The Hubble Project

Summary: Incompetent and impulsive Henrietta Hubble works at the S.E.T.I. Project, listening for signs of intelligent life in the universe. When her computer crashes, she calls for intern Eleanor Young - smart, passionate, committed, brilliant - and, unlike Hubble, unpaid, just glad to be in on the ground floor of this project. The problem turns out to be that Hubble decided to warm up her sandwich by putting it on top of the computer's power source. After cleaning up the mess, rebooting, and fixing some code, the computer is back online... and, to both their surprise, seems to be at that moment receiving a message that could be from an alien civilization. Young runs off to get a pad of paper so she can make notes on the incoming transmission, but while she's out, Hubble sees the display change to English. The aliens are asking a cryptic question: "Can we enter through acceptance?" And there's a timer, giving only 30 seconds for an answer. Unable to wait until Young returns, Hubble simply answers "Yes." Young returns moments later and is aghast when Hubble brings her up to speed. She's skeptical when Hubble guesses that the question was the aliens, new to using English, attempting to ask for permission to land. But that seems to be exactly what they were asking. There is light and wind, and an alien spacecraft lands. Hubble and Young gaze, awestruck: "He's beautiful," gasps Hubble; "She's beautiful," gasps Eleanor.

Video

Photos

Photos by Nathan Wellman

Summary: There is only one alien - but thanks to his super-advanced pheromones, both Hubble and Eleanor see the alien as a particularly attractive human - though Hubble sees a man and Eleanor sees a woman. The alien, who has chosen the name "Fiona Apple" as being nicely inconspicuous, tells them his/her/their story: they were part of a rebellion against their planet's Oversovereign, and has chosen to hide on Earth, as our primitive technology puts us off the grid. Hubble and Eleanor quickly realize that members of the military will be coming soon and decide to just tell them that Fiona is a human being in order to protect Fiona from dissection. This is going to be hard, as Fiona's grasp of English and of human customs is quite shaky...

Photos

Photos by Jax Ball

Summary: The door fails to open to let the military in; it appears to be stuck, and fixing its hydraulics will take several days. In an attempt to pass the time, they teach Fiona Apple about jokes; the alien catches on quickly, but flops at creating a joke of their own: "What is the difference between an orange?" Young goes into the vents to try to find a way out, or to fix the systems before they run out of air... but when Fiona is alone with Hubble, they reveal their terrible secret: Fiona isn't fleeing the Oversovereign... Fiona works for the Oversovereign, searching for the last rebel - Hubble, who, it turns out, isn't human. Fiona demands Hubble's sandwiches, in which she's hidden the DNA of her species. Hubble refuses - but Fiona threatens to throw a bomb into the vent, killing Young. The sandwiches or Young... which will it be?

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Photos by Jessie Bias

Summary: Young radios from the vent that she's found a compartment with sandwiches; she's annoyed with Hubble, and doesn't realize she's just given the game away to Fiona Apple. She brings the sandwiches out, and Fiona asks to sample this human delicacy while Hubble watches helplessly. Finally, Hubble admits the truth of the situation to a stunned Young. Fiona tries to seduce Young with the idea of sharing advanced technology from humankind, but she instead tases Fiona. Now they have to escape before Fiona wakes up - but they're still trapped in the bunker...

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Photos by Jessie Bias

Summary: Young has to keep tasing Fiona Apple, as he keeps waking up every few moments. When a "capture card" falls out of Apple's pocket, Hubble takes a look and sees it's for her old commander. That means he might still be alive. She bids a tearful farewell to Young as she goes off to look for him. Right after she leaves, Apple wakes up - seemingly with total amnesia, with no idea who he is or what he's doing there.

Photos

Photos by Jax Ball