Earth 2 (1994) s01e08 Episode Script
The Church of Morgan
Previously on Earth 2.
I've joined you on the planet.
And I know you planned the crash.
But do you honestly think I would aim weapons at you? You know what I think? I think you're a liar.
I don't say that we can't use Adair and her crew, but they have to be guided.
They need you to show them the way.
Loyalty- It's a tricky thing.
Can I count on you, Doctor? Are you with us? Day 38.
7600 kilometers from New Pacifica and so far from home it's unimaginable.
They say loneliness is the cruelest of friends.
Some handle it better than others.
Some not at all.
Most of us are finding it's a hard thing to outrun on this planet.
I, for one, find it especially hard, having to harbor the secrets that I do.
It's like fear of the dark when you're young.
Only now being old enough to know the dark is real, and it's coming after you.
And maybe, just maybe, it is you.
Come on, Uly.
We have a lot of stuff to put away.
Mom? Mom? What is it, honey? Honey, are you okay? Yeah? Come on.
We've got lots of chores to do.
Come on.
Sure you're okay? On those Kemper one-tens, a good bump will usually, uh, lift the contacts right off the power harness.
My father used these on the mining drones back home.
Ah.
You could get a better model.
Yes, I know.
You were an early inductee in the Yale program, weren't you? Yes.
There's nothing to fear, Bess.
My mindwash has held quite well.
I've never had an aggressive tendency.
Well, I'm only asking, because, Yale - Hmm? I wanted to know if you had any religious data on file.
The 99 widely practiced ones, yes.
Catholicism? Yes.
Good.
I need to make a confession.
A regular Catholic confession? Yes.
Bess, I can pull up a prayer for you, or a section of the Bible, but I am not a priest.
I cheated on my husband, Yale.
At least in my mind, and maybe in my heart, and I'm just afraid that it's gonna go further.
No names, please.
Bess, it's human to have random thoughts.
Sometimes it's indicative of a problem in the relationship.
You need to focus your attention there.
You think I should talk to Morgan about this? Not in specific terms.
I understand you need to clear your conscience, but you should be careful with whom you clear it.
Heller in.
Citizen Heller.
We'll dispense with the formalities.
The boy's exhibiting traits attributable to his interactions with the Terrians.
Is he aware of this? Somewhat.
They know not what they have.
Do you know what they have, Heller? I'm not sure.
They have the key to this planet.
What do you mean? We've known for years we can't take this place.
We cannot sublimate the Terrian population.
They have a symbiosis with the land, an interdependency.
The very planet would die without them.
Which is counter to a healthy, expansionist movement, isn't it? And you think the boy provides the ability to take the planet? The boy is touched.
Suppose we could take the essence of how he has changed- duplicate it, control it.
And then give a home to all of those desolate people floating in space.
And how do you propose to acquire the essence of how the boy has changed? There's a place at the base of all of our brains, which, for hundreds of years, science has speculated is the location of the human soul.
That's never been fully proven, that the pineal gland is that.
This is where the change begins.
How do you know? Twelve years ago, I found that to be the case on a convict child.
I tried to remove it myself.
Are you out of your mind? Oh, no.
No, most certainly not.
However, I have but a fraction of the medical expertise of someone like yourself.
And that is why you will harvest it from the boy.
And do not plead medical ethics with me, Doctor.
You are a prodigy of the system.
The system owns your ethical choices.
Morgan? You awake? Uh-uh.
Morgan, have you ever had thoughts about other women? What? Other women, Morgan.
You know what it means.
Bess, you know you're the only woman in the world for me.
Course, I never thought that would be quite so literal.
Six total women, Bess.
Morgan, please.
You've never once had thoughts about anyone else? Bess, what is this? Some kind of a test? I mean, have you ever had thoughts about anyone else? It wouldn't mean that I didn't love you, even if I did.
That was a rhetorical question, Bess.
Yeah, I know, but just for the sake of discussion, if I- You're telling me that you're having an affair.
I am not having an affair! Great.
Tell the whole world.
Morgan, thoughts don't constitute an affair.
Oh, you're thinking about having an affair.
What are you doing? You planning it all out? You asking for my permission? No, I'm not planning it.
I'm not asking for your permission.
They were random thoughts, and I thought we could talk about them.
Okay.
Who is it, Bess? If you think for one minute that I'm going to sit here and listen to my wife talking about her wanton desires for another man- It's somebody here.
That's not important, Morgan.
What's important is us.
Oh, great.
Another man that I happen to be on an extended camping trip from hell with.
Probably seen me naked.
Morgan, what are you talking about? What are you doing? I have a reputation to uphold.
I'm not going to idly wallow in front of this entire planet while my wife decides whose nest to feather.
- I'm taking a spare tent.
- Morgan, I'm not deciding anything.
I love you.
Morgan! Hey, Martin.
Feel free to pitch in whenever you get the urge.
Urge, Danziger? Is that some kind of crack? Are you okay? Oh, don't even try it.
Don't even try it.
"Oh, I'm just a simple sleep jumper, skipping around the universe.
I really don't know anything.
" Have you been in virtual all day again? Oh, you're all just going on with your little game.
"Old Morgan, just a level four liaison.
He doesn't know anything.
" What, that you're fighting with your wife? Aha.
How'd you know that? Well, you're hunting for a new home, aren't you? Well, physically, I think he's okay.
It's his emotional state.
He's been distant and withdrawn for the last, oh, three, four days.
Was he frightened by anything? Actually, earlier today he was frightened by something.
He said he was turning into a Terrian.
We'll run a cell scan.
Check him on the molecular level.
Why a cell scan? Just to see how deep the changes to his health run.
Maybe his emotional state is tied to the rapid physical changes he's going through.
Okay.
Yeah.
Citizen.
I'm gonna run a test on the boy.
Analyze some spinal fluid.
Why is that? Because I'm not about to harvest organs on a random guess by some maniac with a sharp spoon.
Are you referencing me? I'm flattered.
How will you test his spinal fluid for Terrian characteristics? That won't be difficult.
I have access to Terrian remains.
Don't let this opportunity pass us by, Heller.
If the boy is what we think he is, the chance may never present itself again.
Yes, I know.
Heller out.
It's simple self-respect.
I can't just ignore it.
Pretend everything's, "Oh, fine, great, good, thank you, yes, we're fine, and how are you?" I mean, the sanctimonious hypocrisy of it all.
I can't live that way.
Martin, you're a politician.
Yeah, but with Bess it's supposed to be different.
She's supposed to be a haven from all of that.
Maybe she still is.
You said she only thought about this other guy.
It's not me, believe me.
Yeah, well, how do you know? I mean, maybe she hasn't told you yet.
I'd know.
Okay? Yeah, well, it doesn't matter.
Thinking about it, that's the beginning of the end.
I know that from experience.
Well, it's- There's this previous marital contract I had.
Bess doesn't even know about it.
I had it wiped from the station records.
It only lasted for three months.
And this three-month wife cheated on you? Well, vice versa, kind of.
But that's how I know how important this is.
Well, whatever it is, it can't be cheating.
I mean, Morgan, you're not even married anymore.
What do you mean we're not married? What'd you take? The minimum four-year contract, right? Right, and we've only been married for two.
Plus 22- the cold-sleep years it took to get here.
That's ridiculous.
We weren't even awake.
Station time.
They don't care whether you're awake or not.
Uly, is there anything you wanna tell Julia? You can tell her anything, even if you think it's silly.
I know.
I'm gonna take some spinal fluid.
You're gonna have to stay very still, okay? I'm sure this is all gonna check out fine.
It's only gonna take a second.
Okay, Uly? All right.
Have you been sleeping okay? - Yeah.
- How's your appetite? Pretty good.
There you go.
Not too bad, huh? See, that was easy, wasn't it, honey? Can I talk to you for a second? Okay.
So, you wanna tell me who this guy is now? Why, Morgan? So you can throw a tantrum? I told you- who is not the issue.
We are the issue.
And if you'd rather interrogate me than talk to me, you can forget it.
It's not how marriages work.
It's certainly not how our marriage used to work.
Well, maybe that's the key there, Bess.
Used to, as in lapsed.
Morgan, what are you talking about? We've been married for two years.
How can we be lapsed? We're lapsed, Bess.
Don't be so naive.
Marital contracts do not suspend in cold sleep.
It's station time that counts.
Morgan, we're not on the stations, so who cares? Well, I care.
I care.
I work for these people.
If I wanna go back home on that colony ship, I have to make sure everything is in order.
Two years, We've lapsed five times, Bess.
You're really saying that we're not married, Morgan.
Technically? No, we're not.
Okay.
What about- What about beyond technically, Morgan? There is no beyond technically, Bess.
I could jeopardize everything I've worked for on those stations if I ignore something like this.
What are you saying, Morgan? Do you or do you not wanna renew? Do you? Maybe you should leave, Morgan.
Come on.
I'm not the one who's out there looking for other partners.
Morgan, leave.
Okay.
I'll go back and get some clothes.
Now, Morgan! Everything I knew, every person in my life, I abandoned for him.
Twice, actually.
Once, when I left Earth for the stations, and then again, to come here.
You know, he didn't even make the trip down to Earth to say good-bye to my father.
Said he would join me the next day, then holo-called from the stations.
Actually blamed it on you.
Said there was some sort of emergency meetings about clearances or something.
It doesn't matter, Devon.
I, um- I knew he didn't wanna come down.
He hated Earth.
Said it wasn't his kind of people.
You know, before we left the stations, I read your biostats.
Why? Well, when I was a kid growing up on the stations, I used to pretend I was an Earth res.
See, I- I thought it was so much more exotic.
Kind of romantic.
And I knew that my parents would never let me visit down, so I used to imagine what life must have been like.
Survival, life and death, wild, lawless passion.
Well, mostly, um- mostly survival and death.
Of course, we'd hear about your family off the satellites all the time.
The stations that your father designed.
I actually thought you must have been some kind of princess.
A princess? Hardly.
Still, I never imagined I'd be sitting on another planet, talking to you about my failing marriage.
You know, Bess, you have a lot to be proud of.
You come from a good background.
And I'm sure there's a lot of good in Morgan as well.
There must be if a woman like you married him.
My father never understood why I fell in love with a man who couldn't look him in the eye, but he never once made me feel bad about it.
If I learned one thing from my father, I learned to look life in the eye.
Mistakes and all.
Maybe Morgan was a mistake.
I just don't think it's my ultimate purpose to be made a cuckold on some distant ball of dirt in the middle of nowhere.
So, you're gonna end the relationship with your wife, because she might have thought of another man? I tried talking him out of it.
With all due respect, Martin, you should count your blessings, pal.
That's very nice, Danziger, but if I thought you were the final answer on all matters, I'd be out here asking for your advice instead of conducting an investigation.
Keep your voice down.
Okay, guys.
Look, we're all men here.
I just wanna say that if any of you have had flirtatious interludes with Bess, or know of anyone who has, I would appreciate it if you wouldjust come clean and tell me right now.
Nobody has anything to come clean about, Martin.
You're on a witch hunt.
The answer is your own insecurity.
You know what you're gonna find at the end of your investigation? Loneliness.
Gear log, research entry.
Coded.
The boy's spinal fluid definitely exhibits slightly altered D.
N.
A but shows no parallels with the alien remains.
Electrical charges produce no molecular alignment, even with cellular activity boosted.
Suspect subject to be- Julia? Uly, what are you doing here? Am I gonna be okay? Yes, of course you are.
Why are you even asking that question? Maybe it was better when I was sick.
You know, maybe things were supposed to stay that way.
Uly, sometimes things happen for a reason.
Sometimes that reason is difficult to see.
Sometimes it means a sacrifice.
What you're going through now is gonna help all the other Syndrome children.
Maybe everyone on the stations.
You'd make a sacrifice if you knew that millions of other people could lead a better life, wouldn't you? I know I would.
I guess.
Okay.
Let's not worry about it too much then.
Everything's gonna be okay.
So you're opposed? I just think it would be wise to consider all the options before taking such a drastic step.
What's to consider? Well, you do remember the Faith Wars at the end of the 21 st century? I'm aware that most of the pineal gland experiments conducted on P.
O.
W.
's during that altercation had unfortunate results.
Unfortunate results? Half died or devolved into baseline primates.
They were vicious, soulless animals.
And halflived.
They were P.
O.
W.
's or they might have lived productive lives.
Look, we both know what's at stake here.
Can you get the boy alone long enough to perform the procedure, or not? I don't know.
Probably, but- Think of this as history.
This is our destiny.
The boy has been provided for us.
The entire future of humanity rests on your ability to see the long view now.
To see past the meager bonds you might have formed with this boy.
Don't be so foolish as to ignore fate.
Neither yours nor his.
I won't ignore it.
Morgan, what are you doing? Um, I'm, uh, pretty short on supplies out there, and, uh- Well- Okay.
I want you to tell me that this is the right thing.
You want me to tell you whether your decision is right or wrong? Well, actually, I- I was hoping that you would tell me what you're feeling.
Fine, I'll tell you.
I think we've- I think we've made a mistake, Morgan.
Okay.
I think maybe we- I don't think we ever should have gotten married.
You what? You don't? How could you just say that, Bess? How many words have you uttered to my father in your life, Morgan? Well, Bess, I was marrying you, not your father.
How many? Well, it's not like we never spoke.
I mean - You despised him, because he was an Earth miner.
What was it you used to say? Uh, N.
O.
C.
D.
Not Our Class, Dear.
You did everything you could to get me to renounce where I came from.
Bess, this is not about my views on Earth or how I did or didn't get along with your father.
It's about foundation, Morgan, and trust and honesty.
None of which we seem to have an abundance of.
So, maybe you should just turn around, and we'll get on with our separate lives.
- Bess.
- I mean it, Morgan.
I had a career to consider.
You know how people will use anything on the stations to destroy you.
Mm-hmm.
And a marital contract tie to Earth? That's just the thing they need to pass you over for a level jump at review.
I took a risk even marrying Bess.
Big risk.
Still, I don't know how I'm gonna live without her though.
She's the only thing that's kept me sane.
She's the only person who's ever really believed in me.
It's so hard to hear her say she wants somebody else.
So, fix it then.
Gear log, research entry.
Coded.
Molecular activity is normal, despite recent symbiotic tendencies exhibited with the alien species.
Brain scan indicates cellular energy output to be higher than normal at the pineal.
Beginning incision, three millimeters.
Harvest procedure.
Alien life-form now present.
Further verifying boy's tie to the species.
Unsure whether the species has indication of the procedure.
Boy's energy output at the pineal gland increased tenfold.
Alonzo? It's his heart.
He'll die.
If you harvest this boy, we all die.
He's a link.
A link to what? Humanity's survival.
He's the first in a long line of evolutionary changes, and without these changes, we will perish.
The Terrians are providing these changes? The Terrians are witnessing them, the same way they did in their own kind millions of years ago.
What you're about to do poses the greatest threat to our own survival as a species.
Heller? Heller.
I know you're on.
I'm receiving gear signal.
Heller, sign on.
I want a report.
Heller? Heller, sign on.
You guys haven't seen Morgan, have you? I think he was up before sunrise.
Can't imagine him walking off by himself alone though.
Yeah, that's not really like him, is it? So, Bess, are you gonna tell us who the lucky guy is? Funny, guys.
Oh, sorry.
Are you all right? Yeah.
You look like you've seen a ghost.
I just didn't sleep well is all.
Were you dreaming? No.
You? No.
Are you okay? Yeah.
Julia, I'm wondering whether you should check on Devon and Uly.
I've never seen them sleep so late.
Well, I'm sure if they're sleeping late, they probably need it.
It's not as if I harbor any kind of animosity toward- It's just that- It's a question of common ground.
Perhaps if things had been a little different between us from the beginning- It's not right.
Okay.
Try again.
Say we were to meet now, for the first time, and you were to ask me, as you did some years ago when Bess first brought me down, "What is it about my daughter, Mr.
Martin, that makes you want to take her station-side?" and I were to say- something better than I did.
I'm- I'm not very good at this.
I'm sorry I didn't do this in person while you were alive.
Truth is, I didn't know how to talk to you.
I was afraid, I guess.
I was afraid that you would see right through me, that you would tell Bess that I was really some sort of fraud.
It was like a dream, falling in love with Bess, and I always thought that someone would come along and burst it.
I thought for sure you would.
I held my breath, I prayed.
I still pray.
And when she told me her thoughts about someone else, I said, "It's over.
" Because every day I wait for someone to come along and burst the dream, take away my life and tell me that I don't deserve any of it.
Oh, I always thought that Bess was going to lose interest in me some day, and I suppose maybe I've- I've made that happen.
I can't imagine life without her.
She, uh, still wears that pendant that you gave her.
I heard you say that it would always remind you of her.
I- Last wildflower on Earth.
Bess.
Bess, I- Shh.
Ask me.
What? Ask me, Morgan.
Bess, will you marry me? How long since you last tried to wake him? Um, about 20 minutes.
And he didn't regain full consciousness? He seems to be fighting for it, but he was never really fully awake.
You know, I had a hard time waking up today as well.
Walman reported the same.
He's fine.
His body just needs to rest.
Neuro-scan indicates he's already started to climb.
He'll be awake in a couple of hours.
Probably just a mild form of shock.
Shock? Shock? What from? Traumatic event.
Probably a delayed reaction to the planet.
The fact that we crashed, uh, the radical changes in his basic level of health.
Five weeks on this planet.
He's been through a lot.
I feel like I've been through 20 lifetimes already.
Devon, I assure you.
He'll be fine.
By this afternoon, he is gonna be antsy and bored.
I'll call you when he wakes up.
Come on.
All right.
Man wasn't meant to live alone, boys.
Ah, sure, we think of ourselves as pillars of strength, tall oaks reaching for the heavens, but I'll tell you - there's nothing like the love of a woman.
It'll see you through the darkest nights, the deepest plagues.
It feeds you when you wanna die, cleans your socks when you think there's nothing left to live for.
Piece of advice for you guys.
Don't dally around.
You're on a planet of, what- not counting biped lizards and convicts- five, six available women? Martin, you decide on a term yet? A term.
A commitment term? Yale needs to know for the ceremony.
Oh, a term.
Gear log, research entry.
Coded.
The atmospheric conditions on this planet seem to slow the healing properties of the cytokine on the laser scar.
I'm hoping the scar will be gone within eight hours or at least before detection by Eden group.
Trauma reaction was greater than expected.
It's been 10 hours and the boy is still in unconscious rise.
The only concern will be his level of recall.
Devon.
How are you feeling? Everything's okay.
Hi, honey.
Hi.
You feeling okay? Mm-hmm.
Oh.
Matrimony has always been a momentous occasion in our lives.
Even after the contract renewal acts of the late 21 st century, designed to strengthen birth rates in Earth's environmentally red-tagged areas, marriage remained a deeply emotional and soulful commitment.
Now, in this new world, at this new beginning, the couple standing before us has vowed to renew that bond, and to do so with such ardent passion so as to forego station and Earth contract law, and pledge to one another a lifelong commitment, made free of encumbrances and wrought with love alone.
If any in this community wish to dissent, speak now, and deal with me.
Morgan Horatio Martin, Bess Amelia Klempt, do you take this commitment in hand and in heart, and in the presence of one another, until death do you part? We do.
And so, uh, to the inhabitants of this new world, I present, once again, Morgan and Bess Martin.
You may kiss your wife.
You were right.
The change does start there.
When I opened the boy's cranium for the removal, there was no pineal.
What? That's impossible.
There's evidence that one existed, but I believe the changes affected it well beyond our limited understanding.
I'll continue to monitor the boy.
I'm sure that his symbiosis with the Terrians will only deepen.
In two years, the 250 Syndrome children that followed your group will arrive to colonize this planet.
What do you think will happen if they all take this change? If the change starts with the Syndrome children, it's an evolutionary step.
And if we don't have the ability to harness this evolutionary change? How would you recommend to the Council we maintain control of this planet? Maybe we all better face the fact that those Syndrome children, those outcasts of the station, will have a very powerful position on this planet.
And there's probably very little you or I could ever do about it.
Stay close to the boy.
As a species, we've come a long way.
We've learned how to control everything, from D.
N.
A.
to matrimony.
As a group, we're still trying to figure out whether we'll make it.
We learn more about our limits every day.
Even if that means telling a simple lie to protect a boy's life.
Your idea or hers, the no-limit marriage? Well, he made an offer of a hundred years.
She countered with forever.
Good.
A hundred years is nothing.
Goes by like that.
Trust me.
Hi there.
Hi.
How are you feeling? Okay.
How come you're not dancing? It's not every day you get to dance to 250-year-old music, you know.
I know.
Would you dance with me? I don't know.
Come on.
Come on.
Okay.
We've had more success than any animal in the universe controlling life.
We create it artificially.
We mimic it with computers.
Yet we still don't know what it is that really makes it tick.
What keeps life lunging forward, desperately screaming for survival? What drives us to chase ourselves off our own planet, onto floating cans in space, and then finally across the universe to start again in someone else's home? Maybe there are some things we'll never know.
And maybe the key is to know what those things are and to leave them alone.
I've joined you on the planet.
And I know you planned the crash.
But do you honestly think I would aim weapons at you? You know what I think? I think you're a liar.
I don't say that we can't use Adair and her crew, but they have to be guided.
They need you to show them the way.
Loyalty- It's a tricky thing.
Can I count on you, Doctor? Are you with us? Day 38.
7600 kilometers from New Pacifica and so far from home it's unimaginable.
They say loneliness is the cruelest of friends.
Some handle it better than others.
Some not at all.
Most of us are finding it's a hard thing to outrun on this planet.
I, for one, find it especially hard, having to harbor the secrets that I do.
It's like fear of the dark when you're young.
Only now being old enough to know the dark is real, and it's coming after you.
And maybe, just maybe, it is you.
Come on, Uly.
We have a lot of stuff to put away.
Mom? Mom? What is it, honey? Honey, are you okay? Yeah? Come on.
We've got lots of chores to do.
Come on.
Sure you're okay? On those Kemper one-tens, a good bump will usually, uh, lift the contacts right off the power harness.
My father used these on the mining drones back home.
Ah.
You could get a better model.
Yes, I know.
You were an early inductee in the Yale program, weren't you? Yes.
There's nothing to fear, Bess.
My mindwash has held quite well.
I've never had an aggressive tendency.
Well, I'm only asking, because, Yale - Hmm? I wanted to know if you had any religious data on file.
The 99 widely practiced ones, yes.
Catholicism? Yes.
Good.
I need to make a confession.
A regular Catholic confession? Yes.
Bess, I can pull up a prayer for you, or a section of the Bible, but I am not a priest.
I cheated on my husband, Yale.
At least in my mind, and maybe in my heart, and I'm just afraid that it's gonna go further.
No names, please.
Bess, it's human to have random thoughts.
Sometimes it's indicative of a problem in the relationship.
You need to focus your attention there.
You think I should talk to Morgan about this? Not in specific terms.
I understand you need to clear your conscience, but you should be careful with whom you clear it.
Heller in.
Citizen Heller.
We'll dispense with the formalities.
The boy's exhibiting traits attributable to his interactions with the Terrians.
Is he aware of this? Somewhat.
They know not what they have.
Do you know what they have, Heller? I'm not sure.
They have the key to this planet.
What do you mean? We've known for years we can't take this place.
We cannot sublimate the Terrian population.
They have a symbiosis with the land, an interdependency.
The very planet would die without them.
Which is counter to a healthy, expansionist movement, isn't it? And you think the boy provides the ability to take the planet? The boy is touched.
Suppose we could take the essence of how he has changed- duplicate it, control it.
And then give a home to all of those desolate people floating in space.
And how do you propose to acquire the essence of how the boy has changed? There's a place at the base of all of our brains, which, for hundreds of years, science has speculated is the location of the human soul.
That's never been fully proven, that the pineal gland is that.
This is where the change begins.
How do you know? Twelve years ago, I found that to be the case on a convict child.
I tried to remove it myself.
Are you out of your mind? Oh, no.
No, most certainly not.
However, I have but a fraction of the medical expertise of someone like yourself.
And that is why you will harvest it from the boy.
And do not plead medical ethics with me, Doctor.
You are a prodigy of the system.
The system owns your ethical choices.
Morgan? You awake? Uh-uh.
Morgan, have you ever had thoughts about other women? What? Other women, Morgan.
You know what it means.
Bess, you know you're the only woman in the world for me.
Course, I never thought that would be quite so literal.
Six total women, Bess.
Morgan, please.
You've never once had thoughts about anyone else? Bess, what is this? Some kind of a test? I mean, have you ever had thoughts about anyone else? It wouldn't mean that I didn't love you, even if I did.
That was a rhetorical question, Bess.
Yeah, I know, but just for the sake of discussion, if I- You're telling me that you're having an affair.
I am not having an affair! Great.
Tell the whole world.
Morgan, thoughts don't constitute an affair.
Oh, you're thinking about having an affair.
What are you doing? You planning it all out? You asking for my permission? No, I'm not planning it.
I'm not asking for your permission.
They were random thoughts, and I thought we could talk about them.
Okay.
Who is it, Bess? If you think for one minute that I'm going to sit here and listen to my wife talking about her wanton desires for another man- It's somebody here.
That's not important, Morgan.
What's important is us.
Oh, great.
Another man that I happen to be on an extended camping trip from hell with.
Probably seen me naked.
Morgan, what are you talking about? What are you doing? I have a reputation to uphold.
I'm not going to idly wallow in front of this entire planet while my wife decides whose nest to feather.
- I'm taking a spare tent.
- Morgan, I'm not deciding anything.
I love you.
Morgan! Hey, Martin.
Feel free to pitch in whenever you get the urge.
Urge, Danziger? Is that some kind of crack? Are you okay? Oh, don't even try it.
Don't even try it.
"Oh, I'm just a simple sleep jumper, skipping around the universe.
I really don't know anything.
" Have you been in virtual all day again? Oh, you're all just going on with your little game.
"Old Morgan, just a level four liaison.
He doesn't know anything.
" What, that you're fighting with your wife? Aha.
How'd you know that? Well, you're hunting for a new home, aren't you? Well, physically, I think he's okay.
It's his emotional state.
He's been distant and withdrawn for the last, oh, three, four days.
Was he frightened by anything? Actually, earlier today he was frightened by something.
He said he was turning into a Terrian.
We'll run a cell scan.
Check him on the molecular level.
Why a cell scan? Just to see how deep the changes to his health run.
Maybe his emotional state is tied to the rapid physical changes he's going through.
Okay.
Yeah.
Citizen.
I'm gonna run a test on the boy.
Analyze some spinal fluid.
Why is that? Because I'm not about to harvest organs on a random guess by some maniac with a sharp spoon.
Are you referencing me? I'm flattered.
How will you test his spinal fluid for Terrian characteristics? That won't be difficult.
I have access to Terrian remains.
Don't let this opportunity pass us by, Heller.
If the boy is what we think he is, the chance may never present itself again.
Yes, I know.
Heller out.
It's simple self-respect.
I can't just ignore it.
Pretend everything's, "Oh, fine, great, good, thank you, yes, we're fine, and how are you?" I mean, the sanctimonious hypocrisy of it all.
I can't live that way.
Martin, you're a politician.
Yeah, but with Bess it's supposed to be different.
She's supposed to be a haven from all of that.
Maybe she still is.
You said she only thought about this other guy.
It's not me, believe me.
Yeah, well, how do you know? I mean, maybe she hasn't told you yet.
I'd know.
Okay? Yeah, well, it doesn't matter.
Thinking about it, that's the beginning of the end.
I know that from experience.
Well, it's- There's this previous marital contract I had.
Bess doesn't even know about it.
I had it wiped from the station records.
It only lasted for three months.
And this three-month wife cheated on you? Well, vice versa, kind of.
But that's how I know how important this is.
Well, whatever it is, it can't be cheating.
I mean, Morgan, you're not even married anymore.
What do you mean we're not married? What'd you take? The minimum four-year contract, right? Right, and we've only been married for two.
Plus 22- the cold-sleep years it took to get here.
That's ridiculous.
We weren't even awake.
Station time.
They don't care whether you're awake or not.
Uly, is there anything you wanna tell Julia? You can tell her anything, even if you think it's silly.
I know.
I'm gonna take some spinal fluid.
You're gonna have to stay very still, okay? I'm sure this is all gonna check out fine.
It's only gonna take a second.
Okay, Uly? All right.
Have you been sleeping okay? - Yeah.
- How's your appetite? Pretty good.
There you go.
Not too bad, huh? See, that was easy, wasn't it, honey? Can I talk to you for a second? Okay.
So, you wanna tell me who this guy is now? Why, Morgan? So you can throw a tantrum? I told you- who is not the issue.
We are the issue.
And if you'd rather interrogate me than talk to me, you can forget it.
It's not how marriages work.
It's certainly not how our marriage used to work.
Well, maybe that's the key there, Bess.
Used to, as in lapsed.
Morgan, what are you talking about? We've been married for two years.
How can we be lapsed? We're lapsed, Bess.
Don't be so naive.
Marital contracts do not suspend in cold sleep.
It's station time that counts.
Morgan, we're not on the stations, so who cares? Well, I care.
I care.
I work for these people.
If I wanna go back home on that colony ship, I have to make sure everything is in order.
Two years, We've lapsed five times, Bess.
You're really saying that we're not married, Morgan.
Technically? No, we're not.
Okay.
What about- What about beyond technically, Morgan? There is no beyond technically, Bess.
I could jeopardize everything I've worked for on those stations if I ignore something like this.
What are you saying, Morgan? Do you or do you not wanna renew? Do you? Maybe you should leave, Morgan.
Come on.
I'm not the one who's out there looking for other partners.
Morgan, leave.
Okay.
I'll go back and get some clothes.
Now, Morgan! Everything I knew, every person in my life, I abandoned for him.
Twice, actually.
Once, when I left Earth for the stations, and then again, to come here.
You know, he didn't even make the trip down to Earth to say good-bye to my father.
Said he would join me the next day, then holo-called from the stations.
Actually blamed it on you.
Said there was some sort of emergency meetings about clearances or something.
It doesn't matter, Devon.
I, um- I knew he didn't wanna come down.
He hated Earth.
Said it wasn't his kind of people.
You know, before we left the stations, I read your biostats.
Why? Well, when I was a kid growing up on the stations, I used to pretend I was an Earth res.
See, I- I thought it was so much more exotic.
Kind of romantic.
And I knew that my parents would never let me visit down, so I used to imagine what life must have been like.
Survival, life and death, wild, lawless passion.
Well, mostly, um- mostly survival and death.
Of course, we'd hear about your family off the satellites all the time.
The stations that your father designed.
I actually thought you must have been some kind of princess.
A princess? Hardly.
Still, I never imagined I'd be sitting on another planet, talking to you about my failing marriage.
You know, Bess, you have a lot to be proud of.
You come from a good background.
And I'm sure there's a lot of good in Morgan as well.
There must be if a woman like you married him.
My father never understood why I fell in love with a man who couldn't look him in the eye, but he never once made me feel bad about it.
If I learned one thing from my father, I learned to look life in the eye.
Mistakes and all.
Maybe Morgan was a mistake.
I just don't think it's my ultimate purpose to be made a cuckold on some distant ball of dirt in the middle of nowhere.
So, you're gonna end the relationship with your wife, because she might have thought of another man? I tried talking him out of it.
With all due respect, Martin, you should count your blessings, pal.
That's very nice, Danziger, but if I thought you were the final answer on all matters, I'd be out here asking for your advice instead of conducting an investigation.
Keep your voice down.
Okay, guys.
Look, we're all men here.
I just wanna say that if any of you have had flirtatious interludes with Bess, or know of anyone who has, I would appreciate it if you wouldjust come clean and tell me right now.
Nobody has anything to come clean about, Martin.
You're on a witch hunt.
The answer is your own insecurity.
You know what you're gonna find at the end of your investigation? Loneliness.
Gear log, research entry.
Coded.
The boy's spinal fluid definitely exhibits slightly altered D.
N.
A but shows no parallels with the alien remains.
Electrical charges produce no molecular alignment, even with cellular activity boosted.
Suspect subject to be- Julia? Uly, what are you doing here? Am I gonna be okay? Yes, of course you are.
Why are you even asking that question? Maybe it was better when I was sick.
You know, maybe things were supposed to stay that way.
Uly, sometimes things happen for a reason.
Sometimes that reason is difficult to see.
Sometimes it means a sacrifice.
What you're going through now is gonna help all the other Syndrome children.
Maybe everyone on the stations.
You'd make a sacrifice if you knew that millions of other people could lead a better life, wouldn't you? I know I would.
I guess.
Okay.
Let's not worry about it too much then.
Everything's gonna be okay.
So you're opposed? I just think it would be wise to consider all the options before taking such a drastic step.
What's to consider? Well, you do remember the Faith Wars at the end of the 21 st century? I'm aware that most of the pineal gland experiments conducted on P.
O.
W.
's during that altercation had unfortunate results.
Unfortunate results? Half died or devolved into baseline primates.
They were vicious, soulless animals.
And halflived.
They were P.
O.
W.
's or they might have lived productive lives.
Look, we both know what's at stake here.
Can you get the boy alone long enough to perform the procedure, or not? I don't know.
Probably, but- Think of this as history.
This is our destiny.
The boy has been provided for us.
The entire future of humanity rests on your ability to see the long view now.
To see past the meager bonds you might have formed with this boy.
Don't be so foolish as to ignore fate.
Neither yours nor his.
I won't ignore it.
Morgan, what are you doing? Um, I'm, uh, pretty short on supplies out there, and, uh- Well- Okay.
I want you to tell me that this is the right thing.
You want me to tell you whether your decision is right or wrong? Well, actually, I- I was hoping that you would tell me what you're feeling.
Fine, I'll tell you.
I think we've- I think we've made a mistake, Morgan.
Okay.
I think maybe we- I don't think we ever should have gotten married.
You what? You don't? How could you just say that, Bess? How many words have you uttered to my father in your life, Morgan? Well, Bess, I was marrying you, not your father.
How many? Well, it's not like we never spoke.
I mean - You despised him, because he was an Earth miner.
What was it you used to say? Uh, N.
O.
C.
D.
Not Our Class, Dear.
You did everything you could to get me to renounce where I came from.
Bess, this is not about my views on Earth or how I did or didn't get along with your father.
It's about foundation, Morgan, and trust and honesty.
None of which we seem to have an abundance of.
So, maybe you should just turn around, and we'll get on with our separate lives.
- Bess.
- I mean it, Morgan.
I had a career to consider.
You know how people will use anything on the stations to destroy you.
Mm-hmm.
And a marital contract tie to Earth? That's just the thing they need to pass you over for a level jump at review.
I took a risk even marrying Bess.
Big risk.
Still, I don't know how I'm gonna live without her though.
She's the only thing that's kept me sane.
She's the only person who's ever really believed in me.
It's so hard to hear her say she wants somebody else.
So, fix it then.
Gear log, research entry.
Coded.
Molecular activity is normal, despite recent symbiotic tendencies exhibited with the alien species.
Brain scan indicates cellular energy output to be higher than normal at the pineal.
Beginning incision, three millimeters.
Harvest procedure.
Alien life-form now present.
Further verifying boy's tie to the species.
Unsure whether the species has indication of the procedure.
Boy's energy output at the pineal gland increased tenfold.
Alonzo? It's his heart.
He'll die.
If you harvest this boy, we all die.
He's a link.
A link to what? Humanity's survival.
He's the first in a long line of evolutionary changes, and without these changes, we will perish.
The Terrians are providing these changes? The Terrians are witnessing them, the same way they did in their own kind millions of years ago.
What you're about to do poses the greatest threat to our own survival as a species.
Heller? Heller.
I know you're on.
I'm receiving gear signal.
Heller, sign on.
I want a report.
Heller? Heller, sign on.
You guys haven't seen Morgan, have you? I think he was up before sunrise.
Can't imagine him walking off by himself alone though.
Yeah, that's not really like him, is it? So, Bess, are you gonna tell us who the lucky guy is? Funny, guys.
Oh, sorry.
Are you all right? Yeah.
You look like you've seen a ghost.
I just didn't sleep well is all.
Were you dreaming? No.
You? No.
Are you okay? Yeah.
Julia, I'm wondering whether you should check on Devon and Uly.
I've never seen them sleep so late.
Well, I'm sure if they're sleeping late, they probably need it.
It's not as if I harbor any kind of animosity toward- It's just that- It's a question of common ground.
Perhaps if things had been a little different between us from the beginning- It's not right.
Okay.
Try again.
Say we were to meet now, for the first time, and you were to ask me, as you did some years ago when Bess first brought me down, "What is it about my daughter, Mr.
Martin, that makes you want to take her station-side?" and I were to say- something better than I did.
I'm- I'm not very good at this.
I'm sorry I didn't do this in person while you were alive.
Truth is, I didn't know how to talk to you.
I was afraid, I guess.
I was afraid that you would see right through me, that you would tell Bess that I was really some sort of fraud.
It was like a dream, falling in love with Bess, and I always thought that someone would come along and burst it.
I thought for sure you would.
I held my breath, I prayed.
I still pray.
And when she told me her thoughts about someone else, I said, "It's over.
" Because every day I wait for someone to come along and burst the dream, take away my life and tell me that I don't deserve any of it.
Oh, I always thought that Bess was going to lose interest in me some day, and I suppose maybe I've- I've made that happen.
I can't imagine life without her.
She, uh, still wears that pendant that you gave her.
I heard you say that it would always remind you of her.
I- Last wildflower on Earth.
Bess.
Bess, I- Shh.
Ask me.
What? Ask me, Morgan.
Bess, will you marry me? How long since you last tried to wake him? Um, about 20 minutes.
And he didn't regain full consciousness? He seems to be fighting for it, but he was never really fully awake.
You know, I had a hard time waking up today as well.
Walman reported the same.
He's fine.
His body just needs to rest.
Neuro-scan indicates he's already started to climb.
He'll be awake in a couple of hours.
Probably just a mild form of shock.
Shock? Shock? What from? Traumatic event.
Probably a delayed reaction to the planet.
The fact that we crashed, uh, the radical changes in his basic level of health.
Five weeks on this planet.
He's been through a lot.
I feel like I've been through 20 lifetimes already.
Devon, I assure you.
He'll be fine.
By this afternoon, he is gonna be antsy and bored.
I'll call you when he wakes up.
Come on.
All right.
Man wasn't meant to live alone, boys.
Ah, sure, we think of ourselves as pillars of strength, tall oaks reaching for the heavens, but I'll tell you - there's nothing like the love of a woman.
It'll see you through the darkest nights, the deepest plagues.
It feeds you when you wanna die, cleans your socks when you think there's nothing left to live for.
Piece of advice for you guys.
Don't dally around.
You're on a planet of, what- not counting biped lizards and convicts- five, six available women? Martin, you decide on a term yet? A term.
A commitment term? Yale needs to know for the ceremony.
Oh, a term.
Gear log, research entry.
Coded.
The atmospheric conditions on this planet seem to slow the healing properties of the cytokine on the laser scar.
I'm hoping the scar will be gone within eight hours or at least before detection by Eden group.
Trauma reaction was greater than expected.
It's been 10 hours and the boy is still in unconscious rise.
The only concern will be his level of recall.
Devon.
How are you feeling? Everything's okay.
Hi, honey.
Hi.
You feeling okay? Mm-hmm.
Oh.
Matrimony has always been a momentous occasion in our lives.
Even after the contract renewal acts of the late 21 st century, designed to strengthen birth rates in Earth's environmentally red-tagged areas, marriage remained a deeply emotional and soulful commitment.
Now, in this new world, at this new beginning, the couple standing before us has vowed to renew that bond, and to do so with such ardent passion so as to forego station and Earth contract law, and pledge to one another a lifelong commitment, made free of encumbrances and wrought with love alone.
If any in this community wish to dissent, speak now, and deal with me.
Morgan Horatio Martin, Bess Amelia Klempt, do you take this commitment in hand and in heart, and in the presence of one another, until death do you part? We do.
And so, uh, to the inhabitants of this new world, I present, once again, Morgan and Bess Martin.
You may kiss your wife.
You were right.
The change does start there.
When I opened the boy's cranium for the removal, there was no pineal.
What? That's impossible.
There's evidence that one existed, but I believe the changes affected it well beyond our limited understanding.
I'll continue to monitor the boy.
I'm sure that his symbiosis with the Terrians will only deepen.
In two years, the 250 Syndrome children that followed your group will arrive to colonize this planet.
What do you think will happen if they all take this change? If the change starts with the Syndrome children, it's an evolutionary step.
And if we don't have the ability to harness this evolutionary change? How would you recommend to the Council we maintain control of this planet? Maybe we all better face the fact that those Syndrome children, those outcasts of the station, will have a very powerful position on this planet.
And there's probably very little you or I could ever do about it.
Stay close to the boy.
As a species, we've come a long way.
We've learned how to control everything, from D.
N.
A.
to matrimony.
As a group, we're still trying to figure out whether we'll make it.
We learn more about our limits every day.
Even if that means telling a simple lie to protect a boy's life.
Your idea or hers, the no-limit marriage? Well, he made an offer of a hundred years.
She countered with forever.
Good.
A hundred years is nothing.
Goes by like that.
Trust me.
Hi there.
Hi.
How are you feeling? Okay.
How come you're not dancing? It's not every day you get to dance to 250-year-old music, you know.
I know.
Would you dance with me? I don't know.
Come on.
Come on.
Okay.
We've had more success than any animal in the universe controlling life.
We create it artificially.
We mimic it with computers.
Yet we still don't know what it is that really makes it tick.
What keeps life lunging forward, desperately screaming for survival? What drives us to chase ourselves off our own planet, onto floating cans in space, and then finally across the universe to start again in someone else's home? Maybe there are some things we'll never know.
And maybe the key is to know what those things are and to leave them alone.