"What is that, the third portal opening this month?" "These things are popping up like mushrooms." "54 portals worldwide, and 20 more already under construction." "Soon we'll be able to reach every corner of the world within a few minutes." "Oh, isn't that great?" "There will be no place left to get away from this all." "They're coming through." "After all the trips I've taken through interdimensional space, it's still an exhilarating feeling." "My name is Glen Ballard, and as the Secretary of Transportation, it is my privilege to declare this portal station officially open." "I'd like now to introduce two of our Taelons friends, whom you may already know." "Da'an, our North American Companion, and Zo'or, the leader of the Taelon Synod." "It pleases me greatly to see the results of the ongoing cooperation between Taelon and human communities." "In my eyes, this portal represents the doorway between our peoples." "One which we have opened together." "Indeed." "The ongoing construction of the portal network would not be possible without the tireless work of the human director of portal research, Dr. Jeffrey Whitfield." "I cannot tell you what a thrill it is being to study and implement this exciting new technology." "Which I believe will take us one step closer to creating a global community, in which all human and Taelons are truly neighbors." "Are you alright?" "When I first joined this project," "I didn't think it could..." "Dr. Whitfield!" "Get Da'an and Zo'or to the shuttle, now!" "Call an ambulance!" "There's no pulse." "Subtitled by Axarion" "They are the Companions." "Aliens come to Earth on a mission of peace." "Their true mission, the secrets they hide, forever alter humanity." "Caught in the struggle between these Taelon Companions and the Human Resistance is Liam Kincaid." "A man who is more than human." "The mysteries of his past hold the key to Earth's future and the fate of mankind." "On Earth Final Conflict." "Something happened to Whitfield the moment before he collapsed." "Some kind of energy discharge." "He was standing in front of the portal, maybe it affected him somehow." "No." "I am quite certain the portals are safe." "How can you be so sure, we've had problems with them before." "An isolated incident of contamination from an external source." "The portals have been in use on the Taelon home world for centuries without a single fatality." "Even so, Zo'or, the public human might blame the portal for what happened." "Then it is imperative that you find the real cause of this death as quickly as possible." "Until we do, it might be a good idea to shut down the portals anyway." "No." "All portals will remain open." "And construction of the new ones will go forward on schedule." "Is there something particularly important about the portal network?" "As Da'an said, it is a symbol of the cooperation between our peoples." "We have made a commitment to share the benefits of our technology with your race." "I do not wish to break that promise." "Major, we're due at the lab to examine the autopsy reports." "As much as I hate the idea of flinging my molecules through those interdimensional portals, they had absolutely nothing to do with this man's death." "Then what did kill him?" "Something surprisingly traditional, he was poisoned." "Poisoned?" "Massive dose of cyanide." "How does that relate to the energy flash that I saw in his body?" "I wish I knew." "The poison was concentrated in the very center of his body, and surrounded by massive tissue damage." "It's as though some, some cyanide-type bomb exploded inside of him." "So, perhaps, that's what you saw." "Could we be looking at a suicide?" "Maybe Whitfield swallowed this cyanide bomb himself." "Well, the only thing wrong with that theory is..." "The poison wasn't released in his stomach." "It spread out from the middle of his chest cavity." "Are you saying they injected it directly into his chest?" "What I'm saying is that I have the foggiest idea how that poison got in there." "There isn't an injection mark, or an entry wound anywhere on his body." "And believe me, I've searched." "I'm stumped." "Major, you're needed downtown." "A Taelon engineer from Da'an's staff is speaking at a press conference, and Da'an requested that you protect him." "Thank you, Doctor." "As you're aware, the new portal station in this building was recently the site of a terrible tragedy, in which the American people lost one of their most brilliant scientific minds," "Dr. Jeffrey Whitfield." "In the wake of his death, there's been some public concern about the safety of the portal system." "I've asked one of our most prominent Taelons advisers," "Sa'al, to address that point." "I worked very closely with Dr. Whitfield, and like all of you, I desired an explanation for his death." "After carefully examining the portal," "I can confidently say that it played no part in this tragedy, and that it poses no risk to human safety." "So what killed Dr. Whitfield?" "The autopsy shows that he died of cyanide poisoning." "I'm afraid that he was murdered." "We can't allow that to shake our confidence in Dr. Whitfield's great achievement." "The portal network remains the safest..." "Doors has entered the building, he's heading straight toward you." "Close up behind him." "Hello, Liam." "Are you gonna try and stop me?" "It's still a free country, last I heard." "If there are no more questions..." "I have a question, Mr. Secretary." "The security strength is too tight to handle Doors." "Keep your teams focused on all the key points of entry." "Sa'al has more experience with this technology than any human being." "That's true, but wouldn't it be in the Taelons best interest to tell us that their technology is safe whether it is or not?" "Your bias against the Taelons is well known, Mr. Doors." "We have a medical emergency involving a Taelon." "We need help now!" "Secure the room." "Help me!" "Do you appreciate the gravity of this situation?" "A Taelon has never been murdered by a human before." "Never!" "Why do you assume the killer is human?" "It could just as easily be Taelon." "My people do not commit cold blooded murder as casually as yours do." "It is inconceivable that a Taelon would have sufficient reason to kill an ordinary engineer." "What about a Jaridian scout?" "They have the ability to cloak themselves." "No." "We've never observed the Jaridians to do anything like this." "Sa'al was disintegrated from within." "What could do something like that to a Taelon?" "Before today, I would have said nothing could." "It is possible that a common energy disruptor could have caused such damage, but only if it was somehow placed inside his body." " Just like Whitfield and the cyanide." " Exactly." "You must find out who is doing this and how." "We will track him down, and we will stop him by whatever means necessary." "No." "You must use care." "But, Zo'or, this man is a terrorist." "And I expect you to find him quickly!" "But bring him to me alive." "I would expect Zo'or, of all people, to be calling for blood." "So why isn't he?" "Maybe he wishes to know what motivation a human would have to commit such crimes." "I'm still not convinced the killer is human." "Zo'or himself has demonstrated that Taelons are capable of murder." "He's tried to have you killed more than once." "It is more complicated than that." "Zo'or is a leader with responsibilities to the entire Taelon race." "He genuinely believes that my ideas pose a threat to the common good." "You sound like you're justifying his actions!" "No." "But I wish to understand his reasoning." "And in the case of these killings, I must agree with Zo'or's assessment that a Taelon is not responsible." "Maybe they are humans who are opposed to the spread of Taelon technology." "And feel compelled to take action to defend their race." "You mean people like the Resistance movement." "Yes." "If you're asking me whether the Resistance assassinated Dr. Whitfield and Sa'al, then the answer is no." "Thank you, Liam." "I'm sorry I asked." "Our technicians reviewed the news footage and security scans, and pulled up visual images of everyone present at both the ceremonies portal and Secretary Ballard's press conference." "And?" "There were 22 people who were present at both events." "I assume you eliminated the members of the security teams." "Yes, which left just 10 suspects." "And then, as much as I have hated to, for the sake of argument, I eliminated the members of the press." "And then there was one." "We ran the photo against the FBI databank." "We have one Arnold Creighton, a former professor at MIT." "Why former?" "He was an outspoken critic of the Taelons since the day they arrived." "He refused to participate in any research project that was based on Taelon technology." "Which would push him right out of the mainstream." "And out of the flow of funding." "The grant money that used to supported Creighton went instead to Taelon projects." "I give you one guess as to who was in charge of the... grant committee." " Dr. Jeffrey Whitfield?" " That's very astute, Major." "Looks like Creighton is our man." "Do we know where we can find the ex-professor now?" "Absolutely." "The last known location, a basement room he used as a lab space." "Provided by an alternate university." "They're troublemakers, Major, known to support a protest movement against the Taelons." "This the kind of place someone like Creighton would hide out." "Let's get moving, Major." "The assault team is already assembled." "We really need all this muscle?" "We're not exactly invading Normandy." "The Resistance know anything about this guy, Creighton?" "Yeah, yeah, he joined a couple of years ago, but they turned him down." "They turned away an MIT professor who wanted to help?" "Well, Creighton was only interested in his own personal vendetta against the Taelons." "Doors thought Creighton was an extremist." "Looks like he was right." "Stand aside." "This is private property." "You got some kind of warrant to barge in here?" "I'm the chief protector of the Taelon delegation!" "And I'm giving you 5 seconds to get out of my way." "I don't care who you are." "We still have our rights as free citizens in a free country!" "Five!" "Sandoval, don't!" "Move in!" "Lili!" "You're making a big mistake!" "People are gonna hear about this!" "Nobody home." "He must have known we tracked him here." "Let's hope he didn't leave behind any surprises." "Look for documentation of his work." "Notes, computer files, anything that will tell us what he's up to." "Sorry I couldn't be there in person." "I thought it wiser to keep on the move." "Hiding only makes you seem more guilty." "Oh, I admit my guilt freely," "And I am proud of my accomplishments." "I need an immediate trace of all signals entering this room." "You're proud of killing two innocent people?" "Innocent?" "They were a Taelon and a collaborator, conspiring to suppress independent thought." "They forced me out because I refused to pledge allegiance to the alien oppressors, but I wasn't defeated." "No." "I managed to complete my work in spite of them, and now the whole world has witnessed my proof." "As far as I can see, the worst thing that Taelons have done to you is cut off your funding." "How does that justify murder?" "To demonstrate that there is still one human being who can outthink an alien." "That we are still a force to be reckoned with!" "Are you sure that's what you're doing or you just try to rationalize your anger?" "You just don't understand, you can't..." "Well, you just can't..." "Well, you work for the so-called Companions." "Overseers more like it." "I'm willing to listen." "Give me a trace." "Oh, no, no, no, no." "You won't be able to trace anything back to me." "I patched this through a dozen different transmitters." "But you see?" "You see what you're doing there?" "You see, the Taelons have you trying to track down a fellow human being!" "How can you be a party to the subjugation of your own flesh, your own race?" "It's not as simple as you think." "Oh, stop!" "You disgust me." "Get down!" "Am I finally losing my mind, or that bomb just appeared out of thin air?" "!" "Of course, I realized that we're dealing with an extraordinary kind of technology." "But I had to be absolutely sure, you understand." " Can you cut to the chase, Augur?" " Liam, please." "If you're not gonna pay for my expert advice then at least allow me the pleasure of telling this in my own way." "Give me an "A", give me a "U", give you "G", "U", "R"." "Go, Augur!" "Yeah, speaking of payments, have we ever discussed licensing fees for this?" "Alright, alright!" "Look," "I found Creighton's research grant application." "You know, the one that was turned down." "Well, guess what, he's researching the quantum displacement of subatomic particles." " Subatomic..." " Uh, okay." "And?" "Okay." "Well, how am I gonna explain this?" "Okay." "Quantum theory holds that subatomic particles can simply jump instantaneously from one place in space to another, right?" "If all matter is composed of subatomic particles, then Creighton theorized that anything can jump instantaneously through space, right?" "And it looks like he found a way to really, really do it." "I mean, somehow this man has created the first teleportation device in history!" "You mean, something like an interdimensional portal." "Well, no." "See, that's the extraordinary part of it, listen, listen." "ID trouble requires a huge power generator as in a portal or a shuttle engine." "But even then it can only create a shorter, quicker pathway between two points, right?" "Sort of like a wormhole, where the normal body can travel, but!" "With a teleporter, oh, my gosh!" "You could instantaneously transport an object to any point in space." "Even within another solid object!" "Wait, how is this possible?" "Even the Taelons don't have this kind of technology." "Lili, is it so difficult to believe that a human scientist could've come up with it before Taelons did?" "I mean, maybe they are not as far ahead of us as they'd like us to think." "Exactly what Creighton said he was trying to prove." " Right." " You can tell how the device actually works?" "Well, no." "Not without getting my hands on it." "But, I assume that he has to know the precise location both for the object he's sending and the target destination, right?" "He had a direct line of sight to both of the murder victims." "This illegal search and seizure is just the latest example of the Taelon disregard for basic human rights." "I'm the chief protector of the Taelon delegation." "And I'm giving you 5 seconds to get out of my way." "I don't care who you are." "We still have our rights as free citizens in a free country!" "Five!" "Police state?" "The Taelons are guests on this planet, and they should be expected to act accordingly." "I call upon the Taelon Companions and our leaders to draft a formal agreement to respect and obey human laws." "Fully 86% of the population believe that Taelons should be held to the same standards of behavior as humans." "This is exactly what I've been saying all along." "It's official." "He is a politician." "Equality before the law is the heart of any democracy." "Including, I hope, our own." "I've been called to the mother ship." " Zo'or wants to have chat." " I bet he does." "I had an unpleasant conversation with President Thompson today." "He is greatly concerned that this public incident reflects badly on him and his association with Taelons." "He believes it will damage his chances for reelection." "He has nothing to worry about." "This whole thing will be forgotten by next week." "The President does not share your optimism." "He has insisted that be you relieved of your duties." "I've been conducting this investigation with the same dedication" "I've given you for the past three years, Zo'or." "Yes, but this time your dedication was caught on camera." "It was foolish of you to invoke your authority as a protector." "have you forgotten that you are still an agent with the FBI?" "No, I haven't, but..." "Then you should at least have maintained the appearance of operation under their jurisdiction, instead of exposing us all to this public humiliation." "Are you asking for my resignation?" "No." "I do not take orders from any human." "President or not." "Major Kincaid." "You must find this man Creighton." "If our scientists are correct in their analysis then he possesses a new and extremely dangerous form of technology." "A teleportation device." "How could a human scientist develop a technology like that, without the Taelons even being aware of it?" "You must have known what Creighton was researching." "Yes." "We reviewed his request for funding three years ago." "His theories of matter displacement had already been discovered by Taelon scientists on the home world." "They attempted to develop a teleportation technology, but were unsuccessful." "And that is why you want us to take Creighton live?" "So he can show you how he did it." "As a more evolved species," "Taelons are better suited to deciding the best use of this technology." "The inventor himself has proven that it does not belong at the human hands." "Especially the human military, or even worse the Resistance." "Then you understand the urgency of your assignment?" "Lili." "Zo'or knows that Creighton has a teleporter." "He wants to grab it for himself." "I just talked to Doors." "He thinks it might be necessary to kill Creighton if that's the only way to keep him out of the Taelon hands." "Are you comfortable with that?" "No!" "Then let's make sure it doesn't come down to that choice." "I will try to delay Sandoval." "Get every Resistance cell looking for Creighton." "And motivate Augur to think up some way to track him down, fast." "There's another matter we should discuss." "Da'an will be attending a private meeting with the human political leaders to offer a formal apology for the incident with the students." "I believe the public would be reassured to know that such a meeting is taking place." "I want you to leak that information through unofficial channels." "Human Internet, perhaps." "Wouldn't it be safer to keep the meeting secret until it's over?" "If Creighton finds out about it, Da'an will surely become a target." "Of course, I will rely on you to keep a very close watch on Da'an with all the surveillance technology at your disposal." "If Creighton does attempt an assassination, the teleporter's energy readings might lead you to him." "Creighton will probably be close by, but still I might not be able to reach him in time to save Da'an's life." "All that I, or the Synod can expect is for you use your best efforts." "I believe..." "I understand." "Then I suggest you begin at once." "Come on, everybody leaves a trail somewhere." "Hi!" "Like, you might be interested in seeing what my Internet tracking subroutines picked up lately." "Show me." "Hey, Lili, come here, take a look at this." "The computer's programmed to monitor the Internet for keywords and phrases like Taelons, Resistance," "Jaridian invasion, you know, words like that, right?" "Well, in the last hour, the word "Da'an" has been popping up like crazy." "Attending a secret meeting with human leaders." "Okay, come on." "If it's so secret, the Taelons would never let a word of it get out, unless..." "Unless Zo'or is using Da'an as bait to lure Creighton." "He's a perfect target, and Creighton's been working his way up the director of research, Taelon technical liaison..." "North American Companion himself." "Da'an is a sitting duck." "Which means so is Liam." "When did Zo'or leak the fact that Da'an would be here?" "About an hour ago?" "Yeah, if Creighton holds true to pattern, he'll have to be somewhere near you to target his attack." "I'll keep an eye out for him." "Yeah, and I'll watch your back." "I've tapped into the NSA monitoring system." "With their permission, I'm sure." "Of course." "And if I detect any strange energy readings in your area" "I'll give you as much warning as I can." "Thanks." "We have a problem." "Creighton may know about this meeting, and if he does you're not safe." "We should call it off." "There are important issues to be resolved here today." "We have already taken precautions of selecting the room at random and sealing it against intruders." "That should be sufficient." "I don't think you understand, Zo'or's setting up you as bait for Creighton!" "That may be." "But a human and a Taelon have been killed." "Perhaps, with the proper security arrangements," "I should risk my own safety to help stop the man responsible." "Zo'or wouldn't." "True, but I'm not Zo'or." "All the same," "I'm keeping your pilot and your shuttle on standby." "I am very grateful that you have agreed to meet with me today in the interests of preserving good relations between our races." "If any action of the Taelons, or our human colleagues has offended you," "I deeply regret it." "And I ask for your forgiveness on behalf of all of us." "The hunt is on, Taelon." "We've got energy readings all over the building." " In the conference room?" " No, no." "Not so far." "Let's contact Liam." "Diplomatic immunity will apply to the Companion for each country." "But not their staff members." "Creighton's using the teleporter, he's gotta be close by." "Search the building." "Make sure he can't possibly get a line of sight on Da'an." "Very well, Companions only." "Whatever he's teleporting in there is pretty small and doesn't stay very long in the same location, like uh... a mouse taking a quick peek." "Wait a minute, that's it." "Could he be using some kind of surveillance device?" "Oh, yes, of course, of course." "That way he wouldn't even have to be anywhere near the building to find his target." "Can you find the source of the teleportation?" "No, not without shifting the scan off of Liam and Da'an." "Ah, forget it." "Stay focused on them, we want to give them as much warning as possible," " In case he finds them." " Right." "Liam." "We think he's hunting you with a spy camera." "Refocus all sensors to find the source of these energy projections." "Scan the entire city." "Zo'or," "Creighton's going after Da'an." "I believe we will find him." "Agreed." "Taelons Companions will be responsible for respecting the laws of the country that they serve." "Gotcha." "He just hit the conference room." "Liam, get out of there, he knows where you are." "Everybody out!" "Liam!" "We're okay." "We're heading for the shuttle." "We've got another hit." "There's another teleportation right behind you." "You can run, but you cannot hide." "It jumped 20 meters ahead of you, to the left." "But you should have a clear pathway down the hallway to the right, toward the emergency exit door." "Can you locate Creighton?" "No, not while I'm helping you." "Then stop helping us." "If you picked up these energy traces, you can bet that the Taelons have too." "Find Creighton before they do." "He's right." "Redirect the scan." " But they'll be defenseless!" " Yeah, I know that!" "Just do it." "Got him." "Tell the launch bay to prepare my shuttle." "Contact security at the embassy and have them meet me at these coordinates." "Alert Zo'or." "We're going after Creighton." "We're almost there." "Creighton, don't." "Just listen to me first." "I understand you better than you think." "We know some of the same people, good friends of mine." "You approached them 2.5 years ago, but it didn't work out." "Maybe if it had, things would be different right now." "Resistance?" "You?" "We all share the same concerns about the future of humanity." "Maybe it's not too late for us to work together." "Yes, I got a fix on Creighton's location." "Send the coordinates to my shuttle." "Think about this, Creighton." "Killing people, killing Da'an won't get you what you want, it won't give you your old life back." "The world has changed." "But it's still up to you how you wanna leave your mark on it." "As a man of science, who kept the spirit of human innovation alive, or as a cold-blooded killer?" "Go!" "No!" "Go interdimensional, Creighton won't be able to track you." " Come with us, Liam, please." " I cannot." "Now go, go!" "What are you doing here?" "Liam and Da'an are under attack at the conference and the teleporter's energy readings are coming from here." "How do you know that?" "I picked it on my shuttle scanner." "Wasn't on yours?" "On my count." "1, 2, 3." "Congratulations!" "Not a bad piece of detective work." "Put it down, Creighton!" "And let you hand over my life's work to the Taelons?" " I don't think so." " Put it down right now!" "We need him alive!" "Kincaid, more trouble." "Creighton just teleport himself out of here." "Liam, I've picked up the energy signature where Creighton landed." "It's in a warehouse only a few blocks from here." " Good, meet me there." " Wait a minute." "We're talking extra hazard paying, right?" "We're talking about getting your hands on that teleporter device." "Who knows, maybe Creighton will share the merchandising rights." "On my way." " 2, 4, 6, 8..." " Not now." "I've got a job for you." "Looks like we beat Sandoval here." "Don't worry about him." "Even as we speak, my holographic assistant is generating a false energy reading which looks like a teleporter signal, but is twice as strong." "And it just so happens it's coming from a transmitter on the other side of town." "Leading Sandoval on a wild goose chase?" "I bow to the master prankster." "Alright, I'd love to see his face right about now." "This can't be right." "It isn't there!" "I'm just showing you what's on the scanner." "He must have sent us a false signal to throw us off track." "Reset the scanners." "Look for the real energy signature." "I'm on it, but it may take a couple of minutes." "I checked this place out before." "Creighton used to rented storage space here." "It makes sense." "I mean, he have to know the layout of the place he was teleporting himself to." "Oh, my God!" "My own fault." "I was so sure I remembered the exact dimensions of the room." "Our agents must have moved it here when they searched here." "Can't you teleport yourself out of here?" "Wouldn't help." "I'd still have internal injuries." "Maybe we can get you to a hospital." "No!" "The Taelons would come after me." "Can't let them find out what I know about the teleporter." "And you..." "I should have listened to you." "Joined forces instead of pursuing my revenge." "I'm sorry." "It's not too late." "We can still save you." "There is only one way I can protect my secret, you know about it as well as I do." "Are you sure he hasn't teleported somewhere else?" "Our sensors have picked up no new energy signals for the past 20 minutes." "Maybe he finally ran out of power." "Backup teams, converge on this signal." "What are you doing?" "Entering target coordinates... to teleport this device." "Where?" "Into itself in 20 seconds." "I suggest you go." "There must be another way..." "It's going to cause an antimatter explosion." "There's going to be a very, very big bang." "Let's go." " 10." "Go..." " Liam, let's go." "You alright?" "I think so." "Well, then you better get out of here before every cop in town shows up." "Nothing!" "Not even the smallest fragment of that device." "It must have been atomized from the blast." "I'll send the forensics team back in there once more time just in case." "You made it back." "Safe and sound." "Did you find anything?" "The teleporter was completely destroyed." "To square one." "They don't have it, we don't have it." "You know, we're not actually back at square one." "I mean, I still have a record of all the emissions from the teleportation process." "Then you can bet the Taelons do too." "Yes, and you can bet also that they're trying as hard as I am to find out how the device actually worked." "Well, sooner or later one of us is gonna figure it out." "It's just a matter of who's smarter." "Augur, Augur, he is the man, and he can do what no one can." "Hurrah, hurrah, let's hope she's right." "Oh, no one's questioning my brilliance, but..." "I won't lie to you, this could take me a lifetime." "At least we know a human already got there first... ahead of the Taelons." "Which means we have a chance." "If we fight them, we can win."