Original subtitles

I am so glad we took this trip.

The North Sea is absolutely gorgeous this time of year.

It's so clear. I can see for miles.

That's great.

Listen, Mom, it's really busy here,

so I'm going to need to...

That's your problem. You're always working.

Not always.

Besides, NASA is vital in protecting everyone's future.

It takes a lot of sacrifice.

This job is really important.

And so is your family.

You should all take a trip. Relax a bit.

We could all take one together.

Mom, we already talked about this.

I have work. Tina has school.

It's always going to be something, Talia.

That daughter of yours is going to grow up,

and you will have missed her whole childhood.

Mom, I see her plenty,

and Tina is excelling in her classes.

It's getting chilly.

You would think that climate change

meant things would get warmer.

That's not how it works, Mom.

Listen, just stay inside, and you'll be good.

Talia? Oh, my God.

Mom?

Mom?

- Bennett here. - Are you seeing this?

Yes, General. I'm looking at it right now.

We'll meet you at the Pentagon ASAP.

I'm heading over to you the second we end this call.

What's causing this, Dr. Bennett?

It's a near-Earth object,

and it's already injecting itself

into the Earth-Moon system.

It's interfering with the Earth's axial tilt.

It can mean a drop in global temperature.

The beginning of a worldwide ice age.

Oh, yeah, she's right here.

Just like you, always trying to figure out

the next line of code.

Did you guys speak to my mom today?

Hmm. Oh, she tried earlier.

Wishing Granda and Pop-pop a happy anniversary,

but she couldn't get through.

Joe.

Does it have anything to do with the news?

Joe! There is extremely cold,

unpredictable weather headed your way.

I need you and Tina to get to safety now.

- Wait, what? - Joe.

There is no time. I need you to go to the office.

In my top right-hand drawer, there is...

There is a silver thumb drive labeled ARC Models Live.

I need you to take that, get the go bags,

and head to NASA's bunker in Mount Weather.

Okay.

Anything else?

Also, I need you to grab the Pelican case from the garage.

It has all the cold-weather gear that you need.

What about you?

I need to stay and see if I can solve this.

So you're not meeting us there?

No, I can't. You and Tina need to get to the bunker.

Can't you just do your work from the bunker?

I need to be here, Joe.

Okay. I love you.

You should go grab your go bags in the closet:

shoes, coat, laptop.

We're out the door in two minutes. All right?

No questions.

Dr. Bennett.

Nice to finally meet you in person.

I'm General David Green.

I'm the commander of this Unified Joint Strike Force.

I'll be working with the Joint Chiefs.

Right this way.

Looks like only hardened electrical sources

are going to be reliable due to

the electromagnetic field caused by Nemesis.

Nemesis?

That's the designation for this NEO?

Yes.

Then follow me.

Did Mom say that she would meet us there?

Your mom wants us safe.

This suit's really uncomfortable, Dad.

I know.

It's because it's a special prototype

with an ectothermic regulation system.

Your mom brought it back home from her trip to Antarctica.

But most important, it'll keep us warm and protect us.

And why do I still feel cold?

Well, because part of the system of the suits

that we're wearing is recapturing

the heat of your body to then reuse it

when you're organs...

Basically, it's meant for survival.

It's not comfort.

So we can make it to the bunker.

Can I have your attention, please?

This is Dr. Talia Bennett.

She's from NASA.

Now, with the defunding of NOAA, NASA's going to be

taking the lead on this task force.

This is Administrator Alan from FEMA

and Captain Andrew Houts from the United States Space Force.

All right, Doctor, get us up to speed.

All right. Approximately an hour ago,

a previously untracked NEO, Nemesis,

about the size of Mount Everest, entered the Earth-Moon system.

Don't we track those objects?

Yes, but its approach was hidden by the sun's glare.

So how long till impact?

There won't be an impact.

The gravity well in the Earth-Moon system

has trapped Nemesis in between them,

causing an increase in Earth's axial tilt.

Okay, so what are the implications?

Okay.

Earth sits at 23.5 degrees off-center.

That angle is everything.

When the North Pole points towards the sun, it's summer.

When it points away, winter.

It's not how close the sun is, it's the angle.

And Nemesis just changed that by 2 to 3 degrees,

causing havoc on worldwide weather systems.

So what's the worst-case scenario?

The Earth will cool down half a degree to a degree every day.

With that will come Arctic blasts

that are unpredictable, random.

And finally, this will create a worldwide ice age,

freezing everything to negative 50 below.

Tell us more about an Arctic blast.

It's a sudden freeze front that can plunge temperatures

down to negative 400 degrees in an instant, then back.

Well, how long until we lock into this permanent ice age?

At current rates?

Two years.

Okay, um... Well, need to prep the president,

but I want to give him options.

What about we send a sentinel ICBM

and blow the thing out of the sky?

That'll buy us time.

Sir, high-yield options in orbit invite debris and fall out.

We're trading blizzards for a nuclear winter.

Plus, we'd kill hundreds of millions as well.

We can't destroy it.

Give me some viable options.

We move it.

I said viable, Doctor.

No, this is a viable option.

We have a constellation of communication satellites

in low Earth orbit that we can repurpose.

You want to crash a thousand satellites into Nemesis?

That's as bad as blowing it up.

No, think about it like this.

They're like mini tugboats initiating microburns

that push Nemesis out of orbit.

I like it. Distributed risk.

No single point of failure.

If you can do it...

Can you do it?

Yes.

I can write a code that will orchestrate the burn.

But I will need some models that will predict

Nemesis' response in near to real time.

I can get those from the Toolik field station.

How long?

Initial contact, a few days.

Once we reach maximum delta V, a few weeks.

Five at most.

Okay. Captain, relink the network so that

she can get a hardened line to

the Toolik field station down at sub-level X.

That's our area where it's a hardened facility

for extreme situations like this.

Copy, sir.

Now, I know that your husband is a recon marine,

but I'd like you to coordinate with Administrator Allen here

to get your family squared away.

But, Doctor? You own the code.

Give me results.

This is going to be one hell of a phone call.

Yes, sir.

It's going to take forever.

Dad, I'm really cold.

I know. I've got the heat up running full blast.

I don't know if it's a good idea to be on social media right now.

We should save our batteries.

Seriously, Dad?

I've hacked into the Virginia DOT traffic servers.

I'm trying to find us a faster way to Mount Weather

that's away from all of this.

All right. Okay. I should have known.

I should have known.

Uh, turn right up here.

Yeah.

There's a service road that the state troopers

technically haven't opened up officially yet,

but I figure that it would save us some extra time.

Nice job.

Still cold, Dad.

Doctor, this is our backup server room.

We need to make sure all of this is online and ready.

We have two years as per your calculations

and this is part of our fallback plan.

There are a lot of people depending on us.

This room is already a hardened facility.

If the Pentagon goes dark, these fuel cells

will give us a double redundancy.

Make sure you stay up and running and warm.

Doing all we can do to mitigate injury or the worse.

Cheyenne Mountain is standing by to link you

with Toolik Field Station's weather models directly.

Alright, to get DART up and running,

we need as continuous a data connection as possible.

That might mean analog backup.

Hello.

You'll get redundancy if you use the old Cold War network.

If the modern network fails or collapses,

you're still up and running.

How old are we talking?

Analog. Copper. Twisted pairs.

Old. Good old stuff. Genuine. Reliable.

Well, let's get started then.

See if you can get Mom on the phone.

By now she should know what this is all about.

Nothing.

Disconnects every time I try.

Okay.

We save the battery.

Network's probably overloaded.

I hope Mom meets us there.

She will.

Okay, team.

On the staging floor, the zones are color-coded.

Write this down.

Green is go.

Amber is pack. Red is shelter.

Bus fleets to hospitals first.

National Guard to long-term care.

School principals.

Shelter in place protocols now.

If you can walk, you can guide.

Any questions?

Ma'am, requests for pet sheltering

are flooding every line.

We're completely at capacity.

Let them take the pets.

Why?

Because it doesn't matter.

Might as well not freeze alone.

Let's get to work.

Yes, sir, Mr. President.

Administrator Allen's efforts are moving along

quite nice and getting everybody to safety.

Yes, sir. I know. I agree.

Well, Captain House and Dr. Bennett

are currently reprogramming

the communications satellite constellations as we speak.

Yes, sir. Understood.

Captain Houts, I need an update.

We're moving to the stack

and coordinating the swarm intelligence

to the waypoint navigation system.

Copy that. Triple the redundancy.

We need this to work.

Already on it, sir.

This is not going to fail on that watch.

If we anticipate the precession,

we can pre-bias the burn vectors,

give it a corridor to fall into.

So that ensures us a better chance of success.

Yeah, but it won't ever be 100 percent.

My parents were on a holiday by the North Sea.

I was talking to my mom this morning

and we lost connection.

We have to stop this.

No one else should lose their family.

We will.

Here.

Let me know how I can help.

This is strong.

Label those bunkers by capacity.

We want to fill the biggest ones first, not by numbers.

Keep those families together.

Hey! Hey, hold that pallet!

I'm coming down.

Distribution centers all across the country

can follow orders, but this one downstairs is struggling.

I'll be right back.

Wind is picking up as well.

I can feel it in the steering.

We should move faster.

Not a hammer, a thousand fingers.

Flocking algorithms and formation controls

are loaded and compiled.

Good, I'll plug in that module and extend the code base.

God, we're not even going to have time for a static analysis.

All right.

We could just go around, but this is the only way

into the Blue Ridge Mountains and Mount weather.

Dad, we can't just plow through a state trooper.

So I say go around.

Down!

No! I'm freaking out!

What was that?

Keep your head down, all right?

Is the trooper okay?

No.

What are we going to do, Dad?

We get to the bunker as fast as we can.

All right?

Evacs are flowing.

Shelter's at a 90 minute capacity.

City leadership wants a comms schedule.

Okay, you'll have it as soon as we harden the Pentagon lines.

All right, we've completed the initial build

and should be ready to execute.

Should?

Well, it goes without saying

this is extremely complicated, sir.

We've addressed all problems to the best of our abilities.

It's a lot of code.

Okay, well, fortune favors the bold.

I say we go now.

- System overload! - What is this?

What's causing this?

Wait. We just got back data from the VLBI.

Set density profiles wrong...

The redshift is this high.

The current spin up.

Spit it out, Doctor.

Original calculations showed we had two years

of cold weather and anomalous arctic winds

before an irreversible ice age set in.

The new data just came in. We don't have two years.

We have two months before the world is frozen.

Listen, Lieutenant Roberts, collect everybody's phone.

No information leaves this room.

Okay, I need you to upload that code now

and get those satellites over to Nemesis ASAP.

Sir, it's been compiled, but no bug checks,

dry runs, sanity checks have even been completed.

Well, how long would that take?

Two to three days at least.

And even that's pushing it.

Look, moving now would be reckless, sir.

We have no room for error here.

Captain, under these circumstances, not moving now

- would be the reckless choice. - Copy that.

Right, you, Alan, you're with me.

Yes, sir.

You speak five languages, right?

I need you on the phone with the U.N.

I have no idea if this is even going to work.

It's going to work. You're a good coder.

It's going to work. It has to.

Okay, Jack in here.

I'll coordinate with the USSF.

ESA and JAXA uplink command.

Get this thing moving as quickly as possible.

X-ray Charlie.

Prep station field for incoming signal parameters

along with a code packet for upload.

Romeo Foxtrot.

Give me video feeds from Brussels, Beijing, and Delhi.

I want simultaneous confirmation.

Sir. Coordinating with global ERCs.

Feeds populating on monitors.

Copy.

Satellite uplink relays locked.

Paired.

Ready for code transmission.

General, I need your approval.

We have ESA confirmation.

JAXA confirmation.

We are ready to go.

Copy... Copy. General, initiating code upload.

Okay. Clear channel. Clear channel.

Commence uploading synchronous packets.

Commencing upload.

Upload starting.

Okay, all birds reporting.

Guidance update pushed.

Confirm bird vectors.

All right, vectors set.

We're hands off after commit.

The control layer adapts mid-pulse.

Do it.

Are you sure, General?

Do it, Dr. Bennett.

Mark.

Execute.

We have movement.

We have...

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait!

No, the torque amplified and accelerated the precession!

Shut them down! Shut them down!

We can't. It's autonomous.

It's mid-cycle. We're locked in!

How long is the burn?

Ten seconds.

Sitrep.

Nemesis trajectory adjustment failed.

Actually, we just pushed it in.

We've increased the axial tilt.

We've made the magnetosphere twice as angry.

No...

Damn it!

Okay, sir...

No, I need options, not opinions.

We need to damp the spin. Fast.

We can't touch Nemesis again.

Not until we reduce the pressure differential.

This increased movement from Nemesis will

no doubt increase the acceleration of

the axial tilt, making it colder faster,

creating more arctic blasts.

We likely reduced our time down to a month.

We can inject some heat into the weather system

to counteract the fast-tracked cold.

But we need a controlled stratospheric warm surge.

Well, how are we supposed to control that?

Detonation of a tactical nuclear device in the 10 kiloton range.

Well, I thought explosive ordnance was off the table.

You know, we can't deploy against Nemesis directly,

but I don't think that's what Dr. Bennett is suggesting.

I'm not. We would deploy it into the atmosphere

and create heat to counteract the cold.

Where?

The North Pole.

Right above the cap in the right envelope.

Minimal material lofted,

pressure lifted, jet normalization...

What? You're serious?

And how much damage is that going to cause?

Listen, I'm choosing a small fire over an endless night.

We have to slow this down.

Okay, I'll get a W-54 dialed into the 10 kiloton range

and I'll have it deployed ASAP.

Come on...

Come on!

Dad, I'm honestly surprised it made it this far.

I think it's dead.

Maybe that one isn't.

Okay.

Wait here while I check it out.

You think there's just going to be keys in the sun visor?

Well, wouldn't that be something?

Stay here.

Keep warm.

Careful!

Jesus.

Come on, buddy.

Yep, nope.

Well, I tried.

Sorry, pal.

Jackpot.

Come on! Get in the truck!

It smells in here, Dad.

This is so gross.

If it works, it works.

Blackstar, this is General Green.

ETA to drop?

We are 200 kilometers away from the drop zone.

ETA is one minute.

Damn.

Go for drop.

Copy that!

The President wants to know

how solid is the science on this.

Well, it's solid.

The heat released from the warhead will counteract

the cooling effects on the jetstream.

Why didn't we start with this procedure?

It's a stopgap measure, not a solution.

Approaching drop zone, General.

On profile.

Arming sequence set.

Envelope looks good.

Crosswinds negligible.

Right.

Detonation 10.8 kilometers above cap.

No penetration.

We're heating air, not ice.

Do it.

Payload...

Away.

Come on...

Temperature rising.

Two degrees.

Three degrees.

Good work, people.

We'll let the President know the good news.

Oh, wait. Wait.

I'm seeing pressure discontinuity.

That could cause a tsunami.

- Where? - Off Anchorage.

In the Alaskan Gulf.

There's also a high possibility for an arctic blast.

Send a warning out now.

Get any traffic or webcams you can.

Wait. What kind of tsunami?

Meteotsunami. Caused by sudden changes in air pressure,

fast-moving storm fronts, or apparently

a 10-kiloton nuclear-powered aerial detonation.

- A meteotsunami. - Exactly.

Get me the mayor of Anchorage or the governor on the phone.

Whoever you can get first.

The wave is two miles from Anchorage and closing.

One mile and closing.

Half a mile and closing.

Did that wave just freeze in midair?

Have the city of Anchorage evacuated immediately

before that wave thaws.

The model hub.

It's gone.

And for security, the copies were auto-gapped and airlocked.

No remote pull.

Protocol burned them on grid loss.

We're blind.

Except for one copy. I have a copy on my thumb drive.

And my husband and daughter have it.

Then your thumb drive is the most important object

on the face of the Earth.

Just spoke with Marine Commandant Petercheck.

He says he's going to send the MARSOC raiders

after Tina and Joe.

And he's going to have your family

and the thumb drive as soon as possible.

Good. Without that modeling data, we're dead in the water.

Why is it that you have the data and not the government?

The info from the Toolik Field Station

is downloaded to a number of governmental agencies.

But the code needs to be compiled and verified.

I compiled the code prior to its distribution.

So my thumb drive has the latest version.

Well, how far can we get without the drive?

We need to prep a new direct effort to

remove Nemesis from the Earth-Moon system.

Without that, we can't stop this Ice Age.

If we push it with something bigger

than a communications satellite.

- Like a propulsion assembly? - Exactly.

We ferry a propulsion system to Nemesis

using the Dream Chaser space plane.

Push it back to the asteroid belt.

Not exactly easy. Oh, no, no, no, no.

But better for the planet than a nuclear blast.

Okay, but we don't have time to spin up a launch code.

General...

This is Majestic-level clearance.

Can you read them in?

Majestic?

Uh, Dr. Bennett, Administrator Allen,

this is need-to-know information.

It does not leave this room.

- Continue. - Sir.

There is already a Dream Chaser being prepped

at Cape Canaveral for a Black Ops mission.

All we would have to do is reprogram the mission profile.

Okay, but we'd still need to spin a launch

- for the Dream Chaser. - That's the best part.

The ISS is being decommissioned, leaving only Tiangong,

the Chinese space station, in space.

The U.S. needs the capability to remove the threat

of Tiangong's weapons platform.

So, we've been testing a propulsion assembly

to push Tiangong into deep space.

Everything we need is there and ready to go.

We want to know that CNSA has already approved

any kind of help that you need.

So I need you to go down to the Cape and prep the Dream Chaser.

And I need you to get started on the code

before you leave for the Cape.

Wait, wait, leave? What are you talking about?

Well, we're going to need you there.

We can't have any of the code be corrupted over transmission.

You need to be there to hardwire the code.

He's right. He's right.

We need you there to ensure maximum success.

Oh, okay. I don't do heights.

Or flying.

Or... heights.

You're the head of NASA.

Yes. And there's a reason why I am

in the control room and not the rocket.

Well, not today.

I need you to prep the hardware and I need you to get started

on the code before you leave wheels up in sixty.

Copy that, sir.

You heard him, Doctor.

Yes, sir.

General, I think we need to seed storms over

the most populated cities to avoid arctic blasts.

That's a really good idea.

I'll coordinate with the Air Force

while you start getting work on the code.

Warning! Massive pressure differential detected.

Oh no, another arctic blast bringing down

our electrical system

in the hardened area as well as the regular areas.

Aren't we in a hardened area?

We are in a hardened area, but if everything is overloaded,

that affects the hardened area and then we are out of luck.

Well, what about maintenance?

I mean, can't they figure it out?

All non-essential personnel have already been evacuated.

There are no maintenance people.

Also, everything here is segmented

so that if anything happens in one area,

it's protected from the other.

So we're essentially an island.

It has to be us.

What needs to be done?

Well, all the electronics are down

below in the tunnel, so we need to go down there,

we need to look for the problem, and we need to solve it.

I've got a ready locker with PPE and all the other equipment.

Follow me.

How are we going to get into the shelter?

Unbelievable.

Yeah.

The tunnel must have ruptured.

Water came down the alley.

It was frozen by one of those arctic blasts in mid-air.

Dad, I can't do this.

Hey, it's going to be okay.

We just need to get past this to get

inside the shelter, and we're home free.

I need you to be brave.

We're almost there.

We rig it, so we blow it.

I don't know about that, Dad.

If we don't, we have to double-back two hours,

and that's assuming the car wouldn't even make it.

We have to. That's the only way.

We blow this up and get into the shelter, all right?

The fuses in the north, south, east, and west tunnel need

to be reset and primed before we fix any of the shorts.

Otherwise, we overload the entire system.

That's why we've got to work as a team, all right?

Timing is everything.

All right, stay safe.

Stay in contact over the comms.

Yes!

That should work.

What if it blows back on us?

Junction three iced.

No immediate threat.

Behind the car! And cover your ears! Let's go!

It worked!

Come on!

Let's go!

Clear of ice and operational.

Priming the breaker.

Power node one is primed and ready

for when we find the fault.

All right... all right.

Node four clear.

Priming node.

Heading back.

Node three clear.

It's on you, Madam Administrator.

Are any of you getting this temperature drop?

No, our systems are holding.

I think I've found the control box.

Damn. It's frozen over.

You copy?

I found the problem.

The wires are pretty damaged from the temperature drop.

Copy that.

Damn it!

What happened?

Nothing.

I just... cut my glove. I'm fine.

Careful.

Any contact of your skin to the metal can cause frostbite.

I grew up in Minnesota. I'm aware.

Copy.

All right.

Once I flip these, you'll have a minute

of stable juice at best.

Reset your core. Route the feed.

That's not enough time.

Then be faster.

Laurel, are you okay?

Laurel, you need to get out of there.

It's not safe.

I grew up on a farm.

We did a winter with a cracked stove and a prayer.

Safe is relative.

All right. Here's more of it.

All right.

We're go.

I can't hold this for very long.

The node is active.

You're gonna get a window.

Take it.

Got it. I'm accessing it right now.

Hold that line.

I'm almost at the command center.

I think a pipe burst.

Flood!

Agh!

Damn it!

I'm stuck. My foot.

Oh, my God. Houts!

No, no, no. You can't help me.

I'm not gonna leave you.

You'll get stuck, too.

All right.

You can fix the problem fast.

You save me, you, and the planet.

Go.

Now, Doc! Go!

Captain Houts is caught in an ice bloom.

Hold on, Madam Administrator.

Freeze is coming fast.

I can't hold on.

Come on!

Come on!

Come on...

Come on.

I can bring the core online,

but there's only buffer for one save.

Either you or Captain Houts.

You can just hold on.

Come on, Bennett.

Laurel, I can't save you both.

He needs to fly the Dream Chaser.

The only way to save the planet...

is to save him.

What?

Dr. Allen, what did you say?

Hold on. Let me try to fix this.

There's no time.

You save him, Dr. Bennett.

And then you go save the world.

I'm sorry.

Routing core to hardened cluster.

Pentagon return complete.

Dr. Allen?

I had to make a decision.

Shit.

Our systems are back online.

But General, we may have a problem.

Oh, excellent.

It's been about three minutes since we've had one of those.

The increased rotational spin of Nemesis,

along with the massive amounts of copper

and aluminum at its core is

creating massive currents, strong enough to bring down

the last of the hardened systems across the world.

When?

It's happening right now.

But due to the increased activity of Nemesis,

disruptions will be random.

We need to get you to the Cape right now.

I'm nowhere near done with the code that's needed.

You'll have to finish the code at the Cape

while Captain Houts preps the Dream Chaser.

Yeah, he's right.

The sooner we get to the Cape, the better our chances.

God, I wish my daughter was here.

She's a much better coder.

Plus, she has the info from Toolik Field Station.

Loo, once the Raiders find your husband and daughter,

we'll get you that code.

You need to be at the Cape and upload that code

to the Dream Chaser, and you need to leave now.

Is flying a good idea in this weather?

I mean, tidal waves are freezing.

I know you have a thing about flying,

but as you've explained these Arctic blasts,

they're isolated, contained, and random,

meaning the people and places on the ground

will be affected, but going at the speed

and altitude that you'll be flying, you won't be.

Yeah, he's right.

Also, I have an F-15E Strike Eagle out of Eielson.

It's been hardened for cold-weather ops.

Special fuel blends, Arctic ground support, de-icing.

It's being prepped right now at Ronald Reagan.

You need to get everything you need for programming,

and you need to be up in the air in 20 minutes.

Can't go any further.

Some sheltered, but there's nobody here,

and we're stuck in a kitchen.

Dad, I'm cold.

Nope.

I have an idea.

Does this work?

Yes...

Okay, Dad, this is a really awesome hack.

This is hitting the spot right now.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

I don't know how long until the line's freeze, honey.

I mean, we are only 10 miles away from Mount Weather.

We could start heading over there.

The car won't make it.

Let's not worry about that right now.

Do you think Mom's okay?

I mean, she would be with us if she wasn't always working.

We might not ever see her again.

Hey, don't you ever say that.

Mom is fine.

Okay?

She's at the Pentagon.

That's the safest place on the planet.

And she's smart.

Just like you.

She's probably been waiting for us.

With blankets and hot chocolate.

Probably right.

I just have to keep reminding myself

that being on the ground isn't any better.

This air-frame was built for punishment.

Twin engines. Redundant systems.

Ejection seats.

Strap you into this baby,

storm is safer than any commercial jet.

Great.

Reagan Tower.

Viper 1-1, single-ship F-15E. IFR to Cape Canaveral.

Holding short runway.

One-nine-niner.

Ready for departure.

Viper 1-1, Reagan Tower.

Runway 1-9 cleared for takeoff.

Fly runway heading climb and maintain one-zero-thousand.

Departure frequency one-two-five point eight.

Squawk four-five-two-one.

Contact departure on roll.

Thank you.

Front line's worse than forecast.

Shear like teeth.

Then I suggest we keep our hands out of its mouth.

Yeah, I agree.

My screen's flickering.

Something's playing with the field.

Nemesis's interference is getting worse.

Should be able to correlate the rotational frequency

with its effect on the electrical magnetosphere.

Come again?

Rough weather ahead.

Working on a way to anticipate better.

Copy that.

Look, whatever helps keep us alive.

Command, Dr. Bennett.

EM anomaly's escalating.

Copy that, Doctor.

Now, Canaveral says they can build you a narrow window.

But be aware, there is reports of

a massive hailstorm at the Cape.

Coming in waves.

Now, if you can thread the needle between

the first and second waves, you'll be golden.

Golden.

Copy that.

We thread the needle, we fly to the Cape,

we fly the Dream Chaser.

Simple.

We need Tina's modules meshed before we light that fuse.

I'll finish integration on the ground.

I was wrong! Being on the ground is better!

We're crossing an Arctic blast.

Winglet gone.

Can we ride asymmetric?

Yeah, we're gonna have to.

We can't dodge them all at this speed, just the big ones.

Dammit, dammit! That was the tail!

We can't control the F-15 in this state.

The tail has subsided.

We have to get out of this jet.

It's over here.

We're ejecting.

- What?! - We have to.

If we stay here, we're dead.

If we eject, at least we stand a chance.

If we eject, we're gonna be dead!

On my mark...

- One... - No...

-Two... Three!

I don't think that's a good idea!

You in one piece?

Yeah, I'm okay!

Okay, good.

Safer than a commercial jet, my ass!

Two miles.

Give or take.

We gotta hoof it.

We don't wanna get caught in another Arctic blast.

So are we not gonna talk about what just happened?!

Help!

Hey, wait for me!

Where's Captain Houts' plane?

It's dropped off the radar, sir.

Is that because it's downed, or

is there a problem with the radar?

Unknown, sir.

Find out!

Yes, sir.

Okay, all right. Hold on.

We're almost there.

An entrance to the underground Cape Canaveral passage

is about half a mile.

Watch out!

- Are you okay? - Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay. All right, come on.

We won't last long in a blast, even in these suits.

Found an entrance!

What's wrong?

Nothing.

Come on, I know you're hurt.

Ice... caught my shoulder a little.

You can't fly to space like that.

Come on, will you just let me see it?

- Okay. - Okay.

You're okay. Come right here.

Don't worry.

Ah!

Don't worry, I'm a doctor.

Wait, wait, wait!

Medical doctor, right?

Ah!

I'm better than that.

I'm a mom and the wife of a recon marine.

And as a bonus, I speak four languages.

I'm not sure what the languages have to do with my shoulder.

Thanks, doc.

We've got company.

You speak gator, doc?

That wasn't one of the four.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey.

Eyes on me, handsome.

That gator...

showed us the way out of here.

Looks like this tunnel goes all the way under the road

and will let us out near the launch complex.

Once there, we'll identify ourselves.

They'll take us to Tartarus.

What's Tartarus?

The Space Force's top secret subterranean facility.

It's a space complex.

It allows us to prep, test missions

without prying eyes seeing.

That's why you don't know about it.

Let's go.

When we get to the shelter,

we'll make sure we contact Mom ASAP.

Mm-hmm.

Dad, the heat's dying.

Come on.

We can break up some chairs in the dining area.

And start a fire.

I think someone's here.

Shh.

Keep quiet.

Don't move.

I'm scared.

Shh.

Don't move. Come on.

Hands up.

You stand right there.

Identify yourself.

I'm Marine Corps. Captain Jackson.

We're on a rescue mission.

Lieutenant Bennett, USMC, and his daughter, Tina.

Have you seen them?

It's us.

We've ID to prove it.

We'll verify.

Get you warmed up, and back to Mount Weather.

If you don't mind me asking, how'd you find us?

We're Marines, ma'am.

Let's go.

We'll be ready for launch within the hour.

I wanted to get on that pre-flight check ASAP.

Captain Danvers, where can I finish the code and upload?

Let's get you outfitted and load into the flight deck.

You, follow me to the control center.

We can work from there.

Sir, thank you for the Marine escort.

It helped us to get here as safe and quick as possible.

Semper Fi, Lieutenant.

Now, Dr. Bennett is at the Cape working

on that flight that I described earlier,

but she needs the Toolik Field base model

that's on her thumb drive.

Yes, we have the flash drive.

What does she need my help with?

Actually, she needs Tina.

I can give you the specifics later,

but basically, she wants to integrate the

Toolik Field algorithm into the code that

she's writing for the propulsion assembly burn sequence.

Do you understand what he's talking about?

Yeah. I just need Mom's base code in order to prime the hooks

and then reset the return patch signal.

All right. General?

I got it. So, I'll send the rest of the code earlier,

but once you get this,

you're going to wrap the weather model API

into the base kernel and balance the streams.

Is that correct?

Wow, General. You know your stuff.

Computer programming didn't start in 2019, young lady.

Now, we have a direct hard line

from Mount Weather to the Pentagon.

That's why we're able to have this video conference.

We don't have the same luxury out to the Cape.

So, unfortunately, we're going to have

to use the old Cold War analog lines.

That's why we can't have you speak directly with your wife.

Copy that, General.

Oh, General, why don't you just use AI?

Wouldn't that be a lot faster?

Well, using AI, they want to use LLMs or large language models.

And all the code that we're using

is proprietary military code.

And it would just be a security nightmare

putting that into an AI algorithm.

People still matter, Lieutenant.

Copy that.

Now, young lady, I need you to start coding ASAP.

And you're going to have to be using simplex lines, not duplex.

So the data is only going to go in one direction.

You understand?

- Yes, sir. - Good girl. Get to it.

Let's get you plugged in.

Cool.

All right. All I need to do is just make sure

the control packages get sent out first.

And then I can send out the diagnostics.

How long?

Give or take about eight or nine minutes.

What's that?

Dad, we have to keep the line going no matter

what happens outside of there or in here.

Any news?

General Green confirms Tina and Joe are safe.

He's also launched the cloud seeding mission.

That'll buy us some time.

But Tina's upload of the Toolik field model

is coming in now, but...

But what?

Upload speeds are too slow.

I don't know if...

If what?

The code will be finalized before launch.

There is an option.

Name it.

The coding isn't finished before launch.

Okay, wait.

Okay, wait, tell me again.

How would that work?

I can't believe I'm suggesting this.

But I go with you.

Okay, what? You were freaking out just flying here.

And now you want to strap yourself to a rocket to space.

Okay, trust me, I'm not thrilled with

the idea exactly, but it's our only option.

We take the hardware with us and we finish the coding there.

That takes care of communication and latency issues.

And it can't be worse than the Gator, right?

Yeah.

Okay.

We better get you a pressure suit.

We're only at 48%.

Tina, we need to move faster.

I'm moving as fast as I can, Dad.

No. No!

- How close? - We're only at halfway.

Come on, guys. Move it!

Hurry that up.

We need to get down to the bunker.

- Move it! - Time's up.

- Move it. - But I'm not done yet.

- That's it. You gotta move. - I'm not done.

We gotta move. We gotta move. Let's go!

Go!

- Dad! - Run!

Don't look back.

Tina's upload just stopped.

Capcom, this is Chaser 1.

We're rolling hot.

Copy, Chaser 1.

Window is minus three to plus 90 seconds.

Beyond that, weather winds.

Copy that. Launch checklist.

Didn't you hear me? I don't have the code.

I heard you. We have a launch window.

It's not up to me.

Batteries... On.

Avionics, green.

Intertial, all green.

RCS primed.

Thermal marginal.

Could just be a glitch.

Just keep working the link.

No, no, no, no, no.

What?

The truck!

You think the batteries will work?

We're about to find out.

Yes!

Get in!

Come on...

Come on!

Five, four, three, two, one.

Go for liftoff.

Copy that. Lighting the candle.

Helium...

Guidance damped. Hold her nose.

Copy that.

We're freezing.

If we lose it, we choke.

We're in an icing layer 6,000 thick.

We need a thermal event on the skin to get rid of the ice.

We got wash tanks and chemistry.

Improvised de-icing?

We're gonna bathe a space plane?

Only the important parts.

Either we do that...

or we lose it.

Routing methanol and chlorine one lines to external dump.

We need a catalyst.

The catalyst is the heat we're making.

That worked.

Chaser One.

You're clear of low level hazard.

Good climb. Watch shear at 12K.

Climbing through.

Guidance is nominal.

We're in plan A loaded.

We're above the storm.

Fuel flow is good.

Three clean.

Four nominal.

Propulsion assembly diagnostic is as well

as mostly green and a little yellow.

Assembly looks good for delivery.

We'll keep it warm.

It'll do its job.

Chaser One. Good trajectory.

You're go for orbital insertion.

Go for insertion.

Capcom patched me in.

I don't know how long this patch will be stable.

There's a breach at Mount Weather and the facility

suffered a great amount of damage.

At this time, the disposition of your family is unknown.

I should be with them.

What am I doing?

I need you to find them.

General?

Uh, we lost the signal.

No, no, no, no.

We can't lose the signal right now.

General?

Come on, come on, come on, come on.

Come on, this can't be happening.

I can't fail my family.

Doc, doc, doc, doc.

You have not.

You're doing everything that you can.

I need you to focus. Okay?

We're approaching nemesis.

We're here.

The signal's being affected by it.

Holy shit.

Yeah.

Let's get to work.

Surface composition, mixed regolith,

nickel-iron inclusions, vitreous pockets.

Spin precession, increasing three percent

per minute and climbing.

She's rolling downhill in space.

Dragging our magnetosphere with her.

Assembly shows stress.

Thermal gradients outside spec.

We gotta keep it warm.

Commencing fairing separation.

Propulsion assembly deployment.

Feed manifold four is sledging.

That line froze once on the pad. It's refreezing.

Still warm on deploy?

Warm-ish.

Not a word I like at this altitude.

Okay.

Here's what we'll do.

We deploy the propulsion assembly slowly,

one step at a time, very gently, okay?

You call the temps. I'll handle the assembly.

Copy. I'll open a channel.

Capcom, Chaser One on station.

Beginning assembly checks.

Wait, pressure just dropped.

Abort?

If we stop now, the jolt could jam the whole process.

But if we continue, we risk a leak and cold shock.

Pick your poison, doc.

Continue. Then we fix it by hand.

Copy.

Capcom, propulsion assembly is out of cradle...

but there's a frozen fuel line.

I'll need to go outside, proceed to manually service it.

Captain, we have General Green patched in again.

I know the state of your plane, but I will

not have you die ten meters from success.

Do you understand me?

I need you both back here on this side of things.

Finish the repair and get back on board the ship ASAP.

Understood?

Roger that, General.

Proceeding with EVA.

Be careful.

General, any word on my family?

Visuals have them leaving in a vehicle,

but their whereabouts are still unknown.

Let's hope they can finish the upload before it's too late.

I have the partial code here,

and I'm waiting for the rest of it.

I'm in an EVA suit, egressing

the airlock and beginning the EVA.

Copy that.

Feed for elbows, got a frost tattoo.

Gentle heat.

Minimal mechanical stress.

If you flex that elbow, it'll snap like spun glass.

Copy. Localized thaw.

Weeping.

She's weeping fuel.

Okay, back off. Now.

That's cascade territory.

If this gets worse and this thing blows,

this will be a much shorter trip than planned.

We should have ignition in.

Command assembly hot.

Aborting. Aborting.

Captain, status.

I'm here. I'm good. We're good.

I'm... That was close.

All right then.

Prep for deployment?

Ready.

Deploying assembly.

And the propulsion assembly has made contact with Nemesis.

Ready for burn.

I still don't have that code updated.

We need the last piece.

We need to proceed now. Okay?

It can't get worse. Calling for burn.

Burn parameters plugged in and ready.

Executing burn.

Three...

Two...

One.

No, no, no, no, no! It's spinning faster.

Come on. Come on.

No...

Talk to me.

We made it worse.

The increased spin is creating the global ice age now.

Wait a minute. Now?

We're past the point of no return.

In eight hours, it won't just be arctic blast pockets.

It'll be the whole world.

The entire planet will die.

Houts, talk to me.

The entire southern hemisphere is freezing.

We are losing lives.

You don't think I know that?

The propulsion assembly suffered a critical failure.

It sent Nemesis spinning even faster.

Electrical grids are going down worldwide.

What's going on?

Just lost all power, sir.

- Heat. - Gone.

Okay, gather everybody into the control room

to conserve heat and reroute any battery power we have to comms.

Come on!

We have to launch another assembly.

We only prepared the one.

What else you got?

I don't know. The planet is freezing.

People are dying and everything we do

seems to be making it worse.

I just need a minute!

We have mass engines.

A few shorter than I'd like.

We can push a little.

Maybe enough to give Earth a little breathing room.

Keep her surviving for a little bit longer.

Gravity assist fake.

We burn the spin, make the torque.

But if we...

We reroute all the fuel from the reserve tanks.

We might be able to act as a propulsion assembly ourselves.

That's a one-way ticket, Doc.

There's no going home.

Humanity's fate is in our hands.

How can we let fear stop us?

Okay.

Okay.

All right, I can build a microburn ladder

to increase our thrust ratio.

It's not as good as Tina's code, but it'll do.

All right, we'll ride the edge of Nemesis' field.

Less fuel, more leverage.

Things might get hairy, strap in, doc.

General, we're initiating emergency microburns

to attempt to replace a propulsion assembly.

We're not going down without a fight.

Understood. We'll do what we can down here.

Godspeed.

Copy that, General.

We've actually made some great time,

thanks to everyone who evacuated.

Yeah.

How much further?

The Pentagon's just across the river.

In about ten minutes, if we're lucky.

Okay.

Ugh!

Goddammit!

What?

- Why'd I have to say it? - What?

Look.

Dad, we're out of time.

How are we going to get to the Pentagon now?

All right.

We better cross to Washington's Monument Plaza

and pick up the bridge on the other side of the river.

All right?

Uh, Dad?

Dad, it's about to break on us!

Hold on!

Hey! You okay?

Come on...

Goddammit!

There's no way. To get it started again.

Dad?

We need to get this to Mom.

We can't just die for nothing.

I know, sweetie.

We need to.

No way.

All right...

You pack your gear, all right?

We've got a shot.

- What? - Follow me.

- Good? - [Yeah.

Come on.

Where are we going?

The past to save the future, all right?

I don't know about this dad.

It looks really old.

Where are the computers?

Look! Maybe the panel.

Come on!

Yes!

Good to upload from here.

And then all I need to do is just finish this

upload to the general and he can get it to mom.

Just a few more commands.

It's working!

Comms are back.

The Toolik station upload is resumed, okay?

Port all the data over to my work station

so I can start compiling before we do the burst

transmission over to Dream Chaser 1.

It won't be easy to manually compile that much data.

I'm a space force general.

I was a computer engineer long before I was an astronaut.

Okay, I'm going to transfer reserve fuel

to our main tanks and power the main thrusters.

How are the avionics coming?

Great. Tina worked fast and the general has been uploading

the compiled version to our nav comp system.

Tweaking the code to maximize the burn

and get the most power we can out of this ship.

Excellent.

Let me know when it's locked in, okay?

Copy that.

You know, it's...

It's a little cliche.

My, uh...

Personal life and military life in this...

Pursuit.

I have been so busy with the world that I...

Just didn't focus on my own personal life.

Main thrusters, tanks full, prepped, ready.

Seems like you have a lovely family.

You know, I worked really hard to get to my position at NASA.

Long work hours, dissertations, sacrifice, you know.

But nothing compares to the moment that

I held Tina in my arms for the first time.

She gave meaning to my life in a way my job never did.

When you hold that baby in your arms for the first time...

God, there's nothing like it.

You would do anything to protect that little life.

Even if it means sacrificing your own.

Code is compiled and uploaded

with all my tweaks to get the best burn.

Looks like we're ready to light this candle.

Priming the fuel lines.

- Damn. - What?

I... I forgot.

The valve's in the CV.

You scramble back there

and check the gauge and close the valve.

Otherwise, the valve safes will prioritize

the fuel to the lipo, not the mains.

Yeah, you got it.

Okay. What am I looking for?

It's a fuel gauge. Port side.

Literally right next to the joystick.

Oh. Found it.

Good thing, too. Tank's full.

We'll need to transfer it to the mains.

You'll need it to get home.

Go find your baby.

And don't let anything bad happen to her.

No! Let me out!

Captain! Houts!

Tina, the door won't budge. Ice has sealed it shut.

Our best shot, we have is to huddle together

and conserve our heat, all right?

Yeah.

Well...

At least we got the code to Mom.

She's gonna fix things.

Hey, I'm proud of you.

You showed real bravery today, honey.

And it's gonna be okay.

All right?

Mom and I promised.

Captain, come in!

Come in!

Thank you, Doctor.

This would not have been possible

without you up here with me.

Travel safe home. Godspeed.

Thank you.

Over and out.

Capcom.

Chaser One Dr. Bennet is on the lifeboat on her way home.

I'm taking control authority and committing to push.

I understand, Captain.

I won't say goodbye.

Fly well.

Aye, sir.

All right, Nemesis.

Let's dance.

Come on.

He's doing it.

He's moving Nemesis and shifting Earth's axis back.

God bless you, Captain.

General, I made splashdown.

I'm alive.

Dr. Bennett, welcome home.

It's so warm.

General?

He did it. Nemesis is outbound.

Earth will thaw. He made it count.

Thank you.

Joe! Joe! Tina! I've got to talk to them.

There are some emergency towers back up.

They'll patch you through.

Is that Mom?

Talia?

Joe? Tina?

Please tell me you're both safe.

We're safe.

It's so good to hear your voice.

We've got you. Always.

Yeah, we love you, Mom.

I love you, too.

I love you, too, baby girl.

With all my heart.

I'll see you soon, okay?

I love you. See you soon.

Let's go.