"Every night, the same dream." "The same strange planet." "But why?" "What are they trying to tell me?" "It has been thirty-four years since they arrived on this planet." "And not a day passes, that the survivors, forced to live in Barrier Cities, do not live in fear." "I have vowed to the end that fear." "I believe my dreams hold the key." "The question is, will I be in time to save the Earth?" "This is a restricted area." "Do not move!" "What is she doing here, captain?" "I don't know, but we are getting her out." "You're coming with us." "Behind you!" "Hold it right there!" " Damn it!" " Let's move people." "Two, coming through the east wall." "All right, hold your fire." "Ryan, Neil, let's go." "Just what the hell do you think you are doing?" "There is a life-form in here." " There hasn't been life here in years." " Well there is NOW!" "Life-form or not, I'm taking you in" " Fine, Arrest me." "But I'm not leaving without that life-form." "Gonna be one of those days." "Captain, principal is not going to wait for us much longer." "I understand that." "It's in bad shape." "Please." "Tell me we're not risking our necks for this plant." "I wouldn't even call it a plant." "It's a weed." "I wouldn't even call it a wheed." "I need a minute to extract it." "Miss, that's the minute we do not have." "I'm afraid his right about that, ma'am." "Phantoms, we have incoming." "Captain, we need to get outta here." "Understood, sergeant." " Could you hurry please, miss?" " Done." " Captain." " Yes Neil." "Just so you know, I agree with the let's get out of here thing." "Can I have this please?" "Thank you." " We're surrounded." " No Shit!" "All right, everybody." "Just relax." "Captain, we got to get to higher ground." "Everyone, up to top." "Go!" "Go!" "Go!" "Transport requesting immediate evac." "Up here!" " Captain!" " We're just behind you!" "I got you." " Are you okay?" " Yeah." "All right, everybody." "Here they come." "Are you okay?" "Can you give me one good reason why I shouldn't arrest you?" "I am Dr. Aki Ross." "I have clearance to be here." "Not unlimited clearance." "And not without authorization." "Captain, I don't have time for this." "Do you realize you have just risked the lives at my squad and me?" "Look." "I don't want to talk about it." "The fact of the matter is, it was worth the lives of you and your men." "You and your men?" " She thinks you are a man." " I think she's an idiot!" " I know you are not a man." " I think you are an idiot too." "Very funny." "But I do want to talk about it." "Did it ever occur to you that maybe we would've volunteered to risk our lives?" "Have we been given a choice?" "Well, nobody asked you to save me." "I don't believe this." "You have not changed a bit." " Gray?" " Nice to see you too!" "Welcome back, captain." " We're clean." " Let's make sure of that." "I hate getting scanned." "Sir, these scanners are probably worse for us than the phantoms." "There's no probable about it, captain." "These machines are suspected of causing sterility." "And I want to have a little new junior to call me daddy someday." "That's a spooky thought." "Why are you always busting my chop?" "People, let's just do this thing, all right?" " Yes, sir." " Yes, sir." "Okay, next." "Looks like you've gained some weight." "It's called body strength, Neil." "Get a girlfriend." "I'm working on it." "You know my security rating allows me to bypass this." "Not today, it doesn't." " Something's not right." " About this mission?" " Or that woman?" " Both." "Next." " Listen, captain." "I think..." " I don't care what you think, doctor." "You're getting scanned just like everybody else." " Oh shit!" " Captain" " They got him." " There must be a mistake." "You came in contact with the phantom, sir." "Please remain calm." "Administering treatment shield." " What level is he?" " Blue." "He will be code red in three and a half minutes." " We have to treat him now." " I'm sorry, but that's impossible." " We'll transfer him to the treatment center." " There's no time for that." "Get him to the table." "Hang in there captain." "Locating particles." "Jesus!" "Look at that thing." " How much more time?" " Not enough." "When he reaches code red, the treatment shield won't be able to hold the alien particles." "Engaging bio-ethereal laser." " What's going on?" " Where did it go?" " What the hell is going on?" " We've lost contact." "Infestation is moving deeper." " Tracking..." " There is no time." " Tracking." " There is no time!" "You're gonna lose him." "His treatment shield is failing" "Found it!" "It's all right." "Don't worry." "You'll be back to normal in no time." "Doctor, we need to scan you for infestation." "That won't be necessary." "I'll take responsibility." "Hey, doc." "Thanks for saving him." " Are you all right?" " Yeah, but the military has impounded my ship." "What's with her?" "What's with her and the captain?" "What's with her and that stupid plant?" "What?" "Forward me the phantom data and everything we've got of the five spirits collected so far." "Yes, doctor." "Spirits?" "I thought we weren't supposed to use the S word." "Don't get smart with me." "Now let's see if that plant does the trick." "It's a match." "We've found it." "Yes, the sixth spirit." "Your little scene today broke nearly every protocol." "How long do you think this would have survived outside the barrier?" "Aki, you know there are elements in the Council military just waiting for an excuse to shut us down." "Look." "Twenty years ago, who discovered this energy in the phantoms?" "You." "And who proved the same energy source existed in humans and every life form?" "You." "You made it possible to harness that energy for OVO-packs, scanners, even the barrier." "The Council knows that." "They trust you, Doctor." "We're so close to proving..." " We still need this part and this one here." " Exactly!" "Two more pieces and we've solved the puzzle." "We need to be free to find those pieces." "I want to show you something, Aki." " What is this?" " Read." "All life is born of Gaia and each life has a spirit." "Each new spirit is housed in a physical body." " Doctor!" " Go on." "Through their experiences on Earth, each spirit matures and grows." "When the physical body dies, the mature spirit, enriched by its life on Earth returns to Gaia." "Bringing with it the experiences, enabling Gaia to live and grow." "It's my old diary." "I wrote that fourty-three years ago when I was the age you are now." "Dr. Sid!" "Remember what happened to Gallileo?" "They threw him into jail because he said that Earth was not the center of the universe." "It could happen to us." "Our ideas are unpopular, Aki." "If you have any notes or records, it could be used against you." "Destroy them." "Keep them up here." "Right." "And stay away from your friend the captain." "He saves your life, you save his life." "Let's leave it to that." "I was once young too, you know." "Doctor, there is a war going on." "No one is young anymore." "Ladies and Gentlemen of the council, could you please explain why?" "Zeus was completed a month ago." "If we attack the meteor with this, we will eliminate the phantoms at their source." "General Hein, calm down." "At our last meeting, we voted six to two to postpone using the Zeus cannon to attack the Leonid meteor." "We have reconvened today to vote on that very issue again." "Now, I'd like to ask the director of the bio-etheric center to speak." " Dr. Sid, please." " Thank you." "As you all know, the phantom's nest is in the Leonid meteor that landed here thirty-four years ago." "What you see now, are the records of every assault on the meteor to date." "Physical attacks have had utterly no affect." "This scene took place three months ago during a full scale bombard." "Now please note that the phantoms outside the meteor are indeed destroyed." "However inside, many that were dormant come to life and as you see overall phantom density remains the same." "The newly risen aliens respond to the attack by burrowing even deeper into the Earth." "Now this is very interesting to me, Dr. Sid." "Because we see the same thing during surgery when using bio-etheric lasers on phantom particles." " Do we not?" " Yes, indeed we do." "You see the injured particles escape, burying or digging themselves deeper into a patients body, and when we increase the laser power to destroy these deeper particles, we have had incidents resulting in further injury to a patient," "and in some cases, death." "And what exactly does that mean, doctor?" "It means there is a very good chance the beam from the Zeus cannon will burn the phantoms in the meteor." "Exactly." "Thank you." "Now, however, it also means that the beam energy may be too strong, injuring the Earth." "Injure the Earth?" "You mean the Gaia?" " I mean..." " You mean the spirit of the Earth." "Yes." "The spirit of the Earth." "Did he just say what I think he said?" " What are you doing?" " I know what I'm doing, and whatever you do, keep your mouth shut." "This is ridiculous." "Doctor, with all due respect." "Did you come here just to talk about some Gaia theory?" "To tell us the planet is alive?" "That it has a spirit?" "That's a fairy tale, doctor, and I'm sorry, but we don't have time for that." "It is not a fairy tale, it is true." "Ah, so if I point a gun at the Earth and fire," "I'm not just making a hole in the ground, I'm killing the planet." "Dr. Sid, the Gaia theory has not been proven." "Even if Gaia does exist, won't we still have to remove the phantoms?" "I think if there is any chance of success, we should take it?" "Don't you agree?" " Of course I do." "But there is an alternative to this space cannon" "Another method?" "Yes, a means of disabling the phantoms." "Please." "As we know the aliens display a distinct energy pattern." "Now it is a fact that two opposing bio-etheric waves placed one over the other will cancel each other out." "It is the theoretically possible to construct a wave pattern in direct opposition to the phantom energy." "We are currently assembling such a wave and are nearing completion." "Members of the council" "Gathering plants and animals from around the world to fight the phantoms is utter nonsense." "The Zeus cannon is a proven, effective weapon." "It will kill phantoms." "Can we afford to wait for some crazy invention, some army of touchy, feely plants and animals, an invention that offers no solid evidence that it will destroy the aliens." "There is evidence." "Our partially completed energy wave has successfully stopped phantom particles from spreading through a terminally infected patient." "Doctor, do you claim to have evidence that a terminal patient has been cured." "Not cured." "The wave is not complete." "But we've succeeded in containing the particles safely inside the patient." "Where is the proof?" "Here." "You may've bought us some time, Aki." "But I wonder at what cost?" "Doctor, I can't keep hiding in the background while you protect me." "I want what life I have left to mean something." "You listen to me." "When we find the seventh and eighth spirits......" "If we find them, what we need now is some luck." "Luck has nothing to do with it." "Faith and hard work, girl." "Cause I'll be damn if you're going to die before me." "The Council decided to postpone firing the Zeus cannon." "I guess I put on a good show." "Mind if I tag along?" "You'll probably get bored." "So...what are you doing?" "Oh, I see." "You're giving me the silent treatment." "I'm scanning the city for the seventh spirit." " Hurry up, Neil." " Relax serge, I almost got it." "What do you think you're doing?" "We're just gonna strand them for a while." "Hey, don't look at me." "It was his idea." "This was your idea?" "We're just helping the captain out a little." "Yeah, come on Jane, where's your sense of romance?" "You've seen how the captain looks at her." "It's "amore", baby." " What's going on?" " It's probably just a glitch." " Listen, Aki..." " I'm still mad at you." " You are mad at me?" " Leaving your helmet on, not telling me who you were?" "That doesn't seem a little childish." "I was just a little upset when you just packed up and left for the Zeus station without saying a word." "Well now you know what was going on, all right?" "Yeah, now I know." "My operation had to be done in zero graph, okay?" "Fine!" "and how about the fact that I was sent there on a job and you wouldn't even see me?" "I was probably helping Dr. Sid collect spirit waves." "Now I know." " So I'm sorry." " Well, me too." "So we're both sorry." "So will you tell me about them?" "About what?" "About the spirits you've collected." "I was infected by a phantom during an experiment." "Normally no one could have survived." "How did you?" "Dr. Sid created a membrane around the infection, keeping me alive." "So the first spirit wave was me." "The second was a fish." "A fish?" "The third was a deer I found in a wildlife-preserve outside Moscow." "The fourth was a bird." "Ever tried to track a sparrow from outer space?" "It's no fun." "What am I saying?" "You probably would love that." "You are right." "I probably would." "And then there was that plant I collected from Time Square." "I thought that was number six." " What?" " You skipped one." "The fifth was a little girl dying in a hospital emergency room." "I retrieved the sample in time, but she..." "I told her everything had a spirit." "Dogs, cats, trees, little girls, even the earth." "I told her that she wasn't dying, just returning to the Earth spirit." "To Gaia." "She...told me, that she was ready to die." "She said I didn't have to make up stories to make her feel better." "Only seven years old and ready to die." "I'm sorry." "I...have work to do." "I have to find the seventh and eighth spirits." "Don't... please...." "You don't believe any of this, do you?" "I just... don't know, Aki." "Is this why you've shut me out?" "You should have told me." "I don't know how much time I have left." "Who does?" "I better get back to scanning." "Captain Edwards, you extracted a Dr. Ross from old New York several days ago." "Did you not?" " Yes sir." " What were your impressions of Dr. Ross?" "She seemed very capable and determined, sir." "You and the Deep Eyes are being temporarily reassigned." "You will guard Dr. Ross when she re-enters the wasteland." "Understood, sir." "You don't understand yet, captain." "Report any aberrant behavior in Dr. Ross to the major immediately." "Aberrant behavior, sir?" "The woman carries an alien infestation, captain." "We don't know what it may be doing to her." "The alien presence could be effecting her judgment, and may be manipulating the doctor for their very own purposes." "Is the general suggesting that Dr. Ross is a spy?" "The General is wondering why he's explaining himself to a captain." "She's had prolonged exposure to phantom tissue." "If this begins to manifest itself in any way," "Dr. Ross is to be placed under arrest, and transported here for observation." "It is in fact, for her own good, captain." "Of course, sir." "Major, send some of our men to keep an eye on the good captain." "I'm convinced that these dreams are some form of communication." "Their message still eludes me." "But they are coming faster now." "And that can only mean one thing." "The phantoms inside me are beginning to win." "Our target is to 50 clicks left at Tucson." "Roger." "Phantom concentration?" "Not good, we've got big metas everywhere." "So it's gonna be a real picnic." "Stick close to me." "No heroics today, okay?" "Everything by the book." "By the book, all right." "If we dropped energy buoys here, here and here, we should be able land, acquire the target and get out before the phantoms even know we were there." "And the buoys will attract the phantoms." "Yeah." " For a while." "So you're from the 307's, right?" "Under General Hein?" "Have you done any wasteland recon before?" "It can get pretty ugly." "Captain, rendezvous for evac at sector 6, coordinate 279." "Roger that." "Stay alert for hostiles." "Looks like they've taken the bait." "The seventh spirit should be just beyond that line of wreckage." "I don't see how any living thing could survive out here." "We'll find out soon enough." "This was the phantom cleansing mission." "It was supposed to end of war." "My father's in here somewhere." "All right." "Let's move out, people." "I'll be damned." "A survivor." " What's it doing out here?" " Hoping for life to return." " Is that our spirit, doc?" " No." "We're closing in on the life form." " Distance?" " Hard to say." "We're very close." "I don't see anything." "You're not gonna tell me it's him." "That's impossible" "It's not the soldier." "It's his OVO-pack." "How do you explain that?" "Packs?" "Power or weapons?" "Barrier cities?" "I mean it's just bio-etheric theory energy." "And to create that energy, we use living tissue." "Single cell organism." "You're telling me his backpack is the seventh spirit?" " Yes." " We have incoming." " Captain, do you read me?" " What, say again?" "Do you read me, captain?" "We have incoming." "Ryan, get the soldier's pack." "I need a hand, serge!" " Those buoys?" " Yeah." " They're not working." " Thank you." " Are you all right?" " Of course I am." "Let's get the hell out of here!" "Something's not right, this shouldn't be happening." "Something's attracting them." "Aki!" "They're right on us, sir." "Closing in fast." "Jane, take the lead." "Fire in the hole!" "Get us out of here, Neil." "Sir, I would love to, but I..." "Just do it!" " Sir?" " Ok, that's it!" "That doesn't look good, captain." "We have to get her to a hospital." "You have your orders, sir." "What the hell is going on here?" "Dr. Ross is to be taken into custody, now sir!" "Lower your weapons." "That's an order." "Sir, we have no choice but to relief you of your command." "I won't let you do this, soldier." "You're gonna have to shoot me." "Stand down, captain!" "Aki!" "Hang on everyone!" "That's enough!" "Hands where I can see them." "Everyone, now!" "Deep Eyes, hard to starboard!" "Neil, get us back to New York." "Fast." "The Deep Eyes are returning from the wasteland, sir." "Apparently there was an incident." "It would seem the phantoms were attracted to Dr. Ross." "The crew barely escaped with their lives." "And sir..." "Captain Edwards is still in command." "Issue an order." "I want Edwards and Dr. Ross placed under arrest, all research materials pertaining to Dr. Sid's wave theory are to be confiscated immediately." "That might not go over too well with the Council, sir." "What a tragedy that would be." "This is perfect, Major." "The good the captain has opened the door for us." "By tomorrow morning, the Council would be at our feet." "Thanking us for exposing the traitors in our midst." "And imploring us to save them from the phantoms." "How is she, doctor?" "She is dying." "There must be something you can do." "Aki is fighting with only six of the eighth spirits." "We'll have to implant the seventh directly into her chest plate." "It took a bullet." "I think it might be damaged." "We have to repair this panel quickly." "Her vital signs are dropping." "Aki is slipping away from us." "She needs a sympathetic spirit to help hold her in this world." "And I can think of no spirit better suited for that task than yours, captain." "I don't understand." "You don't have to understand." "You just be with her now." "and you keep her here with us." "Aki?" "Where are we?" "On an alien planet." "How is that possible?" "I'm not entirely sure." "You seem pretty calm." "I have been having this dream every night for months." "Dream?" "Well, whatever it is." "You're really here, aren't you?" "What's happening to me?" "Dr. Sid is implanting the seventh spirit directly into your body." "Then you're my spiritual support." "Gray, how sweet of you." "Look, I don't think you realize how serious the situation is." "Something you should see here, sir." "And I am watching... what, major?" "It seems Dr. Ross has been recording her dreams." "And why would I be interested in ... her dreams?" "This is it." "This is our evidence." "She's under the influence of the phantoms." "Dr. Ross's dreams should be all the Council needs to authorize the firing of the Zeus cannon." "The Council is content to hide, cowering inside this barrier while the world dies a little more everyday." "I believe they need a push in the right direction, major." "Get together a group of your most trusted men." "What are they doing?" "Why are they staring at us?" "Not at us." "Welcome back, captain." "Is it over?" "How is she, Doctor?" "She is going to be fine." "But this is only temporary." "We'll need to find the eighth and final spirit to cure her." "Aki, can you hear me?" "I've finished it." "I know what it means." "I know what the phantoms really are." "Nobody move!" "You're all under arrest!" "We have them, sir." "Sir?" "My wife and daughter." "Were killed by phantoms in the San Francisco barrier when the city was attacked." "Did I ever tell you that?" "I try to imagine what..." "What that must've been like, seeing everyone around you fall over dead, with no apparent reason." "And then at the end, feeling something next to you." "Invisible... touching you." "Reaching inside your body." " You've lost family, haven't you?" " Yes, sir." "That's why I trust you." "All of you." "You know what must be done." "Major, arrest these men." "Reduce power to sector thirty-one." "Sir, you do realize that the phantoms..." "What I realize, major is that we must force the Council to take action against the enemy." "Twenty-five percent of energy redirected." "lowering power output to sector thirty-one." "Barrier breach in sector thirty-one, General." "They're coming through now." "Oh I think we can easily handle a few phantoms in a contained space." "Relax, major." "When this night's over, you're going to be a hero." " Aki, I don't think..." " You were in my dream, Gray." "You saw it." "That's just it." "I'm not sure what I saw." "How can you be?" "Captain, please." "Let her continue." "All right." "Why do you think, we've never been able to determine a relationship between the human size phantoms and the giant ones roaming the wastelands." "Excuse me, doc, but..." "what freakin' relationship?" "I mean you got your human size phantoms and your creepy caterpillary phantoms and your flying phantoms." "And let's not forget my personal favorite... the big fat giant phantoms..." " Down, boy." " He's right." "If you've spend as much time in the field as we have, you know there is no relationship." "It's like a zoo out there." "Precisely, I think the giant ones are like our whales or elephants." "But why would an invading army bring a bunch of whales and elephants along for the ride?" "Unless their ship was some kind of a crazy Noah's ark." "We've always assumed that the meteor was intended as a form of transportation." "Perhaps it wasn't." "The meteor is a chunk of their planet that got thrown into space when they destroyed their world." "But how could they survive the trip across outer space on a hunk of rock?" "They didn't." "This is all beginning to make a creepy kind of sense." "What do you think about all this, captain?" "I think that explains why we never had a chance." "All our strategies are based on one assumption." "That we were fighting alien invaders." "Think of the dream, Gray." "How they died?" "Since then, all they've known is suffering." "They are not an invading army." "They are ghosts." "How many phantoms?" " More than enough to convince the Council, sir." " Excellent." " Sound an alert, send a squad out to eliminate them." " Yes sir." "Alert Status:" "Full Deployment." "Sir, I have numerous phantom contacts." " Well, of course you do." " Outside of sector thirty-one, sir." "And moving at incredible speed." "Major, what the hell is going on here?" "They are in the pipes." "They're moving with the bio-etheric energy flow." "That's impossible." "No living thing could survive in those pipes." "Well, we've got a big one heading this way, meta class, sir." "Oh my god..." " Hold your fire!" "What have I done?" "Come on, Neil." "We need to find a way out." "Now you're our man, think!" "Captain, these walls are titanium alloy." "And the bars are pulsonic lasers." "I mean, it's not like I can just wave a magic wand and..." " Neil, I'm impressed." " That makes two of us." "PROCEED TO THE NEAREST EVACUATION FACILITY." "I think we should proceed to the nearest evacuation facility." "PROCEED TO THE NEAREST EVACUATION FACILITY." "Here they come." "But the others..." "Dr. Sid!" "Deep Eyes will take care of him." "Come on!" "What's happening?" "Why can we see them now?" "It must be carrying a residual charge from passing through the barrier." "Behind you!"