Black Mirror

- Captain Daly. - Report.

A non-federation vessel jumped straight out of white space right in front of us.

- Valdack. - That can't be.

My data scan indicates a heavily armored Gorgan Dreadnought,

vessel ID number 9864321.

Thank you, Dudani. Valdack must have hijacked it from the Fermi hub

and tracked our position.

- Tulaska, shield status? - Shields 100%.

- Helmsman Packer? - Captain.

- Prime rear thrusters. - Rear thrusters primed.

If that's Valdack, he'll rip us to shreds.

Captain, we have to surrender. There's no other way.

Let's not lose our heads, Lieutenant Walton.

Shields at 68%.

Heavy damage reported, decks six through ten.

Fires in med center and major rupture to cargo bay Alpha.

We've got no choice, Captain!

Do you want me to open comms with Valdack's craft, Captain?

Negative.

- Shields at 54%. - There's no way out.

- Captain, please. - Not now, Walton.

Helmsman Packer, take us into that asteroid gas cluster.

- Into the cluster? - That's suicide, sir.

It is our only chance.

That gas cluster is charged with ionized pyron particles.

If our shields hold, we can use them to increase our photon intensity.

Packer, increase thrusters.

Shields at 43%.

It'll tear the ship apart, Captain!

Walton, you are a Space Fleet officer. Act accordingly.

- Shields at 32%. - Valdack's not following.

Packer, turn us around.

- Tulaska, charge photon bolts. - Bolts charged, Captain.

Fire!

His hull's breached, shields gone. He's defenseless.

- Lieutenant Lowry, open comms. - He's already hailing us, Captain.

On screen.

Captain Daly, may you drown in the venom of 900 Tragorian snakes!

You are defeated, Valdack.

Return the plasmorthian crystal and we'll cause you no more damage.

You must think me a fool, Captain!

I know the crystal's capabilities, and I will die before I give it up!

I gave you a chance, Valdack, showed you mercy.

Reflect on that while you can.

Close comms.

- Tulaska, destroy his ship. - Yes, Captain.

- That was incredible, Captain. - You saved our lives.

I'm so sorry I lost it back there, Captain.

Not for the first time, Walton.

And I should know by now never to doubt you.

Please forgive me.

At ease, Walton.

Captain, sensors indicate an escape pod ejected

from Valdack's ship before detonation.

He's escaping with the crystal.

You want me to plot a pursuit course, Captain?

No.

We'll let him go... for now.

- Great decision-making, Captain. - Three cheers for Captain Daly.

- Hip hip. - Hooray!

- Hip hip. - Hooray!

- Hip hip. - Hooray!

God bless you, Captain. God bless you.

Thirteenth floor.

- Welcome to Callister. - Oh.

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

Hey.

Uh... Elena, my pass doesn't work.

You must renew on first of each month.

Yeah, I know that, but the first was on the weekend, so...

OK.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Prepare to enter

the most immersive gaming experience in years,

Infinity, from Callister Inc.

- Morning, Mr. Daly. - Helmsman Packer.

Huh?

Uh, I mean, Mr. Packer. Nate.

OK.

Are you making coffees?

Yeah.

Do you think maybe you could make me one too?

Sure, sure. Uh, what do you want?

Just vanilla latte. Skim milk.

Yeah, good call. 'Cause...

those are very, very big numbers.

And we might just have to hold you to that. Well, no, yes, of course.

Sure. Yes.

Oh, are you OK, man?

I guess you didn't see my gym bag.

Here. Come on.

- I'm sorry, bud. - OK.

You left it...

You're gonna do it for me and make it good.

You know you are a god to me at least.

Oh. The ladies' bathroom is that way. The sign's kind of confusing.

You're Robert Daly, right?

- Right. - Yeah, hi.

I'm Nanette, Nanette Cole.

Um...

I started here today, coding on the update,

and I just wanted to, uh, pass on my admiration

to the person who actually designed Infinity.

The procedural algorithm is amazing.

It's just some beautiful code.

Thank you.

That's actually the reason that I wanted to work here.

- You must be busy. I'm so sorry. - No, no, it's fine.

- Sorry. - No.

Well, just fangirling. Sorry. Um...

Ooh... vintage.

- Yeah, it's Space Fleet. - Wow.

It's a TV show. Before your time.

Before my time, actually.

But it was... visionary.

Is this on, like, tape?

Yeah, I've got the VHS, the DVD, Blu-ray.

The whole thing. Seasons one to six.

Netflix has it these days, but...

Aboard the spaceship USS Callister.

- OK, yeah. - Mm-hmm.

So... OK, so Callister is like the, uh...

Yeah, when we set up the company, um...

I suggested we call it Callister as kind of a little tribute.

Walton didn't really get the reference, but he let me have that one.

Mini-skirted damsels.

A little cold for that in space.

That is just what a Bargradian sand warrior would say.

Bob, Christmas is closing in like a goddamn meteor.

We've got customers all over our balls waiting for the Infinity update.

Tell me it's gonna be up and running before the weekend.

- Oh, I'll ask Kabir... - You're CTO. Don't ask anybody anything.

You should be telling people things like I'm telling you right now.

- I'll talk to him. - Good.

- I'm sorry. - OK.

- Hello. - Hello.

Sorry, I couldn't find a good moment to...

Oh, you must be new. Uh... I'm James Walton. I run the company.

- I... - Well, we run the company, kind of.

Bob here is the hardware, and I am the shiny front end.

- I'm Nanette Cole. - Which department?

- Engine architecture. - And it's your first day?

Uh...

- Yeah. - Have you had the tour?

No, I...

Please, allow me.

OK.

It was so nice to meet you.

Just a little bit.

It's a different environment I set up here.

People call it a carefree environment. I call it "care-full."

- Interesting. - Not scary.

Dudani?

Kabir?

Mm. Mr. Daly.

Do you have the latest ETA on the update patch?

It's just there's still some runtime errors.

Well, the thing is, we could have it ready by end of play today,

but if we had time, we could alter the trading mechanics,

tweak the critical hit system, but of course, that'd add another week,

maybe ten days or so.

Mr. Daly?

- Yeah. Yeah, do all of that, thank you. - I'll... OK, we're on it.

Welcome back, Captain.

Have you located Valdack's position?

Not yet, but our sensors are scanning every star system

between here and Valatros.

So your answer is no?

Uh...

I'm afraid so, sir.

You... are pathetic, Walton. What are you?

What's that?

Pathetic.

So Valdack's out there somewhere

and you village idiots are asleep at the wheel.

You're not just disgraceful, you're disgusting, all of you.

So can you do one thing?

Can you find Valdack?

I'm not asking. I'm telling you! Understand?

- Hmm? - Yes.

- Yes? - Yes, Captain. Yeah.

- Yes. - Aye, Captain.

Huh?

Well, all right.

Tulaska, check security protocols.

If they've expired, you're in trouble.

Yes, Captain.

Dudani, recheck those probe results.

- No room for errors. - Of course, Captain.

- Helmsman Packer? - Captain.

Vanilla latte.

- Skim milk. - At once.

Walton.

Exit game.

Hi, Nanette. You feel like you have everything you need here?

Mm-hmm.

- All right. That's a nice sweater. - Oh. Thank you.

Cashmere?