Magnetron Wave

Magnetron Wave

The Argo is 7,000 mega-meters from a strange, inactive object.  Wildstar has sand Sandor out in a ship to examine the object.  He's 10 megameters away when he reports--and then his ship breaks up.  The crew is suddenly assembled while Sandor narrates what he so narrowly escapes from.  The ship seemed to just come apart, rather than explode.  Sandor proposes that its a magnetron wave emanating from the object--which is a Gamilon base.  Sandor says they should use the new seamless shuttle.  After some wrangling, he and Wildstar agree to take the seamless ship out to explore.

They fly through the wreckage of Sandor's first plane, and then close in on the object.  The magnetron waves seem to come from holes all over the object's surface.  Avatar says they are starting to feel vibrations back on the Argo.  Wildstar tries to fire into the ports, but they close are part of some defense mechanism.  He and Sandor decide to EVA and raid the object.  They anchor their ship and walk down one of the ports, which reminds Wildstar of a cave.

After walking, and climbing, and walking, they see a strange yellow alien lumber by.  Sandor tells Wildstar he's had Alex, Wildstar's brother, for a while.  They were friends in the academy together.  After the academy, Sandor was responsible for ship maintenance--he had done repairs on Alex' ship, the Paladin before they battle at Pluto.  That was the last he saw of Alex.

Um.  Why are we bringing this up now?  Sandor is guilty, feeling he didn't do a sufficient repair job on the Paladin.  Wildstar forgives him.  And then the weird yellow thing--some kind of robot, attacks them, and Sandor saves Derek's bacon.  Then . . . the reminiscing continues.

Sandor had been in grammar school when he insisted on driving a rocket car on the moon and crashed.  Wildstar assures him he's not the only one to have made foolish mistakes.

Meanwhile, during this walk down memory lane, the magnetron wave is peeling deckplates off the Argo's hull.  Venture frets.

Sandor explains to Wildstar that the object is actually a giant computer, and the tunnels are the computer's circuits.  They turn the corner and find the main processor of the computer.  And it looks like an Invid hive brain.

Avatar tells Venture to prepare for a warp jump in case Sandor and Wildstar don't make it back.

The two are wiring bombs to the computer.  Sandor gets philosophical about science that creates machines that destroy people.  And then the computer starts laughing at them.  The floor starts heaving.  Tendrils come out of portals and knock Wildstar over.  He sees Sandor caught by the computer's tendrils. . .

Venture has readied the warp.  The crew looks expectantly at the captain . . .

Wildstar struggles back to consciousness.  Sandor urges him to help, reminding him that the Argo might have to jump.  He tells Wildstar to remove his arms and legs--SANDOR IS BIONIC!

Hmm.

Wildstar disassembles Sandor's limbs and carries him out to the shuttle.  Sandor demands to be left behind.  Sandor says his bionic arms and legs are bombs, and he'll set them off after Wildstar leaves.  He urges Wildstar to leave--he'll be okay to be picked up when the explosion is over.  Wildstar leaves Sandor floating in space and returns to his fighter.  After exchanging meaningful looks, they separate.

Avatar counts down the final seconds and orders the warp.  Just before he pulls the lever, Wildstar requests permission to land.  Avatar demands an update, and Wildstar explains that Sandor is taking care of the magnetron situation.  Wildstar watches the explosion, then tells the Argo crew he's going back for Sandor.  He searches through the wreckage and hears his voice.  Wildstar finds Sandor, streaked with soot, in a corner of the wreckage.

Lysis mocks Balgar for this latest defeat.

Wildstar is brooding on the observation deck when Sandor arrives with his new arms and legs.  Derek says he hopes Alex is alive somewhere.  Sandor says it would mean as much to him as it does to Wildstar.

Only 260 days left.