A Memory Play
An Earth 2 Episode Summary
by Ariadne[June 8, 1995]
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Screenplay by: Mark Levin & Jennifer Flackett
Directed by: Deborah Reinisch
- The Teaser
- In narration, Adair says she remembers the history lessons Yale taught her as a
child. How when the pioneers headed out across the American west 500 years ago,
they encountered many dangers - Indian attacks, buffalo stampedes, yellow fever.
The group is traveling, and Adair calls for a break. Morgan was driving the
transrover, and he jumps out and rushes off. He bumps into Danziger, who
angrily tells him to watch it.
Morgan had to urinate, but he finds a Grendler standing behind him, and he
hurries back to Bess. He says he just saw his third Grendler today, but she
can't see it. He says it's following him - he's not imploding. He knows what
he saw.
Adair, in narration, says on this planet, they are a new generation of pioneers,
moving westward as fast as they can and trying to outrun their own dangers,
dangers she likes to think less likely to hit a moving target. While she pushes
them forward, she can't help but thinking of the one danger they can't outrun -
the danger within.
True asks Danziger what he's thinking about. He says nothing, but is actually
remembering the escape from the advance ship and the Martins taking an escape
pod for themselves.
Adair, in narration, says three weeks ago, their spaceship was dragged kicking
and screaming into this planet's atmosphere. The crash was horrible, and no one
seems to be able to shake it from their memory.
True and Danziger see Morgan looking at them. She tells her father that she
thinks Morgan's afraid of him. Danziger says he should be.
Alonzo remembers the crash and his difficulty releasing the cargo pod that
dragged them down.
Adair, in narration, says the long, hot days with nothing but their journey are
allowing the blame to fester like bacteria spreading through the group.
Alonzo tells Danziger he hopes he's better at checking the dune rail than he was
with the cargo pod. Danziger says shut up, Solace. Alonzo asks if he's sure he
checked the air locks; there must have been a switch somewhere. Danziger
angrily says he's sure and shoves him. Walman tells Alonzo to get off
Danziger's back; it's not like he was the pilot. The guys start yelling and
shoving each other.
Everyone else rushes over, and Adair breaks up the fight. She says this has got
to stop; no more finger pointing about the crash. She will not have them
tearing themselves apart over something that's behind them. The crash was an
accident; she is as unhappy and angry as the rest of them, but there is nothing
anyone can do about it. Alonzo asks her how she knows it was an accident. She
admits she doesn't know that for sure. She asks Yale if his robotic eye
digitally recorded the crash. If he were to review the recordings, maybe he
could prove to everyone it was an accident. Morgan asks how they can be sure
the cyborg isn't going to lie to them; he does work for her. Yale says it's
not his way.
True, who has wandered off, screams, yelling that she found something. It's a
grave, and on a stick at its head is an Eden project jacket. It's one of them.
(Up to Table of Contents)
- Act I
- The group is quiet and loosely gathered around the grave Julia is inspecting.
She says it's theirs. Danziger says its the other escape pod, the third one;
it must have landed and made it. Yale says not all of them. Morgan says it's
only one grave; there must have been 15 or 20 people on that pod. Someone must
have dug the grave; the grave is good news. Adair wants everyone to look for
the pod. They will camp there tonight and split up into 3 search parties.
Bess, Martin, and Walman fire flares; Walman shouts "Eden project - anybody out
there?" Morgan says it's like looking for a microchip in the Internet; the
likelihood that they're actually going to find anything .... He sees a Grendler
and fires his flares at it. He tells Bess he killed the Grendler that had been
following him; he protected them. They go to the spot where the Grendler had
been standing; it's not there, but they find another grave.
Yale is scanning his records of the escape, playing them back in reverse. He
sees a panel door that says "unlock."
Alonzo, on communications duty, tells Adair about the other grave. She says
call everyone back; it's too hostile an environment out there.
Alonzo tells Danziger and Baines that Adair wants everyone back at camp now.
Baines scoffs. Danziger, through his binoculars, spots the other escape pod.
Over gear Alonzo tells the other search parties of the discovery of the pod.
Yale stops Adair and tells her it's not what she wanted to hear, but he found
something in his mind's eye. He doesn't know who did it, but he doesn't think
the crash was an accident; it was sabotage. The saboteur may still be with
them.
Baines, running to the escape pod, trips over another body. He moves on to the
pod and opens the door. A man and a woman are inside. The man holds a weapon
at him and says to back away from the door, now. Danziger catches up to him and
is surprised to see these are people he knows, Les Firestein and Alex Wentworth.
Wentworth says they're dying and contagious, and she pulls the pod door shut.
(Up to Table of Contents)
- Act II
- Adair, Julia and Cameron ride in the dune rail to the pod's location. As Adair
is about to climb down to join them, Danziger says to get back and fires off a
flare to reinforce the statement. He tells her it's bad; there are two sick
people in the pod, friends of his from the ops crew. He and Baines were all
over the decomposing body down there; the others shouldn't come down there yet
- they have no idea how contagious this is. He wants them to send Zero down
with some gear.
Zero enters the escape pod and says it's OK, he won't be infected. He gives
Wentworth and Firestein gear, and they conference with Danziger, Adair and
Julia. Danziger reassures them. Wentworth says she's sorry they can't come out
and great them properly because their eyes can't take the daylight anymore.
Adair introduces herself, and Wentworth says How are you doing, Ma'am. Danziger
says she doesn't have to Ma'am her; she doesn't work for her anymore.
Firestein says the pod landed safely but it was a nightmare; nobody could agree
on anything. They split up into 3 or 4 groups, took their own share of
supplies, and started walking. Then they started getting sick, Wentworth first;
does Danziger remember her history? Danziger jokes that she's still looking for
sickbay, with her weak constitution; she says she could still drink him under
the table. Firestein says Wentworth's body kept trying to fight off the
disease, but the others weren't so lucky; they started burying them 10 days
ago. They have no idea where they caught it; they were all drinking out of the
same canteen and using the same latrines. Wentworth asks Danziger about details
from a poker game they played years ago when they were ferrying soldiers down to
Earth; she gets a painful attack. Firestein says it's this disease; you start
getting flashes around your eyes, then the oldest memories start coming back
clear as day, followed by the horrible pain.
Alonzo remembers the crash. He asks what Yale is doing - trying to prove to
everyone else that he's a lousy pilot? Yale asks if he was the first out of
cold sleep. Alonzo says on missions that long, the medical officer is the first
one awakened. He doesn't remember the first minutes awake, because the synapses
haven't kicked in yet. No one can remember.
Morgan is worried about Yale's memories. He sees the Grendler and asks it to
stop, cease, and desist; what does it want? He cowers and begs it not to touch
him. Bess finds him and asks him who he's talking to. He says a Grendler was
right there.
In their tent Bess asks Morgan what's been going on - he's been acting so
strange lately. He says he took the emergency pod; it wasn't wind shear like
he said it was. He just let them go, and he didn't wait for anybody. Bess asks
if she looks stupid; she knows the man she married, and she pretty much assumed
that's what happened with the pod. He is surprised, then worries Yale will find
out, and they'll string him up. She says he will make a clean breast of it to
all these good people; confession washes the soul. Morgan says his soul feels
pretty clean with his confession to her, but Bess gives him the look.
The crew lowers supplies to Danziger and Baines; they can't risk infecting the
larger group.
Adair calls to Danziger over gear. He tells her spirolina is not his idea of a
last meal, but she doesn't think it funny. He says he thinks he and Baines got
this thing. She says Julia is on the road to finding something; she may have a
cure tomorrow. He asks her to be sure True gets to bed on time. She says
she'll tuck her in herself. They signoff, and Adair puts her head in her hands.
Bess is telling the group Martin's confession. Walman asks why he doesn't say
it himself instead of hiding behind his wife. Alonzo calls him a selfish
coward; did he cause the crash, too? Several people argue about the crash.
Magus wants to pack up and get out of here. When asked about Danziger and
Baines, Adair says she doesn't know if they've got the disease, but Julia is
doing an autopsy right now trying to figure out how to treat it. They're going
to stick around because Danziger and Baines are part of their group. They
arrived here as a group, and they are going to fight this thing as a group.
True goes to where her father is. He won't let her close, but they can see each
other. He says he loves her. She asks if they're all going to die. He says
no, but she has to trust him and go back to camp. True is worried about
Wentworth and Firestein. Danziger says they've known them a long time. When
True was 11 months old, Wentworth would come over to their little unit and play
with her. The first steps she ever took were into her arms. She was wearing
her favorite overalls, remember? He tells her to sleep well. True leaves with
tears in her eyes.
(Up to Table of Contents)
- Act III
- Julia removes her medical isolation gear and carries a container out of the med
tent; she spent the night doing the autopsy. Yale asks her if she has isolated
what these people have. She's isolated it, but she doesn't recognize it; this
virus resembles no other virus she has ever seen. It goes straight for the
brain cells, short-circuiting all nerve endings as if by design. Yale says it's
like a computer virus. Julia doesn't think she can stop it; she doesn't know
if she's up to it.
In the pod, Baines says this sitting around waiting to die is making him crazy.
Danziger tries to calm him, but Wentworth says he should say it if he's afraid.
Baines asks why she's not saying it; isn't she afraid? Danziger looks at
Firestein and says Wentworth doesn't get afraid. Remember that time their troop
freighter was going down over the arctic? He practically lost it, but she never
flinched. She 's expected to die too many times; she has a history of brain
tumors - they kicked her out of the army because of them. She's been under the
laser so many times her medical chip looks like an encyclopedia disk. She's
still wearing it, and Danziger pulls it off her dogtags. He calls for Zero over
gear to come and get the chip for Julia to study.
Morgan is dreaming of his flight from the advance ship. As he tosses and turns,
he says he took the pod, but he didn't cause the crash. The Grendler is
standing by him, and it drools all over his hand. Morgan yells at it, and it
leaves.
Julia is working in her tent when she hears horrible screams from Morgan. He
comes rushing into the tent, yelling that he can't get it off. In his panic, he
flicks Grendler slobber all over the tent, including onto Julia's workbench.
Julia is annoyed and tries to reason with him; he can wash his hands in the
disinfectant bath out back and stick his head there while he's at it. When he
leaves, she finds the slobber all over her experiments.
Morgan's visions of his escape from the ship now have Grendlers in them. As he
washes his hands, he tells a not very sympathetic Yale that he's not the
saboteur and he would really like to help him figure out who did it, but all he
sees are Grendlers. One in particular is everywhere; he has seen it, like, 10
times a day now. It's found its way into his mind. Does Yale think that it's a
symptom of disease? Yale really doesn't know; it's a mysterious ailment.
Morgan would like him to be a little more comforting. Yale is sorry but
supposes if he were a doctor, he could say Morgan was suffering from extreme
guilt-induced paranoia.
Julia calls for Adair and Yale. She thinks the answer is saliva, and Grendlers
excrete it from every orifice. It's the cure; she hasn't determined what the
cause is. But Grendler's salivary glands could be the greatest pharmaceutical
factory in the universe. Adair and Yale are confused, and Julia says the saliva
Morgan sprayed on her samples neutralized the virus. She needs more fresh
saliva to create an antiviral serum. Adair asks how they could find themselves
a Grendler. Morgan, who has been outside the tent listening to all this, bursts
in and says he thinks he might be their man.
In the pod, Wentworth is getting worse. She tells of the first time she met
Firestein; he reached across a table in a restaurant and wiped her mouth. She
cries out from the pain of the disease. Julia calls in over gear and says she
found something to fight the virus. Danziger cuts her off and removes his gear;
he asks Baines to leave. Wentworth asks if he remembers the time they snuck out
of basics and closed down the dance hall; he shoved his hand through a window.
They thought there was nothing they couldn't do. There was this girl with
strawberry hair, Corrine, who broke Danziger's heart; Wentworth had told him
she was bad news. He says he should have listened to her; she always had the
inside track on his best interests. Wentworth cries out in pain and calls for
Firestein. She says he always took good care of her; since the first time they
met, she's had an angel. Firestein kisses her. She has another attack; she
dies relating memories in fragments. Firestein grasps her dogtags and cries.
Danziger asks him to forgive him; he never should have dragged them into this
mission. He was head of ops, and he couldn't release that cargo pod; it's his
fault. Firestein says no, it wasn't; _he_ was the one who sabotaged the ship.
(Up to Table of Contents)
- Act IV
- Morgan searches for the Grendler. He calls for it and says if it's out there,
he's sorry he shot at it the other day - he's prone to irrational behavior, like
taking that emergency pod. He wouldn't do that again - he _is_ learning. He
stumbles onto the Grendler. He says he knows it isn't very polite, but would it
mind slobbering into this container? The Grendler indicates no. Morgan has
brought items to trade for the slobber, including a luma-light and vera-frames;
the Grendler isn't interested in these. It is, however, interested in Morgan's
clothing and rips it off him; it wants it all.
In his tent Danziger is dreaming of the escape from the advance ship. He
carries True and calls for Firestein and Wentworth to follow him, but they go in
another direction. Julia wakes him, calling over gear. She has done a autopsy
on Wentworth and found a neuromotivation chip in her brain. Yale recognized it
because the government implanted one in him, too.
Danziger goes to the escape pod calling for Firestein, but he isn't there. He
eventually finds him sitting against a rock by a river. Firestein says
Wentworth always wanted to be a sailor, like in the old stories; she was so
happy the day they found this river. Danziger asks him to tell how he caused
the crash. Firestein says he woke from cold sleep, and in those first dead
minutes when the hallways were empty, he went to parafuse box L-137. He and
Wentworth used to maintain those L-137 release catalysts on the troop
freighters. He used his ops code to open it and melted down all the connective
plugs so no matter what, there was no way that cargo pod was going to disengage.
Are you happy now, John? Danziger is not; he knows Wentworth did it. He tells
Firestein the space station technocrats put a chip in her head during the
operation she had just after joining the Eden crew. The organic chip interacted
with the planet somehow and leaked into her brain; that was the virus. It
mutated and spread through the air to all of them. Firestein says he saw
Wentworth do it; she never knew what she did. The disease only unlocked old
memories in her; he had to unlock one that was only three weeks old. He
remembered 4 days ago; he didn't know why she did it, and he couldn't ask her.
Julia calls to Danziger over gear. She says Morgan came through, though he lost
all his clothes. She is giving the serum to Baines and wants them to come back
for it. Firestein is looking over the water; he can see Wentworth in a red
robe standing in it. Has she come for him? She says she has - she's his angel
now; they're going to sail away. Firestein says she looks so beautiful; he
married the most beautiful woman in the universe. Danziger, who can only hear
Firestein's voice, says to tell her they forgive her and that he loves her.
Firestein and Wentworth say in unison that she knows, and she kisses him on the
cheek; he almost feels it. Firestein dies peacefully.
Night. Everyone is around the campfire. Adair, in narration, says they thought
there was a saboteur in their midst, and they found her, but she was no spy.
She was just a victim of her own past. It's a funny thing about the past, the
way it keeps chasing them, no matter how hard they try and run away.
True tells Danziger she wishes Wentworth and Firestein had gotten better, just
like him. He wishes that, too.
Bess puts a blanket around Morgan's shoulders and says he did good. He says the
shirt had sentimental value, and he doesn't even want to mention the pants.
Adair, in narration, says now they've put the nightmares of the past behind
them, taking solace in the fact that it was not the planet that was making them
sick, but the planet that healed them. Yes, with time, the memories will fade
away, but that doesn't mean that any of them will ever forget.
Julia goes away from camp and induces vomiting. She picks up a small
communication device and says into it: "Julia Heller, initial check-in, code
X0482. I've joined you on the planet, monitoring Eden project. And I know you
planned the crash."
(Up to Table of Contents)
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