Sub-Orbital Lullaby

Screenplay draft

Title: Sub-Orbital Lullaby
Credit: Written by
Author: Anonymous
Draft date: 13 April 2026

FADE IN.

INT. AURORA STATION - MAINTENANCE CORRIDOR - NIGHT

A narrow tube of riveted titanium. Red emergency strips pulse along the floor. ELENA VOSS, late 30s, drifts forward in a patched pressure suit, boots barely touching the deck. Her faceplate reflects scrolling pressure gauges.

She stops at a grille. A thin, clear humming leaks out—childlike, wordless. Elena's gloved fingers hover over the metal.

ELENA
Lila?

The humming continues, slightly off-key. Elena presses her helmet against the grille. Static answers. She keys her wrist comm.

ELENA
Kress, I'm getting audio bleed on Deck 7. Someone's using the old guest channels.

HARLAN KRESS (V.O.)
No guests left, Voss. Run a diagnostic and log it.

Elena doesn't answer. She pulls a diagnostic wand and scans the grille. The needle spikes at 23 hertz—human vocal range.

She detaches her tether and begins unscrewing the panel. The humming grows louder, closer.

INT. AURORA STATION - MAINTENANCE HUB - NIGHT

Cramped octagonal bay lined with dented tool lockers. One porthole shows the Earth limb glowing through a film of condensation. A single flickering work light hangs from a cable. Elena floats in, suit streaked with sealant. She clips her toolbox to a locker and pulls the diagnostic log.

The low thrum of recyclers shifts. A four-note melody bleeds through the vent—Lila's lullaby, exact.

Elena freezes. Her breath fogs the faceplate. She keys the comm again.

ELENA
Kress, confirm audio on channel nine.

HARLAN KRESS (V.O.)
Diagnostic only, Voss. No deviations.

Elena shuts off the comm. She drifts to the vent, presses her helmet to it. The lullaby resolves, then cuts to static.

INT. AURORA STATION - MED-BAY - NIGHT

MIRA SOLIS, mid 40s, tight braid and stained scrubs, floats beside a diagnostic bed. Elena sits on the edge, helmet off, grease lines on her cheekbones. Mira scans her vitals.

MIRA SOLIS
The dead don't come back up here. They just echo until we stop listening.

Elena stares at the floor grate.

ELENA
I heard her.

MIRA SOLIS
Steady pressure, Elena. You've been on shift thirty-six hours.

Elena pushes off the bed. She drifts to the porthole. Earth spins below, dusk bleeding into night.

INT. AURORA STATION - GUEST DECK 4 - NIGHT

Elena floats through dim corridors. Velvet wallpaper peels like sunburnt skin. Crystal sconces dead and dusty. Her boots brush abandoned luggage straps. She checks pressure logs on a faded terminal. The numbers flicker—normal, then a spike at 23 hertz again.

The lullaby returns, louder, from the airlock grille ahead.

INT. GUEST DECK 4 AIRLOCK CORRIDOR - NIGHT

Velvet strips drift in zero-G. A child's handprint glows faintly on the inner door. Elena approaches. The lullaby pours from the speaker. She reaches for the manual override.

HARLAN KRESS (V.O.)
Voss, stand down. Oxygen quota revoked if you touch that wheel.

ELENA
It's her, Kress.

HARLAN KRESS (V.O.)
Log it and return to hub. That's an order.

Elena ignores him. She spins the wheel. The inner door cycles open with a hiss.

INT. FIRST AIRLOCK - NIGHT

Elena steps through, tether left behind on the corridor floor. The door seals behind her. Silence. She drifts forward into an impossible corridor—zero-G velvet suites where holograms of laughing families loop on cracked walls.

Lila's humming echoes from deeper in.

INT. IMPOSSIBLE CORRIDOR - NIGHT

Elena moves weightless past preserved guest suites. Holograms flicker: families at dinner, children spinning in zero-G. She reaches the second airlock. Through the glass, Lila's silhouette—small, pink sleep suit, bare feet not touching the deck—pressed against the pane.

Elena smiles. She presses her gloved hand to the glass. The handprint on the other side matches.

MIRA SOLIS (V.O.)
Elena, I'm coming in. Don't open the next seal.

ELENA
She's right here.

MIRA SOLIS (V.O.)
Steady pressure. I'm at Airlock One.

Elena overrides the second door.

INT. SECOND AIRLOCK - NIGHT

Mira pursues through the first corridor, medical kit in hand. She reaches the second lock just as Elena steps through. Kress's voice cuts in on comms.

HARLAN KRESS (V.O.)
Solis, if she breaches three, I cut main power. Station integrity first.

Mira hesitates, then follows.

INT. FINAL EXTERNAL AIRLOCK - NIGHT

Circular chamber. Manual crank wheel. Outer door pocked like acne scars. Elena floats inside. The lullaby is clear now—no static. Lila's voice, wordless, from beyond the final door.

The third seal begins to fail. Elena's suit cracks. Air screams out. She watches Lila's form start to dissolve.

ELENA
I let you die on Earth. I took the contract.

She reaches for her helmet seal.

MIRA SOLIS (V.O.)
Elena, no!

Elena removes her helmet. Vacuum rushes in but does not kill her. The lullaby fills her ears.

She pushes through the final door.

EXT. AURORA STATION - EXTERIOR - NIGHT

Elena and Lila drift together outside the hull. Their joined hands form a single silhouette against the planet below. Starlight catches on Lila's translucent face.

The station's hull lights extinguish one by one. The last visible glow is a child's handprint fading on an outer window.

The lullaby broadcasts Earthward on all channels.

FADE OUT.