Out of site, McGee is heard retching...turns a corner choking that he "found something." The team enters a nondescript room that appears to be a well supplied laboratory, replete with laboratory rodents in cages and all of the instrumentation one would hope to have when doing biological and chemical research. DiNozzo, Ziva and Tim search the ship’s hold. The laboratory rats concern DiNozzo; the pneumonic plague has put him off them from an earlier episode.
Ziva hears things: creaks, steps, bumps. She tells the team she does not "not believe" in ghosts, but is unconvincing. The team considers the name of the vessel, Chimera. Homer’s description of a chimera from the Iliad revealed the beast to look like "a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire"…a charming brute by any measure. Interestingly enough, the word chimera is used in genetics and molecular biology to describe hybrid entities from proteins to cells. Considering the crew of the ship Chimera may have been charged with biological war research, this name may have been more than appropriate.
The team proceeds and finds Gibbs in the galley. Ducky spots the coffee-ground emesis from the still un-located dead man’s severe internal distress. Besides being afraid of heights as we witnessed in the previous episode, “Leap of Faith”, McGee is also subject to seasickness. Ziva finds a set of bloody footprints and follows them to the galley refrigerator where the team finally finds the body of one Navy Lt. Cmdr. Satoshi Takada (Eiji Inoue), a marine biologist assigned to the ship and whatever research was taking place.
Ziva divines that there are others on board alive and unbeknownst to them. Ducky observes that the dead Lt. Cmdr. Satoshi Takada displays signs of petichial hemorrhaging, a clinical sign of asphyxia but a more through examination is necessary. Gibbs has McGee initiate a satellite link with headquarters where they try and contact Abby, who is listening to her band Brainmatter at a volume level of 11 on a scale of 10 and McGee has to scream to get the oblivious Abby’s attention. McGee reports that DiNozzo is dealing with a phobia about rodents, Ziva is fighting her phobia with ghosts, McGee admits his bout with seasickness, all prompting Abby to ask, “What is Gibbs dealing with?” Gibbs enters the screen and replies, "Them".
Article comments
1 - Jason French
It seems to me that portraying our military in any fashion such as this where it was clearly inferred our military forces knowingly and intentionally attempted to take out some of our own is more than distasteful. It is revolting and unworthy of what otherwise would be an entertaining series. The American military does not eat it's own despite the so-called entertainment factor. Lest we forget, there are impressional minds watching that often truly believe this sort of thing is close to if not reality based and can't fathom the difference at times.
2 - C. Michael Bailey
Clearly.