LEXX

A tiny ship rattles through space, its only occupant a small boy. In the distance, a station revolves slowly and on nearing it, the whole thing appears to be made of candy. The boy steers closer to the station, intrigued. As he get skims the surface however, the station begins to transform. It breaks apart and each tiny component comes hurtling towards the ship. The station is built of Mantrid Drones. The boy takes out a holographic ball with a picture of a man inside. The arms begin to break through the fragile capsule, reaching inside for the boy. He manages to put out a distress call before the arms break through...

The Lexx has picked up the distress call, and they recognise the small body floating in space in it's ejector seat. It is Norb, Pa's wife's son from Vermal. He is still clutching the holographic ball containing the photo of his real father, the pilot. The Lexx brings him on board. Pleased to see him, Xev tries to find out what happened to his ship, and how he survived so long in space, but Norb will not talk. And he will not let anyone see inside the container which holds the photo of his father. Xev puts him to bed, realising he must be tired after his ordeal. On returning to the bridge however, Kai tells them that there is no photo inside the container (how he knows, we don't ask). The others are a little confused by this, and Kai and Stan are convinced that Norb is not what he appears to be. Xev says he just needs some TLC, but they go to check on him anyway.

Norb is sitting down, with 790 at his side. 790 is off however. The reason he is off is because Norb has taken out his brain. He sits with the tiny cube of human brain tissue between his finger and thumb. Then he squashes it. Then, in front of their disbelieveing eyes, Norb deconstructs. He becomes nothing more than four or five mechanical arms which quickly escape into the far reaches of the Lexx. Norb was killed in the attack, and the arms assumed his shape and personality to infiltrate the Lexx.

In the cryochamber, Kai is trying to fix 790's crushed brain. He has it hooked up to all kinds of bubbling tubes, and is trying to get it to regenerate. 790 is there, but without his human brain, which is the part that allowed the love slave programming to stick, he is a mere robot. A computer in a face-shaped box. He has no personality, and Xev misses his constant chatter. Stan is panicking about the arms being loose on the Lexx. Kai suggests he go and look for them, but unsurprisingly, he declines. Although Stan is a loser, mind you, he doesn't like to appear to be one. After a few more minutes hopping about and generally getting in the way, he pokes his head out into the corridor. A few tentative steps and then "Kai? Can you still hear me?". "Yes Stan, I can hear you" replies Kai. "Well, nothing out there" Stan reports back, nervously. "Why don't you try somewhere else?" suggests Xev. Stan hesitates, decides he can't get out of this without looking a coward, and trots off around the next corner. Face to face with small collection of arms.

"Kai in the cryochamber...?". Kai looks up, "Yes Lexx?". "Kai in the cryochamber, Stanley is being attacked in the corridor". Kai leaves trying to fix 790's brain and runs into the corridor, shoots the arms and releases Stanley who is unhurt. They decide that they had better look for the rest of the arms. Stan asks the Lexx if he can see any of the "little mechanical-type arm things anywhere". Lexx says yes, and that they are on the bridge. The crew make their way to the bridge, but they can't see any arms. Until, that is, they look up. High above the bridge, a swarm of arms are hanging in the air. Each one is taking handfuls of the Lexx's body and turning it into another arm. "Ouch" says Lexx, for they are effectively eating him. And with every bite they take, another arm is born.

It is decided that the only way to get rid of the arms is to get the Lexx to reverse it's engines, creating an energy pulse which will destroy the arms. Unfortunately, it will also affect the crew, so they have to leave in a moth until the pulse has passed. And they have to do it soon, as with every handful the arms take, the Lexx loses more consciousness. In the moth, the crew realise that the number of arms are reaching epic proportions. As the moth flies furiously through the swarm, they start to give chase. The passageway to the airlock on the outside of the Lexx is full of arms, and each door they encounter is getting harder for the Lexx to open. They reach the airlock and the Lexx puts it's last effort into opening it, then it closes with most of the arms trapped inside. But a few make it out with the moth.

Then they realise that 790 is still on the Lexx. Xev insists on going back for him. Dropping Kai back on the bridge, the moth hovers, evading the arms and waiting. Kai makes it down the the cryochamber, where 790's brain is by now regenerated. He refits it in 790's head, and takes him back to the bridge. By now there are so many arms it's getting hard to see, and the moth is having trouble. Kai starts shooting the arms, his brace whirring around his head creating mechanical carnage as far as he can reach. As the pulse won't affect him, he stays on the bridge, distracting the arms, while the moth makes it to the airlock. With pieces of metallic debris falling about his head, he cuts a fair swathe through the arms, while Stan, Xev and 790 are trying to get Lexx to respond to the command to reverse it's engines, as by now it's been pretty well eaten.

Summoning a final burst of energy, Lexx manages to obey Stanley's command to reverse it's engines, successfully trashing the rest of the arms caught inside it. The moth returns and lands on the bridge, but Lexx is not well. In fact, he's not Lexx. On the viewscreen above them, there is a face; the face of Mantrid.

Mantrid explains how he escaped the explosion in episode 2.1, by merging with the machine and the insect essence. Now he is a type of essence himself, and he has plenty more arms where they came from. Now, he explains, it is time for the Game. Quite what the game is, he doesn't say. But you can be sure there is only going to be one winner. And Mantrid has a feeling it's going to be him...