“Seed of Destruction” is episode eleven of season two of Space: 1999.
Commander Koenig and Alan are taking Eagle 1 to a bizarre jewel-like asteroid. Koenig contacts the Command Centre and Maya reports they’re being affected by an energy field from the asteroid. And that there’s a small breathable area on it. The Eagle lands and they are heading to explore when a malfunction alarm reports a problem in the stabilisers. Alan remains behind to fix it whilst the commander heads off. Because splitting the party is always a great idea.
Koenig enters a cave full of mirrors. He has a moment of pain and turns. One of his reflections doesn’t. Then steps out of the mirror. MirrorKoenig comes up behind Koenig and touches him, smiling as the commander turns around then collapses. MirrorKoenig takes a piece of rock and contacts Alan, telling him to prepare for immediate lift-off. Then swaps their jackets.
Maya is trying to get Alan to stay when MirrorKoenig arrives at the Eagle. He says they are taking off and the stabilisers that Alan hadn’t manage to fix are working again. When MirrorKoenig arrives in the Command Centre, he tells everyone the asteroid is a serious threat. The force will make their instruments useless. They need to create an energy beam to cut through the energy screen and break the hold. He orders this started immediately.
Dr Russell is concerned about the threat to life support and Maya wants to analyse the asteroid sample. MirrorKoenig says he has already completed the analysis. When Maya protests as science officer, MirrorKoenig orders her confined to quarters.
After MirrorKoenig leaves, Dr Russell stops Alan from following. She speaks to him, Tony and Sandra – now being called ‘Sahn’ – to find out what if anything happened to the commander on the asteroid. Alan thinks that Koenig might have discovered a threat on the asteroid that he doesn’t want them to know about yet. The doctor agrees this is a strong possibility. It doesn’t help that this is exactly the sort of thing Koenig would do.
Koenig comes around and discovers he has a mirror image jacket.
Tony goes to see Maya. She noticed how MirrorKoenig avoided the doctor’s touch, and she’s sensitive to matter and says MirrorKoenig felt cold. Tony suggests they take an Eagle back to the asteroid. Might Koenig be medically incompetent? Maya suggests speaking to the doctor.
Dr Russell and Dr Vincent are discussing life support problems when Tony arrives. Tony asks the doctor if there’s a problem with Koenig, what can they do? He explains he wants to take an Eagle and Maya thinks the crystal sample is affecting the commander. If this is the case, could he be medically incompetent? Dr Russell is concerned about what if he isn’t.
On the asteroid, Koenig is contacted my something calling itself the Voice of Kalthon. They require the Alphans’ energy. When a black sun appeared in their galaxy, it absorbed all their power and their technology was useless against it. In order to avoid total extinction, their scientists created a seed endowed with the remnants of their energy and launched it into infinite space. All of Kalthon is here in microcosm and needs energy to be reborn. The seed is programmed only for survival and resurrection; it cannot make moral decisions.
The real Koenig is trapped on the asteroid. Not everyone trusts MirrorKoenig, but some believe he is working to help Alpha. Which makes things complicated. If MirrorKoenig isn’t stopped, Alpha will be destroyed.