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- Were you looking for the 9th episode of season 2, "The Weeping Somnambulist"?
The Weeping Somnambulist is a Ceres-registered food freighter which spent twenty years delivering food from Ganymede to Ceres prior to the Ganymede incident. It is currently as a registered relief ship. The ship was nearly a hundred years old and at the end of her life cycle; the crash couches were about 70 years old, for example.
It is a typical light to medium sized freighter in service. It has a two-person crew. It is unarmed. Built before its current crew was even born by a company that no longer exists, it has changed ownerships too many times to keep track of and is about 25 years overdue for a drydock visit, with a major repair and refit.
Ship is able to land on Ganymede in an engine down configuration in the 15% gravity-similar to the moon.
Original crew[]
History[]
“You can't go home” — In the episode "The Weeping Somnambulist", the Weeping Somnambulist is seen working as a relief ship en route to Ganymede, whose two-man crew consists of Melissa Suputayaporn and Santichai Suputayaporn. On the way to Ganymede, the Somnambulist is boarded by what at first appear to be two MCRN sailors. After checking the identities of Melissa and Santichai, the two soldiers insist on a search of the ship. The unwarranted search upsets Melissa and Santichai, but they comply.
Melissa reluctantly shows one of the sailors to the cargo hold, while Santichai stays with the second sailor. Then, Melissa and the first sailor return to the cockpit. When one of the sailors announces that they will have to seize the ship, Melissa becomes angry and physically lashes out at the sailor, knocking his face shield off and revealing his unmasked face. Santichai immediately recognizes the sailor as Holden. The second sailor, realizing they've been found out, takes off his helmet to reveal himself as Amos.
Upon being discovered, the Rocinante crew come up with a new plan. They will keep the Suputayaporns on board and then, once the Somnambulist lands on Ganymede, they will leave the ship at the moment the airlock doors open, leaving the Somnambulist and the Suputayaporns to their relief mission. Melissa is still upset about the attempted hijacking, while Santichai tries to keep tensions low. Ultimately, the Suputayaporns have no choice but to agree to stay on the Somnambulist. With Alex staying behind on the Rocinante, with Holden and Naomi manning the controls of the Somnambulist, and Amos, Meng, Santichai, and Melissa as passengers.
It is a regular practice for locals to "skim" 10% of a cargo for payoffs, sometimes calling it the "OPA Tax". [Citation needed]When Santichai warns Holden of this, Holden offers to help defy the extortion, but the Suputayaporns decline. They have accepted this routine as a necessary fact of life in the belt and this relief mission is no different.
While Alex hides the Roci in a crater on a moon nearby to Ganymede, the Somnambulist lands at one of the two intact domes. True to their word, the Roci crew depart on their mission but, not before observing a team of cops wearing patrol outfits as they head onto the Somnambulist. The Roci crew members are suspicious of the 'security patrol' as they are observed cocking their guns before boarding, in anticipation of action. The crooks are wearing uniforms with large "Star Helix" security insignias in a size of at least 6 inches.
Their guns drawn, the pirates confront Melissa and Santichai to declare that, instead of taking the usual cut of 10%, they will be taking everything. Santichai offers them 20% and skim the best, but the pirates declare they'll be taking it all and the Somnambulist as well. It seems they want off Ganymede and the Weeping Somnambulist is their ticket, as well as a big payday. There is a stand-off, with the pirates holding guns to Santichai and Melissa's heads as they try to explain that the supplies are direly needed by the citizens of Ganymede.
Holden and Amos burst back onto the Somnambulist, guns blazing. They make quick work of the pirates but are upset to discover that Santichai was also killed in the gunfight. Melissa runs to Santichai's body, inconsolable and devastated. She orders Holden and his crew off her ship, threatening to call the harbormaster if they don't leave immediately. Heavy with the weight of guilt, the Roci crew withdraw. The episode ends with Melissa cradling her husband's body, sobbing.
Trivia[]
- A somnambulist is a person who walks in one's sleep or under hypnosis.
- The TV show changed the storyline of the Weeping Somnambulist rather dramatically.
- The TV show also appears to have replaced the crew by conflating them with the missionary couple from The Church of Humanity Ascendant, Santichai & Melissa. They changed the spelling of their names from Supitayaporn to Suputayaporn, too, as can be seen in a screen grab of Melissa's ID and the show's closing credits.