Alpha is at red alert; combat Eagles rise on the launch pads, laser batteries are deployed, non-combatants move to underground shelters and security forces guard the airlock stations. As they wait, Koenig asks Maya to explain how her people provide Dorcons with immortality. She informs him Dorcons do not die in the manner of most humanoid races: their brain-stems cease to function at an advanced age. They discovered Psychons possess brain-stems with regenerative properties that can last forever. "If a Psychon brain-stem is surgically grafted to a Dorcon brain, the result is virtual immortality".