Synopsis:
Avon and Vila teleport down to the planet Fosforon, where they make for the Federation Q-Base where Avon’s old ‘friend’ Tynus is to be found. They are after a TP Crystal that will help to break the new pulse codes of the Federation’s transmitted A-Line messages. Avon suggests that a malfunction can be made in the base’s A-Line converter, and then while a replacement is found, they can take the second-hand one back up to the Liberator.
Tynus is, of course, reluctant, since it’d be his head on the block as commander technician. Avon is forced to remind him of the fraud that they once attempted. While Avon got arrested, he kept quiet about Tynus’ involvement, and so now it’s payback time. Tynus agrees to start a small fire, which would create confusion and also an opportunity for Avon to create a malfunction in the unmanned converter.
On the Liberator, Blake has detected one of the oldest space ships in existence, an ancient Earth Wanderer Class model that’s drifting in space. A salvager ship is launched from Fosforon to retrieve the vessel, but Cally detects a malignant presence on board the Wanderer ship… Blake is concerned about this, and despite Jenna’s protests about warning Federation personnel, he decides to teleport down to Fosforon to alert them.
The alert of life on board the ship is picked up by Gambrill who delivers the message to Dr Bellfriar. Bellfriar decides to take the message seriously, and orders a quarantine around the landing bay. Blake, in the meantime, before teleporting, has identified the ship as K-47, a vessel that went missing 700 years ago in the vicinity of 61-Cygnii, containing the crew of Kemp, Wardin and Tober. Blake arrives on Fosforon, and is taken to Bellfriar. Despite knowing who Blake is, the doctor disregards his status as political criminal, especially when Blake warns them of a malignant presence.
A body has been found on the ship and is sent to Dr Wiler for autopsy. Wiler conducts his analysis of the body which turns out to be the remains of Wardin. Wiler concludes that Wardin is officially dead, but then the EEG readings go wild. The corpse comes to life and throttles the life out of Wiler, before collapsing again. Blake surmises that the corpse had been adapted, suggesting that a control device had been linked into Wardin’s nervous system with the task of killing Wiler, but for some unknown reason. There’s more bad news though – two technicians who went in to help retrieve Wiler have been taken ill with some sort of poisonous side effects including convulsions. Dr Bax then tells Bellfriar that the two men are dead, and what’s more, three of his men have gone down with the same symptoms.
The diversion is what Avon and Vila want. Tynus has shown them the A-line converter, and has arranged for a thermal pack to be detonated. In fact, the whole operation is a success – until Vila finds a message from Tynus alerting the Federation of their presence…
The virus is now reaching critical stages, and because of its airborne transmissions, is starting to kill off people in droves, including Bax, whose body has erupted with disfiguring red blisters – the last stage of the disease after memory loss, convulsions and rise in temperature. Bellfriar arranges for the air ducts to be switched off. Blake makes another suggestion – that the whole setup has been a trap devised by an alien civilisation that was highly mistrustful of other races, deliberately loading a virus biologically designed to wipe out the human race. Blake decides to take the raw data relating to the disease back up to the Liberator, where he can figure out a vaccine. It’s too late for Gambrill though, as he succumbs to the disease, his body also breaking out in disfiguring blisters.
Avon decides to go back to the converter to get the crystal and arrange for the converter to be destroyed, so it looks like it will have been destroyed by the fire. However, they are discovered by Tynus, who gets into a fight with Avon. During the struggle, Avon manages to punch his old friend so hard that he falls onto the converter, where he is painfully electrocuted.
Mission accomplished, Avon and Vila teleport back up, where Blake is communicating with Bellfriar to find a cure. Bellfriar says that the disease is Paratype 926, a virus that was designed to keep humanity confined to its own planet. Bellfriar has found a formula for information, since it is too late to help anyone on the base. However, as he tries to read, Bellfriar’s memory goes, and collapses back in his seat as his body starts to break out in blisters…
Depsite Avon’s protests that no one should be warned of the plague since Servalan may land there, Blake will not take the responsibility of killing millions of lives in the case that it may spread across the galaxy. He puts out a plague warning around Fosforon, and then sets course for the constellation Sauros.
Cast
Roj Blake - Gareth Thomas
Jenna Stannis - Sally Knyvette
Vila Restal - Michael Keating
Guest Stars:
Paul Daneman (as Dr. Bellfriar), Ronald Lacey (as Tynus), Colin Farrell (as Gambril), Colin Higgins (as Tak), Morris Barry (as Wiler), Michael Gaunt (as Bax)
Credits
Director -
Producer -
Writer -
Script Editor -
Episode Information
Originally Broadcast: on BBC1
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