113: Appearances and Other Deceits

Aboard an alien ship, a lone survivor in a stasis tube appears to be the only one left alive after a horrific accident.  Meanwhile, Gideon contends with two propaganda experts from Earth - Mr Welles and Mr Sprach - determined to give the Excalibur mission the right social and political appearance in the eyes of those desperately waiting back home.  Medical officer Janey is forced to make direct contact with the alien when it appears to start dying.  Eilerson begins to decode the alien logs while Janey begins to suffer the effects of an alien influence, which she spreads to other crewmembers.  Eilerson discovers from the logs that the alien ship was subject to an invasion, an alien conscience spread across the crew by touch, and orders the affected decks be sealed.  He becomes concerned for the life of a guard who risked his life to help Eilerson escape.  Mr Welles is also infected, and attempts to negotiate with Gideon for a peaceful resolution - otherwise he may sacrifice the entire crew.  Welles reveals that the aliens pass along their race memories to colonize other planets by overtaking the people and not the worlds themselves.  He wants the affected crew to be transported to a suitable planet where they can proliferate.  Mr Sprach - a designer and self-professed expert of aesthetics - observes that the alien bodies aboard the other ship form a chain to the location where the tube was found: they were passing the conscience back into a singular body to be saved before the whole ship was depressurized in an attempt to stop the infestation.  Gideon enters the quarantined area in an environment suit, while the others move to decompress the section to force the alien into returning to a single host body - that of the immobile guard, who is ejected into space and shot down.  The decks are repressurized and the affected crew saved.  Mr Sprach presents Gideon with new crew uniforms.

Notes: Mr Welles appeared previously in Babylon 5 Season Two, The Fall of Night.  The Excalibur crew are given new uniforms that, according to Gideon, makes him "look like a bell-hop".

Director Stephen Furst played Vir in Babylon 5.

Guest Cast: John Vickery returns as Mr Welles (he also played Neroon), Wayne Wilderson (Kevin Sprach), Luanne Ponce (Janey).