[ Whirring and clicking ] [ Shilling ]
[ Whooshing ] [ Shilling ]
Da'an: Thank you for coming on such short notice, Liam. I must take a sudden journey.
Liam: I'll preflight the shuttle.
No, I'm going alone. I no longer require your services as pilot.
It's my duty.
Yes, but I gave it to you. Now, I relieve you of it. The time has come for me to carry out my last duty. Cancel my engagements. This is one journey I must undertake in private.
It's against orders, but if that's what you want, I'll log in at the embassy and maintain your locator. You'll have all the privacy you need.
You misunderstand; this is my final journey. Not Zu'or, not the synod, not even you may accompany me.
The mother ship tracks your energy frequency. I can't stop that, however I won't know where you are.
I am not deceived. I know you track me with a device developed by your Atlantic National Alliance. I have known for some time.
You're right. You left us at the mercy of the jaridians. So, now we want to know where the taelons are at all times.
Our relationship has deteriorated to one of mutual distrust and fear, has it not? But it is time I overcame my fear.
If you really do need some privacy, you can have it. I control your tracker. I'll shut it down for a short time.
[ Whooshing ]
Liam: Da'an. Let me go.
Da'an: I may overcome my fear. I regret, I cannot overcome my distrust. The immobilization field will neutralize in five minutes. We will not meet again but my life was richer for knowing you.
Da'an, what do you mean, we won't ever meet again?
[ Whirring ]
Liam: Da'an!
[ Whooshing ]
Zu'or: We can not search for Da'an in orbit, the mother ship has amnesia.
Ron: What about the data banks?
An unknown force stunned the pseudo neurons; The data volatilized.
All of it?
For now. The data may be recovered but not without great effort. Da'an gave no indication of his destination, major?
Liam: He said he needed privacy for a final journey. Can't you track him by his personal frequency?
Ron: That's going to be difficult.
Zu'or: Da'an's frequency identity was stored in the data banks.
Ron: Da'an disappears, and we can't track him. That's a bad coincidence.
Liam: What about the commonality? Do you sense his presence?
Zu'or: Yes, but the commonality is not a compass, major. I hope Da'an is not about to act on a morose impulse. Can you characterize his mood?
Remote, like he'd made his mind up. He said it was a final journey.
Ron: My forensic experts hope to follow his I.D. Path.
Zu'or: I wish them luck. Mine could not. Is Da'an still somewhat popular on earth?
Liam: Very -- calls are still flooding the embassy. The press is all over it.
Ron: I'll put a stop to that.
Zu'or: No, I welcome the public's help. I hope our good friend, major Kincaid, Will use his special insight to find Da'an when we cannot.
Zu'or: I shall equip him with a surveillance CVI.
Liam: Da'an specifically excluded me. He doesn't want me to have an implant.
He did not, but in these circumstances, I'm sure he'd want you to have every advantage.
I don't think it's a good idea.
But I do. If fact, I insist.
[ Cavernous whirring ]
Zu'or: Major Kincaid has been resourceful in the past, but he has also demonstrated discontent with me. I want him searching, but I want him on your tether.
[ Cavernous rumbling ]
Liam: What's that?
[ Electrical reception sound sputtering ]
Ron [ In a distorted voice ]: That is the sound of your new shadow, Major. Everything you hear, I hear; Everything you see, I see. I hope we don't read same books.
Liam: Miss Palmer, don't get up. Sorry to barge in.
Renee: That's okay -- sat news is reporting Da'an missing.
I know we weren't scheduled to meet until your speech next week.
Um, my speech? I'm not making a speech next week.
I could swear we talked about Da'an attending. But, then, everything I hear these days goes in one ear and out the other.
Ah, really? So, what brings you here?
Liam: A favour. Ms Palmer, Da'an is unaccounted for, but he often talks to you about co-ventures. If you hear from him, or where he is, would you let me know?
Sure, you'll know the minute I do, major Kincaid.
Good, because the minute I see him, the taelons will know where he is and stop worrying.
Okay, if that's what you want. Is that what you want?
Liam: I don't want him out there without protection. Just take a look out there. So many places a taelon could get into trouble. It's terrible. You don't see the things I see, miss Palmer.
No, no, but I do see what you mean.
[ Tinkling ]
[ Whooshing ]
[ Whooshing ]
[ Footsteps thudding ]
Mikael: Welcome back to Rostok. Our frontiers, it seems, keep expanding. I've been admiring the view.
Da'an: Thank you. I hope this experience aboard your space station is better than my last.
I could say the same for myself. And you are not cold? It's -210 degrees in here.
My energy metabolism is far less reactive to temperature changes than yours.
Ah, taelon understatement.
Our guest is arriving momentarily.
I fear the battery charge on the I.D. Portal is depleted. You came prepared?
Da'an: Portable cold fusion. Lose no time tying it into your grid. It provides 7 million dynes per second, convertible to any known form of energy. We shall need full power in a few moments.
[ Whooshing ]
computer voice: Interior temperature increasing.
Da'an: Do not remove any of your protection, chairman Federov. Not just yet.
[ Shilling ]
Federov: The portal is exploding.
Not exploding -- Using cold fusion provides the power needed to cross the intergalactic distances. Our guest has travelled a long way.
[ Whooshing ]
He's burning.
He must be returned to absolute zero or he will combust and vaporize the space station.
[ Screaming ] [ Screaming ]
We must expose him to space.
The locks will prevent this.
Override them. We have seconds. The moment his heat subsides, restore the atmosphere or he will smother.
[ Blasting ]
[ Whooshing ]
computer voice: Emergency. Breach of station environment: Docking seals broken.
[ Gasping ]
[ Alarm beeping ]
[ Clattering ] [ Whooshing ] [ Clanging ]
[ Panting ]
Balvak: Greetings, Da'an. I had no intention of making such a grand entrance.
Da'an: Greetings, Balvak. Welcome to the planetary system of earth's sun. Considering the occasion, your entrance was appropriate.
Renee: Liam was letting me know he couldn't talk.
Jay: "San" -- Sandoval I assume -- "watching my eyes and ears." Meaning?
They implanted Liam with a surveillance CVI. I saw the scar. Sandoval can hear and see everything Liam does. He might even know where Da'an is, but can't tell me, yet.
Jay: Are you sure you want to drink that dairy fat, caffeine, and refined sugar? If you tried to sell it as a drug, they'd throw you in jail.
Not now, street; find Da'an.
There are genetically engineered, caffeine-free beans. You should check it out.
Genetically engineered -- you're contradictory.
Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. Okay, Da'an is gone.
What about Liam's ANA tracker?
Offline at 18:31. Thirty seconds later, somebody used the embassy I.D. Portal.
Da'an?
I can't tell. They scrambled the portal logs but the ANA has a tap on it.
You're not supposed to know that.
I'm not supposed to know lots of things -- all of them fun. You think the taelons know about the tap?
If they do, they're keeping it quiet.
Jay: Then, assuming it was Da'an, they don't know he portaled to a remote sector near alpha centauri, then proxima centauri.
False trail.
About 600 intermediate portal bounces crossing and recrossing itself until the data log got fried. He's gone through the looking-glass.
Ron: Da'an wiped his energy signature from the whole embassy. He erased his entire calendar and his personal notes, back to when it was built.
Liam: I suspected as much.
Well, what doesn't he want us to know? You've been with him a couple of years, major. You must have an idea.
You know what it's like to be a protector. Watch a taelon 24 hours a day, you still won't have a clue what's going on inside. I knew what Da'an wanted me to know.
Technician: Cloned the hard drive. More than a zetabyte. Mostly in taelon: Statistics, historical library materials. Nothing original.
Ron: Take it back to the lab, have the computer chew it up. We're going to find him. Major, if you're hiding anything, Zu'or will hook you up to a fear amplifier and forget about you. Be smart. Don't waste your time on ancient history. We've got our own problems.
[ Global beeping ]
Renee: Major Kincaid, I hope this is a good time. I have a list of Da'an's recent contacts with doors personnel. I wonder if you could use it.
Jay: Welcome to the Liam cam -- on Sandoval's CVI frequency.
Renee: How are you picking it up?
That's Carlos; he's packing a pirate CVI antenna. Carlos is one of my regulars. With an antenna that small, he needs to get close.
Renee: Turn it off. What's the point? Da'an was Liam's guardian angel. He kept Zu'or from putting an implant in Liam's head.
Jay: Da'an didn't want Zu'or along on his dates.
Now Zu'or has got what he wants.
Maybe we shouldn't sweat it. Liam has a bug in his head but he knows it. When they find Da'an, Zu'or will take it out.
Assuming they find Da'an, and assuming Zu'or feels like it. We've got to get it out of him.
Can't do it with a pair of pliers. Whoever does the operation is going to be in living colour for Sandoval to send his goons after.
Until we do, Liam is dangerous. He's going to bump into an ANA agent or someone in deep cover. Are you listening?
I do have one... Sort of idea. It's wild but it's not impossible. The only problem is, we can't ask Liam's permission to try it and... It could get him killed.
Renee: Major Kincaid! Sorry I'm late, I got held up.
Liam: You have something for me?
Everyone Da'an's talked to, worldwide, at Doors, in the past month. Maybe it'll help.
I hope so.
I've got some work to do, but I'll catch you later.
Liam: Sam, another beer, down here?
[Global beeping]
Carlos: Da'an called. Said he was concerned about our Colorado farm. I'm there right now. We're using Taelon hybrid corn. Doors' ethanol project is counting on it.
Liam: Did he say why he was concerned?
Carlos: Problem With the gene sequence. I could show you better I could tell you.
I'll be there in 20 minutes. Have we ever met?
No, sir, but I do look forward to it.
computer voice: Intruder alert; Entry denied.
[ Clanking and whooshing ]
Jay: How is he?
Renee: His lungs are full of stun gas.
He looks peaceful.
Well, he won't be, when he finds out who gassed him.
Ron: Check the back and set up a perimeter.
[ Footsteps ]
[ Static crackling ]
Mikael: When do you begin?
Da'an: As soon as Balvak awakens. Measuring the life force is the greatest taelon taboo. How far I have fallen. I covet life beyond all else, but I have less time than it will take us to orbit this planet. I only hope I use it well.
Mikael: He has not stirred.
Da'an: No. If he endures, he is our last chance to avert the bloodbath dooming both of our species. If not... We have reached a pitiful end.
Jay: Sandoval's computer keeps pinging Liam. As long as he's conked out, his CVI is offline.
He should be out for another hour.
We better move faster. The longer Liam's blacked out on Sandoval's big screen, the more suspicious Sandy’s going to get. This is Auger's pet project -- he left me full specs. A crazy physicist named Creighton built the original design. Quantum teleportation in its rawest form.
Which doesn't quite work, I hear.
Not reliably. The purpose is to exist as two independent energy states. It's quantum physics in a nutshell. Creighton built his quantum impeller by hand. It's one of a kind.
How does this help Liam's CVI problem?
Jay: I'll cut the teleportation in half cycle. We should get two Liam Kincaids -- Two exact independent replicas in quantum coexistence.
And if we don't?
Liam's atoms will be scattered around greater D.C. Look, I told you, my advice is to let it all blow over. We're taking a hell of a risk with a man we both like and he can't tell us no. But it's your call. Okay, but don't look. I expect a lot of photon discharge. Now.
[ Snapping and popping ] [ Whooshing ]
Jay: I'll be damned. I knew the math was there, but... Wow!
Renee: Amazing. They look just alike. Congratulations.
Lucky it worked the first time because it's the last time. The impeller is toasted. But our new Liam -- call him Liam-2 -- Has an electron half an orbit out of phase. It's perfect.
Why out of phase?
Sandoval's CVI can't connect with this one. But it's too good to last.
How long do we have?
Ordinarily coexistence shouldn't last longer than nanoseconds. But in this case, a few hours tops.
Ron: Unknown intruders disabled Kincaid with stun gas outside the D.C. Shuttle garage. We have lost CVI contact. It appears they have abducted him.
Zu'or: Why?
I'm looking into it.
Zu'or: I cannot recall in our long association if you have ever simply stated that you failed.
I'll find him.
Major Kincaid is not the issue.
He has been mine for too long.
In the march of time, it hardly matters. There is a revolt underfoot. Da'an is plotting a jaridian invasion. We are using mental symbiosis to regenerate the pods. Our robot satellites were vectored to form an inter-dimensional portal around the freedom space station.
Federov's space station?
It's now hidden in the rings of your sixth planet.
Why Saturn?
We created the rings around that worthless gasbag two million years ago. Pulverized a few moons as a shield for our probes, so we could keep an eye on you. An excellent hiding place, as Da'an well knows.
Surely you can track the I.D. Path?
Someone or thing portaled in from the vicinity of Tau Ceti.
The jaridian home world. If they have a portal near earth, they can bring a war fleet, and that's the end.
As I said, a revolution right under my feet. Go to Saturn, find Da'an and kill him.
[ Global swishing ]
medic: Twenty cc's polyadrenalin.
Ron: We have communication with Kincaid's CVI.
Liam: What happened?
medic: We'll sort that out after you're in hospital. You're a companion protector. We're losing him; get a taelon plasma pack.
Ron: I'd better go.
Zu'or: Be cautious with Kincaid. Until you have killed his benefactor, we don't need his death to complicate things. But once Da'an is dead, do as you please.
Ron: F.B.I. -- We need to talk to this man.
Paramedic: He just pulled out of shock; he may have a concussion. We're taking him to the E.R. for evaluation.
Ron: When I'm done.
Liam: I'm just a little dizzy.
Ron: Your CVI was inoperable for a couple of hours, Major.
Liam: If you say so. Last thing I remember was a grenade in my face.
Ron: I was watching.
I was going to Colorado to run down Da'an's recent contacts.
Forget Colorado. Da'an's most recent contacts come from Tau Ceti. Your companion is a Judas. He is in private negotiations with the jaridians.
If that's true, There's got to be a reason.
Traitors always have reasons: Selfish ones. But now that he's a traitor, he doesn't need a protector. I'll take your weapon.
I'm on active status -- what's your authority?
I'll think of something. How about sick leave?
Maybe some x-rays, a little sleep.
Perhaps, but as your employer, I want the best care for you aboard the mother ship. Put him in a lock down cell.
Liam2: I'm protected by the companion decree. He can't just arrest him, or me.
Renee: Interfering would ruin everything.
Liam2: I can't believe I don't feel any connection. It's like I'm watching an impostor. Which one is the real me?
Renee: Both of you -- identical and independent. It's called looking-glass physics. There are mirror images of everything. Sandoval cannot eavesdrop on this one.
Liam2: Then why do I still feel this alien thing inside me?
Liam2: I've never seen Da'an in that mood. He said he had a duty to perform and that he'd never be back.
Sounds suicidal.
Why not go into death stasis: Why disappear?
Jay: What's that? It looks taelon and jaridian.
Liam2: It's an atavus. A protospecies split in two about eight million years ago. Taelons still have atavus D.N.A.; It's their dark side.
We have lizard D.N.A.
Da'an was doing historic research. Luckily he forgot to remove a few of his bookmarks.
Renee: Sandoval ignored this?
Liam2: He was looking at Da'an's present. Da'an was researching an atavus name: Ra'maz.
Never heard of him.
Ra'maz is like a religious icon to the taelons.
Jay: One of their gods?
Liam2: Devils. Their fear of Ra'maz is mythic. Imagine satan, Hitler and Genghis Khan all rolled into one.
Renee: How does eight million years ago relate to today?
Ra'maz was the leader of an immortality cult. He found a way to isolate the core energy. By becoming taelon, they extended their lives by a factor of 200.
Jay: Good run, but not exactly immortal.
But half of the atavus became jaridian. Their lifespan was cut by two-thirds.
Renee: Which started the war.
Jay: Long war.
Liam2: He left a note to himself. "Can I put together what was rent asunder in time?"
Renee: Maybe not suicidal, maybe desperate.
Jay: Haven't the taelons and the jaridians tried everything they could think of to recombine?
Including using human D.N.A. Nothing works, nothing so far.
Balvak: Da'an.
Da'an: I am here, Balvak.
I should be dead. Where are we?
Da'an: Aboard a primitive space craft Designed by the humans. It will suffice for our purpose.
This feeling... My body heat, it threatens to go out of control again. To burn alive... Can you imagine?
I cannot. Our death is inutterably cold. Our final moment is upon us. Shall we begin?
Liam: Would you quit staring at me? If you want to be of any use, why don't you tell Sandoval I can't help him in here.
Ron: Major, there is no need To shout. I can hear every word.
[ Zapping ]
Ron: Careful, major. Fortunately, I don't feel your pain. And you will experience more of that, I assure you.
Jay: According to the calculations, you're stable, for now. I wonder if I could make three of you. One for me.
Liam2: Don't even think about it.
Renee: Liam, you have a coded message from about two hours ago.
Play it.
coumpter voice: Incoming resistance traffic: Mother ship cipher. Authorization to decode needed.
Renee: We haven't used this code since the amnesty.
Liam2: It's still used for emergencies. Kincaid, permission to decode.
message: They have the data. I was close enough to hear. It's about a portal near Saturn, on the freedom space station. That's all I can give you, Now.
Liam2: That's Lisa Sagrentino. She'd never break cover unless there was no other way.
Jay: The freedom's in mothballs -- they stripped its reactors.
Renee: Makes sense -- Da'an has used Federov before.
Jay: It's gone. The freedom is off the ANA near-earth tracking net.
How is that possible? Did it come down?
Not according to this. But they monitor millions of things up there.
Renee: I'll find out. I know Federov's private I.D. Portal code.
Liam2: Would his portal be active, even if the Freedom is intact?
Renee: Mikael always leaves himself a back door. Set up a link.
Jay: I found it and it's got power.
Liam2: Where?
Well, it's not in Kansas, anymore.
[ Whooshing ]
Renee: No security alert?
Liam2: Maybe nobody's home.
Mikael: Delighted to see you again, Renee. [ Gun clicking ] I was unable to say goodbye at our last meeting.
Renee: Shame.
You're looking spectacular as always.
Thank you -- nice suit.
I'm pleased you noticed. And I always enjoy the major's company.
Liam2: You're supposed to be under house arrest in Rostok.
Events have intervened. Da'an wired me an immense sum to prepare the freedom for this trip. He calls it a summit meeting.
Renee: A summit -- for what reason?
If you ask me: Absolution. He wants a clear conscience before he dies, to atone.
Liam2: Is Da'an here?
Perhaps.
Meaning?
I will let you judge. They are about to begin. After you.
[ Shilling ] [ Whooshing ]
How did the jaridian get here?
Mikael: He is Da'an's guest and the leader of their peace movement.
Renee: They're joining -- the reverse of when Ra'maz split them apart.
So goes the theory. Da'an believes this is the moment of equipoise, when both taelon and jaridian revert to an equal energy state.
Liam2: Equal enough to join their energies?
Yes. And this jaridian is willing to test it with him.
No, it's not a test; it's all or nothing. Can we stop it?
Not now.
Renee: It's working.
Liam2; Atavus! The first true atavus in eight million years.
Federov: Amazing.
[ Rumbling ]
computer voice: Collision warning, Unknown space craft, Collision imminent.
Ron: This is the taelon battle Cruiser, M'thra. We're sending a boarding party. Offer no resistance and you will not be harmed.
Federov: Sandoval.
[ Shouting ]
Renee: Get down
[ Whooshing ]
[ Blasting ]
[ Whooshing ]
Federov: I thank you. Da'an suggested this would happen. Alas, I have business elsewhere. You may share my portal if you like.
Liam2: They can trap the I.D. Path. Portal out now, you'll be in their hands.
Renee: Liam.
Da'an: No. Not this! No!
Liam2: Sandoval's outside in the battle cruiser. You just killed some of his storm troopers.
Ron: In 60 seconds, my troops will rush your ship, Firing proton scatter guns -- Surrender or die.
Da'an: It was too late. Balvak was closer to death than I was. We were almost one but we failed.
Liam2: Not totally, for a moment you became one again. Now, we've got to get out of here. Sandoval's got our I.D. Portal trapped. You tried to save our lives, Da'an. You may want to die, but Renee and I don't. Tell us what we need to do.
Da'an: I may want to die, but I will not -- not soon. In death, Balvak gave his energy to me. Enough for a long life. I am cursed. Come, we will go together.
Federov: They've trapped the I.D. Path: Our power is too low.
We will use the energy levels which brought Balvak here.
Liam2: They'll be here 30 seconds after us.
Renee: What's your power source?
Federov: Cold fusion in the grid -- there.
Let's rig it to go critical as soon as we're gone.
Liam2: We can't time it close enough. The battle troops have nuclear suppressors. As soon as they're aboard, they'll shut down the core. You go ahead; I'll hold them off.
Renee: You can't match that firepower!
It doesn't matter; I'm not me, remember? I'm a spare me. I'll trigger a fusion reaction at exactly the right moment.
You're coexisting. If you die, your other self might die, too.
If I don't do this, we all die.
Federov: This is a brave thing you're doing, Major. Good luck and godspeed. Renee, we must go.
Da'an: Liam, I do not comprehend the reason for your sacrifice, but understand the motive. I, too, was willing to die to save my own. I honour you. [ Speaking taelon ]
Renee: We'll see you.
Liam2: Count on it.
[ Whooshing ]
Liam2: I'd back that crate up, Sandoval. There's going to be a loud bang.
[ Sputtering ]
[ Blasting ]
[ Rumbling and crashing ]
Ron: The explosion knocked out the cruiser's data recorder.
Liam: Sounds like you were lucky to get out of there. How many megatons did you say?
Nearly 400 -- not enough to knock out a m'thra class ship. There was a communication from the space station -- A voicecom was on our link.
A voice?
Yes, of course, you were in detention on the mother ship.
And that was your responsibility, right? Zu'or demands complete accountability from his jailers.
Liam: Those things come out a lot easier than they go in.
Renee: Zu'or would have left it in, if Da'an hadn't made them take it out.
Liam: So, Da'an's a hero -- Comes back with the cinders of a dead jaridian, Zu'or has to give him a medal.
Renee: Zu'or's trying to prove Da'an sabotaged the data banks.
Liam: Da'an wants to tell the synod that Balvak was a hero, but it damns him as a spy.
Renee: He did that for you, but I guess it evens out. You gave your life for Da'an and for me.
Liam: No, that was quantum Liam, a well-known hothead. I told Da'an what happened, so he wouldn't keep looking at me funny. I wonder what it was like, though. What he... What I saw in those final moments?
Renee: Don't be in such a hurry. You'll find out one day -- We all will.
