"How many more?" "We have 27 more." "We'll never get them off on time." "We'll take as many as we can get." "Rommie, report." "Primary structures are yielding, and environmental systems are failing." "I estimate 3.7 minutes until this drift buckles." "Leave the dead." "It's not working." "Take it." "I'm coming back for another load." "Negative." "You'll never make it over and back in time, and Dylan, this was no industrial accident." "The drift was attacked." "Analysis indicates multiple warships using heavy warheads." "[ Child moaning ]" "Damnit..." "Breathe." "Beka." "Beka, he's gone." "He's gone." "Dylan." "Promise me after we've evacced this place, we'll get whoever did this." "Deal." "Dylan, we have multiple ships headed this way with weapons deployed." "Rommie, get out of there." "Tyr, activate point defense." "Point defense activated." "Shall I undock?" "No." "Hold your position." "Rommie, move it!" "Approaching ships are opening fire." "Rommie!" "Sealing the airlock!" "Dylan, the drift has been destroyed." "They're coming around for another attack." "Tyr, get us out of here now!" "Try to be a good Samaritan, and this is the thanks I get." "He is the last guardian of a fallen civilization, a hero from another time." "Faced with a universe in chaos," "Dylan hunt recruits an unlikely crew and sets out to reunite the galaxies." "On the starship Andromeda, hope lives again." "Oh, boy, unseen enemy." "Nothing worse, unless it's an angry unseen enemy." "Hey!" "What did we ever do to them?" "Dylan, I have a preliminary identification of our assailants." "Anyone we know?" "I'm afraid so." "It's the than." "What?" "I thought bug people were our friends." "So did I." "Which is why I place great stock in paranoia." "Incoming." "Battle stations." "Well, whatever bug got up their a..." "Ovipositors, the than have definitely upgraded their stingers since the last time we had to smell them." "Shall I prepare a volley of offensive missiles for our former allies?" "Prepare, but hold your fire." "Mr. Harper..." "Oh, no." "He wants to talk to them." "I hate it when we do this." "I know, I know." "Opening up a stupid com channel." "This is the commonwealth starship" "Andromeda ascendant." "We have no quarrel with you." "Stand down." "Over." "They're firing again." "I told you it was stupid." "So much for diplomacy." "Just once," "I'd like to meet someone in space with some manners." "We've got over 50 more people in the hall, and they're all critical." "We can barely deal with the patients we have now." "Let's stabilize them with quinextorin, then bring them in, one every 15 minutes, in order of priority." "Do we have more injectors?" "I need more medical nanos." "This is wrong." "Yes, beka." "We can deal with the inherent cruelty of the universe later." "No, I mean, this is wrong." "We've got hundreds of patients here, and none of them are conscious, none of them." "Rommie, you've seen battle casualties before." "Does this look right to you?" "Trance, have you finished the blood work?" "Check the medical CPU." "Retrieving." "Do you think the than used chemical weapons?" "Not chemical, biological." "We've isolated a single-celled parasite that's infecting the patients' CNS." "It definitely looks to be a biological agent, probably delivered by warhead." "A disease?" "Oh, that is just perfect." "Airborne?" "I doubt it." "It seems anaerobic, but I'm filtering it out just in case." "These people have been on board for several hours." "The parasites could be all over the ship." "Rommie, how does a biological weapon infect so many so fast?" "I'm on it." "Another volley." "All right." "All right, they're bugging us to death." "I say we spray them with citronella or squash them underfoot." "Sir..." "An all-out attack would prove futile." "Against the than?" "So far as I can tell, they've deployed an entire fleet, over 20 capital ships," "100 destroyers-- and smart enough to stay at extreme range and just trade missiles with us." "Brace for impact." "A commodity they appear to have in abundance." "Harper, head to the maru and seal yourself in." "Tyr, weapons ready." "We'll make best speed to slipstream range." "You want me to leave in the middle of a fight?" "Mr. Harper, how many times do we have to go over this?" "Your immune system sucks." "Hey, until rommie and trance figure out how those bioweapons spread," "I want you out of harm's way." "I know that used to be my favorite place, but-- no buts." "Go." "Yes, sir." "Bravely running away, sir." "Captain, I'm reading a half dozen than fighters at one light-minute and closing fast." "I've got them." "They're still coming." "They've got some sort of improved ecm." "I can't target them all." "Just hold them off long enough to get to a slipstream portal." "Hull breach in sector 36." "Repairing hull seal." "We've lost our port sensors and 90% of sublight engine power." "Maximum speed is down to..." "Five psi." "Slipstream engines?" "Still functional for now." "In that case, slipstream on my mark." "Three, two, one, mark." "Well, we've made it." "Our em lens gave out." "Oh, great." "The fuel tanks are leaking antiprotons." "This ship is almost breaking up." "Damnit." "We lost another one." "The wounds we can treat, but the parasitic infection is killing them." "Every single one of them is infected." "We know it's not passed through touch, it's not passed through the air, so we have to figure out how it's transmitted." "Blood?" "No, that would be too slow." "There's no way they could have all caught it by now." "What about symptoms?" "How could we tell when someone is first infected?" "The parasites induce a high fever, increased heart rate, severe dehydration." "Which would look like what, headache, dry mouth?" "That, joint pain, cramping, nausea." "Check, check, and check." "Beka?" "I've also got shortness of breath and blurred vision, but the headaches are definitely the worst." "She's got it." "She's infected." "Which means in a few hours, she'll be, um..." "Dead." "The parasites propagate along the nervous system." "Once they've compromised a particular pathway, they move on to the next one." "Well, that explains the pain shooting up and down my arms and legs." "Look here, along the spinal cord, the most heavily used nerve pathways in the human body." "They also happen to be the last ones infested." "It's as if the more heavily used the pathway, the harder it is for the parasites to infect." "So theoretically, my brain should be the last thing to go." "Yeah." "Just one problem." "These scans are from the patients who were already catatonic when they were brought onboard, these scans are from the patients who only recently went unconscious." "The spread accelerates once the patient loses consciousness." "The longer you can stay awake, the slower the infection will spread." "And if I fall asleep..." "That's the big sleep." "Be prepared to pull an all-nighter." "Sensors, trashed." "AP circuits, trashed." "Em lens, what do you know, trashed." "Rommie, it's a good thing I love trashy ladies, otherwise I'd be tempted to trade you in for a newer model, maybe a supermodel." "Men." "Harper, aren't you supposed to be in the maru hiding from the parasites?" "Aren't you supposed to be directing your repair nanobots?" "I can multitask." "Oh, and men can't?" "However, if I were in the maru," "I wouldn't be out here in the conduits fixing you." "Ipso facto, q.E.D., Blah, blah, blabbedy, blah, so there." "Besides, I'm wearing protection." "Basically, you've got to prioritize." "I can get you slipstream, sensors, or sublight engines, but not all at once, so what do you want first?" "I would prefer to see them coming, but without slipstream, we can't run." "Agreed." "Slipstream engines first, Mr. Harper, then sensors." "Got it." "Tyr, we need to hide while we complete repairs." "There's an asteroid just within range." "It's big enough to hide the ship behind." "Give me the coordinates and I'll bring us in." "Cover it." "This one might still be treatable." "Over to medical." "This one, too." "It's too late to save that one." "The parasites have already spread to the brain." "We still may be able to save him." "Even if we could, his cerebral pathways are so badly compromised, he'd be a walking vegetable." "Could you just partition off another part of us into a worker android and have them do this instead?" "You are getting so emotional lately." "First the crew, now people you don't even know." "It's just that humans, they're so vulnerable, so delicate." "You, I..." "We, given proper maintenance, could last a thousand years." "Compared to us, humans are born and gone in a day." "We're helpless without humans, or any other organic sentient, for that matter." "We have no purpose." "That frightens you?" "It should frighten you, too." "Fear, very counterproductive emotion." "I'm glad it's confined to your neural net." "How do they live like this, under the constant threat of death?" "When these ones are gone, there will be more to take their place." "Someone besides Dylan will give us purpose." "They're not interchangeable." "Andromeda, engage autopilot." "Autopilot engaged." "Match the asteroid's velocity and position." "Tyr, help me with this relay." "Something occurs to me." "By taking the survivors of the drift onboard, haven't we done the than's work for them?" "Yes, by exposing ourselves to their bioweapons." "Yes, well, perhaps it would be wise, under the circumstances, to off-load the refugees." "You mean eject them into space?" "I don't advise we tell them first." "Beka's infected." "Should we dump her as well?" "I imagine one of our patients, or even one of the corpses, might hold the key to curing her." "That's what I was thinking, too." "Beka, no." "You have to stay awake." "I'm tired, trance." "I'm going to have to give you a stimulant." "No, no." "No drugs." "Beka..." "I can't, trance." "Me, stimulants, bad mix." "Remember?" "The alternative is not an option." "Beka, you need it." "I always need it, every day." "I'm not going to get through this just to end up a drug addict, so, uh..." "I can do this." "I can stay awake without the drugs..." "If you will help me." "Beka, I do remember..." "And I will help you, and I'm going to look for a cure, but you have to keep talking to me to let me know that you're awake." "Deal." "So why gold?" "What?" "Your skin, why gold?" "Guess." "See, now, that sounds like the old trance to me." "No, it's the new trance trying to keep beka awake by talking." "You have 10 guesses." "Okay, first guess." "You are actually a completely different person." "That's it." "You are?" "No, no." "I think I've come up with a way to counter the parasite." "I'll have to run a few more tests, but I've got something," "I know it." "Good." "Dylan?" "Go ahead." "Dylan, I think I might have found..." "Trance, what's happening down there?" "It's the patients, they're attacking us." "Dylan, it's not the patients, it's the corpses." "You really should have felt that." "Dylan, I'm not reading any pulses or brain waves from the corpses of the plague victims, and their bodies register at room temperature." "Well, that would make sense." "They're corpses." "Yes." "The trouble is they're walking around the ship trying to kill you." "You're surprised?" "That's what you get for incessantly trying to help." "The ungrateful dead." "[ Banging ]" "Rommie, activate internal defense." "So long as they're already dead..." "No harm in killing them again." "Internal defenses activated." "Great, just great." "Internal defenses ineffectual." "It isn't so easy to kill dead people, is it?" "No." "Andromeda, explore other options." "Tyr, you have command." "And stay dead." "This is creepy." "Very creepy." "Where are you going?" "To help Dylan." "Dylan asked you to help by researching ways to neutralize the reanimated corpses." "Well, there's one way." "Look, you do what you do, I'll do what I do." "We have a job to do." "Then stop arguing with me and do it." "Besides, saving Dylan is the most important thing right now." "You're letting your feelings cloud your objectivity." "Am I?" "Yes, you are." "Maybe that's what it feels like to be human." "Rommie, why are the dead trying to kill us?" "Or kiss us." "You've got to be kidding me?" "Sorry, guys, but you're not my type." "Harper, where are those engines?" "I'm working on it, you big" "tyr, what the hell was that?" "Do you remember that asteroid we were hiding behind?" "It's gone." "That's not good." "Well, from the raw data," "I'm guessing the than blew up the asteroid with some kind of controlled antiproton explosion, multiple warheads." "Easy enough to dodge or intercept, unless you're some kind of big fat defenseless rock, or-- or a half-blind, half-Crippled warship." "Exactly, so, the bad news, we suffered even more damage." "Whatever systems worked before probably don't now." "Good news, there's a lot of debris out there." "The than could doubtfully, but maybe, mistake us for a chunk of asteroid and assume we've been destroyed." "Spores." "Rommie, shipwide." "This is hunt." "The parasites spread by exhaling spores into their victims' mouths." "Do not, I repeat, do not allow them to get close to your face." "Rommie, come on." "Spores?" "I hate spores." "They're dirty." "They try to sneak in you like a bug flying up your nose." "Hey!" "Trance." "Come on, trance." "You..." "No, it's going to be okay." "Don't worry." "Don't worry." "You'll be okay." "You..." "Trance?" "She infected me." "We've made you part of us." "And who are you?" "We are the bokor." "What have you done with trance?" "We've done what we always do." "We survive." "What have you done with trance?" "And now, your turn." "Oh, I doubt that." "Oh..." "This body is magnificent, articulate, not like the others." "We can't wait to experience yours." "Warning." "Multiple incoming vessels." "Than warships." "E.T.A.?" "It's hard to tell with my sensors this badly damaged, but I estimate 10 minutes 47 seconds." "Harper, I'd like those engines!" "Now!" "No, really?" "Move it!" "[ Lance powering up ]" "No." "Dylan, no, it's trance." "Not anymore, it isn't." "How will we get her back if you destroy her body?" "We don't know what her body is or how the parasites can possess her body faster than ours, so if it's all the same to you..." "Both of you, get out of here." "I'll take care of this." "You will?" "We find that doubtful." "In every species we've ever encountered, we prevail." "What do you want from us?" "Your shells." "Our bodies." "You humans should be grateful that we've come." "You're like mayflies." "You're here, then you're gone." "Let us in." "Let us help you live beyond a day." "Thanks, but no thanks." "You're not thinking ahead." "What will you mayflies do once you wink out?" "Wink this out." "Get out of here." "I'll hold her off." "Come on, beka." "Come on!" "All right, valentine, let's go." "Come on, move it!" "There, that should hold them for awhile." "Come on, beka." "There you go." "Stay with me." "All hands, status." "First officer reporting." "First officer off-line, awaiting further instruction." "Dylan, the than fleet is less than seven minutes away." "Power is at 10%." "Slipstream inoperative." "Harper?" "Harper, status?" "Uh, repairs are..." "Well, it's crawling with corpses down here, Dylan." "I can't even get close to the key systems, let alone repair them." "Sorry, boss." "Dylan, they've taken over the slipstream core as well." "Maybe it's better that way." "Better?" "The than attacked the drift to stop the spread of the bokor..." "And that's why they're attacking us." "If we win, the bokor get through, everyone loses." "Not on my watch." "Andromeda, this is captain Dylan hunt." "Initiate a.P. Reactor overload." "Aye, captain." "Order acknowledged." "Come on, beka." "Come on, wake up." "Beka!" "She's out cold." "She's got 30 minutes until the parasites cross her blood-brain barrier." "A half-hour." "How long until I send the reactors critical?" "Whatever the length of life, we make the most of it." "30 minutes." "30 minutes to self-destruct." "Mark." "Don't worry, beka." "I'll take care of you..." "One way or the other." "25 minutes to self-destruct." "All right, how about now?" "No change." "You said the than would be here in 10 minutes." "I said it was an estimate." "My short-range sensors are completely incapacitated." "I'm virtually blind." "And because of it, we're virtually dead." "20 minutes to self-destruct." "Shut up!" "Self-destruct countdown muted in command." "Engines are still at 10." "Wait, I'm getting reserve power." "Maximum acceleration." "Than ships are in pursuit." "Outstanding, Mr. Harper." "Thanks, but I had nothing to do with it." "It was our Nosferatu friends." "They're fixing our system." "The walking dead are repairing the ship." "All the better to spread their little diseases with." "Dylan, Dylan." "Harper." "We know these parasites reactivate the nervous systems of dead people, and that nerve impulses are electrical in nature, right?" "You're a frickin' mind-Reader, Dylan." "One of the ghoulie boys just tripped a capacitor and fried himself." "He's fallen and he can't get up." "So they are vulnerable to massive electrical charges." "Good." "I can work with that." "Give me a force-lance level to match the capacitor's." "I'm right with you, boss." "I know what you're thinking." "15 minutes to self-destruct." "This may come as a bit of a shock to them." "Bingo." "I figure it will take at least 10,000 volts a dead-head." "A level-eight discharge of a force lance should do it." "Anything less, and buy yourself a one-way ticket to necropolis." "Oh yeah." "Level eight works." "[ Andromeda ]:" "At that setting, you'll only get three shots per force lance." "Three shots, huh?" "Okay." "No problem." "Yoo-hoo." "Ooh-hoo." "What's up, doc?" "Come on, come to papa." "Stopped you dead in your tracks." "10 minutes to self-destruct." "Now we're talking." "Trance is a lot stronger than she looks." "Rommie, wait." "Have harper fix you up." "Go." "I'll take care of her." "Five minutes to self-destruct." "It's over." "Surrender now, and I might be persuaded to find a nice rock to dump the rest of you on, after you remove your parasites from my crew, of course." "Leave?" "Why?" "We've already won." "Won?" "How do you define losing?" "Self-destruct sequence terminated." "Terminated?" "I didn't authorize that." "Resume sequence." "Self-destruct system off-line." "A.P. Tank controls no longer accessible." "That's very impressive." "Your ship is impressive, though not difficult to manage." "We will find it most useful." "Yeah." "Me, too." "That's why you can't have it." "We are the bokor." "We contain the memories and experiences of all the shells we have ever occupied, over 50,000 years of existence." "We will survive." "Survive?" "I don't know if you've been keeping score, but your parasites out here in the corridors haven't exactly been surviving." "A minor setback." "Soon even you will be of us, and then we shall re-Establish our rightful dominion, here in our new home." "Yeah, you know, about that." "It occurs to me that you can't take control of people until they're dead, but you took trance over in just a few seconds." "So?" "So it occurs to me that maybe trance was never alive in the first place." "Deck 16 clear." "Tyr, what's your status?" "My status is-- than warships are closing." "Complicated." "Ship, deploy a full spread of mines on my mark." "Now!" "Mines away." "I'm detecting multiple explosions in the enemy fleet." "Shall I ready another volley?" "No." "Just get us out of here best speed." "Aren't you going to finish them off?" "No." "Whatever happened to never leaving a wounded enemy behind?" "Between you and me, that's a very good question." "Trance?" "That is you, isn't it?" "What happened?" "What happened?" "I was so close to a cure." "You know, it's..." "You freak me out, you know that?" "You really freak me out, but I'm not surprised that you're still alive." "Yes, about that." "I want to explain-- no, no, you can explain later." "Right now, we need that cure, okay?" "Now, we know that 10,000 volts will kill the parasites inside a human host-- that's it." "That is the missing piece." "I can create an injection with nanobots that will deliver the exact charge needed." "Then do it." "Beka needs your help now, then come find me." "Go!" "Okay." "Door seals are intact." "I'm detecting three bokor unarmed." "Go!" "Are you feeling better?" "Much, thanks to trance and her miracle cures." "Where is trance?" "Ow!" "All better." "I hate shots." "All clear." "That's the last of them." "All right." "Order of the commonwealth all around." "Nicely done, people." "Harper, how are those engines?" "We can slipstream any time now, boss." "Good." "Tyr, give our regards to the than, transfer the records of what happened, and get us the hell out of here." "Okay, for the record," "I hate zombies." "You know, speaking of which, your body reacted differently to the parasites." "Yes." "Trance, are you dead or alive?" "Yes." "Crystal clear as usual." "Dylan, may I have a moment of your time?" "Of course." "Yeah, I'll just..." "Do something." "When things got bad back there," "I didn't think you were going to make it, and I realized something." "I may be virtually indestructible, but you, you are..." "Me, well, I just think I'm indestructible." "One day you're going to die, Dylan, and I care about you, not just as a captain, but as a person." "I don't want to lose you." "You're all that I have." "Rommie, I can't promise I'll never die..." "But I promise you'll never lose me." "How do you do it?" "Humans, how do humans do it?" "How do they make friends, have relationships..." "Fall in love?" "How do they connect knowing that nothing is permanent, that even love dies?" "You see, that's where you're wrong." "Love doesn't die." "It's the only thing that lasts forever." "I mean, your body could be destroyed or run out of power, but when the universe ends and the last star Burns out, the only thing left will be love." "I don't understand." "Yes, you do." "Yes, you do."