Hunt

[Bren, Reb, Gret and Yuna are on the Command Deck.]

Bren: Scanners are showing a manufactured object ahead. We're coming up on it now.

Yuna: It has some kind of logo on it. Korfu... [She glances at Reb questioningly]

[Reb shakes his head.]

Bren: Readings indicate low-level power source.

Reb: Gen, can you identify it?

Gen: [appears] Satellite 5AX, an unmanned surveillance satellite commonly used by Earth outstations as an extra-planetary monitor.

Reb: A satellite? Orbiting what?

Gret: Well, according to our navigational banks there's a planet with an oxygen-based atmosphere in this solar system.

Yuna: That must be Korfu.

Gen: Affirmative. At the time of Deepwater's launch, the planet, Korfu, was uninhabited.

Bren: The satellite is conducting a systems' probe of Deepwater.

Gen: It may have a communications relay.

Reb: All right, let's see. Find a frequency it transmits on and open a channel. This is the Deepwater. Do you read? [Nothing.] Repeat, this is the Deepwater. Please respond.

Gen: A communication is coming in from the planet surface.

Reb: On screen.

[A man appears on the screen.]

Man: Deepwater? Are you kidding me--this is really Deepwater?

Reb: Please, identify yourself.

Kaulman: I'm, uh, Karl Kaulman. Manager of the Korfu Resort and Spa.

Reb: Resort?

Kaulman: Part of the Galactic Holidays chain. Deepwater. I am honored. Your mission is historic. Say--is Korfu the first Earth colony your ship has contacted?

Reb: [exasperated] Earth? We are returning to Earth on an elliptical voyage from deep space. It is our mission to--

Kaulman: Oh yes, I know your mission, it's famous--'rebuild the human population'. Your craft was launched during the Pandora epidemic. But you have had other contact. You have heard, haven't you?

Reb: Heard what?

Kaulman: The, uh, Pandora Virus was eradicated right after your ship was launched. I'm afraid your mission is redundant.

[The crew is, of course, shocked.]

Kaulman: You didn't know?

Reb: No, we didn't.

Kaulman: Yes, life on Earth is thriving as you'll find out when you get there, but for now, welcome to Korfu! Let me invite you as my guests down to the resort. Korfu is... beautiful. You won't believe our twin moons.

Gret: Excuse me, Mr. Kaulman. I'm anxious to know exactly how you contained the Pandora virus.

Kaulman: Oh, I can only really give a layman's take on it. I tell you what, though--you're more than welcome to use our library, although I gotta tell you, we are a resort, so don't expect a research facility.

[A memory-flash hits Gret. In it is a man on a television screen.]

Man: Don't expect a research facility. The complexity of the treatment doesn't justify such expenditure.

[Kaulman is still yakking.]

Kaulman: The whole crew should come down. Real fresh air, sunshine, kick back by the pool...

Reb: Well, we have your coordinates, Mr. Kaulman. We'll confer and get back to you.

Kaulman: Please do. Thank you, Deepwater.

[Reb sits down, visibly annoyed with Kaulman.]

Yuna: Is it possible that humanity wasn't destroyed?

Gen: The probability would seem low. The Deepwater data banks remained current until our vessel fell outside communications reception.

Reb: But it's not out of the realm of possibility.

Gen: It is possible.

Reb: [to Yuna] All right, we better check it out.

[While the shuttle is flying down, Bren and Zak are in the Habitat--Bren at one of the screens, Zak at the table playing with one of those flexible metal loop-thingys.]

Zak: Why is that only Reb and Yuna get to go to the surface? I'm getting space fever cooped up in here. If our mission is over, let's celebrate.

Bren: What do we have to go on that our mission is 'over'? Huh? His word?

Zak: Oh, Bren, relax.

Bren: Relax? Listen, our sensors aren't picking up any indications of weaponry. That could mean that they're pulling some sort of cloaking device.

Zak: Or, it could mean that the resort is exactly what Kaulman said it is--a resort. [laugh] Come on, Bren--if it looks like a party and acts like a party, it might just be a party. Here, try this. [He hands him the metal loop] It's very relaxing.

[Zak leaves, and Bren just stares after him.]

[The shuttle lands on the planet. Kaulman is bringing up stuff on the screen while Reb, in his new outfit, puts on his shoes.]

Kaulman: These are a couple years out of date. We're too far out for live feed, but...these are the most recent in our library.

[He brings up a couple sceneries--a green hill, a skyline with shuttles running around them, the Sydney Opera house.]

Kaulman: Ah. There it is--good ol' Earth. Very much alive. The Pandora treatment was unveiled just months after your vessel left communications radius.

[Yuna starts down the stairs in her new outfit.]

Reb: All our programming, all our implants, every impulse has been towards re-buidling a devastated planet.

Kaulman: I'm sorry. I thought this would be good news.

Reb: No, no. Don't be sorry, it is, it is. [Yuna and her dress catch his glance--and hangs on to it...and on... He starts getting up, trying to hold the conversation at the same time but is far too smittened.] It's great news. I just don't know....

[Yuna gives a small, self-concious smile as she stands in front of him, shy at all the attention.]

Kaulman: Well...I'm so glad to see that my staff was able to outfit you in something more appropriate for Korfu.

Reb: Very appropriate.

[Back on the ship, Gret is asking Lise about the memory flash.]

Gret: I don't know what triggered it.

Lise: Typically prexing keys off a sense memory. Anything about the resort, the planet, anything that might be relevant to the prex?

Gret: No, I don't think so. I mean, I don't know.

[Gret's head tips back in another one.]

[There is a woman, walking into a laboratory. There's the TV screen again, with the man, buzzing in the background.]

Woman: Gret, look!

Gret: What is it?

Woman: A bulletin from global about the treatment for the Pandora virus. [She shoves herself way through the small crowd of people around the screen.] He can't do this! Not when we're so close to a cure...

[Gret comes back.]

Lise: That was another one. What was it?

Gret: [thinking] It was something about the cure. There was...something wrong with the treatment.

[Reb is sitting down on a bench. Kaulman and Yuna are standing beside the pool.]

Yuna: It's amazing that Earth survived.

Kaulman: Yes, and now you get to enjoy all this. [He sees a server with a tray of drinks and motions for Yuna to sit down.] Ah.

[Yuna sits down next to Reb. Kaulman hands the green glowing scepter he's been holding the whole time to Yuna.]

Kaulman: Would you hold this while I pour some drinks? [She does.] I'm sure it's a life-changing revelation for you. I've done some stiff-about faces myself. I was a businessman--doing the corporate 9-to-5 when the virus was eradicated and me, I kicked the rat race. Got away from it all. Created my own little utopia.

Yuna: [holds up the scepter] What is this?

Kaulman: Oh. [He takes it.] It's a radion scepter. I collect them. [He gets up for a demonstration. He makes a light energy field above the pool, then laughs as if it's the funniest thing in the world, while Reb and Yuna glance at each other.]

Yuna: How...unique.

[There's still something wrong, and Reb puts down his drink to ask about it.]

Reb: Mr. Kaulman, you were cured of the virus?

Kaulman: Oh yes.

Reb: How is it that you suffered a disease that was 'eradicated' over four centuries ago?

Kaulman: Oh, you wouldn't know this, of course. The virus was not eradicated per se. It was controlled--kept in remission by a treatment of regular DNA irradiation. A total cellular rejuvenation. A not unhappy side effect of cell regeneration is it prolongs life. Apparently, indefinitely. I'm four hundred and thirty-eight years old.

[Gret is lying down on the table. Lise brings the scanner above her head, then checks it.]

Lise: I'm reading an increased amount of electrical neural activity. Gret, are you sure you didn't see anything or sensed anything that could have triggered this specific emotional response?

[Zak, Bren, Lise and Gret are in the Habitat.]

Gret: We were headed for anarchy in the final days of the plague. There was rioting, and billions suffered and died needlessly.

Zak: Well...how would Kaulman have escaped to Korfu?

Gret: With the cure, he could name any price.

Lise: For what it's worth, I'd read about a rumoured treatment.

Bren: Yeah, but that was centuries ago. I agree, Kaulman is suspicious, but this doesn't make any sense, Gret. I mean, how--

Gret: Look, I don't know how! I don't know how it is, I just know! That suffering was unimaginable, and he is responsible for it--Kaulman and Lowell are the same man!

[Bren approaches Gret to try and calm her down.]

Bren: Gret--

Gret: Look, my genetic source died. She watched her friends, her co-workers, her loved ones, they all died and he let it happen. Kaulman is the most callous criminal in the history of human kind.

Reb (comm.): Deepwater, come in, please.

Bren: Reb, any new developments?

Reb: A few.

[Down on the planet, Reb and Yuna are at the pool, their feet dangling off the edge. Yuna takes a bite of a strawberry and dangles the rest of it in front of Reb's mouth. He tries to take a bite but she brings it back playfully before he reaches it.]

Reb: Kaulman has technology that not only eradicates the virus, but it prolongs life as well. He can actually remember the plague days back on Earth. The man is over four hundred years old.

[Gret does an I-told-you-so.]

Gret: Reb, back in the plague days, there was a man. His name was Edmund Lowell. He was president of a pharmaceutical empire...

[Their communication channel starts to fizz.]

Bren: Reb, are you there? [It goes blank.] Gen, what's going on?

Gen: Deepwater has been targeted by a tractor beam. Orbit is deteriorating.

Bren: Trace it.

Gen: Kaulman's outpost.

[Back on the planet...]

Reb: Deepwater, this is Reb. Come in, please.

Kaulman (PA): Korfu is experiencing one of our periodic bouce of solar flaring, intensified by the gravitational pull of our twin moons. Off-planet communications may be disrupted. We regret any inconvenience.

Yuna: Convenient inconvenience.

Reb: No kidding. [thinks]

Yuna: And why is it that no one else besides Kaulman talks to us? That server over there, she didn't even look at me.

Reb: I don't know. But I want to find out Kaulman's intentions. I think it's time we tried to leave.

[The tractorbeam is pulling at Deepwater. Their shields are up, and it looks like they have the engines on full power trying to break loose. The ship is slowly sliding out of its orbit. Bren, Gret, Lise and Zak are all on the bridge, Bren and Gret at the helm. Error beeps can be heard from the consoles. Bren suddenly gets up and goes towards the weapons console.]

Bren: Gen, divert power to weapons.

Gen: Negative. All auxilary power is needed to sustain orbit.

[Bren kicks the side of the console in frustration.]

Bren: I knew his power source was cloaked. Now we're stuck here.

Gret: [gets up] I'm taking Beta shuttle to the surface.

Bren: No, you're not, not without me. It's too dangerous.

Gret: Bren, you can't leave the ship. If he increases power on the tractorbeam, our orbit will decay and we will crash to the surface. Look, I know what I saw in my prex, and I have to face Kaulman.

Bren: 'kay. Do a low-level recon first. Be careful.

[Reb and Yuna hand their towels to the workers outside the pool.]

Reb: Could you tell Mr. Kaulman we've had to return to our ship?

[They don't pay any attention to them, so they continue on and meet Kaulman at the door.]

Kaulman: Hey, you two. Sorry about the communications foul-up. Just one of the many charms of Korfu.

Reb: We've had a problem aboard the Deepwater. We're returning to my shuttle.

Kaulman: Oh, I'm sorry, but that isn't possible. These solar flares cause major atmospheric disturbances. We've had to put up our shields. It's far too dangerous.

[Reb and Yuna share a knowing glance as he speaks.]

Yuna: Oh, I've flown in rough weather before.

Kaulman: I just can't permit it.

Reb: [steps forward] We're not asking your permission, sir. We're returning to our ship.

Kaulman: [holds up the buzzing scepter threateningly] You're not going anywhere.

Reb: There are no solar flares, are there?

[Kaulman just shrugs tightly.]

Kaulman: Why don't you have a drink and relax?

[A server steps forward with a tray. Reb just puts on a curt smile and takes it.]

Yuna: It's all a scam. Vid clips, everything. Earth wasn't "spared".

Kaulman: A harmless masquerade. You'll be quite content here. Everyone loves Korfu. Really.

Yuna: [gestures at the workers] And these people?

Kaulman: Labour drones. The only clones I can replicate thanks to an inferior grade of gene bank. A little trick played on me by my suppliers.

Yuna: Why did you tell us Earth was spared?

Kaulman: I knew that would get you down here. Hope springs eternal, right? Now, come with me.

[Reb splashes the untouched drink into Kaulman's eyes, and Yuna pushes him to the wall. They split and bolt. Kaulman fires the scepter towards Reb but only gets the wall, so he decides to go after Yuna. She runs up the stairs, pausing only to kick off her shoes, Kaulman hot on her tail. Meanwhile, Reb uses his communicator to locate another scepter. After figuring out how to activate it, he goes to look for Yuna and Kaulman. Yuna, using her communicator, finds a control room and starts to deactivate the tractorbeam, but Kaulman steps into the room, pointing the scepter at her.]

Kaulman: Stand away from the console. Please.

Yuna: If we don't report back, sooner or later our crew will come looking for us.

Kaulman: I'm counting on it. [He goes over and starts tapping at the keypad.]

Yuna: So what, are you going to kill us all?

Kaulman: I don't want to have to.

Yuna: Funny the way you show it.

[He raises his hand to her, stopping himself. Yuna just glares at the hand.]

Kaulman: I've been four hundred years with no company other than a computer-generated hologram, or a worker drone.

Yuna: I'm sure it was lonely, but... [She sees Reb coming into the room behind Kaulman] somehow I get the feeling that once you get your hands on our gene bank you'll get tired of us and grow new friends.

[Reb shoves the scepter into Kaulman's back.]

Reb: Unless you want the shock of your life, Mr. Kaulman, I suggest you pass that weapon to Yuna.

[Kaulman doesn't believe him, and starts to turn around, so Reb shocks him. Yuna grabs it while the shock is subsiding. Reb shoves him to his feet.]

Reb: All right, deactivate your tractorbeam, and drop your shields NOW!

[Kaulman turns around to do it. Gret comes in.]

Kaulman: Oh look, another guest--welcome to Korfu!

[She shoves a gun in his face.]

Gret: This is it, Lowell.

Reb: Gret, lower your weapon--we've got him.

Gret: No. Years of cellular tinkering may have changed your face, but you are still the same monster who let billions to die for your own gain.

Kaulman: I don't know what you're talking about.

Gret: I know your voice, Lowell. You're a murderer. Billions died because of you!

Kaulman: No. You are mistaken.

Reb: Gret. Lower the weapon.

Kaulman: Young lady, I don't know who you think I am--

Gret: You may not have his fingerprints, his cell structure or his DNA--but you... [Her hand starts to shake] You are still him.

Kaulman: Oh yes. There's no judge here. No tribunal, no court of law. The only justice there is is right there in your hand. So if you're so sure, than for God's sake--shoot.

[Gret steadies herself and put both hands on the gun, with every intention of taking him up on his offer...]

Reb: Gret, DON'T.

[...but she doesn't.]

Reb: Let's go.

[Still glaring, she shoves to gun to Reb and leaves. Yuna isn't far behind, and Reb drops the scepter on a chair, the gun still on Kaulman, and goes. There is a slight tinge of sadness on Kaulman's face.]

[Back on the ship, everyone is on the Command Deck.]

Reb: I wish I could say something reasurring, like he'll live forever imprisoned with his conscience and his fear, but--

Gret: I don't think he gets it, Reb. I don't think he's capable of feeling guilt.

Reb: I'm afraid you may be right.

Bren: Well, whoever he is, no one should be going down to the surface of that planet.

Reb: Well, there's one way to make sure of that--destroy the satellite. [After a moment of thought, Reb nods at Bren.]

Bren: [to Gret] Want to do the honors?

Gret: Yeah. [She targets the guns, and fires. And the satellite is destroyed.]

Review

While this episode did start off very interesting, with the "Earth was spared" part, I didn't think this episode was all that spectacular. The Bren and Zak sniping was OK, and (as always) so was the Reb and Yuna stuff. The introductions of Kaulman was also nice--he has the potential to be a very good villain, especially since there's still a lot we don't know about him, like how he survived, what he was really doing on Earth, if he actually is 400 years old (I know he said so, but he can also be a pathological liar and a psychiopath. And it may be that he has 400 years of memories but in reality is only 39 because of cycling or something), and if he actually does have the cure. It could always be interesting to see if there actually is some relation between Lowell and Kaulman--maybe Lowell *did* escape to Korfu and Kaulman is his decendent or something.

Overall, it was just enough to tip the scale over the middle mark.

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