Nowhere else works like the cities.
Beszel and Ul Qoma.
But there are places where the cities meet, where it's
hard to observe the borders.
That girl's name is Mahalia Geary.
She lives in Ul Qoma.
She winds up dead in Beszel.
The girl called me from Ul Qoma.
Mahalia is dead because she found out the truth.
Orciny.
A golden city without restriction, without borders.
Jesus Christ.
Look where you're going, will you?
Who is she?
Your wife.
Last seen on Gunterstrausse.
I guess you don't know about the other one.
Yolanda Stark.
Mahalia's friend.
No one's seen Yolanda for a while.
No one can reach her.
What's through there?
That's a newly discovered section.
Very unsafe at the moment, so there's no access.
They let her work in the closed-off section.
Do you think you can get me in there?
Orciny is real.
They invite you.
Orciny.
Katrynia thought you could go there.
You wait.
They find you.
But not me.
I'm a cop.
I'm-- I'm interested in archaeology.
I'm a police officer.
I'm here helping with an international investigation--
Chief Inspector--
Sorry.
OK.
All right.
This is Ul Qoma.
So I unsaw a familiar Beszel street.
But really I was still in that ancient underground chamber.
I was seeing an ark sailing towards a distant island
citadel.
Orciny.
No, I'm sorry.
I don't understand.
We have a problem, my friend.
Suicide is illegal in Ul Qoma.
She just had too much of that stuff
that they give tourists in the bar, OK?
And then she slipped.
You are seeing her romantically?
Yeah.
Yeah, I am, yeah.
Happy ending then?
Thank you.
Is there anybody you want to call or anything?
Wonder if we keep this to ourselves?
Well, us and the Ul Qoma Militsya.
How come you're in the wrong place at the right time?
No, I was just, um--
I was just winding down at the end of the day, you know.
Sorry I spoiled your evening stroll.
Look, you, um--
you got drunk and you fell into the canal.
That happens, doesn't it?
I didn't fall.
Falling isn't a crime, but the other thing is.
You tell a pretty story anyhow.
I know some people like sad endings.
I mean, they say they don't, but they do.
I've never understood that.
I like mine to be happy.
Well.
You know, you're gonna-- you're gonna have
a sore head in the morning.
Being a cliche hurts more.
Falling for the guru like I'm some little groupie.
You're smarter than that.
Clearly not.
Our comic flesh.
I think it was more than that.
Well, he's a lucky man.
Not really.
After tonight's little show, I'm just an embarrassment.
A nuisance.
Maybe you should do it after all.
What's that?
Arrest me.
Well.
I left my cuffs at home, so.
Thank you.
What the fuck, Borlu!
Where is she?
Where's the girl?
The girl is on the way home to Mom and Dad.
She's lucky she's not in detention.
You're a piece of work.
I should have told you.
You should have told me?
You broke the terms of our agreement.
I'm not one of your illegals!
You know, your possible deportation
may be beyond my control.
There's a limit on how much I can protect you.
Dhatt, we need to speak to Bowden, find Yolanda.
Your visa expires tomorrow, Borlu.
Why is this case so important to you?
When did you stop being Unknown Corpse 101?
It's personal, isn't it?
costs a fortune, so this better be good.
Right-wing Besz politician cozies up to US entrepreneur.
What's that about?
Just-- just talk.
This place is porous.
Major Syedr and Mike Gorse, CEO of Sear & Core.
What, the mining company?
They made a mint on the... market,
but left a trail of corpses in the Congo.
It was serious.
It's weird, right?
In bed with the Yanks isn't Syedr's party line.
Well, maybe the Major plays all sides.
So did you pick up anything specific?
Bowden, the Bolian dig?
No, not yet.
Any sign of Yolanda?
No.
Look, I've got to go.
Time for a mulligan.
Be safe.
Yeah, you too.
Indian OK?
It's a bit early for that, isn't it?
Breakfast like a king, dine like a pauper.
Don't want to confuse the body's circadian rhythms.
That's how you get fat.
Dr. David Bowden.
Senior Detective Quissima Dhatt.
Inspector Tyador Borlu, ECS Beszel.
We met once.
Do you remember?
Did we?
Yeah.
What I want to know, Officers, is what are
you going to do to protect me?
Protect you from what?
I think you know, don't you?
Mahalia Geary, now Yolanda.
It looks like anyone with a connection to the third city
is being targeted.
Third city?
You're talking Orciny?
Well, the doctor is the guiding light.
He started it all.
If anything, Orciny is more of a challenge
in these oppressive times.
You must be very upset.
About Mahalia.
Now Yolanda too.
Of course I'm very upset.
We all are extremely upset.
So where were you the night she was killed?
You're not honestly telling me I'm a suspect?
We are speaking to everyone connected to Mahalia Geary.
We took a look at that restricted area of the dig.
What's going on down there?
Early days.
Difficult to say.
Very heavy security.
Must be sensitive.
Everything is sensitive in this city.
We have to be careful.
Industrial pollution threatens heritage sites globally.
So that's what you think it is?
A major Ul Qoman heritage site?
Did I say Ul Qoman?
I'm no politician, Inspector.
Mahalia was one of the few people who could get in there,
wasn't she?
So, what, you-- you must have been close.
What is it about your line of questioning
that sounds so familiar?
Mahalia was a handful.
She could be tricky.
Perverse even.
Did you have an affair with her?
I'm not sure that's the right word.
What is the right word?
I had to end it, whatever you want to call it.
Because?
Because of her bullshit.
She forgot that she was the apprentice.
Perhaps I was too open with her.
So you-- you had an argument, and--
and then what?
Yeah, and then she left.
This was the night she went missing?
Look, I-- I've been completely honest.
Her ego was a little bruised, that's all.
It wasn't a bruised ego that killed her.
So did you go looking for her?
She made it very clear that she didn't want me chasing her.
She was more angry than upset.
Mahalia was-- she was intelligent.
She had a future as a scholar of Orciny.
An unaccountable city beyond Breach
are very dangerous ideas to be putting in someone's head,
aren't they?
Aren't they?
The idea of Orciny has always threatened the authorities.
There's a price for speaking the truth.
Is that what you think happened to her--
to Mahalia?
That she paid that price?
Wow, I know where we met.
Katrynia had time for my dangerous talk.
We all miss Kat.
Well, my wife's got nothing to do with this investigation.
Are you sure about that?
What do you mean?
It means that I'm feeling, um, victimized.
Excuse me.
I'm due at the Bolian dig.
Well--
Trigo will take care of the check for you.
He's playing us.
I think Bowden was right.
I think you were victimizing him.
What?
Your wife and him.
That's personal.
Maybe your personal makes you the wrong man for the job.
Maybe it makes me the right guy.
He's an obvious target.
He could be in danger, Borlu.
Don't you fall for that.
Not you.
Can't you see he's hiding something about Mahalia?
Now, look, he said he was going to the Bolian dig.
We could search his apartment.
Now, did you get the warrant?
They make me wait.
Thanks to your recent activities,
we're being tracked by the authorities.
I thought you were the authorities.
Welcome to Ul Qoma.
I'll see what I can do.
Hello?
The key's not working.
Well, I'll come down, yeah?
It's OK, I'm in.
Right.
Hey.
I'll get the rest of it?
There is no rest of my stuff.
These OK up there?
Yeah, yeah, that's--
that's your shelf.
Is this all there is?
This is it.
I guess I, collect things.
I see that.
Little mess maker, aren't you?
Got a couple of hangers?
Sure, yeah.
I've - I've only got wire ones, I'm afraid.
Well, there's a t- shirt with a girl
holding a gun and underneath it says "needs coffee."
Sorry?
I need coffee.
No, I can do that.
- The hangers? - Yeah, sure.
Thanks.
So this is all right?
We're OK.
I've got the warrant.
Hey, stay back.
Maybe it's just a warning.
Maybe they were looking for something.
Yeah.
Or maybe he's just destroying evidence.
Drop it, Borlu.
Just admit it.
He was a target.
What's this, home movies?
India 1983.
It doesn't look Qoman.
No.
Or Besz either.
It's similar to the things I saw in the cave.
Look, can you not call this in right now?
This is trespass.
I don't have authorization.
So yeah, sure.
Trespass?
I thought you had a warrant.
My mistake.
It's a menu of the local Thai.
How--
Let's hope Bowden is safe.
Professor.
Where's David Bowden?
Where is he?
I don't know.
We've just come from David Bowden's apartment.
My god.
What-- what happened? Is he OK?
This was written on the wall.
There's other stuff.
They're exactly the same signs as I saw written in the caves
here.
I mean, they're similar.
I mean--
Who drew signs like this?
Now, today?
Today?
No one.
Well, somebody is.
It can't be true. I mean--
Could people connected to Orciny be doing this here?
I need to know.
It was for Bowden.
The device was in a package that came from outside Ul Qoma.
It was sent via a Beszel post office.
You're lucky, Aikham.
Unlike the post room boy.
You sure it came from Beszel?
Maybe it came from someplace else.
Like where? What are you talking about?
Someplace worse.
What?
There are people--
they have secret powers.
All right, Aikham.
Aikham, hey.
Why don't you give me you number?
Secret powers?
Safe trip home, Inspector.
Home?
I've not finished my work here.
Well.
Maybe you have.
What was that?
They want to close the dig down.
Interview the various heads of faculties,
maybe repatriate foreign nationals.
That's a bit heavy-handed, don't you think?
This isn't Beszel. We police our own.
The bomb from who knows where and whatever;s
going on here threatens the security of Ul Qoma.
Don't you think it's interesting
that your people, my people, everybody,
they want this case shut down?
They want to-- they just want to wrap it up.
They're scared.
So am I. What if it's real?
What?
Secret city shit?
I'm sorry.
I can't go there.
That's what Bowden believed.
He believes that.
And now, now he's missing.
Mahalia, maybe Yolanda, Kat.
They-- that's what they have in common.
So maybe we need to start believing it
just to find out what happened.
We need to speak to speak to that guard Aikham today.
We just need to keep it between ourselves.
Sure.
You're police, I'm police.
Who gives a fuck what my boss is telling me
or what your boss is telling you?
Come on.
How bad is the food in that place?
The hotel?
Disgusting.
Well, no worse than any other hotel.
Want to come back and see the dogs?
I'm sorry?
Come meet my significant euphemism?
Well, are you sure?
I promise.
I'd like that.
Doing.
Innovate.
Inspire.
Excite.
Change.
Sear & Core R&D. Doing.
Innovate.
You should try vapes while the jury's still out on them.
Sorry.
You know, I think my place in Beszel backs onto this square.
I hope you're not doing what I think you're doing.
No.
When in Ul Qoma, see Ul Qoma.
It's just, um-- it's weird.
You and I on opposite sides of the same square.
Yeah, that's weird.
Let's go.
There you are.
Please meet Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Beszel
Extreme Crime Squad. - Hello.
Hello.
It's 3:00 in Ul Qoma.
Clasnico, Borlu?
See?
I did my homework.
Please make yourself at home.
Is this your first time in Ul Qoma, Tyador?
It's-- yes, my first time in a long time.
And how are you finding it?
Well, um--
I like it very much.
Here you go.
Thank you.
Sit.
I hope it isn't too spicy for you.
Looks beautiful.
So, how the case going?
There is no case.
It's a series of implausible events
that don't make any sense with a dead girl at the end of it.
Why is it always a dead girl?
That's the type of thing my wife would say.
You're married?
Can't you tell?
Yeah.
I know almost nothing about a girl who died.
You never ask.
She was 24, wasn't she?
My age.
Well, not quite.
Almost.
You just turned 25.
She just loves to make me look very old.
I do.
I-- I just live for you.
That is true.
Coffee?
That would be great. Thank you.
- I'd love coffee. - I'll make some.
It's been a lovely evening.
Thank you.
And Yallia, she's--
well, you're very lucky.
I need you to back off a bit.
Give me some slack.
This is coming from the very top.
Your secret city shit.
It's going to evoke Breach.
They'll shut us down.
You know that.
Yes, OK.
Yeah?
I'll back off.
I promise.
It's your wife in the photo, right?
Her and Bowden.
Yeah.
She had a thing with him years before.
But I know they met up the night she went missing.
What do you think happened?
I don't know.
She just disappeared.
Now, Gunterstrausse-- Gunterstrausse,
it's, the sensei.
I never stopped looking.
But then they took me off the case, invoked Breach, and--
I'm just supposed to stop looking.
I heard she was here in Ul Qoma having a different life.
But now-- I don't know.
I don't-- I don't know.
I don't know.
There are other reasons for people
to disappear near the sensei.
If Bowden is to be believed.
Two years.
This was a good idea.
What's he doing in Beszel?
Borlu.
What you want to do?
- We can't just leave. - Yes, we can.
We can go.
Why?
Seriously, it was a long time ago, wasn't it?
He looks different.
Here we go.
Katrynia.
Hey you.
You haven't changed a bit.
Yes, I have.
This is my husband.
Hello, husband.
Sorry.
Tyador.
David.
Borlu.
I'm sure we've met.
No, I don't think we have.
What are you doing in Beszel?
Slumming it, I guess.
Beszel is so amazing.
So real.
Sorry.
This is Sariska.
Hey.
Hi.
Sariska has written a most fascinating
thesis that might interest you.
Orciny.
Inner path to outer reality.
How cool.
So cool.
Can I have another one of those things?
Is that a Clasnico you're drinking?
Yeah.
Classic.
Well, join us for a drink.
No, it looks like you're having a private celebration.
- Two years. - No.
- Yeah. - Come join us, please.
All right, twist my arm.
We'll have a drink.
What would you like?
Anything for me.
No, you have to choose, darling.
Have a Prosecco.
It's nice.
OK, I'll have one too.
So that's why you left us.
Found true love in your home of Beszel.
I won't pretend I don't miss those days sometimes.
You can come back anytime.
I teach at Beszel Poly.
It's very rewarding.
I'm sure it is.
David's quite the firebrand.
Was.
Back in my, days at Berkeley.
Now I'm a kind of academic curiosity
up for hire for US multinationals.
Cult status.
What's your line, Borlu?
I'm a cop.
Really?
You're a policeman?
Tyad works with the Besz Extreme Crime Squad.
I-- I never would have thought.
I mean, that is, um, strange.
Yeah, she's slumming it.
We're very happy.
- Well, I'm very pleased. - Hey, Maxwell.
Mix me another one of them.
Are you still with Oklahoma University?
Yes, my official title is, corresponding lecturer.
But they're not stupid enough to give me a real job.
I have no tenure.
Because of the book?
Still?
David postulated the idea that when the old commune split,
it split into three.
He imagined a hidden colony, a spontaneous city
filled with light, without constraints, like--
like an orgasm.
An orgasm?
You've heard of them, right?
I'm speaking figuratively, of course.
But it isn't some mythic place.
It only feels like it because we've learned to look
the wrong way for so long.
Orciny exists.
We-- we may even be able to go there one day.
You get invited.
Well, they find you, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's it exactly.
When in Beszel, see Beszel.
Trust in Breach.
It doesn't matter where she is.
Here, there, then, now.
I can never unsee Kat in any time, in any city.
When in Beszel, see Beszel.
Welcome to our new state of the art
facility at Sear & Core.
Be they the craftspeople of India and Ireland
or the engineers and miners of the Great Continent,
we celebrate the power--
Can I help you?
Yeah.
Here to see Mr. Gorse.
I don't have anything down here.
That's strange.
Mike was adamant.
Mike?
Mike.
Mike Gorse.
Could you give me a second to sort this, please?
Yeah.
-- broadening his mind
through travel, not hiding behind walls
and artificial barriers.
As a young man, he traveled to India on a trip
that would change his life.
The answer did not lie in big business,
but in learning for indigenous people around the world.
He left Berkeley and joined Sear & Core with a mission
to make it a friend to communities across the globe,
bringing their wisdom to the world,
helping young people everywhere to innovate,
inspire, and dream.
I firmly believe the maxim "the man who dies rich
dies with disgrace."
The Gorse Foundation
continues to play a major-- - You need to leave.
Yeah.
OK.
Let's go.
We support the National Youth Science Fund
and the World Science Center--
I got those Besz dumplings, Chief.
Our American friends aren't very friendly at all.
Call me later.
I've gotta go.
Be safe.
Yeah.
You'll back off.
Aikham's on that bus.
I know he's not telling us everything.
Get in or we lose him.
I knew he'd lead us somewhere bad.
Well, it looks like he's got quite a few mouths to feed.
It's me.
Yolanda?
Yolanda!
I'm Borlu, OK?
Hey, hey, hey!
I'm just--
I know it was you that went to meet Mahalia's father.
So you're a good man.
I'm only here to help.
I don't want to hurt anybody.
All right, off you go. All right?
Are you OK?
Yolanda.
- All right. - What do you want?
All right!
Hey!
I'm here to help you.
They're Unifs.
It's all Unfis.
All right.
Now, just calm down.
Why don't we put those down?
Let's go in there.
They're all Unifs, for fuck's sake.
Mahalia, was she part of this gang?
Like you care.
She wasn't one of us.
She didn't give a fuck about unification.
She was just into weird fantasy shit.
No phones, man!
All right, look.
I'm turning it off.
And you, take the battery out.
Take the battery out.
You stay cool.
OK?
Yolanda, you need to contact your parents, OK?
They need to know you're safe.
I can;t do that.
They're looking for me.
You know what happened to Mahalia.
They want to kill me.
Because the powers don't want us unified.
Because they are protecting themselves.
So who are they?
Orciny.
Mahalia was helping them.
They-- they wanted something.
And these people from Orciny, did Mahalia
say that she trusted them?
I asked her, how do you know Orciny's on our side?
And she laughed at me and said, I don't.
They're not.
It's bullshit.
That's how they rule.
It's a concept.
How do you stay hidden for centuries?
An ideal of unity.
She got it wrong.
You got it wrong.
They never went away.
OK, look.
Um-- you want me to get justice for your friend, don't you?
They will kill everyone who brings attention to them.
Breach took her.
They'll come for you too.
Breach are nothing.
Orciny rules over everything.
They're everywhere.
Look, I'm going to help you.
But you have to tell me everything you
know about Mahalia and Orciny.
OK?
I need to get her out of here because she's not safe.
Now, if I've found her, other people can.
All right?
Now, if I can get her home, I can get her false papers
and I can protect her.
I can protect her properly.
I am taking the lot of them down.
No, because then she won't trust me and I'll lose her!
This is a rat's nest.
Very fucking illegal in my world.
I've got a life, you know.
No.
I need her.
I can't just walk away from this, can I?
I can't.
Now, I need her, and I need you to help me.
Please.
Trust in Breach.
When in Beszel, see Beszel.
That was a coincidence, wasn't it?
Don't do that to me.
I didn't know he was in Beszel.
No secrets though?
Secrets are how couples survive, Tyad.
Well, that's not how we are, is it?
After meeting David after so long,
I just remembered who I was.
Who you were.
The girl that slipped, remember?
That was your story.
No you slipped, Kat.
Remember?
He showed me something impossible
and said we can make it real.
You know, he-- he got me through some dark nights.
He's a fraud, and it's not real anyway, Kat.
This isn't you.
You're wrong, Tyad.
This is me.
And what you see?
This is what I've become when I stop looking.
The whole businesses is built around Gorse.
Real personality cult stuff.
Berkley fails him, he takes off on a trip to India,
on a quest for higher learning.
Comes home, turns--
Just back up.
So, what, he went to Berkeley?
Class of '82.
Failed to complete.
Right.
Bowden went to Berkeley as well.
What's the connection?
Syedr, Gorse, Bowden, your wife.
Orciny is the connection.
You've been away too fucking long, G. Come home.
Be safe.
You too.
Trust in Breach.
When in Beszel, see Beszel.
It's time. Let's go.
I'm coming too.
No, you're not going too.
You're staying here.
Tell him.
I'll call you in Beszel.
Then I'll bring you to America, I promise.
Hey, let's go.
Move, come on!
Now!
Come on.
There are clothes in the back.
Get out of your old rags and into the uniform.
Just put them on, princess.
Come on, put 'em on.
I told you I got a life.
Yolanda!
No!
Yolanda!
When you get to the checkpoint you stay close to me, OK?
Get that stuff on.
Go.
When in Beszel, see Beszel.
I wish--
I wish I had been a better friend to Mahalia.
It wouldn't have made any difference.
I was her best friend.
I should have helped her.
Did you see her that night?
She found it.
Found what?
She made contact with Orciny.
Contact with Orciny?
Contact with whom?
It's--
She found it.
They recruited her.
She said she had to deliver things.
What things?
Messages, information.
It was like an initiation.
What, and she met these people?
They told her to wait and they'd invite
her when the time was right.
But she made a mistake.
Maybe she was too impatient.
- Let's get out. - Come on.
Let's go.
I don't know what to say.
Why don't you ask them?
I was scared.
I-- I wasn't thinking.
Hey!
- Keep moving. - What was that?
Just walk ahead.
They know, don't they?
Just go.
Go, go.
Go.
Excuse me.
Thank you.
Now, as soon as you get through there,
you'll see a young police officer, a woman,
and you head straight for her.
You hear me?
Yes.
She's calling you now. Go.
Hey.
Papers.
Move along.
It's OK.
It's me.
You're safe now, love.
You're safe, yeah?
Stay there.
Yolanda!
Fuck!
Secure the crime scene!
This is border control.
I've-- I've left something in the car, sorry.
I need to go back.
Thanks.
Stay with him.
When in Beszel, see Beszel.
No.
Corwi!
The bullets at the checkpoint
had stayed in Beszel.
The membrane between the cities had stayed intact.
No breach.
But here, the old towns of Beszel and Ul Qoma
are closely crosshatched.
Here the divide between cities and realities
is at its thinnest.
Here--
-- the story ends.
I'm Inspector Tyador Borlu.
I'm from the Beszel Extreme Crime Squad.