Air Date: April 13, 2001
Written by Steve Worland
Directed by Peter Andrikidis
Transcript by Xenajules2
Edited and put on-line by Bluey
Episode 3.05 - Different Destinations
PROLOGUE
The scene opens with Moya orbiting a planet. We zoom to an aerial view of a rocky cliff with very old buildings and walls atop it. We hear John's voice:
"Check this out. This memorial rocks! They've designed these goggles so you can look back into the past at the old monastery. Come on. Check it out!"
John and D'Argo are walking around inside a courtyard in the old building. Blue banners are hanging from the walls. We see bushes, trees and vines. In the center of the courtyard is a circular monument. Stark is sitting in the background, looking dejected.
D'Argo: "John, what are you talking about? There is nothing here."
John: "You have to put the goggles on. Come on. Take a look."
D'Argo: "Put the goggles on. Do you want me to look?"
John: "Yes. Through the googles." John has put a pair over his eyes. D'Argo puts on the goggles - they are silver and cover his whole face. Over one eye is a lense like a camera.
D'Argo breathes: "Oh, my."
We see shimmering, then a view, in sepia, of aliens with strange masks on and one alien with facial hair and no mask. He looks a little like a cat or a lion.
John: "Pretty cool, huh?"
D'Argo: "Incredible."
John: "This sucker is a tear in time. It links to the past. It looks back to the actual moment when the event occurred"
We see this alien walk up to the women in the view and take the hands of one of them. The women are wearing clothes much like habits, with white cloths on their heads. One of them appears to be a child.
John: "Now, check it out. This is the nurses surrendering to the venik horde."
D'Argo: "Can they see us?"
John: "I hope not. Keep watching. You'll... you'll see the final attack on the monastery. This thing flicks back and forth between the attack and the truce."
The women in the view walk away, two by two, flanked by the masked aliens.
John takes off his goggles.
Aeryn and Jool are walking together down some stairs.
Aeryn: "This recording device is accurate. I learned about this...Jocation Memorial."
Jool: "Well. Need I say more? If you learnt about it at military school, it's certain to be farko."
Aeryn: "Five hundred cycles ago, thirty Peacekeepers lost their lives defending this monastery and Subofficer Dacon is one of our greatest heros."
Jool: "Propaganda for morons."
Aeryn: "I don't believe...."
They walk past Stark. D'Argo steps between them.
D'Argo: "Ah! Ladies. Some decorum please. This is a peace memorial. Let's not kill one another."
Aeryn: "You're wrong, you know."
Jool: "Bull Frell!"
Aeryn: "You're wrong!"
Jool: "Bull Frell!"
Aeryn: "You're wrong. If you'd only... Subofficer Dacon stood right up there." She points to a place on the monastey's outer wall. "The device says, right up there, guts pouring out everywhere, bleeding and yet he still managed to initiate the peace process to save the nurses.
Jool: "Bull Frell! Peacekeepers have always been a manifest military contagion that has raped and pillaged. They didn't die for any nurses. That's just a silly little story to help ...naive children sleep at night." Jool ends standing right next to Aeryn, glaring up into her face.
Aeryn: "You know what would help me sleep better at night? Do you want to hear?"
D'Argo: "Stop it, girls! Stopstopstopstopstop stop Stop it!"
Aeryn: "I'm gonna get this thing and stuff it so far down your throat..."
Jool continues to scream in Aeryn's face.
D'Argo gets right inbetween the two of them.
D'Argo: "Stop it! Okay? Good."
John looks bemused.
D'Argo comms: "Rygel... Can we get out of here yet?"
Chiana answers him from aboard Moya: "D'Argo? It's Chi. No, no, no. We...we can't leave yet. Pilot still needs another arn to fix the condensors. I'll let you know when he's done."
Chiana is walking cautiously down a corridor. There is the sound of glass breaking.
Rygel: "Oh!"
Chiana walks in on Rygel, in Zhaan's old quarters which are black from having been burned.
Chiana: "What are you doing in Zhaan's quarters?"
Rygel: "You know why I'm here. Same reason as you."
Chiana: "Then why am I here?"
Rygel laughs: "To steal whatever's left."
Chiana: "Yah... that's right."
Rygel: "Well, we're sensible, you and me. Leaving this to rot won't bring Zhaan back."
Chiana: "No. You can have whatever you find. I don't want it."
Rygel: "No. Neither do I." He drops a chunk of rock he was holding.
The scene shifts back to the planet. John, holding a pair of goggles, walks up to Stark who is still sitting at the bottom of the stairs.
John: "Stark. Let me show you something."
Stark: "Zhaan bought these. Bought them for me." He indicates his tan leather jacket and matching boots.
John: "I know. And you look great. You look like... Astroboy. Come on. Let me show you."
Stark: "But her voice is gone. It's gone now."
John holds out his hand: "Come with me."
Stark takes John's hand and gets up.
John: "Come on."
John leads him to the memorial.
John shows Stark the goggles: "With these you can see 500 cycles into the past. As it's happening. Back to the moment when the nurses here were saved."
John starts to put the goggles on over Stark's mask.
Stark: "Uhhh...I don't want to. No, no."
John: "No. It's okay. It's a moment of peace. It's the very thing Zhaan treasured most." He pulls the goggles down over Stark's face. "Can you see it?"
Stark: "I... can see...." John and Aeryn look on, smiling. " I can see so much... so much Death!"
View in sepia shows fighting, killing. We hear screaming. Stark screams.
D'Argo: "Get that mask off of him."
Aeryn: "What are you doing to him?"
John: "Stark?"
Stark falls to his knees, facing the monument.
As John reaches to remove the goggles, a bright light flares from under them and shines on the memorial. It gets very bright.
D'Argo: "Come up. Ahhh!"
Stark screams.
John: "I can't see."
Aeryn: "Come up, would you." She has an arm up, shielding her eyes.
Jool screams.
John: "I can't see. Stark, are you all right? Stark?"
Stark falls over and the light stops. D'Argo takes off Stark's goggles.
D'Argo:"He's breathing."
Aeryn: "What happened?"
Jool: "Ohh..." She swivels her head from side to side, looking around.
The scene is now dark, with torches burning on the walls. There are no banners hanging from the walls. In place of the memorial there is a Buddha type statue in the center of the courtyard.
Jool: "Where the frell are we?"
John: "The old monastery."
Aeryn: "How can that be? We're not wearing the goggles."
Jool, walks over to statue, "This is outstanding! This is the finest simulation I've ever seen. It's so...real. It's so..."
A voice yells: "Incoming! Get down!"
We look up. There are lights coming out of the night sky. They are flaming arrows.
John: "Get down!"
An arrow pierces Jool's arm. She screams and grabs her arm.
John: "D'Argo! Jool's hit! Jool! Jool!"
More arrows fall from the sky. Aeryn has her pistol drawn and looks around for something to shoot. Jool continues to scream. D'Argo pushes her over as another arrow hits and explodes. There is a burst of white light....
END OF PROLOGUE
ACT ONE
Opens in the old monastery. It is night. There are torches and lamps burning on the walls. Flaming arrows appear from the sky. We hear shouts and screams. Jool is screaming.
Aeryn: "Right. Move. Now. Come on. Move it."
Jool: "Do not touch me."
Aeryn: "Move it."
D'Argo: "If you do not move, you will die."
Jool: "Oh, I thought we were in a peace memorial."
Aeryn and D'Argo grab Jool and lead her away from the statue.
John drags Stark away by one arm, back behind some pillars.
Jool: "I got shot in a Peace Memorial!"
Aeryn: "Shut up."
Aeryn grabs hold of the end of the arrow that is in Jool's arm, breaks off the arrow head and begins pulling the shaft out.
Jool: "What are you doing?" She begins screaming again.
The nurses that we had seen previously through the goggles are also running for cover.
Aeryn: "Stop screaming."
Aeryn slaps Jool hard on the face. She shakes her hand - it hurts. Jool is quiet.
John: "Nice hit! Alright, no weapons. Let's figure out what's goin on here."
Aeryn: "I know exactly what's going on. Someone is trying to kill us."
John: "Now Aeryn, I think Stark's mask might have pulled us sometime into the past."
Aeryn: "I kinda figured that one out."
D'Argo: "John's right. If we change anything here, change the past, the future might not happen as it's meant to."
John: "And we won't get back."
Aeryn: "So we don't get back! But I'm not dying just so that things don't change!"
"Don't move!"
Armed men appear. They are wearing old syle uniforms and guns. One of them has
an odd looking round badge on his chest.
John:" Whoa! Whoa! No weapons! No! Don't shoot. Don't shoot. Don't shoot."
Aeryn: "Reinforcements."
Soldier: "You received our distress call?"
Aeryn: "Yes we did. Are you Subofficer Dacon?"
Soldier: "No, Commanding Officer Tarn."
Aeryn: "Officer Sun, Subofficer Crichton, Luxan is a mercenary."
Officer Tarn: "How did you get inside?"
Aeryn: "We rappeled down the cliff face. Only five of us made it, but the venik..."
Young Soldier: " Five? But we asked for hundreds of soldiers! The Veniks, there are
thousands in the valley."
Officer Tarn: "Dacon, shut up. And get back up on the wall."
Subofficer Dacon: "Yes, sir."
D'Argo whispers: "THAT is Subofficer Dacon."
Officer Tarn: "Nurse!"
Nurse's voice: "Coming!"
Officer Tarn (to Aeryn): "Anymore reinforcements up on the cliff?"
John: "No."
Aeryn: "Yes."
John: "Maybe."
Jool groans: "Okay." She moans as some nurses help her to get up.
Officer Tarn: "Alright now, they're jamming all pulse weapons so grab a spear and keep the bastards from getting in."
A horn is heard blowing and there are sounds of renewed fighting.
There is fighting on the wall between the Peacekeepers and Veniks. Subofficer Dacon engages one of the horde. Some Veniks get through and jump down to ground level. D'Argo and Aeryn fight them with clubs and qualta blade. D'Argo smiles.
D'Argo: "Huh!"
John: "Hey! Try not to kill anybody!"
D'Argo: "I'm not going to kill anyone. Oh, well, I might kill this guy." He hacks a Venik.
We see Dacon fighting. He is hit by an enemy and knocked out momentarily. Aeryn comes to his rescue.
Aeryn: "Dacon!" She kills the Venik who attacked him.
John hacks a Venik who attacks him.
John: "Sorry. Don't die! Don't die!"
Hand to hand combat continues. Officer Tarn is attacked and stabbed in the side. He falls down the stairs, dead.
Subofficer Dacon: "Officer Tarn!"
The scene shifts to Moya.
Chiana: "What's the matter Pilot? Why'd ya comm?"
Pilot: "Have you heard from Crichton at the memorial?"
Chiana: "Yah. D'Argo commed about an arn ago. He said Jool and Aeryn were trelk fighting.
That seemed normal. Why? What's the matter?"
Pilot: "Nothing. Just, when we arrived, the automated orbit instructions were broadcast was in Jocatian."
Chiana: "Yah, well it's their memorial."
Pilot: "But now, Moya received a request to lift orbit. This time the broadcast was in basic Venik Vernacular."
Chiana: "Yah, but didn't the Veniks abandon the planet like 400 cycles ago?"
Pilot: "That's what I thought."
Chiana: "Well, comm Crichton and D'Argo. I'll poke around on some frequencies and see what I can find."
Scene shifts back the memorial on the planet. It is still night. Subofficer Dacon is covering up a grave that can only be that of Officer Tarn. There are several nurses nearby, praying.
Nurse's voice: "...the sacrifice you have made..."
Aeryn, John and D'Argo are looking at the history recording Aeryn has from earlier.
John: "So, what does that recording devise say? Did we miss anything?
Aeryn: "I dont know. Say's here that the Veniks attacked and all but one of the Peacekeepers were killed and that happened."
D'Argo: "The one you saved? Was he supposed to die?"
Aeryn: "Dacon? No, he dies when he gets up there, near dawn, and sends back the cease-fire initiative to the Veniks."
D'Argo: "Wasn't Dacon supposed to be some kind of hero?"
Aeryn: "So I was taught. Anyway, according to this, the leader of the Venik horde, General Grynes, has just witnessed how this battle went, ascertained that there are only women and children remaining and is out there now convincing the other generals to offer a cease-fire."
John: "So it's possible the time tear's still around here. We find it and let's get out."
D'Argo: "I'll get Jool and Stark and find the tear. Don't... frell things up when I'm gone!"
D'Argo leaves.
Aeryn: "You know, if we did change things, it is possible that we could improve the future."
John: "With our record, do you think that's gonna happen?"
Aeryn: "I guess not. I discovered something, by the way. I don't know about yours, but my pulse pistol is operational." She pulls out her pistol. Its lights are flashing and it makes a beeping sound when she touches a button. John checks his.
John: "Yah. Mine too."
Aeryn: "Their plasma frequencies must only work against primitive rechargers."
John: "What about D'Argo's qualta rifle?"
Aeryn: "It's as old as most of the weapons around here. I doubt it'll fire."
Dacon comes up to Aeryn and John. "This one's still alive.
(indicates a Venik lying nearby) Can you help me get him to the locker room?"
John: "Yah, no problem Opie." Quietly, to Aeryn: " I just hope this was supposed to happen."
John follows Dacon: "So, you guys got any beer around here? Beer. It's, ahh... like fellip nectar." He kneels down beside the fallen Venik.
John: " Fellip's a creature on Tarsus Six."
John pulls the mask off the fallen Venik. It is the lion-faced man from the recording ,
General Grynes. John helps Grynes stand up.
Scene shifts. A nurse is helping Jool.
Jool: "That hurts! Is that sterile? Oh, god, I'll probably get hepicus."
A girl hands the nurse a cup.
Nurse Kelsa: "Here, drink this."
Jool, sighs: "Why?"
Nurse Kelsa: "It'll dull the pain."
Jool: "Oh, thank Blesma."
Jool drinks a greenish liquid, making strange bubbling noises as she drinks.
Jool: "At least maybe now I might die of shock. That bitch just shoved the arrow right through. She ..."
She stops suddenly. Her eyes roll upwards.
Jool: "Oh, Hello. Heska." Lick her lips.
Nurse Kelsa: "Do you feel this?" She touches Jool's bandaged arm.
Jool: "Nothing."
Jool hits her own arm: "Ah! Look! This is great! I've got to get some of this to bring home. What is it?"
Nurse Kelsa: "One part water, nine parts Fellip urine."
Jool starts to gag and spits the liquid out onto Nurse Kelsa: "You made me drink piss?!"
D'Argo: "Okay. Okay Jools, lets get out of here, away from the children.
D'Argo steps in and drags Jool away. He grabs Stark as well.
D'Argo: "You can come with me too."
Jool is still spitting and sputtering as they leave, but with a big grin on her face.
Scene shifts to Aeryn as she is climbing to the top of the wall. She joins Dacon who is already there. He is using the butt of his pulse rifle to pound something on top of the wall.
Dacon: "In here, it's about all this thing's good for."
He misses what he is aiming at and smashes a finger.
Dacon: "Oh, Bashama! Frelling..."
Aeryn ducks under the cut in the wall to cross over to Dacon's side.
Dacon: "Sorry for cursing."
Aeryn: "No. You okay?"
Dacon looks up at her an sighs.
Aeryn: "Dacon, have you been a soldier long?"
Dacon: "Were you talking to Officer Tarn?"
Aeryn: "No.... it's just that I once heard you... killed a dozen Veniks when they breached the stack wall."
Dacon: "Me?"
Aeryn: "Mmm."
Aeryn: "Did you not also save the nurse's convoy?"
Dacon: "No, Officer Tarn did all that. He was a very noble man. He always gave credit away." Dacon starts to walk opening infront of the cutaway. "He, uh..."
Aeryn: "Get Down!" She reaches over to push down on his shoulder. She reaches over and rips the officer's badge off his chest. "This... the snipers might see it."
Dacon: "Who am I kidding? I'm not a soldier. I was attached to this unit as Comm Supervisor and Sustenance Preparer."
Aeryn: "You were the cook?"
Dacon: "Yah. And with everyone getting killed, I was terrified I was going to be ranking officer.
I'm so glad you turned up!"
Aeryn backs away: "Um...No. Uh..., Dacon you know the engagement better than I do. You have to be the one..."
Dacon: "I'm a cook. You got to take over!"
Scene shifts to the inside of the monastery. John walks up to General Grynes who
is lying against a wall. John kneels down beside him.
John: "You're General Grynes, right? Believe it or not, you don't all look alike to us. You're a man of compassion, aren't you? The Battle of Madizak, you offered truce when you could have forced victory."
General Grynes: "How do you know that?"
John: "Read about you. Studied you.....at, uh... school."
Scene shifts again, to D'Argo, Jool and Stark. Stark has the goggles on and his hands up beside his head, waving them around.
D'Argo: "Can you see the tear?"
Stark: "Moving......moving....above us...bove us."
There is a wavyness to a part of the wall which moves as we watch it.
Jool steps infront of Stark and points in the opposite direction.
Jool: "I can see it too. Look! It's yellow and..."
D'Argo shoves her out of the way: "Shut up, Jool."
She staggers backwards, still looking up in the wrong direction.
D'Argo: "Where is it?"
Stark: "It's coming...it's coming...coming down. It's coming down...it's here! Now!"
D'Argo hurries towards Jool: "Okay. You go through it. I'll go get the others."
Jool: "I'm not going!"
D'Argo comes up behind Jool and shoves her, with a loud grunt. She falls forward and hits the side of her face smack into the wall. She shrieks and slides down the wall to the ground.
D'Argo: "Well, that was obviously wrong." He goes over and picks Jool up.
Jool: "What are you doing? There's nothing there!" D'Argo has hold of Jool's arm.
D'Argo: "Now tell me where it is .... exactly."
Stark:"It's here. HERE!"
D'Argo: "Okay."
D'Argo shoves Jool at a fire pit. She screams "Noooo!" as she falls through it and lands on her face in a mud puddle. The "Buddha" statue is lying on the ground, broken. There are red banners hanging from the walls. Jool turns over and sits up. She is covered with mud.
Jool: "Mud! You threw me in mud!"
D'Argo (to Stark): "I'll go get Crichton and Aeryn. I'll be 30 microds. Can you hold?"
Stark: "Yes, yes."
Jool: "Mud! They shot me. They punched me! They made me drink piss!"
She looks around, sees the red banners with horned mask symbols on them and the broken statue.
Jool (gasps): "Oh by Blessma! Stark? It's not the same here! It's not the same here! Stark!"
Stark (light flares from under his mask): "It's the light! It's the light, that's what's wrong,
millions, billions dead."
Jool screams.
Stark screams and pulls the goggles off his face. The tear closes and Stark sinks to his knees, groaning.
END OF ACT ONE
ACT TWO
The scene opens on D'Argo and Stark who has the goggles back on.
D'Argo: "Now, focus Stykeran. Where is the tear?"
Stark tries to wave him away, with both hands.
D'Argo: "Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah... specifically."
Stark (takes the goggles back off): "Find it yourself. You find it yourself."
D'Argo grabs Stark's shoulder and pulls him back.
D'Argo: "You will
LISTEN TO ME! Tell me where the tear is or I will use
your face to create a new one!"
John: "Stark, what's the problem? Jool went through, then we
go through and everything's made right again."
Stark: "That's the lie. It's the light. It's what's wrong. It's the light."
D'Argo: "Oh, great! Yah, we have to put up with this dren again."
Stark: "When the foul woman pierced the membrane, back to our time, it's death!"
John: "Jool's dead?"
Stark: "Others. Thousands, millions, billions, trillions,..."
D'Argo: "Yes, yes, alright. Very many. We get the idea."
Stark: "Not when we came through."
Aeryn: "The people you're sensing weren't dead before?" Stark nods.
John: "Oh, yah. We did it being here. We changed the future."
Aeryn: "You don't know that John."
John: "Well, look at him. He knows it."
D'Argo: "Can't we just go through and sort this out later?"
Stark: "We must do it here. Now. As Zhaan always says, 'Do right by the wrong, Goddess helps us all along.'" Stark brings his hands down along side his face (Zhaan-like).
D'Argo looks disgusted.
Aeryn: "Feeling left out D'Argo? We're the only ones who don't have voices in our heads."
John: "What...what're we gonna do if someone wants to know where Jool is?"
D'Argo: "Oh, look. Do you think anyone here cares about Jool? Just tell them that she's dead."
John (to D'Argo) : "Fine. Stick with Stark. I got an idea. It'll set the time line right and get us a cease-fire." John starts to leave.
Aeryn: "Won't work."
John: "Yes. It will." Aeryn and John walk away together.
Aeryn: "No. It won't."
John: "You don't even know what it is."
Aeryn: "Yes. I do."
John: "No you don't."
Aeryn: "Oh, yes I do and..."
John: "Okay. What...what is
your plan? You're gonna... you're gonna use pulse pistols, kill all the Veniks you can?"
Aeryn: "Actually, yes. When they attack again, I'll show you
my way to get
a cease-fire." Aeryn walks off.
John: "God!" He goes off in a different direction.
Scene shifts aboard Moya. Chiana is on command. She pulls something stringy off a console. Jool is standing behind her.
Chiana: "You are going to have to stay out of this room if you can't stop shedding."
Jool (pulling on her hair): "Without renewal there's stagnation."
Chiana: "Yep. Well, I feel the same way about men but I don't leave
them lying around."
Jool: "Can't you ever play nice? I got shot with a hepicus infected arrow, you monochromatic little bitch."
Pilot: "Chiana, I believe Jool may not have overstated the situation, much to my surprise."
Chiana: "These broadcast frequencies are static. What happened to them?"
Jool: "Well, I kept trying to tell you."
Pilot: "Apparently, devastated by conflict, the planet is still inhabited, but by a bare fraction
of the population from just a few arns ago."
Jool, to Chiana (in her face): "You don't like me? Fine. But don't treat me like
I'm non-existent. Somehow we went back in time and the others are still there,
and if you knew anything about linear continuity you'd realize what they're doing
back there now is affecting things on that planet."
Pilot: "What minimal data stores I can access indicate a vicious war claimed millions of lives around 500 cycles ago."
Jool sighs and turns away.
Chiana: "But that's not what happened when we got here. They made peace."
Scene shifts back to planet. From outside the monastery, we see a group of warriors looking up at it. It is lit up with torches and fires. The sounds of murmuring and drums are heard.
Camera moves inside to Aeryn and Dacon. He is cleaning his rifle.
Aeryn: "Dacon. Slowly take your finger off the trigger and point the weapon away from both of us."
Dacon sighs: "Those recruitment holochips never said anything about this."
Aeryn sits down on the step, beside him.
Aeryn: "About what? Fighting with primitive weapons?"
Dacon: "Dying. Knowing you're gonna die. having time to think about it."
Aeryn: "Well, as a soldier, you don't think about it."
Dacon: "I'm a cook. I like to think about food." Aeryn starts to leave.
Dacon: "Why did you join up?"
Aeryn: "I didn't."
Dacon: "You were born into service?"
Aeryn: "Aboard a command carrier."
Dacon: "No wonder you're fearless."
Aeryn: "No. It's easy to be fearless around here. This is what Peacekeepers
are meant to do, help the defenseless. You'll be fine."
Dacon nods and Aeryn gets up.
The scene shifts below, to John who is talking to General Grynes. John is eating something.
John: "Why is this cloister so important?"
General Grynes: "Your superiors sent you into battle without an understanding of the antecedents? You really are barbarians."
John: "No, we're Peacekeepers. Barbarians butcher children."
Grynes: "Yes, the horde is blood thirsty, and almost impossible to control.
I'm trying not to be a barbarian, and I've never harmed a child in my life." Grynes takes a sip out of a cup he is holding with his bound hands.
John: "Why is your army here?"
General Grynes sighs: "My soldiers used to share the waters of the Krickland river with the cities on the plateau. Now our supply has dried...and we're dying."
John: "So this is about water?"
General Grynes: "Inside this mountain is the source of the river. If we don't gain access to it, the Horde will attack the cities, and millions will die."
John: "But you... you wanta offer a cease-fire."
Grynes: "How do you know this?"
John: "Doesn't matter. We accept your offer."
Grynes: "But the Horde will not offer while opposing soldiers are still here."
John: "We won't be here. By the time you and your soldiers arrive, we'll be gone."
Grynes: "And why would you do this?"
John: "Same reason you'll offer amnesty. We're not barbarians. You give me your word, you won't harm the women and children, and I'll get you out of here."
Shift to D'Argo with Nurse Kelsa. She is caring for his wounds.
D'Argo: "There seems to be too many nurses here and not enough fighters."
Nurse Kelsa: "We were on a healing caravan when the Horde began the conflict. This detachment of Peacekeepers found us. We're just here for our protection."
D'Argo: "Are the Peacekeepers contracted to defend your world?"
Nurse Kelsa: "They uphold all that's good. It's ironic. We might have been safer if they'd never found us." She begins to cry: "Do you know... what the horde does to children?"
She glances towards her daughter, Cyntrina. "If they overrun us... and I'm too weak, or... unable, I'd rather my girl were at peace than in their hands. Please? I'll depend on you."
D'Argo sighs and nods slightly.
Shift to Stark. He is washing his face with water by a brazier of burning charcoal.
Cyntrina walks up to him and kneels beside him.
Cyntrina: "Why were you crying?"
Stark: "Because of all the pain. What's your name?"
Cyntrina: "Cyntrina. My father's dead, and I never cried."
Stark places his palm on her forehead, like a blessing. He hugs her and a single tear trickles
down his face.
The scene shifts back to John and General Grynes. The General is dressed as a nurse.
General Grynes: "This is humiliating."
John: "Yah, bonnets are always a risk, but it's the little touches that put you over the wall."
They climb up to the top of the wall. Dacon sits and watches them, with Aeryn standing nearby.
John: "I'm not gonna get screwed here, am I?"
General Grynes: "Just don't be here when we arrive. All of your soldiers must be gone."
John: "That's the plan. The ground looks soft on the other side. All you gotta do is
drop down, hit the embankment and roll."
They cross in front of an opening in the wall.
Geeral Grynes: "Thank you."
John: "Yah."
General Grynes climbs up on the wall.
John: "Hey General? I got a good feeling about this. I think history is gonna remember
you as the maker of a great peace."
Just then, an arrow appears and hits General Grynes. He screams and falls over, outside the wall.
John: "No. NO! No, no, no,no!"
Nurse Kelsa: "Stand fast traitor!" She is pointing an arrow gun at John.
John: "No, no, no, no, no! You did not just do that! You did not. Please. Tell me you did not just
DO that!"
END OF ACT TWO
ACT THREE
The scene opens in the center of the courtyard. There is a line of nurses, with Sub-officer Dacon in the middle of them, all pointing weapons at Stark, Aeryn, and D'Argo.
D'Argo: "No, Crichton's actions are his alone."
Aeryn: "Told us nothing."
Camera shifts to the statue where John is tied, arms out stretched.
John: "Hey. Folks. I am not the enemy here."
Nurse: "We should kill him." There are screams heard.
Stark runs and falls to his knees in front of Crichton.
Stark: "No too much killing. No more killing. Stop killing. Stop!"
Aeryn pulls him back.
Stark: "It's worse. It's not better. It's more dead."
Nurse Kelsa: "What's he talking about?"
Aeryn: "Uhh, nothing. Just what will happen to us if we don't pull ourselves together."
John: "That guy you shot? He was their general. He wanted to offer you a cease-fire."
Nurse Kelsa: "I don't believe you."
Aeryn: "Why didn't you tell us anything?"
John: "There wasn't time."
Aeryn: "Oh, like frell there wasn't. And, since when do you make decisions for me?" She is very angry.
John: "Aeryn, we get him back to his lines and this war's over. You know that."
Nurse Kelsa: "Liar! He's a liar!" Nurses scream.
Cyntrina steps between her mother and John.
Cyntrina: " Don't kill anyone else mother."
John: "The Venik leaders want to offer you peace. They're desperate for an excuse to offer you peace. Give them a sign and I promise they won't hurt you."
There is an explosion. A flaming arrow arrives in the compound and a hologram appears in the flame. The hologram is another lion-faced alien.
He speaks: "Jocation civilians and Peacekeeper Militia, hear me! You will never know how close to salvation you came. How near lasting peace you brushed. The death of our General in battle we understand and except. But to disgrace him in your females' cloth?" He holds up some white fabric. "You have the night's stars to make peace with your deities. On the dawn, your severed heads will be nailed to the walls you defend." The hologram fades away. John and Aeryn exchange "a look".
D'Argo looks at Aeryn who looks at John with her "Are you happy now?" look. Tears are running down Nurse Kelsa's face.
The scene shifts to a campfire with some nurses sitting around it. D'Argo walks down some stairs. Nurse Kelsa is holding Cyntrina and patting her hair. We hear a plaintive song begin to play. It is "Home on the Range." Camera pans past Stark messing around with his goggles, to Aeryn and Dacon sharing rations, to the statue, to John's face. He has a worried, contemplative look.
The song continues to play. Camera pans to a pair of red leather cowboy boots, resting in John's lap, up a pair of black , shiny leather pants, to Harvey. He is leaning on a skin chair and John, while playing a harmonica! The camera pans back, we see the word "Andy" scratched on the bottom of one of the boots. The song ends.
Harvey: "Ah, John. If this situation hadn't reminded you of all those old westerns
you watched as a youth, I never would have heard that."
John: "Are you through?"
Harvey: "Quite. The interlude however, allowed me to ponder the question you ah,
summoned me here to answer."
John: "And?"
Harvey: "All modern research points to the elasticity of time, rather than a brittle framework."
John: "Can it be corrected?"
Harvey: "Umm. If nudged closely enough to course, events have a way of restructuring themselves. If the participants are the same, the venue's the same, the motivation's the same, then well, the outcome is likely to be the same."
John: "So we have to find a way to kick-start this thing."
Harvey: "And soon." (he looks up at the lightening sky). "When the horde arrives
at dawn, events will vector further away, from the reality you and I both know."
John: "Suggestions?"
Harvey: "No. Not this time John. There's been so much change what with you here, Grynes dead. I don't want the consequences of catastrophic failure resting on my head."
John: "I'm in a hell of a slump here. Everything I do just makes things worse."
Harvey: "Well then, do better."
Harvey recrosses his legs, leans back and begins to play again.
Aeryn comes over to the statue and sits by John.
Aeryn: "We can record a message over the one sent by Col. Lennok. (sighs) And I have convinced Dacon into offering a complete and total surrender. (We see Dacon by a cooking pot, eating what appears to be a roll). It's the only way to save the nurses."
John: "Maybe. You want to better the odds?"
Aeryn: "How?"
John: "Scroll through that digi-pamphlet you got at the peace memorial. Look for anything that may be out of sync that we can fix."
Aeryn, shakes her head : "Uh umm. Uh umm. Uh umm."
John: "What?"
Aeryn: "Oh, what you think? That I'm stupid? That I don't understand what you're saying?
Sub-officer Dacon does not have to die."
John: "He's Davey Crockett at the Alamo. He stands on the wall and he takes one for the home team. I've thought about this, it's the only thing that I can come up with to fix the time line."
Aeryn: "Oh, you and your stupid time line."
John: "What? Do you think I wanta do it? That it's my first option? Read the history. It's in your pocket. If Grynes lives, he's a hero who averts a war. Dead, he's just another guy in the Laura Ashley Spring Collection." Aeryn looks puzzled (?!)
John: "It's you and me now. We've gotta do something."
Aeryn: "He's not a soldier."
John: "I know that, but the way history unfolds, that doesn't stop him from taking an arrow."
He looks at Dacon who is still eating.
Aeryn: "So... Dacon dies. What about us? We're soldiers."
John: "We go back through the time tear."
Aeryn: "The tear? Stark says it's completely disappeared. What happens if it doesn't reshow?"
John: "Then we die half an arn after Dacon. Aeryn, either way, he dies."
She looks at Dacon, who is
still eating.
John: "And the nurses. That's what we have to play for now."
Aeryn stands up, thinking, makes eye contact with Dacon. He smiles. She continues to stare.
Scene shifts to Stark sitting on the ground by graves that are marked with blue cloth.
Nurse Kelsa walks over to him and squats down.
Nurse Kelsa: "You deal with the dead?"
Stark: "Someone must."
Nurse Kelsa: "Death is where my expertise ends."
Stark: "When you shot the general, how did you feel?"
Nurse Kelsa: "I felt hatred. Fear."
Stark: "Fear is good. Keep that. But travel light. Forget hate."
Nurse Kelsa: "If we die, will I be with my daughter? After?"
Stark: "Different beliefs, different destinations. I can not tell before the end. Should the worst befall, you will not be alone."
Scene shifts back to the courtyard. D'Argo walks over to a bucket and gets some water.
He sees Cyntrina sitting nearby on a bench.
D'Argo: "Hello."
Cyntrina: "You're scary looking."
D'Argo: "You should have seen my father."
Cyntrina: "My father wasn't scary. My mother says, when loved ones die, we must
remember them forever."
D'Argo: "Well, your mother's right."
Cyntrina: "Do you think when I'm dead, someone will remember me?"
D'Argo: "You know what? I know a secret that will guarantee it. Make your mark. Carve it into the stone." (He gives her his knife, shows her how to mark the stone.) "Then way in the future, anyone who reads it will think of Cyntrina."
She begins to carve the stone wall.
Camera moves to John on the statue. It follows Dacon and Aeryn as they are walking, talking about the holo-message.
Dacon: "I've offered unconditional surrender, just like you said to. And, I've also sworn that killing their general was a tragic mistake. But, as ranking officer, you sure you shouldn't be the one on the message?"
Aeryn: "As part of Special Commando Force, I'm not officially here."
Dacon: "So, if they knew your unit was present, it would escalate the conflict?"
Aeryn: "Um hmm."
Aeryn tries to take the spear from him, but Dacon holds on to it.
Dacon: "What're you doing?"
Aeryn: "I...I'm delivering the message."
Dacon: "There? You should shoot from down here."
Aeryn: "Uh, no. We only get one chance. I can't have it go wrong and it needs to land right near their camps."
Dacon: "You can't expose yourself to their fire. Let me do it."
Aeryn: " I appreciate the gesture, but a soldier should do it."
Dacon: "Better if a cook does it."
Aeryn: "I don't want you to get hurt."
Dacon: "Better me than you." He smiles and takes the spear and climbs the steps to the wall.
Aeryn looks over at John. He looks away. They both watch Dacon as he prepares
to throw the spear.
Dacon sighs.
Aeryn: "Sub-officer Dacon! You are a soldier." She smiles at him. "A brave hero."
Dacon: "No. Heroes always get killed! I'll be fine."
He throws the spear over the wall. As he does, an arrow hits him in the chest. Blood spurts from his mouth and he falls backwards off the wall, dead.
Cyntrina screams.
Aeryn runs over and kneels by Dacon to check his pulse. She looks up at John.
The scene shifts to Moya. Chiana and Jool run into command.
Chiana: "How is that possible? (louder) How is that possible?"
Pilot: "I don't know Chiana, but the planet is now lifeless."
We see the planet. It is now cracked, red and burning.
Pilot: "Moya's senses detect no microbial chemisty."
Rygel: "What? Nothing?"
Jool: "Curse me, it looks radiated."
Pilot: "The crater pattern indicates, in all probability, the destruction by military conflict."
Jool gasps.
Rygel: "But that can't be!"
END OF ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
D'Argo enters our field of vision, with Stark.
D'Argo: "What do you mean you can't see it? Look harder."
Stark: "It's not there. It's not there."
D'Argo: "It was above us."
Stark: "It's gone! It's gone!" Stark takes the goggles off.
Aeryn: "How? We did everything right. We set the timeline back on track. How can it be gone?"
Stark: "It's not my fault. It's no one's fault. I...I didn't mean..."
D'Argo: "It's not your fault."
Flaming arrows and spears are seen falling from the sky. Screams are heard: "The Veniks! The Veniks! Take cover! The Veniks!"
Nurse Kelsa: "Cyntrina, come with me now!"
Nurses are running. Aeryn strides over to where John is tied-up.
Aeryn: "Didn't work. Dacon's dead and the tear didn't reappear."
John: "Aeryn, untie me."
Aeryn: "You know, the device said that he died when he sent the cease-fire and then the Veniks offered peace. Does that sound like peace to you?"
John: "Untie me."
Aeryn: "I listened to you. I let a man die and we changed nothing."
John shouts: "He was supposed to die!"
Aeryn: "Nothing!"
John: "That's what happened in history."
Aeryn: "Then why isn't the tear back?"
John: "I don't know!" More flaming arrows. "Untie me."
Aeryn: "Can we use our weapons now, or are you still afraid to change things?"
John: "Yes, we can use the weapons. Untie me!"
Aeryn starts to untie John. Nurse Kelsa points an arrow gun at Aeryn.
Nurse Kelsa: "Don't touch him!"
Aeryn: "Crichton is a soldier. He can help us fight."
Nurse Kelsa: "He's a traitor. He tried to free that dog Grynes."
John: "Grynes would have brokered a peace."
Nurse Kelsa: "Do you think they're coming to offer peace?"
Aeryn: "We need him to defend the monastery." She starts to untie him again.
Nurse Kelsa: "I won't warn you again. If you try to release him, I'll kill you."
Aern: "And if the horde gets in here they're going to slaughter every single one of us.
He can help us."
Nurse Kelsa: "How can he help?"
Aeryn pulls out her pulse pistol and shoots, hitting a wall near Nurse Kelsa.
Aeryn: "He has a weapon like mine. Now, if you're going to shoot, do it now."
Nurse Kelsa: "Your pulse weapons are functional? Why haven't you used them?"
Aeryn: "Well, there's a good question." She unties John's legs.
Aeryn: "Are you ready to get a cease-fire my way?"
John: "Killing Dacon should have fixed the timeline."
Aeryn: "Well, it didn't. Are you ready?"
John: "Yes."
These is a big explosion.The gate of the monastery bursts apart. Aeryn grabs Nurse Kelsa and pulls her to the ground. John jumps down behind the statue. Many Veniks are entering the monastery through the blasted gate. Aeryn shoots one of them.
Aeryn (to John): "Take the walkway."
John: "Two guns Aeryn. We only have two guns!"
Aeryn: "Well, make it look like more."
John: "How?"
Aeryn: "Keep firing, running backwards and forwards and pretend you're an army."
John: "Oh, yah, that's gonna work."
Aeryn: "Just do it!" Both fire from behind the statue. "Now!"
John: "Aeyyyyyyyyh!" He runs to the walkway, firing as he goes.
Aeryn is shooting Veniks as he runs.
John: "Excuse me, ladies. Comin through."
He runs up the stairs, passing some nurses who are coming down.
New scene: Chiana, Jool and Rygel in command. Chiana is bent over, working on a console.
Pilot: "Chiana, look out the forward portal."
Chiana: "Not now Pilot." She continues to work on a console.
Pilot: "Look out the portal."
Rygel: "Gone!" The planet, it's gone!"
No planet shows in the portal.
Jool: "It can't be gone! It was just there two arns ago. I got shot. I drank piss."
Chiana: "Keep the comms open. I'm going out to look for 'em."
Jool: "There's nothin there. It's all gone. Where are you gonna look?"
She is following Chiana out of command.
Chiana: "Hey, how's that arm going? Has the piss worn off?"
Jool holds up her wounded arm: "Yes. Actually it's quite sore, thanks for asking."
Chiana karate chops Jool's arm. Jool screams.
Chiana: "And stop screaming. It is very,
very irritating and I don't want you
melting anything." Chiana hurries off.
Back at the monastery, Veniks are still running in through the gateway as
Aeryn shoots them. John is on the wall, shooting invaders while D'Argo is down
below using his qualta blade.
Cyntrina tries to run to Nurse Kelsa: "Mother!"
Nurse Kelsa: "Stay put Cyntrina!"
Cyntrina screams.
D'Argo kills a Venik who has grabbed Cyntrina. She runs
to her mother. John shoots a Venik who is barreling down on the two of them, then turns and
shoots out over the wall. He runs from opening to opening, shooting off Veniks.
D'Argo looks up and sees him: "What are you doing?"
John: "I'm makin like an army!"
D'Argo continues to fight, side to side.
John shouts: "D'Argo!" and aims his gun at D'Argo.
D'Argo: "Whoa!" He ducks and John shoots two Veniks who are behind him.
John: "Holy Montana!"
Aeryn, D'Argo and John keep shooting and killing Veniks.
Nurse Kelsa stands amongst the fighting, hugging Cyntrina.
D'Argo: "Get to the bedchamber!"
Nurse Kelsa and Cyntrina hurry off.
The three continue shooting Veniks, with D'Argo using one of the arrow guns the nurses had.
Finally, John bends over to catch his breath.
John: "I'm gonna have a heart attack."
A Venik knocks Aeryn's pulse pistol out of her hand. She takes a club and hits him. Another Venik picks up the pistol and looks at the blinking lights. He points it at his face, it goes off and kills him.
Aeryn keeps clubbing Veniks. John shouts her name. She looks up at him as he shoots a Venik from behind her. She retrieves her pulse pistol. John comes down off the walkway and joins D'Argo and Aeryn. They stand together facing the gate and shoot Veniks until a horn sounds.
A nurse yells: "The Veniks are retreating!"
The Veniks begin to run out the gate. D'Argo, Aeryn and John lower their weapons and watch them go.
Bodies are lying everywhere.
Chiana is flying a transport pod outside Moya.
Chiana: "What's goin on Pilot? I'm getting the dren kicked out of me."
Pilot: "Moya's registering some kind of massive gamma disturbance where the planet used to be."
Chiana: "Can you see anything?"
Pilot: "Nothing."
Chiana: "I can't control this."
In the monastery, we see a distortion appear.
Stark: "It's back. No death! No death!" He takes the goggles off.
He runs to Aeryn, John and D'Argo.
Stark: "It's back. It's back. It's back . No Death! Quick, now. Quick!"
Aeryn: "Let's go. It'll be safer if we just go now and don't tell them anything." John looks over at the nurses.
John: "I' just be 30 microds."
Aeryn: "Crichton."
John: "I won't tell her anything."
Cyntrina comes over to D'Argo. He kneels down.
Cyntrina: "Are you leaving?"
D'Argo: " I... we'll be leaving soon, yes."
Cyntrina: "Will I ever see you again?"
D'Argo: "How long do your people live?"
Cyntrina: "My mother Sal lived for 700 cycles."
D'Argo: "Well maybe I'll see you again when you grow up (touches her face)."
She smiles. He leaves.
John, to Nurse Kelsa: "We have to go."
Nurse Kelsa: "If you're not here, the Veniks will murder us."
John: "No, no. If there's no soldiers here, they'll offer a ceasefire."
Nurse Kelsa: "How do you know that?"
John: "I just do."
Nurse Kelsa: "Veniks are predators. They kill. Thats what they do. They don't have ceasefires. Please. At least leave your weapons."
John: "No. I...I can't. I'm sorry. You're gonna be safe. I promise." He leaves.
Stark screaming, with goggles on, light streaming from his face. The tear is visible.
D'Argo: "Where's Areyn?"
John: "She should be here. She left ahead of me. Aeryn?"
We see Aeryn holding a round badge. She places it on Dacon's body. We can hear John in the background: "Aeryn!" She looks at Dacon one last time (again we hear John: "Aeryn?"). She gets up and then leaves.
Aeryn runs up, followed by John: "Sorry."
D'Argo: "Okay, let's get the frell out of here."
Stark: "Ayahhhh! " Light blazes from his mask.
John, Aeryn and D'Argo have to turn their heads and shield their eyes from the sudden flare.
END OF ACT FOUR
EPILOGUE
Scene is the same as the opening. Aerial view of an ancient monastery atop a cliff.
Chiana: "On Moya we registered every change as it happened."
She walks between two pillars, talking to Aeryn.
Chiana: "First there were, there were millions dead. And then the planet disappeared and then it
came back. I almost crashed the pod trying to get it in here."
Aeryn: "And nothing changed on Moya?"
Chiana; "No. Only the planet was affected by whatcha did."
They walk into the memorial. There are blue banners hanging on the walls and a circular monument in the center. John is sitting slumped in front of a pillar.
Chiana: "Everything's the same. Except, ahh... So, is there any chance you can go back?"
Aeryn: "No. The, ah... tear is no longer stable."
We see John still sitting, letting sand run through his fist, a set of goggles is on the ground beside him.
Aeryn: "Stark tried, but he can't get us back through."
Chiana: "Does Crichton know that?"
Aeryn: "Yes, he does."
Chiana: "So, who's gonna get him back on Moya?"
Aeryn: "I will."
Chiana: "Okay."
Aeryn: "Thank you."
Chiana leaves.
Stark is lying against a pillar. He looks like he's asleep. Aeryn walks up to the memorial. The nurses appear. Aeryn watches. We see Nurse Kelsa holding Cyntrina The image fades.
John is sitting as before, running sand through his fist. Aeryn turns to go to him. She walks over and squats beside him.
Aeryn: "Hi."
John: "I screwed up."
Aeryn: "You.....
we did what we could."
John: "Why would they do that? What's the point?"
Aeryn shakes her head: "There probably was no point."
John swallows hard. We hear voices. He turns his head. We can see a scene in sepia
in the goggle eyepiece:
Col Lennok: "Where are the soldiers that were here?"
Nurse Kelsa: "I don't know. They left. They just left! I don't know where."
Col Lennok: "No one could have gotten past my forces."
The nurses are backing up as the horde approaches them. Nurse Kelsa is holding Cyntrina.
Col Lennok: "Tell me where they are. I can't control the horde."
Nurse Kelsa: "Crichton said they tried to escape from the cliffs."
Col Lennok: "Too many Veniks have died here. The blood lust is on them. I need
to give the Horde something. Where are the pulse weapons you fired on us?"
Nurse Kelsa: "They took them. Please, I don't know where they've gone.
I don't know!"
Col Lennok: "I can't stop the Horde unless you tell me where this Crichton is."
Nurse Kelsa: "I don't know! I don't know!" Crying: "Crichton!"
Col Lennok: "No!" Holds up hands as horde grabs nurses. Screams!
Col Lennok: "No!" Screams and metal crashing sounds.
John picks up the goggles and throws them against the monument. The sounds stop.
John and Aeryn just look at the monument. He reaches over
and puts his arm on her shoulder and pulls her close. They sit together in silence, looking at the monument.
We see green leaves and hear rustling noises. D'Argo parts the branches and sees the sign Cyntrina made with his knife on the wall, now darkened by time. The camera zooms in.
D'Argo sighs.
END OF EPILOGUE
