448 – Moonbase 3 – Achilles Heel

Everyone has their Achilles Heel.  Can you make a compelling space story on that idea?  John and Eugene discuss. Episode Synopsis:  On the surface of the moon, scientists Adam Blaney and Bill Knight are working on an antenna installation.  Bill begins to act delirious, his oxygen supply running out.  Adam rushes to him, shares his air supply, and they make it safely back to the base. Back at the base, Dr. Kate Weyman, head of the Cora project that both Adam and Bill are working on, has made a costly mistake.  By accidentally leaving an override in place, she has damaged a critical computer and it will take days to repair.  It will literally be faster to get a replacement flown up from Earth. Unfortunately, about this time, the Director General calls and tells Caulder that the budget is tighter than ever.  All projects MUST come in on schedule and under budget.  There will be no replacement computer from Earth.  Tom Hill and his technical staff are assigned around the clock to work on the computer. After Bill’s brush with death, he’s ready to chuck his promising career and return to Earth to be with his wife, who he is convinced is cheating on him.  Caulder cannot spare him and Helen arranges a call to his wife, who assures him she still loves him and wants him to stay on the base. Adam intimates to Tom that Kate is interfering with his repairs, which annoys him.  He also spreads rumors that Kate might be a bit old and starting to make mistakes.  He tries to convince her to falsify her report about the computer accident and say it was a faulty microswitch, otherwise, it might end her career.  Back when he was on the Venus probe mission, they never had to report things like that. Kate contemplates falsifying the report, but ultimately doesn’t.  She files her report with Caulder – and her resignation.  Caulder puts Helen on the case. To keep the Cora project going while the computer is being repaired, Adam suggests that Bill go out to a remote radio station and do some observations for a few days. Helen tries to get a better handle on Adam.  Adam had been in the running for the Venus Probe, but was passed over because he has an irregular heart.  While Helen pries, Adam also playfully probes Helen for information about her and, before long, they’re an item. Adam takes Bill out to the remote station, on the way, he makes it sound like Caulder forced him to stay and the call to his wife was staged.  This gets Bill in a lather just as he’s left isolated at the remote station. Caulder and Helen begin to get suspicious that, perhaps, the Cora project is being sabotaged.  Could it be that Bill has been causing all these incidents all along? Just about then, Bill calls and threatens to destroy the equipment if they don’t come get him and put him on tonight’s shuttle back to Earth.  Caulder accedes to his demands. Adam rushes out to get him, and Helen goes along. At the station, Bill gets a bit calmed down, then drugged into taking a nap.  While napping, Adam suggests that he and Helen have a little adult time while the kid is asleep in the other room.  Helen feels this is inappropriate and rejects him.  Adam doesn’t take it well.  He’s conflating Helen’s rejection with his rejection from the Venus Probe. On the way back, a surly and reckless Adam drives them off a cliff in an effort to kill Helen.  Luckily, they don’t make cliffs or gravity like they do back home on Earth and they all survive.  Moonbase 3 rescues them. It seems that Adam has the gift of spotting anyone’s Achilles Heel and exploiting it with his gift of gab.  He’s been playing everyone, when he’s not trying to murder them. But, according to the brilliant Dr. Helen Smith, he’s been doing it subconsciously, and probably didn’t even realize he was doing it.