1.3 Gravity

When Last We Met

Rogelio's gruesome secret is revealed when he is found holding the dismembered body of Santiago Sanchez in the school natatorium while the fútbol game is being played nearby. After an encounter in an enclave that serves as an entrance to Tlālōcān, guarded by the dread serpent Cuilhuexi, the group emerges back on the surface via the extensive tunnel network under the city, toting a subdued Rogelio and the girl he was chasing, to deal with the aftermath of their foray into La Colonia de Sombras.

Opening Montage - Sergei

Sergei: "Careful, careful! Is not— is not photocopier. Is most sensitive instrument on continent!"

The white and silver walls of Helix Laboratory's main facility gleam as Sergei is being moved in from a tiny-ish lab to the top facility— top-known facility, anyway— in the city.

You see, this is exactly problem. They give me corner office and still they cannot tell me why numbers wander. One day coherence holds full second, maybe two.

Impossible. Unprecedented. Nobel Prize numbers. And next day, garbage. Microseconds noise. They blame the cooling. They blame the cables. I have replaced cables 4 times. It's not cables. There is a variable in that room they have not identified. And instead of hunting it, technicians write calibration variance and go to lunch. Idiots. You do not shrug at impossible. You chase it. The tuning fork. Hmm, that one. Tall. My beautiful mistake. They want it more sensitive. More sensitive for what?

You know what it found already? A signal out there in the city. A frequency that matched our instrument almost exactly. Our space. Nonsense. A mirror artifact. Feedback, I am certain. I told them to ignore it. Some coincidences are only coincidence. You do not build theory on one strange reading.

Ah, this science sickness. In curiosity dressed as progress, your machine learning boys They build a mind they cannot read, they cannot predict, cannot switch off. And instead of asking, what is this thing? They ask, how much money can we charge for it?

They ship it, they put it in hands of every fool with a phone. And they call this progress. And when it does something monstrous, They hold press conference and nobody could have foreseen.

Everybody could have foreseen. I did. That is whole job, to look at beautiful new thing and ask what it costs before it bills you.

And I have been thrown out of every university on this continent for doing exactly that. That is my crime. Not being wrong, but being early.

No, that bench!

Sergei & Michelle

GalleryGeoffrey: "So you're going to... eat her cake?"

Dr. Michelle Adams meets Sergei in his big, shiny new corner office bearing homemade cupcakes and two cups of coffee. She has a candle stuck in one of them like it's someone's birthday, because as far as she's concerned a first day in the lab is close enough. Sergei doesn't really do birthdays — not in Russia, not anywhere — but he blows out the candle anyway, mostly for her. He likes the chocolate. He's not sure he's ever had a cupcake before...

Dr. Talbot Leyland stops by to welcome him in person. A billionaire philanthropist, Dr. Leyland runs the Pandeloria Healthcare Centers as well as funding research in to all manner of medical and scientific frontiers. They chat briefly about Sergei's recent findings, and then Dr. Leyland notifies Michelle that her samples have come in before he departs.

Michelle (muttering): "Don't bring friends to the lab. Don't bring people you love to the lab. Don't bring boys to the lab. You know not to bring boys to the lab."

Michelle is giddy and excited about the samples, and starts to take her leave of Sergei when he asks if he can see what she's working on. She agrees, equal parts pleased and hesitant, and guides him to her lab space.

In the refrigerated air, Sergei sees the cadaver of a 20-something woman and almost loses his cupcakes. He bolts away from the gurney and passes out cold. Michelle drags him out by both hands, and he comes to for just a second, upside down, staring at her face.

Sergei (insensibly): "You are very pretty."

He's out again before she can respond. She gets an orderly to help her, and Sergei wakes up some time later on the couch in his own office, groggy and embarrassed at losing his cool in front of Michelle.

Geoffrey & Daniel

Geoffrey takes a deep breath, flexing his fingers before putting his key in the lock of the condo. Daniel never responded to his text message, and a short exchange with Inez reveals that Daniel encouraged her to spend the night at a friend's house so he could work on a project at home. She's currently doing just that. He turns the handle and pushes open the door, and all the blood drains from his face.

Daniel is sitting inside a pentagram drawn in salt on their living room floor, candles lit around him, eyes rolled so far back there's nothing but white. Shocked, Geoffrey calls his name as he runs over. Just before he touches him, Geoffrey looks down at the complex circle and symbols on the floor and hesitates. Gathering his courage, he purposefully reaches into the circle and grabs Daniel by the shoulders. But Daniel is unresponsive.

Scattering the circle, Geoffrey carries Daniel to the bathroom, sets him in the shower, turns the water on, and starts trying to shock him back out of his trancelike state — pinching his cheeks, pulling his ears, doing anything that might tether him to a body that's breathing terrifyingly slowly.

It works. Daniel's breathing starts to even out. His eyes flutter open. He whispers Geoffrey's name.

And then he punches Geoffrey in the diaphragm. Hard.

Brutal honesty follows. Daniel is scared and furious, the kind of terrified that only comes from loving someone who just vanished on him with no word. He lays into Geoffrey about the lying, the vague nonsense about "having an appointment," the fact that Geoffrey knows Daniel can see his calendar. But it isn't really about the calendar. It is about every dark place Daniels mind goes when the person he trusts most stops being honest with him, and about the lingering trauma of the events five years ago that he still doesn't let himself think about directly.

He keeps going, explaining the scene Geoffrey walked in on, not so much as an excuse as a confession. He reveals that he always feels like the odd one out and decided what the hell, he'd do it the way it happens in the stories for once, to see if he could find his footing in this world gone completely crazy with weird powers and strange dynamics where he seems to be the only one who can't deal with it. But what happened freaked him out even more. A field of stars in every direction, patterns between them that wanted to tell him something, and no way out, and no Geoffrey there with him in the darkness.

Hours later, in the very early morning, the pair lays on the couch — Daniel leaning back into Geoffrey's arms, the fight gone out of both of them.

Daniel: "1 and 1 equal kumquat, and I'm not used to getting that result. I don't like it. If I could get rid of it, I would."

Geoffrey: "You're my anchor. You're the one who keeps me sane. I can't love you without loving it too."

Geoffrey quietly admits that he knows Daniel hates this "supernatural stuff" that has affected them. He thought maybe he could scratch an itch and be useful without involving Daniel in something he hates. But he was wrong not to stay in communication, and apologizes.

By morning Geoffrey's caught Daniel up on everything — London, Kevin, John, the search that led to Rogelio, to La Colonia, to the Enclave and the guardian serpent Cuilhuexi. Daniel shivers hard enough that Geoffrey skims over the worst of it.

Sometime after sunrise, Geoffrey shoots a text out to London:

Rough night, survived it. Thank you for everything.

He doesn't elaborate.

Kevin & Denver

Kevin: "You can solve any problem with enough yoga."

In Independence, Kevin and Denver are leaving a morning yoga class, chatting. Denver's having one of her good days, and wants to spend that day at the beach. As they stroll past town hall, Denver stops cold — the Niners are out, Ward 9's police in their stark white uniforms and face shields, standing around like they expect a riot any second. That alone isn't unusual around here. What stops Denver is something else: a woman climbing out of a window on the far side of the building. It's "B," who is a local hero. Rumor has it that B is the only person who has ever been taken to the prison deep in City Hall – the "real" one – and gotten herself back out. People who go in there don't come back out.

Kevin creates a distraction by... well, being a white guy in Independence. While anyone else approaching the Niners might result in aggressive behavior, an eccentric old white yogi requires at least a little polite conversation. Kevin tries to engage the Niners in impromptu street yoga. The Niners buy his act wholesale. They're disturbed, mildly concerned, and entirely distracted. After B makes her getaway, Denver claims Kevin as an old friend. Despite a skeptical and rude response from the Niners, Kevin confirms and he and Denver hustle out before anyone asks more questions.

MC: "They're not like murdering kids, or murderous thugs."

GalleryLondon: "No, those are all in my neighborhood."

They spend the rest of the morning surfing at Tourist Trap, and Denver gets steadier and more confident on the board with every wave she catches. Afterwards, they wander, stopping near the arcade on the boardwalk. Out front, a group of teens and tweens throw down some impressive breakdancing moves while a few move through the crowd, asking for tips... which Denver clocks as cover for the pickpockets.

Denver (to Kevin): "You don't gotta solve it all right now. Just start."

She pokes one in the back, and quietly offers him a folded bill instead of lifting the wallet he'd targeted. Chastened, Kevin tips one of the others on the way in. After a few high-spirited rounds of skee-ball, they leave the arcade, and Denver quietly takes Kevin's hand as they depart.

They finish up at Dead End, a bar in Tourist Trap that Kevin frequents. It is quieter and more local than the tourist strip around it, with a friendly punk bartender named Ty. After they get settled, Kevin realizes that without thinking, he's brought Denver to a Rift bar. One of the places where people with a... ride-along... can relax without having to explain themselves. Ty, the bartender, realizes quickly that Denver isn't "in the club." After a moment studying her, she pours gimlets for the pair of them and starts to hand them over, but pauses. She takes them back and adds a little infusion to each. Kevin's is a dark swirl that spirals through the green drink like fog. Denver's is less ominous.

Ty (to Kevin): "This is a 'Dark Gift.' I thought you might like to try it."

Ty (to Denver): ...And this one is on the house. I call it 'With a Little Help from My Friends.'"

Once settled, they talk about good days and bad days and Denver finally gives Kevin some details about her cancer diagnosis. Over his shoulder, in his ear, as he sips his drink, Kevin can sense Whiro's insistent attention. Whiro wants to be used, wants to look at this more closely, whispers that they might be able to fix it. Kevin eventually, hesitantly, lets him take over.

Seeing through Whiro's senses, Kevin can suddenly detect supernatural, lichen-like growth within Denver. It's concentrated in her head and lungs – which explains the headaches – but has tendrils that seem to extend, seeking and consuming as they grow. Denver's not a Rift, but something has latched on to her and isn't letting go, though it's moving slowly. It's parasitical, rather than the harmonious sense one gets from a "hitchhiker" type of relationship.

Kevin realizes human doctors are seeing this as cancer because they can't see... this. He tries to think of someone who might be able to help. London? Wren? Somebody? Whiro insists, again, that they can fix it, if Kevin will just try. Kevin resists, telling the voice in his head that they're doing it his way first.

That resolve is tested when Kevin walks Denver home, and she collapses at the door to her place and passes out. He catches her, gently lowers her to the floor, and immediately calls an ambulance to get her to the hospital.

London, Rogelio & Adriana

London, Rogelio, and Adriana are in La Colonia in the aftermath of the murder and the mess. London racks his brain for a way to clean this up. There's no way to take Rogelio back to the Sanchez household – for obvious reasons. There's no way London can take him out of the neighborhood entirely, also for obvious reasons. And to be real, the investigation is unlikely to go far. Without a tidy solution, the three of them head to the shelter where the group first encountered Adriana, to find Angela, her contact there who can supposedly separate a human being from hitchhiker.

Angela isn't in. Instead, the trio is welcomed by a young man named Carlos, who takes them into an office deeper within the facility. London checks the walls for surveillance out of habit — nothing definitive — and reads Carlos as best he can, coming back with something unusual: a real, if faint, glow of positivity and sincerity.

Carlos shares his own story with an openly skeptical London. He shows them the extensive burn scars on his arm and explains that a "hitchhiker" of his own, which manifested fire, got out of control and nearly took his family's house down with all of them in it. He went through this program himself before he ever worked here.

Carlos: "Anyone who tells you that this is something easy to deal with is lying."

The program's called The Saint Within — a name Carlos admits with visible resignation was rescued from something even worse, When the Saints Come Marching In, cut down when someone pointed out nobody sane signs up for something with a title that long. It's residential, about a month, heavy on natural remedies and meditation, with an admittedly Christian framework that is present but not mandatory. Carlos claims a 100% success rate for anyone who finishes it.

Rogelio cuts off London's inquisition, affirming that he wants this. And besides... he has nowhere else to go. London backs off, tells Rogelio he'll take care of things with Señora Sanchez, and he and Adriana leave their friend with Carlos to get settled at the facility.

London pays a month of rent and gives formal notice on Rogelio's room, but avoids talking to Lucia directly. That just leaves Adriana.

London: "It is not a lie, it's not fabrication, it's not false charity. It's a job. It makes things easier for me and easier for you."

After debating what to do about her – let her go back to the shelter? Something else? – London decides to trust his gut (despite her worrisome Rift) and makes her an offer. He proposes that Adriana help his mother in exchange for room and board. And if things work out with Rogelio after the next month, they'll get her enrolled in the program, too.

After reassuring herself it's not charity dressed up in a fancy shirt (living with Mateo's ghost is no picnic), Adriana agrees. London provides her with a cell phone so they can stay in communication, and with a deep breath, takes her to his mother's apartment.

Loose ends, tied up. For now.