Been thinking, what if that creepy motherfukker S. R. Hadden is an Alien? I mean the guy's name is S. R., not like Scott Raymond Hadden, but S. R. What if that shyt is like (S)ignal (R)eceived Hadden. Making even more insane, is Hadden sounds like Hidden... Signal Received. Hidden.

shyt gets even more deep. Dude is being chased by people out to kill him, but why? The man is an Alien, or some kind of Bio-Drone that is mean to be
First Contact. Think about it, dude comes out of the bushes to give Ellie help along the way, influencing and shyt. The powers that be don't want him starting the humans down the Intergalactic Planetary path.
shyt gets even more interesting. He sees Ellie as the person to kickstart the movement, and will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to ensure Ellie kickstarts the revolution. So he builds two machines... because he doesn't trust Humans when shyt is public, and he wants to get rid of David Drumlin, who is egotistical and will fukk up the grand plan.

So he influences Gary Busey's son to mass suicide at the site, killing Drumlin and making the shyt public while keeping Ellie safe. Then since the 2nd site is private, he pulls the strings one last time to get her on the ride.

The machine is only Lvl. 1 of the plan, but it gives Ellie the vision, and she goes to Congress to report her findings. She sounds crazed, but like the shyt at the end of Raiders, that video tape has 8 hours of footage. The seeds have been planted for Humans to begin evolution.

Hadden's old ass seeing everything chess piece perfected, deactivates.
S. R. Hadden WAS CONTACT.