INT. TERRACAT

Baxter drives like a maniac.

[Clarke pulls the harness out of her seat and buckles up.]

Clarke is strapped into her seat, checking their detectors — they’re in the red zone!

TERRACAT: “Radiation levels rising.”

Baxter bangs her fist on the wheel.

BAXTER: “Am I even going in the right direction?”

CLARKE: “You’re doing fine.”

The soil-core is tossed about, rolling around the cabin.

They close in on the crater. Clarke looks forward out of the side window.

She points to a sandy ridge on the horizon.

Clarke: “There!”

INT. TERRACAT

Baxter looks to Clarke for confirmation that they are safe. Clarke checks the monitor. The levels are dropping. They both breathe a sigh of relief, removing their masks.

After a breath, Clarke is the first to freak out.

CLARKE: “Okay… I may not have grown up on a planet, but I know rocks don’t move like that.”

BAXTER: “Yeah. We’re not gonna be building anything out of that stuff.”

Baxter sees the node-board secured in a slot on the dash.

BAXTER (CONT’D): “Hey… You grabbed the node-board.”

CLARKE: “Plugged it in while you were out scooping up pieces of rock-monster.”

BAXTER: (checking its status) “You even uploaded the patch.”

CLARKE: “Yes. It’s why we’re out here!”

BAXTER: “Speaking of the ‘rock monster’… (pointing at the soil-core) Could you hand me that?”

Clarke spins her seat ninety-degrees, looking around.

She spies the soil-core, grabs it from the floor, and hands it to Baxter.

[Gripping the heavy cylinder firmly, Baxter takes the soil-core from Clarke.]

[While Clarke sits back down, Baxter centers the soil-core over the TerraCat’s bulkhead.]

Baxter opens a port on the dash designed for analysis and pops it inside. A breakdown of the sample is initiated.

[Clarke’s chair returns to its original position, leaving the two to stare at the processing soil core.]

BAXTER: “Think we can get a signal here?”

CLARKE: “No idea.”

Clarke plays with the radio.

CLARKE: “AeroFox, do you read?”

Clarke: “AeroFox, come in.”

After a moment, a weak static-laden connection engages.

OMNI: “Roger, TerraCat. Are you alright?”

CLARKE: “We found a place to ride it out.”

OMNI: (COMM VOICE) “Excellent.” (more static) “We’re barely reading you though.”

BAXTER: “Interference from the flare. Hopefully, we can still transmit data.”

Baxter: “We got a sample of the glyph. Uplinking now.”

[Close-up on the screen as the geoglyph’s readings continue their processing.]

The thought of the geoglyph sample upsets Clarke.

CLARKE: “Omni, you’re not going to believe this. That stuff tried to eat the TerraCat!”

BAXTER: (rolling her eyes) “She’s exaggerating a little bit.”

CLARKE: “I don’t think so.”

OMNI: (COMM VOICE) “Fascinating. It must have to do with the rover’s energy output. I believe the same thing attracted it to the shield node as well.”

BAXTER: (looking at the soil-core) “Omni, I’m beginning to wonder if the shield was killing it.”

Clarke can’t believe what she’s hearing.

CLARKE: “‘Killing it’?!”

CLARKE: (appalled) “Guys, it’s a rock. A rock that moves. But, it’s still a goddamn rock!”

OMNI: (COMM VOICE) “Language, Astronaut Clarke…” (beat) “When the flare passes, you must return to gather more data.”

BAXTER: “I agree. With thousands of colonists landing on this planet, we have to know what’s going on.”

Clarke bristles at the colonists reference. She gets an idea.

CLARKE: “Omni, what would happen if we modified Kyle’s patch to increase power to the shield?”

OMNI: (COMM VOICE) “It would cause significant damage to the geoglyph.”

CLARKE: “To the point of its destruction?”

Baxter turns to Clarke, her brow furrowing with concern.

BAXTER: “Where are you going with this?”

CLARKE: “To the node to finish the mission.”

BAXTER: “You can’t!”

OMNI: (COMM VOICE) “I have to agree with Engineer Baxter. This is an unprecedented situation. We need time to study–”

CLARKE: (interrupting) “You people seem to keep forgetting, I’m in command here! We’re doing the upload. End of discussion!”

Baxter begins to piece together that something bigger is going on with Clarke. She holds back on disagreeing for now.

BAXTER: “Omni, let us have a private chat.”

CLARKE: “Why?! It won’t change my mind!”

Baxter ignores her and continues speaking with Omni.

BAXTER: “How long will the flare last?”

OMNI: “(COMM VOICE) Four and a half hours.”

BAXTER: “Keep us posted. TerraCat out.”

CLARKE: “I don’t want to discuss this.”

BAXTER: “Calm down. Let’s grab some water.”

Baxter points toward the rear. Clarke reluctantly agrees. They sit.

[Baxter stands and moves to the food dispensery.]

[Baxter accesses the open food dispensary, and pulls out the beverage bulb storage container.]

[Baxter pops the container’s lid and offers it to Clarke.]

[Clarke reluctantly takes a beverage bulb, then Baxter grabs one for herself.]

BAXTER: “Darcy, why are you forcing this? What’s going on?”

[Baxter sits back down, looking at Clarke with concern.]

Clarke looks outside at the alien world, clenching her teeth.

CLARKE: “I’m not at liberty to discuss it.”

Baxter leans in attempting to build trust, consoling her.

BAXTER: “C’mon… Talk to me.”

Clarke coldly rebukes her.

CLARKE: “I can’t. It’s classified.”

Baxter is at her wit’s end! She throws up her hands.

BAXTER: “Classified?! Who am I gonna tell?!’

Clarke stands, grabbing her O2 mask. She points to Baxter’s on the console.

CLARKE: “Better put your mask on.”

BAXTER: “Why?”

CLARKE: “‘Cause I’m goin’ for a walk.”

The discussion is over. Clarke puts on her mask and heads toward the door.

Shaking her head, Baxter has no choice but to reach for her own mask.