Splashdown
(seaQuest, Sea Deck)
Lucas: Okay, what about this one? (shows Darwin a picture of a fish)
Darwin: Moldy sneeze.
Lucas: Moldy sneeze?
Darwin: Yes. Moldy sneeze.
Lucas: This guy's got names for 50 types of fish we haven't even classified. The only problem is there's no way to translate them.
(Piccolo walks in)
Piccolo: That's fascinating, Lucas. I'll try to remember that next time I date an ickyologist.
Lucas: That's icktheologist, Tony.
Piccolo: Ha! Not where I'm from.
(Lucas walks over to Dagwood who has a strange look on his face. He turns to see what Dagwood is looking at and it's a projection image of Commander Scott Keller.)
Lucas: Am I seeing things?
Dagwood: Yes. You're seeing Commander Keller.
(Scott appears all over the boat. Sea Deck, the bridge, and the Captains Quarters just to name a few spots.)
Scott: I need your help. If you can hear this transmission, if any part of this message is getting through, meet me at the Christmas tree as fast as you can. I'm sorry to have to ask you. But please, don't forget Organa Watt. It's our only chance, Nathan. Our lives depend on it.
(The projection disappears)
(Captain's Quarters)
(Intercom sounds)
Bridger: Bridger.
Ford: (on intercom) Captain, we just saw something on the bridge. We're getting reports from around the boat.
Bridger: Did it look like Scott Keller?
Ford: (on intercom) You saw it too?
Bridger: I'd say so.
Ford: (on intercom) He's appeared to everybody who knew him.
Bridger: Assemble the crew on the double.
(Bridge)
Bridger: He said meet him at a Christmas tree?
Ford: Yeah. After we recovered him from the Mars probe last year I showed him a chart of where we found him and told him we'd nicknamed the canyon Christmas tree because it had so many branches.
Bridger: So only you know that. So, we'll meet him there.
Ford: What's an Organa Watt?
Bridger: Oh yeah. Organa Watt. She was the woman who ran the women's dorm at the academy. One night Scott had to eat about a dozen and a half of her terrible cookies to keep her busy while I snuck a girl out the back way. He said I owed him big time for that and he was going to wait for a life or death situation to hand in his chip. I guess this is it, huh?
Henderson: We're nearing the Christmas tree trench, sir.
Bridger: We picking up anything?
O'Neil: Just static. It's almost like we're being jammed.
Bridger: Could we punch out a message if we had to?
O'Neil: No.
(seaQuest is suddenly being lifted out of the water by an electric arm.)
Bridger: Damn! What's that?
Ortiz: Feels like an energy pulse coming from overhead.
Bridger: Get me WSKR view.
Ortiz: I can't. We're losing power.
Bridger: Emergency power. WSKR view!
Ortiz: On screen.
(They see a spaceship lifting them out of the water.)
Ford: Oh my god! What is that?
Henderson: Captain, I can't control her. We're rising.
Bridger: Take her back. Take her back!
Henderson: I can't!
Lucas: Oxygen Regeneration's failing. We're running out of air.
Bridger: Henderson, sound off.
Henderson: 200 meters, 100. We're on the surface.
Lucas: I don't believe it.
(seaQuest is taken up into the spaceship. They then make a jump through space.)
Bridger: What's doing this?
Lucas: I think we're making a hyper-space jump.
Ford: A what?
Lucas: It's the only thing that makes sense, Commander.
O'Neil: Captain, I think I'm getting a signal.
Bridger: Put it on the screen.
O'Neil: Aye, sir.
(They arrive at an ocean world. Much like in the movie Waterworld.)
Dagwood: What is it?
Lucas: I don't know how or why, Dagwood, but that's another planet. Just hang on okay.
Ortiz: We're going in.
Bridger: Okay, be ready. Be ready for anything.
(seaQuest is submerged on the new planet.)
Bridger: What?
Ortiz: Our power's coming back on.
Lucas: We've got oxygen.
Brody: We're wet, Captain.
Bridger: Dive. Take her down. Lay her along the bottom.
Ortiz: Captain, I'm picking up something dead ahead.
(It's some type of submarine)
Ford: What the hell is that?
Bridger: Looks like somebody's idea of a submarine.
Ortiz: It's docking with our launch bay.
Bridger: Come on! (They run to the docking bay.)
(Docking Bay Three)
(Tobias le Conte exits the submarine)
Tobias: Ah, Nathan.
Bridger: Tobias.
Tobias: Thank you for coming, my friends.
Bridger: You didn't give us much choice. Where's Scott?
Tobias: Didn't you get his message? I thought that's why you were here.
Bridger: He didn't say anything about being transported to another planet.
Tobias: Oh, yes. I'm sorry, but we didn't have two way communication equipment to reach you and there was very little time. Wendi, is there something wrong?
Wendi: I just realized you can see.
Tobias: Yes, well, it's amazing what a little travel can do for you. Particularly when there's no longer a need to pretend you're fully human. But I will answer all your questions. First, allow me to present the leader of, well, half our nation. The better half. (calls to the leaders) La na shaw.
Woman: Oh behalf of the people of Hyperion, thank you for coming and hearing our plea.
Bridger: Plea?
Man: For your help, because without it both our worlds are going to be destroyed. Yours as well as ours.
(Ward Room)
Tobias: After Scott and I left you, we debated where to go, what new vistas to see. I wanted to explore the heart of the galaxy, but Scott wanted to come here. I'd been a member of the resistance movement on Hyperion, which is why I fled to Earth and why our rulers, the KraTaks, sent that Stormer after me. Scott said that if the KraTaks were so afraid of me, maybe there was a reason.
Bridger: Was there?
Tobias: Our culture had become to advanced to submit to tyranny any longer. A civil war had broken out. The only problem was the resistance couldn't reach the space stations. Because they were purely military they remained in the hands of the KraTaks and they counter-attacked by flooding the planet.
Lucas: Flooding it? How?
Woman: They bombarded it with comets torn from their orbits around our sun. Not only did the explosions melt the polar caps, but the comets themselves consisted mostly of ice which added to the flooding. In less than a year most of our planet was submerged. Which is why we need your help.
Bridger: There's no way our technology can match yours.
Man: Don't underrate yourselves. Hyperion is far less advanced than you might think. Remember most of our space technology was developed after Tobias left us. Not even 10 years ahead of you.
Woman: That's true. Our ship is the only one capable of inter-stellar travel. And we only have that because scientists who were building it joined us when the revolution came.
Ford: All the same, we have nothing to match it.
Tobias: Oh but you do. Hyperion was a desert world. We never had any underwater science at all. And now that it's flooded seaQuest represents to us a technology as powerful and alien as our spacecraft is to you. If you could defend our spacecraft's base from underwater attack we might have a chance of winning this war.
Bridger: Wait a minute. I don't really think this is our fight.
Tobias: Are you so sure?
Bridger: Yes, I am.
Tobias: Well think it through. The KraTaks and Stormers have destroyed our world. Even if they win it's flooded for good.
Lucas: What are you saying
Tobias: They only want it now as a base to build more ships like ours. Once they do, they'll conquer Earth.
Bridger: Suppose we choose to make our stand on Earth.? Build our defenses there.
Tobias: It's your choice. All we ask is that you examine all the evidence. If you want to record it to prove to your leaders that you haven't lost your minds, all the better.
Brody: Why hasn't Scott already done that?
Ford: Yes, Tobias, where's Scott right now?
Tobias: (to Nathan) I'm sorry, my friend. The KraTaks have taken him hostage.
Bridger: (shocked) Hostage?
Woman: He was captured while leading a raid on one of the space stations.
Tobias: I brought you here because if you help us, perhaps we'll be able to free him and end this war.
Bridger: We'll have to think about this one.
(Later. Tobias and the leadership have left.)
Bridger: All right. What do we know about our surroundings?
Ortiz: Well it seems to be like Tobias and his friends said. We're resting on a sandy bottom that's only recently been flooded.
Bridger: What about their base?
Lucas: Definitely looks improvised. I mean their technology seems to be more primitive than our own.
Ford: So they were telling the truth.
Bridger: Maybe. Are you sensing anything?
Wendi: All I get is static from all three of them. But remember, not even Tobias is really human.
Bridger: O'Neil, I want you to try and figure out some way to monitor all communications. This side, the enemies side. I don't want us getting into a fight without a talk.
O'Neil: Aye aye, sir.
Bridger: In the meantime keep the boat at Condition One. Easy. All men at battle stations. But rotate them so they get some sleep. Restrict Darwin to the boat.
Ford: Very good, sir. Where will you be?
Bridger: In my quarters, trying to make sense of all this.
(Captain's Quarters)
(Bridger is watching old video footage of him and Scott)
(Knock at door.)
Bridger: Come in.
Wendi: Hi.
Bridger: Hi.
Wendi: You're worried about Scott.
Bridger: And everything else.
Wendi: They tell me you've known him since the academy.
Bridger: It's true. I tell you we used to be in submarines together? (Wendi shakes her head no.) We were, after we graduated. Then he opted for outer space and I opted for inner space. He had this fabulous career. The Martian probe, you know all that. Now he's in this cockamamey war that he…a hostage. It doesn't make any sense does it?
Wendi: No. Not our understanding of it anyway. Are you all right?
Bridger: You reading me?
Wendi: It's hard not to.
Bridger: If you're reading me you know I'm very confused. I haven't the foggiest idea which way to turn.
Wendi: Well how could you? None of us know anything about this place. But I'll tell you one thing. No matter what decision you make, none of us are going to feel like you let us down.
(intercom sounds)
Bridger: Bridger.
Ford: (on intercom) Captain, you better come to the bridge.
Bridger: What's up?
Ford: (on intercom) I'm not sure, but I think we're under attack.
(Bridge)
Bridger: Where's Tobias?
Lucas: Coming from Sea Deck. His delegation just left for the mothership.
Ortiz: Captain, I think I've got a WSKR view of the contact. It looks like a warship. It's gotta be a warship.
(Tobias enters)
Bridger: What is that?
Tobias: A KaTen. The best underseas weapon the KraTaks have.
Bridger: O'Neil, any answer to our call?
O'Neil: Negative,sir.
Ortiz: 11,000 meters and closing. It's accelerating.
Ford: Captain, I need an order.
Bridger: Full ahead. Declare the contact hostile.
Ford: Declaring contact hostile. Torpedoes up. Lasers up.
Alert: Target locked.
Ford: I have a firing solution.
Ortiz: 7,000 meters and closing. 6,000. It's turning towards us, Captain. It's firing!
Bridger: Fire intercepts. Fire torpedoes.
Ford: Torpedoes away. Intercepts away.
Bridger: Left hard rudder. All ahead emergency.
Ortiz: Interception in 5, in 4, 3, 2, 1. Interception. Torpedoes closing in on target. Impact. All targets destroyed. Contact forward is clear. No bogies, no bandits.
O'Neil: Sir, I'm getting a signal. It's coming from right above us.
Bridger: Let's see it.
O'Neil: Aye, sir.
(The vid-screen comes up and it's a Stormer.)
Stormer: (unknown)
Bridger: What's he saying?
Tobias: Because you've chosen to come from Earth and fight with us, we have a gift for you.
(The camera pans down and we see Scott tied up.)
Scott: I'm sorry, Nathan. I never should have got you into this.
Tobias: The Stormer says to say good-bye.
Bridger: No, no. Tell him we want to talk.
Tobias: Dom. No la ra.
(The Stormer shoots Scott, then laughs. The screen goes blank)
Tobias: I'm so sorry, Nathan. I thought with you here they'd never dare to kill him.
( A brief silence while everyone takes in what just happened.)
Bridger: Mr. Piccolo.
Piccolo: Yes, sir?
Bridger: Ready my shuttle, please. It's time to meet their war council.
(He leaves the bridge)
(Mothership, Corridor)
Tobias: These charts represent all that's left of Hyperion.
Bridger: That's it? One colony? (Tobias nods)
Lucas: It doesn't seem that big.
Man: The tunnels run for thousands of meters into the bedrock. They're large enough to hold most of our population, 500,000 people.
Bridger: 500…out of how many?
Man: 4 Billion.
Wendi: Nothing's worth that many lives.
Woman: You don't understand. We never had the choice to surrender. Our species is more specialized than yours. You've met our Stormer form.
Brody: Yeah. All appetite and bad moods.
Woman: And totally dedicated to killing. That's all that's left of the KraTaks side, and that's all they want left. They slaughter anybody else they get their hands on. That's why we've retreated beneath the sea.
(A little girl runs up)
Little Girl: Ar ma. Ar ma. Menne tuta.
Wendi: What's she saying?
Woman: She's thanking you for saving us today. Those KeTen's were searching for this colony.
Wendi: (to little girl) Did you make this yourself?
Woman: (to little girl) To na tri ha?
Little Girl: Te. A tatta magom neha. Ar ma, tuta.
Woman: Yes, and it shows her favorite oasis before the land was flooded. She wants you to have it.
Wendi: (to little girl) Thank you.
Brody: (to little girl) You know what, honey? The water isn't really that deep. Maybe, after the war is over we can rebuild some land for you. How's that sound?
(Conference Room)
(Image of a comet on the vid-screen)
Man: This is why we brought you here. It's the largest comet in our planetary system. So large in fact you can see it for years at a time from the planets' surface. Its impact will be more than enough to destroy our last colony. The KraTaks have been using tractor beams mounted on their space station to maneuver it into place for months. It should strike us in less than a day.
Bridger: I don't understand what it is we can do.
Tobias: Our ship is virtually unarmed, but it does have one advantage.
Lucas: It's tractor beams.
Tobias: Yes. And?
Lucas: Well if they're strong enough to lift seaQuest they may be strong enough to overcome the tractor beams the KraTaks are using to control the comet.
Tobias: I wish you'd been one of my students at University. You're exactly right. The KraTaks have no one ship as powerful as ours. The problem is, to use our beams at full strength requires enormous reaction mass. Far more than this ship can carry. We have to stay board to this base to draw energy from the planet itself or we have no chance at all.
Bridger: So we protect you from an underwater attack, while you…what? Crash it into the other side?
Tobias: Oh, Nathan. There is no other side, at least not on the surface of this planet. Remember, there are no civilian KraTaks, only Generals and Stormers. No, we plan to use our tractor beams to tear the comet apart.
Man: The fragments will sweep the KraTaks and their space stations out of orbit like a giant meteor shower, and perhaps that little girl will see daylight again.
Woman: And your children will never have to live like this.
(Bridger picks up the little girls drawing and sighs.)
(They return to the seaQuest)
(seaQuest, Launch Bay)
Bridger: (to Dagwood) Can you show Dr. le Conte to the guest Quarters? He's going to be staying for a while.
Dagwood: Okay.
Bridger: (to Tobias) Will you be available for dinner?
Tobias: Of course. (leaves)
Bridger: (to everyone else) Well? What do we think?
Brody: Well it seems pretty straight forward, sir. Really it's just a peace keeping mission. We defend the civilians while they resolve their war.
Bridger: (to Wendi) That what you think?
Wendi: I don't know. They're still blocking me from their minds.
Lucas: Just like communications. There's nothing on our wavelength, Captain.
Brody: Well, I don't know. That child came through pretty loud and clear.
Bridger: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Lucas, what are you saying?Lucas: I was just thinking how everything is acludged.
Ford: Acluged?
Lucas: Improvised. But not quite fitting together.
Brody: They're at war, Lucas. There's hardly anything left.
Lucas: Yeah, I know. I can't explain it. I just feel that things are a bit more alien than they appear.
Bridger: Well that may be, but maybe we'll get lucky and find a communications module on that KaTen.
Ford: You still want to talk to the other side?
Bridger: Oh yeah, I do.
Brody: You can't talk or reason with someone who destroyed a planet. I mean, my God, Captain, you saw what they did to Scott.
Bridger: All the same…I've got to believe that there are some people among them who want out. Piccolo.
Piccolo: Sir?
Bridger: I want you and Darwin to make a sweep of that KaTen we torpedoed. See if there's anything there that resembles a communications module and then let me know.
Piccolo: Aye aye.
(Near the KaTen)
Piccolo: Darwin, I think I found it. Oh yeah. Look at that. Wow. We'll start in the front, okay? Just be careful.
(seaQuest, Bridge)
Bridger: What do we hear from Piccolo?
O'Neil: Well they finished with the forward part of the Hunter Killer, but they havn'et found anything like a radio yet.
Ortiz: That's funny…
Bridger: What's funny?
Ortiz: I had WSKR view a second ago. Darwin was sniffing out the back part of the wreckage, now they're gone.
Bridger: Well break radio silence. I want to hear where they are.
O'Neil: Aye, sir. Tony? Tony, come in. Where are you guys?
Ortiz: Captain, they indicators are showing they're entering the aqua-tubes…heading for Sea Deck.
(Bridger heads for Sea Deck)
O'Neil: Tony do you read?
(Sea Deck)
(Tony's in the moon pool)
Bridger: What'd you find out?
Piccolo: We found something in the wreckage, Cap.
Ford: What?
Piccolo: Not what, who. (into Darwin's communicator box) Okay Darwin, the coast is clear.
(Darwin comes in pulling along a man in a wet suit.)
Bridger: All right.
(They reach out to help Darwin. They take the persons helmet off, and we find out that it's Scott Keller.)
Bridger: (surprised) Scott!
Scott: Nathan. Listen to me. In case you guys haven't figured it out yet, you're fighting for the wrong side.
(Med Bay)
Scott: (in bed) I don't know whether to give all of you a hug or a good swift kick.
Ford: It's good to see you too.
Scott: Well, I'm lucky you're not a better shot.
Bridger: (aside to Wendi) This is Scott, isn't it?
Wendi: I did a deep scan, it is him. And no Stormer is controlling him. The execution tape was a complete fake.
(They walk over and join the others at Scott's bedside.)
Scott: You guys never were under attack. We didn't even know the seaQuest was here. We were trying to take out the mothership while there was still time.
Brody: Still time?
Scott: Yeah. They told you about the comet didn't they?
Lucas: Well, they told us they were trying to ward it off.
Scott: I bet they said a lot of things. They tell you the planets underwater because of a civil war? That soon the resistance will be wiped out and all that'll be left are the KraTaks?
Brody: Yes, they said that.
Scott: Well most of that's true. Only they left out one thing. They ARE the KraTaks.
Ford: They don't look like Stormers.
Scott: Well of course not. Stormers are the foot soldiers. They're bred for courage and ferocity. You were talking to the KraTaks themselves. They're not fighters, they're politicians and looters.
Brody: And I knew we weren't in Kansas anymore.
Bridger: What's this about looters?
Scott: Everything they got's been stolen from other planets. Their technology, this mothership. They got it the same way they got seaQuest.
Ford: You mean they didn't build that ship?
Scott: No. How could they? They've killed most of their scientists. No. They had some Stormers pod on it, and they brought it here from another planet.
Lucas: So that's why everything looked acluged.
Brody: Oh, wait a second! What about that colony over there?
Scott: There's no colony under the mothership. That's just a docking station so they can refuel it from the planet's core.
Brody: But we met ordinary people…a child.
Scott: Yeah. Slaves brought down from the space station for the day to fool all of you. They only colony left on Hyperion is on the other side of the planet. It's being held by the Resistance.
Lucas: Well that's the smartest way to lie. Just tell the truth, except for the parts that really matter.
Brody: But why did Tobias go over to them?
Scott: He didn't. He was captured trying to seize the mothership. They're holding him on it now, while they drain his memory dry. Listen, you were never talking to Tobias, Nathan. You were talking to a Stormer.
Bridger: I want to talk to this Tobias clone now.
Scott: No. Nathan, that comet is incoming. If we don't stop them they're going to crash it on the far side of the planet and wipe out what's left of the Resistance. Then they're coming after Earth.
Bridger: Did Tobias have a plan before he made his launch?
Scott: He saw a similar ship on Tau Sedde before he came to Earth. He thinks he can fly it.
Bridger: Do you have any idea what part of the ship they're keeping him in?
Scott: Defectors from the KraTaks think he's being held in the lower part of the ship.
(Dining Room)
(Ford and Dagwood are inside. Tobias enters.)
Ford: Tobias, come in. The Captain will be with us in just a minute.
Tobias: I can't tell you how excited our leadership is. This is the first good news they've had in months.
Ford: I'm delighted to hear that. I think our other guest will be too.
(Tobias turns around as Scott enters. Scott has a gun trained on Tobias.)
Tobias: Scott. I thought you were dead.
Scott: You outta know. Who are you? Klowklaxiton? Trazil? You've got to be someone from counter intelligence.
Tobias: You're the one who's been taken. He's got a Stormer inside him.
Ford: What if I said you were lying?
Tobias: They I'd say you're gonna die with me. (Transforms into his true Stormer self.)
(He moves to attack Ford, but Dagwood hits him with a serving tray. Brody and company enter)
Brody: Fire!
(They fire at the Stormer knocking him unconscious.)
Ford: Check him! Check him!
Brody: He's out cold. What's this?
Scott: Personal communicator.
Ortiz: He's been using it every 70 minutes or so.
Scott: Corresponds to a Hyperion hour. He's been checking in.
Bridger: We don't have much time. Put him on ice.
(Security takes the Stormer out.)
Bridger: (to Ford) The arming key. The new unlock code is 826242. Whatever you do, don't surrender the seaQuest.
(He gives the key to Ford)
Ford: Aye, sir.
Bridger: Brody, commence operations.
"Splashdown" Finale