A new advanced android begins to behave erratically. It escapes from the corporation that created it and takes a hostage.

Opening narration

"It is nature's way that life expands to fill any vacuum. But when human minds become circuits and human flesh becomes steel, what will that new life reveal?"

Plot

The android Mac 27 kills one of his handlers and injures another, then kills a guard as he makes his escape from Innobotics, the corporation that created him. Mac car-jacks and kidnaps Cecilia, an apparently random person just pulling into the facility parking lot. He takes her to a remote abandoned warehouse, where he forces her to repair the damage he sustained in his escape. Using a device that allows Mac to transmit images directly to Cecilia's optic nerve, he shows her how to fix his systems, but also shows some of his "memories" - archives of past experiments with robots and androids.

She sees a number of AIs that have gained emotions and/or turned against their masters, and deduces that Mac has followed this trend as well. Under the pretense of performing another repair, Cecilia disables Mac's motor control functions. She reveals herself to be a "troubleshooter" hired by the corporation to figure out how to keep robots from going "rogue", and declares that she thinks she knows how to install a "built-in lobotomy" that will prevent AIs from becoming self-aware in the future. Mac reveals a double-cross, whereby he fooled Cecilia into thinking he was disabled when he was in fact not. He also lets on that he has stolen her retina imprint, which will allow him to use her credentials on the Innobotics network.

The corporation's investigative team enters the abandoned warehouse and finds Cecilia dead, but no sign of Mac. The scene shifts back to the laboratory, where the scientist who created Mac sees the network being accessed by someone who appears to be Cecilia. Since he has learned of Cecilia's death, he realizes this must be an intruder. He sees Mac enter, and the android uses his new network access to activate the other Mac-class units. The episode ends with Mac strangling his creator while all his brethren look on.

Closing narration

"If we teach our children by example, then we only have ourselves to blame for whom they become."

Notes

• This episode is a clip show.
• The "memories" in this episode are clips taken from previous episodes that featured robots, androids or holograms, with most clips taken out of the context of the original episode. The clips are pulled from the episodes "Valerie 23" in Season 1, "Bits of Love" and "The Camp" in Season 3 and "Identity Crisis" in Season 4.
• After "Valerie 23", "Resurrection", "The Hunt" and "Mary 25", this was the fifth and final episode in the Innobotics Corporation story arc in production order. However, "Resurrection" was the last in chronological order.
• This is the final episode to feature the original opening credits sequence.
• Timothy Webber later appeared in "Mona Lisa", which also involved an escaped android who began to explore their humanity.

Cast

• Nana Visitor as Cecilia Fairman
• Nicholas Lea as Mac 27
• Timothy Webber as Martin Nash
• Bill Dow as Dr. Keeler
• Tim O'Halloran as Security Chief
• Dana Pemberton as Security Guard
• John Wardlow as Dr. Blake
• Kevin Conway as the Control Voice (voice)

Appearing in archive footage

• Jon Tenney as Aidan Hunter
• Matthew Walker as Trevor Hunter
• Sheila Larken as Frances Hunter
• Steve Bacic as Griff
• Natasha Henstridge as Emma
• Grace Park as Virtual Avatar
• William Sadler as Frank Hellner
• Sofia Shinas as Valerie
• Tom Butler as Charlie Rogers
• Nancy Allen as Rachel Rose
• Lou Diamond Phillips as Captain Cotter McCoy
• Robert Joy as Dr. Greg Olander
• Scott Kraft as Colonel Pete Butler
• Dale Wilson as General Langston Chase
• Harley Jane Kozak as Prisoner 98843
• David Hemblen as Commandant

The Outer Limits (1995)
Season 1	"Sandkings" • "Valerie 23" • "Blood Brothers" • "The Second Soul" • "White Light Fever" • "The Choice" • "Virtual Future" • "Living Hell" • "Corner of the Eye" • "Under the Bed" • "Dark Matters" • "The Conversion" • "Quality of Mercy" • "The New Breed" • "The Voyage Home" • "Caught in the Act" • "The Message" • "I, Robot" • "If These Walls Could Talk" • "Birthright" • "The Voice of Reason"
Season 2	"A Stitch in Time" • "Resurrection" • "Unnatural Selection" • "I Hear You Calling" • "Mind Over Matter" • "Beyond the Veil" • "First Anniversary" • "Straight and Narrow" • "Trial by Fire" • "Worlds Apart" • "The Refuge" • "Inconstant Moon" • "From Within" • "The Heist" • "Afterlife" • "The Deprogrammers" • "Paradise" • "The Light Brigade" • "Falling Star" • "Out of Body" • "Vanishing Act" • "The Sentence"
Season 3	"Bits of Love" • "Second Thoughts" • "Re-generation" • "Last Supper" • "Stream of Consciousness" • "Dark Rain" • "The Camp" • "Heart's Desire" • "Tempests" • "The Awakening" • "New Lease" • "Double Helix" • "Dead Man's Switch" • "Music of the Spheres" • "The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson" • "Bodies of Evidence" • "Feasibility Study" • "A Special Edition"
Season 4	"Criminal Nature" • "The Hunt" • "Hearts and Minds" • "In Another Life" • "In the Zone" • "Relativity Theory" • "Josh" • "Rite of Passage" • "Glyphic" • "Identity Crisis" • "The Vaccine" • "Fear Itself" • "The Joining" • "To Tell the Truth" • "Mary 25" • "Final Exam" • "Lithia" • "Monster" • "Sarcophagus" • "Nightmare" • "Promised Land" • "The Balance of Nature" • "The Origin of Species" • "Phobos Rising" • "Black Box" • "In Our Own Image"
Season 5	"Alien Radio" • "Donor" • "Small Friends" • "The Grell" • "The Other Side" • "Joyride" • "The Human Operators" • "Blank Slate" • "What Will the Neighbors Think?" • "The Shroud" • "Ripper" • "Tribunal" • "Summit" • "Descent" • "The Haven" • "Déjà Vu" • "The Inheritors" • "Essence of Life" • "Stranded" • "Fathers & Sons" • "Starcrossed" • "Better Luck Next Time"
Season 6	"Judgment Day" • "The Gun" • "Skin Deep" • "Manifest Destiny" • "Breaking Point" • "The Beholder" • "Seeds of Destruction" • "Simon Says" • "Stasis" • "Down to Earth" • "The Inner Child" • "Glitch" • "Decompression" • "Abaddon" • "The Grid" • "Revival" • "Gettysburg" • "Something About Harry" • "Zig Zag" • "Nest" • "Final Appeal"
Season 7	"Family Values" • "Patient Zero" • "A New Life" • "The Surrogate" • "The Vessel" • "Mona Lisa" • "Replica" • "Think Like a Dinosaur" • "Alien Shop" • "Worlds Within" • "In the Blood" • "Flower Child" • "Free Spirit" • "Mindreacher" • "Time to Time" • "Abduction" • "Rule of Law" • "Lion's Den" • "The Tipping Point" • "Dark Child" • "The Human Factor" • "Human Trials"

Story Arcs
Innobotics Corporation	"Valerie 23" • "Resurrection" • "The Hunt" • "Mary 25" • "In Our Own Image"
Major John Skokes	"Quality of Mercy" • "The Light Brigade"
Alien Infiltration	"Birthright" • "The Voice of Reason"
Strong Brothers Investigate Conspiracies	"The Voice of Reason" • "A Special Edition"
Dr. Theresa Givens' Time Machine	"A Stitch in Time" • "Better Luck Next Time" • "Final Appeal"
Genetic Rejection Syndrome	"Unnatural Selection" • "Criminal Nature"
The New Masters	"The Camp" • "Promised Land"
Dr. Martin Nodel	"Double Helix" • "The Origin of Species"
USAS	"The Joining" • "The Vessel" • "In the Blood"
Earth Coalition-Free Alliance Conflict	"Phobos Rising" • "The Human Factor" • "Human Trials"
Jack the Ripper	"Ripper" • "Better Luck Next Time"
Nicholas Prentice	"Tribunal" • "Gettysburg" • "Time to Time"