01x09 - Axis Mundi

[bunniefuu]

[whirring]

[Billy] Well, it's, uh...
it's a beautiful day.

- [Lee] Yeah.
- [Billy] Yeah.

[Billy] I'd say it's, uh...

weather's gonna take us to the weekend.

[Lee] Oh, yeah.

[Billy] So...

- Mmm.
- Hey, buddy, cereal. Come on.

I think it's about that time, pal.

Yeah. Yeah, okay. Okay.

Uh, little man, we are off to work.

Okay.

Now, your mimi is gonna be
watching you today.

And, uh, well, me and your uncle Lee,

we'll see you when he
gets back from his trip.

Where's he going?

I'll let your uncle Lee
fill you in on that. Okay?

Come here.

[door opens]

[door closes]

You know that it's top secret
army-explorer stuff, right?

Is it dangerous?

Well, we're doing it
for the good of the world.

You know, trying to keep everybody safe.

I guess what we do
is always a little dangerous.

Well, you know all about that, right?

Yeah.

What I can say is that there's a lot of
really smart, very careful people

working as hard as they can
to make this as safe as it can be.

Are you exploring far away?

That's, um... That's hard to explain, Hiro...

but I'll be back really soon.

In fact...

my lucky pocketknife.

I know we said we were gonna look into
getting you one when you were older,

so I'm not actually giving this to you, okay?

But I want you... [sighs]

I want you to keep it safe for me, okay?
Just until I'm back.

[chuckles]

[Billy sighs]

How'd that go?

He's fine. He's a tough little kid.

- [tech] Operation Hourglass commencing.
- Yeah.

- [tech] Personnel, standby.
- Takes after his mother.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

You did good, swab.

She'd be proud.
It's a shame she can't be here to see it.

[chuckles] She'd miss all this.

- Running around, doing nine jobs at once.
- Yeah.

And doing all of them better than
any nine of us could do one.

[chuckles] That woman.

She'd be late
accepting her own Nobel Prize.

[tech] All stations, system check.

Well, we just have to make sure
that you aren't.

[soldier] Good morning, sir.

Yeah.

[exhales sharply]

You don't have to do this.

There's plenty of qualified candidates
we can...

Ah, no, no. No, I'm not gonna ask anybody
to do something that I wouldn't do myself.

- Well, it could be me.
- [sighs]

Hey, did you ever manage
to get that Jeep out of third?

[chuckles] Go to hell.

[chuckles]

Don't mind if I do.

[tech] All stations,
commence rewind checks.

President is right, gentlemen.

Space is hard.

The moon's a decade away.
Two, if we do it right.

Operation Hourglass is the culmination

of nearly two decades
of Project Monarch's work.

Human discovery and
reconnaissance of the territory

between us and them.

Watch your heads, gentlemen.

A place that will redefine
our understanding of the entire planet

and ensure the health and welfare
of all humanity.

And if we don't get there first, Senator,
Comrade Khrushchev will.

Na zdorovye.

What you're about to see

is more than just a victory
for American scientific know-how

or our defense.

This mission is a matter of
global security

and the preservation of mankind, gentlemen.

Please, take a seat.

Well, Kennedy can have outer space
and all the big rocks floating in it.

We're about to plant our flag
in under space.

[tech] Hourglass is a go. Securing.

Our operating theory, gentlemen,
is that Titans get around underground

in a kind of a...
a king-sized rabbit warren.

[Suzuki] Gamma simulator activated.

Clear the space.

[Puckett] And Dr. Suzuki found a way in,
right here in the heartland.

Now, the thing is, the tunnel is
too unstable for us to enter.

The only thing which makes it passable
is a Titan.

- [radar beeping]
- Doctor, we have positive response.

All stations, Titan lock.

Repeat, we have Titan lock.

As we did on Bikini Atoll,

we lure the Titan
with the promise of a meal.

Titan's coming for our bait.
But, Jesus, that's a big one.

[tech] 5,000 feet to proximity.
On my mark.

And that promise will be unfulfilled.

Mark.

[automated voice] Ten, nine...

[tech] Titan at 4,000 feet.

[Puckett] But the tunnel
between here and there

stabilizes as they move through it.

[tech] 3,000 feet.

[Billy] Terminate gamma simulator.

[Puckett] So, rather than unleash hell
in Kansas, we cut bait.

[Billy] There it goes. It's going home.

And we sneak in behind them,
drafting down in their wake.

[automated voice] ...one.

[grunts]

- [onlookers gasping]
- [applause]

[Billy] There they go.

Come on. Come on, come on, come on.

[antennas creaking]

[radio chatter]

[Lee] What the hell is going on up there?
Billy, do you copy?

[yelps, grunts]

[spectators clamoring]

[tech] Evacuate the staging ground.

I'll say it again, evacuate the staging...

[Lee] Damn it, Billy, can you hear us?
Billy. g*dd*mn it. Billy, can you...

[tech] I repeat,
evacuate the staging ground.

[people clamoring, shouting]

[grunts]

- [Lee] Mayday, mayday. Billy, do you...
- [alarm blaring]

[Lee] Mayday, mayday
the hourglass is imploding on us.

[breathes heavily]

What happened?

What the hell happened?

I don't know. [breathes heavily]

[monitor beeping]

Where... Where am I?

[Verdugo] Tokyo. We had to airlift you
out of Kazakhstan.

- What happened?
- [sighs]

Everything at the reactor plant...

[stammers] ...it went terribly wrong.

- What does that mean?
- [Tim] Shaw.

He imploded the rifts

and the whole thing
collapsed down on itself.

[screaming]

[panting, grunts]

[grunts, breathes heavily]

[crowd clamoring]

[Tim] Then the locals showed up.

I'm lucky I didn't end up
in a Kazakh prison.

[Verdugo] A lot of good people
didn't make it out.

Shaw...

May.

Cate?

I'm sorry.

[breathes heavily] Okay.

So where do we start looking for them?

[Verdugo] Kentaro...

they didn't make it.

[stammers] We finish Shaw's work...

Lee Shaw d*ed doing what he loved,

pouring gasoline
on fires he doesn't understand.

He augmented a moment of global crisis
for this organization

that we have barely begun dealing with,

and he got your sister
and friend k*lled doing it.

I'm sorry, Kentaro.

Thank you for your help,

but your time in our world
has come to an end.

[sobs]

Wait, wait. No, they ca...

[stammers] We can... They're my family.

There has to be something I can do,
something we can do.

[Verdugo] There is.

Live.

[crying]

[in Japanese] I'm okay.

[groaning, grunting]

[grunting]

[in English] Cate?

Cate!

Cate!

Cate!

[muffled] Cate!

Cate!

[electricity crackling]

[grunts]

- May! All right, all right. Come on.
- Shaw...

- We can't stay here.
- Shaw.

We gotta get out of this place.
We gotta move fast.

You gotta hold my hand
and move exactly where I move, okay?

- Okay.
- Now. Come on. Come on.

We gotta avoid the lights.

No. This way, this way. Come on.

- [grunting]
- Come on. Keep moving!

- [May panting, whimpering]
- [Lee breathes heavily]

[May grunts]

- [Lee grunting] This way.
- [May] Shaw. Shaw.

- Come on, come on.
- [May whimpering]

This way.

[both panting]

What the hell?

- We're all right.
- What is going on?

We're all right.
We made it across the field.

After a rift closes, it leaves some kind
of electrical charge or something.

It affects your vision.
It affects the ground.

[stammers] It goes off
like a lethal static shock.

- How do you know that?
- Because I've been down here, May.

On a recon mission.
Same thing happened to my eyes.

[breathing heavily] Recon mission?

Where are we?

We're in it, May.

We're in their world. The Titans'.
This is just another part of their realm.

[breathes heavily] How did I get here?

I cleared the space,
and then I hit the timer.

She must have turned around
and come back inside.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
She followed me back.

- Whoa. No, no. Listen to me.
- Oh, my God, no.

- No. She started to fall.
- No, I gotta find her.

I caught her. Hey, we fell together.

May, she's down here somewhere.

- [stammers]
- I know that.

Is she alive?

- Did you see her when she...
- We're gonna find her, May.

But you gotta do everything
exactly as I say,

and I can keep you safe.

- Do you understand?
- [breathes shakily]

- Yeah, I just wanna find Cate.
- We will.

We will. Come on.

[Lee echoing] Cate!

[May echoing] Cate!

[Lee] Cate!

[May] Cate!

[sighs]

[sighs]

[sniffles]

[buzzer sounds]

[assistant] Dr. Randa?
General Puckett is here.

"As a result of
the catastrophic loss of life

in the undertaking of Operation Hourglass

and the inability of Project Monarch
to ascertain the cause of the catastrophe,

the Department of Defense has ordered

no further funds be allocated
to Project Monarch going forward."

- There's more, but you get the point.
- Hmm.

It's over, Bill.

I'm sorry.

[Billy sighs]

How are we supposed to
ascertain the cause of the catastrophe

- if they're shutting us down?
- Our DOD isn't big on theories

when proving them costs lives.

They really think NASA's getting to space
without losing some people?

Space they understand.

A network of portals connecting to
a hidden realm of monsters? It sounds...

- Insane.
- In a word.

And without an imminent thr*at
like our friend on Bikini Atoll...

Well, we could just bring one up, right?

Show 'em what a real catastrophe
looks like.

And what then?

Hope it's smaller than Godzilla
and listens to reason?

[sighs] I... I could've stopped it.

[Puckett] I could've stopped it.

"Older men declare w*r,
but it is youth that must fight and die."

I assure you, it's harder
when you know the youth in question.

He was my friend, too.

I can't let it go, Puck.

I won't.

Now, your boy's already lost a mother.

Now an uncle.

Do not take his father away too.

- We're never gonna find her.
- Come on, May.

- Cate!
- Time isn't on our side.

The longer we're down here,
the longer we're down here.

[sighs] What do you mean?

[sighs] Well, I'm not a science guy,

so it's, uh,
a little difficult to explain.

- Well, I got time.
- Actually, you don't.

- What are you talking about?
- I told you.

I've been here before and I made it back.

[monitor beeping]

Do you know what your name is?

Leland.

Leland Lafayette Shaw III.

- What is your rank and serial number?
- Do you know where you are?

- What happened? What is Project Monarch?
- How did you get here?

- What is Operation Hourglass?
- Do you know where you are?

- [agent] What monster were you hunting?
- Get m... Get me Bill Randa.

[nurse, in Japanese]
Shaw's been here a week

and he's still refusing to eat.

It will become a problem soon.

Mmm.

[nurse]
You are wasting away. You must eat.

[in English] I'd like to have Bill Randa
bring me a sandwich.

Um...

- [groans] Thank you.
- Shh.

Though it wouldn't be
much of a hunger strike

if I made any exceptions, would it?

- [nurse chuckles]
- [monitor alarm beeping]

- [sighs]
- [Lee, in Japanese] You are very kind.

[nurse chuckles]

[Lee] I am sorry.

[nurse] Whatever for?

[shrieks]

[in English] Bill Randa!
Get me Bill Randa!

- [in Japanese] What's going on?
- [in English] Get me Bill Randa! Get me...

[sighs] ...Randa.

William J. Randa!

Get me Bill Randa!

- [Lee, in English] Answer me, damn it.
- [in Japanese] Security!

- [Lee, in English] Somebody answer me.
- [in Japanese] Security!

[in Japanese] Anyone understand English?

- [in English] Shaw!
- Get me Bill Randa!

- Let her go.
- Go get me Bill Randa.

I can't. He's dead.

- [breathes heavily]
- We are in a Monarch medical facility.

You disappeared during Operation Hourglass
in 1962...

twenty years ago.

Uncle Lee.

Huh?

Huh?

Welcome home.

[Lee grunting] No.

No, no.

[grunting] No.

[Hiroshi, in Japanese] Ms. Matsumoto...

Dr. Randa.

I came to offer my apologies for today.

[sighs]

It looks worse than it is.

In some ways, Shaw is my responsibility.

I have no excuse for allowing
such a thing to happen to you.

[sighs]

Shaw was

terrified,

alone,

and in a lot of pain.

Lonely, scared people in pain

can do terrible things.

[both chuckling]

Thank you. [sighs]

Are you going to talk to him?

He's my responsibility. I think I have to.

But you don't want to talk to him.

- [sighs]
- Why?

When I was a boy,

he and my father and my mother promised me

that they'd come back.

I waited and waited,
but they didn't return.

I mourned them and moved on.

Dr. Randa...

it would seem like Shaw
has kept his promise.

[door unlocks]

[door opens]

Go slow.

Be careful.

I'm fine.

Good, good, good...

Sit down.

- [chuckles]
- I'm fine!

Let me move the table. Just a moment.

- Elevate your leg...
- Mom!

[sighs]

When you're able to move better

maybe you can call the office...

I don't want my old job back.

Kentaro...

Don't.

If it wasn't the right job,

you can find another...

I don't want to talk about work.

What do you want to do?

I should be with Cate.

Why would you say such a horrible thing?

I wanted to stop them.

I should have saved them.

I should have been with them.

I should have done whatever I could.

How can they expect me to go back
to the way things were?

No one expects that, Kentaro.

After that much loss...

...such grief and pain and despair...

...going back is not possible.

I'm sorry.

It's not your fault, Mom.

Mm-hmm.

I meant...

...I'm sorry that you have to
feel this at all.

But Kentaro...

You must let yourself feel it.

[sighs]

I don't know what to do.

Mmm.

Yes, you do.

But that woman said...

When have you ever done
what you've been told?

- [chuckles]
- [chuckles, sniffles]

[cries]

Yeah, you're right.

[chuckles]

[hip-hop music playing]

[in English] It's a signal! It's a signal!

[Tim] What is a signal?

The gamma burst. Th-The first... Okay.

Every time Shaw's
imploded another rift point,

we get more gamma rays all over the world, right?

Yeah. Big, noisy, chaotic,
and they're getting stronger...

Barnes, all 12 of them
seem like they're ready to erupt.

Yes, right, right, but not the first one.

That signal remained constant.

So I crushed it down
so that I could see all of it, and look.

When you zoom out, there's a pattern.

[stammers] Where...
Where is it coming from?

It's a message.

Somebody's sending us a message.

- [monitor beeping]
- [machinery clicks]

[sighs]

[breathes heavily]

[groans]

Is she okay?

She will be.

[groans] Good.

They sent you in here to talk to me, huh?

Think I'll open up to you?

Yes. You don't have to, of course.

Why is Monarch treating me
like I'm a prisoner?

No one's entirely sure if you are safe.

Hmm. Safe?

Not contagious or radioactive...

Or a Russian plant.

[chuckles]

- But you don't believe that.
- Of course not.

You're my Uncle Lee.

They just wanna know what happened to you,
and how.

Your survival, your age, defies logic.

And beyond logic...

[chuckles] Lies truth.

Some things never change, huh?

Not even at Monarch.

If I tell you the truth,
you're just gonna think I'm crazy.

If you keep it to yourself,
it was all for nothing.

[beeping continues]

[breathes heavily]

- [breathes heavily]
- [crew clamoring]

[breathing heavily]

- [clamoring, shouting]
- [roars]

We experienced an uncontrolled flight
into terrain.

[grunts, breathes heavily]

[breathing heavily]

Ben... Ben was down on arrival.

So we began planned EVA.

[radio static]

While attempting to contact
mission control,

we began our recon of the landing site.

- [monitor beeping rapidly]
- And then...

something happened.

We encountered
a massive unknown terrestrial organism.

I called for immediate evacuation.

[screams]

Local phenomena made our egress...

difficult.

- [screeching]
- [grunting]

[screams]

And then... the next thing I remember...

I was here.

They found you in the woods
outside of Higashizumo.

Inside it, there's a shrine.

They said it's the boundary between
the worlds of the living and the dead.

We found a rift in there.

"Mythography."

Your dad would've liked that.

He was right, Hiro.

Bill Randa was right.

What exactly was my father right about?

About everything.

Their world and ours.

Their balance.

[stammers] I think you are confused.

My father was crazy.

After he lost my mother and then you...

he lost himself.

Monarch is moving you to a secure facility
for observation and study.

Study?

It looks and feels like a retirement home.

I think you'll be comfortable there.

No, wait, wait, wait. You can't...
Wait, Hiro... Hiro. Stop. Stop.

We can do this together.

We can figure it out.

You and me.

- We can do it.
- "We" are not doing anything.



From the cradle of a civilization
to the moon...

We lived with the Titans until you three.

Some beasts
are best left undisturbed. I'm sorry.

This is your legacy.

This is your family business.

I buried that family
in three empty boxes a long time ago.

The madness
that devoured my childhood... [grunts]

Wasn't madness.

Then it was a choice.

Maybe that makes it worse.

[narrator 1] The pregnant macaque
has another reason to visit the onsen:

pain relief.

A long soak in the natural hot spring

is exactly what
this soon-to-be mother needs

after a long day in the Japanese Alps.

Gestation will last
about five and a half months,

with the majority occurring
during the wintertime.

[narrator 2]
The beetle's adventure now begins,

as it searches for sources of pollen,
nectar, or its favorite, the rose.

With distinct marking...

[reporter] We interrupt this program
to bring you breaking news.

- [crowd shouting, clamoring]
- [Godzilla roaring]

[May] Oh, my God.

Yeah. Well, now you know.

You lost a lot of years
of your life. [sniffles]

Oh, I don't know. I don't think
I lost years, May. [sniffles]

I mean, if we find some way
to get you home...

[sighs] ...and what happened to me
doesn't happen to you,

well, then I'd say it was worth it.

Don't let this get to your head,
but you look good for 90-whatever.

That's what everybody tells me.

- [sighs]
- Cate! [echoing]

Where is she?

Cate! [sighs]

- Cate!
- Cate!

Cate!

Kentaro.

[in Japanese] Well, look who it is.

Back from the dead again?

How are you?

I just came back to Tokyo.

I haven't had time
to reach out to your mother...

More important things to do than to check
that we made it out of the desert alive?

We understand.

What are you doing here?

I was just leaving.

You?

Trying to continue my work.

Something went wrong in the desert,

and I need to know why.

Which will be considerably more difficult
if you avail yourself of my files.

How did you even get in here?

I got the keys from Cate.

What were you two doing
out there in the desert?

How did you find out I was there...

We were looking for you, Dad.

We thought you were dead.

I suppose I have a lot to explain
to you both.

How would you even start?

Kentaro...

...you were never meant
to know about her.

About that part of my life.

Too late.

What do you hope to accomplish with those?

I want my own answers.

And Monarch won't help anymore,

so I have to figure it out on my own.

It's no wonder you're angry.

I know I've hurt you both.

But...

...what you're looking for
is not in there.

If I could just talk to you
and your sister, I could...

I said it's too late for that!

What is too late?!

[sobs]

Cate d*ed, Dad.

[sighs]

That can't be true.

You're saying that to hurt me.

I hurt you, you're trying to hurt me back.

Please tell me it's not...

Please tell me it's not...

[cries]

[in English] Oh, God! [sobs]

[in Japanese] What have I done?

[cries]

If you weren't

a sad, lying, secret little man

who kept running away from her,

Cate never would've
come barging into my life!

[breathes shakily]

This is your fault!

[breathes shakily, grunts]

[grunts, groans]

[groans, breathing heavily]

[grunts]

[whimpering, panting]

[grunting continues]

[breathes shakily, gasps]

[whimpers]

[breathing shakily]

[groaning]

[whimpering]

[grunts]

[grunts, squeals]

- [whimpering]
- [roaring]

[growls, squealing]

[panting]