Co-Stars: Christopher Redman (Rick); Karen Robinson (Mrs. Baylor); Daniel Levesque (Peron); Bill Chernin (Steve); Daniel Fathers (Tina’s Dad)

Originally Aired: 21-Jan-2002; Written by: Charles Heit; Directed by: George Bloomfield

An alien takes over the body of a teenager and creates an alluring cult, promising homeless teens a better life. His followers have no idea that this "better life" means becoming a host to desperate fugitives from another solar system.

When Daggon sees the picture of a missing teenage boy on the side of a milk carton, he realizes that the teen fits the profile of a fugitive he has been Tracking. The boy, Tom Hanson, was a good student and came from a loving and supportive home. Then one day he just disappeared. It turns out that Tom happened to be on a commuter train coming into Chicago a few weeks back and is now embodied by Zaylon, a brilliant criminal from Varda.

Daggon discovers that ‘Tom Hanson’ has become an underground cult leader ... a charismatic hero to the disenfranchised teens who pour into the city every day. He promises them a new and wonderful life, one free of pain and full of love and happiness. What the teens don’t realize, and what Daggon will eventually discover, is that Zaylon is essentially harvesting the young Humans and keeping them in a state of suspended animation in a downtown warehouse. Since many of his fellow escapees from Sar-Top are inhabiting bodies that are either sick or old and fragile, Zaylon is working on technology which would allow their lifeforces to be transferred into the younger and stronger bodies that he is collecting. Daggon’s mission becomes more personal when Kate has a blow up with Mel and storms out of the house, right into the waiting and comforting arms of ‘Tom Hanson.’

Synopsis: This episode delves even deeper into Cole’s character and the humor is again top-notch. And love how Adrian’s caring of children and young people is woven into the story. Very nice move!

Note that the usual pauses and hesitations of past episodes are becoming less obvious in Cole’s speech and his movements and facial expressions are becoming much more natural and fluid.

———————————————————————

The teaser begins with Mel carting a can of trash out of the Watchfire. As she rounds the side of the building, a green and white lawn chair comes sailing out of an apartment window and lands in her dumpster.

Mel: "Oh my God! Not this time!" Pissed, she starts screaming up at the neighboring apartment window. "Shawanda! Shawanda!!! I saw you! I caught you red-handed!" She yanks the chair out of the dumpster. "This is not my chair! But it landed in my dumpster!! Shawanda!!!" She tosses the chair aside and scrounges through the dumpster, pulling out a painting as Cole comes around behind her. "Cole! Do you see this? Do you see this painting!?"

Cole, uncertain how to react to her anger: "Yes, Mel."

Cole: "What would you like me to do with it?"

Mel: "Put it in the dumpster!"

Cole: "Okay." He dumps the painting and the entire trash can into the dumpster.

[Cole’s childlike manner in always doing just as Mel tells him to do is always amusing].

Mel, rolling her eyes: "Not the whole thing, Cole!" She pulls the can out and shoves it at him. "Here! Take that back!"

She makes a rude noise at Shawanda’s window and storms away.

Cole, calling out: "Maybe Shawanda would like to put her stuff in it?"

Mel: "Maybe Shawanda would like to put it somewhere else!"

She stalks back to the Watchfire’s entry, sees a passerby drop a coffee container and picks it up, yelling, "Hey! Take your trash off the streets, lady!"

She turns to Cole, who’s following her, "What is wrong with people!? ... What is wrong with people!?"

As Mel goes back into the bar after her outburst, Cole feels compelled to say to a passersby who comments, ‘What’s up’: "I’m sorry. She’s angry at Shawanda

Cole, following Mel in: "Your waste disposal system seems very inefficient."

Mel: "Really? And how would you deal with it up there?"

Cole: "We molecularize the waste material, then we run it through a nebulization process..."

Mel: "Forget I asked!"

They both toss some trash in a can and Cole grabs a pouch of light bulbs to replace the burned out ones in the table lamps.

Mel: "How’s the reading coming?"

Cole: "Good. Melville, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dickens, Shakespeare, Faulkner and Twain."

Mel: "That’s great. You memorized their names. The assignment was to try to read one of them."

Cole, changing a bulb: "I did."

Mel: "You did? Which one?"

Cole: "Melville, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dickens, Shakespeare, Faulkner and Twain."

Mel, disbelieving: "You read all of them?"

Cole, testing the bulb: "There was a page missing from The Great Gatsby, though."

Mel: "How is that possible? Last week you were still struggling with The Little Train That Could!"

Cole: "Well, once I understood the basic syntax, I was able to read very quickly."

Mel nods, amazed: "Of course ... Do you have a favorite?"

Cole: "Green Eggs and Ham."

[An ‘insider’s joke’ for those who’ve ever heard crewmembers from "Highlander" or "Forever Knight" reading Green Eggs and Ham at the cons].

Mel, laughing: "And that would be because?"

Cole: "It’s the only one I really understood."

Mel, realizing: "You’re struggling with the vocabulary! ... Cole, that’s why we have a dictionary ... which I forgot to give you ... Here." She hands it to him. "You know, when we read it’s very important to read for comprehension, not just speed ... Do you understand what I’m saying?"

Cole, leafing through the dictionary: "Yes. But I have no idea what ‘comprehension’ means." Before she has a chance to respond, he taps the dictionary. "Don’t worry, Mel ... I will look it up in the dictionary."

Jess, coming in the door: "Good morning." She then notices the clothes Cole is wearing. "Hey! Great look! Even if I did put it together myself!" She stops to admire his ass as he leans over the bar. "What do you think, Mel? Doesn’t it make his bum kind of look..."

Mel: "Jess!"

Jess, grinning and coyly rolling her eyes. "Anyone for coffee?"

Mel: "No, thanks."

Cole, absorbed in another book: "No, thanks."

Jess, noting the pile of books as she moves in back of the bar: "Shakespeare? Aren’t we classic! So, which one is your favorite one?"

Cole, tongue-in-cheek: "The one where the man dies at the end."

Jess, chuckling: "Yeah! That would be almost all of them, Cole!"

Cole notices the ‘missing child’ picture on the half-gallon milk carton Jess is shaking and grabs it from her.

Jess: "Hey!"

Mel: "Cole?" He heads upstairs and Mel follows. "Cole!"

Jess, to herself: "I’ll have my coffee black, then."

———————————————————————

Upstairs in the War Room...

Mel: "You could’ve gotten your own carton of milk, you know." She looks around and realizes that a lot has changed in Cole’s room. "What did you do in here?"

Cole: "I needed to make your technology more efficient ... Do you remember that disc I took from the ATM machine at the train station? [Brief flashback to that scene in "Cloud Nine"].

Mel: "Yes. The one that recorded the arrival of the aliens."

Cole: "The machine recorded three of their images before that woman stepped in front of the camera."

Mel, moving to look at his computer screen: "Cole, how can you possibly tell what this person looks like?"

Cole looks at her as if to say, ‘oh, ye of little faith’, then sharpens the very blurred image to crystal clarity and holds up the picture on the milk carton beside it.

Cole: "This boy was on that train."

———————————————————————

Mel, reading from the side of the milk carton: "Missing since July fifteenth."

[Note: In "The Beast" the date of alien arrival is assumed to be June 12th (the date the German Shepherd was shipped), while in "The Miracle" the date given is that of (probably June) 23rd].

Cole: "We have to talk to his family."

Mel: "They’re not going to talk to a couple of strangers."

Cole: "No, they won’t ... Unless..."

Mel, realizing what he has in mind: "No! We can’t keep doing that!"

She chases after him to her framed caricatures with police badges in the pool table area of the bar.

Mel, plucking off two badges: "You know, someday somebody is going to check the serial numbers on these things and realize that you’re not Detective Phil Wong and I am not retired Desk Sergeant Myron Rabinski."

Cole smiles at her fondly and follows her out of the Watchfire.

———————————————————————

Mel and Cole drive out to the Baylor house.

Mel, as they walk to the door: "Remember ... Just follow my lead and let me do most of the talking, okay?"

Just then a paperboy throws a newspaper and it lands at their feet. Cole bends to pick it up.

Mel: "Cole, what are you..."

Cole, throwing the paper back at the paperboy and hitting him in the back: "Keep your trash off the street!"

Paperboy: "Weirdo!"

Mel, when a woman answers the door: "Mrs. Baylor?"

Mrs. Baylor: "Yes?"

Mel, holding up ‘her’ badge: "Detective Rabinski."

Cole, flashing open his jacket to show ‘his’ badge: "Detective Phil Wong."

Mrs. Baylor stares at him funny for a moment.

Mel: "We’ve been assigned to assist on your son’s case."

They’re invited into the house.

Mrs. Baylor, as she takes them to her son Jordan’s room: "He’s always been an ‘A’ student, never given us any trouble. But about a month ago he just started acting strange."

Cole: "How?"

Mrs. Baylor: "Uh ... Staying out late, hanging out with rough kids ... I guess I’m ... I’m just worrying ... you know ... about him being out there on the streets alone ... People taking advantage of him..."

———————————————————————

Cut to Jordan Baylor, 15-year old street hustler and thug.

He sees two teenagers fleeing from a very irate deli storeowner wielding a baseball bat who’s determined to get even for them stealing food and he goes to intervene. Just as the storeowner nabs the teenage girl, Jordan grabs him, thereby allowing both teens to escape. He then knocks out the storeowner with a neck pinch.

———————————————————————

Mel and Cole have been left alone in Jordan’s room. Mel closes the door for privacy while a curious Cole easily lifts one of Jordan’s barbells with one hand and then sets it back on the rack.

Mel: "Can I help?"

Cole: "Of course."

Mel: "What exactly am I looking for?"

Cole: "Anything that would be strange for a 15-year old Human boy."

Mel: "Great."

She briefly looks around then starts to search the closet while Cole feels around the bed. He pulls a out a girlie magazine entitled Naked Truth that was hidden between the mattress and box spring.

Cole, holding up the magazine: "Mel, this is what I was referring to. Adult entertainment for men."

Mel: "Actually ... not that strange ... A lot of 15-year old boys look at those magazines."

Cole: "But this says it’s for adults and Jordan is not an adult." He starts to leaf through it.

Mel: "Boys around Jordan’s age ... kind of become intrigued by women’s ... bodies."

Cole, awed, holding up the magazine so that she can see the centerfold: "Does your body look like that, Mel?"

Mel, after a wide-eyed pause: "No."

Cole: "Why not?"

Mel, changing the subject: "Cole, trust me on this. It’s really not that strange for a Human boy."

Flustered because he’s still very interested in looking through the magazine, Mel takes it away from him and tosses it on the bed.

Mel: "Positive."

Cole, kind of drooping his head, almost as if he’s disappointed: "Okay."

[He should’ve ‘innocently’ asked if Mel could give him a workshop in comparative anatomy!].

Cole then takes out the Yellow Pages from Jordan’s nightstand.

Mel: "Did you find something?"

Cole: "Jordan was looking at this page recently."

Mel: "How can you tell?"

Cole: "The book opened here with the least resistance ... What does ... ‘as-the-ma’ mean?" Mel comes around to look and he points out the word. "Here."

Mel: "Asthma."

Cole: "Asthma. Yes. What does that mean?"

Mel: "It’s an illness which ... sometimes makes it difficult to breathe."

Making a connection, Cole rips out the page for reference and then tosses the Yellow Pages on the bed.

As a somewhat annoyed Mel turns to put the Yellow Pages back in the nightstand, Cole swipes Naked Truth from off the bed without her noticing...

[Want to bet he deliberately set up that distraction?].

———————————————————————

Tina and Rick, the two teens Jordan aided in escaping the wraith of the deli shop owner, are sitting on the pavement leaning against a building and begging passersby for money. Jordan comes by, handing them each hero sandwiches, saying lunch is on him.

He makes like he’s all friendly, telling them that if they need a place to go, he’s with a group that has a warm warehouse shelter down on Grant where they all watch each others backs and pool their talents. He flashes a wad of money and tries to convince them to go with him and at least check the place out.

Tina isn’t interested but Rick is game, so the two of them set off.

———————————————————————

Mrs. Baylor, as she sees Mel and Cole out: "A few weeks ago he started wheezing and coughing ... We thought it was just allergies. We took him to Dr. Portman on Turnis. He ran some tests but it was ... it was strange. He couldn’t seem to find anything wrong, so..."

Mel: "Well, thank you for your time. We’ll be sure to let you know if we ... find anything new."

Mrs. Baylor: "Thank you."

Cole, sensing the woman’s grief and putting consoling hands on her shoulders: "He knows you care."

Mel, as they walk to the car: "Do you think this alien has asthma?"

Cole: "It could take time to adapt his Human body, so he could have trouble breathing."

Mel: "And that’s why the Human doctor couldn’t detect it."

Cole: "He would still need to get the medicine. Where would he do that?"

Mel: "A pharmacy, I guess."

Cole: "Good."

———————————————————————

The lunch-hour Watchfire is very busy.

Jess, running up to Mel: "Mel! Mel! ... I have to ask you a huge favor!"

Mel, cautious: "What is it?"

Jess: "I’ve got an audition ... for a toothpaste commercial!"

Cole, who’d been reading while carting cases, to Mel: "What does ‘lactate’ mean?"

Several of the bar’s patrons look over at him.

Mel, to Cole: "The dictionary." To Jess, "Audition?"

Jess: "Alex thinks I have a lot of potential!"

Mel: "Alex?"

Jess: "He’s a talent agent. Met him when he came in here the other night. And Gordon, my boyfriend, thinks it’s a great idea!"

Cole, reading aloud from the dictionary: "Mammals secrete milk. Lactation, secretion of milk by the mammary gland!"

Several more bar patrons look over at him.

Mel, to a stupidly grinning Cole: "Good!"

Jess, after looking weirdly at Cole a moment: "How about it, Mel? Will you cover for me?"

Mel: "Jess, what about the other girls?"

Cole: "Mel, I need to see you upstairs."

Jess, following Mel who’s following Cole: "I tried but they’re all busy!"

Mel: "You know waitressing is my least favorite pastime around here."

Jess: "But it’s Wednesday night! The place is always dead! ... Oh, please, Mel! ... Please!"

Mel, turning at the stairwell door: "Oh, all right."

Jess, giving her a big hug: "Oh, thank you!"

———————————————————————

Cole, as Mel enters the War Room: "I was checking pharmacy prescriptions like you said and I came across this one." He points to the screen and Mel comes to look over his shoulder. [It’s a prescription written by Dr. Alvin Portman and filled at Wellworth’s Pharmacy]. "It was made out to a deceased person ... Well, why would a pharmacy give medicine to a dead person?"

Mel: "They wouldn’t ... I mean, the doctor writes the prescription, which is sent to the pharmacy, and then ... Guess they didn’t know that this Brian MacCafferty was dead." Then she notices the doctor’s name. "Dr. Portman!"

Cole: "That was the name of the doctor Mrs. Baylor said she sent Jordan to."

Mel: "Right ... Maybe Jordan stole a prescription pad from Dr. Portman..."

Cole: "... And has been writing ones for himself under fake names."

[In this entire short segment, the way Cole is looking at Mel and his demeanor with her have become so different, his tone of voice much softer, as if he’d been seriously perusing that magazine and is becoming speculative!].

———————————————————————

Jordan is taking Rick through the warehouse and he thinks that the place is amazing. When Jordan takes a hit off of a mister, he asks if he has asthma like his brother. Jordan says it has more to do him smoking too much. He tells Rick that everyone is in the back, unlocks a door, and invites him in.

It’s not a shelter Rick finds himself in, but a strange laboratory with stacked up Human bodies encased in hammock-like contraptions with heavy tubings circulating blood and fluids into and out of them.

After a moment of stunned shock, Rick tries to flee but Jordan grabs him by the neck and leads him to a table where a well-placed neck pinch knocks him unconscious.

———————————————————————

The next morning Tina wakes up alone in her makeshift plastic tent on a tenement fire escape and is very worried. She hasn’t seen her friend Rick since he went off with Jordan. She starts waking some of the other teens sleeping in cardboard boxes and under plastic sheeting, but no one has seen him.

Dejected, she shuffles off down the alley.

———————————————————————

Mel, as she and Cole are leaving the Watchfire: "We’re just heading out for a bit, Jess. I have my phone."

Jess, mumbling incoherently, then spitting out a tooth-whitening plate: "Sorry ... Just as long as you’re going to be back by seven to cover for me, okay?"

Cole: "I think the pharmacy would be more cooperative if they’re dealing with ... official personnel."

Mel looks at him a moment, annoyed, then heads for the badges. Smiling, he starts following.

Jess, stopping him: "How they look?"

Cole: "What?"

Jess: "My teeth."

Cole, peering closely at her mouth: "Like teeth."

Jess, sarcastic: "Thanks!"

Cole: "That’s okay, Jess."

Mel comes up and hands him the badge without a word.

Cole, grinning: "Thank you, Sergeant."

His affectionately teasing expression as he follows her out is priceless.

———————————————————————

Jordan is the host for a Nodulian named Sirez and he’s using his innocent appearance to con street people, especially kids, into coming to the warehouse laboratory where he and Peron, an alien scientist, are working on a method of transferring alien lifeforces from the bodies they had to accept on the train into more suitable ones.

[Note: In "The Beast," Zin told Mederan (his bodyguard inside the dog) that he was working on a way to transfer lifeforces from one Human body to another and to be patient. So far, the aliens have gone from prison to self-imprisonment within Human bodies that may be flawed, damaged or, like Rhee, are of the wrong gender. Any aliens who ended up in little kids or ailing elderly people, or as the wrong sex, would prefer to have healthy, strong, proper sex adult bodies in the prime of life. Young people are probably targeted for these experiments not only because of their age, but also for their health and their general powerlessness].

Jordan/Sirez: "What happened?"

Peron: "There was a problem."

Jordan/Sirez: "Yeah, well, you’d better solve it now."

Peron: "Transferring the alien lifeforces to new Human hosts is not a simple process. The neural pathways have to be mapped precisely."

Jordan/Sirez: "Do you understand how important this is?"

Peron: "I know! I know!"

Jordan/Sirez: "You know?"

Peron: "I know!"

Jordan/Sirez: "Do you realize what we’re trying to do here? Zin is expecting us to have this perfected in two days. And in case you’ve forgotten, we’ve got the Tracker on our ass like he’s on a safari or something!"

Peron: "I understand! I understand! You think this is something I don’t know? There’s a few more things that I have to try! Give me a little more time!"

Jordan/Sirez: "Look, I’m going to go out and look for some more raw materials. I’ll be back."

[Note: Neither Sirez’s or Peron’s names are given in the episode, but they’re listed as being such in the guest cast. Additionally, Sirez’s name shows up as Jordan Baylor on Cole’s computer screen in "Remember When"].

———————————————————————

Mel and Cole drive up to the address given to them at the pharmacy.

Cole, looking up at the building: "Why are there boards on the windows?"

Mel: "The building’s been condemned by the City. It’s not safe for people to live inside." She notices some street kids in the alley. "Let’s ask those kids. Maybe they have some information."

Cole, checking ‘his’ badge: "Okay."

Mel, stopping him: "No, Cole. Not here ... Trust me."

Mel and Cole try talking with some of them, but their distrust of anyone who looks like they may be a cop or a Social Service worker makes it difficult.

Cole is still a bit naive about their panhandling – Tina tries to hustle him for money by saying that her grandmother needs an operation (Mel tells him "that girl’s grandmother is probably in an aerobics class") – but this is because he sees them as children and not as being deliberately deceptive the way Nestov is.

Mel gives Tina her phone number in case she finds out anything about Jordan, and Cole tells her to call if she needs help, slipping her ten dollars for her grandmother.

Cole, as they’re leaving: "Are they living there in those boxes?"

Mel: "Yeah, they are."

Cole: "What happens when it gets cold? When it rains?"

Mel: "It’s not easy for them, but they do the best they can."

Cole: "What about their families? Their parents?"

Mel: "Cole, a lot of those kids have very serious problems at home."

Cole, completely bewildered as to how any parent or adult could let this happen and not even try to do something about it: "But what problems could be worse than your children living in boxes on the street?"

Mel: "I agree with you ... It’s very complicated ... They do have agencies to help."

Cole: "Then why are they still there?"

Mel: "I don’t know ... I guess it’s because they don’t trust adults anymore."

———————————————————————

Mel and Cole spend the day walking around the City, showing Jordan’s picture to street people, shoppers, passersby, merchants and shopkeepers. Finally, one teen sends them in the proper direction and Cole takes off, leaving Mel behind as she’s delayed in tipping the informant.

At the entrance to an alley Cole senses the Track and hurries after it, Mel at a run to catch up to him.

Spotting Cole coming, the Nodulian flees and takes refuge in Lake Michigan.

Mel, as she gets there: "What happened? Where did he go?"

Cole: "In there."

Mel, looking at the ripples on the water’s surface: "Well, he’s gotta come out at some point, right?"

Cole: "No, he doesn’t. He’s a Nodulian. On his planet he lives mainly underwater. He can stay under there indefinitely."

———————————————————————

Back at the Watchfire...

Jess: "Hey, Mel."

Mel: "Hey!"

Jess, holding up the framed caricature that she broke the glass of in "The Plague": "What do you think? Just got it back from the framing place. Luckily, they still had the same style as the rest."

Mel: "Looks great!"

Jess: "But, Mel ... There’s another slight problem."

Mel: "What is it?"

Jess: "Someone stole ... some of the badges from a couple of them."

Cole, coming up with a bucket: "No. Mel took them."

Mel, nodding, trying to think fast: "I did ... We, um, took them over to Vic. He needs ... to see some old-style badges ... for ... a ... an historical display at the Precinct."

Jess, uncertain: "But Vic called while you were out. He wanted to know where you were."

Mel, lightly: "Oh, yeah?"

Cole, finishing his cleaning: "I have some work to do." He heads upstairs.

Jess: "You know about his undercover thing? I’ve figured out what he’s been working on."

Mel: "You have?"

Jess: "Aliens."

Mel, stunned: "What!?"

Jess: "Yeah. There was this couple in from Germany the other day. He was asking them all these questions about their accent and where they were from. And then he was asking me about England the other day, too."

Mel, smiling: "Aliens ... You’re right, Jess. He works for the INS." Jess beams. "Very observant of you ... Anyway, I have to go speak with Mr. Immigration himself. See you later."

Jess: "Oh, you’ll be back by seven to cover for me?"

Mel, sighing: "Right."

Jess: "Don’t worry, Mel. By nine o’clock you’ll be bored out of your skull."

Mel: "Uh huh." She heads for the stairwell.

———————————————————————

While Cole is upstairs doing chemistry, Jess is getting ready to go to her audition, leaving Mel to waitress her shift in a raucous, packed-to-the-rafters Watchfire.

Mel, raising her voice to be heard above the blaring football game on the television: "What was that you said about Wednesday nights? That they’re always dead?"

Jess: "This is because that transformer blew."

Mel: "What does that have to do with this?"

Jess: "They’re all in here to watch the game! ... Okay! Wish me luck! See you later!"

She heads out, leaving Mel looking around with dread and utterly besieged with orders. Finally, a horny nitwit by the name of Steve pushes her patience too far.

Steve: "I’ve got an order. A real big one!"

Another Customer: "Hot."

Mel: "What?"

Steve: "He said hot!" And then he grabs her ass.

Mel, really pissed: "Did you say hot? Or suicide!?"

She knocks his chair over, dumping him on his head, then looms over him hissing: "I would listen very carefully if I were you. I am not having a good night here! I may have to listen to your offensive jokes and your pathetic pick-up lines, but if you ever touch me again I guarantee that you will never ever be able to use that hand ... which, in your case, would be a big problem because you’re obviously going to need it tonight if you were counting on your charming demeanor to secure any female company!!!"

Her angry diatribe and her threat to his so-called ‘manhood’ were a riot, showing that she really has quite a temper and earning her an ovation and congratulations from the other customers.

———————————————————————

Sometime later, Mel escapes to Cole’s War Room.

Mel: "Do me a favor? If you ever hear me agree to take a shift from Jess again, put my lifeforce in that Collector thing!"

Cole: "That was a joke, right, Mel?"

Mel: "Yes!"

Cole: "Okay."

Mel, sitting down: "What’s that?"

Cole: "I’m analyzing the water from the Lake ... to see what affect it has on Jordan here on Earth."

Mel: "So, the water here is different than it is on Nodul?"

Cole: "I’m not sure. Nodulians need certain minerals in their system to survive. They process them by swimming through the water and filtering them out, much like your fish gets oxygen."

Mel: "But are the minerals the same?"

Cole: "That’s what I’m trying to find out."

Mel, suddenly hearing running water: "What’s that?"

Cole: "Your shower."

Mel: "My shower?"

Cole: "That’s right."

Mel: "Who’s in it?"

Cole: "Tina."

Mel: "Tina who?"

Cole: "The girl we met on the street with the sick grandmother."

Mel: "She wasn’t sick!"

Cole: "Yes, she was, Mel."

Mel: "What is she doing in my shower?" She pokes her head out the War Room door to look at the closed bathroom door. "So you just invited her over here to use my shower?"

Cole: "Well, she called. She saw Jordan."

Mel: "When?"

Cole: "This morning."

Mel: "Well, why did you invite her over here?"

Cole: "She had nowhere to live."

Mel: "Cole! I know you want to help this girl, but I can’t just take people in off the streets!"

Cole: "You gave her your number."

Mel: "That was just to get information about Jordan!"

In the hall, Tina calls out: "Do you have any more shampoo?"

Mel pokes her head out the War Room door again.

Tina, a little uneasy: "Hi."

Mel: "Hi." She turns back to Cole a moment. "We’re going to need to talk about this later." She then goes to see to the comfort of her unexpected guest.

———————————————————————

In the warehouse/laboratory...

Peron, examining an alien-hosted body: "Multiple fractures, internal hemorrhaging, damage to frontal lobes ... Reylex was a highly skilled engineer."

Jordan/Sirez: "Big loss for Zin."

Peron, checking the electrical connections on the unconscious Rick: "Not if we’re successful." He flips a number of switches on a console and warns, "Back."

The bodies are spastically jerking, arcs of electricity playing across them.

Jordan/Sirez: "What’s happening?"

Peron: "I’m not sure."

He turns off the juice. The bodies are smoking.

———————————————————————

In Mel’s living room, Cole sits down on the sofa beside the all-cleaned up Tina in fresh, clean clothes. His need to help her is so strong. Is he remembering his own daughter? This scene between them is very touching and starkly contrasts with those of Jordan. 

Tina, with a nervous giggle: "What?"

Cole: "Why did you run away from home?"

Tina: "I didn’t like it there."

Cole: "Why not?"

Tina, with a sigh: "Well ... My mom’s new boyfriend ... He was a total perv. He was always trying to check me out in the shower."

Cole: "He watched you bathe."

Tina: "Yeah, I know ... It’s sick, right?" She sadly chuckles. "You know, I tried to tell my mom but ... she ... she didn’t want to hear it."

Cole: "You’re upset with her."

Tina: "Yeah. She said I was making stuff up ... I wasn’t going to just ... wait around for him to ... get in another look."

From the hallway, Mel is quietly listening in.

Cole: "What about your father?"

Tina: "My mom hates him. Before I actually moved out, she just took me and left ... I don’t even know where to find him any more."

Cole: "But that’s not right. He’s your father."

Tina: "God! What planet are you from?"

Cole, smiling sweetly: "Cirron."

Mel, hastily calling out from the hall: "Cole? May I speak with you for a second?"

Cole: "Okay."

Mel, when he’s made no move to get up and follow her down the hall: "Out here."

Cole gets up and goes to her and she starts leading him to her room.

Mel: "I spoke to Social Services. They can help get Tina off the streets."

Cole: "Can they help her find her father?"

As Mel takes him into her bedroom and closes the door so that they may speak privately, Tina simply leaves.

———————————————————————

Jordan/Sirez takes a refreshing swim in a pool, then returns to the laboratory.

Peron, whining: "These bodies you’re bring in ... they’re too unhealthy."

Jordan/Sirez: "That’s because they’re the most vulnerable kids."

Peron: "And they’re all undernourished and damaged by drugs."

Jordan/Sirez: "It’s not like you can just walk up to the local high school and sign up prospects."

Peron: "This process puts a high amount of stress on their bodies."

Jordan/Sirez: "Look! I told you! Zin wants results!"

Peron: "We’re going to need healthier specimens!"

Jordan/Sirez: "What would you like me to do? Give them a medical exam before I take them?"

Peron: "I can’t do any more with these."

Jordan/Sirez: "Look, you’ve had weeks to perfect this! ... I’m going to get you just one more healthy body. And if you do not deliver ... you’re going to be hanging on the wall like one of them."

[The experiment kept failing, supposedly because the bodies Sirez was recruiting were frail and sickly homeless people who weren’t eating properly and were addicted to drugs. But this talk sounded like an excuse. Probably the process wasn’t working as well as Peron had led Zin to believe it would. Couldn’t tell here if they were using only alien lifeforces, though. It seemed as if some Human to Human transfers were being attempted as a test].

———————————————————————

Mel comes back into the apartment to report to an anxious Cole: "The guys next door saw her leave through the alley ... I’m so sorry, Cole ... I know how difficult this must be for you, considering what happened ... to your ... daughter."

Without a word, he walks past her and goes to his room.

———————————————————————

Back out on the streets, with her pale blonde hair now hanging long and loose instead of tucked up into a hat, Jordan doesn’t seem to recognize Tina as Rick’s friend and accosts her, trying to pick her up. She knows him only as bad news and isn’t interested in going with him, not even for coffee, so he knocks her out and kidnaps her.

———————————————————————

Mel comes into the War Room as Cole is packing his shoulder bag for the hunt.

Mel: "Cole, I got what you asked for." She hands him a piece of paper. "There’s actually about twenty pools in the area where we saw Jordan, but these five are closed down."

Cole, grim and focused: "Good. Exactly what he would need. Some place private."

Mel: "But I don’t get it. You said that he could stay in the Lake forever, so why would he need these pools?"

Cole, heading for the living room: "I was wrong. The water in the Lake doesn’t have the mineral his body needs, something you call zinc here on Earth."

Mel, following him: "He’s got to be getting a whole lot of zinc from somewhere ... Maybe from some chemical companies."

Cole, starting to pull down the drapes of a living room window: "Already checked them. There are over a thousand purchases made by big industries every day."

Mel: "What are you doing!?"

Cole, folding the drapes: "I need this to catch him, Mel."

Mel: "Cole! Those are my grandmother’s drapes!"

Cole: "Yes. They’re perfect."

———————————————————————

Jordan is dumping Tina’s unconscious body on a table in the warehouse/laboratory as Cole is methodically searching for him in place after place from the list. Going to the last location (9192 West Cheyenne Street), he’s able to sense Sirez’s presence in a puddle of water on the pavement.

He hastily removes his jacket and enters the building.

As Cole searches the building he hears a girl scream. It’s Tina, struggling to get away. Cole is there in a flash, using the drape like a net to snare the Nodulian and restrain him. Peron flees as Cole short-circuits the machinery zapping Tina. While Cole checks her out to assure himself that she isn’t injured and unties her from the examination table, Jordan/Sirez cuts himself free of the ‘net’ with a knife.

Exhorting Tina to go back to the Watchfire, Cole takes off after the running Jordan/Sirez.

After unsuccessfully attempting to bury Cole under falling container drums, Jordan/Sirez makes for the safety of the Lake. Cole goes into hyperspeed, grabs an old fishing net, and flings it over the Nodulian in mid-dive, bringing him down. Standing on the net so he can’t move and back in real time, he then Collects him.

There’s a moment of sadness as he thinks of Mrs. Baylor’s pain in the mournful cries of the gulls, then he picks up Jordan’s body and begins carrying it back to his mother. It’s really the only thing he can do to ease her pain and, in this instance, it fits with Mel’s comment in "Without a Trace," that knowing is better than not knowing.

———————————————————————

Back at the Watchfire a day or two later, Cole is sitting at the bar, engrossed in reading another book.

Mel, into her cell phone: "That’s great. Thank you." She thumbs off the phone and turns to Cole with a smile. "I just spoke with the hospital. The kids are going to be okay."

Cole: "Good."

Mel: "Do you think that Zin will be able to recreate this technology?"

Cole: "I don’t know. I wasn’t able to capture the scientist who was carrying out the experiments."

Mel: "But you did get rid of the equipment."

[Note: In addition to getting rid of the equipment, one must also assume that Cole Collected Reylex and any other escapees there who were helplessly trapped in damaged Human bodies].

He distractedly nods.

Mel: "So, what are you on to? Dostoyevsky now?"

Cole: "I don’t know who the author is, Mel, but this one is the best one yet."

Mel, laughing as she sees that he’s reading a romance novel by R. Steele: "Nice ... Whoop! I think you have somewhere to be." She hands him a piece of paper. "Here’s the address." He takes it but doesn’t remove his eyes from the book. "Cole?" She gives the book a wiggle in his hand.

Cole: "Thank you, Mel." Still reading, he gets up and starts to leave.

Mel, amused: "Uh huh."

Cole, as he passes Jess on her way in: "How are your teeth, Jess?"

Jess: "Apparently not good enough."

Mel, as Jess comes over: "You didn’t get the job?"

Jess: "No ... What happened the other night? ... Steve said he was never coming back."

Mel: "Steve?"

Jess: "Short brown hair, sparkly eyes ... Steve said you were a real jerk to him."

Mel, now knowing she means the horny nitwit: "Well, Steve is lucky to have a jaw to say anything."

Jess: "He’s one of my best customers!"

Mel, tightly: "He grabbed my ass!"

Jess: "You know, you’ve got a lot to learn about waitressing."

———————————————————————

Cole takes Tina to her father’s house.

That pained, wistful look as Cole watches their reunion, her father hugging her and their joy at being together again, says so much about Daggon’s own losses.

Tina looks gratefully back at Cole over her shoulder as she enters her father’s house, mouthing, ‘thanks’.

Cole: "Good luck, Tina."

Note: Tamara Hope, who plays Tina, also played an alien in the Disney Channel film, "Stepsister From Planet Weird".