Rudi, ignoring orders to keep working regardless of the risks, moves his fellow slave laborers out of the way of a giant mudslide. Octavia neither thanks nor congratulates Rudi; she simply has him thrown back outside to continue working. More incidents on the surface – and chemical analysis conducted inside by Liz – point toward an unavoidable fact: Medusa’s skies are pouring down acid rain that’s destabilizing the entire surface of the planet. After his work detail is rescued from another mudslide, Rudi is brought before the Medusan Grand Council and tries to offer his first-hand scientific analysis of what’s happening, but the women of Medusa are more concerned with maintaining their matriarchal social order than with the erosion of their planet and their artificial environment. Liz uses her influence – and her orders from the Grand Council to find out what’s destroying the environment on Medusa – to have Rudi appointed as her “assistant,” but the two of them together find out what’s causing the surface and everything on it to liquefy. The mere fact that a man is involved in the discovery, however, prevents the Medusans from taking it seriously.
written by Ian Stuart Black
directed by Freddie Francis
music by Berry LipmannCast: Lisa Harrow (Liz), Christian Quadflieg (Rudi), Christiane Kruger (Octavia), Dawn Addams (Clara), Anna Carteret (Announcer), Kirstie Pooley (Guard), Annette Lynton (Clara’s Assistant), Ann Maj-Brit (Octavia’s Assistant)
LogBook entry by Earl Green