Stargate: Atlantis s01e03 Episode Script

- Have you got your eye on anyone? - (Beckett) Not really.
Actually, I was talking to the mouse, but now you mention it, some of those Thosian women are hot.
We did just save them from the Wraith, so we gotta trade on that.
Sit down.
I'm ready.
I'm surprised you're so eager to volunteer.
- You know me, always eager to help.
- Right.
Any questions about the process? I mean, you are a scientist.
Yeah.
I'm sorry.
Medicine is about as much of a science as voodoo.
I need it to enable me to use Ancient technology like Major Sheppard or you.
Yes, hopefully.
You are the first human trial.
Why now? We knew we'd need as many people with the gene as we could get.
Without proper FDA approval it was virtually impossible on Earth Let's just say it's legal in the Pegasus galaxy.
- And completely safe? - As far as gene therapy goes.
- I am manipulating your DNA.
Here we go.
- Tell me more.
We believe Ancient Technology Activation is caused by one gene that's always on, instructing various cells to produce a series of proteins and enzymes that interact with the skin, the nervous system and the brain.
We're using a mouse retrovirus to deliver the missing gene.
- A mouse retrovirus? - It's been deactivated.
- Are there any side effects? - Dry mouth, headache.
- The urge to run on a small wheel.
- That's very amusing.
- How long till it starts working? - Some time.
What is that? Something I found in one of the research labs.
Something the Ancients were experimenting with.
- Do you know what it is? - Uh pretty sure.
It's desalinising the sea water and storing it for the whole city.
Fresh water won't be a problem.
Some Ancient technology requires users to have the gene.
Other things require initialisation.
Once activated, anyone can make them work.
- Good morning, Dr Weir.
- Morning.
Careful.
- We need to designate recreational areas.
- Yes.
We need to clear the hallway as soon as possible.
Can we lose the 10,000-year-old dead plants? Of course.
We're still making sure everyone has living quarters.
Major Sheppard seems to be taking his time.
- The safety and security - (McKay) I'm ready.
Oh, my God.
- Did you see that? - Yes.
What the? I'm fine.
Look.
Beckett's gene therapy worked.
I activated this personal shield.
Acts like a protective skin.
It must have inertial-dampening properties too.
Watch this.
- Hit me.
- Ow! God! You didn't have to swing so hard.
Notice he didn't even hesitate.
Why did you test this device by having someone throw you off a balcony? That's not the first thing we tried.
I shot him.
In the leg.
I'm invulnerable.
Don't you always say how proper scientific procedure must be adhered to? - Invulnerable.
- Take it off.
Let's go have this meeting.
- You're just jealous.
- Yes, green with envy.
(whooshing) This could be a problem.
I can't get at it.
(whooshing) Just checking.
- I'm thinking Mr Invincible.
- Captain Untouchable.
- That's good.
- You guys done? I've been working on this for months.
Forgive me for wanting to celebrate the fact that it worked first time.
Let's have a toast.
Just a thought, but have you tried eating or drinking since you put that on? That's great.
This may be more serious than I suspected.
I'm hungry.
What am I gonna do? I'll be dead by the end of the day.
- You can live for days without water.
- I'm talking about food.
What did the Ancient texts say about taking it off? There were instructions which I chose to ignore.
Some Ancient technology uses a mental component.
Shut up.
I'm thinking.
Is there any chance that the gene therapy isn't permanent? - It's possible.
- I'm a dead man.
We can probably maintain security in this area with our limited personnel.
- My people can help.
- Thank you, Teyla.
We'll find other ways the Athosians can contribute.
- You do not trust us? - It's not that, it's just that we need to train your people in our weapons and tactics.
- You invited me to be in your team.
- We value your knowledge and expertise.
As we value all the Athosians.
For now there should be more than enough living space for everyone.
We have lived in the shadow of the Wraith, but my people have never been in a place such as this.
They are afraid.
Some believe the ghosts of the Ancestors remain.
I don't think so, but we're gonna need more time to explore the entire city.
We're very cautious intergalactic explorers.
We don't want anyone else getting hurt the way Halling did.
No one must touch anything unfamiliar unless it's been cleared first.
It's very important.
Even a tiny little innocuous thing can kill you.
Dead man talking.
- Carson.
- Dr Weir.
Grodin's team's going through the Ancient research material with the shield device, but McKay didn't find anything helpful and he is the smartest guy here.
So he likes to tell us.
Listen.
I feel terrible.
It may have been a result of artificially imposing the gene.
I have another theory.
We know there is a mental component to using Ancient technology.
I experienced it first hand with that drone weapon back on Earth.
Exactly.
Don't you think McKay should be able to shut this thing off with his mind? Are you suggesting he doesn't want to? We may be settling in here, but this place is still pretty intimidating.
A giant abandoned city full of things way beyond our level of understanding.
Impending threat of attack from the Wraith.
No question.
It gets bloody creepy here at night.
I'm not saying it's conscious, but perhaps subconsciously I don't think he wants to die of dehydration.
No, neither do I, but he's not there yet.
You think the shield will just shut itself down? The Ancients were smart enough to build fail safes into their other technology.
This entire city rose from the deep of the ocean when danger was imminent.
Why design a personal shield that could kill you? I certainly hope you're right.
For Rodney's sake.
The self-destruct system requires two separate codes.
Each code is unique and everyone must memorise their code.
Don't bother giving me one.
Sorry.
This is the only Stargate in the Pegasus galaxy capable of dialling Earth, making it the last defence against the Wraith.
If they attack, which we must consider a very real threat, we cannot let them gain control of this complex.
If both codes are entered, the naquadah generator will overload in 30 seconds.
- Will it do enough damage? - Ever see a 20-kiloton nuclear explosion? I have.
Not up close.
I think we should tell Teyla what's going on here.
We still don't know if one of the Athosians tipped off your arrival at their planet.
- I trust Teyla.
- So do I.
But Teyla trusts her people.
If we tell her, she'll want to tell them, and I need more time to get to know them.
Well, they thought he was finally dead, but when they turned their backs to go, his cold, dead eyes opened beneath his hockey mask and he rose up with his knife What's a hockey mask? Hockey's a game Guys skate around the ice and try to put a puck into the net.
The goalies wear masks.
It's really scary.
- Tell us more of this game.
- Can we play it? I don't really see the attraction.
Now, football Football's a real man's sport.
We'll save that for another time.
- Yes, time for bed.
- (children groan) Remember, tomorrow night, kids, another tale called Nightmare On Elm Street.
All right, children, let's go.
Thank you, Major.
I hope I didn't scare 'em too much.
I don't think so.
Good.
Good night.
Good night.
Listen, Teyla.
Don't tell McKay what I said about hockey not being a real man's sport, 'cause it's a Canadian thing, they're touchy about it.
I'm interested in hearing more about this football you say you love so much.
I can do one better.
Come here.
Father? Do you think we are safe here from the Wraith? I think there's nothing certain in life except my love for you.
- Do you miss the wind? - Yes.
But if you're very quiet you can hear the ocean.
- Do the ghosts of the Ancestors live here? - Jinto.
Go to sleep.
- Funny.
- Here it comes.
Watch this.
Flutie is back.
Four seconds, three seconds, two seconds, one.
Flutie throws.
This game is over.
Hail Mary.
It is caught! Oh! That is beautiful! Can you believe that? Should I not? The defence didn't think the quarterback could throw that far.
They seem very happy.
They won one of the best games of all time against all odds.
- Flutie won the Heisman.
- And played in Canada.
He played hockey too? What are you guys doing? Teaching Teyla how football is the cornerstone of Western civilisation.
- You didn't invite me? - You like football? No, not really.
Come on.
It's real, unpredictable, it's full of passion and beer, hot dogs.
Cheerleaders.
I can't understand.
You're allowed one personal item and you chose this.
It's a metaphor.
This entire expedition is the biggest Hail Mary in human history.
- What is a Hail Mary? - It's a play that you just saw.
It's named after a prayer.
There's this woman and her name is Mary and she Did I mention how much I like Ferris wheels? Psst.
- Your turn to be the Wraith.
- You can be the Wraith.
- I get to be Major Sheppard.
- Ohh.
One, two, three four, five, six Wex? Jinto? Jinto's missing.
I can't find him.
I told him to be careful.
Anything he touches could be dangerous.
- What if there are monsters here? - We'll find him.
Jinto's missing.
Teams of two.
Floor-to-floor sweep.
Start with the jumpers.
Full gear.
Yes, sir.
- He's not in the living quarters.
- I'm with you.
- You gonna be OK with that leg? - He's my son.
Can we use the sensors to locate him? Not enough power to activate the city.
And the sensors don't distinguish individuals.
There may be shielded areas or malfunctioning sensors.
We are getting a strange energy reading in one of the unexplored areas.
- Activate the communication system.
- Done.
Jinto, this is Dr Weir.
If you can hear me, please respond.
Jinto? If you're lost, if you can't - We've lost power.
- We've still got lights.
(silence) I don't know why that happened.
That wasn't me.
Shut it down now.
- What's going on? - I don't know.
- This hasn't happened before.
- We've only been here a few days.
This stuff is pretty old.
It's that, or there really are ghosts.
This is Sheppard.
Lights just went out.
We're experiencing some technical malfunctions.
It could be the interfaces between our generators and the city.
Or certain systems could be causing erroneous operations.
I'll run a diagnostic on the power flow.
Strange that you believe in ghosts.
I never used to until I learned how Wraiths suck the life out of you with their hands.
- Dr Weir? - Teyla.
I'll be right there.
- Do what you can.
- Right.
Dr Weir, this is Marta.
Pleased to meet you.
It's all right.
Tell her what you saw.
A shadow.
The Wraith project them, make you see things that aren't there.
Are you sure? Yet I sense no Wraith here.
Have you ever been wrong about that? Major, this is Weir.
One of the Athosians is claiming to have seen what she calls a shadow.
She does not believe me? Teyla says she senses no Wraith here, but I'm still concerned.
All teams fall back to the gate room and wait for instructions.
- We can't stop searching.
- We need to establish a proper perimeter.
I secured access to the control towers and living quarters.
Two more Athosians saw shadows.
That means the Wraith would be here.
- You don't think so? - I don't think they wanna scare us.
When they come, they're gonna blow the crap out of this place.
- The Athosians are just seeing things? - Like Teyla said, it's scary for them.
- Not just for them.
- Halling wishes to speak with Jinto.
Please.
Go ahead.
Jinto.
If you can hear me, I'm not angry.
I just want to know that you are safe.
So if you are lost or hurt, stay where you are.
Make some noise if you can.
We will find you.
(chants) - Is that Latin? - It's Ancient.
The Fathers of Light of the Everlasting Temple? It is a prayer to the Ancestors.
If you are angry that we have unrightfully inhabited your great city, we humbly apologise.
We mean no harm.
We will leave if it is your wish.
But I will not go without my son.
- He fainted.
- Is there a better word? - Faint is the proper medical term.
- I passed out from manly hunger.
Well, hang in there.
Dr Weir, this is Sheppard.
McKay's OK.
He he fainted.
Very sympathetic.
Let's all mock the dying man.
Thank you.
It didn't look like the phantoms the Wraith make you see, but I understand.
- What did it look like? - It looked like Darkness.
It surrounded the generator and grew, like it was feeding off the energy.
When you shut it down, the whole whatever it was went away.
If it feeds on energy, we could be in big trouble, or you could, as I won't be around.
We need to figure out what it is and what to do.
- It's attracted to energy.
- Shut down the generators? People give off heat energy.
It's negligible compared to a generator, but take away the other obvious food source - It could come after us? - I know one thing.
Flying darkness that eats energy is very bad.
OK, we keep the power on.
Grodin, figure out a way to detect it.
Major, establish surveillance on all the generators.
If one is targeted, we'll shut it down remotely.
Hopefully we can keep this thing busy until we find a way to get rid of it.
Everyone, this is Weir.
We need you all to remain in your quarters unless otherwise instructed.
- If you see anything - (Jinto) Hello? Can you hear me? Can anyone hear me? - Jinto? - Major Sheppard! - Are you OK? - I'm scared.
- Where are you? - I don't know.
Tell us how you got to where you are.
I was in the hall outside my quarters.
- Where did you go next? - I can't remember.
He's used to the forest, being able to see the stars at night.
I found a small room filled with boxes from Earth.
- No boxes.
- They're here with me.
Someone thought it would make a nice closet.
It's definitely not a closet.
- Did the panel glow? - Yes! - Did you touch it? - Yes.
- What exactly? - I don't remember.
Before he disappeared we got an unusual energy reading from here.
Wait.
No.
- It must be a transporter.
- We can name it later.
Major Sheppard! - Jinto! Are you OK? - Yes.
(Sheppard) We've got Jinto.
He's OK.
- Any idea what this place is? - A research lab.
We've seen a few of them.
These access the computer system, so Jinto could have caused malfunctions.
I need to know everything you touched.
As far as I can tell, there's only one entity.
The blue spots are the naquadah generators.
This blob is our entity.
We had to calibrate the sensors.
Your idea works.
I anticipate his approach to the generators and shut them off.
Here, watch.
I've got it going in circles.
- Good job.
- Thanks.
I hope we're not making this thing mad.
(beeping) Lieutenant, this is Dr Grodin.
I'm tracking the entity heading your way.
You might want to get out of the hall.
Roger that.
This is Ford.
A bulkhead just blocked our way.
There's no panel on the wall to open it.
- Roger that.
- McKay? We didn't touch anything.
The entity may be causing malfunctions.
The proximity to that large a disturbance could make the technology go haywire.
Lieutenant, double back and try the door on the east of the hall.
- This door won't open.
- Here it comes.
(McKay) Pull open the console on the wall.
- Hurry.
- What next? - What do you see? - Three crystals.
Take out the middle one.
Move the top one down.
If this door opens, go.
I'll be right behind you.
- Not working.
- Use the middle one to bridge the others.
- You sure about this? - Not exactly.
Go! (screaming) Man down.
I need a medical team.
(Beckett) Right, hang in there.
- Are we in any danger here? - I wish I could tell you.
- How's Ford? - Like he was hit by lightning.
- He's gonna be OK? - He's a tough kid.
Sir.
Hi.
Tell him there's nothing he could have done.
- There is nothing you could have done.
- I could have pulled him out.
- Then we'd both look like this.
- You don't look so bad.
Dr Beckett says you're gonna be back to pretty boy in no time.
- Apparently it's also an elevator.
- We can stop taking the stairs.
- How nice for you.
- What you got? Jinto didn't touch anything of any consequence other than that.
It must have its own power source like the jumpers.
- What is it? - A containment vessel for the creature.
- And Jinto released it? - It seems that way.
As I suggested, the entity's been causing our technical problems.
It was captured for observation.
The Ancients were researching Ascension.
- Really? - What exactly is Ascension? At some point during their evolution, the Ancients reached a stage of being, where they rid themselves of their bodies and rose to a higher plane, one in which they live as pure energy.
This is the first indication that there may have been evolutionary intervention.
Gene therapy of their own.
I haven't read all the notes, but I do know the entity is energy.
It feeds on energy.
Ford's lucky.
The more it feeds, the bigger it gets and the more charged and deadly it becomes.
- Is it intelligent? - According to the research, it is sentient.
But you'd have more luck talking to a shark.
This thing will suck the power out of our generators and then kill us all.
What do we do about it? It's been trapped here since the Ancients left.
- I know I'd be pissed.
- And hungry.
This device was designed to attract it, capture it and hold it for observation.
We may still be able to get it back inside.
I need more time to figure out how.
- Hi.
- Jinto has something he wishes to say.
I'm sorry.
What happened to you was my fault.
Where I come from we got a little saying.
Stuff happens.
It's a little different, but you didn't mean for this to happen, did you? No.
You're a good kid.
You weren't doing anything wrong, which means this isn't your fault.
The same as when we came to your planet.
We didn't mean for the Wraith to show up.
That's why you're here.
Your home was destroyed.
You almost lost your dad.
- I don't remember you getting mad at me.
- Stuff happens.
- It's not falling for the same tricks.
- How smart is it? - Rodney? - This is much simpler than I thought.
It's like a mousetrap.
This button makes it emit an energy signature to attract the creature.
This one shuts it in.
The only downside is that someone has to press the buttons.
- I'll do it.
- OK.
Wait, Rodney.
You're still wearing the shield.
If something went wrong, would that protect you? I had a feeling.
What do you mean? Had a feeling about what? You think I wanted it to come off? I'm not scared.
I'll do this.
That's OK.
You might faint again.
It's just not working any more.
It doesn't work on you either.
I meant it wasn't gonna let you die.
It is a coincidence that it stopped working now.
I need a drink.
Go.
You always told me I shouldn't be afraid of the dark.
I was wrong.
I can't sleep now.
What if the darkness comes? (Teyla) It won't.
(Jinto) How do you know? Because it's afraid of fire.
The darkness is afraid? Everything is afraid of something.
So the shield device just came off by itself? Yeah.
It just stopped working.
- He even tried it on Sheppard.
- It wouldn't work on Sheppard.
- Why not? - McKay didn't tell you? The text we studied said the shield imprints on the wearer.
If we're right, it wouldn't work on anyone else.
Are we ready? You realise we're going to lose the sensors? We won't be able to track it.
We have security personnel around the living quarters.
At least we have some warning.
Teyla told the Athosian children that a candle would help protect them.
- You're doing it because - It's gonna get dark.
OK, Major.
Go ahead.
Now.
(Grodin) Shutting down power.
(buzzing) It's coming.
I think we're gonna need a bigger boat.
- (McKay) Size doesn't matter.
- It's a myth.
It'll fit.
The device traps it in subspace.
Make sure it gets all the way inside the containment vessel.
All right, come on.
(Sheppard) Son of a bitch.
- What happened? - It took one look and went away.
It's a lot smarter than we thought.
- We need to know where it is.
- We'll have to turn the power on.
- We can't do that.
- Do it.
Just the operations tower.
(rumbling) - What now? - It's headed this way.
- You turned the power on.
- We can't go on.
Do you think it wants to be here? - What do you mean? - It's been trapped here alone.
- It's not alone any more.
- It thinks about eating, that's it.
- You would know.
- If we stay, it will kill us.
- Unless we kill it first.
- I don't see how.
Then either we must go or it must.
Maybe it wants to go.
If we open the Stargate - This is a bad idea.
- You said that already.
Well, it's worth saying again.
It's coming.
An open Stargate is a huge power source.
It didn't get trapped in the Ancient vessel.
Why should it follow a naquadah generator? You got a better idea? - Good luck.
- Are you OK? It's almost here.
- Do you have an address? - M4X-337.
Barren wasteland.
Dial it.
That was good thinking.
(McKay) It's not going anywhere.
I can't see if the MALP got through.
- It could have drained the battery.
- It could be feeding off the Stargate.
Shut it down.
- I can't.
- The consoles are dead.
There must be something we can do.
We don't know if the MALP is still down there.
The entity could go through the gate once it's depleted the energy in the generator.
Or it could continue to feed off the gate's energy.
McKay? Rodney! McKay? The power must have been drained by the entity.
Medical team to the gate room.
He's not burnt.
He's breathing.
McKay? McKay.
- Hey.
- What happened? - You did it.
- I did? It went through the gate.
You must have passed out.
Thanks for not saying the other thing.
That was a Hail Mary.
(groans) Thank you.
Take your time.
Man down.