"Andromeda, this is the Euraku Maru en route from Drift Colony Segas 4." "Our belly's full, and our ETA to bay is 20 minutes." "You gotta love one-stop shopping to roam the entire Milky Way." "Hello!" "Command to Harper." "Huh?" "Huh?" "What's the matter with you?" "Dierdre." "My Drift-rock darlin'." "My Irish Creme." "My destiny." "Your destiny." "Right." "Never mind she couldn't speak a word of Common, and you don't know any Celtic, or whatever that dead language is." "Oh, yeah?" "Try me." "Uh...bra ist un caparu." "Love is our language." "Actually, love is your sandwich, but thanks for playing." "Whatever, OK?" "We shared this thing...this ummm, cosmic connection." "You shared half a dozen whiskies and a zero-gravity rumba." "Ist bra limolay?" "What do you know about love?" "Harper, you're hopeless." "You can barely conjugate Common." "Who cares about being grammatically correct." "All I want to do is..." "Whoa!" "Collision Alert." "Collision Alert." "We have a small object coming in off the starboard bow." " Airlock." " Airlock." "It's a...killer beach ball." "Hmmph..." "There's somebody inside." "Ok." "Don't just stand there." "Open it." "What?" "No." "You open it." "Have I mentioned that I'm overdue for a raise?" "Yeah, yeah, I'll cover you." "Here." "Hold that, would ya?" "Yum." "That's great." "It's a Perseid." "Gift-wrapped, too." "Easy." "Easy." "Deep breaths." "Oh, man, he's..." " Let's get him out of here." " He's bleeding bad." "Come on." "Ok, Ok, down we go." "Ok, keep pressure on the wound." "We gotta get him back to the Andromeda." "Hey, who shot you?" "Save." "Must save." "We're doing the best we can, pal." "Hang in there." "Hey!" "Harper!" "I'm on fire!" "I'm on fire!" "I'm on fire!" "No." "No." "No fire." "No fire." "You're ok." "You're ok." "What happened?" "I don't know, but I don't think you got the worst of it." "The long night has come" "The system Commonwealth, the greatest civilisation's history is fall and now one ship, one crew are about drive back the night, they'll gush up the light of civilisation on the starship Andromeda hope lives again" "So, what's the verdict?" "He's dead." "Yeah, I meant what killed him?" "What didn't kill him?" "You've got stab wounds, laser and radiation burns this appears to be some sort of residual neurotoxin" "and these pinpoint wounds..." "I've never seen anything like them." "It's weird." "Perseids can be annoying, but this is just ridiculous." "Well, aside from a major bump on the head and a minor burn around the cerebral port, he's fine." "Fine?" "I was practically electrocuted." "I can still see little dots." "Why do you think he attacked you?" "Jealous of my good looks, maybe?" "I don' know." "No rhyme or reason, he just opened up wide, clamped down, and ZAP, major electrical discharge." "I could smell the ozone." "Man, I'm feeling twitchy." "Maybe you better run a spectral analysis on my nervous system, check my norepinephrine levels, and see if I've been affected by any kind of stimulant." "Ummm..." "since when did you pick up medicine as a hobby?" "Captain, I've got an unidentified vessel approaching." "They're requesting communication." "I'm on my way." "Watch him." "I'm Marshal Jeger, Senior Dispatch Officer with the Intergalactic Apprehension and Procurement Service." "In other words, a bounty hunter." "If you like." "What can I do for you, Marshal?" "Your ship took on a fugitive, a Perseid named Renvik" "I have a warrant for his arrest." "Really." "What are the charges against this fugitive?" "Theft." "Shall I transmit the warrant to you?" "Transmit away." "But you're wasting your time." "Your fugitive is dead." " Dead?" "You're certain?" " Dead certain." "I still would like to examine the body." "I must locate some missing items." "Renvik's corpse may tell me where they are." "I'll look at your warranty and consider your request." "Please cooperate, Captain." "The Service dislikes people who protect fugitives ...even dead ones." "I hate people like Jeger." "They strut around like the long arm of the law." "They act like they own the place." "They're really just bottom feeders who'll do anything for the highest bidder." "Maybe so, but in this case, the Marshal's warrant seems to be in order." "Don't tell me you're thinking of giving in to him." "Beka, if the Perseid were alive, I'd conduct an extradition hearing but I'm not gonna start a fight over a corpse." "How did the thief die?" "He self-electrocuted." "Almost killed my engineer." "Really?" "Really." "Have we ever met?" "You look familiar." "You don't." "Maybe around the Tidus Asteroid Belt." "Who knows?" "After a while, all you badges start to look the same." "Thank you, Captain." "Your cooperation will be duly noted." "This search mode would be more effective if I had specific information to go on." "I can't give you a time or place, Rommie." "All I know is that I've seen that symbol before." "No." "No." "No." "No wait, wait." "Hold it." "Back up." "There." "That's it." "It's an insignia for the Special Collections division of the All Systems University." "Our Perseid was a librarian?" "Apparently." "This symbol was only used by their senior researchers." "So, the question is... what did he have that was worth dying for?" "Hey!" "What's up, Rommie?" "Romalom, Romalowski, Read Only Memory?" "A simple Rommie will suffice." "Are you all right, Harper?" "I'm detecting an elevation in your heart and breathing rate" "Oh, yeah?" "Well, I'm detecting a fritz in your central power relays and I can fix you." "I can." "I can fix everything on board" "The, uh, ventilation system on deck 19 could definitely use an upgrade." "Phew." "Could you?" "Thanks" "Harper, slow down" "Sorry, I can't." "I'm a little, uh, wired...no, rewired...no cross-wired...cross-EYED!" "I didn't get any sleep last night" "I've been having these rancid nightmares, visions, whatever you want to call them" "Anyway, I thought "Why dwell in hell." "Get busy!"" "What are you building?" "Ah!" "It's a bird, it's a plane it's...ah, you tell me and we'll both know" "Meanwhile, "cona sa sei amac, anan bac, dochaygat"" "Irish Gaelic." "Earth based." "An adaptive form" "You're making seductive overtures to me in a dead language?" "Hey, it's not dead the way I speak it, baby." "Il dit mon coeur" "And French." "Harper, what has gotten into you?" "Ru Olyev Olyev Sfinki." "And now, Perseid." "Harper, I had no idea you were such a cunning linguist." "Love speaks in all tongues, baby" "Wait!" "That's it!" "You know what we need?" "Some kind of nano-doohickey that can let a person understand any language they hear." "No, no, no...speak any language they hear." "We'll start with Old Irish from your language archives!" "We'll reconfigure it into an implanted audio-linguistic relay." "Why not!" "All I have to do is downsize and upgrade some, uh, voice activation sensors so they can correlate with the proper pronunciation and vibrato and, uh, while I'm at it, no offense, but the pixelation in your holo-imaging matrix" "could use a little fine-tuning." "Yes!" "Sa say go ha-len!" "The doctor is in!" "They are missing." "I don't know where they are." "They must be on that salvage ship." "I'll find them." "I'll find them!" "She'll be comin' around don ber von zi comt." "Elle viendra autours la montagne quand elle vient." "Et elle viendra arrivador des la montaigne." "Vora en toro a la montaigne istra vindra o toro des la montaigne." "When she comes." "What's he doing?" "I don't think he knows." "Since last night, he's started and abandoned dozens of projects and upgrades." "Although, I must say, the ones he's performed on moi c'est tres magnifique." "You're speaking French now?" "Oui." "Per his request." "Harper speaking in tongues." "You gotta be kidding." "Can't say I recognize the tune." "It's an old Earth folk tune in, let's see, Than, Perseid, Harulian and that would be Vedran." "We, uh, better go talk to him?" "We better go talk to him." "Good morning, Mr. Harper." "Morning!" "morning." "morning." "Two little syllables, so many different meanings." "Ah, yes." "In this case, it just means "Hello"." "I wanted to see your new project." "It looks interesting." "Yeah, she's a beauty, isn't she?" "Breath-taking." "What is it?" "Uh...it's an authentic recreational recreation of a big surprise?" "Uh-huh, and what's the status on the rest of the projects?" "Projects?" "Harper, this is Dylan's pilot way of asking" ""What the hell's this mess?"" "Ah!" "It's only a mess to the uninformed eye!" "Ha ha...then maybe you should enlighten us." "Enlighten you?" "Uh...the Divine is good, don't do Flash, and if you're nice to people, they probably still won't be nice to you." "Now run along, kids, Daddy's working" "I'm calling a time out" "Harper, are you..." "Harper?" "Get away from me!" "Harper..." "Harper, are you..." "Get away from me!" "Harper, if I have offended you in some manner..." "You're not gonna get me!" "Harper, just put it down" "Dylan, it's all right." "I'll leave" "Harper, what's the matter with you?" "It's Rev!" "Magog!" "Oh, sure, he acts like he's our friend now, but one day he'll turn." "They all do." "They're wild." "Med Deck" "Come on" "Look at those brainwave fluctuations" "I have never seen anything like it" "I could say the same thing about you, Trance" "Why don't we do you next?" "Knock it off, Harper." "This is about you" "Me?" "No, why me?" "She's much more interesting." "An enigma wrapped up in a riddle, with a tail in the middle." "It's all right, I forgive you." "He's not been himself today." "It's like he's overloaded" "That Perseid." "According to Dylan, the Perseid had the insignia of the All Systems University on his finger." "Special Collections Division." "If he was carrying some sort of data archive..." "Brilliant!" "A bio-electronic transfer into my dataport!" "He must've used some kind of pulse signal." "A modified Sub-Vocal Transmitter!" "Where's he going?" "Harper!" "I could build one of those." "It'll have to be small, though." "Like, uh, REALLY small." "Like, uh, miniature." "I could reconfigure some of Rommie's maintenance nanobots!" "I'm sure you could." "How do we get that stuff out of him?" "I have no idea." "It's all mixed up in his neural matrix." "Whoa!" "Whoa!" "Stop." "Halt." "Arrete." "Ok, the last time I checked, possession was still, uh, nine-tenths of the law, ok?" "My brain, my data." "If, uh, uh, you try to mine my mind, I'll mind my mind." "Nein?" "Harper, you don't even know what you've got, do you?" "I know I've got...something." "Something I never had before." "Knowledge." "Creativity." "Power." "I mean, before I was just a...." "Harper!" "Ice cream headache!" "Aaah...my brain attempting to execute some serious compressions." "A small price to pay for gone." "Harper, you have no idea what this could do to you!" "You're already suffering from insomnia and nightmares." "You could have a stroke, or a cerebral hemorrhage..." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, ok?" "I have the entire Commonwealth medical archive in here." "Which makes me a superior diagnostician to you." "So, as the, uh, senior medical expert here, I can tell you," "I am not gonna have a stroke, ok?" "Now, are we through here?" "I don't know, Dr. Harper, are we?" "Yes!" "I think we are!" "Uh, meeting adjourned!" "So, you checked yourself out of Med Deck to what?" "Build a missile?" "No." "Although it does fly through the air, and it is a major blast from Earth's past, so the, uh, more liberally literal may call it a missile, but no." "Rom-doll, what you are looking at is a Harper classic an authentic replication of the X-1." "The Glamorous Glennis?" "The first human flight module to break the ...uhhhh...speed of sound." "An aeronautical antique." "Yeah." "How artificially astute." "Goin' back three millenia:" "1947, old Earth calendar, to be exact." "I have tech manuals, Rommie." "The originals." "Right out of the official factory records!" "Uh, flight tests." "Specs." "The works." "How are you able to access them?" "How did you even know that they were in...there?" "I just...had a vision." "I get a lot of them lately." "Harper, you look exhausted." "Yeah, well, the mind leads, the body follows." "Your mind should lead you to bed." "Bed!" "Now, uh, there's an idea." "I know." "You mean sleep." "I will." "I'll try." "I'll get some sleep just as soon as I can find the on/off button." "Now, if you don't mind, I'm trying to concentrate." "I tried." "If he doesn't want to rest, he doesn't want to rest." "Tyr!" "Hangar Deck 5!" "Now!" "You should have taken your friend's advice." "It's quitting time." "Help!" "Somebody help!" "Stop squirming." "I'm not going anywhere with you!" "I don't need all of you." "Just this." "Hey!" "He's below us!" "Phase density shifting." "Tricky!" "Tricky." "He'll be back." "What's Harper doing?" "He's currently in his quarters." "I've run a complete sensor sweep." "All decks are clear." "No sign of the intruder." "Although I am detecting emission residue beginning at Hangar 14 and leading straight down to the keel." "He passed right through that bulkhead like it wasn't even there." "And he knows about Harper." "Whatever Harper's got seems to be worth killing for." "Any idea what it might be?" "My recent upgrades suggest Harper has access to the latest quantum and neutrino based engineering platforms." "He wants weaponry." "Not necessarily." "What about..." "Rommie, what the hell hit us?" "Running recon." "I don't know, but whatever it was hurt." "My hull integrity is compromised." "Data relays are down, and damage is extensive." "Harper's calling in from the affected area." "Harper, report!" "Not good!" "Machine shop 15 is gone." "What do you mean, gone?" "!" "I mean GONE, Vamoose, Arrivederci." "We got a hole the size of Kansas bored right through this whole ship." "Don't look now, kids, but I think we're up against, uh, your friendly neighborhood PSP." "A what?" "A Point Singularity Projector." "A weapon that fires miniature black holes." "Whoever Jeger's working for, they sure gave him some good toys." "Toys I don't want to play with right now!" "Take us into slipstream." "We need to find a place to lay low for repairs." "No, no, no, no, no, Dylan don't." "That thing didn't just take out the machine shop." "Part of it went right through the slip-field generator." "If we try to 'stream now..." "The whole ship will come apart." "Ok, we're gonna have to cut a circular incision around the" "PSP's path of impact, and we'll need laser torches." "Uh, we're gonna have to, uh, replace those central support struts." "I'll see if I can tear some out of the old crew quarters." "Perhaps I could be of some assistance." "Come on, you bloodsucker!" "Harper, look at me!" "I am not your enemy!" "And I'm not your next meal!" "Murderer!" "Rapist!" "Harper, I will not fight you." "Even better." "Harper, BACK OFF!" "Harper, you do not mean that." "You do not mean that." "Rev!" "Rev!" "Rev, the Way." "Remember the Way." "It's ok." "It's ok, Harper." "It's all over." "I'm good." "I'm good." "Harper!" "Harper, try to calm down!" "You try to be calm when your brain is exploding with fire!" "There must be something we can do." "Beka, I am all out of options." "The only person who can help Harper right now is Harper." "Download!" "I have to download!" "I gotta dump this Perseid baggage into a file." "File and forget!" "A neuro chemical file." "Neuro chemical file..." "how would I open that?" "Where?" "Ok, I got the technique right here." "Ummm...the key component is ABGamma...." "Hey uh, peckapolkapurplepeopleeater, you getting any of this down?" "Shhhhhh..." "So this will work?" "He says it will." "He's ready." "OK, let's give it a try." "Hit it, Trance." "Activating transfer." "It's working." "I'm reading a massive data transfer." "The machinery is isolating and copying the information that the Perseid downloaded into Harper so we can erase it when we're done." "Trance, what's going on?" "It looks like the process is disrupting the electrical patterns in Harper's cerebellum." "Well, then make it stop!" "I'm trying." "Come on, Harper." "Hang on." "Ok." "He's stabilizing." "What happened?" "We only got a partial impression." "It looks like a few hundred gigabytes of information, at best." "Is he going to be all right?" "He's stable." "Keep him that way." "When he wakes up, leave these things on." "I don't want him hurting himself or going after Rev." "Beka, let's see what we've got." "Welcome to Harper's nightmares." "What would a Perseid librarian want with this?" "I don't know." "But I think I know where to start looking." "Harper has always hated the Magog but he never had a problem with Rev Bem until he received that data." "Huh..." "Andromeda, search the downloads for images of Magog." "Searching." "Records located." "Commonwealth Year 9766 1017." "This is..." "Brandenburg Tor. 3 billion dead in less than five days." "And the beginning of the end for the Systems' Commonwealth." "Which makes this an eyewitness recording of one of the most important events in recent history." "But there's only one problem." "It's worthless." "None of these records is unique." "Everyone knows what happened on Brandenburg." "It's not like there's a vast conspiracy to cover the crimes of the Magog." "Quite true." "In fact, most of my people are unrepentant." "They look on Brandenburg Tor with pride." "So, this may be what's making Harper nuts but it can't be what Jeger's looking for" "There's something here." "I can feel it" "Harper..." "Harper, I" "I have seen your nightmares and I understand my role in them." "Please." "Please, Harper, accept my apology" "Forgive me" "It's not you, Rev" "It's just, every time I look at you all I can see is people dying." "Bodies, massacre." "I got a lifetime of nightmares knocking around inside my skull and I can't do anything to hold 'em in." "Heh..." "All I ever wanted was to know things, you know?" "How they worked where they came from." "And now I do, and all I can see over and over and over again is people dying." "What do I do, Rev?" "How do I make it stop?" "You need the one thing that all your knowledge cannot provide." "Wisdom." "Wisdom." "Heh...great." "Show me the yellow brick road, Mr. Wizard." "How do I get wisdom?" "Let go, Harper." "Let go." "Give over to the Divine all that you are, all that you have, including your pain." "Calm your breath." "Repeat" "My pain belongs to the Divine." "It is like air." "It is like water." "My pain belongs to the Divine." "It is like air." "It is like water." "Good." "Again." "My pain belongs to the Divine." "It is like air." "It is like water." "It's like a freakin' freight train going through my brain." "Are you sure this works?" "Harper, think of hunger." "Think what it must be like to go days even weeks, without food." "Now, imagine what it would be like to know that in the midst of that starvation you could eat...feast...satiate your hunger." "But only by killing the people that you love." "That is my pain." "It is with me each day." "My pain belongs to the Divine." "It is like air." "It is like water." "My pain belongs to the Divine." "It is like air." "It is like water." "My pain belongs to the Divine." "It is like air." "It is like water." "Hostile vessel approaching off starboard bow." "Activating emergency measures." "I must go." "No." "Please , Rev , let me help." "Harper, Dylan was most adamant." "Rev, right now I'm the smartest guy in the universe but that don't count for squat if I can't help my friends" "Please, Rev, you can trust me." "I promise." "Launching kinetic missiles." "'K...now what?" "He's readying another point-singularity bullet." "Slipstream engines back on-line." "Evasive maneuvers." "We're not shaking him." "I don't Marshal Jeger." "This is, uh, Chief Engineer of the Andromeda Ascendant, Seamus Harper." "Do you copy?" "Harper?" "Where's that coming from?" "Checking." "He's in the Maru." "Listen up, Jeger." "I think someone on board this ship here just might have some property you're looking for." "So, if you want a piece of me, errand boy ...PANSY MAN, come and get me." "What the hell is he doing?" "He's saving us." "No." "He's committing suicide." "Harper, you're outgunned and you can't outrun him." "Now turn around and come back." "Speak Common, boy!" "Jeger wants to clock me..." "I don't want to be a bulls-eye on your butt." "Damn it, Harper, you're gonna get yourself killed." "And by the way, that's my ship you're steering into oblivion." "So get your skinny ass back to the Hangar Deck right now!" "Well, now don't get all sentimental on me, boss." "I brought this mess on board, I'm taking it off." "It's that simple." "Uh, Harper out." "Well, alrighty then, Marshal Jeger, let's uh see what you got." "All ahead full." "Arriba!" "Arriba!" "For our happy hour this evening, we're offering the space rift royale." "Five parts gin, three parts vermouth, two olives, crushed ice shaken not stirred, and VOILA!" "Uh, weirdness incoming." "He's warped the Maru's slipstream portal into some sort of wall." "WHOOO-HOOO!" "Yes!" "The exotic matter chokehold, ladies and gentleman." "The, uh, pub is now open." "The library is closed." "It's like some kind of knot in space." "We can't get past it." "Can't we blast through?" "It's too risky." "We've gotta find another way in." "I have to get at least three light minutes away from this position before I can enter slipstream." "Do it." "It looks like we'll have to guess where Mr. Harper comes out." "If he makes it out at all." "Hey!" "Hey, no tailgating!" "Uhhh...brakes" "Another solar system, another bust." "Roaming the slipstream isn't getting us anywhere." "Rommie, what's the status on Harper's wall?" "It should have dissipated by now." "He might have left us behind some bread crumbs." "Let's go back." "Engaging slipstream on my mark." "Dylan, I have something you might like to see." "What is it?" "You know that video footage from Brandenburg Tor?" "Well, I did an enhancement." "There." "Some kind of silhouette." "Not according to the light readings." "We should be able to see it clearly." "I can't make it out." "Is it human?" "Surrounded by Magog?" "If it were human, it'd be dead." "Andromeda, run it again." "Give us a closer look." "It's like he's directing the attack." "Someone controlling the Magog." "And the fall of Brandenburg Tor." "Do you think that is what Jeger was after?" "Absolutely." "And I think our mystery man, here, or whatever it is, wants to stay a mystery." "I know you're awake." "You may as well open your eyes." "I was just resting." "It's been a busy day." "Thanks to you." "So is this the part where you explain to me your diabolical plan?" "No." "It's the part where I open your skull and extract your database by force." "Oh." "Uh, will it hurt?" "I hope so." "Welcome to 3458 Delta." "Right back where we started." "No pions, no ice crystals, no trace of Harper at all." "Heh...it's funny, Rev. We knew where he was when he was on Med Deck." "A lapse in judgment on my part." "There must be something." "Harper knows enough to leave a trail." "He may not have had time." "Jeger was right behind him." "For all we know, Harper got caught." "Harper's barrier is gone." "We can enter slipstream, try to retrace his exact route." "I would think too much time has passed." "We're going about this all wrong." "Meaning?" "We shouldn't be trying to find Harper." "We should try to find Jeger." "And with all of his toys, there must be something there we could follow." "The Point-Singularity Projector, I imagine, would exert a tremendous gravitational force." "Yes." "Even shielded, it might have an effect on the slipstream." "Which we should be able to track." "Theoretically." "I love putting a theory into practice." "We're going after him?" "Oh, we're going after him." "Good." "My pain belongs to the Divine." "It is like the air." "It is like the water." "Affirmations." "Prayers." "I prefer laser probes." "My pain belongs to the Divi---aaaaaaaaah!" "There!" "That's the first honest thing you have said." "I want my Rommie!" "What's that?" "Collision Alert." "Collision Alert..." "You tell 'em!" "No!" "NO!" "Beka, get Harper!" "Fun's over!" "Now who are you working for?" "Believe me." "You don't want to know." "I gotcha." "Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" "Don't start with me, Seamus." "He's uncoupling his ship." "Rommie, Jeger's running!" "Open fire with everything you got." "My pleasure." "Fools." "You really are pretty, you know that?" " He's gonna live?" " He's gonna live." "What?" "Rev?" "I'm not familiar with that particular language." "Trance?" "Did you understand what Harper said?" "Trance?" "Harper's brain is holding too much information." "It's dangerous for him." "I'd have to concur with, uh, Madame Violette, there." "Right now, ignorance would truly be bliss." "Have you figured out how to extract the archives?" "And what would you say if I have?" "I'll need a copy of the Brandenburg Tor file." "Uh, boss, with that Jeger guy out there, wouldn't having that stuff make you a target?" "Make us all a target?" "What makes you think we're not already?" "Good point." "As for the rest, uh, we should store it, just in case." "Well, don't you think it's best that we destroy it?" "Just so it doesn't hurt anyone else." "Trance, as much as I would love to, if you erase history, you just erase its lessons." "I think I may have a place to, uh, store it." "A safe place." "A big enough place." "Define "big enough" and "safe enough"?" "Uh..." "I can't actually say." "Oh." "But you will let me know once you find it." " Yeah." " Good." "There were unexpected obstacles." "He had allies." "But I can still get it." "Give me more time." "No." "Please." "I can still get it to you." "It's very beautiful." "Yes." "Yeah, it is." "Just one question." "What is it?" "You said it's an antique, Earth-based flight module." "Uh, the X-1, I believe." "Really?" "I don't suppose anybody was taking any notes while I was on a roll?" "Jotted down any specs?" "Asked me for a blueprint?" "I am afraid all of that information is up there." "Oh, no." "There's nothing up here." "It's just empty old Harper again." "Don't discount yourself, Harper." "You have a wonderful mind tremendous mechanical talents, a quick wit and I'm beginning to detect a glimmering of something even more important than knowledge." "Let me guess." "Wisdom." "Heh...you see?" "Brilliant." "Well, you know the old, uh, Vedran proverb." "Ah, yes." ""A fast swimmer keeps no pets."" "No, uh...that's not what I said." ""A wise man knows his limitations."" "Close enough." "Uh, Rev?" "I'm sorry for what I said." "Whatever it was." "Man, who'd have thought that being a librarian could be so tough." "Well, looks like I'm gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way."