"This is virgil vox on the box," "Soothing your seefran souls as we wait... wait... wait... for the demi-Century festival of the darkening," "When methus-2 goes out." "For how long?" "The usual hour?" "Long enough for me to get a look inside, i hope." "Or this time, as we all fear," "Will it stay dark forever?" "Not if i can figure out what makes it blink." "You there, boss?" "You still in range?" "Not for long, mr." "Harper." "The second that sun goes dark, we are going in." "I'm back." "I'll make it fast." "Here she is, and she's got it." "Plucked straight from the altar to our altar." "You're referring" "To the carbon block, i hope?" "Yeah, and this had better be good." "The minute those paranoid zealots" "Find out that their ceremonial rock is missing... it's worth it." "It's worth it." "You ever hear of an old thief named horace fry?" "Yeah." "Lifted terma diamondoids." "Did 20 years in stir," "Ended up on some backwater drift" "Tending to his tropical fish." "Mm-Hmm, but what happened to the diamondoids?" "Nobody knows for sure." "He ditched them in the chayson drift" "Just before he got caught." "Bits of them scattered over a hundred light years," "Probably." "Horace knew." "Federales never found the swag." "Even put the eels to old mrs." "Fry." "Tough lady." "She kept her lips sealed to the last convulsion." "Fry left the swag in orbit" "Before he busted out to the drift." "25-Year decay rate... terma was waiting for him when he got out." "Smart... but he knew the law would be looking for that." "So he hid the goods in plain sight." "He sewed the diamondoids into his fish." "Precisely." "Finger marlins." "They live 40 years." "Much better decay rate." "Harper, you said" "This would be fast." "I'm going as fast as i can." "I'm making sure we're all on the same page, boss." "You figure it out yet?" "It's... black." "It's solid." "It's carbon." "It's a filing cabinet." "Yes." "I can see that." "All right." "We've got an artificial star" "With a terminal case of the blinks, right?" "Beka," "Harper thinks the block contains information about methus-2." "Yeah, but the vedrans" "Never left any information about the system" "In the archives." "I checked." "Ah, but did you check a dusty old paperweight" "Made of ultragrade carbon nanofibers?" "Beka, behold the vedran finger marlin." "Go fish." "The vedrans" "Bound bits of information" "To carbon atoms inside this block." "I figured out how to break those bonds" "And access the diagrams... structural design information" "For the entire system!" "I see." "You're going to apply heat." "Ain't no flies on you, beka." "Boss, do i have your permission to begin" "Potentially damaging extraction of said information?" "It's either now or 50 years from now" "When methus-2 blinks off again." "That's assuming you're finished with your story." "I thought you'd say that." "Light your lanterns, gentle folk." "Methus-2's horn of darkness approaches" "After a 50" "That's a good look for you." "Heh heh." "Uh... oh, ho, ho." "God bless you, horace fry." "Huh?" "Who's laughing now?" "You've got a little, uh... never mind." "I'm going to take that explosion as good news," "Because we're going in." "Rhade, trance, ready slipfighter." "We're clear." "Be careful, rhade." "What fun would that be?" "Okay, let's go where the sun doesn't shine." "The universe is a dangerous place," "But in our future," "My crew and i fight to make it safe." "I am dylan hunt," "Captain of theandromeda ascendant," "And these are our adventures." "The festival of the darkening." "Believers and non-Believers, behold." "Dylan, rhade, and trance went to methus-2" "Without seeing this?" "Aw, geez, do i have to explain everything" "Every time we do something?" "All right." "By the time they hauled this thing out" "For the local fear festival," "Dylan had already known for weeks" "About this once-Every-50-Year blackout," "And that he'd only have an hour" "From the second it got dark" "To get inside and look around, so he went, on pure instinct." "Pure guts." "That's dylan." "Yeah, however, pure brilliance led me to deduce" "That there's more to this carbon block" "Than meets the eye." "It contains a maintenance code" "I can use to keep the sun down longer." "How long?" "Three hours." "He'll have three hours inside" "Safe, guaranteed." "Provided there are no surprises." "Please don't bite the hand that solders you." "I've wiped way too many" "Of your guarantees off my boots, harper." "Fine." "Don't believe me." "Believe the vedrans." "It's their maintenance code, their diagrams... apparently they wrote the block on this stuff." "I see." "So the furnace is on the fritz" "Because methus-2 hasn't seen a fix-It crew in while." "Yes." "Transmitting the code, in layman's terms," "Reduces the sun's luminosity to absolute blackness," "Opening a portal" "Which in this case is already open." "Inside, between the mantle and the core," "There's enough free space for a millionandromedas," "And you should have more than enough time" "To repair the damage." "We don't even know the extent of the damage." "What if we need more downtime?" "You won't, because there isn't any." "Keeping the sun down any longer" "Could cause catastrophic weather conditions" "Throughout the system." "That's why they built" "The three-Hour failsafe." "Besides, how long do you need?" "You get in, find dylan," "Kick out the boiler," "And be home in time to give me a massage." "There is nothing" "In the methus diagrams about a maintenance code." "The information i'm getting from this rock" "Is solid." "It is not this block i have concerns about, harper." "Actually, beka, he's right." "The vedrans designed this system" "As one immense roadblock to stop the rogue sun" "And save this planet." "If methus-2 is broken, the mechanism fails" "Thank you." "And we are macrocosmic roadkill." "We have no choice but to follow dylan." "Not yet." "Harper's not quite finished feeding out the rope." "I was getting to it." "There is a catch." "There always is." "The vedrans used the same architecture" "Inside the sun's core" "That they used inside all their spaceships," "So passages are going to look familiar, very familiar," "Over and over again." "The whole thing's probably designed" "To lure intruders away from their true path" "To the fusion reactor," "So pay attention." "We could be walking around in circles" "Until the sun ignites." "Now, we can go hang ourselves." "Uh-Uh." "Got you something." "Now you can go hang yourselves." "I uploaded the methus-2 designs" "Into doyle's neuron-Net." "Did you want us to miss you?" "I don't hold false hopes." "Just following the boss and trance's orders." "Besides, don't cry about it." "At least this way," "You'll be able to know where you're going." "You wanted harper to stay behind?" "Well, it felt like the right thing to do," "You know, in case there's a problem." "Well, it's in case you need a rescue." "Besides, the seefrans aren't tech savvy." "They'll need harper's help" "To get some other plan to save the system." "Not that you will need rescue, by the way." "I looked it all over twice." "You're not going to hit any snags" "Or any tangles of any sort." "I promise." "You'll be fine." "That's brave talk for a guy" "Whose butt is shining a bar stool." "Communication gets tougher" "The closer you get to the core," "So i'll be acting as your conduit to harper." "Okay." "We're on our way to find the core." "Good," "'Cause the one thing you need to worry about" "Is time," "So keep your eyes on the minutes." "We'll be doing that, mr." "Harper." "Just make sure there's free gwaro when we get back." "Free?" "Half price." "For the first round." "Yeah, i'll pretend i didn't hear that." "Well, then, let me spell it out for you." "I got abidnesto run, spelled b-I-D-N-E-S." "The girls in the back, they're giving me a hard time" "Now, if i could only make sense of this place." "Rhade?" "I get this very strong feeling" "That dylan has invested all of our hopes" "In this mission." "He's just like every other exile" "Thrown down this hole." "He wants to survive." "If there's still a commonwealth," "I want to find a way back." "So does he." "When hope fills us up, we're easy to deceive." "I'm afraid we might miss what's obvious." "I don't miss much." "That's how i've survived this long." "No." "You've already missed something." "I don't think that this star is some broken machine." "Something alive is inside the core," "Or it's at least an expression of some entity's life force." "Couldn't wait for us, huh?" "Well, i had to get the party started." "There's still two hours and five minutes to burn." "What route did rhade and trance take?" "Through a portal at the core's south pole." "You guys take the north." "Splitting up doubles the risk." "Yeah, but it also doubles our chances" "Of finding the reactor." "Look, whoever gets there first will make repairs." "Other team will harvest deuterium fuel forandromeda." "Seems counterproductive" "To steal fuel from a dying star." "If no one can make repairs," "At least we'll get out with the ship at full power." "Oh, uh, when i say it's time to get out," "Get out." "I'll be coming fast." "You won't have to say that twice." "Going in." "Good luck." "Rhade," "Beka and doyle are inside the core" "At the north portal." "Dylan, change frequencies." "He'll come through again." "It's this place." "Some spots are more open than others." "And i suppose that's determined" "By the life force you sensed in here?" "Can't tell yet if it's friend or foe?" "Well, maybe it's both... in the same body." "I'm leaning towards "foe."" "Dylan, we've got problems." "Suddenly, the doors have legs." "Doyle, dig through the diagrams for a pattern." "See if there's any part of the configuration" "That leads to the fusion chamber." "The core's designs refer to its ability" "To change its internal configuration." "Which means our map is useless?" "Rhade?" "Trance?" "Rhade?" "Damn it!" "Dylan?" "Dylan!" "Clock is ticking." "One hour and 53 minutes." "Time for intuition to lead the way." "Rhade?" "I have a feeling" "Something bad is coming." "I could use a hint." "Dylan?" "Andromeda?" "No." "This can't be happening." "No, no, no." "No!" "No, no... no, no, no!" "This can't be happening!" "No!" "I promised them." "I promised them..." "Seefra to dylan?" "Seefra to dylan." "Come in, dylan." "I never asked for any of you to come back, you know." "Maybe i did a little at first, but... i got by." "I got by." "I made me a beauty." "Fabricated some freaks." "I did what i had to do to stay alive in this sinkhole." "Stinkhole!" "Three years... but i was going to find my own way out." "Noandromeda." "No rommie." "No promises." "I didn't ask for any of you." "I didn't need any of you, and even if i did... i never expected an answer." "You... you lied to me." "Uh-Huh." "You made me believe they'd be safe." "What's that?" "You want a little drinky?" "Okay." "Ah!" "It's theandromeda." "This is real time." "But... but how?" "Wait a minute." "What... if the mantle were strong enough" "To protect the core from a short burst, then... they wouldn't fry." "They'd be okay." "They'd be alive!" "They're alive?" "Ha!" "They're alive!" "They're alive!" "Ha ha ha!" "For now, anyway." "Mm-Mwah!" "The sun flashed." "Just not enough to vaporize you." "Gear's fried." "Without the hand comm," "We can't tell how much time we have left." "Roughly 72 minutes, 42 seconds?" ""Roughly."" "Ah... here's the next question." "Our location." "How far we are from the chamber?" "I got nothin'." "Oh, i'm sure you have a feeling." "This is going to sound strange." "Sometimes i'm not where i am," "And sometimes i am where i'm not." "Here's the only thing that scares me" "Is that you understand me..." "kind of?" "Kind of." "Wish i did." "You do." "Trance." "Would you like some company?" "What's up ahead, what we're all looking for?" "I'm the only one who knows the way." "No matter what, you must follow me." "I'm your shadow." "Doyle?" "Doyle!" "Crap." "Hey." "Doyle, spark it up." "I don't want to leave you here." "Uh... i'm sorry, beka." "Trance, is that you?" "Are you okay?" "I brought us to seefra." "Hey, are you with dylan?" "I need help." "Doyle's shut down." "All those months you spent alone," "Drifting..." "starving... hey, look, you've got to tell dylan" "We couldn't find any fuel storage." "Where would you be without me?" "Where would you be if i were someone else?" "Trance... without you, the rest of us would be dead." "Death is just a matter of time." "Trance?" "Where the hell are you going?" "I need help with doyle." "Trance?" "Wait." "How much time do we have left?" "Trance?" "Trance!" "Crap!" "Your hand comm is working." "Rhade," "We've had no luck reaching harper." "Well, i guess we found a safe spot." "For now." "Dylan, we've lost contact" "With beka and doyle." "Did theandromeda sustain any damage?" "None." "About the only good news on a really bad day." "I hate to admit it," "But i was actually" "Looking forward to this." "What, burning to a cinder?" "A concrete objective, like the old days." "Shooting up bipedal lizards." "Rescuing exotic women," "Accepting their sighs as gratitude." "No riddles or paradine puzzles." "And look what we get- Trapped in a maze." "Well, the only thing we know" "Is that we're running out of time." "There's no hard time on seefra." "There is in here." "Maybe... for one of us." "Promise you'll remember what i said?" "I fail without you?" "Exactly." "Damn it!" "Trance!" "Dylan, i've been cut off from trance." "Understood." "Andromeda, run the methus-2 diagrams." "Cross-Reference it with all vedran ship designs" "From commonwealth years cy 4279" "To cy 9785." "Captain, what are we looking for?" "Initial operating systems." "And luck." "The festival of the darkening." "Dance, you fools, dance." "Trance!" "Dylan," "I'm going to need something to break through." "Damn it!" "That sounded promising." "A piece of the wall just broke and shattered." "It's a strange metal." "Yeah, it's, uh, it's not metal." "The core... this whole structure" "Is made from carbon." "Keep moving, rhade." "You're close." "The flash... you used the star's energy to appear." "But you're the only one i sense." "Where are the rest of us?" "Where we are, when we are... nothing but lies told by the senses." "I prefer the lies of living senses" "To your idea of the truth." "There is no room for dissension within the nebula." "All must be one." "That is not an arbitrary law," "Trance gemini." "It is the state of existence." "No bodies." "No borders." "Only eternal, undivided essence." "Don't you hear how foolish you sound?" "If all of us are one," "Yet i can reject the will of the nebula," "Then your belief is the lie." "For every choice, there is a consequence." "Yours is waiting." "The only path still open to you." "Then i'm already trapped." "Doyle, can you hear me?" "Doyle!" "Aw, crap." "Dylan?" "Dylan, come in." "Rhade?" "It breaks." "Okay, wait." "That'd be a very bad idea." "No sense incinerating myself before my time." "Dylan!" "I've found trance." "Rhade, say again." "Comm link is breaking." "Trance!" "She said to follow." "Andromeda,show the last locations of the crew." "Searching." "I have them, captain." "Time to go." "Beka, is that you making all that racket?" "Hell, yes!" "Are you hurt?" "No, but i have discovered" "I'm a girl who does not like to be trapped." "So you left me here, out of juice, defenseless." "Serves you right you got trapped." "Left you behind?" "I was chasing trance." "She abandoned us both." "Sure, the synthetic's not worth a believable lie." "I am not lying, damn it!" "How much time do we have?" "Not much." "Stand back." "Wow." "Thanks." "You're welcome." "This is carbon." "I know." "It's a gas can." "Let's go." "Rhade?" "Beka?" "If anyone can read me, i am on my way in." "The vedrans used an ancient technology" "Called hydride containment." "They made the walls with carbon nanofibers." "All the deuterium" "Is bound to the carbon atoms." "Highly stable," "And given the size of the core," "There's enough heavy hydrogen here" "To power a dozen methus-2s." "Well, what now?" "Contact the others." "Rhade?" "Where are you, beka?" "Inside a gas tank, and so are you." "And so am i." "I'm way ahead of you." "Get to themaru." "Use the engines to heat a section of the core" "And release the deuterium we need forandromeda." "But, dylan, we won't have time" "To search for the fusion chamber." "Look, i want you and doyle onboardandromeda" "And ready to bolt" "With 10 minutes left on the clock." "On our way." "Hey, rhade." "Dylan?" "How the hell'd you get here?" "Yeah." "I guessed that the defense mechanism" "In the maze" "Would employ the same pattern" "As other vedran operating systems." "You guessed?" "Didn't i tell you" "We were going to get lucky?" "You did." "The fusion chamber." "Here's the problem." "We're screwed." "Diagnstic says the lines running to and from the chamber" "Are clear." "There's no blockages to the fuel or heat transfer." "That can't be." "Adventures were much more fun" "When it was just bad guys lining up," "Letting us shoot them." "Yeah." "No glory in having to think for a living." "All right, let's figure this thing out." "Heat goes out to free deuterium." "Fuel flows back here" "To feed the fusion reaction." "Vedrans like to play "hide in plain sight."" "That fish tank is the furnace." "And it's in real bad need of a cleaning." "Once we're out," "Divert all fuel to the main engines." "Run them in the red." "There's a pop-Off vent in the core's surface 30 degrees from this portal." "Great." "Plot the location into the nav net." "How are we doing on time?" "You really want to know?" "What i really want is a nap." "You said "on the ship and ready to ride" "With 10 minutes to burn."" "14 minutes." "Window's closing." "Let's see what you and i can do in four minutes." "Sealed the cargo hold and purged the interior." "Storage available" "For 700 cubic liters of compressed deuterium." "Firing thrusters and counter-Thrusters." "Let's get hot." "That's right." "Drink it up." "We're already at 30% capacity." "This is great." "I spoke too soon, didn't i?" "Yeah." "The engines have locked up." "Can you unlock them?" "No, i don't think so," "But we can continue collecting the gas." "Comm's fried." "Don't worry." "Dylan will be here." "He said he would be." "No, this says the lines are clear." "So why would the heat source" "Run so far below ideal capacity?" "Radiant outflow must be blocked." "Then let's run a snake through the drains." "Hey, even pulsing at half capacity," "This boiler is pumping billions of lumens." "If it hasn't cleared the blockage," "What will?" "Maybe a burst at 10 times normal output will." "Have you ever heard of overkill?" "Ever hear of last resorts?" "Look, we survived one flare." "I'll take those odds." "Once you've primed the pump," "We'd better duck, tuck, and roll." "Get ready to duck, tuck, and roll." "Why do you worry?" "Not for myself." "Your friends will be saved." "Tarn vedra will remain outside of the cataclysm," "A paradise for the millions" "Fortunate enough to live in this system." "What about the trillions of lives" "That will end" "When the abyss dissolves the three galaxies?" "Why does the nebula turn its back on them?" "And why should i?" "There are no beings." "No such thing as lives for them to lead." "The only real thing is the energy that fuels them," "And energy can never die." "Then i will live to stop you." "Trance?" "Trance." "When the clock starts winding down," "It's going to get very hot in here... permanently." "Well, then, we'd better outrun our shadows." "Beka and doyle are stalled on the core's surface." "Open a channel." "Themaru's communications are down." "All right." "Let's go get them." "They're still gathering fuel." "Readings indicate" "That doyle and beka are still onboard." "Themaru'sengines must have seized." "T minus" "One minute 40 seconds to solar ignition." "My priority is the matriarch... but there's barely enough time" "To make the portal and save ourselves," "Let alone anyone else." "I'm not leaving anyone behind." "Now what?" "Well, we're going to give them a tow," "And we're going to make it quick." "But we don't have... time is relative." "Andromeda,bucky cables, now." "Cables." "Cables secure." "Bring 'em in." "Be gentle with us, guys." "Right now, we're a hydrogen hand grenade." "T minus 10 seconds" "To solar ignition." "All right." "Get us out of here." "Feel free to get a push from the solar wind" "If you have to." "Guys?" "Guys?" "Talk to me." "Let me know you're alive." "Insult me, for crying out loud." "You're short," "And you throw like a girl." "Yes!" "Thank you." "Methus-2 is at full capacity" "For the first time since we don't know when." "Tap a keg, mr." "Harper." "Make it a dozen, and invite some ladies." "The friendly kind." "The friendly kind?" "Rhade, i thought you only liked the kind with mustaches." "Throw like a girl... you saved million of lives today," "And you've given us a fighting chance" "To escape this system." "It feels like we're free already." "Trance, in matters of time and place," "And, of course, life and death," "I'll never doubt your intuition." "I already knew that." "I had a feeling it was obvious." "Welcome back, ladies." "It's good to be back." "Hey, thanks for the lift." "Dylan." "Beka." "Hey, thanks for getting that fuel." "Dylan, i think you should know" "About something that happened on methus-2," "Just after it flashed?" "I saw trance." "She spoke to me," "But she definitely wasn't herself." "I mean, doyle was damaged, i needed help," "And suddenly trance becomes this mysterious cloaked figure" "Who shuts up and walks away." "She was wearing a cloak?" "Yeah, and, dylan... i think she deliberately" "Lured me into a trap." "I mean, if doyle hadn't rebooted," "I'd be a cloud of gas right now." "Come on, beka." "We both know trance isn't capable of betrayal." "Really?" "Then who was with me inside the sun?"