- [Announcer] This is Chrysalis.
(dramatic music)
Part 14.
(distant talking)
- [Dalkin] The sky level of night and primes
acarology was a city in its own right.
A second urban layer suspended above the wispy clouds.
The collection of expansive terraces,
lush gardens and broad walkways were
wrapped by a shimmering breaker field
deflecting the cold winds present at those heights,
particularly at night.
I stood on one of those terraces,
gazing at the breathtaking sight
as I leaned over the railing.
The endless city sprawled out below.
A sea of artificial lights reflecting the stars above.
It was beautiful.
I stood with the bright blue and yellow
lights to my back as nearly a hundred
automated vid cams fluttered over
the crowd behind me.
Zipping back and forth in an endless effort
to record something, interesting.
There were many worlds across the
Galactic Federal Council came to see this event unfold.
After all, it wasn't every day
new Galactic Accords were signed.
(soft music)
For the moment, I enjoyed taking some time to recuperate.
Taking an occasional glimpse at the buzzing crowd.
(distant footsteps)
- [Phisan] Ahh, meat, really?
I turned to look at my approaching assistant
carrying a plate of food.
He was an odd piece,
almost an opposite picture of myself.
He was short and stocky
and his skin was scaly rather than smooth.
He carried with him some sort of Terran recipe,
or at least a close attempt at one.
Thick slices of meat covered in a brown sauce
paired with some green and white vegetables
for good measure,
laid nearly untouched on his plate.
It's synthetic meat, you know.
- [Phisan] That doesn't make it any less repulsive.
Why do we have Terran recipes anyway?
They don't even eat food.
Phisan, nobody will tell you their secrets if--
- [Phisan] If I don't eat their food first.
Right, I know, I know.
I just don't wanna vomit.
- [Dalkin] I nodded to him,
as a vid cam zipped by
snapping several three dimensional photos of us
before returning eagerly to the crowd.
Its attention now
caught by the Zarcan (applauding)
and giving out some sort of public statement
with several dozen more vid cams
orbiting him above the buzzing crowd,
broadcasting his words.
- [Phisan] We do all the work, he gets all the glory.
- [Dalkin] Yes, politics.
That's just the way it is.
- [Phisan] Doesn't that bother you?
The fact that he gets all the praise?
I mean, everyone says that he's the one
who ended the war but
by my recollection, you did a fair bit of the ground work.
- [Dalkin] I mulled over the thought for a few seconds.
It had been five years since my conversation
with the Terran, during its attack on Zunveer.
(distant talking)
I'd received several compliments when it went public but
the attention was centered on the aftermath
of the attack itself.
Massive floods, devastated cities,
and environmental chaos had dominated the media feeds.
The fall of the Terran had provided
devastating images that pulled the galaxy's attention
to how dire the situation was
despite the fact that it could have been far worse.
While I played an important part as an intermediary,
the Zarcan had received most of the public adoration
following the conversations with the
Galactic Federal Council.
I answered Phisan.
No, it doesn't bother me.
We each have different roles to play.
I guess I'd rather be out here making things happen
than stuck giving endless speeches.
And having the Zarcan in our debt
can open the doors to some powerful favors
having him as an ally
is better in the longterm.
- [Phisan] Heads up, boss.
Got a gear boxing coming.
- [Dalkin] I followed his gaze to see that
a member of the Terran delegation
was walking towards us.
It still surprised me how organic they looked.
But I couldn't help but feel a slight discomfort
at the sight of the approaching Terran.
I remember the mechanical soldiers among the
ruined buildings of Yovid.
The movement somewhat similar; the same pace.
The swinging of the arms, similar positions of the feet.
However, this being wasn't an automated drone
in a ceaseless army, but a sentient creature
in its own right.
It could easily be mistaken for organic.
While the overall body shape was the same,
it had vast differences from its predecessors.
It had polished synthetic skin,
smooth lines and an actual face
modeled after the original species that they had
evolved from.
(distant footsteps)
- [Thomas] Dalkin,
I'm glad you're here.
Always happy to see a familiar face.
- [Dalkin] Hmmm, likewise.
I nodded and took his hand in mine
as per the Terran greeting ritual.
The hand was cold to the touch
as we shook.
I'm not sure if you've met my assistant--
- [Thomas] Phisan, right?
- [Phisan] Yeah, great to meet you.
- [Dalkin] As Phisan and Thomas spoke,
I thought of how lucky it was
that both the Terrans and Zunveerians
had agreed to sign the accords
recognizing each others' right to exist.
The threats of violence and vengeance had cooled,
finally but, setting formal borders and agreeing
to a cease fire was only the first of many steps.
The Terrans had demands regarding what had happened
to their original planet, which had been met in kind
by the heavily wounded Zunveerians.
Terrans were no longer aggressive after the battle of
Zunveer, but they had refused to cede any conquered systems
or reduce their gargantuan military forces and had instead
requested harder sanctions on the Zunveerians.
On the other side of the issues, the Zunveer Republic wanted
reparations of their own for the damage done their colonies
and capital world.
The fragments falling from the Terran had caused
irreparable damage to their environment, as well
as killing millions of innocent people.
Resolving tensions between the races
had been particularly difficult.
Hopefully with time and proper planning,
both races can find some form of tentative harmony.
(distant talking and laughing)
Thomas leaned on the railing and joined me in gazing
at the city and our cologies.
Together we looked at the sprawling lights
of the city below.
(sighing)
- [Thomas] The view here is certainly impressive.
- [Dalkin] You see anything
you'd want to replicate for Tausetti?
I had the chance to visit the orbital habitat
a few weeks ago.
I was impressed with the city's progress.
- [Thomas] Like they'd listened to me.
No, I'm afraid Tausetti's orba max
has fallen prey to the hands of the engineering consortium.
Last I heard, they were proposing a
two centuries long plan
to turn it into some sort of mega structure
surrounding the star, spanning the entire asteroid belt.
- [Dalkin] I nodded, amused by the scale
of the Terrans concept of engineering.
This was a common reaction
in many who had heard of their feats of construction.
When I visited Tausetti a few weeks prior,
I saw their city designed with a roof dense grid
of streets and avenues, parks and open areas.
Thousands of drones crawled and flew all over the city
causing all sorts of congestion.
Their ability to unify and build their society
so efficiently had worried the High Governance.
An internal report placed the Terrans
as the undisputed regional superpower of the Orion Arm.
The numbers spoke volumes,
convincing the council to approach the species
and develop a friendly relationship.
But thinking of the Terran brought back memories
of how it all ended.
And I still had questions, huh?
Thomas, there's something I meant to ask you
about related to the battle of Zunveer.
I've been thinking about what happened there that day
and (chuckling)
there's something that doesn't quite fit.
Something I found stuck out to me
when I read the post battle reports.
- [Thomas] Oh, I would be interested
to know what you read.
- [Dalkin] Well, you know, it went
unnoticed at first, but it was
revealed when the council cross-referenced the recordings
of the battle from satellites in orbit around Zunveer.
There was a short burst of a unique electromagnetic activity
coming from the ship seconds before it self-destructed.
The analysts think it was some sort of transmission.
Well nobody I asked had determined what it was,
other than the profile of the pattern
matches the-- - [Thomas] The Dougat?
Dougat.
I wasn't present at the battle myself
so I didn't receive that transmission,
whatever it might've been.
But you have to remember
that our progenitor was a very troubled and confused mind.
And right at the end, it was
under an enormous amount of stress
and self doubt all while piloting a heavily damaged ship.
The most likely explanation
for that ian burst is a simple malfunction.
- [Dalkin] Ahh, yeah I see.
But if you-- - [Thomas] Of course,
I'll make sure to request our own reports
and send you the information on the matter.
But rest assured I can guarantee you
that our progenitor died when the ship
crashed in the planet.
- [Dalkin] Well, uh,
thanks for the clarification, Thomas.
The Terran gave a waving motion with his hand.
A signal that was no trouble for him.
He turned and looked toward the center
of the Esplanade almost as if someone had called his name
from the center of the excitement.
He turned back to us and smiled.
- [Thomas] So are you two going back to the crowd?
- [Dalkin] Yeah, maybe later.
Right now we're just enjoying the view.
- [Thomas] Sounds good.
I'll see you two at the departure ceremony, then.
- [Dalkin] And I look forward to it.
Thomas waved and walked back
into the crowd towards the rest of the Terran delegation.
I saw him approach another
of his species delegates, a female Terran whose name
I didn't know.
She had decorated herself
with rhythmic pulses of blue light on her skin.
It was a good sign that the machines were
customizing their bodies to better fit their personalities.
The flashy displays of color
and strange skin patterns brought them closer to the rest
of the galaxies organic species and moved them far
from the uniformity of the assault drones.
Phisan, what are your thoughts on Thomas' explanation?
- [Phisan] Uh, I don't know.
He seemed happy enough, but there was something else there.
- [Dalkin] What stood out to you?
- [Phisan] Thomas seemed very eager to remind us
that the first Terran is dead.
- [Dalkin] Agreed.
I saw the Terran female steal a quick glance at us
before resuming her conversation with Thomas.
Could they be lying?
I thought back to Yovid.
To the day that the Terran decided to save
Tills Uran Die and
I remembered its strange analogy;
the olive branch.
The idea that it could live peacefully alongside us.
Did the other Terrans feel it was possible to
live peacefully alongside their creator?
Perhaps we weren't the only ones to accept the branch.
Just as the thought crossed my mind,
I noticed another figure that stood apart from the crowd.
The figure seemed lost in its own thoughts
as it gazed into the night.
A Terran woman with bright pink covering her arms, face,
and hair approached it,
holding a small potted plant in her arms.
She whispered something to the lone Terran
that I couldn't make out from a distance.
She took its hand
and started to pull it away from the railing.
And just then it caught my eyes.
We stared at each other for a moment
and a solemn expression crossed its face.
Those few seconds seemed to stretch forever
until it gave me an almost imperceptible nod
before disappearing into the crowd.
(suspenseful music)
- [Phisan] So do you think they're lying?
- [Dalkin] No, no. (chuckling)
No I don't think they're lying.
(suspenseful music)
I know they are.
(upbeat suspenseful pop music)
- [Announcer] That was Chrysalis part 14 performed by
Corey Hawkins, Haley Joel Osment,
Jaboukie Young-White, and Matthew Wolf.
Directed by Alex Kent.
Chrysalis was written by SH Serrano
and adapted by Stephen Michael and Macklin Maloney.
Chrysalis is executive produced
by Corey Hawkins, executive produced by Stephen Michael,
and associate produced by Sarah Newton at Gunpowder and Sky.
This season is produced by Toby Lawless at
Wolf at the Door Studios.
Dust is executive produced by Floris Bauer,
Van Toffler and Eric Bromberg.
Original music for Chrysalis
composed by Alex Kent.
Sound designed by Josh Falcon
at Wolf at the Door Studios.
Special thanks to Helen Sadler, Jake McCarty,
Ali Montez, Mark Holden, and Alison Borrelli.
(fading suspenseful pop music)