Adrift

From SGCommand

Atlantis Season 4
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20
Season 3				Season 5

This episode is part 2 of 3; it is preceded by "First Strike" and followed by "Lifeline".

"Adrift" is the title of Stargate Atlantis' season four premiere.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Background Information 2.1 References 3 Notes 4 External links

Plot

After escaping the Replicator attack, Atlantis is left in a precarious position. Its power resources nearly depleted, it drifts helplessly through space, unable to jump to hyperspace or contact anybody for help. To make matters worse, Dr. Elizabeth Weir is critically injured and incapacitated, leaving her leadership responsibilities up to Rodney McKay and Lt. Col. Sheppard. Meanwhile, the Apollo contacts Colonel Carter and Dr. Lee, who are working on the Midway space station connecting the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies, and informs them that Atlantis has not reached the rendezvous point. Carter and Lee then work to find a way to contact Atlantis.

On Atlantis, the city shield is retracted to the central tower, and a team led by Zelenka works to repair the hyperdrive conduits to make them functional before the city's power levels fall below the minimum level required to start the hyperdrive engines. Meanwhile, Atlantis is headed toward a massive asteroid field. Due to the reduction in shield size, large parts of the city are in danger of receiving serious damage from asteroid hits, and re-extending the shield is not possible due to the need to conserve the city's meager power supply for a later hyperdrive jump. To combat this, Sheppard gathers all of the crew members with the Ancient gene, including McKay, and has them pilot the Jumpers and use their drone weapons to clear a path through the field. Though the city makes it safely through, it is still hit by several asteroids and suffers minor damage. Once the Jumpers return, McKay and Sheppard are informed that the hyperdrive controls were damaged by the asteroids and that Weir is slowly dying. Sheppard and Zelenka don space suits and leave to repair the hyperdrive, while McKay tries to find a way to reprogram the Replicator nanites inside Weir's body so they will repair the damage to her brain tissue and other various injuries.

Unfortunately, both parties run into problems. The building containing the hyperdrive controls was heavily damaged by an asteroid, creating a deep chasm between the door and the controls. Sheppard and Zelenka perform a daring space jump and manage to cross the gap. During his repairs, Zelenka is struck in the leg by a micrometeorite, but manages to complete the repairs on the hyperdrive controls. Unfortunately, the repairs came too late and Atlantis can no longer initiate a hyperspace jump. Meanwhile, McKay continues searching for a way to have the nanites heal Weir without exerting influence over her body and/or rendering her part-Replicator. Weir's condition begins to worsen and McKay is forced to activate the nanites, but an angry Sheppard orders him to undo this. Their argument is cut off when Weir awakens from her coma and is completely healed; even signs of the decompressive craniectomy performed earlier have been repaired. She is subsequently quarantined in case of infection.

While Weir remains in the infirmary, the rest of the team tries to figure out an alternate plan to save Atlantis. Zelenka proposes they override the city safeguards and try to activate the hyperdrive with their available power. However, doing so means there is a 50/50 chance the hyperdrive will either work, or destroy the city. Sheppard rejects the plan as too dangerous and insists they try something else. McKay and Zelenka then realize they can use the hyperspace-capable Jumper that McKay designed in Tao of Rodney. Though it can't travel very far, the Jumper does have enough power to jump to a nearby planet and return. McKay and Zelenka plan to take the Jumper to a nearby planet that is guaranteed to have ZPMs for them to use: the Replicator homeworld.

Background Information

• Atlantis Expedition country members seen: Canada, China, Japan, Russia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States.
• Q4H, as mentioned by Keller, refers to 'every four hours' in medical terminology.

References

Air Force Space Command, all-gates bulletin, Apollo, artificial gravity, Asgard, Asteroid, Bolton, brain, calcium channel blocker, cerebral oedema, Chuck, craniectomy, Daedalus, Dell, drone weapon, hyperdrive, jumper bay, Lantea, Capt. Levine, Frank, lung, M12-578, M2R-435, M3R-485, M4R-355, M4R-366, M4R-375, M4R-377, M4R-549, M4R-984, M7R-227, Matthews, mannitol, Midway space station, Myers, nanite, nervous system, nimodipine, Pegasus galaxy, puddle jumper, skull, subspace communication, ZPM

Notes

• On September 12, 2007, unfinished versions of this episode and Lifeline were leaked onto the internet.
• Amanda Tapping replaces Torri Higginson in the opening credits sequence, with Paul McGillion no longer appearing.
• This marks Amanda Tapping's first appearance as a main character on Atlantis.

External links

• Adrift on Gateworld

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Adrift (Stargate Atlantis). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with SGCommand, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.