Episode Four
As the Visitors close in, Sean explores the inside of Paka’s mind to find Cilandre’s weakness.
Storyline from the past: In a series of flashbacks, we see two decades of relationship between Albie and Sean’s mother, Lisa. Both young science students at university, Albie was on track to become a successful chemist, but Lisa was the talented one, with an uncanny ability to ”connect“ with all living things – the same ability we’ve seen in Sean. Albie developed a psychotropic drug called Lucid, which enhances Lisa’s ability, enabling her to connect fleetingly with another person’s mind. It was thrilling, and as they experimented together, they fell in love. It was during this time that Sean was born. In their experiments, they took greater and greater risks. It was not until too late that they discovered a tumour was growing in Lisa’s brain, likely caused by the excessive drug use. Academic disgrace followed, and Sean and Lisa left university to continue their work in isolation – in the hut in the hills behind Albie’s marae. Over time the tumour changed Lisa’s personality, making her depressed and angry. Their relationship became strained. The breakthrough in the experiments came in their last session, as Lisa was dying. Euphoric, Lisa said she’d made contact with something she called the “Oneness”. Albie was sure that she was experiencing the end of her life. But instead, her eyes flicked open, alert and awake, with the characteristic blackness that we recognise as belonging to the Visitors. This was the first ever Visitor: Cilandre.
A Story: Present Day. Sean, Teremoana, Noah and Paka trek through the hills toward Albie’s hut. As they walk, Noah asks if he can remember everything that every Visitor has experienced, does he remember Adam1’s death? Indeed, Paka does remember being Adam1, and being “evicted” by Sean back to the Oneness. Sean is unnerved that everything that Adam1 did is inside Paka. It makes her look at him differently.
They find Albie’s hut. It’s rustic and overgrown. Inside is Albie’s old scientific equipment … and Albie! Sean is finally reunited with her father. But she’s is angry with him: He left her all alone. More than that, she feels betrayed that Albie never told her that her mother was still alive! Albie defends his position – for all practical purposes, Lisa is dead.
Albie confesses the truth to Sean about her mother: That she was the first person to connect to the Oneness, and how all other Visitors arrive via the link with the Oneness that Lisa first established. And that Cilandre is still walking around in Lisa’s body, after all these years. He knew they would come for him, seeking the knowledge he had. Most of all, he knew Sean had her mother’s abilities, and he needed to keep that hidden from them. So he has been hiding all these years.
Albie is excited to hear that Sean evicted Adam1. This will be how we beat the Visitors! If Sean can evict Cilandre, that will close the bridge forever. But he also realises that thanks to new Visitors sharing Adam1’s memories, Cilandre must now know that Sean has the same ability that her mother had. Albie tells Sean that Cilandre wants to build new bridges to the Oneness, to open the floodgates for millions of Visitors to enter our world. To do this, she’ll try to force Sean to become a bridge, becoming trapped, just like her mother. Sean is in danger!
This changes everything. Albie decides he can’t hide any more. Cilandre won’t stop until she captures Sean… so to save his daughter, he needs to kill Cilandre. Sean protests – that would kill her mother too! But Albie tells Sean that Lisa died a long time ago. Albie insists, and Sean capitulates, the loyal daughter.
Albie reasons that the Visitors will be guarding Cilandre jealously, especially after the attempt on her life. He needs to find a way to get to her. Noah suggests they might be able to access Cilandre’s memories through Paka. If a part of Cilandre is buried inside Paka, Sean might be able to connect with Paka, and through him find Cilandre, perhaps then she could find a time and a place when she is vulnerable. Albie forbids it. Sean would need to take Lucid to do that, just like Lisa did. He doesn’t want to give Lucid to Sean. There’s no way.
But Sean thinks it’s worth a try, so at night when Albie is asleep, Sean uses Albie’s old laboratory to brew a batch of Lucid. With Noah and Teremoana keeping watch, she mind-melds with Paka….
The inside of Paka’s mind is nightmarish. Sean is hunted by Adam1! In desperation she kills him, but he returns, again and again. She finds Paka by recalling the memories she shares with him. Together they overcome Adam1.
With the nightmare calmed, they try to find Cilandre. They remember Paka’s birth: The only time they were both in the same room as her. Together they focus one moment where Cilandre connected with Paka, moments after his birth. Using that moment as an anchor, they step into Cilandre’s mind.
… only they find themselves not in Cilandre’s memories, but Lisa’s. Impressionistic memories of being a university student, working with and loving a younger Albie, and finally, being a mother to a baby Sean. Lisa greets Sean – it’s not just Lisa in a memory, but the real Lisa!
Albie wakes and discovers that Sean has taken Lucid. He is enraged. But as Sean and Paka return to the real world, Sean is unrepentant. Having seen and felt Lisa, Sean is convinced that Cilandre mustn’t be killed. Lisa is still alive! Defying her father, Sean and leaves with her friends to head back to the city.
But as they are leaving, they are ambushed by Adam2 and his troops. In the fracas, Paka saves Sean by killing the Visitor named Melvyl. Sean makes her escape. But Paka is deeply shaken by what he’s just done.
B Story: At the Visitor’s embassy, Cilandre’s interrogations of the “resistance” reveal that Albie owns a hut in the mountains behind the marae. Cilandre assembles a team. But Adam2’s lust for power is threatening Cilandre’s leadership of the Visitors. He successfully argues that Cilandre must stay inside the Visitor’s embassy for her own safety. Cilandre finds herself a prisoner in her own embassy.
Adam2 pressures Tūhaka into revealing where Sean is, using the same technique that Cilandre used on Albie in ep2 – torture. It requires a Visitor to suffer great pain alongside the victim, and Adam2 chooses Melvyl, the Visitor who broke Adam2’s fingers just hours after he was “born”. Adam2 is a vengeful guy. When Tūhaka is broken by the torture, Adam2 starts his journey into the hills, bringing both Tūhaka and Melvyl with him.
But Tūhaka continues to quietly rebel. He leads Adam2’s group in the wrong direction, for which he is punished harshly. One night while their hunting party is camped, Tūhaka learns that what Cilandre plans to do with Sean. She will become a new bridge to the Oneness, but this means that Sean’s mind will be imprisoned for ever. Tūhaka begins crafting a makeshift weapon to kill Adam2.
The group find Albie’s hut. They ambush Sean’s group as they’re leaving. But during the ambush, Tūhaka attacks Adam2. He fails, but the ambush is a failure, and Sean and her allies escape.
In revenge, Adam kills Tūhaka.