ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, tech pioneer Darius Tanz!
LIAM: Sir, my name's Liam Cole.
In 186 days, an asteroid's
gonna collide with Earth and we're all gonna die.
Previously on Salvation...
Jillian?
Liam.
Hey.
The job offer from Darius is an opportunity.
You should take it. I already did.
TANZ: What we need is a working EmDrive we can get
to our asteroid friend here
with just enough time for a gravity tractor
to save us all from extinction.
No one has ever built a working EmDrive.
We can't trust the government.
We have to do this ourselves.
Uranium, I know where to get it.
You know that under normal circumstances,
I would never do some of the things I've done.
HARRIS: You've made your choices, Grace.
Now I need to make mine.
The IO Probe.
The plan would be to redirect it from Jupiter's orbit
and propel it into the asteroid.
HARRIS: You have an issue with this plan?
Yes. In a word, it stinks.
That high-velocity kinetic impact
could smash our asteroid friend
into several pieces,
each of which may cause cataclysmic damage.
But they will land somewhere.
Yes, Russia, China.
NASA TECH: Sir, we have a problem. (alarm beeping)
The probe is no longer responding to us.
STRAUSS: We've been hacked. NASA has been hacked.
Darius, where are you?
I need to know what you did.
AUCTIONEER: $750, $750.
Do I hear $800
for this remarkable neo-classical petite commode?
The last toilet used by Louis XVI
before he went to the guillotine.
$800. Do I hear $850?
$850? No, $800.
$800 once, twice...
(gavel bangs) Sold!
For $800,000
to the gentlewoman in blue Chanel.
Up next, today's premier item.
Lot 29.
George Washington's personal copy
of the Bill of Rights.
Signed by our first president,
this is quite possibly the most important document
that the auction world has seen.
Bidding will start at $5 million.
And I have $5 million from Mr. Tanz.
Thank you. Do I hear 5.5?
Do I hear six?
Six from the phone bank.
6.5 from an online buyer.
$7 million. $7 million from Mr. Tanz.
$7.5 million from Mr. Bloomberg.
Do I hear eight? Eight?
Eight from Mr. Tanz. Thank you. (phone vibrating)
8.5 from Mr. Bloomberg.
And back to Mr. Tanz for $9 million.
9.5.
(line ringing)
Pick up.
(frustrated grunt)
HARRIS: Make no mistake, we are at war.
A war we have 12 hours to win, people.
NASA's been hacked.
The EmDrive's not viable, so this is it--
us against whomever hacked the IO Space Probe.
If we don't regain control by then, it goes into free fall,
and we will lose it forever,
along with our best hope of stopping this thing.
That cannot happen.
Can't sleep?
No, not so much.
Me, either.
First-day jitters.
What? You are going to be great.
Thank you.
Me, on the other hand...
(exhales)
Mm.
Hey.
I'm sorry your EmDrive project didn't go well,
but it was just a test.
I'm sure next time will...
No, I don't think there's gonna be a next time.
When you're passionate about something,
time means nothing.
Who said that?
You did.
(chuckles)
The night we met.
Hey, how old was Isaac Newton
when that apple bonked him on his head
and he came up with the theory of gravity?
He was 23.
Hmm.
But it took him 20 more years to prove it.
Well, I have faith in you.
You'll crack it.
(whispers): I know it.
(sighs)
CLAIRE: Any progress from counterintelligence?
Even a shred of hope I can pass along to POTUS?
We're working on it.
Whoever hacked IO was no amateur.
Well, right now we seem like the amateurs.
We have three government agencies in this room,
supposedly the best of the best.
Prove it. Find whoever did this, now.
Give us the room.
Where is he?
I don't know. He hasn't responded.
So Darius Tanz just happened to disappear
when all hell broke loose last night?
Did he give you any indication
that he was planning something like this?
Grace, I know there's not a lot of trust
between us right now, but this is not the time to hold back.
He sent me this text last night.
I don't know what it means.
LIAM: Don't be nervous.
Too late.
But I could use a little pep talk.
Okay. Okay.
You see these?
Meteorites.
Darius's coveted collection.
Rare rocks from outer space.
And that beautiful, shimmering guy there--
that's from the Khatyrka meteor that fell in Siberia in 2011.
It's a quasicrystal
with fivefold symmetry called icosahedrite.
Meaning?
It is the only known object in the universe
with that symmetry.
Nothing like it exists on Earth.
Shimmering. One of a kind.
Like you.
Damn, you're good.
You got this.
Yeah.
MAN (over P.A.): Security, please report to the lobby.
Security, please report to the lobby.
Don't make me ask you this again.
Where is he? All due respect, sir,
Mr. Tanz doesn't permit me to give out his schedule.
Okay, nothing's private as far as the Patriot Act's concerned.
So with as much respect
as I can muster, you will tell me where he is.
Search the building.
And pull all the hard drives.
LIAM: What?
What? When?
A few hours ago.
Holy hell.
Where is he? I don't know.
I haven't seen him since the EmDrive
crashed and burned.
Do you think Darius could have hacked NASA?
Could he or-or would he?
Those are two different questions.
Has he been acting strange lately?
He's Darius-- he always acts strange.
Do you trust him?
(whispers): Oh, my...
Liam, where's the uranium?
The barrels of uranium for the EmDrive.
The EmDrive doesn't need uranium.
What?
What did he do with it?
TANZ: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
That document survived the War of 1812.
It better survive the ride back to my office.
My oldest friend went to New York, and all I got
was this lousy copy of the Bill of Rights.
You should have seen the look on Bloomberg's face
when he dropped out at 20 mil.
(tires screeching)
Harris, this is some welcome home party.
I'm touched. What's the occasion?
Darius Tanz, you're under arrest on suspicion of high treason
against the United States of America.
High treason? I'm not the one who's high here.
Take him.
*
TANZ: No lawyer,
no Miranda, no water.
You really know how to make a guy feel welcome.
Darius, we have ten hours to get the probe back online.
This is no joke.
If you have an alibi, now would be the time to speak up.
I'm not a dog. I don't bark on command.
Six foreign corporations have sued you
for industrial espionage.
Hacking proprietary technology.
If you know that, you'd also know I countersued,
because those companies
stole from me.
The drives we took from Tanz this morning were wiped clean.
That's fairly incriminating, don't you think?
They have an automatic kill switch.
Just smart tech designed to prevent espionage.
You're wasting time-- time you don't have.
You have the wrong man! Do I?!
"It's not over.
I have one more move left."
What did you mean by that when you texted Grace Barrows?
Hacking NASA?
That was your move,
wasn't it?
Amazing how quickly people are willing
to believe the worst about others.
Narcissists.
When they fail, first they deny it,
then they make sure no one else succeeds.
Darius, I suggest you talk
while you still have the ability.
Never seen him like this, have you?
No.
Funny how men can be one thing in the bedroom
and another in the boardroom.
I don't think that's just men.
We've got something.
The deputy secretary is gonna want to see this.
LIAM: He told me to jack up the power.
That's what made this mess.
Do you think Darius did it, that's he's a...
that he's a traitor?
I don't know.
Oh, I'm sorry. I should have...
I should have listened to you, not-not him.
No, no, according to these readouts,
the drive was gonna fail anyway.
The microwaves were going out of alignment
even before you dialed it up.
Why? What was causing the electrical turbulence?
Well, that's the billion dollar question.
We've got to do a forensic analysis on the body
and figure out what killed the patient.
We have to reconstruct that?
It looks like a charred marshmallow,
like a s'more no one wants to eat.
Well, I already ordered a prototype from engineering.
Maybe the 180th will be the charm.
You do realize most scientists go their entire lives
without that single lightbulb moment.
The only real failures are the ones
from which we learn nothing, Mr. Cole.
Have faith.
If not in Darius Tanz, then in us.
Yeah.
What if all this,
everything we're doing here, was just a misdirect
so that Darius can prepare for his real plan?
And what plan would that be?
MASON: One...
sixty.
160.
Why is this number so important to the task at hand?
Let's hear from our newbie, Jillian Hayes,
a sci-fi writer from Massachusetts.
Harvard?
MIT?
Boston.
Just Boston.
Jillian from "Just Boston." Glad to have you here with us.
Where might we have seen your work?
Where have you been published?
Self-published.
But hard copies
of my novel ShadowSide
can be found in some independent bookstores
in the New England area.
Family-owned businesses,
where they give you a free bookmark
with every purchase.
(quiet laughter)
And what does the acclaimed author
of ShadowSide have to say about the number 160?
Well, according to Darius's algorithms,
it's the minimum number of humans
required to reboot our species. Exactly.
So if we had the chance
to repopulate the human species,
starting over on a terraformed Mars,
who would we bring along?
How do we cull the vulgus herd
of seven billion down to an elite 160?
Now, this is not the same conundrum that Noah faced
when he built his ark,
because he had God telling him what to do.
And we don't have God giving us orders.
But like Noah's quest,
this project is not just an exercise.
In the coming months, we--
the intellectuals, academics, scientists
and our writer-- have been tasked by Darius Tanz
to select 160 people... to colonize Mars.
Counterintelligence successfully traced the source of the hack.
They call it a mimic signal.
A sat signal that piggybacks alongside
a proprietary feed, then overrides it.
That signal was traced to this dish...
...at Tanz Industries.
Nine hours.
That's all we have left.
Harris.
It's time... to call in a specialist.
I'll handle it.
(quietly): All right.
A "specialist"?
Enhanced interrogation?
This is Darius Tanz we're talking about.
He's guilty, Grace.
The evidence is not circumstantial.
Why are you protecting him?
It's not him I'm protecting, it's our sense of decency.
You're talking about torture, Harris.
What good is trying to save humanity
if we lose ours in the process?
In a few hours, we may lose our last chance at survival.
Losing my humanity is a high-class problem.
Darius says he's ready to talk.
Finally. Not to you.
To her.
Grace Barrows.
High time the accused
faced the accuser.
Okay.
You said you'd talk to me, so talk.
Why did you do this?
To beat that dead horse again, I didn't.
Darius, they're gonna bring someone in.
Doesn't that scare you?
Not as much as it scares you.
Me?
Other than the world ending, what do I have to be afraid of?
Of yourself, discovering you're capable of things
you couldn't have imagined a few weeks ago.
You mean like trusting someone
who turned out to be a liar and a traitor?
I know the uranium wasn't for the EmDrive.
I never move a piece on the board
unless it's for a good reason.
I'm not a pawn you can sacrifice; this isn't a game.
I didn't do this, Grace.
What reason would I have?
Only you can answer that.
Counterintelligence confirmed
the hack came from Tanz Industries.
(chuckles)
Now who's lying?
Our analysts found a mimic signal
and traced it back to a dish at Tanz.
Now an interrogation expert is on his way
from Langley, so I suggest you start talking,
because right now,
the only thing between you
and waterboarding is me.
Grace, if what you're saying is the truth,
then there's a mole at Tanz Industries.
Innocent people provide alibis.
I would if I could, but if there's a mole at Tanz,
people are in danger-- Grace!
I need you to find out who it is.
Find salvation.
TESS (automated voice): Hello, Darius.
(electronic chime)
TESS: Good-bye, Darius.
TESS: Hello, Darius.
What the hell?
I need you to find out who it is.
Find salvation.
LAZLO: How'd you do that?
Do what? Get through the entry gate.
That door, it thinks you're Darius.
"It"?
Tess. Our A.I. system.
Uh, I don't know.
Where is he? Darius?
He's being questioned.
He asked me to find Liam.
Well, if Mr. Tanz needs a message delivered,
I'll pass it along.
This is official business.
Anyway, you must have your hands full
with this wonky A.I. system.
I'll find him.
TESS: Hello, Darius.
HARRIS: Any news from analytics?
Their fastest computing cluster estimates it'll take
approximately 52 hours to break encryption,
but they're trying to get that number down.
Damn it. All right.
Well, keep me posted.
CLAIRE: Okay.
Time to take off the gloves.
Harris.
You aren't culpable for what's about to happen.
The way POTUS sees it, we're low on time
and out of options.
MASON: Playing God.
Picking the 160.
What do we look for behind these anonymous faces?
We know what's critical.
High IQs,
genetic health, fertility,
skill sets, but...
what do we prioritize? JILLIAN: Well, what about artists?
Musicians, poets.
Do they have a place?
Can Picasso fix an engine?
Can Bono birth a baby?
Yeah, I understand the necessity of utilitarian selection.
But in order to repopulate our species on Mars,
don't we want to save the best of what makes us human?
If we didn't have storytellers
in caves drawing pictographs on walls,
where would we be today?
You can't paint if you're dead.
Have you read Andre Bartok's The 360?
Of course.
Two ships manage to escape a dying Earth
only to encounter an alien vessel.
Some passengers want to attack, others want to make contact.
And those who made contact were the so-called creative types.
Or "non-essentials,"
as Bartok calls them.
They left themselves defenseless trying to make friends.
And got everyone killed. It's fiction.
MAN: No, it's a spot-on assessment of the human race.
The pragmatic are the strong, the strong survive.
Andre Bartok is weak, selfish and cruel.
The ravings of that cynical lunatic
should hardly be our Bible.
(pen clatters)
Maybe we should take a break.
Give me a minute.
We don't have time for a minute.
I made a total ass of myself.
Don't beat yourself up about it.
All right? The guy sounds like a total jerk.
What am I doing here, Liam?
These people are Harvard academics
and MIT science whizzes,
and I'm just a self-published nobody.
All I know is Darius has a reason for everything.
And if you're here, it's 'cause he sees something in you
that the others can't see.
Yet.
Thank you.
Is there any way that we could go for dinner tonight?
You and me?
(exhales) Come on.
If you take one night off, it's not the end of the world.
GRACE: Liam?
There you are.
Grace, this is, this is Jillian Hayes.
Hi. We need to talk.
Now.
Yeah. Okay.
I'm sorry.
It's fine. Go.
We don't have a lot of time.
Do you have any idea what this is?
This is near-field comm tech.
It's the kind of RFID implant
the super rich put in their bodies for security purposes,
or just to show off.
Got it.
This one's GPS-equipped-- it starts cars,
logs movements. Unlocks doors.
Which explains how he got up here.
And you're sure the hack signal came from here?
Yes. So Darius is a modern-day Nero
bent on watching the Earth burn?
Or someone else is Nero and Darius is just the fall guy.
Why give me that?
He wants you to find something
only he has access to.
You said it logs movements.
Can it tell us where Darius was
the exact moment the probe was hacked?
Well, it's a... digital diary, so it-it should, yeah.
Last night, between 11:30 and 11:40.
He was on the grounds, about a kilometer from here.
What's out there?
Nothing.
*
So it's 15 meters this way.
No X, but this is the spot.
Keep looking. There's got to be something.
Just more of Darius's sleight of hand.
Unless...
TESS: Hello, Darius.
Ladies first.
Thanks.
You have any idea where we are?
Other than 100 meters below ground, no.
(echoing): Hello?
TESS: Hello, Darius.
GRACE: This is it.
Salvation.
LIAM: He doesn't want to save the planet.
He wants to leave and play space king.
We've been, we've been conned.
A Gutenberg Bible.
Van Gogh's Starry Night.
Shakespeare's First Folio.
Beethoven's Ninth.
That's an original copy of the Bill of Rights.
Why would someone who wants to doom humanity
also save its greatest works?
It doesn't make sense.
He wanted me to find Salvation.
Why?
Hey, let me see your phone.
Can I see your phone?
What?
This hangar--
this entire facility-- it's air gapped.
It's cut off from the rest of the world.
You... you can't send a text,
access the Net, make a call.
If he was here when the probe was hacked...
A hack NASA said had to occur live and in real-time.
Liam, there's no way he could've done it.
Exactly.
(chuckles softly)
But why would Darius risk torture
when he had an ironclad alibi?
Because he was protecting me.
(sighs): Oh, my God.
Right, the uranium that could be traced back to you.
He can't save himself without throwing me to the wolves.
The EmDrive doesn't need a nuclear fuel source,
but the Salvation does.
All of this is to ensure,
in a worst-case scenario, that the best of us survives.
He's not Nero, he's Noah.
How do we clear his name without using his alibi?
We find the real mole ourselves.
Finally, a conjugal visit.
I usually prefer curvier types, but...
...you have such pretty eyes.
He left us no choice.
Sometimes the ends do justify the means.
(phone vibrating)
Looks like it's just you and me.
And him.
TESS: Hello, Darius.
What are you doing in Darius's private quarters?
Shouldn't I be asking you the same thing?
You know nothing about me.
Even less about him.
Then illuminate us.
Quickly. Or I call the FBI and have you arrested
for hacking the U.S. space program.
INTERROGATOR: I'm gonna ask you a question.
Who are you working for?
What is the encryption key?
And how do we regain control of the probe?
(gagging)
(coughing)
That was...
(coughing)
...three questions, actually.
You're not so good at math, eh?
Who are you working for?
What is the encryption key?
How do we regain control of the probe?
(grunting)
(gasping)
If there's any humanity left in you, Tanz,
you still have time to do the right thing.
(laughing)
You think this is funny?
(laughing)
Just ironic...
to hear you use the word "humanity."
(laughing)
Well, here we go again.
Who are you working for?!
(intercom buzzes) Stop.
The odds of this yielding accurate information
is low, very low.
We both know that.
Harris, I may not personally outrank you,
but you have a direct order from your commander in chief.
Stop, and I'll be forced to make a call.
A call that could cost you your job
and most likely your freedom.
(intercom buzzes) Proceed.
LAZLO: I checked the history of every secure terminal
on our network.
All 2,200 of them.
No known terminal issued that signal.
Unless there's a station no one knows about.
That we don't know about.
Darius hates anything
that slows him down.
Once, he shut down a firewall because it was interfering
with a holographic conferencing system
he was tinkering with.
It's possible he has
a private terminal somewhere on the site.
Well, then it's possible that the mole found that
and used it to lock us out of the probe.
If we find that terminal, we might regain control.
There's over 500,000 square feet of ground
to cover in this building alone.
How much time do we have?
Less than four hours.
Well, then it's impossible without Darius's help.
And what if Harris won't let you talk to him?
I'll figure something out.
Right now, the EmDrive is our best chance.
It may be our only chance.
Well, then why is Darius building the ark?
The ark is Darius's backup plan.
You are plan "A."
He believes in you, Liam.
So do I.
I need you to run a comprehensive background check
on a Tanz employee-- name's Lazlo Simms.
Ah, that's the longest minute I ever experienced.
I thought you'd had it.
Me, too.
Now, where are we?
Take a look.
(computer chimes)
The microwaves are being absorbed by the interior lining.
And they're falling out of alignment
because the chamber isn't reflective enough. Mm-hmm.
And after a few seconds, they stop bouncing
and start penetrating the core.
And if the lining isn't perfect...
Then the whole house eventually collapses.
So if our copper lining was stronger...
And more reflective...
Then we'd sustain thrust.
We need a better lining. Yeah.
(coughing)
(intercom buzzes) Enough.
I'm authorizing chem agent R-4.
That's a barely blunted neurotoxin-- it's barbaric.
It's also effective.
We're running out of time, Harris.
If you have another idea, I'm listening.
GRACE: How about letting him go?
You want a solution, I've got one.
But I need Darius alert and lucid,
not the shell of a man he'll be
if you stick that needle in him.
Harris, stop this. It's not his call.
I don't give a damn where the orders come from.
Darius is innocent.
And you know this how? I just know.
I swear it on my own life, Harris.
Please. Right now, I need you to trust me.
Our very survival is at stake,
and you expect us to just take your word for it?
Harris.
Please.
I know what I'm asking,
and I know the consequences if I'm wrong.
But think about the consequences if I'm right.
Stop this.
Stand down. New orders.
Unstrap him.
If you're wrong, they'll burn you for this.
If I'm wrong, we're all going to burn.
Clear out.
Come on.
(coughing)
I got you.
TANZ: Took you long enough, Harris.
Wasn't me.
Get him some dry clothes.
(groans softly)
I'm sorry.
Darius, we don't have a lot of time.
Can you stand?
You found Salvation.
Yeah. (sighs)
But not the mole.
Lazlo thinks the hacker used an unsecured terminal
on the Tanz network, but if that's true,
it must have been installed by you.
What reason would I have
to add an unsecured computer to my own network?
It runs counter to every...
I need a phone. Get me a phone.
CROFT: Okay, so that was platinum.
We've tried dusting the lining with platinum, with glass.
We even tried gold,
like in the Webb telescope.
What about a crystalline lattice?
Right? Crystals are highly reflective.
I tried that years ago.
Nothing.
(sighs) I'm afraid...
we're looking for a substance that doesn't exist.
(phone vibrating)
Oh, Pentagon.
LIAM: Hello? Liam. (coughs)
Darius?
Are you okay?
I know where the hack came from.
Get your ass to the breakroom now.
Okay.
Okay, I'm here.
Go to the arcade cabinet.
The one in the southeast corner.
Asteroids?
Yes, that one.
Remove the back panel.
Uh, it's locked.
It's locked.
Whoa.
Look for anything out of the ordinary.
Power supply.
Motherboard. RAM.
Hard drive.
Graphics card.
What the hell?
What do you see, Liam?
Some kind of micro-PC
piggybacking one of the PCI slots.
It looks like it's off though.
Turn it on.
Well, do you even know what it does?
You have a better idea?
(beeping)
(machine chiming)
Whoa. GRACE and TANZ: What?
I don't know how they did it.
Someone installed this device and used it
to tunnel through the Tanz server,
accessing Darius's satellite network.
And then they used it
to send the mimic signal. And lock out NASA.
So what now?
I-I can turn it off.
I think I can turn it off.
I can override the hack.
DEXTER: Sir!
The probe just phoned home!
We're back! We're back in the driver's seat!
Initiate correction burn.
Burn in three, two, one.
Mark.
HARRIS: It's working.
If we control the probe...
We control our future.
DEXTER: Slight vibration here.
Interference?
Gravitational forces are increasing.
Getting stress warnings all along the hull.
Sir, the gravity from Jupiter
is too strong; we're going to lose the probe.
(alarm blaring, urgent chatter)
(alarm blaring)
It's gone.
We're too late.
HARRIS: Who else knew about the console's ability
to connect to the outside? No one.
No one?
Do I look like a guy
who invites employees to hang during my downtime?
Yes.
Actually, you do.
Thanks, but I told you,
Wozniak and I have a standing Friday night face-off.
That firewall was really throwing a wrench into it.
That game was for me and Woz.
And occasionally Bezos and Shakira.
Electronic wire fraud.
Identify theft.
(sighs) Seven years in a federal lockup
for hacking a telecom data vault.
Why didn't you tell us your security chief,
Lazlo Simms, had a mile-long record,
which, apparently,
you paid to have expunged?
We all have things in our past we wish we could wash away.
Laz is the only person in the world
I completely trust.
He didn't do this.
People change, Darius.
They change, and they lie.
And sometimes,
they do it right under your nose.
(video winding)
(sighs)
Liam, what's going on?
You wouldn't believe me if I told you.
Does it have something to do
with the woman from the Pentagon?
Yes and no.
I just...
Tell me something.
Anything good.
Oh, well...
I was thinking about what you said earlier--
how Darius does everything for a reason--
and I think maybe the reason I'm here
is because I'm not like any of those people.
They're all head.
No heart.
No, you're not like anybody, Jillian.
You're the icosahedrite.
Otherworldly.
He tried crystals.
But he didn't try the icosahedrite
because that doesn't exist on Earth.
What?
Inspiration comes when you're not looking.
I know what I have to do.
Tess?
Unlock the trophy case now.
Please.
(lock beeps)
TANZ: Karissa, where's Lazlo?
I can't reach him.
He last swiped into the Treehouse.
Lazlo, we need to talk.
Laz.
(gasps)
HARRIS: He knew the walls were closing in.
Who the hell was he working for?
JILLIAN: Darius Tanz
brought all of us together to find the 160.
160 people worth saving.
Or to play God, as Mason so aptly put it.
But if we truly want to endure,
we can't just focus on what it takes
to merely survive.
We have to focus on what it takes
to truly live.
And that doesn't just come from the head.
It comes from the heart.
So the nonessentials,
as you call them--
the writers, the artists, the dreamers--
they are essential, because in our darkest hours,
they give us the most essential ingredient
to the survival of our species:
hope.
And in the end, it is hope and only hope that will save us.
Hey, Professor Croft?
Professor Croft, wake up.
Hey, wake up.
The EmDrive.
It works.
(urgent chatter)
TANZ: I want this room cleared out
in ten minutes; get everything to the warehouse.
Nelson will instruct you from there.
The EmDrive works.
We should be drinking champagne right now, you know,
wearing pointy hats.
I want to dump Gatorade all over your head.
The prototype works.
We'll drink when we actually
launch a gravity tractor with a full-sized EmDrive.
Darius, if we could just stay put, I mean, we could be
halfway through the calculations for the full-scale model by now.
Someone here hacked the IO Probe
and killed Lazlo to cover their tracks.
The EmDrive is no longer safe at Tanz.
Neither are you. (alarm blaring)
TESS (automated voice): Lockdown initiating.
All employees report to Sandbox for further instructions.
LIAM: You put the place on lockdown?
Yesterday, the FBI said that Lazlo killed himself.
The FBI says a lot of things. Doesn't make them true.
Exactly. Which is why we're not
telling the government the EmDrive works.
Not until we know who we can trust.
I am sorry for your loss.
Oh, no.
Don't feel sorry for me.
Feel sorry for the one who violated my trust,
'cause I'm going to destroy them.
A billion dollars... gone.
Not gone.
An investment that could still pay off.
Could. Might. Maybe.
I am done hearing those words from Darius Tanz.
The EmDrive melted down,
and he burned through a billion dollars.
It's time to cut the cord.
Cut the cord?
Darius is no longer a member of this task force.
What?
We're pulling his funding.
The government is done with Tanz Industries.
We've lost control of space.
We're out of options.
Darius is our best hope right now.
Our best hope?
He squandered a billion dollars.
The EmDrive project crashed and burned spectacularly.
And now we find out that NASA was hacked
by one of his own people.
Am I missing something here, Ms. Barrows?
You've already helped him
drain this task force of time and money.
There's only one of those we can get back.
You're saying you want him to return
the billion dollars we gave him?
No, I'm saying you want him to return that money.
Get it back, or you'll be off this task force, too.
Grace? Grace, wait.
A little heads-up would be nice next time.
You let me get sandbagged in there.
Grace, this isn't about you.
You're pulling funding from the one thing that can save us.
That's unfair.
You've never liked him.
Well, maybe you like him too much.
What's that supposed to mean? (scoffs)
It means your vision gets a little cloudy
when it comes to Darius Tanz.
Yeah, you act as if he's the messiah
and we're all just his disciples,
never allowed to question him.
There are people he has to answer to, Grace,
and I'm one of them.
You can't kick me off this task force.
I'm the only one keeping the barbarians at the gate.
(elevator bell dings)
And you're one of them.
Get me proof that the EmDrive has a shot.
I can't sell it in that room anymore without proof.
Fine, I'll get you proof.
If you get that pit bull off my back.
POTUS wants to know what our next step is.
Easy with this, gentlemen. It's one of a kind.
Yes, sir.
Easy. Don't bounce it.
Darius, I got to call Jillian.
I need a second. Don't shake it.
There's no time. Call her from the road.
I-Is he the only guy going with us?
I need to keep the circle tight.
Can you just tell me she's safe, please?
I've hired the best security force in the world.
From here on, no one will breathe
without me knowing about it.
I'll meet you there. Now go.
Okay.
(engine starts)
(grunts)
MAN (over P.A.): Attention, employees,
please comply with all security requests.
What's going on?
(phone vibrates)
MAN: I'm sorry, Tanz Industries is closed for visitors today.
GRACE: Uh, I'm not here for a tour.
I'm a personal guest of Darius.
Clear to go.
Well, you be sure to thank Darius for creating
such a warm and inclusive work environment.
MAN (over P.A.): Attention, employees,
please comply with all security requests.
Darius, what's going on down there?
I'm finding out who hacked the IO Probe,
since the government seems to have lost interest.
(sighs)
Lazlo hacked the probe.
You need to accept that and move on.
Darius, everything is at stake here.
Yes, I'm aware, which is why I've hired some former Mossad
to conduct the investigation.
Best interrogators in the world.
Unlike those amateurs from Langley.
The government's cutting you off.
They want their money back,
or what's left of it. What?
And they're throwing me off the task force if I don't get it.
No, not now. Now's the time when we need it most.
The EmDrive works, Grace.
What?
We're in the process of scaling it up now.
It's gonna take massive amounts of material
and hundreds of workers around the clock
to get this thing built and launched.
This little government tantrum
could not have come at a worse time.
Y-You don't believe me.
Said the man who sent me on a wild uranium chase.
For which, uh, you still owe me an explanation
or, I don't know, an apology.
Oh, maybe a Hallmark card.
"Sorry I made you steal uranium for my ark."
Soon as I get my "Sorry I let them waterboard you" card
in the mail.
Darius, I'm sorry. I...
I'm desperately sorry for what happened,
and I want to believe you, but right now,
I have too many questions and not enough answers.
I can't go back to the Pentagon without proof the EmDrive works.
Okay, follow me.
You want proof? You want answers?
Yes, I do.
Get in.
(echoing): Who are you?
Hey, Amanda.
Thank God. How you feeling?
Sore.
Yeah, well, you got hit by a car.
How long have I been here?
Couple days.
Someone was here, Ed, in the room.
This creepy guy in a hoodie.
Doctor said you might be just a little confused
after the accident 'cause of the concussion.
It wasn't an accident.
I think someone tried to kill me.
Who?
I don't know.
But I'm gonna find out.
LIAM: What do you think Darius is doing to the employees?
He's probably just asking them some questions.
Yeah, but, I mean, you saw how crazy he was acting, right?
I just don't want Jillian to feel like...
The fate of the world is at stake,
and you're worried about your little puppy love? Hmm?
Okay. Well, first, I'm not a puppy.
And second, what the hell is your problem?
(loud bang)
(tire thumping)
What's happening? It's a flat.
Nothing to worry about.
Sit tight... (gunshot)
Aah!
Hands on your head! Get out of car, now!
Okay, okay.
Phone!
Get in!
Okay. Okay.
(engine revving)
You guys working for someone? Is it the government maybe?
Because we have friends at the Pentagon.
We can give them a call
and clear this whole thing right up.
You want money?
One phone call, I can make that happen.
(whispers): Would you shut up?
You're gonna get us killed.
Listen to your friend.
LIAM: 9-1-1,
my professor, his place is trashed.
He didn't show up for class.
There were big scary goons staking out his house.
They chased my ass across town.
We're plotting possible intercept courses
with the asteroid to see which countries have available
spacecraft out near Samson.
Then we'll approach them about a collaborative mission.
But we still don't know who was behind the hack.
How do we know who we can trust?
We don't. It's a process.
And what do we say?
"Pardon me, but do you mind if we destroy
your billion-dollar space toy for no apparent reason?"
It'll look like an accident.
By then, it's too late for anyone to object.
Claire,
you were a little rough on Grace Barrows this morning.
Was I?
Threatening to throw her off the task force?
She's been working day and night,
like the rest of us, trying to find solutions.
Well, she's created more problems than anything else.
You know, I-I get the feeling sometimes that it's personal.
Is it personal for me, Harris, or for you?
DEXTER: Sir.
I've located three probes that can reach Samson.
The closest one can intercept in 12 days.
Who does it belong to?
DEXTER: China.
CLAIRE: China's not gonna work with us.
Moving on.
DEXTER: Here's one that can impact Samson in 22 days:
the Mahnaz Probe.
Iran. Try again.
DEXTER: Last one is the furthest out.
But a collision
could be possible in 79 days: the Bijali.
India.
A U.S. ally.
Jackpot.
GRACE: Where are we exactly?
I thought we were going to see the EmDrive.
We are. Eventually.
Eventually?
Darius, where are we going?
Lazlo's house. Or safe house, actually.
What?
You lied to me again.
I never lied to you.
How do you say that with a straight face?
I told you that I needed uranium to save the human race.
That's true. Okay.
Your facility for self-rationalization
is alarming.
What's alarming is your self-delusion.
If I'm right... And you're certain you are.
Lazlo is not the mole!
And it doesn't matter whether or not the EmDrive works.
Nothing we do matters,
because someone will always be sabotaging us.
GRACE: What are we doing here?
Laz uploaded something onto a private remote server
in the last moments of his life.
Yeah. Probably all of Tanz Industries' secrets.
Or the answer to his murder.
This is where he lived?
He was a quiet man.
With demons.
Is this you?
Yes.
You're all set, Ms. Neel.
Thank you. Thanks.
Okay, let's get you out of here and off of this story.
What? I can't stop now. (phone chimes)
This isn't my phone.
Did you put this in my bag?
No.
Then I wasn't hallucinating.
There was someone else in my room.
Get rid of that phone.
Just throw it away now.
Amanda, as your boss,
I am telling you, you are off of this story
or you're fired; you hear me?
Yeah, I hear you.
No story is worth dying for.
Yeah. You're right.
Yeah, I know.
Come on.
(groans): Ooh...
Whoa, you okay?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They said I might have some dizziness
over the next few days.
Okay, I'll find you a wheelchair,
and we'll roll you out of here.
Okay. Okay.
*
GRACE: What are we looking at?
The last image Lazlo saw before he died.
GRACE: Who could possibly identify that?
(line ringing)
KARISSA: Yes, Darius?
Karissa, I'm sending you a photo file.
Have Tess run it through our facial rec software.
See if she can find a match.
Right away.
(door unlocking)
Darius.
Theresa.
Oh, my God.
It's been...
15 years.
Uh, this is, uh, Grace Barrows, a work, a work colleague.
Grace, this is
Theresa.
Lazlo's sister.
Oh, well, congratulations on all your success.
It's pretty hard not to keep tabs on you.
And-and you're married, two girls?
Yeah, seven and two.
Laz probably bored you with photos of them.
I haven't heard from him in a couple days,
so I got worried.
Is he here?
Maybe we should, we should step outside.
Okay.
*
HARRIS: Ambassador Gupta,
we're honored to sit with you today.
The pleasure is mine, Deputy Secretary.
My country has been eager to collaborate
with your space program for some time.
The question is: Why now?
India is emerging as a major player in space.
And, you know, frankly, your landmark missions
have come in at far lower costs than ours.
I think both of our agencies
could benefit from a new level of cooperation.
A cooperative effort with NASA could be just the thing
to boost our global profile.
CLAIRE: Perhaps we should engage in
an off-books effort, at the beginning.
Just to make certain that ISRO and NASA
will mesh well.
I don't understand.
HARRIS: I think what Claire is suggesting
is that the United States join one of ISRO's current missions
already in progress.
Are you looking for something specific?
CLAIRE: NASA would like to access
the Bijali Probe you currently have out near Jupiter.
NASA already has the IO Probe in that region, no?
HARRIS: It's been...
malfunctioning.
It's not malfunctioning.
It was hacked.
Wasn't it?
How did you know that?
Because ours was hacked, too.
CLAIRE: My deepest condolences, Theresa.
It's Tess.
You can call me Tess.
Tess.
Thank you... for taking care of Laz for all of these years.
I'm sorry I... I couldn't protect him.
You did.
You saved his life, Darius.
And whoever did this...
find them.
I promise.
That photo of you in front of the tree house--
that was you with Lazlo and Tess?
Yeah.
You were in love with her, weren't you?
Sorry.
(phone vibrates)
AUTOMATED VOICE: Incoming call. Karissa.
Yes.
KARISSA: Darius, facial rec has a match.
Sending through now.
Whoever infiltrated my game room hacked that probe, Grace.
And killed Lazlo before they could be identified.
Oh.
Darius... Damn it.
How could I have been so blind?
(engine revving)
(quietly): Croft.
The driver-- he's the one who chased me
after your place was trashed.
Are you sure? Yeah.
It's burned in my mind. That whole day is.
Ah.
One of these Neanderthals broke my glasses
when they were wrestling me out of the van.
LIAM: His place is trashed. He left his glasses behind.
Your glasses-- can't you get another pair?
No. These are antiques. These were my grandfather's.
They're one of a kind.
Why?
You all right?
(grunts)
Let me out of the car! Stop! Stop! Stop.
Oh, God, it was you?
You're the mole.
Karissa, I can't raise Liam or Nelson on the phone.
KARISSA: Tracking them.
Their signals are... dead.
When did they check in
at the offsite facility?
They didn't.
Damn it! Where are they?
I don't know, but Croft has the EmDrive.
And Liam.
You're a Russian spy?
CROFT: No.
It's not like that. I just, uh...
supply technology... for a price.
(laughs) Oh, don't be so naive.
It happens all the time.
How did you figure it out?
Your glasses.
Yeah, those one-of-a-kind antiques?
They were in your house when you were
supposedly running for your life,
and now they're on your face!
Mm. (chuckles)
Good observation.
So the night you disappeared-- that was just a setup?
No, after you left,
I phoned a friend, like I said.
But he didn't work for NASA.
This is Malcolm Croft.
Yes, I-I know what time it is, but this can't wait.
A student has discovered something--
an asteroid on a collision course with the Earth.
Extinction level.
Totally certain.
And as far as we knew, you hadn't told anyone else
about the asteroid, so you were the dangling thread.
And that's when things started to get
a little more complicated.
The Russians tracked me to Darius
and into the Pentagon.
That's when they realized
that the Pentagon already knew everything,
so we had to figure out what their strategy was gonna be.
You used me to infiltrate Tanz,
and then you hacked the kinetic impactor to protect Russia.
Why not have them kill me like they did Lazlo?
Just do it.
Kill you?
You are like the son I never had.
I want you to come with me.
We could finish the EmDrive together.
Where? Moscow.
They will welcome us like Snowden,
we'll live like kings,
and then we'll launch the gravity tractor,
and we will save the world.
(door opens)
LIAM: You have no idea
what they'll do with the technology.
You have no idea what they'll do with us.
Liam, think about it.
(cell phone ringing)
Who is this?
MAN (distorted): A friend with the same agenda.
And what agenda is that?
Atlas. Check the message.
(phone vibrates, chimes)
What am I looking at? MAN: Zoom in.
Here's the billion-dollar question:
What is Tanz technology doing fused inside this rock?
Who are you?
(phone chirping)
Resist?
The global hacker collective?
This is so Watergate.
Wait, how'd you get this photo?
I don't reveal my sources. Hopefully you don't, either.
Why are you giving me this story,
not the Post or the Times?
We saw your article on Darius Tanz.
A face-to-face meeting in the Treehouse.
How did you get that kind of access?
Timing... and skill.
Use that skill to find out what the Pentagon and Tanz are up to,
and you won't be a blogger with a second-rate website anymore.
You'll be the future of investigative journalism.
And what do you get out of it?
The truth.
Okay, Mom, I will. Love you, too.
If the U.S. and India were both hacked,
what are the chances the others are in the clear?
Well, we can't very well call up Iran and China
for a chat about deep-space probes.
Dexter,
see if there's any intelligence
about the probes out near the IO.
Yes, sir.
Sir, the Chinese probe just crashed
into Jupiter's moon Europa.
And we picked up chatter about the Iranian probe
going off-line a few hours ago.
It's not just us or India, it's all of them.
There is a major player out there
looking to get control of that asteroid.
And the fate of the human race.
TANZ: Harris.
We need the use of your satellites now.
MASON: Black with a little sugar.
Thanks.
Has this happened before? A lockdown?
Once.
Seven years ago, when some drone technology was stolen.
That's when Darius brought in Lazlo.
Who killed himself.
The rumor is he was...
stealing from the boss.
We work in tech.
There's lots of secrets running around inside these walls.
JAMIE: I had this one cousin, he worked at
an aeronautics start-up in Silicon Valley.
He was told day one he'd given up all rights to privacy.
Sorry. I can't get ahold of Liam,
and his work space is empty.
He just vanished, and... he's not answering his phone.
I had this other cousin,
he'd thought he'd paid his phone bill...
I'm sure that Liam paid his phone bill, Jamie.
TESS: Security measures have been completed.
All employees must return to their workstations.
Thank you for your patience. Let's get back at it.
(panting softly)
(grunts)
(panting)
CROFT: Liam!
I wouldn't do that if I were you.
Really?
You're gonna shoot me, Croft?
After everything we've been through, you're gonna shoot me?
I don't want to. I don't want to.
But I will if I have to.
You killed Lazlo.
CROFT: You wanted to see me?
I thought maybe you could explain what you're doing here
on this video. Let me see that.
(Lazlo grunts, gunshot)
I don't believe it.
All of this is for money?
No, no, no. Respect.
I've watched lesser minds like Darius Tanz make billions
off of other people's ideas, while people like you and I,
we toil in obscurity.
With the EmDrive, finally,
this is my chance to join the ranks of-of Oppenheimer,
Einstein, Galileo.
And I'm asking you to come along with me.
Liam, I'm offering you
a chance for scientific immortality.
Croft, I would rather die a hero than live a traitor.
(panting)
Croft?
(gun cocks) CROFT: Drop it.
I already told you, Ms. Neel, Darius is not here.
Okay, fine.
What about Liam Cole? Is he here?
He's not, but I'll be happy to pass along a message.
Thank you, I'd appreciate that.
You're a friend of Liam's?
Yeah.
I am.
Amanda.
Jillian.
His girlfriend, right?
He talks about you all the time.
Oh. (chuckles)
Have you heard from him today?
'Cause I've been trying to reach him.
No, I haven't.
Are you okay?
Yeah. I don't know.
It's been an interesting day.
You look like you could use a drink.
Actually...
I really could.
Come on. First round's on me.
(chuckles)
DEXTER: Satellite imaging shows Liam and Professor Croft
being transferred to an SUV three hours ago.
We tracked the SUV
for 30 miles north-northwest
before the satellite moved out of range.
You sure you can't pick them up somewhere?
We hooked into traffic cams, but they left the grid
over an hour ago; the trail is cold.
HARRIS: Okay, we have the SUV's license plate number.
Let's put out an APB.
We don't have time for that.
Dexter, we have the license plate.
Can you get the VIN number from the DMV?
Sure. Excuse me, you're not in charge here.
Tanz Electronics
built the onboard nav
entertainment systems for all those SUVs.
In case of emergency... You'd be able to track them.
DEXTER: I have the VIN. I just need your security code
to get into the Tanz Electronics control system.
And there's a complicated firewall here.
Hold on, that's a root-level access terminal.
HARRIS: Darius, keep your hands off that keyboard.
You don't have clearance. There's 20 steps here, Harris.
The amount of time it would take me to explain it to Dexter...
CLAIRE: Isn't it a little convenient
that the EmDrive was lost in the exact moment
when you claim it's finally working?
It wasn't lost, Ms. Rayburn!
It's been stolen because it works.
Stolen by the same man who hacked the IO Probe.
Why should we believe you?
Damn it, because it's the truth.
Lazlo was innocent. Darius has done everything he promised.
He invented planet-saving technology in record time,
which we are perilously close to losing.
Don't you think it's time
we stopped treating him like the enemy?
Ms. Barrows...
No, she's right.
Have at it.
TANZ: This isn't exactly legal,
but, then again, neither is waterboarding your own citizens,
so... I won't tell...
if you don't.
DEXTER: Got him.
Sir, they're at a private airfield in Maryland.
They can take off without FAA authorization from there.
Okay, scramble jets to that location
and close the airspace out to international waters.
We need to mobilize an anti-terror team now.
Where are you going?
I have a chopper standing by. You coming or not?
Yes.
All right, Liam, this has gone far enough.
Leave me alone!
Take everything and go!
There's only one other person beside myself
that can build an EmDrive.
Now, what kind of scientist would I be
if I left a variable like that on the table, huh?
Now,
I'm giving you one last chance.
I don't want to kill you.
But I will if I have to.
So, come on.
So, you must love it, getting to work for Darius Tanz.
And with your boyfriend there, too.
Yeah, it's great... when he's there.
Meaning?
He disappears. A lot.
To where?
Who knows? It's like...
vanishes like Houdini.
Just everything is so secretive over there.
You make it sound so sinister.
I don't mean to.
Working there is an honor.
I know that.
We're improving the future of humanity.
But...?
Ugh, ignore me.
I think that I have had one martini too many.
(both chuckle) Listen,
you're in a new city, new boyfriend.
You're feeling isolated; I get that.
And working for Darius Tanz can't be easy.
If you ever need a friend to talk to, I'm here.
Ah, you know, you're the first friend I made
since I moved to Washington.
Well... to friendship.
To friendship.
*
(jet engine whirring)
(gun cocks)
(tires screech)
You got to stop the plane! Drop your weapon!
No, no, no, don't shoot, don't shoot!
Get your hands up! My name is Liam Cole!
I work with Darius Tanz!
Please don't shoot. TANZ: Hold your fire!
Hold your fire! He's with us!
Are you okay?
It was Croft.
That son of a bitch. They took everything.
They took the research, they took the prototype.
Everything. Who?
The Russians.
Understood.
What?
They can't find the plane.
They must've disabled the transponder.
And they're flying below radar.
Over water in the dark.
Russia's in possession of the EmDrive
and all the kinetic impactors.
Now what?
(exhales)
I...
When the asteroid gets close enough, we...
use nuclear weapons and...
(exhales)
...hope for the best.
By then, everyone will know.
It'll be chaos.
Anarchy.
We need to inform POTUS.
To prepare for the worst.
Harris...
do you think Atlas is responsible for all this?
Let's hope not.
So, did you get the answers to your questions?
Some.
Tess... was the love of my life.
I broke her heart and, as it turns out, my own.
She's my biggest regret,
and now Lazlo.
I'm sorry.
(sighs) How could I have been so stupid?
Croft--
he's the only person I haven't vetted in all the years
I've let people through these doors.
Darius,
no one can see everything coming, not even you.
He wiped my internal hard drives clean.
(chuckles) There's no evidence
we ever worked on the EmDrive at Tanz.
If you believed so strongly in the EmDrive,
why'd you make me steal uranium for the ark?
Play the game out till the end.
Now that the Russians have the EmDrive,
the Americans will challenge them.
It will lead to a stand-off.
That uranium you risked everything for
will power the ark's life support functions,
and your selfless bravery
will be the only reason any of us live on.
You think we're gonna kill ourselves
before the asteroid even gets here.
Whoever controls the EmDrive
controls the fate of the world, Grace.
And right now, it's in the hands of our enemy.
We have no idea what they'll do with that power.
Save us...
or destroy us.
*
* On the edge of the dark
* I wait for the sun to rise
* Oh, there's still a little light that shines... *
Liam?
* In my tired eyes...
I didn't mean to wake you up.
Where have you been?
Um... research.
Off-campus.
* 'Cause there's still a little light that shines... *
Couldn't reach you all day.
I thought you were dead or something.
* Eyes
*
(Liam sniffles)
I'm not dead.
* On the edge of the dark
* I will wait for the sun to rise *
* 'Cause there's still a little... *
I'm right here.
* Deep in my tired eyes.