[Clarke prepare to fire the main engine.]

[Close-up on Clarke’s right hand as she presses the button to engage.]

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

The cockpit goes dark with the exception of internal lights.

[Close-up on Niven.]

CLARKE: “We’ll stay in the planet’s shadow until it passes.”

BAXTER: “Nice.”

Clarke checks her instruments and shudders uncomfortably.

CLARKE: “God…”

NIVEN: “What?”

CLARKE: “I’ve never seen anything so black.”

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

Clarke moves her controller to rotate the ship. The view shifts.

CLARKE: “And, look at that.”

Clarke notices flashing on the edge of the planet.

NIVEN: “Yeah. Lightning. Perpetual storms caused by the temperature variance on the day-night line.”

Baxter bristles at an undisclosed memory.

BAXTER: “That’s nothing compared to what it was like when we left Earth.”

[Niven and Clarke exchange a look as they observe the maelstrom below.]

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

The cabin — now filled with funky bass tones — is illuminated by the auburn light of Proxima Centauri.

An irritable Baxter reviews computer files on the shield problem.

[Baxter taps on the keyboard as graphics and data move on her monitors.]

CLARKE: “When I said you could play music, I didn’t mean classical. Where do you even find this stuff?”

Niven floats at the SCIENCE STATION in the lower section of the craft. He stares into the viewing hood of a telescope.

NIVEN: “In the archives. Some of us actually study Earth history.”

NIVEN: “The good news is… I made a special playlist just for this mission. You’re gonna love it!”

Baxter is staying out of it; Clarke rolls her eyes.

CLARKE: “Great.”

NIVEN: (looking up) “Ms. Baxter, wanna see something?”

BAXTER: “Down there?”

NIVEN: “I promise it’s worth it.”

Baxter’s chair lowers and she unbuckles reluctantly.

As she drifts down, she grabs a nearby handle before knocking into the wall.

Niven reaches up and pulls her to his side.

Baxter grabs the viewing hood and squints into it. Niven observes.

NIVEN: “I’ve wanted to view them up close since I was a kid.”

[He crosses to the left side of the science station.]

CLARKE: “What are you talking about?!”

An excited Niven smiles and flicks a couple of switches. The sunward-face of Persephone pops up on screens throughout the craft.

NIVEN: “The geoglyphs.”

[The same image appears’s on Clarke’s monitor.]

The brownish-gray planet is crisscrossed with a series of dark, straight lines. They stand out against the arid landscape. Some areas are less prominent than others.

CLARKE: “Ugh…”

NIVEN: “The geoglyphs.”

CLARKE: “…Those again.”

Niven ignores her, straining at the image.

NIVEN: “They look different. Shriveled up.”

Baxter is amazed, looking back and forth between Niven and the images of the geoglyph.

BAXTER: “Wow. You really have studied them.”

NIVEN: “Enough to know they’ve changed since the old probe images. I want to know why.”

CLARKE: (scoffing) “As long as there’s enough of that stuff for us to build a civilization, who cares?”

Niven points at the screen angrily.

NIVEN: “We should! Jesus, Darcy. Can we do a little science before you go digging up the place?”

CLARKE: (facetious) “Sure! Snap a few geo-scans for me? That’s science, right?”

NIVEN: “Those patterns are more than just mineral deposits!”

BAXTER: “And, what do you think they are?”

[Niven floats up toward the large monitor as he turns his head to address Baxter.]

NIVEN: “Signs of extraterrestrial life.”

Baxter backs away from the console.

BAXTER: “Come on…”

Niven toggles the telescope instruments, zooming in.

NIVEN: “Seriously! They’re perfect. There for eons. Next to huge volcanoes. And, somehow completely free of ash! What could cause that?”

A panel on the wall lights up as Omni joins the discussion.

OMNI: “The initial landers indicated they were statically-charged mineral deposits.”

OMNI: “Hence, the lack of dust.”

CLARKE: “Exactly. Thank you, Omni.”

BAXTER: “Hmmm… It is a tidally-locked exo-planet orbiting a dwarf star. Who knows how gravitational forces might shape its surface?”

NIVEN: (increasingly livid) “You can’t tell me you don’t see massive alien art down there!”

BAXTER: “Who made it? There’s nothing alive on Proxima B, except the algae we seeded.”

[Baxter uses the bars on the station to cross to her seat.]

BAXTER: “No one’s ever lived there.”

NIVEN: (reaching) “I didn’t say anyone lived there.”

NIVEN: “Maybe someone… stopped by and… I don’t know… Just did it.”

An amused Baxter returns to her seat.

BAXTER: “Sure. Makes total sense.”

CLARKE: “Yeah, Kyle. It was aliens.”

A disappointed Niven gives up. He taps a button to shut off the telescope feed, and heads back to his seat.

[Niven floats toward his seat.]