The Fear That Follows (cont.)
(Later - Outside)
Bridger: Why am I always suspicious when you and I are in agreement?
Thomas: You don't object to a little good cop-bad cop do you?
Bridger: Not when you play both parts. Having Dr. Smith read their thoughts without their permission is inexcusable. She could have been hurt.
Thomas: What good is having a Parapsychologist if you don't engage her? (looks over at Lucas talking with the aliens) Well they seem to like the Wolenczak kid. They should spend time together, build a trust.
Bridger: The kid's name is Lucas. (pause) You don't intend to let these people leave the base, do you? (Thomas looks at him.) You can't lie to them.
Thomas: Who's lying to who, Captain? They're on a mission to find the beginnings of intelligent life…what'd they do, stop to stretch their legs? Captain, these people can travel thousands of light years in the time it takes me to back out of my driveway. Now, technologically speaking we have one hell of an opportunity on our hands, but very little leverage.
Bridger: The leverage is not going to be Lucas.
Thomas: No?
Bridger: No.
Thomas: Well it can be their spacecraft. But if our friends aren't a little more forthcoming in the next 24 hours, not only will they not be leaving Fort Gore, but I'll see to it that they don't leave this planet. (leaves)
(Bridger watches him for a moment before following. The alien leader turns and watches them leave.)
(Night)(seaQuest DSV - Lucas's Room)
(Lucas is asleep. He's woken up by Alien #2.)
Lucas: What is it? What's wrong? (He hops down from the bunk.) Where are the others? (The alien holds out it's hand.) Do you want me to come with you? (Lucas takes it's hand and it leads him out of the room.)
(Security Office)
(Reinhart and Ford are monitoring the aliens location.)
Reinhart: They've left the ship. (points) Where is this position?
Ford: It's a cove about a half mile from here. It's within the evacuation area.
Reinhart: Who's with them?
Ford: (shrugs and picks up his PAL) Lt. Brody.
Brody: (on PAL) Yes, Commander?
Ford: (into PAL) Who's watching our guests?
Brody: (on PAL) Aren't they with you?
(Ford and Reinhart suddenly look very apprehensive.)
Ford: (into PAL) Get a transport, meet me up top.
(Cove)
(Lucas walks up with Alien #2. The other two are waiting for them.)
Lucas: What is it? What's wrong.
(A few yards away Brody and Ford pull up in a car. They get out and make their way through some trees to where now Lucas and only 2 aliens are standing.)
Ford: Kinda late isn't it, Lucas? Everything all right?
Lucas: Commander, it's wrong to keep them from leaving the base.
Ford: That's not our call, Lucas.
Brody: Are you all right, Lucas? Where's, ah, where's the other guy?
Ford: Come on guys, we have to get back to the seaQuest.
(The aliens hold up their hands and Ford and Brody sway on their feet. The 2 aliens walk over to them.)
Lucas: This won't hurt.
(The aliens merge with Brody and Ford, just like Alien #2 did with Lucas. They turn and walk back towards the car.)
(Later)
(Lucas, Brody, and Ford are gone. A lot of UEO personnel are searching the area including Bridger, Keller, and Reinhart. Bridger is looking at some burns on the ground.)
Keller: Well something happened here. I'm getting ion particles and a high mix of zenon and argon readings.
Bridger: Would it have caused these burns?
Keller: No. Ion magnetics and fire can't exist in the same environment. One of them needs oxygen, the other is literally an absence of oxygen.
(Reinhart walks up.)
Bridger: Are you sure this is where the barium signal died?
Reinhart: They're gone, Captain. I see no reason to doubt the abduction of your men.
Bridger: But their ship is at the bottom of the ocean, and your men are guarding it.
Reinhart: With their stealth technology they could have an entire fleet hovering just beyond our capabilities and we would never know it.
Bridger: Lieutenant, why the elaborate charade if all they were interested in was three of our people?
Reinhart: You tell me, Captain.
(Inland - Deserted Highway)
(Lucas, Brody, and Ford are driving along a deserted highway. A police car is following with it's lights and sirens on. Ford pulls over.)
Ford: Say nothing.
(In the police car the cops run the car plates.)
Computer: Vehicle ID confirmed.
Male Cop: UEO plates. Ah, probably had one too many.
(He and his partner get out of the car and walk over to Ford's car.)
Male Cop: Evening, fellas. Blowing the fuel cells out a little? I'll need to check your vehicle registration and conveyance data.
(Ford hands him the information.)
Male Cop: Commander, huh? All right I'm not gonna bust your chops for the speed violation, but I do want to know what you're doing in a non-authorized confederation zone.
Ford: I guess we're a little turned around.
Male Cop: Yeah well I guess you're a lot turned around. The ocean's back that way about 65 miles. You're gonna have to leave this area.
Ford: We're on official UEO business.
Male Cop: Not in this zone you're not.
(Brody very slowly begins to put on the arm weapon.)
Male Cop: All right fellas, step out of the car. (no one moves, so the cop pulls out his gun.) Don't make me ask you again. Now out of the car.
(Brody aims the weapon and fires. The cop disappears. He fires again at the cop's partner and she disappears. They then continue driving.)
(seaQuest DSV - Sea Deck)
(Keller is looking at Dagwood's drawing.)
Keller: Dagwood's drawing, Darwin's tattoo. There must be some significance there somewhere.
Thomas: Doesn't anybody know what this means?
Keller: Well it could be some kind of ancient alphabet, maybe a language.
Bridger: (to crewman) Get me O'Neil. (crewman leaves)
(Henderson enters with Dagwood.)
Henderson: I found Dagwood, sir.
Bridger: Oh, good. (to Dagwood as he holds up the drawing.) Tell me, what is this?
Dagwood: I don't know.
Bridger: But you drew hundred's of them. Do you know what it means?
(Dagwood looks stumped.)
Wendi: Who told you to draw them?
Dagwood: I don't know. I just started drawing it when we went to dinner.
Bridger: With Lucas and Piccolo.
Dagwood: (nods) When the highway went dark. Is Lucas hurt?
Bridger: I hope not.
Wendi: They were communicating telepathically. They were sending a message ahead.
Bridger: To him?
Wendi: Yes. Dagwood, Darwin.
(O'Neil walks in.)
O'Neil: Did you want to see me, sir?
Bridger: Yes. (holds up drawing) Do you recognize this?
O'Neil: Um, if I had to guess I'd say it was a kadit. Like a picture symbol. Maybe the kind that Timecuan mountain builders used.
Bridger: (motions to Dagwood) He drew it.
O'Neil: (to Dagwood) I didn't know you were Timecuan.
Dagwood: I'm not.
O'Neil: No one is. (to Bridger) They were descendents of a Pre-Columbian Iroquois Nation. They're all gone now.
Bridger: Do you know what it says?
O'Neil: Can I read Timecuan? I'm not that dull. (to Dagwood) Am I?
Dagwood: No.
O'Neil: You could as a Seminal Indian. There's a reservation about 60 miles from here.
(Reservation)
(Lucas, Brody, & Ford walk up to an old Indian man. When they are close the aliens release their bodies. The old man smiles. They look up as a spacecraft hovers overhead. Two other Native Americans walk up carrying a trunk. They set it down and open it. They pull out a shoulder robe. It has the kadit on it. They place it on the old man. More aliens are beamed down from the ship. They all look at the old man waiting for him to speak.)
Old Man: (speaks in Iroquois)
(Lucas, Brody, & Ford watch all of this from a few yards away.)
Ford: The transport vehicle is about a hundred yards past that clearing.
Lucas: We don't have to be afraid. They won't hurt us.
Brody: One abduction, the man's an expert.
Lucas: I'm just saying I think we can trust them.
(A large metal capsule is beamed down from the ship.)
(Helicopter)
(Bridger, Keller, and Reinhart are flying towards the Reservation. They are listening to O'Neil on the radio.)
O'Neil: As recently as 1984, President Reagen denounced the holdings of the Florida tribes, even though they still had the deeds to their wetlands. His administration simply declared the documents worthless.
Bridger: We need a location, O'Neil, not a history lesson. Is there something wrong with the computer?
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
O'Neil: No, sir. It's a map. The Iroquois Nation received no funding so we received no intelligence. But I think you're close.
(Helicopter)
Keller: We are. (points)
(Shot of the alien ship hovering over the Reservation.)
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
O'Neil: Oh, Captain, I found out that symbols meaning. It represents some kind of Timecuan prophecy. Um, it's like their version of the last supper where the disciples gathered to discuss the end.
(Helicopter)
Bridger: The end of what?
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
O'Neil: (pause) Everything.
(Reservation)(The aliens pull Lucas over to them.)
Ford: Lucas, no…
(Another alien stops him from following. The alien then looks up and spots the helicopter. The alien then raises it's arm to fire the weapon.)
Ford: No, please!
(The alien fires and the helicopter explodes. The aliens meld with Ford and Brody again, and a minute later Keller, Bridger, and Reinhart appear unharmed.)
Ford: We're safe. We just need to leave them alone.
Bridger: Where are they? Where's Lucas?
Brody: Leave us to our work, and no harm will come.
(Bridger and Keller walk over to the metal capsule and scan it.)
Keller: 3 degrees above absolute zero. It's the echo, Nathan.
Bridger: Echo?
Keller: Life. All they way from it's origin.
Bridger: The big bang.
Keller: Maybe they're not searching for new life, maybe they're starting over.
(The aliens walk back up with Lucas as the other 2 release Brody and Ford. Reinhart grabs Alien #2 and aims his weapon at it's head.)
Lucas: No wait!
Reinhart: Back off!
Lucas: (being held back) Stop!
Reinhart: (to aliens and Native Americans) Get away from it! I said get away! Move! (He kneels down by the capsule and opens it.)
(Inside is a dead alien. Reinhart lets Alien #2 go.)
Bridger: (to Leader) This is why you came? To rid yourselves of this death?
Leader: It is not our Leaders death we leave here. It is his hope for the future. We are all that remains of our world. A planet taken by our own hand. Leaving nothing but the knowledge that self destruction is a fate sealed in the organism of all life bearing worlds.
Keller: The burden of intelligent life is death?
Leader: By finding the beginning we hope to re-engineer our organism to build a new world.
Bridger: For who? For all of us, or just for those for whom you see fit. (the Leader regards him.) Aren't we all on the same path of destruction?
Lucas: Yes, but Captain, it doesn't have to be that way. They were keeping a promise to the people who lived on this planet long before we did. And the knowledge of them someday returning gave these people hope. Hope which we managed to destroy though technological imbalance…fear, and our own gigantic egos.
Leader: You give us hope, Lucas. Come with us. Help us build a new life.
Lucas: (surprised) Captain.
Bridger: I can't make this call. If anything, I'm envious.
Keller: It's the journey of the ages. It's Exodus.
Lucas: Thank you, but this isn't helping.
Bridger: The selfish part of me wants you to stay, Lucas. But whether your work is with us or with your new friends, that's for you to decide.
Brody: Soak it up, Junior. It's not every day you get your butt kissed by two planets.
Lucas: (to Leader) I'm flattered, but this is where my home is. With my friends. Maybe someday you'll come back for me.
Leader: We will come back.
Bridger: We know you exist. Now how do we return to what we thought was our normal life?
Leader: Once we leave you will understand how to go on.
(Alien #2 hugs Lucas then is beamed back aboard the spaceship. The others are then beamed back aboard and the ship leaves.)
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
(The smaller ship takes off from the ocean floor.)
Thomas: Who's driving that thing?
Henderson: Sir, no one.
Thomas: No one?
Ortiz: It must be on some kind of auto-pilot.
Thomas: Shot it.
(They all look and the ship is gone.)
O'Neil: Shoot what, sir?
(The smaller ship joins the larger one and takes off. After the ship leaves, time begins to turn back.)
Leader: (vo) Once we leave you will understand how to go on….how to go on…how to go on….
(Suddenly we are back to when the alien ship was just about to arrive.)
(seaQuest DSV - Bridge)
Darwin: (os) Numbers accepted. Eager welcome. Gratitude.
Bridger: Thanks pal. (to O'Neil) What's their ETA?
O'Neil: Sir, their ETA was two minutes ago.
Bridger: They're here already?
Ortiz: On their way down, sir.
Keller: Talk about stealth technology.
Bridger: Okay, open a window.
O'Neil: Aye, sir.
(O'Neil opens the sea view.)
Bridger: Let's see what she looks like. (looks around the bridge) Where's Lucas? He should see this.
(O'Neil starts typing again.)
O'Neil: Sir, I lost them.
Bridger: Lost?
Ortiz: Checking frequency responses.
Keller: What happened?
O'Neil: I don't know. They're just gone, like they got spooked or something.
Wendi: Or changed their mind.
Ortiz: I'm sorry, sir. Whatever was out there, she's not there now.
(Bridger and Keller look very disappointed.)
(Lucas's Room)
(Lucas is lying on his bunk, gazing at the ceiling. Piccolo tosses his duffel through the door before coming in.)
Piccolo: False alarm, eh Wolenczak? Those aliens must have figured our dinky planet wasn't ready for them.
Lucas: Yeah, something like that.
(Bridger walks in.)
Bridger: (to Piccolo) Welcome home. Sorry we had to shuttle you upworld.
Piccolo: No problem, sir. Hey, I had two hours free liberty, I'll live.
Bridger: I know you'll live, I just said I'm sorry.
Piccolo: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. (leaves)
Bridger: (to Lucas) Where were you?
Lucas: Oh, I've been around.
(Bridger spots Darwin.)
Bridger: Wait, his infection is gone. Dr. Smith said that would take 48 hours to clear up.
Lucas: Well, I…
Bridger: Something you're not telling me?
Lucas: No, I wouldn't keep anything from you. I just…ah…I know how disappointed the General's gonna be.
Bridger: The General?
Ortiz: (over speaker) If anyone cares the Capitals were just eliminated from the finals. 4 games to 3.
Bridger: (to Ortiz over speaker) Mr. Ortiz, send the General my condolences. (leaves)
(Lucas lays back and continues gazing up at the ceiling.)
(Shot of the old Native American man gazing up at the stars.)