Andromeda (2000–2005): Season 5, Episode 16 - Saving Light from a Black Sun - full transcript

This is Virgil Vox
on the box, soothing your
Seefran souls as we wait...

wait... wait...

for the demi-century
Festival of the Darkening,

When Methus-2 goes out.

For how long?

The usual hour?

Long enough for me to get
a look inside, I hope.

Or this time,
as we all fear, will it stay
dark forever?

Not if I can figure out
what makes it blink.

You there, boss?
You still in range?

Not for long, Mr. Harper.



The second that sun goes dark,
we are going in.

I'm back.

I'll make it fast. Here she is,
and she's got it.

Plucked straight from the altar
to our altar.

Dylan: You're referring to
the carbon block, I hope?

Yeah, and this
had better be good.

The minute those paranoid
zealots find out that their
ceremonial rock is missing...

It's worth it.
It's worth it.

You ever hear of an old thief
named Horace Fry?

Yeah.

Lifted terma diamondoids.

Did 20 years in stir, ended up
on some backwater drift,
tending to his tropical fish.

Mm-hmm, but what happened
to the diamondoids?

Hmm, nobody knows for sure.



He ditched them in the
Chayson Drift just before
he got caught.

Bits of them scattered
over a hundred light years,
probably.

Horace knew.

Federales never found the swag.

Even put the eels to
old Mrs. Fry. Tough lady.

She kept her lips sealed
to the last convulsion.

Fry left the swag in orbit,

before he busted out
to the drift.

Twenty five year decay rate...

terma was waiting for him
when he got out.

Smart...but he knew the law
would be looking for that.

So, he hid the goods
in plain sight.

He sewed the diamondoids
into his fish.

Precisely.

Finger marlins.
They live 40 years.
Much better decay rate.

Dylan: Harper, you said
this would be fast.

I'm going as fast as I can.
I'm making sure we're all
on the same page, boss.

You figure it out yet?

It's... black.
It's solid. It's carbon.

It's a filing cabinet.

Yes. I can see that.

All right.

We've got an artificial star
with a terminal case
of the blinks, right?

Beka, Harper thinks the block
contains information about
Methus-2.

Yeah, but the Vedrans never left
any information about the system
in the archives. I checked.

Ah, but did you check
a dusty old paperweight?

Made of ultragrade
carbon nanofibers?

Beka, behold
the Vedran finger marlin.

Go fish.

The Vedrans bound bits of
information to carbon atoms
inside this block.

I figured out how to break
those bonds and access
the diagrams...

structural design information
For the entire system!

I see. You're going
to apply heat.

Ain't no flies on you, Beka.

Boss, do I have your permission
to begin potentially damaging
extraction of said information?

It's either now or 50 years from
now when Methus-2 blinks off
again.

That's assuming you're
finished with your story.

I thought you'd say that.

Light your
lanterns, gentle folk.

Methus-2's horn of darkness
approaches...

After a 50-

That's a good look for you.

Uh...

God bless you, Horace Fry.

Huh? Who's laughing now?

You've got a little, uh...

Never mind.

I'm going to take that
explosion as good news,
because we're going in.

Rhade, Trance,
ready slipfighter.

We're clear.

Be careful, Rhade.

What fun would that be?

Okay, let's go where
the sun doesn't shine.

The universe
is a dangerous place,

but in our future,
my crew and I
fight to make it safe.

I am Dylan Hunt, Captain
of the Andromeda Ascendant,

and these are our adventures.

The festival of the darkening.

Believers and non-believers,
behold.

Dylan, Rhade, and Trance
went to Methus-2 without
seeing this?

Aw, geez, do I have to
explain everything every
time we do something?

All right.

By the time they hauled
this thing out for the local
fear festival,

Dylan had already known for
weeks about this once every
50 year blackout,

And that he'd only have an hour
from the second it got dark

to get inside and look around,
so he went, on pure instinct.

Pure guts.

That's Dylan.

Yeah, however, pure brilliance
led me to deduce that there's
more to this carbon block

than meets the eye.

It contains a maintenance code
I can use to keep the sun down
longer.

How long?
Three hours.

He'll have three hours inside,
safe, guaranteed.

Provided there are no surprises.

Please don't bite the hand
that solders you.

I've wiped way too many of your
guarantees off my boots, Harper.

Fine. Don't believe me.
Believe the Vedrans.

It's their maintenance code,
their diagrams.

Apparently they wrote the block
on this stuff.

I see.

So the furnace is on the fritz
because Methus-2 hasn't
seen a fix-It crew in while.

Yes. Transmitting the code,
in layman's terms,

reduces the sun's luminosity
to absolute blackness,

Opening a portal which in
this case is already open.

Inside, between
the mantle and the core,

there's enough free space
for a million Andromedas,

and you should have more than
enough time to repair
the damage.

We don't even know the extent
of the damage. What if we need
more downtime?

You won't,
because there isn't any.

Keeping the sun down any longer
could cause catastrophic weather
conditions

throughout the system.

That's why they built the
three-hour failsafe.

Besides, how long
do you need?

You get in, find Dylan,
kick out the boiler,

and be home in time
to give me a massage.

There is nothing in the
Methus diagrams about
a maintenance code.

The information I'm getting
from this rock is solid.

It is not this block
I have concerns about, Harper.

Actually, Beka, he's right.

The Vedrans designed this
system as one immense roadblock
to stop the rogue sun,

and save this planet.

If Methus-2 is broken,
the mechanism fails-

Thank you. And we
are macrocosmic roadkill.

We have no choice
but to follow Dylan.

Not yet.

Harper's not quite finished
feeding out the rope.

I was getting to it.

There is a catch.
There always is.

The Vedrans used
the same architecture
inside the sun's core

that they used inside
all their spaceships.

So passages are going
to look familiar, very familiar,
over and over again.

The whole thing's probably
designed to lure intruders away
from their true path

to the fusion reactor,

So pay attention.

We could be walking around in
circles until the sun ignites.

Now, we can go hang ourselves.

Uh-uh.
Got you something.

Now you can go hang yourselves.

I uploaded
the Methus-2 designs
Into Doyle's neuronnet.

Did you want us
to miss you?

I don't hold false hopes.

Just following the boss
and Trance's orders.

Besides, don't cry about it.

At least this way, you'll be
able to know where you're going.

You wanted Harper
to stay behind?

Well, it felt like
the right thing to do.

You know, in case
there's a problem.

Well, it's in case
you need a rescue. Besides,
the Seefrans aren't tech savvy.

They'll need Harper's help
to get some other plan
o save the system.

Not that you will need rescue,
by the way. I looked it all over
twice.

You're not going to hit
any snags or any tangles
of any sort.

I promise. You'll be fine.

That's brave talk for a guy
whose butt is shining
a bar stool.

Communication gets tougher
the closer you get to the core,

So I'll be acting as your
conduit to Harper.

Okay.

We're on our way
to find the core.

Good, 'cause the one thing
you need to worry about is time.

So keep your eyes
on the minutes.

We'll be doing that,
Mr. Harper.

Just make sure there's
free gwaro when we get back.

Free?
Half price.

For the first round.

Yeah, I'll pretend
I didn't hear that.

Well, then,
let me spell it out for you.

I got a "bidnes" to run,
spelled B-I-D-N-E-S.

The girls in the back,
they're giving me a hard time-

Now, if I could only make
sense of this place.

Rhade?

I get this very strong feeling
that Dylan has invested all
of our hopes in this mission.

He's just like every other exile
thrown down this hole.

He wants to survive.

If there's still a Commonwealth,
I want to find a way back.
So does he.

When hope fills us up,
we're easy to deceive.

I'm afraid we might
miss what's obvious.

I don't miss much. That's how
I've survived this long.

No. You've already
missed something.

I don't think that this star
is some broken machine.

Something alive
is inside the core.

Or it's at least an expression
of some entity's life force.

Couldn't wait for us, huh?

Well, I had to get the party
started. There's still two hours
and five minutes to burn.

What route did
Rhade and Trance take?

Through a portal
at the core's south pole.
You guys take the north.

Splitting up doubles the risk.

Yeah, but it also
doubles our chances of
finding the reactor.

Look, whoever gets there first
will make repairs.

Other team will harvest
deuterium fuel for Andromeda.

Seems
counterproductive to steal fuel
from a dying star.

If no one can make repairs,
at least we'll get out with
the ship at full power.

Oh, uh, when I say it's time
to get out, get out.

I'll be coming fast.

You won't have to say
that twice. Going in.

Good luck.

Rhade, Beka and Doyle
are inside the core at
the north portal.

Dylan, change frequencies.

He'll come through again.
It's this place.

Some spots are more
open than others.

And I suppose that's
determined by the life
force you sensed in here?

Can't tell yet
if it's friend or foe?

Well, maybe it's both...
in the same body.

Hey!

I'm leaning towards "foe."

Dylan, we've got problems.

Suddenly, the doors have legs.

Doyle, dig through the
diagrams for a pattern.

See if there's any part of the
configuration that leads
to the fusion chamber.

The core's designs refer to its
ability to change its internal
configuration.

Which means our map
is useless?

Rhade? Trance?

Rhade?

Damn it!

Dylan?

Dylan!

Clock is ticking.

One hour and
fifty three minutes.

Time for intuition
to lead the way.

Rhade, I have a feeling
something bad is coming.

I could use a hint.

Dylan?

Andromeda?

No.

This can't be happening.

No, no, no. No!

No, no...

No, no, no!
This can't be happening! No!

I promised them.
I promised them...

Seefra to Dylan?

Seefra to Dylan.
Come in, Dylan.

I never asked for any of you
to come back, you know.

Maybe I did a little at first,
but... I got by.

I got by.

I made me a beauty.

Fabricated some freaks.

I did what I had to do
to stay alive in this sinkhole.

Stinkhole!

Three years...

But I was going to find
my own way out.

No Andromeda.

No Rommie.

No promises.

I didn't ask for any of you.

I didn't need any of you,
and even if I did...

I never expected an answer.

You...

You lied to me.

Uh-huh.

You made me believe
they'd be safe.

What's that?
You want a little drinky?

Okay.

Ah!

It's the Andromeda.
This is real time.

But... but how?

If the mantle were strong enough
to protect the core from a short
burst, then...

they wouldn't fry.

They'd be okay.

They'd be alive!

They're alive?
Ha! They're alive!

They're alive!

For now, anyway.

The sun flashed.

Just not enough to vaporize you.

Gear's fried.

Without the hand comm,
we can't tell how much time
we have left.

Roughly 72 minutes, 42 seconds?

"Roughly."

Ah...

Here's the next question.
Our location.

How far we are from the chamber?

I got nothin'.

Oh, I'm sure you have a feeling.

This is going to sound strange.

Sometimes I'm not where
I am, and sometimes I am
where I'm not.

Here's the only thing
that scares me-

Is that you understand me...
kind of?

Kind of.

Wish I did.

You do.

Trance.

Would you like some company?

What's up ahead,
what we're all looking for?

I'm the only one
who knows the way.

No matter what,
you must follow me.

I'm your shadow.

Doyle?

Doyle!

Crap.

Hey.

Doyle, spark it up.

I don't want to leave you here.

Uh...

I'm sorry, Beka.

Trance, is that you?
Are you okay?

I brought us to Seefra.

Hey, are you with Dylan?
I need help.

Doyle's shut down.

All those months
you spent alone,

Drifting...
Starving...

Hey, look, you've got to tell
Dylan we couldn't find
any fuel storage.

Where would you be without me?

Where would you be
if I were someone else?

Trance... without you,
the rest of us would be dead.

Death is just a matter of time.

Trance?

Where the hell are you going?
I need help with Doyle.

Trance?

Wait. How much time
do we have left?

Trance? Trance!

Crap!

Your hand comm
is working.

Rhade, we've had
no luck reaching Harper.

Well, I guess
we found a safe spot.

For now.

Dylan, we've lost contact
With Beka and Doyle.

Did the Andromeda
sustain any damage?

None.

About the only good news
on a really bad day.

I hate to admit it,
but I was actually looking
forward to this.

What, burning to a cinder?

A concrete objective,
like the old days.

Shooting up bipedal lizards.

Rescuing exotic women,
accepting their sighs as
gratitude.

No riddles
or paradine puzzles.

And look what we get...
trapped in a maze.

Well, the only thing
we know is that we're
running out of time.

There's no
hard time on Seefra.

There is in here.

Maybe...

for one of us.

Promise you'll remember
what I said?

I fail without you?

Exactly.

Damn it!

Trance!

Dylan, I've been cut off
from Trance.

Understood.

Andromeda, run the
Methus-2 diagrams.

Cross-Reference it with all
Vedran ship designs from
Commonwealth years CY4279.

To CY9785.

Captain,
what are we looking for?

Initial operating systems.

And luck.

The festival of the darkening.

Dance, you fools, dance.

Trance!

Dylan, I'm going to need
something to break through.

Damn it!

That sounded promising.

A piece of the wall
just broke and shattered.

It's a strange metal.

Yeah, it's, uh,
it's not metal.

The core...

This whole structure
Is made from carbon.

Keep moving, Rhade.
You're close.

The flash...

you used the star's
energy to appear.

But you're the only one I sense.
Where are the rest of us?

Where we are,
when we are...

nothing but lies
told by the senses.

I prefer the lies of
living senses to your
idea of the truth.

There is no room for
dissension within the nebula.

All must be one.

That is not an arbitrary law,
Trance Gemini.

It is the state of existence.

No bodies. No borders.

Only eternal, undivided essence.

Don't you hear how
foolish you sound?

If all of us are one,

yet I can reject
the will of the nebula,

then your belief is the lie.

For every choice,
there is a consequence.

Yours is waiting.

The only path
still open to you.

Then I'm already trapped.

Doyle, can you hear me?

Doyle!

Aw, crap.

Dylan?

Dylan, come in.

Rhade?

It breaks.

Okay, wait.
That'd be a very bad idea.

No sense incinerating
myself before my time.

Dylan!

I've found Trance.

Rhade, say again.
Comm link is breaking.

Trance!

She said to follow.

Andromeda, show the last
locations of the crew.

Searching.

I have them, Captain.

Time to go.

Beka, is that you
making all that racket?

Hell, yes!

Are you hurt?

No, but I have discovered
I'm a girl who does not like
to be trapped.

So you left me here,
out of juice, defenseless.

Serves you right
you got trapped.

Left you behind?
I was chasing Trance.
She abandoned us both.

Sure, the synthetic's not worth
a believable lie.

I am not lying, damn it!

How much time do we have?

Not much. Stand back.

Wow.

Thanks.

You're welcome.

This is carbon.

I know. It's a gas can.
Let's go.

Rhade? Beka?

If anyone can read me,
I am on my way in.

The Vedrans used an ancient
technology called
Hydride Containment.

They made the walls
with carbon nanofibers.

All the deuterium is bound
to the carbon atoms.

Highly stable, and given the
size of the core,

there's enough heavy
hydrogen here to power
a dozen Methus-2's.

Well, what now?

Contact the others.

Rhade?

Where are you, Beka?

Inside a gas tank,
and so are you.

And so am I.
I'm way ahead of you.

Get to the Maru.

Use the engines to heat
a section of the core

and release the deuterium
we need for Andromeda.

But, Dylan, we won't have
time to search for the fusion
chamber.

Look, I want you and Doyle
onboard Andromeda and
ready to bolt

with 10 minutes left
on the clock.

On our way.

Hey, Rhade.

Dylan?

How the hell'd you get here?

I guessed that the defense
mechanism in the maze

would employ the same
pattern as other Vedran
operating systems.

You guessed?

Didn't I tell you we were
going to get lucky?

You did.

The fusion chamber.

Here's the problem.

We're screwed.

Diagnostic says the lines
running to and from the
chamber are clear.

There's no blockages to
the fuel or heat transfer.

That can't be.

Adventures were much more
fun when it was just bad guys
lining up,

letting us shoot them.

Yeah, no glory in having
to think for a living.

All right,
let's figure this thing out.

Heat goes out
to free deuterium.

Fuel flows back here to
feed the fusion reaction.

Vedrans like to play
"hide in plain sight."

That fish tank is the furnace.

And it's in real bad need
of a cleaning.

Once we're out, divert all fuel
to the main engines. Run them
in the red.

There's a pop-off vent in the
core's surface 30 degrees
from this portal.

Great. Plot the location
into the nav net.

How are we doing on time?

You really want to know?

What I really want is a nap.

You said "on the ship
and ready to ride with
10 minutes to burn."

Fourteen minutes.
Window's closing.

Let's see what you and
I can do in four minutes.

Sealed the cargo hold
and purged the interior.

Storage available for
700 cubic liters of
compressed deuterium.

Firing thrusters
and counter-thrusters.

Let's get hot.

That's right. Drink it up.

We're already at thirty percent
capacity. This is great.

I spoke too soon, didn't I?

Yeah.
The engines have locked up.

Can you unlock them?

No, I don't think so,
but we can continue
collecting the gas.

Comm's fried.

Don't worry.
Dylan will be here.

He said he would be.

No, this says the lines are
clear.

So why would the heat source
run so far below ideal capacity?

Radiant outflow
must be blocked.

Then let's run a snake
through the drains.

Hey, even pulsing
at half capacity.

This boiler is pumping
billions of lumens.

If it hasn't cleared the
blockage, what will?

Maybe a burst at 10 times
normal output will.

Have you ever heard
of overkill?

Ever hear of last resorts?

Look, we survived one flare.
I'll take those odds.

Once you've primed the pump,
we'd better duck, tuck,
and roll.

Get ready to duck, tuck,
and roll.

Why do you worry?

Not for myself.

Your friends will be saved.

Tarn Vedra will remain
outside of the cataclysm.

A paradise for the millions
fortunate enough to
live in this system.

What about the trillions
of lives that will end

when the abyss dissolves
the three galaxies?

Why does the nebula
turn its back on them?

And why should I?

There are no beings.

No such thing as lives
for them to lead.

The only real thing is the
energy that fuels them,

and energy can never die.

Then I will live to stop you.

Trance?

Trance.

When the clock starts winding
down, it's going to get very hot
in here...

permanently.

Well, then, we'd better
outrun our shadows.

Beka and Doyle are stalled
on the core's surface.

Open a channel.

The Maru's
communications are down.

All right. Let's go get them.

They're still gathering fuel.

Readings indicate that
Doyle and Beka are
still onboard.

The Maru's engines
must have seized.

T-minus
one minute forty seconds
to solar ignition.

My priority is the matriarch...

but there's barely enough
time to make the portal and
save ourselves,

let alone anyone else.

I'm not leaving anyone behind.

Now what?

Well, we're going to give
them a tow, and we're going
to make it quick.

But we don't have...

Time is relative.

Andromeda, bucky cables, now.

Cables.

Cables secure.

Bring 'em in.

Be gentle with us, guys.
Right now, we're a hydrogen
hand grenade.

T-minus
10 seconds to solar ignition.

All right. Get us out of here.
Feel free to get a push from
the solar wind if you have to.

Guys? Guys?

Talk to me.
Let me know you're alive.

Insult me, for crying out loud.

You're short, and
you throw like a girl.

Yes! Thank you.

Methus-2 is at full capacity
for the first time since we
don't know when.

Tap a keg, Mr. Harper.

Make it a dozen,
and invite some ladies.

The friendly kind.

The friendly kind?

Rhade, I thought you only liked
the kind with mustaches.

"Throw like a girl."

You saved millions
of lives today,

And you've given us a fighting
chance to escape this system.

It feels like
we're free already.

Trance, in matters
of time and place,

and, of course, life and death,

I'll never doubt your intuition.

I already knew that.

I had a feeling it was obvious.

Welcome back, ladies.

It's good to be back.

Hey, thanks for the lift.

Dylan.

Beka.

Hey, thanks
for getting that fuel.

Dylan, I think you should know
about something that happened
on Methus-2,

just after it flashed?

I saw Trance.

She spoke to me.

But she definitely
wasn't herself.

I mean, Doyle was damaged,
I needed help,

and suddenly Trance becomes
this mysterious cloaked figure

who shuts up and walks away.

She was wearing a cloak?

Yeah, and, Dylan...

I think she deliberately
lured me into a trap.

I mean, if Doyle hadn't
rebooted, I'd be a cloud
of gas right now.

Come on, Beka.
We both know Trance
isn't capable of betrayal.

Really?

Then who was with me
inside the sun?