Lighthouse Master Murray Hawkins is working at his station at Stockton Harbor, Maine. He logs onto a chat room and talks with the other members, and they tune to 6995 kHz on their short-wave radios. A music box tune starts playing. Other members include Shen Chan in Chinatown, New York, who ignores his friend Dan to work on what he claims is a major code. In Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Becky Woomer asks her husband Laird to take care of their baby son, Aaron, and then chairs the chat room with Murray, Shen, and 12 other members. A voice on the radio starts reciting numbers in Dutch, and all of the chat room members suddenly wince in pain. After a moment, they recover... with no memory of who they are or what they were doing.
Peter and Bolivia share breakfast in bed and he gives her a pair of U2 tickets. She claims that she loves them and they kiss. Peter gets a call from Walter, who says that he's discovered that Peter is experimenting with the Other Side world-destroying device. He tells Peter to stop examining it before he destroys Earth, and hangs up. As Peter starts to explain to Bolivia what was said, they get a call from Broyles about the amnesia cases. They go to the Woomer home and Broyles explains that the DOD suspects that terrorists launched a trial run on a new weapon. Laird tells them that Becky moderated a chat room group dedicated to decoding the numbers recited on the specific frequency, and Walter snaps at Peter repeatedly.
The trio meets with Nina, who explains that there are phantom number stations that broadcast seemingly meaningless number series, and have been doing so for over 70 years. Walter snaps at Peter again, suggesting that he wants to play back the radio broadcasts and put them all at risk. As Walter storms off and Peter goes after him, Nina suggests that Bolivia talk to Walter. When Bolivia says that she doesn't want to get involved, , Nina is surprised, noting that Bolivia usually takes a direct approach.
Broyles calls in Bolivia to check out a radio transmitter in Alford. They've determined that someone broke into the transmitter station, killed two staff members, and wired a cube of unknown origins into the broadcast at the time the group was stricken with amnesia. Broyles finds a fingerprint and has his people trace it. Meanwhile, Walter goes to the lab and uses a Speak-n-Say and a modulation pedal to identify a second hidden signal in the number broadcast, which he assumes caused the amnesia. When Peter realizes that Walter used the sound equipment he was using on the world-destruction device, he objects but Walter insists that he doesn't care. He storms off to his office and Peter goes after him, insisting that they need to understand the device. Walter objects, and Peter tells him about how it reacted to his touch on the Other Side. Astrid interrupts to tell them that Broyles has identified the man belonging to the fingerprint on the cube.
The man, Joseph Feller, approaches another radio tower.
Bolivia and Peter take the photo of Feller to Laird, who doesn't recognize him. Feller disappeared 13 years ago in Milwaukee. Meanwhile, Walter tests Becky's mental capabilities and tries to assure her that the memories are still stored somewhere in her brain, and they can hopefully recover them. Meanwhile, Peter finds Ed Markham's name among Becky's contacts. He's surprised that Bolivia doesn't recognize the man, who hit on her when they went to his bookstore before. Walter chats with Bolivia about Becky and admits that he can understand how she feels disassociated from her life, just like he does. Bolivia tries to sympathize, and Walter prefers to focus on the case.
At the radio tower, Feller places a new chip into a circuit board that he inserts into the chip. When he turns it on, it levitates into the air. Satisfied, Feller leaves.
A charter flight is flying nearby. The pilot tunes the radio to a particular frequency and hears the music box tune, followed by a series of numbers in Russian. The passengers and pilot all clutch at their heads in agony.
When Walter and Astrid get word of the incident the next day, they learn that there was a crash and six people were killed. Walter is unable to decipher the first cube, and Broyles calls to tell him that they've found a second one. Meanwhile, Peter and Bolivia visit Markham. He explains that he used to be a member of Becky's group, but gave up deciphering the numbers. Markham worries that he's in danger and only agrees to tell them what he knows in return for Peter's guarantee of protection. He explains that the numbers were first heart by Marconi when he invented the radio, and are believed to have been around for hundreds of years. He gives Peter a book,
The First People, and tells them that the writer, Simon Wiles, believed that a race of beings that predated humanity are responsible for the transmissions.
Nina comes to visit Walter as he works on the second tube. They go outside and talk about how Harvard has changed, and she suggests that Peter continue working on the world-destruction device. Nina points out that Walter has taken similar risks in the past, but Walter insists that his counterpart wants Peter to activate the device and then ensure that the Other Side is the only surviving universe. Nina insists that nothing is preordained and that Walter should encourage Peter to continue his work.
As Peter and Bolivia drive back to the lab, Peter reads the book and explains Wiles' theory that a cataclysm wiped out all trace of the First People, a cataclysm possibly linked to their research into a vacuum weapon capable of destroying them. Peter finds a calendar in the book and realizes that it has the same numbers in the radio broadcasts,
When they return to Harvard, Peter shows Walter the book. He believes the theory, and wonders if the First People's vacuum mechanism draws on the energies of the Big Bang. Peter figures that the key to the mechanism lies into the number, and someone wiped the minds of the chat room group to keep them from deciphering it. As Bolivia comes in, Peter finds the new chip in the second cube and confirms that it's a rare model with only a few stores selling it in the U.S. Bolivia quickly leaves, claiming she's going to see Broyles.
Astrid starts trying to decipher the numbers, and Walter suggests she has to think like the First People. When he comments that one of their months has only nine days, Astrid realizes that the calendar is the key and puts the numbers of the months into a cipher matrix.
Bolivia goes to the apartment building where Feller is living, and warns him that the Fringe team will track him via the new code. He notes that the Secretary said they shouldn't meet, but Bolivia says that things have changed. When Feller says that they've accomplished their goals and started a campaign of terror, Bolivia balks at the idea of harming innocents and insists that they've done enough. When Feller asks what he's supposed to do next, Bolivia tells him that she has a plan.
Peter arrives with Broyles and an FBI team. They hear a gunshot from the apartment and look up in time to see Feller plummet to his death. When he lands, he leaks silver blood, and they realize he's a shapeshifter. Peter runs upstairs and comforts Bolivia, who insists that Feller came at her and she had no choice but to shoot him.
As Astrid writes the number of days on a clear board and tries to decipher them, she sees the sunlight shine through onto a globe, and realizes that they're coordinates.
Peter examines the shapeshifter and finds a smashed data storage unit in his pocket. Astrid calls to tell them that she has deciphered the numbers, and that they're the coordinates for 22 separate locations around the world. None of the locations is significant, and the closest one is in New Jersey. The FBI starts evacuating the location, while Peter and Bolivia talks. Bolivia asks Peter if he would sacrifice one world to save another, but Peter insists that there are billions of innocents on both worlds and he'd find a way to save them all.
As the excavation team finds something buried at the New Jersey site, Astrid calls to tell Peter that the first piece is buried at Milton. Bolivia relays her message to Peter and Walter, and Walter insists that they have to dig up all of the pieces.
Later, Bolivia goes to the store and uses the typewriter to inform her superiors that Fringe Division is digging up the pieces. They congratulate her and tell her to initiate Phase Two.
On the Other Side, Olivia gets a phone call from Brandon telling her that they've postponed the test procedures to get her to transition to This Side. After she hangs up, Peter appears to her and warns her that they have what they need and will soon kill her, and she has no choice but to find a way back to her home dimension.
Share this article with your friends