1.12 The Mathematics of Tears
Andromeda encounters her damaged sister ship, the Pax Magellanic, that leads the crew of the Andromeda Ascendant on an eerie mission.
Episode Synopsis
The crew of the Andromeda comes upon a beautiful gold High Guard ship that looks almost identical to the Andromeda Ascendant. Rommie tells the crew that the starship is her older sister, the Pax Magellanic.
The crew travels to the Pax Magellanic to investigate. A woman, Lieutenant Jill Pearce, appears and recognizes Dylan as a member of the High Guard. Pearce tells them that they are the original crew, and haven't aged in 300 years. She explains it must have been a side effect of the weapon the Nietzscheans used when they blew up the planet during a war. The explosion had destroyed the ship's Slipstream Drive, disabling its travel. Dylan asks Pearce when he may meet the Captain. Pearce explains that Captain Warrick had died in battle. Therefore, Pearce is the Senior surviving officer.
Harper examines the Magellanic's system. It is still connected, but in a suspended state. Dylan asks Rommie to enter the Magellanic's VR Matrix to determine how badly the AI system is damaged. Rommie establishes a virtual reality interface with the Pax Magellanic's AI core. A computerized avatar appears, and Rommie introduces herself, but the avatar does not recognize Rommie as her sister. The Magellanic's avatar denies her access and orders her to leave. Later, Rommie ventures into the memory matrix once again and manages to get to the day the planet was blown up. Rommie avatar looks around the command room and sees the memory of Pearce, staring at the command display while the memory of Warrick orders her to fire. Rommie discovers that it was Pearce who blew up the planet.
Rommie runs to Dylan, having dinner with Pearce, and exclaims that Pearce destroyed the planet and Captain Warrick. Pearce explains that Warrick commanded her to fire at the Nietzscheans, setting off a chain reaction and causing the planet to explode. She explains that she wanted to put the miserable day in the past and pretend it never happened. Dylan consoles her by telling her that she did the right thing by obeying Captain Warrick's orders. Rommie tells Pearce that now the truth is known, she may be able to help the Pax.
Harper manages to get to the welded-shut Slipstream Drive door open only to find that the Slipstream Drive is missing! He brings this news to Dutch, the ship's engineer. Dutch responds by attacking Harper. A fight ensues, and Beka appears to assist him. They manage to escape, and burst into the room where Dylan and Pearce are talking. They exclaim that the crew is trying to kill them. Harper reaches a console and punches a series of buttons that causes the crewmen and Pearce to slump motionless. Harper explains that he has disrupted the AI's android control network, and that the crew members are actually androids.
Rev Bem, still aboard the Andromeda, reveals to the crew that Pearce is not on the Pax's crew manifest. Suddenly, Dylan realizes that Pax Magellanic translates from Latin to 'Jill Pearce'. Pearce, like Rommie, is the ship in human form! Tyr suggests erasing her memory, but Rommie refuses to kill her sister. Rommie suggests the ship is hiding something and wants to go back into the memory archives. Dylan insists in joining her on the dangerous mission.
Rommie and Dylan enter the memory archives and summon Magellanic avatar. The avatar appears, but suddenly the graphic bits transform, revealing Pearce. Rommie tells Pearce that she's repressing a memory from the day the planet blew up and that it's affecting her thinking. Pearce states that Captain Warrick tried to kill her and that she acted in self-defense.
The three of them watch a 3-D memory tape that shows Warrick commanding Pearce to self-destruct because the Nietzscheans were trying to attack and take control of the ship. Pearce reveals that she and Warrick were in love, and that Warrick said that he couldn't live without her. Pearce believed that love was bigger than the Commonwealth and refused Warrick's order. She released the Slipstream Drive's Exotic Matter Pulser from the Pax Magellanic and jettisoned it toward the planet. The entire planet then exploded into millions of spinning asteroids. Pearce explains that the entire crew was lost as a result of the explosion, so she had manifested them in android form to alleviate her loneliness. Dylan tells Pearce that he will have to erase the Pax Magellanic's AI because she disobeyed her oath to the Commonwealth to sacrifice herself if necessary.
Meanwhile, Dutch makes his way into the Maru cockpit by disguising his voice as Rommie's. A fight breaks out with Beka, Harper and several robot crewmembers. Tyr shows up and fires upon the robots, destroying them. Dylan and Rommie return from cyberspace and scramble to depart the Pax. They watch Pearce on their display and Rommie pleads with Pearce to stop attacking. Missiles hit the Andromeda, and Dylan commands enough fire to neutralize the Pax's batteries, but not to destroy the vessel. The shots hit Pax's batteries, but the entire ship begins exploding. The Pax has dropped her defenses, allowing the Andromeda to kill her. Pearce's final words state that she has sacrificed herself for love.
Synopsis from AndromedaTV
