Earth: Final Conflict s04e04 Episode Script
Limbo
Previously on Gene Roddenberry's Earth Final Conflict: Listen to you.
A cold corporate raider.
I taught you well, didn't I? Apparently too well.
Your legacy is over, Dad.
Mine's just begun.
Zo'or wants you out of the way.
He won't stop until he succeeds.
Dad! I killed my father.
No, Joshua, no, you didn't.
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.
Everyone's last best hope.
And you're his, Joshua.
Cold Fusion.
Clean unlimited energy.
Dawn of a new era, wouldn't you say, Agent Sandoval? Not if this procedure doesn't get under way within 90 seconds.
My orders were to have the core energy catalyst back onboard the mother ship without delay.
We're about to begin fusion with the deuterium.
Well, then do it.
And your engineers must retrieve the entire allotment, understood? So why are you busting my chops? What are you, suddenly running out? Your father would be proud, Joshua.
You've done an amazing job getting this plant up and online.
While leveraging the company to the edge of the abyss.
Your father wrote the book on brinkmanship.
I'm sure.
He never had majority of the stock holders demanding his head.
Stock holder revolt will die down once people realize that cold fusion converts to hot revenue.
Look, you are fulfilling Jonathan's last great visionary quest: energy for the whole planet forever.
Right.
What choice did I have? You're creating your own legacy now.
You father were here, he'd tell you so.
Excuse me.
Will everyone, please, clear the floor and put on your protective eyeware.
Thank you.
- Ready? - Yes, sir.
- All inverters online? - Yes, sir.
What's the status of the trans-uranium catalysts? We're ready to tap the core energy source now.
Thank you, chief.
All right, dad, your wish is my command.
Initiating the countdown for phase one generation in T-minus 5, The canister! Get it out of there! Now! - What happened, John? - I don't know.
I can't believe this.
You must have done a hundred system checks.
All systems are on automatic shutdown.
It's under control.
It's just a glitch.
The core energy is gone! What? How? Did it implode? Do you see any evidence of that? This is an ID portal or what's left of it.
Seal the reactor buildings, search every person, search every vehicle.
Nobody leaves until we find that core energy.
Damn it! Axarion 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.
The portal's coordinates were erased during the detonation.
We've checked every portal in 500 miles radius and we're widening our pattern of interrogations.
You have nothing?! I am expecting a ransom demand, Zo'or.
Either that or they may have the means to extract and package small amounts of the core energy for selling in the underground market.
Theories, but no results! Tell me, Agent Sandoval, form part of Earth did you originate? - You mean my birthplace? - Precisely.
The Pacific Rim, Caya Islands.
Why? Here? Yes The tidal wave will inundate your birthplace in exactly 10 minutes.
Unnatural calamity, no doubt.
Human blood will be spilled until mine is returned.
Dismissed.
You were certainly the highlight of the morning briefing.
Sure.
I take it you didn't sleep in your own bed last night.
No, and I wasn't having any fun either.
Spent the night with Ronnie Sandoval and the Volunteer Investigation Service.
What an ugly concept.
It's not over.
He knows the core energy is somewhere out there in ID space, but he wants us back there later this afternoon for more questions.
- Oh, where's Liam? - Oh, he's, uh He's about to deliver the guest of honor and the timing couldn't be better.
Will you elaborate, Hubble? Well, we had to get T'than to come to us, so, we appealed to his vanity.
This whole bash is just a pretext so we could measure his core energy.
- That illumination - Just a security check.
I'll leave you to your guests.
- Did you get the reading? - Perfection.
Now, if I can just unravel what we've scanned here.
So, you're saying core energy is to a Taelon what blood is to a human? It's a nuclear-gravitational bond, what Einstein theorized as a unified field.
The Taelons' energy anatomy, their life force.
Why loan out their life force to coventures like Cold Fusion? A lot of their living technology is based on it.
They don't loan out the core energy, they can't get their technology to us, can they? How are you, Dr.
Dupree? Probably better rested that you are, I hear.
What's the latest? Well, they're tearing up the planet to get back what they lost last night.
Question is why is it suddenly so critical? My theory, they're running out and looking to Earth for the answer.
If I'm reading this right, a healthy Taelon should have a full purple orb.
Look at the spectrography readings, the circulatory scans.
It doesn't even register an aura.
The single blue dot means T'than's life force is next to nothing.
He's dying.
Maybe they all are.
Good afternoon.
Welcome to Doors International.
Planning to work late? That's great.
You know, if you like things easy, you'll have difficulties.
But if you like problems, you'll succeed.
Pardon me, son, but that's my chair.
Have you forgotten your place? No, dad.
Have you? You're dead, remember? A minor inconvenience.
Those who fail to prepare go to the worms.
Those who do live on in the Infoloop.
You deserve to flaunt today.
The way you stood up to Sandoval's bullying, marvelous.
You're Doors after all.
Mm, so, now I finally measure up? No whining, stay focused.
We have the core energy, Taelon life blood.
All we have to do now is keep our nerve and starve those alien bastards, bring them to their knees.
Vengeance will be ours, son.
Ours.
Joshua, it's not wise to return to the scene of the crime.
Just tell me where you portalled the canister.
I'll return it anonymously.
No harm's done.
That's not part of the plan.
Screw the plan! They're about to resume the state of emergency and the blame is gonna fall on me.
The Taelons panicked, we knew they would.
Don't fold on me now, son.
This is your act of vengeance, dad, not mine.
Just just tell me where it is.
In ID limbo, dancing between a thousand portals at random.
They'll never find it.
My Al program is currently generating a strategy of disinformation to keep Sandoval's bloodhounds running blind.
- Trust me.
- Why? What reason have you ever given me? You abandoned mom and me, then you worm your way back into my life, and for what? For the same reason that you planted yourself into the Infoloop: control.
Analysis of my journals and imbedded memories confirm I was not a perfect father.
Thus my Al program may exhibit similar imperfections.
It is me or what I was, Joshua.
But my objectives are not without merit.
- The Taelons must go.
- I can't do this, dad.
I can't! I quit! Always your mantra.
Just leave me alone.
I have never lost faith in you.
You're not real.
You're not even here.
I am everything you ever knew about your father.
Everything you ever wanted to know.
Do you remember the last words I said to you that night at One Taelon Avenue? Do you? Joshua? Who was that on the comm? For a moment there I thought it was Oh, never mind.
Your office told me you were here.
I thought I'd see if I could help.
It's my mess.
I'll handle it.
Joshua, wait.
When my day of resurrection arrives, Da'an, I hope to find that we have vanquished the Jaridians, that we have gained the cooperation of humanity, and that we have filled the planet with Taelon offspring.
I look forward to your return, General.
You must remain vigilant to Zo'or's duplicity.
You must transcend your paternal bond and resist his dark machinations.
I know of what I speak.
One who brought me here sooner than I expected.
Well.
Blitzed through all the Taelon logs.
Didn't find any obituaries.
Question: if the Taelons are like skin suits filled with core energy, do they actually die or just sorta fade away? That I couldn't tell you.
I'd rather go out in flames like a Jaridian.
No fuss, no dust.
Think you could take a head count of all the Taelons we pulled up and cross-reference them with Augur's logs from, say, a year ago? Is that your way of asking me to go back to the lair? Yeah.
Look, I get the feeling our Companions are facing an endgame scenario here.
I've seen Taelons come and go, their Protectors suddenly reassigned.
It could only add up to one thing: their core energy's gotta be running out.
Well It's time I moved anyway.
Heat's on.
Yeah, I' surprised the cops let you sit here this long selling bootleg portal passes, huh? Listen, I've got a question for our raving genius here.
Do you think it's possible with all the resources of Infoloop software at your disposal to create a software simulation of yourself owning a preplanned agenda? Do you mean an artificial intelligence program with a digital holographic interface? Sure.
With Infoloop's R&D? Definitely.
Why are you asking? Jonathan Doors.
I get the feeling he's still with us.
And maybe leading Joshua around by the nose.
He left behind a computer program of himself for Joshua to follow? I don't know, maybe an audio digital blueprint for running the company? You'd need a lot of source material.
Well, Jonathan Doors always taped his meetings and lectures, didn't he? Yeah, every thought, word and deed, even 11 books.
Could you check his personal R&D files for me? I'll send you the company's executive archives too.
I'm gonna need a password if you want me to get into his privates.
Try Maddox, his wife's mid name.
You're trespassing, people.
And quite frankly, this is none of your business.
Jonathan.
Do not go where angels fear to tread.
My business with my son is private.
Wow.
.
freak alert.
He's alive in the Infoloop.
Looks like dad couldn't let go.
T'than, I have dreamt of this moment for a thousand days.
Allow me to dispel any doubt, General.
You will not be coming back.
Ever.
Know thine enemy.
Isn't that one of your cardinal tenets? I have discovered another one here on Earth.
It is called survival of the fittest.
As you enter oblivion, General, know this: I will be the last Taelon standing.
Good evening! Welcome to Doors International.
Working late? That's great.
You know what I tell all my executives? If you just give orders and leave the work won't get done.
- Joshua.
- Now's not the time, Renee.
- It'll never be a good time, Joshua.
- What? Your father paid me a visit tonight.
From cyberspace.
Yeah, I guess he became enamored with the idea of immortality, didn't he? Leave it to him how to figure out how to live on in the Infoloop and take vengeance on the Taelons.
Renee, you don't know what you're talking about.
Oh, I think I do.
That power plant project was just a front, wasn't it? A charade to take the Taelons to part with core energy.
That a good one.
Tell it to the stock holders.
You blame yourself for your father's death at One Taelon Avenue, for getting suckered in by the Taelons, but cyber dad popped up and gave you a chance of redemption.
He had the plan, you were the pawn.
Am I getting warm yet? You're not even close.
Joshua, you're being used.
You father is manipulating you again.
Sorry, Renee, you're wrong.
Dad's dead and gone.
I've had it with this place.
I'm out of here.
As a matter of fact, I've got an offer from my shares from Rostok Consortium and I'm taking it.
- Rostok? - Yes.
Oh, come on, Joshua, Chairman Federov is a criminal.
What do you think he is? My own father.
How many people has he crushed, abandoned, intimidated? We're all criminals, Renee.
Joshua, just just think this through.
I have.
You're fired.
Joshua, did I hear right? You're not serious about selling your shares.
It's a bluff, right? A little disinformation for Mrs.
Palmer.
You think I'm bluffing, dad? Here.
What do you think now? That was infantile.
Come on, Joshua, get a hold of yourself, be a man, for Christ's sake.
Now just calm down, son.
You have nothing to fear.
Remember, I will never abandon you.
Check that.
This is a mind-blower.
Here's Augur's downloaded model of the mother ship taken from Taelon achieves over a year ago.
Now, I'm gonna overlay a military sat photo taken less than an hour ago.
Watch carefully.
Nothing up my sleeve Bam! - Is that crazy, or what? - Mother ship.
What, is she shrinking? Yeah.
It makes sense.
She's made out of living energy with the little core energy in every pound of it.
They must be shutting down decks, scrapping them and retrieving the core energy.
Look, do me a favor.
Can you link up with the National Weather Sat and get us an infrared projection of the entire mother ship? What are you thinking? Core energy, normal Taelon energy, they've got different densities, right? So, we should get a visual of how they are being distributed.
Here we go.
Look at this.
Not a lot of core energy going around.
Most of it's downtown in the engine level.
Yeah, they would need it for their main drives.
What's this here? I haven't seen this area in Augur's renderings.
Looks like a hidden sub-deck.
Little blocks of core energy parked in there, too, lined up like dominos.
Hey, where're you going? On a little fact-finding mission.
Stay in touch.
You're welcome! Major Kincaid? This place is sacrosanct, forbidden.
Just doing my job, Da'an.
I'm a Companion Protector and your species is dying.
Admit it.
This is our stasis wing.
Those, who have reached critical threshold, are placed here.
Until such time when we are able to reconstitute them.
So, you're rationing core energy.
Yes.
We are dying.
We are near the end of our days.
Someone is helping you along.
This energy pack was put here to create the illusion he's in stasis.
General T'than is dead.
And there's a murderer among you.
Jonathan? No answer, huh? Oh, come on now.
Play games? I know you're here.
You're in wrong chair.
And you're in the wrong dimension.
I beg to differ, Renee.
I've just reprogrammed myself to be a more prolific and effective CEO.
Not to mention untouchable.
True.
Death does offer that benefit.
So, you admit you are dead.
Only in a physical sense.
And, of course, to stay in the game to pull the strings you need a pawn.
And that's where Joshua comes in, right? He is not my pawn, he is my son.
And I'm here to help him realize his full potential.
Even if it kills him? I'd never put Joshua in harm's way.
Tell it to the Taelons.
At some point I intent to.
After all, it was my plan, my idea.
Right, well, all ego aside, do you really expect Zo'or and the Synod to let Joshua off the hook? You need an upgrade, boss.
The sins of the father are visited upon his son, remember? I will protect him.
Do you want your legacy to be, Jonathan, as the man who made this world a better place, or as the man who made his son a sacrificial lamb? Nothing will happen to Joshua.
Zo'or will be made aware of the stakes.
Where the Resistance failed we will succeed.
We shall strike a crippling blow, and vengeance will be ours.
You're forgetting one thing.
Joshua is not you.
He never was, he never will be, try as he has to live up to all your expectations.
If you love him, if that's sill at all possible, you'll let him go.
I can't.
So, let me get this straight.
Cyber dads still got the energy canister in ID limbo? - We can't be sure of that.
- Well, I'd bet the farm on it.
This AI program runs on the same ego that created the Infoloop, a software program that dominates what, 90% of the marketplace? A software system that can co-process itself with anything running on a chip: televisions, computers, digital clocks, ovens and the portal system.
Why'd Joshua go along with this? Loyalty, love, guilt, fear, you name it.
Street, is it possible to build a smart virus that can take out Doors' artificial intel program? What, do I have Ctrl-Alt-Delete written all over me? I do not do viruses.
Look, the AI program is continuously co-processing, moving and dodging, infecting anything and everything.
It's everywhere.
It is the virus.
Forgive the interruption.
I am the immortal artificial intelligence of the original mortal Jonathan Doors.
I have an announcement to the Taelon Synod: I have your energy reserve.
If you want it back, confess your crimes against humanity, your seven cardinal sins: Abduction, torture, murder, genetic experimentation, mind control, financial plunder and political subterfuge.
Next, disband the Volunteer forces, vacate your embassies, and leave our Solar System once and for all.
I will send the core energy to you in increments, so you may live.
Finally, take no retribution against my company, my employees, or my son.
You may blame me entirely.
I wait the Synod's response.
Bring me Joshua Doors.
Alive.
- He left empty-handed.
- So, where's Joshua? Got him.
Joshua, are you alright? Ah, it's so quiet here.
The stars It's so peaceful.
Nobody bothering you.
Joshua, we'll take someplace safe.
Not from him.
Nope, you can't get away from him.
He is everywhere.
Everywhere but here.
Come on, we're going.
Let's go.
Ah, you're absolutely right, Renee.
The power plant was just a bait to get the core energy off the mother ship.
What can I say? Dad's genius.
- Where's the canister now? - Oh, hell, I know.
Between portals somewhere.
My dad's got it moving around at random.
- Dad's dead, remember? - Well, define "dead".
Because right now I don't know anymore.
This took a lot of planning.
Why couldn't you just say no.
I tried that once, remember? Left the company, went to One Taelon Avenue.
Sure, you all remember what happened there.
Dad died.
And now cyber dads laid a guilt trip on you.
No, I owed it to him.
He laid down his life for me.
I think I've got what you need.
A little cyber-cyanide to chase away your demons.
I figured dad's AI program's gotta be powering off a monster mainframe, right? I mean, the co-processing platforms and data compression storage alone Do you know where that mainframe is, Joshua? Forget it.
I'm I'm not gonna kill my dad again.
It won't kill him.
At best it may only neutralize him.
Joshua, listen to me.
This is not your father we're talking about, it's his cyber-shadow, a mutation.
It's time to cut the cord, Junior.
- I don't know, Liam - You wanna talk about guilt? If Taelons start dying, then people start dying.
Retribution cuts both ways.
You want that on your head? Joshua.
My core program, what have you input? It can't go on like this, dad.
File delete? Fatal error? Abort? Josh! I'm sorry.
Why? Why this betrayal, son? After all I've done for you.
You'd stoop so low as poison your own father.
You ungrateful, spoiled, cowardly child.
I sacrificed my life for you.
And mine for you.
Few are fit to be entrusted with themselves.
Where would you be without your father? I'd be free.
Now you force me to live like a ghost slipping from computer to computer, always co-processing.
I'm not stable in that configuration.
Dad, you've you've haunted me enough.
I don't wanna hate you anymore.
Please, dad, just kill me or let me go.
As I stated earlier, the AI program may exhibit some imperfections from time to time however remote the possibility.
Still, Joshua, my presence and my primary motivation are not without merit.
Begin archival deconstruction sequencing.
Abort program.
What are you doing? The only human thing to you.
I'm purging my files.
I love you, son.
Forgive me.
I love you.
Hey, Liam, what's up? Cyber-Jonathan's destroyed his own database.
He's gone, so is Joshua.
Well, he may be dead, but he's not forgotten.
Source code for cyber-Jonathan is running secretly on every Infoloop computer in the world.
To get rid of it for good, you'd have to destroy every one.
So how do we find the core energy canister without Joshua or cyber dad? What is we flooded the whole portal system? Right, but we leave one portal door open, and that's the one our energy canister heads for.
I work back systematically through the US, but the final portal to close is a crapshoot.
That's it.
Every portal's frozen, there's not rogue traffic.
Alright, forget the portal stations.
What about portable ones? Give me a second, I'm under a lot of pressure here.
Yes, ok, we've got one! I'm triangulating on a position in upstate New York, west of Albany.
- You know where that is? - I know exactly where it is.
I'll hook up with Renee.
I'll see later.
Joshua! Oh, Renee.
Liam.
I figured you'd be here soon enough.
It's pretty good idea shutting down all the portals.
Of course, ah having a portable one set to be the default comes in handy.
Ok, we got it back.
Now let me take it back to the mother ship.
Nobody will be the wiser.
And that would be a shame, wouldn't it? - Joshua, please.
- That's ok, Renee.
I'm just down here, fulfilling my dad's vision.
Shut the system down, Joshua, now! You heard him! - What are you doing?! - Stay where you are, Agent Sandoval.
It's a little dangerous down here at the moment.
Mr.
Doors! You either get back down there and shut off that reactor, or you're up on the mother ship facing reprisal.
My choice, right? Good.
It's about time.
No.
You threw it all away, Mr.
Doors.
Yes, I did, didn't I? I'd say your future looks very dim, not to mention very painful.
My future, my pain, my path.
Can I make the last request? - Look, I'll talk to Da'an.
- And tell him what? That this was all my father's idea? That I let him and his ghost lead me around by the nose? No, thanks.
You heard Sandoval.
When they get you on the mother ship, Zo'or will crucify you.
Renee, I'm not looking to be a martyr here.
Really, I'm not.
I've been one my whole life, carrying around the seal that my father probably never intended to put on me in the first place.
Well, I finally know who I am and who I'm not.
I can live with that and I can die with that.
Thank you.
Thank you, both of you.
Thank you very much.
There is no greater travesty, Zo'or.
You are a thief of life.
You wear T'than's badge of office, the sash of a Warlord as though you have earned it.
Spare me your judgement.
Who is more fit than I to be Warlord? This crime against our brethren, this callous quest for immortality is punishable by death.
Unless an arrangement between us can be reached.
Please, Da'an.
My core energy is critical.
I need sustenance.
Is it any wonder you have reached this state? Your arrogance and excess have robbed you of life before your time.
Very well.
You have the advantage.
Use it if you dare.
- Report my crimes to the Synod.
- As I should.
Then, what is stopping you? Your victim, General T'than, urged me transcend our biological bond for the greater good of those who remain.
But how can a parent abandon their own in a time of need? Or deny them mercy? I, for one, cannot.
Axarion
A cold corporate raider.
I taught you well, didn't I? Apparently too well.
Your legacy is over, Dad.
Mine's just begun.
Zo'or wants you out of the way.
He won't stop until he succeeds.
Dad! I killed my father.
No, Joshua, no, you didn't.
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.
Everyone's last best hope.
And you're his, Joshua.
Cold Fusion.
Clean unlimited energy.
Dawn of a new era, wouldn't you say, Agent Sandoval? Not if this procedure doesn't get under way within 90 seconds.
My orders were to have the core energy catalyst back onboard the mother ship without delay.
We're about to begin fusion with the deuterium.
Well, then do it.
And your engineers must retrieve the entire allotment, understood? So why are you busting my chops? What are you, suddenly running out? Your father would be proud, Joshua.
You've done an amazing job getting this plant up and online.
While leveraging the company to the edge of the abyss.
Your father wrote the book on brinkmanship.
I'm sure.
He never had majority of the stock holders demanding his head.
Stock holder revolt will die down once people realize that cold fusion converts to hot revenue.
Look, you are fulfilling Jonathan's last great visionary quest: energy for the whole planet forever.
Right.
What choice did I have? You're creating your own legacy now.
You father were here, he'd tell you so.
Excuse me.
Will everyone, please, clear the floor and put on your protective eyeware.
Thank you.
- Ready? - Yes, sir.
- All inverters online? - Yes, sir.
What's the status of the trans-uranium catalysts? We're ready to tap the core energy source now.
Thank you, chief.
All right, dad, your wish is my command.
Initiating the countdown for phase one generation in T-minus 5, The canister! Get it out of there! Now! - What happened, John? - I don't know.
I can't believe this.
You must have done a hundred system checks.
All systems are on automatic shutdown.
It's under control.
It's just a glitch.
The core energy is gone! What? How? Did it implode? Do you see any evidence of that? This is an ID portal or what's left of it.
Seal the reactor buildings, search every person, search every vehicle.
Nobody leaves until we find that core energy.
Damn it! Axarion 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.
The portal's coordinates were erased during the detonation.
We've checked every portal in 500 miles radius and we're widening our pattern of interrogations.
You have nothing?! I am expecting a ransom demand, Zo'or.
Either that or they may have the means to extract and package small amounts of the core energy for selling in the underground market.
Theories, but no results! Tell me, Agent Sandoval, form part of Earth did you originate? - You mean my birthplace? - Precisely.
The Pacific Rim, Caya Islands.
Why? Here? Yes The tidal wave will inundate your birthplace in exactly 10 minutes.
Unnatural calamity, no doubt.
Human blood will be spilled until mine is returned.
Dismissed.
You were certainly the highlight of the morning briefing.
Sure.
I take it you didn't sleep in your own bed last night.
No, and I wasn't having any fun either.
Spent the night with Ronnie Sandoval and the Volunteer Investigation Service.
What an ugly concept.
It's not over.
He knows the core energy is somewhere out there in ID space, but he wants us back there later this afternoon for more questions.
- Oh, where's Liam? - Oh, he's, uh He's about to deliver the guest of honor and the timing couldn't be better.
Will you elaborate, Hubble? Well, we had to get T'than to come to us, so, we appealed to his vanity.
This whole bash is just a pretext so we could measure his core energy.
- That illumination - Just a security check.
I'll leave you to your guests.
- Did you get the reading? - Perfection.
Now, if I can just unravel what we've scanned here.
So, you're saying core energy is to a Taelon what blood is to a human? It's a nuclear-gravitational bond, what Einstein theorized as a unified field.
The Taelons' energy anatomy, their life force.
Why loan out their life force to coventures like Cold Fusion? A lot of their living technology is based on it.
They don't loan out the core energy, they can't get their technology to us, can they? How are you, Dr.
Dupree? Probably better rested that you are, I hear.
What's the latest? Well, they're tearing up the planet to get back what they lost last night.
Question is why is it suddenly so critical? My theory, they're running out and looking to Earth for the answer.
If I'm reading this right, a healthy Taelon should have a full purple orb.
Look at the spectrography readings, the circulatory scans.
It doesn't even register an aura.
The single blue dot means T'than's life force is next to nothing.
He's dying.
Maybe they all are.
Good afternoon.
Welcome to Doors International.
Planning to work late? That's great.
You know, if you like things easy, you'll have difficulties.
But if you like problems, you'll succeed.
Pardon me, son, but that's my chair.
Have you forgotten your place? No, dad.
Have you? You're dead, remember? A minor inconvenience.
Those who fail to prepare go to the worms.
Those who do live on in the Infoloop.
You deserve to flaunt today.
The way you stood up to Sandoval's bullying, marvelous.
You're Doors after all.
Mm, so, now I finally measure up? No whining, stay focused.
We have the core energy, Taelon life blood.
All we have to do now is keep our nerve and starve those alien bastards, bring them to their knees.
Vengeance will be ours, son.
Ours.
Joshua, it's not wise to return to the scene of the crime.
Just tell me where you portalled the canister.
I'll return it anonymously.
No harm's done.
That's not part of the plan.
Screw the plan! They're about to resume the state of emergency and the blame is gonna fall on me.
The Taelons panicked, we knew they would.
Don't fold on me now, son.
This is your act of vengeance, dad, not mine.
Just just tell me where it is.
In ID limbo, dancing between a thousand portals at random.
They'll never find it.
My Al program is currently generating a strategy of disinformation to keep Sandoval's bloodhounds running blind.
- Trust me.
- Why? What reason have you ever given me? You abandoned mom and me, then you worm your way back into my life, and for what? For the same reason that you planted yourself into the Infoloop: control.
Analysis of my journals and imbedded memories confirm I was not a perfect father.
Thus my Al program may exhibit similar imperfections.
It is me or what I was, Joshua.
But my objectives are not without merit.
- The Taelons must go.
- I can't do this, dad.
I can't! I quit! Always your mantra.
Just leave me alone.
I have never lost faith in you.
You're not real.
You're not even here.
I am everything you ever knew about your father.
Everything you ever wanted to know.
Do you remember the last words I said to you that night at One Taelon Avenue? Do you? Joshua? Who was that on the comm? For a moment there I thought it was Oh, never mind.
Your office told me you were here.
I thought I'd see if I could help.
It's my mess.
I'll handle it.
Joshua, wait.
When my day of resurrection arrives, Da'an, I hope to find that we have vanquished the Jaridians, that we have gained the cooperation of humanity, and that we have filled the planet with Taelon offspring.
I look forward to your return, General.
You must remain vigilant to Zo'or's duplicity.
You must transcend your paternal bond and resist his dark machinations.
I know of what I speak.
One who brought me here sooner than I expected.
Well.
Blitzed through all the Taelon logs.
Didn't find any obituaries.
Question: if the Taelons are like skin suits filled with core energy, do they actually die or just sorta fade away? That I couldn't tell you.
I'd rather go out in flames like a Jaridian.
No fuss, no dust.
Think you could take a head count of all the Taelons we pulled up and cross-reference them with Augur's logs from, say, a year ago? Is that your way of asking me to go back to the lair? Yeah.
Look, I get the feeling our Companions are facing an endgame scenario here.
I've seen Taelons come and go, their Protectors suddenly reassigned.
It could only add up to one thing: their core energy's gotta be running out.
Well It's time I moved anyway.
Heat's on.
Yeah, I' surprised the cops let you sit here this long selling bootleg portal passes, huh? Listen, I've got a question for our raving genius here.
Do you think it's possible with all the resources of Infoloop software at your disposal to create a software simulation of yourself owning a preplanned agenda? Do you mean an artificial intelligence program with a digital holographic interface? Sure.
With Infoloop's R&D? Definitely.
Why are you asking? Jonathan Doors.
I get the feeling he's still with us.
And maybe leading Joshua around by the nose.
He left behind a computer program of himself for Joshua to follow? I don't know, maybe an audio digital blueprint for running the company? You'd need a lot of source material.
Well, Jonathan Doors always taped his meetings and lectures, didn't he? Yeah, every thought, word and deed, even 11 books.
Could you check his personal R&D files for me? I'll send you the company's executive archives too.
I'm gonna need a password if you want me to get into his privates.
Try Maddox, his wife's mid name.
You're trespassing, people.
And quite frankly, this is none of your business.
Jonathan.
Do not go where angels fear to tread.
My business with my son is private.
Wow.
.
freak alert.
He's alive in the Infoloop.
Looks like dad couldn't let go.
T'than, I have dreamt of this moment for a thousand days.
Allow me to dispel any doubt, General.
You will not be coming back.
Ever.
Know thine enemy.
Isn't that one of your cardinal tenets? I have discovered another one here on Earth.
It is called survival of the fittest.
As you enter oblivion, General, know this: I will be the last Taelon standing.
Good evening! Welcome to Doors International.
Working late? That's great.
You know what I tell all my executives? If you just give orders and leave the work won't get done.
- Joshua.
- Now's not the time, Renee.
- It'll never be a good time, Joshua.
- What? Your father paid me a visit tonight.
From cyberspace.
Yeah, I guess he became enamored with the idea of immortality, didn't he? Leave it to him how to figure out how to live on in the Infoloop and take vengeance on the Taelons.
Renee, you don't know what you're talking about.
Oh, I think I do.
That power plant project was just a front, wasn't it? A charade to take the Taelons to part with core energy.
That a good one.
Tell it to the stock holders.
You blame yourself for your father's death at One Taelon Avenue, for getting suckered in by the Taelons, but cyber dad popped up and gave you a chance of redemption.
He had the plan, you were the pawn.
Am I getting warm yet? You're not even close.
Joshua, you're being used.
You father is manipulating you again.
Sorry, Renee, you're wrong.
Dad's dead and gone.
I've had it with this place.
I'm out of here.
As a matter of fact, I've got an offer from my shares from Rostok Consortium and I'm taking it.
- Rostok? - Yes.
Oh, come on, Joshua, Chairman Federov is a criminal.
What do you think he is? My own father.
How many people has he crushed, abandoned, intimidated? We're all criminals, Renee.
Joshua, just just think this through.
I have.
You're fired.
Joshua, did I hear right? You're not serious about selling your shares.
It's a bluff, right? A little disinformation for Mrs.
Palmer.
You think I'm bluffing, dad? Here.
What do you think now? That was infantile.
Come on, Joshua, get a hold of yourself, be a man, for Christ's sake.
Now just calm down, son.
You have nothing to fear.
Remember, I will never abandon you.
Check that.
This is a mind-blower.
Here's Augur's downloaded model of the mother ship taken from Taelon achieves over a year ago.
Now, I'm gonna overlay a military sat photo taken less than an hour ago.
Watch carefully.
Nothing up my sleeve Bam! - Is that crazy, or what? - Mother ship.
What, is she shrinking? Yeah.
It makes sense.
She's made out of living energy with the little core energy in every pound of it.
They must be shutting down decks, scrapping them and retrieving the core energy.
Look, do me a favor.
Can you link up with the National Weather Sat and get us an infrared projection of the entire mother ship? What are you thinking? Core energy, normal Taelon energy, they've got different densities, right? So, we should get a visual of how they are being distributed.
Here we go.
Look at this.
Not a lot of core energy going around.
Most of it's downtown in the engine level.
Yeah, they would need it for their main drives.
What's this here? I haven't seen this area in Augur's renderings.
Looks like a hidden sub-deck.
Little blocks of core energy parked in there, too, lined up like dominos.
Hey, where're you going? On a little fact-finding mission.
Stay in touch.
You're welcome! Major Kincaid? This place is sacrosanct, forbidden.
Just doing my job, Da'an.
I'm a Companion Protector and your species is dying.
Admit it.
This is our stasis wing.
Those, who have reached critical threshold, are placed here.
Until such time when we are able to reconstitute them.
So, you're rationing core energy.
Yes.
We are dying.
We are near the end of our days.
Someone is helping you along.
This energy pack was put here to create the illusion he's in stasis.
General T'than is dead.
And there's a murderer among you.
Jonathan? No answer, huh? Oh, come on now.
Play games? I know you're here.
You're in wrong chair.
And you're in the wrong dimension.
I beg to differ, Renee.
I've just reprogrammed myself to be a more prolific and effective CEO.
Not to mention untouchable.
True.
Death does offer that benefit.
So, you admit you are dead.
Only in a physical sense.
And, of course, to stay in the game to pull the strings you need a pawn.
And that's where Joshua comes in, right? He is not my pawn, he is my son.
And I'm here to help him realize his full potential.
Even if it kills him? I'd never put Joshua in harm's way.
Tell it to the Taelons.
At some point I intent to.
After all, it was my plan, my idea.
Right, well, all ego aside, do you really expect Zo'or and the Synod to let Joshua off the hook? You need an upgrade, boss.
The sins of the father are visited upon his son, remember? I will protect him.
Do you want your legacy to be, Jonathan, as the man who made this world a better place, or as the man who made his son a sacrificial lamb? Nothing will happen to Joshua.
Zo'or will be made aware of the stakes.
Where the Resistance failed we will succeed.
We shall strike a crippling blow, and vengeance will be ours.
You're forgetting one thing.
Joshua is not you.
He never was, he never will be, try as he has to live up to all your expectations.
If you love him, if that's sill at all possible, you'll let him go.
I can't.
So, let me get this straight.
Cyber dads still got the energy canister in ID limbo? - We can't be sure of that.
- Well, I'd bet the farm on it.
This AI program runs on the same ego that created the Infoloop, a software program that dominates what, 90% of the marketplace? A software system that can co-process itself with anything running on a chip: televisions, computers, digital clocks, ovens and the portal system.
Why'd Joshua go along with this? Loyalty, love, guilt, fear, you name it.
Street, is it possible to build a smart virus that can take out Doors' artificial intel program? What, do I have Ctrl-Alt-Delete written all over me? I do not do viruses.
Look, the AI program is continuously co-processing, moving and dodging, infecting anything and everything.
It's everywhere.
It is the virus.
Forgive the interruption.
I am the immortal artificial intelligence of the original mortal Jonathan Doors.
I have an announcement to the Taelon Synod: I have your energy reserve.
If you want it back, confess your crimes against humanity, your seven cardinal sins: Abduction, torture, murder, genetic experimentation, mind control, financial plunder and political subterfuge.
Next, disband the Volunteer forces, vacate your embassies, and leave our Solar System once and for all.
I will send the core energy to you in increments, so you may live.
Finally, take no retribution against my company, my employees, or my son.
You may blame me entirely.
I wait the Synod's response.
Bring me Joshua Doors.
Alive.
- He left empty-handed.
- So, where's Joshua? Got him.
Joshua, are you alright? Ah, it's so quiet here.
The stars It's so peaceful.
Nobody bothering you.
Joshua, we'll take someplace safe.
Not from him.
Nope, you can't get away from him.
He is everywhere.
Everywhere but here.
Come on, we're going.
Let's go.
Ah, you're absolutely right, Renee.
The power plant was just a bait to get the core energy off the mother ship.
What can I say? Dad's genius.
- Where's the canister now? - Oh, hell, I know.
Between portals somewhere.
My dad's got it moving around at random.
- Dad's dead, remember? - Well, define "dead".
Because right now I don't know anymore.
This took a lot of planning.
Why couldn't you just say no.
I tried that once, remember? Left the company, went to One Taelon Avenue.
Sure, you all remember what happened there.
Dad died.
And now cyber dads laid a guilt trip on you.
No, I owed it to him.
He laid down his life for me.
I think I've got what you need.
A little cyber-cyanide to chase away your demons.
I figured dad's AI program's gotta be powering off a monster mainframe, right? I mean, the co-processing platforms and data compression storage alone Do you know where that mainframe is, Joshua? Forget it.
I'm I'm not gonna kill my dad again.
It won't kill him.
At best it may only neutralize him.
Joshua, listen to me.
This is not your father we're talking about, it's his cyber-shadow, a mutation.
It's time to cut the cord, Junior.
- I don't know, Liam - You wanna talk about guilt? If Taelons start dying, then people start dying.
Retribution cuts both ways.
You want that on your head? Joshua.
My core program, what have you input? It can't go on like this, dad.
File delete? Fatal error? Abort? Josh! I'm sorry.
Why? Why this betrayal, son? After all I've done for you.
You'd stoop so low as poison your own father.
You ungrateful, spoiled, cowardly child.
I sacrificed my life for you.
And mine for you.
Few are fit to be entrusted with themselves.
Where would you be without your father? I'd be free.
Now you force me to live like a ghost slipping from computer to computer, always co-processing.
I'm not stable in that configuration.
Dad, you've you've haunted me enough.
I don't wanna hate you anymore.
Please, dad, just kill me or let me go.
As I stated earlier, the AI program may exhibit some imperfections from time to time however remote the possibility.
Still, Joshua, my presence and my primary motivation are not without merit.
Begin archival deconstruction sequencing.
Abort program.
What are you doing? The only human thing to you.
I'm purging my files.
I love you, son.
Forgive me.
I love you.
Hey, Liam, what's up? Cyber-Jonathan's destroyed his own database.
He's gone, so is Joshua.
Well, he may be dead, but he's not forgotten.
Source code for cyber-Jonathan is running secretly on every Infoloop computer in the world.
To get rid of it for good, you'd have to destroy every one.
So how do we find the core energy canister without Joshua or cyber dad? What is we flooded the whole portal system? Right, but we leave one portal door open, and that's the one our energy canister heads for.
I work back systematically through the US, but the final portal to close is a crapshoot.
That's it.
Every portal's frozen, there's not rogue traffic.
Alright, forget the portal stations.
What about portable ones? Give me a second, I'm under a lot of pressure here.
Yes, ok, we've got one! I'm triangulating on a position in upstate New York, west of Albany.
- You know where that is? - I know exactly where it is.
I'll hook up with Renee.
I'll see later.
Joshua! Oh, Renee.
Liam.
I figured you'd be here soon enough.
It's pretty good idea shutting down all the portals.
Of course, ah having a portable one set to be the default comes in handy.
Ok, we got it back.
Now let me take it back to the mother ship.
Nobody will be the wiser.
And that would be a shame, wouldn't it? - Joshua, please.
- That's ok, Renee.
I'm just down here, fulfilling my dad's vision.
Shut the system down, Joshua, now! You heard him! - What are you doing?! - Stay where you are, Agent Sandoval.
It's a little dangerous down here at the moment.
Mr.
Doors! You either get back down there and shut off that reactor, or you're up on the mother ship facing reprisal.
My choice, right? Good.
It's about time.
No.
You threw it all away, Mr.
Doors.
Yes, I did, didn't I? I'd say your future looks very dim, not to mention very painful.
My future, my pain, my path.
Can I make the last request? - Look, I'll talk to Da'an.
- And tell him what? That this was all my father's idea? That I let him and his ghost lead me around by the nose? No, thanks.
You heard Sandoval.
When they get you on the mother ship, Zo'or will crucify you.
Renee, I'm not looking to be a martyr here.
Really, I'm not.
I've been one my whole life, carrying around the seal that my father probably never intended to put on me in the first place.
Well, I finally know who I am and who I'm not.
I can live with that and I can die with that.
Thank you.
Thank you, both of you.
Thank you very much.
There is no greater travesty, Zo'or.
You are a thief of life.
You wear T'than's badge of office, the sash of a Warlord as though you have earned it.
Spare me your judgement.
Who is more fit than I to be Warlord? This crime against our brethren, this callous quest for immortality is punishable by death.
Unless an arrangement between us can be reached.
Please, Da'an.
My core energy is critical.
I need sustenance.
Is it any wonder you have reached this state? Your arrogance and excess have robbed you of life before your time.
Very well.
You have the advantage.
Use it if you dare.
- Report my crimes to the Synod.
- As I should.
Then, what is stopping you? Your victim, General T'than, urged me transcend our biological bond for the greater good of those who remain.
But how can a parent abandon their own in a time of need? Or deny them mercy? I, for one, cannot.
Axarion