[Portions of tape have been transmuted to cesium (inert, despite exposure to air) or burnt through and are unrecoverable. Label reads: EXPERIMENT 33 - DIR. W. MOFFAT & DR. V. FALKNER PARTICIPATING, DR. A. MEYERS RECORDING.]

[A large, mechanical, ring-shaped device sits in the center of a warehouse. A deep, oscillating hum emanates from it. The hum begins to rise in frequency and pitch.]

MEYERS [over loudspeaker]: 40%… 60%… Gentlemen, the test is beginning.

[Two people in large protective suits move towards the device. Each suit has black lettering on the back: the lead suit reads "MOF" while the other reads "FAL." They are tethered by safety lines leading from their suits and connecting to something off camera.]

[A tear opens in the center of the ring. Through the tear, the other side seems to bubble and shimmer, shifting through every color the magnetic tape can capture. Bands of static and visual distortion sizzle across the feed.]

[Visual feed burns out.]

UNKNOWN: [A loud, discordant sound. Though difficult to comprehend at base levels, further analysis has identified audio components drawn from the predator-deterrence call of Dryophytes cinereus, the "gekkering" of Vulpes vulpes, the low-frequency hum of large sand dunes, and Menura novaehollandiae imitating a motor.]

MOFFAT: It's talking to us.

FALKNER: What?

MOFFAT: My name is William Moffat, Director of the Department of External Observations! We mean you no harm. We wish only for the safe return of the humans you took.

UNKNOWN: [A large number of human voices blended into an indistinct chattering crowd.]

MEYERS: Director, this has never happened before. It may not be safe to approach—

MOFFAT: Dr. Nella Davis and Agent Louis Yero have families, loved ones, friends—hoping day after day for their safe return.

MOFFAT: Whatever you need from them, ask it of me instead. They are my subordinates, in my capacity as director—

[The device's hum rapidly changes pitch.]

MEYERS [over loudspeaker]: Gravitational anomalies detected—it's transmuting the gateway!

FALKNER: Already? The shielding, we should have another six minutes—

UNKNOWN: [Roaring.]

[A loud metallic twang. A heavy impact from something large and metallic striking a soft surface. Falkner screams. His scream continues, at the same pitch and volume, for the next three and a half minutes.]

MEYERS [over loudspeaker]: [gasps, stifling a scream]

MOFFAT: Falkner—damn it!

MOFFAT: The line—why won't it—give him back! Give them all back!

MEYERS [over loudspeaker]: Director, oh, God. Director, cut his line and get back! We have to cut power to BLUE DOOR!

MOFFAT: I'm not letting him go!

MEYERS [over loudspeaker]: If you don't, we'll lose you too!

[Visual feed returns.]

[The tear has expanded past the device's boundary; half of the machinery has sunk through it. The air writhes.]

[Moffat stands less than two feet from the tear, feet braced. He grips his own safety line in one hand, and Falkner's in the other. Falkner's safety line leads into the tear. Although the line is taut, Moffat seems unable to pull Falkner back. Instead, he is being dragged towards the tear, inch by inch.]

[Moffat looks into the tear. Falkner's scream continues.]

[Moffat releases his own safety line and plunges through the opening.]