INTRODUCTION: This script idea was born about two months ago, when a friend of mine and I had been discussing Herman Melville's wonderful novel "Moby Dick". Specifically, we were discussing the large amount of Biblical and mythological symbolism and allegory which can be drawn from the book. Well, the conversation got kind of silly after a bit, and since both of us are anime fans as well as avid readers, we got to wondering how the story would work if rewritten with giant robots instead of sailing ships. A few days later, I received part one of the following script in an email titled "Various assorted demented ramblings". I was duly amused and wrote my own sequel to the script, also included here. "Moby Dick 2299", by Francis Montenegro (soulnomad at yahoo.com), and "Moby Dick 2327", by Steve Harvey (myself) (ej345 at cleveland.freenet.edu) are only loosely based on Melville's original epic - if you haven't read the novel, you'll miss a few of the jokes but not too much. Likewise, a reasonable knowledge of anime may help in places... :D If you enjoy this, we (the authors) would enjoy hearing your comments. Thanks for reading, Steve ----------------------------------------------------------------- MOBY DICK 2299! or SPACE BATTLECRUISER PEQUOD! (Scene: The bridge of the rebuilt Pequod. Suddenly, the radar screen flashes a signal.) Ahab: Thar she blows! The White Whale! First Mate, fire off the Magna-harpoon missile array! Kyoko: But I'm only a Junior High School student! Starbuck: Launch Colonial Vipers! We must defend the fleet from those evil cylons! Anonymous Bridge Crew Member 1(ABCM1): Um, I think you're in the wrong series there, Starbuck. Starbuck: Oh ... yeah ... Um ... Murdock! Cover me! ABCM2: Sigh ... (The ship is rocked by a gigantic explosion) Kyoko: Oh no! The captain's been killed! It is up to I, Kyoko Matsue, ordinary third-year junior high school student, to lead us to victory! (NOTE: In Japan, Junior HS lasts three years) Ahab: Actually, I'm okay. I'm only scratched, actually. Kyoko: Shut up! Don't you know you're supposed to die tragically here? ABCM3: Besides, you're not cute enough to lead us to victory! Ahab: What? That's the most ... Hey! (Hundreds of cute, furry animals appear and drag Captain Ahab away) Ahab: Ow! Watch the leg! Watch the leg! Kyoko: Well, now that that's over, FIRE! (Thousands of missiles emerge from the Pequod and streak towards the enemy. Thousands more appear and fly around in random directions. They don't do anything, but they look cool.) Moby Dick: Hahahahahahahaha! Your puny weapons cannot harm me! Kyoko: Hey! You can't talk! You're a whale! Moby Dick: You know, ever since a meteorite crashed into the South Pole in 1999, flinging me and Captain Ahab into space, people have been saying that to me - "You can't talk, you can't live in space, you can't fire missiles." It's really beginning to tick me off. (Moby Dick fires a volley of missiles at the Pequod. Don't ask where they emerge from.) Kyoko: Waaaah! It's too strong for us! We'll have to use ... ABCM4: You don't mean ... ABCM5: The Big-Ass Gun?!! (Kyoko doesn't answer, but nods with a look of grim determination on her face. Suddenly an explosion rocks the ship, lifting up Kyoko's skirt.) Kyoko: Waaaaaaah! Hentai! Moby Dick: Hahahahaha! Foolish humans! You cannot defeat me! I am too fast to be targeted with your Big-Ass Gun! Sakura Force: We'll stop you! Kyoko: Huh? (The 5 Sakura force ships launch from the Pequod. Sakura 1, Red Sakura, attempts to paralyze Moby Dick with its paralyzer ray. It fails. Sakura 2, Blue Sakura, attempts to club Moby Dick into submission with its electro-boomerang. It fails. Sakura 3, Green Sakura, attempts to put Moby Dick to sleep with its Boring Physics lecture beam. It fails. Sakura 4, Yellow Sakura, attempts to snare Moby Dick in its Super-Duper Web-o-Snaring. It fails. Sakura 5, Pink Sakura, attempts to subdue Moby Dick with its Pink Sugar Heart Attack. Don't even ask.) Moby Dick: Hahahahahahaha! I reign supreme! Kyoko: Foolish Whale! Don't you know that the strength of the human spirit shall defeat you! Though you possess the strength of a hundred robots, I, Kyoko Matsue, shall defeat you for the honor of Mizonokuchi Junior High School! Lawyer: Um, I hate to intrude, but whaling outside of national territorial waters has been forbidden by the International Whaling Commision as of ... Hey! What the ... (Hundreds of cute furry animals appear and drag the lawyer away. Thousands cheer) Moby Dick: Ha! What will you puny humans do? Kyoko: Sakura Force! Form Sakura Z! Sakura Force: Yokai! (Much pyrotechnics ensues. When the smoke clears, the 5 Sakura Force ships have combined to form 1 giant robot, Sakura Z. And yes, I know Sakura means "Cherry Blossom.") Moby Dick: Hey! Is that legal? Kyoko: How should I know? I'm only a Junior High School student. Sakura Force: You're in for it now, you stupid fish! Moby Dick: Mammal! A whale's a mammal! Sakura Force: Not according to Herman Melville! (Much violence ensues. Eventually Sakura Z manages to get Moby Dick in a wrestling hold.) Sakura 1 Pilot (Akira): Fire! Fire now! Kyoko: Prepare to fire the Big-Ass gun! Sakura 2 Pilot (Kenji): Hurry up! We can't hold him for long! ABCM6: Powering energy crystal! Sakura 3 Pilot (Yoshi): I think we're slipping! ABCM7: Releasing safety lock! Sakura 4 Pilot (Ryota): What the #%&! is taking so long?! ABCM8: Engaging firing system! Sakura 5 Pilot (Yoko): We're going to die ... ABCM9: My, there are a lot of people on this bridge, aren't there? Sakura Force (All): JUST FIRE THE DAMN THING ALREADY! Kyoko: FIRE! (A giant energy beam shoots out from the bow of the Pequod. It engulfs both Moby Dick and Sakura Z, vaporizing Moby Dick and, apparently, Sakura Z) Kyoko: Oh, noble Sakura force, your sacrifice shall be forever remembered by all of humanity! Akira: Actually, we're okay Kenji: Yeah, we managed to separate and get away from the beam right as it fired. Kyoko: Oh ... (Hundreds of cute furry animals begin to gather behind the Sakura Force. Kyoko motions them away.) Kyoko: Well, now that that's taken care of, we need to return to Earth! ABCM10: Why? Because the Earth only has a year to live? Kyoko: What? No, of course not! I have my exams to study for! I'm only a Junior High School student, you know! END Coming soon from Toei: "Wuthering Heights 2350 - Heathcliff becomes an idol singer!" EPILOGUE Fedallah: Um, help? Um, the body of the whale protected me from the energy blast, but now I'm floating helplessly in space. Um, can anybody hear me? Hello? ------------------------------------------------------------------- * * * MOBY DICK 2327 * * * OPENING SHOT: We hear ethereal music, and the picture fades from black to a shot of Fedallah's body floating silently in space. Suddenly, a burst of pure white light explodes outward from Fedallah, accompanied by a shrill *SCHWEEN* noise. Suddenly, a young girl sits up startled in bed, frightened by her dream. She whimpers to herself. FATHERLY VOICE (from offscreen): Natsumi, are you all right? NATSUMI: y.. yes father! (Natsumi swallows nervously. A moment later, her light turns on and her parents, in their pajamas, enter.) NATSUMI'S MOTHER: What happened? We heard you cry out! NATSUMI: I... heard a noise, it was nothing! NATSUMI'S FATHER: Are you sure? Were you dreaming? NATSUMI (alarmed): Nn... NO! No dreams at all! (Natsumi smiles a big nervous grin that fills 2/3 of her face as humongous sweat droplets jump from around the sides of her face. Her father looks at her with concern. After a bit more fussing, her parents turn out the light and leave. Natsumi lays in the dark with her eyes open). NATSUMI (thinking to herself): He's... coming back to Earth... ---------------------------------------------------------------- SCENE 2: (Jr. High classroom, filled with girls in sailor suits. NATSUMI is whispering back and forth with her friend SAEKO as the teacher lectures.) SAEKO: So anyway, I don't see why everybody thinks it's such a great thing that they rebuilt *OUR* school so quickly after the destruction of Tokyo-4 just eight months ago. I'd much rather be frolicking outside. NATSUMI: I know what you mean. But I guess that even in the face of disaster, we must always remember school spirit. Besides, Tokyo-5 Junior High needs to be ready in just six weeks for the annual giant robot competition with Tokyo-3. SAEKO: Who cares about Tokyo-3? Ever since the entire city was knocked into space by a mysterious asteroid, where it now orbits the moon, surrounded by a strange force field, I don't think they should even be allowed to participate in the competition. NATSUMI: Oh, come on, Saeko, just because the entire population of Tokyo-3 now has strange telepathic powers is no reason to treat them any different from any other school. Besides, Commander Ahab of the Earth Defense Force thinks it's important for the two Tokyos to maintain good relations with one another! SAEKO: Hah! If he was such a great commander, why did he let Tokyo-4 get demolished by that asteroid? Not to mention what happened to Tokyo-2! NATSUMI: What happened to Tokyo-2 was... TEACHER (angrily interrupting): Girls! Would you like to share your little conversation with the class?!? NATSUMI (smiling huge grin, grabbing the back of her neck): Sorry teacher! --------------------------- SCENE 3 (Huge hi-tech control room filled with hundreds of display screens. Two archetypal anime spaceship captains walk across the floor. They look 100% identical in every regard except that one has a peg-leg.) AHAB: I'm very pleased with how quickly the reconstruction of Tokyo is proceeding this time! C-HAB: Well, Ahab old friend, the Tokyo Civil Engineering Force has had a lot of practice over the past few decades. (Ahab chuckles) AHAB: Yes, but I thought for sure last time that the strange object which was headed for earth wasn't another asteroid. I thought for sure, it was... you know. C-HAB: Ahab, will you ever let it go? You saw that giant space whale destroyed with your own eyes. There's no way it could have possibly survived that explosion. You've already had your revenge. AHAB: Never underestimate Moby Dick. Sakura-Z survived that blast. Who can say for sure the whale didn't as well?!? C-HAB (uncomfortably): Look, let's not argue about this again. Besides, I have some... other... news for you. I'm thinking of transferring up to Tokyo-3. (AHAB stops suddenly at glares at C-HAB, or would be glaring if we could see his eyes underneath the brim of his hat). AHAB (coldly): So, B-hab finally named your price. C-HAB: No, Ahab, it's not like that. Tokyo-3 needs a competent leader for its Civil Engineering Force just as badly as Tokyo-5 does. But there's another reason. I miss Kyoko. She needs me. AHAB: Tokyo-3 was blasted millions of miles through space without so much as a cracked sidewalk. Every inhabitant of that city now has strange mental powers, and Kyoko's are more fantastic than most. There's some who say she was the reason the city survived to begin with. I don't see as how Tokyo-3 needs anyone's help. C-HAB: She's lonely and scared, Ahab. Look, we both have our little obsessions. Yours is that you can't accept that Moby Dick is dead, mine is that I can't forgive myself for not being there for Kyoko when she needed me fifteen years ago. AHAB: Don't dance around the issue like that, you scoundrel! I know how you really feel! I know what people say about me! "There goes Commander Ahab", they say, "he ignored his responsibilities as Earth Defense Force Commander to go chase after a giant space whale in 2299, leaving behind Tokyo-2 to be destroyed as a result. Then, in 2326, he lets Tokyo-4 get destroyed AGAIN because he refuses to fire on a giant asteroid headed for a collision course with Earth". I hear the stories, C-hab!!! (AHAB has worked himself into a real furor by now, and everyone in the room is looking at him. AHAB and C-HAB enter an elevator travelling hundreds of stories downward as they continue their conversation). C-HAB: Ahab, nobody blames you for the destruction of Tokyo. That asteroid *could* have been Moby Dick returning to Earth for all anybody knew, or it could have been... AHAB: "Another Tokyo-3", C-hab, just spit it out. That's what everyone hoped for. Put Ahab in charge of the Earth Defense Force and what happens? Tokyo gets destroyed, despite his best efforts. When Ahab has *other* fish to fry, like taking a crew out to Pluto to investigate a mysterious whale-shaped monolith, an asteroid hits Tokyo. But does anyone care? Nnnnnooooooooooooooooooo!, not with *B*-hab in temporary command of the Earth Defense Force! He was as helpless as I was, C-hab, but because he was in the right place at the right time, the whole city gets knocked into lunar orbit and all of a sudden he's a hero. C-HAB: Let it go, Ahab! I was on that trip to Pluto too! I felt as bad as you did about abandoning Earth in her time of crisis. I felt as humiliated as anyone when those rock formations turned out to look nothing like a whale. We didn't know! AHAB (turns his back to C-HAB as he exits elevator): Very well. Be sure to give Kyoko my regards. --------------------------------------------------------------------- SCENE 4: (Tokyo-5 Jr. High. NATSUMI and SAEKO are sitting on a concrete floor, scrubbing some small metal tiles with a toothbrush. Their hands and faces are covered with ink). NATSUMI: Nice going, Saeko. You got us detention again. SAEKO: Oh did I? I seem to remember *you* were the one who the teacher caught talking. NATSUMI: *Sigh* It's not important. I just wish teacher had thought up some punishment other than making us clean all 10,000 kanji type elements from the school newspaper's printing press again. SAEKO: Yeah, hasn't anybody heard of a laser printer? NATSUMI: C'mon, Saeko, you know all the computer equipment they salvaged from the ruins of Tokyo-4 is being used to build the volatile new Earth Defense Grid to protect against future asteroid collisions. SAEKO: That's one story, at least. NATSUMI: What are you talking about? SAEKO: C'mon, Natsumi, don't be naive. You know what people are saying- that the REAL project the Earth Defense Force has been working on is that Commander Ahab is going to rebuild the Pequod. NATSUMI: That's ridiculous, Saeko. He may have made some mistakes in the past, but I'm sure Commander Ahab knows better than to go off on yet another wild goose chase. SAEKO: I guess you're right. Besides, even if he *did* rebuild the Pequod, it's not like there's any reason for him to go out on another voyage again. Teeheeheeheeheehee! (NATSUMI forces a grin but swallows uncomfortably. There is a half-second flashback of Fedallah floating deep in space. Suddenly, the girls are interrupted from their conversation by a harpoon flying in the classroom window and sticking in the cork board. They look at each other with a stunned expression for several moments, until QUEEQUEG, a large tattooed man in a loincloth, enters to retrieve it). QUEEQUEG: Please pardon my intrusion, girls. I was practicing throwing my harpoon blindfolded, as is my custom, and must have misjudged the wind. SAEKO (smiling awkwardly, obviously quite taken with Queequeg): No, it's fine, really. I'm... Saeko Okajima. QUEEQUEG (nobly kissing her hand): A pleasure, Saeko-chan. And you must be Natsumi Fumika. NATSUMI (gulping nervously, experiencing another half-second flashback to Fedallah floating in space): H... how did you know? QUEEQUEG: Why, you placed first in the flower-arranging competition in last month's cherry blossom festival. I saw your picture in the local paper. NATSUMI (giggling nervously): Yes, well, ever since Tokyo-4 was destroyed, the papers are starving for every little bit of cheerful news they can get. It's nothing really. SAEKO: Don't be silly, Natsumi, you were brilliant! The artistry of your flower arrangement thoroughly shamed and humilated the students of our rival school, Tokyo-3 Junior High. QUEEQUEG: Yes, Natsumi, you should give yourself more credit. You have brought much happiness to the citizens of Tokyo-5. To repay you for your efforts, and to make up for disrupting you girls, you must allow me to take you around the corner for sushi. I know a place that makes a superb salt-pork roll. SAEKO (jumping at the invitation): We'd love to! ------------------------------------------------------------------- SCENE 5 (A nearby sushi restaraunt. NATSUMI and SAEKO (now no longer covered in ink) sit across a booth from QUEEQUEG). SAEKO: So, we've been pretty busy I guess, what with schoolwork and the rebuilding of Tokyo and our, err, volunteering to keep the school printing press in tip-top shape. QUEEQUEG: That's very generous of you. Are you girls also participating in the upcoming giant robot competition with Tokyo-3 Junior High? SAEKO: Oh, we wouldn't miss a chance to shame those snobs for anything! We're building a mech codenamed Keroppi-Phi-Alpha-7, with twin auto-tracking missle racks on each arm and a head-mounted gauss rife and... NATSUMI (glaring at her friend angrily): Saeko! Why don't you just tell him the details of the power array while you're at it! (SAEKO shuts up and grins sheepishly). QUEEQUEG (laughing heartily): Don't worry girls, your secrets are safe with me. I'm as hopeful as anyone that Tokyo-5 will come through with flying colors yet again. This city can always use a good cause to rally behind. That's one thing that hasn't changed even though Tokyo has been destroyed three times in the last several decades. NATSUMI: Three times? But what about Tokyo-1? QUEEQUEG: Yes, I guess you might not know about that. Nobody likes to talk about Tokyo-1. Tokyo-1, girls, was never destroyed. It was just renamed to Tokyo-2 in 2291 as a marketing ploy to generate tourism. After the city really WAS destroyed 8 years later, people thought the original name change had represented a bad omen of sorts, so no one really likes to bring it up anymore. SAEKO (with hearts floating in her eyes): Gee, Queequeg, you're so smart. How did you learn all this? QUEEQUEG: I've lived in Tokyo a long time. I was the harpooneer on a whaling boat for many years, until Tokyo-3 was shot into lunar orbit, at which point all of the earth's whales and dolphins, and many other fish, instantly dissolved into ethereal beings of light who flew off into the unknown reaches of deep space. That put an end to my former career, and ever since then I've sustained myself as an ergonomic design consultant for the Earth Defense Force. But in my free time I keep my harpooning skills fresh for the historical whaling recreationist society of which I'm a member. SAEKO: I'd love to see what you could do with a spear! (Just then, a panic is heard in the street. Everyone in the restaraunt runs outside. NATSUMI mumbles something about "otaku hussie" to her friend in the chaos. Outside, the street is covered in shadow and everyone looks to the sky. The shape of a great white whale blots out the sun. QUEEQUEG grabs NATSUMI by the arms and looks her in the face). QUEEQUEG: Natsumi, I regret to inform you that I haven't been completely forthright with you about who I am. You are in grave danger and must come with me. NATSUMI: Bbbbut my friends... My family... (a cluster of missles, trailing smoke, demolishes a building just two blocks away from where the trio are standing) QUEEQUEG: There's no time for that! Tokyo is in grave danger and you may be its only hope! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SCENE 6 (Earth Defense Force control center. AHAB and C-HAB are arguing furiously with a team of scientists, gesturing to various wire-frame holograms of a whale). Suddenly, one of the largest computer banks explodes without warning, sending a shower of sparks and flame across the room. AHAB: SEE! IT'S AN OMEN! God wants me to go up in the newly reconstructed Pequod and do battle with Moby Dick one final time! And I am assured of victory! That explosion is a sign from heaven that the only way to save Tokyo is through causing MORE explosions - explosions which will DESTROY Moby Dick. It is foreordained! C-HAB: Good God he's gone mad! Ahab you fool, don't you realize that whale was orbitting Earth PEACEFULLY until you gave the order to fire on it? AHAB: Don't be a sentimental idiot, C-hab. If we hadn't fired, we might all be dead by now. Prepare the Pequod for battle! (SARAH BELLAMY, An attractive blond woman in a lab coat interrupts the argument) SARAH: Commander Ahab, I'm one of the Earth Defense Force's top soothsayers, and I must warn you that your plan is utter madness. You are doomed to failure. If you go after Moby Dick it will mean your defeat and the destruction of Tokyo. I have forseen that if you proceed with your plan, the following will happen: you will see the sun rise twice in one day, your second in command will die as the result of a bowl of oatmeal, and you will come face to face with a prophet who you have thought to be a ghost for near thirty years. AHAB: Why that's ridiculous gibberish! I will have no more of your feeble superstition! C-hab, when will the ship be ready? C-HAB: Commander, it's madness to launch the Pequod already - it'll be weeks before she's properly spaceworthy. Even if we work around the clock, my calculations show she won't be ready for launch until... *gulp* sunrise, the day after tomorrow. ------------------------------------------------------------ SCENE 7 (NATSUMI and QUEEQUEG are huddled in the ruins of an office building as explosions are heard outside). NATSUMI: But Queequeg, I don't understand! What's so special about me? I'm just an ordinary schoolgirl! QUEEQUEG: I know this will be difficult for you to understand, Natsumi, but it is time you knew your real history. Your father, who you always believed to be an insurance salesman, was in fact the same Kenji Fumika who helped pilot Sakura-Z against Moby Dick almost thirty years ago. NATSUMI: Well, that would explain my natural penchant for giant robots and cherry blossoms, but why me? Why am I so important? QUEEQUEG: Every member of the crew of the original Pequod was bathed in strange cosmic rays as a result of the battle with Moby Dick. It affected everyone differently. Kyoko Matsue was altered the most dramatically. There are many who believe that Tokyo-3 would have been completely oblitered if she had not been there to make contact with the Watchers, a race of strange benevolent beings who dwell millions of years in Earth's future. And there are some who believe that what happened to Tokyo-3 was no accident. NATSUMI: What do you mean? QUEEQUEG: Natsumi, your father, and the rest of the crew of Sakura-Z, were part of a series of top-secret experiments known as Project Ishmael. What few people ever knew is that Project Ishmael was in reality just a front for Project Jeremiah - the Earth Defense Force didn't want that secret getting out. But even Commander Ahab himself never suspected that Project Jeremiah was part of a larger, more mysterious plan: Project Ezekiel. Project Ezekiel was being secretly funded by the board of directors of Yokoyama fisheries, who wanted to complete the research began almost a century before by Project Moses. NATSUMI: Project Moses? Wasn't that the disaster that caused all green plants in the Western hemisphere to spontaneously combust, killing half the world's population in minutes? QUEEQUEG (grimly): The same. The board at Yokoyama, acting as puppets for the Bonsai Liberation Front, convinced certain parties within Earth Defense Force to re-enact Project Moses, in an underground lab deep beneath Tokyo-2. Commander B-hab, then a young officer from an influential family, was only too happy to assist. But B-hab never counted on the Pequod actually encountering Moby Dick - who he believed was a mere legend - and he grossly underestimated the effects that the cosmic rays would have on Kyoko Matsue and the pilots of the Sakura-Z. So when B-hab sent A-hab and his crew out to Pluto to investigate some rock formations, he never considered that anything would thwart his plans to kill the population of Tokyo-3 in order to appease the blood-lust of the sinister extra-dimensional demon Ahbeenghooznaimizardtouprahnountz. Fortunately, Kyoko, who up to then knew not of her powers, was able to avert the calamity by calling out to the Watchers, and saving Tokyo-3. B-hab, of course, took all the credit, and Earth Defense Force couldn't very well dispute him - not without admitting the existence of Project Jeremiah. Now do you understand? NATSUMI: I think so, but there's more. Ever since Tokyo-4 was destroyed, I've been having these dreams... of a man - a Parsee I think - floating in deep space for thirty years, but yet somehow alive. QUEEQUEG: It is just as I suspected. But now we must leave Earth; time is of the essence. NATSUMI: Leave Earth? But how? (QUEEQUEG produces a carved wooden idol about a foot high) QUEEQUEG: This is my starship, the battlecruiser Yojo. The time has come for me to prepare it for flight. NATSUMI: That thing? But how? QUEEQUEG: You must be patient. Commander Ahab will be launching the Pequod in less than 48 hours. I must mentally transform Yojo into its other form by kneeling silently before it for nearly 36 hours. You must go now and bid farewell to your family. Tell your father you love him, and that you are Earth's only hope - he will understand - but speak nothing of Project Jeremiah or of the agents from DAMOCLES who will hunt you relentlessly as long as you remain on Earth. ----------------------------------------------------------------- SCENE 8 (The bridge of the Pequod, which has just launched on its latest voyage. AHAB and C-HAB watch the sun rise from high above the Earth.) BRIDGE CREW MEMBER: Commander Ahab, we've located Moby Dick, who left Earth orbit just hours after attacking Tokyo-5 two days ago. Shall we pursue. AHAB: God speed, lieutenant. I'll teach that whale to bite off my leg. BRIDGE CREW MEMBER: Aye aye, Commander. We'll have to complete a full orbit of the earth in order to reach escape velocity - it should take about fifteen minutes. AHAB: I'm off to have some breakfast then. Hail me when we're about to leave Earth orbit. Just think, by slingshotting around the planet, we'll be able to see the sun rise again. C-HAB (nervously): But Commander, that's just what the soothsayer's prophecy foretold. Aren't you worried? AHAB: Don't be ridiculous, C-hab, a mere coincidence. Now come down to the mess hall and have a hearty bowl of oatmeal with me. Your nerves are just on edge. C-HAB: But Commander, I'm not sure I want to... AHAB: That's an order, C-hab! (AHAB and C-HAB proceed down to mess hall where they each get a bowl of oatmeal from the food synthesizer. AHAB wolfs his down but C-HAB just stirs his nervously. The two eat in silence until a voice comes over the intercom). BRIDGE CREW MEMBER (on intercom): Commander Ahab, we're ready to leave Earth orbit... And there's something up here you should see. (AHAB hobbles quickly up to bridge, where he sees the sun rising up above the horizon, and framed in the golden glow is his old friend Fedallah. AHAB is speechless. Down in the mess hall, C-HAB's stomach growls and he absent-mindedly takes a bite of oatmeal). C-HAB: Owww! That's hot! (C-HAB leaps up in search of something to cool his tongue. Just then, an explosion rocks the ship, causing C-HAB to bang his head violently into the sharp corner of a bulkhead. He falls to the floor, dead). AHAB (shaking his fist at Fedallah on the viewscreen): Damn you Parsee, out of my way, I've a score to settle with Moby Dick! FEDALLAH (his voice mentally projected into everyone's mind): Don't you understand, Ahab? I *AM* the whale. I am an eternal being, and Moby Dick is but one of my many forms, just as Ahab is one of my forms. The monolith on Pluto, it is calling to you once more. And by the way, Queequeg is actually a woman. AHAB: Curse you Moby Dick! I'll have my vengeance! I'll have... (everything goes to black for several seconds. Then we hear music, a beautiful female voice. We see Kyoko floating in space, singing a haunting melody) KYOKO (singing): All my memories Are happy springtime music A child's beautiful laughter Is nowhere else reflected... (As Kyoko continues to sing, we see a montage of images: Saeko, running through a field of daisies, tears pouring from her eyes. Natsumi lying on a city street, barely alive, her body trapped beneath a fallen billboard bearing an oatmeal advertisment. The battlecruiser Yojo engaged in an epic space battle with a thousand fightercraft launched from Tokyo-3. Natsumi's mother, pregnant, crocheting a blanket with a picture of a white whale on it. B-hab, armed with a laser pistol, fighting off unending streams of Cylon warriors. Stubb, sitting on a rock on the surface of Pluto, smoking a meerschaum pipe. Ahab, his leg restored, dancing happily by the seashore with hundreds of cute furry cartoon animals. The music fades, and the screen fades to black once more for several seconds. We see Natsumi, just a toddler, lying in her crib, as an older middle-aged Natsumi speaks to her) NATSUMI: Don't you understand, Natsumi? Once there was a Natsumi who ate fish sticks and a Natsumi who drank grog, but now there is only cabin-girl Natsumi who is none of these. There never was a Tokyo, Natsumi, it never existed. (As NATSUMI continues to talk to her younger self, the camera fades outward, to a sunset over a small, nameless beachside village somewhere in Japan. We hear an instrumental version of Kyoko's song as the credits begin to roll).