Spider in the Web

"Spider in the Web" is an episode from the second season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.

Synopsis

Taro Isogi, a representative of FutureCorp, is seeking to negotiate a deal with the provincial Mars Colony government to help make them a self-sufficient entity, and arranged to speak with Amanda Carter, a representative of the government, and Talia Winters to act as a neutral telepath for the negotiations aboard Babylon 5. The initial meeting goes well, but as Talia escorts Taro back to his quarters, they are assaulted by a man who shouts "Free Mars!", grabs Taro and jolts him with energy, killing him. When Talia grabs the man, she glimpses a vision of him being shot at by a space cruiser while trying to escape in a fighter, and being ejected into space. The man runs off, and later hijacks one of the station's communication stations to make contact with "Control" operating out of the ruins of San Diego and given additional instructions.

Talia reports this to Sheridan and Garibaldi, and her description is sufficient to identify the man as Abel Horn, a former member of the Free Mars movement but Earth Alliance records state that he died. Talia also reports that while he might seem to be with the Free Mars rebel group, his mind did not experience any of the hostility that she normally encounters with those members. Garibaldi has Talia put under guard to protect her. While being escorted around the station, Abel rushes her guard and kills him, but again when Talia touches his mind, he is stunned with the memories of death, and she is able to run off. Sheridan orders Talia placed under a full guard and orders a manhunt for Abel. Sheridan confides in Garibaldi that he thinks Abel may be the product of a secret Lazarus project which was trying to create cybernetically-enhanced humans, using subjects taken at their point of near-death; they are programmed to relive their moments of near-death to allow the cybernetic programming to retain control. Sheridan cannot prove Lazarus exists, but if it is the case, then they would be able to detect his presence by low-level benign radiation his cyber components would be emitting. Sheridan sets to work to reconfigure the station sensors.

Abel makes his way to Amanda's quarters, seeking her help, struggling to fight his own identity against the programming his cybernetics are giving him. He demands Amanda bring Talia here, hoping her telepathic can help him disspell his programming which is causing him severe pain. Thinking Amanda wants to talk further about the Mars deal, Talia travels there with a full security escort who wait outside. When inside, Abel grabs her, causing her to scan his mind, and among the moment of death, she is able to see what happened afterward: his body was taken and operated under orders of a female Psi-Corps agent. Sheridan completes the sensor sweep and discovers Abel in Amanda's quarters, and he and Sheridan rush there. Abel tries to hold Amanda at gunpoint, and when his cybernetic work against him, Amanda breaks free and security stuns him. They discover his cybernetics are overloading, and the group safely flees the quarters before his body self-destructs.

Amanda is treated for injuries, and agrees to continue to work with FutureCorp to follow Taro's vision, by Talia's suggestion. Talia reports that he saw Abel's conversion to a cybernetic being, but keeps quiet on the Psi-Corps involvement; she later searches Psi-Corps records and identifies the officer that she saw in Abel's memories, but finds that she is listed as deceased. On Earth, that same woman reviews a message from an unknown agent on Babylon 5 on the failure of Abel's mission.

Arc significance

• First appearance of Security officer Zack Allan, who will become a regular in Season Three onward.
• Ivanova describes Talia as "interesting" and a person you can trust, a far cry from her usual blanket negativity towards telepaths and Psi-Corps. This likely either hints at or foreshadows a change in their relationship.
• Sheridan reveals his obsession with studying and eliminating clandestine groups operating within the Earth Alliance.
• First mention of "Control", which will play a part in Talia's character arc.
• Dr. Stephen Franklin (Richard Biggs) does not appear in this episode.

Production details

• "Spider in the Web" was originally titled "A Trick of the Mind."
• The great-grandfather of the Martian negotiator Amanda Carter is named John Carter, a reference to the Edgar Rice Burroughs character John Carter of Mars.
• Since the series creator was later informed that "Bureau 13" is the name of a pre-existing tabletop role-playing game, the name was not used in the series again.^[1]

External links

• Spider in the Web at The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5

References