Stargate: Atlantis s01e08 Episode Script

They are called the Genii.
They are simple people, but good farmers and fair traders.
We're still months away from producing successful crops on the mainland, and heading for a food shortage.
It's getting desperate.
We're almost out of coffee.
Maybe you should stop drinking eleven cups a day.
I'm getting my fair share before it's all gone.
- Sounds fair.
- Hm.
I'm all for trade.
But shouldn't we find a way to help defend ourselves? - How can a bunch of farmers do that? - Introduce us to people who can help.
For now let's take care of the basics.
It's good to get to know your neighbours.
The Genii Stargate is near their village.
I suggest we walk.
The Puddle Jumper may alarm them.
As I said, they are very simple.
Sounds like a mission.
(Sheppard) All right.
Where to, Teyla? We should allow them to come to us.
- If you know where their village is - They trust me.
- But that trust was hard-earned.
- OK.
- What is it you said they grow here? - Many things.
They're best known for a bean known as tava.
- What, java? - Tava.
How will they know we're here? They already do.
- They look friendly enough.
- The eldest is called Tyrus.
We've traded.
- Teyla Emmagan.
- Tyrus.
- It has been many days.
- Too many.
Teyla.
This is Major Sheppard, Dr McKay and Lieutenant Ford.
- My daughter Sora.
- You must be very proud.
- She's betrothed.
- I wasn't hitting on your daughter.
I just They have come to trade for a share of your crops.
- Yet you bring weapons.
- Only to defend ourselves.
- Do you dress of your own accord? - Of course.
Why? He wants to know if you work with us or for us.
Ah.
These are my friends, Tyrus.
I would not have brought them if I did not think them worthy to be yours.
We'll take you to see Cowen.
Follow me.
Maybe we should offer a sense of humour in trade.
Sure.
They can have yours.
(laughs) Oh, please, my side.
You slay me.
(Sheppard) I'm thinking about it.
I'm bringing them in.
All operations to silent mode.
- These medicines are potent? - They can stop bacterial infections.
It would help us through a harsh winter.
- Hm.
We will need more than you offer.
- More? You don't understand how cool this medicine is.
- Leave if you wish.
- Leave? I thought you said they were fair traders.
We have always been able to achieve a reasonable bargain.
You ask for much of our harvest.
Sufficient new crops must be planted to replenish our stores, or it is the Genii who will starve.
That will require new land to be cleared.
Clearing land is slow, hard work.
It will lose us growing time between now and the next harvest.
OK.
What if clearing land was fast and easy? (laughs) You know a simple way of uprooting the stump of a 300-year-old tree? As a matter of fact, I do.
(man) Come on over.
They're about to start.
Cover your ears! - I don't understand.
- It can be loud.
Come on.
You're gonna wish you did.
Lieutenant.
Fire in the hole.
It's called C4.
If you can supply us with a sufficient quantity of C4, we will trade the crop you require.
- This instead of the medicine? - As well as the medicine.
Really? That wasn't impressive enough? It is you who are in need.
Well, I'll have to discuss this with my people.
I'm sure we can come to terms.
Teyla, thank you for bringing new trading partners.
Please stay as our guests.
There will be a harvest ceremony later.
Wonderful.
- Ford? - Sir? We're talking harvest ceremony.
Sounds like fun, sir.
I'll be back soon.
I should go back with the major.
Explosives? This is a scientific expedition, Major.
- I know.
- But you want us to become arms dealers.
- Ever tried to clear a stump by hand? - Yes.
It's a hobby.
They are taking a chance by giving us so much of their crop this year.
Plus the medicines I already agreed to? I think in the future I should do the negotiating.
- I did say I had to ask you first.
- To terms you already agreed to.
- Yes.
- You see why I have a problem with this? Do we need food or not? We are on the verge of rationing.
Much as I'd like to devote every mission to tava beans I get your point.
Tell them we agree.
We give thanks for a plentiful harvest.
(all) We give thanks.
May next season be as fruitful.
And to our new friends.
New friends.
Moonshine? I thought you were man enough.
- You have no idea which way.
- I'm getting my bearings.
Translation: I'm lost.
They were very clear which route to take.
- I prefer straight lines.
- Everything's a short cut in your world.
- OK.
Here it is again.
- What? I'm picking up a strange reading from over there.
- Define strange.
- You don't know what strange means? - Of course.
- Weird, freakish, odd I'm trying to see if it's worth getting off the route.
Radioactive readings in an Amish world.
Your call.
- We're lost anyway.
- I am not lost.
All right.
Let's check it out.
- That is definitely - Strange.
- Not that Amish, really.
- Not so much.
Maybe they don't even know it's here.
This hatch has been oiled recently.
- We have to check it out.
- Really? Of course we do.
- All right.
- Great.
The construction's architecturally advanced.
I don't think they made this.
We need to tell Ford where we are.
Lieutenant, come in.
- Ford? - The place is built like a bunker.
It must be shielded for RF.
The reading's stronger this way.
- What kind of readings? - Palm readings.
- McKay.
- It's neutron radiation.
It's definitely a powerful energy source.
OK.
Let's check it out.
I really think we should get out of here.
Now, this is strange.
(chatter and laughter) Excuse me.
I must go and tend to a dispute.
- Is everything all right, Cowen? - I will return shortly.
Maybe they exist as two separate cultures.
Maybe.
Who cares? How long you boys planning on keeping us here? If people could just learn to keep their secret underground hatches locked So much for two separate cultures.
What am I going to do? - I'm getting a weird vibe all of a sudden.
- I agree.
I've never seen the Genii behave this way.
Listen, we're just gonna step outside and see if Major Sheppard and Dr McKay are back.
- No one must leave.
- There's a Wraith ship in the area.
Wraith? Are you serious? - We must warn our friends.
- You'll draw them to us.
Everyone must stay indoors.
Can we be careful with that? It's fragile and if it We have a problem.
Then we have something in common.
Normally you would be shot for discovering our secret.
And our people would question our disappearance.
We would say the Wraith took you.
With no evidence to the contrary, they would believe us.
You were saying.
You have technology, knowledge new to us.
- This C4 of yours - It's not for blowing up stumps.
We have a more sophisticated application for it.
What you people do with your C4 is none of our business.
We just need food.
As far as your secret down here goes, well We say, "What giant underground bunker?" I want more than that.
Well, maybe we can give you more.
You have weapons more powerful than C4? Are you kidding? Weapons R Us.
We We might.
What if I wanted more than weapons? Did I mention that I know almost everything about almost everything? For Teyla Emmagan to have joined you, you must have something much more.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say we're looking for allies against the Wraith.
How about you guys? - We wanna go outside.
- We can't let you.
- It's not safe.
- We can take care of ourselves.
- (Cowen) Tyrus, please respond.
- Receiving.
- Bring them.
- Understood.
Relinquish your weapons.
You will not be harmed.
You guys are full of surprises.
You missed a hell of a harvest ceremony.
I can imagine.
- Oh, Teyla.
- I'm as surprised as you by all of this.
I'm pretty surprised.
Teyla knows us only as the simple farmers we show outsiders.
The secrecy of who and what we are is our only defence against the Wraith.
One day all that will change.
You think you can do that with an atomic bomb? Now it's you who surprise me.
Radioactive readings, a fascination with C4 - You're just mentioning this now? - It just came to me.
I assume you hope our C4 will solve your supercriticality problem.
- Will it? - It might.
Depends on your designs.
- You know how to make an A-bomb? - Most of my school chess team could.
The hard part is having sufficient fissional materials of appropriate grade.
- And we do.
- You do? The Genii were once a great confederation of planets.
Millennia ago the Wraith had driven us to the brink of total annihilation.
Our forefathers sought the protection of bunkers like these, originally created for wars long forgotten.
And it was here that a small number of our people managed to survive undetected.
Over the course of many, many years, generation after generation, we have made technological developments here in secret.
So the whole farmer thing is just a front? - So the Wraith do not suspect? - More than that.
We do have many mouths to feed below.
I want to show you something.
Come.
That thing you so carelessly threw on the table.
Can I take that along? Come.
Stay as you are.
Down below, our military trains as our scientists create weapons for them.
With our atomic weapon we believe we can defeat the Wraith once and for all.
You realise long-term exposure to radiation is dangerous? Our scientists tell me otherwise.
- Well, they're wrong.
- Are we in danger now? It would take weeks at these levels, but I assume the Genii spend weeks here.
Many of our people have spent their entire lives here.
Their entire short lives.
We'll be fine, as long as you weren't planning on having children.
You're on the right track.
We're about 60 years ahead of you.
That is if you survive.
This shielding is woefully inadequate.
Now, uranium.
How much do you have? - Much more.
- It's nowhere near weapons grade.
We have had problems in our purifying efforts.
The molecular structure of the unwanted material is like that of the desired material.
Diffusion.
You must separate the 235 from the 238.
If you remove the barrier between two substances they split at different rates.
- You could do this? - Of course.
I think the real question is, right now, are we allies or are we still prisoners? We give thanks to our new friends.
(all) We give thanks.
Please eat.
- You think there's lemon in this? - I'm sure it's delicious.
- Have you seen anaphylactic shock? - Eat.
I hope that by sharing in this meal we can make up for past offences.
I'm sure we'll get along just fine.
What method did your people use to initiate fission reaction in your prototype devices? There's two different approaches.
Implosion and a gun-type bomb.
- Both create a supercritical mass.
- Obviously.
Either way you go you need an amount of refined 235, roughly equivalent to the size of my fist.
Or his fist, actually.
Well, our dreams may soon be a reality.
With your help, before the next culling, we plan to vaporise the Wraith as they sleep.
What exactly is your plan? We intend to take advantage of their overconfidence.
- That is their weakness.
- Overconfidence.
They hibernate between cullings aboard their great ships.
Sometimes for centuries at a time.
Wraith watch over the sleepers, but they're small in number.
Small enough to be overpowered.
- We will sneak aboard with weapons.
- It may not be possible.
Teyla, we should listen to their whole plan before poking holes in it.
If we are to work together, they need to trust us and we need to trust them.
Please explain.
I and several of my people were captured by the Wraith.
It was a rescue mission to save us.
I am only alive today thanks to them.
- As a result of that rescue - You awakened the others.
They found out there were more people where we came from.
- Father, they will all awaken.
- We took one of them prisoner.
- The next culling should be decades off.
- They said they'd take their time.
We had hoped to test our first atomic weapon five years from now.
Do we have that much time? Do we? No.
- Cowen.
- They may detect the radiation.
We must shut down the reactors, survive the culling, plan for the next.
You're forgetting something.
We're on the same side.
Ha! Once we have extracted all the information we can from you, you will be left on the surface.
You'll be the first the Wraith feed upon.
- I've won against Wraith ships.
- I've seen your weapons.
I'm talking about a ship.
One that flies through space.
With weapons beyond anything you've ever seen.
You wanna turn down that kind of help? - I think you're trying to save yourself.
- You're damn right I am.
I say we work together, then maybe help save each other.
We both want the same thing.
We were confident the Wraith would not appear for years.
They will detect us like you did.
- If we work together - You've done enough! We haven't started.
I can get your programme back on track.
- How? - I built an atomic bomb in sixth grade.
- You could do that in Canada? - Not a working model.
I was questioned by the CIA who thought I was part of a secret organisation (door bangs) Major Sheppard has convinced me that we may yet prevail.
He has? If we work together.
Many generations ago, during a culling, the Genii shot down a Wraith dart.
Although many lives were lost that day, the ability to resist, even in some small way, gave the Genii the seeds of hope.
This data storage device was recovered from that Wraith dart.
- Like flash memory in a jump drive.
- It has information about the hive ship.
Tyrus and his daughter successfully accessed that information.
- How? - Through this interface.
Really? We believe this is where a Wraith ship still sleeps.
The Wraith tend to self-destruct.
It's rare to get something like this.
- Can you access other data? - With this interface device, we believe we can access the Wraith ship's data core.
This is what your plan is based on? How does access to their computer help? With this interface device we can learn all the Wraith ships' locations.
So you know where to deliver your new bombs.
- Makes sense.
- Assuming this ship is still there.
If the Wraith are in no hurry to rally their forces, it will be.
This ship is nowhere near the Stargate.
Approaching it undetected by foot is impossible.
That is where your ship comes in, Major Sheppard.
Always wondered where my ship would come in.
- No.
How's that for an answer? - It's pithy.
I'll give you that.
- I'm sure you already agreed to this.
- We'll get something out of it.
- We do need allies.
- But they were ready to string you up.
- How can you trust them? - Hey, I don't trust 'em.
They insisted McKay and Teyla stay there, not just to help with the bomb.
We have something they need and vice versa.
- I thought that's what negotiating's about.
- It is.
But I stop short of offering nuclear weapons.
- They were building them anyway.
- Why didn't you just say so? You realise I originally sent you out for food? - I think we can still get that.
- I don't see why not.
We kind of moved past it with the atomic bomb thing.
Bottom line.
Can you pull this off? We'll have to watch our backs.
But I wouldn't put my team at risk if I didn't think so.
OK, go.
And then maybe we'll talk about making nuclear bombs.
The encasement directs the explosive forces inward and the implosion creates extreme compression.
The subcritical mass becomes supercritical.
- Ingenious.
- I know.
Can you believe I didn't win the science fair? The adaptation of equipment and resources will be the challenge.
You're destined to become a hero among our people, Dr McKay.
Right.
As long as Major Sheppard returns with the C4.
I'm a dead man.
We have surprised each other.
- The Genii are not the people I thought.
- And look at you.
I'd never have thought you'd leave your people.
No, I do this for them.
John Sheppard and his people have brought new hope to our stars, Sora.
They have the spirit of explorers and hearts of warriors.
They have accepted me.
But look at you.
How many harvest ceremonies did I make you endure? Never again, I promise you.
You respected us for who we were.
That gave us reason to trust you.
I'm saddened you could not trust me enough to share in your secret.
- That is our way.
- Our deception is a matter of survival.
It is a secret we are born into and take to our graves.
- Still - Have we not traded fairly with you? We have not dealt with others so graciously.
Perhaps this new alliance will open your eyes.
That we can only stand against the Wraith if we do so together.
We'll have to see if your friends live up to their promises.
Well? Do you see? Let's get in and out as fast as possible.
- I've studied these plans all my life.
- Good.
We'll follow your lead.
We'll cover you during the breach and download.
- Exit plan? - As we came in.
Stay with the jumper.
- Yes, sir.
- I'm going with you.
We could end up in a fire-fight.
Sora is a skilled fighter and expert marksman, Lieutenant Ford.
Still, she must stay here to carry on if we don't come back.
We need you to deliver the C4 you promised us before we proceed.
We need to get the proper intel first.
No use in building a bunch of nukes if we can't put them to use.
- Those are your terms? - I'm sure you understand.
I do.
It seems we have no choice but to trust each other.
How many of these ships do you have? Just the one.
There.
- Have they awoken? - I don't see any activity.
Same as last time.
All right, here we go.
Right through the front door.
- Hey, hold the fort.
- Yes, sir.
Good luck.
(McKay) Oh, God.
These people were cocooned for a later feeding.
Some of them may still be alive.
- We don't have time for this.
- They could be your people.
Teyla, take care of this.
We'll meet you back at the ship.
McKay, you're with me.
I'll stay with her.
Go.
We'll meet you back at the ship.
This is it.
But the ship's plans I memorised did not show how to operate this door.
Blowing this door will make too much noise.
So find another way.
OK.
(beeping) (rapid beeping) Can I get some light here? Beautiful.
(screaming) Please! - Help me! - We're gonna get you out.
- Help me! - What are you doing? - We can save none of them.
- What? Please help! - You'd let him die? - The Wraith must not know we were here.
I said no! I beg you! - McKay, we don't have - I don't even know if this is gonna work.
Bingo.
All right.
I'll cover your six.
Go.
- If you free him, they will know.
- You are not the man I thought.
The Genii will be the first to die if they awaken.
- Help me! - I said leave him.
- No! - Be silent! (screams) (Teyla) Major, we've been discovered.
We gotta get outta here.
We've got it.
Wraith guards.
Hurry, more are coming.
- Where's Tyrus? - He was struck by a Wraith weapon.
- He may have been stunned.
- The Wraith will be upon him.
(artillery fire) - Go.
Go! - All right.
Hang on.
(engines powering up) Where is my father? He did not survive.
How? What happened? I think we should find out.
Take aim! Cowen, I thought we were learning how to get along.
- She killed Tyrus.
- No.
By leaving him to die you may as well have killed him yourself.
- He shot the man we tried to save.
- It was a mistake to save anyone.
It jeopardised the mission.
We will keep this intelligence information.
You're the one making a mistake.
And your ship.
And whatever quantities of C4 you possess.
That is all you ever intended.
To use us.
And for your efforts I will spare your lives.
Generous of you.
I guess the tava beans are off the table.
- Your weapons.
- No.
I don't think so.
We have the advantage, Major.
Yeah.
This is what your father died for? In the name of people who would lie and steal from those they call friends? I lied too.
Jumpers Two and Three, execute.
You didn't really think we had one ship, did you? Tell your people to get back and nobody gets hurt.
Jumper Two, prepare to fire on my mark.
Wait! Do you promise to leave? Well, that's the plan.
I guess we'll have to go somewhere else to find our tava beans.
But I think it's only fair we end up with something.
You do not want to make an enemy of the Genii.
You know what? Same here.
Major, I thought you might like to see this.
A lot of the information from the device was encrypted, so we're still working on it.
It's not easy.
We've discovered 21 Wraith hive ships in our quadrant of the Pegasus galaxy.
- 21? - There are indications of more elsewhere.
- How many more? - There's no way of knowing for sure.
Perhaps 60 or more.
- A lot of ships.
- Some appear to be on the move.
- Toward us? - We're still working on that.
Even if we helped the Genii build nuclear warheads We only could have nuked a handful of them simultaneously.
There's too many Wraith ships for a coordinated attack.
The Genii plan never would have worked, with or without our help.
- I'll see what else I can find.
- Thank you, Peter.
Sergeant Bates brokered a small trade agreement for food while you were gone.
- Oh, he did, did he? - Yes, he did, but it's not a competition.
- So who are these people? - Traders.
They call themselves Manarians.
I'm sorry you weren't able to find the allies you were looking for, John.
We gathered some valuable intel.
Huh.
Are you trying to convince me this is good news? I much prefer to know what we're up against than not.
I just hope they don't all come at once.