CARTER: Previously on Eureka...
You wouldn't want to miss this. It's an historic moment for Eureka.
I think that we should move in together.
I need to figure out what I want.
I'll be thinking about you.
Huh.
Walkabout. Safe travels, Jo.
COMPUTER: Launch sequence initiating.
Someone else is controlling this launch.
Where'd they go?
We're in an uncontrolled descent! Brace for impact!
Hey, folks, welcome back.
There's been a lot of changes since you've been gone.
This is Jenna.
It's very nice to meet you.
CARTER: You were gone for four years, Allie.
It was Jo who pulled me back.
Jo's in Jenna's life now and I can't take that from her.
CARTER: I'm really sorry, Allie.
DEKKER: She's crying.
BEVERLY: Because everything she's experiencing feels absolutely real to her.
She's emotionally invested in the reality she's just helped create. We all are.
The greatest minds in Eureka are working for us now and they don't even know it.
BEVERLY: The Astraeus and her crew have been gone for a month.
Soon, Eureka will have to accept that loss.
And, meanwhile, the greatest scientists of our time
are wired into an artificial world that we control.
They have no idea that what they're experiencing isn't real,
but what they design in that construct is very real.
DEKKER: And useful.
In the last month they've made strides in biotech, engineering and weaponry.
We're about to give them the problem of genetics.
All of these scientific discoveries belong to us.
That's very impressive, but how long can you sustain this?
Indefinitely. The photonic plasma processor makes trillions
of real-time adjustments in order to keep the world feeling authentic.
So authentic that a severe virtual trauma could trigger a fatal neurogenic shock.
These are smart people, Dr. Barlowe.
What if they start to question their world?
Or the non-player characters who are there with them?
That's why we chose to put them in a future reality.
But should a subject threaten to expose the construct, they will be retired.
Allison can you hear me? We got to get them out of there.
What happens to Dr. Blake if the ship launches?
Without the bio-pod to protect her from gravitational stresses,
the only chance she has is the jump seat.
Well, I'm getting her out of there.
I can't let you do that! It's too dangerous!
Oh, fire me!
Jack!
(SIREN WAILING)
If he breaches the cooling chambers, the core centers will shut down,
to keep the reactor from overheating.
Come on. Come on, Jack. Come on.
(GRUNTING)
COMPUTER: Warning, reactor core overheating.
Where are you?
Anything?
Nothing new.
How about you?
I've tested the system over a dozen times and there is no evidence of sabotage.
Well, we'll find 'em. We just keep looking.
Where? I mean it's been a month and still no leads.
It's like they vanished without a trace, Jack.
Everything leaves a trace. Yeah.
When was the last time you ate?
I'm not hungry. I'm just going to start the tapes and take a look.
You know what? Why don't you take a break and have lunch with the kids?
They need you too.
Thanks.
Okay. Okay.
Okay, universe, I am ready. Enlighten me.
Any time now. Uh-huh. Bring it on.
(SEAGULLS CAWING LOUDLY)
I should have gone to the desert.
Should've read the sign.
Oh, no! Oh, Okay, it said beach parking.
You need a permit.
Look, I'm at a bit of a crossroads in my life
and, uh...
And I know it sounds flakey, a friend told me to go on walkabout.
So, if you could just give me just a small break this one time,
you know, it would really help my positive outlook thing.
Yeah. Sorry. Here's the number for a cab.
You have a nice day.
You don't bring a cell phone on walkabout.
Thanks, universe.
Here you go. Grilled cheese with fontina and aged gouda.
Best comfort food on the planet.
If there is anything else I can do, please just let me know.
Thanks, Vince.
He sounds worried.
Oh, we're all a little worried. Yeah.
Well, he won't be when I finish my scanner.
You see, I've been thinking that
punching through a wormhole has to produce a mess of strangelets.
The what's-its?
They're theoretical particles equally composed of up, down, and strange quarks.
See, that's like answering a question with a question.
First off, I have to prove that strangelets actually exist.
That's going to be rough.
Well, you just, you keep at it, with that what you're doing.
Hey guys. Um, boss, can I talk to you for a minute?
Sure. Is it about the ship?
Hey, did you find something? No, Kevin, we didn't.
Well, look, if it's about my mom, I want to know, okay? So what's going on?
The Department of Defense has officially called off the search for the Astraeus.
I'm so sorry.
Well, they can't.
Senator Wen says she's exhausted all of her resources and no sign of the Astraeus,
they think the chances of finding any survivors are poor
Jack, Jack, you can't let them do this. Kevin.
You can't just stop looking!
Kevin, I'll talk to the Senator, okay?
Kevin!
R.F. Rate is down again. 25.2.
Cut resolution in grids fifteen through one-seventy-eight.
JENNA: Almost. Uh-huh, uh-huh!
Darn it. You are good at this.
Thanks. You are too. I'll let you win next time.
(LAUGHS)
Oh, this looks like fun. You want to play the winner?
Well, I wish I could but I have to kidnap your mom for a little while.
The next batch of biological experiments needs to come off the Astraeus
and the D.O.D. Ordered protocols for a genetic study.
They could give us a moment to catch our breath.
It's been one assignment after another since we got back.
I know. I'm finally carving out time to review the flight data.
You mean you're going to find out why my mom was gone for so long?
I am just glad I'm back now, right?
Jo, I won Uno.
Oh, good job. I'm so proud.
Are you okay? Do I have a choice?
Doesn't seem real, does it? Everything that's happened.
No.
Hey, I'm going out to the Astraeus to help you with the offload.
Great. Let's go.
VINCE: Goodbye, Allison.
Something wrong?
No.
Tell me she didn't see that.
What just happened there?
A real-time render error.
Because the system was designed for 20 people,
not 20 plus one last minute RSVP.
Dr. Blake was a lucky accident.
Her presence is overloading the processor. She shouldn't be here.
It wasn't our decision to make. We follow orders.
Yeah. From people who don't understand the system the way I do.
I don't have the authority to deviate and neither do you.
I want to thank everyone for your efforts.
I know this is difficult for all of us.
Senator Wen! You have to keep searching!
Sheriff, you have no idea how hard this decision was for me.
Then don't make it. Don't call off the search.
I have pulled in every resource at my disposal,
satellites, space-based radar systems...
And I appreciate everything you've done.
And these devices need to get back to doing their jobs.
And so do you. I'm doing my job.
Then you can help Dr. Fong recover his stolen equipment.
I don't care about his stolen equipment right now.
I know you're grieving, Sheriff, so I won't take that personally.
I'm not grieving. I'm searching.
I truly hope you're right, Sheriff.
But I also think you need to
prepare yourself for the likelihood that they're not coming back.
It's time to turn your focus back to this world.
Good day, gentlemen.
Yeah.
So what's your problem?
When I started packing up,
some of my deep space listening devices were taken from the truck.
Particle detectors just taken right off Main Street.
You know, sometimes I wonder what this town is coming to.
I think I know where they might be.
You're not making my job any easier, Kev.
I wasn't trying to. I needed the stuff so I took it.
I'm going to pretend that you said "borrow it" and we're going to take it back.
You can't be stealing top secret equipment, Kevin.
You think they're dead?
Kevin... No, seriously, in your gut, do you think that my mom is dead?
No. I can't believe that.
All right, me either. Can you please just let me do one more thing, all right?
Look, I know I can find them. Please.
Not this way. Pack up the stuff.
We're going.
JO: So, what's in here?
Biological experiments we were taking to Titan.
Biological as in rats?
Rats, worms, insects, even reptiles.
There's a study on the effects of solar wind
on the reproductive systems of bearded iguanas.
That's a career maker.
Kevin wants an iguana.
Or he did when he was younger.
He thought they were dragons.
Jenna loves dragons.
Really? Yeah. I read her The Hobbit last year.
She made me read the part about the dragon over and over again.
And then she'd get scared and want to sleep in our bed.
Sorry.
No. Don't be.
(BANGING)
What is that?
Sounds big.
(GROWLING)
Move!
(ALARMS BEEPING)
What is it?
The rendering algorithm is cycling independently and I don't have any control.
Get control.
JO: Down! Everybody, down!
What was that? I don't know!
Cool. I love dragons.
BEVERLY: That's quite a glitch, Mr. Dekker.
It's supposed to be a genetically altered squamate, about ten inches long,
but what that is, I don't know.
Really? Because I saw a dragon.
The program constructs the reality by using the memories of the participant cortices.
But there's an algorithm that filters any imaginary elements.
Clearly it's malfunctioning.
We're pushing the logic processor too hard.
We can restart the genetic assignment with another animal
and I will delete the creature.
No. We've already done enough to make the crew start to question things.
That creature needs to be eliminated in a way that feels believable to them.
Honestly, Doug, a dragon?
But you weren't here. It had the claws and the wings!
That doesn't change the fact that dragons are mythical, as in mythical.
Mythical is just another word for not yet discovered.
Dr. Blake, want to help me educate a skeptic?
Fargo, I'm a bit skeptical myself.
I'm talking about dragons and one suddenly appears?
Well, do you have another explanation?
Chemical exposure. A big breath of EA 48 nerve gas
and you would be seeing Elvis
driving Santa's sleigh being pulled by a team of dragons.
First, we're going to deal with the dragon, then Elvis.
That was just a for instance.
I'll run some tests. Bye.
You okay? Yeah, I'm fine.
I'm feeling slightly insane. But otherwise peachy.
Well, we're going to track it down. Whatever it is.
Oh, you can track down a hallucination?
I'm that good. Actually Jo's at G.D. Getting weapons.
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, we're just going to kill it?
Well, if we have to. We've got stop it from doing fly-bys at Portland Airport.
So we capture it.
And do you have any dragon tranquilizers?
We can use a super symmetrical particle net.
Experimental enclosure made of sub-atomic strings.
No one has made one that has lasted longer than a microsecond.
I will call Zane,
I've been noodling some news to overcome the Yukawa potential.
It's worth a try, at least before we slay it.
DEKKER: We have to clean up this mess.
This mess could inspire them to create super symmetric particle netting,
which would be an incredible advance.
I'll call for further instructions.
No. Just do what I say.
Use the Carter N.P.C. And get them on task.
Yes. You get Zane to help you. Yes!
Feel like a walk in the woods?
Whatever this thing is you got a good look at it and I could use your help.
Okay.
You look tired. And beautiful.
You wouldn't want to give me a hand with that phosphor cryo-module, would you?
No, I can't. I have tons of Astraeus launch telemetry to go through.
Why?
Because I'm the captain, Henry. It was my mission and I need answers.
Grace, you know the answer. We found it.
And after a year's investigation it was an accident.
A faulty resonator chip. It was an accident.
I need to get back to this. You sure?
Your loss.
$286. Hmm. Thanks, universe.
Whoo-hoo!
Ow!
Jo, what did you do?
Hi, Dad.
Excuse me. What the hell are you doing?
Hi. Sorry. I used to live here when I was a little girl.
Are you Lupo? Yes.
Yeah, I think I got a message for you. Stay there.
Oh, the universe finally has something to tell me.
It's weird that it's coming from her. So, what's the message?
They're all from the same guy, Carter.
Tell him to stop calling me for crap's sake.
Carter?
Yeah. He says it's an emergency
Don't you have a cell phone?
You don't bring a cell phone on walkabout!
So I don't know what to do. I mean, I want to stay positive,
but I don't want to give the kids false hope. Here you go.
No, thanks.
And it's hard, right? Because I don't want to set them up to be crushed either.
Right.
(CLEARS THROAT)
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just astounded at what Kevin's done.
Yes, grand larceny is impressive.
This is beyond brilliant. I mean he's actually designed a strangelet detector.
Yeah, those are the particles he was talking about.
This device could actually be sensitive enough to pick up their energy signature.
What do you mean?
It is possible to see the path of the ship. It's a long shot.
The wake could have faded by now. We don't have much time!
Kevin, you want to come down for a sec?
I did my homework and I cleaned my room
but I'm not going to say I'm sorry because I'm not.
No, Kevin, just...
Um...
What do you need to finish this?
You serious?
Did I miss something?
Ah, well, when everybody found out what you're up to they wanted to help out.
This is amazing.
All right, well, we've got just about everything.
I still need an arc-second pulse array.
Done!
Tell me what it is and I'm on it!
It's a, frequency enhancer found on ultra large antennae dishes.
I actually think I know where to find one of those things.
But I'm going to need a little help with security.
Andy, just the man I was looking for.
Gee, thanks, boss. For an A.I. That's mighty touching.
I think I might need your help with something.
Would it be building a strangelet detector out of stolen equipment?
Why would you say that?
I've been noting the stream of devices passing by.
I was going to make a mass arrest later on.
I think you might need to forget about being a deputy for a little while.
(LAUGHING)
I don't actually forget anything, Sheriff.
I can tell you what socks you were wearing every day since my activation.
Not forget, um, ignore.
See, we need to borrow one last piece of equipment.
That sounds dangerously like conspiracy to commit a felony, Sheriff.
It does, and dangerously similar,
but this might be our last chance to find the crew of the Astraeus.
So what do you say?
I say, that if it were my SARAH up there, I would do anything to bring her back.
Great.
So what do you think we're looking for? If anything.
Well, the Astraeus has thousands of genetic experiments.
I don't know what kind of mutations could occur.
And if it's a lizard, how big are we talking? How big do they get?
Well, monitor lizards can grow up to 10 feet long.
That's awesome.
We haven't done this in a while.
What, track a dragon?
Yeah something crazy like that. I missed it.
Don't say that. You don't think this is hard enough as it is?
Sorry.
(BRANCHES BREAKING)
What? What is it?
Oh, hey, hi.
What are you doing here?
Looking for whatever it was you all saw,
which, for the record, I'm absolutely sure was not a dragon.
Oh.
Holly. Holly, where are you going?
(GROWLING)
Oh. Do you guys see this too? Yes.
Holy Stromboli.
Step away from the dragon.
What?
Jo, we got it. Holly.
I told you.
No, but Holly, don't. Don't!
Don't worry, it's not real.
(SCREECHING)
(SCREAMING) Holly!
Ow!
ALLISON: Oh, I'm sorry it hurts. Yeah. Isn't that cool?
You don't know what kind of dragon bacteria that thing has under its nails.
Doug, let's look at this logically.
A. My arm totally hurts. B. It hurts because it was scratched by a dragon.
C. Dragons don't exist, therefore...
Therefore what?
I don't know. That's why it's so cool.
Okay. I'm going to get you wrapped up,
get you a shot of wide-spectrum antibiotics
and then you can get out of here.
So how is this cool?
Oh, well, Holly has a unique view on the world.
You both did see something before it skittered off in the woods?
Yeah. It kind of blinked out for a second.
Well, lizards can change color, right? That camouflage thing?
Right. Cryptic colorization. No, it wasn't like that at all.
Okay, um, you were both on the Astraeus.
Could the FTL jump have done something like that?
Well, visual recognition involves large part of the ventral stream in the brain.
It's a delicate structure. I mean it's possible.
Since when do you know so much about neuroscience?
Night school.
Yeah, um, look, I'm going to go check on Zane.
He's almost done the dragon, uh, capture...
Super symmetric particle netting.
Exactly. Yeah.
Holly?
Oh, she's fine. She'll be all healed up in about a week or two.
And you get to put "dragon attack" on your mission report.
Allison,
can you think of any reason why Henry wouldn't want me to
go through the records of the launch?
No, it's your job. You're the captain.
No, I know, it just felt like he didn't want me poking around.
Really?
Henry is probably one of the most curious people that I've ever met.
He loves a good mystery more than anyone.
Oh, it's for Holly.
Are we really looking for a dragon?
I don't know what Holly would say, but in my book if something hurts you,
then it's real.
This is so exciting! What's the plan, boss?
What we want is inside that building. So you go in, grab the array,
I'll keep watch. Great.
The only thing is the massive electrical fields in that building
might disable my CPU. So better yet, you go and I'll keep watch.
Super.
Hey, boss, my sensors read about 6700 megawatts bouncing around in there.
Wish me luck!
Okay. Good luck, boss. Thank you.
Oh!
Where are you? Okay.
Where are you?
Nice.
Bingo.
Ow!
(GROANING)
MAN: Freeze! Oh, oh!
Who are you?
I'm Deputy Andy, local law enforcement.
Oh, come on, Andy, be cool.
This area is off limits, Deputy. Military personnel only. Senator Wen's orders.
Did I miss the memo? Oops, sorry. My bad.
Good job.
You want to tell me exactly what you're doing here?
Sure. The Sheriff and I are here on a late night mission to steal
your arc-second pulse array. No.
Right.
(LAUGHING)
SOLDIER: That's funny. But seriously, you can't be here.
So if you wouldn't mind.
Oh, yeah. I understand. I'll head on back to my car then.
Way to go, Andy.
Okay, bye, guys.
Well, Henry's taking the pulse array to the site and Kevin
is almost finished with the assembly.
They could use some more work lights and coffee.
Right. Well, that we can provide.
We're like a regular Butch and Sundance.
Yeah, only Sundance almost blew the entire operation with his compulsive truth-telling.
Yeah, well, maybe don't consider a life of crime.
I was just about to give you the same advice.
Senator Wen, how are you?
Well, a lot better than you two. Where's the pulse array?
Well, then you've left me no choice. Arrest them.
Yesterday I was an officer of the law, today
I'm a jail bird. A con, in the pokey, up the river.
We did the right thing. Kevin and Henry and are going to find that ship.
How? We've been searching for weeks and haven't seen a thing.
Well, then we're just going to keep searching.
We're looking in space, boss. Space.
You have any idea how big space is? It's like looking for a needle in a haystack
when the haystack is 28 billion light years across.
What are we supposed to do? Just give up?
Go home and tell Jenna and Kevin that their mother is gone?
Listen, boss, there has to be a moment when you give up hope.
When you forget about what's up there
and you focus on what's down here.
Down here?
I'm not sensing a tone of sadness or despair in your voice there, boss.
Down here. It's the one place we haven't looked.
We got to get out of here. Andy, break open these bars!
These bars are hardened carbon nanotubes, boss. I'm not going to be able to break these.
All right, then we do something else. Dig, robot, dig!
Dig?
(LAUGHING) Isn't this a pretty picture?
I leave you for a few weeks and the two of you wind up behind bars.
I'm so ashamed. You got my messages.
I got your messages, yeah. Can I give you guys a hand?
Um, yeah. There's this guard outside...
Yes. He and I spoke and he's well, taking a little bit of a nap right now,
so, shall we?
Yes. After you.
Let's go, guys! It's good to see you.
You too. Now what the heck is going on?
Well, where to start?
All right, looking good here. How you doing, Kev?
Done.
All right, here we go. Here we go.
All right, we should pick something up.
Yeah.
We're too late. The particles have already degraded.
We can try adjusting the frequency.
Henry! We've been searching the wrong haystack!
Jo, you're back.
Yeah. In time to break these guys out ofjail.
All this time we were thinking about if it went up there.
What happens if the ship landed down here?
It couldn't. I mean without a boson cloud exciter to absorb the impact,
it would vaporize.
Unless someone was prepared to catch it.
Someone built their own B.C.E.
Well, we were thinking that it was sabotage. What if it was theft?
It wouldn't hurt to try. Right?
Yeah. Let's tilt it down first.
All right.
HENRY: Pan it across.
Please. Please. Please. Please.
Oh, my God!
That's it. She's down here.
All right, and with the strength of that wake, they're not too far away
so we can triangulate their exact location.
(POLICE SIRENS)
Well, good morning, everyone.
Grand larceny, assault, and now a jail break.
What have you done, Sheriff?
We found the Astraeus. And potentially her crew.
That's the trail. Is this possible?
So either help us or shoot us but we're following that trail.
Sergeant, go with them! Yes, ma'am.
I'm going to call for backup.
CARTER: Anything?
Nope. Zane, what's the range on this thing?
Maybe 30 yards.
That would be a guess considering I finished building it an hour ago.
Might not work at all. I have faith.
Oh, she has faith.
So, is this thing big and nasty?
Yeah, 15 feet long.
Good. Kind of hoping it comes out and kills the both of them.
Does that make me a jerk?
Well, given the circumstances I'd say it's only natural.
So what about you? What?
Well, Jo and I, we weren't even a real couple when I left.
But you and Carter, you guys were in love.
That's worth fighting for, isn't it?
(DRAGON ROARING)
Get down!
Any time, Jo.
Not yet.
How about now?
(DRAGON SCREECHING)
Nice!
Nice shot, Jo.
Piece of cake.
A super symmetric particle net with portable launcher. That's incredible.
That's Zane Donovan.
Download the specs and get a prototype off the printer.
She'll be very pleased.
(PHONE RINGING)
Yes? How long?
Move! Move!
Go! Go! Go! Go!
Secure the area!
Yes, ma'am. MAN: Go sweep!
Carter. Yeah?
We're too late.
(SIGHS)
What were they doing to them? I don't know.
The Astraeus was here all along.
Amazing detective work, Sheriff.
Well, not amazing enough, right?
Well, we have every government agency involved with the manhunt.
Yeah, but why leave the ship and take the crew?
Exactly.
I don't know but I promise you we will find them.
You were right, Kev. You never gave up hope.
And, um, at least now we know that your mother is here, right?
We were so close.
I know. I know. They left in a hurry.
Yeah. It was almost like they knew we were coming.
We got to get to G.D.
Wow. Here you go.
Thank you. How's Jo?
Well, she's indestructible. I mean another day, another dragon, right?
Well, we'll do a full bio scan and genetic workup,
help us figure out where this thing came from.
Yeah, is it gonna tell you why it fritzed out right in front of you?
Well, I don't know, maybe. Whatever it is I saw,
whatever Holly saw, it's not going to change what's inside of this truck.
Yeah.
It's hard to believe, but...
Well, we all have to learn to accept reality, Carter.
No matter how hard it is.
Yeah.
I want every experiment on the Astraeus rechecked.
Take full security and biohazard precautions.
Yes, ma'am.
Hey, Captain. How's it going?
Well, this thing was hiding out on my ship.
I need to make sure we don't have any other hitchhikers.
Yeah, but first I get to take you out for breakfast.
Uh, no. That's sweet but I still have a lot of launch footage to go through.
The D.O.D. Came this morning and they took all the files.
What?
Yeah, apparently they were classified as Top Secret.
I mean no one's in trouble. They were just mislabeled.
I can't look at records for the launch of my own ship?
Apparently not. Sorry. But maybe it's a good thing.
How... Because I get to take you out for breakfast.
Shall we?
Oh, are you here to gloat?
Oh, you bet, because I got 2000 pounds of dragon proof riding
on a flatbed truck right now.
All right. You have to admit it still seems a little impossible.
Impossible? Well, impossible
is being shipped to a biological habitat, as we speak.
Okay, Doug, are you finished? Not until you say it.
Say what? "I'm sorry, Doug, you were right. I was wrong."
You don't ever want to have sex again, do you?
Yeah, no. I'll catch up with you later. Love you.
Shouldn't we be investigating the place we know they ended up?
Well, I'm more interested in where it started.
Jack, you've watched this footage a thousand times.
Yeah, I know, but I realized something.
All this time we were looking at the wrong thing.
Want to know how they knew we were coming?
Because I told her.
Oh, my God.
Hey, Holly, you okay?
Do you see anything on my arm?
Yeah. You're injured.
Yeah, I was scratched by a dragon which is a mythical creature
and then I saw this disappear.
We're going to get you to the infirmary.
Oh. Maybe. Maybe because that could be a logical answer to all of this.
I could be having delusions, which could be caused by a lot of things,
schizophrenia, of course, or a brain tumor or cocaine addiction or temporal focal...
Yeah. It seems unlikely. Long shot.
Or it could be an infection of some kind.
Malaria or lupus could cause delusions. True.
Or I could just be dreaming.
I could be in some awesome end REM dream cycle.
We're going to get you to talk to Allison, okay?
Allison saw the dragon disappear. She did.
Oh, my God, it didn't disappear.
It de-res-ed like the scratches on my arms.
They're all processor glitches, like part of a computer game freaking out.
Wait, we could all be inside some totally advanced computer construct that just looks
and feels like the real world and we wouldn't even know it.
Oh, Holly.
I'm so sorry you said that.
(ALARMS BEEPING)
What are you doing? You're killing her!
She's dangerous. You know it.
Dr. Marten is brilliant. That's why we took her. You can't do this.
Beverly, you should be very proud.
You should also remember who you answer to.
(BEEPING FLAT LINES)
You said 21 was a problem, now you have 20.
Get back to work.
Please dispose of Dr. Marten, respectfully and securely.
Yes, Senator.