Elena and Sam pushed through the line of medical personnel, aiming their flashlights directly into the narrow opening. But as the bright LED beams cut through the lingering vapor inside the sphere, both of them froze in total, speechless shock. There was no pilot. There was no medical gear, no oxygen mask, and no human being. The cramped interior was packed entirely with vintage vacuum tubes, thick copper wiring, and a massive optical camera lens.
"Where are they?" Sam stammered, his voice trembling as he shoved his light deeper into the dark cavity. "We heard them! We both heard a voice!" He reached inside, frantically feeling around the cold metal chassis, but the space was far too small to ever hold a person. The capsule was completely uncrewed.
Mounting panic gave way to deep, chilling confusion as an engineer shined a high-powered spotlight onto a small, primitive radio transmitter bolted to the inner wall. A short circuit caused by the glacier's collapse had sent a surge of electricity from an old battery into a mechanical tape drive. The magnetic tape had been spinning endlessly through a small external speaker until the battery finally died just moments before the hatch was opened.