- General John Reager: I live in the here and now. Not last week or seven centuries ago. And while history may have lessons to learn from, I have no interest in writing its last chapter. But I'll be goddamned if something else is going to write it for us!
- General John Reager: It's our job to protect this country from enemies both foreign and domestic. And if this doesn't qualify as foreign then you can have all my stars because that's exactly where they're from!
- General John Reager: We're no longer in the world of science fiction but fact. And the fact remains Madam President that a satellite of extraterrestrial origin was discovered at LG2 with communication and propulsion technologies that do not exist on Earth.
- Cedric Yonah: What are you afraid of General?
- General John Reager: It's not about being afraid it's about knowing who they are and what they want.
- Cedric Yonah: Your Xenophobia General is painfully apparent. What does Reager stand for? Something Germanic isn't it. How fitting someone with a Germanic name talks about identifying people. How fitting such a person commands a military apparatus...
- General John Reager: How dare you compare me to...
- Cedric Yonah: I'm not comparing you to anyone except yourself.
- President Helen Colton: How many of us have dreamed of this moment. The moment when we learn that we're not alone. And what's the first step we take? A military one. History will record the day I signed this order. My God, what have I done?
- Prime Minister Allison Colby: Before we start playing God, don't you think the time has come that they reveal themselves?
- President Sergei Tupolov: Reager thinks he knows his enemy, but his enemy isn't who he thinks it is.
- Cedric Yonah: If Reager is developing what I think he is, the balance of power could shift in such a direction that life on this planet... as we know it... will be over.
- President Helen Colton: This isn't about fear, but intelligence. I think we can all agree that before the new world was discovered all Erikson had was a horizon to look at and the stars to guide him. We need to know what's beyond this horizon and why out of over two hundred billion stars they were guided to ours. I'm sorry, it's this world first.
- Cedric Yonah: My involvement in all this started before the war.
- Major Ellen Sampson: Iraq?
- Cedric Yonah: World War Two.
- Major Ellen Sampson: The oath I took isn't just a set of words. Reager is one thing, but the President is another. I cannot pledge my allegiance on your words alone.
- Cedric Yonah: Governments spend billions on space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life. Earth scientists have discovered nearly 1,000 extrasolar planets. Some in the habitable zone. Radio telescopes beaming and beaming hoping to make contact. And what happens?
- [turns to Reager]
- Cedric Yonah: You discover they're right here.
- Major Ellen Sampson: Madam President we strongly believe that this satellite was communicating with something that... well... something we just can't see.
- Prime Minister Allison Colby: But when the day comes that we no longer question ourselves we become the very people we are trying to defeat.
- President Helen Colton: Unlike Presidents before me, I'm faced with the revelation that mankind is not alone.
- Cedric Yonah: Just because you don't know someone doesn't mean they're your enemy. They could be your friend.
- James Griffin: The government has painted itself into a real corner with this UFO matter. Damned if they say something. Damned if they don't. They only believe what they see.
- Elisabeth Seward: Just after the war, Operation Paperclip landed two hundred plus NAZI German scientists and technicians at Wright. The most famous of them was Werner von Braun whose Saturn rockets landed man on the Moon in 1969 and resulted in the greatest cover-up in Earth's known history.
- Cedric Yonah: You lied to Reager either because you didn't understand what you detected or didn't want to understand it.
- Major Ellen Sampson: I could go to jail for this.
- Cedric Yonah: You're already in a jail of conflict. An untenable command structure.
- General John Reager: Do you think it's a good idea for the public to know about this? Do you? They can barely handle bad weather.
- Major Ellen Sampson: How old are you?
- Cedric Yonah: Old enough to never forget.
- Major Ellen Sampson: Why are you here?
- Cedric Yonah: Answers. You honestly don't believe we're the only ones here, do you?
- Major Ellen Sampson: Where are you from?
- Cedric Yonah: Earth...