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408. Down a Crooked Path
Aired in the U.S. March 19, 2000
Directed by Terry Ingram
Written by Peter M. Lenkov
Edited by Richard Wells
Dialogue transcribed by Cathy
COMM
OPERATIONS: What is it, Birkoff?
BIRKOFF: We have an airlock penetration in the east portal.
OPERATIONS: Someone's inside?
BIRKOFF: Something's inside.
VOICE: Unidentified gas in the east portal. File breach. Convert to forced 02.
OPERATIVE: Put them on, quickly!
OPERATIONS: Invert the air vents!
VOICE: Inversion complete. Biohazard contained. Comm clear. Systems clear. Tactical clear. Ordinance clear.
OPERATIONS’ PERCH
OPERATIONS: I understand George, but there were no casualties. Everything was contained. We're running down possibilities now. I understand but --. I see no reason for you --. Yes.
MADELINE: George thinks we were compromised by the breach in security.
OPERATIONS: He's sending a bio-med team in to examine us all. Starting with department heads and key operatives.
MADELINE: We have our own med techs who can do that.
OPERATIONS: He's afraid that what hit us was a virus. Similar to what happened to Section Six. They were helpless to do anything, so he's going to oversee this personally. Which means his people, under his complete control. Should we be suspicious?
MADELINE: I sent him productivity numbers after the incident. We're at full capacity. What's his rationale?
OPERATIONS: He seems to think some of us were infected with a new strain.
MADELINE: Do you?
OPERATIONS: No.
SYSTEMS
MICHAEL: Anything?
NIKITA: The P.J.K. are clean. So is Crimson Storm.
MICHAEL: Black Sun?
NIKITA: They wouldn't attempt anything as big as this.
MICHAEL: Sweep them anyway.
NIKITA: Okay. Oh, jeez. I'm sorry, I'm tired.
MICHAEL: Move over.
OPERATIONS’ PERCH
VOICE: Sir?
OPERATIONS: Yes?
VOICE: The bio-tech team has arrived.
OPERATIONS: Show them to the infirmary.
VAN ACCESS
The two-man bio-med team arrives.
MUNITIONS
BIRKOFF: Walter, you done with that triangulator? You okay?
WALTER: Yeah…I-I don't know, whatever it is that blew into that airlock, it sort of reshuffled my deck just a little bit.
BIRKOFF: Don't worry about it. Oversight's sending a bio team to examine us.
WALTER: Oh yeah, don't worry about it. Yeah, what do you think they're going to do when they find out I've been infected? Huh? This is not a convalescent home! Yeah? Oh...I'll be right there. They want to see me in the infirmary.
MED LAB
TECH 1: Walter.
WALTER: Yeah, it's me. Fit as a fiddle.
TECH 1: Come in.
WALTER: Why don't you just give me a couple aspirins and I'll call myself in the morning?
TECH 1: Lie down.
WALTER: What's that stuff?
TECH 1: It's a sedative.
WALTER: Any particular reason why I need that?
TECH 2: Our bio probe requires the subject to be asleep.
WALTER: Bio probe?
TECH 2: You may feel light headed; may even hallucinate.
WALTER: Haven't done that in years.
Walter’s eyes flutter close and he remembers.
LITA: Don't you want to tell me about your life?
WALTER: Yes I do.
LITA: Pues?
WALTER: I can't.
LITA: Were you involved in something bad?
WALTER: Oh, no. I'm not a criminal or anything like that.
LITA: Entonces, no entiendo.
WALTER: I work at a place that doesn't exist. No, I mean it - it exists. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? I-I work for an organization called Section One.
His memory flickers.
WALTER: All of a sudden out of the clear blue sky, you come down hear to say thanks for the good work. What do you want me to do, wag my tail, if you want something from me, just come out and say it.
OPERATIONS: Look I just stopped by to give you -- give you a pat on the back.
WALTER: I don't need a pat on the back. I've been doing this job since before you came to Section, and I can probably do your job, too.
OPERATIONS: Really.
WALTER: Really.
OPERATIONS: One of these days you're going to carry this cranky old man act a little too far.
WALTER: What then -- you won't commend me to Oversight?
Walter’s memory flickers.
WALTER: So how are you doing?
NIKITA: I'm okay.
WALTER: Mmmmm…You look just as beautiful as ever.
NIKITA: So, I gather you had a very good time on your days off?
WALTER: No, good doesn't cover it. It transcends good, great, excellent, on its way to splendido.
NIKITA: So, are you going to see her again?
WALTER: No, I just wanted to see her this once. She's got a life of her own. But it was, um…
NIKITA: It was…
Walter growls and walks away. His memory flickers again.
MADELINE: Did you really think you could get away with this?
WALTER: It doesn’t matter. It’s what they wanted. It’s called living.
MADELINE: Living.
WALTER: Look it up, it’s in the dictionary.
MADELINE: Walter, you’re a 60 year old teenager.
Walter’s memory fades. The techs type on a computer. The computer says "Neural scrape complete".
MED LAB
OPERATIONS: How is Walter?
TECH 1: I'm afraid he's been infected.
OPERATIONS: Walter? Why doesn't he respond?
TECH 1: The infection caused a neural meltdown.
OPERATIONS: He was fine when he came in here.
TECH 1: It's incredible, we know. In fact, we've never seen anything quite like it before.
TECH 2: We're labbing it now. But my guess is, whatever entered his system worked on the same principle as a computer virus. Deleting the neural zones like an accelerated Alzheimer's disease.
OPERATIONS: So he doesn't know who I am?
TECH 2: Or anyone else for that matter. His mind has been wiped clean.
OPERATIONS: I want all bio-data on my desk as soon as it comes in.
TECH 1: You'll have to get George's permission.
OPERATIONS: As long as you're working on my Section on my people, you'll do as I say!
TECH 1: Very well. Would you send Nikita in, please?
OPERATIONS’ PERCH
MADELINE: Paul?
OPERATIONS: I'm fine.
MADELINE: Then why are you --?
OPERATIONS: I just got back from seeing how Walter's check-up was going.
MADELINE: How is he?
OPERATIONS: He's a vegetable. Seems that the attack was considerably more successful than we first expected.
MADELINE: Then George was right.
OPERATIONS: Yes. But how could he have been so certain? You think George could have been behind this attack?
MADELINE: We went to war with the man. It's possible this is his retribution.
OPERATIONS: Debilitation is grounds for cancellation.
MADELINE: I know.
OPERATIONS: Despite all our preventative measures, it seems that George has finally found a way to get rid of us -- once and for all.
MED LAB
TECH 2: (to Nikita) You may feel light headed, even hallucinate. It's very normal. Just relax, Nikita. This will all be over very soon.
Nikita falls unconscious and remembers.
MICHAEL: You're not in prison anymore. The world thinks you're dead. Suicide. This is your funeral. Row 8, plot 30. This is where you'll train. This is where you'll learn. After two years, if everything goes well, you'll work for us.
NIKITA: Why me?
Nikita attacks Michael. He subdues her.
MICHAEL: When you attack someone from behind, go for the kidneys. It disables and they can't fight back. Consider that your first lesson.
NIKITA: I don't want -- I don't want lessons!
MICHAEL: We start tomorrow at 5 a.m.
NIKITA: And if I don't want to?
MICHAEL: Row 8, plot 30.
Nikita’s memory flickers.
MICHAEL: There's a removable panel behind the blue towels. Tell me when you've opened it.
NIKITA: Okay, it's open.
MICHAEL: Pull out the unit and assemble.
MICHAEL: Go to the window and open it.
NIKITA: Done.
Nikita’s memory shifts again.
NIKITA: The crime that got Section's attention: the reason I'm here? I didn't do it.
WALTER: Well that may be true but what the hell difference does it make now?
NIKITA: Suppose I was framed in the first place, because they wanted me here?
WALTER: Why?
NIKITA: Yeah, why?
Nikita’s memory reaches again, this time to when she was held prisoner and Michael leapt through a glass window and saved her from execution. Then, another change and she remembers another event.
MICHAEL: No one from the outside can understand who we are.
They dance.
MICHAEL: We fight all the time just to stay alive. Let's not fight what's between us. Let's take what we can get.
Nikita remembers no more. The computer reads: Neural scrape complete.
OPERATIONS’ PERCH
OPERATIONS: You've heard?
MICHAEL: They think Nikita's infected.
MADELINE: Michael, we believe that the virus might have come from in-house.
OPERATIONS: We think George might be behind it.
MICHAEL: Why?
OPERATIONS: We don't know yet. But we can't make a move until we have a confirm.
MADELINE: What we do know is that the team George sent is doing nothing to cure us.
OPERATIONS: They're here with another objective and it has something to do with erasing our minds.
VOICE: Sir?
OPERATIONS: Yes.
VOICE: They want you in the infirmary now.
OPERATIONS: Tell them I'm on my way. We can't tip our hand just yet. Michael, find out if this is George's doing and then proceed accordingly.
MICHAEL: Of course.
MED LAB
Operations remembers.
OPERATIONS: What's going on?
SOLDIER: You're being reassigned
Operations remembers visiting The Wall in Washington D.C. His memory flicks to another time.
CORINNE: He was killed during the war. Actually, he was missing in action. We never recovered the body. He was an intelligence officer in the military. But I worked through that years ago. What I'm feeling now has nothing to do with Paul.
Operations’ memory flashes again.
OPERATIONS: No one knows about this but you and me, and make sure it stays that way. Above all, Steven is never to know anything about this conversation or about me.
NIKITA: So what’s so special about Steven Wolfe?
OPERATIONS: He’s my son.
Operations remembers more.
OPERATIONS: Did you like it?
MADELINE: Oh, the necklace is lovely. Here.
OPERATIONS: You don't want it?
MADELINE: Let's not open things up again. We're both much too busy.
His memory jumps to another incident with Madeline.
OPERATIONS: Remember this song?
MADELINE: Of course.
Finally, Operations recalls the day he learned of his son’s death.
MED LAB
TECH 2: Uh, you can't come in here. We're in the middle of an examination.
MICHAEL: Nikita?
COMM
BIRKOFF: How's Nikita?
MICHAEL: Not good.
BIRKOFF: And Walter?
Michael shakes his head.
BIRKOFF: The bio-techs are doing something to them, aren't they?
MICHAEL: Maybe.
BIRKOFF: If they are, we have to do something, Michael. Operations is in there. Two bullets, that's all you need.
MICHAEL: What we need are answers.
BIRKOFF: It's impossible to jack into their mainframe. They're running juice off their own power cells. That means they're not even wired into our system.
MICHAEL: Can you reroute their power?
BIRKOFF: Yeah, but I'd have to do it myself.
Birkoff gets up and leaves.
MED LAB
BIRKOFF: You wanted to see me?
TECH 1: Um, who are you?
BIRKOFF: Birkoff.
TECH 2: Seymour? Yes. We'll see you shortly. Return to your post -- we'll call you.
They leave. Birkoff goes to their computer and modifies it. The techs return.
TECH 2: You still here?
BIRKOFF: Yeah. I'm not feeling very well.
TECH 2: That's why we're here.
COMM
BIRKOFF: Piece of cake. Okay, I'm in their system.
MADELINE: Can you identify the virus?
BIRKOFF: It's nothing.
MICHAEL: What do you mean?
BIRKOFF: There's no real virus. No treatment.
MADELINE: That's impossible. We're all feeling something.
BIRKOFF: It's a surface bug. It's a stimulant to make us feel as if we're sick.
MADELINE: How long does it last?
BIRKOFF: Depends on the contamination level. No more than 24 to 36 hours. Then it's gone.
MADELINE: George needs us to think we're sick so we'll submit to treatment.
BIRKOFF: This can't be right.
MADELINE: What is it?
BIRKOFF: It's a black directive.
MADELINE: Read it.
BIRKOFF: It's a cancellation order with a list of names. We're all on it.
MICHAEL: If George wants us dead, why the ruse?
BIRKOFF: He's ordered a neural download first.
MICHAEL: They're stealing our minds.
MADELINE: To extract our expertise. George needs us, but can't risk having us around for fear of insurrection. By harvesting our consciousness, George will be able to build a tactical library. Once he's done, he'll exercise the ultimate power. Nonresistant Section operatives with years of training at the touch of a button.
COMM
MADELINE: Can the process be reversed?
BIRKOFF: If it's like a computer virus, the data they mine can be uploaded as well as downloaded.
The phone rings.
BIRKOFF: Yeah. (he passes the phone to Madeline)
MADELINE: I'll be right there.
BIRKOFF: You can't go.
MICHAEL: She has to or George will know something's up.
MADELINE: We have an advantage now. If we can block the process, one of you can move tactically and reverse what they've done to us.
BIRKOFF: How? How do we stop them from stealing our minds?
MADELINE: A neural blocker was developed shortly after the Gelman process was greenlighted. A fail-safe measure in case Operations was ever subjected to the mind control process. You'll find the chemical components in his private data bank. I'll give you the codes. I think with some modifications, it will work.
BIRKOFF: And if it doesn't?
MADELINE: It has to.
MED LAB
TECH 1: Madeline, how are you feeling today?
OPERATIONS’ PERCH
Birkoff types at Operations’ wall terminal.
SECTION
BIRKOFF: I got it. The neural blocker from the Gelman process. You think Operations will believe this is all I extracted from his computer? We could have had a field day with some of the file names I saw.
MICHAEL: The chemical breakdown?
BIRKOFF: It's all here.
MED LAB
Madeline remembers earlier times in Section.
NIKITA: Are you sure there's nothing wrong?
MADELINE: Sometimes I don't know if I'm still strong enough to do this.
NIKITA: Well, you're the strongest person I've ever met.
Madeline’s mind turns to another memory.
DOCTOR: I'm sorry; he's not going to make it. It's just a question of how long he stays on life support. Will you be making that decision?
MADELINE: I already have. I've decided that he's going to recover. I'll help you. Go back inside, tell your colleagues to do the possible, then the impossible, then the unthinkable, until he is out of danger. Because when you are finished, doctor, that room will contain either four living men, or four corpses. Do you understand?
DOCTOR: Ok.
Madeline recalls hot-wiring a car.
NIKITA: You'll have to tell me about yourself someday, Madeline.
MADELINE: Someday. Get in.
Madeline’s memory takes her to a personal recollection.
MADELINE: Hello, mother. I've been thinking a lot about you lately . . . about us. You don't know who I am, do you?
Her mother says nothing.
MADELINE: I didn't think so. After Sarah died, I made a choice. Of course, I didn't realize it was a choice at the time, but it was a choice. I chose to be the person you saw, the girl who killed her sister. Then I created my own hell, and have lived in it ever since.
SECTION
BIRKOFF: We're still off the mark.
MICHAEL: Maybe the blocker only works if it's stimulated.
BIRKOFF: Maybe we have to subject ourselves to the process in order for it to work.
Phone rings
BIRKOFF: Don't answer it.
MICHAEL: We have to.
BIRKOFF: We're not finished.
Michael answers the phone, listens, hangs up.
BIRKOFF: They want me?
MICHAEL: Right now.
BIRKOFF: I'm not going.
MICHAEL: You don't have a choice.
BIRKOFF: Michael --
MICHAEL: Go. I'll finish it.
BIRKOFF: Remember, the catalytic response we're looking for will turn this green. What we have now won't work.
MICHAEL: Go.
BIRKOFF: You're our only chance.
MED LAB
Birkoff falls into memory.
NIKITA: How'd you get into Section?
BIRKOFF: I killed my entire family. I'm kidding. Just my sister.
Birkoff recalls an unusual night out.
BIRKOFF: You, me. The two of us. Why not? You're the best looking girl in Section . . . and you care about me, right?
NIKITA: Sure I care.
BIRKOFF: Then what's the problem?
Nikita looks at him with uncomfortable regret.
BIRKOFF: I'm a little brother, right.
Birkoff’s memory takes him to the illicit tryst in the ready room with Nikita’s look-alike. It flickers once more and he recalls the mission he recently shared with Walter.
BIRKOFF: It's called CR-14. If even a small drop enters through a pore in the skin, death is almost instantaneous. Oops, I may have spilled some when I was pouring it into the vial.
SECTION
MICHAEL: I'm on my way.
MED LAB
Michael begins to hallucinate about his wife, Simone.
MICHAEL: It's me, Simone. Do you remember me? You're okay now. You're safe now. You're safe now. You're safe. It's okay.
His mind lurches to another dramatic memory.
MICHAEL: We're okay so far. When I was in there and it started to get bad --
NIKITA: Michael, don't, save your strength.
MICHAEL: I thought I was gonna break, but I didn’t. I thought of you. You’re the only one of us who still has a soul.
Michael memory flashes to a happier time with his son Adam as they planted a tree. Suddenly, the memories begin to unravel in reverse and alarms sound.
TECH 1: Something's wrong.
TECH 2: He's red lining!
TECH 1: Cut the power
TECH 2: It's not working!
TECH 1: Pull the plug!
TECH 2: What the Hell? Did you hotwire into Section?
TECH 1: No.
Michael leaps up, grabs the first tech by the throat and shoots and kills the second.
TECH 1: Look, I was given orders!
MICHAEL: So was I.
OVERSIGHT
GEORGE: Yes.
TECH 1: We're done.
GEORGE: I'm on my way.
MED LAB
GEORGE: Where's Michael?
Michael emerges and stuns George.
MICHAEL: (to Tech1) Take him to the lab.
Michael reverses the neural scrape on all five victims.
NIKITA: Michael?
MICHAEL: It's over.
OPERATIONS: Were our suspicions correct?
MICHAEL: Yes.
OPERATIONS: Will George know he failed?
MICHAEL: I've taken care of that.
COMMITTEE
OPERATIONS: Did you get my proposal on the Madang tactical situation?
GEORGE: Yes, I did.
OPERATIONS: I'm going to need a manpower upgrade for all of Santa Cruz.
GEORGE: Request granted.
OPERATIONS: And the ADI project? As you know I sent you the intel report last month.
GEORGE: I'll see that you get it.
OPERATIONS: Thank you.
GEORGE: Anything else?
OPERATIONS: No.
GEORGE: Madeline?
MADELINE: I have a few requests. I'll forward them to you.
GEORGE: Great. Do you -- do you two have time for a drink?
MADELINE: I'm afraid we're very busy.
OPERATIONS: That will be all George. You can go now.
GEORGE: Right.
George leaves. Behind him, Madeline and Operations share a knowing look.
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