"Talk to me." "Craft of unknown origin under heavy attack by three former Commonwealth fighters." "The enemy of my enemy is... not defending itself." "That is correct." "I detect no offensive weapons of any kind on board." "Either totally peaceful or totally crazy." "He evades just about everything they throw at him." "Superior skills." "It could be a woman, Rhade." "It probably is." "Let's see..." "advanced counter-measures..." "Rommie's right." "He... hasn't fired a shot." "Then it's up to us." "We are being targeted by the former Commonwealth ships." "Battle stations." "Correction." "We've been targeted." "They're firing." "And so are we." "Missile tubes one through twenty, fire." "Targets have been destroyed." "We are being hailed." "Show me." "On behalf of ambassador galdamez of Arkology, i thank you for your timely help." "Captain Dylan Hunt, always happy to lend a hand." "Nice flying, by the way." "Better than nice." "Absolutely outstanding." "I am telemachus Rhade, out of marjorum by Rhade." "Down, boy." "Louisa messereau, out of moira by jordan." "That's impossible." "That pride is extinct... 900 years, captain." "Reports of our extinction have been greatly exaggerated." "That much is evident." "On board, no injuries, i'm hoping?" "No, but captain, if i might, the attack damaged a gfg lens." "We should be able to help with that." "I look forward to running genealogy with you, louisa messereau." "Hunt out." "Been a long time, Rhade?" "Ambassador, this is a treacherous region to be traveling without weapons." "Rogue elements of the Commonwealth patrol this entire region." "I could outfit you with some nifty ap cannons, missiles, you name it." "Thank you, no, mr." "Harper." "I represent Arkology." "Our provenance is peace." "Arkology, huh?" "Never heard of it, and what the heck is peace in these whacked-out times?" "We find a loving approach to life brings the best results." "That's a noble idea, but unfortunately, peace needs defending." "At Arkology, we believe loving goodwill is the only appropriate response to the universe." "We have found the universe returns this in many ways." "Never heard of such a place, or how it continues to exist." "As Harper says, these are dangerous times." "Mr. Ambassador, your mission, may i ask what it was?" "Indeed, yes." "I'm returning from a successful negotiation with the magog on that great vehicle they call "worldship."" "A great vehicle they call the worldship?" "I think you'd better stop smoking your peace pipe." "We signed with various races there." "Uh... we have had experience with the magog." "I find it difficult to believe that you were able to talk to them, much less negotiate." "Still, captain, i have signed treaties." "They can write?" "Their leaders are quite civilized." "I do hope you're not judging them by their..." "less than beautiful looks." "We judge them by their actions." "They destroy entire cultures and populations." "They bring nothing but death and mayhem." "All right, listen close, ambassador, the magog are murderous, insatiable monsters." "They infest you with their eggs." "They're utterly disgusting... they are dark and evil beings." "As i said, we've had experience with the magog." "Captain... thank you for your views, but until they prove otherwise, i'll assume it is you who do not understand the magog." "Excuse me, i..." "Trance... somebody tell me that's not what i think it is." "Back, get back!" "Everybody back!" "He's dead." "This treaty is terminated." "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." "We can intercept the magog transmissions." "Got to have the right bridgework to speak this profanity." "Processing and displaying vector of the magog worldship." "Solid color is current position and speed, best estimate." "Rommie, please enlarge bravo-neg-seven-victor." "Enlarging." "Ganesha." "Arkology orbits this planet." "Bad luck." "I'm sorry." "It's not luck." "The magog had Arkology targeted all along." "A strategy... they infested the ambassador as a covert tactic." "If we hadn't been delayed... the ambassador would have infested Arkology with those magog babies." "They've never used tactics before." "Welcome to the new world." "Louisa, your craft didn't have any offensive weapons." "Is Arkology the same?" "We have no weapons, no." "Boss, we've got to warn them." "Beka, let's move them out of the way." "Engaging slipstream drive." "Planet ganesha." "And Arkology." "It is roughly 36 kilometers long, 8 wide, with a 500,000- kilometer orbit." "At the far end, there is an asteroid which provides raw materials." "Docking facilities are at this end." "It's impressive." "A self-sustaining ecology." "Yes, captain." "Extraordinary." "I've never seen anything like it." "Records show nothing like it." "Captain, will you speak with the council?" "The horrendous death of ambassador galdamez says it all." "I will only add that you're out of time." "Believe me, your council will take it from there." "Shall we?" "Louisa." "It is good to see you safe." "Welcome, friends." "Welcome to Arkology." "I'm marlowe." "Welcome home, Dylan." "Uh, uh... thank you." "I wish we came with better news." "You bring reality." "There can be no better news." "You're about to be attacked from the magog." "Ambassador galdamez and i, well, we had hoped... there is no hope with the magog." "Only death." "Excuse me, marlowe." "Louisa tells me that the Arkology is capable of slipstream?" "Well, at one time." "We haven't had reason to leave orbit for many, many generations now." "Well, things change." "You need to move to a safer place." "I don't know yet if we can do that." "And why is that?" "All residents contribute to leadership decisions, captain." "We have a democracy of dreams." "Three million children, women, and men living in peace." "Well, you must inform your people." "Put it to a vote right away." "We meet in council every night." "The entire population?" "Above a certain age, all are welcome in the dream-state." "There, we make our needs and desires known to the council, who represent us." "You do this through dreams?" "And you resolve your differences?" "We have no differences." "We live in harmony because we acknowledge each other." "Dylan, this is a significant place in the universe." "I can see that." "It's one of a kind." "If the magog destroy it, they destroy the very best that living beings can create." "Then let's save it." "Please remind your people that there's little time for debate." "Thank you, captain." "They will decide." "We live in peace." "We die in peace." "I admire you for that, but living in peace is a better option." "What is it about Arkology that just creeps me out?" "Need i remind you of your feelings in regards to the abyss?" "Ugly, but beautiful." "Arkology's just the opposite... beautiful, but something's not right." "Contradictions are an unavoidable part of all of our lives." "Goals help keep them in check." "You, i think, in particular, need to have a goal to fulfill, a mission to complete." "Like getting a fix on the worldship." "Copy that." "Let's find us some big hairy monsters." "Your piloting skills are excellent." "Thank you, Rhade." "I'm one of the few who leave Arkology, but there's no need to go anywhere." "Peaceful life has its appeal." "But?" "I don't understand how a nietzschean came to Arkology in the first place." "Well, there are several of us." "I trace my lineage in Arkology 187 generations." "Before that, i can't say." "Anapurna pride, you came here, yes, but why?" "To learn the true nietzschean way, the ultimate way of survival." "Truer than survival through competition?" "We came to learn respect for all creation." "Oh, wait, slow down." "Sharla... we're going fishing." "Well, keep an eye on amalia, then." "She's still learning to swim." "We will." "Bye, Rhade." "You have an admirer." "So it seems." "You have an admirer as well." "Do i?" "I am... louisa, i find you to be..." "I'm not usually... finish one sentence before you begin another." "You are intelligent, bold, compassionate, and beautiful." "I want to know you." "That was worth waiting for." "Marlowe doesn't understand the urgency of the magog." "We do understand." "May i invite you to dream-state?" "Would you share it with me?" "With us?" "I would be honored." "You'll understand why we value peace above all things." "I am a warrior... but i look forward to knowing peace through your eyes." "We're almost there." "Arming weapons systems." "Look at this." "We've got magog." "We came out into a swarm." "They're not supposed to be this close." "More than the usual number of surprises this time." "Magog's swarm ship's punching through the hull." "We're just looking for a worldship." "Oh, sh... i've got a fix." "It's all the news i need." "Preparing to repel attackers." "[?" "]" "Beautiful night." "Welcome." "Beautiful night." "Welcome." "[?" "]" "Captain Hunt." "You've come uninvited." "Oh, i'm sorry, i didn't realize." "Well, i... i'm going to need an explanation." "This is dream-state." "Still no help." "As our children reach maturity, we teach them to enter dream-state." "We call it "the invitation."" "No one taught me." "Exactly." "You've achieved dream-state spontaneously, uninvited." "Well, then, how am i here?" "You have always been here." "Come." "Let me show you." "This is the dream council." "Together, we reach all inhabitants." "Thank you for the information on the magog threat." "My pleasure." "So you'll decide to move the Arkology." "We will discuss it now and reach consensus." "That's an interesting constellation." "It is the gateway." "We use it to focus our thoughts, and so join with the rest." "We have reached consensus." "Good." "We have decided not to move Arkology." "We will meet the magog worldship with love and with compassion." "But... but you can't." "That is our way and our decision." "No, no, no, see, you don't understand." "It is the ultimate test of our loving peace." "We will meet it with dignity." "You cannot defeat evil only with love." "We believe you can." "There is no evil here." "Oh, yes, there is." "You just haven't seen it yet." "I do not understand the people on Arkology." "Peace is a way of life for them." "Peace is fine, but they should do it somewhere else." "To them, death is not the end." "It is not darkness." "But they do not believe they will die." "They think that peace and love will turn the magog away." "For all we know, the abyss is influencing all their decisions." "The route of ages has many universes." "It doesn't just lead to the abyss." "Then tell me why the magog are breathing down our necks." "I do see death." "I do see change, but, Dylan, there is something here vital for who you are." "For me?" "Well, i didn't come here for my own personal discovery." "You are the leader of the forces of light." "Well, i didn't ask for that job." "The Maru has exited slipstream directly into a magog swarm." "We're on our way." "They're coming in hot." "Hull's been breached, and more are trying to get through." "Clean them off." "Cleaning." "Guess who's coming to dinner?" "And you want to take Arkology to slipstream?" "Huh." "Never seen anything like this, boss." "It is an odd mix of sophisticated antiquity." "Yeah, like theAndromeda, but ugly... and useless, with steam engines run by quantum chips." "Can you get this thing to fly?" "Signs are hazy, boss." "Give us a little time." "Mr. Harper, that's all you've got." "'Cause then we're out of here." "Yes?" "Dylan... we don't move this barge, it becomes a death trap." "Right." "Look, if it makes you feel better, i realize it's a big universe out there, and we still have battles to fight." "Very convincing." "Work." "I want you to take it." "You know i can't." "Why?" "I have to key it to your dna." "Rhade, no." "I don't understand." "Why won't you defend yourself?" "Let me show you something." "This is Arkology." "Louisa... what you can't see is the spirit that animates us." "We are one with all creation." "The wayists had the same idea." "Not an idea." "It is fact." "Fact is worldship." "Fact is countless magog." "Fact is self-defense or death." "Is death a fact?" "I truly do not understand you." "Then understand this." "We live by what we know is true, or we are nothing." "Anapurna pride learned this by committing to Arkology." "I am committed... to something i do not understand... but you must help yourselves." "Then stay." "I follow my captain." "These terrible days, each must choose his own path." "Louisa, please." "Let's not talk anymore." "Share the sunset with me." "Now." "What is it?" "It's the route of ages." "It leads to different universes, one of which controls the worldship." "Surprises even for me... and you found it." "Mm-hmm." "Captain... have you heard of the paradine?" "The p... the paradine?" "Yes, the... the myth." "Older than the stars, older than the universe." "Never seen, always present, influencing the fate of the galaxies themselves." "Yes, but it's a myth." "We exist." "Come on, marlowe." "No one lives that long." "We are the paradine." "We are stationary." "All comes to us." "You're telling me that everyone here on Arkology is part of the paradine?" "No... just two of us." "Okay." "You're one, and the other one is... you, Dylan Hunt." "You are one of the paradine." "The paradine's journeys span all time." "Where and when our past began, even we cannot say." "Your past is of no consequence." "You think?" "Your future is at stake here." "You must convince your people to move the Arkology." "They're no longer my people, Dylan." "They now will turn to you." "We have seen this also happen." "I'm flattered, but i'm already captain of a starship." "Yes, in your past, but now you are one of the paradine." "Fine." "Then i'll convince them to move." "To stay means to die." "You resist where you cannot resist, but that is understandable." "Are you ready?" "Stay?" "Just a little bit longer, yes." "Here?" "Harper, repeating the information won't change what he said." "Dylan... remaining here once Harper and i have fixed Arkology's engines... if we fix Arkology's engine." "If Arkology is capable of slipstream, what purpose can it possibly serve to stay?" "It's suicide." "It is noble." "It's the right thing to do." "Right." "I'm out of here." "Beka... no." "I've gone four years through three galaxies risking everything, and that's fine, but i'm not going to die here defending some cockamamie notion of love and peace." "It is not an idea." "It is a fact." "First woman who comes along and wags her tail, and you go soft?" "So it's settled." "Some of us will stay, and some won't." "I will stay." "This is not the end." "Not yet." "I still may be able to get the slip drive going on that tin can." "Make it happen." "Rhade, work on the council members, see if you can change their minds." "Isn't it strange... how a new idea can change your world view and make everything different?" "If one accepts the idea." "Marlowe told me something." "It changes how i have to look at this." "There was something for you here." "He told me that i am one of the paradine." "The paradine... without a doubt, he is right." "Dylan, i always felt that your presence had this... timeless quality about it, that in some ways, you were much older than i." "Now you're just trying to make me feel bad." "The paradine witnessed the creation of this universe." "Perhaps they even had a hand in its creation." "Yeah, i think i would have remembered that." "I'm just a smalltown boy from tarn-vedra." "I'm having a little trouble wrapping my mind around all this." "Reality is wider than a single mind." "True... but i can't help these people if they let the magog make a meal of them." "No plan survives contact with life." "You taught me that." "This is death." "These loving people, Trance, to save them, i have to take their innocence." "I don't look forward to that." "Innocence at this point is a liability, not your responsibility, but whatever happens, Dylan, i feel it is the end of our adventures as we have known them." "We have come to a crossroads, dear friends." "Time is when i shall leave you." "No fear." "Here in dream-state, as in our lives, there is one who will take my place, one who will guide as you envision." "You all know Dylan Hunt... now on a journey he did not expect, but one he embraces." "Friends... i cannot be part of your willful self-destruction." "That is not your choice." "We have seen this also happen." "And now, dear friends... i must leave." "Not unless everyone on the Arkology goes with you." "Staying..." "leaving... going... it is all the same to the paradine, Dylan." "Well, then, don't go." "You are in the hands of the paradine." "Dylan will guide you." "Uh... you cannot stay here." "This is not the dream you think you're dreaming." "I'll prove it." "Look." "It's not what it seems." "Just watch it closely." "There, right there, a doorway to many universes... and an entrance for evil." "This is what you listen to." "You're being manipulated into passivity." "I cannot give you purity, friends." "I only bring reality." "The magog?" "You bring us despair." "The magog bring despair." "I bring hope." "With a little luck, this might work." "You're cutting corners." "It's not like we have a lot of time." "12 hours, 15 minutes, to be precise." "Exactly, and there's three weeks of work here, so don't complain." "Have you ever seen so many gfgs?" "Synchronizing them could prove to be an interesting challenge." "Interesting?" "More like a hopeless race against time." "SHunting antl-protons through that loop might cause a breach in the magnetic field." "Yeah, i know, so i bumped the power to the field from here." "Which could weaken the field here and here." "So i compensated from here and here." "Oh, that could work, or... or, boom, we all die." "I know." "That's going to happen anyway." "Do you mind?" "I'm sorry, Rommie." "I think i'm a little tense." "We all are." "What we saw in the dream, what Dylan showed us, is it real?" "Yes." "For the first time, i feel... different than before." "What do you feel?" "Fear." "That fear will keep you alive." "You're planning to destroy their innocence." "Destroy it to save it." "Yeah, i know, it sounds bad." "It sounds criminal." "Captain, i'm finding life without aggression satisfying." "Well, i've found life without aggression is unrealistic." "Not on Arkology." "Not yet, maybe." "Go ahead, Andromeda." "I'm detecting a slipstream event." "It's close." "A swarm of magog fighters." "One minute to impact." "It's time to choose, Rhade." "Die for peace... or fight for peace?" "Ship-wide alert." "Magog swarmships on rapid approach." "Andromeda." "Magog impact in 30 seconds." "Every missile tube, load and prep reload now." "Keep fighting, Beka." "We'll handle what comes our way down here." "If you won't fight, i will... if only to save you and your people." "I will follow you in this." "We'll take this step together." "Multiple ships are attaching to the far side out of direct visual." "They're using tactical maneuvers." "Every missile tube..." "unload now." "Aye." "Dylan, the outer skin has been perforated by foreign ships." "All right, listen up." "I need all of you to grab whatever you can to defend yourselves." "Prepare to fight!" "Now!" "Seven magog ships left." "Targeting and eliminating in two, one... targets eliminated." "Okay." "Taste of what's to come." "If anyone wants me, i'll be on theMaru, packing." "We need to teach these people how to survive." "She's a beast, boss." "I mean, fused valves with all the jumpers and cables... it's going to be delicate, fragile, you know, and that's even if i could get it up and running on time." "I agree, captain." "The worldship is scheduled to arrive long before we'll be ready for it." "I'm staying." "I'm going to try to protect these people as best i can." "You..." "Beka wants you back on theMaru." "You're staying?" "I guess i do owe you one, don't i?" "A couple." "I'll keep working on it..." "for now." "Thanks." "Rommie, don't let him out of your sight." "Great." "You've come to your senses." "Actually, we came to see you off." "I'm just here for an em exciter." "You know, you could change your mind, boss." "Nope." "Perhaps it's better this way." "Perhaps, Beka, you will be the herald, warning everyone of what's to come." "Thanks, Trance." "Nice way of saying i'm running." "Come on, don't be so hard on yourself." "We're in a tough spot here." "Do what you've got to do." "When the dust clears, we'll see each other again, right, Trance?" "Right, Trance?" "No." ""No" what?" "No, we will never be together like this again." "A-ha!" "You said "like this," so... that means we will be together again in some other way, like, like... like when we're dead." "This is just a possible future, Trance, right?" "I mean, it is possible something else could happen." "Is that right?" "Trance?" "I don't think so." "Well, that's the worst thing i've ever heard." "Beka, don't do this." "We're a team, and we stand a better chance of survival if you stay." "There's no way this is goodbye." "I don't believe you." "I'm sorry to intrude, but i have detected the magog worldship." "It will be within firing range in 10 minutes." "It's hours early." "Nonetheless, it's here." "Well..." "you know where i'll be." "Harper..." "Andromeda, visuals." "Enlarge." "Captain, the magog worldship has begun drawing enormous energy from its slave sun." "They're powering up a point-singularity weapon." "That takes a while." "Andromeda, battle stations." "It's showtime." "It's too late, Dylan." "I can feel it." "They're going to fire now." "Give me Rhade." "Rhade, the worldship has fired a psb at Arkology." "Run!" "I've got you." "Thanks." "Don't let go!" "This is it, Trance." "This is it."