Prison of Souls, Part 2

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[[Image:|250px|Prison of Souls, Part 2]]
Prison of Souls, Part 2 An issue of the Realm Press series.
Issue No.	4
Writer(s)	Chris Scalf and James Kuhoric
Illustrator(s)	{{{illustrator}}}
Penciller(s)	Robert Scott and Chris Scalf
Inker(s)
Colorist(s)
Letterer(s)	Tanja Scalf
Editor(s)	Steve Atwell
Collection Design	{{{designer}}}
Cover Artist(s)	Chris Scalf
Adaptation of
Published	June 1998
Collects
Collected in
Reprints
Reprinted as
Pages	{{{pages}}}
ISBN	[[Special:Booksources/|]]
Population	0 Survivors
Special	{{{special}}}
Chronology
Previous		Next
Prison of Souls, Part 1	Prison of Souls, Part 2	Prison of Souls, Part 3
Purchase
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Available at Things From Another World - Purchase

Plot Synopsis

Part 2 of 3. The Somnians have been let loose upon the galaxy and Commander Adama alone must stop them.

Summary

Prelude to Invasion

• Commander Adama awakens, with a vision that a reptilian creature is breaking up Galactica in its claws, realizing that, much to his horror, the Somnians have arrived to their universe.
• Shuttle Alpha lands on Galactica with its Blue Squadron escort, returning from the derelict mothership. Greeting them upon landing is Lieutenant Sheba and Captain Apollo's stepson, Boxey (with Muffit II); the recovered Lieutenant Starbuck assures Apollo that he must have had "a relapse from all that (sic) fumarelleas".
• Sheba hugs Apollo, telling him that she and Boxey were worried about him, after hearing that Doctor Wilker was attacked; Salik, who examines Wilker, says that he is uncertain as to his condition and will run tests. He asks Starbuck that he would "appreciate it" if Starbuck went to the lab as well.
• Boxey inquires as to whether or not the aliens were like the "creepy Ovians (sic) that tried to eat them back on Carillon". Apollo replies that they were nothing like the Ovions or anything they had encountered before. Concerned on the matter of the incident in progress on the Prison Barge, Apollo tells Boxey to go with Cassiopeia and reports with Starbuck to core command.
• On the Prison Barge, Krolis enters Baltar's cell with his laser pistol drawn. Baltar attempts to tell Krolis about his experience with the Somnian's manifestation of Adama, the latter of which tells Baltar that it's "time to die like the filthy daggit you are!"
• On Galactica's bridge, Colonel Tigh briefs Apollo, Boomer, Sheba and Starbuck on the situation at the Prison Barge. Starbuck snidely asks Boomer "are we supposed to stop them or help them take out Baltar?", earning castigation from Tigh, who says that they will defend every life in the Fleet, no matter how despicable that person is. Tigh thus orders both Starbuck and Boomer to infiltrate the Prison Barge.
• In the life science center, Salik discusses Wilker's condition with a nurse. He notes that his body is "almost" acting like a receiver "picking up old Gamma waves", and his body is being overridden by an outside source. Wilker, whose eyes glow a golden color, awakens and reaches out for Salik.

The Invasion Begins

• Vulpa Six's basestar is approaching the rag tag, fugitive fleet's position. A Centurion reports to Vulpa that a "neural wave of an indefinite nature" is being directly beamed into the brain stem of their human captives, a wave that, while too complex for Cylon understanding, is causing their surviving human captives to become dangerously violent.
• On Galactica, Apollo and Sheba enter the life science center, discovering that Wilker is missing and that Salik and his nurse have been attacked, but are otherwise alive. As he and Sheba go to sound the alarm, Adama appears before them, his eyes glowing red an crackling with energy. He encases both of them in an energy field and walks away.
• In another area of the ship, Wilker constructs a machine that creates synthetic lifeforms to be the host bodies for the Somnians, as the human body cannot sustain their form. The Somnian that controls Wilker jumps into the newly created host bodies, which become alive.
• Omega reports to Tigh that an energy storm has shown up on their scanners, and is rapidly expanding. Tigh is about to dispatch a squadron when a Somnian enters core command. Warriors attempt to fight the creature with laser pistols, which prove ineffective. The Somnian then pulls a pod from its body, unleashing "thousands of glowing parasites" that fly about until attaching to all the men on the bridge, and summarily spread throughout the ship.
• In a corridor, Boxey and Muffit see the parasites attach themselves to a crew member; they flee, pursued by the parasites, into a decontamination chamber. Boxey seals the chamber in time to prevent the parasite from infecting him.
• In another corridor, still surrounded by the energy field that the possessed Adama erected around them, the parasites attempt to attach themselves to Sheba and Apollo. They die upon touching the field.
• The possessed Adama returns, removing the field around them. The unidentified energy being possessing Adama tells Apollo that "we will return this body to the one to whom you speak soon" and instructs the two Warriors to follow him.
• Boxey leaves the confines of the decontamination chamber, avoiding the possessed crew personnel and head into Launch Bay Alpha.
• Starbuck and Boomer land on the Prison Barge with the help of an "inside man" loyal to the Colonials. Upon landing, Starbuck asks Boomer how they manage to land these "bug hunt jobs", to which Boomer replies that it's because Starbuck seems to open his "big mouth at the wrong time".

The Storm

• Before the Galactica, an anomaly begins to form.
• En route to an unmanned control room on Galactica, the being possessing Adama tells Apollo and Sheba that beings called tachites attach themselves to the brains of "your human friends, creating invisible tendrils connecting them to the one who's consciousness they have become a part of". As so long as they act as if one of them, no alarm should be raised as they act like a collective.
• Upon entering the control room, Apollo discovers that a phenomenon is closing in on Galactica. Possessed-Adama tells them that upon hitting the storm, the Somnians will escape from their world into the Colonials', using the souls of all the humans aboard the ship as escape vessels of a kind. Once they do, Possessed-Adama warns that they will become powerful enough to rule "both our universes".
• Tarcel, a ship in the Fleet, contacts Galactica warning them that they are headed right into the cosmic storm. Somnian-controlled Tigh informs them that the situation is normal, and they are to maintain their present course.
• In section 12 of Launch Bay Alpha, Possessed-Adama leads them to an observation post. Apollo and Sheba watch as the possessed crew members built a portal out of cyranite converters and field generators. Possessed-Adama tells them that they are building a door back into the Somnians native world, so that they can deliver a weapon to wipe out the Somnians adversaries: the race of creatures that have imprisoned them for generations.
• As they observe, Boxey enters the bay, sneaking around until he is caught by the Somnian itself.
• Apollo sees this and runs to tackle the Somnian while the ship itself heads further towards the storm.
• Boxey is freed as Apollo tackles with the lone Somnian; Boxey bearing witness has his father and the Somnian fall into the portal.
• Apollo travels into the Somnians' native realm, "leaving all elements of his physical existence behind" and "into a universe that holds an existence far beyond the comprehension of man". As his spirit stands before the Somnians in their native form, "a glimpse of infinity touches his soul as his spirit ignites" which "devastates the evil presence awaiting Apollo on the other side ... in an instance, the Somnians are no more."
• On the Prison Barge, Baltar is dragged through the corridors by two of Krolis' men before Krolis, who tells Alon to open communications to the Fleet. Before the Fleet, he begins to espouse in Baltar's "trial" of how Baltar is responsible for the destruction of the Colonies, the deaths of their loved ones, and their "pathetic flight amongst the stars like scarred daggits". With a pistol to Baltar's face, Krolis promises the Fleet's members that "tonight Baltar dies!"

Notes

• The comic mentions that Adama "endured" the destruction of the Fifth Fleet, yet Adama had no involvement at the Battle of Molecay other than hearing about it.
• Ovians, a misspelling of Ovions, occurs on page 3.

Analysis

• The manner in which the Somnian-controlled Galactica crew members act is very similar to Borg drones from the Star Trek series, in that they do not react to outsiders unless they demonstrate threatening actions.

Questions

• Why are the Cylons' human captives affected by the neural wave, but not the members of the Fleet?
• After releasing the Somnian into the host bodies he was forced to create, what happened to Wilker? Is he dead, or will he recover?
• Now that Apollo has unleashed "the brilliance that represents the spirit of man", what will be Apollo's fate?

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Starbuck asks a rhetorical question:

Starbuck: Hey Boomer, how do you suppose we keep getting stuck with these bug hunt jobs?

Boomer: Oh, I don't know Starbuck, maybe it's because you always seem to open your big mouth at the wrong time.