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DUST Presents: DERELICT: FATHOM E1 - In the Dark We See
In the first episode of 'DUST Presents: DERELICT: FATHOM', listeners are immersed in a gripping sci-fi audio experience set in a future research base built around a mysterious underwater art...
DUST Presents: DERELICT: FATHOM E1 - In the Dark We See
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Interactive Transcript
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Hi everyone, my name is Jay Barton Mitchell and I'm the creator of the immersive sci-fi audio
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experience derelict, which you're about to listen to thanks to the fine folks here on the Dust
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podcast. You're going to hear our very first episode from season one which we called Fathom,
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which is set in the future inside a research base on Earth that has been built around an
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iningmatic artifact discovered at the bottom of the ocean. An artifact that appears to be for
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lack of a better description, a giant door, and set into the ocean floor. The base called Fathom
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was built to research the door but more specifically to open it. A decision that as you might imagine
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turns out to be ill-advised. It's a very immersive movie-like audio experience that's influenced by
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such things as aliens, HP Lovecraft, and even 2001 space odyssey. Please give it a listen and if
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you like what you hear, you can find us on any of your favorite podcasts platforms by clicking on
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the link in the episode notes below or by visiting us at derelictpodcast.com. The good news is the
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second season of derelict is right around the corner so you have just enough time to catch up before
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new episodes begin dropping this fall. Thanks again for listening and thanks again to the people
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they say that in the dark the eyes begin to see and in the silence we begin to listen.
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Believe me nowhere is it darker or quieter than in this place.
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The bottom of the ocean 19,000 feet down.
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That's why I came here after all isn't it? Why I buried myself
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before this to where I could possibly get.
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But
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loss is an insidious thing.
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Whatever we try to escape we inevitably bring with us even to the darkest quietest places.
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And in the dark we have no choice but to listen.
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Yes.
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Dr. Gras.
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Yes.
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Are you okay?
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Fine.
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Your heart rate is quite elevated. Your blood oxygen level.
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Fine. Clayton.
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Thank you.
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Dr. Gras.
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Dreams again.
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Is that a crime?
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Which like I said, if it can really help you sleep.
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No.
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If according to the biologues you haven't slept a regular cycle in more than a month.
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How many times do I have to say I'm fine?
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Logues don't lie.
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Eva.
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And they don't tell the whole story either Sarah.
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What's up with the repairs?
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We'd have to scream in for the whole picture.
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But last I heard it was going well.
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They must have supported for having Westpatched working on North now.
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I know where you're asking.
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I haven't heard of the access to relays back up or not.
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Hopefully not much longer.
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Couple of weird things though.
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What?
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Well they finally got the mainframe open.
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With Mac acting the way he's been,
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everyone felt that must have been some damage to his systems from the explosion.
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Flooding or something.
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There wasn't.
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Not only that Emerson could find.
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Now what a present in the room, mainframe itself is undamaged.
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They're going over it now though.
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Well, no one knows Mac like Emerson.
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That's the other thing.
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No one knows where Emerson is.
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What do you mean no one knows?
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Max personnel tracking is down now and no one can raise wrong columns.
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She may be outside.
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Checking the capsule's exterior.
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With all the other activity though.
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Well people don't just disappear, especially down here and Emerson sort of
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aloof anyway.
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She'll show up at lunch.
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Sarah, I need to get up now.
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I still think it's that too.
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Thank you.
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Doctor.
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Jesus.
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Good morning Dr. Graff.
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Good morning Mac.
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I was just talking about you.
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Herd Emerson is poking around in your brain.
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Well, something's up.
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Yesterday you told me it was snowing in Chicago, in June.
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Damage.
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No.
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No, I don't think so.
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Who's the first from?
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She's not my...
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Play it.
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Please, Mac.
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11.45 pm.
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Hi.
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Don't know why I do this.
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The universe spawned.
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It's like talking to a ghost or
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sending messages to a ghost or
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Christy, though we haven't spoken in two months.
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I at least expected something yesterday, yesterday of all days.
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You know you act like you're the only one who feels anything.
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Or I don't know, you're the only one who has a right to feel anything.
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It's really selfish.
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You know that?
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It's really?
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I just expected something.
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It's all.
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Listen.
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You're not going to send these anymore, Eva.
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I...
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I took a commission off-world.
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Call on you, Simon.
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It's not off the corporation.
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You don't have to worry about that.
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It's my own thing.
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It's what I wanted to do for a long time.
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You know what?
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I just...
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If I waited as long as I could, I guess.
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But I can see you're not coming back.
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I don't understand it.
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I don't know why we can be there for each other.
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Go through this together.
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I don't...
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I miss her too.
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Maybe you didn't just as much as you.
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I'm sorry.
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For that, I'm sorry I called you selfish too.
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I'm sorry.
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I'm sorry every way I can be sorry.
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I love you.
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You're always.
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Would you like to respond to the message, Dr. Graf?
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Would you like to respond to the message, Dr. Graf?
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Are you certain, Dr. Graf?
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Delete it.
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Message, delete it.
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Would you like to hear your second voice?
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Eva, I need you to wake up and get over to hydroponics.
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Good morning to you too, Joe.
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Is it ISD's here?
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It wants to meet with us.
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Already?
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I thought his sub wasn't scheduled until tomorrow night.
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Yeah, well, I guess he decided to accelerate the schedule.
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I don't think it's a good sign, do you?
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Can it wait?
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I'm...
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I'm just not...
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It's internal security.
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Eva, no.
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It can't wait.
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I'd like to know what you plan to say though.
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Yeah, well, I bet you would.
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Eva, I swear to God, if you try to pin this on me.
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For them is your base, isn't it, Joe?
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You are the commander.
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Edgers was science team, not command.
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And it was your security protocols he overrode.
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Your explosives, he stole.
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Look, there's plenty of blame to go around.
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That's how they're going to look at it.
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I just think...
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I just think we put our heads together on this.
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We can come out of this with our jobs still intact.
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Joe, neither of us tried to blow up the damn base.
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Did we?
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The only one on the chopping block is Edgers.
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M.D.s put way too much money into this travesty to pull either of us out now.
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Really?
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The why are they ordering what's left of the science team back to the surface?
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What?
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Wait, what?
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They can't do that.
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We're already a skeleton crew.
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I have half the people I need to complete this.
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They can't do that.
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And they did.
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Not essentials too.
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In definitely.
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We started mothballing rovers and dive suits last night.
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And analytics just left out of sub 15 minutes ago.
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Where have you been?
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Joe, that doesn't make any sense.
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There has to be an explanation.
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Yeah, there's an explanation.
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You've been down here 11 months and that thing out there is no closer to being open
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than the day it was found.
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Had to that, you got people on your team running around trying to blow up the place to place
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that yes, they have sunk a lot of money into.
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What you think was going to happen, Eva?
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What you think they were going to do?
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Okay, I don't know what to do.
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I'll fix this.
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I'll fix it.
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I'm holding my breath, Dr. Graf.
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I'd be parodics, ASAP.
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Oh shit.
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Shit.
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Shit.
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Shit.
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Get a grip.
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Get a grip.
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Get a grip.
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Shit.
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Matt.
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I'm here, Dr. Graf.
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I'm going to leave that last message, please.
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Message from Angela Graf restored.
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Have I already asked if you would like to copy this morning, Dr. Graf?
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Yes, Mac, you have.
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Apologies, Dr. Graf.
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I don't seem quite myself, do I?
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I got shot.
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I got shot.
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Oh my God.
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Yeah, you and me both.
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We've been through a lot together, Emily.
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We have worked together for quite some time, yes, Dr. Graf.
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You were designed for this project.
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Not entirely.
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I believe my story in virtual intelligence development was already in the process of planning for a new VI model,
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but the discovery of the fan that were in fact accelerated the development process.
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Exactly.
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If we never would have found the vault, you and I would never have met.
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I suppose that is true, Dr. Graf.
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No, no, no.
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No, no.
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No, no, no.
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The computer.
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And you are the closest thing I have to a friend down here.
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I appreciate the cinnamon, Dr. Graf.
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I enjoy our interactions a great deal.
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We never wonder why things work out, boy, they deal, Mac.
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We never look back at your life and see all the turning points.
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Just one turning point, even one moment that sets you on a totally different course.
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Like a train that takes the wrong track.
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And you're locked in then.
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There's no going back.
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No, Dr. Graf.
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Those types of calculations are beyond my programming.
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What do you, Mac?
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What do you?
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Your coffee is ready, Dr. Graf.
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Well...
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There she is.
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Here I am.
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Eva, this is Agent Blaine ISD.
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Dr. Graf.
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Eva, it's fine.
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Eva?
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Appreciate you coming.
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No, it's early.
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No, you weren't expecting me until tomorrow.
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It's your world, Agent Blaine.
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We just live in it.
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See, you've already been talking with Commander Freeman?
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I wanted to talk to you separately.
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If that's okay.
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Your ISD, I want to cooperate in any way I can.
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I appreciate that.
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And they've had a rough time of it.
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Freeman was just going over the status of the base repairs.
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Yeah.
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Northern platform got hit the worst.
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Three capsules breached and flooded.
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But the supports on west and north were damaged.
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Dr. Graf's plan to deploy us is up and down both.
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And 11 people were killed.
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Am I right about that?
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Yeah.
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That's right.
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You guys left to keep forgiving me.
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There's a lot down here I don't understand yet.
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You're rushing the support repairs because...
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...of underwater storms?
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Eddie's.
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It's the technical term.
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Big pockets of moving water that break off from the boundary current nearby.
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It happens frequently here.
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It's one of the reasons working outside is so dangerous.
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What kind of currents are we talking about?
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Intense when they surge 40 to 50 knots.
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And 40 to 50 knots of hundreds of tons of water.
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Got it.
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Mac has a model for forecasting them.
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Right now the forecast says no eddies for three days,
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which is the window we're going with.
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We should have the supports repaired and braced by them.
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I see.
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What doers this?
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The one you're working on here.
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Hydroponics.
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These doors came down in the explosion happening a wedge when the capsule shifted.
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Every room on Fathom is basically its own separate building we call them capsules.
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Every entry point into a new capsule has emergency pressure doors that come down
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in the event of a hole breach to seal them.
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Mac says the capsule on the other side isn't flooded, but even so.
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It's probably a total loss.
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Crops don't do well without irrigation.
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Is it possible the damage was more isolated to the northern platform intentionally?
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If Dr. Edgar wanted to target one platform over another, I think he'd focus on West.
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The reactor is there. That's where you'd do the most damage.
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I'd say he did enough damage regardless.
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The labs are on this platform though.
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All your research.
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So is your V.I.'s mainframe.
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From what I hear it's been acting erratic.
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Yeah, that's true.
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V.I.'s been acting strange ever since.
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Emerson's trying to figure it out now.
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Straight into hell.
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Simple things.
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Waking teams up at the wrong times, forgetting who people are.
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Shouting lights off in middle of lunch. It's stuff like that.
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But his main functions?
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He hasn't missed a beat as far as the project goes.
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And he designed the repair procedure for the platform supports on West and North.
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Yes, me. I think it should be shut down.
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Turning off to lights is one thing.
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Depression rising the base is an utter...
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Mac wouldn't do that.
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What?
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What Dr. Graph means to say his Mac's programming wouldn't allow it to do that.
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But she thinks of Mac as a person.
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I see it as a tool.
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And tools can malfunction.
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You think... what? Edgar's was targeting Mac?
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Not at all.
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But Dr. Edgar's was a smart guy.
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Triple PhD, band 11.
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No belt prize winning engineer with almost 100 patents.
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So?
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Just doesn't sound like a guy to me that does anything randomly.
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I'd like to speak to the VI engineer if I could.
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So would I.
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But Emerson's been offline all morning.
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Offline?
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Can't raise her on comms and Mac can't pinpoint her location.
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Then again, he can't pinpoint anyone's location right now.
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I guess...
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Everyone hold on to something.
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What happened?
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What happened?
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Paul's breach should be on the other side of the door.
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Mac, reseal the pressure doors.
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We should have done that already.
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Mac!
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That's it. Please stay clear.
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Sealing hydrogen is pressure course in three.
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Two.
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One.
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Mac, what happened?
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It appears the hydroponic scapsis.
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The super-hull breach that was flooded.
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And the pressure doors were first opened to water on the other side.
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You said it was breached. You said it was pressurized.
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I am confused by this chain of events.
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I see it by communication laws.
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I did state that hydroponics was pressurized in free of water.
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I cannot explain this.
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I want to shut down.
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I got men hurt.
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We're lucky we ought to just drown the death.
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I want to shut down.
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You can't shut it down, Joe.
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It's a hundred million dollar asset.
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We can do an alpha level reboot if we need to.
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But Emerson is A.D.
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Everyone relax.
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Don't tell me to take a breath.
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Take a breath.
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Fine.
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Sure.
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But shut it down.
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Shut it down.
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Or I will.
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I mean it.
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What does that mean, Joe?
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We've already had enough sabotage, don't you think?
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Joe?
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God damn it.
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You okay?
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Yeah, I'm fine.
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I just...
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Welcome to fathom.
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Tensions are high. Nothing I didn't expect.
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You wouldn't shut him down, right?
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You wouldn't shut down, Mac.
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No.
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No, you're right.
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Shutting down to V.I. is essentially terminating.
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Not dimension-hitting, the meat button and all the stored research.
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It's a very expensive asset.
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The corporation.
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I couldn't afford that loss.
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Not now, not after the explosion.
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We're already short-staffed as it is.
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I am the limit-max access to critical systems though.
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Keep them on mine. Just rained in.
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But not for the project, right?
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I'd have them for that.
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For research.
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All critical systems.
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Just for the moment.
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That's going to limit my research ability.
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I'm aware.
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No, I don't think you are.
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I need Mac for signal analysis for calculations on the equation, not to mention.
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Dr. Graff.
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You're not going to be doing any research in the immediate future.
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I'm ordering a relay shut down even if the connection's restored.
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You can't do that.
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You already pulled the rest of my team.
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Now you're taking Mac and the relay?
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Let's talk somewhere else.
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Let's talk now.
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I need Mac.
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I need...
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Let's talk somewhere else.
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Dr. Graff.
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Find.
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There's a meeting room in lap three.
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I was thinking... observation.
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You want to see it?
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I want to see it.
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Like I said, it's your world.
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Follow me in Agent Blame.
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The End
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That is a lot of windows.
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180 degree view of the whole sorted affair.
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We're looking outside into the water.
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We are.
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Feels darker than space.
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It actually is.
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In space you get starlight.
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Not much, but it still counts lumens.
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Down here there's... nothing.
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And... what?
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It's straight out there.
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About 600 yards.
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Usually there is some kind of illumination around it.
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Subbs.
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Rovers. Divers.
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But... since the explosions, that's all stopped.
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Sometimes I think I can almost see it better with the lights off.
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Like it's... darker than everything else.
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I don't see anything.
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Just black.
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Mac.
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I'm here Dr. Graff.
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Will you hit the vault lights for me?
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Full spread, Dr. Graff.
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Yes please.
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Now that is something.
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Yes.
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Yes it is.
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The size... I... I didn't expect.
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It's 2000 feet in diameter.
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Carbon dating.
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Seven million years old.
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Seven million.
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As unbelievable.
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The first proof of extraterrestrial life.
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And... we find it the bottom of the ocean.
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Life is too ironic to fully understand.
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Takes noise to appreciate silence.
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And absence to value presence.
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You scientists.
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You all are a Voltair, don't you?
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You forgot a part though.
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It takes sadness to understand what happiness is.
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I don't believe that part.
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Correct my math.
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Like I said, it's still come up to speed on this.
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Eleven years ago, an energy company comes down here looking for a geothermal reactor site.
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They had Earth.
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That instead.
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Very 19,000 feet down.
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And we think...
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What's a door?
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We know it is.
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Substropic filters show a space under it.
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A big space.
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The walls in your perfect circle, the laser scans tell us.
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Hinges on the northern side, huge ones, but no electronics, no visible hydraulics even,
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and no locking mechanism that we can interact with, at least.
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There's no obvious way to open it at first.
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Do you found a signal?
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Right.
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Mac.
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Play the Vault signal.
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Recording, or live broadcast, Dr. Griff?
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Live, please.
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Well, that's lively.
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It's broadcasting and cycling at VLF.
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Very low frequency.
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And that's important because VLF waves are one of the few that travel well underwater.
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This one is at 11 kilohertz.
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Travel's been out far, right?
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Right.
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About a quarter mile.
spk_0
So basically down here, you'd have to be on top of it to find it.
spk_0
I don't think it was meant to be found, except by someone who knew where to look.
spk_0
Then why the signal at all?
spk_0
I'm glad you asked.
spk_0
Mac, turn off the Vault signal and put up the Vault equation on all monitors.
spk_0
That is all water numbers.
spk_0
The signal isn't just noise.
spk_0
It's a carrier wave.
spk_0
Modulated sinusoidal waveform.
spk_0
It's bitch to the code, but in the end, it's binary.
spk_0
Like any other carrier signal.
spk_0
The equation you're looking at is the sole piece of data on that wave.
spk_0
And the Vault is broadcasting it over and over.
spk_0
Like a key.
spk_0
More like a hint to the key.
spk_0
Figure out the equation.
spk_0
You figure out how to open the Vault.
spk_0
How?
spk_0
We believe it's solving the equation, give us the frequency and the data packets to transmit back to the Vault's reception device.
spk_0
We think that should initiate its opening procedure.
spk_0
And how far along are you just solving it?
spk_0
The equation, long as it is, isn't all that tough.
spk_0
It needs two variables to solve, and it solves with numbers in a rational integer pattern.
spk_0
We've tried a lot of them.
spk_0
We're into the seven digits now.
spk_0
Once we have a solution, we broadcast the answers and frequency back to the receptor.
spk_0
We went through the VLF band pretty quick.
spk_0
That's why we built the relay next to the Vault.
spk_0
Once we got out of VLF, the signals didn't travel very well down here.
spk_0
You needed a broadcasting source that was physically closer.
spk_0
No reaction for the locking mechanism?
spk_0
Not yet.
spk_0
We theorized maybe the Vault wasn't yet submerged when it was implanted in the water inhibits the reception,
spk_0
but our geologist confirms that it was underwater at the time of the construction.
spk_0
Not to mention, this signal is in VLF, like it was designed to go through water.
spk_0
And I assume you've tried other ways to get in, besides the lock.
spk_0
Freeman's team excavated around the entire perimeter down to about 300 feet extra depth.
spk_0
They never found an end of the structure, so it's that deep, at least.
spk_0
Excavating beyond that at this depth, it gets hairy, quick.
spk_0
They lost two men just getting that far.
spk_0
Explosives.
spk_0
Whatever that alloy is, it's harder than Plexi Steel.
spk_0
Diamond filament blades, laser cutters, nothing Freeman's boys tried even scratched it.
spk_0
And no, before you ask, the Vault can't be pride-open either, the lock can't be forest.
spk_0
Why?
spk_0
There's no seam, no gap between the door and the container.
spk_0
Well, how's that even possible?
spk_0
We don't know. Some unique aspect of the alloy, or maybe it's by design and additional security measure,
spk_0
I guess, once the locking mechanism activates, somehow the entire thing unseals itself, explosively, with heat, plasma, I don't know.
spk_0
It's anyone's guess.
spk_0
What do you think, Dr. Graf?
spk_0
Well, can you be more specific?
spk_0
About the artifact.
spk_0
What do you think it is?
spk_0
You're the project director, you gotta have a theory, you have anyone?
spk_0
Why put a giant door on the bottom of the ocean?
spk_0
An ocean on a planet that at the time, nothing intelligent lived on.
spk_0
I don't know.
spk_0
All I know is it shouldn't be here.
spk_0
But it is.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
Just like us.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
I get why you're here, Agent Blaine.
spk_0
Do you know?
spk_0
An MD employee tries to blow up an MD facility.
spk_0
Doesn't care who he kills, doesn't care about the attention he draws.
spk_0
This is a black site, after all.
spk_0
Not the kind of headlines MD wants on the news.
spk_0
There is none.
spk_0
You're here to investigate.
spk_0
Sniff out any collaborators Edgar's might have had.
spk_0
Assigned Blaine.
spk_0
I prefer the word, responsibility.
spk_0
Whatever the word, the problem I have with it is you don't seem to know very much about this project.
spk_0
And I would have hoped that whoever the corporation sent to assign responsibility would have been a little more informed.
spk_0
MD has hundreds of black site projects around the galaxy.
spk_0
They're black site for a reason.
spk_0
Like every piece of information the corporation deals out, you get it when you need it.
spk_0
I don't need to know the background of this place or the specifics of your research to form an opinion on your results.
spk_0
Almost a year of your life on this project.
spk_0
And you still have no clue what it is you're trying to open.
spk_0
Oh, now wait.
spk_0
I want you to trust him in it.
spk_0
If your research progress is more than just slow.
spk_0
I wonder if it's intentionally slow.
spk_0
I'm sorry?
spk_0
You were offered this position once.
spk_0
Project Director.
spk_0
And you turned it down.
spk_0
Two months later you lobbied to be included again.
spk_0
Now why was that?
spk_0
Was it because of your daughter?
spk_0
What did you just say?
spk_0
I wonder if you took this job because down here there's nothing to remind you of home.
spk_0
I wonder if the thing that scares you most about this place
spk_0
is having to leave it.
spk_0
Is this a performance review or a psyche of help?
spk_0
It's whatever I want it to be Eva.
spk_0
Right now I'm trying to decide whether or not to pull you off entirely.
spk_0
Pull you off and send you home.
spk_0
You don't have the authority.
spk_0
I don't. You're right.
spk_0
But the executive board does.
spk_0
And they want my opinion to make their decision.
spk_0
Look.
spk_0
Alright, look, figuring things out like that out there.
spk_0
It doesn't happen overnight and there's been progress.
spk_0
We have figured out a lot.
spk_0
You mean the signal, which apparently drives people crazy.
spk_0
Now wait, that's not true.
spk_0
It's harmless. It's just a looping carrier wave.
spk_0
Did Dr. Edgar's think it was harmless?
spk_0
Edgar's lost his shit down here.
spk_0
Like pretty much everyone else does eventually.
spk_0
Dr. Edgar's tried to blow up this base so as to stop what was happening here.
spk_0
A galactically respected scientist and your explanation is he lost it.
spk_0
You look out there. Look.
spk_0
Human beings aren't supposed to be down here.
spk_0
You set it yourself.
spk_0
We might as well have been dropped on the moon.
spk_0
It takes a toll. It gets to everyone.
spk_0
Edgar said he heard voices in the signal.
spk_0
Just him losing it.
spk_0
Three other science staff said the same thing.
spk_0
Voices in the signal. Hundreds of them.
spk_0
Are they losing it too?
spk_0
It's just the power of suggestion.
spk_0
Stories like Edgar's, they take a life of their own, especially in a place like this.
spk_0
Edgar said to the interviewer, he was convinced that the thing out there wasn't a fault at all.
spk_0
Yeah, I know what he thought.
spk_0
Dr. Edgar's didn't think it was designed to keep things out.
spk_0
I know what he thought.
spk_0
He thought it was designed to keep something in.
spk_0
That's someone cracking under pressure.
spk_0
You have no clue what that thing is.
spk_0
But what's inside it or what happens when it's open.
spk_0
You can't possibly believe Edgar's.
spk_0
Do you know what the Internal Security Division does, even?
spk_0
We deal with things when they get out of hand.
spk_0
I am very good at it, and I've been one end of this galaxy to the other doing it.
spk_0
The things I've seen, the kinds of projects this corporation engages in,
spk_0
the Pandora's boxes they've opened.
spk_0
I know the kind of darkness, mass, door, and scapegole of finding.
spk_0
I've shut it back in the box over and over again, and the only reason I keep doing it
spk_0
is because right now, I still believe that good the corporation does outweighs the horror.
spk_0
So if you ask me whether or not I could believe that ghost stories of an unhinged,
spk_0
triple-phd-holding research scientist who tried to blow up his own project
spk_0
to stop it from succeeding, the answer is, I could.
spk_0
Ask Edgar's. Ask him.
spk_0
He's on the surface now. He'll have recovered. He'll tell you.
spk_0
He'll tell you it was just this place.
spk_0
It got to him, and he lost it. That's what I'll say.
spk_0
I would very much like to ask him about his experiences here, Dr. Graf,
spk_0
but I can't.
spk_0
Why not?
spk_0
Because he hanged himself in his cell last night.
spk_0
What?
spk_0
Dr. Edgar's is dead.
spk_0
And what worries me more than anything is that you're hearing voices too.
spk_0
No. No. No. I...
spk_0
Your medical officer, Dr. Clayton, put it in your chart.
spk_0
You said you were hearing voices,
spk_0
and you were hearing them way before Dr. Eggers did.
spk_0
Once. I said I heard it once. I was wrong.
spk_0
Dr. Clayton also says you're not sleeping.
spk_0
That's an exaggeration. She says you're losing your grip.
spk_0
Says your team has reported you are ranting.
spk_0
But you get the same orders multiple times.
spk_0
That's not fair.
spk_0
She put the same exact things in Dr. Eggers's file.
spk_0
I thought Dr. Edgar...
spk_0
She said he couldn't sleep either at the end.
spk_0
She said he roamed the halls all night.
spk_0
She said his eyes were bloodshot.
spk_0
I can't go home!
spk_0
Please.
spk_0
I...
spk_0
I can't go back.
spk_0
Being down here, this work...
spk_0
You're right. Okay.
spk_0
I'm not sleeping.
spk_0
I don't sleep. And when I do...
spk_0
I hear her.
spk_0
And then it starts all over again.
spk_0
I'm sorry, I poised you like that, Dr. Grave.
spk_0
But I had to see for myself. You're state.
spk_0
I think it's a good thing I did.
spk_0
What does that mean?
spk_0
It means you need to go back to your quarters and start packing your things.
spk_0
No.
spk_0
And get ready to return to the surface.
spk_0
No!
spk_0
That will be all Dr. Grave.
spk_0
No, please.
spk_0
I know how your daughter died.
spk_0
But the truth is...
spk_0
They don't care about any of that.
spk_0
All they care about is results.
spk_0
And you haven't had enough.
spk_0
Blaine.
spk_0
Go home, Dr. Grave.
spk_0
There's nothing here for you, but pain.
spk_0
What do you know about pain?
spk_0
I've had my share.
spk_0
Oh, God.
spk_0
Oh, God.
spk_0
spk_0
Mac.
spk_0
I've here, Dr. Grave.
spk_0
I've here, Dr. Grave.
spk_0
Mac.
spk_0
Um.
spk_0
Call Angela.
spk_0
Of course, Dr. Grave.
spk_0
Call Angela Grave.
spk_0
Hey, this is Angela.
spk_0
Leave me a message and I'll...
spk_0
Mac, just get out.
spk_0
Call Angela Grave, disconnected.
spk_0
Dr. Grave, you seem agitated.
spk_0
You think so, Mac?
spk_0
Is there anything I can do to help?
spk_0
I don't know.
spk_0
Can you roll back time?
spk_0
How about a whiskey, Mac?
spk_0
Oh, you can't make an exception.
spk_0
For an old friend.
spk_0
I'm afraid not, Dr. Grave.
spk_0
Thanks anyway, Mac.
spk_0
As a reminder, you still have one unheard voicemail.
spk_0
Yeah.
spk_0
Who's it from?
spk_0
The voicemail is from Dr. Richard Edgar's.
spk_0
Edgar's?
spk_0
Yes, Dr. Richard Edgar's.
spk_0
The message was received eleven hours ago.
spk_0
Play it.
spk_0
Plane message from Dr. Richard Edgar's.
spk_0
They gave me one phone call, Eva.
spk_0
I used it for you.
spk_0
Flattered.
spk_0
I won't be here tomorrow.
spk_0
Maybe you'll hear.
spk_0
Maybe you won't.
spk_0
It doesn't matter.
spk_0
I hope you'll be holding me out of that place and back into the sun.
spk_0
The one cell I have,
spk_0
is that I wouldn't hear them anymore.
spk_0
But I still do.
spk_0
I'm no way inside my head.
spk_0
They're all I hear, Eva.
spk_0
When I close my eyes, they're all I hear.
spk_0
I haven't slept in a month.
spk_0
How are you sleeping, Eva?
spk_0
I've decided.
spk_0
I don't care anymore.
spk_0
I've decided I wanted open.
spk_0
Open and for everything in there to just crawl out.
spk_0
You deserve it.
spk_0
You more than anyone.
spk_0
See you the one I'll tell.
spk_0
Tell what I already figured out, what I kept from everyone.
spk_0
It's actually very simple.
spk_0
I won't just give it to you though.
spk_0
I want you to make your choice.
spk_0
I want you to look back
spk_0
and know that it was you that caused it.
spk_0
So, here it is.
spk_0
You were half right.
spk_0
The signal is the key.
spk_0
But it's the lock too.
spk_0
And you never thought about the timing, Eva.
spk_0
Right there in front of you.
spk_0
And you never thought about it at all.
spk_0
The sad thing is, I know you'll do it.
spk_0
You'll do whatever it takes if they just let you stay down there.
spk_0
I'd say you're my sympathies, but we both know better.
spk_0
Mac.
spk_0
I'm here, Dr. Graff.
spk_0
Delete this message.
spk_0
Are you certain, Dr. Graff?
spk_0
Yes.
spk_0
Delete it.
spk_0
Now.
spk_0
And scrub it. No backups.
spk_0
Message from Dr. Eggers permanently deleted.
spk_0
All right.
spk_0
Mac.
spk_0
Play the Vault signal live broadcast.
spk_0
Mac, I want to know the timing of the signal.
spk_0
How long is it?
spk_0
Is it the same length every time?
spk_0
And does the length of time vary in between each broadcast?
spk_0
The signal is exactly 10 seconds long.
spk_0
It is the same length every broadcast.
spk_0
The time in between each broadcast is exactly 2 seconds.
spk_0
When you say exactly, you mean with what specificity?
spk_0
Down to the millisecond, Dr. Graff.
spk_0
It is exact.
spk_0
It's exact.
spk_0
Mac, put up the signal equation on monitor 3.
spk_0
Please.
spk_0
Mac, I'd like to try solving the equation with y equals 10 and x equals 2.
spk_0
Confirming variable input, y equals 10 and x equals 2.
spk_0
Now hit it.
spk_0
The equation does not resolve with y equals 10, 10, x equals 2.
spk_0
Mac, try x equals 10 and y equals 2.
spk_0
The equation dissolves with the following result, 11 zero decimals.
spk_0
Exactly 11.
spk_0
Yes, Dr. Graff, 11 zero decimals.
spk_0
The frequency of the Vault signal, it's 11 hertz.
spk_0
That is correct, Dr. Graff.
spk_0
The signal pressed in the solved equation.
spk_0
The lock and the key.
spk_0
I can't believe it's a lock, I guess.
spk_0
The key.
spk_0
Mac, turn off the Vault signal.
spk_0
Oh, you just need to sleep.
spk_0
You just need sleep.
spk_0
Mac, get me Freeman.
spk_0
I can't help you, Eva.
spk_0
You did this to yourself.
spk_0
Joe, I figured it out.
spk_0
I'm not explaining how serious this is.
spk_0
spk_0
I figured it out, Joe.
spk_0
I figured out what.
spk_0
Vault, it's a long story, but I figured it out.
spk_0
I can open it.
spk_0
I can give them what they want.
spk_0
We can give them what they want.
spk_0
We.
spk_0
Yes, together.
spk_0
All I need is access to the relay, local access.
spk_0
With it disconnected from the labs, it's the only way.
spk_0
You want to take a suit and make a floor walk to the relay.
spk_0
Use the controls locally.
spk_0
Not me, Joe.
spk_0
Oh, now I get it.
spk_0
You want me to do it.
spk_0
You want me to go around an ISD mandate with an H and on deck.
spk_0
I hate to break it to you, but it won't just be me.
spk_0
They throw in prison.
spk_0
It'll be both of us.
spk_0
Because it will work this time.
spk_0
I know it.
spk_0
We can both come out of this on top.
spk_0
We can both stay.
spk_0
We won't have to go back.
spk_0
We can stay.
spk_0
What the hell does that matter?
spk_0
It doesn't.
spk_0
The point is, if we do this, we don't just go back to how it was.
spk_0
We'll close out a major project milestone.
spk_0
There will be bonuses.
spk_0
There will be promotions.
spk_0
MD rewards ambition.
spk_0
It rewards it above everything.
spk_0
We can turn this whole thing around.
spk_0
Joe.
spk_0
It will work.
spk_0
Joe.
spk_0
Joe.
spk_0
Mac, get me free, I'm in back.
spk_0
Mac?
spk_0
Mac, what's...
spk_0
Mac?
spk_0
Eva?
spk_0
Sarah, what the hell?
spk_0
I didn't even.
spk_0
The support just clapped the whole class.
spk_0
What's going on?
spk_0
Oh, God!
spk_0
The entire district is blocked.
spk_0
I can't raise Mac.
spk_0
He's a fucking insane.
spk_0
Eva, hold on.
spk_0
You can't even see the travel order.
spk_0
Right there.
spk_0
Sarah?
spk_0
Oh, my God.
spk_0
I can't believe it.
spk_0
I can't believe it.
spk_0
Come on.
spk_0
Come on.
spk_0
Come on.
spk_0
Come on.
spk_0
Come on.
spk_0
This is Dr. Graff.
spk_0
Does anyone copy?
spk_0
This is Dr. Eva Graff.
spk_0
There was a whole breach in the Western dorms.
spk_0
The water flushed me into the dive from AeroLock.
spk_0
I've been to it.
spk_0
I'm alive.
spk_0
Does anyone copy?
spk_0
Dr. Clayton.
spk_0
Commander Freeman.
spk_0
Do you copy?
spk_0
Does anyone...
spk_0
...push?
spk_0
I can't believe it.
spk_0
I can't believe it.
spk_0
I can't believe it.
spk_0
Fathom is the prequel to the podcast derelict by Night Rocket Productions.
spk_0
It is created, written, directed, and edited by Jay Barton Mitchell,
spk_0
and produced by Kirsten Rudberg and Thomas Barker.
spk_0
Episode 1 in the Darkness we see stars Elizabeth Laidlaw as Eva Graff.
spk_0
Michael Mao as Blaine.
spk_0
Eli Goodman as Joe Freeman.
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Danny Payne as Sarah Clayton.
spk_0
And Mac as himself.
spk_0
The podcast features additional sound designed by music radio creative,
spk_0
and music by Ryan Talbert, Luke Atincio, and Davis Harwell.
spk_0
The producers wish to thank Flashpoint Chicago, a campus of Columbia College Hollywood,
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especially John Petrosky and Bill Bacon, for their invaluable support
spk_0
in the creation of this podcast.
spk_0
They also wish to thank Robert and Russell Summers of Grand Scheme Productions,
spk_0
without whose effort this story would not be as good as it is.
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Lastly, Fathom and Derrick rely on the support listeners like you.
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Find out how you can help us continue the story by visiting derrickpodcast.com
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and Fathompodcast.net.
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And as always, more than anything, thank you for listening.
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This story will continue.