Red Valley · Kontinue Productions

Introducing: Derelict

December 3, 2023·52 min·4 clips

Agent Blaine reveals the scientist who tried to blow up the base hanged himself in his cell — and Eva's medical file shows the same warning signs.

The episode opens with Eva waking from bad dreams in a research capsule deep underwater. Her AI companion Mac, who has been acting erratically since an explosion destroyed part of the base, logs her poor sleep data. Eva speaks with colleague Sarah about the damage: three capsules breached, northern platform heavily hit, engineer Emerson is missing and can't be located via comms. Eva also learns that the science team is being recalled to the surface by corporate order, leaving only essential staff. ISD Agent Blaine arrives ahead of schedule for a security review. Eva learns from Commander Joe Freeman that Blaine's early arrival suggests the corporation has lost patience. Eva and Freeman argue about how to handle the review, each trying to avoid blame for Edgars' actions. Blaine speaks with Eva separately, walking through the damage and questioning the base's systems, including Mac. Eva dismisses calls to shut Mac down as too costly. Blaine wants to speak with VI engineer Emerson, but she remains missing. A sudden flood event — Mac failed to warn them the adjacent capsule had breached — injures several men and intensifies demands to shut Mac down. Eva keeps Mac online but limits his critical access. She takes Blaine to the observation deck to show him the vault: 2,000 feet in diameter, 600 yards away, seven million years old. She explains the signal: a VLF carrier wave broadcasting a single mathematical equation in binary, which the team believes is the key to opening the vault. The team has been testing rational integer solutions for almost a year with no success. Blaine questions Eva's progress and raises the possibility her slow results are intentional — noting she originally turned down the project director role before lobbying to be included after a personal loss. He accuses her of hiding at the bottom of the ocean to escape grief. He reveals Edgars hanged himself in his cell and then confronts Eva with her own medical file showing she reported hearing voices — before Edgars did. Eva breaks and admits she doesn't sleep and hears her daughter when she does. Blaine orders her to pack for the surface. Alone, Eva realises the vault signal's own properties — ten seconds long, two seconds between cycles — might be the equation's variables. Testing them in reverse gives a result of exactly eleven: the signal's own broadcast frequency. She contacts Freeman and asks him to conduct a floor walk to the relay to transmit the solution. Before they can proceed, the western platform collapses. Eva is washed into an airlock and survives, but loses contact with the rest of the crew.

As heard by us

A submerged sci-fi opener that turns mystery and corporate pressure into immediate tension.

Derelict is a sci-fi audio drama that places its story at the bottom of Earth's ocean, where an ancient artifact shaped like a giant door draws in a powerful corporation determined to open it.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a sealed-off ocean mystery with a giant door and real stakes.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Red Valley