An eerie wind, increasing in intensity, sweeps through Moonbase Alpha,
when Dan Mateo is conducting experiments in the Hydroponic Unit in which he works as a botanist. With him at the time
is his assistant Laura Adams. Lights dim. A sudden drop in temperature is recorded. Plants, grown in the
unit for the studies carried out there, droop and die.
Mateo collapses. Doctor Helena Russell diagnoses severe shock, but what has caused it?
Commander Koenig and Professor Bergman are aware of the background of Mateo's experiments. He believes mankind has some
affinity with plants. Both have nervous systems. Certain patterns in the human brain correspond precisely to the
wave patterns plants send out. Mateo has been attempting to tap those wave patterns at source, hoping to achieve communication
between plants and humans.
Mateo is still in the Medical Unit under Helena's care when he becomes
conscious of the shadowy shape of a man - it then disappears, but a little later Helena sees the same strange shape which
seems to her to bear a resemblance to Mateo. It is uttering sighing noises, and as it turns its head, one side of his
face is seen to be horribly scarred.
Doctor James Warren, the head of the Hydroponic Unit, has already forbidden Mateo to continue with
his experiments. Koenig confirms the ban, Mateo resists and has a row with Warren, then once again sees the misty figure.
So does Warren - and a few moments later, he is dead.
Koenig and Bergman are worried, now convinced that Alpha is being terrorised by some psychic being.
Their fears are confirmed when Mateo secretly continues his experiments, quarrelling with Laura Adams because he does so.
Again, the mysterious figure appears - and Laura dies.
It is Bergman who suggests that the only way to fight this is to allow Mateo to carry out his experiments
under supervision so that they can see what happens. The outcome is terrifying. Mateo's body is gripped in agonising
pain, the wind noise is heard and increases, plants vibrate and then wither and die - the ghostly, mutilated figure again
emerges.
This time, there is no doubt, it is a spirit Mateo. Whatever thing it is that Mateo has
summoned up, it has come back to avenge some terrible death ... its own death, which has not yet happened. There is
only one hope now; some form of exorcism through a scientific approach, to remove the spectre of a man haunted by his own
ghost while still alive ...
Episode synopsis taken from Guide Book provided with the Digitally Restored Network/Granada
Ventures Series One Box Set
Copyright Granada Ventures
