The Church of Morgan

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

CONTENTS:

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

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Screenplay by: Michael Duggan
Directed by: Joe Napolitano

Previously

Julia tells Reilly she's joined him on the planet, that she knows he planned the crash. On VR she says she thinks he's a liar. He says loyalty is a tricky thing and wants to know if they can count on her.

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Teaser

Morgan is playing drums with a jazz band. He is doing this on VR and is actually sitting alone in the woods, drumming in thin air. Bess is taking a bath in the river. Julia, in narration, says it is day 38; they are 7600 km from New Pacifica, and so far from home, it's unimaginable. Loneliness is the cruelest of friends; some handle it better than others, some not at all. Most of them are finding it's a hard thing to outrun on this planet. She finds it especially hard, having to harbor the secrets that she does. She compares it to fear of the dark when you're young, only not being old enough to know that dark is real, and it's coming after you, and maybe, just maybe, it _is_ you.

The group is at a new camp, with different trees and more vegetation, alongside a river, and the people are wearing more clothes. Uly, witnessed only by Julia, finds he can plunge his arm into the ground like a Terrian.

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Act I

Yale is working on his robotic arm. Bess comes to him and suggests a way to fix it. She asks if he was an early inductee into the Yale program. He thinks she is concerned about his mindwash not holding, but she wants to know if he has any religious data on file. She wants to make a Catholic confession. She believes she has cheated on Morgan in her mind and maybe in her heart. Yale tells her that these random thoughts are indicative of a problem in the relationship; she should talk to Morgan, though not in specific terms.

On VR Julia tells Reilly that Uly is exhibiting Terrian traits. Reilly is excited and says they have the key to this planet. He tells her that the planet has been untamable because of the symbiosis it has with the Terrians; the very planet would die without them. It's counter to a healthy expansionist movement. The essence of how Uly has changed could be used to subdue the land and make a home for all those desolate people in space. He believes the change begins in the pineal gland, the location of the human soul. He tried to remove that gland from a convict child 12 years ago. She must do the same to Uly. He tells her that as a product of the system, the system owns her ethical choices.

Bess goes to Morgan, who is sleeping in a clearing. She asks him if he has ever had thoughts about another woman. Morgan replies that she's the only woman for him, though he never thought that would literally be as true it is now in a world with only 6 women. She persists. He asks her the same question and is alarmed by her answer. He thinks she is having an affair or asking for his permission to have one. He accuses her of having wanton desires for another man, then realizes that the other man is someone with whom he is on an extended camping trip from hell and who has probably seen him naked. He has a reputation to uphold; he's not going to idly wallow in front of this entire planet while his wife decides whose nest to feather. He's taking a spare tent! He storms off, while Bess professes her love for him.

As Morgan passes Danziger, the latter tells him to feel free to pitch in whenever he gets the urge. Morgan thinks that's some kind of crack. He goes to the transport vehicle that Alonzo is unloading and starts pouring through the supplies. Alonzo asks if he's okay. Morgan says not to even try the I'm-just-a-simple-sleep-jumper-skipping-around-the-universe-I-really-don't-know- anything bit; he's onto his little game. Alonzo asks if he has been in virtual all day again, then comments that he be fighting with his wife because he's hunting for a new home.

Adair tells Julia that Uly has been distant and withdrawn lately and has said that he is frightened he is turning into a Terrian. Julia suggests a cell scan - maybe the emotional changes are tied to the rapid physical changes he's gone through.

Julia in her tent talks to Reilly on gear. She tells him of her plan to test the spinal fluid; she is not about to harvest organs on the random guess of some maniac with a sharp spoon. He is flattered by the reference to himself. She will compare Uly's spinal fluid to the Terrian finger bones she has in a jar. He says to not let this opportunity pass her by.

Morgan and Alonzo are walking in a dry river bed, Alonzo picking up driftwood. Morgan has told him the whole story. He cannot pretend everything's fine; Bess is supposed to be a refuge from the hypocrisy of his life as a politician. He suspects Alonzo is the man, but Alonzo says no, he would know if he were. Morgan says he knows that thinking about it is the beginning of the end; he cheated during a previous three-month-long marriage contract that Bess doesn't even know about because he had it wiped from the station records. Alonzo informs Morgan that it can't be cheating because he and Bess aren't even married anymore - their four-year marriage contract ended while they were in cold sleep. Station time doesn't care whether you're awake or not.

In her tent, Julia draws spinal fluid from Uly while he watches the Terrian bones tap in their jar. Julia reassures both Uly and Adair.

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Act II

The next morning, Morgan emerges from his tent and goes to speak to Bess, who is folding clothes from a clothesline. He again asks her who the guy is. She asks so he can throw a tantrum? The issue is them. He tells her that they have lapsed, their marriage is over. He cares about this, because if he wants to go back on that colony ship, he has to make sure everything is in order. They've lapsed 5 times. She asks if he wants to renew. He says he's not the one out there looking for other partners. Bess tells Morgan to leave.

Bess is confiding to Adair about her problem. Bess says she abandoned everyone she ever knew, on Earth and on the stations, for Morgan. Morgan apparently did not like Earth or the people on it; he didn't even make the trip down to Earth to say goodbye to her father. Adair says that as a child she daydreamed that she was an Earth-res; she thought it exotic, romantic, all about survival, life, death, and full of wild, lawless passion. Bess says it was mostly survival and death. She would hear on the satellites about the stations Adair's father designed, and she thought Adair must have been a princess. Adair tells Bess that Morgan must have a lot of good in him if a woman like her married him. Bess' father never understood how she could marry a man who couldn't look him in the eye. She learned from her father to look life in the eye, mistakes and all. Maybe Morgan was a mistake.

Alonzo and Danziger are hunting for birds; Morgan is tagging along, complaining about his plight. He doesn't think it is his ultimate purpose to be made a cuckold on some distant ball of dirt in the middle of nowhere. If either of them had flirtatious interludes with Bess, or know of anyone who has, they should come clean now. He suspects that Danziger is the man. Danziger says he should count his blessings; he's on a witch hunt whose answer is his own insecurity. The only thing he will find at the end of his investigation is loneliness.

Julia is in her tent, telling her gear log that Uly's DNA is altered, but shows no parallels with the Terrian remains. As the Terrian bones start tapping, Uly enters and asks if he should have stayed sick. Julia tells him that what he is going through will help all the syndrome children, maybe everyone on the stations. Wouldn't he be willing to make a sacrifice to help millions of other people lead a better life? To her surprise, he hugs her.

Reilly asks Julia if she is opposed to removing Uly's pineal gland. Julia mentions the pineal gland experiments conducted on POWs during the faith wars at the end of the 21st century. Half died vicious, soulless animals, but half lived. He says they were POWs or might have lived productive lives. He asks if she can perform the procedure; she shouldn't be so foolish as to ignore fate, either hers or Uly's. The entire future of humanity rests on her ability to see past the meager bond she formed with this boy.

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Act III

Night. Bess is getting ready for bed when Morgan enters her tent. He wants to know if this is the right thing and what her feelings are. She tells him that they never should have gotten married. Morgan is shocked. Bess asks him how many words he uttered to her father. He, an earth-miner, was not of the class of people Morgan wanted to associate with. She says he did everything he could to get her to renounce where she came from. This is about foundation and trust and honesty. She believes that they should get on with their separate lives.

Julia sedates Walman, who is dozing on guard duty, then does the same to the sleeping Adair and Uly.

Under the parachute, Morgan complains about his situation to a sleepy Alonzo. He says he had a career to consider; people on the stations will use anything to destroy you. A marital contract tie to Earth is just the thing they need to pass you over for a level-jumping review; he took a risk even marrying Bess. He doesn't know how he'll live without her; she's the only person who's ever believed in him. Alonzo tells him to fix it then.

Julia starts to perform the operation on Uly away from camp under a tree. She records her notes on gear. A Terrian appears, holding a red glowing object, and she notes that Uly's pineal gland activity increased tenfold. In Alonzo's form, he tells her that it's his heart. If she harvests this boy, he'll die; they'll all die. Uly is a link to humanity's survival; he's the first in a long line of evolutionary changes, and without these changes, they will perish. The Terrians are witnessing these changes, as they did with their own kind millions of years ago, but they did not provide them. Reilly, over gear, demands that Julia sign on.

The next morning, Bess is looking for Morgan. It's not really like him to go off alone. Baines asks her who the lucky guy is.

Julia walks into Alonzo. He says she looks like she's seen a ghost. She had trouble sleeping. Was she dreaming? He wasn't either.

Yale is concerned about Adair and Uly sleeping so late.

Morgan is sitting in a field, wearing gear, and talking. He says he doesn't rbor any kind of animosity toward him; it's just a question of common ground. He breaks off and tries again; we see what he sees. He is talking to Bess' father in a dripping, dark world. He says what if he were to ask him again what it is about his daughter that made him want to take her stationside, and if he were to say something better than he did? He says was afraid that her father would see that he is a fraud. It was like a dream, falling in love with Bess. He was afraid that someone would come along and burst that dream, that she would lose interest in him, and maybe he made it happen. He cannot imagine life without her. She still wears the pendant that her father gave her of the last wildflower on Earth. Bess has been sitting in front of him, listening to all this. She is moved by what he said and asks him to ask her. He asks her to marry him, and they passionately kiss.

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Act IV

Uly is still not awake, and Adair and Yale are worried. Julia says he probably just has a mild form of shock from all that has happened on the planet, and he just needs to rest.

Morgan is shaving, lecturing Baines and Cameron on the joys of love. He says man wasn't meant to live alone; they think of themselves as pillars of strength, tall oaks reaching for the heavens, but there's nothing like the love of a woman. It'll see you through the darkest nights, the deepest plagues, feed you when you want to die, and clean your socks when you think there's nothing else left to live for. He tells them not to dally around; they're on a planet with, not counting biped lizards and convicts, 5, 6 available women. Alonzo comes up and says Yale needs to know what term commitment they have chosen.

Julia is concerned - the scar from Uly's operation is healing unexpectedly slowly, and he is still unconscious. She is worried about his level of recall. He awakens. She calls Adair, who is relieved.

Yale conducts the marriage ceremony for Bess and Morgan while everyone else watches. He says that even after the contract renewal act of the late 21st century, designed to strengthen birth rates in Earth's environmentally red-tagged areas, marriage remained a deeply emotional and soulful commitment. In this new world, in this new beginning, Morgan and Bess have vowed to renew that bond and forego station and Earth contract law to pledge a lifelong commitment. Morgan Horatio Morgan and Bess Amelia Klempt, do you take this commitment? Yes, they do. Everyone goes to congratulate them; Julia holds back, but smiles at a sleepy Uly.

Julia tells Reilly that when she went to harvest Uly's pineal gland, it was missing; it had changed beyond their limited understanding. Reilly is shocked. She will continue to monitor Uly. Reilly is concerned that all the syndrome children will undergo this change, a change over which the Council has no control. Julia tells him that then those outcasts of the station will have a very powerful position on this planet, and there is little either of them can do about it. He tells her to stay close to Uly.

In narration, she says as a species they've come a long way. They've learned how to control everything from DNA to matrimony. As a group, they're still trying to figure out whether they'll make it. They learn more about their limits everyday, even if that means telling a simple lie to protect a boy's life.

Everyone is dressed up and dancing with people we have never seen before. As they pass while dancing, Alonzo asks the Martins whose idea the unlimited marriage was. Morgan made an offer of 100 years, but Bess countered with forever. Alonzo tells his partner that 100 years goes by like that. Julia enters and watches Danziger pull Adair onto the dance floor. Julia goes to Uly and asks why he's not dancing - it's not every day he gets to dance to 250-year old music. They dance together. Everyone dances, and the scene changes to their dancing in a field with invisible partners, except Julia and Uly and Bess and Morgan. All are wearing gear; the dance is in VR.

Julia, in narration, says they've had more success than any animal in the universe controlling life. They create it artificially; they mimic it with computers. Yet they still don't know what really makes it tick, what keeps life lunging forward, desperately screaming for survival. What drives them to chase themselves off their own planet onto floating cans in space, and then finally across the universe to start again in someone else's home? Maybe there are some things they'll never know. Maybe the key is to know what those things are and to leave them alone.

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