"It was the middle of the Earth year 2261." "The year between wars and the beginning of a new age." "The Shadow War was over, but there was still a darkness waiting for us at home." "President Santiago had been assassinated, and his successor, President Clark... was turning Earth into a prison camp." "We'd broken away from Earth, and in retaliation, they quarantined us... trying to strangle our supply lines." "We were desperate... and we couldn't afford to lose even a single supply ship." "In the midst of all of this, we made contact with Thirdspace... and we almost didn't survive it." "I only hope we never come across it again... because next time, no one's going to survive it." "Delta 7, they're coming in behind you." "Watch your 12." "Form up." "Keep them away from the transport." "We can't let them get it." "Roger that." "Deltas 2 and 9, I'll lay down suppressing fire." "Cover me." "Right behind you." "Stand by." "Break, Fox 2!" "Commander Ivanova to raiding party." "We're too evenly matched." "You can't win." "I suggest that you surrender or withdraw before you're destroyed." "Not a chance." "We know there's Quantium 40 aboard that ship." "It's going for millions of credits, and we're not leaving without it." "Tough." "You're not getting it." "We could make a deal, give you a piece of the action." "Forget it." "There's no way you're coming out of this a winner." "At best, it's a standoff." "You mean, it was a standoff." "Now, about that surrender." "That's funny." "I was just about to say the same thing." "This is the White Star fleet to raiding party." "We've just cut off your means of escape... and the nearest jumpgate is several hours from here." "You've got nowhere to go." "We have locked our weapons onto your ships." "Surrender and prepare to be boarded." "I won't ask again." "We hear you." "Standing down." "A wise move." "Commander Ivanova, since this mousetrap was your idea, you get to go home... while we escort these gentlemen to the penal colony in the Drazi Freehold." "Are you sure I can't go with you?" "I want to see their faces when they get a sniff of Drazi cooking." "Negative, Commander." "Make sure everyone hears about this." "If we can make the raiders worry... that every valuable cargo might be another mousetrap, it'll discourage them... from hitting more ships bound for Babylon 5." "Thank you, sir." "With this embargo against the station, we need every supply ship we can get." "Basically, I should just take my cheese and go home." "Is that it?" "That's affirmative." "You got them to risk exposing that battle wagon... they've been using as a base, so you're entitled to a little rest." "Will do." "See you back at the barn." "Let's go, Delta Squadron, it's a long way to the nearest jumpgate." "Maximum burn." "Sorry I'm late." "That's all right." "It's perfectly all right." "I've waited a long time for this." "I can wait a few more minutes." "So now he's patient." "Twenty years ago you weren't so patient." "Twenty years ago I had 20 years." "Now I got Felmar's Syndrome, I'm 65, I don't know how much time I've got." "I would like to get some satisfaction before I die." "Mr. Rosen" "Alex." "Please call me Alex." "Him, you can call Mr. Rosen." "A very unfriendly man once you get to know him." "Alex, your brother tells me that you have agreed... to a telepathic scan, but I need you to confirm this." "Fine." "I confirm." "I'm only doing this because he's sick." "Supposedly sick." "You don't look like a very sick man to me." "You, however, don't look so well." "Are you okay?" "I'm fine." "Just a headache." "I sympathize." "Whatever he's paying you, it's not enough." "For your information, this won't be a deep scan." "I'll be looking at surface thoughts only." "Answer yes or no to the questions." "I will determine whether you're telling the truth." "Any questions?" "Questions?" "No, I have no questions." "Leo has all the questions." "Go ahead, ask." "Yes, I've been waiting a long time for this." "Now we'll finally get to the truth." "Waiting, waiting a long time...." "Twenty years ago, I said you were having an affair...." "No, I know you were having an affair with my wife." "He was always crazy jealous, wouldn't listen to reason." "We haven't spoken to each other in two decades, not that it's a bad thing." "He denied the whole thing, so it made me look like a fool... so Sheila left me, the whole family sided with him." "Alex, you and I know the truth." "I haven't got long left." "So let's let everybody know the truth." "I want to get some satisfaction." "Were you having an affair with my wife?" "This won't hurt, will it?" "You won't feel a thing." "Good, because I had this tooth removed, and they said the same thing" "Were you having an affair with my wife?" "No!" "I was not having an affair with Sheila." "Is he telling the truth?" "Yes, he's telling the truth." "I'm sorry." "What?" "She said I'm telling the truth." "What part of that sentence don't you understand?" "You missed something, maybe." "It's probably dark in there, so...." "It's not necessary" "You know, I think, maybe Alex is so guilty about what he did to me... he's blanked it all out like it didn't happen." "I am trained to separate false memories from real ones." "Look, I'm sorry, but I have to go." "I'm really not feeling well." "That's a good idea." "Have a nice lie-down, a cup of tea, you'll feel better." "I want to thank you for your time... you are a lovely young woman, and if I was 30 years younger... and you were a little blind in one eye... what a wonderful life we could have together." "I'll need the balance of my fee deposited by morning." "Twenty years." "How could I have been so stupid?" "Sorry." "I'm picking something up." "Say again, delta 7." "You're breaking up." "I'm getting a reading on the long-range scanners." "It's way off the beacon." "Transferring data to your system." "Whatever it is, it's huge." "Delta Squadron to Babylon 5." "Do you copy, Babylon Control?" "Confirm, Delta Squadron." "This is Babylon control." "Have you had any reports of missing ships in this area?" "Negative, Delta 1 ." "What have you got?" "I'm not sure." "It's almost as big as an explorer ship." "It's at least half a mile across." "It's well off the jump beacons." "It may have been damaged or lost power... and been pulled off course by the hyperspace tides." "Can you leave a marker?" "We'II send an investigating team." "Negative. lt's moving diagonal to the beacon." "If we leave it now, we'll never find it again." "We'll investigate and get back to you." "Delta Leader out." "Are you there, Delta 7?" "Right here, Delta Leader." "We'll go after it." "We'll determine what it is... and see if it's safe to call in a rescue operation." "We'll form a relay from the homing beacon to avoid getting lost." "Roger that, Delta Leader." "Delta 6, you're the anchor." "Hold here so we can link to your signal... and extend toward the target like a string of pearls." "Don't stray or you'll lose contact and get lost in the gravitational eddies." "Then we'll have two rescue missions to worry about." "Be careful, only a moron would go this far off the beacon on purpose." "There's still a chance it could be a trap." "Distance to target?" "Estimate 3,000 kilometers." "Distance to relay ship: 1,000 kilometers." "Delta 9, take relay position and maintain." "Roger that, Delta Leader." "The bounce-back signal is everywhere." "It doesn't make any sense." "Whatever's out there doesn't match any known silhouette." "possible first-contact situation?" "Whatever it is, it isn't under power." "It's definitely either dead or abandoned." "Damn, that thing's big." "Delta 4 taking relay position." "Acknowledged, Delta 4." "We're almost to target." "Should have it on visual any time now." "Stay close and go weapons hot... but nobody fires without authorization." "Keep scanning." "Still nothing." "We should be on top of it by now." "Oh, hell." "Delta Leader to babylon Control." "CC on-line." "We'll launch a salvage operation." "We need five White Stars and some Starfuries." "Make sure they're armed and running weapons hot." "This thing could be dangerous." "Confirmed." "How many Starfuries do you want?" "All of them." "Any word from Ivanova?" "She's about to arrive." "Thought she'd be here." "We're having to move the struts... of the jumpgate far enough to allow the artifact to get through." "lt's that big?" "Bigger." "Optimum distance achieved." "You're clear for jump, Commander." "Roger that, CC." "We're coming in." "I hope you understand that this is a bit awkward for me... but with Londo back home, things kind of fall onto me." "With financial matters, the League expects the Centauri... to speak on their behalf." "It's all right, Vir." "What is it?" "The artifact that you brought back from hyperspace... the others would like to know what it is." "Then we have something in common." "We'd like to know that for ourselves." "But it's going to take a while to figure that out." "All we do know is that it's very old." "What it is and what it does, your guess is as good as mine." "ln that case, can they take part in examining the artifact?" "Not at this time, no." "Vir, we understand their interest." "The race that created this artifact must have been extremely advanced." "There may be some valuable technology inside." "But if everyone starts pulling at it at once, nothing will get done." "Delenn and I discussed this earlier, and we both agreed... that anything we find will be shared with everyone... in the League of Non-Aligned Worlds." "That's all well and good, because you trust her and she trusts you... and I trust both of you." "That's the sort I am." "I'm the trusting kind, you know, ever since I was...." "Anyway, the others don't trust anyone, especially when it comes to money." "Would you like me to speak to them?" "No." "It's not the speaking that's the problem." "It's the listening." "Still, I'll see what I can do." "Perhaps Vir is right." "No matter how much we reassure them... the other races will always think we're holding something back." "I know." "We can't take that chance." "You know as well as I do... they'll be grabbing stuff as soon as they get there." "And if it looks like someone is going to get a new weapon... before they can, they'll sabotage it." "They'll blow it up." "No." "There's no other way." "They may have resources that could be useful." "Babylon 5 is a diplomatic station, a free port." "Not a research facility." "We have no archeologists, no experts in alien technology." "I know." "So it'll take us a little longer, that's all." "But we'll get there." "May I assume that this has nothing to do with you wanting to be... the first to unlock whatever secrets this thing brings with it?" "Me?" "When have you ever known me to have a personal agenda?" "John, whenever something comes into our proximity... that has to do with the unknown, your eyes light up like two tiny suns." "And you know what words these two tiny lights spell out?" "What?" ""Mine."" "Now, that is a lie." "Minbari do not lie." "Then it is slander." "To be slander, it must be false." "That's two down." "Then it's damned inconvenient." "The truth always is." "Besides... it is mine." "Investigation team, this is Security." "I'm making out signs of weapon fire... on the outside of this...." "Whatever it is." "Suggest you proceed with caution." "Place could be rigged with booby traps, bombs, other defense systems, anything." "Until we know what this is and where it came from... we have to definitely consider it a potential threat to station security." "Team One to Security." "We'll be careful." "It's beautiful, though." "Yeah, it is that." "But so is a cobra." "So be damned careful." "I don't want anybody to get bit." "Understood." "Okay, everybody, move to prescribed safe distance." "Sending in a maint bot to take a surface sample." "Stand by." "We got a problem." "What's the problem?" "Talk to me." "Registering a 15% drop in the bot's power supply... 20%, 50%." "All right, move it away." "Pull it back." "Not responding." "80%, it's dead." "We still don't have a lot to go on, but it looks as if the device... drained every last milliwatt of power." "We can't even recharge it." "We've tried three times, and the charge doesn't stick." "Why didn't it affect our Starfuries when we pulled it out of hyperspace?" "I don't know." "My guess is that it has to do with the proximity of the power source." "You were able to fire grapples from a safe distance... the bot and its power source were within just a few feet." "I'll let you know when we finish the rest of our tests." "The power drain seems to be short-range, so if we're lucky... it won't constitute a hazard to navigation." "We'll have to make sure to keep a distance or come up with some kind of shielding." "But that'll make it nearly impossible to do a proper analysis." "Sheridan." "Go." "Captain, we've got a ship from IPX coming in through the gate." "Interplanetary Expeditions?" "That was fast." "I figured they'd hear about it, they got sources everywhere." "Did anyone tell them we're not having anything to do with Earth anymore?" "Confirmed." "But one of the passengers is still asking to speak with you." "All right." "My office, 20 minutes." "If you'll excuse me...." "I think I have some old-fashioned horse-trading to do." "The vultures are starting to circle." "I thought they only circled after you were dead." "Maybe they know something we don't." "There is danger." "There is danger." "Remember." "Dr. Elizabeth Trent, field coordinator for Interplanetary Expeditions." "It's a pleasure to meet you." "It's certainly a surprise to meet you." "In case you hadn't heard, we're on President Clark's quarantined list." "No ship from Earth is allowed to dock at Babylon 5." "We're aware of the embargo, but IPX is a special case." "May we?" "Sure." "Make yourself at home." "Let me get right to the point, Captain." "I expect nothing less." "We'd like access to the alien artifact parked outside." "I'll certainly take your request under consideration." "That's bureaucratese for "take a hike."" "It is, indeed." "Captain, you're not set up to investigate a find like this." "You don't have the people, the equipment, or the training." "Now, you could poke around like aborigines playing with a Starfury." "And maybe you might find something useful by sheer accident." "But maybe you'll push the wrong button, blow yourself up." "I know." "Exciting, isn't it?" "All right." "What do you want?" "First, some information." "Why aren't you or your people afraid of retribution... for breaking the embargo?" "IPX is a multiplanetary corporation." "We have agreements with over half a dozen alien governments... allowing us movement across borders without restrictions." "We can explore any world... provided we guarantee access to whatever we find." "You see, there's politics, and there's business." "This is business." "Your problems have nothing to do with us." "You can come and go as you want?" "That's correct." "All right." "Then here's the deal." "I'll give you access to the artifact." "You will work with my people at all times." "You will give us full access to your data at every step along the way." "We have first call on anything you find." "If the technology behind that thing... can be used by Earth against the other races... that information never leaves here." "Captain, I" "You try, we'll destroy it." "You wouldn't." "That's the find of a lifetime." "It's scrap metal, guaranteed." "I will pull the trigger myself if I have to." "Second." "There's more?" "Thanks to the blockade, we are running short of supplies around here." "Spare parts, certain foods we can't grow...." "And you want us to break the blockade and bring you whatever supplies you need." "If you're going to work here, you may as well bring lunch." "I'm just trying to make sure you bring enough for everybody." "All right, Captain." "Let me think about it." "We still have to decide if what's out there is worth all these conditions." "Sheridan." "They finished going over the sample we took from the alien artifact." "The carbon dating indicates that whatever that thing is... it's over a million years old." "Still thinking about it, Doc?" "Have your people stand by, Captain." "We have a deal." "Don't put that there." "Never mind." "Okay." "Forget it." "Excuse me, I would appreciate it if you keep this whole area clear." "There's explosives...." "Thank you." "You should see your face." "This is horrific." "I mean, look at this!" "You know, back home on Earth... along the Amazon in South America, they've got these army ants." "They sweep across the forest in a 5-inch carpet, millions of them." "They're no more than an inch long, but they can devastate a forest... in less than an hour." "I wonder if they know they've got cousins this far out in space." "You think anybody would notice if I just killed a few of them?" "Well, how many?" "I don't know." "Ten?" "Yes, they'd notice it." "Six?" "Go for it." "Commander?" "Dr. Elizabeth Trent, IPX." "I assume Capt. Sheridan's briefed you on our mission." "Yes." "Actually, this is my station, Doctor." "Anything happens around here, I know about it." "This is Dr. Stephen Franklin." "You'll be coordinating with him on any organic findings." "Nice to meet you." "Doctor." "I think we should get together for a few minutes." "Discuss how we want to split up work before things get crazy." ""Before things get crazy." I see." "What exactly would you call this?" "Science." "Dr. Trent, could you take a look at this?" "Excuse me." "Sure." "Maybe if I just killed one of them, that would do me." "In that case, I think I should be elsewhere." "Watch out!" "That's it." "I'm going to go get some sleep." "Lyta." "Long day?" "Seems like they just keep getting longer every day." "Looks like you've had one of those days yourself." "Believe me, I understand." "One damn thing after another." "Listen, Lyta, there's something I wanted to" "Warning, power failure." "There you go." "Security to CC." "On-line." "We got a power failure in Tube 9." "What's the story?" "We've been having power fluctuations for the last couple of hours." "We'll get it back on ASAP." "It'll just be a minute." ""lt'll just be a minute."" "As long as we're not going anywhere..." "I wanted to, you know...." "I wanted to ask you...." "Do you want to go out sometime?" "I don't know, get some dinner, maybe catch a vid?" "Bottom line is..." "I like you." "I've liked you ever since you got here." "I know things have been tough on you lately... and I know I could do right by you." "I'm not the Captain." "I don't bring in big bucks." "I'm nothing to write home about." "I know there's a big gap between us." "The life that you lead... that maybe I could never understand...." "Maybe I could understand." "Maybe I could try." "You're the kind of person makes a guy want to try." "There's something about you... frankly, I'm nuts about." "So I think it would be great... if, you know, maybe I could see you once in a while." "Listen, you don't have to answer now." "Take your time." "Think about it for a while." "Not to imply that you have to answer, because you don't." "You don't owe me one, that's for sure." "I think that I could care for you." "You've been through a lot." "And I guess I just wanna do for you." "I'm sorry." "I shouldn't have said anything." "I didn't mean to offend you." "This was probably the wrong time." "Both had a hard day." "We've gotta work together." "You know how that goes." "It's just... awkward." "So maybe you're right." "Maybe it's best that we don't." "Power restored." "Looks like they fixed it." "I can't remember where I'm going." "My brain jumped the track." "It does that." "Look, tell you what." "Like I said, I'm sorry." "I shouldn't have said anything." "Let's just pretend that this didn't happen." "This way, you won't be embarrassed..." "I won't be embarrassed, and I promise I'll never bring it up again." "Unless you bring it up first." "I guess this is where I get off." "Look, I hope I wasn't too far out of line, Lyta." "I hope...." "Good night, Lyta." "Maybe it was for the best." "Three dates, I probably would have married her." "How's that beam coming?" "Moving into position." "Better check those struts." "Make sure they're ready to hold this thing." "I don't wanna mess with this twice." "Roger that." "Stand by." "Control, what's with the bots?" "What about them?" "You mean, you're not doing that?" "Mayday, CC!" "They're on a collision course!" "I repeat, they're going to ram the artifact!" "CC, we can't override the bots." "You've gotta stop them." "We've got it." "Stay clear." "Take them out!" "Alpha Squadron to CC." "Targets destroyed." "You get someone in Maintenance... to find out what happened." "Miller, Jankowski, hang back, seal off this section." "Rest of you, with me." "Aye, Chief." "I don't believe it!" "Is he alive?" "He's okay." "Jason, get a med team up here just to make sure." "Medlab, we need a med team in Maintenance." "Security override nonfunctional." "Take it down." "Lights." "Lyta?" "We have to stop it." "Where's that med team?" "And you can't remember anything since yesterday afternoon?" "No, nothing." "How did you get into the main bot control room?" "I don't know." "What were you doing there?" "Stephen, what part of "I don't know" is unclear?" "Look, this is me." "If I knew what happened in there, I would tell you." "I don't mean to be short with you." "I'm as confused by this as you are." "It's possible that you were walking in your sleep." "Telepaths are prone to eccentric dream behavior." "But I've never done that before." "Which means it may have needed a trigger event... for your subconscious to get things moving." "Can you think of any reason why you would want to destroy the artifact?" "No, well...." "Not really." "I've just...." "Ever since it got here, I've had the strangest feeling about it." "Like I've seen it before somewhere." "Makes me nervous." "And before you ask, no, I don't know why." "It just does." "Look, I'm really tired." "Can I go, or am I being placed under arrest?" "No, you can go." "Let me give you something to help you sleep." "She knows she's being watched." "The security cameras are carefully hidden." "Yes, but she knows where the camera is, and she knows we're watching her." "Just look at her." "ls there another camera in there?" "Yes, but" "Humor me." "Switch to the alternate view." "Well, that's a neat trick." "A low-rated commercial telepath can't sense electronics like that." "Only a P-9 or above could do that." "Lyta's a P-5." "So you told me." "But that rating was determined before she went to the Vorlon homeworld... as you very well know." "How do you know about that?" "IPX tracks every long-range ship that approaches quarantined space." "We probably know more about it than you do." "According to our records... two years before the war between the Vorlons and Shadows heated up..." "Lyta was on Mars, on the run from the psi corps." "While there, she arranged to meet a starship captain, David Slayner." "According to information we received from Slayner... she told him she felt drawn to the Vorlon homeworld... the result of a previous encounter with the Vorlon Ambassador, Kosh." "Until this time, anyone who entered Vorlon space never came back." "So the Captain was understandably reluctant." "But the money was right, so they went." "He took her as far as their border." "They sent a continuous signal inviting the Vorlons to appear." "After several days, when the Vorlons didn't show... the Captain decided to head back." "At that point, Lyta commandeered a life pod... and ejected into Vorlon space." "The Captain wisely took off and never saw her again." "We suspect that was what they were waiting for." "Life pods are short-ranged craft." "She was 10 days away from the nearest jumpgate... with only three days of air, food, and water." "There is no way she could have survived if the Vorlons hadn't come for her." "Our records also indicate that while she was there... the Vorlons altered her, increased her ability." "Assuming that you're right..." "I'm surprised that you haven't been keeping an eye on her." "What makes you think we haven't?" "Captain, in the past the Vorlons have done everything in their power... to keep humans from getting their hands on advanced technology." "If she is under their influence, she may have tried... to destroy the artifact to keep us from figuring out what it is." "She may not even know she's doing it." "Nonetheless, she's a danger to the project." "I suggest you keep her under house arrest... until we do a little more groundwork on this thing." "I'll consider your suggestion." "That's it?" "You'll consider it?" "We do have this little thing called due process, Dr. Trent." "We'll keep an eye on her." "There's no proof this was anything other than an isolated incident." "If that changes, we'll take action, but not before." "In the meantime, I suggest you attend to the artifact and leave the station to us." "Suit yourself." "But if she endangers any of my crew, we'll take care of her ourselves... and worry about due process later." "Probe One to Base, we are ready to proceed." "Stand by." "Activate light grid." "Okay." "Activating scanner array." "Let's start with a metallurgical analysis... and continue with a deep-field resonance scan." "Let's see what's inside that thing." "Probe One, we're losing the light a little." "Can you correct?" "Confirmed." "Increasing power of the lighting grid." "Perfect." "Keep it away!" "It knows we're here!" "Don't you hear me?" "Don't you understand?" "Keep it away!" "It's looking at us right now!" "Keep it away!" "Report 1 7." "A hundred years ago the Centauri gave us jumpgates... and changed the future forever." "The artifact may be even more important." "Preliminary findings have started coming in... and they confirm that the alien artifact is definitely not a ship... but rather a mechanism." "We're picking up readings beyond anything we've seen before." "I think I have an idea of what it may be designed for... but as long as it's sitting dead in space, I can't be sure." "We have to probe further, and we have to do it soon... before anyone else starts poking around." "If I'm right, what we're looking at here... could make jumpgates look like nothing in comparison." "This could be the most significant discovery in human history." "It could change... everything." "And so far, we've had 10 outbreaks in the last five hours." "That's just in down below." "What kind of outbreaks?" "Fights, mainly." "We found some people locked in their rooms just... screaming." "Same in the Zocalo, Green Sector, the Casino... we've given the worst cases to medlab to see what they can do." "The rest we've got in lockup, but we're gonna run out of room soon... unless this stops." "All this started after the artifact got here?" "Definitely." "You think there's a connection?" "I don't know." "All right, I want write-ups on every incident... that happens in the next 10 hours." "Anything they say, I want it taken down for analysis." "Maybe there's a connection... or there's just a whole lot of full moons... all lined up, beaming bozo rays into everybody's brains." "But, either way, I want answers." "All right, that's all." "Good work." "Get some sleep." "Beautiful." "God, it's so beautiful." "It's beautiful, isn't it?" "I want to go there." "I want to be there." "What... is it?" "You shouldn't ask questions like that."