The Twilight Zone (2019) s01e06 Episode Script
Six Degrees of Freedom
1 [HIGH-PITCHED, WARBLING STATIC.]
[GARBLED RADIO TRANSMISSION.]
[HIGH-PITCHED, ELECTRONIC SQUEALING.]
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: Briefing number 1015060816.
The Bradbury Heavy mission.
Earth is a planet of many wonders.
A rare mix of biological diversity and abundant resources.
Humanity has always endeavored to explore and discover in the face of even the longest odds.
But the third planet from Sol finds itself on the brink of catastrophe.
Environmental changes and political unrest has left Earth's long-term prospects in a tenuous situation.
As a result, new horizons have grown increasingly appealing.
All systems are go for the first human flight to the planet Mars and the start of colonization of the solar system.
A large porthole is positioned over the center flight commander seat.
For launch and until Mars landing, it is sealed and covered to decrease radiation exposure.
[WHIRRING.]
The final air-to-ground communication checks are conducted by Flight Commander Alexa Brandt MLC.
Bradbury confirms porthole radiation shield closure nominal and secured for launch.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: and Pilot Casey Donlin.
TINA confirms all Near Earth Network tracking frequencies are locked.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: Flight engineer Rei Tanaka monitors on board fuel cells preparing to transfer to ship's internal power.
ICC.
Bradbury reporting six good APUs.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: Flight Surgeon Katherine Langford monitors the crew vitals Jerry, this monitor's reading that you shouldn't have had the cauliflower at the pre-launch dinner.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: while Mission Specialist Jerry Pierson awaits "all systems are go.
" Well, when the ship launches, I will, too, huh? TINA: Performing OMS tank repressurization.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: They are aided by the on board Transport Information Network Artificial Intelligence unit, known as "TINA.
" LAUNCH CONTROL: This is WTD conducting launch status check.
As all stations verify ready to resume count and "go" for launch, crew is advised to stand by.
BRANDT: Copy that.
Crew standing by.
TINA, mute communications and play "Family.
" [INTRO TO "FAMILY" BY THE INTERRUPTERS PLAYS.]
I got a mother named Mary CREW: I got a mother named Mary I got a brother named Barry - CREW: I got a brother named BARRY - LAUNCH CONTROL: BTC? - TEST CONTROLLER: BTC go.
- And my uncle's name - LAUNCH CONTROL: LPS? - LAUNCH PROCESSING: Go.
- He's in the military - LAUNCH CONTROL: Safety console? - SAFETY CONSOLE: Safety is go.
- LAUNCH CONTROL: Range weather? RANGE WEATHER: Range weather has no constraints for launch.
- And she's in the cemetery - LAUNCH CONTROL: SRO? SUPERINTENDENT RANGE OPERATION: SRO is no-go.
- Repeat, no-go! - My one [ALARM BLARING.]
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! LAUNCH CONTROL: SRO, repeat your status.
This is my family - TINA, music off.
- [MUSIC STOPS.]
SRO, explain your hold.
SUPERINTENDENT RANGE OPERATION: At 02100 This is confirmed? Where? What is the confirmation? Beyond the EAS Now! Tell me the fucking NASIC confirmation! Jesus Christ.
LLC.
SRO.
National Air and Space Intelligence Center has confirmed detection of the launch of five long-range Hwasong-14 ICBMs out of the North Korean peninsula.
Are you fucking kidding me? Los Angeles and Seattle have already been hit.
Holy shit.
They have determined Wells Spaceport is the target - of one missile's trajectory.
- Oh - Delivery time, launch to impact - What do we do? 30 minutes.
What do we do? 2100 was 20 minutes ago.
Scheduled launch in nine.
That's a one-minute window.
If we ditch now, we can pop the hatch and be down on the ground in about ten minutes.
No, we'd be vaporized by the 25th floor.
If we abort now, this ship suffers a direct hit.
- If we launch - DONLIN: If we launch, we at least get the ship out of harm's way.
If we don't even try, there's a possibility the human race ends in ten minutes.
LAUNCH CONTROL: Bradbury.
ICC.
NASIC has advised us to evacuate the facility.
SUPERINTENDENT RANGE OPERATION: Peterson Air Force Base is confirming an American counterstrike 45 Trident II missiles against North Korean and Russian targets.
[ELECTRONIC TRILLING.]
Abort or go? We have no choice.
We have to abort.
I did not train for four years and give up my only family to be nuked on a launch pad.
Fucking go! - Katherine? - Go.
We should treat this like every other cause for environmental evacuation or hurricane - or an earthquake.
- Jerry? It PIERSON: Fuck.
BRANDT: Jerry? Go.
You hesitated.
Because how can this possibly be happening? Four "go," one "no.
" So what is this, fucking majority rules? No, it's not majority rules.
I am commander of this mission.
My rules.
Continue launch control protocols.
ICC.
Bradbury.
Transfer all launch control function and power to internal Bradbury.
[RADIO STATIC.]
LAUNCH CONTROL: Bradburytransfer to internal power and launch control in three, two, - one.
- Brandt? - Start.
- DONLIN: I'm sorry, but we did not come all this way to bail out.
Go for auto sequence.
Good luck, Launch Control.
LAUNCH CONTROL: Bradbury, be advised.
From this point onward, we are evacuating the facility and will neither deliver or receive commands from the launch vehicle.
Godspeed, Bradbury.
Lower visors.
[WHIRRING.]
TINA: We are "go" for auto sequence start.
TINA, go for main engine starter.
Main engine ignition.
TINA: Launch tower has been cleared.
NARRATOR: Five voyagers setting sail to a mysterious red light 35 million miles across an empty sea, soaring within the greatest invention ever created by the human spirit to escape a catastrophe made possible by the most destructive regions of the human mind.
Individual madness or shared nightmare? The answer lies in their search for safe harbor here in The Twilight Zone.
[THE TWILIGHT ZONETHEME PLAYING.]
NARRATOR: You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.
It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition.
And it lies between the pit of one's fears and the summit of one's knowledge.
You are now traveling through a dimension of imagination.
You've just crossed over into The Twilight Zone.
TINA: Trans-Mars injection burn shutoff in E-minus ten minutes.
Approaching Earth escape velocity.
Mission Command, this is Bradbury Heavy.
Please respond.
Mission Command, this is Bradbury Heavy.
Respond.
Mission Command, this is Bradbury Heavy.
Respond.
[RADIO STATIC.]
MAN: This is the Emergency Alert System notification.
This is not a test.
A nuclear weapons attack was commenced against the United States.
TINA: TMI burn shutoff in E-minus ten minutes.
MAN: Nuclear bombs have been detonated above several cities across the country, including Washington, D.
C.
, New York City, Los Angeles Turn that off.
[RADIO TURNS OFF.]
TINA: TMI burn shutoff in E-minus nine minutes.
Yo, Pierson, any chance we can eject the porthole cover to get a visual on below? Is there anything left to see? Answer the question.
[SIGHS.]
Yes, if we're gonna remain in orbit.
No, if we're going on to Mars.
We're going to Mars in eight and a half minutes, so, no.
I'd rather have a radiation shield than a window.
The cameras give us visuals.
Casey, we wanted this mission since we were firsties with RedElev squadron.
Pierson, you beat out, what, 15,000 applicants? 15,380.
[CHUCKLES.]
Katie lost her marriage accepting this mission.
And just a month ago, we were all at Rei's father's funeral.
He was proud she was going.
We all signed up knowing it would be four years till we came back.
And we knew during that time that all of our loved ones would wonder the rest of their lives about us if something [VOICE BREAKING.]
: went wrong.
We just never envisioned we'd be the ones wondering about them.
TINA: TMI burn shutoff in E-minus six minutes.
Our options we orbit Earth the rest of our lives, burn up in the atmosphere when our fuel runs out.
Food will run out before the fuel.
We can try and reenter through the command module.
You know the CM is designed for a water landing.
No one'll be there to fish us out.
- We'll drown.
- BRANDT: So we go.
We travel the 218 days and land on Mars.
TANAKA: It's a suicide mission.
LANGFORD: She's right.
We'd die there.
Yeah, we'd die of cancer and prolonged radiation exposure before we could have the chance to refine enough fuel.
There's a test to the universe.
A scientific theory, made by an economist, known as "The Great Filter.
" The Great Filter posits that life in the universe is very, very rare.
It's hard to start, harder to continue.
The test of life is, "Can an advanced life-form make it to another planet before it destroys itself?" Most advanced life fails.
That's why we never encounter any other civilizations.
They destroy themselves before we can reach 'em.
Humans Earth we're on the brink.
This mission was designed because we had no choice but to find a way out.
TINA: TMI burn shutoff in E-minus five minutes.
We go, and we go together.
If we remain who we are, hold on to the group's original goal, to the world's goal for us, if we stick to what we believed would get us there over the last four years the stuff that makes us a family I know we'll be okay.
[SNIFFLES.]
And if anyone is alive at home, maybe word will get out that we made it.
They can look up and see Mars, and have hope for themselves.
TINA: Go for Stage 3 TMI burn shutoff in E-minus four minutes, 35 seconds.
Tanaka, you copy TINA? Rei, do you copy? If you won't do it, I will.
BRANDT: Rei, shut off TMI now.
TANAKA: Orbital altitude 1,124 kilometers.
TINA: Go for second stage ejection in E-minus ten seconds.
Speed 27,744 KPH.
TINA: Two, one.
Second stage ejection.
[CLACKING.]
Earth escape velocity achieved.
Go for Trans-Mars injection in four minutes, 30 seconds.
TINA, deploy tethered SAT one.
TINA: Deploying tethered SAT one.
Tethered SAT one deployment nominal.
TINA, deploy tethered SAT two.
TINA: Deploying tethered SAT two.
[CLACKING.]
Tethered SAT two deployment completed.
Tethered centripetal gravity configuration is on standby.
BRANDT: TINA, deploy tethered SAT engines and commence rotational gravity.
TINA: Trans-Mars third stage injection burn shutoff in E-minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Tethered SAT burn complete.
Rotational pseudo-gravity is operational.
TINA: TMI burn complete.
Duration: 125 seconds.
All engines shut down.
LANGFORD: I'll say it.
Good flying.
Just as planned, every second.
TANAKA: Now that we've escaped Earth's atmosphere we will never see another star twinkle again.
Everyone who's ever lived, billions, the good, the bad, everyone's dead.
Everyone's fucking dead.
Except us.
LANGFORD: Still nothing? It's the same thing as when Donlin tried to call his brother.
The phone rings at my mom's house, but nobody ever answers.
Enhanced radiation weapon neutron burst would minimize infrastructure damage while optimally killing civilians.
That's why the phones don't work.
These calls you're making won't do anyone any good.
We need to accept what happened.
We need to move on.
TINA, no more softphone calls to Earth without my permission.
TINA: Communications to Earth are blocked.
Stopping Tanaka from phoning her family won't get her to fall back in line.
Those are my orders.
[WATER LAPPING.]
What the fuck? "War of the Worlds.
" Really? [CHUCKLES.]
It was-it was this radio play in the 1930s where martians invade New Jersey.
Yeah, you know, I really love that show, um Wild Cards.
You know, Marines - fighting aliens in space? - No, no, no, no, no.
This was, like, a hundred years ago, and the guy did it so it seemed like the martian invasion was actually happening.
Right? He used-he used, like, simulated news reports - and remote interviews.
- Can I get the broccoli? PIERSON: But this was the first time that anybody had ever done that.
Right? So, most people tune in late because they're listening to another show, they miss the introduction that it's a play, and those people lose their collective shit.
- Rei.
Rei.
- [CHUCKLES.]
Come on.
Thank you.
TINA, lights on.
That's right, after 30 days, we receive a software update for TINA from ground support, but there's no ground support.
Um, I'm the one that did the food supply manifest, and I can't remember.
Is it real tomatoes in this sauce, or is it the fake powder tomatoes? Powder.
It's real tomatoes without the water.
LANGFORD: Well, it tastes exactly like that thing that your mom brought to the Launch Control pre-launch potluck.
Hmm.
Yeah.
- Pan with the aluminum foil on it.
- Mm-hmm.
It does taste like - what Mrs.
Brandt made.
- [CHUCKLES.]
Right, but that's what I'm saying.
All right, in your reality, the tomatoes taste real.
In mine, no way.
Butyl acetate and citric acid.
It's the same way you can hear a song and think, "Oh, I really like this song," and I can hear the same song and think, "Oh, this is total garbage.
" Are you gonna do this the whole seven months? I didn't know I couldn't say how I feel.
[CHUCKLES.]
Sorry.
I wasn't trying to piss anyone off.
Excuse me.
[LINE RINGING.]
[PHONE RINGING.]
[RINGING CONTINUES.]
NATALIE [RECORDED.]
: Hello.
You have reached the home of Alexa Brandt and Natalie Miller.
Neither of us can come to the phone.
- Please leave a message at the tone.
- [BEEPS.]
AUTOMATED VOICE: The voice mailbox of the person you have called is full.
Please inform them to delete [DIAL TONE.]
[BEEPING.]
[BEEPING STOPS.]
[THUDDING NEARBY.]
[PANTING.]
[MOANING.]
I'm not trying to tell you who you can and cannot fuck, but we cannot do this.
This mission is not designed for it.
You know that.
Commander.
Commander, look I'm sorry.
And it is not like me We cannot afford any accidents.
We cannot take on any additional crew.
We cannot risk any children.
Ma'am, we've been very careful.
The commander's right.
The ship's supply is painstakingly estimated.
It's 3,200 calories a day for a five-person crew, so If Tanaka had to begin breastfeeding, her caloric intake would need to increase.
Now you care about my life? You didn't care about my life at launch or at TMI or now.
You all right? We're officially halfway there.
I know Michael wanted a divorce when you accepted this mission.
I asked you if you were okay.
Do you regret it? I had a choice between Mike and a round-trip ticket to Mars.
I got neither.
Tell me about your nightmare.
[CHUCKLES.]
I'm asleep.
Then dreaming.
Home.
At my parents' place in San Diego.
Sky is blue.
Ocean.
Natalie's there.
All my family's there.
And then I realize, in the dream, that I'm just dreaming, that I'm not really there.
I don't want to wake up.
But I do.
This is the nightmare.
You're not alone.
We're in this.
With you.
You're our commander.
We're a family, and we need our mum.
You're the mom.
I'm commander of nothing but a slow suicide.
TANAKA: This is Whipple Mars Mission Bradbury.
If anybody can hear me on this frequency, go to Distress Relay Alert.
Come in.
Radio signal's taking longer.
Four minutes to Earth, the closer we get to Mars.
This is Whipple Mars Mission Bradbury.
Anybody receiving this transmission, go to Distress Relay Alert.
Rei.
Commander gave the order.
No more transmissions to Earth.
What if someone answers? Hmm? Then what? I'd rather just have faith they're not all gone.
[DISTORTED VOICE OVER RADIO.]
[STATIC CRACKLING.]
MAN: Okay, on your mark, get set, go.
[RADIO STATIC.]
This is Whipple Mars Mission Bradbury.
Come in.
[MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY OVER RADIO.]
We'll both tell our secrets at the same time.
[ELECTRONIC FEEDBACK.]
Caller on this frequency, identify yourself.
HOST: The Munsters, brought to you by Joy, the dishwashing liquid that gets you so clean you can see yourself shine.
It's a TV show.
[CHUCKLES.]
Television signals used to be broadcast and have been bouncing around space for 70 years.
[CHUCKLES.]
So we just bounced into, uh whatever that was.
The only evidence there was advanced life on Earth is fake.
[SHOUTS.]
[PANTING.]
[WHISPERING.]
: Hey.
You awake? Yeah.
So, you know that idea we had? Will these work? - Yeah? - Yeah.
Yeah.
[SIGHS.]
Once you've exhausted your anger, you'll end up like Alexa.
We have to help each other.
We have no choice.
Yeah? Yeah.
Good night.
Night.
[EXHALES.]
[WATER RUNNING.]
[WATER STOPS RUNNING.]
Happy birthday to you - Happy birthday to you - [CLAPPING, CHUCKLING.]
Happy birthday Dear Flight Commander Alexa Brandt [LAUGHING.]
Happy birthday to you! [LAUGHING.]
: Oh, shit.
Fuck you.
Make a wish.
Blow out the candles.
[CHUCKLES.]
TINA: Fire is prohibited in this spacecraft.
- Relax.
- Are you ready? - Yeah.
- Let's do it.
Get up.
Um, so, I know that you're down.
And I know you know that I'm down.
So I'll help you if you help me.
We know you miss music, and we both miss California.
So [CHUCKLES.]
Happy birthday.
Yeah [LAUGHS.]
Yay.
Okay.
[CLEARS THROAT.]
[FLUTE PLAYING.]
[LAUGHING.]
- Okay.
- Yikes.
All the leaves are brown All the leaves Are brown And the sky is gray And the sky is gray - California dreamin' - California dreamin' On such a winter's - Day - Day YEAH [HIGH-PITCHED.]
: How - [LAUGHING.]
- We can't remember! - I don't know the words! - I'd be safe and warm I'd be safe and warm If I was in L.
A.
If I was in L.
A.
California dreamin' California dreamin' - On such a winter's day - [VOCALIZING.]
- [INHALES SHARPLY.]
- DONLIN: Stepped into a church! - [TANAKA WHOOPS.]
- BRANDT: Wow.
- [INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
- I passed along - [CRYING.]
- Hey.
Hey.
Hey.
- I'm sorry.
[SNIFFLES, SOBS.]
- It's okay.
I don't want to be the mum.
[CRYING.]
[CHUCKLES, SNIFFLES.]
I get it.
[CHUCKLES.]
I'm sorry.
[CHUCKLING.]
I ruined the party.
I'm sorry.
- [CHUCKLES.]
: No.
- [CHUCKLING.]
Hey, don't cry.
- [CHUCKLING, CRYING.]
- Hey, don't cry, Katie.
[CHUCKLING.]
[SNIFFLES.]
There's no need to cry.
[CHUCKLES.]
I have the best gift.
Uh [CHUCKLES.]
And I've been waiting for just this day to give it.
It's the best gift, but it's not just - for Commander Brandt.
- [CHUCKLES.]
It's for all of us.
I have been collecting data since the launch to test a hypothesis, which, fortunately, I have proven beyond any reasonable doubt.
None of this is real.
[CHUCKLES.]
Nothing that has happened to us has actually happened, nor will anything that's about to happen to us.
This.
[CHUCKLES.]
This.
I mean, allof this.
Uh [LAUGHS.]
We're fine.
We are in no danger.
None of this is real.
None of this is real.
- [ALARM BLARING.]
- TINA: Alert.
Alert.
Coronal mass ejection detected on the sun deck.
Solar flare estimated classification X8.
5.
An X8.
5 solar flare would wipe out TINA.
And that would wipe out us.
Suspend pseudo-gravity and position the heat shield 90 degrees toward the Sun for the duration of the flare.
Uh, I got news for you.
None of this is real.
It's just a test.
None of this is real.
[CHUCKLES.]
None of it.
All right.
It's just a test.
[GASPING.]
[ALARM BLARING.]
My hypothesis is such that the events on this ship are the result of an endurance simulation experiment meant to test crew morale and mental durability during a trip to Mars.
Unlike other such experiments, we were not informed in order to get a truer result.
Okay, to test my hypothesis, first, I made a calculation.
The probability of a North Korean missile launch just 20 minutes prior to the launch - of the Bradbury - Jerry The result was 735.
6 - billion, with a "B.
" - TINA: Exposure levels fatal.
BRANDT: Pierson! Langford! Tanaka! Secure yourselves - in the flight deck! - So the most likely explanation is that we never launched.
[CHUCKLES.]
While we were boarding the ship, we were redirected in the launch tower tunnel to a replica Bradbury housed in a facility on the Whipple Spaceport campus.
Jerry, we have to get to the cockpit.
Growing suspicious just after launch, I was prescient enough to conduct an experiment - just prior to TMI.
- Pierson, sit the fuck down, man! Jerry, I understand, and you are making complete sense.
But can you tell me from your flight seat? TINA: O2 fans disabled.
I held a tablet stylus in the air and released it.
See? Rei.
[CHUCKLES.]
If it floated, then we were in orbit - and not in a simulation.
- Jerry, you are endangering everyone.
You have to get to your flight seat.
Standing by for a 90-degree - roll maneuver! - BRANDT: Shit.
Pierson, get in your fucking chair now! Against my expectations, the stylus demonstrated the properties of weightlessness.
TINA: Solar flare impact in E-minus 273 seconds.
So, obviously, we are housed in a six degrees of freedom simulator.
We're capable of performing the six types of motion possible by a rigid body in three-dimensional space.
Surge.
Heave.
Sway.
Yaw.
Pitch.
Roll.
- Initiating heat shield.
- All of this against our wills or even our knowledge.
Now, I remain uncertain at which point they redirected us into the replica.
In the tunnel to the launch pad is most likely.
But with a simulation this sophisticated, who knows how long we've been unaware? Jerry, I understand.
And I believe you, okay? I believe you No, fuck you! [LAUGHS.]
You don't believe me! You want me to do what they want.
They made us think that our families are dead! They made us think that the Earth was destroyed.
They fucked with eight months of our lives, and I saw them watching us! TINA: Heat shield off-line.
I saw them on the monitor! They are watching us do their test! Shit.
They are watching us! They're watching us.
Impact in E-minus 188 seconds.
They are watching us.
No, you don't.
[CHUCKLES.]
ET liquid leaking.
No, you don't.
No, you don't.
Pierson's fucking lost it.
I'm right! I'm right! Unable to stop ET liquid leak.
- Sit down! - This toilet has a disposal device comprised of plastic collection bags, which, although tied up and stored for ejection into the vacuum of space, - consistently released - Jerry, please! A thin two-micron fecal water We need to position the heat shield toward the Sun! vapor from the trash bags, which, over a 12-week period of approximately five to ten fecal collections a day, thus five to ten interactions with a vacuum, should create a crystallizing ring of approximately ten microns around the internal Katherine, leave him! If is the latent heat of freezing, - Is is the latent heat of sublimation - TINA: MILA alignment incomplete.
and R is the radius of the droplets - or the plastic collection bags.
- TINA, calculate portside - orbital maneuver! - But there is nothing! There's nothing.
Heat shield repositioned.
There is nothing! I took samples for 105 days with my bare fucking hands, and there has never been a ring! All right, there has never been condensation! There has never been crystallization! Where Z equals zero, there is nothing.
TINA: All systems are go.
We're in a six degrees of freedom simulator [ELECTRONIC CRACKLING.]
where they control the video we see, they control the audio we hear, [CRYING.]
: and they are watching us.
They're watching us.
TINA: OMB burn duration will be three seconds.
Okay, I will prove it.
[LAUGHS.]
- Solar flare impact in 15 seconds - He's opened the air lock.
He's gonna get sucked out into the vacuum of space.
Not just into the vacuum of space, but into a fucking solar flare.
TINA: Solar flare impact in ten seconds.
Stand by for OMB burn in ten nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Six degrees of freedom.
Warning.
Air lock open.
Warning.
Air lock open.
[WHIRRING, HISSING.]
All the leaves are brown All the leaves are brown And the sky is gray And the sky is gray I've been for a walk I've been for a walk On a winter's day On a winter's day I'd be safe and warm I'd be safe and warm If I was in L.
A.
If I was in L.
A.
California dreamin' California dreamin' On such a winter's day [WHIRRING IN DISTANCE.]
[BEEPING.]
[BEEPS.]
BRANDT: Well was Pierson right? Is there no crystallization there around the gasket? There are crystals.
Jerry was wrong.
TANAKA: When my dad died of Alzheimer's, even though he didn't know who I was for a couple years before he died, I could still feel him even after he was gone.
And as a scientist, I know that his scent could linger in his clothes and in his fabric and in his furniture, but I swear, this was different.
I could feel him.
You know, I felt him.
I felt him here.
What is the scientific explanation for that? For that sensation [SNIFFLES.]
that feeling that they're just gonna walk in the room at any moment? Because maybe Pierson was right on the other side of these walls.
Yeah.
Jerry? Knock twice if you're over there.
[THUMPING.]
- TANAKA: Oh, shit! - [DONLIN LAUGHS.]
Okay, I thought he was gonna knock.
[LAUGHTER.]
Oh, yeah.
Oh, he's over there.
Oh, he's over there, all right.
He's watching us on the monitor, laughing his ass off.
[EXHALES SHARPLY.]
Suck it.
[OTHERS LAUGHING.]
Jerry's dead.
Just like so many explorers that left their home, Jerry lost that one thing that makes home safe that other far-off, unknown places just don't have.
Home keeps us aware of who we are.
[WHISPERS.]
: Jerry lost that.
His body will float around in space long after the last star has gone dark.
He's the loneliest man there will ever be.
So don't romanticize Jerry.
Don't make him a legend.
Don't any of you walk out that door expecting to be home.
'Cause we're not that, we're not him.
And we may not have a home.
But we have each other.
We're family.
And TINA.
[SNIFFLES.]
Family, yeah.
I got a mother named Mary - I got a mother named Mary - I got a brother named Barry I got a brother named Barry She was holding out on us.
And he's in the military And he's in the military Well, my grandma's name is Sherry My grandma's name is Sherry And she's in a cemetery This is my family My one crazy family [SONG FADES.]
TINA: Heat shield temperature: 1,500 Celsius.
1,300 Celsius.
Atmospheric entry complete.
Velocity: 17,300 kpm.
Go for parachute one and two deployment in three, two, one.
Altitude: 11 kilometers.
Parachute deployment nominal.
9.
2 kilometers.
Go for terminal descent.
Yes, Commander.
Go for landing gear deployment.
Landing gear deployment nominal.
Donlin, yaw ten degrees.
Copy that.
We are go for touchdown.
TANAKA: One kilometer.
- [THUMPING, RATTLING.]
- TANAKA: Velocity 60 meters p.
s.
500 meters.
We're kicking up dust here.
50 meters.
Ten.
Seven.
Five.
Two meters.
Contact light.
[RATTLING, WHIRRING.]
Ten degrees latitude, 110 degrees longitude.
Location: Tharsis quadrangle.
Okay.
Engines shut down.
You know I say we name this place Piersonburg.
[CHUCKLES.]
Congratulations, Commander Langford.
Nice driving, Casey.
Welcome to Mars.
[CHUCKLES, SNIFFLES.]
Did we land on Mars? Let's pop the hatch and find out.
TINA.
Open Command Module porthole.
Let's see if Jerry was right.
[LAUGHS.]
Jerry died for nothing.
We made it.
We made it through the Great Filter.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: The crew managed to make its way to its goal despite considerable internal discord and strife.
Sufficient data collected to commence analysis face.
[SHUDDERING.]
NARRATOR: It is said that seeing is believing.
The crew of the Bradbury Heavy mission to Mars might tell you otherwise.
They are about to find out that they couldn't trust their own eyes.
But who, or what, can we trust if not ourselves? The answer lies somewhere between takeoff and landing in The Twilight Zone.
[GARBLED RADIO TRANSMISSION.]
[HIGH-PITCHED, ELECTRONIC SQUEALING.]
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: Briefing number 1015060816.
The Bradbury Heavy mission.
Earth is a planet of many wonders.
A rare mix of biological diversity and abundant resources.
Humanity has always endeavored to explore and discover in the face of even the longest odds.
But the third planet from Sol finds itself on the brink of catastrophe.
Environmental changes and political unrest has left Earth's long-term prospects in a tenuous situation.
As a result, new horizons have grown increasingly appealing.
All systems are go for the first human flight to the planet Mars and the start of colonization of the solar system.
A large porthole is positioned over the center flight commander seat.
For launch and until Mars landing, it is sealed and covered to decrease radiation exposure.
[WHIRRING.]
The final air-to-ground communication checks are conducted by Flight Commander Alexa Brandt MLC.
Bradbury confirms porthole radiation shield closure nominal and secured for launch.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: and Pilot Casey Donlin.
TINA confirms all Near Earth Network tracking frequencies are locked.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: Flight engineer Rei Tanaka monitors on board fuel cells preparing to transfer to ship's internal power.
ICC.
Bradbury reporting six good APUs.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: Flight Surgeon Katherine Langford monitors the crew vitals Jerry, this monitor's reading that you shouldn't have had the cauliflower at the pre-launch dinner.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: while Mission Specialist Jerry Pierson awaits "all systems are go.
" Well, when the ship launches, I will, too, huh? TINA: Performing OMS tank repressurization.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: They are aided by the on board Transport Information Network Artificial Intelligence unit, known as "TINA.
" LAUNCH CONTROL: This is WTD conducting launch status check.
As all stations verify ready to resume count and "go" for launch, crew is advised to stand by.
BRANDT: Copy that.
Crew standing by.
TINA, mute communications and play "Family.
" [INTRO TO "FAMILY" BY THE INTERRUPTERS PLAYS.]
I got a mother named Mary CREW: I got a mother named Mary I got a brother named Barry - CREW: I got a brother named BARRY - LAUNCH CONTROL: BTC? - TEST CONTROLLER: BTC go.
- And my uncle's name - LAUNCH CONTROL: LPS? - LAUNCH PROCESSING: Go.
- He's in the military - LAUNCH CONTROL: Safety console? - SAFETY CONSOLE: Safety is go.
- LAUNCH CONTROL: Range weather? RANGE WEATHER: Range weather has no constraints for launch.
- And she's in the cemetery - LAUNCH CONTROL: SRO? SUPERINTENDENT RANGE OPERATION: SRO is no-go.
- Repeat, no-go! - My one [ALARM BLARING.]
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! LAUNCH CONTROL: SRO, repeat your status.
This is my family - TINA, music off.
- [MUSIC STOPS.]
SRO, explain your hold.
SUPERINTENDENT RANGE OPERATION: At 02100 This is confirmed? Where? What is the confirmation? Beyond the EAS Now! Tell me the fucking NASIC confirmation! Jesus Christ.
LLC.
SRO.
National Air and Space Intelligence Center has confirmed detection of the launch of five long-range Hwasong-14 ICBMs out of the North Korean peninsula.
Are you fucking kidding me? Los Angeles and Seattle have already been hit.
Holy shit.
They have determined Wells Spaceport is the target - of one missile's trajectory.
- Oh - Delivery time, launch to impact - What do we do? 30 minutes.
What do we do? 2100 was 20 minutes ago.
Scheduled launch in nine.
That's a one-minute window.
If we ditch now, we can pop the hatch and be down on the ground in about ten minutes.
No, we'd be vaporized by the 25th floor.
If we abort now, this ship suffers a direct hit.
- If we launch - DONLIN: If we launch, we at least get the ship out of harm's way.
If we don't even try, there's a possibility the human race ends in ten minutes.
LAUNCH CONTROL: Bradbury.
ICC.
NASIC has advised us to evacuate the facility.
SUPERINTENDENT RANGE OPERATION: Peterson Air Force Base is confirming an American counterstrike 45 Trident II missiles against North Korean and Russian targets.
[ELECTRONIC TRILLING.]
Abort or go? We have no choice.
We have to abort.
I did not train for four years and give up my only family to be nuked on a launch pad.
Fucking go! - Katherine? - Go.
We should treat this like every other cause for environmental evacuation or hurricane - or an earthquake.
- Jerry? It PIERSON: Fuck.
BRANDT: Jerry? Go.
You hesitated.
Because how can this possibly be happening? Four "go," one "no.
" So what is this, fucking majority rules? No, it's not majority rules.
I am commander of this mission.
My rules.
Continue launch control protocols.
ICC.
Bradbury.
Transfer all launch control function and power to internal Bradbury.
[RADIO STATIC.]
LAUNCH CONTROL: Bradburytransfer to internal power and launch control in three, two, - one.
- Brandt? - Start.
- DONLIN: I'm sorry, but we did not come all this way to bail out.
Go for auto sequence.
Good luck, Launch Control.
LAUNCH CONTROL: Bradbury, be advised.
From this point onward, we are evacuating the facility and will neither deliver or receive commands from the launch vehicle.
Godspeed, Bradbury.
Lower visors.
[WHIRRING.]
TINA: We are "go" for auto sequence start.
TINA, go for main engine starter.
Main engine ignition.
TINA: Launch tower has been cleared.
NARRATOR: Five voyagers setting sail to a mysterious red light 35 million miles across an empty sea, soaring within the greatest invention ever created by the human spirit to escape a catastrophe made possible by the most destructive regions of the human mind.
Individual madness or shared nightmare? The answer lies in their search for safe harbor here in The Twilight Zone.
[THE TWILIGHT ZONETHEME PLAYING.]
NARRATOR: You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.
It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition.
And it lies between the pit of one's fears and the summit of one's knowledge.
You are now traveling through a dimension of imagination.
You've just crossed over into The Twilight Zone.
TINA: Trans-Mars injection burn shutoff in E-minus ten minutes.
Approaching Earth escape velocity.
Mission Command, this is Bradbury Heavy.
Please respond.
Mission Command, this is Bradbury Heavy.
Respond.
Mission Command, this is Bradbury Heavy.
Respond.
[RADIO STATIC.]
MAN: This is the Emergency Alert System notification.
This is not a test.
A nuclear weapons attack was commenced against the United States.
TINA: TMI burn shutoff in E-minus ten minutes.
MAN: Nuclear bombs have been detonated above several cities across the country, including Washington, D.
C.
, New York City, Los Angeles Turn that off.
[RADIO TURNS OFF.]
TINA: TMI burn shutoff in E-minus nine minutes.
Yo, Pierson, any chance we can eject the porthole cover to get a visual on below? Is there anything left to see? Answer the question.
[SIGHS.]
Yes, if we're gonna remain in orbit.
No, if we're going on to Mars.
We're going to Mars in eight and a half minutes, so, no.
I'd rather have a radiation shield than a window.
The cameras give us visuals.
Casey, we wanted this mission since we were firsties with RedElev squadron.
Pierson, you beat out, what, 15,000 applicants? 15,380.
[CHUCKLES.]
Katie lost her marriage accepting this mission.
And just a month ago, we were all at Rei's father's funeral.
He was proud she was going.
We all signed up knowing it would be four years till we came back.
And we knew during that time that all of our loved ones would wonder the rest of their lives about us if something [VOICE BREAKING.]
: went wrong.
We just never envisioned we'd be the ones wondering about them.
TINA: TMI burn shutoff in E-minus six minutes.
Our options we orbit Earth the rest of our lives, burn up in the atmosphere when our fuel runs out.
Food will run out before the fuel.
We can try and reenter through the command module.
You know the CM is designed for a water landing.
No one'll be there to fish us out.
- We'll drown.
- BRANDT: So we go.
We travel the 218 days and land on Mars.
TANAKA: It's a suicide mission.
LANGFORD: She's right.
We'd die there.
Yeah, we'd die of cancer and prolonged radiation exposure before we could have the chance to refine enough fuel.
There's a test to the universe.
A scientific theory, made by an economist, known as "The Great Filter.
" The Great Filter posits that life in the universe is very, very rare.
It's hard to start, harder to continue.
The test of life is, "Can an advanced life-form make it to another planet before it destroys itself?" Most advanced life fails.
That's why we never encounter any other civilizations.
They destroy themselves before we can reach 'em.
Humans Earth we're on the brink.
This mission was designed because we had no choice but to find a way out.
TINA: TMI burn shutoff in E-minus five minutes.
We go, and we go together.
If we remain who we are, hold on to the group's original goal, to the world's goal for us, if we stick to what we believed would get us there over the last four years the stuff that makes us a family I know we'll be okay.
[SNIFFLES.]
And if anyone is alive at home, maybe word will get out that we made it.
They can look up and see Mars, and have hope for themselves.
TINA: Go for Stage 3 TMI burn shutoff in E-minus four minutes, 35 seconds.
Tanaka, you copy TINA? Rei, do you copy? If you won't do it, I will.
BRANDT: Rei, shut off TMI now.
TANAKA: Orbital altitude 1,124 kilometers.
TINA: Go for second stage ejection in E-minus ten seconds.
Speed 27,744 KPH.
TINA: Two, one.
Second stage ejection.
[CLACKING.]
Earth escape velocity achieved.
Go for Trans-Mars injection in four minutes, 30 seconds.
TINA, deploy tethered SAT one.
TINA: Deploying tethered SAT one.
Tethered SAT one deployment nominal.
TINA, deploy tethered SAT two.
TINA: Deploying tethered SAT two.
[CLACKING.]
Tethered SAT two deployment completed.
Tethered centripetal gravity configuration is on standby.
BRANDT: TINA, deploy tethered SAT engines and commence rotational gravity.
TINA: Trans-Mars third stage injection burn shutoff in E-minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Tethered SAT burn complete.
Rotational pseudo-gravity is operational.
TINA: TMI burn complete.
Duration: 125 seconds.
All engines shut down.
LANGFORD: I'll say it.
Good flying.
Just as planned, every second.
TANAKA: Now that we've escaped Earth's atmosphere we will never see another star twinkle again.
Everyone who's ever lived, billions, the good, the bad, everyone's dead.
Everyone's fucking dead.
Except us.
LANGFORD: Still nothing? It's the same thing as when Donlin tried to call his brother.
The phone rings at my mom's house, but nobody ever answers.
Enhanced radiation weapon neutron burst would minimize infrastructure damage while optimally killing civilians.
That's why the phones don't work.
These calls you're making won't do anyone any good.
We need to accept what happened.
We need to move on.
TINA, no more softphone calls to Earth without my permission.
TINA: Communications to Earth are blocked.
Stopping Tanaka from phoning her family won't get her to fall back in line.
Those are my orders.
[WATER LAPPING.]
What the fuck? "War of the Worlds.
" Really? [CHUCKLES.]
It was-it was this radio play in the 1930s where martians invade New Jersey.
Yeah, you know, I really love that show, um Wild Cards.
You know, Marines - fighting aliens in space? - No, no, no, no, no.
This was, like, a hundred years ago, and the guy did it so it seemed like the martian invasion was actually happening.
Right? He used-he used, like, simulated news reports - and remote interviews.
- Can I get the broccoli? PIERSON: But this was the first time that anybody had ever done that.
Right? So, most people tune in late because they're listening to another show, they miss the introduction that it's a play, and those people lose their collective shit.
- Rei.
Rei.
- [CHUCKLES.]
Come on.
Thank you.
TINA, lights on.
That's right, after 30 days, we receive a software update for TINA from ground support, but there's no ground support.
Um, I'm the one that did the food supply manifest, and I can't remember.
Is it real tomatoes in this sauce, or is it the fake powder tomatoes? Powder.
It's real tomatoes without the water.
LANGFORD: Well, it tastes exactly like that thing that your mom brought to the Launch Control pre-launch potluck.
Hmm.
Yeah.
- Pan with the aluminum foil on it.
- Mm-hmm.
It does taste like - what Mrs.
Brandt made.
- [CHUCKLES.]
Right, but that's what I'm saying.
All right, in your reality, the tomatoes taste real.
In mine, no way.
Butyl acetate and citric acid.
It's the same way you can hear a song and think, "Oh, I really like this song," and I can hear the same song and think, "Oh, this is total garbage.
" Are you gonna do this the whole seven months? I didn't know I couldn't say how I feel.
[CHUCKLES.]
Sorry.
I wasn't trying to piss anyone off.
Excuse me.
[LINE RINGING.]
[PHONE RINGING.]
[RINGING CONTINUES.]
NATALIE [RECORDED.]
: Hello.
You have reached the home of Alexa Brandt and Natalie Miller.
Neither of us can come to the phone.
- Please leave a message at the tone.
- [BEEPS.]
AUTOMATED VOICE: The voice mailbox of the person you have called is full.
Please inform them to delete [DIAL TONE.]
[BEEPING.]
[BEEPING STOPS.]
[THUDDING NEARBY.]
[PANTING.]
[MOANING.]
I'm not trying to tell you who you can and cannot fuck, but we cannot do this.
This mission is not designed for it.
You know that.
Commander.
Commander, look I'm sorry.
And it is not like me We cannot afford any accidents.
We cannot take on any additional crew.
We cannot risk any children.
Ma'am, we've been very careful.
The commander's right.
The ship's supply is painstakingly estimated.
It's 3,200 calories a day for a five-person crew, so If Tanaka had to begin breastfeeding, her caloric intake would need to increase.
Now you care about my life? You didn't care about my life at launch or at TMI or now.
You all right? We're officially halfway there.
I know Michael wanted a divorce when you accepted this mission.
I asked you if you were okay.
Do you regret it? I had a choice between Mike and a round-trip ticket to Mars.
I got neither.
Tell me about your nightmare.
[CHUCKLES.]
I'm asleep.
Then dreaming.
Home.
At my parents' place in San Diego.
Sky is blue.
Ocean.
Natalie's there.
All my family's there.
And then I realize, in the dream, that I'm just dreaming, that I'm not really there.
I don't want to wake up.
But I do.
This is the nightmare.
You're not alone.
We're in this.
With you.
You're our commander.
We're a family, and we need our mum.
You're the mom.
I'm commander of nothing but a slow suicide.
TANAKA: This is Whipple Mars Mission Bradbury.
If anybody can hear me on this frequency, go to Distress Relay Alert.
Come in.
Radio signal's taking longer.
Four minutes to Earth, the closer we get to Mars.
This is Whipple Mars Mission Bradbury.
Anybody receiving this transmission, go to Distress Relay Alert.
Rei.
Commander gave the order.
No more transmissions to Earth.
What if someone answers? Hmm? Then what? I'd rather just have faith they're not all gone.
[DISTORTED VOICE OVER RADIO.]
[STATIC CRACKLING.]
MAN: Okay, on your mark, get set, go.
[RADIO STATIC.]
This is Whipple Mars Mission Bradbury.
Come in.
[MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY OVER RADIO.]
We'll both tell our secrets at the same time.
[ELECTRONIC FEEDBACK.]
Caller on this frequency, identify yourself.
HOST: The Munsters, brought to you by Joy, the dishwashing liquid that gets you so clean you can see yourself shine.
It's a TV show.
[CHUCKLES.]
Television signals used to be broadcast and have been bouncing around space for 70 years.
[CHUCKLES.]
So we just bounced into, uh whatever that was.
The only evidence there was advanced life on Earth is fake.
[SHOUTS.]
[PANTING.]
[WHISPERING.]
: Hey.
You awake? Yeah.
So, you know that idea we had? Will these work? - Yeah? - Yeah.
Yeah.
[SIGHS.]
Once you've exhausted your anger, you'll end up like Alexa.
We have to help each other.
We have no choice.
Yeah? Yeah.
Good night.
Night.
[EXHALES.]
[WATER RUNNING.]
[WATER STOPS RUNNING.]
Happy birthday to you - Happy birthday to you - [CLAPPING, CHUCKLING.]
Happy birthday Dear Flight Commander Alexa Brandt [LAUGHING.]
Happy birthday to you! [LAUGHING.]
: Oh, shit.
Fuck you.
Make a wish.
Blow out the candles.
[CHUCKLES.]
TINA: Fire is prohibited in this spacecraft.
- Relax.
- Are you ready? - Yeah.
- Let's do it.
Get up.
Um, so, I know that you're down.
And I know you know that I'm down.
So I'll help you if you help me.
We know you miss music, and we both miss California.
So [CHUCKLES.]
Happy birthday.
Yeah [LAUGHS.]
Yay.
Okay.
[CLEARS THROAT.]
[FLUTE PLAYING.]
[LAUGHING.]
- Okay.
- Yikes.
All the leaves are brown All the leaves Are brown And the sky is gray And the sky is gray - California dreamin' - California dreamin' On such a winter's - Day - Day YEAH [HIGH-PITCHED.]
: How - [LAUGHING.]
- We can't remember! - I don't know the words! - I'd be safe and warm I'd be safe and warm If I was in L.
A.
If I was in L.
A.
California dreamin' California dreamin' - On such a winter's day - [VOCALIZING.]
- [INHALES SHARPLY.]
- DONLIN: Stepped into a church! - [TANAKA WHOOPS.]
- BRANDT: Wow.
- [INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
- I passed along - [CRYING.]
- Hey.
Hey.
Hey.
- I'm sorry.
[SNIFFLES, SOBS.]
- It's okay.
I don't want to be the mum.
[CRYING.]
[CHUCKLES, SNIFFLES.]
I get it.
[CHUCKLES.]
I'm sorry.
[CHUCKLING.]
I ruined the party.
I'm sorry.
- [CHUCKLES.]
: No.
- [CHUCKLING.]
Hey, don't cry.
- [CHUCKLING, CRYING.]
- Hey, don't cry, Katie.
[CHUCKLING.]
[SNIFFLES.]
There's no need to cry.
[CHUCKLES.]
I have the best gift.
Uh [CHUCKLES.]
And I've been waiting for just this day to give it.
It's the best gift, but it's not just - for Commander Brandt.
- [CHUCKLES.]
It's for all of us.
I have been collecting data since the launch to test a hypothesis, which, fortunately, I have proven beyond any reasonable doubt.
None of this is real.
[CHUCKLES.]
Nothing that has happened to us has actually happened, nor will anything that's about to happen to us.
This.
[CHUCKLES.]
This.
I mean, allof this.
Uh [LAUGHS.]
We're fine.
We are in no danger.
None of this is real.
None of this is real.
- [ALARM BLARING.]
- TINA: Alert.
Alert.
Coronal mass ejection detected on the sun deck.
Solar flare estimated classification X8.
5.
An X8.
5 solar flare would wipe out TINA.
And that would wipe out us.
Suspend pseudo-gravity and position the heat shield 90 degrees toward the Sun for the duration of the flare.
Uh, I got news for you.
None of this is real.
It's just a test.
None of this is real.
[CHUCKLES.]
None of it.
All right.
It's just a test.
[GASPING.]
[ALARM BLARING.]
My hypothesis is such that the events on this ship are the result of an endurance simulation experiment meant to test crew morale and mental durability during a trip to Mars.
Unlike other such experiments, we were not informed in order to get a truer result.
Okay, to test my hypothesis, first, I made a calculation.
The probability of a North Korean missile launch just 20 minutes prior to the launch - of the Bradbury - Jerry The result was 735.
6 - billion, with a "B.
" - TINA: Exposure levels fatal.
BRANDT: Pierson! Langford! Tanaka! Secure yourselves - in the flight deck! - So the most likely explanation is that we never launched.
[CHUCKLES.]
While we were boarding the ship, we were redirected in the launch tower tunnel to a replica Bradbury housed in a facility on the Whipple Spaceport campus.
Jerry, we have to get to the cockpit.
Growing suspicious just after launch, I was prescient enough to conduct an experiment - just prior to TMI.
- Pierson, sit the fuck down, man! Jerry, I understand, and you are making complete sense.
But can you tell me from your flight seat? TINA: O2 fans disabled.
I held a tablet stylus in the air and released it.
See? Rei.
[CHUCKLES.]
If it floated, then we were in orbit - and not in a simulation.
- Jerry, you are endangering everyone.
You have to get to your flight seat.
Standing by for a 90-degree - roll maneuver! - BRANDT: Shit.
Pierson, get in your fucking chair now! Against my expectations, the stylus demonstrated the properties of weightlessness.
TINA: Solar flare impact in E-minus 273 seconds.
So, obviously, we are housed in a six degrees of freedom simulator.
We're capable of performing the six types of motion possible by a rigid body in three-dimensional space.
Surge.
Heave.
Sway.
Yaw.
Pitch.
Roll.
- Initiating heat shield.
- All of this against our wills or even our knowledge.
Now, I remain uncertain at which point they redirected us into the replica.
In the tunnel to the launch pad is most likely.
But with a simulation this sophisticated, who knows how long we've been unaware? Jerry, I understand.
And I believe you, okay? I believe you No, fuck you! [LAUGHS.]
You don't believe me! You want me to do what they want.
They made us think that our families are dead! They made us think that the Earth was destroyed.
They fucked with eight months of our lives, and I saw them watching us! TINA: Heat shield off-line.
I saw them on the monitor! They are watching us do their test! Shit.
They are watching us! They're watching us.
Impact in E-minus 188 seconds.
They are watching us.
No, you don't.
[CHUCKLES.]
ET liquid leaking.
No, you don't.
No, you don't.
Pierson's fucking lost it.
I'm right! I'm right! Unable to stop ET liquid leak.
- Sit down! - This toilet has a disposal device comprised of plastic collection bags, which, although tied up and stored for ejection into the vacuum of space, - consistently released - Jerry, please! A thin two-micron fecal water We need to position the heat shield toward the Sun! vapor from the trash bags, which, over a 12-week period of approximately five to ten fecal collections a day, thus five to ten interactions with a vacuum, should create a crystallizing ring of approximately ten microns around the internal Katherine, leave him! If is the latent heat of freezing, - Is is the latent heat of sublimation - TINA: MILA alignment incomplete.
and R is the radius of the droplets - or the plastic collection bags.
- TINA, calculate portside - orbital maneuver! - But there is nothing! There's nothing.
Heat shield repositioned.
There is nothing! I took samples for 105 days with my bare fucking hands, and there has never been a ring! All right, there has never been condensation! There has never been crystallization! Where Z equals zero, there is nothing.
TINA: All systems are go.
We're in a six degrees of freedom simulator [ELECTRONIC CRACKLING.]
where they control the video we see, they control the audio we hear, [CRYING.]
: and they are watching us.
They're watching us.
TINA: OMB burn duration will be three seconds.
Okay, I will prove it.
[LAUGHS.]
- Solar flare impact in 15 seconds - He's opened the air lock.
He's gonna get sucked out into the vacuum of space.
Not just into the vacuum of space, but into a fucking solar flare.
TINA: Solar flare impact in ten seconds.
Stand by for OMB burn in ten nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Six degrees of freedom.
Warning.
Air lock open.
Warning.
Air lock open.
[WHIRRING, HISSING.]
All the leaves are brown All the leaves are brown And the sky is gray And the sky is gray I've been for a walk I've been for a walk On a winter's day On a winter's day I'd be safe and warm I'd be safe and warm If I was in L.
A.
If I was in L.
A.
California dreamin' California dreamin' On such a winter's day [WHIRRING IN DISTANCE.]
[BEEPING.]
[BEEPS.]
BRANDT: Well was Pierson right? Is there no crystallization there around the gasket? There are crystals.
Jerry was wrong.
TANAKA: When my dad died of Alzheimer's, even though he didn't know who I was for a couple years before he died, I could still feel him even after he was gone.
And as a scientist, I know that his scent could linger in his clothes and in his fabric and in his furniture, but I swear, this was different.
I could feel him.
You know, I felt him.
I felt him here.
What is the scientific explanation for that? For that sensation [SNIFFLES.]
that feeling that they're just gonna walk in the room at any moment? Because maybe Pierson was right on the other side of these walls.
Yeah.
Jerry? Knock twice if you're over there.
[THUMPING.]
- TANAKA: Oh, shit! - [DONLIN LAUGHS.]
Okay, I thought he was gonna knock.
[LAUGHTER.]
Oh, yeah.
Oh, he's over there.
Oh, he's over there, all right.
He's watching us on the monitor, laughing his ass off.
[EXHALES SHARPLY.]
Suck it.
[OTHERS LAUGHING.]
Jerry's dead.
Just like so many explorers that left their home, Jerry lost that one thing that makes home safe that other far-off, unknown places just don't have.
Home keeps us aware of who we are.
[WHISPERS.]
: Jerry lost that.
His body will float around in space long after the last star has gone dark.
He's the loneliest man there will ever be.
So don't romanticize Jerry.
Don't make him a legend.
Don't any of you walk out that door expecting to be home.
'Cause we're not that, we're not him.
And we may not have a home.
But we have each other.
We're family.
And TINA.
[SNIFFLES.]
Family, yeah.
I got a mother named Mary - I got a mother named Mary - I got a brother named Barry I got a brother named Barry She was holding out on us.
And he's in the military And he's in the military Well, my grandma's name is Sherry My grandma's name is Sherry And she's in a cemetery This is my family My one crazy family [SONG FADES.]
TINA: Heat shield temperature: 1,500 Celsius.
1,300 Celsius.
Atmospheric entry complete.
Velocity: 17,300 kpm.
Go for parachute one and two deployment in three, two, one.
Altitude: 11 kilometers.
Parachute deployment nominal.
9.
2 kilometers.
Go for terminal descent.
Yes, Commander.
Go for landing gear deployment.
Landing gear deployment nominal.
Donlin, yaw ten degrees.
Copy that.
We are go for touchdown.
TANAKA: One kilometer.
- [THUMPING, RATTLING.]
- TANAKA: Velocity 60 meters p.
s.
500 meters.
We're kicking up dust here.
50 meters.
Ten.
Seven.
Five.
Two meters.
Contact light.
[RATTLING, WHIRRING.]
Ten degrees latitude, 110 degrees longitude.
Location: Tharsis quadrangle.
Okay.
Engines shut down.
You know I say we name this place Piersonburg.
[CHUCKLES.]
Congratulations, Commander Langford.
Nice driving, Casey.
Welcome to Mars.
[CHUCKLES, SNIFFLES.]
Did we land on Mars? Let's pop the hatch and find out.
TINA.
Open Command Module porthole.
Let's see if Jerry was right.
[LAUGHS.]
Jerry died for nothing.
We made it.
We made it through the Great Filter.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: The crew managed to make its way to its goal despite considerable internal discord and strife.
Sufficient data collected to commence analysis face.
[SHUDDERING.]
NARRATOR: It is said that seeing is believing.
The crew of the Bradbury Heavy mission to Mars might tell you otherwise.
They are about to find out that they couldn't trust their own eyes.
But who, or what, can we trust if not ourselves? The answer lies somewhere between takeoff and landing in The Twilight Zone.