"The brightest light is invisible.
It shines through your deeds
and warms the universe."

Chronicles of Courage and Conviction,
by Captain Dylan Hunt Ret., CY 9817

[Command]

(The Andromeda Ascendant is being chased through slipstream.)
BEKA: Maybe this will get them off our tail. Take that, dirtbag.
RHADE: It didn't work. They're still on top of us.
TRANCE: The bounty on our heads must've gone up. Now even those who already have money and fast ships are after us.
ROMMIE: Well, greed is a practical motivator.
HUNT: Beka, keep us ahead of the greed.
BEKA: You know I'd love to, but that ammo dump was our last trick.
RHADE: Last desperate trick.
BEKA: Dylan, got anything else? And don't say Harper.
HUNT: He is Mister Anything else. Harper, we're getting desperate up here.
HARPER [on viewscreen]: For what? The chance to disappear right out of existence? Because it's not ready.
(Harper touches his new gizmo and gets a few electric shock. A silhouette of a person flickers in and out behind him.)
ROMMIE: Dylan, I can't maintain this pace without refueling. If we don't immediately find a gas giant for hydrogen, I'm risking complete power failure.
TRANCE: And then we are a payday.
RHADE: So we're running out of fuel as well.
(Trance whispers to Hunt.)
TRANCE: (sotto) I have the capabilities to save us.
HUNT: (sotto) What, go supernova? Sacrifice yourself?
TRANCE: (sotto) It's the only way.
HUNT: (sotto) Thanks, Trance, but it's the wrong way. (normal) Beka, take us out of slipstream.
TRANCE: Where are we?
ROMMIE: A spider galaxy. Completely heat dead. Nothing's lived here for three point two five million years.
RHADE: It won't take those bounty Hunters more than ten minutes to double back.
BEKA: We don't even have enough juice to get us back into slipstream. We're sitting ducks. What in hell do we do?
HUNT: You tell Harper the time he's got is the time it takes me to get from here to his machine shop.
BEKA: Good thing it's a big ship.

[Machine shop]

HUNT: So all we have to do is fire this thing
HARPER: The Em Bender.
HUNT: Fire the Em Bender at the target.
HARPER: The target which is linked directly to the electromagnetic structure of Andromeda's fullerene body cladding. It should effectively mask the ship when it's ready.
HUNT: Rendering us invisible.
HARPER: Theoretically. However, if I haven't calibrated the surge safety o so correctly, it could open a gigantic hole in the fabric of space time, depositing us in said hole bit by itsy freaking shredded bit via installment method, which is what I meant when I said it's not ready.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Code black. Code black. Complete systems failure. Complete systems failure.
HUNT: It's ready. Fire.
HARPER: But, boss
HUNT: we don't have a lot of options, Mister Harper.
(Harper closes his eyes and fires the gizmo at the target. There is a slight sizzle. He opens them and looks around. Meanwhile, Hunt is also looking around. The place is dark and deserted.)
HUNT: Harper? Harper? Andromeda, report. This is weird.

[Observation deck]

(The view is of a lush forest, blue skies, and a mountain cliff with a carved face on it - Dylan Hunt.)
HUNT: You have got to be kidding me.

[Machine shop]

(Hunt opens a panel and powers up the VR connection.)
HUNT: At least something's working on this ship. Showtime.

[Virtual Reality]

HUNT: Andromeda? Andromeda.
(Andromeda is in a closed section, eyes closed and swaying slightly. He breaks in and she wakes.)
HUNT: Oh, Andromeda, am I glad to see you. What is going on?
ANDROMEDA: Identify yourself.
HUNT: It's me. Captain Dylan Hunt?
ANDROMEDA: That is a fraudulent identity.
(She lifts him up by the throat.)
HUNT: I'm HE security code five zero nine five C two.
ANDROMEDA: Everything you say is a lie. You are a decoy simulation. This is a competency test relating to my return to service.
HUNT: Andromeda, I am Dylan Hunt.
ANDROMEDA: Dylan Hunt died a war hero after defeating the Nietzschean insurrection and negotiating peace for the Commonwealth. I repeat, you are a simulation decoy.
HUNT: No! Wait, wait, wait. You wanted a sister. I got you one. Pax Magellanic. I merged your AI cores so the two of you could have time together offline.
ANDROMEDA: That's unrecorded information.
HUNT: Afterwards, you told me, quote, now I understand the risks you take for friendship.
(She drops him.)
ANDROMEDA: Identify confirmed. You are Dylan Hunt.
HUNT: All right. Now that we've settled that, let's settle something else. What year is this?
ANDROMEDA: Commonwealth year ten zero ninety one.
HUNT: Ten zero ninety one, that's, that's now.
ANDROMEDA: Well, it's over a hundred years since the last time I checked.
HUNT: But for me, no time has passed at all. Again. Harper! All right. Is your avatar working, or am I going to have to go through this all over again with her?

[Alleyway]

HUNT: Don't you communicate with your AI?
ROMMIE: I'm really sorry, Captain.
HUNT: There's got to be a way back to my ship, unless it's too late. Say, what's with the Dylan Hunt monument?
ROMMIE: Oh, the planet was dedicated to you after you died as a memorial for visitors from the three galaxies.
HUNT: Oh. Well, it appears I was very inspiring.
ROMMIE: Well, you are Dylan Hunt. Obviously not the one who died many years ago, but a different and equally real Dylan Hunt.
HUNT: Well, it's very confusing for me, because I'm not programmed to comprehend alternate realities.
ROMMIE: Well, expect to be regarded in this one as a hero, somehow returned from the dead.
(He spots some graffito on a wall.)
HUNT: Beware the oppressors?
(Rommie shrugs, then someone starts shooting at them.)
MAN [OC]: Over there!
HUNT: Oh. Well, that's depressing.
MAN [OC]: Get them! Go, go, go, go, go!
(They manage to hide from the chasing men.)
HUNT: So much for the hero's welcome.
ROMMIE: Hey, I was decommissioned over a hundred years ago. I can't explain what's happened here since.
HUNT: Information, that's what we need.
(Rommie spots a body slumped against the wall.)
ROMMIE: Ooo, there. It says Tour Guide.
(An android.)
HUNT: Whatever that means. Anyway, it's clearly no longer functional.
(Rommie opens a flap in its back and turns it on.)
GUIDE: Welcome to the Hunt Memorial. After Captain Hunt passed away quietly in his bed on March 10, Commonwealth year
ROMMIE: After that.
HUNT: You know, I am a little bit curious about that part.
ROMMIE: Aren't you in a hurry?
HUNT: Yeah. Skip that and get to the part you aren't programmed to talk about.
GUIDE: You're contraband. I'll be deactivated.
HUNT: I've got news for you. You have nowhere to go but up.
GUIDE: Thirty kilowatts, to get me on a transport.
HUNT: Er, done.
(Rommie gives the necessary energy to the Guide.)
GUIDE: The Commonwealth experienced years of declining peace and prosperity until the High Guard assassinated its Triumvirate and declared martial law. After that, this system spiralled into civil war.
HUNT: Yeah. Why am I being shot at, and why did you call me contraband?
GUIDE: You are a type of explosive android decoy designed to look like Dylan Hunt.
HUNT: Great. First monuments, and now bombs that walk, talk, and act like me.
GUIDE: The rebel forces built hundreds of you in Hunt's honour to target military objectives. Bunkers, weapons depots.
HUNT: To fight the Abyss' takeover of the Commonwealth.
ROMMIE: The Abyss?
GUIDE: The Abyss? No, the rebel faction's purpose is to oppose what's become of the Commonwealth under Commander Zelazny Harper.
HUNT: Commander Harper.
GUIDE: No one questions his rulership.
ROMMIE: Except the rebels.
HUNT: Right, and the rebels would be led by?
GUIDE: General Rebeka Valentine.
HUNT: Why not? Beka is a General.
(They are lit up by a spotlight.)
ROMMIE: That's the police again.
MAN [OC]: Halt. Police. We have you targeted.
ROMMIE: Tour guide!
MAN [OC]: Surrender peacefully.
(Rommie grabs the Tour Guide and they run.)
GUIDE: Ahead you'll find Monument Planet's oldest building, that holds up to ten thousand
(And the shooting starts.)
HUNT: So where can we find this General Valentine?
GUIDE: I suppose I could get that information for you. I'd have to consult with the android underground.
HUNT: First we have to get out of this alive.
ROMMIE: They fight like High Guard.
HUNT: They're certainly High Guard trained.
GUIDE: Monument Planet's police force is trained by the Chief of Police himself.
HUNT: And who would that be? No, no, no. Don't answer that. I already know.

[Police HQ]

(With a full face view of the Hunt Monument.)
MAN [on monitor]: Chief, we have them surrounded.
RHADE: Good. Blaze every metre of that alley. I want anything that moves eliminated.

[Another alleyway]

(The Guide returns.)
HUNT: So, where is she?
GUIDE: The Old Armoury, a building first constructed in CY Ten
HUNT: There's such a thing as too much information. Thanks. You've been a big help.
(The Guide turns around for an extra payment of energy.)
GUIDE: Enjoy the rest of your stay on Monument Planet.
(The Guide leaves.)
ROMMIE: Your orders, sir?
HUNT: To visit to an old friend.
ROMMIE: Why?
HUNT: Well, because she's the only one, well, besides you, who still believes in the same Commonwealth that I do.

[Police HQ]

RHADE: We encountered a second firefight in the service alley behind the Holoseum. There, my men were able to paint the escaping unit with laser traces. Commander, if I might comment, this particular Dylan Hunt unit seems different from the rest. When surrounded by our forces, rather than self destruct, it returned to the rebel faction and Marshal Zebra.
HARPER [OC]: Zebra?
RHADE: Something else disturbing, sir. The unit was not alone. It seems Marshal Zebra has created a replica of an old High Guard android. I don't understand its objective yet, but I have, I feel certain that both units are currently in the rebel bunker with Valentine, sir.
(Harper steps into the light. He is a cyborg.)
HARPER: I want them. And I want to know where this came from.
(The Em Bender.)
RHADE: Sir?
HARPER: Gifts just don't appear, Chief. And what do we do with a gift horse?
RHADE: Sir?
HARPER: We destroy it.

[Rebel bunker]

HUNT: Would you just please listen to me, Beka?
ZEBRA: It's General Valentine, you insolent
(This Beka has a Trance hairstyle.)
BEKA: I like its cheekiness, Marshal. It's a rare and subtle touch by the Commander, taking one of our own units and rewriting it. But where has he hidden your power unit?
ZEBRA: I'm sorry, General. It's an obvious flaw in my design. DH Units should be respectful and unassuming.
HUNT: You'd leave out all my charm. Look, I'm not an android, and this battery drain is a waste of time, and time is something I don't have right now.
BEKA: Your quick surrender tells me that you are moles sent to infiltrate my operation, but you say you're not from the government. Okay. I'll bite. Where are you from?
HUNT: An alternate reality, through a rift in time and space. I can't tell you where exactly. If I knew, I'd already be there. We surrendered to you because, well, I thought that you might be my only chance of getting back.
BEKA: That is one whopper of a design flaw.
ROMMIE: He's telling the truth.
BEKA: This from a jump-started museum exhibit. Uh huh. Neutralise their explosive potential. Make sure they're secure. The real story will have to wait.
ZEBRA: General, if I may. They're not human. It wouldn't be inhumane to execute them.
BEKA: Mmm hmm. What part of counter-sabotage don't you get, Marshal? Never underestimate the Commander.
COMPUTER: Incoming message.
HARPER [on screen]: Nice place you have there, Valentine.
BEKA: Speak of the Abyss.
HUNT: The Abyss?
BEKA: It's just an expression.
HARPER [on screen]: Planning to stay a while?
BEKA: Cut to the chase, Harper.
HARPER [on screen]: You will address me as Commander! I thought I'd make you an offer.
BEKA: Since when does the government negotiate?
HARPER [on screen]: Hand over your newest model Dylan Hunt unit, and the replica High Guard android, and I'll give you a head start this time.
BEKA: Or?
HARPER [on screen]: Or I'll test my new toy on you.
(Transmission ends.)
HUNT: Like I said, we are not from the government, and I'm still not an android. But she is, so if you don't mind?
ZEBRA: The Commander's bluffing. Back in our Academy days, he was the best.
(Whee Boom!)
BEKA: Mobilise the fighters. Get them out of there.
ZEBRA: Come on. Go! Go!
WOMAN [OC]: We need some help!
ZEBRA: Medical! Get the wounded!

[Tunnel]

BEKA: So, tell me why Commander Harper wants you two so badly.
HUNT: Your guess is as good as mine. If you work with me, there's a High Guard starship in it for you.
BEKA: What do I want with some old tug from Starship Habitats?
ROMMIE: Old tug, my
HUNT: Look, it's not like I'm offering that old bucket of bolts, the Maru.
BEKA: Wait. The Maru? The Eureka Maru? Harper's prized possession?
ZEBRA: General.
BEKA: You could get the Maru for me?
HUNT: Okay, if you'd prefer that to a starship that has the power to hold a government moon hostage in exchange for whatever your rebel heart desires?
BEKA: The Maru. Any day.
HUNT: At least some things stay the same.

[Alley]

(Scouting ahead, Marshal Zebra walks into -)
HARPER: Zebra.
ZEBRA: We used to be friends.
HARPER: It's true. We were. Times change, so do people. Even the best of us.
(Harper uses the Em Bender on Zebra, who falls to atoms. Watching from around the corner are our trio.)
BEKA: You son of a. What have you done to him?
HUNT: Get her to the ship. Don't argue.
(Rommie hustles Beka away, then Hunt walks into view.)
HUNT: Well, I guess it's time for me to blow this place up.
RHADE: Commander, if you're going to use it, use it now.
HUNT: That's not very smart. One, two, three, boom!
(Everyone ducks and Hunt gets away.)
RHADE: Sir, are you all right?
HARPER: Get off of me. Go after them.
RHADE: After them! You had a chance to vaporise the DH Unit. Why didn't you?
(Harper hits Rhade.)
HARPER: I ask the questions. Didn't I say after them?
(Rhade leaves.)
HARPER: The question is, it had the chance to destroy the High Guard Commander, and it didn't. Why?

[Alleyway]

(Hunt avoids the police and meets a cloaked figure.)
TRANCE: Dylan?
HUNT: Trance.
TRANCE: I've been looking for you.
HUNT: I can't believe you found me.
TRANCE: It's inevitable that one of us would. We divided ourselves up so that we could occupy every possible present you could ever be in.
HUNT: By we, you mean you.
TRANCE: I'll admit that I'm spread rather thin at the moment.
HUNT: What's the status on the Andromeda and the rest of my crew?
TRANCE: I do not have a lot of answers, but I do know that you need help, and I'm here to do what I can.
HUNT: It's not safe here. Let's go.

[Street]

HARPER: Marshal Zebra. He couldn't have fashioned a Dylan Hunt unit like this one.
RHADE: Of course not, sir.
HARPER: He didn't have the wit, the ingenuity, or the guts. He certainly doesn't now. So, where did it come from? Does the Commonwealth have an enemy greater than the rebels?
RHADE: Kill first, questions later, if I'm not mistaken, sir.
HARPER: Something like that.
(Hunt watches them walk past.)
HUNT: Harper and Rhade trying to kill me. That's hard to get used to.
TRANCE: The Abyss has corrupted many good men.
HUNT: Then the Abyss is real here.
TRANCE: It arrived on the bullets that assassinated the Triumvirate, then convinced Commander Harper that everything he loved would betray him, and therefore had to be destroyed.
HUNT: So Harper's working with the Abyss.
TRANCE: He just doesn't know it. The Abyss is a coldness, insidious and invisible.
HUNT: I know this isn't my place but I feel like I should help. Warn them, do something.
TRANCE: They won't be convinced until it's too late. However, in your reality, where the Abyss has shown itself, you have the ability to banish it and destroy it from all possible presents and futures.
HUNT: I started something here. I finish what I start.
(They move on then see a policeman ahead.)
HUNT: I don't think so.

[Command]

(Dust and cobwebs.)
BEKA: My great grandfather was a Docent here a long time ago. I always wondered what it looked like inside.
ROMMIE: When Captain Hunt commanded me, I was the premier battleship in the High Guard fleet. People called me a masterpiece of design and engineering.
BEKA: I think you still are.
ROMMIE: Well, give or take several million cobwebs, but that'll be taken care of now.
(Rommie starts to power up consoles.)
BEKA: Look, if you really are who you say you are, you have a brain the size of a planet. Do you really believe that this Dylan Hunt is the same one you knew three hundred years ago?
ROMMIE: Yes, I do.
BEKA: Hmm. The only Dylans I've known, I've detonated. But I have to say, this one. How wild would that be?
HUNT: This is Trance. She's here to help. You don't know her, but trust me, she knows both of you.
ROMMIE: Captain, I took the liberty of uploading AP to forty three percent capacity.
HUNT: Excellent. Let's get this ship out of drydock.
BEKA: You've got to be kidding.
ROMMIE: Jettisoning scaffolding. Prepping thrusters for launch.
BEKA: Wait a minute. You mean you can actually still fly this thing?
HUNT: Well, the ride'll smooth out once the core's warmed up.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Systems check complete. All functions operational.
BEKA: I don't believe it. I feel like I've been fighting with sticks and stones this whole time when I could have been using this.
TRANCE: And winning.
HUNT: Do you still want, er, Harper's Maru?
BEKA: Can I have both?
HUNT: To the victor goes the spoils. That's if you're serious bout returning the Commonwealth to its true values.
BEKA: I've risked my life for it a thousand times over.
HUNT: Good. Once we're airborne, we'll have full tactical advantage, and then we'll be the ones calling the shots.
BEKA: I'm almost willing to believe you are the real Dylan Hunt. Just one thing. I'm not saluting you, or calling you Captain.
HUNT: Why would it be any different here?

[Corridor]

RHADE: Anything that moves, hit it with an immobilizer. If this DH Unit gets a second chance to blow, it will, taking us all to hell with it.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Intruder alert. Intruder alert.
BEKA: It's the Commander and Chief Rhade.
ROMMIE: They followed us.
HUNT: This is definitely not part of the plan.
ROMMIE: It's my fault. I should have picked them up sooner.
BEKA: Uh huh. You couldn't have. Those are first class stealth suits.
ROMMIE: Stealth suits?
TRANCE: Look. They're splitting up.
ROMMIE: I'm assuming you want me to scrub the launch, Captain.
HUNT: Well, we'll have to, until we get rid of them.
(Hunt sees on the viewscreen that Harper is carrying the Em Bender.)

[Two corridors]

HARPER: Chief Rhade, come in.
RHADE: Sir.
HARPER: Notify me the minute you find them. I want those units brought in whole. No excuses.
RHADE: Copied, sir. Naturally. Whatever Commander wants, Commander gets.
(Rhade turns around to discover his escort have vanished.)
RHADE: Stanhope! Mills!
HUNT: You'll have to settle for Hunt.
(Rhade powers down his forcelance.)
HUNT: Oh, don't worry, Rhade. I'm not going to blow up. That's reserved for those idiots who think they'll be made into martyrs. Besides, I'd rather do this low tech style, if you don't mind.
(Very short fist fight, in which Rhade cuts Hunt and sees the blood.)
RHADE: Low tech's right. You're not an android.
(He powers up his forcelance. More fighting and attempted strangling during the conversation.)
HUNT: Another keen observation from a Nietzschean.
RHADE: Wait till the Commander finds out the toy he wants is only human.
HUNT: Well, handling disappointment's part of growing up.
RHADE: What are you, some weak attempt of Valentine's to drum up support for her lost cause?
HUNT: You're the lost cause, Rhade, as long as you're on the wrong side.
(And disappears.)

[Machine shop]

RHADE [OC]: Commander, come in.
HARPER: Tell me you have them.

[Corridor]

RHADE: Not exactly. I think this whole thing's a hoax.
HARPER [OC]: Excuse me?

, [Machine shop]

HARPER: When I give you an order, I expect you to comply, not think your lazy Nietzschean way out of it.

[Corridor]

HARPER [OC]: Go after them, now.

[Machine shop]

HUNT [OC]: The rebels aren't your enemies.
HARPER: Who said that?
HUNT: Your real enemy is inside you.
HARPER: I command you to show yourself, or there will be nothing left to show. You know, I have a pretty good idea what this thing does, but how do you control it?
HUNT [OC]: Why, you want to go to another reality? One where she is still alive?
HOLO-HUNT: You can replace your body parts with machinery, Mister Harper, even your heart, but you can't replace your ideals.
HARPER: Who are you?
HOLO-HUNT: Oh, I think you know. You studied my essays at the Academy. You told your wife their ideas made your soul burn to do good. Too bad it didn't stop you from killing her.
HARPER: You got that from Zebra. Clever. I'm glad I killed him.
HOLO-HUNT: No, you're not. In fact, you're tired of this whole evil charade.
HARPER: And I suppose you're here to save my soul.
HOLO-HUNT: Only you can save yourself.
HARPER: I don't need saving. I did what had to be done.
HOLO-HUNT: Do you miss your wife? You often read to her your favourite passage from one of my essays. The brightest light is invisible.
HARPER: It shines through your deeds and warms the universe.
HOLO-HUNT: Mister Harper, obey the light inside you.

[Hunt's office]

HUNT: End transmission.
(Harper leaves the Em Bender in the machine shop, and runs. Later, Rhade enters cautiously.)
RHADE: Mills? Anyone. Come in. Damn.
(Rhade reads a plaque on the wall under a diagram of Hunt's office.)
RHADE: For fifty one years, at this desk, Captain Hunt strategized over seven hundred Commonwealth missions.
(He sits in the chair.)
ANDROMEDA [on screen]: Ready for your orders, sir.
RHADE: Orders?
ANDROMEDA [on screen]: I am programmed to assist you in any way I can.

[Command]

(Beka and Rommie bring in the policemen, gagged and hands tied behind their backs.)
BEKA: This is the last of them.
ROMMIE: You know, we're not such a bad team.
BEKA: Perhaps. You know, with Marshal Zebra gone, I'm going to need a new second in command.
ROMMIE: Well, with Captain Hunt gone, I'm going to need a new captain.
BEKA: How about on your end? Any luck?
HUNT: The information Marshal told you about Harper made quite an impression. And as for Rhade, I've done what I can. The rest is up to you two.
TRANCE: I believe they are up to the task.
HUNT: So do I. Well, that means
TRANCE: It's time.
HUNT: Yeah. Good luck, and thank you.
ROMMIE: Thank you, Captain Hunt.

[Corridor]

HARPER: Chief, call the others. We're evacuating. Didn't you hear me? I said we're leaving now. We shouldn't be on this ship.
RHADE: You've found out for yourself, haven't you? The DH Unit is only
HARPER: Yes, I know. Dylan Hunt. The real Dylan Hunt from another time. Like a vision, or an apparition.
RHADE: Apparition? What I saw was a man that looked like Dylan Hunt.
HARPER: But he knew things. Things about me. What if he didn't get them from Zebra? What if it was an apparition? He knew I executed my
RHADE: Public record. She was a rebel.
HARPER: Rhade, don't be a fool. Can't you see past your own stubbornness?
RHADE: What are you saying, sir? That you believe in
HARPER: No. I'm saying. What am I saying? What am I saying?
RHADE: I think you're saying we're evacuating.
HARPER: Right.
RHADE: Good, because I've just engaged the ship's self destruct sequence.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: One minutes to self destruct.
RHADE: Coming, sir?
ANDROMEDA [OC} Counting down. Fifty nine seconds. Fifty eight. Fifty seven. Fifty six.

[Airlock]

ANDROMEDA [OC]: Five. Four.
RHADE: They've been locked.
HARPER: You didn't clear an exit first.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Three. Two. One second to self destruct.
RHADE: We're going to die.
HARPER: It could be worse.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Simulation exercise complete. Simulation exercise complete.
RHADE: A trick. We're safe.
HARPER: We're not safe. We'll never be safe.
RHADE: Oh, come on. They just want to scare us off the ship so they can have it all to themselves. Over my dead body.
HARPER: Chief! Rhade! There are worse things to give up, worse things to lose than your life, aren't there?
RHADE: You're starting to sound more and more like the rebels. Maybe you want to join them.
HARPER: Maybe. Somehow it all got away from us, Rhade. We have to get it back.
RHADE: There's just one problem. I don't take orders from cowards. What do you think about that, Commander?
HARPER: I think you're going to hell. And I'm not going with you.
(Harper draws his forcelance too slowly, and Rhade shoots him.)
HARPER: Long live the true Commonwealth.
ANDROMEDA [OC]: Attention, Chief Rhade. There has been a change of command on Monument planet. You are under arrest.

[Machine room]

TRANCE: So you're hoping that this will malfunction and send you back.
HUNT: That's right. Now, Harper mentioned something about a surge safety. There. Now, that should open a rift and return me to my dimension.
TRANCE: Well, how do you know you made the right adjustment?
HUNT: I don't. So, I'm going to leave it in your good hands, Trance. I just hope we're not too late. Fire when ready.
TRANCE: I'm glad that I found you, Captain Dylan Hunt.
HUNT: Me too. On my count. Three, two
TRANCE: Almathea.
HUNT: Actually, I was going to say one, but sure, Almathea?
TRANCE: It's a going away present.
HUNT: Thank you.
(Trance activates the Em Bender.)
HARPER: You're back! I thought, I thought I'd lost you forever.
HUNT: How long was I was gone?
HARPER: Thirty seconds. But it was a bad thirty seconds.
HUNT: So the masking didn't work.
HARPER: Well, apparently it did work, but I guess only on you. Wait a minute. The Em Bender. What happened to my Em Bender?
HUNT: Er, Trance has it.
HARPER: What? I told you it wasn't ready.
HUNT: Harper, that thing will never be ready. Besides, we got problems right here.
HARPER: Then there is some good news. Beka thinks we can get a boost wiring up the Maru's AP generator.
HUNT: Then what are we waiting for?

[Command]

BEKA: It's not enough to go far. It's not enough to get us into slipstream, but we can make it to one of these nearby systems.
ROMMIE: None of these stars are old enough or hot enough to provide us with the kind of hydrogen we need.
HUNT: It's all we've got. We have to give it a try.
RHADE: Which do we head for, then? Norris, Lustig Five, Almathea, Quivers?
HUNT: Almathea.
BEKA: Sure. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. It's not going to make much of a difference, unless one of them suddenly decides to go supernova.
HUNT: Well, sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you get a going away present.
(KaBOOM goes a star.)
BEKA: I can't believe it. Supernova.
ROMMIE: Engaging ramscoop. Commencing fuel acquisition.
BEKA: And, destination upon completion?
HUNT: Away. Far, far away.

[Corridor]

ZEBRA: Captain Valentine?
(Hunt watches a vision of Zebra cross the corridor. Then he sees Trance standing nearby, looking very sad.)
HUNT: You all right?
TRANCE: When a branch sacrifices itself, the rest of the tree only grows stronger.
HUNT: But you still felt the loss.
TRANCE: Every one of me did. But we have saved you, and now the Commonwealth will grow stronger too.
HUNT: One battle at a time. Meaning we have plenty of work left to do. So, pull yourselves together, and let's go.
TRANCE: That was pretty funny, actually.
HUNT: Yeah, it was pretty good, wasn't it? Now, if only the rest of you thought that.