L5 (2012) s01e01 Episode Script
Episode 1
Life on Earth was beyond repair, the planet's resources spent, its capacity for life diminished.
Mankind was within mere generations of extinction.
Humanity, not one for succumbing to fate, united and launched the most ambitious mission undertaken in its history.
It fell to world renowned physicist Dr.
Richard Adams to command an international team of the best and the brightest to crew the Argo the largest space-going vessel ever constructed by man.
They were accompanied by Clarke, an AI being of remarkable intellect.
Their destination, Bernard D, a world that had shown promise of harboring life, and perhaps, a second home for the people of our dying biosphere.
The mission would take two decades, the crew's sacrifices would be enormous.
But they were bound by a single goal to find a new home.
Yet upon their arrival, the crew found their journey to be in vain.
Bernard D was no Eden, but as volatile and inhospitable as the planet they were trying to replace.
Upon their return, the Argo's forty men and women will reluctantly emerge from a deep sleep to greet Earth with devastating news.
Yet the world they left is not the world they are returning to.
L5 - Pilot See? No lights.
Yeah, none.
Huh.
And you said the thing is pitch plus 42? Pitch plus 52.
Alright, can I have the Thanks.
How big did you say those things were? One colony can hold three million.
Three million people and not a single light - what do you think of that? - I honestly don't know.
Should I go tell Rich? Yeah, he should just be waking up.
Good morning, Clarke.
Never.
- Updates? - Two.
Hell.
What happened? A small amount of interstellar medium penetrated the ship and resulted in a brief power outage which affected Layla Shinn's nutrient line, causing hypoperfusion to the vital organs including the brain, resulting in coma.
- Who's attend-? - Dr.
Lewis.
- And? - Dr.
Anthony Baker suffered a severe upper respiratory infection, and died, most likely due to sepsis.
My available antibiotics were insufficient to fend off the infection, - Poor Tony - I've sealed his sleep chamber to quarantine the body.
Make sure we do some sort of memorial for him.
Rich, there's a problem.
It's 200 years.
How's that possible? No clue.
I ran every vector against the figures I saved before we went under and they're the same, same delta V, same periapsis distance Adjustments must have been made while we were asleep.
Alright, Clarke do you know anything about this? - Rich, I have to tell you something - Rich? Been trying k-band, microwave everything, I haven't gotten a single response.
From anyone.
Okay, so, no signal no contact, and we're 200 years late? Could be a kink in the system, we have been out of it for quite a while.
I don't think it's that simple.
K, stay at it.
This stays quiet until I get some answers, understood? Alright.
Alright, people, you heard him, get back to work.
- Hey Rich.
- Charlie! You all right? Just woke up - my legs are still pretty stiff.
- Yeah, mine too.
So, you know when we'll be docking? Soon we just gotta work out a few things that Soon.
It's wild, you know.
When I left my my son was He was like But now, he's as tall as me or taller even probably even has his own kid.
I guess I'll get to skip the parenting, go straight to grandparenting.
That's the best of both worlds.
Hey, why don't you talk to doc Lewis, make sure you're thawing out alright? - Alright, thanks Charlie, alright.
- Alright.
This doesn't make any sense.
Rich, I have to tell you something.
What is it Clarke? I delayed our return.
I received a signal, it was faint, but I recognized its origin.
There isn't an easy way to translate it into English, but suffice it to say that it aroused my worst suspicions.
- Was it from Earth? - Yes.
- When? Were we in hypersleep? - Yes.
I made an executive decision and felt it best to delay our return.
What do you think it means? I can't say for sure, but I have some theories.
Yeah well, me too, any of yours good? No.
Me neither.
Shall I notify the crew? No.
Is there any natural we can blame this on? Something unrelated? You mean lie? Is that necessary? I think we need time.
Time to cope time to make sense of all this.
I don't see how lying is in any way beneficial.
They will discover it all in time, it will seem like were keeping something from them.
I would rather have them ponder our fates than confirm their worst fears.
I still think it's ill advised.
And I think it's ill advised to tell 40 fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters that our return was delayed a few centuries on a hunch.
It is the truth.
That's the last thing they need right now is the truth.
Doesn't make much sense, huh? No Rich.
I understand perfectly.
Layla's dead.
Organ failure I put her back in her cryotube.
Seemed the best thing to do for the time being.
You gonna say something? About this mess we're in.
It's all anybody is talking about.
They're all wondering what commander Richard Adams is going to do.
Ehi, Clarke, patch me in, will you? Of course, Rich.
Everyone, if I can have your attention, please I understand you all have a lot of questions, but first, the facts.
There was no miscalculation we are indeed 198 years ahead in local future 173 years past our projected return date.
There is as far as I can make out, a communications blackout or a problem with the space station we're dubbing L5 As you know the blackout extends to Earth.
Clarke is working out a scenario that involves EPR communication but that may be a while.
Beagle 3 is being retrofitted for an excursion inside the colony So, now's the time if you Was there any update on the diagnostics about the cause of the time dilation? Clarke? I admit, that the decision to return at our later date was mine alone.
There wasn't a safe return scenario at the time, local galactic weather conditions were not permitting a direct approach.
It was something we missed.
- By 200 years? - Easy I can clarify that a little.
The entry scenario didn't manifest until recently, the best approach was to accelerate and increase time dilation.
However as a result the ship will need treatment for gamma bombardment, which we presently lack the equipment to do.
So, what about that skiff? Funny you should ask, Rod.
Suit up.
Alright.
Rich, have we had any contact with anyone? Other bases, ships or I guess we're calling them colonies now? There is some garbled stuff floating around there you can't make it out at this time.
- So - So no.
I know this is difficult, but we will get to the bottom of it, I promise so let's go to work.
Adams out.
This image better clear up a bit or we have some trouble.
You're coming through alright I'm sure she'll clear up.
Here's as good a place as any.
Let 'er rip, K! - What's the issue? - God dammit! I can't make anything out, Beagles been on radar autopilot this whole time and the signal hasn't improved.
Alright, well, tell it to hold position, maybe we can get passive Dammit! Damn, that thing just dropped like a stone.
I'm sorry Rich, I just lost it.
That's all right.
We're going to go take a look.
Standby.
Gamma ray burst.
No.
That would explain the communications blackout as well as Look out the window, Sam! I can see foliage from here.
A burst that size there wouldn't be a trace of life, it'd be a wasteland.
I'm telling you, it was a solar storm.
Or an impact of some kind: asteroid or comet.
Where's the evidence, Carl? A storm or an impact that size would have left a pretty big mark.
It could have hit the ocean, air dispersed.
We were prepared for something of that size.
Word would have gotten out.
Jan back me up here, gamma ray burst.
You're both wrong.
It was external but internal.
An aggressive and virulent virus led to a human pandemic of some sort.
Or an ecological disaster.
Agricultural failure.
Either way its origin was on Earth.
Probably set us back to pre-industrial.
What? Did it happen in a day? No one would have left word? Pre-industrial means it wouldn't have killed everyone, Jan.
There'd be pockets of survivors and they would have made contact somehow.
I have a hard time believing that viruses kill radio antennas.
You ask for my opinion, I give it to you.
What about aliens? What if we initiated first contact and then they wiped us out? You know, like conquistadors and Aztecs or whatever the alien equivalent of small pox blankets would be.
So A race of aliens showed up, distributed quilts which killed everyone, and then just left? It's possible You are no longer allowed to speak.
Enough.
Any of you got a pen? Rich? You gotta see this.
Where is everybody? I don't know.
Oh, shit! Rod! My COM was out.
Get this thing off of me! Wait! Wait! Wait! - It's caught in your suit.
- Get it off! You lift that thing thing you're tear right through! Doesn't matter, nano sealant's got it! I'm already down 20 percent on my O2.
A.
P.
U.
is not coming up.
I've got electrical brown outs across the board.
- Get it off! - Wait, let's just think! It's crushing my suit, Rich! That's really stuck.
Hold on Rod! Alright, Rod! One two three! Rich? Rich! Rich! Don't forget the visible signs of plant life.
Alright.
Given everything we know the signs point to some sort of coronal mass ejection.
And, if large enough the radiation could have a devastating effect on the population.
Not bad.
If that's the case where is everybody? I mean there there would have been survivors.
Right? Come on! Thought I lost you there boss.
How you feel? A little hot.
Funny.
Your liquid cooling overheated.
Mine too, had to reset them both.
You're stable enough.
Let's get you up.
Come on! Let's get you back to the ship.
No, we'll keep looking around.
I don't know Rich, these suits took a beating.
We're not going back up that way even if we'd like.
Perfect.
How long you figure it's been like this? I can't say, but I'm going to find out.
I think about five miles.
Eight hours of oxygen.
You have eight, I got six.
So our best bet is gonna be able to make it to that connecting tube See if we can climb up to easier gravity, then float.
It sound a whole lot like an excuse to just keep exploring, Rich.
Let's just keep going, we'll stop when we find something.
Oh, yeah, sure.
Maybe we'll run out of O2 and die of asphyxia.
We can fall and break a bone.
Hell, if we're lucky we'll pass out from exhaustion.
Come on.
Well, this at least explains why we lost contact This doesn't explain a damn thing, Rod.
"zefram cochrane"
Mankind was within mere generations of extinction.
Humanity, not one for succumbing to fate, united and launched the most ambitious mission undertaken in its history.
It fell to world renowned physicist Dr.
Richard Adams to command an international team of the best and the brightest to crew the Argo the largest space-going vessel ever constructed by man.
They were accompanied by Clarke, an AI being of remarkable intellect.
Their destination, Bernard D, a world that had shown promise of harboring life, and perhaps, a second home for the people of our dying biosphere.
The mission would take two decades, the crew's sacrifices would be enormous.
But they were bound by a single goal to find a new home.
Yet upon their arrival, the crew found their journey to be in vain.
Bernard D was no Eden, but as volatile and inhospitable as the planet they were trying to replace.
Upon their return, the Argo's forty men and women will reluctantly emerge from a deep sleep to greet Earth with devastating news.
Yet the world they left is not the world they are returning to.
L5 - Pilot See? No lights.
Yeah, none.
Huh.
And you said the thing is pitch plus 42? Pitch plus 52.
Alright, can I have the Thanks.
How big did you say those things were? One colony can hold three million.
Three million people and not a single light - what do you think of that? - I honestly don't know.
Should I go tell Rich? Yeah, he should just be waking up.
Good morning, Clarke.
Never.
- Updates? - Two.
Hell.
What happened? A small amount of interstellar medium penetrated the ship and resulted in a brief power outage which affected Layla Shinn's nutrient line, causing hypoperfusion to the vital organs including the brain, resulting in coma.
- Who's attend-? - Dr.
Lewis.
- And? - Dr.
Anthony Baker suffered a severe upper respiratory infection, and died, most likely due to sepsis.
My available antibiotics were insufficient to fend off the infection, - Poor Tony - I've sealed his sleep chamber to quarantine the body.
Make sure we do some sort of memorial for him.
Rich, there's a problem.
It's 200 years.
How's that possible? No clue.
I ran every vector against the figures I saved before we went under and they're the same, same delta V, same periapsis distance Adjustments must have been made while we were asleep.
Alright, Clarke do you know anything about this? - Rich, I have to tell you something - Rich? Been trying k-band, microwave everything, I haven't gotten a single response.
From anyone.
Okay, so, no signal no contact, and we're 200 years late? Could be a kink in the system, we have been out of it for quite a while.
I don't think it's that simple.
K, stay at it.
This stays quiet until I get some answers, understood? Alright.
Alright, people, you heard him, get back to work.
- Hey Rich.
- Charlie! You all right? Just woke up - my legs are still pretty stiff.
- Yeah, mine too.
So, you know when we'll be docking? Soon we just gotta work out a few things that Soon.
It's wild, you know.
When I left my my son was He was like But now, he's as tall as me or taller even probably even has his own kid.
I guess I'll get to skip the parenting, go straight to grandparenting.
That's the best of both worlds.
Hey, why don't you talk to doc Lewis, make sure you're thawing out alright? - Alright, thanks Charlie, alright.
- Alright.
This doesn't make any sense.
Rich, I have to tell you something.
What is it Clarke? I delayed our return.
I received a signal, it was faint, but I recognized its origin.
There isn't an easy way to translate it into English, but suffice it to say that it aroused my worst suspicions.
- Was it from Earth? - Yes.
- When? Were we in hypersleep? - Yes.
I made an executive decision and felt it best to delay our return.
What do you think it means? I can't say for sure, but I have some theories.
Yeah well, me too, any of yours good? No.
Me neither.
Shall I notify the crew? No.
Is there any natural we can blame this on? Something unrelated? You mean lie? Is that necessary? I think we need time.
Time to cope time to make sense of all this.
I don't see how lying is in any way beneficial.
They will discover it all in time, it will seem like were keeping something from them.
I would rather have them ponder our fates than confirm their worst fears.
I still think it's ill advised.
And I think it's ill advised to tell 40 fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters that our return was delayed a few centuries on a hunch.
It is the truth.
That's the last thing they need right now is the truth.
Doesn't make much sense, huh? No Rich.
I understand perfectly.
Layla's dead.
Organ failure I put her back in her cryotube.
Seemed the best thing to do for the time being.
You gonna say something? About this mess we're in.
It's all anybody is talking about.
They're all wondering what commander Richard Adams is going to do.
Ehi, Clarke, patch me in, will you? Of course, Rich.
Everyone, if I can have your attention, please I understand you all have a lot of questions, but first, the facts.
There was no miscalculation we are indeed 198 years ahead in local future 173 years past our projected return date.
There is as far as I can make out, a communications blackout or a problem with the space station we're dubbing L5 As you know the blackout extends to Earth.
Clarke is working out a scenario that involves EPR communication but that may be a while.
Beagle 3 is being retrofitted for an excursion inside the colony So, now's the time if you Was there any update on the diagnostics about the cause of the time dilation? Clarke? I admit, that the decision to return at our later date was mine alone.
There wasn't a safe return scenario at the time, local galactic weather conditions were not permitting a direct approach.
It was something we missed.
- By 200 years? - Easy I can clarify that a little.
The entry scenario didn't manifest until recently, the best approach was to accelerate and increase time dilation.
However as a result the ship will need treatment for gamma bombardment, which we presently lack the equipment to do.
So, what about that skiff? Funny you should ask, Rod.
Suit up.
Alright.
Rich, have we had any contact with anyone? Other bases, ships or I guess we're calling them colonies now? There is some garbled stuff floating around there you can't make it out at this time.
- So - So no.
I know this is difficult, but we will get to the bottom of it, I promise so let's go to work.
Adams out.
This image better clear up a bit or we have some trouble.
You're coming through alright I'm sure she'll clear up.
Here's as good a place as any.
Let 'er rip, K! - What's the issue? - God dammit! I can't make anything out, Beagles been on radar autopilot this whole time and the signal hasn't improved.
Alright, well, tell it to hold position, maybe we can get passive Dammit! Damn, that thing just dropped like a stone.
I'm sorry Rich, I just lost it.
That's all right.
We're going to go take a look.
Standby.
Gamma ray burst.
No.
That would explain the communications blackout as well as Look out the window, Sam! I can see foliage from here.
A burst that size there wouldn't be a trace of life, it'd be a wasteland.
I'm telling you, it was a solar storm.
Or an impact of some kind: asteroid or comet.
Where's the evidence, Carl? A storm or an impact that size would have left a pretty big mark.
It could have hit the ocean, air dispersed.
We were prepared for something of that size.
Word would have gotten out.
Jan back me up here, gamma ray burst.
You're both wrong.
It was external but internal.
An aggressive and virulent virus led to a human pandemic of some sort.
Or an ecological disaster.
Agricultural failure.
Either way its origin was on Earth.
Probably set us back to pre-industrial.
What? Did it happen in a day? No one would have left word? Pre-industrial means it wouldn't have killed everyone, Jan.
There'd be pockets of survivors and they would have made contact somehow.
I have a hard time believing that viruses kill radio antennas.
You ask for my opinion, I give it to you.
What about aliens? What if we initiated first contact and then they wiped us out? You know, like conquistadors and Aztecs or whatever the alien equivalent of small pox blankets would be.
So A race of aliens showed up, distributed quilts which killed everyone, and then just left? It's possible You are no longer allowed to speak.
Enough.
Any of you got a pen? Rich? You gotta see this.
Where is everybody? I don't know.
Oh, shit! Rod! My COM was out.
Get this thing off of me! Wait! Wait! Wait! - It's caught in your suit.
- Get it off! You lift that thing thing you're tear right through! Doesn't matter, nano sealant's got it! I'm already down 20 percent on my O2.
A.
P.
U.
is not coming up.
I've got electrical brown outs across the board.
- Get it off! - Wait, let's just think! It's crushing my suit, Rich! That's really stuck.
Hold on Rod! Alright, Rod! One two three! Rich? Rich! Rich! Don't forget the visible signs of plant life.
Alright.
Given everything we know the signs point to some sort of coronal mass ejection.
And, if large enough the radiation could have a devastating effect on the population.
Not bad.
If that's the case where is everybody? I mean there there would have been survivors.
Right? Come on! Thought I lost you there boss.
How you feel? A little hot.
Funny.
Your liquid cooling overheated.
Mine too, had to reset them both.
You're stable enough.
Let's get you up.
Come on! Let's get you back to the ship.
No, we'll keep looking around.
I don't know Rich, these suits took a beating.
We're not going back up that way even if we'd like.
Perfect.
How long you figure it's been like this? I can't say, but I'm going to find out.
I think about five miles.
Eight hours of oxygen.
You have eight, I got six.
So our best bet is gonna be able to make it to that connecting tube See if we can climb up to easier gravity, then float.
It sound a whole lot like an excuse to just keep exploring, Rich.
Let's just keep going, we'll stop when we find something.
Oh, yeah, sure.
Maybe we'll run out of O2 and die of asphyxia.
We can fall and break a bone.
Hell, if we're lucky we'll pass out from exhaustion.
Come on.
Well, this at least explains why we lost contact This doesn't explain a damn thing, Rod.
"zefram cochrane"