Four hundred years after the extinction of the human race, a seemingly benevolent alien species regenerates three humans. The humans discover new dangers on Earth that threaten to annihilate the human race all over again.
Teaser
A hooded figure watches through binoculars as an object streaks through the sky and splashes into the water. He runs toward the site. The object is a red drone, which releases thousands of glowing particles into the water. The particles use the material found in the water to construct the body of an adult human male. He floats to the surface, where the drone shoots a beam of light onto his head. His brain is populated with memories of his wife and daughter, and then of their escape from an alien invasion.The man wakes and thrashes his way to the shore. The drone begins to examine him, but the man flees before he can be “verified.” The drone resorts instead to shooting him with an electronic dart, which returns to the drone when the man rips it off his neck. The man climbs to a top of a small hill to find himself in the middle of a vast wilderness, with large, slablike structures nearby, as well as a tower and the wreck of an alien spacecraft.
Act 1
The drone calls the man Ezra and quizzes him to test his mental functions, including showing him photos of his wife, Lynn, and his daughter, Kylie. Ezra hears someone call for help, and turns to see another man thrashing in the water. He dives in and brings him to shore, only for a woman to call for help, treading water and staring down the drone. Ezra swims to her as the drone flies off. As they swim together to the shore, the man Ezra rescued looks at his reflection in the water with a bewildered expression.None of the three humans can remember how they got into their current situation. The drone darts the other man as he did Ezra, and calls him Abram. Ezra introduces himself to Abram, and the woman says her name is Feena. Ezra shows the other two the crashed ship, which Feena identifies as a warship belonging to the Karik, the aliens that invaded Earth. The humans remark that the ship looks very old, and that none of the structures look like they were made by humans.
Ezra notices some debris in the sand, which he recognizes as parts of an automobile. The state of decomposition of the vehicle causes them to realize that it is now centuries after the invasion. They discover that their recollections of how long ago the invasion was differ. Abram also says that he’s 67 years old, even though he looks like he’s in his mid-twenties. The drone explains that their recollections of time are different because they died at different times. The Karik annihilated the human race 400 years previously, but Ezra, Abram, and Feena have been “reconstituted” in the prime of their lives.
As the hooded figure observes unnoticed through his binoculars, the drone explains that the particles in the water are “biological weavers” called the Sparks. When Ezra asks why they were reborn, it says it will answer more questions once they reach a settlement where other restored humans live, saying, “we will help you restore the human race.”
Act 2
The drone instructs Ezra to place a canister in the water, and the Sparks enter it to be carried as they travel. It also tells them to gather some plants the Sparks wove for them that contain all the nutrients they need. The humans aren't sure they can trust the drone, but going to the settlement seems like their best option at the moment.The drone says it needs to prick Feena's finger to check her (the alternative being the dart). Feena reluctantly complies. After they finish gathering the plants, they set off following the drone to the settlement. On the way, the debate about whether the drone is working for the Karik, although Ezra points out that it seems odd for the Karik to wipe out humanity, only to revive them again later. Abram and Ezra talk about the last thing they remember before waking up as reborn humans.
Ezra flashes back to a memory of driving with his family to escape the Karik. Lynn’s tablet isn’t working, so they stop at a convenience store to buy a map. Kylie suggests that they have a prayer, and Ezra replies that she and Lynn can pray while he gets a map. Lynn confronts Ezra, asking him to set an example of faith for their daughter. He relents and returns to the vehicle for a prayer.
In the convenience store, an anxious clerk is glued to the television, which is showing footage of the invasion. The card reader is broken and Ezra has no cash. The TV fritzes out as they hear an alien ship approaching, and the clerk hides. Ezra returns to their vehicle with a map. As they drive away, we see that he left an IOU behind.
Back in the present, Abram asks about Feena’s memories, but she abruptly declines to share and walks ahead of the group. The hooded figure follows them from behind, and loads a cartridge into some kind of alien rifle. Abram apologizes to Feena, saying he didn’t mean to pry, and manages to smooth things over with a little humor.
The humans come upon a group of gigantic rings, partially buried in the sand. Abram, enjoying his newfound youth, suggests they race to them, but when the other two decline, he runs there on his own. He discovers that the rings are covered with strange glyphs, and he feels oddly drawn to one. When he touches it, it glows bright blue and he reacts in pain. Ezra and Feena run to him as he collapses, but he says he’s okay, and that when he touched the symbol, he saw “everything.”
A gunshot rings out, and a projectile trailing green flame knocks out the drone. Another shot strikes Abram in the shoulder, shocking him and causing him to collapse. Ezra pulls him behind cover and the hooded figure closes in. Ezra pulls out a syringe left by the shot, quickly grabs the drone before their attacker can reload, and he and Feena help Abram run over the crest of a hill. When the hooded figure follows, he finds Feena tending to Abram, and Ezra comes up from behind and knocks him out.
Act 3
Their pursuer’s hands are now bound behind his back, and his hood is removed. He appears human, except for a glowing lump on the back of his neck. He says that he is a “Skin Rider,” there is no human settlement, and he’ll let them go if they give him the Sparks. Feena, brandishing an electric prod weapon their captive had on his back, points out that he’s in no position to dictate terms. They lead him to the rings and ask if he knows what the symbols mean. He won’t answer their questions.Ezra finds himself looking at one symbol in particular, and the Skin Rider, having secretly loosened his bonds, takes advantage of his distraction to trip him and grab the prod. Feena aims the rifle at him, and surprisingly seems to know how to use it. The Skin Rider tosses the prod aside, and the humans bind him again and leave him with a flask of water. But as they’re walking away, the Skin Rider tells Ezra that he can take him to his brother. Ezra challenges him to prove it by saying his brother’s name.
Another flashback: Ezra wakes his brother Silas in his trailer to warn him about the invasion. It’s clear from their conversation that Silas has trouble holding down a job and is generally irresponsible. As they leave the trailer, the Karik vessels arrive, emitting a piercingly loud buzz that pains the humans.
The Skin Rider refuses to say Silas’s name, threatening that “we will come for the Sparks.” The humans leave him and continue to seek the settlement, although Feena wonders whether the Skin Rider might have been telling the truth that there is no settlement. As they walk off, Abram checks his wound: tendrils are expanding from it under the skin. Meanwhile, after failing to free himself, the Skin Rider bows his head, and the lump on his neck glows brighter.
The humans find a cave to take refuge in during the night. They look at Abram’s wound, and are alarmed to discover the tendrils. Ezra wants to go ahead to the settlement, but Abram insists that he will be fine and that they should stay together.
Several other Skin Riders arrive to free their comrade from his bonds. When he states that he has recorded the faces of the humans in his memory, one of the others says, “Show me.” They bow their heads, and lumps on their necks glow as the information is passed telepathically. The receiving Skin Rider raises his head: It’s Silas.
Act 4
As Abram sleeps, Ezra and Feena talk about how it is possible that they can have been recreated. They figure they must have obtained their DNA in some way, but also they needed to have captured their brain states so that their memories and abilities could be restored. They speculate that the drone may have withheld some memories, but there’s no way they could really know. As Ezra gazes into the fire, he thinks about driving through the night with Lynn, Kylie, and Silas to escape the Karik.Abram is deteriorating quickly, and the others find that the tendrils have spread to the back of his neck, where he is growing a Skin Rider lump. Ezra drags him into a pool of water in the cave and instructs Feena to pour the Sparks into the water. As they flow toward Abram, Feena is concerned about what the Sparks might do to him. Ezra isn’t sure, but he knows what will happen if they do nothing.
Abram revives, with no sign of the infestation. He remarks that near the end, he had welcomed the infection and didn’t want to be healed. Ezra has found that the tunnel cuts through the whole mountain. Feena goes to talk to him, and wonders why she was revived when there are so many worthier people. Ezra comments that it required a lot of intelligence and effort to bring them back, and figures there’s no way they’d waste all of that in bringing back the wrong people, but Feena isn’t convinced. Ezra tells Feena that if she wants a better life, she has a chance now, but she storms off, saying that he doesn’t know her.
The humans continue onward, and see the settlement in the distance. As they head toward it, they discover that the Skin Riders are chasing them. Ezra insists the others go ahead, and he stays back with the prod to confront them. The first Skin Rider they found sends the others to chase Abram and Feena and stays to deal with Ezra. After a brief scuffle, another Skin Rider appears and helps the first to subdue Ezra, who is shocked to see that it’s Silas. Abram and Feena bang on the door of the settlement. The other Skin Riders arrive, but a yellow drone appears and shocks them. After scanning Abram and Feena, the drone opens the doors and erects a force field around the settlement. As Ezra is about to be injected by Silas, the yellow drone arrives and instructs Ezra to grab on. It flies him back to the settlement and sets him down inside.
The settlement appears abandoned, although there are clear signs that it was occupied at one time. Ezra asks where the settlers are, and the yellow drone tells them to follow it. As they walk, Ezra discovers a metal bracelet with the same symbol on it that he saw earlier. He flashes back to when he and his family arrived at his parents’ cabin, fleeing the Karik. His parents are nowhere to be found, but inside the cabin, he finds a wooden box with the same symbol on the lid. He opens it to see a strange round object inside. He has no idea what it is.
The drone leads them to the top of a tower, and tells them to look north. There, they find the other settlers: 134 graves.
