lurkers-guide/ftp/Synopses/057.A-Late-Delivery-from-Avalon

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  Synopsis by Katrina Glerum (kat@midwinter.com)
  
   The Commander and Captain are relieved to see the first Earth
   transport arrive since their secession from the Earth Alliance, as
   they need the trade to pay the station's operating costs. However,
   their defense needs are still uncertain since the Minbari war cruisers
   can't be expected to hang around outside forever.
   
   The scarcity of trade isn't bad news for everybody. The postal worker
   gouging Garibaldi one hundred credits for his last care package from
   Earth, is positively loving the power it gives him to set his own
   rates. In fact, the man treats Garibaldi's refusal to pay as
   dismissively as the dangerous glint in his eyes.
   
   Meanwhile on the transport, one of the passengers tosses in his bunk
   with nightmares. He stumbles down a narrow corridor between doors that
   refuse to stay shut, terrified by the sights beyond them. He runs, and
   finds a shining sword standing at the end, awaiting his grasp.
   
   Dr. Franklin is impressed to find that Marcus has diagnosed and
   perhaps saved the lives of some sick lurkers, both because of Marcus's
   perceptiveness and his concern. When he questions further about
   Rangers, he learns that the brooch they wear is a symbol of Minbari
   and human souls melding into one. But what really intrigues the doctor
   is that in their training Rangers learn "about terror--how to use it,
   and how to face it."
   
   Their conversation takes them past customs just as the restless
   dreamer sets off a dozen alarms by striding through the security gates
   wielding a broadsword and naming himself Arthur, King of the Britons.
   Marcus is able to fast talk him into medlab where Franklin questions
   him about his identity. "Arthur" replies that his last memory is of
   dying on the battlefield of Camlan, all his mighty knights dead around
   him, and that before he could rest he needed his brother Bedevere to
   give Excalibur back to the Lady of the Lake. His return now to Babylon
   5, he claims, signifies that he must be most needed here and now.
   
   When Marcus mentions Arthur in the war council, Sheridan is not
   impressed, but the doctor seems almost eager to believe that the
   Vorlons might have been responsible for preserving and restoring
   another legend, even though the practical part of him discards the
   notion. He can't investigate for psychological trauma however because
   the man has escaped medlab.
   
   In DownBelow Arthur finds a distraught old woman, weeping because she
   has been preyed upon by ruffians, and he swears to help her. He finds,
   challenges and vanquishes a small group of villains, only to be
   outnumbered again by their friends. However, a champion emerges from
   the shadows in the form of G'Kar, who has been conducting business of
   his own DownBelow, and together they set things right.
   
   Garibaldi isn't too keen on the idea of a crazy knight roaming the
   station with a big sword, and tells his security to find Arthur.
   
   Sitting over a couple flagons of ale, G'Kar is still pumped with
   enthusiasm over their victory. He grows even more impressed as Arthur
   tells him of chivalry and the purpose of the Round Table, and he
   subsides in awe when Arthur dubs him Sir G'Kar, the Red Knight.
   
   Garibaldi, on the other hand, is suffering from a lack of sufficient
   awe--for the Post Office. He breaks into the package storage room only
   to find the postal worker ready and waiting to turn him away.
   
   Arthur is lost again on the field of Camlan, telling G'Kar about the
   misunderstanding that had started the battle in which his knights met
   their deaths, but visions of Minbari vessels destroying Star Furies
   are dancing in his head.
   
   Sheridan addresses ambassadors from the League of Nonaligned Worlds,
   petitioning them to join an alliance to defend the station in return
   for being able to use the station for trade, travel and even peace
   negotiations among themselves.
   
   Marcus is able to convince Arthur to return to medlab, but promptly
   regrets it when he learns that Franklin has discovered the dreamer's
   true identity, and intends to tell him. When Marcus argues let the man
   believe he is King of the Britons, Franklin contests that the truth
   will help the man heal. So Franklin tells "Arthur" that he is David
   McIntyre, and was Gunnery Sergeant on the EAS Prometheus which opened
   fire on Minbari vessels in a first contact situation and thus sparked
   the Earth-Minbari war. The memories flood back into him. In his
   fertile imagination they mix with a vision of himself trying to give
   back Excalibur but being struck down from behind by a black knight,
   and this knocks him into a state of catatonic shock.
   
   The Captain is delighted to hear that enough of the League worlds are
   signing on to the mutual defense treaty to keep the station in
   business, but nobody's happy about what happened to "Arthur." Franklin
   is the most upset, berating himself for trying to fix everything
   again. With Marcus however he finally figures out what McIntyre came
   to the station to do: to give up the King's responsibility, the King's
   pain, the King's sword, to the Lady of the Lake.
   
   It is Delenn who is called upon to take up Excalibur, and thus relieve
   the poor man's guilt for the war and its hundreds of thousands of
   deaths.
   
   Garibaldi pays in full for his package, but springs a little surprise
   of his own on the post office. Rent for the space the office uses is
   due...and it costs one hundred and one credits.
   
   His spirit transparently lighter, McIntyre leaves the station bound
   for Narn, where G'Kar thinks he would make an excellent organizer of
   the resistance movement. Watching him depart, Marcus suggests that
   Sheridan is forming a new Round Table with himself as Arthur, Kosh as
   Merlin, Franklin as Percival, Marcus as Galahad, and Ivanova as
   Gawain. Mordred is obvious, Marcus says, but who is Morgana Le Fey?

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      [15]Last update: November 9, 1997

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