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CONTENT WARNING: Discussions of sickness and hospitalization, strong elements of character betrayal and manipulation, paranoia, dread, and familial separation

01202020: The Searchers are faced with a painful choice.

Starring Kris Allison as Daniella Caldwell, Sam Taylor as Ren Park, Airen Neeley Chaconas as Anna Sheridan, Jesse Steele as Bill Tyler, Trevor Van Winkle as Sam Bailey, Chris Martin as Robert Quincy, James Cain as Peter Slate, Amitola Lomas as Maria Sol, and Virginia Spotts as Kate Sheridan, with original music by Jesse Haugen. Written and produced by Virginia Spotts, with dialogue editing and sound design by Trevor Van Winkle. This episode was made possible by our supporters at Patreon.com/homesteadcorner, ko-fi.com/homesteadcorner, and our backers on Seed&Spark.

For more information, additional content, and episode transcript, visit thesheridantapes.com

Script

Transcript

CONTENT WARNING: Discussions of sickness and hospitalization, strong elements of character betrayal and manipulation, paranoia, dread, and familial separation

[Cassette noises]

[Static fades away; Caldwell has started a small recorder at her desk]

[Distant footsteps]

[A clock gently ticks on the wall]

Dana Caldwell

Doctor Park — a moment?

[Ren stops and falters]

Ren Park

Of course.

[They enter cautiously and close the door]

Dana Caldwell

Have a seat.

[Footsteps and shuffling as Ren sits down]

Dana Caldwell

How did the team take your little… pep talk?

Ren Park

They, uh… I haven’t been able… 

Dana Caldwell

Doctor Park, do you have control of the situation, or not?

[Ren sits forward slightly]

Ren Park

I haven’t sat them down yet. I — just can’t bring myself to do it.

Dana Caldwell

Ren… 

[Brief pause]

Have I ever told you why I first joined ISPHA?

Ren Park

No, you haven’t.

[Caldwell sits back]

Dana Caldwell

I didn’t have an… easy childhood. My parents worked themselves to the bone to provide for my siblings and I, to make sure we had the best education and upbringing possible in a world that didn’t want to give it to us. They came home late and exhausted every night for 18 years and long after I left for university. But after so many years of striving… they finally found success.

But that success was more fragile than we thought. My parents both began to experience… health problems. Small things at first. Normal things. Until they weren’t. I didn’t know it, but they’d barely put anything away for their retirement when raising us, saving every cent for our tuitions. And when they both began to experience cognitive difficulties… well. They didn’t tell me how bad it was. I had to figure that out for myself when they were hospitalized for the third time. By that point they’d both lost their jobs, ending up beneath a mountain of debt. I’d already taken a management position at ISPHA — I could pay for their treatment, just barely. I was happy to do so. They’d given me everything — given everything, for me. But they shouldn’t have needed to.

The world they grew up in — the one I inherited — requires nothing less than perfection from each and every human being just to survive. No matter how sick they are, no matter their circumstance, no matter how much the deck is stacked against them. If you stop performing — if you fall short — you die. The society we’ve built no longer works for us, if it ever did.

I would do anything — anything — to ensure a better future for humankind. Any experiment is worth trying. Any personal sacrifice. Anything that eliminates resistance to a future that could reduce, even eliminate suffering, want, and injustice… is worth it.

And then there’s you.

Ren Park

Dana, I didn’t—

Dana Caldwell

No more excuses, Ren. We’ve had this conversation before. That team out there — the one that seems more trouble than it’s worth most of the time — is fracturing. If you don’t get a handle on them, I’ll be forced to step in. And I don’t have time for that. I need you to handle it.

[Caldwell settles in their chair]

And once you do, please inform me of your plan to ensure that they don’t take any more secret trips — inside or outside of this world — without our knowledge. Am I understood?

Ren Park

What exactly do you mean by… handling it?

Dana Caldwell

Doctor Park, if you value your position in this institute, I suggest you listen well.

I brought you here because I saw greatness in you. I don’t want to lose a promising scientist, and it would be a shame if your talents went to waste. It can be so hard to find work after leaving such… a prestigious organization. So think long and hard about all the work you’ve already done. The time you’ve spent building this future with us. For the sake of that future… for my parents and your parents [cassette noises] and the generations still to come — handle it.

[Click]

[Main Theme]

Recording Begins

[Tapping at keyboard; Beep]

[Grainy CCTV footage feedback and static fades away]

[The atrium; a quiet evening]

[An Anna tape is playing through a small recorder]

Anna Sheridan (recorded)

Jennifer swore she didn’t remember that night. She’d been five years old, wandering at the edges of a traveling carnival, hiding from… someone. Someone she knew, deep down, would keep coming for her. She’d stay in the shadows, there. At least, until the shadows [footsteps] began to laugh… 

Bill Tyler

God, that’s creepy. 

[Click; Sam stops the tape]

Sam Bailey

Honestly, I’m not sure if it’s just… one of her stories, or something that actually happened. She doesn’t say.

Robert Quincy

Why are you listening to it out here?

Sam Bailey

Because I thought I’d be alone out here.

[Slight redirection]

And because the lights in my room keep malfunctioning. I really didn’t feel like listening to this one in the dark.

Bill Tyler

Well… That’s probably a good idea.

[Sam scoffs]

Sam Bailey

You’re telling me. They’re sending someone to look at the wiring.

Bill Tyler

Well, um… best of luck!

[Bill and Rob begin walking away; Rob’s voice fading out]

Robert Quincy

Bill, can you just tell me if they gave you a good reason for the blood draw? They’re already taking measurements every day, why do they need to keep taking blood…?

[Click; Sam starts the tape again]

Anna Sheridan (recorded) 

…until the shadows began to laugh.

When her mom found her hours later, she was clutching a long-dried ice cream stick, her shoes were missing, and her feet were blistered and raw. She didn’t talk for months after that… not about what happened or what she saw, or even how she felt. She didn’t speak at all, and looked terrified when adults asked even the most innocuous questions. She had to be moved into a new program at her school for a while, until the fear wore off and she began speaking again.

But even after that, Jennifer swore she didn’t remember that night. There was nothing in her memories that gave her comfort, nor any rational explanation of her newfound fear of ice cream trucks. As she grew up, that fear clung to her. It didn’t matter where she was — a random city block, her downtown office, even in her own neighborhood, her own home. The familiar jingles would start as the truck rolled slowly past her, and she’d find herself growing restless. Once, she crushed a pen in her hand during a meeting and had to hide the ink running through her fingers. Other times she would be out on a walk when she heard it, her feet cramping so hard at the sound that the pain would shoot up through her lower back. When she tried to bring the subject up to her therapist, they suggested exposure therapy. “Just go buy yourself and your kids some ice cream, maybe then it won’t be so bad,” they said. Jennifer stopped going to therapy after that.

If she’d only been more curious. If only her mother had been able to show her how to work through her fears. 

Peter Slate

Hey Sam? Have you seen Kate?

Anna Sheridan (recorded)

If only that therapist… 

[Click; Sam stops the recording]

Sam Bailey

Uh… I think she’s still in the medlab… they just wrapped up with Bill’s tests.

Peter Slate

Well, let her know if you see her. Andrew refuses to go to bed without a Kate cuddle.

Sam Bailey

I’ll try.

[Sam shifts in his chair; brief pause]

Peter Slate

This isn’t going to let up, is it? It’s only going to get more dangerous.

Sam Bailey

I… uh…

[Sam swallows]

I’m sorry, I need to get back to… 

Peter Slate

Of course.

[Peter retreats down the hall; Sam lets out a tense breath]

[Click; the tape begins playing again]

Anna Sheridan (recorded) 

…If only that therapist hadn’t been such an asshole.

Instead, when Jennifer started hearing the music at night long after any real ice cream truck should have been in the garage, she upped her dosage of melatonin, bought a state-of-the-art white noise machine, and took up yoga to try and calm her mind. She figured she could handle it on her own. At least until work slowed down a little. At least until the kids left for college in a year or two. [distant footsteps] It would have to do. This couldn’t…

[Maria appears from around the corner]

Maria Sol

Hey Sam, are you in—?

[Maria cuts off with a loud “OOF” as Kate round the corner and runs into her; Kate reacts as well]

[Click; Sam stops the tape]

Sam Bailey

Oh god… you two alright?

[Kate sighs]

Maria Sol

Just peachy.

Kate Sheridan

Sam? What are you doing back there?

Sam Bailey

The lights are out in… nevermind.

Oh, Peter was looking for you a while ago, something about—

[Peter heard the commotion; he speaks up from a doorway, tense]

Peter Slate

Kate… Andrew needs you.

Kate Sheridan

Oh… right. Sure.

[Kate follows Peter to Andrew’s room]

[Maria approaches Sam]

Maria Sol

What was that about?

Sam Bailey

I… don’t really know. Family stuff. I was listening to one of Anna’s tapes, if you don’t mind?

Maria Sol

Go for it.

[Maria scoots her chair in]

[Click; the tape continues]

Anna Sheridan (recorded) 

…this couldn’t last forever.

For a while, it seemed to help. But no amount of yoga could silence the panic she felt when the music started following her on her commute. When she began seeing the cloying neon ice creams of her childhood show up in the break room mini-fridge. When it became impossible to avoid the wandering clowns she saw on every corner of the city. 

When did clowns become part of it? When had there ever been so many clowns here, anyway? There had always been a few: street performers and mimes in the parks and birthday clowns waiting for taxis. But these looked so worn down. So tattered. They were everywhere: sitting in coffee shops with clumsy makeup smeared across their faces, filling the back of the bus on her way home from work, mowing the lawn across the street. Where had the Hendersons gone? Wasn’t that their house? She called her doctor and got something to help with the anxiety, and tried to carry on.

Until one night… she couldn’t. She was restless. The melatonin and the oxy were no longer helping her fall asleep. She felt so floaty, so disconnected, and yet painfully aware of every single sound. Around 2am, she gave up and decided a walk might do her some good.

[Down the hall, a door opens and closes]

[Kate’s muffled voice is heard]

Kate Sheridan

What’s wrong? 

Anna Sheridan (recorded)

The moon was full and bright, the streetlights barely needed to illuminate the asphalt: a perfect night for a walk. The cold night air hit her lungs, and it felt like early fall — like Halloween… like childhood. And then, in the distance, she heard it. But it was different this time: low, distorted, the melody warped and dulled like it was playing through water. There was an ice cream truck behind her, slowly idling up the road.

Its dull, yellowed headlights flashed up and down as it rolled over small divots and bumps left by age and neglect. A smell of acrid diesel fumes rolled down the sidewalk from a shuddering exhaust pipe, almost making her cough. The sound… the sound was nothing short of nightmarish. For no apparent reason, the idea flashed into Jennifer’s head that maybe, if she took her shoes off, the sound wouldn’t follow her — if she made less noise herself, she could go unseen. So she discarded her shoes. The cold pavement bit at her soles, but the truck crept closer. Why doesn’t it go around? she wondered. 

Then, in an awful flash, the truck turned on its high-beams. Her silhouette stretched before her like a marionette, swaying unsteadily in the sudden wash of terrible brightness. Without thinking, she crossed into an alley, out of a cul-de-sac and into a wide, open field nearby. The pavement gave way to cool, damp earth… and yet the music and the headlights still crept along behind her. She could hear the tires now, rolling softly and steadily over the soft dirt and grass. There was no way a truck that old and heavy could have made it back here… but she was still too terrified to turn around. Instead, she ran. It couldn’t follow her forever, and she’d run that long if she had to.

Jennifer’s feet were raw — frozen — bleeding. Her hands felt sticky, like she’d sunk them into a cotton candy machine. And finally, when she felt like her legs were about to give out, she found herself on the edge of a small wooden pier, looking out at the inky waves of the ocean at nighttime. The lights still blazed behind her, cutting through the dark to reveal the foam and the muck that crested the gentle waves. And then… all the noise stopped. The low, warped melody ceased, fading into the air. The engine and lights cut out. But Jennifer knew she was not alone, as surely as she knew it was finally time to turn around.

Slowly, numbly, she took small steps to move her stiff and aching body. [hurried footsteps] Only to see… 

[Ren appears]

Ren Park

Sam, I need you to gather everyone.

[Click; Sam stops the tape; he sighs]

Sam Bailey

You need me to what?

Ren Park

We need to talk. Either you get them or I call their rooms.

Maria Sol

Ren, it’s late. Can’t this wait until tomorrow?

Ren Park

Do as I say! 

Sam, get everyone up. Now. I don’t care if they’re sleeping.

[Sam stands unsteadily and walks to the hallway]

Maria Sol (voice fading as Sam retreats)

Ren, what the hell?

[Sam approaches Kate and Peter’s door; a muffled conversation carrying through it]

Kate Sheridan (muffled)

I literally have no idea how to make this safer than it is.

Peter Slate (muffled)

I know that, it’s just been a lot! And then you all disappeared for a few days and it seemed like you might have been captured or lost or— 

[Sam knocks]

[The electronic lock whirs as Kate opens the door]

Sam Bailey

I’m so sorry Kate, but uh… Ren needs all of us for a minute. It… sounds bad.

Kate Sheridan

Sure. I’ll be right there.

Peter Slate

I’m coming too.

Sam Bailey

…great.

[Sam begins moving to Bill & Rob’s door]

Kate Sheridan

I hear you. We’ll talk about this later.

[Kate and Peter’s distant footsteps]

[Sam knocks; the electronic lock whirs as Rob opens the door]

Robert Quincy (quiet)

…need something?

Sam Bailey

Ren needs Bill for something. He, uh… wants to talk to us.

Robert Quincy (quiet)

No.

[Brief pause]

Sam Bailey

…it didn’t really sound like it was optional.

Robert Quincy (quiet)

Too bad. Bill’s asleep. If they wanted to talk to him, they had all day to do it.

Sam Bailey

Right. Right. Of course — sorry to bother you.

[Rob gently closes the door and Sam awkwardly walks back to the atrium]

Ren Park

Where’s Bill?

Sam Bailey

He’s already asleep Ren — you had him in the lab too long already, he’s worn out… 

[Ren ignores him; barges down the hall and pounds on Bill & Rob’s door]

[Rob opens it immediately]

Robert Quincy (distant)

What the hell is wrong with you people!?

[Ren ignores him, enters the room, and grabs Bill’s arm]

Robert Quincy (distant)

Ren, what the HELL are you doing?!

Ren Park (distant)

Bill is needed—

[The distant sound of Rob punching Ren]

[The people in the atrium wince audibly]

Ren Park (distant)

What’d you do that for?

Robert Quincy (distant)

Touch him again, and I will put you on the floor.

[Brief pause]

Ren Park (distant)

Bill, would you join me and the others in the atrium?

Bill Tyler (distant)

Uh… Yeah. Sure.

Robert Quincy (distant)

Not alone you’re not.

[Ren leads them back to the atrium; heavy footsteps]

[Chair legs scoot as they sit down]

[Ren pauses, then turns to face the team]

Ren Park

Any of you ever seen 12 million dollars? What it pays for? Kate? No — I didn’t think so. Well… actually you have. Look around you. That’s what this whole operation has cost ISPHA since you arrived. All the expeditions, the stipends, the research and medical support — not to mention the projects we’re actually contracted to do here. Rocketry, AI, bioengineering, a million other things I’m either not allowed to talk about or don’t know about because this place — is — fucking — HUGE!

[He sighs; at the end of his rope]

I’ve tried… so very hard… to stay friendly with all of you. I wanted to make this transition as easy as I could, but… it’s just not cutting it anymore. I can’t be your friend and your supervisor at the same time, not effectively. And you’re endangering the lives and safeties of everyone here — not to mention the work we’re doing to try and save the world — by not being 100% on board.

Like it or not, as long as you’re here, you live at the beck and call of ISPHA, just like I do. This isn’t about you anymore. It never was. This is bigger than your lives, than any of our lives. I only get to see my partner twice a year if I’m lucky, and half of you have your families living here with you! We have made it so very easy for you to do your jobs, and some of you still just don’t get it! The more you keep secrets, the more you sneak around and try to do your own thing, the more you refuse to take initiative and treat the end of the world like the literal existential threat it is—

Maria Sol

Ren. Shut up.

Ren Park

I… I’m sorry Maria, but it’s the truth.

Maria Sol

Maybe it is. But would you be saying anything if Caldwell didn’t put you up to this?

Ren Park

Doctor Caldwell has nothing to do with this.

[Maria scoffs]

Maria Sol

Yeah. And Anna would be really proud of the person you’re turning into.

Ren Park

[Holding back angry tears] Anna’s gone. And I’m not your friend right now.

Kate Sheridan (under her breath)

Jesus Christ… 

Ren Park

Get with the program, everyone. Don’t attempt to get out of work when you’re on assignment. Don’t hide things from myself or Doctor Caldwell — we need to know everything you’re experiencing. Observations, dreams, gut feelings — all of it. And no more unauthorized, unnecessary risks. If you can handle those basic rules, then you get to keep your protection and place here at Meriwether. If you don’t hold anything back, then neither will we. But this mission is too important to leave room for anything else.

Caldwell and I — every single person in this facility… we’ve given up years of our lives to make this possible. We have a shot at saving the future, at building something better. And quite frankly, your apathy is insulting.

[Shaky breath; pause]

The next investigation leaves in two days. If you really can’t get on board with what ISPHA’s trying to do, with saving humanity itself… then I’d rather you pack your bags and leave now.

[A tense silence]

[Bill stands]

Bill Tyler

Understood. Can we go back to bed now?

Ren Park

…yes. Of course. You’re all dismissed.

[Bill and Rob walk off]

Peter Slate

Hon?

Kate Sheridan 

Yeah.

[Kate and Peter walk off]

[Silence]

Sam Bailey

Ren… if that was your attempt to stabilize things around here… 

Ren Park

I’m not looking for critique right now, Sam.

Maria Sol

Tough. Fucking. Shit.

[Maria stands and storms out; her chair intentionally topples to the floor]

[Silence]

Sam Bailey

You want to know how they all feel? [static rises] The hurt and betrayal you just—

Ren Park

I don’t need your powers to see that, Sam… I really, really don’t.

I’m sorry.

[Ren shuffles out]

[long silence; Sam is alone]

[Chair legs shuffle as he adjusts]

[Click; he allows the end of the tape to play]

Anna Sheridan (recorded)

Only to see… herself. The bright macabre of white and red face paints glowed faintly in the moonlight. The rotten green wig half-unraveled, exposing her messy hair underneath. And then slowly — slower than she thought possible — she watched her own mouth open wide in a scream of warped melodies, childish harmonies turned upside down into a hellish, off-tune drone. The same music she’d been hearing for weeks… for years… ever since that night so long ago, when some part of her did not return unscathed.

The last thing that she saw before she hit the black water below was her own eyes opening wide into a blaze of blinding white light… that followed her all the way to the other side.

[Clack; tape ends]

[Sam sits back with a loud sigh]

Sam Bailey

What the fuck, Anna?

[Beep; atrium footage ends]

[Silence]

[Tapping at keyboard; Beep]

[Audio feed from Bill & Rob’s room plays]

Robert Quincy

Everything will be alright, Bill. We’ll figure it out.

[Beep; the audio switches to Kate & Peter’s room]

Kate Sheridan

I don’t see another way, Peter. I wish I did, but sticking with ISPHA’s still what’s best for all of us. Saving the world matters — for Andrew, for Anna… finding her… it matters.

[Beep; the audio switches to Bill & Rob’s room]

Bill Tyler

Do you really think that, Rob? Is staying here… really what you want?

[Beep; the audio switches to Kate & Peter’s room]

Peter Slate

Then why didn’t you tell me what was happening sooner? What you found, what happened to you? Don’t you think I could have helped? Don’t you think I wanted to?

Kate Sheridan

I… I thought you might think I was crazy. I know, it was stupid to think that, but… it’s what I would have thought before.

[Beep; the audio switches to Bill & Rob’s room]

Robert Quincy

No… I don’t want to stay here. It’s like… being in an ivory tower underground. Trapped in one.

[Bill laughs, dryly]

Bill Tyler

Well, I’m sure your knight in shining armor will save you.

Robert Quincy

I don’t think I’m the one who needs saving, Bill. This place isn’t good for you. They’re making you travel, making you face things that… 

You need rest… a real rest, not being tested and studied in a lab between missions.

[Beep; the audio switches to Kate & Peter’s room]

Kate Sheridan

Nothing… nothing is more important to me than you and Andrew. I saw what the world was like without you two in it, and it was… it was unbearable. I need to know you’ll both be okay. I can’t lose you again.

Peter Slate

Kate, this… obsession with saving everyone… it makes me worried. It’s cutting you off from actually being here with us. 

I think Andrew feels it too. 

I miss my wife, Kate.

[Beep; the audio switches to Bill & Rob’s room]

Bill Tyler

The nightmares won’t stop if I just leave, Rob. At least here, there are people who… sort of understand what happened to me. People who can help.

But is that… really what you want? To go back to the apartment, and hide away from Morrison with no income, and only Ned for protection… and I’ll still have the nightmares?

[Beep; the audio switches to Kate & Peter’s room]

Kate Sheridan

You’re right.

I don’t know what to do, Peter. I want… I want so badly to fall asleep against your chest each night. I want to be able to hear your laugh and plan our futures and watch Andrew grow up and make bad kid jokes and see his sleepy sweetness each morning.

And I want so badly to find Anna.

I want… I need to know that it’s possible to come back from something like this. And if I find her… I’ll know it is.

[Beep; the audio switches to Bill & Rob’s room]

Robert Quincy

I’ll go anywhere with you, Bill. Anywhere… but not here. Please… please let me take you out of this place.

I’ll do anything to make it work. I’ll get a job, any job. You need time to heal, really heal — we both do.

[Bill sighs]

Bill Tyler

Alright.

Robert Quincy

Alright?

[Bill laughs slightly]

Bill Tyler

Let’s get out of here.

Robert Quincy

I love you, I love you, I love you. 

You know what? I’ll make these ISPHA creeps keep you on the payroll. If they’re so interested in your nightmares, then they can keep hearing about them — for a price.

Bill Tyler

I don’t think you’ll be able to negotiate that before the next mission leaves.

[Brief pause]

Robert Quincy

Then go on the next mission. Keep yourself safe. Nobody needs to know it’s your last until you get back. And if they don’t like the deal I’m offering, then we pack up and we leave regardless. Agreed?

Bill Tyler

Agreed.

[Beep; the audio switches to Kate & Peter’s room]

Peter Slate

Do you remember what it was like when Andrew was born?

Kate Sheridan

Of course.

Peter Slate

You were so torn up about leaving your job to take care of him. I saw how worried you were about losing that momentum if you quit. And then… it still took years of pain to get there.

Kate Sheridan

…years… 

Peter Slate

And despite everything… you chose both. You never gave up, and you never asked me to carry anything extra. I wish you had. I wish I didn’t have to draw that line in the sand for you to accept that I would take care of Andrew.

[Kate sniffles]

Kate Sheridan

I never wanted to be a burden. 

[Peter sighs; holds her face in his hands]

Peter Slate

You have never, ever, been a burden. I was waiting for you to ask.

My only dream is us. All of us. That means I have all the time in the world to make sure we all get what we need.

Kate Sheridan (feeling what’s coming)

Wait… no… no… 

Peter Slate

I want you to ask, Kate.

Kate Sheridan (nearly crying)

I can’t — this is too big. I’m his mother — I need to be with you, with Andrew… 

Peter Slate

Ask.

[A moment of silence]

[Kate finally releases; and sighs]

Kate Sheridan

Peter.

Peter Slate

Katey.

Kate Sheridan

I need you to… [she sighs] I need you to take Andrew up to Toronto for a while. Stay with your Aunt Ruth until… until this is over.

Peter Slate

Oh god, this hurts.

Kate Sheridan

I know.

Peter Slate

I love you.

Kate Sheridan

I love you too.

[Brief pause] 

I can’t promise you everything’s going to be okay. But if it isn’t… you’ll be the first to know.

Peter Slate

Promise?

Kate Sheridan

Promise. I’ll keep in touch as much as I can. I’m going to find Anna. I’m going to figure out how to stop what she saw from happening. Me and… whoever else stays.

And when that’s done… 

[Kate falters; unable to find words]

[Peter shifts closer]

Peter Slate

And when that’s done, we’ll go back home. To Iowa. Or maybe we won’t. But wherever we go, we’ll be together… and we’ll plant a garden.

[Beep; the audio switches to Bill & Rob’s room]

[The sheets rustle as they settle in for bed]

Robert Quincy

Goodnight, my love.

Bill Tyler

Goodnight, darling.

Robert Quincy

I’ve got you.

Bill Tyler (reciting “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron)

He walks in beauty, like the night 

Of cloudless climes and starry skies… 

Robert Quincy (continuing)

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in his aspect and his eyes.

[brief pause]

Bill Tyler

Are you sure this isn’t about having Antiques Roadshow Marathons again?

[Rob laughs, relieved]

[Beep; the audio switches to Kate & Peter’s room]

Kate Sheridan

You always say just the right thing.

Peter Slate

“Just the right thing.”

[Kate giggles and groans at the bad joke; Peter laughs too]

[She remembers something]

Kate Sheridan

Do you think you could stay just a little longer? The next mission’s coming up, and I want to come back to my family one last time.

Peter Slate

One more time, right?

Kate Sheridan

One more time.

[Beep; footage ends]

[Silence]

[Cassette noises]

[Static fades away into…]

[Where are we?]

[Light crunching underfoot, almost electronic hums and whistles in the air]

[Distant sound of thunder and waves]

Anna Sheridan 

In the bitter waves of woe,

Beaten and tossed about

By the sullen winds that blow

From the desolate shores of doubt, — 

When the anchors that faith had cast

Are dragging in the gale,

I am quietly holding fast

To the things that cannot fail. 

[Clack]

Recording Ends

End Theme & Credits