Babylon 5 s01e02 Episode Script

Passengers transferring from Starliner Azimov to outbound flights should take shuttle 1 A to docking area 7.
Commander Sinclair! It's good to see you again.
And you.
It's been a while.
This is Lt.
Commander Susan Ivanova.
Dr.
Stephen Franklin, our new medical chief.
I followed your work back home.
- We're honored to have you.
- Thank you.
Ran into Dr.
Kyle.
He sends his regards.
He is looking forward to working with the president.
With so many aliens migrating, we need people like him.
So when do I start? As soon as you'd like.
- Sinclair.
- Disturbance in the jumpgate.
- Thought you'd wanna check it out.
- On my way.
If you'll show the doctor the way, I'll catch up later.
- Is it always this busy around here? - Yes, we like it that way.
- What have we got? - Unidentified ship coming through.
Frequency, silhouette, star drive, doesn't match anything.
- How long before it comes out? - Right now.
Trajectory's wild.
She's out of control.
It's on a collision course, heading straight for us! It was the dawn of the Third Age of mankind 10 years after the Earth-Minbari War.
The Babylon Project was a dream given form.
Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences.
It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs and wanderers.
Humans and aliens, wrapped in 2,500,000 tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night.
It can be a dangerous place.
But it's our last, best hope for peace.
This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations.
The year is 2258.
The name of the place is Babylon 5.
On station, commander.
- Any response? - Negative.
I'll try to link up with it.
If I can't make it, blow the ship before it hits.
- Why not destroy it now? - First contact protocol.
Only when there's a clear danger.
If this is a new technology, a new race, I want that ship intact.
This is not a clear danger? Open defense grid.
- Defense grid activated.
- Checking incoming ship.
One minute, 30 seconds to impact.
Coordinating vectors for grapple.
- One minute to impact.
- Closing in.
Twenty feet.
Ten Five.
Activating grapple.
- Negative contact on grapple.
- 40 seconds! Activating grapple.
- I'm not getting it.
- 10 seconds.
- If I don't get it, destroy it.
- Understood.
Standby defense grid! Prepare to fire! Got it.
Heading for flight bay.
Tell Dr.
Franklin to have the Medbay standing by.
We may have his first patient.
- Commander? - Delenn.
- Is the pilot alive? - Just got him into the Isolab in time.
His ship was banged up.
Carbon scoring all over.
- Someone attacked him? - One more hit and it would've cracked.
Can't tell from the damage if it was Raiders or something else.
We analyzed the atmosphere in his ship for the Isolab.
We have no idea who he is or where he's from.
I've seen many kinds of life, commander.
Perhaps I can help identify him.
We'll take all the help we can get.
Blood pressure is rising.
Respiration up.
So that's good, right? For a human, yes.
In this case, it may be good or he may be hyperventilating before his heart explodes.
Ask a silly question, get a silly answer.
How's he doing? Doc says it's 50/50.
I'd stay on this side of the glass if I were you.
- Have you finished going over his ship? - Not yet.
I don't wanna laser in until we know what's inside.
Shak Tot! - Shak Tot! - What's that supposed to mean? No! What are you doing? What's the matter with you? Kill it.
You have to kill it, commander! Put it back in the ship, into space, fire it into the sun! But you have to kill it! Quickly! You're not making any sense.
Why kill him? You don't know? You don't know what that thing is? It is Shak Tot.
It is a Soul Hunter.
Get it off this station, commander.
Now! Before it's too late.
Before someone dies.
I apologize for my behavior, commander.
It's just you do not know these things as I do.
Then educate me.
Delenn, I've known you almost two years.
I've never seen you react so violently before.
Training.
Even as children, every Minbari is taught to be careful or the Soul Hunter will come in the night and steal their souls.
They are immortal.
No one knows who they are or where they came from but they can sense death.
They are drawn to death like insects drawn to the light.
Why? What do they get out of it? An object for their collection.
They have the power to steal your soul at the instant of death.
They're thieves.
They steal your innermost thoughts rip away from you that which is eternal.
Not every soul.
Only those they consider to be of sufficient value.
They have always taken an interest in certain classes of Minbari.
You must believe me, commander.
As long as the Soul Hunter remains here, everyone is in terrible danger.
Send it away while you still can.
Hoster, how are you? Okay, step right up.
Here we go.
Place your bets.
One red ball, three cups.
Find the little red ball.
Notice it's not here.
Round she goes.
Where she stops, nobody knows.
Go ahead.
Pick a winner! Be a winner! Double your money! I'm awfully sorry.
Place your bets.
Here we go.
One ball.
Three cups.
Remember? All she does is go round and round she goes.
Where she stops, nobody knows.
I got back from the Alien Sector.
It's strange.
The place is practically deserted.
It's as if they're hiding.
The place is shut down tighter than a drum.
I'll link in later.
Interesting.
We've had nearly a dozen ships ask to leave the station.
Some weren't due to leave for weeks.
They're all aliens.
I think word's gotten out about our friend.
All right, here we go.
Remember, the ball's here.
Place your bet.
You notice it's not here.
Okay, get your money down.
Here we go.
Round and round she goes.
Where she stops, no one knows.
I'm sorry, son.
You're a loser It's not here either! Hey, stop him! Come back here! Can you hear me? Can you understand me? This is Medlab One.
I need a translation team stat.
No! I have been to your world.
Can you feel it? Feel what? Low.
Quick.
Muffled.
Terrified.
It comes.
It comes.
It comes.
- What is it? - A knifing.
We have the perp.
- The victim? - Going to Medlab.
- I'll be there in one.
- Roger.
Quick flash.
The deep blue of pain.
- I need 20 cc's of myceotoxin! - Critical heart wound! Serrated artery! Laser cauterization! Dull.
Muffled.
Slower now.
I'm losing him! Closer now.
Over your shoulder.
It comes.
The transition.
A shadow.
The long exhalation of the spirit.
Can you see it, healer? Can you see it? Someone kill that speaker! All right, activating full-torso stimulation.
Ready.
Now! Again! Flat line! Gone.
Turn that speaker on.
Gone now.
Gone.
Gone.
Gone.
If you could only see.
If you could only see.
I'm gonna ask you again to identify yourself.
Who are you? Where are you from? What happened to your ship? Medlab records show the stabbing took place at 11:02: 13.
Your reactions at exactly that moment show you knew he was dying.
How? Did you come here for his soul? We've heard, if you're wondering.
I've never met a Soul Hunter.
Don't know if I should believe any of this or not.
- I don't think he's going to cooperate.
- I don't blame him.
Who wants to admit to being a thief a stealer of souls? We are not thieves! We are preservers! - Thought that might get your attention.
- We act for the greater good! - The Minbari don't seem to think so.
- Minbari, pale bloodless.
Look in their eyes.
Nothing but mirrors.
Infinities of reflection.
Will not let us help them, no.
What exactly is a Soul Hunter? Ask Commander Minbari, friend.
We are drawn to the moment.
The moment of surrender, the instant of loss between despair and ecstasy.
When the flesh fails on all that remains behind the soul, we save.
Not all.
Only the special ones.
Leaders, thinkers, poets dreamers, blessed lunatics.
And what do you do with these souls after you've saved them? We enshrine them.
Worship them.
We talk to them.
Listen.
We learn.
Well, this is nonsense.
It's patent superstition.
It can't be done.
Maybe you could encode the personality and produce a clone of a mind but the idea of taking someone's soul? Ridiculous, yes.
So let me go.
Not yet.
- What is between you and the Minbari? - Minbari Jealous.
Selfish.
Private.
We have saved only a few.
Very rare.
Rarest of all their leader, Dukhat, dying.
Your fault.
Your war.
The pinnacle of Minbari evolution.
We came, I, others.
They made a wall of bodies to stop us.
He died.
And his dreams.
His ideas.
All that he was.
All that he could ever be.
Gone.
Wasted.
Jealous.
Gone.
Gone.
- Can he leave without a breather unit? - It's hard to say.
His lungs seem capable of processing oxygen.
Then you'll need a guard.
I'll have somebody from security here within the hour.
Personally, I don't believe you can do what you say.
But your presence is disrupting this station and causing tension.
The alien population considers you to be a danger.
I have no reason to question their judgment.
You can stay in the Isolab until you are fit to travel.
As soon as that happens, I want you off this station.
Any questions? He's all yours, doctor.
I finished the autopsy.
We're clear for burial.
Have the next of kin signed off? Yes, they can't afford to send the body home.
Here.
- Shuttle 5, you're clear to proceed.
- Confirmed, Babylon Control.
From the stars we came and to the stars we return, from now until the end of time.
We commit the body to the deep.
Something, doctor? It's all so brief, isn't it? Typical human lifespan is almost 100 years.
It's barely a second compared to what's out there.
Wouldn't be so bad if life didn't take so long to figure out.
Seems you just start to get it right, and then it's over.
It doesn't matter.
If we lived 200 years, we'd still be human.
We'd still make the same mistakes.
You're a pessimist.
I am Russian, doctor.
We understand these things.
What do you want, Minbari? Soul Hunters never travel without their collection.
Where is yours? Safe.
My children are safe.
We talk together of many things.
They are many and wise and rare.
The finest souls.
Are any of them Minbari? Understand this: Before you leave, I will search your ship rip every panel, tear up every floor! I will gut it until I find the souls you have stolen from us! And what will you do then? Free them.
- Release them.
- You mean kill them.
They'll join the souls of our people.
Melt into each other until they're born into the next generation of Minbari.
Remove those souls, and the whole suffers.
We are diminished.
- Each generation is less than before.
- A quaint lie! Pretty fantasy.
The soul ends with death unless we act to preserve it.
We will help you in spite of yourselves! I know you.
You were there at the death of your leader, Dukhat.
We stopped you from taking what you had no right to! You stopped me from saving him.
That is where it began to go wrong.
The lost souls one after another, after another.
Voices stilled! I failed because you stopped me.
Failed.
The pattern began.
I remember.
They called you Satai Delenn of the Grey Council.
Curious.
Curious.
What is one of the leaders of the Minbari doing here playing ambassador? Med alert! Isolab One! Med alert! Be at peace, my children.
I now know what has brought us to this place.
At last I know who we have come for.
- How's the guard doing? - He suffered a mild concussion.
- Where is the hunter? - My boys are looking.
We know he got to his ship.
We found a cabinet that wasn't there the first time.
Hid it well.
- Anything inside? - Whatever was there, he's got it.
My guess is he'll head toward the Alien Sector.
- He'd draw attention elsewhere.
- Agreed.
I can't figure out why.
Even if his ship were operational, he can't leave.
We've got security all over.
He's alone.
What's he after? Delenn says these hunters are drawn to death.
They're drawn to important people about to die.
If that's the reason, all we have to do is figure out who's about to die.
Part! - You are N'grath? - Yes.
I sell.
Provide.
Fix.
Do you know what I am? Yes.
You wish to buy? Yes.
I require a guide to this place.
All the secret ways corners, tubes, places to hide, places to run ways in and ways out.
Difficult.
Requires level five security.
Earthers only.
Very expensive.
You can afford? I must.
I have a mission.
A soul will be lost if I do not act.
This I cannot allow.
Confirmed Epsilon 3, you may proceed to gate.
- How many ships are in holding? - Three.
Standby.
There's a ship coming through.
Confirmed.
Entry in five seconds.
- Nothing's scheduled.
- Don't tell me, tell that.
Two Soul Hunters.
Did somebody book a convention? All right, patch me through.
This is Commander Sinclair of Babylon 5.
Identify yourself.
You know who and what I am.
I must dock at once.
Someone is about to die.
- And if we refuse access? - Then there will be more than one.
We'll clear you.
We'll link instructions to you.
- Who are you here to see? - I am here to see you, commander and quickly, before it's too late.
I don't think you should meet.
I don't like the look of this or anything about it.
It sounded like a threat.
I'm not sure.
There was something in his voice.
Nervous.
Let him be nervous.
You wait here.
Let my people deal with him.
- Sorry.
- I hate it when you get heroic.
It cuts into my business.
A man's gotta earn a living.
You are the commander? - Yes.
- I have come for you to warn you.
- One of my brothers is here, yes? - That's right.
Why? - You said you had to warn me.
- About him.
I fear he is disturbed.
Deeply, deeply disturbed! Every moment he remains here places this station in danger.
Someone is about to die, commander and it will be at his hands.
In the hope that we can open trade relations with their people Come.
- At the first opportunity - I've come for you, Satai Delenn to save your soul.
At any cost.
He was ordered to preserve the soul of the Minbari leader.
Each time he was prevented or arrived at the death too late souls were lost, our order was disgraced.
He was always fragile.
Then he became obsessed with the fear of losing souls.
He said he found a solution to the problem.
And this solution? To stop waiting for death.
The fear, the danger of arriving late, became too great for him.
When he finds someone worthy of preservation, he does not wait.
He kills them to capture their souls.
Our order does not support this.
We've arrived at a dozen worlds too late, and others have paid the price.
We almost captured him two days ago, but he escaped, his ship damaged Garibaldi, go! Jackson in Green 2.
Came on and found Henson stunned.
- Green 2, the ambassadorial wing.
- Delenn.
You and the others you stopped me.
Shamed me before my brothers.
I failed to preserve your leader.
His wisdom knowledge, gone forever.
Wasted.
I failed.
There must be balance.
Your soul one of the Grey Council itself will atone for my failure.
I give you a great gift: To live forever in here.
I will be careful.
You'll hardly feel it when your body dies.
No! No! Let me go! Let me go! Do not discomfort your soul! I could just take it.
I could rip your soul from your body! But this damages the soul.
A peaceful death.
A clean transfer.
I do not wish you any discomfort.
See, it goes through here, the artery.
And your heart beats low, quick, muffled the blood pounding out through here.
And then it slows and slows and stops.
You will feel as if you are falling.
Do not be afraid.
I will be here to catch you.
She's gone.
I told you, it's too late.
But he cannot escape this time.
- We'll bring him back after the death.
- There won't be a death.
I'm sorry.
It's inevitable.
A Soul Hunter is never wrong.
Here.
You say you can sense death.
You're drawn toward death.
Here.
Show me! The moment comes.
It moves, calls, sings low.
Quickly, here! Here! Closer now.
It comes, the transition.
- Anything? - No.
Search by quarters.
Take the section below.
- You take this level.
I'll go topside.
- Lock and load.
Close now.
Enough for a glimpse into your soul.
You have planned such a thing? You would do such a thing? Incredible.
Delenn? No, not again! Not again! Leave us alone! Why do you fight for her? Don't you understand? She is Satai! She is Satai! I have seen her soul! They're using you! They're using you! What are you doing? You You don't know what you're doing.
My children! Listen.
Listen.
I never meant any harm.
Listen, listen to me! Listen to me! My children! No! No! Delenn? Delenn.
- Commander.
- How's she doing? Better.
She has a strong constitution.
Amazingly strong, really.
Losing that much blood would kill a human.
That's why they fought so well.
They kept going no matter how great the injury or loss of blood.
So I hear you saw something.
Yes.
Something.
Do you think you could be more specific? I'm not sure.
I don't know if I'll ever be sure.
I still don't believe it.
And I'd be careful if I were you, commander.
That sort of talk will get you sent off on a very long vacation.
- I knew you would come.
- You should rest.
We were right about you.
- Who was right? - They Delenn? No, no, it's okay.
She's just sleeping.
Whatever she had to say will wait until she's on her feet.
Yeah.
I'll bet you half a year's salary she doesn't finish that sentence.
Computer.
Keyword search, Minbari language designated keyword What was it? Satai.
One reference.
Satai: Honorific.
Title applied to ruling body known as Grey Council.
Why would a ruling member be assigned ambassadorial duties? That's like assigning the vice president.
Unknown.
Do you wish to make a further inquiry? No, not now.
It can wait.
There's always time.
Delenn lost a lot of blood.
Dr.
Franklin thinks he's got it under control.
Yes.
If it were to go differently, I would feel it.
I have a message for you and your brothers.
Babylon 5 is off-limits to Soul Hunters.
You're doing what you think is best, but I can't allow it.
I understand.
We are rarely welcomed.
It is our lot.
Goodbye, commander.
If I may ask, what happened to my brother's collection? Life's full of mysteries.
Consider this one of them.