The Path of Sorrows
Production number: 109
Original air date: June 30, 1999
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Mike Vejar
From the B5 magazine: In a dark tower on a distant world, Gideon finds a strange alien lifeform seemingly trapped in a translucent sphere. Unwilling to leave it behind, he has the creature transported aboard the Excalibur. But the mysterious entity has the power to peer into the soul of those around it and it leads the Captain and a few of his crew into unwelcome forays down memory lane.
It might be a stasis bubble. The smoke clears a little and Gideon gets a quick glimpse of something inside. The globe alien looks into Gideon, making him flash back to when he was stranded in space.
Sometime later, Matheson pays the alien a visit. He peers into the globe and asks it if it is all right. Is there anything he can do to help?
Matheson: Are you in any pain?
Globe Alien: No. You are in pain.
Matheson flashes back to his days in the Psi Corps during the Telepath War. He's in the office of a superior, Bruder. Bruder tells him that it's a great day for the Corps and all telepaths. They have struck deep at the resistance and captured most of the leaders. They weren't as polite with them as they might have been, but when your dealing with troublemakers pitting brother against brother, telepath against telepath, it's a little hard to by sympathetic. Bruder expects to have it wrapped up in a few days. Some of the top people in the Corps are coming to oversee the final stages of the war, so most of the Psi Cops have been assigned to protective duty. In their absence, Bruder needs someone he can trust for a special job. He believes Matheson is that person.
He takes Matheson to a cell where a woman is being held. She's one of the leaders of the resistance and a high-powered P12. Since all the Psi Cops of equal power are tied up, they have her on sleepers to control her ability and make sure she can't influence anyone. Most of the medical staff are either P1's or P2's so he wanted someone a little stronger to administer the sleepers. Once the war is over, they'll send her to the research facility at Syria Planum for further examination. He instructs Matheson to give her the drug once every two hours. When the war is over, they'll turn their attention to the real struggle....with the normals. He'll check back with Matheson later.
Matheson enters the cell with the drugs. The woman is now awake and asks Matheson why he's doing this. Matheson cuts her off. He's not supposed to talk to her.
Woman: No, I suppose not. Funny, isn't it? An organization of telepaths and no one is allowed to think for themselves?
Matheson: I know it's wrong to murder, and that's what you and the resistance have been doing.
Woman: You mean like you're doing to me now?
Matheson: I'm not.
Woman: You're an accomplice. (indicating the drug) That makes you an accomplice. They'll send me back and they'll kill me, and they'll keep killing anyone who opposes the Corps.
Matheson: That's not true.
Woman: No? You have clearance. Check the status of the other resistance leaders who've been sent back home. They're dead. All of them.
Matheson: Well, maybe they deserved to die.
Woman: For what? The crime of defending ourselves? For trying to be free of the Corps? Don't you ever want to be free? Don't you dream of living the life you want to live? Not being imprisoned behind the Corps?
Matheson injects her and she falls unconscious.
The alien echoes Matheson's words to Gideon about the possibility that it's being held against it's will.
Matheson is back in the past again. He's sitting at a terminal searching through the records of the other resistance leaders. Under every single photograph the person's status is listed as terminated. Matheson is stunned.
Back in the woman's cell, he tells her that he checked the files like she suggested, even looking in files he wasn't supposed to see. He wanted to prove her wrong. But she wasn't. They're all dead. She sarcastically says to him, what are a few more lives as long as the Corps goes on? So what if you never breath free fro the rest of your life? However long that is. Because sooner or later, the resistance will win. If he helps the Corps, her death and the death of everyone who follows her will be on his hands. He tells her there is nothing he can do. She tells him not to do anything. If he does nothing, then he'll have nothing on his conscience. Let whatever happens happen. He doesn't have to help the Corps.
The door opens and a guard comes in (probably to see what's taking so long). Matheson prepares to inject her. He makes a decision. Blocking the guard's view with his body, Matheson empties the syringe on her arm instead of injecting her. The woman plays along, pretending to fall asleep.
He leaves the cell and heads down a corridor where he is intercepted by Bruder. He asks Matheson if the woman has said anything to him. He tells Bruder no, she just begged for her life. Bruder pays that no mind...it's to be expected. He tells Matheson of a report they just got from the field. They raided the main resistance base and found it had been empty for days. The Corps doesn't know where they are and that worries them. They knew Corps forces were coming.
When Matheson returns to the cell he asks the woman what she's up to. Their base is empty and the brass can't figure out what's going on. She says that is good...then there is still time. She takes the syringe from him and stabs herself in the leg. She pulls out a small homing device. Allowing herself to be captured was the only way she could smuggle it in. She tells him the resistance knew the Corps had a base, but they didn't know where. The resistance had to find out before they made their final strike. She let the Corps pull her in hoping she could get two minutes alone, and hoping she could find someone like Matheson, someone with a conscience. The homing device has a telepathic trigger that only she can activate. Then the others will come. She suggests Matheson get out of the area as fast as he can. All the important Corps people should be in the building by now. The resistance is out of time.
Before he leaves, he tells her that he does have dreams about life outside the Corps. Ever since he was a kid he wanted to be in Earthforce, on a starship exploring the unknown. But they don't allow telepaths in regular military. They say there's nothing they can do. She tells him there is always something they can do, and he just did it. She thanks him and tells him to go quickly.
Out on the corridor, alarms and sirens sound. Explosions can be heard. The base is under attack. Telepaths, some with wounds, run through the corridors. Matheson is among them. He and others get to a shuttle and escape just in time. The Psi Corps base is nuked.
Matheson is now back in the present. He tells the alien no one knows, he's never told anyone about it. He feels ashamed.
Globe Alien: I forgive you.
... Much Later ...
Gideon and Matheson have put the giant globe back in the spooky Dracula castle. They watch it for a while. Gideon tells him that he's had trouble sleeping for awhile. He's always getting up, walking around, looking at the clock. But last night he slept right through. First time in years. Matheson speculates that maybe that is why it was left there, a gift for travellers. Someone who would never know there names, would never judge, never condemn. Only forgive... And leave the rest to whoever came in the door to get better or walk away.
As their shuttle takes off, another arrives. A lizard-like alien enters and approaches the globe.
Globe Alien: You are in pain.
