Foundation (2021) s02e06 Episode Script

1
[DISTANT RUMBLING]
[SCREECHING]
You're up even earlier than usual.
Weird dreams.
Lots of arguments with strangers.
I think it's this place.
Other people's dreams are leaking in.
Makes me glad I'm not a Mentalic.
I'm gonna walk.
[JOSIAH] You always up before sunrise?
Just wanted to check out the beach.
Your mother's
memories are full of water.
How did you do that?
We call it unvoicing.
Don't speak your thoughts, unvoice them.
That's not it.
You're just talking loud on the inside.
- I don't get the difference.
- [JOSIAH] It's totally different.
Tellem taught us to use music
to help focus us.
This is my pitch.
[HIGH-PITCHED TONE PLAYS]
If I think how that sounds, it unvoices.
You have one too.
Everyone here does.
I have a whistle.
[WHISTLE PLAYS TONE]
I don't know your pitch,
but it's not that.
Yep, well, that figures. [CHUCKLES]
How do you know all this?
Did Tellem teach you?
[JOSIAH] Some of it.
I could always tell
what people were thinking.
That's how this happened.
I can show you.
- No!
- [KNIFE SLASHES]
No! Dad!
[KNIFE SLASHES]
[JOSIAH] People didn't like
that I knew what they were thinking.
- They blamed my family too.
- [KNIFE SLASHES]
[THUDS]
[BLOOD DRIPPING]
[GASPS]
Tellem saved you.
She saved all of us.
It's so quiet.
There's lots of talking, just unvoiced.
Doing it aloud is kind of rude.
I'm telling them you want to know
about them.
[VOICES WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY]
[BREATHES SHAKILY]
[GRUNTS]
[BREATHING SHAKILY]
[GASPS]
[SALVOR] I could see
and feel everything they experienced.
All that pain and suffering.
And relief.
Now you know why we're forced to hide.
We know things.
Know when the kings are full of shit
or the husbands are cheating.
So there's a couple of ways we can go.
We're treated as gods among men
or wolves among sheep.
The god thing gets old, trust you me,
and the wolves thing gets you killed.
Mobs form quick.
Call you "Devil,"
call you "Space Fiend."
And then they bleed you, like Josiah.
I like my plan,
wherein we keep to ourselves.
We need your help.
Because of your psychohistory.
It's in her head very clearly.
First Crisis, the Second Crisis.
A Foundation to
supplant a fallen empire.
Did your plan tell you to seek us out?
Did it call us the Second Foundation?
It's a reasonable leap.
And me without my leaping shoes.
This isn't our fight.
I don't care about Empire.
I don't care about your Foundations.
We will not be your army.
Then you'll be casualties.
Many years from now,
a Mentalic like you rises to power.
He'll be called the Mule.
He will destroy everything
that you've built here.
- Gaal has seen it.
- Seen it?
The future?
I mean, our kind are capable
of many things, but true precognition?
- No.
- [SALVOR] That's where you're wrong.
The future Gaal's seen is real.
And she can show you.
[EXHALES SHARPLY]
I'll know a lie if I'm
presented with one.
Go on.
I'm all right with it.
I'm not sure I am.
[TELLEM EXCLAIMS]
[PANTING]
Am I lying?
[TELLEM COUGHS]
[PANTING]
You felt it. You know it's real.
Does Salvor know?
Yes.
She looks as old as you,
but she's your daughter?
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
Yeah, it's all a bit sticky.
I don't need to know the whole story.
Just how you feel.
You want to save her, I know.
Because you love her.
We just met.
And you feel like you should love her,
and it feels strange
that you're not sure.
Fruit of your loins and all.
That is sticky.
I can't accept an inescapable future,
and neither should you.
Our actions have to mean something.
I really want to believe that,
but if you don't think what I showed you
was the future, then what was it?
[SIGHS]
Your Hari
Your Hari may say a likely future,
but I don't know and neither do you
because it's been filtered
through perceptions shaped by him.
Until you're ready
to explore what you can do,
you'll never know
what that vision really was.
And I won't be able to help you.
I have my children to think about.
It's Salvor's birthday today,
by the way.
[POWER WHIRRING, DECREASES]
Welcome to Trantor. We'll be docking
with the ring station momentarily.
Can I offer you a hand
as you step from the crèche?
Yes, thank you.
I'm Brother Constant. What's your name?
She-Shines-Brightly.
That's beautiful.
I've I've never met a Spacer before.
We are human.
Yes, I know. I just [STUTTERS]
I didn't realize genetic engineering
could be done so elegantly.
It is an art we continue to perfect,
though it was begun
by Empire full 600 years ago
when our servitude was forged.
[CONSTANT] Amazing view, isn't it?
Is Trantor really the center
of the galaxy?
[POLY] Not literally.
That distinction belongs
to a supermassive black hole.
And honestly, I'm not sure
it's even true figuratively.
[CONSTANT] It's hard to imagine
a place like this ever falling.
Circulation ceases first
at the outer edges.
It will take a while yet
for the decay to reach the heart.
[ANNOUNCER] Welcome to Trantor Station,
Pride of the Galaxy.
[CONSTANT] Do you think Empire
will be receptive to our mission?
[POLY] Best to assume we'll be met
with resistance.
Welcome to Trantor, Eye of the Empire.
Not in my wildest dreams did I think
I'd lay eyes on this sight again.
Sorry. Sounded strange. I
I imagined this when I was a child.
- [GUARD 1] Step up to the line.
- [GUARD 2] Next.
- Welcome to Trantor. Step forward, please.
- [RAPID BEEPING]
[CHUCKLES]
Purpose of your trip?
I'm an Envoy from Terminus
representing the Outer Reach.
Here to open diplomatic channels.
The Outer Reach? How exotic.
Unfortunately, I believe the Imperium
no longer recognizes
a number of those planets.
Yes, the so-called "barbarian worlds."
[CHUCKLES]
Precisely the issue we barbarians
are here to address, Timandra.
[CHUCKLES]
I'm issuing you a provisional visa.
You're in the system now.
Report to the Officium Externa tomorrow.
[GUARD 1] Walk through the scanner.
- [RAPID BEEPING]
- [CHUCKLES]
I didn't realize there were two of you.
We're not married. [CHUCKLES]
Report with him. You're on his visa now.
- Thank you, Timandra. [CHUCKLES]
- [CHUCKLES]
She was terrifying
in a really friendly way.
- [GASPS]
- [GUARD 1] Keep moving, please.
According to this,
our hotel is Sunside Station 1.12.
- Respect and enjoy peace.
- We're not going to the hotel yet.
Missionary work doesn't provide
many perks.
But tonight,
we're in the Eye of the Empire
on the Prophet's expense account.
[SALVOR] You're awfully
relaxed for a man
on a planet full of
possibly hostile psychics.
Gaal will handle Tellem.
I was just hurting our chances.
My toes are in fine, cool water for
the first time
in almost two centuries.
Right.
The brand-new toes
you don't quite remember getting.
[GRUNTS]
That's why you've joined me.
A little light inquisition?
[SIGHS] Well, you were immortal,
more or less.
Putting you in a body
just made you more vulnerable.
So why did she do it? Whoever she was.
I suspect you're about to tell me.
Well, I'm not sure.
No direct benefit that I can see.
I assumed it was in
service of my gospel.
Uh, a messianic story requires death
and resurrection.
You had a resurrection.
That's what the Vault is.
All right.
Well, your wager is to the right answer.
The opposite.
Maybe someone was worried
you'd reduce everyone to numbers
if you weren't careful.
Maybe someone wanted you
to have some skin in the game.
You don't like me, do you?
- I didn't say that.
- You think I'm a bad influence on Gaal.
I just don't want her to forget
that there are people
on all those planets she's saving.
Gaal did something cruel to me.
She didn't know you'd be awake.
She'd seen it happen before.
While I uploaded onto the Raven.
So if she didn't know, it's only
because she didn't think it through.
Gaal blames me
for what happened to Raych, to them.
But I didn't know about their
relationship until that night.
So if you're not to blame, then who is?
Oh, there's no simple answer
to that one, Salvor.
Sometimes being angry is easier
than facing the truth.
The truth being
that Raych knew everything, didn't he?
He knew they were doomed.
He kept it to himself.
He still chose to be with her.
The heart wants what the heart wants.
We've all been guilty of magical
thinking at one time or other.
You're worried Gaal will turn into me,
lose herself in the Plan.
She won't.
Not as long as she has you by her side.
She cares too much
what you think of her.
[LIQUID POURING]
[TELLEM] Knock, knock.
The Beggar's Lament.
Very fine.
Oh, uh, this came off.
Can't be a barnacle, can it?
Oh. Uh, yes, probably.
Um…
Do you wanna come in?
Mmm.
We have a well.
All the water you could drink.
This is from your well.
We run it through a compound filter.
There may be local organisms
our bodies can't handle.
- And you're checking for poisons.
- [DOORS CLOSE]
Well, it's smart to be cautious.
And I was very harsh about Hari.
I came here to apologize about that.
He's trying to save humankind.
Me too. The ones who deserve it.
I have a few ships, just trudgers.
We go out and look for people like us,
bring them here.
And we have our mental beacon.
We hear sighted people locked on us,
trying like hell to get here.
Usually, it's too far,
the ships can't make it
or they're caught
by whatever they're running from.
And we have to listen
to their voices fade away.
[COUGHS]
I-I'm sorry, but…
[SIGHS] …we can change that.
Oh, I know you could help us
acquire a jumpship
so I could reach more sighteds.
Thousands more.
We could put them to work,
honing their skills,
tweaking your timeline.
Might even be righteous.
I just wish Hari Seldon
weren't a part of it.
You do a funny kind of apology.
You are singular, Gaal Dornick.
I haven't seen the like.
Usually, when someone says that to me,
they want something.
And I am no different.
But I'm going to offer you something
in return.
Let's hear it.
Better if I show you.
You've got a very special mind.
I'd like to walk around in it.
[GASPS]
[GASPING]
Wha [BREATHING HEAVILY]
[COUGHS] This is Synnax. How did you
Water is a powerful association for you.
I threw water Apologies, by the way.
And your mind said you'd thrown yourself
at the water.
The smell of the barnacle in my
pocket helped carry your mind there.
Ground the illusion,
the illusion gets better.
We couldn't have spun Salvor's man,
was it, uh, Hugo, out of nothing.
We needed Loron to play the part.
[SIGHS, STUTTERS]
But the little girl on the throne.
Well, you never had to touch her,
and Hari noticed the lack of shadow,
didn't he?
You put me on my home world.
Was that supposed to take me back
to a childhood state? Make me weaker?
Old homes open old wounds.
And you seem to have wounds aplenty.
Here, just to play fair,
I'll reveal mine.
I'm afraid of death.
A paralyzing fear, beyond the usual.
[ECHOES] Now.
[PANTING] You made me pick it up.
My mind can't move objects,
but it hardly matters
if you'll move them for me.
[GRUNTS]
Your Mule didn't choke you
through a vision.
Your mind thought, "Ouch,"
and the blood vessels popped.
- You did it.
- [STRAINING, GRUNTING]
You're quick.
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
Look at you.
Relieved you didn't disappoint.
That's a weakness.
One I imagine Hari's used
on you more than once.
You always make it
seem like I follow Hari. I don't.
Come now. Your mind's all smudged
with his fingerprints.
He'll never see you as his equal
even though you're his better.
And you're mine too.
Gaal, I'm not well.
I look at my people and I wonder
what will happen to them without me.
Who could lead them.
My people would follow you.
You can't ask me to do that.
Of course I can.
That's why you came here.
You can even call them
the Second Foundation
if you don't come up
with something catchier.
You've showed me the future
and I am still cold with it.
Even if he's more than 100 years out,
that Mule still concerns me.
So here is my offer.
I will give my children to you.
I will train you, make you stronger,
so you have the tools to protect them.
And those same tools
will keep your daughter breathing.
And all you want in return is…
This planet belongs to Mentalics.
This offer is for you and only you.
Hari Seldon will not be party to it.
[BREATHING SHAKILY]
[ELECTRONIC WHIRRING, STOPS]
[INHALES SHARPLY] And…
There's nothing here.
Uh, Spirit, confirm these coordinates.
[COMPUTER BEEPS]
Okay. Seldon, now what?
Yeah, this does not feel right.
[ENGINE SPLUTTERS]
Fuck. Uh, Spirit, run a self-diagnostic.
[ELECTRONIC WHIRRING, TRILLING]
Yeah.
No. Come on, you're not doing this.
Not today.
- Fuck it.
- [BANGING]
- Beki.
- [CREATURE GROWLING]
Easy.
Hey. I meant to stall dead in deep space
with no way to get home.
[SNARLS]
- Beki.
- [GROWLS]
No, Beki. Calm down, okay?
I'm just the messenger. Do
[RUMBLING APPROACHES]
The fuck is that?
[WAVES CRASHING]
[CHUCKLES] You really don't like sitting
still, do you?
No. [CHUCKLES]
- What do you do to relax?
- Patrol.
[LAUGHS]
This must be difficult for you.
Focusing on a third crisis
while Terminus faces a second.
They'll win.
They have to.
Though I can't help but feel
that I'm helping you build an army
specifically to fight the people
I swore to protect.
It isn't the intention
to fight First Foundation.
We just need to prod
them when necessary.
And the Hari Seldon in the Vault?
He's not gonna prod them on his own?
I edited his fundamental knowledge.
He only knows part of the Plan.
But he's still as smart as you.
Couldn't he just intuit the rest?
So what would someone like me do
if they
didn't wanna leave anything to chance?
It's important
the other Seldon doesn't know you exist.
Absolutely crucial.
His information needs to be limited.
But you'd still want a way
to monitor him, just in case.
That sounds desirable.
The Prime Radiant and the Vault
are connected, aren't they?
They sort of communicate.
You couldn't use the Radiant to spy
on the Vault from here, could you?
The other Seldon has what appears
to be a duplicate Radiant.
Appears to be.
But in truth, there's only one,
and we both have it.
Its quantum nature places it outside
of space time.
It's the same object in two places.
So to look into it,
is to look into his hand.
Where'd you two hide the Radiant anyway?
- [REEL WINDS]
- Oh!
When you feel the tug of history,
give it a pull.
- Pull up.
- [GROANS]
- [LAUGHS]
- [LAUGHS]
[LAUGHS]
Hey. We caught a fish.
I see it. A beauty.
- Hari, I have a proposal.
- Ah.
While we two dangled our toes,
negotiations have been concluded.
[GAAL] I'm sorry, Hari.
I know this will be hard to hear.
The Mentalics will only follow one
of their own.
If you really believe that
the Second Foundation begins here,
you should let me take the lead.
What did she offer you in return, Gaal?
Did she tell you that she'd help
you save Salvor?
Did she make you believe that
that was possible?
This woman can put anything
in your mind, you know.
You've no way of knowing
if these are even your own words.
Maybe we should think
about this separately.
Just let things cool off.
What happened in Macoda Mesa
in Helicon, Hari?
When you were a young man.
Was she scared when you drove her
into the middle of nowhere,
and she saw the three-toed marks
in the dust?
You see what she's doing?
You can't put yourself in chains
to this woman.
- Hari.
- No, you need to understand.
If-If-If she can control your
[SIGHS]
If you can't trust your own mind,
then what have you got?
[SALVOR] Hari.
- [CONSTANT] Feel all right, Claric?
- [POLY] Just space-lagged.
And perhaps a touch of overindulgence.
- [CONSTANT] Let's get you a bed.
- [POLY GRUNTS]
- [CONSTANT GROANING] There you are.
- [POLY LAUGHING]
[CONSTANT GROANS] Lie down. [SIGHS]
[LAUGHS] You're a good egg, Constant.
[BOTH CHUCKLE]
[SIGHS]
Look at the nibbles. Are they free?
The nuts you're holding are
a week's wages on Siwenna.
But the view…
however, is gratis.
[CONSTANT] What a view. [CHUCKLES]
Isn't this just Empire all over?
Here I was thinking it was like us
in a flying caravan…
[CHUCKLES] …delighting the public.
- Constant.
- Mm-hmm?
Uh, there's a a pouch of vordaline
dust in the mantle of my pocket.
- I'm aware of it. Do you need me to
- No.
Can you flush it for me?
I'm, um
I don't think I have the strength.
You asked me.
- I'd say that's strength enough.
- [BOTH CHUCKLE]
I've been a drunk and an addict
for over a century.
Time for something new.
I had wine from the
hands of Hari Seldon,
and nothing will taste
sweeter than that.
- [FAUCET RUNS]
- I agree.
[CONSTANT]
And whether he admits it or not,
I know my father was just as moved
by the Prophet's presence.
There is a purpose to his plan,
and we all have a place in it.
Sermak may not see it,
but your faith means something.
It does.
It's, uh… pure.
Purer than mine, that's for certain.
[CHUCKLES]
I'm not sure what I've been clinging on
to all these years is faith.
I don't understand.
When Hari Seldon
walked out of the Vault,
I saw him with my own eyes.
All of us there, we had proof.
But you and your generation,
you only had second
or thirdhand accounts to go by.
Folklore.
That's the difference
between belief and faith.
I believed what I saw,
but faith is a bigger commitment.
And you've always had faith, Constant.
And it puts my belief… to shame.
[SIGHS]
[TIMANDRA]
Congratulations, Claric Verisof.
[POLY GRUNTS]
Your visit to Trantor
has been extended indefinitely.
[GROANS]
[CHEERING]
Did he call the Galactic Counsel?
The patricians never leave their roost.
They're scavengers who smell carrion,
but no one's died yet.
[CHEERING CONTINUES]
[DAY] People of the Imperium…
I'd venture no one alive remembers
why this arena was built.
Blood sports.
Trantorians would pack into these
stands, cheek by jowl to see battle.
Channels were carved into the stones
to help servants hose out
the collected gore.
But I bring you here for a
different kind of blood mingling.
This arena was a favorite of Winoset,
mother of Cleon I,
and the last galactic empress.
When the Genetic Dynasty,
my dynasty, succeeded Cleon's,
Winoset's memory fell victim to neglect.
We neglect her no more.
[APPLAUSE]
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
Empresses and emperors become statues.
I've posed for a few myself.
You might have seen them.
[AUDIENCE CHUCKLES]
But I am also a man
and my heart beats as yours does.
Allow me to present someone
who makes my human heart beat
a bit faster.
This is Sareth One.
Queen of the Cloud Dominion.
[AUDIENCE CHEERS]
You see, Winoset will not
be the last empress on Trantor.
Bow before your new empress, Sareth I.
[AUDIENCE CHEERS]
For anyone who needs it spelled out,
I am ending the Genetic Dynasty.
At least we ate well
while the feast was on.
I thank Empire for his words of welcome.
I look forward to ruling at his side.
And I want you, all of you,
to know that with my vows I
am not wed to just one man.
But I am wed to all the people
of Imperium.
And I vow to you
that your voices will be heard.
Your requests are our obligations.
Your needs are our agenda.
We serve you. We love you.
We belong to you.
[AUDIENCE CHEERS]
[CHEERING CONTINUES]
[GRUNTS]
[ELECTRIC BUZZING]
[GRUNTS]
[SIGHS] Spacers.
[SPACER] Who are you?
Why have you defiled the Home-Swarm?
[STAMMERS]
Hey, you just left.
You can't do that, w we need you.
Gaal needs you.
What Tellem said got to you, didn't it?
That stuff about… [STAMMERS]
…was it Macoda Mesa? What was that?
A warning, I
I couldn't shake the memory.
It turns out it was her
gouging it from my mind
in order to fling it bloody
into public view.
I didn't kn-know.
The moment we made landfall, I
I-I-I knew it was all gonna slip away
from me.
- Hari
- [GROANS]
They're after the Radiant, Salvor.
It's on the Beggar's.
Gaal hid it. I-I don't know where.
It won't look like itself.
Find it, protect it. Protect Gaal.
She needs you.
I talked to him. [SCOFFS]
He's not right, I think you should
Were you waiting for me?
Yeah, I, um
I-I don't know
how things with Hari will turn out,
but it can't be all about the Plan
all of the time.
There has to be room for other things.
Happy birthday.
It's a piece of fruit.
- You got me a present.
- Yeah.
- How'd you know?
- Uh…
Tellem.
Thank you, Gaal.
[CHUCKLES]
You could have mentioned it, you know.
- I didn't want you feeling bad.
- [CHUCKLES]
Plus, i-it's only my birthday if
you're counting Terminus solar cycles.
And we're not on Terminus.
Yeah. I, uh
I keep thinking about how
different things would be
if I'd ended up there.
I'm glad you had Mari and Abbas.
I-I wish I could thank them.
[SALVOR] It's okay.
I'm not there now.
I'm here.
- Yeah.
- That's all that matters.
[CHUCKLES]
[ENGINE RUMBLING]
No.
It's him.
[PANTING] Is he leaving?
They're watching you fly off right now.
Salvor is indulging
in some creative cursing.
Loron will fly the Beggar's Lament out
of their sight,
then land it
so we can continue the search.
We'll find your Prime Radiant.
And then you'll destroy it.
Oh, absolutely, and with joy.
Gaal is a true seer.
Hari,
I I don't need your kaleidoscope.
Earlier today, I walked away from them
at the height of a quarrel.
- Did you nudge me to do that?
- Good question.
Doesn't seem like you, does it?
To walk away from a debate.
What now?
I plead for my life?
You hate anyone
who can't do what you do, don't you?
You study patterns.
You know what your kind does.
Violence against any deviation
from the majority,
exploitation, cruelty, secrets, murder.
Murder? You condemn murder.
You hypocrite.
This isn't murder.
I would never kill one of my own.
Gaal will know you've done this.
And Salvor.
I control what Gaal and Salvor know.
They'll be told about our philosophy
of death.
How we only kill when we need to.
For nourishment or self-defense.
You're gonna drown me first, right?
Well, yes.
Venik.
This doesn't stop the Plan.
I still have faith.
I have faith in Gaal.
Don't leave till he's dead.
- [GRUNTS, PANTING]
- [SCREECHING]
[SCREECHING ECHOES]
[SCREECHING]
Hari, time to head back to the shelter.
[SCREECHING CONTINUES]
[SCREECHING CONTINUES]
Hari, stop!
[SCREECHING]
Hariton Seldon.
I'm safe. There's a pattern.
I figured out
the math. I walked the pattern.
- Path?
- You don't see it?
Step away from the boy.
[DR. TADJ] Dr. Seldon. Dr. Seldon.
Ah, Dr. Tadj,
I was hoping I'd bump into you.
We need to discuss the
text of your latest paper
concerning these predictions.
Predictions?
The university is concerned that your
conclusions
could be misunderstood.
- By whom? How?
- By Empire, of course.
"All empires fall"?
I still don't see how.
You're speculating about the future,
changes to trusted institutions,
ideas that inspire thoughts,
differing ideas, debates.
Isn't that the point of a university?
Empire would discourage
this on obvious grounds,
- including some very serious ones.
- So
So, you think it's treason to say,
"All empires fall"?
You're talking about the power
of large groups to effect change.
You are talking about
- Evolution.
- Dr. Tadj, um, we spoke last week.
I'm Dr. Yanna Kine.
I'm trying to find an office.
- Dr. Kine?
- Uh, you're provost here?
I represent imperial interests.
You're transferring
from the University of
Calda. Probabilistic analysis
and data visualization.
If you're out of offices, I have
no problem sharing. Ah! Here's one.
- [CHUCKLES]
- That's my office.
Apologies,
I thought you started tomorrow.
The darkness feels so heavy,
but the gravity is light.
So contradictory.
She's not sharing my office.
- Dr. Kine
- Call me Yanna, please.
I don't think it's such a good idea
to share an office with Dr. Seldon.
Finally, we agree on something.
I've been here less than a minute,
and already I'm fostering unity.
I don't think you need to worry
about psychohistory, Dr. Tadj.
In its present state,
it's hardly more
than the description of a database.
It falls apart at the slightest poke.
Well, I'll let the head of department
know that you're here.
I'm sure Hari would love
to help you settle in.
- What?
- Don't worry, Dr. Seldon.
I think your theory is brilliant.
You just need help making it practical.
We're going to do
wonderful things together.
What was your name again?
[HARI] Our grant won't cover
a five-year trial.
[YANNA] Doesn't have to. We could
look at data from five years ago,
- apply the algorithm.
- [HARI] From some contained population.
- Check the projections against real data.
- [YANNA] Exactly.
- Brilliant. [CHUCKLES]
- Mm-hmm.
Well, we concur again. [CHUCKLES]
[CHUCKLES]
You know, I'm-I'm sorry.
I-I don't always mean to just talk shop.
Why not? It's interesting.
Yes, I No, I mean, it
Yeah, i-i-it is interesting.
I was just wondering if, um…
if there was a a Mr. Kine
back home on Calda.
Of course there is.
Oh, right. [CHUCKLES]
But why would you want to know
about my father?
[CHUCKLES] Oh, your father? Oh, I
[STAMMERS] No, I meant
Oh, I know what you meant.
So, the myths about Helicon are true.
The silver moonlight turns even the most
cynical inhabitants
into romantics.
Mmm. So the legend goes.
Well, tomorrow, i-if you feel
the same way in the sunlight,
maybe we can plan an actual date.
Maybe.
You know, theoretically. If you concur.
I I live to concur.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
[SPEAKING INAUDIBLY]
Yanna!
- Hi.
- Come here.
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
- Look.
- What?
- Ready? [BREATHES HEAVILY]
- Yes.
- [WHIRS]
- [GASPS]
[CHUCKLES]
- You got it to work. [CHUCKLES]
- It's rudimentary, but
- But it's going to work.
- Yes.
I knew it would! Oh!
[CHUCKLING]
Ugh, it's a brilliant idea.
- [GASPS]
- Visualizing the data this way.
Putting it in a quantum device.
Oh, but it's nothing
without the theory underpinning it.
I could never thank you enough.
It's a big day all around.
I've got something for you too.
Ready? [CHUCKLES]
No flourish needed to open this one.
[CHUCKLES]
[BOTH CHUCKLE]
Really?
[CHUCKLES]
When is…
- She.
- [CHUCKLES] …she.
[CHUCKLES]
Seven months.
Oh, Yanna.
[BREATHES DEEPLY]
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
- [HARI] Bullshit.
- It's an amazing opportunity
- and you know it.
- It's an opportunity for you
- to fuck the fuck off.
- This isn't hallway conversation.
What's going on?
Believe it or not,
I was bringing good news.
Offers of academic positions.
Full professorships for both of you.
At Streeling University on Trantor.
Tucked picturesquely up against
the ribs of the Empire.
If you stay here,
I have orders to terminate
your funding and seize your work.
But if you go,
you will be able to continue.
Empire simply wants
to review what you do,
see if it has useful applications.
Oh, applications?
Empire wouldn't even care about our work
if you weren't whispering in their ears.
You talk as if we're something separate.
We are all Empire.
This institution, everything.
They don't even bother to hide the signs
of their snooping anymore.
Teach your spies to put things back
where they found them.
The university owns anything you invent.
Hiding your little device is theft.
Our little device doesn't work yet.
- It's a paperweight.
- It doesn't matter!
You have the offer.
The terms are excellent.
You'd be fools to turn it down.
I'll let you talk it over.
Convince him.
- [FOOTSTEPS DEPARTING]
- [DOOR OPENS]
- [DOOR CLOSES]
- [SCOFFS]
She's a worm crawling up the legs
of those in power.
Sooner she disappears up their ass,
the better.
They're telling her, "Bring us
Seldon or bring us the device."
If she doesn't do one
or the other they'll kill her.
- I wouldn't put it past them.
- We need to consider the offer.
Well, she made her decision.
Do not feel sorry for her.
[SCOFFS, IMITATING DR. TADJ]
"We're all Empire."
Hari, stop that. Listen.
Yes, Streeling University is tucked
up against the ribs of the Empire,
and that's the best place
to slide in a knife.
What?
There was a writer on Calda,
Gorik Tarka.
He said,
"The gods made wine to compensate those
who can't afford revenge."
Empire wants to hurt us,
let's hurt them.
Gorik Tarka sounds a little reckless
to me. [CHUCKLES]
That's the problem with you Heliconners.
It's the gravity.
You float through life
in that goddamn silver moonlight.
- [SIGHS] Yanna.
- You wanna give this up?
- I can smash it, drop it, step on it.
- No. No, don't! Don't.
Dr. Tadj is fighting for her life.
She is desperate.
She is going to find a way to take this.
We're safer going to Trantor, Hari.
I can't. I can't work there.
It would suffocate me.
Then you should hide this really well.
Yanna.
- [SIGHS]
- [DOOR CLOSES]
[KNOCKING]
You need to come with me.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
[HARI] Yanna?
Y [SIGHS] Yanna?
[GASPS]
[BREATHING SHAKILY]
[STEADY BEEPING]
[BEEPING, TRILLING]
[AIRCAR WHOOSHES]
You said she'd be with you.
You said if I handed it over,
she'd be with you.
I have a better idea.
Give me the Radiant, and I'll get out.
The car is set to take you to her.
She's waiting.
[BEEPS]
She's waiting. See?
Okay.
[MECHANICAL WHIRRING]
[VEHICLE] Changing destination.
- What did you do?
- You're coming along.
Not the deal, Hari.
For someone
who breaks into other people's data,
you don't guard yours very well.
You want to waste our time moving
farther away from Yanna?
Yanna's dead.
- No, Hari.
- She's dead.
Our child will never draw a breath.
And you were sending
me into a death trap.
What child?
Oh, and that package has a rock in it,
not the prototype.
She's alive. Look.
That's not real.
[DR. TADJ] She's alive, Hari. [PANTS]
The vid is real.
She's in a rented room in midtown.
I'll show you the address.
I felt her die.
[CHUCKLES] You're a scientist.
You don't believe in heart-bound lovers
who feel each other's pain.
She never believed in marriage.
Said it
was just a certificate signed by Empire.
But she loved something practical.
[PANTING]
She was pregnant.
[PANTS]
A child to tie us together forever.
She let me know by giving me this.
It let me feel her heartbeat
and the baby's heartbeat,
right here against my chest. [SNIFFS]
It all stopped, all at once,
shortly
before you delivered your ultimatum.
Both signals, last night.
What happened?
[BREATHING SHAKILY]
Give me the Radiant,
and this can all stop.
I hacked the trigger lock.
- [GUN MISFIRES]
- [DR. TADJ BREATHES DEEPLY]
Hari, she wasn't supposed to die.
[PANTING]
I just wanted to recover
the government's property.
I was within my rights.
She fought with my authority.
I was caught off guard.
Oh, the gun went off by accident?
Of course!
You're a terrible liar.
I saw your pulse jump in your throat.
That's just because I'm scared.
That's definitely the right reaction.
[WHIRRING]
What are those?
- Sheepdogs.
- What?
You murdered Yanna.
[BREATHES SHAKILY]
Make your case.
Argue for your life.
Come on. You'd better hurry.
The sheepdogs are
bringing them this way.
I had no reason to want her dead.
I just wanted the prototype.
She resisted. She provoked.
Tied to a chair?
I couldn't have foreseen what happened.
[CHUCKLES]
Really? You're going with that, are you?
You're not responsible
because you couldn't have foreseen
what was going to happen.
You know, it's funny because that
question comes up a lot in my life.
- [SIGHS]
- [SHRIKES SCREECHING]
[BREATHES SHAKILY]
Those are moonshrikes.
Yes, yes. They,
uh They go over that cliff there.
It's a funny thing, the planet
and the moon sharing an atmosphere.
It allows the shrikes to graze
on the moon,
but only if they can break free
of the gravity.
It's a terrible labor.
They have to be
tremendously strong and move very fast.
Hari, this isn't you. Revenge.
This isn't in your nature.
No, it was in Yanna's. This is for her.
- [SHOUTS]
- [GRUNTS]
[SHRIEKING]
[SHOUTS]
Hari, you'll die too.
It's tempting, Dr. Tadj.
[DR. TADJ SCREAMS]
[DOOR OPENS]
[DOOR CLOSES]
Streeling's library is the largest
on Trantor.
We pulled the texts you asked for.
Gorik Tarka of Calda is an
unusual request for a scientist.
A friend recommended him.
Thank you. This will do nicely.
[GASPING, CHOKING]
[GASPING CONTINUES]