Time Out of Mind
Dylan and the crew are loading Wayist passengers from a damaged transport onto the Eureka Maru. Unnoticed by the crew, a Wayist sneaks off to Beka's quarters. He is reaching for a small angel doll when two shady-looking Wayists corner him. They both wear medallions of the Abyss and want what he is looking for. He refuses to say and they shoot him. Beka and Dylan arrive and the two agents draw their weapons. After a quick scuffle, the agents escape to the airlock and eject themselves into space.
Beka cradles the wounded man's head in her arms and he shocks her by calling her by her name. He dies after warning her not to let them find her past. Dylan inspects the man's arm and finds the insignia of a True Collector — a genuine seeker of knowledge and not the current power-mongers who wear Collector pins only for identification.
Rhade and Trance have gone through the stranger's belongings and discovered his name, Wezlow — a man whom Beka knew, who worked on the Eureka Maru when Beka was a child. He had been disguised as a Wayist to hide from the Abyss. In his cloak they find a flexi with a star map to the planet Dedalus Five. For whatever reason, Wezlow came out of hiding to find Beka and lead her to this place. Dylan orders the ship there immediately.
Upon arrival and further inspection of the map, they discover a massive subterranean labyrinth, apparently a huge computer database. They go to the planet's surface and descend to the library. They find miles of corridors and doors along the walls. Harper opens one and a woman steps out, bumping into him. She is the Collector Amira, who recognizes Dylan and offers to help them find what they need. Rommie and Rhade, monitoring the away team from the Andromeda, see a massive presence at the far end of the catacombs, beginning a slow sweep across the archives. They inform Dylan and are ordered to analyze the threat while those on the planet continue their search.
Amira has checked the coordinates Wezlow designated and hands out the triangular keys needed to access the VR archives, which they will enter in the form of the characters they are watching. The only catch to viewing one is to either finish its cycle or eject from the program — any other premature halt will fry the synapses of the viewer. As Amira leads them there, a young woman named Lisset, watching from the shadows, presses a small Abyss medallion that hangs from her neck.
Rommie and Rhade, who came down to investigate, suddenly encounter the mysterious presence. All they can hear is a low hum, and they watch its approach as lights flick out one by one. Rommie reports that it is reading the library's data. They shoot it with no effect and are thrown out of the way. Dylan determines it is a Data Net, absorbing all the files and erasing everything in its wake, unstoppable until it finds what they are all seeking. Meanwhile, Harper has narrowed down the possible archives to a manageable number. Using a key, Beka enters a VR room and views a scene from her past aboard the Eureka. She is a young child who snuck out to look for her birthday presents. Wezlow catches her and asks her what she wants. The recording mouths the word but no sound comes out, as if copy protected. As Beka searches, Trance tells Dylan that the Data Net is receiving instructions from somewhere on the planet, sending it their way. Amira hands out the last three keys, and she and Dylan enter one door so she may assess any damage that may be happening to the files. When they close the door, Lisset signals the Data Net and it closes in.
Harper has run out of keys and decides to amuse himself with a random archive. When he closes the door behind him, Lisset removes his key, trapping him inside. She turns to find Rhade with his weapon in her face. She tosses him aside with superhuman strength and escapes into Dylan's archive. She finds Dylan and Amira, who are viewing the archive in the form of Wezlow and a woman named Nema. Lisset demands something called The Voice of Darkness, and says that if she gets it she will call off the Data Net. Dylan/Wezlow and Amira/Nema claim ignorance. Then Nema pulls a small silver bell from her cloak, when an alarmed Lisset shoots her. Nema reverts to Amira. Dylan senses Lisset's fear of the bell and picks it up. With Lisset frozen in fear, he takes the medallion from her neck and smashes it. He and Amira quickly exit, slamming the door and removing the key, trapping Lisset in a permanent loop.
They know Harper is in the same fix and search for the proper key before the Data Net reaches his archive, erasing everything including Harper's mind. While they search, Dylan tells Beka that Wezlow meant for her to find the small bell they saw. She has a hunch it has something to do with the faulty archive that had no sound, when her younger self told Wezlow her birthday wish. Beka and Dylan enter the archive and when she says aloud that she wants a Clarinthian angel doll, the image shifts as if the words were a pass code. Young Beka promises Wezlow she will always take care of the little doll that jingles when she runs with it — and then the program glitches: The Data Net is almost upon them, and outside, Rhade and Trance struggle to free Harper from his virtual prison. They find the right key jammed into a shelf and pull it free just in time. Beka runs to the Eureka to retrieve the doll while Dylan takes the key and enters Harper's archive. He finds him hypnotized by the story he's watching, incoherent and spouting gibberish. Dylan drags him out of the archive and shouts at him until he snaps out of it. Beka returns with her treasured doll and Dylan rips it open, pulling out the bell. When the Data Net doesn't slow, he hands it to Beka, believing Wezlow always intended it to be her honor.
She takes the bell and tosses it into the air, where it sprouts feathery silver wings and begins to chime louder and louder until they must cover their ears. The Data Net grinds to a halt, droning out a low frequency tone until it shatters and melts away into black ooze. The bell retracts its feathers and drops neatly into Beka's hand.
Amira is with Dylan back aboard the Andromeda, thanking him for his help. She has been inspired to venture out in an effort to return honor to the Collectors' name. Dylan finds Beka on the Eureka, stitching up her doll. She kept it all this time for a promise, but more now because it reminds her of the people who shaped her and made her who she is — people like Wezlow and Dylan, whose paths crossed hers for a reason … to bring them a weapon against the Abyss.
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