Back on the Temerity, Defender Zik decides that the danger of an impending meteorite storm is too great, and it’s time to move the ship. But Mizhakwan doesn’t want to leave the crystals behind!

Zik agrees that these crystals are very much worth studying, but not at the risk of their lives. The tenacious Mizhakwan insists that they stay, because she’s convinced that the crystals are alive, an idea that’s met with incredulity by Francisco.

But wait, Trent has noticed something on this monitor… the Temerity is receiving some kind of signal! They’re in a very remote location, between the stars, so it’s very odd to be receiving a transmission. Trent plays the audio of the transmission…

Incredibly, it’s from the crystals! They are transmitting back what Mizhakwan said to them when she wanted them to stop moving!

Zik decides that since they’re communicating, they must be alive!

After Haven’s incredible discovery of how to communicate with dolphins, she learns that they’re usually thinking about food and fun! She plays the dolphins and humpbacks near her underwater lab some Beethoven music, as a way of introducing them to human entertainment. Haven and the dolphins get so absorbed in their newfound ability to interact that they don’t notice that all the music and commotion has attracted a couple of curious great white sharks! Once the sharks arrive, the dolphins panic, knocking over Haven’s communications antenna! Worse, a humpback whale gets crowded into the cliff of a nearby island, causing an underwater avalanche! The rubble falls onto the living quarters module of the lab, crushing it! Haven is in mortal danger!

Amelia is curious about the type of girl Zik likes to date, so Zik starts telling his next tale! The last lady he dated was Haven LeClaire, a marine biologist.  She had an underwater lab near Zik’s island home on Zoz, where she was researching dolphin and whale communications. On the day they met, Haven had just made a breakthrough: she had learned how to communicate with dolphins! She was also close to discovering how to communicate with humpback whales, and there was a lot of activity around her lab. The ocean was crowded!

As Zik and Amelia finish listening to Metallica, they get back into Zik’s story about the deadly spinning asteroid and it’s direct trajectory towards his home planet Zoz.

Zik’s strategy to spin his ship to match the rotation of the asteroid and land at the pole worked! He was able to land safely, anchor his mining ship, and fire up the powerful engines to begin pushing the asteroid on a new trajectory to hopefully nudge it away from Zoz.

In the meantime, though, his friend Ramesh is in serious trouble after that crash landing! Zik is unable to get into contact with Ramesh, meaning that he’s incapacitated somehow.  Quickly donning his breathing and grappling gear, Zik prepares to save Ramesh!

Just in case his mining ship gets dislodged from the asteroid, Zik anchors himself to the hull. He carefully makes his way across the surface of the asteroid.  It’s spinning so quickly that the stars appear to be whizzing through the heavens! Indeed, the closer he gets to the equator, the faster the rotation is, and eventually there isn’t even any gravel or stones left on the ground.

By the time Zik is near Ramesh’s ship, the force of the spin pulling him away from the asteroid is greater that it’s limited gravity, and up and down have reversed themselves! Zik is now fighting to stay attached to the asteroid, hoping that his grappling gear is strong enough to hold him!

Looks like the new aliens aren’t very hospitable! Either that or they have a very dangerous way of saying hello!