The Expanse (2015) s03e08 Episode Script
It Reaches Out
1 Previously on "The Expanse" [DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
What happens to us now? I don't know.
We die, maybe.
The Ring.
How does that make you feel? It's there.
I don't know what it is.
But there's plenty of people way smarter than me trying to figure it out.
You don't think it's a life-form? That is a piece of technology.
An intelligence created it.
Pray that it's inert.
Hey, new girl.
Like what you see? Wouldn't rub up against that narcissistic asshole with your junk.
Listen, the first contract's always the toughest.
You got a question, you just ask.
Why'd you have to look? An explosive? What in God's name have you been doing? [SOFT CLICK.]
[HIGH-PITCHED WHINE.]
Melba [YELLS.]
[TENSE MUSIC.]
Welcome to the "Behemoth.
" We have to work together.
For the good of the new Belter state, ke? If we ever want to be accepted as equals, we must act with greatness.
I don't like him either, but in this, he's not wrong.
Today I make history.
Me! Manéo Jung-Espa Lose yourself, piece at a time.
There's no laws on Ceres, just cops.
[UNEASY MUSIC.]
[WHOOSHING.]
Manéo Jung-Espa His vessel should've pancaked with him, but it's fully intact.
So what killed him? An energy field, some sort of invisible wall or or hand.
The probes should tell us more.
We need to send them inside that thing, now that it's awake.
We send probes to investigate.
They fire a human guinea pig into its eye.
And Belters think they're ready to join the family of nations? It wasn't a probe.
It was a slingshotter out of Ceres.
He's some kid trying to impress a girl back home.
Well, I hope she's impressed.
We triggered something before we understood it.
Maybe the structure isn't an entrance but an exit.
What do you think, Pastor? Has your God revealed himself? Well, I don't know, but if we are going to meet God as a bunch of angry fools, we should turn these ships around and go home.
[EXHALES DEEPLY.]
Little tired.
[SNIFFLES.]
Little tapped out.
Who wouldn't be? Boss? Get up here.
You gotta see this.
Me! Manéo Jung-Espa Goddamn Ring woke up, and I do not think it was too happy about being poked in its sleep.
Certainly didn't leave out a welcome mat for that Belter kid.
My bet: alien ships are gonna start pouring through that thing, wanting a chat with our leader.
Slingshotter's ship make it out to the other side? Negative.
It's like he went down a rabbit hole.
[SIGHS.]
This never ends.
What do you mean, Holden? [MOURNFUL MUSIC.]
I I need coffee.
Alex saw it first.
- Talk to him.
- [CLEARS THROAT.]
Well, uh, don't get me wrong, I'm not I'm not one of these guys that's into fate and all that, but, uh [SCOFFS.]
I guess I am.
I mean, I just find it odd, you know, out of all the places in the whole system that we could be, and we're here, at the Ring, just knocking.
Don't you find that odd? [PENSIVE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.]
[WHOOSHING.]
The Inners are redeploying their fleet and speeding their approach.
We should maybe match, ke? Maintain current decel for now.
They already treat it as a weapon.
- That's what they do.
- And they're damn right to.
The protomolecule at the heart of that structure I've seen more than enough of what it can do.
They blame us yet for the rock hopper going in there? Nah, radio silence so far.
But they gonya assume we had something to do with it and hang whatever happens on the OPA.
And if something miraculous happens, they'll plant their flag on it.
And go back to murdering each other.
Oxo pampa.
I was specifically promised by Anderson Dawes that I could be the cynic on this ship.
The Inners didn't invite us out here.
They na want us.
And now we gone and tripped the switch.
Well, out here is our home, not theirs, so with all due respect, poxa inyalowda.
[UNEASY MUSIC.]
Being in charge sucks the big falota.
You wear it well.
Ashford thinks he should have this command.
[LAUGHS.]
He probably right.
He has his place.
You have yours.
We each have a role in the new Belter Nation.
Nation? Fred Johnson get inside your skull, ke? He's right.
But it'll take time.
Time to become just like the Inners.
Say one thing when it's really another.
Oh, tolowda nawit fewa.
We stole a church, bolted some guns to it, and called it a warship.
To protect the Belt? No.
It's because we na wanna be left out of this party.
You tell Fred that? I did.
I was drunk at the time, but still [WHOOSHING.]
Father, father, father, father.
Chin.
Father, father, father.
Father.
Father.
Poured hot coffee in the parking lot.
God's playing a magic trick.
Tick, tick, ticks on a dog.
So this is happening? Bones like chalk.
You're not making any goddamn sense, but you're here.
[OMINOUS MUSIC.]
Are you trying to talk to me? Yes.
What? We should talk.
Coffee? Sure.
Look, Holden, things are moving fast, so we need to recalibrate.
What does that mean? It means that miracles are unfolding right outside that window or whatever you have on these ships.
The future of humanity and its place in the universe.
This is no longer a story just about the "Rocinante.
" Is somebody stopping you? My investors paid good money for access to the "Roci" and its crew, okay? They're footing the bill for this trip and making sure that your ship is not repossessed.
And we are grateful for that.
I need your full commitment.
People want to see this story through your eyes, but something is troubling you, and it's not just that Ring.
This has all been Overwhelming.
A hundredfold for you.
Holden, look at me.
I'm not an entertainer.
An artiste, okay? Any pinhead can bang on pots and pans.
I have my master's in cognitive psychology, and I know, when I look into someone's eyes, when there's more to a story.
I want you to trust me I won't betray that trust so that we can get your story out to everyone.
Don't back away from it.
From me.
[SWALLOWS.]
Yeah.
Okay.
Thank you.
Okay.
Good.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
[SOFTLY.]
Mm, we are gonna win so many awards.
[WHOOSHING.]
[DESOLATE MUSIC.]
[SNIFFLES.]
[GRUNTING.]
[DEVICE BEEPING.]
Don't get paid to wait for cretins.
You ain't back by the time my gear is stowed, you can float back to the "Prince.
" [BREATHING HEAVILY.]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
- [DEVICE BEEPS.]
- Come in, Ren.
What's your status? New girl, I'll have to come get you and log in the delay.
[SOFT CLICK.]
[HIGH-PITCHED WHINE.]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
[HISSING SIGH.]
[YELLS.]
[GRUNTING.]
[SKULL CRACKING.]
[DESOLATE MUNCHING.]
[ENERGETIC MUSIC.]
[HIGH-PITCHED WHINE.]
[WHOOSHING.]
E-if I hada ship Ya ko vera mi De kang leta Mi fo bek hom I'd sail the vast oceans of darkness Fo le mi sif down at your bones [SOMBER MUSIC.]
God bless da Mormons.
Attention to detail.
Heh.
Ah, the little things.
Mormons don't drink.
What's this for? Ah.
To Anderson Dawes and Fred Johnson, for telling UN Secretary-General Avasarala that any attempt to force this ship to turn back from the Ring will be met with a cordial And To our foolish and fearless young rock hopper, who sunk his teeth deep into the unknown fo amolof for love.
Fo da rock hopper.
Fo da rock hopper.
Ah, they'll be naming babies and ships after him for 50 years.
If the galaxy is still here in 50 years.
Ah, your optimism makes me feel young again.
[CHUCKLES.]
All the optimists I know are dead.
Yeah, but what about this one? Guilty.
You know, the Inners would've waited outside that Ring for a whole generation, just tap-tapping or politely waiting for an invite, but Manéo Jung-Espanoza he kicked the door open and threw on the light switch.
That's how Belters built this whole damn system.
I na remember you talking so much in the old days.
Mm! Yeah.
What did I tell you about being in here? Uh, yeah, no.
Are you a little deaf as well? I know.
I'm sorry.
Yeah, my circadian rhythms are crazy in space, so I do a lot of wandering at night or day or whatever this is.
Well, I can put you on a treadmill and you can wander straight ahead for hours.
So should I be holding out hope at all for [EERIE MUSIC.]
You should not.
[SCANNER BEEPING.]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
[SCANNER BEEPING.]
[WHOOSHING.]
So you show up an hour late to the transport missing half your gear.
What's a guy supposed to think? [LAUGHS.]
You and Ren? Nah, he ain't gonna get a girl that young.
He's probably sleeping it off somewhere.
Guy's a freaking genius.
Gets paid to drink on the job, gets paid again to sleep off his hangovers.
Shut your freaking mouth.
Easy, kid.
Just playing.
- Ren's a decent man.
- You don't turn in your coveralls to the company, you don't get your deposit back.
More than I can say for most of the people - I've met up here.
- Not my funeral.
[MOURNFUL MUSIC.]
[HIGH-PITCHED RINGING.]
[ALARM BEEPING.]
K-47, you are off course.
- Hey! - I repeat, you are off course.
What the hell are you doing? [WHOOSHING.]
- [EXHALES.]
- I'm sorry.
Sorry? You almost killed us.
[BREATHING RAGGEDLY.]
You're a shitty electrician, like Ren.
You should've told me you're an even shitter pilot.
[UNEASY MUSIC.]
[SCANNER BEEPING.]
[SOMBER MUSIC.]
[SIGHS.]
[SIGHS.]
It's those damn doors and corners.
I mean, that's where they get you.
You don't walk into the middle of a crime scene without knowing there's not somebody there to put you down.
It's the thing you don't see coming.
That's what it is.
What's with the hat? Keeps the rain off my head.
I'm not infected.
I didn't have a stroke.
I'm running out of ideas here.
There's this this rookie, down in Star Helix.
Kid never learned to clear a room.
I kept telling him.
I said, "There's doors and corners, kid, "and if you don't clear the room, "if you don't come in slow, that room will eat you.
" Why are you telling me this? Ch-ch.
[EERIE MUSIC.]
I'm supposed to think about this.
Ah, this could mean something.
Detective Miller crashed into Venus with Julie Mao.
They died together.
That's how it ended.
I don't want to talk about Julie.
It happened to Miller too.
You're dead! I'm just an investigator now.
I find things.
Okay.
Okay, what are you trying to find? Local Griega.
They were running this unlicensed brothel down in Sector 18.
Coriolis was so bad down there, it really made you sick.
I don't give a shit about your goddamn war stories until you tell me what any of it means.
The local Griega.
They're running an unlicensed brothel down in Sector 18.
Now, down there Fuck you! Fuck you! My blood is clean.
You're not here, which at least explains the stupid freaking hat.
That may have looked weird.
Hey, none of my business.
Are you sick, Cap? No.
I don't think so.
Look, if there's anything you need to get off your chest, I'm not much help, but I also don't judge.
It's a great quality, you know.
Things have been in the red for a long time now.
There's only so much a guy can take, especially with this cosmic squid thing jumping off Venus and flying across the system, turning into a ring that eats ships.
So vent away.
Break some shit if you have to.
I don't care.
Just not the coffee maker again.
I'm all right, Amos.
I mean I will be all right, and if I'm not, you'll be the first to know, okay? Okay.
[MELANCHOLY MUSIC.]
[WHOOSHING.]
We've grown used to wonders in this century.
It's hard to dazzle us anymore.
But a watershed moment is upon our fragile species a leap ahead, perhaps to the very face of God, and we mustn't meet it with our fears.
We must open our hearts and our minds to greet it.
- And our wallets.
- Shh.
Why don't you apply some of that coffee? I do.
I did.
One coffee, one Bloody Mary.
Keeps my ratio in balance.
Balance is key to life.
You truly are not afraid at all? What do we have to fear? That we'll finally get the answers to our most profound questions? He is good, though.
I mean, he's got that thing with the words.
My family donates big to his mega-churches across Africa and Asia, and our business enjoys his sway over the flock.
Hmm.
His gift of free will, our free will, is a manifestation of God's will.
Our capacity for compassion on the one hand, cruelty on the other Please excuse me.
Is still the greatest unsolved mystery, even more so than that Ring which has opened up to us.
[EERIE MUSIC.]
Excuse me.
Are you all right? Do you need something? Thank you.
No.
[WHOOSHING.]
[DESOLATE MUSIC.]
Me and Naomi, yeah, what we had was special.
I mean I thought maybe that was love, but it was really just the beginning of a love story.
Okay, why don't you cut the bullshit, Holden? Tell me why you really called me here.
He was having a full-on conversation with himself.
Who doesn't talk to themselves, though, now and then? Me.
All right.
Most of us do, though.
I mean, it's it's, um it's how we air things out.
You spend half your time talking to a ship.
Maybe you're not the right person to ask.
Hey, hold on there, okay? Look, he's just he's just overloaded is all, all right? After everything he's been through, Naomi leaving the ship, things are just hitting him harder than he's letting on.
Let's not get the straightjacket out just yet, okay? [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
What are you not telling me? I caught him with his arm in the auto-doc, - so I read his - What? You didn't.
Hell yeah, I did, in the interest of the ship.
You checked out his auto-doc logs? Amos, shame on you.
That is a serious breach of trust, man.
Come on.
Jesus.
So what did the logs say? He ran a scan on himself for the protomolecule infection.
- Holy - 35 times.
Shit.
Are you telling me that he's Negative.
The tests always scan negative, but he keeps doing it over and over.
- What the hell is that about? - You tell me.
Damned if I know.
But we gotta do something, man.
You remember XO, back on the "Cant"? - Yeah.
- One day, he's singing sea shanties and planting daffodils.
The next day, he's waving a six-gun around, - trying to put a - Shh! All right, calm down.
Sorry, man.
We just have to keep an eye on him, okay? Do you believe the mind can manifest things? Hopes? Fears? Of course.
No, I mean physically manifest.
If those hopes and fears are powerful enough, more so if they're the result of synchronicity.
We were once flying over Khartoum Coincidence but not coincidence.
[OMINOUS MUSIC.]
You have everything stored on that, right? Yeah.
Show me the news report the moment the Belter kid went through the Ring, and bring up the timestamp.
Stop there.
What are you fishing for? You've been spying on us every second since you got on this ship.
It's your job.
I get it.
Now I want to see your footage of me.
[EERIE MUSIC.]
What is it? It happened at the same time.
What did? You need to go.
What? No, no, no, no.
Your brain just exploded.
I have brain matter all over me.
You need to tell me what is going on right now.
Holden.
Holden! Could be something.
It'll eat you.
I find things.
You were you were saying something? The the Griegas in Sector 18? The rookie? Hmm? Have we talked before? Do do you even know you're here? Hmm? Yeah, sometimes.
I, uh When I exceed my boundary conditions, that's when they kill me.
Who who are "they"? Huh? [DISQUIETING MUSIC.]
Why why me? Why am I special? [GRUNTS.]
'Cause you have a ship.
See, you're a tool that goes places.
I'm a tool that finds things.
We're, uh we're tools.
Tools? Uh [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
[EXPLOSION.]
- [KLAXON BLARING.]
- We are detecting debris field approaching now.
What is it? A UN ship just got blown to scrap.
A science vessel, the "Seung Un.
" [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
That doesn't look like a reactor meltdown.
And that there fo sure is not any missile.
Tan width pulse shifter is down.
Electrical and power is down.
Repeat, puls You showed up at the exact moment the Ring was activated.
Is it using you to get to me? Mm.
It reaches out 113 times a second.
It reaches out, but nothing answers, so it builds the investigator, and the investigator looks, but he does not find, so it kills the investigator.
It kills the investigator over and over.
And then it builds the investigator again and again, until [SOMBER MUSIC.]
Until it finds a door what wasn't there before.
What I what is it doing? Hmm? So I'm at this, uh, unlicensed brothel, right? Egregious.
Down in Sector 18.
And this hothead rookie I keep telling him, you know, "Watch your doors and corners, pal.
"You don't come rushing into a room with your dick hanging out.
" - [BANGING AT DOOR.]
- Holden! Holden, we got a situation, ops deck.
- We need you right now.
- Wait.
Wait.
Uh, just just one second! I'll get rid of them.
- Holden? - Stay with me.
We have a situation on the flight deck.
- Stay with me.
- You have to see this.
- Holden.
- [BANGING.]
Don't make me crowbar this door.
Shit.
Alex, what's going on? UN ship just went up.
Someone hit it? Could've been a reactor meltdown.
I don't know.
I'm gonna get us a closer look.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
The hell? [DISQUIETING MUSIC.]
Guys, something's going on with the "Roci.
" [CONSOLE BEEPING NEGATIVELY.]
What is this? I'm James Holden, speaking on behalf of the Outer Planets Alliance.
Earth and Mars believe the Ring is theirs to investigate, to claim, and are already plotting ways to control it.
I'm here to declare for the OPA that Belters are the only legitimate benefactors of the Ring.
Whatever it may ultimately prove to be, it belongs to the Belt, and to show you that we will not bargain nor back down from this claim, we've struck at the Inners' vessels, and we will strike again.
Jesus Christ.
Grab continuous singles of everyone, and make sure we have all six "Roci" angles of that explosion, and, Amos, can you just keep this corridor clear? What in the hell did you do? That's not me.
That's not me, Alex.
Well, it's coming from inside our ship! Well, kill the damn thing! I can't! I'm locked out.
Did you do this? Why would I? Holden, you haven't been yourself lately.
Maybe you don't know what you did.
Maybe you're not in control.
I know myself, and that is not me.
And we will strike again.
He wants them to fire on us.
He's trying to start the next war.
They'll fire on him too.
Oh, you're assuming he cares about survival.
That was not Holden.
It's some kind of trap.
Well, okay, who was it, then? A c-composite, a generated SIM.
I don't know.
Take a closer look at the footage.
We na got time for that.
Hail the "Roci," get Holden on comms, and tell him he has ten seconds to retract We have to fire on the "Rocinante.
" - We have to do it now.
- What? It is the only way they'll know that the OPA disavows James Holden.
Otherwise, they will kill this ship along with his.
[KLAXON BLARES.]
The UN is scanning us.
- Target lock? - Negative, but they have target-locked the "Rocinante.
" And we'll be next.
Captain.
Camina! If you want to save the "Behemoth," you have to prove to them that we are not with him! Where's my open channel? The "Roci's" not responding.
Just let me try No more time for try.
Arm the missile system and get me a channel to the UNN fleet commander.
Someone is trying to play you.
Don't fall into it.
Remove her from the command deck.
- Kom wit milowda.
- Drummer, listen to me! You know Holden isn't capable of what we just saw! To sasa im! To sasa im! UN's target-locked us.
All I got is drive control.
- Still no comms? - Nothing.
What about PDCs? Any defense systems? Snake eyes.
[CONSOLE BEEPING.]
Ah, Christ! Now the "Behemoth's" target-locked us! The "Behemoth's" an OPA ship.
They gotta fire at us.
[RUMBLING.]
What are you doing? You're just gonna draw their fire.
You can't outrun a missile.
Yeah, but we don't gotta sit here and be their target practice.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
Holden! What the hell? Amos! Get me a goddamn cannon working! What the hell is wrong with you? We gotta push! Get back into a couch.
We're not gonna outrun their fire.
- I can get a cannon! - You can't! Somebody crippled this ship.
It was all a setup.
- Holden, you are not - The only hope we have is for me to Just give me one minute alone.
- For what? - I don't have time to explain! - We don't have a minute! - Let me go! God damn it, Captain, I don't want to scrape you off that wall.
Open up, or I'll have Alex override.
Amos, all we've been through how many times have I asked you to trust me? None.
I'm asking you now.
- One minute.
- Alone.
Camina, please! Don't f The Belt triggered the Ring, which you say was unintentional.
Now an OPA operative claims responsibility for the attack on our ship, and you profess no knowledge of We are prepared to fire on the "Rocinante.
" Let us take care of our own.
You have one minute.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
He doesn't believe us.
Doesn't matter.
He gave us one minute.
Missile bay doors on the "Thomas Prince" have just opened.
And one minute is all we're gonna get.
Missile ready.
Fire! - What's happening? - Grid overload.
Need to divert more juice to the weapon system.
Stand by.
One hell of a warship.
Doors and corners, right? Doors and corners.
Doors and corners, right? Come on.
Come on.
Hey, down there.
I got us slinking away from the flotilla for now, but you sure as hell better be strapped in when I put the pedal to the floor.
Doors and corners, right? Doors and corners.
Come on.
Come on, Miller! Give me something.
You want a ride? You got it.
But I can't give you one if I no longer have a ship.
Go into a room too fast, kid The room eats you.
[TRANQUIL CHORAL NOTE.]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
Inbound missile! [KLAXON BLARING.]
Strap in! [GROANS.]
[BREATHING HEAVILY.]
Shit, shit, shit.
Alex needs to slow the ship down, or we're all dead.
Slow down? Alex! You need to change course and go inside the Ring right now! No freaking way.
That is an order! Amos, we need a goddamn PDC! We have no PDCs.
You need to go for the Ring.
Slow the "Roci" down.
Flip and burn her hard as you can without that missile catching us.
We are dead if I slow down! It's a risk we gotta take.
Massive decel right before the Ring.
Try not to stroke us out.
How do you know all this about the Ring? Because Miller told me.
I can't prove a goddamn thing, but this is our only way out.
Alex! Do what the Cap said.
This is gonna be nasty.
Hang on! [GROANING.]
We are tracking movement on the "Rocinante.
" Pashang.
They're going for the Ring.
What in God's name are they doing? They're dead.
[ALL GROANING.]
[EERIE MUSIC.]
[GASPING.]
[TENSE MUSIC.]
What happens to us now? I don't know.
We die, maybe.
The Ring.
How does that make you feel? It's there.
I don't know what it is.
But there's plenty of people way smarter than me trying to figure it out.
You don't think it's a life-form? That is a piece of technology.
An intelligence created it.
Pray that it's inert.
Hey, new girl.
Like what you see? Wouldn't rub up against that narcissistic asshole with your junk.
Listen, the first contract's always the toughest.
You got a question, you just ask.
Why'd you have to look? An explosive? What in God's name have you been doing? [SOFT CLICK.]
[HIGH-PITCHED WHINE.]
Melba [YELLS.]
[TENSE MUSIC.]
Welcome to the "Behemoth.
" We have to work together.
For the good of the new Belter state, ke? If we ever want to be accepted as equals, we must act with greatness.
I don't like him either, but in this, he's not wrong.
Today I make history.
Me! Manéo Jung-Espa Lose yourself, piece at a time.
There's no laws on Ceres, just cops.
[UNEASY MUSIC.]
[WHOOSHING.]
Manéo Jung-Espa His vessel should've pancaked with him, but it's fully intact.
So what killed him? An energy field, some sort of invisible wall or or hand.
The probes should tell us more.
We need to send them inside that thing, now that it's awake.
We send probes to investigate.
They fire a human guinea pig into its eye.
And Belters think they're ready to join the family of nations? It wasn't a probe.
It was a slingshotter out of Ceres.
He's some kid trying to impress a girl back home.
Well, I hope she's impressed.
We triggered something before we understood it.
Maybe the structure isn't an entrance but an exit.
What do you think, Pastor? Has your God revealed himself? Well, I don't know, but if we are going to meet God as a bunch of angry fools, we should turn these ships around and go home.
[EXHALES DEEPLY.]
Little tired.
[SNIFFLES.]
Little tapped out.
Who wouldn't be? Boss? Get up here.
You gotta see this.
Me! Manéo Jung-Espa Goddamn Ring woke up, and I do not think it was too happy about being poked in its sleep.
Certainly didn't leave out a welcome mat for that Belter kid.
My bet: alien ships are gonna start pouring through that thing, wanting a chat with our leader.
Slingshotter's ship make it out to the other side? Negative.
It's like he went down a rabbit hole.
[SIGHS.]
This never ends.
What do you mean, Holden? [MOURNFUL MUSIC.]
I I need coffee.
Alex saw it first.
- Talk to him.
- [CLEARS THROAT.]
Well, uh, don't get me wrong, I'm not I'm not one of these guys that's into fate and all that, but, uh [SCOFFS.]
I guess I am.
I mean, I just find it odd, you know, out of all the places in the whole system that we could be, and we're here, at the Ring, just knocking.
Don't you find that odd? [PENSIVE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.]
[WHOOSHING.]
The Inners are redeploying their fleet and speeding their approach.
We should maybe match, ke? Maintain current decel for now.
They already treat it as a weapon.
- That's what they do.
- And they're damn right to.
The protomolecule at the heart of that structure I've seen more than enough of what it can do.
They blame us yet for the rock hopper going in there? Nah, radio silence so far.
But they gonya assume we had something to do with it and hang whatever happens on the OPA.
And if something miraculous happens, they'll plant their flag on it.
And go back to murdering each other.
Oxo pampa.
I was specifically promised by Anderson Dawes that I could be the cynic on this ship.
The Inners didn't invite us out here.
They na want us.
And now we gone and tripped the switch.
Well, out here is our home, not theirs, so with all due respect, poxa inyalowda.
[UNEASY MUSIC.]
Being in charge sucks the big falota.
You wear it well.
Ashford thinks he should have this command.
[LAUGHS.]
He probably right.
He has his place.
You have yours.
We each have a role in the new Belter Nation.
Nation? Fred Johnson get inside your skull, ke? He's right.
But it'll take time.
Time to become just like the Inners.
Say one thing when it's really another.
Oh, tolowda nawit fewa.
We stole a church, bolted some guns to it, and called it a warship.
To protect the Belt? No.
It's because we na wanna be left out of this party.
You tell Fred that? I did.
I was drunk at the time, but still [WHOOSHING.]
Father, father, father, father.
Chin.
Father, father, father.
Father.
Father.
Poured hot coffee in the parking lot.
God's playing a magic trick.
Tick, tick, ticks on a dog.
So this is happening? Bones like chalk.
You're not making any goddamn sense, but you're here.
[OMINOUS MUSIC.]
Are you trying to talk to me? Yes.
What? We should talk.
Coffee? Sure.
Look, Holden, things are moving fast, so we need to recalibrate.
What does that mean? It means that miracles are unfolding right outside that window or whatever you have on these ships.
The future of humanity and its place in the universe.
This is no longer a story just about the "Rocinante.
" Is somebody stopping you? My investors paid good money for access to the "Roci" and its crew, okay? They're footing the bill for this trip and making sure that your ship is not repossessed.
And we are grateful for that.
I need your full commitment.
People want to see this story through your eyes, but something is troubling you, and it's not just that Ring.
This has all been Overwhelming.
A hundredfold for you.
Holden, look at me.
I'm not an entertainer.
An artiste, okay? Any pinhead can bang on pots and pans.
I have my master's in cognitive psychology, and I know, when I look into someone's eyes, when there's more to a story.
I want you to trust me I won't betray that trust so that we can get your story out to everyone.
Don't back away from it.
From me.
[SWALLOWS.]
Yeah.
Okay.
Thank you.
Okay.
Good.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
[SOFTLY.]
Mm, we are gonna win so many awards.
[WHOOSHING.]
[DESOLATE MUSIC.]
[SNIFFLES.]
[GRUNTING.]
[DEVICE BEEPING.]
Don't get paid to wait for cretins.
You ain't back by the time my gear is stowed, you can float back to the "Prince.
" [BREATHING HEAVILY.]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
- [DEVICE BEEPS.]
- Come in, Ren.
What's your status? New girl, I'll have to come get you and log in the delay.
[SOFT CLICK.]
[HIGH-PITCHED WHINE.]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
[HISSING SIGH.]
[YELLS.]
[GRUNTING.]
[SKULL CRACKING.]
[DESOLATE MUNCHING.]
[ENERGETIC MUSIC.]
[HIGH-PITCHED WHINE.]
[WHOOSHING.]
E-if I hada ship Ya ko vera mi De kang leta Mi fo bek hom I'd sail the vast oceans of darkness Fo le mi sif down at your bones [SOMBER MUSIC.]
God bless da Mormons.
Attention to detail.
Heh.
Ah, the little things.
Mormons don't drink.
What's this for? Ah.
To Anderson Dawes and Fred Johnson, for telling UN Secretary-General Avasarala that any attempt to force this ship to turn back from the Ring will be met with a cordial And To our foolish and fearless young rock hopper, who sunk his teeth deep into the unknown fo amolof for love.
Fo da rock hopper.
Fo da rock hopper.
Ah, they'll be naming babies and ships after him for 50 years.
If the galaxy is still here in 50 years.
Ah, your optimism makes me feel young again.
[CHUCKLES.]
All the optimists I know are dead.
Yeah, but what about this one? Guilty.
You know, the Inners would've waited outside that Ring for a whole generation, just tap-tapping or politely waiting for an invite, but Manéo Jung-Espanoza he kicked the door open and threw on the light switch.
That's how Belters built this whole damn system.
I na remember you talking so much in the old days.
Mm! Yeah.
What did I tell you about being in here? Uh, yeah, no.
Are you a little deaf as well? I know.
I'm sorry.
Yeah, my circadian rhythms are crazy in space, so I do a lot of wandering at night or day or whatever this is.
Well, I can put you on a treadmill and you can wander straight ahead for hours.
So should I be holding out hope at all for [EERIE MUSIC.]
You should not.
[SCANNER BEEPING.]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
[SCANNER BEEPING.]
[WHOOSHING.]
So you show up an hour late to the transport missing half your gear.
What's a guy supposed to think? [LAUGHS.]
You and Ren? Nah, he ain't gonna get a girl that young.
He's probably sleeping it off somewhere.
Guy's a freaking genius.
Gets paid to drink on the job, gets paid again to sleep off his hangovers.
Shut your freaking mouth.
Easy, kid.
Just playing.
- Ren's a decent man.
- You don't turn in your coveralls to the company, you don't get your deposit back.
More than I can say for most of the people - I've met up here.
- Not my funeral.
[MOURNFUL MUSIC.]
[HIGH-PITCHED RINGING.]
[ALARM BEEPING.]
K-47, you are off course.
- Hey! - I repeat, you are off course.
What the hell are you doing? [WHOOSHING.]
- [EXHALES.]
- I'm sorry.
Sorry? You almost killed us.
[BREATHING RAGGEDLY.]
You're a shitty electrician, like Ren.
You should've told me you're an even shitter pilot.
[UNEASY MUSIC.]
[SCANNER BEEPING.]
[SOMBER MUSIC.]
[SIGHS.]
[SIGHS.]
It's those damn doors and corners.
I mean, that's where they get you.
You don't walk into the middle of a crime scene without knowing there's not somebody there to put you down.
It's the thing you don't see coming.
That's what it is.
What's with the hat? Keeps the rain off my head.
I'm not infected.
I didn't have a stroke.
I'm running out of ideas here.
There's this this rookie, down in Star Helix.
Kid never learned to clear a room.
I kept telling him.
I said, "There's doors and corners, kid, "and if you don't clear the room, "if you don't come in slow, that room will eat you.
" Why are you telling me this? Ch-ch.
[EERIE MUSIC.]
I'm supposed to think about this.
Ah, this could mean something.
Detective Miller crashed into Venus with Julie Mao.
They died together.
That's how it ended.
I don't want to talk about Julie.
It happened to Miller too.
You're dead! I'm just an investigator now.
I find things.
Okay.
Okay, what are you trying to find? Local Griega.
They were running this unlicensed brothel down in Sector 18.
Coriolis was so bad down there, it really made you sick.
I don't give a shit about your goddamn war stories until you tell me what any of it means.
The local Griega.
They're running an unlicensed brothel down in Sector 18.
Now, down there Fuck you! Fuck you! My blood is clean.
You're not here, which at least explains the stupid freaking hat.
That may have looked weird.
Hey, none of my business.
Are you sick, Cap? No.
I don't think so.
Look, if there's anything you need to get off your chest, I'm not much help, but I also don't judge.
It's a great quality, you know.
Things have been in the red for a long time now.
There's only so much a guy can take, especially with this cosmic squid thing jumping off Venus and flying across the system, turning into a ring that eats ships.
So vent away.
Break some shit if you have to.
I don't care.
Just not the coffee maker again.
I'm all right, Amos.
I mean I will be all right, and if I'm not, you'll be the first to know, okay? Okay.
[MELANCHOLY MUSIC.]
[WHOOSHING.]
We've grown used to wonders in this century.
It's hard to dazzle us anymore.
But a watershed moment is upon our fragile species a leap ahead, perhaps to the very face of God, and we mustn't meet it with our fears.
We must open our hearts and our minds to greet it.
- And our wallets.
- Shh.
Why don't you apply some of that coffee? I do.
I did.
One coffee, one Bloody Mary.
Keeps my ratio in balance.
Balance is key to life.
You truly are not afraid at all? What do we have to fear? That we'll finally get the answers to our most profound questions? He is good, though.
I mean, he's got that thing with the words.
My family donates big to his mega-churches across Africa and Asia, and our business enjoys his sway over the flock.
Hmm.
His gift of free will, our free will, is a manifestation of God's will.
Our capacity for compassion on the one hand, cruelty on the other Please excuse me.
Is still the greatest unsolved mystery, even more so than that Ring which has opened up to us.
[EERIE MUSIC.]
Excuse me.
Are you all right? Do you need something? Thank you.
No.
[WHOOSHING.]
[DESOLATE MUSIC.]
Me and Naomi, yeah, what we had was special.
I mean I thought maybe that was love, but it was really just the beginning of a love story.
Okay, why don't you cut the bullshit, Holden? Tell me why you really called me here.
He was having a full-on conversation with himself.
Who doesn't talk to themselves, though, now and then? Me.
All right.
Most of us do, though.
I mean, it's it's, um it's how we air things out.
You spend half your time talking to a ship.
Maybe you're not the right person to ask.
Hey, hold on there, okay? Look, he's just he's just overloaded is all, all right? After everything he's been through, Naomi leaving the ship, things are just hitting him harder than he's letting on.
Let's not get the straightjacket out just yet, okay? [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
What are you not telling me? I caught him with his arm in the auto-doc, - so I read his - What? You didn't.
Hell yeah, I did, in the interest of the ship.
You checked out his auto-doc logs? Amos, shame on you.
That is a serious breach of trust, man.
Come on.
Jesus.
So what did the logs say? He ran a scan on himself for the protomolecule infection.
- Holy - 35 times.
Shit.
Are you telling me that he's Negative.
The tests always scan negative, but he keeps doing it over and over.
- What the hell is that about? - You tell me.
Damned if I know.
But we gotta do something, man.
You remember XO, back on the "Cant"? - Yeah.
- One day, he's singing sea shanties and planting daffodils.
The next day, he's waving a six-gun around, - trying to put a - Shh! All right, calm down.
Sorry, man.
We just have to keep an eye on him, okay? Do you believe the mind can manifest things? Hopes? Fears? Of course.
No, I mean physically manifest.
If those hopes and fears are powerful enough, more so if they're the result of synchronicity.
We were once flying over Khartoum Coincidence but not coincidence.
[OMINOUS MUSIC.]
You have everything stored on that, right? Yeah.
Show me the news report the moment the Belter kid went through the Ring, and bring up the timestamp.
Stop there.
What are you fishing for? You've been spying on us every second since you got on this ship.
It's your job.
I get it.
Now I want to see your footage of me.
[EERIE MUSIC.]
What is it? It happened at the same time.
What did? You need to go.
What? No, no, no, no.
Your brain just exploded.
I have brain matter all over me.
You need to tell me what is going on right now.
Holden.
Holden! Could be something.
It'll eat you.
I find things.
You were you were saying something? The the Griegas in Sector 18? The rookie? Hmm? Have we talked before? Do do you even know you're here? Hmm? Yeah, sometimes.
I, uh When I exceed my boundary conditions, that's when they kill me.
Who who are "they"? Huh? [DISQUIETING MUSIC.]
Why why me? Why am I special? [GRUNTS.]
'Cause you have a ship.
See, you're a tool that goes places.
I'm a tool that finds things.
We're, uh we're tools.
Tools? Uh [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
[EXPLOSION.]
- [KLAXON BLARING.]
- We are detecting debris field approaching now.
What is it? A UN ship just got blown to scrap.
A science vessel, the "Seung Un.
" [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
That doesn't look like a reactor meltdown.
And that there fo sure is not any missile.
Tan width pulse shifter is down.
Electrical and power is down.
Repeat, puls You showed up at the exact moment the Ring was activated.
Is it using you to get to me? Mm.
It reaches out 113 times a second.
It reaches out, but nothing answers, so it builds the investigator, and the investigator looks, but he does not find, so it kills the investigator.
It kills the investigator over and over.
And then it builds the investigator again and again, until [SOMBER MUSIC.]
Until it finds a door what wasn't there before.
What I what is it doing? Hmm? So I'm at this, uh, unlicensed brothel, right? Egregious.
Down in Sector 18.
And this hothead rookie I keep telling him, you know, "Watch your doors and corners, pal.
"You don't come rushing into a room with your dick hanging out.
" - [BANGING AT DOOR.]
- Holden! Holden, we got a situation, ops deck.
- We need you right now.
- Wait.
Wait.
Uh, just just one second! I'll get rid of them.
- Holden? - Stay with me.
We have a situation on the flight deck.
- Stay with me.
- You have to see this.
- Holden.
- [BANGING.]
Don't make me crowbar this door.
Shit.
Alex, what's going on? UN ship just went up.
Someone hit it? Could've been a reactor meltdown.
I don't know.
I'm gonna get us a closer look.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
The hell? [DISQUIETING MUSIC.]
Guys, something's going on with the "Roci.
" [CONSOLE BEEPING NEGATIVELY.]
What is this? I'm James Holden, speaking on behalf of the Outer Planets Alliance.
Earth and Mars believe the Ring is theirs to investigate, to claim, and are already plotting ways to control it.
I'm here to declare for the OPA that Belters are the only legitimate benefactors of the Ring.
Whatever it may ultimately prove to be, it belongs to the Belt, and to show you that we will not bargain nor back down from this claim, we've struck at the Inners' vessels, and we will strike again.
Jesus Christ.
Grab continuous singles of everyone, and make sure we have all six "Roci" angles of that explosion, and, Amos, can you just keep this corridor clear? What in the hell did you do? That's not me.
That's not me, Alex.
Well, it's coming from inside our ship! Well, kill the damn thing! I can't! I'm locked out.
Did you do this? Why would I? Holden, you haven't been yourself lately.
Maybe you don't know what you did.
Maybe you're not in control.
I know myself, and that is not me.
And we will strike again.
He wants them to fire on us.
He's trying to start the next war.
They'll fire on him too.
Oh, you're assuming he cares about survival.
That was not Holden.
It's some kind of trap.
Well, okay, who was it, then? A c-composite, a generated SIM.
I don't know.
Take a closer look at the footage.
We na got time for that.
Hail the "Roci," get Holden on comms, and tell him he has ten seconds to retract We have to fire on the "Rocinante.
" - We have to do it now.
- What? It is the only way they'll know that the OPA disavows James Holden.
Otherwise, they will kill this ship along with his.
[KLAXON BLARES.]
The UN is scanning us.
- Target lock? - Negative, but they have target-locked the "Rocinante.
" And we'll be next.
Captain.
Camina! If you want to save the "Behemoth," you have to prove to them that we are not with him! Where's my open channel? The "Roci's" not responding.
Just let me try No more time for try.
Arm the missile system and get me a channel to the UNN fleet commander.
Someone is trying to play you.
Don't fall into it.
Remove her from the command deck.
- Kom wit milowda.
- Drummer, listen to me! You know Holden isn't capable of what we just saw! To sasa im! To sasa im! UN's target-locked us.
All I got is drive control.
- Still no comms? - Nothing.
What about PDCs? Any defense systems? Snake eyes.
[CONSOLE BEEPING.]
Ah, Christ! Now the "Behemoth's" target-locked us! The "Behemoth's" an OPA ship.
They gotta fire at us.
[RUMBLING.]
What are you doing? You're just gonna draw their fire.
You can't outrun a missile.
Yeah, but we don't gotta sit here and be their target practice.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC.]
Holden! What the hell? Amos! Get me a goddamn cannon working! What the hell is wrong with you? We gotta push! Get back into a couch.
We're not gonna outrun their fire.
- I can get a cannon! - You can't! Somebody crippled this ship.
It was all a setup.
- Holden, you are not - The only hope we have is for me to Just give me one minute alone.
- For what? - I don't have time to explain! - We don't have a minute! - Let me go! God damn it, Captain, I don't want to scrape you off that wall.
Open up, or I'll have Alex override.
Amos, all we've been through how many times have I asked you to trust me? None.
I'm asking you now.
- One minute.
- Alone.
Camina, please! Don't f The Belt triggered the Ring, which you say was unintentional.
Now an OPA operative claims responsibility for the attack on our ship, and you profess no knowledge of We are prepared to fire on the "Rocinante.
" Let us take care of our own.
You have one minute.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
He doesn't believe us.
Doesn't matter.
He gave us one minute.
Missile bay doors on the "Thomas Prince" have just opened.
And one minute is all we're gonna get.
Missile ready.
Fire! - What's happening? - Grid overload.
Need to divert more juice to the weapon system.
Stand by.
One hell of a warship.
Doors and corners, right? Doors and corners.
Doors and corners, right? Come on.
Come on.
Hey, down there.
I got us slinking away from the flotilla for now, but you sure as hell better be strapped in when I put the pedal to the floor.
Doors and corners, right? Doors and corners.
Come on.
Come on, Miller! Give me something.
You want a ride? You got it.
But I can't give you one if I no longer have a ship.
Go into a room too fast, kid The room eats you.
[TRANQUIL CHORAL NOTE.]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC.]
Inbound missile! [KLAXON BLARING.]
Strap in! [GROANS.]
[BREATHING HEAVILY.]
Shit, shit, shit.
Alex needs to slow the ship down, or we're all dead.
Slow down? Alex! You need to change course and go inside the Ring right now! No freaking way.
That is an order! Amos, we need a goddamn PDC! We have no PDCs.
You need to go for the Ring.
Slow the "Roci" down.
Flip and burn her hard as you can without that missile catching us.
We are dead if I slow down! It's a risk we gotta take.
Massive decel right before the Ring.
Try not to stroke us out.
How do you know all this about the Ring? Because Miller told me.
I can't prove a goddamn thing, but this is our only way out.
Alex! Do what the Cap said.
This is gonna be nasty.
Hang on! [GROANING.]
We are tracking movement on the "Rocinante.
" Pashang.
They're going for the Ring.
What in God's name are they doing? They're dead.
[ALL GROANING.]
[EERIE MUSIC.]
[GASPING.]
[TENSE MUSIC.]