Cold Storage

Prego.

Pronto.

Is this Dr. Martins?

Yes, this is Dr. Martins.

-Who is this? -NASA Space

Biosciences Research.

We're patching through your call.

-"My call"? I-- -

Hello? Who is it now? Why can't I talk

-to the same person? -Hello, this is Dr. Martins.

-Oh, please! -Who is this?

Something came out of your tank!

Okay, slow down. Can you tell me

-your name, please, sir? -I told the man!

I told them all! Six times I've called already!

Always a different person! W-- Where am I calling now?

Rome. I'm a research microbiologist at Sapienza.

-Oh, why'd they give me you? -I--

I consult for NASA sometimes, epidemiological surveillance.

Now it's your turn. Who are you, sir?

Enos Minjarra.

I live in Kiwirrkurra.

Kiwirrkurra, where is that?

We're dying!

We're all dying! Something came out of your tank!

What tank?

The one uncle found, near Tanami Basin.

-Australia? -Yes,

long time ago, in the '70s!

But now, something came out,

and if you're NASA, this is your tank!

You have to help us!

Where did the tank come from?

Where did it come from...

-Hello? -Are you still there?

-Hello... -Sir...

Taxi!

- -Can you hear me, sir?

-I can't hear you. -

- -Help us.

Dr. Hero Martins, Major Robert Quinn.

DTRA.

This is my partner, Lieutenant Colonel Trini Romano.

How are ya?

Where's the rest of your team?

You're looking at us.

Okay, let's get started.

I thought the Skylab Space Station

fell in the Indian Ocean in '79.

Well, most of it did,

but when it broke up in the atmosphere,

one of the O2 tanks was recovered near here.

Some guy found it, put it in front of his house,

thought people might pay to come see it.

Just an empty oxygen tank?

No, this one wasn't empty.

It was sent up with a microbial organism,

a parasitic fungus that could adapt

from one species to another.

So, we sent up a terrestrial fungus

and it came back down.

-What's the problem? The problem is,

I think what went into the tank is not what came out.

And now, everyone in Kiwirrkurra is dying. Or dead.

No one has been in or out since that phone call.

-Epinephrine, yeah? Yeah.

I would rather not discover a lethal allergen the hard way.

When were you first notified?

Less than 30 hours ago.

So, when did the outbreak start?

That's unclear.

Have you been called for this sort of thing before?

Space shit? Oh, all the time.

Robert. Sorry. No.

Bioweapons and nuclear threats, yes.

Extraterrestrials, meh, no.

Why would they intentionally send

a hazardous organism into space?

Research? To develop

an antifungal medication for astronauts.

Switching bodycams on.

A suitcase.

-Somebody tried to leave. Or they arrived.

Maybe people come from

all over Australia just to stay here.

...and I am the light.

He who believes in me shall rejoice.

It shall be--

Fourteen houses, 12 cars, and no people.

So, where the hell is everybody?

I found it! Over here.

Uh-huh.

Here we go.

We don't know what we're dealing with.

Don't touch the tank. Stay behind me.

Huh.

It's a folkloric solution,

potatoes and dish soap.

The guy must've been trying to clean it.

Microfissures in the tank,

polysaccharide in the potato, sodium palmitate in the soap.

Dripped into the tank, it's protein rich.

The guy might not have meant to,

but he created one hell of a pro-growth environment.

All it needs is some water and it would really multiply.

Who the hell are you?

Hey, can you, um...

just grab the loop in my suit?

-I'm gonna pull against you. Yeah?

But just don't let me go, okay?

Yeah. I gotcha.

All right, if I start to fall, just pull back hard.

Ready?

Jesus Christ.

-What is it? -I don't know.

But it's big, fast,

and it's heterotrophic.

-You okay? -Yeah, thanks.

Hey! I found a body!

I've got you. Thanks.

Pockmarks in the skin, erupted flesh,

uh...

he... he burst.

You don't say.

Plates of the skull are split,

all eight seamlines.

Oh, my God. What?

It's all of them.

Why the hell they all climb their roofs?

It told them to. The fungus?

Yes. That's how

an insect-pathogenic fungus reproduces.

It controls all brain function, movement, reflex, impulse.

It's driven to infect other hosts

any way it can.

Sometimes, it tells them to climb and wait.

-For what? -For the fungus to overfill

its body cavity and burst.

And spread.

But that's... that's only insects.

It was.

- -Jesus!

Get your sample, Doc,

and let's get the hell out of here.

Maybe the tank picked up a hitchhiker,

maybe a spore penetrated its shell upon reentry,

but... however it happened,

I think we've created a new species.

We need to burn this place. To the ground. Right away.

A couple M47s loaded with

white phosphorus ought to do the job.

Yeah.

That will cover any spread.

Dr. Martins.

Dr. Martins?

Come on, we need to go.

All right, I'm done.

Come on, let's move.

You smell that? Burnt toast?

In your suit? It's not possible.

My suit is sealed and overpressured,

there's nothing in here

but oxygen and clean CO2.

Feel anything?

A little hot.

We'll lose the suits at the jeep.

They need to burn here anyway. We'll check yours for breaches.

Who the hell's gonna store this thing? CDC?

No. Atlanta and Galveston

will both classify extraterrestrial.

They'll reject it outright.

Fort Detrick? -

Still in a top-down review

after their last breach.

I wouldn't trust it to them.

What about Atchison?

What, the mines in Kansas?

Exactly, nobody ever uses them.

Yeah, not bad.

No. No!

Hero? You okay?

Stop! Stop!

Can you hear me?

Spread, spread, spread, spread,