#s6m35

[zrtranscripts]

Season 6, Mission 35: Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling

Answers are a prison for oneself

[motor rumbles]

SAM YAO: Yeah, I know what Amelia says about Valmont, but - !

NADIA AL HANAKI: She keeps saying it. Not in an "I want to convince you" way. Just in an "I want it to be on record that I said this" way. Same voice she had when she said, "Hatten Hill have been working with the Ministry for months, you mark my words."

VERONICA MCSHELL: Oh. Amelia says Valmont is a very bad person, doesn't she?

SAM YAO: Yeah. I know it's really hard to work out what Amelia means when she says he did bad things. I mean, sometimes with her, it's a compliment. 

But anyway, look. I know what she says about him, but look! Whatever else he's done, he did make a fully life-sized the Village from the 1960s classic TV show, The Prisoner, and used it as a recreation facility for his employees. I mean, I mean, just look at it!

NADIA AL HANAKI: "Where am I?"

SAM YAO: "You're in the village!"

NADIA AL HANAKI: "What do you want?!"

VERONICA MCSHELL: We want to use an old ANNIE terminal here to analyze the vials of the cure the Exmoor Militia gave us. I've been working on reproducing it since the day we got it, and I don't think it can possibly work the way it seems to.

SAM YAO: So, in a way, "You want information!"

VERONICA MCSHELL: That's right.

SAM YAO: "Whose side are you on?"

VERONICA MCSHELL: People keep asking me that. I... I don't think I'm on anyone's side, apart from finding out the truth.

SAM YAO: Oh, ugh. Sorry. It's just a quote from the - oh, never mind. Guys, you've picked up a few zoms on your approach. They must have been Prisoner fans. They're wearing the little hats and capes. Still, time to speed up. Try to lose them.

NADIA AL HANAKI: "By hook or by crook, we will."

NADIA AL HANAKI: Okay, we're losing those zoms. They're speedier than I thought, though.

VERONICA MCSHELL: I like your motorbike, Nadia. It's very fast. Will it be able to go up stairs?

[engine revs]

NADIA AL HANAKI: What do you think?

VERONICA MCSHELL: I think it will. It's uh, it's nice to see you again. To be out on a run together. We're heading for the clock tower. Look, do you see it, Runner Five? When Mr. Valmont gave us the plans of this place, he said that the ANNIE terminal is there.

SAM YAO: The tower! Where Number Two lives?

VERONICA MCSHELL: Who is Number One?

SAM YAO: Oh my God, did you do that on purpose?

VERONICA MCSHELL: I don't know what I did, so no. 

When we get there, I'll use a breaker to take control of ANNIE for a few minutes. Her personality is still fragmented, even though we found a few islands of stability. This part of her won't be able to feed back to Sigrid, so it's safe to do it here. 

We need to understand this cure. It seems to be using a mechanism I ruled out as useless months ago. Did you say Hatten Hill have always been working with the Ministry?

NADIA AL HANAKI: Mhmmm. Yeah. Amelia reckons a few colonies did that - pretended to be on the fence to get stuff out of us, secretly with the Ministry all along. Sam, are we safe to go?

[Rover roars]

SAM YAO: Oh my God, there are Rovers! The big balloon ball things! There's some on the next street along. They're programmed to um, uh, well, it says here "engulf workers and spray them with a Xia-Hifa-patented substance akin to laughing gas"!

VERONICA MCSHELL: Oh dear.

NADIA AL HANAKI: I know what you mean. I don't feel much like laughing, either.

VERONICA MCSHELL: No, I know what substance he's talking about. It will have degraded into constituent components by now. Those Rovers are filled with poison gas!

NADIA AL HANAKI: Yeah, right. Typical apocalypse - think you're getting laughter, get poison. Come on, Five. Let's speed up. You lead the way.

[Rover roars]

NADIA AL HANAKI: My God! Those zoms are speedy. Look at them, back on our tail again!

SAM YAO: Well, maybe they're different zoms. Anyone coming here would have worn Prisoner costumes.

VERONICA MCSHELL: They are the same ones. That one had a rip in his striped jumper, and the other had, ah, no left hand.

NADIA AL HANAKI: We must have circled around to them. These streets are so confusing. We don't seem to be getting any closer to the clock tower.

VERONICA MCSHELL: What was this TV program about, The Prisoner?

SAM YAO: Uh, well, it's a bit hard to explain. It was sort of about how, um... how societies trap you. And they wanted to know why this one person, Number Six, had resigned from his job.

VERONICA MCSHELL: So it was a documentary?

NADIA AL HANAKI: No, it was sort of... well, it was very 1960s. About how people police each other, how we're all watching each other all the time. About how the small community of the English village could be oppressive.

VERONICA MCSHELL: Yes! Abel Township is like that sometimes.

SAM YAO: Really? I mean, well, we try not to be oppressive, I think.

VERONICA MCSHELL: I don't think it's anyone's fault, but... people have been looking at me strangely all year. Everyone wants to know why I worked with Sigrid. My answers are never enough. Nadia, you used to protect me from that a bit, but... then you left.

NADIA AL HANAKI: "Why did you resign?"

[SAM YAO laughs]

VERONICA MCSHELL: Why did you resign?

NADIA AL HANAKI: This is a long conversation, Veronica. Maybe not for now?

VERONICA MCSHELL: Was it because you didn't want to see me so much anymore?

NADIA AL HANAKI: Yes. You knew that Sigrid had taken Owen's body parts and used them for experiments. And I know you didn't want him to be killed, but I couldn't look you in the face.

VERONICA MCSHELL: Yes. I see. That makes sense. Were there any other colonies Amelia said had always been working with the Ministry?

NADIA AL HANAKI: Not sure. Um, maybe Shield Squadron?

SAM YAO: Uh, okay, guys. Uh, I really don't want to interrupt you, but um, that lead zombie is coming for you from the south, and there's a Rover coming from the north. Uh, if you head west, you should get them tangled up with one another. Two birds, one stone.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Worth a shot. Go on, Five. that zombie's got your scent. Head west as fast as you can. You can do it. "You are Number Five."

[Rover roars]

NADIA AL HANAKI: There, look! That Rover has engulfed that zombie!

SAM YAO: More zoms on your tail.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Is this place nothing but zoms? Just a second, Five. Take a look at those zoms. Those are the same ones again, aren't they?

SAM YAO: Aren't they just very, very similar?

NADIA AL HANAKI: Same exact ones. Missing hand, ripped jumper. Same ones. How did they get here so quickly?

VERONICA MCSHELL: Perhaps they used some kind of transport system? Is there anything in the documentation, Sam?

SAM YAO: Uh, hmm. Well, there are little golf carts to get around, but I doubt zoms'd be able to work those. Uh... oh! Oh, oh! No, listen! "For the entertainment of Village visitors, the town is on a rotating platform." I get it! It rotates faster the faster you run, to give you that sense that you can't escape. Oh man, that is genius!

VERONICA MCSHELL: Oh. I've been going in a circle.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Yeah, that's what we just worked out.

VERONICA MCSHELL: No! No, I mean, I've been going in a circle. The faster I went, the faster they went. That's my hypothesis, but I need to test it, find out...

NADIA AL HANAKI: Does whatever you're working on mean we should still head toward the clock tower?

VERONICA MCSHELL: Oh, yes. Yes, now more than ever!

SAM YAO: Right. Uh, so, okay. There's a still point in the center of the town. Get there and take your bearings, and then we'll work out which direction you need to run. Go!

NADIA AL HANAKI: Oh, now I can see it moving, it's quite funny! Get onto the giant chessboard and have a look, Five. See how we were running around the outside circle, and the zoms just kept waiting for us to come back?

VERONICA MCSHELL: Yes, I think that's what happened. She was waiting for me to come back to her with what she needed.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Is there something you want to tell us, Veronica?

VERONICA MCSHELL: [sighs] I think you might look at me weirdly if I told you.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Maybe that's a reason to say it?

VERONICA MCSHELL: Maybe when we get to the clock tower to use that ANNIE terminal, okay?

SAM YAO: All right. If you jump off now and head for the post office - see it, at the edge? - you'll be just at the path to the clock tower when it comes around again. Five, you take the lead. And... go!

[computer beeps]

SAM YAO: Yeah, so obviously Valmont's only going to put an ANNIE terminal into a 1960s-style enormous computer.

NADIA AL HANAKI: This looks like the sort of computer we could probably break by telling it about the human concept we call love.

VERONICA MCSHELL: I think that's how they sort of did break ANNIE, actually. They tried to get her to care about too many things. That's why she's so fractured. 

Since I first encountered her, I've been trying to work out how we could fix her, but I can only come up with quite resource-heavy solutions. It's sad... she's such a beautiful thing.

SAM YAO: And... the cure? Well, do you know more now you've used this ANNIE terminal to analyze it?

VERONICA MCSHELL: [sighs] Yes. This part of ANNIE completed the analysis easily. The cure works just like I thought it did. Or just like I thought it couldn't.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Break that down for me.

VERONICA MCSHELL: The Minister's cure works in the same way as the one I tried out months ago. I can reproduce what she's done. It's not even hard.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Sorry, Veronica, but if her cure works like the one you tried, why does the Minister have it and we don't?

SAM YAO: Oh. Because the faster you went, the faster she went, right?

VERONICA MCSHELL: Yes.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Am I the last person in this room to solve the cryptic crossword?

SAM YAO: [sighs] Mm, maybe Veronica should explain. But first of all, you need to get out of there. There are more Rovers appearing every minute. We've activated some dormant system. The place will soon be too full of Rovers to get you out safely.

NADIA AL HANAKI: All right, Five. If I go ahead on the bike, will you bring up the rear behind Veronica? Let's go.

[motor rumbles]

NADIA AL HANAKI: Come on! We can't slow down, Veronica!

VERONICA MCSHELL: I could just tell you how to make the cure, you know. You could memorize it, and then you wouldn't need me anymore.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Get out of the way of that zombie! [zombie splatters] Got it. We're nearly out.

SAM YAO: [sighs] We do need you, Veronica! We need everyone, you know that. We need you, whatever you've done.

VERONICA MCSHELL: I only wanted to know the truth.

SAM YAO: Yeah, and we all know that. And you're helping us now.

VERONICA MCSHELL: In a way, everything that's happened is my fault.

SAM YAO: Well, not everything. I mean, you didn't create Sigrid, or ANNIE, or zombies, did you?

VERONICA MCSHELL: No.

SAM YAO: Well then! [sighs] Guys, those zoms really are getting close. Nadia, take Veronica along the lakeside road. Five, peel right and you can trap them behind that wire fence. Go!

NADIA AL HANAKI: That was handily done, Five.

VERONICA MCSHELL: Yes. It was very good, Runner Five.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Well, you've got a face on you like a wet weekend in [?].

SAM YAO: You can tell her, Veronica. It's just us. I won't tell anyone else.

VERONICA MCSHELL: [sighs] The reason I thought that my formula wouldn't work is that... I've been sharing my work with a few other colonies. Getting them to check parts of my formula.

NADIA AL HANAKI: That sounds very sensible.

VERONICA MCSHELL: I got second opinions from Mackey Colony and Shield Squadron. They've got very good scientists. And Hatten Hill. And the Ministry.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Oh. I see. Mackey and Shield and Hatten have all gone over to the Ministry, haven't they? In fact, we think -

VERONICA MCSHELL: You said they were probably in a loose alliance already, sharing information with her. I thought I was spreading the pieces around, but... I was sending everything right back to her. She just had to wait until it came to her, like those zombies waiting at the edge of the Village. And she got them to tell me it wasn't working.

NADIA AL HANAKI: So her cure is your cure?

VERONICA MCSHELL: Yes. I think so. At least now I know how to fix it.

[comms shack door opens]

JANINE DE LUCA: Runner Five, urgent news. The Minister has begun to broadcast the signal to trigger Moonchild to come to her.

SAM YAO: Have you... heard anything, Five?

JANINE DE LUCA: The treatment Miss McShell and Kytan concocted seems to have worked for you, Runner Five. This is truly wonderful news. But the Minister will expect Moonchild to go to her. This is our one chance for you to sabotage her plans, Five. 

It's time. We know that the Minister has a hidden trigger in Abel, but we don't know what it is. You must pretend that Moonchild has appeared to you so you can learn what the threat to us is. You must go to the Minister now.

[pldubrahs]

In this house we love and protect Veronica McShell