Transcript by Callie Sullivan

IN DEEP SPACE, a massive, arrow-shaped ship moves silently through the blackness. Inside, the corridors are mostly unlit. The engines sound as if they are reducing power, and minimal lighting begins to come on in some areas. Inside a large room is a Stargate which is slowly spinning as it dials in. Unlike other Stargates we have seen, this one is unsupported, its very lower part disappears into the floor and its chevrons spin with the Gate. After some seconds the Gate stops spinning and an energy vortex bursts out of it. The vortex settles down to a flat surface and moments later a young marine comes flying through the horizon and crashes to the floor.

Groaning, he drags himself to his feet and looks around the dark room, aiming his rifle in all directions. He hasn't finished checking out the area when a large box flies out of the event horizon and he has to flinch to the side to avoid being hit by it. It is rapidly followed by a woman who, like him, comes through too fast and lands heavily, groaning. Even before the marine –- Lieutenant Matthew Scott –- can reach down to help her, another woman comes soaring through the Gate and crashes with a yelp to the floor. More people follow and Scott reaches down to the early arrivals to try to get them on their feet.

SCOTT: All right, get out of here. Get out of the way!

(Pandemonium ensues as more and more people –- some military and some civilian –- come hurtling through the Gate and fall heavily to the floor. The chaos isn't helped by the fact that many of them are carrying boxes and cases, and other boxes are flying through the Gate on their own. As people try to scramble out of the way of incoming objects and people, Scott activates his radio and yells into it.)

SCOTT: This is Scott! Slow down the evac –- we are comin' in too hot!

(Either the message isn't received or people are in too much of a hurry to get through the Gate, but the rapid arrival of people continues, all of them flying through too fast and falling heavily to the floor. I.O.A. representative Camile Wray scrambles to her feet and grabs at Scott.)

WRAY: Where are we? Why didn't we come through to Earth?

SCOTT: There's no time to explain. (He gestures.) Off to the side!

(He gets back to trying to drag people and boxes out of the way of the continuing new arrivals. Wray and others who have regained their feet help him. Scott activates his radio again.)

SCOTT: This is Scott –- come in!

(There's no response from the other end. A marine calls out.)

MARINE: I need a medic!

(First Lieutenant Tamara Johansen –- also known as T.J. –- responds to let him know she has heard him, although she's currently busy helping someone else.)

JOHANSEN: Over here! (To her patient) Can you move your fingers?

MAN: No. I think my arm is broken.

(She folds his arm across his chest.)

JOHANSEN: OK, just hold your arm there and we'll put it in a sling, OK?

(Doctor Nicholas Rush has pulled himself to his feet and walks over to look at a nearby control console. The console is unlit. At the Gate, a young male civilian called Eli Wallace hurtles through the Gate. Getting up onto his knees and patting himself to see whether he's hurt, he looks back at the Gate just in time for a metal case to come flying through and send him crashing to the floor again. Rush stares down at the console but can make no sense of it. He looks up and watches helplessly as more and more people come crashing through the event horizon of the Stargate. Those who are relatively uninjured help to move people and equipment out of the arrival zone.)

SCOTT: Clear this area! There could still be more incoming!

(Rush climbs up a metal staircase to an upper level and looks down into the Gate Room, smiling ruefully at the chaos. A U.S. senator, Senator Armstrong, together with his aide, Chloe, hurtles through the Gate. She helps him to his feet.)

[Transcriber's note: Senator Armstrong and Chloe are father and daughter. I will voice Chloe as 'Armstrong' and her father as 'Senator'.]

ARMSTRONG: Are you OK?

SENATOR: Yeah.

(They stumble out of the way of the incoming arrivals.)

SENATOR: Where the hell are we?

(Scott goes over to another marine, Master Sergeant Ronald Greer.)

SCOTT: Greer? Where's Colonel Young?

GREER: He was right behind me.

(Colonel Everett Young arrives through the Gate at that moment –- at an even faster velocity than anyone else. He soars across the room and crashes to the floor yards away from the Stargate. Seconds later the Stargate closes down and the room is plunged into darkness, but only for a moment as plumes of flame and steam shoot up from either side of the Gate. Many of the civilians scream in panic, but the flames die down after a while. Anyone who brought a flashlight with them turns it on. Greer talks sternly to people to get them out of his way as he and Scott try to get across the room to the colonel.)

GREER: Move, move, move. (Calling out to everyone) Stay calm! Keep it down! (To the people in his way) Move, move, move, move, move.

(Scott reaches Colonel Young who is lying on the floor and not moving.)

SCOTT: Colonel? Colonel?

(He kneels down to him and puts his hand under the colonel's head. Greer warns other people away from them so that they don't accidentally tread on them.)

GREER: Don't move!

(Young looks up at Scott.)

YOUNG (weakly, vaguely): Where are we? Where are we?

SCOTT: I don't know, sir.

YOUNG (weakly): You're in charge, OK? You're ...

(His eyes close and his head rolls to the side. Scott stares in horror as he realises that his hand supporting the colonel's head is covered with blood.)

SCOTT (softly): Yes, sir.

(He gently withdraws his head, stares at the blood for a moment, then turns and screams into the room.)

SCOTT: T.J.!

JOHANSEN: I'm coming!

(As a marine clears the way for her, she hurries across and kneels down beside Young.)

GREER: Is he OK?

JOHANSEN: Uh, I dunno.

(Pulling out a medical flashlight, she peels open one of Young's eyelids and shines the light into it. Scott scrambles to his feet and yells for the young civilian.)

SCOTT: Wallace!

(Eli Wallace hurries over to him.)

SCOTT: What is this place?

WALLACE (nervously): Look, I just did what Rush told me.

SCOTT: Where is he?

WALLACE: I don't know if he went ahead of me.

SCOTT (yelling): Rush!

(Unnoticed by anyone, engines appear to be powering up somewhere if the rising hum is anything to go by.)

SCOTT: Rush! Eli, help me find him.

WALLACE: Well, I ...

(The engines continue to power up, and people notice as the sound becomes louder and changes tone. A brief shimmer envelops everyone before dissipating again.)

GREER: What in the hell was that?!

SCOTT: I don't know. (He turns to Greer.) Sergeant, I need you to get these people settled here. I need you to find out who and what we've got. Nobody leaves this room.

GREER: Yes, sir.

(Scott heads off as Greer stares down at Johansen as she starts to dress Young's head wound. Eli too is staring down at them. Scott yells at him.)

SCOTT: Eli! Now!

FLASHBACK. In a video computer game, a warrior runs into a room and across to a console. In the real world, Eli is playing the game in his bedroom. He has two computer screens side by side. One shows the game and the other shows a fellow geek as the two of them talk to each other over headsets.

WALLACE: The core of the planet is the power source. You have to channel it into the weapon and destroy the enemy ship.

FELLOW GEEK: You can't do it, dude!

WALLACE: I'm doing it!

(He types and the warrior runs on and stops at a wall covered in symbols.)

FELLOW GEEK: It's one of those programmer's jokes –- a problem that can't be solved.

WALLACE: I already solved this.

FELLOW GEEK: No you didn't!

(Eli types and the warrior takes a hand-held device from his belt and starts to input on it.)

WALLACE: Just shut up and watch this!

(In the video game, the symbols fritz and disappear, then the entire screen goes white for a moment before re-setting and showing the warrior standing outside a tall elegant tower.)

WALLACE (high-pitched in indignation): What the hell?!

FELLOW GEEK: What happened?

WALLACE (high-pitched): Noth... (He takes a breath and tries to calm down.) Nothing happened. (He rolls his eyes.) I'm back at the beginning of the level.

FELLOW GEEK (smugly): You're so full of yourself.

WALLACE: No. No-no-no. It worked. The firing code locked in.

FELLOW GEEK: Whatever.

(He takes his headset off and shuts down the connection. Exasperated, Eli takes his own headset off.)

WALLACE: That was extremely unsatisfying.

LATER. General Jack O'Neill, wearing military dress blues and sunshades, knocks at the door of Eli's house. Eli opens the door and stares at him in surprise.

O'NEILL: Eli Wallace?

WALLACE (nervously): Actually, uh, Eli's not here right now. He ...

(Ignoring him, O'Neill turns to the car parked at the kerb and beckons.)

WALLACE: OK, OK. Whatever you guys think that I did, I swear you've got the wrong guy.

(Doctor Rush gets out of the car and walks towards the house. O'Neill turns back to Eli.)

O'NEILL: Do I look like someone who'd be standing here if I didn't already know everything there is to know about you?

WALLACE: No, not really.

O'NEILL: Right.

(He steps aside as Rush joins him.)

WALLACE: Who are you?

RUSH: Doctor Nicholas Rush. May we come in?

WALLACE: Why?

RUSH: You spent a great deal of time recently playing an online fantasy game called Prometheus.

(Eli laughs.)

WALLACE: Big Brother's got nothing better to do?!

RUSH: Last night, you solved the Dakara weapons puzzle.

WALLACE: Yeah. A month of my life went into that! D'you know what happens when you solve that thing? Nothing!

O'NEILL: We're here. That happened.

RUSH: To complete that particular puzzle, you had to solve a millennia-old mathematical proof written in another language. For that, you've won something of a prize.

WALLACE: Well, whatever it is, I'll take the cash equivalent.

O'NEILL: There isn't one.

(Rush holds out a document to Eli.)

RUSH: It's a non-disclosure agreement.

WALLACE: Non-disclo... (He laughs in disbelief.) So you guys really embedded a top-secret problem into a game, hoping someone like me would solve it?!

O'NEILL: Yep.

WALLACE: So what d'you need me for now?

RUSH: I assure you, it'll be worth your while to sign it.

WALLACE: And if I don't?

O'NEILL: We'll beam you up to our spaceship.

(Eli laughs, then his smile fades as he sees O'Neill's and Rush's straight faces.)

WALLACE: Right(!)

(He takes the document from Rush.)

WALLACE: I-I-I think I want my lawyer to look it over first.

O'NEILL: And by 'lawyer', I assume you mean 'mother'.

WALLACE: So we'll just agree, then, that I will call you.

(Rolling his eyes a little, he closes the door. O'Neill turns and looks at Rush. Inside the house, Eli opens the agreement and starts to read it as he heads up the stairs, but he never makes it to the top because a white beam envelops him, whisks him away and deposits him into a room with a large window which is looking out at the planet Earth below. He stares at the view in shock.)

WALLACE: What the ...?

(Rush walks into the room.)

RUSH: Welcome aboard the Hammond, Eli. Yes, that is planet Earth and yes, you are on a spaceship. We need your help, Eli. To be honest, I don't know how long it's gonna take.

WALLACE: I should call my mom ... uh, tell her where I am.

(Automatically he gets his cellphone out of his pocket and starts scrolling through the menu.)

RUSH: That's probably not gonna work up here.

WALLACE (trying to cover his stupidity): Right, right!

RUSH: You can speak to her on the way. There's a cover story you'll have to follow.

WALLACE: I'm sorry, um, on the way to ...?

RUSH: To another planet, twenty-one light years from here.

WALLACE: I can't go. I ... I have things that ...

RUSH: We know about your mother's condition.

WALLACE (resigned): You just know everything, don't you?

RUSH: We also know that you are currently unemployed and that your mother's medical coverage is, um, an ongoing issue. We'll see she gets the best available care while you're gone.

WALLACE: And if I don't sign, what? You're gonna erase my memory? (He chuckles.)

RUSH (calmly): Something like that.

(Eli's smile fades. Realising that he really has no choice, he gestures to the pyjama bottoms he's wearing.)

WALLACE: Can I get some pants?

LATER. Shortly afterwards, the U.S.S. George Hammond leaves its orbit of Earth and jumps into hyperspace.

RECORDING. Doctor Daniel Jackson stands in front of Earth's Stargate at Stargate Command and smiles into a camera.

JACKSON: Hello. I am Doctor Daniel Jackson and behind me is a Stargate.

(Eli is sitting at a desk in a room on board the George Hammond and is watching Daniel's video recording on a television screen.)

JACKSON: It was originally built millennia ago by an alien race who we call the Ancients. Over the next few hours we'll be touching on ...

(Time passes and Eli continues to watch the various videos made by Doctor Jackson.)

JACKSON: ... There are thirty-nine symbols representing star constellations as seen from Earth ...

JACKSON: ... when a connection is made between two Stargates an unstable energy vortex emerging from the Gate ...

(Video footage is showing of a Stargate kawhooshing. Eli jumps as he watches it.)

WALLACE: Woah!

JACKSON: ... and settles into the event horizon, or puddle as we like to call it. Later, it was discovered that an eighth symbol would actually dial another galaxy and hundreds of thousands of light years via an interstellar wormhole.

(Clips from Jackson's video lecture overlap.)

JACKSON: ... a mystical ninth chevron ...

JACKSON: ... the first six symbols ...

JACKSON: ... Icarus Base was established on a planet discovered two years ago to have a uniquely powerful core. The entire purpose of the project is to hopefully one day dial the nine chevron address found in the Ancient database.

(Eli is starting to look a little overwhelmed –- and somewhat bored –- with all the information being fired at him. He rolls his eyes in despair as another recording starts up.)

JACKSON: Hi, I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson. Now, you've heard the term 'hyperspace' for years ...

SOME TIME LATER. Eli's mother is on the phone with her son.

MRS WALLACE: Where are you?!

WALLACE: It's top secret.

MRS WALLACE: Eli!

WALLACE: I'm serious, ma! I can't say anything more than that.

(Eli is in what may be his quarters on board the George Hammond, talking into a headset.)

MRS WALLACE: But I don't understand! Why could you not at least tell me you were leaving?

WALLACE: I'm sorry. But did you get the letter from ...?

MRS WALLACE: Yeah, the-the Air Force. I got it. Are you in a plane now? You sound like you're in an airplane.

WALLACE (staring out the window at hyperspace rushing past): Uh, no, it's nothing like that. I want you to know that they're gonna look after you.

MRS WALLACE: You didn't have to do this.

WALLACE: This is good. Really. It's the kind of thing I always dreamed of.

(His face, however, can't hide his sadness at leaving his mother, and his nervousness about what's happening to him.)

LATER. In the ship's Mess, most of the seats are taken by crewmembers sitting and eating. Chloe Armstrong is sitting at a table with a spare seat opposite her. She is flicking through a notebook but looks up and smiles as Eli walks over to her holding a tray.

ARMSTRONG: Hi.

WALLACE: Do you mind?

ARMSTRONG: Go ahead.

WALLACE: Thank you. (He sits down.)

ARMSTRONG: First time on a spaceship too?

WALLACE: Me? I've been on ... lots of, uh, various ... (He gives up trying to fake experience.) Eli Wallace.

ARMSTRONG: I know.

WALLACE: You've heard of me?

ARMSTRONG: I have.

WALLACE: Wow. That almost never happens! And you are ...?

ARMSTRONG: Chloe. I work for Alan Armstrong.

(Eli shakes his head.)

ARMSTRONG: Senator of California?

WALLACE: Oh, yeah, yeah. I have heard of California.

(Chloe laughs.)

WALLACE: My last job was in the burger and fries field. How'd you line that up?

ARMSTRONG: I was a political science major at Harvard, so ...

WALLACE (making 'meh' noises and gestures): I hear it's a good school. For a while, there, I was at, uh ...

ARMSTRONG: ... M.I.T., I know.

WALLACE: Really? What else have they told you about me?

THE PRESENT. Scott and Eli are searching for Doctor Rush. They reach a closed bulkhead with a small circular ornate panel in it. Eli shines his flashlight on the panel and sees familiar markings on it.

SCOTT: What?

WALLACE: I've seen this writing before.

SCOTT: In the game?

WALLACE: Yeah!

(He shines his flashlight around and sees a small illuminated panel on the wall by the bulkhead. He presses it and the panel in the bulkhead spins rapidly, then the doors part and reveal Doctor Rush standing at the far end of the room in front of an enormous floor to ceiling window. Outside is a view which shows that they are moving through space. It's not the same vortex as a hyperspace field, but it clearly is space they're travelling through.)

WALLACE: Jeez! We're on a ship?

RUSH (continuing to gaze out of the window): The design is clearly Ancient, in the truest sense of the word –- launched hundreds of thousands of years ago.

SCOTT: Doctor Rush?

RUSH: Faster than light, yet not through hyperspace.

SCOTT: What are you doing?

RUSH: Who knows how far it's travelled?

SCOTT: Doctor Rush, I've got a lot of wounded. We need to get home.

(In the Gate Room, Lieutenant Johansen and others are assisting the injured. A scientist, Jeremy Franklin, while not badly injured, sits with his back against the wall struggling a little to breathe. He opens the top button of his shirt. Nearby, people look up as something electronic groans and shuts down. Johansen reports over her radio.)

JOHANSEN: Lieutenant Scott, come in?

SCOTT (into radio): Go ahead.

JOHANSEN: We've got a problem. One of the air vents just shut down in here.

SCOTT: Copy that.

WALLACE: Yeah, the air's gettin' pretty thin in here too.

SCOTT: What does that mean?

RUSH: That the life support system is failing ... (he turns away from the window and heads toward the door) ... and we should probably do something about that.

FLASHBACK. Colonel Young is in his kitchen with his wife.

EMILY (sarcastically): Well, it's always just one more year.

YOUNG: It's a command.

EMILY: Where?

YOUNG: Well, it's a lot safer than other tours I've done.

EMILY: You've put your time in, Everett.

YOUNG: When this tour's over, I promise ...

EMILY (interrupting): You know what? (She glares at him for a moment, then looks away.) Never mind. Don't bother. You always end up choosing somewhere other than here.

(Young walks over to her and turns her around to face him.)

YOUNG: I'm not choosing my job over you. How can you even say that to me?

(Emily relents a little and puts her arms around his neck.)

EMILY: I love you.

(She puts her mouth near his ear.)

EMILY: But I can't wait any more.

(She pulls free of his arms and walks a few paces away. He closes his eyes in grief, then starts to collapse. He stops his fall by clinging onto the edge of the sink but is unable to pull himself back upright. Emily turns back to him in alarm.)

EMILY: Everett? Are you OK?

(She reaches down and puts her hand under his chin, tilting his head up towards her.)

EMILY: Sweetheart? Baby? Look at me.

(He stares up at her, confused and unable to hear her voice. His vision fades in and out as she silently mouths words at him and then a new voice fades in.)

JOHANSEN: Colonel? Colonel?

(Young's vision clears and it's Lieutenant Johansen looking down at him. He looks at her for a moment, then starts to convulse. She runs round to his head and supports it as his fit continues. Nearby, Chloe looks shocked and puts her hands to her mouth.)

ARMSTRONG: Oh my God.

(She comes over and kneels down by Young's side.)

ARMSTRONG: Can't you do something?

JOHANSEN: He's having a seizure. There's nothing I can do.

FLASHBACK. The George Hammond comes out of hyperspace and heads towards a planet. Inside Icarus Base on the planet's surface, Lieutenant Scott is having sex with Vanessa James up against a wall in a storage closet. As they pant and groan in passion, a voice comes over the radio.

YOUNG (over radio): Scott, this is Colonel Young, come in please? Our guests have arrived a few minutes early, Lieutenant. What's your position?

(Scott looks round towards his radio hanging from his vest some distance away.)

JAMES: Not yet! (She grins seductively at him as he turns his head back towards her.) Not yet.

(She starts to kiss him.)

YOUNG (over radio): Lieutenant. Drop whatever you're doing and get your ass up here.

(Shaking his head in frustration, Scott pulls away, dropping James to the floor, then tugs up his underwear and hurries over to his radio.)

SCOTT (into radio): I'm on my way, sir.

(James leans against the wall catching her breath while she watches Scott quickly get back into his clothes. Picking up his rifle and vest, he hurries back over to her and kisses her briefly.)

JAMES: Bye!

(Scott hurries from the room and closes the door behind him. James smiles fondly. Scott makes his way quickly down the corridor, doing his vest up as he goes.)

(On a platform at the edge of a cliff, Senator Armstrong, Chloe, Eli and Doctor Rush are beamed down from the George Hammond. The platform is protected with rail guns and mounted machine guns but it's not these that immediately catch Eli's attention.)

WALLACE: Holy ...!

(He hurries to the edge of the platform to get a better view. It's hundreds of feet high above a plateau with a runway, along which is taxiing an F-302 fighter plane. In the distance are various mountain ranges. The mountain in which the base is built has other platforms, all of them full of weaponry. Colonel Young comes over to the group.)

YOUNG: Senator. It is my honour to welcome you to Icarus Base.

SENATOR (shaking his hand): Colonel.

(He introduces him to Chloe.)

SENATOR: This is my executive assistant, Chloe.

ARMSTRONG (shaking Young's hand): It's a pleasure to meet you, sir.

YOUNG: The pleasure's mine.

SENATOR: She's also my daughter.

(Lieutenant Scott finally arrives, a little breathless. Colonel Young looks at Eli.)

YOUNG: You must be the ...

WALLACE: ... contest winner! Yeah.

(He turns and sees the rail gun above his head.)

WALLACE: That is a big gun!

(He lifts his camera phone up to take a picture of it.)

SCOTT: Rail gun. Five hundred rounds per minute.

YOUNG: This is Lieutenant Scott. He's been assigned to you, Mr Wallace.

RUSH (a little impatiently): Shall we go inside?

SHORTLY AFTERWARDS. The group has arrived in the base's Gate Room and Eli has got his first sight of a real Stargate.

WALLACE: Unbelievable!

SCOTT: Yeah, it is. It's weird how fast you can start to take something like this for granted.

WALLACE: So if the Stargate can instantly transport you to another planet, why did we fly here on a spaceship?

SCOTT: It's something to do with how this one's tied into the plane of the power. Apparently it's been modified to only dial out because incoming wormholes are too dangerous. You're the genius –- you could probably tell me better.

WALLACE: All I did was solve a puzzle in a video game.

SCOTT: Well, you figured out something Doctor Rush has been trying to figure out for months ... (he steps closer and speaks confidentially) ... which, by the way, a lot of people were glad to see.

(Nearby, Rush is introducing the Senator to some of the base staff who have lined up on the walkway leading to the Stargate.)

RUSH: And, of course, you know Colonel Telford.

SENATOR (shaking Telford's hand): You ready for this, Colonel?

TELFORD: You just give the word, sir.

SENATOR: Oh, I gave it quite a while ago, Colonel. I'm just here to see how my one point six billion dollars is being spent.

(He smiles around the group. Rush laughs falsely.)

RUSH: Very good! Thank you, everyone.

TELFORD: Dismissed.

(The military crew disperse, leaving just Colonels Telford and Young with Rush, the Senator and Chloe. Scott brings Eli to join the group.)

RUSH: Now, as you know, up until now, we have been unable to channel the precise amount of power necessary to unlock the Stargate's ninth and final chevron. However, thanks to some ingenuity from young Mr Wallace here, that problem has finally been solved.

YOUNG: We've heard that before.

RUSH: This time we're sure.

WALLACE: That's what I figured out?

RUSH: I embedded the mathematical problem we had to solve into the game. I then engineered your solution into a practical, workable application.

SENATOR: What say we get on with it?

RUSH: Absolutely. (He turns to a nearby technician.) Sergeant Riley?

(Riley types onto his computer and the first of the nine symbols appears on the screen. Rush gestures to the Senator.)

RILEY: Chevron one encoded.

RUSH: Sir?

(The Senator and the others move further back along the walkway as the Gate starts to spin.)

WALLACE: We're dialling now?

RUSH: A test –- to see if we can make a connection.

RILEY: Chevron one locked.

YOUNG: If we do, we will send an automated reconnaissance drone and we'll see what's on the other side.

RILEY: Chevron two locked.

ARMSTRONG: And then they'll go?

RUSH: No. First they close down again, assess the data we receive and then, perhaps, send the Away Team.

SCOTT (confidentially to Eli): If it works.

RILEY: Chevron four locked.

YOUNG: 'Til then, they're just interested observers, like us.

RILEY: Chevron five locked. Chevron six encoded.

(The Gate spins on.)

RILEY: Chevron six locked. Chevron seven encoded. ... Chevron seven locked. Chevron eight encoded. ... Chevron eight locked. Chevron nine encoded.

(As the Gate spins on, the base begins to shake, and lightning sparks down from the capacitors suspended over the top of the Gate.)

WALLACE (nervously): Wh-what's going on?

SCOTT: I don't know. We never got this far before.

RILEY: Chevron nine ...

(He watches as the Gate continues to spin.)

RILEY: Chevron nine ... will not lock.

(An alarm sounds on the computer as Colonel Telford turns towards Riley's console in concern. Rush hurries over there.)

RUSH: We matched the power requirements down to the E.M.U. It must work.

RILEY: Power levels in the Gate capacitors are going into the red.

YOUNG: Shut it down.

RUSH: No, wait, wait, wait!

RILEY: We're reading fluctuations in the output from the ...

YOUNG: Shut it down now.

(He puts his hand on Riley's shoulder to emphasise his order. Riley activates his controls and the Gate groans and slows down before coming to a halt. The capacitors continue to spark for a moment, then also shut down and the base stops shaking. Rush straightens up, his face a picture of disappointment. He turns to Young and forces a smile.)

RUSH: It should have worked.

YOUNG: Well, it didn't, and drawing power from the planet's core ...

RUSH (talking over him): Dangerous? Yes, I'm aware of that.

YOUNG: Regardless of what's been spent or what's at stake, my first priority is to ensure the safety of the people on this base.

RUSH: ... Of course. (He forces another smile.) Of course. Eli? We'd best run through your equations again.

(He smiles politely at the group as Eli looks startled.)

RUSH: Excuse me.

(He walks away as Eli calls after him, his voice high-pitched in indignation.)

WALLACE: You are not seriously putting this on me!

(He looks at Colonel Telford, who stares back at him with his arms folded and his face stern. Eli turns to the Senator.)

WALLACE: Not my fault.

THE PRESENT. There's less noise and confusion in the ship's Gate Room than before but some of the civilians are apparently still making a bit of a fuss.

GREER: You have to calm down. Seriously, you have to calm down.

(Some of the lights in the room come on. The civilians applaud.)

MAN: We've got power!

(Scott comes into the room as everyone chatters.)

SCOTT: Could I have everyone's attention, please?

(They carry on talking.)

SCOTT (a little louder): All right, please listen.

(Still his voice doesn't carry very far and the conversations continue.)

SCOTT (yelling): Hey, listen up!

(Finally everyone falls silent. Senator Armstrong walks over to Scott.)

SENATOR: What's going on?

SCOTT: We are on an Ancient spaceship.

MAN: What?!

SCOTT: That's all I've got. Now, what that means is that ...

SENATOR: ... It means you need to use the Stargate to get us all back home.

VARIOUS PEOPLE (simultaneously): Yeah!

SCOTT: That is definitely on the list of things to do, sir, but I think right now ...

SENATOR: You can consider that an order.

SCOTT: We're working on it, sir.

SENATOR: I need to speak to the person responsible for this. Where is Doctor Rush?

SCOTT (angrily): Would you just shut up for a second, will you?

SENATOR (equally angrily): How dare you talk to ...

(His face crumples in agony. Chloe rushes over to him in alarm.)

ARMSTRONG: Dad? (She catches him as he starts to fall.) Dad, please!

VOICE: Medic!

SCOTT (looking around at people): Water? Water?

(He takes the Senator's other arm and helps Chloe support him as they help him to an area where he can sit.)

ARMSTRONG: Sit down.

SENATOR: The pills ...

(He takes a pill from a bottle and puts it onto his tongue.)

SCOTT (to everyone): Look, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to explain the situation. We are on a ship but we have no idea where we are in relation to Earth. (To the Senator) Now, with respect, sir, the reason you might be having a hard time breathing right now is because the ship's life support system is not functioning properly.

(The crowd murmurs anxiously.)

SCOTT: Doctor Rush is working on that right now.

(He calls out.)

SCOTT: Brody and Park?

(Two scientists raise their hands.)

BRODY: Here.

PARK: Here.

SCOTT: OK, good. You two are with me.

BRODY: But these consoles just came on.

SCOTT: No! Nobody touch anything yet! (To Brody and Park) Doctor Rush needs your help. Everybody else –- just stay calm, stay put, please.

MAN: Stay put? What d'you mean? You're just going like that?

(Ignoring him, Scott leaves the room.)

FLASHBACK. At Icarus base, Rush has filled a whiteboard with mathematical equations and is gazing at the board intently.

RUSH: There has to be a mistake in here somewhere.

(Eli is sitting nearby and watching him incredulously.)

WALLACE: Seriously, who uses a whiteboard any more? You have computers, like, everywhere around here!

RUSH (still concentrating on the board): Power flow was in the target range. Why wouldn't the address connect?

WALLACE: Wrong address?

RUSH: There is only one found in the Ancient database on Atlantis.

WALLACE: With no other instructions?

RUSH: No, but that's not the issue. It has to be your proof.

WALLACE: My proof works. You know how I know that it does? Because you said so.

(Colonel Young approaches them.)

YOUNG: Gentlemen. How's it coming?

(Eli turns to him for a moment, then turns back to see Rush starting to wipe the equation off the whiteboard.)

WALLACE: Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?!

RUSH: We're starting from the beginning.

WALLACE: Wait, save!

(Rush continues wiping the board.)

WALLACE: Save, save!

YOUNG: Mr Wallace, I would like you to join me for dinner in the Officers' Mess.

WALLACE: Thank you. I'm starving!

RUSH (simultaneously): We're quite close to a solution, actually. I'd like Eli to keep working.

YOUNG: Well, we've been here for six months. It can wait a few more hours.

WALLACE: Thank you!

YOUNG: You're welcome.

(The two of them leave the room as Rush, frustrated, turns back to the whiteboard.)

OFFICERS' MESS. Eli, along with the Senator and Chloe and I.O.A. representative Wray, are seated at a long table with the officers.

WALLACE: So, Colonel, d'you really have no idea where this ninth chevron Stargate address will send you?

TELFORD: No idea at all.

WALLACE: Hmm!

TELFORD: But the Ancients built the Stargate with nine chevrons. It's gotta go somewhere.

(In the Gate Room, Doctor Rush consults a small notebook and starts to draw again on the whiteboard. He gets a diagram and some calculations onto the board, then sits down and looks at them for a while. Later, he's up again and drawing, but a moment later slams his pen against the board angrily. He thinks some more, then tears a page out of his notebook and screws it up. Throwing the pen on the ground noisily, he sits down again and stares at the board in frustration. Eventually he gives up and makes his way to the Officers' Mess. Unaware that he has come into the room, the group at the table is talking.)

TELFORD: We've also known for some time that the only way to lock the ninth chevron was to solve the power issue.

ARMSTRONG: Well, if anyone's going to solve it, I think Eli will.

(Eli looks at her, surprised, for a moment, then turns to the others.)

WALLACE (nonchalant and joking): Yes, that's right. It's true. I'm Math Boy.

(Everyone chuckles. At the doorway where Rush has stopped, Darren Becker, one of the mess staff, tries to get his attention.)

BECKER: Doctor Rush.

(Rush doesn't hear him, presumably still gutted by the fact that people seem to have more confidence in Eli than in him.)

BECKER: Doctor Rush.

(Rush turns and sees him holding out a polystyrene container of food. He shakes his head at Becker and looks back at the group for a moment before turning and leaving the room again.)

SENATOR (standing): I would like to propose a toast.

WALLACE: Oh, that's really not necessary.

SENATOR: Not to you.

WALLACE: Oh.

(Embarrassed, he picks up his own glass.)

SENATOR: When the proposal for this project first crossed my desk, I did not wanna approve it.

(Chloe promptly puts her glass down and buries her head in her hands. She clearly knows what's coming next.)

ARMSTRONG: Oh my God.

SENATOR: It seemed clear to me at the time that there were enough terrestrial matters of importance that needed that kind of money.

(Chloe lifts her head, picks up her glass of wine and starts to drain it.)

SENATOR: Now, being a proud father of a beautiful young woman is one thing; having that young woman exceed every possible expectation is quite another.

RUSH'S QUARTERS. Rush walks into his quarters and closes the door. Picking up a remote control, he switches on some operatic music. He walks across to his bed and sits down on the side, gazing down at the bedside table for a while before somewhat reluctantly opening the top drawer. A photograph of himself and a woman is inside and he takes it out and looks at it, tears dripping down his face. Still crying, he puts the photo back in the drawer and closes it again. He takes his spectacles off, continuing to weep.

OFFICERS' MESS. The Senator is still in full flow while Chloe drains her glass.

SENATOR: ... my daughter Chloe who reminded me that there was no greater endeavour than seeking an understanding of who we are and the mysteries of the universe in which we all exist.

ARMSTRONG (quietly, to Eli): Not in those exact words.

(She reaches for a bottle of wine and refills her glass.)

SENATOR: It was also her idea to embed the Ancient proof in a medium that would give us access to brilliant young minds ... (he gestures at Eli) ... that we would have otherwise overlooked.

(Chloe decides to cut her father's speech short and stands up, raising her glass.)

ARMSTRONG: And so to all the brave men and women who have volunteered ...

(There's the sound of a distant explosion and the base shakes momentarily.)

ARMSTRONG: OK, what was that?

(Colonel Young's radio squawks. He answers it.)

YOUNG: This is Young.

(He listens to what's being reported in his earpiece. There's another distant explosion and this time the room shakes more violently.)

YOUNG: The base is under attack. All non-combative personnel, report to your designated areas; everyone else to your battle stations. This is not a drill.

(Everyone gets to their feet and starts to hurry out.)

YOUNG: Senator, we need you and your daughter to go with Lieutenant Scott. Eli –- you as well.

WALLACE: Ooh, yeah, uh ...

(He scrambles to his feet.)

THE PRESENT. Rush and Eli are in a control room arguing with each other. Scott, Sergeant Greer, Brody and Park hurry towards the noise.

GREER: What's going on in here?

RUSH: The life support system is on, but for some reason it's not working properly. I'm attempting to re-set it.

(Eli turns to Scott.)

WALLACE: He has no idea what he's doing.

(Overhearing this, Greer instantly raises his rifle and aims it at Rush. Brody and Park nervously back away. Rush, showing no fear, stares back at Greer.)

GREER: Step away from that thing.

WALLACE (to Rush): That screen says that what you're doing is gonna overload ...

RUSH: Eli, please.

WALLACE: Is that what it says or not?

RUSH: You only think you know what it says on the screen because I embedded a rudimentary version of the Ancient language into the game. This is not a game.

SCOTT: Don't touch it, Rush.

RUSH: When oxygen aboard this ship falls below critical level, it will become increasingly difficult to concentrate.

WALLACE: What you're doing could blow up the whole ship.

SCOTT: Are you sure, Eli?

(Rush turns towards the console.)

GREER (loudly): Back off now, or I will shoot!

SCOTT (equally loudly): Lower your weapon, Sergeant!

GREER: He already screwed us once! I'm not gonna let him do it again.

FLASHBACK. ICARUS BASE. As people move to their designated areas, Colonel Young, now fully geared up, runs down a corridor against the flow.

YOUNG: I need to get through, people –- stand aside.

(Carrying two rifles and a bag, he races to the Detention Wing and swipes a card through a reader to open a cell door. He goes inside where Sergeant Greer is standing.)

YOUNG: Sergeant, we're under attack; don't know who, don't know why.

(He tosses him the bag and hands him one of the rifles.)

YOUNG: Consider the charges dropped. Go take your anger out on them.

GREER: Yes, sir.

(He heads out of the cell, Young following him.)

ICARUS PLANET. ORBIT. In space above the planet, a Goa'uld mothership and two Alkesh are firing towards the George Hammond which has moved into position above the base in an attempt to block the incoming fire. Its shields are deployed and it returns fire. The Goa'uld ship deploys its gliders which skim past the Hammond and head down towards the planet. On the weapons platform outside the base, Young radios up to the ship's commander, Colonel Samantha Carter.

YOUNG: What've you got, Colonel? Lucian Alliance?

CARTER: That would be my guess. They haven't introduced themselves. They started shooting the minute they came out of hyperspace. Our shields are holding, but we're not the target.

YOUNG: What's heading our way?

CARTER: A full squadron of gliders and a troop transport. We've cut them down some, but the rest'll be on your doorstep in less than three minutes.

YOUNG: Telford, did you copy?

(Colonel Telford is taxiing an F-302 out onto the runway.)

TELFORD: Roger that. If we can get to the transport before they land their troops, we stand a chance.

THE PRESENT. In the Ancient ship's Control Room, Rush has his fingers raised above the console as he addresses Greer, who still has his rifle aimed at him.

RUSH: I'm going to press that button. It's gonna fix the life support and then you and I and everyone else will be able to breathe and think much better.

GREER (softly): Don't do it.

(Scott walks around the console and goes over to stand beside Greer. He lays his hand on his arm.)

SCOTT: OK, look, Sergeant. I know we are in a tough situation here, but I am giving you an order. Lower ... your ... weapon.

(Greer stares at Rush in anguish but finally lowers his rifle. Rush looks at him for a moment longer, then slowly reaches down and presses the button on the console. There are no sounds from the console or from the ship to indicate whether anything has happened. Eli moves closer to the console to look at the screen.)

SCOTT: So?

RUSH (tetchily): Well, I suppose that would have been too simple.

(He turns and walks away. Eli looks at the screen again, then looks up at the soldiers and shrugs casually.)

WALLACE: Apparently that did nothing.

(Scott turns away and activates his radio.)

SCOTT: This may take a little more time, T.J. Hang in there.

(In the Gate Room, Johansen is kneeling by Colonel Young's unconscious body. It sounds like another air vent in the room is just shutting down. Her eyes fill with tears at Scott's news but she activates her radio.)

JOHANSEN: Copy.

FLASHBACK. Johansen is in I.O.A. representative Camile Wray's office.

WRAY: Does Colonel Young know about this?

JOHANSEN: He knows.

WRAY: Two weeks ago you told me that this was the best experience of your life. Something must have happened.

JOHANSEN: The scholarship came in. I-I guess I've just been too afraid to admit what I really want.

(Camile snorts.)

WRAY: Well, you didn't tell me you had even applied.

JOHANSEN: There's nothing else going on. You know I'd tell you.

WRAY: Unless you were protecting someone.

JOHANSEN: I'm not. Like I said, I just hadn't made up my mind.

THE PRESENT. Johansen looks across to Camile who is sitting nearby. They share a concerned look, then Johansen looks back at the unconscious colonel.

FLASHBACK. ICARUS BASE. The Lucian troop transport and its glider escort fly down towards the base. The troops on the platforms begin to fire at them as they come into range. The gliders return fire. Inside the base, people look up in concern at the nearby impacts. At a computer in the Gate Room, Sergeant Riley calls out.

RILEY: Doctor Rush? I'm reading a dangerous energy spike in the core.

RUSH: Eli, Eli. I need your help.

WALLACE: With what?

RUSH: The ninth chevron.

WALLACE: What?! We need to get the hell out of here!

RUSH: Look, it took us two years to find this site. The properties are unique. This may be our last chance.

(The base vibrates under a nearby explosion.)

RUSH: If this bombardment continues, the radioactive core's gonna go critical.

WALLACE: Y-you mean the planet –- it's gonna explode?

RUSH: Yes.

WALLACE: Ah! (He scrunches his eyes shut in a desperate bid to concentrate.) OK, OK, um, um, um, if my math works ...

RUSH: We can't assume that!

WALLACE: I said, 'If.' Then, if it works, then it's not a power supply issue, it's the Gate address.

RUSH: We've known the first eight symbols for years. The ninth has to be the Point of Origin.

WALLACE: So ... what if we're not on the planet you're supposed to be dialling from?

RUSH: This is where we are!

WALLACE: OK, what if we are not supposed to be here?

(Rush stares at him incredulously for a moment. Eli nods encouragingly to him.)

(Outside, the F-302s are aloft and taking the fight to the Lucian gliders.)

TELFORD: Icarus base, Telford. We can't hold 'em back.

(As if to prove his point, a glider fires dangerously close to the platform which Young is on. He and the other crew take cover as debris rains down on them.)

YOUNG: Let's go!

(One of the marines evacuates the platform while another lies on the ground, still winded. Young looks over the parapet and sees a glider, struck by weapons fire from a 302 and burning savagely, go into a death roll and start a kamikaze run towards the platform. As he goes over to the stricken marine and helps him to his feet, he yells into his radio.)

YOUNG: Sergeant Riley! Dial the Stargate to Earth!

(Dragging the marine with him, he hurries inside the mountain as the glider plunges into the platform and explodes. In the Gate Room, Riley is carrying out his orders and the Gate is already spinning.)

RILEY: Chevron one locked.

(Nearby, Eli is standing near the Gate's D.H.D. which is wired into the computer system. He is still trying to explain his thoughts to Rush.)

WALLACE: OK, follow me. The symbols on a Stargate are constellations as seen from Earth –- that's what you said.

RUSH (impatiently): Yes, yes.

WALLACE: OK, so what if Earth is supposed to be the Point of Origin?

RILEY: Chevron two locked.

RUSH: The only viable power source was here –- light years away.

WALLACE: What if that doesn't matter? What-what if ... what if it's the only combination that'll work, like a code?

RILEY: Chevron three locked.

RUSH: A code?

WALLACE: Yeah!

RILEY: Chevron four encoded.

(Rush turns to Riley.)

RUSH: Stop the dialling sequence.

RILEY: I have my orders.

RUSH: Get out of my way. (He shoves Riley out of his seat and sits down.) Get out of the way! We can't risk dialling Earth.

(He types and the Stargate stops spinning. Everyone in the Gate Room looks at the Gate in surprise.)

(Out in the corridors, many civilian staff, together with the Senator and Chloe, are hurrying along towards the Gate Room. The lights keep flickering as the Lucian gliders keep up their attack. A woman slips and falls to the floor and the Senator helps her up. Chloe, several feet ahead of him, rounds a corner but stops as there's an explosion from the corridor she just left and debris can be heard falling. Dust billows around the corner.)

ARMSTRONG: Dad?

(Going back to the junction, she cries out at what she sees.)

ARMSTRONG: Dad!

(She tries to run towards the debris now blocking the corridor but Scott grabs her and pulls her back.)

SCOTT: Chloe!

ARMSTRONG: Dad! My father! There could still be people trapped on the other side!

SCOTT (yelling to the people milling about behind him): All right, let's go, people! Get moving to the Gate Room!

(As some of the more experienced staff start hustling the others off down the corridor, Scott activates his radio.)

SCOTT: This is Scott. I've got about a dozen or so people cut off from the Gate Room. South-east corridor.

(Elsewhere, Johansen is applying a dressing to a large neck wound on a man lying on the floor with his eyes closed.)

JOHANSEN: OK.

(As another medic holds an oxygen mask to the man's face, Johansen unzips the man's jacket and starts C.P.R. Colonel Young walks up behind her and identifies himself so she doesn't need to turn around.)

YOUNG: Colonel Young. Is that Doctor Sims?

JOHANSEN (tearfully, to Sims): Stay with me, OK? (To Young) He was helping people get back from the surface.

(She continues her C.P.R.)

JOHANSEN: Sims, can you hear me?

YOUNG: T.J.

(She ignores him and continues compressions.)

YOUNG: T.J.

JOHANSEN (through gritted teeth): No!

(Young squats down beside her.)

YOUNG: Hey, Tamara. Hey. Tamara.

(Finally Johansen stops and turns to him, her eyes dead and angry.)

YOUNG: Come on. We've gotta go.

(Fighting back her tears, Johansen stands and walks away. Young follows her.)

ICARUS BASE. GATE ROOM. In the Gate Room, Rush types on the computer and looks hopefully at the Gate. Several of the symbols are already illuminated on the D.H.D. and now another chevron locks on the Gate. The room begins to shake as Rush types and the Gate starts to spin again. The computer shows that Earth's Point of Origin symbol has just been encoded. Everyone stares anxiously at the Gate as it continues to spin, but finally the chevron clunks and, a split second later, a massive energy vortex kawhooshes out. Everybody near the Gate ducks out of its way.

WALLACE: That is impressive.

(Rush stands up and walks over to look at the event horizon, frowning slightly about the size of the kawhoosh.)

RILEY: Power's fluctuating at critical levels.

(On board the Hammond, Major Marks reports to Carter.)

MARKS: Colonel! I'm detecting a massive build-up of energy from the planet.

(Carter comes over to look at the screen.)

CARTER: Recall our fighters. Radio Colonel Telford: he's got two minutes to get his people aboard before we jump to hyperspace.

(In the Gate Room, Colonel Young comes in and stares at all the people just standing around.)

YOUNG: What's everybody doing? I ordered an evacuation.

(When Rush doesn't reply, still apparently preoccupied by the earlier kawhoosh, Eli goes over to the colonel.)

WALLACE: Here. He didn't dial Earth. It's the nine chevron address.

YOUNG: What?!

(He walks towards Rush who finally reacts to his presence.)

RUSH: The attack started a chain reaction in the planet's core. There's no way of stopping that, and any blast could easily translate through an open wormhole. It's too dangerous to dial Earth.

YOUNG: You could have dialled somewhere else, anywhere else.

RUSH: This could be our only chance.

YOUNG: Shut it down.

RUSH: You can't –- it's too late.

YOUNG: Riley.

RILEY: System's not responding, sir.

YOUNG: I need to get these people out of here.

RUSH (gesturing to the Gate): We have a way out.

YOUNG: We don't know what's on the other side. Dammit, Rush!

WALLACE: Can't be worse than here, can it?

(Rush and Young lock gazes for a moment longer, then Young turns and looks at the Stargate before calling out to everyone in the room.)

YOUNG: Nobody move. Await further instructions.

(He heads off out of the room.)

THE PRESENT. Rush has returned to the Control Room and he and Eli are investigating the control panel and arguing over which button does what. From the bored look on Scott's face as he sits slumped nearby, they've been doing it for a while.

WALLACE: What's that? Well, it doesn't look like life support.

RUSH: Yes, I realise that.

(He presses an area on the central screen and a floating holographic screen appears in the middle of the room showing a picture of the Milky Way galaxy.)

WALLACE (awestruck): Woah.

(He walks closer, as do Scott and everyone else in the room apart from Rush.)

SCOTT: What are we looking at?

RUSH: It's a star map.

PARK: That's the Milky Way.

RUSH: I believe it's a visual log of the ship's journey.

(Eli points to a flashing light close to the edge of the spiral.)

WALLACE: So this is where we are now?

RUSH: No. That's where the ship originally embarked from.

BRODY: Earth.

(The map begins to pull out and a line shows the route of the ship as the Milky Way fades into the distance.)

PARK: It's leaving the galaxy.

RUSH: It did –- long ago.

(They watch as the line continues to travel through the stars, stopping at a couple of points and then continuing onwards. Brody recognises a constellation as the line whizzes away after a stop-off.)

BRODY: That was Pegasus.

(The line moves on, indicating many more points where the ship stopped.)

SCOTT: So those points are more stars?

WALLACE: No –- they're galaxies.

(Shocked, Scott walks over to Rush.)

SCOTT: Rush. Where the hell are we?

RUSH (quietly): Several billion light years from home.

FLASHBACK. ICARUS BASE. Scott is on his knees at the base of the debris blocking the corridor, trying to clear some of it away. Chloe stands behind him, staring anxiously and praying quietly.

ARMSTRONG: Please ...

YOUNG: Scott.

(He and Greer trot down the corridor to join him.)

YOUNG: Stand clear.

(Scott stands up and steps away as Greer takes out a block of C4 from his jacket and starts to fix a detonator to it.)

SCOTT: You could take down the rest of the roof with that.

YOUNG: We don't have time to argue. I need you to lead the evacuees through the Gate ... (he looks at Chloe) ... and you need to go with him.

ARMSTRONG: No! I'm staying here until I know my father's OK.

YOUNG (to Scott): Make sure everyone carries as much of the expedition supplies as they can.

SCOTT: Why?

YOUNG: 'Cause you're not going to Earth. Rush dialled the ninth chevron. Go.

(He turns towards the debris. Scott hesitates. Young turns back to him.)

YOUNG: Go!

(Scott turns and hurries off down the corridor.)

(The bombardment continues above ground, causing the base to shake and cement dust to cascade down on the people waiting in the Gate Room. Scott runs onto the walkway and calls out to everyone.)

SCOTT: Once I'm through, follow one at a time on a three count.

(He walks to the event horizon, pauses for a moment in front of it, then heads through. Two civilian women step onto the walkway and follow him. Nobody seems to be doing a three count, and as the evacuation continues and people get more nervous, they follow each other closely into the Gate. At the other end of the walkway, marines hand boxes and cases to each person heading for the Gate and they carry them through.)

(Out in the corridor, Young checks with Greer as he positions the C4.)

YOUNG: You good?

GREER: Yeah, let's go.

(He takes Chloe's arm and hustles her around a couple of corners. Young calls out to the blocked corridor.)

YOUNG: If you can hear me, stand back.

(Around the corner, Greer puts his arm over Chloe protectively as she cowers down and covers her ears. Young joins them and Greer hands him the detonator switch.)

YOUNG: OK, get down.

(All three of them squat down. Chloe sobs in fear.)

YOUNG (calling out): Fire in the hole!

(He presses the switch and the C4 explodes, rocking the corridor and showering the three of them with debris and cement dust. As soon as the explosion subsides, Greer jumps up and runs back around the corner, Chloe chasing after him.)

ARMSTRONG: Dad?

(Coughing, she watches as Greer reaches into the hole blown by the C4 and helps someone through the gap.)

ARMSTRONG: Dad?

GREER: Put your weight on me.

(Young joins them and Greer hands off the woman he is supporting to him, then turns to help the next person through. Chloe watches anxiously.)

YOUNG: Keep calm, everybody.

GREER (to the person he's helping): I got you.

ARMSTRONG (still praying): Please!

(In the Gate Room, the evacuation continues. A large chunk of ceiling crashes down onto the edge of the walkway, sending a marine tumbling to the floor. Johansen calls out to everyone.)

JOHANSEN: Everybody stay calm! Don't push!

(The evacuees continue to pour through the Gate. Eli reaches the event horizon, stares at it nervously, takes a deep breath and steps in.)

(In the corridor, Chloe is still waiting.)

ARMSTRONG: Dad?

(Young reaches into the gap and hauls the Senator through.)

ARMSTRONG: Ah! Careful! Careful!

YOUNG: You're OK, sir.

ARMSTRONG: Are you OK?

SENATOR: I'm the last one. All right, I'm all right.

(Young hands him over to Chloe, who helps him down the corridor.)

YOUNG: Greer, go. I'm right behind you.

(He activates his radio.)

YOUNG: Hammond, this is Young. Come in. Hammond, this is Young. Come in!

(He gazes upwards hopefully but gets no reply.)

(In the Gate Room the people rescued from the corridor are the last to head for the Gate.)

MARINE: Let's go, let's go, let's go, come on, people. Let's do it, let's do it!

(Chloe and the Senator head up onto the walkway. Above the Gate, the capacitors are fritzing ominously and sparking lightning onto the Gate. As the last marines go through, Young hurries into the room and clears a couple of boxes from on top of a large crate. He picks up a backpack and quickly empties its contents out onto the floor, then reaches into the crate and takes a case out of it. On the walkway, Greer is helping an injured colleague to the Gate. He turns and look at Young.)

GREER: Sir!

YOUNG: Go!

(Stuffing the case into the bag and zipping it closed, he hauls it up and over his shoulder, then races up onto the walkway. As he runs for the Gate, the base begins to explode behind him. The shockwave reaches him while he's still running and it lifts him off his feet and pushes him at high speed into the event horizon.)

(From a perspective high above the planet, a massive explosion tears the base and its surrounding area apart. The explosion travels onwards, blowing the planet to bits. The shockwave radiates outwards, enveloping the ships of the Lucian Alliance. There is no sign of the George Hammond.)

EARTH. THE PENTAGON. In a busy control room, Master Sergeant Walter Harriman reports to General O'Neill.

HARRIMAN: Sir. We've got Colonel Carter.

(O'Neill follows him across to a wallscreen.)

HARRIMAN (to a technician): On screen.

(Carter's face, transmitting from the bridge of the Hammond, appears on the screen.)

CARTER: General, we barely got away. The planet was destroyed. We managed to beam most of our people off the surface before jumping to hyperspace. We also believe that the enemy forces were destroyed. Any word on how they gained intel on our base?

O'NEILL: No. What about casualties?

CARTER: Twelve. Eighty-plus M.I.A. The bunker shielding technology prevented us from beaming out anyone inside. How many people made it through the Gate to Earth?

O'NEILL: None.

CARTER: None?! Our sensors indicated that the Stargate was active for a full six minutes before the core went critical.

O'NEILL: Well, they didn't come through here.

(Carter looks at him, bewildered.)

CARTER: Then where'd they go?