SGU Stargate Universe (2009–2011): Season 1, Episode 5 - Light - full transcript

RUSH: Destiny.
The design is clearly Ancient.

Launched hundreds of thousands
of years ago.

SCOTT: Where the hell are we?

Several billion light years
from home.

We are on a ship, but we have
no idea where we are in relation to Earth.

RUSH: This ship could be the most
important discovery mankind has made

since the Stargate itself.

YOUNG: These are the wrong people
in the wrong place.

SCOTT: I've got a lot of wounded.
We need to get home.

RUSH: We barely have enough
power to operate the main systems.

This ship simply doesn't have
the capability to dial Earth .



Could you please stop people
running around

activating every bloody system
they can get their hands on?

I will.

Our reserves are gone.

All of our power is gone.

Our trajectory has changed.

YOUNG: What are you
talking about, Rush?

Lieutenant, what the hell's
he talking about?

Ronald Greer.

I can't think of a better
way to move on

from this world into the next,
or whatever comes,

than to fly into the most powerful thing
in all creation,

a star.

(CHOKES UP)



Out in a blaze of glory.

I like that.

That's beautiful.

(CROWD CHATTERING)

Everyone here?

All here, sir.

If I could have
your attention?

You've all heard
about our situation.

It sucks.

I'm going to repeat the facts
so that we are all clear.

In just over a day, this
ship will fly into a star.

Now, we have no power
to change its course.

We have no idea how to steer
the ship, even if we did.

We are having
another bad day.

So here's what
we're gonna do.

We have a working shuttle.

We think there are three planets
out there that might be habitable.

Now, we think,

we believe that
it's no coincidence

that Destiny dropped out of
FTL in this solar system,

to give us a chance.

Now, once we know for sure

that there is a planet
out there for us,

we are going to have a lottery.
MAN: What?

We will draw the names
of 15 people...

(CROWD MURMURING)

The shuttle can
hold twice that many.

Not once it's been
loaded up with supplies.

Besides, there's only
life support for 17, max.

You said 15.

I will be choosing
two of the people myself.

Two people with
the necessary skills

to fly the shuttle
and survive on the planet.

Yeah, I bet I can
guess who they are!

MAN 1: Yeah.
MAN 2: Yeah.

I'll be taking my
name out of the lottery.

Anyone who wants to
join me, keep talking.

We're still several hours
away from knowing

if the first two
are even habitable,

so I suggest you all go back to
your quarters and wait it out.

That's all I have for now.

(CROWD MURMURING)

What?

You should pick everyone
who goes on that shuttle.

It's the responsible thing
to do.

And you should
include yourself.

If they're going to survive,
they'll need leadership.

And an HR lady,
I'm guessing.

I am not above that. I would
want you to consider me, yes.

I would want you
to consider everyone

who could contribute
to their survival.

I think you should do your job and
make the choices you need to make.

It wouldn't be very fair.

It would be more unfair
to send the wrong people...

We're all the wrong people!

These are the wrong people.

That's up to you.

Wow.

Okay.

Okay, who goes?

Other than you
and me, I mean,

or haven't you given it
much thought?

We can come up
with a short list.

Factor in skills and strengths to
increase their chances of surviving.

Take age and sex
into consideration...

How about just
the people we like?

That's not what I'm saying...
You need to leave.

Handpicking just two of them
is a cop-out, and you know it.

And by that I
mean get out now...

The responsible
thing to do is...

or I'm going to take your
name out of the lottery.

I may just anyway.

Please don't.

Eli! God, you didn't
even set your alarm.

Eli!

I don't have time for this.

I thought you had
an interview today.

They canceled.
I was up all night.

Playing those stupid games.

They canceled,
or you canceled?

Seriously, Mom,
it's not my skill set.

Nothing is.

I'm late.
We'll talk about it later.

Damn it.

I'm just hoping to find a
planet, grow some food.

Not that I know
a damn thing about farming.

You sound pretty
sure we're both going.

Yeah.

Yeah, maybe I am.

Has he told you we're
the two he's picked?

No, it's just obvious.
How?

There's only two qualified pilots
on this ship, me and the Colonel.

He took himself out, so... Yeah,
well, that explains you. Why me?

Come on, Chloe, he has to pick you.
Why?

You're the daughter
of a U.S. senator.

He's probably
been ordered to.

Being a senator's daughter isn't going
to help anyone survive on that planet.

And I think the Colonel's the kind
of man who makes his own decisions.

I'm not one
of the two, Matt.

At least, I shouldn't be.

I don't even know
if I want to be.

Don't say that.

There's still a chance that
I'll get chosen in the lottery,

but if I don't,
I want you to know that

I have probably felt closer
to you in these past few days

than I have ever
felt to anybody.

So if this is goodbye...
It's not.

It might be.

I'm glad he's
going to pick you.

I want you there.

Yeah, well...

What are the odds?
One in five, one in six?

Something like that.

Well, we'll see.

So how are you going to
get the thing off the ship?

With the remote,
when the shuttle takes off.

We might even get one
last look at the Destiny

from the outside before it
gets out of range. So...

What are you guys
doing here?

We heard about your
message in a bottle.

It started out as
a documentary, actually.

Well, we want to be
part of it.

Figured you'd be busy.

Eli, you realize the odds of
anybody finding a Kino out here...

Probably nil, I know.
Let's do it anyway.

Let's do something.

Let's leave something
of ourselves behind.

(SIGHS HEAVILY)

So who's first?

So, I... Okay. I'm Chloe Armstrong.
I'm 23,

and I just want to say
that my father gave his life

so that all of us could survive
another day, and we did.

(CHUCKLES WRYLY)

Another day.

Sorry, you radioed me?

Uh, yes, um...

The first planet
is too cold.

Frozen methane.

The second is too hot.

The third,

well, that happens to be
behind the star at the moment.

Too far away to
determine habitability.

When will we know?

It doesn't matter.
We don't have any choice.

We're gonna have to launch the shuttle
before we can get close enough.

The odds are good, though.

Its orbit is in
between the other two.

The Goldilocks Zone,
they call it.

Not too hot
and not too cold.

Yes. Just right.

What if we used the engines from the
shuttle to push the Destiny off course?

That's a good thought,

but I'm afraid I've
already run the numbers,

and without getting into delta-V,
into thrust-to-weight ratios, then...

Not a chance.
No.

Well, when do we
launch the shuttle?

We could wait a few more
hours, but the extra time,

I don't think it's
going to give us any

more information than
we already have.

When the shuttle's
loaded, then.

Colonel Young.

If, by chance, you were thinking
of choosing me as one of the two,

please don't.

Why?

This ship...

Coming here was my destiny.

My life's work was to be here,

not trying to survive
on some rock

with a bunch of strangers.

In fact, you can take my name
off the lottery altogether.

Look, Rush, I realize I should've
listened to you sooner.

No, no, I wasn't myself.

Still, you were right.

It really wouldn't have
made any difference.

Do you mind if I ask you who
you are going to choose?

Lieutenants Scott
and Johansen.

I would've thought Scott and Greer.
Yesterday's heroes.

I've got my fingers
crossed for Greer.

Well, you could
easily arrange that.

You mean fix the lottery?
Yes.

No.

There'll be those
who'll think you did anyway.

My name is Camile Wray.

My age is none of
your business, Eli.

If, um...

If anyone finds this within the
next, I don't know, 40 years,

tell Sharon that

my last thoughts
were of her.

The names of every
person in this room

are written down on one
of these pieces of paper.

Dr. Rush and I have chosen
to exclude ourselves.

If anyone else feels the same way,
now would be the time to speak up.

If your name is chosen, you are
to go directly up these stairs

to the shuttle, where you
will be met by the two people

that I have already chosen.

(COCKING WEAPON)

YOUNG: Lieutenant Scott
has pilot training,

and T.J .'s skills as a medic
will be essential on the planet.

If your name is not chosen,

you are to remain here until I
receive word the 15 are aboard

and the shuttle's
rear hatch is secure.

Does anyone have
anything to say?

Airman Becker.

Go.

David Walters.

Camile Wray.

Lieutenant James.

Dr. Park.

Take a seat and strap in.
Yes, sir.

(PANTING)

(SOBBING)

Mr. Brody.

Sergeant Riley.

And Dr. Boone.

(CROWD MURMURING)

That's 15.
We're done here.

You can fit more
people on that thing.

Spencer,
I need you to shut up.

Come on, people! If we don't do
something right now, we're done!

MAN: He's right, we gotta
do something . We gotta...

(CROWD GASPS)

Now, I don't want to have
to do that to anybody else,

but I will.

That's it.

Full count.

(SIGHS HEAVILY)

This is Scott.
Everyone's aboard.

Rear hatch is secure.

Give yourself a 60-second
countdown, Lieutenant.

Some of us would
like to see you off.

SCOTT: Copy that.

We're releasing
the docking clamps.

(BEEPING)

The Kino's
sending back pictures.

This is Scott. We're away.

You're looking good,
Lieutenant.

I expect we'll be
out of radio range

by the time we fire
up the main drive,

so we'll be thinking of you guys.
You, too, brother.

You, too.

Matthew, T.J.,

take good care
of those people.

There it is.

That's the Destiny?

Thank you, Eli.

I never thought I'd get the chance
to see the ship from the outside.

You know what? I think
I'm gonna go for a walk.

How does that sound,
Sergeant?

Sounds like a plan, sir.

I shall be in my quarters
for the duration.

I have 100 pages of a truly
mediocre book to finish.

(CLEARS THROAT)
Eli, I, uh...

I'm sorry I got you
involved in this.

Actually, I'm not.

(CHUCKLES) Yet.

I'll probably be sorry
at the end of the day, but...

We don't have
that long, do we?

No.

How will it happen?

Well, there will be turbulence
from the solar wind,

far worse than what we've
previously experienced.

Heat, obviously,

and intense G-forces.

I suspect the ship will be torn apart
long before we reach the star.

Hopefully,
it will be quick.

YOUNG: And while I don't
condone behavior of that kind

in any way, shape,
or form, I gotta say,

the look on Telford's face when
you put him down was priceless.

Complete and total shock.

(GREER CHUCKLES)
He was surprised, yes, sir.

I guess you can say
you even got away with it.

I'm just, uh...

Sorry that I...

That I disappointed you, sir.

You're a good man,
Sergeant. I know that.

Besides, the bastard
had it coming.

Yes, sir, he did.

(BOTH LAUGH)

So long.

At ease, Ronald.

ELI: Okay, Colonel, just go
whenever you're ready.

Yeah, no, no, I got it, I just, uh...
Can you just wait outside, Eli? Thanks.

Hi, Emily, I just, um...

I just wanted to say...

Well, you know. You know.

Where is everybody?

All the fun people
are here.

ALL: Our Father,
who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day
our daily bread.

And forgive us
our trespasses,

as we forgive those
who trespass against us.

And lead us not
into temptation...

(VIOLIN MUSIC PLAYING)

What?

Nothing, I just... I realized
it was past midnight.

Does that mean
they've gone into the sun?

No. No, no, no.
No, nothing like that.

It's his birthday.
That's all he means.

Happy birthday.

Thanks.

Mr. Brody, would you
come up here for a second?

I need you to confirm a
spectrographic analysis for me.

Oxygen, nitrogen,
liquid water.

Only trace levels of CO2.

What?

It means there won't
be much vegetation.

Also means that the
thermometer won't

be spending much time
above zero, either.

But we can survive, right?

Yeah . It'll be great.

(BREATHES HEAVILY)

(LAUGHS)

(LAUGHING)

Yes!

Uh, what are we
so happy about?

We're gonna live, Eli.

What about the turbulence
and the heat and the death?

No. All of that would
have happened by now.

The shield is protecting us. But
you said we were out of power.

I was absolutely
certain of that,

and I have never been more pleased
to be wrong in all my life.

The lights just came
back on in my room.

What's going on?

YOUNG: Stand by.

Colonel!

You're right! The systems are coming
back online all over the ship.

There's a rumor spreading
we're still here.

We are.

Destiny needed all
its power reserves

to protect itself, and us...
Uh, guys?

We're in the star.

That can't be right. We're
talking thousands of degrees.

RUSH: Well, we've just flown through
the corona, which is even hotter,

to say nothing of magnetic
fields, gravitational stresses.

This is what Destiny intended from the
moment it entered the star system.

You're telling me it flew
into the sun on purpose?

Yes.
Why?

To replenish its reserves.

You're telling me this ship...
This ship

is powered by
the stars themselves.

Solar powered,
quite literally.

There is no other
explanation.

(CONSOLE BEEPS)

The engine just came back on.
We're pulling out of it!

The shuttle.
We gotta call them back.

We haven't accessed
communications yet.

I'm working on it.

Well, if you don't figure it
out before we go into FTL...

Plenty of time. We can't
strand those people here.

Well, this would be an excellent
time for you to trust me

to solve this problem.

Okay, I'm gonna put
us in a high orbit,

spend a little time looking around for
the best spot before we put down.

They're gone.

You know, I can't help but think
maybe they're the lucky ones.

Don't, T.J.
The planet is a rock.

I said stop it.

All right, here we go.

This is Young, come in.

BRODY: Right there,
right there!

This, this is Scott.
Sir, how the hell...

We're just as surprised
as you are, Lieutenant.

I'll explain later.

You need to get your ass
back aboard this ship.

(ALL EXCLAIMIN DELIGHT)

Look, there it is!

Will do. Scott out!
Everybody hear that?

Yes!

We have a visual
of you, Destiny.

Plotting an
intercept course now.

(ALARM BUZZES)

Uh, Colonel, stand by.
Brody, come here.

What is it?
I don't know yet.

Am I reading this right?

BRODY: You gotta
be kidding me.

We're so close, you can almost touch it.
It's right there!

What's going on,
Lieutenant?

The Destiny is
accelerating away from us.

We can't match it.

Colonel, we have a problem here.
What is it?

We can see you, but the shuttle's
computer cannot come up with

an intercept solution. Destiny
is accelerating too fast.

I'm trying to put something
in manually here,

but there's no way to cross the "T," sir.
We're gonna fall short.

You're on full power, yes?

I put the throttle up
right away.

It's just not
going to be enough.

ELI: You must have
afterburners or something...

It's not an F-16, Eli!
It's a spaceship.

Is there anything we
can do from this end?

Is there any way to
slow the Destiny down?

That would do it.

Negative.

Uh, we're out of ideas here.

Come on, guys.

Come on.

Lieutenant,

I want you to turn and head
directly towards the planet.

We'll send you the exact
course in a moment.

SCOTT: No, no, no, no, no.
The planet is a rock.

We'd rather take
our chances trying...

Do what I'm saying, Lieutenant.
We don't have much time.

In order to reach the star,

Destiny used an aerobraking
maneuver to slow down.

I'm suggesting Lieutenant Scott
perform a slingshot maneuver

around the planet
to do exactly the opposite.

A gravity boost
to speed up.

RUSH: It should put Destiny
directly in our path.

We're all aboard
with that idea, Doctor.

Just give me
the course and speed.

This planet's getting pretty
big in the windows here.

One moment.

I got it.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Eli, there's many
variables here. Are you sure about this?

Math Boy.

Send it.

Okay, Math Boy.

Sending the new course now.

Is this going to work?

It's gonna be close.

Got it. All right,
everybody, hang on again.

That's them.

Why am I watching this
on TV?

Okay, we're only going
to get one shot at this.

Wish it wasn't
the first time I tried it.

There they are.

You've got us lined up.

You're doing fine.
No, he isn't.

We're coming up
on them too fast.

Lieutenant, our relative
velocity is too great.

Unless you can match our speed,
you're gonna crash into the ship.

This is all we've got.

It's coming up pretty fast on us!
I know, I know, I know.

We have to come left!

A little this way,
Lieutenant.

What we need is more speed.

Fire maneuvering thrusters.

That might just
make the difference.

Right.

(RUMBLING CRASH)

Main engines off.

Uh, thrusters off.

Docking clamps engaged.

We're still in one piece!

Well done.

We're on our way down.

(CREW CHATTERING)

(LAUGHING)

YOUNG: You just said it was like an arm.
That's what you said.

But I'm dead serious about it.
It was like...

That was the worst shuttle docking
I have ever seen in my life.

What are you talking about?
I barely even dented it!

The grinding noise!

At the very least, there is a
giant scrape along the bottom.

I'm gonna make you put on a space
suit, go out there, fix it right now.

Sergeant, we're gonna
need some of that

high-temperature spaceship
paint for Scott here.

Yes, sir.
I believe I've found some.

(ALL LAUGHING)

Dr. Rush, have a seat.

These two have
even showered.

No, thanks. Come on,
we should celebrate.

Celebrate what? That we're
back where we started?

Come on, have a seat, Rush.

Some other time.
All right, well, Becker,

give him a double ration.
He deserves it.

Why's that, then?

I'm in a good mood.

We're to be rewarded
at your whim, then?

No, no... Just stop.

What, you want some reasons?
I'll... I'll give you three.

You were right about
the power situation.

Not really.

You figured out the subspace
communications, how to call the shuttle.

We needed to get
those supplies back.

You took your name
out of the lottery.

So did you.

I was injured. You
actually made a sacrifice.

Unless you knew

that the Destiny was
gonna make it all along.

Cheers, everyone.

Let it go, sir.

He didn't know.
I saw his face.

There's no way.
No.

What if he did?

He's right, sir.
Let it go.

A lot of work.