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If The Wheel Is Fixed
Dimensionaltunnel
Production
Episode

3.01

Production #

301

Original air date

September 30, 2002

Written by

Bob Engels

Directed by

Allan Eastman

Developed by

Robert Hewitt Wolfe

Producer

Sherry Gorval

Executive Producer

Allan Eastman
Majel Roddenberry
Josanne B. Lovick
Jay Firestone
Adam Haight
Kevin Sorbo
Bob Engels

Production Designer

Richard B. Lewis

Cast
Chronology
Preceded by

Tunnel At The End Of The Light

Followed by

The Shards Of Rimni


"The fearful sit
in a clutch with their worries,
Whilst one man alone
faces the Furies."
Songs of Loren
CY 4557

"If The Wheel Is Fixed" is episode 1 of Season 3.

Season3Cast

The Regular Cast of Andromeda Season 3

Synopsis[]

Dylan Hunt searches the Eureka Maru, but finds no trace of Beka Valentine and Tyr Anasazi. Rommie is scanning the Pocket Universe species dimensional tunnel, but says that she can not find anything. Trance Gemini says Beka and Tyr are in the tunnel.

Rommie replays the Maru's visual flight logs, but they are scrambled.

Seamus Harper has created the Galactic Jaws of Life, which he thinks will be able to force the tunnel to re-open. It works, but the tunnel starts pulling the Andromeda in. The ship starts to lose power, and Andromeda loses control of the artificial gravity fields, pinning everyone to the deck. They are unable to reach Harper's device to turn it off, so Dylan shoots it from the floor with his Force lance. This causes the tunnel to close and the Artificial gravity fields are restored. Trance says, with the tunnel closed, Tyr and Beka are now gone, forever.

Rommie starts to descramble the records from the Maru, but they seem rather strange: Tyr is seen fighting nothing, the rest of the crew appears then disappears on the Maru, and there are images of a cat.

Andromeda says she is still detecting the tunnel, even though it is not visible. Dylan takes the Maru out, to follow the previous trip exactly, and see if he can understand what is going on. He flies towards the tunnel to see if he can detect anything.

A large amount of detritus starts to drift towards the tunnel, making the area dangerous for the Maru, and Dylan returns to the Andromeda.

The tunnel re-opens, and starts to pull the Andromeda back in. Suddenly, Tyr and Beka walk onto the Command Center, as if nothing had happened. Beka suggests they get out of there immediately. Happy to see Tyr back, Harper hugs him. Rommie tells Dylan that, as far as she can tell, Beka and Tyr are their usual selves.

Andromeda is working against the drag of the tunnel, holding her position as it pulls, and slowly moving away, when the pull decreases. They are making slow but definite progress.

Beka whispers to Trance that, when they get out of the current crisis, she just wants to fly for the love of flying, like they used to.

In spite of Andromeda making slow progress against the pull of the tunnel, Beka loses patience, grabs the controls, and tries to take them all the way out, ignoring Dylan's demand to stop. This does not work, and the Andromeda starts tumbling back towards the tunnel. With some quick calculations from Rommie, Dylan is able to use a slingshot maneuver around the tunnel to get them to safety.

Beka comes to Dylan's ready room, carrying a cat. She says she figured that Dylan left it for her, but he does not know where it came from, either, especially considering cats have been extinct for a very long time before then. In a very "un-Beka-like" way, she apologizes to Dylan for her impulsive maneuver, as agreed making very suggestive moves towards Dylan, but Dylan tells her there is no need to explain.

Suddenly, the ship's Slipstream Runners open, and it again causes the ship to tumble out of control. Dylan orders everyone to the weapons deck. He guides them all, except Tyr, who is seem walking towards a Nova bomb locker, just as a gas starts to be released into the corridors. The gas is a poisonous disinfectant, released by an automated maintenance routine which was initiated when the runners were opened.

Tyr is still out in the corridor, but is unaffected by the gas. Dylan realises the gas is a fake, and not real disinfectant. Andromeda manages to close the runners, and Beka volunteers to find Tyr. As she leaves, Dylan notes that he thinks there is something wrong with her, but he is not sure what.

Rommie tells Dylan she has detected someone in the ship's Artificial Intelligence, overriding the systems. Harper says he has detected some sort of force, or ray coming from the tunnel, but he is not sure what it is.

Andromeda goes back to reviewing the Maru's records. Dylan declares the records are not real, but a "digital mirage"; designed to mislead them. Rommie acknowledges that her Artificial Intelligence could be interpreting the data based on what she expects to see.

In the corridor, Tyr and Beka both "phase in", just like the aliens from the tunnel had. Beka says it is now the time for them to drive the Andromeda into the tunnel. She and Tyr passionately kiss.

Beka takes Trance out on the Maru, saying Dylan asked her to do some reconnaissance. Trance attempts to double check with Dylan, but Beka prevents her from doing so. Beka begins to fly rather recklessly, cutting very close to the Andromeda, and declines to answer hails.

Tyr asks Rommie to walk with him. He tells her he is taking over, then knocks her unconscious with a tazer. When she revives, he has her arms and legs disabled, and is using her to control the ship's Artificial Intelligence remotely.

Dylan notices some problems with the Artificial Intelligence and sends Harper to take cover in case something happens.

Rommie tells Tyr he can not win, but Tyr decides to have some fun with Dylan. He uses the AG fields to cause him to float and then slam him to the floor. He orders Rommie to depressurize the Command Center. Rommie complies, but Dylan manages to jump out through the door just before it closes.

On the Maru, Beka somehow causes Trance's hand to become stuck to the rail she has been holding. She then bumps the Andromeda with the Maru, causing it to tumble towards the tunnel once again.

Dylan and Harper meet in the conduits. Dylan tells Harper to try to use his device to cut off the rays from the tunnel. He thinks they are somehow controlling Tyr and Beka. He says that if that does not work, he will have to kill both of them.

Tyr, upset that Rommie failed to kill Dylan, begins to erase her Artificial Intelligence. Rommie protests, repeatedly saying she followed his orders, but the ship is now powerless.

Harper is working on his device, and thinks he is making progress.

Dylan uses the PA system to let Tyr know in spite of his attempts to kill him, he is still alive.

Trance tells Beka the tunnel is not what she thinks it is, and pushing the Andromeda in will only cause a very dark future for her. Trance tells Beka that in the future she came back from, the 2 of them traveled around the galaxy searching for something, although she declines to specify what, and every time, Beka was seriously injured. Trance was able to fix her, but she ended up a cyborg, and Trance's "puppet".

Dylan activates the internal defenses outside the room where Tyr is holding Rommie. When Tyr goes to investigate, Dylan enters the room from the catwalk above.

Trance breathes a glowing ball of energy, which she uses to get her hand free, and declares "I'll take it from here", and with that, she and Beka start to clash for control of the ship.

Dylan confronts Tyr, and they begin to clash as well. Tyr begins to phase in and out like the aliens were doing. Dylan tells Tyr that he is being controlled.

Harper activates the Galactic Jaws of Life, and the tunnel closes. On the Maru, Beka collapses. Tyr stops fighting Dylan, and seems confused. He does not remember what happened, and expresses concern about what he did while he was being controlled. Dylan reassures him he does not hold Tyr responsible for his actions.

Andromeda's Artificial Intelligence is restored. Beka and Tyr seem to have some vague memories of their experience, but are not eager to talk about it.

Some time later, Beka finds Trance and Rommie on the Maru. They have redecorated some of the crew quarters, with hammocks, plants, and candles, as a place to relax when time allows. Rommie says she's "tired of blue", shakes her head, and her hair changes to a different style, with red streaks instead of blue. Beka says she can do that, too.

Tyr tells Dylan he does not know what happened, and seems seriously upset that he might have hurt Dylan, who assures him he is fine. The bone blades on his arms are gone.

Trivia[]

Memorable Quotes[]

Dylan: Anything we can do manually, we will do manually.
Harper: Huh. Sounds like dating a cyborg.
Dylan: Trim us down, Rommie.
Rommie: Aye.
Harper: I see, exactly like dating a cyborg.

Dylan: It's time for the three "V"s - visualise, verify, and get very, very pissed off.

Harper: Some day you two have to tell me how you did that whole disappearing act. I've got a lot of people looking for me - it could come in handy.

Dylan: Why is it we look for luck every time we're in danger?
Harper: 'Cause that's when we need it most.

Dylan: I can't quite piece together what's wrong with her, but I'm thinking that I'm all booked up on weird today.

Harper: You really think the rays are controlling Tyr and Beka?
Dylan: I'm here crawling around in the conduit, aren't I?

Trance: I can see things you know.
Beka: What do you mean?
Trance: I'm talking about the future.
Beka: The future is now.
Trance: Andromeda goes into the tunnel, but it is not what you think. It's a world full of darkness, gnashing of teeth and remorse, let me tell you about it.
Beka: Go ahead. I'm not listening.
Trance: In the future, you and I go from place to place in search of something, something that isn't important right now what. But in each place, it was really tough. Each time the people were not happy to see us, there was action, and violence, and each time you lost something, whether it was an eye, or a leg, or an arm, or a kidney, and I repaired you. In the end you were nothing more then a pathetic cyborg of tin, leaking magnesium. I even had to put your head back on, but I couldn't get the tongue to work exactly the way it ought to. But it was all for my needs, not yours. You were a puppet either way. And that is your future. You are going to end up being my puppet. So you might as well be sitting on my knee and tell stupid jokes.

Beka: The future is now. That's all I know.
Trance: The future? Sometimes it seems like yesterday, sometimes today, sometimes tomorrow. Imagine the possibilities. (Trance breaths golden energy into her free hand and throws it at her trapped one, releasing herself.) I'll take it from here.

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