| Original UK Transmission: | Friday 25th May 1990, BSB Galaxy |
"A touch too experienced. A touch past his best, perhaps? A touch like Long John Silver on a bender." - Charles Brelan
Harriet visits Commissioner de Grecy in Space City and tells him that if Brelan is serving on the Board of Inquiry, so should she. He tells her that they need someone to record the proceedings, but she will need to contact Strasbourg if she wants to sit on the board itself, providing she can remain objective. He reminds her that she only wants her crew off the hook, but she tells him that Brelan wants her ship on it. She leaves and runs into Brelan, who tells her that mutiny must be punished. Brelan tells de Grecy that Finbow and Eliot will have to go back to Moonstation. He thinks that Eliot is a buffoon and Finbow inadequate. The Commissioner tells Brelan that Harriet would like to take his place on the Board. She thinks he wants to destroy Columbus College. Brelan says that he does not want Daedalus held up.
On the Ilea, Chantal and James join Harriet, who tells tham that de Grecy and Brelan will be the only ones sitting on the Board of Inquiry. She wants to go over the whole story with them. Chantal and James will be telling the Board that Eliot was incapable, but Harriet feels that they will be no better off by just saving Finbow. She asks them not to push Eliot's drinking. As they prepare to leave, Anna arrives asking for help, but they tell her that they have a problem on their hands.
de Grecy and Brelan decide to start the proceedings by calling Eliot as the first witness. Chantal joins Finbow, waiting outside. He says that he will go back to being a spaceship spotter. If they take his pilot's licence away, he will have nothing left.
Piers tells Victoria she needs to relieve stress, and invites her to the Dome later, to show her some breathing exercises. She leaves as Harriet arrives, and asks him about Eliot's medical records. She wonders if there is anything to suggest an excuse they can use as a respectable cover-up. Piers refuses to let her look at Eliot's records, but suggests instead, that they should be looking, not at the Captain, but at Finbow...
Eliot tells the Board that a wrong move in the plasma ball might have proved fatal. The Commissioner asks if anyone had a plan, but Eliot tells them that he was not going to jump at the first one available, but he was open to suggestions. Chantal interrupts, and tells him he wasn't, but the Commissioner tells her to be quiet.
Harriet contacts Pegleg Johnson, and asks for a shuttle down to Space City, urgently.
Brelan thinks that Eliot's attitude was to "wait and see", despite earlier firing the rockets and causing a disaster. Brelan asks him if drink has ever interfered with his work, and asks him why Chac has been given access to the computer. He embarrasses Eliot about the bird's voice welcoming visitors on board the Ilea.
A Centaur leaves the Ilea as a lonely Anna studies with Petra. Anna tells Petra that she just wants somebody to talk to.
Brelan asks Finbow if he trusted the Captain, and he tells the Board that it was not a question of trust, but something had to be done quickly. Brelan wonders if Finbow felt that the opinions of a post graduate student held more weight than that Captain's experience. Finbow tries to explain, but is cut off. He agrees that he took command as the Captain would not risk firing the electron gun, although he had not himself, actually checked if it would fire. Finbow tells them he was not under pressure from anyone to carry out the mutiny, although Chantal interrupts to say that it wasn't true. Brelan tells Finbow that his defence rests solely on Eliot's fitness to command, although the Captain was apparently acting in his normal fashion. Brelan accuses Finbow of simply thinking that he knew better.
Victoria, depressed and unhappy, waits in the Dome for Piers. Timmy and Fiona cheer her up by asking her to join the quiz team.
Piers tells the Board that he administered Finbow with a larger than reccomended dose of Iodine 5 so that he could effect urgent repair work outside the safety of the magnetic shields. He tells them that Finbow was prepared to sacrifice his life to save everyone else. A sceptical Brelan asks if Iodine 5 can lead a man to mutiny, but Piers tells him that it can lead to personality disorders of a temporary nature. The Commissioner suspends both officers for seven days, pending a decision from Strasbourg, but thinks that he can congratulate Eliot for his handling of the situation, and commiserate with Finbow on his unfortunate illness. Eliot intterrupts him to say that it had nothing to do with Iodine 5. He says that it is his fault for not making a decision, and Finbow did what he had to do to save everyone. He tells Finbow that if he lets a personality disorder get him off the hook, he will never get a ship of his own. Eliot sadly admits that he was drunk and unfit to be in command. He walks out of de Grecy's office.
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