| Synopsis | Review | Quotes |

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Synopsis: Episode opens on a very empty, very deserted planet (P5C 353) that resembles the moon.  SG-1 is walking around in space suits and, overall, looking like astronauts. Teal'c says the world looks like tallock, a world that once supported life but is now extinct.  Carter comments that they detected a source emitting EM waves somewhere on the planet and they head inside a cave.  There they find an orb that is emitting the power Carter was sensing.  After determining the radiation from the orb won't hurt them, they debate taking the artifact back to Earth with them, and finally conclude that they should.  If this world has been deserted for 100,000 years, as Daniel is suggesting, then this power source is a very long-lasting power source indeed. Arriving back on Earth, the SGC takes level three precautions with the artifact and set it up to be examined.  

We cut to the science lab, where Carter and Daniel are having fun running tests on the object with Lieutenant Simmons, who just so happens to have a crush on Carter as Daniel so tactfully reveals to her. <g> The scene segues into the debriefing room where Daniel announces that they think the orb is a time capsule with lots and lots of tiny writing that should tell them how to open it.  As for what exactly is inside it...well...they're not sure yet.  Hammond tells them that they're scheduled to visit P4G A81, a primordial world.  Daniel (obviously in love with the idea of studying a new artifact) reminds Hammond that P4G A81 has no life and therefore there is no need to bring an archaeologist...but his plea is in vain and in 24 hours they will go on the mission.  Daniel and Carter have until then to play with the orb.

The next morning, they're still running tests on it and trying to translate the writing on the outside to figure out what it does.  And guess what?  They haven't gotten any sleep, as O'Neill points out to them.  Missions require sleep and, therefore, he sends them off to get some before they have to leave.  As they're leaving, however, the orb suddenly comes alive and starts to open.  Spikes shoot out of it and Teal'c and O'Neill try to move the orb to toss it back through the Stargate before it does whatever it is it's trying to do.  However, as they arrive in the Gate room and the Stargate opens, the orb falls from O'Neill's hands and spikes shoot out of it towards him, catching his left shoulder and pinning him to the wall.  O'Neill screams for them to shoot the thing, and Teal'c runs off to get his staff weapon, firing at it two times.  Nothing happens, though.  Finally, Dr. Fraiser runs in to take a look at him, but it's not an ordinary wound--there is no blood coming from it.  Hammond shuts down the Stargate until they can free O'Neill from the orb.

In Hammond's office, he reveals to Daniel and Carter that NID wants to take a look at the orb because of what it's done to O'Neill.  Yippee--just what they want, Mayborne involved.  Daniel apologizes for bringing the device back to Earth, but Hammond assures him that in order to fight the Goa'uld, a number of risks must be taken.  They did the right thing by bringing the orb back.

Back in the Gate room, Sgt. Siler is working as fast as he can to burn through the spike holding O'Neill to the wall.  Teal'c urges him to work faster, but leaves so as not to bother him.

Dr. Fraiser has an announcement about the orb, however.  O'Neill has developed a high fever and, upon shining an ultraviolet light in the Gate room, they find that a virus is spreading from the orb to the entire base.  She tells them that it is mobile like a bacteria, small like a virus, slightly radioactive, and it binds in chains.  As a matter of fact, it operates a lot like a flesh-eating virus.  Ick.  They can see it when the UV light is on because of its radioactivity.  Unfortunately, it's able to eat through the concrete and has acquired a taste for the base's computer wiring, thus making things in the SGC go nuts.  Fortunately, tetracycline (antibiotic) works to keep the virus at bay.  Poor Lt. Simmons has already been infected by it, though...and he's allergic to tetracycline.  Hammond tells her she can't do anything to help Simmons because he's declared a wildfire situation--nothing can get inside the base, nothing can get out of it.  At this point, they don't know if they can do anything to fight this thing.

Down in the Gate room, O'Neill is not doing well.  Teal'c is refusing to leave his side; apparently, he's immune to the virus because of his symbiote.  O'Neill tells him he doesn't have to stick around, and Teal'c tells his first joke in response, which you can read here.  Meanwhile, Siler has almost cut through the spike trapping O'Neill to the wall...but just as he's about to, the spike expands again, eliminating the section that was almost burned through.  It won't let them free O'Neill.

Back in the science lab, Daniel and Carter are still trying to figure out the orb.  Daniel has determined that the virus's growth is exponential by the writing on the outside, but that information doesn't help them figure out how to get rid of it.  They keep working on it.

Carter determines that energy is encouraging the alien organism to grow more.  Teal'c's earlier staff weapon blasts fed it, just like oxygen is feeding it.  She heads off to the elevator to go talk to Hammond, but midway through her ride, the elevator stops as the organism has eaten through its wires.  The moral of this?  Don't ride the elevator when an alien organism is messing up your computer system.  Rather fortunately, Daniel is right there on the other side of the elevator door to open it and let her out, and off she goes to talk to Hammond.  She recommends that they lower the amount of oxygen down to 8% to slow the organism's growth and Hammond agrees.  As they do this, however, the timer for the auto self-destruct inside the base starts up.  If they don't figure out how to stop this organism, within 3 hours the base will explode, spreading the organism to the outside world.  All the life on our planet will be wiped out like it was on P5C 353.

Down in the Gate room, O'Neill and Teal'c are still there.  O'Neill is scolding himself for bringing the device back to Earth, and Teal'c tells him that he also thought they should bring it back.  The decision was correct so he shouldn't blame himself.

Back in the infirmary, Carter says that the organism's growth has slowed by 90% since they lowered the amount of oxygen inside the base.  Inside an anaerobic environment, the organism apparently goes dormant.  Fraiser tells her that's great, but maybe she should go talk to Simmons because...well...he's not doing so great.  Without the tetracycline, his health is fading fast. So Carter goes to talk to him and he starts to tell her something (presumably about his "crush" on her), but he's too weak to finish.  Carter tells him he's doing just fine.

We cut to Daniel, who's very visibly fatigued from staring at diagrams, trying to translate the writing the writing on the orb.  Suddenly he notices something, however--a symbol from the orb that has started flashing randomly onto the computer monitor.  The alien organism is trying to communicate with them! 

Having made this discovery, Daniel reports it to Hammond and Carter.  While he's not sure just what the organism is trying to tell them ("They could be saying 'Take me to your leader' for all I know"), he is certain about the communication part.  Carter gets the bright idea that instead of fighting the organism, maybe they should be feeding it and see if it'll talk to them, tell them what it wants.  Hammond, understandably, isn't happy with her 360 degree turnabout about how to handle this organism, but she insists--it's the only hope they have for saving O'Neill and the base.  Maybe O'Neill didn't just get in the way of the orb's spike--maybe it picked him on purpose to communicate though him.  Hammond finally gives in and agrees to let her try out her theory.

So everyone heads down to the Gate room.  They turn up the oxygen again and Teal'c brings his staff weapon.  Carter takes O'Neill's hand and tells him he may not survive what she's going to try, but he faintly squeezes her hand as if giving her permission.  Carter tells Teal'c to fire at the orb to feed it, which he does, albeit with a very painful expression on his face, knowing he's hurting his friend.  Finally, O'Neill's pulse vanishes.  

However, instead of dying, the organism takes over his body and speaks through him, in a kinda sorta Goa'uldish sounding voice.  He/it tells the others that O'Neill is there with him and that he/it knows who everyone there is.  SG-1 awoke the organism inside the orb by bringing it back to a living world (Earth), then threatened its life by almost returning them to their original, dead world.  The organism needs life and oxygen to survive; going back there would've killed it.  To save themselves on that world (P5C 353), they created the orb and slept for 100,000 years, as they wrote on the outside of it.  The organism refuses to go back to its planet, but Hammond refuses to let it stay here on Earth.  Suddenly Daniel gets a bright idea--send the organism to the primordial world, P4G A81, that SG-1 was supposed to have explored!  There's a lot of oxygen there for them to feed on.

O'Neill's head sags downwards and the whole computer system shuts down, although the self-destruct is still chugging merrily away, getting closer and closer to detonation.  The Stargate starts dialing out and as it opens, the orb's spikes retract, freeing O'Neill.  He stands, picks up the orb, and walks it up to the event horizon, sending the orb and the alien organism through.  The self-destruct countdown stops, O'Neill collapses, and the others rush up the ramp to help him.  They tell him that they were afraid he wouldn't make it, but are very glad that he did.

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Review: 9/10
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Realism:

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Daniel factor:

Carter factor:

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My Thoughts:

Related Episodes:

Daniel Jackson's History/Linguistic/Mythology Lesson:

Sam Carter's Physics Lesson:

Important Stargate Information:

Alien Species/Background:

Important everyday life stuff we learn from Stargate:

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Quotes:
O'Neill: "Anybody home?"
Daniel: "Jack, it may as well be the moon out here. If there every was anybody home they've been gone 100,000 years or more."
Teal'c: "This world is most definitely Tallock. Though it once supported life, it is now extinct."
Carter: "Well, the probe picked up an EM source coming from something."
O'Neill: "My guess, that thing." He shines his flashlight at an orb sitting on a cool little shrine thing.
Carter, holding up her gadgets: "Yup, the same EM frequencies we picked up from the probe. Sir, this artifact or whatever it is is definitely the source."
O'Neill: "Are we in danger?"
Carter: "No, Sir, I don't think so. Not at the moment. But, I mean, this is incredible. If Daniel is right this artifact has been doing this since Neanderthals were still a dominant species on Earth."
O'Neill: "Ah, that takes me back." Carter smiles.
Daniel: "Look at this writing of some kind. It's so tiny."
O'Neill: "What does it do?"
Carter: "Well, it's maintaining an interior temperature of 33 degrees Fahrenheit, it's generating an electromagnetic field, and emitting small amounts of alpha, gamma, and delta radiation."
O'Neill: "Well, I know that. Why does it do that?" Carter doesn't answer. "I'm trying to make a threat assessment here, Captain."
Carter: "Well, I don't know what it is, Sir, but it's got a power source that's more advanced than anything we've ever come across, including the Goa'uld."
Daniel: "It's a time capsule. Well, that's an educated guess, but...imagine your civilization is facing a great cataclysm. The end is coming, you know it. I mean, wouldn't you leave something behind? Something that told whoever came after who you were?"
Teal'c: "Or how you died."
Daniel: "Yes. I mean, imagine what you could learn about your own fate."
Teal'c: "When a Goa'uld's world is taken by another in battle, he will sometimes leave behind the means to destroy the conquerors."
Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
Teal'c: "Booby?"
Daniel: "Well, I don't think we're talking about the Goa'uld here. I mean, whoever this civilization was they went to great pains to leave this artifact behind. Like a message in a bottle."
O'Neill: "You buying this, Teal'c?"
Teal'c: "The benefit may outweigh the risk."
Carter: "Earth could sure use a power source that last for thousands of years."
O'Neill: "Ok, pack it up. Let's go home."
Carter: "Yes, Sir."

Hammond: "Did everything go as planned, Colonel?"
O'Neill: "Oh, one small step, one giant leap, that kinda stuff, Sir."

Carter: "Well, we can add two more elements to the periodic table. Lieutenant, I'd like to record this."
Simmons: "Whatever you say, Captain."
Carter: "Try to relax, Graham, or it's going to be a long day."
Daniel, quietly and with a silly grin plastered to his face: "I don't think it's the artifact. He gets like that every time he's around you. Maybe a crush."
Simmons: "We're recording...now."
Carter: "Thank you, Lieutenant." Simmons gets very uncomfortable.
Daniel: "Oops. Hey! The artifact! Notice the writing..." There's a nice little transition to the debriefing room. "So tiny it can't be read by the naked eye."
Hammond: "What does it say?"
Daniel: "We think it's a set of instructions."
O'Neill: "On how to...?"
Daniel: "Open it. We think it opens. Well, I'm sure there's much more to it than that. There's the equivalent of a thousand pages of text on the exterior surface alone."
Hammond: "What about the object's interior?"
Carter: "We know very little. Dr. Fraiser is supervising a positron emission topography right now."
Hammond: "You know, I have the highest respect for your abilities, but the NID wants a look at the thing."
O'Neill: "Well, I recommend against shipping the artifact anywhere just yet, General."
Teal'c: "Since Daniel Jackson's theory on the orb's function has yet to be confirmed, it is best for it to remain in close proximity to the Stargate. At least for the moment."
Hammond: "You're scheduled to visit P4G A81."
Daniel: "Which is a primordial world with absolutely no civilization whatsoever and therefore no need to bring along an archaeologist...."
Hammond: "I'm willing to delay that mission for twenty-four hours in order to confirm your theory."
Daniel: "That's not enough time."
Carter: "But...we'll take it."

Daniel: "Sam?"
Carter: "Yeah."
Daniel: "Ok. Up until now I've been sorta going on the assumption that this is a...sort...of page one. It's relatively isolated from the other groupings. Now, I'm thinking it's numerical."
Carter: "Maybe the basis of their mathematics."
Daniel, playing 'Fun with Pencils': "Right. That's what I thought. So, if these smaller symbols represent exponents..."
Carter: "Then this sequence grows exponentially to become a...very big number."
Daniel: "Right. And that is...information I can't use." He smiles and throws the pencils.
O'Neill: "Good morning, Campers! Sleep well? I did."
Daniel: "Oh, it can't be morning!"
O'Neill: "Ah, but it is! We ship out at..." he looks at his watch "Oh! Thirteen hundred hours." Carter stares at him in disbelief.
Daniel: "Ok, Jack, talk to General Hammond."
O'Neill: "Nope. I want you both rested and ready to go. That's an order."
Carter: "Yes, Sir."
Daniel: "Jack, come on."
O'Neill: "Daniel. SG-1 is a field unit. You know that. Can't have it both ways. When we get back you can..." he makes some cute hand motions "...visit."

Daniel: "Maybe we woke it up."

O'Neill, as the orb expands: "Well, I think we can rule out time capsule."

Teal'c, as the orb grows some nasty looking spikes: "It does not wish to be removed."
O'Neill: "Well that's too damn bad."

Hammond: "The NID people want to see it."
Carter: "Even knowing what it's done to the Colonel?"
Daniel: "Especially knowing what it's done to the Colonel."

Daniel: "General, I don't know what to say. I wanted the artifact to be something wonderful."
Hammond: "You have nothing to apologize for, Son. We've brought things back from all over the galaxy. One of them's finally snapped us in the ass."

Teal'c: "Sergeant. Your progress here is unsatisfactory."
Welder: "Can't go any faster, Sir. This is the hardest stuff I've ever come across." (Since when do the people at the base call Teal'c 'Sir'?)
Teal'c: "Then I will delay you no further."

Hammond: "Captain. I need your honest assessment. Can we beat this thing?"
Carter: "Well, like the Colonel says, never give up, right?" She pauses. "I'm not sure, Sir."

Carter: "It won't take us without a fight, Sir."
Hammond: "You're damn right it won't."

O'Neill: "Teal'c."
Teal'c: "I am here, O'Neill."
O'Neill: "It's hot."
Teal'c: "Fever burns within you."
O'Neill: "You?"
Teal'c: "The symbiote I carry appears to protect me."
O'Neill: "Way to go, Junior."
Teal'c: "Dr. Fraiser will find a cure."
O'Neill: "Teal'c. You don't have to stick around."
Teal'c: "Undomesticated equines could not remove me."
O'Neill: "Wild horses, Teal'c...it's..." Finally it hits him. "That's a joke. You told a joke. Don't make me laugh." (Woo hoo! Teal'c's first joke!! Way to go, Teal'c!!!)
Teal'c: "Very well."
O'Neill: "You're a good man, my friend."
Teal'c: "As are you, my friend."

Daniel: "Alright. Presuming this is page one and presuming this sequence is of whole numbers that indicated exponential growth...what does that mean?"
Carter: "Well, uh, it could represent the growth pattern of the organism. So far it's spread has followed an exponential curve."
Daniel: "Alright. So from that we can extrapolate that it's a warning. This organism will continue to grow and expand exponentially until...what? Until we die? I mean, if that's what it says...why bother saying it?"
Carter: "Ok, try turning the page. Maybe the answer is there."
Daniel: "Right."

O'Neill: "I blew it. I screwed up."
Teal'c: "I also believed we should retrieve the object."
O'Neill: "It was my decision."
Teal'c: "If we are to meet the challenge of the Goa'uld and further your race, risks must be taken. Your decision was correct."

Fraiser, to Carter who discovered her plan of removing the oxygen was kinda working: "Well, don't jump up and down now or you'll get my other patients excited."

Carter: "Graham?"
Simmons: "Captain Carter."
Carter: "We're fighting this thing, Graham. You've just got to hang in there."
Simmons: "Before I...I just wanted to say how much...ah.... How am I do so far?"
Carter: "You're doing just fine."

Daniel, exhausted and on the verge of a breakthrough: "Come here."
Officer: "Who?"
Daniel: "What? Anybody. Just come here. Look at this. Wait for it. There."
Officer: "That symbol is on the artifact."
Daniel: "Yet it is. It's trying to communicate with us."

Daniel: "I think what we thought was gibberish on all the computers was actually the alien's attempt to communicate with us."
Carter: "Maybe. But the symbols you're seeing could also be from the random files from our earlier research."
Daniel: "No, see, that's impossible. See, I didn't start working on that sequence until after the computers went down."
Hammond: "Assuming you're right, what are they trying to communicate?"
Daniel: "Well, they could be saying 'Take me to your leader' for all I know. I have no idea." Carter and Hammond just stare at him. "The point it that they're trying. We never even began to consider that what we're up against here is an alien intelligence. We've treated it like a disease, like a plague. Not once have stopped to listen."
Hammond: "How do we do that?"
Carter: "We let it grow."
Hammond: "What?"
Carter: "We increase the oxygen levels even higher than normal, we hit it with another staff weapon blast. We let it do what it's been trying to do."
Hammond: "The exact opposite of the advice you've been giving me up to now. Which is it, Captain?"
Carter: "General, Sir, we both know what will happen if we don't try something."

Alien, talking through O'Neill in a very slow, very jumbled voice: "Good morning, Campers. This is truly a strange feeling."
Carter: "Colonel?"
Alien: "Yes, he is here."
Hammond: "Who else are we talking to?"
Alien: "We are also here."
Hammond: "My name is..."
Alien: "Hammond. Yes. O'Neill knows."
Hammond: "Then you should also know we mean you no harm."
Alien: "You awoke us."
Hammond: "We...have only recently become aware of your existence."
Alien: "You would have returned us to our...former world."
Teal'c: "We believed you were a threat to us."
Daniel: "We feared you."
Alien: "And your fear would have destroyed us. Millennia ago, our world was dying. We could no longer live there. For this reason, we created the orb."
Daniel: "Where you slept for 100,000 years."
Alien: "Yes, Daniel."
Daniel: "Waiting for someone, like us, to come and take you through the Stargate."
Alien: "So it was written on the orb. Once exposed to the atmosphere of a living world, we went forth."
Daniel: "And multiplied."
Alien: "So it was written. We cannot go back."
Hammond: "And we cannot allow you to stay."
Alien: "O'Neill feels this as well. However, you have allowed us no alternatives."
Carter: "General, we're almost out of time."
Hammond: "This place, admittedly out of our ignorance, is about to be destroyed by an explosion."
Alien: "Such energy only serves to nourish us. We will multiply and consume your world."
Hammond: "If you would allow us to restore our communications, we could stop that from happening. We would survive."
Alien: "O'Neill desires this as well. He wishes to live. But what of us?"
Daniel: "P4G A81! It's...it's primordial, lots of oxygen and sunlight like this world was a quarter billion years ago."
Carter: "Sir, we can't open the Stargate without the computers."
Alien: "You would send us there? Through your Stargate?"
Hammond: "We would."
Alien: "For what reason?"
Hammond: "So that we both might survive."

Hammond: "God help us."

O'Neill: "Nice work."
Teal'c: "It is good to see you alive and well, O'Neill."
Daniel: "Welcome back, Jack."
Carter: "We thought you were gone for good, Sir."
O'Neill: "Wild horses, Captain."

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