Voices in the Dark: Over Here

Col. Lochley asks a Catholic priest to come to Babylon 5 a few days before President Sheridan is to arrive for the Interstellar Alliance’s tenth anniversary celebration. A crew member who recently returned from a vacation on Earth had been complaining of hearing voices before finally barricading himself in a section of the station. The crewman, Burke, is now restrained within a security cell and claiming to be possessed by a demonic spirit. The priest is skeptical at first, suspecting mental illness or some kind of hoax. But after a demonstration of the being’s power, he is convinced. He is unsure whether or not to try to perform an exorcism immediately, or summon additional help from Earth. If he calls for help, the word of the reason will spread. And while this may cause some panic, it would also lead to a renewed purpose for a Church that has been declining toward irrelevance. The demonic being claims this is, in fact, its purpose – that it was trapped in space by God so that starfaring humans would find reason to believe. The being’s apparent eagerness to be exorcised gives Lochley and the priest pause – there is another agenda here. But denying the demon’s wish would seem to condemn Burke to suffer, and that responsibility may be too much to bear.