EPISODE 202: Exit Strategies

#######################################################################
The soul is larger than the sky
Deeper than the ocean,
Or the abysmal dark
Of the unfathomed center.

[Enoch Vere de Vere,   "Lamentations Sous-terre"  C.Y. 9734]
#######################################################################

===================================================================================
Scene: Beka pilots the Maru as several Nietzschean fighters fire on her. Dylan, Tyr, and 
Rev are also on-board.
===================================================================================

Beka: Who the hell are these guys?

<At a console, Dylan zooms in on a symbol on one of the fighters.>

Dylan: Nietzschean Pride markings. Tyr?

Tyr: That's Mandau Pride.  They're parasites – slavers.

Beka: I hate to break it to them, but I don't plan on spending the rest of my life in a 
uranium mine.

<She pulls over on the controls sharply, trying to shake pursuit.>

Rev: They're still behind us.

<The ship suddenly sparks from a hit, from an apparently unexpected quarter.>

Beka: What the hell?

Dylan: Another one! Twelve o'clock!

Rev: We're in need of assistance.  I'll contact Andromeda.

Dylan: No! She's still dead in space.

<Rev nods agreement.>

Beka: We're losing engine power.

Dylan: Tyr, Rev, assess the damage.

<Rev and Tyr head back to the engine room, having to put out some fires they find there. 
They communicate back to command over comms.>

Tyr: The starboard thrusters have gone critical!  I'm shutting it down!

Rev: No, no, no! Not the AP tanks!  Beka, we're losing containment!

Beka: Rev, vent the tank now!

Tyr: We've got no reserve fuel!

Beka: It's either that, or turn into a fireworks display.

Dylan: Do it!

Tyr: Venting!

<The ship shudders and veers a bit as the tanks vent, but Beka gets it settled.>

Beka: Thank the stars for momentum.

Dylan: They're still on us.  If we keep this up, they're bound to find the Andromeda.

Beka: Slipstream?

Dylan: It's our only option.

Beka: You got it.

<The Maru enters slipstream.  Tyr and Rev monitor from the engine room.>

Tyr: Beka! Life support is failing! We've got to land now!

Beka: Now he tells me.  Bailing to the nearest system.

<The Maru exits slipstream>

Beka: Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Where to?

Dylan: Detecting an ice-world in the third orbit.  Any sign of pursuit?

<Three Nietzschean fighters exit slipstream and fire on the Maru>

Beka: That's a "Yes".  Do we run, or do we land?

Dylan: We land.

Beka: Going in.

Dylan: Venting O2 tanks for deceleration.

Beka: We're going too fast!  Brace for impact.

<The Maru crashes in a snow-covered area. Dylan, Tyr, and Rev get tossed around and 
all four of them get knocked unconscious.>

===================================================================================
Scene: On board the Andromeda, Rommie and Trance drag dead Magog into a room. 
Harper's sitting nearby, wearing goggles and plastic gloves, and breathing through an 
oxygen mask.
===================================================================================

Trance: Ewwwwww. Stinky!

Rommie: Well, at least this is the last of them. Or so I hope.

Trance: I can't believe it's taken us three weeks to clean up all these bodies.

Rommie: Harper, we could use a little help, here.

Harper: Help? You want a little help?  Fine, I'll help.  I'll get 'em all.

<He draws his gun and starts shooting the Magog bodies>

Harper: You want some? You like that? Huh?  How's that?

Trance: Harper, stop it!

<Holo-Rommie pops in>

Holo: Harper, I need you to concentrate on your work.

Harper: Oh, you just want me to sweep 'em under the rug and forget about it, is that it?  
Forget that I was swarmed by dozens of Magog and my guts infested with parasites?

Trance: I think what she's trying to say is, you know, the medication we gave you has put 
the larva in a dormant state, so...

Harper: Well, gee, great. I hardly even have to think about 'em.

Holo: I'm just saying that you should try to move on.

Harper: Oh, like Rommie's supposed to just forget about being impaled, right? Is that it? 
Or like how you can just forget about your entire original crew being wiped out by 
Magog. Or seeing your Perseid captain's guts ripped out. You can just put it all behind 
you and move on and concentrate on your work.  Is that it?

Rommie: I can when I need to.

Holo: It's called compartmentalization.

Harper: Compartmentalization?  {A phfft noise} More like schizophrenia.

===================================================================================
Scene: On the Maru, Dylan and Beka regain consciousness.  The Maru is half-buried in 
snow
===================================================================================

Beka: Guess we'll be a little late getting back with those parts.

<Dylan, groaning, raises his head to look out the window.  Beka looks back at him.>

Dylan: Snow.

Beka: Blood. {Dylan touches blood on his face and winces} Yeah.

Dylan: I'll be fine.  What about the others?

Beka: I'll check. Just hold still. You're, uh, you're dripping on my ship.

<She heads further back into the ship.>

===================================================================================
Scene: Back in the engine room, Tyr is leaning over Rev
===================================================================================

Tyr: Reverend Behemial!  You dead?

Rev: Tyr Anasazi of the Kodiak Pride. Clearly I am not in heaven.

<Beka enters>

Beka: Hey! Are you two ok?

<A sound is heard above them, and they hurry back to the cockpit. Dylan's checking the 
monitor, but still seems pretty out of it.>

Beka: Sonic boom. The Nietzscheans?

Dylan: Oh, yeah. They're still looking for us.

Beka: I always thought slavers were lazy.

Dylan: Heh.

Rev: Beka, the emergency locator transponder is no longer functional.

Tyr: And even if it did work, it would only help the Nietzscheans to find us.

Beka: Well, on the bright side, we are covered in highly reflective, heat-dampening snow. 
It makes us harder to find.  On the not-so-bright side, we have no fuel, no heat, and 
minimal GFG.

Dylan: All right, then let's mobilize.  Tyr, Rev, fix the engines. Cannibalize parts if you 
have to. Beka, you and I will take...

Beka: Yeah. My first job is to repair your forehead.

Dylan: I'll be fine.

Beka: Yeah, ok, tough guy.

<They leave.  After they've gone, Rev reaches down and touches Dylan's blood on the 
floor, reacting to it with a Magog-ish sniff and growl.>

===================================================================================
Scene: Later, Tyr is working on the engines. Rev is sitting nearby, looking sick 
===================================================================================

Tyr: Hand me a laser torch.

<Rev doesn't respond. Tyr notices and goes over to him.>

Tyr: Do Magog get concussions?  Your health affects my health. I need to know your 
condition.

Rev: Then I must confess. I am a little light-headed.  I have been fasting – a ritual 
purification for those I so viciously killed.

Tyr: For the Magog that boarded the Andromeda?

Rev: Yes. And others on the world-ship.

Tyr: How long since you've eaten?

Rev: Since we left the world-ship.

Tyr: Three weeks.

Rev: I had intended on breaking my fast when we returned to the Andromeda, but 
apparently it is the Divine's will that that is not to happen.

Tyr: I don't suppose you could eat the emergency rations?

Rev: No. A Magog must kill its prey to begin the digestive process.  On the Andromeda, I 
keep a supply of live salmon in the hydroponics garden.

Tyr: But we're not on board the Andromeda.

===================================================================================
Scene: Tyr, Beka, and Dylan discuss the situation
===================================================================================

Tyr: You honestly don't expect him to starve himself to death, do you?  He's a Magog.

Dylan: Tyr, this is Rev we're talking about.

Beka: Rev and I have been shipmates for seven years. I trust him with my life.

Tyr: You weren't on the Magog world-ship. You didn't look into his eyes. He was just 
like all the others: feral.

Dylan: Then our first order of business is to find food for him.

Tyr: There are no live prey animals on this planet so far as we know. Which means the 
only viable food source for him right now is us.  We should lock him up.

Beka: Rev Bem has more self-control than anyone I've ever met.

Tyr: Then let him practice it in chains.

Dylan: If Beka trusts him, I trust him. Besides, we're gonna need all hands to get out of 
here.  What's the status on the engines?

Tyr: The engines will be fine. What we need is fuel.

Dylan: Look, where there's snow, there's water. And where there's water, there might be 
settlements.

Beka: And where there's settlements, there's fuel.

Dylan: I'll go outside and see if I can spot any heat signatures on the horizon.

Tyr: I should go as well. I'm the best suited for hostile environments.

Dylan: Thanks, but no thanks. Having a Nietzschean along may cause problems with any 
potential allies.

Tyr: Captain Hunt! In the past few months, you've been placing yourself in a number of 
very risky situations. It's not a healthy trend.

Dylan: Thank you, Tyr. I didn't know that you cared.

===================================================================================
Scene: Beka walks with Dylan to the airlock. Tyr's lounging nearby.
===================================================================================

Dylan: Maintain radio silence. We don't want to give away our position.

Beka: You got it.

Tyr: And what does the captain expect me to do in his absence?

Dylan: I expect the acting weapons officer to help Beka and Rev fix the ship.  And 
protect them if necessary.

Tyr {glancing meaningfully in Rev's direction}: From what?

Dylan: From whatever.

===================================================================================
Scene: Dylan's walking around a snowy, forested area. Using binoculars, he spots some 
buildings on a hill in the distance.  He uses his forcelance to mark a nearby tree.  Walking 
some more, he feels the ground shake and witnesses a section of ground collapse into a 
sinkhole of some sort.  He walks some more, and marks more trees to track his path back.
===================================================================================
Scene: On the Maru, a ground tremor is felt.  Tyr approaches the command deck where 
Beka is working.
===================================================================================

Beka: I thought you were helping Rev.

Tyr: I thought you told me he could help himself.

Beka: He can. And so can I.

Tyr: You may dislike my concerns about your Rev Bem, but they're valid, nonetheless. 
And if you've misplaced your trust, your life is forfeit as well as mine.

Beka: You wanna talk about misplaced trust?  Who were those Nietzscheans?

Tyr: I've told you. Slavers.

Beka: Slavers are nine-to-five bad guys.  When the going gets tough, they find easier 
marks.  They wouldn't care enough to chase us through slipstream.

Tyr: Then who are they?

Beka: Why don't you tell me?  When we first saw them, after Topeka Drift, they were 
flying past us going the other way.  Then they doubled back twice, like they recognized 
us...like they recognized the Maru.

Tyr: So?

Beka: So, what did you do that time you took off in my ship for three weeks?  As I recall, 
when we found you, you were being hunted by the entire Drago-Kasov Empire.

<The ship shakes with another tremor. Tyr doesn't seem inclined to answer Beka, and she 
goes back to working on the ship.>

===================================================================================
Scene: Dylan has gotten much closer to the buildings he's been approaching. He looks at 
it through the binoculars again, and this time sees several men standing around: 
Nietzscheans.  One of them is also looking through a device, and notices Dylan.  The 
Nietzscheans are heard shouting to each other.
===================================================================================
Dylan: Nietzscheans! Great!

<He fires his forcelance at the Nietzscheans who are grabbing their guns and running 
towards him.  He starts to run away.  He falls at one point and sees another sinkhole 
collapse in the snow nearby.>

===================================================================================
Scene: On the Maru, the others also feel the tremor that caused the sinkhole
===================================================================================

Beka: Another one.  Rev, did you hear that?  Rev?

Rev: I – I'm sorry. My – my focus seems to be elsewhere.  Would you please excuse me? 
I seem to be in need of some private contemplation.

<He leaves>

Beka {to Tyr}: Dylan's been gone too long. He's in trouble.

Tyr: I don't doubt it.  What would you like me to do? He insisted on going out there 
alone.

Beka: Tyr, if it weren't for Dylan, you'd be back on the world-ship getting your guts 
eaten out by Magog larvae.  But you're right. Why should you care?

===================================================================================
Scene: Some of the Nietzscheans start to catch up with Dylan. One tackles him, knocking 
him down a hill.  He recovers and fights with that one and another that's caught up.  Tyr 
arrives and shoots one Nietzschean that Dylan's having trouble with, and another one 
with a gun on top of the hill.
===================================================================================

Dylan: That's a good shot.

<The two of them start running, still pursued by more Nietzscheans>

===================================================================================
Scene: On the Maru, Beka visits Rev
===================================================================================

Beka: Hey. How you doing?

Rev {his voice is guttural, animal-like}: Hungry.

Beka: I hate planets.  The dirt, the unregulated temperatures, and the water, which I also 
hate...unless it comes in bottles.  Water turns into snow and ice, which I also hate...like I 
hate pretty much every kind of weather. I hate weather. Have I mentioned that?

<Rev doesn't respond>

Beka: Rev, you're a monk.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the Divine had wanted us to 
suffer through weather, he never would've given us space travel. Am I right?

Rev: So, now you believe in the Divine?

Beka: Let's just say that sitting on a crashed starship, freezing to death – I'm open to the 
idea.  But even if I don't believe, I believe that you do, and that your belief is so strong 
that it can overcome your...other nature.  I guess what I'm trying to say, Rev, is that I 
trust you.

Rev: Then I shall fervently pray that I do not betray that trust.

===================================================================================
Scene: Dylan and Tyr still chased by Nietzscheans. Tyr starts to head off in a wrong 
direction, but Dylan stops him
===================================================================================

Dylan: This way! Follow the trees!

<They stop to fire back at their pursuers, and notice some of them trading guns>

Tyr: They're low on ammunition.

<They run again, sliding down a hill to get a bit of a lead, and taking cover behind a 
tree.>

Nietzschean Leader {shouting}: Tyr Anasazi! We know you're out there. Give up!  
Maybe we'll let you live. {to his men} Get him!

Dylan: Anything you want to tell me?

Tyr: No. Not particularly.

<Gunfire explodes near them>

Dylan: We'll save that conversation for later.

<They start running again.>

===================================================================================
Scene: On the Andromeda, Rommie finds Harper sitting in a conduit
===================================================================================

Rommie: I thought you were supposed to be working in the engine room.

Harper: I know. I know.  All right, fine. It was kind of you and Trance to exempt me 
from clean-up. Thank you very much. You can go now.

Rommie: Harper, I need you in there.  I think there might be a leak in one of the AP 
transfer lines. I've shut them all down, but there's too much rad interference for me to 
find the leak.

Harper: Oh, a ruptured transfer line.

Rommie: Yes, Harper. I need you to find the leak before the mag (?bottles?) start to 
overload.

Harper: Look! I can't go in there, all right? I-I can't deal with being in the engine room, 
or anywhere else where I was attacked.  It stinks like Magog and I'm feeling a little 
Magog-ophobic, ok?  Don't look at me like that, Rommie!  I can't!  I wanna help. I 
wanna fix the ship.  I just – I can't.

===================================================================================
Scene:  Beka opens the airlock for Dylan and Tyr to run in
===================================================================================

Dylan: We lost them about a kilometer away.

Tyr: If they don't follow your tree markings back here.

Dylan: Well, I ran out of bread crumbs.

<A warning beep sounds, and they hear a noise of a ship firing somewhere near the ship>

Beka {checking a console}: Overshot by over a hundred meters.  At least they're bad 
shots.

Dylan: It may not matter. Sinkholes.  The bedrock in this area's unstable, and if they keep 
shelling us, it could...

<The ship suddenly tilts violently and they're all thrown around as the ship falls head-
first into a sinkhole.>

===================================================================================
Scene: After the fall, Beka's on her back with Dylan on top of her, face-to-face.
===================================================================================
Dylan: Beka.

Beka: Oh. I didn't think you went in for hugs.

Dylan: Oh, I, uh, I love hugs. It's the kissing that freaks me out.

Rev: I realize we are all fallen angels, but twice in one day?

<Dylan looks around and sees Tyr already working on a console.>

Dylan: Tyr, status.

Tyr: This entire area is riddled with tunnels.

Dylan: Must be an old mining planet.

Beka: How far down are we?

Rev: Seventy-three meters below the surface.

<The ship shakes ominously.>

Beka: It's ok, baby. You'll be all right.

Dylan: Let's spread out and inspect the damage.

===================================================================================
Scene: Later, they regroup to discuss their findings
===================================================================================

Rev: Considerable damage in the aft section.

Beka: (?Right.?)

Dylan: Come on. We're not dead yet.

Tyr: I have a suggestion.  Assuming the Nietzscheans are still looking for us...

Dylan: You mean looking for YOU.  Like I said, a conversation for later.  What's your 
plan?

Tyr: We lure them to the Maru. We blow it up.  They're dead. We commandeer their 
ships to get home.

<Dylan seems to consider the idea, but looks to Beka for input>

Dylan: Beka?

Beka {matter of fact}: No one's blowing up my ship.

Dylan: Tyr?

Tyr: It is precisely because this ship is perceived as our only means of escape that it 
makes the perfect trap.

Beka: No! I don't care if the Maru is buried beneath a thousand kilometers of rubble, or 
roasting in the heart of a sun, or up on blocks in the Imperial Museum of Tarn Vedra. No 
one's blowing up my ship.

Tyr: How would you propose to get us home?

Beka: This *is* my home.  It was my home before I met you, it's my home now, and 
when the Andromeda has been blown to hell by the Magog, and each and every one of 
you is dead – it'll still be my home.  {She calms down} Sorry, that was a bit much.

Dylan: No, no. That's, uh, that's ok.  I'd be upset if someone suggested blowing up the 
Andromeda.  Maybe there's an alternative.  I mean, we're inside a system of mining 
tunnels, so let's see what's out there.

===================================================================================
Scene: The four of them exit the Maru into a mining tunnel
===================================================================================

Beka: What'd they use to mine in here, anyway?

Rev: Well, whatever it is, we're stepping in it.

<They pick up one of the chunks of metal that are littered around the ground.>

Dylan: This is squorm refuse.

Rev: Squorms...

Dylan: Everyone back to the Maru. Now.

===================================================================================
Scene: On the Maru, they gather to discuss the situation. Rev has a piece of squorm 
refuse
===================================================================================

Rev: Squorms are genetically engineered macro-fauna that tunnel through ore-laden earth 
– the perfect biological miner.  They process the ore internally...

<He's interrupted by some noises from his stomach, but tries to ignore it>

Rev: They process the ore internally and excrete it as refined metal.

Dylan: Not to mention that they're huge {Rev murmurs "Yes"} and extremely bad-
tempered.

Tyr: How huge?

Rev: I once...{He pauses again, clearly having stomach trouble}...Please, excuse me.

Beka: I got him.

<She follows Rev out of the room.>

Tyr: How huge?

Dylan: You saw the diameter of the tunnels?

Tyr: Mmm-hmmm.

Dylan: That huge.

Tyr: And they only eat ore?

Dylan: As long as there's plenty of it.  If not, and they bump into, say, the, uh...

Tyr: The Maru.

Dylan: Yeah. Then we become food for the squorms. {Off Tyr's "Just great" sort of 
reaction} Yeah.

===================================================================================
Scene: Beka has followed Rev, and finds wrappers from emergency rations
===================================================================================

Beka: Rev! Rev, what are you doing?! You can't digest this!

Rev: Beka, without food, a Magog's body – my body – will ravage itself.  I will begin to 
digest my own intestines, muscle, bone, nerve endings.

<He's in a lot of pain.>

Beka: Well...

Rev: I fear the process has already begun.

Beka: Then, uh, we'll just have to get you something to eat.  How does Nietzschean au 
jus sound?

Rev: Beka, do not even joke!  I will not kill! Not even my enemies. Not even to survive.

Beka: You did it before, on the world-ship.

Rev: Yes. Much to my never-ending shame.  If I was truly of the Divine, I would have let 
them kill me, and yes, even you, before I took a life.  I was weak. I chased my prey. I 
smelled their blood and I relished it.  And I recognized something...it completed my 
creation. Beka, I liked it.

===================================================================================
Scene: Harper's sitting on a table in the med-lab, drinking beer. He has a scanner aimed 
at his stomach to see the Magog larvae
===================================================================================

Harper: How's it goin', fellas?  Comfy?  Getting enough beer, hmm?  What about you, 
turd-brain? What's that?  Oh, no?  Well, here. How about some more?

<He drinks some more from an almost empty bottle of beer.>

Harper: You're not satisfied, are ya? That's not what you're looking for.  I give you 
freakin' thievin' little parasites a home, food, conversation...and what do you give me in 
return?  Grief.

<He finishes off the bottle and turns to put it back into the case it came from, noticing 
that all the other bottles in the case are empty, too.>

Harper: Oh, damn!  You drank all my Neuverin Weisbrau.  Now what have I got to live 
for?  A big fat nothin'.

<He suddenly pushes away the scanner and draws his gun, aiming it at his stomach.>

Harper: All right. Stinky, Turd-brain, up against the stomach wall.

<He takes a second to turn off the safety or something on the gun, but as he prepares to 
pull the trigger, Rommie enters.>

Rommie: Harper!  What are you doing?

Harper: Wha- Rommie, go away.  Rommie, go away.

Rommie: Harper, put the gun down.

Harper: Go away!

Rommie: What are you thinking?!?

Harper: I'm thinking I got a situation here, and I gotta fix it!

Rommie:  Trance has worked medical miracles before...

Harper: Oh, give me a freakin' break!  There's no cure for this, and you know it.  I got an 
irrevocable appointment with a painful, horrible, violent death, and no one can fix me, 
Rommie.  No one can fix me.

===================================================================================
Scene: Beka and Dylan confer about Rev. Tyr's nearby.
===================================================================================

Beka: He's so weak already. We have to do something before he starves himself to death.

Dylan: Yeah, but we still need fuel.  It sure would be nice to find some friendly locals.

Tyr: The only people on this rock are Nietzscheans.

Dylan: Hey, maybe we could feed them to Rev.

Beka: Uh – already suggested that.

Dylan: Huh.  Tyr, any ideas that might change their minds about killing us?

<He's not really expecting a helpful answer.>

Tyr: Killing them first?

Dylan: All right. We split up.  Scout the tunnels.  The first one to find a way to the 
surface calls the others.

<He opens the Maru's weapons lockers and hands out firearms.>

Beka: What about Rev?

Dylan: He'll stay and preserve his energy and pray – hopefully for all of us.

===================================================================================
Scene: Dylan is looking around tunnels with a big flashlight. He finds something of 
interest.
===================================================================================

Dylan: Beka.

Beka: Coming.

<She arrives shortly, and smiles at Dylan's find.  It's a tunnel lined with bands of metal.>

Beka: Well, I'll be damned.  A magnetic accelerator.

Dylan: They must've used this to launch the refined metal into orbit.

Beka: Is it functional?

Dylan: Well, all it needs is power.  These squorm tunnels lead right to it.

<As they're talking, they are unaware of ominous squorm noises.>

Dylan {on comm}: Tyr, come in.  Tyr?

Beka: There's probably too much rock between us and him.  Too bad.  He might've been 
forced to smile.

{Elsewhere in the tunnels, Tyr is walking around with a big gun, looking concerned 
about squorm noises}

Beka: Ok. So, we hook this thing up to the Maru's auxiliary power unit, use our GFG to 
lower our mass to nothing, and, uh...crap.  How do we get the Maru up here?

Dylan: Extend the coil this way. Float it up the tunnel to the mouth of the accelerator. 
Power it up and shoot the Maru straight into space.

Beka: Just like a bullet out of a gauss gun.

Dylan: Yep.

Beka: One problem. What do we use to extend the coil?

Dylan: When you have lemons, you make lemonade.  When you've got metallic squorm 
dung, you make...

Beka: ...you make metal wire.

Dylan: Yes.

Beka: Nice.

Dylan {on comm}: Tyr. Tyr, are you reading me? Tyr?

<A loud whistling, wailing sound is heard>

Dylan: Squorms.  They're homing in on the magnetic field of our weapons. Turn them 
off.

<They do, but the noises don't stop.>

Beka: It's not the guns.

Dylan: The Maru!

===================================================================================
Scene: Back on the Maru, Dylan and Beka check their situation on a monitor.
===================================================================================

Beka: Squorms, from every direction, closing in.

Dylan: Weapons locker.

<The go to get more weapons, but find that it's empty.>

Beka: It's empty.

Dylan: Figures.

<He types something on a touchpad.>

Dylan: There. I've discharged the Maru's magnetic field. That should hold off the 
squorms for a while.

Beka: Rev? The guns?

Rev: Tyr took them while I was in the engine room meditating.

Beka: And you didn't stop him?

Rev: Well, I – I'm sorry. I assumed it was all part of your plan.

Dylan: Yeah, it's all part of a plan, all right.  It's just not ours.

===================================================================================
Scene: Somewhere in the caves, Tyr stands with his big gun.  The other weapons are 
piled on a rock nearby.
===================================================================================

Tyr: Kiama? Hafiz! Can you hear me?  I know some of you are out of ammunition.  
You'll need these.  Kiama, I know you're out there. I can hear you breathing.

<Kiama and several other Nietzscheans appear at a tunnel mouth nearby.>

Kiama: You think you can buy us off with trinkets?  You used your last credit on Enga's 
Redoubt.

Tyr: I wanted to come back for you.  I was shot down by Dragons.

Kiama {laughing}: You know, that's funny.  Because the last time that we saw you, you 
weren't exactly making an heroic attempt to rescue us.  In fact, if I remember correctly, 
you were dashing off in the Maru while we got shelled by an entire Dragon security 
division.

Tyr: I couldn't risk them recapturing our prize.

Kiama: Drop the mask, Anasazi.  You never planned on ransoming back the bones at all.  
You were always gonna keep 'em for yourself!

Tyr: If I did!?  Whoever possesses the mummified remains of Drago Museveni controls 
the fate of the entire Nietzschean people. And right now – right now, that's Tyr Anasazi, 
the Kodiak! It's ME!  You can cooperate with me and stand by my side, or you can fight 
me and they'll be lost to you forever.  Make a decision.

<Kiama steps forward, seeming to have made a decision, one way or the other.>

===================================================================================
Scene: In the tunnels, Dylan and Beka have somehow acquired some metal blocks, and 
are working on lining the tunnel with more coils
===================================================================================

Dylan: Well, we're almost there.  I'm sure it'd be easier with another helping hand.

Beka: Yeah. Unfortunately, one of them is slowly starving to death, and the other one's 
out betraying us.

Dylan: We don't know that.

Beka: Well, somehow, I don't think Tyr took all of our guns for Nietzschean show-and-
tell.

Dylan: With Tyr, you never know.  Still, he's been gone a long time.  I'm gonna go find 
him.

Beka: And if he's betraying us?

Dylan: Then I'll be the first to know.

===================================================================================
Scene: Kiama picks up two of the guns Tyr has provided, and hands them to his men
===================================================================================

Tyr: Those are two fully charged gauss guns.  Consider that compensation.

<Kiama picks up two more guns and aims them at Tyr.>

Tyr: Where's Hafiz?

Kiama: Covering us.

Tyr: Oh, please.  I've demonstrated my good faith. It's your turn.  Hafiz, show yourself!

Kiama: No, Hafiz is quite comfortable where he is.  That's the key to happiness, isn't it?  
Knowing what you want, sticking with it?

Tyr: I'm offering you a chance to shape the fate of the Nietzschean people.

Kiama: We don't care about the Nietzschean people.  We just wanted the ransom.

Tyr {in a *tsk, tsk* tone}: Kiama, Kiama, Kiama, Kiama.  Would you like to know the 
real reason I left you behind on Enga's Redoubt?

<He crouches down, picking up a piece of squorm dung.>

Kiama: Yeah.

<Tyr suddenly stands and whirls the squorm dung at one of the armed henchmen 
covering him.  He uses the distraction to run off into the tunnels, pursued by the bad 
guys.>

Tyr {Shouting back down the tunnel}: Because you're just so uncompromisingly 
INFERIOR!!!

===================================================================================
Scene:  Alarms are going off on the Andromeda. Harper is sitting at one end of a conduit, 
and Rommie's talking to him from the other.
===================================================================================

Computer: Reactor overload. Power Reactor One going critical. Unable to vent due to 
damage in the AP line.

Rommie: Harper, if you don't get in there and fix that line, we'll blow up! Do you hear 
me?  You're going to die!

Harper: Good. 'Cause in case you didn't notice when I had that gun shoved into my gut, I 
WANT to die.  I don't wanna live another day with these freakin' monsters inside of me.

Rommie: Harper, look. I know how you feel.

Harper: Hah! What have you been drinking?  You don't know how I feel.

Rommie: What about inside of me?  The only reason we encountered the Magog world-
ship in the first place is because some backup copy inside of me – a me I didn't even 
know existed – came out!  Came out and started shooting, tried to kill us – ALL of us.  
What else is there inside of me?  What other demons do I have to worry about?

Computer: Reactor critical in seventy seconds.

Rommie: That's why you can't die, Harper. Because I need you.  And if you're gone, 
who's going to fix me?

===================================================================================
Scene: In the slipstream room, Harper's working on some wiring.
===================================================================================

Computer: Sixteen seconds. Fifteen. Fourteen.

Harper: Come on!

Computer: Thirteen. Twelve. Eleven. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven.

Harper: Gotcha. Hah! Ahhhh...

Computer: You did it.  You fixed me.

Harper: Yeah?  Well, tell ya what: From now on, let's fix each other.

===================================================================================
Scene: Beka enters the Maru
===================================================================================

Beka: Rev.  {Groans of pain are heard} Rev?

<Rev has closed himself behind a grating> 

Rev: Beka, please. Shoot me.

Beka: You know, I'm not exactly an expert on spirituality, but I do know that just letting 
yourself die is a sin...a sin against nature, against the Divine, and most of all, against us.  
Rev, we're your friends, and we need you.  You can't just give up.

Rev: Beka, please.

Beka: Rev, you remember, uh, back on Tesla Drift, after they repo'd the Maru and Bobby 
had left me for the last time?  I felt like my world was crashing in on me.  I just wanted to 
check out.

Rev: I remember.

Beka: You asked me one question: How dare I presume to know what the Divine had in 
store for me?  You said that somehow all my anxiety, and all my pain, and all my despair 
had a purpose, even if I couldn't see it.  So now, Rev, what about you?

Rev: Beka, I was not created by your Divine.  I was created by the Spirit of the Abyss as 
an instrument of fear and destruction.  That is my purpose.  How could my death not be 
moral?

Beka: You're a great man, Rev, but I still don't think you can know the Divine's plans 
for you, even if He didn't create you.

Rev: Beka, please, forgive me.

<He rolls around in pain.>

Beka: Rev.

===================================================================================
Scene:  Beka is in the pilot seat of the Maru.  Power is moving through the accelerator 
coils.
===================================================================================

Beka: Well, I'm good to go.

===================================================================================
Scene: Tyr is still being chased through the tunnels.  He pauses to take cover, and whips 
his gun up to aim it at someone coming at him from the other direction. It's Dylan, with 
his forcelance aimed at Tyr.
===================================================================================

Tyr: Hello.

Dylan: How you doin'?

<A Nietzschean fires at them from behind Dylan, and Tyr pushes him out of the way.>

Dylan: Good to have you back.  You still owe me that conversation.

<Down the tunnel, Kiama is shouting "They're here!", calling more of his thugs.>

Dylan: Let's go.

Tyr: Yes. Let's go.

===================================================================================
Scene: After some more chasing, Tyr and Dylan get back to the Maru
===================================================================================

Beka: Well, it's about time.

Dylan: Hi!

Beka: Hi.

Dylan: Found Tyr. 

Beka: Good.

Dylan: We can leave now.

Beka: Moving us to the launcher.

Tyr: Magnetic coils?  Those things'll attract every squorm on the planet.

Dylan: We'll be long gone by then.  Let's bring it.

< Nietzscheans come out of a side-tunnel to stand in front of the Maru, firing at them>

Beka: We're blocked.

Dylan: Slow down. With GFG on, we don't have enough mass to ram them.

Beka: Too late. No breaks.

Tyr: No problem.

<He is watching a monitor and sees squorms closing in.  A squorm breaks out of a wall 
and grabs Kiama>

Nietzschean: Kiama!

Tyr: And here comes its mother.

<A big squorm comes out of the ceiling, gobbling up the two remaining Nietzschean 
thugs and disappearing into the floor.  Without his buddies to help, Kiama is devoured by 
the squorm.>

Dylan: Bon appetit.

Beka: We're at the launcher.

Dylan: Hit it!

<The Maru is launched out of the tunnel.>

Beka: We're escaping the atmosphere.  Let's hope we've got enough momentum to 
slingshot the sun and scrape up some fuel.

Dylan: Objects in motion tend to stay in motion, don't they?

Beka {amused}: And they want to blow you up.

Dylan: Bring us home, Beka.

===================================================================================
Scene: Later, after the Maru returns to Andromeda, Harper visits Rev where he is 
meditating.
===================================================================================

Harper: Hey, Rev.  How you doing? I heard things got, uh, a little rough down there.

Rev: Yes. They did. But things seem to be better now.  And you?

Harper: Oh, {phfft sound}, I – I'm just peachy. It was a cake-walk up here.

<He starts to leave.>

Rev: I'll keep you in my prayers.

Harper: Thanks. I really mean that.

===================================================================================
Scene: Tyr enters Dylan's quarters. Dylan is there looking at a flexi.
===================================================================================

Tyr: You wanted to see me?

Dylan: The travelers-aid database we downloaded on Glitterdust. I found this.

<He passes Tyr the flexi.  It's a "wanted" poster.>

Dylan: It's a nice photo.  And, hey, they want you alive.

Tyr: Ten million Dragon Eagles.  I'm flattered.

Dylan: I'm tempted. I could do a lot with that much money.

Tyr: I'm sure.  Still, somehow I doubt you're truly prepared to turn me over to the Drago-
Kasov Pride.

Dylan: Give me one reason why not.  Your extracurricular activities have put my ship, 
my crew, and my mission in jeopardy.  You are becoming a liability, Tyr.

Tyr: A liability. Am I so?  Well, I also happen to be the best – I – I am the ONLY soldier 
you have.  I personally delivered Enkindu and Schopenhauer into your alliance.  I have 
saved your ship, your crew (such as it is), and your mission on many an occasion.  And 
while I may have earned the wrath of the Drago-Kasov Pride, they wanted to kill you 
long before they ever heard of me.

Dylan: Oh, then I guess that makes it all right.

Tyr: If you would like me to leave – sir – you have but to ask.

Dylan: One question, Tyr. One simple question: Why are you on my ship?

<Tyr picks up a piece from Dylan's go board on the table between them.>

Tyr: To be perfectly honest? At first – at the very first – I thought there might be a way to 
take it from you.  And it made an ideal platform while I planned my – {amused air-
quotes} extracurricular activities.  But then, well, something happened.

Dylan: Enlighten me.

Tyr: Then came a ship the size of a sun, filled with five trillion septic, hungry Magog, 
coming our way – MY way.  Something like that will make a man rethink his priorities.

Dylan: Yes. Especially an ambitious man with ulterior motives who wants to live long 
enough to see them through.

Tyr: Whether I like it or not, I need you – sir.  And I shall be so bold as to say you need 
me, as well.  So.  {Gesturing to the gameboard}  Shall we have a game?

<Dylan picks up a piece and places it on the board.>

Dylan: Your move.

===================================================================================
THE END.
===================================================================================