Babylon 5 s01e15 Episode Script

Grail

Transport Von Braun requesting clearance.
Transport Von Braun, you're cleared for Bay 7.
Acknowledged, Babylon Control.
We are proceeding to Bay 7.
Transport Von Braun, lock on to beacon Alpha 5.
Affirmative, dockside.
Locking on.
- Do you need any special handling? - Negative, we just have passengers.
Food digests better if you chew it first.
I've seen you eat.
Does "Doppler effect" ring a bell? Commander, I'm surprised to see you here.
Aren't you greeting our guest? His ship is docking even now.
We wanted to be the first to offer reverences.
I wasn't informed.
You'll have time to change, if you hurry.
To think that you have such a man among your people.
We must not keep him waiting.
I'll take care of this.
We should have an honor guard, if Delenn thinks this is someone special.
Got it.
Jinxo! You've been avoiding me.
Haven't I been good to you? Done a lot of favors? Loaned you money? Sure.
You've been great.
Terrific.
I can't thank you enough.
And now it's time for the payback.
Security's been closing doors on me.
I need to open new supply corridors.
You helped build this place.
You know the ins and outs better than anybody.
I don't know that much, Deuce.
I was just a construction worker.
Big structural stuff.
What you bring in, it's Well, I can't be a part of that.
Well, that's too bad.
That means I'm gonna have to buy that data somewhere else.
So you're gonna have to pay up on those old debts, with interest.
What? I can't! Nobody could.
Of course you can! I'll show you why you can.
Her name is Mirriam Runningdear.
She talked to the Ombuds about me.
Even agreed to testify today.
I told her that was a mistake.
But some people never get the message.
Do you get the message, Jinxo? Good! Now, I'm giving you 300 cycles to either get me the credit you owe or the information I need.
Three hundred cycles! That's all I can afford.
Because by then, he'll be hungry again.
Won't you, Ambassador Kosh? It was the dawn of the Third Age of mankind 10 years after the Earth-Minbari War.
The Babylon Project was a dream given form.
Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences.
It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs and wanderers.
Humans and aliens, wrapped in 2,500,000 tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night.
It can be a dangerous place.
But it's our last, best hope for peace.
This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations.
The year is 2258.
The name of the place is Babylon 5.
A few days later my great-grandfather came back into town and said he'd been taken away on this ship by aliens.
They held him for two days, doing experiments, sticking needles.
- To the point, Mr.
Flinn.
- I was getting there.
Everyone figured he was nuts.
He couldn't get a job, his kids were shut out of town.
Nobody believed him.
That's why I'm here.
We found proof that his great-grandfather abducted my great-grandfather.
Frankly, Your Honor, we want damages.
How do you plead? Could I please have a translation team in here? Why is it Ombuds Zimmerman never gets these cases? Only me.
Repeat, transport Von Braun has docked at Bay 7.
Please meet arrivals in passenger lounge.
That is him.
- You've met him before? - No, but he has the look.
Do we have the privilege of greeting Aldous Gajic? Ambassador Delenn.
I did not expect to meet a person of such importance.
You do me a great honor.
- I take it that you are Lennier? - Yes.
I'm very pleased.
This is Commander Sinclair.
This is my security chief, Mr.
Garibaldi.
- I'm sorry, Mr.
Gajic - Just Aldous, please.
I wasn't notified that you were coming.
That's entirely my fault.
My trip isn't Earth-related.
I didn't think to tell you.
I sent information to the ambassadors to facilitate my mission.
Which is? I am seeking the Sacred Vessel of Regeneration known also as the Cup of the Goddess.
Or by its more common name the Holy Grail.
The Holy Grail? As in King Arthur? The Last Supper? It has many names but only one promise.
The regeneration and salvation of humankind.
My order has searched for millennia.
There's nowhere left on Earth to search, so I search other worlds.
I'm asking for the help of the ambassadors.
- What kind of help? - I assure you, I seek only knowledge.
All the funds of my order are at my disposal though I am the entire order.
If you have doubts, feel free to investigate.
We look forward to meeting with you at the appointed hour, Honored Seeker.
Commander, I don't mean to bother you, but I need to exchange some credits.
Mr.
Garibaldi can show you to an exchange machine.
Mr.
Garibaldi? Mr.
Garibaldi would be delighted.
This way.
Commander.
I'm puzzled by your reaction to Mr.
Gajic.
Do you object to his mission? On Earth, the Grail is nothing but a myth.
A story to tell your kids.
For someone to spend his entire life looking for it is It's not often taken seriously.
How sad.
He is a holy man.
A true seeker.
Among my people, a true seeker is treated with utmost reverence.
It doesn't matter if his Grail exists.
What matters is, he strives for the perfection of his soul and the salvation of his race.
That he has never wavered or lost faith.
I wish him luck.
He's probably the only true seeker we have.
Then perhaps you do not know yourself as well as you think.
Sinclair.
Come to Medlab right away.
We have another brainwipe victim.
Jinxo! Hold it right there.
You never get any better at this.
I needed the money.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Same old story.
Mr.
Gajic? Find a better place for your money.
Come along while we settle this with the Ombuds.
- I'd rather not.
- I insist.
You're a witness.
It won't take long.
Found in Downbelow like the others.
Same highly selective pattern.
Total absence of any normal brain-wave activity.
Fused synapses, barely enough to maintain the autonomic functions.
No machine could do that.
Can you save her? She was found in time, so there's a chance.
But we'll have to retrain her from infancy to adulthood.
It won't be easy.
Another lurker had his brain mulched.
Let me clean out Downbelow.
I could wipe out 9/10 of the crime rate.
Most of them are here looking for a new life, a new job.
When they don't find it, they can't get back.
Would you shove them out an air lock? Don't tempt me.
Who's the victim? Well, she's Was Mirriam Runningdear.
What? Damn.
She ran that shop in Red 26.
She was the only one with the guts to testify against Deuce.
He's gonna walk free because she's reduced to a rutabaga.
That's no coincidence.
Now can I take the place apart? Give the Ombuds the bad news.
I'll consider Downbelow later.
I need information on these brainwipes.
We have to know whether it's tied to Deuce.
And if it is? Then we hurt him.
Thomas Jordan.
This is your third arrest for petty, not to mention incompetent, thievery.
You have a history as a zero-gravity constructor on all five of the Babylon stations.
You could get a good job in a dozen places within a jump of here.
In view of this, I will be lenient.
You will depart, fare paid by the Ombudsman Office, on the next flight.
You are barred from reentry to this station for a period of five years.
You can't do that! I've got to stay here! Put me in jail! Make me clean the methane toilets! I've got to stay on the station, or it's the end of this station! Just like all the others.
- Ombuds, if I could have a word? - Approach.
Yes? Although I may have temporarily taken leave of my sanity I withdraw my former judgment and remand Thomas into the remedial custody of Aldous Gajic.
Jinxo, 240 cycles left! Desmond Muzyshenko.
You stand accused of extortion.
How do you plead? Not guilty.
Will Mirriam Runningdear come forward? Mirriam's in Medlab, just barely alive.
She's been brainwiped.
I see.
Is there other evidence to be presented? - The evidence previously submitted - Is insufficient.
I deeply regret this, but I am unable to proceed without a witness.
Case dismissed! Why'd you help me? I've never seen you before.
My brother's burdens are my own.
What I want to know is why you can't leave this station.
If I do, it'll blow up or disappear, or something else awful.
Come on, laugh.
Everyone else does.
But it's real.
The Babylon Curse.
I'm not laughing.
I understand obsession very well.
I've spent my life searching for something no one believes in.
And I will continue searching until I die.
You've been decent to me, so I gotta warn you.
In 200 cycles, Deuce will send his hoogs for me.
When that happens, get off this station.
Do whatever you gotta do, just get off.
We'll deal with that when the time comes.
Tell me how did you get this Babylon Curse? Don't you get it? Did you ever wonder what happened to the first four stations? I did.
I don't have the curse.
I am the curse.
I was too young to fight in the war so when I got the chance to work construction, I took it.
The day I came to Babylon We didn't number them at first.
I thought that was the best day of my life.
I worked a few months, took some leave and the station's infrastructure collapsed.
Sabotaged.
They never found out who.
I remember.
So I went to work on the second one.
The firm still owned my contract.
I took leave a second time and that station was sabotaged.
And then when B3 blew up, well, that's when I got the name Jinxo.
I was on B4 every minute till we were done.
I thought the curse was gone.
As I was leaving on the shuttle, I looked back and the station sort of wrinkled.
Twisted like putty, then just disappeared.
The minute I left.
When they decided to build B5, I had to work on it.
And I have to stay.
You have the wrong nickname.
They should call you "Lucky".
How so? To escape each time is a blessing.
You're a very lucky man.
Perhaps you were exactly where you were meant to be.
- I never thought of it like that.
- We never do.
You can't post security men everywhere just to catch Deuce.
You need another witness.
I've got as much chance of doing that as seeing a Vorlon do a striptease.
We may be able to explain the brainwipe victims.
It isn't a machine so it must be something organic.
I searched the xenobiogenic file.
It turned up the Na'ka'leen Feeder, found in the Centauri sector.
There's no visual record but the description of the brainwipe is close.
I believe one was smuggled aboard.
It's Deuce.
Gotta be.
His bunch can smuggle it in.
I wonder how much Londo knows.
That sector's in his jurisdiction.
- Do you know where he is? - Where else? Stinking 17! Sorry, ambassador.
- You're thieves.
- Ambassador.
Sinclair, what can I do for you? A drink, perhaps? I need information on a life form in Centauri jurisdiction.
A Na'ka'leen Feeder.
Hideous creatures.
Hideous! We found them in our colonizing days.
We lost an entire colony before we threw up a quarantine.
The only good Na'ka'leen is a dead Na'ka'leen.
This is, of course, a purely theoretical question? A whim of yours, that you might ask? Well, not really.
There's not There couldn't be.
Here? I'll have Vir transfer the files to you immediately.
I'll be in my quarters under top security.
I strongly suggest you do the same.
It is my sorrow to say the Grail isn't in the possession of the Minbari nor have we heard of it, prior to your visit.
We searched our records very thoroughly.
We regret if the news disappoints.
You have been kind beyond my expectations and I am grateful beyond my ability to express it.
I sent word to my Homeworld, which will be relayed to our outposts.
If there is any news about this Grail our people will find you and bring it to you.
That's really nice.
With the war, I figured you, folks, would You know.
There are two castes of Minbari: the warrior caste and the religious caste.
The warrior caste would not understand.
It is not their way.
So we will not tell them, and spare them the confusion.
These two sides of your culture, do they ever agree? Yes, and when they do, it is a terrible thing.
A terrible power, as recent events have shown us.
Let us hope it never again happens in our lifetime.
I heard there was a problem.
More food.
Richer food.
Older minds.
Want more.
We're setting it up.
Find Jinxo and the Ombuds.
Bring them here.
You'll dine well, soon enough.
This is top-security.
I'm surprised he gave it to you.
He couldn't do it fast enough.
He's locked himself in his room.
- Should we issue a general advisory? - Not yet.
We can't panic the station.
So far, it's in Downbelow.
We can issue a section alert.
That'd tip Deuce off.
I'd like to avoid that for now.
Commander.
We just finished the test.
It's definitely a Feeder.
The brain-wave patterns are almost identical.
Run a check on the registry and inventory of every ship that passed through the Centauri sector and docked here.
I'm gonna track down Jinxo.
I saw Deuce talking to him in court.
Might know how the Feeder got here.
That Aldous character agreed to rehabilitate Jinxo.
Is he genuine? Aldous? Yes.
Question is, a genuine what? One man's lunatic is another's true seeker.
You've been hanging out with Delenn too much.
I don't care who authorized it! Or how old the quarantine is! I don't care about the budget and I don't care how much trouble it is for you! It's the most dangerous beast in the entire sector! Find someone who can say yes, and put the quarantine back in place! Now, what are they doing in here? He has an appointment.
This is Aldous Gajic.
He seeks the cup object called the Holy Grail.
With our long trade history, I was hoping you'd make a good prospect.
Yes, yes, yes.
Now I remember.
We'll have to search our trade files.
Complicated and time-consuming.
If you can afford the fees Ambassador, I've already done it.
I thought it would help move things along.
It was an interesting challenge since you only gave a minimal description.
Nothing seems to fit exactly, but you can examine this data crystal.
Vir! What are you doing?! Being efficient, sir.
More like you, and the Centauri will "efficient" itself to extinction! - I think we should leave now.
- What a wonderful idea.
Please.
Thank you for your time, ambassador.
No one else is to come in, is that clear? Yes, sir.
Fools to the left of me, Feeders to the right! I need to find a real job.
What will you do with the Grail? Heal people.
Perhaps it's powerful enough to heal humankind.
If I didn't know you, I'd swear you were a few G's short of floating off.
How did you get into this in the first place? I kept the accounts for a major Earth corporation.
I lived in a world of numbers.
Clean, smooth.
Logical, precise.
We took a vacation to the Mars colony, the first time we'd ever been.
We were in a crawler, halfway across the Amazonis Planitia when the ground gave way beneath us.
I woke up in a hospital with a few bruises but Sarah and the children, gone.
I'm sorry.
I grieved for a long time.
A very long time.
Eventually I went back to work but the numbers didn't add up anymore.
So one day I just left believing that there had to be something some reason why I had been spared.
And then I met a man.
He said he was the last of his kind.
And he told me that I was a man of infinite promise and goodness.
And when he was dying he gave me this staff.
And now I'm the last.
But the numbers add up again, Thomas.
The numbers do add up.
Until both the defendant and plaintiff can come to a reasonable solution this court will recess for 30 minutes.
All rise! What's this Grail look like? Is it made of gold? I've never seen it.
- Then how can you find it? - It's the search that counts.
- Jinxo, it's time.
- We've come to collect.
- Wait, listen - Too late.
This is my friend.
He's under my protection.
Please leave.
Get lost.
Shall we go? You shouldn't have done that.
It was great, but you don't know They're gonna be so Can I learn to do that? Yes, because you are a man of infinite promise and goodness.
Oh, come off it! The fact that you're still here on B5 is proof of that.
You care so much that you stay here at the risk of your life.
You are a fine, good man, Thomas.
See yourself for what you are not what others try to make you.
Well, Thomas this is our last stop.
If he doesn't know where it is, I'll have to move on.
So who are we seeing now? Ambassador.
No! Get away from him! We've gotta go! He'll eat your mind! I saw him! He sucked her brain dry! Excuse me, ambassador.
Perhaps later? Thomas, answer me! I know you're there.
What the hell did you come down here for? That thing.
Gosh, you didn't see what it did.
It was terrible.
Whatever you saw, it's obviously important.
If it involves the Vorlon, you must inform Sinclair.
You can't run away all your life! Get on a ship and leave right now.
Promise me! Come and see the commander.
Tell him what you know.
- I'll be right with you.
- There they are! Jinxo, come on out! We've got the geezer.
You hear me? You got 10 minutes to reach Deuce.
If you don't show, we feed your friend to the Vorlon.
Have you found out how that Feeder got here? Eighty-nine ships came through the Centauri sector on the way here.
Half were near the quarantine.
Eliminating those with no cargo still leaves 24 possibilities.
- With any luck - Garibaldi's on the link.
Ombuds Wellington disappeared after recess.
My people called me in.
His quarters are a mess.
Seems he put up a hell of a fight.
Witnesses saw someone.
Sounds like one of Deuce's men.
I'm on my way.
If there's any pain, don't worry.
It won't last long.
Get out while you still can.
Commander! Help me! They got Aldous! Deuce is gonna feed him to the Vorlon! Like the woman.
He ate her mind.
You gotta help me.
I'll get security.
Jinxo's taking me to Deuce and the Feeder.
They've got Aldous.
Get a team.
- Will do.
- Let's go! This man is under my protection.
What are you doing? Save yourself! There's nothing in the dark.
No fear.
No pain.
Only the light.
Show yourself.
Show yourself.
- Security! - Go! Go! Peters, Carver, McLane, go after those bozos! - What's the situation? - The Feeder's in here.
So is Aldous.
You'll be okay.
Just a second more.
Thomas! Look out! Aldous! Take him! Medical emergency in Brown 9.
I have a man standing by to guide you in.
- It's too late.
- Don't say that! You're gonna be fine.
No.
My search is over.
I've failed.
No one left.
No one.
Yes, there is.
I'll do it.
I'll find the Grail.
- Thomas - I want to do it.
I'll find it, Aldous.
I swear I'll find it.
Commander Sinclair.
Please witness.
I name Thomas heir and successor.
Everything I have.
I witness this last testament.
I see it, Thomas.
The Grail! Aldous? We've confiscated the fake encounter suit.
It's a close match to your own, at least from the outside.
Why? Deuce wanted people to think Vorlons worked for him.
Figured it would add to his image and intimidate people.
Why? Well, after all, no one knows what you look like.
That makes some people a little nervous.
Good.
Starliner Vancori now arriving in docking area Theta 5.
I'm surprised to see you here.
You shouldn't be.
After all, I am not surprised to see you here.
Just felt like someone should be.
It's hard to live your life searching for something and never find it.
Are you speaking of Aldous or someone else? Aldous.
But there you're wrong.
He found what he was looking for.
What we're all looking for.
A reason.
For what? Everything, commander.
Everything.
Commander.
Ambassador.
Treat it gently, boys.
Treat it gently.
I thought Jinxo was supposed to be here to see him home.
I haven't seen him.
Yeah, well, it figures.
Jinxo's not the type to keep promises.
Transport Marie Celeste will depart in 10 minutes.
Will all passengers please board now? Put this on the ground where he rests and crush it.
Here.
It will glow each night for 100 years.
It is our way with all true seekers.
Thank you.
I will.
Good luck.
For what it's worth, I hope you find it.
Take care, Jinxo.
Thomas.
My name is Thomas.
Are you sure it's dead? I'm positive.
It's dead as a rock.
I saw it with my own eyes.
How do you know it's not resting? Feeders are sneaky.
Londo, trust me.
Well.
There you are, Vir.
I told you there was nothing to worry about.
He's young.
Sometimes he panics.
You know how it is.
- Where is it? - The doc's dissecting it.
Wants to know how it moves so fast.
He's learning lots of things.
Such as? Before they attack, they get quiet.
The key is, as long as you can hear them as long as there's noise around, you're safe.
But if you ever hear nothing worry.
That's interesting.
That's very interesting.
It's awfully quiet out here, isn't it, ambassador? Ambassador? Londo! Open the door, Londo! Ambassador, it's not funny.
Open the door, Londo! There he goes.
Jinx Thomas.
- What do you think about that curse? - What curse? You know, if he leaves Babylon 5 what happened to the other Babylons would happen to us.
Are you taking that seriously? Me? No, of course not.
You? No.
So how long until he hits jump? Right about now! No boom? No boom.
No boom today, boom tomorrow.
There's always a boom tomorrow.
What? Somebody's gotta have some perspective here.
Boom.
Sooner or later, boom!
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