Brief synopsis:
Whilst hiding amongst asteroids to avoid detection by the Peacekeepers, the crew of Moya receive a distress signal. Though the idea of helping somebody else whilst in their situation seems crazy, they hope that they might be able to trade for starcharts of the area, in order to stay clear of the Command Carrier. Meanwhile, Gammak base commander Scorpius takes over Crais's command completely, and begins his own search for Crichton.

The Main Story:
Hiding in an asteroid field, Pilot lowers Moya's internal temperature to avoid detection from an aggressive Peacekeeper scan. Wrapped in blankets, but still shivering (with the exception of Zhaan, whose body self-regulates under many extreme conditions), the crew receive a distress signal from a young female, desperately seeking protection from some sort of creature. Though they don't expect to be able to do much good, John, D'Argo and Zhaan head down to the relevant asteroid in the hope that by helping, they may be ask for important starcharts.

On the command carrier, Crais prepares to alter the scanning angle from his ship, but a subordinate, Braca, points out that this will sacrifice manoeuverability. Scorpius "suggests" that instead, they do not move, but bombard the area with high frequency signals to scare the baby into revealing their position. Back on Moya, Aeryn is asked not to join the rescue party, as Pilot requests her to help talk to Moya's child, to aid communication between baby and parent.

On the asteroid surface, the crew first encounter heavy foliage, but soon find the girl from the message, M'Lee. Shortly after, they are attacked by the creature she warns them of, and they break away. Back at the transport pod, they meet it again, and shooting begins. However, this results in a badly damaged pod, and an injured D'Argo. The weapons fire hit both the main fuel pump and the main thruster, but D'Argo's injuries are more worrying as he has internal bleeding.

Pilot, aboard Moya, asks Aeryn to visit the baby, and talk to the young Leviathan to try and aid communication between Moya and her baby. With a direct laser link allowing communication between Pilot and Aeryn, the ex-Peacekeeper is able to relay information about the baby, straight back to Pilot and Moya. She tells them of the sonic ascending cannon, and makes sure the baby is on silent running. The baby seems to be aiding Aeryn's progress by highlighting relevant consoles, and giving encouraging sounds from the ship's center.

John talks to M'Lee, and finds out that there were once many of her species, but that she is the only one left. John then makes a big discovery, when M'Lee mentions Zhaan. The delvian it turns out, is also a plant evolved. Outside the pod, Zhaan encounters the creature again, despite impressive efforts at hiding, involving advanced camouflage. Meanwhile, M'Lee takes Crichton to the creature's eating place. M'Lee then begins an odd transformation, with the blue parts of her body turning red, and spines jetting out from her back and sides. The creature then turns up and pushes M'Lee aside. He tells Crichton that he is not the enemy, M'Lee is.

It turns out that M'Lee feeds on bones, and that the creature, Br'Nee was a botanist on the asteroid, who had actually been trying to help, but was always too out of breath to be able to communicate during all the commotion. Br'Nee tells them that M'Lee will only be weak after consuming bone, but the rest of the time, she can be a ferocious killer. Br'Nee demonstrates a kind of "shrink-ray" which he uses to store plants, and enlarges a specimen he believes will help cure D'Argo's injuries. Br'Nee and Zhaan go to help D'Argo, and miraculously, his injuries are almost instantly repaired.

On the Command Carrier however, things look bad for Crais as Scorpius questions his command, and begins giving his own orders. Scorpius orders the high frequency signal bombardment, but fortunately, Aeryn manages to convince the baby to stay calm, and ignore the Peacekeepers who are the enemy. With Aeryn earning this trust from the baby, Moya and baby are able to avoid detection for a little while longer.

M'Lee goes to Br'Nee's lab, where she finds Crichton alone. She admits to her feeding habits, but explains the whole situation. Br'Nee's people brought M'Lee and her species to the planet to keep animal life away from the plants, but when the animal supply ran out, the bone eating plants had only eachother and Br'Nee's people to eat. Crichton then rushes to the pod and points his pulse pistol at Br'Nee. Zhaan demands an explanation, which he gives, and this leaves Br'Nee to explain himself.

Br'Nee confesses, but defends his kind's actions as being in the interests of science. He then returns with Zhaan to his lab to sort out starcharts for the crew's departure. Crichton meets up with them there, but finds Br'Nee injured. The creature tells him that M'Lee took Zhaan to her feeding place. Fortunately, though Crichton is at first fooled, he realises Zhaan has no bones, and returns to confront a now healed Br'Nee. Meanwhile, M'Lee controls her hunger, and talks to D'Argo. The Luxan promises a whole shipful of Peacekeepers if they can just get back into space and away from this asteroid.

When John gets back to the lab, he fights with Br'Nee, and in the scuffle, Br'Nee is knocked out, and John disovers Zhaan, a miniature version, in a jar. He reverses the shrinking process, but an awakening Br'Nee gets caught in the laser and killed. Zhaan returns to normal size though, just as M'Lee arrives. John offers the girl Br'Nee, which is enough for her to survive until the Peacekeepers, now under the command of Scorpius, arrive to pick her up. As the crew reunite on Moya, Pilot thanks Aeryn for her help with Moya's baby, and says they would be honoured if Aeryn would name the child.

References and continuity:

What's going on? This is part of a major story arc, which started off in A Bug's Life, and continued through the two parter, Nerve and The Hidden Memory. This explains why Crais and Scorpius are fighting for command, and why Moya, with baby, is hiding amongst the asteroids.

When John says he now understands Zhaan reaction to light, he is referring to the events of the episode Till The Blood Runs Clear, where Zhaan reacted with great pleasure to the solar flares.

Funny or interesting quotes:

Chiana: "Distress call, directed at us?"
Crichton: "How stupid is that!"

Chiana and Crichton agree that you'd have to be in a pretty bad way to consider asking for help from Moya's crew given their present condition.

Crais: "You have gone too far Scorpius, you have directly questioned my command."
Crichton: "Your command... begs question."

The moment when Scorpius completely confronts Crais, and takes over command of Crais's ship.

Scorpius: "Why must you force me to display my physical superiority to your kind as well."

When Crais attacks Scorpius, it seems that Scorpius does not only possess great intellect, but also impressive strength.

Episode Trivia:

• Actress Francesca Buller, who plays M'Lee, is actually Ben Browder's wife.
• Francesca Buller returns as three more aliens, ro-NA in Look At The Princess Trilogy, Raxil in Scratch and Sniff and finally as Ahkna in season 4.
• Zhaan is actually a highly evolved plant, which explains her behaviour in the episode Till The Blood Runs Clear, where she was positively affected by light.
• There were over 20,000 asteroids in the field, large enough to shield Moya from detection.
• There were originally 41 of M'Lee's species, before the hunger began.

The writers of this episode were David Kemper and Rockne S. O'Bannon. Other Farscape episodes written by David Kemper are:

Co-writer Rockne S. O'Bannon was also responsible for:

Director:

The director of this episode was Andrew Prowse. He went on to direct many other Farscape episodes:

New Aliens:
Crichton meets a representative from each of two new species, and neither seems totally friendly: M'Lee, a plant that feeds on bone. Br'Nee, a botanist willing to stop at nothing.

Farewell to:

Crais's Command		Scorpius is now in charge of Crais's command carrier.
Br'Nee		Chopped in half by his own shrink ray, and then eaten by M'Lee.

Guest Stars:

• Francesca Buller as M'Lee.
• Marton Csokas as Br'Nee.

Personal Opinion:

I've gotta be honest and say that in my opinion, this episode didn't feel right. Just as the season reaches its finale, the crew seem to take a bit of a deviation, meeting the Star Trek style "alien of the week". Obviously this was amongst all the other goings on with Moya's baby, and elsewhere, Scorpius and Crais fighting it out, but it almost seemed like an episode put in to fill a gap.

However, that doesn't stop it from being a reasonable episode in its own right. It does have an interesting plot, with a few nice twists as the title of bad guy switches between the two new aliens, and the Scorpius vs Crais plotline keeps the overall story ticking along. Revelations such as Zhaan's plant status, and Aeryn's connection to Moya's baby certainly play a part later on though.

	Fun, but a bit of a deviation		5/10