Original subtitles

(light banging)

(cat shrieking)

(deep, solemn music)

- [Man] It's gonna be awhile before

we encounter real food again.

- [Man] Yeah, they told me I shouldn't

eat a big meal before this case.

- What scares me the most I guess is what it'll feel like.

- There's really not a thing to be worried about,

it's exactly like going to sleep at night,

only it lasts a lot longer and it's much less stressful.

The computer'll show an elapsed time of 20 years

when we wake up, but we'll have aged only a year physically.

And you won't have felt a thing.

- I'm sure you're right, but are you absolutely positive?

I mean at the space lab they kept telling us

about all that stuff but I would not be happy

if I woke up a wrinkled old bag.

- Hm. - Oh yes,

last night was a meal to remember.

- [Man] She'll be right back.

- [Man] Gonna have to remember that for a long time.

- [Nancy] It's okay, Lily.

(Lily meowing)

- Ah, don't tell me you're bringing it

into deep sleep with you.

- Oh course, like I'm gonna leave her at home for 20 years.

If I don't bring her with me, I'll never see her again.

- Oh yeah, and she'll be real practical to have around

for all those space mice.

- A lot more practical than your little pea shooter.

- Hm, aw, this little baby?

(gun cocking)

I'm the careful type, there might be aliens, kid.

- There might be, mate, but since our number crunchers

indicate planet LA003 was created about 4 1/2 billion

years back and is currently going through a sort of

Cambrian Era geological state, I somewhat doubt

you'll find anything bigger than a flee.

- Guess I'll have to shoot low.

- [Man] Can record you know, right?

- What the heck is that for? - Nice guy.

- Our Mr. Headquarters doesn't know the corporation flag?

- Listen, funny boy, I'm perfectly aware

it's the corporate flag, I'm asking you

what you brought it on board for.

- [Dick] Leave the kid alone Morgan, what do you care?

- We gotta have a flag to raise on our property.

- Ha, look bud.

- Jimmy.

- Right, hey, go for the promotion,

whatever twists your tits.

- [Jimmy] Huh?

- What I'm interested in is the money, special mission pay.

- [Jimmy] Risk bonuses?

- Now you're singin' my song.

Can't beat that with a stick, right Harris?

When we come back home after 40 years

we'll be able to retire and still be

young enough to do some damage.

- Don't worry, I'll make sure the contract's honored.

Just don't forget who's keeping an eye on

your efficiency reports for the board of directors, guys.

- Well, I was wondering what the president's daughter

was doing on this bucket of bolts.

Don't despise her, she's very sweet for a barracuda,

but don't touch her pussy cat.

- [Man] They've never lost one yet.

- I haven't had the pleasure of welcoming the gents

from the Japanese sector, see I'm from the Australian office

the name's Berry, Dick Berry,

this your first interstellar run?

(laughing) Boy, the company sure knows how to pick 'em.

- Sometimes I wish we could just take off without them.

The noise they're making, you'd think this was a picnic.

Can you believe the stuff they brought aboard?

Weapons, animals.

- Hey, lighten up a little, we all like to bring something

on board, a keepsake, a good luck piece,

I've got a lucky charm I've brought on

every voyage I've made.

- [Man] I would never have thought of it that way.

- Come on, that's hogwash, captain.

- Yeah, well, I can't exactly make too much fuss

about anybody else now, right?

- It's too bad they never taught us at the space training

camp some way of not putting our foot in our mouth.

I just put mine in up to the hip.

- Forget it, but now that you mention it,

there's something we're going to have to be dealing with

sometime soon, and that's the quality of the engineers

the camp's turning out.

With every multinational looking to stake a claim,

there's a real shortage of qualified personnel.

The captain of the Bycall was telling me

they have the same problem.

- I have to admit, I was wondering why we always seem

to end up working with a gang of incompetent amateurs

that act like they escaped from a fraternity party.

- Just keep your blood pressure down because they're

the employees of the mother company, and we're here

to assist them on their mission.

Don't get bent out of shape, we're interplanetary

taxi drivers, everybody else is just along for the ride.

And speaking of which, I think this one's it for me.

- You're not thinking of retiring, are you?

- Yep, as a famous comic book character once said,

I'm getting to old for this kinda shit.

(deep, solemn orchestral music)

(adventurous orchestral music)

(screeching)

(mysterious, adventurous music)

(mysterious orchestral music)

(screen clicking)

(deep, solemn music)

(spacecraft blasting)

(rumbling)

(buzzing and whirring)

(screen beeping)

(mysterious music)

(screen beeping)

(hissing and roaring)

(deep, solemn music)

(ringing)

(whirring)

(suspenseful music)

(hissing)

(liquid gurgling)

(hissing)

(deep, tense music)

(Lily screeching)

(screen beeping)

(whizzing)

(gurgling)

(people yawning and groaning)

(Lily meowing)

- There you are my baby,

I was so completely worried about you.

when I saw you weren't in your capsule when I woke up.

- Morning, Guy.

- Hey, another day, another decade.

- As briefly as possible, Wat, how are they?

- Well, they're all a little wobbly on their pins,

but nothing out of the ordinary for amateurs.

- I think it's better if we push the start time back

a little for the exploratory party.

And send some probes down to pick up surface information.

(blasting)

(beeping)

- Sir, I got something.

- Yeah, what's up?

- Looks like over 20 years ago we picked up

a priority transmission.

- What level was it?

- [Carolyn] Emergency level sir, it came in 3 1/2 months

after leaving Earth orbit.

- All right, put it through, let's get it over with.

(screen beeping)

- I am Syncam Corporation's personnel manager,

interplanetary division, I have a message

of the upmost importance for Mr. Mike Hamilton,

commanding officer of the starship Saldes.

I am switching to priority scramble now.

- Put him through, it'd be impossible to keep

anything secret on a ship this small.

- Captain Hamilton, I'm afraid I have some

rather unpleasant news to report.

It appears that you have two people aboard

who are not who they claim to be,

nor are they employees of Syncam.

Evidently, they managed to enter the training program

at the center with false identification,

and then joined the crew on your ship.

We've investigated this of course.

I have their names and photos, which I'll put up

at end of the transmission, but captain I must emphasize

the grave (muffled by TV static) immediately.

(TV static buzzing)

- Hm?

- The rest has been erased, captain.

- How are we suppose to identify these bums

if we haven't even got a picture of 'em?

- I just don't see how a bunch of people who work for

the same company wouldn't be able to recognize an imposter.

You'd think they'd pick up on who the fakes were right away.

- That'd be impossible, sir.

- Impossible?

- Syncam Corporation's a multinational conglomerate

with affiliates all over the world, captain,

so when they put a crew together those people

could come from Japan, Italy, France, Australia,

it'd be impossible for them to know each other.

- So the first time any of them ever met each other

would be at the space training center.

No reason for anybody to think

anything was weird about them.

- Right, and having cleared personnel checkpoints,

the ID card would be their only identification.

- They were certainly well prepared in advance.

- To leave the capsules early and erase the message,

they'd have to be a systems expert.

- You mean they came out of deep sleep, checked the message,

and got back to the capsules before we woke up?

- Yes.

- And of course they erased all the good parts, but what

I don't get is why they didn't wipe the whole thing.

- Well, if they monkeyed the timers on their own hibernators

I suppose they could figure a way to screw up

that transmission, but maybe there's some sort of

time limit they were under to do the job.

- I can't imagine what it'd be.

- We can't let them run around free on the ship.

- Nobody's crazy enough to go on a 40 year round trip

to some rock in the middle of nowhere

just to play Robinson Crusoe.

- Time jumpers, we're dealing with

a couple of criminals sir, that's it.

- He's probably right, captain, once in awhile

these guys fake their way onto a starship so they can

spend 40 or 50 years hibernating in space

without getting much older.

When they get back to Earth, no one's around anymore

to remember their crime.

- They wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell

of pulling it off if we didn't have the deep sleep capsules,

but this way they can start from scratch to make new crimes,

it's a pretty slick way of beatin' the system.

- Some time jumpers, just great.

- We gotta do it.

- We have to do what?

- We need to find who the jumpers are

and put 'em in custody.

- You've got to be kidding, on a ship this size

we're all prisoners, just let 'em be, it's not that serious.

Besides, there's not much we can do about it anyhow.

Here they come now.

- Ah-ha, hello there, captain.

Or perhaps I should say, good morning.

At any rate, allow me to introduce myself.

I'm Harris Mead, and I've been assigned as ship's doctor.

- Dr. Mead, welcome, I'm glad to see

you're feeling all right.

Since none of you appear to be the worse for wear

after your sleep, let me explain our present situation.

We're orbiting LA003 after an elapsed Earth time

of 20 years, one month, and 10 days.

We're at quota 34,000, and our speed is 17,000 kilometers.

You'll build a temporary command base to investigate

resources available for possible utilization

by the corporation, and facilitate--

- Captain, the temperature at number four block

is dropping rapidly.

- All right Carolyn, put it on the screen.

(adventurous music)

Hold it, go back.

Dammit, an AC duct's been damaged and frozen air

is spilling into the block.

Dular, take a couple of them and repair it, come on.

What's your name?

- My last name's Takagi, Tokyo affiliate.

- And how 'bout you, big guy, what's yours?

- Morgan W. Scott, and I'm from the home office, captain.

- That's fine, I want you boys to help Dular

in taking care of that busted AC deck.

Oh and you can leave your weapon with me,

it won't be necessary.

- I don't know captain, I feel strange without it.

- No worries, mate, give it to me.

(footsteps clicking)

- [Man] There, you see, I told you they wouldn't match up.

- [Man] Okay, but since the spectometer readings were

the same, it really doesn't make that much difference.

- [Man] How can you say that, you never even looked at

the gas chromatograph for a comparison.

- [Man] So what, lighten up.

- Captain. - I'm sorry.

- Something's odd but--

- What's on your mind?

- Well I was going through some of the old back up data

and this is going to sound strange,

but the remote manipulator tore that duct.

- The remote manipulator, you sure about it?

- I still haven't figured out how they managed to get in.

But I do know one thing, while we were asleep,

somebody reprogrammed it.

- (gasping) Hm?

- Huh?

- (laughing loudly) That's great, so then what happened?

- Nothing happened, that's it.

- [Morgan] What? (laughing)

- Wonder which ones

it could be. - You sure know

how to kill a joke.

- You think Wat's idea holds water?

- [Woman At Other Table] I liked it.

- I don't know.

- We'll never know their plans, only if one of them talks.

- I'm sure we could find a way to make these thugs open up.

Right, Guy?

- Listen man, we're not the damn military.

This mission's startin' to bug me already.

- You know, we could interview them all

and then run their stories through the computer

for discrepancies in their personal history.

- Nobody'd ever go for it, and besides,

It'd violate their rights to privacy.

I'd prefer it if everybody just left it alone

and took care of the ship's business

instead of playing private eye.

(Lily yelling)

- That goddamn cat is nuts.

- Hey, I warned you not to bother her.

- Uh!

- (gasping) Come back, Lily.

(clicking tongue)

(Lily meowing)

- Pretty fond of cats are you?

- I suppose I am, they're a lot better than a dog.

- Hey, but I love dogs myself.

- Got that right.

I've got 10 of them at home in Florida,

and I'm proud of them all.

(Lily meowing)

- Thank you, Hiro.

- Yeah.

- Aw, this thing's killing my nose, see ya.

Hey captain, when are we gonna get to work?

Things are gettin' boring.

- We can't do much of anything

before we analyze the probe's information.

You'll have plenty to do after that.

- I hope so, 'cause I don't wanna be cooped up

in this tin can for too long, I'll go bananas.

- Oh, you wanna put some money on that?

- It's obvious nobody's been around this part

of the ship in years, couple of hundred of 'em.

Mm.

(static buzzing)

(clanking)

(deep, suspenseful music)

Who's there?

- Well, it oughta be done by now.

Carolyn, you put together the probe data.

You two take the transport ship,

give it a complete diagnostic.

- [Wat] Okay, maybe you're right, suppose Morgan is

one of the two jumpers, who do you think is the other one?

- I'm almost positive it's that Jimmy dork.

- Oh yeah, nah, it's probably that Hong Kong woman,

what's her name, um--

- [Guy] Dorothy, no way.

- How do you know?

- 'Cause, she's my kinda woman.

- [Wat] Now there's a hell of a reason.

(Guy and Wat laughing)

(man yelling)

(man breathing heavily) (alarm blaring)

(gasping) (meowing)

- Lily.

(dramatic music)

(drumming music) (breathing heavily)

(machine beeping)

- Captain, if I didn't know better, I'd swear

he suffocated from Legionnaires' Disease..

His lungs are full of bacteria.

- Bacteria, how can that be if the ship was sterilized?

- I never said that the bacteria were from Earth.

Take a look inside his lungs, fascinating.

I've never seen anything move like that.

I'll be able to come up with more information

once I've run a few tests.

Of course I'll have to admit I'm a little surprised

I've been given my own job to do so soon.

- [Mike] Wat, Guy stem to stern check of the transport ship.

I want all the rest of you to check

the main ship in two groups.

- Tell us what's going on.

- I'm not completely positive, but something

was brought into this ship.

And some kind of deadly bacteria were brought in with it.

Half of you go over number four block,

and the others check the gangway where Morgan was found.

(adventurous music)

- Victim number one and 12 to go.

- Told you I had a bad feeling.

(adventurous music)

- Hm?

(laughing) Come here little pussy cat. (clicking tongue)

Yes, that a girl.

- (groaning) Not a thing, captain.

Thanks.

- (sighing) How the hell could anything get into the ship?

Hm, just what do you think you're doing, Mr. Berry?

- I told him not to touch it.

- Ah, don't blame her captain, she did what she was

suppose to, I was only wondering if there were

any messages from my family, but what do you know,

look what I found instead.

- I am Syncam Corporation's personnel manager,

interplanetary division, I have a message of the utmost

importance for Mr. Mike Hamilton, commanding officer

of the starship Saldes, I am switching to--

(computer beeping)

- He claims that there are two people on board

with false identification.

Then the most important part of the message,

the part with the names on it, was erased.

You wouldn't happen to have any explanation

for that, would you?

- As a matter of fact, I don't have any explanation.

But if we don't destroy what was brought aboard this ship,

it's not going to make much difference anyway.

- Come on now, captain, we've both got

bigger fish to fry, so to waste time--

- Captain, come to sickbay, Dr. Mead is dead.

(dramatic music)

- [Walt] Same as Morgan, sir.

- Wonder where he picked up the infection,

from Morgan or somewhere else.

Dammit, alien bacteria and no doctor.

- [Dick] It's like I said, the first thing we have to do

is to find who those two people are.

(computer beeping)

- [Walt] Nationality?

- [Farrah] Hong Kong.

- Date of birth?

(gasping)

Come on Dorothy, I'm not thrilled with this either,

but since all of you agreed, we have to go through with it.

Date of birth please.

- I was born on May 10, 2241.

- You're 23?

(gasping)

- Education?

- I graduated from Washington University.

- And had a baby while you were at it.

Now that's the kinda higher education that really

builds your brain muscle, eh?

- Hm, just what do you think you're--

- Berry, shut up, now let's continue.

- You prying son of a bitch!

We all have something we don't wanna tell anybody.

We wanna keep our lives secret, but if I knew what yours was

I wouldn't laugh about that.

- That's a fairly pretty speech.

I think for the good of the corporation, your turn's up.

(grumbling and sighing)

- Carolyn, any word on the transport ship's status?

We'll be at our first landing point in under an hour.

- [Carolyn] But sir, Guy and Wat haven't reported in yet.

- They what?

- [Walt] Nationality?

(adventurous music)

- Give me a look inside the hangar.

Wat, Guy, come in, what's the transport ship's status?

- [Carolyn] Uh, just a second captain, let me zoom in on it.

(dramatic music)

(sighing)

(adventurous music)

- I'm afraid we're going to have to give up

our first landing position.

- Any idea how long it'll be before we reach

the second point, captain?

- [Mike] Yeah, three hours.

- [Walt] Do you want us to continue

the background checks until then?

- [Mike] Now that we've started,

everyone has to go through it.

- Lily?

Lily?

Could you give me a hand?

- My pleasure.

- I hope you two realize, we're not on a bleedin' picnic

here, you come straight back after you've found her.

And next time, put a string on so you'll stop losing her,

do you hear that I'm saying?

Otherwise, I'll put one round her neck.

(clunking)

- [Nancy] I don't believe it, he is so mean.

- I wonder why none of them seem to have anything

better to do that to look into

other people's private secrets.

- Well, company loyalty's very important,

it has to be insured somehow.

Lily!

- If she were alive, she'd be around your age now.

- Huh?

- [Hiro] Nothin', I'll look around this way.

- Lily!

Lily?

(light, rhythmic banging)

(gasping)

There you are.

(mysterious music)

Lily!

- Jimmy Mengel, you've got a drug conviction here.

- Huh, but I never touched that stuff in my life, Dick.

- Well, the company records show you were placed

on probation for some kind of drug bust when you were

in high school, what've you got to say?

- Wait a minute, wait a minute, they've got it all wrong.

I can remember perfectly what happened.

It wasn't me, it was one of the guys in my class

with me, Jimmy Hengle.

I can't believe they still have it on the records like that.

Jimmy Hengle was arrested for drugs in high school, not me.

They were always mixing up the two of us,

calling me Hengel and him Mengel, it was terrible!

- Do you expect us to believe and excuse like that, Jimmy?

- Even the police can make a mistake inputting data.

Why should I be the one to suffer for something

that I never had anything to do with?

- Well, that was all we were able to find

in your entire record.

None of it has any bearing on what we're looking for anyway.

What happened to that Japanese fella?

- Captain Hamilton!

- Well, well, speak of the devil, here he comes now.

- Yes, what is it?

- Come to sickbay right now, sir.

All the bodies have vanished.

(adventurous music)

- Hm, damnedest thing I've ever seen,

disappearing into thin air like that,

leaving only their clothes behind 'em.

- And just why were you in sick bay?

- Uh, I was here looking for the cat.

- Oh I'm sure it's only me who thinks it's funny

you happened to come here looking for a cat

you knew you wouldn't find.

(adventurous music)

- Lily, come back.

(alarm blaring)

(yelling and crying)

- Nancy, what happened?

(crumbling)

(Lily yelling)

(people gasping)

(Lily moaning)

- No!

- Oh my, what in blazes is happening?

(deep gurgling)

- It's been completely destroyed by rust.

- The wall's made of solid super alloy, it's impossible.

It's got to be somethin' else, but--

- Bacteria, I'm positive it's been eroded by that bacteria.

- Yeah, but if it's--

(man yelling and groaning)

(rumbling)

- What can we do, sir?

- Since we've got absolutely nothing

on this bacteria, what can we do?

We'll lock this block off for possible infection

and retreat to the main bridge, come on everybody, move it!

(rapid, adventurous music)

(blasting)

- Do you think we've escaped the buggers, captain?

- I hope so.

- We're coming up awfully fast on our

second landing point, sir.

- Oh yeah, we still have our jobs to do.

The transport ship, why don't you cover that

with Dular, and the hangar bays will both

need to be decontaminated.

- You ready to go? - Plus we have to select

six members for the - Let's go.

- exploratory probe, since Walt and Dular are going

to be two of them, you better choose

the other four from among yourselves.

- We've plenty of time to do that in yet.

We still have our little game of checkin'

the backgrounds of the people from Syncam.

And that means Nancy and that fellow from Japan, obviously.

- (gasping) How dare you even think of suspecting me?

- Morgan from headquarters knew who you were,

but I'm from the Australian branch and I only met you

for the very first time here.

(computer buzzing and whirring)

(sighing)

(light buzzing)

(rapid electronic beeping)

(sighing)

(computer whirring)

(yelling)

- I cannot believe it, wait'll my dad hears about this.

- Hey, I hope you find your criminals.

- Don't worry, I will.

You little smart ass, I'll find 'em.

(cocking gun)

- Well, painful as you thought it would be?

- [Nancy] Way worse, you cannot believe how mean he is.

- What if the company'd been given rotten information.

And that guy's message was nothing but a lousy fake,

they wouldn't try to drive us crazy

for no reason, would they?

- You don't think--

(gasping)

- Hey, anybody seen Dorothy?

- She hasn't been on the bridge,

I thought she was with you two.

- Um, no. - Huh?

- She might be, she could be in sickbay.

- Sick bay? - I--

- Now what would she be doin' there mate,

if I may ask, and how would you know about it?

- Well, Mr. Berry, perhaps you should ask her that yourself.

Or better yet, why don't the both of us

go see what she's doing?

- Listen, mate,

you be real careful, how you-- - Captain, look!

- What is it?

Why in the hell is the hangar deck opening?

Carolyn what--

- My commands are being overwritten by the motherboard,

captain, I have nothing to do with it.

(gasping) Sir, I, my control board's been cut off.

- What?

- [Carolyn] We can no longer

control the ship from the bridge.

- Dular, Walt, get your asses out of there, do you hear me?

This is a full-on emergency.

I want you to get off of the hangar deck immediately.

(tense music)

(yelling)

(adventurous music)

- Oh-oh!

(adventurous music)

(groaning)

(adventurous music)

(swishing)

(exploding)

(screen beeping)

- It's been deactivated, it won't unlock.

Who's in there?

Who hasn't been accounted for other than

the first four casualties and the rest of us here?

- Well the gal from Hong Kong, what's her name,

she hasn't been seen around for awhile.

I'll bet big money it's probably here in there.

- I'm telling you, she's not in there.

- What makes you so almighty sure of yourself?

You know an awful lot about the doings of other people.

Perhaps you can explain it to me.

- Yeah, if I can.

There's no other way, Captain Hamilton,

come with me please sir.

(adventurous music)

- Disappeared like the rest of 'em.

What's happening here?

- She was checking the pathology of her lungs

with the x-ray scanner by herself.

- How'd you figure that out?

- It wasn't tough, because I,

because someone had done the same thing in here.

- You mean besides you, eh?

Come off it, Hiro, that business about looking for the cat

and finding the bodies was a bunch of crap.

- What do you have to say about that?

- Yes, I was using the x-ray scanner.

I was afraid that the bacteria had already invaded

our bodies, and that was the only way I had to make sure.

(gasping)

I remembered something Dr. Mead had said

when he was examining Morgan.

He thought something about it was very familiar.

It reminded him of Legionnaires' Disease,

or a strain similar to that one.

He told me the last outbreak was years ago.

Some veterans were at a convention, 12 hours later,

they began dropping like flies for no reason.

Their lungs were filled with bacteria,

which caused them all to suffocate.

- Could it be the same thing that infected Morgan?

- [Hiro] I can't be sure, but the disease that killed

those veterans was caused by the hotel's air conditioners.

That's what started me thinking, the bacteria were

piped directly into every room through the AC ducts.

- And then?

- Well, we know there was a damaged duct

in the number four section, okay.

How do we know something couldn't have come through

that hole and into the ship?

- [Man] Oh my god.

- And suppose that something was

some kind of alien bacteria.

(swishing)

If it were strong enough, it could've passed untouched

through the water separation tanks and filters.

And then, it'd be a cinch for it to penetrate inside--

- Into the entire ventilation matrix

where it could infiltrate the ship's air supply!

(blowing)

- I think depending on the physical environment,

it won't survive everywhere on board the Saldes,

and that's uh, I think that's why Dorothy came here.

- [Nancy] Uh, I don't wanna hear this!

- Yeah, but what happened to all of 'em?

Did the bacteria eat 'em?

- I don't think we'll ever know that.

There are bacteria that'll metabolize on Earth

in a short period of time, but no terrestrial

aerobic bacteria that I'm aware of can completely

dissolve a set of human bones without a trace.

- Very intriguing, medical man, eh?

- It's a hobby.

- Now that's funny, something just doesn't seem right.

Maybe it's 'cause company data have Mr. Hiro Takagi

specialized in space engineering and not medicine.

I guess they must've gotten things all backwards.

- Huh, yeah, now I think I got it.

I don't know why I didn't pick it up.

You're not an employee of the corporation either

now, are you, you're a detective.

- Huh?

- All I ever said was that medicine was a hobby.

I don't remember saying that I specialized in it.

What do you have up your sleeve?

- The game's done kid, you shouldn't have said either.

- Very good, Mr. Detective, your patience has been rewarded.

You found the mad gunman who murdered

those three men on King Street.

(gasping)

I figured I was safe hiding on a starship for 40 years.

I never thought you'd be willing to tail me quite this far.

- Thanks for the confession, I appreciate it.

When everything goes well in those rare moments,

it's nice to see your efforts rewarded.

- Just a minute, you can't arrest him here.

- Normally you'd have a point there.

I usually leave everything up to the captain of the ship

since whatever happens during the run is under his command.

Oh, I don't much care to get involved with the stuff

that doesn't concern me directly.

But our jobs here are different, captain.

Yours is to bring the ship home.

However, my responsibility is to bring

this here bad guy home.

- I assume that message then from

the personnel manager was your trick?

- Oh I'm afraid it was at that.

The company was very cooperative.

When I was first given this file, the only bit

of information I had was the murderer was a medical student

who'd escaped to the moon on a false Syncam ID card.

That message was my one last hope.

- If this were any kind of a normal situation, I'd have

nothing at all to say about how the affair was handled.

But take a word of advice, if I were you, I'd certainly

have my lungs checked for any trace of bacteria.

- Huh, come on, captain, being a detective

I've run up against trouble a hell of a lot worse

than some outer space chicken pox.

I'm talkin' about your armed gangs with submachine guns

and high tech explosives, and pissed off to boot.

Now, you just may be right, my body could be riddled

with the stuff, and so perhaps I'll snuff out like Morgan.

But as of this moment, I'm still alive.

And so is this murdering bastard!

And as long as I'm alive, it's my responsibility

to get him back to Earth for trial.

He's the criminal and I have to arrest him.

- You're far too young.

- What do you mean, I'm too young?

Well I've gotta be the same age as you, captain.

- You think so, how old am I then?

- Uh--

- How 'bout her?

I just passed 240, Carolyn is 150 years old, right?

- I'm 151.

- [Group] Huh?

(gasping)

- Wat, Guy, Walt, Dular, they were all of them,

anywhere between 150 and 200 years old

if you go by Earth time computation.

Space navigation isn't really everything

it's cracked up to be.

Thanks to the ship's cryohibernation system,

our bodies don't get much older with every trip.

Well at least not physically, that is.

The trouble starts when we return from a voyage in space.

Everyone's thrilled to be home, till they realize

that 40, 50, or 60 years have elapsed

back where they came from.

You become, I was so excited by my first voyage.

I got back to Earth and met my son, who I'd left as a baby,

he'd grown into a man older than I was.

But not even that could kill the fascination for me.

No, that died after the second trip.

There was no more reason to come home, all my family

and friends were long dead.

But even more than that, I can't catch up with

the new age, new science, new theories,

a flood of new information.

People treated me like a living fossil

and I realized, I'm an anachronism,

not quite useless, but annoying to have around.

So I escaped back into space

and returned to a different new age.

I've done it many times.

It doesn't really matter what I tell you after all,

you can go ahead and bring him back for his trial,

but you'll find out, you'll experience it for yourself.

There'll be nobody left to welcome you except the computer

keeping records of a crime committed 40 years ago.

(tense music)

- Dorothy?

(blowing)

(monstrous yelling)

(yelling)

- [Hiro] What is it?

(Nancy crying out)

(swishing and howling)

(gun cocking)

- Don't shoot it.

(gun firing)

(dramatic music)

(Dick yelling)

Because we've got gravity generators

doesn't mean you can blast away anytime you feel like it.

- What the bloody hell was that?

- You're telling me that thing got into the ship

along with the bacteria?

- Could be, anyway, whoever or whatever has locked us out of

the control room knows a lot more about it than we do.

Carolyn, Jimmy, you come along with me too.

- [Jimmy] Um-hm.

- Hiro, since you know some medicine,

take care of Dick, all right?

Take off his handcuffs and be very happy

you're already in sickbay.

(screen beeping)

I'll have to cut the door, wait for me here,

I'm going to rig a torch in the engine room.

- Uh, I know some welding, let me help you.

(screen beeping)

(rumbling)

(roaring)

(growling)

It's probably too late to regret this but uh,

I shouldn't have volunteered for this mission,

I must've been crazy or something.

If I were on Earth right now, I'd probably be happy,

married, and teaching elementary school.

(groaning) I was never fairly evaluated by the company,

and I never got any of the promotions I put in for.

I did my best, but I wasn't getting anywhere, you know.

- I've met a few others who felt the same.

- Then the home office announced this mission.

They tried to recruit crew members but nobody was buying it.

Some people just have better instincts about this stuff.

The pay they were offering was terrific,

but it made you really think, how much money

would make it worth it to leave

your family and friends for so long?

- Well, why'd you apply if it wasn't what you wanted?

- My manager recommended me for the very first time.

Huh, maybe he thought I was the best man for the job

because I was spending a lot of lonely weekends.

You know, putting in extra hours at work, huh.

Well then I kinda had this crazy dream, you know?

I kept thinking, wouldn't it be great if I surprised

everybody in the company, and volunteered?

Now that'd make my stock go up with the office manager.

It was an adventure.

Of course given the choice between that

and the situation we're in now, I think I would've chosen

to remain back on Earth and be despised, what do you think?

- Well, I can understand what you went through pretty well.

Every space sailor I ever met had some kind of

bad experience in their past.

They try to wipe out every memory of it

during a 40 year stint.

They usually don't manage it.

Yep, I've known an awful lot of people like you.

There.

- I'm sorry, Hiro, I guess I must've lost the key

to the cuffs when I blasted that bugger, I apologize.

- It doesn't matter, I managed okay.

What's important is that the bandage holds.

Thank you, Nancy. (sighing)

(light, twinkling music)

- Do you mind, um--

- Go ahead.

- I can't believe, you know, I just can't believe

what he was saying about you, you couldn't murder anyone.

- Appearances can be very misleading, but it's true,

I killed three people in broad daylight.

- What reason could you possibly have had?

- They made my sister into a drug addict.

- But, how?

- She was so beautiful, she used to write me all the time.

She'd left home and enrolled overseas in a big university.

Then she just disappeared.

I inquired everywhere, no one had any information.

When I went to talk to her roommate,

she told me she didn't know anything.

So when I found her about one year after that,

she wasn't anything like she had been.

I barely recognized her when I saw her again.

And you know where that was, Nancy?

Prostituting for a King Street pimp.

- (gasping) That's terrible, is she all right?

- She's dead.

(gasping)

My brain just clicked off, and I avenged the death

of my sister and the men responsible.

- It's true that drugs have completely contaminated

the Earth and the moon, but you had no right to kill them.

We were on their tracks for months, and if we'd only

been able to arrest them, we coulda split their drug ring,

closed down that prostitution operation,

and that'd have been the end of them.

You bollocks'd up everything mate, and cost me my promotion.

- Damn their operation, my job was to avenge

the death of my sister.

- I'll buy that mate, maybe you can understand how I felt,

you cost me 2 1/2 years of back-breaking investigative work

you know, and I'm not likely to forgive you for that

in the foreseeable future.

- How were you able to get on board as a member

of the expedition if you didn't have an identification card?

- I have a close friend who works for the Japanese branch

and he suggested I escape with this expedition.

His name's Hiro Takagi, he was in love with my sister

and he had planned to marry her.

(adventurous music)

- What happened to Carolyn?

- We have to find her.

(adventurous music)

(blasting)

(tense music)

- Carolyn are you there? (gasping)

Oh my god, it's amazing.

(deep, tense music)

(electronic squealing)

(roaring)

(Lily yelling)

- Lily?

(Lily yelling)

(hissing)

- Huh-huh!

(deep piano music)

What the hell is it?

(hissing)

(adventurous music)

(computer beeping)

What's a diagram of the bacterial invasion doing?

(screen beeping)

Lily cat?

(footsteps clicking rapidly)

This block is completely infested,

get up to the main bridge now.

- Yeah, but Jimmy and Carolyn, what happened?

- Forget it, I'm afraid they're missing, or dead.

Come on, now.

(adventurous music)

(gasping)

(adventurous music)

- It's metabolized even the bulkhead.

(swishing and whirring)

(gasping)

(yelling)

(adventurous music)

(growling)

(adventurous music)

- Come!

(adventurous music)

(yelling)

(Nancy yelling)

(adventurous music)

(man coughing) (Nancy crying)

- I can't put up with it anymore.

I can't, I'm gonna go crazy.

- Does Syncam Corporation have a science

and technology development division?

- Oh of course they do, every company has it,

what's it have to do with what's happening aboard this ship?

- Well, it could have something to do with registration

number 2-3-7-0-3 Lily Cat.

- Huh?

- It's a robotic cat, unbelievably advanced.

Perfect replica of the cat you brought on board.

- A cat, what for?

- That robot's controlled the ship

ever since we left Earth's orbit.

The engineers that maintain this tub for Syncam

obviously believe we're obsolete and out of date.

They don't particularly think humans can handle the job.

I suppose they feel we can't be trusted

because all we've got is old-fashioned experience

and no scientific know how, so they gave control

of the ship to that thing.

Machines don't need to eat or sleep.

They worked hard while we lay on the couches.

If they found anything floating outside the ship,

they hauled it in according to preset commands.

They probably even have a full data aspect

on the planet below us.

The machines are the most reliable

and faithful employees the company's got.

They're not gonna rely on a bunch of

incompetent humans like us.

And Lily cat's too faithful and reliable an employee

to have let a bacteria onto the ship to wipe out the crew.

- It's crazy. (cying)

(light piano music) (screen beeping)

(clanking)

(Dick gasping) (dramatic music)

(screaming)

(dramatic music)

(crying out)

(crying and yelling)

- (sighing) The reversal syndrome.

- Reversal syndrome?

- It's a function of some very rare bacteria

where they reverse the mitosis of the nuclei

and accelerate the growth process of normally

dormant cells in a short period of time.

What's weird is the absorption of the human tissue

into the alien cell makeup.

It's as though the bacteria have used the human bodies

to metamorphosis from a caterpillar into a butterfly.

- If what you're saying is what happened,

that those monsters and the recycled bodies

of Dorothy, Carolyn, Morgan, and the rest,

then what's to stop it from changing again

into something even more horrible?

- Yeah, but why metabolize everything but our clothing?

(deep, solemn music)

Huh? (clinking)

Hm.

- (gasping) I've never met anyone so mean.

- Come to think of it, I'd have done the same thing.

He followed his principles through, even though

he already knew the bacteria had infected him.

He came on board this ship with one objective,

and that was to put handcuffs on an escaping murderer.

And once he accomplished that objective,

he never even thought about looking back again.

I'll say one thing for him, you have to respect him.

(crashing)

(gasping)

- The ship's reacting to the infected blocks,

and doing the same thing it did with the hangar pod.

It's protecting itself by cutting them loose

and blowing them up away from us.

(exploding)

- Well, what if the computer decides

it's gonna dump this block?

- I'm not going to worry just yet about that,

this block isn't the same as the cargo compartments

that were jettisoned, even though

the other ones are contaminated.

- Let's not forget it's a machine, folks,

desperately trying to save itself even though it knows

it's going to be eaten by the bacteria after all.

- What are you doing?

- We have nowhere to run, we can wait in this block

but that means we'll die of starvation

or become another monster like the rest of them,

which doesn't tickle my fancy at this moment in time.

So for me, the only answer is for us to kill ourselves.

Okay, how 'bout you, what's it gonna be?

Chamber's got three shells ready and waiting for us.

(gasping and crying)

- Oh, I can't believe it.

Why did I ever get on this stupid ship?

I was only trying to have a little fun.

I have this friend who's so smart and really cute,

it's all her fault, I hate her,

and she stole my boyfriend.

I wanted to get back at her, get revenge.

I know exactly how she's gonna feel

when I go back to Earth almost as young

as when I left, and she's an ugly old bag.

I never thought it would end like this, I never thought.

(exploding) (adventurous music)

- At least I can see my sister again.

- Wait, stop!

- There's nothing more to say about it, captain.

- The bacteria won't eat everything.

Even if we wind up dead,

the ship will make it back in one piece.

- What do you mean, the bacteria'll destroy

everything on the ship.

- And I am positive it won't.

On the motherboard I saw a readout of the corrosion

on board, and the cargo blocks and storage compartments

were almost completely devastated.

But, bridge, sub-commands, and engine room

were absolutely free of it.

Residual magnetic fields are built up by our impulse system.

The impulse drive powers the on-board electricity.

That means an electromagnetic field, and I guess

the bacteria must be, that's it, the magnetic field

kills them or repels them.

- If the robot knows that it could bring the ship

back home, all it would need are the bridge

and the main drive system.

- Of course it knows the situation.

What possible reason could it have to blow up

the cargo blocks except to lighten

the ship for the trip home?

Do you understand what I'm talking about?

I'm saying that even if all 13 members of the crew were to

die somewhere out in deep space, nobody gives a damn.

The only thing the corporation cares about is getting

its precious data, without paying us, if possible.

- Does any of that really matter

if there's nothing we can do about it?

Our only choice is to die or be killed.

- We're living.

Remember what Detective Berry said.

We may die any minute, but right now, dammit we are alive.

Listen to me, every moment you're alive,

you have a duty to survive any way you can.

- But we can't, it's impossible.

- You've got a big, brand new planet right below you.

With any luck, you could survive there forever.

- That's ridiculous, we haven't got any more probe ships.

- Wrong. (laughing)

I still have my lucky charm, kid.

Come on, follow me.

(somber music)

(rapid, adventurous music)

- You brought a shuttle.

- I had it my first trip, and ever since then

I've brought this little baby with me

every mission I ever made.

Walt, he laughed at me all the time, but I just couldn't

trash it, our memories are powerful

and that little machine recalls every experience I ever had.

(adventurous music)

- You can't, what are you doing?

- It's a pity I couldn't have been

a little better skipper after all.

- Captain, it's--

- Be alive, do everything you can to be alive.

(adventurous music)

Registration number, 2-3-7-0-3 Lily cat.

They're not going to bring this plagued ship back

except over my dead body.

(bold, adventurous music)

(hissing)

(slow, solemn music)

(computer beeping)

(swishing)

(groaning)

(upbeat pop music)

(groaning and grunting)

(swishing)

(exploding)

(hissing)

(grunting)

And, well, it appears it's going to be

a little quicker than we thought.

(whooshing)

(exploding)

(screeching)

(exploding)

(loud howling)

- I'm so sad about this.

All of us should've been able to land

on the planet, you know.

Is anything wrong, what're you thinking about Hiro?

- I was wondering about butterflies and if they

ever regretted that, if they ever even thought of

their past as caterpillars.

And, if the caterpillar ever thinks of its future

up there as that exquisite creature in the air.

We'll be metamorphosing somewhere

onto another level some day.

Some other kind or frequency of existence

if that's our promised end.

We'll have to live out whatever our destiny is.

And nobody can know what the future'll bring

in this world or even the next one.

("Listening to the Angels")

♪ The angel said, are your wings broken dear ♪

♪ Can you fly ♪

♪ I will float, I'll float forever here ♪

♪ In the room ♪

♪ 'Cause I have held the heavens ♪

♪ 'Cause I have heard the small songs of the stars ♪

♪ Because I've learned to fly oh so very well ♪

♪ Without wings ♪

♪ I am alone, I fly above the world ♪

♪ And I open their arms ♪

♪ I hear the angels sing ♪

♪ To fly this far is only in dreams ♪

♪ But when our dreams fall ♪

♪ Oh when our dreams fall ♪

("Listening to the Angels")

♪ Listening to the angels ♪

("Listening to the Angels")

(clanking)

(cat meowing)