" Name?" " Harry." " Harry Sanders." " And you're a telepath?" "Sure." "What's the job pay?" "Well, it's not a job, it's more like an adventure." " A chance to fight the bad guys." " Good." "Are we talking hourly or weekly salary?" "I got expenses to cover." "Well, one thing at a time." "If you're a telepath, are you Psi Corps?" " No, they missed me." " Psi Corps doesn't miss anybody." "Some things fall through the cracks." " Psi Corps doesn't have any cracks." " I escaped, okay?" "Now, where do I sign?" " What am I thinking?" " I don't work for free." " What am I thinking?" " Right." "Got it." "I think you're cute too." "I really need this job." " But you're not a telepath." " I can learn." "I'm a quick study." " Out." " I'll be an intern." "I work cheap!" " Out!" " Great." "See?" "It's not what you can do, it's who you know." "Typical." " "So how's the recruiting going?" - "Slowly."" "We're still sorting through the files and conducting interviews." " I hate being this open about it." " I agree, but I don't see any other way." "We need telepaths if we're gonna take on the Shadows." "Unfortunately, every time we tell them that part, most of them quit." "Well, there is another possibility." "Franklin was running an underground railroad for telepaths escaping Psi Corps." "He might be able to help us track down some of those people." "Knowing Stephen, he's probably wiped his files to keep anyone from misusing them." "But it's worth a try." "He's still on walkabout, so finding him's gonna be tough but doable." "For all its size, it's not like anybody can hide out here for very long." "Listen, Central." "I've gone over these cables half a dozen times." "I can't find the problem." "We're still reading a dead power relay in Grey 16." "I don't care what you're reading, I'm telling you they're all working." "Then keep looking." "All right." "Well, now there's your problem." "Wonder how the hell...." "The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace." "It failed." "But in the year of the Shadow War, it became something greater our last, best hope for victory." "The year is 2260." "The place, Babylon 5." "Thank you for coming, Delenn." "The loss of Ranger One was a great blow to us." "He spoke of you often, you know." "Always with great reverence." "Did he say anything before he left?" "He gave me his thanks." "It was all he had to give." "Delenn?" "I finished going over his room and I found only this." "He had very few possessions." "To be with him was to have the strangest feeling." "As though he were only visiting this life and did not want to be overly burdened by it." "I will see to it this is sent on to his family, Rathenn." "Thank you." " Please take this to my ship, Lennier." " Of course." "With the loss of Ranger One, there is one last issue to be taken care of, Delenn." "That of a replacement." "The Rangers need a leader." "Someone to guide and inspire them in the coming days." " It is a great responsibility." " I know." "But you have my absolute confidence." " lf there is anything I can do" " I was thinking more of you." "The Rangers would support it." "Actually, I don't think they would rally behind anyone else." "But this is where the Rangers have been trained." " My place is on Babylon 5." "I cannot" " The Rangers were here because he was here." "Where you are, the Rangers will be." "We are coming into a critical time, Delenn." "They will need you." "Please, say yes." "Morning, chief." " Hey, Zack." " Sorry to be late." "I got held up down in Grey Sector." "Got a weird report." " Is that what I think it is?" " Smith  Wesson. 38- caliber revolver." "Belonged to my grandmother when she worked for the Boston P. D." "A slug thrower." " A slug thrower." " Hey, can I...?" "Yeah, sure." "She's a beaut!" "They still make ammo for these things?" "Yeah, not as much as they used to since Earthforce went to all PPGs for sidearms." "You want something that'll burn flesh without punching a hole in the hull." "Back home, it's still used for private security, target practice." " Why'd you dig it out?" " I don't know." "I guess since we cut off ties to Earth, I've been missing it a little." "But this baby is a solid piece of my family's history." " What is this weird report in Grey Sector?" " I don't know what to make of this one." "They had some dead power relays in there last night." "They sent Maintenance down to check it." " Did they fix it?" " Yeah." " You're right, that is unusual." " Well, not only that the guy who did the work disappeared." "What do you mean?" "This is a closed station." "Where can you go?" "Yeah, that's what I said." "They found his gear, but no trace of the guy." " You want me to look into it?" " No." "I'll do it." "I like mysteries." "But I hate Grey Sector." "I swear it's like the Centauri Triangle in there." "There's always some damn thing going wrong." "I'll see you later." "Yeah, I'll see you." "What are you doing here?" "Stephen?" "Are you all right?" "Give me some definition of "all right" and I'll see what I can do." " Are you sick?" " I'm not sick." " It's stim withdrawal." " I don't understand." "You were fine before." "With some drugs, the effects of withdrawal are immediate." "With stims, it's a little different." "It saturates your bloodstream and they stay in your system longer." "It takes a while to flush it all out, but once it's gone, it...." "What are you doing here?" "We need your help." "I can't go back." "I gotta work this out." "I know that and I respect that." "We need the information you gathered on telepaths when you were running the underground railroad." "We need to find them so that we can put together a tactical core group." "I purged the information from my main computer but I have a backup." "I figured it'd come in handy someday." "Where is it?" "Stephen?" "I need to be alone, Susan." "All right?" "I can't do what I gotta do if you and Garibaldi are always following me around." "So I'm gonna give you what you want, under one condition." "Don't send anybody else after me." " I can't guarantee that." " Yes, you can." "That's the price." "Now, you take it or you leave it." " Stephen, what if you get into trouble?" " I'm already in trouble." "The only thing I can do now is to keep walking until I meet myself and somehow work this out." "Access my personal computer." "The data's in a hidden folder, code name Harriet." "Everything you need is right there." "Thank you." "Goodbye, Susan." "And don't come back no matter what." " This the last place you heard from him?" " Yes, sir." "He couldn't see anything wrong." "Then the power grid came back we waited for him to check in, but he didn't." "After a few hours, we called Security." "Anybody check this out?" "We tubed down to the level below, in case he fell through a bad panel, but "nada."" "The cover was back in place, so he'd finished doing whatever he was doing." " And nobody saw anything?" " This whole sector's mainly industrial stuff." "I'm telling you, it's like he just vanished into thin air." "Thin air." "Why is it always thin air?" "Never fat air, chubby air, mostly fit could- stand- to- lose- a- few- pounds air." "I'm sorry, sir, but that's not my department." "Have you got any ideas?" "Well, aside from a two- week vacation in the Mars Pleasure Dome, not a one." "Now, you're sure you checked out the area?" "Absolutely." "We checked all 29 Grey levels." " You mean 30." "Thirty levels." " Nope." "Twenty- nine." " The schematics" " Say 30, I know." "A mistake in the blueprints." "You know how they rushed to get this place finished." "Nobody caught it because not many people get down here." "Take my word for it, I went down every floor of this place and counted." "It's 29." "For sure." "I think it's great." "You are the natural choice to take over the Rangers." "It's the logical choice." "I do not know if it will be the popular choice." "Why not?" "Who'd object?" "If I'm lucky, perhaps no one." "If not...." "I've decided to hold the initiation ceremony here, if that meets with your approval." "Not a problem." "But this is a little public." "Until now the Rangers have operated behind the scenes." "That role will change soon enough." "Before that happens, they should receive the recognition they deserve." "All right." "I'll have Mr. Garibaldi arrange a security team just" "Sheridan, go." "Captain, I've got the information we needed on the telepaths." "Good, I'll be right there." "Look, I'll catch up to you later." " And again, congratulations." " Thank you." "Congratulations, Delenn." "Power beckons." "And who among us is strong enough to ignore its siren song?" " Neroon." " A brilliant strategy, Delenn." "I had not thought you capable of such ambition." "Clearly, I was mistaken." "What are you talking about?" "The Rangers are commissioned after a thousand years of silence." "The religious caste begins constructing new warships without the knowledge or consent of the warrior caste." "You chose not to act." "Someone had to." "Perhaps." "Which is why we let you have them in the beginning." "Even allowed Sinclair to train them even though it meant diluting their purity by allowing humans to join alongside our own people." "We were quite tolerant of your activities." "But now their training is complete, they require new leadership." "By right of tradition, the warrior caste should be given command of the Rangers." "That was the law as set down by Valen." "Three castes: worker, religious, warrior." "They build, you pray, we fight." "You violated that law when the warrior caste became dominant in the Grey Council." "But the Grey Council no longer exits." "You disbanded it." "So, what do we have now, Delenn?" "You have undergone the transformation promised by Valen, broken the Council and created a vacuum of power." "And now, as an eminent leader in the religious caste you plan to take command of a military force and fill that vacuum yourself." "I have no desire to rule our people." "I wish I could believe you, Delenn, but I don't." "A religious zealot propelled by prophecy into a position of military and political power?" "Always a bad idea." "Out of respect, I give you this opportunity to walk away from the path you have taken." "Refuse the position of Ranger One and turn control of the Rangers over to the warrior caste, where it belongs." " Or?" " I am sworn to stop you, Delenn by any and all means necessary." "Delenn?" "There you are." "Is everything all right?" "Grey 2." "One, two, three...." "Grey 3." "One, two, three." "Three seconds." "I cannot believe that Neroon would actually threaten you." " He's a member of the Grey Council." " Was." "The Council is no more." "He can do as he sees fit." "This is no surprise." "We knew the warrior caste was unhappy with our activities." "Unhappy?" "Delenn, he's planning to kill you." "That is one interpretation." "He said he would use any and all means necessary." "I respectfully suggest that he intends to go beyond harsh language." "Lennier, no Minbari has killed another in a thousand years." "Yes, but if the Grey Council is gone and the rules have changed, what else has changed?" "You will tell the captain about this, I assume." "No!" "This is an internal problem, Lennier." "If we cannot handle it, then we shouldn't be here." "So I want your word that you will not tell him about this." " Delenn, I" " Your word!" "Good." "Now come, we have much work ahead of us to prepare for the ceremony." "Grey 16." "One, two, three." "Grey 17." "One, two, three four, five, six." "Grey 16." "One, two." "Emergency stop!" " Open tube doors." " "This is not a valid level designation."" " "Safety procedures require"" " Security override." "Unlock tube doors, allow manual open." "You shouldn't be here." "You're in trouble!" "Garibaldi to station house." "Gari...." "Told you!" "Told you!" " Hello, Lennier." " Marcus." "I've never seen your quarters before." "Very restrained." "Well, it's the best Ivanova could find, given how tight we are for space." "But it's enough for my needs." "Any more would be a distraction." "I'm trying to avoid breaking a promise, by breaking a promise." "I promised Delenn that I would not speak of this to the captain or let him know." "She did not mention you by name, but that was implicit." "If I tell others in the chain of command then Sheridan will find out." "I will have broken the promise." "But if I break it by telling you, since you are not in the chain he may not find out and I will not have broken the promise." "I'm in awe, Lennier." "The way you take a straightforward logical proposition and turn it inside out so that in the end it says what you want it to say, instead of what it actually means." "Did this come naturally, or did you attend some special martial arts class for the philosophically inclined?" "Marcus, I think Delenn's life may be in jeopardy." "One of our own, a former member of the Grey Council has challenged her right to lead the Rangers." "I think he may resort to violence to stop her." "Warrior caste?" "Typical." "But I was taught that Minbari do not kill Minbari." "Correct." "And given their positions, it's even that much more unthinkable." "If he harms her, if a Minbari from one caste even tries to kill another, then the shock and anger will lead to retribution back home." "It could even cause a civil war between the castes." "And the same would apply if you went after him." "So you're looking for a non" " Minbari to stop him." " Yes." " He's probably gone into hiding." "Can you find him before the ceremony?" "It will be difficult." "He won't appear again until he's ready to move, but it can be done." "Marcus, you need only delay him until the ceremony is complete." "Once it's done, it cannot be undone." "Try to avoid confronting him directly." "He is one of the best of the warrior caste." "He's trained at killing your people." "He's very good at what he does." "Just tell me when and where." "Leave the rest to me." "I don't suppose this is the best time to point out you're all under arrest." "Consider the hand." "Veins, capillaries muscles, cells." "Moons, stars planets, galaxies." "All trapped inside ephemeral, translucent flesh." "The palm." "We have lines." "We have signs." "We have shapes, equations." "All creation in a hangnail." "My name is Jeremiah." "Welcome to the end of the world." "How many more did you say we've got coming in?" "Quite a few, I'm afraid." "It's necessary for the ceremony." "But we have a few minutes before the next shuttle." "So many faces I haven't seen in so long." "It brings back a lot of memories." "You know you've never talked much about your life back home." "You never even talk about your family." "It would be difficult to explain to a non" " Minbari." "After I was born my mother entered the Sisters of Valeria." "I have seen her only twice since." " I'm sorry." " No." "No, it's great honor." "I miss her greatly, but it is her wish." "And your father?" "He passed beyond the veil ten years ago." "To see us making war against your people broke his heart." "The thing I remember about him when I was a child he would take me with him to temple." "He carried me on his shoulder, so that I could see everything." "One day I came outside with him to go to temple and he said,"I'm sorry, Delenn but you are too big now for me to carry you."" "I realized then that my father would never again carry me in his arms." "I felt such loss." "And I knew for the first time that someday I would lose him." "Then I looked in his eyes and I saw that he was thinking the same thing." "I don't think I ever loved him more than at that moment." "You see, my friend the universe is sentient aware, alive." "Now, the Minbari understand this." "Yes, they understand completely." "That is why they nearly defeated us in the war, you know because they are closer to the truth than we are." "The truth strengthens us ennobles us, sets us free." "Speaking of getting free, there has to be a way out of here." "Pressure doors are welded shut, the tube is disabled." "We tap into the recycling system and purify it." "We're all recycled, you know." "Just molecules and atoms born in the stars and recycled into carbon- based life." "Why do you think we have spent millions of years trying to understand the stars, the moons and and the universe itself?" "Well, because!" "We are the universe." "The universe made manifest." "It broke itself into pieces to examine every aspect of its being." "We try to understand it because in so doing well, we will understand ourselves." "So we we have come here and we've isolated ourselves in order to attain a purity of thought." "Because purity of form and purity of intent, purity of execution that is the only way." "The only way the door will open." "The door...." "So you must be Neroon." "You shouldn't get involved in things that don't concern you." "My quarrel is with Delenn." "Then your quarrel is with me." "Do you have any idea who I am?" "I do." "But the only way you will get to her is through me." "I invoke Denn" " Shar." "To the death?" "During the war, I killed 50, 000 of you." "What's one more?" "Not bad, for a beginner." "Last chance." "I was taught the pike by Durhann himself." "Really?" "So was I." "You're a fool." "But if this is what you wish, then Denn" " Shar it shall be." "To the death!" " Any problems?" " None that I've heard about." "Where's Marcus?" "I thought for sure he'd be here." "Something must've come up." "One day, the universe will truly understand itself." "And at that moment, it will transcend itself." "It will become something else, something even greater, another big bang!" "Only this time, consciously directed because this time the universe will know exactly what it's doing." "Right now it kills everything it makes." "Everything it designs, dies." "It's a serious design flaw, to say the least." "But next time it'll be perfect." "We will be perfect!" "Michael." "Right?" "May I call you Michael?" "People like you, Michael people like you suffer from the fact that you do not remember having been part of the universe." "You're sort of left out of the cosmic loop, so to speak." "You know, driven mad by the silence, the terrible isolation." "But, you see, we remember." "We remember the universe." "We feel the connection." "Are you all right?" "Ever since you shot me with that tranq, I've been having these cramps." "They're getting worse." "Find Ezekiel, bring him here." "Now, now, it's going to be all right, Michael." "We'll take care of you." "Don't worry." "Now, you show me the door out of here or your feet are the only things you're gonna see for the rest of your crummy life." "Got it?" "Good." "This is foolish!" "A waste of material." "Once Denn" " Shar is invoked, I cannot surrender." "But you you are not Minbari." "Step aside and I will pretend that you ran away, changed your mind." "No one will know." "I am a Ranger!" "We walk in the dark places no others will enter." "We stand on the bridge and no one may pass." "We live for the One." "We die for the One!" "I've just broken two of your ribs." "Sorry." "Make that three." "Why?" "Why all of this?" "Pride?" "Duty?" "You've been trained well, but you must've known you couldn't win." "So why do it?" "For her." "We live for the One." "We die for the One." "In Valen's name." "This belonged to the worker who disappeared." "You do this?" "No." "We do not believe in violence." "Somebody does." "He must've gotten in here somehow, so there must be a way out." "Which way?" "You still do not understand, do you?" "Perhaps that is why I am here." "To help you understand." "Yes." "Yes." "It's my time, I suppose." "Time to to move on." "I am as pure as I am ever going to be." "What are you-- ?" "What the hell is that?" "Listen." "The only way out is is to find a purity of purpose, a purity of thought a purity of belief, you see." "That is the door." "The door of the mind." "The way." "The way out." "But, you see, the body must also have a way out." "A way out that is equally pure." " Start making sense." "Now!" " I am." "Now, if we are the universe then the universe must consume us in an act of absolute purity." "Now, within the universe, we have a perfect predator." "No instinct, no thought, except for the hunt." "Living perfection." "When it is our time we choose to return to the universe through that perfection." "Through the Zarg." "Zarg?" "You have a Zarg in here?" "Are you nuts?" "That's one of the most dangerous aliens in the whole sector." "Come on." "As it was done long ago, so now we name she who will lead us." "So among the Rangers, let her be known as Entil" " Is this part of the ceremony?" " I don't know." "There is now blood between us." "And there is blood between the warrior caste and the humans." "I do not think they would die for me." "But they would die for you Entil" " Zha!" "I think I hurt it, but it just made it mad." "Damn, if I just had something." "Anything!" "Wait a minute." "Marcus...." "I don't see why you're fighting this, Michael." "To be consumed by the universe in one of its most perfect forms that's the highest destiny one can achieve." "Yeah?" "Then why the hell are you in here with me, instead of out there with that thing?" "Well, you see, I I've decided that I'm not sufficiently transcendent yet." "Get your transcendent butt behind me and hope this works." "We only got one chance." "Assuming this doesn't kill us before it does." "Don't even think about it." "Now we are gonna find a way out of here, aren't we?" "I hate Grey Sector." "This should never have been allowed to happen." " Not for my sake." " lf not for yours, then who else?" "He could have been killed." "Delenn all we know is that we will die." "It is only a matter of how, when and whether or not it is with honor." "He did what any of us would have done." "Respectfully, I think this is the one thing about your position you don't yet understand." "You cherish life." "Life is your goal." "But for the greater part to live some must die or be harmed in its defense and yours." "There is no other way." "Now, the doctors say that Marcus will recover and that is what matters." "He unders" " Did you come to finish what you started?" " lf I had wished him dead, he would be dead." " Then why did you stop short?" " That is between the two of us." "I would speak to him alone." "One warrior to another." "Then I will go." " He will not hear you." " Then I will speak briefly." "Denn" " Shar, you said." "To the death." "And death there was." "The death was mine." "To see a human invoke the name of Valen to be willing to die for one of my kind when I was intent upon killing one of my own the rightness of my cause disappeared." "Strange that a human in his last moments should be more of a Minbari than I." "Perhaps it is true what Delenn said:" "That we are not of the same blood but we are of the same heart." "The next time...." "The next time you want a revelation could you possibly find a way that isn't quite so uncomfortable?" "Captain." " You wouldn't believe the day I've had." " The day you've had?" "We had an assault on Marcus, someone got into the ceremony, could've killed Delenn." "And where were you?" "Okay." "First, there was this missing man, only he wasn't missing." "He was killed by a Zarg, but I'm getting ahead of myself." "That was after I found that the 17th floor of Grey Sector had completely disappeared." "Well, not disappeared exactly." "This weird cult had taken over the place." "There was a dummy that shot tranqs out of its eyes." "Very strange." "It was supposed to be perfect." "That was the thing about it." "There wasn't a way out, but there was." "It was spiritual." "You had to die a perfect death." "That's where the Zarg came in and either it was gonna kill me or I was gonna kill it and" "Am I going too fast for you?" "(ENGLISH)"