"I have to give you a fair warning." "He's not gonna take this well." "And don't misunderstand me." "Larry is a terrific asset to the ComTech team." "But he can be territorial around his "children."" "That's what he calls them, "his children?"" "Yes." "You know, Doctor, why don't you let me to talk to him first?" "And than we'll join you down at the lobby just in a few minutes." "Thank you." "No, I wouldn't consider myself a serious buyer, but, ah..." "You never know, you know, how things could change?" "Ah, excuse me, I have to go." "Thank you for your time." "Dr. Clark?" "You're William Boone!" "Yes." "It is great that you're here!" "Thank you." "I, ah..." "You're a sailor, Doctor?" "Ah, no, no." "A bit of a daydreamer." "Gets my mind out of here." "How's Condor doing?" "I hope he's working out okay." "Who?" "Your skrill." "My Gamma." "I like to give them nicknames." "Oh, he's working out just fine." "Great, great." "This is where he began." "Really?" "These are the Gammas." "This is your Condor and agent Sandoval's Raven." "You're very passionate about your work, Doctor." "I always admire that." " Dr. Clark..." " Larry, please." "Larry..." "The Companions have decided to terminate work on the Alpha series." "What?" "Why?" "I think you know why." "No, you can't do this!" "Their preservation instincts never came down to an acceptable level." "Well, yes, but how am I to continue progress without them?" "They were the prototype for the entire Gamma series." "Larry, I'm sorry." "Trust me, they're harmless!" "I don't have a leeway here." "They're already scheduled for shipment to storage in cryogenic facilities..." "I wish there was some other way." "Larry?" "You're really all right?" "You're gonna be ready to move them tomorrow?" "Three years ago they came forever altering the future of humanity." "Subtitled by Axarion" "Hey, Doc, you work late tonight, ha?" "You remember the routine, right?" "You get in, you do a little pirouette move, and you get out." "Hey, Doc!" "You're feeling okay?" "You look a little peaked." "Yeah, I'm fine." "It's something I ate." "Good night." "Condor..." "Good evening, Dr. Basi." "What can I do for you?" "We have a problem." "Close the file." " What did you learn about him?" " Nothing." "What can a resume tell you?" "No matter how fast you can read it." "But you're sure he took it?" " Yep." " Alone or with someone?" "Alone." "Why?" "A wild reckless guess." "Just imagine what we could learn if we had a chance to study Taelon engineered weapon." "We've been dying to study yours, but we'd tipped the Taelons off." "Doors would kill to get his hands on it." "Would he?" "I thought I was paranoid." "No, really." "What would he do with the thief?" "He would, probably, make him very generous offer and, ah... set him up with a lab and let him work on the thing himself." "Do me a favor." "Don't contact Doors until we found Dr. Clark." "Give me some time to work this out." "This isn't just your decision, Boone." "This involves all of us." "Coming out." "You remember the routine, right?" "You get in, you do a little pirouette move, you get out." "Hey, Doc!" "Please, your assessment." "The scanner would have read the skrill." "Not if it had bonded with him." "The security tests have triggered by the skrill's body temp." "If it was already a part of Clark, it might not have scanned." "It's not possible." "He would need a cerebral implant to control the skrill's temperature." "Just as we do." "Unless... the creature wills itself so, modulating its rhythms to match its host." "It remains, after all, a sentient being." "Sentient?" "It has a consciousness?" "But I thought they were manufactured." "Indeed." "Yet the machine is not the origin of the species." "And this first series conforms more closely to the organic template." "It is conceivable that the skrill in question complies with its own theft." "So, humanity is not your first contact with intelligent life forms?" "As with every texture there are degrees of contact as well as degrees of sentience." "But this life form, primitive though it may be, you reengineered it and turned it into a weapon?" "I prefer your word " ""peacekeeper."" "A tool to quell a storm." "And no, the genesis of the skrill lies in the work of human bioengineers." "But based on your physics." "Boone," "I'm sure Da'an is familiar with the native understanding of the physical world." "Can it kill you?" "I need to know the threat it poses." "Your answer is yes." "They have proven a particular potency in time passing." "Than it's fortunate that Dr. Clack has no CVI." "The weapon would be useless to him without an implant." "A minute ago he couldn't pass it through a scanner." "I only meant that the danger isn't yet life-threatening." "Agent Sandoval, a skrill harvests enormous apocalyptic power." "It poses a threat to all of us." "Recover it, please." "Restrain it." "You're not the wrong." "They're the wrong!" "They're responsible!" "Yes, I talk to myself!" "What, you got a problem with that?" "Hey!" "The ticket counter's closed." "You got a train schedule?" "Yeah, thanks for your help." "Hey." "Can you help me out?" "You got a schedule?" "Yeah..." "Sure." "You are a gentleman." "It's been some time since we had a chance to really talk." "I'm concerned about you, Boone." "Wonder how you're adjusting to your new life." "Living alone." "Alone?" "Point well taken." "It is amazing, isn't it?" "We are true symbionts." "They feed off our food intake, draw on our energy to radiate their fields." " And we rely on them for..." " "Peacekeeping..."" "Have you dreamt with it yet?" "Even scorpions dream, Boone." "The skrill images are primitive and irrational, yes, but intensely vivid." "They each have their own distinct personalities." "Mine..." "Mine... is especially compliant." "Give it time, Boone." "You'll see." "Yeah, well..." "Right now I just wish it would let me sleep." "Than tell it what you need." "The two of you have to learn to communicate." "Communicate?" "The skrill isn't some device to be mastered, Boone." "You're like a knight on a war horse." "Work with it, cooperate, form a relationship." "Like you said we're no longer alone." "Coming out." "Where are you going, Janice?" "Nobody checks out until I say." "I have nothing to say to you." "Give it up!" " Right now!" " Forget it!" "I don't know you." "What are you doing?" "Leave her alone." "What, did it say to me?" "What did you say to me?" "How come I don't hear anything?" "How come you're not saying nothing now, ha?" "How come you're not saying nothing now?" "Leave her alone." "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." "What is that thing?" "It's nothing." "Oh God, you're bleeding." "So, ah..." " What is it?" " Not here." "Hey!" "Just a minute, please." "Thank you." "I'll inform Da'an." "He fired it even without the CVI interface." "It's like he's walking around with a nuclear weapon on his arm." "We have to get it." "The skrill could give us a clue to the Taelon past, why they're here, as well as the means of survival, if it came to that." "How about the man attached to it?" "I don't want to hurt Dr. Clark any more than you do, but he's armed now, so, if I have to..." "And so will you." "There's a security camera." "I wanna take a look at the video before Sandoval." "Boone, a minute, please." "I wanna have a look at the security video." "Where are we going?" "You'll see." "Look, tell me or I'm out of here." "It's a good thing." "Trust me." "I won't hurt you." "You really work for the Companions?" "I'm a senior bioengineer." "At least I was till yesterday." "Okay, I trust you." "So, what happened yesterday?" "Why did you quit?" "For that?" "Come on, I won't tell anyone." "I just wanna see it." "I had to save it." "They're gonna take us all away." "You stole it?" "I don't know." "I didn't want to steal it." "It's kinda weird." "What do you think it's worth?" "It doesn't have a price!" "It's like a person." "It has emotions and relationships like you." "Sorry, I didn't know." "I think that's amazing." "It's so great." "I think it likes you." "I like you too." "Here it is." "Look." "I told you it was a good thing." "This isn't even yours, is it?" "Not yet, but I've been window shopping." "Come on." "You are wild!" "Why shouldn't we do what we want?" "Anything we want!" "It almost looks like the skrill fired itself." "Let's try the other security camera." "Who do you think she is?" "A girlfriend?" "It doesn't fit the profile." "There's almost no history of relationships." "Maybe it's the first date?" "Run search." "Chicago and Bureau." "Janice Green, age 26." "One count - minor narcotics;" "two counts - money theft." "Passing counterfeit of cash cards." "Do you think the young lady is a virgin as well, Captain?" "I'm sorry, I'm kind of eating for two." "That's sweet." "Kinda like you're pregnant." "So, um..." "Help me understand." "You've got this, like, cyber thing in your head that lets you fire that?" "No, I told you." "That's the way it's supposed to work." "This one just kinda went off by itself." "Lucky for me." "Those lags at the station could've really hurt me." "I could see you were in trouble." "I don't like to see people hurt, overpowered," "put against their will." "No, neither do I." "I knew you'd understand." "Can I, ah..." "Can I touch it?" "I wish I could go back and save them all." "There's more?" "Bioengineered from this one." "I like to call this one Mother." "So why can't we do it?" "Why can't we go back and get them out?" "Larry!" "Wow!" "Slow down!" "Let's go inside." "Why did you send Sandoval after the girl?" "If they're gonna to go the grind, It's gonna be through her." "Because Ms. Green is not the dominant partner in this relationship." "Larry?" "You think that this man is dominant?" "No, not Larry." "The skrill?" "When Sandoval was taking about dreaming with it" "I know what he meant." "I felt it." "And I have a CVI interface that allows me control mine." "Clark doesn't." "Boone, it a bioengineered creation, not a..." "It has an intelligence, a presence." "I mean it may not be..." "Excuse me, I have to go." "Thank you for your time." "May not be what?" "You're William Boone." "It is great that you're here!" "Thank you." " You're a sailing guy?" " Ah, no, no." "A bit of a daydreamer." "Gets my mind out of this place." "The skrill remains untethered?" "It does." "It employs its host to trumpet its proneness." "You still see the fury of our first contact." "Carnage without ceasing?" "I do." "I await for decision of the Synod." "What's it doing?" "I don't know." "Let's pitch him." "You take east." "Come in from there." "Tommy, hey!" "Hey, baby, where have you been?" "You get the stuff?" "I know..." "You get the money or what?" "Look, would you shut up and listen for a second?" "I found something incredible." "I think it can make us both very, very rich." "What are you doing?" "I was talking to a friend." " Stop lying to me!" " Larry!" "Larry, we have to talk!" "No, no, no!" "No!" "Easy, easy, easy." "No, no, no." "Stay down, stay down, stay down." "Just breathe, just breathe." "Here." "Let's get you down." "Just breathe, just breathe." " Lean on me." " I'm fine!" " Lean on me!" " I got it!" " You didn't stop him?" " My skrill wouldn't fire." "What, it malfunctioned?" "I couldn't get it to fire." "I mean, it refused." "It or you?" "Well, Sandoval said they have their own personalities." "Personality of his doesn't seem to have any problem firing." "Yeah, I know, but you had a weapon and, most importantly, you threatened him with it." "Oh, thanks a lot." "As I said it's not just your call." "You seem to have lost our young lovers." "Boone and I differ on how to get the skrill." "Larry's fired at least twice now, but this one seems to have developed a conscience." "Clark can control his without an implant?" "Clark can't control his at all." " Boone seems to think..." " His skrill is an Alpha series." "It's violently self-protective." "That's why its development was terminated." "The skrill is as much to blame as he is." "Do what you have to do." "Just get the skrill before the Taelons do." "Larry, let me go, please." "It's not our fault!" "I won't tell anyone." "It's their fault!" "What are you talking about?" "We never should've come there." "No to my boat!" " Larry, I just want out!" " Fine!" "Where do you wanna do?" " Japan?" "DC?" " It's not what I mean." " But you and I..." " Look..." "Larry, I really like you." "Okay?" "It's just..." " That woman..." "You killed her." " She's not dead!" "We don't wanna kill anyone." "Stop saying "we"." "You and that thing is not a "we"!" "What about us, Janice?" "Are we... a "we"?" "She was ripped from her home." "Stuck in a lab cage." "Remade." "Reengineered!" "I was a part of it." "I had no idea it was ah... thinking, feeling!" "What I did was wrong." "Like you said, you didn't mean to steal it." "Stealing it was the one thing I did right!" "Where are you going, Janice?" "You said you wanted to help me save them all!" "Sorry." "Janice!" "Good evening, Commander." "I presume that our quarry remains unrestrained." "Yes, he still has his skrill." "Or, should I say, it has him." "I understand." "Can you anticipate success?" "I can anticipate that he'll head for the ComTech labs to the other Alphas." "A mother gathers her brood." "Something like that." "Than you must know that they have been terminated in their entirety." "The decision of the Synod remains burdensome, but you understand its necessity, giving the threat they pose to us." "I trust that their deletion does not unduly complicate your endeavors." "Let peace go with you." "Mother's gonna be mad." "Good evening, Ms. Green." "Where is it?" "Where's what?" "What are you talking about?" "Where is the skrill?" "Hello." "Carter?" "Is that you who called me?" "I'm really glad you're here, Larry." "I'd like to try and fix this." "Where are the skrills, Dr. Basi?" "Larry, listen to me..." "I asked you a simple question." "As a simple man, you can appreciate that." "Larry, please..." "I didn't want..." "Believe me..." "It was the Companion's decision." "I had no choice!" "Than neither do we." "Larry!" "We're not here to hurt you!" "Just here to help." "Liar!" "You work for the murderers!" "The Companions!" "No, no, Larry." "It's amazing, isn't it?" "I know the power that exhorts on you." "You don't!" "Yours' a Gamma series, a lapdog compared to mine!" "Yeah, but I still feel the pressure even with the CVI." "That's why" "I can only imagine what you must be feeling." "Listen to me." "I have a friend." "He has a place where you can live, you can work... together." " No, stop lying to me!" " No, I'm not." "Out of the way!" "These tunnels run under the whole campus." "Seal all the exits to the tunnels now." "Caution to shoot on sight." "It puzzles me how one ordinary human could delude two so enhanced." "Explain the enigma." "I have no explanation." "Perhaps, because no human is so ordinary." "Pride of species, Boone?" "May you also offer a suggestion?" "I can establish a repore with Dr. Clark." "It serves your interest for him to come out alive." "I disagree." "He has a weapon of immeasurable power." "The danger..." "This man activated a skrill without the use of a CVI interface." "He needs to be studied." "It is not worth the risk." "If he escaped, not only do we have to contend with his weapon, but also the threat of it being replicated." "Your recommendation, agent Sandoval?" "The exits to the tunnels have been sealed and guarded." "My team is moving into position as we speak." "To do what?" "Flood the system with biophilic gas." "You'll never control it." "We'll evacuate the surrounding facilities." "There's not enough time, there will be dozens of casualties." "This does not serve your interests." "No alternative exists." "The imperative remains." "Regain possession of the skrill." " You heard?" " Yeah." " Use it." " No!" "You can't depend on your little friend anymore." "I'm taking the eastern tunnels." "Dr. Clark!" "Larry!" "Yeah, do you know?" "Gotcha." "Set the timer. 15 minutes." "Dr. Clark!" "Doctor!" "They're flooding these tunnels with nerve gas!" "You've got to get out!" " Captain." " Marquette." "We've set the timers for the biophilic dispersal." "I suggest you come up immediately." "How much time?" "14 minutes." "No more." "Dr. Clark!" "Doctor!" "Larry!" "Gas will kill you both, Larry!" "Talk to me!" "Larry!" "Larry!" "Get ready to pull back." "Boone!" "Yeah, I'm here." "Go." "We gotta give it up." " How much time?" " Not enough!" "You go, I'll get him." "Boone?" "Boone!" "I know you're in here, Larry!" "We have to leave now, Larry!" "They're flooding this whole underground with nerve gas!" "Larry!" "You have to listen to me now, Larry!" " Where's Commander Boone?" " Still in the tunnel." "Stop the countdown." "I can't." "You have to!" "A Companion considers this skrill to be a potent threat." "It has to be eradicated." "I'm sorry." "You talk to Da'an right now!" "You let him know Boone's still down there!" "He knows." "He grieves." "Larry!" "I'm not going to fire on you, but I'm coming out!" "All right?" "I'm just trying to help you!" "Please, don't!" "It won't fire unless it's threatened, Larry." "And I'm not threatening it." "It's not about right or wrong, Larry." "Not anymore." "It's just about life, man." "Your skrill's just doing whatever it has to in order to live." "It's using whatever is at hand." "It's..." "It's using you!" "She's not using me!" "She's part of me!" "For now." "But just for now." "Soon..." "It's going to have to leave." "She won't!" "Boone!" "Where are you?" "She doesn't need you anymore, but she has to." "I'm the only one who can protect her." "I'm the only one who understands!" "It used you up." "It's just nature." "But now she has to discard you in order to live." "No." "She won't!" "Look at me, Larry." "Look at me." "I know you don't want your skrill to die." "But I want you to live." "No!" "We need each other!" "No..." "Stop the countdown." "He's got him." "You mean the skrill?" "The skrill and the man." "Thanks for coming." " Sure." " I wasn't sure if you would." "Well, you know..." "I had to cancel those big dinner plans with the Prince of Monaco, but..." "That's how it goes sometimes." "So, you really think you have a shot at this CalTech job, ha?" "Yeah, yeah..." "As long as they don't ask Dr. Basi for character reference." "Listen, ah..." "I wanted to know." "Is she still alive?" "Did they let the Alpha mother live?" "Yes." "I'm sorry for all the trouble." "Nah, it's..." "I really thought I knew them better than anyone." "The weird thing is how little I regret." "I lost my job, my work." "I did some crazy things." "But I was alive." "Really alive." "You know?" "Yeah..." "I better go." "Okay." "The blue plate special's excellent." "Oh..." "Thanks." "You're welcome." "Take care." "Both of you." "Excuse me!" "Is the special any good?" "That good, ha?" "I'll try it." "For two."