"I'm sure it's only a little further to the main vault." "You've been saying that for two days." "This is foolish." "There were other vaults we could have tried." " Smaller ones." "Easier to get into." " Exactly." "They were easier to get into." "It's a good bet somebody's been there already." "You've gotta be insane to dig this far in soft ground." "Which is the other point I would make." " Thank you for making it for me." " Nothing good comes easy, Klaus." "Nothing bad comes easy either." "It is far more annoying when the universe makes you work for damnation." "I'd prefer it just gave it to me." "Save me the effort." " Dr. Bryson." "Over here." " Let me see." " Yes." "Yes, this is it." " It's another wall." " We have cut through others." " This one's different." "There, the brickwork was plain, unadorned." "This symbol is new." "Though I've seen it before on a hundred worlds." "No, this this must be it." "Look, the others are tired." "They've been at this all day." " They need to rest..." " Not yet." "Not yet." "No rest." "Not yet." "There." "See?" "This symbol." "This is a death symbol." "And the other side, a symbol of life." "Not life or death or life and death but life in death." "Life eternal." " Break this down." "I've gotta see inside." " Dr. Bryson..." "Now!" "You smell that?" "That air's been sealed in there for what, 50,000 years?" "A hundred thousand." "Perhaps a million years." " It smells like death." " Maybe to you." "To me it is as sweet as perfume." "Yes." "Yes!" " What are they?" " Not "what," Klaus." "Who." "Thoughts." "Memories." "Personalities." "Souls." "If you believe in souls." "That's crazy." "I believe only in what I can see and hear and touch." "If I believed in souls, I couldn't exactly do this for a living." "Listen, you said there was money to be made here." "There is, indeed." "But only as a byproduct of the real gold, Klaus:" "Immortality." "You were saying, Klaus?" "We have company." "Everyone, back to the ship fast." " Get to the skimmers if you can." " You can't leave now." "What about...?" " We leave them." " No!" "You listen." "If whatever built this place has come back they might let us leave alive if we touch nothing." "There is nothing of value here." "Only whispers." "I do not choose to die for your whispers." "No." "Don't..." "Don't worry." "We'll find a way." "I'll never let you go." "Never." "Captain, there you are." "I've been looking for you." "Just taking a moment to stop and smell the roses, lieutenant." " Ma'am?" " Do you realize it's been three days since we've had any kind of crisis around here?" " The last one wasn't even a big one." " It's been pretty quiet." " Captain..." " Not to fault Sheridan, because he's got a rough job, no question." "And he's doing a great job with it." "But while he was here, he was a lightning rod for all kinds of things." "Are you familiar with the Pauli Effect, lieutenant?" "No, I don't think so." "Dr. Wolfgang Pauli was a physicist on Earth during the late 20th century." "Whenever he stepped inside the physics lab, something would go wrong or break down, usually a very expensive piece of equipment." "It became a joke with the other doctors, who called it the Pauli Effect." " That's interesting, but..." " So they say, one day an extremely sensitive and expensive piece of equipment exploded." "But he wasn't in the room." "So for the first time, they had some proof that the Pauli Effect wasn't real." "Until they found out that at the exact moment the equipment exploded he was on a train passing by right in front of the place." "So now there's the Sheridan-Garibaldi Effect." " Captain." " Thank you." "On a personal level, I miss Sheridan, now that he's gone to Minbar with Delenn." "Hell, on some level, I even miss Garibaldi." "But at the same time, with both of them gone most of the problems that used to follow them around are also gone." " Your vase, captain." " Thank you." "Over the last few months, this place has become almost manageable." "I'm sorry, lieutenant." "Obviously you tracked me down for a reason." " What is it?" " I thought you'd like to know Mr. Garibaldi checked in at Customs a few minutes ago." " Hey, I've had enough of you, buddy!" " You go to hell!" "Yeah?" "Suddenly I have this great, blinding pain right behind my left eye." "You know, I get that too." "Right here." "I think I may have something for you." "Hey, Mr..." "How are you?" "Come on in!" "Come here." "Yeah, right this way." "How are you?" " Is she ready?" " Is she ready?" "I've been working on it all day." "Any more ready and I'd be blind and you'd get a refund." "Not that we give them but that's how ready she is." "You got the picture?" "Oh, yeah." "That's good." "Yeah." "I just want you to be able to look and compare for yourself, you know." "I'm an artist." "That's why I'm not cheap." "Did he pay?" " In full." " Well, then, she's all yours." "Yeah." "Oh, before I forget, you know how to use one of those?" "There's one in your room and in case you need instructions, I don't want any problems." "No, that's fine." "I can figure it out." "All right." "Knock yourself out, chief." "Have a good time." "Oh, another day, another holo." "I just made a pun." "You know, "another day, another dollar." Another day, another holo." "I'm a literary kind of guy." "Okay, be that way." "Let's see how you like it as the company motto and you have to say it every time somebody calls." "Then it'll be funny." "I said he didn't know how to use it." "Didn't I say he didn't know how to use it?" "Didn't I tell him I'd give him instructions?" "Idiot!" "If he shorts that thing out, I'm gonna charge him double." "Hey, buddy!" " So Mr. Garibaldi..." " Michael." "Please." "Michael." "What brings you back to Babylon 5?" "Business." "As you know, when I married Lise I took over the day-to-day operation of her late husband's corporation." "Problem is, we inherited black projects and research programs that he started but he never told anybody about." "For six months, I've been tracking them down and finding out what's involved." "The good ones, we keep." "The not so good ones, out." "You wouldn't believe what he was into." " And that trail led you here?" " Yes and no." "I picked this as a midway point to meet a researcher who's been doing these things for a couple of years." "We'll get together he'll tell me why he needs the money, I'll listen, go back to Mars." " You'll never even know I was here." " Somehow I doubt that." " Yes?" " Captain?" "We've got Mr. Garibaldi's appointment out here." " Should I send him in?" " Just a second." "You told him to meet you here?" "I figured this would be the easiest place to find." " I knew you wouldn't mind." " You are truly amazing, Mr. Garibaldi." "I thought we agreed on "Michael."" "We did." "Send him in." "Did you by any chance also offer to let him stay in my quarters?" "Oh, no, no, no." "I couldn't possibly impose." "But I do appreciate the offer." " Still sober?" " As a judge." "I'm glad." " Mr. Garibaldi?" " Doctor." "Doctor, meet Captain Elizabeth Lochley." "Captain, Dr. Robert Bryson." " Pleasure." " Thank you." " Lf I may ask, a doctor of what?" " Archaeology with a secondary degree in cultural anthropology." "He digs stuff up." "Thank you for the translation, Mr. Garibaldi." "If you hadn't jumped in, I might have gotten confused and fallen down." "I didn't start out digging things up." "I specialized in palynology." "That's the study of fossilized pollen to determine the age of the accompanying bodies." "Oh, I've heard of it." "Apparently it's more accurate than carbon dating and more useful on off-world expeditions, since carbon values differ planet to planet." "Yes." "You're the first person I've met outside the field who knows what it is." "There's only a dozen of us back on Earth who specialize in it." "That's what got me into interplanetary digs..." "Right, right, right." "Listen, I think we should be going." "I know you two kids could talk shop until dawn but we've got a little talking of our own to do." "So I suggest you let the captain get back to work." " Perhaps we can talk later." " Of course." "Captain." "Dr. Bryson." " Find anything interesting lately?" " Yes." "Oh, yes." "Most definitely." "I was sorry to hear about Mr. Edgars passing away like that." "He was a good man." "A visionary." "He was a nut and he was a control freak." "Well, these days only a nut and a control freak would completely fund research into pure science." "He didn't do it to advance science or serve the commonwealth." "He wanted everything that wasn't nailed down or on fire." "He wanted to invent anything he couldn't buy and buy anything he couldn't invent." "Perhaps." "But he was willing to fund my program and for that alone I will always consider him a good man." "Anyway that has nothing to do with why I wanted to see you." "According to our records, your work has been funded for 2 million credits a year." "That's a lot of money." "I'd like to know what it's for so I can evaluate whether to continue funding it." " The ledgers didn't say?" " No." "They only had the initials L. E next to the dollar amounts." " Oh, I see." "I suppose "L.E." could be shorthand for "life extension."" "But knowing Mr. Edgars, I think it was a reference to my pet name for the project, Life Eternal." "Immortality." "I'm engaged in nothing less than the search for eternal life, Mr. Garibaldi." " I see." " At the height of our medical expertise we can extend human life to 110, maybe 115 years." "But there are dozens of alien life forms that can live double, even triple that." "And some older alien civilizations can sustain life in one form or another for thousands of years." "Some of them eliminated death entirely." "Can you think of a worthier cause than immortality, Mr. Garibaldi?" "That would depend upon three things:" "Number one, does it really exist?" "Two, how much will it cost?" "Three, who gets to use it?" "Given the probable answer to two means probably just the rich folk." " That was the general idea." "Mr. Edgars saw considerable profit in finding the answer to the question of life eternal." "And have you?" "You've been at this for over three years." "Are you any closer to the answer now than when you started?" "Let me take this for you." "I..." "I think I am, Mr. Garibaldi." "I found something recently that for 20 years of my life I've been searching for." "This discovery could unlock the answer to eternal life." "And what's that?" "Well, I don't want to say just yet." "I want to make sure it is what it is and that I fully understand how it works." " Dr. Bryson, I have come a long way." " So have I." "Mr. Garibaldi, I just need a few more days to finish my preliminary analysis and then I'll tell you everything." "No." "I'd like to say that I can wait for it all, but I can't." "You may have found something new and I understand you want time to investigate." "That doesn't cover the data you've gathered for the last three years." "You can at least give me that information so I can better evaluate this new finding." " Mr. Garibaldi, if..." " Nope." "No, that's the condition." "Or I'm back on Mars and your funding stops, effective immediately." "Fine." "It'll take a while for me to get my notes together so that you can understand them." "Oh, that's fine." "That's fine." "I'll swing by your quarters tomorrow morning and look over the material you have while you finish doing whatever it is that you're doing." "Thank you." "Fascinating, isn't it?" "Our obsession with life and death and beyond." "We eat that which is dead in order to stay alive." "Death becomes part of our daily routine, our very consciousness." "That's where we must make the break." "Not at the level of flesh and bone but at the level of the mind." "What we are is what's in here." "And the rest is useless." "Dead meat." " Captain, can I see you for a minute?" " Yes, lieutenant." "What is it?" "Come on in." "This is Mr. Clute." "He's been bringing me up to speed on a problem in Downbelow." "I thought you'd wanna hear about it yourself." "All right." "Go on, Mr. Clute." "Well, this is a little embarrassing." "I don't want this to get back home." " It'll get me in a lot of trouble." " Anything said in this room stays here." "All right." "Well, I was trying out the holobrothel in Brown 11 and not only was the equipment faulty, it was dangerously faulty." "The wiring was shot." " Someone's gonna get killed or..." " Wait, wait, wait." "The what?" "The holobrothel." "We don't have a holographic brothel on Babylon 5." " It appears we do now." " I don't understand." "The owner said the place was sanctioned by the station." "That's the reason I spent money on it." "Lots of people claim their business is sanctioned by us." "Over half are lying." "You shouldn't believe them without checking with us first." "All right." "Take him down to Security get a full report." "Off the record." "Then turn Zack loose on them." "Thank you." "I appreciate the information." " We will take it from here." " Thank you." "I'll be with you in a second." "Captain, before I go when you got your headache earlier, I said I might have something for it." "Most headaches are caused by stress and since this has really worked for me I thought I'd pick you one up as well." "Here." "Well, thank you." "It's very..." "It's quite..." " What is it, exactly?" " It's a love bat." "It's great for relieving the physical and emotional stress that can cause headaches or muscle tension." "Here." "It works like this." "I love you." "I forgive you." "I love you." " I forgive you." " See?" "It physically releases the need for punishment and guilt when we do something wrong and at the same time supplies positive, verbal, psychological reinforcement." "Helps boost confidence and self-esteem." "Well thank you." "I'm..." "I'm sure it'll come in very handy." "Not a problem." "I love you." "I forgive you." "I love you." "Can you hear me?" "Can you see me?" "Can you hear me?" "Bryson." "Personal journal update." "11 June 2263." "I've made contact." "Oh, excuse me, sir." "You in charge here?" "What?" "I told you never to bother me while..." "Hi." "How are you?" "Jacob Mayhew." "Nice to meet you." "Zack Allan." "Head of security." " What can I do for you?" " What you can do for me is pack up and get on the first transport out of here." "No, I'm sorry, I can't do that." "See, I leased these quarters for six months." "I paid in advance." "You people cashed the check." "I'm not doing anything illegal." "You don't have a permit to run a business like this." " I got an entertainment permit." " It doesn't cover a holographic brothel." "It doesn't exclude it." "It's not my fault that you people on Babylon 5 aren't specific about exactly what you think is appropriate entertainment." " That's your problem, not mine." " Look..." "Look, the permit that I have says that I could run an unspecified entertainment business, which is what I'm doing." "You wanna change the permit, go right ahead." "It's your right but it's not retroactive." "I booked this place for six months under the old permit." "I'm not leaving." "There's also a thing called freedom of speech." "Look, let's not get hostile here." "Look around you." "It's all just an illusion." "Okay?" "It's a very nice illusion, but an illusion." "It's..." "It's a hologram." "After you, Dorothy." "You wanna spend time with your girlfriend." "You're far away from home you come to me." "Wanna spend a little time with the one that got away in college, bring me a three-view photo I plug in a few figures and you can be with anybody you want." "Here." "Look at this." "This is the best sensual telemetry body suit on the market." "It's top of the line." "She's not really here, but when she touches you the suit responds, creating an impression of touch." "You can do anything you want to anybody you want." "You just bring me a picture." "I'll supply the fantasy." "Do you have any right to use these images?" "Right, schmite." "If someone gives me a picture the law says I can use it any way except I can't publish it or I can't exploit it publicly." " This is one-on-one." " Surrender, Dorothy." "You wanna try it for yourself?" "Come on." "I'll give it to you for free." "Or on the other hand, if you're here for a fight, I can get into that too." "You think you can just come in here and intimidate me into leaving, think again." "You want me out of here, take your best shot." " I'll see you in court." " You got it." "Meanwhile, I suggest you tell these other folks about how this equipment of yours is faulty and dangerous." "Hell, I'm surprised somebody hasn't been electrocuted by now." "I'll be back later with those papers." " What was that about being dangerous?" " I'm getting my money back." " What's going on here?" " Get Riley on the line." "I'm continuing to get reactions from the globe." "I think they're trying to communicate with me, but silently." "It could be a form of telepathic communication or something more elemental." "I'm going to try increasing the power to see if that helps." "Can you hear me?" "Who are you?" "What's your name?" "Name." "What's your name?" "Name." "Gone." "What's wrong?" "They came for us." "They took us away." "They had no right." "Let me go back to sleep." "Let me die." "Then you're not dead." "Not a recording." "You're a living mind preserved at the moment of death." "You don't understand." "Leave us alone." "Don't understand what?" "Leave us alone!" "Must write this down." "I've gotta write this down." "Hello?" "Ma'am?" "Are you okay?" "Are you hurt?" "My children." "Where are my children?" "Where are my children?" "Where are my children?" " Captain Elizabeth Lochley?" " That's me." " But I'm in the middle of breakfast." " That's fine." "Won't take a minute." "My name is James Riley attorney for Jacob Mayhew, owner of the New Way Holosystems Corporation." "In Brown 11?" "And this is a restraining order official service of papers and a subpoena." "I'm being sued by the owner of a holobrothel?" "You as an individual and Babylon 5 as a corporation." " On what charge?" " Restraint of trade harassment, infringement of my client's right to free speech basic violation of his constitutional right to the presence of an attorney during questioning." "And slander, based on the false comments of your employee a Mr. Zack Allan, about the condition of my client's business." " This has gotta be a joke." " I don't see anything funny in this, captain." "Between statutory and punitive damages, your illegal conduct toward my client could result in fines amounting to several million credits." "And while some of that amount might be covered by whatever insurance you hold, you would be liable for the rest under standard Earthforce indemnification clauses." "See you in court, captain." "Enjoy your breakfast." "Yes?" "Dr. Bryson, Michael Garibaldi." "I said I was gonna stop by to pick up your notes." "This isn't a good time." "Good or bad, it's the time we agreed to yesterday." "If you don't wanna see me, why don't you just say so and I'll assume you found someone else to fund your research." "Thank you." " Tough night?" " I was working late." " Find anything interesting?" " Interesting?" "You've no idea, no idea at all." "Well, maybe that's because you haven't given me the information I asked you for." "Your notes?" "On your work to date?" " My notes?" " Yes, your notes." "Oh, yes, yes." "Yes, my..." "My notes." "Yes, I burned them." "It doesn't matter anymore." "None of it matters." "It's become irrelevant." "I mean, I've seen past, beyond over the edge to what is known, to..." "Who are you?" "Excuse me?" "Who are you, really?" "Are you what I see or what's inside?" "If I take away your memories the sum and substance of all that you have seen, done, known are you still you anymore?" "And by taking these things away, do I now own you?" "Dr. Bryson, I want you to listen to me very carefully." "I know you've been under a strain." "You've been chasing this dream of yours for a long time and I think..." "What you think is immaterial." "It's all immaterial." "At least, all the parts that matter." "And keep your money." "I don't need it anymore." "I have everything that I need." "I just have to go deeper." "Look more deeply, listen to them more closely." " Listen to who?" "That's none of your business." "Now, get out." " Look, Dr. Bryson..." " I said, get out!" "He's nuts." "He's out of his fragging mind." "I can't believe he's actually gonna try and sue us." "He's gotta know he can't possibly win." "Well, you don't always sue because you know you can win." "You sue to harass people, intimidate them." "Maybe even pick up a settlement, whether you deserve it or not." "He can tie this thing up for months, Zack." "Yeah, and by that time his lease will have already expired." "Exactly." "So you're telling me that we should just drop this thing and let it go." "Oh, come on." "We have faced Shadows and invasions and attacks on this station and now we're gonna give in to lawyers?" "No, no." "I'm just saying that we may need to find a more discreet way of dealing with it, that's all." "Have Maintenance go down and check out their equipment." "I don't want anyone hurt while we're fighting this." "Why do we have to be discreet?" "He's not." "Not only is he trying this lawyer bit but last night he used one of those holograms to try to spook me out." "How so?" "I was down in Blue 6." "I saw this..." "I don't know." "An apparition." "It was a woman up on the stairs, crying." "And then she jumps out at me and disappears." "I figured it had to be a hologram of some kind." "Not possible." "The amount of energy and equipment necessary to generate a three-dimensional image like that isn't portable." "He can only do it inside a very small area." "Then how the...?" " Captain, you got a minute?" " Just." "What's up?" "I wanted to let you know that I was done here." "Be heading back to Mars on the first available transport." "Well, that's..." " Yes?" " Captain, we've got something unusual..." "They're here." " Oh, hell." " You know what that is?" "Yeah, I saw a couple of those ships years ago." "That's a Soul Hunter." "The story is they travel all over the place, capturing the souls of important people right at the moment of death." "I thought they were just legends." "No." "They're real, all right." "Check the records." "So, what's it doing here?" "I don't know." "All I know is, the only time they show up is when someone's about to die." "I just have a dry spot in my throat from the air conditioning." "I feel fine." "Stop looking at me like that." "I think we should go see what he wants." "Since you've had some experience with these people I'd appreciate it if you could come along." " Consider it done." " You know, you are looking kind of pale." " Don't start with me." "That's far enough." "I mean it." "State your business here." "Who are you here for?" "Not you." "None of you." "Not today." "Something was stolen from us." "Taken from us." "Taken here." "How do you know whatever you lost was brought here?" "The one who stole from us, the one who brought it here had others with him." "They told us." "How do you know they were telling the truth?" "How do we know?" "We know." "They say the name of the one who stole from us the name of the one who brought it here is Bryson." "Why is it you?" "Why is it always you?" "What did he take?" "More than you can possibly imagine." "For we are drawn to death to the moment of passage, for the purpose of defeating death." "We capture those rare souls." "The poets and philosophers, the artists, the leaders." "We collect them all." "And what was taken from us, what is ours were among the rarest of the rare." "Thousands of years ago, Ralga was a distant world whose name had been forgotten by all but our order." "They were an advanced people who chose not to leave their planet and go beyond the stars." "An exquisite race of poets and dreamers and philosophers and leaders." "A race wise beyond their time and soon to die before their time." "We knew it." "We felt it." "We are drawn by the smell of death." "The passing of the physical form is like a beacon to us." "And we came at once, because we could feel the passing of a billion minds." "We did not know the cause." "If it was a disease or the result of war or some planetary disaster it did not matter." "All that matters is that it happens." "And we decided that we would save them all." "An entire world of souls claimed at the instant of death." "Magnificent achievement." "Only three times in our history have we done such a thing." "Then it was decided to place the Ralga vessel of souls in one of our Whisper Galleries where they would never be alone." "Where they might talk to each other, there in the great gallery." "We were certain that no one else was aware of the location." "Alas, we were wrong." "So you're saying this vessel contains a billion souls?" "Now, look." "Look, I've already been through this once." "I don't believe in souls." "So this thing of yours recorded the thoughts of a billion people hey, that's fine." "I'm with you." "It's a big job, but it's possible." "We've been able to map brain patterns, program memories and even record thought, but don't start with me about this soul business." "It doesn't matter what you believe." "Whatever it is, whatever's inside, was stolen from these people and it should be returned." " Why?" "Look, let's assume you're telling the truth." " Wisdom." " Who says these guys get custody of somebody's soul?" "Were these people ever consulted?" "Would they have chosen to stay locked up like that forever?" " The alternative is death." " Or heaven." "Okay, so I believe in heaven." "You got a problem with that?" "No heaven." "Nothing beyond." "Only the dark, impenetrable wall of death." " Yes?" " We've checked Dr. Bryson's quarters." "He's gone." "It looks like he packed up fast." " Great." " He knows we're here." " They've told him we're here." " These souls they can speak to you?" "The longer you are in their company, the more you can hear their voices." "That vessel must be returned to us." "Only we can attend to it safely." "What do you mean, "safely"?" "There is strength enough in one mind, one soul, to change the universe." "Can you imagine how much strength there would be in 1 billion souls all focused on escape?" " Or worse." "If these minds, souls, whatever..." "They've been imprisoned for 1000 years, what if they're beyond caring about escape?" "What if all they care about now is revenge?" "What could they do?" "It would depend." "They would have to find someone they could influence and direct." "Someone with the knowledge and the resources to do physically what they cannot do." " What could they do?" "In time, almost anything." "Yes." "I understand." "I won't let them take you no matter what." "Better to destroy the station embrace the darkness than go back there." "Yes." "I understand." "I understand." "All we know for sure is that Dr. Bryson has gone underground taking the stolen object with him." "This is a big place, but if he's still here, and our visitor seems confident that he is then we can and will find him." "I want an organized search of every level, starting with the empty quarters." "Check every air duct, crawlspace and sub-level we've got." "Now, we don't know if he's armed, but he should still be considered dangerous." "I want reports on anything strange that happens here tonight no matter how irrelevant it may seem." "Dismissed." "Captain!" "How are you?" "I wanted to know if you had time to consider your response to our suit." " I don't have time for this, Mr. Riley." " Well unless you wanna concede the case, I suggest a more constructive attitude." "We can discuss a settlement, if you'd like." "If you hadn't noticed, we're in the middle of a situation so why don't you go chase an ambulance and let me get back to my business." "I was hoping we could work this out amicably but apparently you prefer a long, drawn-out court fight which is fine with me, since you'll be liable for all the court costs in addition to statutory and punitive damages." "See you." "Damages." "Damage him if he comes in here one more time." "Absolutely." "I love you." "I forgive you." "It's gonna be a long night." "Oh, honey, you look great." "After all those years of working next door to you I always wondered what it would be like." "Now I get to find out." "Honey?" "Nataleena?" "Is it you?" "Durfal, I would know you anywhere no matter how you appeared on the outside." "It's been so long, my husband my life." "So long since I could touch you." "I'm still here." "And you shouldn't..." "I didn't program in a threesome." "At least, I don't think I did." "That is, this isn't what I asked for in my fantasy." "It was just supposed to be you." "Not to say that I'm opposed." "It's just, you know, not exactly what I..." "My psychological profile, you know did raise some questions." "And there was that one time at camp." "It was just that one time and I didn't really think anything..." "Well, I guess I should leave you two alone." " There's a problem with..." " Just a minute." "Right." "I'll just wait right here." "Can I have one of those instead?" " Bab..." "Bab..." "BabCom." "Please insert..." " Come on, you lousy piece of garbage!" " Use your Identicard..." " I already gave you my Identicard number!" " Thank..." "Thank you..." " Make the damn call!" "Hey, what's the deal here?" "Who the hell are you?" "What do you want from me?" "Just stay where you are." "No." "Don't come near me." "I'm telling you, don't come near me." "It's just a lousy machine." "I didn't do anything!" "No!" "No!" "Who let you in here?" "No one." "They were taking me to a place I did not wish to go so I made them sleep." "I went off on my own and my wandering brought me here." " You made them sleep?" " Oh, they are not harmed." "Our order does not harm others unless it is necessary." "It damages the soul." "Does your order consider breaking and entering to be another virtue?" "We are taught to go wherever the spirit moves us." "Well, as long as you're here, I hope you don't mind if I eat." "I haven't had a chance all day." " You're welcome to have some." " No, thank you." "Our ships provide all the nutrition we need." "I can function for several days before I have to return to my ship to feed." "You sure?" "It's barbecue." "There's this place in Downbelow that makes the best barbecued beef burgers." "Not that I have the slightest delusion that this is beef but if it tastes great, you learn not to ask questions." "None of the other command staff even goes near it." "I think the area makes them nervous." "If you didn't wanna talk, why did you come here?" "Why did the spirit move you?" "Curiosity, I suppose." "This is an opportunity to learn." "We have little contact with others." "In fact, we rarely speak to anyone except, of course, those we are called upon to save." "And what happens to them after you've saved them?" "Oh, they are placed in the great halls, which have been provided for that purpose." "And then what?" "And then what, what?" "Okay." "Okay, putting aside for the moment the question about just what it is you're taking, the memory or the soul let's say you take the essence of a great concert pianist and you put him in one of these great halls then what happens?" " We preserve him against the ages." "We continue him." "And that's it?" "He has no further contact with anyone?" "Oh, sometimes we talk with the souls, and they will talk with each other." "I see." "Well, Mr. Garibaldi's feelings about heaven notwithstanding I think you've just described hell as well as anything I've ever heard." "You don't understand because you are trapped in a prison of your own flesh." "The flesh has desires." "The flesh has needs." "But the soul is pure." "The soul needs only to continue." " To be." " Maybe." "And maybe for some souls, it's not enough just being." "It's the doing that makes us what we are." "If these souls were valuable it's because of what they did or the way they saw the world." "What you describe is an existence without the possibility of any change." "Unable to touch the world or affect it." "Unable to express the slightest creative impulse." "Unable to touch or be touched in return." "If Mr. Garibaldi's wrong and there is a heaven you're committing a crime beyond description by taking these souls instead of allowing them to move on." "But if he and we are correct, and there is nothing beyond wouldn't you want to be continued?" "No." "No, not like that." "Not..." "What the hell was that?" "Lochley to C  C." "Lochley to C  C." "That doesn't make sense." "The links have their own independent com system." "Get behind me, now!" "What is it?" "Rage, unleashed." "I'm the one it wants." "Go!" "Get out quickly while you still can!" "Run!" "We can both get out!" "We can..." "Get down!" "No!" "No." "Beautiful, isn't it?" "It's exactly as I remember it." "The reality now is quite different, I imagine." "The towers long since gone to dust." "The cities fallen, destroyed." "But here, in our thoughts, it remains." "Because we remember it, it is." " Stephen?" " No." "In here in this thing, there is only perception and memory." "The mind rejects the impossibility of it." "The horror of it." "So we see what we want to see." "We see the familiar." "You felt a need for a doctor and a friend." "So to you, I look like this." "To me, you look like my wife Shanalla who died two seasons before..." "Before the madness came." "I suppose in the long run, she is lucky." "I do not think that she could have endured this." " What happened?" "I was..." " You were caught in a power struggle." "Literally as well as figuratively." "The mad ones saw an opportunity to take revenge on one of our captors." "Now, we tried to interfere, but they got ahead of us." "When you jumped in front of the other, we were able to adjust the power in the nanoseconds between the time it left the wall and struck you." "Just enough time to stop your heart for a second so that we could talk." "This feels a lot longer than just a second." "In here, time has no meaning." "Out there, it can only be for a moment, because if your body dies out there while you are in here your soul will be trapped in here with us forever." "You said the..."The mad ones."" "Yes." "The result of 10,000 years of captivity." "Over there." "That is where they stay." "More go there every year." "In time, that will be all there is and we will all be lost." "I don't understand." "If you have this much control over the outside why not just have Bryson or someone else destroy the globe that keeps you prisoner?" "It seems even death would have to be better than this." "That is what the mad ones say." "That is why we have to stop them." "They will destroy themselves, you and anyone who gets in their way to take revenge on what has been done." "I was told your people were dying anyway." "No." "No, we weren't." "That is the point." "They made a mistake." "We do not have much time." "You must make them understand." "We were not dying." "You have to tell them." "Tell them they made a mistake." "We were not dying!" "We were evolving!" "We were evolving!" " Yeah." " Lieutenant, this is C  C. Get up here." "I'm en route to the captain." "We've got a problem." "C  C, I'm almost there." "How far away are they?" "They've taken up firing positions all around us." "Okay." "Activate defense grid, launch all Starfuries and if they move, shoot them." "If they don't move, shoot twice." "They're probably hiding something." "Hello." "I came to see how you were doing and to thank you." "No one has ever done for one of us what you have done for me." "We are universally feared and hated." "Failing to understand the nobility of our mission we assume everyone would rather see us dead." "But you have changed all that now at least for me." "And I want to thank you very, very much." "Thank you." "So, what happens to Soul Hunters when they die?" " Do you save your own souls as well?" " No." "We are worthy only to carry on the mission." "Immortality is denied us." "I came also to tell you that others from my order have arrived and they are impatient of my progress here." "Or perhaps I should say lack of progress." "They say that if the soul vessel is not found and returned soon they will come aboard and attend to it themselves." " We won't let them in." " Easy." " May I?" " Thank you." "Since we are rarely invited or welcome in those places that we must go in order to perform our work we have perfected our own means of entry." "All of our ships are made to attach themselves to any other ship and burn through." "When our order is united and determined there is no one that can stop us." "Only the Minbari succeeded, when we came for their leader, Dukhat." " Well, you have to get us more time." " I will speak on your behalf, not to worry." "But I warn you, they are far less patient of the imperfections of other races than I." "Our order is disciplined and directed." "We do not make mistakes." "Yes." "You do." "What?" "You shouldn't move." "I've seen Ralga." "The planet that the souls in the globe came from." "For just a moment I was dead on the operating table." "That's when it happened." "I was inside it." "They pulled me in." "No, no, no." "This cannot be." "You had a dream, perhaps, or an illusion." "It's a ringed planet with a yellow sky and at least two moons." "Their major cities were along the shore." "I'm right, aren't I?" "Yes, but this is not possible." "Even with a conduit to the outside, they cannot be this strong this soon." "In time, perhaps, but not now." "Not yet." "Exactly." "Look at what they've been doing." "Look at the sheer power they've been demonstrating from the start." "These aren't your ordinary souls that you're used to dealing with." "What are you saying?" "We know from the Vorlons and others that when a race evolves beyond a certain point they no longer need a physical body." "They evolve past that point and become beings of pure energy." "Your people were drawn to Ralga because you felt the imminent passing of their physical bodies." "But they weren't dying." "They weren't about to die." "They were about to leave behind their physical bodies and evolve to the next level." "No." "It should've been their greatest moment." "The pinnacle in the evolution of any race." "And just as it happened, just as they became transcendent you took them." "You took them and you stuck them inside a piece of glass for 10,000 years." "You made a mistake." "Those are living souls in there, cut off in their prime." "Trapped, when they should've been exploring the universe." "Half of them have gone mad and the ones who've held on can't control them anymore." "Is it possible?" "We assumed." "We never thought to ask or investigate." "Is this the price of our arrogance?" "Maybe we can't change what's been done but we can try to fix what we can now." " What must I do?" "Talk to your people." "Buy me some time." "And for God's sake, keep them away from this station." "We've got half a billion souls crying out for revenge someplace in here." "The last thing we need is to show them some more targets." "I will do this." "Lochley to C  C." "Online." "Captain, you shouldn't be up." "Yeah, I know." "Where's Zack?" "They've focused their investigation in Brown Sector, level 11." "Brown 11." "So, what's the location of the Soul Hunter ships?" "Holding position but refusing to back away from the station." "Great." "Anything else?" "Negative." "Getting some atypical readings from the reactor, but that's all." "All right." "Keep me informed." "All right, let's spread out." "Keep your eyes open." "This has to be the right place." "I'm telling you, Michael, this is a dead end." "We have to move on." "No." "No, this has to be the spot." "This is where most of the weird reports are coming from." " Over here." "Chief, over here!" "He's dead." " No sign of injuries, no wounds." " Look at his face." " He looks like he's been scared to death." " You!" "Hey!" "I wanna talk to you." " I thought you had this area cleared." " I did." "What the hell are you doing here?" "You don't think I know what you're doing?" "You cordon off the area scare away my customers and interfere with my programs." "Zack, do you know this guy?" "Yeah, he runs a holobrothel down the way a bit." "A holobrothel?" "You know they're not supposed to be on the station." " Yeah, I know, I know, but..." " Hey, hey!" "Excuse me I'm talking here." "I've already notified my attorney and if you think these scare tactics can get rid..." " Is he dead?" " Seriously dead." " What happened?" " Scare tactics." "You mean this isn't a routine just to get rid of us?" "What isn't a routine?" " That's the holobrothel?" " Yeah." "It makes sense." "Lock all those minds up in a jar for 10,000 years first thing they'll do is find some way to get into a body, real or projected." "They've got access to all my files, even private ones." "You've gotta stop them." "They're my personal files." "Who cares?" "What's the big deal about...?" "The captain?" " You used the captain's image so guys...?" " She's a public figure." "You know, public domain." "Free speech." "It's a satire." " Satire?" " I'm not saying anything without a lawyer." "You sleaze-bucket piece of..." "Hey!" "What?" "What am I supposed to do, blind myself here?" "All right, fine, I'm as offended as you are." "But I can see why a lot of guys would rent this particular image." "Actually, it was mainly women." "All right, gentlemen." "What are we...?" "Touch me and I'll sue." "Get him out of here." "Come on, you perv." "You said the holographic images couldn't go outside the brothel." "They can't, normally." "They must be pumping a hell of a lot of power into that thing." " We..." " We've got movement." " Is there another way into that corridor?" " Yeah, this way." "Oh, give me a break." "For 10,000 years, we have been prisoners." "For 10,000 years, we have had one need one ambition, one dream:" "To strike back at those who imprisoned us." "Though we will enter the great dark with them the sacrifice is a worthy one." "To end our suffering and our pain." "To end it all." "We are on the path." "Now all we have to do is wait here and let our vengeance come to us." "What's that supposed to...?" "Did you notice?" "The lights dimmed for a second, but those figures there didn't even flicker." "Yeah." "I figured it was the excess drain of the holograms." "Well, yeah, so did I, but if they're on the same circuit both powered by the same source, they both should've dimmed for a second." "You're right." "The only way the lights alone could have dimmed is if they're being controlled independently." "Oh, hell." " Where are you going?" " To check a theory." "Stay there in case I'm wrong." "I was right." "Damn it, I was right." "Excuse me." " What?" "What were you right about?" " I was right there and they didn't react." "They're to distract us." "They put the holograms there and left." " There's nothing inside them anymore." " Where'd they go?" "Not yet." "Not till I get rid of their eyes and ears." "Got it." " How far are we from the hull?" " About 10, 12 levels." "Good." "Wait here." " Was that a thermal grenade?" " Looked like it." "Where is she...?" "Where is she going?" "No!" "C  C, we had an explosion in Brown 11." "We need a cleanup crew, ASAP." "Sorry." "Had to do it." "Didn't want to make it easier to watch us, find out we know what they're up to." "Great." "Maybe you can fill me in." "If they've got control of the power supply, they control the enhanced-fusion reactor." "We got a lot of Soul Hunter ships outside and inside, a group that will die to strike back." "So you blow up the station, you take out the Soul Hunters." "Exactly." "They're gonna blow the reactor." "We think we know where the control system was hacked." "Grey 4." "Good." "Lochley to C  C. How much longer till the reactor goes critical?" " Estimate 15 minutes." " Keep me informed of changes." "Keep trying to bypass the control system." "Cut them off." " Will do." " I'll hook up with the assault team and meet you there." "Let's go." "Grey 4." "That was good thinking back there." "How'd you know that little gathering was a distraction?" "It was obvious." "For a spokesperson, they could have picked any image from the holobrothel." "But they chose the one they knew would draw my attention." "Why else would they choose my image?" "I hear it's very popular." " Is it?" " So I'm told." "There you are." "Were you able to get through to your other ships?" "Yes, I was." "But unfortunately, they refused to believe me." "They said that if such a thing were true they would have discovered it themselves after a detailed analysis." " Well, did they?" " No such analysis was ever done because they do not believe that there was any reason for it." "They are absolutely certain that we have always acted properly." "Hence, no investigation was ever necessary." "Faith is good, but sometimes faith is blind." "Well, I don't get it." "You're here now." "You've seen it." "I understand why they don't believe us, but why not believe you?" " You're one of their own kind." " But they suspect that this is part of an elaborate scheme on your part to prevent us from taking back the vessel of souls so you can keep it for yourselves." "Forgive me, friends, but in my order I am considered quite young, only 4000 years old and as such, I am also considered quite naive." "I am obliged to tell you that if the vessel of souls is not returned to our order within 20 of your time minutes they will attack." " Great." "By then we'll all be five minutes dead anyway, so by all means, let them come." "Team 4 to chief." "We're moving up for a cleaner angle." "All right." " Lochley." "Go." " We're in position." " Good to go." " All right." "Stand by." "Listen, captain, before you open fire, let me try and talk to him." "They're able to do this because Bryson is a conduit to the outside world." "If I can get through to him, appeal to his humanity maybe we can shut them down that way." "Look, it's worth a shot." "The only other choice is to kill him and maybe a billion souls inside that thing." "I wouldn't want that on my conscience." "All right." "Take your best shot." "Bryson." "Bryson." "Hey, it's me." "Remember me?" "Michael Garibaldi, your boss?" "I gotta tell you you're way outside the kind of behavior that we allow in the employee handbook." "All right." "I know you don't wanna do this." "You dedicated your life to preserving, to finding a means of immortality." "You can't let whatever's inside that thing kill a quarter million people on this station." "And themselves, for that matter." "I know you're inside there, Bryson." "I know you don't want this to happen." "I know you can fight them." "On the other hand..." "Fire!" "Lochley to Zack." "Break off." "Save your charges." "Will do." "All right, hold your fire." "Hold your fire!" "We've only got a few minutes left." " Garibaldi, we've got movement over here." " Oh, what now?" "This is all our fault." "Our arrogance blinded us to our mistakes." "We thought we were incapable of any error." "We were very wrong." "You showed me that." "We never should have stored the vessels in dark places where they would eventually go mad, as these poor souls have gone mad." "We never should have claimed them in the first place." "But we actually thought we were doing them a service, an honor." "Can you imagine?" "In fact, we were monsters, a terror far worse than death." "I wish the others could talk to you the way I have." "In time they would have understood and believed." "Thanks, but time is something we're just about out of." "No, wait." "There may still be a way to bridge the two sides." "Listen, they were powerful enough to draw you into their vessel which proves beyond a doubt that they are highly advanced." "Well, yes, but I doubt the other Soul Hunters will take my word for it." "I know." "Please, listen to me." "What we did to you was wrong." "I see that now." "And there may be a way to correct our mistake." "But this destruction is not it." "We can return you to our world and find a way to release you from your bondage." "At first, for brief times, of course as you have achieved here through the holograms." "And then later, we can invite others to come and allow you to express yourselves through them." "Allow you to see an open sky again." "Allow you to feel the ground under your feet again until that day when we will release you permanently." "I know that my order will set this mistake right once they understand they have made a mistake." "Once we make them understand." "And until that time I offer myself freely as a symbol of our sincerity." "You have the power to take me inside and prove to all that you are highly developed, living souls who were cut off at the moment of your supreme evolution." "And once my soul joins yours you will know instantly that I am telling the truth and you will have good reason to trust us." "I beg you give us this opportunity to correct our mistake." "Let my soul be a bridge between us until that day when you shall be released." "Let the death of this body be your only remaining vengeance and let my soul be a doorway of hope." "You took her now take me." "No." "Wait." "Wait!" "Let's see if they believed him." "Doesn't matter." "If they didn't, we're dead in two minutes." " Let's move in!" " Stand down from red alert." "Reactor levels have returned to normal." "He's still alive." "Security to Medlab." "We need a trauma team in Grey 4, stat." "On their way, chief." "I never knew the name of the other one from your order who came." "He never told me." "I don't even know if you have names." "All I know is that he gave his promise and his life to protect you and this place and the billion minds trapped inside this thing." "Make sure the promise he made on your behalf is kept or I promise you, the hunters will become the hunted." "I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that his sacrifice was not in vain." "The mind sees what it needs to see." "The soul sees what the soul sees." "Off." "Well, at least that's over." " I hope they can find a solution." " I think they'll get there, eventually." "But it's gonna take a long time." "They've waited 10,000 years." "What's another few hundred?" "Lieutenant Corwin tells me you'll be leaving in a short time." "I've gotta get back to Mars." "We have a ton of these leftover black projects to investigate." " What about Bryson?" " He's still disoriented." "Not that he was stable to begin with, but they think he'll be all right." "You know, the amazing thing is, after all this he still wants to search for the secret of life eternal with or without financing." "I can think of less worthy goals." "I just hope he comes up with something quieter next time." "Have a good trip back, Michael." "I will see you when I see you." "In about a month." "I've got business in the area so I figured I'd swing by, take a few days off check out the old digs." "It'll be great to hang out again." "It'll be like the old days." "I'll see you." "Shoot me." "Shoot me now." "Captain Lochley." "Mr. Riley." "So good to see you." " I was beginning to miss our little talks." " Oh, gosh." "Me too." "However, my client has informed me that, in light of recent events involving your wanton acts of destruction we are now prepared to bring not only civil but also criminal charges against you." " For what?" " For...?" " You blew up the man's business." " Oh, that." "Well, Mr. Riley, in that case, I suggest you revisit his lease." "You did read it, didn't you?" " Of course." " Well, then you missed section seven, clause four, which states quite clearly that Babylon 5 and myself are not liable for damages resulting from military action." " Oh, that was completely unjustified." " I have a couple of dozen security personnel engaged in combat who would disagree with you." "In fact, already have." " What's this?" " Depositions by all those involved supporting my use of force and the nature of the combat." "Further, since all prior charges were centered around the condition of the "entertainment center" and the ability of said business to operate freely the destruction of your client's office makes this discussion moot." " Oh, just a minute..." " Now I'm sure you could choose to contest this, then we get into the illegal use of my image by your client's holobrothel which would require a countersuit and I doubt very much you'd win that one, counselor." " Captain do you really expect me to go back to my client with nothing?" "Absolutely not." "Here." "You can have this." "I find it very useful in times of great stress." "Go ahead." "It was a gift to me from a friend, so now I'm giving it to you with a few minor modifications." "I'm an idiot." "I'm a loser." "No one likes me." "My mommy dresses me funny." "Zack was right." "There is a heaven."