"Team five, I need you covering the north entrance, over." "Sniper three, top." "Advise, over." "Status, General?" "They're throwing everything they can think of at us, but we're holding our own." "What the hell is she doing here?" "I asked for her." "The least you could do is cut me loose, let a soldier fend for herself." "What would be the point of that, Lieutenant?" "I'd just as soon not end up in a pile of rubble with the rest of you." "Wouldn't be so sure that's going to happen, Lieutenant." "I've seen what the aliens can do, sir." "OP." "Charlie reporting inbound Beamers 30 clicks out." "But you haven't seen what we can do." "Are the Volm mobilized?" "Yes, sir." "They're ready." "Anthony, let's escort our guest topside." "What do you mean?" "You're about to witness a miracle, Lieutenant." "Let's see." "Oh, my God." "What the hell are you doing?" "Watch!" "I..." "I don't understand that." "How..." "The how, I'm afraid, does not yield a simple answer... even for me." "Dude, they are totally freaked." "You see them?" "They ran like little girls." "My dad says that without the Mechs," "Skitters are nothing but just slimy cowards." " Yep." " Yeah." "You know, it would be awesome to have six legs." "Ew!" "You are beyond weird, Markley." "I'm just saying, it would be awesome to climb up walls and jump over buildings and stuff." "Okay, just stop." "I owe you big time, bro." "If you hadn't have smoked that Mech," "I'd be lying right next to them poor dudes." "You know I got you." "It's true." "You saved his life." "And mine." "And a whole mess of others." "Hey, I'm just doing what either one of you guys would have done." "Well, listen to him, would you?" "It doesn't make any sense, really." "You know why can't win, why walk into a punch?" "We'll put a team together, have them walk the perimeter, make sure those bastards didn't slip any crawlies through the back door." "Or worse." "I hope not." "I'm still having nightmares about those damn things." "Hey, Dad." "You okay?" "Yeah, no, it's just a couple dings." "Um..." "Listen, I need to talk to you about something." "Okay." "We should probably wait till later." "Can you come by my office?" "I got a debriefing and family notifications." "Absolutely." "We'll drop by later tonight." "I'll have an aide come by your room?" "Hey, great job out there." "I'm proud of you." "Thanks." "Thanks, Dad." "What the hell are you doing?" "Stopping you from doing something stupid." "Maggie, I got to tell him." "Then we'll talk to him when he's alone in his office tonight." "If I'm meeting Karen," " if I'm the spy, if I'm the" " You're not." "All right?" "After seeing you in this firefight, it just doesn't add up." "Calm down, and we'll talk to your father tonight, all right?" "Hey." "I promise this is not going to hurt, baby girl." "I just need a little swab." "Hey." "You need help with anything?" "No, I'm good." "You're not low on formula or..." "Really, I'm fine." "Okay." " All right." " Mm." "What am I thinking?" "Oh." "I love you, Lexie." "I love you too, mommy." "Who are you?" "Oh, boy." "Whoa." "Cyrus Ruskin." "Oh." "Cyrus?" "Really?" "Afraid so." "He was with the Second Mass from the beginning." "Yeah." "I know it." "Tough fighter." "Hell of a loss." "He left two girls." "Lost their mother, Marjorie, in Fitchburg." "Cyrus took it hard." "To Cyrus." "To Cyrus." "Come in." "Sorry, Professor, but she was pitching a fit until I brought her to you." "What can I do for you, Lieutenant?" "It's been a long couple days." "Did you know, sir, that you killed 23 Skitters, eight Mechs, and who knows how many Beamers?" "Seventeen actually." "That's one of the advantages of having the Volm as an ally." "I owe you an apology, sir." "You owe a hell of a lot more than that, soldier." "Yes, I know, and I'm sorry." "But still, President Hathaway, he needs to know what you have here." "All right, let's suppose for a second that you're telling the truth and no one more than me hopes you are." "How do we do that?" "Do you have a shortwave radio?" "Nine-point-nine megahertz." " Whenever you're ready." " Thanks." "Keystone, Kingfish One." "Authentication follows:" "Juliet, Alpha, Golf, Foxtrot." "Request Big Dog, over." "Keystone, Kingfish One." "Authentication follows:" "Juliet, Alpha, Golf, Foxtrot." "Request Big Dog, over." "Kingfish One, Keystone." "Roger authenticate." "This is Big Dog." "Go ahead." "Hello, Mr. President." "It's good to hear your voice." "Mr. President, are you still there?" "Yes, Professor Mason." "A Skitter rebellion, alien allies, it's just a lot to take in." "I can imagine, sir." "Unfortunately, I see no way to provide verification other than a good, old-fashioned face-to-face." "ls there any way you could organize that ASAP?" "Oh, I think we could arrange that, sir." "Lieutenant Fisher." "Yes, sir." "We'll meet at Keystone." "Copy that." "Lieutenant Fisher will give you those coordinates at the proper time." "Big Dog out." "You're harnesses were removed externally, which left the internal nucleus intact." "Now, we think these stringy fibers here extending out to your spikes are constantly being regenerated by the nucleus, and the Volm de-harnessing machine allows us to extract the fibers, and uproot the nucleus without affecting the spinal cord or the nervous system." "It's like pulling a radish out of the ground." "Yeah, if you want to think of it like that." "So, um, I'll need my inhaler again?" "Yes." "Unfortunately, yeah." "I'll need my glasses?" "If you wore them before, yes." "Guys, I know this is scary, but you need to understand something." "Your spikes give you amazing strength and agility, but we don't know yet what the long-term implications are of living with them." "We know it puts stress on your skeletal muscles, and we suspect that it interrupts stem-cell production, which, if true, could shorten your life-span." "How significantly, we don't know." "Well, it's not like normal life-span's that long these days anyway." "If you're not ready for this..." "Come on, Ben." "It's going to be so much better." "Won't it?" "I..." "I think so." "Come on." "Yeah." "Yeah." "You know, I'm..." "I'm in." "Okay." "Let me get this straight." "The so-called government of Charleston, S.C., is commandeering my personal property for unknown reasons for an unknown length of time." "Is that it?" "Pretty much, yes." "Well, that has the sickening ring of tyranny, don't you think?" "A good citizen would have gladly told his government representatives that he had an aircraft, and then willingly made it available." "That airplane is my ticket out of here when everything goes to hell, as it most certainly will." "You don't even know how to fly the plane, Pope." " I'm reading a book." " I'm twin-engine rated, so I'll pilot your precious aircraft, and make sure nothing happens to it." "Your damn right because I'm going with." "The hell you are." "This is a classified mission." "And that is a vintage 1935 Beechcraft." "Finders keepers." "Listen, gentlemen, either I am on that plane, or there will be no plane." "You want to come along, Pope?" "Be my guest." "We leave in two hours." "Gentlemen." "Well, you and Marina have got the reins while I'm gone." "I'll call in as soon as I know everything's okay." "We'll have somebody on frequency full time." "And now I got to ask the hard question." "Are we sure that this is a good idea, you going there now?" "It's a personal request from the President of the United States." "It's kind of a hard thing to ignore." "That's just it." "We just got finished fighting off the Fishheads." "We're building the supposed Volm weapon." "I mean, how are you going to this summit meeting or whatever it is... how is it going to help us here now?" "Think about what it's going to mean to the people of Charleston to find out President Hathaway is still alive." "Yeah." "I get you." "Not sure I like the idea, but I get you." "Marina said she'll dribble out your paperwork over the next few days, make it seem like you're still here, throw the spy off the scent." "It looks like somebody already got the word." "This is supposed to be a secret mission." "You should know by now you can't keep secrets from me." "Seriously, are we okay?" "Seriously, yes." "We do need to talk when you get back." "Okay." "I'll come back soon." "W... what?" "Nothing." "Oh, here." "Lourdes packed you a med pack." "Just in case." "I love you." "No matter what, I love you." "I love you, too." "Kiss our baby girl for me, and keep an eye on the boys." "Always." "Whoa!" "No, no, no, no." "Nobody said anything about a bubblehead, and a damn murderer." "Must have slipped my mind." "Man, this deal's getting worse and worse." "Is everything all right, Cochise?" "I... it is simply..." "A... are you certain this aircraft is..." "Safe?" "I was going to say, "Capable of flight."" "I believe General Bressler wouldn't let us lake off if he wasn't confident in its airworthiness." "After you." "You take care, Tom." "I promise." "Good luck, then." " There are some things I'll miss." " Like?" "Uh..." "All the stuff I can do now that I couldn't do before." "Like?" "Being somebody my dad depends on." "Being better than my older brother." "Being needed." "I like that I can lift cars." "I'll miss that." "Yeah." "It's always a good party trick." "But it'll be nice being normal again, won't it?" "Yeah, it's..." "No more buzzing inside our heads." "No more staying up for days." "No more Skitter-vision." "No more translating for them at all." "No more connection." "We won't be freaks anymore." "No." "And we'll have none of the problems of being needed." "Oh." "Wait a minute." "Inversion." "If it's inverted." "Of course." "What was I thinking?" "Dr. Kadar?" "I'm sorry to disturb you." "I'm Dr. Anne Glass." "I run the infirmary here in Charleston, and I need your help." "There was a time... a glorious, halcyon time when no one bothered me down here." "Not a soul." "Now it's like Grand Central Station." "You may have heard the Volm built a device that allows us to remove the harnesses from the children who were enslaved by the Espheni?" "And it works?" "After you remove the harnesses, they're able to return to normalcy with no residual effects?" "Well, that's what we're trying to figure out." "We'd like to know if the harnesses cause any chromosomal mutations." "DNA tests should be able to give you an answer to that." "If we had the equipment to run one." "And you're here to see if I can devise such a test for you." "Could you?" "If you get me these supplies, and the tissue samples, I'll run the tests." "Well, uh, I'll leave you to your work." "Thank you, Dr. Kadar." "Anne Glass." " You're with Tom Mason." " Yeah, that's right." "You just had a child." "Alexis." "Alexis." "The eyes of a newborn baby are just..." "They're portals to wonder and truth, aren't they?" "Yeah, I suppose." "It's..." "it's...innocence." "It's..." "They're so innocent." "Hmm." "What you doing, suckerfish?" "Uh, nervous eating." ""Stressed" spelled backwards is "desserts."" "Scared about the de-spiking?" "Yeah." "Probably sounds crazy, but" "I've kind of gotten used to them." " I thought you hated them." " I do." "I..." "I do." "I just..." "As bad as they are, and as wrong as they are, they let me do good things, you know what I mean?" "So keep them." "Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." "What's that, Dr. Seuss?" "Bernard Baruch, one of F.D.R.'s advisers." "He was giving advice on seating arrangements at a dinner party." "Dad tell you that one?" "Only like 30 times." "You think that's how dad got girls in college?" "Instead of playing the guitar, he'd just tell weird, historical anecdotes?" "I think that's how dad didn't get girls in college." "Probably true." "Let's see hands!" "Weapons down!" "Secure his weapon!" "General Donovan." "Lieutenant Fisher." "Cole Bressler." "Am I correct?" "You are, sir." "Good to see you still commanding, General." "Such as it is, yes." "And you are Professor Mason?" "I'm Tom Mason, yes, sir." "Actually, sir, we have one more on board." "What the hell are you thinking, Lieutenant?" "!" "Yes, sir." "Bring an alien within 10 meters of the President?" "!" "Sir, this alien is actually an ally." "He's here to explain his mission to the President." "That's enough, Professor." "Secure this creature." "Hold on." "Hold on." "Just wait." "Wait one second." "Wait, wait." "Oh!" "These are allies." "They're here to help." "Stand down, General Donovan." " Mr. President, I really" " My apologies," "Professor Mason." "But times being what they are and all," "I hope you understand it." "You neglected to mention that you were going to be accompanied, Professor." "Yes, sir, for security purposes only, not knowing if our transmissions were being monitored." "Hello." "I am Chichauk ll'sichninch Cha'tichol of the Volm." " We call him Cochise" " President, we got one more." "Uh, sorry." "Sorry about that." "That's John Pope..." "our... mechanic." "Yeah, I got to... check our fuel line there." "So if it's just the same with you," "I'd like to stay with the plane." "I doubt I've got a whole hell of a lot to contribute to the conversation." "Assign a small detail to keep an eye on him." "Professor Mason, General Bressler, after you, please." "General Donovan, proceed." "Uh, Mr. President." "Do I really need to explain to you that taking any kind of chance with any type of alien being is just not prudent?" " I understand, Mr. Pre" " Now, please, let's go inside and talk." "I really don't think you understand, sir." "Professor." "I will be all right." "Talk with your President." "Go!" "Rubbing alcohol." "Dish detergent, salt..." "that's everything I need." "Here are the tissue samples from 12 kids who had their harnesses removed." "Okay." "How are they doing..." "the kids?" "Each one of them have varying degrees of post-traumatic stress, but most are adjusting." "We've placed them with families, they're going to school... resuming their lives as best they can." "It must be... rewarding working with children." "That's why I became a pediatrician." "Although, it wasn't till I had my first that I realized what it meant to be a parent." "You had a child before the invasion?" "A boy..." "Sammy." "Is he..." "A piece of shrapnel from a Mech missile went through his right temple." "He bled out in my arms." "There's nothing worse than the silence right af... after..." "It was a mistake." "I'm sorry." "I don't want to talk." "I'll have these results for you tonight." "Bye." "We've spent the last year trying to establish a communications network with as many of the surviving resistance groups as our scouting parties could find." "It's been our whole focus, and it hasn't been easy." "In fact, it's been damn near impossible." "Still, in all, a system has been put into place." "Information does travel." "It's not Federal Express." "It's... more like the pony express, but it's up and running, and I'm not willing to put that at risk." "My guess is that every resistance group you've contacted has said basically the same thing... that conventional engagement has proven ineffective, guerilla tactics slightly more successful, but at too great a cost." "You're absolutely right." "That's why I'm..." "a little more than interested in what your Volm ally has to offer." "And Lieutenant Fisher was certainly impressed with the way their weapons helped you crush that attack." " But you're not convinced?" " No, I'm not convinced." "Give me a reason to believe you, Professor?" "This isn't some academic exercise here." "The survival of the entire human race is at stake." "I'm well aware of that, sir." "And believe me, any vestiges of my former, academic naiveté have been wiped away by the last two years." "My reasons for trusting the Volm are simple but practical..." "we need them." "For the last seven months, we've fought side-by-side with Cochise and his soldiers, and we've expanded our perimeter." "We've defended it against repeated attacks." "But moreover, sir..." "We've caused real hurt" "These are real, tangible results." "I trust our ally because in my gut," "I believe that with their knowledge of the enemy and their weaponry, we can win this war." "Then what?" "What plans do the Volm have for us after the war?" "They have no plan for us." "And you expect us to take your word on that?" "No." "His." "That's why I brought him." "I'm sorry about all this." "It is to be expected." "Professor Mason has told me a... good deal about you... how the Volm have fought the Espheni... halfway across the universe liberating one planet after another." "And you have questions." "Just one actually." "What are you fighting them for?" "Resources, territory?" "A flower..." "the Catarius." "It blooms on my homeland when the weather begins to warm." "A flower that is..." "so valuable that it's caused an intergalactic war?" "The Catarius has no value to anyone except me." "Something you remember from your childhood?" "Actually, I have never seen it." "Just as I have never held the warm soil of my homeland in my hands." "Like the rest of my comrades, I was born on the ships that set out from our world hundreds of years ago." "All I know of the Catarius is an image in a data file, and through a poem my brother read to me when I was young." "You never told me that you had a brother." "He..." "He is deceased." "On a planet orbiting one of those spots of light up there... a most weary, un-bright cinder far from the home I have never known." "He was born to war, grew up in it, and it eventually claimed him." "He died for a world he never saw." "Be thankful that you fight on the soil of your homeland, gentlemen." "That is a gift." "I will never see my home." "But if we win this war, my children's children may one day... gaze upon a real Catarius." "That is what I am fighting for, Mr. President." "Congratulations, Professor." "I think you just made it to round two." "The thing is..." "with my spikes," "I can do things, you know, good things." "I look at... other kids in mess hall, in school or whatever, and..." "I can do stuff they can't, you know?" "We're..." "We're part of the solution to this whole mess because of our spikes." "And... yeah, maybe that means we're freaks, but it's worth something." "It's worth the sacrifice." "Isn't it?" "Even if it means you only live to be 20?" "You know..." "It's okay if you still want to do it." "I know." "I'll like you with glasses." "Liar." " Hi, Colonel." " Hal." "Hey, is it true my dad left Charleston?" "Where did he go?" "Can you at least tell me when he's coming back?" "A couple of days..." "probably." "Something wrong, Hal?" "Can I help?" "Ah, it's fine." "It's fine." "Um..." "I'm just going to wait till my dad gets back. it's all good." "Now, is that the best you got?" "Now, we both know why you didn't tell Weaver the truth, don't we?" "And why you let Maggie talk you out of spilling your guts to your father." "I'm going to tell my dad everything." "Mm, nope, I don't think so." "In fact, I'm willing to bet you never tell him." "This isn't real." "Karen put some sort of implant in me." "And this is a hallucination." "Oh, so, we're back to that excuse?" "It's the truth." "Then what about all the rendezvous with Karen?" "They're dreams." "Dreams?" "Oh." "Come on." "You know those weren't dreams." "So, you go to the woods to meet Karen..." "Because you love her." "Because you want her." "And you just can't stop thinking about her." "No." "And that's why you're going to go right on lying to Maggie, and your father and your brothers." "And it'll be easy." "They want to believe your lies." "They can't face the truth... any more than you can." "No!" "Oh, Hal." "You seem stressed." "I'll tell you what... how about I take over for a little while, give you a break?" "I don't like it, Tom." "I didn't think you would." "But this is the right thing to do." "The President needs me and Cochise to present the Volm's position to the people." "Whatever's going on," "I've learned the hard way that to argue with you after you've made up your mind is a waste of time." "That's true." "Listen, I'm not sure when I'm going to be back, so tell Anne and the boys that" "I love them and I'll see them as soon as I can." "You can tell her yourself." "She just came in." "You speak there." "Tom?" "Can you hear me, Tom?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I'm here." "So, you heard that?" "Yeah." "And you understand?" "No, not really, but I know you have to do what you believe is right." "I'll be back as soon as I can." "I know." "Kiss Alexis for me, and..." "Everything's going to be all right." "You got to believe that." "I do." "I love you." "I love you, too." "Tom, we'll be monitoring 24/7." "Keep us posted, okay?" "Of course." "Last lonely eagle out." "Well, what do you say we hit the nest?" "No argument here, brother." "Hey." "Hey." "Walk with me?" "Sure." "So, I thought about what you were saying." "I think you're right." "Those dreams, they're..." "They're dreams." "All right." "So, what do we tell your father?" "Urn..." "I don't know." "What if we just don't tell him anything?" " You sure?" " Yeah." "There's no point in making him worry about something else." " Especially if it's not real." " Yeah." "Thank you." "For what?" "Believing in me." "Putting up with all my insane, neurotic crap." "I told you I could take anything..." "As long as you're honest with me." "In 11 of these samples, there are no abnormalities." "All 100 percent human." "Ifs nothing short of miraculous." "I'd love the opportunity to examine that de-harnessing machine." "Of course." "Anytime." "Sample number five is an anomaly." "It's strands of something... alien DNA or who knows what... intertwined with the human DNA." "It's like a parasitic jungle vine wrapped around a tree, and slowly strangling it." "What can you tell me about this child?" "What's wrong?" "Oh, my God." "It's true." "This sample..." "Is from your daughter." "How is that possible?" "I don't know." "We have to tell Tom about the test results." "He's not here." "He's away on a mission." "Well, we have to tell someone." "Dr. Glass..." "You must know that what I'm saying is true." "After all that's happened, we can't take the chance that your daughter is..." "Not human." "You're right." "Absolutely." "Okay." "We'll just get the sample." "They'll have to see it for themselves." "Oh..." "God." "That was worth waiting for." "Mmm." " Maggie." " Yeah?" "I love you so much." "I love you, too." "Uh, where's Denny?" "Haven't seen her." "Hey, dork." "I thought you were in surgery." "No." "I changed my mind." "What are you doing here?" "I, um..." "I came to give you these, but..." "I guess you won't be needing them." "I guess not." "Oh, yeah." "Hey." "Hey." "Where have you been?" "Is it late?" "I had a couple house calls, and I went for a walk." "I must have lost track of time." "Yeah, no, I was just worried." "How was your day?" "Mm, it was tough." "I had several extractions of spiked kids today, and I'm still a little shaky on the Volm machine, so it took longer than it should." "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it." "Well, sure, just..." "well, maybe you could go over a few things with me, you know?" "Of course." "Anytime." "Hey, do you want to help me finish this off?" "I've had it for so long." "I'm afraid it's going to go bad." "Sure." "Yeah." "To... good friends." "Good friends." "I'm, uh..." "I'm sorry I've been such a handful these last couple of weeks." "It's just... everything with the baby has been really overwhelming." "Yeah, of course it's been." "I'm sorry." "It's, um..." "It's okay." "Oh, God." "We got to go, Lexie." "You see those three stars right there?" "That's called the summer triangle." "That's Vega, Deneb, and Altair." "See the kind of faded one in the center of the triangle?" "Wait a minute." "Oh." "There it is." "It's Albireo." "It's a binary star system." "You see how one of them's kind of orange and the other one's blue?" " The blue one's hotter." " Exactly." "I wonder which one they came from." "Well, it doesn't matter." "They're here now." "I'll get you home, Tom." "I don't know when, but I will get you home." "I understand the sacrifice I'm asking you to make." "To be honest, it's not one I'm even sure I could make myself." "We have a chance... now..." "to make the world work again, and we have to do it." "If we survive." "And I believe that the Volm are offering us our only viable option to retake the planet." "So, they have a strategy?" "They've got a working strategy, and they've got the weaponry to back it up." "Can you be more specific?" "I'd prefer that Cochise filled you in on the details." "But suffice to say, if we're successful, we could take down the entire Espheni war machine." "Sir." "Advance scouts just reported enemy aircraft inbound headed straight for us." "I don't understand." "How did they find us?" "An excellent question, sir, but we have to" " get you out of here now." " Whoa, whoa, whoa." "If not you, then who?" "!" "We don't have time for this now." "Come on." "Come, Professor." "Come." "Here are the coordinates, but follow in close formation just in case." "Roger that." "No, no, no!" "Cochise is coming with us!" "There's no time to argue this!" "Get in your plane now!" "We have to go now, Professor!" "No matter what, we have to go now!" "Come on!" " Aah!" " Hello Doctor Glass." "Hello, Alexis." "No." "No." "You can't have her." "No." "It's okay, Anne." "Everything's going to be fine." "General!" "Damn." "Hang on!" "No!" "We got to land!" "We got to make sure!" "Impossible, Professor." "We got a Beamer right on our tail!" "There's no way we're going to outrun that thing." "We got to get this plane down now!" "Strap yourself in, you damn fool!" "Professor!" "Fireball coming right toward us!" "Hang on!" "Looks like we're walking from here!"