Science fiction is a lens through which we can explore our present, our past and future in the universe. Good sci-fi works, like 2001: A Space Odyssey (based on the novel by the British sci-fi master Arthur C. Clarke) and Contact (based on the novel by US *cosmologist Carl Sagan), inspire us to *ponder such questions as “How did it begin?” “Why are we here?” “Is there anyone else out there?” and “What’s next?”