"Previously on Killjoys..." "Jacobis is part of a military experiment." "Seems they took liberties we were not aware of." "Dutch, it's happening again." "Maybe Khlyen's using the plasma to connect two minds, like he did to me" " with the neurolink." " Oh, great." "That's super comforting." "A less discrete person might ask why a lowborn Killjoy possesses an instrument reserved for female royalty." "Came with the ship." "But maybe you can do me a favor next time" " you're through the wall." " What do you need?" "Peaches." "Who's that new bartender again?" "Sassy?" "Sandwich?" " Sabine." " How's Old Town?" "Still behind a big-ass wall." "I'm gonna have to go up against a lot of people" " to bring it down." " Well like I said," "I am an excellent wingman." "Spare some joy, there, sir?" "Thank you very much." "I hear you sell Hokk 9." "Huh?" "You heard wrong, handsome." "Huh." "Hokk 9's illegal on this moon." "Why do you care?" "Westhole's a pile of bricks." "Okay." "I can set you up." "First one's free." "You gave me acid?" "That's just rude." "Screw you, Killjoy." "Hey, dumbass, you didn't read the whole warrant did you?" "Of course I did." "Sir, you are just embarrassing yourself." "Stop or I'll fire on your vehicle." "D'av, D'av, D'av, D'av." "He's bootlegging liquid explosives." "You hit that tank, you vaporize Old Town." " Fine, you run after him." " Don't need to." "I tranq'd him." "I always have a plan." "I estimate he's gonna pass out right about..." "Now." "Oh, good plan, dumbass." " Watch it!" " Everybody clear out!" "Runaway explosives!" "Everything okay?" "Ah, he didn't read the whole warrant." "You're welcome." "WESTERLEY" "I've been thinking about Pawter." " Really?" " Well, her mother, actually." "The way she infected herself to give Pawter information about that pathogen." "Oh, yeah." "It was horrible." "Well, I think we need to do the same thing with this green plasma shit." "Infect ourselves?" "They tried doing that to me on Arkyn." "Didn't take." "I'm not saying we're gonna shoot up, but Khlyen said the plasma is key." "We need to find out what it does to people, what it is." "Any idea where to find some?" "Well there is one possibility, but Johnny's not gonna like it." "Easy, big fella." "You said so yourself, he's full of plasma." "No, I said it was like the plasma that Khlyen had." "He doesn't mind." "He likes me." "Don't you, you ugly little shit?" "He's a man-eating centipede." "Just because you make him dance with your woo-woo powers, doesn't mean that Mossy likes you." "You named him?" "Dad never let me have a dog." "Oh, you need a hug?" "Let's just do this." "And D'av, if you end up in another mind-link with Khlyen..." "I know." "Improvise." "Bowl me, bitches." "Show Dutch what we've been working on with Mossy." "Freaky, huh?" "He can attract it now, too." " How?" " Sort of like if I want it, it comes and if I don't..." "That's how I make Mossy dance." "Let's see what else we can learn." "Not exactly sure what I'm supposed to..." "What is it?" "What's happening?" "I don't know." "Holy shit, I think he mind-linked with Mossy." " Well do something!" " You do something." "Throw some bloody Hokk on it." "I told you this was the wrong stuff." "I was inside of that thing's head." "Shit, that was..." "Teeth." "I had teeth in my stomach." "I'm gonna throw up with all of my mouth." "No, you're all right." "You're all right." "Just... happy thoughts, big breaths." "I'm never gonna step on a bug again." "I think I'm done being a lab rat." "Why did I mind-jack with Mossy?" "I think that's how the plasma works." "It adapts to whatever organism it encounters." "It bonds into something new." "That's what they were trying to do to me on Arkyn?" "Get it to bond?" "Yeah, and when it bonds it changes." "So Mossy goo is only ever gonna connect to Mossy." "So we need pure plasma." " Original recipe." " How?" "Unless there's a black market for ridiculously impossible items." "Well..." "I sense a reluctance, and yet a desire to be center of attention." "Okay, first of all." "Do you know you're hurting people?" "Second of all, I might be able to tap into some contacts from the old days." "Oh, the warlord days." "I preferred stylish dictator." "Why don't we go outside?" "Can I get anyone a round?" "If you think you can have one without passing out." "That was low blood sugar." " See you on Lucy." " So, last call." "People can literally crawl through holes in the wall." "How can there even be a last call anymore?" "Because I'm a sucker for tradition." "Last call, shoes at the door, men making the first move." "Hey, Killjoy." "You finally figured out how to use my holophone." "I'm slow, but I'm pretty." " Getting ready for Council?" " Six hours of ritual, twenty minutes of backstabbing." "I'm livin' the dream." "I found something in the Council archives about the wall program." "It's mostly redacted." "I sent it to your PDD." "There is a term I don't recognize" "Does that mean anything to you?" ""Afferent teleplasticity."" "Never heard of it, but I can check it out." " So everything's good, then?" " Never better." "Why?" "Because you're lying to D'av and Dutch, and going rogue against the company." "Oh, that." "That." "Once we bring the wall down, they'll understand." "It'll all be worth it." "I love you." "For what you're doing." "Helping people." "You're very helpful, too." "I gotta go." "My robe slipped." "Lucy, erase all record of that conversation." "Archiving is a standard protocol." "I said erase it." "Erasing." "Thanks, Mrgly." "May you cut off Death's balls." "Oh, sugar, I got you a lead." "Name's San Romwell." "He's a collector of rare items from around the galaxy." "We did some business together." " He has plasma." " Oh, my contact says" "San showed him something called "green magic"" "when they were trading." "San claimed it could control people." "Mrgly thought it was a drug," " but I wonder." " How did he find Romwell?" "If I give you his tracking code, will you promise not to arrest him?" "No." "It's okay to dwant him." "It's when you don't want someone, but you don't want anyone else to have them." "Figured we need a word for that." "All I "dwant" right now is the plasma." "Yeah, kind of the opposite of what that means." "Romwell's passing through our system now." "If you hurry, you can catch him." "But he only trades, so you better take him something interesting." "Hot damn, I love me an asteroid field." "Fine, I admit it." "You do have a feel for asteroid." "You find a warrant for Romwell?" "No, none in the Quad, so I had Lucy check the J." "Found 337 outstanding warrants for stolen goods." "Where does he find the time?" " So we're going in blazing." " Negative." "If he's evaded that many warrants, who knows what he's got up his sleeve?" "Johnny!" "Don't worry, I got this." "I want to get Romwell onto Lucy so we know we're in control." "And then we'll make a deal." "Something wrong?" "I don't get it." "I'm following the tracking code." "We should be looking at Romwell's ship, but all I see is big rocks." "Some kind of transparency shield?" "Lucy, hail on all frequencies." "We are already being hailed." " Are you Dutch?" " If you've been expecting us," "Mr. Romwell, I assume you know what we've come for." "I do." "And I'm very excited to find out what you've brought me in exchange." "A world of wonders." "Well, the price of admission to my ship is a trade." "What ship?" " Are you game?" " I am." "Then come aboard." "Yes." "Asteroid." "Spaceship." "Lucy, take us in before Johnny wets his pants." "Honey, I'm home." "Well, this looks familiar." "Hexagonal basalt." "A volcanic planet blew it all over the J a billion years ago." "Built his ship inside of an asteroid" " full of photonic crystals." " Genius." "Gives him enough energy for a lifetime." "And then some." "Three Killjoys, and not one trying to arrest me." "That's new." " Hello." " Hello." "We're looking for a special green plasma." "Yes, I think I have what you're looking for." "I'm so glad you've come." "I'd almost given up on finding an interesting trade in the Quad." "Such a sweaty, little armpit of a place." "No offense." "Welcome to my collection." " You collect keys?" " Here it is." "I couldn't fit everything into one small asteroid, so..." "A molecular printer?" "Amazing, right?" "That trade cost me." "But now I scan whatever I acquire into the system, and everything's available at the turn of a key." "Here we go." "This is awesome." "Beautiful." "Just looking." "Now you see it." "Now you don't." "Your turn, I believe." "Lucy, prepare for company." ""Captain Apex."" "But the Velubian princess storyline is so derivative." "And this isn't ' even a first edition." " A Rossi Naz." " She's the premium" " knife maker in the J." " But I have 50 just like it." "22 inscribed to me personally." "What about over here?" "I have 50 of these." "2 million of those." "And that issue of "Captain Apex"?" "Totally a collector's item." "Yeah, and what is up with his assistants?" "John, I'm sensing an internal scan." "Are they trying to hack our system?" "They seem to be cataloging all personal effects." "Well not like under the mattress personal, right?" "Nothing for me here." "Let's see what else you have." "I haven't seen one of these in a really long time." "You've seen a mossipede?" "Mossipede, right." "They..." "camouflage themselves." "The indigenous people of N'gwella use them as guard animals." "They're very bitey, if I remember correctly." " Yeah, you got that right." " Done." "I'll trade." "No, no, no." "Not done." " Johnny." " Of course, I'll need to hear the real story of where you got it." "It's the story behind the object I'm after." "Obviously, it means a lot to you." "Yes." "It's a scientific specimen" " critical to my research." " Your pet is also selfhealing." "Cut it in half." "Keep one, trade one." "You didn't have to tell him that." "Hi." "Look, a deal's a deal." "Let's get what we came for and go." "What are you doing?" "Oh, you can't be serious." "Plasma." "Trade complete." "Oh, that is so clever." "But you can't trade me what I already had." "Actually, you traded for half of what you already had." "So this half is mine." "We were trading for the plasma in the vial." "Should have been more specific." "You could just wrap up my box for me." "How about we wrap up your box?" " Enough bullshit, Romwell." " What?" "There are over 300 warrants out for you." "But I won't invoke them if you give us the plasma in your collection." "We get what we want, and you get to leave my ship." "I was really hoping you'd be interesting." "But I guess you're just another sore loser who doesn't know how to play the game." "What, the asshole game?" "Fine, we won't do this the easy way." " Androids?" " Technically gynoids." "But nobody says that." "These aren't even legal." "Actually, everything is legal somewhere." "Which turns out to be extremely convenient for me." "Off the ship, please." "Now." "This isn't exactly good for repeat business." "You're the one who raised the stakes." "And now you'll have to trade for your freedom." "With this." "Bring." "My sitara." "We're not trading anything, especially that." "Sorry, I wasn't clear." "The instrument is only for your freedom." "I'll be adding your friends to my collection." "Permanently." "I've always wanted a pair of brothers." "Ah, damn." "Those are some abs." "Let him go or else I'll punch your testicles into your eyeholes." "I'll bet you could." "But... the ladies default to kill mode when I'm attacked, so..." "Do you care to test the system?" "All right, I'll trade." "You can have the instrument and its story." "For all of us." "After you." "You must come from a wealthy family to possess such a rare sitara." "My own living quarters are somewhat more humble." "Looks like an antique store got drunk and threw up in an asteroid." "So how does this trade work?" "You wanna hear my story?" "Actually, I want to see it with you." "This is one of my recent trades." "You're going to love it." "It creates a temporary link between your visual cortex and mine." "I'll be able to experience the story you tell." "Like a shared hypnosis." "You feel that?" "Trippy, isn't it?" "Now, tell me about that instrument." "Hey, are these Leithian Vale peaches?" "You must be naked for sterilization." "I took a shower this morning." "Okay, slow down." "Stop talking Be naked." "Hey, cut it out." "You got a plan, right?" "Yeah." "It involves you getting the shit kicked out of you." "Again?" "My story starts before I was born." "You're right." "My family was wealthy." "They owned an entire moon at the edge of the J." "But we lost everything." "As a girl, I was chosen to join a harem on the planet we orbited." "I missed my home, my brothers and sisters." "I was completely alone." "There was talk of a way out." "That one day we'd compete to marry a handsome prince." "This will change your life forever." "I thought I had no chance, but my father, he sent me a tutor." "My tutor got me this instrument." "He told me he'd teach me how to charm the Prince with music so that he'd choose me when I came of age." "I envy him." "So did you marry the Prince?" "That's another story." "So trade me one of your own." "Fair is fair." "Do you have a story in mind?" "Tell me where you got the plasma." "Got it on a distant planet." "My home planet." "From some visitors who arrived when I was a young man." "Their ship was unlike anything I'd ever seen before." "Organic." "Almost like they'd grown it instead of built it." "I had just started to collect, and they truly had a world of wonders." "The most wondrous was the liquid that ran their ships." " The plasma." " I traded for it, and I left my planet." "I've never been back." "There's more to that story." "And more is yours." "Finish it." " Prepare the scanner." " That's a scanner?" "Seriously, you're gonna make copies of us?" "You will be reduced to your constituent elements, and and added to the collection as a molecular blueprint." "You will no longer exist in your current form." "Yeah, sorry, I got plans later that involve not being dead." "Go!" "My baby makers!" "How's the plan going?" "I'm working on it." "Worst hand job ever." "Yeah, but she dips like a son of a bitch." "Took you long enough." "You try hacking tech that doesn't even exist in the Quad." "You're lucky I can mod that interface." "So I guess I should thank you." "You're welcome." "I estimated six seconds till cerebral hemorrhage." " Is that Lucy?" " Oh, sort of a stripped-down version." "More like an app." "I don't have all my logic and database functions, but I seem to have opposable thumbs." "It is extremely weird hearing your voice come out of that bot." "Do you prefer this module?" "No!" "God, no." "Just be Lucy." "I blocked San Romwell's neural control of these mobile computing units." "I can hold them off for approximately 5.5 minutes." "Good." "Let's get Dutch and get off this rock." "You must play beautifully if you charmed a prince." "That's not how the story goes." "My tutor taught me a song for my wedding night." "I was supposed to sing it and the Prince was gonna play the music, but..." "I never got the chance." "Play for me." "Dutch, Romwell sicced his bots on us." "Buy us some time, we'll find a way out." "I'll sing it." "If you can keep up." "I mastered the sitara by the time I was 12." "Shut up and play." "¶ The story starts with a heart untamed ¶" "¶ Finding same, a promise winding ¶" "¶ Around our fingers ¶" "¶ Around our fingers ¶" "¶ Me and you ¶" "¶ The story flows in woes and joys in ¶" "¶ In girls and boys a fragile world ¶" "¶ That is held in our fingers ¶" "¶ Held in our fingers ¶" "¶ And if the gods allow ¶" "¶ We'll find a way somehow ¶" "¶ To make it to the end ¶" "¶ Me and you ¶" "¶ Me and you ¶" "I'd forgotten to even dream of it anymore." "To live and die with someone." "The way it's supposed to be." "Are you sure this is a short cut?" "The schematics of the asteroid are in a primitive format," " but it should..." " Unit one!" "Why have you gone offline?" "Dutch, I can't stop these bots." "Make Romwell call them off." "You've shown me something I can never have." "A normal life." "A happy ending." "We don't all get a happy ending." "What's happening?" "A paralytic agent on the strings." "I'm immune." "My tutor didn't just teach me that song." "He taught me to kill." "I killed for years." "He let me believe that my wedding would be the end of it." "That when I was married I'd be free." "That's what I was trading for." "Every time I poisoned someone, cut their throat..." "Freedom." "On the day of my wedding, he told me this was an instrument of murder." "With my husband his target, he stole back my freedom and no one will ever steal that from me again." "John, D'avin, you okay?" "Yeah, we're okay." "We're having an awkward moment with Romwell's bots, but whatever you did, it worked." "They powered down." "I detected an interruption in neural flow from the command source." "I killed Romwell." "I need to print that plasma." "He must've put the key back on the wall." "I'm going back to the room to try and find it." "Look, Dutch, there must be a thousand keys in there." "I think I saw where he took it from." "Go and open the doors to the landing bay so we can get out of here." " Meet me on Lucy." " On it." "Lucy!" "Stop!" " Is there a problem?" " Yeah." " We're not machines." " You have other good qualities." " How far is the control room?" " 13 meters." " Oh, thank the gods." " You can bore through this rock wall." "If you have a xenon laser with a 4-meter aperture." "Damn, I left my xenon laser in my other pants." "In that case, we'll have to follow the tunnels 1.8 kilometers." "This is hopeless." "Scan for DNA." "John Jaqobis." "Negative." "Negative." "Why are you stopping?" " Are you lost?" " The schematics..." "Are primitive... we know." "What's your best guess?" "I have no basis on which to calculate probabilities." "Welcome to being human." "Halt!" "You'll return Unit 1 and submit to sterilization." "How are they back online?" "Romwell's dead." "Lucy, time to go." "If you ever find it, you'll still have to trade for it." "Fair is fair." "And dead is dead!" "Of course you've got the plasma." "You're a Level VI!" "Those trouble-makers your RAC sends around the J?" "Please." "Call it what you want, but those "visitors"" "who came to your planet pumped you full of that green shit." "That's why you're still alive." "They did no such thing." "And while we're competing for who gets to be angrier, you certainly didn't know I was un-killable when you killed me." "The hypnosis triggered your old aggression, let it wear off." "Stop!" "I don't want to hurt you!" "If you're not a Level VI , why you still alive?" "The people who came to my planet came to conquer." "My father was a Lord." "So they took me and tortured me for information about my planet's defenses." "You told them." "I told them everything." "Like you, I traded other people's lives for my freedom." "Do you hate yourself for it?" "Like me?" "Every day." "Than tell me the truth." "I made it to an outlaw hospital ship." "They healed me with hackmod nanites, but the nanites worked a little too well." "They've been working for centuries." "How old are you?" "432." "I'm not interested in revenge." "That lost its luster a long time ago." "So you didn't come here to kill me?" "I want to show you something." "People come to trade with me... every now and again I convince someone to stay, but the years pass..." "And so do they." "This hairpin is the first thing I ever traded for." "And still the best bargain." "Take it... as a gift." "What do you want?" "To make amends." "By holding me hostage inside your asteroid?" "I think I'm being very pleasant to somebody who murdered me." "You started it." "Dutch, we have a situation." "What's going on?" "Romwell's bots are back online." "We're holed up in the scanning room, but Lucy's out of ammo and all we've got to fight with is... fruit and a Druellian hookah." "So this was all bullshit to distract me while your bots go after John and D'av?" "I told them to stand down when I woke up." "Wait, is that Romwell?" "Long story." "My link's broken." "They're not responding." " They're stuck in kill-mode?" " We should go." " Now." " We're coming for you." "I swear if this is a trick, I'll kill you again." "If I help save your friends, will you at least consider staying?" "Make me a better man." "Not my job." "No more trading." "Either you do this because it's right, or stay out of my way." "I'm not your manic, pixie assassin." "What?" "Johnny, we're coming." "This is gonna suck." "What?" "I've wondered for 3.6 years what that might feel like." "Will you kiss me, John?" "What?" "Why?" "If you die, this may be my only chance to gather that sensory input." "That's not a good reason." "This may be your only chance to kiss a robot." "Well..." "Oh, buddy, no." "Lucy, are you making sparks?" "Aren't I supposed to?" "No." "Okay." "Thank you for the data." "Lucy, don't!" "We've got nothing but fruit." "You've got me." "Run, John." "John, let's go." "Come on!" "Oh, shit, we didn't open the hanger?" " Lucy, blast the door." " I'm sorry, but I can't, John." "I'm being hacked by the bitches who shot me." " Wait, Lucy's alive?" " I told you." "It was an app." "Hold those things off," "I'll override and make us an exit." " How can we stop your bots?" " I tried resetting them." " They're not responding." " Yeah, our ship robot may have screwed around with your neural link a little bit." "Get on Lucy, I'll hold them off." "They'll rip the ramp off your ship to get at you." "And your pop-guns certainly won't stop them." "I think I know something that might." "Hang in there, Lucy." "I got your back." "Hurry, John, they're coming for you." " You have the plasma?" " Seriously?" " You found it." " It's what I came for." "Photonic crystals produce energy, right?" "If I can get enough speed going, thins thing would make one hell of a grenade." "You're using all of it?" "We've got one shot." "World of wonders." "I'm a wizard." "I'll take care of them." "Good plan, dumbass." "At that speed, the grenade is gonna nuke this asteroid." "Let's go." " My collection." " They're just things, San." "You nanites won't heal this." "Time to abandon ship." "Come on." " Lucy!" " Almost there, John." " Lucy, shoot us out." " With pleasure." "ETA half an hour." "I'm gonna go talk to Romwell." "Give him some time." "He just lost an asteroid ship, Dutch." "An asteroid ship." "Sorry about using up the plasma." "You saved our lives." "Sort of." "Those powers will come in handy next time you rearrange the furniture." "Hey, whatever Khlyen did to me it could be a game-changer." "I could fight Level vis, maybe kill 'em with that..." "Whatever that thing is." "It's the first time I've felt really good about myself... since all that shit went down in the Army." "Why don't you take all that self-esteem and give it to your friend in Old Town?" "Have some fun." "How are you feeling?" "Honestly?" "I..." "I feel free for the first time in a very long time." "I... forgot what it was like to be a part of a story." "Thank you for that." "I talked to my broker, Bellus." "She's given you a new identity and passage out of the Quad." "We'll drop you off on our way home." "I..." "Printed an extra... just in case." "I've heard rumors over the centuries that the invaders that came to my home world are making their way across the galaxy." " Toward the Quad?" " I wish I knew more." "But maybe this'll help you when they come." "You know, the curse of living a long life is that after a while, everyone and everything reminds you of something you've already done, someone you've already met." "You don't remind me of anyone." "Remember, not everyone has a happy ending, so be happy when you can." "Dutch is with Alvis so I had some time to check around and one of my contacts on Utopia said she'd heard of teleplasticity." " Just a rumor." " About what?" "Well, using EMR to disrupt thought patterns." "Theoretically." "Oh, I didn't realize I left that thing on." "Lucky me." "So what's disrupting thought patterns" " got to do with the wall?" " I don't know, but I found one of the engineers," "Artura Senbek... and word is she's in Old Town hiding out." "Company employees are still targets in Old Town." " Why is she there?" " I'll ask her." "I'm meeting her tonight." "Well, I hope you don't have to leave just yet." "Holy shit!" "You're here." " I hope you don't mind." " You're here." "I let the Doctor onboard to better fulfill your needs." "Holosex has its limits and I have a private ship." "Oh, rich girlfriends are the best girlfriends." "These com links turn off for privacy, right?" "Oh, yeah." "Thank you, Lucy." "Hey, Dutch, wake up." "Sorry for interrupting your prayers earlier." "There are a lot of different ways that a man can worship." " Does it hurt?" " It's supposed to." "Your pain, our redemption, right?" "I don't think it started out like that." "Look." "I've been going through the Old Word with Olan." "We found this story about the sap of life." "Is that the tree everybody's always thanking?" "Yeah, the sap is described as an elixir... a green elixir that confers eternal life." "You think the sap is the plasma?" "I thought this was just... religious metaphor, but what if it's true?" "What if we're all looking for the same thing, it's just hidden in code?" "I don't think the Scarbacks started cutting themselves as penance." "I think they were doing it to prove that they weren't infected with plasma." "To show that they can still bleed... and scar." "Is Old Town on fire again or did the sun come up?" "Yeah, about two bottles ago." "I got you something." "Oh, I don't believe it." "Vale peaches?" "They died out when I was a kid." "Let's just say I know a guy with a hell of a root cellar." " Make a wish." " I don't need to." "Are we really gonna do this?" "Name me a reason why not." "You won't respect me in the morning?" "It's already morning." "Hey." "What is it?" "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "I'm happy." "What's wrong?" "No!" "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" "No!" "No!" "Sabine!"