EOS 10 · Justin McLachlan and PlanetM

305 — Waking Up In a Coma

September 25, 2018·20 min·2 clips

Dr. Delius arrives as 168 patients fall ill from a stew, claiming he plots revenge but didn't cause this poisoning.

The episode opens in the infirmary of EOS 10 as 168 patients from Food Court Delta stream in after eating the stew. Dr. Ervidian arrives claiming he had nothing to do with the poisoning, which paradoxically increases rather than alleviates concern. Nurse Johns establishes that the stew contained taveric root, a substance Levi eventually admits he illegally obtained from a Tyrethian trader. Meanwhile, Dr. Dahlias is on a shuttle to Starbase Delta for overdue maintenance on his Class Foxtrot intracranial neuromodulator, an implant wired into his brain's decision centers. Dr. Echobar, a blunt and wry physician, performs the procedure after discovering a phase misalignment in the implant's internal clock. As Ryan goes under anesthesia he hears an unidentified voice and becomes fixated on finding the speaker. While Ryan is out, Nurse Johns and Levi search through Barula Buchanan's Guide to Poisonous Roots — a text 2,456 rotations old — and find no listed cure for taveric root poisoning. Doctors Ozalong and Cardiff propose using eggs from station-dwelling space rats as an incubation medium, and they and Levi retrieve one from the station's lower levels. Levi does not return from this expedition, apparently dragged off by the rat. The antidote is developed in time to treat the patients. Ryan, in recovery, wakes up obsessed with finding a man named Ben from the procedure room. Dr. Echobar's description of Ben as a civilian staff member who attracts attention sends Ryan to the gym. At the gym, Ryan confronts Ben, insisting he existed when nobody remembered him and that she was not crazy. Ben suggests the anesthesia may be affecting her perception and gently deflects. Ryan partially backs down but does not let go of the conviction. Ben offers to get a drink; Ryan declines, citing duty. In the final moments a brief mysterious exchange between Ben and another character suggests Ben is operating with foreknowledge of Ryan's situation and may have deliberately guided events.

As heard by us

A poisoned lunch, a smug doctor, and a station-wide mess that never quite stops moving.

EOS 10 turns a bad lunch into a station-wide mess, with 168 people sick from Food Court Delta and Dr. Delius showing up with his own unrelated problem, enzymatic sclerosis. The episode keeps circling the same question: was the stew botched, poisoned, or set up on purpose?

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a medical meltdown with teeth.

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