lurkers-guide/guide/505

<!-- TITLE Patterns of the Soul -->

<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>

<blockquote><cite>
A group of refugees from Earth may be spreading the Drakh plague offworld.
</cite>

</blockquote>

<pre>
Production number: 110
Original air date: July 7, 1999
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00061QJSK/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: December 7, 2004

Written by Fiona Avery
Directed by Tony Dow
</pre>

<p>
<hr size=3>

<h2><a name="BP">Plot Points</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@931456768 Dureena's people didn't develop spaceflight on their own;
	they were taken offworld to act as workers for another race.

   <li>@@@931456768 Dureena is not the last of her race alive.  A transport carrying
	workers for a new colony was attacked by the Shadows, and 100 of
	the workers managed to escape in lifepods.  They formed a small
	colony on an otherwise uninhabited world, Theta 9.

   <li>@@@931456768 Dureena's race is more susceptible to the plague than
	humans are; their genetic makeup is apparently closer to the template
	the plague uses as a starting point.

   <li>@@@931456768 Gideon has access to top-secret materials thanks to a card
	game he played against a drunk Earth official some years earlier;
	the official put up his access codes as collateral and lost.

</ul>

<h2><a name="UQ">Unanswered Questions</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@931456768 Are there other instances of the plague being
	exported intentionally from Earth?

   <li>@@@931456768 How did Max know about the Pro Zeta corporation?

</ul>

<h2><a name="AN">Analysis</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@931456768 Was the cybernetic implant program related to the one
	involving Abel Horn
	(<a href="028.html">"A Spider in the Web"</a>)?
	The specifics were different, but may have been part of the same
	larger operation.

   <li>@@@931456768 Given the huge risk involved if even a single person
	outside the Earth quarantine is infected and able to travel freely,
	Gideon has a strong motivation to report this incident to someone,
	even at the risk of the General Thompson finding out about it.  Will
	Gideon do so?  Since the plague can easily jump species, he could
	legitimately take the approach of reporting it directly to the
	Interstellar Alliance rather than going through his normal chain
	of command.

   <li>@@@931456768 This episode has the first reference in the series to
	the Interstellar Alliance, though an oblique one: General Thompson
	claimed that his authority to redirect the Excalibur came directly
	from President Sheridan.  Which implies that the Excalibur isn't
	entirely under Earthforce control; given the Alliance's founding
	principle of autonomy for member races, Sheridan presumably doesn't
	have the power to directly meddle in Earth's internal military affairs.

   <li>@@@933044642 Dureena's race hasn't had good luck with the Shadows
	and their cohorts; they destroyed the worker transport, then wiped
	her planet out.  Just a coincidence, or did Dureena's people pose some
	kind of threat to the Shadows?

</ul>

<h2><a name="NO">Notes</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@931456768 Theta 9 is Canada.  The views from orbit are images of
	Earth landmasses: the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, the St. Lawrence
	Seaway, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland can be seen.

</ul>

<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@933017794 <em>Chambers could be seen on the shuttle in the
	footage Gideon showed General Thompson.  Won't people wonder why she's
	still alive?</em><br>
	It's only ever going to be seen by the general, and bear in mind
	that in that shot Chambers was WAY in the background, it was only seen
	for a moment on the monitor, with the General more concerned about
	what's happening in FG, and in any event he would have to instantly
	recognize her by sight, and he didn't know her.

</ul>