As Zhaan drags Rygel and Chiana from one of the bars, a smiling woman slips out after them. As Zhaan heads for a crosswalk, the woman alters its signal.

The crosswalk switches from "don’t walk" to "walk." Fooled by the change, Zhaan is nearly run down by passing traffic.

As she picks herself off the curb, several police officers grab her and arrest her.

"She’s going to pay for her crime," they tell Chiana and Rygel.

The law you can afford

In jail, Zhaan and Chiana are introduced to Dersh, Zhaan’s public counsel. He doesn’t see much of a problem ahead – she’ll probably receive the minimum sentence of ten days.

Of course, Zhaan can’t afford to spend ten days in jail. Moya’s already determined to leave as soon as possible.

Zhaan doesn’t handle captivity well, either. She goes berserk, and nearly strangles her lawyer before being shocksticked into submission.

In an opulent office, a man named Rhumann puts his plan in motion with a telephone call. He brushes off a henchman’s concern about going outside on this particular night.

"You’ll be there tonight," he tells the henchman. "We’ve found the perfect subject."

He turns to the smiling woman sitting in his office, saying "You’ve done well." She leaves to attend to the next part of the plan.

Zhaan sees D’Argo, Aeryn, and Crichton come down the cellblock corridor towards her. They stop by her cell and say hello.

Zhaan’s thrilled to see them – but puzzled that they aren’t freeing her from the cell. They stare at her.

"I need you to be here to rescue me," she whimpers. They vanish.

Zhaan’s vision continues. Crichton walks through the cell door and sits down next to her.

"I wish you were really here," she tells him. "I need you so badly."

Crichton reminds her that the chances that he and the others survived are ten million to one. "You’re just refusing to accept it," he says.

"All this time since we escaped from the Peacekeepers," says Zhaan, "I drew my strength from you and the others." Now she’s incarcerated again without them to help her.

Crichton tells her that she has Rygel and Chiana, but Zhaan dismisses them as being like children. How can she be responsible for them, Pilot, Moya and herself without Crichton and the others to support her?

"But it must be without us now," Crichton tells her. He gets up and leaves her behind.

"Rough night?" a voice asks. It is the smiling woman, who offers escape.

She dissolves the door, and gives Zhaan a map back to her pod. She refuses to tell Zhaan why she’s providing help.

Zhaan takes the map and runs. She’s almost to the transport pod when she stumbles over a body and is ambushed by the police.

"You’re under arrest, alien," a policeman tells her, "for murder."

Oh, and about that parking ticket

The good news is that the traffic violation is no longer a problem. The bad news is that Zhaan is certain to be found guilty and executed for the murder of Wesley Kenn – a rising young advocate of rights for the "utilities", the 10% of Litigara’s population who are not lawyers.

Dersh is not hopeful – the facts of the case seem clear. Chiana suggests he make something up, but he refuses, since he would suffer the same punishment as Zhaan if caught lying.

As Zhaan is brought to the court, Rygel tells Chiana what he’s learned about Litigara. The planet is ruled entirely by lawyers – the current reigning firm is "Rhumann, William and something," and senior partner Ja Rhumann is even attending the trial.

Herr Kafka, your courtroom is ready

The judge convenes the court "in the name of that which is most holy, the supreme law of the land." Rygel is visibly moved.

The proceedings rush forward, with the judge disposing of the evidence and moving on to sentencing in a couple of phrases. Zhaan interrupts her.

"I am guilty of so many evils," Zhaan says, "but of this infraction I must protest my innocence."

Dersh refuses to support her, or to represent her in her plea of "not guilty." Nobody else is willing to step up and advocate her cause – until Chiana and Rygel volunteer to represent her.

Zhaan is aghast. Certain they’ll simply condemn themselves she orders them to return to Moya immediately.

They refuse. "Our offer stands, your Honor," says Chiana, and the judge appoints them counsel for the defense.

Soon, Chiana is hauling a mountain of law books to Zhaan’s cell. Zhaan again tries to convince them to abandon the case, but she only succeeds in worrying Rygel when he learns that they can’t lie and cheat their way through the defense.

Later, Chiana and Rygel study law books in the bar. After observing a lawyer abusing one of the "utilities," they strike up a conversation with the bartender.

He’s suspicious, but quickly mollified when they tell him Zhaan was framed. He shows them The Axioms, a slim book that is the heart of all of Litigara’s many laws.

"This is the only book you really need," he tells them.

In her cell, Zhaan has a vision of Aeryn, who accuses her of being too quick to leave.

"You told me to go," Zhaan points out. She insists that she’s been searching everywhere for her missing crewmates, and Aeryn vanishes.

"Where are you?" Zhaan murmurs. "Where are you?"

The next day, Zhaan announces to the judge that "This must not go on." She confesses to the crime.

"I committed that murder," asserts Zhaan. "I crushed that man’s throat."

Chiana leaps from her chair. "What’s the matter with you?" she asks Zhaan. "Do you want to die?"

Zhaan tries to convince Rygel and Chiana to save themselves, but they refuse to present her plea. Chiana asks the court to gag Zhaan for her own protection.

The trial proceeds, but the defense is less than successful. Rygel can’t pose a question without trying to exaggerate their case, and Chiana’s cross-examination of a guard is made ridiculous by one of his infamous helium farts.

Meanwhile, the prosecution’s witnesses are calm and convincing. The situation looks bleak, and the situation is only made worse by Pilot’s news that Moya intends to leave – with or without her passengers – the next day.

In the bar, they spot the cop that recaptured Zhaan. They notice he has a nasty burn on his face, and the bartender explains to them that blue-eyed Litigarans are notoriously sensitive to the light of the planet’s two moons.

Chiana goes to do what she does best – make a new friend. She joins the cop for a drink, pretending there’s no hope for the case and pumping him for information.

Rygel has been reading about a strange concept in The Axioms – the light of truth. According the book, this is a burning torch that burns brighter when someone is telling a lie.

The bartender assures him that this is a central concept in the planet’s law, but it’s not quite what Rygel needs – he wants something that will let him lie just a little. Then he has an idea, and shows the bartender the picture of the victim.

Chiana wakes on the bar table just before court. Rygel gives her cleansing pills and careful instructions for taking them one every two hours.

When the trial reconvenes, Chiana bounces all over the room as she examines the witnesses. Her hangover was so bad that she took all three pills at once.

Rygel calls the cop who recaptured Zhaan back to the stand. He asks the blue-eyed cop about the moonburn, confirms that it occurred the night of the murder, and then inquires why the victim – who also had blue eyes – didn’t have a moonburn.

The cop doesn’t have an answer. Chiana picks up the questioning, forcing the cop to reveal that before he became a policeman, he was a security officer for the law firm of Rhumann, William and Mandrell.

The court recesses, and Chiana checks in with Pilot. Moya is about to leave, and won’t even talk to Chiana.

Chiana heads back to courtroom, she runs into an "electronet", a painful force field. The smiling woman controls it.

Chiana has been dragged into the office of Ja Rhumann. He’s impressed by her work, but tells her that she’s going to throw the case.

Rhumann intends to make sure utilities don’t get more rights. He murdered the activist, and framed Zhaan for the crime.

If Rygel and Chiana keep defending Zhaan, he’ll make sure they’re imprisoned on false charges. If they lose the case, though, he’ll let them go.

"Trust me," he says, "I’m a lawyer."

Zhaan talks to a vision of D’Argo. He reminds her that she survived and thrived in captivity before, but she tells him it was because she was following the Delvian seek, which she has now set aside.

Unfortunately, the vision says, her three missing companions can’t support her anymore. "From now on," D’Argo tells her, "you must confront your demons alone."

Zhaan doesn’t know if she has the strength to start over alone, but the vision tells her, "You are the strongest individual I have ever known."

In her vision, he kisses her; in reality, she’s chanting and otherwise catatonic. Rygel surreptitiously gives her support by holding her hand.

Chiana returns and borrows Rygel’s comlink – Rhumann confiscated hers – to call Pilot. He tells her that he and Moya overheard most of Rhumann’s conversation with her, and Moya has decided to stay a little longer.

Rygel now thinks he has a way to save Zhaan, but it will require deception and trickery.

"Finally," Chiana says, "we get to play to our strengths."

The next morning, they call Ja Rhumann to the stand. He agrees with Chiana that "lying in court is really bad," but insists he knows nothing about the victim’s death.

Chiana gets out a stick of wood that represents the Light of Truth. Rhumann is concerned, and insists that the Light is meant to be nothing but a parable.

The court allows Chiana and Rygel to proceed. Chiana lights the torch.

Rhumann agrees that – "hypothetically" – the victim’s death benefited his firm’s rule over the planet. He even agrees that the victim’s lack of moonburn could be interpreted as meaning the murder happened someplace other than the alley.

"Speaking hypothetically?" Chiana asks.

Rygel whispers into his comlink, "Now, Pilot."

"Yes," the irritated lawyer replies, "of course I’m speaking hypothetically."

Moya begins broadcasting energy into the courtroom. The torch shines brilliantly.

They accuse him of ordering the murder of Wesley Kenn and framing Zhaan. As he denies it, the light burns brighter and brighter.

"Your Honor!" Rygel shouts. "Are you going to believe the protestations of an obviously guilty man, or the very symbol of your law, your world, your truth?"

After a moment’s thought, the judge orders the arrest of Ja Rhumann – and Zhaan’s freedom.

Zhaan doesn’t know what happened to Rhumann. They left immediately, she tells Crichton, and came in search of him and the others.

She’s still tormented by nightmares, but Crichton points out that being separated for a while helped put her back on a spiritual path. Maybe the suffering was worthwhile.

Their comlink crackles to life. Moya has found them, and will pick them up within a quarter of an arn.

As they wait, Zhaan thanks Crichton for his compassion. "Thank you for yours," he replies.