Harper enters the Obs Lounge and
finds Trance standing by the railing, looking out at the stars. She’s
backlit, a little shadowed.
HARPER
Oh. Hey. Sorry. I was just...
TRANCE
Looking for a place to think?
Trance turns around. But to Harper’s
shock and amazement... IT’S PURPLE TRANCE Blonde hair. Purple skin.
Pointy prehensile tail.
HARPER
Trance?
TRANCE
Guilty.
HARPER
But what... I mean... you’re purple.
TRANCE
Am I?
Harper draws his sidearm and aims it
at Trance.
HARPER
Okay! That’s it. I’m done. You’re going to explain everything to me.
Right now. Or so help me...
TRANCE
You’ll shoot? Go ahead. If it’ll make you feel better. I don’t mind.
HARPER
No freaking way. You are not doing this again. You owe me. Spill.
Trance gets a thoughtful look, then...
TRANCE
Why not? What harm would it do?
HARPER
Seriously? You’re going to tell me everything? Who you are? What the
hell has been happening for the past couple years?
TRANCE
Don’t talk me out of it.
HARPER
Okay, okay. Talk. I’m listening.
Harper holsters his gun.
TRANCE
First... can you answer a question for me?
HARPER (guarded)
Maybe.
TRANCE
What’s the last thing you remember?
HARPER
Err... what do you mean?
TRANCE
What’s going on right now? With Dylan and Tyr and Rev and Beka and
Rommie. What is the exact situation in which this conversation is
taking place?
Harper looks confused.
HARPER
Well Dylan is... uh... (starts over) Okay. Tyr. Tyr is... (crap) Beka?
Rev Bem? What the hell? I don’t really... I have no idea. I mean, it’s
like... freaking hazy.
TRANCE
I was afraid of that.
HARPER
What’s wrong with me?
TRANCE
Nothing. Except you’re not real.
HARPER
I’m not?
TRANCE
No. You’re a probability wave. A possible future Harper.
HARPER
Oh. Errr... so does that mean I don’t get an explanation?
TRANCE
No. But I’ll have to make it a bit more general. Since I’m not sure
which Harper you are. (serious) Okay. The first thing you have to
understand is that I don’t see reality like you do.
HARPER
I know that. You can see the future or whatever.
TRANCE
No. I see possible futures. Even ones that are incredibly, unbelievably
unlikely.
HARPER
You know... I can vaguely remember some pretty freaky, crazy stuff
happening the last few years. Some place called Seefra?
TRANCE
Yeah. That was unlikely.
HARPER
A little. Are you saying that it never really happened?
TRANCE
I’m saying that it may happen. It’s a possibility. There are lots and
lots of possibilities. That’s what’s great about the future. You can
change it. Not like the past.
HARPER
So where are you? Right now?
TRANCE
The same place I always am. In the present. (frowns) At this moment,
I’m trying to decide whether to save you... or let you die and save
Hohne.
HARPER
The tesseracting thing.
TRANCE
Yeah.
HARPER
But... you have a tail.
TRANCE
I’ve always had a tail.
HARPER
Until it got shot off.
TRANCE
Harper, I’ve come back to life after being dead. You really think I
can’t regrow a tail?
HARPER
You know, you kinda scare me sometimes.
TRANCE
Sorry.
HARPER
So everything I remember after that mess with the tesseract... or
everything I don’t remember... it’s all just your imagination?
TRANCE
No. It exists. But only in theory. Like I said... probability waves.
Although... well, the truth is... I have kinda been... daydreaming.
Letting myself dwell on more and more unlikely scenarios in an effort
to get an outcome that was... I don’t know... more appealing than the
one I knew was... well... best.
HARPER
Shouldn’t the best future be the most appealing?
TRANCE
It should. But it wasn’t. Trance reaches up with her tail and strokes
Harper’s cheek.
TRANCE
Because some people I cared about were going to get very hurt.
HARPER
Including me?
TRANCE
I’ve been trying to find a happy ending where that won’t happen.
HARPER
And have you?
TRANCE
No, not really.
Trance looks back out at the stars.
TRANCE
I suppose I should start at the beginning.
HARPER
You, me, Beka, and Rev on the Maru? I can remember that part.
TRANCE
No. The real beginning. The “In the beginning” beginning. Once upon a
time, there was matter. And energy. And Love. And Love meant that all
the matter and all the energy were all bound very tightly together in
one place.
HARPER
Errr... like before the Big Bang?
TRANCE
Exactly. And then something new came along. Something that wasn’t Love.
HARPER
Hate?
TRANCE
Worse. Boredom. Some parts of the matter and energy wanted something
new. Something different. They became... distinct. Adversarial. In
reaction, other individuals arose. Those who wanted Love to continue.
Two factions. Who fought a war in Heaven.
HARPER
A war in Heaven? Like angels and devils and stuff?
TRANCE
Exactly.
Harper’s got a sneaking suspicion.
One he’s afraid to confirm, but he can’t help himself.
HARPER
Which side were you on?
Trance waves her pointy prehensile
tail in front of Harper’s face.
TRANCE
The tail is a dead giveaway. That’s why I let them shoot it off. Harper
still can’t believe it.
HARPER
A real live devil? Horns? Pitchfork?
TRANCE
We called ourselves... well, the best translation is “Lightbringers.”
But maybe it’s more accurate to use the Latin. You know any Latin?
Harper feels his data port.
HARPER
I think I left that chip back in my quarters.
TRANCE
In Latin, the word for “Lightbringer” is “Lucifer.”
Harper is seriously freaked out.
HARPER
My best friend is the devil.
Trance looks moved.
TRANCE
I’m your best friend? Harper, that’s so sweet.
HARPER
Uh... you’re welcome?
TRANCE
So. We fought a war. Against Love. We won. And when it was done... we
blew up Heaven.
HARPER
The Big Bang?
TRANCE
The Lucifers caused everything to explode. Energy. Life. Excitement.
The end to boredom. As the Lucifers blasted the
universe into existence, we gathered matter and energy around
ourselves. And we burned. Oh, how we burned.
Trance looks out at the stars.
Revealing her tattoo. A sun with a face.
TRANCE
And we’re still burning. Today.
HARPER
Suns.
TRANCE
Suns. Lucifers. Devils. (a beat) But Love didn’t die in the War. Love
still existed. And Love wanted to restore Heaven. By collapsing
existence back into itself.
HARPER
You’re saying the Spirit of the Abyss... is... God?
TRANCE
No. Harper, if there’s a God, It’s greater than you or me or the Abyss.
It’s beyond all meaning. All understanding. The Abyss is just the other
side of the coin. The Lucifers want energy, chaos, expansion. The Abyss
wants harmony, order, singularity.
HARPER
So on one side... Love. On the other...
TRANCE
Blowing Things Up.
Trance puts on her best “school
teacher” expression.
TRANCE
It’s the tension between these two forces... Love on one side and
Blowing Things Up on the other that makes everything possible. Except
there was a problem. In the end, we knew... Love was going to win. In
the End, everything was going to collapse back down into singularity
again.
HARPER
And you know that because you can see the future?
TRANCE
No. Because it’s happened before. Many times. The Universe explodes
into existence, thrives, then collapses back on itself. Everything
ends. Eventually, the Lucifers arise again. And everything explodes.
Again. Expansion, contraction, expansion, contraction. We even created
a device, a way of ensuring that the explosion would always happen. We
called it the Engine of Creation. (concerned) Are you following all of
this?
HARPER
I have no idea. But keep going.
TRANCE
Unfortunately, this time around, Love wasn’t willing to wait for the
normal dance. Love tried to force the end to come early. And to make
sure that there would never be another explosion again. We couldn’t
have that. So we fought back. We made a plan to annihilate Love. To
make sure that the Universe never collapsed again. We incarnated
ourselves as avatars, projecting our consciousnesses into fabricated
bodies connected to our home suns through the Slipstream. Then, as
avatars, we used our ability to foresee probabilities and try to force
existence to take a different path. And that’s where you come in.
HARPER
Me?
TRANCE
You. Dylan. Beka. Tyr. Rev Bem. Andromeda. In our projections, you were
six very important people. Separately, you would all do great things.
But our projections showed that together, you might do the impossible.
Together, you might destroy the Abyss and end the war. It was my job to
bring you together. To manipulate you. To make sure you did what was
necessary to bring about the best of all possible worlds. The Perfect
Possible Future. Trance shakes her head.
TRANCE
Only... there was a problem. I started to like you.
HARPER
And that’s bad?
TRANCE
People who do great things... they don’t always enjoy it. The Perfect
Possible Future for me and my brothers and sisters... wasn’t
necessarily the best of all possible worlds for you.
HARPER (imitating a buzzer)
Buzzzz. Vagueness.
TRANCE
Okay. Specifics. Let’s start with Tyr. In the Perfect Possible
Future... Tyr Anasazi, out of Victoria, by Barbarossa... becomes the
greatest military leader in the universe. Using his child as a
figurehead, he unites the Nietzscheans. He establishes an Empire. He
drives his enemies before him. He hears the lamentations of their women.
HARPER
Man. And Dylan lets him?
TRANCE
Dylan has his own fate. Dylan Hunt, with the help of his legendary
ship, the Andromeda Ascendent, re-establishes the Commonwealth. Fear of
Tyr and the Magog help him unite the Than, the Perseids, and many
others into a great society. Dylan proves himself over and over as a
great leader. And eventually he leads his new Commonwealth into a great
war against Tyr and Tyr’s allies. And then there’s Rev...
HARPER
Rev. I miss Rev.
TRANCE
He’s happier where he is now. Happier, but not as great. (a beat) The
Wayist Church hasn’t had a Magog leader since it’s founding. But Rev
Bem... Behemial Fartraveller... in the Perfect Possible Future, he
changes all that. Rising to the top of his Church, backed by a
fanatical army of Wayist Magog and devoted believers... Rev Bem creates
a third great nation. A religious state an equal to both the
Commonwealth and the Nietzschean Empire. And then...
She looks to Harper...
TRANCE
The fourth great state arises. Led by... you.
HARPER
Me?ഊ
TRANCE
You.
HARPER
I’m just an engineer.
TRANCE
Exactly.
HARPER
All I know are machines.
TRANCE
Yes.
HARPER
Then how...?
TRANCE
The Consensus of Parts.
HARPER
Those freaky machine-thingies? I was supposed to lead them?
TRANCE
No. You were to become them. (gently) Bit by bit, in our adventures,
you, Harper, lose yourself. Literally. An arm at first. A leg. An eye.
In time, you become less a man and more... machine. At the very end, in
a battle with the Consensus, when they try to absorb Andromeda and the
Commonwealth fleet... you absorb them instead. Your mind, your
consciousness, spreads like a virus through the entire Consensus. You
cease to exist as a man... and become a nation.
HARPER
Me?
TRANCE
You.
HARPER
So if my mind goes out into the
Consensus... my body...?
TRANCE
Dies.
HARPER
Wow. (a beat) That... that kinda sucks, honestly.
TRANCE
Yeah. I know.
Trance is actually crying a little.
She turns to Harper.
TRANCE
I couldn’t do it, Harper. I couldn’t create a future where that
happened to you. So I tried to find another way. A way that was easier.
Happier. More... appealing. Less complicated.
HARPER
You threw out the entire future... for me?
TRANCE
I wanted so badly to save you. There were those... those with even more
power than me... that wanted things to be different. They wanted you...
eliminated. Right from the start. They wanted me replaced. So a lot of
what I did... too much maybe... I did to protect you. To protect me.
Beka. Tyr. Rev Bem. I wanted to keep you all safe. Alive.
HARPER
But not Dylan?
TRANCE
In all the possibilities, Dylan was indispensable. He was the chosen of
the great powers. He was always going to be there. In some
possibilities, he was destined to become truly great. In some, he went
mad. In still others, he warped the entire Commonwealth to suit his own
ends. But there had to be a Dylan. Without Dylan, nothing was possible.
With him... Great things could happen. I tried to make Dylan great. I
wanted him to be remembered as the greatest hero of this or any age.
You, Beka, Tyr, Rev Bem, me, our very existences were always in
question. Rommie was safe. In any scenario, she would always be there,
beautiful, deadly, brilliant, loyal. And Dylan... his survival was
assured. Whatever happened would begin and end with him. What was
always at stake for Captain Dylan Hunt... was his soul. Would he do
what was right to achieve his goals? What compromises would he make?
What betrayals and at what cost?
Harper is still trying to digest all
this. And then he realizes...
HARPER
Beka. You haven’t said what happens to Beka.
TRANCE
Beka.
Trance shakes her head sadly.
TRANCE
The Perfect Possible Future... was always in the hands of Beka.
HARPER
Beka... I always thought Dylan...
TRANCE
Dylan is crucial. Dylan is the catalyst. And the heart. But at the
final crisis point... the final decision... it all comes down to Beka.
And the Engine of Creation.
HARPER
The Big Bang Machine? The reset button for the Universe?
TRANCE
Beka is obsessed with the Engine. Because she knows it can change...
everything. With the Engine, she could remake reality. Work miracles.
Right wrongs. She could make her brother safe. Find her mother. Even
bring her father back to life. So in the Perfect Possible Future, Beka
locates the many parts of the Engine. She puts them together. She
recreates the Engine of Creation.
HARPER
And lives happily ever after?
TRANCE
No. Because the Engine wants to be used. It becomes part of her. It
literally melds with her. And makes her... like a god. But the more she
uses that power... to bring Ignatius Valentine back to life, to fix the
Andromeda when the ship gets torn apart... to resurrect an entire
world, the more she loses herself. And the more the Engine tempts her
to fix... everything. To crunch the Universe back down to a
singularity, then start all over again. War. Explosion. Love and
Blowing Things Up. The entire dance.
HARPER
So how’s it end?
TRANCE
There’s a terrible war. Dylan and the Commonwealth against Tyr and
Nietzscheans at first. Then you, the Consensus. Rev. The Wayists. And
then you’re all swept into an even bigger war. Between the Magog backed
by the Abyss. And the Pyrians backed by the Lucifers. With the help of
you, Tyr, Rev and Rommie, Dylan manages to unite all the forces arrayed
against him into one unified front. The Commonwealth is reborn, but now
it includes the Nietzscheans, the Wayists and the Consensus. He even
forces the Vedrans out of hiding. With his friends and allies at his
side, Dylan comes to aid the Pyrians in their fight against the Abyss.
But it’s not enough. The Abyss is too strong. So Dylan realizes, the
only way to win is to destroy the Abyss. And the only one who can do
that... is Beka.
HARPER
So Beka takes on the Abyss?
TRANCE
The seven of us are reunited for one last mission. In a heroic journey,
against impossible odds, Dylan takes us on the Andromeda to a place in
the Slipstream where everything began and everything will end. The
singularity. There, while Dylan and you and Tyr and Rev and Rommie and
I battle endless waves of horrifying foes, Beka confronts the Abyss. In
the original plan, the plan I was supposed to make come true, Beka
kills the Abyss... But I stopped believing that was the best outcome.
So instead, in the Perfect Possible Future, Beka realizes something...
Trance frowns.
TRANCE
If she destroys the Abyss, the balance will be broken. The tension
between Chaos and Order, Life and Death, Expansion and
Contraction, will end. But if she lets the Abyss win, everyone she
knows and loves will die. And neither of those endings are really all
that great. So instead, she does the only thing she can do. She loves.
Trance gets a distant look.
TRANCE
She loves you all already. Like a mother and a sister and a daughter
and a wife. So she expands that love. She learns to love the
conflict. She learns to love the peace. She learns to love all of
creation. Every part of it, good
and bad. Even the broken places. And then... she embraces the Abyss.
And becomes it.
HARPER
Beka becomes God?
TRANCE
I told you, the Abyss isn’t God. What Beka becomes is Love. But more
than Love. Because Beka understands that Love isn’t enough. That pain
and conflict and struggle are part of life, too. Beka becomes...
everything. And everything can’t war with itself. So the war... ends.
HARPER
And Beka... what? Dies?
TRANCE
Apotheosizes. Technically. But yes, Beka as you know her... ceases to
exist.
HARPER
That is seriously freaky.
TRANCE
It’s as freaky as it gets.
HARPER
And the rest of us?
TRANCE
It’s hard to say. In some versions, some live, others die. In others,
others live, some die. If you die, you die so others might live. And if
you live, you do so because others have died. There is no victory
without blood. No birth without pain. But no matter how it resolves...
one thing is always the same.
HARPER
I get laid? Tell me I get laid.
TRANCE
Better. You become a legend. You all do. We all do. Captain Dylan Hunt,
Captain Beka Valentine. Tyr Anasazi, the Emperor of the Nietzscheans.
The Reverend Behemial, Voice of the Way. Seamus Zelanzy Harper, the
Soul of the Machine. Trance Gemini, Lucifer, Solar Avatar...
troublemaker. And the Andromeda Ascendent, the greatest, the most
powerful, the most beautiful and the most sarcastic starship that ever
sailed the Slipstream. And for generations, our exploits live on in
memory, serving as an example and an inspiration to all who hear the
tale. The end.
Harper thinks about it for a long
moment.
HARPER
You know... that doesn’t suck.
TRANCE
Seriously?
HARPER
I mean, I get it. I die. More or less. Beka dies. Kinda. And maybe you
or Tyr or Rev dies. Maybe even Dylan dies. But it’s all worth it. It’s
all for something. And that’s what matters, right?
TRANCE
It’s not the easiest way, Harper. It’s not the prettiest... or the
simplest... It may not even be a way that, in the end, everyone
understands. Sometimes it’s funny. Sometimes it’s sad. But it’s also
complicated, and messy, and loud.
HARPER
But it’s not boring. And that’s the only things worse than hate, right?
Boredom?
TRANCE (smiles)
It’s never boring.
Harper shakes his head.
HARPER
So now what?
TRANCE
What do you mean?
HARPER
Now that we’ve had our talk, what...? I cease to exist? This little
possible future ends and you start the real thing?
TRANCE
Right now, there is no real thing, Harper. Right now there are only
possibilities. Illusions. Stories that may or may not have any meaning.
I’ve laid out one, the one that I can see clearest. But there are
limitless others. Whatever you can imagine might happen... might
happen. And who knows... what you imagine might be even better than my
Perfect Possible Future. Who am I to say that my way is right and yours
is wrong?
HARPER
Trance. You’re Trance. You always were.
Trance turns and gives Harper a kiss
on the cheek. It’s tender, simple, and speaks volumes.
TRANCE
Whatever happens... I’m glad it happened at all. I’m glad I got to play
in this world. I’m glad I got to know you all. It’s been... well, it’s
been a hell of a ride. And I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
HARPER
Me neither.
Harper doesn’t know what to say next.
HARPER
I guess I should go. You know... so I can cease to exist and you can
decide how it all ends.
But Trance places her tail on
Harper’s shoulder and looks out at the stars.
TRANCE
Not yet. Stay with me for a little while more. And just... look at the
stars.
Harper considers everything he’s just
heard, and then...
HARPER
Look at the stars? I can do that. Harper turns toward the endless
starscape and he and Trance consider... well... everything.
PULL BACK TO REVEAL:
EXT. SPACE - ANDROMEDA ASCENDENT
We see, in all its glory, the Andromeda Ascendant, the greatest, the
most powerful, the most beautiful starship ever. As it turns. And
crackles with energy. And... JUMPS TO SLIPSTREAM And then it’s gone.
And then...One more quote. For old time’s sake: Click
here to continue.