"dead man walking." "dead man walking." "walking the mile, walking the mile." "for your consideration, boss, one corpse." "gaheris rhade." "aside from the hole in the chest and a little bit of freezer burn and the fact that he's kind of creepy, he's in pretty good shape, given that he's been stored down here for almost three years." "good." "the rhade family may want to view the body before they bury him." "i've got to hand it to you, boss." "you're quite a boy scout." "well, i don't know that i'd be handing over his cadaver so quick for a hero's burial." "i mean, this is the guy that tried to kill you, right?" "strange." "what, us standing here over a dead nietzschean on ice?" "yeah, it's strange, but it's also kind of nice, isn't it?" "no, no, it's the scar." "i don't remember it." "huh." "well, maybe you never noticed it before." "dylan, admiral telemachus rhade and the tarazed delegation are now in approach for landing." "acknowledged." "tell them that i will" "andromeda, i've found the tesseract machine." "i'm about to destroy it." "i wouldn't do that if i were you." "beka, who the hell is this?" "i'm trance, and i've come here to tell you that if you destroy this machine, your mission and all that you have done to further it will have been for nothing." "i think you should listen to her." "i've got a man about to die and a ship tearing itself apart because of this machine." "do better." "then remember." "remember why this happened, how you got here." "i'm detecting over 10,000 enemy vessels." "what?" "500 are already within combat radius." "all of them appear to be of nietzschean design." "10,000 ships?" "it must've taken years to gather a force this big." "sir, i recommend we deploy nova bombs." "this system is inhabited." "i will not use strategic weapons no matter how many ships we're up against." "as you wish." "given the circumstances, i should be confined to the brig along with other nietzscheans in the crew." "are you telling me i can't trust you?" "i'm saying you can't afford to take any chances." "rotate ship to-- commander?" "[ alarm sounding ]" "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." "what have you done?" "i tried to warn him." "so did i, but your sabotage proved quite effective." "unfortunately for you, it had another effect." "[ alarm sounding ] the black hole." "approaching the event horizon in three, two, one... andromeda, report." "you may not like what i've done-- what you've done is betray your oath and murder your captain." "i am the senior officer aboard and you're my ai." "you've seized this ship without authorization." "i refuse to acknowledge your commands." "report or be erased." "i'm in command." "fine, commander." "we're on an escape trajectory from the black hole's gravity well, but there's no sign of the nietzschean fleet or our escape pods, and we've experienced more severe time dilations from the black hole than anticipated." "how severe?" "we were trapped for over 300 years... and by the way, we're being boarded." "it looks like some sort of rag-tag team under the command of that nightsider." "four of them are not a threat." "not even the magog?" "he looks like a monk." "he and his friends we'll interrogate later." "the rest we eliminate." "what about the nietzschean?" "i'll deal with him." "you've certainly got your hands full." "look, i'll make you a deal." "if our boarders are from the commonwealth, i'll surrender." "and if the nietzscheans won the war?" "then i'll give you a choice." "then you know what my answer will be." "all right." "wandering all alone on a high guard starship." "you're a brave little man." "we saw her first." "open salvage." "finders keepers." "salvage." "the commonwealth sent you?" "commonwealth?" "wait a minute." "you're with the original crew, right?" "you got stuck in time, didn't you?" "oh, man, i've got news for you, pal." "there is no commonwealth." "there hasn't been a commonwealth for over 300 years." "then this is a nietzschean empire." "nietzschean empire?" "please, stop." "you're killing me." "stop it!" "you're killing me." "brexos, link up with varastaya on deck four and fall back to cargo bay three." "we'll regroup and... [ static crackling ] brexos?" "brexos!" "your friends won't answer you." "they're dead, the nightsider, too." "friends?" "what would make you think they were my friends?" "well done." "maybe not everyone here is inferior after all." "if you were going to kill me, you'd have done so already." "let's have a look at you." "i kept you alive because you'll help me save the universe." "[ rhade ]:mission log, day 62." "while the crew of theeureka maru lack military discipline, recruiting them has worked out better than i expected." "okay, so after a mountain of work, a few trips into the vr matrix, and countless mind-numbing detours into the ins and outs of game theory, finally, i just threw the book out and downloaded the whole damn thing." "add a little artificial intelligence, and i've finally cooked up that go partner for you, chief." "show me." "okay." "hey, gaheris." "up for a game today?" "huh?" "you give me a corpse from down in deep freeze and i give you a worthy go partner with all the knowledge and memories i could dig up or extrapolate." "you're kind of creepy, you know that?" "if you ask me, which you didn't, so here you go." "for a man who killed his captain and best friend without saying a word, you certainly seem reluctant to let him go." "i did what i had to do." "for what?" "for the commonwealth?" "the glory of the nietzschean people?" "look around you, commander." "you killed him for nothing." "prepare to enter slipstream." "look out!" "what the hell have you people done to my ship?" "we're in the witchhead nebula." "according to themaru's historical records, it's the site of the last major battle between the high guard and the nietzschean alliance." "both sides battled it out to mutual annihilation, leaving a power vacuum that paved the way for three centuries of chaos." "interesting, but irrelevant." "have beka head to the nearest slippoint." "we'll leave as soon as repairs are complete." "i'm detecting another ship in the nebula." "it's one of ours, therenewed valor." "yezgar's ship... in our time frame." "that's impossible." "impossible though it may be, she's hailing us." "maintain radio silence." "you may wish to reconsider when you see the message she's transmitting." "admiral stark has ordered every remaining high guard ship to assemble here." "in two days, we're heading straight for fountainhead... to take out the nietzschean homeworld." "they're not in our time frame, we're in theirs." "somehow, we've gone back in time." "to less than 48 hours before the battle of witchhead, and we're stuck right in the middle of it." "our course of action is obvious-- help the nietzscheans, restore the universe to order." "so everyone can live under nietzschean jackboots for the next 300 years?" "no offense, captain." "what you're both forgetting is that it may not matter what we do." "some theories of time travel assert that there is one fixed timeline, which once fixed can never be changed." "a man makes his own fate." "well, even if history is endlessly mutable, there's no guarantee that our actions, whatever they may be, won't make matters worse." "speculating on physics is pointless." "our own actions are all we can control." "indeed, and our next action will be to leave witchhead and return to our own time... immediately." "all systems are back on-line even without harper's help." "beka and trance think they can retrace her route and return us to our point of origin." "we're ready to go." "finally." "prepare for slipstream, but first, send a message to therenewed valor." "tell her her orders have changed." "she is to follow us into slipstream to a new rally point." "are you asking me to lie to fellow high guard officers?" "i'm asking you to save their lives." "one more ship here won't make a difference, but in the future... dylan and yezgar were close." "difficult questions will be asked." "is that what you want?" "what i want is to make sure no more of my friends die in vain." "therenewed valor is setting a new course." "congratulations, captain." "it looks like they bought it." "wait--a new slipstream event." "onscreen." "hundreds of nietzschean ships are targeting thevalor." "set a course to intercept." "another dead friend... there's more." "themaru's historical records indicate a fleet of 500 nietzschean ships fought at witchhead." "i'm detecting over 1,500 nietzschean ships in the nebula." "with a fleet this size-- the high guard doesn't stand a chance." "pondering your next move?" "ponder faster." "i'm getting bored." "i think harper built you too well." "you're agonizing over a moral choice which you know is obvious." "you know about the nietzschean fleet?" "you're a hell of a go player, gaheris, but you're not much of a strategist." "well, then, enlighten me." "you think saving the nietzscheans might mean less chaos and fewer deaths in the long run, but you're wrong." "the nietzscheans' problem was never the size of their fleets." "a bigger armada just means more blood, more death, and more destruction when they inevitably turn on one another." "you have the means to prevent that." "harper can build it for you." "you just have to decide to use it." "you're advising me to massacre my own people." "i'm not advising you to do anything." "i'm just playing a game." "it's your move." "look, an ap fusion catalyst isn't exactly a precise weapon, you know." "it's not going to work with the fleet scattered halfway across the nebula unless you can get them all to line up nicely to be incinerated." "i'll see what i can do." "what?" "you're serious?" "just get the catalyst working." "you do your job, i'll do mine." "the nietzschean fleet has moved within range." "arrest the attack." "catalyst on standby." "[ rev bem ]: nietzschean ships are in position." "[ beka ]: gaheris?" "captain?" "captain." "engage." "beka, best speed to the nearest slippoint." "get us out of here." "you wanted something?" "only to ask you how it must feel to go down in history as the greatest butcher of the nietzschean people that ever lived." "who could have ever guessed that the angel of death that struck down the nietzschean alliance was one of our own?" "it's funny how things work out." "you find betraying our people-- all our people-- funny?" "our people." "our people were meant to be living gods... warrior poets who roamed the stars bringing civilization, not cowards and bullies who prey on the weak and kill each other for sport." "i never imagined they'd prove themselves so...inferior." "i didn't betray our people." "they betrayed themselves." "you know this better than anyone." "mission log, day 401." "to date, my efforts to restore order to the known worlds have returned less-than-optimal results." "oh, less-than-optimal?" "you've always had a way with words, gaheris." "are you saying i talk too much?" "maybe so, but i still win." "at least you're honest with yourself." "of course i am." "the only way for a nietzschean to improve himself is to engage in continual self-assessment." "for example?" "the magog threat, for one." "they're worlds, 20 of them, joined into some kind of structure." "those worlds, they're hollow, and they're full of magog, trillions of them." "one would think that would be enough to convince the doubters that they need a strong organized central government with an adequate military." "i see." "it's all about politics." "everything's about politics." "everything?" "friends?" "family?" "everything." "besides, what's left of my family is hardly worth mentioning." "ah, your pride." "the entire nietzschean race." "you will need them, you know." "you can't expect to impose civilization on the known worlds without their support." "they've offered." "i said no." "of course you did." "it's because you don't trust them." "i trust them to be nietzscheans, and bolivar hasn't disappointed me." "he's blackmailing the leaders of potential member worlds, making them reluctant to sign on." "nietzscheans used to say we act out of enlightened self-interest." "the problem with bolivar and his ilk is that they've forgotten the most important word-- enlightened." "and yet you let tyr stay here where he can do you the most harm." "you know the old saying." ""keep your friends close." "keep your enemies under constant surveillance."" "how constant?" "tyr stole the bones of drago musevini from the drago-kazov." "yes, and stowed them in storage area 15." "the dragans are still trying to get them back." "he caught you with your pants down." "tyr is a nietzschean and a kodiak." "i find his actions utterly predictable." "well, if you keep the bones here, you might as well paint a target on this ship." "there is already a target on this ship, and tyr's holding the gun." "then you'll have to deal with him." "and i mean to." "you wanted to see me." "i think you know what this is about." "tyr." "i don't know, gaheris." "you think the timing is wrong?" "no." "this." "this is wrong." "this is not what i signed on for." "things are not what i thought they'd be, things i can't get out of my head, things i can't tell myself are okay." "like what?" "like acheron... when i took off after that stray cargo ship." "it's time." "i figured." "i've enjoyed talking to you, beka." "i won't insult you by asking for your surrender." "if you want, i can relay any last messages you have for your friends or family." "is there anything that you'd like to say to them?" "yes." "i'm sorry." "she was trying to kill you." "you didn't have a choice." "that's exactly the problem." "i guess what i'm trying to tell you is... i can't do this anymore." "you're leaving." "i need to go someplace i can clear my head... someplace that isn't here." "i understand." "do you?" "i learned the hard way." "you shouldn't cling to things you can't change." "see you around the universe." "come on." "don't think of it as losing a girlfriend." "think of it as opening up a spot on your dance-card flexi." "besides, you've always got me and trance." "you think beka and rev will be all right on their own?" "please." "no offense, mr. self-involved, but they were okay before we met you." "i think it's a pretty good bet they'll be okay now." "so what's your excuse?" "well, what, are you kidding?" "the only shot i've got at evicting my little tenants is right here." "besides, you're the only guy i know who hates nietzscheans more than i do." "captain, it's tyr." "he's making his move." "lights." "the gravity beneath your feet is strong enough to hold an umbrite." "you're going nowhere." "on that hand... you'll always have a scar." "i'm sorry." "you can't win every game." "maybe not." "that doesn't mean you simply admit defeat." "well, there's admitting defeat and then there's accepting the inevitable." "you've been losing a lot in the last month." "if i didn't know better-- nothing's changed." "things have changed-- tyr, beka, rev bem, and now you've started to lose worlds." "you can lead a nightsider to water, but you can't make him spawn, and i've got all the crew i need." "that may not be true for very long, captain." "harper's magog eggs are hatching." "he's calm right now, but he has one request." "he's convinced the perseids have something that can help him." "we're going to sinti." "so you want to remove the larvae by folding space?" "alice strings and tesseracts... astounding." "if we can work out the specifics of this technology, we should be able to literally mold space and time to our will." "yeah, that's the general idea." "frankly, though, i'll be happy if we can just extract my unwanted guests." "i came as soon as i heard." "harper's like your family, and if there's one thing a nietzschean understands, it's loyalty." "i miss you, beka." "gaheris... please don't think this means i plan to stay." "it doesn't matter if you stay." "you're here right now." "i think about you... a lot, but this thing between us... it can't work." "story of my life." "thompson!" "stam!" "thompson?" "stam?" "captain?" "what are you doing here?" "this isn't deck 10." "deck 19." "one minute you were on deck nine, the next, you were 200 meters away." "i saw our crew... our original crew... on the ship." "tell me you've got it all figured out." "not all, but we've made a good start." "observe." "you want to add a photonic resonator?" "we need it to maintain absolute control of the string rotations." "uh-huh, because otherwise, we'll end up playing alice string roulette in the key of f." "this may actually work." "i must say, two years ago, if you'd have told me that someday i'd develop a cutting-edge application of string theory with a human from earth, i'd think it as likely as a beryllium meteor shower." "all right, all right." "look, the two of you, at least pretend you're not having so much fun, okay?" "remember, my life is hanging by a thread here." "andromeda, harper, onscreen." "talk to me." "what is this?" "hey." "well, as far as the chinheads and i can figure, the present weirdness we're experiencing is a tiny little unintentional side effect of the tesseract machine." "fine. fix it." "i wish i could, captain, believe me, but i don't think we can." "see, the effects seem to sort of be coming from the future, because the machine isn't exactly finished yet and it's building itself." "then make it stop." "rhade out." "oh, dear." "this is all my fault." "i never imagined the tesseract machine's side effects" "i just wish i knew what we did wrong." "not did, will do." "these events are emanating from the future." "yeah-- oh, dear." "i wish you'd stop saying that." "let me guess, cut-and-paste ship." "try cut-and-paste universe." "time and space are coming apart at the seams, and the effects are not confined to this ship." "i'm getting reports of tesseract effects from sinti, and if we can't stop them, they'll tear the planet apart." "the perseids are the one ally you've been able to count on since day one." "you can't let that happen." "gaheris?" "i know i'm not your favorite person right now, but did you really have to sic the entire kalderan army on me?" "beka!" "what the hell?" "i've got to go." "they... what the... trance." "you'll never guess who i just met." "a scary futuristic version of yourself?" "she went that way." "behind you!" "trance?" "beka." "i forgot how beautiful you were." "uh, thanks." "you're me from the future." "more or less." "did everything turn out the way it was supposed to?" "no." "things are bad and they're getting worse." "i made a lot of mistakes." "so are we going to lose?" "at best, we are not going to win." "you know what we have to do." "is it the only way?" "there is one perfect possible future, but i have not seen it yet." "um, could someone provide me with a translation, please?" "beka, i have to go, but don't worry, i'm not really leaving, i'm just changing." "everything will be okay." "you'll see." "andromeda, i've found the tesseract machine." "i'm about to destroy it." "i wouldn't do that if i were you." "beka, who the hell is this?" "i'm trance, and i have come here to tell you that if you destroy that machine," "and everything you have done to further it, will have been for nothing." "your mission is failing, captain." "i've had some setbacks, it's true, but i don't believe in failure." "that is why we thought you were the one, the one to restore the commonwealth, forge civilization where anarchy once ruled, lead our armies into the battle to come." "but you don't believe that anymore." "no." "i have seen the future, captain." "i've lived it." "i know what happens." "your life can still mean something." "you still have contributions to make, but you are not the one." "then who is?" "i think you know who." "dylan?" "right here, right now, you have a very unique opportunity to reshape the entire universe according to your own will, and this opportunity is never going to come to you again." "you can't know that." "i can still do this." "i can still rebuild what i helped to destroy." "with no friends?" "no allies?" "even as we speak, harper and the perseids are on their way to the machine shop, and one of them is not going to make it." "hang on." "no, don't." "rhade will kill me." "come on. no, don't!" "andromeda, status of harper and the perseids." "in the slipstream core." "harper and rekeeb are safe, but chief technical director hohne has fallen to his death." "understood." "are you doing this?" "no." "it's just the universe." "it is what it is." "you are the only one who can change that." "no pressure." "captain, more reports from sinti." "the planet's crust is literally crumbling apart from the tesseract effects." "the perseids have begun a massive evacuation, but i doubt they can finish it in time." "trust me, captain, please." "let me help you create the future that you wished for when you killed your best friend." "let me help you save him." "i don't suppose you have any witty, but only marginally helpful, bon motsto offer." "no." "i wish i did." "me too." "but gaheris, i have to tell you... it's too weird not to be true, and the situation is too desperate for you not to try." "you said you wanted to fix what you helped destroy." "i guess what you have to ask yourself is how badly do you want that." "badly enough to kill for?" "badly enough?" "badly enough." "history will judge me a traitor for what i'm about to do, but if he fails... if dylan fails... imagine how they'll judge him." "with silence." "see you around the universe." "are we... yes." "hephaistos, on a parabolic mission towards the black hole." "it's the eve of the nietzschean uprising." "i remember... but so much has happened." "there's so much for him to understand... so much for him to know." "make sure that he does." "it's up to you now." "commander!" "rotate ship to-- commander?" "rhade!" "i tried to warn you." "what are you doing?" "ensuring the survival of my people." "the commonwealth is weak." "it bargains with its enemies." "it compromises." "my people are engineered to be perfect, and the commonwealth is no place for the strong." "you have sown the wind." "you shall reap the whirlwind." "you know what your problem is, rhade?" "you talk too much." "give up." "you can't win." "i told you before... pessimism is not a survival trait." "time dilation is increasing." "gaheris, what have you done?" "i'm proud of you." "you should be." "in the hanger deck." "weird." "i almost feel like i know the guy." "must be the cryofumes getting in my head, huh?" "maybe." "i tell you what, though." "it's a good thing for him i didn't know him." "anybody who'd try to kill his own best friend, good riddance!" "it's not that simple." "it was never about me." "the truth is i'll never know why gaheris did what he did, but i'd like to think that he had the best intentions." "yeah?" "well, good intentions, hell, you draw the map." "he got what he deserved." "that's not for you or me to judge." "all i know is every man is the hero of his own story... even gaheris rhade."