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								  Synopsis by Matthew Murray (mmurray@wsu.edu)


								   Sheridan approaches a store owner who is having an argument with a

								   member of the Night Watch. The member of Night Watch says that the

								   store owner, who has been hanging signs expressing his negative

								   feelings about President Clark, is committing acts of sedition.

								   Sheridan tries to calm him down, and says that the shopkeeper has a

								   right to his opinion. He warns the Night Watch officer that, if such

								   harassment happens again, the responsible party will be disciplined.


								   Ivanova arrives in Garibaldi's office to receive a message from the

								   PsiCop Bester, who will be arriving on Babylon 5 in seven hours. He

								   claims that there is an individual on board who may be a danger to the

								   station, Earth, and the PsiCorps. Garibaldi tells her that he thinks

								   this visit, like Bester's others, is merely a ploy to check up on

								   them. It turns out that Bester's concerns may be justified, for a

								   crazed man, shouting, "The mountain is falling on me," is attacking

								   people elsewhere on the station.


								   Sheridan warns the other members of the Babylon 5 war council that

								   Bester will soon be on the station. He tells them that, with the

								   current state of the station and everything that has been going on,

								   they can't afford to be scanned by Bester, who might not obey PsiCorps

								   regulations. Garibaldi suggests killing him if he learns too much, but

								   Sheridan won't hear of it. Delenn tells everyone that, although risky,

								   there may be an alternative to violence.


								   Vir arrives off a transport to meet Londo in the docking bay. After

								   exchanging a few pleasantries, Londo asks Vir to tell him everything

								   about his trip.


								   Dr. Franklin, in MedLab, is treating the man who had the crazed fits

								   earlier when a nurse comes in with one of his victims, who nearly died

								   in avalanche several months earlier. Since the crazed man had been

								   shouting about a mountain falling on him, Dr. Franklin asks him to be

								   tested for traces of Dust.


								   When Bester's transport arrives at the station, Ivanova orders

								   everyone off the command deck so that she can perform a maintenance

								   routine, but she has other ideas in mind. "They don't know you, your

								   kind, the way I do," she says to herself. "They don't understand, they

								   think it's some kind of a joke. But nothing works with you people.

								   Nothing but force. Computer, activate forward defense grid. We can't

								   risk throwing it all away, not because of you. I've been saying it for

								   weeks now... The defense grid's been acting funny. Defense grid,

								   prepare to fire. Fire!"


								   "Belay that order," shouts Sheridan, who entered unbeknownst to

								   Ivanova. He manages to convince her that this would be throwing away

								   her career, and that she would become exactly what she hates most. He

								   deactivates the defense grid and tells the computer to begin docking

								   manuevers.


								   After his ship docks, Bester comes aboard the station, and is taken to

								   Sheridan's office, where Sheridan and the others are waiting, each

								   with a Minbari standing by them. Sheridan introduces them as Minbari

								   telepaths, who he has brought to level the playing field. He tells

								   Bester that he doesn't trust him, and blames him for what happened

								   with Talia Winters. Bester tries to bait Garibaldi on that topic, but

								   isn't successful. Ivanova explains that, while a human telepath

								   couldn't block a PsiCop's scan, a group of Minbari telepaths can.

								   Franklin gives him the choice of either taking the sleeper drugs to

								   suppress his telepathic abilities, or to put up with the Minbari

								   telepaths. Bester chooses to submit to an injection of sleepers.


								   Londo, Vir, Delenn, Lennier, and the Drazi ambassador and his aide are

								   meeting together to try to solve the dispute between the Centauri and

								   the Drazi. Londo explains that the Centauri Republic wants a buffer

								   zone of seven planets, which is five more than he originally wanted.

								   This angers the Drazi ambassador, but Londo is unwilling to say

								   anymore, and tells the Drazi ambassador that, if he isn't careful,

								   what happened to the Narn homeworld might happen to the Drazi

								   homeworld as well. Londo and the Drazi leave, leaving Vir alone with

								   Delenn and Lennier. He thanks them for supporting his visit to Minbar,

								   and suggests that Londo might do well to visit as well. Delenn and

								   Lennier are unsure that that would help, but Vir insists that he knows

								   there is more to Londo than meets the eye.


								   Bester explains to the command staff that he has come aboard the

								   station to find one of the main distributors of Dust, a drug which

								   allows the user to activate his or her latent telepathic gene,

								   allowing them to invade others' minds, living their life for several

								   hours. It is highly addictive, and more is required each time to

								   achieve the affect. When a telepath is read by someone using Dust, he

								   almost never recovers. Bester explains that he believes that the

								   seller wants to sell the Dust to alien governments to use as a weapon,

								   and that that is what the Corps is worried about.


								   G'Kar tells Lindstrom, the Dust dealer, that their agreement called

								   for no selling of Dust while he was delivering it to G'Kar. G'Kar

								   promises to pay him, when he learns that it works as advertised.

								   Lindstrom presents G'Kar with a small packet of Dust, which G'Kar

								   explains he wants to use as a weapon. Lindstrom tells him that the

								   drug was designed for human telepaths, and might not work on the Narn,

								   whose telepaths and their families had been exterminated many

								   generations earlier. G'Kar tells Lindstrom they will continue business

								   after the Dust has been tested, but Lindstrom warns him that it could

								   be dangerous. G'Kar doesn't care, and sends him on his way.


								   Garibaldi and Bester are walking together through a crowded area.

								   Bester explains that he wishes to protect Earth just as Garibaldi

								   wishes to protect Babylon 5. Bester says it is his job to protect the

								   human race from threats that only the Corps can stop. He says they may

								   be the only chance that the human race has for survival.


								   G'Kar sits crumpled on the floor of his quarters, the empty Dust

								   packet sitting nearby. He croaks out the word "Mollari," and leaves

								   his quarters. He sees and hears the world around him differently while

								   he is under the effects of the drug, picking up the stray thoughts of

								   those that walk by him, and he is scarcely able to control their

								   effect on him. But, he does manage to make his way through the station

								   slowly, toward his destination.


								   Garibaldi and Bester are interrogating one of the more powerful

								   members of Babylon 5's underground about what he knows about the Dust

								   dealer. When the man, Ashi, claims he doesn't know anything, Bester

								   says that he's lying, explaining that strong emotions cause him to

								   blurt out things like that sometimes, though the information can't be

								   used officially. Ashi explains that he was approached by a man with

								   numerous crates of Dust, but that he wouldn't help handle them. He

								   tells Garibaldi that the man has quarters in Red Sector, that he is

								   using the assumed name Morgenstern, and that he has a shipment coming

								   in this afternoon. Garibaldi sends the man away with two other

								   security officers, and then asks Bester how he was able to read the

								   man's thoughts. Bester explains that his uniform gives him a power

								   over others -- whether or not he can read their thoughts, they believe

								   he can. Garibaldi accuses him of using it merely for intimidation, but

								   Bester is quick to point out to Garibaldi that his uniform, too, can

								   be used for that purpose.


								   Londo tells Vir that the report he is planning to send to the Centarum

								   is not appropriate, and that it demonstrates great political naivete.

								   Vir tries to explain his point of view, but Londo will not listen to

								   anything he has to say, only allowing Vir to leave in his explanation

								   of Minbari spirituality. Londo's door chimes, and Vir goes to answer

								   it, but is accosted and rendered unconcious by G'Kar, who then enters

								   Londo's quarters, a look of fire in his eyes.


								   Garibaldi and Bester hide behind a large crate in a storage room,

								   hoping that they will be able to catch the dealer and the evidence all

								   at the same time, according to due process, which Garibaldi accuses

								   Bester of ignoring all too frequently. Several men enter the room, and

								   begin their dealings for the Dust. Garibaldi speaks into his link

								   quickly, and a shrill siren fills the room, dropping all of the men to

								   their knees, while Garibaldi confiscates the Dust. Several other

								   security officers enter and cart off the men involved in the deal.


								   Londo, bleeding and unable to move, finds G'Kar standing over him, and

								   tries to make an offer to him. G'Kar, still under the effects of the

								   Dust, takes a trip into the depths of Londo's mind...


								   ...He finds himself seeing Londo being assigned to Babylon 5, and

								   learns that Londo was appointed to his position of Ambassador only

								   because there was no one else who wanted it.


								   G'Kar takes great pleasure, while inside Londo's head, in tormenting

								   him about this fact. Londo begs G'Kar to leave his mind, but G'Kar

								   refuses, demanding that Londo show him all of the secrets he has been

								   holding in. He delves further into Londo's mind...


								   ...This time seeing the meeting Londo had with Morden in the garden

								   just before President Santiago's death.


								   G'Kar reacts very strongly to this, finally learning that it was Londo

								   who was behind the plight of the Narn. G'Kar demands to know who he

								   was working with, but Londo refuses to tell him. Infuriated, G'Kar

								   rips the information he wants from his mind. The resulting montage of

								   images is so strong that it thrusts him out of Londo's mind, and into

								   his own...


								   ...G'Kar finds himself back on the Narn homeworld, many years earlier,

								   witnessing the death of his father. His father asks him to honor his

								   name right before he dies. The image ends, and G'Kar hears a voice. He

								   turns around...


								   ...To find an old Narn standing before him. The old Narn tells G'Kar

								   that both the Narn and the Centauri are a dying people, and that they

								   cannot simply fight forever, until both races have been exterminated.

								   Once that happens, there can be no winners or losers. G'Kar says that

								   he made a promise to his father to honor his father's name, but the

								   old Narn asks him to reexamine how he should go about that. He tells

								   G'Kar that, if they are a dying race, they should die with honor, and

								   no longer devote their life to fighting and hatred. "We are fighting

								   to save one another. And some of us must be sacrificed," he tells

								   G'Kar, "if all are to be saved. Because if we fail in this, then none

								   of us will be saved, and the Narn will be only a memory." The old Narn

								   vanishes, but G'Kar is not alone for long...


								   ...A strange voice fills his thoughts. "You have the opportunity, here

								   and now, to choose. To become something greater and nobler and more

								   difficult than you have been before. The universe does not offer such

								   chances often, G'Kar."


								   "Why now?" G'Kar asks. "Why not earlier? All this time... Where have

								   you been?"


								   "I have always been here," the voice replies. G'Kar finally sees its

								   source as the sound of flapping wings fills his mind. G'Kar spins

								   around to see the white, glowing figure of G'Lan rise up and fly into

								   the distance.


								   Once G'Lan has vanished, G'Kar can only sit and sob, with the

								   unconcious Londo nearby. Neither of them notice another visitor, Kosh,

								   who soon takes his leave.


								   While Vir visits Londo, who is just regaining conciousness in MedLab,

								   G'Kar faces the ombuds who is presiding over the hearing where he is

								   being tried for his crimes. After G'Kar pleads guilty, Sheridan tries

								   to convince the ombuds that G'Kar's actions were caused by the Dust,

								   and therefore, not his fault. She disagrees, saying that the fact that

								   he went to Londo's quarters, constitutes premeditation. She sentences

								   him to a term of no less than 60 days in the station's prison

								   facilities. Garibaldi approaches G'Kar and offers him the Book of

								   G'Quan, which G'Kar had loaned him, but G'Kar asks him to keep it,

								   since he himself is now "somewhat closer to the source."


								   After being released from MedLab, Londo and Vir speak of the last few

								   days' events, but Vir explains that he must leave that night. Londo

								   tells him that he should never allow the Centauri government to make a

								   joke of him or his work. Vir promises that he won't.


								   Garibaldi escorts Bester to the docking bay, and though Bester has

								   enjoyed working with Garibaldi, the feeling isn't mutual. When another

								   PsiCop arrives for Bester, Garibaldi makes a hasty exit. As they walk

								   away, Bester says that he knew the original purpose of Dust, to create

								   telepaths from those without latent skill, would never work, but that

								   at least he has retrieved it; it's back among humans, where it

								   belongs.


								   G'Kar sits alone in his prison cell, quietly thinking, and remembering

								   the words he heard the old Narn speak to him, while under the effect

								   of the Dust. "We are fighting to save one another. And some of us must

								   be sacrificed, if all are to be saved."


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								      [15]Last update: February 7, 1998


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