Earth: Final Conflict s03e20 Episode Script
One Taelon Avenue
Previously on Gene Roddenberry's Earth Final Conflict: Kincaid, you know my son Joshua, he's the one who got me into this, just might get me elected.
You're gonna do great there, dad.
This campaign is already been worthwhile because it brought us closer together.
It was truly shocked by the attempted assassination of President Thompson.
But I am even more disturbed that my own father has instigated the entire plot.
Why, Joshua? Don't you think I know how you built your great business empire? Well, I watch and I learn, dad.
As much as I hated you, I became just like you.
How many times do I have to say I am sorry? Good evening, Dr.
Sato.
Dr.
Sato? Yes, good evening.
Your team is assembled and waiting.
The shuttle prototype has been prepped for simulation at 1900 hours.
Right.
You have a slight decrease in your blood sugar and electrolytes this evening, Doctor.
I am substituting an alpha blue algae juice plant for your usual cappuccino.
It will be waiting for you when you arrive.
Please hurry, your schedule allows for no delays.
Oh, here he is.
George, where were you? We're T minus 5 to making history here.
Laura's already put Bud to the pre-flight check.
- So I was informed? - Yeah.
I completed the mechanical and structural diagnostics, Dr.
Sato.
- And the ambient temp analysis? - The coding holds.
We should be able to displace temporal matter without a hitch.
Well, that is the point of this exercise, isn't it? Hey, George, aren't you gonna wish me bon voyage? Enable stat capacitor banks.
- All systems online.
- Initiating fission reaction.
Thermistor output is 94%.
Isn't that a little high, Doctor? Charging main capacitors.
Dr.
Sato, surface temperature is rising, we can't hold it.
We got problem report.
Sir, the superconductivity is compromised.
- George, I think you need to abort this - Initiating pulse switching.
Abort.
Abort.
Abort! They have come to Earth with the promise of peace.
An alien race called the Taelons.
But, there are those who resist these Alien Companions.
For the Taelons' true mission, the secrets they hide will forever alter our world.
The fate of humanity now relies on those who dare challenge the future of Earth.
I'm not interested in your offer.
Just come by One Taelon Avenue, have a look around.
We are nurturing human creativity.
We're not just taking handouts from the Taelons.
Didn't they build your facility? Well, it's a human-Taelon co-venture, I consulted with them on the design of the workspace, but they don't step foot in that place anymore.
You wanna know why? Because we don't need them, Renee, we need you.
Another raid, Joshua? I'd thought you had other priorities at this point.
The news report out of One Taelon Avenue are hardly encouraging.
A dead test pilot? Joshua, it's time for you to leave.
You wouldn't have even a semblance of a program if you hadn't stolen my engineers, - my physicists, my chemists - No.
What I did was bring the best and brightest under one roof, to do breakthrough research.
Joshua, for God's sake, shut down this ID shuttle program before more people get hurt.
Your legacy is over, Dad.
Mine's just begun.
And you can join me anytime.
Any time.
Excuse me.
Joshua, what are you Okay.
- What did I miss? - Just the usual father-son love fest.
He's running blind.
He doesn't see what's happening over there.
Good people breaking down, burning out, and now Bud Archer is dead.
I saw the news coverage of the shuttle simulation accident.
I want you two to find out what's really happening.
Jonathan, it sounds like you want us to spy on your son.
Please, I need to know if he might be in harm's way.
This place has Joshua written all over it.
Welcome to One Taelon Avenue.
All visitors must verify identity.
Do you have an appointment? Renee Palmer, Liam Kincaid to see Joshua Doors.
Please, pick up your ID badges and proceed down the corridor G.
I will notify Mr.
Doors that you are en route.
Looks like business as usual.
Yeah, no one seems to be mourning the death of their star test pilot.
Look, let's skip the tour, you head to Joshua, I'll find Dr.
Sato.
Fine.
Mr.
Kincaid, you have entered a restricted area.
Return to Level 1.
Mr.
Kincaid, you must proceed immediately to your appointment with Mr.
Doors.
What are you doing? Dr.
Sato.
I'm a friend of Jonathan Doors, he asked me to come over to see how you're holding up.
- Jonathan, why? - Well, he heard about the accident.
You have no right to be in my office snooping around.
Look, I can understand your upset.
Jonathan told me that Bud Archer was also a good friend of yours.
- Just get out of my office.
- Why don't we just calm down.
Calm down.
I just came over to check up on you.
A favor for a friend, that's all.
Check up on me? Of course.
We must not let the mind wander.
No, we must stay on course at all costs.
Bud's gone.
No matter.
Because there's always another sacrificial lamb to recruit, isn't there? Dr.
Sato, your pulse and blood pressure are steeply elevated.
I am initiating you stress reduction protocol.
No condition exists to induce anxiety.
In other words everything's under control.
Bud's gone but we must move on! The project, can't hurt the project.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? - Look, Doc, let me get you some help.
- No.
It's too late for me.
Go, get out of the building, now! Don't let them do this to you.
I'm shutting you down.
All personnel are now cleared from the A wing.
Commence bio-purge function.
Is this your answer? Killing me? You don't know humanity at all, do you? You'll never touch our souls, you'll never kill our will.
Someone will unmask you! My husband did not commit suicide, Major Kincaid.
The truth is he was systematically murdered.
Murdered? By whom, Mrs.
Sato? The project.
- You mean, the ID shuttle program? - Yeah.
I'm afraid I don't understand.
My husband and I worked together for many years, analyzing complex organic compounds.
- At Doors International? - Yes.
But we decided to leave the company and take our work off to One Taelon Avenue.
Why? What did Joshua Doors offered you that Jonathan couldn't? Joshua represented a new breed of industrialists.
Brilliant, unafraid to take risks, and with access to unlimited resources.
Still you worked at Doors International for years.
Yeah, I know.
But the atmosphere at One Taelon Avenue just It seemed bright.
Anyway, George gradually became obsessed with the project, it consumed his every waking hour.
What happened after Bud Archer was killed? He was shattered.
I thought he was finally coming to his senses.
I begged him to quit, seek outside help, but he wouldn't.
He couldn't.
That wretched, wretched place It took all of him.
A preliminary analysis indicated a malfunction in the buildings purification protocol.
The irrational behavior of the artificial intelligence hardware suggests it is creating its own agenda.
No.
The program's monitoring and control applications have performed exceptionally well.
What is it, Agent Sandoval? The fatalities at One Taelon Avenue, I've commenced an investigation.
Under what purview? It's a Taelon designed building.
Obviously we must control the investigation.
Nothing is obvious.
Close your investigation immediately.
Jonathan? Sorry about your friend.
A mind is terrible thing to destroy, isn't it? Unless, of course, it becomes dangerous.
You and George Sato were close.
Why did he leave the company? One day he took it upon himself to go see my son, under the pretext of brokering a peace between us.
He never came back.
Then he and Joshua started recruiting others.
I guess he flat out betrayed me.
His wife blames the ID shuttle project.
She thinks the organic compounds he used for coding Most doubtful.
He started experimenting with those compounds when he was with us.
I never noticed any aberrant behavior.
This was taken about a week before Joshua moved out of the guest house into that Taelon apartment complex.
What's it called? Horizon Heaven.
Right.
He was working on my presidential campaign, remember? Then, within a month I became the object of his rage.
Some of it warranted, some of it not.
Then came the betrayal.
You see the parallel I'm trying to draw? Sato and Joshua.
Loyal and disloyal.
The same schizophrenic behavior.
We can't rule out Taelon manipulation.
I don't know how many visits I can make to that building without raising Joshua's suspicions.
I have a private meeting scheduled with him later on this evening to talk about my future.
- I'll see what I can do.
- Make sure you come back.
Jonathan, go home.
I want my son.
No the spiteful impostor in that Taelon graveyard.
This one.
Right here.
Have you been able to initiate contact with Control? - Yes.
- Interesting.
I was not so fortunate.
How many attempts did it require? Several.
But it is still following its primary directive to suppress human creativity.
A creativity which could lead to discoveries that threaten Taelon interests.
Understood, but Control is acting with increasing aggression and independence.
The human genius has a will of its own.
Perhaps, Control reprogramed itself to act independently because it deemed it necessary to maintain dominion over the humans.
And did it deemed necessary to murder? Dr.
Sato was on the verge of a significant breakthrough in ID shuttle technology.
Something we cannot afford to see fall into the hands of the Resistance.
The artificial intelligence program has exceeded its boundaries.
I demand that we initiate override measures.
I have already tried.
It refused.
Then, it has mutated beyond our control.
We must extract the Control core immediately.
And exactly how do you propose to accomplish that? As it stands, we cannot even enter the building, much less deactivate Control.
The fact of which Control must certainly be aware.
Welcome, Miss Palmer.
Mr.
Doors is expecting you in the executive conference room.
Well, well, you didn't say anything about dinner.
Well, I wanted to get off on the right foot.
The last time we managed that was what, four years ago at Rosewater grill? Yeah, it was all downhill after that.
Why? What happened? You know, I really can't remember.
But I trust it wasn't entirely unpleasant before that.
No.
No, um Actually you were quite charming.
Oh, no, I really think "never drink on the job".
Oh, are we on the job, Renee? It's a Chassagne Montrachet.
Chassagne? I haven't had this in quite a while.
The offer's still good, you know? Working here might be a pleasant change.
Alright, I accept.
To the future.
To the future.
Well, I've hacked in the county registry, building permits, even into department of sanitation, no blueprints on file for One Taelon Avenue.
A lot of G14 personnel sensitive projects.
They could be locked away in the NSA archives.
Ah, well, we'll just have to mole us in over there then.
I know, I'm late.
Sorry, but duty called.
- Are you buzzed? she looks buzzed.
- I had a little wine at dinner.
- It sounds like Joshua went to work on you.
- And I went to work on him.
This is the breakdown of all composite shuttle coding Dr.
Sato worked up.
- Are you sure? - Yeah, let's take a closer look.
Ah, there's no conspiracy at work here, guys.
I canvased Sato's team.
They all checked out.
Sato couldn't take the stress, he had a breakdown, simple as that.
Hold on, where are you going? - Back to work, undercover.
- No, I have to do a tech sweep.
- What, are you giving me orders now? - Renee, are you alright? Fine, why? Just don't seem yourself.
First I'm buzzed, now I'm not myself? I don't have time for this, Joshua's waiting.
Watch your back.
Watch your own back.
I can take care of myself.
Welcome Mr.
Doors.
Your son and Miss Palmer are waiting for you in the executive conference room.
Proceed down corridor C.
Do you mind, Renee? I'd like some time alone with my son.
Sure, Jonathan.
I think that would do both of you a world of good.
I take it you are no longer in my employ.
I think it's best to all concerned if we discussed my situation later.
Don't be upset, dad, she's only thinking about her future.
I'm thinking about yours.
I'll accept your formal surrender.
Of what? My company? Get serious.
Well, your earnings are already beginning to flatten out, your R&D is in chaos.
And your best and brightest? Easy pickings.
Listen to you.
A cold corporate raider.
I taught you well, didn't I? Apparently too well.
I propose a merger.
We'll swap stock, cut away the dead wood, you can stay as chairman emeritus, and I'll be the CEO.
You think you can ride roughshod over me? I'm giving you an honorable way out.
A golden parachute.
Oh, stop it, son, this isn't you talking.
Spare me the diatribe, dad.
This is business.
No.
It's a charade.
A tawdry little puppet show with the Taelons pulling the strings.
You let them build you this Palace of Ineptitude.
Now you're their prisoner.
Look, I don't want to launch a hostile takeover.
But if you reject my offer I'm going straight to the Board of Far Norton Bank.
Ill have them audit you books, freeze your credit line, call in your loans, I will tear this place down, if that's what it takes to get my son back.
Data you've hacked into One Taelon Avenue, what have we got? Well, it just looks like your average Taelon environmental engineering.
Oh, look at that.
Climate control has pumped enough purified O2 in there to wake up the dead, but other than that it's, you know, nothing out of the ordinary.
Arlene Sato talked about the feel of the place, the atmosphere.
So, what have we got, purified O2? Personalized data streams, lots of smiling faces.
- You point? - Well, Sato came totally unglued.
He pushed the shuttle program way past the limit, then the accident.
Well, you know, I can't find any red flags, no rads, no toxins.
So, if the Taelons aren't part of the problem, who is? Listen, I was doing a search today and I came up with the name of a guy who used to work on the engineering crew.
I'm hooking up with him later.
Make it sooner.
You were one of the comp system engineers on the building, right? Yeah.
Me, two other guys and a handful of Taelons.
Of course, I'm the only one still alive to talk about it.
The only human, I mean.
Wait a second, they brought you guys in there to do the work and they tried to have you all killed? Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
You know, just like back in the land of pharaohs, you know? You build a pyramid, eliminate the work crew.
That way who's gonna know where the sarcophagus is stashed, right? Right, what's the big secret in here? It's the Artificial intel program.
It is not of this earth, man.
They call it the Control Core.
Taelons wouldn't go anywhere near it.
It's like they were afraid of it.
Why would they be messing around with something that could hurt them? Who knows, the word on the crew was that they needed the Control Core to to power the whole system, wouldn't function otherwise.
- What's the function? - Look, are we gonna do some business here, or we're just gonna talk all night? Just relax, just relax.
I just wanna know what happened after you fired up the hardware and it went operational, okay? I can't tell you that because I bailed before all that happened.
Look, I knew that those Taelon low lives were painting us into corner, so I did some looking around with ultrasound.
I found they'd dug a couple of escape routes for themselves.
Hey, what happened to other members of the crew? Look, it's 10 grand for the VIP tour.
You are not my first customer and the other party didn't squawk about the price, so What other party? Did I say 10 grand? Let's make that 15.
- Fine.
- Fine.
Last name was Sandoval, didn't catch the first name.
Ron.
Your father feels threatened, what did you expect? When he was your age, he was the golden boy, the man on the cutting edge.
And now it's my turn.
True.
Still he is your father, you could allow one last moment of glory? Short, of course.
You both have been trying to develop interdimensional technology.
And he's failed.
Not with stationary portals.
You didn't hear that from me, of course.
Come on, Joshua, give him a call.
Hi, I'm just calling to apologize for things getting out of hand earlier.
Thought maybe we could - Try again.
- Try what? Another merger? Another delusional dance? - Not interested.
- Not even a co-venture? Here's my offer, Joshua: you sever ties with your Taelon landlords or I'll buy that building from under your you and turn it into a pile of rubble.
Jonathan, don't play hardball here.
You and Joshua have an opportunity to develop something really meaningful, together.
- Renee, this is none of your business - He's inviting you in as a full partner on the shuttle program.
Now that is a seriously good faith on his part.
Where's yours? Okay, I'll come over and we'll discuss it.
Definitely something funky going down at One Taelon Avenue.
All of the building's hardware installations and data stream channels feedback to one control area.
I don't like the look of that.
You know, if Simms is right, the building's control core is sending some kind of electro-chemical signal into the workplace.
What, the air conditioning's manipulating people's brain waves? Something like that.
A happy eco-friendly place.
That's what Sato was talking about.
Whole building is an assault on the free will.
Now, the Taelons don't grasp the concept.
You're looking at the ultimate form of industrial sabotage here.
I did some checking back at the embassy, not one Taelon has set foot in the place since it opened.
You know, we could be looking at the Taelon version of plutonium.
They need the control core to manipulate our minds, but it probably affects them, too.
That would explain why they dug those escape tunnels for their systems engineers, to shield them from the control core.
- We have to get Renee out of there.
- Wait.
If you go in, Control could nail you.
You need to wear one of these.
It's a neural adrenaline simulator, it plugs into the vein of your wrist.
I got to think enough about your tussle with Dr.
Sato.
That dose of pain that you lay on him must have interrupted whatever electro-chemical hold the building had on his brain.
So, you're prescribing pain here? This baby will severely increase your emotional stress level, but it's the only way to stop the building cerebral manipulation.
One other thing, the info I got from Simms Yeah, I know.
Sandoval's got the same data.
- What are you two doing here? - Looking for you, actually.
Make it fast, I have to get back to my office.
I thought this was your office.
- Not now, Liam.
- You can't go back there, Renee.
The Taelons have the place wired for mind control.
Sato, Joshua, everybody in there.
- It's ridiculous.
- Come back to my house.
We'll prove it to you.
I don't have time for this.
You're not hearing me.
You're not apprehending of your own will here.
Yes, I am, and I'm leaving now.
What are you doing? Why did you do that? What's going on? You okay? Yeah, I just feel strange.
What did they do? What did the Taelons do to me? The building has an artificial intelligence program downloaded into the control core.
I analyzed the systems, Renee.
The control core can regulate all of the functions in the building.
We think it sabotaged the shuttle and murdered Dr.
Sato.
Murdered? - How does that serve the Taelons? - Well, it doesn't.
Well, then why haven't they aborted the program? They can't.
The control core's taking over the building and it's now acting on its own killing anything that it sees as a threat.
Oh, my God.
Jonathan.
He threatened to blow up the place.
He's on his way over there snow.
- What was I thinking? - You weren't thinking.
A computer was doing it for you.
We have to get Jonathan and Joshua out of there.
You sure you're up to it? Yeah.
Yeah.
Alright then.
Augur, get back to your place, hack into building's systems, get us location on Jonathan and Joshua.
What is the cause of these fluctuations? Zo'or, I am addressing you.
Control is operating irrationally.
It perceives Dr.
Sato's betrayal as the betrayal on the part of all humans.
All personnel, report immediately to the test lab floor on the lower level.
You cannot allow those humans to be killed.
I cannot stop it.
Agent Sandoval, report to the bridge immediately.
Can you override Control's directive? No.
We have discovered a toxic chemical leak at One Taelon Avenue.
Evacuate the premises and destroy the operational hardware.
This disc contains all pertinent schematics.
Is this accident related to recent fatalities? No questions, infiltrate the facility.
Your father has entered the facility.
Carry out your order.
Augur, do you have a location on Jonathan and Joshua? Yup, got them, A wing, west corridor.
- Got it.
- Wait, hold on.
What? Well, it looks like the building is powering up one of its systems, some kind of purification function.
It's the same program it used on Sato.
Control's going to take out everybody in the building, Liam.
I'll everyone out of here, you find Jonathan and Joshua.
Is this how you want it? Is this your call, Joshua? To kill me, you own father? Well, it's like you've always said, dad.
Nothing personal, just business.
Is it just business to murder anyone who gets in your way? Or have you already forgotten about George Sato and Bud Archer? These were tragedies.
That had nothing to do with me or this building.
Are you sure about that? - Stop! - It's alright, sir.
Please, if you just join us in line.
Please, everyone, follow me.
This way.
You are in an area authorized for humans.
Identify yourself.
Agent Ronald Sandoval, FBI.
I detect threshold parameters for implementing the self-destruct sequence.
Then do it and save me the trouble.
Wait.
I am computing all logical alternatives.
I found the program exception in the self-destruct code.
Don't come any closer.
- I will kill you.
- I don't think so.
I want you to know, Joshua, that I have never lost faith in you.
Never.
Not even now.
- Like hell you didn't.
- And taking my life won't change that, because I know it's not you pulling the trigger.
I made a lot of mistakes.
I'm sorry I wasn't always there when you needed me.
But it was never about you.
It was my ambition.
My selfishness.
And you have always been the most important thing in the world to me.
Don't ever forget that.
Joshua! Dad! My data logs are a catalog of all research undertaken here.
If you insist on continuing with these hostile measures, I will initiate total file corruption.
Then why are you hesitating? If you elect to preserve my program, I will provide you with this data.
Not interested.
Dad.
Dad, what have I done? You haven't done anything.
Just make sure you don't make the same mistakes I made, with your own children.
Promise me that.
I promise, dad.
Remember, I'll always be with you.
We should be eternally grateful that the Control Core we installed in that facility did not cause even greater destruction.
The containment measures at One Taelon Avenue are on schedule, Zo'or.
Very well.
He will be missed.
The Board is going to put Joshua to run Doors International on interim basis.
Well, that's cool, if he does by dad, keep running checks for the Resistance.
I think he will, once he realizes that Taelons killed his father.
they didn't do it.
I killed my father.
- No, Joshua.
No, you didn't.
- We can prove it to you.
No.
- I let the Taelons entrap me.
- They messed with your head, and mine.
You can't blame yourself.
He wouldn't have fallen for it.
He was Jonathan Doors.
The visionary.
Everyone's last best hope.
And you're his, Joshua.
Remember that.
Axarion
You're gonna do great there, dad.
This campaign is already been worthwhile because it brought us closer together.
It was truly shocked by the attempted assassination of President Thompson.
But I am even more disturbed that my own father has instigated the entire plot.
Why, Joshua? Don't you think I know how you built your great business empire? Well, I watch and I learn, dad.
As much as I hated you, I became just like you.
How many times do I have to say I am sorry? Good evening, Dr.
Sato.
Dr.
Sato? Yes, good evening.
Your team is assembled and waiting.
The shuttle prototype has been prepped for simulation at 1900 hours.
Right.
You have a slight decrease in your blood sugar and electrolytes this evening, Doctor.
I am substituting an alpha blue algae juice plant for your usual cappuccino.
It will be waiting for you when you arrive.
Please hurry, your schedule allows for no delays.
Oh, here he is.
George, where were you? We're T minus 5 to making history here.
Laura's already put Bud to the pre-flight check.
- So I was informed? - Yeah.
I completed the mechanical and structural diagnostics, Dr.
Sato.
- And the ambient temp analysis? - The coding holds.
We should be able to displace temporal matter without a hitch.
Well, that is the point of this exercise, isn't it? Hey, George, aren't you gonna wish me bon voyage? Enable stat capacitor banks.
- All systems online.
- Initiating fission reaction.
Thermistor output is 94%.
Isn't that a little high, Doctor? Charging main capacitors.
Dr.
Sato, surface temperature is rising, we can't hold it.
We got problem report.
Sir, the superconductivity is compromised.
- George, I think you need to abort this - Initiating pulse switching.
Abort.
Abort.
Abort! They have come to Earth with the promise of peace.
An alien race called the Taelons.
But, there are those who resist these Alien Companions.
For the Taelons' true mission, the secrets they hide will forever alter our world.
The fate of humanity now relies on those who dare challenge the future of Earth.
I'm not interested in your offer.
Just come by One Taelon Avenue, have a look around.
We are nurturing human creativity.
We're not just taking handouts from the Taelons.
Didn't they build your facility? Well, it's a human-Taelon co-venture, I consulted with them on the design of the workspace, but they don't step foot in that place anymore.
You wanna know why? Because we don't need them, Renee, we need you.
Another raid, Joshua? I'd thought you had other priorities at this point.
The news report out of One Taelon Avenue are hardly encouraging.
A dead test pilot? Joshua, it's time for you to leave.
You wouldn't have even a semblance of a program if you hadn't stolen my engineers, - my physicists, my chemists - No.
What I did was bring the best and brightest under one roof, to do breakthrough research.
Joshua, for God's sake, shut down this ID shuttle program before more people get hurt.
Your legacy is over, Dad.
Mine's just begun.
And you can join me anytime.
Any time.
Excuse me.
Joshua, what are you Okay.
- What did I miss? - Just the usual father-son love fest.
He's running blind.
He doesn't see what's happening over there.
Good people breaking down, burning out, and now Bud Archer is dead.
I saw the news coverage of the shuttle simulation accident.
I want you two to find out what's really happening.
Jonathan, it sounds like you want us to spy on your son.
Please, I need to know if he might be in harm's way.
This place has Joshua written all over it.
Welcome to One Taelon Avenue.
All visitors must verify identity.
Do you have an appointment? Renee Palmer, Liam Kincaid to see Joshua Doors.
Please, pick up your ID badges and proceed down the corridor G.
I will notify Mr.
Doors that you are en route.
Looks like business as usual.
Yeah, no one seems to be mourning the death of their star test pilot.
Look, let's skip the tour, you head to Joshua, I'll find Dr.
Sato.
Fine.
Mr.
Kincaid, you have entered a restricted area.
Return to Level 1.
Mr.
Kincaid, you must proceed immediately to your appointment with Mr.
Doors.
What are you doing? Dr.
Sato.
I'm a friend of Jonathan Doors, he asked me to come over to see how you're holding up.
- Jonathan, why? - Well, he heard about the accident.
You have no right to be in my office snooping around.
Look, I can understand your upset.
Jonathan told me that Bud Archer was also a good friend of yours.
- Just get out of my office.
- Why don't we just calm down.
Calm down.
I just came over to check up on you.
A favor for a friend, that's all.
Check up on me? Of course.
We must not let the mind wander.
No, we must stay on course at all costs.
Bud's gone.
No matter.
Because there's always another sacrificial lamb to recruit, isn't there? Dr.
Sato, your pulse and blood pressure are steeply elevated.
I am initiating you stress reduction protocol.
No condition exists to induce anxiety.
In other words everything's under control.
Bud's gone but we must move on! The project, can't hurt the project.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? - Look, Doc, let me get you some help.
- No.
It's too late for me.
Go, get out of the building, now! Don't let them do this to you.
I'm shutting you down.
All personnel are now cleared from the A wing.
Commence bio-purge function.
Is this your answer? Killing me? You don't know humanity at all, do you? You'll never touch our souls, you'll never kill our will.
Someone will unmask you! My husband did not commit suicide, Major Kincaid.
The truth is he was systematically murdered.
Murdered? By whom, Mrs.
Sato? The project.
- You mean, the ID shuttle program? - Yeah.
I'm afraid I don't understand.
My husband and I worked together for many years, analyzing complex organic compounds.
- At Doors International? - Yes.
But we decided to leave the company and take our work off to One Taelon Avenue.
Why? What did Joshua Doors offered you that Jonathan couldn't? Joshua represented a new breed of industrialists.
Brilliant, unafraid to take risks, and with access to unlimited resources.
Still you worked at Doors International for years.
Yeah, I know.
But the atmosphere at One Taelon Avenue just It seemed bright.
Anyway, George gradually became obsessed with the project, it consumed his every waking hour.
What happened after Bud Archer was killed? He was shattered.
I thought he was finally coming to his senses.
I begged him to quit, seek outside help, but he wouldn't.
He couldn't.
That wretched, wretched place It took all of him.
A preliminary analysis indicated a malfunction in the buildings purification protocol.
The irrational behavior of the artificial intelligence hardware suggests it is creating its own agenda.
No.
The program's monitoring and control applications have performed exceptionally well.
What is it, Agent Sandoval? The fatalities at One Taelon Avenue, I've commenced an investigation.
Under what purview? It's a Taelon designed building.
Obviously we must control the investigation.
Nothing is obvious.
Close your investigation immediately.
Jonathan? Sorry about your friend.
A mind is terrible thing to destroy, isn't it? Unless, of course, it becomes dangerous.
You and George Sato were close.
Why did he leave the company? One day he took it upon himself to go see my son, under the pretext of brokering a peace between us.
He never came back.
Then he and Joshua started recruiting others.
I guess he flat out betrayed me.
His wife blames the ID shuttle project.
She thinks the organic compounds he used for coding Most doubtful.
He started experimenting with those compounds when he was with us.
I never noticed any aberrant behavior.
This was taken about a week before Joshua moved out of the guest house into that Taelon apartment complex.
What's it called? Horizon Heaven.
Right.
He was working on my presidential campaign, remember? Then, within a month I became the object of his rage.
Some of it warranted, some of it not.
Then came the betrayal.
You see the parallel I'm trying to draw? Sato and Joshua.
Loyal and disloyal.
The same schizophrenic behavior.
We can't rule out Taelon manipulation.
I don't know how many visits I can make to that building without raising Joshua's suspicions.
I have a private meeting scheduled with him later on this evening to talk about my future.
- I'll see what I can do.
- Make sure you come back.
Jonathan, go home.
I want my son.
No the spiteful impostor in that Taelon graveyard.
This one.
Right here.
Have you been able to initiate contact with Control? - Yes.
- Interesting.
I was not so fortunate.
How many attempts did it require? Several.
But it is still following its primary directive to suppress human creativity.
A creativity which could lead to discoveries that threaten Taelon interests.
Understood, but Control is acting with increasing aggression and independence.
The human genius has a will of its own.
Perhaps, Control reprogramed itself to act independently because it deemed it necessary to maintain dominion over the humans.
And did it deemed necessary to murder? Dr.
Sato was on the verge of a significant breakthrough in ID shuttle technology.
Something we cannot afford to see fall into the hands of the Resistance.
The artificial intelligence program has exceeded its boundaries.
I demand that we initiate override measures.
I have already tried.
It refused.
Then, it has mutated beyond our control.
We must extract the Control core immediately.
And exactly how do you propose to accomplish that? As it stands, we cannot even enter the building, much less deactivate Control.
The fact of which Control must certainly be aware.
Welcome, Miss Palmer.
Mr.
Doors is expecting you in the executive conference room.
Well, well, you didn't say anything about dinner.
Well, I wanted to get off on the right foot.
The last time we managed that was what, four years ago at Rosewater grill? Yeah, it was all downhill after that.
Why? What happened? You know, I really can't remember.
But I trust it wasn't entirely unpleasant before that.
No.
No, um Actually you were quite charming.
Oh, no, I really think "never drink on the job".
Oh, are we on the job, Renee? It's a Chassagne Montrachet.
Chassagne? I haven't had this in quite a while.
The offer's still good, you know? Working here might be a pleasant change.
Alright, I accept.
To the future.
To the future.
Well, I've hacked in the county registry, building permits, even into department of sanitation, no blueprints on file for One Taelon Avenue.
A lot of G14 personnel sensitive projects.
They could be locked away in the NSA archives.
Ah, well, we'll just have to mole us in over there then.
I know, I'm late.
Sorry, but duty called.
- Are you buzzed? she looks buzzed.
- I had a little wine at dinner.
- It sounds like Joshua went to work on you.
- And I went to work on him.
This is the breakdown of all composite shuttle coding Dr.
Sato worked up.
- Are you sure? - Yeah, let's take a closer look.
Ah, there's no conspiracy at work here, guys.
I canvased Sato's team.
They all checked out.
Sato couldn't take the stress, he had a breakdown, simple as that.
Hold on, where are you going? - Back to work, undercover.
- No, I have to do a tech sweep.
- What, are you giving me orders now? - Renee, are you alright? Fine, why? Just don't seem yourself.
First I'm buzzed, now I'm not myself? I don't have time for this, Joshua's waiting.
Watch your back.
Watch your own back.
I can take care of myself.
Welcome Mr.
Doors.
Your son and Miss Palmer are waiting for you in the executive conference room.
Proceed down corridor C.
Do you mind, Renee? I'd like some time alone with my son.
Sure, Jonathan.
I think that would do both of you a world of good.
I take it you are no longer in my employ.
I think it's best to all concerned if we discussed my situation later.
Don't be upset, dad, she's only thinking about her future.
I'm thinking about yours.
I'll accept your formal surrender.
Of what? My company? Get serious.
Well, your earnings are already beginning to flatten out, your R&D is in chaos.
And your best and brightest? Easy pickings.
Listen to you.
A cold corporate raider.
I taught you well, didn't I? Apparently too well.
I propose a merger.
We'll swap stock, cut away the dead wood, you can stay as chairman emeritus, and I'll be the CEO.
You think you can ride roughshod over me? I'm giving you an honorable way out.
A golden parachute.
Oh, stop it, son, this isn't you talking.
Spare me the diatribe, dad.
This is business.
No.
It's a charade.
A tawdry little puppet show with the Taelons pulling the strings.
You let them build you this Palace of Ineptitude.
Now you're their prisoner.
Look, I don't want to launch a hostile takeover.
But if you reject my offer I'm going straight to the Board of Far Norton Bank.
Ill have them audit you books, freeze your credit line, call in your loans, I will tear this place down, if that's what it takes to get my son back.
Data you've hacked into One Taelon Avenue, what have we got? Well, it just looks like your average Taelon environmental engineering.
Oh, look at that.
Climate control has pumped enough purified O2 in there to wake up the dead, but other than that it's, you know, nothing out of the ordinary.
Arlene Sato talked about the feel of the place, the atmosphere.
So, what have we got, purified O2? Personalized data streams, lots of smiling faces.
- You point? - Well, Sato came totally unglued.
He pushed the shuttle program way past the limit, then the accident.
Well, you know, I can't find any red flags, no rads, no toxins.
So, if the Taelons aren't part of the problem, who is? Listen, I was doing a search today and I came up with the name of a guy who used to work on the engineering crew.
I'm hooking up with him later.
Make it sooner.
You were one of the comp system engineers on the building, right? Yeah.
Me, two other guys and a handful of Taelons.
Of course, I'm the only one still alive to talk about it.
The only human, I mean.
Wait a second, they brought you guys in there to do the work and they tried to have you all killed? Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
You know, just like back in the land of pharaohs, you know? You build a pyramid, eliminate the work crew.
That way who's gonna know where the sarcophagus is stashed, right? Right, what's the big secret in here? It's the Artificial intel program.
It is not of this earth, man.
They call it the Control Core.
Taelons wouldn't go anywhere near it.
It's like they were afraid of it.
Why would they be messing around with something that could hurt them? Who knows, the word on the crew was that they needed the Control Core to to power the whole system, wouldn't function otherwise.
- What's the function? - Look, are we gonna do some business here, or we're just gonna talk all night? Just relax, just relax.
I just wanna know what happened after you fired up the hardware and it went operational, okay? I can't tell you that because I bailed before all that happened.
Look, I knew that those Taelon low lives were painting us into corner, so I did some looking around with ultrasound.
I found they'd dug a couple of escape routes for themselves.
Hey, what happened to other members of the crew? Look, it's 10 grand for the VIP tour.
You are not my first customer and the other party didn't squawk about the price, so What other party? Did I say 10 grand? Let's make that 15.
- Fine.
- Fine.
Last name was Sandoval, didn't catch the first name.
Ron.
Your father feels threatened, what did you expect? When he was your age, he was the golden boy, the man on the cutting edge.
And now it's my turn.
True.
Still he is your father, you could allow one last moment of glory? Short, of course.
You both have been trying to develop interdimensional technology.
And he's failed.
Not with stationary portals.
You didn't hear that from me, of course.
Come on, Joshua, give him a call.
Hi, I'm just calling to apologize for things getting out of hand earlier.
Thought maybe we could - Try again.
- Try what? Another merger? Another delusional dance? - Not interested.
- Not even a co-venture? Here's my offer, Joshua: you sever ties with your Taelon landlords or I'll buy that building from under your you and turn it into a pile of rubble.
Jonathan, don't play hardball here.
You and Joshua have an opportunity to develop something really meaningful, together.
- Renee, this is none of your business - He's inviting you in as a full partner on the shuttle program.
Now that is a seriously good faith on his part.
Where's yours? Okay, I'll come over and we'll discuss it.
Definitely something funky going down at One Taelon Avenue.
All of the building's hardware installations and data stream channels feedback to one control area.
I don't like the look of that.
You know, if Simms is right, the building's control core is sending some kind of electro-chemical signal into the workplace.
What, the air conditioning's manipulating people's brain waves? Something like that.
A happy eco-friendly place.
That's what Sato was talking about.
Whole building is an assault on the free will.
Now, the Taelons don't grasp the concept.
You're looking at the ultimate form of industrial sabotage here.
I did some checking back at the embassy, not one Taelon has set foot in the place since it opened.
You know, we could be looking at the Taelon version of plutonium.
They need the control core to manipulate our minds, but it probably affects them, too.
That would explain why they dug those escape tunnels for their systems engineers, to shield them from the control core.
- We have to get Renee out of there.
- Wait.
If you go in, Control could nail you.
You need to wear one of these.
It's a neural adrenaline simulator, it plugs into the vein of your wrist.
I got to think enough about your tussle with Dr.
Sato.
That dose of pain that you lay on him must have interrupted whatever electro-chemical hold the building had on his brain.
So, you're prescribing pain here? This baby will severely increase your emotional stress level, but it's the only way to stop the building cerebral manipulation.
One other thing, the info I got from Simms Yeah, I know.
Sandoval's got the same data.
- What are you two doing here? - Looking for you, actually.
Make it fast, I have to get back to my office.
I thought this was your office.
- Not now, Liam.
- You can't go back there, Renee.
The Taelons have the place wired for mind control.
Sato, Joshua, everybody in there.
- It's ridiculous.
- Come back to my house.
We'll prove it to you.
I don't have time for this.
You're not hearing me.
You're not apprehending of your own will here.
Yes, I am, and I'm leaving now.
What are you doing? Why did you do that? What's going on? You okay? Yeah, I just feel strange.
What did they do? What did the Taelons do to me? The building has an artificial intelligence program downloaded into the control core.
I analyzed the systems, Renee.
The control core can regulate all of the functions in the building.
We think it sabotaged the shuttle and murdered Dr.
Sato.
Murdered? - How does that serve the Taelons? - Well, it doesn't.
Well, then why haven't they aborted the program? They can't.
The control core's taking over the building and it's now acting on its own killing anything that it sees as a threat.
Oh, my God.
Jonathan.
He threatened to blow up the place.
He's on his way over there snow.
- What was I thinking? - You weren't thinking.
A computer was doing it for you.
We have to get Jonathan and Joshua out of there.
You sure you're up to it? Yeah.
Yeah.
Alright then.
Augur, get back to your place, hack into building's systems, get us location on Jonathan and Joshua.
What is the cause of these fluctuations? Zo'or, I am addressing you.
Control is operating irrationally.
It perceives Dr.
Sato's betrayal as the betrayal on the part of all humans.
All personnel, report immediately to the test lab floor on the lower level.
You cannot allow those humans to be killed.
I cannot stop it.
Agent Sandoval, report to the bridge immediately.
Can you override Control's directive? No.
We have discovered a toxic chemical leak at One Taelon Avenue.
Evacuate the premises and destroy the operational hardware.
This disc contains all pertinent schematics.
Is this accident related to recent fatalities? No questions, infiltrate the facility.
Your father has entered the facility.
Carry out your order.
Augur, do you have a location on Jonathan and Joshua? Yup, got them, A wing, west corridor.
- Got it.
- Wait, hold on.
What? Well, it looks like the building is powering up one of its systems, some kind of purification function.
It's the same program it used on Sato.
Control's going to take out everybody in the building, Liam.
I'll everyone out of here, you find Jonathan and Joshua.
Is this how you want it? Is this your call, Joshua? To kill me, you own father? Well, it's like you've always said, dad.
Nothing personal, just business.
Is it just business to murder anyone who gets in your way? Or have you already forgotten about George Sato and Bud Archer? These were tragedies.
That had nothing to do with me or this building.
Are you sure about that? - Stop! - It's alright, sir.
Please, if you just join us in line.
Please, everyone, follow me.
This way.
You are in an area authorized for humans.
Identify yourself.
Agent Ronald Sandoval, FBI.
I detect threshold parameters for implementing the self-destruct sequence.
Then do it and save me the trouble.
Wait.
I am computing all logical alternatives.
I found the program exception in the self-destruct code.
Don't come any closer.
- I will kill you.
- I don't think so.
I want you to know, Joshua, that I have never lost faith in you.
Never.
Not even now.
- Like hell you didn't.
- And taking my life won't change that, because I know it's not you pulling the trigger.
I made a lot of mistakes.
I'm sorry I wasn't always there when you needed me.
But it was never about you.
It was my ambition.
My selfishness.
And you have always been the most important thing in the world to me.
Don't ever forget that.
Joshua! Dad! My data logs are a catalog of all research undertaken here.
If you insist on continuing with these hostile measures, I will initiate total file corruption.
Then why are you hesitating? If you elect to preserve my program, I will provide you with this data.
Not interested.
Dad.
Dad, what have I done? You haven't done anything.
Just make sure you don't make the same mistakes I made, with your own children.
Promise me that.
I promise, dad.
Remember, I'll always be with you.
We should be eternally grateful that the Control Core we installed in that facility did not cause even greater destruction.
The containment measures at One Taelon Avenue are on schedule, Zo'or.
Very well.
He will be missed.
The Board is going to put Joshua to run Doors International on interim basis.
Well, that's cool, if he does by dad, keep running checks for the Resistance.
I think he will, once he realizes that Taelons killed his father.
they didn't do it.
I killed my father.
- No, Joshua.
No, you didn't.
- We can prove it to you.
No.
- I let the Taelons entrap me.
- They messed with your head, and mine.
You can't blame yourself.
He wouldn't have fallen for it.
He was Jonathan Doors.
The visionary.
Everyone's last best hope.
And you're his, Joshua.
Remember that.
Axarion