“Babylon 5: Thirdspace” is a made-for-television film for Babylon 5. Although “Thirdspace” was released after the series had finished, J. Michael Straczynski, the show’s creator, recommends watching it between season four‘s “The Illusion of Truth” and “Atonement”.
The episode opens with Sheridan narrating, that it is the middle of the Earth year 2261, the year between wars and the beginning of a new age. The Shadow War is over but there is still darkness at home. The station has broken away from Earth and been quarantined by President Clark. They cannot afford to lose a single supply ship and, in the midst of this, they made contact with Thirdspace. Contact they almost didn’t survive. They hope they don’t come across it again, as next time, no-one’s going to survive.
Raiders are attacking a transport ship and Starfuries commanded by Ivanova are defending it. She comms the leader of the raiders, telling him to withdraw or be destroyed. He replies that there’s no chance; there’s a lot of money’s worth of cargo onboard. He offers Ivanova a piece of the action. She tells him that they are too evenly matched and that best they will have a standoff. The raider leader replies that it was a standoff, as a large ship exits hyperspace. He asks Ivanova again about that surrender – she replies that she was just about to say the same thing. As a fleet of White Stars also exit hyperspace and take out the raider main ship. Sheridan comms the raiders to surrender and prepare to be boarded. This time they surrender. The whole thing was a mousetrap to lure out the main ship; now the raiders are going to be spending time in a penal colony in the Drazi Freehold.
Lyta Alexander is on Babylon 5, meeting with two men, brothers Alex and Leo. Alex has agreed to a telepathic scan. Leo is supposedly sick; Alex does not think he looks sick. He doesn’t think Lyta looks so good though. Leo is saying that he has been waiting a long time for this when Lyta gets some sort of vision of something in hyperspace. The two brothers haven’t spoken in 20 years, as Leo believes Alex had an affair with his wife, Sheila. Sheila left Leo and the whole family sided with Alex. Lyta is still seeing things in hyperspace. So Leo asks Alex if he had an affair with Sheila. Alex says he didn’t – and Lyta confirms it. Leo asks if she’s sure. She is. Now Leo is regretting the last two decades. As Lyta leaves, she is still having visions and a voice says that he’s picking something up.
Ivanova is leading her squadron back to Babylon 5 and one of them, Delta 7, has told her he’s picking something up in hyperspace, way off the beacon. Delta 7 is the voice that Lyta heard. It’s something huge as well. Ivanova contacts the station to see if there are any missing ships, as what they have detected is at least half a mile across, almost as bit as an explorer ship. It’s well of the jump beacons and the way it is drifting they will never find it again. So Ivanova takes the squadron after it, leaving relay Starfuries behind to make sure they don’t lose track of the beacon. The ship is of no known configuration. When they finally come across it, Ivanova asks Babylon 5 to send out five White Stars and some Starfuries to salvage it. When asked how many Starfuries, the commander asks for all of them.
Back on the station, Sheridan is told that Ivanova is about to come through the gate. He thought she would have been back by now, but the struts of the jump gate have had to be moved far enough apart the let the artefact through. Sheridan asks if it’s that big and he’s told it’s bigger. Lyta is having another vision, this time of the station. She is injured and there are bodies scattered around a station that looks rather the worse for wear. Now that was unsettling.
Vir is speaking to Sheridan and Delenn; with Londo back home the League expects Vir to speak for them. Vir is having a hard time getting to the point. Which is that the League wants to know what the artefact is. Sheridan replies that’s something they have in common then. They don’t know what the artefact is or what it does, only that it’s very old. The League would also like to take part in examining the artefact. Sheridan says not at this time. They understand the League’s interest; a race that advanced may have new technology inside. Anything found will be shared with everyone in the League of Non-Aligned Worlds.
Vir replies that the others don’t trust anyone, not when it comes to money. Delenn suggests that she speak to them; speaking is not the problem, Vir says, it’s the listening. Once Vir leaves, Sheridan and Delenn continue. The other races will always think that they are holding something back, but if allowed on they would try to grab everything they could or sabotage it so that no-one else can benefit. Delenn tells the captain that the other races may have useful resources. Babylon 5 is a freeport; it has no archaeologists or experts in alien technology. Delenn asks whether Sheridan’s decision has anything to do with him wanting to be the first to unlock whatever secrets the artefact holds. There’s an element of truth in that.
Zack is outside in a Starfury, telling a team that the artefact has signs of weapons fire on the outside and to proceed with caution. Until they know what it is and where it came from the artefact is a potential threat to station security. A maintenance bot is sent in to take a sample, but the bot starts losing power and then fails to respond before drifting off. What look like symbols on the artefact start to glow.
Sheridan, Ivanova and Zack are told that the bot was drained so thoroughly that it can’t even be recharged. The Starfuries are going to be kept at a safe distance. A ship from Interplanetary Expeditions – who are into this sort of thing – is also coming through the gate. Even though Babylon 5 is not having anything to do with Earth, a passenger is asking to speak to the captain. Elsewhere, there is a sound of scribbling and paper notes everywhere. Lyta is writing on the walls, as well as the paper; she looks be to be writing, and saying, ‘There is danger.’
Dr Elizabeth Trent from IPX is waiting in Sheridan’s office. She knows about Clark’s quarantine, and how no ship from Earth is allowed to dock with Babylon 5, but Trent tells the captain that IPX is a special case. She wants access to the artefact. Sheridan will take her request under consideration. Which Trent correctly translates as bureaucratese to take a hike. Dr Trent tells Sheridan that he isn’t set up for something like this. Push one wrong button and he could blow himself up. Sheridan considers this exciting.
The captain asks Trent why her and her people are not afraid of retribution for breaking the quarantine. IPX has agreements with half a dozen alien governments allowing travel. There is politics and business, and this is business. IPX can come and go as they want. Sheridan is willing to allow access to the artefact – Trent works with his people, gives full access to the data and, if the data could be used by Earth against other races the information never leaves the station. Sheridan is willing to at least try to destroy the artefact. Due to the blockade the station is short of supplies so, in return, Sheridan wants IPX to provide them. If they are going to work here, they may as well bring lunch – and bring enough for everybody. Trent is going to think on it when Ivanova links in; the artefact is over a million years old. Trent has had enough time to think on the conditions and accepts Sheridan’s terms.
Ivanova is watching IPX offloading stuff and setting up. It isn’t making her very happy. When Dr Franklin arrives, Ivanova asks if anyone would notice if she killed a few. Maybe ten. Or perhaps six. Lyta is still having nightmares about the artefact and wakes up. Zack bumps into her in a transport tube, which suddenly suffers a power failure; there have been a few. Zack talks to Lyta or, rather, at her. She doesn’t seem to be paying attention and is muttering under her breath. Zack doesn’t seem to realise at the end of the conversation that it was totally one-sided.
One of the maintenance crew near the artefact suddenly notices a whole lot of maintenance bots heading towards the artefact on a collision course. They are destroyed by Starfuries. Lyta had sent them but, in Medlab, has no memory of doing so. Then other people start having visions. Some are scary ones.
Dr Trent has worked out that the artefact is a mechanism, not a ship. Fights start breaking out across the station, with a big uptick after the artefact arrived. Others are having visions and dreams, in some cases shared ones, dreams of a dark city. Trent is not sharing everything as she promised. She tells Sheridan that he isn’t a xenoarchaeologist; he may not be, but he was married to one and picked a few things up. And he can recognises Vorlon hieroglyphs, which are on the artefact
People on the station are behaving in an increasingly erratic, and sometimes downright odd, manner. Dr Trent believes she knows what the artefact is. That it leads to another space, not normal space or hyperspace, but a third space. Her associate Bill Morishi is concerned and Trent does something that may well be a mistake. Someone appeared to have tried really hard to destroy the artefact – and they may well have had a very good reason for trying. Power drains start affecting the station as turmoil increases.
There was a chance to go full out technohorror here – whatever is in Thirdspace is bad but it could have been downright creepy – but it didn’t. Perhaps it wouldn’t have fit with the overall tone of the series.