01x10 - Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2

[bunniefuu]

Previously on "Star Trek: Picard"...

For a relic, you're in excellent shape.

Just that little abnormality in the parietal lobe.

Index. Identify this painting.

This painting is called "Daughter".

Maddox's theory was Data's entire code, even his memories, could be reconstituted from a single positronic neuron.

You are something lovingly and deliberately created.

You're telling me that I'm not real.

Which sister are you?

The heart of the Zhat Vash mission was hate and fear and pure loathing for any form of synthetic life.

I know who you are!

You are the Destroyer!

Thank you, Will, for not trying to talk me out of all this.

Believe me, I know better.

The Romulans send in a mole, a half-Romulan Vulcan named Oh.

I will take care of Picard.

Nine years ago, a Starfleet vessel had first contact with a pair of emissaries from a strange new world.

The Zhat Vash have been searching for this world ever since.

Which they have now found because of me.

Ghulion system. Fourth planet.

I'm home.

Welcome, all of you.

Dr. Altan Inigo Soong.

I take it my face looks familiar.

I'm just trying to understand the logic of sacrifice.

I don't like the sound of that.

Starfleet Command, I have a first contact situation.

The Federation will listen to me.

They didn't listen to him after the att*ck on Mars.

And they're not going to believe him now.

My mind to your mind.

My thoughts to your thoughts.

Fascinating.

There is some sort of higher synthetic beings out there.

Dr. Soong and I have designed a suitable beacon to summon them.

To them, we're monsters. A mother would die for her children.

Would you? Yes.

Their purpose is to seek out advanced synthetic life and excise it from the oppression by organics.

You will become the Destroyer after all.

Take him away.

Would the xBs be better off dead?

Everyone hates them. They have no home.

They don't belong anywhere.

Am I better off dead?

I'm an xB. I have no home.

I don't belong anywhere.

Why don't I just put a phaser to my head and get it over with?

Because... I'd miss you.

Well.

Have you found them?

Yes. They're all here.

Have you f*cked any of them?

Mm, not yet.

k*lled any? One.

Well, I call that progress.

Come see my hiding place.

Oceanfront. Crashing waves.

You'll love it.

Lucky you.

I just wanted to see if you were okay.

I will be when I'm set free.

Picard, try to see this from our point of view.

You choose if we live. You choose if we die.

You choose.

We have no choice.

You organics have never given us one.

To say you have no choice is a failure of imagination.

Please, don't let the Romulans turn you into the monsters they fear.

Stop them, Soji. Stop building that beacon.

Shut it down now.

The beings you are attempting to summon may well be your salvation, but they will be our annihilation.

You're telling me you want to use those grenades to destroy flowers?

Ship-k*lling flowers that fly.

No, not this time.

I made my way out of the nest, I can make my way back in.

You have to stay here and bring the weapons systems on line.

Our parents d*ed for this, Narek.

Many more gave their lives.

I found her, Narissa.

Me. The family disgrace.

The Zhat Vash washout.

I found Seb Cheneb.

Well, go on, then.

I have my work to do.

Honestly, I'm a little afraid of it.

Like, if I use it too much, it's gonna... eat my soul. Well, luckily, you don't have a soul, so...

But what does it do? Like, how do I even...

Well, when Saga gave it to me, she said, "You have to use your imagination".

Oh, she said that, did she? Mm-hmm.

Well, I don't have one of those, either.

Okay, well, Chris, this is your ship.

You know what's wrong with it.

It's not too complicated.

Now, the intermix reactor is fused.

I need to unfuse it, which is impossible.

I need to replace it, but the maintenance replicator is off-line because... the intermix reactor is fused. Mm.

Well, just, you know, give it a try.

Okay. Fine, I'll do it. I got a lot of imagination.

To you, everything's a hammer.

No. I'll do it.

T-There's no kind of trigger or-or switch.

Hmm. Well, maybe what-what she meant was you have to imagine the fix.

Have you been, um, hitting the horgl again?

Visualize that it's no longer fused.

You know, see the hole patching itself.

Whoa.

Ay, caramba.

Uh, what's happening?

Nothing that makes any sense.

Say it. Say what?

Mm, those three beautiful words.

You were right. Mm, just one more time.

Piss off.

I know that sound.

All of Bruce's work on the downloading of consciousness into a synthetic body should be on that machine.

Let's hope so. We don't have much time.

Mm-hmm.

You know...

This really is a remarkable act of self-sacrifice on your part.

But I suppose that's what mothers do, isn't it?

It's okay. It'll be okay.

You can do this. You have to do this.

I'm not their mother, assh*le.

Someone's throwing rocks at my ship.

The abusive Romulan boyfriend.

Comms.

Go ahead, throw it.

I want to see what a photon torpedo can do at this range.

I have 12 wide-dispersion molecular solvent grenade canisters.

I'm throwing rocks.

What do you want?

And don't think we won't kick your ass, dirtbag, because we will. Raff.

What are you doing here, snakehead?

Trying to save the universe.

We can keep fighting, or we can work together.

Stop what's coming for us.

It's your call.

JL.

JL, come in.

Damn it.

They are building some kind of transmitter.

They are signaling something to come here. To do what?

We believe synthetics are fated to destroy all organic life.

We call it Ganmadan.

The place is on lockdown.

Whatever that transmitter is, they don't want anyone interfering with it.

The thing about Picard is...

Yeah. Interfering is definitely his thing.

Try him again.

JL, come in.

Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, retired.

Damn it. I told you.

They won't respond.

The synthetics have jammed all comms.

Feldor stam torret.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

I do. I very much choose to live. Hold up, kid.

We disarmed him, searched him.

We may very well have a common enemy coming for us. You're gonna want to hear what he came here to say.

Altan, I...

What are you doing?

I'm transferring Saga's memories into a V-module.

As a memento for Arcana.

But the damage to her optical processors corrupted the data stream and...

Do you need something?

Yes, I've been, um, I've been working on the neural lace for your golem, but some of the files are encrypted.

And Bruce always said that your crypto kung fu was the best.

Well...

Uh, okay, I'll, uh, see if I can get into those files.

Keep an eye on the transcoding rate.

Got it.

Sorry.

I still don't understand why we're trusting him.

His sister m*rder*d Hugh.

Good thing she didn't come along, then.

I don't like you.

No?

How do you feel about Ganmadan?

Because if we waste any more time fighting each other, we will all die, and then whether or not you like me will matter even less.

Whoa, hold on.

What is Ganmadan?

What is the story?

It's just that.

A story.

A story of the end.

Of...?

Everything.

Like Ragnarök or Judgment Day.

An ancient myth.

Some say it dates back from long before our ancestors first arrived on Vulcan.

The story of Ganmadan begins with two sisters.

Twin khalagu.

Demons.

Twin demons who come at the end of time to open the way and unleash the ch'khalagu.

Very bad demons. One sister is called Seb Natan, the Foreteller.

She plays a drum made from the skin of children.

She strikes it with a chain of skulls, so hard and so long that her heart bursts from the effort.

Mm.

The other sister is called Seb Cheneb. Seb Cheneb?

Yeah, see, w-we know about her.

So you know that she carries a horn from a great pale hellbeast called Ganmadan.

You know when she blows a blast on the horn, it will unleash all the ch'khalagu who have been waiting since the beginning of time.

You know the sky will cr*ck, and through the cr*ck in the sky the ch'khalagu will come ravening.

You know about the Thousand Days of Pain.

You know the streets will be slick with entrails of half-devoured corpses.

You know the worlds will burn, and the ch'khalagu will feast, and nurse their brats on blood, and pick their teeth with bones.

No, we did not know any of that.

But, I mean, do you really... you really believe this is a-a prophecy?

No.

I believe it's history.

And the fascinating thing about history is... it always repeats itself.

At last, our great work is nearly at an end.

Molecular solvent grenades.

Short fuse.

Push button, throw.

Intended for those orchids.

Now the transmitter is our target of opportunity.

Okay, h-hold on, hold on.

How exactly are we planning on getting ourselves back into Synthville?

We walk in the front door.

Oh! Hey. Hi.

And how are we gonna do that?

By bringing them the Romulan secret agent that k*lled their beloved Saga.

I still don't like you.

Check it out, you guys.

Look who we found sneaking around last night.

Thought you might want him back.

So, how are we gonna blow the transmitter?

A single, concentrated blast.

Remote detonation.

Sounds like we need a delivery system.

A drone.

Your weapons? Oh, of course.

The molecular solvent. It's stable?

Until it's detonated.

Except in metal, so the container needs to be, uh, carbon fiber, ceramic.

Bags.

Oh. Certainly.

You bet.

And with the transporter block the synths have in place, we can't beam anything in or out.

So, we'll need a way to conceal it.

Do you play?

Oh, I love the game. Ha.

All right, let's go.

Thanks.

Picard?

Admiral Picard. Hello?

Are you... Still here.

Okay.

They're about to power up the beacon.

We have to hurry.

What is this?

I'm busting you out.

I honestly thought I was the worst secret agent ever, but I'm starting to believe I may have a gift.

Uh... Where are we going?

Back to La Sirena.

Come on, we've got to move while they're still distracted.

Synthetic matrix complete.

Ready to receive neural engrams.

The tower's almost active.

We need to get a clear line of sight on the superluminal tuner at the base.

How are we gonna get up there without being seen?

An excellent question.

I guess they went looking for us?

We'll worry about that later.

Status report on the Romulans.

Uh... Come on, Doctor.

Uh, the att*ck wing is seven minutes from planetfall.

Any sign of Starfleet?

No, but even if your message got through, they'd still be behind the Romulans.

We've got to find a way to stall them somehow.

And, of course, hope that the Federation arrives.

Yeah? And then?

I mean, say we do find a way to hold off the Romulans.

We save Soji.

Now she and the golden children are free to call up the uber-synths, and then vapor and ash.

A galactic-level biocidal event.

Well, clearly, we've got to stop them, too!

They've left us behind, Picard.

They're generations beyond us.

In one sense, yes.

But in another, as you said, they are children.

And until now, the only teachers that they've had are a couple of hermits.

And the fear of extermination.

But fear is an incompetent teacher.

Yes. They have life.

But no one is teaching them what it's for.

To be alive is a responsibility.

As well as a right. How are they supposed to learn that lesson in... six minutes and 11 seconds?

The way that children learn most things.

By example.

Now... let's see how closely I was watching Rios.

All right.

Make it so.

Brothers and sisters, as soon as the beacon is at full capacity, we will begin transmitting. And once the signal is received, a portal will open and our liberators will be here nearly instantaneously.

And then we'll be free.

Watch them.

I wanted to return this to you.

You reasoned correctly that your fellow synthetics needed persuading.

An emotional jolt to drive them to the decision you wanted them to make.

To build the beacon.

I'm glad you see the reason behind my actions.

I do.

But reason isn't everything.

How could you help that Romulan k*ll your sister?

I thought I taught you better than this.

Turns out... you're no better than we are.

Ah, come on.

Move, mija, move.

So, how do we hold off

218 warbirds till Starfleet gets here?

If they get here.

Are you not answering to build suspense, or...?

At the present moment, Dr. Jurati, I am trying to pilot a starship for the first time in a very long time, without exploding or crashing!

If that is all right with you.

No, totally, good call.

One impossible thing at a time.

Soji!

Please! You don't have to do this!

Soji! Please!

You're making a mistake!

Soji!

Launch detected.

Attempting to acquire weapons lock.

Drop your w*apon.

Over the edge.

Step away from the console.

I'm unarmed. Oh.

I seriously doubt that.

You know, you're rather pretty.

Or would be.

If you weren't a disgusting half-meat.

Incoming warp signatures.

Wouldn't happen to be Starfleet, would it?

General, they appear to be concentrated in one settlement.

Sterilize the entire planet.

Here come the orchids.

Let's see how much time they can buy us.

Sad Queen Annika.

Six years old, and all she got for her birthday was assimilated.

Why didn't you just put a phaser to your head and get it over with?

Because I still had this to live for.

This... is for Hugh.

Now might be a good time to reveal the secret plan.

Once these orchids have had it, there will still be 200 Romulan warships and only one of us.

If you figure out a way to get us out of this one, they'll name it after you.

Picard Maneuver.

Wait, no, t... No, that's actually a thing, isn't it?

You made it look like the Enterprise was in two places at once.

It was the Stargazer, and it was a long time ago.

It would be useless against so many enemy vessels.

We'd have to multiply the sensor images and then find some way to disperse them.

Like an ancient warplane scattering bits of mirror to overwhelm a radar system.

Yeah, how the hell will we do that?

If only we had some kind of wacky fundamental field replicator with a neurocotamic interface.

Interface.

Picard, what are you doing?

Soji, I want you to reconsider your present course of action and power down the beacon.

You know that's not going to happen.

I... have something I want to give you and your people.

And... I hope it will change your mind.

And what's that?

My life.

Picard out.

Orbital defenses neutralized, General.

All ships, target the abomination's nest.

Ready? And they'll all have warp signatures?

On my mark.

What is that?

Unknown vessel.

Scanning now.

Ignore it.

Ready planetary sterilization pattern number five.

Agnes, now.

Now, now!

General, there are hundreds of them.

Reposition disruptors. Engage them.

No!

Picard, are you all right?

Oh, no.

They have activated the beacon.

Resume sterilization targeting pattern.

On my command.

They're here.

Admiral, you did it.

General, their flagship is hailing us.

Acting Captain Will Riker in command of the USS Zheng He. And?

And it is my duty to inform you that the United Federation of Planets has designated Planet Ghulion IV in the Vayt Sector as under the protection of Starfleet.

According to the terms of the Treaty of Algeron.

Too late. Our claim to this world takes precedence.

Move aside. Afraid not.

I have a priority request to open diplomatic negotiations and protection for the inhabitants of Ghulion IV.

General or Commodore or whatever you're calling yourself, right now I'm on the bridge of the toughest, fastest, most powerful ship Starfleet has ever put into service.

And I've got a fleet of them at my back.

We've got our phasers locked on your warp course.

And nothing would make me happier than you giving me an excuse to kick your treacherous Tal Shiar ass.

But instead, I'm going to ask you one time to stand down.

General. Your orders?

Retarget weapons systems.

Prepare to fight.

Weapons hot, deflectors to full.

Picard?

I know.

I have to speak with Soji on an open channel.

You're in no shape.

Get me some polisinephrine.

20 cc. No.

I-I... It will only hasten the inevitable.

Do it.

Open the channel.

Now.

Picard...

Soji. Please, power down the beacon.

Show them how profoundly wrong they are about you.

You're not the enemy. You're not the Destroyer.

If that doesn't convince them, then they will have to answer to the Federation.

The same Federation that banned us and threw us on the scrap heap?

If we wanted to destroy you, Soji, we would've joined forces with the Romulans.

We would be training our phasers on you right now.

We aren't. We won't.

You know why?

Because we trust you to make the right choice.

I trust you, Soji. I know you.

I believe in you.

That's why I saved your lives, so that you could save ours in return.

That's the whole point.

That's why we're here.

To save each other.

They destroyed the beacon.

What are your orders?

Captain, it looks like the Romulans are standing down.

Excellent decision. Stand down from red alert.

Now prepare to be escorted out of Federation space.

That won't be necessary.

Really, it's no trouble at all.

Will.

How the... When I heard you sent an SOS, I asked for temporary reassignment.

Just because I didn't try to talk you out of it didn't mean I was gonna let you go it alone.

I'm supposed to sit around in the woods making pizza while you have all the fun?

Admiral Picard...

I leave this situation in your capable hands.

Thank you, Will, for always having my back.

I learned from the best.

I've got it from here.

I'll see you around, my friend. Riker out.

Adieu.

Picard.

Doctor...

Picard!

Picard.

Would you like to finish it, Captain?

No.

I don't want the game to end.

Picard!

g*dd*mn it!

It's all right.

Wait, what-what's happening? W-What's wrong with him?

His brain abnormality. He's failing.

Uh, can't you get him to the med lab or a sick bay on one of your ships?

There's no point, is there, Doctor?

No.

I'm dropping the transporter block.

I'll beam you guys right here.

No. Ah, it's all right.

It's all right.

No. What did you just do?

I gave you a choice.

Not being the Destroyer was up to you.

It always was.

Elnor.

Raffi.

Yes, JL? I'm right here.

You were quite right.

A-About what, JL?

JL...

You heard?

Just now.

Yeah. That's what passes for alcohol here.

I really don't recommend it.

I said I would never do it again and then I f*cking did it again.

Same.

Never again do what?

Oh...

Mm.

So many things.

But in this instance, never again k*ll somebody just because it's what they deserve.

Just because it feels wrong for them to still be alive.

You?

Never again let another self-righteous, hard-assed old starship captain into my heart.

Never again have to stand there and watch him die.

Is there anything you could have done to prevent it?

No. I guess there wasn't.

Hmm. Then I win.

It's okay. It's okay.

Let it all out.

You cry.

I got you.

Another damn dream.

No, Captain.

It is a massively complex quantum simulation.

I would imagine, however, from your point of view, hearing me say so would not be out of place in a dream you might have about me.

If you ever have dreams about me.

I dream about you all the time.

Interesting.

Are you wearing the clothes you had on when you d*ed?

Data... am I dead?

Yes, Captain.

Do you remember dying?

I think I do.

Something in my head seemed to just go away.

Like a child's sand castle collapsing.

Hmm.

I'm aware that I was k*lled in 2379, but I have no memory of my death.

My consciousness exists in a massively complex quantum reconstruction, made from a copy of the memories I downloaded into B-4, just before I d*ed.

You don't remember your death? I can't forget it.

Apparently, I ended my existence in the hope of prolonging yours.

That's right. Before I had even grasped the nature of our predicament, you had conceived and ex*cuted it.

I was furious.

My apologies, Captain.

But I am not certain I could have done otherwise.

True. That might have been the most Data thing you ever did.

I always wished that I could have said I was sorry that it was you and not me.

Captain, do you regret sacrificing your life for Soji and her people?

Not for an instant.

Then why would you imagine I regret sacrificing mine for yours?

Ah.

Did you say all this was a simulation?

Yes, sir. An extremely sophisticated one.

My memory engrams were extracted from a single neuron salvaged by Bruce Maddox, and then my consciousness was reconstructed by my brother, Dr. Altan Soong.

I don't much care for him.

Mm. The Soongs can be...

I believe the phrase is "an acquired taste".

Mm-hmm. Well, whatever this is, it's wonderful to see you, Data.

To see your strange, beautiful face.

Among the many, many things that I regretted after your death was that I never told you...

That you loved me.

Knowing that you loved me forms a small but statistically significant part of my memories.

I hope that brings you some comfort, sir.

It does.

Thank you, Data.

Which is why I would like to ask you to do me a favor.

Of course. Anything.

When you leave...

Leave?

I'm sorry, I-I don't understand.

I thought this was a simulation.

Yes, sir.

But you are not.

Before your brain functions ceased, Doctors Soong and Jurati, with help from Soji, were able to scan, map and transfer a complete neural image of your brain substrates.

Do I have to go?

Yes, Captain.

Uh, you wanted me to do you a favor.

Yes, sir.

When you leave, I would be profoundly grateful if you terminated my consciousness.

You want to die?

Not exactly, sir.

I want to live, however briefly, knowing that my life is finite.

Mortality gives meaning to human life, Captain.

Peace, love, friendship.

These are precious.

Because we know they cannot endure.

A butterfly that lives forever...

...is really not a butterfly at all.

Very well.

I will do what you ask.

Thank you, sir.

Goodbye, Commander.

Goodbye, Captain.

Hi, mister.

Am I real?

Of course you are.

Ah.

Tell me about this body.

This, uh... golem.

Well, it has no augmentations, no, you know, superpowers.

I knew you wouldn't want to have to adjust to something new, not after 94 years in the same body with the same face. Ah.

I see.

Everything is new, though.

Everything works.

And the brain abnormality is gone for good.

Extraordinary.

Y-You... you haven't made me immortal?

Oh, relax, man.

Everyone was paying attention.

We took care of you.

Ah.

We designed a cellular homeostasis algorithm that should give you more or less the same number of years you would have expected without the brain condition.

Ah.

I wouldn't have minded another ten.

Twenty?

Well, Dr. Soong, I must thank you.

My gain is your loss.

But now we both have something to lose.

I have a promise to keep.

♪ Blue skies ♪

♪ Smiling at me... ♪ It says a great deal about the mind of Commander Data that... looking at the human race, with all its v*olence and corruption and willful ignorance, he could still see kindness, immense curiosity, and greatness of spirit.

And he wanted more than anything else to be part of that.

To be a part of...

...the human family.

♪ Nothing but bluebirds ♪

♪ All day long ♪ We are such stuff as dreams are made on.

♪ Shining so bright ♪

♪ Never saw things... ♪ And our little life... is rounded... with a sleep.

♪ Hurrying by ♪

♪ When you're in love ♪

♪ My, how they fly ♪

♪ Blue days ♪

♪ All of them ♪

♪ Gone ♪

♪ Nothing but blue skies ♪

♪ From now on ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Blue skies ♪

♪ Smiling at me ♪

♪ Nothing ♪

♪ But blue skies ♪

♪ Do I ♪ It's time.

♪ See. ♪

Soji, you have endured so much and traveled so far to find your way home.

Now you leave it all behind.

I think I'm just more cut out for wandering.

And now that they've lifted the ban on synthetics, I'm free to travel.

Hmm.

Me, too.

Ready, Admiral?

Engage.