" What's happening with Ted?" " Heart rate's spiking to 190." "B.P., 230 over 110." " Heart attack?" " Not yet." "But I can get Evram to run a scan and" "No." "We handle this without him." "Excuse me, but it's my responsibility to make sure that" "Stand down, Doctor." "This is ours." "Ted?" "Are you there?" "Come in, Ted." "Switch to comm 4." "He's not answering." "I've always believed that doors are meant to be opened." "That's why they have hinges and knobs." "You put up a barrier, and somebody's gonna walk through it." "That's human nature to want to know what's on the other side... and to ignore the obvious catch- doors are there for a reason." "Yo." "I'll be done in a sec if you want to run." "Ted?" "Ted?" "Admit it." "It's a breakfast burger from Momo's." " I can smell the bacon." " Jen, I feel fine." " They're monitoring me." " Babe, you're sick." "They've got you on thinners, for God's sakes." "So, what are you doing there?" "You working on the rabbit embryos?" "You're changing the subject." "Answer the question." "It's a special project for me and you, okay?" "It's a surprise." "How's Ted doing?" "He settling in?" "Yeah, he's fine." "So far, we're on course." "No speeding tickets." "He's not you, Rollie." "I know." "But he left a wife and kid back here." "There's a lot being thrown at him right now." " The crew should go easy." " Roger that." "Just..." "look out for him, will you?" "Of course I will." " You were in pod 4?" " I was on Mars, Eve." "Mars!" " I was there." " Well, you're stable now." "You're gonna be fine." " Does it do this?" " When it's trying to tell you something." " Has it happened to you?" " Just me... and one other person." "Ted, I have wanted to tell you everything." "You have no idea how hard it's been." " You are my wife!" " And I was I.S.O. Before that." "Ted, this wasn't my call." "You have to believe me." "I need you to go back." "Go back?" "Uh, this isn't about us." "It's trying to communicate with you." "It's chosen you, just like it chose me." "Okay." "Form 24 for today." "That is astro speak for "daily schedule"... my fifth graders from Burnaby, British Columbia." "Zoe and Paula, you will run the lander through guidance, navigation and control." " Jen?" " Uh, ongoing fertility experiments." " Phosphor relation in microgravity." " Hmm." " Sperm move faster up here, kids." " Oh!" "And you, Donner?" "Uh, bus rundown and find the leak in the Venus suit." "Eso es muy importante." "Up here, safety comes first." "Evram, status on psych evals?" "Door is wide open." "Any takers?" "Dr. Mintz is our doctor and resident psychiatrist." "Life on Antares is a big adjustment." "So it's especially important that we share." "Steven, you'll continue your proton velocity report." "Right afterJell-O shots and origami." "And I'll be on the flight deck with Ted." " If we can find Ted." " I think he's in the shower." "He'll be down." "Paula, you okay?" "I'm sorry." " G-sickness." " Whoa!" " Hello!" " Space cookies on the loose." "Thus concluding the morning meal." "Nice of you to join us." " You got it too?" " I'm fine." "Rollie asked me to look out for you." "He sensed you might need an ear." " That's very big of him." " It's a commander thing." "A friend thing." "Or whatever." "I'm here if you need me." "Six years is a long time." "Is she sure she wants to open that door?" "Pilots read?" " And "biologist" is a fancy name for "gardener. "" " Oh." "I was splicing genes while you were still playing with dolls, friend." " Well, I still play with dolls." " Is that so?" "Hey." "Beautiful day." " Oh, it's gonna rain." " Well, rain's nature's way of wiping the slate clean." "And a leading cause of mold, flooding" "And pessimistic blonde ASCANs." " Look, I don't know why we can't just be" " What?" " Well, cordial." " Cordial?" "Yeah." "You know, maybe- maybe more than cordial." "Cordial's as far as I go." "Any particular reason for that?" "Aren't you the guy with the "I don't date astronauts" rule?" "Yeah." "I mean, technically." "I mean, why flirt with someone... who technically you can't even ask out for dinner?" " Uh" " It's a rule worth keeping, Donner." "And it's my rule too." "All right." "They're called HALOs, like what angels wear." "Stupid acronym." ""HALO"?" "Hormone Activated Libido Oppressors." "First used in prison systems to curb the appetites of sexual offenders." "We're using them now for extended missions." "Which we'd want to do because" "Sexual urges destabilize the coworker bond, causing lapses in judgment." "In other words, relationships are toxic." " You can have sex without a relationship." " We'd prefer you had neither." "To that end, your assignment... is to wear your HALOs for a period of 24 hours... to get a sense ofhow they'll funct" " Behind the ear, Mr. Fassenwelder." " That's "Wassenfelder. "" " Wanna switch with me?" "Give me yours." " No." "Thousands of years of reproductive evolution... wiped out with a tiny green dot." "How do we know what they put into these things?" "Hormone weirdness can affect the fetus." "Will you stop with the fetus?" "Zoe, it's not an option." "You can't have a baby right now." "Especially not Maddux Donner's." "Side effects are rare, so they say." "While we believe it's a safer alternative to the messy side of cohabitation... as with all medical procedures, I must advise you of its detractors." "That was funny." "Yeah." "Oh, it's funny." "But I think this is affecting me." "Open." "It's talking to her again." " May I help you, sir?" " Yes." "I'm Ajay Sharma." "I'm the flight engineer- former flight engineer of the Antares." " You might recognize me." " Yes, sir." "Yes." "Uh, my credential seems not to be working." "Please have a seat, sir, and I'll call in and see what I can do." " I'm sure it'll be fine." "If you'd just let me in" " Please have a seat, sir." "Yo, Paula Puke." "Queen of the upchuck." "Mistress of heave." "When my door is closed... that means I have intentionally put up a barrier for my privacy." " And?" " And... if you wish to move through that barrier, you would need to ask for my permission." ""Yes" is not permission." ""Who is it?" is not permission." "The only thing that will give you permission to enter are the words..." ""Please, come in. "" "But you, Steven, you are only going to get as far as "Who is it?"" "Because after I hear your name, I am bolting the door." " So you want me to leave?" " Get out." "Get out!" "Okay." "So Paula's not doing the G.N.C. With you?" "No." "Last thing we need is vomit in the Venus lander." "Yeah." "The o-deck's never gonna smell the same." "Who's her alt?" "You know damn well who the alt is." "S.T.D. "Sexy, Tragic Donner. "" "A.K.A. "the clap. '"" "I'm never gonna shake this guy, am I?" "Uh, not for the next six years, no." "You know, there's this line you cross with men." "You can be colleagues." "Then friends." "Then lovers." "But... can you go back?" "I mean, does that line work in reverse?" " Emotional rewind?" "I don't know." " Yes, you do." "I mean, you and I are both rewound completely." "We've both moved on." "Ted, Donner-We're done." " HALO secure?" " HALO secure." "Hey, Ted." "You all right?" "You, uh, seem a little off today." " Yeah, maybe a little." " Huh." "Well, I'm gonna head back to the lander bay for the G.N.C." "Paula's still G-sick." " Right, you're the alt." " Yeah." "Listen." "There's gonna be a lot ofback and forth today with Control." "I might need you there for it." "Well, if I'm not there, Nadia will be." "Well, I'd rather have- You sure you're all right?" "Maybe just a little déjà vu, that's all." "This is a new mission, Ted." "It's not Mars." "Roger that." "You know, they're so concerned about our libidos." "What about the halos for everything else?" "Dude, this thing might've worked when I was in ninth grade, maybe." " HALO versus the machine, right?" " What can I say?" "There's a whole lotta Ted." "It's really itchy." "It- I feel like it's red." "Is it red?" "I don't need chemical castration to do my job." " Well, the guys do." " Yeah." "But they actually think they can beat it." "We can put a man on Mars, but we can't find a way to kill his erection." "They have." "Trust me." "I've seen the studies on these things." "And the only two results are limp and limper." " Have they grown breasts yet?" " No." "They think they can beat the HALO." " A male's sexual weakness is second only to his stupidity." " Meaning?" "I think we can make some money on this." "The rules are simple." "If one of you big, strong astronauts can overcome the HALO" " Rise to the occasion." " Pitch a tent." " Then you win." " But if you stay limp, sad and small" " Then we win." " All right." " Who's the bank?" " That would be me." "Cha-ching." "Don't do it." "It's a sucker's bet." "I've seen the studies." "Fifty large on the one-eyed monster." " Fifty, double down." "Fifty." "There's another 50." "But we pick the place and time." "All right, bring it on." "Ante up, boys." "Nice." "Anyone else?" "Any other takers?" "Looks like we're in business." " Good for you, Paula." " Yo, Ajay, spot me." " Come on." "Any more takers?" " Gambling brings on many miseries." " Erodes a man's good name." " Screw that." "These babies are calibrated for size." "Average astronaut size." " I can win this." " Perhaps." " I would still prefer not to get" " Okay, look." "Think of it as a bonding thing." "Becoming an astronaut rather than a geek." "Geek." "You're a geek." "Geek." "That's what everybody is saying." "You're a geek." "This is against my better judgment." "We're in." " All right." " Is it cool?" " Don't touch me like that." " Sorry." "Yeah, good." "Copy that, Crossbow." "Rate gyro sensor is engaged." " Moving on to page seven." " Roger that." "Page seven." " Aligning sequencer engaged." " I could've done that." " I'm the pilot." " Mmm, the alternate pilot." "Yeah, that's the pilot for today." "DAP activated." "Preparing lander for tertiary landing site." "What's that?" "It's a glitch in the digital autopilot." "The landing navigation system's gone to the tertiary site." "The DAP's automatically calibrated for the primary." "Not according to the guidance module." "Look." "The numbers don't sync with the ship." "If G.N.C. Sends us to a different site on the day, the mission is toast." "Forget the mission." "You and Paula are toast." "Um" "All right, might be the trajectory control sensor." " Might be?" " Well, do you want to check it out yourself?" " You're piloting." " All right." "I'm the alt." " Well, which is why you missed a step." " I don't think so." "Why don't we just hit reset, Donner, and start from the top?" "Control, we're gonna do a hard reset..." " and go to the top of page seven." " Copy that." "Excuse me." "Preparing lander for tertiary landing site." "Well, it seems the lander has made up its mind." "It wants to kill us." " Crossbow, are you seeing something we're not seeing?" " Something funky, Rollie." "The system's switching us to the third landing site, and the override's not working." " It shouldn't be doing that." "Not now." " Might be an E.S.P. Microsurge." " You check the D.A.P. Config?" " Affirmative, and we hard reset three times." "I'm gonna switch over to manual, take a system check... and maybe I can isolate the bug." "Uh, hold off on that for now, Donner." " Ted, are you in the loop?" " Negative, Control." "I'm on the flight deck and have been following." "Hey, Nadia, you know where he is?" "Maybe doing his psych eval with Mintz?" "All right, look." "We don't need Ted for this." "I can do a manual check from here." "Do you have Ajay down there?" "He helped design the damn thing." " Hold on a second." " Ajay's not an option." " Is this Beta screwing with us?" " I don't know." "I don't think so." " Do you know where Ted is?" " He's processing." "He's been through a lot." "Well, he's gotta get over it and handle Donner." "We can't have him digging in the lander's code." "Uh, Donner, this is Flight." "Listen, we are gonna power down the lander... let it sit for a day and reboot." "That's your solution?" "You're gonna hit the off switch and pray?" "Look, I got a retriever at home with the croup, and I've been stuck in board meetings all day." " The lander is fine." " Tell that to Zoe and Paula when they're trying to land it." "Powering Crossbow down now." "Maybe Paula will have better luck." " Well, I hope so." " You gonna talk to Ted?" "Yeah, I got it." "Hey." " Where the hell were you?" " I've been here." "We just ran G.N.C. I asked you to be up on the flight deck." " Nadia was there." " Nadia's not the mission commander." "She can't say jack to Mike Goss." " We'll talk later." " No, let's talk about it now." "Okay?" "I got a serious glitch with this landing sequence." " I think I can find it if they'd let me go after it." " Then find it." "Yeah, well, they shut the lander down." " Ted?" " I'm sure they had their reasons." "What?" "I'm sure they had their reasons, Donner." "Let me finish this." "Paula, you all right?" "Leave me alone!" "You got a couple head cases in crew quarters." "Get on it." " How'd it go?" " The landing sequence is screwed up." "We rebooted three times, then they finally shut us down." " Mmm." "Now, tell me how it went." " Fine." " That's it?" "Fine?" " That's it." "It was professional and cordial." " Cordial?" " In a very professional way." " Huh." "Well, excellent." " You don't believe me." "I believe you, and I'm proud of you." " Good." " Despite the fact you're wearing two halos." "She's most agile." "Four-letter word for "manhood'"?" "That'd be W-A-S-S." "You've overcome the mighty HALO?" "Feelin' a twinge." "Give me a little girl-on-Wass action, and that cash is mine." "The hormone inhibitor kicked in about an hour ago... working its way from the amygdala region of his brain down into his bloodstream." "So it looks like big Ted's little Ted!" "Uh, I'm gonna take this thing off." " No, you don't!" "Not with my money, you're not." "Come on, focus." " All right." "Kiki, listen." "This is like a race, okay?" "I want you to think of it like a long, hard race." " I'm leaving." " No, no, no, no, no." "No way." "No way." "Come on." "We're making a point here." "All right?" "This whole HALO thing, it's about evening the field." "It's about gender neutralizing." "If they can hack it, so can we." "Don't you get it?" "This isn'tjust a stupid bet." "This" " This is war." " It's pathetic." "Fine." "Think of it as cultural then." "It's a voyage to an unknown planet." "Planet Exploitation." "Tell me these women go home feeling a sense of pride." "They're being humiliated." "So it's less humiliating to put on the wounded good girl act..." " so a man will pay attention?" " Excuse me?" "Come on." "I see the way you look at Donner, hoping he'll glance over here." "If you want him, go." " Get him." " You are sadly mistaken." "Yeah, the last thing she needs is to get involved... with Captain Limp and the Noodle Gang." " Then you won't mind if I switch teams for a while?" " What?" " You're gonna go help them beat us?" " No." "I just like getting naked." "Oh, my God." "Is she even human?" "Oh, sweet mama!" "Thank you!" " She's not interested in you, Steven." " Don't be such a tight-ass." "Nadia!" "Nadia!" " This is "game over'"right here." " Yeah, Nadia." "Go, girl." "Don't go for it." "Don't do it." "Don't do it." "Don't do it." "What is this, a setup?" "Is that a setup?" " Can I go now?" " Hell, yes." "All right." " Are you gonna be okay?" " No." "Yes!" "I'm fine." "Just tired." " Yes." " Go!" "Go!" "Bye, Zoe." "You know what?" "L-I surrender." "This is too good." " I can't" " I can't beat this." " Come on, Donner." " Give the young guys a try." "Shock them, you know?" " Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" " Ah, come on, Maddux." "Maddux!" " In your dreams." "Ajay." "Respect." "We have a winner!" "We have a winner!" "Oh, yeah!" "They just told me you were out here." "I'm sorry." "Um, I brought some of the stuff from your locker." "Crew suit and" "I heard they put you in Research." "I was permitted to pick up the keys to my flat and my mail." "But my gym card was revoked." "Yeah, well, the upside of heart plaque is sanctioned sloth." "I haven't been able to make myself go back in... to my apartment to unpack my boxes." "When I left, when I packed them..." "I was an astronaut." " You're still an astronaut, Ajay." " No." "I'm in Research now." "You know, I never realized... how much I treasured the connection to this place... the people... that sense of belonging." "Nice night." "It's, uh" " I just felt a drop." "Ever the pessimist." " Not much back there to cheer me up." " Nah." "Nobody ever got smart from drinkin'." "You know, F.Y.I., this bus only comes here on the hour after 10:00." "Yeah." "I can't afford to take cabs." "Ah." "I used to play ball when I was a kid." "Yeah, I used to get up every morning at 6:00 to go throw with my dad." "I was gonna be the greatest pitcher Cedar Rapids Little League ever saw." "And were you?" "I fell off a jungle gym and broke my arm three days before the tryouts." "Little League had a rule." "No broken bones, no exceptions." "But I went anyway 'cause I figured that, uh... they'd look, see past the cast and, you know, see what really mattered- that I had heart..." "I wanted to play." "Did they let you try out?" "No." "I had a broken arm." "But, uh" " But I showed up." "So your point is rules are rules, no exceptions." "That doesn't mean I can't take you out to dinner." "You know, I mean as colleagues or something." "Actually, Donner, I think it does." "Ajay, you're a stud, baby." "Swipe it." "Collect it." "Learn to respect it." " Show me the money, honey." " He did it." "He got one." "What happened to "limp and limper"?" "Hey, the test studies didn't have Nadia giving lap dances." "I barely looked at him." "They say science is the great leveler." "There's no decency." "There's no ethics." "Oh!" "Yo, Paula Puke!" "I think maybe it's a good time to go home." " Roger that, because I am broke." " You wanna share a cab?" " Only if you're buying." " I, actually" "I wanted to ask you some questions about your last paper." "You know, "Functional Genomics:" "The N2 Fixings of"   "Filamentous Cyanobacteria"?" " That one." " You read that?" " Yeah, I did." "It was fascinating stuff." "Really?" "I mean, because- I mean, nobody- nobody read that." "Well, I also know you like pie." "Cafeteria gossip." " Mmm." " And I know a great place on the way." " Sure." "Yeah." "Why not?" " Jen, Rol." "Uh, we're moving the party over to Major Tom's." "And the guys are buying." " Oh." " Uh, you know what, man?" "It's an early day tomorrow." " Oh, come on!" " Are you sure?" " What, you want to go?" " Well, if the boys are buying, yeah." "You know what?" "I am gonna make sure Paula gets home." "All right." " Okay." " Let's go." " All right." " Bye." "Something's clearly wrong with him." "The whole crew knows it." "I mean, he's not talking to Mintz." "Donner can't get through to him." "And if Donner can't" "I guess Rollie's right." "It's gonna fall to me." "He's withdrawn." "He's introspective." "It's not unusual when confronting the universe." " Physically, he's fine." " And Paula?" "She's in her quarters." "You know, she's not drinking enough." "I'm pushing liquids." "Paradoxically, I wish I were drinking more." "Are you wearing your medication patch?" "My withdrawal symptoms are under control, Doctor." " "Je manque mais toi. "" " I miss you too." "It's a lonely planet without you." "Yeah, well, we always face the unknown alone." " The astronauts' genome analysis." " Thank you." "It's a virtual impossibility that all eight of the Antares crew... have the same euchromatic and heteromatic gene variations." " What are you suggesting?" " I'm not suggesting anything." "The crew's physiology's changing, lining up like points on a grid!" "I know something up there is causing this... caused the plaque that grounded Rollie and Ajay... is probably causing the crisis with Ted right now." "Something's happening, and I need to know why." "There'll be no going back, Claire." "Once you open this door, you can't close it." "Do you understand?" "Analyze the genome of this." "My name is not Paula Puke." "My name is Paula Morales." "And Paula Morales does not get G-sickness." "Paula Morales will pilot the Venus lander." "Paula Puke doing her variation of the dry heave in B-flat minor." "They should build these things with thicker walls." " Paula?" " Go away!" "I just need to sleep." "Oh." "Don't tell me you have it too." "No, I'm fine." "I just need to walk." "Is it me, or is everybody on this ship crazy?" "You can see the moons ofJupiter." "Ganymede, Europa, Callisto." "Never gets old." " Yeah, not on day four." " Yeah." "Around the same time congestion, backache and insomnia begin to work their magic." " Mmm." "Loss of appetite and... nausea." " Mmm." "And don't forget about the mental jujitsu." "Anxiety, excessive fear of danger." "My favorite- paranoia." "They're all normal things, Ted." "I mean, they're expected." "Just the way to get through all of this is to open up to the rest of us." "You don't have to go through this alone." "I'm afraid I do, Jen." "Donner?" " Are you hearin'this too?" " Yeah." "Something's running." "It's the lander." "It's supposed to be dark for 24 hours before reboot." "They're reprogramming it without us." "You're all the same." "You're one of them." "Yes." "It's happening to me too." "What's going on?" "Water!" "Steven!" "Not playing that game." "I got my boundaries, baby." " Remember those?" " Please." "Ted." "Come on." "Open up." "All right." "So Mission Control reprogrammed the lander last night without bothering to tell us." "We're gonna be looking at brand-new code." "You know, I don't know what your problem is right now, but, uh... you know, if I can't help you with" "You pull an all-nighter?" "I got inspired." "You know, bunny stuff." "Thank you." "Ted's in his quarters, and he won't come out." "Mmm." "Yeah, I talked to him last night." "You talked to Ted?" "Rollie asked me to... be a friend." " Well, he is going through a lot." " So how'd it go?" "Well, if he's hiding out in his room, apparently not that well." "That wasn't the question." "Fine." "I mean, it went fine." "It was professional and cordial." "Which is why you're wearing two halos." "I hear we're going to have to adjust your dosage, Mr. Sharma." "Um, you should be aware that that has caused me itching... which has led to a great deal of itching." "HALOs are useless." "Wasted resources." " And why is that, Doc?" " It's never just about the sex." "It starts that way." "It's always more." " Oh." "Sorry." " Oh, my" " Hey, pilot." "Hey, gardener." "Did 5k." "That's not bad for a hangover." " 5k?" " Yeah." "Well, I got 2k and a nap in the park." "Yeah." "Um" "So listen." "Look, about last night, I did have a little bit to drink." "Don't sweat it." "Coworker immunity." "You didn't say what I didn't hear." " Professional courtesy?" " Exactly." " So we'll stick to the rule?" " The rule." "It's what we want, right?" "Right." "All right, well, I, uh- I should probably" "Sure." "You should." "All right." "How's Ted this morning?" " Where is he?" " In his quarters." "He won't come out." "Hey, Rollie." "Is something wrong?" "You tell me, buddy." "People are concerned." "So is that what I'm feeling?" "Last thing you want's a shaky crew." " I'm fine." " You're hiding in your quarters." "Don't sling that bull at me." "The Antares mission was my mission... and it's my moral responsibility to make sure my replacement's doing me proud." "So what's really going on, Ted?" "You feeling alone up there?" "You scared about what you're learning?" "Or maybe this is about betrayal... being hurt by the one person you thought you could trust." "Well, you want to know how to deal with that?" "I'll tell you, bro." "You suck it up." "And if you're lucky, stupid damn lucky, one day that wound stops bleeding." "You'll always know it's there, but you won't always have to look at it." "Not always." "Not every day." "And you'll consider yourself blessed." "So get your act together, Ted." "There are seven other people up there depending on you, and one of them is my wife." "My wife!" "Take care of her." "The lander's back online." "Mission Control won't be pulling that crap again." " That's good to hear." " When's the last time you checked on Paula?" "Couple hours ago." "She wasn't letting anyone into her bay." "She's not the doctor, Mintz." "I want her up and running... and on that lander tomorrow for the G.N.C." " Who woke him up?" " Don't know." "Sure kicked our asses though." "It's true that some doors are better left unopened." "But you usually don't realize it until you're on the other side." "Nice and easy." "I've killed men for less." "We all make mistakes." "It comes with the territory." "Still no reason to live your life in one room." " Are you sure you're okay?" " I'm going in." "I love you." "Doors we choose to open determine the path of our lives... be they brave... angry... foolish... painful." "We're defined by what we do... by where we go." "And you can't go anywhere... without opening the door."