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208 lines
7.2 KiB
208 lines
7.2 KiB
<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>
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<blockquote><cite>
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Ambassador G'Kar is desperate to get off Babylon 5, and in his rush to
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leave, ends up kidnapping Garibaldi. Now Sheridan and a strange Narn
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must begin a frantic search to find the two before tragedy strikes.
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</cite></blockquote>
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<p>
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Issue 9 (October 1995)
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<p>
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Setting: Between
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<a href="/lurk/guide/025.html">"The Geometry of Shadows"</a>
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and
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<a href="/lurk/guide/026.html">"A Distant Star."</a>
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<pre> Writer: David Gerrold
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Penciller: Rebecca Guay
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Inker: Rick Bryant</pre>
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<p>
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<hr>
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<p>
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<h2><a name="SY">Synopsis</a></h2>
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<p>
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Ivanova clears a Narn ship, the D'Vordo, for docking. An urgent call from
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G'Kar comes in; he demands immediate clearance to depart the station from
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bay four. When she refuses, he sets his ship to launch anyway; Ivanova warns
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the D'Vordo to abort its approach. Garibaldi rushes to bay four to try to
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stop G'Kar, but when he arrives, G'Kar stuns him.
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<p>
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G'Kar takes Garibaldi with him, but Garibaldi wakes up and fires a starweb,
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a sort of net made of energy, at G'Kar, entangling him.
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<p>
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G'Kar's ship nearly collides with the D'Vordo as it rockets full speed away
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from the station.
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<p>
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Ivanova tells Sheridan that Garibaldi is nowhere to be found; she believes
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G'Kar has taken him off the station. Sheridan heads for a shuttle to
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pursue G'Kar.
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<p>
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Garibaldi and G'Kar float in a cylindrical area. G'Kar is still caught in
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the starweb, and Garibaldi sings annoying songs to him, threatening to
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continue until G'Kar reveals what's going on.
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<p>
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On his way to the shuttle, Sheridan is intercepted by Greegil, a Narn who
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claims to be a relative of G'Kar's, newly arrived on the D'Vordo. He
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says he can help Sheridan catch
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G'Kar. Sheridan reluctantly brings him along. As they fly in pursuit, Sheridan
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tries to find out exactly how Greegil is related to G'Kar. Greegil won't
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offer any information unless Sheridan offers something in exchange.
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<p>
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Garibaldi continues to sing. Eventually, G'Kar falls asleep. Garibaldi
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wakes him up and asks where the food is; G'Kar answers that he doesn't need
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to eat, as Narns can hibernate six days at a time. "I'll be happy to watch
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you starve to death," G'Kar says. "At least it'll be quieter." When Garibaldi
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points out that G'Kar will die, too, trapped in the starweb, G'Kar answers,
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"There are worse things than death. Dishonor is one."
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<p>
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Garibaldi continues to search for food, but he's never seen a ship like the
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one he's in: no food, no controls, just solid walls encircling them. He begins
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to sing "It's a Small World," which causes G'Kar to surrender.
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<p>
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Sheridan and Greegil haggle over the value of information. Finally, Greegil
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tells Sheridan how he's related to G'Kar, but the Narn familial ties he
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describes are meaningless to Sheridan.
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<p>
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G'Kar shows Garibaldi where his food, a Narn delicacy called phroomis, is
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stashed. He notes that Garibaldi does seem to have some negotiating skills.
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On Narn, he says, negotiation is an art. Garibaldi asks G'Kar about the
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ship, but G'Kar says it's better he doesn't know. Garibaldi convinces him
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to play a game of "laser-mirror-starweb," loser tells all.
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<p>
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Sheridan and Greegil catch up with G'Kar's ship, which doesn't respond to
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Sheridan's signals. Greegil tells Sheridan that G'Kar is possessed by a
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Lokvar, a seizure of the mind, that may cause G'Kar to be violent. Greegil
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predicts that Sheridan will have to shoot G'Kar.
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<p>
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Garibaldi wins two games of laser-mirror-starweb, but G'Kar still refuses
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to talk about the ship.
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<p>
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Sheridan grapples G'Kar's ship while Greegil tries to get him to put up
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the shuttle's shields in case G'Kar fires at them.
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<p>
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G'Kar and Garibaldi hear a loud clanking sound from one end of their chamber.
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<p>
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Sheridan and Greegil approach the airlock through a docking tube they've
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extended from Sheridan's shuttle. They open the door.
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<p>
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The end of the cylinder swings open as G'Kar and Garibaldi watch apprehensively.
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<p>
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Sheridan and Greegil enter G'Kar's ship... and find it empty. Greegil
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concludes that G'Kar never left the station.
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<p>
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A cleaning robot enters the cylinder. G'Kar set his ship on autopilot; they
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are actually in Babylon 5's core. G'Kar shouts that it's Garibaldi's fault --
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with just G'Kar's mass in the axis tube, the cleaning robot wouldn't have
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come ahead of schedule. The two of them flee through the other end of the
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cylinder, but the axis tube runs the length of the station, five miles, and
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there are apparently no exits along the way.
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<p>
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G'Kar's ship begins to self-destruct. He and Greegil flee. Greegil gets to
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Sheridan's ship first, and promptly turns around and pushes the airlock door
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shut as Sheridan floats toward it. G'Kar's ship explodes before Sheridan's
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shuttle can escape; the shuttle's occupant screams...
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<H2><A NAME="BP">Backplot</A></H2>
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<ul>
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<li> Narn children are taught the art of negotiation at an early age; the
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Narn consider themselves master hagglers.
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<li> If Greegil is to be believed, the Narn kinial system has several ranks
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denoting levels of family obligation: this-kini, val-kini, dar-kini,
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on-kini, dru-kini, bas-kini, and ini-darka. Ini-darka is the highest
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rank.
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</ul>
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<H2><A NAME="UQ">Unanswered Questions</A></H2>
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<ul>
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<li> Did Sheridan make it onto the shuttle?
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<li> What does Greegil really want, and how is he related (familially or
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otherwise) to G'Kar?
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<li> Why is G'Kar trying to avoid him, if that's what's happening?
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</ul>
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<H2><A NAME="AN">Analysis</A></H2>
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<ul>
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<li> Why would G'Kar drag Garibaldi all the way from the docking bay to
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the core of the station? Clearly Garibaldi wasn't conscious for
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most of the trip or he would have known he wasn't on G'Kar's ship,
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so G'Kar could have left him in the docking bay or in a closet and
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nobody would have been any the wiser.
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</ul>
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<H2><A NAME="NO">Notes</A></H2>
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<ul>
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<li> This story takes place in early spring 2259, between the episodes
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<a href="/lurk/guide/025.html">"The Geometry of Shadows"</a>
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and
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<a href="/lurk/guide/026.html">"A Distant Star."</a>
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<li> Laser-mirror-starweb is rock-paper-scissors with different names.
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<li> At one point (just after they haggle) Sheridan calls Greegil "Greelig."
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<li> This issue features a computer-generated cover picture by Foundation
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Imaging, a rendering of G'Kar's ship nearly hitting the D'Vordo.
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<li> During one of the negotiation scenes, Greegil says, "You'd have me cut
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my own throat, you dibbler". This is probably a reference to Terry
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Pratchett's Discworld series of novels, which feature a salesman called
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"Cut-me-own-throat Dibbler."
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<li> This story introduces a lot of gadgets we've never seen in the series
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(and probably never will.) The starweb and "shields" on Earth ships
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are two that seem like they would have appeared in the show if
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they were part of the canonical B5 universe. The maintenance robot in
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the station's core is questionable, though it at least isn't
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inconsistent with anything in the series. The stun gas used by G'Kar
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might be the same as the "morph gas" mentioned in
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<a href="/lurk/guide/012.html">"By Any Means Necessary."</a>
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</ul>
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<H2><A NAME="JMS">jms speaks</A></H2>
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<ul>
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<li> Ron did a CGI cover, though I've only seen a B&W repro, and
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can't vouch for it in detail.
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</ul>
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<pre>
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</pre>
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