01x09 - Second Foundation

[bunniefuu]

[theme music playing]

You have chosen well, Nova.

This world is young.

And while it is filled
with energy,

it has not yet created life.

Your talent for locating
whatever you seek

makes you the perfect herald
for Galactus.

You just say that 'cause
you know what a sucker he is

for a side of lava.

Let me ring the ol' dinner bell.

Now we can get down to business.

Are you certain
you wish to do this?

If Galactus learns
that you have aided me

in my search for Zenn-La,

you will most assuredly
face his wrath.

Silverado, I've got to do this.

I know what it feels like
to lose everything you love.

[Silver Surfer]
Are you sensing something?

As they probably don't say
on Zenn-La, bingo!

- You have found it?
- I am kind of overwhelming, huh?

Better get going.

The place isn't exactly
next door.

I'm going home.

[laughing]

Home?

[stammering] What's wrong?

This planet,

it does not even
resemble my world.

Do not touch it!

- [Nova screams]
- Nova!

Those are pulsar mines

used by the Skrull to prevent
the escape of convicts

from prison worlds.

And Big G's using them
to keep you out?

With his power, why bother?

I'm sorry, Nova,

but I do not think
he's bothering at all.

This cannot be my homeworld.

Silverado, I don't
make mistakes.

Well, there was that
nose-piercing incident.

If home's where the hearth is

I guarantee
there's a roaring fire

waiting for you below.

Skrull vandal craft.

The Confederation's
most potent vessels.

And we have no place
to maneuver.

You were right
about one thing, Surfer,

this definitely isn't
Galactus' style.

[both screaming]

Nova, where have you brought us?

[Nova] Yes!

Game point for the hot chick

and Quicksilver team.

I do not understand
your reference, Nova.

I believe any victory
celebration is premature.

[Nova grunting]

[Hive One] Green Interceptors,
this is Hive One.

Cease interference.

Repeat, cease interference.

[Silver Surfer thinking] Odd.

The vandals perform as well

within an atmosphere as without.

Why do they not continue
the pursuit?

[Hive One]
Thank you, Interceptors.

The Hive Mother appreciates
the zeal you've shown,

but we do not want to hurt
the children now, do we?

- [groaning]
- [Silver Surfer] Nova?

Can you hear me?

[groaning]

Silverado, who would've thought

a living flame
could have contusions?

[groans]

So this is
the old homestead, huh?

Not exactly like I imagined.

This is not Zenn-La. And yet...

Nothing like this
ever happened to me before.

How could I be so far off?

Perhaps not so far off
after all.

Nova, the composition
of these buildings,

the feeling of them...

They could once have stood
upon my world.

[gasps] Skrull!

- We have been tricked.
- Welcome to my world.

Who are you? What place is this?

I am Nietre, the caretaker.

And that is a mindless one,

one of my young charges

here on Skrullos.

[Silver Surfer] Skrullos?

Nova, you have taken us
to a place

no outsider has
ever before found,

the very nest world
of the Skrull.

Precisely, Silver Surfer.
Now, come with me quickly.

I have taken a great risk

and we have very little time.

No planet but that of our origin

has ever been found
with the proper conditions

for Skrull reproduction.

Here on Skrullos,

we hatch and begin
our childhood.

The body of the hatchling
rages with primal instinct.

Bereft of reason, it is driven
only by emotion.

Oh, man!
With this kind of upbringing,

no wonder the Skrulls all act
like frat boys on Saturday night.

Later, after the time
of jungle trial,

when the hatchling must gain
the power of thought,

it returns to the hive.

[Zedrao] We have a
situation here, Prime Minister.

What kind of situation?

Two known associates
of Galactus,

the Silver Surfer and a woman

our intelligence service
believes is called Nova

are planetside.

You couldn't stop them?

What kind of fleet
are you running, Zedrao?

[Zedrao] My vandals were
called off by Caretaker Nietre.

He's been incommunicado
ever since.

Nietre? I knew we should've
gotten rid of that old fool

the moment we took over.

We had no choice, Kiar.

He's like a father
to most of the Confederation.

Without him, we never
could have kept up the charade

of a normal chain of command.

But if he actually intends

to summon
the devourer of worlds...

He may be a loyalist, Kiar,

but that's something
he'd never do.

No, he's up to something
far more insidious.

Zedrao, now that
we have real power

I don't intend to lose it.

Whatever Nietre's plan,
it's up to you to stop it.

[Silver Surfer] Correct
me if I'm wrong, Nietre,

but I assume there is some point

to your hurried hospitality.

Indeed there is, Silver Surfer.

Long have I awaited a deliverer

and I believe you are he.

[Nova] What, you ordered a
pizza and it still hasn't come?

- [gasps]
- [cracking]

[squealing]

[Nietre] Children.

You don't have to tell me.

I used to baby-sit
for the kid next door.

From what I have heard
of the Skrull,

is not the hive mother
customarily present at the hatching?

Well, such was the way
of our people,

until a cabal
including Prime Minister Kiar

and Admiral Zedrao seized power

and eliminated
our beloved queen.

But what would prompt
such a horrendous action?

The hive mother
had grown increasingly angry

over our lack of victory
in the Kree w*r.

She was going to remove them
from their positions

and, of course,
destroy their entire nests.

Now, the prime minister
rules absolutely,

telling our people he follows
the wishes of a queen

only a few of us know
does not exist.

[Silver Surfer]
With no hive mother,

the Skrull have no future.

Yet, these eggs...

[Nietre]
Several clutches still remain.

But eventually, there will
be no new Skrull unless...

Behold,

the next hive mother
of the Skrull.

If this is a royal egg,

why do you not simply hatch it
and create a new queen?

[Nietre] If the usurpers learn
of a hatchling hive mother,

they will imprison her

or raise her to be their puppet,

or worse.

But if someone with your power

takes the egg to be hatched
in a safe place,

my people can rally
behind their new queen.

Oh, great.
Just what the universe needs,

a Skrull rally.

Nietre, you know that
most other beings

consider the Skrull to be the
most barbaric race in the universe.

Although on my homeworld
we had no such bias,

still, it is not my place
to interfere in your affairs...

[Silver Surfer]
Skrull fighting Skrull.

Never did I believe I would be
part of something like this.

I am not important.

You must save the royal egg.

Don't sweat it, Nietre.

You can have today's special.

Two rescues
for the price of one.

We would have to pick rush hour.

[coughing]

Surfer, I can hardly breathe.

[coughing]

[coughing] Nietre,
what is happening to us?

The shock troops have used

a special gas... that...
causes unconsciousness.

Both Nova and I
wield the Power Cosmic!

Such a weapon should have
no effect on such as we.

Our greatest minds have created

a weapon that can stop
almost anything.

I... I can't hold on!

Please... You must be
our deliverer.

How ironic that I,

who have been raised
with a devotion

to harmony and peace

and being called upon
to save the fiercest savages

who ever roamed through space.

And yet, can any man
turn his back on another

and still call himself...
civilized?

- [both groan]
- [Nova screaming]

[Kiar] A royal egg?

Are you sure?

[Zedrao] Absolutely.

Nietre's been hiding it from us
all this time.

This changes everything.

I thought that in acting to
defend ourselves from the queen

we doomed our entire race.

Now I see that the tragedy
can be averted.

And we have a chance
to establish a ruling line

of our direct descendants

through our own hive mother.

Our nests will reign forever.

Zedrao,

I knew there was a reason
we were working together.

Find that royal egg.

[Nova] That's no way to treat
a mother of tomorrow.

Shame on you!

You seem to be feeling
somewhat better, Nova.

Must be my maternal instinct.

You don't look so bad
yourself, Silverado.

Who would've thought
that a man of living energy

could have... contusions?

Hey, you know what you just did?

You made a joke.

Impossible.

The Silver Surfer
does not make... jokes.

Although there were times
when Norrin Radd did.

It is so strange, Nova.

For all its differences,
this world does indeed

make me feel
more like Norrin Radd

than I have since I left home.

Think maybe I was actually right

and somehow this
could be Zenn-La?

It would need be a Zenn-La
out of its time.

After the climate had changed

and everything I knew
had crumbled to

- this.
- [growling]

To me, my board.

We must return to space.

Sorry, Fido. You've got to stay
here at the pound.

Come on, I can't see.

[coughing]

Silverado, go on with the egg

or you'll hit the dirt, too.

[coughing]

There's just one of me, but
millions of Skrull. [Coughing]

And, good or bad, their
whole future's riding with you.

Nova, I will come back for you.

I'll bet you say that
to all the girls.

[Silver Surfer]
Nova brought me to this planet,

yet now, I leave without her.

Am I cursed to forever betray
those I love or respect?

Why is there always a conflict

between my hopes and desires
and the greater good?

After seeing
how the Skrull are raised,

so unlike the gentleness
of my own kind,

now do I understand

why they have made themselves

such a threat to the remainder
of the universe.

Were the future hive mother
to be reared more humanely,

who knows what benefits
we all might receive?

But is there no way to prevent
an innocent like Nova

from paying the price?

Prime Minister,
to what do we owe this honor?

I came here to personally view
the royal egg, Zedrao.

Not this nonsensical woman
of flame.

You don't like the look?
Take it up with Galactus.

Better yet, let me go
and take it up with Big G.

[coughing]

[moans]

We will recover the egg, Kiar.

No matter
what resources it takes.

But in the meantime...

In the meantime, having someone
who can summon Galactus

in our very midst
makes for a delicate situation.

Not necessarily.

What we lose on one front,
we gain on another.

New reports confirm

that it's Nova
who selects the worlds

on which Galactus feeds.

And if she were to select
the worlds of the Kree...

[Nova] No. I'll never lead him

to an inhabited world.

You say that now,

but we Skrull are experts
at persuasion.

[Silver Surfer]
Leaders of the Skrull.

I believe I have something
you need

and you have something I want.

Surfer, you can't.

We are listening, Silver Surfer.

My bargain is a simple one.

Return to me my associate

and take back your queen.

Don't, Silverado!

Instruments show
that it's genuine, sir.

Release the woman.

How could you do it?

They'll use her.

They'll hurt her

and keep going after everyone
else in the universe as well.

Do not worry, Nova.

I used my ability
to transmute elements.

- That is not the egg.
- Not the egg?

They're going to come after us.

Actually, I believe
they'll be too busy.

[screaming]

[sighs]

And they say everything happens
in the movies.

Thanks for coming back for me.

I believe in keeping my word.

Nova, will you try once more
to locate Zenn-La?

All I got was... that.

[Silver Surfer] No!

It is elsewhere.

I will find it no matter what.

[Galactus] My Nova. I hunger.

I hear you, master.

Silverado, what did you do
with the real egg?

Above all things in my life,

I respect harmony and peace.

I believe the Skrull must
control their own destiny,

but with a hive mother
raised where she can learn

what that destiny truly is.

You are safe with Kili, my girl.

[theme music playing]