Contact

The provided text for the first section of 'Contact' does not contain narrative content, plot, or character development. Instead, it consists entirely of a collection of promotional blurbs and critical acclaim from various newspapers and magazines, such as the Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times Book Review, and the Los Angeles Times. These reviews praise Carl Sagan's debut novel for its imaginative flair, its exploration of the intersection between science and religion, and its optimistic view of humanity's future. The text serves as a front-matter commendation page rather than a story chapter.

The opening of Part I, titled 'The Message', consists of a brief, evocative poem written by a fifth-grade student named Marvin Mercer from Harlem, New York, in 1981. The poem expresses a childlike yet profound sense of cosmic connection, utilizing imagery of whirling planets and pressing stars to convey a feeling of vulnerability and wonder in the face of the universe.

This chapter explores the early life of Ellie Arroway, highlighting her innate curiosity and passion for science, electronics, and astronomy. From a young age, Ellie demonstrates an intellectual drive, teaching herself to read and repairing an old Motorola radio. However, her academic and personal growth is met with resistance from authority figures. Her teacher, Mr. Weisbrod, dismisses her curiosity regarding the infinite nature of pi, and her stepfather, John Staughton—a physics professor—actively discourages her scientific interests, viewing them as unseemly for a girl. Following the death of her gentle father, Ellie's relationship with Staughton becomes increasingly strained, leading her to view him as a tyrant. Observing her mother's perceived weakness and dependence on Staughton, Ellie forms a resolute vow to maintain her own independence and escape her oppressive home environment.

Chapter 2, "Coherent Light," traces Ellie Arroway's journey from a precocious, skeptical child to a professional radio astronomer. In her youth, Ellie battles gender prejudices in high school and at Harvard, developing a "physics voice" to command respect in male-dominated spaces. Her academic trajectory leads her to Cal Tech, where she studies under the territorial David Drumlin and the imaginative Peter Valerian. After completing a doctoral thesis that improves ruby maser detectors and detects the Big Bang's background radiation, Ellie accepts a position at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. There, she focuses on SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), utilizing the facility's massive bowl to search for signals. Despite her technical achievements and the installation of sensitive equipment, her initial searches yield no results. This leads to a period of disillusionment, countered by Valerian's arguments that the vastness of the galaxy makes their current lack of success statistically insignificant and that the search remains a moral and scientific imperative.

Dr. Ellie Arroway, Director of Project Argus in New Mexico, manages the world's largest radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Despite the tedium of scanning the sky and the lack of a clear signal, Ellie remains committed to the search, viewing the belief that humans are alone in the universe as a form of modern geocentric solipsism. She faces significant professional opposition from her former mentor, Dr. Dave Drumlin, who argues that the absence of detectable cosmic engineering or radio signals proves extraterrestrials do not exist. Drumlin urges the National Science Foundation to terminate SETI in favor of conventional radio astronomy, claiming the facility's resources are being wasted. Through a series of professional debates and private reflections—including memories of seeking patterns in the white noise of New York City subways—Ellie rejects Drumlin's skepticism. She concludes that it is premature to abandon the search, noting that the northern skies have not yet been examined with the Argus system, and renews her commitment to breaking the 'shackles of provincialism'.

Dr. Ellie Arroway and her team at Project Argus detect a powerful, monochromatic radio signal originating from the direction of the star Vega. After ruling out terrestrial interference, computer hoaxes, and military satellites via NORAD, Ellie identifies the signal as a sequence of prime numbers. Recognizing that no known astrophysical process generates such a sequence, she concludes the signal is likely a message from an extraterrestrial intelligence. Despite the scientific excitement, Ellie maintains rigor, noting that Vega's young age makes it an unlikely cradle for a civilization. To ensure continuous observation as Vega sets, Ellie coordinates a global effort involving radio observatories in Australia, China, India, the Soviet Union, and Holland. She further accelerates the process by bypassing the National Science Foundation to contact the President's Science Adviser, managing the transition from a routine astronomical search to a high-stakes global event.

Following the discovery of a signal from the Vega system consisting of prime numbers, the Argus site becomes a hub for SETI scientists and government officials. Eleanor Arroway manages the research while facing intense media pressure and friction with Michael Kitz, an official who advocates for classifying future transmissions under the Hadden Decision for national security reasons. While the initial signal appears shallow, Ellie discovers a second message hidden in the polarization modulation. By identifying that the total bits are the product of three prime numbers, she and her team apply a decryption algorithm to recover a visual and audio recording. To their shock, the decrypted data reveals a grainy black-and-white film of Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Olympic Games, leading some team members, including Drumlin, to conclude that the entire signal is a hoax.

Ellie Arroway and Dr. Peter Valerian travel to Washington D.C. to brief the President and his advisors on a signal received from the star Vega. The signal contains a playback of a 1936 television broadcast of the Berlin Olympics featuring Adolf Hitler, leading to a discussion on the implications of Earth's signals leaking into space and the potential for extraterrestrial monitoring. Beyond this playback, Ellie reveals a deeper, complex layer of information structured like a 'palimpsest' or a 'big book' consisting of numbered pages transmitted in blocks. The President and his National Security Council, including Science Adviser Ken der Heer and the Director of Central Intelligence, assess the national security risks and the history of UFO reports. A critical technical challenge arises: because of Earth's rotation, any single nation faces data gaps in reception. Ellie and Valerian argue that international cooperation is necessary to ensure a complete recording of the message, while government officials like Kitz express concerns over security and the sharing of information with adversaries.

Ellie Arroway travels to Albuquerque to reunite with Vasily Gregorovich Lunacharsky (Vaygay), a brilliant Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate. Their reunion is part of a broader international effort to decrypt the third level of the 'Message' from Vega, which is described as an elaborate palimpsest. Because the Earth's rotation necessitates the use of radio telescopes across different longitudes, the U.S. and Soviet governments sign a Memorandum of Agreement to collaborate. As Ellie and her colleagues travel toward the Argus site, they witness the profound sociological impact of the Message. The discovery has triggered a global spectrum of reactions, including the rise of new cults, a resurgence of Nazi ideology, and a renewed hope that advanced technological civilizations can avoid self-destruction. However, this hope is countered by 'religious hooliganism' and hostility, exemplified by a public orator who incites a diverse crowd against the scientists and government officials, accusing them of deception and bargaining with evil entities.

Ellie observes a fragmented global media landscape where 'the Message' has triggered widespread societal upheaval, sparking both messianic fervor and scientific skepticism. She encounters the televised rhetoric of Palmer Joss, a charismatic ecumenical preacher and former carnival performer who experienced a near-death event after being struck by lightning. Joss argues that science is too important to be left solely to scientists, positioning himself as a moderate Christian fundamentalist who rejects both scientific dogmatism and religious scams. While Joss gains national influence and challenges the scientific community's handling of the decryption, Ellie and her colleagues navigate the resulting political pressures. Meanwhile, technical discussions with Soviet scientists, including Vaygay and Genrikh Arkhangelsky, reveal theories that the Message may not be a simple communication but rather a set of instructions for building a machine, based on internal back-referencing within the data.

Ellie and Ken der Heer, the President's Science Adviser, develop a romantic relationship while managing the aftermath of the Message from Vega at the Argus facility. Their connection is marked by intimate conversations regarding dehumanization, the nature of love, and the integration of personal 'sub-personas' to end long-term loneliness. Amidst political negotiations involving Palmer Joss and the coordination of the World Message Consortium, the pair explores the intersection of science and spirituality. This culminates in a discussion centered on an encyclopedia entry regarding Rudolph Otto's concept of the 'numinous' and the 'misterium tremendum.' Ellie argues that scientific discovery elicits a sense of awe similar to the sacred, contrasting this direct perception of the 'wholly other' with the institutionalized approach of bureaucratic religions.

This section serves as the introductory front matter for Part II, titled 'The Machine'. It does not contain narrative plot or character development, but instead features an epigraph by Thomas Paine from 'The Age of Reason' (1794). The quote suggests that the structure of the universe is a divine invitation for humanity to study science and the arts, implying that the pursuit of knowledge is a means to achieve comfort and foster kindness toward others.

Ellie attends a meeting at the Bible Science Research Institute and Museum in Modesto, California, with Palmer Joss and Reverend Billy Jo Rankin. The gathering, requested by the President, devolves into a heated debate between Ellie's scientific skepticism and Rankin's fundamentalist religious views. The discussion centers on the nature of truth, the validity of prophecy, and the interpretation of the extraterrestrial Message. Ellie argues that skepticism is essential to avoid human error and that an omnipotent God would have provided unmistakable physical evidence of His existence. She further contends that because the Message originates from a specific star, it is more likely the product of an alien civilization than a deity. Following a lunch break featuring a conversation by a Foucault pendulum, Ellie and Joss debate the distinctions between agnosticism and atheism, with Joss applying Occam's Razor to challenge Ellie's position. Ellie maintains that agnosticism is the only valid stance when evidence is insufficient. The chapter concludes with Ellie explaining the precession of the equinoxes and Vega's history as the Pole Star approximately twelve thousand years ago, contrasting the clarity of the astronomical signal with the ambiguity of divine revelation.

Ellie Arroway and Vaygay Lunacharsky meet in Paris to analyze new data from the Vega Message, which they determine contains blueprints for a machine. This discovery coincides with a rare era of global cooperation, exemplified by the Hiroshima Accords and the Gayler Plan, which aim to reduce nuclear arsenals. The World Message Consortium subsequently convenes at the Elysée Palace, bringing together international scientific and political leaders. During the proceedings, a fierce debate erupts over the nature of the machine. While Ellie and others argue that the inclusion of human-sized armchairs suggests a benevolent purpose, skeptics like Stefan Alexeivich Baruda and Philip Bedenbaugh warn that the device could be a 'Trojan Horse' or 'Doomsday Machine' designed to destroy Earth. Conversely, Xi Qiaomu argues that since humanity's existence is already known to the senders, building the machine is an inevitable step and an invitation that should not be refused, suggesting that risks could be mitigated by building it in an isolated location.

Ellie Arroway spends an afternoon in Paris with molecular biologist Devi Sukhavati, discussing the Martian images and the intersection of history, religion, and science. This reflective period is followed by a high-stakes classified meeting at the American Embassy's Black Room. Alongside Kitz, Drumlin, der Heer, and Honicutt, Ellie discusses the strategic, economic, and political implications of constructing the Machine described in the Message, with American officials focusing on maintaining military and technological parity with the Soviet Union. The discourse shifts toward the selection of a five-person crew, sparking debates over merit versus political appointment. Later, in a private meeting with Soviet scientist Vaygay, the conversation turns existential. Vaygay argues that Soviets are better suited for the mission due to their historical resilience in the face of adversity, while simultaneously expressing a cynical view that the extraterrestrial invitation is a cruel joke designed to humiliate humanity, whom he views as inhabitants of a cosmic ghetto.

The Message from Vega is discovered to have recycled, repeating exactly but still lacking the necessary decryption primer. This revelation sparks global instability, including economic decline and the rise of new religions, such as the Ancient and Mystical Order of the Dodecahedron. Ellie Arroway, frustrated by the lack of progress and the waste of intellectual resources within the military-industrial complex, seeks the assistance of S.R. Hadden, a wealthy and disruptive inventor. Hadden, who owns a lavish recreation of Babylon, discusses technical theories regarding the primer's location, suggesting it may be sent at frequencies detectable only from space to ensure humanity achieves spaceflight. Hadden recounts his history of creating technology to disrupt advertising and religious broadcasting, and expresses a desire to secure a lasting historical legacy by building the alien Machine at cost, claiming his practical cybernetics expertise surpasses that of major academic institutions.

The President of the United States and her advisor, Ken der Heer, discuss the progress of decoding the alien 'primer,' a learning program that allows scientists to understand the instructions for building a 'Machine' to travel to the star Vega. While the World Machine Consortium manages international cooperation and crew seat allocation, the President harbors private anxiety about the inferential nature of the evidence. This tension culminates in the selection of the crew; despite Dr. Ellie Arroway's brilliance, the President chooses Dr. Drumlin for the mission, viewing him as more politically stable and reliable, while relegating Arroway to backup status. Parallel to these political maneuvers, Ellie engages in a profound intellectual and philosophical clash with Palmer Joss at a museum. Through a physical test involving a Foucault pendulum and a heated debate, they explore the dichotomy between scientific law and spiritual faith, discussing the nature of consciousness, morality, and the existence of God, before Ellie is called away by Ken.

The global community engages in a massive technological and financial effort to construct 'the Machine' based on extraterrestrial instructions from Vega. This project fosters unprecedented international cooperation and nuclear disarmament, though the United States and Soviet Union build separate versions in Wyoming and Uzbekistan to maintain control. The American project, managed by Sol Hadden, involves complex systems integration and strict adherence to alien specifications. However, the effort is marred by the 'Machine Disaster,' a catastrophic explosion caused by a sabotaged erbium dowel packed with plastic explosives, which kills eleven people, including David Drumlin. While initial suspicions fall on the Soviets, a National Intelligence Estimate concludes it was an inside job originating from a Hadden Cybernetics facility. In the aftermath, Ellie Arroway struggles with intense guilt and self-loathing, reflecting on her immediate, ambitious thought that she would now be the sole candidate for the mission. Despite the tragedy, the U.S. continues the project primarily to avoid falling behind the Soviet Union in the geopolitical race to activate the Machine.

Ellie travels to Methuselah, a luxury orbital station where the wealthy retire to extend their lifespans through zero gravity, low oxygen partial pressure, and noötropics. While visiting Hadden, she experiences a 'numinous' planetary perspective, observing Earth as a single entity without arbitrary national boundaries. Hadden argues that humanity must build the Machine to avoid self-destruction, theorizing that Earth is a 'control' planet monitored by advanced beings who intervene only during species decline. During her stay, Ellie meets Yamagishi, a ninety-two-year-old Class A war criminal and industrialist who utilizes the station to avoid the physical frailties of aging on Earth. Hadden proposes accelerating the Machine's development by performing systems integration in Hokkaido, Japan, to bypass American delays. Amidst these discussions and reflections on her own family, Ellie concludes that she will agree to join the crew of the Machine if asked.

Ellie navigates a period of intense emotional and professional transition, beginning with the news of her mother's stroke and a critical letter from John Staughton. After visiting her immobile mother, Ellie travels to Tokyo for press interviews regarding the Machine Project. In Japan, she engages with Mr. Xi, a Chinese official obsessed with the legacy of Emperor Qin and the pursuit of immortality, and coordinates with Sol Hadden, who intends to synchronize the Machine's activation with his orbital position. The chapter culminates in a philosophical dinner with Utsumi, a Zen Buddhist Abbot. The conversation evolves into a debate between the Abbot and Lunacharsky over the nature of communication: while Lunacharsky argues that communication is a tool for survival based on the exchange of empirical information, the Abbot posits that it is fundamentally an act of love and compassion, illustrated by the metaphor of 'The Dream of the Ants,' which suggests that true understanding requires becoming the entity one wishes to understand.

The Machine is assembled in Hokkaido, Japan, a location chosen for its physical separation and maverick reputation. As the activation date approaches, the crew—known as 'the Five,' including Ellie, Devi Sukhavati, and physicist Abonneba Eda—prepare for the high-risk mission. The world grapples with the theological implications of 'Machindo' (the Way of the Machine), while the crew manages strict mass limitations on their equipment. Ellie, driven by a lifelong desire for discovery and liberation, brings a palm frond as a physical connection to Earth and receives a mysterious gold medallion. After a final goodbye to her mother and a supportive message from the President, the Five enter the Machine. The device is activated as its spherical shells reach critical speed, transporting the crew away from Earth.

This section serves as the introductory page for Part III of the novel, titled 'The Galaxy'. It contains no narrative action or character development, consisting solely of a title and an epigraph attributed to the Dead Sea Scrolls. The poetic text reflects on the hope of humanity, described as being molded from dust, achieving a connection or consort with eternal things, setting a spiritual or philosophical tone for the subsequent chapters in this part of the book.

Ellie and her companions travel via a dodecahedron craft through a series of wormhole tunnels, initially emerging in the Vega system. There, they discover a massive polyhedral structure covered in radio telescopes rather than a habitable planet, leading Xi to theorize that these tunnels are 'imperial roads' used for galactic control. The journey continues through several more jumps, visiting diverse astronomical phenomena including a contact binary, an RR Lyrae star, a quintuple system, and a brown dwarf. Eda hypothesizes that the craft is moving through a galactic 'subway' or 'metro' system, with stops strategically placed in unpromising systems to avoid interfering with primitive civilizations. The journey culminates in the arrival at a massive station at the center of the Milky Way, where the dodecahedron docks at a port matching its own template. Ellie views this arrival as a profound vindication for the human species, as she observes thousands of diverse docking ports representing various interstellar civilizations.

Five travelers arrive at Grand Central Station, which initially manifests as a simulated Earth beach. After discussing the physics of their journey—specifically the use of space-time puckers and tunnels—the group encounters a freestanding wooden door. Eda, Xi, Vaygay, and Devi enter the door, leaving Ellie behind. Ellie eventually encounters a flawless reconstruction of her deceased father, Theodore F. Arroway, who represents the 'Office of the Galactic Census.' He explains that the 'Test' was actually a data collection process conducted through the travelers' dreams, noting that humanity's capacity for music and lovingkindness makes them a marginal case worth saving. Ellie is then taken on a tour of the galactic center, where she learns that the universe is cultivated rather than a wilderness, with 'Caretakers' maintaining a transit system built by a vanished civilization. She discovers a hidden message in the digits of pi and learns about cosmic engineering projects at Cygnus A designed to combat the universe's expansion. The experience concludes with the travelers being reunited with simulated versions of their deepest loves before being guided back to Earth.

Following the activation of the Machine, Ellie Arroway and four others (the Five) return to Earth believing they have traveled to the Galactic Center over the course of a day. However, they discover that only twenty minutes have passed on Earth. Despite physical evidence of radiation and tensile stress on the dodecahedron, US Secretary of Defense Michael Kitz dismisses their accounts as an elaborate, expensive hoax. Kitz argues that the travelers' experiences were psychological projections and that the project was bankrolled by S.R. Hadden to embarrass the government. The 'clincher' evidence Kitz presents is that the Message from Vega stopped exactly when the Machine was activated; since the signal takes twenty-six years to travel from Vega, Kitz claims the transmitter must have been local. Ellie suggests the possibility of acausal communication around a singularity, but Kitz remains aggressive, eventually informing her that Hadden has died and outlining a plan to discredit the crew using psychiatric dossiers to maintain political and military stability.

Chapter 22 focuses on S. R. Hadden, a billionaire obsessed with immortality and the conquest of time. Hadden critiques the contemporary trend of 'burial in space,' viewing the cremation and dispersal of ashes in the Van Allen belts as an insufficient form of preservation. He develops a theoretical progression for achieving true immortality, moving from preserving DNA samples to freezing a whole body, and finally concluding that the only perfect method is to launch a healthy person into the interstellar void to be frozen by the natural cold of space. To achieve this, Hadden fakes his own death via a fabricated anaphylactic shock caused by a bee. In reality, he departs Earth aboard a specialized craft named Gilgamesh. He intends to be slingshot around Jupiter and drift through the void, hoping that a far-future advanced civilization will eventually discover his frozen body and resurrect him, thereby allowing him to surpass all historical figures in his quest for eternal life.

Following the failure to reactivate the Machine, Ellie Arroway and the other four travelers (the Five) bid farewell and return to their home countries. While the governments frame the mission as a partial success and maintain a public narrative that the Machine failed to function, the Five privately resolve to document their experiences. Ellie reaches a compromise with Kitz to return to Argus under a gag order, receiving the National Medal of Freedom from the President before visiting her mother. In seclusion at Argus, Ellie secretly writes a manuscript of her experience and develops a computer program to search for non-random patterns in transcendental numbers like pi, seeking empirical evidence of a creator's message. She is visited by Palmer Joss, a believer who encourages her to reconcile her experience with faith. Palmer argues that the vastness of the universe enhances the concept of God and suggests that Ellie's story echoes spiritual precedents like Jacob's ladder. They agree that Ellie may go public with her experience before January 1 if no mathematical evidence is found in pi.

Eleanor Arroway visits the nursing home of her stepfather, John Staughton, following the death of her mother. Staughton gives her a long-hidden letter from her mother, which Eleanor reads later in her hotel room. The letter reveals a life-altering truth: John Staughton, whom Eleanor had long resented and blamed for her father's death, is actually her biological father, and Theodore Arroway knew and forgave the situation. This revelation forces Eleanor to confront her own emotional isolation and the irony of her professional pursuit of alien contact while remaining estranged from her own family. Simultaneously, the Argus computer discovers a mathematically significant anomaly deep within the digits of pi: a perfect circle rendered in Base 11. This discovery serves as a 'signature' of a creator, suggesting that the universe was designed with purpose by an intelligence that predates the universe, the Caretakers, and the Tunnel builders, providing Eleanor with a sense of cosmic and personal closure.

In the Author's Note, Carl Sagan provides acknowledgments and contextual background for the novel. He clarifies that while the characters are not direct portraits of real individuals, the narrative is heavily influenced by the SETI community and pioneers such as Frank Drake and Philip Morrison. Sagan expresses a hope that real-world scientific discoveries will eventually render the fiction of the book obsolete. He credits various colleagues and scientists for their technical contributions, specifically mentioning Kip Thorne's work on the gravitational physics of the galactic transportation system. Additionally, he reveals that the book originated from a motion picture treatment co-written with Ann Druyan, emphasizing her integral role in the conceptualization and refinement of the plot and characters.