Original air date: May 17, 2021
* * *
(device beeps)
KELSO: No.
(beep)
No.
(beep)
No.
(beep)
Twenty-four… Hang on.
Uh, four-five, two-twenty-two.
And that was it.
Oh, man, I’m losing my mind here.
Uh, give me a call back when you get the authorization.
(phone beeps)
(clattering in distance)
What the heck are you doing over here?
(device whirring)
(alarm sounding)
Kelso! Kelso!
(alarm continues)
(plastic clattering)
(powering down)
♪ (theme)
(crows cawing)
Yes, yes, I come in peace.
(door opens)
(George coughing)
(switch clicks)
(beep)
(generator powering up)
(typing)
(computer beeps)
(horn honks in distance)
BRYAN: Hey, George.
FINOLA: Hey, Dad.
GEORGE: Hey.
What is this place?
GEORGE: It was used to transmit news reports to the Allied nations during World War Two.
BRYAN: Voice of America?
GEORGE: Yes, yes.
And also shortwave radio communication with spies, and now its signal boosting capabilities or servers, well…
Dad, I got you some new clothes.
Oh, I don’t need them.
It’s, uh, more for us, really.
Oh, well, um, is that for me?
Yes.
Laghari’s files are on here.
Complete?
Yeah. That’s what Ferris said.
That’s a lot on there. It’s gonna take you a while to get through…
No, no, no. I know what I need.
These boxes need to go inside, George?
Yes. Yes, please. I need them all.
Driving across the country by yourself wasn’t the smartest thing to do.
There are people looking for you.
I know, I know.
I’m perfectly capable of protecting myself.
Besides, I had to.
Why?
It came to me at Garcia’s.
I remember what it does, the piece that we’re looking for.
See, INFLUX believes that it can create a kind of map, showing the location of all the Debris, every piece on the face of the earth.
This is what I’ve been telling you.
The race for Debris and the power that it holds, and it could end here, if INFLUX gets this piece first.
It’s a good thing I know what I’m talking about, hmm?
What I’m going to do is hack into the satellites operated by the European Space Agency’s so-called Swarm…
The Earth Observation System…
And reconfigure them to collect the data I need.
See, the piece of Debris that we’re looking for could be anywhere in North America, but I need to acquire the high-altitude satellite data, if I have any chance of finding it.
FINOLA: And can the Swarm satellites even detect it?
When INFLUX was forcing me to make the scanner, they told me that the signal they’re looking for is as a result of a unique interaction between the piece and, uh, magnetic fields, and that Swarm can detect.
So if you recalibrate the Swarm, then you can find the anomalies in the Earth’s magnetic field?
Exactly.
I’m following you, George.
So then why are Dr. Laghari’s files important?
They’re a road map for me, you see.
Before I brought Dr. Laghari into Orbital, he spent years working on calculations to interpret magnetic field data.
Mathematical calculations that I can’t remember.
But with this, I’ll be able to determine exactly where the piece will warp the magnetic field.
I’m going to get the rest of the boxes.
I’ll be back in a minute.
(typing)
(computer beeping)
Dad, I think it’s really great that you’re remembering well now.
I just need to know when you remember.
We need to know if you remember why Maddox wants you dead.
Well, I have been thinking about that, and maybe it’s because he fears what he can’t control.
What do you mean, he fears what he can’t control?
He works for government. That’s what governments do.
Even our own, the subjugation of India, the colonization, I mean, right here in the U.S., the massacre at Wounded Knee, the Japanese internment camps.
I mean, do I need to go on?
Governments are created to serve the public interest.
And everywhere, inevitably, they serve their own, and people are left to suffer.
Please, sweetheart, be careful with this so-called coalition.
I know.
I believe in Bryan, but Orbital
doesn’t feel like a coalition at all.
(chuckles) Smart girl.
(chuckles)
(door opens)
Hey, we got to go.
What’s wrong?
Tom called.
There’s been a Debris incident back at Orbital.
Lost power, and the entire facility had to be evacuated.
There’s still eight technicians unaccounted for in the hangar area.
How many pieces are affected?
We don’t know yet.
Got CCTV of what happened before the alarms went off.
Debris went right through the wall, connected with the ship.
That wall’s the lockup warehouse?
TOM: Yeah.
So the power went down soon afterward, so all the footage we tried getting from there is black.
Any theories?
MADDOX: We think INFLUX is doing something with Debris.
If what you suggest is true, that the Debris is all connected, then whatever they’re doing could have triggered this from literally anywhere on earth.
Has anyone been inside?
Chin has a team standing by.
BRYAN: Let’s suit up.
CHIN: Chin for Bryan, come in.
BRYAN: Go for Bryan.
CHIN: Be advised Corridor C is clear.
BRYAN: Copy that. We’re entering Corridor D, over.
BRYAN: Hey.
Looks like they’re in some sort of trance-like state.
Base Camp, we’ve located five of the missing techs. Stand by.
(device scanning)
BRYAN: Clocking in at a 230.
Yeah.
(slamming in distance)
BRYAN: Let’s spread out.
BRYAN: Got one deceased male, massive head trauma.
FINOLA: Straight through.
CHIN: Bryan, we’ve got something.
Hey, check this out.
BRYAN: Huh.
FINOLA: Bryan, what’s this?
BRYAN: Hey, what are you guys doing?
Hold on a second. Hey, hold on a second.
What were you doing? Do you know where you are?
Zimmer? Zimmer, can you hear me?
Hello? What were you doing here?
They’re all under the same influence.
FINOLA: Yeah.
Let’s get them with the others, keep them out of here.
We’re gonna move you out of here. Do you understand?
MAN: Got it.
FINOLA: Bryan, look at this.
The cases, they’re all crushed.
BRYAN: Well, where’s the Debris that was in them?
Whoa.
What happened?
Careful! Careful.
Stay on the other side.
It looks like it just passed through some sort of invisible pocket right here.
The Debris is being ripped out as it passes through from the inside and then spat out over here.
FINOLA: Is that why they’re lining them up and putting them there?
They’re selecting Debris for a reason.
Hold on.
Remember what we saw in Ohio.
Entire dimensions can exist within a 2-D square.
But these are passing through it.
But without the Debris.
Where’d it go?
(chatter, indistinct)
MADDOX: Any changes?
BRYAN: So far they’re unresponsive.
Where’s the Debris going?
We think it’s some sort of pocket dimension.
Is it connected to what happened in the hangar?
You think that’s what initiated it?
It was first.
The situation team is setting up the N-U’s to try and stop everything from progressing any further.
How’s Zimmer doing?
MEDIC: Temp is 98.2.
Pulse 82, normal.
Whoa. There is a strong gravitational pull coming from inside.
What do you think is happening?
I don’t know.
The Debris pieces aren’t going anywhere.
It’s possible they’re being contained inside the Seam.
It’s large enough to create a detectable gravitational pull.
CHIN: It seems to be taking one piece at a time.
Is it assembling it something?
I don’t know.
CHIN: Well, let’s hope the N-U’s will neutralize whatever’s in there.
Dialed in.
All right.
Let’s shut it down, guys.
FINOLA: It’s not working.
CHIN: Trying to recalibrate.
(groaning)
It’s okay, lay back.
Hey, what’s happening? Calm down.
MEDIC: He’s tachycardic. He could stroke out or have an MI.
Calm down. Why?
I don’t know!
Why? Hey!
I don’t know!
I’ve dumped 15 CCs of sedative into him, and it’s done nothing.
BRYAN: Breathe right now. I need you to relax.
Bryan! Bryan!
Zimmer!
Bryan!
Hey, hey, hey!
Hold him, hold him, hold him, hey.
Let him go, let him go, let him go.
Let them go. Let them go.
Go with him, go with him.
What?
CHIN: Maybe there’s too many different pieces.
With all the different signatures in there, it can’t zero in.
That’s a really good idea.
Mark, I need you to inventory all the empty cases.
I want to know which pieces are being pulled into the Seam, and then we can crosscheck with the case report.
And that way, we can figure out if there’s anything that might connect them.
That does sound about right.
Careful.
FINOLA: Bryan.
Bryan, what are you doing?
I need your help. Come on.
Let’s secure this room. Lock the doors.
They must be bound by proximity to this thing somehow.
Yeah. Makes no sense.
No.
Hey, the N-U’s, they didn’t work.
I’m gonna go check the ship.
Okay.
(computer beeps)
(tapping)
(beeps)
GEORGE: Oh, come on.
Hello.
CHIN: Agent Jones?
FINOLA: Yeah.
CHIN: We’ve cataloged every piece that’s been pulled into the Seam so far.
Some of the pieces involved manipulation of thermodynamics, others affected botanical gene expression and acoustical distortion.
But it seems they aren’t being used for any of those functions.
There’s no commonalities between any of them.
Wildly varying sizes, textures, Laghari signatures all over the map.
I don’t understand.
These Debris pieces were brought together for a reason.
Maybe we should try and get these cases out of here.
The Seam can’t take what’s not here.
All right, let’s do it.
Grab the other side.
(grunts)
Whoa! Lester! Lester! Hey!
Hey! Hey! Can you hear me?
Now take it up slowly. Oh my goodness, what happened?
Are you okay? Lester, hey!
Oh, my goodness.
Whoa! Whoa! Hey!
No, Lester!
Hey.
Lester, where are you going?
BRYAN: Why do you think the affected techs can touch the cases but Chin couldn’t?
I don’t know. Because they’re a part of it?
What did you find with the ship in the hangar?
I didn’t find anything. It’s the same as it’s been.
There’s no excess Laghari signatures.
So if the event started there, it’s not there anymore.
What if it’s building something inside the Seam to destroy us?
I’m not sure that we can get out of this, Bryan.
BRYAN: Oh, we’re going to figure it out.
I can’t comprehend what is going on in there.
We’re not meant to. We thought we were in control, but maybe we need to acknowledge that we are in the presence of something bigger and stronger than us.
And impossibly unknowable.
It’s just moving so fast.
Hey! What is wrong with him?
Arturo! Look at me! Chin up!
He’s dead.
FINOLA: How long before the same thing happens to the rest of them?
Nice.
There you go.
(electricity hums)
(power surging)
(phone rings)
The signatures of the pieces that it’s selecting, what can you tell me about them?
It’s random signatures… 933, 467, 311, 233.
That’s not random.
That’s a series of ratios; A half, a third, a quarter.
It’s a harmonic sequence.
Oh, God. Yes, yes, yes.
(chuckles) Of course.
Finola, prolonged exposure to Laghari harmonics can cause catastrophic brain damage.
That would explain what happened to Zimmer.
Right.
The Seam.
You have to focus on that.
It could widen. It could swallow up everything in its path.
It could emit a kinetic pulse that can throw the earth off its axis.
The N-U’s, they weren’t effective?
No. They weren’t effective at all.
All right, the N-U’s were designed to contain Debris emissions.
If you reverse the polarity, that could create an energy fence.
So like, um, protective force field to stop the new pieces from passing through?
Yes. Exactly. That could interrupt and suspend the process.
At least I’ll give you some time to try to figure out how to stop this thing.
Right.
Just go back and see if reversing the polarity works, all right?
Okay.
And Finola, be careful.
(phone beeps)
(beeping)
Wait, what’s that noise?
It started just a few minutes ago after the last case got sucked in.
Whatever the Seam is doing, it’s getting near completion.
You have any ideas?
FINOLA: Yeah. I’m not sure it’s going to work, but it is worth a try.
We need to reverse the polarity on the N-U’s to stop any more new pieces from entering.
That would externalize the energy field.
The whole point of the N-U’s is containment.
Yes. But we have to stop the rest of those cases from joining whatever is being assembled.
This might be our best chance.
(plastic case clattering)
Yeah.
I’m zeroed in. We’re stable.
Okay. Great. Shut it down?
Prepare to recalibrate.
Recalibrating now.
Reversing polarity, powering up again.
(energy humming)
Oh. Good job.
Three-eleven. Second harmonic ratio.
What was that?
What is it?
There’s a second Laghari reading… 467.
Finola…
There’s something happening below us.
Security is disabled. It should be open.
(device scanning)
FINOLA: What is this place?
BRYAN: Never been down here.
(device scanning)
BRYAN: Wow.
Looks like there was some sort of an explosion here.
FINOLA: Oh, there it is.
Wow.
This is interesting.
These are schematics.
They’re turning out a bomb using Debris.
This is a weapons lab.
Orbital is weaponizing the Debris.
BRYAN: I’m not surprised.
They were gonna do it eventually.
FINOLA: So this experiment…
BRYAN: It might have triggered the event.
Did Maddox know about this and then just say it was INFLUX?
Bryan. Oh my God.
What?
This is my father’s notes.
They are engineering all of these weapons using my father’s work!
I’m must ask you this. To your theory about INFLUX being responsible for all of this, what part did you play?
Because I know what you’re doing.
You’ve been to the lab on the sub floor.
Is this why you’re here?
Because you’re worried that we would find it?
‘Cause you know what? From what I saw, it could have triggered this whole event.
Finola, no one in our classified division has been doing any testing, so no, we are not responsible for it.
But you are weaponizing the Debris.
To deter potential adversaries from attacking the United States, from attacking our allies, from attacking our vital interests.
The Chinese are doing it, the Russians are doing it.
And you know what? The Brits are doing it.
Did my father know that you were using his work for this?
No, he didn’t.
Not at first.
But he did find out.
And what did he feel about it?
Pretty much the same way you do.
Finola, I know how personal this is for you, but you have to understand men like your father, they’re like pieces of Debris themselves, useful in the right hands, dangerous in the wrong hands.
Orbital had no choice but to follow this direction, because if we didn’t do it, someone else would have done it.
In fact, Finola, someone else did do it.
It’s exactly what INFLUX has been doing with your father, so I know you know how vital it is that we find him.
I know you feel that way.
You don’t know anything about what I feel.
My father took his life for all of this.
(gasping)
(grunts)
HAZMAT #3: Cain. Cain!
Hey, hey, hey, hey, look!
Stop! Just stop! (Straining)
Bryan! Bryan, they’re leaving the boardroom!
We can’t hold them back.
They’re trying to get back to the lockup.
I’m almost there.
FINOLA: Bryan, I’m on my way back.
Hey! We need some help.
Hey, hey, get him, get him.
BRYAN: Hey, hey!
FINOLA: Hey, hey, hey! I got him.
BRYAN: Hey, hey! Hey!
FINOLA: Hey! Stop!
They’re after the N-U’s.
Chin! Chin! Get up! Hey!
Let’s get these guys back to the boardroom right now.
FINOLA: What have we got?
APRIL HAN: The leakage from their ears is cerebral spinal fluid, must have been massive intracranial pressure.
DOCTOR #2: There was necrotic cell death, like the cells literally exploded.
What could cause that?
Chemical agents or ultrasound or…
Harmonic frequencies in the Laghari spectrum?
Yes, that’s possible.
No.
(latches slam)
(electricity surging)
(gasps)
(Mariel whispering, indistinct)
TOGETHER: Why?
(page turning in distance)
(Ash whistles) Morrison.
GUARD: What do you want, Ash?
I’m sick. I need to see a doctor.
GUARD: Open 108.
(buzzer sounds)
Out.
What the hell?
We need to get him to an emergency room.
He’s got something inside him.
Told you I was sick.
(neck cracks)
That’s it.
Let’s get the keys for these cuffs out of this belt, shall we?
Need to get in there.
Six-eight-six-eight-zero-eight.
(buzzer sounds)
Go on.
APRIL HAN: Let’s try a new CSX sample, expose it to Laghari waves, try to replicate the effect.
WOMAN: Yes, Doctor.
Okay. When you’re done here, let me know.
I’ll take it to the boardroom, where we’re keeping the techs.
Hey.
What’s wrong?
I saw Mariel Caldwell.
What are you talking about?
The Debris manifested her for me.
What?
She appeared.
Yeah.
Remember when I told you in my memory she came to me and I asked her why?
Why she needed me to relive that memory in Afghanistan?
And I put my hand out, but you… you pulled me back before I could grab it.
She did it again.
But this time… I touched her.
And in that moment, I understood everything, without a single word being spoken.
What did you understand?
I understood it wanted to comprehend my need to protect people.
Why would it do that?
I don’t know. It sought me out.
And we need to let the Seam complete what it’s doing.
Okay. Listen, I think we should take you outside and just get you checked out.
I know what I’m saying.
I know how I must sound right now, but if we interfere with this process, we are going to kill people.
We’re not gonna be able to save them.
I can feel it. I can feel it.
What happened to the man who said we need to sacrifice the few to save the many?
This isn’t you.
I know.
But this is what it’s asking of us right now.
I can’t describe it any better.
Not so long ago, you told me
that you were not scared of the Debris, that you thought could change the world.
I thought you were crazy.
But now I understand it.
And that’s faith, right?
Yeah.
That’s what you’ve been telling me all about, trust in something that you cannot know for certain.
But we don’t know what it’s building.
We don’t know.
You’re afraid, and that’s not you.
I’m asking you to believe again.
For the first time, I do.
Take that defibrillator to the middle of the room.
Hurry, hurry. Come on. Chop chop.
Hurry, hurry, hurry.
Next to this one, closer.
A little bit closer.
That’s perfect.
Now go and get that wheelchair.
Hurry!
Power these up.
This is going to kill you.
Either do it to me, or I’ll do it to you.
All the way up. Full power.
That one too.
(power increasing)
(power surges)
(horn honks)
(glass shatters)
(groans)
(neck cracks)
Can I trouble you for your car keys?
(whirring, beeping)
Shut it down.
You sure?
Shut it down.
(machine beeps)
(powering down)
(case clattering)
That was the last one.
No, I don’t think so.
The Debris that we found downstairs did not initiate this.
It’s a piece of the Seam. It’s trying to get…
Go get me a Nacho.
Copy that.
(whispers) We’re ready.
Copy.
Do it.
It’s the ball of light.
GEORGE: And the techs were released as soon as it left?
FINOLA: Yes. It’s like nothing happened.
GEORGE: That’s utterly amazing.
FINOLA: It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, but it’s just so unsettling not knowing what happened to it.
Dad, are you listening to me?
I found it.
The piece that we’re looking for, I’ve found it.
It’s in Virginia.
(line ringing)
MADDOX (on phone): Yeah.
Are you ready?
Is the rest of it here?
It’s in the state, a remote location.
It just got here, we can do it tomorrow.
Okay.
Let me know when.
I will.
(hands rubbing)
You’re early.
Turn on the heat.
A burger, a taco, and a milkshake.
Anything with fats, meat, and oil.
(ringtone chimes)
(chuckles)
Otto says George Jones has identified the location of the piece.
Man’s a genius.
WOMAN: We’ve put him in a barometric chamber.
(beep)
He keeps repeating himself.
He keeps saying the word “telesphere” over and over.
(beep)
What is that?
(beep)
MAN: I don’t know.
(beep)
