Aboard his command ship, Crais finds the slow progress of the search through 20,000 asteroids unacceptable. He's joined by Scorpius, who recommends flushing out the baby by panicking it with discordant signals.

Crais rejects the suggestion and orders the command ship to move into the belt in order to get a better search angle.

Zhaan, let me explain to you what's going on in my nose right now. There's large pieces of green mucus, gunk...
     

As D'argo attempts to explain the true extent of his sinus distress, they hear a struggle. Rushing to it, they see a misshapen creature throwing a large rock at a woman -- presumably the same woman who transmitted the distress call.

Her name is M'Lee, and she says her entire family has been killed by the creature.

The four of them return to the transport pod, only to find the creature inside. After a brief melee, they chase it away again, but both D'argo and the biological pod are badly hurt.

Once she's onboard, Aeryn is amazed by the baby's bridge -- it's a perfect synthesis of Leviathan biology and Peacekeeper technology. She finds she has an intuitive grasp of the controls, and when she talks to the baby, it seems to burble back at her.

Scorpius has decided to visit Crais' quarters, which he finds unusually opulent. Crais orders him out, but not before Scorpius delivers a warning to the once-proud Peacekeeper: Crais has failed too often.

Zhaan tries to administer healing herbs to D'Argo. He's reluctant, but she points out the alternative is surgery -- and she's no surgeon.

However, she needs more herbs to heal the Luxan, and that means going outside -- "turn left at the creature," Crichton quips as he gets ready to play bodyguard. M'Lee then notices something Crichton doesn't know about Zhaan -- the Delvian priestess is actually a plant herself!

As she gathers herbs, Zhaan explains that sentient plants are not unusual. Crichton's fascinated, but M'Lee soon interrupts the learning experience to announce that the creature is approaching.

M'Lee then runs off. Zhaan directs Crichton to follow M'Lee, then uses her own camouflage abilities to make herself almost invisible. She nearly succeeds at avoiding the creature, until it notices her peeking out at him. The beast lunges....

As Crichton tries to repair the transport pod, he and D'argo argue about losing Zhaan.

Fortunately, M'Lee tells them the creature will take the Delvian to its eating ground before killing her, so Crichton demands to be taken there before it's too late.

There's no sign of Zhaan at the eating grounds, though, just a lot of decaying meat. As Crichton calls for Zhaan, M'Lee decides she's hungry herself -- and begins growing spikes.

Crichton notices something's wrong just as the now-monstrous woman leaps upon him. To add to the confusion, the creature saves Crichton, telling him, "I am not your enemy. She is."

The creature, whose name is Br'nee, takes Crichton back to his base camp, where the human is reunited with Zhaan. As it turns out, Br'nee is a botanical pharmacologist, the last survivor of an expedition sent to harvest the asteroid's medicinal plants.

M'Lee is a calcivore, a bone-eater. According to Br'nee, her only weakness is that she becomes passive and vulnerable after feeding -- the state Moya's crew first found her in.

The next time she eats someone, Br'nee says, the survivors will be able to kill her. Crichton thinks this plan has certain innate disadvantages.

Back on Moya, Pilot warns Aeryn that the Peacekeeper searchers are approaching again. The baby must be persuaded to shut down his systems and remain quiet.

Aeryn warns the baby not to trust the Peacekeepers, asking him to trust Moya and her instead. After thinking about it, the baby complies.

Zhaan makes steady progress on preparing herbal remedies for D'argo, especially after Br'nee demonstrates the remarkable storage abilities of his "capacitator miniaturizer." However, despite his helpful nature, Br'nee won't leave his base camp to go help D'argo unless Crichton stays behind to guard the place.

Crichton agrees, but moments after Zhaan and Br'nee leave, he hears growling. He calls out, and M'Lee answers, "I'm hungry, John . . ."

M'Lee, who has been listening to Crichton and Zhaan's conversation with Br'nee, says the alien pharmacologist hasn't been telling the whole truth.

Br'nee's ancestors brought M'Lee's ancestors to the asteroid to eat the animals on it as a way of protecting the plant life they hoped to harvest. They expected M'Lee's race to die off from starvation once all the animals were gone.

Despite this, M'Lee survived, and she intends to go on doing so. Since she knows that if she eats Crichton and his companions she'll still starve anyway, she's willing to offer Crichton his life if he'll take her to a better food supply.

In the pod, D'argo is feeling much better. He's impressed by Br'nee, and Br'nee is in turn impressed to learn that Zhaan is a Delvian -- as a botanist, he's always wanted to meet one.

Crichton storms in. He's furious at the way Br'nee has edited the truth, but Br'nee has the navigation charts Moya needs to successfully slip out of the asteroid field. Zhaan and Br'nee go retrieve them.

Scorpius has decided to bring charges against Crais for his many crimes. Insanely angry, Crais attacks Scorpius, who proves to be a lot stronger and even more vicious than he looks.

After fixing the pod, Crichton goes to find Zhaan and Br'nee. Zhaan is gone -- Br'nee says M'Lee attacked and took Zhaan.

Crichton rushes to the eating grounds to find Zhaan, but there's nobody there. Then he remembers something.

"Bones," he says. "Idiot!" He turns and runs back into the forest.

Meanwhile, M'Lee sneaks back into the transport pod to find D'argo. She's in dormant mode, so the Luxan can only conclude she's eaten recently.

M'Lee tells D'argo she hasn't eaten anyone -- instead, she's used the remaining calcium in her system to temporarily force herself into dormancy. While she's rational, D'argo offers her the Peacekeepers who will show up on the planet when they spot the transport pod leaving.

Crichton returns to Br'nee's camp. He's remembered that Zhaan, an ambulatory plant, has no bones, and so M'Lee has no reason to eat her. Therefore, Br'nee must have done something to her.

Looking around, Crichton finds Zhaan miniaturized and stored in a bottle. Br'nee attacks Crichton as he takes the bottle, but Crichton fights him off.

As the benighted Earthman puts Zhaan's bottle back into the capacitator miniaturizer, Br'nee finds Crichton's gun and points it at him. He explains that Zhaan is the ultimate botanical find, and says he'll shoot anyone who tries to take her from him.

However, Br'nee may have the gun, but Crichton has the ammunition.

Crichton activates the machine. Enraged, Br'nee attacks him again, but is carved in half when Crichton throws him through the beam that's reassembling Zhaan.

Aboard the Peacekeeper ship, Crais looks terrible as a result of his fight with Scorpius. His second in command reports the sighting of a transport pod, but Crais, seemingly a broken man, tells him to follow Scorpius' orders.

As Crichton and Zhaan prepare to leave the camp, M'Lee jumps out again. She's starving, and desperately needs something to tide her over until the Peacekeepers arrive. What's left of Br'nee makes an excellent snack.

After Crichton, Zhaan and D'argo return, Pilot reports that the charts from Br'nee's camp are just what Moya needs to get out of the asteroid field. Crichton asks Aeryn about the baby, and she says she finds him both amazing and frightening.

Zhaan is sad that she gave up the medical find of a lifetime, but D'argo cheers her up by pointing out that if she can't put the herbs to use, somebody else will someday.

She is surprised by the usually-brusque Luxan warrior's philosophical advice, and asks him, "When did our roles become reversed, sweet D'argo?"

"When you required it," he replies.

Meanwhile, Chiana threatens to remove Rygel's hand if he doesn't move it from its current position immediately. They're surprisingly affectionate as they huddle together for warmth, though.

Pilot emphasizes the extent to which the outcasts have become a family when he tells Aeryn that, thanks to her, Moya is now communicating well with her baby.

Moya's grateful, and would like Aeryn to pick out a name for the baby. Aeryn is surprised, pleased, and proud.

Finally, Scorpius and his men reach the asteroid and find a survivor of the renegades' visit -- M'Lee, once again dormant, passive and begging for help.

Scorpius tells the second in command that they should show compassion and give of themselves.