FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. STUDY - NIGHT
PETER is watching TV breaking news.
PETER (V.O.): Oh, Russia may approve a COVID-19 vaccine on or before August 10, 2020?
As Peter reads the subtitle on the screen carefully, we hear:...Sputnik moment....
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What an analogy!
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I didn't know that Sputnik-1 was the world's 1st artificial earth satellite until I began studying Space Law in 1986.
Peter surfs the web.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Sputnik-1 was launched on Oct 4, 1957.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It was an unanticipated success outside of Russia.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): While the mainstream media are reporting of Phase III clinical trials of a number of candidate vaccines that might be approved in months under Operation Warp Speed, Russia is saying that its COVID-19 vaccine may be approved in days.
Act 2
INT. STUDY - DAY
The TV is reporting a story. We hear: ...this is the moment of humanity...as Peter surfs the web.
PETER (V.O.): The Space Race period was from 1955-1975. Both US and the Soviet Union had space programs. They announced in 1955 that they would launch artificial earth satellite in space.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The rest was history. In 1975, their astronauts shook hands in space.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): How fast is Warp speed actually?
Peter surfs the web.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's origin is fictional. It's the idea of faster-than-light travel.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): In reality, it's the US project to deliver 300 million doses of safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 by Jan 2021, in US.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Well, the concept and the action plan raise the public's expectation to the peak.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Upon hearing the Russian COVID-19 latest development, would US citizens fall into the trough of disillusionment?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): More than 150,000 people in US have died because of COVID-19. And each day, over 1000 US families are losing a family member.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): How can Russia achieve its Sputnik moment in coronavirus vaccine research and development?
Reading.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): The Russian candidate vaccine is a modified version of one already created to treat other diseases.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): That's a common approach to make something out of something quick.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): In Russia, its soldiers volunteered for clinical trials. And the director of the project has also injected himself with the vaccine.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The candidate vaccine's Phase II - not Phase III - clinical trial will complete in days, and it is expected that approval for general use will follow.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): That's cutting corners.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Still, Russia has to produce and distribute the approved vaccine in due course. The uptake of the approved vaccine shouldn't be a problem though.
Awakening.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): For those outside of Russia, like those without space capabilities in the old days, the vaccine development is quite irrelevant.
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's a shame that Hong Kong, China, has no capacity to join the COVID--19 vaccine race.
EXT. ROAD - DAY
PETER is a passenger in his WIFE car. Peter sees some precast concrete manhole rings deposited in a compound and takes a photo of them.
PETER (V.O.): Hong Kong, China, doesn't have any rocket science either. I've to imagine these concrete rings as rocket boosters.
Peter sighs.
Act 3
INT. STUDY - NIGHT
Peter is watching TV news.
PETER (V.O.): Instead of entrenching in politics, will people in Hong Kong, China redouble their efforts to catch up on science and technology?
FLASHBACK
INT. STUDY - DAY
Facing his iPad Mini, Peter is speaking to the screen.
END FLASHBACK.
PETER (V.O.) : As a council member of HKUST, I do contribute my level best, even though I wasn't formally trained in the disciplines.
PETER (V.O.): Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Prevention is better than approximate cure. For the moment, what we can do is to adhere to the stricter public controls.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): As the government has fixed the control loopholes, the number of imported and local cases will be plateauing.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If the worst comes to the worst, Hong Kong, China, still has its motherland to rely on.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Meanwhile, I don't wait for my Sputnik moment. I have had a half-day out, enjoying little-big things in life.
THE END
FADE OUT.
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