[SCENE — HARDENED CATTO WEATHER BUNKER / LYRA-9 OFFSHORE] [sound design: hurricane winds against reinforced concrete, radar sweep, low electrical hum] [LAIZER BEAM — confident female broadcast voice, professional] Catto Weather Radio, BEAM-1. Lyra-9 remains offshore. Cosmic radiation interference continues increasing. Radar systems are producing intermittent false returns. [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE — synthesized procedural voice] Anomalous return detected. [LAIZER BEAM] Location? [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] One thousand two hundred feet above sea level. [LAIZER BEAM] Visual? [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Negative. [LAIZER BEAM] Thermal? [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Negative. [LAIZER BEAM — thinking] Then it's not actually there. [sound design: keyboard clicks] [LAIZER BEAM] Run the return against seabed mapping. [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Processing. [sound design: electronic processing] [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] No matching structure detected. [LAIZER BEAM — frustrated] Try again. [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] No correlation. [LAIZER BEAM] Lima Bravo Zero Zero One, CATTO. Do you have the return? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE — flight crew] Affirmative. Large contact. [LAIZER BEAM] Visual? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Negative. [LAIZER BEAM] Thermal? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Nothing. [LAIZER BEAM] Then the radiation is scrambling the radar. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] How? [LAIZER BEAM] It could be reflecting off something below the surface. The signal gets distorted... and projects the silhouette into the storm. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] A ghost image? [LAIZER BEAM] Exactly. [sound design: radar pulse] [LAIZER BEAM] The object isn't in the sky. The radar thinks it is. [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Return movement detected. [LAIZER BEAM] Movement? [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Affirmative. [LAIZER BEAM] Direction? [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Northwest. [LAIZER BEAM] Wind direction? [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Southeast. [sound design: silence except storm] [LAIZER BEAM — quietly] That's upwind. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] CATTO, we're seeing it too. [LAIZER BEAM] The same return? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Negative. Another one. [LAIZER BEAM] Another ghost image. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] It's moving too. [LAIZER BEAM] Direction? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Against the wind. [sound design: deep thunder] [LAIZER BEAM — uneasy] No. The radar is shifting the image. The storm is rotating. That's all. [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Additional returns detected. [LAIZER BEAM] How many? [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Four. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] We have four contacts. [LAIZER BEAM] All moving? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Yes. [LAIZER BEAM] All upwind? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] Yes. [sound design: low electromagnetic pulse] [LAIZER BEAM — tense] Then the seabed theory is wrong. [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Return profiles changing. [LAIZER BEAM] Show me. [sound design: electronic processing] [LAIZER BEAM — confused] What is that? [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] We're seeing the same thing. [LAIZER BEAM] It's not a vessel. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] No. [LAIZER BEAM] Not debris. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] No. [sound design: radar distortion] [LAIZER BEAM — struggling] I have four separate extensions. Wait. They're connected. [sound design: deep thunder] [LAIZER BEAM — quiet] That's not a radar echo. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] What is it? [LAIZER BEAM] I don't know. [sound design: powerful electromagnetic pulse] [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Return accelerating. [LAIZER BEAM] Where? [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Northwest. [LAIZER BEAM] Against the storm. [LIMA BRAVO ZERO ZERO ONE] It's flying. [LAIZER BEAM] No. It's a projected return. It has to be. [CATTO SYSTEM VOICE] Return altitude increasing. [LAIZER BEAM — shaken] A seabed image cannot climb. [sound design: radar pulse] [LAIZER BEAM — whispering] What am I looking at? [sound design: storm intensifies] [LAIZER BEAM — final broadcast, controlled but shaken] Catto Weather Radio, BEAM-1. Multiple unidentified radar silhouettes are moving within Lyra-9. Initial analysis suggested electromagnetic projection of submerged objects. That explanation is no longer supported. The returns are moving independently. They are changing direction. They are climbing. And they are moving against the prevailing storm. [sound design: low electromagnetic pulse] [LAIZER BEAM — quietly] I don't know what they are. But they're not debris. [sound design: radar sweep, distant thunder] [LAIZER BEAM] Whatever is inside this storm... It's moving against the wind. [sound design: transmission fades into hurricane static]
