####Overview
The outbreak of a fatal disease among the Markab population prompts a panic on the station; Dr. Franklin races against time to find a cure.
####Lurk
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/synops/040.html
####Backplot
The Minbari expect Valen, the holy figure who founded the Grey Council a thousand years ago (perhaps during the last conflict with the Shadows) to return some day — or at least, they have a religious ceremony suggesting so.
A deadly virus appeared on an isolated island on the Markab homeworld several hundred years ago, wiping the entire population out. The inhabitants of the island were known for what was widely considered sinful behavior, and the virus came to be viewed as divine retribution by the Markab.
Dr. Franklin visited the Markab homeworld once while he was hitchhiking on starships in his youth.
Keffer has been taking trips into hyperspace in his spare time, looking for the mysterious ship (a Shadow ship) he saw in [[A Distant Star]].
When Delenn was a small child, she was separated from her parents in an unfamiliar Minbari city. Eventually she found refuge in an old, apparently unused, temple, where she waited for hours. Then, just before her parents found her, she saw a vision of a figure, bathed in light, who told her, “I will not allow my little ones to come to harm in this place.”
####Unanswered Questions
Was the virus created artificially? If so, who did it and why? (See Analysis)
How many Markab are still alive?
What’s going on between Delenn and Sheridan?
Will someone lay claim to the dead Markab worlds? Who?
Was Delenn’s story about the temple true, or just a story to comfort the lost Markab child? If true, who or what appeared before her? (See jms speaks)
Will the disease spread among the Pak’ma’ra as well, or will Franklin’s treatment stop it from wiping them out?
####Analysis
This episode’s plague theme meshes with the story and ritual practice of Passover. The Minbari dinnner ceremony Sheridan, Delenn, and Lennier participate in is a ritualized meal, like Passover: foods must be eaten in a particular order, and a table setting is left for a revered historical figure (Elijah, Valen) who is supposed to return some day. As the Markabs enter the de facto “quarantine” chamber, the Markab ambassador suggests that if they pray and are pure, the plague will “pass over” them — a parallel with the original passover story, where a certain sign on the house door made a plague attacking the Egyptians pass over the Jews. Franklin’s discussion of the Black Death also mentions how Jews were unjustly accused of spreading the infection.
Franklin appears to have forgotten about the alien healing device he acquired in [[The Quality of Mercy]] and used on Garibaldi in [[Revelations]]. which he could have used to help his friend and thus increase the chance of finding a real cure. Or perhaps he knows enough about it now to know that it wouldn’t have worked on plague victims for some reason. (Obviously it wouldn’t have been of much use to the Markab population in general, since it only works on one person at a time and only with a donor.)
Babylon 5’s crew may have inadvertently helped the disease spread when they gathered all the Markab for blood tests; presumably some of the subjects would have remained in their quarters if they hadn’t been dragged out and tested in a room full of possible carriers.
Sheridan presumably ordered Keffer to stop his expeditions because he suspects Keffer’s mystery ship is a Shadow vessel. Will he let Keffer in on that information, or will he continue to keep it to himself and simply let the order stand?
Franklin’s frequent use of stims to stay awake while a medical crisis is going on (cf. “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum”) may spell big trouble for him if he keeps it up. Doctors on stims are more likely to make mistakes (cf. Dr. Rosen in [[The Quality of Mercy]]) and it appears the Earth medical community doesn’t look kindly on the practice of doctors drugging themselves to stay awake — Dr. Rosen lost her medical license as a result.
Whatever his good intentions, his obsession with solving everything on his own may lead him into a regrettable situation down the road. There isn’t yet enough evidence to show that he’s actually addicted to the stims, though. (See jms speaks)
It’s been argued that the Markab did die for their sins — specifically, the sin of pride, by believing that they could keep the disease to themselves and not involve any outsiders. Had Franklin learned of the disease when it first hit the station, he (or another non-Markab doctor) might well have been able to save a billion lives.
Delenn seems to be coming apart at the seams in many ways, probably as a result of being made a pariah among her people. If she’s telling the truth, or at least part of the truth, about undergoing her change to help draw humans and Minbari closer together (cf. [[Revelations]]) it must be frustrating in the extreme to be reviled by her own kind, and resented by many humans (cf. “And Now For a Word.”) Especially if she believes that she’s special somehow, a unique player in an immense drama (cf. “Babylon Squared.”) This, in combination with the influence of her new biology, may explain why she’s reaching out to Sheridan now; he at least seems to respect her and relate to her as an equal, and she probably trusts him a lot more now that she sees he can be trusted with one of her biggest secrets (cf. “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum”.) Or, of course, she could be planning something. She’s been trying to get closer to Sheridan for quite some time (cf. [[A Race Through Dark Places]]) and this could simply be the next step.
On a similar note, being locked in a room and helplessly watching thousands of people die all around can’t be good for Delenn’s emotional stability. It remains to be seen if this will have an impact on her personality; for many people it would be a profound shock. But Sheridan’s statement that Delenn wouldn’t be able to come back out if she entered the contaminated area doesn’t make sense, given that the plague was known to be airborne; she’d be exposed to it either way, given that the station’s air is recycled (as stated in the episode.) Presumably he was just trying to keep her from going in.
The timing of the plague’s reappearance, with all the other events going on, is suspicious. Of course, it might be a simple coincidence, as Franklin suspects, just a dormant disease whose time has come. But another interpretation is that the outbreak on the Markab island centuries earlier was an early biological warfare test on an isolated population, and the events in this episode were the real attack. If that’s true, who is responsible, and do they have any connection with the approaching Great War?
Note that the Markab did have some contact with the Shadows last time they rose up, as evidenced by the Markab ambassador’s speech in [[The Long Dark]] — perhaps someone (not necessarily the Shadows; maybe the man at the bar was right) didn’t want the Markab around to participate this time.
Franklin’s cure protects possible victims against attack, rather than eliminating the disease. B5, with its recycled air supply, now permanently carries the disease, which is dangerous to species with yellow and green blood-cells (or cells that perform a similar function, namely the manufacture of certain neurotransmitters) and might well mutate to endanger others. This could affect the willingness of alien groups to use the station in the future. Even species not vulnerable to the disease might keep away just to be safe.
When Sheridan wakes up from his nap in Delenn’s quarters, he mumbles, “In the memory of the nine and the one.” Presumably the nine refers to the Grey Council, and the one refers either to Valen or to The One, as mentioned in [[Babylon Squared]]. There’s also an echo of the story told in the Minbari ceremony in [[The Parliament of Dreams]].
####Notes
This episode features a previously unseen alien (or at least, a humanoid who’s presumably alien) wearing a suit with an elaborate helmet. The helmet bears a striking resemblance to the mask of Morpheus, the King of Dreams, from Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” comic book. As “Sandman” is one of JMS’s favorite comics, this may be an intentional homage.
“Markab” is Arabic for “boat.”
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