(THEME MUSIC)
(EERIE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
(MYSTICAL CHANTING)
(SOLEMN INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
(UPBEAT INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
(MYSTICAL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
(DRAMATIC INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
(CHANTING)
(SINISTER INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
(MYSTICAL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
(AVON) Cally.
What is it?
Well, it looks like a door. And it's closed.
Zen's fixed the orbit of the mineral asteroid Tarrant was talking about.
We have half an hour to decide if we go after it.
Why not? It's something else to chase.
- A sketch of a place I used to know. - Auron.
Yes, Auron.
It's pointless to think about it. I'll never see it again.
That's why you've been shut in here for 10 hours, thinking about Auron...
- and how you'll never see it again? - That's why.
I wish I could promise you...
the sparkling company on deck would take you out of yourself.
- I'm all right. - No, you're not.
But you will be. Regret is part of being alive.
- But keep it a small part. - As you do?
Demonstrably.
- I think I'm going to win this time, Avon. - Congratulations.
You can't.
- Yes, you can. - Vila didn't win again.
It was your fault. You put me off.
With pleasure. On the first planet we come to.
Here, take a look at this. That asteroid's less than 32 hours away.
But we'll still be cutting it fine.
Let's get going. There's nothing keeping us here.
Information. Detectors indicate a vessel is approaching.
- (AVON) Identification? - Negative.
- What speed is it making? - There is no specific speed.
The vehicle is apparently adrift.
- Damaged? - Negative.
Put it on visual.
Confirmed. Scanners in operation.
Doesn't maintain your usual standards, Zen.
- Some kind of alien. - It's like nothing I've ever seen before.
An alien spaceship has aliens on it, right?
My experience of aliens hasn't exactly been warming.
Your experiences with humans haven't quite been glowing either.
- Zen, any idea where she comes from? - Negative.
No comparative data is available.
Primary analysis suggests the design is eccentric...
and may be decorative rather than functional.
What about manpower, or whatever power it's got?
The ship registers no life signs.
Well, if it really were alien it may not register as life.
Alien vessel is now stationary.
- Distance? - 200 spatials.
That's a little too perfect for something that is registering as unmanned.
- We signal? - Give me a reason.
A reason? It's out there.
In other words, you're bored.
I don't believe in missing chances.
Any chance this offers is purely hypothetical.
However, any minerals we pull off that asteroid...
are unique and therefore conceivably useful.
And once its orbit takes it back into the perimeter of its sun...
we lose it for another three months.
I still give this priority.
- We can't just ignore it. - No, Avon, we can't.
Something else to chase?
Very well, as you are all so eager...
Zen, signal the alien.
Confirmed.
(STATIC)
What is it?
What?
- You picked up on something. - No.
How could I? I'm an Auron.
The only message I can receive is from one of my own people.
- I know. - But you're still psi-developed, Cally.
You can read minds sometimes. Did you?
- Not then. - I don't believe her.
Leave it. She just told you.
Only an Auron can communicate directly to another Auron.
That thing is not an Auron ship. Zen, confirm negative response.
Negative response confirmed.
Now, we have another decision to make.
Somehow that ship has moored itself conveniently close.
Do we teleport aboard?
I suggest a party of three for maximum cover, and armed.
Why do I get the feeling you've planned this for weeks?
Very well. Vila, Cally, get three guns. Get to the teleport.
- And do what? - You...
will remain here as back-up with Dayna.
You don't mind, do you?
(SUSPENSEFUL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
Avon, Vila.
- Something went wrong? - You can say that again.
- You were both seconds behind me. - Dayna, what happened?
Nothing happened.
I was late getting here and Vila arrived on his head.
Nothing showed up as wrong. I'll get Zen to check it out.
Do that.
We are going to get back, aren't we? I shouldn't like to spend my life here.
- Don't worry, it wouldn't be a long one. - Wonderful. What do you mean?
Zen promised us an oxygen atmosphere but it's pretty thin on the ground.
Though it must have been denser at one time, to cause so much of this.
You kept Tarrant out. Why?
His enthusiasm can be distracting.
- What are these coloured ribbons? - Perhaps they were having a party.
According to Zen, this ship has this one single deck.
Do you notice anything?
No instrument panels?
No navigational or drive systems whatsoever.
It's unlikely that they would corrode without trace.
Avon, look at this.
- Whatever it was, it was humanoid. - I don't think I want to see.
This isn't a ship, it's a tomb.
They, whoever they are or were, sealed their dead up inside...
and set it adrift in space.
This rubble...
is the remains of artefacts buried with the corpse.
- That doesn't seem very hygienic. - You worked it all out very fast.
- Well, it's obvious. - Yes.
- These jewels must be priceless. - Jewels?
Vila, don't.
No. I don't think I will.
What's this?
I take it that's a rhetorical question, or did you really think we knew?
I'd like to take a look at it before you smash it to bits.
(STATIC)
What the hell?
I saw something.
- I think it must have been my reflection. - You can take modesty too far, you know.
- (DAYNA) Avon! Avon, answer. - What is it?
The detectors are registering some sort of energy build-up all around you.
One of us fired at something that wasn't there.
Maybe we've triggered something else that is.
You certainly have. Listen, describe the interior.
- Dust, debris, rather an old corpse. - What?
Is there any sort of beam you could have broken?
Probably hundreds.
A trip-wire?
Avon.
We may have tripped a few wires, yes.
That ship must have an anti-intruder device rigged.
You've activated it.
Avon, I think you're now inside a live bomb.
Then get us out of here fast and do it right this time.
Vila. Pick that thing up.
(DRUMBEAT)
That was smooth, Dayna. Dayna?
Avon, we're still here.
(TARRANT) Where are they? For heaven's sake!
Build-up of energy aboard alien ship increasing.
- Did they take off the bracelets? - Of course they didn't.
(BUZZING)
- Am I doing something wrong? - No.
This happened going in. As if...
Build-up of energy aboard alien ship increasing to a critical point.
Zen, malfunction of teleport system.
Shutdown may be implemented.
Energy increase aboard alien ship...
computed as reaching critical point in 30 seconds.
Put me back on the alien ship.
You heard Zen, you can't go into that. Besides, the teleport could fail totally...
- or go into automatic shutdown. - Try to put me back.
Give me as many seconds as you can spare...
then try to bring me out again.
- Don't, Cally. - Dayna!
- No. - Twenty seconds.
I think I can bring them out, otherwise they'll both die.
- This way you'll all die. - Fifteen seconds.
It's our only chance. Do it.
Ten seconds.
Answer me, will you?
Don't tell me, Zen has finally gone mad.
There's no time. Vila, give me your hand.
(DRAMATIC INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
Zen, damage report.
The Liberator has sustained no damage.
The teleport is now functioning at full power.
- Better late than never. - What was going on over here?
- Afternoon tea? - Ask Zen.
I want to know what trick Cally pulled off that Zen couldn't. Or wouldn't.
Their teleport bracelets were affected by the energy build-up.
Mine obviously wasn't.
When I linked with Avon and Vila by touch...
my bracelet boosted the others...
- and brought the three of us through. - Neat. And not remotely believable.
Who cares, it worked. Thanks, Cally.
I never realised you felt this way about me.
You were nearly killed. Was it worth it?
- Was it? - I'd like a straight answer.
- Try a straight question. - You didn't trust me.
You thought I had some obscure reaction to something on that ship, didn't you?
You and I teleported so that you could watch me.
And see what I'd do.
You cut Tarrant out because he had the same idea,
but he'd made no secret of it.
You're over-reacting.
Probably. But you wouldn't expect a normal human response, would you?
I'm not quite human.
Are you having any luck with that object?
As you can see, no.
- Try Orac with it. - I already have.
It has no more idea of its function than we do.
Do any of the buttons respond?
No.
(MYSTICAL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
I've got a headache.
Cally had the right idea. I think I'll get some rest.
As if a storm were coming.
Rather unlikely in here, don't you think?
I hate to say this, but I think Vila's right.
There is something.
I thought so. Static electricity.
Nothing. It must be your naturally electric personality.
I've finished with the book screen, Dayna.
You said you wanted it.
Cally. I've been going over that theory of yours...
about the teleport bracelets boosting each other.
- As you're aware, it doesn't make sense. - You have a better one?
There was some kind of power source on that ship...
that you were telepathically receptive to.
When the teleport failed...
you used that source to get yourself out...
and to get Avon and Vila out with you.
I seem to be more clever than I thought I was.
I really want to know why you're being so bashful.
- What are you hiding, and why? - Shut up, Tarrant.
- Did you say something to me? - I said, shut up.
I apologise for not realising you are deaf.
There's something else you don't realise. I don't take any orders from you.
That's a great pity, considering that your own ideas are so limited.
Don't try and bluff your way with me.
I know what's been needling you right from the start.
With Blake gone, you thought you'd got it made.
Got control of this ship and a crew of three who'd say...
"Yes, Avon. Whatever you want, Avon." But you reckoned without me.
- That wouldn't be too difficult. - Really? I don't think so.
When you found me on the Liberator, it was quite a blow.
And every time you look at me, it hits you harder.
I'm faster than you and I'm sharper.
As far as it goes, I've made a success of my life. But you?
The only big thing you ever tried to do you failed at.
The greatest computer swindle of all time.
But you couldn't quite pull it off, could you?
If it hadn't been for Blake, you'd be rotting on Cygnus Alpha now.
No, you failed, Avon. But I win.
Not just at games, at life.
You also talk too much.
Be thankful I'm restricting myself to talk.
That's fascinating. You mean you can do something else?
Stop this. What are you doing?
Warming up to cutting each other's throats?
Avon. Do you want to forget I said all that?
It wasn't particularly memorable.
(DAYNA) We need sleep. All of us.
Even you need sleep, Tarrant.
And tomorrow, everything will look different?
If it does, you can assume you're on the wrong ship.
(EERIE MUSIC)
Cally.
Inboard sensors detect a build-up of energy on flight deck.
This energy is of an electrical nature.
Zen, what's the matter with the lights?
Life systems have regained full power.
Something funny is going on.
That will take the smile off your face.
Oh, no.
Maybe Orac will be more obliging now that this thing's turned its light on.
My head's killing me.
You should learn self-defence. Orac, I want another analysis.
I have already informed you that this structure is of an unfamiliar type.
My deductions are necessarily limited by the facts available...
and the rationality of possible theories.
Wild surmise is not a part of my function.
Be more specific, Orac.
The only deduction I have been able to make concerning this artefact...
is that its purpose is not only inimical, but also apparently unreasonable.
It is active, although the panel of keys appears to have been pre-programmed...
many centuries prior to this activation.
Since the origin of the device is ambiguous...
it must belong to a world, or even a galaxy...
as yet unfamiliar to the human race.
What do you mean, the purpose of the artefact is unreasonable?
Are you saying you do have some idea...
I am not willing to speculate on so tenuous and oblique a basis.
I should, however, warn you that a slight electrical imbalance appears to be...
(ELECTRICAL WHINING)
What did you say?
Orac, what's the matter with you?
- Disconnect me. - Wait a minute, Orac...
Disconnect.
(GLASSES BREAKING)
- I don't believe that. - Try and convince me, will you? Please?
Dis...con....
(DRAMATIC INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
Down. Get down!
Orac.
Zen, check the radiation level in here.
Radiation level normal.
There's been a second momentary increase of energy...
in the area of the flight deck.
Not in itself dangerous.
- It wouldn't be for you, would it? - Orac is damaged.
- I can't tell how badly. - I've got pins and needles.
(WARPED) Inboard...
inboard sensors indicate...
there is an intruder aboard.
That's impossible, Zen. Even if someone had teleport facility...
there's nothing and nowhere they could have come from, is there?
(WARPED) There is an intruder aboard.
How? And where?
Zen?
Sensors cannot determine.
Zen!
Computers indicate a sustained electrical disturbance.
Inboard sensors affected.
There is an energy loss from all systems.
All systems.
- Zen? - There is a....
What's happening?
Somehow, something's bleeding power out of this ship to use for itself.
Zen's out of action. I'll wake Avon and get some guns.
Dayna, you fetch Cally. I particularly want her with us.
But, Dayna, go carefully with her.
- What's Cally supposed to have? - No time for a discussion, Vila.
- You stay here. - Stay here? Alone?
I hope.
It's getting dark.
Cally.
Cally, are you listening to me?
I know you can hear me now, fully.
You heard only a suggestion of my voice before, yet you responded.
You obeyed me almost from the beginning, Cally.
A telepath. Rare.
A wonderful find.
Wonderfully vulnerable.
Cally...
you've been so long alone.
Cut off from your people.
You've been homesick for your own world, your own kind, haven't you?
For someone to communicate with.
True communication, one brain speaking to another.
But you won't ever be alone again, Cally.
Not now.
Not for as long as you live.
Avon's not in his cabin. Get to Cally.
Here, you may need to keep her covered with your gun.
Take her through to the flight deck. Give Vila this gun...
and tell him to look after her.
- Will he do it? - Make sure he does.
You and I are going to comb this ship, for Avon and for the intruder.
Whatever it is.
I always said you were a useless pile of junk.
No point in being nervous, Vila. No, there isn't.
Lot of shadows I never noticed before.
Hi, shadows.
I suppose that's all you are, just shadows.
Don't think about that. No, I won't think about that.
But, since you're all here....
(APPLAUSE)
Really, it wasn't that good. Just watch this.
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
Thank you, you're too kind.
I, the master of illusion, command you to play.
(MYSTICAL MUSIC)
Eh?
No, don't do that. I didn't mean it.
Dayna?
You're always getting at me.
Your helplessness brings out my sadistic streak.
Stop it. Don't!
(DISCORDANT MUSIC)
(DRAMATIC INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
Cally.
There's trouble, Cally. Come on, wake up.
Wake up.
(STATIC)
Avon?
Vila?
It didn't happen.
No, of course it didn't.
Pins and needles.
(STATIC)
So you're alive.
I shouldn't be. I don't deserve to be, I'm sorry.
I bet you are.
Cally!
She's in some sort of coma. Describe what attacked you.
That's the point. It was Cally.
But not Cally.
Somehow something came off that alien ship and onto Liberator.
To do it, it used the device Cally brought with her, and it used Cally.
I don't see how, if what was on the ship was dead.
But there must have been something left...
some kind of pure energy.
It looks like her, and it has a body.
Then it's used her as a blueprint to make itself a brand-new physical shape.
- Only the whole thing sounds crazy. - It's happening.
And what hit me was real enough.
It's feeding off the ship's energy and off Cally.
It will kill her.
I wonder what it's got planned for the rest of us.
I just better get rid of it before it decides.
Do you want the applause now or will it wait?
Where were you?
Outside, about 20 feet down the corridor.
You carelessly missed me both times you went by.
- Another game, hide and seek? - I was watching this cabin.
- Reason? - Isn't it obvious?
We've been outmanoeuvred.
Teleport failures, mysterious alien artefacts.
While we pawed the ground, that thing managed to get Cally...
to reactivate the device in the correct sequence.
Cally's the link, but short of killing her, we couldn't do much to stop it.
Whatever is now on this ship has sufficient psi abilities...
to drain the Liberator and Cally to the dregs.
It is also capable of throwing high voltage bouquets.
If you want it, it's gone toward the flight deck.
I followed it a little way.
However, I wouldn't advise a headlong infantry charge.
I'm sure you wouldn't.
(DRAMATIC INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
I'm afraid your rather temperamental weapons aren't stable anymore.
What are you?
Cally. Can't you see?
Cally is dying. Do you want that?
I have established a psychic link between us, she and I.
If I let her go, she'll live.
But I require her life energy to complete this shape.
So she'll have to become a part of me.
Not dead, absorbed.
I'd never kill superfluously. You should bear that in mind.
Superfluous may mean something different to you.
Tarrant.
Yes, I know your name, just as I know your language.
To my people death is an interim state.
But to humans, death is death.
That makes you very simple to deal with.
Don't bet on that.
But you can't fight me.
Only the Auron girl could have done that, but she left it too late.
Part of her welcomed me.
You see, I could reach her mind.
When she tried to close the door against me...
it was emotionally impossible.
Besides, how could she have true loyalties...
to any non-telepath, any human?
Normally only an Auron can contact another Auron.
Your psi powers must be extremely advanced.
- They are. - But still you needed that device...
to bring you through.
My people have learned how to boost their psychic capabilities...
by means of high technology.
You disrupted the systems of this ship. That won't help you.
You underestimate your vessel.
It's largely capable of regeneration...
and the power source is virtually limitless.
Yes.
I think I will accept your ship as your gift to me.
You call it Liberator, don't you? How very apt.
(VILA GROANING)
Presumably you could kill us all. So why haven't you?
I told you, I don't kill superfluously.
When I was alive before...
I was accustomed to being served by intelligent menials.
I'm prepared to offer you all a choice.
- You can live as my... - Intelligent menials?
Don't let a mere two words prevent you from staying alive.
You underestimate your powers of expression.
(FESTIVE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
Come, now.
Would it be so very horrible to serve me?
To be my protector?
Would it be so soul destroying, Tarrant?
It was predicted that I would find you.
That I would live again because of each of you.
And your roles in my new life, they were predicted, too.
Or you can die.
I like to be waited on, but it isn't essential.
As far as the computers are concerned, my voiceprint is the same as Cally's.
I can soon learn how to control the ship.
I've already learned how to cripple it.
That one interests me.
He has a very high IQ, and yet he acts like an imbecile.
He'll make an ideal pet.
Dayna!
Stay where you are.
Do I really have to kill you to prove you're in the presence of a superior?
All right. That was a stupid move.
Yes, stupid.
I have a world, a planet, a home.
I mean to get there.
A planet? Where?
A world it would take more than your lifetime to reach.
A world more beautiful than any other.
A world you'll never see, even if I let you live.
You need instruction, human called Tarrant.
Rather than render you unconscious I want you to experience that pain.
I want you to think about it.
The girl who sings songs would do well to learn by your example.
Throw that away.
Away, I said.
Cally.
She's hardly even breathing.
Cally, Tarrant, Dayna, Vila.
- One is missing. - No.
Remember my mental link with Cally.
Naturally I know who is here and who isn't, particularly if it's Avon.
Where is he, Dayna?
Very well, let me guess.
He's outside in the corridor...
as you were before he failed to stop you rushing in here.
I didn't try to stop her. I just got out of her way.
I don't think you should look at me like that.
Don't you?
I might interpret it as insolence, which could be uncomfortable for you.
- Could it? - Yes, it could, Avon.
But you are always practical, aren't you?
- Have you decided to accept my terms? - Have you offered some?
You will have heard me, I think, from the corridor...
just as you watched me earlier from the other corridor.
I didn't hear any terms, just something about pets.
Cally would want you to live, I know that.
It must get tiresome for you, knowing so much.
- Avon, say you'll do as she says. - Vila, be quiet!
He has an unusually sharp intelligence, which can recognise when it's beaten.
I might forgive him for wanting to steal my ring.
Cally stole your ring.
Cally was supposed to.
I hope you made her a touching farewell.
She's not dead yet.
But she won't struggle, not against me.
I'm waiting for your answer.
Stay where you are.
Very well, now you can see me properly.
I like you, Avon.
You're stronger than the rest. Cally liked you.
You can console yourself now I'm so very much in her image.
I could even think and feel as she does.
You and I can be friends.
You surprise me.
You know that I wouldn't wish to make a slave of you, don't you?
Not you.
Pity you couldn't get rid of me earlier, and Vila.
When you jammed the teleport so only Cally'd get out of your coffin alive.
- I was mistaken. - Yes, Cally wouldn't leave us to die.
So you had to let us through, very reluctantly.
You knew where the danger would be right from the start.
You are taking this ship precisely nowhere.
Don't be foolish. You spoil yourself.
But I'll be patient with you. I've waited centuries.
I can afford a few moments until you can bring yourself...
to consent to be obliging.
And no one aboard this ship is going to accept or carry out...
a single demand of yours.
- You've seen what I can do. - It would be a little difficult to miss.
Don't try to play games with me.
Nothing was further from my mind.
You've given us your terms, now I will give you ours.
No deal.
I thought you were the clever one.
You're a fool, like Tarrant.
The pain Tarrant is experiencing...
visualise that pain and much more.
You're as close to death as you have ever been.
Think about human death, Avon. Irrevocable.
I have thought about it. What's keeping you?
What did you say?
You claim you can kill me. You better get on with it.
Make me die.
There's nothing else you can make me do.
One last chance.
Save it.
It seems you made another mistake. Cally has loyalties after all.
But you knew that right from the beginning, didn't you?
You look so beautiful when you're angry.
Thank you.
Give it to me.
That would be a little foolish...
when I just went to so much trouble to get it.
- You don't understand. - Don't I?
Psychic abilities boosted by high technology?
This ring is the real source of your power.
This is how you formed your link with Cally and you cannot hold her...
or feed off this ship without it.
Avon, give it back to me.
(TENSE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
You must. You don't know.
I have to keep this body. I have to live.
I've waited so long. Centuries.
More time than you could comprehend.
How can you imagine what it must be like to be dead.
To exist in nothingness, in nowhere.
Blind, deaf, dumb...
and yet to be sentient, aware, waiting.
Centuries of waiting.
I have to find my world again...
my people, my home.
I want to breathe and see and feel.
And know.
Don't send me back into the dark, Avon.
Let me live.
I want to live...
to live.
I want to live...
to live.
I want to live...
to live.
(SOLEMN INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
All right.
Cally was telepathically linked into that thing.
So Avon gambled that Cally could be shocked into fighting it...
and that it couldn't kill him because Cally wouldn't let it. And it worked.
But that means that Cally sat back while it had a go at the rest of us.
- I've always liked Cally. - You're being pedantic, Vila.
- I am? - In the end, it wasn't trying to kill us.
Just Avon. He pushed it into a corner where it couldn't do anything else.
Wasn't trying to kill us?
It nearly killed me when it fixed the teleport.
That was before it totally linked with Cally.
She didn't have any influence over it except that it had to protect her.
Anyway, Avon was the target then, too. You were incidental.
Incidental? That'll look good on my gravestone.
It nearly killed Cally.
It was absorbing her rather than killing her.
Making her part of itself.
She felt that, too, that's why she couldn't fight for herself.
- That doesn't make sense to me. - Then obviously it's the right answer.
All systems have been restored to maximum capacity.
The Liberator is now fully operational.
At least Zen's talking to us again. Even Orac's back on his feet.
- What a revolting thought. - You should be used to those.
You sure you're up to this, Cally?
Translated, that means how do you feel?
I feel all right. Thank you.
- And how about you, Vila? - Oh, I'm....
Oh, I see.
Avon.
Zen, let's get out of here.
(THEME MUSIC)