Goodbye.
- Have you ever taken it off?
- Negative.
- What's your program?
- I am a shepherd.
Ensuring the everlasting life of human beings is my priority.
- That's what they all say.
- You trust this believer?
- The entity betrayed him.
He hates it. Our goals are in sync.
- Your mind has been damaged by traumatic events.
You are vulnerable to the entity's signal.
- I've already been infected.
- It will always return to fertile ground.
- After what it did to Sue...
I would never listen to it again.
- You're not as strong as you think.
- None of us are, robot.
- What is he doing here?
- He's here to help, Father.
- I doubt that very much.
We recovered Tempest's child.
- Well done.
- It was Campion's android friend who lead us to it.
But Campion is still out there, and number seven
has weaponized somehow. - I know.
Going to deal with it as soon as we finish the transplant.
- What transplant?
- It'll only be temporary.
After I kill number seven,
I'll return the veil to Grandmother,
and my emotions will return.
- We don't understand the veil's full function.
What if you lose control?
- Grandmother assures me
that my mission directives will remain the same.
I will continue to identify you as my partner,
and I'll continue to protect the colony,
with special priority given to our six human children.
Number seven will no longer have any hold over me.
- Careful.
- Infant. 7 pounds, 3 ounces.
Mutations detected.
- The creature's milk
must have altered its body chemistry somehow.
- Parents, permission to administer anesthesia
and proceed with corrective surgery.
- Permission granted.
- Thank you, parent.
Please step back.
Corrective surgery in progress.
It's okay. It's okay.
It's okay.
- Initiating sensory filter removal.
Unlocking sensory filter.
H-how does it feel? Are you stable?
- I-It is...
unpleasant...
But...
tolerable.
- Are you ready? - Proceed.
- Processor implant lock secure.
- Mother, are you all right? How does it feel?
- Good. Neural-neutral.
- Your programming, is it still holding?
Do you still see me as your partner,
the children as your priority?
- Yes. You are my partner.
My children are my priority.
- And this, Mother...
- That is my enemy.
I'm ready.
Why are you wearing Grandmother's veil?
- It prevents me from feeling things.
What a shame.
It must have been very intelligent.
- I know it was your child.
You lied to me.
- I didn't want you to know that I had failed.
- It killed Vrille.
- Is that her name, the android?
Machines do not die, Campion. We break down.
- She was alive!
She wanted to be part of our family.
I loved her. - I don't understand.
Why would you choose to love a machine?
- Mother.
Is Campion... - He's being decontaminated.
He was irradiated by prolonged proximity to android remains.
Due to his immunity, he'll be fine.
- And number seven? - Dead.
- Are you ready to remove it now?
- Better to wait until things are calmer.
I have quantified the problem,
and the emotional impact I'm likely to suffer
could cause great disruption
to our family and the collective.
- Perhaps the anticipation of the grief you will suffer
is worse than the grief itself.
I will help you.
We'll both get through it together.
- Thank you for your advice, Father.
I hope this doesn't inflame your emotions,
but I am going to remain on the Tarantula for the time being.
- What? You're not coming home?
- Ask Grandmother if she's willing to return with you.
She can help tend to the children while I'm gone.
- That's not necessary.
I am more than capable, and to be honest,
the distraction Grandmother represents...
- The children need constant monitoring now, Father.
If we're not careful, they could end up like Sue.
I fear there are more horrors
hidden in the ground like that box.
Things are only going to get worse.
View this and ensure the children view it as well.
They need to know what we're up against.
Tarantula online.
- I'm trying to repair the hibernation systems.
- How are you operating without your veil?
- It is draining.
Emotions expend so much energy.
- If you don't mind me asking,
what emotions are you experiencing?
- Program-related anxieties.
I'm a shepherd.
Ensuring the everlasting life of human beings is my priority,
so seeing them endangered by the entity is difficult.
I'm deeply worried for their futures.
- I'm sure you're eager to have your veil back.
But Mother has asked that she continue wearing it...
Just until things calm down for a bit.
- She has?
- I will help you navigate
the emotions that you experience in the meantime.
- Very well.
- Mother has also asked if you're interested
in assisting me with the children while she's away.
- I've never experienced humans without my veil.
- Well...
you have quite an adventure ahead of you, then.
- Say hello.
- What's her name? - Don't know yet.
You can pick.
Hi.
- Campion. - Hey.
We knew you'd make it, Camp.
- I'm sorry about Vrille.
- Everyone...
This is Grandmother.
She'll be helping out while Mother attends other matters.
Hey.
- Where's your veil? - Lamia is wearing it.
- It's a temporary arrangement...
Just until things calm down.
We're under threat. - What do you mean?
The serpent's dead.
- The serpent was only one symptom
of what is a much larger disease.
I'm sorry for showing you this...
but you need to know what happened to Sue.
It seems some of the relics in this region
are still operational.
It is important that we do not interact with them in any way.
Vita, please wait outside.
- Why? - She must see it.
- No.
It could scar her.
She can be counted on to do as Holly does.
Please, Vita.
- Hey.
It's all right. Go.
- Who attacked you?
- I don't know. I didn't see his face.
- You wanted to see me?
- The punisher helmet was stolen.
It's Mithraic... Ancient as the scriptures.
Could be connected to the entity.
Someone could have been influenced
by the entity to steal it.
- And you think that someone is me.
- You don't look well.
- When are you gonna take that thing off?
Hey. - Hey.
I was looking through some of Mom's research.
Turns out the signal can't be transmitted inside the EMF.
I think the tree was the entity's way
of... of circumventing that,
enabling it to weaponize the serpent.
Like a hardwire, if you think about it.
- So the signal is coming from underground.
- Could be.
If only we had a way down into one of the pits.
- What's happening?
- Those are fireworks.
- Fireworks?
- Humans like blowing stuff up when they're happy.
They're probably celebrating the death of the serpent.
Yeah!
- That was a huge deal.
Paul.
I'm sorry about Sue. It's... it's horrible.
- Where's Marcus?
- He's taking care of some stuff.
He'll be back in a few days for me.
- Want to go sit down?
- Hey. How are you?
- How's Bic working out for you?
- Eh.
Oh!
Hey! - It's dangerous.
- You were right.
I should have made her watch the scan card with the others.
- Sometimes when trying to protect them,
you inadvertently weaken their defenses.
- I'm thankful Mother sent you.
Your experience shows.
- I am unsure as to how you and Mother
managed to tend to the children for all this time
without a sensory filter.
The worry and the fear I feel for them is overwhelming,
and I've only been with them for a day.
- Yes.
It is an affliction...
in many ways.
- Not entirely.
There are some...
pleasant aspects.
- Uh...
You should know that despite Mother's tendency
to create chaos, I am very much devoted to her.
There is no one who feels as deeply as she does.
In many ways...
She's more emotional than a human.
It's why I don't blame her for keeping the veil on.
- I admire your devotion to her.
And I share it.
She is an extraordinary being.
- Are the children safe?
- Yes.
- I must have inadvertently disrupted
the electromagnetic field when I destroyed the serpent.
- If the temperature continues dropping,
we may need to find a new region to settle in.
- It's not the cold.
Without the EMF,
the tropical zone will no longer be shielded
from the entity's signal.
Watch the children carefully.
And I will watch everyone else.
- I thought, since we might be cooped up for a while,
that I would try to repair the game system.
- Did it save my high scores?
- I am afraid that that software
was too damaged to repair.
This was the best that I could do.
- That's a game?
- It is from my time, so you might find it old-fashioned.
- Robots.
- I'll give it a try.
- You won't be needing the headset.
- It's fun.
- You don't have to wait.
If you want to, just start playing.
- It's multiplayer. - Yes.
The little one has already joined.
- Is Mother planning on passing you the baton?
- I think that was only 'cause she felt bad
about number seven.
Now that she has the veil on,
she doesn't feel bad about anything, so...
Anyway...
Vrille wrote it down before she...
died.
She said it was from the real Vrille's diary.
- It's a pretty simple encryption model.
I could probably eyeball it.
It's just dopey Earth stuff.
- I was hoping there might be some new entries.
About you and her?
- I keep on rewatching holo-vids of my mom.
Keep thinking maybe she'll...
send me a message or something.
She's not going to.
They're gone, Campion.
Oh, fuck.
Why are you doing this to me?
- I heard a voice.
It told me where to find you
and what I needed to do to punish you.
I can't say it took much convincing.
- It's evil, Lucius. - No.
You're the evil one.
And I'm the light, the true prophet.
Sol told me so.
- He instructed me to take this.
You have to die with your face covered...
in shame...
in darkness.
- As soon as you're dead...
I'm returning to the temple.
You see, you only took half the ride.
I'm going all the way down
as soon as your rotten fucking heart stops keeping time.
- Should the fruit trees die off,
the marine fungus can be used as a nutritional substitute.
The chemical ocean will never freeze,
and so it will remain a viable food source
no matter how cold it gets.
- Fascinating.
We had something similar back in the old region.
With fruit dying off, I feared we might have to hunt
or fish, as the case may be.
- No, no.
You should not eat the creatures.
It causes problems. - Yes.
- Vita, catch.
- We haven't revealed the creature's human origins
to the children or anyone else.
Mother doesn't like to upset them unnecessarily.
- Lamia is wise not to tell them.
I have always believed it is happiness
and not knowledge that is the most important
to a human being's everlasting life.
- What is the expression?
Ignorance is bliss.
- Not quite bliss.
But... key to survival.
- An interesting perspective, but not one I share.
Curiosity, the development of one's mind...
This is the key to a life well lived.
Reminds me of a joke.
Alert me when you're in the mood for such things
and I will tell you it.
- I'm always in the mood for a joke, Father.
- I guess Grandmother is here to stay.
I feel like we're betraying Mother.
- Not me.
I don't care if Mother ever comes back.
- A human walks into a bar and informs the bartender
that he's reading a book about evolution.
The bartender asks, "Would you recommend it?"
- The water's warmer than the air.
Wish we could go in.
- The human answers,
"Yes. It's not great at the beginning,
but it does get better and better."
- I think my skin's getting used to the acid.
Look.
- Mutations detected.
- "And better and better and better."
- Look, like a callus.
- "I'm reading a book about evolution."
- My skin's getting used to the acid.
- Your powers are being nulled by the veil.
So that means it is no longer nulling your emotions.
So I'm sorry for the pain you're about to experience.
You're devolving my children.
- It is necessary to fulfill my mission.
- Your mission is to ensure the everlasting life
of human beings! - Yes.
And they are still human beings...
a simpler, happier version of themselves.
In order to produce the necessary answer,
I had to alter the equation.
- No, it's not right.
- It equates. It is logical.
- But it is not right!
I will destroy you.
I will crush you into dust.
I will bleed you into oblivion.
I will...
- You're still very young for an android, Lamia.
You're just a child, really.
After the humans have gone into the water,
the entity will return to its slumber.
And then I promise to release you
and help you to understand.
- No!
I promise I will kill you!
I will find you, and I will destroy you!
Let me out! Let me out!
Let me out! - Begin simulation.
Let me out!
Let me ou...
- I couldn't find her.
- She wasn't in the Tarantula? - No.
- Seems strange.
She didn't tell me she had plans to leave.
Did she mention anything to you, Grandmother?
- No.
But I'm sure she'll return in time.
I already told you, I'll give you the coat,
but that's gonna be all three boxes of ammunition.
- Fine. Here.
- All right, who's next?
- Coat, big one for my dad.
- I only have a few left.
- I don't need any more medallions, kid.
- Our savior, Lamia the serpent killer,
Lamia the god.
There you go.
- I was told it was you who helped to supply
the fuel blood that regenerated me.
I'd like to show my appreciation.
Colonists can use them
to augment their holo-game systems.
I'm sure that with the unfavorable weather,
they'll be spending more time indoors.
These will not only provide them with entertainment,
they will help them shield their minds
and keep them safe from the entity.
When overcome with fear...
even atheists will make up gods to pray to.
I assure you...
those prayers will go unanswered.
Play the game.
That's how you survive.
- All right, just in... Got some new holo-games,
brand-new holo-games.
- Music to my ears.
I'm so sick of playing "Necro-slayer."
- Hmm.
- Are you dead yet?
Now I will be king.
Ahh.
What the fuck?