Andromeda: Season One
Andromeda: Season Two
Andromeda: Season Three
Andromeda: Season Four
Andromeda: Season Five
"The Weight (Part 1)" "The Weight (Part 2)" "Phear Phactor Phenom" "Decay of the Angel" "The Eschatology of Our Present" "When Goes Around..." "Attempting Screed" "So Burn the Untamed Lands" "What Will Be Was Not" "The Test" "Through a Glass Darkly" "Pride Before the Fall" "Moonlight Becomes You" "The Past is Prolix" "The Opposites of Attraction" "Saving Light from a Black Sun" "Totaled Recall" "Quantum Tractate Delirium" "One More Day's Light" "Chaos and the Stillness of It" "The Heart of the Journey (Part 1)" "The Heart of the Journey (Part 2)"
DVDs

The Past is Prolix is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of Andromeda.

Production InformationEdit

StarringEdit

Regular CastEdit

Guest StarEdit

• Kyle Cassie as Ocham Sembler
• Rob Daly as Orlund
• Rick Faraci as Master Thux

SummaryEdit

Ocham Sembler comes out of hiding and returns to his bar that Seamus Harper had been tending. Harper is aboard the Andromeda Ascendant with Dylan Hunt, deciphering the Vedran blueprints that depict how the manufactured system works. All the planets except Seefra-1 are designed to align themselves and explode, acting as a braking system for the arrival of the Vedran sun, Trance Gemini's sun; but with one artificial sun low on power, the mechanics will not work. Doyle arrives and tells Harper about Sembler. Dylan orders him to fix the system problem first, then leaves to figure out how he will evacuate people off eight planets. The Andromeda Ascendant Artificial Intelligence contacts him, reporting solar radiation moving into the outer edge of the system. Trance watches the monitor as her other embodiment moves into the system through a Route of Ages portal. She suddenly staggers and Dylan rushes her to the med deck where he discovers her core temperature is soaring.

Harper returns to the bar and Sembler tells him why he has surfaced. Master Thux, the gangster he was hiding from, has discovered their ruse and is on the prowl. Sembler intends to exchange the bar for his life, then ducks for cover when Thux walks through the door. Thux is accompanied by bodyguards and two humanoid freaks on a leash. He threatens to kill Harper unless he hands Sembler over and then walks out. Harper hides Sembler with Orlund in the Vedran Portal Chamber. Dylan contacts him with Trance’s status and needs the crystals to reduce her temperature. They turn to see Sembler disappear through a portal door with the whole supply. 

Beka Valentine and Telemachus Rhadeare on the Eureka Maru on a water run and try to dodge pirates intent on stealing their cargo. They shoot the pirates out of the sky just in time to see the huge solar plume spewing through the portal. Dylan contacts them, telling them they need to collect some plasma from the plume and bring it to Andromeda for Trance. They’ve placed her in a cryo-device to keep her temperature down but it won’t last for long. Rhade balks at what he considers a suicide run, reminding her that she is the female progenitor and Matriarch of his race and he cannot allow her to endanger herself.

Dylan meets Orlund in the bar, intending to use him like a bloodhound as Orlund is highly attuned to the crystals after such long exposure. He spots Thux examining the crystals but when they approach, Orlund gives away Dylan’s identity and the two are quickly captured and tossed into a cage with Sembler.

Beka laughs off Rhade’s reluctant efforts at chivalry and moves closer to the plume. He has prepared the probe for plasma collection but they must get dangerously close to radiation in order to pull it off. Time is of the essence as AI informs Trance that her surface temperature will soon exceed the cryo-capsules capabilities. The Maru closes in; its hull beginning to glow a dull red and Rhade makes his decision. He powers down the ship, locking Beka out of the controls. She fumes until an idea comes to her and she gives him formal direction as her subject to do her bidding. He grudgingly complies and relinquishes the controls. They come within the probe’s range and launch just in time as sparks fly from the Maru’s console. The probe bears down on its mark as Beka struggles to stay close. The job is done quickly and they collect the probe, peeling away from the searing flare.

Dylan wakes up after being beaten to find Orlund pacing the cell. When he hears guards approaching, he feigns unconsciousness. They throw Sembler back into the cell but Dylan and Orlund jump them, knocking them out. Dylan checks Sembler’s pulse but there’s nothing he can do and the two survivors escape. Orlund tunes his inner radar and they set off in search of the crystals.

Harper and Doyle are on the streets looking for Dylan and Orlund and they split up to cover more ground. Dylan leaves Orlund as a lookout and sneaks into Thux’s compound. Orlund spots Harper and Doyle but is torn about what to do when he sees Thux approach the tent Dylan entered. He hurls a rock at Thux and hits him in the face, prompting his guards to rush Orlund, cornering him. Thux is about to unleash his freakish slaves but Dylan’s voice stops him short. He has the crystals in one hand and his Force lance in the other, but he is outnumbered. He raises his hand in surrender and, seeing Harper and Doyle out of the corner of his eye, tosses the crystals to Thux. His thugs fire but hit each other as Harper and Doyle open up, killing the remaining guards. Thux lunges at Dylan but falls on his face before his beasts, which chase him down the alley.

Trance has become too hot for the capsule or even the ship so they simply eject her out into space, her natural environment. The Maru swoops in, launching the plasma-filled drone. It impacts in a brilliant flare, rocking the ships with an enormous energy pulse. Once systems are back online, they recover Trance in one piece. Dylan greets her in the conference room, where they share their concerns for the future and her approaching sun.