Welcome to Moonhaven.
We've waited a long time for this moment.
With the assistance of IO, the technology to save our world
is coming.
Why did you bring me here?
There hasn't been a murder here in a long time.
You will destabilize everything just to stay in power?
Woman: Only if you compel me.
There may be an agent here from Earth
trying to destroy everything.
Bella: How do you know it's not me?
I don't.
They lied to us. The Bridge is a trap.
[engine roars]
[ominous music]
♪
- Congratulations.
If you made it here, it means you're special.
♪
[indistinct chatter] - Move along, please.
- [sighs] - Single file.
- You will train here in machine language,
ciphers, and system analyses
to see who has the talent and, indeed, the grit
to help address the most pressing issues
of our day.
Some of you will not make it past the week.
Some will go on to build the radical new technologies
that IO conceives for humanity's survival.
♪
Perhaps someday,
one of you will be chosen as Envoy
and help usher in the Bridge.
Your Thimble will be your main interface
with the IO simulator
and your primary tool for learning
the various processes and inner workings
of the most sophisticated computer matrix ever built.
[display screens beeping] Learn well.
And remember, the future is better.
- Speak your name.
- Indira Mare.
- I can't do this without you.
[dramatic music]
♪
[birds chirping]
- Arlo.
Wake up, you old bag of bones.
- So darkness comes,
and we are never going to save the Earth.
It was all lies.
And you woke me for this?
[laughs]
- If you'd have seen her face, you'd have woke me.
- Mm-mm. - It was terrifying, Arlo.
I had to walk the woods just to lose my tremble.
- So you believe what she says.
- I believe she believed it.
Whatever Chill and Strego were into,
it soaked their minds.
- And this message Chill left behind
was meant for her water sister Asus?
- She wanted Asus to know that they'd done something.
Felt like a warning.
- But if they're together in this,
why would he kill her?
- Maybe she had a change a heart.
- So he comforted her with a rock to the head.
- Look, if they thought the Bridge was a lie
and were trying to do something to stop it,
that would be a secret worth keeping.
- Paul,
Chill's words were nogginswirl and buzz.
Let the sunwarm calm your craze.
We will find the truth.
And I must speak this to you now:
I will nap at lunch today.
- [chuckles]
Grats, meega. - Mm.
You make bad tea.
[birds chirping]
- How now?
- I'm Blu. Your 'prentice.
[melancholy music]
♪
[hologram buzzes]
- In these last few moments,
I have felt closer to you
than I ever have another living soul.
I look at you, sharp heart,
and I know my path is true.
If you do not see me by your side,
I am with you.
If you do not hear my voice, I am with you.
My absence, love, is proof of nothing.
- Bella.
What are you doing out here?
The voice.
- A letter to my sister.
- Want to talk about it?
- I can't tell you how much I don't want to talk about it.
- I have a secret.
I found it.
[twigs crunch]
[bird calls distantly]
- Somebody's out there.
[mysterious music]
They've been watching me.
♪
- Are Earth forests enchanted?
I've read stories, but Doda says
there's no magic here.
He says they left it all behind on Earth
so we could think clearly.
- I've been given an apprentice.
- Are they gonna creep like that the whole time?
- They watch and learn.
So what did you see?
- I heard them.
Someone's been following me. - Who?
- I don't want to endanger your family, Paul.
Tomm tried to kill me because I saw something
he didn't want me to see.
- Tomm isn't any danger now.
- I think Chill and Strego were working for him.
If they were radicalized, there might be others.
- Radicalized?
- Strego cut out his own Mark, Paul.
What would make a Mooner do that?
- Regret?
He wasn't joining something, he was leaving it,
leaving us.
- Or dropping off the grid to plant a bomb
or poison the water.
I need to see the Envoy.
She needs to hear what happened on CAT.
- Is it safe? - Hmm.
I guess I'll find out.
[insects buzzing]
[eerie music]
♪
- My pilot returns.
Do you have any answers?
They don't believe in fate here.
No gods either.
If there's an unseen force,
it's just our own noise and music
drawing us into unexplored rooms.
- Is the coincidence keeping you up at night?
Me? My sister's murder?
Slotting into your loop at the last minute?
- It's crossed my mind.
Why did you come to Moonhaven?
- I came for the smuggling, stayed for the people.
I'm not the Earth agent sent to disrupt the Bridge,
but someone's turning Mooners against it,
spreading rumors.
- There are always threats, but the work continues.
The transport ships that land today
will take the First Wave back to Earth.
The Bridge is safe.
- I was trained to lie, so take this as you want.
Tomm is half blind and barely alive
because he tried to kill me.
Your bodyguard is a double agent.
- Tomm loves Moonhaven more than the Earth.
He believes in what we're doing.
He would never betray me.
- He has.
And you either know that already
or you don't.
But I wanted you to hear it from me.
- Why?
- Figured I'd learn something either way.
♪
[subdued music]
♪
[display beeping]
- Where you from?
- Um, Heinlein Park. Near Pittsburg?
- Wow, a ration country. Must be rough.
- The people are good. They just don't have much.
I lost my parents.
but it was early on, so, you know...
- Yeah. Sorry.
- I made it here. What about you?
- New Brompton, outside of London.
The people suck. We're just rich.
- Do you ever get homesick?
- Not much to miss back home.
My brothers fought in the Water Wars.
One of them came back... different.
The other one, you know, didn't.
Kinda tore my family apart.
But we're survivors, right?
[dramatic music]
♪
[birds chirping]
- Grats, kid. You found her.
- They'll see you. - Nah, I got tricks.
You should go home.
[grate squeaks]
[display beeping]
[alarm blaring]
[sighs]
[tense music]
♪
The Singer was delivered to me in this.
- You went back to your ship?
- CAT's not going anywhere. I need parts.
- Hmm.
- You said the Singer was a big deal.
Whoever wanted it down on Earth had to connect
with a Mooner up here.
- Down here.
Up there.
- I thought they weren't allowed to talk.
- Yeah. - [scoffs]
If Tomm was recruiting locals to resist the Earth,
maybe one of them was willing to help smuggle drugs.
- This box has no markings, no trade scratch.
- I watched a pelican dissolve and leave it behind.
Does that make it easier?
[electronics buzzing]
- Whoever made that box will be in this room.
[bird caws]
Indira's asked for extra security
for her bodyguard. Arlo's volunteered.
He's had some experience bringing people out the Singer.
It can be tricky.
- He should have protection.
If Tomm starts talking, he'll be a liability.
- From who? - Anyone else involved.
- If there is anyone else involved.
- [scoffs]
Paul.
[suspenseful music]
- Bella. both: Sirl?
- Bella, don't go in there! Stop!
You, wait there.
♪
[soft mysterious music]
♪
- [gasps]
♪
[baby crying]
Ah!
[baby crying]
♪
[baby gurgling]
♪
- Bella.
- What the fuck is this place?
[flames whoosh]
He got away.
- Are you all right?
This is Mirrorwell.
A Dreamer circle built it.
- Why?
- It's supposed to stretch you in places
you don't want to be stretched.
- That's sick.
- It's useful if you're prepared.
- [weeping]
I had nothing to do with stealing the drug.
- This isn't about drugs, Sirl.
Your paradise may be under attack.
If you're in too deep, we can help you out.
But you gotta talk.
- [chuckles]
I saw you in the Mirrorwell.
You were not so strong there.
I see the pain you carry behind your eyes.
- There's none behind yours?
- [groans] - How 'bout now?
- Control your violence. - That was controlled.
Who asked you to make this?
Who's the Earth agent?
- I never met an Earther till you.
Is this what awaits the First Wave?
Bonecrack and bloodspill?
Been bred into you for so long, how will you ever unlearn it?
- Right.
So why not pull up the drawbridge here
and keep all the toys for yourselves?
And why fix hunger and thirst on Earth
when you can just send them drugs
and watch them burn themselves out?
- Bella, stop. - Me?
- No Mooner would think this way.
- I think some would, Paul.
And I think he's one of them.
And soon we're gonna know,
because I saw the Envoy's guard this morning,
and he's waking up.
He's gonna be talking soon.
And then there's gonna be no more secrets.
- I have nothing to tell you.
- Sirl.
- Let him go.
- Hey, why didn't you tell me Tomm had woke?
- Because he didn't.
But if Sirl thinks he's talking,
he'll want to warn whoever else is involved.
- How will we know?
- He's Marked, right?
Use your machine to track him.
- IO doesn't work like that.
We can track people if there's been
an injury or death,
but it's not for surveillance.
- Jesus.
Would a little bit of dystopia kill you guys?
- I'll find him.
I'll follow and tell you where he goes.
- You can't send a kid.
- Stay far behind.
Don't let him see you.
We learn by doing.
- Who makes the Singer? Is it IO?
- No, it's people.
People who can be trusted. I'll take you.
- Among the most complex of the New Fauna
is the Radix Tenebris.
Say, what makes it unique?
Ori? - The polymorphous nano-zime.
- Without which we would never feel
the smooth-cool of the Bright
or the thrill-pound of Openeye.
You are all mechanics of the Unseen.
[gentle music]
In our work, we seek connection.
We are built-things in the world,
but we also exist as thoughts in those who love us.
Our heart is here.
But our soul is in our friends.
♪
- Your Second said you may have some time for us.
- Thank you, Sonda.
The smuggler heals her wound by helping you, 'tective.
- She sees where I am blind.
- You are brave, Bella.
For many Mooners,
you are the Mother Planet made real.
- Sorry for your sister.
- Did you know Chill?
- We never crossed,
but I feel her loss.
- How can we help?
- You make the Singer here?
- We ask because-- - Because it was stolen.
- It's never happened before.
- I hate to tell you,
but smuggling Moonstuff's not new.
I never loot drugs, but rocks, knickknacks.
I got paid once to bring a full cargo hold
of seawater home.
They sold it like it was holy.
But the Singer was different.
They wanted to copy it, make it on Earth.
- The Singer serves one purpose on Moonhaven,
our midlife celebration.
- But no Mooner would steal it.
- How can you all be so sure?
- Because we understand something you cannot.
- Truelune. - [scoffs]
- Truelune is trust.
It means we trust each other to do what is right for all.
To do what is right for the future.
The future is better.
[soft tense music]
♪
- Something on your mind?
Besides how weird that was?
- You know what's on my mind.
The handprint on the tree this morning.
It was pollen dust from here.
- You are getting better at this, Paul.
- Why would she have us watched?
- 'Cause we're nosing around, getting closer to something.
- Maite's been Council Chair for ten years.
Never wavered, always led strong.
- Before Strego got shot, he said,
"Where one world ends, the next one begins."
I know you don't want to believe
there are others like Chill and Strego.
Mooners who have stopped believing in the Bridge.
That--that somehow, that's impossible.
- It is impossible! - Tell me why?
Why would Mooners not want to keep this
all for themselves?
Let alone risk their lives to save a planet
they've never even been to.
- Because this isn't Earth.
We don't take our lives for granted.
We're not looking for a-- a reason to run away
or give up.
Everything we do is for the Bridge.
It's not our job. It's our purpose. Our promise.
That's Truelune.
We're not gonna get scared off.
I don't think you can understand it, Bella.
- I've seen it happen.
I've made it happen.
Fear spreads like fire once it starts.
If someone wants you all to burn,
you will.
[eerie music]
♪
[Thimbles trill]
[IO whirring]
[system trilling]
♪
[electronic thrumming]
[IO trilling]
♪
[music intensifying]
♪
[IO trills]
- Council Chair.
♪
Maite!
- You're telling us she gave you no reason
for her decision?
- She did not.
- And without her consent,
the transport ships cannot enter Lune's atmosphere?
- IO waits for both keys.
- If the First Wave is prevented
from leaving on time,
all Earth will know something is wrong.
- There will be chaos, collapse.
Those ships must be allowed to land.
- She has the will of her people.
I can't force her to act.
- We buried the key to our survival on the Moon
for one reason.
Because we could trust them
more than we could trust ourselves.
What game are they playing at?
[wind whistling]
- You've all worked hard these last few months.
Hard enough to still be here
and call yourselves students of IO.
Today, you will be given a demonstration
of just what it is you're working toward.
These poison pools bubble up throughout the Lowlands,
ensuring that nothing lives or grows
in nearly 2/3 of the United City States,
a result of over half a century of war and migration.
Anyone thirsty? [students groan]
Now... - No way.
- Thanks to IO technology,
built and working on the Moon...
[mysterious music]
♪
[electricity crackling]
♪
[students chatter excitedly]
The purest water you've ever seen.
Built one molecule at a time.
- It's clear! [chuckles]
- Drink up!
Go ahead. [students chatter]
♪
- The future is better.
- You really think they'll just let us have it?
All of that great tech?
- Who? - People.
The strong take what they want and leave the rest to suffer.
- [sighs]
That's why IO was built up there.
Look at Moonhaven, all they've accomplished.
It's-- - Paradise, I know.
One they get to live in while we starve
and suffer and burn down here.
- It takes time.
We can't just keep making the world better for the few,
for the powerful.
- [sighs] - It all has to change.
Like ICON says,
"Technology without culture doesn't work."
Moonhaven does. They'll teach us.
- You're gonna be the Envoy, you know.
The brilliant, passionate orphan.
People are already talking about you.
- If it's me, I'll give it everything.
I'll give it my life.
- [sighs]
[birds chirping]
- Elna said you wanted to see me.
- I was sharp with you. Unfair.
I offer 'pologies.
And...
A gift.
Parts for your ship. From a Maker.
- [chuckles] I know what they are.
- I'm coming.
- [grunts]
[soft music]
♪
- Is it hard?
- To learn.
Once you do, it's easy.
- Fingers remember.
- You're a strange kid.
- Grats.
- [sighs]
- I want to learn more about you,
what your life's like on Earth.
- Hmm. - When I first saw you,
I had a feeling.
We call it eyewarm,
when you see someone
and you think you know them,
but you've never seen them before.
As a little, I thought it was "eye worm."
Like a worm crawled into your eye
and spoke you who to like.
- You are your father's daughter.
I'm gonna need your help threading this in.
Uh-huh. Just snap in the harness.
And press your finger there
till you feel it lock into place.
- Okay.
- Sh--oh, shit. Sorry.
- My mistake?
- No, you're doing great.
Here.
Keep holding it. Beautiful.
♪
[engine thrums]
- We did it. Can she fly now?
[engine whirring]
- Oh, she wants to run.
Should we let her?
[engines thrum]
This is my favorite part.
- What?
- The lag.
[engine rumbling]
- Shit!
- [laughs]
[engine droning distantly]
- Elna.
[awed music]
♪
- We made that.
- Who did?
- People.
We can do anything.
♪
- ♪ I know a wish is but a breath of air ♪
♪ Blowing through my teeth
♪ But if that breath can make a change ♪
♪ I'll wish again for more belief ♪
[sonic boom]
[engine droning]
Well, her life-plan is set.
- [chuckles] She could do worse.
- Bella, do you know why your mother came here?
- There was a group of 30 Earthers
selected as a test.
The first to go here after the 80-year blackout.
They called it a lottery,
but you had to be crazy qualified.
- She was special. - She was smart, I guess.
I don't know much more than that.
We were living in some kind of commune.
I don't remember it.
When you gave me the parts to my ship,
you must have considered that I might leave.
- I don't know what you're up against,
but if you're going to help me, I want it to be your choice.
[device chimes]
- What?
- Elna!
[tense music]
♪
Blu sent word from here.
- Blu!
- [groans] - Oh!
Tell what happened. Did Sirl do this to you?
- [groaning] He did.
I followed him here.
He was making for that cave but glanced me in the trees.
He came hard for me. Meant to kill.
- A goddamn kid.
♪
- I fought back. - Yeah.
- Violence is never our first choice,
but we will defend ourselves.
- Doda!
♪
- Device for extracting the Mark.
Sirl's work.
- Doda, look.
So many.
Why would people take them out?
- Some of them are fresh.
♪
Paul.
Paul!
If Sirl told the others, they'll come for Tomm.
We need to get to Arlo.
♪
[ominous music]
♪
- What's all this?
- Trouble comes.
- He was walking on the ceiling.
[gasps] The little one.
- He's coming back from the inbetween.
♪
- It's not safe for you here.
- If they come for Tomm, they come for me.
- IO warned us.
It predicted all of this.
- You could have asked me.
I would have warned you too.
- Tomm will have answers to all this when he wakes.
What would you say if you were him?
- I'd say, "I came upon the Earther pilot
"conspiring with the Mooner spy,
and I tried to kill them both."
- I don't think you've come from Earth
to destroy us.
I looked hard into your past.
I saw a broken girl
who married a war
and then spun away into a life so small,
gravity couldn't even find her.
I don't think you could care enough
to make or destroy anything.
I've met you before, Bella.
I've met you a thousand times.
The ones who only know how to survive.
[somber music]
♪
- I'll tell you a story.
Our competition has arrived.
- We don't have any. - [chuckles]
[explosion] [screams]
[gunshots]
- We've gotta go. I know a way out.
[tense music]
- They've come to steal the tech.
We can't let them take it.
- There's nothing we can do.
[screaming]
♪
- What now?
[weapon whirring] - [panting]
- Let's go!
- Come with us. You'll be safe.
- Us?
You're one of them?
- Basta, come on!
- How could you do this?
- [sighs]
[pensive music]
♪
- [moans]
How could you-- how could you...
[panting] Where am I?
- He's coming to. - Where am I?
[insects chirping]
[twigs snapping]
[ominous music]
♪
- No! [moans]
♪
Why won't you let the ships land?
I want to know it's safe.
Humankind is fallible, but IO is not.
[Warbling]
There's only a little to see before the fight, but watch.
Why would he kill her for a flower?
It's a trap! The Earthers will kill us all when we land!
Envoy, what are you doing?
[Silenced gunshot]No!
♪