- Where ivory towers meet the eastern sea,
Young trees of knowledge will fall.
Crushed by the thorny vine of a red rose.Quatrain 6, Century 8
Cade takes the place of a grad student who apparently died of 'the bends' on dry land and meets Lara the last person to see the student alive. Cade tries to discover the truth about this temptress who can seemingly kill with a look.
Tropes:
- Aborted Arc: Colonel Grace, leader of some kind of black ops unit who seems to know about the Gua as well as the truth about Cade. She's set up as a recurring antagonist, but after this she appears in one more episode and is referred to in another. It's not established what her agenda is or even if she's human.
- Compelling Voice: The titular "Mata Hari", Lara, has the power to force people to do what she tells them. Cade startles himself by immediately telling her he's a fugitive when she calls bullshit on his cover story.
- Freudian Excuse: Lara was sold by her parents to the U.S. Government after her psychic powers became known. They used her for years, but she escaped and became a Psycho for Hire.
- MacGuffin: Lara's overall purpose is to prevent a system of satellites from being deployed that could be used against a Gua attack from space.
- Mind over Matter: Lara uses telekinesis to kill people by inducing the bends.
- Schmuck Bait: Colonel Grace's offer to expunge Cade's criminal record in exchange for his apprehending Lara. C'mon, Cade, you didn't really believe that, did you?
