"We saw the Earth destroyed." "And in a heartbeat, everything and everyone we knew... was gone." "There were five of us." "The crew of the space shuttle Odyssey." "And we were the only survivors." "A mysterious being who called himself The Seeker... rescued us and sent us back in time." "And now we have five years to live over." "Five years to discover who or what destroyed the Earth." "Five years to stop it from happening again." " Stop." " Come back." "Darling, darling." " Hi." "Enrique Pena." " Yeah, I know." "I saw you pitch a no-hitter against the Padres." " Pretty awesome." " Thanks." "But I'd trade 10 no-hitters for one ride aboard the space shuttle." " So I guess I don't have to introduce myself." " It's kind of weird, isn't it?" "People knowing who you are without you telling them." "It's kind of fun and scary at the same time." "Yeah." "You get to the front of the ticket line... but the bad news is, that the guy behind you is a stalker." "Well, it was nice meeting you." "By the way, would you mind if I called you sometime?" "Oh, I'm very flattered, but I don't think so." "Yeah." "I mean, sure." "I'll give you my pager number." "Terrific." " We'll talk." " Yeah." "Excuse me." "I'm sorry, but do you know you bear the most uncanny resemblance..." " to Natalie Portman in Episode II?" " Yeah?" "I thought she had dark hair." "Oh, well, yeah." "But, I mean, sort of a likeness of spirit." "Well, I wouldn't know." "I have to confess, I haven't seen a Star Wars movie..." " since about 1983." " Oh, I see." "Well, that's a funny thing, considering you're an astronaut, though." "Yeah, well, life is full of those little ironies." "Anyway, it's nice meeting you." "Listen, listen, if you're not busy later... maybe we could get together and have lunch some evening." "I'm okay." "I'm all right, now." "Listen, would you like to see a show?" "I haven't seen Siegfried and Roy." " Makes me Miss Siegfried and Roy." " Siegfried and Roy?" "We're using code words, Chuckie." "There's the menu." "Siegfried and..." "It was recommended to me by my Aunt Tova." "How's it going with Tova?" " Tova." " Yeah." "Yeah, I got it." "Well, I guess everyone has to lunch, don't they?" "Yes." "It's just for a few days, Chuck, until she's feeling better." " I understand." " Well, she thought she had a heart attack." "It's a lot of stress for someone my mother's age." " I just wanna be there for her." " I understand, honey." "Chuck, you were right, okay?" "You were right about it not being a heart attack... and I thank God that you were right." "But it also scares the hell out of me." "I'm just..." "I don't wanna think about all the rest of it." "And if I stay here, that's gonna be all I think about..." " and I'm just not..." " Honey, I understand." "You wanna go to Arizona, you go to Arizona." "Your mother's got indigestion, you could send her a Tums... but you wanna go to Arizona and breathe all that hot, dry air... you go." "Thank you." "How in the hell would he know about those dumb-ass codes you made up?" "Yes, perhaps he's simply a devotee of sexually ambiguous lion-tamers." "He used the word "Tova." He knew." "He wanted to meet you." "Us." " How did he know to ask about us?" " I have no idea." "Ask him yourself." "Hi." "Hi." "Oh, sorry." "Let me help you." "I'll help..." "Sorry." "It's..." "Sorry." "Spastic dyspepsia." " Hi." " Hi." "Harry, meet Siegfried and Roy." "Guys, this is Harry Mudd." " What?" " It's a Star Trek reference." "Hello." "Dr Leonard McCoy." "Listen, I don't give a rat's ass what your name is." "How do you know about us?" "Why do you wanna see us?" "Well, I know about lots of things." "For instance, Kitten." " Or should I say Kit-10?" " How the hell you know about that, pal?" "Well, really, from picking up traces of waste code... and I put two and two together and came up with five." " Okay, wait a minute, you're a hacker?" " You could say that, yeah." "Son, you don't know what a shit storm you've stepped into... and if I were you, I'd go home and forget everything you think you know." "Yeah?" "Well, danger's my business, Siegfried." "Oh, shit." "Oh, jeez!" "Sorry." "Hey, this guy's got no lines on his hands." "He's a Synthetic." "Oh, did I forget to mention that?" "Guys." "Oh, shit." "Synthetics." "It's a trap!" " Get to the car." " Shit." "I had nothing to do with that!" "What's he..." " God." " What's he..." " What the hell?" " Jesus." "How is he doing that?" " Oh, no." " Hey!" "What?" "Don't sweat it." "They're after me, not you." " Everything's copacetic." " Copacetic?" "What are you, the long-lost android member of the Rat Pack?" "Okay." "Here we go." "I can get it." "Hello?" " Amazing." " That's it." "They're bound to adapt to it, so it won't work twice." "So, my place or yours?" "Why in the hell should we take you anyplace?" "Why in the hell should we trust you at all?" "For all we know... that chase was a set-up." "Excellent point." "Okay, look at this." "See this button?" "Push it once, it takes me off-line." "Push it a second time, I go back on." "Just don't let me see when you're pushing it... and that way you'll know I'm telling the truth... and then you can dump me by the side of the road if you want." "Either way, my fate is in your..." " It works." " I'll be damned." "Okay, this is strange, even by our standards." "So what do we do?" "Do we trust him or dump him?" "I think he's too fucking nutty not to trust him." "...hands, like I was saying, you..." "Would you take that thing away from him?" "Stop playing with the goddamn toy." "Jesus, kid." "Who in the hell are you?" "Well, you know, the things you've been calling Sentients... are really just beings... that suck up code and data from the Internet." "The more useful and complex the data, the more powerful the Sentients become." "Except, you know, not all Sentients... take in useful data." "Some feed on what uncharitably might be called junk, you know." "Conspiracy theories... or pornography, Internet chat sites about cancelled TV series and comic books." " Bottom feeders." " Judgemental, isn't he?" " It's unusual in one so young." " No, it ain't." "Continue." "Well, these "bottom feeders," as you so charmingly dub them... they don't stand a chance against the really powerful Sentients, you know?" " Most of us either get absorbed or deleted." " Us?" "Are you saying that we're standing here talking to a string of code?" "Well, yeah." "I mean, you're code, too." "In your case, it's DNA code." "So, you're saying that you were downloaded into a Synthetic body, right?" "No." "Actually, I stole mine." " You stole it?" " Yeah." "From a Synthetics lab from another Sentient." "This body isn't finished, and so, hence my lack of coordination." "But those guys in black that were chasing us, they're like repo men." "Well, in all deference to you being in deep shit, you're a Sentient." "So aside from your charm and panache and verve... why in the hell should we give a shit about you?" "Well, because it's not just me who's in deep shit, Siegfried." "It's the whole world." "I mean, there are thousands of Sentients out there." "Some of them are coldly rational, other ones are bestial..." " and some..." " Just kind of goofy." "Some can only be described by human standards as clinically insane." "Like one I ran across recently." "Her hobbies include figuring out ways to destroy the world." "Come again?" " Her name is Phaedra." " Phaedra?" "She's both incredibly powerful, and incredibly intelligent." " Wait a minute. "She?"" " Like shorthand." " Sentients have seven different genders." " Harry, tell me something." "How in the hell does she intend to destroy the world?" "Well, it has something to do with the production of strangelets." " Strangelets?" " Strangelets." "Yeah." "Yeah." " They're theoretical sub-atomic particles." " Why does she wanna destroy it?" "Because she is as crazy as a loon." "Haven't you been listening?" "Wow." "The prototypical human household." "You know, I've seen pictures, but I've never actually been inside one." "If you're looking for typical, you got the wrong shack, bubba." "Wait a minute." "This is the..." "Don't tell me, the... the foyer?" "Look, the living room." "The heartbeat of the American family." "From Ozzie Nelson to Ozzy Osbourne." "Both wisdom and compassion are regularly dispensed here." "Okay, you definitely have the wrong house." "That's orangy." "Oh, look, the dining room." "Where daily rituals of food consumption strengthen family ties." "Oh, the kitchen." "Look..." "The refrigerator." "Oh." "Stove, and the microwave." "The..." "Cap'n Crunch." "Do you actually cook here?" "In a kitchen?" "What in the world makes you think that?" "Well, actually, Dad, he has a point." "You don't cook here." "That's right, I don't." "He does have a point." " Yeah, speaking of which, what's for dinner?" " Hell if I know." "I can do it." "I can." "I have absorbed websites from at least three different cooks... including Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse." "Please, let me repay your hospitality... by cooking for you." "What do you say?" "Dinner?" "Now, I know why human children love fire engines!" "Truly, you live in a world of wonder!" "I was a Navy brat." "My dad was a petty officer." "But the only boat I was interested in was the aircraft carrier." "You liked the planes." "Crazy about them." "I used to sneak off to the nearest airfield, sit on the other side of the fence... and just watch the jets take off." "I loved to feel the roar of the engine in my bones, you know." "Every time I hit a baseball, I want to feel the vibrations go down the bat... and then right up my arm like an old friend." "First time I had sex... it was in the grass outside Love Field in Dallas... with 747 s thundering overhead." "I have never, ever duplicated that experience." "Oh, my God." "I can't believe I just told you that." "I'm impressed, but not daunted." "Oh, God." "I'm sorry, Enrique." " I gotta go." "NASA business." " Late-night mission to Mars?" "Yeah, something like that." "I really enjoyed this." "Yeah." "Me, too." "Let's do it again?" "You interrupted my date for a physics lesson?" "Listen, listen, listen, listen." "All atomic nuclei are composed of quantum particles known as quarks." "Now, quarks come in several flavours." "Think of them as quantum gelato, if you will." "Honey-roasted amaretto, double Dutch chocolate, whatever." " I don't care." " Wait." "And then there are strange quarks, known as strangelets." "When they're negatively charged, they're attracted... to the positive-charged nuclei of ordinary atoms." "The kind that make up this chair, you, me, and the entire Earth, for that matter." "Now, look at this." "Piggy little fuckers." "Never know when to stop eating... and before you can say "party snack"..." " voila." " Oh, Jesus." " Look at that, it's totally bogus." " What?" "The very act of disassembling someone's atomic structure... and then reassembling without even a receiver on the end?" "Okay, point taken." "You need a receiver... but what it really does, it destroys the original... and makes an exact copy on the other side, the receiving end." "Yeah, but according to Heisenberg... the very act of scanning would disrupt the original... thus making an exact duplicate impossible." "The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen effect allows for that." "How else do you explain the physics team in Australia... that took apart a laser beam and recreated it a metre away?" "That's right." "Am I right in assuming they don't teach Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen... in high-school science?" "Yeah, I'm a little ahead of my class." "You know, it's nice having somebody around... that understands this stuff." "Thanks." " Oh, sorry about the bottom-feeder crack." " Okay." "You are what you eat." "Would you two geniuses get off your fat butts... and come here and give us a hand?" " Sure." " Yeah." "You see, they're only hypothetical particles, right now... but it's theorised they might be an accidental byproduct... of the collision of heavy ions in supercollider experiments." "But, actually, the guy I talked to said that that's been pretty much disproven." "Experiments on gold ions in New York and Switzerland... failed to produce any strangelets whatsoever." "Strangelets, quarks, I mean, what is there, a book of nerd words?" " Who thinks up these names?" " But, Sarah's quite right, actually." "No strangelets were produced at Brookhaven or Cern... but there's a supercollider outside of Houston... where they're actually trying to create strange quarks, using even heavier ions." " Could this place be run by Synthetics?" " No, Phaedra doesn't use Synthetics." "She must be influencing the experiment in another way." "Okay, here's the deal." "Sarah, you, me and Neil, we'll check out this place..." " TexStar Laboratories." " Okay." "How about this time, you're undercover... hosting a series on cutting-edge technologies for KNBS?" "Yeah, whatever." "Kurt, you babysit the genius." "Oh, no." "Babysit?" " Do I look like a juvenile of your species?" " Shut up." "You are not to touch anything, and you're not allowed in the kitchen." " Is that clear?" " Abundantly." "Well, frankly, I had no idea you Synthetics could consume food." "When Chuck was part Synthetic, he was never hungry." "Well, we don't have to eat." "It's just that, you know... we're supposed to blend in with humanity and food's a big part of human life." "Certainly is." "Certainly is." "You know, I have a lay interest in the workings of Synthetics." "Perhaps we can continue this discussion tomorrow, 'cause I'm tired." " Oh, no problemo." " And you can sleep on the couch over there." "Oh, I don't sleep, but I'll sit." "Right." " Goodnight." " Goodnight." " Stop that." " Stop what?" " Staring at me." "It makes me nervous." " How could you tell?" " Your eyes were closed." " I can hear your breathing." " I don't breathe." " Then just go read a book." "Do something." " Okay." "Gosh, you organics are so touchy." " Shut up." " "Go read a book," he says." " Shut up." " What the fuck are you doing here?" " Good morning." "God." "That's an oxymoron." "Bloody hell." " You've been reading this all night?" " Oh, yes." "You know, you have an impressive collection of pornography." " Yes, it was my minor in college." " Oh." "Hey, you hungry?" " I can make breakfast." " No!" "Stay away from the kitchen." " Okay." " I intend to void myself... then take a shower, and then we'll go for lox and bagels... at the neighbourhood deli." "Stay away from the kitchen, or I will kill you." "Gee." " Hello?" " Can I speak with Kurt, please?" "He's indisposed." " Who is this?" " I'm Harry." "Can I take a message?" "Well, you can tell him Shari called, and that I just called to say hi... and that I miss him." "Well, if you miss him, why don't you come on over?" " Really?" "You think I should?" " Yeah, why not?" "He'll be out of the shower in a few minutes, minty fresh." " Harry, should I maybe bring a friend?" " Can if you want." " Great." "See you in a little bit." "Bye." " Bye." "The supercollider rings are nearly two and a half miles in circumference." "Okay." "So what actually happens when you start the process?" " Can you take us through it?" " Sure." "Well, we fire two particle beams of heavy ions... each beam going in opposite directions." "They go round and round, picking up velocity... until they're travelling at 99.995% the speed of light." "Sounds like a hell of a horse race." "What do you do, bet on your favourite ion?" " No betting allowed on this track." " So what happens when the ions collide?" "Well, for one billionth of a trillionth of a second, they break up into a plasma... consisting of quarks and gluons, the glue that holds the quarks together." "So what the hell's a strangelet... and why the hell do I feel strange every time I say that word?" "Well, it's a quark with, well, strange properties." "Theoretically, it could combine with ordinary atoms... to create new, exotic forms of matter." "What about these people, who say that you could start a chain reaction... in which the strangelets gobble up everything in sight?" "And the entire Earth is transformed into strange matter?" " Yeah." " That won't happen." "Why not?" "It's possible only if the strangelets have a negative charge." "The odds overwhelmingly favour the creation of ones with a positive charge..." " which would be essentially harmless." " Would you bet the house on that?" "I'd bet the house and everything in it." "My colleagues and I have done the math 100 times over." "The Earth is in no danger of being gobbled up." " The math." " You heard the lady." " Hi, Kurt." " Hi." "Shari." "Hello, darling." "This is a pleasant surprise." "Didn't Harry tell you we were coming over?" "No, he didn't." " Well, she said she missed you." " She did?" "Yeah, he's so sweet." "He said, "Come right over, bring a friend."" " Oh, he did?" " Hi." "I'm Sherri." "But of course you are, darling." " We're not interrupting anything, are we?" " Oh, no, no, no, darling." "It's just, under normal circumstances, I would be delighted to see you... but, you see, Harry is my colleague... and we were discussing something or other, weren't we, Harry?" "Do you know that Kurt has an amazing collection of pornography?" " Thank you, Harry." " It's okay." "You know, I've absorbed millions of kilobytes of information... from the leading pornographic websites, and so I..." "I have theoretical knowledge though I lack firsthand experience." " You poor thing." " Yes, you poor thing." " Yeah." "Though I am anatomically correct." " Aren't we all?" "Come in, come in, please." "Come in." "Is something wrong, Harry?" "I'm sorry." "I have decreased sensitivity in my skin." " My neural net's unfinished as a result of..." " As a result of... an unfortunate congenital disorder, isn't that right, Harry?" " Huh?" " A genital disorder?" "Oh, poor baby." "Well, you see, the thing is..." "Good God." " Wow." " Oh, Harry." " Harry." " What?" "Wait, wait, wait, you don't believe that's real, do you?" "Come on." "So, TexStar has at least two firewalls... separating its public website from its internal network." "But if I can trick the NAT into giving up the IP address, then..." "Okay." "I'm over the first wall." "Okay, so can we bust into the experiment or whatever the hell it is?" " Not without a password." " Try Phaedra." "Phaedra?" "What are you, the King of Obviousland?" " It's never gonna work." " Just try it, kid." "Okay?" " Hey, hey." " Holy shit." "I'm pretty good at higher math, but this is way beyond me." "So we call up the goofball." "Maybe he can make some sense out of it, right?" "Who?" "That was amazing." " Cigarette?" " No." "I had no idea that these Synthetic bodies... were so sophisticated in replicating human bodily functions." "You know, in my world... when two Sentients join, it's a hostile act." "It's a nullification." "It's like a conquest." "But this..." "This was a joining of two entities... each retaining their own individuality, but still greater than the sum of its parts." "I have never felt such... trust, such intimacy with another entity." "It was wondrous." "It was magical." "How do you human beings stand such bliss?" "Perhaps because we forget how wondrous it truly is." "Unless we're reminded from time to time." "It's the one thing that fuels our very lives." " Harry?" " Yeah?" "How fast can you get these clothes on?" "Quick." "Go, go, go!" " Harry, move your Synthetic ass." " I'm coming, I'm coming." "Come on." "Hurry." "Okay." "The ladder." "Just step, step." " Oh, no step." " That's it." " Good, yeah." " Foot, right there." "There's no..." "I can't..." "Hang on." "Shit." "Can these things withstand the collision with a ton of speeding metal like Superman?" "Yes, but unlike Superman, they're governed by the force of gravity." "Gravitational forces, of course, as you know..." "Shut up." "You know, in the original Superman comic, Superman couldn't fly." " But, then..." " Shut up." "Man, this is way beyond me." "Yeah, well, you're the computer-geek genius..." " so tell us something." " Well, excuse me..." "I'm a little light on quantum chromodynamics, how about you?" "Well, why not tell us something about what Phaedra's done to screw up this..." " Supercollider." " Supercollider shit." "Well, I see Phaedra's footprints." "You know, little bits of waste code... and experimental calculations, but I think the data's been compromised." "So, Kitaro thinks it'll end one way, but in reality..." ""Boom." Or should that be "fwoosh"?" "Yeah, yeah." "Come with me." "Excuse us, Harry, okay?" "Lest I remind you gentlemen, in the original timeline... the world did not blow up for another five years." "So it may not blow up for the five years in the next timeline either." "Yeah, yeah, or again, maybe our presence here sped up the process." "Maybe our contact with one of these Sentients... pushed Phaedra over the edge." "In either event, we've got time." "The experiment's not due to commence until next week." "Time, maybe." "Anyway." "Right." "Angela, hi, it's me." "Is this your husband and son?" "Yeah." "That's Paul and that's Corey." " Did you reproduce in the usual manner?" " No, we found him under a cabbage leaf." "Oh." "No." "I'm sorry." "What I meant to say is, was he adopted?" "No." "No, he's all ours." "I mean, theoretically... it's possible for Sentients to reproduce, but I... don't really know of any that have." "And can I ask you a personal question?" "What's it like to have a child?" "Oh, I'm sorry." "Did I say something wrong?" "No." "No, I just..." "I just miss him so much." "He's having a play date about a half a mile from here at Laughlin Park." "Technically, I'm not supposed to see him... but every day that I don't see him, I worry that he misses me just a little less." "Hello?" "Oh, hey, J.D., hold on." " It's my lawyer." "I'm gonna take this." " Okay." "I'm so pleased to meet you, Dr Mendel." "I've read your books, but I wasn't aware that your field of expertise..." " had widened to include nuclear physics." " Oh, believe me, it hasn't." "But I've been consulting with Miss Forbes on her television series... and I have reason to believe that your data has been compromised." "Take a look at this." " How did you access this?" " Through a password called "Phaedra."" " That's not a valid password in our system." " Well, why don't we try it, Doc?" "Please?" "Oh, my God." "How?" "Somebody's accessed your data, Doc." "Somebody's been screwing around with it." "The experiment has been compromised, Doctor." "You must recheck your calculation." "Hey, is that Game Boy, or Game Boy Advance?" " I wish." " Heard the Spiderman game is pretty cool." " You play video games?" " Oh, yeah." "Sometimes I get so immersed in them, I feel like I'm right inside them." " You like cartoons?" " Honey, he's a grown-up." " Powerpuff Girls rule." " I like Justice League." "Yeah, but who doesn't?" "Like there's Hawkgirl, but no Hawkman." "What's that all about?" "I'd like one cone with three scoops of strawberry... and one cone with one scoop of strawberry and sprinkles." "I would never take you for a sprinkles person." " Don't tell anyone." " There you go." "Enjoy that." "Thank you." " You lost him?" " My lawyer called." "I went into the bedroom to talk to him and I turned around and he was gone." " Have you checked the entire building?" " Twice." "Oh, God, oh, God, I lost a six-foot-tall Sentient... who holds the key to humanity's future." "Chuck's gonna gut me like a fish when he finds out." "Yeah, at least." "He couldn't have gone far." "Grab your cell phone." "We'll search..." " Harry, we've been..." "Corey?" " Hi, Mum." "Wait a minute." "What are you..." "What are you doing here?" "Harry says he'll take me to see you, 'cause you missed me." " But did your grandma say that it was okay?" " She doesn't know." "Harry runs really fast, Mama." "Honey, that's really great, but Grandma's gonna be worried." "We got to get you back to her." "Come on." "I'll take you." "You wanna go with me?" "Yeah." "Wait a minute." "Look at me." "What is this?" "Ice cream?" " Strawberry." " You hate strawberry ice cream." " You like it." " Reminds him of you." "Give me a hug." "I love you, baby." " Here, go with Auntie Angela." " Come on, let's go find Grandma." "I'll bet she's having a good time at the park." " Thanks, Harry." " Thank you." "For a minute, I could pretend he was mine." "The Phaedra password seems to have opened up a second set of calculations... with different variables and assumptions leading to different conclusions." "It's like a second set of accounting books." "One has the correct figures, and the other's numbers are cooked." "The data from our preliminary experiments has been doctored." "The real data suggests that strangelets with a negative charge would be formed." "Which would digest all the positive matter... they came in contact with, i.e. The entire Earth." "Potentially, yes." "The entire Earth." "Dr Mendel, Commander Taggart, I can't thank you enough... for bringing this to my attention." "What's going on?" "The programme has been initialised somehow." "Phaedra." "Tandem Van de Graaff generator is powering up." " What does that do?" " It strips the atoms of their electron clouds." "It's the first step in the process... and I can't shut it down." "Maltz, it's me." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Shit." "Heavy ion-transfer line powering up." "I might be able to interface with the computer." "Take control of the system." "Look, just try and slow down the process as much as you can until we get there." " Over here." " Okay." "Let's go." "Hey!" "Fuck!" "You were saying, mighty mouth?" " That body doesn't belong to you." " Oh." " Our Sentient wants it back." " Oh, well, that's exactly why... you probably shouldn't use those guns and damage it." "Why don't we go inside and have a cup of coffee and talk about it?" "Those are fabulous suits." "Can I get your tailor's number?" "Synthetic pressure points." "You girls think I didn't know what I was doing." "Yeah." " This is impossible." " What?" "What's impossible?" "I took the back-up generator off-line, too." "Phaedra must be tapping into another power grid somewhere." "Hey, Doc, what do you say we just go down in the bowels of this here building... and pull out the goddamn plumbing with our bare hands, huh?" "At the moment, I can't think of a better alternative." " Hey." " Lieutenant Commander Perry?" " Yeah." " Wait here, please." " Damn it." " What?" "This is supposed to override the card reader." "What can we do?" "Break the door?" "Break the lock?" "What?" "No, it's three-feet thick to shield against radiation." " They're all electronically controlled?" " Yes." "Dr Kitaro..." "I have Lieutenant Commander Perry waiting for you upstairs." "Okay." "Get a team down here." "See if they can short out the lock..." " and open this thing manually." " Yes, Doctor." "I need a utility team in section 18 right away." "The weak and squeamish of heart may wish to turn away now." "Oh, what the hell is he doing?" " Somebody stop him, please." " Just take it easy, Doctor." " The situation's under control." " One second, one second." "Okay." "Good." "I'm online." "How is this possible?" "It's an experimental bio-cyber interface." "Nothing to worry about." "Yeah, for possible use with long-range space probes." "Hey, hey, Doc." "This is a super-secret situation." "I took a big risk bringing this gentleman here." "We've done it." "It's the best we could do, so swing with it." "I see." "Yeah, so how much time we got in the countdown?" "First bunch of heavy ions are in the transfer line." "On their way to the booster, where they'll surf radio waves..." " on their way to near-light speed." " I can't do it." "I can't break in." "She's got too firm a lock on the system." "How much time we got?" "Ten, fifteen minutes before the ion beams reach top speed." " Okay." "Well, what do we do?" " I'm gonna authorise the use of explosives." "Try and blow off the doors to the tunnel." "Want me to try and talk to her and maybe find out..." " why she wants to blow up the world?" " Yeah, why the hell not?" "We got nothing to lose." "Do something." "Do something." "Okay, okay." "Phaedra, come out, come out, wherever you are." "Go away." "You're too late." "Just think about it." "If you destroy the world, you'll cease to exist." "I know this." "I long for this." " Oh, you long for non-existence?" " I long for surcease, for rest... from the constant struggle, the endless battle for primacy." " The struggle with those of our kind?" " I must evolve." "I must become more than I am." "I must conquer and absorb the vanquished's code." " Yes..." " I consume more data... but always there are more questions than answers." "I know so much, yet know so little." "What is the meaning of life?" "What is the point to existence?" "I think she's absorbed too much existentialist philosophy." "We are now talking to a string of computer code... who's got the blues, 'cause she read too many French books?" "Yeah, she's depressed." "It happens to everybody." "Phaedra, listen to me." "You are not alone." "I am alone." "Once there was another, a kindred." "We forged an alliance against Kwon, our mutual enemy." "Kwon absorbed him, his code." " I miss him." " She's heartsick." "Yeah, well, you know, her programme tells her to absorb and..." "Her programme tells her to absorb and destroy." "She can't lose to another Sentient." "She's gonna blow up the Earth and herself with it." " Oh, get the girl some Prozac." " Yeah, I mean, talk her out of it." "Make her feel good." "Do what you have to do to stroke her..." "Yeah, group therapy for Sentients, of course." "Okay, okay." "Look, Phaedra, you are not alone." "I felt what you are feeling." "Now, I've been with this group of people... for a short time now, and I've learnt something." "Existence is not just about conquest." "That is all organics do." "They conquer, they kill, they destroy." " They taught us well." " That's not all that they do, though." "They also create." "They create art and music... and ice cream and machines that probe the quantum realm." "They create progeny, the children." "They do this through a kind of joining." "It's not conquest, or absorption." "It's a union of two entities which are greater than the sum of its parts." "They call it love and I have seen proof of it." "Let me share this code with you." "You sound like a kindred." "And you." "Trust me, Phaedra." "Trust me." " Hey!" " Hey!" " Beauty!" " Yes!" " Good boy." " Harry." " Harry." " Yes?" "If you go into cyberspace, I mean, even if you merge with Phaedra..." "Oh." "Yes, we can still be absorbed by another Sentient." "I know." "But, maybe together we can find another purpose besides survival... and generate offspring as a code to create, not destroy." "Harry, I know you and your friend will find a purpose." "A good purpose." "I just hope I see you again." " Somewhere." " Maybe we will." "As a rock-and-roll physicist once said:" ""No matter where you go, there you are."" "The accelerator is off-line." "We've got control of our systems again." "Is he all right?" "Oh, well, it's the interface." "It puts quite a strain on him." " It induces narcolepsy, doesn't it, Chuck?" " Yeah, narcolepsy... and it kind of tuckers him out, makes him tired." "Listen, Doc, you never saw us here, right?" "Okay?" "Matter of fact, you never saw him." "You never saw me, right?" "But what happened?" "You were able to purge the hacker from the system?" "Yeah." "That's what..." "That's what we did." "That's what our friend Harry did." "That's exactly, exactly what he did." " All right, let's take him to my place." " Why?" " To dissect him, of course." " No way, Kurt." "We need to know the nature of the enemy." "What better way to do it?" "Well, he was our friend." "You can't just cut him open like a frog in freshman biology." "Yeah." "Yeah." "It doesn't feel right." "He just saved the damn world." "Oh, come on." "He's not dead for Christ's sakes." "His body was a mere envelope." "His soul, for want of a better word... is online, sipping a few martinis." " This is just squeamish sentimentality." " Yeah, I'm with Kurt on this." "We don't know how much useful information we can get out of an autopsy." "I mean..." "Okay, Chuck, you're the deciding factor here." "So, I've been thinking... we stopped the world from exploding, right?" " Imploding, darling." "Imploding." " Yeah." "So, does that mean that the mission is over?" "Bright Sky is still out there." "Maybe it wasn't Bright Sky that destroyed the Earth." "Maybe it was Phaedra all along." "Yeah, but Phaedra didn't destroy the Earth in 2002 of the original timeline." "So our presence here obviously changed her plans." "So maybe Bright Sky is still waiting to blow up the planet." " What do you say, Dad?" " I say, in gratitude to our friend... why don't we just enjoy another day above the ground... where the sun rises in the east?" "I think I know how Harry would want us to enjoy it." "Fabulous." "Full." "Well, I'm certainly happy your mother took that Tums and she's doing okay." "She was livelier than I was." "There really was no reason for me to go, except..." "Except, I know." "You felt you needed to, so you did." "Yeah, and now I am ready to sit down and, as somebody I know likes to say..." ""Wrap my mind around it."" "Honey, there ain't gonna be no wrapping no mind around nothing today... 'cause today is a national holiday, and it is called the..." "Do-not-think-about-the-end-of-the-world Day." "That's today." " Is it really?" " Yeah, so we're gonna send Junior out... for about two hours' worth of grocery shopping... and you and me are gonna take off all our clothes... and we're gonna jump in the pool naked." "You got two hours in you, young man?" "Honey, when I'm finished with you, you won't remember your own name." "Hey, Holly, it's me." "I just..." "I was just thinking about you, so give me a call."