Launch conditions as of 05:30 are optimal.
Final checks are underway and recovery craft in position.
How are the C.R.C. numbers?
Mid 30s and holding.
Meteorology's got some hiccup
they're checking out.
See our latest press?
"Childhood friends out to prove a theory.
Can a manned spacecraft overcome atmospheric friction
and exponentially increase its speed
using only a planet's natural gravitational pull?"
Huh?
Man, what is wrong with you?
D.K., you know that feeling you get
the night before something big's
about to happen in your life?
It's the night before we graduated high school.
It's the... Night before
we started this job.
I had that feeling last night in quarantine.
Is this experiment that important to you?
Uh-oh. One small step, bud.
Hey, D.K.
Sir.
You're looking pretty sharp there-
commander Crichton.
Thanks, dad.
Let's do this thing.
I talked to Pete Maxwell and the others at control.
They're going to take real good care of you while you're up there.
I heard that you, uh...
You went awol from the rat cage this morning.
Man, in my day if I'd ever broken quarantine like that
they would've...
Son, you got rattlers in your stomach?
Oh, I've been up on the shuttle before dad- twice.
Didn't matter how many times I went up.
Every time, rattlers.
First E.V.A., first time I walked on the moon...
I'm not going E.V.A., dad.
I'm not walking on the moon.
I'm just running a little experiment.
Yeah, an experiment to prove your own theory.
You have any idea how proud that makes me?
That's something I never did.
I mean, the guys in the button-down collars
and the neckties-
they got to use their brains.
The only thing I ever got to use was...
"Guts!
And the seat of my flight suit."
Son, I can't help being who I am... who I was.
It's not who you are, dad.
I love who you are.
It's being son of who you are.
Look, I...
T minus four minutes...
Can't be your kind of hero.
No, you can't be
but each man gets a chance to be his own kind of hero.
Your time will come
and when it does, watch out.
Chances are, it'll be the last thing
you ever expected.
Oh, no.
That's your good luck charm.
Yuri gagarin gave you that.
Oh, listen, you hang onto it
and you give it back to me tonight, okay?
Ladies and gentlemen of the press
at 26:14 on the flight clock
we begin the major experiment of this shuttle mission.
Commander John Crichton will pilot a craft of his own design
in a dangerous attempt
to use our planet's gravity as a speed booster
slingshotting him off into space
at previously unrecorded speeds.
If successful, the results are anticipated
as the first concrete step toward interstellar travel.
Canaveral, this is farscape one
I am free and flying.
Are you with me there, mama bear?
Oh, yeah, farscape.
I'm reading you loud and clear.
Authorizing fight computer
to initiate acceleration sequencing...
Now.
Roger, farscape.
You are go for insertion procedure.
Approaching maximum velocity in...
21 seconds.
18 seconds.
Entering critical apogee phase.
Farscape one, hold a moment.
Canaveral, what?
Meteorology reports some kind
of electromagnetic wave.
Repeat, some kind of wave.
John, do you read me?
Yeah, I read you.
What are we talking here? How severe?
Canaveral?
John, abort.
Canaveral!
Son, you have to abort.
Abort now!
Oh, God, I can't...
Canaveral, this is farscape one.
I'm okay. Repeat, I'm okay.
Wh... hoo, hoo!
Hey, did you guys get video through all that?
Canaveral?
D.K.?
Dad?
Where are you guys? Where's...
Earth?
What the h...?
Uh...
Canaveral?
Canaveral, I've been hit!
That's big.
That's really big.
Oh, hell.
Canaveral, dad, D.K., I'm being pulled.
The engine's not responding and I can't break away.
Can anybody hear me?
Canaveral?
Oh, my God.
Um...
Hl.
My name's John.
John...
I can't understand what...
What was...?
I suggest you answer him quickly. You know
how luxans can be.
Your ship...
What kind is it?
Your ship appeared from nowhere
and we don't know
that technology.
Is it something we can use to escape?
We brought you aboard for one reason.
Tell us or die with us.
Pilot, I demand you give me maneuverability now!
Pilot!
There's nothing I can do.
Not while the control collar's still in place.
Moya can't withstand this assault much longer.
Those synapses you're tearing out are
not wired to the control collar.
Then I shall keep pulling until I find
the ones that are!
Get out of the way!
The others - where are they?
There are no others.
I've checked every cell level.
I found a manifest.
We were scheduled for transfer to terran raa.
That is a lifers' colony.
Prisoners?
You're escaped prisoners?
I will not be taken prisoner again.
They brought you on board, didn't they?
Don't worry. I'll protect you.
I'll look after you now.
You look after me later.
Hull integrity is reaching critical compromise.
What have you done?
- What do you mean? - The coding wall-
it's dimming.
I've hit the code.
The control collar-
it's coming off.
Pilot, prepare for immediate starburst.
Moya has been restrained so long...
She is a leviathan. It is the single defensive maneuver
that she is capable of.
Terminate assault.
All prowlers terminate assault.
Claw onto something, people.
Prepare for starburst.
I hate starburst.
Captain.
Captain Crais?
Yes, lieutenant.
The prowler squad has returned, sir.
They report the leviathan transport has escaped.
One of the prisoners, the hynerian royal
somehow secured the key codes to the prisoners' cells and...
There were casualties, sir. Two ships lost and...
I don't care about casualties.
A leviathan transporting prisoners
does not escape while in my custody.
Has my brother returned yet?
I will dispatch him in the rear
battle fighter to track her down.
Sir, this is playback from the recon satellite
monitoring the pursuit of the leviathan.
What manner of craft is that?
My brother's prowler.
I'm sure that he...
We lost a second ship, sir.
It was absorbed into the leviathan
when it went into starburst.
I want to see him.
See him, sir?
Peel back the image.
I want to see who is inside.
We've done it! We've escaped!
One prowler traveled with us.
Block its radio, net it and bring it aboard.
As good as done.
Pilot, does moya know where we are?
Yes, of course.
We're someplace else.
I'll get back to you on the specifics.
At least we are free.
What is the matter with you people?!
This damned leviathan has no idea where we are.
I am Pa'u Zotah Zhaan. And you?
Ka D'argo.
You are delvian.
A priest.
I've heard of your kind's practices.
Your appetites.
Such as?
I've heard of something known as...
The, uh, fourth sensation.
I have experienced this.
Not lately.
Oh. Why, why were you, uh
why have you, uh...?
Imprisoned?
Because on my home world, even among my kind
I was something of an anarchist.
Actually,
I was the leading anarchist.
And you?
I killed a fellow soldier.
My commanding officer.
How old are you?
30 cycles.
You are but a boy.
I am not.
I am a luxan warrior.
I have seen two battle campaigns.
Only two?
You know peacekeeper coding?
Yes. I spent three cycles on a maximum labour planet.
Which one?
Mekkar 7.
Assigned to peacekeeper intellilan interface.
I was on mekkar 7.
Truly?
In the ninety third level. In the kemlac mines.
Why aren't you dead?
I often ask myself the same question.
I watched so many others die while the peacekeepers looked on.
Somehow it made me stronger.
I suppose the warrior in me became too strong not to survive.
Perhaps you survived for this.
This escape?
I doubt it will last long enough for the peacekeepers
even to note it in their log.
Not the escape itself, but what we pray will be the result.
Freedom.
That is a very delvian way to look at the situation.
I am nothing if not a product of my upbringing.
And I of mine.
Then perhaps together a warrior and a priest
can help save each other.
Oh, please, let it all be a dream...
A very bad and very twisted dream.
What, um...
Where...?
Where are my clothes?
Hey!
Why did you take off my clothes?
I am Rygel the 16th
dominar to over 600 billion people.
I don't need to talk to you.
I thought you were a prisoner.
Falsely imprisoned.
My cousin, bishan
stole my throne from me while I slept.
A mistake I will soon be correcting.
Your garments were removed so that we could examine you.
"Examine"?
Examine me?
How? Where? Wait a minute.
One of those mechanical things of yours injected me
right here. Translator microbes.
"Microbes"?
They colonize
at the base of the brain.
Allow us to understand each other.
Why you weren't injected at birth
I cannot fathom.
"Colonize... "Brain"...
Why have you got me locked in here?
I'm not here to harm you.
Hell, I wouldn't know how to harm you.
We can no more trust you than we can trust that.
Hl...
My name's John.
What is your rank and regiment?
And why are you out of uniform?
Rank and regiment now.
Let me out of here, you hynerian slug.
Your efforts are wasted, peacekeeper.
You, of all people, should know that.
Peacekeeper?
You were one of those out there attacking the ship.
They think I'm one of you?
Officer Aeryn Sun.
Special peacekeeper commando.
Icarion company, pleisar regiment.
Identify yourself.
My rank is commander.
I'm not military.
At least not any military you know.
I'm a damn scientist.
Mmm?
Mmm.
Hmm.
It's been so long.
Our possessions- my blade.
Hands off, luxan.
Ah, you're awake, both of you.
What's the problem, my dear?
You should be used to viewing the likes of us through bars.
You need to listen to me.
I'm not what you think I am.
Not a peacekeeper? Yes, we know that now.
You have some decidedly unfamiliar bacteria living within you.
I'm from a planet called earth.
I'm human.
Homo sapiens sapien.
It's time for us to eat.
Eat what?
Whoever killed my brother will pay dearly.
Captain...
The techs are completing the imaging of the module's pilot.
Show me.
On the final sweep now, sir.
He's sebacean.
Inform the rear battle fighter.
They will take charge of the armada.
We are going after the leviathan.
But sir, regulations...
That is a direct order lieutenant.
I'm not a peacekeeper.
Can you get this off my wrists?
We do not know your loyalties.
My loyalties... I just got here.
You're the first alien contact anybody from my planet has ever made.
We dreamed about it, made movies about it...
By the way, what part of the universe are we in?
Are we still in orion's arm?
Still in the milky way?
You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?
I need to see some star charts.
Get some common points of reference... damn!
This ship is amazing.
What kind of...?
She's a leviathan.
A bio-mechanoid. A living ship.
You blame me?
If I hadn't pulled those wires
your precious moya would still be wearing that control collar.
But in doing so
you also caused moya to hemorrhage
most of her iriscentant fluid.
Leading to what result, pilot?
Leading to our current maximum speed
which is barely hetch two.
Moya and I don't want to return...
Why are they doing this?
Feeding us.
They'll need information if they're going to survive.
They're hoping we'll provide it.
I'd eat
if I were you.
It may be the only chance...
We get.
We?
The ship's pilot just informed us
that we are approaching an inhabited system
with a commerce planet.
A commerce planet!
Excellent. We need many things.
Hynerian cream soap, definitely.
Some fresh janeray syrup to get rid of the taste
of these food cubes... - We need iriscentant fluid.
How dare you, you luxan slime!
Silence, your eminence.
I've been searching for a reason
not to jettison you with the refuse dump.
You'd dump me?!
I bribed the maintenance drones at the last checkpoint!
I secured the cell codes... - Gentlemen...
Gentlemen, I suggest we focus on the situation at hand.
Before we approach this planet, we must know...
Is there peacekeeper presence in this system?
I don't know.
Wish I did.
We are wasting time we do not have.
She is infantry.
Peacekeeper command tells her where
to fight and die.
This one... is some kind of
higher brain function deficient.
How he escaped the genetic sieving process
I do not know.
Rygel?
What just happened?
It's a natural bodily function. And it's odorless.
So your loyal subjects tell you.
You fart helium?
Sometimes.
When I'm nervous... or angry.
Attention - I thought you would want to know
we are entering planetary orbit.
Thank you, pilot.
Crichton hey!
You know, you only expose your ignorance
if you don't concede knowledge of the hurlian stone.
20.
20 barrels of fluid!
There was a time when you'd have been
disemboweled with a dull lashlan spade
for half such an insult to me.
35?
Boy, was Spielberg ever wrong.
Close encounters, my ass.
Wormhole...
I must have come in through a...
I must have come in through a wormhole.
Yeah.
So if I did come here through a wormhole
the only way that I'm going to get back is to...
Find another wormhole.
Or to create one.
Yeah. Right.
Look...
You want to make one of these wormhole things of yours?
How do you expect to do that from inside this cell?
Come on, move faster.
What are you doing?
I'm going to sabotage this ship.
Sabotage? Give me a break. They haven't hurt us.
How about we show 'em a little compassion?
Compassion? What is compassion?
Compassion? What, you're kidding, right?
It's a feeling that you have when you see
someone else's pain and instead of taking advantage
of their weakness you help them.
Oh, I know this feeling.
Yeah, well, it is a fairly common human feeling.
Mmm. I hate it.
You know what? I'm on the wrong team here.
I'm just going to stay.
Fine. Do what you want.
But if you stay with these lowlifes, you'll die with them.
Yeah, well, how do I know I can trust you?
You don't. That's just another thing you don t know.
Damn!
What is that?
That's cutting edge technology.
We're taking mine.
Captain!
We are receiving a transmission from one of the outer systems.
It's Aeryn Sun, the prowler pilot we thought we'd lost.
She was taken captive aboard the leviathan, but she's escaped.
She has the being from the white pod with her.
I'm on another planet.
Yes, pilot. Understood.
The female peacekeeper and the human have just escaped
and there's a full command carrier
on approach to this planet.
A full carrier? Crais...
But it makes no sense for him to come after us himself.
Unless the two who just escaped
are something very special.
This barter session is over.
Trouble. We must go.
Hmm... what are you asking
for those wellan glow crystals...
Whoa!
Come on.
I've relayed our rendezvous point.
We can get off this waste hole of a planet.
That's the leviathan's pod.
They're getting away.
Come on, we have to report it.
Aren't we about to be rescued?
They are no danger to us, right?
They're prisoners.
Escaped prisoners.
They must be recaptured.
Or destroyed.
Do not tempt me.
You need to get out of here.
There's a shipful of peacekeepers on its way here right now.
Traitor.
That is why I want you both aboard moya
as insurance.
Just go before...
You are such fools.
I will not fall for such an ancient ruse.
But fall you will, luxan.
If the luxan gives you any trouble
kill him.
Captain Crais.
Name?
It's, uh, John Crichton.
And where are you from...
John Crichton?
Sir, he claims
to be a human from a planet called erp.
But he's shown himself...
To be what? A clever impostor.
An accomplice to a ship full of escaping prisoners.
My brother's murderer.
Your brother's what?
You charged my brother's prowler
in that white death pod of yours.
You talking about that near miss I had
the first minute I got here?
That was an accident.
That was no near miss for my brother.
A human?
That will require some study.
I will personally enjoy pulling you apart
to see what you're made of.
Hey!
Wait.
Yes, officer Sun?
You know something about this alien?
Only that I have spent time with him, sir
and I believe that what happened to your brother was an accident.
I don't believe he is brave enough
or intelligent enough
to attack one of our prowlers intentionally.
Exactly how much time
have you spent with this human?
Not a lot.
Not much at all.
Because, as you know
peacekeeper high command has very clear parameters
regarding contact with unclassified alien life-forms.
You may have very well exceeded those parameters, officer Sun.
Which would make you irreversibly contaminated.
No, sir...
Take them all away.
Prepare them for transit while we locate the prisoners.
Warrior to warrior
I vow one day
I will kill you.
Keep moving. Come on.
Pilot, how's it coming?
Fluid tanks are nearly full.
Should be another minute or two.
Any word from D'argo?
None. I'm sorry.
Mm.
Right. Turn around.
Over there. Stand still.
What is this thing?
It's a toy. A puzzle.
You have to figure out how to take it apart and
put it back together.
A field resourcefulness exercise?
Yeah, something like that.
Here. You pull that loop through there.
Yeah, that one.
Good.
Now figure how to put it back together again.
It's a weapon, you fool.
Give it here before you activate it.
Don't do that.
Hey! Hey, you!
Freeze!
Don't move
or I'll fill you full of...
Little yellow bolts of light.
Throw me the key.
Now, on the ground.
Give up now, officer Sun.
You might avoid the death sentence.
Unlock me and then I will unlock you.
No, me.
Come on, there isn't time.
Unlock me.
Down!
If you run, you're going to have
to find someone else to unlock you.
Then you're going to have to explain
these peacekeeper handcuffs.
Give up now, officer Sun.
You might avoid a death sentence.
Now unlock me.
No, he is a criminal.
We all are.
Officer Sun, they are -
can you get me away from here?
What?
Can you get me off this rock, away from these
over-amped rent-a-cops?
Away from Crais?
And we take her, too.
What? Never.
I will take you. You are manageable...
If she stays, we all stay.
No. I will not come with you.
You've been irreversibly contaminated, remember?
It means death.
It is my duty.
My breeding since birth.
It's what I am.
You can be more.
Say again, pilot.
It is D'argo in the arriving prowler.
He is telling us to leave orbit immediately.
Thank khalaan.
The peacekeeper female
and that... other one are with him.
Can't you see he's under duress.
It's a trap!
I'll take him in the tr...
Pilot break orbit.
Destination?
The uncharted territories.
I'll explain later.
Your attention.
Distance between the pursuing peacekeeper carrier and moya:
60 metras and closing.
They are bringing around their frag cannons.
"Frag cannons?"
What is the range of their frag cannons?
I'm afraid neither moya nor I is sufficiently conversant
with peacekeeper technology.
45 metras.
Let's just do another one of those starburst things.
There's no time. The leviathan must restore her energy reserves.
50 metras.
I need paper.
Paper?
To write on.
Turn this ship around.
We have to go back toward the planet.
Go back to the planet?!
Frag cannons are locking on.
Crichton, what are you doing?
It's a theory.
It has to do with overcoming
atmospheric friction.
Are you completely insane?!
Listen, we're going to have to hit a pretty exact
trajectory. Can you do that?
I'm doing all that I can
maintaining moya's regular systems at this speed.
Well, can this ship thing be flown manually?
Manually?
Yes, but there are...
Good. You do it.
I am not trained as a pilot.
Fine. You're the experienced pilot.
You fly.
No.
This is madness!
Weapons control, full charge.
It appears our only alternative is death.
What a charmer.
Pilot, give me maneuverability now!
We may dodge one shot, but never...
Do it! Do it!
Fire.
Target is banking.
Reacquire.
Banking towards us.
She's accelerating, sir.
We end this now.
Just go for the maximum, and let the planet's gravity pull us in.
Hetch 9!
Dive straight into the atmosphere.
28 to 38 degrees. You got it?
Do it! You've got to do it!
More speed to slingshot us out.
We are there.
Sir, the leviathan, she's...
I can see that, lieutenant.
Pull out. Pull out now.
She's off our scanners, sir.
We've lost her.
It's gone.
Thank you.
It's gone.
You can let go now, John.
Thank you.
We need to talk.
Get your hands off me.
You have a warrior's instinct. Good.
We'll need that.
Cool.
I have spent eight degrading cycles aboard this ship
and now I am finally liberated.
Congratulations.
I don't know who you are
where you're from, or what you want
but if you threaten my freedom
I'll kill you.
They're a brutal race.
Uncivilized.
Indiscriminate in their deployment of violence.
Right. Unlike your people.
My people might have helped you if you hadn't put us
into this position.
Me? No, no, no.
Try your boy Crais.
So, you haven't forgotten about him.
I know he hasn't forgotten about you.
Yeah, well, the, uh
transparent purple guy- what's his name, pilot?
He said we've passed into the uncharted territories
and that your people don't have jurisdiction.
Crais thinks you killed his brother.
In such a case would you obey jurisdictional boundaries?
Listen to me.
If you want to live
choose your allegiances carefully.
That's not to say that there's any guarantees there.
Come here.
I'm not going to hurt you. Come here.
Hey, dad
it worked.
D.K.'s and my theory- it actually worked.
Sort of.
Look, I know this is, uh, crazy.
I mean, you're never going to get this message
but I just wanted to let you know that I'm alive.
Oh, hold still. Hold still.
Don't know where I am.
Technically, I don't know how I got here, but...
I'm not going to stop trying to get home.
See? You're fixed.
Go play.
Hey
what the hell are you doing?
Your equipment may be worth something in trade.
My equipment.
It's mine.
Are you a sound sleeper?
And there's life out here, dad.
Weird, amazing...
Psychotic life...
And, uh...
In technicolor.
Hey, dad, you know those...
Rattlers in the stomach we talked about?
Well, I got 'em now.