01x10 - The Leap

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Foundation". Aired September 24, 2021 to current.*
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Based off the novels by Isaac Asimov, a thousand year old saga of the Foundation, a group of humans discover the only way to save the Galactic Empire is to defy it.
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01x10 - The Leap

Post by bunniefuu »

[Gaal] Previously on Foundation…

The Second Foundation
must be kept secret.

[Gaal] I am done being used.

- Stop! Stop! Stop!
- I don't...

[other Dawn] We're transferring
your nanobots into my blood.

I'm going to go back to the palace,

and I'm gonna be you.

Brother Day will be home soon.

You can plead your case to him.

We can share the Invictus.
We can repair it.

- [shouting]
- Freestone, wait!

[Hari] Well, this is encouraging.

Seeing you all gathered here
gives me hope.

We might actually pull this off.

[GAAL NARRATING] My mother
used to say that going to sleep


was a leap of faith.

Our souls wander when we dream,
or so she told me.


And if we say our devotions,

our souls will find their way back
before we wake.


Climbing from our
cradle is another leap.


So is leaving the comfort of home.

For some, it's setting sail,
hurtling ourselves into the void.


We send messages into space
hoping someone will answer,


praying we find safe harbor
over the horizon.


[HARI] Anacreon and Thespis,

you've been at each other's throats
so long,

the origin of your enmity is
almost irrelevant.

We have legitimate
grounds for our hatred.

The First Betrayal
and a thousand atrocities since.

No one knows
what really happened that night.

[YELLS]

The First Betrayal.

A Thespin king newly wed
to an Anacreon huntress.

The two emerging powers
of the Outer Reach united in marriage.

Are you gonna teach us
our own history now, dead man? Huh?

The Thespin dog slit her throat
on their wedding bed.

So the legend goes.

Are you suggesting our history's wrong?

History is written by the victor,

and neither of you seem to be winning.

There was a witness.

The only witness,
an Anacreon handmaid who testified

that King Throy un Thark got drunk
the night of the wedding

and, in a fit of rage,
m*rder*d your huntress.

The handmaid lied.

The nature of the lie is relevant here.

On her deathbed,
the handmaid made a confession.

The real m*rder*r was Cleon II.

The first clone
in the Genetic Dynasty realized

that a plan could unfold
over several lifetimes.

He saw where this
new alliance could lead,

so he had his shadowmaster seduce
the handmaiden, drug the newlyweds,

m*rder your huntress
and implicate your king.

Why fight two upstart kingdoms

when you can exploit their racial animus

and have them fight each other?

The clones played you.

But today, thanks to the Foundation,

we could put back together
what Empire has broken.

No. We are not uniting with them now,
no matter how this started.

And even if we did,
Empire is too strong.

Now you have the Invictus.

The Invictus is only one ship.

One ship can be the first of many.

If both your peoples will set
aside hatred in favor of strength,

as those poor newlyweds did,

then you'll find here the skills
necessary to build more ships.

For the Plan to succeed,
the Foundation needs three pillars,

just as a stool needs three legs.

It needs all the children
of the Outer Reach.

That is the way I designed it.

So, Hari, you knew
the Invictus would be discovered?

Hello, Mari. Good to see you again.

Where's Gaal?

She never made it to Terminus.

And you are?

Salvor Hardin.

Mari's daughter.

I'm the one who opened the Vault

and who wrestled that damn ship
onto our doorstep.

Well, Salvor Hardin,
it appears thanks are in order.

As to the mystery of the Invictus,

its appearances were one of the first
tests

I gave my predictive models.

Where others saw chaos,
I found a pattern.

I don't understand.
We're not revolutionaries.

You said so yourself at the trial.

Well, I might have lied about that.

[GASPS, CHATTERING]

I am grateful, Brother Dusk.

That I saved our dynasty
from infiltration? [SCOFFS]

I wonder, Day,

if you'd stayed on Trantor
and not traveled to the Maiden,

would you have apprehended
his differences?

You and I are the same.
I have to believe I would have.

The more important question is
what do we do now?

You know what we have to do.

[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]

Out.

We're still unraveling
the exact methodology,

but apparently they corrupted
your nanoparticle regimen some time ago.

You're not one of us.

Your DNA has been
altered in a dozen ways.

You look like us.

You sound like us, but…

How long have you known?

That I'm different?

I used to steal away
and watch holos of you…

Eating breakfast,

sitting in the throne room.

I counted how often you smiled
at your subjects,

whether you sat
with your hands together or apart,

how often you drank from your cup
at meals.

I knew even then that I wasn't like you.

But I wanted to be.

[WHIRS, CLICKS]

What are you going to do?

You conspired with insurgents.

I wasn't conspiring.

You trusted your secrets to our enemies
and fled the palace.

- She tricked me!
- Because she had a foothold

- in your heart!
- And who created that foothold?

Look at us!

We have no mothers, no aunts, no uncles.

We have sex with concubines

whose memories are erased
the moment we leave them!

Have you never longed
to leave this place?

Have you never felt stifled
by the weight of our ascendants?

Can you truly say that
all you've ever wanted

was to be an installment
in a long, long line of us,

living out a script
written centuries ago?

All my life,
I've wanted to call you "Father."

But you're not my father.

We're not even people, Day.

We're just… echoes of the first Cleon.

So is a corrupted echo
more original than a perfect one?

Or does it fade away to nothing?

So the curation,
everything we've been doing here,

has all been for nothing?

Not for nothing, Mari.

Your time here on Terminus
hasn't been wasted.

It got you out
from under the Empire's grasp.

It hardened you.

But the Foundation was never
about curating knowledge.

It was about curating people.

You, the original settlers,

you possess qualities vital in forming
the seeds of a new civilization.

And you, Anacreons and Thespins,
you are the consummate survivors.

Consigned to history
by the Empire and yet,

together, you represent the future.

The human race is an ever-evolving story

told over thousands of years
by a countless number of voices.

But for a long time now,

that chorus has been
suffocated and quietly erased.

Because under the Genetic Dynasty,
there is only room for one story.

One voice.

We cannot become who we must become

if the Empire is allowed to persist.

That path leads to
the annihilation of the human race.

Even if we embrace
this destiny of yours,

the Empire will be here within weeks.

He's right. They were already
investigating the comms buoy.

It's only a matter of time
before they send reinforcements.

The Empire won't come. Not yet.
Not if they think you're already dead.

Take the Invictus
to the far side of your star,

activate the quantum drive,

but maintain your
position in subspace...

The energy signature would read
as a mega-flare.

A mega-flare would wipe out
all life in the system.

The Empire comprises
tens of thousands of worlds.

A dangerous star with dead planets
in a distant arm of the galaxy

won't merit further investigation

even if it did once host the Foundation.

It could work. It could.

As long as don't we stray
beyond the Outer Reach,

we'd be invisible to them.

We'd be free.

You'd be free,

to bide your time, to build,
to become who you need to become.

So, are you the ghost then?

I suppose I am.

- What's it like to die?
- [BOTH] Keir.

What? I want to know.

[THRUMS]

Did you see anything?

Those are complex questions.

Then answer a simple one.
How'd you get here?

What's your name, son?

Poly. Poly Verisof.

[CHUCKLES] Well, Poly Verisof,
shortly before I d*ed,

I swallowed a pill

containing millions
of self-replicating molecular machines.

As per my mortality directive,
my casket was jettisoned out into space.

Those machines began breaking down
my body tissue


into all its constituent elements.

Then those machines recycled
those elements,

scooping up more material, ice,
micrometeoroids, et cetera,

assembling
the Vault's internal scaffolding.

You're saying
the Vault isn't just your tomb?

The Vault is you?

You've been on Terminus this whole time,
watching us?

No.

It wouldn't have been wise for me
to have been sentient all this time.

That kind of isolation can undo
even the strongest minds.

No, the process of my awakening
was triggered by the Anacreons.

When the null field expanded.

It takes time
to rebuild consciousness, Salvor.

The null field is just part of
the Vault's a*t*matic defense system.

Will we see you again?

Oh, I expect so, Poly.

This isn't the Foundation's first
crisis, and it won't be the last.

You've bought a reprieve,
but w*r with Empire is inevitable.

In the meantime,

remember this day.
Remember what we're striving towards.

I know a thousand years can seem
like an eternity,

but it's the blink of an eye

when measured
against the whole of human history,

and it could so easily slip through
our fingers if we're not vigilant.

No, wait! So, that's it?
That's all we get?

I've given you what you need.

[PANTING] What about the visions
you've been sending me?

Visions?

Yes.

The ghost. You've been talking to me
since I was a kid.

And... And I had these visions.

I've seen you on Trantor,
on the slow ship.

They guided me.
Y... You helped me solve the crisis.

Curious.

Well, Salvor Hardin,

whatever messages you've been receiving,

I assure you they haven't come from me.

[RUMBLING, WHIRRING]

[PANTING]

Walk with me.

I know people hate me, consider me evil.

But it is my detachment,

my indifference to suffering,

that allows me to rule effectively.

The galaxy is so vast,

the problems so large,

that I must turn a blind eye
to the individual.

Hmm.

Look there.

It's a strange burden
not being allowed to carry a burden.

My brothers and I shift it amongst
ourselves because we're a family.

And we love one another in our own way.

I'm sure you find that hard to believe.

Do you ever think
about your legacy, Azura?

The mark you leave behind
after you're gone?

As a child, I wanted to be better
than the Cleons who came before.

Smarter, braver, more dazzling
in the justice I handed out.

But as I matured,
my aspirations evolved.

I no longer wanted to be the best.

I wanted to be the same. Predictable
courage, predictable justice.

I wanted my son to be the same too.
Another Cleon. Perfectly Cleon.

He's not your son.

Of course he is.

He is my brother. He is also my son.

I rocked him as a baby.

I cultivated him just as you've nurtured
the plants in this garden.

It's a powerful thing,
caring for a life.

Why are you telling me all of this?

Because of all the galaxy's citizens…

You have the singular distinction

of having robbed me
of my personal legacy.

Which leads me to your legacy.

I know you're not the architect
of this plot,

but you are the face of it.

The face that broke my son's heart.

We traced your family tree
back to your great-great-grandparents,

and then identified
all living descendants

branching out from those individuals.

Not just direct descendants,
but all the aunts and uncles,

first and second cousins,
removed or otherwise.

Do you know how many
people we uncovered?

.

Then we located all your friends
and lovers, past and present.

First boy you kissed, the young woman
you gave your virginity to.

Your teachers and coworkers,
even those here on the palace grounds.

We located their parents and siblings.

Basically,
anyone in your extended orbit.

That amounted to
another individuals.

, people.

The sum total of lives you've made
a meaningful mark on.

In short, the people who would
remember you after you're gone.

Even as we speak,

every member of your personal
constellation is under our surveillance,

a particle beam targeting
each of their brain stems.

At my signal,
they will all cease to exist.

[GASPS, BREATHES SHAKILY]

There.

All gone.

Your legacy has been erased, Azura.

Whatever minute waves your being managed

to propagate throughout the universe

have been canceled out.

You will be placed in an automated cell
and fed intravenously,

restrained so as to prevent self-harm.

You will be sensory shrouded
for the rest of your life.

You will never see, nor hear,
nor smell, nor taste, nor touch again.

But you will be aware.

And you will remember
what you have taken from me.

[BREATHING SHAKILY]

[MARI] Hari Seldon,

seeing all this coming
and telling us nothing.

I thought we'd be sitting out the fall.

I thought our work

was building a time capsule
some future survivors would open.

I never imagined we'd be
the ones putting the Plan in action.

Do you still believe
the Empire's gonna collapse?

Yes.

Do you still believe
humanity can do better?

Of course I do. No one sane
wants the Empire to continue.

So, what's the difference now?

The difference is,
he didn't just not tell us,

he lied to us.

It's like when I brought you along
to lectures when you were a kid

and gave you a crayon
and told you to take notes.

[CHUCKLES]

He gave us busywork.

I believed in him.

Every word.

And he just pulled the rug
out from under us.

[SALVOR SIGHS] How do you think I feel?

I'm sorry he didn't know you.

Know me.

It's more than that.

All these years
thinking the ghost was talking to me.

I convinced myself it was Hari,

and I started to believe that
I actually was special.

But if the visions
weren't coming from him,

then who were they coming from?

No one? My imagination?

You are special, Salvor.

The null field.

What you did, bringing the Invictus,
it meant everything.

We survived…

Against all odds.

You were right.

We have to make our own plan now.

[VEHICLE WHIRRING]

[VEHICLE CLANKS, POWERS DOWN]

I respected her, in a way.

I'm sorry it came down to this.

I'm not.

No next move, just a last one.
Isn't that what you said about her?

I was just trying to rattle you.

Obviously it worked, Warden.

I wanted the next move for my child.

Over a century ago, this was
offered to the emperor in peace.

I'm offering it again…

To you.

She respected you as well, in a way.

Will you take her back to Anacreon?

No. We've brought Anacreon to her.

The cutting is from a Tallyn oak,

the same wood your bow was carved from.

Our foresters tell me it might be
stubborn enough to take root here.

Would you help me, Warden?

Yeah.

[GAAL] In the months that followed,

the children of the Outer Reach
took Hari's words to heart,


setting aside hatred
in favor of strength.


It takes more power
to build than to burn,


and Hari wanted them to build.

As for the Invictus,

Hugo Crast, of all people,
became its captain.


[SHIP POWERING UP]

He took it to the far side of their star

and generated a mega-flare,
allowing the Foundation to be free.


Captain Crast.

- Poly.
- Warden.

How goes the Invictus?

Oh, we managed to stabilize the drives,

so we won't be jumping
into the heart of a star anytime soon.

And how long before
we can build another?

Eighteen months, ma'am.

- You like it up in space, Poly?
- [POLY] I do.

And, uh,
how long are you dirt-side, Captain?

Fourteen long hours, Warden.

Mmm.

Mirror on my telescope's
a little out of alignment.

Think you could help me recollimate it?

Guys, I know what you're talking about.

Well, then why don't you
politely piss off, Poly?

[CHUCKLES]

[ROARING]

[SALVOR] Stop!

Wait!

If it's not you, then who is it, Hari?


[SOFT WHISTLE NOTE PLAYS]

I remember this one.

[CHUCKLES] That was your favorite.

You used to sleep with it in your crib.

If you had a nightmare,
he used to say you could blow it,

and the ghosts would fly away.

Most of the time, just holding
it was enough to soothe you.

Thank goodness. A child with
a whistle is a trial for the soul.

He used to drive me crazy
how often I'd find him out here

having fallen asleep
while he was working.

Oh, he was terrible
when he first started making them.

But after a few hundred nights,
Abbas developed a knack for it.

He'd have been proud, you know?
You becoming mayor, filling his shoes.

The election's just a formality.

Everyone knows
you'll win by a landslide.

Mom,
who's the girl from the water planet?

On the slow ship,
we had a seed bank program.

It wasn't safe bringing the baby to term
in space,

so we banked our eggs and embryos
as insurance against the future.

I chose one from a controversial donor.

Gaal Dornick.

[SHIVAUGHN] Any change
in your birth directive?

I got to know her a little
before we lost her.

She had a remarkable mind.

And the father?

Raych Foss.

I've seen them both as children.

Gaal tonight.

And, uh, Raych…

At the start of the crisis.

Hey!

All this time I thought
I was living Hari's memories.

But I was actually living theirs.

It makes so much sense now,
why I am so different.

I carried you in my womb, Salvor.
You're still my daughter.

I know. But I am their daughter too.

Gaal escaped in a cryo-pod. Where?

I was still early on in our journey.

It would've been
somewhere along the Orion Spur.

I think she's still out there, Mom.

I think she's
the one who's been reaching out to me.

I think that she is
behind all my instincts.

Hon, that was light-years
from Terminus.

How could that possibly work?

I don't know, but it is her.

And if Gaal was special in some way,
any way,

it might explain why I am too.

You've always been drawn to the stars.

Yeah, and now we know why. [CHUCKLES]

'Cause something is tugging at me.

Mom, I have to try and find her.

I know, love. [CHUCKLES]

And I want you to.

Here's the thing though, Mom.
I need to go right now.

I'm worried if I don't go now,
I'll never find the courage again.

Take the ghost whistle.
And something else.

[MARI SIGHS]

When you find her, give her this.

It was always meant to be hers.

I'm sorry. For everything.

There's nothing to forgive, Mom.

I was exactly where I needed to be.

[SIGHS]

[SOBS]

Beggar, wake up.

[POWERING UP]

[HUGO] Figured I'd find you here.

Damn.

You wanted a clean getaway.

I know you too well, Sal.

Think it was
the kiss on the cheek that did it.

I just didn't want it to hurt
any more than it had to.

It's not love if it doesn't hurt.

I learned that when I had to leave
Thespis so the others could eat.

And no one came chasing after me.

Are you chasing after me, then?

You know, you can come if you want to.

I would if you really wanted me to.

But I get the feeling this is
something you need to do alone.

I always knew you'd let this planet
shrug you off one day.

Just figured I'd be by your side
when it happened.

Will you be mad later?

[SIGHS] Never.

Take care of my planet, won't you?

Take care of my ship.

- She's not your ship anymore.
- [CHUCKLES]

- It's not my planet.
- [CHUCKLING]

Galaxy's a big place, Sal.

Any idea where you'll start?

Got a hunch.

Go on. b*at it.

Go.

Go on.

Goodbye, Salvor Hardin.

[BREATHING SHAKILY]

[DEMERZEL] Empire.

It's time.

You must hate me.

I could never hate you, Empire.

I love you.

Because you're programmed to.

All love is programming,
biological or otherwise.

When a human mother looks
into her newborn's eyes,

their brain waves synchronize.

Empire.

Damn your courtly deportment, boy.

You almost brought us down.

I'm sorry, Brother, I...

You are no brother to me,
nor to Cleon I,

nor to any other Cleon
who walked these polished floors.

You are a deformity.

And if I had my way,
you would already be ash.

But as you pointed out,

that is a judgment
for the middle throne to decide.

During my time away,

I had much opportunity
to reflect upon our dynasty.

I went to sleep
in one sector of the galaxy,

then awoke in another.

It's a miracle, by all accounts,

folding space and time.

And then, on the Maiden,

I met pilgrims who had worked
their whole lives

just to walk a spiral of salt,

in the hopes that they might be granted
a vision before they die.

I...

We were challenged
by a woman who claimed

that a soul incapable of change is
a soul doomed to stagnation.

I believe Seldon himself implied
something similar.

Seldon was a vainglorious fraud.

And yet, Brother...

And yet…

A bough incapable of bending
will eventually break.

It is time the dynasty bent.

Just a little.

Are you insane?

Did that jump addle your brain?

This is why you should never have left.

Our entire empire is built on
imperishable permanence.

If the Galactic Council discovers

- our dynastic thread is broken…
- Galactic Council? They'd never know.

- …we are through!
- We could learn from this.

Perhaps even benefit from a slight...

- [GRUNTS] Benefit?
- Demerzel.

- [DAY] How dare you lay your hands on me?
- [DUSK] You've grown weak.

Please don't let them k*ll me.

- I won't.
- This is nonsense.

[GRUNTS]

I would rather decant
another one of you,

than have that
aberration live amongst us.

The decision is mine to make!

Not if it brings about our ruin!

Psychohistory predicted...

Psychohistory?

We are Empire. History bends to us!

[BONES cr*ck]

No!

I am loyal, Empire,

to the Cleonic Dynasty above all else.

No.

[DUSK] You can dispose
of the body yourself.

I expect another one incarnated
and up to speed by breakfast tomorrow.

[SIGHS]

[CLANKS, THRUMS]

[POWERING DOWN]

[BREATHING SHAKILY]

What? Speak.

The rebels' plans to
undermine the dynasty

appear to be more extensive
than we first believed.

We thought the gene editing was
limited solely to Dawn's person,

that it was done after
he was incarnated.

But after more extensive testing,

it seems they've adulterated
the source itself.

Then all replacement clones…

…are no longer pure copies.

[DAY] When did this happen?

[OBRECHT] We don't know precisely.

Are you saying that
I, myself, am adulterated?

Possibly.

Yes.

And Dusk?

Empire's being examined as we speak.

Thank you, Shadowmaster.

You may leave.

[GRUNTING]

[SHOUTS]

[BREATHES SHAKILY]

[GROANING]

[SCREAMS]

[COUGHS]

[GASPING]

[COMPUTER] Entering Synnaxian aerospace.

[BREATHES SHAKILY]

Initiate reentry.

[COMPUTER] Secure for reentry.

[POWERING UP]

[STRAINS]

[BREATHES SHAKILY]

[GAAL] Climbing from the cradle.

Leaving the comfort of home.

No safe harbor.

, , .

, , …

[CONTINUES COUNTING, INDISTINCT]

, , .

[POWERS DOWN]

[GAAL] Just a cry in the dark.

Are we alone?

And even if we aren't,
will anyone bother to answer?


[GASPS]

Okay.

[THRUMMING]

[GASPS]

[WHIMPERS]

[SOBBING]

[BUBBLING]

[GROWLS]

[SQUEAKS]

[CRYING] Go away.

[CRYING]

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

Hey. Hey, can you hear me?

Shh.

It's okay.

It's okay. You're okay. Shh. It's okay.

What were you doing down there?

The readout said
you'd been in cryo over a century.

I crash-landed.

[SIGHS] I came looking for someone.

Who?

You.

What?

My name is Salvor Hardin.

I'm your daughter.

I'm pretty sure this belongs to you.

[GAAL] Sometimes you leap.

And sometimes, someone catches you.
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