1.10 - They've Got a Secret

When the crew attempts to remove all remaining Peacekeeper devices aboard Moya, D'Argo breaks a Peacekeeper shield and finds himself blown into space. D'Argo is rescued but his mind is confused and something strange is happening to Moya that may result in the death of everyone aboard her.

You know, I'm going to track down this cute droid and rip off both his antennae. - Aeryn Sun
Happy place, Aeryn. Go to your happy place. - John Crichton

You say that you want to go back to this Earth, a place that you tell me has so much disease and suffering? - Aeryn Sun
Well... You guys don't have chocolate. - John Crichton

Uh-oh. Eyes. - John Crichton
Eyes? - Aeryn Sun
Yeah. Like a cave scene in a Yosemite Sam cartoon. - John Crichton

Pilot, we're all glad to see you're up and back on your feet. - Zhaan
At least up, anyway. - John Crichton

The crew is searching Moya to see if there are any more Peacekeeper devices attached to her systems that may be dangerous to them. Aeryn is sitting on John's shoulders and attempting to remove a comm enhancer. She says the installation was incomplete and that the Peacekeepers may not have had enough time to install everything before Moya became a prison transport.

John wants to know why she is so concerned given that they are in the Uncharted Territories and well beyond Peacekeeper control. She replies that Crais is still chasing them and if his Command Carrier gets close enough he may be able to activate the devices.

D'Argo is also searching Moya but is complaining that the DRDs should be doing the job. Pilot says that the hundreds of DRDs on Moya are all busy with maintenance tasks but he can manage to spare two to help D'Argo. D'Argo isn't very appreciative.

D'Argo crawls through a small vent and finds a Peacekeeper control panel. Pilot tells him to be careful as one of the wires the panel is attached to is a direct link to the propulsion system. Unfortunately, the comms are breaking up and D'Argo cannot understand him. He pulls a wire at random and both he and Pilot yell as Moya lurches suddenly. D'Argo is thrown off his feet and through another opening where he goes sliding down a long chute.

He manages to stop his slide and starts climbing back up the shaft. By this point Aeryn, John and Zhaan have all arrived in Command and are asking Pilot about D'Argo. Pilot says he is unable to locate D'Argo on any of his scans.

D'Argo is still climbing up the shaft and finds a Peacekeeper device in the wall. He attempts to call the others but his comm signal is still breaking up and they cannot understand him. In frustration, he kicks the panel out of the wall. A shower of liquid and debris fly out from behind the panel and he goes sliding down the shaft again.

Moya lurches again and Aeryn reports an explosion of some kind. Pilot announces that he has D'Argo on scan again. John asks what tier D'Argo is on.
Pilot pauses. "He's not on any tier."
A view from outside shows D'Argo hurtling through space away from Moya.

Aeryn goes out in her Prowler and picks up D'Argo but by the time she gets him back inside Moya he has been in space for almost a half arn. Zhaan says that Luxans can survive a short period of time out in space but they need to get his respiration started. John starts pounding on D'Argo's chest, much to the shock of both Aeryn and Zhaan.

After stopping John's attempt at CPR Zhaan turns D'Argo over and manages to get him breathing again. D'Argo comes around and the others ask him what happened. He is semi-incoherent but keeps calling Zhaan "Lo'Laan". He passes out again before he can tell them anything. John finds some odd debris on D'Argo and they surmise it is from the explosion.

Moya lurches yet again and John asks Pilot what is wrong. Pilot seems to have not noticed anything but says he is getting odd readings from several of Moya's systems. He does tell them D'Argo's last known position and Aeryn and John go to check it out, leaving Zhaan to take care of D'Argo.

Aeryn and John arrive in the general area where D'Argo was searching but two of the DRDs have filled in the vent D'Argo crawled through and they do not see it. John mentions how odd it is to him to be walking around inside a living ship and also notices that the air is getting stale.

Pilot says he is trying to send some DRDs to help them but they aren't responding. Something seems to be wrong with Pilot. John speculates that the explosion may have also affected Pilot since he is symbiotically joined to Moya. He spots the two DRDs and asks Pilot about them but Pilot claims he cannot detect them.

One of the DRDs extends a tube and shoots some blue gunk at Aeryn's foot. It hits her boot and it is suddenly stuck to the floor. She falls and the DRD shoots her hand, sticking it to the floor as well. The DRD is about to shoot her in the face when John lunges forward and grabs the tube, breaking it off.

John enters Zhaan's lab/apothecary with the tube stuck to one hand and Aeryn's boot stuck to the other. Zhaan is trying to get Pilot but he is not responding. Aeryn is still stuck by her hand to the floor of the corridor and keeps yelling for John.

Zhaan shows John the results of her scan of the "debris" from D'Argo. The particles are all bio-mechanoid and she assumes they are debris from the explosion but John is concerned by the fact that they are all identical. Explosion debris would not be so uniform.

Later, John is with Aeryn using a solvent on the glue holding her to the floor. He suggests that the particles may be a bio-mechanoid virus left behind by the Peacekeepers as a passive weapon. He speculates that this may be what is wrong with D'Argo but Aeryn is less sure.

Zhaan helps D'Argo to his cabin. The temperature is low and the air is stale but Zhaan says she will try to get that fixed. He continues to call her Lo'Laan but she cannot get him to tell her who Lo'Laan is.

John asks Aeryn how the Peacekeepers protect themselves from STDs; Space Transmitted Diseases. Aeryn reveals that they live their entire lives on ships until they leave on their first Peacekeeper mission and that then they have vaccines against all known viruses and bacteria. They have no disease.

John is stunned and tries to explain to Aeryn how advanced their science is to him. He explains how on Earth millions die of disease every year and crop diseases cause millions more to die of starvation.
Aeryn is confused. "You say that you want to go back to this place, Earth? A place that you tell me has so much disease and suffering?"
John shrugs. "Well... You guys don't have chocolate."

Somewhat later, Aeryn and John are in the galley where one DRD is repairing another. John notices that both DRDs are watching them. Aeryn starts to eat a food cube but spits it out saying it is spoiled. John opens the refrigeration unit but immediately closes it after getting a whiff of the odor inside. He calls for Pilot to report another malfunction.

Pilot appears but looks to be in very bad shape. He tells them it is not a malfunction. He is seeing signs of intentional sabotage. He suddenly collapses, unconscious.

Aeryn goes to Pilot's Den while John and Zhaan run for Command. Moya is rolling and lurching, out of control. Aeryn reports that Pilot is alive but in bad shape and Zhaan says there are chemical surges all through Moya.

Aeryn examines the controls around Pilot and presses several of them; stabilizing the ship and turning the lights back on. John thanks her but she replies, with some confusion, that she doesn't know what she did. John speculates to Zhaan that Aeryn may have been left with permanent changes from when she was injected with Pilot's DNA.

Rygel, meanwhile, has entered D'Argo's cabin and is going through his belongings. D'Argo awakens and catches him. He grabs Rygel but, instead of attacking as Rygel expects, he hugs him. He starts calling Rygel his son and calls him Jothee.

D'Argo tells "Jothee" that they are outsiders here but that his mother's family despised them and so they had to flee. He says that they are safe here but, no matter what happens, he will always love Jothee.

John and Zhaan are still checking controls. Zhaan says that the lights, air and the like are only there for the benefit of the passengers, not for Moya herself. Pilot controlled those things. Moya can survive without Pilot but they may not be able to.

Aeryn calls and reports that Pilot is being nutrient starved. He is "fed" directly from Moya and that supply has been cut off. She gives him a nutrient injection directly and some of the systems he controls come back on line.

John and Zhaan discuss the particles she found again. He still thinks they are a virus but she says they are not independent living things and are made up of Moya's genetic structure. She continues to think they are merely explosion debris. The two agree that the full answer probably involves the Peacekeeper shield that D'Argo broke.

John asks where D'Argo is and she says that Rygel is watching him. They contact Rygel who tells them that D'Argo keeps calling him Jothee and that he "tucked him into bed" and went off looking for Lo'Laan. John goes looking for D'Argo.

He finds him and D'Argo is still confused. He briefly comes to himself long enough to tell John that he found a Peacekeeper shield in the shaft then starts asking about Lo'Laan again. John asks who Lo'Laan is and D'Argo starts calling John "Macton". D'Argo reveals that Lo'Laan was his wife and that Macton never approved of their marriage. He says that Macton may hate him but he should not pretend to have forgotten his own sister's name. He grabs John and throws him to the floor then storms out.

Somewhat later, Aeryn is trying to direct John to where D'Argo says he found the Peacekeeper shield. His flashlight keeps blinking out and he hits it a few times. He finds his way blocked by several DRDs and goes to find another route. He crawls through one of the small vents and suddenly finds himself in a room with hundreds of DRDs. They start shooting lasers at him and he runs and dives back through the vent, only to find himself face to face with several other DRDs. They aim their lasers at him and he yells for Aeryn to shut the DRDs down. She does so just in time.

Later, Aeryn, John and Zhaan are sitting around a table. Aeryn is concerned about the DRDs being shut off since they are vital for Moya's maintenance.
John tries to dissuade her. "You missed that Hitchcock picture playing back there a little while ago. A blockade of these little guys just tried to kill me!"

Zhaan asks if John thinks the virus is the cause and he says no. The DRDs are purely mechanical, not bio-mechanoid. They only do what they are told to do. Aeryn says that Pilot is who controlled the DRDs and he is unconscious. John then realizes that Moya also controls the DRDs. She may have cut off Pilot's nutrient flow so he could not help them then turned off the environmental controls. Moya may be trying to kill them.

Aeryn and John start looking through Moya's blueprints, trying to find access to Moya's higher functions in case they have to shut her down. Zhaan wonders why they don't use the screens and John tells her that they don't want Moya to know what they are looking for. Zhaan says she can't belive that she doesn't already know.

"What do you know about the bacteria inside of you?" he asks her.
"My body carries no bacteria." is her reply.

D'Argo, still thinking that Rygel is "Jothee", is giving him a piggy-back ride. John tells Rygel to get him up to Command.

D'Argo arrives and again thinks that Zhaan is "Lo'Laan" and John is "Macton". John starts playing the part and tells D'Argo he rejects his sister and his marriage. D'Argo becomes confused, saying Lo'Laan is dead and that Macton killed her. John asks how he knows Macton killed his own sister.

"When Macton arrested me," D'Argo says "he still had her blood on his hands."
"Macton?" asks John. "I thought a Peacekeeper arrested you."
"It was a great coup for him." D'Argo agrees.
Zhaan is stunned. "If Macton was a Peacekeeper, then Lo'Laan was..."

D'Argo pulls out a small device which displays a holographic image. Lo'Laan is a Sebacean woman and Jothee is a half-Luxan child.
"I remember." says D'Argo. "I remember it all."

D'Argo leads John and Zhaan to where he found the Peacekeeper shield. He finds the vent the DRDs sealed and kicks though it, revealing the shaft beyond. Aeryn, in Pilot's Den, starts cutting through the housing protecting Moya's higher functions while John, in a spacesuit and carrying a pulse rifle, enters the shaft D'Argo fell down.

John lowers himself down the shaft and finds the shield D'Argo broke. He confirms that the shield was the source of the particles. He sees another opening further down the shaft and enters it.

He finds himself in a large open room. He stares in surprise for a few moments, then calls Zhaan on the comms. He asks her how much she knows about Leviathans and specifically if she knows anything about how they reproduce."
"Reproduce?" says D'Argo in confusion.
"Yeah." he says. "I think Moya is pregnant."

They realize that breaking the shield released the catalyst which allowed the pregnancy to take place. They also realize that Moya was not trying to kill them. She was only trying to protect the baby.

Aeryn calls on the comms and announces that she has almost severed Moya's higher functions. All three of them yell at her to stop. She does, but in frustration, since she doesn't know what the others have discovered.

John notices that the baby leviathan is surrounded by DRDs and realizes that Moya needs the DRDs to care for the baby. He yells for Aeryn to turn the DRDs back on. She is now completely confused as to what is going on but finally does so.

The DRDs activate and several of them advance on John. He carefully puts down the rifle he is carrying and holds out his hands in a peaceful gesture. He starts talking to the DRDs, hoping that Moya can hear him through them.

He tells Moya that they are very happy that she is having a baby and that they never wanted to hurt it or her. "But," he asks her. "do we have to die so that your baby can live?"

There is a pause, then the DRDs retract their guns and back away. Up above, air starts blowing from the vents and Zhaan yells to John that they can breathe again.

John is simply staring at the baby Leviathan. "Man." he says. "How big is that thing gonna grow?"

Later, John, Rygel and Zhaan are on Command and talking to Pilot, who has recovered. Pilot tells them that Moya simply had to divert a few resources to the baby for a brief while but that that period is behind them and everything is fine now. Still, he has no idea what they can expect. John reminds everyone that the Peacekeepers had put a shield in place to prevent the pregnancy from taking place.

Aeryn enters D'Argo's quarters and D'Argo thanks her for saving him earlier. She tells him that she did not know Macton then asks to see his wife and son.

He shows her and she tells him that Lo'Laan was beautiful. He asks if she is surprised that a Sebacean could love him and she tells him that Sebaceans are told from birth that they must keep their bloodlines pure and that such unions are evil.

"Do you therefore think that my son is evil?" D'Argo asks her carefully.
Aeryn kneels in front of him. "No, because in his eyes I see you." Seriously, she continues. "D'Argo, no matter what happens to us, I will never tell anyone about your son."

She leaves and D'Argo stares sadly into space.

The earlier Peacekeeper device which was found, the Paddac Beacon, was discovered in I, ET.

Aeryn was injected with Pilot's DNA in DNA Mad Scientist.

D'Argo had kept what he was really arrested for secret but the fact that he was doing so was revealed in Back and Back and Back to the Future.

The title of this episode may be a play on the title of the old TV game show I've Got a Secret.

What can you expect when a Leviathan is expecting?

Why did the Peacekeepers place a shield in place to prevent the pregnancy?

What was the purpose of the first Peacekeeper device D'Argo found, the one attached to the propulsion system?

Are there still other Peacekeeper devices on Moya?

John was able to talk to Moya through the DRDs. Can Moya talk to them in the same way?

D'Argo's wife, Lo'Laan was killed and he sent his son, Jothee, away. What happened to Jothee? Where is he now?

Well, there have been self-aware starships in science fiction before. There have been living starships. But, has there ever been a pregnant living starship? I can't think of one. It should be interesting to see how things develop.

They've Got a Secret seems to me to be two episodes in one. There are clearly two plots here anyway. First is the "what is happening to Moya" plot. Pilot is unconscious, systems are failing and the DRDs have turned hostile. Certainly a bad situation.

Then, there is the "what is happening to D'Argo" plot. We learn a good deal about D'Argo's past here and his secret "true crime" has been revealed. He was framed by a Peacekeeper, Macton Tal, for the death of Lo'Laan; Macton's sister and D'Argo's wife. Macton himself was the true killer.

Aeryn reveals to us that this was at least partially caused by the fact that Peacekeepers consider such unions "evil". She really doesn't reveal her feelings on the subject in general but does tell D'Argo that she does not consider his son evil and promises to never reveal anything about his son. She has developed enough respect for D'Argo to do so.

Aeryn does reveal how far she has come from her Peacekeeper roots in this episode. In I, ET she is a reluctant participant in the crew's attempt to remove the Paddac Beacon. Now, she is leading the removal of other devices. This, plus her conversation with D'Argo, shows that her loyalties are shifting from the Peacekeepers to Moya and her crew.

It is somewhat interesting to note that Aeryn and John were offended when the others cut off Pilot's arm in DNA Mad Scientist but are the ones leading the charge to cut off Moya's higher functions in this episode. Does this mean that they don't see Moya as a comrade or that the situation changes when your life is on the line?

Very possibly the former. Early on in the episode John compares riding in Moya to a horse and rider. John says we love the horses but Aeryn asks if we enslave the thing we love. Of course Aeryn's people, the Peacekeepers, enslaved Moya with the control collar. It seems that neither Aeryn or John saw Moya as anything other than a ship, or a fancy horse, until the moment when John realized that Moya was pregnant. That was when she went from being a malfunctioning ship to a mother protecting her baby. Moya wasn't a comrade to John until that moment. Notice that once he makes the realization he puts down his gun and tries to talk to her. A change in thinking and a very well done one.

We do learn a bit more about Peacekeepers in this episode. Aeryn reveals that they are born on starships and live there their entire lives until they go on their first assignment. This reinforces her previous statements about how she has never been alone. Living on starships the Sebaceans really are isolated from all other species, which explains why Crais so quickly considered her to be "irreversibly contaminated".

A few other good moments from the episode... John pounding on D'Argo chest and the shocked reactions from both Aeryn and Zhaan was funny. I don't know why John thought CPR would work on a Luxan. The scene where John finds the hundreds of DRDs staring at him was also effective.

As a final comment, what was that shaft that D'Argo went sliding down? It looked like a water slide but it apparently exits to space. Hmmm... Tube, running water, open to space...

Well, I guess Moya doesn't have to worry about flushing after she is done. Sorry D'Argo.

Also, there is a bit of bad direction at the very end of the episode. When D'Argo is showing Aeryn the hologram of his wife, Claudia Black (the actress who plays Aeryn) is looking well above and to the left of the hologram. Apparenly there was a bit of confusion as to where the special effect would be displayed. Probably unavoidable but it is a bit odd to watch since she seems to be staring off into space.

Overall, They've Got a Secret is a somewhat above average episode marred only by having two somewhat disconnected plot lines. Still, I suspect that many of the things revealed in this episode will have a major impact on others in the future and that fact alone would make this episode worth watching.