One head cannot
contain all Wisdom.
The Olduvai Cycle

Systems University Archive
C.Y. 8550

[Eureka Maru]

BEKA: Andromeda, this is the Euraku Maru en route from Drift Colony Segas Four. Our belly's full, and our ETA to bay is twenty minutes. {To Harper} You've got to love one-stop shopping. We have enough parts now to roam the entire Milky Way. Hello? Command to Harper.
HARPER: Huh?
BEKA: Huh? What's the matter with you?
HARPER: Dierda. My Drift rock darling. My Irish Cream. My destiny.
BEKA: Your destiny. Right. Never mind she couldn't speak a word of Common, and you don't know any Celtic, or whatever that dead language is.
HARPER: Oh, yeah? Try me.
(He hands over a flexi.)
HARPER: Bra ist un caparu. Love is our language.
BEKA: Actually, love is your sandwich, but thanks for playing.
HARPER: Whatever, okay? We shared this thing, this, er, cosmic connection.
BEKA: You shared half a dozen whiskies and a zero gravity rumba.
HARPER: Ist bra limolay? What do you know about love?
BEKA: Harper, you're hopeless. You can barely conjugate Common.
HARPER: Who cares about being grammatically correct. All I want to do is
(Thump!)
HARPER: Whoa!
COMPUTER: Collision Alert. Collision Alert.
BEKA: We have a small object coming in off the starboard bow.
(Whirring noise.)
HARPER: Airlock.
BEKA: Airlock.

[Airlock]

HARPER: It's a killer beach ball.
(They open the airlock.)
(Harper scans it.)
HARPER: There's somebody inside.
BEKA: Okay. Don't just stand there, open it.
HARPER: What? No. You open it. Have I mentioned that I'm overdue for a raise?
BEKA: Yeah, yeah, I'll cover you.
(Harper pokes the obvious metal bit. It is hot. The rest of the ball has slime on it.)
HARPER: Here, hold that, would you?
BEKA: Yeah, That's great.
(Harper cuts it open, releasing gas.)
BEKA: It's a Perseid.
HARPER: Gift wrapped, too.
BEKA: Easy, easy, deep breaths.
HARPER: Oh, man, he's
BEKA: Let's get him out of here.
HARPER: He's bleeding bad.
(They carry him into the main part of the Maru.)
HARPER: Come on. Okay, okay, down we go.
BEKA: Okay, keep pressure on the wound. We gotta get him back to the Andromeda. Hey, who shot you?
PERSEID: Save. Must save.
HARPER: We're doing the best we can, pal. Hang in there.
(Zoom on Harper's dataport. The Perseid lunges for it and exhales energy into it.)
BEKA: Hey! Harper!
HARPER: I'm on fire! I'm on fire! I'm on fire!
BEKA: No, no, no fire. No fire. You're okay. You're okay.
(The Perseid stops wheezing and dies.)
HARPER: What happened?
BEKA: I don't know, but I don't think you got the worst of it.

[Morgue]

BEKA: So, what's the verdict?
TYR: He's dead.
BEKA: Yeah. I meant what killed him?
TYR: What didn't kill him? He's got stab wounds, laser and radiation burns. This appears to be some sort of residual neurotoxin, and these pinpoint wounds? I've never seen anything like them.
BEKA: It's weird. Perseids can be annoying, but this is just ridiculous.

[Medical]

TRANCE: Well, aside from a major bump on the head and a minor burn around the cerebral port, he's fine.
HARPER: Fine? I was practically electrocuted. I can still see little dots.
HUNT: Why do you think he attacked you?
HARPER: Jealous of my good looks, maybe? I don't know. No rhyme or reason, he just opened up wide, clamped down, and zap, major electrical discharge. I could smell the ozone. Man, I'm feeling twitchy. Maybe you better run a spectral analysis on my nervous system. Check my norepinephrine levels, and see if I've been affected by any kind of a stimulant.
HUNT: Since when did you pick up medicine as a hobby?
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Captain, I've got an unidentified vessel approaching. They're requesting communication.
HUNT: I'm on my way. Watch him.

[Command]

JEGER [on viewscreen]: I'm Marshal Jeger, Senior Dispatch Officer with the Intergalactic Apprehension and Procurement Service.
BEKA: In other words, a bounty hunter.
JEGER [on viewscreen]: If you like.
HUNT: What can I do for you, Marshal?
JEGER [on viewscreen]: Your ship took on a fugitive, a Perseid named Renvik. I have a warrant for his arrest.
HUNT: Really? What are the charges against this fugitive?
JEGER [on viewscreen]: Theft. Shall I transmit the warrant to you?
BEKA: Transmit away. But you're wasting your time. Your fugitive is dead.
JEGER [on viewscreen]: Dead? You're certain?
HUNT: Dead certain.
JEGER [on viewscreen]: I still would like to examine the body. I must locate some missing items. Renvik's corpse may tell me where they are.
HUNT: I'll look at your warranty and consider your request.
JEGER [on viewscreen]: Please cooperate, Captain. The Service dislikes people who protect fugitives, even dead ones.
(Later, Hunt is reading the warrant.)
BEKA: I hate people like Jeger. They strut around like the long arm of the law. They act like they own the place. They're really just bottom feeders who'll do anything for the highest bidder.
HUNT: Maybe so, but in this case, the Marshal's warrant seems to be in order.
BEKA: Don't tell me you're thinking of giving in to him.
HUNT: Beka, if the Perseid were alive, I'd conduct an extradition hearing, but I'm not going to start a fight over a corpse.

[Morgue]

(The body gets shrink-wrapped.)
JEGER: How did the thief die?
HUNT: He self-electrocuted. Almost killed my engineer.
JEGER: Really?
BEKA: Really.
JEGER: Have we ever met? You look familiar.
BEKA: You don't.
JEGER: Maybe around the Tidus Asteroid Belt.
BEKA: Who knows? After a while, all you badges start to look the same.
(There is a mark like an eye on one of the Perseid's finger joints.)
JEGER: Thank you, Captain. Your cooperation will be duly noted.
(Jeger throws the body over his shoulder and leaves.)

[Command]

ROMMIE: This search mode would be more effective if I had specific information to go on.
HUNT: I can't give you a time or place, Rommie. All I know is that I've seen that symbol before. No. No. No. No. Wait, wait. Hold it. Back up. There. That's it.
ROMMIE: It's an insignia for the Special Collections division of the All Systems University.
HUNT: Our Perseid was a librarian?
ROMMIE: Apparently. This symbol was only used by their senior researchers.
HUNT: So the question is, what did he have that was worth dying for?

[Machine shop]

(Nightmare images of Holocaust and warfare flash through Harper's brain. He wakes, sweating. A little later, he is working at warp speed building something.)
HARPER: Hey, what's up, Rommie? Romalom, Romalowski, Read Only Memory?
ROMMIE: A simple Rommie will suffice. Are you all right, Harper? I'm detecting an elevation in your heart and breathing rate.
HARPER: Oh, yeah? Well, I'm detecting a fritz in your central power relays, and I can fix you. I can. I can fix everything on board. The ventilation system on deck nineteen could definitely use an upgrade. Phew. Could you? Thanks.
ROMMIE: Harper, slow down.
HARPER: Sorry, I can't. I'm a little, er, wired. .No, rewired. No, cross-wired. Cross-eyed! I didn't get any sleep last night. I've been having these rancid nightmares, visions, whatever you want to call them. Anyway, I thought, why dwell in hell? Get busy!
ROMMIE: What are you building?
HARPER: Ah! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's er, you tell me and we'll both know. Meanwhile, cono sach sei mach, anan bach, dochaigat.
ROMMIE: Irish Gaelic. Earth based. An adaptive form. You're making seductive overtures to me in a dead language?
HARPER: It's not dead the way I speak it, baby. Il dit mon coeur.
ROMMIE: And French. Harper, what has gotten into you?
HARPER: Ru olyev, olyev svinki.
ROMMIE: And now Perseid. Harper, I had no idea you were such a cunning linguist.
HARPER: Love speaks in all tongues, baby. Wait! That's it! You know what we need? Some kind of nano-doohickey that can let a person understand any language they hear. No, no, no. Speak any language they hear. We'll start with Old Irish from your language archives. We'll reconfigure it into an implanted audio-linguistic relay. Why not? All I have to do is downsize and upgrade some voice activation sensors so they can correlate with the proper pronunciation and vibrato and while I'm at it, no offence, but the pixilation in your holo-imaging matrix could use a little fine-tuning. Yes! Sasai go halan! The doctor is in!

[Asteroid]

(Jeger is examining the corpse.)
JEGER: They're missing.
(A strange, wavy black and flame humanoid shape is nearby. It has nasty red glowing eyes.)
JEGER: I don't know where they are. They must be on that salvage ship. I'll find them. I'll find them!

[Command]

HARPER [on viewscreen]: She'll be coming around von berg wenn sie kommt. Elle viendra autours la montaigne quand elle vient. Ella vendra areldedor de la montana. Venez autour la montaigne, istra vindra autour de la montaigne when she comes.
HUNT: What's he doing?
ROMMIE: I don't think he knows. Since last night, he's started and abandoned dozens of projects and upgrades. Although, I must say, the ones he's performed on moi c'est tres magnifique.
HUNT: You're speaking French now?
ROMMIE: Oui. Per his request.
BEKA: Harper speaking in tongues. You got to be kidding.
HUNT: Can't say I recognise the tune.
ROMMIE: It's an old Earth folk tune in, let's see, Than, Perseid, Harulian, and that would be Vedran.
BEKA: We better go talk to him?
HUNT: We'd better go talk to him.

[Machine shop]

(Something is being welded.)
HUNT: Good morning, Mister Harper.
HARPER: Morning! Mor-ning. Mor-ning. Two little syllables, so many different meanings.
HUNT: Yes. In this case, it just means hello. I wanted to see your new project. It looks interesting.
HARPER: Yeah, she's a beauty, isn't she?
BEKA: Breath-taking. What is it?
HARPER: Er it's an authentic recreational recreation of a big surprise?
HUNT: And what's the status on the rest of the projects?
HARPER: Projects?
BEKA: Harper, this is Dylan's polite way of asking what the hell's this mess?
HARPER: Ah! It's only a mess to the uninformed eye.
HUNT: Ha ha. Then maybe you should enlighten us.
HARPER: Enlighten you? Er, the Divine is good, don't do Flash, and if you're nice to people, they probably still won't be nice to you. Now run along, kids, Daddy's working.
HUNT: I'm calling a time out.
BEM: Harper, are you
(Harper panics when he sees Rev Bem.)
BEM: Harper?
HARPER: Get away from me!
BEM: Harper. Harper, are you?
HARPER: Get away from me!
BEM: Harper, if I have offended you in some manner?
HARPER: You're not going to get me.
HUNT: Harper, just put it down.
BEM: Dylan, it's all right. I'll leave.
(Bem leaves.)
BEKA: Harper, what's the matter with you? It's Rev.
HARPER: Magog. Oh, sure, he acts like he's our friend now, but one day, he'll turn. They all do. They're wild.
HUNT: Med deck.
BEKA: Come on.
(Meanwhile, Jeger steps through the Maru's closed airlock hatch and finds the remains of the gunk from the Perseids life capsule on the floor.)

[Medical]

BEKA: Look at those brainwave fluctuations.
TRANCE: I have never seen anything like it.
HARPER: I could say the same thing about you, Trance. Why don't we do you next?
BEKA: Knock it off, Harper. This is about you.
HARPER: Me? No, why me? She's much more interesting. An enigma, wrapped up in a riddle, with a tail in the middle.
TRANCE: It's all right, I forgive you. He's not been himself today.
BEKA: It's like he's overloaded. That Perseid. According to Dylan, the Perseid had the insignia of the All Systems University on his finger. Special Collections Division. If he was carrying some sort of data archive.
HARPER: Brilliant! A bio-electronic transfer into my dataport. He must've used some kind of pulse signal. A modified sub-vocal transmitter.
(Harper gets up and leaves.)
BEKA: Where's he going? Harper!

[Corridor]

HARPER: I could build one of those. It'll have to be small, though. Like really small. Like miniature. I could reconfigure some of Rommie's maintenance nanobots.
BEKA: I'm sure you could. How do we get that stuff out of him?
TRANCE: I have no idea. It's all mixed up in his neural matrix.
HARPER: Whoa, whoa. Stop. Halt. Arrete. Okay, the last time I checked, possession was still nine tenths of the law, okay? My brain, my data. If you try to mine my mind, I'll mind my mind. Nein?
BEKA: Harper, you don't even know what you've got, do you?
HARPER: I know I've got something. Something I never had before. Knowledge. Creativity. Power. I mean, before I was just a Argh!
(Harper collapses, clutching his head.)
BEKA: Harper!
HARPER: Ice cream headache. Argh. My brain attempting to execute some serious compressions. A small price to pay for God.
TRANCE: Harper, you have no idea what this could do to you. You're already suffering from insomnia and nightmares. You could have a stroke, or a cerebral hemorrhage
HARPER: Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay? I have the entire Commonwealth Medical Archive in here, which makes me a superior diagnostician to you. So, as the senior medical expert here, I can tell you, I am not going to have a stroke, okay? Now, are we through here? I don't know, Doctor Harper, are we? Yes, I think we are. Meeting adjourned.

[Machine shop]

ROMMIE: So, you checked yourself out of Med Deck to what, build a missile?
HARPER: No. Although it does fly through the air, and it is a major blast from Earth's past, so the more liberally literal may call it a missile, but no. Rom-doll, what you are looking at is a Harper classic. An authentic replication of the X-1. The Glamorous Glennis? The first human flight module to break the speed of sound.
HOLO-ROMMIE: An aeronautical antique.
HARPER: Yeah. How artificially astute. Going back three millennia, 1947, old Earth calendar, to be exact. I have tech manuals, Rommie. The originals. Right out of the official factory records. Er, flight tests, specs, the works.
ROMMIE: How are you able to access them? How did you even know that they were in there?
HARPER: I just had a vision. I get a lot of them lately.
ROMMIE: Harper, you look exhausted.
HARPER: Yeah, well, the mind leads, the body follows.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Your mind should lead you to bed.
HARPER: Bed! Now there's an idea. I know. You mean sleep. I will. I'll try. I'll get some sleep, just as soon as I can find the on off button. Now, if you don't mind, I'm trying to concentrate.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: I tried.
HUNT: If he doesn't want to rest, he doesn't want to rest.
(They watch Harper working on the screen. Jeger walks through the closed doors of the machine shop.)
HUNT: Tyr! Hangar Deck five, now!

[Machine shop]

JEGER: You should have taken your friend's advice.
(Jeger grabs Harper's jacket, and he wriggles out of it. Jeger pulls him back from underneath a work bench.)
JEGER: It's quitting time.
HARPER: Help! Somebody help!
JEGER: Stop squirming.
(Jeger lifts him up by the head.)
HARPER: I'm not going anywhere with you!
JEGER: I don't need all of you. Just this.
(Jeger turns Harper's head. There is an energy discharge. Jeger lets go and Harper grabs a steel bar. Tyr rushes in and hits Jeger several times, with little effect. They fight. Jeger throws Tyr off.)
HUNT: Hey!
(Hunt shoots Jeger with his forcelance. Jeger is stunned briefly, then dusts himself off and sinks through the floor.)
TYR: He's below us!
HARPER: Phase density shifting. Tricky, tricky.
HUNT: He'll be back.
(Later, Harper is working on the X1 when he has visions of a Magog invasion. He wakes up screaming.)

[Command]

HUNT: What's Harper doing?
ROMMIE: He's currently in his quarters. I've run a complete sensor sweep. All decks are clear. No sign of the intruder. Although I am detecting emission residue beginning in Hangar fourteen and leading straight down to the keel.
TYR: He passed right through that bulkhead like it wasn't even there.
BEKA: And he knows about Harper.
HUNT: Whatever Harper's got seems to be worth killing for. Any idea what it might be?
ROMMIE: My recent upgrades suggest Harper has access to the latest quantum and neutrino based engineering platforms.
TYR: He wants weaponry.
BEKA: Not necessarily. What about
(Big Bang! Consoles explode and everyone is sent flying. There is a hole in the hull and Andromeda is venting air. An android gets sucked out before emergency bulkheads close.)
HUNT: Rommie, what the hell hit us?
TYR: Running recon.
ROMMIE: I don't know, but whatever it was hurt. My hull integrity is compromised. Data relays are down, and damage is extensive. Harper's calling in from the affected area.
HUNT: Harper, report!
HARPER [on viewscreen]: Not good. Machine shop fifteen is gone.
HUNT: What do you mean, gone?
HARPER [on viewscreen]: I mean gone. Vamoose, arrivederci. We got a hole the size of Kansas bored right through this whole ship. Don't look now, kids, but I think we're up against your friendly neighborhood PSP.
BEKA: A what?
ROMMIE: A Point Singularity Projector. A weapon that fires miniature black holes.
BEKA: Whoever Jeger's working for, they sure gave him some good toys.
HUNT: Toys I don't want to play with right now. Take us into slipstream. We need to find a place to lay low for repairs.
HARPER [on viewscreen]: No, no, no, no, no, Dylan don't. That thing didn't just take out the machine shop. Part of it went right through the slip-field generator. If we try to stream now
HUNT: The whole ship will come apart.

[Corridor]

HARPER: Okay, we're going to have to cut a circular incision around the PSP's path of impact, and we'll need laser torches. We're going to have to replace those central support struts.
TYR: I'll see if I can tear some out of the old crew quarters.
(Tyr leaves, and Bem arrives.)
BEM: Perhaps I could be of some assistance.
(Harper swings at me with a metal bar.)
HARPER: Come on, you bloodsucker!
BEM: Harper, look at me! I am not your enemy!
HARPER: And I'm not your next meal! Murderer! Rapist!
BEM: Harper, I will not fight you.
HARPER: Even better.
(Harper does some elegant moves and Hunt stops him hitting Bem any more.)
HUNT: Harper, back off!
(Harper makes a strange squealing sound.)
BEM: Harper, you do not mean that. You do not mean that.
(But Harper keeps on. Bem moves to attack him. Hunt grabs Bem's arm.)
HUNT: Rev! Rev! Rev, the Way. Remember? The Way.
(Bem runs off.)
BEKA: It's okay. It's okay, Harper. It's all over.
HARPER: I'm good. I'm good.

[Medical]

(Harper is fastened to a bed by metal clamps.)
BEKA: Harper! Harper, try to calm down!
HARPER: You try to be calm when your brain is exploding with fire.
BEKA: There must be something we can do.
TRANCE: Beka, I am all out of options. The only person who can help Harper right now is Harper.
HARPER: Download. I have to download. I've got to dump this Perseid baggage into a file. File and forget! A neurochemical file.
TRANCE: Neurochemical file. How would I open that? Where?
HARPER: Okay, I got the technique right here. The key component is AB Gamma. Hey, uh, pick-a-peck-a-purple-people-eater, are you getting any of this down?
BEKA: Shush.
(Later, Harper is wired up to a machine.)
HUNT: So this will work?
BEKA: He says it will.
TRANCE: He's ready.
HUNT: Okay, let's give it a try.
BEKA: Hit it, Trance.
TRANCE: Activating transfer.
BEKA: It's working. I'm reading a massive data transfer.
TRANCE: The machinery is isolating and copying the information that the Perseid downloaded into Harper, so we can erase it when we're done.
(Harper's back arches.)
HUNT: Trance, what's going on?
TRANCE: It looks like the process is disrupting the electrical patterns in Harper's cerebellum.
HUNT: Well, then make it stop.
TRANCE: I'm trying.
BEKA: Come on, Harper. Hang on.
(Harper relaxes, the machine winds down.)
BEKA: Okay, he's stabilising.
HUNT: What happened?
BEKA: We only got a partial impression. It looks like a few hundred gigabytes of information, at best.
HUNT: Is he going to be all right?
TRANCE: He's stable.
HUNT: Keep him that way. And when he wakes up, leave these things on. (restraints) I don't want him hurting himself or going after Rev. Beka, let's see what we've got.

[Command]

(The war scenes flash across the viewscreen.)
BEKA: Welcome to Harper's nightmares.
HUNT: What would a Perseid librarian want with this?
BEKA: I don't know, but I think I know where to start looking. Harper has always hated the Magog, but he never had a problem with Rev Bem until he received that data.
HUNT: Ah. Andromeda, search the downloads for images of Magog.
(Rev enters.)
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Searching. Records located.
HUNT: Commonwealth Year 9766, 1017. This is
BEM: Brandenburg Tor. Three billion dead in less than five days.
HUNT: And the beginning of the end for the Systems Commonwealth.
BEM: Which makes this an eyewitness recording of one of the most important events in recent history.
BEKA: But there's only one problem. It's worthless. None of these records is unique. Everyone knows what happened on Brandenburg. It's not like there's a vast conspiracy to cover the crimes of the Magog.
BEM: Quite true. In fact, most of my people are unrepentant. They look on Brandenburg Tor with pride.
(But Bem looks sick.)
BEKA: So, this may be what's making Harper nuts, but it can't be what Jeger's looking for.
HUNT: There's something here. I can feel it.

[Medical]

(Harper is muttering to himself in tongues.)
BEM: Harper. Harper. I, I have seen your nightmares, and I understand my role in them. Please. Please, Harper, accept my apology. Forgive me.
(Bem puts a triangular pillow under Harper's shoulders so he can sit up, then backs away.)
HARPER: It's not you, Rev. It's just every time I look at you, all I can see is people dying. Bodies, massacre. I got a lifetime of nightmares knocking around inside my skull, and I can't do anything to hold them in. All I ever wanted was to know things, you know? How they worked, where they came from. And now I do, and all I can see, over and over and over again, is people dying. What do I do, Rev? How do I make it stop?
BEM: You need the one thing that all your knowledge cannot provide. Wisdom.
HARPER: Wisdom? Great. Show me the yellow brick road, Mister Wizard. How do I get wisdom?
BEM: Let go, Harper. Let go. Give over to the Divine all that you are, all that you have, including your pain. Calm your breath. Repeat. My pain belongs to the Divine. It is like air. It is like water.
HARPER: My pain belongs to the Divine. It is like air. It is like water.
BEM: Good. Again.
HARPER: My pain belongs to the Divine. It is like air. It is like water. It's like a freaking freight train going through my brain. Are you sure this works?
BEM: Harper, think of hunger. Think what it must be like to go days, even weeks, without food. Now, imagine what it would be like to know that in the midst of that starvation, you could eat, feast, satiate your hunger, but only by killing the people that you love. That is my pain. It is with me each day. My pain belongs to the Divine. It is like air. It is like water.
HARPER: My pain belongs to the Divine. It is like air. It is like water. My pain belongs to the Divine. It is like air. It is like water.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Hostile vessel approaching off starboard bow. Activating emergency measures.
BEM: I must go.
HARPER: No. Please, Rev. Let me help.
BEM: Harper, Dylan was most adamant.
HARPER: Rev, right now I'm the smartest guy in the universe, but that don't count for squat if I can't help my friends. Please, Rev, you can trust me. I promise.

[Command]

TYR: Launching kinetic missiles.
(They fly straight through Jeger's spaceship.)
BEKA: Okay. Now what?
TYR: He's readying another point singularity bullet.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Slipstream engines back online.
HUNT: Evasive manoeuvres.
BEKA: We're not shaking him.
HARPER [OC]: Er, calling Marshal Jeger. This is Chief Engineer of the Andromeda Ascendant, Seamus Harper. Do you copy?
HUNT: Harper? Where's that coming from?
BEKA: Checking. He's in the Maru.
HARPER [on viewscreen]: Listen up, Jeger. I think someone on board this ship here just might have some property you're looking for. So, if you want a piece of me, errand boy, pansy man, come and get me.
BEKA: What the hell is he doing?
HUNT: He's saving us.
TYR: No. He's committing suicide.
(Jeger goes off in pursuit of Harper, weapons firing.)
HUNT: Harper, you're outgunned and you can't outrun him. Now turn around and come back.
(Harper speaks German on the viewscreen.)
TYR: Speak Common, boy.
HARPER [on viewscreen]: Jeger wants to clock me. I don't want to be a bulls-eye on your butt.

[Eureka Maru]

BEKA [on viewscreen]: Damn it, Harper, you're going to get yourself killed. And by the way, that's my ship you're steering into oblivion, so get your skinny ass back to the hangar deck right now!
HARPER: Now, don't get all sentimental on me, boss. I brought this mess on board, I'm taking it off. It's that simple. Er, Harper out.
(Harper connects bundles of wires to pieces of equipment he is scattering around the Maru.)
HARPER: Well, all righty then, Marshal Jeger, let's see what you got. All ahead full. Arriba! Arriba!
(Harper straps himself into the pilot's seat and goes into slipstream.)
HARPER: For our happy hour this evening, we're offering the Space Rift Royale. Five parts gin, three parts vermouth, two olives, crushed ice, shaken not stirred, and voila!
(Energy streams from the stern of the Maru, folding the slipstream tunnel.)

[Command]

BEKA: Er, weirdness incoming.
TYR: He's warped the Maru's slipstream portal into some sort of wall.

[Eureka Maru]

HARPER: Woo hoo! Yes! The exotic matter chokehold, ladies and gentleman. The pub is now open. The library is closed.

[Command]

(Andromeda skids to a stop by the slipstream entrance.)
HUNT: It's like some kind of knot in space. We can't get past it.
BEKA: Can't we blast through?
HUNT: It's too risky. We've got to find another way in.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: I have to get at least three light minutes away from this position before I can enter slipstream.
HUNT: Do it. It looks like we'll have to guess where Mister Harper comes out.
TYR: If he makes it out at all.

[Eureka Maru]

(Jeger's ship gains on the Maru.)
HARPER: Hey! Hey, no tailgating! Er, brakes?
(Whiteout.)

[Command]

(Beka pilots the Andromeda through slipstream.)
BEKA: Another solar system, another bust.
TYR: Roaming the slipstream isn't getting us anywhere.
HUNT: Rommie, what's the status on Harper's wall?
ROMMIE: It should have dissipated by now.
BEKA: He might have left us behind some bread crumbs.
HUNT: Let's go back. Engaging slipstream on my mark.
(Trance enters.)
TRANCE: Dylan? I have something you might like to see.
HUNT: What is it?
TRANCE: You know that video footage from Brandenburg Tor? Well, I did an enhancement.
(She calls it up on the viewscreen.)
TRANCE: There.
(The black and flames humanoid.)
HUNT: Some kind of silhouette.
ROMMIE: Not according to the light readings. We should be able to see it clearly.
BEKA: I can't make it out. Is it human?
TYR: Surrounded by Magog? If it were human, it'd be dead.
HUNT: Andromeda, run it again. Give us a closer look.
(The figure spreads its arms then points.)
HUNT: It's like he's directing the attack.
BEKA: Someone controlling the Magog.
HUNT: And the fall of Brandenburg Tor.
TRANCE: Do you think that is what Jeger was after?
HUNT: Absolutely. And I think our mystery man here, or whatever it is, wants to stay a mystery.

[Eureka Maru]

(Harper has been tied, arms outstretched, across a hatchway.)
JEGER: I know you're awake. You may as well open your eyes.
HARPER: I was just resting. It's been a busy day.
JEGER: Thanks to you.
(Harper plants his feet on Jeger's chest and tries to push, to no avail.)
HARPER: So is this the part where you explain to me your diabolical plan?
JEGER: No. It's the part where I open your skull and extract your database by force.
HARPER: Oh. Will it hurt?
JEGER: I hope so.

[Command]

ROMMIE: Welcome to Three Four Five Eight Delta.
HUNT: Right back where we started.
BEM: No pions, no ice crystals, no trace of Harper at all.
HUNT: Yeah. It's funny, Rev. We knew where he was when he was on Med Deck.
BEM: A lapse in judgment on my part.
BEKA: There must be something. Harper knows enough to leave a trail.
TYR: He may not have had time. Jeger was right behind him. For all we know, Harper got caught.
BEM: Harper's barrier is gone. We can enter slipstream, try to retrace his exact route.
TYR: I would think too much time has passed.
HUNT: We're going about this all wrong.
TYR: Meaning?
HUNT: We shouldn't be trying to find Harper. We should try to find Jeger. And with all of his toys, there must be something there we could follow.
TYR: The Point Singularity Projector, I imagine, would exert a tremendous gravitational force.
BEM: Yes. Even shielded, it might have an effect on the slipstream.
ROMMIE: Which we should be able to track, theoretically.
HUNT: I love putting a theory into practice.
BEKA: We're going after him?
HUNT: Oh, we're going after him.
BEKA: Good.

[Eureka Maru]

HARPER: My pain belongs to the Divine. It is like the air. It is like the water.
(Jeger inserts his probe into Harper's data port.)
JEGER: Affirmations, prayers. I prefer laser probes.
HARPER: My pain belongs to the Divi Argh!
JEGER: There. That's the first honest thing you have said.
HARPER: I want my Rommie!
(An alarm goes off.)
JEGER: What's that?
(He removes the probe.)
COMPUTER: Collision Alert. Collision Alert. Collision Alert. Collision Alert.
HARPER: You tell them!
(Andromeda is visible through the ports.)
JEGER: No! No!
(Hunt and Beka enter.)
HUNT: Beka, get Harper!
(Tyr runs at Jeger and they trade a few blows. Hunt points his forcelance.)
HUNT: Fun's over!
(Hunt shoots Jeger.)
HUNT: Now who are you working for?
JEGER: Believe me. You don't want to know.
(And disappears down through the deckplates.)
BEKA: I got you.
(She shoots off his bonds.)
HARPER: Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?
BEKA: Don't start with me, Seamus.
(Metal creaks and thumps.)
BEKA: He's uncoupling his ship.
HUNT: Rommie, Jeger's running. Open fire with everything you got.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: My pleasure.

[Jeger's ship]

JEGER: Fools.
(Jeger vanishes just before it goes KaBOOM!)

[Eureka Maru]

HARPER: You really are pretty, you know that?
(Harper faints. Tyr puts his over his shoulder and carries him off.)

[Medical]

HUNT: He's going to live?
TRANCE: He's going to live.
BEM: Ah, too bad.
(Harper winces, then looks at Trance.)
TRANCE: What?
(Harper speaks with a multitonal, musical language.)
HUNT: Rev?
BEM: I'm not familiar with that particular language. Trance? Did you understand what Harper said?
HUNT: Trance?
TRANCE: Harper's brain is holding too much information. It's dangerous for him.
HARPER: I'd have to concur with Madame Violette, there. Right now, ignorance would truly be bliss.
HUNT: Have you figured out how to extract the Archives?
HARPER: And what would you say if I have?
HUNT: I'll need a copy of the Brandenburg Tor file.
HARPER: Boss, with that Jeger guy out there, wouldn't having that stuff make you a target? Make us all a target?
HUNT: What makes you think we're not already?
HARPER: Good point.
HUNT: As for the rest, we should store it, just in case.
TRANCE: Well, don't you think it's best that we destroy it? Just so it doesn't hurt anyone else.
HARPER: Trance, as much as I would love to, if you erase history, you just erase its lessons. I think I may have a place to store it. A safe place. A big enough place.
HUNT: Define big enough and safe enough?
HARPER: Er, I can't actually say.
HUNT: Ah. But you will let me know once you find it.
HARPER: Yeah.
HUNT: Good.
(Hunt and Bem leave. Harper gazes at a sun tattoo on Trance's left shoulder blade.)

[Asteroid]

JEGER: There were unexpected obstacles. He had allies. But I can still get it.
(The black and flames figure is unhappy.)
JEGER: Give me more time. No. Please. I can still get it to you.
(The figure waves its arm. Jeger flickers on and off, screaming, then the figure gathers his energy into itself, and disappears.)

[Machine shop]

BEM: It's very beautiful.
HARPER: Yes. Yeah, it is. Just one question. What is it?
BEM: You said it's an antique Earth-based flight module. Er, the X-1, I believe.
HARPER: Really? I don't suppose anybody was taking any notes while I was on a roll. Jotted down any specs? Asked me for a blueprint?
BEM: I am afraid all of that information is up there.
HARPER: Oh, no. There's nothing up here. It's just empty old Harper again.
BEM: Don't discount yourself, Harper. You have a wonderful mind, tremendous mechanical talents, a quick wit, and I'm beginning to detect a glimmering of something even more important than knowledge.
HARPER: Let me guess. Wisdom.
BEM: You see? Brilliant.
HARPER: Well, you know the old Vedran proverb. Bulshar vedrix vel nev lun.
BEM: Ah, yes. A fast swimmer keeps no pets.
HARPER: No, that's not what I said. A wise man knows his limitations.
BEM: Close enough.
HARPER: Er, Rev? I'm sorry for what I said. Whatever it was.
(Bem bows and leaves.)
HARPER: Man, who'd have thought that being a librarian could be so tough. Well, looks like I'm going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.
(Harper calls up a picture of Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1, smiles, and straps on his tool belt.)