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"Pandora's Box"

Developments

• President Thompson is under pressure to prosecute Rho-ha for the murder of Major McIntyre.
• Lucas Johnson dies after turning off his own life support machine.
• Boone has stopped sleeping and hardly ever leaves his office.

Backstory

Ronald Sandoval

• Sandoval recommended that Boone read Machiavelli’s The Prince in the original Italian.

The Taelons

• Da’an says, “No Taelon has killed another since the creation of the Synod, a time beyond memory.”
• Agenda on Earth
  
  • In coming to Earth the Taelons had intended to carry out an experiment in “de-evolution,” which Da’an opposed. But the Synod overruled him, declaring that the Taelons’ future depends on an exploration of their past. The Taelons inject Rho-ha with neurons from Lucas Johnson’s pineal gland and amygdala, telling the Implants that they hope to use the neurons as a catalyst to evoke elements of human sentience and emotion in order to better understand humanity. After being injected with the human neurons, Rho-ha’s face contorts to resemble Johnson’s. The experiment succeeds in reawakening Rho-ha’s [s]aqa[r]ava (see Physiology below), as well as giving him the ability to move very quickly and to become invisible for brief moments. Rho-ha also falls out of the Taelons’ collective consciousness and forms a mental bonding with Johnson.
• Culture
  
  • Taelon society is divided into castes, including bureaucrats, diplomats, artists and scientists. There is no warrior caste.
• Individuals
  
  • Rho-ha is the protégé of Ne’eg.
• Language
  
  • Rho-ha utters an ancient Taelon threat: “The Sleeper comes; embrace the Void,” translated into the Taelon language as “u[r]uvi u[r]uüa.” Rho-ha later says, “The Sleeper dreams oblivion.” Is this the Sleeper in the Taelon myth from "Avatar"?
  • The word "[s]aqa[r]ava" has a dual meaning, refering to an organ and the character from the Taelon myth.
• Physiology
  
  • Taelon anatomy includes something called the aqiha pathway in the center of the torso.
  • The [s]aqa[r]ava is a vestigial organ in the Taelon hand capable of killing with one touch. It has lain dormant for “countless generations.”

Miscellaneous

• Da’an brought Lucas Johnson to the hospital after the events in ”Live Free or Die”, hoping to restore his life. Major McIntyre remembers that Johnson anticipated an ambush in Shanghai when Boone asks if Johnson ever exhibited psychic abilities or ESP. Boone sees Johnson in a CVI intrusion, and Johnson’s son sees him in dreams.