Eureka s05e02 Episode Script

Previously on Eureka.
You wouldn't want to miss this.
It's a historic moment for Eureka.
I think that we should move in together.
I need to figure out what I want.
I'll be thinking about you.
Walkabout.
Safe travels, Jo.
Launch sequence initiated.
Someone else is controlling this launch.
Where'd they go? We're in an uncontrolled descent.
Brace for impact! Folks.
Welcome back.
There have been a lot of changes since you've been gone.
This is Jenna.
It's very nice to meet you.
You were gone for four years, Allie.
It was Jo that pulled me back.
Jo's in Jenna's life now, and I can't take that from her.
I'm really sorry, Allie.
She's crying.
Because everything she's experiencing feels absolutely real to her.
She's emotionally invested in the reality she's just helped create.
They all are.
The greatest minds in Eureka are working for us now, and they don't even know it.
The Astraeus and her crew have been gone for a month.
Soon, Eureka will have to accept that loss.
And meanwhile, the greatest scientists of our time are wired into an artificial world that we control.
They have no idea that what they're experiencing isn't real, but what they design in that construct is very real.
And useful.
In the last month, they've made strides in biotech, engineering and weaponry, and we're about to give them a problem of genetics.
All of these scientific discoveries belong to us.
That's very impressive.
But how long can you sustain this? Indefinitely.
The photonic plasma processor makes trillions of real-time adjustments in order to keep the world feeling authentic.
So authentic that a severe virtual trauma could trigger a fatal neurogenic shock.
These are smart people, Dr.
Barlowe.
What if they start to question their world, or the non-player characters who are there with them? That's why we chose to put them in a future reality.
It's impossible to recreate Eureka perfectly, so by changing the town, we reduce inconsistencies our subjects might recognize.
But, should a subject threaten to expose the construct, they will be retired.
EUREKA S05 Ep02 - The Real Thing Allison, can you hear me? We gotta get them out of there.
What happens to Dr.
Blake if the ship launches? Without the bio-pod to protect her from gravitational stresses, the only chance she has is the jump seat.
Well, I'm getting her out of there.
I can't let you do that.
It's too dangerous.
Fire me! Jack! If he breaches the cooling chambers, the core centers will shut down to keep the reactor from overheating.
Come on.
Come on, Jack.
Come on.
Warning.
Reactor core overheating.
Where are you? Anything? Nothing new.
How about you? Tested the system over a dozen times, and the is no evidence of sabotage.
Well, we'll find them.
We'll just keep looking, all right? Where? I mean, it's been a month, and still no leads.
It's like they vanished without a trace, Jack.
- Everything leaves a trace.
- Ye yeah.
When was the last time you ate? I'm not hungry.
I'm just gonna start the tapes and take a look You know, why don't you take a break and have lunch with the kids? They need you too.
Thanks.
Okay.
Good.
Okay, universe, I am ready.
Enlighten me.
Any time now, uh-bring it on.
I should have gone to the desert.
Should have read the sign.
No! Okay.
It said "beach parking.
" You need a permit.
Look, I Look, I'm at a bit of a crossroads in my life, and, uh, I know it sounds flaky.
A friend told me to go on walkabout.
So if you could just give me just a small break this one time, you know, it would really help my positive outlook thing.
Yeah, sorry.
Here's the number for a cab.
You have a nice day.
You don't bring a cell phone on walkabout, and Thanks, universe.
Here you go.
Grilled cheese and aged gouda.
Best comfort food on the planet.
And if there is anything else I can do, please just let me know.
Thanks, Vincent.
Vin sounds worried.
Well, we're all a little worried.
Yeah, well he won't be when I finish my scanner.
You see, I've been thinking that punching through a wormhole has to produce a mess of strangelets, right? What it is? They're theoretical particles equally composed of up, down, and strange quarks.
See, that's like answering a question with a question.
First off, I have to prove that strangelets actually exist.
It's gonna be rough.
Well, you you just You keep at it with that What you're doing.
Guys.
Boss, can I talk to you for a minute? - Sure.
- Is it about the ship? Did you find something? No, Kevin, we didn't.
Well, look, if it's about my mom, I want to know, okay? What's going on? The Department of Defense has officially called off the search for the Astraeus.
I'm so sorry.
No they can't.
Senator Wen says she's exhausted all of her resources.
And with no sign of the Astraeus, they think the chances of finding any survivors are poor.
Jack.
Jack, you can't let them do this! - Kevin - You can't just stop looking! Kevin! We'll talk to the senator, okay? Kevin.
RF rate is down again.
Cut resolution in grids I win.
Yeah Darn it, you are good at this.
Thanks.
You are too.
I'll let you win next time.
Well, this looks like fun.
You want to play the winner? Well, I wish I could, but I have to kidnap your mom for a little while.
The next batch of biological experiments needs to come off the Astraeus.
And the D.
O.
D.
ordered protocols for a genetic study.
They could give us a moment to catch our breath.
It's been one assignment after another - since we got back.
- I know.
I'm finally carving out time to review the flight data.
You mean you're gonna find out why my mom was gone for so long? I am just glad I'm back now.
Right? Jo, I won uno.
Good job.
I'm so proud of you.
You okay? Do I have a choice? Doesn't seem real, does it Everything that's happened? No I'm going out to the Astraeus to help you with the offload.
Great.
Let's go.
Goodbye, Allison.
Something wrong? No.
Tell me she didn't see that.
What just happened there? A real-time render error.
Because this system was designed for 20 people, not 20 plus one last-minute RSVP.
Dr.
Blake was a lucky accident.
Her presence is overloading the processor.
She shouldn't be here.
That wasn't our decision to make.
We follow orders.
Yeah, from people who don't understand the system the way I do.
I don't have the authority to deviate, and neither do you.
I want to thank everyone for your efforts.
I know this is difficult for all of us.
Senator Wen! You have to keep searching.
Sheriff, you have no idea how hard this decision was for me.
Then don't make it.
Don't call off the search.
I have pulled in every resource at my disposal.
Satellites, space-based radar systems And I appreciate everything that you've done.
And these devices need to get back to doing their jobs.
And so do you.
I'm doing my job.
Then you can help Dr.
Fung recover his stolen equipment.
I don't care about his stolen equipment right now.
I know you're grieving, sheriff, so I won't take that personally.
I'm not grieving.
I'm searching.
I truly hope you're right, sheriff.
But I also think you need to Prepare yourself for the likelihood that they're not coming back.
It's time to turn your focus back to this world.
Good day, gentlemen.
Yeah.
So what's your problem? When I started packing up, some of my deep space listening devices were taken from the truck.
Particle detectors just taken, right off main street.
You know, sometimes I wonder what this town is coming to.
I think I know where they might be.
You're not making my job any easier, kev.
I wasn't trying to.
I needed the stuff, so I took it.
Yeah.
I'm gonna pretend that you said borrow it, and we're gonna take it back.
You can't be stealing top-secret equipment, Kevin.
You think they're dead? - Kevin - No, seriously, in your gut, do you think that my mom is dead? No.
I can't believe that.
All right, me neither.
Can you please just let me do one more thing? All right? Look, I know where I can find 'em.
Please.
Not this way.
Pack up this stuff.
We're going.
So what's in here? Biological experiments we were taking to Titan.
Biological as in rats? Yeah, rats, worms, insects, even reptiles.
There's a study on the effects of solar wind on the reproductive systems of bearded iguanas.
That's a career-maker.
Kevin wants an iguana.
Or he did when he was younger.
He thought they were dragons.
Jenna loves dragons.
Really? Yeah, I read her The Hobbit last year, and she made me read the part about the dragon over and over again.
And then she'd get scared and want to sleep in our bed.
Sorry.
No, don't be.
What is that? Sounds big.
Move! What is it? The rendering algorithm is cycling independently, and I don't have any control.
Get control.
Down! Everybody down! - What was that? - I don't know.
Cool! I love dragons! That's quite a glitch, Mr.
Dekker.
It's supposed to be a genetically altered squamate about ten inches long.
But what that is, I don't know.
Really? Because I saw a dragon.
The program constructs reality by using the memories of the participant cortices.
But there's an algorithm that filters any imaginary elements.
Clearly, it's malfunctioning.
We're pushing the logic processor too hard.
We can restart the genetic assignment with another animal, and I will delete the creature.
No, we've already done enough to make the crew start to question things.
That creature needs to be eliminated in a way that feels believable to them.
Honestly, Doug, a dragon? But you weren't here! It had the claws and the wings! That doesn't change the fact that dragons are mythical, as in mythical.
Mythical's just another word for "not yet discovered.
" Dr.
Blake, want to help me educate a skeptic? Fargo, I'm a bit skeptical myself.
I'm talking to Jo about dragons, and one suddenly appears? Well, do you have another explanation? Chemical exposure.
A big breath of EA-48 nerve gas, and you'd be seeing Elvis driving Santa's sleigh being pulled by a team of dragons.
First, we're gonna deal with the dragon.
Then Elvis.
That was just a "for instance.
" Yeah.
I'll run some tests.
Bye.
- You okay? - Yeah, I'm fine.
I'm feeling slightly insane, but otherwise peachy.
Well, we're gonna track it down, whatever is it.
You can track down a hallucination? I'm that good.
Actually, Jo's at G.
D.
getting weapons.
Wait, we're just gonna kill it? Well, if we have to.
We gotta stop it from doing flybys at Portland airport.
So we capture it.
And do you have any dragon tranquilizers? We can use a supersymmetrical particle net.
Experimental enclosure made of subatomic strings.
No one has made one that has lasted longer than a microsecond.
I will call Zane.
I've been noodling some new ways to overcome the Yukawa potential.
It's worth a try! At least before we slay it.
We have to clean up this mess.
This "mess" could inspire them to create supersymmetric particle netting, which would be an incredible advance.
I'll call for further instructions.
No just do what I say.
Use the Carter NPC and get them on task.
Yes.
You get Zane to help you.
Yes! Feel like a walk in the woods? But whatever this thing is, you got a good look at it, and I could use your help.
Okay.
You look tired.
And beautiful.
You wouldn't want to give me a hand with that phosphor cryo-module, would you? No, I can't.
I have tons of Astraeus launch telemetry to go through.
Wh why? 'Cause I'm the captain, Henry.
It was my mission, and I need answers.
Grace, you know the answer.
We found it.
I mean, after a year's investigation, it was an accident, a faulty resonator chip.
It was an accident.
I need to just get back to this.
You sure? Your loss.
Thanks, universe.
Jo what did you do? Hi, dad.
'Scuse me! What the hell are you doing? Hi.
Sorry.
I-I was I used to live here When I was a little girl.
Are you Lupo? Yes.
Yeah, I think I got a message for you.
Stay there.
The universe finally has something to tell me.
It's, uh, weird that it's coming from her.
So what's the message? They're all from the same guy.
Carter.
Tell him to stop calling me, for crap's sake.
- Carter? - Yeah, says it's an emergency.
Don't you have a cell phone? You don't bring a cell phone on walkabout.
So I don't know what to do.
I mean, I wanna stay positive, but I don't want to give the kids false hope.
- Here you go.
- Yeah, I know.
All right, thanks.
It's hard, right? 'Cause I don't wanna set 'em up to be crushed either.
Right.
Right.
I'm sorry.
I'm just astounded at what Kevin's done.
Yes, grand larceny is impressive.
This is beyond brilliant.
I mean, he's actually designed a strangelet detector.
Those the The particles he was talking about.
This device could actually be sensitive enough to pick up their energy signature.
What do you mean? It is possible to see the path of the ship.
It's a long shot.
The wake could have faded by now.
We don't have much time.
Kevin, you wanna come down for a sec? I did my homework and I cleaned my room, but I'm not gonna say I'm sorry, 'cause I'm not.
No, Kevin, just What do you need to finish this? You serious? Here you go.
Hope it helps.
Did I miss something? Well, when everybody found out what you were up to, they wanted to help out.
- This is amazing.
- Yeah.
All right, we've got just about everything.
I still need an arc-second pulse array.
John, you tell me what it is, and I'm on it.
It's a frequency enhancer found on ultra-large antenna dishes.
I actually think I know where to find one of those things.
But I'm gonna need a little help with security.
Andy! Just the man I was looking for.
Gee, thanks, boss.
For an A.
I.
, that's That's mighty touching.
I think I might need your help with something.
Would it be building a strangelet detector out of stolen equipment? Why would you say that? I've been noting the stream of devices passing by.
I was gonna make a mass arrest later on.
I think you might need to forget about being a deputy for a little while.
I don't actually forget anything, sheriff.
I could tell you what socks you're wearing every day since my activation.
Guhl'm not Forget it.
Ignore.
See, we need to borrow one last piece of equipment.
That sounds dangerously like conspiracy to commit a felony, sheriff.
It does, and dangerously similar.
But, uh This might be our last chance to find the crew of the Astraeus.
So what do you say? I say that, if it were my S.
A.
R.
A.
H.
up there, I would do anything to bring her back.
Right.
So what do you think we're looking for? If anything.
Well, the Astraeus has thousands of genetic experiments.
I don't know what kind of mutations could occur.
All right.
And if it's a lizard, uh, how big we talkin'? How big could that get? Well, monitor lizards can grow up to 10 feet long.
That's sorta awesome We haven't done this in a while, Track a dragon? Yeah, something crazy like that.
I missed it.
Don't say that.
You don't think this is hard enough as it is? Sorry.
What? What is it? Hi.
What are you doing here? Looking for whatever it was that you all saw.
Which, for the record, I'm absolutely sure was not a dragon.
Holly Holly, where are you going? - Do you guys see this too? - Yes.
- Holy Stromboli.
- Holly, step away from the dragon.
Jo? Jo, we got it.
Holly.
I told you.
- No, but Holly, don't - Holly, Holly Don't worry, it's not real.
Holly! You okay? Oof.
I'm sorry it hurts.
Yeah.
Isn't that cool? You don't know what kind of dragon bacteria that thing has under its nails.
Doug, let's look at this logically.
"A" my arm totally hurts.
"B" it hurts because it was scratched by a dragon.
"C" dragons don't exist.
Therefore Therefore what? I don't know.
That's why it's so cool.
Okay, I'm going to get you wrapped up, get you a shot of wide-spectrum antibiotics, and then you can get out of here.
So how is this cool? Well, Holly has a, unique view on the world.
Yeah, but you both did see something before it skittered off in the woods? Yeah, it kind of blinked out for a second.
Well, lizards can change color.
Right? That camouflage thing? Yeah, cryptic colorization.
No, it wasn't like that at all.
Okay, you were both on the Astraeus.
Could the F.
T.
L.
jump have done something like that? Well, visual recognition involves a large part of the ventral stream of the brain.
It It's a delicate structure.
I mean, it's possible.
Since when do you know so much about neuroscience? Night school! Yeah.
Look, I'm going to go check on Zane.
He's almost done The, uh, dragon "crapture" Supersymmetric particle netting.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Holly? She's she's fine.
She'll be all healed up in about a week or two.
And you get to put "dragon attack" on your mission report.
Allison, Can you think of any reason why Henry wouldn't want me to go through records of the launch? No, it's your job.
You're the captain.
No, I know.
It just felt like he didn't want me poking around.
Really? Henry is probably one of the most curious people that I've ever met.
He loves a good mystery more than anyone.
For Holly.
Are we really looking for a dragon? Well, I don't know what Holly would say, but in my book, if something hurts you, then it's real.
This is so exciting! What's the plan, boss? What we want is inside that building.
So you go in, grab the array.
- I'll keep watch.
- Great.
The only thing is, the massive electrical fields in that building might disable my C.
P.
U.
so better yet, you go, and I'll keep watch.
Super.
- All right.
- Boss.
My sensors read about 6,700 megawatts bouncing around in there.
- Wish me luck.
- Wait.
Good luck, boss.
Where are you? Okay.
Where? Nice.
Bingo.
Ah! Freeze! Uhoh.
Who are you? I'm deputy Andy.
Local law enforcement.
Come on, Andy.
Be cool.
This off-limits, deputy.
Military personnel only.
Senator Wen's orders.
Did I miss the memo? Sorry, my bad.
Good job.
Want to tell me exactly what you're doing here? Sure.
The sheriff and I are here on a late-night mission to steal your arc-second pulse array.
Right.
That's funny.
But seriously, you can't be here.
So if you wouldn't mind.
Yeah.
I understand.
I'll head on back to my car then.
Way to go, Andy.
Okay, bye, guys.
Well, Henry's taking the pulse array to the site, and Kevin is almost finished with the assembly.
They could use some more work lights and coffee.
Great.
Well, that we can provide.
We're like a regular Butch and Sundance.
Yeah, only Sundance almost blew the entire operation with his compulsive truth telling.
Yeah, well, maybe don't consider a life of crime.
I was just about to give you the same advice.
Senator Wen, how are you? Well, a lot better than you two.
Where's the pulse array? - Well, actually - Well, Well, then you've left me no choice.
Arrest them.
Yesterday I was an officer of the law.
Today I'm a jailbird.
A con.
In the pokey, up the river.
We did the right thing.
Kevin and Henry are gonna find that ship.
How? We've been searching for weeks and haven't seen a thing.
Well, then we're just gonna keep searching.
We're looking in space, boss.
Space.
You have any idea how big space is? It's like looking for a needle in a haystack when the haystack is 28 billion light-years across.
Well, what are we supposed to do? Just give up? Go home and tell Jenna and Kevin that their mother is gone? Listen, boss.
There has to be a moment when you give up hope, when you forget about what's up there And you focus on what's down here.
Down here.
I'm not sensing a tone of sadness of despair in your voice there, boss.
Down here It's the one place we haven't looked.
Down we gotta get out of here.
Andy, Andy! Break open these bars! These bars are hardened carbon nanotubes, boss.
I'm not gonna be able to break these.
Then we do something else.
Dig, robot, dig! Dig? Isn't this a pretty picture? I leave you for a few weeks and the two of you wind up behind bars.
I'm so ashamed.
You got my messages.
I got your messages, yeah.
Can I give you guys a hand? Yeah, there's this guard outside Yes, he and I spoke and he's, well, taking a little bit of a nap right now, so Shall we? Yes, after you.
Let's go, guys.
- It's good to see you.
- You too.
Now what the heck is going on? Well, where to start? All right, looking good here.
How you doing, Kev? Done.
All right, here we go.
Here we go.
All right, we should pick something up.
Yeah.
We're too late.
The particles have already degraded.
We could try, uh, adjusting the frequency.
Henry! We've been searching the wrong haystack! Jo, you're back.
Yeah, in time to break these guys out of jail.
All this time we were thinking about if it went up there.
What happens if the ship landed down here? Well, it couldn't.
I mean, without a boson cloud exciter to absorb the impact, it would vaporize.
Unless someone was prepared to catch it.
Someone built their own BCE? Well, we were thinking that it was sabotage.
What if it was theft? It wouldn't hurt to try.
Right? Yeah, let's tilt it down first.
All right.
Pan it across.
Please, please, please, please, please, please, please.
My God! That's it! She's down here! All right, and with the strength of that wake, they're not too far away, so we can triangulate their exact location.
Well, good morning, everyone.
Grand larceny, assault, and now a jailbreak.
What have you done, sheriff? We found the Astraeus.
And potentially her crew.
That's the trail.
Is this possible? So either help us or shoot us, but We're following that trail.
- Sergeant, go with them.
- Yes, ma'am.
- I'm gonna call for backup.
- Let's go, move out! - Anything? - Nope.
Zane, what's the range on this thing? Maybe 30 yards.
That would be a guess, considering I finished building it an hour ago.
Might not work at all.
I have faith.
She has faith.
So is this thing big and nasty? - Yeah, 15 feet long.
- Good.
I'm kinda hoping it comes out and kills the both of them.
Does that make me a jerk? Well, given the circumstances, I'd say it's only natural.
So what about you? - What? - Well, Jo and I, we weren't even a real couple when I left.
But you and Carter You guys are in love.
That's worth fighting for, isn't it? Get down.
Any time, Jo.
Not yet.
How about now? Nice.
Nice shot, Jo.
Piece of cake.
A supersymmetric particle net with a portable launcher.
That's incredible.
That's Zane Donovan.
Download the specs and get a prototype off the printer.
She'll be very pleased.
Yes? How long? Move, move! Go, go, go, go! Eyes up! - Go ahead, move out! - Where? - All the way back! - Secure the area.
- Yes, ma'am.
- Let's sweep! - Carter.
- Yeah.
We're too late.
- What're they doing to them? - I don't know.
The Astraeus was here all along.
- Amazing Detective work, sheriff.
- Well, not amazing enough.
Well, we have every government agency involved with the manhunt.
Yeah, but why leave the ship and take the crew? - Exactly.
- I don't know.
But I promise you we will find them.
You all right, kev? You never gave up hope.
And, at least now we know that your mother is here, right? We were so close.
I know.
I know.
- They left in a hurry.
- Yeah.
Sounds like they knew we were coming.
We gotta get to G.
D.
Here you go.
Thank you.
How's Jo? She's indestructible.
I mean, uh, another day, another dragon.
Right? Well, we'll do a full bioscan and genetic workup, help us figure out where this thing came from.
Yeah, is it gonna tell you why it fritzed out right in front of you? Well, I don't know.
Maybe.
Whatever it is I saw and whatever Holly saw, it's not gonna change what's inside of this truck.
Yeah.
It's hard to believe.
Well, we all have to learn to accept reality, Carter.
No matter how hard it is.
Yeah.
Okay, I want every experiment on the Astraeus rechecked.
Take full security and biohazard precautions.
Yes, ma'am.
Captain.
How's it going? Well, this thing was hiding out on my ship.
I need to make sure we don't have any other hitchhikers.
Yeah, but first, I get to take you out for breakfast.
No, that's sweet, but, uh, I still have a lot of launch footage to go through.
The D.
O.
D.
came this morning, and they took all the files.
What? Yeah, apparently they were classified as top secret.
I mean, no one's in trouble.
They were just mislabeled.
I can't look at records for the launch of my own ship? Apparently not.
Sorry.
But maybe it's a good thing.
Because I get to take you out for breakfast.
Shall we? Are you here to gloat? You bet, 'cause I got riding on a flatbed truck right now.
All right.
But you have to admit it still seems a little impossible.
Impossible? Well, impossible is being shipped to a biological habitat as we speak.
Okay, Doug.
Are you finished? - Not until you say it.
- Say what? "I'm sorry, Doug.
You were right, I was wrong.
" You don't ever want to have sex again, do you? Yeah.
No, I'll catch up with you later? Love you.
Shouldn't we be investigating the place we know they ended up? Well, I'm more interested in where it started.
Jack, you've watched this footage a thousand times.
Yeah, I know, but I realized something.
All this time, we were looking at the wrong thing.
Want to know how they knew we were coming? Because I told her.
My God.
Holly.
You okay? Do you see anything on my arm? Yeah.
You're injured.
Yeah, I was scratched by a dragon, which is a mythical creature, and then I saw this disappear.
We're gonna get you to the infirmary.
- Maybe.
- Yeah.
Maybe, because that could be a logical answer to all of this.
I could be having delusions, which could be caused by a lot of things.
Schizophrenia, of course, or a brain tumor, or a cocaine addiction, or a temporal focal epilepsy.
- Yeah, it's unlikely - It's a long shot.
Or it could be an infection of some kind.
Malaria or lupus could cause delusions.
True.
Or I could just be dreaming.
I could be in some awesome NREM dream cycle.
We're gonna get you to talk to Allison.
Okay? Allison.
Allison saw the dragon disappear.
Yeah, she did.
My God.
It didn't disappear.
It de-rezzed, like the scratches on my arms.
They're all processor glitches.
Like part of a computer game freaking out.
Wait.
We could all be inside some totally advanced computer construct that just looks and feels like the real world, and we wouldn't even know it.
Holly.
I'm so sorry you said that.
What are you doing? You're killing her.
She's dangerous.
You know it.
Dr.
Martin is brilliant.
That's why we took her.
You can't do this.
Beverly, you should be very proud.
You should also remember who you answer to.
You said 21 was a problem.
Now you have 20.
Get back to work.
Please dispose of Dr.
Martin.
- Respectfully and securely.
- Yes, senator.