Cooper watches with the rest of the crew as Case pulls up the holographical maps for their journey.
Brand steps into the back of the room. Cooper notices her and nods. She ignores him.
CASE
We've updated our mission parameters based on the data from the probe.
Case switches the map to a vista filled with stars and black holes.
CASE (CONT'D)
Based on our latest modelling we think the region on the far side of the wormhole is the center of a galaxy.
Case zooms in on the center of the hologram: an incredibly bright mass with plasma jets firing off in either direction.
COOPER
Is that a star?
ROTH, 50s, the crew's brilliant and blunt physicist, zooms the map in, revealing, at the center, a black heart.
46.
ROTH
in the region, but this is the largest -- a billion times heavier than the
sun. I call it Gargantua.
(SMILES)
Beautiful, isn't it? It's a shame we won't get to see it up close.
DOYLE (LAUGHS)
You'd like that, wouldn't you, Roth? Falling into a massive black hole.
ROTH (SHRUGS)
It would answer a great deal of questions I've had.
Case continues. Doyle leans over to Cooper, conspiratorially.
DOYLE (LOW)
Don't worry about Roth. He's nuts. But Case says that means he's ideally suited for space travel.
Case repositions the map near a much smaller black hole that is orbiting Gargantua.
CASE
We're headed for this smaller black hole. Roth calls it Pantagruel. We think the ice planet is here-
Case draws a finger through the air, leaving a red trail. He traces the trajectory their ship will take.
CASE (CONT'D)
We exit the wormhole here. And we slingshot around Pantagruel to reach the ice planet. This is the period in which we'll lose time.
COOPER
Lose time?
Roth shifts the hologram -- the stars and black holes flatten onto a sheet that bends, revealing the curvature of gravity.
ROTH
High speed or high gravity both slow down time, relative to earth.
(MORE) 47.
ROTH (CONT'D)
The trip around the black hole will take us only a few days. But far more time will be passing back home.
The ship's trajectory cuts through the deep gravity well of the smaller black hole to reach the ice planet.
COOPER
How much time?
ROTH
Based on the information from the probe -- as much as five years.
Doyle looks at the tiny ship's trajectory, threaded between two black holes. He looks worried.
DOYLE
I still think we're making a lot of assumptions. About the wormhole. About the planet.
(points to map)
The critical orbit here is incredibly dangerous. It's like walking on the rim of the volcano.
(BEAT)
Too fast and we get thrown off at close to the speed of light. Too slow and we get pulled into the hole and crushed.
BRAND
As long as we're careful, we'll make it.
DOYLE
How do you know that?
BRAND
I find it hard to believe that someone would build a wormhole to a planet with water and oxygen just to lead us to a dead end.
DOYLE
I thought you were a scientist, Brand. That sounds more like a hypothesis.
BRAND
A guess. That's right. We don't have time to wait for conclusive proof.
(MORE) 48.
BRAND (CONT'D)
My guess is that the wormhole is there because someone is trying to help us. The same way we used to try to help animals when they were threatened with extinction.
COOPER
Sure. Till we ran out of food and ate all of them.
BRAND (ANNOYED)
I guess I'm also assuming that whoever built the wormhole has a better plan than we did. If I'm wrong, we'll die, same as we'd die here anyway.
DOYLE
What do you think, Roth?
Roth leans forward, studying the map.
ROTH
If we're guessing, then I'd say Brand's right. The wormhole couldn't exist naturally. I think it's there for a reason. That someone is trying to help us.
Brand looks satisfied.
DOYLE
So you think we'll have no problem navigating between two massive black holes to a tiny planet?
ROTH
I think we'll probably be killed. (off his look)
I said I thought there was a plan. Not that the plan was for us to find a planet like Earth to save a handful of people.
(SHAKES HEAD)
Birds don't learn to fly just so that they can find another egg and crawl back into it.
DOYLE
If that's not the plan, then what are we supposed to be doing out there?
49.
ROTH (SHRUGS)
To keep moving. Seeking. Learning. But I don't know.
(SMILES)
We don't understand how they built the wormhole. What makes you think we could understand their plan, either?
Doyle gives up -- Roth is impossible.
Cooper looks at the tiny ship tracing an improbable route towards the ice planet. What has he gotten himself into?
INT. MACHINE SHOP, UNDERGROUND FACILITY -- DAY
Brand's Father is sitting at a desk, examining the corrupted data on the probe. Tars is helping him.
Brand's Father looks up from the screen as Cooper walks up.
BRAND'S FATHER
Tars here needs to be disassembled. I figured you could do the honors.
COOPER
(to Tars, sarcastic)
I thought I was going to get to enjoy your company all the way to Mars.
Tars hands him a plastic waterproof case.
TARS
You will. My chassis is too heavy for the rocket stage. They have another one waiting for me in orbit.
Tars turns his back to Cooper. Two flaps on the back of his torso slide open, revealing his control module.
TARS (CONT'D)
If you try to turn me into a combine harvester, I'm going to--
His voice cuts out as Cooper removes the chip and seals it in the briefcase.
on the probe's memory. Cooper watches.
BRAND'S FATHER
It's noise. I know it's noise. But it looks too orderly. Probably just an old man seeing things.
50.
He shuts down the monitor.