For All Nails #238: These Are the Journeys
by Johnny Pez
- Episode 27 - The Rishan Menace
- Written by Gavin Jones
- Directed by Russell Norwood
- First broadcast 10 July 1965
Synopsis:
Dalton, Chang and Singh flash down to the planet Rishal, a lost colony that has recently regained contact with the Empire. They meet the planet's Governor, Lentis Dale, who explains that during the Interregnum the people of Rishal learned to live in peace with one another. Although he appreciates Captain Dalton's offer of Class One status within the Empire, the Rishans are content to remain independent. Governor Dale introduces the men from Endeavour to his daughter Arla, and Dalton finds himself attracted to her.
During a tour of the planet's capital city, however, Dalton is kidnapped by a man named Raden and taken to an underground complex. Raden explains to Dalton that Governor Dale is only a figurehead; the planet's true ruler is a scientist named Maron Tarsh who discovered an immortality serum during the Interregnum, and who has ruled Rishal from behind the scenes for a thousand years. Tarsh uses a genetically engineered mind control virus to keep the planet's population under control. Only a handful of naturally immune people like Raden are able to resist him. Raden tells Dalton that Tarsh is planning to infect the crew of Endeavour, and that Dalton and his landing team are already infected and will fall under Tarsh's control in less than ten hours.
Meanwhile, Governor Dale explains to Commander Chang that Raden is one of a handful of renegades who seek to overturn Rishan society and plunge it back into the dark ages. Chang and Singh decide to return to Endeavour to search for Dalton with the ship's scanners. However, Raden removed Dalton's locator, and the search is unsuccessful. Dale offers to come up to the Endeavour with Raden's biosignature to help them locate him. Chang accepts.
On the planet, Raden explains to Dalton that he will infect his ship with the mind control virus if he flashes back, and if he tries to communicate with them Dale will find and kill them all. The only way for Dalton to free himself from the virus is to infiltrate Tarsh's secret laboratory and get hold of the antivirus. Dalton agrees.
On the ship, Dr. Singh analyses Raden's biosignature and realises that it is his lack of a common Rishan virus that makes him stand out. Despite Dale's assurances that the virus is harmless, Singh is alarmed to discover that he and Chang are both infected, and that it is spreading among the rest of Endeavour's crew. He uncovers the virus's neurological properties and informs Chang that they will all be helpless slaves in less than five hours. Chang decides that if they cannot find a cure by then, he will have to order Endeavour to self-destruct.
On the planet, Raden has been planning his raid on Tarsh's laboratory for years, and he and Dalton succeed in entering the laboratory and locating the antivirus. They are discovered by Tarsh and Arla Dale, and Tarsh reveals his plan to take over Endeavour and use the ship to infect and enslave the rest of the Empire. Dalton responds by smashing the flask holding the antivirus. Within a week, he tells Tarsh, the antivirus will spread throughout Rishal, freeing the population from Tarsh's mind control. Tarsh orders his henchmen to kill Dalton, but before they can, Chang flashes in with a security team and takes them prisoner. Chang explains to Dalton that as soon as he understood the nature of the virus, he realised that Raden's immunity made him a natural ally, so he used the Rishan rebel's biosignature to locate him. Dalton gives Chang a shard of the antivirus flask, and tells him that Dr. Singh can use it to create more for the ship's crew.
Back on board Endeavour, Dalton receives a message from Raden telling him that Dale's government has been overthrown, and that the new government will be accepting his offer of membership within the Empire.
Cast:
- Dalton - Trevor Hazelton
- Chang - Thomas Li
- Singh - Rajiv Sarhat
- Wilkins - Albert Holden
- Gomez - Michelle Migliori
- Raden - Keith McClanan
- Dale - Peter Chatellier
- Arla - Anna Golderese
- Tarsh - Michael S. Petrarca
- Henchman - Eric Colburn
- Guard - Nasrin Rahman
Lexicon:
- antivirus
- biosignature
- Dale, Arla
- Dale, Lentis
- immortality serum
- mind control virus
- Raden
- Rishal
- Sector 7-G
- Tarsh, Maron
- Episode 28 - The Dalton Maneuver
- Written by David Seton
- Directed by Ronald Matthews
- First broadcast 17 July 1965
Synopsis:
Endeavour has been assigned to transport a vaccine to the planet Cassius, which is suffering from an outbreak of Vegan fever. As the vaccine loses its potency as it ages, it is vital that the ship reach Cassius as quickly as possible. All seems well at first, until the ship begins to lose speed for no discernable reason. The engines are operating at peak efficiency, yet the ship continues to slow. Finally Chang discovers that the ship is somehow gaining mass; the hull is now twice as thick as it normally is.
Wilkins tries to leave the ship to examine the hull, but he cannot leave the airlock -- there is something invisible in the way. He is able to get a sample of the invisible material, and discovers to his astonishment that it is living tissue. Recalibrating the ship's scanners allows them to see the formerly invisible matter building up on Endeavour's hull, and the crew are shocked to discover that it is covered with living creatures that inhabit the depths of interstellar space and are totally transparent to visible light. The ship passed through a swarm of them, and now the creatures are settling on the hull in ever-increasing numbers. If something isn't done to eliminate them, Endeavour will be slowed by their weight to the point where it will take months to reach Cassius, by which time the vaccine will be useless.
Dr. Singh learns that the space creatures have an intense dislike of ammonia, and Wilkins comes up with a plan to use jets of ammonia to drive them away from the ship. However, the plan fails -- when they are exposed to jets of ammonia gas, the creatures simply retreat to another part of the hull. It would be necessary to bathe the entire hull of Endeavour with ammonia at the same time to drive the creatures off completely, and they don't have the resources to do it.
Then Captain Dalton gets an idea. He pilots the ship to a nearby star system, then sends it down into the atmosphere of a dark green gas giant. The gas giant's atmosphere is mostly ammonia, and the space creatures flee from the hull of Endeavour. Dalton pilots the ship to the far side of the gas giant and emerges back into space out of view of the space creatures before returning to hyperspace. Endeavour reaches Cassius three days later, and delivers the vaccine in time to save its people.
As Endeavour is leaving Cassius, Dr. Singh is unhappy because they weren't able to secure any of the space creatures for exhibition in the Imperial Zoo. When Chang wonders how they would be able to keep it captive, Singh explains that they could use a simple glass case - as long as it was cleaned every day with an ammonia solution.
Cast:
- Dalton - Trevor Hazleton
- Chang - Thomas Li
- Singh - Rajiv Sarhat
- Wilkins - Albert Holden
- Gomez - Michelle Migliori
- First Crewman - Brian Gaudette
- Second Crewman - Bradford C. Sherman
Lexicon:
- ammonia
- Cassius
- space creatures
- vaccine
- Vegan fever
- Episode 29 - The Xerxes Solution
- Written by Carlos Hill
- Directed by Russell Norwood
- First broadcast 31 July 1965
Synopsis:
Endeavour picks up an old-style radio transmission from the planet Xerxes, a lost colony from the time of the First Empire. When the ship reaches Xerxes Dalton finds a Bolgan warship in orbit, commanded by none other than Captain Joggoth. Joggoth tells Dalton that Xerxes is a subject world of the Bolgan Empire. Dalton doesn't want to leave Xerxes with its 700 million human inhabitants under Bolgan rule, but if he attacks Joggoth he risks starting another Terran-Bolgan War.
What Dalton can do is invoke Article Twelve of the Treaty of Deneb, which allows the Second Terran Empire to establish a consulate on any Bolgan world with a sufficiently numerous human population. Joggoth tries to refuse, but he knows that would anger the other interstellar powers, and reluctantly agrees.
Joggoth tells Dalton that the new Terran consulate will be located in a rugged mountain range on the planet's sparsely populated northern continent. Dalton then informs Jaggoth that under the terms of the treaty the Terrans may choose the site for their consulate, and that he has already chosen an empty building near the center of the Xerxian capital city. What's more, he has already flashed a landing team into the building.
Joggoth angrily orders Dalton to flash his men back up, but Dalton refuses. He tells Joggoth that the Bolgans are free to forcibly remove the Terrans from their new consulate . . . if he wants to put the Bolgan Empire on the wrong side of an interstellar incident. Joggoth snarls, but orders no action taken. Down on the planet, Chang reports that the landing team has secured the building -- and raised the Terran flag above it.
The sight of the Terran flag flying attracts a crowd of humans, and Dalton flashes down to meet them. Their leader is a woman named Tara Zame, and Dalton escorts her into the new consulate to explain the situation. Wilkins calls from Endeavour to tell Dalton that a force of Bolgan soldiers in battle carriers is approaching the consulate.
Outside, the Bolgans arrive and order the humans to disperse. Within the consulate, Dalton advises Tara that they'd better -- if the Bolgans attack the humans, Dalton and his men can't protect them. Tara goes outside and persuades the humans to disperse, after which the Bolgans form a cordon around the consulate.
Dalton returns to Endeavour, and shortly after reaching the bridge he gets word from the consulate that the Bolgans have arrested Tara. He contacts Joggoth and orders her release. Joggoth tells Dalton that Tara is a Bolgan subject and is guilty of violating Bolgan law. Dalton responds that Tara has sworn allegiance to the Terran Empire, and as an accredited member of the consular staff enjoys diplomatic immunity. If she isn't released from Bolgan custody in five minutes, Endeavour will open fire on Joggoth's ship. Joggoth blusters, but in the end orders Tara's release.
Dalton speaks with Tara from the planet's surface. She assures him she is unharmed, and that the whole planet knows how Dalton outfaced Joggoth. The Bolgan Empire's hold on Xerxes is slipping, and it will continue to slip until the planet is free. Dalton wishes Tara good luck, and orders Endeavour to break orbit and set course for her next destination.
Cast:
- Dalton - Trevor Hazleton
- Chang - Thomas Li
- Singh - Rajiv Sarhat
- Wilkins - Albert Holden
- Gomez - Michelle Migliori
- Joggoth - Gerald McDonald
- Tara - Marybeth Byrne
- Hollis - Arthur Sanderson
- Sung - Wenho Leung
Lexicon:
- Bolgan Empire
- Bolgans
- Deneb, Treaty of
- Hollis
- Joggoth
- radio waves
- Terran-Bolgan War
- Xerxes
- Zame, Tara
- Episode 30 - Deadlock
- Written by Dennis Archer
- Directed by Ronald Matthews
- First broadcast 7 August 1965
Synopsis:
The crew of Endeavour find the wreckage of a Deltan peacekeeping ship adrift in space. Dalton leaves Chang in command while he flashes over with Singh and Wilkins to investigate. The only survivor is the Deltan Captain, who is severely wounded. Before he dies, he tells Dalton that the ship was ambushed by the Jobans, who boarded and took the Deltan ship's Nova Device. Dalton and the others return to Endeavour and set out in pursuit of the Joban ship.
Although Dalton knows the Jobans will detonate the Device rather than allow it to be taken from them, he is determined to track them down. They locate the Joban ship, but when they close on it, instead of detonating the Device, the Jobans change course, entering the Ralla system, which includes two inhabited planets.
Now Dalton and the Jobans are deadlocked: if the Jobans leave the Ralla system, Endeavour can attack them; but if they stay in the system, Endeavour can't harm them for fear that they'll destroy two inhabited worlds rather than surrender the Device. Further complicating the situation, Lt. Gomez intercepts a transmission from the Joban ship to the nearby Joban base on Roda IV calling for reinforcements. At top speed, the Joban reinforcements can reach the Ralla system in three hours, at which point the Jobans will outgun Endeavour. If Dalton can't regain control of the Device before then, he'll have to choose between allowing the Jobans to abscond with the Deltan Nova Device, or sacrifice the inhabitants of the Ralla system in order to stop them.
Wilkins suggests using a hyperwave pulse to short out the Joban ship's power relays. Dalton agrees, and Wilkins rigs the ship's scanner array to emit the pulse, but to no avail; the Joban ship has a mechanical backup relay that is immune to the hyperwave pulse. The Joban Captain hails Endeavour and tells Dalton that if he tries any other tricks, the Jobans will set off the Device. Dalton tries to reason with the Joban Captain, but the response is a torrent of abuse aimed at Dalton, the Empire, and the Deltans. The Joban Captain insists that the Deltans' development of the Device represents a casus belli, and that he is therefore entitled to take military action against them.
This gives Dalton an idea. He informs the Joban Captain that his definition of casus belli is erroneous, and thus his actions are in violation of interstellar law. Then he immediately cuts communication with the Joban ship. The Jobans hail them again, but Dalton orders Lt. Gomez to ignore them. Dalton reminds Chang that the Jobans are an argumentative race incapable of allowing others to have the last word. Then he orders Endeavour out of the Ralla system.
Just as he had hoped, the Joban ship follows Endeavour out of the Ralla system, still hailing them. Dalton sets course for a nearby star with no planets, then aims the ship directly at it. He pulls Endeavour away at the last second, and the ship whiplashes around the star. The Joban ship follows, still trying to hail Endeavour, but their proximity to the star sets off the Device. Endeavour enters hyperspace just ahead of the shockwave of the exploding star.
As they set course back to the wrecked Deltan ship, Dalton remarks that the Jobans are incapable of true genius, since genius consists of knowing when to stop.
Cast:
- Dalton - Trevor Hazleton
- Chang - Thomas Li
- Singh - Rajiv Sarhat
- Wilkins - Albert Holden
- Gomez - Michelle Migliori
- Deltan Captain - Robert Ashton Clark
- Joban Captain - Peter Garber
Lexicon:
- Deltan Captain
- Deltans
- hyperwave pulse
- Joban Captain
- Jobans
- Nova Device
- Ralla system
- Roda IV
Forward to FAN #239: They Tell Me He Was Lonely.
Forward to 22 February 1970: Island Life.
Return to For All Nails.