"Sir, before you go to your meeting, I wanted to inform you... that Mr. Jones is here from the Bureau of Telepath Integration." "The same Mr. Jones from six months ago?" "He gets around, doesn't he?" "They're all called Mr. Jones." "It's their way of making the examination less personal." "How could it not be personal?" "He crawls inside your head and roots around looking for dirt." "But only one telepath can watchdog another." "It's like Internal Affairs of a police force." "Promotion and advancement are tied to finding other people breaking the rules." "Or, in my case... poking through other people's minds without their permission." "Anyway, that's the tradeoff we make for living and working beside normals." "That's a moot point." "He's coming in my quarters at 1800 hours." "Standard procedure." "Deep scans to see if I'm violating..." " ... the new rules for telepaths." " I don't need him to tell me... you can be trusted not to go snooping around in someone's mind." "And I wouldn't." "Not intentionally." "But when the Senate disbanded the Psi-Corp... there were concerns that accidental scans were inevitable... once telepaths were integrated back into normal communities." "If you want me to talk to him on your behalf" "No, thank you." "I appreciate that... but it's just him, me, and the rules." "All right." "Good luck." "So aside from the Morseddi... there's nothing else to investigate in this sector." " Unless anyone else has a suggestion." " Yes." "Actually, I have one." "It's right here." "To the untrained eye, just another rock." "But in reality, a part of a much greater whole." "It took me years to find it." "Others of my order have spent their entire lives searching for it." "These coordinates will guide us to a precise location in hyperspace... normally hidden from prying eyes." "So, shall we go?" " Go where?" " The Well of Forever." "It's a focal point of immense power... like Stonehenge, or the Oracle at Delphi on Earth." "The Well is powerful... because it draws its essence from hyperspace." "For centuries, wizards have sought out crossroads... because they represent the point where powerful energies intersect." "There is no greater crossroads than hyperspace." "My people are taught to avoid crossroads." "Also beaches, cliffs, pits, caverns, and wells." "Where do you go on vacation?" "Another part of the room?" "You fear these places because they're not entirely one thing or another." "But to a mage, such a place is an open book full of answers... for those who are willing to listen." "This book may be very useful to us... in our search to find a cure for the Drakh plague." "It will take us several days to get there... but I am certain it will be worth the risk." "So you have a magic rock... that provides you with a mystical place that is a metaphorical book... that gives you answers to questions that we haven't asked yet." "And you want us to spend days in hyperspace based on that?" "Even if your information is correct... those coordinates are days outside known hyperspace routes." "No one is stupid enough to travel that far off the beacon." "We could wind up 40 light years from any known system." "Not if my ship's navigational systems are merged with the Excalibur's." "If your ship can find it why do you need us?" "My instruments may be more sophisticated than yours... but my ship can't maneuver in the strong gravitational currents that far out." "I need the Excalibur." "All right, since we've got nothing else on the boards, we'll take a look." "But in deference to common sense and Mr. Eilerson's concerns... which somehow ended up the same thing, for a change... if we get to the location and there's nothing there..." " ...we'll turn around and head back." "Deal?" " Fair enough." "I'll make ready my ship for the navigational merge." "Has anyone else ever found this Well of Forever?" "Absolutely." "It's just that no one has ever returned." "Consider it an adventure." "CRUSADE" "Matthew Gideon, Captain." "Attached to the Earth Alliance starship, Excalibur." "To find a cure to the Drakh plague before it wipes out all life on Earth." "Anywhere I have to." "Who do you serve and who do you trust?" "CRUSADE 1x03 "THE WELL OF FOREVER" Subtitles subXpacio" "Display all systems on the Excalibur." "Isolate navigation systems." ""OPEN CHANNEL"" " Ready to perform navigational merge." " Go ahead." "Look at that." "His ship can pick up the faintest signal and amplify it to usable form." "No wonder Technomages are never seen in hyperspace." "They can travel completely off the beacon." "I'd love to get a look inside that thing, see how she does what she does." " You think that might be possible?" " We can try." "We'll have to backcheck the connections from time to time... to make sure it's all working properly." "And we can look back a little further, just to be thorough." "Excellent idea, Lieutenant." "Because one of the main reasons I went along with this... was the chance to learn a little bit more about that ship of his." "I'll get on it first thing." "Right now, I have to go." " Time to see Mr. Jones." " Of course." "Captain, you have a minute?" "Sure, pull up a chair." "I'll deal you in." " So, what's on your mind?" " Galen." "Let me guess." "You don't think he can be trusted." "You know, I was taught two things growing up." "One:" "Don't go looking for trouble... unless you know what you're gonna get out of it." "In this respect, he is hiding something from us." " I can feel it." "I suspect you can, as well." " Yep." "Cards?" "Dealer takes two." " Doesn't that bother you?" " We've all got something to hide, Dureena." "Straight." "Queen high." "What's the second thing you were taught?" "Never gamble with a thief." "That's a good trick... considering one of the cards I tossed away was the queen of hearts." " Show me how to do that someday?" " If we live that long." "By the way, where's Lt. Matheson?" "In his quarters with his guest." "I heard." "Is he okay?" "I don't know." "I noticed we jumped shortly after I arrived." "I hope we're not going too far off the beaten track." "A little." "But we'll drop you off at a rendezvous point as soon as we're done." "It'll be a few days." "You know, Lieutenant, you've become something of a role model... to a number of telepaths back home." "Many of them have dreamed of being career military." "You're the first to have a real shot at it." "So you will understand that we need to be even more strict... even more thorough, given your position." "Yes, sir." "Just try and relax." "No one likes deep scans." "They're painful." "Uncomfortable." "Sometimes even embarrassing... but necessary." "The Well of Forever?" " Interesting destination." " Sir... that's duty-related information" "It concerns me because I'm here while all of it's going on." "So I'm making an exception." "Damn it, you have no right!" "My job gives me the right." "At the moment, you would do well to be more concerned about your job... because I can see more than a few mistakes... you've made along the way." "Yes." "Most disturbing, indeed." "Enter." "What have you done to your quarters?" "I made it the right size." "I don't know why everybody else always makes things huge." "This is the way I like it, nice and small." "Have a seat." "Thank you." "You've been keeping to yourself since we jumped." "Usually people only worry where I am... because they're afraid their valuables will disappear." "That's not something that troubles me." "Galen, if you trust me, why won't you tell me where we're going?" "I said" "No, you said that this place holds answers." "That doesn't tell me anything." "Do you think I'm hiding things from you?" " Gideon says we all have things to hide." " Does he?" "How unfortunate." "I was hoping he'd come further than that." "Not that it isn't true." "It's just that one simply doesn't have to say it." "Galen, I would like to believe what you said." "I would love to trust you." "Just give me a reason." "What is this Well of Forever?" "It is a great monument." "It's a place where races through the ages have brought offerings." "It's a sacred, spiritual place." "And when we find it, you will have all the answers you require." "You only have to listen... and ask the right questions." "Matthew was right." "We all have something to hide... and we all have something to tell." "We all have a secret name." "We all have a question." "One question that unlocks our hearts." "What is your question, Galen?" "Why?" " Lieutenant, are you all right?" " He went right through my brain." " He got our destination, everything." " What?" "Can he do that?" "He has discretionary authority to go anywhere he needs to." "But he didn't need to." "It was a violation of privacy, of..." "I'm sorry, Captain." "I shouldn't have said anything." "It's not your problem." "We're picking up something on the long range scanners." "Is it this so-called Well of Forever?" "I don't think so." "I've never seen anything like it before." "IPX has had some unsubstantiated reports about life forms spotted out here... but we've never had any proof." "This is an excellent opportunity." "We'll send out minicams." "We'll get" "Not until we finish our scans." "We can't risk having them notice us if they pose a threat." "They're called the Fenn." " They're barely sentient." " You know about them?" "They're drifters." "They're attracted to bright, shiny objects, but they lose interest quickly." "They won't do anything if we stop engines and just drift through them quietly." "You're sure?" "Yes, of course." "Stop engines." "Status?" "One of the creatures has latched onto us and is reeling us in." "They're probably just curious, that's all." " Play dead." " What if we're lunch?" "I've never heard of them consuming a ship." "I think it's safe to say that we're not being consumed... but it's certainly an odd, chewing rhythm." "If it's not eating us, what's it doing?" "No, it's not!" "It's mating with us?" "It's not exactly the first contact situation that I'd envisioned, but..." "I want it off my ship right now." " Navigation, full power to thrusters." " Aye, Captain." "Thrusters?" "Captain, you're giving it all the wrong signals." "Engines to full." "Pull us away." " Any damage?" " No, sir." ""Just drift through them."" "Galen, if that thing has gotten anything on my ship..." "Looks like he didn't stick around for the pillow talk." "Captain, the longer we're out here, the worse things could get." "What if there are more dangerous life forms out here?" "It would be a mistake to assume that there's only one life form in hyperspace." "Based on an ocean model... we might have just seen the lowest level of the food chain." "So, what happened up here?" "Nothing major." "Just a few pesky life forms getting fresh with my ship." "Any sign of our destination?" "None." "Scanners are totally dead." "I'm starting to wonder if you're right." "Maybe this was a mistake." "Probably." "But I don't think we should turn back, not yet." "You said that you avoid situations... where you don't know what you'll get out ofit or what the consequences are." "What changed that?" "Galen says this is important, that it means something to him." "Look, I don't like having to trust anyone because I'm always disappointed." "But just once, I'd like to know that I could actually trust someone." "That for at least one person, everything wasn't about money or power." "That's a benefit?" " For me, it could be." " And the consequence?" "That we'll die out here, but I'm used to that." "Look, we have no control over when we die... only how, why, and in what cause." "All right, I'll give it another day." "I owe Galen that much." "And you, too." "If we don't find it by then, we turn around and go home." "Yes?" "Captain, we'll reach our destination in a few hours." "Preliminary scans of the area show nothing there." "Could it be hiding behind some hyperspace bubble or shielding?" "Negative." "Between Galen's flyer and our own enhancements... we have enough technology to detect that kind of shielding." "There's nothing there, sir." "Thanks for the bad news." "End." " I was just coming to see you." " Yes, I know." "You've just heard there is nothing at our destination." "Then you know we have to go back now." "I've put my ship and my crew at risk coming all this way." "I can't justify" "I'm afraid going back is not an option." "Galen, we have gone out of our way for you." "We have to turn around... before we go too far out and something goes wrong." "I still have control of the navigational systems through my ship." "What are you saying?" "It is impossible for you to change course... until I turn control of the ship over to you again." "That's mutiny." "The Well is here somewhere." "We cannot go back until we find it." "The ship is not entirely under your control, Matthew." "I am sorry." "Don't you walk away from me!" "Why the hell are you doing this?" "The Well may have shifted in hyperspace over the years." "My ship will automatically compensate and plot a new course." "You cannot interfere." "The interface between my ship and the Excalibur is very delicate." "If you tamper with it before we reach our destination, we will be lost out here." "I didn't ask how you screwed me." " I asked why." " There's that question again." "You agreed to turn around if there was nothing here." "You deliberately programmed this... in case you were wrong and it wasn't here... so you'd force us to keep looking." "You once told me you considered the Excaliburyour family." "You told me that we were the only people you trusted." "What could possibly make you betray that?" "A promise." "One that I must keep, no matter the cost." "If you take control of my ship... everything else that you do after today... you do alone." "It won't be the first time that I have been alone." " Captain, do you have a moment?" " Not really." "Then I suggest you make one." "It's about Lt. Matheson." "I wanted you to know I've completed my scan and I found some gray areas." "Maybe you just found what you wanted to find." "Maybe you're just a bit too eager for that next promotion." "He has used his abilities to sense emotions... on the part of certain individuals who have come here in recent months." "Caught the random, stray thought." "No serious breaches of conduct... but enough that he may be recalled for further questioning and training." "I can't allow that." "He's needed here." "He is answerable only to me." "He is answerable to the Senate Committee on Metasensory Abilities first... above even you, Captain." "In anyone else, these would be small enough to overlook." "But Lt. Matheson has a higher requirement." "That sounds like discrimination to me." "Holding one person to a higher standard than the rest." "It is what is." "You cannot fight what is." "Captain, you know the test we've been running?" "The one tracing the merge from Galen's flyer back to his ship?" "I tried one last time to breach his defenses... figuring if I could get in we might be able to get back control of our ship." "I was locked out by some kind of manual control." "He shut that down and then shut everything down." " He knows we were snooping." " Yes, I'm sure he does." "All right, let it go." "We're not gonna get anywhere." "All we can do now is wait." "Captain, what if we do find something out there?" "We'll send out EVA Teams and investigate whatever it is." "Why?" "You want to head the expedition?" "Listen, if you've never been into hyperspace before, you should go." "It's amazing." "It's nothing like being in normal space." "I wish I could." "But exposure to hyperspace increases a telepath's abilities." "The longer the exposure, the greater the effect." "In here, the ship's shielding helps keep out most of the telepathic boost." "But if I go outside, even in an EVA suit, there's no telling what might happen." "I could casually scan all of you with just a glance." "Since safety precautions prevent anyone from going into hyperspace alone..." "I guess I'll never know what it's like." "I guess there's always a price to pay for something." "Coming up on a dense hyperspace veil, Captain." "Ship is beginning to slow." "Retros firing." "We're there." "I felt the ship come to a stop and no one..." "Oh, my God." "It's true." "Something like this in hyperspace." "It's incredible." "Scanner readouts are hazy... but it appears to have a self-contained atmosphere bubble." "All right, Galen, we found it." "We'll do this slowly." "Stand by to drop probes..." "Captain, there." "I'm going after him." "The rest of you stay put." " You can't expect me" " If he tries leaving the bridge, restrain him." "Lieutenant, this is a major discovery." "It can't hurt to run surface scans while he's out there." "At least find out about the atmosphere, gravity, temperature." "We'll give him the heads up for his own good." " Where's the Captain?" " He's down there." "We're just getting initial readouts." "You won't believe this." "Steel, iron, nickel, deuridium hybrid alloys... all worth millions across known space." "But that's not all." "The entire core is pure, solid Quantium 40." "That alone is worth billions to any jump gate construction company." "And above that, gold, precious metals... all veined through those upper strata." "Whole caverns of jewels and metals." "It's a treasure trove." "Do you have any idea what a find like this is worth?" "No." "No, it's not a treasure trove, at least not the way you mean it." "What are you talking about?" "Take your eyes off the mineral scanner for half a minute, and look at it." "That is not a treasure trove." "It's a mausoleum." "Those caverns and monoliths are gravestones... that mark the passing of a highly advanced race or culture." "On my world, we laid our chieftains to rest at crossroads, as this is a crossroad... in burial mounds that resemble these." "The gems, precious metals, and artifacts were probably left here... by those few who knew how to find this place." "Over centuries, new grave sites and offerings buried the older ones... layer after layer." "It's a place of glory... a place of memory." "Most of all, a place of goodbyes." "Yes." "As I said, at the very least... the find of a lifetime." "Now will you tell me what's going on?" "Her name was Isabel, and she was the best of us." "Every Technomage knows the 14 words... that will make someone fall in love with you forever." " But she only needed one." " What word?" "Hello." "She would sit across from me on cold nights in the study... her tiny frame lost in an enormous, overstuffed chair... her feet curled beneath her." "In my dreams, I still remember... the pattern of runes hand-stitched to the hem of her gown... even though I never really studied them." "At night, when I read alone..." "I still hear her sighing... over passages on the pages which troubled her." "We spent the nights in study like that... sometimes never saying a word... and never needing to." "She was your wife?" "No, not in those terms." "It's difficult to explain the kind of relationships... that define our order." "But she was my love... to the breadth and depth that my soul can reach." "And second to this place, I was hers." "She spent her life searching for this." "It was her dream, and because I loved her, it became mine, too." "After I lost her..." "I devoted my life to finding it." "You put us through all this... just because of a promise to find this place?" "Not just to find it." "I promised her that somehow, someday, whatever the cost..." "I would take her here to rest." "If you understand at all... then you will let me finish it." ""Care no more to clothe and eat"" ""To thee the reed is as the oak"" ""The scepter, learning, physic must"" ""All follow this, and come to dust."" ""All lovers young, all lovers must"" ""Consign to thee, and come to dust."" "Naturally, IPX is going to want a cut of this." "The hell with IPX." "Just because you work for them... doesn't give them the right to desecrate this place." " Desecrate?" " Yes, desecrate." "I fully intend to keep the site preserved in its natural state... after we move it to the Russian Consortium Museum for Xenostudies." "Absolutely not!" "These are the final resting places of Technomages, wise men... and who knows what else." "Whoever they were" "Set course for the last known hyperspace beacon and turn us away." "What?" "If we're just going to leave, then why did we even come here?" "Max, just shut up, all right?" "Galen, this was your idea." "You brought us here." "You know how valuable this place is." "Say something." "Goodbye." " Dureena, you busy?" " Not terribly." "What?" "I've been thinking, I need someone to do a favor for me... someone absolutely single-minded." "It's not for me, actually." " For Lt. Matheson." " Name it." " Captain" " Wait a second." "What is it today?" "Is my office suddenly Grand Central Station?" "I wanted to warn you." "There's a bomb on board." "Don't be ridiculous." "It's attached to the jump engine, set to go off any time now." "She's willing to kill all of us to get revenge for something or other." " How did you hear about this?" " Well, I..." "Let me see if I can pick your brain, for a change." "You got this from the thoughts of a woman... that you saw in the bullet car." " How can" " Her name is Dureena." "And I've never seen anyone focus on revenge and death... as completely as she can when she sets her mind to it." "Lt. Matheson told me that you probed part of his mind... to find out where we were going." "A small infraction since you had your reasons for it." "So I figured that you'd have even more reason... to protect your own skin." "You said certain people should be held to a higher standard." "What is the standard for a watchman like you?" "Or more to the point, what are the penalties?" "You forget about what you saw, and I'll forget all about this." "Deal?" ""PROBLEM SOLVED." "HERE'S A GIFT TO CELEBRATE"" "Sir, we've picked up an open airlock on Deck 14." "Should I alert Security?" "No, that's all right." "Just keep driving." "Beautiful." "I'm leaving again for a while." "I wanted to know if I should bother coming back again." "You hijacked my ship, Galen." "You betrayed my trust." "What higher insult could you pay to a friend?" "You didn't even trust me enough to tell the truth about why we were going." " If I had, you wouldn't have come." " You don't know that." "Because you didn't trust me enough to tell me, you never will." "I admit this is the first time I have put my private agenda before the mission." "But you did the same." "You only went along with this... because it gave you the chance to examine the technology of my ship." "You, too, were following your own agenda." "Neither of us can claim altruism today." "5 miles completed." "You saved my life 10 years ago, Galen... and several times since." "I owe you." "Further, your importance to the mission far outweighs the offense." "So I'm not gonna put it on the record... but it was wrong." "On a certain level, perhaps." "But on a higher one, I fulfilled a promise." "And I give you another:" "I will never again betray your trust." "If I honored one vow, then you know that I will keep this one." "I carried out her last request, honored her memory." "If it were you, wouldn't you do the same?" "I've already made that promise, times 300." "Have you kept it?" "No, not yet." "Then when the time comes, I will help you keep yours... as you have helped me keep mine." "Perhaps then we can both forgive ourselves our common crime." "What crime?" "Being alive." "I am leaving for a while." "You said the Well of Forever was an open book... full of answers for those who listen." "We were there, Galen." "Where are the answers?" "For Max Eilerson, the question was:" ""Is there anything in all the universe that I cannot have?"" "Download the coordinates of the Well into my personal log... and download the bridge video records of this subject." "Unable to comply." "Technostatic disarray has erased all of your primary source information." "That answer is being delivered clearly and unequivocally." "Lt Matheson." "He would have had his answer, too... had he gone to the Well with Gideon." "Matthew did receive his answer... but because he was not listening... he will have to look elsewhere." "What about me?" "You should learn to be more careful... when talking in front of an open channel to my ship." "Look, I don't like having to trust anybody, because I'm always disappointed." "But just once, I'd like to know that I could actually trust someone." "That for at least one person, everything wasn't about money or power." "I think you've received the answer to your question, Dureena." "Maybe." "But what about your question, Galen?" "Did you find your answer to "why"?" "That one... may take a little longer." "Subtitles subXpacio and TusSeries"