Farscape/Recap/S03/E11 Incubator

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< Farscape‎ | Recap‎ | S03


Season 3, Episode 11:

Incubator

Scorpius' wormhole experiments have hit a dead-end: test-pilots keep liquifying when they fly through wormholes, and some of the equations in the neural chip cannot be deciphered. In a last-ditch attempt to unlock this knowledge, Scorpius puts the chip inside his own head and discovers that a neural clone of Crichton exists within it, blocking the Peacekeepers from taking the wormhole equations.

In order to convince this neural clone of Crichton to release the information, Scorpius reveals his backstory: his mother was kidnapped by Scarrans and raped as part of an experiment to study Scarran/Sebacean hybrids. Scorpius spent his entire childhood being tortured, learning how to withstand pain, how to be patient and cunning, how to exploit weakness. The Scarrans tried to indoctrinate Scorpius into hating Sebaceans, but it backfired, and when Scorpius eventually escaped, he joined up with the Peacekeepers. However, he has no loyalty towards the Peacekeeper cause -- they're only a means to his end -- and neither does he have any desire to conquer the galaxy using wormhole technology. Scorpius' only motivation is to destroy the Scarrans as revenge for what they did to him, and wormhole weapons, like the Peacekeepers, are simply a means to accomplish that.

Linfer, one of the scientists working on the Peacekeeper wormhole project, volunteers to fly one of the test runs using her new phase shielding that should protect her from liquefaction during travel. However, once on the other side of the wormhole, she immediately seeks out Moya and attempts to defect from the Peacekeepers. She makes Crichton a deal: the secret of wormhole travel in exchange for Moya. D'Argo, Chiana and Jool are against such a deal, but Pilot and Moya (who trust Linfer's species) are willing, and Crichton is swayed by the offer of wormhole tech. Unfortunately, liquefaction starts to set in for Linfer, only delayed by the phase shielding, and she chooses to commit suicide by self-destructing her Prowler.

Having told his past to Crichton's neural clone, Scorpius asks it to release the wormhole information. Though somewhat affected by the memories, Crichton still refuses, citing the Ancient's mantra that if he can't develop wormholes on his own, he's not smart enough to use them wisely. Angry, Scorpius starts to overheat and needs his cooling rod replaced -- the heat fries the neural chip, destroying both the clone and the wormhole information, but Scorpius still manages to recover a few of the equations, enough to get the Peacekeepers' research back on track.