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A Paddac Beacon goes off in Moya's neural nexus, emitting an obnoxiously loud siren and signaling their location to any Peacekeepers in the area. But before they can begin working to remove it they must first muffle the signal, so they bury Moya in a bog on a nearby planet, a planet that looks very much like Earth. Pilot informs everyone that the procedure will be extremely painful for Moya so Aeryn, D'Argo and John leave the ship to search for Clorium, a substance that will act as an anesthetic.
Before they find any Clorium, the locals come looking for them. Aeryn and D'Argo go off to distract them while Crichton's mission is to return with the Clorium. He finds a farmhouse but is discovered by Fostro, the boy who lives there. Nobody on the planet has ever encountered anyone "from space", and we get to see a first contact situation from the perspective of John as the alien. Fostro's mother, Lyneea, is a member of their equivalent of SETI and, although she's very nervous, she and John become friends of a sort. She hides him when the military arrives and helps him and D'Argo escape by distracting the soldiers with false information about Moya's landing site.
Since the Beacon won't let DRDs near it, Rygel is the only one small enough to fit into the area to remove it. He and Zhaan decide to go ahead and begin the operation - Rygel will do the surgery and Zhaan, who has the power to share another's pain, will act as anesthetist. Even with Zhaan's help, Moya's pain is terrible and she passes out, taking Zhaan and Pilot with her. Rygel is adamant in his refusal to continue, even biting a chunk from Aeryn's arm as she tries to force him. But Zhaan persuades him and he finally gets the last of the devices detached just as John and D'Argo return with the Clorium. Rygel sprinkles the drug on Moya in every place he cut (and stuffs a couple of handfuls in his own mouth along the way).
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