

108. 
     

109. Thinking.

110. 
     

111. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I'm not anti-imagination. I'm anti-false imagination. Real wonder comes not from abandoning physics, but demanding that mystery meet the test of evidence.

112. 
     

113. Reflecting.

114. 
     

115. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Imagination without physics drifts. Physics without imagination freezes. A good marriage - like good science - needs both.

116. 
     

117. The END

118. 
     

119. FADE OUT