Telemachus is sitting at a table, drinking from a cup.
Telemachus: Nothing but open space for days. How long is this
going to go on? When are we returning to our home planet
Earth?
No-No: I know how you feel, Telemachus, but we're in the galactic
snows of yesteryear.
A droid places a coffee pot on the table, turns round and leaves.
Yumi: But deep space is wonderful, isn't it?
A light suddenly appears in space.
Telemachus: Look, Father, a luminous object out there!
Ulysses: Sherka?
Sherka: No danger, the remnants of an old spaceship.
They run to the bridge.
Ulysses: Remnants of a spaceship?
Telemachus: Where could a wrecked spaceship come from? Maybe a Trident?
Ulysses: Sherka, carefully move in. We'll have a closer look.
Sherka: Yes, Ulysses. Impossible to say exactly where it is from.
The ship appears on the display screen.
It is certainly an ancient one, probably from Earth.
This version could date from 2001.
Ulysses: 2001? By the cosmic dust that is extraordinary. It's ten
centuries old!
Telemachus: I think I saw a model identical to this one in a museum
on the exploration of the Solar System.
Ulysses: I can't believe it. A spaceship a thousand years old, and
from our own planet. What is it doing in Olympus? How did
it get here?
Telemachus: I suppose it got lost, like us - but a thousand years
ago.
Sherka: SOS signal coming from the ship.
Ulysses: Give us a blow-up on your visual display.
The audio-only SOS signal is decoded.
Voice: This is spaceship cruiser PX-27, from Earth. SOS, SOS.
This is spaceship cruiser PX-27.
Ulysses: It is sending us a distress call.
Telemachus: Father, there is somebody alive on that ship. Maybe
Earthlings, we must find out.
Yumi: Oh no, it's not possible.
Ulysses: I think we'd better be very careful.
A shuttlecraft leaves the Odyssey and makes its way to the wrecked
ship.
Voice: This is space cruiser PX-27 from Earth. SOS.
The shuttlecraft approaches and then docks with the mysterious ship.
Four clamps attach themselves to the vessel. Ulysses, Telemachus, Yumi
and No-No float across to the ship's docking bay. No-No jumps as the
bay door closes behind them.
No-No: Oh!
Telemachus: Don't worry, it's only an automatic door. Huh?
The inner door of the docking bay opens.
Ulysses: Remove your space helmets, there's enough oxygen.
They walk along a corridor. It is a mess, with wires strewn across
the walls and ceiling. No-No bumps into a wire which is hanging
down, jumps with fright and gets caught up in it.
No-No: Oh!
Telemachus: Ah, No-No, it's only a lot of electrical cables.
No-No: Shocking, shocking.
Telemachus: Father, there's nobody aboard, the systems have stopped.
Yumi: Well, but then... what about that SOS?
Ulysses looks at a control panel. Embedded in the panel is a
reel-to-reel tape which is playing.
Ulysses: You see? It's an endless tape. Somebody recorded an SOS
and started the machine.
Voice: This is spaceship cruiser PX-27.
Yumi: It'd be interesting to know who the people were on the spaceship.
Telemachus: And it's been running all this time? Maybe they set off in
an emergency space shuttle module leaving the ship behind.
Ulysses operates the ship's console.
What are you doing, father?
Ulysses: Just checking, you never know. The on-board computer might have
stored the route back to Earth.
Ulysses tries in vain to start the computer.
I can't make it function, there's no energy source left on the
ship. Everything's dead.
Yumi: Telemachus, look!
Telemachus: Father, come quickly, very strange. A light just went
on behind the store.
A door just up ahead is slightly open. They open the door and see
inside a man lying in a life-support chamber.
Ulysses: He has to be a crew member from the ship.
Yumi: Is he dead, Ulysses?
Ulysses: No, no, he seems to be in a state of suspended animation.
Oh!
The life-support machine suddenly increases its activity.
The machine that is keeping him alive is shaking like
a... see that, Yumi?
The man starts to breathe.
This is unbelievable!
The camera pans down to the box on his bed. It appears to indicate
that he is being revived.
By the big bang, incredible. He's still alive. The man
from 2001 is alive!
The glass dome covering the man slides open. The man now breathes
unaided.
Telemachus: Father, look! He's waking up, he's moving!
The man raises his hand.
Ulysses: He must be in pain, he's trying to get up.
Ulysses runs to the man and bends over him.
Listen, can you hear me, traveller? I have come to save
you. Can you hear me? I am from Earth just like you.
The man raises his hand again and speaks quietly.
Captain: The crew: save the crew.
Ulysses: Where is the crew? We found no one on the ship.
The man's eyes open.
Captain: The crew stayed at base station central in artificial
suspended animation.
Ulysses: But where? Where is this base station? Can you find it?
Captain: There's a spaceship on the command deck. The twin planets
Charybdis, burning hot, and... Scylla, ice cold.
The man closes his eyes again. Telemachus runs up to Ulysses. He
is holding a map which he gives to Ulysses.
Telemachus: I've found it, this has to be the place. How's the pilot?
Ulysses: He's gone back to sleep. He'll be all right, he just needs
some rest.
Ulysses indicates a path on the map.
Here's our space route. We can make it in a shuttle.
Ulysses puts his hand on Telemachus's shoulder.
Telemachus, you and Yumi stay aboard the Odyssey, take care
of the pilot.
Telemachus: Are you going alone then, father?
Yumi: I'm worried. I sense some danger. It's like a premonition,
be careful.
Ulysses turns to Yumi and puts a comforting hand on her shoulders.
Ulysses: It may be dangerous, but I can't abandon our other travellers
from Earth to their fate. I must help them.
Sherka, can you hear me, Sherka?
Sherka: Yes, Ulysses.
Ulysses: Send the shuttle around on automatic pilot immediately.
Sherka: Yes, Ulysses, at once.
The shuttlecraft flies towards the wrecked ship. Ulysses takes off
in his shuttlecraft and heads for the base station.
Telemachus, Yumi and No-No have stumbled across an old, clunky robot.
Telemachus: Look, No-No, look at your forebears.
No-No: Oh, my distant relatives?
No-No climbs the side of the robot and pats its metal casing.
Not very streamlined in those days.
No-No presses a couple of buttons on the robot and it starts to walk.
No-No rides on top of it.
Hey where's he going?
The robot trips over something and falls to the ground.
Poor old great-great grand-daddy, just a bucket of bolts.
Yumi: Hahaha. This must have been the main engine room.
Telemachus: There is something very strange about all this.
Yumi: Strange, what do you mean?
Telemachus: The engines won't run.
Yumi: Of course not, there's no more energy.
Telemachus: But the suspended animation unit works. Where does that
energy come from?
The camera pans across, down and along the engine room. Every component
is indeed dead.
No-No: Maybe there's some spare energy. Maybe.
Telemachus: I thought of that. This 2001 model only had one power
source: the engines - and they're not functioning.
We see pictures of the crew hanging on the wall.
Take a look - pictures of the crew.
Yumi: That's funny. If it is the ship's crew.
Telemachus: Why, it's just a crew.
Yumi: Take a closer look and you'll see something that looks strange.
Telemachus takes a closer look.
Telemachus: All right. Yeah.
Yumi: Uhuh. Can you explain it?
Telemachus: Why isn't the Captain's picture with all the others?
They look at the Captain lying in the suspended animation chamber and
approach him. The glass dome is covering him again. They look at
the monitor which shows his heartbeat.
Yumi: And here's another thing, look - the electrocardiogram's very
strange. If he is in suspended animation again his heartbeat
should slow down and not maintain the same rhythm.
Telemachus: That's true. I don't even want to guess what that
might mean.
No-No: Let me guess. It means that he's not human, that's what it
means, doesn't it? Mmm? Do I win any prizes for the right
answer?
Telemachus and Yumi look uneasily at each other.
Telemachus: There's another thing I don't understand. Where's the
energy coming from?
They look around them.
I'll check out the engine room again. Yumi, you and
No-No stay here whatever happens.
Telemachus runs off to the engine room. No-No runs a few steps,
stops and calls out.
No-No: Hey, Telemachus, watch yourself!
Telemachus is in the engine room. He sees in one corner a shaft
of light coming through two doors that were not properly closed. He
forces the doors open and climbs down the illuminated shaft on the
other side. As Telemachus climbs down the ladder he looks behind
him and sees Tridents on the display panels. The images of the
Tridents are everywhere he looks. He realises that it is another trap.
Ulysses is flying in the shuttlecraft. He looks out the window
and sees the twin planets of Charybdis and Scylla orbiting each
other.
Ulysses: Twin planets, Charybdis burning hot, and Scylla, ice cold.
Ulysses is flying towards Charybdis. In the fire of Charybdis we see
the face of a creature with fangs.
Where's the base station? Which one is it on?
As he flies closer to the burning planet the flames form more faces.
Ulysses tries to operate the controls of the shuttlecraft.
Oh by the supernova the controls aren't functioning any more!
Aahhh!
The shuttlecraft flies out of control just above the planet.
Telemachus runs into the room where Yumi is looking after the
Captain.
Telemachus: Yumi, this ship is a trap! The sign of the Trident! There's
a secret machine room with a Trident marked on it.
Yumi and No-No gasp.
We have to get out of here fast! Call for another space shuttle.
Yumi: What about the pilot?
Telemachus: He's a tool of the gods. Fast, let's get away!
Telemachus and Yumi run out of the room, putting their helmets on.
The Captain, lying in the suspended-animation chamber, opens his eyes
and sits up on the bed. He raises his arms and the wires plugged into
them snap out. The Captain stands up. The glass dome opens and he
walks out of the room and into the corridor in pursuit of the
children.
Telemachus, Yumi and No-No climb into the shuttlecraft.
Telemachus: Sherka, we'll follow the course my father took. Have the
Odyssey follow us.
Sherka: Following your orders.
The shuttlecraft takes off. However, unseen by the children, the
Captain is attached to the outside of the shuttlecraft. He inches
his way towards the window and peers in, silently watching Telemachus
as he pilots the shuttlecraft.
Ulysses looks around him.
Ulysses: Oh no! Now what? Another trap!
The voice of Zeus booms out.
Zeus: How are you feeling? You are in the gravitational fields of
the planets Charybdis and Scylla.
Ulysses: Pounding pulsars, those are the voices of the gods! Another
trap you have set. Tell me why you've done it? What is it you
want?
We see the frozen wastes of Scylla.
Zeus: You have a choice, Ulysses: you may choose Scylla, cold; tornadoes
of ice...
A figure-of-eight-shaped vortex links it with Charybdis, the planet
of fire.
...or Charybdis, her sister planet; flaming hurricanes.
No one has ever survived the charms of these two ladies.
As the camera pans back we see the full figure of eight.
Charybdis is on the right; Scylla is on the left. The glass-like
figure of eight loops around them.
Which is it to be, Ulysses? Fire... or ice?
Either way your fate is sealed.
As the camera pans back further we see the face of Zeus superimposed
on the background. Ulysses is flying through the icy wastes of
Scylla, trying his best to dodge the particles of ice. However the
corridor through the ice fields is so narrow his shuttlecraft keeps
scraping the sides of the corridor. As he flies past a column of ice
it shatters. Ulysses manages to fly through the ice corridor and
emerges largely unscathed. He is now flying towards Charybdis, the
planet of fire. He tries to escape from the figure-of-eight vortex,
but each time he hits the boundary sparks fly from his ship. Ulysses
is now well on his way towards Charybdis. A tongue of fire forms
itself into the mouth of an animal that tries to bite the shuttlecraft.
Ulysses manages to fly out of its way.
Ulysses: Oh, I'm hot. Telemachus!
As the shuttlecraft approaches Charybdis its temperature increases
further. Beads of sweat form on Ulysses's face.
Telemachus is flying the other shuttlecraft towards the twin planets.
Telemachus: Father, where are you? Answer me, we're coming!
We're approaching the Scylla-Charybdis complex.
Ulysses's voice breaks through on the communicator.
Ulysses: Telemachus?
Telemachus and Yumi stand up and go to the central control panel.
Telemachus: I can hear you. Where are you? Tell us?
Ulysses: It's a trap of the gods. I'm caught in a brilliant vortex.
Telemachus looks at a monitor and sees a series of concentric
squares moving in and out.
The controls are not functioning, I can't get out of the vortex.
Yumi: There he is! He can't get out of it!
Another monitor shows the figure-of-eight vortex with Ulysses's
shuttlecraft trapped in it.
Telemachus: Father, tell me how to help you. What should I do?
Ulysses: There's only one way for me to escape. Manoeuvre your
shuttlecraft near mine and launch an emergency tether line to
me.
We cut to Ulysses in his ship as he completes his instructions.
But be very careful, don't get caught in the vortex. If you
do you'll never get out and we're all lost.
Ulysses is flying through the icy wastes of Scylla again.
Telemachus: Father!
Telemachus's shuttlecraft flies just outside the vortex.
Ulysses: That's it. Go on. Just like that.
Ulysses and Telemachus look directly at each other out of the
windows of their two craft.
Telemachus: Father!
Yumi: Careful, Telemachus. Yes go on like that. Ready to launch the
tether line.
Telemachus: Yes.
Telemachus presses a couple of buttons. At this point the Captain,
who had earlier been clinging to the outside of the shuttlecraft,
walks in. The Captain approaches the console where Telemachus sits
and towers over him.
No-No: Aah, Telemachus!
Telemachus: Do something, No-No! Keep him away!
No-No: What should I do?
The Captain makes his way to the control panel, pushing Telemachus,
Yumi and No-No out of the way. Telemachus and No-No are thrown to the
floor.
Telemachus: No-No, by the great space warp do something!
The Captain is about to smash his fists on the control panel when
No-No grabs his foot and pulls it hard. The Captain falls to the floor
and No-No drags him out of the bridge. However, in the confusion the
shuttlecraft moves dangerously close to the vortex. Telemachus and
Yumi struggle with the joystick to pull the shuttlecraft away from
the vortex just in time. A tongue of flame just misses their
ship. No-No is wrestling with the leg of the Captain, trying to
keep him from moving back onto the bridge.
Yumi: Let's try once more. And this time try to stay calm. Ready
for launch?
Now!
Telemachus presses the button to launch the tether. The tether enters
the vortex with a shower of yellow sparks and attaches itself to
Ulysses's ship.
Ulysses: Well done, you lassoed me!
Ulysses puts on his helmet.
Meanwhile the Captain is crawling along the floor with No-No
clinging to his foot, trying to stop him. No-No struggles as hard
as he can and pulls off the Captain's boot. No-No runs to the
Captain's now-bare foot and grabs that. Again, he pulls with
all his strength, but this time the bare foot comes away in his hands.
No-No looks horrified at what he is holding. The Captain is now
standing up and has a metal leg.
No-No: It is a robot. I took him apart and he's still coming.
Telemachus: Aaah!
The Captain raises his arms and his eyes turn from blue to bright
white. For a second or two the bridge is bathed in white light. When
the light dies down we see that the Captain has turned into a large
machine. It picks up No-No.
Yumi and Telemachus: No-No!
The robot uses No-No as a swatter to try and hit Telemachus and
Yumi.
Ulysses is climbing up the tether towards Telemachus's ship.
His craft is approaching Charybdis, the fire planet. Ulysses energises
his light sabre and slices through the tether line just beneath his
feet. The shuttlecraft he cut loose flies into the fire and is
destroyed. Ulysses uses his light sabre to cut through the vortex in
a shower of sparks. He is now free of the vortex and continues
climbing the tether line.
Meanwhile the robot has No-No in his hand and tries to throw him
on the ground, but No-No quickly clings to his chest. The robot
pulls No-No from his chest, holds him in his hand and smashes him to
the ground. This time No-No clings to his wrist so the robot
shakes his wrist. No-No then clings to the back of the robot's
neck as he bashes his elbow against a panel. No-No covers the
robot's eyes.
Telemachus and Yumi put on their helmets.
Telemachus: Yumi, quick! Open the pressure hatch so my father
can come aboard.
No-No is thrown to the floor as the robot is covered in a shower
of sparks. He picks No-No up again...
Telemachus: No-No!
...and throws him against Telemachus with such force that Telemachus
is thrust against a control panel and falls to the ground. Yumi is
operating another control panel. The outer door of the shuttlecraft
opens and we see Ulysses climbing the tether line towards the open
door.
Yumi: Aahh!
Yumi sees that Ulysses is on his way. She hears from behind her the
sound of footsteps and turns to see the robot lumbering towards her.
Ulysses has now climbed into the shuttlecraft and sees the robot
bearing down on Yumi. He energises his light sabre and jumps towards
the robot just as he is about to attack Yumi. Ulysses
flies into the robot, which falls to the floor.
Yumi: Ulysses!
Yumi hides behind Ulysses. The robot gets to its feet and bears
down on Ulysses, who uses his jet pack to fly off. The robot grabs
Ulysses by his foot. Ulysses brings his light sabre down on the robot
in a shower of sparks. The robot throws Ulysses to the floor,
bends over him and grabs him by the throat, strangling him. At the
same time Ulysses's light sabre penetrates the robot's neck in a
shower of sparks. The robot relaxes its grip and Ulysses, taking
advantage of the only opportunity he is going to get, punches it.
The robot falls to the floor.
Telemachus: Father!
Ulysses deactivates his light sabre. Telemachus and Yumi run to him.
No-No is on Telemachus's shoulder.
Oh, I was so scared.
Ulysses: Good work. Good work, my son, you did just the right thing.
Ulysses hugs them. The robot lies motionless on the floor.
The robot floats in space. Behind it, in the
distance, the shuttlecraft makes its way back to the Odyssey.
Zeus: Ulysses, you won this time. But luck will not always be
on your side.
The robot floats towards the figure-of-eight vortex.
Remember, Ulysses.
Superimposed on the vortex we see the face of Zeus.
Ulysses, Telemachus, Yumi and No-No are on the bridge of the
shuttlecraft.
Ulysses: Thanks, Yumi, and thank you, No-No. I owe you my life.
Ulysses picks up Yumi and gives her a hug and a kiss.
You were able to save me because you worked as a team.
He picks up No-No and gives him a kiss, too.
No-No: Well, if nobody minds I'll just munch on a nail or two.
All this excitement has given me an appetite. Nothing like
a nail or two, they're good for my iron constitution.
Everyone laughs. Ulysses picks up Yumi in one arm and No-No in
the other. The shuttlecraft flies towards the Odyssey.
[END]