"RUSH:" "I may be on the verge of discovering the true nature of Destiny's mission." "ELI:" "You've had control of this ship the whole time!" "Why wouldn't you tell anyone?" "The Lucian Alliance is planning an attack on Earth." "YOUNG:" "I killed Riley." "I suffocated him with my own hands." "You are a good commander." "YOUNG:" "There is no mission other than getting these people home." "RUSH:" "It was never about going home, it's about getting us to where we're going." "That is the mission." "They're machines." "One simple directive," ""Find alien technology and destroy it."" "I'm getting damage reports from all over the ship!" "Rush, whatever you're gonna do, you got to do it now!" "ELI:" "Recognition software, friend or foe." "What if we tell them that they're the enemy?" "Ginn and I figured out how to dial the ninth chevron back to Earth while Destiny recharges in a star." "RUSH'S VOICE:" "Tell them not to try and dial Earth." "It won't work." "If they go through with it, they're all going to die." "Stop trying to scare people and get on with this." "Wait three seconds, then follow me!" "RUSH:" "The connection was made, but you were the only one who made it through to Earth." "We're down to about 20% efficiency here." "That's about all we're going to get." "Moving on." " Sir." " T.J." "Hey, I've had a number of people reporting headaches." "Couple of cases of nausea and dizziness." "I don't know if they're related, but both cases are sleeping in fourth floor C quarters." "Yeah, something on this bucket is always broken." "Rush and Brody are working on it." "We need more lime for the air filters." "This is Young." "What do we got?" "Two gates." "One is locked out, the other looks promising." "I'll send a team." "WRAY:" "Whatever you decide to do, I..." " Hey." " Hey." "They just reported back." "Looks like the planet may have some of the supplies we need." "Oh!" "I don't suppose they found any of those purple fruit we got a while back?" "Yeah, yeah." "You liked those?" "Those were awful." "Yeah, they tasted terrible." "So why do you ask?" "Why am I always the last one to know?" "What were they good for?" "(WRAY LAUGHS)" "CHLOE:" "Hey, did you see that?" "No, no, you can't just change the subject." "No, seriously, look!" "Something moved out there." "There." "What is it?" "Those are drones." "We're under attack." "♪ Stargate Universe: "Common Descent" ♪ Season 2 Episode 17" "Original Airdate April 18, 2011" " Evasive maneuvers." " SCOTT:" "Executing evasive maneuvers." "Weapons active." " Got one." "Five." " How many are left?" "There has to be a command ship in the vicinity." "Which means a lot more could be on the way." "Whoa." "That can't be good." "We're taking some minor damage." "I'm rerouting power to shields and weapons." "Nice shot." "You're getting pretty good at that." " Bring it on." " PARK:" "Let's hope they don't." "Maybe we can handle six of them, but we can't jump back into FTL for another two hours and ten minutes." "That's all of them." "(BEEPING) SCOTT:" "Wait a minute, not exactly." "The command ship just came up on sensors." "It's on an intercept course." "Put them in our six, give me maximum acceleration." "Yes, sir." "All right, command ship is still gaining, but just barely." "Now, if we can keep this up until we're good to jump..." "We can't." "Not a chance." "We'd blow the engines." "Buy as much time as you can." "What the hell happened?" "I thought we left drone-occupied space behind a long time ago." "Apparently, we were wrong." "No, we weren't." "You think they're tracking us somehow, coming after us?" " How?" " I'm not sure." "You think it has something to do with the one we have onboard?" "I've considered that." "I thought it might be worth the risk, you know, to study them." "It's totally dormant." "Get rid of it." "Colonel Young, this is Park." "Destiny just cut off power to the sub-light, probably to prevent a burnout." "Do you want me to override?" " I wouldn't recommend it." " That's a negative." "How about the command ship?" "They've slowed, as well, but still closing." "ETA is less than one hour." "YOUNG:" "Understood." "How long till we jump?" "Yeah, we're cutting it close." "We jumped early before." "And the damage it caused is precisely the reason why we can't attempt that again now." "I don't think we can survive another full-on attack." "You'd better hope that we can." "SCOTT:" "All right, set her down." "Okay, let's move." "All right, sealed off the area by the docking collar." "Okay, open the outer door." "Destroying that drone only helps us if we make it to the next jump, assuming that's how they tracked us in the first place." "Sorry." "Just panicking out loud." "What's our status?" "SCOTT:" "The command ship's just coming into range." "(RAPID BEEPING)" "Okay." "We're not going to make it." "Sir..." "We're taking a lot of damage, sir." "We can't hold them off." "Now!" "We have to jump now!" "Not yet." "Transferring all remaining power to the shields." "Hold on!" "(RAPID BEEPING)" "Shut off those damn alarms!" "(BEEPING STOPS)" " How bad is it?" " Well, we're still here." "That was close." " Yeah." "How are the repairs going?" " Could be worse, I guess." "We could use a few more of those robots." "Shoot, you're lucky you have two." "No, we're lucky we're still alive." "This ship can't possibly hold up against another attack like that." "Well, hopefully they can't track us anymore." "Don't you hate having to start that sentence with "hopefully"?" "We have a planet coming into range." "It appears Destiny wants to drop out of FTL." "Override it." "We need lime for life support." "This planet might be a good candidate to have it." "Look, we can't stay in FTL forever." "I'd much rather the ship be in a better state of repair." "RUSH:" "Well, we've dealt with the most critical issues." "Look, I can't guarantee it's going to be safe, but I can guarantee if we don't stop pretty soon, we're going to have trouble breathing." "Okay." "Drop out." "Please tell me there's no more drones in range." "Screens are clear." "For now, anyway." "What do we got?" "Good atmosphere." "Temperature." "Trees." "Looks nice." "Okay, let's go." "This is Scott." "We're gonna check out the immediate vicinity of the gate." "Have Brody and his team standing by." "Roger that." "SCOTT:" "Secure the perimeter." "(RIFLE COCKING)" "What is it?" "GREER:" "I think I heard something." "Stop!" "Freeze!" "Halt!" "(EXCLAIMS)" "(PANTING) Don't shoot." " You speak English." " You came through the gate." "Oh, my God, I know you." "You're Matthew Scott." "And you're Ronald Greer." "How do you know our names?" "You're the Ancestors." "They called them the Ancestors?" "Why would they say that?" "According to Scott, they claim that their civilization was founded 2,000 years ago by the crew of the Destiny." "They said it was in their historical archives." "They even had copies of old Kino footage, and that's how they were able to recognize Scott and Greer." "How is it possible?" "The other Destiny." "They dialed inside a star, right, and the whole ship went back in time what, 12 hours?" "When that happened, there was two of everyone, you, me, everyone." "We thought that most of them died in the unstable wormhole trying to get back to Earth, but what if they didn't die?" "What if the wormhole sent them even further back?" "We know solar flares can do that, cause a wormhole to loop back on itself and move through time." "Yeah, but it didn't loop back on itself." "There was no Destiny here 2,000 years ago." "The wormhole simply jumped to another gate in the vicinity." "(LAUGHS)" "This is unbelievable." "Those people are our descendants." "Eli, we didn't go back in time." "Well, no, not us, exactly, but the other us." "Same DNA." "Come on, am I the only person here who thinks this could be the coolest thing ever?" "Fine, don't you at least want to know what happened to them?" "How they survived and developed as a society?" "You played a lot of SimCity as a kid, didn't you?" "Actually, this is more like SimEarth." "Come on, we have to go talk to these people." "There's still no sign of any drones?" "No, we should be safe enough here at the moment." " See?" " RUSH:" "But, please, let's not lose sight of why we dropped out in the first place." "Lime for the scrubbers, yeah, I know, I know." "All right." "Hey, everyone, this is Jason and Ellie." " Hello." " You're Eli Wallace." "Yeah." "Chloe Armstrong, and Camile Wray." " Pleased to meet you." " I don't even know how this is possible." "You're all dead, thousands of years ago." "Yes and no." "There's a perfectly good explanation." "The Testament did say that the Destiny might someday return." "The other me could have guessed we had gone back in time." "You have to come and meet the others." "The settlement's not far." "Okay, sure, lead the way." "I'll radio ahead and make sure they know we're coming." "You have radios?" "Of course." "ELLIE:" "No one's going to believe this." "They're totally going to freak out when they see you." "(ALL LAUGHING SOFTLY)" "This is so cool." "ELLIE:" "When we first heard you come through the gate, we thought maybe you were from Novus." "SCOTT:" "What's Novus?" "The planet where you founded our civilization 2,000 years ago." "CHLOE:" "You mean this isn't it?" "JASON:" "This place?" "No." "Our people came here as part of an expedition, one of several sent to find other viable worlds." "So you use gate travel?" "We did." "But then one day something happened, and we couldn't connect to Novus anymore." "There are no other gates in range." "So you've been stranded here?" "How long ago did that happen?" "It was before Jason and I were even born." "It's just up this way over here." "(CHILDREN LAUGHING)" "Hi." "Hey, hey, it's okay." "Don't be afraid." "Hello." "(ALL MURMURING)" "Incredible." "This is Yaozu." "That was my father's name." "I'm Camile Wray." "It is an honor to meet you." "WRAY:" "Likewise." "Come in, please." "Thank you." "May I introduce Landon, Abigale and Betty?" " Betty." " Hello." "YAOZU:" "Would you care for some tea?" "Yes." "Yes, thank you." " Will you sit?" " Sure." "Why not?" "Sitting is good." " Thank you." " Thank you." "You're even more handsome in person." "Betty seems nice." "Oh!" "That's good." "Thank you." "Most of us, myself included, never imagined this day would come." "Ellie said the Testament spoke of Destiny's return." "If that's some sort of written history, I'd love to take a look at it." " If I could figure out..." " Eli, there's time." "YAOZU:" "You have questions for us." "We have questions for you, as well, but first, let me begin with some ancient words of greeting..." "(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)" "Which means..." "Roughly, um," ""May all things go according to the wishes of those who hear it."" "That's right." "(WRAY LAUGHS)" "There are about 100 people in this settlement, and a couple of others just like it scattered in the vicinity of the gate." "That's not much of a civilization." "But they claim that Novus, the planet they came from, has a population in the millions, and from the sounds of it, they were fairly advanced technologically." "Obviously they had a head start." "I mean, they had our knowledge." "Did they know they had gone back in time?" "No, but apparently the other me suspected it was possible." "I wrote that one day, Destiny could return." "Still, they must have been pretty surprised to see you." " How long have they been there?" " Thirty years." "They were looking for other viable planets because their homeworld was suffering some kind of a natural disaster." "It was volcanoes, earthquakes or something like that, but I don't know, they said it was getting pretty bad." "WRAY:" "And there was a fair amount of political tension." " Not surprising." " No." "But get this, there were two predominant countries on Novus, each based on a distinct political philosophy." "The people in the expedition were all from one country called Tenera." "They follow the teachings of this book, the Testament, which apparently some of us wrote." "Wait, "Tenera"?" "That's Ancient." "That means "the land of the young."" "Or "the land of Young."" "There was also another group of evacuees who blamed the other me for what happened." "They thought Rush was still onboard Destiny and would one day come and rescue them." "Eventually, he became some kind of savior figure." "They broke off and formed a country of their own." "Let me guess, "Rusha"?" "(VOLKER AND PARK CHUCKLE)" "That's funny." "They called it Futura." "Really?" "BRODY:" "What wrong with Futura?" "It's a dumb name." "Yeah, how is it dumb?" "Apparently, he came up with it." "WRAY:" "These people we met believe that the stargate on Novus was either damaged or destroyed in a subsequent earthquake." "Right, so they have no idea what happened on their homeworld?" "No." "ELI:" "And check this out." "It's a databank, compatible with Destiny's technology." "It has copies of Kino video clips the evacuees made their first few years on the planet." "It's us." "It's the other us." "Apparently, to the people of Novus, the original Kino is a holy artifact, like the Dead Sea Scrolls." "Look, are we going to get the supplies we need or not?" "Yeah, they're helping us gather all kinds of stuff." "Good, then perhaps something useful will come out of this after all." "(SIGHS)" "I can't believe you helped found an entire country based on the hopes that he would come and rescue you." "I can't believe you named it Futura." "Shut up." "Seriously, isn't that a font?" "SCOTT:" "All right, this right here." "Medicinal, food, food." "Okay, thank you very much." "This also goes to Becker, all right?" "There's a station set up in the Gate Room." "Okay?" "Make it happen." "Cold." "Hydroponics." "Just place it right over there." "WRAY:" "This is our bridge." "(LAUGHING) This is awesome!" "He said "awesome."" " WRAY:" "I'd like you to meet Dr. Rush." " Hello." "I was just leaving, actually." "Well, you can stay as long as you like." "I'm sure Doctors Volker and Park have many amusing stories to fascinate you with." "Is everything all right?" "There are those somewhat less enlightened among our people who believe he is a demon who rips souls from human bodies and takes them to hell where they suffer for all eternity." "It's funny how things have a way of getting twisted and exaggerated over time." "While others don't." "He's not that bad." "Many Futurans worship him like a god." "We won't tell him that." "I thought you said it was compatible." "Nothing ever works the way it's supposed to." "Oh!" "There." "This is the spot where we're going to break ground." "Hard to imagine now, but one day, hopefully, this will all be one big city." "And we took a final vote last night to name the planet." "I suggested it should be something in Ancient." "Volker said Novus Mundus, which means "New World."" "While appropriate, nobody really liked the sound of "Mundus,"" "except Volker." "(LAUGHS)" "Anyway, Novus ended up winning out, which, it's kind of strange, because it just..." "It means "new."" "Like, new what?" "Well, new everything, I guess, so Novus it is." "And here we are back at the Gate Room." "JASON:" "This ship is incredible." "It has its flaws." " Thank you for showing us around." " You're welcome." "And thank you for your people's help gathering supplies." "They will serve us well for some time." "You've been so kind and patient answering all our questions." "My pleasure." "We only have one more thing to ask of you." "Of course." "What is it?" "Will you take us home?" "JASON:" "We haven't been able to dial the gate, but that doesn't mean that all of Novus is destroyed." "Just that the gate isn't working." "This ship could take us there." "All of you?" "We were supposed to build a colony, but only with the help of our homeworld, and an open gateway providing ongoing support and supplies." "I understand that, but..." "We're surviving, but just barely." "YAOZU:" "We have struggled through great hardship." "It's hard to imagine the beliefs of the Futurans could be so close to the truth, but here you are, all of you," "come to rescue us." "Shouldn't we try and help them?" "Forget the relationship, they're human beings." "Imagine if the situation were reversed, and it was us asking them for help." "And we did, and despite the fact that they barely have enough to survive on their own, they've helped us gather everything we need and more." "Yeah, because they thought we were their way off that planet." "Well, correct me if I am wrong, but we can't take that many people onboard even if we want to." "Based on the address, I figured out where Novus is." "It would only take us a week to get there, and, yes, yes, I've done the math." "With the lime we got from the planet, we should be able to make it just before the atmosphere on the ship gets toxic." "RUSH:" "Yeah, with nothing in reserve." "So what happens if we get there and we don't find any more?" "We're stuck, and that's not to mention the drain on our food and water supplies." "These people were advanced 30 years ago." "They could be even more advanced now." "Hell, maybe they could even help us restore the ship to its full working capacity." "Or they could have died in subsequent earthquakes." "I mean, do they even know what was causing the problem in the first place?" "According to Yaozu, their scientists were beginning to form a theory before the expedition was launched." "They had evidence to suggest that a rogue black hole was approaching their solar system." "Well, I take it that's not good." "The resulting tidal forces could tear the whole system apart." "So we could use all our supplies to get them there, and then find no planet?" "It might not have happened yet." "It could take hundreds of years." "Please, let's not forget, we still don't know how those drones tracked us." "Now, until we figure that out, our best form of defense is to spend as little time out of FTL as possible." "The last thing we need right now is an unnecessary drain on our resources." "The planet's in our path, so we check it out." "If they are still alive, maybe we can help them fix the gate, and they can rescue their own people." "Is that your final decision?" "Let's finish loading the supplies." "(SCREAMS)" " Eli, get that thing out of my face!" " Sorry, sorry, sorry." "(OLD JOHANSEN GROANING)" "Yeah, it's time." "On the next contraction, I want you to push, okay?" "OLD JOHANSEN:" "Okay." "OLD WRAY:" "All right." "(OLD JOHANSEN SCREAMING)" "Keep pushing!" " Keep pushing!" "Keep pushing!" " I'm pushing!" "Where is he?" "Matt said they were scouting a place for an irrigation canal." "OLD JOHANSEN:" "That was hours ago!" "OLD WRAY:" "Yeah." "He's gonna be here, all right?" "Just stay focused." "OLD JOHANSEN: (PANTING) Okay." "OLD WRAY:" "Deep breath and then push." "Now!" "(OLD JOHANSEN SCREAMING)" " Hey." " Hi." " I didn't want you to miss it." " OLD YOUNG:" "No, I'm here." "It's gonna be all right." "OLD WRAY:" "I can feel the baby's head." "Okay, on the next contraction, I want you to give one big push, okay?" "Okay." "(PANTING)" "(SCREAMING)" "It's a boy!" "A boy!" "First baby is born on Novus." "(OLD ELI LAUGHING)" "He's beautiful!" "(BABY CRYING)" "We have been here 10 years now." "Our little town's coming along." "Some of us even have children." "It's been a struggle at times, but it's been kind of fun to try to find ways to make this work." "I just wish my mother could see what I've done, meet her grandson." "That's my only real regret in all this." "OLD YOUNG:" "I remember when we first came here." "It was, well, it feels like a long time ago now." "It was..." "We had very little, it was really hard, but I think it brought us together." "Everything we have here, we have built with our own hands, and now we stand at a precipice." "Some of us want to divide, and sure, yes, we have our issues, and we have our differences, but we can't lose perspective." "As your leader, I may not have been perfect, I know that." "But I know that I tried my best, and that I persevered." "Now, as a group, we will survive." "We will prosper as long as we can remember above anything else that we need each other, and we need to help each other." "That doesn't change anything here and now." "I just thought it might sway your decision seeing that they are us." "As much as we'd like to ignore their problems, we're all human beings." "We have a responsibility to each other, don't we?" "Well, unfortunately, what we should do and what we can do are too far apart." "We'll stop by their home planet, and we'll see what happened." "I'd like to say goodbye." "Sure." "It's not a question of not wanting to help." "It's a question of resources." "There are so many of you, and the ship's damaged, and I'm so sorry." "So, it seems the Futurans were wrong after all." "I only wish we'd known sooner." "We could have avoided generations of conflict." "We may be able to get the Novus gate up and running again." "If we can, we'll dial in and let you know." "We'll be waiting." "(EXPLOSION)" "WRAY:" "What was that?" "SCOTT:" "Eli?" "I don't know." "Over there." "WRAY:" "Oh, my God." "JASON:" "What?" " What was that?" " We need to get the hell out of here now!" " Do you have a safe place to hide, a cave?" " Not nearby." "We have to get to the gate!" "We need to evacuate your people right now." " I don't understand..." " GREER:" "Incoming!" "SCOTT:" "Go, go, go, go!" "Run!" "WRAY:" "Go to the gate!" "Go to the gate!" "SCOTT:" "Go, go, go!" "Hurry!" "Come on, go, go, go!" "WRAY:" "Jason, take everyone to the gate now!" " Report." " A command ship just dropped out." " Can we jump?" " VOLKER:" "Yeah, we're good." "Brody, this is Young." "Dial the planet." "Get Scott's team back here immediately." "They just dialed in." "Drones are attacking the planet, as well." "Scott is requesting permission to evacuate the locals to Destiny." "Tell him to go ahead." "We'll hold them off as long as we can." "Come on, come on, come on!" "Go, go, go!" "Come on!" "Go, go, go!" " We got this!" " No way!" "Not until these people are safe!" "Come on, right up there." "Okay, guys, keep coming through!" "Keep coming, don't bunch up!" " How the hell did they find us?" " I don't know." "To the left, to the left!" "Come on!" "Get down!" "Get down!" "(DRONES WHINING PAST)" "(WHINING RECEDING)" "We can't take much more of this." "BRODY:" "Colonel, we've lost the connection to the planet." "Scott and his team still haven't come through." "Well, try to dial them." "Find out what happened." "We've tried already!" "The address won't connect." "The gate is now saying it's no longer operational." "Okay, that's it." "We have to go." "Make the jump." " Colonel!" " Do it!" "I hate to be the one to say this, but we're stranded here." "Well, even if we can't use the gate, Destiny can still come back for us." " What?" " SCOTT:" "They were under attack, as well, and the ship was already damaged." "Even if they got away, they wouldn't be able to risk it." "But the drones are gone." "ELI:" "But they don't know that." "And without the gate, we have no way to tell them." "What were those things?" "SCOTT:" "Robot ships." "There's no pilots." "ELI:" "A mechanical army of drones programmed to seek out and destroy all technology foreign to them." "They took out our generators and long-range transmitter." "And they were built to win a war between two alien races in this galaxy." "When the war was over, the weapons were left behind." "Why would they come here?" "That might be our fault." "WRAY:" "We encountered them a little while ago." "It seems they've been tracking us ever since." "We thought we'd lost them, but apparently not." "They're chasing Destiny." "It still doesn't explain how they found us here." "The gate." "An active gate is a massive subspace event." "They must have found a way to detect it from long range." "You said that there were more settlements nearby." "Do they have generators and other technology, as well?" "We have to warn them." "It's probably too late." "It has to be the active gate." "Every time we drop out, we dial." "We've been broadcasting our position through subspace." "It's the only thing that would explain why they attacked the planet and Destiny at the same time." "So we are safe as long as we don't dial." "But the gate is our supply line." "Well, we can use a shuttle in the meantime, as necessary." "The drones' ability to detect an active gate must have some limitation." "Well, I'll have to do the calculations, but I agree." "We should be able to use the gates again at some point." "Okay, what about the team on the planet?" "Well, we don't even know if they're still alive." "Don't we have to take that chance?" "And risk the ship and everyone onboard?" "He's right." "Listen, I'm sorry." "We're not going back." "Camile said you were out here." "What are you doing?" "I had an idea, wanted to check something out." "I'm assuming this thing's never going to dial again." "No." "So, what's your plan?" "Gates use short range subspace transmitters." "It's how they communicate status updates with Destiny before it even drops out or dials, and I was thinking maybe we can use it to send a message." "Tell them the drones are gone, it's safe to pick us up." "And won't the signal call the drones back?" "I would like to say no." "The signal is several thousand times fainter than the event caused by an active wormhole." "But you can't know for sure." "It's a calculated risk." "But if the signal's that faint, will it even reach Destiny?" "They've probably already jumped into FTL by now." "No, it should reach them if they haven't gone too far." "So this is a total crapshoot." "It..." "Pretty much." "So far, I haven't even figured out how to send a message." "All I can do is turn this stupid thing off and on." "BRODY: "Mundus"?" "VOLKER:" "Yeah." "Ancient for "world." Novus Mundus. "New World."" "It sounds stupid." "(LAUGHS) Yeah, and "Futura" sounds cool?" "Yeah, obviously, it's a matter of opinion." "It's a font." "What do we got?" "Not sure." "Have a look." "It just started blinking like that." "I'm not sure what it means." "I do." "This is Young." "Rush, Chloe, I need you on the bridge now." "It's Morse code." " Morning." " Morning." "I'm starting to get the feeling that we may have to settle in here for good." " One more shot." " SCOTT:" "Eli!" "Hey!" "Hey, you did it." " I did it?" " Yeah, it worked." "ELI:" "How do you know?" "(SHIP APPROACHING OVERHEAD)" "WRAY: (LAUGHING) Yes!" "You did it!" "Colonel Young said we're going to take these people home." "Sorry." "Hey." "Thanks." "I know I said I wanted to help these people, but I got to be honest." "I'm glad we're almost there." "I think it's been kind of fun." "Don't tell that to Rush." "He's been even grumpier than usual." "He says the CO2 they're producing has completely offset the extra lime we brought onboard." "When they leave, we'll just be right back to where we started." "Some of them are saying they'd like to stay." "I know." "You think Colonel Young will let them?" "Guess it depends on how many." "Well, do you think their planet's going to be in one piece when we get there?" "ELI:" "Absolutely." "The way they described the seismic activity," "I'd say they got years before it goes critical." "SCOTT:" "I don't know." "It was bad enough to make them send out those expeditions in the first place, and that was 30 years ago." "And what about the politics?" "I overheard some of them talking, and it sounds like things were getting pretty bad." "Apparently, both sides had nuclear weapons." "No, no, there's no way it would have come to that." "But they were facing an escalating natural disaster, putting pressure on their resources..." "Which just as easily could have brought them together." "Guys, they're our descendants." "We passed down all of our knowledge, our understanding." "And apparently, some of our disagreements." " YOUNG:" "Lieutenant." " Sir." "We're about to drop out." "As soon as we're in range, you're going to be flying the first recon." "Yes, sir." "I'll go prep the shuttle." " If it's okay..." " Permission granted." "Thank you." "We'll be passing into the atmosphere shortly." "No radio signals." "Yeah." "I noticed that." "They're supposed to be advanced, right?" " So?" " They're entering the atmosphere." "SCOTT:" "We're passing through what appears to be a pretty thick layer of particulate matter." "Dust and ash." "All right, getting a reading on surface temperatures." "It's pretty cold down there." "Oh, God." "A nuclear winter." "SCOTT:" "All right, cloud's breaking up." "We should be able to see something here pretty soon." "Whoa!" "What is it?" "SCOTT:" "It's a city." "It's a huge, modern city, and it's completely intact." "It's incredible." "I'm not picking up any radioactivity." "In fact, we're not getting any EM at all." " RUSH:" "Of course." " What?" "Well, the layer of dust and ash, blocking out sunlight, lowering surface temperatures." "There's really only one possible explanation." "Extreme volcanic activity." "Like a super-volcano, or worse." "Not exactly nuclear winter, but just as devastating." "Are you seeing any movement down there?" "Negative." "I'm gonna bring us in for a closer look." "Sir, we've done another close pass over the city including the outskirts." "We're not seeing any signs of people." "No smoke from fires, no tracks in the snow, nothing." "It doesn't look like anyone's been around here for a long time." "But millions of people lived here." "Where did they all go?"