Yair is the fifth episode of second season of Pantheon.
Synopsis[]
Maddie and Mist try to find and rescue Caspian, who is held hostage until he promises to cure his captor; Ellen and Waxman learn of a plan to destroy humanity from the unlikeliest place.
Plot[]
In Holstrom's private network, Vinod Chanda and Han Ping begin to entertain ideas of mutiny. Holstrom takes note of the movement advocating for accessible uploading, and schemes to engineer a virus that will force humanity to upload to survive. He reveals that he knows about Han Ping's betrayal, and lures SafeSurf to destroy him.
Ellen Kim goes on a talk show to share her experiences dealing with her husband's UI, and how they helped her realize UIs are no less human than embodied ones. She advocates for their rights and legal protection. Chanda contacts Ellen to inform her of Holstrom's plans and join forces to stop him.
Holstrom instructs Renee to take on a spokesperson for his movement: Charlie Dugan, a teenager afflicted with progeria (accelerated aging) whose only chance at a meaningful life lies in uploading. Renee meets with Charlie, encourages him to speak his truth, and assures him that her brain scanning business is not beholden to governmental regulation.
In Cyprus, Caspian meets with Yair Gispan, Israel's UI, who is holding him captive in exchange for the cure. Caspian toys with the idea of curing Yair on the condition that he helps kill Holstrom, but he needs to isolate the code that defines Yair's greatest motivation. Yair is forced to relive several painful memories before finding his core memory. Caspian then reveals he needs code from another UI to create another cure, and even then refuses to cure Yair, who threatens him with torture. Caspian claims he doesn't know who will be the "just God" of UIs that will safeguard humanity from dangerous UIs, but Yair calls him a liar.
In London, Maddie and MIST discover Caspian was abducted by the Mossad, and contact Farhad for information. Maddie persuades a despondent Farhad to help rescue Caspian to get back at Holstrom. Farhad gives her the location of Yair's server and accepts the cure, but SafeSurf forces him and MIST to flee before it can be administered. While preparing to rescue Caspian, the sisters have a discussion on nostalgia and how it depends on the relatively slow speed of human thought and life in the material world. They stage a daring raid on Yair's headquarters and safely extract Caspian.
Now out of candidates for UIs to receive the cure, Caspian intends to have himself scanned and uploaded, to Maddie's chagrin.