"Why do you have to park so far away?" "This ridge was a little further away than it looked." "You can't just land a Jumper anywhere, Rodney." "It doesn't matter now, I think we're almost there." "Rodney, do you even know what it is we are looking for?" "Yeah, well, whatever it is, it's around here somewhere." "What's around here?" "Whatever it was that was causing the energy spike we detected from the Puddle Jumper." "D'you have any idea what that looks like?" "I'll know it when I see it..." "And I see it." "Looks like a door." "Yes, it is remarkably door-like" "Well, looks like the only way through the ridge anyway." "It runs for miles." "Alright, let's check it out." " There's something there." " What?" "Some kind of an energy barrier around the threshold." "It disappeared." "Or it went right through a cloak." "It has many of the same properties as a cloaking field." "Yeah, and the Ancients did tend to hide all the really cool stuff." "Yeah, I would just like to be able to explain these readings better before we step through." "Get me a branch." "You got tape?" "Because..." "I got a camera!" "I didn't ask for a log!" "Thank you!" "OK, so..." "Tape it to the stick..." "We extend the camera through, record for a few minutes, pull it back, play the recorder." "Yeah!" "MALP on a stick!" "Yes, MALP on a stick, very clever." "Are we done?" "Yep!" "I am not fluent in Ancient but I do recognise a few words." "'Welcome' and 'ascension'." "Ascension?" "To a higher plane of existence." "The race of people who built the Stargate, they eventually evolved to a point where they ascended to a state of pure energy." "That'd be great!" "Yeah, well, sadly it's a matter of... evolution." "Anyway..." "I'm sure we've got more than enough now." "There we go." "And... have a look, shall we?" "OK, then!" "Any volunteers?" "I'll go." "Just... back out if you encounter anything problematic." "Problematic?" "Yeah, like poisonous atmosphere, acid atmosphere, no atmosphere." "Hey, it's a MALP on a stick, only shows you so much." "OK." "Here goes." "Weird!" "What is wrong?" "Yeah, it's kinda hurting my hands a little." "OK, so get outta there." "I'm trying to, but it's pulling me in." "I got you." "OK, come on, guys, get me outta here." "I'm tryin'." "Well, try harder." "No, we proved this it shouldn't be happening." "Well, it is!" "It's pulling me in!" "It's too strong!" "Don't touch the barrier!" "I don't know if you can hear me over the radio, but..." "I'm finally on the other side." "Looks just like the pictures." "Hurts pretty bad to move." "I don't know if I can..." "Alright, you guys... stay put." "Why did you tell us to let him go?" "Because you weren't gonna stop and the last thing we need is both of you to get pulled in with him." "Why would the Ancestors create something that would do this?" "I don't know." " Figure it out or you're going in after him!" " OK, that is not helping!" "Obviously the portal reacts differently to living matter than it does to inanimate objects." "It might even be specific to humans." "This is Sheppard, can you hear me now?" "I've taken a good look around the area." "Cave opens up to the other side of the ridge." "There's not much there, so..." "I'm just gonna... wait here... and give you guys a chance to figure this one out." "Colonel Sheppard, this is Teyla." "Please respond." "You're wasting your time and it's not gonna work." "Colonel, if you can hear me, please respond." "There's absolutely nothing on this tape that could possibly indicate any kind..." "Oh, no!" "What?" "The memory's full." "It's recorded almost two hours and... and the battery just died!" "Dammit!" "Why are you wasting time?" "That is the one thing I am not doing." "OK, look," "I need something living, like a, like a flower, or a blossom." "OK." "Now would not be a good time to throw that rock I asked you to throw a few hours ago." "I'd never see it coming, this side is as black as oil." "There's one thing I haven't tried, so if you can hear me... stand back." "And if you can't..." "Well, then I guess you can't hear me." "Good one, John!" "Shoot yourself!" "This is downright problematic, Rodney!" "To test a theory." "Work with me here, people." "Look, if I'm right, we need to hurry." "What are you doin', McKay?" "I am trying to determine how much faster time is passing on the other side of the portal than it is here." "Why would time progress faster?" "That doesn't make any sense." "That is what I am trying to prove." "Now, just wait!" "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine..." " McKay..." " ten, bear with me, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, and twenty." "A whole lot faster!" "Can you hear me now?" "The cave opens up to the other side of the ridge but there's nothing in the immediate area I can survive on." "OK, that's day two and I'm out of water." "We don't leave our people behind, right?" "How about sending me a signal to show me that you're still there?" "Doesn't have to be a rock, you can write a damn note." "I'm gonna turn off my radio for another six hours to conserve the battery, and try to get some sleep." "Sheppard out." "The blossoms have aged several hours at least." "We might be able to pick him up in the Jumper but I need to get back to Atlantis." "You're not goin' anywhere." "It is a time dilation field, which means that time is passing much faster on the other side of the portal than it is here for us." "I'm not sure of the exact ratio, but I need to go now." "Why?" "I don't have time to explain temporal compression theory to you when every moment we stand here debating this, literally hours could be going by for Colonel Sheppard relative to us." "Look, hours equate to days, and days for us could mean years for him." "Do you get it now?" "Teyla!" "I need you to follow me back as far as the Puddle Jumper and I'll explain what I need you to do on the way." "And you, stay here." "And do what?" "Don't go through, if that's what you're thinking." "Give me the knapsack." "Rodney, Teyla..." "Ronon?" "Come in?" "You guys are starting to worry me a little bit here." "Empty your pockets, everything you think he might need to survive." "We might just buy him a little more time there." "Come on." " Go." " Good." "What the hell took you guys so long?" "Alright." "Emergency rations, medical kit." "Anything else?" "Extra batteries for the camcorder." "Right." "You know what to do?" "Press Record, extend and hold for three seconds." "No more, no less." " And then pull it out again." " Right." "If he's still there, that should give him plenty of time to record a detailed message." "Dammit!" "Why didn't I send through a note?" "What do you mean if he is still there?" "Look, depending on the compression ratio inside the field, there's a very good chance he may have used up the supplies we've sent through by the time you get back." " I know it's hard to get your head around but what it means is we have to..." " we must hurry." "Right." "Go-go-go-go-go-go-go." "Good!" "Alright!" "Right!" "What, you have no idea whether he's injured?" "The excruciating pain he was experiencing was a result of the temporal differential." "And what is that, exactly?" "The... portal must somehow dampen the extreme tidal forces that would normally occur in the event horizon of a time dilation field, and we were keeping him from passing through it." "So part of his body is experiencing time at a different pace than the other?" "Who knows what that could do to him?" "I have no idea, but I suspect he could use a doctor." "So you don't even know if he's alive?" "The most time-efficient approach was to assume that he was alive but stranded." "And why not assume that he'll make his own way back through the portal?" "Because Cl Sheppard would have already had hours to try to make it back through the portal in the time" "I wasted explaining the situation to Conan and Xena!" " Now, Rodney, that's not very..." " No." "No, I suppose it isn't." "This is McKay." "Supplies been loaded aboard yet?" "Almost there, Sir." "Just a few more cases." "Alright." "When you're done with that, make sure you assist Zelenka in securing the descent probe into the launch compartment." "Let's move." "This is Sheppard." "I'm pretty sure you can't hear me, but I don't have a volleyball to talk to, so what the hell..." "I've rationed what little I have for as long as I could but" "I have enough left for maybe one more day." "I've gotta get myself something to live on while I find my own source of food and water." "Not that I didn't appreciate the three canteens of water and the whole handful of power bars." "There's nothing in the immediate area." "I'm gonna have to go further out." "I'm giving you an indication of where I go, as I go." "Sheppard out." "That was quick." "Not fast enough, I fear." "Get the camera." "Doctor McKay would like us to try this again." "To see if Sheppard's still alive?" "And to determine the true passage of time on the other side." "Alright." "Alright." "One, two, three." "That wasn't long enough to see anything." "And yet it seems to have recorded several minutes." "He is not there." "Well, you're either gonna eat me, or..." "I'm gonna eat you." "We've loaded weeks of supplies and everything I could think of." "What're we not thinking of?" "Now take a minute, and be certain." "If your theory is correct, you won't be able to make many of these trips." "I am painfully aware of that." "I remind you only because from what you've told me, rushing is what got Sheppard into trouble in the first place." "This was not his fault, it was mine." "I should have looked more closely at the video." "The clues were there before he even stepped through." "Look, all I can hope to do now is fix this within his lifetime." "His lifetime?" "If it takes us a week to ten days to fix this, then it won't matter, because he will probably have died of old age." "Oh my God." "Yeah, hence the rushing." "Now, you ready?" "You don't look ready." "I'm ready." "I need to pick up a few of my books to help with the translation." "Well, we'll pick `em up on the way, and I hope you've got us a real Jumper pilot because I don't trust him and I can't fly the damned thing in a straight line." "Help!" "Help me, please!" "Where is it?" "It's there." "In the trees." " What is it?" " The Beast!" " Alright, is there a safe place for us to go?" " No, no, the Cloister is too far." "It's upon us!" "Stay down, and stay behind me." "You can't fight it!" "Maybe we can scare it away." "Get outta here!" "There it is." "Well, according to these readings, it's not there." "Rodney, I can see it with my own eyes it's right inside that crater." "It's hard to say whether the Ancients actually built it inside the crater or whether the rim formed as a result of the time dilation field." "The Jumper sensors aren't picking up anything?" "Nothing, ma'am." "Alright." "Position us directly above it and stand by." "Prepare to launch the probe on my mark." "What is this probe of yours supposed to do?" "Well, it's supposed to descend slowly into the atmosphere of a gas giant." "The `chute opens, the probe separates into two components joined by a tether hundreds of metres long." "So we should be able to receive telemetry from inside the time dilation field while the other half of the probe is still outside." "Right." "And depending on the variance, we might be able to fly right into the field and rescue Sheppard." "Very clever, Rodney!" "Yes, it is." "Actually, it was Zelenka's idea." "Hi." "He's awake again!" "I am now!" "I am Teer." "Have we met?" "When Avrid first brought you here." "You were terribly injured from fighting the Beast." "Avrid carried you almost halfway across the Sanctuary." "And I healed you." "You did?" "You're a little young to be a doctor." "Hedda is one of the few among us who possesses the healing power." "Well, good." "Thank you." "It's we who should thank you for saving our brother from the Beast." "It's funny, I don't remember winning." "It's good to see you awake and well again." "Didn't it come after you?" "No." "Only the Ascended know why." "None of them are around, are they?" "Are you hungry?" "Starving." "Which one of you got me out of my clothes and into these?" "I did." "Is that alright?" "Yeah." "I just usually like to... meet a woman before she sees me naked." "What do we have here?" "I'm glad you're feeling better." "Welcome to your new home." "Avrid, I'm happy to visit and I'm grateful for the food and the whole healing thing, but... do you know the way out of here?" "There is no way to leave, John, other than to ascend." "What exactly do you mean by "there's no way"?" "That is the sole purpose of this place..." "To meditate upon ascension and one day join those who created the Sanctuary." "The thing is, I've got other plans." "Then why did you enter the portal?" "Well, call it a mistake." "I tried to stop it but the damned thing sucked me in." "Those that came before us made certain that there could be no indecision." "Once you set foot within the Sanctuary, your path was chosen." "Not by me!" "Once you cross the threshold, you are committed to be here for the remainder of your days." "Alright." "Launch the probe on my mark." "Three, two, one, mark." "The probe's about to pass through the field." "Stand by." "Dammit!" " What happened?" " Exactly what I was afraid would happen." "The probe was ripped apart by tidal forces at the event horizon almost instantly." "So we can't fly through it and rescue Colonel Sheppard?" "Not unless we wanna be ripped apart too!" "Did you receive any telemetry before the probe failed?" "Actually quite a lot." "Looks like mostly gibberish, though." "This is gonna take me the better part of an hour to go through." "I'm glad I finally got you outside." "You've been alone in your room for so long." "I'm being depressed." "Is it so terrible here?" "No, you folks have been great." "It's just..." "I have responsibilities back home." "People I care about, and who care about me." "At least I thought they did." "Why'd you come here?" "Well, I was born here." "No, I mean your people." "Well, they came generations ago." "I'm from a race of people who revered those who came before us, those who created this place." "We call them Ancients." "To follow in their footsteps, to ascend, was the greatest goal among our forefathers." "Many centuries ago, some of our people sensed it was within them to do so." "It took them many years to discover the location of this world and once they found it, they came to this world as a pilgrimage." "We are their descendants." "Not many of you left." "No." "We are the last." "So what's holdin' you back?" "Journeys such as ours can take a lifetime." "You afraid it might not happen?" "We're not afraid of anything." "Well, I'd be pretty afraid of that Beast thing." "As long as we stay in the Cloister, we're safe." "And what kind of life is that?" "Well, life here is not entirely without its pleasures." "The telemetry was not entirely gibberish." "Bring up the HUD." "I've been able to determine the location of the power source inside the field, here." "What good is that?" "Once we know where the generator is, one way or another, I should be able to turn it off." "You know, you don't have to do this for me every morning." "You saved my brother's life." "Then shouldn't he be the one bringing me breakfast?" "He is meditating with the others." "He's always meditating." "Everyone's always meditating." "At least share it with me." "It's OK." "It is very close." "It's here." "It's never come inside the Cloister." " I am scared." " It's OK." " Take her inside." " John..." " Do it." " Go." "OK, people, I'm starting to develop some serious abandonment issues here!" "OK, but I'm warning you I've got a knife!" "No!" "Come back!" "Come back!" "Come back!" "Now there's two of us!" "Ronon!" "He left a sign for us to see." "He must have gone to look for another way out." "At least we know he may still be alive." "Teyla, Ronon." "We're inbound in the Jumper and should touch down in a few minutes." "Meet us at the landing site." "Understood." "We thought we'd lost you again." "What happened?" "I've never seen such bravery." "Were it not for you, all may have been lost." "I don't remember winning this time either." "He's not fully healed." " I'm fine." " You've done enough, Hedda." "Come on." "Let's get you some rest." "What the hell's the matter with you people?" "I don't understand." "I'm talking about letting her stand out there alone against that thing." "Violence is not the path to ascension." "There's a difference between violence and self-defence." "We are very close to ascension, John." "All of us." "If we leave the path, it may be lost to us forever." "Everything may be lost to you forever unless you stand up to that damned thing." "I must join the others in meditation." "You sure it was three seconds?" "Yes." "And there's twelve minutes of video." "Yes." "Alright, so it's a ratio of about..." "Two hundred and fifty to one." "I sent my watch through, along with a letter to Colonel Sheppard telling him we're doing our best to rescue him." "If you would like to check again..." "No, that's good, that's good, that's good, good..good thinking." "Just out of curiosity, what does that mean for Colonel Sheppard in terms of... days?" "We're already talking months." "You don't have to wait up for me." "You've been gone over a day." "Yeah, well, after I found my weapons," "I decided to take a run all the way back to the portal, and look what I found." "I don't know what took `em so long, but my friends finally sent some supplies through." "There are people here who care for you." "Sorry, I should've... told somebody." "I knew." "I was following your journey in my mind." "I was with you since you left the Cloister." "Is that some special power of yours you haven't told me about?" "Yes." "I've been with you each time you've searched for a means to leave us." "As Hedda has the power to heal, I am able to see images in my mind." "It's not uncommon for those on the path to ascension to gain such abilities." "I wish you woulda told me, I could've used you out there." "It took me forever to find this stuff!" "Before my mother ascended, she could move things with her mind." "You can imagine how wondrous that would be for a child." "Sit with me." "I was the one who sent Avrid to find you." "You did?" "Because I knew you were coming that night, and I knew where you would be in the field and I have known since I was a child that you would sit here with me as you do now." "I've been able to close my eyes and see your face my entire life, John." "You are the one." "The one what?" "The one who will lead us to ascension." "What is it?" "Nothin'." "I just was hoping you were going in a different direction with that." "I've seen that as well." "That's why I waited for you." "Really?" "Tonight." "Tonight?" "I..." "I wish you woulda told me, I wouldn't have gone on a ten-hour run." "And in the coming days, once you have defeated the Beast, we will ascend together, all of us." "You mean all of you." "I haven't given up on you just yet." "I don't know how that's gonna happen, Teer." "I really don't." "Look, I've been up against that thing twice." "I don't see how a third time's gonna turn out any different." "You don't have to know how." "You just have to trust that it will." "OK, I think I've got it." "I am interpreting a bit, but it seems the field was designed as a sanctuary from the Wraith, but a place the last of the Ancients could travel to and hopefully ascend without fear of attack." "Of course." "They could potentially spend entire lifetimes inside the field before the Wraith even discovered the place." "And if they ever attacked, their ships would get torn apart just as the probe did." "And so it has remained for ten thousand years." "This writing here... this serves as a sort of welcome, as well as a warning for any of the humans under their protection looking for sanctuary, but I think it was left there for anyone who wanted to seek the path to ascension on their own." "And what's the warning?" "That once you cross the threshold, there's no return." "That is, unless you have the exact location of the power source and the expertise to turn it off." "Hey, we may even get a ZedPM out of this." "Now you're talkin'." "Lieutenant, this is Weir." "If you haven't heard from us in..." "Rodney?" "Well, an hour would give us months in there, but," "Elizabeth, of all the people who should stay, it would be you." "There may be writing by the power source that needs translating." " There is a slight chance that when we go through..." " Rodney," "I'm going." "Lieutenant, one hour, then head back to Atlantis and see if Zelenka can think of anything." "Understood." "Well, he may need medical treatment and I'm the only doctor here, so I should probably just..." "Carson, it probably won't hurt so much if you just go through quickly." "Alright, let's do this." "That wasn't so bad!" "You were just..." "That's weird...?" "Well, we may as well relax." "The others are gonna be at least five minutes." "Judging by the location of the power source, we've got a long walk ahead of us, so..." "Haven't any of you seen thunderstorms?" "The Sanctuary provides rain for the orchards." "I'm talkin' about thunder and lightning." "Giant bolts of electricity shooting down from the sky." "Sounds scary." "Well, it is scary, but it's also very cool." "It's OK to be scared, it's part of life." "You know, when I was a kid, we used to have storms that shook the house." "Scared me half to death." "When we are ascended, we will experience such things." "Hell, if you're ascended, you can make thunderstorms!" "I'm talking about actually experiencing life." "We contemplate on the experience that is life each day." "I'm talking about living it." "Haven't any of you got things you wanna do as flesh and blood human beings first?" "I mean, you, you talk about moving on to a plane of existence beyond your own mortality, but you haven't even really lived." "Our lives are full." "Well, I've spent a long time with you folks, and I don't think "full" means what you think it means." "To ascend, one must meditate." "You're not meditating, you're hiding." "From what?" "You know the answer to that." "He means the Beast." "Yes, I do." "Now I don't know how any of you expect me to feel like I belong here, but every time that thing comes around," "I'm out there alone." "You're not alone." "I know, you were out there too." "No, I mean your friends have come." "They number five." "They've come for you." "They have?" "Are, are you sure?" "That's the best news I've..." "No, John, I sense something more." "The Beast is nearly upon them." "You know, I was just thinking, this entire field, I mean not the field" "I mean the field, field must generate its own day and night cycle, not to mention its own artificial climate." "I mean, it's incredible!" "When you think..." "You wanna pick up the pace, McKay?" "Hey, he's waited for months." "Another half hour isn't gonna kill him." "We don't know how long it's gonna take to find him." "Aye, and besides that, I have a date planned with Lieutenant Cadman for tomorrow night." "Oh, no, so we've only got twelve years in here!" "What?" "What is it?" "I'm not detecting anything." "Doesn't mean it isn't there." "Can you see anything?" "No." "But I sense something is close." "Maybe we should try another way?" "Won't make any difference." "It's stalking us." "Sounds like it's more than one." "Yeah, more than one what?" "I do not know." "What the hell took you so long?" "Believe it or not, you were only gone a couple of hours." "Try six months!" "You don't understand, you've been trapped in a time dilation field." "What?" " What was that bloody thing?" " I don't know." "What's a time dilation field?" "Can we talk about this somewhere else?" "No, it is still close." "You've fought this thing before?" "Twice." "How did you beat it?" "Still haven't figured that out." "Now'd be a good time." "Yeah, well, what'd you say we just fight it and see what happens?" "John?" "Friends of yours?" "We've come to stand with you, whatever happens." "No, we've come to fight." "And we are not afraid of you." "The Beast is of our own creation, and it is long past time we sent it away." "That's it?" "That's all it took?" "You were right, John." "We were afraid." "The Beast was the final burden we had to shed, manifest from our own fears." "You gave us the courage to face it." "Come with us." "I'm not ready for that yet." "I'm not sure I'll ever be." "One day, perhaps?" "Yeah, one day." "I'll look forward to it." "There'll be no need to destroy the Sanctuary, Doctor McKay." "What?" "No..., I wasn't thinking that, I was..." "We will keep the portal open for you until you are gone." "At which point the ZedPM which undoubtedly powers this beautiful place will be..." "Sanctuary was left by those who came before us, for those who may seek it out and follow the path." "And it will continue to remain after you are gone." "Yeah, but..." "Absolutely." "What is it with you and ascended women?" "Well, the beard is interesting!" "First thing to go when we get home." "Never thought I'd see any of you again." "Kind of even... missed you a little." "Yeah, well, it was only a couple of hours for us, so..." "Ronon." "We were all quite worried about you." "Of course we were." "We're just sorry we didn't get here sooner." "Let's get outta here!" "corrections and synchro by THU22"