Babylon 5 s01e04 Episode Script
Infection
- When is the commander due back? - Soon.
- How soon? - Longer than a little while, not later.
- He's checking a damaged transport.
- Isn't that done by someone else? He'll grab any chance to take out a ship.
He's like that.
Well, I haven't seen him since I came aboard.
- Have you ever tried one of these? - What is it? According to the translator, it's either an aphrodisiac or a floor wax.
Mr.
Garibaldi Please.
Michael.
Did I mention I really enjoy your broadcasts? If this interview hadn't been set up weeks ago I'd swear Commander Sinclair didn't want to be interviewed.
- I can't imagine that.
- This is an event! This is the second anniversary of Babylon 5 going online.
When this station opened 75% of ISN viewers said this place wouldn't last five minutes! Lloyd's of London put the odds of this station lasting one year at 500-to-1.
Against! Is there a bathroom around here? Third door to your left.
That way.
The blue one is for methane breathers.
I'd steer clear, if I were you.
What the hell.
If that thing leaves a waxy yellow buildup on anything I'm coming back here.
Julie, hand me that separator.
I've just about got the RNA strand where I want it.
Get it yourself.
Vance? What are you doing here? I was in the sector, I thought I'd stop by and visit my favorite student.
I've come to offer an adventure, Stephen.
Possibly the biggest you've ever had.
What kind of adventure? You'll find out soon enough.
Savor the mystery, Stephen.
We don't get nearly enough of them.
Tired? Yeah, long day.
But your ship's the last one in.
Anything to declare? Any plants? Nonsentient pets? Organic matter? Nothing organic.
Just some pottery and stonework.
Funny thing.
The bottom of the box on the inside is four inches shorter than the outside.
Like there was a hidden compartment.
I'd almost think you were smuggling something in.
Not a chance! No, it's just packing material to protect the stuff.
Here, let me show you.
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.
- How does it look? - Looks like natural causes.
- Heart attack.
- That suddenly? It's possible.
I'll know more after we do an autopsy.
- Did you know him? - No, he just started the other day.
Nothing in his personnel jacket about a heart condition.
And exactly which medical school did you attend, Mr.
Garibaldi? Nothing personal, doc.
I just want to be sure.
So do I.
I'll assign my best people to the autopsy.
Fair enough? Meanwhile, go on with work as usual.
As soon as I hear anything, I'll tell you.
Go ahead and remove the body now.
We had a problem at one of the docking bays.
What is this all about? I need your help.
You're an archaeologist.
Everything you touch is dead.
My area of expertise is more current, and a lot warmer.
I'd like to introduce you to my assistant.
Nelson, meet Dr.
Stephen Franklin, one of the best students I've had.
In the area of alien history, anatomy and culture.
Dr.
Hendricks told me all about you on our way from our dig on Ikarra 7.
Dig? You found something.
Show him.
That's funny, I just had an energy spike on my screen.
- Same here.
- What's the location? I thought it was around Medlab.
I'm not sure.
It was just there for a second.
Might have been a malfunction.
- Run a diagnostic check to be sure.
- Will do.
We were on a dig for Interplanetary Expeditions when we found these artifacts in a vault buried nearly a mile beneath the surface of Ikarra 7.
Ikarra 7 is a dead world.
But that proves what I've said for years.
Ikarra was once home to a highly advanced, space-faring society.
Extraordinary.
How old are they? Minimum, 1000 years.
No chips, no sign of wear or age.
It's as if they were made yesterday.
What were they made to do? That's where you come in.
- Vance, I told you - I know, I know.
Humor me.
Put it in your medical scanner.
Veins, capillaries, traces of DNA.
This is composed of living tissue.
This is organic technology.
The one trick that Earth hasn't yet cracked.
The ability to create living ships that thrive in the vacuum.
Weapons that produce power through internal generation like a firefly lights up at night.
The ultimate synthesis of machine technology and living tissue.
Magnificent.
This was a scanner of some kind.
The entire surface tissue is photosensitive.
Retinal cones and rods to detect wideband light frequencies.
Amazing! Why didn't you tell me when you arrived? I did.
We've only been here a few hours.
But organic material has to be quarantined for 48 hours.
We put it through quarantine at the transfer station off Proxima 3.
It's all approved and authorized.
Nelson has all the paperwork.
Don't you see what this means? This is a blueprint for living machines.
The Vorlons have one.
Some say the Minbari have them.
We haven't seen them up close to know how they work.
But with your expertise in genetics and my background in archaeology we now have the chance.
There are better-equipped facilities on Earth.
I need someone I can trust.
You once told me that you wanted your name to go down in history.
Alongside Fleming.
Salk.
Jenner.
Takahashi.
Well, this is it, Stephen.
This is the mother lode.
I can't do it without you.
I need your help.
So are you in or out? Finish unpacking, Nelson.
We have a lot of work ahead of us.
There you are.
Any word on the autopsy? They think it's natural causes.
We'll know tomorrow.
We've also scheduled security to cover the Narn-Centauri negotiations.
We can call it a day.
And you, It.
Commander? Isn't the night shift on duty? We picked up strange readings.
I'm waiting to see if it happens again.
- Is it serious? - I'm trying to find out.
Keep me informed.
And get some sleep.
I will.
Oh, and your interview is scheduled for 1100 hours.
Swell.
Which reminds me.
She's waiting for me.
Why are you ducking her? Last time I gave an interview, they told me to say what I really felt.
After it aired, I got transferred to an outpost so remote you couldn't find it with a hunting dog.
Just be that charming commander we've all come to know and love.
What could happen? They fire you, and I get promoted.
- I don't see a problem here.
- How sharper than a serpent's tooth.
With all this technology, you think there'd be a clock! Stephen, it's been 15 hours.
We're gonna grow old and die in here.
Stephen? There's a Martian war machine outside.
They'd like a word with you about the common cold.
Tell them to make an appointment.
Something's been bothering me ever since you got here.
Even if we figure out how this works, what happens then? We apply for a secondary patent and sell it to an Earth corporation.
That's what I'm talking about.
You're a brilliant man, Vance.
You were an inspiration to me.
You should make discoveries, not raid dead worlds for whatever you can scavenge and sell! Right.
Mountains of paper.
Vanishing grants.
Who has time? Exactly! That's my point! This may be important, but you didn't create it.
You just found it.
It's a shortcut.
I don't like corporations financing expeditions to alien worlds so they can steal the technology they have.
It feels like grave-robbing.
Do you know the cost of an off-world expedition? More money than a professor makes in a lifetime.
If the corporations won't pay, who will? In the last five years, I've seen things off-world you can't imagine.
I stood in the Ibendi Desert and saw all seven moons go into eclipse.
I've walked in vaults sealed longer than humans have existed breathing air that's Call that a shortcut if you will but I've lived.
By God, Stephen, I have lived.
At least my hands are clean.
How about yours? - What's that supposed to mean? - Who is Interplanetary Expeditions? You said they fronted this expedition, but I can't find information on them.
I didn't come halfway across space to argue with you.
I came for your help and friendship.
If that's too big a burden No, it is not.
I just wish you'd stop taking shortcuts.
I suggest we get a good night's sleep and start again tomorrow.
If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them.
Fair? Yeah.
And we made it out of the desert.
Later, Commander Sinclair put me on security for Babylon 5.
- It's been a great time - Yes, I'm sure it has.
I've come across several rumors about your record prior to Babylon 5.
That you were fired five times and this is your last chance to make good.
Care to comment? I'd rather have my tonsils taken out through my ears.
Lights! Nelson? Vance? My God! Nelson, what happened? Protect.
When did it happen? - Last night.
He's in the infirmary.
- What's his condition? Stunned.
Bumps and bruises.
Dr.
Hernandez says it's okay to ask questions.
- You shouldn't be walking around yet.
- I'm a doctor.
I know what I'm doing.
On second thought Do you remember anything? Not much.
I turned around and there he was, like I said.
The weapon was like the organic artifacts we worked on.
Organic? Were they checked at customs? I was told they were.
Check into it.
This Nelson, who's he working for? - Vance Hendricks.
- The one who brought in the artifacts? Interesting.
I haven't heard a satisfactory answer.
I'm getting tired of asking for one.
Dr.
Franklin was attacked by your assistant, covered in armor similar to the artifacts you brought here.
Which weren't cleared for access.
Organic material requires quarantine.
There's no record of that here or at Proxima 3.
I'm as much in the dark as you are.
Nelson told me that he checked them.
I believed him.
A dangerous alien technology was smuggled aboard this station.
I hold you personally responsible.
Is that clear? Yes, it is.
Any news of Stephen's condition? They're checking him out.
He took a pretty bad hit.
But I'm told he's gonna be okay.
He's up and around.
Thank God.
What can you tell us about these artifacts? They're a kind of organic technology.
Limited energy.
In order to achieve mobility, they graft onto another life form.
It's possible that they'd try to assimilate Nelson.
My guess would be that he's under their control.
For what purpose? Why would they assimilate Nelson but not you? Unknown.
As to what it wants, that depends on its programming.
According to Dr.
Franklin, before it fired, it said, "Protect".
Might that be the key to its program? Maybe.
But the question is, protect who? And from what? That information may be contained in the artifacts if I could assist Dr.
Franklin in decoding them.
If I'm responsible for this, the least I can do is help finish it.
Done.
That's what I told her! Protect.
I've picked up that energy flash again! Grey 13, Level B.
And there's something else.
The energy pattern has changed.
It's 20% more powerful than before.
I have security on the link.
We've got two fatalities in Grey 13.
Same thing that attacked doc.
We're in pursuit on Grey 7.
I'm moving to a level two alert.
Keep this channel open.
Commander, is there a problem? Some kind of attack? Ms.
Cramer, you are in a secure area.
You will leave now.
This is news.
And the people have a right to know.
You'll spend two days in the brig! - I want this weapon triangulated! - Confirmed.
I want this thing pinned down to within 10 feet.
Coming up now.
Commander? Don't.
You're too young to experience that much pain.
He's cornered in Grey 5.
We can take him.
We need lights.
He blacked out the place.
Coming online now.
Take him down! Protect.
Go! Move in! Damn! We've lost him.
He burned through a sublevel moving between bulkheads.
The bulkheads make it difficult to pinpoint location.
We won't know until he fires.
Have your teams sweep each sector moving inward.
Two on a team, five-minute proximity.
Confirmed, security out.
Vance, come here.
I think I found something.
There.
Organic patterns in this piece emulate synaptic relays in the brain.
Cross-genetic equivalents of serotonin to transfer information.
A data storage device? With that information, we might get an idea of the Ikarrans.
And more importantly, why they made these things.
Fire up the biosensor, let's see if we can tap into it.
We're moving through every section to flush him out, but he's underground.
To do the most damage, he'll head for the greatest population.
Central corridor is a prime target.
His record shows a hit-and-run pattern.
Every time he strikes, it chews up energy.
He has to recharge.
Couple of problems.
One: His periods of latency are shorter.
Two: The energy level when he fires increases by 20 percent.
The last burst was off the scale.
If he builds power at that rate, he could destroy the station.
So the next chance we get to stop him might be our last chance.
All right, listen up! I need this cleared! Room to maneuver.
I want guards on the doors, second level and catwalk.
Move it! Let's go! - Energy readings off the scale.
- It's on the move again.
It's heading for the central corridor.
Garibaldi, it's heading your way.
We'll be ready for it.
Win, lose or draw, it will know it was in a fight.
Drop the pressure doors on all sides.
- Give Garibaldi time to get set.
- Affirmative.
We've accessed the organic memory banks of an artifact.
Make it short.
Let me know when it's on the move.
The Ikarrans were invaded half a dozen times.
Each assault deadlier.
They created the perfect weapon able to adapt to any situation, capable of independent thought.
Temperature up 90 degrees in Brown 2, Level C.
It would take years to create synthetic intelligence, so they incorporated brain-wave patterns of a researcher into the weapons.
That's him.
His name was Tularr.
But people can be fooled.
To prevent confusion by an enemy's instructions they hardwired the machine, half not to respond to any impure Ikarrans.
Just one problem, how do you define a pure Ikarran? Or a pure human? No one is pure.
No one.
Temperature's up 500 degrees.
Doctor, I'm joining Mr.
Garibaldi on the line.
Who set the parameters of being pure Ikarran? A coalition of religious fanatics and military extremists.
They programmed the weapons with standards based on ideology.
Like the Nazi ideal of the perfect Aryan.
In the next invasion, They stopped invaders by killing anyone not matching the pure, perfect Ikarran.
Then the machines turned on their creators.
They exterminated based on deviations of what they consider normal.
They killed until the last Ikarran was dead.
And the weapons? They were destroyed by centuries of neglect.
Except number 12 which is here protecting a world that's been dead for 1000 years.
You said they incorporated the brain patterns of one of their researchers.
Is there anything we can reason with? There's a personality matrix.
It's subsumed by its programming.
We'll have to find a way around the program's logic.
Better head back to Medlab.
I suspect we'll need your services.
Weapon! Not yet! I want it point-blank.
Fire! Cease fire! It's in the next level! It's a straight line to the civilians.
- How many men there? - Not enough.
We hit it with everything we had.
Weapons big enough to kill it would kill everybody.
- We'll have to blow out the hull.
- Where are you going? I'll lure it to the dock area and blow out the air lock.
Nothing can live in a vacuum! How will you get it there? By going straight to its personality matrix.
I'll try and make it mad! Make it mad? Are you nuts?! Commander! Tularr? Tularr of Ikarra 7? My name.
My name! Who knows my name? Who knows my name? Your name is dead, Tularr.
Your world is dead.
Ikarra lives! Ikarra must be protected! You failed.
You've failed in your mission! Ikarra is dead! By your own hand! You and others like you! That is a lie! It is a lie! Ikarra is dead! Protect! Ready to initiate emergency decompression.
Wait! Wait! - Come on! - Protect.
- Protect who? From what? - Impure! Yes, impure! You must protect against all who are not pure Ikarran! Yes! And your own people, how pure were they? - Pure! - How pure? They didn't feed you facts, they fed you propaganda! They programmed you with standards of genetic purity no one could match! - Not even your own people! - Liar! Seal area.
Stand by to blow air lock, depressurize.
If we depressurize now, you'll be killed.
Only one way out past that thing.
I'm dead either way.
Seal it.
Now! - Stand by.
- Ikarra lives! Ikarra must be protected! There is no Ikarra! Not the way you remember it.
The others like you, they beat the invaders, all right.
Just like they were programmed.
They killed anything that was different.
Alien.
But we're all aliens to one another.
Flawed, impure, different! No! Too tall, too short, too dark, too light! Imperfect! They were killed, and the killing went on and on! No! The man you took over, Nelson, he's seen Ikarra! Ikarra after the others finished protecting it! Cleansing it of every slightest variation in genetics! You can access his memories.
See for yourself! Look inside his mind.
See what he's seen.
Go on, look into his mind.
He can't hide the truth, he can't lie to you! Look deep.
Look at it! A desert.
Yes.
Dead.
A thousand years dead.
There's your pure world, your perfect world! - We did this? - Yes.
- No! - Damn you, look at it! You and the rest, you forgot the first rule of a fanatic: When you become obsessed with the enemy, you become the enemy! Ikarra! Great Maker forgive us this madness.
Forgive us.
Stephen, how's Nelson? - Medlab 2, resting.
- Good.
Vance, I found this in Nelson's effects.
It's meant for cardio stimulation.
If used on a healthy person, it could cause cardiac infarction and death.
The body of the customs guard had two tiny marks on the back! So small we missed them at first, but they do match the prongs there.
I spoke to Nelson.
He confirms things I'd hoped I was wrong about.
You knew he didn't put the artifacts through quarantine.
He was acting on your orders the whole time.
For God's sake, Vance, why? Interplanetary Expeditions the corporation that financed the dig on Ikarra 7, is a front.
A front for a bioweapons supplier.
I could have turned over the artifacts, taken the standard commission.
But if they were what I suspected, organic weapons, then I could hold back on delivery, and they - Pay millions? Or more.
More money than you can conceive.
Before you took the chance, you had to be sure, so you brought them here.
You endangered a quarter million humans and aliens to raise your profit margin! I thought I'd control it.
I didn't expect anyone to be hurt.
- And the murdered customs guard? - We had to get them past customs.
Nelson said he'd do it.
I didn't ask how.
There was too much at stake.
That's why the weapon bonded to him, not us.
- It needed someone willing to kill.
- Look, we can work all this out.
We can sell artifacts to Interplanetary Expeditions.
They have the muscle to clean up this mess.
All you have to do is not turn me in.
I mean, just think what you could do with all that money.
It's too late.
Stephen.
Come.
You've looked better.
- Can I talk to you for a second? - Sure.
You were willing to risk your life to stop that thing.
- I didn't - Let me finish.
It's the third time in a year you've put yourself on the line.
I didn't know anyone was counting.
Jeff you're my friend.
You've been my friend longer than you've been my officer so I think I'm entitled to say this.
We were both in Earthforce during the war.
I wasn't on the line, but I did my share.
I know a lot of guys who came out of the war changed.
Some came out better, some came out worse.
A lot of them have this problem.
The war gave them definition, direction, purpose! Without it, they look for ways to go out in a blaze of glory.
Some people call that being a hero.
Maybe.
I don't know, I've never been one.
Me, I think they're looking for something worth dying for because it's easier than finding something worth living for.
Finished? Yeah.
I guess that covers it.
Michael I don't have an answer for you and I think maybe I should.
Thanks.
You seem troubled, doctor.
No, I'm just thinking.
The Ikarra fought against invaders like we fought against the Minbari.
They became obsessed with it.
Back home there's a growing pro-Earth movement.
Rumors of hate groups targeting aliens.
And on all sides, the fanatics.
They think society has to be protected against anyone who's different.
I'm starting to wonder if what we just saw is a preview of things to come? I can't believe we'd be that foolish.
Santayana: "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
" I must confiscate the artifacts and transfer them to Earth Central.
On whose authority? Earthforce, bioweapon division.
Something about studying them for planetary security reasons.
It seems no one reads Santayana anymore.
Excuse me.
I'll be over there, getting drunk with the rest of the aliens.
So, after all you've just gone through, I have to ask you the same question people back home are asking about space these days.
Is it worth it? Should we pull back, forget the whole thing as a bad idea and take care of our problems at home? No.
We have to stay here.
There's a simple reason why.
Ask 10 scientists about environment, population control, genetics you'll get 10 different answers.
But there's one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on.
Whether it happens in 100 years, or 1000 years or a million years eventually our sun will grow cold and go out.
When that happens, it won't just take us it will take Marilyn Monroe, and Lao-tzu and Einstein and Morobuto and Buddy Holly and Aristophanes And all of this all of this was for nothing unless we go to the stars.
- How soon? - Longer than a little while, not later.
- He's checking a damaged transport.
- Isn't that done by someone else? He'll grab any chance to take out a ship.
He's like that.
Well, I haven't seen him since I came aboard.
- Have you ever tried one of these? - What is it? According to the translator, it's either an aphrodisiac or a floor wax.
Mr.
Garibaldi Please.
Michael.
Did I mention I really enjoy your broadcasts? If this interview hadn't been set up weeks ago I'd swear Commander Sinclair didn't want to be interviewed.
- I can't imagine that.
- This is an event! This is the second anniversary of Babylon 5 going online.
When this station opened 75% of ISN viewers said this place wouldn't last five minutes! Lloyd's of London put the odds of this station lasting one year at 500-to-1.
Against! Is there a bathroom around here? Third door to your left.
That way.
The blue one is for methane breathers.
I'd steer clear, if I were you.
What the hell.
If that thing leaves a waxy yellow buildup on anything I'm coming back here.
Julie, hand me that separator.
I've just about got the RNA strand where I want it.
Get it yourself.
Vance? What are you doing here? I was in the sector, I thought I'd stop by and visit my favorite student.
I've come to offer an adventure, Stephen.
Possibly the biggest you've ever had.
What kind of adventure? You'll find out soon enough.
Savor the mystery, Stephen.
We don't get nearly enough of them.
Tired? Yeah, long day.
But your ship's the last one in.
Anything to declare? Any plants? Nonsentient pets? Organic matter? Nothing organic.
Just some pottery and stonework.
Funny thing.
The bottom of the box on the inside is four inches shorter than the outside.
Like there was a hidden compartment.
I'd almost think you were smuggling something in.
Not a chance! No, it's just packing material to protect the stuff.
Here, let me show you.
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.
- How does it look? - Looks like natural causes.
- Heart attack.
- That suddenly? It's possible.
I'll know more after we do an autopsy.
- Did you know him? - No, he just started the other day.
Nothing in his personnel jacket about a heart condition.
And exactly which medical school did you attend, Mr.
Garibaldi? Nothing personal, doc.
I just want to be sure.
So do I.
I'll assign my best people to the autopsy.
Fair enough? Meanwhile, go on with work as usual.
As soon as I hear anything, I'll tell you.
Go ahead and remove the body now.
We had a problem at one of the docking bays.
What is this all about? I need your help.
You're an archaeologist.
Everything you touch is dead.
My area of expertise is more current, and a lot warmer.
I'd like to introduce you to my assistant.
Nelson, meet Dr.
Stephen Franklin, one of the best students I've had.
In the area of alien history, anatomy and culture.
Dr.
Hendricks told me all about you on our way from our dig on Ikarra 7.
Dig? You found something.
Show him.
That's funny, I just had an energy spike on my screen.
- Same here.
- What's the location? I thought it was around Medlab.
I'm not sure.
It was just there for a second.
Might have been a malfunction.
- Run a diagnostic check to be sure.
- Will do.
We were on a dig for Interplanetary Expeditions when we found these artifacts in a vault buried nearly a mile beneath the surface of Ikarra 7.
Ikarra 7 is a dead world.
But that proves what I've said for years.
Ikarra was once home to a highly advanced, space-faring society.
Extraordinary.
How old are they? Minimum, 1000 years.
No chips, no sign of wear or age.
It's as if they were made yesterday.
What were they made to do? That's where you come in.
- Vance, I told you - I know, I know.
Humor me.
Put it in your medical scanner.
Veins, capillaries, traces of DNA.
This is composed of living tissue.
This is organic technology.
The one trick that Earth hasn't yet cracked.
The ability to create living ships that thrive in the vacuum.
Weapons that produce power through internal generation like a firefly lights up at night.
The ultimate synthesis of machine technology and living tissue.
Magnificent.
This was a scanner of some kind.
The entire surface tissue is photosensitive.
Retinal cones and rods to detect wideband light frequencies.
Amazing! Why didn't you tell me when you arrived? I did.
We've only been here a few hours.
But organic material has to be quarantined for 48 hours.
We put it through quarantine at the transfer station off Proxima 3.
It's all approved and authorized.
Nelson has all the paperwork.
Don't you see what this means? This is a blueprint for living machines.
The Vorlons have one.
Some say the Minbari have them.
We haven't seen them up close to know how they work.
But with your expertise in genetics and my background in archaeology we now have the chance.
There are better-equipped facilities on Earth.
I need someone I can trust.
You once told me that you wanted your name to go down in history.
Alongside Fleming.
Salk.
Jenner.
Takahashi.
Well, this is it, Stephen.
This is the mother lode.
I can't do it without you.
I need your help.
So are you in or out? Finish unpacking, Nelson.
We have a lot of work ahead of us.
There you are.
Any word on the autopsy? They think it's natural causes.
We'll know tomorrow.
We've also scheduled security to cover the Narn-Centauri negotiations.
We can call it a day.
And you, It.
Commander? Isn't the night shift on duty? We picked up strange readings.
I'm waiting to see if it happens again.
- Is it serious? - I'm trying to find out.
Keep me informed.
And get some sleep.
I will.
Oh, and your interview is scheduled for 1100 hours.
Swell.
Which reminds me.
She's waiting for me.
Why are you ducking her? Last time I gave an interview, they told me to say what I really felt.
After it aired, I got transferred to an outpost so remote you couldn't find it with a hunting dog.
Just be that charming commander we've all come to know and love.
What could happen? They fire you, and I get promoted.
- I don't see a problem here.
- How sharper than a serpent's tooth.
With all this technology, you think there'd be a clock! Stephen, it's been 15 hours.
We're gonna grow old and die in here.
Stephen? There's a Martian war machine outside.
They'd like a word with you about the common cold.
Tell them to make an appointment.
Something's been bothering me ever since you got here.
Even if we figure out how this works, what happens then? We apply for a secondary patent and sell it to an Earth corporation.
That's what I'm talking about.
You're a brilliant man, Vance.
You were an inspiration to me.
You should make discoveries, not raid dead worlds for whatever you can scavenge and sell! Right.
Mountains of paper.
Vanishing grants.
Who has time? Exactly! That's my point! This may be important, but you didn't create it.
You just found it.
It's a shortcut.
I don't like corporations financing expeditions to alien worlds so they can steal the technology they have.
It feels like grave-robbing.
Do you know the cost of an off-world expedition? More money than a professor makes in a lifetime.
If the corporations won't pay, who will? In the last five years, I've seen things off-world you can't imagine.
I stood in the Ibendi Desert and saw all seven moons go into eclipse.
I've walked in vaults sealed longer than humans have existed breathing air that's Call that a shortcut if you will but I've lived.
By God, Stephen, I have lived.
At least my hands are clean.
How about yours? - What's that supposed to mean? - Who is Interplanetary Expeditions? You said they fronted this expedition, but I can't find information on them.
I didn't come halfway across space to argue with you.
I came for your help and friendship.
If that's too big a burden No, it is not.
I just wish you'd stop taking shortcuts.
I suggest we get a good night's sleep and start again tomorrow.
If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them.
Fair? Yeah.
And we made it out of the desert.
Later, Commander Sinclair put me on security for Babylon 5.
- It's been a great time - Yes, I'm sure it has.
I've come across several rumors about your record prior to Babylon 5.
That you were fired five times and this is your last chance to make good.
Care to comment? I'd rather have my tonsils taken out through my ears.
Lights! Nelson? Vance? My God! Nelson, what happened? Protect.
When did it happen? - Last night.
He's in the infirmary.
- What's his condition? Stunned.
Bumps and bruises.
Dr.
Hernandez says it's okay to ask questions.
- You shouldn't be walking around yet.
- I'm a doctor.
I know what I'm doing.
On second thought Do you remember anything? Not much.
I turned around and there he was, like I said.
The weapon was like the organic artifacts we worked on.
Organic? Were they checked at customs? I was told they were.
Check into it.
This Nelson, who's he working for? - Vance Hendricks.
- The one who brought in the artifacts? Interesting.
I haven't heard a satisfactory answer.
I'm getting tired of asking for one.
Dr.
Franklin was attacked by your assistant, covered in armor similar to the artifacts you brought here.
Which weren't cleared for access.
Organic material requires quarantine.
There's no record of that here or at Proxima 3.
I'm as much in the dark as you are.
Nelson told me that he checked them.
I believed him.
A dangerous alien technology was smuggled aboard this station.
I hold you personally responsible.
Is that clear? Yes, it is.
Any news of Stephen's condition? They're checking him out.
He took a pretty bad hit.
But I'm told he's gonna be okay.
He's up and around.
Thank God.
What can you tell us about these artifacts? They're a kind of organic technology.
Limited energy.
In order to achieve mobility, they graft onto another life form.
It's possible that they'd try to assimilate Nelson.
My guess would be that he's under their control.
For what purpose? Why would they assimilate Nelson but not you? Unknown.
As to what it wants, that depends on its programming.
According to Dr.
Franklin, before it fired, it said, "Protect".
Might that be the key to its program? Maybe.
But the question is, protect who? And from what? That information may be contained in the artifacts if I could assist Dr.
Franklin in decoding them.
If I'm responsible for this, the least I can do is help finish it.
Done.
That's what I told her! Protect.
I've picked up that energy flash again! Grey 13, Level B.
And there's something else.
The energy pattern has changed.
It's 20% more powerful than before.
I have security on the link.
We've got two fatalities in Grey 13.
Same thing that attacked doc.
We're in pursuit on Grey 7.
I'm moving to a level two alert.
Keep this channel open.
Commander, is there a problem? Some kind of attack? Ms.
Cramer, you are in a secure area.
You will leave now.
This is news.
And the people have a right to know.
You'll spend two days in the brig! - I want this weapon triangulated! - Confirmed.
I want this thing pinned down to within 10 feet.
Coming up now.
Commander? Don't.
You're too young to experience that much pain.
He's cornered in Grey 5.
We can take him.
We need lights.
He blacked out the place.
Coming online now.
Take him down! Protect.
Go! Move in! Damn! We've lost him.
He burned through a sublevel moving between bulkheads.
The bulkheads make it difficult to pinpoint location.
We won't know until he fires.
Have your teams sweep each sector moving inward.
Two on a team, five-minute proximity.
Confirmed, security out.
Vance, come here.
I think I found something.
There.
Organic patterns in this piece emulate synaptic relays in the brain.
Cross-genetic equivalents of serotonin to transfer information.
A data storage device? With that information, we might get an idea of the Ikarrans.
And more importantly, why they made these things.
Fire up the biosensor, let's see if we can tap into it.
We're moving through every section to flush him out, but he's underground.
To do the most damage, he'll head for the greatest population.
Central corridor is a prime target.
His record shows a hit-and-run pattern.
Every time he strikes, it chews up energy.
He has to recharge.
Couple of problems.
One: His periods of latency are shorter.
Two: The energy level when he fires increases by 20 percent.
The last burst was off the scale.
If he builds power at that rate, he could destroy the station.
So the next chance we get to stop him might be our last chance.
All right, listen up! I need this cleared! Room to maneuver.
I want guards on the doors, second level and catwalk.
Move it! Let's go! - Energy readings off the scale.
- It's on the move again.
It's heading for the central corridor.
Garibaldi, it's heading your way.
We'll be ready for it.
Win, lose or draw, it will know it was in a fight.
Drop the pressure doors on all sides.
- Give Garibaldi time to get set.
- Affirmative.
We've accessed the organic memory banks of an artifact.
Make it short.
Let me know when it's on the move.
The Ikarrans were invaded half a dozen times.
Each assault deadlier.
They created the perfect weapon able to adapt to any situation, capable of independent thought.
Temperature up 90 degrees in Brown 2, Level C.
It would take years to create synthetic intelligence, so they incorporated brain-wave patterns of a researcher into the weapons.
That's him.
His name was Tularr.
But people can be fooled.
To prevent confusion by an enemy's instructions they hardwired the machine, half not to respond to any impure Ikarrans.
Just one problem, how do you define a pure Ikarran? Or a pure human? No one is pure.
No one.
Temperature's up 500 degrees.
Doctor, I'm joining Mr.
Garibaldi on the line.
Who set the parameters of being pure Ikarran? A coalition of religious fanatics and military extremists.
They programmed the weapons with standards based on ideology.
Like the Nazi ideal of the perfect Aryan.
In the next invasion, They stopped invaders by killing anyone not matching the pure, perfect Ikarran.
Then the machines turned on their creators.
They exterminated based on deviations of what they consider normal.
They killed until the last Ikarran was dead.
And the weapons? They were destroyed by centuries of neglect.
Except number 12 which is here protecting a world that's been dead for 1000 years.
You said they incorporated the brain patterns of one of their researchers.
Is there anything we can reason with? There's a personality matrix.
It's subsumed by its programming.
We'll have to find a way around the program's logic.
Better head back to Medlab.
I suspect we'll need your services.
Weapon! Not yet! I want it point-blank.
Fire! Cease fire! It's in the next level! It's a straight line to the civilians.
- How many men there? - Not enough.
We hit it with everything we had.
Weapons big enough to kill it would kill everybody.
- We'll have to blow out the hull.
- Where are you going? I'll lure it to the dock area and blow out the air lock.
Nothing can live in a vacuum! How will you get it there? By going straight to its personality matrix.
I'll try and make it mad! Make it mad? Are you nuts?! Commander! Tularr? Tularr of Ikarra 7? My name.
My name! Who knows my name? Who knows my name? Your name is dead, Tularr.
Your world is dead.
Ikarra lives! Ikarra must be protected! You failed.
You've failed in your mission! Ikarra is dead! By your own hand! You and others like you! That is a lie! It is a lie! Ikarra is dead! Protect! Ready to initiate emergency decompression.
Wait! Wait! - Come on! - Protect.
- Protect who? From what? - Impure! Yes, impure! You must protect against all who are not pure Ikarran! Yes! And your own people, how pure were they? - Pure! - How pure? They didn't feed you facts, they fed you propaganda! They programmed you with standards of genetic purity no one could match! - Not even your own people! - Liar! Seal area.
Stand by to blow air lock, depressurize.
If we depressurize now, you'll be killed.
Only one way out past that thing.
I'm dead either way.
Seal it.
Now! - Stand by.
- Ikarra lives! Ikarra must be protected! There is no Ikarra! Not the way you remember it.
The others like you, they beat the invaders, all right.
Just like they were programmed.
They killed anything that was different.
Alien.
But we're all aliens to one another.
Flawed, impure, different! No! Too tall, too short, too dark, too light! Imperfect! They were killed, and the killing went on and on! No! The man you took over, Nelson, he's seen Ikarra! Ikarra after the others finished protecting it! Cleansing it of every slightest variation in genetics! You can access his memories.
See for yourself! Look inside his mind.
See what he's seen.
Go on, look into his mind.
He can't hide the truth, he can't lie to you! Look deep.
Look at it! A desert.
Yes.
Dead.
A thousand years dead.
There's your pure world, your perfect world! - We did this? - Yes.
- No! - Damn you, look at it! You and the rest, you forgot the first rule of a fanatic: When you become obsessed with the enemy, you become the enemy! Ikarra! Great Maker forgive us this madness.
Forgive us.
Stephen, how's Nelson? - Medlab 2, resting.
- Good.
Vance, I found this in Nelson's effects.
It's meant for cardio stimulation.
If used on a healthy person, it could cause cardiac infarction and death.
The body of the customs guard had two tiny marks on the back! So small we missed them at first, but they do match the prongs there.
I spoke to Nelson.
He confirms things I'd hoped I was wrong about.
You knew he didn't put the artifacts through quarantine.
He was acting on your orders the whole time.
For God's sake, Vance, why? Interplanetary Expeditions the corporation that financed the dig on Ikarra 7, is a front.
A front for a bioweapons supplier.
I could have turned over the artifacts, taken the standard commission.
But if they were what I suspected, organic weapons, then I could hold back on delivery, and they - Pay millions? Or more.
More money than you can conceive.
Before you took the chance, you had to be sure, so you brought them here.
You endangered a quarter million humans and aliens to raise your profit margin! I thought I'd control it.
I didn't expect anyone to be hurt.
- And the murdered customs guard? - We had to get them past customs.
Nelson said he'd do it.
I didn't ask how.
There was too much at stake.
That's why the weapon bonded to him, not us.
- It needed someone willing to kill.
- Look, we can work all this out.
We can sell artifacts to Interplanetary Expeditions.
They have the muscle to clean up this mess.
All you have to do is not turn me in.
I mean, just think what you could do with all that money.
It's too late.
Stephen.
Come.
You've looked better.
- Can I talk to you for a second? - Sure.
You were willing to risk your life to stop that thing.
- I didn't - Let me finish.
It's the third time in a year you've put yourself on the line.
I didn't know anyone was counting.
Jeff you're my friend.
You've been my friend longer than you've been my officer so I think I'm entitled to say this.
We were both in Earthforce during the war.
I wasn't on the line, but I did my share.
I know a lot of guys who came out of the war changed.
Some came out better, some came out worse.
A lot of them have this problem.
The war gave them definition, direction, purpose! Without it, they look for ways to go out in a blaze of glory.
Some people call that being a hero.
Maybe.
I don't know, I've never been one.
Me, I think they're looking for something worth dying for because it's easier than finding something worth living for.
Finished? Yeah.
I guess that covers it.
Michael I don't have an answer for you and I think maybe I should.
Thanks.
You seem troubled, doctor.
No, I'm just thinking.
The Ikarra fought against invaders like we fought against the Minbari.
They became obsessed with it.
Back home there's a growing pro-Earth movement.
Rumors of hate groups targeting aliens.
And on all sides, the fanatics.
They think society has to be protected against anyone who's different.
I'm starting to wonder if what we just saw is a preview of things to come? I can't believe we'd be that foolish.
Santayana: "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
" I must confiscate the artifacts and transfer them to Earth Central.
On whose authority? Earthforce, bioweapon division.
Something about studying them for planetary security reasons.
It seems no one reads Santayana anymore.
Excuse me.
I'll be over there, getting drunk with the rest of the aliens.
So, after all you've just gone through, I have to ask you the same question people back home are asking about space these days.
Is it worth it? Should we pull back, forget the whole thing as a bad idea and take care of our problems at home? No.
We have to stay here.
There's a simple reason why.
Ask 10 scientists about environment, population control, genetics you'll get 10 different answers.
But there's one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on.
Whether it happens in 100 years, or 1000 years or a million years eventually our sun will grow cold and go out.
When that happens, it won't just take us it will take Marilyn Monroe, and Lao-tzu and Einstein and Morobuto and Buddy Holly and Aristophanes And all of this all of this was for nothing unless we go to the stars.