[SCENE — LB-001 / INSIDE LYRA-9] [sound design: violent wind, aircraft engines, warning tones] [LAIZER BEAM — confident female voice, increasingly concerned] Catto Weather Radio, BEAM-1. LB-001 is climbing. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE — strained flight crew] We're not climbing by choice. [LAIZER BEAM] Altitude? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Thirty-eight thousand. [LAIZER BEAM] Reduce climb. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] We're trying. [sound design: engines rise] [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] We're still accelerating. [LAIZER BEAM] Engines? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Full power. [LAIZER BEAM] Then what's pulling you? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] The wake. [LAIZER BEAM] You're still inside it? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] We're not following it. It's pulling us. [sound design: turbulence intensifies] [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Forty-two thousand. [LAIZER BEAM] That's above your normal scanning range. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] I know. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Forty-four. [sound design: electromagnetic pulse] [CATTO SYSTEM — synthesized] Upper radiation increase detected. [LAIZER BEAM] What kind? [CATTO SYSTEM] Cosmic radiation. [LAIZER BEAM] That's not possible. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] CATTO... Our upper radar is showing something. [LAIZER BEAM] Aircraft? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Negative. [LAIZER BEAM] Weather? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Negative. It's an echo. [LAIZER BEAM] From what? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] I don't know. It's above us. [sound design: radar sweep] [LAIZER BEAM] You're at forty-five thousand feet. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Yes. There's nothing above us that should return that signal. [LAIZER BEAM] Then what are you seeing? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] The LIDAR has a path. [LAIZER BEAM] Describe it. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Distortion. Like a tunnel. It's turning. [LAIZER BEAM] Turning where? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Around the storm. [sound design: deep thunder] [LAIZER BEAM] The wake is looping? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] That's what it looks like. [LAIZER BEAM] Can you break away? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Trying. [sound design: engines strain] [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Can't. The corridor is pulling us around. [LAIZER BEAM] Then follow it. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] We don't have a choice. [sound design: low cosmic hum] [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] The echo is still ahead. [LAIZER BEAM] Can you see it? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] No. Only the distortion. [sound design: sudden static] [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Wait. The pull is weakening. [LAIZER BEAM] Why? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] I don't know. The corridor is gone. [sound design: engines settle] [LAIZER BEAM] Altitude? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Forty-five thousand. We're descending. [LAIZER BEAM] The wake released you. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Whatever made it left. [sound design: slow descent] [LAIZER BEAM] Thirty-nine thousand. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] The storm is below us. [LAIZER BEAM] Below you? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] We're above the storm. [sound design: distant thunder below] [LAIZER BEAM — shaken] That's impossible. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Apparently not. [sound design: radar pulse] [LAIZER BEAM] What does the upper radar show? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] The echoes. [LAIZER BEAM] The same ones? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Yes. [LAIZER BEAM] But the wake is gone. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] I know. [sound design: static] [LAIZER BEAM] Then what are you detecting? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] I don't know. [sound design: altitude tone] [CATTO SYSTEM] Altitude: thirty-five thousand feet. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Stable. [LAIZER BEAM] And the storm? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Still below us. [sound design: distant thunder] [LAIZER BEAM — quietly] We were pulled through the storm... Up to forty-five thousand feet. Then whatever pulled you... Let you go. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] CATTO? [LAIZER BEAM] Yes? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] That wasn't a flight corridor. [LAIZER BEAM] What was it? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] A wake. [sound design: upper radar static] [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] And whatever made it... Was much bigger than us. [sound design: layered radio interference] [LAIZER BEAM — distant, distorted] Catto Weather Radio... BEAM-1... [sound design: faint echo] [UNKNOWN ECHO — distorted] ...BEAM-1... [sound design: cosmic hum fades into static]
