(Scene: The Whitman home)

Alex's Dad: Alex? Where's Devin?

Alex: That's an easy one. Anna's house, of course!

Alex's Dad: Your uncle called this morning. He thinks it's time for him to reclaim Devin.

(Alex suddenly feels like someone just punched him in the gut.)

Alex: No! He can't! We can't let him...I mean...Devin wouldn't like...oh dad, no! He can't take Devin back to Alamogorda.

Alex's Dad: I don't think we really have a choice. Your uncle did create him. I tried to tell my brother what Devin has become. How he's his own person now. How much we enjoy having him here. I wasn't speaking just for you either. I like Devin a lot and he's really no trouble. Your uncle says what I told him is impossible and we really ought to be tired of him by now. He said with as long as Devin's been here, we've probably seen everything he can do and heard every word he can speak about 200 times. He's surprised we aren't sick of him. He also thinks Devin's probably very unstable, since he hasn't checked in to get what your uncle called a "rebuild" for weeks.

Alex: I eliminated Devin's need to check in with the lab. He can take care of himself without having to do that now. We were going to rig up some phony check-ins so as not to tip off Uncle Aaron, but I guess we both forgot.

Alex's Dad: In any event, your uncle's coming Saturday to take Devin back with him.

Alex: We've got to talk him out of it, dad. He may have created Devin physically, but he hasn't had anything to do with what Devin has become. Devin belongs here, with his friends. Tell Uncle Aaron he can come visit anytime. If he takes him back, Devin is...

(Alex can't even talk anymore. He's almost in tears. If Devin has to go back to the lab in Alamogorda, Max, Isabel, and Michael will probably want Alex to remove the information packets in Devin's brain regarding their alien heritage. Alex knows, from having looked into it before, that he can't do that without virtually killing Devin as a sentient being. The facts regarding his friend's origins were some of the first things Devin learned after the accident that made him "alive". Alex knows that removing them would cause all his other memory patterns to collapse around the hole, essentially giving Devin a nervous breakdown. Devin would probably revert back to what he was when he came. He would be capable of nothing more that saying words he was pre-programmed to say, doing things he was programmed to do, and responding to stimuli in a pre-programmed manner. Alex feels like he would essentially be committing murder. There is no way; he just couldn't do it. To Alex, Devin isn't just one of the gang, he feels like Devin is his brother. Alex thinks to himself, "maybe if Uncle Aaron sees Devin...how happy he is here...he'll let him stay". Then reality sets in. His uncle won't understand that Devin now knows what it means to be happy...and sad...and how he experiences other human emotions. And even if he can see it, he'll want to examine Devin to understand why. That means getting into his brain electronically, examining and translating his thoughts and emotions. He'll force Devin to talk about his experiences. Exactly what must not happen unless he's de-programmed. Uncle Aaron will no doubt continue to treat Devin as an experiment, not the person he's become. This is the worst possible news. "I need to talk to Isabel", Alex decides...)

(Scene: Evans home. Alex knocks on the door and Isabel answers. It obvious Alex is upset. Isabel puts her arm around him and leads him to the couch.)

Isabel: Alex! You look awful.

Alex: I feel awful, Iz. The only thing that would be worse than what's happening is...is if I somehow lost you.

Isabel: What is it, Alex.

Alex: It's De...Devin! My uncle wants to take him back.

Isabel: No! He can't.

Alex: My dad says he can. My uncle did create him after all.

Isabel: (Pauses, contemplates for a moment.) You know what's funny, Alex? I'd almost forgotten he was "created". I hadn't really given any serious thought to what's underneath his skin for a long time. He's just Devin.

Alex: Exactly! He is Devin. Devin Whitman! He's a person, Isabel. What am I going to do?

Isabel: I don't know. Maybe you'll have to let him go. You could go visit him.

Alex: Aren't you forgetting something, Isabel?

(Isabel thinks for a second, then realizes what Alex is talking about.)

Isabel: He'll never reveal what he knows about us. I trust him completely. He helped us so much in Wyoming...

Alex: (Trying not to cry.) You're right. As long as he's in tact as he is now, as long as he's his own person, he'd never betray you guys. But if my uncle gets to him...starts to download his memory buffers...changes anything...there's no guarantee! The Catch 22 is that taking the information about you out of his memory would kill him. It's too intertwined with the part of his program that makes him sentient. I...I don't think I could bring myself do it. Please don't ask me to.

Isabel: It's not necessarily a given that your uncle would decode that information or even understand it if he did. Isn't that true?

Alex: Right! It might be in a pattern that he wouldn't even bother to explore. There is a risk there, but there's no way of knowing how great. I'm still hoping to talk my uncle out of taking him, but I'm not counting on it.

Isabel: Then it's up to us to decide? You're saying we essentially kill Devin or we risk being discovered.

Alex: That sounds way too simplified, Isabel. Suppose you knew Liz or I was about to be taken by the FBI and questioned. You knew they'd give us truth serum. Would you want to kill us? To me, Devin shouldn't be treated any differently.

Isabel: Does Devin know about this yet?

Alex: No! But I'm afraid I've got to be the one to tell him. He's no dummy. He'll know what it means. Remember when we put a self-destruct routine in him because you guys were concerned about this very issue? We took it out so he could talk to Setoma freely.

Isabel: Can you put it back?

Alex: That would be really hard since he's had so many other experiences since then. Those particular files are so deeply buried now it would be difficult to even find them much less cause some action to occur if they were referenced. (Alex shakes his head.) Listen to me. I'm talking like Devin's a computer. I mean he is; but...(Alex wraps his arms around Isabel) Isabel, this is so hard. Even if I could put that program back I wouldn't want to. Devin hated it. It was like we didn't trust him. There is one thing I'm certain of in all this. He'll want to know what you guys are thinking when I tell him about my uncle coming for him. I know that will be his first question.

Isabel: This is no longer a matter of can we trust him. I...I'm not sure what it's a matter of, Alex. I'm not making this decision alone. I can't speak for everyone, but as for me, I agree with you. We wouldn't try to knock off you or Liz, even if you were taken away by some authority. We can't treat Devin any differently. He risked his life for us in Wyoming. If he hadn't been there to help Michael, I wouldn't be here with you today. How...how could I look at him and say "thanks, but you're a threat now Devin so you're dead?" We need to talk to Max and Michael and we better get Liz and Maria involved too. This really affects everyone.

Alex: I feel better after hearing you say what you said. But I don't want to risk losing you guys either. I mean, I love Devin like a brother, but I love you guys too. Especially you, Isabel! If anything happened to you because of Devin, I couldn't live with myself. Devin is my bad, Isabel. I should have never messed with his program. If it wasn't for what I did he would never have become sentient and we wouldn't have this problem. This is all my fault.

Isabel: I'll bet if you asked Devin, he'd tell you he's glad you did what you did. I know I am! So is Anna Thompson, although she doesn't know it!

Alex: I...We shouldn't be forced to choose between life for him or safety for you. It just isn't fair!