Many people say Marcus is just a spare part, and this week that’s proven, and then it’s political hijinks on the High Seas – or the outer space equivalent thereof.
Kenneth and Eugene discuss The Heir and the Spare & Just Politics.
As we wind down our coverage of Starhunter Redux this week and for subsequent episodes, we’re covering two episodes at once. Of the remaining four episodes, one is a clip show, which we’ll cover with a companion episode, and the series finale is a two-parter.
The Heir and the Spare Episode Synopsis
Marcus is talking to Percy about getting the hyperspace drive working. She doesn’t want to because… reasons. Then she screws up a repair job to get out of the conversation, then fixes it somewhat. She retreats to privacy mode in her cabin.
They’re after a fugitive named Alex Aroyan, a con man who fleeces rich women. Eva Halperin, a Martian police official, has commixed the crew of the Trans-Utopian to track him down and bring him to justice… and she’s really keen to see this happen sooner rather than later.
Callie, in a dress, brings Aroyan to the yard and subsequently to capture. Aboard the ship, Aroyan seems to recognize Marcus.
Privately, Caravaggio informs Marcus that he is an identical genetic match for Aroyan. They don’t look alike because Aroyan has had extensive plastic surgery. Aroyan doesn’t really explain, but he says Marcus is in trouble and he should let him go.
Two armed ships show up controlled by Jaten Sarat, the baddie, arrive and demand Aroyan. Aroyan says that’s even worse news for you, Marcus, and he convinces him to take him to escape on a shuttle.
Meanwhile, Percy is doing Percy things.
Travis backs his friend and keeps the baddies off their backs, at least for a while, as they escape to Sin City. There, the story is told to Marcus. He’s the “son” of the former leader of Europa. Twin sons were fashioned, one to be the heir and the other to be spare parts for the heir. Marcus is, of course, the spare parts model. When a violent man, the same one chasing them now, overthrew the government, the twins were spirited off in the hopes that one might survive.
Sarat captures them, and when they fail to agree to be his figurehead, he gets ready to kill Aroyan, clone him, and grow a new heir while cutting Marcus’ brain out and keeping his body around for reasons that don’t hold up to much scrutiny.
Travis arrives and threatens to kill them all if they don’t turn over Marcus and Aroyan, and they give them up. Travis and the gang don’t bother to turn over Aroyan to the Martian authorities because “he’s family.”
…and in the meantime, Percy has taken a shuttle and left the Trans-Utopian to do some thinking.
Should they go after here? Nah.
Just Politics Episode Synopsis
The Trans-Utopian has got troubling cargo, and Travis doesn’t like it. They’re transporting Martian Trade Minister Kolzig on a secret mission. It’s all very hush-hush and very high-paying. Upon seeing him, Rudolfo is immediately disturbed.
Gaynor Schon immediately establishes herself as a baddie by uploading a program to Caravaggio that causes him to see and identify her as the absent Percy Montana. Schon now, effectively, has full control of the ship without anyone knowing it.
Rudolfo struggles with identifying where he’s seen the Trade minister before, unaware that he’s being hampered by the tampering down to Caravaggio. At the same time, Marcus takes a shine to Jophie Henrik, the Minister’s aide. Her dad was an engineer, and she flirts her way into Marcus’ heart and engines. He keeps detecting problems with Caravaggio, but diagnostic after diagnostic shows him everything is operating normally.
Dircott, the second member of the Minister’s security squad, breaks into someone’s quarters, and Caravaggio apologetically murders him. His body is later found in his own quarters, dead of an apparent heart attack. Caravaggio, of course, can find no other cause of death.
Marcus and Jophie, who is sticking to him like suspicious glue, have discovered an anomaly in Caravaggio. When they go to the core of Caravaggio to investigate, they are zapped by Caravaggio’s defense systems, killing Jophie. Travis is unhappy about all the deaths on his ship.
They arrive at the destination, the Mannheim Asteroid Belt, where Kolzig conducts some not-at-all suspicious 30-second-long trade negotiations with Reasoner, a miner on one of the asteroids. According to Kolzig, the negotiations failed. So sad, but that’s the way it is in politics. That was a long trip for nothing.
Gaynor, however, bugged that conversation and has confirmed that Kolzig is actually conspiring against the Martian President in an effort to take over. Reasoner is his confederate, and this was just the opportunity to transfer funds to Reasoner.
Rudolfo remembers who Kolzig is…. He’s a bad guy, and he will take him to justice. When Gaynor, with the tactic approval of the Martian president, destroys the asteroid and puts the Trans-Utopian on self-destruct. Locking the others out of the computer systems.
As the clock winds down, Callie disables the shuttle that Gaynor is leaving on in the hopes she’ll stop the auto-destruct countdown. She can’t, so she kills her in a fistfight.
Marcus cannot override the damage done to Caravaggio so, finally, Travis talks Caravaggio out of destroying them.
It’s alls-well-that-ends-well as the crew contemplates blackmailing the Martian president for their fee.
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