When the signal is acknowledged, the woman identifies her place of origin as Space Station One, Texas City, planet Earth.
Making extensive astronomical calculations, Maya determines a massive star cluster is moving between the Moon and Earth's position; all contact will be blocked for nearly a century.
An impromptu celebration breaks out when amateur brewmaster Verdeschi introduces the Command Centre staff to his latest concoction.
Unfortunately, he has more enthusiasm than skill, and the critics are not kind; after a single sip of his beer, an impish Maya transforms into Mister Hyde.
As Earth's environment was devastated by runaway pollution in the 21st century, humanity now resides exclusively in enormous, domed 'metro-complexes'.
An instrument package is prepared for a trial run; its systems will simulate human vital signs during the teleport.
These will be read by a medical monitor (as worn on the wrist of every Alphan) re-tooled to transmit via neutrino carrier wave.
Too late to abort, Logan and staff watch a nimbus of light build in the reception area...then fade.
When Helena catches a chill, the three trudge through the damp forest in search of shelter...as unseen figures spy on them from the bushes.
She hides her concern: after living in the germ-free atmosphere of Alpha, their resistance is low—a cold virus could prove fatal.
She tells the men that common fungoids are the basis of the barmycin range of drugs, the only known cure for viral pneumonia.
The prisoners are escorted back to his headquarters, this time to a cavern furnished as a great hall, and join MacDonald for a banquet celebrating the impending new year.
As MacDonald gives a toast in Gaelic to honour the hero Robert Bruce and the Scottish victory at Bannockburn, Koenig and company huddle.
They cannot figure the date from MacDonald's clues, but providing Maya and Logan with the information will guarantee the calculation of space/time coordinates for the transfer beam.
Jumping to conclusions, the alarmed laird backs away and shouts in Gaelic that the English fugitives carry the Black Death.
Knowing only one cure for the pestilence, McDonald heaves his torch into the bales of straw and faggots piled at their feet.
As flames rise, Koenig stretches out for Helena's wrist and desperately begins to tap her monitor's control stud in rapid succession.
Suddenly, the readout for Helena's monitor goes berserk, flashing on and off in a series of long and short pulses—which an older astronaut realises is Morse code.
They were replaced by Japanese actress Yasuko Nagazumi, playing the new character Yasko, and Jeffery Kissoon, assuming the new role of Doctor Ben Vincent.
Nagazumi was, at that time, the wife of veteran Space: 1999 director Ray Austin and had been featured in the previous Anderson live-action production, The Protectors.
The original script had them living in a village, with the laird headquartered in a great house and the Alphans attempted immolation occurring in a wooden hut.
[2] MacDonald and his clansmen would dress in costumes originally created for Roman Polanski's 1971 feature film version of Macbeth.
[2] Attentive viewers would note that Isla Blair, the actress portraying Carla, had appeared in the first-series episode "War Games" under heavy make-up as the female alien.
Actor Freddie Jones was casting director Lesley de Pettitt's first choice for the role of Charles Logan.
The old crone (played by Peggy Page) who would manacle Koenig and company to the dungeon wall was added by director Tom Clegg.
He gave her the backstory of having contracted and recovered from the Plague, thus making her the only clan member to not fear touching the presumably infected prisoners.
[8] The original German-published novel Der Stahlplanet (The Steel Planet) would provide a sequel to this story as, after a course change, the Moon moves beyond the eclipsing star cluster and contact is re-established with Earth.