| If The Wheel Is Fixed | |
|---|---|
| |
| Production | |
| Episode |
3.01 |
| Production # |
301 |
| Original air date |
September 30, 2002 |
| Written by | |
| Directed by | |
| Developed by | |
| Producer | |
| Executive Producer |
Allan Eastman |
| Production Designer | |
| Cast | |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | |
| Followed by | |
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.
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 cannot find anything. Trance Gemini asserts that Beka and Tyr are in the tunnel.
Rommie replays the Maru's visual flight logs, but they are scrambled.
Seamus Harper has come up with the Galactic Jaws of Life that he thinks will be able to force the tunnel open again. It works, but the tunnel starts to pull 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 that, with the tunnel closed, Tyr and Beka are now gone, forever.
Rommie starts to de-scramble the records from the Maru, but they seem rather strange: Tyr is fighting nothing, the rest of the crew is appearing and disappearing on the Maru, and there are images of a Cat.
Andromeda says that she is still detecting the tunnel, even though it is not visible. Dylan takes the Maru out and flies it 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. 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 suggest that they get out of there. Harper, happy to see Tyr back, hugs him. Rommie tells Dylan that, as far as she can tell, Beka and Tyr are their usual selves.
Andromeda is working against the pulsing of the tunnel, holding her position as it pulls, and moving away slowly 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.
Andromeda is making slow progress against the pull of the tunnel, but Beka loses patience, grabs the controls, and tries to take them all the way out. This does not work, and the Andromeda starts to tumble 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 that she figured that Dylan left it for her, but he does not know where it came from, either. Beka apologizes to Dylan for her impulsive maneuver, but Dylan tells her there is no need to explain.
Suddenly, the ship's Slipstream Runners open, and it again begins to tumble out of control. Dylan orders everyone to the weapons deck, and guides all of them except Tyr into a Nova bomb locker, just as gas starts to be released in the corridors. The gas is a poisonous disinfectant, released by an automated maintenance routine that was initiated when the runners were opened.
Tyr is still out in the corridor, but is unaffected by the gas. Dylan realizes that 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 that she has detected someone in the ship's Artificial Intelligence, overriding the systems. Harper says that 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 that 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", like the aliens from the tunnel did. Beka states that now is the time for them to drive the Andromeda into the tunnel. She and Tyr kiss passionately.
Beka takes Trance out on the Maru, saying that 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 that 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 that he cannot win, but Tyr decides to have some fun with Dylan. He uses the AG fields to cause him to float and slam him to the floor, then 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 is 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, as he thinks they are somehow controlling Tyr and Beka. He says that if that does not work, he will have to kill them.
Tyr, upset that Rommie failed to kill Dylan, begins to erase her Artificial Intelligence. Rommie protests that 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 warn Tyr that he is still alive.
Trance tells Beka that 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 two 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". She and Beka start to fight.
Dylan confronts Tyr, and they also begin to fight. 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 seems to not remember what happened, and expresses concern about what he did while he was being controlled. Dylan reassures him that he does not hold Tyr responsible for his actions.
Andromeda's Artificial Intelligence is restored. Beka and Tyr seem to have some faint 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 re-decorated some of the crew quarters, with hammocks, plants, and candles, as a place to relax when time allows. Rommie declares that she is "tired of blue", shakes her head, and her hair changes to a different style, with red streaks instead of blue. Beka declares that she can do that, too.
Tyr tells Dylan that he does not know what happened, and seems seriously upset. The bone blades on his arms are gone.
Trivia
- The cat in this episode refers to Schrödinger's cat.
- "If the Wheel is Fixed" might be referring to the normal order of the universe, which has become unstable thanks to the Pocket Universe and the Spirit of the Abyss. Closing the tunnel fixes the "steering wheel".
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.