Episode 2 — A Voice Is Not a Fault

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Episode summary

Mara's cancelled salvage job has not stopped the network's dismantling order. To protect Relay Nine, she must prove that someone is still there without giving away everyone who answers.

Transcript

Far Signal - Volume 1, Episode 2: A Voice Is Not a Fault
By Saffron Satellite / WebtoonHaven Studio.
AI-assisted artwork and lettering.

Panel 1. Mara stands beside Sio in Relay Nine's industrial service spine. Inez appears on an amber terminal beside a blue coolant pipe. An orange heart-shaped washer rests below her screen.
Mara: How many stations answered?

Panel 2. Sio faces an amber network map with several connected points.
Sio: Six addresses. That is not a head count.

Panel 3. Inez looks out from the terminal, with the orange heart on the shelf below.
Inez: Some of us share a screen.

Panel 4. Mara studies a red warning on her handheld tablet.
Mara: Then we ask. One voice at a time.

Panel 5. Over Mara's shoulder, the tablet displays a green cancellation tick beside a separate red alert. Sio looks on.
Sio: Your job is cancelled. The network order is still active.

Panel 6. Mara frowns behind her sealed helmet visor, holding the tablet low.
Mara: They can send another crew.

Panel 7. Inez turns her gaze aside on the terminal. The heart-shaped washer remains below the screen.
Inez: They have before.

Panel 8. Mara works at a low console displaying a network diagram. Sio stands behind her.
Mara: I can request an occupied-station hold.

Panel 9. Mara's black-gloved hands hold a tablet showing a lungs symbol, a warning triangle and an empty graph.
Mara: It wants a life-support reading.

Panel 10. Mara and Sio face Inez's terminal, beside the working blue coolant tube.
Sio: There is no air to measure.

Panel 11. Inez looks steadily out of the amber screen.
Inez: There is someone to ask.

Panel 12. Mara's black-gloved hand selects a communication icon on the terminal.
Mara: Then the form can wait.

Panel 13. Mara and Sio stand before a terminal showing Inez beside several separate waveform panes.
Mara: I am Mara. You do not have to give me a name.

Panel 14. An amber waveform glows brightly beside Inez's portrait.
Voice: Can the owner hear this?

Panel 15. Mara turns towards Sio beside the terminal and its connected cables.
Mara: Sio?

Panel 16. A broad cable enters a socket beside a red recording indicator.
Sio: The service recorder is listening.

Panel 17. Mara reaches towards the broad connector below the screen. Sio shines a light across the cables.
Sio: Not that one. It carries their reply.

Panel 18. Mara kneels and examines the cable branches with a torch. Sio waits behind her.
Mara: Show me the recording branch.

Panel 19. Mara holds the narrow recording connector away from its socket. The recorder indicator is dark; the broad cable remains connected.
No dialogue.

Panel 20. The terminal still shows Inez and an active waveform. Mara and Sio watch it.
Sio: Recorder isolated. The voice channel is still open.

Panel 21. Mara sits beside Sio facing an anonymous amber waveform on the terminal.
Mara: May I send a short statement that you are here?

Panel 22. Mara listens beside a small amber pulse on the otherwise dark terminal.
Voice: Not my address.

Panel 23. Close-up of Mara behind her sealed visor, with Sio at her shoulder.
Mara: Then I will not send yours.

Panel 24. Inez looks directly outward from the terminal, with the orange heart below her screen.
Inez: Send mine. Let me speak.

Panel 25. Mara and Sio listen as Inez speaks from the terminal.
Inez: I am Inez, at Relay Nine. I do not consent to dismantling.

Panel 26. Mara checks a recorded waveform on her tablet, her gloved finger beside its controls.
Mara: This statement and our cooling readings. Nothing else?

Panel 27. Inez looks firmly out of the amber screen.
Inez: Nothing else.

Panel 28. Mara selects a single transmission control on her tablet beside the recorded waveform.
Sio: Sent. No camera feed. No private sessions.

Panel 29. Mara studies a tablet map showing one green point surrounded by red warning markers.
Mara: Temporary hold. Relay Nine only.

Panel 30. Sio faces the wider amber network map, with Inez in a separate pane.
Sio: The maintenance sweep still includes the others.

Panel 31. Mara closes her tool case beside Sio. The blue coolant apparatus and Inez's terminal remain active behind them.
Mara: We find them before it does.

Panel 32. A wide view shows Relay Nine's service spine and the stars beyond it. Mara and Sio are small beside Inez's screen. The anonymous voice is heard over the final view.
Voice: I am still listening.