Cycles

[Reb is going to the Command Deck, where Yuna is already in the navigational chair. The images of a grey planet is on the viewscreen, which he sees.]

Reb: Looks like a huge lump of dead rock.

Yuna: It is.

Reb: So what'd you drag me out of bed for?

[She presses a button and the view goes on a ship in orbit.]

Yuna: That.

[It then zooms in on its name, Aftermath II.]

Yuna: The Aftermath II...never heard of it. You?

Reb: No, not me. Gen?

[Gen appears.]

Gen: I have no record of the Aftermath series, but the design is similar to that of Deepwater. Probably construction: Earth, circa 2150.

Yuna: Gen, scan for Pandora Virus.

Gret: I detect no virus.

Yuna: I hailed her, but no response.

Reb: That's probably because she's an abandoned hulk. Nice discovery, Yuna. I'm going back to bed. [He turns to leave the Command Deck.]

Gen: Aftermath II is not abandoned. I detect one human, female...a child.

Yuna: A child?

Reb: Anyone else on board?

Gen: I detect no other signs of life.

Yuna: Lise, you read me?

Lise (comm.): I read you.

Yuna: I want you to meet me at Shuttle Alpha with a full medkit. I'll fill you in on the way.

[She starts out the Command Deck.]

Reb: Yuna, hold on a second.

[She doesn't, so Reb follows her as Gen disappears.]

Reb: Yuna!

[Reluctantly, she stops and turns around with a "OK, now what" expression.]

Reb: What do you think you're doing?

Yuna: There's a little girl on that ship, alone.

Reb: Yes, but what else could be there?

Yuna: [exasperated] I'm taking Lise with me, we'll make sure the ship's clean before we go on.

Reb: Look, something must have happened to the crew--at least take Bren with you.

Yuna: 'kay. I'll keep my eyes open.

[Bren, Lise and Yuna shuttle over, and the shuttle is tractored in. When they emerge from the Shuttle Bay, the ship is a bit dark, but they can see a dark-haired girl, about 12 years old, walk into the corridor. Bren shines his flashlight and points his gun at her.]

Yuna: Hello. Don't be afraid. What's your name?

[Nothing. Lise approaches the girl, taking out her scanner.]

Lise: Hi...I'm not going to hurt you, it's just a medical scan.

[After a few seconds, the girl simply walks away without a second glance to them.]

Bren: It's like she's a robot or something.

Lise: [checking scanner] She's not, she's human.

[They follow her into a room. There's a screen on the wall with nothing but snowstorm on it, and the girl is staring at a hole in the wall that's black with a few LEDs twinkling inside.]

Yuna: My name's Yuna. What's yours? [pause] Don't you want to tell me...what you're looking at?

Girl: Vid.

Lise: Video?

Bren: Not much of a show.

Yuna: Where did the others go?

Girl: No others.

Yuna: There had to be. What happened to everyone? Can't you tell me? Your parents? What happened?

[Suddenly, Yuna puts her hand up to her forehead and stumbles back. Lise and Bren get her before she falls.]

Bren: She's prexing.

[She's on small ship. A woman walks over to her and leans down to take a look at her.]

Woman: We're coming in for a landing. I need you to buckle up.

Yuna: I'm scared.

[From the sound of Yuna's voice, she's very young--about 5 or 6 years old.]

Mother: I know, sweetie. [She takes the red seatbelts from behind her, puts them over Yuna's shoulders and buckles them in.] Everything will be OK. [She pauses to look at Yuna fondly.] I love you.

[She gets up and goes to the pilot seat, where she buckles in herself.]

[Yuna emerges from it with a start.]

Lise: You just prexed. Take it easy.

[Lise and Bren go of her, while Yuna undoes the top of her jacket and goes back to the girl.]

Yuna: Can I talk to you some more? I just--I want to know how you got here.

Bren: Good luck getting any answers from her--I'm going to look around.

Yuna: Lise, maybe you should go too. I think there might be too many people in here for her.

[Lise and Bren leave. She tries again.]

Yuna: Do you know your name?

Girl: I don't remember.

Yuna: Do you remember my name?

Girl: Yuna.

Yuna: That's right, that's right, my name's Yuna. Do you know where I come from?

Girl: From me.

Yuna: How do I come from you?

Girl: There's nothing else.

Yuna: OK, then...where do you come from? Who is your mother?

[The girl stops looking at Vid for a second to look at her curiously.]

Girl: What is "mother"?

[When Yuna wakes up, she is on the floor, leaning against a wall. Another hole in the wall beeps, and fills a cup with purplish liquid. When it's done, the girl takes it and takes a sip.]

[Meanwhile, Bren opens the hatch to another room, and points his gun around before seeing the skeleton lying on the bed. He puts his gun away, and Lise comes in, scanner in hand.]

Bren: A little late to save this one, huh, doc?

Lise: Yep, by about a century.

Bren: Cause of death?

Lise: It's hard to say--this man was in his nineties when he died. He probably died in his sleep of old age.

Yuna: Is there anybody you remember--any other people?

Girl: Nobody else.

Yuna: You've been alone? All this time?

Girl: What is "alone"?

Yuna: You don't know, do you? Maybe that's better. [Yuna leans back onto the wall and thinks for a moment.] I won't leave you alone. I promise.

[Bren and Lise are talking to Reb, Zak and Gret on the ship, who are watching him from the viewscreen in the Habitat.]

Bren: Ten cabins, one live 12 year-old girl, and nine skeletons.

Lise: I estimate they died between 50 and 200 years ago.

Gret: There's only one explanation--she must be a clone, like us.

Reb: But why was she cloned?

Gret: It might have been an accident--a systems malfunction of the cloning modules.

Zak: Or the computer. You know, maybe I can tap into the Aftermath's data banks from here.

Yuna: Do you remember anything else at all? Like...what you were doing before I got here?

Girl: Vid.

Yuna: Watching Vid. [pause] OK, what about before that?

[She suddenly breaks out in a wide grin.]

Yuna: Why are you smiling?

[The girl turns to her.]

Girl: This dream is funny.

Yuna: You think you're dreaming? [pause] That's why you said...I come from you. You think I'm just part of your dream, right? [pause] No. This isn't a dream. Try to understand, this is real. I'm real. [As she speaks, Yuna puts her hands on her shoulders.]

[The girl gasps and looks at her in horror and starts screaming, shrinking back to the wall. Bren and Lise come into the room.]

Bren: What happened?

Yuna: I don't know?

[Lise starts toward her as she starts slumping against the wall.]

Yuna: Don't touch her!

Lise: She's having a seizure! [She takes out the scanner.] It's neurological.

Yuna: Help her!

Lise: I can't! We can't do anything here, I have to get her back to the Deepwater.

[Bren picks her up.]

[The shuttle is going back to the Deepwater. Bren is at the helm. The girl is lying on the table, awake, where Lise and Yuna are.]

Lise: Until we know more, I'm not going to give her anything.

Girl: Yuna?

[She is looking very scared. Yuna starts to slowly stroke her hair.]

Yuna: I'm here.

Girl: I remember. Others. Gone away. Dead gone... [pause] Krista...

Yuna: Who was Krista? Your mother?

Girl: I'm Krista. [Her face scrunches in pain and she starts to writhe.] Help me... [She eventually stops and goes to sleep.]

[Yuna and Lise are looking at Krista, who is on the table with a neuro scanner in the medbay.]

Yuna: She knew who she was. Just for a moment, she was aware. [pause] We've got to help her, Lise.

Lise: We will.

[Zak comes in.]

Zak: OK, guys--the good news is that the Aftermath's computer system is still working. The bad news is I can't tap into it from here--I guess I'll have to make a house call and use one of its own terminals.

[Lise motions for him to join her at the medical console.]

Lise: Zak, come here, look at this. [She points to a small spot on a diagram of Krista's brain.] Here it is...right, there.

Zak: That's a cyberneural stimulator of some sort. What's that doing there?

Lise: As far as I can tell, it's keeping her alive. Her cerebral development's incomplete. Her brain wouldn't function on its own without it.

Zak: So...someone installed this neural pacemaker to pick up the slack.

Lise: Um-hmm. But it was installed when she was an embryo--it's too integrated with the brain stem to be an add-on.

[Zak has taken out a small scanner-like thing and is looking at the readout.]

Zak: Oh, and there's something else. It's hooked into the Aftermath's computer system via hyperwave relay. The signal's awfully weak over here.

Lise: That's why she's comatose--the computer's doing all it can just to keep her autonomic functions going. Zak, can you amplify the signal?

Zak: I'm sorry, Lise. Not without introducing distortion--we better get her back to her ship.

[So they shuttle back. Zak goes along this time with Lise and Yuna. Lise scans her when they get there.]

Lise: Neurological activity is stronger here.

Zak: I'll see what the computer can tell us. [He goes.]

[Zak has opened up a hole in the wall and is working with the wires.]

Lise: You trying to set the place on fire?

Zak: [grin] This terminal's not designed for outside access, so I had to insist--with a laser surge. [starts typing] Definitely not a friendly computer. Wait, I'm getting something--a log entry. Reb, you getting this?

[The rest of them are watching his progress in Habitat. The view is fizzed with distortion.]

Reb: Loud, but not very clear yet. You seem to be having as much luck as you usually do with Gen.

Zak: So you want it clear too, huh? Never good enough...[He clears it up and starts playing the log entry. A middle-aged woman is on the screen, walking towards the camera.]

Woman: We've been working on a new synthetic prelimaries (?), which we hope will help slow the decrease in our lifespans. However, we are still far from finding a solution. As the lifespans decrease, so does brain function. We've succeeded in slowly the neural degeneration by adding a cybernetic link, which preserves mental capacity--for how long, I'm not sure--10, maybe 20 cycles.

Gret: Serial cloning. It's when the body's aged, they grow new ones, and transfer their memories. But the DNA degrades with each cycle--so the more copies, the more imperfections.

Reb: What about us?

Gret: Oh, no, don't worry, we're fine--the degeneration is only significant after several generations.

Reb: And then what happens?

Gret: Accelerated aging, severe mental impairment...

Bren: And the Aftermath's computer has been re-cloning her, over and over.

Reb: Even though there's not much left.

Yuna: Stop that talk. How do we help her? Gret--is there any way to...reverse the deterioration?

Gret: I doubt it. I mean, to the best of my knowledge--

Yuna: Find out. Zak, find all the log entries you can--that'll give Gret a head start.

Reb: Yuna--

Yuna: We have to try! We can't just abandon her!

Reb: We can't take her with us. She won't survive without her link to the Aftermath's computer.

Yuna: Then we'll take the computer with us. Zak?

Zak: I...guess it's possible, if I download the neural programming onto our computer. But this terminal's been modified in ways I can't even begin to understand.

Yuna: Get started.

[The others start looking at each other, concerned. Meanwhile, Krista emerges from the room--looking about the same age as the crew, and a younger version of the woman in the log.]

Krista: Where's Yuna? [She looks around, even though Yuna is less than 10 feet away from her. When she can't find her, Krista goes back into the room.]

Yuna: I'm here... [She follows her back in]

Zak: Accelerated aging...Umph, no kidding.

[Krista is staring at Vid again. Lise, Zak and Yuna are looking at the computer section that Zak has pried apart.]

Zak: Here's the cloning sub-circuit. Here's the memory implantation module. This baby controls Krista's life.

Yuna: Can you transfer it to the Deepwater?

Zak: Yeah, but it's pretty risky. If I mess up, she might die. I don't think it's our decision, Yuna--I think it's hers.

Yuna: [starts walking slowly over to Krista] You're right. It is her decision.

Zak: But is she capable of making that decision?

Yuna: [stares at Krista, thinking out loud] She spoke to me on the shuttle. Just for a moment she was...clear. [She suddenly gets an idea] Zak. Can you bypass the neural link?

Zak: Well...

Yuna: Just temporarily.

Zak: Yeah, but...

Yuna: Lise, how long could she survive without it?

Lise: 5 or 10 minutes.

Zak: OK, everything's all set. Bypassing the neural processor...[holds down a couple keys] now.

[Krista suddenly blinks out of the gaze and shakes her head slightly. Lise reminds Yuna of the 5 minute limit. Krista sees Yuna and is surprised.]

Krista: Yuna! I don't understand. You were a dream. [Her brow furrows in thought.] You're not a dream.

Yuna: No. Listen to me. Now you have to concentrate. [She points to Vid.] What's this?

Krista: It's Vid, it's not real...no. It is real. It's space. It's the stars! Look how beautiful!

Yuna: Where are you?

Krista: Spaceship... [she gets up and slowly looks around the room]

Yuna: What's it called?

Krista: I know the name, I know it. [spots the running log entry] Who's that? That's me. [She remembers.] The Aftermath II. Ten of us, trying to survive. [Her face scrunches in sadness.] I'm the last one! [She sees the neural hardware and walks over to it, tears running down her face.] That's my survival.

Yuna: We can stop the deterioration and break the cycle. We can find a way.

Krista: I know a way.

[Krista picks up the laser surge and burns an X into the console. Sounds of it failing can be heard.]

Yuna: Krista.... What have you done?

Krista: Chosen.

Yuna: You'll die.

Krista: Yes. Finally.

[Yuna is sitting, leaning against a wall in the corridor of the Aftermath, thinking. She's taken into another prex.]

Yuna: [worriedly] Where's my mommy?

[There's a man in a spacesuit looking at her, concerned.]

Man: She made sure we got here to save you.

Yuna: Where did she go?

[The man looks reluctant to give an answer, so he doesn't give one.]

Man: You're going to be OK.

Krista: Yuna.

[Krista gently touches her face, and Yuna comes out from the prex. Krista has aged another decade or so.]

Krista: Are you OK?

Yuna: Yeah, just caught up in a memory. [She pauses, looking sad.] My mother. [She looks back up to Krista.] How are you?

Krista: I think it's time for you to go.

Yuna: No. I'll stay with you. [She gets up.]

Krista: You've already stayed long enough. We both have journeys to get on with. I want to take mine.

Yuna: Alone?

Krista: Not at all. With Beethoven, and Koriabachi [sp?]. I'd forgotten how much I love music. Thank you for that. And everything else too. But...

Yuna: [smiling sadly] You've chosen.

Krista: Yes.

[Yuna hugs Krista.]

[Lise is in the Habitat, working on something. Yuna walks in from the corridor, still in her shuttle gear, picking at her nail nervously. Lise turns around when she hears Yuna.]

Yuna: Lise, um...you said that there should be some kind of connection between my prex and Krista...

Lise: Yes, I did. [She closes her computer and invites Yuna to sit down.]

Yuna: Krista was like me--my donor. Alone, without a mother. I guess I just wanted to give her the happy ending that I never had. But...in the end, she ended up giving me something--a lesson in courage and...grace.

Review

I didn't completely (for lack of a better word) bond to this episode as much as some people did. It was a good episode and all, but I thought it just didn't flow very well, and was kind of disjointed. Also, the resolution was kind of unexpected, not what it seemed to have been building too--I thought there would have been some other connection between Yuna's donor and Krista that would have set off the prex. But it did have more character development with Yuna and explained maybe a bit of the blockheadedness. To me, it just wasn't as good as an episode as it could've been.

Just to clarify, this was not the reason there are no sounds for this episode. The reason is that my recording of this episode was really, really bad--that particular tape didn't bond very well with my VCR, and the sounds would have come out very quiet and distorted, and the rerun hadn't been ran when I was capturing the sounds. This goes for Refugee, and Fugue, too--they could only be heard on my TV if the volume was at 60, and the connection between the VCR and the computer was weak as it was.

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