The Liberator stops to aid a damaged spacecraft whose crew is entirely asleep when Blake, Cally and Avon arrive. The ship’s guidance systems and life support system have been sabotaged. When Blake and Avon get the life support system back online, the crew has no idea what has happened. Kendall, the captain of the ship, reveals that he and his people are from the agricultural world Destiny, whose ecosphere has become unviable. The ship was dispatched to get the neutrotope, which would render Destiny fertile again, and with its damage, the ship has no hope of reaching Destiny in any time under five months, and that delay could set the planet’s harvest back by another year. Blake makes Kendall an offer: Avon and Cally will stay aboard to help repair the ship’s systems, and the neutrotope will reach Destiny in four days via the Liberator. Avon and Cally slowly unravel the mystery of numerous occurring murders on the ship and finally find that a message written by the dying pilot – 54124 – is actually the name of the murderer…
written by Terry Nation
directed by Pennant Roberts
music by Dudley SimpsonCast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen), Barry Jackson (Kendall), Beth Morris (Sara), Stephen Tate (Mandrian), Nigel Humphreys (Sonheim), Kate Coleridge (Levett), Carl Forgione (Grovane), John Leeson (Pasco), Brian Caprion (Rafford), Stuart Fell (Dortmunn)
LogBook entry by Earl Green