As the countdown begins for Episode 1 of Pluribus, we're teetering on the edge of a 439-day, 19-hour countdown to an event that threatens to enslave humanity. The air crackles with anticipation as an extraterrestrial signal from deep space illuminates the servers at NASA, sparking a collective unspoken realization among the gathered masses. One man, seemingly 600 years ahead of us, understands the code and its implications.
Fast-forward to 71 days, 13 hours before the impending doom, and we find ourselves in the presence of Carol Sturka, the latest sensation in the worlds of Rebecca Yarros and Colleen Hoover. Her romantic historical fiction has captivated a rabble of women, eager to soak up every word as she reads. While Carol's fans adore her work, she sees it as mere mindless entertainment. She's with her partner Helen, and together, these two will play a pivotal role in the unfolding narrative.
However, our focus shifts to 29 days, 23 hours before the big event. In a lab, scientists are conducting tests on mice when one of them plays dead. Jenn, unaware of the danger, opens the cage to check for a heartbeat. Unfortunately, the mouse bites her, and Jenn immediately begins to seize. Her partner throws her into decontamination, but it's too late; she's been infected with an unknown virus that spreads through kissing. The lab becomes a tangle of contaminated chaos as men and women work in eerie sync, taking mouth swabs in petri dishes and even licking every doughnut in the foyer to ensure the virus's spread.
As we approach the final 3 hours of the main event, Carol and Helen head to the bar where Carol muses over whether to abandon her "trashy fiction" and work on her serious book instead. Stepping outside for a smoke, Carol notices the planes in the sky running parallel and in-sync. Little does she know that the nearby airbase is on lockdown. She's snapped out of her reverie by a man crashing his pickup truck in the parking lot.
Sadly, Helen becomes infected as well, and it's not long before Carol realizes the widespread horror. Within the confines of the bar, everyone is seizing up, leaving Carol as the lone unafflicted individual. She hurls herself into action, grabbing a pickup truck, loading Helen in the back, and watching in horror as she soars above the city, engulfed in flames. Everybody faces the same fate, and amidst this chaos, Carol remains unscathed. As Helen passes away, those around her snap out of their trance and confront Carol with a mixture of rage and desperation. One doctor even tries to kiss her, an act that seems futile in spreading the virus. As they all chant in unison, "We just want to help, Carol," she seizes the opportunity and takes off.
As she drives, people work together to put out the fires, but their eyes are always on Carol. Some even walk in the same direction as her stolen pickup. Carol manages to keep her wits about her long enough to drive back home, where two of her neighbor's children whisper to her about her spare key.
Inside her house, Carol watches in disbelief as the entranced masses load up the deceased into a truck. Turning on the TV, the only message on the news is directed at her, urging her to call whenever she's ready. Pouring herself a glass of Dutch courage, Carol manages to speak to the senior-most official in the government. He informs her that she's safe and should stay at home for the next few days. Apparently, these men are "beneficiaries of extra-terrestrial technology," and Carol is left to ponder the implications of this strange turn of events.
As we are aware, a radio signal was detected a whopping 14 months ago, but it has now been revealed that the signal was in fact a recipe that was meticulously recreated in a laboratory. This enigmatic psychic glue has bound everyone into a single hive mind, as if they were one entity. In the grand scheme of things, there exist a fortunate 11 individuals worldwide who have somehow managed to remain unscathed by this phenomenon. Unfortunately, the collective consciousness desires her to join their ranks.
