Good morning, Steve,
Morning,
The jump chamber is primed,
Are you ready?
Yes,
Let's go, then,
You have not eaten since 06:00 yesterday?
No,
You have removed all jewelry and artificial devices,
including contacts, hearing implants,
and other sensory-Enhancement devices?
Yes,
You have signed the release documents?
Yes,
All right, then,
One last thing, ,,
I hear they're working on grape flavor,
Approach chamber,
Remember,
stay as still as possible,
It's important to breathe normally,
especially when the solution covers you,
You must aspirate it
so that solution coats All mucous membranes,
Do you understand?
Yes,
Um, doc?
You haven't lost anyone in this thing, have you?
Don't worry, Steve,
We're going to take good care of you,
Now, try to relax,
and remember what I said about breathing,
Jumper will enter chamber,
Burr to your station,
Jumper is ready,
Closing chamber,
Process initiated,
Here we go, Steve,
Just relax,
Breathe, Steve,
Transfer initiated,
Transmitting,
Transmission complete,
Achieve balance,
[ beeping ]
equation is balanced,
There is nothing wrong with your television,
Do not attempt To adjust the picture,
We are now controlling the transmission,
We control the horizontal, ,,
and the vertical,
We can deluge you with a thousand channels
or expand One single image to crystal clarity, ,,
and beyond,
We can shape your vision
to anything our imagination can conceive,
For the next hour,
we will control all that you see and hear,
You are about to experience the awe and mystery
which reaches from the deepest inner mind
to The outer limits,
We believe
that human Advancement Should be attained
at almost any cost,
but what if that ultimate payment
is one's soul?
Burr, you will meet Carson,
Will Carson, actually,
Hi,
Michael Burr,
The dinos aren't much for first names,
Welcome to the snake pit,
Thanks,
Carson replaces Jackson, who has been sent back to earth,
You will train Carson,
Uh, thank you, administrator linna,
Warm and fuzzy, aren't they?
I think etiquette kind of embarrasses them,
if that's possible,
Um, well, ,,
don't worry about it,
You'll get used to it,
Come on, I'll buy you a cup of coffee,
You call them dinos to their face?
They don't care,
In order to hurt their feelings,
they have to have them first, right?
But to insult them to their face, ,,
Oh, hell, they've got worse names for us,
They call us weeps and the babies,
not that I blame them,
given how much more advanced they are,
I'm just glad they stay behind that glass,
Didn't they train you before you got here?
The glass is for atmosphere,
Their air is three times as dense as ours,
and it's mostly carbon dioxide,
I know what the glass is for,
but tell me it doesn't make you nervous
looking at those incisors all day,
The hanen are a truly advanced species,
They're not driven by ANGER or fear or hatred
like those wonderful human emotions,
In fact, they're pacifists,
totally nonviolent,
and despite those incisors, they're vegetarian to boot,
Wait a second,
They don't eat burgers?
I thought you said they were advanced,
Earth shuttle docking in T-minus five minutes,
Damn, I forgot about the shuttle,
Let's go meet our next customer,
How often do these things run?
About every eight hours,
Some are supply ships,
Some bring jumpers
or take the ones that arrive here
back to earth,
Get a lot of returning jumpers?
A few,
mostly people are dying to get off earth,
not come back,
Kamala shastri, I'm Michael Burr,
I'm your jump supervisor,
This is will Carson, He'll be assisting me,
Nice to meet you both,
You're scheduled to jump
at 08:00 tomorrow morning,
It's important that your body acclimate itself here
for 12 hours beforehand,
If you'll follow me, I'll show you to your quarters,
That'd be great, Thanks,
Thanks, will,
I'll meet you in the common room
in half an hour,
See you in the morning, Kamala,
Well, maybe winning the lottery
isn't the exact analogy,
but it's pretty close,
I mean, of 250,000 or so applications for jumps,
how many do you accept a year...
300?
275, at least in this pilot program,
Once this initial testing is done,
there'll be a lot more,
Eventually, we'll have 1,000 Jump stations
doing 10 million jumps a year,
Of course, that's still a few years away, ,,
which will be way too late for my doctoral thesis,
That's why I feel so lucky,
I 't travel to gend the conventional way,
It would take me over a hundred years,
You'll be having lunch with the gendians tomorrow,
Wow,
After all these years of study, to finally be there,
Well, here we are,
It's not exactly Swank,
but you'll only be here till morning,
As you know, no food tonight, Water only,
Well, good night,
Michael,
do you think I could see it,
the jump room, I mean?
The room is off-Limits except during jumps,
It's against regulations to...
I won't touch anything,
I just want to see it before I have to, ,,
before the jump,
Please?
We're not allowed to go into the room itself,
It's kept sterile
until just before the jump,
but you can see the room and the jump chamber from here,
This is the control room,
You read about it and see the vids,
but it's just not the same,
It's amazing,
Yeah,
The hanen control from in there,
And this?
This is the human supervisor's control,
What's it for?
Once the transfer is complete and confirmed,
we have two copies of the Jumper...
One here,
and an exact duplicate at the destination point,
They told us of it in training, It's called a redundancy,
That's right,
So you have to destroy the Jumper left behind?
The hanen call it balancing the equation,
How cute, ,,
and euphemistic,
Oh, that's them,
sentimental to a fault,
Does it hurt?
Not a bit,
You'll close your eyes here and open them in gend,
It must be hard for you, though, to push that button, ,,
I mean, knowing that it...
Before the hanen will trust us
with this technology,
they must know
that we will unflinchingly balance the equation every time,
This is the whole reason for this pilot program,
and it's the reason I'm here,
I have four advanced degrees,
and my only responsibility is to push that button,
I don't think twice,
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply...
It's all right,
I'm sorry if, ,,
Burr!
This is irregular,
I know, silloin,
I, ,,I just wanted...
You will follow protocol,
and the Jumper will return to quarters,
Of course,
Good night,
This is will Carson,
I'm in, No one suspects anything,
Excellent,
Keep us informed,
Good morning,
Already?
Are you ready?
Yes,
No,
Gendian, isn't it?
A meditation sphere,
It's supposed to reflect your inner emotions,
I find it relaxing,
Judging by its color,
I'd say you were more queasy than Relaxed
right now,
No kidding,
I should be excited,
but frankly, I'm not sure I can get out of this chair,
You will,
They all do,
Shall we?
So, ,,
patriarchal power hierarchies, huh?
Excuse me?
Well, in your profile,
you said You were going to gend for the next two years
to chronicle gendian patriarchal power hierarchies
within the transgenic populations,
Sounds like a bunch of Heady stuff,
Well, the truth be told,
the anthropology is only part of it,
It's really about peary,
Peary?
And galileo and Armstrong and Goodall,
The thrill of being the first human
to explore a new world,
Yeah, it's pretty cliche, huh?
No, just honest,
Most jumpers are the same,
They want to escape
the smog and overcrowding of the earth,
The mission statements
on the front of those applications
are just the academic veneer,
You're pretty insightful for someone with four degrees,
I thought you academic Types were withdrawn and bookish,
Well, it's just an image we want to promote,
Helps hide our social dysfunction,
Well, ,,
the dinos are nothing
if not punctual,
My bag,
It's okay,
We'll store it for you, along with your clothes,
until you return,
Thanks for talking to me, Michael,
It really helped,
It's all part of the service,
How is the subject?
Calm and in control,
We can't afford
another breakdown in protocol
with the hanen,
I understand,
I'm going to observe the jump now,
So far Michael has shown no overt signs of stress,
I have no cause for concern,
I'll be in touch,
,, ,including contacts, hearing implants,
and other sensory- Enhancement devices?
Yes,
You've reviewed and signed
the release documents?
Yes,
Your stasis solution,
L'chaim,
Is it good?
Delicious,
if you like mercury-Ethyl-Chloride,
Would you keep this for me until I get back?
Sure,
Who knows,
maybe you'll have better luck making it work than I did,
I doubt it,
but you can show me how to use it
when you return,
I will,
The Jumper will enter chamber,
It's okay,
Here goes nothing,
You'll be fine,
Don't worry, I'll walk you through it,
Thanks,
Process initiated,
Okay, Kamala,
remember to stay as still as possible,
It's important to breathe normally,
especially when the solution covers you,
It has to coat all mucous membranes,
Do you understand?
Yes,
That's the stasis solution,
It immobilizes the tissues
until a COMPLETE scan can be done,
Does it really stop the heart?
Heart, brain, lungs,
Everything has to be in complete stasis
for the scan to be a success,
Complete stasis? For how long?
Just under two seconds,
Ouch,
But the Jumper barely feels it,
because they're reconstituted
at their destination point
long before the effects of the stasis
can be felt,
You're doing great, Kamala,
Just try to keep breathing normally,
Breathe in the solution,
You can do it,
Transfer initiated,
Scan complete,
Transmitting,
Stop,
What's up?
I don't know, It's never happened before,
Non-Confirmation
of transmission retrieval,
Do not balance equation,
Aborting procedure,
What do you mean, aborting?
Did she reconstitute in gend or not?
Retrieve subject,
Did she make it to gend or not, administrator?
Confirming this information,
Communication with gend was interrupted,
And when will you know?
We will inform,
What about Kamala?
Kamala?
The Jumper,
The procedure was aborted, She is unharmed,
Physically, maybe,
but it took me an hour to calm her down,
She was nearly psychotic,
Mental States do not concern us,
She is structurally uncorrupted,
Yeah, structurally uncorrupted, Great,
I will contact you when I know more,
Michael? So?
They don't know
when they'll confirm transmission,
Looks like Kamala will have to jump again,
She's going to love that,
No kidding,
What about the hanen?
What about them?
Are they angry that Kamala lost it?
Why is it you're so worried about how the hanen feel,
and what is it
with all those questions in the jump room?
For a replacement tech,
you don't know a lot about jump technology,
Of course I know about jump procedure,
Not for someone with a double phd in physics,
I know I'm new, but...
When two jump transmitters are in phase,
what's the quantum differential?
Okay, I'm not going to be questioned...
Who the hell are you really?
Michael, it's not as nefarious as it seems,
I'm with psych ops,
You're a shrink?
I did my quarterlies,
And passed with flying colors,
I know, just like Jackson, But Jackson bugged out,
It made the brass nervous, I was sent here to watch you,
You son of a bitch, You're here to spy on me,
I'm sorry for the deceit,
but we cannot afford another protocol breach,
Unbelievable,
Is this what you'd call
establishing Good doctor-Patient Trust?
Look, I...
Save it,
You just stay out of my way, Okay?
And you can tell your handlers
that if they're worried about my sanity,
sending squirrels like you to spy on me
isn't going to help the cause,
How do you feel?
Like I just woke up from a terrible nightmare
and realized it all really happened,
It was horrible, Michael...
The darkness,
the suffocation,
and then the pain,
like your whole body's being set on fire
from the inside,
You wish for death,
Do you know what that's like?
It's over now,
If it makes you feel any better,
the hanen are trying to figure out what went wrong,
I don't care if they fix it, I'm not doing it again,
I'm not getting back into that machine,
Okay, It's okay, You don't have to,
This whole program is voluntary,
It's hanen sweet tea,
Believe it or not,
the dinos have quite a sweet tooth,
It's good,
It can't be easy living here
with creatures so different from you,
with only one other human being as company,
It's not so bad,
You get used to it after awhile,
How long have you been here?
Just over two years,
Wow,
and the walls don't close in?
I mean, earth is better than this tin can,
The work I have to do is important,
No, of course it is,
There's got to be more to it than that,
There's something keeping you here,
isn't there?
I'm sorry, I'm prying,
It's a bad habit,
I'm an anthropologist,
Nosiness kind of comes with the job,
No, it's okay,
It's just that it's just been so long
since I sat and talked,
Five years ago I lost someone, someone very close to me, and, ,,
do you know what e, S, S, Is?
Environment sensitivity syndrome,
Of course,
My wife woke up choking one morning,
and her lungs shut down,
She went into anaphylactic shock,
and by the time we got 8er to the hospital,
she was dead,
My god,
and the doctors?
Well, they said it was e, S, S,,
that Karen literally had an allergic reaction
to the poisons in the air around her,
I'm so sorry,
I lost it,
I withdrew,
I went into deep, deep depression,
I even thought about, you know,
What stopped you?
Molly,
She's with her grandparents now,
When Karen died, I just couldn't, ,,
it's the best that she's with them,
You know, and the terrible thing, though,
is knowing that Karen's death could happen again with Molly,
You want to know what keeps me here?
Hope,
the knowledge that one day Molly might get off earth,
that she and I could find a place like gend,
a place that has fresh air and trees,
and we'll never look back,
My daughter will not die the same way her mother did,
Burr, I will see you,
I'll be right there,
We have discovered the reason
for the irregularity in the procedure,
Yes?
The transmission was sent without corruption,
It has been received at the destination station,
Kamala arrived on gend?
The transmission has been received,
But I don't understand,
What about the alarms?
Silloin said the Transmission never went through,
An error was made in receiving confirmation,
The communication was not according to protocol,
But the jump transmission
has been received without corruption,
therefore,
you will balance the equation,
Wait a minute,
You mean I have to kill Kamala?
You will balance the equation,
So the jump transmission actually went through,
and now you have to balance the equation?
Like that's going to be a walk in the park now,
What if I don't do it?
Look, Michael,
I know you're angry at me, but do not joke...
I'm not!
Just for the sake of argument,
what if I don't agree to kill her?
The hanen will shut down the program
and take their toys home,
Do I even need to tell you
that this technology will liberate our planet?
No, but are we prepared to get it
by any means necessary,
at the death of an innocent woman?
What about the millions that are dying every year
because they're living in Pollution and filth?
I can't believe I'm even having this conversation with you
after what happened to your own wife,
You, ,,you leave Karen out of this,
I am talking about one other person,
that's Kamala,
That is not Kamala,
It is a redundancy, a mistake,
The real Kamala is on gend,
You tell that to the Kamala drinking tea in her quarters,
And what about the Kamala
that will return home two years from now?
What are you going to tell her
when she finds a version of herself
living in her house, working at her job?
The redundancy- Elimination rule
is there for a reason,
You know this,
We cannot afford to screw this up,
Michael,
One way or the other, we have to kill Kamala,
If you're not prepared to do it, I will,
Stay away from her,
I will deal with this, but my way,
Is that clear?
Or I'll show the hanen some erratic behavior
that will blow Jackson's out of the water,
Hi,
Is the shuttle here?
Soon,
Another hour or so,
Actually, Kamala,
I wanted to talk to you about that,
Yes?
Are you sure about this, about going home?
All the time and effort,
all the work you went through,
Are you sure you're ready to give it all up?
I can't go through that process again, Michael,
What happened to you was an accident,
It was a fluke,
The jump process is uncomfortable,
but I promise you,
it's nothing like what you went through,
How do you know?
Because I've seen jumpers come back through,
It is uncomfortable,
but they're hardly traumatized by it,
The truth is that the hanen screwed this one up,
but are you ready to give up this opportunity
because of it?
I mean, you can jump again now, or lose this chance forever,
You promise it won't happen again?
The hanen are meticulous,
They won't let it happen again,
What do you say?
You can take a step forward Toward your new life
or go back to the old one,
I'll do it,
Subject will enter chamber,
Michael, ,,
it's okay,
I'm here,
You can do this,
The subject will enter chamber,
I don't think I can do this,
Yeah,
I'll help you through it,
I'm sorry, I can't,
What's wrong?
The equation must be balanced,
Subject will enter chamber,
What does she mean, equation must be balanced?
You have to get in the chamber, Kamala,
Wait a minute,
What's going on here?
This isn't about me jumping, is it?
The original transmission went through to gend okay,
What?
But that would mean, ,,
you're a redundancy,
And you wanted to get me into the jump chamber again,
We have to finish the process,
Kill me?
Burr,
subject will comply,
No,
Kamala, listen,
No!
Kamala, ,,
you lied to me,
No, I told you we needed to complete the process,
Semantics, Don't pull that, You know what you did,
You're right, I'm sorry,
Would you have gotten in if I'd told you the truth?
Of course not,
We need to finish the process, Kamala,
The equation needs to be balanced,
Stop saying that,
If you're going to do this, at least call it by what it is,
You need to kill me,
Just say it,
I need to kill you,
So I'm just supposed to get back in that device
and be turned into ash?
Forget it,
You knew this was part of the jump process,
Of course, but not like this,
I was supposed to close my eyes here
and open them in gend, Remember?
Look, a mistake's been made,
I'm sorry for it, but it's not my fault,
I'm not getting back into that machine,
You signed an agreement, You knew the risks,
Don't give me that contractual obligation crap,
This is different, and you know it,
I'm not going to do it,
The next shuttle leaves in about an hour, right?
When it leaves, I'm going to be on it,
Where is she?
I need a moment with silloin, will,
Please?
Wait for me in your Chambers,
I need a word, silloin,
I want to talk to you about Kamala shastri,
the Jumper,
Yes?
Well, she refuses to return and finish the process,
She must,
Look, can't we just let this one go?
I mean, we made the mistake,
Can't we just...
No,
You must balance the equation,
It is our primary law,
The consequences are grave,
And the Hanen would pull out if we let one Jumper go?
There are those among the hanen, including linna,
who want to deny humans our technology,
They say your crude emotional States
do not support our work,
Letting a redundancy live
is just what they need
to stop us from helping your species advance,
It is an unforgivable breach
of our protocol,
I know how important your protocols are,
but please, silloin, can't you help them understand?
I cannot,
I know it is hard for you, Burr, but you must do this,
You must terminate the redundancy,
Do you understand?
Do it quickly, then,
Get up,
You're not going to kill me?
I'm getting you off on the next shuttle,
We don't have much time,
Let's go,
The shuttle will be landing soon,
Why are you doing this?
We'll sneak you on,
but if all else fails, we'll have to hijack it,
What about the hanen?
They won't stop us,
They're pacifists,
don't believe in violence in any form...
A truly advanced species,
But, Michael, the program, If you get me out of here...
Do you want to die?
No,
Then stop arguing with me, and do as I say,
I want you to stay in here,
I'll greet the Shuttle and then come for you,
If all goes well,
we'll be able to smuggle you onboard
for the return flight
without anyone seeing,
Thank you, Michael,
Earth shuttle docking in T-minus five minutes,
Michael!
What do you think you're doing?
Don't get in my way, will,
Or what? Are you going to shoot me?
Just stay out of my way,
I see,
so you're going to save one life by taking another?
This isn't right, will, She doesn't deserve to die,
Kamala shastri is not dying,
She's alive and well on gend,
You are not saving Kamala,
You are dooming the rest of us,
No,
You know it's True,
I can see it in your eyes,
Why are you doing this?
Because I care about her, will,
And you can't watch another woman you care about
die,
Don't you understand, Michael?
The Kamala on this station is already dead,
as dead as Karen is,
It's all just formalities now,
You make it sound so easy,
No, ,,
it's just inevitable,
It's time you stopped this, that you did what's right,
You must,
The hanen are watching, and you know that,
If you let that redundancy leave this station,
you doom us,
You doom your daughter,
Are you going to choose Kamala over Molly?
No!
Come on,
We've got to go,
What's going on?
If the shuttle crew come onto the station,
will will warn them about you,
We're going to have to force our way on
as soon as they open the outer door,
Okay, My bag, ,,
Wait, wait, I'll get it,
I see the shuttle,
It's about 100 meters away,
What is it?
I'm sorry,
No!
Michael!
Don't do this,
Michael, please, don't do this,
Michael!
No!
Michael, no!
Warning,
Outer airlock door opening to negative atmosphere,
No!
Thank you,
Wow, that's definitely easier the second time,
Michael, isn't it?
Excuse me?
It's me, Kamala,
You were my jump supervisor two years ago, weren't you?
You were very kind to me,
I'm sorry, That was somebody else,
As we pursue technological advancement,
we should be careful
not to abandon our humanity