Star Trek Discovery
Season 5 – Episode 6
Episode title: Whistlespeak
Release date: May 2, 2024
Plot: While undercover in a pre-warp society, Captain Burnham is forced to consider breaking the Prime Directive when a local tradition threatens Tilly’s life. Meanwhile, Culber tries to connect with Stamets, and Adira steps up when Rayner assigns them a position on the bridge.
* * *
STAMETS: You think the scientists designed these clues to mock you when you can’t figure them out?
I think this will work.
BURNHAM: It better.
This clue’s been stalling us for two days.
Any other tests we can run?
STAMETS: That’ll tell us something different than the hundred other tests we’ve already run?
I don’t think so.
Vial’s composition’s generic, and the water inside remains pure, inert, distilled, and wet.
Vial’s damaged. Maybe there’s a piece missing.
TILLY: Modified spectral analysis reveals the fluid in this vial to be still just distilled water.
STAMETS: Damn.
The other clues had words,
had symbols, they had more.
STAMETS: You know, I have reviewed scans from.
ISS Enterprise multiple times.
There was never anything else there.
[machine beeps]
STAMETS: I even tried fabricating the last two pieces
of the map to see what’d happen
when I put them in, and…
Let me guess, nothing.
There’s no shortcuts here.
We have to solve this clue to find
the next and then the next, and we need all five.
Then somehow you are gonna tell us
where the Progenitors’ power is.
So keep at it.
If chemistry isn’t the solution,
try history, anthropology.
Try planets where distilled water
had cultural or symbolic significance 800 years ago.
And include
worlds that had severe droughts
and would have needed rainwater alternatives.
On it.
Thank you.
I still find it disorienting myself sometimes.
But you get used to it.
Here I was, thinking you were born in here.
We could be at black alert within the hour.
What are our coordinates?
Excuse me?
I assume I’m here because you have a lead
on Moll and L’ak.
Uh, no. Not yet.
The USS Locherer is handling the search.
This is Discovery’smission.
Finding the Progenitors’ technology
is Discovery’smission,
and you seem to have your hands full at the moment.
This particular clue…
We are a bit stalled.
The scientists who hid the technology’s location
each made their own piece of the clue trail in secret.
Stands to reason they would have employed
their respective fields of expertise
in the process, don’t you think?
And then knowing
the identity of the vial’s creator
might prove useful.
BURNHAM: You found the names of the scientists.
I can be resourceful.
I know it’s eccentric of me,
but I-I do love the feel of paper.
And this isn’t replicated either.
This is a genuine 21st century
legal pad.
Where did you even find that?
Like I said, I’m resourceful.
And you have a mission to see to.
[both laughing]
Zora, pause the program.
Send a message to Dr. Pollard:
“We might be on to something with this
grief-alleviation therapeutic.”
“Brain wave patterning is incredible.”
“And this holo of my grandmother is”
“exactly as I remember her.”
“Sending over my data in a few minutes.”
Zora, start the program again.
No.
Program, check the database.
She should be able to answer that.
We spoke often
about her spiritual feelings and practices.
[chuckles]
Of course.
[chuckles]
BURNHAM: Okay, we haven’t yet found clues from Dr. Derex or Dr. Kreel.
For the vial,
I’m betting on Kreel.
His specialty was designing weather modification towers
to generate rain.
So, we’re going to Denobula.
Maybe not. Um, Zora,
can you confirm,
Denobulan weather towers seed clouds
with silver iodide, right?
ZORA: Yes, Commander.
That is typical of their function
both at present and during
Dr. Kreel’s time.
All right, so then the water
would be filled with contaminants,
but it’s ultra-distilled.
Well, Kreel’s file also mentioned
he did work in weather technology for other worlds.
If a planet were arid enough…
Then water would have to be extracted from the air
at the molecular level,
which would mean no contaminants whatsoever.
Zora, how many M-Class planets
were on Denobulan trade routes when this vial was created?
15.
And how many of them were dry enough
that water would need to be harvested
in that particular way?
Only one, Captain.
[laughs]
Halem’no.
Whew.
BURNHAM: The planet Halem’no.
Long-range scans show a functioning weather tower
of Denobulan design.
It manufactures rain,
and it emits a low-grade force field
that shields the planet’s only habitable region
from dust storms.
We’ve been able to confirm that Dr. Kreel
designed the tower, so we believe
the next clue is inside of it.
Why would he make a weather tower look like a mountain?
That’s a good question.
Ensign Tal, any life signs down there?
ADIRA: Uh…
Yes. Uh… [stammers] humanoid. Um…
Uh, d-definitely pre-warp and pre-industrial.
Uh, there’s no functioning
electrical grid,
and geological surveys show
that the storms on the planet have gotten
increasingly more severe over time, so
maybe Dr. Kreel installed the tower
as a humanitarian mission
and hid it so not to violate the Prime Directive?
Makes sense. It’s good to see you on the bridge, Ensign.
They requested more time up here. I felt they were ready.
[chuckles]: Didn’t necessarily mean today.
No time like the present.
BURNHAM: Okay, so
the Prime Directive will be a concern for us, too.
We’ll need to get in and out without revealing
our technological capabilities.
Can scans help us locate the clue inside of that thing?
No, there is an unusual energy field surrounding the tower.
Won’t let me beam you in either.
Any idea why?
ADIRA: Uh, not yet,
but we are working on it.
BURNHAM: Okay. Well, while they
get to the bottom of that, I will head to the surface
with Lieutenant Tilly.
We’ll have to get inside
of that tower before Moll and L’ak make their next move.
Commander Asha, get us as close to the planet
as you can without the ship being seen.
Aye, Captain.
You have the conn, Rayner.
RAYNER: Aye, Captain.
Let’s get to it.
♪
♪
♪
[original Star Trektheme plays]
[whistling]
[door chimes]
Come.
Look. The whistling.
It’s a component of their language.
Zora, can you play what they’re saying in Federation Standard?
[whistling]
VOICE 1: Hello? Is someone there?
VOICE 2: I am, my good compeer. Are you hurt?
VOICE 1: No, but I am very thirsty.
VOICE 2: There is water for you here.
Why would they speak in whistles?
They don’t always.
They have a phonetic language for day-to-day interactions,
but the whistle-speak
lets them communicate across great distances.
It’s not uncommon to find in cultures
before communication technology evolves.
You can learn so much about a society
by the way the individuals speak to one another.
Like the Halem’nites.
[whistling]
They don’t have any terms
to denote societal status or class.
They recognize three distinct gender identities,
and they prize connection with one another
despite the hardships that they face.
And look, look here,
they have multiple words for pain,
injury, hurt, dust.
I feel like I’m back in Dr. T’Prasi’s
xenolinguistics seminar on Vulcan.
Wow, you can take the “xeno” out of the anthropologist,
but you can’t take the anthropologist out…
Huh. No, I lost it.
Uh…
We could really use you at the Starfleet Academy.
Well, don’t tempt me.
How is it going over there, by the way?
RAYNER [over comm]: Captain, we’ve loaded subcutaneous comms
into the transport system.
Ensign Tal’s also been playing with Starfleet’s
latest retinal tricorder mod.
Should come in handy if you need to be discreet.
Thank you, Commander.
We’re good to go. Take us down.
Let’s activate retinal tricorders.
Think Dr. Kreel could have picked a more gigantic place
to hide the clue?
Guess that’s why the Halem’nites call it the High Summit.
Must have known it’d be well-protected,
since they believe they can commune with their gods there.
So, do you want to talk about it?
TILLY: Hmm?
BURNHAM: The Academy?
TILLY: Oh, yeah.
I just got a message from my student today.
Cadet Ross, she actually served us drinks at
the Millennium Celebration.
Yeah. Earnest, big smile?
Yes. She’s thinking about leaving the Academy
to take a position on a cargo vessel,
and she wants to know if I think she should do it.
Mm.
So what are you gonna say?
I know.
Stay? Don’t go? I don’t know, and…
She wants to leave at all, and she’s not the first.
We’re not giving the cadets what they need.
I don’t know what the problem is.
[whistling in distance]
TILLY: The whistle-speak.
BURNHAM: The universal translator’s got it.
GROUP: We’ve come here from afar.
LONE VOICE: Let my voice call you home.
[whistling]
GROUP: We traveled from the dust.
LONE VOICE: Come rest, you must.
GROUP: We journeyed from the storms.
LONE VOICE: In the summit, you’ll be warm.
Sounds like they’re going where we’re going.
Hey. There you are. Got a minute?
Yeah. Heading to Engineering. How can I help?
I wondered if you could put me in touch
with the ship’s counselor on the Locherer.
When they find Moll and L’ak, I want them to have
a full background and know they can use me
as a resource for anything.
I’m sure they’ve been briefed.
It’s not the same.
Book,
you need to accept that there’s nothing for you to do right now.
I can’t just sit on my hands, Hugh.
So find something to distract you.
What’s occupied your brain in the past?
Focus on that.
Recharge yourself so that you’re ready when you are needed.
You ever get tired of having all the answers?
I’ll check in with you later. [Chuckles]
Paul, I need your help with something.
Can I pull you away?
I’m looking to do a full neural scan on myself,
and I could use an assistant.
A neural scan?
Is everything all right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, everything’s fine.
We don’t have a lot of data
on the neurological aftereffects of zhian’tara,
and this is a chance to gather some.
Are you
having aftereffects?
No, no.
Maybe.
Hugh,
are you sure you’re okay?
Yeah, of course.
We need this data, and, uh,
well, when was the last time you and I got to work together?
Might be nice.
Nothing as romantic
as a neural scan.
[laughs]
So, is that a yes?
At your service.
Great. I will, uh, prep everything,
and we can start in the morning.
[whistling]
Hello. Hello.
Greetings, compeers.
We heard your call.
Sounds like you’re headed to the High Summit.
Yes, we’ve been following the beacon voice since the moonrise.
We g-got lost. May we join you?
Of course. We are nearly there.
[coughing]
[grunts] Apologies.
I was clearing dust from an orchard
and lost my way in the Dry Lands.
The Dry Lands.
Were you out there very long?
I breathed dust for an entire night
before the sun rose and my compeers could rescue me.
Sounds frightening.
[coughs]
I suppose it is why
they encourage elders
not to take turns at the edge of the storms.
[wheezing] But i-if I did not clear the dust,
another would need to take my place.
Where are you coming from?
Uh
we came to worship at the High Summit.
Ah, you wish to pray for rain.
We have been without it for too long.
Do any of the compeers go inside the summit to pray?
Only the chosen devout may enter the temple.
Surely you know that.
Of course,
but… being from
the east, the distance is far.
Bless you, dear child,
you’ve never seen the High Summit before.
No, no, we never have.
But for years we have longed to visit.
[chuckles weakly]
The day is here.
[chuckles]
RAVAH: Compeers, you’ve arrived.
I’m Ravah.
It’s my voice that’s been beckoning you home.
Please come with me. I have water and food ahead.
[Anorah wheezing]
[coughing]
She’s having trouble breathing.
The Healing Grove, quickly.
[coughing]
Her medicine. I saw her inhaling it
when we were walking.
Maybe it’s in her pack.
[coughing]
[sighs] Her lungs are full of dust.
A sonic percussion wave would easily dislodge this.
She doesn’t have to die from this.
We can’t break the Prime Directive.
No, I know, I know, I know.
They’re not finding her medicine.
Okay. Help me get her on her side.
RAVAH: There they are, Father.
Do not stop, compeer. You’re keeping her alive.
Give these out.
One to each.
OHVAHZ: Quickly.
Form a tight circle around her.
Stay strong, my good compeer.
[bowls clanging]
[coughing continues]
[bowls continue clanging]
[coughing]
OHVAHZ: You must forgive me.
I did not have time to warn you
of the intensity of the sound cure.
It’s amazing that you found a cure at all.
Really impressive.
TILLY: Hey, you’re awake.
[grunts]
Ravah here’s been telling me
all about the High Summit.
RAVAH: I, too, was born far away.
My father brought me here after my mother died
and he became priest of the summit.
OHVAHZ: Let her regain her strength, Ravah.
RAVAH: But they were on the front lines.
When my turn comes, I’ll clear that dust
twice as fast as anyone else.
OHVAHZ: Ravah,
the most important thing is to work in harmony
with the rest of your compeers.
Of course you’re right, Father.
But it’s clear you’re very strong.
We’re eager to enter the High Summit,
to give thanks to the gods.
The gods do not require you to enter the temple to give thanks.
RAVAH: But you could get in if you wanted to.
You just have to complete the Journey of the Mother Compeer.
Ravah, please.
Journey of the Mother Compeer?
It’s a race and a test of devotion because
it’s quite grueling. Everyone says that we’re due because
watching the race makes the gods happy,
and we’ve been without rain for so long.
Only the one who wins is worthy of entering the temple.
There, they’re close to the gods
and they can ask for their blessing.
OHVAHZ: Let’s discuss another time, Ravah.
Our compeers only just arrived.
BURNHAM: But we wish to show our devotion
in whatever way we can.
RAVAH: And this is perfect.
If you make the request,
we could do it tomorrow morning.
Isn’t that right, Father?
One just has to make the request, that’s how it works.
Hmm.
Then I make the request.
Nothing’s more important to us than entering that summit.
♪
Oh.
Good morning, compeers. [Chuckles]
Are there any messages you’d like me
to bring to the gods when I see them?
You’re running today?
Mm.
You’ve inspired me, as you’ve inspired the others.
The difficulty of the Journey is legendary.
Most don’t even finish.
OHVAHZ: Ravah,
may I have a word?
No, Father, I’m getting ready.
You are too young to take the Journey.
I’m stronger than you think I am.
You’re wearing that today?
I wish for Mother to watch over me.
Ravah, I promised her that…
You would keep me a child forever?
OHVAHZ: No. That I would protect you.
RAVAH: I’ve grown, Father.
I’m devoted. You must see that.
HALEM’NITE: Excuse me, compeer, tradition demands we begin
the preparations.
As you wish.
You know, I-I have a student, um
back East.
She reminds me a lot of you.
She just wants to get out there and do, as fast as she can.
It can be hard to even
just as a teacher, to step back.
I can only imagine what it would be like as a parent.
My father is a great man.
And I want to show him that I can be great, too.
Compeer, uh, may I have a moment?
BURNHAM [over comm]: We’re alone, Discovery. We don’t have much time.
RAYNER: We’ll talk fast, then.
Ensign Tal chased down a hunch
and found something interesting.
Uh, I did a historical regression
of Halem’no’s weather patterns,
and the data indicated that
there might have been other weather towers in the past.
RAYNER: We sent down a team of DOTs
into the dust storm to check it out.
They found four more towers.
Yeah.
Over time, the others failed.
Uh, their energy-distribution matrices fell out of alignment,
and that’s the same thing that’s happening to the High Summit.
That’s what’s causing the energy field that’s stopping us
from beaming you inside for the clue.
BURNHAM: Okay, what’s the solve?
All of the towers have an auxiliary control panel
hidden nearby.
If you can find the one near the High Summit,
it should be easy enough to reset any of the components
that have failed over time.
TILLY: Adira, were there settlements
around any of the other weather towers?
At all of them, in fact.
They were destroyed when the towers failed.
So, if we don’t fix this one, everyone here will die.
Thank you, Discovery.
One mission just became two.
Well, we’ve checked for biological, chemical,
and genetic anomalies, and, um,
turns out you have a perfectly typical,
healthy and rather handsome
human brain.
So, no lasting neurological effects
of zhian’tara whatsoever?
None.
There’s something you’re not saying.
It’s just, I was
hoping these scans would
give me an answer.
You know, a physiological cause for what I’m feeling, and
then I’d understand, then I could talk about it.
I don’t understand.
Are you feeling sick, or…?
No. Uh
the opposite.
Ever since Trill, I’ve
felt more connected, more, um
attuned
to something greater than myself.
Greater than all of us.
But if there’s no scientific reason for it, then…
So it’s a… spiritual thing?
Hey, what matters most is that you’re okay.
The scans would have picked up anything
with health implications.
So, in lieu of that, I say
why don’t you just enjoy it?
Really?
The human brain, with its billions of neurons,
each with thousands of connection points,
is one of the most complex things
in the known universe.
[chuckles]: So
enjoy it.
Right. [Chuckles]
[indistinct conversation]
BURNHAM: The race is about to begin. Are you not happy, compeer?
Are you not enjoying today?
I was thinking of the last time there was a Journey.
I ran.
As did my friend Vohrahli.
She was so fast.
Of course she won. [Chuckles softly]
It was long ago.
I am thinking about Vohrahli
and what we might look like if we could be wrinkled,
old elders together. [Laughs]
You would look beautiful.
[chuckles]
You know, you need not go to the High Summit
to be with the gods.
They are with us when we do good for one another,
when we love, when we save each other,
as you saved me.
You don’t need to run to see them.
I know, I…
It’s something that I’ve dreamed of my whole life.
I understand then,
and I shall pray for you.
Everything all right?
I think so.
OHVAHZ: My good and blessed compeers,
it is our great fortune to bear witness
to the Journey of the Mother Compeer today.
Legend tells us that, in ancient times,
all of Halem’no was fertile and gentle,
but even in such a land of plenty, the Halem’nites warred
against each other and lost the favor of the gods.
To punish us, they brought the dust storms.
We would have ended our days
in thirst and dust if the Great Mother Compeer
hadn’t shown the gods our true selves.
She ventured out into
the storms and traveled far to find water
for her children. As she journeyed back with it,
her lungs filled with dust.
[coughing]
OHVAHZ: Her thirst was terrible,
and yet she didn’t drink a single drop.
[others coughing]
She reached her children and gave them
the life-giving water. She saved them,
then breathed her last.
The gods were so moved by her sacrifice,
they brought back the rains.
Today, as you journey around
the High Summit bearing a terrible thirst,
you, too, will endure this test.
May you remind the gods of the Mother Compeer,
of her devotion, our devotion,
and earn their merciful rain.
[grunting]
[gasps, coughs]
A courageous attempt, compeers,
but you are now disqualified.
Begin.
Try not to fall behind.
[crowd cheering]
We have to get that clue.
[coughing]
[panting]
BURNHAM: Just one minute.
I just need a minute.
[groans]
[whispering]: Body in motion remains in motion.
[Burnham groans]
They’ve all got to get water at some point, right?
And we have endurance, we have…
Starfleet training.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
Let’s go. We’re gonna fall behind.
[panting]
A body in motion…
will remain in motion.
[both panting]
TILLY: Body in motion stays in motion.
Wait, wait, what’s that?
Body at rest. [Whimpers]
Look at the moss on the trees.
Most of it’s blue, but some of it’s yellow.
That’s a genetic mutation.
If a control panel were 800 years old,
it would leak radiation, right?
And if it is leaking radiation,
it would be causing mutations.
If I’m right, then this moss would lead to a control panel.
And if you’re wrong?
Then one of us still needs to win this race
and get that clue.
Go.
Really?
Go chase your moss.
I’m the queen of endurance.
Body in motion…
Remains in motion.
[gasping]
I’m out.
[grunts]
[panting]
[sighs]
No.
No, don’t give up now, compeer.
It’s just the two of us left,
and I want some real competition.
You’re a little shit, you know that?
I can’t hear you, I’m too far ahead.
Don’t think I’m not gonna beat you.
Okay?
Get over here. Come here.
[tricorder trilling]
Discovery, I’ve found the tower control panel.
Scanning it now.
[sighs] This tech requires periodic maintenance.
Without that, it was bound to fail eventually.
BURNHAM: So how do I fix it?
Uh, you’ll need to rebuild the motherboard,
uh, without shutting it down by accident.
No pressure. Tell me what to do.
Uh, do you see a small red chip
on the far left-hand side?
BURNHAM: Yes. I see a lot of them.
ADIRA: Sorry, in the top left corner.
We’ll start by rerouting that to the override system.
RAVAH: We’re almost there.
OHVAHZ: Stop.
Near the end of the Mother Compeer’s Journey,
the gods tempted her to drink.
So, our final two racers
must now complete the Journey
while carrying temptation.
[muffled cheering]
[crowd cheering, applause]
RAVAH: No!
[murmuring]
OHVAHZ: Spilling your water is a disqualification, Ravah.
Please, child,
come, slake your thirst.
A racer cannot complete the journey with an empty bowl.
It was a noble effort, Ravah.
[cheering]
Come, Ravah.
Come.
Ravah.
I thought you were gonna give me a little competition.
It’s over.
TILLY: Come on.
Come on. Up.
Come on.
Up.
Let’s go meet the gods together.
[crowd cheering, applauding]
[device chirps]
BURNHAM: Okay, that wasn’t it.
I’m gonna try another isolinear chip.
Sir, maybe we should get someone with more experience
to help support the captain.
You’re the one who wanted to be on the bridge.
I know, um, but…
But nothing.
I wouldn’t have agreed if I thought you couldn’t handle it.
You’ve been second-guessing yourself
since that time bug came on board.
That’s not on you.
Understood?
BURNHAM: Got it. Okay, Ensign, what’s next?
Last step, right? Bring it home.
Okay.
Uh, Captain, I need you to bypass
the auxiliary power circuit.
Bypass?
Yank it out, Captain.
Come on, come on.
We got lights.
Yes.
Okay, I will have you beaming into the tower in no time.
Nice work, Ensign.
Tilly, we solved the interference issue.
Where are you now?
TILLY: I’m in the temple.
You won the race?
Ravah and I tied. We’re both here.
Problem is, I don’t see the clue anywhere.
BURNHAM: Well, we just got the control panel back on line,
so we’ll be able to transport
a team over in just a few minutes.
OHVAHZ: It is time.
Hang on. Ohvahz is speaking.
RAVAH: Don’t be sad, Father.
We’ll speak to the gods. We’ll bring the rain.
OHVAHZ: And we are so grateful to you both.
Your sacrifice
will bless Halem’no for many seasons to come.
Sacrifice?
RAVAH: Take this, Father.
I won’t need it to remember Mother anymore.
Tilly, get out of there now.
Uh, no, uh, Ohvahz.
Wait. Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait.
Ohvahz!
Discovery, can you beam her out?
RAYNER: We can’t get a lock, Captain.
Ohvahz!
[rumbling, creaking]
Discovery, status report.
Have you been able to get a lock on Lieutenant Tilly?
Nothing’s working, Captain.
Something’s scrambling my signal.
TILLY: I think I know why.
These walls are solid tritanium.
BURNHAM: Which is too dense for a transport lock. Damn it.
If it’s not thing, it’s another with this place.
Okay, it looks like you’re in the vacuum chamber.
Chemicals come up that center column
and mix with air and whatnot from the room above
and get shot into the atmosphere to make it rain.
And seeing that it’s a vacuum chamber,
I’m guessing that, in the process,
it sucks all the air out of there.
Makes sense the room’s made of tritanium.
If it weren’t, it’d crumple.
Oh, good, at least we won’t get smushed.
RAVAH: Who are you speaking to?
Oh, um, just praying to the gods.
That’s, that’s good. They’ll be pleased.
[mechanical clicking]
[low click]
[quietly]: The air.
No, we need more time. Uh…
The gods are coming.
They’ll take our breath and replace it with their own.
You look frightened, compeer.
Are you frightened?
No, I’m not frightened. Um…
I’m sad.
You wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me.
I’m grateful.
I’m going to see the gods.
Come, the serenity wall is here.
We’ll pray together, you won’t be frightened anymore.
BURNHAM: Tilly, I’m coming to get you.
Discovery, if you cannot beam her out,
beam me in, as close to that chamber as possible.
Okay, there’s a control room right next to it.
Sir, I’m picking up a life sign in there.
BURNHAM: Okay, that has to be Ohvahz.
We have to wait for him to leave.
No, you beam me in now.
You’d be revealing yourself
to a pre-warp civilization.
I’m aware.
We’re gonna have to answer for the Prime Directive violation.
And we will. We are not letting them die for no reason.
If the Halem’nites can’t maintain this technology,
they’re gonna get wiped out sooner or later.
Either way, we have to do this.
RAYNER: Aye, Captain. Stand by.
TILLY: These symbols here, what do they mean?
They’re numbers to help us recall
the five serenity prayers.
If we say them, we’ll find peace before we pass.
It’s foretold.
I don’t see any numbers.
I thought you were a teacher.
I am.
They don’t teach Ancient Halem’nese in the East?
[exhales]
One.
Two.
Three.
We’re in the third summit.
Four.
Five.
TILLY: I’ve seen this symbol before.
RAVAH: To represent each of the summits there once were.
The gods destroyed all the others.
But left only ours.
That’s why we must sacrifice.
To show them that we are worthy of their gift.
[crying]: I’m sorry, compeer.
Oh.
It’s okay to be scared.
I don’t want to die.
I only took the Journey to make my father proud, but now…
Come here.
Yeah, it’s okay.
It’s okay. Come here.
[shushes]
Maybe the gods will figure out a way to spare us.
OHVAHZ: I’ve failed you, my heart’s compeer.
I wanted to forbid our child from taking the Journey.
But how could I?
How could I be selfish
when all our people suffer for each other?
What?
You? How did you…
Where did you come from?
I need you to open this door.
You’re not really here,
vision.
I am here. Listen to me.
You have to open this door.
Ravah is going to see the gods.
My friend is in there.
You feel grief because you are selfish.
She doesn’t want to die
and she doesn’t need to die.
Ravah doesn’t need to die.
[mutters]
Your people need you to be stronger.
Ohvahz, Ohvahz,
we are standing inside of a machine.
This is a piece of technology.
Technology?
It was placed here hundreds of years ago by an alien race.
The sacrifices don’t bring the rain.
Okay? Technology does.
No.
No, you imagine what you wish to hear,
but you have a duty.
Please deliver me from…
Deliver me.
[thumping]
Tilly,
are you hearing all this?
I… I am.
But we’re running out of air.
BURNHAM: I’m gonna get you out of there, okay?
I need you to talk to Ravah
and see if they can help me reach Ohvahz.
Ravah.
[grunts softly]
TILLY: Do you remember your mother?
RAVAH: I do.
What do you remember about her?
There was a song to help me sleep.
They sang it together.
We were once together.
Will you teach it to me?
I’ll sing it to you while you fall asleep.
I don’t remember the words.
Only the tune.
Yeah, the tune’s enough.
[humming]
[Ravah humming over comm]
[humming]
[Ohvahz shuddering]
How do you know that song?
I can hear them from the other room.
My technology lets me do that, too.
I don’t understand.
Ravah remembers their mother singing that song
so many years ago.
They are dying, Ohvahz.
They don’t want to die.
[gasps]
Are you a god?
No, I am not.
I am a person from really far away.
Almost as far away as those who put the technology here.
And I want to help you.
I am here to help you save your child
and my friend from dying a needless death.
I-I don’t know what to do.
Ohvahz, I am not a god,
but I don’t know, maybe I was sent here by one.
Hear me when I tell you,
the rains will come whether or not Ravah dies.
Trust me.
Please let them live.
[mechanical clicking]
[wind gusting]
[Burnham panting]
Tilly?
Tilly?
Ravah?
[weakly]: They’re not breathing.
Please, Ravah. They’re not breathing!
[metallic trilling]
BURNHAM: Here. My team can save them.
My team can save Ravah.
They can save them. Come on, let them work.
♪
OHVAHZ: This
this is Halem’no?
BURNHAM: This is what it looks like
from our ship.
It’s… more beautiful than I could have imagined.
You said that an alien race gave us the High Summit
to save us from the dust storms.
Why?
The Denobulans,
they value one another greatly, just as you do here.
They come from a world, uh, much like your own.
Massive storms.
And they built weather towers to keep them at bay.
I suppose, in their travels,
they felt a connection to you and wanted to help.
You should know that the tower, the
the High Summit, is failing.
We fixed it for now,
but it will stop working eventually
if it isn’t maintained.
We can show you how.
Thank you, but does all this mean…
Are there no gods?
Are there…
What is there?
There is still what you believe.
Nothing we have shown you means gods don’t exist.
Or that the Journey of the Mother Compeer didn’t happen.
It’s just that now you know that there is also us.
What do I say to my people?
The sacrifices unite us.
They help us see our common purpose.
I fear how my people will react
if we take this away so suddenly.
In the past, attempts to stop the sacrifices
have been met with violence and upheaval.
You are wise to consider that.
But there are those among you who seem ready
to move beyond the sacrifices.
The woman you healed. Anorah.
She finds order in your people’s
commitment to one another.
She told me the sacrifices aren’t necessary
to bring one closer to the gods.
Maybe others are ready to understand that, too.
Beliefs can evolve.
Denying that can cause almost as much chaos as the worst storm.
Ravah will wake soon.
And given the circumstances, I believe they should see
their father when they do.
Did we do a good thing?
Mm…
And you’re alive. That’s a really good thing.
You know how much paperwork I’d have to fill out
for losing a perfectly good Starfleet officer?
In addition to the paperwork you’re already gonna
have to fill out for breaking the Prime Directive, so…
Oh, gosh. Okay.
I’m about to make you even happier that you saved me.
Any of this look familiar?
Perhaps you recognize this
from a certain vial containing a drop of pure distilled water?
BURNHAM: Yes. The scratches on the side.
What are these?
They’re numbers in ancient Halem’nese.
One for each of the five towers.
We are in the third tower.
[gasps] The vial had the same mark,
so the clue is in tower five.
[laughs]
RAVAH: Father?
Are you with the gods as well?
No, my child.
We defied them?
No.
The rains won’t come.
Listen.
Perhaps devotion means
being able to hear when the gods tell us something new.
I’m very proud of you, Ravah.
You’re so full of light,
courage and song, just like your mother.
[sighs]
[thunder rumbling]
The rains. They’ve come.
[rain falling]
[Ravah chuckling]
♪
[sound of weapons firing]
BOOK: Oh, cheeky, aren’t we?
Hmm, watch it now.
CULBER: Zora said you were here.
And I see you found a distraction.
BOOK: Next best thing.
Why not the holodeck simulator?
I can always tell it’s not a real ship.
You brought food?
I thought you’d be hungry.
My grandmother’s mofongo con pollo al ajillo.
Replicator fresh.
Ah. Thank you.
Welcome.
BOOK: Smells amazing.
Mmm.
Mmm.
CULBER: So, you asked me earlier
if I get tired of having all the answers.
I meant it as a joke.
I know, it’s just…
I don’t, is the thing.
What’s going on?
I’m having a, uh
spiritual awakening.
Or maybe I’m just seeing a truth I’ve always known, but…
Ever since zhian’tara,
nothing else explains it.
It sounds kind of wonderful.
I told Paul.
I don’t think he really understood.
I don’t know that he ever will.
So?
Well, he’s my partner.
It’s an odd quirk, really,
this human tendency to consider something less meaningful
if it’s just for yourself.
I remember Michael dealing with it,
even though, deep down, that feeling of being alone
was the oldest and closest friend she ever had.
But still, you know, it’s what made me love her.
You miss her.
I see her every day.
But you miss what you had.
You think you can get it back?
One answer at a time, Doc.
BURNHAM: Courtesy of tower number five.
[Burnham and Tilly chuckle]
It had a metal card attached
with some kind of Betazoid text inscription.
Stamets is analyzing it so we can see where to go next.
What do you think Dr. Kreel was trying to tell us,
hiding the clue there?
Well, he couldn’t have known that leaving behind
a weather tower would lead the Halem’nites
to sacrificing one another.
It is a massive responsibility, technology.
Maybe that’s the real message.
When we find the Progenitors’ creation
we need to be so careful.
[comm chimes]
CHRISTOPHER: Excuse me, Captain?
Go ahead, Lieutenant Christopher.
We just got a message from Fed HQ.
The USS Locherer just found Moll and L’ak.
Admiral Vance requests that we jump
to their location immediately.
Okay, lock in coordinates.
Let’s not make them wait.
TILLY: Mm-mm.
[Halem’nites whistling]
