The Portal
Episode Nine: Phobetor's Mirror (script / transcript)
by Steve Sutton

(The Firewing is seen pursuing a spike ship. Aboard, West and Keen watch as it slowly pulls away from them.)
West: Commander, he's running.
Keen: Stay with him, Lieutenant.
(The spike continues to pull away, while the Firewing remains in pursuit.)
West (checking a read-out): Sir, it looks like he's headed for the remains of Earth.
Keen: No doubt, headed home. (pause) Stand by to activate the emitter. We'll test it and follow him through.
(The spike is seen entering Earth's debris field. After several seconds, it activates its portal emitter, opens a portal some distance ahead of it and flies into it and vanishes.)
Keen (sighing): Alright, Lieutenant... activate the emitter.
West: Aye, sir.
(He pushes a button and the emitter's activation beeps sound. Streams of electrical energy flow outward from the newly-installed emitter, located under the forward wing, above the closed hatchway. A portal opens directly in front of the Firewing, very close. As it dimensionally resonates, the ship enters and collapses it. As it collapses, it cuts off a section of the Firewing's engine, which vanishes with it. The ship, briefly, appears within the atmosphere of the Kren's Earth, while inside the portal, but emerges within the atmosphere of a different Earth when it collapses. A few puffs of black smoke come out of the exposed interior of the engine, which can be heard shutting down. The ship begins to drop.)
Keen: Lieutenant, what happened?!
West: I don't know, sir.
(The Firewing is seen gliding downward from the clouds. On a suburban street below, a familiar person steps into the scene and stops, with his back to the camera. He watches it pass by, high overhead. As it passes, he turns to follow it with his eyes and is revealed to be an alternate version of Keen.)

Title Sequence Rolls (short)

(The Firewing is seen gliding low over a field, descending. In the cockpit, West watches the rate of descent, then activates the ship's lifters. The ship hits the ground lightly, then is lifted into the air, again. Nearby, alternate versions of Lieutenant Kyle Corbitt and Ensign Derek Smith are raking leaves in a wooded area. Kyle is watching the Firewing.)
Kyle: Hey, Derek? Check it out.
(Derek stops raking, looks up and sees the Firewing in the distance.)
Derek: What is that?
Kyle: I don't know, man. It looks like some kinda jet.
Derek: I never saw a jet like that before. You think we need to tell Henry?
Kyle: Man, he's busy with Jacob's trial. We'll tell Paul, he'll know what to do.
(They watch as the Firewing lowers its landing gear and touches down. After a few seconds, the lifters are turned off.)
West: We're down, sir.
Keen (annoyed at his stating the obvious): Thank you, Lieutenant.
West: Sir, why did the portal open so close to us?
Keen: Obviously, whoever installed the emitter didn't attenuate it properly. We'd better go out and check for damage.
West: Yes, sir. (pushes a button)
(Time passes. West walks around to the back of the ship and stops, looking up at the engine. After a few seconds, he calls Keen over.)
West: Commander?
(Keen stops next to him, looking at the engine.)
Keen: Well, this explains why the engine shut down. The portal must've clipped it when it collapsed. We probably entered it too early and collapsed it during its dimensional resonance...and if that happened, the frequency would've been offset.
West: What does that mean, sir?
Keen (slightly annoyed at his ignorance): It means that this isn't the Kren's dimension. It's somewhere...else.
West (pausing, thinking): Sir, if this isn't the Kren's dimension, maybe we can use it as a source for food.
(Keen shakes his head.)
Keen: If the frequency of the portal were offset when it collapsed, then there's no way to determine what the frequency of this dimension is. We won't be able to come back here, once we leave.
West (pausing): What about the ship, sir?
Keen: Well, we still have power, so the reactor leads weren't severed. See what you can do with the engine, I'm going to have a look around.
West: Yes, sir.
(Time passes. In an outdoor area, a large sign reading "PUBLIC COURT ALTAR" is seen. Nearby, a small group of people is gathered at the altar, which is a marble platform, enclosed on three sides, with steps leading up to it. In the altar, an alternate version of Henry Lovoski is speaking to the crowd.)
Henry: It has become clear that Jacob Stone no longer wishes to remain a member of the Omega Pack. Time after time, he has refused to feed upon those who no longer wish to consume human flesh.
(Keen arrives at the altar and stops behind the edge of the crowd. He observes the proceedings as Henry continues to talk.)
Henry: This is unacceptable in our society. We must feed in order to survive. The trial begins.
(Henry motions to alternate Jerry Riggs to come forward. Scared, Jerry doesn't move until a guard behind him pushes him. He slowly stops in front of Henry, looking at him, then turns and looks at the crowd. Henry takes the opportunity to force him to his knees by hitting him hard on his back. Jerry drops to the ground. After a few seconds, he looks at the crowd, then lowers his head, hopelessly, and begins to cry.)
Henry (turning to Jacob, behind him): Jacob, you will feed upon Mister Riggs until he is dead. If you do not, you will be admitting that you are no longer one of us and you will be devoured.
(Jacob looks fearfully down at Jerry. In the crowd, Keen's alternate, Eric Keen, walks over to Keen and stops near him, behind him, looking at him. After a few seconds, he looks forward, at the court altar. In the altar, Jacob kneels down next to a whimpering Jerry.)
Jerry: I don't wanna die.
(Jacob looks at the crowd, hoping to find some way out of the situation, but only sees his starving audience staring at him with anxious eyes of primal anticipation. Hopelessly, he looks back down at Jerry.)
Jacob: I'm sorry.
(Hesitantly, he begins to forcefully eat the back of Jerry's neck, sickened and disgusted by the process. The sounds of bone and cartilage snapping can be heard. Henry looks up, losing patience with him. Blood is, then, seen pouring down Jerry's neck, as Jacob continues to feed. Soon, Jerry collapses to the floor, dead. Jacob lifts his head, feeling extremely nauseous. His face is covered with blood.)
Henry: What a pathetic display. Where is your lust for the kill, Jacob? Clearly, you are no longer one of us... and there is only one course of action left to be taken. (looks at crowd) Eat him up!
(Terrified, Jacob quickly looks up at him, then looks at the crowd. The guard looks down at him, mockingly, as the crowd slowly begins to approach the altar. Keen notices his alternate self, for the first time, as he passes him. Eric Keen, then, stops and turns to him.)
Eric Keen (softly): Join us, brother.
Keen (hesitating): I've already eaten.
Eric Keen (softly): As you wish.
(He turns and continues to approach the altar. Keen decides to not get involved and turns to leave, but stops when he hears Jacob's voice eerily echoing from the alter, as he begins to plead for his life.)
Jacob (voice): No...please, don't. No. Please...don't! Please?
(Reluctantly, Keen changes his mind and decides to intervene. He takes out his laser, turns around and takes a few steps forward, then shoots one of the alternates to get the attention of the others.)
Keen: Okay, people, don't move! You, if you want to live, come with me.
(Jacob stands up and, after glancing uneasily at Henry, joins Keen. Henry watches them leave, becoming determined to not let Jacob get away so easily. Time passes. Keen and Jacob come to a halt and look back.)
Jacob: Thank you.
Keen: No problem. Have a nice life.
(Keen starts to leave.)
Jacob: Uh, excuse me. They're going to be coming after me. You can't just leave me here.
Keen (hesitating): Fine...but wipe that blood off your face.
(Jacob looks back, then follows Keen, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. Aboard the Firewing, West is in the engine room, working on the engine. He connects two wire leads to the interior of an opened access panel, generating a brief, electrical buzz. He, then, flips a switch on an interior component and reaches up and flips a different switch. Reaching over to a small control panel on the wall, he flips four small levers upward, then flips another switch. A low, humming sound from the engine starts up. Barely satisfied, he turns to exit the room. Meanwhile, Keen and Jacob arrive outside the ship. Keen stops and turns to Jacob.)
Keen: Wait, here.
(He continues walking toward the Firewing, leaving Jacob behind. Jacob comes to a stop and glances up at the ship, nervously. A short time later, Keen meets West just inside the hatchway, at the base of the steps leading to the cockpit.)
Keen: What's the status of the engine, Lieutenant?
West: It's working, sir, but I don't know if it'll actually power up. I had to bypass the ion flow regulator.
Keen (sighing): We'll have to risk it. I don't think we have much time before ourselves find us.
West: Sir?
Keen: Alternate versions of ourselves, Lieutenant. They're coming this way and, in this dimension, we're cannibals.
West (thinking): Are they Kren?
Keen: Possibly a merging between us and the Kren, but I don't intend to stay around and find out.
Outside Voice: There he is!
Keen: Get ready to...
Outside Voice: He's over here!
(Keen turns and looks out of the hatchway, then exits it and takes a few steps down the ramp, looking in the direction of where he left Jacob, who is seen being surrounded by the alternates. West shortly joins Keen.)
West: Who's that, sir?
Keen: A victim of circumstance, Lieutenant.
West (pausing): Shouldn't we help him?
Keen: It's not our problem.
(Keen goes back inside the ship. After hesitating for a few seconds, West follows him. Expecting help from Keen, Jacob becomes distraught when he turns to see the Firewing's hatch beginning to close behind him and realizes that no help is coming.)
Jacob (in disbelief): Hey!
(The ship's hatch is heard closing shut, then Henry is seen arriving at the scene. Jacob turns back around and desparately tries to think of a way out of the situation.)
Kyle (shaking his head): Give it up, man. There's nowhere to go.
(After several seconds, Jacob decides to make a run for it, but is tackled by Eric Keen. As the small crowd begins to gather around to eat him, the sound of the Firewing's lifters starting up is heard. Watching the other alternates feeding on Jacob, Henry turns, looks up at the rising ship and growls. The Firewing continues to rise, then its emitter opens a portal in front of it, some distance away. West pushes a button, the engine powers up and the ship moves forward. It, then, soars through the portal and arrives back in the debris field of Earth.)
Keen (relieved): We're back.
West: Through the looking glass, sir.
Keen: I think we shattered it, Lieutenant.
(Keen pushes a few buttons, then activates the comm system.)
Keen: Phobos maintenance station, this is FAF one-one-three.
Phobos Station (comm): Go ahead.
Keen: We've taken damage to our engine and are in need of your services. Can you accommodate us?
Phobos Station (comm): Affirmative, FAF. You're cleared for hangar four, when you arrive.
Keen: Acknowledged.
(He switches the comm system off, then turns to West.)
Keen: Set a course for Mars, Lieutenant.
West: Aye, sir.
(The Firewing is seen leaving Earth's debris field behind.)