Stargate SG-1 s08e08 Episode Script

Walk out that door, there's no turning back.
I understand.
I'm not having any doubts.
Alec, it is not just your credibility at stake.
You're right there.
It's the leaders of the democratic free world should be worried.
Think about the people who work for this company.
The shareholders.
I am, Brian.
They have a right to know the truth.
As does everybody else.
Trust me.
We're doing the right thing.
Thank you all for coming.
As you all know, about five months ago our planet suffered a horrible tragedy.
Over 2,000 American servicemen and women were killed when a meteor shower disrupted global communications and hit a United States naval carrier group on manoeuvres in the Pacific Ocean.
I'm here today to challenge the facts of that incident as they've been conveyed to the general public.
On the day in question, none of our satellites detected a meteor shower.
- Hey, what's going on? - Shh! I don't know how many governments around the world are in on this, but I do know we are being lied to and the truth is being covered up.
Uh-oh.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is life beyond our world.
There are aliens out there, and they have a technology far beyond ours, and they have been intervening in our existence for quite some time.
I have proof.
And I am giving the governments of all the nations that are aware of this or I'm going to do it for them.
Thank you.
Well.
There you go.
For those of you on another planet for the past 20 years, Alec Colson, age 42, net worth over $60 billion, runs a global empire of companies, including communications, biotechnology, aerospace, and aviation.
He's number eight on the Fortune 500.
He personally holds over 200 proprietary patents Shut it off.
We know who he is.
- Some of us better than others.
- We worked together briefly, sir.
Colson Aviation developed multi-engine control systems for the F-302s.
Colson didn't know what they were for, but he is a brilliant engineer.
- He's also a little nuts, isn't he? - You've test-flown experimental aircraft.
We all go through the gate.
- This isn't about us.
- In a way, it is.
The point is, sir, he's not some loony cult leader.
People are taking him seriously.
So what do we think he knows? He owns several Earth observer and weather satellites.
Maybe they picked something up.
Anubis' fleet in orbit or the battle over Antarctica.
I don't understand how it could have come this far.
He's got the "national security" speech from the Pentagon several times.
- The president has called him personally.
- Why not merely tell him the truth? - His profile was deemed a "security risk".
- For obvious reasons.
Apparently his father was a reporter, jailed during the McCarthy era.
He believes in the rights for people to know what their government is doing.
Leaking classified information could be considered treason.
All right, see if he can be convinced not to go public.
- Without actually telling him anything? - Right.
We've got all the major networks, over a dozen live radio broadcasts and reporters from newspapers all waiting for the next shoe to drop.
- Brian, calm down.
- Our stock price is trading down 25%.
We overextended competing for that round of contracts.
That stock price is covering our debt.
And you are alienating our biggest client.
- We'll have to start selling off assets - What does that matter, Brian? Given what we know.
I don't know, I guess I'm just trying to hold on to some shred of reality.
You and everyone else are gonna have to start dealing with a whole new reality.
What if the world can't handle it? What if Washington's right and we should keep it in the bag? Trust me.
The truth is always right.
We've caused mass hysteria.
You have no idea how much chaos this could cause.
Alec, they're here.
Show them in, would you? It'll be OK.
- Lieutenant Colonel.
- Alec.
Radiant as ever.
- Daniel Jackson.
- Doc, I'm a big fan.
- Really? - I've followed you since your early career.
Pyramids as landing pads for alien ships.
Fascinating.
That was a long time ago.
What have you been up to since? It's like you dropped off the map.
I've been around.
I beg your pardon.
May I introduce Brian Vogler? - Thank you for seeing us today.
- Shall we? Why don't we start with something I'm sure we can all agree on.
That meteor shower was a cover story.
And a surprisingly weak one at that.
Although, under the circumstances, I'm not sure I'd have had a better one.
What makes you say that? I'm guessing that's one of ours? We lost contact with 1 2 communications satellites for over six hours on that day.
When we got them online, they were able to transmit images stored in the buffers.
- lmages like these can be faked.
- Or made to seem fake.
I know why you're here, Sam.
The Pentagon wants me to know that people like you are gonna try to make me look like a fraud.
- People like me? - Very smart people.
We have more than this.
Obviously, I don't know everything, but I do have a right to.
As does everyone else.
- Anything we can say to stop you? - Believe me, I've tried.
(phone rings) - Carter.
- Sam, it's Julia Donovan.
- How did you get this number? - I have my sources.
Our camera caught you and a nice-looking man going into Colson lndustries' head office in Seattle.
I just saw the feed.
- And? - Do you have an official comment? I think your coverage is a little one-sided.
Come on, Sam.
Colson's gonna out the whole operation.
You don't think Washington can contain this? We'll see.
I don't have to remind you of the nondisclosure agreement you signed? It's a reporter from the Prometheus incident.
Colson doesn't seem to be worried about going to jail.
- He hasn't done anything illegal yet.
- We had an agreement.
You said if something was gonna break, you'd call me first.
I will, OK? Bye-bye.
I got 1 3 messages from Emmett Bregman.
The switchboard's jammed.
Every crackpot in the world is calling.
- I've arranged security for all of you.
- Do you think we need to be worried? - I'd be worried about what we don't know.
- I'm trying to tell him it's not too late.
It is too late, Brian.
Too late for the world to know there was an alien attack against our planet.
And for the public to realise they've been lied to about the nature of our existence.
- We're going public? - I was hoping the feds would come clean.
I can't believe Washington hasn't stopped us with a legal injunction.
That would legitimise our claims.
They'll try to play this as if we can't be taken seriously.
- We're one of the largest corporations.
- And we're telling the truth.
It doesn't matter who we are.
Or how right we are.
- They can stop us if they really want to.
- Come on, what are they gonna do? Have me killed? He's gotta have something more significant than pictures.
I'm going over government contracts assigned to Colson's companies.
There's quite a few related to R & D of alien technologies we procured offworld.
We'll now head to Colson lndustries.
- Welcome, and thank you for coming.
- 24 hours to the minute.
Yesterday, I told you of our belief in the existence of intelligent life beyond our planet.
I also told you that we believe several governments, including our own, have known about this, and have been concealing the information for some time.
Yesterday, I challenged those governments to come clean, reveal the truth.
We got only silence.
Which gives me no choice but to present to you what evidence I have.
How do I know for sure that alien life really does exist? Ladies and gentlemen, seeing is believing.
(gasps from audience) I'd call that something.
The world is in a frenzy after yesterday's startling revelation of what appeared to be a live alien, by billionaire industrialist Alec Colson.
Thus far, there's been no statement from the White House and sources inside Colson lndustries promised there is definitely more to come.
OK, thank you, Sergeant.
We just got a message back from Thor.
As far as he knows, there are no Asgard currently on Earth.
Well, Loki was here for years without the High Council knowing about it.
OK, here's a possibility.
What if it wasn't really an Asgard? Looked like one.
Didn't say anything.
That's my point.
Colson wrapped things up quickly without any questions.
It was a perfect likeness.
Imagery of little grey aliens has been commonplace for years.
- Colson could have a picture.
- So not a real Asgard? No Asgard we know would allow himself to be used that way.
It did look a little vacant.
Still, as much as he wants the truth, I don't think he would perpetrate a hoax to get it.
- Then what was it? - I don't know.
The networks want interviews.
- Too bad our friend can't talk.
- We know he's capable.
MRls show a larynx similar to ours, but he doesn't seem to have anything to say.
They also want independent personnel to verify that it's really what we say it is.
How do we convince the world of alien intelligence when he doesn't have any? We can't just trot this out on television with wild claims we can't back up.
Granted, it's an amazing experiment, but we don't know it is really alien.
What else could it be? All we know is the DNA came from the Department of Defense.
We're trying to build a circumstantial case here.
The more questions we raise, the more the burden of proof shifts to Washington.
Soon, they'll have to respond to public pressure.
Meanwhile, we stay quiet.
The media's going nuts over this thing, so let's just sit tight and see what happens.
Sam was right.
There's something different about Colson's Asgard.
Seems that a Colson company was given a copy of Asgard DNA for sequencing.
- We tried to help their cloning problem.
- Colson grew a clone? They weren't told it was alien DNA, but they obviously took their research further than the contract specified.
Asgard DNA is programmed to grow a clone to maturity in three months, but they're an empty shell until an existing consciousness is transferred.
- It was not capable of speaking.
- (Carter) Exactly.
They probably spent what time they had with it teaching it how to walk.
Well the Pentagon has lost all patience.
- What are they gonna do? - They want us to put a stop to it.
How? We're calling in a marker.
Yep.
Calling in a marker.
Greetings.
Excuse me.
- It's gone.
- What do you mean? Just disappeared right out of the lab.
The alien, computers, everything.
- How? What about security? - Nobody took it.
It disappeared.
We were standing there.
There was a flash of light and it was gone.
Have Ron send out the decoy car.
Get the plane ready for a trip to Washington.
Have it ready by the time I get to the hangar.
- You ready? - Not really.
Just try not to think about the camera.
Focus on me.
It's not that.
I respect Alec Colson.
I don't like being asked to discredit a man who has every right to want the truth.
- But you've been ordered to do this? - Yeah.
If you want to go against those orders, feel free.
I'll go with it.
(music) (man) In five, four, three, two We're here with Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter of the US Air Force.
- Welcome.
- Thank you.
Your background is astrophysics.
You're a leading military scientific researcher.
We're all eager to hear some reaction from Washington regarding the revelation made by Alec Colson.
Well, first of all, I can assure people that if aliens really existed and were visiting the planet, we would know about it.
Are you saying his claims have no merit? We all saw an alien on live television.
Yes.
Hollywood's been helping us see things on TV for a long time now.
Are you saying that the alien wasn't real? It depends on what you mean by "real".
Notice she hasn't actually lied once.
I can show you some advanced methods for creating realistic 3-D images.
- By all means.
- We're experimenting with technology that makes it possible for us to create anything you can imagine, virtually.
(Julia) Wow.
That looks just like the alien Alec Colson introduced to us.
Greetings, people of Earth.
- That's amazing.
He looks so real.
- Though I look real, I have been created through the use of advanced holographic technology.
That's just incredible.
It's just a projection.
You'll probably see this in theme-park rides in a few years.
She's good.
Not the exclusive I had in mind, but it will still do huge numbers.
You're hilarious.
After everything, you still care about ratings.
How did you do it? I've seen visual effects before, Sam.
This was some sort of This was some sort of alien technology, wasn't it? - What is it? - "Ten minutes ago, Alec Colson's plane was forced into an emergency landing after almost crashing on takeoff from Sea-Tac.
" "Plane suffered depressurisation and loss of engine power, but landed without serious incident.
" We've gotta go to the air with this.
I need something on Colson's wife and daughter.
They died in a plane crash when he was - Let's go.
- (phone rings) - Carter.
- Sam, it's Alec Colson.
- Are you OK? - News travels fast.
It was close.
Brian's still as white as a sheet.
- How did you get this number? - I have my sources.
The ground crew here found evidence the plane had been tampered with.
- Someone tried to kill you? - Seems that way.
Any ideas? You think I know? Why would I publicly discredit you if I knew you would be assassinated? To make it look like Washington had nothing to do with it.
A fine job you did too, by the way.
- I'm sorry.
I was following orders.
- I know.
Don't worry, Sam.
I don't believe for a second you were in on it.
If it was our government, I'm sure you were just a pawn.
That doesn't make me feel any better.
Look, Alec, I can assure you It's OK.
It wasn't my first rough landing.
I'm sure it won't be my last.
I won't be stopped, Sam.
I promise you, one way or another, the world is gonna learn the truth.
How about a hyperdrive for the Prometheus? That is something I must discuss with the High Council.
Thor, come on, you said you wanted to get something nice for the president.
Carter? - Sir, anything on who tried to kill Colson? - It wasn't us.
Colson may have fragments of downed Goa'uld ships from the Antarctic.
A subsidiary of his was involved in the salvage and cleanup.
Are we just gonna keep trying to discredit the man? Aren't we the ones delusional to think we could cover up an attack of this scale? - What's the alternative? - How about tell the truth? I mean to Colson.
I know he's been profiled and deemed a security risk.
Obviously, that's an accurate assessment, but what have we got to lose at this point? He's trying to go public.
Let's show him why it's so important to keep the secret.
Besides, think of the benefits of having a man with his resources on our side.
Well, Thor and I are meeting with the president in five minutes.
I'll bring it up.
Five minutes? Oh, yeah.
Right.
Two o'clock, we go live.
With the pictures, pieces of the alien ship, everything we've got.
They tried to kill us.
You think that didn't work in our favour? Dying doesn't work in our favour! OK, what just happened? In layman's terms, we beamed you up.
And then down again.
- Where am l? - Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Colorado.
- You know Daniel, of course.
- Yeah.
Hi.
- And this is Thor.
- Greetings.
- So this is a real one? - Yep.
What happened to the clone? It will become a host to an Asgard consciousness whose body is failing.
OK.
Now I must take my leave.
General O'Neill said he will see you all tomorrow.
What I want to show you something.
We call it a Stargate.
I'm OK, Brian.
I promise you, I'm fine.
I'll be back in a couple of days.
- (knock at door) - I gotta go.
All right, bye.
- Ready? - Whoa.
Look at you.
Yeah.
Soldier Sam.
- I get a uniform too? - Yep.
All right.
So where are we going? P4X-650.
We have a base there.
- And how far away is that? - 640 light years.
- Really? - Let's go.
- Didn't feel a thing.
- You were demolecularised.
- Welcome to the Alpha site.
- Alec Colson.
Captain Shefield.
Well, it's nice.
Our last Alpha site was destroyed in an attack.
We decided to build this one inside a mountain like the SGC.
Conditions are a bit Spartan, but it's our home away from home.
I guess I was just expecting something a little more I don't know, otherworldly.
Now, that that's more like it.
It's called the F-302.
Alien-human hybrid.
So this is what the MECs were for.
Yeah, thanks to you, it's capable of leaving the atmosphere and returning.
We used a number of these to defend Earth five months ago.
It's one of the advancements made with technology procured through the Stargate.
You wanna take a ride? - Brian, what are you doing? - Alec wants all the evidence we have about the alien cover-up duplicated and secured off premises.
You can start on what we have left on the clone research.
OK.
(phone rings) Vogler.
I told you, I don't know where he is.
I have a meeting with the SEC this afternoon.
I understand.
Don't worry.
It'll work.
- Beautiful.
- Yeah.
Must be hard keeping all this secret.
I don't know how you do it.
I think of all the fear it would cause.
The potential chaos.
What about the greater meaning you could bring to people? Just knowing that all this is out here.
What's out here is an enemy so advanced, so evil, it's a miracle we haven't been wiped out or enslaved yet.
We've been very lucky so far.
I think people would have a hard time living with the threat of impending doom.
All right, the old "if you had cancer" argument.
Would you want to know you were gonna die, or live your final days in ignorance? Yeah.
I guess I don't really buy it either.
I'd rather know.
Try to cure it.
If I couldn't do that, then I'd try to make my final days as meaningful as possible.
You want a turn? I thought I was gonna have to ask.
Switching to copilot control.
Go ahead, she's all yours.
- So what do you think? - Amazing.
She manoeuvres like an F/A-22 and feels like a 747.
- That's the inertial dampeners.
- All right, let's try this.
Alec.
Alec, pull up.
Flight, this is Alpha command.
Is everything OK? It is now.
We're fine.
Bringing her back in.
- That was reckless.
- The 302 can handle it.
I know.
I may not have known its name, but I helped you build it, remember? It was a joyride.
I took you up for a little fun.
This isn't a game, Sam.
What you guys are doing up here.
- This is life and death for all of us.
- We know that.
Wasn't much fun feeling out of control like that, was it? You don't have to make your point with my life.
Come on, we were never going to crash.
Unlike my plane back on Earth.
I told you, we had nothing to do with it.
Well, someone did.
And if you think that, or any of this, is gonna prevent me from telling the world what they have a right to know, you're dead wrong.
Alec, there's something else I need to talk to you about.
A clandestine group of private businessmen were informed of this programme over six years ago by rogue elements of the NlD.
We've tried to identify them and bring them down, but they're highly connected.
Former vice president Kinsey's been linked to them.
Instead of going public like you, they've been funding various secret endeavours aimed at controlling alien technology for their own purposes.
- Which are? - You'd have to ask them.
Personal profit.
Maybe they think they can do better of defending the planet than us.
Why are you telling me all this? Because I'm guessing that's who tried to kill you.
They'll never get control of the gate if the world finds out.
When I was young, all I ever dreamed about was flying.
I had every make of aeroplane ever built hanging from my ceiling.
And then I take it you know about my wife and daughter? One of the downsides of celebrity.
We really do have no secrets.
Anyway, after the crash, I vowed to make flying as safe as it possibly could be.
- I thought I could do it better than anyone.
- But you have made a difference.
- But nothing's perfect, is it? - No.
Intergalactic travel.
Advanced alien civilisations.
Humans living on other worlds.
- I do realise there may be bad guys too.
- You have no idea how bad.
But, in the end, we have to believe in humanity.
I mean, who knows? This might bring us all together as a planet.
If we knew it would play out that way, then You're afraid that knowing about this would fracture the world even more.
Yeah.
Not just stop us fighting the Goa'uld, but end things for good.
We've seen it happen on other planets.
In one case, public revelation of the Stargate caused apocalyptic world war.
That would be the ultimate irony, wouldn't it? You save the world from destruction at the hands of aliens, only for us to destroy ourselves out of fear.
After the fact.
Change your mind? Not really.
I don't think it would happen.
And if a truth of this magnitude, about the very nature of human existence, could lead us to destroy ourselves, then I'd say we would deserve it, wouldn't you? Investigators now believe Alec Colson created the alien hoax in order to divert attention from his real corporate financial problems.
Colson, who has still made no public statement Corporate financial problems? What's she talking about? The story broke about an hour ago.
The president's halted trading on the markets.
Your company's stock had fallen 80%, the Dow was down over 500 points.
- What's going on? - The SEC is investigating you for fraud.
- That's ridiculous.
- They say there were irregularities in your company's last two financial statements.
Why, it's not true.
Come on.
The timing of this.
I'm being set up.
What's she doing here? She wants to help, Brian.
Good.
Does she have a time machine so we can go back and undo everything? Brian Brian, what's going on? You wouldn't listen.
You wouldn't stop.
So you admit you did this? You go off on your adventures.
You fly your planes.
You drop by every now and then with a bright idea.
Ever since we were kids, you're always biting off more than you can chew.
And I'm always having to bail you out.
So you doctored the books? I had to.
I had to do something.
I told you.
We were overextended.
The stock price was the only thing keeping us afloat.
You wouldn't listen.
No.
I don't believe this.
Alec, who do you think told the SEC? Why? Why now? What difference could it make once the truth came out? Alec, I almost died in that plane too.
- I still have a family.
They tried to kill us.
- Who? Did you think they would let you tell a secret like this? - What are you talking - They call themselves the Trust! All I know is they're very powerful.
And they think that Washington abdicated its duty to protect the planet.
Maybe even caused the problem.
They see it as their responsibility to step in.
We can fix this.
It's too late.
It's done.
It can't be undone.
Brian, we'll both go to jail.
Yeah, but my family will be safe.
What about the people that work for this company? What about their families? Why weren't you thinking about them three days ago? How did the people who threatened you know that you'd cooked the books? How did they know that there would be enough to indict both you and Alec? They got to you six months ago.
Alec, they knew what you had.
Don't ask me how.
They had to make sure they could stop you.
You were wrong, Alec.
True or not, this shouldn't come out.
The world's not ready.
- There must be something we can do.
- You signed false statements.
I mean about the people who tried to kill us.
All I know is they operate above the law and they've threatened people before.
- Then we have to bring them down.
- We've tried, believe me.
Well, we have to try again.
Colson's convinced Vogler to arrange a meeting with his contact and wear a wire.
Hopefully, we'll connect him to the rogue NlD and flip him for someone bigger.
We're coordinating with Agent Barrett.
At the least, it may restore Colson's public image.
Especially if someone in competition with Colson lndustries was pulling the strings.
Unfortunately, without further evidence, Brian Vogler's word alone isn't gonna be enough to undo the damage already done.
- What of Brian Vogler's safety? - He's under surveillance.
His family's been taken into protective custody.
Well I guess the secret is safe.
Again.
For now.
(phone rings) O'Neill.
I wouldn't count Colson out just yet.
He still feels really strongly that the world should know the truth.
All right.
Thank you.
Surveillance just found Brian Vogler dead in his bathroom.
What? How? He hanged himself.
Alec.
- I'm so sorry about Brian.
- I killed him.
Might as well have put the gun against his head and pulled the trigger myself.
You couldn't have known.
You saw how scared he was.
I know what his family meant to him.
He was never gonna do anything to put them in any danger.
Alec He was my best friend.
- He betrayed you.
- No.
I betrayed him.
Why don't you put the gun down? My life's over, Sam.
Everything I worked for, everything I believed in, held to be true Still exists.
Apparently Congress is looking into providing relief.
The companies, the employees will survive.
While I go to jail for something I didn't do? Back on the Alpha site, you said no matter what, you would rather make whatever time you had left meaningful.
- I'm here to give you that chance.
- How? By making all the indictments against me just disappear? I was thinking more along the lines of making you disappear.
Problem with a guy like me no place on earth I can hide.
Who's talking about Earth? No, no.
No, I couldn't let you do that.
Believe me, I wouldn't be here without the approval of my superiors.
The president wasn't responsible, but he's not sorry you were publicly discredited.
Please, Alec, come with me.
You can still make a difference.
He who fights and runs away Lives to fight another day.
And no one will ever know.
Welcome to my world.