[dramatic music playing]
[Helena] What will I do without you?
[gasps, grunts]
[gasps]
[breathes heavily]
[screams, grunts]
[screams]
[grunts]
[breathes deeply, coughs]
[pants]
[grunts]
- [grunts] - [dodo cooing]
[screams]
- Hm? - [dodo cooing]
[exhales] Hi there. I won't hurt you.
[cooing]
[sighs] You've got some explaining to do, little friend.
[coos]
- [screams] - [dodo cooing]
[breathes deeply] What the hell?
You mind not domesticating my dinner there?
[grunts]
Your dinner is Raphus cucullatus,
which hasn't been seen alive for three hundred years.
This creature is a miracle! And you think it's dinner?
[dodo cooing]
You're new here. Come on.
I'm not going anywhere with you.
Look, I don't know what kind of sick game
you're playing at here, but--
You don't know how you got here, right?
You woke up in the water, washed up on the beach.
- Right. It was the same for me. - [cooing]
Let's say I believe you, and I'm not saying I do.
Then just where exactly are we?
Hell if I know. Better question is "when."
- [dramatic music playing] -"When"?
Hey! What do you mean, "when"?
Look, kid, you won't be alive for the next thirty minutes
if you don't do exactly as I say.
The name's Bob. And this place
is a lot more dangerous than you know.
[coos]
[Helena] Uh...
[Bob] Come on, we don't have all day, kid.
[Helena] So, why aren't you wearing any clothes?
I spent my life wearing a uniform,
following other people's orders.
Now, I've got a fresh start,
so here, I choose to live just as nature intended.
[coos]
[Bob] Come back here!
- I bet you taste like chicken. - [exhales]
[Bob] I'm sick of eating berries.
- [gasps] - [dodo cooing]
[Bob] There was a 90-foot cliff
and the roar of the naval guns firing on the Krauts.
You could feel the explosions in your chest.
Just as we were about to make landfall,
there was a bright light, and a loud sound.
And then I woke up here.
And you were there, at Normandy?
But that's impossible. That happened in 1944.
For me...
that was two weeks ago.
Crazy as it may be.
But you can't deny that we're both here, now.
- [music fades] - What about you?
- [mellow music playing] - I'm...
I'm from the 21st century.
So, you must know how the war ends.
You're Australian, right? One of the good guys. Do we...
Yeah. [chuckles] Yeah. We win.
We win. Hmm.
- [dodo coos] - [animals growl]
[curious music playing]
We should get moving.
[grunts]
[animals hooting, squealing]
I...
I can't believe it!
[fantastical music playing]
[roars]
- Believe it. - Wow.
[soft music playing]
[moderator] Our next applicant overcame great adversity
to become one of the most exciting voices
- in her field. - [sighs]
And she has a reputation for being as nervous
as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
[moderator] Raised by a determined single mother
who worked on-staff here at the University of Sydney...
she has submitted ground-breaking papers
in the fields of paleontology, archaeology, and geochemistry.
- [cell phone buzzes] - [sighs]
Hmm.
[moderator] May we present the recipient
of last year's grant...
- Dr. Helena Walker! - [audience applauding]
[Helena sighs]
[indistinct chatter]
[clears throat]
According to selection theory, a creature's heritable traits,
including its mental aspects, are an adaptation to the demands
of its ecological situation.
But what if natural selection was not the only mechanism
of evolution?
The epigenome,
the protective package of proteins cocooned by DNA ab...
[clears throat]
...absorbs this influence and, in turn,
determines which genes are expressed.
At our dig in the Liaoning Province...
[clears throat]
At our dig in the Liaoning Province,
we discovered a group of velociraptors
with abnormal scleral rings,
the bones that form the structure around the eye.
It is accepted that all raptors were best suited to see at night
and had poor daytime vision.
But we found significant variability
based on environmental factors. What a creature eats,
its behaviors, both intrinsic and extrinsic.
The data gathered from dinosaur fossils
reveals that these traits are inherited
in a lasting manner.
[audience member 1] You're suggesting
that natural selection
isn't the mechanism for evolution?
Not the sole mechanism.
Science is about the pursuit of the truth
in all its complexity.
[audience member 2] Isn't it the truth
that she has an arrest record?
Why should she receive the grant,
of all the applicants?
[indistinct chatter]
[Helena] You're here...
I'm here.
Ladies and gentlemen, professors and donors.
Through the use of a learning neural network,
we can study the epigenetic material
of prehistoric megafauna,
and one day, we may even be able to reconstruct
these creatures' lived experiences
from their physical remains.
This will lead us away from "just-so" explanations
of prehistoric life, yielding testable, verifiable,
and scientific data about how these creatures evolved
and about the very mechanisms of evolution itself.
[indistinct chatter]
[tender music playing]
Well?
- We're going back to China. - [exclaims] Yes! Oh, I knew it!
I knew those puckered, dusty, dried-up old fossils...
Victoria! Keep your voice down.
...couldn't stop my Helena!
I'm proud of you.
[sighs] I couldn't have done it without you.
And you'll never have to.
- [imitates kiss] - [chuckles]
[both laugh]
Oh, Helena!
We're going on an adventure! [chuckles]
- [soft somber music playing] - [Bob grunts]
What about a Stegosaurus? Have you seen one of those?
Spiked tail?
[Bob] Too busy trying not to die.
- They all look the same to me. - Well, they're not.
[dinosaur growls]
[Helena gasps] A Parasaurolophus!
[growls]
We should put it out of its misery.
Stop.
It'd be a kindness.
You don't even know how bad it's hurt!
[growls softly]
Hmm. We have to keep moving.
Nothing's stopping you.
What? [scoffs] You think I can't take care of myself?
[sighs] I know you can't.
[groans]
Help me with this.
Come on.
Unbelievable.
Careful. It's lodged in, but it hasn't hit
any major arteries.
Keep it that way.
- [growls in pain] - Slowly.
[roars in pain]
It's okay, you're going to be all right.
- [roars] - [exclaims]
Scary.
Yeah. Yeah, that's what we'll call you.
"Scary the Parasaur."
[growls]
- [roars] - [music fades]
So, you're not entirely heartless.
Thank you.
How do you know so much?
It was-- is my job.
I'm a professor of paleontology at the University of Sydney.
I study the fossils of creatures like that one.
You're a professor?
I don't see why that should be so shocking.
Well, uh, you're a...
- a w-- [grunts, chokes] - [gasps]
[dramatic music playing]
[screams, pants]
- [grunts] - [roars]
[roars]
[panting, grunting]
[grunts, groans]
[indistinct clamor]
[villagers scream]
[villager] Help!
[sobs, screams]
[grunts]
[groans]
Oi! Over here, lass!
- [groans] - [growls]
growls]
Stay absolutely still.
They can't see as well in the day. Theoretically.
Hmm.
[Helena grunts]
[grunting]
- [Rockwell] No. - [Helena pants]
Hmm.
[pants]
[soft music playing]
[winces, groans]
I'm here. You're here.
I'm sorry.
[sighs] Tell me you'll change your mind.
[sighs] What will I do without you?
You'll... [kisses] ...you'll be okay.
They need me, Helena. Especially this time.
Jim, Suhani, Nancy, and George,
none of them speak the language like I do.
The conflict over there is getting worse by the day,
and the refugees have almost no support.
Except for us.
I can help those people. I can make a difference.
I know it's for a good cause and I know it's what you do,
and you're awesome at it.
But this... God, Victoria, it's... it's so dangerous.
It's three months away in the mountains,
and then I'm home.
[sighs] But does it always have to be you
who saves the world, Victoria?
I'm so, so sorry I'll miss China.
But hey, think of all that you'll get done
while I'm gone.
Full night's sleep without me snoring,
full days to work on finishing
your beautiful storybook side-project.
And this time, without me blundering in,
carrying bags of roadside oranges
and tickets to concerts for bands you hate.
[Helena sighs]
The bed's always too big when you're gone.
Well, just imagine how I farted after chili night
and you'll be grateful I'm away.
[chuckling] Victoria!
That... that was a 6.7 on the Richter scale.
You take me back there right now,
and I'll be the one to rock your world.
[chuckles] Oh, puns! Puns, she gives me--
Do you know what this means? Divorce!
[both laugh]
[dramatic music playing]
- [shushes] - [Helena whimpers]
You must rest, child.
[grunts] Who...
Who are you?
I am Sir Edmund Rockwell, Honored Member
of the Royal Academy of Sciences,
of Her Majesty's Empire, the Year of Our Lord, 1890.
[Helena sighs]
- Where am I? - [Rockwell] Hmm.
What a pity that one of the first questions
you ask me, I, alas, cannot answer. [grunts]
No one knows where or, indeed, what this place is.
Some think it to be the afterlife,
and others purgatory.
But I call it...
the Ark.
[Helena] And... and what is this place?
This, child, is the camp
of General Gaius Marcellus Nerva.
Come.
[growls]
This place, this beautiful island,
holds many secrets, and I will know them all.
I must know them all.
But of one thing I am certain. We are in a crucible
from which only the strongest and most fit shall emerge.
[creatures growling, munching]
Huh. The creatures interest you?
They... they do.
And you understand their nature?
Um. Of course you do, as a daughter of Eve.
The serpent's ways come second nature.
They should not be treated like this.
No one here should be treated like this.
We have brought these beasts to heel,
as is our right and duty as superior beings.
A predator kept in a state of constant hunger?
You don't know how what you're doing
will change them.
You speak as a woman who has been educated
- in the sciences. - I am.
Then surely you can see what we have at work here
are the scientific principles of natural selection,
in their purest form.
Survival of the fittest.
What you're doing here, it's not science.
It's... it's brutality.
- [growls in pain] - [guard grunts]
- [growls in pain] - [sighs] This is wrong.
All of this.
Tell me then, from what enlightened era
do you join us?
Your face so clean, and your eyes so bright
- and full of life. - [grunts]
- [groans] - None of that impertinence now.
You're going to be a good girl
and help me understand these beasts.
- [grunts] - [Rockwell groans]
[intense music playing]
[grunts] Stop her!
[Helena pants, grunts]
[grunts]
[growls]
[pants, screams]
[cooing]
[grunts]
[screams]
[roars]
[Helena screams]
Please!
[in Latin]
Hmm.
[in English] My lord.
This is the one I told you about.
[grunts]
Place her with the rest of the captives,
for now.
And Rockwell, you really must learn
how to take a hit like a centurion!
[Rockwell] Hmm.
- [grunts] - [guard grunts]
[Helena grunts, pants]
[mellow music playing]
It's all right. We'll be fine.
Jamie.
Helena. When are you from, Jamie?
Anno Domini 1746.
[exhales]
Dunna be afraid, Helena. We saw darker days than this,
fighting for Bonnie Prince Charlie
against the execrable English!
I had just run my blade through a cowardly knave,
and then quick as a banty rooster,
I awoke here. What about you?
Your insolence deserves correction.
[tense music playing]
Yes. [inhales sharply] Yes, I can see this.
I wonder how best to discourage such undesirable behavior?
A visceral reminder should do.
[creature growls]
[both gasp]
- You. - [footsteps thudding]
[all whimper]
[Rockwell] You are correct, my dear.
Starving the beasts does alter their behavior.
[Jamie] No! [grunts]
But all behavior can be modified.
Provided the right tools are used.
No! Please!
[whimpers] No! Helena, please help me!
[whimpers]
He didn't do anything wrong!
It... it was me! I'm sorry! [sobs] I'm sorry!
Not yet.
- But you will be. - [snarls]
- [whimpers] - No! No, don't do this!
[growls]
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Only those who know their place...
- [snarling] - ...will survive.
God, pray for us-- No, no, no, please.
- [Helena exhales] - [Jamie] Please, please!
- [Jamie groans] - [Helena sobs, grunts]
You have this girl to thank for the demonstration.
Disobedience will be purged.
I hope you learned a lesson today, Helena.
[sobs]
[sobs] It's my fault.
It's all my fault. [sobs]
[sighs]
[whimpers]
[soft somber music playing]
[sighs]
- Hmm. - [doorbell rings]
[Helena sobs] No!
[police officer 1] I'm afraid I have to tell you that
she's gone missing in the civil war.
[gasping]
[police officer 2] We believed she was killed.
[Helena sobs]
- [grunts] - [glass shatters]
[police officer 2] We're hearing over the cams that a broadcast
- is claiming her murder. - [sobs]
- [Victoria] Helena? - [sobs, gasps]
[sobbing]
- [gunshot] - [Victoria gasps]
[dramatic music playing]
[screams]
[gasps, pants]
[soft music playing]
[in Finnish] I could hear your empty stomach
from over there.
[in English] I'm sorry, I... I don't understand.
Thank you.
- [footsteps approaching] - [gasps]
Scary? [chuckles] How did you get free? [chuckles]
Go on. Someone might find you.
[footsteps approaching]
- [gasps] - Bring the defiant one.
The general wishes to interrogate her.
[suspenseful music playing]
[grunts]
[Annika, in Finnish] If you will have a second death,
make it a good death. There is nothing else to fear.
[grunts]
[in Latin]
[whimpers]
[Nerva] Hmm.
[in English] Bonds for such a little puella?
Rockwell must have found you dangerous indeed.
[chuckles] Although I imagine he had it coming.
[grunts]
So, what is your name, girl?
[hesitates]
Helena, Dominus. Helena Walker.
Helena. Hmm. An ill-omened name.
So, do you come to destroy this place
as Helen brought destruction to Troy?
That is not my intention, Dominus.
I... I woke here.
Woke here after what?
There is only one way
that we all come to be in this land
of the would-be dead, Helena of the Walkers.
[gulps]
So, what was it, some clan raid your village?
A plague strike you down? What were you, girl?
A teacher, Dominus. An explorer.
An explorer, huh? How many tribes did you conquer?
Or were you just some merchant trader's daughter?
In my era, exploration did not mean conquest.
[scoffs]
I studied the histories, Dominus.
Not just the Etruscans and Phoenicians,
but what existed before them, when there were only beasts,
and gods.
I traveled the world
to learn more about the very beasts
that populate this place.
The creature you ride, in my time,
is called the "Tyrant king of lizards."
With careful breeding, you could create one
almost half again as tall. I have seen the bones myself.
You know the beasts, then. Can you... Is it possible?
Their natures are difficult.
You wish to have greater command over them.
Hmm.
Well, they are stubborn beasts, no doubt,
but I've brought them to heel well enough.
Rockwell is effective at what he calls "conditioning."
Whatever Rockwell has told you, he is wrong.
You must carefully control their environment.
This will produce the adaptation to subservience that you desire.
To have a natural philosopher
who could master these serpents...
You could be of use to me yet...
Helena.
From when did you come here?
Almost two thousand years after your time, Dominus.
By then, the Roman Empire had long since fallen.
Hmm. So, Rockwell informed me.
Although that was no surprise,
considering the rot infesting its leadership.
Perhaps my ways appear uncivilized to your eyes.
I... I have seen much in my travels, Dominus,
but I have never seen anything like this place.
But know this, whatever I must do, I will do.
The world that I know is not your world,
and it does not share your moralities.
What was your realm, Helena?
I'm from a place called "Terra Australis,"
- in your language. - Australis? Hmm.
And what do you call it in your own language?
Home.
Aye, I know of home.
Those things we left behind.
[rousing music playing]
So, if you are indeed a philosopher,
then show me how I am to use... this.
The legends of this world depict three such Artifacts.
One I have here.
Two remain scattered across this land
in the hands of my enemies. [gulps, exhales]
This inscription shows that once I possess all three,
I will gain a power greater than anything ever known,
and be able to leave this cursèd afterlife.
I will return to the Rome of my time,
at the head of an army, the likes of which no empire
has ever seen.
Caesar himself will bow before me,
and I will sweep aside the corrupt elite,
making way for a new order
in which any man of strength can be--
You were speaking of the legends, Dominus?
You little viper! You think to poison my wine?
No, I didn't poison the wine, General.
After I spared you?
After I deigned to elevate your station?
- [grunts] - [Helena grunts]
[groaning]
- [grunting] - [grunts]
[both grunting]
- [whimpers] - [Nerva groaning]
[grunts]
[Helena] You would have tasted the difference.
[sighs] No, I just ran a tiny Achatina limusegnis snail
along the rim of your cup.
Clearly they're relatives of the cone snail,
a creature from my time. Its excretions are toxic.
- [grunts] - Not enough to kill you.
But enough for a few hours of paralysis.
[both grunt]
[tense dramatic music playing]
[groans]
Mm.
[pants, grunts]
[sniffs, growls]
- [grunts] - Wicked to the bone.
- [gasps, chokes] - Guards!
- [Rockwell grunts] - [Helena grunts]
- [Rockwell] Get up. - [pants]
- [Rockwell] Get up! - I can't.
- [grunts] - [guards grunt]
Filthy, degenerate, girl!
[grunts]
- [screams] - [growls]
[screams]
- [whimpers] - [Rockwell grunts]
[Helena grunting]
- Scary! - [Scary growls]
We have to free the prisoners!
[Nerva grunting]
[dramatic music playing]
[screams]
[Helena pants, grunts]
- Come on, come on, come on! - [Scary roars]
[gasps]
That works.
Come on, hurry! There isn't much time.
[in Finnish] With gratitude, brave warrior!
[groans, breathes deeply]
[cooing]
[in English] All right, you too!
[coos]
[grunts] Hmm.
- [growls] - Clever.
[Nerva grunts]
[creature squeals, growls]
- [grunts] - [groans]
But not clever enough.
You!
- [grunts] - Go!
- [Scary growls] - [pants]
[both grunting, groaning]
[Scary growls]
No.
- [guard groans] - [Rockwell yells]
[grunts]
[groans, yells]
- [groans] - [Scary growls]
[grunts] She's getting away. That witch!
I warned you, Nerva,
she's like nothing we've ever seen before.
A traveler with such knowledge!
[sighs] She stole the Artifact.
She stole my way home.
I will capture her.
And once I've conquered Rome, I'll take her world as well.
I will take everything from her.
In just an hour,
Australians will be some of the first
to ring in the New Year.
What's your own New Year's Resolution?
[somber music playing]
[Helena sobbing]
[Scary growls]
- [dodo coos] - [Scary growls]
- [Helena grunts] - [growls]
- [groans, screams in pain] - [cooing]
[dramatic music playing]
- [dodo cooing] - [groans in pain]
[groans]
[Victoria] I'm here.
You're here.
You're still here.
[gasps]
[groaning]
[grunts, pants]
[grunts, yells, pants]
What will I do without you?
I'm going to survive.
[theme music playing]
[theme music concludes]