EXT. PERSEPHONE, LANDING SITE

[The AeroFox stands beneath a storming sky.]

[Seen from beneath, the hatch on the side of the AeroFox begins to open.]

Bounding from the AeroFox hatchway, Baxter struggles once again to make her way down the ladder.

[Baxter descends the steep ladder, looking down and regarding the drop to the ground. In the background, lightning spikes the sky.]

Baxter gives up and jumps down.

She hurts her legs in the high gravity and struggles to stay upright.

Once her feet are firmly on the ground, she briefly rubs her knees.

BAXTER: “Ouch!”

Baxter hits a button on her wrist.

BAXTER: (COMM VOICE) “Clarke! It’s Baxter. Come in. Clarke?”

Baxter gives up and lopes toward the nearby TerraCat.

BAXTER: (COMM VOICE) “TerraCat, open hatch!”

The rover’s gull-wing doors open.

Baxter climbs inside.

INT. TERRACAT

The engineer makes her way to the rear section of the sleek rover.

[Taking stock of her surroundings, Baxter looks left to check the front of the TerraCat.]

[Sweeping right, Persephone’s night sky is visible through the rover’s open door.]

[The camera finishes panning over the rover’s interior. All is quiet.]

The engineer makes her way to the rear section of the sleek rover.

She finds a large case labelled with a medical symbol.

Baxter lugs the large metal and plastic AUTO-DOC CASE out of its cradle.

It slips from her fingers in the high gravity. With a loud crash, it lands hard on the floor of the vehicle.

BAXTER: “Damn it.”

Baxter straightens her flight suit in anger and steels herself.

[Baxter bends down, reaching for the auto-doc case.]

She opens the case and reaches for the circular AUTODOC, retrieving it.

[Baxter holds the auto-doc, examining it.]

She slaps the device on her back where it snaps into place with a magnetic seal.

EXT. PERSEPHONE, LANDING SITE – NIGHT

Baxter is silhouetted by the glow of Alpha Centauri A & B as she trudges across the desert to the waiting AeroFox.

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

The hatch bursts open. Baxter steps inside with the auto-doc. A weakening Niven is concerned as he uses the scanner.

Baxter continues wearing her O2 mask — speaking through it.

BAXTER: (COMM VOICE) (panting) “I got the auto-doc.”

NIVEN: (feverish) “I… I think I located her beacon. It’s a couple of clicks from here.”

Baxter sees the map projection info on-screen.

NIVEN: “Edge of the mountains.”

Niven looks up at Baxter from the scanner’s viewing hood.

NIVEN: “I tried to reach her. No response.”

BAXTER: (COMM VOICE) “Omni, shoot her location to the TerraCat and help me with Kyle.”

OMNI: “Of course.”

Niven’s chair lowers. Baxter lifts him away from the science station and places him in his seat.

NIVEN: “I’m so sorry. Lost track of time.”

Baxter removes the auto-doc from her back and activates it.

BAXTER: (COMM VOICE) “This is on me.”

Baxter places the device on Niven’s chest.

BAXTER: (COMM VOICE) “Omni, can you supervise this procedure?”

OMNI: “No. I would not consider myself capable of performing nano-surgery at this time. I have already endangered the mission and–“

BAXTER: (COMM VOICE) (interrupting) “Dammit, Omni! We don’t have time–“

NIVEN: “Guys. The auto-doc can handle it. Or, why call it an ‘auto-doc’?”

Niven smiles weakly.

EXT. PERSEPHONE, MOUNTAINS

[In the hills bordering the valley where Clarke lies unconscious, storm clouds rage above the shadowed forms of distant peaks. Lightning stabs down, lighting their rocky faces.]

On the edge of the rocky hills bordering the valley, a nearly unconscious Clarke is pinned underneath a slide of rocks.

The left tube to her backpack has been disconnected! Oxygen vents into the air. The beacon flashes on her backpack.

[Clarke’s unconscious face can be seen through her helmet. The storm is reflected in her visor.]

Baxter’s voice emanates from the speaker in her air mask.

BAXTER (COMM VOICE): “Clarke? You out there? Talk to me.”

Clarke doesn’t move or respond. The Suit Voice detects the transmission, answering for her.

SUIT VOICE: “Attention. Astronaut Clarke is unconscious. Oxygen compromised. Reserves at fifteen percent!”

INT. TERRACAT

Baxter rides inside the self-driving vehicle. She looks down at the monitor on the dashboard. It shows a pulsing blip.

BAXTER: “What?! Darcy, wake up. Can you hear me? I’m coming.” (more emphatic) “Darcy, wake up!”

No response.

SUIT VOICE: (COMM VOICE) “First aid may be required.”

BAXTER: (frantic) “Darcy!”

Baxter speaks to the rover’s control interface.

BAXTER: “TerraCat, I need you to go faster!”

It responds in a softer female voice than Clarke’s suit.

TERRACAT: “We are at maximum safe velocity.”

BAXTER: “Would it help if I said please?!”

EXT. PERSEPHONE – MOUNTAINS

Baxter’s verbal prodding has an effect. Clarke wakes up.

EXT. PERSEPHONE – MOUNTAINS

Baxter’s verbal prodding has an effect. Clarke wakes up.

[Clarke sits up and painfully attempts to move the rock pinning her leg.]

CLARKE: (coughing) “Bax… Baxter…”

She attempts to roll on her back. Her left foot is pinned in the rubble. She cries out in pain.

INT. TERRACAT

The ping resounds faster as the rover closes in. The light from Clarke’s flash-scanner arcs in the darkness ahead.

BAXTER: “There she is. Stop!”

Clarke watches her approach through the fog of hypoxia.

[Shot of the ghostly figure from Clarke’s POV.]

For a moment, Baxter‘s image is transposed with that of Clarke’s mother! She reaches out to her daughter with tenderness.

CLARKE: (weakly) “M… Mom..?”

Clarke clears the vision. [The image of her mother is] replaced with a concerned Baxter.

BAXTER: “What are you saying, kiddo? You must be delirious.”

Air fills the mask. Clarke inhales deeply.

SUIT VOICE: “Oxygen restored.”

Baxter finds the dangling tube and shoves it back in place.

BAXTER: “You’re going to need a new clip for that tube. You alright?”

Clarke regains consciousness, coughing in her mask.

CLARKE: “Stupid planet. Ow!” (pointing) “My foot!”

Baxter eyes the restraining boulder and mumbles to herself.

BAXTER: “I swear to God. If I have to lift anymore shit today…”

Baxter sighs as she struggles to lift the boulder.

After several powerful heaves, she gets it to budge enough for Clarke to remove her leg.

[In the background, the Terracat’s bright headlights pierce the night.]

[Closer shot of Baxter lifting the rock, as Clarke pulls her leg free.]

CLARKE: “Thanks.”

BAXTER: “You want me to carry you, too?”

Clarke laughs slightly and winces in pain.

EXT. TERRACAT

Clarke’s left arm is draped over Baxter’s shoulder as the two women limp to the rover. They yell over the wind.

CLARKE: “The drone worked…”

BAXTER: “Kyle’s already getting fixed up.”

CLARKE: “Awesome. Then, we better get going.”

BAXTER: “Great. We should regroup and–”

Clarke shakes her head and stops in her tracks.

CLARKE: “No. We’re heading to Two-Twelve.”

Baxter locks eyes with her.

BAXTER: “It’s way over on the other side!”

CLARKE: “So?! We’ll retrace the river bed the rover took to get here. You have to fix the damn shield!”

An angry Clarke hobbles past to the waiting rover.

BAXTER: “Darcy, you just fell of a cliff!” (calling after her) “At least go back and do a med-scan.”

Clarke ignores her, opens the door and climbs in with her injured ankle. Baxter throws up her arms and follows her.

[The Terracat’s exterior door closes.]

[Inside the sealed TerraCat, the cabin starts to pressurize. Clarke reaches for the quick-release on her mask.]

TERRACAT: “Cabin pressurizing.”

[Clarke clicks the quick release on the right side of her helmet, ripping it off in one frantic motion. She gasps for air.]

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

Niven is rolled on his side. The robotic arms of the auto-doc move around him. One attaches to the small of his back, delivering a dose of nanomachines. The radio kicks on.

CLARKE: (COMM VOICE) “TerraCat to AeroFox Two.”

Niven is still in pain as he reaches for the radio button.

NIVEN: “You alright?”

CLARKE: (COMM VOICE) “I’m okay. You?”

NIVEN: “On the mend.”

OMNI: “The first round of nanites were just injected. With his liver toxicity at such dangerous levels, the procedure will take time.”

CLARKE: (COMM VOICE) “We understand. Listen, we’re on our way out to Node Two-Twelve.”

NIVEN: “Two-Twelve?”

CLARKE: (COMM VOICE) “It’s a ninety-minute drive from here. Do me a favor, send us your E – M patch. We’re gonna upload it.”

Niven panics, dislodging the auto-doc. It clatters to the floor, interrupting the treatment.

NIVEN: “Wait… I’m sure Ms. Baxter hasn’t had the time to tell you, but we found something weird with the geoglyphs.”

[The AutoDoc falls to the floor with a clatter.]

CLARKE: (COMM VOICE) “Honestly, I don’t care.”

NIVEN: “But Darcy, it could have something to do with what’s wrong with the shield! We need to–“

CLARKE: (COMM VOICE) “Niven, send me the patch. That’s an order! We’ll talk about your science shit later.”

INT. TERRACAT / EXT. CANYON – NIGHT

In the midst of lightning and rain, the rover continues in self-drive mode. Through the windows, the rocky walls of the canyon slide past. The cabin is now pressurized and both women have removed their masks.

Clarke rubs her ankle, still recovering. Baxter listens, fuming.

NIVEN: (COMM VOICE) “Science shit?! Science shit got us to this planet! And science shit is going to keep us alive!”

The two woman look at each other in shock at Niven’s level of emotion.

The two woman look at each other in shock at Niven’s level of emotion. Clarke mouths a silent ‘wow’.

NIVEN: (COMM VOICE) Tell you what… I’ll send the code, if you get me a sample!

CLARKE: “Jesus! A sample of what?”

NIVEN: “The geoglyph, goddamn it! Look at your screen.”

A sattelite map pops up on the screen next to Clarke.

NIVEN: “Two-Twelve is sitting on right on top of a major formation. Ms. Baxter, will you please back me up here!”

Clarke scans the rock formation, then locks eyes with Baxter.

BAXTER: “He’s right.”

CLARKE: “Okay, okay. I’ll see what we can do.  After we install the patch.”

NIVEN: (COMM VOICE) “Thank you. End transmission!”

Clarke shakes her head, happy for the conversation to end.

Outside the TerraCat traverses the canyon in the storm.

INT. AEROFOX, COCKPIT

The transmission cuts off. Niven lays back, seething.

NIVEN: “You know, I spend forever dreaming of coming here and I end up knocked on my ass and trapped with Darcy ‘my Daddy’s the Captain’ Clarke!”

OMNI: “Well, at least you have me.”

NIVEN: “And I wish it was just us! Sorry, Omni. I’ve had to deal with that little brat for most of my life. She really pisses me off sometimes.”

OMNI: “Having watched you and the other children grow up, I can attest to the fact that you all piss each other off from time to time.”

NIVEN: “You’re probably right.”

OMNI: “I know I’m right.”

(beat)

OMNI: “Kyle, I need you to set aside your emotions. You interrupted the nanotherapy. We have to restart the procedure from the beginning.”

Niven places the device back on his abdomen.

NIVEN: “Ugh… Okay, buddy.”

He grabs his gyroscope and lays back for the treatment.

FADE TO BLACK: