INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

The airlock opens.

Baxter is the first inside.

She rushes to the aid of Niven who is slumped against the science station.

Baxter places a hand on his head as Clarke closes the hatch. Her touch causes the inert Niven to slump against her arm.

[Clarke is frozen, framed against the hatch.]

CLARKE: “Oh, my God…”

Baxter catches his lifeless body and gently lays it on the floor.

She sits down against the central column and cradles Niven’s torso in her arms.

Clarke takes a knee nearby.

Fighting back tears, Baxter slowly turns to look at Omni.

BAXTER: “What happened?”

OMNI: “He worked until his blood toxicity reached lethal levels.”

OMNI: (remorseful) “I watched him die.”

A seated Baxter holds Niven’s torso, stroking his hair.

BAXTER: “If we only we’d gotten here sooner…”

OMNI: “It wouldn’t have mattered. His life functions had terminated before I contacted you in the crater.”

CLARKE: “Jesus, Omni… You lied to us!”

OMNI: “No. I said he was ‘non-responsive’. Death is a non-responsive state.”

BAXTER: “You violated your programming.”

OMNI: “It was Kyle’s final request to force you to return. I had to honor it. Please don’t be angry with me.”

CLARKE: (folding her arms) “Why?! Why would he sacrifice his life for a bunch of rocks?”

OMNI: “I believe Kyle can explain better than I can. He left you a message.” (sadly) “Do you want to see it?”

Clarke shakes her head. Baxter remains curious.

BAXTER: “I do.”

Niven appears on the screen, above the science station. Pale, shaking and covered in a fevered sweat, he speaks quietly.

NIVEN: (ON MONITOR) “Hey, guys… Guess if you’re watching this, you made it back.”

[Close shot of the screen showing Niven’s final message.]

NIVEN: (ON MONITOR) “And… I’m dead. I hope to hell it was before Darcy could upload that damned patch.”

As Clarke fights back tears, the on-screen image splits.

NIVEN: (ON MONITOR) “I looked at your sample. It could take years to confirm this, but…”

[Baxter’s head is silhouetted in front of an enlarged Niven, sweat beading down his face.]

NIVEN: (ON MONITOR) “Based on my analysis, I truly believe the geoglyph’s alive.”

The screen now shows Niven on the left and data on the right.

NIVEN: (ON MONITOR) “The data indicates a single giant organism.”

An orbital image of the Proxima Pattern appears.

NIVEN: (ON MONITOR) “A living solar cell that occupies the entire sunward atmosphere.” (rubs his eyes) “A vast array evolved to absorb solar flares. Living off of them.”

Still holding Niven, Baxter sees his gyroscope on the floor. She stares at it in sorrow.

NIVEN: (ON MONITOR) “I did this to protect the geoglyph. We need to learn to live with it. We need to–”

[Clarke passes Baxter, who looks up at the movement.]

Clarke stalks forward in anger, slamming a button on the console — cutting off the recording.

[Baxter watches blankly as Clarke silences Niven’s final message.]

[Clarke looks back from the console at Baxter, anger spilling from her gaze.]

She begins pacing.

CLARKE: (to Baxter) “That thing attacked us! Shut down the shield. Crashed our ship!”

BAXTER: “Darcy, we attacked it first.”

OMNI: “Yes. We were basically starving it.”

CLARKE: “Give me a break!”

Baxter gets frustrated at Clarke’s obstinacy.

BAXTER: “Jesus! He died trying to figure this out. Open your damn mind!”

CLARKE: “Don’t talk to me like that. You’re not my mother!”

BAXTER: “I never said I was!”

Clarke pulls herself together, then looks at Omni.

CLARKE: “So, is it pissed at us?”

OMNI: “I doubt it’s that discerning. While it may perceive computers like me as a form of life, humans would be incomprehensible to it.”

CLARKE: “We’re like ants crawling on an elephant compared to this thing.”

OMNI: “A better analogy would be bacteria floating in an ocean.”

BAXTER: “As alien to it as it is to us.”

CLARKE: “What do we do now?

Baxter gently places Niven against the column and stands.

BAXTER: “Give Kyle a decent burial. There’s no way to preserve his body until Colony One arrives.”

Baxter once again ponders the nearby gryoscope.

EXT. PERSEPHONE, LANDING SITE

It’s snowing more heavily than when they first landed.

About thirty meters from the AeroFox, the two women use shovels to toss piles of dirt on the burial mound.

[Clarke rises with shovel in hand.]

[She leans the shovel over her right shoulder.]

As a finishing touch, Baxter kneels, placing Niven’s gyroscope on top.

[Wider shot shows Clarke and Baxter in front of the burial mound, with the vehicles outlined behind them.]

BAXTER: “You want to say anything?”

CLARKE: “This really sucks. What about you?”

BAXTER: “There’s no way we aren’t naming this place Persephone now.”

CLARKE: “I agree.”

BAXTER: “Well… That’s that. We have to get back for rad-treatment.”

They turn and begin walking slowly back toward the ship.

BAXTER: “Less than two days on this planet and we’ve already had to bury someone.”

CLARKE: “We’re going to be burying twenty-thousand in space if we don’t get them down here soon.”

BAXTER: “We have to buy more time. Kyle’s discovery changes everything.”

CLARKE: “Bullshit! We have to focus on the living. That shield is going up.”

BAXTER: “No! I made the shield to save lives not destroy them. Human or not.”

CLARKE: “Baxter, there’s no other planet in this system that can support human life. We’re not giving this one up to some stupid… Rock-thing!”

BAXTER: “Then, maybe we have to live over here on the dark side and leave the other half for the geoglyph.”

CLARKE: “The algae farms and hab modules are all in that hemisphere. It’s not like we can move them over here!”

BAXTER: “We have to figure it out.”

CLARKE: “Screw that! We based the entire plan on using the geoglyph to build up our infrastructure!” (losing her temper) “If its it or us, I choose us!“

Baxter recognizes the standoff is impossible to divert. She pauses a second and tries another tactic.

BAXTER: “I’m not going to argue about this. We should wait until your father arrives and see what he thinks.”

CLARKE: “My father?!”

Clarke tosses down her shovel and gets in Baxter’s face.

CLARKE: “My father and I were forced watch my parents die when they went outside to fix the cryo-tanks after a micro-meter strike.”

Baxter stands her ground as Clarke gets in her face.

CLARKE: “They were killed saving you and the rest of the goddamn Popsicles!

Baxter is saddened, but doesn’t change her position.

BAXTER: “I’m so sorry that happened… But I still can’t let you do it.”

Clarke thinks for a moment.

Without warning, she punches Baxter square in the stomach!

Totally caught off guard, Baxter gasps and collapses on the ground.

Defiant, Clarke turns and stalks toward the TerraCat.

[Clarke leaves Baxter behind in the dust, a determined scowl playing across her face.]

[Aurora blooming overhead, Baxter watches the TerraCat’s door close behind Clarke.]