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This article researched/written by Erica (erica@netcon.net.au)
BLAKE: Zen, three sixty degree survey. Put etheric detector beams on maximum. Report any space vehicles within range. Vila, put visual survey on the screen. ZEN: Negative on all systems. There are no space vehicles within detector range.
BLAKE: Visual. ZEN: Confirmed. [Ortega trace shown on screen] VILA: There, there she is. BLAKE: How long before we're in teleport range? ZEN: Twenty-three point one six minutes. [extra beeping sounds] GAN: We're getting another reading! BLAKE: What? GAN: Look! [Another trace, closing with Ortega] JENNA: Another ship. BLAKE: It must be coming to collect the neutrotope. Zen, can we get there first? ZEN: Liberator will be in teleport range three minutes before the unidentified ship makes contact with the Ortega.
ZEN: Interceptors are bearing directly on this position. Speed standard by two. Range two million spacials. CALLY: Have they seen us? ZEN: Hull sensors register scanning beams.
ZEN: Navigation computers estimate six minutes to impact.[Visual display shows computer representation of the out-of-control vessel. Two smaller objects emerge from it.]BLAKE: They've ejected. Zen, lock tracers on to those capsules. I want to know exactly where they land. ZEN: Trace locked on.
BLAKE: Zen, what's the freighter's position? ZEN: Freighter approaching landing site on Horizon. Scanner grid reference one one four.
ZEN: Attention! Sensors indicate a surface launch.
ZEN: Main detectors report ship leaving planetary orbit. AVON: Identify. ZEN: It is a modified Class One Federation pursuit ship. AVON: Grid reference? ZEN: Grid reference B-three-seven-two-one AVON: Modified Class One ... that must be Servalan. Zen, have they detected us? ZEN: Negative.
AVON: Zen was picking up a signal from the ground. It could have been some kind of beam approach detector.AVON: Zen, have the detectors registered any firing on the planet surface? ZEN: Negative. AVON: Is there any weaponry activity of any kind registering on Obsidian? ZEN: Negative. AVON: None whatsoever? Run the scan again. ZEN: Scan completed. Data is confirmed.
ZEN: Information. Medium range detectors indicate eight Federation cruisers approaching at attack speed from orbital blind side.
TARRANT: Zen, report any ship or unaccountable object within ten million spacials. ZEN: Detector analysis indicates no ship or unidentified object within specified distance.TARRANT: Double the distance. AVON: There is no known power in the universe that can operate a traction beam over that distance. ZEN: Detector analysis result: negative.ZEN: Information. Forward scan detectors indicate dust cloud density six in flight path. Range: one million two hundred thousand spacials. AVON: Activate the force wall. ZEN: Confirmed.
TARRANT: Zen, I know the third one's out there somewhere. Can't you find it? ZEN: Sensors report negative scan. TARRANT: Then the sensors are wrong. Run a maintenance check. No! No, hold that. Give us a parallax scan on the alien craft. ZEN: Parallax scan shows another alien craft eclipsed at half a million spacials.
ZEN: Information. Detectors indicate a vessel is approaching. AVON: Identification? ZEN: Negative. AVON: What speed is it making? ZEN: There is no specific speed. The vehicle is apparently adrift. TARRANT: Damaged? ZEN: Negative. AVON: Put it on visual. ZEN: Confirmed. Scanners in operation. [It displays a blurry visual of the alien spaceship.] TARRANT: Doesn't maintain your usual standards, Zen. [The focus sharpens.] Some kind of alien. AVON: It's like nothing I've ever seen before. VILA: An alien spaceship has aliens on it, right? My experience of aliens hasn't exactly been warming. TARRANT: Your experiences with humans haven't been particularly glowing either. Zen, any idea where she comes from? ZEN: Negative. No comparative data is available. Primary analysis suggests the design is eccentric and may be decorative rather than functional. AVON: What about manpower, or whatever power it's got? ZEN: The ship registers no life signs. VILA: Well, if it really were alien it may not register as life. ZEN: Alien vessel is now stationary. AVON: Distance? ZEN: Two hundred spatials.
ZEN: There is a partial malfunction on the forward detectors.ZEN: Forward detectors are now dysfunctional. Navigation computers have switched to theoretical projections.
ZEN: The rocket is now beyond sensor range.AVON: Have the navigation computers made a projection? ZEN: It is calculated that the rocket will make planet-fall in the system Magdalen Alpha.
BLAKE: Zen, hold it there. Now then, play it back, slowly.BLAKE: Zen, I want a sensor reading for that moment. Full spectrum analysis. ZEN: Confirmed.
ZEN: The data you requested is now available.BLAKE: All right, let's have it. ZEN: Sensor readings for selected moment are as follows. The explosion registered one point three. Disturbance peaked at one one five. Spectral analysis of residual vapour confirms presence of geritan explosive.BLAKE: Conclusion? ZEN: Probability is that a small explosive device was detonated in the gravity compensator controls.
AVON: [inserts Orac's key] Orac, have you got anything on this? ORAC: The phenomenon is unknown to me. I shall require an analysis of the chemical composition of the oceans. AVON: Zen? ZEN: Full range chemical analyses are being carried out.
BLAKE: Zen, give us optimum range on the aft scanners. ZEN: Confirmed. [screen shows long distance moving object] JENNA: There it is, look, the spectro says it's ferrous.
TARRANT: Zen, check the radiation level in here. ZEN: Radiation level normal. There has been a second momentary increase of energy in the area of the flight deck. Not in itself dangerous.
BLAKE: Zen, can you get an estimated surface temperature from this range? [The viewscreen shows wintry scenes on the surface.] ZEN: Sensors indicate a temperature of minus one hundred and twenty degrees and still falling.
BLAKE: No. Zen, take us in to within teleport range -- two miles from the landing field at grid reference one oh two. What are the surface conditions?ZEN: Detectors indicate that surface conditions are tolerable -- breathable atmosphere.
BLAKE: Zen, give me stationary orbit, teleport range, somewhere in the temperate zone. ZEN: Confirmed. Do you require detailed sensor readings? BLAKE: No. I asked for tolerable conditions. I assume that's what you've given me. ZEN: Confirmed. There are gravitational anomalies which may affect movement. BLAKE: And uninhabited. ZEN: The navigation computers list it as such.[If this planet is a life form then why didn't Zen pick it up??]
ZEN: Information. Detectors indicate rapid changes now occurring on the planetary surface. VILA: Changes? AVON: Specify. ZEN: Indications are that the land mass is sinking. Projections of the rate at which the process is accelerating suggest that it will be entirely submerged beneath the oceans in two hours. JENNA: That's impossible. AVON: Recheck the data. ZEN: Confirmed.
BLAKE: Put the planet on visual. ZEN: Confirmed. VILA: Looks like yet another garden paradise. BLAKE: Surface conditions? ZEN: The atmosphere is breathable. Surface temperatures are low. Calculations suggest that they rise above freezing point only during daylight hours at the equator.
VILA: That damn great volcano right in the middle of the planet. The only active one in the entire place according to Zen, sitting there bubbling away.VILA: Obsidian. Even the name sounds nasty. Do you know why it escaped the galactic war? CALLY: If it did. VILA: Well, Zen says there's no sign of any battle fleet wreckage on the surface.
AVON: Zen, is there life on Terminal? ZEN: Data banks do not have that information. Spectro analysis indicates a breathable atmosphere and Earth-level gravity. Surface water and vegetation appear to be abundant.