Scorpius is Wentrask of Scarran Intelligence, with his Nebari and Hynerian spies, one of whom is suddenly ailing from a dormant fake disease. John is a Peacekeeper and a Scarran spy. Sikozu is a diplomat. Noranti and D'Argo are a healer and her assistant. None of them know each other. Nobody's who they are. This is politics. The only person who's being herself is the one person who finally has given up shape-shifting, because she's too tired, and now all she's got is her anger and her despair.

As Noranti and Talnell enter the observation room, Karohm hands over the data from Simstef -- it's translucent and black like an x-ray, with a froggy little Visible Hynerian on it. Noranti shushes Rygel silently and he nods, lying back and groaning. "Apparently we've brought you here for nothing, Healer: this isn't Dermafollica at all." Noranti disagrees with him, saying it's too soon to tell. Talnell says Rygel's skin, per the Simstef info, should be sloughing by now. She takes the film and looks at it for awhile. "Yes, well. You see, Dermafollica is very difficult to diagnose. The bacteria that causes the virus is effectively undetectable." Her pretend professionalism is about as cagey as John leaning up against things like Jordan Catalano all episode. Talnell says that nonetheless, Rygel doesn't have a whole bunch of other symptoms, and gives it an hour before he lifts the lockdown. She runs off all crazy to manufacture some symptoms.

Inside the med bay, Noranti crushes some greens in her hand as Rygel moans, and of course she spits on them, because that's what they have in common. Being gross. Talnell kind of winces, but then, Talnell never saw her belly-dancing so his gross-out threshold is way high, comparatively. She confirms that Rygel really did once have Dermafollica, and he mentions that he barely survived, and four of his wives died. She holds out the Play-Doh-ish stuff she just got together, and when he refuses to eat it, she twists him by the earbrow. "Swallow." Talnell nods and smiles as Rygel gulps it down: "Was that absolutely essential?" She says it absolutely was, and he gets queasy with it. Mortification of the flesh: what you have is the higher self, the Zhaan 2.0, taking a lie and making it real. Rygel, the body -- everything's medical in this episode, even the things that don't seem to be, and everything medical in this episode means something else -- is getting put through a ringer here, because it's highest on the pyramid.