You still haven't told me when the Commander is due back.
Soon.
How soon is soon?
Longer than a little while,
faster than later.
He took out a fighter
to check out a damaged transport.
Isn't that sort of job usually delegated to someone else?
The Commander's a hand's-on kind of guy.
He'll grab any chance to take out a ship.
He's like that.
Well, I wouldn't know.
I haven't seen him since I came aboard.
Have you ever tried one of these?
What is it?
I'm not sure. According to the translator,
it's either an aphrodisiac
or a floor wax.
Can't decide if it's worth the risk or not.
Mr. Garibaldi--
please. Michael.
Did I mention
I really enjoy your broadcasts?
You know, if this interview hadn't been set up weeks ago
by Earthforce public relations,
I'd swear that Commander Sinclair
did not want to be interviewed
by inner stellar network news.
I can't imagine that.
This is supposed to be an event.
This is the 2nd anniversary of Babylon 5 going on-line.
We took a poll when this station first opened,
and 75% of I.S.N. Viewers
said that this place wouldn't even last 5 minutes.
Lloyd's of London put the odds
of this station surviving even one year
at 500 to 1...Against.
Is there a bathroom around here?
Third door to your left.
That way.
The one with the blue marker
is for methane breathers only.
I'd steer clear if I were you.
What the hell.
If that thing leaves a waxy yellow buildup
on anything,
I'm coming back here.
Julie, hand me that separator over there.
I've just about got the rna strand
where I want it.
Get it yourself.
Vance?! What are you doing here?
I was in the sector. I thought I'd stop by
and visit my favorite student.
I've come to offer you an adventure, Stephen,
very possibly the biggest adventure you've ever had.
What kind of adventure?
Well, you'll find out soon enough.
Savor the mystery, Stephen.
We don't get nearly enough of them.
[Yawns]
Tired?
Yeah, long day...
But your ship's the last one in.
So. Anything to declare, uh--
any plants, nonsentient pets, organic matter--
nothing organic.
Just some pottery and stone work.
Hmm, funny thing.
The bottom of this box on the inside
is 4 inches shorter
than the bottom of the box on the outside,
like there was a hidden compartment in here.
If I didn't know any better,
I might think you were trying
to smuggle something in.
Not a chance.
No, it's just packing material
to protect the stuff.
Here, let me show you.
[Zap]
Sinclair: It was the dawn of the third age of mankind,
10 years after the Earth-Minbari war.
The Babylon project was a dream given form.
Its goal-- to prevent another war
by creating a place where humans and aliens
could work out their differences peacefully.
It's a port of call,
home away from home
for diplomats, hustlers,
entrepreneurs,
and wanderers.
Humans and aliens
wrapped in 2,500,000 tons
of spinning metal,
all alone in the night.
It can be a dangerous place,
but it's our last best hope for peace.
This is the story
of the last of the Babylon stations.
The year is 2258.
The name of the place is Babylon 5.
How does it look?
All the signs point to death by natural causes,
heart attack, from the look of it.
That suddenly?
It's possible.
I'll know more after we do an autopsy.
Did you know him?
No, he just started the other day.
Nothing in his personnel jacket
to suggest a heart condition.
Yes, and exactly which medical school
did you attend, Mr. Garibaldi?
Nothing personal, doc. I just want to be sure.
So do I.
I'll assign my best people to the autopsy.
Fair enough?
Good.
Meanwhile, if I were you
I would go on with work as usual,
and as soon as I hear of anything definitive,
I'll let you know.
Go ahead and remove the body now.
Sorry. We had a little problem
at one of the docking bays.
Now, would you like to tell me
what this is all about?
I need your help.
Ha ha.
Vance, you're an archeologist.
Everything you touch has been dead for at least 100 years.
My area of expertise is a little more current
and a lot warmer.
All in good time.
First thing, I'd like to introduce you
to my assistant.
Nelson, meet Dr. Stephen Franklin,
one of the best students I ever had.
Well, in the area
of alien history, anatomy, and culture.
A pleasure.
Dr. Hendricks told me all about you
on our way in from our dig on ikarra 7.
Dig?
You found something.
Show him.
[Alarm] That's funny.
I just had an energy spike on my screen.
Same here.
What's the location?
I thought it was around medlab.
I'm not sure.
It was just there for a second.
Might have been a malfunction in the screen.
You'd better run a diagnostics check
to be sure.
Will do.
We were on a dig sponsored by interplanetary expeditions
when we found these artifacts
sealed in a vault,
buried nearly a mile beneath the surface of ikarra 7.
Took us months to get them out.
But ikarra 7 is a dead world.
Yes, but don't you see that proves
what I've been saying for years,
that ikarra was once home
to a highly advanced space-faring society.
Extraordinary.
How old are they?
Minimum 1,000 years.
No chips, no sign of wear or age.
It's as if they were made yesterday.
What were they made to do?
That's where you come in.
Vance, I told--
I know, I know.
Humor me.
Put it in your medical scanner.
Whoa.
Veins, capillaries,
traces of DNA. Vance...
This artifact
is composed of living tissue.
This is organic technology.
The one trick that Earth hasn't yet been able to crack--
the ability to create living ships
that thrive in the vacuum of space,
to create weapons that produce their own power
through internal generation,
like a firefly lights up at night.
The ultimate synthesis
of machine technology and living tissue.
Magnificent.
This had to be a scanner of some kind.
See the way the entire surface tissue
is photo-sensitive?
Retinal cones and rods
to detect wide-band light frequencies.
This is amazing!
Why didn't you come and see me about this
when you first arrived?
I did. We've only been here a few hours.
But organic material has to be quarantined for 48 hours
before it is allowed in the station.
We put it all through quarantine
at the other end,
at the transfer station off Proxima 3.
It's all approved and authorized.
Nelson has all the paperwork if you're really interested.
Don't you see what this means?
This is a blueprint for living machines.
The Vorlons have them.
Some people even say the Minbari have them.
We haven't seen enough of them up close
to get any idea of how they work,
but with your expertise
in xenobiology and genetics
and my background in archeology,
we now have the chance.
Well, there are better equipped facilities
back on Earth.
I need someone I can trust.
You once told me, back at the university,
that you wanted your name to go down in history,
alongside Fleming,
salk, jenner,
Takahashi.
Well, this is it, Stephen.
This is the mother lode.
I can't do it without you.
I need your help.
So are you in or out?
Finish unpacking, Nelson.
We have a lot of work ahead of us.
Ah...
Aah!
Oh, there you are, chief.
Any word on the autopsy yet?
Techs down at medlab 4
still think it's natural causes.
We'll know more tomorrow.
Other than that,
we've scheduled a full security detail
to cover the Narn-Centauri negotiations next Tuesday.
That's it. I think we can call it a day.
I agree. How about you, Lieutenant Commander?
Shouldn't the night shift be on duty by now?
We've been picking up some unusual energy readings
the last few hours.
I thought I'd wait around a little
to see if it happens again.
Anything serious?
That's what I'm trying to find out.
Well, keep me informed and get some sleep.
I will.
Oh, just a reminder.
Your interview's scheduled for 1100 hours tomorrow.
Swell.
Which reminds me,
she's waiting for me down in the Zocalo.
It'll be fun. So why are you ducking her?
The last time I gave an interview,
they told me to just relax
and say what I really felt.
10 minutes after the broadcast
I got transferred to an outpost
so far off the star maps you couldn't find it
with a hunting dog and a ouija board.
Don't sweat it.
Just be that charming, effervescent Commander
we've all come to know and love.
What's the worst that can happen?
They fire you, ship you off to the rim,
and I get promoted to Commander.
I don't see a problem here.
How sharper than a serpent's tooth.
All this technology,
you'd think there'd be a clock.
Stephen, it's been 15 hours.
We're going to grow old and die in here.
Stephen.
Stephen, there's a martian war machine parked outside.
They'd like a word with you about the common cold.
Tell them to make an appointment.
Ohh.
You know, something's been bothering me
ever since you got here.
Assuming that we can figure out
how this organic technology works,
what happens then?
We apply for a secondary patent
based on alien technology,
sell it to an Earth corporation
for a percentage of the profit.
That's what I'm talking about.
You're a brilliant man, Vance,
a solid researcher.
You were an inspiration to me back at university.
You should be out making your own discoveries
instead of raiding dead worlds
for whatever you can scavenge
and sell to the corporation.
Right, struggling through mountains of paper,
vanishing grants.
Who has time for that?
Exactly.
That's my point.
Granted, this may be important,
but you wouldn't have created it.
You just found it.
It's a short cut.
Frankly, I'm a little uncomfortable
about corporations financing expeditions
to alien worlds so they can steal
whatever technology they have.
Feels a little like grave robbing.
Do you know what it costs to mount
an off-world expedition?
More money than a university professor
makes in a lifetime.
If the corporations won't pay, who will?
In the last 5 years,
I've seen things off-world
you can't even imagine.
I've stood in the abendi desert
and watched all 7 moons go into eclipse.
I've walked in vaults that have been sealed
longer than there's been a human race,
breathing air that's five million years old.
You call that a short cut if you will,
but I've lived.
By god, Stephen,
I have lived.
At least my hands are clean.
How about yours?
What's that supposed to mean?
Who is interplanetary expeditions?
You said they were fronting this expedition,
but I checked--i can't find any information on them.
Look, Stephen,
I didn't come halfway across known space to argue with you.
I came here because I wanted your help and friendship.
If that's too much of a burden--
no, it is not.
I just wish that you would stop taking short cuts.
Look, we're both tired.
I suggest we get a good night's sleep
and start again tomorrow, fresh.
If you have any questions then,
I'll be glad to answer them. Fair enough?
Yeah.
Garibaldi: And after walking 50 miles,
we made it out of the desert.
Later, when he was put in charge of Babylon 5,
Commander Sinclair asked if I'd come work security.
I said yes. It's been a great time--
yes, I'm sure it has.
In doing some research,
I've come across several rumors
surrounding your record prior to Babylon 5--
that you were fired 5 times for unspecified personal problems
and that this is your last chance to make good.
Would you care to comment on any of that?
I'd rather have my tonsils taken out through my ears.
[Labored breathing]
Lights.
Nelson.
Vance.
My god.
Nelson, what happened?
Protect.
Aah!
Sinclair: When did it happen?
Garibaldi: Sometime during the night.
They moved him to the infirmary
about an hour ago.
What's his condition?
Stunned, bumps and bruises,
and one hell of a headache.
Doctor says it's ok to ask a few questions
as long as he gets his rest.
You shouldn't be walking around yet.
I'm the doctor. I know what I'm doing.
Whoa.
On second thought...
Do you remember anything else
after you walked in the door?
Not much.
I turned around, and there he was,
like I said.
The design of that weapon
reminds me of the organic artifacts
we were working on.
Organic? Were they checked at customs?
I was told they were.
Check into it.
This Nelson-- who was he working for?
Vance Hendricks.
The same one who brought in the artifacts?
Interesting.
I still haven't heard a satisfactory answer,
Dr. Hendricks, and frankly,
I'm getting tired of asking for one.
Dr. Franklin was attacked by your assistant,
covered in some kind of armor
that bears a striking similarity to the artifacts
you brought onto this station.
Artifacts that were not cleared for access.
Organic material
requires a 48-hour quarantine.
There's no record
of their being quarantined or examined
here or at Proxima 3.
I'm as much in the dark as you are.
Nelson told me that he checked them.
I believed him.
Whether he was acting under your orders or not,
a potentially dangerous alien technology
was smuggled aboard this station.
Now until I hear otherwise,
I intend to hold you personally responsible.
Is that clear?
Yes. Yes. Yes, it is.
Is there any news of Stephen's condition?
They're checking him out over at medlab 4.
He took a pretty bad hit.
But I'm told he's going to be ok.
He's up and around
and trying to go back to work.
Thank god for that.
Can you tell us anything else about these artifacts?
They're a kind of organic technology,
limited energy.
In order to achieve mobility,
they have to graft themselves
onto another life form.
It's possible that if they were activated,
they tried to assimilate Nelson.
My guess would be
that he's under their control.
For what purpose?
I mean, why would the artifact choose
to assimilate Nelson but not you?
Unknown. As to what it wants,
that depends on its programming.
Could be anything.
According to Dr. Franklin,
just before it fired,
it said something about "protect."
Do you think that might be the key
to whatever it was programmed to do?
Maybe,
but the question is, protect who?
And from what?
Yes, well, that information
may be contained in the remaining artifacts.
If I could assist Dr. Franklin
in decoding them--
I mean, if I am responsible for starting all this,
the least I can do is help finish it.
Done.
That's what I told her!
A week on coronus
is simply not within my budget.
Of course, then she says, "well..."
Protect.
Lieutenant Commander,
I picked up that energy flash again,
gray 13, level b,
and there's something else.
The energy pattern has changed.
It's 20% more powerful than the last time.
Commander, I have security on the link.
Commander, we've got two fatalities in gray 13.
It's definitely the same thing that attacked the doc.
We're in pursuit now on gray 7.
All right. I'm moving this to a level-2 alert.
Keep this channel open.
Commander,
I understand there's a problem?
Some kind of attack?
Ms. Cramer, you are in a secure area.
You will leave, and you will leave now.
This is news,
and the people have a right to know.
And you have a right to spend the next 2 days in the brig.
Lieutenant Commander, I want this weapon triangulated.
Confirmed.
Relay the data to security.
I want this thing pinned down to within 10 feet.
Coming up now.
Commander...
Don't.
You're too young to experience that much pain.
Commander, we've got him cornered in gray 5.
I think we can take him,
but we'll need lights in here.
He's blacked out the place.
Ivanova: Coming on line now.
Take him down!
Protect.
Go!
Move it!
Damn!
We've lost him, Commander.
He burned through into a sublevel,
moving between bulkheads.
Could be anywhere.
Ivanova: The added shielding in the bulkhead
is making it difficult to pinpoint his location.
We won't know where he is again until he fires.
Garibaldi, have your team sweep through each sector,
moving inward. Two on each team,
5-minute proximity checks.
Confirmed. Security out.
Vance, come here. I think I've found something.
There.
The organic patterns in this piece
emulate the synaptic relays in the brain.
I'm even picking up cross-genetic equivalents
of serotonin used in the transfer of information.
A data storage device?
If we could pull out that information,
we might get a better idea of who the ikarrans were
and more importantly, why they made these things.
Exactly. Fire up the biosensors.
Let's see if we can tap into it.
[Door hisses open]
I've got teams moving through every section,
trying to flush him out, but he's gone to ground.
Could be holed up anywhere.
If he wants to do the most damage,
my guess is he'll head for the area
with the greatest population.
That makes the central corridor a prime target.
I've studied the record of his attacks
and there's a definite hit-and-run pattern.
Seems like every time he strikes,
it chews up energy and he has to pull back and recharge.
There's just a couple of problems.
One, his periods of latency
are becoming increasingly shorter,
2, we've been monitoring the energy level
whenever he fires.
Each time, the level increases by 20%.
The last burst was completely off the scale.
If he continues to build power at that rate,
pretty soon he'll be strong enough
to destroy the entire station.
So the next chance we get to stop him
might be our last chance.
All right, listen up!
I need this whole area cleared!
We'll need room to maneuver.
I want guards on the doors,
the second level, and the catwalk.
Come on! Come on! Come on!
Move it! Move it! Let's go!
Got it!
Energy readings off the scale.
Tracking it. Commander, it's on the move again.
Brown 2, level "c."
It's heading for the central corridor.
Garibaldi, you heard? It's heading your way.
Confirmed. We'll be ready for it.
Win, lose, or draw,
this thing's gonna know it was in a fight.
Drop the pressure doors on all sides.
Maybe that'll slow it down,
give Garibaldi time to get set.
Affirmative.
Commander. We managed to access
the organic memory banks of one of the artifacts.
Make it short, doctor. I don't have a lot of time.
Let me know when it's on the move again! Go.
Over the course of their history,
the ikarrans were invaded half a dozen times,
each assault more deadly than the first.
They needed to create the perfect weapon,
able to adapt to any situation,
an organic weapon capable of independent thought.
Temperature up 90 degrees
in brown 2, level "c."
Since it would take years to create
synthetic intelligence,
they incorporated the brain wave patterns
of one of their researchers
into the weapons.
That's him.
His name was tular.
But people can be fooled,
so to prevent them from being confused
by any misleading instructions from the enemy,
they hard-wired the machine half of the weapons
not to respond to anyone who wasn't pure ikarran.
Just one problem, Commander.
How do you define a pure ikarran
or a pure human?
No one is pure...
No one.
Temperature's up 500 degrees.
It'll be through any time now.
Doctor, I'm joining Mr. Garibaldi on the line.
So who set the parameters of what it meant
to be a pure ikarran?
A coalition of religious fanatics
and military extremists that ran the government.
They programmed the weapons
with a level standards based on ideology, not science.
Like the Nazi ideal of a perfect Aryan
during world war ii.
Exactly. The next invasion,
11 of the machines were released,
and they stopped the invaders
by killing anything
that didn't match their profile
of the pure, perfect ikarran.
When they were finished,
the machines turned on their creators.
They began a process of extermination
based on the slightest deviation
of what they were programmed to consider normal.
They killed and kept killing
until the last ikarran was dead.
What about the weapons?
Well, with no one to tend to them,
they were destroyed by centuries of neglect.
Except for number 12, which is here, now,
acting on a program to protect a world
that's been dead for 1,000 years.
You said they incorporated the brain patterns
of one of their researchers into the weapons.
Tular, yes.
Is there anything there we can talk to? Reason with?
Well, there's a complete personality matrix, yes,
but it's totally subsumed by its program.
Then we'll just have to find a way
around the logic of the program.
Better head back to the medlab, doctor.
I suspect we're going to need your services.
Weapon!
Not yet.
I want it point blank.
Fire.
Cease fire.
Damn.
It's in the next level.
That's a straight line to where the civilians are quarantined.
How many men do you have stationed down there?
Not enough. Commander, we hit it with everything we had.
We didn't even slow it down.
The only weapons that might be big enough to kill it
would rupture the hull and kill everybody anyway.
Then that's what we'll have to do, blow out the hull.
Where are you going?
I'll try to lure it into the docking area.
We get it in place, seal the area
and blow out the air lock.
Armored or not, nothing can live in a vacuum.
Fine, except how are you gonna get it there?
By going straight to its personality matrix.
I'm gonna try and make it mad.
Make it mad? Are you nuts?!
Commander!
[Beep beep]
Tular...
Tular of ikarra 7.
My name.
Who knows my name?
Your name... Is dead, tular.
Your world...Is dead.
Ikarra lives!
Ikarra must be protected!
You've failed.
You've failed in your mission.
Ikarra is dead...
By your own hand,
you and others like you.
That is a lie!
Ikarra is dead.
[Roar]
Protect!
Ivanova: Standing by.
Ready to initiate emergency decompression.
Wait! Wait!
[Roar]
Come on!
Protect!
Protect who? From what?
Impure!
Yes. Impure.
You must protect against all
who are not pure ikarran.
Yes!
And your own people-- how pure were they?
Pure!
How pure?
They didn't feed you facts.
They fed you propaganda.
They programmed you
with standards of genetic purity
no one could match!
Not even your own people!
Liar!
[Roar]
Seal the area. Stand by
to blow air lock and depressurize.
Commander, if we depressurize the area now,
you'll be killed with it.
There's only one way out, past that thing.
I'm dead either way.
Dog the hatch. Seal it. Now!
Stand by.
Ikarra lives!
Ikarra must be protected!
There is no ikarra,
not the way you remember it.
The others like you,
they beat the invaders, all right,
just like they were programmed.
They killed anything that was different--alien--
but we're all aliens to one another--
flawed, impure... Different!
No!
Too tall! Too short!
Too dark! Too light!
Imperfect. They were killed.
And the killing went on and on and on.
No!
The man you took over, Nelson, he's seen ikarra--
ikarra after the others finished protecting it,
cleansing it of every slightest variation in genetics.
You can access his memories.
See for yourself.
Look inside his mind.
See what he's seen.
Go on.
Look into his mind.
He can't hide the truth. He can't lie to you.
Look deep.
Look at it.
A desert.
Yes.
Dead.
A thousand years... Dead.
There's your pure world...
Your perfect world.
We did this?
Yes.
No!
Damn you. Look at it.
You and the rest...
You forgot the first rule of the fanatic.
When you become obsessed with the enemy,
you become the enemy.
Ikarra!
Great maker!
Forgive us...
This...madness!
Forgive us.
[Wailing]
Stephen, how's Nelson?
Medlab 2, resting.
Good.
Vance!
I found this in Nelson's effects.
It's meant for cardial stimulation.
If used on a healthy person,
it could cause cardiac infarction--death.
The body of the customs guard
had two tiny marks on the back,
so small we missed them at first,
but they do match the prongs there.
I spoke to Nelson.
He confirms things I'd hoped I was wrong about.
You knew he did not put those artifacts through quarantine.
He was acting on your orders the whole time.
For god's sake, Vance, why?
Interplanetary expeditions,
the corporation that financed
the dig on ikarra 7, is a front...
A front for a bioweapons supplier.
I could just have turned over the artifacts,
taken the standard commission,
but if they were what I suspected--
organic weapons--
then I could take a chance, hold back on delivery,
and they'd...
Pay millions.
Oh, more...
More money than you can conceive.
But before you could take that chance,
you had to be sure.
That's why you brought them here.
Yeah. Hmm.
You deliberately endangered
a quarter-million humans and aliens
just to raise your profit margin.
I was sure I could control it.
I never expected anybody to get hurt.
What about the murdered customs guard?
Well, we had to get them through customs.
Nelson said he'd do it.
I didn't know how. I didn't ask.
There was too much at stake.
That's why the weapon bonded to him
and not to one of us.
The program needed someone willing to kill.
Look, Stephen, we can work all this out.
We can sell the rest of the artifacts
to interplanetary expeditions.
They have enough muscle to clean up this whole mess.
All you have to do is, uh...
Not turn me in.
I mean, just think what you could do
with all that money.
[Doors open]
It's too late.
Stephen.
[Doorbell rings]
Come.
You've looked better.
Listen, can I talk to you for a second?
Sure.
The whole station's talking about
how you were willing to risk your life to stop that thing.
Ahh, I didn't--
let me finish.
This is the third time in the last year
you've put yourself on the line like this.
I didn't know anyone was counting.
Jeff...
You're my friend.
You've been my friend
a lot longer than you've been my commanding officer,
so I think I'm entitled to say this.
We were both in Earthforce during the war.
I wasn't on the line, but...
I did my share.
I know a lot of guys
who came out of the war changed.
Some came out better. Some came out worse.
A lot of them have this problem.
The war gave them definition, direction, purpose.
Without it, they don't know how to fit in anymore,
so they keep looking for ways to go out in a Blaze of glory.
Some people call that being a hero.
Maybe so. I don't know. I've...Never been one.
Me...i think they're looking for something worth dying for
because it's easier than finding something worth living for.
Finished?
Yeah.
I guess that covers it.
Michael...
I don't have an answer for you.
And...
I think maybe I should.
Thanks.
You seem troubled, doctor.
No. I'm just thinking.
The ikarran fought against invaders
just like we fought against the Minbari.
They became obsessed with it.
Back home, there's a growing pro-Earth movement,
rumors of hate groups targeting aliens.
And on all sides, the fanatics,
who think that society has to be protected
against anyone who's different.
I'm starting to wonder if what we just saw
is a preview of things to come.
No. I can't believe we'd be that foolish.
Santayana--those who do not remember the past
are condemned to repeat it.
Ahem.
Yes?
Dr. Franklin, I have orders to confiscate the artifacts
and transfer them to Earth Central.
On whose authority?
Earthforce defense, bioweapons division--
something about studying them
for planetary security reasons.
It would seem no one reads santayana anymore.
You'll excuse me. If you need me,
I'll be over there,
getting drunk with the rest of the aliens.
Cramer: So, Commander, after all you've just gone through,
I have to ask you the same question
a lot of people back home are asking
about space these days.
Is it worth it?
Should we just pull back,
forget the whole thing as a bad idea,
and take care of our own problems at home?
No. We have to stay here,
and there's a simple reason why.
Ask 10 different scientists about the environment,
population control, genetics,
and you'll get 10 different answers.
But there's one thing
every scientist on the planet agrees on.
Whether it happens in 100 years or 1,000 years
or a million years,
eventually, our sun will grow cold and go out.
When that happens, it won't just take us.
It'll take Marilyn Monroe...
And Lao-tzu and Einstein and Morabuto and...
Buddy Holly and Aristophanes, and...
All of this...
Was for nothing...
Unless we go to the stars.