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Survival the Hard Way

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Overview

     Lost, on the run and stranded on a Centauri outpost, Keffer and
     Garibaldi are overtaken by strange aliens with the power to control
     minds.
     
   Issue 7 (August 1995, released June 6)
   
   Setting: Before [7]"The Coming of Shadows"
    Writer: Tim DeHaas
   Premise: J. Michael Straczynski
 Penciller: John Ridgway
     Inker: Robbie Busch

     _________________________________________________________________
                                      
Synopsis

   Garibaldi and Keffer are walking across a valley, two hours away from
   the Centauri city they spotted from the summit. Garibaldi reassures
   Keffer that they got enough of a head-start on the aliens that they
   should reach the city before their pursuers are able to catch up. As
   they press forward, Garibaldi continues the story of his first mission
   with Sinclair.
   
   Sinclair and Garibaldi had taken shelter in a cave to wait out the
   dust storm. With only five days of air and food, it wasn't easy to
   just wait, but at least they were in radio contact with Lt. Sanchez
   aboard Garibaldi's shuttle. Sinclair believed the worst of the storm
   was over.
   
   Garibaldi tired of the conversation between Sinclair and Sanchez and
   moved closer to the mouth of the cave, where he started drinking. He
   recalled a previous assignment, as head of security on Io, and the
   death of his friend Frank Kemmer (cf. episode [8]"Survivors") -- a
   death Garibaldi felt responsible for.
   
   Garibaldi found himself out on the surface, apparently after wandering
   off in his stupor. He reactivated his commlink to find Sanchez
   urgently trying to contact him. Sinclair, it seems, had noticed
   Garibaldi's absence, and started to go out looking for him -- but the
   mouth of the cave had collapsed, and Sinclair was pinned down just
   outside the cave, almost out of air. Sanchez hadn't heard from
   Sinclair for five minutes, possibly because he'd blacked out.
   
   Sanchez told Garibaldi that if Sinclair died, it would be on
   Garibaldi's head. That struck home; Garibaldi immediately went looking
   for Sinclair, aided by a flare fired from the ship by Sanchez.
   Following the flare's lead, Garibaldi found a collapsed cliffside, and
   soon came across Sinclair. He was almost too late, but eventually
   Sinclair regained consciousness after Garibaldi switched air
   cylinders. As soon as Sinclair came to, he wrestled Garibaldi to the
   ground and threatened to kill him if Garibaldi ever did something as
   stupid as wandering off again.
   
   Keffer notes that in fact, Garibaldi's wandering saved Sinclair's
   life; Sinclair would never have survived if he'd been at the back of
   the cave when it collapsed.
   
   Meanwhile, the aliens -- humanoid, fanged creatures with feline eyes
   -- have not only caught up with Garibaldi and Keffer, but overtaken
   them, and enter a small forest, where they somehow meld with the
   trees. Keffer and Garibaldi arrive shortly thereafter, and Keffer
   begins acting paranoid, accusing Garibaldi of keeping them out in the
   open so they can be picked off by the alien ship. He pulls a gun on
   Garibaldi and takes Garibaldi's weapon.
   
   As Garibaldi tries to argue, he feels something try to control him,
   too, get him angry at Keffer. He ducks out of the way as Keffer fires,
   manages to zigzag out of the line of fire a couple more times. One of
   Keffer's shots hits a tree and sends an alien flying off to the side.
   That breaks the aliens' grip, and as they close in to attack, Keffer
   tosses Garibaldi his gun. The two manage to kill all the aliens, but
   the creatures self-destruct before the bodies can be examined.
   
   "Did you _see_ those things?" asks Keffer. "They could have torn us
   apart... but they tried to mind-warp us into killing each other
   instead."
   
   "Yeah," says Garibaldi. "Always work from behind the scenes... leave
   no traces... leave no _witnesses..._" If this has anything to do with
   what he saw on Mars, Garibaldi says, they're in _big_ trouble.
   
   Because what he saw on Mars, looking on with Sinclair from the top of
   a canyon, was a large Shadow cruiser, apparently excavating another
   Shadow ship from beneath the surface -- while figures from a nearby
   building stood and watched.
   
Backplot

     * Both Garibaldi and Sinclair have seen a Shadow ship in action,
       years before Sinclair took command of Babylon 5.
     * Garibaldi saved Sinclair's life twice on Mars, once inadventently
       and once out of remorse.
       
Unanswered Questions

     * What were the aliens? Were they merely servants of the Shadows,
       along the lines of the creature in [9]"The Long Dark," or were
       they something else? (see [10]jms speaks)
     * Why did they try to get Garibaldi and Keffer to kill each other
       rather than simply attacking from their ship? (see [11]Analysis)
     * What else did Garibaldi and Sinclair see on Mars, and what do they
       know about what they saw? Garibaldi's comment suggests they may
       have seen more than just a ship. (see [12]Analysis)
       
Analysis

     * The creatures' strategy of pitting Garibaldi and Keffer against
       each other seems to be consistent with the Shadows' modus
       operandi; the Shadows are pitting the Narn and Centauri against
       each other rather than striking directly. Perhaps their caution
       and indirection stems from their defeat at the hands of the
       Minbari and First Ones a thousand years earlier, when they moved
       too quickly and were perhaps too direct.
     * It was already revealed (in [13]"The Long Dark") that some
       servants of the Shadows were already on their way back to Z'ha'dum
       before the Icarus landed there and reawakened the Shadows
       themselves (cf. episode [14]"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum.") But if
       Sinclair and Garibaldi saw a large Shadow ship before then, it
       suggests that either some Shadows were awake before the Icarus
       incident, or that their servants are allowed to pilot their
       vessels unaccompanied.
       If the latter is the case, why didn't those servants awaken the
       Shadows before the Icarus' crew did?
     * What was the set of buildings overlooking the Shadow ship's
       excavation? We know of one secret installation on Mars -- a
       Psi-Corps training center (cf. episode [15]"A Voice in the
       Wilderness.") This could be how Garibaldi knew about the training
       center, and if true, it suggests a strong link between the Shadows
       and the Psi-Corps.
       
Notes

     * The cover picture is something of a temporal slipup; the young
       version of Sinclair is fighting with the present-day Garibaldi
       (judging by the latter's lack of hair.)
       
jms speaks

     * The comics version shows creatures that are not the shadows
       themselves but some of the many creatures who serve them.
     * Actually, in the comic, you never saw shadows influencing anyone's
       mind; you saw their humanoid (in this case) servents doing this.
       

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      Last update: October 30, 1996

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