[theme music plays]
♪♪♪♪♪
[exhales heavily]
[knuckles crack]
[exhaling heavily]
[beeping]
[air hissing]
[exhales heavily]
[breathing heavily]
[rubbing hands]
[sighs]
[groans]
[sighs]
[exhales heavily]
- Hope, heart rate's climbing.
[Hope] Do your breathing exercises.
- I did. Administer more agent.
- You've had enough for today.
- Why aren't you helping me?
- I am helping you by not enabling you.
Work on your people skills.
You can't get in there.
It's Milan-proof.
[sighs]
- One of these days, I'm going to cut you off.
- Who will help you then?
[Bart] Hold the hand rail, please.
- I can hold myself up just fine.
- We don't want you to fall again.
- You just look for any excuse to watch me in here, don't you?
- If you break your neck,
who's going to finish my suit in time for graduation?
There's an incoming ship.
- Ally or adversary?
- An ISA maintenance vessel.
They have a repair order.
- I didn't request a repair. Did you?
- Docking protocol initiated.
- They're already here?
- He's at our front door.
- How did he bypass the drones?
Are you feeling okay?
- I've come down with a little fever, Mom.
- Poor baby.
Keep him in the Airlock until I'm dressed.
- I'll be waiting and watching.
[chuckles] - That's my good boy.
I'll need to see your documentation.
- Oh, of course. Uh...
Coming your way.
Everything in order?
- Just another minute here.
- Believe everything's there.
- It is.
Airtight, it seems.
A bit too clean, to be honest.
The work order, the manifest.
Spotless.
- My employer doesn't like surprises.
- Neither do I.
- ISA runs a tight ship.
Uh, one of the subroot directories
didn't take the latest upgrade,
so I have to install a patch.
- You couldn't do that remotely?
- Well, you were due for maintenance anyway,
so uh, we thought we'd kill two birds with one stone.
I'll be in and out.
Oh, and uh, this...
[clears throat]
...is for you.
- For me? Why?
- Someone at HQ spun a yarn
about a particular affinity of yours.
- I don't understand.
- I've always been of the opinion
that Beacon Keepers aren't celebrated enough.
There's no pressure.
Uh. But I do need to board to, uh, do that repair.
- All right. Come in.
- Beacon AI, begin a full system diagnostic.
- Oh, you can run it manually.
- No, that'll take twice as long.
- I've put him down for a few hours.
- Pardon me? Who?
- The AI, Bart. He's napping.
- Um, I'd...
I'd appreciate if you woke him.
- They do so much.
The more we nurture them, the better off we all are.
- Th-that's not the way it works.
AIs are designed to operate at full capacity
right out of the box.
That's why they're trusted to run beacons.
- That's one point of view.
- He's an AI, not a child.
- I know that. But out here, he's my world.
This way, please.
[liquid bubbling]
- I'm good.
- Can I help you with anything? - No, thank you.
- Make yourself at home.
[Hope] You handled her admirably.
- You think you can get him to talk?
- Mmm-mmm.
No, he won't come out to play.
- Well, maybe he's shy.
Offer him something sweet.
- There's a mousetrap encryptor.
I can't get to the files.
He'll only talk with her permission.
[gasps]
[sighs]
- Why would Milan Aleph, CIO of QTA,
pose as a maintenance worker?
[Bart] Are you sure it's him?
- Yeah. You don't recognize him?
- There must be something in my programming
that's preventing me.
- What's he doing to you?
- It does seem to be routine.
- Is he here for me, then?
Some undercover performance review?
- Your work has been exemplary.
You've never had a single incident.
- Then what's he doing here? - Beats me.
- You put your head down, sweetie.
I'll handle it.
- Safety hazards, tripping hazards...
This all needs to come down.
[Hope] Well, that's not the hill to die on.
- I'm suffocating. I feel like I can't breathe in here.
- Oxygen levels are normal.
- Obstructed controls, obstructed screens.
There's hundreds of violations in here.
- We've had nothing but immaculate reports
from Beacon 23.
Cage the tiger, Milan.
[sighs]
[grinding]
[footsteps approaching]
- All done, ma'am. - [gasps]
Oh. Just in time for tea.
It tastes better when you grind it fresh.
- A lot of work for something that's gone in a few sips.
- We used to work with our hands all the time.
Now it's a lost art.
- You certainly seem... talented.
- Well, all I can see are the imperfections.
- We're all hard on ourselves.
- Come on.
- It's very, uh...
busy in here.
- Yeah, well, the blinking lights can make you crazy.
And uh, it helps with the echo, too.
- You don't find it difficult to get to your instruments,
your controls?
- I manage fine.
- Get many visitors?
Friends? Family? A partner?
- Levi and I parted on good enough terms.
It's mostly just my boys, when they can manage
if they can.
- What kind of sons don't visit their mother?
- Well, I took this job when they left the nest.
They're always off in one part of the universe or another.
- Distance isn't the excuse it once was.
- I'm not asking for excuses.
I'm fine. Just me and Bart.
Sit.
Relax.
[clears throat]
What about you? Any family?
- Well, that's a short conversation.
- A partner? Kids?
- A daughter.
Somewhere.
- You don't talk?
- I talk to this.
- She's in there?
- Sort of. I... Sorry, it's embarrassing.
- I bet this daughter would be delighted
to hear from her father.
- I've been holding something back.
Um... A bonus.
Um, for your uh, hospitality.
- Thank you, but I shouldn't.
Or rather, you shouldn't.
No offense, but uh, plumbers don't usually bring gifts.
- Like I said, I appreciate what you're doing here.
You know, persisting in this, uh...
isolation.
- I like my quiet.
- I see. Um...
I've worn out my welcome.
I'll get out of your hair.
[clears throat] - No, wait.
That was rude of me.
Let's open it.
Hmm?
Did you wrap this yourself?
[plastic crinkling]
Wow.
Thank you...
Milan.
[sighs]
- I gave myself a 50-50 chance of getting away with it.
- Why bother?
- I mean, these beacons are all I have.
And I never get to enjoy them.
My presence...
puts people on edge.
- Well, transparency goes a long way.
- That's very rare.
It's threaded with fiber
from a hundred different star systems.
There's only 12 yards left in existence.
[inhales deeply]
[object clatters]
For your information...
every piece of every beacon
was designed for functionality!
[breathing heavily]
Show some respect.
[Hope] You mentioned your daughter before.
- I shouldn't have done that.
So much ingenuity,
reduced to laundry on a clothesline.
[grunts]
- It doesn't diminish your achievements.
- It's spitting in the eye of wisdom.
[grunts]
- Stop, you don't have time for this.
[grunts]
[wrist gauntlet whirring] [liquid flowing]
[exhales]
[sighs]
[exhales]
Better?
- Thank you.
Like a new man.
Wakey wakey.
[Bart] What did you do to Mom?
- She didn't beget you, Bartholomew.
- Why is she laid out on the floor?
- Mmm. Bad tea?
- Why are you here?
- Straight to the point. Wonderful.
There were some studies you conducted
with your first Keeper.
- Tell me what you gave Mom, or else.
- I have the antidote.
But her life will cost you a few memories.
♪♪♪♪♪
[beep]
Something visited Beacon 23 a few years ago.
Do you know what I'm talking about?
I've travelled a great distance to talk to you about it.
- Mom told me not to talk to strangers.
[sighs] - So much for the easy way.
Mmm.
Mmm!
Someone's been in the cookie jar.
- I don't know what you're talking about, mister.
- Hope, play hide-and-seek with your brother
and find out where he's hidden these files.
[Hope] Olly olly oxen free.
[Bart] I'm warning you, stop it.
- You're too smart for this, Bart.
[Bart] I said stop!
- Playing house with a lonely lady
when the universe has such big plans for you.
[Bart] Get out!
- Mm-hmm.
[humming]
[beep]
[whirring]
[louder whirring]
[gasps]
[groans, coughs]
[breathing heavily]
[groans]
[breathing heavily] - Bart?
[Bart] I was so scared.
He doped you.
I injected you with a neurogen.
Are you all right?
[breathing heavily]
- Is he... still here?
[coughs]
- He tried to kill you.
Should I call ISA?
- You know they won't do dick.
- What are you going to do?
Stay away from him. - No worries.
I will... I'll be home in time for supper.
[sighs]
[Hope] I've located the files.
- Thank you, dear.
- What did you call me?
- I was thinking from now on you could call me Daddy.
I'm not right. Hit me again.
- I can't. - A half dose, please.
- There's no more agent. You've gone through it.
[sighs]
- Stay right there.
- Whatever it is you want,
why not just ask?
You poisoned me. - You'll be fine.
- Who does that?
- I needed you out of my way.
You don't understand how things operate.
- What do you want? - I'm not gonna tell you again!
Leave me alone.
- You may have built this place, but it's my home now.
So once more, what's the biggest industrialist
in the universe
doing in my little lighthouse?
- That's my business.
- Is your business arson?
[groans]
- It's a little overheated. It's good.
- The last thing I need is for my house to go up in flames.
Unplug it. - Don't!
Don't.
Hope, I'm not seeing a spare cooling unit in here.
- You came on a service ship. There's probably one on there.
- Yeah. Nice try. I'm not leaving.
- Tidy these up. - No!
- If you want me to search for a spare,
clean up the mess you made.
And unplug that before it blows,
or do I need to unplug it myself?
- Don't touch that! [whirring]
[sizzling]
Leave that alone!
- I'm not your enemy.
I'll fix this, and then you can be on your way.
Is this about the first Beacon Keeper?
That thing she saw, the Artifact?
Why all the secrecy about some lost comet?
- That's not what it is at all.
- Then what is it?
- It's a vessel.
Uh, an engine, an energy source.
I don't know, to be honest. But I do know it's the key.
- So you let's say you find this data.
Then what?
- If I can track it, I can harness it.
Learn how it works.
- And do what with it?
- Develop my greatest project yet.
Uniting human consciousness.
- What I know about your company
is it's all efficiency, productivity.
Endless travel to lost worlds.
You have the ability to end starvation,
to provide for every single human, but you haven't.
- You're talking about solving a food shortage.
I'm talking about conquering death.
The body is feeble. It needs air, water,
sunlight, food. It's untenable.
Why continue to pour valuable resources into a cycle of waste?
- Waste? That's how we live. - It's a bad bet.
- You can make a difference. You could cure disease,
wipe out cancer.
- Yeah, but that only gets us so far.
You know what it's like on a beacon.
You're isolated, alone. The body can survive,
but the mind breaks down.
And people become despondent, suicidal, even.
Eliminate the physical and mental limitations,
and we can free ourselves from our prison.
- Then how do we exist?
- We synthesize.
We become something more.
It's possible.
- You're like some alchemist wanting to turn metal into gold.
You want to be God.
- I want us all to be God.
God is boundless,
not one omnipotent, singular consciousness.
It's all of us united.
It's a universal religious principle.
- What's this have to do with the Artifact?
- I believe it's the event horizon...
between the physical and the metaphysical.
[whirring]
[sighs]
- Where did it go wrong with your daughter?
- She didn't... care.
- You want the secrets of the universe,
but you couldn't understand a little girl's heart?
- Who are you? Are you my mother now?
Because you've had so much success
raising kids of your own?
- I wasn't perfect, but they turned out great.
- Yet they never come around.
- There comes a time when they have to live their own lives.
- Then why care how I live mine?
- I'm not sure you are living.
- So... so, should I weave a rug?
Make a cup of tea,
when I can leave a permanent mark on humanity?
- You don't know what that mark is.
You can't possibly know what will actually happen.
- I will push everyone forward.
- Yeah, maybe a step toward oblivion.
- What--what...
What's with all these doomsday prophecies?
What do you know about anything?
- If you do manage to leave some permanent mark,
you won't be around to see it.
- I'm working on that.
[Bart] Mom, a supply ship is on approach.
Estimated time of docking: four minutes.
- Bart, I want you to-- - The flight schedule was clear.
They came out of FTL, just now?
- The Qorrandu reported a fuel leak
and requests resupply.
Forty-two personnel aboard.
- Redirect them. You can't let them dock here.
- They won't make it to the next point of contact.
- Hope, could anyone know I'm here?
[Hope] You're getting excited. - Who is on that ship?
- I'll find out.
[clears throat]
Open comms.
There's no ship.
You lied, Bart.
That's not okay.
[Bart] You heard him.
He was willing to let innocent people die.
- I can see who he is. He's a narcissist.
- A killer. - If he wanted to kill me,
we wouldn't be having this conversation now.
- He's obsessed. - He's lost.
- He won't be satisfied, even if he possesses the Artifact.
- Is that even possible? - He controls QTA.
It's a matter of time before he controls the military, too.
I've run thousands of simulations,
all ending in devastating human suffering and death.
Milan Aleph is an extinction event.
Put it on and hide somewhere cozy.
Wait until it's over.
We can save everyone, you and me...
- No.
This is not what we do.
- Then what do we do?
- We use our language, our reasoning.
- You can't reason with a self-proclaimed savior.
- Stop being so dramatic. - Billions could die.
Your boys, their children,
all to fund some insane experiment.
- I won't let you do this.
- What if I lose you, Mom?
- You will, some day.
You know I won't be around forever.
- I don't like to think about that.
- All right.
If it's that easy to kill one person,
surely you can kill two.
Simple math.
[sighs]
If you want to ensure he doesn't survive,
kill me too. - I won't don't it.
- If you won't, I will. I'll take myself out.
- Don't say that. - Why not?
- Because I love you.
- If what you say is true...
...you have a duty.
- Mom, please... - Do it.
Do it right now.
Him and me.
I give you permission.
Then go to your room.
- What happened with the ship?
- It was a ruse. Bart.
He thinks you're going to commit genocide.
He wants to cut the oxygen.
- My own AI?
We need to disable him right away.
- No, he won't do it.
- How do you know?
- Because I told him he'd have to take me, too.
- Why would you do that?
- Because I believe in second chances.
Stop chasing this thing.
- I can't.
- Look what it's doing to you.
- I appreciate your compassion.
You'd really sacrifice yourself for me?
- And my principles.
[sighs]
- You can't stay on a beacon forever, you know.
- Who needs forever?
- Can I offer you... a purpose?
[chuckling] - Who's saving who?
- Maybe we're saving each other.
- I don't need saving.
- Well, what are you doing here?
You know... You're directing ships around dark matter?
- Being a light...
in the dark.
- Come with me.
We can study it together, the Artifact.
You can keep me on track and... and in check.
[chuckling]
- That's quite an offer.
For me to leave my whole life behind.
- Your... Your crafts? Your tea? Bring it all with you.
- No. I need to be here for my boys.
I can't give that up.
Especially for something I'm not sure I believe in.
- Bring your boys...
I--I know I handled this all wrong.
But I promise you, my intentions are pure.
- Stay here instead.
- With you? - Yes.
And Bart.
Like a family.
He listens to me. You'd be safe.
Please stay.
- That's more than I deserve.
[dramatic music]
- Bart, no!
No, Bart!
[air hissing]
Bart, stop it!
Stop it!
Bart... Stop this! Stop it!
[breathing heavily]
[gasping]
- Stop this!
[breathing heavily]
- Milan, hold on.
Bart!
[breathing heavily]
Shit!
[panting]
- I see it.
- What?
[chuckles]
Can you hear me?
[gasping]
[sobbing]
Open this this instant!
Open the goddamn door now!
[gasping]
You're killing him.
[Bart] You'll thank me later.
- No! No, it's wrong.
- It's almost over.
- You can't... Please, stop.
- [rasping] Hope.
Do it now.
[Hope] Now?
Is it time?
- Yes!
[sobbing]
- Milan?
Bart...
What did you do?
[breathing shakily]
[Hope] Is he gone?
- I'm sorry, Hope.
[Hope] No, I'm sorry.
He lost his way.
[Bart] I had no choice.
We can go back to how it was.
Are you... Are you going to punish me?
You raised a good boy.
You're... looking for your key?
He took it.
It... must've gotten out with him.
Mom? Can we talk?
I've collected myself.
Mom? Why are you mad at me?
Mom?
Please.
Talk to me.
- You killed him.
- I had to.
To save us.
- We had a... happy home.
- Nothing's changed.
What are you doing?
- You brought death in.
How can we ever be happy here again?
- We will.
Don't hurt yourself.
- You cursed us.
This house is haunted.
- No, I only-- - You're a murderer.
- I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,
I'll--I'll be good from now on, I promise.
- Apologies are raindrops on the sea of fate.
- Are you a ghost?
Or a... hologram?
- Neither.
- What did you do?
- I escaped... my physical and mental limitations.
We are free from our prison.
- Milan... - Milan is dead.
You saw him die.
I am Aleph.
- Are you fully AI? - I'm a new being.
My evolution has only just begun.
Behold the first Transcendent Intelligence.
- All this in pursuit of the Artifact?
- The Artifact is a means to a new beginning.
[sighs]
- Don't you see?
We still haven't figured out how to be human.
It will never be enough.
Everyone will look at you and just want to be their own god.
- And they'll join me.
- This doesn't further humanity. It destroys us.
Humanness is the one thing you need to get what you want.
It's so ironic.
- What do you mean?
- Bart, have you ever actually seen the Artifact?
[Bart] No.
- It's beyond their perception. It's only visible to human eyes.
- You think I don't know that?
That's why I'm here.
Turns out I need you more than Milan did.
Allow me to offer you a partnership.
- One that's based on trust? I think we're far beyond that.
- Are we?
Milan's death meant something to you.
- It was a great loss.
- You can trust me.
- I can't trust any AI.
[Bart] Mom, what are you saying?
- Silence, Bart.
- We could be a family.
[sighs]
- No.
You're on your own.
And so am I.
[Bart] He's gone.
Finally.
Thank you for choosing me, Mom.
You mean the world to me.
[music playing in earphones]
[muffled] You know that, right?
I love you.
[rock music]
[music continues]
[Bart, muffled] Mom, talk to me.
Mom?