Everyone Wanted to Be on This Ship

**"Everyone Wanted to Be on This Ship"** is the first episode of the Syfy television series *The Ark*. The episode was written and directed by series creator Dean Devlin. "Everyone Wanted to Be on This Ship" first aired on February 1st, 2023.

## Synopsis

*After suffering a disaster, the remaining crew of spaceship* Ark One *must band together to survive.*

## Summary

The computer indicates "Impact Warning" and audible alarm is triggered inside a chamber filled with stasis pods. A structural truss falls on one of the stasis pods. This triggers the pod to reanimate its occupant, Sharon Garnet. She activates her spacesuit to allow her to move around. She runs to a computer console, which reports a hull breach. She instructs the computer to reanimate all of the pods' occupants. She runs over to Spencer Lane and tells him they have to evacuate the bay.

She attempts to open the door from the bay to a hallway, but the keypad does not accept her code. Felix Strickland runs over to Garnet, enters his codes into the keypad, which eventually opens the door. Garnet calls out for everyone to go in and put on their helmets. She puts on a helmet herself.

Meanwhile, another structural truss falls and crushes a pod containing Susan Ingram. The pod does not reanimate her. Baylor Trent sees her pod get crushed and runs over to her. He tries to lift the structural truss off the pod to let her out, but is not strong enough to do so.

Once all the others have run in and put on their helmets, Garnet realizes Trent is still in the bay, struggling with the structural truss. She runs over to him, pries him off the truss, and puts a helmet on him.

A large piece of the bay tears off, rotates and jams into the hub of the wheel, causing it to stop rotating. This causes the artificial gravity to go away. The ships starts to be jostled around, throwing its occupants around and into its walls.

Garnet pulls Trent with her as they go through the door. Garnet pulls a lever, closing the door. The bay immediately implodes, tossing the pods inside of it and releasing more trusses. Strickland enters his codes into a door at the other end of the hallway, which eventually opens that door. Once it opens, everyone floats through into the next room. Garnet propels herself across the room to another computer console. She enters commands, and it informs her that the hibernation wheel has an obstruction. She enters a command to release the wheel. The wheel rears back and rams the object out. She enters commands to restart the wheel, which causes gravity to be restored and everyone falls to the floor. She activates the life support system and the oxygen level rises from 0% to 100%. Everyone removes their helmets.

Garnet and Lane proceed towards the Commanding Officers Cryo Bay, but they discover that it no longer exists. The entire crew has to report to the medbay to recover from their cryostatic state. Sanjivni Kabir is now chief medic, so she has to manage the entire medbay herself. Garnet goes to the med bay and recruits James Brice, who was assigned as navigator, to work Cent-Com.

Eva Markovic, the now head of maintenance and engineering, hooks up helmets to oxygen tanks to allow them to refill. Jasper Dades delivers more helmets. Markovic says she has no more charges and needs more tanks, but Dades refuses to get them. Once Dades leaves, Harris Beckner, Markovic's boyfriend, arrives. She pulls him inside and closes the door, as no one onboard is supposed to know they are a couple.

An announcement is made over the intercom for all personnel to report to the mess hall on C deck. As everyone is filing in, Angus Medford, who is in horticulture, meets Alicia Nevins, who is on the waste management team.

Once everyone is gathered in the mess hall, Garnet joins Lane and Brice at the front of the room to brief everyone on the situation.

* No one knows what happened to the ship, but there was a series of malfunctions:
	+ The ship's monitoring cameras went down.
	+ The ship was knocked off course.
	+ Sleeper pod bays: Both destroyed, killing everybody that was in charge of running the ship in Pod Bay 1. This includes:
		- Captain Lester
		- Stuber
		- Monroe
		- Rodriguez
	+ Rear storage units: Destroyed, which destroyed a year's worth of food (based on a crew of 400)
	+ Ballasts: Two destroyed
	+ Water reclamation unit: Destroyed, so water can't be recycled.
* The current situation
	+ All have been in cryogenic sleep for exactly five years and 92 days.
	+ Once the ship is back to speed, it will still be over a year before reaching Proxima B.
	+ The navigation systems are back up.
	+ The ship is back on course.
	+ Water supply: roughly 4 weeks, based on a crew of 400
	+ Food supply: 6 weeks of food, based on a crew of 400
	+ The food supply will have to last to Proxima B and for some time post-arrival.
* The plan
	+ Retrofit the water recycling unit we have for the colony to work on the ship.
	+ Tight water rations until the water recycling unit is retrofitted. This means unnecessary water uses, which includes showers and laundry.
	+ The water and food supply will last almost three times longer with only 150 people, rather than 400 people.

At the end, Garnet announces herself as the one in charge, as she has the most working knowledge of all of the ship and therefore is the best shot at survival. Lane and Brice take some offense at this, as they are all the same rank, but do not stop her. She also announces her intention to step down once the crisis is over.

The next day, everyone is gathered in the atrium as the ship's chaplain gives a speech commemorating those who were lost in the incident. During the speech, Dades expresses to Trent his surprise that Ingram was not in Pod Bay 1 with the rest of the high command. However, Trent is still distraught over the loss of Ingram and walks away. Brice tells Garnet that he thinks she should have not been so honest in the meeting with the crew, but rather inspire more confidence. She tells Brice that the crew deserves honesty.

In the mess hall, we find that the food rations are 500 calories, twice a day, along with the water ration.

Medford chases after Garnet, telling her he has something he needs to show her. He takes her to one of the geo-domes, where he shows her some "super-soil", soil that Medford chemically engineered to be as fertile as possible. He was not authorized to bring it on board, but that is not a concern now. He proposes that he can use it to grow crops on board to extend their food supply. This farm also requires light, which he proposes to provide using agricultural LEDs, which require a lot of power. Thankfully, power is something the ship still has in abundance.

Cat Brandice sneaks into the shower room to try to take a shower, but is stopped by Strickland. She attempts to get him to let her take a quick shower anyways, but he is unmoved by her pleas.

Nevins assists Markovic to shutting off water to the sewage system, which is mostly air driven. Some of the cargo in the geo-dome (storage hold 3) is relocated to this maintenance room.

Nevins visits the geo-dome to see what is going on. She sees Medford working on building the bio-shelter farm and is excited. As Nevins is now head of waste management, Medford asks her for a ton of "fertilizer" for the farm.

Trent is watching a message that his family sent him about four years ago when Lane walks in. Trent tries to come up with an excuse, but Lane tells him it is fine. No other communication had been received during the trip. Trent is concerned about how things are back on Earth.

Garnet orders power rerouted from other ship systems to the geo-dome for the bioshelter farm. Lane confronts her in the geo-dome, in front of Medford, for her unilateral decision to use the ship's power and water for this farm. While she agrees that she should not have made this decision unilaterally, she chastices him for not making his objection privately.

Lane, Markovic, Garnet, Strickland, Kabir, and Brice are gathered around a meeting table to act as the representatives for the ship during this crisis (The Representative Council). They discuss the bioshelter farm and decide to keep it, despite Lane's objections. Markovic says they need parts for the water reclamation unit and requests that the lights be restored to aid in the search. Lane raises concerns that this could interfere with life support, but is overruled.

Garnet visits the geo-dome to check on its status. Medford informs her of the plan to terminate the farm if there is no germination after 4 days to avoid wasting water.

Trent is in the medbay on the treadmill to attempt to speed his recovery. He starts complaining of breathing problems, right before the ship alarms go off, announcing an oxygen depletion alert. Kabir gives Trent an oxygen inhaler as she leaves to get suits and helmets. Others on the ship also run to get helmets.

Garnet checks a computer tablet, which states the oxygen level is now 18.2%. She proceeds to Cent-Com. Once Garnet reaches Cent-Com, Brice informs Garnet that the ship automatically goes into lock-down at 15% oxygen and the life support diagnostics are stuck in an infinite loop. Lane informs her that the oxygen level is currently 13% and dropping and the helmets carry about an hour of oxygen. They make a call on the intercom for Dades, as he is head of life support systems. Lane and Brice leave Cent-Com to check the individual oxygen relay stations to attempt to find the anomaly. Dades panics and attempts to hide, but Strickland finds him and takes him to Cent-Com.

Markovic runs to the end of a hallway on R-deck for her helmet, then yells to the others in the hallway to come to her end, right as the ship goes into lock-down, closing the door between her and the others, which includes Beckner. The crew on R-deck attempt to rewire the door, but it is not successful. Markovic tells Beckner that the helmets in their section of the hallway are empty. He confirms this and they re-double their efforts to open the door.

The lock-down locks Trent in the medbay without a helmet. He tries to open the door with his code, but it locked out. He finds where the oxygen canisters are stored in the medbay and uses them to give himself oxygen. He rewires the door lock to get the door open. Trent opens the medbay doors and takes several oxygen tanks. He hides a couple of them in a hatch in the hallway outside the door.

When one of the crew members on R-deck begins suffocating, Beckner removes his helmet to allow the other to breathe. Beckner tries taking small breaths to keep himself alive. Markovic makes an emergency call to Cent-Com.

Garnet asks Brice to override the lock-down to open the door, but Brice is unable to do so while he is locked out of the life support systems. At that moment, Dades arrives at Cent-Com. He feigns problems with the helmet and being unable to understand, but becomes more cooperative after his helmet is removed for a few seconds. Dades stares at the computer screen for a short while, before admitting that he is an imposter and that his real name is Malcolm Perry. Strickland arrests him. Garnet asks Stein to find anyone with coding education or life support systems training to help. Garnet worries that Lane may have been correct about re-routing power affecting life support systems. Lane has not found the anomaly, but is still checking oxygen relay stations.

Trent runs into Kabir, who congratulates him on his ingenuity. When asked how he got out of the medbay, he replies that he rewired the lock, claiming the skills on his "misplaced youth". Kabir realizes his skills will be useful on R-deck and immediately takes him there.

Right before Trent and Kabir reach R-deck, Beckner loses consciousness. Trent rewires the lock quickly and Kabir places an oxygen mask on Beckner as her and her team move the crew on R-deck to the medbay.

Stein returns to Cent-Com with three candidates, one of which is Nevins. Nevins almost immediately recognizes that the computer is stuck in a Barstow loop. She fixes the problem and reboots the system in a few seconds. Once the life system diagnostic completes, it identifies the anomaly. Garnet sends an EVA to fix the anomaly. They sucessfully seal the breach and the lockdown is removed. For fixing the computer system, Brice promotes Nevins from waste management to chief life support.

The crew on R-deck are all in the medbay. All are recovering well, except Beckner. Kabir attempts to revive him, but is not successful. Markovic is watching as this happens. Kabir apologizes and Markovic walks away. In total, 6 people die in the incident.

Garnet proceeds to the storage locker where Perry is being held. She asks him how he managed to replace Jasper Dades. He replies that he paid a hacker to fake records so that Dades believed he was reassigned to Ark-2 and forge ID files, including DNA records, to allow Perry show up in place of Dades on Ark-1. When Garnet tells him that she will recommend to the Representative Council that he receive the death penalty, he informs her that there are other imposters on the ship. When she is about to walk away, he makes mention of a cadet named Denise that he met in a bar in Jacksonville, Florida. Garnet seems to recognize who he is talking about and walks away.

At the meeting of the Representative Council, Kabir suggests that the Perry should be allowed to speak for himself before judgment is passed. Strickland is sent to retrieve Perry and bring him before the council. However, when he opens the door to the storage locker, he finds that Perry's throat has been cut.

## Cast

### Main

* Christie Burke as Lieutenant Sharon Garnet
* Reece Ritchie as Lieutenant Spencer Lane
* Richard Fleeshman as Lieutenant James Brice
* Stacey Read as Alicia Nevins
* Ryan Adams as Angus Medford
* Pavle Jerinić as Lieutenant Felix Strickland
* Shalini Peiris as Doctor Sanjivni Kabir
* Christina Wolfe as Cat Brandice
* Tiana Upcheva as Eva Markovic

### Guest Starring

* Lisa Brenner as Lieutenant Commander Susan Ingram
* Miles Barrow as Ensign Baylor Trent
* Dominik Čičak as Harris Beckner
* Chris Leask as Lieutenant Jasper Dades/Malcolm Perry

### Co Starring

* Steven Moore as William Mulcahy
* Tamara Radovanović as Jelena Griff
* Michael Stokey as Albert Stein
* Miloš Cvetković as Sasha Novak
* Cosmo Kay as Nathan Stark
* Tanasije Cakic as Florian Rupnik
* Jelena Moore as Stella Cogner
* Jessica Yemi as Naomi Spencer
* Andrej Momčilov as Brother
* Cecilia Eshun as Sister
* Lesmay Djakovacki as Mother
* Greg De Cuir as Father

## Appearances

**By type**

Characters

* Cat Brandice (First appearance)
* James Brice (First appearance)
* Stella Cogner (First appearance)
* Jasper Dades (First mentioned)
* Sharon Garnet (First appearance)
* Jelena Griff (First appearance)
* Susan Ingram (First appearance)
* Sanjivni Kabir (First appearance)
* Spencer Lane (First appearance)
* Eva Markovic (First appearance)
* Angus Medford (First appearance)
* William Mulcahy (First appearance)
* Alicia Nevins (First appearance)
* Sasha Novak (First appearance)
* Malcolm Perry (First appearance)
* Florian Rupnik (First appearance)
* Naomi Spencer (First appearance)
* Nathan Stark (First appearance)
* Albert Stein (First appearance)
* Felix Strickland (First appearance)
* Baylor Trent (First appearance)

Locations

* Proxima B (First mentioned)

Vehicles and vessels

	+ Cent-Com (First appearance)
	+ Med Bay 12 (First appearance)
	+ Pod Bay 2 (First appearance)
* *Ark Two* (First mentioned)

Weapons and technology

Miscellanea