INT. WAREHOUSE, PIER 41 - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)
The episode opens exactly where Episode 4 left off. KAELEN and ARIS are surrounded by the armed agents of the Analog Ghosts. The blinding floodlights cast long, stark shadows.
MR. SILAS stands before them, his face an unreadable mask.
> Your technology and your knowledge. Or erasure. You have one minute to choose.
Aris looks at Kaelen, terrified. They arecompletely outmatched. Kaelen's mind races, but for the first time, her futuristic logic offers no solution. The pressure is immense, a physical weight. Under this extreme stress, her latent "royal" ability-the psychic intuition that lets her interface with the Oracle-flares wildly, uncontrollably. She doesn't just feel the pressure; she projects it. A silent, desperate scream of psychic energy erupts from her, unnoticed by anyone in the warehouse.
INT. "THE ANNOTATED PAGE" ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSHOP, GREENWICH VILLAGE - NIGHT
Miles away, the bookshop is a sanctuary of quiet and shadows, smelling of old paper and leather. NADIA (60s), a blind woman with a serene face and long, silver hair, sits in a worn armchair, her fingers tracing the embossed cover of a book.Suddenly, she flinches. Her head snaps up.
To her, the world is not darkness, but a symphony of sounds, smells, and something more-a perception of the world's emotional and temporal texture. Kaelen's psychic scream hits her not as a sound, but as a piercing, violet-colored shriek of pain and panicked energy that momentarily whites out all her other senses.
> (whispering)
> Another one... so loud...
A man, JULIAN (30s), emerges from the back room. He is powerfully built, with the quiet intensity of a former soldier. He is Nadia's protector and her anchor to the mundane world. He sees her distress instantly.
> Nadia? What is it?
> The echo. The new one we felt arriving. It's trapped. Cornered. It's crying out. I've never felt anything so strong.
She points a trembling finger southeast.
> Red Hook. Pier 41. It's drowning in grey noise... the color of old stone and secrets.
The color of the men who watch us.
Julian's face hardens. He knows what the "grey noise" means. It's the signature of the organization that has hunted people like Nadia for years-the Analog Ghosts.
> Stay here. Lock the doors.
He grabs a heavy duffel bag from a closet and heads for the door without another word.
INT. WAREHOUSE, PIER 41 - NIGHT
Silas's minute is nearly up. His agents tense, ready to move.
> Time's up, Princess.
Suddenly, the warehouse plunges into darkness. Outside, the sound of shattering transformers echoes, followed by shouting. Julian has arrived, and his method of creating a diversion is brutally effective: he has taken out the pier's power station.
In the ensuing chaos, Kaelen acts. She rips the Wayfinder from her belt and, channeling all her remaining energy, triggers a localized chronon pulse. It's not a weapon, but it has a strange effect: for a split second, everyone's perception of time stutters. To the agents, it feels like a dizzying flash of déjà vu, a momentary, nauseating glitch in reality.
It's all the time Kaelen and Aris need. They sprint into the darkness, escaping into the maze of shipping containers outside.
INT. "THE ANNOTATED PAGE" BOOKSHOP -LATER
Hours later, a desperate Kaelen and Aris, having nowhere else to go, find their way to the bookshop-the source of their rescue. Julian lets them in, his expression wary.
Inside, Nadia sits in her chair, a cup of tea steaming in her hands.
> I heard you. Welcome, child of the future.
You have a very loud mind.
Kaelen stares at her, stunned. Nadia is a "sensitive," a person whose mind is naturally attuned to temporal disturbances. She explains that there are others like her, a handful across the globe. They are the"fantasy" element Kaelen's science cannot explain. They have been hunted for decades by the Analog Ghosts, who fear their power.
THE NEW REVELATION
While Julian stands guard and Nadia explains the hidden war, Aris works with Kaelen to analyze the data from the echo, which has been running this whole time. Now, with Nadia's context, they look for something new. Not just business data, but data related to people.
They find it. Malakor isn't just building a company. He is using his futuristic algorithms to scan global medical and psychological records, hunting for the specific genetic markers and brainwave patterns that identify "sensitives" like Nadia.
> Oh my god... He's not just trying to controlthe world's technology...
> He's trying to build an army of seers. He wants to find these people and weaponize their abilities.
The episode ends with a new, terrifying clarity. Their mission has changed. It's no longer just about stopping Malakor's corporate takeover. They must now find the other sensitives on Malakor's list before he does.
The Wayfinder projects a map of the world.
On it, a half-dozen locations begin to glow-the locations of the other people Malakor is hunting. The new alliance-Kaelen (future science), Aris (present tech), Nadia (temporal mystic), and Julian (physical guardian)-look at the map. Their war has just become a rescue mission.
FADE TO BLACK.
END OF EPISODE 5