Love Is the Key, Part Two

Time Team in “Love is The Key Part Two: Megan’s Fantastic Journey” By Noah Stambovsky & Chris D’Achille Story & Concepts by Noah Stambovsky, Chris D’Achille, & Ian Kuzmik PREVIOUSLY ON TIME TEAM: Quick recap showing the team running from Joe, using the EMP, and Megan proclaiming she must go into the time drive. Open to the bridge. Chris walks up to Kurt’s station. CHRIS Is she gonna be ok man? KURT I’m not gonna sugar coat this for you Cameron. What Megan is doing is more unpredictable than what we deal with in the field on any given day. The inner workings of time drives are very mysterious. Sure, most grad school students know what a chronospace manifold does. But very few people alive know what it is. She’s gonna go in there, where space and time collapse in on themselves and matter and energy are fused together, and honestly, if it was anyone else, I’d give them one thousand to one odds. But today I found out that beneath Megan’s ditsy, carefree exterior, there lies the mind of a bright engineer. She knows we’re all rooting for her, and hopefully that gives her the insight she’s gonna- There’s a beeping noise for an incoming hail. It’s Joe. DONNA Why don’t we take it, Brad? BRAD No. He already showed us he is unwilling to accept an apology. DONNA You never tried! Plus, you have a bargaining chip now. BRAD Yea what’s that? DONNA You can offer to give him a ride back to Earth 47. He might make it on thrust, but it's probably a 2 month journey. BRAD Ok, y’know what, both ships are down, maybe cooler hips can prevail. CHRIS Cooler hips? BRAD It’s a dancing metaphor. XT1, open the channel. CUT TO: Megan is climbing into the time drive. There is a small porthole that she opens, and she climbs right in. The inside of the drive has a dim glow to it. It is the most advanced and futuristic looking machinery we have seen, there are helix shaped vials, and circular filaments, and in the center, a large glass tube. The tachyon containment chamber. Megan puts her hand on the lid, when she hears a voice. DISEMBODIED VOICE Uhhh… don’t do it that way. MEGAN Who is that? DISEMBODIED VOICE (in an overly dramatic mystical tone) I… am the spirit… of the Time Drive… (normal tone) Just kidding. The name’s Andrew. Went in here once, and never came back. MEGAN You’re the mechanic? The one who died in here? How are you speaking to me? ANDREW Well that’s one way of looking at it, if you want to be a total buzzkill. I fused with the Time Drive. I am a part of it now. MEGAN Does that hurt? ANDREW Not really. Sometimes when you reset the flux converters I get this weird feeling. I don’t know how to describe it other than a satisfying-yet-uncomfortable pinching sensation. All in all, being fused with a time drive is pretty cool. I see all of history, and all possible futures, simultaneously. I am an omniscient observer of the universe, existing both inside and outside of the time stream. Let’s just say, once you’ve seen all of the dramatic shit show that is humanity, you can’t go back to hulu. Cut to: Int. The bridge. Joe is on the screen again. His team is in the background affecting repairs to his ship. The connection is shoddy, and the lights on Joe’s ship are flickering. JOE What do you want Wheeler? Here to gloat about disabling my ship? BRAD Well here’s the funny thing, Burton. The EMP took out my drive too. We’re all stuck out here. We’re in this together. JOE Serves you right, after what you did. BRAD (interjecting)Listen, Joe, I wanted to apologize about that. JOE Leaving me stranded without cover, in the middle of the ancient battle gauntlet. On our last day of training! I covered you so you could get past those archers! And then you just cut and run like a coward! BRAD (sudden shift in tone, realizing Joe doesn’t even know about Brad sleeping with his fiance) Yea, like I said, Joe, really, really sorry about that. JOE I failed our final exam because of you! And now you’re out here gallivanting across the time stream, and y’know what I do? I take space potatoes from the outer system, Earth 498, on the long haul to Earth 4. BRAD I don’t know what I can say. JOE There is nothing to say Wheeler! I had dreams! I wanted to travel through time, see the majestic wonders of the past- KURT (interjecting) Really not all it’s cracked up to be- JOE I wanted to start a family! You won’t care to know, but Betty left me after I failed the exam, she said she couldn’t be with a loser potato hauler. BRAD And I don’t know how I could ever make that up to you, but let me extend an olive branch. JOE And what is that? BRAD It’s a metaphor for a peace offering. JOE I know what an olive branch is, asshole! What are you offering here to earn my forgiveness? BRAD When my engineer gets our drive fixed up, we’ll give you a ride to Earth 47. You can affect repairs, maybe we can go out and get a beer, let pylons be pylons. CUT TO: INT. time drive. Megan stands near the tachyon chamber, speaking to the disembodied voice of her predecessor, Andrew ANDREW So if you were to actually open that chamber, you would share my fate. Let me help you get this thing fixed up without being stuck here for eternity. You see that wall panel on your left? Megan motions to the panel. MEGAN It’s the dimensional modulator. It’s fine, we just need some ambient tachy- ANDREW Just trust me Megan. I’m literally all-knowing. I’m right. Switch the polarity on the dimensional modulator, then activate the chronospace manifold by hand. MEGAN If you say so. Megan punches some code into the dimensional modulator, then presses a large red button, the drive makes a brief humming sound, and the light and color inside the drive all shift and fade, Megan looks around, and then finds herself in a psychedelic bubble world. There are bubbles of light floating around her, they all look as if they have an entire universe inside them. A figure made of light appears next to her, she turns to him. MEGAN Andrew? Where are we? ANDREW This… (gestures around him) Is the Universal Plane. We are in the universe. Everything that has ever happened or will happen, all possible worlds. MEGAN Holy fuck. Can it show me my future! Does it know the lotto numbers for next week? ANDREW It doesn’t work like that. You can only see what you’re meant to see. And once you have gotten what you came for, your linear perception of reality will be restored. Megan floats around the bubble landscape for a bit, and one of the bubbles comes near her face. She looks into it and sees herself and the rest of the team during their battle with the Vikings. She floats to another and she sees her and Chris bumping into Winston Churchill. MEGAN These are all my past, where is my future? The bubbles start rapidly flying around, as if they are responding to her asking to see something different. One shows Megan approaching a shawarma stand in a city. The next shows her eating shawarma. Another bubble comes near her, and she sees herself and the team, speaking to an advanced-looking robotic organism. Another flies by, and she sees the team with Janet watching a Roman triumph parade. Another shows the team in a futuristic looking dungeon/prison cell. MEGAN Whoa! Is this my future? ANDREW It may be. But you still need to make it out of the time drive. MEGAN How do I do that? ANDREW You’re not supposed to ask me! Ask the Universal Plane! MEGAN (drops to her knees and looks up as she exclaims) How do I save the team?! The bubbles start scrambling around, one approaches, and she sees herself, speaking to Kurt on the bridge of the ship. BUBBLE KURT How did you fix the timedrive? BUBBLE MEGAN I was able to open the tachyon chamber with my mind, once I found the key. BUBBLE KURT And what about the ethanol- The bubble flies away before she can hear the end of the conversation. Megan looks disappointed. MEGAN But what’s the key? ANDREW I can’t tell you that. It’s cheating. And you don’t want to treat the time drive the way Brad treats his friends. Here’s a small hint, what is the common thread here? Megan looks overwhelmed as more bubbles fly by. One off scenes with her and unnamed characters, past and future scenes of her with the crew, her as an older woman with a child. They fly by more and more quickly, but her face takes on a look of realization. MEGAN Love! The key is love! I love the team! I love this ship! I want to save them! The bubbles disappear and she is thrown through a wormhole, landing back inside the time drive. She looks around, and puts her hand near the tachyon chamber. As her hand approaches the chamber, it fills with fast-flying particles that are smaller, but share a slight resemblance to the bubbles from the universal plane. Lights start coming on in other places of the drive. She starts to exit the inner workings of the drive, but turns back and looks around. MEGAN Thankyou. CUT TO: INT. The bridge. Joe is still on the screen. DONNA(TO BRAD) Listen. You need to make this real. BRAD JOE! I don’t know what to say! I was a selfish young man, and I didn’t realize what the stakes were. I want to make this right. JOE I really appreciate that Brad. Apology accepted. As far as the tow back to Earth 47, I’ll pass. My team might have repairs done in the next couple of- His video stream cuts out, and we hear a loud crashing noise. His audio is still running. JOE(over audio channel) What the hell is going on back there?! JOE’S CREWMAN(over audio channel) Sorry boss, capacitor blew. We should still be back up and running- Loud crashing noise from Joe’s side of the audio channel. JOE(over audio channel) Brad?! Are you still there? I hope your engineer knows what she’s doing. We’ll take that ride good buddy. BRAD You got it Joe. I’ll keep you posted. Some indicators on The Ship’s bridge turn back on. The crew looks around. KURT Time drive is back online. She did it! Megan emerges from the machine shop. BRAD(to JOE over the audio channel) You hear that Burton? Looks like we’re gonna be able to give you that ride to Earth 7. JOE Y’know, we hit a snag, but I think my team almost has our drive fixed. But I appreciate the gesture you made back there. We’re good Wheeler. Megan smiles as she looks at her beloved teammates. They share a group hug. As everyone praises Megan and gives her a pat on the back. DONNA That was quick. MEGAN Really? It felt like hours to me. So what happened? Did Brad apologize for having sex with Joe’s fiance? The team’s faces all drop as they look towards the main viewer, which is still showing black. JOE(over audio channel) HE DID WHAT?! BRAD Great job Megan. DONNA, KURT, & CHRIS (unison) SHUT UP BRAD. MEGAN So he didn’t, did he? CHRIS He did not. JOE I’m coming for you Wheeler- BRAD (interrupting) Joe! Good buddy? We can talk this out. JOE And to think, I was clueless. Never even knew why she called the wedding off! Nothing you say or do now could ever- Brad cuts off the audio channel BRAD Ok so what are we doing? CHRIS Apology tour part two? DONNA It’s too late for that. Megan, get us out of here. MEGAN You got it boss. XT1 Time Drive activated. CHRIS So XT1 is back again? They go through the warp sequence, but soon see four dots on their radar on the main viewer. CHRIS Where did we go? MEGAN Back to 500 B.C. KURT So, what? We keep running until he’s out of torpedoes? MEGAN No. I think I found out how to give them the slip for good. DONNA How? They have that Rosenberg Noose thing, they can follow us wherever and whenever we go. MEGAN I don’t know, my memory from the inside of the Time Drive is hazy. Kurt, scan their ship for the lasso. DONNA(uneasy) Don’t mean to rush the brain trust over there, but are forming some semblance of a plan? MEGAN We’re working on it! Jeez. How many times do Kurt and I have to save everyone for me to get a little trust around here? KURT The specs on the lasso are coming in. What am I looking for here? It’s using 6 exajoules of power per minute, has a range of 3 AUs, resonates at 378 gigahertz, made on Earth 52- MEGAN Go back. The resonance frequency. KURT Yeah. So what? MEGAN I don’t know. I can’t explain why but I know it’s important. KURT Well the only reason we would need the resonance frequency is… The shock Cannon! MEGAN That’s it! KURT XT1, can we modulate the shock cannon to fire at 378 gigahertz? XT1 Yes. but the battery is currently at: three percent. KURT She’s right. At that frequency, three percent isnt even enough to get a shot off. DONNA Can we charge it somehow? KURT It’s on a separate relay from the drive, we always charge it manually at port. MEGAN Wait Kurt! I’m supposed to remember something about ethanol. KURT Yes! We can use it as combustion fuel for the cannon. But we don’t have anything pure enough… except… Kurt turns and looks at the bottle of Triple Condor Bourbon BRAD No Kurt! Anything but that! KURT Listen, Cap. It’s us or the Bourbon. CUT TO: POV of Brad as looks at the crew, then at the bottle, then back at the crew. KURT Make a decision Brad! BRAD But it’s the only thing I’ve ever loved! Donna grabs the bottle, takes a swig, and hands it to Kurt. DONNA God, that is good. Do it Kurt. Kurt pours the bottle into an intake shaft on the wall, and we see a battery indicator for the cannon going up. Brad is on his knees reaching out his hands, nearly at tears. KURT Alright XT1, set the cannon frequency. XT1 makes some beeping and booping noises. XT1 Shock cannon modified. New firing frequency: 378 gigahertz. KURT Megan, prepare the jump. Megan punches in the launch code on her terminal, her hand is near a big red button. MEGAN Ready when you are, Doctor. KURT Ok. on my mark. Three, two, one, mark! The time warp sequence activates, and we hear a long drawn out zapping noise, followed by an explosion, Chris pulls up a rear view of the ship, we see Joe’s ship slipping back into the departure side of the wormhole, as it closes. Donna looks over at the readings. CHRIS Is that it? Are we safe? BRAD(sad) I think so. Kurt? Megan? Can I uhh… get a- DONNA (looking seriously at Kurt and Megan, cutting Brad off/ignoring him) Sitrep? KURT It worked. We left them in 500 BC with no way to return. DONNA And have you learned anything from this? MEGAN I learned so much about time drives! And I found out what really powers the ship is the bond we all sha- DONNA That’s nice hun. But I meant Brad. BRAD I learned that sometimes you have to sacrifice the thing you love the mo- Donna shoves him DONNA Try again. BRAD Well, I mean, it was Megan blabbing that really ruined the peace offering, so I’d say, Loose hips sink ships. CHRIS Not even how it goes. KURT Although it actually works in this instance. Y’know, with the whole infidelity thing. Clever writing. DONNA Really? Nothing else, Brad? Donna shoves Brad. BRAD Ok ok. I’ll make it right once and for all. We’ll make port, and we can go back and I’ll try to make peace with the guy. I can try the whole olive branch thing again. DONNA Better. But are you sure there isn’t something you’d like to say to us? To Megan? BRAD Listen team. I am so, so, so… sorry for my selfishness, and the danger I have put us all in. Not just this time either. I should have bought more torpedoes months ago. I broke Kurt’s vinyl copy of “hemispheres” whatever that is- KURT (interjecting) It was an original pressing! BRAD And if I knew what that meant, I would be that much more sorry. I put the team in peril much more often than necessary, and for that, I apologize. And I’m sorry that Chris and Megan will never taste Triple Condor. Is that what you wanted to hear? DONNA, KURT, CHRIS, & MEGAN (unison) YES! The team shares another group hug, with Brad tearing up but puttin in effort to avoid anyone noticing. He picks up the empty bottle and holds it over his mouth. BRAD(crying) Just… a drop… please. KURT (looks down at his terminal) Guys, hate to ruin the feel good team bonding moment, but we may have a problem. DONNA What’s up, Doc? KURT The shock ray modified the wormhole, and we are nowhere near Earth 7. CHRIS So where are we now?! KURT Looks like… Outer system. Or, outside the system to be more exact. We’re about 4 light years from the furthest reaches of human civilization. BRAD No biggie right? Just warp on back. Right? DONNA Right. Except we also have company. They all look as hundreds of dots start to appear on the screen. CHRIS I don’t get it! We left Joe thousands of years in the past! KURT That’s not Joe. CHRIS Then who is it? [Credits roll] Post credit scene opens to a shot of the Condor’s finest distillery. Subtitle: Millersburg Kentucky. March 18th, 1989. We see Johnson, a distillery worker, packing a lock box with bottles of “Triple Condor” the distillery’s highest quality spirit. Brad stands hidden behind a shelf of barrels maybe 30 feet away and we cut to a closer shot of Brad. He puts his hand lovingly on a barrel of whiskey as he speaks into his communicator. BRAD I’m in. What was our profile on this guy? DONNA (over communicator) George Johnson, goes by his last name. He felt unappreciated. He’s been at the distillery for 13 years without promotion. He loves whiskey, but we have his suicide note from a few years later. He never even got to taste the Triple Condor. Brad approaches Johnson. BRAD Johnson. How are ya good buddy? JOHNSON I’m sorry do I know you? BRAD No but I know you, George. JOHNSON Sir, I don’t know how you found out my name, but the tour lets out over there, you’re going to miss the tasti- BRAD Let me ask you something, Johnson. Why are you still here? Why did you get this job? JOHNSON Well I always loved Condor’s Finest. A friend of mine told me about how they give samples as Christmas bonuses. Figured I would eventually- BRAD (interrupting) You thought they would give you a bottle of the Triple Condor? I mean, that stuff retails for twice what you get paid in a year. But sure maybe next year right? And You’ve been telling yourself that for over a decade. Do you want to die without tasting it? Because let me tell you something, Johnson. That’s the path you’re on. JOHNSON Ok who are you man? How do you know so much about me? BRAD Don’t worry about that. I’ll tell you one thing: I love bourbon. And I came from very far to get this bottle. Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to take two bottles out of that case. When you get home tonight, one will be in your liquor cabinet, your life will be a little less sad, and you’ll never see me again. How’s that sound? Johnson holds a bottle and looks at Brad, considering the offer. Fade to black.