02x02 - The First Strike

[bunniefuu]

♪ ♪

[music intensifies]

♪ ♪

[people yelling, screaming]

- Dri!
- What's going on?

We need to go.

[grunting]

[panting]

Oh, my God!

What's happening?
[both whimpering]

[people screaming]

[panting]

No, no, no!

[shimmering tone]

Why do you have a Union card?

There's a lot
you don't understand.

[jet engines whirring]

Chase is... fighting them.

[crash]

Aah!

[both panting]

We'll be safe in here!

[energetic electronic music]

[indistinct chatter]

[children shouting]

[laughter]

Through Ascension, you join
our ancestors in the Flow.

All become one,
in the true community.

- You're all f*cking insane!
- [people gasp]

Shh!

I can't spend
any more Sundays

watching people k*ll themselves!

Baby, if you just give
the Omnifaith a chance...

The Union's responsible
for k*lling my brother!

Your son!

Whether or not you share
my beliefs,

- my job is to protect you.
- I'm done listening.

[crying]

Merciful inhabitants of the Flow.

You who are together,
my ancestors

and my enemies as one,

please protect the only child
I have left.

[gasps]

Juju. Mama's here.

Ma? You're alive!

Am I... dead?

No, baby, you're alive.
We're alive.

What's happening to me?

You are saved, child.

We
never knew each other,

but we had two points
of commonality:

we were all atheists,
and scientists,

working to harness nano-technology

to stop the climate collapse
that races toward us still.

The Flow is powered
by the Kaaba!

You really think heaven
would need a battery?

Wake up!

Then, our own
nano-technology consumed us.

I woke up in the HereAfter.
A miracle!

Ugh.

I've heard this boring story
a million times.

And you will hear it a million more

until you accept the truth.

- Naked before the Kaaba,
- [person gasps]

surrounded by relics
of the Old Religions,

fate's message was clear:

to survive the death
of our ecosystem,

we must bring all faiths together.

And so we built Babylon.

Here, we prepare for the Twilight:

that glorious day when all
have accepted the Omnifaith,

and the last man Ascends.

That day, the Nano-Euphrates
will run gold

as the rays of the sun,

to signify humanity
has finally beaten death!

The sun has set.

May those who have earned
Ascension step forward.

Through this rite, you join
our ancestors in the Flow.

You become one
in the true community.

Juju? Baby?

You know, I used to be embarrassed
when you called me that.

But I gotta admit, it
sounds good right about now.

Ma, where are we?

Last I remember,
the Union slashed my eye.

I thought I was dead,
but I'm still in gen:LOCK.

The Union saved you.

Ma, the Union aren't good guys!

They're zealots marching to
their deaths for fairy tales.

The Miracle is not a fairy tale.
You don't understand.

The Flow used Brother Tate
to answer my prayers.

I prayed for a reunion
with my children every night.

Children? Who else is there?

Baby? What can I do?

In our attempt to free Chase
from the Polity,

he was badly damaged.
I'm so sorry, sister.

We did not know
he would be so broken.

Pain that only gets worse.

Memories vanishing,
he doesn't have a body.

What kind of life is that?

No kind of life at all.

But I've been thinking
maybe there is a way

for his suffering and
yours to have been worth it.

You want to Ascend?

You have no proof of an
afterlife in the Flow, Baba!

The testimonies of
the Saint Scientists

are proof enough for a billion people.

[coughing]

Yasamin, your father is sick.
He is in great pain.

Ascension will free him.

And I want to go with him.

[gasps]
But you aren't sick!

- You don't need us.
- [wheezing]

You're an adult now, Yasamin.

Do you not see, daughter?

We cannot Ascend
while you are without faith.

[coughing]

- But...
- No, buts!

Your disbelief is the only reason
your father lives in pain.

These sheep just "go with the Flow."

[crowd cheers]
[laughing]

And I, Meshach, will
wake them up. [laughs]

[Crowd] Meshach, Meshach...
[broadcast powers off]

[solemn music]

♪ ♪

Juju, do you remember your father?

Only in flashes.

I feel... empty
where he's supposed to be.

[Ma] Your father and I were children

when the United Nations
rebranded as the Polity.

They changed their name,
but the old hierarchies

didn't go away.

Mother Earth still got sicker.
The poor, poorer.

To me, it was a farce.

But your father believed
in making change from within.

He had so much optimism.
It radiated into me.

Until he passed away.

When I didn't have his faith
in the Polity around,

I found once again
that I had none of my own.

So I became the "traitor"
you now see before you.

Mom, I'm scared.
Was Dad ever scared?

Of course,
but he put on a brave face.

That's... good to know.

t*rrorists destroyed
these monuments long ago.

The Flow rebuilt them,

only for the Polity
to destroy them again.

And foolish the Polity
was to destroy them.

Hello, Julian.

[groaning]
I can't live like this, Ma!

Thankfully, you do not have to.

- What? I...
- Hush now. And listen.

Years before the Miracle,

I was a young man
living in Australia,

when fire ate the continent entire.

I lost everyone. My wife.
My children.

But that suffering,
that unreal suffering,

I believe, is why fate chose me.

It's not just the pain.
It's the fear.

I can see the dark places in me.

It's like I'm
watching myself... vanish.

Julian, there are many ways
one can earn their Ascension.

But by far the hardest way

to earn Ascension
is through suffering.

None have earned their Ascension

through suffering
more truly than you.

The Union has the technology
to make you

Ascend the way you are,

to build a temporary biological
body for the transfer.

You can be free of pain, in heaven.

I'm scared to Ascend.

I've d*ed twice,
and it was... terrible.

Which is why
I'm gonna show you

that Ascension is not death,
but glorious eternal life.

[somber organ music]

♪ ♪

Through Ascension,
you join our ancestors.

You become one
in the true community.

Come here, baby.
Don't worry.

When you're ready, I'll be here
in the river of us all,

waiting for you.

I'm ready.

I'm ready to join her.

I'll have your transfer body
ready tomorrow.

I am honored to shepherd
you through this.

Six weeks you haven't been
to a meeting.

Now you want us to b*mb
the freaking Kaaba?

The only time we can
go unseen is night,

but then the Flow runs dark.

It won't let us get anywhere near.

Ah, but the holy boats are immune!

Narong, stop eating the grain

that keeps the bombs
from shifting around.

Even prisoners get a last meal!

[boom]

[gasps]
That's a Polity Plane.

[people screaming]

[electric crackling]

[booming]

[power down hum]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

Oof...

Ohh...

Aah!

Mission successful.

Union nano energy source,
eliminated.

Civilian death toll stands at...

All their talk of peace
while producing something

as dangerous as nanotech,

refusing to allow our inspectors in.

We couldn't let the Polity
live under that thr*at.

Our after-life is gone.

Oh.

Oh, ye of little faith.
[both cry]

The short notice with which
you called this meeting

is a disrespect.
You are not my superior.

I am the only one among us with
a m*llitary background and...

Your m*llitary background
is a black stain,

not a bragging right.

The of us are Athenians,

while you remain ever the Spartan.

[a*t*matic g*nf*re]

They have a copy of Julian?

And the new gen:LOCK recruits besides.

With the ability to copy souls,

the Polity will no longer be limited

to the rare plastic mind
they happen across.

Now they can just copy
the ones they have,

make infinite Holons.

They will surely build an army
of these bodiless souls.

To stop the salvation we bring.

I'll do what I must.

As must we all, together.

[Citizens] Together!
Together! Together! Together!

[chanting continues]

[laughing in amazement]

[gasps] How can it be?

[indistinct chatter]

- Close that, you'll get us caught.
- I'm gathering intel!

Despite the destruction
of our great Kaaba,

the Flow carries on.

What? But that's impossible!

The Flow no longer
requires the Kaaba.

It has the capacity to self-perpetuate.

A second Miracle!
But no longer can we let those

who trespassed against us
go unpunished.

[cheers and applause]

The Polity att*cked.

They attempted
to destroy Heaven itself.

[crowd booing]
They just started a w*r.

We will end it.
[cheers and applause]

And we've already begun.

Our drones caught footage
of Union t*rrorists

aiding the Polity in their att*ck!

We are dealing with them... now.

And Ascensions continue!

When our great intellectuals,
Minu and Farzin,

found out their daughter
was not only a disbeliever,

but attempted to doom all humanity.

[screaming]

[intense music]

♪ ♪

[crowd jeering]

We can't stay here.

We'll be safe in the Euphrates
until night.

Night has already fallen for me.

♪ ♪

Bless me, Sister, for I have sinned.

When the Polity
struck the Kaaba, the ,

we knew the Flow had long

before ceased needing
an external power source.

We only kept it secret
so the Polity would not know.

Now our enemy
possesses the means

to build an army of Holons
impervious to our nano-tech.

And if we are to stand a chance
against that army,

I must break a promise to a boy

to free him from his great pain.

[chuckles]
Correct me if I am wrong,

but are not Spartans
remembered largely

on account
of their great strength?

Thank you for helping me
Ascend, Brother.

Since I woke up, I've seen
so much kindness in the Union.

But none greater than yours.

To take this journey,

you'll have to go
into a body one last time.

I'm coming, Ma.

[electricity crackling]

What's going on?

I'm so sorry, Chase.

But my duty is to all
the children of the Union.

The Polity will build an army
using your soul,

and damn mankind to death
without the HereAfter.

Every faith had one like you
chosen to suffer in winter,

to bring forth spring.

But through suffering,
you will earn your Ascension.

Like a golem, you will protect us.

[yelling]

k*ll the copy.

[ominous music]