Season 3, Episode 11: "Mile High"
People have talked about the stars for century, wondering whether or not we're alone in the universe. Well, we definitely aren't, but most of us never come across any proof of extraterrestrial life; then again, I'm not most people. Ever since Tad showed me the OOPA, I can't help but wonder...who are they trying to reach? And what are they trying to say?
The air in Ironstone, Colorado was abuzz with energy and voices, and Fi and Jack drank it all in as they made their way through throngs of people. Fi let out a contented sigh.
"I can't believe it, Jack! Mom's headlining the Rocky Mountain Music Festival!"
"I know, right? I don't ever remember her playing for a crowd this big."
"Mom said it was the last time her and Dad played here." Fi's face fell for a moment, but her smile returned in seconds. "What time does Mom go on again?"
"7." He checked his watch; they still had 9 hours to go, but the festival had plenty of tents to visit.
"Okay! Want to go get our faces painted?" Jack wrinkled his nose.
"No way. I'm not getting my face painted." Fi frowned and crossed her arms.
"Could you be a cool big brother and go with me while I get mine painted?" Jack let out a big sigh.
"You know I promised Mom that I would watch you. Let's go." They both made their way for a colorful tent with chairs scattered around it, pausing to check out the design choices.
"What do you think, Jack? Hippie daisies on my cheeks, or rainbow unicorn?"
"Fiona?" They both jumped when a voice rang out from behind them. Fi turned around, her eyes going wide when she saw a man with curly hair wearing an immaculate suit and a smile as big as all outdoors.
"Oh my god, Tad!" She stepped forward and gave him a hug, making him laugh as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Hello, Fiona! Hello, Jack!" Jack nodded his hello.
"Tad, what are you doing here?"
"Well, is sponsoring this event. Has been ever since 1980." Jack raised an eyebrow.
"Just came to check out the music scene, huh?"
"Well, I...I just wanted to make sure the festival is going well." FI gave him a wicked grin.
"It's not because my mom's headlining, is it?" Tad blushed.
"Well, that...that...that's just an added bonus, I guess." He gave them a sheepish grin, but it vanished when he gasped.
"Oh, Fiona! I'm glad you reminded me." He started digging around in his suit jacket pocket. "Here!" He held out a yellow sticky note folded in half. She gave him a wary look, but took the paper. "It's very important. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go attend to...a...thing." With that, he turned around and disappeared into the crowd. Fi felt a flutter in her stomach, and she unfolded the note.
I have the OOPA.
Find me in the trailer outside the festival entrance as soon as you can.
She turned to Jack, but his eyes went wide. "Oh, no. You are not going off on your own. I promised mom that I would watch you." She put her hands on her hips.
"I'm going to the trailer outside the festival. You can either come with me or not." She turned around and started making her way to the entrance, and Jack grit his teeth as he started following her. It didn't take long to get to the sleek black trailer emblazoned with Tad's logo, and she took a breath to steady herself before she knocked on the door. Jack put a hand up to block hers.
"I swear, Fiona, if this ends with us being chased by government agents again, I'll kill you before mom gets a chance to." She only nodded as she rapped on the trailer door, and Tad opened it after the first knock.
"Fiona! Come in, come in. Close the door behind you, please." She did, and stepped into something that looked more like an office than the inside of a trailer. He led her past a desk with a laptop on it and stopped in front of a door with a keypad. He typed the code and the door slid open; Fi gasped as she saw the OOPA on a table, surrounded by monitors and computers. The door slid shut as soon as they crossed the threshold, and she took careful steps toward the artifact.
"How did you get it back?" Her question came out just above a whisper.
"I have my connections. But check this out." He dashed over to a keyboard and started typing; in seconds, some of the holes on the OOPA opened up, and her heart stopped when she read its face:
FI
"Tad, what does this mean?"
"It means that they're trying to reach you." She put a hand up to the giant disc and ran her fingers across the impossibly smooth metal.
"So what do we do?"
"I was hoping you'd ask that!" He picked up a jewel case from the table the OOPA sat on and held it out to her. "This is the newest software, and it can help us do just that. All you need to do is install it." She took the disc; all that graced its surface was "*.*".
"How will it help us?" He stepped over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, looking her right in the eye.
"Fiona, I'm asking you to trust me on this."
"But can't you just install it on your laptop?" He shook his head.
"Because I've tried it, and it doesn't work when I do. They want to talk to you." She bit her lip, then nodded.
"Okay. I'll install it right away." He smiled, and she left the trailer, but the foreboding ever since she'd received the *.* disc followed her out. Jack stood up from leaning on the trailer.
"Wait, where are you going now?"
"Back to the bus. I have some work to do on my laptop." He almost called after her, but his shoulders dropped as he went back into the festival to find his mom.
As soon as she got into her room, she popped the CD into her laptop and waited for something to happen; after a few seconds, a dialogue window popped up.
Thank you for installing *.*.2.0.1.
Installing...0%
Install time: 6 hours, 0 sec
Fi sighed, leaving her laptop screen open as she left her room. She stopped, however, when she saw someone else in the bus.
"Hey, kiddo. Jack told me you were here. I had a break from rehearsal, so I wanted to come check on you." Molly smiled, but it faltered when she saw her daughter's face. "What's wrong?" Fi shrugged.
"I dunno. I ran into Tad Raxall." Molly's eyebrow raised.
"Really? I mean, sponsors the festival pretty much every year, but I never thought he'd actually show up at it."
"Well, he's here and-"
"And what?"
"Well, when they asked you to headline…"
"Wait, you're telling me he's here because of me?" Molly chucked, and Fi nodded. "Then I'm sure I'll see him later." She walked over to Fi and gave her a hug, but she picked up on something she couldn't place when she did. "I'll see you later, kiddo. I gotta go back to rehearsal." She stepped back. "Listen, if anything's bothering you, let me know." Fi nodded and managed a smile. "That's my baby girl." Molly left the bus, and it wasn't long before Fi went back to the festival to find Jack.
The family gathered for lunch around 1pm, and Fi kept checking her watch, hoping that the next three hours were actually passing more quickly than they seemed to. Molly put down her burger and knit her brow as she looked at her daughter.
"Hey, kiddo, are you okay?" Fi nodded, but when her eyes met Molly's, she gulped.
"I'm just...I think of dad when we come here." Molly's heart broke a little as she reached out to take Fi's hand.
"I know it's hard, but you've also gone through a lot, and you're still standing. I'm here for you, baby girl."
"Thanks, mom. I think I'm going to go take a nap in the bus." Jack gathered the remnants of his meal on his plate.
"That sounds like a good idea, actually. I'll go with you." Fi opened her mouth to object, but one look from her mother made her stop. She nodded, and they headed back to the bus. When they got there, they both went into their rooms. Instead of sleep, however, she lay down on her stomach, watching the dialog window on her laptop screen. As the percentage crept higher, her eyes started closing and, in no time, she was asleep.
A chime stirred her from her slumber, and she rubbed her eyes as she got out of bed and grabbed her laptop.
Installation complete.
As soon as she read it, a video player opened and started playing. Tad's face greeted her, and she turned up the volume.
"Hello, Fiona! If you're seeing this, it means that we're ready for phase 2. Come find me and I'll explain further."
The video ended, and she closed her laptop screen, heart beating a mile a minute as she went back to Tad's trailer. He ushered her in as soon as she approached the door, and they made their way to the lab.
"I've installed the software. Now what?"
"Now, we execute phase 2." His fingers flew over the keyboard, and one of the monitors changed to an image of a satellite and its orbit. "That," he pointed to the satellite, "is what's really going to help us connect. When we run the connection through the OOPA and into the satellite, the signal should be powerful enough to broadcast."
"Broadcast?"
"Yes. It'll help whatever or whoever is trying to contact you connect."
"Well, do we do it right now?" He shook his head.
"No, we can do it after your mother's set. We can't be any later than 10pm, because my satellite picked up warning signs of a major solar flare projected to happen around then. That'll make contact impossible." She let out a sigh of relief.
"Okay. I'll come back here after she goes on. I'm ready."
"Good. I'll see you in a few hours."
Fi went back to see her mom rehearsing, and eventually, the hours melted together until the sun started to dip in the sky. When 6pm rolled around, the band scattered to get everything ready for the show. Molly headed over to Fi and stopped, hands trembling.
"Well, kiddo, this is it. This is the big time." Fi got up and gave her mom a hug.
"Congrats, Mom. I'm proud of you." Molly sniffled as a tear threatened to fall down her face.
"Thanks. I couldn't do it without you and Jack. You two keep me going, even when I don't think I can." Fi stepped back.
"Knock 'em dead, Mom. I love you."
"Love you too, baby girl." Molly went off to do a preliminary sound check, and Fi left backstage to find Jack. She didn't manage to find him, but she managed to score a prime spot against the metal fence in front of the stage. It wasn't long before someone announced Molly's set over the PA, and a cheer went through the crowd that had gathered behind her. She checked her watch: 6:30PM.
"Fiona!" She turned around to see Tad pushing his way through the crowd toward her.
"Tad? What's going on?"
"We need to go. Now."
"What? Why?" He stepped closer to her.
"My calculations were wrong. The solar flare is happening sooner than we thought. Much sooner."
"How long?"
"Within the next 45 minutes." Her jaw dropped.
"I'll miss my mom's concert! Can't we wait until the flare passes?"
"No. The flare passes directly through the satellite's orbit, and it takes about 10 minutes to get to where I have things set up. I couldn't set up anywhere near the festival." She felt the bottom of her stomach drop out.
"So it's now or never." He nodded, then looked at the ground.
"Tell you what. We're taking a huge risk here, but I'll monitor the flare, and you can stay for the first song." The weight in her chest lifted slightly.
"Okay. I'll meet you at the trailer as soon as it's done." He slipped back into the crowd, and she turned her attention back to the stage. No sooner than she did, the stage lights flared to life and the Molly Phillips Band came onstage. Cheers erupted through the crowd as Molly took the mic, and she beamed when she saw Fi front row center.
"Hello, Colorado! It's great to be back! We're going to be playing all your favorites tonight, so let's get it started!" The band launched into "New Math", and Fi let the music wash over her as, just for a moment, she stopped thinking about her mission.
Fi cheered as loud as she could when the band stopped playing, and she almost cried when she looked up at her mom; she hadn't seen her this happy in a long time. When the gravity of her situation set back in, she rushed through the crowd to get to Tad. At the trailer, she found him standing next to a black SUV with tinted windows.
"Let's go. We don't have much time." She got into the car and buckled her seatbelt as he tore away from the festival toward the highway.
They didn't say much on the drive, and she took a deep breath as he turned down an unpaved road. The SUV wound through a path that cut through the trees and up the mountain, and he skidded to a stop on a plateau; the OOPA sat on a metal table next to a monitor of the satellite, connected to a black box with a glowing red light. They ran over to the table and stopped in front of it.
"Okay, the flare's going to hit any minute. Where's your laptop?" She let out a gasp.
"I forgot it on the bus!"
"Oh my god, no. Fiona, we're in trouble." He ran back to the car and grabbed his laptop, jamming the cable from the black box into a port. He typed in a few commands and a button that said BROADCAST popped up on the screen. He checked the monitor, and it started flashing red.
"Fiona! Hit 'BROADCAST'! NOW!" She clicked the button, and they both watched in horror as the satellite disintegrated in a burst of solar energy. They stood there, eyes affixed to the monitor, and tears started to roll down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry, Tad. I'm sorry I made us miss our chance." Tad wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close.
"It's okay. I can have another satellite rebuilt in about six months, and we can try again." He squeezed her, then stepped back to start packing up his equipment. As soon as he put a hand on the OOPA, white light erupted around them, accompanied by a loud whoosh. He turned to grab Fi's hand, but something knocked him backward and sent him flying to the ground. When the light subsided, he felt his blood turn to ice as he realized that he was the only one on the plateau.
Onstage at the festival, Molly finished "The Rock" and thanked the audience, but her smile faltered as she felt something odd. She walked over to one of the amps and grabbed her bottle of water, but it fell from her hands and spilled all over the stage as she froze. She could see Fi standing against a backdrop of stars, but in a second, she faded and vanished. When she snapped back to reality, she ran over to the side of the stage and found Jack.
"Jack. I need you to find Tad and your sister. Please." With a nod, he moved as fast as he could through the crowds to the *.* trailer. He stopped at the trailer's door, propping himself against it with a hand as he caught his breath.
"I really need to implant a tracking device in that girl." He knocked on the door but nobody answered, so he tried a couple windows; it yielded the same result. Going back to the door, he sighed when his knocks went unanswered again, but something made him try the handle. The door opened, but a quick search revealed...nothing. He bit his lip as thoughts of the worst happening started to creep in.
"Jack?" A voice made him jump, but he calmed down when he saw Tad.
"Tad, thank god. Where's Fi?" Tad looked at the ground for a moment, then back up at Jack.
"I...I don't know. She just...vanished."
"What do you mean? What were you two trying to do?"
Fiona.
Fi's eyes opened, and as her eyes adjusted, she saw a room with bare, metal walls and no door. Her heartbeat quickened as she looked around, but she stopped when she felt the air in the room shift. She scrambled back to the wall and used its support to stand as something started to materialize in front of her, and she let out a gasp when it solidified into something she recognized right away: one of the grey-skinned, nondescript extraterrestrials she'd encountered before. Although its pure black eyes didn't say where it was looking, Fi felt a gaze weighing down on her.
It raised its long, four-fingered hand, gesturing to the wall; she put her back against the wall, breath trembling as it escaped her lips. It kept its hand where it was, and she felt her trepidation vanish when she understood what it wanted. Keeping her eyes on the being, she crossed the room and stopped in front of the wall. The alien glided across the floor and through the wall, and she followed it through, stepping into a shimmering metallic cloud.
When things came back into focus, she saw another room, much bigger than the one in which she woke. Her breath caught in her chest when she noticed that the far wall was transparent, and she followed the alien over to the window. Below her, a bright blue ball floated amidst a sea of stars, and she felt a tear run down her cheek when she realized where she was.
Back on Earth, Jack and Tad waited backstage for Molly to finish her set, and Jack's fingers drummed out of step with "Origami" on the stage stairs' rail.
"What are we going to tell my mom?" Tad chuckled nervously and shrugged.
"Maybe the truth?" Jack rolled his eyes.
"Come on, Tad. What do we say? 'Hey, Mom, I'm sorry, but Fiona got abducted by aliens?'"
"That's pretty much how I was planning to tell her." The band finished the song, and a cheer almost bowled them over.
"Thank you, Colorado! You've been amazing tonight!" After a final bow, Molly made her way to the stairs, and she greeted Jack and Tad with a glowing smile. It faded, however, when she saw the look on their faces. "What's wrong?"
"Well...Mom..I-" Jack stammered, but Tad piped up.
"Molly, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Fiona was abducted by aliens." Her eyes drifted to the ground as she processed what he said, finally starting to laugh.
"Come on, Tad. Aliens? Really?" He locked eyes with her.
"Really." Her eyes narrowed, and the first traces of adrenaline started to creep into her veins.
"No. You're joking, but it's not funny." Jaw set, she pushed her way past Tad.
"Molly, please." She stopped and let out a sigh, turning around to face him.
"Tad, I don't know what you did with my daughter, but you'd better bring her back here or we're going to be having a conversation." Turning back around, she moved with purposeful steps to the bus.
Miles above the Earth, Fi turned her attention back to the alien, who had joined her to look out the window.
"Why did you bring me here?" It held out its hand again to show her a device resting in its palm: a metal band shaped like a horseshoe with nodes at each end. She tried not to break it as she took it, and she looked back up at the alien. It reached out and lifted her outstretched hand up to her face; her hand started trembling as she grasped it and slipped it over her head, aligning the nodes with her temples. Although it hadn't spoken a word since she'd arrived, she could almost hear what it was asking.
"Yes." She nodded, lower lip trembling. She closed her eyes as the world exploded into white light around her, and she took a deep breath before it enveloped her.
Fi found herself adrift in outer space, and she watched as a section of the endless abyss of stars seemed to tear like fabric. From within the tear, she saw pure black light seeping out like ink in water, flooding forward and probing.
A flash of light erased the image of the tear and replaced it with an emerald-colored planet swathed in swirling clouds. From nowhere, the darkness from the tear raced toward the planet and attached to it, spreading everywhere and, in no time, completely covering its surface. When the darkness faded, she saw that it had taken the planet with it.
Another flash of light showed her Earth, and she could see the darkness encroaching and infecting it. Just as it wrapped around the world, a soft white glow pierced through it; her ring started glowing in response. The light grew brighter until it turned into a supernova, eradicating the darkness.
The ship's bridge shifted back into focus, and her hands shook badly enough to make removing the headband difficult. She swallowed a lump in her throat.
"I understand now. What do I need to do?"
Back in the tour bus, Molly paced the aisle, waging a silent debate. She stopped in front of Fi's room and opened the door, hoping to see something that would prove that Tad was pulling her leg; however, all she found was Fi's laptop on her bed. She squinted when she saw something on the screen and, on closer inspection, saw a dialog window that said BROADCAST COMPLETE. Taking a deep breath, she unplugged the laptop from its charger and took it with her as she left.
It didn't take her long to get to Tad's trailer, and she hadn't expected to see him outside of it, pacing in circles.
"Tad." He turned to look at her, but no smile lit his face when he did.
"Molly…" She walked over to him and opened Fi's laptop.
"What does this mean?" She could see the gears turning in his head through his eyes, and she saw something that she desperately needed: a glimmer of hope.
"I...I think this means that...that we can find Fi."
Above them, among the stars, the alien produced what looked like a segment of a stone circle, and she ran her fingers across it. The alien placed it in her hand, and she could have sworn that the stone emitted a soft warmth.
"What is this?" The alien looked her in the eye again, and a flash of a piece of paper went through her mind; the drawing that Andy had given her in Little Rock. She put her hand to her mouth and let out a small gasp. "Thank you." She slipped the stone into her pocket, then looked back out the window. "Can you send me back home?" The alien turned its attention to the Earth below them, then to a console that had appeared out of thin air. It didn't have any keys or screens, but a circle of light just below the surface of the metal flashed red.
On Earth, Tad took Molly into the lab inside the trailer to look at the laptop, and Molly stood by nervously as he hooked it into a black box with a red light on it. Next to the box, what appeared to be a giant metal cheese wheel stood on end without support, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up when she looked at it.
"Tad, what is that thing?"
"It's called an OOPA, but it's a piece of technology that might help us." Still not understanding, she turned her attention back to the laptop screen. "Okay, so...my satellite was destroyed, but I don't think it was what helped us reach them. Maybe this," he patted the OOPA, "was all we needed." He moved the laptop's cursor over the BROADCAST button. "Would you care to do the honors?"
"Tad, how is this going to help? What are we even broadcasting?"
"A signal to help Fi find us. If she's out there, she can use it to come home."
"Come on. If she really is in outer space, what are the chances that our signal would reach her? I mean, I'm no expert on this stuff, but it seems like a shot in the dark. Outer space is pretty vast." He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Molly, we were able to reach them once. Have some faith that we can reach them again." She looked at the floor before nodding and stepping over to the laptop. With a trembling finger, she closed her eyes and clicked the button.
Please, baby girl, find your way back to me.
In the alien's ship, a soft, melodious hum started to fill the room; Fi saw the light on the console go from red to green.
"What's that? What's going on?" She froze when she heard an all-too familiar voice in her head.
Please, baby girl, find your way back to me.
"Mom?" The alien looked at her for a moment before waving its hand over the console. After a second, white light flared up all around her, and she felt it cocooning her again.
BROADCAST COMPLETE.
Tad's face lit up when he saw those words. "Molly, we need to go! I know where Fi is. Well...I know where she will be." Molly felt her heart jump, and she nodded before following him out of the lab. They practically ran to the SUV, and Tad started the car and sped off toward their destination.
When they got to the plateau, Molly got out of the car and started looking around for her daughter, but saw nothing.
"Tad! Where is she?" She looked up to the sky just in time for a burst of white light to momentarily blind her. She covered her ears as a loud whoosh resounded around them, but the light and the noise faded, allowing her eyes to readjust. When the did, she had to rub them twice to make sure that what she was seeing wasn't an illusion.
"Mom!" Fi ran over to her and almost bowled her mom over as she hugged her, and Molly could hardly believe that Fi was in her arms.
"Baby girl, is that really you?" Her voice cracked as she asked the question.
"It's really me, Mom." Fi buried her head in Molly's shoulder, joyful tears streaming down her face.
"I'm so glad you're back." They felt Tad embrace both of them, and for one moment, the world felt perfect. After more hugging and tears, they all got back in the SUV and headed back to the festival.
Later that night, the crew had packed everything in the bus, and everyone settled in to sleep before they left in the morning. Before she went to bed, Molly made a pit stop at her daughter's room; per usual, Fi was on her laptop, typing away.
"Hey, kiddo." Fi looked up from her writing and smiled.
"Hey, Mom. Did you come to check on me again?" Fi and Molly both let out a chuckle, and Molly stepped into the room, closing the door behind her and taking a seat on the bed next to Fi.
"Look, I'm still not entirely sure what happened today, but I am...I'm so grateful to have you back that I can't even describe it." Fi smiled again and put a hand on Molly's. "I just…"
"Just what?"
"I guess you're the one person I can tell something like this to and not sound crazy. I...I think I had a vision of you disappearing." Fi's eyebrows raised.
"Really?" Molly nodded. "Tad said you didn't believe him when he told you what happened."
"I know, but maybe...maybe I just didn't want to admit to myself that there was a very real possibility that you were gone and I wouldn't be able to get you back." Fi leaned over and hugged her.
"Mom, he also told me how you found him and brought him my laptop. Thank you." Molly put a hand on Fi's head.
"No problem, kiddo." Molly got up and stopped in the doorway. "I love you, Fiona." Fi turned off the lights and slipped under the covers.
"Love you too, Mom." Molly closed the door, and Fi's eyes closed as she fell asleep. Unbeknownst to her, the piece of stone on her shelf was softly glowing, just like her ring.