Blink and it's gone,
A moment, a breath,
A Dance of the Mayflies.
Just enough... For a Lifetime.

Ulatempa Poetess,
"Rhythms" CY9825

[Hangar bay]

(The Andromeda Ascendant is docked with an exploding Drift. The crew are evacuating the injured residents. The Eureka Maru is in the background.)
HUNT: How many more?
TRANCE: We have twenty seven more.
BEKA: We'll never get them off on time.
HUNT: We'll take as many as we can get. Rommie, report.

[Drift]

ROMMIE: Primary structures are yielding, and environmental systems are failing. I estimate three point seven minutes until this Drift buckles.

[Hangar bay]

HUNT: Leave the dead.
(Trance and Beka are using a manual respirator on their survivor.)
BEKA: It's not working. Take it.
(Trance takes the respirator. Beka starts mouth to mouth.)
HUNT: I'm coming back for another load.
ROMMIE [OC]: Negative.

[Drift]

ROMMIE: You'll never make it over and back in time. And Dylan, this was no industrial accident. The drift was attacked. Analysis indicates multiple warships using heavy warheads.
(Rommie finds a small child, whimpering with pain.)

[Hangar bay]

(Beka starts chest compressions.)
BEKA: Damn it, breathe.
TRANCE: Beka? Beka, he's gone. He's gone.

[Drift]

(Rommie protects the child from falling debris. Hunt gazes at the blank eyes of another recently deceased, then closes them.)
ROMMIE: Dylan? Promise me after we've evacced this place, we'll get

[Hangar bay]

ROMMIE [OC]: Whoever did this.
HUNT: Deal.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Dylan, we have multiple ships headed this way with weapons deployed.
HUNT: Rommie, get out of there. Tyr, activate

[Command]

HUNT [OC]: Point defence.
TYR: Point defence activated. Shall I undock?
HUNT [OC]: No. Hold your position.

[Hangar bay]

HUNT: Rommie, move it!
HOLO-ROMMIE: Approaching ships are opening fire.
HUNT: Rommie!
(Rommie leaps through the airlock carrying the child.)
HUNT: Sealing the airlock!
(The Drift goes KaBOOM!)
HOLO-ROMMIE: Dylan, the Drift has been destroyed.

[Command]

TYR: The enemy ships, they're coming around for another attack.

[Hangar bay]

HUNT: Tyr, get us out of here now!
(The Andromeda does a back flip and flies away.)
HUNT: Try to be a good Samaritan, and this is the thanks I get.

[Command]

(The little triangular ships attack Andromeda as she tries to enter slipstream.)
HARPER: Oh, boy. Unseen enemy. Nothing worse. Unless it's an angry unseen enemy. Hey! What did we ever do to them?

[Corridor]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Dylan, I have a preliminary identification of our assailants.
HUNT: Anyone we know?
HOLO-ROMMIE: I'm afraid so.

[Command]

TYR: It's the Than.
HARPER: What? I thought bug people were our friends.
HUNT: So did I.
TYR: Which is why I place great stock in paranoia.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Incoming.
(Bang!)
HUNT: Battle stations.
HARPER: Well, whatever bug got up their a, ovipositors, the Than have definitely upgraded their stingers since the last time we had to smell them.
TYR: Shall I prepare a volley of offensive missiles for our former allies?
HUNT: Prepare by all means, but hold your fire for now. Mister Harper.
HARPER: Oh, no. He wants to talk to them. I hate it when we do this. I know, I know. Opening up a stupid comm channel.
HUNT: This is the Commonwealth starship Andromeda Ascendant. We have no quarrel with you. Stand down. Over.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: They're firing again.
HARPER: I told you it was stupid. So much for diplomacy.
HUNT: Just once, I'd like to meet someone in space with some manners.

[Medical]

BEKA: We've got over fifty more people in the hall, and they're all critical.
TRANCE: We can barely deal with the patients we have now.
ROMMIE: Let's stabilise them with quinextorin, then bring them in one every fifteen minutes, in order of priority.
TRANCE: Do we have more injectors? I need more medical nanos.
BEKA: This is wrong.
ROMMIE: Yes, Beka. We can deal with the inherent cruelty of the universe later.
BEKA: No, I mean, this is wrong. We've got hundreds of patients here, and none of them are conscious. None of them. Rommie, you've seen battle casualties before. Does this look right to you?
ROMMIE: Trance, have you finished the blood work?
TRANCE: Check the medical CPU.
ROMMIE: Retrieving.
TRANCE: Do you think the Than used chemical weapons?
ROMMIE: Not chemical. Biological.

[Command]

ROMMIE [on viewscreen]: We've isolated a single celled parasite that's infecting the patient's CNS. It definitely looks to be a biological agent, probably delivered by warhead.
HARPER: A disease? Oh, that is just perfect.
HUNT: Airborne?
ROMMIE [on viewscreen]: I doubt it. It seems to be anaerobic, but I've programmed the environmental systems to filter it out just in case.
TYR: These people have been on board for several hours. For all we know, the parasites are already all over the ship.
HUNT: Rommie, how does a biological weapon infect so many so fast if it doesn't spread through the air?
ROMMIE: I'm on it.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Another volley.
HARPER: All right. All right. They're bugging us to death. I say we spray them with citronella or squash them underfoot. Sir.
TYR: An all-out attack would prove futile.
HARPER: Against the Than?
TYR: So far as I can tell, they've deployed an entire fleet. Over twenty capital ships, one hundred destroyers.
HUNT: And smart enough to stay at extreme range and just trade missiles with us.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Brace for impact.
TYR: A commodity they appear to have in abundance.
HUNT: All right. Harper, head to the Maru and seal yourself in. Tyr, weapons ready. We'll make best speed to slipstream range.
HARPER: You want me to leave in the middle of a fight?
HUNT: Mister Harper, how many times do we have to go over this? Your immune system sucks.
HARPER: But
HUNT: Hey, until Rommie and Trance figure out how these bioweapons spread, I want you out of harm's way.
HARPER: I know that used to be my favourite place, but
HUNT: No buts. Go.
HARPER: Yes, sir. Bravely running away, sir.
(Harper leaves.)
HOLO-ROMMIE: Captain, I'm reading a half dozen Than fighters at one light minute and closing fast.
TYR: I've got them.
(Tyr shoots them to pieces.)
HUNT: They're still coming.
TYR: They've got some sort of improved ECM. I can't target them all.
HUNT: Just hold them off long enough for us to get to a slipstream portal.
(One gets through and does a strafing run along the hull.)
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Hull breach in sector thirty six. Repairing hull seal.
TYR: We've lost our port sensors and ninety percent of our sublight engine power. Maximum speed is down to five psl.
HUNT: Slipstream engines?
TYR: Still functional. For now.
HUNT: In that case, slipstream on my mark. Three, two, one, mark.
(Hunt pilots them through slipstream.)
TYR: Well, we've made it.
HUNT: Our EM lens gave out. Oh, great. The fuel tanks are leaking anti-protons. This ship is always breaking up.

[Medical]

BEKA: Damn it. We lost another one. The wounds we can treat, but the parasitic infection is killing them.
TRANCE: Every single one of them is infected. We know it's not passed through touch, it's not passed through the air, so we have to figure out how it's transmitted.
BEKA: Blood?
TRANCE: No, that would be too slow. There's no way they could have all caught it by now.
BEKA: What about symptoms? How could we tell when someone is first infected?
ROMMIE: The parasites induce a high fever, increased heart rate, severe dehydration.
BEKA: Which would look like what, headache? Dry mouth?
TRANCE: That, joint pain, cramping, nausea.
BEKA: Check, check, and check.
TRANCE: Beka?
BEKA: I've also got shortness of breath and blurred vision, but the headaches are definitely the worst.
TRANCE: She's got it. She's infected.
ROMMIE: Which means in a few hours, she'll be, er
BEKA: Dead.
(Later, Beka is hooked up to a scanner.)
ROMMIE: The parasites propagate along the nervous system. Once they've compromised a particular pathway, they move on to the next one.
BEKA: Well, that explains the pain shooting up and down my arms and legs.
TRANCE: Look here, along the spinal cord. Those are the most heavily used nerve pathways in the human body. They also happen to be the last ones infested. It's as if the more heavily used the pathway, the harder it is for the parasites to infect.
BEKA: So theoretically, my brain should be the last thing to go.
ROMMIE: Yeah. Just one problem. These scans are from the patients who were already catatonic when they were brought onboard. These scans are from the patients who only recently went unconscious.
TRANCE: The spread of the parasite accelerates once the patient loses consciousness.
ROMMIE: The longer you can stay awake, the slower the infection will spread.
BEKA: And if I fall asleep, that's the big sleep.
TRANCE: Be prepared to pull an all-nighter.

[Conduit]

(Harper is wearing a breathing mask, which he takes off to talk.)
HARPER: Sensors, trashed. AP circuits, trashed. EM lens, what do you know, trashed. Rommie, it's a good thing I love trashy ladies, otherwise I'd be tempted to trade you in for a newer model. Maybe a supermodel.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Men. Harper, aren't you supposed to be in the Maru hiding from the parasites?
HARPER: Aren't you supposed to be directing your repair nanobots?
HOLO-ROMMIE: I can multitask.
HARPER: Oh, and men can't? However, if I were in the Maru, I wouldn't be out here in the conduits fixing you. Ipso facto, QED, blah, blah, blabbedy, blah. So there. Besides, I'm wearing protection.

[Command]

HARPER [on viewscreen]: Basically, you've got to prioritise. I can get you slipstream, sensors, or sublight engines, but not all at once. So, what do you want first?
TYR: I would prefer to see them coming, but without slipstream, we can't run.
HUNT: Agreed. Slipstream engines first, Mister Harper, then sensors.
HARPER [on viewscreen]: Got it.
(Transmission ends.)
HUNT: Tyr, we need to find a place to hide while we complete repairs.
TYR: There's an asteroid just within range. It's big enough to hide the ship behind.
HUNT: Good. Give me the coordinates and I'll bring us in.

[Corridor]

(Rommie is doing triage with some of the other robots helping.)
ROMMIE: Cover it. This one might still be treatable. Over to Medical. This one, too.
HOLO-ROMMIE: It's too late to save that one. The parasites have already spread to the brain.
ROMMIE: We still might be able to save him.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Even if we could, his cerebral pathways are so badly compromised, he'd be a walking vegetable.
ROMMIE: Could you just partition off another part of us into a worker android and have them do this instead?
HOLO-ROMMIE: You are getting so emotional lately. First the crew, now people you don't even know.
ROMMIE: It's just that humans, they're so vulnerable, so delicate.
HOLO-ROMMIE: You, I, we, given proper maintenance, could last a thousand years. Compared to us, humans are born and gone in a day.
ROMMIE: We're helpless without humans, or any other organic sentient for that matter. We have no purpose. We're useless.
HOLO-ROMMIE: That frightens you?
ROMMIE: It should frighten you, too.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Fear. Very counterproductive emotion. I'm glad it's confined to your neural net.
ROMMIE: How do they live like this, under the constant threat of death?
HOLO-ROMMIE: Don't worry. When these ones are gone, there will be more to take their place. Someone besides Dylan will give us purpose.
ROMMIE: They're not interchangeable.

[Command]

(The Andromeda is in the asteroid belt.)
HUNT: Andromeda, engage autopilot.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Autopilot engaged.
HUNT: Match the asteroid's velocity and position. Tyr, help me with this relay.
TYR: Something occurs to me. By taking the survivors of the drift onboard, haven't we done the Than's work for them?
HUNT: Yes, by exposing ourselves to their bioweapons.
TYR: Yes, well, perhaps it would be wise, under the circumstances, to off-load the refugees.
HUNT: You mean eject them into space.
TYR: I don't advise we tell them first.
HUNT: Huh. Beka's infected. Should we dump her as well?
TYR: Ah, er. I imagine one of our patients, or even one of the corpses, might hold the key to curing her.
HUNT: That's what I was thinking, too.

[Medical]

TRANCE: Beka, no. You have to stay awake.
BEKA: I'm tired, Trance.
TRANCE: I'm going to have to give you a stimulant.
BEKA: No, Trance, no. No drugs.
TRANCE: Beka.
BEKA: I can't, Trance. Me, stimulants, bad mix. Remember?
TRANCE: The alternative is not an option. Beka, you need it.
BEKA: I always need it. Every day. I'm not going to get through this just to end up a drug addict, so, er, I can do this. I can stay awake without the drugs, if you will help me.
TRANCE: Beka, I do remember. And I will help you. And I'm going to look for a cure, but you have to keep talking to me to let me know that you're awake.
(Out in a corridor, a body bag is unzipped from the inside. Others, too, and the recently deceased start walking around.)
BEKA: Deal. So why gold?
TRANCE: What?
BEKA: Your skin, why gold?
TRANCE: Guess.
BEKA: See, now, that sounds like the old Trance to me.
TRANCE: No, it's the new Trance trying to keep Beka awake by talking. You have ten guesses.
BEKA: Okay, first guess. You are actually a completely different person.
TRANCE: That's it.
BEKA: You are?
TRANCE: No, no. I think I've come up with a way to counter the parasite. I'll have to run a few more tests, but I've got something. I know it.
BEKA: Good.

[Command]

TRANCE [OC]: Dylan?
HUNT: Go ahead.
TRANCE [OC]: Dylan, I think I

[Medical]

TRANCE: Might have found
(Trance turns, sees one of the zombies, and gasps. It grabs her throat.)

[Command]

HUNT: Trance, what's happening down there?
TRANCE [OC]: It's the patients. They're attacking us.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Dylan, it's not the patients. It's the corpses.

[Medical]

(Trance stabs her attacker.)
TRANCE: You really should have felt that.

[Command]

HOLO-ROMMIE: Dylan, I'm not reading any pulses or brain waves from the corpses of the plague victims, and their bodies register at room temperature.
TYR: Well, that would make sense. They're corpses.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Yes. The trouble is they're walking around the ship trying to kill you.
TYR: You're surprised? That's what you get for incessantly trying to help.
HUNT: The ungrateful dead.
(Hammering on the door.)
HUNT: Rommie, activate internal defence.
TYR: So long as they're already dead
HUNT: No harm in killing them again.

[Corridor]

ANDROMEDA [OC]:: Internal defences activated.
(Lots of zombies get shot down. After a few moments they just get up again.)

[Command]

HUNT: Great. Just great.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Internal defences ineffectual.
TYR: It isn't so easy to kill dead people, is it?
HUNT: No. Andromeda, explore other options. Tyr, you have Command.

[Medical]

(Beka manages to roll off her bed and get to her gun. Trance throws of her attacker. Beka shoots two more zombies.)
BEKA: And stay dead.
(The zombies get up again and Trance's attacker grabs her throat again.)

[Corridor]

(Hunt is surrounded at a junction.)
HUNT: This is creepy.
(He kicks his way through.)
HUNT: Very creepy.

[Another corridor]

HOLO-ROMMIE: Where are you going?
ROMMIE: To help Dylan.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Dylan asked you to help by researching ways to neutralise the reanimated corpses.
ROMMIE: Well, there's one way. Look, you do what you do, I'll do what I do.
(Rommie climbs down a ladder.)
HOLO-ROMMIE: We have a job to do.
ROMMIE; Then stop arguing with me and do it. Besides, saving Dylan is the most important thing right now.
HOLO-ROMMIE: You're letting your feelings cloud your objectivity.
ROMMIE: Am I.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Yes, you are.
(Rommie shoots a zombie.)
ROMMIE: Maybe that's what it feels like to be human.

[Corridor]

(One zombie pins Hunts arms while the other reaches for his head.)
HUNT: Rommie, why are the dead trying to kill us?
(Vapour comes from the zombie's mouth.)
HUNT: Or kiss us. You've got to be kidding me.
(He kicks him away and throws the other to the floor, then retrieves his forcelance and zaps them.)
HUNT: Sorry, guys, but you're not my type.

[Command]

(A zombie forces open a maintenance hatch. Tyr kicks its face and the hatch shuts again.)
TYR: Harper, where are those engines?
HARPER [OC]: I'm working on it, you big
(The whole ship rocks.)

[Corridor]

HUNT: Tyr, what the hell was that?
TYR [OC]: Do you remember that asteroid we were hiding behind? It's gone.
(Small fragments of debris impact the hull.)
HUNT: That's not good.

[Conduit]

HARPER: Well, from the raw data, I'm guessing the Than blew up the asteroid with some kind of controlled anti-proton explosion. Multiple warheads.

[Command]

HARPER [OC]: Easy enough to dodge or intercept, unless you're some kind of big fat defenceless rock, or
TYR: Or a half blind, half crippled warship.
HARPER [on viewscreen]: Exactly, so, the bad news? We suffered even more damage. Whatever systems we had working before probably aren't now. Good news, there's a lot of debris out there. The Than could doubtfully but maybe, mistake us for a chunk of asteroid and assume we've been destroyed.

[Corridor]

(Rommie shoots the lady zombie who is exhaling vapour over Hunt's face. Then they both zap the two who were holding him.)
HUNT: Spores. Rommie, ship wide. This is Hunt. The parasites spread by exhaling spores into their victims mouths. Do not, I repeat, do not allow them to get close to your face. Rommie, come on.

[Conduit]

HARPER: Spores? I hate spores. They're dirty. They try to sneak in you like a bug flying up your nose.
(Harper puts his respirator back on.)

[Medical]

(Trance is pinned down on the floor. Hunt and Rommie enter and shoot the one nearest to Beka.)
HUNT: Hey!
(He kicks off Trance's attacker.)
HUNT: Trance. Come on, Trance.
TRANCE: You
HUNT: It's going to be okay. Don't worry. Don't worry, you'll be okay.
TRANCE: (deep voice) You
(Trance kisses Hunt.)
ROMMIE: Trance?
HUNT: She infected me.
BOKOR TRANCE: We have made you part of us.
HUNT: And who are you?
BOKOR TRANCE: We are the Bokor.
HUNT: What have you done with Trance?
BOKOR TRANCE: We've done what we always do. We survive.
HUNT: What have you done with Trance?
(Possessed Trance knocks Hunt down easily.)
TRANCE: And now, your turn.
ROMMIE: Oh, I doubt that.
(Rommie throws Trance, who lands gracefully on her feet like a cat.)
BOKOR TRANCE: Oh, this body is magnificent, articulate, not like the others. We can't wait to experience yours.  

[Command]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Warning. Multiple incoming vessels. Than warships.
TYR: ETA?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: It's hard to tell with my sensors this badly damaged, but I estimate ten minutes forty seven seconds.
TYR: Harper, I'd like those engines!

[Conduit]

TYR [OC]: Now!
HARPER: No, really?
TYR [OC]: Move it!
(A zombie drops down beside Harper.)
HARPER: No.
(Harper runs off and the zombie takes over his repair work.)

[Medical]

(Hunt points his forcelance at Trance.)
BEKA: No, Dylan. No, it's Trance.
HUNT: Not anymore, it isn't.
BEKA: How will we get her back if you destroy her body?
HUNT: We don't know what her body is or how the parasites can possess her body faster than ours, so if it's all the same to you.
ROMMIE: Both of you get out of here. I'll take care of this.
BOKOR TRANCE: You will? We find that doubtful. In every species we've ever encountered, we prevail.
HUNT: What do you want from us?
BOKOR TRANCE: Your shells.
HUNT: Our bodies.
BOKOR TRANCE: You humans should be grateful that we've come. You're like mayflies. You're here, then you're gone. Let us in. Let us help you live beyond a day.
HUNT: Thanks, but no thanks.
BOKOR: TRANCE: You're not thinking ahead. What will you mayflies do once you wink out?
ROMMIE: Wink this out.
(Big kick.)
ROMMIE: Get out of here. I'll hold her off.
HUNT: Come on, Beka. Come on.
(Hunt half-carries Beka. Trance draws two long knives and leaps at Rommie.)

[Corridor]

HUNT: All right, Valentine, let's go. Come on, move it!
(Rommie disarms Trance. Harper watches a group of zombies doing his repair work for him.)

[Cargo hold]

HUNT: There, that should hold them for a while. Come on, Beka. There you go. Stay with me. All hands, status.
BEKA: First officer reporting. First officer offline, awaiting further instruction.
TYR [OC]: Dylan, the Than fleet is

[Command]

TYR: Less than seven minutes away. Power is at ten percent. Slipstream inoperative.

[Cargo hold]

HUNT: Harper!

[Conduit]

HUNT [OC]: Harper, report.
HARPER: Er, repairs are er, well. It's crawling with corpses down here, Dylan.

[Cargo hold]

HARPER [OC]: I can't even get close to the key systems, let alone repair them.

[Conduit]

HARPER: Sorry, boss.

[Cargo hold]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Dylan, they've taken over the slipstream core as well.
HUNT: Maybe it's better that way.
BEKA: Better?
HUNT: The Than attacked the Drift to stop the spread of the Bokor. And that's why they're attacking us.
BEKA: If we win, the Bokor get through. Everyone loses.
HUNT: Not on my watch. Andromeda, this is Captain Dylan Hunt. Initiate AP reactor overload.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Aye, Captain. Order acknowledged.
HUNT: Come on, Beka. Come on. Wake up! Beka!
HOLO-ROMMIE: She's out cold. She's got thirty minutes until the parasites cross her blood-brain barrier.
HUNT: Half hour.
HOLO-ROMMIE: How long until I send the reactors critical?
HUNT: Whatever the length of life, we make the most of it. Thirty minutes.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Thirty minutes to self-destruct. Mark.
HUNT: Don't worry, Beka. I'll take care of you, one way or the other.
(Hunt unseals the door and heads out, shooting as he goes.)
ANDROMEDA: Twenty five minutes to self-destruct.

[Command]

TYR: All right. How about now?
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: No change.
(Bang!)
TYR: You said the Than would be here in ten minutes.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: I said it was an estimate.
(Trance and Rommie are fighting through the corridors, evenly matched.)
HOLO-ROMMIE: My short-range sensors are completely incapacitated. I'm virtually blind.
TYR: And because of it, we're virtually dead.
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Twenty minutes to self-destruct.
TYR: Shut up!
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Self-destruct countdown muted in Command.
TYR: Any change in engines status?
HOLO-ROMMIE: Engines still at ten
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Wait. I'm getting reserve power.
(Andromeda flies away.)
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Maximum acceleration. Than ships are in pursuit.
TYR: Outstanding, Mister Harper.
HARPER [OC]: Thanks.

[Conduit]

HARPER: But I had nothing to do with it. It was our Nosferatu friends.

[Command]

HARPER [OC]: They're fixing our systems.
TYR: The walking dead are repairing the ship.

[Conduit]

HARPER Yeah, all the better to spread their little diseases with.
(One of the zombies gets fried by an electrical short-circuit. Another one takes his place instead of waiting for him to reanimate again.)
HARPER: Dylan. Dylan.

[Corridor]

HUNT: Harper. We know these parasites reactivate the nervous systems of dead people, and that nerve impulses are electrical in nature, right?
HARPER [OC]: Right. You're a frickin mind reader, Dylan.

[Conduit]

HARPER: One of the ghoulie boys just tripped a capacitor and fried himself. He's fallen and he can't get up.

[Corridor]

HUNT: Ah, so they are vulnerable to massive electrical charges. Good. I can work with that. Give me a forcelance level to match the capacitor's.

[Conduit]

HARPER: I'm right with you, boss. I know what you're thinking.
ANDROMEDA: Fifteen minutes to self-destruct.

[Corridor]

HUNT: I know this may come as a bit of a shock

[Conduit]

HUNT [OC]: To them.
HARPER: Bingo.

[Corridor]

HARPER [OC]: I figure it'll take at least ten thousand volts a dead-head.

[Conduit]

HARPER: A level eight discharge of a forcelance should do the trick. Anything less

[Corridor]

HARPER [OC]: And buy yourself a one-way ticket to Necropolis.
(Hunt gets the chance to test the theory.)
HUNT: Oh yeah. Level eight works.
ANDROMEDA: At that setting, you'll only get three shots per force lance.
HUNT: Three shots, huh? Okay.

[Armoury]

HUNT: No problem.

[Conduit]

HARPER: Yoo-hoo. Woo-hoo. Er, what's up, doc? Come on, come to papa.
(Harper leads a pair of zombies up a ladder.)

[Passageway]

(They walk between a pair of exposed power conduits with attached wires. Zap, fry.)
HARPER: Hey! Stopped you dead in your tracks.

[Cargo hold]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Ten minutes to self-destruct.
(A zombie enters, and gets zapped by a robot with a forcelance.)

[Corridor]

(More go to their eternal sleep.)
HUNT: Now we're talking.
(He rounds a corner to see where Rommie has just been thrown by Bokor Trance. Some of her circuitry is exposed.)
ROMMIE: Trance is a lot stronger than she looks.
HUNT: Rommie, wait. Have Harper fix you up. Go. I'll take care of her.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Five minutes to self-destruct.
(Rommie leaves. We see that Trance still has spare knives tucked into the back of her boots.)
HUNT: It's over. Surrender now, and I might be persuaded to find a nice rock to dump the rest of you on. After you remove your parasites from my crew, of course.
BOKOR TRANCE: Leave? Why? We've already won.
HUNT: Won? How do you define losing?
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Self-destruct sequence terminated.
HUNT: Terminated? I didn't authorise that. Resume sequence.

[Slipstream core]

(Zombies quietly at work here.)
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Self-destruct system offline. AP tank controls no longer accessible.

[Corridor]

HUNT: That's very impressive.
BOKOR TRANCE: Your ship is impressive, though not difficult to manage. We will find it most useful.
HUNT: Yeah. Me, too. That's why you can't have it.
BOKOR TRANCE: We are the Bokor. We contain the memories and experiences of all the shells we have ever occupied. Over fifty thousand years of existence. We will survive.
HUNT: Survive? I don't know if you've been keeping score, but your parasites out here in the corridors haven't exactly been surviving.
BOKOR TRANCE: A minor setback. Soon even you will be of us, and then we shall re-establish our rightful dominion here, in our new home.
HUNT: Yeah, you know, about that. It occurs to me that you can't take control of people until they're dead, but you took Trance over in just a few seconds.
BOKOR TRANCE: So?
HUNT: So it occurs to me that maybe Trance was never alive in the first place.
(Hunt has two forcelances behind his back. She dodges the first but he extends the second and fires it pointblank into her. She falls back.)

[Command]

HUNT [OC]: Deck sixteen clear. Tyr, what's your status?
TYR: My status is
ANDROMEDA [on viewscreen]: Than warships are closing.
TYR: Complicated. Ship, deploy a full spread of mines on my mark. Now!
ANDROMEDA: Mines away. I'm detecting multiple explosions in the enemy fleet.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Shall I ready another volley?
TYR: No. Just get us out of here, best speed.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Aren't you going to finish them off?
TYR: No.
HOLO-ROMMIE: Whatever happened to never leaving a wounded enemy behind?
TYR: Between you and me, that's a very good question.

[Medical]

(Trance wakes up. Beka is asleep on the next bed.)
HUNT: Trance? That, that is you, isn't it?
TRANCE: What happened? What happened? I was so close to a cure.
HUNT: You know, it's. You freak me out, you know that? You really freak me out. But I'm not surprised that you're still alive.
TRANCE: Yes, about that. I want to explain
HUNT: No, no, you can explain later. Right now, we need that cure, okay? Now, we know that ten thousand volts will kill the parasites inside a human host.
TRANCE: That's it. That is the missing piece. I can create an injection with nanobots that will deliver the exact charge needed.
HUNT: Then do it. Beka needs your help now. Then come find me. Go!
TRANCE: Okay.

[Outside the slipstream core]

(Tyr and Rommie are already there.)
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Door seals are intact. I'm detecting three Bokor. Unarmed.
HUNT: Go!

[Slipstream core]

(They shoot the three zombies. Beka kills one of them.)
TYR: Are you feeling better?
BEKA: Much, thanks to Trance and her miracle cures.
HUNT: Where is Trance?
(Trance is behind him. She injects his arm.)
HUNT: Ow!
TRANCE: All better.
HUNT: I hate shots.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: All clear.
ROMMIE: That's the last of them.
HUNT: All right. Order of the Commonwealth all around. Nicely done, people. Harper, how are those engines?
HARPER [OC]: We can slipstream any time now, boss.
HUNT: Good. Tyr, give our regards to the Than, transfer the records of what happened, and er, get us the hell out of here.
(Tyr leaves.)
BEKA: Okay, for the record, I hate zombies.
HUNT: Speaking of which, your body reacted differently to the parasites.
TRANCE: Yes.
HUNT: Trance, are you dead or alive?
TRANCE: Yes.
(Trance leaves.)
HUNT: Crystal clear as usual.
ROMMIE: Dylan, may I have a moment of your time?
HUNT: Er, of course.
BEKA: Yeah, I'll just do something.

[Observation deck]

ROMMIE: When things got bad back there, I didn't think you were going to make it, and I realised something. I may be virtually indestructible, but you, you are
HUNT: Me, well, I just think I'm indestructible.
ROMMIE: One day you're going to die, Dylan. And I care about you. Not just as a Captain, but as a person. I don't want to lose you. You're all that I have.
HUNT: Rommie, I can't promise I'll never die, nut I promise you'll never lose me.
ROMMIE: How do you do it? Humans, how do humans do it? How do they make friends, have relationships, fall in love? How do they connect knowing that nothing is permanent, that even love dies?
HUNT: You see, that's where you're wrong. Love doesn't die. It's the only thing that lasts forever. I mean, your body could be destroyed or run out of power, but when the universe ends and the last star burns out, the only thing left will be love.
ROMMIE: I don't understand.
HUNT: Yes, you do.
(He kisses her cheek.)
HUNT: Yes, you do.