Episode 21. Part 5

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Built? What the hell does that mean?

Arden: “We’ve”?
Swordsman: Yes.
Arden: Who’s “we’ve”?
Swordsman: I’m not sure you’re…worth that answer, yet.
Arden: Uhn…okay.
Swordsman: You seem mildly curious about it but you’ve done virtually nothing in your life to demonstrate any real curiosity.
Arden: It’s been—I’ve been busy.

Dodging Reavers and Russian Bosses and Bandits and bullets and stuff. You know…busy.

Christian: If I may? Arden is an experiment of some kind. Or an engineering…feat of some kind. And you are trying to suss out if the project has failed or succeeded. Or if it has the potential to succeed or the potential to fail. Obviously he hasn’t reached the end of his lifespan, yet.
Swordsman: Something like that.
Christian: And at the moment, you can’t tell us who or what the purpose behind it was.
Nika: I’m mildly indifferent on that part, but by what criteria are you judging?
Swordsman: That is, as I’ve said, more complex and it would be more revealing of my own personality than I wish to be at this moment. So…(looks at Arden) Have you read Mary Shelly’s work?

We all look at Swordsman.

Nika: From Earth That Was? Actually, yes.
Rina: (thawing slightly) Frankenstein?
Arden: I’m familiar with the story. I’m not exactly eight feet tall with bolts out of my neck and lighting shooting from my face.
Nika: We’re referring to the original Frankenstein, not that. The original was pieced together from corpses.
Arden: Your point being?
Christian: The possibility that you were created for a certain task.
Rina: So…(addresses Swordsman directly) Are you here to take responsibility for your creation?
Swordsman: No…I’m more interested in whether my creation—or the creation, it’s not my creation, per se—has the sort of …hmm…potential that Frankenstein’s creation did.
Nika: It was a human being—
Swordsman: Oh, but he’s much more than that, I would say.

What? More than human? Or human, but with more potential?

Nika: But you have to start somewhere.
Swordsman: Oh, I know. And we did. With humans. He is human, but more than human.

Okay, now this is just getting too weird-assed creepy. Nobody says anything for a beat. Then:

Christian: If I may, and I realize that this is really about him, but if I can act as his advocate for a moment—while yes, he is aboard a tramp freighter and he is not a great doctor for his crèche or possibly on Osiris or in the Alliance military as a medical officer—.
Swordsman: I would be disappointed if that were the case.
Christian: Think about what he has accomplished in his time.
Swordsman: What has happened?
Christian: Well, whether you agree with what happened or are happy with what happened, he was involved in an incident which resulted in a fair amount of—if this were a military operation, it would be classified as a military success.
Swordsman: For which one were you there?
Christian: Beaumonde.
Swordsman: (ah, yes) Beaumonde.
Christian: Also, he was involved in the rescue of an individual who was held hostage, very recently.
Arden: And what was the other guy’s name? The one in the high-tech space suit? Matt?
Christian: Malcolm Reynolds. (back on topic) He was able to infiltrate a facility involved with either employees who worked for or with you, and retrieve someone through fairly high-tech security. He was instrumental in that.
Swordsman: Hmm.
Christian: Again, in a hospital later—again you know about that so I’m not going to pretend it didn’t happen—and more recently he was able to rescue a woman being held hostage by a madman. Again he was instrumental in that. While he’s not accomplished in anything that may change the Verse, he has accomplished a fair amount.
Swordsman: Yes, but what I haven’t seen is any…sort of…vision. I’ve seen … something of a moral character, I would call it.
Christian: Oh, I would say he’s a very moral character.

Arden? Who’s amorous to the point of being something of a playful letch?

Swordsman: Something of one.
Arden: In terms of goals, this isn’t my dream job but this job does what I need it to do right now, which is to see the Rim. And while I’m on the Rim, I’m able to help people that need help.
Christian: Something we were asked to do by a Buddhist monk, actually.
Arden: And help get knowledge out to the Rim.
Christian: I’d like to submit you haven’t given him enough time.

Swordsman raises a brow at this and it’s clear he’s not buying any of it. Neither is Rina: why the hell are we even talking to this guy?

Rina: (to Swordsman) How much brilliance of vision do you expect to get out a man when you have a gun to his head? (To the crew) We’re all under the gun here.
Arden: Not really a gun, more like a sword to your throat.
Rina: Same difference.
Swordsman: There are far more swords and far more guns out there than I offer.
Arden: Yeah, but yous is the most immediate at the moment.
Swordsman: This is true. (A beat) You are aware that you’ve also run afoul of the police, don’t you?
Arden: The Chempliance?
Swordsman: Mm. That is somewhat outside my …control.

Wait. Really? What does this indicate of things he can and can’t control, then?

Swordsman: There are…hmm, how shall I say? ...multiple factions involved in this.
Christian: There always are.
Swordsman: I could, of course, fully benefit myself by giving to them but …(spreads his hands).
Christian: I suppose the question is, which is more important? The possibility that the project may succeed, or whatever short-term benefit you may get out of that?

Arden slumps and massages his temples, frustrated.

Arden: I really need a drink.
Rina: I’ll join you.
Arden: Later

Christian makes his move.

Christian: I suggest you let us go.
Swordsman: Where would you go if I were to let you live?
Christian: Right now? We will go and make sure her nephew is all right.
Swordsman: And after you deal with that issue?
Christian: After that, theoretically we’ll find a job and we would follow on that path.

Swordsman looks at Arden speculatively.

Swordsman: Where would you go if you were Captain of this ship? Or even if you weren’t on this ship? If you just had the means to go, where would you go? Suppose you didn’t need a job, suppose you didn’t need…to pay your passage or fuel your tanks? What would you do? What if those needs were not your concern?
Arden: I can’t imagine those things not being my concern.
Swordsman: Aristotle once said, “Call no man happy who is on the Wheel.” So, at the moment you are, in a sense….
Arden: ‘On the Wheel’?
Swordsman: Yes. You are…living hand to mouth. Suppose you had…that problem taken care of. Then what would you aspire to?

Arden doesn’t even hesitate.

Arden: I would like to see an organization get medical help out to the Rim.
Swordsman: (wanly) Hmm.
Swordsman: And transfer knowledge out there, try to get a real economy happening on the Rim.
Swordsman: Well…that is a long-term project in which your involvement would be relatively minor, actually.
Nika: That’s not entirely true.
Arden: Not if I had all the resources I needed and didn’t have to worry about anything.
Swordsman: So your goal would be to make….Boros…like Ariel? Then you’d be happy?
Arden: (looking askance) Like Ariel?
Swordsman: Like Osiris.
Arden: (hedging) Not …really.
Swordsman: Or Londinium. Or Sihnon.
Arden: Better than them.
Swordsman: Why should the Rim be better than the Core?

Now we’re getting somewhere.

Arden: Because it has free will, and the ability to make choices.
Swordsman: Would it? And still have all those things you wish to do?
Arden: I’d like to think so.
Swordsman: Do you think the people in the Core—
Arden: (irritated now) I think we’re moving into philosophical territory.
Swordsman: Indeed we are. Do you think the people in the Core enjoy the good life they have without sacrifices?
Arden: I think they don’t know any better. You don’t know what you’re sacrificing if you don’t know what you have to begin with. Nika: I think they’ve sacrificed the ability to question it.
Swordsman: And if you wish this …independent part of the Rim to be independent, certainly they cannot have the life the people of the Core. Otherwise, just like the people of the Core, they will lose track of that as well, won’t they?

It has always been so: how much freedom are people willing to give up in exchange for comfort and stability; for the necessities of life, for whatever they want… more than theirn freedom? For there will always be things they want more than their freedom. It is a quandary as old as mankind, and hasn’t been negated by time or stellar distance. We may have escaped Earth That Was, but we can never escape being human.

Swordsman’s gaze sharpens on Arden as he waits for the doctor’s response.

Arden: Old Earth wasn’t like that.
Swordsman: Old Earth did far worse. They squandered everything there. There’s nothing to be admired in that.
Nika: I think there’s plenty to be admired.

Squandered planet or not, we did manage to make the Exodus, and that’s not nothing.

Arden: The Core versus the Rim, the philosophy of what’s good for people and what’s not good for people …(waves it away)… I think what’s good for people is what they decide to be good for them, not what they’re told is good for them. That is the core difference, if you’ll excuse the pun, between the Rim and the Core.
Swordsman: (sighs) And when people are hungry and they decide what they need is food, and when they are sick and they decide what they need is medicine…?
Arden: And when they are not hungry and not sick and they have the ability to live their lives, they can grow crops, they can build machines, they can become doctors, firemen—they can do whatever it is they need to do, or want to do.
Swordsman: Most of us do what our society tells us we’re supposed to do.
Arden: Only if our society is built that way.
Swordsman: What if there were a different society?
Arden: Excuse me?
Swordsman: What if there were a different society?
Arden: That’s what I’ll be working toward.

Swordsman says nothing.

Arden: We’re still speaking hypothetically, right?
Swordsman: It appears so, as such. You, of course, know this society where they tried to do things like this.
Arden: No, I don’t.
Swordsman: You were brought up in one, were you not?
Arden: That wasn’t a society where you had choices in anything.
Swordsman: You didn’t have choices in some things, this is true.
Arden: I could go around the block left, or I could go around the block right, but I still arrived at the same spot where I had to be every the morning.
Swordsman: (shrugging) It was quite small, for a colony.
Arden: What I’m saying is the choices I had on Sophie were so infinitesimal, they didn’t matter.
Swordsman: In fact, it would seem quite irrational to desire such a society, doesn’t it?
Arden: Yeah, but I wasn’t one of the creators. (A beat) Well, I was, but …not really.

That’s right. Everyone in Erewhon Colony is a genetic clone of the colony’s creators.

Swordsman: So they must have been…irrational?
Arden: They wer—Human beings as a species are irrational. However, inside the skin of any one human being, you are rational.
Swordsman: (changing gears) And where would you go, if you could go?
Arden: I don’t know. I don’t what’s out there. That’s one of the things that I’m doing.
Swordsman: You know what’s out there. There’s much of the same. You go into the Core, the place is much shinier, the ships are much cleaner. You go out to the Border, you get a mixture of both, a greater disparity of rich and poor. You come to the Rim, there’s very little disparity because there’s nothing but poor. There’s really little difference here.
Arden: No.
Swordsman: True, there are unusual places like Erewhon…and others.
Arden: That’s not the only difference.
Swordsman: What’s that? What is the difference? What’s different from the bureaucracy here on Boros that’s different from the bureaucracy on Osiris?
Arden: There isn’t. Their bureaucracies aren’t different because…it’s bureaucracy.
Swordsman: Indeed.
Arden: But on Osiris, we had breakfast every morning between eight and eight-thirty. Period.
Swordsman: On Osiris?
Arden: On Osiris, when I was in school, when I was in college.
Swordsman: But people can eat whenever they want on Osiris.
Arden: Can we just agree to disagree on this point? However, I will keep an open mind and try to understand how our society works and try to make it work better.

Swordsman nods and continues.

Swordsman You were trained as a doctor, were you not?
Arden: Yes, I was….Am.
Swordsman: Suppose you had a sick little boy. Would you look at the little boy, compare him to other little boys, sit in your chair and decide what was best for him on that basis?
Arden: No.
Swordsman: What would you do?
Arden: I would look at the little boy to see if there was anything wrong with him.
Swordsman: Just look?

Think carefully…..

Arden: Well, examine. And if there was something wrong with him, I would see what protocols and meds were available, decide what’s best for the little boy and talk it over with his guardians, and apply whatever treatment we decided upon.
Swordsman: And if that didn’t work?
Arden: We can try another treatment, but there’s only so much medical science can do.
Swordsman: That’s true.
Arden: At this point. You see, it’s the boundary we’re talking about, now.
Swordsman: But you’d investigate your options.
Arden: Absolutely. That’s part of being a good doctor.
Swordsman: Yet you don’t seem to be willing to do that with your own life.

Zing!

Arden:(stung) Um, okay.
Swordsman: Did you get a brain scan?
Arden: Not yet.
Swordsman: Why not?
Arden: I haven’t had the opportunity.
Swordsman: Haven’t had the opportunity? You were in one of the best medical universities in the Verse.
Arden: You mean on Osiris?
Swordsman: Yes.

True.

Arden: In the offices of Dr. …I can’t remember her name.
Swordsman: Sampson?
Arden: Sampson, that’s it.
Swordsman: Write that down.
Arden: What? Why?

Swordsman smiles a small little smile.

Swordsman: For the duration of …poetic…feelings.
Arden: What?
Nika: (amused, despite) He’s just insulted you for not remembering your ex-girlfriend’s name.
Rina: (eyeroll) Well, tit for tat. After all, she called him by a number the first time they talked in years.
Arden: And she left me—but anyway, it doesn’t matter. That has no bearing on anything whatsoever. (Back on topic) The truth is, I didn’t think of it. I was busy concentrating on Mike. I was busy concentrating on making sure my friends didn’t get their asses shot off.
Swordsman: At the moment, that seems to be your main interest.
Arden: My companions? Yes. They look after me, I look after them.

As interests go, what’s wrong with that?

Swordsman: And that is admirable, in a way.
Christian: (heavily) In…A…Way….
Arden: (to Swordsman) I’m sensing you didn’t have any friends when you were growing up.
Nika: What are you talkin’ about? He doesn’t have any friendships now.
Christian: He doesn’t have any relationships that aren’t professional.
Arden: But he could have friends.
Christian: (it’s a shame, really) No, he couldn’t. Not and do what he does.
Arden: Then he doesn’t have to do what he does.

If only it were that simple, no?

Swordsman: I have higher aims than friendship, but I’m sure it’s pleasant.
Arden: You never know until you try it.
Swordsman: Then sadly …I guess I will never know.
Arden: Sadly. (Meaning it) I never thought I’d feel pity for you.

Swordsman shrugs and says:

Swordsman: If I gave you…a reprieve…it seems to me it would be squandered at this stage, for you would … merely carry on.

The words hang in the air a moment. Then:

Nika: Just what exactly are you hoping he’ll do?
Christian: Discover the truth about himself.
Nika: (continuing) So you want him to track down the people who tried to kill him?

Which kinda begs the question—if an Operative of the Parliament, with all the power at his command, cannot find out the answer to that one, what hope can we and Arden have for success?

Nika: That was actually on our agenda.
Arden: I think what he wants me to do is a) find out what’s so different about me, b) find out what happened to my crèche mates, c) determine who was behind it, d) what their purpose was, and e) who’s behind everything else.
Swordsman: (allowing it) Those are….steps.
Nika: Our goal certainly was to look into that, but… you know…

She makes wide gesture at the Universe: something’s always getting in the way.

Swordsman: So where would you go?
Arden: If that were my main goal and purpose? Sophie.
Swordsman: So if I were to let you go, you would go to Sophie?
Arden: I don’t know. It depends if there’s a reason to go to Sophie.
Christian: (fed up with it all) YES, we would fly to Sophie!

Nika starts to laugh. After all, what the hell else are we gonna do? Swordsman’s got us.

Swordsman: (raising a brow at Arden) I assume that you are easily bossed around on these sorts of things, so …
Arden: It’s a democracy for the most part.
Swordsman: (Yeah, right…) It’s …some form of government.
Arden: Better than any other form that worked.
Swordsman: I have never heard of a form of government that has worked.
Arden: There is a saying back on Old Earth that says, “Democracy is—“
Swordsman: Yes, yes. I am familiar with Winston Churchill, but—
Arden: ‘Winston’ who?
Swordsman: It would be lost on you.
Arden: I’m learning.
Swordsman: That’s what I’d like to see. As you have so …politely, I believe is the word you’re looking for….indicated, my friends are… non-existent.
Arden: I never said that.
Christian: Yes, you did.
Arden: I said he didn’t have any friends. He could have friends. I would be his friend, if he was willing to let me.

Swordsman pulls another Mona Lisa smile.

Swordsman: Let’s not go overboard.
Arden: How would we go overboard? (points to the airlock) There’s a hatch.

Swordsman’s sigh isn’t quite a groan, but it’s eloquent nonetheless. Nika apologizes for Arden’s deliberate obtuseness.

Swordsman: Don’t make me regret this…too much. I’m going to … tell you this much and see if it trips any switches: There is more to Erewhon than you have ever seen.
Arden: Metaphorically speaking?
SwordsmanNo. Physically speaking. And…metaphorically, as well. Erewhon is not…separate…from other projects. It is part of a larger project.

As usual with Swordsman, even the simplest of statements come out un-simple.

Nika: That sounds vaguely ominous.
Christian: No, remember he said we assumed he’s from Erewhon.
Swordsman: The rest…you need to discover on your own. And undoubtedly, there are… dangers back on Sophie.
Arden: I’m sure.

Swordsman grows still and says very clearly:

Swordsman: This position of mine is very convenient for my interests. And I’m not sure how many share my interests.
Arden: If any.
Swordsman: When Frankenstein jolted life into sewn-together corpse itself, in many respects his creation got away from him.
Arden: In all respects it got away from him, but that’s beside the point.
Swordsman: Well, he certainly tried to reel it back in. Now the question is, are you going to leave the castle?
Arden: Am I going to leave the castle?
Swordsman: Mmm-hm.
Arden: I thought I had left the castle.

Apparently not, by Swordsman’s lights. Rina stirs and addresses the Operative.

Rina: My question is: Are you the scientist, or are you the creation, sir? Who are your masters? Who pulls your strings?
Swordsman: (appreciatively) Ahh….
Arden: Welcome to our resident conspiracy expert. (A beat) We need one. Because, often it’s true.
Swordsman: (very quietly) Often, it is true. But sometimes….it’s not. (A beat) You might want to get some armor for your ship.

Plain words, lightly delivered, heavy with implications. He stands up.

Swordsman: All right. Blue Sun?
Arden: We’ll look out for it.
Swordsman: Osiris: Don’t get arrested. And…Sophie.
Arden: Sophie.

Fine. We’re all on the same page, with our marching orders given. Rina speaks up.

Rina: (evenly) Are you going to let Dr. Sampson go? Either one of them?
Arden: Is Dr. Sampson—whoa, whoa, whoa! Back up. Dr. Sampson is—.
Rina: (exasperated) Weren’t you listening?
Arden: What? Apparently, I wasn’t there for that part.
Swordsman: Sadly, Dr. Sampson is outside my control at the moment.
Christian: Blue Sun already has her.
Swordsman: Yes. And I’m afraid it is unlikely that she will … leave that situation in a way that you would want. I could probably do something, but doing so will reveal more than I am willing to at this stage.
Rina: So you and Blue Sun are working at cross purposes.
Swordsman: Let us just say that we don’t’ have the same means. Blue Sun, to go back to our analogy, would be best represented by … the police inspector of the village.
Christian: Let’s just go back to ‘multiple factions’.
Swordsman: Multiple factions, yes. We are not all working toward the same purposes.
Arden: So—that being said: Sophie, no Osiris, get armor on the ship.

Swordsman casts a critical eye at the bulkhead above.

Swordsman: Or… a different ship.
Arden: Or a different ship.
Rina: (to Swordsman) Do you have a ship in mind?
Swordsman: No. I’m just suggesting, where you are going…well, assuming you are successful, this may not be adequate. (shrugs) Or it might. I don’t know.
Christian: Please don’t tell me we’re sent to Miranda. If it is, just…just skip us, right there.
Rina: All right, then I have a question to ask you: since you’re so interested in the welfare of your little brother, why would you actively point us in the direction to go if it’s dangerous.
Arden: Because if I survive, then I’ll be an asset. If I don’t survive, oh well, it’s a nice try.
Rina: (disgusted) That Nietzschean little adage, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”? That’s a load of bullshit.
Swordsman: (approving) Nietzsche would be a good one to read.

Swordsman turns to leave.

Arden: One final thing. If you do want to hire us, you can get in touch with us.
Swordsman: Of course.
Christian: One final final thing: we want our stuff back. The communicators, the stuff that was taken from us.
Arden: Please.
Swordsman: Very well.
Arden: Before we forget…here.

Arden holds out Swordsman’s key card, the one we’d taken from him on Hera and used on Osiris. Swordsman takes it back without a word and makes it disappear somewhere on his person. Done, he turns again and again he is stayed by a member of the crew.

Nika: By the way, I appreciate your help.

For Kevin, she doesn’t say. But then again, it doesn’t need saying. Swordsman nods and turns to go. We all escort him back to the other vessel.

In full sight and hearing of the guards and the Lieutenant, Arden and Swordsman talk.

Swordsman: You know, of course, there is nowhere you can go that we can’t track you.
Arden: Yeah. That’s why I said you can contact us.
Swordsman: And so….You can do as you want to evade your contacts, but eventually they will contact you and then we will find you.

Swordsman orders the Lieutenant to hand over the weapons and effects confiscated from our crew.

Swordsman: Allow them to leave.
Arden: Thank you for the…interesting…time.
Swordsman: I have no interest in your pleasantries.
Christian: (taking Arden’s arm) Let’s just go.

Swordsman gives his little brother his back and strides up the airlock ramp, his business done.

Jump to:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 6