Stargate: Atlantis s04e20 Episode Script

So how did it go, sir? The Genii contact didn't show up.
I can't say I'm surprised.
What are you saying, Major, the Genii can't be trusted? Well, they did try and kill you and Dr.
McKay, along with that little girl.
True, true.
And normally, that's the kind of thing I'd take personally, but Ladon claims he didn't order the hit.
He's trying to get on our good side.
Do you really think they know anything about where Michael took Teyla? Well, they get solid intel, and we're following up every lead, no matter how thin.
- Okay, so what do you want to do? - Well, I'm going to go ahead.
You stay behind for a few hours, tell me if he shows up.
Will do.
We're going to find her, Major.
Yes, sir.
Somebody turn up the heat? Hello? If this is a surprise party, it's not my birthday! This is Sheppard.
Anyone read? I repeat, this is Sheppard.
Anyone on this channel? All right, this is either the most elaborate practical joke of all time, or I'm in serious trouble here.
This is Sheppard.
Anyone on this frequency? - Sheppard, is that really you? - McKay? I can't believe it! It actually worked! What are you talking about? What the hell is going on here? I imagine you're a little confused right now.
God, for you, like, what, five minutes has passed? Rodney! Look, I need you to describe exactly what you're seeing.
- Where are you? - I'm in the control room.
It's deserted.
- Is there any power? - No, everything's dead.
And, oh, yeah, did I tell you the ocean's gone? Sorry, what? The big blue thing out the window! It's gone.
It's a desert.
And it's about 120 degrees in here.
Whoa! Jeez, the planet must've undergone some serious climate changes! If you don't start giving me some answers pretty soon here Okay, look, I understand this is hard for you.
Just do me a favor and go to the Hologram Room.
- Why? - Just do it.
Please.
- All right, I'm here.
- Well? Activate the hologram projector.
There's no power.
It's connected to an independent power source.
Don't worry, it will work.
Hey, there.
- Rodney? - God, it's good to see you again.
- You're a hologram? - No.
Of course! I'm tapped into the city's internal sensors, so I've got eyes and ears, so to speak.
You look good.
You look different.
That's 'cause you remember me the way I was.
- What, you mean earlier today? - It's funny, you know? I spent the last 25 years of my life trying to figure out how to make this work, and I never once thought what I was going to say to you when you got here.
You can start by telling me what the hell's going on here.
Right, right.
Okay Remember that mission report? SG-1 stepped through the gate, their wormhole accidentally intersected with a solar flare, and they were sent back to 1969? Well, vaguely.
Well, something similar has just happened to you.
I was sent back in time? No, in fact, you were sent forward, into the future.
How far into the future? Ha! Interesting question.
And one that was not easy to figure out.
I had to determine the exact characteristics - of the solar flare in question - Rodney! - This is a practical joke.
- I'm afraid not.
Freak accident.
Sorry.
You're telling me I just traveled in 10 seconds? I know, it is kind of cool when you think about it, isn't it? Surfing a 30-foot wave in Waimea is cool.
Dating a supermodel is cool.
- This is not cool! - All right, calm down.
If I'm in the future, that means you're Dead.
Dead and buried and turned to dust a long, long time ago.
Along with everyone you ever knew.
There's no way of knowing what the state of human civilization is, whether it even still exists.
I mean, we've obviously abandoned this city.
Yeah, obviously.
There's not enough power for you to gate back to Earth, and without a MALP, going anywhere else would be far too risky.
It is entirely possible that you are the last human being alive.
That you are the last human being alive.
You're not doing a very good job of cheering me up here.
Oh, consider yourself lucky, young man.
While I was figuring out this plan, I had no way of knowing whether the city would even survive this long.
What plan? I took advantage of some progress in hologram technology to create this simulation.
I'm able to move anywhere inside the city.
I'm fully interactive, and I'm designed to mimic the exact response and appearance of the great Dr.
Rodney McKay.
Couldn't use anyone else, huh? Funny.
No.
I'm linked to the city's main systems, but I have an independent core drive, which is sealed in the foundation of one of the outer buildings, along with a Mark-12 naquadah generator and a couple of other, well, key components.
It's kind of like a Well, what would you say? Like a time capsule, so to speak.
It's really nice to have company, but if what you're saying is true, what good does it do me? Oh, trust me, I wouldn't go to all this trouble just so we could have a chat.
No.
No, I'm I'm here to bring you back.
Come on.
- Where are we going? - Stasis chamber.
- Why? - To buy some time.
Well, that really explains everything.
Theoretically, we can send you back exactly the way you got here, using the gate, the right address, and a solar flare.
Only problem is, we're waiting for something very specific, a prominence with exactly the right shape, size, characteristics, and relative position in space, so that it will interact with the wormhole in exactly the right manner and send you back exactly the right amount of time.
- And that doesn't happen every day.
- Exactly.
- How long are we talking about? - Oh, 700, 800 years.
1,000 tops.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
That's your plan? I'm 48,000 years into the future, and you want to put me on ice for another thousand? Tops.
Well, we need to be precise.
If I don't get you back within two months of the moment you left, then it'll be too late.
Too late? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Things didn't exactly go well for us after your disappearance.
Once I figured out what happened to you, I realized there was nothing we could do.
The Air Force pronounced you KIA, gave you a very nice military funeral back on Earth.
Obviously, the casket was empty, but, you know, it's the thought that counts.
From there Well, from there, things went from bad to worse.
We kept searching for Teyla, but we just didn't have the resources to cover enough ground.
It took us two months before we finally found her, in one of Michael's hideouts.
By then it was too late.
She'd had the baby.
I guess after that, he didn't have any use for her anymore.
So he killed her.
- McKAY: It's not your fault.
- I should have been there.
And you will be.
And knowing the address where we eventually found Teyla, you will be able to get there much quicker.
You'll save Teyla, save the baby, change the fate of the galaxy.
What do you mean? Well, it was the turning point.
It was the key to everything.
Once Michael had that baby, he was able to complete his research and perfect the hybrids.
After that, well, he really kicked things into gear.
He stepped up his campaign of exposing human populations to the Hoffan drug.
Jennifer did her best to find a way to combat the effects and was trying to lower the mortality rate, but ultimately, it was a losing battle.
With their food supplies tainted, the infighting between the Wraith factions got worse.
Michael waited until they were at each other's throats, and then he made his move.
- Status.
- Both hives are heavily damaged.
They've lost hyperdrive and they're venting atmosphere.
Well, then, let's finish it.
He took advantage of their weakened state and their internal divisions, and in less than a year, he had the Wraith on their knees.
Literally.
You know, the irony is, I never asked for any of this.
I was taken prisoner by the humans.
Tortured, experimented on.
And when I finally escaped and returned to my Wraith brothers, instead of being welcomed back, I was met with scorn.
You will pay for this.
You still have your pride.
Good for you.
With the Wraith in disarray, Michael returned to the human populations he'd infected with the Hoffan drug.
He selected the strongest and the healthiest of the survivors and converted them to hybrids.
The rest he exterminated.
You think by saving Teyla we can change all this? I know it.
All I have to do is get you safely to a stasis chamber, I will reprogram the sensors Oh.
That could be a problem.
No, no, that's not a problem.
We'll just find another way around.
Rodney? There is no other way around.
McKAY: The sand has penetrated the lower levels.
you still got a knack for stating the obvious.
- All right, what do we do? - I don't know.
What do you mean, you don't know? Well, I wasn't programmed for this variable.
You said you had 25 years to work on this plan! Well, McKay did, and he brilliantly anticipated a lot of potential problems.
It's just that Well, this wasn't one of them.
All right.
Go up two levels, turn right, there's an outer door.
It's only a quarter of a mile across the plaza.
- You can't do that.
- Why not? - You can't do that.
- Why not? Not only is it extremely hot out there, but for the last half an hour, the barometric pressure has been dropping and the wind speeds have increased significantly.
- Storm's coming.
- A sandstorm.
- You ever been in one of those? - As a matter of fact, I have.
Oh.
- Oh, then you know what that means.
- It's not like we have a lot of options here.
Sounds pretty nasty out there.
The winds are gusting over 50 miles an hour and increasing.
The visibility's basically zero.
You can't go out there.
- You're just going to have to wait it out.
- For how long? Well, I don't know.
Maybe a couple of hours.
Are you hungry? Do you have any food? - No.
- Oh.
Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter anyways.
We'll just wait for the storm to blow over and have you out of here in no time at all.
Well, you'll actually be here for 700 years, but you know what I mean.
What about everyone else? I mean, you told me about Teyla, but what about the rest of them? There's no way we would've rolled over and let Michael take over the whole galaxy.
No.
Well, what happened? The IOA and the military were reluctant to commit a lot of resources to protecting the human populations of another galaxy.
But Sam? Sam wouldn't take no for an answer.
Finally, they decided to give her a new ship, the Phoenix.
It was barely off the assembly line.
Half the Asgard systems weren't finished, the other half weren't working.
We spent the better part of a month getting her ready for combat.
We worked day and night, side by side.
Zelenka might have been there as well, I don't really remember.
I do remember never feeling so drained in my entire life.
Eventually, though, we managed to get her in working order.
All right, everything checks out.
Weapons, shields, long-range sensors, all in the green.
- She's good to go.
- Great work, Rodney.
Now I want you, Radek, and your team to head back to Atlantis and take a couple of days off.
When you're good and rested, get to work on the city's shields.
Do anything you can to maximize efficiency.
You're going to need them.
- Well, what about you? - I'm going to take her out.
For the time being, Major Lorne is in command of Atlantis.
You need to take some time.
You're as exhausted as we are.
Intel suggests that Michael's about to move against several human worlds.
- We have to get out there now.
- So let someone else go! All right.
- Hey! - Mmm? Uh, good luck? Thanks, Rodney.
For everything.
McKAY: They started a series of hit-and-run ops, real guerrilla style.
One of the hives has been neutralized.
- What about the other one? - Minimal damage.
- They're powering weapons.
- Damn it.
- Should we swing around for another pass? - Forget it.
Get us out of here.
For a while, it really worked.
They were able to inflict considerable damage, despite terrible odds.
But eventually their luck ran out.
Michael deliberately leaked some intel that he was about to attack a heavily populated human world.
Sam thought she could get there first.
But she was wrong.
- We've got a hive ship, six o'clock.
- It's an ambush.
- Here comes another one, dead ahead.
- Evasive maneuvers! - We're boxed in.
- Return fire! We've lost Asgard weapons! Switch to missiles! Fire all batteries! Help him.
Go.
- We've got an overload.
It's the hyperdrive! - Reroute the power! No response.
System is going critical.
I'm beaming you to the planet.
Head to the gate as soon as you can.
- What about you? - I'll be right behind you.
McKAY: After she got the crew off, she must have lost the transport system.
With her engines about to go critical, I guess she figured she didn't have anything to lose.
With her last breath, she took out three of Michael's hive ships, and we buried another empty casket.
Where the hell have you been? I was inputting our new solar flare requirements into the long-range sensors, and I found out what happened to the ocean.
Well, you going to tell me or are you going to keep it a secret? The sun in this system is dying! It's running out of fuel.
- Wouldn't that make it colder? - No.
As it consumes the heavier elements, it begins to expand.
It's basically turning into a red giant.
- Okay, so mystery solved.
Let's move on.
- No, no.
You don't get it.
This isn't some kind of cyclical climate change, this is a one-way ticket.
The planet is going to get hotter and hotter.
Eventually, the atmosphere is going to burn off.
- All right, how long before that happens? - It is impossible to say, but my best estimate is under 500 years.
- You said I'd be in stasis for at least 700! - Right.
So the moment you step out of the stasis chamber, you'll be killed.
Come on, Rodney, you got to think of something! - I am trying! It's like I said - You didn't anticipate the variable.
I get it.
All right, can the Mark-12 power the shields? Theoretically, but there would never be enough power left over to maintain my systems, the long-range sensors, the stasis chamber - The city has solar power generators, right? - Yes, which would come in very handy if we were trying to power a couple of electric golf carts.
See, you're still thinking like the old McKay.
I can't really help that! Look, what are you saying? The sun's going red giant, right? Increased solar energy.
The worse it gets, the more power we'll have.
Oh, my God, that could work.
We use the shields to protect the atmosphere.
Exactly.
We wouldn't be able to do it indefinitely, but it would buy us 100 years or so.
It's going to have to do for now.
Open up the door.
What about the storm? It's been going on for seven hours.
For all we know, it could go on for days.
- It'll be dark soon.
- All the more reason to get going.
All I got to do is walk in a straight line.
- That might not be as easy as you think! - I never said I thought it would be easy.
Look, I haven't eaten.
I was hungry on my way back to Atlantis.
- The longer we wait, the weaker I get.
- All right.
Look, I can't go outside, but I can stay in contact with you over the radio.
Like you said! Keep walking in a straight line! You'll hit the building on the other side! Then feel your way to the door! I'll be waiting for you there! Sheppard.
Sheppard, can you hear me? Yeah, I hear you! - How you doing? - Never better! Rodney! - Yeah, I'm still here.
- Tell me about Ronon! - What, now? - Yes, now! Talk to me, Rodney! Right.
Well, after what happened to you, and then Teyla, I guess he didn't feel comfortable on the base anymore.
He persuaded Sam to let him go off-world and recruit a strike force.
By this time, the galaxy was in a panic.
Word was spreading that Michael's agenda was to wipe out Wraith and human alike.
Ronon didn't have much trouble finding volunteers.
One! Two! - Three! - They were just simple villagers with no military experience, - but he trained them in all forms of combat.
- Four! He even convinced Sam to let them have some of our equipment.
Radios, explosives, P90s.
It wasn't long before he had himself a pretty effective combat force.
They ran a few successful ops against some of Michael's ground facilities, and then one day, they got a key piece of intel.
Michael had taken over a Wraith lab and was using it to create more of his hybrids.
They decided to take it out.
That's when they ran into someone unexpected.
- What the hell are you doing here? - I suspect the same as you.
Michael is using this facility to create more of his soldiers.
- I intend to destroy it.
- By yourself? There is something to be said for stealth over brute force.
Ronon, come in.
Go ahead.
One of the guards must have got a signal off, because a cruiser just landed.
We're about to be overrun.
- As I was saying - We have to abort.
Give me the C-4.
Take the men back, meet up with second squad, and then head for the gate.
Signal me when you get there.
Go! You intend to complete your mission? - You're damn right.
- As do I.
I was going to write an elaborate program designed to slowly create a fatal error in the primary capacitor, but I doubt there will be time for that now.
I was just going to blow it up.
Naturally.
Force of habit.
Indeed.
This is it.
If we detonate it here, the secondary explosions will certainly take out the entire facility.
All right.
You know another way out of here? Follow me.
Fall back! In here! I suggest you detonate now while we still have a chance.
- We wait for my people to clear, period.
- Very well.
- We can't hold them off forever.
- Just keep firing.
Ronon, we've reached the gate.
All right, I want you to head back now, no questions asked.
Is that understood? Understood.
Are we done? Yeah.
I'm sorry, I I wish some of these stories had happier endings.
Sheppard? Sheppard! Are you still with me? Sheppard! Your bio-signature's barely registering! Sheppard! Oh, God! McKAY: There you go.
You can do it.
Rodney? I'm still here.
Look, I'd help you up, but I'm - How long was I out? - All night.
Look, you don't look so good.
Maybe we should get you to the stasis chamber as soon as possible.
Agreed.
I've already prepped the solar panels.
You're good to go.
Here.
Take the first crystal.
I've loaded all the intel we got on Michael after your disappearance, including the address where we found Teyla.
You know, you never told me what happened to you.
- I mean, in the past.
- Oh, you don't want to hear about that.
Well, why not? Obviously, you survived.
- Only because I quit.
- Quit what? Atlantis, Stargate Command, the whole thing.
- Well, that doesn't sound like you.
- Yeah.
Well, we were under new management.
I was down in the infirmary, having suffered a Well, a pretty serious injury.
- It's a splinter.
- Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.
All right.
It's just You've kind of come at a bad time.
It's a little busy in here right now.
Yeah, I can see that.
Dr.
Keller, Dr.
McKay.
Mr.
Woolsey.
I understand you've managed to get yourself appointed our new commander.
That's right.
I only wish it were under better circumstances.
May I ask what's going on here? We're organizing some medical supplies for one of our off-world refugee camps.
I see.
Well, I'm going to have to ask you to stop.
- I'm sorry? - The IOA is initiating a new policy.
Immediate recall of all base personnel.
From now on, we'll be focusing entirely on the defense of this city.
Furthermore, Doctor, your department is going to be scaled back.
Without the Gate Bridge, and with the need to keep at least one ship in orbit at all times for defensive purposes, resupply is going to be difficult.
We need to prioritize.
I don't understand this.
I'm already understaffed as it is.
Only because you've overextended yourself with all these humanitarian efforts and your continued attempts to find an antidote for the Hoffan drug.
Once you have refocused your attention back to the medical needs of this base and its personnel, I don't think you'll have a problem.
Wait a second! People are dying out there! I know.
And believe me, if I thought there was anything I could do about it, - I would.
- What about Michael? Michael knows the defensive capabilities of this base and our ships.
The IOA thinks it's highly unlikely he will launch an unprovoked attack.
So that's it, then? We're supposed to just stand back and let him take over the rest of the galaxy? How many more of our own people have to die, Doctor? Colonel Sheppard, Colonel Carter, Ronon, Teyla, they were your friends.
Sheppard is not dead.
Right.
He's just been transported I guess that makes him one of the lucky ones.
McKAY: The idea of standing by and doing nothing while the rest of the galaxy was suffering was Well, it was too much for Jennifer to take.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right.
If you've come here to try and convince me to stay, Rodney, you're wasting your time.
I already made up my mind.
No.
I've come here to tell you I'm leaving, too.
We had three weeks on the Daedalus with nothing else to think about but everything that had happened.
We went over it a thousand times, trying to imagine what we might have done differently.
It was awful.
Well, at least we had each other.
By the time we got back to Earth, well, We weren't just colleagues anymore.
Wait a minute.
You and Keller? - Why do you find that so surprising? - I'm just saying.
If we start monkeying around with this timeline here, there's no guarantee it's going to turn out the same for you two.
- That's what I'm counting on.
- Why is that? You survived, you got the girl.
Doesn't sound so bad.
No.
No, at first, it was great.
I got a high-paying job with an aerospace engineering firm, Jennifer started her own practice Things were just starting to come together.
We should've known we wouldn't get off so easy.
I'm sorry to say, but all her internal organs are failing.
Of course, no regular doctor could diagnose what was wrong with her.
We wound up back at Stargate Command, less than a year after we'd left.
Complications due to repeated exposure to the Hoffan drug.
- I'm so sorry.
- No cure.
I thought I was going to lose my mind.
I didn't know what to do.
After everything we'd been through, to have this happen? It was too much.
And that's when I had my idea.
- Hi.
- Hey.
- Where have you been? - I've been working.
- Working? On what? - The solution, to everything.
Well, you, this, all of this.
I mean, Atlantis, Pegasus, Michael, everything.
- What are you talking about? - I'm going to change the timeline.
I'm going to make it so none of this ever happened.
I mean, you won't get sick, Teyla won't die, Michael won't complete his research, none of it.
Oh, Rodney.
I've already worked out the basic plan.
The details will be a bit more complicated.
I'll probably have to create a whole new form of math just to do the calculations, but I know I can do it.
What's done is done.
You can't change the past.
You can! I can! And I'm going to, even if it takes the rest of my life.
You think that's what I want? Well, why not? The year I spent in Atlantis, I I saw more things than people even dream about in their lifetime.
- I don't have any regrets.
- Well, I do.
I got a whole boatload of them, and I want to do something about it.
No.
Just promise me that you're not going to waste the rest of your life chasing after something that's already gone.
But I couldn't let it go.
She died three days later.
I quit the research firm, took a job teaching physics at a local community college.
Not much money, but it gave me the free time I needed.
I'll admit it wasn't much of a life.
Jeannie came by every once in a while to check up on me.
When she realized she wasn't going to be able to convince me to stop, she decided to pitch in and help me with the calculations.
It's obviously nothing.
I did that yesterday.
Look - Oh, you did not.
- Look, this is what I'm thinking But eventually, even she got fed up.
I never wavered.
Years went by.
Twenty-five years, to be exact.
And suddenly, I had it.
There was only one problem.
I needed to get back to Atlantis.
I didn't have a lot of friends at Stargate Command.
But I only needed one.
- Dr.
McKay.
Good to see you.
- General Lorne.
Come on in, have a seat.
I - I read your proposal.
- You didn't tell anyone else, did you? I'm not quite as stupid as you might think, Doc.
But I'm sorry, there's just no way I'd ever be able to get this authorized.
Well, then don't.
You don't have to tell them what it is.
I mean, tell them it's a research project.
Tell them whatever the hell you want.
Rodney, you're talking about altering the timeline here.
Changing history.
Changing everything.
Do you really think that either of us has the right to make that call? Let's cut to the chase.
You saw what happened in Pegasus, you know what's happening here.
You really think this is the way it's supposed to be? Maybe he felt sorry for me, maybe he figured it wasn't going to work anyway, but he let me through.
The rest you know.
Well, I guess I've had a tough day, but you've had a tough 25 years.
Okay, we're ready.
Now, if this works, I'll be waiting right here when you come out.
We don't have much time to get you through the gate, but I think we can manage it.
And if it doesn't work? Well, you won't feel a thing.
Basically, you just won't wake up.
Right.
Mmm-hmm.
In the past 25 years, you happen to notice who won the Super Bowl? Oh.
Afraid not.
Stanley Cup? No? World Series? - I was never really much of a sports fan.
- Right.
Had to ask.
Good luck, John.
Unscheduled off-world activation! What have you got? Receiving IDC.
- It's Colonel Sheppard! - Lower the shield.
Security! Whoa! Whoa! - John! - Colonel! It worked.
- It worked.
Rodney, you're a genius.
- Okay.
- John, what happened? - How much time has gone by? You've been missing for 12 days.
Twelve days.
Twelve days.
Okay.
She wouldn't have had her baby yet.
Look, I know this sounds kind of weird, but we're on the clock.
- John, what are you talking about? - I know where Teyla is.
We don't have time for this! John, there are procedures we have to follow.
You know that.
I am not a clone! Is that what you're worried about? No, your medical came back clean, telomeres and all.
But there are other things we need to discuss.
I mean, you have to admit, this is a pretty wild story, even for this place.
But that's my whole point! How could I make this up? McKAY: Sam, believe it or not, I found it.
It was in the sensor log.
It's a solar flare capable of interfering with the wormhole from M4S-587 at exactly the moment that Lorne says he dialed.
Well, why didn't the gate's failsafe prevent the wormhole from locking? Well, we've had a number of glitches since we last updated the operating system.
Oh, that's what you call a glitch, huh? Yes, well You should know that I'll be giving Zelenka a stern talking-to.
Can we go now? Look, I know you've already been debriefed about the future events, all the things we're hoping to avoid, but there's just one more thing I need to know.
What? Do I still have hair? No.
Let's go! Rodney, you got anything? Hold on.
Yeah.
Yeah, I've got some kind of a data terminal.
Let me see if I can power it up and hack in.
This is it.
This is where they found her.
How do you know? - Because he described it to me.
Hey.
Look at this.
McKay, we got something.
- What is it? Some twisted version of a maternity ward.
I think we're too early, though, but he's going to bring her here to have the baby.
Hold on I'm in.
Whoa! Jackpot! - What have you got? - I got everything! I've got gate addresses, I've got subspace communication codes, I've even got his research into the hybrids! He's history! No, no No, no, no.
What happened? - What's that? - Oh, no! - Doc? - It's a countdown.
Colonel, it's a booby-trap.
We've got to get out of here now! Colonel, it's a booby-trap.
We've got to get out of here now!