Dust in the Light (episode)


*The following article is written from an Out of Universe perspective.*

Dust in the Light was the fifth episode of Season 3 of The Elysium. It was written by Simon Ashdown, directed by Anna Foerster and it featured Mina Anwar, Sarah Winter, Esai Morales, Suzanne Packer, Pallance Dladla and Sinead Keenan.

Synopsis

The Ramanujan picks up a Scallatti transponder in the vicinity. With the crew curious, but also worried, they decide to investigate, as they cross into a nebular, which will block out communications for 28 hours. With Utnaphisitm determined to make one final transmission to the Three, he finds an unwelcome guest in the lower decks.

Plot

Claude yawns as he pilots the Ramanujan. Syd walks up behind him and asks if they’ve come across anything yet, but Claude shakes his head, saying that there’s nothing out here but darkness, more darkness, and some more darkness. Syd laughs at his joke, before walking off to speak to Raleigh. Raleigh is in a meeting with Lea, where they are discussing the new upgrades to the ship, and Lea is unhappy with the fact they are entirely alien, as she needs to understand the technology fully. Raleigh tells her that it’s an opportunity to learn something new and expand her knowledge. Lea smiles as she realises that Raleigh’s right and the happiest she had been over the years was when she was deciphering the Cizzauran and Rhaighr languages. However, everything is interrupted when an alert sounds, and everyone gets to their fleet, as they all run onto the bridge, where Claude tells them that they’re never going to believe what he’s about to say. Utnapishtim angrily tells Claude to spit it out, but Claude isn’t phased by the rude nature of the exchange, for once, but instead just says, stunned, that there’s a Scallatti transponder being picked up, not far away. They all can’t quite comprehend it, as Claude repeats that one of their ships is still out in space, active, waiting to be found…

Everyone is in disbelief, as Claude says that the ship seems to be at the other side of a nebular, which will take about 28 hours to get through but will jam any incoming or outgoing signals, meaning that if they’re going to tell the President about this, they need to do it now. Utnapishtim immediately lashes out saying that he didn’t even say that they could even investigate this, but Claude pulls rank, declaring that, while this is a scientific mission that Lea and Raleigh have supreme authority on, not Utnaphistim anyway, he is the Captain of the ship and all decisions come back to him. Everyone begins to gang up on Claude, as, even Begass, thinks that they should go and find out what a Scallatti ship is doing out here. Utnapishtim lashes out telling them that what they’re walking into is the unknown and it could be very dangerous, but Lea argues back telling him that the whole point of this mission is to explore that very unknown but Utnaphistim laughs it off, telling them that’s nonsense and that the mission of this ship, which they seem to have been forgetting, is to explore the remote possibility that their ships used to be capable of time travel. Raleigh stands up, stares directly into Utnaphistim’s face and tells him that maybe that ship, at the other side of the nebular, is capable of time travel. Lea smiles, realising what Raleigh’s saying, as she continues on telling Utnaphistim that it, therefore, means, this ship falls directly under the mission directive and cannot be overruled by anyone but herself, Lea and Claude all in unanimous agreement. Utnapishtim sulks, lowering his head, but still with a fury in his eyes. He pauses before, sharply, telling the crew, that they may live to regret it. On the Elysium, Julie sits down in Ajacos office, sighing with exhaustion, as she sips a cup of coffee. She tells him that the “Keratherion” was like something out of one of Jan’s storybooks and it was unreal. Ajacos smiles deeply, before telling Julie that, that seems to be the case a lot on this planet, especially when it concerns Cizzaurans. Julie nods in agreement but says that unless she’s mistaken, it means there’s yet another race they’ve got to deal with now, not just the Cizzaurans and Rhaighrs, but there’s Keratherions or Ganatlai, or whatever they wish to call them. Ajacos spits out his drink, not realising, but he says he’s just glad they don’t seem to be the most sentient and more animal-like, but Julie remarks that the first time she saw Claude she thought much the same, which makes Ajacos chuckle, at the joke.

Utnapishtim strides down the long, disused, corridors of the Ramanujan as he's delving deeper and deeper into the bowels of the ship, on a mission of his own, having stormed off from the rest of the crew. Eddie looks around the corner, seeing Utnaphistim, at the other end of the corridor, as he’s hiding out in the security office. He tries to conceal himself, and his staff, but Utnaphistim gets closer and closer to him. Hiding behind a metal grating, Utnaphistim enters the security office, in a hurry, as he realises the ship is about to enter the nebular, and he wants to make a transmission. He turns on the transmitter to see it already coded to somewhere in Hortus, to which he’s confused as he didn’t think anyone on the ship had made a transmission yet. Eddie’s heartbeat increases, as he tries not to make any sound. Nevertheless, Utnaphistim recodes the transmitter to Manor House and contacts Shamash telling them that they’ve found it, and they’re only 28 hours away. Shamash tells him that when they get there, he needs to have a good explanation, and luckily for him, he’s got the next 28 hours to think one up. Shamash then ends the transmission, leaving Utnaphistim in a very bad mood, as he wanted a solution. He then leaves the office but turns around sharply when he hears the sound of footsteps. Utnapishtim shouts out, asking who’s there, thinking it’s Begass, as he has little trust in him. He follows the sound of the footsteps, before the sound of someone running away, before Utnaphistim sees Eddie and pounces on him, pinning him to the ground. Utnapishtim smiles, with furious anger, as he says that they’ve found themselves a stowaway… no, a spy.

Claude announces over the intercom that they have now entered the nebular, just as Utnaphistim drags Eddie up into the rec room, as he declared that he found this spy lurking in the cargo decks. Lea is furious, saying that he used to work for Callista Daily, and he’s nothing but trouble. They ask him what he was doing onboard, but Eddie doesn’t answer, instead laughing in their faces. Utnapishtim says its obvious, that he’s been sent to spy on them for some backwards organisation. Syd snorts saying that’s pretty rich coming from him, but Utnaphistim just stares at her angrily, as Begass tries to defuse the situation, saying that there’s nothing they can do for 28 hours now, but they can get to the bottom of this, and decide what they’re doing with Eddie, whether it be them throwing him in a cell, and chucking away the key; throwing him out of an airlock or sending him back home in a shuttlecraft. Lea says that they are not under any circumstances throwing him out of an airlock, but Utnaphistim disagrees, saying that it isn’t such a bad idea, now he comes to think about it.

Ersiah sits down with Richard, in her cottage, and tells him of her home, the true original planet of the Scallatti. She says it was so long ago, and so far away, but it was their home, both sides home, if you go back far enough. She says that it was a beautiful planet, like the most beautiful parts of the Elysium, but even more beautiful. She explains that the sky was burnt orange, and the leaves on the trees were silver, and when they caught the light, every morning, they set the forests a light in a beautiful blaze, before they regenerated the next day for the same beautiful dance of fire and silver to happen again. Ersiah is almost in tears by the end, and Richard is immensely interested, finally getting the answers he’s desired for his whole life. Ersiah then solemnly says that it’s all gone now, just a cold blue miserable place.

Eddie screams as Claude rips the tape off his mouth, and begins to question him, telling him that he’s aware he’s probably resentful towards the government, and thus to him, for suspending the operations of Callista Daily, he says he also thinks that didn’t deter Eddie and he’s still acting as if he was a journalist for Callista Daily. Finally, Claude says that this mission was just too secret and too interesting for him to pass up and he just had to investigate. Eddie responds back finally, telling him that he’s wrong, and he was just bored. Claude looks at him, with distain, and tells him that it’s his decision he wants to play it the hard way, now he’s said that. Eddie says that torture is against the constitution of the Scallatti Federation. Claude chuckles telling him that it’s a good job he isn’t going to torture him then. In the conference room, Raleigh, Lea, Utnaphistim, Syd and Begass, discuss the situation. Utnapishtim maintains that this now takes priority, and the Ramanujan should now turn back, out of the nebular, and communicate this information with Ajacos and Julie, but Begass says he disagrees as he says that Eddie could be useful onboard. Utnapishtim is alarmed, with anger, as Begass makes his suggestion, immediately jumping in with a counter-argument, but Begass laughs it away and tells Utnaphistim that when the Cizzaurans mine Kheqren, albeit it in small amounts and in a controlled way, completely opposite to the Scallatti’s methods, but he says that they would send down an Otsinowa which similar to a butterfly, to check if the environment was safe for Cizzaurans. Utnapishtim then smiles as he finally gets what Begass is trying to say. Raleigh says that they send Eddie onto that ship first, and if it’s safe, the rest of them will go on after him, but if it isn’t, they’ll do what Utnaphistim wants, and leave. They all agree. Eddie says that Claude lied to him. Claude looks puzzled and says that he hasn’t, but Eddie tells him that, just after they landed on the Elysium, he asked him about whether or not the Scallatti had a way of generating energy, and he said empathetically no. Claude bursts out laughing, asking

if he took that personally. He tells Eddie that he’s a politician and that was a state secret at the time, of course, he would lie to him about it… he’s press! Eddie disagrees saying that he’s representing the people and he has a duty to the truth, but Claude scowls and tells Eddie that he needs to grow up and get out of fairytale land, he was protecting the people, until they had a solution, which thanks to Lea, they now have. Eddie sighs, frustrated at Claude, but Claude begins laughing and tells Eddie that if he cared so much about the Energy Exhaustion Crisis, maybe he should go out into the conference room now and thank Lea…

Calem comes out of a meeting with Wyne, to find Julie outside her door, saying they need to talk. Julie tells her, inside, that SWN need to narrow their approach when reporting upon yesterday’s events. Calem is offended as she thought their coverage was fine, but Julie disagrees, saying that there’s too much empathises on the Cizzauran point of view, when in fact the Scallatti point of view is much more agreeable. Calem doesn’t understand the difference, a giant creature came out of the ground and attacked them; how is that wrong? Julie says she’s right, a giant creature came out of the ground and attacked them, and it had nothing to do with the Scallatti. Calem then realises, SWN have been talking about the fact that the Cizzaurans blame it on them, angering their gods or whatnot by mining Kheqren. Julie smiles saying that, while she’s no supporter of the factory mining of the Kheqren mines, that’s an internal issue and they can’t have the Cizzaurans controlling the narrative. Calem agrees and says that changes will be made.

Eddie walks into the conference room with Claude and sits down. The others look confused, but Claude explains that Eddie says he has something to say to Lea. Lea looks down at Eddie, and then Eddie begins to speak, through gritted teeth: “Thank you”. Lea looks around in confusion, and questions Eddie, asking what that was for, but Eddie says that he’s grateful for her providing the Scallatti with Kheqren. Raleigh looks towards Claude, and asks him if this is what an hour of interrogation has come to? Claude dubiously smiles saying that they ‘had to be there’. Utnapishtim explodes, repeating ‘had to be there?’ over and over again, and calls Claude out on his absolute idiocy. He begins telling Claude that he’s the most useless Attorney General the Scallatti have ever had, and he should know as he’s seen them all, and non of them have been as incompetent or as ‘bent’ as him. Again, Syd laughs telling Utnaphistim that his hypocrisy is astounding, accusing others of being ‘bent’, being corrupt, being incompetent. Claude asks what that’s supposed to mean, but Utnaphistim bursts out laughing, finding it hilarious that he doesn’t know, that Ajacos didn’t even trust him enough, to tell him who was really making the decisions. Eddie interjects, saying that he’s always thought someone was pulling the strings behind Ajacos, as no-one can stay consistently popular for over 15 years, winning so many elections, without wavering in their popularity, but he admits, he always thought the person controlling events was Claude. While this fuels Claude’s ego, it angers Utnaphistim and he and Claude start bickering, before Lea shouts very loudly, but not for long, telling everyone that a divided crew will only create problems for the weeks and months ahead. She then calmly looks towards Eddie and asks him politely, why he stowed-away on the Ramanujan, and for him to tell the truth.

Dani sits inside the DE Investigations building and tries to contact Eddie frantically. Worried about why she can’t get in contact with him, assuming that something’s happened to the ship. She sends a transmission to Wyne, one of her former colleagues at Callista Daily, who know works at SWN, telling him that she has reason to believe President Ajacos has sent seven people to their deaths.

Eddie tells the crew that ever since Callista Daily fell, he and his boss, Dani, set up a private investigative agency, and they were tasked with looking into accusations of government corruption, which lead them to the Ramanujan mission, which he managed to sneak aboard, just before take-off. Syd shakes her head, saying that he’s lying as she knows for a fact, that when she was Ajacos’ Chief of Staff and had to often consult with the press, he and Dani did not get on, so she doesn’t buy for one moment that they would go into business together, as private investigators. Claude agrees as he remembers their relationship is shaky at best, but he says that he remembers seeing the name ‘DE Private Investigators’ on a list of organisations to be mindful of, only a few weeks ago. Eddie rolls his eyes, at the fact they were considered dangerous, and explains that he does hate Dani’s guts, and she hates his, but they were forced together once more through circumstance… a circumstance that the Vice President herself created. Claude grabs Eddie by the collar and tells him that he was the one that engineered the situation, digging up those horrible secrets about Julie, and publicising them, just to get higher numbers, when his numbers were already extremely high anyway, and he accusing him of trying to ruin the government reputation because of his own personal greed and desire to become promoted. He says that it didn’t work then, and trying to blame everything on someone who, while he has had his differences with, he thinks is an honest, decent and hardworking woman, who most importantly is the current image for the government, as Ajacos has got older and older, he has been taken for granted, so like Roddy, Julie has become the face of the enterprise, and Eddie threatened that for no good reason before she’d even been able to sit down, and on the day of a national tragedy no less. Claude says, as his veins begin to turn red, and as Eddie’s breathing becomes even more and more difficult, pinned up against that wall, that he didn’t see Callista Daily 152 people who were killed that day because of Lea and the Cizzaurans. He exclaims that it was a terrible decision of Ajacos to sack Calem and not Lea, and it’s entirely her fault 152 people lost their entire lives, because of Lea’s incompetence. Lea remains very calm, but livid, as Claude blames her for everything, but Begass lashes out, as he can’t bear for Claude of all people to criticise the Cizzaurans for Kheqren, especially as, he says, the caballing which was unstable, was provided by the Rhaighrs. Claude mutters to Begass that of course it’s the Rhaighrs he’s going to blame: who else would it be? To which Begass simply replies: the Scallatti, of course….

The argument mediates itself, however, as Raleigh and Syd become calmer and explain that because of Eddie, someone who in fairness, just let their curiosity get the better of them, never mind if it was associated with state secrets, they shouldn’t become divided themselves. Raleigh tells them that when they reach the end of the nebular, they will send Eddie in with a camera, he will explore the ship and report back to them. If they’re sure it’s entirely safe, then they will enter, in a controlled, safe and coordinated manner, however, she suggests that Utnaphistim and Claude should stay behind, as she can’t trust them to play nice. This causes Utnaphistim and Claude both to erupt, still not having recovered from the previous argument, as they maintain that they don’t lose their temper and that they both are vital to that mission, and in fact, Utnaphistim says that he must be the one to step foot on the ship first, which everyone rolls their eyes at, as they know he will cover up whatever there is to be seen. He says, however, that he doesn’t feel comfortable with a spy, being the first to board, or even to board in the first place. Begass interjects saying it might not be safe and they need Eddie to be the Otsinowa, but Utnaphistim erupts saying he couldn’t care less about sodding Cizzauran insects, and he will happily volunteer to be the “Otsinowa”. Syd says that frankly, no-one trusts him, and certainly no-one who knows the real Utnaphistim and knows all of his dirty, little secrets. He turns cold. Wyne comes to see Calem, in her office and tells her about the fact that there’s a ship, which Ajacos sent into space, which has found itself in immense danger. Calem says that’s he’s being ridiculous and is making up stories, but Wyne says that this comes directly from Dani Dionis Kiriakidis herself, to which Calem takes it even less seriously, as she thinks she is a mad, jealous old woman, and that Wyne is simply protecting his former boss. He insists that there’s been a government coverup and SWN have a duty to report it. Calem looks at Wyne, and then picks up her nameplate and asks him to read it. He reads it loud and clear, confused: “Calem Ell Arcon, Chief Editor, Scallatti Worldwide Network”. Calem says that Scallatti Worldwide Network means that they are a state broadcaster controlled by the government, specifically Julie Yannis Karter, who herself suspended the operations of Callista Daily, due to this exact same thing. So, Calem maintains that under no circumstances will SWN broadcast any rumours, from Dani Dionis Kiriakidis, of all people, about some sort of government coverup and a joyride to the stars. Wyne gulps, slowly, and says that he’ll get back to work.

The Ramanujan soars through the nebular, as many hours later, Claude confirms that it’s not long to go until they will be exiting it. Eddie has been confined to quarters, but he has been getting frequent visits from many members of the crew, the past few hours. Utnapishtim walks in and sits down with Eddie, to which he prepares himself for another grilling, telling Utnaphistim that he’s sorry, and he shouldn’t have come aboard, in a monotonous and uncaring tone. Utnapishtim simply tells him to “shut up” and he isn’t interested in any of that. He simply tells Eddie a story, telling him when he was so, so young, he was in a position of immense power, the ruler of a whole sixth of all his world and they had a terrible, dogmatic leader when a huge number of secrets. He says that despite the fact they were seen in an almost god-like fashion, not just the public, but even the others in the same position as him, they managed, through sheer force, to let good leadership prevail and let the cancer die. Eddie says he doesn’t understand what Utnaphistim wants him to do, but he doesn’t answer his question, he just says that some secrets are left buried, and if he wants to be pardoned for his crimes, maybe it’s in his interest to help him keep those secrets forgotten forever. Raleigh speaks to Lea alone in her quarters, telling her that Utnaphistim is not to be trusted under any circumstances, she says that he’s involved in something far greater than anyone realises, and she says where she’s from, the after-effects of the actions here, are still prevalent. Lea asks where exactly Raleigh is from, and Raleigh smiles saying that she’ll never believe her if she told her, but Lea says that isn’t fair and that she has a very open mind. Raleigh apologises, saying that she’s just used to relying only on herself, not having a team, at least not having one she isn’t completely lying to. Lea asks if Raleigh is telling the truth then, but she just responds by saying, a lot more than she would normally.

Claude’s voice echoes around the ship, as he speaks on the intercom, telling the crew that they have now cleared the nebular. The crew rush up to the bridge, apart from Eddie, who has been locked in his quarters. Claude says that the ship is only a click away, and will be in viewing distance in a few seconds. Utnapishtim bits his lip as he knows what they will find, and surely enough, they see it. All of them recognise it, apart from Raleigh… the subject of the news headlines, only a few years ago, and the creator of a refugee crisis, no one could forget about… The Barrac, sitting there in space, looking not just intact, but brand new…

Cast

Starring

Co-Starring

Frayons Prix Ajacos - David Morrissey
Janos Aladar Claude - John Hannah
Utnapishtim - Francis Magee
Begass - Hugo Speer
Sydecyah Skendelle Codail - Priyanga Burford
Captain Hurati - Rudolph Walker
Shamash – Georgie Glen
Ersiah - Annette Badland
Wyne Jantt Labthf - Tom Benedict Knight
Dani Dionis Kiriakidis - Linda Henry

Crew

Based upon "Doctor Who" Created by Sydney Newman, Donald Wilson and C.E. Webber
Created by Ronald D. Moore and Jane Espenson

Executive Producers - Jane Espenson, Ronald D. Moore and Toni Graphia
Co-Executive Producers - Anne Kenney, Simon Ashdown, Adrian Hodges and Emer Kenny

Memorable Quotes

To be added.

Background Information

Production History

To be added

Development

To be added

Production

To be added

Post-Production

To be added

Reaction

To be added

Story Notes

To be added.

Continuity

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Home Video Releases

To be added.