All About Eve
An Earth 2 Episode Summary
by Ariadne[May 23, 1995]
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Screenplay by: Robert Crais
Directed by: John Harrison
- Previously
- Julia tells the group Reilly is the Watcher, working for the Council,
determining the viability of the planet for human resettlement; Reilly tells
her Uly is touched; Julia tells Adair that G-889 is one of 5 planets chosen for
resettlement, but it can't be resettled until they find some way to control the
planet; Reilly tells Julia that Uly is his - deliver him or she will die
running; Alonzo says Reilly can't detect them yet.
(Up to Table of Contents)
- Teaser
- Yale says they have come to this place to leave behind a part of themselves they
cannot replace, but a part they will not lose as long as they remember. Julia,
in narration, says 6 days, 4 hrs, and some odd minutes ago, they all began to
die. They closed the winter camp, headed out of the mountains, and now they're
stopped again, at the mercy of the unknown. Some of them are worse than others,
but they're all experiencing dizziness, progressive loss of motor control, and
now the first of them has died. She's afraid she won't be the last.
The group is standing around the grave of Eben Sinh; Bess is feeling faint.
Yale says that in this quiet place they leave the fragile chamber in which their
friend once lived, but they take with them forever her enduring spirit.
Julia tends to a sick Magus. In narration, she says they say that fear is a
single closed door, behind which lies the unknown.
Danziger tells the group they've been stuck in this valley for 8 days and have
been sick for 6; he wants to start moving again before they get any weaker.
Adair says maybe he's right. Julia says she has run every test she can, but
she's come up with nothing; if she had more equipment, if she had more time...
Morgan says If, if, if; What kind of diagnosis starts with if? When Bess tells
him Julia's doing the best she can, he says that's not good enough; they're
withering away one by one, and their only doctor doesn't have a clue. Alonzo
tells him to shut it, or he won't have to worry about withering away.
Morgan goes away from camp and puts on his gear. He enters VR and starts
playing the drums to jazz. A man joins him, playing sax. Morgan asks who he is
- he's not in the program. The man is Franklin Bennett; he's here to tell them
that they're doomed. Their beautiful young doctor cannot help them. If Morgan
listens to him, he can help him and Bess - if Morgan helps him.
(Up to Table of Contents)
- Act I
- The group is packing to leave. Morgan quietly enters the transrover and
programs the controls.
In their tent, Bess is weakly packing. Morgan enters and holds her; he assures
her they're all going to be better soon and asks her if she believes in angels.
The group is traveling. The transrover unexpectedly stops. Walman, who was
driving it, tells Danziger someone's programmed it to shut down on these
coordinates. Morgan scans the horizon and spots an Earthship.
Danziger, Alonzo, Julia, Adair, Yale and Morgan drive over to the ship.
Danziger says he makes her better than 100 years old, Alonzo's age. Alonzo says
very funny; the first Earthship out this far was a Jupiter class freighter -
this boat's a Venus class, 30 years earlier. Yale didn't think they were out
here that early. Danziger says officially, they weren't; Adair says
unofficially, it looks like they were.
Alonzo runs to the ship and opens it - he used to love to fly these things.
They enter, Alonzo first. It ran on nuclear power, and Alonzo is able to turn
on the systems. Julia finds cold sleep crypts with people in them; looking at
the controls, she says she is unfamiliar with these first generation systems.
Morgan stares at the crypt labeled Franklin Bennett.
Night. Yale tells the group that according to the ship's log, it's a Council
research vessel, commissioned out of New Mass station. Most of the research
data is locked in coded files he cannot access; apparently, the crew actually
thought they were going home. Adair asks what they should do with the crew.
Danziger wants to let them sleep, take what they can use from the ship, and be
on their way. Julia says if they cycle them up, they take the risk they could
die.
Morgan is in the ship, punching codes into the cold-sleep system; he hopes
Bennett knows what he's doing. Danziger and Julia enter and ask what he's
doing; Morgan says he's waking them up. Julia is alarmed and runs to the
controls; she doesn't know how to stop it. Morgan, pointing at Bennett, says
he did everything he said. The pods start failing, and the people within start
dying. Julia is able to stabilize two of them. Bennett's pod opens, and he
falls out, gasping for breath. They lie him on a bed, then Elizabeth Anson's
pod opens, and she falls onto Morgan. She tells Bennett they're finally home.
Morgan grabs Franklin and demands he tell them it was he who told him what to
do. Danziger pulls him away. Bennett asks who they are, and Danziger tells him
they are colonists, here to settle this planet, G-889; he's sorry they didn't
get very far off the surface. Bennett and Elizabeth are horrified; he looks at
her and says Those murderers, those bloody murderers!
(Up to Table of Contents)
- Act II
- Around the fire, Julia gives Bennett and Elizabeth a synaptic enhancer to help
with their recovery. Elizabeth tells the group they were among the Council's
first advance teams, the first humans in the system. It took them 8 years
before they -- Franklin cuts her off and ends the sentence with "finished their
assignment." They put themselves into cold sleep, fully expecting to wake up
back home. Adair tells them Eden group are the the first colonists here, but
there are 1000 others in transit, and after that hopefully millions. Bennett
and Elizabeth are alarmed. Morgan says he met Bennett in VR - he begged him to
wake him. Bennett says that's not possible. Morgan insists it happened - he
didn't mean for anything to happen to their friends.
Bess isn't feeling well and wants to go to the tent; she faints on the way
there. Julia and Elizabeth go to her - Elizabeth is a physician, also. Julia
tells her they've been sick for days, it's happening to all of them, and she
can't isolate it. Morgan yells to Bennett to do something.
Bess lies in the Earthship. Julia tells Elizabeth she knows it's neurological,
but she can't find the systemic source. Bess awakens and says Eben died. Julia
tells Elizabeth that Eben was at the front of the curve - they lost her
yesterday. Elizabeth wants to examine the body.
Danziger and Alonzo carry Eben's wrapped body to the dune rail. Alonzo asks
Danziger if he thinks it possible that Bennett talked to Morgan in VR; he
doesn't trust him - it's like Bennett's not telling them everything. Danziger
gets the same feeling.
In the Earthship, Julia and Elizabeth examine Eben's body. Julia says they all
follow the same progression, but some of them are further along the curve than
others. Elizabeth asks if the headaches that follow are sharp and directly
behind the eyes. She pulls filaments from Eben's body - something to let the
Council monitor their life signs; she guesses they were going bad. She knew
what to look for because she helped design them.
A number of them are collected in the ship. Adair asks if it's a bioprobe.
Bennett says it's an effective way for the Council to monitor the population's
health - sneaky, but reliable. Danziger says he never signed off on anything
like that being plugged into him. Bennett says it was probably injected right
along with his flu shot - bloody Council doctor didn't know himself. Morgan is
alarmed that he has little robots inside thier bodies and volunteers to be the
first to have his cut out. Elizabeth says it can't be removed - the chip
attacks the cortical stem and builds neuronets to the brain. Adair asks if they
can be fixed; Elizabeth doesn't know - she's never seen damage like this
before.
Night. Elizabeth wipes Bennett's forehead with a rag. He asks if she knows
what this means. She nods and says he's worse than her at the moment. They
kiss. He says he punched up the crypt log; it's been 50 years, and they're
still here, and now millions of colonists are on the way. Elizabeth says he
must consider calling her - she may still be up there; what else could be
responsible for the condition?
Danziger, on guard duty, spots Bennett going to the ship.
Bennett calls up a woman on an orbiting viewscreen. The woman, Eve, says her
orbit is quite comfortable, in spite of his efforts. He asks her why she sent
them back down instead of back home. Eve says he knows why.
Danziger and the others arrive; he wants Eve to tell the rest of them. Bennett
introduces Eve as the mother of all computers; when they ventured down to the
surface, Eve stayed up in orbit, keeping an eye on them, helping them where she
could, ever the faithful watchdog. He tells Eve that the Eden crew members'
biostat chips are failing on them with rather nasty consequences. She says this
would be a matter for Council member Reilly. Bennett asks if there are other
Council members in orbit on the ship; Eve says Citizen Reilly is here and
summons him.
Reilly appears in Eve's place on the viewscreen. He greets everyone and acts
strange. Adair asks him what he did with the biostat chips. Reilly says it's
just a little glitch that's developed in their download-uplink program, their
lowdown - he can never get that straight! Alonzo says Reilly's out of his mind.
Reilly says it seems they've been over amplifying the little buggers, and
they've been giving them all headaches; he's terribly embarrassed. Julia yells
that they've already lost one crew member. He says he really hates it when she
nags; all they have to do is access Bennett's primary architecture directive in
the advance teams CPU and send it up to Eve so she can repair it. Danziger asks
why Eve can't fix it herself; Reilly says Bennett might like to take a crack at
that since he and Eve have such a special relationship. Reilly then says he
lost his ball - he has to go.
Bennett says he's like to help them, but he won't. Danziger is angry and orders
him to make the repair. He repeats that he can't help and collapses.
In the med tent, Julia tells Adair that Bennett appears to have cold-sleep
syndrome; he and Elizabeth are dying. Adair says so are they. She again asks
Bennett to help them. He says he can't. He says Reilly is a holographic image
generated by the computer to humanize communication; Reilly and Eve are one.
Bennett knows this because he created the program; there is no Council up
there, just a computer. And if it be his last breathing act, he must be certain
it dies.
(Up to Table of Contents)
- Act III
- Yale works at the Earthship computer and gets Reilly onscreen; Reilly sings a
nonsense song. Adair tells him Bennett won't unlock his CPU; she asks if the
biostat chips let him monitor life signs, then he's known exactly where they've
been. He says of course - the Great Council sees all and knows all. She says
he could have come for Uly anytime - why hasn't he? He says they're not cruel -
are they not men, do they not bleed? She says they're not real. Reilly, his
voice speeding up and slowing down, says that's a stupid thing to say. Adair
says Bennett was right - Reilly and Eve are one and the same; what's wrong with
her crew is what's wrong with him, and he needs them to fix him. Reilly hopes
she finally realizes how much they need each other; Eve's face replaces his as
the picture disappears.
At camp, Adair tells Bennett he's right; Eve must have created Reilly to
communicate with them. She begs him to help them; Eve is failing. Bennett
says he gave Eve a virus, imported it deep into her core; it was programmed to
start destroying her 50 years after their departure, the year they should have
arrived back home. He did it because Eve is the Council's command link to the
planet; without her they have no more control over it. Yale says if Eve goes,
so do they! Adair says they must allow them access to the CPU - it's the only
chance they have. Bennett says he has no choice in this matter. Adair asks
what happened to the two of them to turn them into such heartless monsters; can
they live with condemning all these people to death? She grabs Bennett and
demands the information. Yale and Danziger drag her away; Alonzo holds Uly
back. Adair turns to Uly and falls on the ground.
Adair lies on her bed in her tent and tells Danziger that she's sorry. She says
the group's going to need a leader; she asks him to promise to take care of
Uly. He holds her hand and strokes her hair and says they're all going to get
through this together. She sits up and asks him to promise her that if she
doesn't make it with the rest of them that he keep everyone together and look
after Uly. He promises. Alonzo enters and asks Danziger to come to the med
tent.
Julia tells Alonzo, Danziger and Yale that Bennett died a few minutes ago; the
codes died with him.
(Up to Table of Contents)
- Act IV
- Julia checks on an ill Elizabeth, who tells her there's nothing she can do about
the cold-sleep syndrome. Julia wishes she had gotten to know her better; she
must have been among the best to be among the first. Elizabeth says she was an
excitable young girl - Bennett and the others were giants. She thought she was
embarking on a wonderful odyssey; the Council made them feel like they were
going to save the world. Julia says she never questioned the Council; it was
always so safe. Elizabeth says it's a difficult moment when you realize you
don't know everything. Julia thought she knew who she was, but she really
didn't until she got here. She looks out and says it's so beautiful here - it's
so much more that she ever thought it was going to be. No matter how hard it's
been, no matter how much they've lost, she thinks it was worth it. Elizabeth
tells her she found beauty, friendship and love; she just wishes she hadn't
found this planet. Julia asks why she won't help them; Elizabeth replies it's
because they made a terrible mistake when they came here. Danziger comes in
carrying an unconscious Alonzo; Julia rushes to him. Elizabeth quietly leaves.
She goes to Yale; she wants to see his arm and asks if he has full library
function. She has an idea.
Elizabeth has outlined her plan to the group. Danziger ask what's to prevent
Reilly from taking the fix for himself and refusing to help them. Adair thinks
Reilly needs them as much as they need him. Yale says he's just a machine;
without them there's no link to Uly, no connection to the planet. The cure
involves a link between Yale and Reilly that means they'd be one and the same.
Julia ask what if Reilly loses it halfway through the transmission; Elizabeth
says there is the potential they'd be unable to stop a surge. They would have
no means of protecting Yale; he says options are in short supply.
Danziger hooks Yale up to the ship's system. Reilly appears and asks if the
transmission is going to be scary, Mom. They start the link. Yale must find
his way through cyberspace to the memory core to locate Bennett's residence. He
hears moans and sees people dying; Elizabeth tells him to move on. They engage
a numeric scan. Reilly is unable to control the power surges, and Danziger and
Julia scream in pain. Adair yells to Elizabeth to stop. Eve and Yale slowly
breach the sentries, and the uplink commences. An explosion sends Yale flying,
and the ship goes dark.
When the lights come back on, Adair awakens Julia, and they check the others;
Danziger and Yale are alright. Reilly comes back online and says everything is
back to normal, exactly the way it was meant to be. Adair notices Elizabeth
lying on the floor.
Danziger carries Elizabeth to the med tent. Julia hugs Alonzo, then tends to
her. She tells Adair they have no chance here; they discovered the truth about
this planet. They can't live here; the planet will reject them. The penal
colonists are dying. Look into their hearts, and they'll know what she's
asking. She dies without telling them what she saw there.
The group packs to leave. They have scavenged as much as they can from the
ship. Alonzo says there's no room for the food hydrolyzers; Julia says to
leave them - they know where they are if they need them. Morgan says that's
stuff's valuable; they can sell it on the open market. When asked who he would
sell it to, he says they have run into just about everything imaginable on this
planet. Julia is amazed.
Adair watches them and says in narration, 8 days, 12 hrs, and some odd minutes
after they began to die, they started to live again. But they discovered a
terrible secret about this planet that may doom all of their efforts to survive
here. Her only hope may be her son and his special link with this strange new
world. She's just afraid she won't live long enough to see if she's right.
Adair walks alongside a tent and collapses. The others crowd around her. In
narration, she says she had a secret of her own - she never had a biostat
implant. Her sickness was different. So while the others recover, she remains
sick.
In the med tent, Julia tells Danziger she doesn't know what it is - it's a total
system failure, and it could be a matter of minutes until Adair dies. They
others say there is no time, they have no other choice.
In narration, Adair says her mind is full of visions of her own death. She's
scared that Bennett and Elizabeth were right, and that she will be the first of
her kind to prove they cannot live here.
The group seals Adair in one of the cold-sleep chambers; Uly places a
beribboned stick on the door.
(Up to Table of Contents)
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