"Anything yet?" "Negative, sir." "They're now 2 hours late." "Any more word from earth?" "Oh, just that we're to wait here till contacted." "Nothing more on the nature of our mission or who we're waiting for." "Point of logic." "If we don't know who we're waiting for, then how are we supposed to know it's them when they arrive?" "Well, sir, if they start shooting at us, it's probably not one of ours." "Congratulations, lieutenant." "You're even more naive than I give you credit for." "Lieutenant, we're picking up a distortion field." "Jump point forming." "5,000 kilometers." "It's a warlock-class destroyer." "They're asking permission to send over a shuttle." "2 passengers." "Confirm permission." "Permission granted,foxfire." "Interesting." "Only a handful of warlock destroyers have come off the construction line so far." "Whoever's on that shuttle must be pretty damn important to justify them playing taxi." "Shuttle away." "Senator redway." "Pleasure to meet you." "My pleasure, captain." "This is david williams." "He'll be traveling with us." "Captain." "Mr. Williams." "Please sit." "Thank you." "We'd have rolled out the red carpet and had you piped aboard with full honors" "If I'd known you were coming." "Well, I don't like secrecy any more than you do, captain, but sometime it's unavoidable." "Of the 120 members of earth senate, only a dozen of us were off planet when earth was hit by this dadgum plague." "The drakh would love to wipe the rest of us out... and leave earthgov isolated, behind the quarantine zone." "But this mission has risks of its own." "What kinds of risks?" "Well, I believe" "Uh, this isn't the time, David." "I have your new orders, captain, straight from the joint chiefs." "You're to proceed immediately and at top speed to sector 100 by 17 by 3." "Earth?" "Can't fool you." "Exactly." "We're gonna make a little old pickup, proceed to the test area." "With luck... nobody will know what we're doin'... till we're done." "And what exactly are we doing, senator?" "All you need to know now is that this mission is urgent and must not be delayed." "Once you set course, we don't stop for anyone, anything... or for any reason." "This is delta one to Babylon control." "Do you read me?" "Over." "Repeat." "This is delta one to Babylon control." "Do you read me?" "This is captain Elizabeth lochley, earthforce, to..." "Any ship in this sector..." "I'm wounded." "My ship is badly damaged." "I'm running short on oxygen." "Can anyone hear me?" "Can anyone hear me?" "Matthew Gideon, captain." "Attached to the earth alliance starshipexcalibur." "To find a cure to the drakh plague before it wipes out all life on earth." "Anywhere I have to." "Who do you serve?" "And who do you trust?" "Computer, how much oxygen is left?" "Estimate one hour, 27 minutes at current level of usage." "Decrease oxygen flow by 10%." "Warning." "Oxygen supply already at danger level." "Possible damage to- if I don't, I'm dead anyway." "I've just got to- got to stretch this thing out as- as far as I can." "You approve, senator?" "Yes, yes." "It's a fine ship, captain." "It cost the folks back home a wheelbarrow full of money, but given what's happened," "I'm glad I voted to support funding the project." "Actually, sir, you voted against it." "Didn't your daddy ever teach you not to contradict your elders?" "No, sir." "Well, I see part of the problem here." "Doctor?" "Good." "This is senator Jacob Redway and Mr. Williams." "They wanted to see you." "Howdy, ma'am." "Actually, I wanted to see you." "Is there someplace that-that we can talk..." "Privately?" "Yes, my office, but" "I'm sure that'll be just fine." "Oh, david, uh," "You'll be needin' to take this with you." "Here's the access code." "Now..." "Lieutenant, when our guests showed up, did they go through the usual I.D. protocol?" "Yes, sir, but senator Redway did insist on logging only name and point of origin." "Why?" "I'm wondering why a civilian is traveling on a classified mission with a high-ranking earth senator along as a nursemaid." "Are you suggesting that I log onto earth-net and find out what I can about him" "Profession, age...?" "I'm not suggesting anything." "Because that would be a significant breach in protocol." "I understand." "I wouldn't dream of asking you to" "David Williams." "Age 32." "Born patterson, New Jersey." "American state." "A plumber." "A plumber?" "As in fixing drains?" "The senator must be awfully insecure about our facilities." "Captain, we're getting an automatic distress signal in normal space." "It's... weak." "Barely getting through." "It could be a star fury or a military transport." "Prepare to jump to normal space." "I'm sorry, captain, you can't do that." "I am required by earthforce regulations to investigate any distress beacon from one of our ships." "I'm well aware of the regs, captain, but, uh, this time..." "You're just gonna have to let someone else deal with it." "But by then, whoever's out there might die from lack of oxygen." "It's an automatic distress beacon." "The pilot could be dead or... it could be a trap." "Either way, reaching our destination on time is considerably more important." "Senator, this is my ship, and it's my responsibility." "I insist!" "Insist all you want, but you cannot issue a direct order to me or any member of my crew." "It must come through the chain of command." "And you have your orders, straight from the joint chiefs!" "You are not to stop for anyone or anything for any reason!" "Who said anything about stopping?" "Lieutenant, jump to normal space." "Aye, sir." "Getting signal lock on distress beacon." "5,000 kilometers." "Reading one life sign." "Barely." "Maintain heading." "Slow to one-third." "Captain, even at one-third speed, if we launch a rescue team, they won't be able to catch up with us and dock safely." "We have to come to a relative stop." "Maintain course, speed, and heading." "What do you think you're- theexcaliburuses" "A gravitetic propulsion system." "As a byproduct of that, we have artificial gravity and inertia dampeners in the landing bay that help a damaged or out-of-control fighter land safely." "But, sir" "Yes, lieutenant?" "That system was designed to be used with ships under some power and coming in on an approach vector." "To get that star fury inside the landing bay we're practically going to have to run her over." "Then you're just gonna have to drive carefully." "Stay on course." "Aye, sir." "Warning." "Collision alert." "Warning." "Collision alert." "Closing on target." "Emergency crews standing by." "Bracing for impact." "Uh, perhaps - perhaps we should stop." "You made a point of reminding me that I have to follow my orders to the letter." "So that's exactly what I intend to do." "We don't stop for anything." "Here it comes." "Star fury captured." "No damage reported." "Good." "Just for the record, Senator." "Once upon a time, I was at the other end of a distress beacon like that, wondering if someone was going to come for me." "And I was lucky, someone did." "So I will never turn my back on a distress beacon." "Not for you," "Not for anyone." "Not ever." "Jump to hyperspace, Lieutenant." "Aye, sir." "So I was still working on the mining colony on omega 7 when - when the drakh attacked, but I was due to go home in just a few days." "Then you're lucky." "If you'd have gone back to earth a few days earlier," "You would have been exposed to the plague." "Now, at least, no matter what happens, you'll survive." "That's the point." "See, that's why I need your help." "I want you to infect me with the plague." "Good to see you again, captain." "Hope I'm not bothering you." "They told me you were awake." "No, no, that's fine." "What happened?" "Uh..." "We'd set a trap for some raiders that had been hitting civilian transports." "Let's just say there were a hell of a lot more of them than we expected." "How long have I been out?" "Little over 2 days." "You were in pretty bad shape when we found you." "Dr. Chambers felt the best thing was to keep you out until you got past the worst of it." "2 days?" "No, I got to call B-5" "I'm afraid that we can't do that." "Not for a while longer anyway." "We've been running silent ever since we started our approach to sector 100." "Sector 100?" "Earth?" "Why?" "I can't tell you that." "Uh, how long is this gonna take?" "I can't tell you that, either." "Is there anything you can tell me?" "Never eat anything bigger than your head." "Never shoot pool at a place called "Pop's."" "Never eat food at a place called "Mom's."" "The mission is classified, captain." "I don't even have the full story myself." "As soon as I can fill you in, I will." "Uh, I'm having you moved to the infirmary." "Uh, it's more comfortable, and I'm told we'll need the space." "We'll drop you at Babylon 5 as soon as we can." "Meanwhile..." "Consider this a surprise vacation." "Yes?" "Approaching the rendezvous point, captain." "I'm on my way." "Aah." "Perhaps, uh, you'll join me for dinner once you're up and about." "Will you be serving anything bigger than my head?" "Not on a first date, captain." "It's a strange thing, Lieutenant." "If I close my eyes," "I can see every detail of the earth's surface as clearly as we're seeing it right now." "But after my father died, I tried to remember his face." "But it always slipped away from me." "Why is that, I wonder?" "Maybe it's because we can't decide which face to remember." "The face of our father when we were children, the face of our father the first time we left home, the face of our father the last time we saw him." "They all blur together." "We lose the details... but earth is constant." "Earth is forever." "You're too young to be having thoughts this old, Lieutenant." "We've got an atmospheric shuttle on approach vector." "That's our package." "Senator, standing orders from the president require that any ship trying to leave the quarantine zone will be shot down." "Already taken care of, captain." "Shuttle is ejecting a life-pod." "The record will show that the shuttle malfunctioned during a test of its automated systems." "Have the life-pod brought aboard." "Negative, Senator." "That pod is contaminated." "I refuse to endanger my crew by let" "I told you there were certain risks involved, captain." "But we've made sure that those risks are kept at an acceptable limit." "The outer skin of that little old life-pod's been completely sterilized and certified..." "free of contamination." "And what about whoever's inside?" "Well, guess you'll just have to open it up to find out." "Open it somewhere safe." "Send out a pair of maint-bots." "Bring in the pod and put it in medbay isolation." "Use the negative pressure base, highest decontamination protocol." "Then jump to the secondary location." "But you said" "I haven't met a politician yet who would endanger his own life when he can get someone else to do it for him." "If he's staying on board while this thing comes in, it must be reasonably safe." "Let's find out what the hell's going on." "Computer, open a private channel to earth-com system." "Unable to comply." "Current restrictions- do not apply to Senator Redway." "Entering new access code." "That's enough." "Any more, and we'll kill whoever's inside." "All right." "Open her up." "Captain Gideon," "Dr. Chambers, may I introduce Dr. Stephen Franklin." "Head of xenobiological research at earthdome." "Welcome aboard, doctor." "Are ya all right?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I think so." "Is the patient here?" "Uh, David Williams." "No, he's in his quarters" "Hold on!" "What do you mean, "Patient"?" "Captain, we- he didn't tell you the nature of the mission, did he?" "Negative." "I told you he had to be informed." "Yeah, we thought it was too great a risk." "You know, we have to consider interplanetary security, doctor." "Damn it, Senator!" "That was the deal, right?" "Captain, before we can stop the virus left behind on earth by the Drakh, we first have to identify it." "Now that means tracing a course of infection from the moment of contamination to see how it spreads throughout the system." "But the virus, once it was released into earth's atmosphere, it quickly spread to every air-breathing creature." "Now, once inside the host's body, the virus mutates quickly, and we can't find it again." "We need a baseline study to monitor the transmission of the virus, and the only way to do that... is to infect someone and follow the virus as it enters his system." "Mr. Williams." "Connecting." "David?" "David, my god, where are you?" "I can't even tell ya," "But I want you to know I am coming home." "I am coming home." "I am coming home." "Set course to intercept... and notify the fleet." "Don't do this, David." "Not for me." "I am not doing this for you." "I am doing it for me." "I have to go." "I love you." "Open." "Mr. Williams." "Thought I heard voices." "Yes, I-I-I was watching a vid." "It's-it's to help take my mind off" "Is there something I can help you with, captain?" "Dr. Franklin says that you volunteered to be infected with the Drakh virus as a human guinea pig to track the infection, but he didn't tell me why." "Perhaps you could." "I-I'd-I'd-I'd rather not, captain." "This is my ship." "If I allow this to continue, it's on my conscience." "I won't sanction this until I know why you're doing it." "That's Carol." "Her, uh..." "Her name is Carol Miles." "We, uh, we met when we were both working the omega 7 mining colony." "Fell in love." "About 7 months ago, she was reassigned back to earth." "And right before she left, I... asked her to marry me." "She said yes." "And then the Drakh attacked, and-and- and before I knew it, the whole planet was quarantined." "We have set a date, captain." "I am getting married in a week, and there is no way that I'm gonna miss my wedding." "I'm not gonna let that woman down." "I'm not gonna break my promise to her." "You see, the only way that I can do that, the only way I can get through the blockade, is if I am contaminated." "Mr. Williams, if you do this, you could be dead in less than 5 years." "Ahh!" "Captain, I could be dead tomorrow." "We all die." "I can't live without her." "And I'd rather live 5 years with her, than a hundred years without her." "Can't you understand that?" "Maybe someday, if I'm as lucky as you are." "You always this quiet when you're working?" "Heh." "Well, only when I'm trying not to think about it." "When the time comes," "I'll push the button that will mix the air between the other isobay and my own." "I don't want you doin' it." "I'm perfectly capable." "No, it's not that." "I just don't want you to have to have it on your conscience, that's all." "Has there been any luck with animal experiments?" "Maybe we can avoid" "No, the virus works differently on every species it infects." "Finding the cure for guinea pigs only saves guinea pigs." "Nothing else." "The one thing it does seem to have in common is that it infects all air-breathing mammals." "We haven't even been able to isolate the damn thing." "We know it's airborne, but finding something so small in such a huge body of air- damn near impossible." "We've gone as small as a 50-micron screen, we still can't find it." "But we know it's there." "How?" "The day the virus was released, 850 people around the world died of a rare strain of ebola virus." "One we'd never seen before." "They all got sick at the same time, and they all died roughly at the same time." "2 of them were on an island in the pacific where the virus could not have possibly reached, because no one had come to the island for 2 weeks due to a hurricane." "48 hours later, another 712 total strangers in different parts of the world, all died of a previously unknown strain of hepatitis B." "Others followed." "This told us that the same virus was operating all around the world at the same time, going through progressive changes, mutations, as it adapts to our biology." "It keeps popping up in different forms." "That's how we got the 5-year framework." "Odds are it'll hit the right mutation within that time period or so completely decimate the entire population through trial and error that there won't be enough people left alive to merit being called humanity." "It's also possible we have several different viruses on our hands." "I know." "And if that's true, we might as well start lighting" "10 billion funeral pyres, because we can kiss the human race good-bye." "So, uh..." "Things are getting a little desperate back home." "Hence, this." "As doctors we swear an oath that we will do no harm." "And now I have to push a button that will sentence a man to death if I can't find a cure." "And I don't know if I can live with myself." "It's a damn hard thing, captain." "Damn hard thing." "May I have your attention, please?" "Tonight's entertainment for rec-room C" "Will be a musical performance..." "Ohh." "I thought you were supposed to be resting comfortably." "Yeah, well, uh," "I got tired of being comfortable." "No, I'm fine." "I'm fine." "Of course." "You're just holding up the wall in case of emergency." "Yeah, well, I... thought it looked kind of weak." "I try to do my part." "You're lookin' a little pale there yourself, captain." "I just had one of those conversations that, uh, makes you want to lie down for about a year." "It's, uh" "Yes?" "They're ready for you, sir." "I'm on my way." "I have to go." "Oh, and, uh, captain, if by chance" "I should run into any of the medical staff, should I mention having seen you?" "Mmm, I'd rather you didn't." "I didn't exactly tell them I was goin' for a walk." "Understood." "As you were, captain." "We're ready to proceed." "All right, David, this is how we're going to do this." "Everything in here has been scrubbed of all particulate matter and sterilized." "The only thing left in here should be me and the virus, which I'm releasing every time I exhale." "Now, in a moment, I'll open an air vent between your isobay and mine." "Now, the series of injections we gave you earlier will allow us to scan you on a molecular level." "Everything has been accounted for in, on, and around you, so the only thing that should show up on the scanners is the virus." "We'll be able to get an image of it and track it every step of the way as it enters your system." "Any questions?" "No." "All right." "Let's get started." "Stand by." "Warning, malfunction." "Warning, malfunction." "We seem to have a problem." "Your console isn't activating the air vent." "Well, then we're just going to have to" "No, it's ok." "I'll do it." "Doctor..." "You have enough to think about." "Let me carry this one for you." "How long's this going to take?" "Unknown." "It depends on a number of factors." "Is that it?" "Confirmed." "Activating holographic electron scanner." "We'll take a series of electron photographs of the virus in its natural state, then as it mutates and spreads throughout the system." "This could take a while." "Oh, not necessarily." "Virus entered his system at 20 microns." "Jumped to 50 microns in size." "And then 10... 50 more... 100." "It's not reproducing." "It's decompressing like a zipped file." "The virus is spreading at an impossible rate." "It's heading right into the brain, the bone structure, the lymph nodes, the liver, the kidney, everywhere." "No, not everywhere." "The virus isn't penetrating any of the non-critical regions." "Then it has a limit to its range?" "No." "A virus like this should be systemic." "Once it's in the bloodstream, it should go wherever the blood goes." "But this one is deliberately bypassing the non-critical areas of the body." "It's directed." "It knows where it's going." "Battle stations." "All hands, battle stations." "Captain, to the bridge." "Keep going." "I'll check in later." "Dr. Franklin..." "How can a virus know where it's going?" "Because it's a machine." "It's a nanotech virus like the one you encountered earlier, but a hell of a lot more complex from the look of it." "What are you saying, it can think?" "That's exactly what I'm saying." "Sir, we have 3 drakh heavy-attack ships on approach." "Just came out of jump." "How the hell did they find us?" "Unknown." "Lead ship is firing." "Evasive maneuvers." "How long before we can jump?" "Engines still recharging." "Estimate 5 minutes." "3 more ships jumping in." "Perfect." "Auto-targeting system hit." "Accuracy down 30%." "Hull integrity down 10%." "Manual controls!" "When we move to maneuver, they're going to start pecking away at us until something gives." "Launch fighter wing." "Aye, sir." "Fighters away!" "Senator?" "Yes." "I recommend you get to the life-pods, just in case." "We can't afford to lose one of the few senators we have on this side of the blockade." "Yes, yes, yes, of course, you're right." "I'll be in touch." "Getting our first image, I'm going to send it through." "Gotcha, you son of a- who the hell is steering this thing anyway?" "Look" "Oh, hell." "What is that?" "The fail-safe system." "It's programmed to go off if the isobay malfunctions while in secure mode." "It guarantees the contaminated material won't spread through the rest of the ship." "Has the medbay been compromised?" "Negative." "That last hit must have jarred the sensors, given a false reading." "Countdown to sterilization." "3 minutes and counting." "Can you override it?" "I can try." "What is going on?" "Unless we can shut down the system in 3 minutes, it'll sterilize your side of the isobay." "Flash raise the temperature to 1,200 degrees centigrade." "We've taken out 2 more, but they're getting replacements for the drakh mothership." "Ship to ship com system is hit." "We've lost contact with the fighters." "Reroute." "We have to coordinate the attack." "I can do that." "You're injured." "Well, I'll be dead if we don't win this." "Look, I've got the experience." "Let me use it." "Get going." "This is starting to piss me off." "Lieutenant, I want those ships out of my sky." "I'm working on it." "This isn't working." "I can't override the fail-safe, and I can't open the doors, but we've got to get him out of there." "All right, well, then we'll do it manually." "Tell me what to do!" "There's a panel at the base of your air lock." "Take" "First team," "Concentrate your fire on the hostile at 10:00." "Keep them away from the defense grid." "Second team, with me." "Enemy ships coming around." "We can't take much more of this." "Lieutenant, give me a course for that mothership." "The firing solution?" "We'll need the main guns to take her out, and that'll leave us" "I said what I meant." "Give me ramming speed and direction." "Sir?" "A battle wagon like that is built with one purpose" "It jumps in, delivers it's cargo, and jumps out again fast." "Her jump engines are built with a quicker recharge period." "If we can't fire up our engines this soon after the last jump, let's use theirs." "What about the other ships?" "With luck, they'll have the same recharging problem that we have." "By the time they come after us, we'll be long gone." "We just have to..." "Encourage the mothership to jump." "Can you do that, Lieutenant?" "Aye, sir." "You don't have much time." "I know." "Course plotted." "Ready to engage." "I just hope to hell lochley figures out what we're up to, or they'll get left behind." "Go!" "Squadron leader to all fighters... stay close to the ship." "Repeat." "Break off and move in on the excalibur." "30 seconds to sterilization." "29... 28..." "There isn't time." "Get out." "Save yourself!" "No, not when I'm so close." "25... 24... 23... 22... 21... 20... 19... 18... 17..." "15 seconds to target." "Stay on target." "10 seconds." "Stay on." "We've got an energy spike." "She's jumping." "Hit it." "8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." "She's bound to have more of those attack ships onboard." "I know." "Activate main guns." "Prepare to fire." "Energy modules ready for full power." "Ready to fire main guns at your command, sir." "Fire" "Is that far enough out of your sky, captain?" "It'll do." "Figures, though..." "Our first major battle with the Drakh, and sarah missed all the excitement." "The shuttle is picking up David now." "They'll be calling for you anytime." "Good." "You know, I noticed you didn't tell, uh, David what you told me." "That it was his signal home that nearly got us all killed." "Could have pressed charges." "I know." "Didn't seem the right thing to do, given the circumstances." "What's that?" "Invitation to his wedding." "I don't know, it's..." "Bizarre." "Planet is on the verge of extinction." "Maybe none of us will be around in 4 years, but we still get married, and we still have babies." "It's a way of saying life goes on." "Even maybe when it won't." "And maybe that's the time when you need to believe in it the most so you remember what you're fighting for." "Yes." "They're ready for the next pod, captain." "Roger that." "They're all set, doctor." "Good luck to you." "And to you." "Both of you." "And, um, thanks for, uh..." "Doctor..." "Now that you've seen what you've seen, you think we have a chance to beat this thing?" "I don't know." "God's honest truth, I really don't know." "Captain Gideon, you were looking for me?" "Yes." "I wanted to thank you for your help on the firing line." "If you hadn't figured out what we were doing, we could have lost half our pilots out there." "I'd like to buy you a drink to celebrate if you're amenable." "I'd... be happy to." "So, uh, what's all this about?" "I'm afraid I still can't talk about that yet." "Another time maybe?" "Signal for you, doctor." "Send it through." "I'm sorry to bother you, but, uh," "I just couldn't sleep." "Yeah, neither could I." "You know, I was thinking about the nanotech virus you encountered a few months ago." "The one you're using as a shield against infection by the Drakh virus." "It has some surface similarity to the Drakh virus, but nothing we can use as a cure." "At least now I understand why it worked so well." "They're both based on nanotech." "Yeah, that's not why I was calling." "Now, your report states that the virus is controlled by a central computer." "That's right." "Each time we use it as a virus shield, we have to reprogram it." "The programming only holds for 48 hours." "Yeah, but the Drakh virus is even more sophisticated." "And as far as we know, they never landed a central computer system on earth." "Looks like you had the same thought I had." "What if the virus can communicate with itself?" "Like a hive mind." "What if it's testing us like we're testing it?" "If it's true, it's bad." "Real bad." "Yeah." "All right." "Well, I think we should, uh, stay close on this one, doctor." "Good night." "I'll let you get back to, uh, not sleeping." "I'll do the same." "Babylon 5, as promised." "Thanks." "Appreciate the lift home." "Hey, you're welcome to stop by" "Next time you're in the neighborhood." "I might do that." "Thanks again." "You're smiling." "No, I'm not." "With respect, sir" "It's gas." "Look, who you going to believe here, me or my face?" "Anyway..." "We should think about coming back here on our next leave." "The crew could use a break." "Doctor's orders." "Life goes on." "Indeed, it does." "Indeed, it does."