The Mathematics of Tears
From The New Systems Commonwealth Wiki
Then duty is the navigator...
And love is the fuel.
High Guard Supreme Commander
Sani nax Rifati
"Persuasions and Exhortations"
C.Y. 4279
The Andromeda discovers her sister, the Pax Magellanic and its crew had not aged a day.
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[edit] Summary
Pursuing rumours of a surviving High Guard ship, the Andromeda heads to Herotodus system where a ghost ship is rumoured to attack wandering vessels with "glitters of gold". But instead of finding a planet, there's nothing but an asteroid field. Behind one of the large ones, is a golden, Glorious Heritage class cruiser.
Rommie identifies the ship as the Pax Magellanic, her older sister, one of the first Glorious Heritage classes. On her first mission, she saved Princess Sukarhit from a Magog attack and received honours from both the Vedran Empress and the Triumvirs. She, Dylan, Beka, and Harper take the Maru and board the Magellanic in hopes of salvaging it. Beka remarks the the ship looks exactly like her sister except for the golden scheme. Upon exiting, the internal defenses attack them and won't respond to Dylan's command codes until the crew of the Magellanic shut them down. The de facto commander, Lieutenant Jill Pearce, is pleased to see a surviving High Guard. But even more shocking, the crew of the Magellanic had not aged a day, claiming that a Nietzschean weapon destroyed the planet, causing a side effect. The Magellanic was sent to assist General Sky Falls in Thunder during the war. Their slipstream was damaged and it would take five centuries to head to the nearest system and they might've died before then. Dylan asks to meet with Captain Warrick but he is dead.
Back on the Andromeda, Rev analyzes the crews DNA. He confirms that they are over three hundred years old but there are inconsistencies; everyone on Andromeda is aging normally and the asteroids have no effect. Tyr points out to Dylan that Nietzscheans don't destroy planets and Pearce must be lying to them.
Dylan has dinner with Pearce on Magellanic; Rommie plugs into the VR matrix to assist her sister; Harper and Magellanic chief engineer Dutch try to find out what's wrong with the slipstream drive. Inside the VR, Magellanic doesn't even recognize her sister, telling her to leave. Rommie uses override codes to get inside and from what she could tell, Jill destroyed the planet.
Harper and Dutch get through the convenient welded door and find that the engine was ejected - on purpose. Dutch then starts attacking him had not Beka made a timely save. They run through the halls of the ship, evading the deranged crewmen. When they reached the room where Dylan and Pearce were. Harper tricks the AI into initiating an android diagnostic; instantly every crewman stops in his tracks, head slumped down - the crew are all androids, including Pearce. The three then start running back to the Maru, just as sleepy time ended. An incoming transmission from Rev then reveals that there is no Jill Pearce in the crew manifest. Dylan pieces together that Pax Magellanic translates in Latin to Jill Pearce; she's the ship's avatar.
Dylan and Rommie go back into the VR to confront Maggie. She shows them the true of the matter. Warrick took his entire crew down to the planet, leaving her alone. However, the Nietzscheans overwhelmed them and Sky Falls perished. He orders her to initiate a self-destruct, so the Nietzscheans can't take her. Jill is overwhelmed and tries to persuade her captain to escape to San-Ska-Re. The memories then flash to Warrick and Jill, apparently having fallen in love. The memory then revert to the battle. Jill doesn't comply with orders and ejects the exotic matter pulsar from the ship, destroying the planet. Dylan accuses her of disobeying orders and betraying her oath to the Commonwealth. Magellanic insists that the Commonwealth is dead; Dylan says its principles are timeless and she disobeyed.
In the real world, the androids make it onto the Maru and begin attacking as an opera song plays. In the VR, it also plays, forcing the two to leave. They escape back to Andromeda as Magellanic fires on them. They try to disable her but Maggie lowers her defenses so she could be with her love.
[edit] Memorable Quotes
Beka: Once a century - they get less action than you do, Harper.
Harper: Ha ha. No they don't.
Harper: I really should shave those little hairs off the back of my neck.
Harper: Well, that's really sad that a whole world had to die, but you look great!
Rev: I've discovered something disturbing about Lt. Pearce.
Harper: What, that she's a psychotic android with a grudge?
Rev: I was going to say that she's not on the crew manifest.
Tyr: You're risking your lives to save a machine?
Beka: She's not just a machine, she's family.
Beka: You missed Tyr's cavalry charge.
Tyr: They were playing Wagner. It's the most fun I've had in six months.
[edit] Production Information
| Production Number: | 112 |
| Aired: | January 29, 2001 |
| Written By: | |
| Directed By: | |
| INSERT EPISODE SCREENHOT HERE | |
| Created By: | Gene Roddenberry |
| Developed By: | Robert Hewitt Wolfe |
| Executive Producers: | Allan Eastman Majel Roddenberry Robert Hewitt Wolfe Josanne B. Lovick Jay Firestone Adam Haight |
| Producer | Sherry Gorval |
| Production Designer | Ken Rabehl |
| Intro | The long night has come. The Systems Commonwealth the greatest civilization in history has fallen. Now, one ship, one crew have vowed to drive back the night and rekindle the light of civilization. On the starship Andromeda hope lives again |
[edit] Starring
[edit] Regular Cast
| Actor |
|
|---|---|
| Kevin Sorbo | |
| Lisa Ryder | |
| Keith Hamilton Cobb | |
| Gordon Michael Woolvett | |
| Brent Stait | |
| Laura Bertram | |
| Lexa Doig |
[edit] Guest Stars
[edit] DVD Release
The Mathematics of Tears was released on DVD in a vareity of formats. For more information see:
