Constellation
Season 1 – Episode 5
Episode Title: Five Miles Out, the Sound Is Clearest
Original release date: March 6, 2024
Plot: On the lam, Jo finds a frightening revelation about Alice’s past. Bud plans to settle the score with Henry.
* * *
[line ringing]
[Jo breathes shakily]
Ma… Magnus?
[ringing continues]
[gasps] Magnus?
[breathes shakily]
Magnus!
[breathing shakily]
Magnus?
[groans]
[Jo panting]
[groans]
[line clicks]
[Frederic] Hello?
Hello?
Magnus?
Magnus?
[breathing shakily]
Jo?
We need to get you help. I’m coming over, okay?
[sniffling]
[operator, speaks German]
Um, I need an ambulance. Um, Ursulaner Strasse, um…
[speaks German]
Uh, my husband has… has his… hit his head.
He’s unconscious. I need a-an ambulance as soon as possible.
I don’t want you hiding in here anymore.
I want to go into bed.
It’s okay. We’re going for a drive.
Why? Where’s Daddy?
He just went for a walk. It’s just gonna be you and me.
It’s gonna be a little adventure. [sighs]
Wh-Where are we going?
How long are we going for?
What happened to your cheek?
Can we call him?
Alice, I’m your mother.
It’s okay for you to go with me in a car. We’ll call him on the way, okay? Uh-huh?
[sighs]
[phone buzzing]
[Jo] Okay, hop in the car.
[car alarm chirps]
[buzzing continues]
[breathes heavily]
[siren wailing]
I love you.
[door lock beeps]
[footsteps approaching]
[door closes]
[Jo] I didn’t remember. I don’t remember.
I know you could all hear me when I was up there!
[Alice] Mamma?
[Jo] Alice!
[breathes shakily]
What the fuck?
[speaking Swedish]
[Jo] They’re doing something very fiddly at the CAL.
[Paul] Core temperature: minus 203 degrees.
[Henry] Tune lasers. Come on.
[Alice] What does it do?
[Jo] It’s looking for a new state of matter.
[Alice] What’s does that mean?
[mouse clicking]
[Jo] It’s looking for a new state of matter.
[Alice] What’s does that mean?
[Jo chuckles] Don’t know.
[Alice chuckles] Eighty-four days till you’re home.
[Jo] Only 84.
[Jo] They’re doing something very fiddly at the CAL.
[beeps]
[air lock hissing]
[air lock closes]
[“Tellur” by Surrogate Sibling plays]
[“Blue, Blue Party” playing]
Henry.
[gasps]
[song stops]
[grunting, breathing heavily]
Henry.
[sighs]
Shut up.
Shut up!
[knocks]
[knocking]
Hello?
[knocking]
Who’s out there?
You identify yourself or fuck off!
Hello?
[phone ringing]
Yeah?
Henry, are you okay?
Yeah. I, um…
You’re taking your pills?
Listen, they announced the Nobel Prize. I was thinking of you.
Uh-huh?
“The key focus is how quantum mechanics allows two or more particles to exist in what is called an entangled state.
What happens to one of the particles in an entangled pair determines what happens to the other, even if they are far apart.”
Are you okay?
Yeah, I’m okay. I’m…
Haven’t been better in years.
[Irena] Henry?
Henry?
[phone buzzing]
[Ilya grunts]
[grunts]
Ilya. [sniffles]
You got vitamins, right? At Star City.
Hello, Jo. [sighs]
W-What does it say on… on the bottle? On the prescription label?
Do you know the ISS is full of cracks?
It’s like an old china teacup.
What does it say on the label?
In my best reading voice, “Vitamin D, B-12″…
It says, “A,” right? Parenthesis A.
Parenthesis A, check.
[Jo] So mine says “B.”
So you, Audrey and Yaz all got A, and I got B.
Well, maybe you should have worked harder.
Mmm. Very funny. Mine are different. Mine are antipsychotics.
Ilya?
Could you go to the beginning on this?
So I went in for my… [sighs] …psych evaluation.
They said I had PTSD.
They… They got me on medication, Pharmolith.
And… And… And the pills looked exactly like my vitamins.
So I checked it, and they are the same.
If they look the same, Jo, maybe you just mixed them up.
Uh, do you seriously think that’s something I would do?
No.
So I put it through an AAS and, uh, it’s lithium.
It’s an isomer of lithium. Lithium-7.
[breathes shakily]
I didn’t make a mistake.
Why would they give you lithium at Star City?
Maybe because I said that I saw something that nobody wanted me to see.
Ilya, they… they could hear me when I was up there.
They could hear me when I was all alone on ISS and I…
and I thought there was no connection.
No, they couldn’t, Jo. I was there. They couldn’t.
They’re giving lithium pills to astronauts.
Why?
You honestly think…
[Jo] W-Wait a minute.
Hello? Jo?
[Jo] There’s something wrong, Ilya.
Jo?
Hold on a second.
What is this?
Ice.
Why?
I-Ice is not illegal, is it?
I guess not.
Have a nice day.
Thanks.
I wanna play you something.
[Alice] Mum?
[Ilya] Jo?
Um, you know what, my phone is gonna be off for a while.
So I’m gonna, um…
[swallows, clicks tongue]
Can you please just check your pills for me? Analyze them.
I’ll call you back. Don’t speak to anyone.
Who was that?
It was just Mummy’s, uh, colleague.
Are you hungry, love?
[car horn honks]
[car engine starts]
[beeping]
[beeping continues]
[sighs]
[line ringing]
[grunts]
[Irena, speaking Russian]
[beeps]
Irena.
I need your help.
I’m sorry, you need to come and pick up the pieces.
[line ringing]
[Connie] Hi, you’ve reached Constantina Caldera.
Leave a message.
[beeps]
[Bud] Hey… Hey, Connie, it’s Papa.
Um… [chuckles] …I, uh… I was wondering if, um…
You know, I’ve been taking care of myself and… [inhales deeply]
…and I was wondering if you had any plans for Thanksgiving. [mutters]
Yep. Give me a call. Hmm.
[water running]
[on phone] This is Tensy. I’m not here.
[Bud] Well, if you’re not here, I don’t know if I am.
Makes it kind of hard to talk.
Listen, I was wondering, uh, you know, Thanksgiving, before it’s too late?
Love to your mom.
Ask her what the fuck she did with the money from the Pontiac.
[water continues running]
[Bud] Ask her what the fuck she did with the money from the Pontiac.
[line ringing]
[on phone] Henrietta Caldera.
Leave your message.
[beeps]
[grunts]
[clicks tongue]
Hey, honey. It’s your kind-of father.
Can I ask you something?
Sure.
It’s about hiding in cupboards.
Why do you do it?
I don’t know.
‘Cause to me, it looks like something you would do if you’re afraid.
Is there something you’re afraid of?
Could we maybe give this fear a name?
Just afraid sometimes. That’s all.
But last night you said that you, um… you saw Wendy’s dad.
A funeral.
You-You said that you thought I was dead.
But you’re here now, so…
But did you really see that?
Valya.
Valya?
The Valya.
The thing that I…
that scares me.
Is “the Valya” a person?
[sighs]
What does “the Valya” do? Why… Why does it scare you?
She kind of tricks me.
It’s a she?
She tricks me into not playing.
Hiding.
What is she?
I don’t know. She’s a dream.
Do you wanna draw her for me? Do you wanna draw the Valya for me?
[stammers]
You okay?
Yeah, of course. Um, yeah.
You look worried too. A-And…
[inhales deeply] I’ll draw you my worry if you draw me yours.
Okay.
It’s a deal?
Yeah.
Okay.
Just gonna go and make a quick phone call.
I’ll be right back, okay?
Yeah.
Yeah.
[phone ringing]
[person, speaking Danish]
[groans]
Laurentz.
Oh, hello.
[in Danish] Who is this?
[in English] Um, my name is Johanna Ericsson.
Um, I’m an astronaut attached to ESA.
[gasps]
[in Danish] Why would you be calling me?
[in English] Well, um, I’m on my way to you.
You sent me some tapes.
[Laurentz breathing heavily, stammers]
[in Danish] I don’t think you can be who you say you are.
If you got a tape or something from my sister,
she’s insane.
[person] Laurie, who is it?
[handset settles in cradle]
[in English] Hello?
[Jo] “Over many years, they faked these tapes and used them to attempt…
They’re not simply cranks. They’re criminals.”
[breathing shakily]
[phone ringing]
Jo?
[Jo] Magnus, I’m so sorry.
Are you okay? Are you hurt?
I’m fine. Where’s Alice?
She’s here. She’s fine.
Jo, you have to come back now.
Give me the phone.
Back off.
I’m so sorry. I made a huge mistake. I… [stammers] Everything just, um…
Give me the phone or I dismiss your wife from her job immediately.
[sighs]
Hi, Jo. We understand what you’re going through. It’s fine.
Just tell me where you are.
Put Magnus back on.
[Frederic] We both just wanna know where you are so we can help you.
Is it Daddy?
Can you put Magnus back on, please?
[Frederic] You’re going to go with Irena Lysenko. She’s an expert in this.
She can treat you.
[Jo breathing shakily]
[Frederic] Jo?
Where have you seen this?
Have you heard me talk about the accident?
[Frederic] Jo?
[Jo stammers]
How do you know… [stammering] When did you see this?
Jo.
Where are you?
We went for a ride.
I can come out to meet you.
I need to ask you something, and I want you to answer me truthfully.
Of course.
Why was I given antipsychotic medication at Star City?
You weren’t.
After I gave my evidence at the inquiry,
you came up to me and asked if I was taking my pills.
Why did you do that?
Did you know what they were? Was that why you asked?
As far as I know, they’re vitamins.
They’re lithium.
Tell me the truth.
When you come back, we can discuss it.
Give Magnus back the phone.
Put Magnus back on, please.
[sighs]
Jo, you have to come back now.
I love you. We’ll be back soon. Bye.
Jo?
[speaks Russian]
[in Russian] What is your clearance?
[scanner beeps]
[line rings]
[door opens, closes]
[door opens, closes]
These medical documents are no longer available.
[in Danish] There’s a car.
Call the police.
Call the police!
[in Russian] You were looking at medical records. Why?
Why do you ask?
We have a report from the ESA
that Commander Ericsson is missing.
What?
She assaulted her husband and took away their child.
She has stolen scientific equipment from the ESA.
Have you heard from her?
She needs to get in touch with me
if she wants help.
If I hear anything, I’ll tell you.
[in English] What is this?
Mamma just needs to ask some questions here.
[sighs]
[intercom buzzes]
[Laurentz] Yes?
[Jo] I’m Jo Ericsson. You sent me a letter.
[Laurentz, speaking Danish]
Mummy! Look.
Yes?
Hi. I’m Jo Ericsson. This is my daughter, Alice.
What do you want?
I want to know what you recorded.
You sent me a letter.
I have your tapes.
[person] There is no need to worry.
I am 85, and I have osteoporosis.
So if you give me a… a good kick in the ass, I’ll fall over and turn to dust.
Welcome to the Skagerrak Marine Observatory.
[Laurentz, speaks Danish]
Get the police!
[speaks Danish]
[scoffs]
Stop squealing like a stupid guinea pig.
This is Johanna Ericsson.
[in English] She’s not! This woman is a crisis actor.
What’s a crisis actor?
[Laurentz, in Danish] This is a setup, Wallie!
They’ll send us to prison again!
[in English] Chocolate?
That is my brother, Laurentz. He has dementia.
[Laurentz] What?
You’re very beautiful.
It’s so many years since we’ve met a real astronaut.
Would you please tell me how you got that tape?
It was my dream that I might one day go into space myself.
[Laurentz] She needs to tell us why she has come here.
People don’t usually come here. Ah. There.
[Jo] Well, I came here because…
’cause nobody believes me about what I saw.
I saw the body of a female cosmonaut.
And that’s what caused the collision on the ISS.
But they’re trying to make me say otherwise.
They’re trying to put me somewhere.
They’re telling me I’m going mad.
You sent me a tape of a lost cosmonaut.
And a tape of me when I was up there when no one could hear me.
My brother heard you…
imperfectly, of course…
talking about this dead body when you were on the ISS.
Bu… But how?
It’s one of our ghost tapes.
[gasps] Ghost tapes?
[in Danish] You are not to discuss the ghost tapes.
You are not to discuss them.
[Wallie] I am ten minutes older than you!
You’re so goddamn naive.
If only you’d shut up, we would have had easier lives.
And how much longer have we got?
[in English] Our father gave us the money for a listening console, 1949.
There were lots of things left over from after the war.
And three secondhand recorders from a US Army surplus auction.
It was like the tracking room at Cape Kennedy.
This is us.
At the time,
there were six or seven different individuals
across the world doing the same.
Amateurs.
The brothers in Italy.
Some Australians and Americans.
Doing what?
Taking their own recordings of what was happening up there.
Sput… Sputnik, you know. L-Laika, the… the little dog.
[gasps, stammers] That’s Star City.
[Jo] Oh, yeah. It is.
[Wallie] You’re right.
And at Houston in Texas too.
They invited us out there. They were impressed with us.
They were watching us.
[Alice stutters] That’s Henry.
[Jo] Yeah.
He came here in 1982.
We had a very bad time when he came that night.
What did he do?
He wanted the tapes of course.
Of Apollo 18?
Ha!
If I remember correct, there was an accident on Apollo 18.
And Henry Caldera was the only survivor.
He was an alcoholic and a failure.
He wasn’t like he is now.
[shushes]
We have to go out on the boat.
I don’t wanna go out on the boat.
I wanna know how you got the tapes.
But you can only hear the ghost tapes when you are out on the water.
Nobody is listening to any ghost tapes!
Laurentz, she’s not a crisis actor.
She wants some answers. Just like us.
Come.
[sighs]
The ghost tapes.
She hasn’t shown any inclination to hurt Alice.
She’ll be back.
This is a fucking nightmare.
[inhales deeply] I’m gonna call the police.
I don’t know how seriously the police are going to take it.
They’ve only been away a few hours.
We’ve established she’s in the middle of a psychotic episode.
Let’s see how seriously the police take that.
If you go to the police, Magnus, there’s no way that it doesn’t leak.
There’s no way it doesn’t become a huge story.
She’s gonna be the crazy psycho astronaut
who saw a ghost and kidnapped her daughter.
She’ll lose her job.
She’ll lose her reputation.
Do we want that?
[Magnus sighs]
Did you know this might happen?
Some astronauts come back with a deterioration in their eyesight.
Happens to most of them.
We don’t tend to discuss it. It’s collateral damage.
But this isn’t that.
Some of them burn out.
We don’t tend to discuss that either.
[sighs]
[Wallie] Things go wrong.
Big things happen that they do not want to explain or admit to.
[Alice] Like what?
[Wallie] Well, in 1984,
the USSR was running a small space station called Salyut 7.
And three cosmonauts saw an orange glow surrounding the ship.
And they all witnessed
what they described as angels hovering around them in space.
They watched it for ten minutes until the whatever-they-were disappeared.
You can call that hallucination,
but ten days later, another three cosmonauts joined the crew
and all six of them saw the same thing.
Again.
That is a fact.
The transcript of the comms exists.
It was reported in the newspapers in the USSR.
There was a detailed official investigation.
You don’t think they were angels, right?
Maybe, yes.
Laurentz thinks maybe, yes.
It’s just a ghost story.
But what else is your dead cosmonaut but a ghost story?
Another ghost story that has been brought back from up there.
Who are they? I think they’re nuts.
People see things up there.
They hear dogs barking, and they hear voices.
And when they get back home, a lot of people seem to go crazy.
[Wallie] For a long time, we thought it was static.
We caught some seconds of static every now and again.
The other recordings are crystal clear.
So we just left it on the tapes, and we forgot all about it.
Until Apollo 18.
The recording we had of Apollo 18 was drenched in that noise.
But Laurentz, he thought he could hear something.
Do they hear this noise? At NASA? In Russia?
Yes.
But they can’t decode it.
Decode?
You see, we have trained ourselves to pick out the sounds.
Laurie is much better than me.
He taught himself to understand Russian.
We have to go five miles out.
Five miles out, the sound is clearest.
You need to go to a liminal place.
Somewhere between places, like out on the water or up in space.
You need to lose yourself in order to hear.
[breathes heavily]
[phone chimes]
This was recorded on the 23rd of November, 1967.
It’s a young female cosmonaut
whose capsule is malfunctioning on her return to Earth.
[distorted static]
[cosmonaut, speaks Russian]
And if you listen very closely, you can hear what she’s saying.
But you must really want to listen.
[cosmonaut, speaks Russian]
[static continues]
This woman clearly died.
[Jo] I-I-I can’t…
This woman could be your corpse.
[cosmonaut, speaks Russian]
[Alice] Mummy?
What?
I-It’s just noise.
You have to train your ears.
It kind of could be anything.
Wait.
[cosmonaut breathing heavily, speaking Russian]
This is just made-up.
Stop it!
The same day, Irena Lysenko went into space
and supposedly came back again in one piece.
So, what do you wanna hear next?
You want Apollo 18?
Or you want Paul Lancaster?
Paul Lancaster died.
[Wallie] Oh, did he?
Did he die though?
Yes, he did.
Laurentz heard him. And I also heard him.
Sorry, but no, you didn’t.
But then you came back instead.
And you, Dr. Ericsson, you were perfectly fine.
But Commander Lancaster was not.
Do you wanna hear it?
No.
[tape playing]
[distorted static]
[Paul, speaking indistinctly]
It’s just faces in the fire.
[tape stops]
500 people have been in space.
Beyond the Kármán line.
And amongst them you have alcoholics, lunatics, psychotics, kidnappers,
and people who think that the aliens live amongst us.
As you would in any random sample of people.
But these are not random samples.
These are the best of the best. They’re vetted. They’re trained.
They’re not people who randomly crack up.
[Alice] Can we go in now?
Mum, please. [breathing shakily] Please.
[breathes shakily]
There’s something about space that is wrong.
Nothing of this is evidence of anything.
[Paul, speaking indistinctly]
Mummy!
[Wallie] Listen!
It’s enough.
Oh, I’m sorry.
I’m sorry.
We’ll go back.
I’m sorry.
[breathes shakily] Hello?
[Alice] Daddy?
Oh, God, Alice. [exhales deeply] Are you okay?
I don’t know. She’s not really herself.
[Magnus stammering]
She hasn’t hurt you or anything?
No, of course not.
We’re in Denmark.
You’re where? Look, I’m gonna…
I’m gonna come and get you.
We’ll have gone.
She’s taking us up to the cabin in Vindelälven.
She was worried that you would put her in hospital.
A-Alice, will I be able to call you on this number?
She doesn’t know I’m calling you.
I want to take care of her. I don’t want her to go away.
She’s not gonna go anywhere. Look, I’m…
I-I’ll be with you as soon as I can.
I gotta go.
Ali…
[sighs]
[Laurentz, Wallie, speaking Danish]
You see, when you train your mind to listen,
you can hear these things.
It’s not just make-believe.
It isn’t.
It isn’t make-believe, little Alice.
In the book, Alice always tried to believe
six impossible things before breakfast.
I liked your boat.
Thank you.
And thank you that you came.
These…
[Laurentz] No.
These are yours.
[Laurentz] No!
I-I really don’t need to take them.
Yes.
They’re yours. Take them.
No! [speaks Danish]
They’re yours.
[speaks Danish]
[sighs]
Do we go home now?
Not quite yet.
[breathes deeply]
I want to come up with you.
[sighs] That’s unnecessary.
It is vital that I do, if she has the CAL.
The CAL can no longer be operational.
Why do you need it?
It is my experiment.
Michaela’s been in touch with me.
To request that I revoke your access here and put you and the CAL on a flight home.
N-No, I need it because I…
[Henry grunts]
What?
Henry.
What?
[dripping]
[breathing heavily]
[laughing]
[breathing heavily]
I am coming with you.
I just need to change.
[Alice] When are we there?
Soon.
You okay?
I don’t know.
I don’t really know what’s what.
Are you okay?
You gotta be good at putting things in different boxes when you’re an astronaut.
Put it in a box, shut it, be able to not worry about it.
And deal with something else in a different box.
Maybe we should get some boxes.
Mmm.
Some real ones.
Like my beads.
Wait… [stammers] …you need that box.
First box.
Garbage bag.
Garbage bag?
I didn’t see a garbage bag with a smiley skeleton.
It was a… a woman’s body.
The Valya.
That’s what hit the ISS.
Second box.
Paul dying.
What was going on up there.
When I was on my own, seeing things.
What I saw since I got home.
[bead clatters]
Third box.
Those tapes.
Fourth?
Pills.
[bead clatters]
Fifth.
You and me and Daddy. That’s the most important box.
What’s in it?
Feeling bad that I left you for one year.
Hurting you.
Feeling bad for hurting Daddy.
How did you hurt Daddy?
Alice, I…
Who’s the Valya?
This woman.
She’s floating around Earth.
She’s dead.
She’s a dead cosmonaut.
But you didn’t hear me talking about the accident.
No.
Is the Valya me?
She doesn’t speak like you.
So she speaks.
[Alice] Mm-hmm.
But, um, I thought she was dead.
She’s a bit alive and a bit dead.
She’s kind of like… [mumbles]
I wish that tape was clear.
Which one?
November 23rd, 1967.
[static on tape]
See, it doesn’t work. It’s just noise.
[cosmonaut, in Russian] …Fire! Fire! Capsule is on fire!
Twenty-one.
[in English] Mummy, that’s the Valya.
[breathes shakily] Mum!
Mum.
[breathing heavily]
[The Valya, in Russian] Twenty-one.
[astronaut, speaks Russian]
Forty, forty-two.
I’m hot, I’m hot.
[static continues]
Twenty-one.
I’m hot.
Fire! Capsule is on fire!
Twenty-one. Twenty-one.
[in English] Does her voice sound like that?
Y-Yes.
[in Russian] Thirty, forty, forty-two. I’m hot. I’m hot.
The world is the wrong way around.
Bud?
Bud.
Bud?
[smacks lips]
Can you hear me?
[sighs]
[Bud] Loud and clear, Houston.
You stopped taking your pills.
Hmm.
Enough is enough.
I designed a machine, the Cold Atomic Lab.
It was aboard the ISS.
It… [breathes heavily]
I think it’s made everything worse.
I don’t take an interest.
Is there an astronaut called Johanna Ericsson?
I’m coming to get you, Henry.
Sooner or later.
You can’t. What’s done is done.
Oh, I’m comin’.
And boy, am I gonna fuck things up.
I don’t even know if you’re there.
How can you possibly touch me?
Well, I made you piss your pants.
[The Valya, in Russian] …conditions worse. Why don’t you answer?
There are flames. Fire! Fire!
Capsule is on fire.
Twenty-one.
Forty, forty-two. I’m hot, I’m hot.
[in English] What’s she saying? Mummy?
[The Valya, speaking Russian]
The world is the wrong way around.
[in English] She’s saying, uh… [clears throat] …that, uh,
the world is the wrong way around.
[The Valya, in Russian] There are flames. Fire! Fire!
Capsule is on fire.
Twenty-one.
[Jo] Shit.
What?
What’s this?
It’s the way.
[speaking Swedish]
There aren’t two roads here. I’ve been here, like, a million times.
It’s okay. It’s that one.
Or we just go across the lake.
Mummy.
It’s okay, people do it all the time here.
We’ve done it before. Come on, unbuckle your seat belt.
[Alice] Mummy.
[ice cracking]
Mummy, I’m scared.
It’s okay, baby.
[Alice] What’s that noise?
[Jo] It’s just the ice.
[Alice] What?
Don’t worry. It’s, like, a meter thick.
[breathes heavily]
[Alice] Mamma?
[static on tape]
[Jo, in Swedish] Hey, Alice. Good morning.
[Alice] Have you just woken up?
Did you dream of Earth or space?
[Jo] Earth.
We have to whisper.
[Alice] What time is it?
[Jo] About half an hour till dawn.
I miss you.
Look, there you are.
Wave to yourself.
[explosion]
[Alice] Mamma?
[alarm blaring]
Mamma?
[Paul] Jo!
Mummy, who was that?
[tape stops]
No one.
That was Wendy’s dad.
No.
No, that was you and me. Right before the accident.
That was not me.
I don’t speak Swedish.
I don’t call you “Mamma.”
[Jo breathes shakily]
[breathing heavily]
Mamma!
[“Lullaby” by Suvi-Eeva Äikäs plays]
