INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

Baxter coordinates with Clarke as she activates systems.

BAXTER: “Hold this orbit.”

BAXTER: “Omni, establish a link with the primary shield node.”

A schematic of the node rotates on-screen.

OMNI: “Link established. Accessing data.”

Baxter zooms in. The code shows numerous random errors.

BAXTER: “What the hell?”

BAXTER: “The subroutines that regulate power flow are disabled.”

CLARKE: “How is that possible?”

BAXTER: “Back-ups are offline as well.”

BAXTER: “I have to reinstall the O-S.”

OMNI: “While you do that, I will analyze–“

Omni suddenly rages with a bizarre outburst.

OMNI: “No… This is not… NO!”

NIVEN: “Omni! What’s wrong?”

OMNI: “Frag… Fragmentation!”

The lights of the Omni interface begin flashing randomly.

Instrumentation follows suit — including loud alert tones. The crew watch in stunned fascination.

[Cut to Clarke’s face.]

[Cut to Niven as he struggles to understand what is happening.]

Then, the main cabin illumination dims and is replaced with red emergency lights.

[Baxter reacts to the emergency lights.]

NIVEN: “Omni? Omni, respond!”

Silence.

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

Inside the cabin, with Omni out of order, Niven pulls a manual release and pushes from his seat.

[Close shot of Niven pulling back the manual release lever on his seat.]

[Niven’s chair drops back toward the ship’s rear.]

[Now in position, Niven pushes from his seat in the low gravity.]

He drifts to the science station.

The computer remains silent.

[Niven examines the science station for a clue as to Omni’s malfunction.]

[Baxter turns her head in Niven’s direction.]

BAXTER: “What’s going on?!”

NIVEN: “He’s offline.”

Without warning, the ship bucks wildly!

Niven attempts to grab a handhold and fails.

Above him, Clarke flies into action, checking her glitch-ridden instrumentation.

CLARKE: “What the hell?”

[As the cabin shakes, Baxter holds on for dear life.]

CLARKE (O.S.): “Thrusters firing!”

Unable to grab a handle, Niven drifts uncontrollably and slams into the side of the ship’s lavatory.

[Niven’s body connects with a painful thump.]

INT –

Niven is tossed away from the bulkhead and rammed into the central column!

[Niven’s chest connects with the central column.]

[His momentum flips him around the pole’s axis, sending Niven head over heels.]

[Niven hits the wall along the food dispensary area.]

His painful cry catches Baxter’s attention. She moves to help.

BAXTER: “Kyle!”

[Clarke stills tries desperately to control the ship.]

CLARKE: “Stay in your seat!”

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

Clarke wrenches on the controls.

CLARKE: “I can’t null this out…”

Below, Niven clutches his abdomen.

[Close on Baxter. She is worried for Niven’s predicament, but slightly relieved to see he has secured himself against the bulkhead.]

Clarke scans her controls and thinks of a possible solution.

CLARKE: “I’m firing the main engine! Only way to override the O-M-S!”

Fighting the spin, Clarke activates the propulsion system.

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

Clarke slowly gains ground against the malfunction.

[Beneath her, Niven rides it out in pain.]

INT. COCKPIT

Clarke checks the ship’s trajectory and blows a quick sigh of relief. Niven drifts below in pain.

Baxter cranes to see him.

BAXTER: “You okay?”

NIVEN: “Wow. That hurt…” (up at Baxter) “But, yeah… I’m good.”

Niven slowly makes his way back to his seat.

[Niven grabs a handhold on the central column near his chair.]

[Niven settles into his chair and straps in.]

NIVEN: “I’ll try a hard reboot.”

CLARKE: “Do it.”

Clarke presses buttons on her console.

Niven’s chair rise back to his station.

Niven presses buttons on his console.

The cabin lights and instrumentation are restored to their original configuration.

BAXTER: “Looks like it worked.”

Back inside, Niven stares at the blank science station.

NIVEN: “Omni… Where are you, pal?”

A klaxon emanates from Clarke’s console breaking the silence.

CLARKE: “Shit! We lost main engines.”

CLARKE: “Our orbit. It’s decaying fast.”

NIVEN: “The burn sent us in the wrong direction!”

The flashing red of the emergency lights triggers an abrupt, traumatic memory in Clarke. She freezes at her controls as Niven yells in the background. His voice and the room fade.

[Flashback. Colony One hallway outside Bridge. Close on elevator door opening.]

Close on young Clarke.

JUMP CUT TO:

FLASHBACK: The CORRIDOR is bustling with running officers as an emergency unfolds. YOUNG DARCY (the Girl) is being led by her Mother, DENISE CLARKE, into Colony One’s Bridge.

The mother and daughter stop and take in the sight.

The mother and daughter stop and take in the sight.

Everything is illuminated in red-alert lighting — exactly like the AeroFox. The Bridge buzzes with activity. Technicians bark at each other. Something is seriously wrong!

At the far end of the room, Captain Bova — 20 years younger and clean-shaven — sits at his console. He waves them forward.

MOTHER: “Got here as fast as I could. I was taking Darcy to school when the alert sounded. We diverted here.”

Behind Bova, a ship schematic flashes red in several critical areas.

Young Darcy is in awe.

The Captain nods at the Girl.

BOVA: “Welcome to Control, young lady. I wish it was under better circumstances.”

With maturity, Young Darcy reaches up and shakes the Captain’s hand. Briefly redirected from the emergency, he smiles warmly and takes it.

Denise scans the display.

[Insert of Colony One schematic depicting damage to tank two and meteor trajectory.]

DENISE: “Looks like a meteor punctured the
aft barrier and struck Tank Two.”

BOVA: “Yes. It’s venting into space.”

[Insert live video feed of damaged tank.]

BOVA [OS]: “We’ve already lost three percent of our cyro-reserves.”

The intense situation leads to a heated exchange.

DENISE: “That’s all we’ve got! I’m barely keeping the hibernation units running as it is!”

DENISE (with misplaced anger): “Dammit, I told you this might happen when the back-up units were damaged in the Oort Cloud!”

BOVA: “I know that. It’s not like we could have circled back to get more!”

BOVA (gravely): “At this point, no matter what we do, we’re going to lose ten thousand colonists.”

DENISE: “Gonna lose a helluva lot more…”

[On Young Darcy, looking up at her mother.]

DENISE (OS): “…if we don’t get out there and fix it!”

BOVA: “We’re prepping to send your team.”

DENISE: “Good. I’ll get suited up.”

BOVA: “No. Lead them from here.”

DENISE: “Captain…”

[Bova gestures to Young Darcy with an open palm.]

BOVA: “Denise.”

[Denise looks down at her daughter, pensively.]

DENISE: “I know.”

DENISE (determined): “It’s my job.”

Bova sighs and nods, looking sympathetically toward Young Darcy.

The mother kneels, touching the girl’s shoulders.

DENISE: “Honey, I have to go. I need you to stay with Captain Bova.”

Bova smiles warmly at Young Darcy.

BOVA: “Yes. You can help me run things.”

YOUNG DARCY (to her mother): “Where are you going?”

DENISE: “Outside, honey.”

Niven’s voice is suddenly juxtaposed over the scene.

NIVEN (O.S.): “The burn sent us in the wrong direction. We have to compensate!”.

JUMP CUT BACK:

Back inside the AeroFox, a graphic shows a path that intersects with the surface. They are going to crash!

NIVEN: “You have to compensate!”

Niven knows something is wrong with Clarke. He yells, snapping Clarke out of her childhood memory.

NIVEN: “Darcy!”

Clarke shakes her head to clear her mind and returns to the present. She scans her controls.

CLARKE: “Uh… Thrusters are offline.”

NIVEN: “You should engage main engines.”

NIVEN: (pointing to his screen) “Use our trajectory. Bounce us off the atmosphere!”

CLARKE: “That’s insane!”

NIVEN: “You have a better idea?!”

Clarke realizes it’s the only way. She makes the call, and presses the main engine control. Nothing happens.

CLARKE: “Main engine just went offline.”

BAXTER: “What the hell is going on?”

Clarke plays with the stick. The sound of jets reverberates.

CLARKE: “Wait, I just got limited control.”

NIVEN: “Then we can get back into orbit.”

Clarke looks around, then checks her instruments.

CLARKE: “No. We’ve used too much fuel.”

Baxter knows where this is heading. She mutters to herself.

BAXTER: “Don’t say it. Please don’t say it.”

CLARKE: “No choice! Aligning for descent.”

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

Clarke is reluctant but driven as she monitors systems.

CLARKE: “We hit atmosphere in one minute.”

Niven scans for a landing site.

NIVEN: “Angle for the dark side.”

CLARKE: “Why?!”

NIVEN: “Flares! With the shield offline, it’s the only was to stay out of the radiation.”

CLARKE: “Fine! Find us a spot to set down.”

NIVEN: “I’m looking.”

As Clarke tweaks the controls to alter course, Baxter can do nothing aside from holding on and waiting for the inevitable.

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

The crew is buffeted as the glow of entry enters the windows. A loud roar fills the cabin.

[A shaken Baxter clutches at her restraints.]

Niven observes a wireframe landscape on his monitor, calling out over the cacophony.

[Blurred by the ship’s vibration, Niven’s NAV readout shows their projected landing zone.]

NIVEN: “Stay on this heading!”

Clarke tracks a trajectory on her console.

CLARKE: “Got it! She’s right on the line.”

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

The turbulence smooths out.

Screens indicate they’re almost on the ground.

Clarke is back on her game, guiding the craft.

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

Lightning flashes outside the windows.

The ship is slammed even harder than during atmospheric entry.

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

[White-hot lightning pierces the interior of the AeroFox.]

Arcs of blue fire jump around the cabin.

The startled crew pull away from their instruments to avoid being electrocuted!

As the sparks fade, internal power fails at the same time. Wisps of smoke drift where the lightning impacted the most.

Wisps of smoke drift where the lightning impacted the most.

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

Numerous warning sounds fill the space. A fire breaks out where the lightning struck.

Baxter looks down in horror as smoke fills the cabin.

BAXTER: “Hey! We have a fire!”

CLARKE: “Stay put! We’re almost down!”

The screens indicate they are nearing touchdown. Clarke hits a series of buttons.

CLARKE: “Deploying gear!”

[Niven grimaces as the flames grow behind him.]