Original Air Date: March 8, 1985
Written By: John Simmons
Directed By: Earl Bellamy
Produced By: Skip Ward

Guest Appearances: Conrad Janis as Dr. David Atkins; Josh Richman as Henry Atkins. Also starring Judson Scott as Lt. James; Frank Ashmore as Philip.

Philip brings word of an impending Visitor invasion to Mike Donovan and Kyle Bates — the Leader is planning a blitzkrieg that will raze the entire Southwest and serve as an example to other Resistance groups. Philip says the computerized Battlesphere that will orchestrate the entire operation will be activated within 36 hours, so there isn't much time. Their only hope to stop it is to hack into the Battlesphere's memory banks and jam its program. But to do that they'll need a sophisticated computer and somebody who can operate it. Science Frontiers has the necessary hardware, and Kyle thinks that Dr. David Atkins, a computer professor who worked for Nathan Bates, might be the man who can help them.

On the Mother Ship, everyone is gathered for a festive celebration. Not only is it Schluta (?) — the annual point at which their homeworld's orbit is closest to Sirius — but the Battlesphere is ready as well. The Leader will use the device to transmit his own battle plan directly to Earth, and victory will be certain.

Philip, Diana, and Lydia head to the control room to receive the Leader's communication. On the way, Lt. James joins the group. He's just returned from Earth where he rounded up several suspects in his search for an elusive computer hacker who has been accessing the Mother Ship computer. The four watch as the Battlesphere activates and the transmission starts, but somebody has tapped into the master computer and is interfering with reception. Obviously the hacker is still at large, so James races off to trace the rogue and capture him.

It's in a small boarded-up shop where Dr. Atkins praises his prodigy son for hacking into the Mother Ship. The youth, Henry, boasts that not only is he communicating with the alien ship's computer, but he can translate the data, too. Soon the Atkinses are interrupted by a Visitor patrol — they've been found out! The senior Atkins orders his son to hide, thinking the Visitors will take him and won't even look for the kid. Reluctantly, Henry gets away as his father and some shop customers are taken into custody.

Dr. Atkins is brought to the Mother Ship where Diana and Lydia interrogate him. He claims that he is the hacker, but when they challenge him to repeat his computer exploits he is unable to do so. With a little computer trick of her own, Diana pulls the information from the man's mind and constructs a digital photo of the real hacker — Henry.

Meanwhile, Mike, Kyle, and Elizabeth are looking for Dr. Atkins but realize that he's been taken by the Visitors thanks to Elizabeth's extra-sensory powers. They run into Henry, and the youth explains how they took his father as a result of Henry's hack into the Visitor main computer bank. Henry agrees to help the Resistance, but only if they spring his father. Fortunately, the Resistance soon determines the whereabouts of the prisoners — but when they raid the place and free them, Henry's father isn't there!

Philip rendezvous with the Resistance and provides them with stolen battle plans detailing the imminent attack. He also reveals that Dr. Atkins is Diana's prisoner aboard the Mother Ship. When Henry hears the news, he wants to give himself up in exchange for his father. Mike tries to explain that unless the Battlesphere is stopped, there'll all be dead in a matter of hours. With some additional convincing from Kyle, Henry agrees to help the Resistance for the sake of his father. They head for Science Frontiers where there are computers sophisticated enough to do the job.

As Diana monitors the Battlesphere, she discovers there has been an unauthorized entry in the device's memory components — the Fifth Column must have stolen a copy of the Leader's battle plans! Philip feins surprise and questions Lydia's ineffective security. He readies to notify the Leader that his plans have been compromised, but it doesn't matter because the Battlesphere has already begun to carry them out and it cannot be stopped. To prevent any trouble by the still-at-large hacker, extra troops are dispatched to guard the regional computer facilities that might be Resistance targets, including the Science Frontiers Annex.

When the Resistance team arrives at Science Frontiers, Lt. James is ready for them and they walk right into his trap. Cornered, the freedom fighters try to get away in the elevator, but the power has been cut! They're about to surrender, but Elizabeth magically restores the power and they ride the elevator to the fourth floor where the computers are.

Henry is like a kid in a candy store when he enters the darkened computer room with all its high-end equipment. But without power, there's nothing he can do. That's no problem, though, because Elizabeth works her magic again and the lights come on. Henry plugs his laptop into a terminal, taps into the Mother Ship computer, and tries to work some of his own magic. But he's unable to stop the attack and is about to give up. After some harsh chiding from Elizabeth, he tries again. Soon he succeeds in interfacing with the Battlesphere and installs his translation program. He's then able to tap into the Skyfighter guidance system, and he redirects the shuttles as if he were playing a video game. Making the fighter fleet fly out of control, he single-handedly neutralizes the Visitor attack.

The Resistance eludes James and escapes Science Frontiers without incident. Henry is reunited with his father, who was freed and sent to Earth by Philip.

As Lydia and Diana watch the invasion fall to pieces from the Mother Ship control room, Lydia ends the episode with a flippant comment directed to Diana: "Well, better luck next time."

• The episode opens with Diana and Lt. James in bed together. Apparently he's won her affections and promised his loyalty to her. But later in the episode, Oswald arranges for Diana to pick a new consort to entertain her — it seems she's lost her fascination with a certain you-know-who (James is not mentioned by name, though).
• Julie does not appear in this episode. It's mentioned that she's in Fresno.
• The antonyms "perigee" and "apogee" are both mentioned by Diana in the first few minutes of this episode — the former in reference to the Visitor celebration of the "annual perigee of their sun star" and the latter in reference to the Battlesphere "reaching its apogee."
• Lydia reveals that Oswald enjoys performing "perverted" experiments on humans. Oswald defends it as his "art."
• The Battlesphere looks like a consumer plasma ball and emits sound effects like those on the bridge of the Enterprise in classic Star Trek episodes.
• Dr. Atkins is described by the Visitors as a "psycho-cybernetics professor" from Cal Tech.

• Henry's computer used to hack into the Visitor systems appears to be a TRS80 Model 100.
• Diana and Lydia present Philip with a report from internal security regarding the investigation into who stole the Battlesphere plans. With an obvious insinuation, the women note that a sentry visited Philip's quarters at the same time the plans were stolen, and the Supreme Commander wasn't in his quarters at the time. Philip reminds them that he doesn't need to account for his whereabouts, especially to his subordinates. He warns them that to suggest he is a Fifth Columnist is grounds for an immediate court martial.
• When Philip arranges for Dr. Atkins's escape, he tells the man he's part of the Fifth Column, officially establishing his new allegiance on screen for the first time.

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