Luminary

FRANK SEARCHES FOR A YOUNG MAN WHO DISAPPEARED IN THE ALASKAN WILDERNESS. IN THE ALASKAN WILDERNESS, THE BODY OF A YOUNG ADULT MALE, ITS FACE CRUSHED BEYOND RECOGNITION, DRIFTS DOWN A RIVER.

Frank meets with the Millennium Group’s members. During the tense inquisition, the question turns to Frank’s family and his stabbing of a suspect the Group was in the process of investigating. Frank grows enraged and leaves the room. Later, Frank, Catherine and Jordan attend a lecture at a planetarium. Catherine introduces Frank to the Glasers, a couple whose son, Alex, disappeared in the Alaskan wilderness. As Frank and the Glasers talk, Catherine takes an interest in an astrologer’s account of the stars and the millennium.

Frank accompanies the Glasers to their home. There he observes Alex’s bedroom and his many belongings. The Glasers explain that they paid for Alex’s trip to Alaska as a high school graduation present. Frank then makes his way to the bedroom of Alex’s younger brother, Ian, where the boy busies himself with a refractor telescope. After Frank receives an internal „hit” from the telescope, he tells the Glasers he will be traveling to Alaska to find their son.

Watts tells Frank that the Group has cut off its assistance–meaning Frank will be on his own. Undaunted, Frank flies to Stebbins, Alaska, where he meets with Sheriff Bowman. The Sheriff tells Frank that the wealthy Alex made enemies of the locals by buying expensive gifts for townspeople’s wives. Bowman also recounts how he saved Alex during a barroom brawl. Shortly thereafter, a body washes up in a fisherman’s net. The Sheriff and a local doctor examine the badly decomposed corpse. The Sheriff concludes the body is that of Alex Glaser, but Frank disagrees. Frank then retrieves a sprig of cedar from the victim’s crushed face. Later, Frank has difficulty accessing his desktop computer through his laptop. He asks Catherine to drive to his apartment in an attempt to straighten out the problem. With Catherine’s assistance, Frank determines that Alex made a five hundred dollar credit card purchase at a general store in Stebbins. Shortly thereafter, Watts and his men burst into Frank’s apartment and begin dismantling his computer equipment.

Frank learns from a clerk at the general store that Alex, using the pseudonym „Alex Ventoux,” purchased a telescope, which he had the clerk deliver to the second grade class of a local elementary school. Frank realizes that Alex was jettisoning all of his material possessions in an attempt to make peace with the world–and begin a new life. Using a calculator and charts mapping seasonal currents and drifts, Frank determines the location where the body fell into the river. He charters a seaplane to fly him up the coast. The pilot tells Frank that he will leave at four thirty sharp–with or without him.

Frank begins the arduous trek up the river bank. He eventually comes upon the exact location where the body fell into the river, and spots a smashed emergency radio transmitter, a towering cedar, and Alex’s diary, nearby. Frank also hears a voice in his head–the voice of Alex. He tells Frank that he broke his leg and will never make it back home. Meanwhile, when Frank fails to return at the designated time, the pilot flies away, leaving behind a survival pack.

Frank heads towards a bluff when he notices the night sky pulsating with light. Above him, an atmospheric disturbance sets the area aglow. He then hears the voice of Alex Glaser. Turning, he sees Alex propped against a rock, his leg broken, emaciated. Frank promises Alex he will not let him die. He constructs a makeshift stretcher from the surrounding brush and drags the injured boy through the wilderness. As he traverses a treacherous path, Frank loses his footing. Alex plunges into the river, and Frank leaps in to save him. During the struggle, Alex collides with a boulder and loses consciousness. Frank picks Alex up in his arms and makes his way to the…