"Previously on "Dark Matter"..." "The Android is under my control." "It's not really her." "She's been hacked." "I was conscious of my actions but unable to stop them." "He wants your support so he can continue to fight a war that he cannot win." "I can win." "The Drive is damaged, probably beyond repair." "We've made several changes to the Blink Drive that I believe will overcome the damage done by the Ishida scientists." "Wait." "Android, what just happened?" "Unknown." "I was temporarily offline." "Yeah, you're not the only one." "I think I passed out." "Is Five okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine." "Sort of." "Six, come in." "Six, do you read?" "Yeah." "This is Six." "I'm reading you." "Hey, you all right?" "What the hell was that?" "I've run an analysis." "The ship was hit with some kind of electromagnetic pulse." " Are we under attack?" " Negative." "I believe the pulse emanated from the Blink Drive." "Please don't tell me you turned that thing on again." "I thought we talked about this." "We didn't turn it on." "We were just running a diagnostic." "It would appear the Drive selfinitiated." "How is that possible?" "Theoretically... it's not." "Where are we?" "I'm not sure." "The navigational computer is having trouble fixing our position, because the stars appear to be out of alignment." "Was the computer damaged by the pulse?" "I doublechecked the system." "Seems fine." "I found something." "This is a magnified image of the nearest star, approximately half a lightyear away." "Mass and spectrographic analysis show it to be an exact match for Pollux." " We were just in the Pollux system." " That's correct." "So we just traveled half a lightyear?" "That still doesn't explain why the stars are out of position." "Maybe it does." "Standby." "I need to reconfigure our star maps to confirm my hypothesis." " What hypothesis?" " Hypothesis confirmed." "We didn't move at all." "Pollux did." "As well as all of the other stars." " What does that mean?" " Means she finally blew a gasket." "It was only a matter of time." "Indeed." "That's exactly what it is." "Android, you're not making any sense." "Of course I am." "The relative position of the stars changes over time." "Shit." "600 years' worth of stellar drift, approximately." "It's the only possible explanation." "Wait, are you saying we traveled through time?" "We went 600 years into the future?" "No, of course not." "Good." "Had me going there for a second." "We've traveled 600 years into the past." "Just as I suspected." "The station we know as Pollux 4 is no longer here." "Or perhaps I should say it's not here yet." "Well, I guess that's confirmation." "It's one system." "I've also been scanning all subspace frequencies for typical interstellar chatter." "There's nothing out there." "But you can fix it, right?" "You can use the Drive to get us back." "I can try." "But it make take some time." "Time." "That's very funny." "That wasn't a joke." "I've spent the last 48 hours analyzing the Blink Drive and am still no closer to a solution." "I don't know why it selfinitiated or how to repair it." "So what are our options?" "We're running low on supplies." "Then I suggest we set a course to the only recorded civilization of this time period:" "Terra Prime, Earth." "It's difficult to pinpoint, but I believe we'll be visiting somewhere in the early 21st century." "What is that, the dawn of civilization?" "Do they even have flush toilets?" "Okay, Android." "We're going to Earth." "I've been reading up on this time period." "They have satellites." "Nothing that can detect a ship with the Raza's capabilities." "The Android said most of their tech is devoted to communications, entertainment, and social media posturing." "Android!" "Hey!" "There you are." "Do you mind?" "Sorry." "An interesting cultural mix." "Is this what you've been doing?" "Listening to oldtimey music?" "Not exclusively." "I also accessed the planet's data hub." "The security protocols in place are quite primitive and easily defeated." "I think I can get us accommodation, transportation..." "whatever we might need." "To do what?" "Live on the planet." "You want to abandon the Raza?" "I thought you brought us here so you could find the materials you needed to fix the Drive." "In this time period, that's extremely unlikely." "So we're supposed to just live here the rest of our lives?" "I'm sorry." "There's nowhere else to go." " So you're leaving." " No." "No, we're just heading down to the planet." "We're gonna set things up." "I'll be back." "But if what The Android's saying is true, what's the point?" "The point is, you're still here." "I'm not gonna abandon you." "And I'm not gonna guilt you into paying me the occasional pity visit." "What are you talking about, pity visits?" "Can't you see how this changes things?" "You're not stuck on this ship anymore." "You're free to go down there and start a new life... have a chance with someone else, someone real." "You're real." "But this isn't." "As much as I want it to be..." "It's not." "It's a fantasy." "Okay, but you know what is real?" "My feelings for you are real." "Now, but how long until you start resenting me, stop coming to visit?" "How long are gonna keep pretending that this is enough?" "I can't live like this." "I need more." "I require everyone's presence on the bridge." " What is it?" " It's another Blink Drive." "Or perhaps a past version of the same one." "How do you know?" "It's a subspace signal, identical to the one our drive was giving off before we found a way to mask it." "Another Blink Drive?" " That doesn't make any sense." " It's true." "No technology even remotely like this should exist in this time period." "There can only be one possible explanation." "Somebody else from the future is down there." "This is perfect." "Another Blink Drive is just what we need." "We head down there, we grab it, we get the hell out of here." "The signal is too weak to pinpoint from orbit." "But I have determined that it's somewhere within a small community called Fort Falls, Wisconsin." "Wait a minute." "If it does turn out to be the same Blink Drive, only 600 years earlier, then we can't take it without creating a paradox." "What do you mean?" "If it's the same drive, then 600 years from now, somehow it's supposed to wind up on that station, where I found it." "But if we take it, then it never gets there, and then we never go back in time to take it." "Then problem solved." "Who cares if it doesn't make sense, as long as it works?" "It's also possible in a more distant future beyond even our own, more Blink Drives are being created and used to travel through time." "This could be one of them." " There you go." " However," "Five is right to be concerned." "If we do create a paradox, the results could be less than desirable." "Care to be a little more specific?" "Of course no one knows for certain what will happen." "There are competing theories." "We could simply return to a future that we find unrecognizable." " Wasn't that great to begin with." " Or we could all simply cease to exist." "Well." "Let's hope it's not the same drive, then." "It's not just the Blink Drive." "As I said, any significant change to the timeline could result in a paradox, so I suggest we maintain a low profile." "We might want to start with a change of clothes." "You guys look ridiculous." "They look contemporary." "You're each an archetype of the era." "Soccer mom, goth chick, salary man, and... slob." "And you are?" "An upwardly mobile suburban professional." "Shouldn't you be staying back here with the ship?" "I can place the ship under lockdown and maintain neural monitoring." "It should be perfectly safe given their level of technology." "You might have a tough time fitting in." "Unfortunately, the upgrade was damaged by the mindhack, but my ability to access the planetary data hub makes me an indispensable source of information for this outing." " Still, I'm not so sure..." " Indispensable." "Okay." "I was able to manipulate the planetary data hub and establish false identities and bank accounts for all of us." "If it's that easy to steal, I might start to like it here." "I also rented us a house under Two's alias." "You really think we'll be there that long?" "It's better to be safe than sorry." "And homeless." "Okay." "Let's go." "The "Marauder" should be able to evade detection." "But we will need to land in a forested area approximately six kilometers from the community." "Guess that means we're hiking." "Only to a local dealership, where I've arranged for us to pick up a vehicle" "I got double reward points." "Shapiros finally rented their house." "They look weird." "They look like the family from "Blood House."" "What's that?" "It's this horror movie me and my brother watched when my parents were away." "It's about these new neighbors who move in, and it turns out they eat people." "Why?" "Because they're cannibals." "Yeah, but why people?" "I don't know." "Maybe they taste better." "You're right." "There's something about them." "Crap!" "Jake?" "Coming." "We better get these out of sight." "All right." "Thanks, kid." "It's like moving into a museum." "Did people actually live like this?" " What the hell is that?" " Someone's at the door." "I think it's the neighbors." "Does everyone remember their assigned names?" "Yeah." "Yes." "What?" " Hello." " Hi." "Welcome to the neighborhood." "We're the Connors." "Hi." "Come in." "I'm Debra, this is my husband Miles, and this is our son Jake." "My name is Elaine, and this is my husband Mitch." " Hey." " Our daughter Apple." "Hey." "This is my brotherinlaw, Mal." " Hi." " Mal." "What's that short for?" "Mal... vik." "It's Old Norse." "His mother was onequarter Viking." " And this is my sister." " Rhianna." "Welcome to Fort Falls." "It's blueberry." "I made a bunch for the upcoming bake sale at Jake's school." "That's very kind." "So, where'd you move from?" "Port Land." " Do you... do you mean Portland?" " Correct." "Could I use the bathroom?" "Jake, you can just wait" " till we get home." " It's an emergency." " Sure." " Okay, I know where it is." "He used to come over here all the time to play with the Shapiros' boy." "Listen, we're having people over later and would love all of you to come." "I don't know..." "It's nothing fancy, but it'd be a perfect opportunity to meet some of the other neighbors." "That's very thoughtful." "It's just..." " We'd love to." " Great." "Say, 4:00?" "Just come as you are." "Whoa." "I've reconfigured these radiation detectors to scan for the Blink Drive's signal." "In order for triangulation to occur, we need to take readings in multiple positions around the town." "Okay." "Great, well, we'll split up." "Three, you come with me." "Six with Five." " Android..." " Not so fast." "We still need supplies." "Two quarts of milk." "One dozen eggs." " Butter?" " Yes." "Unsalted, please." "12x19 nonstick cookie sheet?" "I'm making something to bring to today's party, as is the custom." "We don't have time to be running errands." "Or going to parties." "I sincerely hope we find the source of the signal quickly, but in the event we don't, we might be here a while." "I suggest we try to fit in." " Toilet paper?" " 2ply." "But see what's on special." "Can we just find this thing and get the hell out of here?" " What's your rush?" " I just want to go home." "I mean, look at this place." "It's so primitive." "Where are the hyperloops?" "Where are the aerocars?" "Maglev boots?" "When was the last time you rode the hyperloop, drove an aerocar, or wore maglev boots?" "That's not the point." "The point is that I no longer have the option." " I kind of like it here." " You can't be serious." "Fresh air, fresh food, and the closet G.A. ship is 600 years away." "Can we just get started, please?" "Come on." "Baseline readings." "We got to cover more ground." "How about starting with the inside of that chocolate shop?" " Come on." " Hi." " What's she doing?" " I don't know." "I'm telling you guys." "She's a spy." "They're all spies." "For who, the Russians?" "She looks Swedish." "Look!" "We should report this to Sheriff Vargas." "The Sheriff's not gonna believe us." "Then we need proof." "You are just so cute." "Your hot chocolate's getting cold." "Aww." "No, we are not getting a dog." "It would be great for crew morale." "We could screw up the timeline." "What if the dog that we bring back is instrumental in finding a cure for Sokolsky Syndrome or something?" "What?" "This is the happiest I've seen you in a long time." "I've missed this side of you." "Yeah, well, it's been a rough month." "Yeah." "You know, you may think you call the shots, but we all do." "We all have a say in where we go, what we do." "It's not all on you." "Never has been." "We're the crew of the Raza." "We carry each other." "What?" "Readings are spiking." "Let's go." "Um, this wasn't on the list." "Teens of this era probably loved mini cupcakes." "I'm just trying to stay in character." "So what kind of readings are we getting?" "Stronger now than before, but still dispersed." "We won't know for sure till we compare them with what the others get." "All right." "I'm afraid the results are inconclusive." "We can take more readings tomorrow, but right now, we should get ready for the party." "Again with the party." "What's with you?" "If triangulation doesn't work, we'll need to find the Drive by other means." "The party could be an opportunity to gather intelligence." "She's right." "This is a small town." "Everyone knows everyone else's business." "If there is somebody else here from the future, maybe they got themselves noticed." "How's that cupcake?" "Hey, you made it." "We baked cookies for the occasion." "How many guests are you expecting?" "Um, maybe 40." "That's 1.67 cookies per guest." "Please apportion accordingly." "Okay." "Well, why don't you come in, grab a drink, mingle?" "Remember, you're a couple." "We're a couple." "And you're a disaffected youth committed to sulking and avoiding all social discourse." "Perfect." "Pumpkin." "Hi, folks." " Yup." " Elaine." "Mitch." "Good to see you." "So how are you liking Fort Falls so far?" "It's lovely." "Probably seems a little quiet compared to Portland?" "Yeah, a little." "I guess you guys don't get much excitement around here?" " Yeah." "You'd be surprised." " Yeah?" "For instance, at last week's potluck," "Mario Vidali made wings so spicy they sent Maeve Barclay to emergency." "You're serious." "So, what do you do for a living?" "We're hired guns." "Freelancers." "Yeah, we pull the odd job, always looking for the big score." "We run a small company." " Importexport." " Mostly import." "What countries do you do business with?" "We have partners all over the planet." "Did you see the last episode of "Infamy"?" "Yes." "Ava choosing Ryan," "Emma dying on her wedding night, and Liam turning out to be the secret stalker... it was a very shocking finale." "The finale's not until next week." "Well, I have a feeling you'll be pleasantly surprised." "She can finally eat solids now." "Well, she shouldn't have touched her eye, but of course Mario felt horrible." "Usually he samples his wings, but, you know, he was in such a rush..." "Professor, glad you made it." "Have you met our new neighbors, Elaine and Mitch?" "That's no problem." " Sorry." " Better white than red?" "Nice to meet you." "Yeah." "Who was that?" "Professor Brophey." "Teaches physics at Harding High." " Supposedly quite the genius." " Is he always that jumpy?" "A little, yeah." "Did you see that?" "I swear that guy recognized us." "It could be our guy." "But we need to make sure." "I'll go back to the "Marauder,"" "link with the ship, and run a facial recognition program through the G.A. database." "In the meantime, you see if you can find out more about him." "I don't get it." " Who are they spying on?" " It's not who." "It's what." " Okay, what?" " I don't know." "It's obviously something top secret." "Like?" "Well, obviously if I knew, it wouldn't be very top secret." "Hello, children." "Where do you think she's going?" "Come on." "They're not spies." "They're aliens." "I can't believe your neighbor's an alien." "You're so lucky." "This is the greatest thing to happen to me since Lila Marks got scabies and they shut down the school for a week." "I bet this picture can get me one million... no, two million upvotes on Reddit." "You can't show that to anyone." "I'm serious." "The three of us have to decide on who we tell and when." " Deal?" " Deal." "All right, see you guys tomorrow." "What's he doing with that dip?" "Unfortunately, I was unable to find a match in the database." "Maybe he's not our guy." "It could be just a guy with a nervous twitch." "No, man, he recognized us." "I'm sure of it." "I was able to find a local address under his name from an online directory." "The address is 98 Gray Road." "All right, Three and I will go check it out." "You two stay here, keep an eye on him." "Give us a headsup if he's on the move." "Hey." "Hope you don't mind." "I kind of helped myself." "Party's pretty boring." "That controller's broken." " Yeah, I fixed it." " How?" "Pretty good with electronics and stuff." "So you've played this game before?" "Nope." "First time." "You're on level eight." "I've had this game since Christmas, and I've only got as far as five." "Come on." "I'll give you some pointers." " That looks out of place." " Yup." "That looks familiar." "Yeah." "Mission accomplished." "If they could just establish a running game, they'd be tough to beat this year." "I think they can go all the way." "I hope so." "What's football?" "A team sport that was greatly revered in this era." "Its popularity even rivaled that of esports and qwiddich." "Get out of here." "We may have a problem." "The "Marauder's" proximity alert has been triggered." " Shit." " What's up?" "The "Marauder's" proximity alert's been triggered." " Shit." " That's what I said." "It may simply be local wildlife, but we need to be sure." " All right, I'll go check it out." " How?" "Two and Three took the van." "Two?" "Three?" "What's your status?" "Two." "Three." "Are you there?" "They're maintaining radio silence." "Great." "Now how am I supposed to travel six kilometers out to the "Marauder"?" "I've got an idea." " Six, over." " Yeah, go ahead." "Jake says to top up the back tire." " It might be a bit flat." " Yeah, I noticed." " All right." " Thank you so much." " Thank you for coming." " It's always a pleasure." "Two." "Three." "Are you there?" "Two." "Three." "The professor's on the move." "Pirates, monsters, or magic?" "Magic." ""Dungeon Siege III" it is." "Hey, do you know anything about that Professor Brophey?" "Not much." "Why?" "I'm looking for a physics tutor." "I hear he's pretty smart." "Ethan's brother had him last semester." " Heard he was weird." " Weird how?" "I don't know." "Just weird." "Jake?" "What are you doing?" "Do you guys want a turn?" "We need to talk to Jake." " What are you guys doing?" " What are you doing?" " She's really cool." " She's an alien." "A really cool alien." "She's really good at videogames." "Does she know we know?" "I didn't tell her anything." " My dad knows." " What?" "That's what we came here to tell you." "I got in trouble for coming home late." "And my dad took my phone, and he saw a picture of the ship." "What did he do?" "He called Sheriff Vargas." "Hey." "Is everything okay?" "Six, come in." "This is Six." "Go ahead." " You need to be careful." " What do you mean?" "Someone may have tipped off the sheriff." "You should move the "Marauder," just in case." "So far there doesn't seem to be anyone." "Hold it right there." "What was that?" "Six?" "Six, are you there?" "Hey." "Hey." " Who sent you?" " No one sent us." "Try again, Mitch." "Or should I say..." "Marcus Boone and Portia Lin, the future galaxy's most wanted?" "I downloaded the G.A. database before I left." "Who are you?" "How did you find me?" "We ran a planetary scan and picked up the Blink Drive subspace signal emanating from this location." "No, no, no, no, no, no." "How did you find me in this time?" " It was an accident." " An accident?" "Yes, we ran a diagnostic and something happened." "There was a flash, and the next thing we knew, we had traveled 600 years into the past." "The recall worked." "What recall?" "What happened to the Blink Drive?" "It's damaged beyond repair." " This is perfect." " What's perfect?" "There is now only one operating Blink Drive in existence, and it is safe here in the past." "Slight problem with that." "See, we'd kind of like to go home." "Well," "I'm afraid that's not gonna be possible." "Five." " What are you doing?" " Cops found the "Marauder."" "They've got Six." "Two and Three aren't responding." "Wait." "We have to be careful." "The timeline is in danger." "I think we're a little past that now." "Okay, well, it's a lengthy walk." "I suggest we take an Uber." "An uber what?" "Never mind." "I trust you." "Where did you get your Blink Drive?" "It's a long story." "You stole it?" "Okay, that's the short version." "How did you get yours?" "I made it." "Yeah, I was the lead scientist on a team put together by Electus Corp to research wormhole technology." "At first, it was very exciting." "We were doing things that no one had ever done before." "But the closer we got to success, the more I realized how dangerous it was, and... and how much danger we were in ourselves." "Fail and you're useless." "Succeed, and you're a potential resource someone could exploit." "I was the only one who saw it coming." "I was the only one who got out alive." "I couldn't take the Drive with me." "Instead, I hid a recall command in the program." "Then you built another one and escaped to the past." "So you ran away." "I was being hunted by a corporation!" "Join the club." "Why didn't the recall program work until now?" "I'm not sure." "When I got out, the Drive was just an unfinished prototype prone to instability." "Yeah, we noticed." "Our Android's been tinkering with it." "Well, whatever it did, it trigged the program." "Still fried the darn thing." "Which is why we need your drive." "That's not gonna happen." "Okay, so what are you gonna do?" "The only thing I can do." "Take the Blink Drive further into the past, where no one will ever find me." "I don't think so." "Just in time." "No pun intended." "Malvik." "It's Old Norse." "This is actually a pretty good fake." "I've seen enough of them to know the difference." "What's your real name?" "Now, what you know about that thing out there in the forest?" "You know I've already called in the feds." "Now, they thought this was a joke at first till I showed 'em them pictures." "Then they got serious real fast." "Flying in a team as we speak." "You might want to consider the possibility that it might be a lot more pleasant talking to me than to them." "Suit yourself." "Boy." "The whole area's swarming with federal agents by now." "You'll never see your ship again." "Wait a minute, I know how to fix this." "We've got a time machine right in front of us." "Does it have a power source?" "Yeah, he was about to turn it on." "We just go back to this morning and warn ourselves." "You can't warn yourselves, because then you won't be in the situation you're in, which means you won't go back in time and warn yourself." "You'll create a paradox." "And you think we'll cease to exist." "No." "I think we'll cause a rip in the spacetime continuum that'll have such explosive force, it will kill everyone in a hundredmile radius." "He's bluffing." "You think I want this to happen?" "Do you think I want the government to get its hands on technology that is not even supposed to exist for hundreds of years?" "That by itself might change the timeline beyond recognition." "I'm surprised we haven't felt effects of it already." "That means there's still a chance." "I know what to do." "Nobody touch that thing, guys." "Watch your feet, boys." "Watch where you're stepping, please." "Remember, you have to stay out of sight of yourself and the others." "I know." "Be safe." "Well... we're still here." "Sorry, sorry." "I got here as fast as I could." " Son of a bitch." " Is it done?" "Yeah, but we have to hurry." "Last chance, Professor." "You sure you want to stay?" "I've had my fill of the future." "Sorry." "Thank you." "Excuse me." "I need to go to the bathroom." "With everyone else out on site, I'm here all by my lonesome." "I won't try anything." "I promise." "You're just gonna have to hold it." " Hi." " Hi." "Glad to see you guys." "But we got a problem." "The landing site..." "We know." "It's crawling with government agents." "We've made arrangements." "I preset the "Marauder's" engines to fire up in about ten minutes." "And I tweaked them to give off a sonic pulse that'll disable everyone in the area." " When did you do that?" " Earlier today." "It turns out I was the one who set off the proximity alert." " Wait a second." " We'll explain on the way." "Let's go." "Okay, hold on." "We don't want to get any closer." "They'll only be out for a few minutes, so we got to get moving." "Wait!" "What the hell's he doing here?" "It's okay." "They helped me." "You're leaving, aren't you?" " Yeah." " Take me with you." "You know I can't do that." "You've got a life here, a family." "I want to see the future." "You will." "Your own." "And I'm sure it'll be amazing." "But I think I love you." "Jake... you're in love with the idea of being in love with me, and plus, I'm five years older than you." "My uncle Bill, he's dating a girl 25 years younger than him." "Good for your uncle Bill, but... but this is different." "Someday you'll find that special someone." "Who knows, maybe that someone is already closer than you think?" "Ew, no." "She's my cousin." "Well, maybe not her." "But... but someone." "For sure." "Well, I want you to have this." "Thanks, Jake." "All right." "Are we ready?" "Goodbye." "Goodbye." "So we make it back?" "We returned to our own time." "The Drive is working flawlessly." "Good." "Now let's disconnect it." " Really?" " After all that?" "We can't trust Brophey to not try the recall again." "From now on, we only use it as a last resort." "And what about the timeline?" "Any changes?" "I've been scanning multiple frequencies, including the GNN newsfeeds." "Everything is as it was." "So we had no effect at all." "I'm not so sure about that." "I've also run a historical sweep on the people we met from the past and discovered something very curious." " Who's that?" " Dr. Christine Connor, the inventor of the FTL engine." "Wait, Connor?" "Greatgranddaughter of Jake Connor." "According to the records, his tales of potential space travel inspired her to pursue a career in astroengineering." "So what does that mean?" " We did effect the timeline?" " And isn't that a paradox?" "Unless we were always meant to go back in time and affect the timeline, in which case... maybe it's not." "Commander Nieman, how can I help you?" "Actually, I'd like to discuss how we can help each other." "Get out of the way." " Get out of the way." " No, no, no." "Hey!" " Victor." " Android." "We need your help."