Constellation
Season 1 – Episode 6
Episode Title: Paul Is Dead
Original release date: March 13, 2024
Plot: Magnus worries that Alice is living in a fantasy world.
* * *
[Jo, whispering] Oh. We have to whisper.
[Alice] Why is that?
‘Cause they’re doing something very fiddly at the CAL.
[normal] Hey, Alice.
Hi, Paul.
Your mom’s big day today.
[machine beeps]
RPL. CAL data:
Core signals green, magnets align, 25.5.
[machine beeps]
Core temperature: minus 203 degrees.
Tune lasers.
Come on.
[Alice] What does it do?
[Jo] It’s looking for a new state of matter.
Wow.
[in Swedish] Let’s see if we can find you.
There you are.
Hey, Alice.
Wave to yourself.
[rock music playing]
[switches clicking]
[air hisses]
[whirring]
[alarm blaring]
[Alice] Mamma?
Mamma?
Mamma? Are you there?
[in English] Everything all right?
[in Swedish] She’s gone.
[in English] Yeah, well, we have to get going too. Come on.
[Eryn] Station, RPL, you copy?
Get them back. We’re in the middle of something.
Debris! Scallation! [grunts]
[debris clattering]
[grunting]
[Alice] Mamma?
Alice!
Ali… [gasps, panting]
[“Tellur” by Surrogate Sibling plays]
[alarms blaring]
[air hissing]
[Paul] Jo!
Jo!
Michaela, we lost the CAL.
Houston, this is Station. We have a depress. I need help.
[Paul] Jo.
Jo. Come on, Jo. Stay with me. Talk to me, Jo.
[Audrey] Paul? How is she?
[banging, air hissing]
Paul!
Paul!
Audrey, give me the baby wipes!
[hissing stops]
[students chattering]
[Magnus] Yeah, black.
It’s black for a bat.
Boys, not too much of that glittery stuff.
You know it goes everywhere.
It’s a bit sticky, isn’t it?
I tell you what, let’s just, um… let’s… let’s just start again, here we go.
Start again.
[knocking]
[breathing shakily]
Daddy?
[Magnus] Alice. [breathes shakily]
I love you so much.
I have to tell you something terrible.
Seat belt.
[beeping]
Where the hell have you gone?
[Erica sighing]
Hey, Alice.
[kisses]
I’m so sorry.
Do you wanna go sit with Wendy?
Yeah? Okay.
Magnus, I’m so sorry.
I can’t believe it. Just… It’s awful.
Hi, Alice.
Hi, Wendy.
[Ilya] Entry angle: 95 degrees.
[Paul] Ready down there?
Ready. Parameters are set.
[Ilya] Good luck.
Anything you want us to say?
I was working on the Cold Atomic Laboratory.
The CAL.
We lost it.
The what?
It’s a NASA experiment.
Audrey, we need to pass that on to RPL.
Henry Caldera.
Paul… [stammers] …I don’t know which experiment you mean.
Just pass it on.
Okay.
Anything for your family?
Tell them I’m on my way home.
Tell them that.
Hey. [kisses] Wake up. We’re here.
Come on. I’ll carry you.
[grunts] Come on.
Is she home?
Uh, no.
They’ve brought the first one down in Kazakhstan.
She’s coming down in the next one with Paul.
He just needs to fix the Soyuz first.
If you die in space, do you die on Earth?
Just get some sleep, honey.
You’ll feel a lot better after you’ve had some sleep.
[exhales sharply] It’s cold.
I mean… [grunts]
[breathing heavily, sighs]
[kisses, exhales sharply]
[Jo exhales deeply]
[Jo breathes shakily]
[Paul inhales sharply]
[Jo breathes shakily]
[Paul gasps, breathes shakily]
[Magnus] Alice? Honey?
Come on, don’t hide from me.
Oh, for God’s sake.
[inhales sharply]
Please?
[thudding]
October 1960, an R-16 prototype explodes on the launch on Baikonur cosmodrome…
Alice.
You cannot just go like that.
Okay? Even if I’m asleep.
Come on, what are you doing in here?
What is that?
An accident at Baikonur.
A hundred people died.
You can’t watch stuff like that.
Come on.
Are you hungry?
You want pancakes?
I want to stay here.
No. Come on. Come out.
Alice, give me the iPad.
[sighs] I’ll give you the iPad. I’m not coming out.
I’m not letting you sit in the dark and watch this horrible stuff on YouTube, okay?
Now, come on.
[grunts]
Come on.
I want to stay on my own!
Please, Daddy!
[sighing]
[Magnus sighs]
[sighs]
[Jo breathing deeply]
[breathing shakily]
[breathing deeply]
Mamma!
[panting] Daddy!
[Paul] If you can hear me in the blind, this is Station.
Transferring and reconnecting battery number five.
Undocking in…
[Jo breathing deeply]
[exhales deeply]
[Paul sighs]
[Jo breathing deeply]
[device dings]
[breathing continues]
[breathing deeply]
[Paul exhales shakily]
What the fuck?
[dings]
[Jo breathing deeply on device]
[breathing deeply]
[device dings]
[Jo speaking indistinctly]
The third. The third.
Need to hurry up.
This is the third. Come on.
Need to hurry up.
[shouts]
[Jo] Paul?
[comms beep]
[machinery beeping]
[breathing shakily] Houston, this is Station.
[Michaela] Station, this is Houston.
There you are.
Thank God for that.
[Michaela] What is your status?
Houston, what are the protocols on dealing with a dead body?
[Michaela] Station, what’s your concern?
My concern…
The concern is, um…
Ericsson is so badly lacerated.
My concern is that when the body gets out of zero-G, we’re gonna have severe loss of blood in the capsule during reentry.
[Michaela] Station, copy that. We’ll get back to you.
[breathing shakily]
[Jo breathing shakily]
[Paul sighing]
[Jo breathing deeply]
You gotta stop breathing.
[exhales sharply]
Stop breathing, Jo.
You stay in Destiny.
Jo, I’m sorry.
[Jo gasps]
[Paul breathing shakily]
[Jo breathing shakily]
Do you think there’s any such thing as ghosts?
I don’t know. Maybe.
Do you think ghosts are the same as God?
I don’t believe in God.
You don’t believe in God?
No. I’m English.
[chuckles]
[Erica] Wendy!
Wendy, Daddy’s coming home!
It’s okay.
My mamma’s coming home too.
Hey.
Hi.
Alice, uh… [sighs]
I’m afraid they’re gonna leave Mamma up there.
[Paul] Setting coordinate.
[beeping]
I got a red light. [sighs]
Powering all nine switches.
[Sergei] Check your battery meter.
[Paul] It’s dead.
What have we got in the event of a bolt system malfunction?
In the event of bolt system malfunction, bolts to be armed and fired from Soyuz control panel in Zvezda.
All the way on the other side of the hatch.
[Sergei] It… It requires two crew members.
TsUP. TsUP, come in.
[Sergei] I am sorry, Commander…
Come on. Come on.
[beeping]
Come on.
[breathing heavily] Come on!
[beeping]
Come on! [breathing shakily]
[beeps]
Bolts armed.
Ten.
Rate gyros.
Twenty.
Fire thrust.
Okay.
[breathes heavily]
Station, this is Soyuz 1. Do you copy?
Station?
Fuck.
[marching band playing]
[no audible dialogue]
[exhales sharply]
I love you so much, Frida.
[exhales sharply] I love you too.
Erica is my name.
[music continues in distance]
She was in the Soyuz.
Paul took her out.
He, uh… left her up there, for some reason.
In space?
Look, um… [sighs]
Maybe, uh…
Maybe the way we have to think about it is, uh…
You know, like, uh…
Like the pyramids.
They’ve been there for thousands of years just to be the last home for… a great pharaoh or leader.
Yeah?
‘Cause the ISS is also one of the great things that humanity has ever made.
This is her home, Daddy.
With us.
[sniffles]
[sighs]
[breathing deeply]
[breathing shakily]
[sighs]
[exhales sharply]
Why didn’t you bring her back?
Listen, Alice.
I conferred with Houston, the mission control…
I know what Houston is.
Conferred with them about what?
Look, there’s no easy way to say this.
But your mother was so badly injured.
Okay.
You see, her whole side of her face was stuck and getting pulled…
What the fuck are you doing?
Come on. Come on.
W-what did she look like?
[Magnus] No, no. Come on.
[Paul] Magnus, I’m sorry.
Jesus Christ.
[door slams]
[Audrey] Paul,
have you had your psych evaluation?
Have you?
Excuse me?
[sighs]
I determine how I feel, okay?
You guys weren’t there.
[sniffles] I received and obeyed an instruction.
And I don’t need you to speak to any NASA personnel, okay?
You mind your business.
[Alice breathing shakily]
[Wendy] Hey!
What are you doing?
What are you doing to your rabbit?
I don’t want it.
I can help you clean it up.
I don’t want the shitty little rabbit.
It’s for kids.
Alice, it’s your rabbit.
[breathing heavily]
[Paul] I was first up that day.
Scheduled phase six at CAL experiment.
[Sergei] What is CAL?
What is CAL?
It’s Cold Atomic Laboratory.
It’s a RPL experiment. It’s a NASA experiment.
Right before the collision, I was in phase…
I was locking in lasers with Audrey here.
Uh, Paul seems to…
Paul seems to what?
[clears throat] This… This, uh… This was an issue before we undocked also.
I think maybe… [stammers]
I think maybe we’re using different terminology.
[grunts] Play the tape.
[in Swedish] Do you want to take a look at the lettuce?
I think they’re looking fairly perky.
Some of them have woken up a bit.
What do you think?
[chuckles]
[in English] Isn’t it magical? Wow.
[tape recorder stops]
That is what you were working on there?
Hey, Paul. Maybe we’re talking about different things but we don’t know what the Cold Atomic Laboratory is.
The CAL project was abandoned 12 years ago.
[Frederic] For me, the issue is why the decision was unilaterally taken to move Ericsson’s body from Soyuz 1 and leave her on the ISS.
Her family’s left down here with no good answers.
Maybe we should… [sighs] …take a break.
I don’t understand what I am being put through.
We shared the responsibility for the decision to leave Ericsson up there.
Houston has to back me up there.
I made the right call, correct?
You were up there, Paul.
It was your judgment.
I was ordered to leave her up there.
Yes. Based on your assessment.
I was ordered to leave her up there.
[“Prelude in C Sharp Minor (Op. 3 No. 2)” playing on piano]
[breathes shakily]
[music stops]
FROM ALICE FOR MAMMA
[Magnus] I’m a teacher.
I thought I could handle most emotional situations that kids are going through.
She’s your own child.
It’s very different.
She’s growing away.
So what am I supposed to do about that?
You know… [sighs]
Instinctively, maybe we keep children away from funerals, mourning.
But they are important ways for us to be able to process that someone’s been lost.
So, maybe she needs some kind of ceremony.
[TV announcer] Man embarks once again on history’s great adventure.
At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a titanic, complex and fragile vehicle waits to take three Americans on the last currently planned flight to the moon.
[crowd cheering on device]
[mission control employee] And liftoff. Liftoff of the 18th Apollo mission, and it has cleared the tower.
[static on recording]
[astronauts speaking indistinctly]
[Bud] We’ve lost pressure.
[astronaut] Please!
[speaking indistinctly]
[mission control employee 2] Loss of contact.
Loss of contact.
[Bud] Houston, this is Caldera. Two men died!
[news anchor] Voice recordings of American astronauts signaling that a cover-up took place when two men lost their lives on the way back from the moon.
[door opens]
[Paul] Knock-knock.
[Michaela] Hey.
Michaela, where’s Henry Caldera?
Uh, who?
Commander Caldera.
You mean of Apollo 18?
Bud Caldera.
The guy who built the CAL.
[sighs]
[sighs]
Paul.
What is this?
Nobel Prize.
The Rocket Propulsion Lab.
The man who built the CAL.
Nobody built this machine.
Paul, for Christ’s sake, there is no machine.
[sighs]
Look… [stammers]
I’m sorry, but you gotta get a hold of yourself.
I’m in complete command of myself.
Paul.
But the last fucking thing that I was doing…
Don’t swear at me, Commander.
The last thing that I was doing before the collision was tuning the lasers on the CAL.
I was being instructed by Commander Henry Caldera of the Rocket Propulsion Lab.
[sighs]
And all of a sudden, there’s no machine.
[stammers] There’s no Henry Caldera.
Is this some kind of cover-up?
Where is he?
Where is he, Michaela?
I-I don’t know.
Dead in a ditch somewhere?
Drunk?
Apollo 18, it’s NASA’s greatest fuckup.
Paul.
[sighs] Paul.
[Paul sighs]
[inhales sharply]
[grunts]
[sighs]
[breathing heavily]
[exhales sharply]
How you doing, Wendywoo?
I think she’s just fine.
Your name Wendywoo?
Erica.
Hmm.
[inhales sharply] School okay?
Hmm?
Nine-year-old girls.
[chuckles]
There’s nothing more dangerous or fierce in nature than a nine-year-old girl.
You getting picked on?
Don’t chew with your mouth open, Wendy.
Paul.
You speak to Alice?
Uh-uh.
You didn’t speak to her?
Not yet.
She’s your friend, Wendy.
Her mother was just killed, you know?
There’s a funeral coming up, and you ought to check in on her.
Her mother was killed and… your daddy had to leave her up there.
I think they’re… they’re fine.
They’re… They’re good.
In the depress.
You know her eyes, she…
Breakfast. [sighs]
Please.
Can we enjoy the breakfast and not talk about eyes again?
Please.
[exhales deeply]
[chattering]
[Magnus] Alice?
Alice, come on.
Alice?
[sighs]
[sighs]
Alice.
Come on. Come out of there.
[Alice, in Swedish] Fuck off.
[in English] Look, everyone’s downstairs, and we are all gonna gather now and say a few words about Mamma.
[in Swedish] I don’t want to.
Why do I have to?
[sighs]
[in English] Because it’s what we do.
We have to say goodbye.
It’s stupid to say goodbye when Mamma’s still there.
[exhales sharply]
[sighs]
[Erica] Paul?
[Paul exhales sharply]
Paul!
[Paul grunts]
[exhales sharply] I lost the ISS for the whole world.
[breathes heavily] I’m the guy that took that away.
Paul.
Just wait here for a second, okay?
It was an accident, yeah? I’m sick of saying it. It was an accident.
Do you know how impossibly hard I worked?
Every minute.
Every hour I worked harder than…
But when it came down to it, I’m just one of those guys who failed on my watch.
Daddy. You didn’t fail.
Wendy, it’s okay.
[breathes deeply] Come on.
Now, come on.
I committed sacrilege.
I took my friend’s hand, and I just threw her out there in the cold.
That’s what you were told to do.
Mm-hmm.
I made an excuse.
[sniffles] Because I was a coward in that moment.
Stop.
I made an excuse.
[sniffles] And I just left her up there because I was scared.
[breathes shakily] And I don’t even know.
I mean, she could still be up there alive.
Paul.
Come on. You’re not able to do this.
[breathing heavily]
Let’s go home.
Paul.
[sighs]
[guests chattering]
[breathes deeply]
You talk to Alice?
How’s she doing?
I can’t talk to Alice anymore. She’s jealous.
She was my friend.
She just lost her mother, Wendy.
Don’t be an asshole.
Wendy.
What did you say to her?
Paul.
So many fucking things that are wrong.
[Erica] Shit.
I can, uh… [sniffles] I can barely catch my breath.
Well, c-come out then.
Yeah, I, uh…
Hey.
How’s my girl?
[sighs] Hey, Alice.
My daddy has something to say to you.
What?
I think maybe we should all…
He says that your mamma may still be alive.
[Paul inhales sharply, gasps]
[screams]
Daddy?
[exhales sharply]
[Erica] God! Paul!
[clattering]
[breathing heavily]
Alice, what? What is it?
Mamma?
[Erica] Paul?
Don’t wake her up.
She’s awake.
Mamma!
Hey! Hey, hey. You’re okay.
You’re okay. Come on. Why don’t we go upstairs?
[Alice breathing heavily]
Everything’s okay.
Well, this was a mistake.
You’re too young.
I’m nearly 11.
[Magnus sighs]
I think we need a time out.
We need to go away, just you and me, somewhere where this is not…
The cabin.
No. No, it’s freezing up there.
Mamma’s cabin. I want to go to the cabin.
Let’s… Let’s go to Mexico.
Or something.
LEGOLAND?
I want to go up to the cabin.
[Magnus sighs]
[exhales sharply] Okay.
Paul?
Paul.
Hi.
Erica.
Thanks for coming.
Of course. I’m here.
I don’t know where he is.
He’s… He said he was gonna get some air last night, and he… he never came back.
I keep calling him, and he’s not answering his phone, I…
We have a rehabilitation clinic.
What?
For astronauts who find it hard to return to Earth.
No, we just need to get out there and… and…
We don’t discuss it much, but it does happen.
It’s called high-altitude psychosis.
Look, we have ways of successfully treating it, but…
Occasionally… [stammers] …it requires an intervention.
We need to find him now.
And we will. But I’m sorry.
[inhales deeply]
After we find him… [sighs]
…he’ll need to go away.
[exhales deeply]
[Magnus sniffs]
Well, that’s it.
We’re snowed in.
I mean, we’re not gonna be able to…
We can walk.
[chuckles] It’s like two kilometers, Alice.
Come on. Look at it.
We can just go across the lake.
I’m not driving a car across a frozen lake.
The only way we could get there is if we did walk, but I think the best thing is just to go back to Älmedalen and… and get a hotel.
[car door opens]
We’ll walk.
Alice.
Alice, stop.
Alice!
Why don’t you just listen to me?
My mamma’s dead.
And my wife is dead.
Alice!
[wind howling]
[footsteps trudging in snow]
[Magnus, Alice panting]
[Magnus exhales sharply] Come on. In, in, in.
[Alice] I remember these paintings.
Mamma liked them.
It’s a changeling.
Those paintings always freaked me out a bit.
They are spooky.
[Magnus sighs]
[Alice] I like them.
Fine. Right, of course you do.
I’m allowed to like them.
I’m not saying you’re not allowed to like them.
Of course, if you like them, it’s fine.
But if I liked them, you wouldn’t like them. Right?
What?
[chuckles] I give up.
[exhales sharply]
[cries]
No, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
[crying] I’m a long way from being perfect.
But… But I’m trying my best.
[sniffles]
Daddy, don’t cry.
We’ll see her again one day. I promise.
Alice. [breathes shakily]
We… We won’t.
You have to listen to me.
We… We’re not gonna see Mamma again.
[breathes shakily] We’re not. Ever.
She’s dead.
We have to start again from here.
I know you probably don’t like that.
I’m sorry that I’m the one that you’ve got.
But we have to start again from here.
[sniffles]
Yeah?
Commander Caldera?
I prefer Bud.
You don’t remember me.
No. Who the fuck are you?
Paul Lancaster.
Bullshit.
You don’t remember me?
You remember me?
Yeah.
But not like this.
Oh, really? You have a good day.
Hold on, wait, wait, wait, wait. Henry, listen!
Henry? I don’t use that name.
My name’s not Henry.
You trained me at NASA.
I’m gonna lose my temper.
For Christ’s sakes, help me out here.
Why would NASA send you?
You just got back from space, asshole.
You left a body up there.
Yeah.
Yeah, I did.
But they didn’t send me.
Nobody sent me.
I need you to…
Henry, you gotta get me some fucking answers here.
Oh, Christ.
I’m going fucking insane.
[Paul] I recall an accident on Apollo 18.
Yeah, there was a fucking accident.
But you all came back home.
You were a hero, sir.
[chuckles] Yeah, there was an accident.
The cabin pressure. There was a sudden loss of pressure.
Two men died.
Nobody died. It was repaired.
Two men died, Ted Larsen and B…
Nobody died.
It was repaired by you.
It’s been…
the honor of my life to work with you, Commander.
No. No. [chuckles]
I want answers.
No. I can’t go back there and neither can you.
You’re gonna fucking tell me right now.
No, you take your fucking pills.
No, fuck taking my pills.
Tell me what happened.
And you tell me why you’re in this piece of shit apartment.
This is what happened.
It may not be what I thought happened.
But this, here, is what happened.
You shouldn’t be here.
This is your last chance to get out of my apartment.
No, you fucking tell me.
You tell me.
And give me some answers right now. [sniffs]
Get your fucking hands off me!
I’m not taking shit.
You get out!
Get out.
[breathing heavily] Commander Caldera, you tell me why you’re here.
You tell me why the fuck are you here.
No, wait! Hey!
[gunshot]
[“Lullaby” by Suvi-Eeva Äikäs plays]
