A bitter ex-soldier agrees to help a militia hijack a U.S. Army shipment of missiles. Instead of missiles, they find a lone guard who pleads with them not to open the shipment because it is deadly.
Opening narration
| "On the long road between cradle and grave, we travel alone. It is not the blind and random circumstances of our birth which determine the quality of our journey, that is decided by the choices made along the way." |
Plot
The leader of the militia, Major Mackie, demands to know what is in the shipment and believes that the Captain is lying. But all the lone guard will tell him is, "Don't open it." Even under threat of death, Captain Washington refuses to stand down, but Major Mackie eventually forces his will to be done. They open the door and a chilling series of events begin to unfold as an alien lifeform traps them in the building, and freezes them to death. The creature was recovered from a wrecked spacecraft and was part of the ship's refrigeration system. It has the ability to replicate itself. The soldiers lose their discipline and begin to scatter, questioning each other's loyalties. All the while the alien symbiote stalks with cold, impersonal efficiency, taking out the self-styled militia one by one.
Two remaining survivors, Captain Washington and mercenary Lee, form a plan to lure the creatures to a neon sign of a building. As the creatures are made up of liquid helium, contact with neon causes a reaction that should kill it. The plan appears to work, and Lee and Washington escape.
The final scene shows a police officer frozen outside of the building.
Closing narration
| "Why do we need to belong? Is it for the fellowship of others? Or is it the fear of being left... out in the cold?" |
Notes
- Captain Teri Washington wears Lieutenant rank pins.
- Along with "The Voyage Home" and "In the Blood", this is one of only three episodes of the revival series in which none of the guest stars appeared in any other episode.
Cast
- Costas Mandylor as Lee Taylor
- Colm Feore as Major Mackie
- Jasmine Guy as Captain Teri Washington
- Barry Pepper as Tyson Ruddick
- Katya Gardner as Bethany Wallace
- Philip Granger as Calvin Taylor
- Kevin Conway as the Control Voice (voice)