‘Salvation’ Season 1, Episode 3 Synopsis Released; What Will Happen In ‘Truth Or Darius’? [VIDEO]

It looks like the government is giving Darius Tanz (Santiago Cabrera) a deadline to finish his EM drive.

According to the synopsis for Season 1, episode 3 of CBS’ “Salvation,” Darius must accelerate his plan to stop the asteroid from colliding with Earth before the Pentagon shuts him down and pursues a riskier way to save human race.

In Season 1, episode 2, Darius — along with his newest employee Liam Cole (Charlie Rowe) — attended a meeting with Deputy Secretary of Defense Harris Edwards (Ian Anthony Dale), Pentagon Press Secretary Grace Barrows (Jennifer Finnigan) and members of the country’s planetary defense team. Harris started the meeting by informing everyone that the recent rocket test had failed, meaning, they had no means of launching a gravity tractor up to the asteroid in time to divert it off its path. Dr. Strauss of the planetary defense team then took the floor and presented their viable alternative plan, which involves the IO Probe.

READ: How much of “Salvation” is based on actual science?

The IO Probe is a NASA spacecraft currently orbiting Jupiter. Dr. Strauss said that the plan would be to redirect it from Jupiter’s orbit and propel it into the asteroid. He said that the impact could alter the asteroid’s trajectory just enough for it to miss Earth. Darius, however, had issues with it.

The tech billionaire said that the high velocity kinetic impact that would result from the collision of the IO Probe and the asteroid could actually smash the asteroid into several pieces, turning “one problem into ten.” Darius then revealed that he can build a working EM drive that could launch the gravity tractor up to asteroid in time to prevent it from colliding with Earth. But because no one has ever built a working EM drive before, there’s no assurance that Darius would be able to pull off his plan in time. Despite the planetary defense team’s doubts about Darius idea, Harris let Darius put his plan in motion.

Darius told Liam in the episode that he’s had a team working on EM drive for three years. While they’ve already made some progress, Darius said that they need Malcolm Croft’s (Dennis Boutsikaris) research about the EM drive theory to expedite his invention over the finish line. At the end of the episode, Liam managed to bring his professor, Malcolm, to Darius. But does Malcolm’s addition to the team assure the invention of a working EM drive in time?

Also in next week’s episode, Grace is forced to make some difficult decisions that could have life or death consequences for millions of people. In the trailer for the episode, Grace and Harris are having a heated argument over a potential plan of sacrificing a billion lives just to save the rest of the planet. Could this plan be the project Atlas that Harris has refused to discuss with Grace?

Elsewhere in the upcoming episode, Liam reunites with Jillian (Jacqueline Byers) under surprising circumstances.

“Salvation” Season 1, episode 3, titled “Truth or Darius,” airs on Wednesday, July 26 at 9 p.m. EDT on CBS. Watch the trailer for the episode below: