Ellie, was determined to prove there were ET forms in outer space. This puts her at odds with most of the scientific community. During her research, the project discovers a repeating series of 26 prime numbers coming from the Vega system …show more content…
Once activated, the dodecahedron transports the group through a series of wormholes to a place near the center of the Milky Way. The station contains a surrealistic Earth-like beach where the five are split up. Ellie meets an extraterrestrial who has taken a form indistinguishable from Ted Arroway, her father. He tells her that he is part of a project to alter the properties of the galaxy by accumulating enough mass in Cygnus A to counter the effects of entropy. He also tells her that the wormhole system was built by still more advanced beings who have left messages in transcendental numbers like π. Ellie is reunited with the other four travelers who have also met simulations of their loved ones. She captures video evidence of the encounter before the dodecahedron takes them back to Earth.
Upon returning, the passengers discover that what seemed like many hours took no time at all from Earth's perspective. They also find that all of their video footage has been erased, presumably by magnetic fields in the wormholes. After seeing that Hadden is apparently dead and that the transmission has somehow been stopped without a 25 year delay, government officials accuse the travelers of an international conspiracy. Ellie finds herself asking the world to take a