11:59
Episode 117
Part E

Events in the year 2000 involving Shannon O'Donnel appear in this style.

 

The next morning Shannon sees Jason using her laptop computer. Jason: "Good morning." Shannon: "Morning."

They continue chatting as she comes down from the gallery. Jason: "I didn't think you'd mind. You've got some really great games on this thing." Shannon: "Don't worry about it. Have you tried Matrix of Doom?" Jason: "Oh yeah. I got vapourised on Level 6." Shannon: "Try launching a flare before entering the Steel Fortress." Jason: "Cool!"

He sets the computer aside and goes to the counter. Jason: "Coffee?" Shannon: "Please." He prepares it. "Where's your father?" Jason: "Bloomington. All the suppliers in town are boycotting us, so he went up there to place some orders." Shannon: "He left you in charge?" Jason: "'Alexandria Books, may I help you?'" Shannon: "Sounds like you've got it down." Jason: "I pay the bills too. Dad's not very good at accounting. You have any kids?" Shannon: "Nope." Jason: "Not a priority?" Shannon: "I wouldn't say that. Just never got around to it. If you don't mind me asking, where's your Mom?" Jason: "She died." Shannon: "Oh, I'm sorry." Jason: "I was really young. I don't remember her much. Dad says none of the great heroes grew up in a nuclear family: Hercules, Achilles, Odysseus - they all grew up with single parents." Shannon: "You're in good company. You like working here, Jason?" Jason: "It's ok." Shannon: "You know, I get the feeling you don't share your father's enthusiasm for preserving the past." Jason: "I don't know. The Millennium Gate - could be pretty cool." Shannon: "Did you see the first landing on the moon? 'One small step for a man'...." Jason: "They showed us in class one time." Shannon: "I saw it on tv when I was 11 years old. The whole world watched it." Jason: "Must've been great." Shannon: "Oh it was. So, do you have any heroes?" Jason: "'We're not living in a heroic age.' That's what my Dad says." Shannon: "Come on, there's got to be somebody." Jason: "Dad. I mean, he is a pain sometimes, but he's pretty cool."

The phone rings. Jason answers it. "Alexandria Books, may I help you?" The person at the other end answers. "That's alright." He puts the receiver down. "First call in three days and it's a wrong number." They have a small laugh together over it.

Watched by the television camera outside, Henry enters carrying a box.

He places the box on the counter. "Glorious Hector, son of Priam, slips past the Greek front lines bringing much needed supplies to the embattled city of Troy." The supplies include a newspaper. Jason spots its content. "Hey Dad, you're famous."

Shannon: "Local businessman topples Gate."

Henry: "Let it fall. Any customers this morning?" Jason: "Nobody here but us galliformes." Shannon: "That's chickens for the non-scientists in the crowd." Henry is amused but pleased the pair are getting along well. "You two are dangerous together! Portage Creek will thank us one day. You don't sacrifice history for a shopping mall." Shannon: "It's a little more than that, Henry." Henry: "I beg your pardon?" Shannon: "I said, it's not just a mall." Henry: "Have you read the promotional literature? Over 600 retail spaces available, franchise potential." Shannon: "There is a commercial dimension to the project but that's not it's only function." Henry: "What's your point?" Shannon: "I've learned a few details about the Millennium Gate. It's a self-sustaining city, an experimental biosphere. It's never been done before." Henry: "What's wrong with the biosphere we're living in now? Exactly!" Shannon: "But this project will help us learn more about our environment, possibly even recreate it on other worlds." Henry: "Other worlds! Don't we have enough problems on the one we're on?" Shannon: "Yeah, which is why I'd like to get the hell off it one day." Henry: "I think you're taking this exploring a little too far." Shannon: "And you're so afraid of change you can barely walk out that front door. The Millennium Gate has a lot of potential, Henry. You just can't see it. All you can see is these books. You're living in the past." Henry: "Sounds like you've been sleeping with the enemy." Shannon: "Having a beer anyway." Henry surmises: "Moss." Shannon: "He offered me a job." Henry: "Doing what?" Shannon: "Consulting engineer." Henry: "On the Millennium Gate?" Shannon: "I said I'd think about it." Henry is angry now. "And he said to get Janeway to sign on the dotted line and you're hired!" Shannon: "That's one way of looking at it." Henry: "And when I say no, then what, you're going to go with them, right? to Canton, Ohio, or the third circle on the hill, or wherever it is they decide to build this damn thing!" Shannon: "I can't keep living out of my car." Henry: "You don't have to! Stay here." Shannon: "No." Henry: "Why not?" Shannon tries to control her upset. "Because I can't." Henry: "That's not a reason." Shannon: "Because I don't want to! You've been really nice to me, Henry, but I can't get stuck here." Henry: "Stuck?" He surmises her thinking: "Like me." Shannon, quickly: "I didn't say that." She adds: "You can live however you want to." Henry: "So can you."

Jason comes up. "What's going on?" Henry tells him: "We're helping our guest resume her journey." Jason to Shannon: "But I thought you were staying here for a while." Shannon is busy packing her bag. "Something came up." Henry tells Jason: "We can manage by ourselves." Pointedly to Shannon: "Saying goodbye isn't that difficult, after all. Shannon walks out.

Jason looks reproachfully at his father.

Jason starts to leave too. Henry: "Jason. Jason, where're you going?!" Jason: "Aunt Pat's." Sarcastically: "Happy New Year."

Henry rushes out of the shop after him but stops stand outside, "Jason! Jason!", as Jason hurries away. The moment is captured by the television crew outside.

USS Voyager cruising at impulse power.

In Janeway's quarters, there is a small social gathering. Kim is enjoying telling a story about one of his ancestors. "It was around 2210. My uncle Jack was on a deep space mission to Beta Capricus." Paris: "That's when 'deep space' meant the next star over." Kim: "And that was still when they had to go into stasis. So Jack put his crew under as soon as they left orbit and piloted the ship by himself for 6 months." Neelix: "No contact with anybody along the way?" Kim: "There wasn't anybody along the way, not back then. The transmitter wasn't even subspace. It took weeks to get a message back to Earth." Seven: "I would prefer stasis." Paris: "Me too. That long alone I'd probably go a little batty." Kim: "So, 6 months to Beta Capricus. And when they finally arrive, there's nothing there." Neelix: "No planets?" Kim: "No. No stars, no nothing. It turns out Beta Capricus was just an EM echo of a distant galaxy." Seven: "What was his course of action?" Kim: "What else could he do? He turned the ship around and headed home." Janeway: "And the crew?" Kim, relishing telling the anecdote: "He figured there was no reason to bother them. There's nothing to see, nothing to do. So 6 months later he gets back to Earth, brings everybody out of stasis, and they wake up wondering why they haven't left orbit!" Everyone laughs. The door signal sounds. door signal Janeway calls: "Come in." The Doctor enters carrying a tricorder. standard doors Doctor: "Oh. I didn't realise you were in a briefing." Janeway: "Not at all. We're talking about our family histories." Doctor: "Oh, this can wait." He puts away the tricorder. "May I join you?" Janeway: "Please." He takes a seat. Doctor: "I too come from a distinguished line." Paris jokes: "His cousin's an electric shaver." Doctor: "Hardly. My program was compiled from the most advanced holomatrices in the Federation. My cousin was a prizewinning chess program." Seven: "Ensign Paris, you have yet to elaborate on your family origins." Paris: "Well, they were a pretty ordinary bunch, salt of the earth type people, farmers mostly, some planetary colonists. Ah, there was one, he was a pilot. He flew the first orbital glider over the lower Martian plateau." Neelix: "Mars? Your ancestor must've known the Captain's." Janeway: "She did work on all the early Mars projects. Looks like we go way back, Mr Paris." Paris: "What was her name?" Janeway: "Shannon O'Donnel." Paris: "O'Donnel." He searches his memory. "Erm, I don't think so." Janeway: "What do you mean?" Paris: "Well, I know all the Mars projects from the 1970s on: unmanned, manned, who's who. There were no O'Donnels in any of them." Janeway is taken aback.