Deep Impact

1.567 makes it eight degrees north.

Altair, Alpha Centauri and Sirius.

Matt Shepherd?

It's just a party, and he asked me.

- He's really nice. - Yeah, to you, maybe.

You guys getting some good work done over here?

- Yeah. - Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Sounds like it.

What's the bright one?

Mizar. It's a double star.

Good. The one next to it?

- Alcor. - Good, Biederman.

And the one next to that?

- I don't know. - It's Megrez.

- I don't think so. - Well, you just said you didn't know.

Well, it's not Megrez. It's something else.

Look.

It's south, about 10 degrees.

It's probably a satellite.

Let's take another picture. We'll send it to Dr. Wolf.

Yes, sir.

- It's Megrez. - It's not Megrez.

- It is. - It's not.

It is.

Well, hello there, little fella.

Do I know you?

Where are you going in such a hurry?

And there.

Come on.

Damn it.

Biederman.

Come on, you miserable piece of crap.

Come on, come on.

You have reached the Department of Planetary Sciences.

If you know the extension of the person you're calling...

Jesus!

Damn it!

News relating to the recall of American troops from abroad.

Tragedy struck today as a charter aircraft

carrying an Army unit returning from duty in Japan crashed this morning...

The White House press office says Secretary of the Treasury Rittenhouse

is resigning because his wife is sick.

Sick, my ass.

So, who passed Rittenhouse the hemlock?

AFL-CIO wanted him off the Council of Economic Advisers

for not supporting the pension bill,

and the President's going to need Labor next fall.

And State's still fuming about the Trade Office screw-up at the G8.

Pentagon is unhappy with his readiness reduction proposals.

- Greenspan dislikes him. - Christ! Who didn't this guy piss off?

- No wonder the wife's sick. - She's not sick. She's a drunk.

How do you know that?

Mike Woodward over at Treasury.

Mrs. Rittenhouse started drinking a couple of years ago

when her husband had a series of affairs.

Stepped it up last summer after their son died of leukemia.

You wanna do something on "the price that wives pay"?

- What else? - Mike Woodward?

- Wife, three kids? - He's been after me for months,

so I threw him a breakfast and hit him up about Rittenhouse.

Bob Campbell's leaving.

So at midnight Saturday, anchor shift's opening up.

Why would I wanna give up the White House for a graveyard weekend?

No, no, no. Not for you. For me.

- No. - Beth.

We'll talk about this later. Very calm.

The President will be back from Camp David tomorrow.

- Business news, lra? - Beth.

You know what? Just keep working on Rittenhouse.

Maybe Mike's available for dinner.

You know, do the usual research, background information.

- I'll talk to you about it after lunch. - Okay. That's it!

Beth, wait.

- Listen, Beth, what if it wasn't... - God, Jenny.

- ...permanent? - Look, honey, this is how it works.

You've done two years of research. Now do three as a segment producer,

five on-air doing domestic features,

another two in some cholera-ridden hellhole,

and then, you know what?

I'll quit if they don't give you a weekend anchor shot.

Hello, Caitlin, there you are.

Are you protecting me or just holding me back?

- Yes. - Okay.

Rittenhouse tape and text on my desk by 4:00 tomorrow.

- Yes. - Then we'll drop in the reverses

- for the five. - Okay.

So at this moment right now...

Thank you. The pretty little girls are walking down the aisle.

They're spreading flowers.

- The twins, what are their names? - Emma and Susanna.

They're walking down the aisles and they're dropping rose petals,

- and everyone's smiling at them. - Mother, is this really such a good idea?

- Now she's walking down the aisle. Yes. - Okay.

And she stands beside him. And the priest says, "Dearly beloved..."

- Judge. - And the judge says...

...sickness and health... "Do you, Jason Lerner, take..."

"...Chlorine Whatchamacallit?"

- Mom! - What?

- Chloe. - What did I say?

You said... You said, "Chlorine." Her name's Chloe.

- Well, it's still a terrible name. - Yeah.

And Jason says, "Lie, lie, lie, lie, till death do us part."

And she says, "Yes," and he says, "Yes,"

and it's kissy, kissy, kissy and congratulations.

Jenny, you now have a new stepmother who is two years older than you.

Check.

Well, anyway, as much as I would like to stay here and get silly with you, Mom,

- I can't. I gotta go. - I know, I know, I know.

I'm sorry about this.

We'll get over it. I love you.

I love you, too.

Be good.

I was with the secretary since he's been governor of Connecticut.

Came to Washington with him.

I moved here because I was dedicated to his career.

I trusted the man.

And then he fucked me.

- He what? - No, I didn't have sex with him.

I should say, I didn't have sex with him, but somebody sure did.

It was about to come out, so he resigned.

But because I was hired from outside the government pool,

I don't get conveyed to the next secretary, so now I'm out a job.

Because he couldn't keep his hands off women.

- Do you have proof? - He thinks he was being so clever.

He had a private phone line installed in his office.

Nobody else could answer it.

I picked it up once, said hello, and it's nobody home.

It rings, he shuts the door. Why not hang a sign?

Do you have a name?

This is what I get for talking to the press.

I'm selling my soul right now. I can feel it. I can feel it.

I name a name and get someone into trouble.

So you do have a name.

Just a first name. Oh, my God, I'm going to say it.

Ellie.

Ellie? Nothing else?

I think the President knows about it, too.

Overheard the secretary talking to him about her.

Isn't Washington sick?

Hi.

How you doing?

Can I help you?

Well, actually, we're looking for your mom. Is she around?

My mom's sick. She's not here.

Gosh, I love boats. Are you going on a trip?

Yeah.

That's exciting. Looks like a...

Like a long trip, huh?

So listen, do you know where you're going?

She's going back to the house.

Hey. You wanna stop that?

Lily, please?

Lily, that's a pretty name.

Lily, do as I say.

Go on. I'll be right there.

If we could just get a minute of your time.

What do you want from me?

Well, we'd like to talk about your resignation.

My wife is sick. She's in the hospital.

That's why I resigned. Everybody knows this.

We could talk about your wife, or we could just talk about Ellie.

Turn the camera off.

If you wanna talk to me, turn it off.

Cut it.

- We know everything. - Nobody knows everything.

Well, we know about the secret phone lines

and the whispered calls to the President.

And about a secretary of the Treasury who's kept his entire department

in the dark about what he's really doing, about a cover story

about his resignation that just fell through.

I mean, sir, you want me to go on?

And you're just gonna break it?

Well, that's what we do for a living.

Well, congratulations.

You now have the biggest story in history.

Good luck to you.

Personally, I think it's a mistake to run the story,

but, hey, what the hell?

Why not?

What difference does anything make anymore?

Look.

I know you're just a reporter,

but you used to be a person, right?

I wanted to be with my family.

Can you understand that?

Okay, Secretary of the Treasury Alan Rittenhouse resigns

because of a mistress named Ellie.

Biggest story in history?

What an ego.

Now, if it was the President...

Okay, the President has a mistress named Ellie,

and Rittenhouse pretends that he's having the affair

and takes the fall and resigns, and the President buys him a yacht?

Son of a bitch!

Shit. Shit.

What? Okay, okay!

God. No, God.

FBI. if you would please, ma'am?

- What do I do with the car? - We'll take care of the car.

Just step back to my car.