"Mayday, Mayday, this is Hesper Two-Niner-Niner in distress." "Dad!" "Engines 1 and 2 are off-line!" "We're losing her!" "Go!" "Go!" "Dad!" "I've heard stories of Earth." "A paradise." "Until we destroyed it." "The founding of the United Ranger Corps 1000 years ago was a global military effort, an evacuation of Earth." "The Rangers would lead the settlement of mankind's new home." "Nova Prime." "But we were not alone." "The aliens released the Ursa." "Monsters bred to kill humans." "Technically blind, the Ursa sees humans based on pheromones we secrete when frightened." "They literally smell our fear." "Humankind was again in danger of extinction and again turned to the Rangers for the answer." "That answer came in the form of the prime commander, Cypher Raige, the original ghost." "He is believed to be so completely free of fear that to an Ursa, he is invisible." "This phenomena is known as "ghosting."" "This isn't a race, cadet!" "Raige." "Your test scores are very impressive." "In the classroom, you are an outstanding Ranger, but in the field, you collapse." "I'm not advancing you." "You may try again next year." "Sir, I am dedicated, have studied and display conduct becoming of a Ranger, sir." "I request that the commander reconsider his assessment, sir." "Cadet." "Sir, my father's returning home tonight." "I haven't seen him in..." "It's a very special day for our family." "And I have got to be able to tell him that I am a Ranger, sir." "You tell your father that I said, "Welcome home."" "Dismissed." "Faia." "Hi." "How were finals?" "How were finals?" "I wasn't advanced to Ranger." "Where do we look when we speak?" "I was not advanced to Ranger." "You were not advanced to Ranger..." "I was not advanced to Ranger, sir." "That's all right." "You're young." "I ran the canyons 11 seconds faster than you did." "You weren't ready." "Velan's a good man." "He knows his stuff." "If you were, he would have promoted you." "You weren't ready." "I'm not hungry." "I'm going to my room." "Are you asking me or telling me?" "May I go to my room?" "Denied!" "Sit down!" "I have a last visit to Iphitos." "I'm flying tomorrow, supervising training." "And after it's completed," "I'm announcing my retirement." "Retirement?" "Maybe I'll work with you in Turbine Division." "Together." "Please, no." "I want my family back." "I want you back." "That boy in there is trying to find you." "He's a feeling boy." "He's an intuitive boy." "He watched you read that book with Senshi his entire life." "He's reading that book now." "He's reaching for you." "Don't get me wrong." "I respect everything you've done." "But you have a son in the other room that you do not know." "He blames himself for what happened to Senshi." "He thinks it's his fault." "He's drowning." "And he does not need a commanding officer." "He needs a father." "Pack your bags." "You're coming with me to Iphitos." "This was a really good decision." "Now go make some good memories together." "You take it easy on your father." "He's a little rusty." "Okay." "General Raige." "I was on the plateau." "You saved me and four others." "I just came from seeing my baby girl's face for the first time." "Stand me up." "That won't be necessary, Ranger." "Stand me up." "Watch the left side!" "Pull!" "Perimeter's good." "I'm reading Moby Dick." "Your mother told me." "That's great." "Our military transport will arrive at training base on Iphitos in seven hours." "I'm going to grab some rack time." "I recommend you do the same." "Hey." "Can you read?" "I said, can you read?" "Yes, sir." "Well, there's a sign back there." ""Authorized personnel only."" "Why didn't you read that?" "What's in the cage?" "Might wanna go easy on him, sarge." "That's the prime commander's son right there." "You're Raige's kid?" "What's in there?" "You wanna see?" "Kit, we have to go right now." "Is that...?" "They surprised us." "Sent ships, dropped those things." "An Ursa?" "We're taking it to Iphitos for ghost training." "You want to see if you can ghost?" "Ghosting is when you don't have a trace of fear in you." "Most guys freeze." "That's your cerebral cortex looking for an answer it doesn't have." "See?" "Even your brain knows you're screwed." "Your blood is filling with adrenaline now, whether you know it or not." "Your heart's beating faster." "It's getting a little harder to breathe." "Your neurobiological system is telling you to run but your knees are too weak to move." "And it's too late anyway." "The pores on your skin have already opened up, secreting an imperceptible amount of pheromones into the air." "And all you can think about is when it's going to kill you." "Senshi!" "She sees you, kid." "Heh, heh." "Attention on deck." "Kitai." "Back to your seat, now." "Rangers, go Redcon-1." "Secure all cargo!" "Behind your seat, there's a life suit." "Put it on." "Strap in, full harness." "Yes, sir." "Good evening, general." "Captain." "What's the last known position of the closest asteroid storm?" "Category-four asteroid formation." "Two thousand kilometers to starboard at plus-four-five declination." "I detected graviton vibrations in the hull." "But you detected how?" "Graviton buildup could be a precursor to mass expansion." "That storm could be on us in minutes." "But, sir, mass expansion is one in a million." "If we try to navigate out, the pull of our own graviton weight could set the thing off." "Let's just hold course and hope I'm wrong." "Just out of interest, sir, how often are you wrong?" "My wife would give a very interesting answer to that question." "Graviton count's decreasing." "Eight hundred parts per million." "Six hundred and fifty." "Well, sir, there's a first time for everything." "Turn into it." "Match bearing." "Dad!" "She's a dead stick!" "Engines off-line!" "We're losing her!" "Can you travel us out of here?" "Where?" "The anchorage." "Lycia." "It's closest." "Negative, sir." "We cannot Wormhole travel in the middle of this." "Do it." "Coordinates for anchorage at Lycia locked in." "No confirmation signal." "Travel us now." "Without confirmation..." "That's an order." "Go!" "Go!" "Cabin pressure dropping." "Heavy damage to outer hull." "Breach possible in middle cabin." "Find me something I can land on." "Now." "I got something." "Bearing three-four-zero by nine-five, range 86,000." "Warning." "This planet has been declared unfit for human habitation, placed under class-one quarantine by the interplanetary Authority." "Under penalty of law, do not attempt to land." "Repeat, do not attempt to land." "It's not possible." "The computer might have defaulted back to a known demarcation point." "No, not here." "Travel us again." "Negative, sir." "This ship is going to tear apart at any moment." "Set her down." "Mayday, Mayday, this is Hesper Two-Niner-Niner in distress." "We took damage from an asteroid storm and are going down with bingo power." "Dad, Dad, Dad!" "Dad!" "You all right?" "You stay there." "Evaluate." "Good to go." "Confirm the Ursa is contained." "The back of the ship is gone." "Rangers, count off." "Rangers, count off!" "Kit." "The cockpit is directly above us." "Go." "Left rear, there's a utility compartment." "Inside there's an emergency beacon." "Silver." "Like a saucer." "Bring it to me." "Consolidate." "Inventory up." "General Cypher Raige." "We crash-landed." "Two confirmed survivors." "Kitai." "The emergency beacon you brought me will fire a distress signal deep into space." "But it is damaged." "There is another one in the tail section of our ship." "This is us here." "That is the tail, somewhere in this area." "It's approximately 100 kilometers from here." "We need that beacon." "Do you understand?" "Both my legs are broken, one very badly." "You are going to retrieve that beacon or we are going to die." "Do you understand?" "Repeat what I just said to you." "I have to go retrieve the beacon or we're going to die." "You have air filtration inhalers." "You need to take one now." "The fluid will coat your lungs, increasing oxygen extraction allowing you to breathe comfortably in the environment." "You have six vials." "At your weight, that should be 20 to 24 hours each." "That's more than enough." "Your life suit and backpack are equipped with digital and virtual imaging so I will be able to see everything that you see and what you do not see." "I will guide you." "It will be like I'm right there with you." "Take my cutlass." "It's the C-40." "The full 22 configurations." "Kitai, every single decision you make will be life or death." "This is a class-one quarantined planet." "Everything on this planet has evolved to kill humans." "Do you know where we are?" "No, sir." "This is Earth." "The Ursa?" "Three possibilities." "The first and most likely is that it died in the crash." "The second and less likely is that it is injured very badly and still contained." "The third and least likely is that it is out." "We will proceed, however, in anticipation of the worst-case scenario." "Every movement will be under protocol Escape and Evade." "If he's out there" "I will see him long before he gets anywhere near you." "Do you understand?" "Yes, sir." "Do exactly as I tell you and we will survive." "Kitai, calm down." "Take a knee." "Root yourself in this present moment now." "Sight, sound, smell." "What do you feel?" "My body feels heavier." "Very good." "Earth's gravitational pull is different than at home." "Very good." "Now let's go." "Whoa, whoa!" "What happened?" "You didn't see that?" "Kitai, what happened?" "I'm fine." "No change." "I just slipped." "There's condensation on the stones." "I'm good to go." "General Cypher Raige." "Initiating remote probe recon." "Primary target," "Ursa." "I want to reiterate that your naviband is our sole means of communication." "Roger." "The temperatures on this planet fluctuate dangerously, Kitai." "And most of the planet freezes over completely at night." "But there are hot spots, geothermal nodes between here and the tail that will keep you warm during the freeze-over." "You must reach one of these hot spots each evening before nightfall." "Is that understood?" "Copy." "Standard operating procedure until I give you further instructions." "Stand by." "Dad, are you there?" "Hey, Dad, are you there?" "Dad, you there?" "Hello?" "I'm here." "A boy I know had this." "Mm." "It's a real book." "From a museum." "It's Moby Dick." "Mm-hm." "He said I could even hold on to it." "Hold on to what?" "The book, Dad." "Heh." "Oh." "Hm." "Did they really kill these whales?" "We, Senshi, for their oil, and they almost disappeared." "Just before the age of carbon fuels." "Where's your brother?" "Kit." "Hey." "Dad, are you there?" "I'm here." "Where are you?" "My suit's turned black." "I like it, but I think it's something bad." "Your suit is made of smart fabric." "It has motion sensors." "I'm tracking a life form moving toward you from the west." "It's closing rapidly." "Fifty meters." "Forty." "Thirty." "Twenty." "Ten." "It is right there, Kitai." "Do not move." "Recognize your power." "This will be your creation." "Stand down, cadet." "Get out of here!" "Kitai!" "Control yourself, cadet!" "Kitai, stand down!" "Get away!" "Get away!" "Kitai!" "To your rear." "Out to your rear." "There's a river 250 meters straight ahead." "Go." "They are no longer in pursuit." "Cadet, you are not being followed." "I repeat, you are not being followed." "Kitai, you are running from nothing'!" "Kitai!" "Kitai." "Put my damn cutlass away." "You are not being followed." "Take a knee." "Take a knee, cadet!" "If you want to die today that is fine, but you are not going to kill me." "Kitai, I need you to do a physical assessment." "You are showing rapid blood contamination." "Are you cut?" "I'm dizzy." "Kitai, self-eval." "Dad, I can't stand." "Open your med kit." "You are going to have to administer the antitoxin in sequence." "Inject yourself with the clear liquid first." "Do it now." "I can't see." "The poison is affecting your nervous system." "Stay even." "Dad, please come help me." "I can't see." "I can't do this by myself, Dad." "Please come get me." "Kitai, inject yourself directly into your heart with the first stage." "Do it now." "Now the second." "ASAP." "To your left, Kitai." "Left!" "I can't feel my hand." "Dad, I can't feel my hands." "Press it into the ground." "Roll over on it and press it into the ground, Kitai." "Great work, cadet." "But you are going to have to lie there for a moment." "The parasite that stung you has a paralyzing agent in its venom." "So you are going to have to lie there for a little bit while the antitoxin does its job." "It's time to wake up." "Son." "The temperature is dropping five degrees every 10 minutes." "You have got to wake up." "Can you blink your eyes?" "Son." "I need you to please blink your eyes." "Hey, Dad." "Hey." "That sucked." "That is correct." "You've got 9.7 kilometers to the hot spot." "How about you show me that 1 OK in 50 minutes, cadet?" "Sir, yes, sir." "Ten mikes out." "All good." "Who wasn't advanced to Ranger?" "Who was it?" "Watch him go." "Watch him go." "Five mikes out." "Five mikes out." "Happy 19th birthday, Senshi." "Here." "Dad, you help me." "No, Senshi, you go ahead." "You blow." "Come on, Dad." "Blow." "Now, you know there's no way I can actually do that from here." "No." "I think you can." "Heh." "Faia, you're right there." "Help the girl." "You can do it." "I know you can." "Hot Spot 1 arrival." "H plus 54 minutes." "Equipment check and consolidate." "Take your next inhaler." "Your oxygen extraction is bottoming." "Take your next breathing fluid." "Second dose of breathing fluid compete." "Mm." "Count off remaining." "Four vials remain, sir." "Repeat." "Four vials remain, sir." "Dad." "Dad!" "I'm here." "How did you do it?" "How did you first ghost?" "Out for a run." "Alone." "Something we're never supposed to do." "Ursa de-camos right in front of me." "I go for my cutlass." "It shoots its pincer right through my shoulder." "Next thing I know, we're over the cliff, falling," "30 meters straight down into the river." "We settle onto the bottom." "It's on top of me." "But it's not moving." "And I realize" "He's trying to drown me." "I'm thinking, "I'm gonna die."" ""I'm gonna die."" ""I cannot believe this is how I'm going to die."" "I can see my blood bubbling up, mixing with the sunlight shining through the water." "And I think, "Wow... that's really pretty."" "And everything slows down." "And I see its pincer through my shoulder." "And I decide" "I don't want that in there anymore." "So I pull it out." "And he lets me go." "And more than that, I can tell... it can't find me." "It doesn't even know where to look." "And it dawned on me... fear is not real." "The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future." "It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist." "That is near insanity, Kitai." "Now, do not misunderstand me." "Danger is very real." "But fear is a choice." "We are all telling ourselves a story." "And that day, mine changed." "Fourteen kilometers to the falls." "That's our midway checkpoint." "I'm reading you." "Kitai, get to the falls ASAP." "I hear something." "I think it's water." "A lot of it." "Inventory up." "Roger." "Food rations, half available." "Flares, full." "Med kit, half available." "Breathing fluid..." "Breathing fluid, four vials available." "Why are you not showing me the case?" "What?" "Show it to me now." "I thought that I could make it, sir." "Abort mission." "Return to the ship." "That is an order." "Don't come out." "No matter what." "That's an order." "Dad!" "Ah!" "No, Dad." "I can do it." "I don't need many." "I can get across with just two." "You need a minimum of three inhalers to make it to the tail." "You have exhausted your resources." "I can get across." "I can do it with just two, Dad." "This mission has reached abort criteria." "I take full responsibility." "You did your best." "You have nothing more to prove." "Now return to the ship." "What was your mistake?" "Trusting me?" "Depending on me, thinking that I could do this?" "I am giving you an order... to turn around... and return to this ship." "You wouldn't give any other Ranger that order!" "You are not a Ranger." "And I am giving you that order." "What was I supposed to do?" "What did you want me to do?" "She gave me an order!" "She said no matter what, don't come out of that box!" "Was I supposed to just come out and die?" "What do you think, cadet?" "What do you think you should have done?" "Because that is all that matters." "What do you think you should have done?" "And where were you?" "!" "She called out for you!" "She called your name!" "And you weren't there, because you're never there!" "And you think I'm a coward?" "!" "You're wrong!" "I'm not a coward!" "You're the coward!" "I'm not a coward!" "Kitai!" "Kitai, you've got incoming." "Do you copy?" "You've got incoming." "Kitai, dive!" "Dive!" "Kitai!" "No!" "Leave them alone!" "Get away!" "Dad, I'm sorry." "It's Kitai." "Where is my son?" "General Cypher Raige." "This is a message for my wife." "Faia..." "I have lost contact with our son." "End message." "You have six vials." "At your weight, that should be 20 to 24 hours each." "That's more than enough." "I estimate four days to reach the tail." "Let's break it into sections." "Six hours to reach the first geothermal site." "The first leg, 20 K to the mouth of the North Forest." "I'm right here." " Five mikes out." " Keep moving." " Hot Spot 1 arrival." " Take your next inhaler." "H plus 54 minutes." "There is an escarpment." "Looks like it could be a waterfall." "We'll call that midway." "I can get across." "I can do it with two." "Fourteen kilometers to the falls." "This is us here." "That is the tail." "You are going to retrieve that beacon or we are going to die." "Leave me alone!" "Wake up." "It's time for you to wake up." "Hey." "Hey." "I was just about to come out that day." "No, you weren't." "But you did the right thing." "Dad says I should have tried." "He's just mad at himself." "That's all." "Why couldn't you ghost?" "You're close right now." "I am?" "Are you scared?" "No." "I'm tired." "That's good." "You filled your heart with something else." "Now you got to get up." "I memorized some of Moby Dick." "Kitai, get up." ""All that maddens and torments, Wake up."" ""All that stirs up lees of things, Wake up."" ""All truth with malice, all that cracks the sinews..."" "Wake up!" "Kit..." "Hey, thanks." "No." "Mm-mm." "Dad." "Dad, it's Kitai." "I made it to..." "Kitai." "Dad, I made it to the tail." "Do you copy?" "Kitai, I'm here." "Are you okay?" "Dad, do you read me?" "I copy." "Dad, I made it to the tail." "Do you copy?" "Kitai, we have electrical interference." "You are in a black zone." "I repeat, you are in a black..." "Dad, the Ursa is not contained." "Please copy." "Dad?" "I'm here." "I swear to you I'm here." "Take a knee." "It is the ionic layer... in the atmosphere above your current position." "It is causing electrical interference." "That is why the beacon is not firing." "To your north." "The peak." "You must fire the beacon from the peak of that mountain." "See it, Kitai." "Please... see it." "Good boy." "It is a pheromone trigger." "He set it to scare you, so he can track you." "Keep moving." "It has found you." "Run." "Just run, Kitai." "Just run." "Ah!" "Unh!" "Unh!" "Ah!" "Unh!" "Ah!" "Ah!" "Unh!" "Climb in here, okay?" "It won't be able to smell you." "Dad!" "Root yourself in this present moment now." "Sight, sound, smell." "What do you feel?" "You're still in that box." "It's time to come out." "Yah!" "Yah!" "Stand me up." " General." "I said, stand me up." "Watch his back." "Dad?" "Yeah?" "I want to work with Mom." "Me too."