Farscape s01e14 Episode Script

Crichton (groaning): Why is it always my fault? It's not always your fault.
Just almost always your fault.
Now, give that amniox a bit of a twist, will you? Not that far.
Only about half as much.
(both groaning) You know, Pilot said that this blockage was a byproduct of Moya's pregnancy.
It was probably caused by you firing that chemical-burning Earth pod in the transport hangar.
Well, you don't have to worry about that.
That was the last of my fuel.
I'm totally dependent on your technology now.
It's not my technology.
it's Leviathan technology.
D'argo, I don't give a rat's ass what you want to call it.
It's your end of the universe.
It's your technology.
Sure as hell ain't mine.
(groaning) John, is something wrong? Yep.
I'm fed up.
"Fed up"? I'm sorry, is this going to be another translator microbe hiccup? "Oh, John, you're fed up.
Does that mean that you've had too many food cubes today?" It was cute, it was vaguely, vaguely amusing the first six billion times.
Something clearly is troubling you, John.
Perhaps I can So, what, you're going to help? Is that it? Maybe, before, when you were a priest.
But guess what? You resigned.
Crichton, I don't understand what you're talking about.
I'm going for a drive.
I'm hitting the strip.
I'm going cruising.
What's going on? I'm getting some space, Aeryn and I'm not talking about the space outside the ship.
Look, this is hardly the time for human nonsense, Crichton.
Oh, God, that is it.
You are so damn smart.
There's no time for any stupid human anything.
And I'm sick of it, Aeryn.
I'm sick of Napoleon the Fourteenth, I'm sick of Blue, I'm sick of Tentacle Boy and guess what? I'm sick of you.
I'm sick of this whole turd-burp end of the universe.
Crichton, I need you down here.
This backwash is building up too fast.
Moya is experiencing an extreme increase in her amnexus systems.
She senses that her fetus is at risk.
She's decompensating.
Decompensating.
Oh, no.
That means she's going Prepare for immediate starburst.
John.
What's he doing? We must warn him.
Pilot, get him back on board.
No time.
You guys are bugging out on me?! I hate starbursts.
Oh, God, I am a dead man.
My name is John Crichton, an astronaut a radiation wave hit and I got shot through a wormhole Now I'm lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship.
A living ship full of strange alien life-forms Help me Listen, please.
Is there anybody out there who can hear me? being hunted by an insane military commander doing everything I can I'm just looking for a way home.
Yeah! Whoo-hoo! Ha-ha! Yes! I wasn't sure who to bet on, you or the shakloom.
I wasn't sure myself.
(giggling) You share with me? In Acquara, the offering of food by a man to a woman signals his fondness for her.
How do you take it? Boiled or barbecued? What's that? It is a map of the sky.
Did you make that? Yes, by the ancient charts of the Timbala.
It is a gift for you.
Oh, Lishala, I, uh That's beautiful.
Thank you.
I, um thought you might show me where your home world is.
My home world? Well, let's see.
On this map, right about there.
Rokon: Lishala.
Your father demands that you return to the village.
Is it my father that demands it or you, Rokon? When would you ever do as I demand? When you learn to ask nicely.
You can teach him that.
I see you took a shakloom.
Too bad.
A baby.
Don't take them smaller than this.
Right.
This is Lishala'a map of the sky.
Why did she give it to you? I guess she thought it might help me find my way home.
She's never given me such a gift.
Rokon, you don't need a map to get home.
You know you'll never go home.
Not from Acquara.
You're probably right.
But this is the first place I've been that makes me feel I can live with that.
But the question is, can Acquara live with you? The grondeer wants to see you.
Be there at high sun.
So, another green planet in yet another unnamed system.
Crichton must have landed somewhere.
Moya's starburst data says that this planet is on an exact reverse trajectory.
Along with every other system we've been through in the last quarter of a cycle.
D'argo, we have to admit to ourselves.
Whatever happened to John is his own doing.
He shouldn't have left Moya in the time of crisis.
We drove him to it.
All of us.
Have you become so cold? Cold, perhaps, but also practical.
We all grow weary of this search, and it places us in greater danger of being discovered by the Peacekeepers.
I still care about Crichton.
The only reason this search still drags on is because of the guilt in your own hearts.
My hearts are private places.
Stay out of them.
Aeryn, you have a voice in this, too.
Fine.
I say we keep looking, for now.
You know, D'argo, there will come a time where we may have to acknowledge that Crichton has met his destiny and we're just not part of it.
Then I will wait for you to tell me when to abandon the search.
When we abandon Crichton.
Child: Hyah! Hyah! Hyah! Hyah! (mock groaning) (whispering, giggling) A-lu-e-masata.
A-lu-e-masata.
Ah, my honored guest has arrived.
Shai, shai! Shai! Enough! A-lu-e-masata.
A-lu-e-masata.
You learn our ways, John Crichton.
Ah, they're not so different from my own.
Go.
I want to talk in private.
Come.
Sit.
Beside you? I know.
It's a privilege awarded only to my best hunters.
I wouldn't wish to dishonor them.
But by refusing, you dishonor me.
Come.
Sit.
We have much to discuss.
You see? Not a bad place to sit.
So, you said we have much to discuss? Yes.
For instance impulsive flights of my daughter's heart.
You see the way she comes alive when she looks at you? When I look at her, I see a friend.
If it should become more than that, you need to understand Kato-Re.
I deeply appreciate the way your people have welcomed me, but I chose to build my home away from the village because I do not want to interfere in your ways.
Amongst our people, it is the female who chooses which male she will mate with for life.
It may be out of your hands, my dear Crichton.
Huh.
It appears the grondeer has invited the stranger to sit beside him.
When was the last time he invited you? Only once, when I asked his permission to attract Lishala.
It is obvious Lishala feels culleh for the stranger.
And now he sits in your rightful place.
I am not blind, mother.
Oh, not blind.
But perhaps weak? I am first among the hunters.
As my son, you are more than any hunter.
You are part of the Priestan lineage, and someday you could be grondeer of Acquara.
I'm seeing to that.
But only if you marry Lishala.
I want to marry her, but not for your reasons.
How can I control the way she feels? I'm talking about rule of all of this, and you can't even master the heart of one foolish girl? You will do whatever is necessary to insure that no one stands between you and our family's destiny.
Do you understand? This is the worst Pod landing I ever experienced.
Where did you learn to fly? We lost all power and dropped the last 20 units.
You're telling me.
Pilot, we're heads-up on the planet.
We caught a glimpse of Crichton's module during our last pass.
I acknowledge, D'argo.
Excellent news.
I will inform the others.
In the meantime, Moya's having trouble pinpointing your signal.
(signal breaking up): Can you activate your homing ident so she can read Pilot Pilot! Communication's been terminated.
Another power loss.
Ooh! Ohh! Ohh! (yelling) Oof! Oh! Something's draining all power.
D'argo? Where are you going, hmm? I insist you wait for me! (grunting, groaning) It's a simple matter, Aeryn.
Either you or I jet down there to try and pick up a visual where we lost contact.
We didn't lose contact, Zhaan.
Contact was severed.
D'argo confirmed that he found Crichton's module.
Then he was gone.
Which is why we must act quickly.
Not without more data.
We're already down one Transport Pod.
Let's not make it two.
They could be hurt or need medical attention, or even reinforcements, Aeryn.
You were a lot more agreeable as a peace-loving priest.
As I assume were you as a Peacekeeper pilot.
I didn't give up my calling.
You did.
My personal decision to put aside the spiritual seek is none of your business.
I warn you fairly, Aeryn.
Do not go there.
Is that a threat? I will only tell you once.
There are lines we should never cross.
Now, I strongly suggest we concentrate on the problem at hand.
First rule of engagement: "before you go into battle know your enemy.
" It is not a battle, Aeryn.
It is a rescue.
From what? There should be some sort of thermal register from the Pod's propulsion systems, but there's nothing.
Well, then I suggest we find out why.
Fine.
Because if we don't, we're all we have left.
A-lu-e-masata.
Just passing through.
Is there a problem here? Rokon.
What's the deal? Damn it! Rokon I know you do not mean to be an enemy, but you interfere with our ways.
I'm not trying to interfere.
I'm just trying to live my life, alone.
Then why do you poison Lishala's heart? Rokon, you and Lishala, you've got nothing to worry about from me.
But I have to be sure I have nothing to worry about from Lishala.
You smell like dren.
You look like dren.
Get the hell away from me.
We came back for you.
That's supposed to be a good thing? You'd rather those guys have danced all over your face.
Yeah, I would.
And wherever you came from, go back.
Rokon: That's when he came flying in, swinging his powerful blade.
This man-creature, a full samat bigger than Talio or Ku-mah with tentacles and tattoos all over his head.
You see? This stranger, this Crichton, infects us like a parasite.
Already, he brings more evil into our midst.
Remember, our ancestors were space travelers too.
We are but colonists here ourselves.
Then you will embrace this man-creature as you've embraced the stranger? Perhaps you will invite him also to bed with your daughter.
Mother! You will not dishonor my daughter.
It's all right.
She knows nothing of my heart, and less of my sleeping habits.
She should only get some of her own.
You try the limits of your rank, Neera.
Remember, you address the grondeer.
Remember, your office depends upon the sanction of mine.
Do not show weakness here, Kato-Re.
Our people will not stand for it.
(snoring) (snorting) Uh-uh-oh-uh-ah Crichton, you're alive! No thanks to you.
Get up.
You're outta here.
This isn't the happy reunion I'd planned on.
I didn't plan on one at all.
Not after you abandoned me.
Is that what you really think happened? You're the one.
Practically sabotaged poor Moya, then blasted out of there like a barkan out of Hezmana.
I get a little stressed out and the second I'm off the ship, boom! You guys starburst the hell out of there.
Moya starburst on her own.
You forced her to decompensate when you failed to release the pressure on her amnexus systems.
Do you really think we abandoned you, when we spent the last quarter of a cycle searching for you? This whole time, the last three months.
You came back.
To look for me.
A lapse of sound judgment I'll regret for the rest of my life.
Yeah, you just might.
The rest of your life.
We'll all regret it if we don't deal with this negative power vortex.
Rygel: Which means what, exactly? If it uses power, it doesn't work.
Ooh! We're stuck here? Oh! No power.
No comforts.
No defenses.
Sounds like paradise.
(indistinct chanting) Zhaan.
(chanting continues) Wake up, Zhaan.
I'm not sleeping, I'm increasing my work efficiency with a Delvian wanta chant.
Oh.
This might help.
Come and have a look.
Pilot just produced it.
Ah! Good.
It's a topographic bio-print.
Still too generalized, though.
Too generalized for what? Since Moya can't pick up any power signals from the planet she's concentrating instead on biological markers.
What we need to do is isolate the most highly developed organisms.
Oh well, that rules out the three we're looking for.
Yes, well, even if we can locate them the problem is, how do we help them? I've been thinking about that.
We need some kind of shielded power source, something that's hot enough to run their Transport Pod, that can be built into a projectile.
How do we send it in where we can do most good? Well, you locate the target and I'll hit it.
Anyway, thank God I found this planet.
This system.
You thought you would stay here the rest of your life.
I haven't stopped thinking that.
Look around, D'argo.
There's a lot worse places.
Since I left my home, I've been hunted, beaten, locked up, shanghaied, shot at.
I've had alien creatures in my face, up my nose, inside my brain, down my pants This is the first time, the first place, where I've found peace.
(snoring) Lishala.
Don't be afraid.
Who are you? Lishala, this is D'argo.
D'argo, Lishala.
Why did you bring him here? I I didn't bring him.
He came on his own.
As a friend.
Rokon accused your friend of attacking his brothers.
That is a lie.
They ambushed Crichton.
It's lucky I showed up when I did.
You've done nothing to harm us since you came.
Why do they wish to hurt you? Lishala, Rokon believes that your heart strays my direction.
Perhaps he's right.
No, no.
Look, you and I, that's, uh that's not a good idea.
You must go to my father at once and convince him that your friend D'argo is not a threat.
Come.
I'll take you.
D'argo! This way.
(yelling) D'argo! No! Stop! What are you doing? Let me go! Rokon! Tell them to let me go! Let me go! Rokon! Stop it! She set us up.
Crichton: No, she didn't! So shut up.
(snoring) Lishala: I told you, they don't mean us any harm! Why won't you listen to me? Rokon! Rokon! Let go of me! (grunts) (Rygel grunts softly) (muffled grunt) You are charged with the crime of assault against the personal guards of the grondeer.
Gracious grondeer, I've always told you the truth.
This whole thing started when you asked me to sit beside you.
It made Rokon think that I was trying to steal Lishala's heart.
That's a lie! Enough! My daughter's heart is not an object to be possessed or stolen.
She is free to give it as she chooses.
Try telling him that.
It's the stranger that disrupts our peace! And now his ally, this man-creature, threatens our very safety.
The crime of assault against my personal guards carries the sentence of death.
No! Please.
I know they're not dangerous.
Please, they're no threat Be quiet or be removed! But since I believe you are not entirely at fault, you shall be banished to work the compound at Lomata-kai for a period of ten cycles.
Kato-Re, you are wrong.
Grondeer, I remind you, the law is very explicit.
The law is my domain.
(Rygel gasping) Seize that! Kato-Re: Here! What do you have in there? (gasping) Man: It is him! A-lu-e-masata! It's him.
Look.
Man: A-lu-e-masata! So glad you could join us, Your Eminence.
Hmm? Masata.
Masata.
(crowd chanting): A-lu-e-masata Rygel: Crichton, what the frell is going on? I think They think you're God.
Rygel: No.
Not a God, but a sovereign.
Oh, it's perfectly understandable.
My, uh um, uh, my empire included tens of thousands of planets and species.
This simply must be one of them.
You know, this grondeer's hut is really quite comfortable.
We are nowhere near Hyneria.
We are in the Uncharted Territories.
What are your subjects doing all the way out here? There's no telling how far my influence extends.
May we, Your Eminence? Hmm? May you what? We're here to bathe you.
(chortling) Rygel: You may go.
I'll see to it that no more harm comes to you.
(chuckling): Mmm Maid: Ah (chortling) Tickles.
How's it going? Well, I've almost finished with the projectile.
But the shielded power source is another matter entirely.
I don't know enough of the necessary science to build it.
Can't believe this, but I need Crichton.
Well, Moya's isolated bio-prints of the most complex life-forms.
See this orange marks here.
They indicate habitat.
A settlement, possibly a village.
And the dark area? Well, according to Pilot it's the focal point of negative power drain.
But look, these three marks here.
Three distinct life-forms.
Clearly different from all the others.
Is it possible? Crichton, D'argo, Rygel.
Well, we know where to send this, but I have no shielded power source to pack on board.
However, we can use it to point them in the right direction.
Mmmm.
Oh, this is too, too much.
Keep it coming.
Fruit, shakland jerky, oh, ohh! Excuse me, Your Eminence.
Oh.
Shoo-shoo, shoo.
(chortling) (giggling) Rygel: Enter.
Your loyal subjects are preparing a little celebration for you.
Excellent.
Where they officially accept you as their masata and you fulfill your part in the Prophesy.
Hmm? Which part of what Prophesy? That's what we're trying to find out.
They don't like talking to strangers about their religion.
Religion? Dah! I told you, I'm their Dominar, not their god.
Well, they don't think so.
They think you're some kind of savior.
Huh? Neera: Your Eminence.
Doesn't anybody knock? A-lu-e-masata, most humble masata, forgive me.
Your grand celebration is being prepared.
Ah, yes, of course.
Where I'm expected to fulfill my part in the Prophesy.
Now, for my part in the Prophesy, I shall require the sacred text.
Neera: The Timbala? Yes, yes, the Timbala.
It is written in the ancient language.
There are very few who can read it.
Only Priestan, like myself, and of course, you.
Hmm I look forward to the honor of officiating at the celebration.
(nervous murmur) How did you know about the sacred text? Where were you brought up? Every religion's got one.
Look, relax.
The answer to this whole masata thing must be in here somewhere.
Can you read it? It's in the ancient Hynerian.
I had a coterie of tutors all through my youth who did nothing but instruct me in the ancient language.
Can you read it? (inhales sharply) I will try.
Hey.
Are you immortal too, like the masata? When were you going to tell me? I thought we had a future together.
(sighs) Lishala our futures were never meant to be one.
Doesn't matter anyway.
Now that he's come, all our futures are different now.
It is written in the Prophesy.
Lishala, what is the Prophesy? He's the masata.
Through the Priestan, he's protected us, guided us, ruled us throughout our exile on this planet.
Later, after the celebration he'll rise up and lead us to the light.
Wait.
You think that Rygel is going to take you off this planet? Whether we want to go or not.
Lishala, Rygel is not a spiritual being.
He doesn't have any special powers.
That's not true.
We've worshipped his idol for generations.
And now he has returned, just as it's written in the Timbala.
Your Timbala, your beliefs, they're wrong.
-A flesh and blood Dominar -No! has been presented to you as some kind of a god.
It's not true.
If he is the real masata, he'll rise up and lead us to the light.
If he does not prove himself the true masata tonight, he will suffer a torturous death beyond any other and so will you.
(ceremonial music playing) The party's just getting started.
Looks like you're the guest of honor.
Rygel, you'd better find something we can use.
The ancestors of these people, these Acquarans, they were colonists, sent out from my empire during the reign of Rygel the Tenth.
They were meant to expand the influence of my people's monarchy.
And they were they were abandoned.
Rygel the Tenth sent them here.
Then he Rygel, what? Whatever's causing the power drain across the planet is intentional.
There's some sort of device sent by my empire that purposely keeps these people on this planet so that they can't travel, can't learn of other cultures.
Can't be anything other than the blind followers of the family of Rygel.
What's this about you being some kind of masata? A lot of this is new.
The Priestans have made it up.
Elevated my ancestors and me to gods, to elevate themselves.
But I must tell them.
Explain.
I'm Rygel the Sixteenth.
They must listen.
Rygel, look at them out there.
They aren't preparing for the return of a worldly king.
They're preparing for the return of their savior.
Then we're frelled.
(rhythmic drumming) (man shouting ceremonial words) Well akuna matata, masata.
We've got a big problem.
They're all expecting slug-man here is going to rise up and lead them into the light.
We know.
It is written in the Timbala.
Rygel: It's a metaphor, that's all.
A-a colorful bit of descriptive language to infer the guiding of people to a better way of life.
Listen, Rygel.
To these people it's not any damn metaphor.
They are burning their possessions.
D'argo: They are expecting you to rise up and part the heavens.
But I I can't do that.
I I ohh! No! No wait! I command you! (gasps) Great.
This current bio-print reading shows all three targeted life-forms are very close to the vortex sight.
Right.
Let's drop it right in their laps.
Programming targeting coordinates.
Clear to launch.
Now.
She's on optimal trajectory.
If everything goes smoothly we should have contact in (computer beeping) We've lost her.
It's the power vortex.
No signal, no data, no contact.
She is gone.
So, now all we can do is wait.
And pray for a miracle.
Rygel: People of Acquara! Loyal subjects.
In this time of of hope, of, uh of greater understanding, it is my wish that you will understand that we have much to accomplish together, as a united people before, um, and, uh by my hand uh I shall rise up and lead you to the light.
So, as we embark together on this great journey forward, uh, could, uh, take a very long time.
No! It is written that the masata will rise up and lead us to the light.
Rygel: But that's just a metaphor.
Uh uh and as your leader, your Dominar, I command that you should wait Neera: The sacred Timbala does not command us to wait! It states without question, by the hand of the masata shall he rise and lead us to the light.
Rise and lead us to the light.
(all chanting): Rise up and lead us to the light! Listen! Listen to me! I I I can't! False god.
He's not the masata! False god! (all chanting): False god! Ouch.
False god! False god! But I never was a god! Seize him! (gasps) D'argo: Crichton D'Argo, let me go! Crichton! Crichton, help me! For God's sake, D'argo! They're going to fry Rygel.
We'll be no help to anyone if they fry us too.
(projectile whistling) Okay, I give up.
What is it? It's from Moya.
Thermal storage casing.
Looks like the girls are trying to send us a message.
That's coordinates.
(drumming and chanting) Rygel: You have been wronged! Horribly wronged by my empire! I admit that! But your belief that I am a god is also wrong! Let me explain! Please! Let me explain! It is how it must be.
No, it is not.
Why can't we decide our own fate? Make our own rules? (gasping): Whaa Stop! (drumming and chanting stop) (mumbling): Poor Rygel.
Let him go.
You've been betrayed.
All of you.
You've been forced to live on this planet against your will as were your ancestors before you.
Don't listen to him.
There is a device.
A device which drains all power sources.
It keeps your machinery from working.
There is no device.
This device sends an invisible pulse which blankets the entire planet's surface.
(yells) No! When your ancestors first arrived at this planet their starships functioned, as did all the machines that they left behind.
But you've been lied to.
First by those who left you here and then by the Priestans.
(crowd murmuring) You dare attack the Priestans?! That's the highest sacrilege.
Rygel: No! The highest sacrilege is purposely keeping your own people ignorant and subjugated for your own glorification! Lies! You have no proof of anything! Rygel: Yes, I have! In the Timbala.
But only the Priestans have read it.
If it is true, that would mean the Priestans have lied to us for generations.
That cannot be.
Kill him, Rokon.
He's mad, just kill him.
Don't, Rokon.
-Kill him, Rokon.
-Don't! Kill him, Rokon! If what you are saying is true then where is this device? Where is it?! I'm not entirely sure Rokon, but the people from my ship just sent the coordinates.
Just give me a chance to find it (yells) "By the hand of the masata shall he rise up and lead us to the light!" Sparky, you're up! D'argo! (yelling) Rygel, the impression! Your hands! Right there! Masata.
(all chanting): A-lu-e-masata.
No.
Cease.
I command it.
I have not risen.
I am not a deity.
I am but a worthy being like yourselves.
But I am your sovereign.
A-lu-e-masata.
A-lu-e-masata.
A-lu-e-masata.
The slug who would be king.
A-lu-e-masata.
Kato-Re: I wish you could stay here with us, Dominar.
Oh, as do I, my friend.
As do I.
But I must continue on my journey.
And if those Peacekeepers I mentioned should arrive here We shall tell them nothing of your visit.
Provisions for your journey? Hmm? Oh, oh, this is so generous.
I I wish I had more of a gift for you.
You've given us the greatest gift of all, Dominar Rygel.
You've given us our freedom.
Now we can stay in our beloved Acquara.
And so you do not forget us, we've prepared you a special gift.
(gasps) Shakloom jerky.
Mmmm? Yeah? (sniffing) Go on.
Eat it.
(laughing) You take care of her, Rokon.
I will.
Your mother, will she? She will survive her displacement.
You've often said you love this place.
Why don't you stay and help us rebuild? I wish I could.
But my future is with my own kind.
I'll continue my journey.
We'll miss you.
D'argo: Crichton! It's time to go.
Gotta go.
Guess I got some apologies to make up on the ship.
Zhaan, Aeryn, you.
Forget about that.
Was it worth the trouble, human? Hah What trouble? Let's hit the road.