Continuum Episode 4.04 Zero Hour

With Alec still mourning Emily's sudden departure, Jason tries to reassure Alec that he wasn't meant to be with Emily, but Alec still professes his love for her. Jason finally confesses that Emily isn't his mother. Alec accuses Jason of driving her away and tells Jason to give up his dream of ever getting his "old man" of a father back from the other timeline. Alec then rejects Jason as his son.

Kiera and Alec scatter Lucas' ashes in local park. Alec questions Kiera's sudden eulogy for a man she once fought to recapture, challenging her assertion that Lucas changed - is it Kiera's perception of him that changed, instead?

Before she can ponder that thought further, Brad arrives. Kiera rushes Brad, blaming him for Lucas' death. Brad defends his actions, stating he did it to keep Kiera alive. Kiera demands to know what the machine is that Kellog's soldiers are building, but Brad has still been kept in the dark. When Brad demands the return of the time tech pen-like device she stole, Kiera plays dumb. Brad reveals that the device is a key, but he doesn't yet know to what; all that matters is that he needs to get it back so that Zorin will finally be willing to bring him into the inner circle. Brad wants her to contact him when she does have the key, but warns her to keep her distance until then.

Jason meets Alec at the VPD station where Alec apologizes to Jason for what he said earlier. Alec hopes to have a different relationship with his son and demands to know the identity of Jason's mother. At first, Jason refuses to help but after Alec begs him, he agrees to look for his mother for Alec.

Zorin, Brad and Weaver raid a blood bank, stealing all the blood they can. Zorin continues to shut out Brad from the mission details. The time soldiers make off with over a hundred liters of blood, leaving Carlos and Kiera perplexed.

When Kellog tries to seduce Vasquez for more information about Future Kellog's plans, she reminds Kellog of his greatest weakness: himself. She explains that Future Kellog told her this sort of proposition might happen and rebuffs him.

Alec presents compelling security footage showing Brad at the scene of the crime, but Kiera stubbornly continues to place her trust in him. Frustrated by her obstinance, Carlos threatens to reassign the case to someone else if he doesn't see results within twenty-four hours.

While running a computer simulation, Alec strongly suspects Kellog's machine must be related to time travel. Kiera feels guilty about deliberately keeping information about the machine from Carlos. When the simulation finishes, it reveals a far more grim result: the machine appears to be some kind of radioactive fusion weapon, capable of killing hundreds of thousands of people.

Fed up with being kept in the dark, Kellog wants to know what he's bought - and what it's for. Arriving at the facility, Zorin introduces Kellog to the rest of the team.

Brad meets with Kiera. Kiera informs Brad the machine is a bomb, which Brad denies; her CMR confirms he's not lying. He feeds her intel on another piece of stolen equipment and vows to stop Kellog's soldiers if the machine is, in fact, a bomb. Kiera presses Brad about staying "on mission" in the event it's not a bomb. He admits he regrets ever activating the time beacon with her and presses her to make the choice to either live in the past, or forge a new future.

Meanwhile, Chen watches the pair from a distance.

Later, Carlos and Kiera head to a storage facility based on Brad's tip and find, to their surprise and confusion, a dialysis machine.

Jason tracks down Alec's mother to a cafe. Alec's curiosity gets the better of him and he goes in to meet her. An awkward encounter ensures, but Alec gets her number. He also learns from Jason that his mother died young from an illness.

Carlos confronts Kellog about the connection between PIRON and the terrorists (time soldiers), thus implicating Kellog's involvement. Kellog challenges Carlos to take a closer look at Kiera - and what she's not telling him. Tired of being kept in the dark, Kellog threatens to pull all resources and funding unless he's given full mission disclosure.

Alec and Kiera meet at a park; when Kiera realizes they both received messages to meet, but not from each other, Kiera draws her weapon - just as Chen greets them. He explains how he was resurrected from the dead by fusing his consciousness from another timeline into his body.

Chen further explains the mysterious origins of the The Traveler, and that he simply wants to make things right. Coming from a time hundreds of years in the future, The Traveler was chosen and sent back in time to chronicle history without interfering but at some point, changed something - and his future ceased to exist. He traveled further back in time, finding acolytes (the Freelancers) along the way.

According to Chen, something about the sequence of events and the roles that Kiera, Alec, Brad and even the machine must play now - give The Traveler hope that time can finally be repaired. Alec, fed up with Chen's metaphysical claims, leaves. As Alec walks away, The Traveler appears and sends him into the future - where he meets a version of himself he's refused to become: Future Alec, the old man.

Both Alecs come to the realization that they're meeting in a paradox - a meeting that could and should never happen. When Alec mentions The Traveler to his older self, Future Alec reveals that he hasn't set anything in motion yet, but is currently considering doing so. As the pair try to figure out why they're meeting, Future Alec confirms that Annie was in fact, his wife. When Alec asks from what illness she died, Future Alec stuns his younger self: he admits that she killed herself trying to escape from the monster he'd become. He admits that he can't undo it, but proposes that his younger self can.

Alec mentions Kiera - who Future Alec has not yet met or summoned - and tells Future Alec to move ahead with his time travel plans (eventually sending Kiera back in time), explaining that time travel is in fact, the answer. Future Alec thanks his younger self, and upon touching him, the paradox tears apart, sending Alec back into his present timeline - but not without the complete knowledge of the plans he set in motion to send Kiera back into the past from 2077. With this revelation, Alec hints to Kiera that the universe is shifting and that he's not afraid anymore of what's to come and, more importantly, the choices he needs to make.

Kellog continues to pour on the charm on Vasquez, intrigued at her loyalty to his future self. He learns from her that in her future, Kellog is dying of kidney failure. Suddenly, the dialysis machine makes sense.

Jason shares with Alec some updated simulations on Kellog's machine. While they wait for the simulation to load, Alec shares that he has decided not to pursue Annie as he wants to create a new future for himself in order to avoid turning into the monster of the father that Jason knew. Jason ponders the fate of his own existence if Alec doesn't have a child with Annie, but Alec counters that it has happened already once since Jason exists here now.

The new simulation reveals that the machine is not a bomb after all.

A drunk Kellog, still reeling from the information he's gleaned from Vasquez, calls Kiera, begging her to trust him, since he knows he can no longer trust his future self. When Kiera demands a single reason to trust him, he reminds her that he holds the only working time travel device (left over from Other Alec's possession).

When Brad's cellphone pings that Kiera is near the facility, Brad moves to defend her from Weaver. Fed up with the constant in-fighting, Zorin finally reveals their mission to Brad: Kellog's soldiers are building a portal as a kind of lifeboat for the people of their time to escape the future - including Brad's sister and two children, whom he thought were killed in the wars. With this new knowledge, Brad agrees to deal with Kiera - but his way only.

Despite Brad's efforts to convince Kiera that the machine isn't dangerous, she doesn't believe him, especially once she's realized that Brad's been tracking her every move. Carlos arrives, gun drawn at Brad. Kiera steps between them, giving Brad the opportunity to flee. Kiera admits to Carlos that she no longer trusts Brad, but she ultimately needs him to get back home.

Back at the precinct, Kiera, Carlos, and Alec agree to stop twisting loyalties between each other and to end the spying on one another. Alec shares what the new simulation has unveiled about the machine: it's a tethered wormhole that serves as a portal between the present and the future. As the trio vows to stop the coming invasion through the wormhole, Alec also reveals that the portal operates in both directions. For the first time since she landed in this timeline, there's a very real chance it could send Kiera home.