“Missing Link” is episode twenty of season one of Space: 1999.
Main Mission is contacting Eagle 1. Commander Koenig responds; they’re returning. They were descending towards the planet when speed suddenly increased as if g force had increased. Victor and Sandra are in the rear; they detected no force they know of. Power is suddenly lost and the Eagle ends up crashing on the Moon, knocking all four unconscious. David tells Paul the location of the crash and Paul contacts medical. Dr Russell can get no readings on Commander Koenig.
A medical team is dispatched by Eagle; Koenig is outside and sees them fly over. However, in Eagle 1, Alan comes around and finds the commander unconscious next to him. He tells Main Mission that the commander is in a bad way.
Koenig enters a darkened Alpha and tries to contact anyone from a transit tube. A figure fades in and out behind him. He finds no-one on the base but there’s a monitor with his name misspelled in medical. A male figure is reflected in a mirror. A figure moves behind Koenig, then one fades in and out in front of him.
Dr Russell wants the commander taken back to base. Alan contacts Paul and tells him to send a cargo Eagle to carry the command section back to Alpha. The other commander finds his office empty, as is Main Mission. The monitor shows a strange city, not Alpha. Then the room starts spinning and fades away. An alien man hopes Commander Koenig enjoys his stay on Zenno.
The alien says this is all real, explaining where the commander is. Koenig says their computer said all the planets in the sector were dead. The alien says it said that because he ordered it to do so. He can read Koenig’s mind. His people create anything they want with their minds. He shows an image of his city, with the Moon above, and introduces himself as Raan. He shows the commander the version of himself in medical.
Koenig asks why he’s there and a younger, female alien appears and says it’s because her father is the foremost anthropologist on Zenno. Raan introduces Koenig to his daughter, Vana. Then creates a version of the commander’s quarters on Alpha so he will be more comfortable. The commander asks if he’s a prisoner. No; he’s a guest in Raan’s home. A permanent one. Which is pretty much what a prisoner is. Raan says that Koenig’s lifespan is only a tenth of theirs. He wishes to learn the mind of Earthmen. Koenig is the missing link.
Koenig compares himself to a lab animal to Vana. She doesn’t see it. He may have a point, though. He wants to leave and will make every effort to do so. Vana, however, seems to be attracted to Koenig, and it looks like it might be mutual. Raan doesn’t seem that happy. Alpha, meanwhile, has their own Commander Koenig, and he seems to be dying.