Original air date: May 10, 1997

Written by: Debra Pratt

Directed by: Joe Napolitano

As Jarod tries to locate the mother of a baby he found abandoned in a dumpster, Sydney and Miss Parker discover a sublevel under the Centre that none of them knew existed.

Jarod’s Discoveries: Looking after a baby

Jarod’s Occupations: Foster Parent

Jarod’s Aliases: Jarod

Behind the scenes insights and the Creator’s Take

Official Synopsis

Jarod finds an abandoned baby, while Sydney and Miss Parker find a hidden level in the Centre.

As Jarod runs through a dark alley to get away from Sydney and Miss Parker, they find a tube of blueprints he left behind, and he finds a live baby in a dumpster.  Jarod takes the baby to a friend, Christine, who takes them in, but warns that her husband, Ax, doesn’t like children.  Back at the Centre, Broots, Sydney and Miss Parker look at the blueprints and some notes Jarod left, which are marked “SL27.” Later, both Sydney and Miss Parker independently ask Broots to do a search for the meaning of SL27, and when they both show up at the same time to check on the results, Miss Parker says the term was engraved on the inside of a bracelet found on one of the children her mother rescued from the Centre.  Sydney states that it was also written down by his brother, Jacob, during his brief recovery from a coma.  Meanwhile, Christine urges Jarod to turn the baby in to the authorities.  He is reluctant, but, later, finally gives in and they go to Child Services.  There, however, Jarod is put off by the cold, chaotic atmosphere, and he walks out.  Out in the parking lot, however, Jarod stops cold when he sees that every car in the nearby police lot has a red sticker on its license plate, just like the one he saw on a car in the alley right before he found the baby.

A bit later, Broots reports to Sydney and Miss Parker that the architectural firm where they found Jarod and the blueprints is the same one that built the Centre.  Just then, Jarod calls, and when Sydney asks him what the blueprints are for, Jarod tells him to “do the math.”  Broots thinks this over, and realizes Jarod’s notes indicate enough dirt was dug up during the Centre’s construction to account for 27 underground levels, while the Centre has only 26…at least officially.  And this leads them to realize “SL27” refers to “Sub Level 27,” which none of them ever knew existed.  Meanwhile, Christine’s husband, Ax, a garbage man, gets home and, contrary to what Christine said earlier, is thrilled to see the baby, stating that he has always wanted a child of his own.  A bit later, Jarod, dressed as a mechanic, searches the records at the police motor pool, finds the car he saw by the dumpster, and meets its driver, Detective David Geary.  Later, Jarod follows Geary to a municipal building, and sees him talking to District Attorney candidate Mitch Meyers.  Meanwhile, back at the Centre, Broots, Sydney and Miss Parker descend through a manhole in Sub Level 26 to the dark, fire-damaged and now abandoned Sub Level 27.  Later, back at Christine’s, Jarod hacks into the police department database again, and finds a missing persons report for Jeanette Connelly and her five month old son, Michael.  And about the same time, Geary goes back to the dumpster, looking for the baby, but finds it’s gone.

Back at the Centre, Sydney, Broots and Miss Parker explore SL27 and find toys, syringes and other evidence indicating the area was once a secret Sim Lab.  But as they search, Angelo informs Mr. Raines of a security alert.  About the same time, Geary goes to Jeannette’s apartment, but a neighbor says she is not there, and that another cop (Jarod) visited about 15 minutes earlier.  Just then, Geary gets a radio call about a woman found under a bridge, barely alive, and he runs off.  Back in SL27, Miss Parker finds several undamaged file boxes, which obviously were brought there after the fire.  She and Sydney find Jarod’s records among the others, and are shocked to learn that he was apparently stolen—by Jacob—from parents who were very much alive at the time.  Just then, Broots, who had gone back upstairs a few minutes earlier, calls to warn Sydney and Miss Parker that Mr. Raines, apparently detecting their exploration, has ordered Angelo to sanitize the Centre’s security system.  Meanwhile, Geary arrives at a hospital, looking for Jeannette, but Jarod gets there first.  As he rushes her out of the building, Geary chases them through the stairwells, down to a basement garage.  But when Geary shoots at a van he thinks they’re hiding in, Jarod and Jeannette escape in another car.

Later, back at Christine and Ax’s apartment, Jeannette is happily reunited with little Michael, and explains to Jarod that she was a volunteer in Mitch Meyers’ campaign, had an affair with him, and when she later insisted that he help support their son, Detective Geary kidnapped her, drugged her and pushed her off a bridge.  A bit later, Jeanette calls Myers and gets him to admit that he tried to have her and Michael done away with, to prevent embarrassment to his family and campaign.  Then, Jarod and Ax, in Ax’s garbage truck, confront Geary in an alley.  Finally, a few minutes later, as Myers speaks at a campaign rally, Jeannette approaches Mrs. Myers and tells her what happened.  Meanwhile, Jarod and Ax drive up in the garbage truck, blaring a tape of Myers confession, and dump a load of trash—which includes a bound and naked Geary—right in the middle of the rally site.  Later, as Jeannette thanks Jarod for his help, Sydney and Miss Parker go back to SL27 for another look at the old records…but find someone has removed them.  And as they wonder who it might have been, we see Angelo, sitting in a nearby air duct with the stacks of papers.