The flashing tear (apparently a permanently stabilized one) swells and shoots
down a pulse light. It materializes as a cruise ship, which heads to the
dock of the desert city.
Captain Capacitor (the Crimson Binome) and his first mate (Mr. Christopher)
are skulking about, hiding behind barrels and avoiding the CPUs (purple and
white cop cars, circa 1940, with a red light on top and two machine guns
in the front fenders). A floating "Wanted" vidwindow pops up, declaring
10,000 unit reward for the two, deleted or compiled. [10100011] They figure
they can blend in with the scurvy lot in the local cantina, but the only
people it the demolished building are AndrAIa and Matrix. The big guy puts down his drink and stares in
surprise at the new arrivals. "Capacitor?", he asks. But the Captain assumes
that the declaration of his name is coming from a gleeful bounty hunter,
and skeedaddles. Matrix and AndrAIa burst through the cantina doors; he tells
tells Frisket to find the pirate, and the chase is on.
In the fortified prison on the hill, a surfer-dude (wearing goggles, a buzz-cut haircut, and a shiny wetsuit) and his surfboard are brought in front of a jukebox-like judge. He is found guilty of unauthorized travel between systems. (The man has a pronounced Australian accent.) The guards (wearing traditional French Foreign Legion uniforms) escort the Surfer to his cell. When he makes a wisecrack, they hit his surfboard, and that knocks him unconscious.
Frisket catches up to the running pirate but is frozen in mid leap (just like in "The Crimson Binome" episode). The Captain recognizes the dog from its ferocious teeth. Capacitor is taken aback when Matrix yells out, "Gavin, wait!" "How do you know me true name?" Matrix explains that he is Enzo and that he needs the Captain's ship to search for Bob in the Web. A slow moving blimp blares out the reward message. The infected Guardians took exception to the pirates opening trade routes with other systems after Mainframe was disconnected. The pirate crew is being held in the prison; there is no way to get them out. AndrAIa informs the gallant Captain that he now has an unstoppable secret weapon - Matrix.
Inside the prison, the guards (wearing traditional French Foreign Legion type uniforms) are monitoring the cells via closed-circuit TV. AndrAIa plays the damsel in distress - she's looking for her dog. (The guards are severely distracted by her appearance.) Frisket comes bounding in, knocking out some panels, then AndrAIa throws the starfish from her hair and that five-pointed weapon slices through the video consoles.
Outside the prison, Matrix and the two pirates take the alarm bell as their cue. There's no way over the wall, so Matrix just blasts a hole in it. AndrAIa and Frisket come barreling down the front sidewalk, only to be stopped by the automatic gates. The guards come out the prison's main entrance but AndrAIa is not worried. "Chow time!" Frisket munches on the metal gate, then throws it upon the pursuing guards. AndrAIa tells the dog to go ahead to the docks; she'll meet him there.
Captain Capacitor is stymied by a combination lock; "Daaarrr! Blasted lock of codes!" (Never say "blast" around Matrix. :-) The big guy blasts the lock, then muscles his way in through the stuck doors.
Meanwhile, AndrAIa is playing hide-and-seek with the Central Police Units. "Hey, bits-for-brains! How many CPU's does it take to catch one sprite?" (The two purple and white cop cars have to discuss this amongst themselves before answering with gunfire.) AndrAIa uses her trident as a pole vault to get away.
Matrix shoots the door off the cell holding the pirate crew. As they retrieve their weapons, the binomes jostle the locker with the surfboard, and that is enough to revive the surfer. He asks for help, and when Matrix refuses, the Crimson Binome upbraids the young man for acting in such a churlish manner. He blasts open the surfer's cell, and then when asked, the locker, almost destroying the guy each time. "Next time, it's your head." His parting advice is to head straight to the Edge of Beyond.
Outside, the surfer is noticed by three CPU cars, which demand that the felon surrender or be deleted. "Tough choice," is the reply. He leads them through the alley ways, where the cars keep knocking into walls. [There is a cute camera cut - from a car smacking into a wall to the fist of a binome smacking into the device that is holding the pirate ship in place.] (Frisket has scared away the technicians by this time.) The pirates are jubilant as they board their ship, the Saucy Mare, but Frisket is worried; AndrAIa is still in the city. And two large naval destroyers, the SS Cameron and the FFG-39 take aim.
The game sprite has gotten herself trapped in a dead-end alley. Faced with the same demand (surrender or be deleted), AndrAIa responds in a similar fashion, "Gee, tough choice. Bring it on!" About this time, the surfer (being pursued by only two cars now) notices the lovely damsel, outnumbered and definitely in distress. He nonchalantly steps off his surfboard, and it swoops down, slices of the car's machine guns. The board picks up the surfer before he touches ground. The surfer uses the stereotypical pick-up line, "It looked to me like you could use a lift." At this point he identifies himself as Ray Tracer.
The getaway is marred by the appearance of two more CPUs. Once again, the order is given (surrender or die), but this time both he and she answer in stereo: "Gee, tough choice!"
Back at Dock 66, the Captain has ordered the engines on line and called for battle stations. Frisket gets excited when he spots AndrAIa and Ray, but Matrix is noticeably less enthused. Before the macho males can makes something of it, the first volley arrives, knocking the Captain's hat off. "Fire at will!" commands Matrix. The pirate ship takes some hits, but is able to sink the SS Cameron. A flock of CPUs attack, then Matrix gets distracted by the sight of AndrAIa and Ray standing back to back firing. Finally the engines hit full power, eleven sails unfurl and the ship warps out of the dock, through the portal, and away.
In hyperspace, the ship shows signs of damage; a hole in one sail, a breach on the port side spewing smoke, and various holes in the hull.
With the fight over, Matrix directs his jealous rage at the surfer. AndrAIa tries to get him to act polite, without much success. "Pleasant chap," states Ray, sarcastically. "Does he ever smile?" "If he does, run ... very fast," she replies.
Just then the engines give out. The ship materializes in a space filled with floating cubes and spheres. Their portal generator was damaged by the warships; without it they're stuck. Ray offhandedly remarks that some of his best surfing has been done on the Web; he has the ability to open up a portal by himself. "Ray, will you help us get into the Web?" "For you, pretty lady, anything." Focus on Matrix's angry eye as this episode ends.
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