Living the Dream

**Living the Dream** is the seventh episode of the first season of *Another Life*, and the seventh episode of the series overall. It was released on July 25, 2019 on Netflix.

## Synopsis

Emotions run high during the Salvare's strange trip through a dark matter field. Sasha zeroes in on William's weakness. Erik receives devastating news.

## Plot

**SPOILERS AHEAD**
Marcus asks Erik why he is mumbling, but the latter says he is fine. He asks Marcus to double check his numbers when he is approached by Egan Harrison, Secretary of Defense and Sasha's father.

The two go for a walk, and Erik tells him of the plan to shine lights at the Artifact, which was very complex. After that, Erik believes that they'll be able to get to another level of their puzzle and tells him that he would work on more simulations, but the Secretary tells him to begin at sundown.

At sundown, Erik's team gives it a go. It appears to be working at first, and when they turn the last light on, the power goes out. The Secretary starts moving everybody, but Erik tells them to wait. A door opens underneath the Artifact and Erik realizes it was ready to talk.

Harper is locked inside a small room and is approached by Egan, who tells her that he transferred Dubois. He knows that she stole another person's story, who had died in a war. He asks her if she had met Sasha and she knows his story, knowing that he wanted to be president. He tells her that the stories that were about him, should really be about Sasha, and she tells her that she would not risk her reputation for his goals.

Later, Erik is approached by Harper as he works and she tells him that she had been approached by Egan. They begin trials, sending a drone into the Artifact. However, as soon as the drone went in, they lost signal. Harper notices some movement and Sasha's image is displayed.

Beauchamp says that he can run diagnostics to discover what was happening with the dark matter, while Sasha listens. Niko mentions that his excitement and enthusiasm is nice. She tells Sasha that they were getting up to speed on what would happen when they reached Canis Majoris. Sasha asks what could happen upon entering contact with dark matter, but Niko says that she does not like what she is not able to see. Beauchamp says that the dark matter could be a smokescreen and Sasha is worried, but Niko tells them to stick to protocol.

Cas is approached by Beauchamp, who says that Michelle, Petra, and Ian's stuff should be distributed between the crew, but Cas does not agree. Cas congratulates him on his marriage and leaves.

Niko offers Cas help, but she says she does not need it and says that Michelle was not the first person she had seen die - she saw her family die.

Egan says that they should send a team into the Artifact, but Erik tells him that they should not be baited into it, suggesting that they should send someone inside from his team. Singh agrees to go inside, calling it a dream come true and is prepped, but she feels trapped inside the suit.

Erik greets Jana and tells her that the Artifact had opened a door and lets her know that he would be going in, comforting as well. Jana does not want him to go, but is taken away by her nanny, Mila.

Oliver and August make out and start having sex as well, but when she starts taking his pants off, he asks her to talk with him. She is confused, and tells him that she needs to feel something other than panic and tells him to tell her what he is feeling. He says that he wants her, but admits that he is a virgin, saying that he had had sex with his girlfriend in VR.

Cas and William go over food rations, while Sasha listens. Cas complains about the mess and stops Bernie from grabbing extras. Sasha asks if the storage modules were not full of food and Cas tells him that they were taking precautions. Sasha is worried about entering dark matter and says that they should figure out how to defend themselves.

Bernie tells Sasha that he knows he is stressed out and offers him a smoke of the plants that had drugged Niko and Cas. This worries Sasha, but Bernie tells him that it was fine. Sasha complains about William being a pain in the ass, which Bernie agrees with. Sasha says that they should not be at his mercy, which caused Michelle's death and wanted to turn him off. Bernie offers him the drug and Sasha smokes it.

Erik prepares to walk into the Artifact. When he finally walks in, the door closes behind him and he loses signal. He shouts a greeting, but cannot see anything until Sasha appears before him. Sasha turns around and starts walking; as Erik follows, he is suddenly in white clothes and in a classroom. He sees Niko asking him how many nights he had spent working on that problem. He knows that that Niko was not real since that day had been 20 years ago. Niko starts telling him things about them and she manages to convince him it is her.

Erik sits down next to Niko and asks how they knew which perfume Niko used. He does realize that her skin does not warm the scent the way that Niko's does and asks how and why they were doing that, asking if they had her and her crew. He asks if Niko is safe and the hallucination tells him that Niko was safe and alive, asking him to go with her.

Erik asks the hallucination what they want, and is told that they want to make sure he is happy, but he wants to understand the aliens and help them. The alien tells him that all the answers he needed were in front of him and she points out she is pregnant. The alien hands him chalk in order to solve an unsolvable problem, which he is solving, when called by Jana. Jana turns around and the board is erased, so Erik follows her and walks out of the Artifact, feeling dizzy until he collapses.

Zayn tells Niko not to worry about Cas, since grief takes its own path. Sasha asks Niko for a word and tells her that he needs to know everything that would happen when they reached Canis Majoris, but she tells him that he does not have security clearance, which Sasha calls bullshit. Niko asks Sasha who he thinks he is, because she does not care what he does down there, not wanting him on the mission and telling him that he was only there so his father would shut up. She tells him that he is arrogant, entitled, and lazy, saying that she would change his life for Michelle's because they do not need him.

Erik tells Egan to tell Jana he is okay and is told that she was waiting outside. He asks if Erik saw Sasha, but he says that he did not know how they used his memory to talk to him and admits that the aliens are a lot more advanced than they were. He says that Sasha led him in, but calls Sasha not the real version of himself. Erik tells him that everybody on the Salvare is alive, but Egan tells him that he had just been mind-fucked by another civilization, but Erik says that the aliens are just as curious as they are, saying that they even offered to tell him everything he had ever wanted to know, but he had chosen his daughter instead.

Outside, Jana greets Erik, apologizing for getting mad, but Erik tells her that it was fine and tells her that the aliens had mentioned her mother is fine.

Egan prepares to go inside the Artifact with a military team, which Harper points out the president had not agreed to. Harper asks to be suited up, threatening him to paint him cowardly in his story, ultimately getting what she wants.

Singh approaches Erik and tells him that the Secretary was preparing to go inside, so he goes to try to talk him out of it. Jana follows, tricking Mila.

Sasha approaches Javier and tells him that he knew that he was arrested many times as a teenager for hacking. He tells Javier that people were hiding stuff from them, like fighting back when they landed. Javier tells him that he had investigated before leaving and tells him that there is something called Operation Brimstone, which included the bubble that could form around the ship. They can aim that energy into a beam and blow up an entire planet if the aliens were hostile. Sasha asks if that came from the president and Javier tells him that the instruction also came from his father. Sasha asks if Javier can turn William off, but the latter only says he needs to get back to work. Sasha pins Javier to the ground, ordering him to tell him how to turn William off and destroy the ship as his eyes turned white. Two needles come out of Sasha's eyes and go into Javier's.

Egan prepares to go inside the Artifact, but as he approaches it, sees Sasha drilling into William's eyes. He calls for his son, and Sasha turns around, but the Artifact starts turning black. Erik approaches from behind as Jana follows and a huge soundwave knocks everybody to the ground. Egan gets up and is blasted once again by Sasha.

Erik gets up and Harper is dragged into the Artifact, which closes behind her. Mila finds Jana on the ground and calls for Erik. When Erik turns around, he finds Jana on the floor, so he picks her up and starts calling for help.

## Cast

* Justin Chatwin as Erik Wallace
* Samuel Anderson as William
* Elizabeth Faith Ludlow as Cas Isakovic
* Blu Hunt as August
* A.J. Rivera as Bernie Martinez
* Jake Abel as Sasha Harrison
* Alex Ozerov as Oliver Sokolov
* Alexander Eling as Javier Almanzar
* JayR Tinaco as Zayn Petrossian
* Lina Renna as Jana Breckinridge-Wallace
* Selma Blair as Harper Glass
* Parveen Dosanjh as Nani Singh
* Alex Rose as Amos Bennett
* Dion Riley as Marcus Peterson
* Helen King as Salvare Voice

### Minor

* Martin Donovan as Egan Harrison
* Kristina Lao as Velazquez
* Katerina Katelieva as Mila

## Gallery

* Images
* Videos