Original subtitles

Sir, before you go into your meeting,

I wanted to let you know that mr. Jones is here

from the bureau of telepath integration.

The same mr. Jones from 6 months ago?

He gets around, doesn't he?

Well, they're all called mr. Jones.

It's their way of making the examination

less personal.

How could it not be personal?

He crawls inside your head

and roots around looking for dirt.

But only one telepath can watchdog another.

It's like internal affairs of a police force.

Promotion and advancement are tied

to finding other people breaking the rules,

or, in my case,

poking through other peoples' minds

without their permission.

Anyway, that's the tradeoff we make

for being able to live and work beside normals.

That's a moot point.

He's coming to my quarters at 1800 hours.

Standard procedure deep scans to make sure

I'm not violating the new rules for telepaths.

I don't need someone like him to tell me

that you can be trusted

not to go snooping around in somebody else's mind.

And I wouldn't. Not intentionally.

But you see, when the senate disbanded the psi corps,

there were concerns

that accidental scans were inevitable

once telepaths were integrated

back into normal communities.

If there's anything I can do,

if you want me to talk to him on your behalf-

no, no, thank you. I appreciate that,

but it's just him, me...

and the rules.

All right.

Good luck.

So aside from the Morseddi,

there's nothing else to investigate in this sector,

unless... anyone else has a suggestion.

Yes.

Actually, I have one.

This right here.

To the untrained eye, just another rock,

but in reality, a part of a much greater whole.

It took me years to find it.

Others of my order have spent their entire lives

searching for it.

These coordinates will guide us

to a precise location in hyperspace

normally hidden from prying eyes.

So...

Shall we go?

Go where?

The well of forever.

It's a focal point of immense power

like stonehenge

or the oracle at delphi on earth.

The well is powerful

because it draws its essence

from hyperspace.

For centuries,

wizards have sought out crossroads

because they represent the point

where powerful energies intersect.

There is no greater crossroads...

than hyperspace.

My people are taught to avoid crossroads.

Also beaches, cliffs, pits, caverns...

and wells.

Where do you go on vacation,

another part of the room?

You fear these places

because they're not entirely one thing or another,

but to a mage,

such a place is an open book full of answers

for those who are willing to listen.

This book may be very useful to us

in our search to find a cure

for the drakh plague.

It will take us several days

to get there...

but I'm certain it will be worth the risk.

So you have a magic rock

that provides you with a mystical place

that is a metaphorical book

that gives you answers to questions

that we haven't asked yet,

and you want us to spend days in hyperspace

based on that?

Even if your information is correct,

those coordinates

are days outside known hyperspace routes.

No one is stupid enough

to travel that far off the beacon.

We could wind up 40 light-years

from any known system.

Not if my ship's navigational systems

are merged with the excalibur's.

If your ship can find it, why do you need us?

My instruments may be more sophisticated than yours,

but my ship cannot maneuver

in the strong gravitational currents

that far out.

I need the excalibur.

All right, since we've got nothing else

on the boards, we'll take a look,

but in deference to common sense

and mr. Eilerson's concerns,

which somehow ended up

the same thing for a change...

if we get to the location and there's nothing there,

we'll turn around and head back. Deal?

Fair enough.

I'll make ready my ship

for the navigational merge.

Galen.

Has anyone else ever found this well of forever?

Absolutely.

It's just that no one has ever returned.

Consider it an adventure.

Matthew Gideon, captain.

Attached to the earth alliance Starship excalibur.

To find a cure to the drakh plague

before it wipes out all life on earth.

Anywhere i have to.

Who do you serve?

And who do you trust?

Display all systems on the excalibur.

Isolate navigation systems.

Ready to perform navigational merge.

Go ahead.

Look at that.

His ship can pick up the faintest signal

and amplify it to usable form.

No wonder technomages are never seen in hyperspace.

They can travel completely off the beacon.

I'd love to get a look inside that thing,

see how she does what she does.

You think that might be possible?

We can try.

We'll have to backcheck the connections

from time to time,

make sure it's all working properly.

And we can look back a little further,

just to be thorough.

Excellent idea, lieutenant.

Because one of the main reasons

I went along with this

was the chance to learn a little bit more

about that ship of his.

I'll get on it first thing.

Right now, I have to go.

Time to see mr. Jones.

Of course.

Captain, you have a minute?

Sure. Pull up a chair. I'll deal you in.

So, what's on your mind?

Galen.

Let me guess.

You don't think he can be trusted.

Well...

You know, I was taught 2 things growing up.

One-don't go looking for trouble

unless you know what you're going to get out of it.

In this respect,

he is hiding something from us.

I can feel it. I suspect you can, as well.

Yeah. Cards?

Dealer takes 2.

Doesn't that bother you?

We've all got something to hide, Dureena.

Straight.

Queen-high.

What's the second thing you were taught?

Never gamble with a thief.

That's a good trick,

considering one of the cards that I tossed away

was the queen of hearts.

Show me how to do that someday?

If we live that long.

By the way, where's lieutenant Matheson?

In his quarters with his guest.

I heard.

Is he ok?

I don't know.

I noticed we jumped shortly after I arrived.

I hope we're not going too far off the beaten track.

A little. But we'll drop you off

at a rendezvous point as soon as we're done.

It'll be a few days.

You know, lieutenant,

You've become something of a role model

to a number of telepaths back home.

Many of them have dreamed of being career military.

You're the first to have a real shot at it.

So you will understand

that we need to be even more strict...

even more thorough, given your position.

Yes, sir. i under-

just try and relax.

No one likes deep scans.

They're painful...

uncomfortable.

Sometimes even embarrassing.

But... necessary.

The well of forever?

Interesting destination.

Sir.

That's duty-related information-

it concerns me

because I'm here while all of it's going on.

So I'm making an exception.

Damn it. You have no right.

Uh...

My job gives me the right.

At the moment,

you would do well to be more concerned

about your job, lieutenant...

because I can see more than a few mistakes

you've made along the way.

Yes...

most disturbing, indeed.

Enter.

What have you done to your quarters?

I made it the right size.

I don't know why everybody else

always makes things huge.

This is the way I like it- nice and small.

Have a seat.

Thank you.

Mmhh!

You've been keeping to yourself since we jumped.

Usually people only worry where i am

because they're afraid their valuables

will disappear.

That's not something that troubles me.

Galen... if you trust me,

why won't you tell me where we're going?

I said- no. You said

that this place holds answers.

That doesn't tell me anything.

Do you think i'm hiding things from you?

Gideon says we all have things to hide.

Does he? How unfortunate.

I was hoping he'd come further than that.

Oh, not that it isn't true, of course.

It's just that one simply doesn't have to say it.

Galen, i would like to believe what you said.

I would love to trust you.

Just give me a reason.

What is this well of forever?

It is a great monument.

It's a place where races through the ages

have brought offerings.

It's a sacred... spiritual place.

And when we find it,

you will have all the answers you require.

You only have to listen...

and ask the right questions.

Matthew was right.

We all have something to hide...

and we all have something to tell.

We all have a secret name.

We all have a question...

one question that unlocks our hearts.

One question that unlocks our hearts.

What is your question, Galen?

Why?

Lieutenant. You all right?

He ripped right through my brain.

He got our destination, everything.

What? Can he do that?

He has discretionary authority

to go anywhere he needs to.

But he didn't need to.

It was a violation of privacy, of-

I'm sorry, captain.

I shouldn't have said anything.

It's not your problem.

We're picking up something on the long-range scanners.

Is it this so-called well of forever?

I don't think so.

I've never seen anything like it before.

Ipx has had some unsubstantiated reports

about life forms spotted out here,

but we've never had any proof.

This is an excellent opportunity.

We'll send out minicams. We'll get closeups.

Not until we finish our scans.

We can't risk having them notice us

if they pose a threat.

They're called the fenn.

They're barely sentient.

Do you know about them?

They're drifters.

They're attracted to bright, shiny objects.

But they lose interest quickly.

They won't do anything if we stop engines

and just drift through them quietly.

You're sure?

Yes, of course.

Stop engines.

Status?

One of the creatures has latched onto us

and is reeling us in.

Galen?

Um, well, they're probably just...

curious, that's all.

Play dead.

What if we're lunch?

I've never heard of them consuming a ship.

I think it's safe to say

that we're not being consumed,

but it's certainly an odd, chewing rhythm.

If it's not eating us, what's it doing?

No, it's not!

It's mating with us?

Well, it's not exactly

The first contact situation that I'd envisioned, but...

I want it off my ship.

I want it off my ship right now.

Navigation, full power to thrusters.

Thrusters?

Look, captain,

you're giving it all the wrong signals.

Engines to full. Pull us away.

Any, uh, damage?

No, sir.

"just drift through them. "

Galen, if that thing has gotten

anything on my ship, I-

looks like he didn't stick around

for the pillow talk.

Captain, the longer we're out here,

the worse things could get.

What if there are more dangerous life forms out here?

It would be a mistake to assume

that there's only one life form in hyperspace.

Based on an ocean model, we might have just seen

the lowest level of the food chain.

So what happened up here?

Oh, nothing major.

Just a few pesky life forms

getting fresh with my ship.

Any sign of our destination?

None.

Scanners are totally dead.

I'm starting to wonder if you're right.

Maybe this was a mistake.

Probably.

But I don't think we should turn back, not yet.

You said that you avoid situations

where you don't know

what you're going to get out of it

or what the consequences are.

What changed that?

Galen says this is important,

that it means something to him.

Look, I don't like having to trust anyone,

because I'm always disappointed,

but just once I'd like to know

that I could actually trust someone,

that for at least one person,

everything wasn't about money or power.

That's a benefit?

For me it could be.

And the consequence?

That we'll die out here, but i'm used to that.

Look, we have no control over when we die,

Only how and why and in what cause.

All right...

I'll give it another day.

I owe Galen that much...

and you, too.

If we don't find it by then,

we turn around and go home.

Yes?

Captain, we'll reach our destination

in a few hours.

Preliminary scans of the area

show nothing there.

Could it be hiding behind

some hyperspace bubble or shielding?

Negative.

Between Galen's flyer and our own enhancements,

we have enough technology

to detect that kind of shielding.

There's nothing there, sir.

Thanks for the bad news.

End.

I was just coming to see you.

Yes. I know. You've just heard

there is nothing at our destination.

Then you know we have to go back now.

I've put my ship and my crew at risk

coming all this way. I can't justify-

I'm afraid going back...

is not an option.

Galen, we have gone out of our way for you.

We have to turn around before we go too far out

and something goes wrong.

I still have control

of the navigational systems through my ship.

What are you saying?

It is impossible for you to change course

until I turn control of the ship

over to you again.

That's mutiny.

The well is here somewhere.

We cannot go back until we find it.

The ship is not entirely

under your control, Matthew.

I am sorry.

Don't you walk away from me!

Why the hell are you doing this?

The well may have shifted in hyperspace

over the years.

My ship will automatically compensate

and plot a new course.

You cannot interfere.

The interface between my ship

and the excalibur is very delicate.

If you tamper with it

before we reach our destination,

we will be lost out here.

I didn't ask you how you screwed me.

I asked you why.

There's that question again.

You agreed to turn around

if there was nothing here.

You deliberately programmed this

in case you were wrong and it wasn't here

so you'd force us to keep looking.

You once told me you considered

the excalibur your family.

You told me that we were the only people

that you trusted.

What could possibly make you betray that?

A promise...

one that I must keep...

no matter the cost.

Galen...

if you take control of my ship,

everything else that you do after today...

you do alone.

It won't be the first time that I have been alone.

Captain, do you have a moment?

Not really.

Then I suggest you make one.

It's about lieutenant Matheson.

I wanted you to know I've completed my scan,

and I found some... gray areas.

Maybe you just found what you wanted to find.

Maybe you're just a little too eager

for that next promotion.

He has used his abilities

to sense emotions

on the part of certain individuals

who have come through here

in the last few months,

caught the random, stray thought.

No serious breaches of conduct,

but enough that he may be recalled

for further questioning and training.

I can't allow that. He's needed here.

He is answerable only to me.

He is answerable to the senate committee

on metasensory abilities first...

above even you, captain.

In anyone else

these would be small enough to overlook,

but lieutenant Matheson has a higher requirement.

That sounds like discrimination to me,

holding one person to a higher standard than the rest?

It is what is.

You cannot fight what is.

Captain, you know the test we've been running,

the one tracing the merge

from Galen's flyer back to his ship?

Well, I tried one last time to breach his defenses,

figuring if I could get in,

we might be able to get back control of our ship.

I was locked out by some kind of manual control.

He shut that down

and then shut everything down.

He knows we were snooping.

Yes, i'm sure he does.

All right, let it go.

We're not gonna get anywhere.

All we can do now is wait.

Captain...

What if we do find something out there?

We'll send out E.V.A. teams and investigate,

whatever it is.

Why, you want to head the expedition?

Listen, if you've never been into hyperspace before,

you should go.

It's amazing.

It's nothing like being in normal space.

I wish I could,

but exposure to hyperspace

increases a telepath's abilities.

The longer the exposure, the greater the effect.

In here the shielding on the ship

helps keep out most of the telepathic boost,

but if I go outside,

even in an E.V.A. suit,

there's no telling what might happen.

I could casually scan all of you

with just a glance.

And since safety precautions

prevent anyone from going into hyperspace alone,

I guess I'll never know what it's like.

I guess there's always a price to pay for something.

Coming up on a dense hyperspace veil, captain.

Ship is beginning to slow.

Retros firing.

We're there.

I felt the ship come to a stop, and no one-

oh, my god.

It's true-something like this in hyperspace.

It's incredible.

Scanner readouts are hazy, but it appears to have

a self-contained atmosphere bubble.

All right, Galen, we found it.

We'll do this slowly.

Stand by to drop probes-

Galen?

Captain... there.

All right, I'm going after him.

The rest of you, stay put.

You can't expect me-

if he tries to leave the bridge, restrain him.

Lieutenant, this is a major discovery.

It can't hurt to run surface scans

while he's out there.

At least find out

about the atmosphere, gravity, temperature...

we'll give him the heads-up...

for his own good.

Where's the captain?

He's down there.

We're just getting initial readouts.

You won't believe this.

Steel, iron, nickel, deuridium hybrid alloys,

all worth millions across known space.

But that's not all.

The entire core is pure, solid quantium 40.

That alone is worth billions

to any jumpgate construction company.

And above that- gold, precious metals,

all veined through those upper strata,

whole caverns of jewels and metals...

it's a treasure trove.

Do you have any idea

what a find like this is worth?

No.

No, it's not a treasure trove,

at least not the way you mean it.

What are you talking about?

Take your eyes off the damn mineral scanner

for half a minute and look at it.

That is not a treasure trove.

It's a mausoleum.

Those caverns and monoliths are gravestones

that mark the passing

of a highly advanced race or culture.

On my world we laid our chieftains to rest

at crossroads, as this is a crossroad,

in burial mounds that resemble these.

The gems, precious metals, and artifacts

were probably left here

by those few who knew how to find this place.

Over the centuries, new grave sites and offerings

buried the older ones, layer after layer of it.

It's a place of glory,

a place of memory...

most of all, a place- a place of good-byes.

Yes. Well, as I said, at the very least,

the find of a lifetime.

Now will you tell me what's going on?

Her name was Isabel...

and she was the best of us.

Every technomage knows the 14 words

that will make someone fall in love with you forever,

but she only needed one.

What word?

"Hello. "

She would sit across from me

on cold nights in the study,

her tiny frame

lost in an enormous overstuffed chair,

her feet curled beneath her.

In my dreams I still remember

the pattern of runes

hand-stitched to the hem of her gown...

even though I never really studied them.

At night when I read alone,

I still hear her sighing

over passages on the pages which troubled her.

We spent the nights in study like that.

Sometimes never saying a word...

and never needing to.

She was your wife?

No. Not in those terms.

It's difficult to explain the kind of relationships

that define our order,

but she was my love...

to the breadth and depth that my soul can reach.

And second to this place,

I was hers.

She spent her life searching for this.

It was her dream, and because I loved her,

it became mine, too.

After I...

lost her,

I devoted my life to finding it.

You put us through all this

just because of a promise to find this place?

Not just to find it.

I promised her that somehow, someday,

whatever the cost...

I would take her here to rest.

If you understand at all,

then you will let me finish it.

Care no more to clothe and eat...

to thee the reed is as the oak.

The scepter, learning, physic must...

all follow this and come to dust.

All lovers young, all lovers must...

consign to thee and come to dust.

Well, naturally,

ipx is going to want a cut of this.

The hell with ipx.

Just because you work for them

doesn't give them the right

to come in and desecrate this place.

Desecrate? Yes, desecrate.

I fully intend to keep the site preserved

in its natural state after we move it

to the russian consortium museum for xenostudies.

Absolutely not.

These are the final resting places

of technomages, wise men, who knows what else?

Whoever-

set course for the last known

hyperspace beacon and turn us away.

What?

If we're just going to leave,

then why did we come here in the first place?

Max, just shut up, all right?

Galen, this was your idea.

You brought us here.

You know how valuable this place is.

Say something.

Good-bye.

Dureena, you busy?

Not terribly.

What?

I've been thinking...

I need someone to do a favor for me,

someone absolutely single-minded.

Well, it's not for me, actually.

For lieutenant Matheson.

Name it.

Captain-

w-w-wait a second. What is it today?

Is my office suddenly grand central station?

I wanted to warn you-

there's a bomb onboard.

Don't be ridiculous.

It's attached to the jump engine,

set to go off any time now.

She's willing to kill all of us

to get revenge for something or other.

And how did you hear about this?

Well, I-

Let me see if I can pick your brain for a change.

You got this from the thoughts of a woman

that you saw in the bullet car.

How could-

her name is Dureena,

and I've never seen anyone focus on revenge and death

as completely as she can when she sets her mind to it.

Lieutenant Matheson told me that you probed part of his mind

to find out where we were going.

A small infraction,

because you had your own reasons for it,

so I figured that you'd have even more reason

to protect your own skin.

You said certain people

should be held to a higher standard?

What is the standard

for a watchman like you, mr. Jones?

Or more to the point, what are the penalties?

You forget about what you saw...

and I'll forget all about this.

Deal?

Sir, we've picked up an open airlock on deck 14.

Should I alert security?

No. That's all right.

Just keep driving.

Beautiful...

I'm leaving again for a while.

I wanted to know if i should bother coming back again.

You hijacked my ship, Galen.

You betrayed my trust.

What higher insult could you pay to a friend?

You didn't even trust me enough

to tell me the truth about why we were going.

If I had, you wouldn't have come.

You don't know that.

Because you didn't trust me enough to tell me,

you never will.

I admit that this is the first time

I have put my private agenda before the mission,

but you did the same.

You only went along with this

because it gave you the chance

to examine the technology of my ship.

You, too, were following your own agenda.

Neither of us can claim altruism today.

5 miles complete.

You saved my life 10 years ago, Galen,

and several times since.

I owe you.

Further, your importance to the mission

far outweighs the offense,

so I'm not gonna put it on the record, but...

it was wrong.

On a certain level, perhaps.

But on a higher one,

I fulfilled a promise.

and I give you another-

I will never again betray your trust.

If I honored one vow,

then you know that I will keep this one.

I carried out her last request,

honored her memory.

If it were you, wouldn't you do the same?

I've already made that promise... times 300.

Have you kept it?

No. Not yet.

Then when the time comes, I will help you keep yours...

as you have helped me keep mine.

Perhaps then we can both forgive ourselves

Our common crime.

What crime?

Being alive.

I am leaving for a while.

You said the well of forever was an open book

full of answers for those who listen.

Well, we were there, Galen.

Where are the answers?

For Max Eilerson, the question was,

"is there anything in all the universe

that I cannot have?"

Download the coordinates of the well

into my personal log...

and download the bridge video records

of this subject.

Unable to comply. technostatic disarray

has erased all of your primary source information.

That answer is being delivered...

clearly and unequivocally.

Lieutenant Matheson,

he would have had his answer, too,

had he gone to the well with Gideon.

Matthew did receive his answer...

but because he was not listening,

he will have to look elsewhere.

What about me?

You...

should learn to be more careful when talking

in front of an open channel to my ship.

look, I don't like having to trust anybody,

because I'm always disappointed,

but just once I'd like to know

that I could actually trust someone,

that for at least one person

everything isn't about money or power.

I think you've received

the answer to your question, Dureena.

Maybe.

But what about your question, Galen?

Did you find your answer to why?

That one...

may take a little longer.