| Fear Burns Down to Ashes | |
|---|---|
| |
| Production | |
| Episode |
4.15 |
| Production # |
415 |
| Original air date |
February 23, 2004 |
| Written by | |
| Directed by | |
| Developed by | |
| Producer | |
| Executive Producer |
Allan Eastman |
| Production Designer | |
| Cast | |
| Guest stars |
Dominika Wolski as Hada |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | |
| Followed by | |
Start with who is standing there.
Then smile."
Bogdo Geghen Seer of Agharta,
CY 1890
"Fear Burns Down to Ashes" is episode 15 of Season 4.
Synopsis
Rev Bem contacts Dylan Hunt, from the planet Juko, and tells him that he has found a weapon capable of stopping the Spirit of the Abyss. He tells Dylan to come alone. The crew does not want Dylan to go, because of Juko's reputation as a violent planet, and a haven for junkies. Telemachus Rhade does not trust Rev, because he is a Magog. Dylan, however, is not dissuaded. He says that he is going, in the Eureka Maru, but he tells Beka Valentine and Rhade to follow him, but give him some lead time. They start to make plans immediately after he leaves, intending to land in Lancer Drop Pods.
When Dylan lands on the planet, he finds, and puzzles over, a small replica of a swarmship, a couple inches long, made of a transparent material. He then finds Rev, who throws one of these "swarmships", hitting Dylan in the neck, and Dylan falls unconscious. Two uniformed men destroy Dylan's communicator and Force lance and take him away, although Dylan managed to tear a badge from one's uniform in the struggle. Rev takes the "swarmship" from Dylan's neck, and gives it to a hooded female.
Beka and Rhade are unable to locate Dylan when they land, but they, too, find the miniature swarmships. Beka identifies them as injectors for Beta-Amyloids, a powerful drug. The "Beta-A" is extracted from the spine of a person, and injected by another person. It gives a powerful high, and is very addictive. They soon find Dylan's forcelance, and the badge he tore from his abductor, which Beka recognizes as an insignia of the Collectors.
Dylan awakes to find himself in the Command Center of a heavily damaged High Guard ship, the Midian Breach, which is headed for 1167 Tachen, a Black Hole. The Artificial Intelligence is offline, and there does not seem to be anyone else on board.
Trance explains that Beta-A's record a person's emotional responses. They were used as drugs in an attempt to treat emotionally disturbed people by injecting Beta-A's from healthy people, but they turned out to be too addictive and damaging. She theorizes that this may have been done to Rev, to get him to cooperate with the Collectors. Rommie retrieves records on the lead researcher on Beta-A's, Dr. Sakkai Saguro, who has recently disappeared. Trance says that Saguro is working with the Collectors. She also concludes that the Collectors will use Dylan's Beta-A's to access his deepest fears, and mentally break him.
Trance and Rommie tell Harper to use Saguro's research to figure out what they are doing to Dylan, but he is limited by the lack of access to Dylan's Beta-A's.
Dylan finds Rev chained up on the ship, and frees him. Rev says that the Collectors are working with the Magog, and that they took Beta-A's from Dylan.
Dylan works to re-activate the ship's systems so that they can move away from the black hole. He asks Rev about the weapon he mentioned in his original message, but Rev says that he does not have the weapon under his control. Rev says that the Abyss fears Dylan, and does not want to make him a martyr, so he is being trapped here.
Beka and Rhade talk to the locals on Juko, trying to find out what happened to Dylan. One gives them a lead, but an onlooker contacts the hooded woman to warn her. Beka and Rhade are attacked by more Collector thugs, but they fight free, and capture the informant, who mentions that Nietzschean Beta-A's are very powerful. She offers to help them in exchange for a "hit" of Rhade's. When they leave the area, the locals quickly loot the bodies left behind.
Beka and Rhade search for an entrance to the underground complex that their guide tells them about, but have no luck. Finally, Beka uses her gun to shoot a hole in the ground, and they fall through into a tunnel.
Rev is getting weaker, but Dylan gets some systems back online. He plans to pump air through pipes which run through an open hangar to cool it, then into the engines, which are hot. He hopes the resulting pressure changes will kick-start the engines and get the ship moving. The plan seems to be working as Dylan opens the core ejection port. Sparks fly and large surges of energy ignite the core, until one of the engines explodes and the reactor goes out of control, and the ship begins to drift towards the black hole even faster.
While Beka and Rhade search the tunnel, their guide contacts the hooded woman again, to warn her. She confronts them, and reveals herself to be Dr. Saguro. She claims, however, that she leads a cell of Collectors who support Dylan. She says that Pish Tryan wants to turn Dylan to his side, and she convinced him to try to use the Beta-A's, believing that Dylan would be able to survive and gain strength from it.
Harper has devised a "protein reader" to read Beta-A's and determine a person's deepest fears. He tests it on his own, giving an image of himself being infested by the Magog.
Rev tells Dylan that the Abyss is looking for the "darkness" in Dylan. Dylan says that he does not fear the black hole, but he fears losing everyone he cares about. Rev is getting more agitated and aggressive, and tells Dylan to "embrace the darkness", then attacks him. Dylan hits Rev with one of the injectors, and extracts a black and red glowing substance from Rev, who regains control. Rev explains that the Collectors captured him, and injected him with the "entity" in order to lure Dylan into their trap. He explains that Dylan is the weapon against the Abyss, if he can survive this.
Rommie verifies that Saguro is indeed telling the truth, and supports Dylan. Saguro reveals that she still has the injector with Dylan's Beta-A's, and they use Harper's machine to read it, revealing the black hole. Rommie sends out slipfighters to check nearby black holes for any ships drifting near them, and one locates the Midian Breach. They find it very difficult to get close enough to pull it out, however.
Rev tells Dylan that he saw a slipfighter in one of the hangars, and they head in that direction. The outer doors are open, so they attach themselves to a strut with a line before opening the inner door. When the door opens, they are sucked into the hangar. Dylan reaches the controls, and shuts the outer door. They get into the slipfighter, and leave as the Midian Breach explodes from the point singularity and the reactor core, and falls into the black hole.
The crew on the Andromeda sees the Midian Breach explode, but the slipfighter emerges from the wreckage. Beka takes the Maru to retrieve it.
Back on the Andromeda, Rev is taken to the med deck. Dylan tells him that he fights the Abyss by embracing the darkness in himself, using it when he needs it. Trance cares for Rev, assuring him that light and dark exist in balance, and one cannot exist without the other. Rev tells Trance that he always knew who she was, but did not really understand. Trance tells him that she, herself, had much to learn before she could reveal the truth. Rev says that he wants to stay on the ship, and goes to sleep.
Trance relays Rev's wishes to Dylan. She asks him if he feared losing his fight, and Dylan tells her that he only feared losing those he cares about.
Trivia
- The title is the literal meaning of the term "incinerate".
- Midian is a location used several times in religious stories.
Memorable Quotes
Dylan: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Rev, and this all looks butt-ugly to me.
Beka: You're making it really hard not to shoot you.
Sakkai Saguro: Isn't that why you built the reader. (She looks at it) Genius. Who designed these modifications?
Trance/Rommie: He did.
Sakkai Saguro: This is your work?
(Harper turns and is shocked and in awe at Sakkai Saguro, dropping the tool in his mouth.)
Sakkai Saguro: Mmmmm. We should make babies together.
Harper: You two, out.
Rommie: No.
Trance: Whatever.
Dylan: Now there, Rev, that's the way.
Rev: Uh-huh uh-huh.
Dylan: You like it?
Rev: Uh-huh, uh-huh. (This refers to the song That's the Way (I Like It))
Gallery
