Survival of the Fittest

An Earth 2 Episode Summary
by Ariadne[May 1, 1995]

CONTENTS:

• Teaser
• Act I
• Act II
• Act III
• Act IV

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Screenplay by: John Harrison
Directed by: John Harrison

The Teaser

Cargo Pod Expedition, Day 8 in a dry windy area. Danziger says he can't see it through the scope, even though they should be right on top of it.

In the dome, Yale tells Adair they've got to get them to turn back now. Over gear, Adair tells Danziger there's been a small error; they just received a strong pulse, a terminal event. It's 250 clicks NE, a day from where Danziger, Alonzo, Julia and Morgan are. Alonzo says all this for nothing, but Danziger says they've come this far. Morgan thinks he's crazy. Over gear, Yale tells Danziger he's two days past fail-safe now; he cannot go on. Adair wants him to turn back immediately. Danziger says if they turn back, they don't know what they're giving up. Adair feels he's taking much too big a risk. Yale tells him the transmission could be a mirage or a mimic from some unknown source. Danziger says it could be number 9, and he goes off gear.

Danziger tells his group that if they go on half-rations, they have a chance. Morgan already thought they were on half-rations. Danziger asks what if it's number 9, and they walk away? Morgan thinks they should tell the others they decided not to commit suicide. Julia thinks they should go for the sake of the group; Alonzo doesn't want to go back either. Morgan says it's got to be unanimous, but when the others start getting into the packed dune rail, he reluctantly follows. He says next time he volunteers for something, remind him how unsuited he is for this kind of stress. Danziger says he'll be the first. Over gear Adair tells him to stop: they barely have enough supplies to make it back. Danziger just wants her to point them in the right direction.

On Day 10, they see the cargo pod in the distance. When they get up to it, they are excited they found it. As they circle around it, they see it has been ripped open and is empty. Morgan stares at it and says they're dead, they're all dead.

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Act I

In narration, Danziger says in the 117 days since they've been on this planet, few have been as disappointing as this. Cargo Pod 09 would've been quite a find: food stuffs, convertors, vehicles. Whether it was the atmosphere that broke it up or the Grendlers, it didn't matter; they risked their lives on the chance that something might be left.

They can't head back for a few hours; the rail's running hot. Morgan says every minute they delay is another minute closer to starvation. Danziger says if he wants to start walking, be his guest; he's not going to risk burning out that vehicle. Julia says they need the rail if they have any chance at all; the best thing is to rest and slow down their metabolics.

As Adair tries to calm her, Bess says she can't believe it; they barely had enough to make it back. They were all raised on the stations; they have no idea what they're up against. Has Adair ever seen anyone starving to death? Has she ever watched anyone trying to eat dirt, trying to suck the moisture out of mud? True comes into the dome. Adair kneels down and tells her the scouting party's in trouble. True believes they'll all be okay; she knows her father.

Outside, Uly worries that Adair is going, too; Yale says she's staying right here where she's needed most. He and Walman are going. Adair tells Yale that if the others are unconscious to give them hydration caps immediately. Baines says if the others keep moving, Yale and Walman should intercept them in 4 or 5 days. Adair wants them to keep in contact over gear every few hours; she doesn't want to lose them, too. Walman assures her no one's going to lose anyone; Yale says they'll find them in time. He and Walman head off.

Day 13. The four ride in the rail; Danziger drives, Julia sits in front, and Alonzo and Morgan sit in back. Julia thinks if they head SE 2 degrees, they could knock off half a day; it's an educated guess. Morgan says great, the difference between life and death left to a guess. Danziger worries the rail won't be able to handle whatever terrain that route might have. Alonzo asks doesn't he want to risk it? Morgan says risking it got them into this mess; they should stay the course. He hopes Yale and Walman don't decide to risk some educated guess of their own. Danziger says maybe they could save some time without all that dead weight they're carrying around back there. As Julia and Alonzo yell at him to shut up, Morgan says after all, he's the only one who didn't want to go past fail-safe in the first place. If someone had paid attention .... Danziger turns and says if he doesn't zip that waste, he's going to knock .... The rail goes plummeting down a hill and turns over.

They sound off as they pull themselves from the overturned vehicle. Morgan is trapped under it and can't move his legs.

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Act II

The four have set up a make-shift camp; they all have bad cuts. Julia kneels by Morgan; Alonzo comes up and asks how he's doing. She says they're not going to make it. They have no food left; they finished the water this morning. They have maybe 36 hours, maybe not even that. Alonzo says they can't give up; that would be the worst thing they could do. She feels so helpless; she can't do anything. She cries on his shoulder. Morgan rouses, and she attends to him.

Alonzo goes to where Danziger is working on a communication device. Danziger asks how Morgan's doing, and Alonzo says there's not much Julia can do under these conditions. Danziger says they couldn't move him even if they wanted to. They're lucky the communication device is transmitting at all; without the proper tools, they'll never get voice-com back, let alone visual. Alonzo says under the circumstances, maybe it's for the best.

As the others sleep, Danziger dozes on guard duty. He starts hallucinating and sees True in the distance, asking what she's going to do without him He rubs his eyes, and the image disappears.

Day 17. Through a scope, Yale and Walman spot the disabled rail, then the camp. The four aren't moving.

They approach the camp. Yale spots a mag-pro. The four are laying scattered around the camp. Walman rouses Julia, who promptly takes the medical bag from Yale. The others wake on their own.

Danziger, Yale, Alonzo and Walman right the rail. Danziger says they're lucky the frame wasn't bent. He and Alonzo walk away in different directions. Walman and Yale look at each other, confused.

Night in the camp. Yale tells Walman something's strange here. Walman says they look a lot healthier than they should. Yale says none of them have said two words to each other since they brought them around. And that's not all; the mag-pro's been fired. He found it on when they arrived. Danziger mumbled something about seeing an intruder one night - just his imagination. Something went on here, that's for sure.

From a distance, something watches the camp.

They all arrive back at base camp; everyone greets them. The four are all rather subdued. Julia tells Bess that Morgan pinched a nerve in his back when they crashed, but she's more concerned about his fever. Danziger tells Adair he's sorry; he put them all through hell for nothing; Adair says all that matters is that they're back and they're safe.

That night, Morgan is having a nightmare. He says Please, he can't! As Bess tries to calm him, he sits up and yells No! At the sound, Danziger, Julia, and Alonzo each awake in their beds.

Something watches the camp.

The next morning, Uly stands outside and yells for his mother; many of the group come running. A dead Grendler is propped up on a stick just outside of camp. It's been shot with a mag-pro. Adair looks around and sees Alonzo and Julia watching from behind a tent and Danziger watching from the dome entrance. He goes into the dome.

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Act III

Adair follows Danziger into the dome and asks what happened out there.

Danziger tells his story:

He hallucinated and saw True. Through his scope, he saw it was actually a Grendler and was running away. He woke up Alonzo and told him about the Grendler and that it might have a stash somewhere. Julia thought following it would be a very bad idea; if it didn't have food or water, they would waste precious energy tracking it. Danziger wasn't willing to lie there waiting to die. Alonzo promised Julia they wouldn't go far. The two guys followed the Grendler to a plateau, where they no longer saw it. Danziger spotted it , and Alonzo headed after it first. They found a domed-over entrance to a hole in the ground, and entered, Danziger first. He saw dripping water and held his hand under it, but it was acid and burned him. They followed the tunnel to a chamber and entered through a low opening. Alonzo went to check out something across the chamber. Danziger was suddenly jumped by a Grendler, which knocked him down. The Grendler angrily faced Alonzo, so Danziger picked up his weapon and turned it on. At the sound, the Grendler charged him, and he shot it, sending it across the chamber.

In the dome, Adair says he did what he had to do. Danziger says he had no choice; it was enraged and would have killed Alonzo and him. Adair looks at Alonzo and Julia, who are silent. Baines comes in and tells them to come outside.

A Grendler is watching the camp; the group worries there are others. Adair orders everyone on full alert. Danziger stands there and watches the Grendler.

Alonzo tells his story:

A frenzied Danziger woke him and told him he saw a Grendler. Julia, calmer in his version, told them her concerns about wasting energy. Danziger encouraged Alonzo to go, even though Alonzo sided with Julia. Danziger said he didn't want to die; he was going after it! Alonzo told Julia he couldn't let Danziger go alone and promised her they wouldn't go far. On the plateau, when they temporarily lost the Grendler, Alonzo wanted to go back to camp; Danziger followed the Grendler first. In the tunnel, they found the acid as in Danziger's story. In the chamber, Alonzo spotted something and went after it. A Grendler jumped Danziger, then faced Alonzo. As it stood there rubbing its face, Danziger turned on its weapon. The Grendler kept turning to face one or the other of them. As it faced Danziger, Alonzo shouted Don't shoot, but Danziger shot it anyway.

In the dome, Adair asks him if he's saying that Danziger didn't have to kill it.

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Act IV

The Grendler sits watching the camp; Alonzo, Baines, Walman and Zero watch it. Baines says that thing hasn't moved for hours and is getting on everyone's nerves. Walman decides to drive it off by blasting it.. Alonzo turns and says it's just sitting there; it hasn't done anything wrong. He says their group killed one of them, but Walman says it was just a stupid Grendler; they have a right to defend themselves. Alonzo says it doesn't mean they can blast their way across the planet. Adair comes up and breaks it up; she makes Walman shutdown his weapon. They are all to remain calm until they figure out what it wants. Yale says they know it's a trader by nature; it possibly expects some kind of compensation. Walman adds or revenge; something happened out there, something more than they're telling them. Morgan, standing by his tent on crutches, says he's right and they might as well know what it was.

Morgan tells his story:

That night, as Julia ,Alonzo, and Danziger sat around the campfire, Danziger decided he's going back and bringing some of it back there. Alonzo and Julia were shocked, and Alonzo said it wasn't right. He accused Danziger of wanting to kill it and then wanting to butcher it. He and Danziger fought. Julia tried to break it up, but Danziger sent both Alonzo and Julia flying. They all got up slowly. Julia then said they're going to die there. Alonzo accused her of taking Danziger's side, but she said she's taking _their_ side. A little protein would be enough moisture and protein for them to survive a little while longer. From his bed, Morgan said that he didn't want to die. The next morning, when Julia brought him a cup and held it to his lips, he told her he can't and yelled No!

All those in the dome are quiet. Walman says so Danziger meant to kill it all along. Danziger comes in and says it attacked Alonzo; he had no choice. Adair says the Alonzo said it wasn't acting aggressively. Danziger repeats that it came out of nowhere and attacked them. Magus says then they ate it. Julia says they voted unanimously; they were starving. Baines asks what if it had been one of them; would it have been okay to eat them? Walman says it was just an animal, but Adair says they have no idea which is the superior species on this planet. Baines asks how she could compare them to it. Julia says it was a she.

Julia tells her story:

After the fight between Alonzo and Danziger, she told Danziger she would go with him; she would know what to do when they got there. Alonzo looked at her and shook his head. In the Grendler chamber, she knelt in front of it to work. Danziger couldn't look at at, so she told him to wait outside; she would take care of it. When she finished, she wiped her hands on some rags from a pile on the floor. She found a soft egg-like object and started to cry.

In the dome, everyone silently watches Danziger walk out.

Night. Morgan cannot sleep. Bess tells him she would've done the same thing. She doesn't care what happened out there; all that matters is that he is alive and that he came back to her. They hug.

In their room, Danziger tells True he was scared he'd never see her again; he had to get back to her no matter what. The truth is, he doesn't know what happened that night; maybe he saw it wrong. She says it was just an accident. He lays his head on her lap.

On guard duty, Baines hears a twig snap and goes to investigate.

The next morning, Danziger awakens to find True gone.

Baines returns to the dome from searching for True; he can't find her. Danziger grabs him and asks what he was doing out there all night - fooling around in VR? Baines says one minute it was there - the next it was gone. Adair says they don't know for sure the Grendler took her. Danziger storms out; Adair tells Julia to have Alonzo go with him and sends the others searching. Yale says they've got to find the Grendler before Danziger does.

Yale finds tracks in the snow; True tracks join the Grendler's. It didn't take her - she came to it.

Alonzo and Danziger spot True talking to the Grendler. The Grendler hears Danziger turn on his weapon and grabs True. The others come up, and Danziger warns them away. He aims the weapon at the Grendler. True tells him to stop; she's not in danger - it doesn't want to hurt her. Danziger lowers his weapon and tells the Grendler he's sorry - he never meant to kill its friend. If he could undo what he did, he would. Her death wasn't for nothing; it meant they could live. He begs the Grendler to let True go; she's his whole world. He sets the weapon down and says himself for True. He is crying. The Grendler lets True go, and she runs to her father. She tells him it just wanted to know why. As the Grendler moans, Yale says it wanted remorse and acknowledgement of what it had lost.

Danziger fills in a grave; the Grendler kneels by it, and the others watch. In narration, he says in the last 200 years, they've formed some pretty good theories about the origin of emotions. Now halfway across the universe, they stumble around on this new planet finding that they know so little about what makes them human, what makes their hearts shiver with grief, their chests pound with fear. Why is it that a species so different from them could possess these same feelings they hold so essential to humankind?

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