INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

Baxter stirs from the impact. The cabin is now tilted on its side. Omni’s voice is muffled in the wake of the crash.

[Baxter scans her systems to evaluate the situation.]

BAXTER: “Can you read the tower?”

OMNI: “Yes. Node Two-Twelve is officially… offline.”

BAXTER: “So, where’s Clarke?”

OMNI: “Accessing external cameras.”

On the monitor, various blurry images appear. Finally, one showcases Clarke as she crawls for the board she pulled.

BAXTER: (flabbergasted) “What is she doing?!”

OMNI: “She could take the board and drive to another node for upload.”

BAXTER: (astounded) “Seriously?! Help me down.”

A frustrated Baxter unbuckles her seatbelt and her chair disengages and slides away from the pilot’s station.

Baxter climbs out of the remains of the ship’s airlock.

[Baxter walks from the sunward side of the craft to face what remains of the transmission tower.]

[Baxter surveys her handiwork.]

Once on the ground, she scans the devastated tower and looks toward Clarke — she’s still crawling and has made it to the board.

[Clarke reaches for the node board.]

Clarke picks it up and stands.

Baxter quickens her pace to a slow jog to catch up.

BAXTER: “Hey!”

Clarke turns to see Baxter and tries to move faster. She staggers toward the rover. Baxter quickly catches up and grabs her by the shoulder.

[Baxter spins Clarke around to face her.]

BAXTER: “Not so fast…”

In spite of her sickly state, Clarke turns with viciousness.

CLARKE: “Get your hands off me! You’re insane! So was Kyle!”

Baxter is taken aback by the harsh sentiment, but continues.

BAXTER: “Maybe I am…. Maybe he was. But, you… You’re done.”

CLARKE: “NO! No, I’m not done!”

CLARKE: (holding up the board) “I’m just gettin’ started!”

Baxter snatches the node board from Clarke.

Baxter breaks the node board in half across her knee!

Enraged, Clarke grabs Baxter and throws them both to the aeroshell.

[Weak from radiation sickness, Clarke does her best to fight with Baxter.]

The women tumble against the base of the node.

Baxter uses this to gain an advantage. She pins the weakened Clarke against the tower.

BAXTER: “Goddamn it! Stop!”

Baxter slowly stands.

BAXTER: “Omni, are you there? Omni?”

Silence abounds.

Only the wind can be heard as Baxter extends a hand to Clarke. The young woman takes it, standing shakily.

[Clarke is clearly traumatized by the event.]

CLARKE: “It’s eating the ship!”

Baxter puts up a hand, silencing Clarke.

BAXTER: “Shush!” (turns back to AeroFox) “Omni… Please come in.”

BAXTER: “Are you alright?”

OMNI: (COMM VOICE) “Yes. You said I should figure it out, so… I figured it out.”

[Baxter and Clarke look on in awe.]

Increasingly freaked out, Clarke staggers away from the spectacular display toward the direction of the TerraCat. She clearly wants to get away from the alien material.

Excited, Baxter walks along the aeroshell examining the lines of geoglyph which lead to the AeroFox.

BAXTER: “Are you able to talk to it?”

A woozy Clarke can hardly believe it as an unafraid Baxter steps off the aeroshell and heads quickly to the perimeter of the fresh pyrite supporting the AeroFox.

CLARKE: “Wait..!”

Baxter arrives the base of the geoglyph structure. Above her, the AeroFox is suspended by amber columns of growth.

BAXTER: “I’m here. Now what?”

Baxter appears stronger as she jogs toward the elevated ship.

OMNI: “It knows that I exist. I think there might be a way to have it understand that you do as well.”

OMNI: “Step closer. I’m going to send a series of more complex pulses.”

Baxter nears the growth of geoglyph encompassing the AeroFox.

OMNI: “Put your hand out.”

A column of fresh pyrite GROWS toward Baxter, stopping about waist-high. From a distance, Clarke watches in horror. Clarke watches from a distance in horror.

CLARKE: “Are you crazy?! Baxter, don’t!”

Baxter ignores her, slowly extending her left hand.

Alarmed, the delirious Clarke begins stumbling in Baxter’s direction to stop her.

As Clarke covers the distance between the Node and the crashed AeroFox, Baxter touches the column!

Almost magically, Baxter’s hand sinks into the structure.

Her breath quickens. A loud RUMBLE emanates from the tendril of geoglyph behind the AeroFox.

Clarke is speechless as she watches the geoglyph quickly forge an enormous humanoid form!

The BAXTER-GLYPH emerges, towering above them, casting a long shadow in the orange light.

Baxter pulls her hand away, staring up, mouth agape.

BAXTER: “Oh my, god. It’s me…”

The huge replica of Baxter mirrors her stance at the rocky interface. Geometrical shapes imitate her body in detail.

BAXTER: “Omni. How… How big is that thing?”

OMNI: (COMM VOICE) “Twenty-one meters high.”

The Baxter-glyph stops growing. It stands tall with its massive left hand extended, approximating Baxter’s previous stance. It appears to be reaching for them.

Stumbling forward and suddenly less afraid, Clarke wants answers.

CLARKE: “Why… Why is it doing that?”

BAXTER: “It’s telling us, “Darcy, stop trying to kill me…”

Clarke smiles and laughs for the first time in a long while.

OMNI: “I believe the manifestation is part of its analysis of you, Engineer Baxter. A way of understanding your existence within its own context.”

Baxter’s eyes widen in amazement. Her heart races.

Clarke takes in the astounding sight as well, staring in awe.

BAXTER: “How does it even know I’m here?”

OMNI: (COMM VOICE) “Like all living things, you have an electro-magnetic signature. I simply made the geoglyph aware of your frequency.”

CLARKE: “So, it made a huge statue of you. If it could do that all along, why didn’t it just crush our shield?!”

OMNI: (COMM VOICE) “That’s not how it thinks. It’s been alone for billions of years. It was trying to gather information to ascertain what was happening to it.”

BAXTER: “Remember, only the nodes that landed on it were non-functional. It couldn’t reach the others.”

The image of the enormous Baxter-glyph triggers a final memory in Clarke.

She hears her mother’s voice.

MOTHER: (V.O.) “We’re out here to do two things: preserve life and make a new one.” (beat)
“I care about them. I care about you. Every life is important.”

Clarke nods. She finally connects the dots. Returning to reality, she locks eyes with a concerned Baxter.

CLARKE: “So, what do we do now?”

Baxter turns away from the giant statue and observes Clarke.

BAXTER: “Child… You’re a mess. We gotta get you that rad-treatment.”

OMNI: (COMM VOICE) “Plus, another flare is imminent.”

BAXTER: “Ugh…”

Clarke can barely stand, yet she seems worried for Omni.

CLARKE: “Omni, what are you going to do?”

OMNI: “I will continue the conversation. We appear to be making… progress.”

Baxter gestures toward the TerraCat and nods warmly.

BAXTER: “See you in a sec.”

Clarke nods and turns. She stops for a second to stare up at the Baxter-glyph.

Meanwhile, Baxter observes the elevated AeroFox. Its hatch is now several meters above the ground.

BAXTER: “Omni, I don’t suppose you could talk your new buddy here into making me some stairs?”

OMNI: “That would be a bit beyond our current ability to communicate.”

BAXTER: “Hmph… Figures.”

She stalks around the geoglyph structure to access the airlock, disappearing behind the structures.