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Recap / Extinct E 02 Brother's Keeper

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The Reborns explore the abandoned settlement, and Ezra comes face-to-face with his past.

Teaser

Reeling from the discovery of the cemetery, the Reborns realize they have no food or water, nor any other people to help them. Ezra determines he’s going to find his way inside the bunker inside the settlement walls and starts beating on the door with a pipe.

Flashback: Ezra’s parents haven’t returned to the cabin. Ezra wants to head back to the city to talk with friends to find out where they might be. Lynn thinks it’s too dangerous and wants to stay together, but Ezra insists that he has to go and find out what’s going on. Silas listens as he pushes Kylie on a swing.

Abram and Feena convince Ezra to give up banging on the door. When he demands to know what killed the other humans, Yellow Drone says that they won’t like the answer, because it will probably kill them, too. It opens the doors and tells them to follow it inside.

Act 1

As Yellow Drone leads the Reborns through the bunker, an unknown man runs through the forest, pursued by Skin Riders. He is caught and brought to meet with Silas, who calls him Duncan. He asks why Duncan’s parasite (which he calls a Companion) does not answer his calls, and determines that it is ill. Silas assures Duncan that he will be made whole again, but Duncan does not look pleased at the prospect.

Yellow Drone leads the Reborns to a vault within the bunker, explaining that this is where the settlers likely died. (The settlement was already abandoned for about a year when Yellow Drone arrived.) The word “QUARANTINE” is scratched into the door. Yellow Drone says that a virus killed them, and that this virus is still present in the environment, meaning that it will likely kill them, too. The drone leads them to the control room and asks them to pour the Sparks into a water tank so that it can communicate with them and ask if they can immunize the Reborns against this virus.

Flashback: Lynn wants to come with Ezra, since she is a nurse and may be able to help people, but Ezra doesn’t want to leave Kylie with Silas. Lynn thinks Ezra should give Silas more credit. She then asks him to take Silas, but he’d feel better if he was there with Lynn and Kylie to protect them. He says goodbye to his family. Silas tries to go, too, but Ezra insists he stay.

The first Skin Rider to encounter the Reborns, Jax, tells Silas that he injected Abram, but that they must have somehow destroyed the spore, because Abram does not have a Companion. He speculates that they may have used the Sparks. Jax asks if it bothers Silas that one of the Reborns is his brother. Silas responds that Jax is his brother, that the Reborns are half-organisms that will be brought into the fold if “the Ancestor” favors them.

Yellow Drone reports that the Sparks can vaccinate them, but need them to do something first. The Reborns aren’t sure they trust Yellow Drone, since Red Drone hadn’t been completely honest with them. They ask Yellow Drone to prove it is communicating with the Sparks by asking them to move to a specific part of the tank. The drone does so, which satisfies the Reborns for now. Yellow Drone reports that the Sparks need to be taken to a nearby lake, where the raw ingredients to create the vaccine can be found. And the need to do so is becoming more urgent: Feena’s nose starts bleeding.

Act 2

Ezra wants Feena to rest at the settlement while he goes to the lake by himself. Feena doesn't object to resting, but insists that Abram go with Ezra. That way, he can be immunized immediately once the Sparks finish their work at the lake, and if something happens to Ezra, Abram may still be able to get the vaccine for Feena. Unable to deny the logic of this argument, Ezra agrees, and he and Abram depart the settlement together.

Their departure is observed by a Skin Rider posted as a sentinel, who telepathically communicates this to the others. Jax wants to lead an expedition to intercept them and capture the Sparks, but Silas insists that Duncan lead instead to demonstrate his loyalty. Jax objects, saying that he is responsible for their safety, but Silas counters that his own responsibility is their faith. Duncan looks like he'd rather be anywhere else.

Meanwhile, Feena begins examining Red Drone to see if it can be repaired. As they walk, Abram and Ezra try to get some answers from Yellow Drone, but it remains evasive with its responses. All they are able to learn from it is that it works for the Sparks, but it doesn't seem to know who the Sparks work for.

The Skin Rider party stops to refresh themselves at a stream. Jax goes to confront Duncan. He says humans do not deserve the bodies they're blessed with, because they use them for wicked purposes, and that a Skin Rider that allows his human to choose for themselves doesn't deserve such a body either. Duncan avoids Jax's gaze. Silas intervenes, saying it's time to move on.

Abram correctly deduces from Ezra's mannerisms that he was in the military, and speculates that perhaps he was chosen to be reborn because they needed a soldier. Ezra points out that there were plenty of better soldiers than him, but Abram replies that perhaps there were other qualities they were looking for as well.

Feena continues to try to repair Red Drone. She manages to trigger something that causes it to speak the names of the three Reborns, followed by "Silas," surprising Feena. When she tries to investigate further, she is stopped by an electric shock, presumably an anti-tampering mechanism. Before she can attempt to circumvent it, she suddenly starts feeling ill again, and lays down to rest. As she drifts into unconsciousness, Red Drone suddenly activates.

Abram reveals to Ezra that he's a therapist who often worked with people with PTSD. He tells Ezra he likely has PTSD as well, and that all the things he’s experienced will have put his neurochemicals out of whack, but that will normalize with time. Unfortunately, his skills as a therapist can’t fix the fact that he’s separated from his wife and daughter. They arrive at the lake, and Ezra releases the Sparks into the water.

Feena wakes and is startled to see a woman next to her, saying she’s here to help. It’s Ezra’s wife, Lynn.

Act 3

Lynn tells Feena she’s a nurse and questions her about her symptoms. Feena eyes her mistrustfully, and is terrified when she disappears mid-sentence.

As Ezra and Abram wait for the Sparks to produce a vaccine, they talk about the Skin Riders, trying to understand what they are. Abram speculates that they’re evolved humans, but Ezra asserts that they’re Reborns, and tells him about his encounter with Silas. Abram conjectures that the Skin Riders may have the bodies of people they know but with different brain states. Erza rejects that, believing that the Skin Rider he saw was really his brother.

Flashback: On his way to find his parents and brandishing a military rifle, Ezra witnesses airborne combat between Earth military forces and Karik ships. Suddenly, he encounters Silas, who Lynn sent to join Ezra. Silas asks for the gun, saying that he should go look for their parents because he’s expendable, to which Ezra rather heartlessly replies that the gun isn’t, and that Silas doesn’t know how to use it properly anyway. Silas says that Lynn and Kylie are scared and that Ezra should be with them, reiterating that he (Silas) should be the one risking himself as he has the least to lose. Ezra tells him that he can’t be trusted to be responsible, and Silas admits this and leaves, upset that he won’t be given the chance to do what’s right.

Ezra tells Abram that he wants to rescue Silas, thinking the Sparks can cure him. Abram objects, arguing that the Skin Rider Ezra encountered is not his brother, and that trying to rescue him will get Ezra killed or turned, and they can’t afford to lose him. Ezra responds that he has a chance to make things right with his brother and he has to take it.

Feena believes she’s either seeing ghosts or hallucinating, but Lynn reappears and explains that she’s an intelligent hologram produced by Red Drone using one of its stored brain states. Lynn wants to help Feena complete her repairs on the drone, so that it will be able to make more people for its stored brain states, including her own.

Yellow Drone warns Ezra and Abram that Skin Riders are approaching. She hides deep in the lake with the Sparks, and sends a small scout drone to guide the humans on a different route to the settlement to avoid capture. However, the Skin Riders arrive at the lake and spot them before they leave, and Ezra notes that Silas is among them. They run off, and Ezra gives the Sparks to Abram and tells him to follow the scout. Ezra ambushes Silas, but the other Skin Riders become aware of this and turn back to help him, leaving Abram without pursuers. Silas warns Ezra not to hurt the lump on his neck because it will kill him. As the other Skin Riders arrive, Silas asks them not to kill Ezra. Jax says he won’t, and knocks Ezra out.

Act 4

Ezra wakes at night next to a campfire with Silas, who warns him not to try to run or he’ll call the other Skin Riders. Ezra checks the back of his neck, but Silas reassures him that he has not been injected, believing that it is best that Ezra join them willingly. Silas tells Ezra about the Companion, saying that it gives him knowledge and makes him better. Before, he was nothing but a disappointment, but now he’s a leader.

Flashback: Ezra witnesses a collision between a helicopter and a Karik ship and goes to investigate the latter’s crash site. When he gets close, a gas is suddenly released, blinding Ezra. He stumbles through the forest, and is fortunately discovered by Silas, who helps him up.

Back in the present, Ezra tries to convince Silas that he was never a disappointment, but Silas doesn’t want to go back to who he was. Suddenly, his eyes become unfocused, and the lump on the back of his neck starts glowing less brightly. He says that his Companion is very tired, and waves Ezra away. Ezra realizes that the real Silas is telling him to escape, which he does.

He is met by Abram, who was watching the camp. Ezra explains what happened, and Ezra tells the scout to bring Yellow Drone and the Sparks. As they gather more plants made for them by the Sparks, Yellow Drone surfaces and says the Sparks were successful in making a vaccine. Ezra and Abram take theirs, then instruct Yellow Drone to bring another to Feena, but the drone insists that it is instructed to ensure they return to the settlement. They start running.

Feena is dying. The Lynn hologram tells Red Drone that she needs to be with someone she knows. Lynn disappears, and Feena hears a familiar voice: it’s Duncan.

Jax angrily assaults the real Duncan over his failure to prevent Ezra’s escape. Duncan objects that humans are good, but Jax won’t hear it and attempts to crush his Companion. Silas intervenes, saying that both of them fell asleep, and that they don’t kill their own without counsel.

Feena wakes to find Ezra nearby. She’s doing a little better now that she’s had the vaccine. She finds herself in living quarters that Abram discovered. Ezra says he saw Red Drone on the worktable and asks if Feena had any luck fixing it; she says no, not mentioning her experience with the holographic Lynn and Duncan.

In a flashback: Lynn is greeted by Silas bringing Ezra back to the cabin. In the present, Ezra sees Silas perched in a tree, watching the settlement, an inscrutable look on his face.

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