I was never convinced that Bester was telling the truth about her being dissected, that seemed more like an opportunity to screw with Sheridan and Company, and inform them that they would never know for sure what happened to Talia. If she was dissected, why would he tell them THAT? Better to let them know she was being debriefed, and in the fullness of time, Psi Corps would know everything. That wouldn't anger them, it would scare the hell out of them. I would say that if Bester mentioned Talia's dissection during a negotiation, then it probably never happened. He's not the honest or open type, and he's not sloppy enough to mention it by accident. But he is cruel.
The Control personality was interesting, and I loved the way Andrea Thompson played it. Nasty, mercurial, homicidal, vicious, uncontrollable. I think she left B5 on a high note, in terms of performance, it was rather chilling. Quite a departure from the Talia character, who was so demure and sensitive. The contrast was terrific.
So... am I the only one who read the B5 comics? Issue #8 showed what is presumably the process by which Talia had her Control personality implanted. Sinclair and Garibaldi discover a hidden Psi Corps base on Mars, crawling with people in pressure suits who have no radios (because they're telepaths). A Shadow vessel hovers above them, using its beam weapon to dig one of its brethren out of the ground. Underneath is a large cave which contains a huge organic tech machine inside a glass dome. A conveyor belt is cycling a line of unconscious bodies into it, and one of them is a blond woman with a nametag that says 'T. Winters.' It's a huge operation. No name is given for the machine, which I just think of as the Mars Machine, and no details are given on what it is, or where it came from. With the implication that this machine implanted Control, it may be an industrial scale mind control machine. Shadow tech seems awfully likely.
For those who haven't read it, the storyline from issues #5-8, 'Shadows, Past and Present,' tells how Sinclair and Garibaldi met on Mars, and got in over their heads investigating an anomaly in the desert for EarthForce. Garibaldi briefly mentions this to the ISN reporter in 'Infection,' she doesn't care at all. Funnily, the issue came out shortly before 'Divided Loyalties,' giving away who the traitor was before the episode aired.
So what is the Mars Machine used for? In 'The Quality of Mercy,' Talia explains that telepaths burn out from doing too many mindwipe procedures. It's mentally and emotionally taxing, they don't like to do it, they dread it. And the Corps, of course, would not want its highly trained telepaths burning out, losing useful years as psi operatives and loyal subjects. What if the Shadows were aware of this limitation that human telepaths have, and offered them an alternative? What if this machine is the offer Psi Corps couldn't refuse, a means to not only wipe out criminal personalities that harm society, without wearing out their own telepaths? But it goes a step further, and is capable of implanting hidden 'control' personalities, which would be guaranteed to give total and undying loyalty to the Corps? These sleeper agents could be mass produced by the Mars Machine, creating a hidden fifth column for the inevitable Telepath War. The Shadows may have seen this historical pattern play out elsewhere in the galaxy, wars pitting an intelligent race against its telepath minority. They would be in a position to advise Psi Corps on how to win such a conflict, or steer them into defeat, depending on their own strategy. The Shadows may have gone out of their way to encourage such wars of extermination by any number of alien races over the eons. But in the meantime, Psi Corps has a responsibility to itself and its members to prepare against future threats from the normal population. This machine would be the key weapon the Corps needs to seize control of Earth from the mundanes, and might be worth forging an alliance with the Shadows, who were big fans of payoffs and corruption in general.
The machine looked like a closely-guarded secret of Psi Corps, a prized asset. It is not revealed if there are others, or what happened to this one, though it was gone when Sinclair and Garibaldi went back to search the site in 2253 or so. If anything happened to it, and the flow of new sleeper agents stopped, there would be a time limit on the sleeper agent option. The ones put through the machine would simply die off after a few decades, and the Corps would be back where it started, without its trump card option. Psi Corps was also conducting a wide-ranging program of loyalty tests on EarthForce personnel and others for President Clark during the EA Civil War, giving them access to scan or reprogram anyone they wanted throughout the Earth Alliance while Sheridan's fleet closed in on Earth. It was a one-time opportunity to create the most effective sleeper agent network they could. If the Corps doesn't use 'em, they lose 'em. Self-fulfilling prophecy, time bomb, poison in the ice cube...
But from the one sleeper agent we have seen on-screen, the results may not have been as good as advertised. Talia's alter ego was clearly psychotic, and therefore not the ideal sleeper agent. Too much of a wild card, in a game of intrigue and subtlety. Mistakes made by such an agent could be catastrophic. Irrational pursuit, unnecessary violence, spilled secrets, etc. Psi Corps' deal with the Shadows could backfire in spectacular fashion. Potent but uncontrollable weapons, this is a familiar pattern where the Shadows have been involved. What if the next major destructive legacies of the Shadows are large numbers of Psi Corps sleeper agents and Shadow tech hybrid destroyers?
And for that matter, what might be lurking in the minds of all the mindwipes scattered around the Earth Alliance? Are they all benign servants of society now, or would they have another purpose in a Telepath War?
So no one knows anything more about the Mars Machine than I do, right? If you do, by all means speak up. I can speculate, and from the Psi Corps trilogy, I have a good sense of what the Corps wants and needs. But as with so many of the loose ends in B5, I want to know more.
Raw Shark
"If this thing leaves a waxy, yellow buildup, on anything, I'm coming back here."
Michael Garibaldi
I can just imagine JMS' feelings when told that by the DC Comics editors...!!