[Eerie music fades in]

 

DEVLYN: When the human race first entered space, we set foot on the moon. Pridefully, we claimed it as our own. But, like many pioneers before us, we were naïve to think it was ours for the taking or that we had been the first to set foot on its surface.

 

[Eerie music fades out]

 

[the BLARING ALARM of the Rover echoes]

 

[The sound of APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS and ALIEN VOICES]

 

THEO: No. Aaron. Keep your hands off of him. Don’t touch me, you monsters!

 

SARAH: Get off me, Martian scum.  Raven! Raven? Something’s wrong with her. I have to help her. Let. Me. Go!

 

[Eerie music fades in]

 

DEVLYN: The human race never learns their lesson. History is always set to repeat itself, and like our ancestors before, when we colonized space, we once again set out to displace and destroy those whose home it was. And once again we failed.

 

[Eerie music fades out]

 

DEVLYN: Sarah? Raven? 

 

DEVLYN: What the hell? Let me go, Martian scum.

 

DEVLYN: One more step and I promise, you’ll regret it.

 

MARTIAN:  Do not fear, Ranger.

 

DEVLYN: What is this? Get out of my head!

 

MARTIAN:  I am Corthynious. Chief of this village. We managed to pull you and your crew from the wreckage of your transport. It was a miracle you survived the fall from that ravine. But you must have known that Martian terrain is treacherous. After all, it has been a long time since we’ve had a ranger in our midst.

 

DEVLYN: You speak English?

 

CORTHYNIOUS (Martian):  I am linked with you telepathically. So, we may understand one another. Now…

 

[Corthynious charges up his RAY GUN]

 

CORTHYNIOUS: Before I blow out your insides, why has a ranger set foot on Martian land?

 

 

 

 

 

SARAH: [Dreaming]  Raven? Raven!

 

SARAH: [Now awake] Raven! Raven, where are you?

 

RAVEN: Shh. Shh. Shh. I’m right here. Quiet or they’ll hear us.

 

SARAH: Where are we?

 

[Martian voices approach]

 

SARAH: Get behind me.

 

RAVEN: No. It’s OK. They’re not going to hurt you.

 

MARTIAN WOMAN: We mean you no harm. We brought you food. Please. Eat.

 

SARAH: Where are the others? Are we the only ones left?

 

MARTIAN WOMAN: There was a man with you. A Ranger. He is being held captive by our chief. For crimes against our people.

 

RAVEN: Crimes? What sort of crimes?

 

 

 

CORTHYNIOUS: We had an accord with the Rangers. We permitted your settlement, and in return Earthlings shall not set foot in our territory.

 

DEVLYN: You attacked us. We kept up our end. 

 

CORTHYNIOUS: Did we now? And what makes you so certain your kind was honorable enough to keep to their end of our bargain?

 

DEVLYN: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

 

CORTHYNIOUS: Lies! You rangers would come. Hunting us like prey in the night. Pillaging out villages and taking our children.

 

DEVLYN: Children?

 

CORTHYNIOUS: Surely, you’ve seen it. Only one of our kind was able to escape the horrors that the Earthlings have wrought on our planet. A laboratory of unimaginable terror, attempting to assimilate my kind with your own.

 

DEVLYN: I swear. I knew nothing about that. My party and I mean you no harm. We are here simply by accident. We are the last remaining survivors of the colony. Now, either kill me or let us go.

 

CORTHYNIOUS: Very well.

 

[Corthynious CHARGES up his BLASTER]

 

 

 

 

MARTIAN WOMAN: Please, eat up. Storms like these can last for days.

 

SARAH: Days?!

 

RAVEN: My friend and I greatly appreciate your hospitality. Thank you…I’m sorry I don’t know your name.

 

MARTIAN WOMAN: I am Klara. And you are most certainly welcome.

 

RAVEN: I’m Raven. The irritable one is Sarah.

 

SARAH: Irritable?! Who says I’m irritable?

 

RAVEN: See.

 

[The Martian Woman laughs]

 

KLARA [Martian Woman]: Forgive me if I misunderstood, but you said you were friends. I had come to suspect you two might be mates.

 

SARAH: Yeah, something like that.

 

RAVEN: We find it best not to be too overt about that. It is not always safe for us among our own people.

 

SARAH: we wouldn’t want to cause any trouble.

 

KLARA: I don’t understand.

 

RAVEN: Our species has been scattered across the universe. Non-mating couples are frowned upon in our society.

 

KLARA: How primitive. Here a mate is a mate. Your language is limited so it is hard to adequately describe. In our culture, what you would call mates, we would call, one soul.

 

SARAH: Soul mates. That’s what we call them.

 

KLARA: Sort of. When two Martians come together it forms a powerful and unbreakable bond. Some say that this is because when our people disobeyed the sun god and moved to this planet, their spirit broke in half and we must find our missing half to become whole again.

 

RAVEN: That’s beautiful.

 

SARAH: Too bad our species is full of lunatics and egomaniacs.

 

KLARA: Yours is a young race. Their evolution slow. But it is Earthlings like you that give hope to the future of your kind.

 

SARAH: I like the sound of that.

 

RAVEN: Klara…What will they do to Devlyn if he is found guilty?

 

KLARA: The weight of the punishment depends on the weight of his crimes, but our people do not treat other species the same as our own.

 

SARAH: And the woman you found with us. Theo? Where is she?

 

KLARA:  Her wounds were too severe to be treated by me, but she is getting the best attention we have. I’m afraid, her companion was not so lucky.

 

 

[Martian voices chattering amongst one another]

 

[Theo cries in pain]

 

THEO: Get off me you filthy Martians!

 

MARTIAN DOCTOR: You’ve sustained severe injuries. We are going to sedate you. Do you understand?

 

THEO:  No. You’re going to kill me. Like you killed all of them.

 

MARTIAN DOCTOR:  Administer the sedative.

 

[The Martian voices fade away]

 

DEVLYN: So, what happens now? Kill me like you killed the rest of my crew?

 

CORTHINYUS: Your crew is very much alive. They will be well treated until the storm passes. A kindness your species had never shown my people.

 

DEVLYN:  It won’t matter if you kill me. My crew will keep on their mission.

 

CORTHYNIUS: And what is their mission?

 

DEVLYN: We’re here to recover a child that you stole when you ambushed our colony and slaughtered our people.

 

CORTHYNIOUS:  I am not aware of such an attack.

 

DEVLYN: Then I guess we’re both playing the blame game.

 

CORTHYNIOUS: Hmmm. This was not an attack I had ordered. Our people keep to the village. We farm and live peaceful lives. Where do you believe they took this child?

 

DEVLYN: Underground. That’s how we were ambushed.

 

COTHYNIOUS: No. It couldn’t be.

 

DEVLYN: They took my family.

 

CORTHYNIOUS: I believe we both have made a mistake. Very well, I will let you and your friends go.

 

[A HEART MONITOR beeps]

 

[Theo GROANS as she awakens]

 

THEO: Hello?

 

[Surgical tools CLATTER to the ground]

 

THEO: Is anybody there?

 

THEO: Where are my clothes? Here.

 

THEO:  Where is it? Come on. Ah-ha! OK now if I could just get a signal.

 

[A WHIRRING noise followed by the sound of RADIO STATIC]

 

VOICE: Doctor. You are well past your—

 

THEO: I know, I missed the checkpoint. We’ve hit a snag. Myself and the team have made contact…And we lost Aaron.

 

VOICE: You lost Doctor Davis? If the mission is compromised, we will send an extraction.

 

THEO: No..no. I can finish this.

 

VOICE:  The asset is important to the company and will ensure the next evolution of our race. It is imperative they be returned intact.

 

THEO:  Understood.

 

VOICE: Doctor, this discovery would be the biggest breakthrough to mankind since we set foot in space.

 

THEO: This is my life’s work. I will not let you down.

 

VOICE: See that you don’t.

 

[The STATIC increases as the radio signal is lost]

 

[Eerie music fades in]

 

DEVLYN:  Perhaps humankind has earned its extinction. But even as our planet was destroyed and our species spread across the universe, we continue to survive. Like cockroaches, now infesting every planet we touch. Never learning from our past. What a headstrong species we are. Pushing forward ceaselessly despite ever wondering if we should. In the constant struggle for human dominance.

 

[Eerie music fades out]

 

[END OF EPISODE 5]