As Gordon prepared to board the shuttle to take Isaac down to the surface, he saw Alara come in to the shuttle bay.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked her, smiling.
She replied to her friend, "Oh, just thought I'd see you two off before making my rounds."
"Cool," Gordon asserted, thinking it's anything but.
She sounded upbeat, Gordon was glad to see. She's been that way for a while, and Gordon was happy for her, especially as she had been so down after her last boyfriend, if he could even have been called that, dumped her somewhat unceremoniously. She said she was working on herself, for which Gordon's dirty mind entertained the most prurient explanation, but maybe she actually took stock and realized that her life is good. Who knows? He's just glad to see her in her current frame of mind. But he wondered why she was here.
For the chief of security to suddenly make a personal appearance suggested that maybe this trip isn't as routine as everyone made it out to be. He'd have to ask Isaac. He headed into the shuttle and turned around to look back and saw Isaac and Alara having what seemed an intense conversation. Curious, he started to head toward them when just then Isaac gestured in his direction and started walking toward the shuttle. Gordon scrunched his eyebrows in puzzlement, then shook his head slightly and headed toward the shuttle controls at the bow.
"What were you two talking about before we left?" Gordon asked when the shuttle got underway.
"She relayed a message from Chief Newton that I am to report to Engineering as soon as I get back," Isaac responded.
Gordon dropped it. None of that made sense, really. It was possible, he supposed, but it was barely plausible. Alara had a message from the chief engineer, a message the chief could have easily transmitted to Isaac himself. She didn't tell him she was there to give a message to Isaac, just to see them off. Up to then, Isaac maintained that Kaylons don't lie, but Gordon thinks that's a lie, and that Isaac proved it just now. But it was just a feeling he had, and as long as there wasn't a concern for their safety, Gordon was cool with it. But it was something to think about.
The shuttle landed and Gordon and Isaac walked out, Isaac carrying the supplies requested by the researchers on this planet. They walked into what looked like an ancient structure and found the researchers huddled around some machinery. A Xelayan woman walked up to them, Gordon judged her to be closer to his age than Alara's, very striking looking in his estimation. She looked stern, businesslike when she turned to look at them, but as she got closer, her expression changed. She looked softer, even had a slight smile as she seemed to look at Gordon appraisingly. He found himself getting a bit turned on and tried to keep his embarrassment from showing.
"Oh, you have our supplies!" she cried out, cheerfully.
'That's what the smile was for,' thought Gordon, cooling his ardor somewhat. "Yep," he told her, "I hope it's everything you asked for." He felt like a dope.
She just smiled and took the box from Isaac and went into another room. Gordon looked at the device or whatever it was that had the attention of the other researchers and asked a nearby Dakeeli male, "what's this?"
The researcher answered, "we're not sure. We have books in a language we haven't deciphered, that's why we needed what you brought in that container."
Isaac moved near Gordon and pointed up, asking the researcher as a whine was building up in the background, "can you tell us what the functions of those objects are?" The device was starting to show some lit up displays.
Gordon looked up where Isaac was pointing and saw what looked like two squares overhead, one above Isaac, the other above him. Then a loud hum was heard as the squares seemed to shift positions and he was now below the one on the right instead of the left and he was pointing his arm upward. He felt weird, unable to blink, but his eyes didn't hurt, although his vision was weird. He could still see, but everything looked more vivid, with additional texture. He knew what everything around him looked like, including the red-haired bearded man to his left who looked a lot like him. As he turned his head, he heard his voice say, "fascinating, you have initiated a consciousness transfer device." He saw the red-haired man who resembled him move his lips synchronously with the words he heard.
"Shit," he said as he lowered his arm, unsurprised that he heard it in Isaac's voice. It just confirmed his suspicion.
Then the machine shut off. "Can you reverse the procedure?" the man who resembled Gordon said.
"Yeah, can you?" the artificial lifeform who actually is Gordon now added.
There was a rumbling and one of the researchers cried out, "There's a chain reaction building up in the power source, the explosion will be catastrophic."
"Shit," exclaimed Gordon, "come on!"
Everyone was gathered into the shuttle, and it barely escaped the atmosphere when a huge and devastating blast occurred on the surface below. Interference blocked communication until they got close to the Orville.
"It would be cool to pretend to be each other, but..." Gordon started to say.
"Are you contemplating a practical joke?" Isaac inquired.
"Yeah, but, with no maiming this time! But..."
"It would be most amusing," Isaac declared, interrupting Gordon.
Gordon would have raised his eyebrows if he had any as he looked at Isaac.
"Oh, my god, Gordon, Isaac, are you alright?" Ed's voice pleaded.
Gordon was going to answer as Isaac in a stilted way, but he heard, "Yeah, we're all good. We got all the eggheads in this crate; we'll need the doc and her team!"
"Okay, man, see you soon!" Ed laughed.
Gordon was astounded. "Wow, pretty good. A little over the top, but wow, I assumed you were always stuck in robot speak mode."
"It is the mode I am designed to communicate in, but I can mimic other ways. However, to do that I usually have to store the entire phrase and then play it back, but I cannot avail myself of that process in your body. But because I already have your voice it is an easy procedure to..."
"Okay, okay, well I guess we played our practical joke, time to..." Gordon stopped talking to concentrate on gently landing the shuttle for the sake of the injured. Then suddenly, Isaac's memories were flooding him, and he was barely able to concentrate on maneuvering the craft. Finally, it landed, a little rougher than he intended, but barely noticeable.