"Previously on Ascension..." "As far as the crew believes they're halfway through a 100-year journey." " And one of them is a murderer." " I don't think Stokes did it." "What if the saboteurs have been around longer than we've suspected?" "If Lorelei made the same connection, it might be why she died." "You have someone inside Ascension." "You have a wild imagination." "Sex is the true currency here on the ship." "Don't undermine me with my girls, Will." " And Rose?" " He got to someone in your inner circle." "Can you uncover his spy?" "Your life and the life of this project have the same expectancy." "I'm not just there to investigate a murder, am I?" "He's hiding something and the TC Group wants to know what that is." "Experiments?" "She's what we've been working towards, isn't she?" " She's the best chance we have." " I'm scared." "This whole project is one big lie told to 600 people." "I can get tissue samples from the living relatives, we can test the DNA." "There's no way that I can get to them." "LET ME OUT!" "Excuse me!" "I didn't think it would be possible to top last year's Ostara, but you have done it." "So many eager faces." "They spend the year hoping and praying they'll be chosen to have a child." "Tonight they find out if they won the lottery." "Those who aren't chosen, you think they'll blame you?" "There's always a few who feel like I have some influence over the birth list." "All I really do is keep the alcohol flowing." "What about us?" "Do you ever regret not having a legacy?" "Do we have to have this discussion again, William?" "Yeah, we wouldn't want to talk about anything that's simmering beneath the surface." "I'm content." "You're the one with regrets." "Mm-hmm." "Thank you." "So, what is this, some kind of fertility festival?" "Essentially." "It's Ostara." "It's a completely unique cultural phenomenon." "It evolved into what it became now out of the necessity for keeping the ship's population static." "Everything on the ship is geared to this moment, finding out who the birth computer chose." " With a little help." " I don't make the selections." "Before couples are allowed to be married, they submit their profiles and find out their chances of being selected." "That makes it pretty easy to kill off any pairings that you don't like." "The integrity of the experiment depends on non-interference." "What is it?" "What are you waiting for, Gault?" "If I were single," "I'd be doing a damn site more than just watching." "You put your name in for marriage approval?" "Every year for the last 3 years straight." " Ah, don't lose faith." "You're a high-value male." "An officer." "It's just a matter of finding you the right match." "Ma'am!" "Do your captain a favour." "Make sure the XO enjoys himself." "To Ostara!" "Ostara!" "To Ostara." "Mom!" "Hi, Christa." "Do you hear that, Mom?" "Be honest." "Who rigs the birth list, Viondra or your dad?" "It isn't rigged, but it's not a true lottery, either." "Come here!" "It's weighted to take into account genetic variance in a small gene pool." "Think about it." "We only have 600 people... to make billions." "So there's a chance, then, for you and me." "Depends what the computer decides." "It's kind of romantic, if you think about it." "One match out of hundreds." "It's a machine that decides our lives for us." "There's nothing romantic about that." "Come on." "I don't want to miss the dancing." "Can you believe she's actually wearing a crown?" "She thinks she's royalty." "No, it's not a crown." "It's a fertility wreath!" "It seems wrong that someone who opted out of the birth list should preside over it." "Yeah, that's actually a necessity." "It would be such a temptation to put yourself on the list." "Ah, you're too young to remember, but just a dozen years ago, the selection was the most tense day on the ship." "Now it's a party!" "Welcome to Ostara!" "To Ostara!" "The originals knew a journey of this magnitude comes with great sacrifice." "Our lives and laws are governed by a different set of needs." "Our ancestors could fall in love, marry and have children as fate would allow." "But we have a bigger responsibility:" "to ensure the survival of the human race." "Lorelei?" "For us, death and life are intrinsically intertwined." "Without one, there cannot be the other." "Let us pause and remember those who are no longer with us." "Ike Messmer, Medical," "John Stokes, Stockyard Master, and Lorelei Wright, Archives." "In their passing, they allow for the creation of new life, of new hope." "Lorelei, don't!" "Now for the moment you've been waiting for." "The computer's selection was sealed in this envelope, unseen." "It is my honour to present..." "Deborah and Timothy Fermi." "Whoo!" "Susan and Paul Carr." "And the last name selected for this year's birth list is..." "Emily and Duke Vanderhaus." "Duke, I..." "Escort them to their sleeping pods." "Lorelei, wait!" "Look away!" "Look away!" "Let me put on some music." "I love it when you do that." "What is this?" "What else do you like?" "Shut it off." "Shut it off!" "Look away, Christa!" "LOOK AWAY!" "What's wrong?" "Christa!" "It's OK!" "Christa, it's OK!" "Go back, before the tape starts." "You see?" "She's reacting before the tape begins." "She knew it was gonna happen, just like in the medical centre." "And the milk!" "My father said morphic resonance would take a minimum of 3 generations, and he was right!" "She's the catalyst." "Looks like things are getting out of hand on your ship." "It's Ostara." "Everyone gets a little crazy." "Christa is extremely unstable." "You clearly haven't spent much time with teenagers." "They're volatile by definition." "You sit here, and you watch them day in and day out, but I think that you forget they're people." "And you forget I've known Christa since the day she was born." "I watched her take her first steps." "And now you get to watch the project's effect on her." "I bet you're very proud." "What does it do?" "Basically, it uses magnets to look inside you." "Robert's father built it a long time ago." "Will it be able to help me?" "You know, part of what makes the brain just so hard to understand is that we're stuck inside of it." "We're just trying to figure it out." "Like solving a maze from the inside." "You still don't remember anything about the time when you were sick?" "I remember seeing Lorelei." "Lorelei?" "You mean in a dream?" "At the party." "Lorelei kept telling me to look away, but I couldn't." "Sometimes, this feeling, it comes over me." "I don't know how to explain it." "Try." "I'd like to know." "It feels like I'm holding back an ocean." "Dammit, William!" "You should've known better." "How many times am I gonna have to tell you?" "I had no idea Lorelei was filming me." "Half of power is perception, and thanks to your stunning lack of restraint, everything that I have worked for has come undone in one humiliating moment!" "It's gonna blow over." "We're not gonna end up in the lower decks anytime soon." "Do you think all my efforts to keep you seated, the negotiation, the favour-trading, my lunches with Rose, are because I'm afraid to go back to the lower decks?" "I've been there, William!" "It doesn't frighten me!" "It was your goddamn birth-list ceremony!" "I mean, how the hell did that video get shown?" "I have no idea, but it's cost us dearly!" "Do you think I don't know what people say about me, that I'm self-indulgent, manipulative, a harpy?" "I'm not who people think I am, William." "I'm not." "If they knew the compromises that I have made..." "That was the bargain that we both entered into." "You're the one that complicated it." "Because I was foolish enough to love you, to think that we were in this together?" "And they meant nothing to me." "You know that." "None of them compare to you." "I saw the way you looked at Lorelei." "It's been years since I've seen that look in your eyes." "I'd almost forgotten you were capable of it." "I hope it was worth it." "You know, you can drink in the officer's lounge now that you're a cadet." "It's not my favourite place right now." "Of all the men on the ship," "I never would've guessed it was the captain." "I'm sorry, James." "I don't know what to say." "Please don't." "We're never gonna be matched, Nora." "There's no point in starting this." " James!" " With Lorelei, I knew I didn't have a future." "But with you, I fooled myself into thinking that this was a possibility." "It is!" "You just have to have faith in the system." "The system's rigged, and all the hoping in the world won't change that." "I refuse to believe that." "It's the truth." "So, until someone finds the courage to destroy the birth computer and change everything on this ship, we should stop seeing each other." "You know, it's kind..." "Looks like someone lost a bet!" "Um, no, a couple of the guys just had a wager about who'd get chosen for the birth list." "That's a pretty steep challenge, trying to keep people from procreating." "Kind of goes against human nature." "How do they keep them from getting knocked up?" "And fooling around seems to be their number-one pastime." "It's, um, subcutaneous birth-control implants at puberty." "And everyone just always follows the rules?" "Uh, no." "No, uh, some people rebel." "They try to circumvent the system, rip out their implants." "Their kids are called "unclaimed."" "The families are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain." "Total pariahs." "And they knowingly put themselves in that position?" "Well, some people are just hardwired to want to have families, regardless of whether or not they should." "Should?" "Genetically speaking, of course." "Of course." "And what does Enzmann look for, genetically speaking, when determining who makes the birth list?" "Oh, no, no, no!" "Harris has nothing to do with it." "It's purely a mathematic equation." "Also known as old-school eugenics." "Well, that's kind of a strong word." "You're deciding who can and cannot procreate." "From where I stand, that makes social Darwinism look like a walk in the park." "You could've fired a warning shot!" "Warren told you she got my report?" "Yes, and she's on her way over here right now." "I thought you were starting to grasp what we're doing here, the impact it will have on all of our futures." "Oh, I do, and I think that you've gone unchecked for far too long." "You have no concept of the damage you've done." "You've cut me off at the knees!" "I don't work for you." "I work for her." "You're working out your frustrations, or are you just avoiding your lovely wife?" "I'd imagine she's none too pleased with you!" "My marriage is none of your business, Councilman Davis." "Seems you've made it the business of everyone on this ship." "That was some show you put on." "I was on the edge of my seat!" "I couldn't wait to see what would happen next." "Nothing stands in the way of my duty to the ship." "You'd be wise to remember that." "Looks like I've overstayed my welcome." "Captain." "Rose, I'll see you in Chambers." "Is something funny?" "You have no idea how powerless you really are." "What do you want, Rose?" "I want you to step down as captain, Denninger." "Ha!" "Never." "Fine!" "Very well." "I prefer the public humiliation anyway." "Your movie swayed Councilman Davis to see things my way." "Now I have a clear majority." "I'm gonna make you beg in front of the whole ship." "It's been a while since I've seen a Denninger on their knees, but tell your wife I send my regards." "What's going on?" "Sir!" "Sir!" "Sir, that's enough!" "Stop!" " Sir!" " Councilman!" " Please!" " Sir!" "You're done, Denninger!" "Done!" "Let go!" "Get off of me!" "I'm fine." "Time for your happy pills, Stokes." "You know the drill." "I need to go to the can." "Pills first!" "I've left room for your comments." "You cannot send this report up the chain." " Perhaps you forget our respective ranks here." " Seriously, Katherine..." "If this is a plea based on personal friendship..." "Friendship, my ass!" "From the beginning, you've seen this as a stepping stone to power in and of itself." "It means nothing to you." "That's why you need me." "Only someone who lives and breathes and devotes his life, his health, his sanity to this job has any chance of pulling it off." "So, you're the only smart, motivated person on the planet?" "I'm not irreplaceable because I'm smart." "I'm irreplaceable because I'm obsessed!" "Do you know how we met, your father and I?" "It was at Nellis." "I was part of the president's advance team." "And when we arrived, we found your father working on the tarmac, covered in grease and dirt, up to his elbows in one of his prototype engines." "He was threatening to murder every airman on the base if he didn't get a socket wrench that moment." "But, evidently, the same design had exploded a few days before." "And I grabbed that wrench, and I marched up to him and introduced myself to your father." "And he hired me on the spot." "You quit a job with the president to work for my father?" "Yes." "He had a way of making other men, even great men, seem ordinary when they stood beside him." "I didn't take this job for power." "I took it because it means something to me." "And I am questioning whether you're the right person to drive this ship." "Yeah." "We got a problem." "Stokes is gone." "Nine, together." "Ten, and done!" "I heard Lorelei was pregnant when she died." "You shouldn't believe everything you hear." "Report back to the stewardess dorms." "Prepare for a full inspection." "Now!" "Don't worry." "No one saw me." "I was careful." "That wasn't smart." "I'm under a lot of scrutiny." "It sounds like you need to relax." "No, what I need is to find out..." "Look, what I need is to find out who uploaded that video." "There's only one person it could've been." "Your wife." "What possible reason would she have to do that?" "Hell hath no fury like an older woman scorned." "Don't underestimate experience." "Can experience give you a child?" "I need something, a favour." "Can I trust you?" "Anything." "I need this delivered to the lower 40s." "I can't do it myself." "There are too many eyes on me." "There's nothing I wouldn't do for you." "S-sorry!" "I..." "I didn't know you were down here." "Hey!" "What deck are we on, huh?" "Where's the captain been hiding?" "I've never been on this part of the ship before." "We must be below Water Reclamation, near the pusher plate." "I can't..." "I can't imagine how this must be for you." "I didn't kill that girl, all right?" "I will not rot down here forever." "You can tell the captain that." "I'm afraid that's not gonna happen." "Then you take me to him, and I'll tell him myself." "You know I'm a butcher, right?" "I need to talk to you." "Duke will be back soon." "I'm looking for Lorelei's stenotab." "Do you know where it is?" "All of her possessions were turned into the Safety Office after the funeral." "The stenotab was never logged in." "Who did you turn it over to?" "Who do you think?" "Why are you acting this way?" "Aaron, you know what's between us is over." "You can't find excuses to..." "Emily, you're the one discussing our relationship, not me." "I came to ask a question, and I got an answer." "Thank you." "Oh, and congratulations on the birth list." "You must be very happy." "We're locked down." "Security's looking for him." "He can't get far." "Director Warren is talking contingency plans, Carrillo." "It's not just the project that's at stake." "It's us." "Find Stokes." "Who's that?" "I'm supposed to deliver this." "From the captain." "You're not getting enough rations." "He's an unclaimed, isn't he?" "You should go." "Take me to the bridge." "I wanna talk to Denninger." "You've gotta believe me!" "He doesn't know any more than you do." "No, you're lying!" "He framed me!" "I know that you didn't kill Lorelei." "How do you know that, huh?" "Who are you?" "Safety officers!" "Sound the all clear." "Why didn't you scream?" "I wanna help you." "Why?" "What do you care?" "No, don't go in there, please!" "Please!" "Where?" "We're on Earth." "That's impossible." "We didn't turn around." "You never left." "No, we... we haven't had contact in decades." "No, this is some kind of trick!" "Stokes, listen to me!" "You never left Earth." "I don't..." "I don't understand!" "I don't understand!" "They've been lying to you since before you were born." "They've lied to you about everything." "We have to get out of here now." "Stokes!" "We have to go now!" "We have to go!" "How's she doing?" "She suffered intense trauma, and her brain may have forged some faulty pathways to avoid dealing with it." " She's been through a lot." " Yeah." "That video that was shown during Ostara, can you track the access code that was used to upload it?" "The subvid data woven into each file, it should track the codes." "So, it looks like this was broadcast from a terminal on Deck 13." "Let me put on some music." "Section C. Wait a minute." "That doesn't make any sense." "What is it?" "That's the captain's access code." "That's impossible!" "The captain didn't upload it." "Well, then, someone who had his code did." "I love it when you do that." "Christa!" "Christa!" "Hi!" "What are you doing home?" "I got off work early to have my implant removed." "I still can't believe this is happening." "What's wrong?" "Gault came by to ask about Lorelei's stenotab." "Gault, here?" "And what did you tell him?" "That you took it to the Safety Office." "He told me it was never logged in." "Hmm..." "Duke, tell me the truth." "It was stolen from the Safety Office." "I didn't realize it was missing until after Ostara." "Why didn't you tell me?" "The better question is why did Gault bypass the Safety Office and come to see my wife in our cabin?" "He probably thought I'd forgotten to give it to you." "I'm not a fool, Emily." "Please don't treat me like one." "I've seen the way he looks at you." "We haven't always been as close as I'd like, but we're going to have a child." "We've been chosen." "I need to know that I'm your first choice." "You are." "And that there hasn't been anyone else." "I told myself I was being paranoid, that it was one-sided." ""Let him have a crush," I thought." ""Let him envy me!"" "I ended it." "I ended it to be with you." "Sleeping with an officer's wife, that is serious enough, but now that your implant is gone..." "Duke, I would never!" "If he touches you now, that is treason against the ship, and I will make sure he goes straight back to the lower decks." "This way!" "Come on!" "Stop where you are!" "How did you get past the checkpoint?" "TC Group." "Full authorization." "Step aside." "Yes, sir." "I apologize." "All right." "Thank you." "An armed contingent just arrived from TC." "There's been a vote of no confidence." "The TC Group wants to move in another direction, and I'll be taking a more hands-on role for the time being." "They're arriving to escort me off the premises, drive me into a field somewhere?" "Katherine, please!" "I told you we are close." "I've had a success!" "All you have done is conceal the truth about the anomaly, the sabotage, the explosion." "The Group feels you have lost your objectivity, and they're right." "You've become a liability." "Perhaps if you had been more forthcoming, you wouldn't find yourself in this position." "Well, what are you gonna tell my family, that I drove my car off a bridge?" "Or is it gonna be a hiking accident?" "Oh, don't torture yourself!" "Harris, your family will be well provided for." "So, all of this, keeping me here, was just to keep me busy until my retirement squad arrives?" "Listen, I know you consider this a betrayal." "Without me, this project is over." "The 600 people on that ship don't stand a chance." "You'll fail." "And they'll be gassed inside of 6 months, and you know it!" "You've already failed, Harris." " Katherine, please!" " It's over." "I'm begging you!" "Katherine?" "Please!" "Listen to me!" "Whatever you have planned, you sure you have enough to unseat him?" "Mrs. Denninger." "Would you please tell the council the laws regarding the birth list?" "No man or woman will reproduce who has not been selected from the birth list." "Mm-hmm, and the children born from unsanctioned pairings are a burden to the shipboard community." "And their progenitors are subject to discipline, are they not?" "The parent of an unclaimed is forbidden to hold office or rank." "Exactly!" "Send them in, please." "Director Warren." "Mr. Carrillo, thank you for coming." "Well, as you may have guessed, there's been a change in leadership." "I'll be overseeing Ascension during the transitional period." "I want you to know how grateful I am for alerting me to the anomaly." "I was just doing my job." "Well, that's why I'm keeping you on." "I look forward to working with you." "Katherine, please!" "Director Warren, please!" "Katherine, I'm begging you!" "Look at me!" "Come on, this way!" "Come on!" "Christa." "Christa!" "Christa!" "I wanna show you." "You didn't congratulate me!" "I'm gonna be a father!" "Duke..." "After all these years of waiting," "I should be happy about it, but I'm not, 'cause, see, I just found out that my wife has been sleeping with another man!" "You couldn't find your own woman, huh?" "Goddamn Decker!" "You put your hands on my wife!" "Captain..." "You know this woman and child, don't you?" "And what is the nature of your relationship with them?" "None." "None?" "You've been sending ration credits to them, sir." "I took it upon myself to ensure food for the boy." "Hardly an impeachable offense." "Is that so?" "Now that it's out in the open," "I find Councilman Davis' unwillingness to take responsibility for his son shameful." "It's bad enough that Davis has broken the ship's laws, but to allow his own child to suffer so that he can maintain his position and life of luxury is repugnant." "Well... in light of these recent revelations, perhaps we should..." "The ship's bylaws are quite clear on this matter." "Goddammit, Rose!" "Councilman Davis," "I'm afraid we are going to have to demand your immediate resignation." "It's so bright!" "I can barely see!" "Stokes, please, we gotta get out of here now!" "We've gotta go!" "Hans Yablon." "I knew him." "Captain Elgin." "Mitchell Bowman." "What... what is this?" "It's a memorial." "All these people died without ever knowing the truth?" "Dwight Crouch." "Stokes, we gotta go now!" "Hey!" "We have to go now!" "Hey!" "Why did you bring me here?" "Why did you bring me here to my son's grave?" "Lorelei!" "Duke!" "It's Christa." "Oh!" "What was that?" "Did you see anyone?" "Dead." "I underestimated you, Harris." "That was one hell of a contingency plan!" "I swear I had nothing to do with it!" "I have never seen anything like it!" "Get him out of here!" "Find out what happened to the power!" "Katherine, listen to me!" "The bunker, it has massive redundancies." "It's shouldn't be possible for anything to short the system!" "Whatever it was, it came from that ship!" "It had to be Christa." "Wait!" "The girl in Krueger's report." "We have never had anything like it." "She is Punctuated Evolution made real!" "Everything we've been working for." "Tell me more." "Mr. Gault!" "Wake up, please!" "I saw Lorelei." "She led me here." "Christa..." "Christa." "Why did you bring me here?" "Stokes, listen to me." "Listen to me!" "You're right!" "You're right!" "Their lives were wasted, but not yours." "You know the truth, Stokes." "You can help." "You can save the people still on Ascension." "Hands in the air!" "Stay where you are, and show me your ID." "OK!" "Samantha Krueger." "Nice and easy." "Special Operations." " Scan it." " OK, OK!" "Hey!" "That's enough!" "Hey, that's enough!" "We gotta go!" "Come on!" "It's this one here!" "Here!" "Get in!" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Get in!" "Get in!" "You're bleeding." "OK!" "OK!" "Gault!" "Gault!" "Come on!" "Come on, wake up!" "Wake up!" "What?" "You must've been caught in the electrical discharge from the surge." "You are lucky to be alive" "Surge?" "I don't understand what happened!" "What's going on?" "Oh my God!" "Oh!" "Take cover!" "I need Gate 23 open, goddammit!" "Carrillo!" "I need answers." "Uh..." "Every system connected to the ship is out, electrical, surveillance, security." "What about the backup generators?" "All fried." "It must've been a massive electromagnetic burst." "I had to reroute to even get some power!" "How long till we're back up?" "This has never happened." "It's the first time in 50 years we don't have eyes on the ship." "Both of them?" "What?" "Stokes is working with Krueger." "She broke him out." "Yes, I was wrong, Harris, but I was so certain you were hiding something," "I couldn't see what she was up to." "Who's she working for?" "Well, I thought it was me!" "You just focus on getting Ascension back online." "You were gonna kill me." "And now I'm giving you the opportunity to get your job back." "If this girl is really responsible for all of this, you've made a remarkable breakthrough." "Until the comm systems are back up, we're going deck to deck, checking all the essential systems." "So far, no sign of sabotage." "I remember what happened in the wake of the fire." "Crisis brings out the worst in people." "I'm depending on your safety officers to keep the peace." "Dr. Bryce, what the hell's happening to my ship?" "It was a massive power discharge." "I haven't found what originated it or what caused it." " Could it be the reactor?" " No, no!" "The shielding is holding." "The cooling levels, they're..." "They're at an acceptable level." "Mrs. Vanderhaus, are we still on course?" "I'll know once the nav computer's working." "Right now, we're flying blind." "XO on deck!" "It's about time, Gault!" "I need you to coordinate a ship-wide damage survey with Mrs. Vanderhaus." "Sir, shouldn't I be helping out below decks?" "From what I've seen, people are panicking." "You don't get to choose your assignment, Gault." "Next time you step on my bridge, you better not smell like a distillery." "Are we clear?" "Jackie, help me take the rest of these supplies down to Dr. Bryce." "Who's Jackie?" "Who are you?" "What do you want?" "I was working on the midline when it blew a circuit." "I thought, hell, I've never been in the officer's lounge." "They've got some nice perks here." "The lounge is closed." "I'm taking this to medical." "Oh, feeling charitable?" "I just got off the comm." "The safety officers are coming to take these supplies." "That's a cute trick, with the comms being down and all." "What's the matter?" "Are you afraid?" "Let go!" "You bitch!" "That hurt!" "Oh my God!" "It's illuminated!" "My father had it hardwired into the ship's reactor in order to ensure the illusion would never be shattered, no matter what happened on the outside." "So they don't know." "Carrillo, have supply bring up the spools of 220." "We're gonna tap into the ship's nuclear reactor." "OK, right away!" "You look surprised to see me." "This isn't the sort of job you get fired from." "Did you think about that when you sold me out?" "Did you consider my wife, my son?" "Harris..." "Get the 220." "What the hell is that?" "It's all right here!" "Sir, are you OK?" "You're bleeding." "Um, I need painkillers." "Acetaminophen, ibuprofen?" "As strong as you got." "If you want anything stronger, you have to have a prescription." " Ow!" " Hey!" "Painkillers!" "Painkillers." "Ow!" "Don't hurt him!" "Don't... don't hurt him!" "I'll get them." "It's fried!" "Electrical is at 40%!" "Environmental, 30%!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Cryogenic, no response!" "Scrubber Room, no response." "Are you gonna tell me what happened?" "I was caught in the surge." "Since when does an electrical shock do that?" "It doesn't!" "Oh!" "Oh God!" "Hit the light!" "Hit the light behind you!" "Lay down!" "OK, all right." "Must everything on this infernal planet be cocooned in plastic?" "Listen, you need to take this." "What is it?" "If you're in trouble, you press and you hold down number 1, OK?" " OK." " It's on speed dial." "Someone will come who can help you." "OK." "Oh God!" "Use it now, if it's so damn helpful!" "I don't wanna involve her if I don't have to." "We need to get out of the country." "We need to regroup." "Don't go dying on me, OK?" "We don't have a lot of time!" "Mr. Carrillo?" "So, he wants to tap into the ship's nuclear reactor." "It seems questionable." "It's already feeding the star field." "We're just skimming enough juice to run the monitors." "Too much, and the stars will dim." "He knows I sold him out." "Don't worry about Enzmann." "The terms we discussed are still in effect." "You told him he'd run the project again." "And he believed me." "So stay close to him, make him think you're on his side." "We need him until this place is up and running." "Why?" "The girl." "If she's what Enzmann claims she is, the TC Group will be very happy." " We have a new problem." " What now?" "When Ascension was built, there were no mobile phones or satellite TVs." "The R.F. jammers weren't added until a decade later." "They weren't hardwired to the ship." "They could be picking up any transmission in the spectrum... radio, digital, microwave." "It doesn't take much to shatter an illusion." "I need to get to the jammers." "They're in my office." "Take Mr. Carrillo with you, and Medici." "OK!" "I need those levels up on screen now!" "Yes, sir!" "OK..." "Excuse me, Dr. Bryce?" "Yeah, what is it, James?" "Something's happening with the Panopticon." "There's a strange broadcast." "Strange how?" "Automobiles and computers from Earth, but like nothing I've ever seen in the library." "It must be feedback from the main server." "I've been having trouble with it since the Ostara celebration." "But aren't the archives on a separate server?" "I designed the system, James." "I think I know it better than you." "Yes, sir." "If you really wanna be helpful, can you find Nora?" "Her mother's worried about her." "Sir, I was told to remain on the bridge." "And I'm telling you to find my daughter." "Yes, sir!" "Christa?" "Dammit!" "OK." "Christa!" "You unleashed an ocean, didn't you?" "Whatever caused that impact obviously knocked the system out of alignment." "Councilman Rose!" "Councilman Rose, may I speak with you?" "Excuse me." "What can I do for you, Jackie?" "Someone threatened Viondra in the officer's lounge." "It's not safe out here." "I thought I could come with you." "Really?" "What made you think that?" "After the way you undermined me in the council, now you're seeking refuge under my wing?" " You're dumber than I thought!" " Look, please, I didn't know." "The litany of what you don't know is too long a list." "What I do know is that I lost leverage because of you, 'cause you were too busy being bent over the massage table by Denninger to realize you were being played!" "No, let me come with you!" "Just for tonight." "My dear Jackie, there is a cost for failure, a cost you are about to learn." "When you've reached the forbidden planet..." " Hello?" " Sam!" "Where are you?" "What's going on?" "Things got complicated." " You shouldn't have called." " You got me involved in this." "You think they won't trace you to my website?" "There's a long-term parking lot on the corner of Lincoln and Fifth." "Meet me there in an hour." "How does it compare to the real thing?" "How the hell should I know?" "I've never been in space." "At least they got alien princesses with hardly any clothes on." "I need to..." "I need to go get some things if we're gonna disappear." "Why are you helping me?" "Look... it's not just about you." "It's the whole program, the idea that they can just engineer the whole world to their liking, sweep everything under the table." "It doesn't fit." "So it's revenge?" "Balance." "It's about time that I did something that I felt good about." "You really think one action can make up for another." "I hope so." "Bandages, opiates, rubbing alcohol?" "Where did all of this come from?" "The council's private emergency stash." "I thought it may be better utilized here." "Thank you, Viondra." "I heard about the scare in the officer's lounge." "Sometimes a crisis gives weak men an excuse to prey on the fairer sex." "Oh, it feels good to roll up my sleeves instead of putting on heels." "Oh!" "Oh!" "Come here!" "OK, come on!" "Alison?" "Help me get her to the exam table." "Hey!" "Alison?" "Let's go over the data again." "What about the reports from Water Rec?" "Nothing significant." "Why?" "Let's overlay the downed systems on the schematic." "There!" "On the beach." "That's where the surge started." "Emily, Duke and I got into a fight down there." "Suddenly, a blue light appeared, so bright, it hurt to look at it." "Then nothing." "I don't remember anything until..." "Christa woke me up." "She said she saw Lorelei!" "Lorelei?" "She said she led her there." "Emily?" "What's wrong?" "Em?" "Emily?" "Help!" "Come on!" "It's not funny!" "You're right, it's not." "This is exactly what I expected to find you doing." "Why were you looking for me?" "I thought you said we didn't have a future." "Your father asked me to find you." "He's worried." "Why?" "He knows where I am." "Come on!" "That's strange." "I think he was trying to get me off the bridge because of this broadcast I saw." "Why do you think that?" "It was different from anything I've ever seen, like, the clothes, the cars." "Your father was acting like it was no big deal, but I got the feeling he was really worried that I saw it." "All right!" "We're live!" "Full system status report." "I need to know everything that's been going on in there." "This is all over the news." "That's Stokes, isn't it?" "Where is he?" "Robbed a pharmacy downtown, grabbed booze and pills." "His hands were covered in blood, but, apparently, he wasn't injured." "Krueger." "Oh!" "My problem just might be solving itself." "What about yours?" "Juliet!" "She passed out!" "Get her on the table." "What the hell's going on?" "It must be hypercapnia." "I have 3 other patients with the same symptoms." "An oxygen tank!" "The air-quality system must be malfunctioning." "When we were running checks, we couldn't get a response from the Scrubber Room." "If the scrubbers are out, then CO2 toxicity is climbing with every breath we take." "If it reaches 5%, it's fatal." " What about our repair team?" " They're spread out all over the ship and the comms are down, we won't be able to reach them." "My mother worked the scrubbers." "I was practically raised down there." "I'm not certified but I know the system." " I'll go with him." " No, no, no, I need you on the upper decks, keep the peace." "Gault and I will go down to try to restart the scrubbers." "Juliet, do you have any more oxygen tanks?" "In the lab." "Hey!" "Why didn't you tell me about the officer's lounge?" "I'm a grown woman, William." "I'm capable of taking care of myself." "That's not the point." "You're my wife." "It's my job to protect you." "Take care of yourself this time, OK?" "What is all this stuff?" "It's plan B. It's my bug-out car." "Are you all right?" "We need to get as far away from here as possible." "I got Stokes out as a witness." "They're gonna come after us." "But, Sam, maybe we can talk to someone, work something out!" "Tell them we'll go away, disappear." "These people have one solution for every kind of problem." "I'm getting Stokes, and then we're getting the hell out of Dodge, all of us!" "Where are we going?" "Switzerland, Venezuela." "Somewhere." "We're going full Snowden." "The world is gonna know about Ascension!" "Come on!" "Get on this side!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Hurry up!" "Move!" "Hurry up!" "Hurry up!" "We're running out of oxygen tanks." "At this rate, we'll have exhausted the reserves within the hour." "What is it, James?" "Actually, they sent me to speak with you, Mrs. Denninger." "We can't reach the captain or the XO." "Spot checks of CO2 indicate it's nearing fatal levels." "Why are you telling me?" "Councilman Rose is in engineering." "With the midline and comm out, we can't reach him or the other officers." "According to the ship's bylaws, you're the highest ranking official." "My position isn't command." "Ma'am, you're the highest ranking official we can find." "What are your orders?" "Radiation alert protocol." "Get as many people as you can into the sleeping pods." "Their oxygen supply could buy us some time." "Radiation alert." "Good God!" "This entire section is fried!" "Yeah." "They called a radiation alert!" "Smart!" "It'll buy us some time." "I'm at 30%!" "You?" "20!" "The scrubber room is on the other side of this hatch!" "Fine!" "Let's get that door open!" "Shit!" "Harris, there's something you should see." "The ship's carbon-dioxide scrubbers are offline." "Get me a full analysis... cubic metres of breathable air, rate of toxicity." "I need to know exactly how long they have." "4% and rising." "They're all gonna die." "We have to do something." "What?" "Open the windows?" "It's completely sealed with a double hull." "This thing was designed to take the direct impact of an asteroid." "Maybe if we open up the airlocks, use the turbine to suck out the CO2." "We barely have enough power to run the monitors, much less the turbines!" "Their only hope is to get the scrubbers working." "It's up to them." "Then we're going in now." "It's the perfect opportunity to get the girl out." "You can't!" "It's a complicated process to board the ship." "We need to create a plausible reason." " They're in their pods." " Not all of them!" "It's a delicate ecosystem." "Christa is the heart of it." "If you take her out, you can't expect it to survive." "And if they don't repair the scrubber, she dies along with the rest of them." "Are you willing to take that chance, Harris?" "I'm not." "Medici, you're going in!" "I'm sorry, Harris, but it looks like your space heroes aren't heroes at all." "They're just men... and men die." "Christa?" "Christa, I've been looking everywhere for you!" "What are you doing down here?" "Lorelei wanted to show me what was in the water." "There's nothing down there, Christa." "It's just a reservoir." "It's farther down." "I saw it rise up." "What else did Lorelei tell you?" "That none of this is real, that they're gonna try and take me off the ship." "Who, Christa?" "Who's gonna come and take you?" "Globus." "They're coming!" "Christa!" "Listen to me." "Once you get in, you cannot be seen by anyone." "Just get me to the girl." "Anyone stands in my way," "I'll deal with them." "You can't!" "Watch me." "Clear the bridge of all non-essential crew." "Everyone into their pods." "Yes, ma'am!" "James, what's the status on the comm?" "Still working on it, ma'am." "As soon as they're back up, try the scrubber room." "And don't stop till you get an answer." "Yes, ma'am!" "Wow!" "I always knew the true power behind the captain, but now I see it with my own eyes." "Councilman, you should be in your radiation pod." "That would be a dereliction of duty." "With the captain and XO missing, it falls on me to finally command this ship." "They tried to reach you repeatedly." "I was tied up in engineering." "Oh, Viondra, look, I know it was you that masterminded that double-cross with the council." "I don't have time for..." "How do you remember whose face to show to whom?" "You never intended to help me become captain." "I get that." "But let me ask you this:" "What kind of man would send his wife off to sleep with his enemy?" "One that isn't threatened by any man." "Now, get your hand off of me!" "You are a hell of a woman, Viondra." "Thank you for keeping my captain's seat warm." "Remove the councilman from the bridge, see that he makes it safely back to his pod." "Ignore that!" "I'm the ranking official on this bridge!" "When I was made acting captain," "I issued a state of emergency freezing the chain of command." "Now get the hell off my bridge!" "Christa!" "Stop!" "This is Robert Bryce on Ascension." "Do you read me?" "This is Robert Bryce on Ascension." "Do you read me?" "Is anyone there, please?" "Answer me!" "I'm, uh, getting feedback from the jammers." " What does it matter?" " Nothing." "If you want the ham-radio operators of the world to start getting signals from the ship." "Fix it." "Is anyone there?" "Answer me!" "Is anyone there?" "Are you alone?" "Uh..." "Yeah, yeah." "Christa said someone from Globus is coming." "Are you sending someone in?" "It's not me." "You have to call them off." "You cannot take her off this ship!" "It's out of my hands." "You have to get her out of there." " No, I can't!" " He's coming." "No!" "The scrubber power grid is blown!" "Hurry!" "This whole place could go up!" "Goddammit!" "Gault!" "Gault!" "Gault, can you hear me?" "Stokes?" "Stokes!" "Oh, goddammit!" "How could they have found him?" "They could've combed through the traffic cameras, tapped into the mapping satellite, following us ever since!" "Wait!" "Hey!" "I thought I told you to stay put." "You did." "Hmm!" "Is that your friend?" "Eva Marceau." "I've heard a lot about you." "I've only seen it in movies." "Guess that sounds pretty pathetic to you, huh?" "Not at all." "I'd like to be able to see the moon for the first time." "Shit may not have been real, but it was my home." "So far, the only thing that impresses me about here... right there." "Hang in there." "It's gotta be better than the stockyards." "We'll see!" "Get whatever you need from the room." "It's time to go." "You're good, you know that?" "I never said where he worked." "Is that how they kept the project a secret all these years?" "A honey trap?" "Anyone gets too close to the truth, they find you?" " Sam, please." " No, I'm such an idiot... to think that I actually thought" "I could make a difference." "I'm sorry, sweetie, but the Starchild must be born." "Damn it!" "Gault!" "Gault!" "Can you hear me?" "Gault!" "Come on, gotta get up!" "We have to get the scrubbers working." "We're out of oxygen!" "We don't need the scrubbers." "We need what's in them!" "Come here." "Easy, easy." "Lithium dioxide." "I remember my mother refilling the scrubbers with it." "Carbon dioxide changes into oxygen and water once it comes into contact with it." "We have to find a way to spread it through the ship." "Bridge, I need all the power to the HVAC system!" "Keep trying, Gault!" "Are you sure this will work?" "It's our only hope!" " Christa!" " There." "That's where they're gonna come from." "You're right." "They're coming for you." "Bad people!" "Bad people like you?" "You remember, don't you?" "Lorelei knew the truth." "That's why you killed her?" "I didn't wanna hurt her." "She was gonna ruin everything." "I stopped her to save us all." "This is the XO." "Do you read me?" "Bridge!" "XO, are you there?" "Viondra, is that you?" "I'm here, William." "CO2 levels are toxic." "The crew isn't gonna last much longer." "Listen, I need your help!" "We have to spread lithium dioxide through the ventilation to make oxygen." "Come on, we've gotta get out of here." "Christa, these men..." "These men, Christa, if they get you, they will hurt you." "They will dissect you like a lab rat." "Please, come with me." "OK." "Please!" "Come on!" "I want full power to the ventilation system now." "All right!" "Let's do this!" "No!" "You can't have her." " You feel that?" " Gault, help me!" "I felt this before on the beach." "Lorelei?" "Gault!" "Gault!" "No!" "Let go of me!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "Let go!" "No!" "No!" "Don't let them take you." "Ma'am!" "The oxygen levels are rising!" "They did it!" "Let me go!" "Help me!" "Somebody help!" "Please!" "Let go of me!" "Where's the picture?" "Where's the goddamn picture?" "I told him I didn't wanna go." "I told him..." "What is happening in there, Medici?" "Answer me!" "Medici!" "Answer me, goddammit!" "I don't want any "I told you so's,"" "Harris, because this isn't over!" "I am not about to go back to the TC Group empty-handed." "Medici!" "Medici, answer..." "You're wrong." "They are heroes, and they're going to space." "Call the TC Group." "Director Warren had an accident." "It works." "Huh?"