04x13 - Quarantine

[bunniefuu]

Come on, dude, one more round.

Nope, I can't.

We don't have to do 18.
We can do nine, easy course, par three.

No, Katie's expecting me.

Well, be late.
Women like it when guys are late.

No, they don't, and I can't be late.
Not for this lunch.

- Why's that?
- Can you keep a secret?

- No.
- Right.

I... I got this on my last trip to Earth.

I feel it's time that Katie and I move
the relationship to the next level, so...

- Second base?
- No. Marriage.

- Really?
- Yes.

- You?
- Yes.

Married?

What, you don't think I'm ready?
You think I'm rushing things?

- I didn't say that.
- Well, I'm not.

I'm not ready to set
a date or anything, but...

- Is this a diamond?
- Yeah, it's an eighth of a karat, actually.

Conflict-free,
and I got a good deal, actually.

Oh, I'm sure you did.

All right, so, here I go.

Well, I'll buy you a beer later,
and we can celebrate.

Yeah, or drown my sorrows,
should she say no.

No, no. None of that.

Well, go get the girl.

- Rodney...
- No, can't talk.

John.

Do you have a moment to talk?

Another sparring accident?

Actually, I slipped in the shower.

- Oh, really?
- No. Sparring accident.

This is the third time this week
I've had to patch you up.

You know, there are a lot of other ways
you can spend your free time.

Not as much fun, though.

- Hi, Colonel.
- Doctor, where are you headed?

- Control Room.
- Oh, me too.

- We can share.
- Splendid.

- Katie?
- I'm in here!

Great. Awesome.

- Hope you're hungry.
- Oh, I am.

Yeah, me too, very hungry.

Hungry, hungry, hungry.

Are you all right?

I'm fine. Uh, yeah.

Wow, this is much more, uh...

- You're sweating.
- Oh, am I? I suppose I am.

Okay. Um, I guess I should just,
uh, jump right into this.

You know, rip the Band-Aid off, as they say.

Not that this is painful in any way.
It's quite the opposite, actually.

Rodney, what's wrong?

It's nothing. In fact, everything's right.

With us, I mean.

So I was thinking, and I don't know about
you, but the way I see it,

I thought that maybe

it's time that we, you know,

start entertaining the notion...

What happened?

Why'd the doors close?

Rodney, what's going on?

It's locked. We're trapped.

We're locked in.

Rodney, come in.

This one's locked, too.

What the hell's going on here?

Dr. McKay, this is Dr. Keller.
Are you there?

Rodney, this is Sam, do you read?

The control mechanism is not responding.

Perhaps I can physically open the door.

Transporter doors are lighter,

they're not nearly as heavy
as other doors in the city.

Rodney, this is Sam. Please respond.

Colonel Sheppard, do you read?

- Are you getting anything?
- No.

Communications must be down.

Oh, great.

All right, I'm going to need a radio.
I left mine in my lab.

Radio? It's in there.

What do you mean?
What, you don't have a radio in here?

It's a plant cultivation room.
We haven't needed one.

Well, you need one now. Look,
that alarm was a quarantine lockdown.

- Quarantine?
- It's Atlantis's self-protection

against another outbreak.

It's sealing off sections of the city
to prevent the spread of a disease.

I, uh, tweaked the, uh, system
after the recent Kirsan fever outbreak.

But there was no lockdown
during that outbreak.

Well, hence the need to tweak the system.

You know,
institute more vigorous protocols.

Okay, I need to get to a computer,
assess the degree of the situation.

I mean, is this just a few sections
that have been sealed off,

or maybe the whole tower?

Computer's in the other room, isn't it?
With the radio.

There must be another disease outbreak.

McKay said he was going to modify
the quarantine system

to make it more efficient.

How does cutting off the radios
make it more efficient?

Obviously there's a glitch in the program.

Problem is, without communications,
he can't tell me how bad the outbreak is

or give me the passcodes
to open whichever doors are deemed safe.

Ah. Great.

Well, in any case, I should be ready to treat
the sick when they bring them in.

- Will you help me?
- Tell me what to do.

I could really use Ronon's g*n
right about now.

John, look.

What?

It appears there's been another outbreak.

What is a "category five"?

I'm guessing it's a lot worse
than categories one through four.

We could be here a while.

What?

It's just that every time one of these
things happens in the movies,

the pregnant woman goes into labor.

I am still a long way from my due date.

Yeah, it's the same thing in the movies,
and then, wham!

- Relax, John. I will be fine.
- Why don't you sit down?

I'm all right.

You know, just to be on the safe side,
let's sit down.

Let's see what else we can find out.

Quarantine lockdown.

Yes.

Well, I don't know why communications
would be affected.

Well, Rodney did say he was going to
modify some of the Ancient protocols.

Perhaps he made a mistake, made the
security measures a little too aggressive?

We need to try to access the mainframe.

Yes, but unfortunately,
that's all you'll be able to do.

This tablet has limited RAM.

It's configured mainly
for read-only field diagnostics.

Well, we should at least be able to
determine the extent of the lockdown.

Yes. Oh, sorry.

That's one of my pigeons.

I raise them, as a hobby. Back home.

Ah.

Let's see what we have here.

You comfortable? You want anything?
You want to lie down, eat?

This is what I wanted to talk to you about.

What?

Your decision to remove me
from the team's missions.

We're not going to go through this again,
are we?

No, no, no, it's all right. I understand.

It's not permanent.
You're just going to have to ease off,

then you have your baby,
and, in a few months, you're back in action.

Will I be?

If it is wrong to place myself
and my unborn child in danger now,

will it be any less to do so
when he is born?

John, it's bad enough
that my son may grow up without a father,

but if I were to be hurt or k*lled,

he would be left without a mother as well.

It's tough. I know.

I got a friend from college.
She's a cop. Three kids.

She goes through this every day
when she goes to work.

How does she make peace with herself?

Well, she figures she's fighting
the bad guys, keeping them off the street,

so not only is she protecting her kids,
she's protecting other kids, too.

Look.

You have to understand.

Your child has a family here,
in case anything ever happens.

Category five?
The entire city?

Either this disease spreads more rapidly

than anything I've ever
encountered before, or something...

Or something's wrong, yeah.
Look at the levels.

Primary and secondary systems.

Look, wild fluctuations in every sector.

Other systems are down, too,
not just communications.

Long-range scanners are out,
ventilation in several areas,

including this tower.

Oh, oh, and plumbing, too. Oh, dear.

It's like the city's entire operating
system is on the fritz.

Oh, this may not even be an outbreak at all.

This entire lockdown could be
the result of a malfunction.

Don't worry, I'm sure McKay
is sitting at a workstation,

fixing this problem as we speak.

I'm sure others are working
on the problem.

Dr. Keller, Dr. Zelenka, Colonel Carter...

Oh, they'd better be.

Hey! Hey, hey, hey!

You tore your stitches.

God, honestly, I don't think I've ever met
anyone with such reckless aggression.

- That's not a compliment.
- Lf you say so.

Lay down.

Okay, look, I don't think we're
going to have any luck

opening those doors on our own.

We're probably just better off waiting
for McKay and the others

to figure out what needs to be done
and which doors are even safe to open.

So we're just supposed
to sit here and wait?

Yes. And be ready at a moment's
notice to treat the sick.

I'm not very good at sitting and waiting.

No kidding.

Well, maybe we could pass the time
by getting to know each other better.

What do you have in mind?

Oh! I mean, I didn't...
You know, I meant just, like, talk.

I didn't mean...

Yeah, so, anyway...

Let's talk.

Can't you fiddle with this thing
and get the door open?

I could fiddle with it, sure.

As to actually getting
the door open, not a chance.

The quarantine protocol completely
disables the door's control mechanism.

The whole point of it
is to keep people from getting out.

Oh, it's going to be okay.

- Dr. Keller and Zelenka...
- We don't know that.

We have no idea if it's going to be okay.

For all we know, Zelenka and Keller
could already be infected.

We don't even know
how much of the city is in quarantine.

If this is serious, and we have no
reason to believe otherwise,

we could be looking
at a city-wide lockdown.

You are thinking the worst-case scenario.

Hello! This is what I do.

Someone needs to think ahead to the
worst possible outcome to any situation,

in order to properly defend against it.

Any situation? Even the good ones?

Hey, it doesn't take much
for a good situation to turn ugly.

One minute, you're happily
riding your bicycle back

from acing your Lagrangian mechanics
mid-terms,

you know, the warm breeze in your face,

and next thing you know,

you're flying through the air
'cause you just hit a pothole.

Oh, Rodney, did that happen to you?

The point is, one must always be on guard.

You know,
always looking out for the potholes.

Now, you can call me a catastrophist,
but it's a necessary burden I bear.

A mindset like that,

and a person would live
in a constant state of worry and fear.

You forgot despair.

Well, it's definitely a malfunction.

And surprisingly, it's nothing Rodney did.

Look at that. I'm reading
a sudden spike in power

caused by an intense ionospheric storm
earlier today.

This new planet continues to surprise us.

It is going to require some
drastic recalibration

to account for any future ionospheric
activity, that's for sure.

Well, first things first.

We need to get to a workstation
and fix this malfunction.

Yes. I agree.

You know, I'm a little bit puzzled as to why
Rodney hasn't solved this problem yet.

He's been a little off his game lately.

Maybe he doesn't have
access to a computer.

Rodney? Without his computer?

- This I have yet to witness.
- Well, whatever the cause,

since there's no outbreak,
there's no reason for us to be stuck in here.

Well, yes, other than the doors
being sealed shut.

And heavier
than we had previously thought.

Can you use this tablet
to access this control panel?

Maybe we can at least figure out a way
to get the doors open.

Doubtful. The transporter panel
has no wireless interface,

and even if we could hook it up directly,

you know, with the limitations
of the RAM on this tablet...

May I? Thanks.

Yes. Of course.

Well, lifesigns all over the city.

Everyone is trapped as we are.

Ventilation is down,
which means we're running out of air.

He's in the botany lab.

- Who?
- Rodney.

He went to pick up Katie Brown
for a lunch date.

Have you been in that plant room?

There's no computers, no radio...

- If he's locked in there...
- He's going to be freaking.

- Oh, are you all right?
- I don't know.

I feel a little dizzy, a little feverish.

Here.

Rodney, come on, sit down.

You don't feel warm.

Are you sure? 'Cause my joints ache.

It's usually the first sign of a fever.

Pulse... 120?

- That's normal.
- Oh?

Yes, I've always had a rapid heartbeat.

Ever since I was a kid.

I mean, even when I was in a deep sleep.

Our family doctor once
wrote a paper about it.

Oh.

How are you feeling?

I'm fine.

Okay, well, you let me know
when you start feeling sick, all right?

It seems that there was some
sort of disturbance

in the planet's ionosphere a few hours ago.

After that is when
the system became unstable.

New planet, new problems.

Well, there may not even
be a disease outbreak.

Yeah, but the city's still on lockdown.

You know, if Rodney can't
get ahold of a computer,

he's not going to be able to shut it down.

Perhaps Dr. Zelenka
or Colonel Carter can do it.

Well, if they could've,
they would've done it already.

They probably can't
get ahold of one either.

Well, can anyone do it?

They'd have to know Rodney's password.

Fortunately,

I do.

He told you his password?

Well, he didn't think I'd remember it.

One, six, four, three,

one, eight, seven, nine,

one, nine, six, eight,

four, two.

See? Doesn't take a genius.

It doesn't?

1643 is the year Isaac Newton was born.

1879, Einstein, and 1968...

The year Rodney was born.

Never underestimate
the size of that man's ego.

Wait. Weren't there other numbers?

- 42.
- What is that?

It's the ultimate answer to the great
question of life,

the universe, and everything.

Okay. We're in.

Oh, that's a good idea.

- Okay, much better.
- Yes. Much better.

The control panel won't
recognize authentication.

It's because it's not configured,
as I said earlier.

I know, which is why
I've written a workaround,

to free up memory to
allow for local device input.

Oh. So fast?

Well, there's obviously not enough RAM to
handle the city's entire operating system,

but we should at least be able
to open these doors.

All I need to do is get it to recognize
the authentication command.

Perhaps if you bypassed the secondary
crystals, and go directly...

No, I think I... Oh, God, Radek!

- They didn't open.
- No.

And the tablet's fried.

Oh, crap.

What is it?

Part of the lockdown program
includes broadcasting an alert beacon

to approaching ships to warn them
about a disease outbreak.

The city is doing this right now?

Five by five, clear enough
for the entire neighborhood to pick up.

- Can you shut it off?
- Not from here.

It can only be turned off
from a subspace transmitter,

which is up in the Control Room.

Which means the guys upstairs
either haven't noticed,

or, more likely, they don't have
Rodney's password to turn it off.

As long as that signal is broadcast,
Atlantis is vulnerable to discovery.

If it hasn't already happened.

How are you feeling?
McKAY: The same.

Hey.

You look like you could use
some cheering up.

As a matter of fact, I could.

What is it?

It's nothing. Uh...

Oh, hey, isn't that the...

The rodneyana villosa?

- The plant I named for you.
- Right.

It's... It's grown.

Yes, it's really flourished here.

I've been kind of doting on it,
giving it a little extra TLC,

and it just gets bigger and bigger.

We need to get you to the infirmary.

I already told you, it's impossible.

I mean, the whole point of the lockdown
is to prevent the spread of disease,

which means no one's going anywhere.

But how are the doctors supposed to
treat anyone if they can't reach them?

I'm sorry, Katie.

Look, I've no doubt infected you by now.

I feel fine.

You'd think I'd have at least
a few symptoms.

Every disease is different.

I mean, we have no idea what
the incubation period for this strain is.

It could be hours, it could be days.
I mean, who knows when I caught it?

No, it's just a matter of time
before you succumb, too.

Anyway, what were we talking about?

You were going to cheer me up.

Oh. Right.

Are you okay?

Yeah.

I just...

I don't like sitting around either.

Especially when there's people out there
who need me.

You're not letting them down.

There's a disease outbreak.

- And I'm a doctor, stuck in this room...
- That's right.

Stuck.

It's not your fault you can't get to them.

So don't put the blame on yourself.

You remind me of someone I used to know.

She put way too much pressure on herself.

Someone from Sateda?

Yeah.

Who was she?

She... She was someone I cared about.

She was k*lled during the siege.

I'm sorry.

I wanted her to leave,

but she chose to stay behind
and help the others.

Should've forced her to go.

It's not your fault.

She chose to stay.

Don't put that blame on yourself.

No.

Oh, come on.

Nothing's working.

- Okay, on to plan "B."
- Which is?

Which is, blast our way out of here
and get to the Control Room.

Start searching for any expl*sives
Rodney might've left.

Well, I doubt that he would...

Don't tell me that you're...

The baby just kicked.

Really?

There it is again. Here.

Little guy wants to get
out of here as much as we do.

Teyla? You okay?

Just hang in there.
I'm going to get everybody out of here.

You stand back.

What are you...

John, what are you doing?

The Control Room is only
four floors above us.

All I have to do is climb up and I'm in.

Climb the tower? Is that even possible?

Sure! Batman did it all the time.

Piece of cake.

Don't worry. I'll be fine.

I'll turn off that beacon.

I'm sorry. I honestly thought
that if we bypassed the secondary crystal...

Radek, I know. We've been through this.
I'm not angry with you.

We could really use
one of your pigeons around now.

Well, they're not for eating.

No, no, I meant, you know, to get help.

Like homing pigeons.

You attach a little S.O.S. Note
to their feet, and... Boop!

Yeah, but there's no window in here.

I know, I was just...

Okay, I got ventilation
restored to most of the tower.

Still working on getting air up here,
but so far nothing's...

Colonel! How did you get out there?

Long story.

We've got to turn off the beacon
that's broadcasting our location,

to every ship in the neighborhood.

We already tried that.
It's password protected.

What happened?

Colonel, where the hell
did you come from?

Beacon's deactivated.

The computers just shut down.

- All of them.
- Is that the, uh...

Self-destruct.

That's
the self-destruct sequence!

Why would anybody arm it?

More importantly,
how much time do we have?

I don't know. Whoever arms it
designates the duration, you know,

depending on how quick he wants to
blow up the city.

The hell with this.

Ronon...

Ronon! We've already tried.
It's not going to open.

We'll just have to blast a hole in it.

With what? You don't have your g*n.

You got any C-4 in here?

In the infirmary?

Anything we could use
to act as an expl*sive?

I don't know. Uh...

The oxygen tanks, maybe?

Right!

sh**t 'em like Sheriff Brody did.
In the movie Jaws.

Yeah, I know, I've seen it. How do you...

Sheppard showed it to me.
It's a good movie.

"Flammable. "

All right.
All we need is a g*n to sh**t it with.

You got one in here?

Again, infirmary, not armory.

I don't get it.
Why would you arm the self-destruct?

I didn't.

Finally. You shut it down?

No, just the alarm.

The city actually armed
the self-destruct by itself, Major.

Well, why?

Last thing I saw on the screen
was a "breach of quarantine" alert.

My coming into the room caused the city
to think the disease was spreading.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. But you said earlier
that there was no outbreak.

No, there isn't. The city doesn't know that.

It's all part of the system-wide malfunction.

The city must think there's a disease,
and now it's out of control.

So blowing up Atlantis
is its final countermeasure.

Did you see how much time was left
on the self-destruct?

No, computers shut down
before I could see.

All right.

If we can't shut it down from here, we're
going to have to turn it off at the source.

- That's in the main power room.
- That's six levels down.

We can't get there.
The jumper room's sealed off,

We can't get there.
The jumper room's sealed off,

as well as every other corridor
out of the Gate Room.

I'll just have to climb back down.

The power room's in
the center of the tower.

Even if you climbed back down,

you'd still have to get through
several sealed doors before reaching it.

You got any C-4?

Yeah, a little bit.

That's it?

That's it.

You two, with us.

The alarm turned off.

That's a good sign, right?

I don't know.

Well, I mean, maybe someone
found a cure for the disease,

or at least figured out
how to turn off the self-destruct.

Or maybe someone just figured out
how to turn off the alarm.

Oh, I have to lie down.

Rodney, you can't give up.

You have to keep fighting.
I know it looks bleak, but...

What's this?

Oh.

That's... When I came here today,

I was going to propose.

Ask your hand in marriage.

- This is not going to work.
- What are you talking about?

This was your idea.

Yeah, after which I immediately said

there was a one-in-a-million
chance it would work.

It will, this is that one.

If I cut more than a millimeter too far...

The t*nk'll blow. I know.

So just make sure you don't cut too far.

Just score it, like you said.

Okay, look.
If you don't do it, I'm going to do it.

Come on. You got this.

Okay. That's it.

I mean, that's... That's as far as I should go.

All right.

Let's do it.

All right. You ready?

No.

You okay?

Yeah.

All right.

Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

It's a lot stronger than a shark.

Fire in the hole.

What was that?

Hello?

- Hey! We're in here!
- Hey! In here!

Do you hear that?

The transporter.
Somebody's in there.

Grab a side.

Colonel. You all right?

- Yeah. I'm fine.
- I'm fine, too.

There's no outbreak.
It's just a malfunction.

We know. Was Rodney the one
who finally disabled the self-destruct?

No, it's still armed,
and I haven't heard from Rodney.

I need to
get to a workstation.

Computers are down.

We're trying to get
to the main power room,

so we can physically
cut the power to the self-destruct.

But all the doors are sealed shut.

We just used the last of
our C-4 getting here.

Does that mean we're still stuck here?

That's what it looks like.

How much time is left on
the self-destruct?

We don't know.
Computers shut down before we could see.

So it could happen any time.

Great.

You were going to propose to me?

Today?

Well, I mean, before the...

Before the lockdown.

So?

Why don't you?

Now?

You want me to propose now?

Don't you want to hear my answer?

Well, it doesn't really matter anymore,
does it?

How can you say that?

Oh, I don't know. Maybe because
we're moments away from our deaths.

Don't talk like that!

There's still a chance someone
could come through this door...

Katie, please, enough already.

As much as I'd love to believe

that someone's going to swoop in
and save the day,

the fact that no one has
tells me it's probably not going to happen.

I'm sorry if that's bleak
and horrible and fatalistic, but there it is.

What are we going to do now?

Well, what can we do?

Does this vent go to the power room?

Yes, yes! I believe it leads
to the tower's main ventilation flue.

But that system's shut down.
Those vents will be closed off.

Not anymore.
We were able to get it back online

in most of the tower
just before the computers went down.

All right, looks clear.

It's going to be a tight squeeze, though.
There's no way I can move in here.

- I'll do it.
- No. I'll do it.

- Are you sure?
- Yes. I'm small enough.

I can crawl through there.
I'll have the power off in no time.

All right.

Attaboy.

Ready?

Yeah.

I had you wrong.

When you first came here,

I thought you were weak.

That you didn't belong.

It's the story of my life.

Growing up, I skipped three grades.

I graduated at 15.

Got my bachelor's degree
before I was even old enough to vote.

I missed out on a lot of things.

Any kind of social event.

You know, parties.

And dances.

I don't ever remember a time in
my life where I belonged.

Yeah, well, blowing up that t*nk...

You really showed yourself.

But it didn't work.

That's not the point.

"I'll have the power off
in no time. "

Idiot!

Ah...

Come on, Radek.

He'll make it.

He did it.

Oh, my God!

They found a cure or figured out
how to override the program.

I don't believe it!

We're going to make it!
We're not going to die!

Oh.

You crawled the entire way
there, in those tiny vents?

I'm surprised he even fit in there.

Oh, he fit, all right.
There's plenty of room.

Well, not plenty.

You should have seen him.
He looked like one of those little hamsters,

in one of those...

Yes, yes, yes, listen, the important thing is

I was able to make it and
shut off the power in time.

Did you hear?
McKay thought it was a real outbreak.

He even started getting sick,
thought he was...

Hi. You mind if I join you?

Sure. Go ahead.

What?

Nothing.

Well, it's been several hours now,

and there is no indication
that anyone out there

has picked up our alert beacon.

I think we're in the clear.

Well, we should keep an eye out,
just in case.

Great work, Radek.

Everyone on this base
owes you a debt of gratitude.

Well, thank you.

McKay would love this.

Katie?

Hello, Rodney.

I see you're feeling better.

Uh... Yes, I, uh...

Well, I mean, it was probably just,
you know, an allergic thing.

I'm fine.

And the, uh, quarantine?

Is it true there was no outbreak?

No. It was a malfunction.

A planetary anomaly.
lonospheric disturbance.

I've actually recalibrated the system,

so it'll take into effect future activity.
So we should be fine.

Someone said it was Dr. Zelenka
that finally turned off the self-destruct?

Technically, yes,
but it was actually more of a group effort.

But that's not why I came here.

I, um...

Here's the thing.

Over the last year and a half,

I have become aware that I have certain...

I don't want to use the word "flaws. "

Shortcomings, perhaps?

For example,

on occasion, I can be negative.

And demanding and a tad arrogant.

But, uh, I'm also finding that,

just being aware of your, uh, shortcomings,

is just the first minute step
on the road to betterment,

and that the real trick seems to be
to actually do something about it.

I know. It's difficult.

The point is,

I came here earlier today
to propose marriage to you,

but after what happened,

I realize that I may have been
rushing things.

I just don't think I'm ready for this.

I know.

You do?

I don't think I'm ready, either.

Oh. Okay. Good.

That's good.

It's not that my feelings
have changed or diminished...

No. No, of course not.

Just... I mean,

if we got married now,
I would make your life miserable

and you are far too good a person for that.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

Easier said than done, right?

Okay. So, rain check on lunch?

Absolutely.

- Rodney?
- Mmm?

Bye.

Right. Bye.