[narrator] Previously on Star Trek: Discovery:
Captain Christopher Pike, requesting to come aboard.
I'm here at Starfleet's order, to command the Discovery.
In the past 24 hours, Federation sensors picked up
seven red bursts spread out across more than 30,000 light-years.
And right now, this little dot is the only one willing
- to tell us where it is. - Hit it.
Pike to Discovery, get us out of here.
Wait!
[Tilly] I need a sample of the asteroid.
If my theory is correct, we'll interact with dark matter, sir.
The asteroid has been shedding rocks all over the place.
We still have time to reach one.
- It's in the bay. - [Saru] Status?
[Tilly] The shuttle bay needs a little TLC but all is well, commander.
I saw you die.
I watched Tyler kill you.
I held your body in my arms.
I believe in you, Paul.
I love you.
I'd like to go to Enterprise.
I am sorry, Burnham, but Spock's not there.
A few months ago, I felt something shift in him.
As if he'd run into a question he couldn't answer.
He asked me for time. I gave it to him.
Oh, Spock.
[Spock on recording] As a child, I had what my mother called "nightmares."
She taught me to control my fear by drawing,
rendering fear powerless.
The nightmares have returned.
The same vision, again and again.
I now understand its meaning, and where it must lead me.
I have encoded it within this audio file in the event of my death.
This may be my last entry aboard the Enterprise.
Spock has had this tablet since he was a boy.
I took it from his quarters.
He drew these signals, two months before they appeared to us.
Computer, show me Starfleet's rendering of the seven signals.
Rotate 90 degrees counterclockwise.
It's damn near identical.
- Any more sketches like this one? - No.
Sir, my brother sounds deeply troubled.
I know he's on leave, but we need to contact him,
find out what he knows about these signals.
I know where Spock is, Burnham.
Have a seat.
Your brother...
is in the psychiatric unit on Starbase 5...
since about a week after he took leave.
Committed to the facility at his request.
Why weren't my parents or I told about this request?
It's Starfleet protocol to reach out to the families...
Unless the patient doesn't want that, and Spock said no.
Emphatically.
With that said...
his association with these signals
outweighs his desire for absolute privacy.
You could extend an olive branch to your brother,
but he'll need to decide to take it.
He won't.
At least not from me.
The way I left things with my brother, we haven't spoken in years.
Family dynamics can be complicated.
My father was a science teacher.
When he wasn't doing that, he taught Comparative Religion.
It was a confusing household, and we didn't agree on a lot.
Look, I've shared with you everything I know.
Trust you can do the same with me.
If there's ever anything you feel you ought to tell me...
Sir, when we were on that asteroid...
I...
I never properly thanked you for coming back to get me.
- You're welcome. - [PA beeps]
[Saru] Captain Pike to the bridge immediately.
[Bryce] Captain on the bridge.
Ah. Captain, another signal has just appeared.
The transmission is too faint to determine the exact coordinates.
Commander, I was using your station to run calibration modeling programs.
Let me close some of this.
Ensign Tilly had a notion to pinpoint the signals.
- I gave her permission to try it. - Excellent.
I'm modulating Discovery's deflector dish.
The idea is it will create gravimetric distortion
that will act like sonar.
That's a good plan, but the signal's too far away to register.
If we were closer, we might detect gravitational redshift
and use that to calculate its position.
I suggest we go to warp momentarily,
then target it with long-range sensors as soon as we drop out.
Take us to maximum warp for five seconds.
Aye, sir.
Signal coordinates received, and it's in the Beta Quadrant,
51,450 light-years away.
At top speed, that would take us 150 years to get that far.
My unborn children's kids would be lucky to get there.
- Ideas? - The spore drive.
But until a nonhuman interface is found,
Starfleet has decommissioned it,
or its navigator, really.
To guide us through the mycelial network,
Stamets injected himself with Tardigrade DNA,
a violation of Starfleet's ban on genetic manipulation.
They were willing to overlook this during the war.
- A Tardigrade? - I suppose you had to be there.
Getting to the bottom of these signals
is of utmost importance to the Federation.
They let you use the drive to fight the Klingons.
They'll give us dispensation now.
When can it be operational?
Once I begin prepping Commander Stamets, 20 minutes.
Get to it.
[Tilly] Bet you're glad you stayed onboard.
Hmm?
Being back in the saddle, you and me, doing our thing.
I thought the jump to Qo'noS would be the last time in a long time.
What's wrong?
I saw Hugh in the network.
What, you mean after he...?
- After he died? - Yes.
When I was trapped there, he comforted me.
He pushed me to escape, when I was ready to give up.
He helped pilot Discovery out of the Terran universe, Tilly.
He saved us all.
- I... - I know how this sounds.
At first I told myself it was a fabrication of my own mind,
culled from my memories by the mycelia.
But since then, I'm not so sure.
I didn't see him the last time I jumped,
but knowing it's a possibility...
I'd think that possibility would make you happy.
Astromycology has taught me that nothing is ever truly gone.
Fungi are the universe's recyclers.
This is how termination begets creation.
It's why life is eternal.
And my place is on this side of that cycle.
If I return to the network and see him again...
[Pike] We good to go, Stamets?
[man] All personnel, prepare for black alert.
This is not a drill.
Repeat, this is not a drill.
Spore drive is online.
Spore drive is ready, captain.
Questions or concerns before we depart, captain?
If you're telling me that this ship can skip across the universe
on a highway made of mushrooms, I'll go on faith.
Be bold.
Be brave. Be courageous.
Black alert.
Black alert coming online.
All personnel, black alert.
Let's jump.
Whoo! [chuckles]
You never forget your first, sir.
Ah.
- Commander Stamets. - Not now, Tilly.
No sign of the signal.
- We where we should be? - Affirmative.
- Report. - [Burnham] Class-M planet.
No power signatures or starships in the area.
No one scanning us from the surface.
Wait. I detect human life signs.
No humans have settled this far out in the Beta Quadrant.
Captain, I'm picking up a transmission from the surface.
Send it through, Bryce.
- [people screaming] - [man] We're under attack.
- We're holed up inside. - [gunfire]
A few hundred souls.
Men, women, and children.
Red alert. Ready photon torpedoes.
- Sure nobody else is out there? - We're alone.
Pinpoint the call. Show me where it came from.
Enhance.
They do not seem to be in any sort of distress.
Trace any warp signatures of starships near the planet?
Not a single one.
I can, however, confirm that, based on audiophonic degradation,
the transmission has been broadcasting on a loop for...
200 years.
Before warp was even invented.
Somebody wanna tell me how they got here?
The arrival of those people on the planet directly coincides
with World War Three on Earth, a nuclear cataclysm
that left 600 million dead and governments destroyed.
The broadcast frequency from the surface is obsolete,
too weak for interstellar communication.
- It's all coming from this structure. - It's a church.
- Yes, sir. - They speak Federation Standard.
They had to have a starship to get out this far.
The only way we got here was by using a spore drive.
Yet, with the roughly 11,000 people
spread over ten settlements across the planet,
there is no ship or power signature to speak of.
They don't use electricity.
Since their society is pre-warp,
we have to assume General Order 1 applies.
Why did that second signal want us to come here?
As Science Officer, I advise restraint in ascribing motivation
to what are now simply unidentifiable energy bursts.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio..."
I know my Shakespeare, captain.
Are you suggesting that divine intervention
put those people on the planet?
You're familiar with Clarke's Third Law?
[Burnham] Yes.
In the 20th century, Arthur C. Clarke said,
any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
The law was debated by scientists and theologians,
and later reinterpreted to say,
"Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence
is indistinguishable from God."
I have no idea how or why they're here,
but I highly doubt it's by accident.
Certainly a bold interpretation, sir.
What else do we know about the planet?
Well, it is surprisingly Earth-like.
However,
the interweaving orbital rings are comprised
of radioactive debris, unlike anything we've ever seen before.
Figuring out how these people got there
may shed some light on the nature of the signals themselves.
Who's best suited to come with us to the surface, Burnham?
Lieutenant Owosekun.
She grew up in a Luddite collective on Earth.
She'll know how to imbed, per General Order 1.
Brief her and let's move.
[computer] Your personal shielding
is phase-locked with the gravity simulator.
A change in gravimetric stability will result in...
Boom.
Confirmed.
[sighs]
As theorized, there are periodic concentrations
of metreon particles.
Yeah. Here looks promising.
Okey-dokey.
Activating laser core sampler,
and corresponding internal artificial grav.
Computer, by my calculations,
1 cubic centimeter of metreon-charged asteroid weighs in
at a portly 1.5 metric tons.
- [gasps] - Metreon fluctuation detected.
Adjust grav sim.
- Project termination advised. - Not yet.
Metreon-charged dark matter's our only lead
to find a new spore-drive interface, and Stamets needs this.
Got it.
Secure sample.
[woman on PA] Lieutenant Gavin to the bridge.
[sighs]
Hello, gorgeous.
[computer] Alert. Energy discharge of unknown origin
detected in main shuttle bay. Engineering...
[tricorder beeping]
No life signs inside.
Set phasers to stun.
- Keep them handy, but out of sight. - [phasers beeping]
Have either of you ever been in a church?
No. My family are non-believers.
I'm familiar with the texts of Earth's religions.
All right.
Let's find out who these people are, and why they're calling for help.
This glass is two centuries old.
It represents not just Christianity,
but Judaism,
Islam,
Hinduism, Buddhism,
Shinto, and Wicca.
The call is coming from beneath us.
I'll look for the basement.
"For those who live the old way, burn.
Those who sin against us shall be cut down by our gods."
That's light and welcoming.
"When those who believe our signs come to thee,
say, 'Peace be upon you."'
Anthropologically speaking,
it appears that they cobbled together a religion,
based on the primary faiths of Earth.
This book is
some sort of new scripture.
Maybe their historical record.
I'll scan the text.
Or we could look at the pictures.
That was the original purpose for a window like this,
is to teach the Gospel to those who couldn't read.
Why aren't you in the fields?
We're not from here.
My name is Christopher.
This is Michael and Joann.
Is this your first time in New Eden?
Yes. We're from the North.
The All-Mother will want to see you.
[all chanting] We welcome our new friends from the Northern Territory,
and pledge gratitude to our creators
for their love and deliverance to New Eden,
on our planet, Terralysium.
[Amesha] Tonight, on the harvest moon,
we remember that, over 200 years ago, in 2053,
the First Saved, soldiers and civilians among them,
took cover in the white church
from the devastation of World War Three.
Jets overhead dropped nuclear bombs.
Our ancestors knew death was coming.
But just before the explosions,
an angel appeared to them,
surrounded by pillars of fire,
and delivered our church, and those taking shelter in it,
here to Terralysium.
They awoke here, and founded New Eden.
But who should they thank for this salvation?
Which god? There were so many faiths among them.
How would they solve such a quandary?
By combining all religions into one.
Say my religion is science.
Has anyone used it to find an alternate answer
to how our ancestors got here?
How? Without the proper technology,
all we've got are decaying relics that came with the First Saved.
For years, Jacob and Rose have tried to get the church lights back on.
Since the battery units died, and the windows went dark,
pilgrimages to our shrine have dwindled.
Still, there must be some rational theories
about how the church was transported here.
A camera attached to a soldier's helmet exists from that time,
but it's broken.
[Amesha] We have no need for proof.
We are guided by the existence of something greater than ourselves.
Our faith.
It's getting late.
We're setting out early tomorrow.
Would you mind if we take shelter in your church?
Of course not.
Thank you for the fellowship.
Peace be with you.
And also with you.
[May] Tilly.
Tilly, wake up.
What?
- Where am I? - Don't worry.
They're helping you.
I was there when you got hurt. It was so scary. I thought I'd lost you.
- You shouldn't do that. - [alarm beeping]
Oh, no. Help.
- What's going on? - [Saru] Ensign Tilly,
dissecting a highly unstable interstellar asteroid,
by yourself?
This lapse in judgment put your shipmates at risk
and nearly got you killed.
- Will you corroborate that, Dr. Pollard? - He's correct. Almost dead. You.
But you're gonna be okay.
Sorry, sir. I was trying to help Commander Stamets.
I do not see how one leads to the other.
I took the asteroid sample in the hopes
that I could design a coherent resonator
to work with the spores instead.
Building a dark-matter navigational interface,
so Stamets would no longer have to interface with the spore drive.
[sighs]
Before we can care for others, we must care for ourselves.
Has this jeopardized my placement in the Command Training Program?
It has not,
as long as it is not an indicator of more reckless behavior.
You are the youngest candidate ever accepted into the C.T.P.
Being the only Kelpien in Starfleet,
I know how it feels to want to prove your worth.
I was so determined to be a good example of my race,
I learned 90 different Federation languages.
Fluently?
My point is...
I put an inordinate amount of responsibility
on these slender shoulders, often to my detriment.
I expect you to take better care.
You're important.
[PA beeps]
[Rhys] Mr. Saru, to the bridge, immediately.
Report.
Sensors detect a massive spike of ionizing radiation
in the upper atmosphere.
There's a disruption in the gravitational stability
of the planet's outermost ring.
This could relate to the signals.
Radioactive particles from the ring are on the way to the planet's surface.
- [Saru] Levels? - Bad.
- Bad? - Really bad.
In 64 minutes, radiation will reach the upper atmosphere,
causing an extinction-level event.
Tell transporters to stand by.
Bryce, please contact the captain.
Not possible, sir.
Radiation's interfering with communication.
We won't be able to transport, either.
- Shall I send a shuttle to get them, sir? - [Stamets] No.
The shuttle's ionized carbon exhaust will create
a runaway positive-feedback loop that will accelerate the particles' arrival.
I heard there was a problem.
Happy to have you, as always.
Especially now.
It's highly unlikely that they can see the outer ring
from the planet's surface.
They'll never know it's coming until it hits.
Time?
Sixty-two minutes before nuclear winter becomes irreversible.
If we were brought here...
perhaps this is why.
We are responsible not only to our landing party,
but to every living being on that planet.
Discovery will not allow a catastrophe on her watch.
Clock is ticking. Let us get to work.
That distress beacon's broadcasting without these people knowing it.
We'll turn it off, so no one disturbs them, then beam up.
[door creaking]
[Owosekun] I isolated the distress beacon signal.
It's coming from down here.
[Pike] Hope that helmet camera's here, too.
I'm sorry, sir. You can't be suggesting that we leave them here.
Find that beacon, please, Owosekun.
Before we transported down, you said you had a hunch
the signal we followed was leading to a rescue mission.
No one needs rescuing, Burnham.
This place really is a New Eden.
Amesha and the others are kin to us.
They deserve to be reintegrated into modern society.
By their own account, they left Earth in 2053.
They did not use a starship.
That makes them pre-warp, subject to General Order 1.
We cannot interfere with their natural development.
But they believe Earth and the human race were destroyed.
They're wrong. Worse, the faith they cling to is a lie.
Can you prove that?
What I will prove is that none of this happened because of some miracle.
[Owosekun] Got it.
The battery's dead, but...
This is strange.
Someone jury-rigged it to continue transmitting a distress call.
[Jacob] And you answered.
There were scientists among the First Saved, too.
My family. For generations, we tended to that beacon.
No one else knew it was here. You found it with that device.
My ancestors were right, weren't they?
The Earth wasn't destroyed.
Mankind evolved.
Jacob...
This device, this has always been in my family.
It's for navigation.
Since the other day, when the red burst appeared in the sky,
I knew you were coming.
That was the light from your ship, right?
Your hands, your skin, unravaged by the labor we do here.
You're not from Terralysium. I can see the truth in your eyes.
Jacob, listen to me.
You are mistaken.
No, I'm not.
I have been waiting for this day for a long time,
for our true salvation.
[Pike] Let's go.
- We're sorry for trespassing. - No, wait. No, don't go. Wait.
Wait. Stop.
[shouts]
[gasps]
[grunting]
It's locked.
If it's just a slide bolt, I can use a magnet to get us out.
[coughs]
Our utility bags are gone. Jacob must've taken all of our tech.
To prove his case to the others, no doubt.
Aha. Got it.
[grunts] Yep, I can feel it.
God or no god, we are still bound by General Order 1.
You will not break cover, under any circumstances.
Do you both understand?
[both] Yes, sir.
If X doesn't work, try Y. If Y doesn't work, try Z.
If Z doesn't work,
try drowning your ineptitude in a Risan mai tai.
Where the hell is Burnham?
I need her to, like, be here, and "yes, and" me.
Can I help you with something?
Yes. Yes, thank you.
You know, I'm supposed to be on bed rest,
but that is an affront to my very existence.
The ship's in high alert.
The captain, Burnham, Owo, not to mention an entire planet,
could be nuked, and that is not happening.
Why are you looking at me like that? You're May, right?
Am I talking too fast? I'm problem-solving.
I've had espressos.
In sickbay?
- Yeah. - Lives are at stake.
It's always better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Exactly.
I'm trying to figure out a way to stop the downflow
of radioactive debris, then it occurred to me
if we target the source of debris...
- The ring itself. - Yes, thank you.
We'd pull the debris away from the planet,
and then we're alive, and alive is optimal.
And I've been running models using a tractor beam, but...
Discovery wouldn't be able to generate graviton beams powerful enough
to change the course of the debris field.
You read my mind.
Your mind is so much fun.
If only there was something on this ship
that could generate a massive gravitational field.
The asteroid. Dark matter. It's in the shuttle bay. It's...
A tiny piece of it destroyed an entire table.
It was awesome. You're a genius.
No, you're a genius.
The ring's radioactive wave will hit the planet
in four minutes, 32 seconds.
What if we throw auxiliary power to phasers,
destroy the radioactive debris before it reaches the lower atmosphere?
That would give it a greater concentration.
I got it. I got it, I got it.
Tilly, how many times in a day must we have this conversation?
No, please, sir, just hear me out. The dark-matter asteroid.
Right, it's massive.
And the more mass an object has, the greater its gravitational pull, right?
You know this.
Can I just scooch in there? Thank you.
Yeah, so, if we launch the dark-matter asteroid
from the shuttle bay in just the right trajectory,
its gravity will pull the radioactive debris
away from the planet like a...
uh, invisible magnet.
See?
For the asteroid to exit at the correct angle,
- I'd execute a sustained circular drift. - A donut.
You would be doing a donut in a starship.
- That's true. - Is this possible?
Yes. Except no.
We'd have to launch the asteroid
from within the center of the ring's debris field.
There is no way I can pilot us from in there.
I can.
We could jump.
You have exactly two minutes, 11 seconds
before the radioactive debris crosses the point of no return.
Run, Mr. Stamets.
Tell Engineering to ready the spore drive.
[Jacob] The visitors are from the First Earth.
They brought amazing things.
Communication devices.
Scientific data collectors.
Look inside. You'll believe.
[Pike] What happened to "Thou shalt not steal"?
- I wanted to see the truth. - [Pike] The truth is that he attacked us.
He violated everything that the faith holds dear.
You give us back what you took, and we'll leave.
Listen to me. They came on a starship.
They can take us back home. We can experience the real Earth.
This is your home.
You are living by the corrupt way of the old Earth, Jacob.
You're the scientist.
Tell her I'm right.
[phaser beeps]
Look.
Captain. No.
No.
He's dying.
Save him with your technology.
I know you can.
We need to get to the church, pray for another deliverance.
Yes, okay.
[Stamets] Bridge, ready to jump.
Are you ready?
Had my pilot's license since 12, sir.
Black alert.
Airiam, now.
- Detmer. - Initiating donut maneuver, sir.
- It's working, sir. - Let us get our landing party. Now.
Wait, wait. Hey, no, let me in.
Jacob, no. Jacob.
The gods have answered our prayer.
The angel returned to save them.
Transport confirms all are on board.
The asteroid diverted all the debris from the planet's atmosphere.
Yes.
[all cheering]
Perhaps you should disobey my direct orders more often, ensign.
No, I think your orders are probably really good.
I need to pass out now.
- Do you need assistance? - No, I'm good. Straight to bed.
Way to go, Stilly.
"Stilly"?
Wait, are you...?
[gasps]
[Pollard] Welcome back, captain.
You made it.
But your ribs,
they're gonna feel like the xylophone in a Klingon marching band.
Consider yourself lucky to be alive.
[gasps]
[computer] Musk Junior High School, Class of 2247.
Signatures page.
Um, name, May something.
Stilly, what the heck?
You're moving again?
It's only been six months.
You're the nicest person I've met at this awful school.
I'll miss our lunches.
They were like little earthquakes, bounce, bounce, bounce.
Please, stay in touch.
Love, May Ahearn.
Ahearn.
Knew it. [chuckles]
Computer, locate quarters for Ahearn, May.
[computer] Ship's manifest has no such name.
Computer, search Federation database for the whereabouts of Ahearn, May,
originally from San Francisco, California, Earth.
Working.
Ahearn, May Theresa.
Born April 30th, 2236.
Deceased June 9th, 2252.
[door beeping]
Come.
- You wanted to see me? - Yes. And don't make me laugh.
Fortunately for you, I was raised on Vulcan. We don't do funny.
[chuckles]
Maybe I should just shut up.
I wanted to thank you
for following orders and maintaining our cover,
despite your captain's impairment.
And by impairment, I mean, having a phaser go off in my chest.
I learned the hard way what not following orders can lead to.
In fact,
you asked earlier if there was anything I ought to tell you.
There is, and I didn't.
The angelic being they worship on Terralysium,
it appeared to me on the asteroid.
Why didn't you say anything?
I was injured. I thought I was hallucinating.
That can't be a coincidence.
Two signals, two angel sightings.
With all due respect, sir,
the word "angel" does carry with it certain implications.
I saw a form.
It hovered above me.
And it was...
to be honest, quite beautiful.
But beyond that,
I wouldn't ascribe to it divine properties.
Those people in New Eden do.
They'd find your experience to be quite a revelation.
Is that how you see it, sir?
As a revelation?
At the very least.
This new information creates more context.
And context can alter our perspective.
What about Jacob?
Is he entitled to a little context?
He knows in his heart who and what we are,
and we chose to lie to him.
We have the power to help him solve a mystery
that's plagued his family for 200 years.
- We could alter his perspective. - Look, I feel for the guy too.
But even angels are no excuse for violating General Order 1.
Yeah, well, I have a better excuse. His helmet camera.
Jacob said it recorded whatever was in that church the day they were taken.
And as I see it, sir, the urgency of our mission
directly contradicts Starfleet's first rule.
To serve one goal, the other has to be sacrificed.
But that's a choice only a captain can make.
[groans]
[Pike] I lied.
To protect the others from the truth.
The truth is...
you were right about us.
I know what it's like to live with doubt, and I guess I didn't want that for you.
How'd you get here?
- Beam of light? - Yes, actually.
It's called a transporter.
It converts a person, or an object, into an energy pattern,
and then beams it to a target,
where it's eventually reconverted back into matter.
Do you have a ship?
Do you, uh...
fly among the stars?
[chuckles]
Yeah.
And...
Earth?
Well, we're part of a galactic Federation now,
dedicated to peace, exploration, and protecting places such as your planet.
Jacob, we cannot intervene.
Your society has to evolve in its own way.
My entire family spent their whole lives
hoping to get a confirmation
that what we believed was true.
And you...
gave me that answer.
Something none of them ever got.
And that is enough for me.
[sighs]
Thank you. Because of you, we're not lost anymore.
How about this power cell,
with a very long lifespan,
in exchange for a soldier's broken camera, circa 2053?
[sighs]
I hope we meet again, Jacob.
I know we will.
You might wanna stand back.
Pike to Discovery.
One to transport.
[man on video] We're under attack. We're holed up inside.
A few hundred souls, men, women, and children.
[gunfire and people screaming on video]
Wait. Something's happening.
My God, we're taking off!
Oh, a blinding light!
God help us!