- Earth and the rival planet Zykaria are on the cusp of war. Zykarian Ambassador Duvoe travels by a shuttle piloted by Buck Rogers to a peace conference in the city of Oasis on the otherwise desolate planet R-4. Things go awry when the shuttle encounters a sudden radiation storm and Buck is forced to land on the harsh desert surface of R-4, populated by a savage tribe of primitive mutants. Buck and Hawk must then escort the ambassador to the city on foot, with Wilma and Goodfellow, and only the riddles of a blue-skinned alien dwarf can reach the city alive. Buck also battles his feelings for Wilma when he learns the ambassador was her former love interest and his return rekindles her affections.—Woodyanders
- Earth and Zykaria are on the verge of war, and the last chance is the piece conference in Oasis on the desolated planet R-4. Buck Rogers is assigned to transport Zykarian Ambassador Aram Duvoe in a shuttle with Wilma, Hawk and Dr. Goodfellow to Oasis. Seven years ago, Wlma and Aram met each other, and they felt in love with each other. However, Ambassador Duvoe has a secret of his race, and his head is removable. When they meet each other, their love rekindles. During their journey, the shuttle crosses a magnetic storm and all the systems damage. Buck and Hawk successfully land on the desert and after leaving the shuttle, the soil collapses below and it goes underground, making impossible to the sensors to communicate with the Searcher. They are forced to walk through the desert while a tribe of mutants follow them. Out of the blue, they meet the blue skinned dwarf Odee-x, who has the power of using energy to move objects and helps them providing riddle to the group. Meanwhile, the is tension on board of the Searcher, since the Zykarian suspect that the Earthling have abducted the ambassador, and they bring several warships to surround the Searcher.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- The scene opens to the quarters of Aram Duvoe (Mark Lenard), an ambassador for the Zykarian people. The Zykarians are a bit of an isolationist race that has come to be at odds with some other races of their star system, which has put them also at odds with Earth. Tensions and racial prejudices have threatened to lead to potential hostilities. Cooler heads, looking to nip the threat of intergalactic war in the bud, have arranged a peace conference where Ambassador Duvoe is to be the main advocate on behalf of the Zykarian people, for peace.
As Duvoe is being prepped for the conference by his assistant, the two of them discuss prejudices between humans and Zykarians-- Duvoe's assistant, Rolla, showing a few prejudices himself. Duvoe wants to minimize any differences in appearance between himself and the humans, although he realizes they will be under enough pressure already: humans will escort Duvoe to the conference and if he fails to show, the threat of war will grow significantly. As Rolla prepares a dress cape to accentuate Duvoe's formal outfit, he suddenly removes Duvoe's head and places it on a rest pedestal nearby, highlighting the chief physiological difference between the two races-- the Zykarian people have a duo-entity symbiosis; head and body able to be separated from each other. Duvoe remembered seeing a holographic recording of humans witnessing a Zykarian separating his head from his body and found it to be repulsive. However, Duvoe notes this was many decades ago, before he was even born, and he believes that none of Earth's population today knows of this key difference between themselves and the Zykarians, who otherwise look very human in appearance.
Duvoe is to be escorted to the conference by officers of the Earth ship Searcher. Duvoe notes that there was one human he had become very close friends with-- a woman with whom he'd developed a mutual attraction. He has heard word that this woman is now serving on board the Searcher.
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Wilma and Buck, dressed in their most formal dress outfits, are arriving on the Searcher's bridge, where Dr. Goodfellow is frantically pleading with Admiral Asimov to allow him to accompany the escort-- the site of the conference is on a planet known as R-4 which will contains countless once-in-a-lifetime scientific and anthropological opportunites for Dr. Goodfellow. Just to shut him up, Admiral Asimov says he'll take the request under consideration without making promises. Buck notes that Wilma seems preoccupied with something, but she simply smiles sheepishly and apologizes for 'seeming' that way.
Buck asks Crichton to brief him and Wilma on the Zykarian people, but Crichton only knows that they are very human-like in appearance and very secretive about their people to outside races. Goodfellow apologizes for failing to update Chrichton's memory banks and promises to get to it... and he quickly uses this thread to slyly manipulate Asimov into agreeing to Goodfellow's going along with the escort to the peace conference. Just then, Asimov is informed that the Zykarian ship carrying Ambassador Duvoe has arrived, and he goes to the docking bay to meet Duvoe in person.
Hawk arrives on the bridge; recalled from patrol by Asimov to attend the escort party. Now that Dr. Goodfellow has finagled his way into going along, Asimov wants another trustworthy hand to try and keep him out of trouble.
Wilma asks Crichton for information on R-4. Crichton shows video recordings of the planet, explaining it has the unsavory distinction of a repository for failed genetic experiments by several planets in the Cygnus star system. The planet's geography is very similar to rocky badlands/desert-like terrain on Earth; its one place of civilization is the city of Oasis, founded exclusively for the purpose of a neutral meeting place for intergalactic peace negotiations and resolving disputes.
Asimov arrives on the bridge with Duvoe, who goes straight to Wilma. Wilma is the Earthling woman who had developed a friendship with Duvoe several years back; she didn't know he was the Zykarian ambassador she'd be escorting to the conference, but hoped he would be... this is what she'd been preoccupied about. She introduces Duvoe to Buck and Hawk, whom Duvoe greets formally but almost dismissively; his attention is focused wholly on Wilma. The two aren't fully in love but have a lingering feeling of warmness from their brief mutual infatuation from their last meeting.
The escort shuttle launches with Buck and Hawk piloting. Duvoe and WIlma tell Dr. Goodfellow about their last meeting seven years ago at a planetary conference when she was a junior lieutenant working for a consul. Both she and Duvoe were the sole members of their respective races at the conference, and stuck together for mutual support. Duvoe ended up escorting Wilma to the grand ball during the conference, which he is sure made him the envy of many delegates. But when Dr. Goodfellow mentions his good fortune in being able to observe "unusual life forms" on planet R-4, Duvoe's face changes; he doesn't realize Goodfellow is talking about the R-4 failed genetic experiments, but thinks that Goodfellow is also referring to him specifically.
The shuttle enter's R-4's atmosphere and skims over the planet's surface. Just before Oasis is due to appear on the horizon from their vantage point, all of the shuttle's sensors are signalling energy overload. Buck and Hawk are forced to make a crash landing on the surface in a clearing among the rocky hills. As the ship comes to a stop, all power and light on the shuttle goes out; every single circuit on the shuttle, including those that control communications, has been completely fried. Worse, Buck and Hawk's pulsar guns have likewise been rendered inoperable and useless.
Although Dr. Goodfellow notes that the crash was caused by a magnetic radiation storm, and that such storms can strike very suddenly and unpredictably in R-4's atmosphere, Duvoe is visibly upset that the shuttle-- and Buck specifically, as its captain-- was not prepared for it. More to the point, he notes to the escorts that both Zykarian delegates at the conference will become very deeply concerned at any delay in Duvoe's arrival. Duvoe reacts with seeming outrage that Buck and Hawk have no means of contacting anyone to notify them of what's happened to the shuttle.
The shuttle begins listing and everyone must hurry out of it. As they make it out, they see to their horror that the shuttle landed on a patch of loose sand into which it is sinking. The shuttle disappears completely from view under the loose shifting sands, raising an even bigger problem: No sensors from either the Searcher nor the Zykarian ship will be able to detect the shuttle on their sensors: the shuttle will appear to have completely vanished without a trace. Duvoe reminds everyone that bigoted groups among both his own people, and the humans of Earth, have hoped to try and sabotage the conferences to push the two planets over the precipice toward war. Zykarian officials will put the blame entirely on the Searcher as being behind the disappearance, and the onus of finding out what happened, on its crew. But the Searcher's only available atmospheric craft are its fighter ships-- which are strictly prohibited under intergalactic law from entering the atmosphere of R-4 during a peace conference. Fighter ships violating this rule for any reason are destroyed by Oasis' automated defense systems.
The party must walk the rest of the way to Oasis, and immediately it is shown that they have to face two conflicts. First, Duvoe, who as a noble of his people is accustomed to having his wishes followed, is at odds with Buck, the commander of the escort mission, who makes it clear that he will get Duvoe safely to the conference 'whatever it takes...' and some of the planet's natives, descended from the failed genetic experiments abandoned on R-4, have been discreetly watching the shuttle's arrival from the foothills.
The commander of the Zykarian ship, Admiral Zite (Len Birman) is being informed by Raka (Donn Whyte), his adviser from Zykarian intelligence, that there is still no trace of the shuttle. They know that its communications were knocked out by the magnetic radiation cloud, but the First Officer hypothesizes that the shuttle may have been equipped with anti-scanning devices to hide it from Zykarian sensors, while the Searcher crew quietly protests failure to find the shuttle on its own sensors. Raka carefully avoids stating this as fact, only that it's possible... but his even suggesting it mortifies Zite, who is extremely wary of accusing the Searcher of orchestrating a plot to abduct Duvoe. Still, as Raka reminds him, he cannot ignore the fact that people on both sides of the Earth - Zykaria conflict are looking to incite war, and Zite cannot afford to discount the possibility of human treachery behind the shuttle's disappearance.
Meanwhile, aboard the Searcher, Asimov and and bridge officer Lieutenant Devlin are also growing very alarmed. All they know is that the disappearance is related to charged particle clouds in the planet's atmosphere, which Crichton believes may be tied to the presence of a double star in the quadrant.
Walking through the R-4 badlands, Buck and Hawk note freshly made footprints. As they look at the tracks, the sound of humanoid laughter echoes across the hills. Dr. Goodfellow's scientific mind clicks on and he immediately wants to try and get the life form to show itself. He suggests laughing back, and shouts a forced laugh into the hills until Buck stops him, trying (without much success) to remind him that they need to get to Oasis as fast as possible. Duvoe continues to see Buck as being dictatorial, and only Wilma is able to reason with him about the true nature of both Buck and Dr. Goodfellow. Duvoe notes that Wilma is able to call Buck by his first name and gently reminds her that she had permission to call him by his first name, Aram.
The crazy laugh continues to follow the party as they continue their trek. Dr. Goodfellow is delighted and astonished as the laughing voice suddenly speaks to them, warning them to 'beware Ezerhaaden.' Hawk goes to scout among nearby rocks to see if he can find the source of the laughter and the warning voice. Duvoe takes the opportunity to 'mention' to Buck that Zite is a man of high suspicions, and even a simple rumor of ulterior motives among any of the Searcher's high command in providing the escort to Oasis could lead to the destruction of Searcher. Hawk returns to inform Buck that whatever or whoever is following them, is also very good at avoiding detection. Dr. Goodfellow, at the rear of the party, tries to sneak away to find whoever's following them, himself-- but Goodfellow, unlike this 'laughing one,' is far less proficient at escaping Hawk's keen senses of sight and hearing. The laughing voice continues to follow them and warn them to 'beware Ezerhaaden,' but Buck keeps everyone's mind focused on the trek to Oasis.
On board the Searcher, Zite requests visual communication with Asimov and asks him to meet in the airlock in two minutes to discuss the shuttle's disappearance. Asimov notes to Devlin that the airlock is 'neutral territory;' neither of them having enough trust yet, to board the other's ship.
As Asimov and Devlin approach the airlock, Asimov pauses, struck by a thought that he quickly notes he dreads even entertaining for a moment because of how it makes him look. But he's quietly concerned over the fact that the Searcher has passively taken full responsibility for the shuttle's disappearance, and the Zykarians are doing their part in thrusting the responsibility upon them. He's hoping that Zite doesn't have Zykarian soldiers hiding in the airlock to quietly take Asimov out in order to take command of the Searcher. As horrified as he is for thinking such thoughts, Asimov has begun to wonder if Duvoe is a pawn for Zykarians looking for an excuse to incite war against Earth. Still, he feels he has no choice but to walk into the airlock to meet with Zite and pray that he's just being paranoid. Asimov sends Devlin back to the bridge to meet with Zite alone.
In the airlock, Asimov and Zite talk. Asimov asks Crichton to tell Zite the results of the Searcher's findings, but the only data Crichton knows, concerns the magnetic cloud shorting out every one of the shuttle's electrical systems and circuits-- something Zite already knows from his own crew's analysis of the situation. Crichton has no theory concerning the lack of success in finding the shuttle on either ship's sensors, which leads Zite to show his own prejudices as he tells Asimov that the longer the delay in finding the shuttle and Duvoe, the longer Zite will be susceptible to suggestion that Earthling treachery is behind the disappearance and obliged to take 'punitive action.'
Back on R-4, the party continues their trek. Wilma and Duvoe become distracted talking about their time together at the planetary conference seven years ago. Both of them had intense romantic crushes on one another, but while Duvoe was ready to sacrifice his career and position to be with Wilma, she didn't feel she could let him do that-- and with the hope of avoiding galactic war now possibly resting on Duvoe's shoulders, she's more glad than ever for that. Still, Duvoe is happy just to spend whatever time is available with her, even in the wastelands of R-4.
Buck picks out a spot for the party to get a brief rest. At the spot are more footprints. Hawk goes to investigate-- which means taking his eyes off Dr. Goodfellow, who immediately sneaks off to try and find any alien life forms himself. It doesn't take the doctor long to find himself face to face with a few of the local primitives, who don't respond to his friendly greetings in kind. They put him in a small rock fissure and pick up a boulder to place over the opening, imprisoning him in it. Even in the midst of it, Dr. Goodfellow is only mildly worried and unafraid, although Buck and Hawk do pick up the sound of his fussing and hurry to retrieve him. Guided by shouting so they can hear each others' voices, Buck and Hawk find the rock under which Goodfellow is trapped. The rock is too heavy for Buck, Hawk, Wilma and Duvoe all together to move, even though two of the primitives were able to lift it and put it in place.
The laughing voice echoes from around the foothills. Since Goodfellow is accounted for and can't go anywhere, Hawk takes the opportunity to try and find the 'laughing one' again. This time Hawk is more successful... the laughing one, a four-foot tall, blue skinned, white haired humanoid like creature (played by Felix Silla) walks among the hills, distractedly talking to itself about how stupid humans must be. Hawk quickly grabs him up, and the blue-skinned creature indignantly identifies himself as Odee-x, 'the invincible,' a claim Hawk finds very amusing. He carries the protesting Odee-x back to Buck, Wilma and Duvoe. Buck doesn't see Odee-x as much of a threat, but Odee-x proves he is not so harmless as he might seem on first glance, loosing an energy blast from his eyes that hurls Buck about fifteen feet back through the air. But Odee-x only laughs crazily after the demonstration, showing he isn't inherently hostile. Still, he's more than happy to further 'demonstrate' his power-- he uses the beams from his eyes to telekinetically lift the stone under which Goodfellow is trapped, and then lift Goodfellow out of the fissure.
Odee-x tells the party he's been on R-4 for 400 years, and Goodfellow realizes that his name is an acronym, OD-X, which stands for Ocular Dynamics Experiment, the first shipment of genetic experiments sent to R-4 from Saturn... none of which concerns Odee-x himself. He tells the party that the primitives who put Goodfellow in the trap are a tribe called Atavar, masters of a being called Ezerhaaden who guards their lair deep in the bowels of the planet. The Atavars frequently surface to kill and plunder travelers on the planet, placing their victims' heads on poles and then worshiping the heads as some sort of spiritual or religious idols.
Understanding that they can't make any demands on Odee-x, Duvoe diplomatically asks if they're taking the shortest route to Oasis. Odee-x says it is, but they'll never get there. When asked why this is, he responds with a curious riddle about the sands of the desert becoming quick-- which Buck and Hawk realize means quicksand. Odee-x is amused at their correctly answering the riddle, and 'rewards' them by saying that the one traversible route to Oasis is through the Cave of the Winds, the lair of the Atavar. Odee-x doubts that the Atavar will let them pass through the cave, but the Atavar themselves are the least of their worries-- Odee-x says they will undoubtedly be caught in the first trap they encounter; they cannot hope to avoid the trap because it isn't even there. He then recites another riddle: "To reach the pawl that frees the lock, conscious thought avails you not." Odee-x points out the way to the cave before rushing off, laughing again. Buck starts to reach to grab him, but stops himself, remembering Odee-x's power. None of the party is sure if Odee-x is telling the truth, but Buck feels they don't have much choice but to trust him. They set out for the cave; the Atavar hanging back and watching them.
On board the Zykarian vessel, Zite and Raka are talking. Although Raka tries to assure Zite that he was wise to call in a Zykarian battle cruiser, Zite is still displeased at having done so. He very much wants to trust Asimov, and if he were in Asimov's shoes, he would doubtlessly be offended at the warship's arrival, especially considering that Searcher is a peaceful exploration vessel with limited armament. A wise commander puts his finger on the trigger only as a last resort, and the cruiser is a trigger.
At that moment Raka says the cruiser is only a gun-- Raka himself has been carrying the trigger ever since he came on board. He hands Zite an envelope with sealed orders, which he was instructed by his superiors not to give to Zite until and unless, in Raka's opinion, it was completely warranted. Raka believes that moment has arrived.
Zite breaks the seal and reads the orders. He is visibly horrified at what he's read. Raka confirms that he knows what is in the orders: If Duvoe fails to reach the peace conference by a certain deadline, Zite has been ordered to destroy Searcher and lead an immediate full military strike on Earth. Part 1 of Journey to Oasis ends with Zite angrily crumpling the envelope in a tight fist.
Journey to Oasis Part 2 begins with Asimov quietly fretting on the bridge. Devlin alerts him to the arrival of the Zykarian warship. Asimov muses that in his younger days he'd have accepted the offered challenge, but now he sees it as two races unable to trust each other, blundering into tragedy. Hoping to soothe Zite's anxieties, Asimov requests that Devlin arrange a formal dinner invitation for Zite to dine with Asimov and the senior Searcher brass.
Back on R-4, the party is resting again; Duvoe and Wilma talking about their pasts, the dreams of young officers, and the hopes of older officers to still capture their dreams. As they talk, the two sit by rock outcroppings covered with weed-like plant leaves.
But these plant life forms are far more like Venus fly-traps than daffodils; the tendril-like growths suddenly begin to move, wrapping around Wilma and Duvoe's throats, beginning to choke them. Buck and Hawk rush to pull the tendrils off them-- and then stop Goodfellow from going to examine them; carnivorous plants he identifies as giant lichen. The argument is interrupted by four Atavar at the top of the hill. They throw long pike-spears at the party, which miss, and the Atavar flee. Buck notes that Duvoe is missing. Grabbing one of the pikes, Buck goes in search of him.
Duvoe has ducked behind some rocks and removed his head, setting it nearby, so his body can tend to the hurt neck. Before Duvoe can finish and reunite his head and body, Buck rounds a rock formation and sees Duvoe for what his people are. Getting defensive, Duvoe reminds Buck that Zykarians might find him strange and undesirable because, as a human, he can't remove his head. Buck concedes the point quietly, without retort, and asks if Wilma knows the truth about him. Putting his head back in place, Duvoe starts to again answer defensively, when Wilma meets up with them. Noting the continuing tension between Buck and Duvoe, she waits until Buck goes to regroup with Hawk and Goodfellow and quietly tells Duvoe that if he and Buck were able to spend enough time together, she's sure they would become friends. Duvoe concedes it as possible before they regroup with the rest of the escort party to resume the trek.
Buck and Hawk note they're being followed. Hawk agrees to lag behind in order to watch and see if it is Odee-x or more Atavar. Having no sense of personal danger where science is concerned, Goodfellow wants to stay with Hawk and Buck nearly has to carry him off.
At nighttime, Hawk finds Odee-x, asking why the small gnome-like creature is following them. Saying he had nothing better to do, Odee-x uses a mild energy ray from his eyes to make Hawk sleepy. Stretching and yawning himself, Odee-x lays down beside Hawk, using his shoulder as a pillow.
At a camp where Buck, Wilma, Duvoe and Goodfellow are resting for the night, tensions continue. Goodfellow's monologue about the lichen creature hits too close to home for Duvoe when Goodfellow mentions that the lichen creature is two entities co-existing and co-operating as one. Wilma tries to probe Buck for information on his dissents with Duvoe, knowing that Buck isn't telling her something, Trying to avoid revealing what he's learned, Buck dances around the point, trying to express caring for Wilma's safety... but this only makes Wilma more cross at what seems like a possible hint of jealousy on Buck's part. The two tersely agree that the discussion should cease, though Wilma leaves Buck with a final thought... she considers Ambassador Duvoe to be 'quite a man.'
On the Searcher, the dinner is ready and Admiral Zite is about to arrive on board. Asimov is called to the bridge and shown the arrival of two more Zykarian battle cruisers, making a total of three, all targeting the Searcher with their weapons. Asimov is frustrated and angry as he leaves the bridge to greet Zite.
The dinner with Zite and Raka does not go well. Initially cordial discussion on the nature of the Searcher's mission is known to Zite, Raka, Asimov and Devlin to be parleying rather than talking. Zite finally requests permission to speak bluntly and admits to Asimov that the Zykarian high command believes that Earthlings engineered the abduction of Duvoe and intend to try and use him as barter for some kind of strategically risky concession. Illogical as the plot sounds, Zite reminds Asimov that war follows its own twisted logic, and Zite is a soldier. He offers no further promise than to withhold fire until the peace conference begins and Duvoe is reported absent.
Morning on R-4. Odee-x awakens before Hawk and has enough time to run off before Hawk awakens and can see where he's gone. The rest of the party is already resuming the journey. Duvoe notes Wilma is not herself and tries to ask about it. When she asks what happened between Duvoe and Buck, he answers evasively, saying it is normal for two strong-willed men to abrade each other, especially when they both care about the same woman.
Buck calls for a break at Goodfellow's request, but the pause reveals a chilling site that causes Wilma to scream from the shock. Placed on wooden stakes are a series of skulls and dessicated heads. On the ground at the base of the stakes are stones placed in a series of patterns. Goodfellow understands the site to be a shrine for the Atavar, which naturally makes him insistent on looking more closely... and Buck naturally insistent on leading him away.
Hawk is tracking Odee-x and spies him from afar, using his eye beams to erase his footprints. Suddenly the energy rays begin to weaken and die out. Odee-x's power is waning, and Hawk takes the opportunity to sit near Odee-x and try to appeal to him good-naturedly to help them through the Cave of the Winds. Odee-x acknowledges that the Atavar are his enemy, but living otherwise alone on R-4 for 400 years has made even the company of enemies better than none at all. Still smiling good-naturedly, Hawk offers to carry Odee-x back to the party to conscript him as a guide, now that his power has been waning. But Odee-x knows something Hawk doesn't-- he stopped at this spot to rest for a reason. A cloud of energy radiation particles begins to form, causing Hawk's hands and Odee-x's whole body to glow. The cloud is recharging Odee-x's power to full, meaning he will be able to best Hawk easily. Chuckling in amusement, Hawk acknowledges that he needs to leave Odee-x be. Odee-x offers Hawk a parting gift: another riddle about the Cave of the Winds, pertaining to Ezerhaaden, the worst danger in the Cave-- "To best Ezerhaaden and seal his fate, give him the point of your argument, straight."
Buck, Wilma, Duvoe and Goodfellow are continuing their trek. Duvoe and Buck move ahead where Duvoe offers Buck a genuine gesture of gratitude for not telling Wilma about his duo-entity ability. Buck says quietly that it's not his place to tell-- it's Duvoe's. Duvoe acknowledges this as true, but seeks to wait until they're alone and he can give her time to brace herself. Hawk catches up with the party and tells them Odee-x's second riddle. The good news is that if they make it safely through the Cave of the Winds, Oasis will be in sight.
The party finally finds the entrance to the Cave of the Winds. A scout group of Atavar continues to follow them.
The party enters the cave, walking down the entry tunnel. It isn't long before they hear the howling of fierce wind from other tunnel, and they spot a dire warning of what the winds can do... they see humanoid bones embedded in the rock from the force of the wind.
They continue down the tunnel when suddenly the sound of the winds stops. The cave is quiet as a tomb. Buck takes several more steps forward and finds himself walking into an invisible wall almost like a force-field... except that his pike goes right through it. The wall is all across the tunnel, blocking all forward progress, and now another wall is behind them, trapping the party between the two walls. They can't successfully dig under it. Worse, the nearby wall torch is starting to die out; they're running out of air. Goodfellow theorizes that the trap is only in their minds, which Wilma translates as meaning that the trap doesn't actually exist. Then Duvoe mentions that an extension of the thought would mean the trap isn't really there.
Odee-x's first warning fills their minds: he'd told them they couldn't avoid the trap because it wasn't there. They quickly ponder his first riddle: "To reach the pawl that frees the lock, conscious thought avails you not. They realize one wall torch beyond the forward invisible wall is a lever. But even the pike, which goes through the wall, cannot reach it.
Goodfellow realizes that 'conscious' and 'not' mean 'unconscious thought.' He hypnotizes Wilma, putting her into a trance, and tells her to go to the lever and pull it down. WIlma walks right through the invisible wall and pulls the lever, releasing the trap. They can hear the winds again. Watching from a hidden vantage point, Odee-x is impressed but also fusses that perhaps his riddles are too easy.
The party comes across a rope bridge; very unsteady and not looking secure. It spans a lake of boiling hot water infested with poisonous snakes. Buck tries to cross the bridge, nearly falling off twice when the ferocious winds pass through the tunnel. Buck barely makes it across when he sees a glowing sword-like weapon hovering in the air in front of him, and a disembodied, deep masculine voice speaking hatefully to them in rhyme. It is Ezerhaaden, guardian of the Lair of the Atavar.
Hawk tosses the pike back to Buck so he can defend himself, but Ezerhaaden still knocks him precariously close to the edge of the chasm. Odee-x suddenly runs forward, yelling invective at Ezerhaaden. The energy sword knocks Odee-x against a wall, dazing him. Hawk and Wilma ponder Odee-x's second riddle and realize that the point of the argument means the point of Buck's pike. But Ezerhaaden immediately slices the steel head off with his sword. The sword moves so fast Buck can barely defend. Ezerhaaden makes another lunge for Odee-x. Buck thrusts the broken shaft of the pike forward to block, and Ezerhaaden's sword chops off another piece of the shaft, creating another point. Buck hurls it like a spear, which lands and embeds itself in the air right beside the glowing sword. The voice of Ezerhaaden gives a death-groan and the sword falls to the ground.
On board the Searcher, Asimov, Twiki and Crichton note the Zykarian command ship moving away, but Asimov knows it's only to give the three war cruisers a clear field of fire. He asks an ensign what the distance of the cruisers is, and is told an eight of a quadrant. Staring at the monitor, Asimov tells the ensign to have Devlin meet Asimov in the engine room.
At the engine room, Devlin understands what Asimov has in mind, and he doesn't offer any objections. Asimov muses about an incident when he was a lieutenant, commanding seven cruisers, and an accidental laser discharge holed the engine room of one cruiser. All seven ships were lost in the blast. Asimov tells Devlin they're going to rig the Searcher to become a booby trap.
On R-4, the rest of the party has crossed the rope bridge. Odee-x explains that even he could not defeat Ezerhaaden because the guardian was invisible, and Odee-x's power is in his eyes, which were useless against something he couldn't see. He needed a champion, and Buck proved capable. Oddly enough, though, Odee-x wouldn't take unfair advantage of Ezerhaaden, nor waste his brilliant wit, hence the riddles. He has one important task ahead of him: he picks up Ezerhaaden's sword and tosses it ino the boiling lake, laughing in triumph.
Odee-x assures Buck, Hawk and Wilma that he will be good as new with some rest, and his wound isn't serious. He offers them a final riddle, which he says is the most important of all: "When death is sure, no way out, an angry god puts death to rout." The party gives Odee-x a thankful goodbye and continues on their way, Odee-x sitting down to meditate and rest, and heal.
On the Searcher's bridge, Devlin carefully carries a device to Asimov. It's a relay detonator for the Searcher's photon core. Detonating the core will cause Searcher to explode with the force of a star going supernova, which will instantly incinerate everything within the quadrant-- including Admiral Zite's command ship and the three Zykarian battle cruisers. The trap ready, they can now only watch and wait to see if Duvoe and the escort team still can arrive at Oasis in time for the peace conference.
The party is emerging from the far side of the Cave of the Winds, and Oasis is in sight. But as they start to move forward, a full war party of Atavar surrounds them, working up their courage to attack. Odee-x's third riddle about an angry god putting death to rout seems to be failing them this time. Buck and Hawk prepare to try and fight the Atavar and create an opening big enough for Wilma and Goodfellow to get Duvoe safely through. But as Hawk and Buck prepare their charge, Duvoe suddenly darts away to one side.
The Atavar quickly dash Buck and Hawk's attack when Duvoe's voice rings out, commanding the Atavar to halt. Duvoe has removed his head and holds it high in the air with both hands, showing a living head-- a living object of Atavar worship before the primitives... an angry god. Duvoe castigates the Atavar for their sinful ways, ordering them to flee and never threaten travelers again.
The threat abated, Duvoe turns his lifted head toward Wilma regretfully. He had planned to tell her about his people's dual entity nature, but not like this. As the party regroups to make the last of the journey to Oasis, Wilma realizes that Buck had seen Duvoe remove his head, and knew the truth about him... that was what Buck wasn't telling her.
The scene shifts to the Searcher bridge. Asimov, Zite, Buck, Duvoe, Hawk, Goodfellow, Devlin, Twiki and Crichton are all watching a video recording of Duvoe speaking at the now-completed peace conference. Duvoe speaks eloquently of how he gained a new respect for humankind in working with them to overcome the tribulations they faced in reaching Oasis, and this could be the foundation of trust and peace. Asimov and Zite both express heartfelt agreement and support, both commanders praying they never stray so close to the tragedy of war again, before shaking hands as officers and gentlemen. Musing on their travels, Duvoe knows it is time for Zykaria to end its policy of isolation and reach out to learn to know their galactic neighbors, and communicate, in order to earn understanding and trust.
Wilma is waiting for Duvoe in the airlock between ships. She feels very bad at the shock she experienced first seeing Duvoe remove his head, promising she will never be shocked by it again. Duvoe doesn't regret one moment of the time they spent together. Both of them are hopeful they will meet again someday.
Buck arrives to see Duvoe off. They've gained a mutual respect and shake hands in farewell. As Duvoe passes through the airlock back onto the Zykarian command ship, Buck tells Wilma she was right about Duvoe... he was quite a man.
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