Episode Report Card Kim: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Taken
By Kim | Season 3 | Episode 16 | Aired on 03.20.2004
Oops Center. Jack watches Senator Reed walking around, talking to people, and giving orders. Many people are busy talking on phones. Jack takes this all in, thinking, and then heads down to Sloane's cell. Jack tells Sloane that the negotiations are meant to fail, and he wants to know why. Sloane, lying on his bunk, says he doesn't know what Jack's talking about. Jack says that the CIA is busy trying to meet demands that the Covenant knows are unattainable, so Jack figures that it's just a distraction. Now Jack wants to know what the Covenant really wants. Sloane says Jack needs to figure out why the Covenant targeted Dixon, and what Dixon has access to. Jack is silent. Sloane says somewhat tauntingly that if Jack wants his help, he'll have to trust Sloane. Jack says that Dixon has access to Project Black Hole. Sloane looks...something. I couldn't read the look on his face.
Dixon is still furiously typing away at his terminal. He gives Sydney directions to find Lot 45. Syd has donned scrubs and a surgical mask to fit in with the other scientists. Dixon glances out the window. Erin catches his eye and assumes that Prayer Hour is over, so she walks back toward the room. Dixon quickly waves her off. Dixon unlocks a door so that Syd can enter the analysis room. The number on the door is 74, for you conspiracy types. Inside, Syd finds a small box on a pedestal. Three robotic arms extend from the ceiling, rotate around, and fire lasers at the box. Syd tells Dixon that she sees Lot 45, and she'll try to get to it. Syd slowly approaches the box, and nearly gets clocked by a robotic arm. Syd looks for a pattern in the rotation, and spins her way to the pedestal so that she can grab the box. Once she has the box, the robotic arms start going nutty, in a very cartoonish way. Syd drops to the floor to avoid being taken out, then pulls some wires out of one arm to disable the device. One of the arms comes very close to Syd's face, almost like it's looking at her, and then all three arms retract into the ceiling. That whole scene was really strange.
Syd tells Dixon that she got the artifact and will meet him at the rendezvous point. Dixon heaves a sigh of relief. Syd puts the artifact into a metal briefcase, but not before noticing the word "Irina" engraved on top inside a cross. Syd waltzes out of the facility and exits through the steam pipe. She hops back into her dune buggy and drives out into the orange desert. Meanwhile, Dixon is jogging up the stairs to leave the facility before his unauthorized access is noticed. Erin yells his name. Dixon has to stop, but he clearly thinks he's busted. When Erin catches up, she just tells him that he forgot his hard copy, and hands him a CD. Dixon thanks her and takes off.