The Ark

Previously on "The Ark"...

You're building a bioshelter farm on the ship!

That's amazing.

All the other doctors died in the event,

and I'm left to deal with all these injured people.

- You work where on the ship? - Waste Management.

Yeah, well, not anymore.

Alicia Nevins, you are now Chief Life Support.

- I'm doing another EVA. - Why?

To figure out what the hell hit us, why else?

There's some kind of crystal thing wedged in there.

Lane, the glove's fingers are nearly off!

Get with Angus on the new element he's been analyzing.

It's an early warning system

in case we come within range of the element again.

What will it take to get us back up to near light speed?

We only have one engine. If it blows, we're dead in the water.

We're just gonna have to push it as far as we can.

I've seen your medical records.

They're too perfect to be real.

There's something on this ship that you need to know about.

I will save this ship for one simple reason...

to save William Trust.

Now it's your duty to keep Trust safe.

Okay, who wants to start with department briefs. Felix?

I have little to report.

The crew seems to have settled down into a peaceful routine,

which frankly makes me nervous.

Dr. Kabir? Has Med Bay seen a similar calm?

Dr. Kabir?

Yes?

Oh, uh, yes.

Uh, Med Bay is thankfully empty.

I've only had a few minor work-related injuries come in, yeah.

Good. Engineering?

All good. Shuttle repairs are complete

and NEPS are up and running at 50%.

Oh, wait, wait. 50%?

We won't get to Prox B for decades.

Don't worry. We'll run out of fuel way before that.

I had to eject too much U-238 during the meltdown.

- How long do we have? - Why didn't I know?

Relax. Relax!

Guys, Alicia and I have already started looking for uranium 238,

and we will find it, right, Alicia?

Uranium 238 is plentiful in the universe.

We're running a spectral analysis

on every chunk of rock we pass en route.

You know, planets, planetoids, moons.

So far, nothing, but I'm not worried yet.

If we don't find it soon, we'll run out of fuel

sometime in the next two weeks.

Well, then, let's stop flapping our lips and get back to searching, eh?

Okay, this meeting is adjourned,

but before you guys go back,

Angus has a surprise for us in the mess.

All right, well, you guys go ahead. I'll man the bridge.

Let Cogner man the bridge.

Angus will want you in the mess hall.

No one peek under the napkins. Just take your seats.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to present,

coming straight from Deck 3R,

from a long engagement in the world-famous bioshelter...

Yes, things to do, places to be. Get on with it, Angus.

Right.

I'm just trying to bring some humor.

Never mind.

I present to you all, the first small harvest

from the bioshelter.

You may remove your napkins.

- Wow. - This is just the start.

We have lots more coming.

What?

I want to savor every bite.

- Is there a problem with that? - No, not at all.

Oh, God, I forgot what real food tastes like.

Right?

Right, well, you take your time savoring, Alicia.

Some of us have some uranium to search for.

I'll be with you in a few minutes, okay?

Oh.

No, no, no, no, no. Not now.

Not now, not now.

Dr. Kabir, I brought you some food.

This is the first time in weeks I've had even a second

to put things where they belong,

get some semblance of order in this place.

You missed a special treat in the mess hall.

Angus shared his first harvest. I brought you some.

Thank you, Felix.

- Are you okay? - Yes, fine.

- You need to eat. - Really?

They didn't teach us that in medical school.

I'm fine. Just a little stressed.

- Haven't been able to sleep. - So go get some sleep now.

Why does everyone keep telling me to get some sleep?

I'll sleep when I feel like it.

You just said you're stressed because you haven't slept.

- There's too much to do. - There are no patients.

- Yeah, but some could come... - I'll watch the shop,

call you when you're needed. Take the food. Go.

Now.

Jelena. Jelena.

What? I'm trying to sleep.

Did you see who I was with last night?

Get over yourself, James.

- I couldn't give a shit who you're sleeping with... - What? No, no.

Did you see someone bring me in here?

I was asleep. Good-bye.

Shit.

Come on in.

- You wanted me to come by? - Have a seat.

You're wondering why you're here.

Well, I kind of feel like

I've been called to the principal's office.

I asked you here because I have the confession.

- You do? - I've been hiding contraband.

- Contraband? - It's against the rules

to bring any alcoholic beverages on an ark, but...

... I guess Captain Lester was a rule-breaker.

- Found that in her stash. - Well.

Captain Lester had a good taste in Scotch.

I wouldn't know.

I'm more of a Kentucky bourbon girl myself.

How dare you speak such blasphemy?

Mentioning Kentucky swamp juice in the same room

as a bottle of Glenn Verbog.

I apologize. I didn't realize it was a religion to you.

Oh, I used to drink this stuff with my old man back in the days of NASA

before the whole world started falling apart.

- He was an astronaut. - Really?

Did he ever go anywhere off-world?

Yeah, he went to the moonbase a few times.

He died there,

when the Eastern Federation sabotaged it.

Oh. Spencer, I'm sorry.

It was a long time ago.

But it was the reason I signed up for the GSA.

Yeah, I wanted to continue what my old man was trying to do,

save humanity from itself and all that noble crap.

To noble crap. To your father.

Dr. Hall and I used to drink together, too.

Kentucky...

the whiskey whose name I shall not mention

in the same room as Glenn watchamacallit.

- Dr. Hall? - Yeah.

He was the doctor that oversaw the experimentations

- on me and my sister. - You must hate him.

Actually, he was the closest thing I ever had to a dad.

- I miss him. - What happened to him?

Died. Sleeper Podbay 1.

- He was on this ark? - Yep.

I mean, he's probably why I'm on it, too,

though he never admitted to having anything to do with it.

Well, to Dr. Hall.

So, I have to ask...

Why I invited you here to have a drink?

Yeah.

To say thank you.

Ever since you went and revealed

all my secrets and called that vote and...

Oh, those are two main reasons I'm surprised you invited me.

No, with hindsight, I think it was a good thing.

Now that there's no secrets between us,

you've become a really good number two.

So I wanted to say thank you. To no secrets between us?

Spencer?

To no secrets.

All council members to bridge.

I wonder what that's about.

Probably Brice's well-honed Scotch radar going off again.

Oh, hello.

What are you two all smiley about?

Uh, why did you call us in here?

Because I am very pleased to say

I have found a planet that is rich in uranium-238.

And best of all, we don't even have to detour.

It's directly on our route, so we just...

... fly down, grab it,

get back up to near light speed.

Only one problem.

It's too far away.

We don't have enough U-238 to get to the U-238.

Oh.

I mean, could we open the solar sails?

No, the sails are designed

for after we enter the Proxima system.

And they need the solar winds from Alpha Centauri, the star.

If we could find a closer star, would that be any use?

Maybe. Why?

'Cause we're about to pass

a yellow binary dwarf system.

If we apply the Tisserand parameter

to the momentum of the fastest star in the binary,

it should accelerate us towards the planet where the fuel is.

Ooh, and then we can open the sails

and gain a multiplier of at least two.

Uh, um, I have a degree in astrophysics.

Which really explains why they assigned you to waste management.

Wait, are you talking about a gravitational slingshot?