[narrator] Previously on Star Trek: Discovery:
Emperor.
You have me confused with someone else.
[Tyler] Section 31.
- Control values his skill set. - He's in.
I'm waiting for an update on Spock.
Your guy is wanted for murder.
Killed three of his doctors and fled the starbase.
He needs a fair shake. We need to find him.
- [Burnham] I found Spock's shuttle. - Plot a course. Don't spare the horses.
[Tilly] After the dark matter hit me, I started to see a ghost.
It's me.
Silly Stilly.
[Stamets] You're hosting a multidimensional fungal parasite.
- How do we get rid of it? - This might hurt a bit.
[grunting]
[screams]
[distorted] I'm from a species known as the JahSepp.
An alien intruder began ravaging our ecosystem.
You let Tilly go.
- I have other plans for her. - Wrong.
No. No.
Tilly!
No!
[panting]
[Burnham] Make way.
Words define who we are.
Officer.
Orphan.
Widower.
Shipmate.
But there is no word for the unique agony of uncertainty.
I do not yet know the fate of my friend.
Stamets refuses to lose hope.
He believes Tilly survived whatever the alien we call May did to her.
I want to believe that's possible, too.
I want to have faith.
But in its absence...
only duty remains.
I picked up the trail of Spock's shuttle.
Alter course to intercept.
Spock's shuttle is 25,000 kilometers and closing. One life sign detected.
His shields are up, and his weapons are hot.
- [Burnham] What is Spock doing? - Why the aggressive stance?
Captain, Spock departed Enterprise
before you assumed command of Discovery.
Perhaps he is unaware he is among friends.
- Open a channel. - [Bryce] Aye, captain.
Lieutenant Spock, this is Captain Pike.
Shut down your engines, lower your shields,
prepare for transport.
He's increasing speed. Altering course to enter the nebula.
Spock, you have my word.
I'm here to listen.
I'm here to help.
[alarm wailing]
- Did we lose him? - No, sir.
He ignited the nebula's hydrogen to disrupt our sensors, then stopped.
We flew past him.
Detmer, come around.
Captain, if he enters the nebula, we will lose him.
Target that shuttle with a torpedo.
- Detonate it 100 meters before impact. - [Rhys] Aye, captain.
Fire.
[Owosekun] Shuttle's been disabled.
Owo, lock on a tractor beam and bring him aboard.
Burnham, with me.
[woman on PA] Control to security team alcove.
Set phasers to stun.
Nobody fires without my direct order.
[phaser powering up]
[door opens]
Captain Georgiou.
Captain Pike.
Michael.
Commander.
Quite the welcome, my dear.
We met at the Academy.
Been a couple thousand light-years since.
Indeed.
You were a force to be reckoned with. Sharpest tool in the shed.
And despite being able to drink us under the table,
you had every regulation down by week two.
You're tactfully asking why I didn't identify myself when you hailed.
Identification is standard procedure, and that's a non-answer.
- You haven't lost a step. - I appreciate the compliment.
Starfleet records show you're retired.
Do I look retired?
I had a cousin like you. She only gave a straight answer in church.
So, the only other explanation is...
it's a classified mission.
- Hmm. - Like being back in the saddle?
It's an invigorating ride.
This may clear things up, captain.
- Section 31? - Fancy.
Covert ops, intelligence, threat assessment.
Fun times.
What do those have to do with you being on Spock's shuttle?
I've been authorized to hunt down a Starfleet officer wanted for murder.
Excuse me,
multiple murders.
By the time I caught up to his craft, it was adrift and he was gone.
Any idea where he might be?
If I hear anything, you'll be first to know.
Will I?
Commander Burnham has a hard time believing the charges. So do I.
- The innocent don't run. - You ran from us.
Exactly.
[Leland] Christopher.
Leland.
Is that gray hair I see?
It's one of the trade-offs of having hair.
Last I heard, you were up to your ass in alligators on Cestus Ill.
[Leland] Why I transferred to Starfleet Intelligence.
I'm heading up Section 31.
You were always more comfortable in the gray areas.
Seems you've intercepted one of my agents.
Yeah, we've been getting caught up.
Well, I'd appreciate if you'd return Agent Georgiou to her shuttle.
The clock is ticking.
She's tracking a suspected murderer.
Mr. Spock is one of mine.
- I can't reconcile the charges with him. - [Leland] I respect that.
But having his commanding officer or his sister interfere
with our efforts to recover him makes me look like I'm doing a friend a favor.
Leland, um...
there may be a connection between Spock and the signals
that have been dragging us around the universe.
There are lives at stake.
There are always lives at stake. That's what keeps us employed.
See, we do what we do, so you can do what you do.
If I didn't know you better, that would sound like a threat.
You know me pretty well.
I'll send a liaison.
If you could walk him through what you know,
I'd appreciate it.
Always happy to do a favor for an old friend.
You're free to go, captain.
Your captain doesn't know where I'm from.
I'm under direct Starfleet orders.
You tell the truth when it's convenient?
I'm learning to really like Starfleet and Section 31.
Do you think they'll give you free reign, huh?
That place has eyes on eyes on eyes.
Well, it's a good thing I do some of my best work in plain sight.
Does Leland have any idea who you really are?
You mean the Terran Emperor
Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius?
He doesn't call me by my proper name, but, yes, he does.
Then I trust him about as much as you.
You're the one who brought me to this insufferable place.
You don't get to be surprised I'm here.
And when I find Spock, I'll be sure to pass along your regards.
If you lay a hand on my brother...
You'll what?
Ah.
Now here's a woman I recognize.
Shuttle Bay's through there.
I'm sure you need to get back to your... snake pit.
[hisses]
Tell me you have good news.
The universe never lets anything go to waste.
Or so said Lavoisier.
- The law of conservation of mass. - Yes.
In chemical reactions, mass is neither created nor destroyed.
Look. Look, look, look.
I'm scanning the cocoon for human remains.
Mitochondrial DNA, lipids, proteins.
If all of Tilly's atoms were transported,
rather than decomposed,
then there shouldn't be any trace of her organic matter.
Meaning May took Tilly into the network.
Which would mean we could get her out.
How?
I think that this cocoon is an organic transporter.
Just like ours, it breaks down matter in one place,
and then reassembles it, intact, in another.
The mycelial version of a transporter pad.
Which could mean that a second cocoon,
just like this, exists in the network.
But why take Tilly in the first place?
May came here to deliver a message to you.
May had a special connection with Tilly. She said she needed her.
Look.
No human material present.
[sighs]
Tilly's alive. I know it.
- But the network is massive. - Yes.
Except now that I know the exact composition of this cocoon,
I can scan the network to find its counterpart.
Find it, find Tilly.
[gurgling]
[shivering]
[shouting]
Help me.
Get it off. Get it off. Get it off.
Oh, my eyes.
- My eyes. - Stay calm, Tilly.
You're okay.
Don't you... Don't you shush me!
What the hell did you do? What did you do?
Broke down your biological form,
transported it across the dimensional plane,
and reconstituted it here, in my home.
Oh, that old trick.
Are you freaking kidding me?
I'm in the mycelial network.
It used to be a paradise.
- Ow! - No.
This is the one I was telling you about.
It burns. It burns.
Leave her.
- Ow! - It's our process.
What does that mean?
The JahSepp, we break down all matter
that enter the mycelial network
to make it useful in new ways, like the insects do on your planet.
It's how we keep the life cycle progressing.
This was you before you were you?
That's what I am.
I'm appearing like this to make you comfortable.
Comfortable?
You kidnapped me.
And I'm finding my way back.
You can't.
Watch me.
And when I'm done, I'm not gonna work through my anger.
I'm gonna let it sit there and fester for eternity.
- Please, I need your help. - You don't get to ask for my help, May.
Then who are we to turn to?
Who am I to turn to besides you?
There's no one, Tilly.
And I can't fail, or everything here,
my entire species, will die.
[grunts]
What do you need me to do?
Kill a monster.
Burnham.
Section 31's liaison just got here.
[woman on PA] Attention, all personnel.
Security drill in progress, Deck 4.
Burnham.
It's nothing, sir. He's, um...
He's just supposed to be on Qo'noS.
He murdered an officer.
Voq murdered an officer.
Ash Tyler's a good man.
Even if I could see my way to accepting that distinction,
he left this ship to serve as Torchbearer
for the Klingon chancellor, now he's into black ops.
I know Tyler.
Better than most.
Like you knew your former captain?
She certainly doesn't seem like the Philippa Georgiou I remember.
The war changed her.
Call me provincial, but I prefer people whose truth I can take at face value.
So, what truth are you keeping from me?
Sir?
That moment you saw Tyler,
the moment that you had your phaser on Georgiou...
I don't know you well, but I know enough.
[woman on PA] Attention, all personnel.
Those who have not received boosters...
It's a longer conversation, captain.
But I ask that you bear with me
until a more appropriate time.
Done.
Don't make me chase you for the information.
Thank you, sir.
[woman] Engineering to Cargo Bay 2.
It's good to see you.
I feel the same.
Not sure she does.
Your captain thinks I need a babysitter.
She's our new chief of security.
It's her job to be curious.
How the hell did you end up with Section 31?
It's a very interesting journey.
- Tell me. - But it's classified.
Word pops up frequently in my new vocabulary.
You always were a man of secrets.
Michael, I had to leave Qo'noS.
I'm never going back.
I think everyone at 31 thinks of it as a place where they make sense,
not in spite of who they are, because of it.
- They can be of service. They're good. - Like the Terran emperor?
I'm concerned for Spock's safety as long as she's involved.
I won't let that happen.
I need you to believe that.
That's a really big ask, Ash.
I know.
I'm to report to the bridge.
Stamets is briefing us on a plan to rescue Tilly.
Rescue Tilly from where?
Whoa.
What happened here?
The creature destroys everything it touches.
Wait, when did you first see it?
It arrived when your Stamets opened the door to our world.
- Doesn't make any sense. - No, careful.
The tree bark contains a vicious toxin.
It's lethal for us.
Thank you.
The creature uses the toxin to slaughter us.
We have no tools or weapons to defend ourselves.
Oh, you're far from helpless, May.
The way you and I, uh...
"Met" is a funny word.
It's the most sophisticated science I've seen.
I mean, you literally entered my brain as a spore.
Thank you.
I appreciate your mastery of science, as well.
Let's go see what we're dealing with. But you...
Promise that you'll get me back on Discovery.
It's a little hard, knowing you plan on holding me hostage forever.
There's a chance Ensign Tilly is alive?
There is, sir.
She was taken into the mycelial network against her will.
How do we get her back?
Every time we jump,
Discovery passes through the mycelial network
for a few milliseconds,
and during that very brief window of time, we are actually inside it.
I'm proposing we do a partial jump.
A predetermined course, with no set endpoint?
Exactly. Half-in, half-out of the network.
Discovery will hold position
long enough for me to leave the cube and find Tilly.
For us to leave the cube. You're not gonna do this alone.
Let's say I let you use the ship as a doorstop.
Can we survive prolonged exposure to the network?
The mycelia will attack the ship,
decomposing it as soon as we enter, but tritanium is not their favorite food,
so, we'll have about an hour before they eat through the hull.
That's an hour to find Ensign Tilly.
I hate this plan.
It'll be critical for everyone to avoid places on the ship
where mycelial space and normal space intersect.
Anyone who touches the barrier will find themselves
twisted around the axes of both environments.
Like the bodies we found.
On the Glenn.
From what I know of that young woman...
she'd put her life on the line for any of us.
That she would, sir.
In a heartbeat.
Bryce, open a ship-wide channel.
[intercom beeps] All personnel, this is Captain Pike.
Starfleet...
is a promise.
I'd give my life for you, you'd give your life for me.
And nobody gets left behind.
Ensign Sylvia Tilly is out there, and she has every right to expect us.
We keep our promises.
This way, quickly.
- Move! Move! - [Pike] Report to your stations
and designated safe zones in the starboard section.
Let's go. Go.
Good luck, and Godspeed to us all.
Commander Saru modified these
to maintain communication with the bridge.
They now have filters to limit interference.
The reaction cube is the only place on the ship
where it's safe to contact the mycelial barrier.
Mr. Stamets, are you ready to execute this very bold,
deeply insane plan of yours?
"Execute" might not have been my choice of words,
but that I am, sir.
Black Alert.
Let's jump.
- What's happening? - I don't know.
That's probably for me.
[May] More havoc in my home.
The JahSepp have never encountered mass like this.
Please assure them this isn't an attack.
I won't.
- I don't know the humans on that ship. - But I do, and you know me.
You've been inside my head.
We have a much better chance of defeating this with what's on board.
You won't abandon us?
- What are you doing with your finger? - It's, um...
Just...
Pinkie swear.
I told you I would help you.
Where I come from, we keep our promises.
[rumbling]
We have to hurry.
Wow.
It worked.
Burnham to Commander Saru. Do you read me?
[Saru] I'm here.
Uh...
The sensors show the mycelia have begun to attack the hull.
Move quickly.
Ready?
Hello?
Computer, report life signs.
Where is everybody?
Maybe they died trying to save you.
Hey, thanks for that.
- What was that? - JahSepp are breaking down the hull.
The monster has come here.
Why did it board the ship?
It pursues Discovery every time you fly through the network.
Whatever it's doing, I'm not letting it terrorize my people.
They're my family.
Exactly.
Fall in. That's soldier for "get behind me."
I'm reading a human life sign.
Section 14, weapons storage.
Why is Tilly arming herself?
Whatever you are, I'm holding a Type 3 phaser rifle.
It is more powerful, and generally larger, than the Type 1 or Type 2,
which I guess is why they call it a 3.
[Burnham] Tilly?
Tilly.
- Michael? - Is that May?
Tilly, get down.
No, it's not what you think. She needs our help.
Are you...?
It's me, it's me.
I'm okay, I'm fine.
Thank you for coming to get me.
[Burnham] Always.
Restored to one piece, atom by atom.
We're getting you out.
We have less than an hour before Discovery is compromised.
- We need to go. - Compromised?
We'll be annihilated.
I told her I'd stay.
- There's some sort of predator. - A monster.
A monster that's in the network, and it's killing off her species.
[thud]
[man shouting and groaning in distance]
Behind me.
This monster, May, what can you tell us about it?
It started as a surge of unknown energy.
We began to reconstitute it,
but it became this creature, out of our control.
Its skin is indestructible.
We die when we try to break it down.
Wonderful.
Hugh?
[Burnham] But he died.
[sobbing]
This isn't real.
I thought I imagined seeing him.
Stay away!
Is this some mycelial manifestation?
Have you created this from my memories, or...?
He's real.
- What? - Kill it.
Stand down, May.
Kill it. Kill it!
Kill it! Kill it!
You promised!
- Wait! - You let it go!
Burnham to the bridge.
We found Tilly.
- How soon can you get back? - There's been a complication.
We won't survive complications, commander.
[all gasp]
I know.
But something resembling Dr. Culber is here.
- Repeat that, commander. - Dr. Culber.
Remember, before you came aboard, he...
I know who he was.
- I need you to make it make sense. - I can't.
Commander Stamets went...
Commander Burnham?
Michael?
- Mr. Saru. - I am working on it, captain.
What if it is the real Dr. Culber?
Nothing in the known universe would make that possible.
Your known universe.
Dr. Culber was a healer.
He would never harm any living being.
[May] You refuse to see what's right in front of you.
Look.
[Burnham] What is this?
Bark from the yeel tree.
It's deadly to us.
This was all over him.
He uses it to attack us.
He...?
He's not using it to attack.
He's using it to defend himself.
Like armor.
Which would give him motivational and intentional thought.
Which means...
he is alive.
Burnham, can you hear me?
- [Burnham] Yes, Saru. - I hate to rush you.
But mycelia have penetrated 78 percent of the exposed hull,
and that number is rising quickly.
We're trying to locate Stamets and Dr. Culber.
[grunting]
What's happening?
Do not worry about us. Just hurry.
Red Alert! Transfer helm control to Airiam's station.
The hull of the port nacelle is too compromised.
I need you to hold her together under thrust.
This is Agent Tyler on emergency channel. Control, do you read?
What kind of communicator is that?
- [Leland] Agent Tyler. Status? - Discovery needs an assist, sir.
Say no more.
Explain that to me.
Is that Leland?
Not his call, Chris. We're standing by to assist.
I don't know what took you so long,
but we'll talk about that later, at length.
Stabilize us with your tractor beam?
Firing in three...
two... one.
Five minutes. If this goes south, I'm pulling Discovery out.
That's not your call.
You have one of my agents.
Captain Leland, don't risk the crew...
On my bridge, speak only when addressed, Tyler.
And, Leland, my ship, my call.
You hold until I give the order. Are we clear?
My engines are about to overload. We won't be able to hold for long.
[Culber] You're not real.
I am.
When I was lost here, you found me.
Do you remember?
You found me in so many places.
You took me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
when we were on leave.
It was our third date.
And you were walking so fast,
because you were excited to show me the de Koonings.
All of them, in one room.
I had to run to keep up.
And as you walked, you held out your hand behind you,
because you knew that I would grab it, and I did,
and I knew everything about you in that moment.
And I'm here now.
And here's my hand.
[Culber crying]
I thought I was losing my mind.
Dr. Culber.
[grunting]
Wait. No, no.
Stop, please. Don't do this.
Hey.
Hey, May, put it down.
I told you, he's killing us.
May, look at him.
He's...
He's trying to protect himself.
[Culber] It burnt...
everywhere they land on me.
[Tilly] There, you see?
To him, you're the monster.
This is not who you are.
If you kill him,
it will ruin you.
Can I...?
[phaser powering down]
[Burnham] How?
How is he here?
When I was trapped in the network, I had moments of lucidity.
I saw flashes.
As if I was moving
between this world and ours.
That's when I found him.
Hugh?
Hugh? No.
No. No.
No.
No, please don't go.
Please.
I brought him here.
Thermodynamics.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
It only changes states.
Even in death,
his energy passed through me while I was the link to the network.
Like a lightning rod.
When he took shape,
it could only recognize him as a foreign body,
and it attacked him,
the way healthy cells attack cancer.
[rumbling]
We have to go. Now.
All of us.
I'm taking you home.
The engines are overloading. We have to disengage.
I'm shutting down primary regulators to buy us 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
You realize you're not in charge.
Even Section 31 has court martials.
Would they court-martial you
if they knew what you did six years ago on Deneva,
to the wrong ambassador?
A minor offense, even if it were provable.
If someone accessed the data behind your firewall,
it'd be easy to prove.
You may want to consider that.
Three minutes.
Try not to blow us up.
Such a worrier.
[Leland] We bought you time.
But not much.
Copy that. Owo, prepare to disengage tractor rigs.
Mr. Saru, they need to get a move on.
Hugh, the cube is our airlock between normal space and the network.
It's safe to cross.
See?
I'm right here.
I can't, Paul.
I can't go with you.
Why isn't it working? Why can't he go through?
His energy may have come from your world,
but everything else, everything we used to build his body,
came from ours.
So? You brought me. You can use the cocoon to transport him.
I moved you, we did not create you.
Our matter is not your matter.
You're saying you can't rebuild him out there?
I'm saying...
I don't know.
I couldn't maintain my own form without inhabiting you.
[Culber] Paul.
The JahSepp can reclaim my matter.
What are you doing?
You have to let me go.
[Pike] Burnham, we're out of time.
Understood.
It's now or never.
I can't be the cause of this.
I can't leave you twice.
If you stay...
it's twice as deadly for the network.
We'll find another way.
You're devoted to creation.
To life.
There are a million reasons to love you.
But that's mine.
Please, don't ruin that for me.
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
May, you couldn't rebuild yourself in our world
because you don't have human DNA.
Right?
That was the missing ingredient.
The cocoon on our side is made entirely of atoms
from the human world.
If you take Culber's DNA and add it to the cocoon, then maybe...?
Maybe not.
Either way, if we use the cocoon, our door closes.
How many beings have lived within each other?
I feel I know you as deeply as I know myself.
I was gonna say that. I was worried it'd sound weird.
It's not something I thought I'd have.
We have connected across evolution and across species.
But when Commander Stamets lost Hugh, he lost everything.
And if we have a chance to fix that, we have to try.
I really believe that the universe will bring us back together somehow.
You promise?
Promise.
[Saru] Commander.
On our way.
Now, May.
I'll see you on the other side.
Burnham to the bridge. Black Alert.
Leland. Now.
They're activating the spore drive.
Out of the way!
[all shouting]
Commander Burnham?
[Burnham] We made it.
Stand down Red Alert.
Mr. Saru,
have Dr. Pollard meet the team in Engineering.
Mr. Tyler.
You'll stay on the bridge.
Liaison protocol.
[Stamets] Come on.
[gasps]
Paul.
Old friends who don't shake hands?
You're a long way from home, admiral.
Indeed.
Starfleet has new and critical information about the seven signals.
The first one that appeared led Discovery to an interstellar asteroid,
but by the time you arrived,
the signal was gone.
We detailed a research vessel to scan for subspace readings,
and the findings...
were unexpected.
For a brief window,
the signal appears to have left behind a trail of tachyon radiation.
Tachyons? A quantum field like that could imply...
time travel.
Or it could be the byproduct of cloaking devices or transporters.
You're both right.
Or maybe you're both wrong.
Either way, the only one with any sort of connection
to these signals is Lieutenant Spock, who's still a fugitive.
I need both of you to find him, and I need you to help each other.
Come on, fellas, cut the manlier-than-thou bullshit.
Leland, you camouflaged yourself
from a Starfleet captain, your friend, in the middle of a rescue mission.
Admiral, our camouflage...
Save it.
And, Captain Pike, Section 31 may not be
the shining beacon of righteous conduct you want it to be,
but they are a critical intelligence division.
We have more pressing priorities than debating
Article 14 of Starfleet's charter.
Nation-building is never pretty.
That is the unappetizing truth,
and you know it.
Now, I don't care if you feel like you are on opposite sides.
We are all on the same team.
We go back a long way.
But my job requires me to walk a line, and...
I crossed that with you.
And I apologize.
It's accepted.
I'll try to remember
that my path is sometimes clearer than yours.
[chuckles] Well, that's the understatement of the millennium.
Now tell me what you know about the shuttle.
Shuttle was a dead end.
Mr. Spock knows how to cover his trail.
Burnham might know more about where he'd be than she realizes.
I'll talk to her.
As we're working together, I assume
my temporary liaison officer is permanent.
For the time being, Agent Tyler is yours.
Unless you would prefer Captain Georgiou.
- No, thank you. - Nope.
[computer] Incoming message from Captain Philippa Georgiou.
[sighs]
Send it to the science lab.
Heard you bought us a few minutes.
Is that any way to thank the savior of the Discovery?
I know you want to be paid back in spades.
Maybe I'm an altruist.
Maybe I'm a Terran.
[chuckles] In fact, you were.
Much more fun than this Vulcan stoicism.
I really need to know your intentions...
towards Spock.
I want to find him before a vigilante mob does,
or a posse of trigger-happy Starfleet cowboys.
I'm pretty sure you want the same thing.
There's just no world...
where I could give that serious consideration.
I've had your life in my hands a dozen times.
You're gonna have to start trusting me eventually.
Said the scorpion to the frog.
Have a little faith, Michael.
[Burnham] I envy those who can believe
there is a greater hand writing our story,
who chooses the words to keep chaos at bay.
Connection.
Joy.
Love.
And resurrection.
With these words, the path becomes clear for a moment.
And then disappears.
[door opens]
If I have a path...
I'm still searching for it.
We all are.
That's how we find our way...
by choosing to walk forward...
together.
And if there is a greater hand leading us into an uncertain future...
I can only hope it guides us well.