Kuteishchikova, what do
a horse and a cow have to do with it?
We're having a space meeting.
I understand, Kozelkov.
Sereda suggests that
we look for inhabited planets
in far-away constellations,
while people are doing everything
to turn our planet
into an inhabited one.
Kuteishchikova.
I mean that people should
put all their effort into
preserving the vanishing
species of animals on the Earth.
I think it would be wiser
if Sereda thought about that,
instead of wasting time on
inventing stupid relativistic engines.
That's all I wanted to say.
The bison are extinct.
The dinosaurs are extinct.
Time will come when we
become extinct, too.
You may go extinct, but
I have no plans to for the time being.
Why me?
I didn't mean that.
But why, comrade Filatov,
fly to Cassiopeia
when we have Martians on our earth?
- Martians?
- Sure.
It's written right here
how they caught a Martian.
To disguise himself, he was
selling sodas in Moscow.
Don't believe everything
that is being written.
Especially in sci-fi literature.
How did you arrive at 52 years?
I allowed for the time of acceleration...
Sereda's project is
of theoretical interest.
But why invent anything
when we have a cheap fuel, H2O?
Using the energy of
the world's ocean, we can turn
our planet
into one gigantic starship
and fly to Cassiopeia,
to the Great Bear.
- You go a bit too far.
- Stop that circus.
I'm demonstrating the power of water.
Stop it!
See what a huge reserve of energy?
What's happened?
Nothing's happened.
Write on.
Why be so severe?
He was conducting
a scientific experiment.
Sorry, you just don't know him.
He's got to us up to here.
Well, you know better.
Let's continue our trip
to Alpha Cassiopeia.
Basically, the calculations are correct.
The project's flaw is
an enormous duration of the expedition.
While the flight lasts,
the Earth will live 500 years.
- At that point we're powerless so far.
- Why so far?
Will we ever be able to
break through the light barrier?
Of course not, the laws
of physics are still valid.
They are just being
defined and elaborated.
But I said "so far",
because nature
is not only our adversary,
but our assistant, too,
in achieving our goals.
It puts barriers on our way,
but it also has bypasses.
But to make such a bypass,
we must know more.
We still don't know definitely
how our universe is organized,
what are the properties
of space-time.
But we already know
that space is distorted,
that the shortest distance between
two points is not a straight line,
and perhaps it is in the peculiarities
of our space structuring
that we should look for an answer
how to get from one place to another
faster than light.
Here's a graphic model
of such possibility.
We can move back and forth
along the tube.
A traveler,
for example, a beetle
wants to get from one end
of the tube to the other.
He has a long way to go.
If he knew
that the tube was rolled into a ball,
that his destination was quite near,
he would just have to gnaw through
the walls and get at his destination.
I'm confident that, if not we,
then someday you
will know how to gnaw
holes in space.
You mean this project is already
outdated?
No, on the contrary.
This is a very interesting project.
We've been studying the problems of
going out into big space for some time.
And it is very significant
that our today's conversation
is taking place here, in Kaluga,
the city of the great Tsiolkovsky.
And now I'll answer to you,
Kuteishchikova.
You're right, of course.
The humankind must
preserve animals on the Earth.
But we already broke into space.
And today, the space problems
have become our earthly cause.
Your project is very
interesting, Viktor.
But I want to
ask you a question.
It was Ira who wrote the note.
- Is it true?
- Not at all.
Well, what do you see?
Straight ahead is Sokolova.
To the right are Shishova and
Bychkov. They're from the 4th grade.
No one