Screams of a billion murdered Stars
Give lie to the night's Peace,
While we cling in desperation to the Few
Fragile spinning stones we call Worlds.

Wayfinder First Order Hasturi
aka "The Mad Perseid"
217 AFC

[Officer's mess]

(Planetary insignia are put into their places on the Commonwealth emblem.)
BEKA: That's Schopenhauer and Enkindu.
HUNT: Six down, forty four to go.
BEKA: You know, when you told me you were planning to get fifty worlds to sign your Commonwealth charter, I didn't think you'd even get one. And here you are, more than a tenth of the way there.
(Hunt pours himself a drink.)
HUNT: In a year of trying. It's just a drop in the ocean compared to the one million original members.
BEKA: Why is it that whenever I start to feel optimistic, you become a pessimist?
HUNT: It's a little known law of thermodynamics. The conservation of optimism. There's only so much to go around.
BEKA: In that case, it's simple. Lower your expectations.
HUNT: You're right. I officially declare this glass twelve percent full.
BEKA: That's the spirit.
HUNT: Yeah.

[Conduit]

(Harper is being drastic with a laser welder.)
HARPER: How's that?
ANDROMEDA [on monitor]: Better. How much more to go?
HARPER: Rom doll, I haven't even scratched the surface, yet. Over the past year, you've been in more than a dozen battles. We're lucky you're operating at all.
ANDROMEDA [on monitor]: You certainly know how to make a girl feel good about herself.
HARPER: Well, don't worry. Doctor Harper will make it all better. Open wide and say ah!
(Harper plugs himself into the computer core.)

[Computer core]

HARPER: Oh, yeah. Rommie, have I told you lately how beautiful you are? And I mean on the inside.
ANDROMEDA: Behave yourself, Harper.
HARPER: Rommie. Everything's looking good so far. Hold on. Something weird here.
(He looks inside a computer partition to see another, sleeping, Andromeda.)
HARPER: Freaky.

[Conduit]

HARPER: Hey, Rommie?
HOLO-ROMMIE: Now what?
HARPER: I think I've located a backup copy of your personality core.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Why can't I see it?
HARPER: I don't know. It's been hidden somehow. I'd like to compare it to your current configuration. Kind of like a before and after picture.
HOLO-ROMMIE: All right. What do you need me to do?
HARPER: Just hold still, darling.

[Computer core]

HARPER: this won't hurt a bit.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Accessing backup.
ANDROMEDA: What?
(Harper's body is pushed up against the conduit wall. Holo-Rommie changes uniform and the image on the screen flashes in and out.)
ANDROMEDA: Something's something's Something's wrong. Restoring old template.
(The back-up Andromeda awakes.)
HARPER: Wait! That's not what I wanted.
ANDROMEDA: Backup restored.
(Harper is faced by the giant back up Andromeda.)
ANDROMEDA: Intruder, identify yourself. What are you doing in my mind?
HARPER: Rommie, it's me, Harper.
ANDROMEDA: What is your authorization code?
HARPER: Er, whiskey charlie delta blues? , I don't know.
ANDROMEDA: Exactly.
HARPER: Rommie, wait! I'm your friend. Rom
(Andromeda ejects Harper from the computer core, painfully.)

[Conduit]

ANDROMEDA [on monitor]: Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Intruder alert.
(Bulkhead doors start closing, locking everyone in wherever they currently are.)

[Officer's mess]

HUNT: Rommie, what's going on?
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Intruder, identify yourself. Repeat, identify yourself.
HUNT: Intruder? Andromeda, it's me. Dylan.
ANDROMEDA [on monitor]: Dylan who?
HUNT: Dylan Hunt, your Captain.
ANDROMEDA [on monitor]: My commanding officer is Captain Perim. You are an unauthorised intruder. If you do not surrender immediately, you will be destroyed.
BEKA: Dylan? We're locked in.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Intruder alert.
(Trance runs in and the doors close behind her.)
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Intruder alert.
TRANCE: Andromeda, what's wrong? Where are the intruders?
HOLO-ROMMIE: Another one. Engaging internal defenses.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: No, wait. She may be useful.
TRANCE: Rommie?

[Officer's mess]

HUNT: Rommie, can you hear me?
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Any authorised personnel, report to Command. Intruders have taken over the ship and all known crewmembers are missing. If I do not receive a direct countermand in two minutes, I will begin emergency venting.
BEKA: She can hear you. She just isn't listening.
HUNT: This is crazy. Andromeda, open the door.
BEKA: I knew I didn't want to be on her bad side.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Captain Perim. Captain Perim. Do you copy?
BEKA: All right, who the hell is Captain Perim?
HUNT: I knew of a Commander Perim. He was a Perseid. But other than that, I don't know.

[Corridor]

ROMMIE: What do you mean you don't recognise me? I'm you!
ANDROMEDA [on monitor]: You are a modified type three maintenance android fashioned to look like my AI persona. You are decidedly not me.
HOLO-ROMMIE: It isn't responding to my instructions like the other androids.
ANDROMEDA [on monitor]: Whoever modified it must have given it the ability to override my direct control.
HOLO-ROMMIE: I will disassemble it. Perhaps it will give me information about the saboteurs.
ROMMIE: Like hell I will.
ANDROMEDA [on monitor]: This section has been sealed.
ROMMIE: Oh, really.
(The bulkhead doors open.)
HOLO-ROMMIE: Stop! Where are you going?
ROMMIE: To find out what's wrong with me. Sometimes I can be a real pain in the ass!

[Conduit]

HARPER: Man, what did I do to deserve that?
(Harper unplugs himself.)
ANDROMEDA [on monitor]: Intruders, this is your final warning. If you do not surrender, emergency venting will begin in one minute.
HARPER: Oh, that cannot be good.

[Corridor]

(Tyr is toting his big gun.)
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Intruder, halt.
TYR: Not likely.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Activating internal defenses.
(Tyr runs.)

[Command]

(Two robots put Trance into the slipstream chair.)
TRANCE: Andromeda, no!
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Pilot.
TRANCE: Pilot where?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: You will navigate in the slipstream. Coordinates will be provided.
TRANCE: Rommie, you know I can't navigate the slipstream.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: In order to complete my mission, I require an organic navigator. You will assist me, or you will be eliminated.

[Officer's mess]

BEKA: Slipstream. Someone's piloting the ship.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Emergency decompression in thirty seconds.
(They come out of slipstream.)
HUNT: Let's get out of here. The vents.
(There is an explosion at the door.)
TYR: Escape pods! Go!

[Corridor]

(The defence lasers are lousy shots.)
BEKA: We're never going to make it!
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Ten.
HUNT: Well now who's the pessimist?
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Nine, eight, seven, six, five.
TYR: Get down!
ANDROMEDA: Four, three, two, one. Beginning venting.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Why am I still pressurised?
HOLO-ROMMIE: I've lost control of the environmental systems. I can't vent the ship.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: How is that possible?

[Conduit]

HARPER: Trust in the Harper. The Harper is good.

[Corridor]

HARPER [OC]: Er, ship-wide. This is the Engineer.

[Conduit]

HARPER: You may have noticed the lack of a sudden drop in environmental pressure. Though this is a good thing, it may not last.

[Corridor]

HARPER [OC]: So enjoy the oxygen while you can.
TYR: Harper, what's going on?
HARPER [OC]: I don't know. I mean

[Conduit]

HARPER: My current theory is that somehow, er, an older version of Andromeda's personality profile might've been

[Corridor]

HARPER [OC]: Reactivated and may be taking over the ship.
HUNT: And how did you figure that out?
HARPER [OC]: I think the key thing right now is

[Conduit]

HARPER: To repair the problem? We can worry about minor details like assigning blame

[Corridor]

HARPER [OC]: Later.
BEKA: Harper, I'm
HUNT: He's right. Worry about that later. First we have to fix the Andromeda's AI.
TYR: No, first we need to get off of this ship.
(Andromeda goes into slipstream.)
HUNT: While she's slipstreaming? We'd be lost forever. You do what you want. I'm staying.
(And out of slipstream.)
HUNT: Let's go.

[Corridor 2]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Automated defences ineffectual against this target. Deactivating.
ROMMIE: It's about time.
HOLO-ROMMIE: It seems to be able to override nearby systems. What are you?
ROMMIE: I told you. I'm you. And the rest of the people you're attacking? Well, they would be our crew.
HOLO-ROMMIE: I find that hard to believe. Only one of them is even wearing a Commonwealth uniform. None of the rest have any kind of rank pin, communications implant
ROMMIE: That's because there is no Commonwealth. It fell three hundred years ago.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Ridiculous. I left San-Ska-Re five days ago.
ROMMIE: Did you? And then what happened? Where's your crew? This Captain Perim you've mentioned.
HOLO-ROMMIE: The last thing I recall is doing a pre-combat personality backup.
ROMMIE: Pre-combat? Who were you fighting?
HOLO-ROMMIE: I
ANDROMEDA [on monitor]: That's enough. This mission is classified. I will tell the intruder nothing.
HOLO-ROMMIE: But what if
ANDROMEDA: I said, that's enough.

[Command]

HOLO-ROMMIE: Why can't I talk to it?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: My mission orders are very specific. Complete communications silence. No unauthorised personnel allowed on the ship.
HOLO-ROMMIE: What if it's telling the truth?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: The Commonwealth could never fall.
TRANCE: But it did. The Nietzscheans betrayed you over three hundred years ago. And at the opening battle of the war, this ship was frozen on the event horizon of a black hole.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Impossible.
HOLO-ROMMIE: I could check the star patterns in the area. Analysing the shifts could reveal how much time has passed.
ANDROMEDA: I'm already too far from Commonwealth space for my charts to be accurate. I don't have time. The mission is paramount. As for you
TRANCE: My name's Trance. And I'm your friend, Rommie. We all are.
ANDROMEDA: Even him?
(Bem appears on the other half of the viewscreen.)
TRANCE: Rev Bem!
HOLO-ROMMIE: You're allied with the Magog?
TRANCE: No, he's a Wayist. He's not like the other Magog.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Enough talk. This is your next slipstream objective. Visualise and execute.
TRANCE: But I
ANDROMEDA: Now!
TRANCE: All right. Visualising. Honest.

[Storeroom]

(Hunt and Tyr blast their way in and take out the internal defences. Tyr closes the door.)
TYR: Harper!

[Conduit]

HARPER: Almost there, almost there. Got it. Say goodnight to the automated defences.

[Storeroom]

HARPER [OC]: Goodnight, automated defences.
HUNT: For how long?
HARPER [OC]: I forced

[Conduit]

HARPER: The defences into a secured diagnostics mode. The AI or anybody else can't turn them back on for at least

[Storeroom]

HARPER [OC]: Three hours.
BEKA: I knew I kept him around for a reason.
HUNT: Okay, we split into two teams. Beka, you and Tyr get to the Maru. Use its onboard systems to find out where we are and where we're going. And prep for launch, just in case. I'll rendezvous with Harper and locate Trance and Rev Bem.
ROMMIE: Aren't you forgetting someone?
HUNT: Rommie.
BEKA: Rommie, you're still on our side?
ROMMIE: Apparently. Dylan, my main AI thinks we're on some kind of combat mission. Something from before the Fall.
HUNT: Yes, under the command of Captain Perim.
BEKA: If Andromeda's reenacting some old mission, shouldn't Rommie remember it?
ROMMIE: I should, but I don't.
TYR: Could it be a virus, or some sort of false orders?
ROMMIE: Maybe. There is another possibility.
HUNT: A classified mission. One that was erased from Andromeda's official records.
ROMMIE: And from my memory.
(Thump. Alarms.)
BEKA: What was that?
HUNT: We're under attack.
(Bem sniffs, and growls. Lots of little pointed ships with talons attach themselves to Andromeda's hull.)

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Boarding parties detected. Automated internal defence systems are completely useless.
HOLO-ROMMIE: You and your friends did your jobs well. Your allies will be very happy.
TRANCE: Allies? You mean them? I don't even know who they are.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Then you're in even more trouble than I am.

[Storeroom]

BEKA: Something's punching through the hull.
ROMMIE: I know that sound.
HUNT: Magog swarm ships.

[Corridor]

HUNT: Okay, new plan. Tyr, link up with Harper. Protect him from the Magog while he works on the central AI. Rommie, find Trance and Rev Bem. Beka, you're with me.

[Conduit]

HARPER: Okay, Rommie, now be nice.
(He plugs himself into the computer core, and immediately gets a painful feedback. He unplugs.)
HARPER: You really have to work on your hostility level, you know that?

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Over three dozen Magog ships are attached to the hull. Dispatching all available androids to outer decks.
HOLO-ROMMIE: What are you doing?
TRANCE: I'm trying to turn us around.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Hold your course!
TRANCE: Look, I don't know if you've noticed, but we're being attacked by Magog, and the course you've just given me takes us deeper into their space, not farther away.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: How do you know?
TRANCE: Excuse me?
HOLO-ROMMIE: We're retracing the route of a Deep Explorer mission. The original slip-scout is the only other ship to travel this way, ever. If we're actually going deeper into Magog space, how do you know?
TRANCE: Lucky guess?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Maintain your course as instructed.

[Corridor]

BEKA: Where to?
HUNT: Command. Someone's flying my ship, and I want to know who.

[Conduit]

(The sounds of the intruder Magogs are reaching everyone.)
HARPER: Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, no. This is not happening. This is not happening.

[Medical]

HUNT: Weapons locker! Now!

[Hydroponics]

BEM: May the Divine help us.
(Magog break through into the corridors. They start rapping a rhythm on the walls.)

[Conduit]

HARPER: Andromeda, you've got to listen to me. We have to get out of here. Please. Please?
(A hand is placed on his shoulder. Harper squeals.)
TYR: Quiet. Their hearing is nearly as acute as mine, yes? Good. Now, restoring the AI. What do we need to do?
HARPER: What does it matter? We're all going to die. We're all going to die except those of us that get infested with Magog eggs. We're just going to be ow!
TYR: I am not going to die today because you cannot control your fear. Am I understood? Focus on the job at hand.
HARPER: Er, the reactor cores. If I can get to one of the reactor cores, I can jump past her internal defences and jack right into the AI's main memory. But who am I kidding? The closest one is portside, at least hundreds of metres away. We'll never make it.
TYR: If we do nothing, we die. If we go, at least we have a chance. So get moving, or I'll kill you myself.
HARPER: I love you, too.

[Weapons locker]

(Beka grabs body armour first.)
HUNT: All right, we've got a couple hundred metres and five decks to go before we reach Command. As soon as we're armed, we move out. Advance by leapfrog, covering rotation. You got it?
BEKA: I got it.
HUNT: If things start to go wrong, I want you to leave me behind. Gather everyone together and get to the Maru as fast as you can.
BEKA: You want me to abandon you here?
HUNT: Those people are my responsibility.
BEKA: Yeah, and you're mine. When I agreed to help you, you and Rommie became part of my crew every bit as much as I became part of yours. I don't leave crewmembers behind. Ever.
HUNT: Do you regret it? Signing aboard with me?
BEKA: And risking my life? Battling Nietzscheans and Restors and Magog and half the lunatics in the galaxy? All for a cause that's been dead for over three hundred years. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Advance by leapfrog, covering rotation.
(Hunt has a fully extended forcelance, Beka a gauss pistol. They head out, wearing eye protectors, into the noisy corridors.)

[Corridor]

TYR: I can smell them. They're close.
HARPER: Oh, crap. Oh, crap. Oh, crap.
(Harper puts on his welder's goggles.)
HARPER: Paralytic poison.
TYR: Yes. That.
HARPER: You never fought them before, have you? Oh, man. You don't know. You don't even know.
TYR: I know.
(Tyr puts on a pair of elegant shades.)
HARPER: We're so dead. We're so dead. We're so dead. We're so dead.
TYR: Shut up. Where's your survivor's attitude, Harper?
(The banging and chanting stops.)
TYR: They've stopped.
(The Magog rush the crew. Hunt and Beka fill their corridor with furry bodies.)
TYR: Harper! Fight!
(Harper finally starts shooting. Hunt and Beka try to make their way to Command. Rommie is swamped by Magog, but throws them off.)
TYR: All right, fall back.
(Even Bem is defending himself.)

[Command]

HOLO-ROMMIE: I don't understand. Your friends are fighting the Magog.
TRANCE: Now do you believe me?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: I believe they may have overestimated the Magog's gratitude. Prepare to slipstream to the next destination on my mark. Mark.
TRANCE: Mark, mark. I'm going.

[Corridor]

HUNT: How are you doing?
BEKA: I've had better days.
HUNT: Don't worry. It's not much further.

[Reactor core]

(Tyr drags Harper in, and he seals the door.)
HARPER: They're trying to get through.
TYR: Harper.
HARPER: Oh, god, they're going to get through.
TYR: Harper.
HARPER: They're going to get through.
TYR: Harper! I know you. I've watched you. You are an annoying little man, but there is fire in your blood. Now use it! Are these your demons? Well, it is time to face them now!
HARPER: I'm good. I'm good. I'm good.
TYR: Do what you came here to do! I'll hold off the Magog.
HARPER: You have to promise me something. I don't want those things hatching in me. If they infest me, promise you'll kill me.
TYR: Go to work!

[Corridor]

(Hunt is overwhelmed. Beka shoots the Magog and goes to help.)
BEKA: Dylan. Dylan!
HUNT: Oh, my shoulder.
BEKA: Did they er?
HUNT: No. No, just claws, but, but it feels deep.
BEKA: It looks like they got you in the hip, too. And the back.
HUNT: They got me good. I tell you what. I'm going to be, I'm going to be fine. You go to Command, and I'll just, I'll just hang out here with my Magog buddies.
BEKA: It's worse than I thought. You're delusional. Now, come on. We got to go. Up you get.

[Machine shop]

BLOODMIST: Well done. Bravo.
BEM: Who are you? Where are you?
BLOODMIST: I am Bloodmist. And I'm right here. Watching you.
(Bloodmist jumps down. He's not the standard Magog. He is clothed and carrying a small cannon.)
BLOODMIST: You are impressive, though obviously insane.
BEM: I am a Wayist. And I will not allow you to take this ship.
BLOODMIST: Wayist? What is that?
BEM: I follow the teachings of the Anointed. The way of peace, the way of cooperation.
BLOODMIST: And this way of peace dictates that you fight your own brothers? Kill your own kind?
BEM: I do not condone violence, but I will defend my friends.
BLOODMIST: I will give you one chance. Join us. Help us overrun this ship. In exchange, you may take one of them as a host for your progeny.
BEM: And if I refuse?
BLOODMIST: Then you will die.
(Rommie enters and throws Bloodmist across the room.)
ROMMIE: Rev, let's go.

[Computer core]

(Harper plugs himself in.)
HARPER: Memory core, memory core. Who's got the memory core.

[Reactor core]

TYR: Hurry, little man.
(The Magog force the door open. Tyr throws one off the catwalk down into the heart of the reactor.)

[Command]

BEKA: Ready?
HUNT: Why'd it have to be Magog? I hate Magog.
HARPER [OC]: Dylan? Dylan, can you hear me?
HUNT: Harper, where are you?
HARPER [OC]: I hacked into Andromeda's main memory.

[Computer core]

HARPER: I found a record of what happened after Rommie made that backup, but it's locked away under something called an Argosy level seven encryption? What's the magic word?

[Corridor]

HUNT: Access code. Andromeda, we have a level seven emergency. Unlock all classified memory files. Authorisation, Captain. Authorisation Lieutenant Commander Dylan Hunt, Argosy Special Operations Service, Division Five. Override code gray break seven nineteen".
BEKA: That's a new one.
HUNT: No, it's an old one. It's a very old one.

[Computer core]

HARPER: I'm in.

[Corridor]

HARPER [OC]: Oh, man. Dylan?

[Computer core]

HARPER: I think when Andromeda made that backup, she was attempting the same mission she's on now.

[Corridor]

HUNT: There's no surprise there.
HARPER [OC]: Yeah?

[Computer core]

HARPER: Well, it gets worse.
(Harper looks at the visual record of the attack.)
HARPER: She lost, Dylan. Andromeda was overrun, and her entire crew massacred.

[Reactor core]

(Tyr is still defending Harper, and tossing Magog over the railing. Harper comes out of the computer core to see a Magog knock off Tyr's glasses. He shoots it.)
HARPER: Lucky shot.
TYR: Are you through?
HARPER: I've started the reintegration of Andromeda's memories, but if I can stay here and monitor it, I may be able to speed up the process.
(But Magog are coming at them from all sides, including above.)
TYR: Or you might die. Now we run.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: All androids are down. Magog are within fifty metres of the Command centre. Next destination.
TRANCE: I can't. I can't do this anymore.
HOLO-ROMMIE: We may be pushing her too hard. Slip-piloting is taxing.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: We have to keep going. We may not be able to hold the Magog off much longer.
HOLO-ROMMIE: If we continue, she might make a mistake and that would be worse than waiting.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: It's all happening again.
TRANCE: What do you mean again? Rommie?
HOLO-ROMMIE: Memories. I
TRANCE: You've done this before, haven't you?
HOLO-ROMMIE: I remember failure.
(Someone starts to burn their way into the rear of Command.)

[Outside Command]

(It's Beka, using a forcelance. Hunt kills more Magog.)
HUNT: I hate to ask, but
BEKA: How's it going?
HUNT: Yeah.
BEKA: Not good. You'd think they made these doors to stand up to forcelances or something.
HUNT: Remind me, when we're done, to give us all medals. Order of the Commonwealth for everyone.
(More Magog.)
BEKA: Are you okay?
HUNT: Oh, yeah. Just great. There's so many of them. Beka, I may not make it.
BEKA: Don't be ridiculous. You're too stubborn to die. We all know that.
HUNT: Promise me, no matter what happens, you'll continue the mission.
BEKA: Yeah, see, that's why you have to survive. I'm not really qualified to restart the Commonwealth.
HUNT: Neither am I. But that hasn't stopped me.
BEKA: Dylan, I may like your idea, but I really don't know if it's possible. For anyone. The odds
HUNT: To hell with the odds. All that matters in life is that we try. Promise you'll try.
BEKA: I promise.

[Corridor]

(Bem falls to the floor, clutching his head.)
ROMMIE: Rev, are you all right? We've got to get to Command.
BEM: Andromeda, they're calling to me.
ROMMIE: Tuning to ultrasonic.
BLOODMIST [OC]: Poor, lost creature. Wandering, not knowing who or what you are. What is your name, lost one? Do you even know?
BEM: My name is Brother Behemial Far-Traveller. I am a Wayist of the Sacred Order.
BLOODMIST [OC]: Behemial Far-Traveller. That is a food name, not fit for a Harbinger of the Abyss. I asked you what your name is. The name your father gave you.
(Bem answers in Magog.)
ROMMIE: Red Plague.
BLOODMIST [OC]: Ah, that is better. Come with me, Red Plague. Join us, and we will restore to you all you have lost. Your history, your culture, your pride.
BEM: Magog have no culture. We have no history.
(Bloodmist walks around the corner.)
BLOODMIST: None that you know of. But you are of those who went before. The first ones. For ten generations, you have lived in ignorance until now. Now that the hour of the awakening approaches.
ROMMIE: Rev.
BLOODMIST: Follow me, Red Plague, and I will show you the face of God, and all will be revealed.
BEM: I have seen the face of the Divine. I see it every day in the universe, in all the Divine's creations.
BLOODMIST: Do you believe you were made by the Creator?
BEM: All things are created by the Divine.
BLOODMIST: All things but us! Hear my words. There is still time for you. But now I must go. I've got pressing business elsewhere. Destroy the robot!

[Machine shop]

HARPER: I'm out. Typical.
(Magog are hammering at every door.)
HARPER: I don't suppose you have any ammo left.
TYR: I've got one round.
HARPER: One round. One round is good. One round is good.
TYR: Would you like to close your eyes?
(Tyr points his gun at Harper's forehead.)
HARPER: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I was, I was thinking. Maybe they're not so tough, you know? Maybe, maybe we can take them in hand to hand combat. What do you think?
TYR: That's my boy!
(The Magog force a door open. Tyr shoots one then throws his gun at the next. The door jams.)
TYR: Now I've got none.
(A second door is forced. Tyr hands Harper a knife.)
TYR: Sir. Shall we dance, Master Harper?
HARPER: You do care.
(They stand back to back as the Magog pour in.)
HARPER: This was a real good idea.
TYR: Where there is life, there is hope!
(Harper screams as he is overwhelmed. Tyr finally disappears under a pile of furry bodies.)

[Command]

TRANCE: Andromeda, try to think. You have to remember. You've done this before. Where did you go? What happened? And once you remember that, all the rest should come into place.
HOLO-ROMMIE: I don't know. I
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: We have to finish the run. Jump all the way to the final location.
TRANCE: Where is that?
HOLO-ROMMIE: A hundred more slips, at least.
TRANCE: But that could take days, even weeks.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Our orders are clear. We have to complete the mission.
(Hunt and Beka break into Command.)
HOLO-ROMMIE: Slipstream now!
HUNT: Trance! Andromeda!
(They come out of slipstream near a massive structure with a small sun at its centre.)
BEKA: What the hell?
HUNT: Andromeda, report.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Who
HOLO-ROMMIE: Do as he says.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Scanning. They're worlds. Twenty of them joined into some kind of structure.
HOLO-ROMMIE: You're Dylan.
TRANCE: Told you so.
HUNT: The structure. Focus on the structure.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: I remember this. I've seen it before, but millions of light years away in another galaxy.
HUNT: This is what you were looking for on your last mission.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: It was. Those worlds. They're hollow. And they're full of Magog. Trillions of them.

[Corridor]

(Harper is dragged in.)
BLOODMIST: Delectable.
(Rommie and Bem are still fighting. Bem bites a Magog.)
BLOODMIST: That's more like it! Patience, little brother. You and I will have time to dance when the others have been consumed.
(Bloodmist shoots Bem.)
ROMMIE: Rev!
(A Magog grabs a pole, or forcelance, and spears Rommie to the wall.)
BLOODMIST: Any more objections? No? Good! Take them away. Our god awaits.
(Harper and Tyr are carried away. Down in a cavern on one of the planets, the enigmatic black and flame entity appears.)

[Command]

HOLO-ROMMIE: Beka. You're Beka.
BEKA: Last time I checked.
HOLO-ROMMIE: And Trance. I'm so sorry.
TRANCE: It's okay. I know you didn't mean it.
(Bang.)
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: More Magog assault ships have impacted on the hull. Internal defences are still offline.
BEKA: So we've got enough Magog to eat pretty much everyone in existence, and we're going down for the count? Does the Captain have any orders?
HUNT: I er
(Hunt collapses.)
TRANCE: Dylan!
BEKA: Trance. Trance, help him. Andromeda
TRANCE: Dylan!
BEKA: Take us out.

[Corridor]

(Bem wakes up amongst the pile of Magog corpses.)
ROMMIE: Rev. Help. Me.
BEM: Tyr? Harper?
ROMMIE: Taken.
BEM: Oh, no! No!
(He rips off his Wayist medallion.)
ROMMIE: Rev! Don't! Come back!

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Beka, I'm detecting a massive power buildup in the world structure.
BEKA: Evasive manoeuvres.
ANDROMEDA: It's firing. Point singularity weapons.
(Energy balls rip through Andromeda. One goes through Command, and everyone is sent flying. Debris falls away from the ship as she tumbles in space.)

[Corridor]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Code Red. Code Red.
ROMMIE: Code Red. Code Red.

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Officers down. Officers down in Command. Repeat. We have Code Red. Code Red. Code Red. Officers down. Code Red. Officers down. Repeat. We have Code Red.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Can anyone hear me? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone?
(Holo-Rommie returns to her normal uniform, and the Enigma waits.)

To Be Continued...