"Perestroika"

Episode 122
(aired the week of 5/17/1997)
Case # 32-1147

Log line: Parasites infest a prehistoric creature found in a Russian glacier.

Synopsis: At work at a natural gas refinery in remote northern Russia, caretakers Nikolai Bojcun and Alexei Shasharin discover what appears to be a prehistoric creature frozen in glacial ice. At O.S.I.R. headquarters, Chief Frank Elsinger shows his team a celebratory videotape of Russian scientists examining the discovery, then sends them on-location to assist in identifying the species. What Elsinger hasn't shown his investigators, however, is the final portion of tape...which contains a mysterious, desperate plea for help from one of the scientists.

The O.S.I.R. arrives to find the lab deserted, its equipment destroyed and furniture overturned. The creature, however, remains on the examination table; agent Cooper determines it is a mylodon, at least 60,000 years old. But the O.S.I.R. team discovers something else: Davison nearly trips over a dead man with a strange gold-colored goo oozing from his mouth and down his face and neck. Exploring the forbidding tunnels of the rundown refinery in search of the other Russians, they find more of the golden goo...and another dead man covered in it, a strange wound on his chest and his face locked in fear. Moving the body back to the lab, they detect something approaching on monitors. As they split up to investigate, the "something" knocks Doyle down, burning and cutting him, and flees. In pursuit, the investigators find Alexei, now gravely ill, and Dolph Baranov and Dr. Hannah Guskova, both from the tape, in a small room. They claim to be hiding from an animal, on the loose in the plant and hunting them.

Back in the lab, other team members determine that Nikolai died after something literally sucked the life - and the internal organs - out of him. Cooper discovers living parasite eggs in the flesh of the long-dead mylodon. Now joined by the search team and the Russians, they hear Guskova recount how Nikolai had suffered from some unknown pain before his death and how they had seen something resembling a headless snake attack the other man found dead. Guskova also claims to have sent a message of help on the video...but before the O.S.I.R. can ask more, Alexei convulses, shivering and choking. Before their eyes, a baby parasite - six inches long, with a gaping mouth, razor-sharp teeth and trailing the strange goo - slithers from his mouth. Although Cooper traps the creature, it's too late for Alexei. Doyle, injured, uses a satellite link to update Elsinger, who orders the parasite be brought back to headquarters for further testing. Tension mounts between them when Doyle learns Elsinger knew of the distress transmission yet withheld the information. Through further testing, the O.S.I.R. believes that a mature, larger parasite is on the loose, and that its eggs can be transmitted inside humans through even the most casual contact. Also concluding that the parasite dislikes cold, they systematically shut down the plant's heating to drive the creature to a single warm area for capture. As Axon and Donahue patrol wearing liquid nitrogen spray packs, they are suddenly attacked by five feet four inches of slimy, screeching and razor-toothed aggression. Doyle lands a heavy blow, sending it behind pipes. When it lunges again, more ferociously, they blast it with liquid nitrogen until it escapes into the plumbing.

As the others wait, Baranov, frustrated and freezing, runs to the truck, with plans to escape. Instead he finds the parasite and is killed. At the same time, Doyle discovers a horrifying pain in his gut and realizes that something is moving around, alive, inside him. Without revealing his secret, he reconnects with Elsinger, and angrily demands that they instead be authorized to annihilate the parasite - then cuts off the feed. Through more study, the O.S.I.R. scientists conclude that touching or tasting the frozen ice is a likely means of transmission of the eggs. They also find something unexpected in Baranov: a six-foot-long parasite explodes out of the corpse and latches, sucking and screeching, on Cooper. They finally stab and blast the creature with nitrogen until it falls in frozen submission on the floor. To Doyle, this is this final straw: He orders the mission aborted and the gravely-ill Cooper taken to a hospital.

With his co-workers in the truck, Doyle sets off to start the power and open the loading dock door. Axon, troubled, returns to the lab and, through a quick test, discovers his friend's secret...and finds the parasite gone. Axon locates Doyle, barely alive, in the plant's power control panel and the two frantically attempt to re-start the decrepit equipment enough to free their colleagues. Suddenly, the giant parasite re-appears and, this time, aims itself at Axon. In a dual, ultimately bittersweet race against the clock, all the investigators are forced to make decisions and take actions that will save the most lives... but cost one.

Starring:
Peter Axon - Barclay Hope
Lennox "L.Q." Cooper - Peter Blais
Ray Donahue - Peter MacNeill
Lindsay Donner - Nancy Anne Sakovich
Connor Doyle - Paul Miller
Frank Elsinger - Nigel Bennett
Dr. Anton Hendricks - Colin Fox

Guest Stars:
Nikolai Bojcun - Nicu Branzea
Alexei Shasharin - Doru Bandol

Written by: Will Dixon
Directed by: Giles Walker