Stargate Atlantis

This is Operations.

General O'Neill is inbound, 20 minutes out.

- Dr. Weir. - Peter.

You see? Nothing.

Carson, get back here.

I can sit in that chair all bloody day long, and nothing will happen.

It's a waste of time. Excuse me, Dr. Weir.

He's not even trying.

He's the one who discovered the gene this technology responds to.

Yeah, well, he said he wished he never had it.

Really? I know. Can you believe that?

We could always test you a third time, Rodney.

That's very funny.

We have only found a handful of people

who are genetically compatible with the ancient technology,

and despite your heroic efforts to interface ours with theirs,

we need every one of them to sit in this chair,

including Dr. Beckett.

What am I supposed to do? He's afraid of the thing.

This chair controls the most powerful weapons known to humankind.

I'm afraid of the thing.

But every time someone sits in it,

we learn something new about the Ancients who built this outpost.

Dr. Beckett should be proud he's genetically advanced.

It's not more advanced. It is a random characteristic.

This really bothers you, this whole gene thing, huh?

Clearly, I am overcome with envy.

Just the people I need to see.

Come with me.

We've gotten closer and closer to finding the location of the lost city,

but it turns out we've been looking in the wrong place all along.

Now, we thought we had a stargate address.

Six symbols representing coordinates in space

that determined the location of the planet the Ancients went to

after they left Antarctica.

Now, recently, we determined a seventh symbol.

The point of origin, Earth.

That's not it.

Then your address must be incorrect.

Not incorrect. Incomplete.

What are you saying, Dr. Jackson?

It's an eight-symbol address.

What we're looking for may be further away than we ever imagined,

but it's not out of reach.

Atlantis.

Atlantis. I think we can go there.

Apache, Black Hawk, Cobra, Osprey...

It's a lot of training for the Antarctic.

It was the one continent I'd never set foot on.

It's one of my least favorite continents.

I kind of like it here.

You like it here?

Yes, sir.

We'll be there in about 10 minutes, sir.

Look, we've been through this.

I'm not your man.

Keep moving.

I'm a doctor. A medical doctor.

There's nothing to be afraid of.

You don't understand. I break things like that.

This device has survived for millions of years intact. It will survive you.

Now, sit down, close your eyes and concentrate.

Again, nothing.

This time just try to imagine an image of where we are in the solar system.

I think I feel something.

It could be lunch-related.

Shut up and concentrate.

Watch out!

What did I do?

Get us back down there.

All inbound craft, we have a rogue drone

that could seek a target on its own.

Land immediately and shut down your engines.

This is not a drill.

It's too late. Hang on.

Break right.

I said "right"!

I'm getting to that, sir.

I told you I was the wrong person.

It doesn't matter now. Just do something.

Like what? Okay, Carson,

concentrate on shutting that weapon down before it hurts someone.

I can't see it.

Pull up. Pull up!

What about now?

Now's good.

Shut it down.

Sir, what the hell was that?

Wait for it.

Get out!

I think I did it.

That was different.

For me, not so much.

Major Sheppard is reporting the drone appears to have been incapacitated.

General O'Neill's helicopter is unharmed and on its way again.

Seven minutes out.

Thank God.

Holy crap.

- Jack. - Daniel.

Warm welcome.

It wasn't me. How did you manage to...

Keep my ass from getting blown out of the sky?

The exceptional flying of Major John Sheppard.

He likes it here.

Exceptional. You like it here?

What say we cut to the part where you start talking real fast?

Weir's in here.

Hey, don't touch anything.

Yes, sir.

I figure the Ancients packed up their entire city and left

somewhere between 5 and 10 million years ago.

In their flying city?

Yes.

What?

Flying city?

Well, keeping in mind this is the race that built the stargates.

They did everything big.

So why did they leave?

Why did they leave? Who knows?

We know the Ancients on Earth were suffering from a plague.

Maybe some of them were trying to start over seeding life in a new galaxy.

Maybe that's what Ancients do.

The point is, we know where they went.

Pegasus.

Yes, it's the name of a dwarf galaxy in the local group.

After all that time, is there any hope of actually meeting them?

Well, who knows, but isn't that reason enough to go?

I've been choosing members for this expedition for months, Doctor.

I'm not the one who needs convincing.

Well, I'm convinced.

Have fun.

It's a little more complicated than that.

We need the ZPM to power the gate.

What?

ZPM. He's Canadian.

I'm sorry.

Zero-Point Module, General.

The ancient power source that you recovered from Praclarush Taonas

and that's now powering the outpost's defenses.

I've since determined that it generates its enormous power

from vacuum energy

derived from a self-contained

That was a waste of a perfectly good explanation.

The answer is no.

The second I shut my eyes, I could see.

I just felt this power that I've never had before.

I had it dancing all across the sky.

It was magical, it really was. I mean...

Well, they are lucky. I don't know where it came from.

I just tried to concentrate, and the drone shut itself down.

So you were the one.

Me?

You're the one who fired that thing at me.

Look, we're doing research,

working with technology that's light-years beyond us,

and we make mistakes.

I'm incredibly, incredibly sorry.

Well, next time, just be a little more careful, okay?

That's what I said.

What the hell was that thing, anyway?

You mean the drone?

The weapon the Ancients built to defend this outpost.

The who?

You do have security clearance to be here?

Yeah, General O'Neill just gave it to me.

Then you don't even know about the stargate.

The what?

Jack, you know the gate to another galaxy requires an enormous amount of power.

Yes, I do. Find another way.

There's no other way.

Do you think there are more of these "Z" things in Atlantis?

Yes, and who knows what else we could find.

This isn't just some other civilization we're talking about.

These are the gate builders.

The potential wealth of knowledge and technology...

It outweighs anything we've come across since we stepped through the stargate.

Well, with the amount of power you'll need to make this trek,

odds are it'll be one-way.

Yes, we know.

But the benefit to humanity is far greater than the risk, General.

And it is a risk that every one of my expedition members is willing to take.

We think the gene was used as a sort of genetic key, if you will.

So that only their kind could operate

certain dangerous or powerful technologies.

So some people have the same genes as these Ancients?

The specific gene is very rare,

but on the whole, they look very much like we do.

In fact, they were first.

We're the second evolution of this form.

The Ancients having explored this galaxy

for millions of years before...

Major, please don't.

Come on, what are the odds of me having the same genes as these guys?

Quite slim, actually.

Dr. Weir! Don't move.

Who is this?

I said "Don't touch anything."

I just sat down.

Major, think about where we are in the solar system.

Did I do that?