2001

Aki:
There's a life-form in here.

Gray:
There hasn't been life here in years.

Aki:
Well there is now.

Ryan:
Oh, please! Tell me we're not risking our necks for this plant!

Jane:
I wouldn't even call it a plant. It's a weed.

Neil:
I wouldn't even call it a weed.

Jane:
What's with her?

Ryan:
What's with her and the captain?

Neil:
What's with her and that stupid plant? [Jane and Ryan glare at him] What?

Aki:
[Reading Sid's journal] "All life is born of Gaia, and each life has a spirit. Each new spirit is housed in a physical body…" Doctor?

Dr. Sid:
: Go on.

Aki:
"Through their experiences on earth, each spirit matures and grows. When the physical body dies, the mature spirit, enriched by its life on earth, returns to Gaia. Bringing with it the experiences… enabling Gaia to live and grow."

Dr. Sid:
: I was young once too, you know.

Aki:
Doctor, there's a war going on. No one's young anymore.

Aki:
What we need now is some luck.

Dr. Sid:
: Luck has nothing to do with it! Faith and hard work, girl. Cause I'll be damned if you're going to die before me!

Aki:
I was infected by a Phantom during an experiment. Normally no one could have survived.

Gray:
How did you?

Aki:
Dr. Sid created a membrane around the infection, keeping me alive. So the first spirit wave was me. The second was a fish.

Gray:
A fish?

Aki:
The third was a deer I found in a wildlife preserve outside of Moscow. The fourth was a bird. Ever try to track a sparrow from outer space? It's no fun. What am I saying; you probably would love that.

Gray:
You're right, I probably would.

Aki:
And then there was that plant I collected from Times Square.

Gray:
I thought that was number six.

Aki:
What?

Gray:
You skipped one.

Aki:
[Quietly] The fifth was a little girl, dying in a hospital emergency room. I retrieved the sample in time, but she, uh… I told her everything had a spirit. Dogs, cats, trees, little girls, even the Earth. I told her that she wasn't dying, just returning to the Earth's spirit. To Gaia. She, uh, told me that she was ready to die. She said I didn't have to make up stories to make her feel better. [Pause] Only seven years old and ready to die.

Gray:
Is the General suggesting that Dr. Ross is a spy?

General Hein:
The General is wondering why he's explaining himself to a Captain.

Dr. Sid:
: Her vital signs are dropping. Aki is slipping away from us. She needs a sympathetic spirit to help hold her in this world, and I can think of no spirit better suited for that task than yours, Captain.

Gray:
I don't understand.

Dr. Sid:
: You don't have to understand. You just be with her now. You keep her with us.

Aki:
All right. Why do you think we've never been able to determine a relationship between the human-sized Phantoms and the giant ones roaming the wastelands?

Neil:
Excuse me Doc, but… what friggin' relationship? I mean, you got your human-sized Phantoms, a-a-and your creepy, caterpillary Phantoms, and your flying Phantoms, and let's not forget my personal favorite, the big fat giant Phantoms!

Jane:
Down boy!

Ryan:
He's right. If you spent as much time in the field as we have, you know there is no relationship. It's like a zoo out there.

Aki:
Precisely! I think the giant ones are like our whales, or elephants.

Neil:
But why would an invading army bring a bunch of whales and elephants along for the ride? Unless their ship was some kind of a crazy Noah's arc.

Dr. Sid:
: Hmm. W-w-we have always assumed that the meteor was intended as a form of transportation. Perhaps it wasn't.

Aki:
The meteor is a chunk of their planet that got thrown into space when they destroyed their world.

Neil:
But how could they survive the trip across outer space on a chunk of rock?

Aki:
They didn't.

Neil:
Oh. This is all beginning to make a creepy kind of sense.

Automated Announcement:
Proceed to the nearest evacuation facility. Proceed to the nearest evacuation facility.

Neil:
I think we should proceed to the nearest evacuation facility.

[Neil is trying to hotwire an impound tractor while Jane keeps guard]

Neil:
Jane, let me ask you something. You think we're going to get out of here alive? I mean, I wonder if anyone else has gotten out. You think anyone's made it this far? Huh?

Jane:
Uhhh…

Neil:
You think this "Eighth Spirit" stuff is really gonna work against the Phantoms? I mean, what if it's all a bunch of mumbo jumbo? [The control panel zaps him] Ow! Jane, do you mind if we stop talking? I'm trying to concentrate here.

General Hein:
We're going to hit again and again. And keep on hitting it, until it's dead.

Zeus Cannon Operator:
But sir, we're not even sure if it has any affect on the creature!

General Hein:
No effect? We've got them on the run, soldier. This is our moment of victory. I order you to fire.

Zeus Cannon Operator:
The system won't allow us to fire again, sir!

General Hein:
We'll see about that...

Automated Warning:
Warning, system overload.

General Hein:
I know!

Automated Warning:
Warning, system overload.

General Hein:
I KNOW! But it must be done...