Decay (Category War)

Decay was the second serial of the first season of Category War. It was the first appearance of the Capital Government

## Synopsis

"This has gone too far. Even the forces of decay itself have been weaponized!"

Kon Sharno: a dead world in Deepspace. No life has ever existed on it or ever will. For now, however, that isn't strictly true.

An interdimensional war has taken hold of Kon Sharno. The battlelines are being drawn in the dust of the planet - and new weaponry is being developed. One that harnesses the raw power of death and decay.

Soon, a hideous plot is taking place - a plot that could bring about the deaths of billions if not stopped. But stopping it will be an ardous task for the Resistance. One that could be impossible.

## Plot

### Darkening Influence (1)

The episode picks up where Sephulchre ended with Jonathan and the Pillar Lord discussing "Decay". The Pillar Lord mentions that it still has yet to be tested. Even still, Jonathan has the perfect location for it...

The members of the Resistance discuss where they should strike next. During this, SANTACLAWS enters. He gives them a location given to him by a contact he has. The location is for a planet in Deepspace called "Kon Sharo" with a weak Alliance base on it.

They arrive on Kon Sharo and find that it is a desolate world with brown dust-like soil and a light tan, almost beige sky. The Resistance sets up a base in a rather flat crater and discuss what they should do next.

Meanwhile, on an Alliance base work has been started on the Decay. It resembles an insect swarm or dark cloud from a distance, but, it is actually multiple nanogenes that eat organic material. The scientists in the base test it with a Proximan Chain rat. After five minutes all that remains is small bits of the spine.

The Pillar Lord decides to test the Decay out on a larger scale so he has his troops kill all of the scientists and release Decay into the atmosphere.

### Spreading Darkness (2)

The Resistance members decide to target a Pillar outpost marked on the map; they send Ankarstian, Hydrium, and SANTACLAWS out on the mission; while on it they find a large amount of skeletal remains. Ones that weren't there when they first arrived...

They eventually arrive at the Pillar base and find it completely deserted.. almost as though nobody was ever there; that's when the doors lock and the Pillar Lord comes on a screen on one of the doors; he tells them that they are going to become a part of the greatest experiment yet..

Poseidon starts to get worried about the advance party; and decides to send more troops in led by him. The troops eventually get to the base; however; they can only watch in horror as a black swarm descends into it.

### Decay (3)

The Pillar Lord tells the advance party about what is going to happen to them; and then to all of the Resistance on Kon Sharo. The Decay will feed on them, leaving all of their ships behind. The Pillar Lord will place android duplicates of the Resistance leaders and then pump the ships full of Decay; sending them for the main Resistance bases. The Decay will consume every other member of the Resistance and the Alliance will be free to rule over all of existence.

Hydrium realises that the Decay can only enter through the ventilation system so he tears the screen off of the door and places it in front of the vent in the room they are in, they then manage to escape by using a cube bomb on one of the walls.

The Resistance troops watch all of this and then begin to enter the base, with Poseidon being the first into the base. They eventually reach Hydrium, Ank, and SANTA. Hydrium tells Poseidon all of the information about Project: Decay, with SANTA theorizing that his contact was replaced with an android. They then decide to search for anything that could destroy the Decay.

Around this time, the Decay manages to push the screen out from the vent and escape through the hole in the wall. The Resistance troops attempt to destroy it with laser guns. All this does is anger the Decay. It attacks one of the troops (who is named F'Geran) and strips him of all of his flesh. That is when the swarm morphs into a giant skull - the true form of Decay

### Fingers of Death (4)

The skull attempts to attack a robotic being named Sul-Synth, however, it cannot due to him not having any flesh and leaves. Poseidon decides to use giant lasers to try and fry as much of the Decay as he can.

The Decay eventually enters a cave; this is its new domain, the walls have been blackened and ripple, they are all covered in Decay's particles. The Decay has spread its fingers onto Kon Sharo.

Poseidon eventually finds the Decay looking for more food about 15 kilometers out from the Resistance base. They send out an unmanned probe and use it to try and fry the Decay, however, after they manage to hit it with one of the lasers it retreats and Poseidon loses any trace of it. That's when A comes in holding documents from their peoples' government.

The files document experiments into nanogenes that could remove waste. They were self-reproducing and fed on materials preprogrammed into them by the government. They set it for organic waste, however, it instead fed on anything organic; including Areex's people. The files end with how they stopped them. They shut off the nucleus of the nanogenes. Unfortunately, the Resistance have no clue where the nucleus is.

Poseidon spots the Decay feeding again and decides to send another probe out to track it back to the nucleus. The probe follows it out to the cave in which it inhabits. Due to the walls being covered in Decay they can't send anyone in... except for Sul-Synth.

They send him in with instruction on how to turn off the nucleus. Once he reaches the cave the Decay attempts to attack him, but it is repelled by him and he manages to turn off the nucleus. This manages to neutralize the Decay but it doesn't destroy it. Poseidon orders that it should be destroyed. But one of the Resistance's major funders (the Capital Government) instead places it into "the Vault" (an area where technology that may be of use to the Capital Government is placed).

The episode ends with the Resistance forces leaving Kon Sharo.

## Cast

* Poseidon - Chris Barrie
* Ankarstian - Lesley Dunlop
* A - John Scott Martin
* The Pillar Lord - David Gooderson
* Hydrium - Jeff Rawle
* SANTACLAWS - Gerald Flood
* Sul-Synth - Michael Kilgarriff
* F'Geran - Robin Squire

### Uncredited cast

* Pillar operators - David Banks, Mark Hardy, Brian Orrell. (CWM 5)

## References

* SANTACLAWS is a Theraran.
* Kon Gassi is a neighbour of Kon Sharno

## Notes

* Rot, Pestilence, and The Dead Planet were considered for titles

## Continuity

* Decay picks up from the ending of Sephulchre (CW: *Sephulchre*)
* Mr. Sweet, one of the androids from Project: Decay would gain sentience and become a bounty hunter (CW: *Hunters*, *The Shoal*, *Conspiracy*)
* Areex's people would appear in *Gallifrey Falls*
* The plot points about the Vault would begin a series of stories ending with *The Vault*
* Sul-Synth would re-appear in *Any/All*
* F'geran's "ghost" would re-appear in *The Haunting of the Epsilon Zone*
* The Proximan Chain is mentioned (NA: *Return to the Fractured Planet*)

## Gallery

DVD coverPoster for Decay

Sephulchre, **Decay**, The Children Shall Rule, Operation: Earth, Deathdays, The Loop, Reach, Genesis, Parasite, The Relics of Sutekh, Nova Six, Siege

**Seasons 4 and 5**
The Final Sanction, Sultanate, Hunters, Legacy of the Dead, Art, The Vault, The Curse of Tau Ceti, The Great Interstellar Train Robbery, The Shoal, Ice Screams, Hephaestus, The War Makers

**Season 6**
The Wall, The Water Monsters, War and the Daleks, Song of Death, The Maze, The Raid

**Seasons 7-9**
Planet of the Evil Ones, The Evolutionary Episode, Liberation, The Labyrinth of Karakarat, The Corruptor, The Woodworks, The Dark One, The Core, The Obsidian Archipelago, Breath, The Wheel of Metal, Death in the Light, Diamond Dogs, Hotel Hell, Legacy

**Season 10**
Planet of Bones, Men of the Earth, The Eight Soldiers, The Orb of Cestala, The Palace of Death, The Time Storm, Angel of Time, The Flight of Luxury, The Fine Game of Nil, The Haunting of the Epsilon Zone, The Horrid Circus, The Last Day at Eridan, Town of the Damned, The Jester's Trial, Concealment, Death Masks, The Last City on Earth