Defender Zik is led into the lab of the sinister Dr. Wagner, along with Tanaka, still held by Misha the gorillaur. The lab is full of strange equipment and a platform surrounded by large rings. Zik presses Wagner for information, hoping to buy time to prevent him from destroying the planet. But Wagner is unconcerned with the deaths of millions of Zozians, because he’s convinced he’s bestowing enlightenment instead. Zik calls him crazy.

That sets Wagner off on an angry rant about how much he contributed to the secretive Project Zoz that enabled humans to leave Earth and come to Zoz all those years ago. He continues that his new challenge has been unlocking the secrets of immortality, and amazes the others by revealing that he’s over a thousand years old already! An incredulous Tanaka asks how that’s possible, and Wagner replies that he did to himself what he’s done with everything he’s touched over the years: he repaired the flaws he perceived in the original design! Returning to the topic at hand, he promises the shocked duo enlightenment!

Defender Zik and the crew of the Temerity have a short window of time to help the living crystal of Planet Hypnos escape the impending meteorite storm! The crew hustles outside, with the exception of Amelia, who remains in the cockpit to keep the ship ready to fly out of danger.

Outside, Dakaasin puzzles over how to cram all that mass of crystal into the hold. It doesn’t look like it will fit until the crystal offers to make itself denser, thereby cramming itself into a smaller volume.

It explains that it is a singular being, and its consciousness splits and merges as it fragments and recombines itself.  When Zik organizes the crew into a human chain to relay the crystals into the ship, the crystal is confused by the term “human chain.” Zik explains that humans can’t split and combine the way the crystal can, but that they often work as a team to accomplish a common goal. Once again, the crystal brings up a mysterious other alien life form it has encountered, which was like humans in that each individual had its own consciousness.

While they work, Zik asks the crystal about these other aliens, wondering whether it was they who stranded the crystal on the rogue planet.  As it turns out, Zik is partially correct.  The aliens are the cause of the stranding of the crystals, but that Hypnos was actually once a moon orbiting a distant gas giant.  However, in a stunning act of attempted xenocide, the aliens detonated the gas giant!

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!

Trent and Amelia have no idea what Japan was. It stands to reason, as they were born on this prison planet, and very little history has survived to their generation.

Elements of Zik’s costume design were indeed inspired by samurai armour. Not for any particular reason other than it looks cool… and because Zik dislikes getting kicked in the nards.