A Mind of its Own

**A Mind of its Own** is the fifth episode of the first season of *Another Life*, and the fifth episode of the series overall. It was released on July 25, 2019 on Netflix.

## Synopsis

On an expedition to a mysterious moon, Sasha attempts to make first contact with a second artifact as Niko and Cas get brutally honest with each other.

## Plot

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

The crew of the Salvare reach the moon. Niko tells them to pump water - even Sasha, who complains. Bernie is wearing a full body suit so as to protect himself from viruses and even though William had done a full scan of the moon, Bernie was not going to risk encountering another boron-based lifeform. Zayn convinces him to take his mask off and Cas and Niko go visit the Artifact. Cas wonders if Niko questions her navigation, but she simply replies that she did not see the lights.

Niko tells them that the Artifact was weaker than the one on Earth and they move towards it - followed by an alien. Cas and Niko have an argument, where Cas tells Niko that she loved Ian and was not happy that she had killed him.

Bernie wonders why there is no animal life and Sasha starts blasting music. Niko tells Bernie and Zayn to go get food while Sasha begins contacting the planet in Spanish. Niko then approaches Cas and tells her that they should speak privately, but Cas does not listen.

On Earth, Harper walks with Singh and Erik, discussing a solution to The Artifact proposed by a kid, who says that light is the language and believes that they need to hit the Artifact with a certain amount of soundwaves. They walk into a room, where they find Dubois waiting for them. She knows Erik leaked the information and asks Harper if she knows what North Korea and Russia were doing with her publicity stunt, saying that she could have her deported. Harper tells her that even if she was not born there, she was an American citizen, so Dubois turns to Erik. She tells him that if some kid can figure out what he has not been able to, he might be able to keep his job, but if nothing comes of it, he will spend 50 years in prison.

On the Salvare, William helps Michelle with solitaire, but she does not want his help. Michelle tells him that he is not alive, but William believes he is alive and asks her if she is not just a biological machine.

August, Javier, and Oliver clean mold. Oliver complains that if the mold ate through all the seals and gaskets, they would all die. August asks them if they would enjoy swimming, and Javier says that he would like to skinny dip, but Oliver says that he would not like to catch an infection and have his nervous system fly out of him. August gets up and leaves, and Javier tells Oliver that he thinks she is cute, but Oliver simply states that she is smart and their boss. Javier tells him that he might be into her and did not see the issue since he did not have a girlfriend.

Niko says The Artifact is missing pieces, which Cas believed was weird. Niko says that they should pick up a piece in order to analyze it, but Sasha refuses to leave the Artifact because she has no jurisdiction over his job. He tells her that if he has a problem, she should talk to his father, the Secretary of Defense. Niko and Cas leave after that and tell him not to go anywhere.

Niko tells Cas that they need to talk, but Cas wonders if anything would have changed if Niko knew that she loved Ian and knows that Niko did the only thing she could. Niko apologizes and knows that she hurt her and made her lose him so soon. Niko touches the piece of the Artifact and lifts it off the ground.

Bernie and Zayn analyze food. Bernie rubs it on her arm and they see no reaction. He rubs it on her lips and they see no reaction either. Zayn gives it a try and finds out the food was disgusting.

Oliver complains that cleaning was not part of their job description and says he needs a massage. August says that she gives really good massages, so she starts rubbing his shoulders. Javier picks up a sponge and throws it at her. She throws it back and gets him, but Oliver tells them that they should not be wasting water. Javier tells him that he was always very serious and throws a bucket at him, which makes him slip and fall on his back, hitting his head. Oliver walks out of the room and August goes after him.

Zayn asks Niko and Cas if Sasha had made progress, but they reveal that they had left him alone. Bernie thinks that is ridiculous, but has an animal jump on him and surprise him, which makes him fall and cut himself a little. They keep walking and Bernie hates the food Zayn hated too. All of a sudden. Bernie's leg gives out and is green, so Zayn tries to disinfect it, which causes Bernie to go through a lot of pain.

Sasha explains to the Artifact how Earth works, but is getting no answer. Suddenly, he hears his own voice, saying what he had said before. Something from the Artifact grabs him and pulls him in. As Cas and Niko walked, they talk about Yerxa and Niko tells her about James Hudson, the Pilgrim commander, who she was in love with before Erik.

Javier asks Oliver how his head is doing and they start arguing. August tells them to stop, calling Javier a bully and telling Oliver that he is a suck. Oliver walks up and kisses August; Javier tells them that he will leave, but August stops him and kisses him too.

Niko smells a plant and asks Cas if she feels warm and stoned. Cas says she does too and tells Niko that she would build a house on that moon and they start laughing. Cas tells Niko to sit down with her and they both start laughing together. Cas tells Niko that she cannot constantly stop herself from telling her what to do and Niko agrees.

Erik and Harper take a boat to Old Seattle and talk to Marcus, who explains his theory. He shows them the distortion the waves had and found out what the soundwave looked like.

Cas asks Niko if she would ever abandon her because she abandoned Jana and only saw what she wanted. Niko tells Cas that she is her own worst enemy and does not believe in herself, which would be the death of everybody, failing if she took over. Cas tells her that she better not die then.

William tells Michelle how to play solitaire and she complains that it made the game more boring. She challenges William to rock, paper, scissors and beats him twice. The third time, William wins and sees that it does in fact, feel better when you lose sometimes.

Niko and Cas look for Sasha, but do not find him. Suddenly he walks back to them and tell them that he had a weird dream. Zayn and Bernie walk over to them. Bernie tells them that he is growing a tree in his leg and Zayn tells them that they need to move him to the ship before he died. As they moved to the Salvare, Sasha walked behind them very slowly. Zayn notices something moving below ground and they start running as a spider-like creature approaches them. Cas shoots the animal and Niko tells Sasha to run, as more of the aliens approached them. However, they managed to make it back to the Salvare.

Sasha sees Michelle and is quiet, simply asking her what plans she had and leaves, with her following closely behind.

Cas asks Niko if she needs anything, but the latter tells her to simply take a break, as she had earned it. Suddenly, a small alien starts walking around the ship.

Michelle and Sasha are kissing and the former mentions he feels more alive than ever. She asks him if he had left all his good manners on the other moon, but he suddenly sees a hallucination of himself, which makes him throw Michelle.

William tells Niko to use bug spray the next time she went to another planet and also tells her that the Artifact was strong, but was also destructible. He says that humans sent probes to the bottom of the ocean to the moons of Jupiter and thinks that the Artifacts could be probes. Niko says she thinks the same thing, but the lights start flashing; and William starts repeating himself until he shuts down. Niko starts floating as well as the artificial gravity is turned off. A fire starts and Niko tells Cas. She grabs a fire extinguisher and shoots it, which causes her to fly back.

The artificial gravity turns back on and Cas tells Niko she is alright. However, William still is not responding.

## Cast

* Justin Chatwin as Erik Wallace
* Samuel Anderson as William
* Elizabeth Faith Ludlow as Cas Isakovic
* Blu Hunt as August
* A.J. Rivera as Bernie Martinez
* Jake Abel as Sasha Harrison
* Alex Ozerov as Oliver Sokolov
* Alexander Eling as Javier Almanzar
* JayR Tinaco as Zayn Petrossian
* Selma Blair as Harper Glass
* Jessica Camacho as Michelle Vargas
* Parveen Dosanjh as Nani Singh
* Dion Riley as Marcus Peterson
* Helen King as Salvare Voice

## Gallery

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