Episode Recap: Take the Shot

Things are getting hot and heavy in the bedroom as The Android is joined by Victor, the android who gave her the 'emotional upgrade' chip earlier this season. It looks like there's going to be some sweet android lovemaking going down, until …

The Android wakes up from her charge cycle on board the Raza. So it was all … a dream? Ever concerned about the fine line between "I'm special" and "I'm malfunctioning," The Android calls the crew together and, with the help of the ever-jovial Android Simulation, describes her recent oversight that resulted in the failure of one of the ship's secondary capacitors (as discussed by the two Androids at the end of Episode 5 this season). This, coupled with the fact that she's now, you know, having sex dreams, means she might be getting to the point where she's unable to serve as the crew's resident Android.

Nyx, Three and Six escort The Android back to the charging station, where she prepares to go offline to see if she has another dream. Meanwhile, Two and Five argue over what to do; Two insists that they can't have an Android on board that makes mistakes whilst Five believes deleting her personality matrix and reinstating her default settings is the equivalent of killing her.

Besides, wasn't it Two herself who made The Android 'special'? According to the alternate world Android we saw earlier this season, she was. Again, though … why?

We'll worry about that later. For now, Misaki Han, the commander of the Imperial Royal of Ishida (she was sent to Hyperion-8 to collect Four back in Episode 2 of this season), has somehow boarded the ship and is engaging in swordplay with Four. She taunts Four, calling him a coward for flying around in his little ship while his people on Zairon are losing a war. She even stabs him through the stomach! But then the wound — and Misaki herself — disappear.

Well, that was weird. What's even weirder is Two being confronted by a squad of iron-masked goons, apparently sent by her creator, Alexander Rook. They drag her toward a torture chair, where they're prepared to cut her head open with a damn power saw … until Six and Nyx show up and snap her out of it.

Oh, and then Three gets a surprise visitor: his (dead) ladylove, Sara! She tells him that he can join her in a place where there's no pain and no loneliness … all he has to do is shoot himself in the head. He almost goes through with it, too, but Six shows up just in time.

Uh … what's going on? Time to call in the Android Simulation, who claims these hallucinations are actually The Android's fault. Y'see, all this talk of how they might have to hit the reset button on The Android has apparently caused her to activate a rogue subroutine dedicated to her self-preservation. Via being hooked up to the charging station, The Android has unleashed a virus that's allowing her to take control of the Raza … and target the NEURAL LINKS the ship has with Two, Three and Four, courtesy of the neural imprints that are still on the ship's computers (remember that? It caused all sorts of trouble this season in Episode 3). The hallucinations are a byproduct of the virus attacking the program that controls the neural link.

So The Android is, quite literally, messing with everyone's head.

Okay, no problem — we just unplug her from the charging station, right? Nah, too easy — you gotta shoot her in the head, according to the Android Simulation. As Two prepares to delete the neural imprints from the ship's computers once and for all, Three, Nyx and Six are sent to do the dirty deed. Three aims his gun right in the sleeping Android's face, trying to convince himself that she's "just a machine" …

Suddenly, Two tells Three to stand down after Five tells her that the Android Simulation is compromised. It would appear that the virus was unleashed before The Android commenced with her second charging station nap … specifically, right when she activated the Android Simulation!

Okay, so the Android Simulation is the source of the virus. So who planted the virus in the first place? Hmm …

No time to worry about that now, as the virus has unleashed a toxic gas from the coolant system. The rest of the crew heads for the safety of the Marauder as Two plans to pull the Raza's computer core to stop this once and for all. The Android Simulation tells her that such an action will cause the ship to become adrift, unable to be controlled by even The Android … though Two calls her bluff on that last past.

Meanwhile, The Android has been enjoying another dream in which she's romanced by Victor, though the pleasant fantasy soon turns sinister when she watches a newscast reporting that the Raza is under attack by the Mikkei Combine. Realizing that her friends need her, The Android leaves Slumberland and wakes up, coming to Two's assistance when the virus activates the magnetic boots in her spacesuit to keep her from walking to the computer core any further. The Android pulls the computer core, despite the Android Simulation telling her that it's an action she'll soon regret. The Android Simulation disappears … and the Raza shuts down completely.

Later, Five tells Two that it was probably Commander Truffault of the Mikkei Combine who planted the virus as a failsafe back when she briefly took over the Raza (back in Episode 8 of this season). Content for now with this sound (though unlikely) theory, Two hails the crew and asks if there are any objections to The Android re-establishing her neural link with the Raza. There are none.

The episode ends with Four retiring to his quarters and opening a file on his personal computer: the neural imprint containing his memories. He saved his before Two had a chance to purge it. Four told the imagined Misaki that, without his memories, he doesn't know who to trust in his court back on Zairon … is Four planning on ending his days as an amnesiac?