As they journey toward the planet, Moya passes through a region of space with five pulsars. T’raltixx warns that "occasionally" the bright light of the neutron stars has "minor" and "temporary" psychological effects on "lesser species."

Crichton escorts T’raltixx to his quarters, learning that while he may be blind, T’raltixx’s other senses more than compensate. He can count Crichton’s fingers and avoid the DRDs that wander in front of him.

So dry, yet so tasty

"No," she replies. "Look, we gotta talk."

Aeryn is having trouble retrieving the transmission from Scorpius’ wanted notice. Zhaan suddenly wonders if there’s a hidden message Aeryn’s concealing – maybe a pardon for Aeryn if she turns the others in?

D’argo stalks through Moya’s corridors, finding Rygel contemplating a stash of crackers. "Chiana told me you would start to rob from us," D'argo mutters.

"If you want your crackers so badly," the irascible Luxan continues, "I’ll give Your Eminence crackers."

Throwing Rygel down on the deck, D’argo begins stuffing crackers into his mouth.

"Now eat!" he shouts. "You’ve got three stomachs! One of them must be empty!"

Rygel chokes. For a moment, D’argo looks confused, but then snarls and stalks out of the room.

The pleasures of pulsar light have overcome Zhaan, leaving her unable to watch over T’raltixx. The hapless passenger checks in with Pilot -- who assures him Zhaan’s behavior is normal -- and then asks the navigator a strange question: does he like the others on Moya?

"You know," Pilot says. "I don’t think I do like them."

Crichton checks in with Pilot, not-so-casually calling him "shellhead" and complaining that the others are acting strange. Pilot reluctantly agrees to his request for a scan on the pulsar light.

D’argo’s arrival only escalates the argument, leaving him and Crichton at blows. Just one blow, actually, which drops Crichton on the floor and momentarily restores his sanity.

He calms the others down, telling them "just as soon as we get past the pulsars everything will be back to normal."

Everyone makes polite, brittle noises to each other and go their separate ways.

Nobody notices T’raltixx hanging from a wall, fiddling with Moya’s circuits. Nobody except a DRD, that is – and T’raltixx swiftly blasts the hapless robot with laser beams from his empty eye sockets.

T’raltixx tells Crichton he doesn’t know why the light is having such a dramatic effect on the crew. He suggests turning back, but Crichton points out they’re already halfway through the pulsar field.

Aeryn hunts for Rygel, finding him hidden in a small vent. She demands his assistance against the others, saying she can trust him because "you’re too much of a coward to betray me."

Chiana tells D’argo that Aeryn is definitely hiding something. They don’t know if Crichton or Zhaan are working with Aeryn, and when Zhaan wanders by D’argo plays it safe and knocks her out with his tongue.

Crichton wants to know what Pilot learned from scanning the pulsar light, but Pilot is more interesting in discussing humans’ many weaknesses. Frustrated, Crichton climbs over the console and tries to work it himself, earning an electrical shock that throws him to the floor.

Again, his head clears for a few minutes. He notices that Pilot has been affected, even though the navigator has had no direct perception of the pulsar light that is supposedly causing everyone’s behavior.

He goes to tell the others, but finds himself staring down the barrel of Aeryn’s pistol. She and Rygel are taking their "fair share" of crackers from the cargo bay, and they’re not going to let Crichton stop them.

"I don’t care about crackers!" Crichton protests.

"We do," Rygel answers.

Crichton begins to flip out again. "Is that was this is all about? Is that it?"

"Okay," he continues, "then where’s my ice cream?" He runs off, muttering about "creamsicle-fudgsicle."

Pilot notices his DRDs are missing. T’raltixx has commandeered them to help him create more light in the sluice chamber.

Crichton finds D’argo and Chiana planning to flee Moya in Farscape One. Unfortunately for them, he’s already disabled the craft and frozen the hangar doors.

Going round the bend

Aeryn and Rygel have barricadied themselves on the bridge. Crichton stops by – retaining just enough sanity to suggest putting the weapons back in a locker so nobody will get hurt – but Aeryn shoots at him and chases him away.

He next finds Chiana in a corridor, trying to replay the message on Scorpius’s beacon. He grabs her, but she knees him and flees.

As he stares at the beacon, he tells it, "They don’t get how crazy they are."

Suddenly, the beacon seems to come to life.

Through the beacon, Scorpius tells him, "You’re right, John . . . They don’t get how crazy they are – because they stole the crackers."

On the bridge, Aeryn and Rygel’s alliance erodes. Meanwhile, Crichton stalks through the corridors, encouraged by his insane vision of Scorpius.

In the sluice chamber, T’raltixx is begging Pilot for more light.

Crichton gets the drop on D’argo, and forces him to give up his sword. Scorpius encourages Crichton to kill D’argo -- telling him "then we can go to the beach!" – but Crichton simply wounds the Luxan.

Scorpius again tries to convince Crichton to kill, distracting the human long enough for D’argo to escape. Crichton sets out to follow D’argo’s trail of blood.

He catches up to Chiana next. Scorpius tells him to tie her up, and "save her for dessert" after he kills the others.

Aeryn accuses Rygel of being about to betray her to Crichton. Enraged, he attacks her, and she knocks him unconscious.

Crichton, who has just happened by in time to see this, mocks her, linking her "betrayal" of the Peacekeepers to her attack on "poor Sparky here."

"Tell me, Princess," he asks, "when you’re old and fat, will you have anything to look back on with pride?"

They hurl insults at each other – Aeryn calls Crichton a "test monkey" who’s never does anything but talk, while Crichton calls her a "frigid, flat-butted, Peacekeeper skank."

Then the phantasm of Scorpius walks in – dressed in a Hawaiian shirt – and Crichton shoots him. Blowing Scorpius’s head off releases enough tension for Crichton to return to a semblance of normality. Unfortunately, Aeryn’s ready to kill him now, and opens fire.

A brief but destructive gunfight ensues. Moments later, they’ve emptied their clips and are charging at each other screaming . . .

A few minutes later, Crichton handcuffs Aeryn to a console in the cargo bay, having already tied up D’argo, Chiana and Rygel. Zhaan is also present, but he is so passive she doesn’t need to be tied up.

"Now that we’re all here and so happy, do you think we can all get along for three microts?" he asks.

"No," D’argo answers.

"But D’argo," Crichton says, "I need you to understand that crackers . . . don’t . . . matter!" With that, he shoots at and destroys a pile of crackers next to D’argo’s head.

Crichton’s figured out the real problem: T’raltixx. He’s making them crazy -- not the pulsars, which Moya has now left behind, but through some other method – and he’s got to be stopped.

As he explains, Crichton punctuates his main points by blowing up piles of crackers next to his friends’ heads.

"So," Crichton says, "I have – much as I hate to do this – I have to ask for your help."

"No!" replies Aeryn.

"Wrong answer!" Crichton shouts, and blows up more crackers.

In the sluice chamber, T’raltixx stands bathed in light, and begs Pilot for just a little more power from Moya’s reserves. The entire ship glows as systems begin to overload.

Reluctantly, angrily, the crewmembers begin to undo each other’s bonds and prepare a plan.

Aeryn and D’argo want the honor of killing T’raltixx, but Chiana soon figures out why Crichton is the only one sane enough to do it. The alien is causing their dementia by stimulating their optic nerves, and Crichton’s eyesight is so poor by galactic standards that he’s only partially affected.

Crichton has trouble believing this, but the others demonstrate it by reading a safety message – "Warning: don’t flush corrosives down the waste tunnel" – that he can’t even see.

The plan soon evolves into garbing Crichton with a layer of "predigested" heat-resistant paste, thick black goggles, D’argo’s sword, a shield made from a piece of Aeryn’s prowler, a tarpaulin made of solar-reflective flare wrap, and a floppy helmet.

"I look ridiculous, don’t I?" Crichton asks. The bemused looks on his friends' faces confirm his worst fears.

"Don’t worry," Rygel reassures him. "This is T’raltixx’s disappearing device – so it won’t matter how ridiculous you look."

He hangs the hubcap-like device on the human’s chest. Humming "The Ride of the Valkyries", Crichton strikes a pose.

Aeryn mutters, "We are going to die."

Rygel activates the "stealth" device from Farscape One while Crichton dives into the sluice chamber and starts cutting wires. T’raltixx is unable to locate him.

The light begins to dim, driving T’raltixx into a frenzy. Aboard Farscape One, Rygel counts up to the ten-second limit – and intentionally leaves the device on.

The cord sparks, exposing it to T’raltixx, who shoots it with his eyebeams and reveals Crichton. "You can’t stop me, Crichton!" he shouts. "I have the light!"

"But humans are superior!" Crichton replies, and cuts more wires. T’raltixx hurls a barrage of energy bolts at him, loudly proclaiming plans to take over Moya and murder everyone aboard.

T’raltixx’s power collapses, however, as Crichton cuts away at the wires and the light fades. Crichton blasts T’raltixx with D’argo’s sword and kills him in mid-rant.

Everyone is profoundly ashamed when they return to normal. Pilot extends his apologies to D’argo and Rygel.

D’argo then attempts to apologize to Rygel, asking, "Can you forgive me?"

"No," Rygel answers. "Not yet." He was certain D’argo was going to kill him.

The others are returning things to their proper places on the bridge. Chiana and Zhaan are largely taking the incident in stride, but Aeryn and Crichton have trouble facing each other.

"Listen," Crichton says. "Anything I said . . . I, uh . . . "

"I know. Me too." Aeryn replies.

They leave it at that.