Dream Weaver
(Tobias LaCont's Lab)
(Tobias and his lady friend are having wine and she is watching the stars. Tobias is blind.)
Tobias: The triangulum galaxy. Three hundred billion planets, each one a thousand times larger than Earth. A mass of more than fifty thousand light years from end to end, and yet surprisingly not a single decent place to eat.
Woman: It must be weird. Being an astronomer and not being able to see.
Tobias: Oh, I don't know. What do you see when you look up at the sky at night?
Woman: Well, stars.
Tobias: Tiny little dots far, far away. Our eyes drawn to the twinkle of a hundred billion galaxies, giving life to illusion, illusion to life. Something upon which to hang our hopes.
Woman: So why do you have a telescope?
Tobias: It came with the place. (smiles)
Woman: Show me something else. (Tobias pulls up another view on the telescope.) I don't see anything.
Tobias: You will.
(She looks again and sees the comet fly by.)
Woman: Wow! That was cool.
(They kiss.)
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
(The vid-link is now up and the crew stumbled upon Tobias as he's kissing his friend.)
Keller: This a bad time, professor?
Tobias: (on screen) Scott. My friends and I were just admiring your comet.
Ford: New research assistant, professor?
Tobias: (os) Oh, come on, Commander. You know I put the education of our youth ahead of my own pathetic needs for love and understanding.
Bridger: We envy your sacrifice, Tobias, and now if you'll extend that courtesy to Lucas we can uplink your trackers. We've got a comet to recover, remember?
Tobias: (os) You're right. Hey, Lucas, when the Commander picks a name for his comet, make sure it's something folksy. None of that alpha bravo numbers crap.
Ford: He's been pushing Wolenczak's comet all morning.
Lucas: Hey, come on, that's folksy.
Keller: Hey listen, if that thing burns itself out before I've had a chance to study it, I'm calling it quits. The energy it's packing, it could be my ticket out of our solar system.
Tobias: (os) You're sure there's something out there worth your time?
Keller: Well, I'm sure I'm not gonna find out until I get out there and take a look.
Bridger: You're pretty casual about inter-stellar travel, aren't you?
Tobias: (os) On the contrary, Captain, I find the idea fascinating. It's just that, to date, nothing's ever fallen out of the sky that's done anything but remind us how vulnerable we are.
Lucas: I'm online, professor. The comet just passed through the Q-Upper belt. She's wet in 16 minutes. She's flying. (grins)
(Shot of the comet heading for Earth.)
Bridger: (into PAL) Lieutenant Brody, status report.
(Launch Bay)
Brody: Recover team, prepped and ready sir.
(Bridge)
Lucas: Commander, this stuff is amazing. Hydrogen particles, mednet radiation, absolute matter…just a few seconds old. I mean, if these readings are correct, that comet has traversed the entire known universe in less than six weeks.
Ford: That's billions of light years from end to end. Nothing moves that fast.
Lucas: Oh, but absolute matter does.
Ford: Absolute matter is a theory. It doesn't exist. I mean, if it did anyone could travel between galaxies in the blink of an eye.
Keller: What do you think of my comet now, Tobias?
Tobias: (os) I think you better keep an eye on it.
(The comet's in the ocean.)
(Sea Crab)
(Brody is trying to get to the comet but is having a hard time because of the heat.)
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
Bridger: Lieutenant, what's wrong?
(Sea Crab)
Brody: I can't get to it, sir. This things going up like a giant bromo. I don't know how much more of this heat I can take.
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge, Later)
Keller: Were you able to recover anything?
Brody: (in sea crab) No sir, nothing. She's gone.
(Shot of the remnants of the comet floating up to the seaQuest.)
(Opening Credits)
(Bridge)
Bridger: We have every available unit in the area sweeping the perimeter, unfortunately telemetry readings aren't holding out much hope.
Keller: Surface temperatures have returned to normal. It's like it never happened.
Tobias: (os) Scott, it was a comet, it fell to Earth, it broke apart. That's what comet's do.
Keller: Yeah, well inter-stellar travel just slipped through my fingers. If I don't find a way to travel outside our galaxy I'm gonna lose my funding to this guy. (motions to Bridger)
Bridger: Hey, I lent you my boat, didn't I?
Keller: Look, Tobias, if I didn't know you better I'd swear that you were glad this thing broke apart.
Tobias: (os) I'm glad no one got hurt. Whenever you go up against the forces of nature and get out with your hide intact well you thank your lucky stars.
Keller: You thank. If you ask me, I got ripped off.
Tobias: (os) Scott, you've been to Mars and back. Do you know how many people went with you? Everyone, from Leonardo DiVinci to the Wright brothers was strapped inside that tin can right along with you. When our time comes your contributions will be there too.
Keller: Well I don't plan on being there in spirit, Tobias. I plan on being there in person.
Bridger: Professor, thanks again for the use of your trackers.
Tobias: (os) Anytime, Nathan. (signs off)
Keller: Kind of embarrassing falling on your face in front of the man that taught you everything.
(Launch Bay)
Ford: Sorry, Commander, we had six hours out there and we're just pulling up water.
Brody: There's a cold front stirring things up. Even if there were something to find, by now it's been blown miles from here.
Keller: Thanks for trying.
Bridger: You can call the rest in, Jonathan.
(Sea Crab)
Crewman #1: (on radio) Sea Crabs Alpha and Bravo, mission one is scrap, return to base.
Crewman: Roger that.
(They head back into the seaQuest, and we see that a type of blanket is now on the hull.)
(Bridger's Room)
(Bridger and Keller are having a drink.)
Keller: Tobias is one of the great mind's of our time. Totally blind and there isn't a solar system in our galaxy that he hasn't charted. Did you know that when he was seven years old he pinpointed the exact moment the universe was born? I mean, at age seven I barely knew my own birthday. And at fourteen he holds Newton's chair at Cambridge.
Bridger: And I thought you were competitive with me.
Keller: It's like he was born for one reason. To open our eyes to the wonders of the universe. You should have seen him, a skinny little fourteen year old kid totally captivating a room full of NASA pencil-necks. Made us all feel like we were idiots.
Bridger: You know, intelligence will only take you so far, then you have to get out and walk.
Keller: Yeah. Well you're lucky, Nathan. You've got this boat. Your universe will always be within reach. I'll never have that.
(Darwin swims up in the Aqua tunnels and Bridger sees him.)
Bridger: What is it my friend. (Darwin looks at him then swims off.) He wants us to follow.
(Bridge)
(Keller and Bridger enter. Darwin swims up. Lucas comes down from his station and turns on the vo-corder.)
Bridger: What is it pal?
Darwin: Darwin can't leave. Too slimy.
Lucas: What? An oil spill? What?
Darwin: Not oil. Blanket.
Bridger: A blanket? O'Neil, what's he saying.
O'Neil: I don't know. I'm not reading any contaminants. There's no internal ruptures or fuel leaks either.
Bridger: Engage a WSKR. (to Darwin) Where's the blanket?
Darwin: Around seaQuest. Brings new life.
O'Neil: WSKR view up, sir.
(They all look and see that seaQuest does indeed appear to be covered in a blanket.)
Keller: Looks like a cocoon.
Bridger: Ortiz, how deep are we?
Ortiz: I have no idea, sir. Anything I ping out pings right back.
(Piccolo rings in on the speaker. He fades in and out.)
Piccolo: Captain, I'm on level…I think someone should have a look at this thing. I don't know what it is, but it's…
Bridger: Piccolo, repeat. Piccolo?
O'Neil: He's in Sea Deck, sir.
(Bridger, Keller, and Lucas head for Sea Deck.)
(Sea Deck)
(Piccolo is there and there is a giant pod of something in one corner of the room.)
Piccolo: (into PAL) And it's got like everything shoved into a corner, and I really think somebody aught to come down here and look at this. Anybody?
(Bridger, Keller, and Lucas enter)
Lucas: What is that?
Piccolo: The pimple from hell!
Lucas: Has the mainline busted?
Bridger: Lucas, check the rest of the hull.
(Lucas goes over to the computer.)
Keller: It looks like it's full of liquid.
Piccolo: Maybe the head's backed up, cause this thing stinks.
Lucas: Structural integrity's fine.
Bridger: Try the sonogram.
(Lucas does so and they scan the pod.)
Lucas: Captain.
(They look and see that something is growing inside the pod.)
Bridger: It's a baby.
Piccolo: Yeah, but a baby what?
(Bridge)
Keller: (into PAL) Pier Bay Seven, this is Commander Scott Keller, do you copy? I need a priority one signal.
Dagwood: What kind of baby is it?
O'Neil: That's the question of the hour, Dag.
Ford: I'll tell you what it is. It's an unknown biologic that's dragging us to the ocean floor.
Henderson: I think it's kinda cute.
(O'Neil gives her a look.)
Keller: (into PAL) Bay Seven, this is Commander Keller, do you copy?
O'Neil: I'm sorry, sir. I can't hold a signal.
Henderson: Nothing can work in this heat.
Keller: Can we surface?
Bridger: We're too heavy, Scott. I can't afford to risk blowing the balasts. This thing is feeding off the bioskin of our boat.
Dagwood: (still watching the 'baby') It's growing.
Ford: Well, that's what baby's do, Dag.
Henderson: (looks up at the screen) No, he's right. It is growing.
(They all look and see that the 'baby' is growing at a very fast rate.)
Keller: We're about to give birth to an alien. Nathan, we've got to tell someone.
Bridger: I'd love to share your enthusiasm, but I've got a submarine to get back online.
(The power goes out briefly then comes back online.)
Computer: Activate Level 10 Emergency Oxygen Procedures. Report to designated shelter stations.
Ford: That thing breathes our air.
O'Neil: Our air, our water. All systems have shut down in sequence.
Bridger: All right, Commander. Let's go to Level 10 Emergency. Lock off everything above the Sea Deck. I want to move as far away from this thing as possible, and I want guards on that thing around the clock.
Ford: Okay people, let's move it.
(Sea Deck)
(Two guards are now guarding the pod. They hear a noise and go closer to investigate. Suddenly the alien is born, and it kills the guards and then runs off.)
(Hallway)
(Ford, Keller, and several other men are now searching for the alien.)
Ford: But he's not up there, Brody says he's on B Deck.
Keller: He was here for some reason.
Ford: You can't make sense of this thing, Commander. It's a predator.
Keller: Yeah well, you can be a predator, but he's trying to make sense of us.
Ford: (into PAL) Brody, meet us at Mag-Lev.
(Mag-Lev)
(The two teams meet up at Mag-Lev. Ford uses the automatic override to open the doors. They go into the Mag-Lev with their guns at the ready, and spot something.)
Ford: Uh, it's scrub.
Brody: No, uh-uh. Let's blast this one right now.
Keller: No, wait. It's not another one.
(Ford gets closer and he peers inside. There are all kinds of personal items from missing crew members. He picks up a necklace and holds it out to Brody. He then picks up a boot. He looks inside, and it's marked "Ortiz, M".)
Ford: It's Ortiz.
(Safe Shelter)
(Bridger is talking to Ford & Keller on the PAL.)
Bridger: (into PAL) A person is missing until found, Commander.
(Hallway)
Ford: (into PAL) Aye, sir. Ortiz is on this boat, we'll find him.
(Safe Shelter)
Bridger: (into PAL) Get me Scott again.
(Hallway)
(Ford hands the PAL over to Scott.)
Keller: (into PAL) Yeah.
(Safe Shelter)
Bridger: (into PAL) Scott, what do we have here?
(Hallway)
Keller: (into PAL) I wish I knew, Nathan. He's collecting things. Books, photographs, clothes.
(Safe Shelter)
Bridger: (into PAL) Do you think it's capable of processing information?
(Hallway)
Keller: (into PAL) This stuff isn't random. He wants something.
(Safe Shelter)
Bridger: (into PAL) Well I'm not gonna wait to find out what it is. My interest in science lacks when my crew is in danger. (he signs off.)
(to Lucas and the others in the safe shelter) This doesn't necessarily mean that Ortiz is dead.
O'Neil: No, sir.
Henderson: Of course not.
Lucas: No, absolutely not, sir.
Bridger (points to map) These com-lines can be set up for emergency power by satellite, right?
O'Neil: Yeah, but the EPS controls it from their end.
Bridger: Yeah, but we can tap into them if we need them, right?
O'Neil: Yes, but the power would be negligible. I'm not even sure how much power you can pull out of the atmosphere.
Henderson: If it powers one extra pulse rifle it's worth it.
Lucas: We'd have to find a hotwire somewhere along the system.
O'Neil: Uh, (points) here. Communications.
O'Neil: I'll do it.
Lucas: It's no problem.
Henderson: I'll go.
Lucas: Ah, you better let me do this.
Henderson: Why? Because it's dangerous? Let me earn my keep, would you.
Bridger: But remember, if you see anything, hear anything, don't hesitate to push that all alert flash. (hands her an alarm).
Henderson: Got it. Thanks. (climbs up the ladder)
(Duct Shaft)
(Henderson climbs up and looks around)
Henderson: Me and my big mouth. (she begins crawling towards Communications.)
(Communications)
Henderson: (into PAL) I'm in.
(She begins to reboot the systems.)
(Hallway - Near Mag-Lev)
Brody: Nothing. Either it's trail ends here or these batteries are dead.
Ford: Oh, where is he?
Keller: Is there any other way to get this thing operational without power or a backup system?
Brody: No, once the power's down Mag-Lev goes with it. If you're between stations you've got to hoof it to the next stop. I've done it, it ain't pretty.
Keller: (points to emergency exit tunnel) What about through here?
Ford: No, it couldn't have gone through there, that's an emergency exit. Even with no power, if somebody goes through there an alarm sounds throughout the entire boat.
(Keller looks and sees that the controls are fried.)
Keller: Not if he's fried the alarm system.
Brody: If he's inside the Mag-Lev tunnel he can access the entire boat.
Keller: It's smarter than I thought.
(Hallway)
(Dagwood is walking down the hallway. He smells something and looks into one of the Mag-Lev openings where he finds himself looking down the barrel of a gun. He backs up and Ortiz walks forward. He almost collapses to the floor with relief.)
Ortiz: Dag, am I glad to see you.
Dagwood: I'm glad to see you. Where's the baby bad thing?
(Ortiz shows Dagwood his leg which has several cuts on it and its bleeding.)
Ortiz: Does that look like the work of a baby? Help me out, would ya? Dag?
(Dagwood goes to help him, but pauses and sniffs. He turns around to find the alien at his back. He and the alien fight. The alien is much stronger. Just when it's about to kill Dagwood, Brody and Ford's teams show up and fire on the alien. It runs off.)
Brody: Dagwood, you all right? We barely even fazed that thing.
Ford: Miguel.
Ortiz: The others didn't make it out. We tried to make it to the shelter but…the boat was sealed up tight. Dagwood, you saved my life, man. Thanks.
Dagwood: Welcome, man. (re: the alien) It was a bad thing.
Ford: Let's get you guys to safe quarters.
(Communications)
(Henderson has gotten the vid-link to reboot. The alien watches her.)
Henderson: (into PAL) Tim, I was able to hot-wire the vid-link. It's rebooting through memory now.
(Safe Shelter)
O'Neil: Great job, um, Ortiz is fine. A little banged up, but he'll live to tell his grandkids.
(Communications)
(Henderson pauses as she hears the alien behind her.)
O'Neil: (in safe shelter) Henderson? Lonnie?
(Henderson hides as the alien walks up to the vid-link and sees the message from Tobias.)
Tobias: Scott…my friend and I were just admiring your comet…
(Henderson tries to escape and she and the alien fight. She's able to climb into the Duct Shaft.)
(Duct Tunnels)
(O'Neil is in the tunnels too trying to get to Henderson. The alien is also trying to catch up with her.)
O'Neil: Lonnie!
Henderson: Tim! Tim!
O'Neil: Don't worry, Lonnie! I'm coming!
Henderson: Tim! Tim!
O'Neil: I gotcha!
(They grab hands, and grin at each other. Suddenly Henderson is grabbed from behind by the alien and dragged away.)
O'Neil: No!!!
(Safe Shelter)
Brody: We're not getting anything on the tracker, Lucas.
Lucas: Well then your trackers are wrong. It's busted or something. The batteries are low, but there's no way she can be gone. She can't be gone.
Brody: It's fully charged, Lucas, I'm sorry.
Bridger: Easy, easy.
Lucas: Maybe she's hiding, like Ortiz.
Brody: Even with Miguel down in the belly of this beast it always registered something.
Lucas: I should have gone. It should have been me.
O'Neil: Captain, I'm getting something in the engine room.
Lucas: It's Henderson.
Ford: No, it's moving too fast.
Bridger: Do we have enough power to charge the ballasts?
O'Neil: Some, yeah. But not enough to drag us to the surface with this shell around us.
Bridger: What happens if we empty the swim tubes?
O'Neil: We might have more pressure to work with.
Bridger: All right, let's do it. Secure Darwin in the Moon Pool. Then we'll suck this thing into the swim tubes and blast it out the ballasts. (O'Neil begins typing.) Lucas, this was Henderson's choice, and no matter what it looks like, it's not your fault.
Lucas: Yeah, whether it's my fault or not, it sure feels like it is. So I fail to see the difference.
O'Neil: Darwin's secured in Sea Deck, sir.
Part Two