This week it’s the moment we’ve all been looking forward to – the culmination of all the story-arc goodness when all the loose ends are tied up neatly with a bow in the two-part series finale of Starhunter Redux in Hyperspace parts I & II.

Kenneth and Eugene discuss.

Hyperspace I Episode Synopsis

Marcus contemplates his recent almost-success at achieving hyperspace using negative energy in an anti-matter drive.  He finds an obscure scientific paper describing just that possible scenario published by Dr. Lanzig, a bit of an obscure crank.

He wakes Travis from a sexy-time dream with Callie.  Well, technically, he wakes the entire crew from their sleep – although probably not all from sexy-time dreams about Callie – to impart this currently unactionable bit of information.

Travis returns to sleep but this time dreams himself into hyperspace where he meets a woman who declares that he is the “The One” and that, now that he’s found her, he needs to go find her.  She doesn’t know where and provides no help.  Travis returns to the ship.

Marcus’ further reading of Lanzig’s paper indicates that if you could calculate the pulse gap, you could achieve hyperspace, and to calculate the pulse gap, you need a Horizon Generator.  Thinking that they have a brand new pair of roller skates and Lanzig has the key, they decide to track him down.

Meanwhile, the New Orchard is up to their old tricks.  Starchild Tristian Catchpole and his confederates inside the Orchard have plans for the human race, and they need more people who have activated the Second Divinity Cluster Gene.  He detects a disturbance in the Force when Montana meets the woman in hyperspace.  It’s not Montana, it’s the woman that’s activated the second gene, and they need to secure her.  They decide to let Montana track her down for them.

Lanzig has gone off the grid, erasing all evidence of his existence, but not so his assistant, Dr. Xeylon.  They track her down, and she is the woman from hyperspace.  She recognizes Travis as “The One,” and they are attacked by Orchard’s Goon Squad.  Xeylon is taken, Travis is knocked unconscious, and Callie has a minor wound in her shoulder.

Back on the Trans-Utopian, they track the clandestine Orchard ship back to Mars.  Also, Callie dies.  Apparently, the round she was hit with was poisoned, because…. reasons.  As she dies, she says the word “again,” and Travis phases into hyperspace, revisiting the moment she was shot.

Thinking that if they could get into hyperspace, they might be able to go back and rescue Callie, they embark on a mission to retrieve Dr. Xeylon.  While they lost Dr. Xeylon, they did manage to secure her Horizon Generator.  Oh, by the way, Lanzig was a fictional character created as a front for Dr. Xeylon.

A dangerous but short mission to Mars, and they recover her.  As the Orchard’s ship is about to capture the Trans-Utopian, they plug the Horizon Generator in, and the ship moves to hyperspace.

Hyperspace II Episode Synopsis

Percy, Marcus, and Rudolfo are each stuck on 3 different color-shifted alternate versions of the Trans-Utopian, which is still in Hyperspace. Caravaggio is missing, but the ship’s computer informs each of them they are both alone and not alone on board the ship.  Each detects the presence of another.

Tristian Catchpole is there, too, trying to get the Horizon Generator, which he cannot until the three crew members manage to re-integrate the color-shifted versions of the Trans-Utopian into one ship.  Even if they do that, it’s still going to fall apart.

Meanwhile, Travis and Dr. Xeylon are in a Hyperspace cloud.  She must train him to control – not check – his emotions by trying to… do something with his emotions.  This is the only way he can activate the second Divinity Cluster gene and the only way he can go back in time and rescue Callie.

A desperate gamble aboard the Trans-Utopians and a last-ditch effort by Travis results in the timeline being altered and Callie surviving, and the Trans-Utopian re-integrated.  

Catchpole steals the Horizon Generator and, with it, stages a coup at the Orchard.  He’s bringing those ancient aliens home to roost in the wasp’s egg’s food source which is humanity.

Travis and Xeylon return to the ship, tech the tech, and attempt to leave hyperspace, although things aren’t looking good when the episode ends.

Also, some idiot tacked on some really awful footage of Old Percy and Dante Montana doing really dumb stuff.

The end and good riddance.

Kenneth and Eugene discuss two more episodes of Starhunter Reduc. In Negative Energy, they’ll follow the convoluted quest to get the Trans-Utopian’s engines up to speed, and in License to Fill, they’ll try to figure out how you review a clip show.

Negative Energy Synopsis

The Trans-Utopian fails to catch a bounty because they are not fast enough. Also, their bounty is one of the 5 or 6 ships in the system with an anti-matter drive.  The Trans-Utopian also happens to be one of the 5 or 6 ships with an anti-matter drive, but theirs doesn’t exactly work.

Marcus pitches the plan of getting some Duranium-237 to use Negative Energy as a fuel source for the anti-matter drive.  If they can get the element, he’ll do the math, and if it’s certain that it will work, and only if he’s certain, they’ll give it a try.

“Why has nobody done this before?” They ask.

“I dunno” is the most coherent answer Marcus can muster.

Rudolfo has a contact of a contact that might be able to help, and they pursue that avenue, meeting up with Karina, who is an old “friend” of Rudolfo’s.  She gets her in touch with Jay Becker, a dealer in questionable materials.

Rudolfo sells out Marcus, who Jay has taken a shine to, in exchange for his life and the element.  Then he rescues Marcus.

Meanwhile, in a lawless solar system full of violent crime, graft, and corruption, there is one thing you must do, and that is fill out paperwork to convert your anti-matter engine into… an alternate fuel source.  It’s not one you can skip, so Caravaggio fills out the paperwork.

This draws the attention of a corrupt permit inspector who tells them if the ship isn’t 100% up to standard, will be impounded and scrapped.  Guess what?  It’s not up to standard, and the inspector is actually a crook who uses his position to obtain anti-matter drives for his friends at the Orchard.

That fails when Travis learns that the permit request never reached the database.  With a battle raging aboard the ship and and Orchard vessel in hot pursuit, shooting holes in the Trans-Utopian, Marcus plugs the Negative Energy in, and away they go. Really fast.  But not as fast as Marcus expected.

All’s well that ends well.

License to Fill Synopsis

Mars loves its red tape.  The good crew of the Trans-Utopian are 2 days late for renewing their bounty hunting license, and even though they’re not actually doing any work at the moment, they have people they call “clients,” and because of that, they’re practicing bounty hunting without a license, and that’s a serious crime.

At least it is in the eyes of Senator Calder, recently appointed head of the people that stamp the documents and collect the fees.  He impounds the ship, and in collision with Senator Skaylon – a judge – they set the Trans-Utopian crew for a hard fall that will cost them their ship.

They can’t afford council, but help arrives in the form of Senator Rendall, an old family friend of Callie.  He suspects Calder is up to something.  Rendall will defend them in court.  But remember, “Martian law is weird.”

The “trial” consists mostly of asking Caravaggio questions.  He “testifies” to many things – including things he did not witness – but remember, Martian law is weird.

The “evidence” against the crew of the Trans-Utopian is that Travis was once a Raider.

The defense is that “he got better.”

More “evidence” is that Rudolfo is a duplicitous jerk.

The defense is that “he eventually comes through in the end”

More “evidence” is that Marcus is a bit headstrong, inexperienced, and tries to do more than he’s qualified to do.

The defense is that “he comes through in the end”

Finally, the prosecution brings forth a surprise witness, Percy Montana, who testifies… um… that she owns the ship and that she makes bad decisions.

The defense to that is, “What’s your point.”

This final piece does seem to be the most damning – which I’ve said about Percy all along.

Luckily the crew has discovered that Calder is actually buddies with the guy that shot Callie back in episode 4.  The case is dismissed, and Rendall promises to go after Senator Skaylon, too.

It’s not all’s well that ends well with this episode, though, because Percy is back.

Many people say Marcus is just a spare part, and this week that’s proven, and then it’s political hijinks on the High Seas – or the outer space equivalent thereof.

Kenneth and Eugene discuss The Heir and the Spare & Just Politics.

As we wind down our coverage of Starhunter Redux this week and for subsequent episodes, we’re covering two episodes at once. Of the remaining four episodes, one is a clip show, which we’ll cover with a companion episode, and the series finale is a two-parter.

The Heir and the Spare Episode Synopsis

Marcus is talking to Percy about getting the hyperspace drive working.  She doesn’t want to because… reasons.  Then she screws up a repair job to get out of the conversation, then fixes it somewhat.  She retreats to privacy mode in her cabin.

They’re after a fugitive named Alex Aroyan, a con man who fleeces rich women.  Eva Halperin, a Martian police official, has commixed the crew of the Trans-Utopian to track him down and bring him to justice… and she’s really keen to see this happen sooner rather than later.

Callie, in a dress, brings Aroyan to the yard and subsequently to capture.  Aboard the ship, Aroyan seems to recognize Marcus.

Privately, Caravaggio informs Marcus that he is an identical genetic match for Aroyan.  They don’t look alike because Aroyan has had extensive plastic surgery.  Aroyan doesn’t really explain, but he says Marcus is in trouble and he should let him go.

Two armed ships show up controlled by Jaten Sarat, the baddie, arrive and demand Aroyan.  Aroyan says that’s even worse news for you, Marcus, and he convinces him to take him to escape on a shuttle.

Meanwhile, Percy is doing Percy things.

Travis backs his friend and keeps the baddies off their backs, at least for a while, as they escape to Sin City.  There, the story is told to Marcus.  He’s the “son” of the former leader of Europa.  Twin sons were fashioned, one to be the heir and the other to be spare parts for the heir.  Marcus is, of course, the spare parts model.  When a violent man, the same one chasing them now, overthrew the government, the twins were spirited off in the hopes that one might survive.

Sarat captures them, and when they fail to agree to be his figurehead, he gets ready to kill Aroyan, clone him, and grow a new heir while cutting Marcus’ brain out and keeping his body around for reasons that don’t hold up to much scrutiny.

Travis arrives and threatens to kill them all if they don’t turn over Marcus and Aroyan, and they give them up.  Travis and the gang don’t bother to turn over Aroyan to the Martian authorities because “he’s family.”

…and in the meantime, Percy has taken a shuttle and left the Trans-Utopian to do some thinking.

Should they go after here?  Nah.

Just Politics Episode Synopsis

The Trans-Utopian has got troubling cargo, and Travis doesn’t like it.  They’re transporting Martian Trade Minister Kolzig on a secret mission.  It’s all very hush-hush and very high-paying.  Upon seeing him, Rudolfo is immediately disturbed.

Gaynor Schon immediately establishes herself as a baddie by uploading a program to Caravaggio that causes him to see and identify her as the absent Percy Montana.  Schon now, effectively, has full control of the ship without anyone knowing it.

Rudolfo struggles with identifying where he’s seen the Trade minister before, unaware that he’s being hampered by the tampering down to Caravaggio. At the same time, Marcus takes a shine to Jophie Henrik, the Minister’s aide.  Her dad was an engineer, and she flirts her way into Marcus’ heart and engines.  He keeps detecting problems with Caravaggio, but diagnostic after diagnostic shows him everything is operating normally.

Dircott, the second member of the Minister’s security squad, breaks into someone’s quarters, and Caravaggio apologetically murders him.  His body is later found in his own quarters, dead of an apparent heart attack.  Caravaggio, of course, can find no other cause of death.

Marcus and Jophie, who is sticking to him like suspicious glue, have discovered an anomaly in Caravaggio. When they go to the core of Caravaggio to investigate, they are zapped by Caravaggio’s defense systems, killing Jophie.  Travis is unhappy about all the deaths on his ship.

They arrive at the destination, the Mannheim Asteroid Belt, where Kolzig conducts some not-at-all suspicious 30-second-long trade negotiations with Reasoner, a miner on one of the asteroids.  According to Kolzig, the negotiations failed.  So sad, but that’s the way it is in politics.  That was a long trip for nothing.

Gaynor, however, bugged that conversation and has confirmed that Kolzig is actually conspiring against the Martian President in an effort to take over.  Reasoner is his confederate, and this was just the opportunity to transfer funds to Reasoner.

Rudolfo remembers who Kolzig is…. He’s a bad guy, and he will take him to justice.  When Gaynor, with the tactic approval of the Martian president, destroys the asteroid and puts the Trans-Utopian on self-destruct. Locking the others out of the computer systems.

As the clock winds down, Callie disables the shuttle that Gaynor is leaving on in the hopes she’ll stop the auto-destruct countdown.  She can’t, so she kills her in a fistfight.

Marcus cannot override the damage done to Caravaggio so, finally, Travis talks Caravaggio out of destroying them.

It’s alls-well-that-ends-well as the crew contemplates blackmailing the Martian president for their fee.

Travis just isn’t scratching Callie’s itch, so she’s off with another band of plucky corporate bounty hunters. Will Travis find his scratcher in time? Kenneth and Eugene discuss Rivals.

Episode Synopsis

Callie is having a bad day.  Not only are the rolling blackouts and malfunctions of the Trans-utopian getting her down, but she’s got a troublesome prisoner that’s managed to steal her key – unbeknownst to her, of course.

There are no solutions to their overall problems anytime soon.  They’re not making enough money to keep the ship fully powered on, nor to perform needed repairs.  As Callie tries to spill her soul to an unlistening Travis, word that the prisoner has escaped has reached them.  They need to take him alive to collect their bounty, and rather than logically applying a stun gun at the first opportunity, instead, Callie roundhouse kicks him into electrical equipment, nearly killing the prisoner and completely disabling the Trans-Utopian just as a giant asteroid bears down on them.

They are rescued when Capt. Christoper Judson of the ship Seattle blasts the asteroid into millions of even tinier, more dangerous pieces. But let’s ignore that.

The Seattle is a slick ship owned by the Fugitive Containment Systems Corporation, it’s a Martian military design and well-equipped and crewed.  They’re the future of bounty hunting, and Capt. Judson likes the cut of Callie’s jib, and since Travis isn’t doing anything for her jib, she’s sorely tempted by what she sees.  When she tries to bring up her jib with Travis, he seems oblivious that we’re talking about jibs [wink wink nudge nudge say no more!]. 

Travis fumes as only Travis can.

A pre-emptive bounty comes in.  That’s a high-priced bounty to arrest someone before they commit a crime.  There are a couple of minor complications – the target is a highly-trained, ex-military assassin.  He’s committed multiple successful assassinations.  He’s escaped multiple high-security prisons.  Nobody knows what he looks like, and they have no clue whom he plans to kill.

The Seattle makes way, covering their tracks so the Trans-Utopian won’t follow them.

Via encrypted transmission, Capt. Judson offers Callie a job, and when she finds out Travis and Rudolfo tracked the transmission in hopes of getting intel on the Seattle’s destination, she decides enough is enough and accepts their offer of a commission.

After some setbacks, the Trans-Utopian tracked the Seattle to Clark Station, and they also go in search of the assassin.  The Seattle get to the fugitive first, or so they think.  Callie warns that something is wrong, but they ignore the junior recruit.  They should have listened, their entire team is terminated in a trap, save for Callie, who was guarding the hallway.

She warns Travis that the target is extremely dangerous, plus, you know, she just likes the sound of his voice, and she’s mad at Capt. Judson for filling out the paperwork on his dead crew before getting into the action himself.

As things unfold, it is Capt. Judson that is the actual intended victim, and Callie and Travis save him and kill the assassin, bringing in a hefty bounty for Team Trans-Utopian, and returning Callie to the fold; however, jibs have not been resolved.

Caravaggio is damaged, and Percy replaces him with Kate, the crew’s new holographic pal that’s fun to play with, designed by Percy. Would could possibly go wrong? Find out as Kenneth and Eugene look at the Starhunter Redux episode: Kate.

Episode Synopsis

Percy is having a conniption fit.  She wanted to use some hot water during the routine water maintenance period and somehow blames Caravaggio for not anticipating her desire and postponing the maintenance period because she was doing some dirty maintenance elsewhere.

At least, I think that’s what happened.

Marcus, always the enlightened gentleman, explains to Caravaggio that his problem is that he’s male, and women expect men to read their minds.  Percy, alternatively, explains that Caravaggio should be more empathetic, something he apparently cannot do because he doesn’t have breasts – or at the very least because he wasn’t designed by someone with breasts.

About this time, a space mine locks onto and blows a hole in the Trans-Utopian, damaging various bits of the ship.  Engines, attitude adjustment, weapons, and, perhaps most critically, Caravaggio, who is operating well below normal utility.

Percy seizes this opportunity, rather than fix Caravaggio, a critical piece of equipment, in an emergency situation, to replace him with a new AI of her own design, Katherine.

Travis immediately decides to diminish her status by calling her Kate instead, and she’s a bit of a hottie.  Some much so, it looks like Marcus isn’t going to be able to keep his mind off her and on the job.  

Callie even points out that’s a flaw with Kate, ‘cause, you know, it’s ALWAYS the woman’s fault if men do something bad because the woman is sexy.  

Travis, our hero, knows that sexist argument is BS and dismisses this as a case of Callie being jealous of the hottie.  

Meow!  Is everyone on this ship trying to up their game to be as big a sexist pig as Rudolfo this week?  Apparently so.

Still heavily damaged and days away from the nearest station, they collect bits of the mine and discover the bad news.  It’s a classic Martian design, and it no doubt sent data back to the mine’s owner.  They can expect possibly hostile visitors soon.

And then life support goes out, and Kate can’t figure out why.  The crew can’t figure it out, either.  Everything seems to be in working order; it just isn’t working.  Callie is the first to get suspicious that Kate might be behind this, but shockingly, Percy isn’t too far behind on that realization.  She figures it out when Kate is more interested in how long Travis and Callie have been a couple than she is in repairing the life-threatening systems’ failures.

Kate pops up on the bridge to tell Travis that Callie isn’t “right” for him.  Travis is more interested in saving their lives than in talking about Callie.  He finds her priorities to be a bit wonky, but Kate assures him, “I’d do anything I can to save you.”

Travis goes to visit Percy to ask about this new AI, and it’s at this point, she reveals that she tried to restore Caravaggio but couldn’t because he’d been sabotaged.  Percy being Percy, Travis doesn’t even bother asking, “You didn’t think we needed to know about that sooner?!”

Travis returns to the bridge as armed pirate ships are approaching.  Kate is, unfortunately, unable to provide much information about the attackers because not only did Percy choose the worst possible time to be doing a major computer system upgrade, but she also didn’t have the new system finished yet.  Kate cannot interface with technology that is not part of the Trans-Utopian.  

As they go into battle, Kate takes control of the ship, in direct defiance of Travis’ orders, and destroys one of the attacking pirates.  This blows the ship’s weapons out and the other pirate begins the process of boarding the Trans-Utopian.

Percy gets mad at Kate, and Kate shoots her – because, apparently, that’s a thing AIs can do now.

Kate confesses her love for Travis and convinces him to give them a moment alone.  When the others leave the bridge, she locks him in and begins pumping the air out of the rest of the ship.  The others must get breathers, fight off the pirates and get Percy to the sick bay.

Travis explains to Kate that “if you love something, you have to let it go,” and so she does, but doesn’t turn the air on for him.  He fights more pirates, finds a breather, then takes the pirates’ ship.  Stealing their ship’s little black oxygen box.

Confronting Kate on the bridge, Travis tries to insert the little black oxygen box into the Trans-Utopian’s little black oxygen box slot, but Kate is really upset at Travis’ rejection of her, and she shoots him a bunch.

Callie comes in, distracting Kate and giving Travis time to insert the little black oxygen box into the little black oxygen box slot.  Kate can’t turn it off, either, because it’s technology from another ship, making this Chekov’s Technological Little Black Oxygen Box inserted into Chekov’s Technological Little Black Oxygen Box Slot.  

Having done that, Travis calmly walks over to Kate’s off switch and deactivates her.  If only anyone had thought of that earlier.

Caravaggio is back and thinks he’s had a dream of love.  

No, Caravaggio, you’ve had a misogynistic nightmare.

The Divinity Cluster rears its ugly head once more, and like night follows day, so does The Orchard.  This time their subject is the human guinea pig, Travis Montana.  Kenneth and Eugene discuss The Prisoner.

Episode Synopsis

Travis is being a grumpy puss, and the events that make him a grumpy puss haven’t even happened yet.  The Trans-Utopian has arrived at Clarke Station to pick up Jane Doe, an amnesiac psychiatric patient, for transport to Ganymede.  Callie is not happy with this, although it’s unclear why.  Cattle is cattle in the meat-moving business.  

In the hallway, Travis is bumped into by Tristian Catchpole, an arrogant, smug-looking guy dressed to play the Star Child on Galactica 1980.  Catchpole senses a disturbance in the Force.

Travis and Callie get a bonus passenger in the form of Dr. Alora Kir, who must accompany the harmless patient.  The harmless patient almost immediately suffers some form of flashback and witnesses Travis shoot someone in a life-or-death fight back when he was a Raider.  She grabs his gun and tries to kill him.

Callie should be happy, at least they’re transporting a dangerous criminal now.

At the Orchard – correction, the New and Improved Orchard, now with 50% fewer people with a conscience – they’re pushing ahead with the Divinity Cluster because… “hyperspace.”  Tristian is the first person to activate 3 of the 4 Divinity Cluster Genes successfully naturally.  His job, find the others who are naturally activating and convert them to the Dark Side of the Force.  The New Orchard’s goal is… “hyperspace.”  It’s always good to have a laser-focused Vision Statement.

On the Trans-Utopian, everyone agrees that Travis is being a grumpy puss, and everyone tries to talk with him about it – even Percy. Travis doesn’t want to talk about it.  Whatever it is.

But he’s fascinated with the prisoner because, somehow, she seems to know him, but he knows not from where.  Again she tries to kill him, but this time, she puts a little Divinity in his Cluster when she tries to strangle him.

The psychiatrist says maybe you should try to talk to her but when he does, they jaunt off on a Divinity Cluster trip down memory lane, where they witness/relive Travis’ fight with David, who was Jane’s husband, but now she’s known as Maria because she’s got her memory back.

Alora who witnessed the whole thing calls to tell her boss about the breakthrough in the patient and mention the mind-bending-dimensional hijinks she just witnessed.  Pity her boss in the New and Improved Orchard.

Travis demands from Percy to know what she knows about the Divinity Cluster.  She tells him.  She tells him that he’s the unintended lab rat of his mother’s Divinity Cluster experiments on herself, and that’s about all she knows.

The New and Improved Orchard arrives and try to take the ship.  Tristian comes aboard, whisks Travis off to a planet 400 light years away, and tries to seduce him to the Dark Side.  He refuses, and, well, that’s pretty much it.  The New and Improved Orchard ship leaves, and they deliver Maria, formerly Jane Doe, to Ganymede, but not before she and Travis have a little heart-to-heart, which maybe makes Travis jump out of grumpy puss mode.

Back at the New and Improved Orchard, Tristian explains about Travis: “The Force is strong in this one. He will make a powerful ally.”

WARNING: Subjectively, I feel like this may be the harshest episode of Fusion Patrol ever.  It may not be suitable for listeners of a nervous disposition.

Dimension hopping? Time displacement? Body/Soul swapping? We don’t know what’s going on here, and we daresay no one else does, either.  Kenneth and Eugene ponder A Stitch in TIme.

Episode Synopsis

Travis has a weird topsy-survey dream.  He’s alone on the Trans-Utopian, he keeps hearing someone call his name, and he finds Percy dead in the command chair.  Instead of rejoicing, he screams, “nooooooooo,” and awakes with a fright.

Dreams never make sense.

In the real world, the Trans-Utopian has arrived on Mars to collect a dangerous ex-military prisoner for transport to Clarke Station.  Soon, Percy has spotted something strange on the screen.  Flashing, where no flashing should be.

Travis hears a distress signal that no one else does, and they head towards the uninteresting and uninhabited asteroid Ida to investigate, until they reach the point that the ship is being hit by mysterious gavimetric waves and every can finally hear the distress call from the Galantus, and orbital station about Ida.

During this time Percy is hit by some form of wave thingy and starts acting more like a normal person that usual.

Capt. Parker of the station requests help for the crew of the station and the miners working the asteroid.  After some bouncy bounce shuttle flying, Travis and Callie arrive at Galantus, but there is no one except Capt. Parker aboard, and there is no sign of the mines below.

Rescuing only Capt. Parker, they return to the Trans-Utopian, where Percy starts up a conversation with the prisoner about taking over the ship.

When Parker contacts his superiors on Mars they’ve never heard of him, nor his station.  The answer is obvious, Parker has jumped from another parallel universe.

The Percy/Not-Percy overhears this and realizes they’re on to her.  She is an escaped mass murdered that sabotage the dimensional whatsadoodle on the mine to jump universes and inhabit someone else’s body.

Back up against the wall, she releases the prisoner and they try to take the ship, and kill Parker, unsuccessfully.

Parker says if they just go back to Galantus, tech the tech, reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, and put some uncertainty back into the Heisenberg compensators, things will happens.  And they do.  And everything is back to normal.

When someone starts blowing up planets in another solar system, it’s Travis and the Gang to the rescue! Kenneth and Eugene discuss.

Episode Synopsis

Evil Scientists aboard Keres Station are doing evil things, in this case, blowing up a planet – in secret.

Elsewhere, the Trans-Utopian experiences a space earthquake which decreases the efficiency of their anti-matter by 50%.  This is quite impressive, really, since only recently their supply of anti-matter was zero point zero.  Anyhoo, it was caused by some electromagnetic surge that originated beyond the solar system.

Percy and Marcus will have to solve the engine problem en route however because they’re on their way to Keres Station for a commission.  The station administrator informs them that they are working with a lethal virus.  A former employee, Quinnell, stole a vial of the virus enclosed in a security box.  Their mission, should they decide to accept it, is to find Quinnell, recover the box, and return it to Keres Station – all without the authorities getting wind of the situation.  

Travis recognizes Quinnell as a member of the Feder Clan of Raiders.  They track him to Clarke Station and capture him easily while crapping, but not before he slips the box to a random stranger in the next stall – as you do in these circumstances.

The folks at Keres Station want Quinnell, but the box is more important.  Largely because they’re afraid of their backers. They are funded by the Orchard, and they’re a bunch of humorless hard-noses that will kill them if they find out they blundered.  

Quinnell has a secret scanner-proof transmitter and notifies his confederates on Clarke Station about the identity of the man who has the box – which they can presumably identify by Quinnell’s description of his ankles and perhaps a name tag stitched in his dropped trousers.  

The fugitive steals a ship, and a chase is given by the Raiders, who conveniently encounter the Trans-Utopian because space isn’t really that big.  (See also: how did an electromagnetic surge from another solar system arrive and affect this solar system so quickly.)

Travis and the gang make quick work of disabling the Raider ship and rescuing the guy with the box.  They’re on to him, he’s just a punk kid, so they lock him up, too – after relieving him of the box. 

Travis questions the Raider, who explains that he doesn’t know what the box contains but that it’s something big.  Some of his clan discovered something was up, and they were killed for it.  He infiltrated Keres to steal the box for the defense of his clan.  This has the ring of truth to Travis, and he instructs Carrivagio to open the box.

Meanwhile, Marcus discovers the signature of negative energy, a theoretical thing that might be an enormous energy source and hold the secret of faster-than-light travel.  He found the signature while studying the ongoing problem associated with the ship’s engines.  

They also find the signature coming from the box.

Inside the box is a (sort of) flight data recorder showing information on the planet’s destruction in the other solar system, which, coincidentally, will destroy that entire solar system.

Travis takes them back to Keres station but makes some alternate plans.  The folks at Keres don’t plan on letting the Trans-Utopian crew leave alive.  

They get their money for delivering the box and Quinnell, then while the Keres people are trying to double-cross them, they use the secret transmitter to execute an escape plan, escaping with Quinnell.  The box they returned was empty.

Keres Station is destroyed by the Orchard, and Travis and the gang contemplate whether or not the backers will pursue them.

It’s the sequel to the episode you couldn’t get enough of!  Kenneth and Eugene discuss, Supermax Redux.

Episode Synopsis

Travis and Callie return to the Trans-Utopian with a prisoner.  They’re carrying a crazy person who hears voices from the Quantum Federation in his ears, which he claims are technologically enhanced.  He’s nuts, so they don’t bother to check them.  He’s on his way to the funny farm.  

At about that time a shuttle attacks the Trans-Utopian.  Percy, on the bridge, fires back, dealing considerable damage.  Travis stops her before she finishes them off.  It’s Max Fairly, former owner of the Trans-Utopian, claiming that his attack runs were accidents and that they could die from the damage if they don’t come aboard.  

Percy wants to go ahead and finish the job.  For once, I agree with Percy.

Max, now back on his feet, runs a new version of SuperMax corporation, this one into mining and philanthropic endeavors.  He’s there with Ms. Mina Zums (which is a terrific stripper name) and Dr. David Dumont (of the Martian Dumonts) 

Having fired upon the Trans-Utopian, then having been rescued by them, Max is going to give them 25% of an outrageous fortune in Omnium that they’re going to mine on Ganymede.  Just like that.  He’s a nice guy.

Percy doesn’t buy it and… I have no idea what’s going on in the so-called brains of the other characters.  I’ll give Travis the benefit of the doubt and say he spots an obvious con game when he sees one.

It’s a con, of course, they’re looking for something.  Max wants Mina to distract Travis with her… Zums, while David (of the Martian Dumonts) ingratiates himself with Callie Larkadia (of the Martian Larkadias)

There’s formal dinner in the great dining hall, plus holo ballroom dancing.  During dinner, Percy searches their room and finds a diary.  They’re actually looking for a highly valuable necklace hidden over a hundred years ago aboard the Trans-Utopian.  

Travis confines them to their quarters because… for some reason, he can’t confine them in the brig?

Max has provided a sample of the Omnium, an Allotrope of carbon, that is both incredibly rare and highly reactive.  So much so that maybe they could use it to power their anti-matter drive.

They start to search and Zums overpowers Travis when Crazy Guy’s very real associates attack the Trans-Utopian.  He’s working with Mina and she’s working against Max.  They knew that the necklace was hidden in the brig and try to escape.  Travis captures them.

Travis outsmarts and disables the enemy ship.  Max, Mina, and the others are sent to prison, and they discover that the necklace was actually a fake all along.  Oh well, you lose some, you wi… nah, they lose ‘em all.

Beauty is only skin deep, or so they say, so what’s a little plastic here and there?  Grounds for murder, that’s what! Kenneth and Eugene discuss Skin Deep.

Episode Synopsis

An episode in two stories

Leena’s tale.

Back before Callie was in the military, she went to university, and there she knew a woman she wasn’t friends with, named Leena.  Now they’ve re-connected, just in time for her to be chased by bounty hunters.

She’s given refuge aboard the Trans-Utopian where Travis likes the cut of her gib, and she’s admiring his gib, too.  They’re a pair of gibbers.

She’s wanted for murder on Mars, so Travis takes her there with an agreement with Quinn, the bounty hunter assigned to her case.  On the trip, her story slowly sounds less and less plausible.

The murdered man she’s never heard of turns out to have been covered in her DNA.  Witnesses saw them together.  The police have produced a video of the two having dinner and a conversation.  And as the story gets shakier and shakier, everyone begins to doubt her – even Travis, despite his infallible instincts that tell him she’s not guilty.

When they get to Mars an info dump ensues about the status of plastic surgery, which Leena has secretly had, in Martian society, and we finally learn the truth:

Martians hate plastic people.  Leena’s magazines “out” plastic people, ruining them.  Leena is a plastic person.  Leena’s mom was having an affair with the murder victim.  He was going to out Leena, which would not only ruin Leena but also mom’s magazine business.  Leena’s mom murdered him, and then in a plot device that no doubt would have stumped Lt. Columbo because it was too stupid for words, Leena smeared he own DNA evidence over the body to protect her mother.  Somehow.

They come clean and it’s all is well that ends well and the reputation of Travis’ uncanny instincts remains untarnished… except, she really was guilty of being an accessory to murder so… she was not innocent and Travis was wrong.

Percy’s Tale

Marcus and Percy are in Syn City trying to meet a shady black market dealer to get a gizmo so they can have hyperspace capabilities.  Percy has misgivings about hyperspace but that doesn’t matter because the deal goes badly.

Stuck on Syn City together for days, Percy suggests they get a hotel room.  Then she plies Marcus with alcohol.  Talks about watching porn movies in their room, and finally suggests taking a shower.

That turns awkward when Marcus joins her in the shower.  Oops, mixed signals are being sent there.  They fight about this and it turns into a pillow fight, more talking, another pillow fight, and… that’s about it.