"NARRATOR." "Previously, on Stargate Atlantis." "This is Weir." "What's the nature of Major Sheppard's injury?" "Some sort of funky alien bug attached itself to his neck." "Part of Ellia is human, and part of her comes from a creature we call the iratus bug." "Now it's possible, by means of this retrovirus, that we can strip away those parts and leave only the human parts behind." "Good Lord." "She took the retrovirus." " You said it wasn't ready." " It's not." "Not by a long shot." "(SCREAMING)" " You okay?" " Yeah." " This really isn't necessary, Doc." " Yes, it is." "You've got a serious laceration on your arm and you've lost a good deal of blood." "McKAY:" "Yeah, enjoy the ride, Colonel." "They're making me walk." " You have a splinter, Rodney." " Yes, a very nasty, painful splinter." "BECKETT:" "All right, let's have a look at this." "All right." "Thank you." "This might hurt a wee bit." "(GROANING)" "I'm sure it will." " BECKETT:" "This doesn't sting?" " No." "I know you have a high threshold for pain, but this..." "This is what?" " Gone" " What?" "The feeding mark." "It's completely healed." " Maybe the wound wasn't that bad." " Then where'd all the blood come from?" "I don't know, maybe it just looked a lot worse than it was." "But I don't see evidence of any cut at all." " That's weird, because it hurt like hell." " You're sure the skin was broken?" "Yeah, I'm pretty sure." "There was a lot of blood." " Maybe it was hers." " It was definitely human." "I don't know." "Maybe it was a nosebleed." " Is that supposed to be a joke, Colonel?" " Believe me, this isn't funny." "Give me half a day to run your blood work and analyze it with the data we already have." " We'll figure it out." " And until then?" " You're welcome to look over my shoulder." " Yeah, that's tempting, but..." "Just go about your day." " I thought you said you were a runner." " That's funny." "I can usually barely keep up." "What's with you?" " (PANTING) What's with you?" " Water?" "Hey, sore loser." "I don't act like a jerk when you beat me." "Yes, you do." "Okay, then we'll go around again." "Go ahead." "Okay, grumpy." "I will." "Dr. Beckett?" "I thought you'd want to see this." "Is this from Colonel Sheppard's blood sample?" "That's right." " And you've run it twice?" " Of course." "Okay, let's run it one more time." "I wanna be certain before I tell him." "All right." " Not bad, huh?" " Yes, yes." "You're doing very well." " You have been practicing." " Not really." " You have been practicing." " Not really." "(GASPING)" "You are showing a considerable leap in ability, Colonel Sheppard." "You can call me John when we're off the clock." " Very well, John." " There you go." "Should we continue, or do you..." "I'm not really sure just what happened." "Colonel..." "That was interesting." "BECKETTON PA." "Colonel Sheppard, please report to the infirmary." "Are you okay?" "Dr. Beckett will be expecting you." "Yeah." "BECKETT:" "The good news is we can now say with some certainty that Ellia didn't drain away any of your life." " We already knew that." " I suppose." "That's the best good news you could come up with?" "It looks like you've been infected with the iratus bug retrovirus." "The one we were working on to turn Ellia into a human." "You mean the one that didn't turn her into a human." "Ellia administered the treatment prematurely." "It wasn't ready." "It wasn't even supposed to be..." " I'm not blaming you, Doc." " But you're right." "Her transformation was into a creature closer to the iratus bug than to a human, and I know how much you..." " Hate those bugs?" " Yes." "But for one, Ellia was a Wraith and she took a massive dose of the retrovirus." "Do we know how the Colonel's system might respond to the drug?" "I have no idea." "It was never engineered to be given to a human." "It was never intended to be given to anyone." "Doc, let it go." "But the problem is, I have no idea how your body will react." "I can't even begin to guess." "Well, if how I feel is any indication, I'm fine." "It's certainly possible that it's already breaking down in your system." "Ellia's transformation was extreme and immediate." " See?" " But the wound in your arm healed unnaturally fast." " Lf there was a wound." " Well, there had to be." "Otherwise, I don't see how you got infected in the first place." "Well, she was spitting an awful lot." " So, what, we just monitor it for now?" " Aye." " You'll need to check in every six hours." " I can do that." "And you should probably..." "Suspend my offworld activities until we know more." "Thank you." "See you in six hours." "(BEEPING)" "You're working late." " No, not really." " Yeah." "We keep trying to remove it from the terminals on the Daedalus." "Somehow the crew keeps finding a way of putting it back." "Never get between a genius and a computer game." "Aren't you scheduled to fly out?" "I was supposed to, yes, until I heard about Sheppard." "He's under Beckett's supervision." "If the Lieutenant Colonel finds himself unable to perform his duties, that's..." "You have a ship to command, Colonel." "I wouldn't wanna spread you too thin." "Novak and Hermiod are running a full diagnostic on our FTL drive." "They're worried about the constant use jumping between galaxies." "Which is to say, if I need to, I have some time." "Okay." "Let me think about it." "Thank you." " You got chess on there?" " As a matter of fact, I do." "Well, I have to warn you that I am a career military strategist." "Well, I'll have to take my chances." "Hey, Doc, this is Sheppard." "BECKETT." "Yes, Colonel?" "We may have to bump up our first check-in." "(BEEPING)" "The retrovirus isn't breaking down in his system like we hoped it would." " You're positive?" " Yes." "In fact, it's beginning to alter his DNA." "If it's allowed to continue he'll devolve into a creature similar to what Ellia became." " How long do we have?" " I'm not sure exactly." " Ballpark." "Months?" "Weeks?" " Days." "We have days." " Okay, what's the plan?" " I've injected him with a viral inhibitor." "It should slow down the retrovirus as far as his cognitive abilities are concerned." "But I'm afraid that's it so far." "We're exploring various treatments that may or not be effective, so..." "No, Carson, we don't have any time to explore." "Come on, there's gotta be something in the Ancient database that can help you find a treatment." "I know that, Elizabeth." "We're doing our best." "I'm sorry." "I know." "Of course you are." "You should talk to him." "He's hiding it very well, but if I was him I'd be scared to death." "How am I doing?" "Anything that has you speechless has me concerned." " You're gonna be fine." " Wow." "That's dead man talk." " No, it isn't." " Have you seen this?" " Beckett is gonna figure this one out." " I think I already have." "You know who I'm starting to feel like?" "Ford." "Now, what happened to you is completely different." "I know, I know." "Still, I can feel it." "I mean, I can feel it changing me inside, like he did." "I don't think that's even possible." "Look, you're very worried..." "No, no." "No, it's..." "One of the best weeks of my life was when I got my wisdom teeth out." "I was on codeine for a full seven days." "This is kind of the same." "I know I should be in pain, or at the very least freaked out by this." "And I'm not." "And that freaks me out more than anything." " We're gonna beat this." " "We're gonna beat this?" ""Beckett will figure this out." "You're gonna be fine?"" "You really suck at the whole bedside manner thing." "I know." "I'm sorry." "But I appreciate the effort." "No." "No." "No, that would only work if the retrovirus is doing" " what we had originally intended it to do." " I disagree." "You are not taking into account what's happening to his somatic cells." "The only thing I have to take into account is how off you are, and I don't think I'm not the only one who sees that." "So, let's move on." "Wait, wait, wait." "Oh, God." "We're looking at this all wrong." "The best idea we've had so far, is to try to repair his system on the genetic level by administering a massive cloned embryonic stem cell treatment." "I still think it's our best bet." "Introducing more human genetic material into his body is only gonna give the retrovirus more fuel." "I don't know how much simpler I can say that." "Yes, yes, I agree." "That's why we have to use the iratus bug stem cells." " I'm sorry?" " The iratus bug stem cell programmed with human RNA wouldn't get rejected by his system, and would be practically ignored by the current strain of retrovirus." "And would be practically ignored by the current strain of retrovirus." " We attack it from the inside." " Exactly." "It would be like our own magic bullet that can navigate the retrovirus and start to repair his mutated cells." "The only bug pieces we have are from a sample that died a year ago." "I have no doubt we could program the cells if we had them." "But we do not have the time to artificially produce a gene therapy of that kind of volume." "Which means, ladies and gentlemen, we need to go on an egg hunt." "(DOOR OPENING)" "It's okay." "Sit." "Please." " How's the Colonel?" " Not very well." " I'm sorry to hear that." " Yeah, so am I." "I think it would be best if you do assume Colonel Sheppard's duties until..." "Consider it done." "Just until he's back on his feet." "You two are pretty close, aren't you?" "Well, we've been through a lot together, yes." "You've got the best team in two galaxies working on a way to get him back to normal." "My money's on success." "And if you need someone to talk to..." "If you could assume those duties effective immediately." " I can do that." " Thank you." "The Ancient database has quite a lot of information about the iratus bug." "We know what planet it's on, we know that it likes cool, damp, dark places to lay its eggs." " It shouldn't be that hard to locate." " Wait a minute." "The last time we ran into one of these things, we almost lost Sheppard." "How do you expect to just walk right into one of their nests?" "I don't see that we have any other choice." "We need the iratus stem cells." "The best stem cells come from embryos." "With them, we actually have a chance of saving Colonel Sheppard." "Without them, he'll die." " And this is the only option we have?" " And time's an issue as well." "You have no idea what will happen." "There's only one certainty, what will happen if we do nothing." "LORNE:" "We all understand the risks, Dr. Weir." "And I believe that Colonel Sheppard would do the same for any one of us." "Permission granted." "I need an hour to get my things together." "Okay, gear up." "One hour." "Look, I made a new friend." " It's only protocol." " That's your answer for everything." "You look well." "Should you be out of bed?" "I was going a little crazy down there, so they said I could walk around for a bit." " That's good." " Yeah." "Look, I'm trying to say I wanna go on this mission." "Hey, you said yourself." "You are not fit for any offworld activity." "The inhibitor that Beckett's got me on, the one that's keeping me lucid, they keep having to up the dose." " I know." "They told me." " I don't know how much more time I have, but the last thing I wanna do is sit on my mutating hands while my team puts their lives on the line trying to find me a cure." " I should be with them." " No." "I'm sorry." "What's the worst that can happen?" "I die?" "You could compromise the mission." "They have enough things to worry about" " up there without..." " So what, suddenly I'm a liability?" " Your condition can change rapidly." " I know." "And I know I can do this." "I'm glad you feel that way." "But it would be irresponsible..." " This is my life we're talking about." " I know that." " I'm going on that mission." " No, John, you're not." "Damn it!" "It's okay!" "Put it down!" "I'm betting that didn't sell you." "No." "No, not really." " I should go back to the infirmary." " Yes." "So, what are we looking for?" "According to the Ancient database, probably a cave." ""Cool, damp and dark." Which I translate "scary, awful, bad."" "They wouldn't want their nests out in the open." "A cave keeps eggs away from the predators." "I always figured they were the predator." "I guarantee there's something out here worse." " Really?" " They gotta feed on something." " Thank you." "Thank you for that." " You're welcome." "The foot of that mountain range starts about a mile up this way." " It's probably our best bet for caves." " BECKETT:" "Agreed." "LORNE:" "Okay, let's pick up the pace." "What do you think you're doing?" "Sergeant, you wanna give us a minute, please?" " What's the problem?" " This." "This is the problem." ""Memo to all Atlantis personnel regarding new security protocols"?" "Is there a part there that you disagree with in particular?" "You are just keeping Sheppard's chair warm, Colonel." " Don't lose sight of that." " Look, he's done a good job here." "There's just some rookie mistakes that I thought needed fixing." "So you went ahead and changed them without talking to me." "I don't need to check with you about how I run the military operations on this base, ma'am." "They tell me you're also thinking of rearranging the offworld teams." "Again, Sheppard had things a little backwards." " I figure, while I'm here..." " Well, you figured wrong." "There's no telling when Sheppard's going to be better." "None of the estimates that I've heard are soon." "On the contrary, I think I may be doing a little more than keeping the Colonel's chair warm, ma'am." "I mean, just look at his scheduling, labor distribution." " I don't need to." " Well, somebody needed to." "Do you think I don't know what you're doing?" " I'm trying to improve things." " Look, I'm not saying that you're wrong, or even that I object to all of these changes." "Excuse me?" "Because I thought that's exactly..." "You could have waited a week." "Or even a day." "You making sweeping changes to the way John Sheppard runs things just hours after being assigned to this position sends only one message, that he's not coming back." "LORNE:" "You think this is it?" "BECKETT:" "It certainly smells like there's something living in there." "Yeah, or dying." "I cannot see that far into the cave." "Oh, well, that is disgusting." "They're in there." "And you had to pick it up and smell it to figure that out." " To know it's recent." " Well, how recent?" " So, what's the plan?" " Well, we go in there," " we get some eggs and then we come out." " Okay." "Ronon, Teyla, you're on point with me." "Walker, Stevens, you take our six." "Docs, just stay in the middle and try not to get bit, okay?" "Well, maybe someone should stay out here." "So that you're all alone when a dozen of them come stampeding out here?" "I'm in the middle." "Let's do it." "(BUZZING)" "RONON:" "Hear that?" "TEYLA:" "Yes." "Looks like we got the right address." "You don't seriously think that's gonna help, do you?" "Yeah, when they see your neck before mine, you won't think it's stupid." "Where are these eggs supposed to be?" "The database says they have a central nest." "I'm hoping we'll know it when we see it." "John?" " SHEPPARD:" "Leave them off." " What?" "The lights." "Leave the lights off." "Okay." "I thought I should come by and practice my bedside manner." "How are you?" "My body's mutating into a bug." "How are you?" "Would you like an update on your team's progress?" "They've found an iratus cave and they've headed in." "Good." "They should locate some eggs and be back here in no time." " No time?" " Yes." "Then what?" "Honestly, I don't know." "Hey, are you all right?" " Would you like me to call someone?" " Who would you call?" " Lf you need to see a doctor..." " I need a bigger security detail." " Excuse me?" " At least two men stationed at my door." "Sooner rather than later." "Now what are you talking about?" "Just trust me, Elizabeth." "You're gonna need it." "Listen, John..." "Oh, my God." "They need to hurry." " You should be in the infirmary." " The infirmary isn't secure." "The inhibitor is only keeping me lucid." "It's not slowing the retrovirus." " Still..." " Don't argue with me!" "I'm not safe to be around anymore." "Get some more men at my door and get the hell out of here." "Okay." "Okay." "(SIGHING)" " Double the detail." " Code 1-6." "(BEEPING)" "(BUZZING)" "Doc." "Good God." "I think this is it." "So how do we wanna play this?" " They'll defend their young." " Maybe we should make a diversion." " Are you volunteering?" " I'll shut up." "I do not believe we can get close enough to retrieve the eggs without these creatures attacking." "I have this." "But I need to get under that." "Hand me that water canister." "If there's one thing we know about these little buggers, it's that they hate salt water." "How's that gonna help us?" "Just watch." "(SQUEAKING)" " See?" "Not so stupid." " Oh, shut it." "(SQUEAKING CONTINUES)" "Doc." "We've come this far." "Heads up!" "BECKETT:" "Holy crap." "Carson, run!" "(GUNS FIRING)" "LORNE:" "Let's go!" "Come on!" "Get out of here!" "Don't look back!" "Don't look back!" "Come on!" "Walker, Stevens, get the hell out of there!" "(MAN SCREAMING)" "Walker, Stevens, do you copy?" "Fire in the hole!" "Let's go!" "(EXPLOSION)" "(EXPLOSION)" " I think that stopped them." " We're not sticking around to find out." "I'm pulling the plug on this mission." "Let's get back to the gate." " We can't give up." " But we just lost two men in there, Doc." "So unless you can find another way to get those eggs out of there, we're done." "Understand?" "Let's go." "The nest is incredibly well protected." "There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of them." " I just don't think it's possible." " So where does that leave us?" "Without the stem cells our plan is not promising." "Okay." "I'll tell him." " How is he?" " I wouldn't go in there, ma'am." "I'll be fine." "John?" "So this is when I usually ask you a stupid question, like, "How are you feeling?"" "John?" "John?" "Our team got back from the mission." "The nest was too well protected." "We were unable to retrieve the eggs." " They tried their best." " Best?" " The bugs attacked..." " Try again." " I can't do that." " Why?" " John..." " No." " I understand..." " lf you won't, then kill me now." " John." " It's better for the both of us." "I can't do that." "Then try again." "(GASPING)" "We lost Walker and Stevens." "I won't send another team." "I won't risk more lives!" "(MAN GROANING)" "(COUGHING)" "This is Weir!" "We have a security breach!" "Colonel Sheppard's quarters!" "McKAY:" "Okay, we've got a lock on him." "(BEEPING)" " That can't be him." "It's moving too fast." " It's him." "CALDWELL:" "All right." "Four teams." "Surround him and close in." "I want him stopped." "And, gentlemen, use whatever level force you deem necessary." "Move out." "You will only use such force as a last resort." "That's not Sheppard anymore, ma'am." "You heard me." "You coming?" "Yes." " Lock down the stargate." " Right." "I thought you said that he couldn't use the transports." "I said I doubted he was lucid enough." "Well, shut them down." "He's not gonna do it again." "Thus stranding your search teams." "CALDWELL." "Bravo Team, you're on deck." "Tango is on the floor right below you." "You heard the man." "Down the stairs." " Ronon, where're you going?" " Let him go." "Bravo Team and Sheppard are in the same room." "Stay sharp." "He should be right in there with you." "Anyone have a visual?" "Above us!" "Colonel!" "Please." "Do not make me do this." "(GUN FIRES)" "(GUN FIRING)" "Get the doctor down here." "I have him." "(BEEPING)" "BECKETT:" "I put him in a medically induced coma for now." "I was afraid he might break through the restraints." " That's a good call, Doctor." " So, what now?" "The retrovirus has wreaked havoc on his system," " and it's taking over." " What does that mean?" "It means if we don't find a way to stop the retrovirus in the next 24 hours, what is left of the John Sheppard we know will be gone." " You guys are up late." " Can't sleep either?" " Any progress?" " No." "He's still in a coma." "At least he isn't in any pain." " Maybe if I went alone, maybe..." " It's not open for discussion." " I'm not good at sitting still." " I understand." "Believe me, I appreciate how you feel." "Look, we have closed down that section of the infirmary, but if you feel the need to..." "What I mean to say is, if you would like to have a private goodbye you should probably do it soon." "Are we really there?" "I think we might be." "BECKETT." "Dr. Weir, I need to speak to you immediately." "WEIR:" "What is it?" "Meet me in your office." "I think I have an idea." "I'm sorry." "It just came to me." "The fact that his mutation has progressed as far as it has may be his salvation." " Explain that." " His sweat glands are actually producing trace amounts of their signature pheromone." " And?" " When we were in the cave, those bugs knew we didn't belong there." "So they didn't really fancy us getting close to their nest." "So they didn't really fancy us getting close to their nest." "Whoa, whoa." "I see where you're going with this." "If we can artificially create the pheromone, we might be able confuse them enough to leave us alone." " Aye, that would work." " Well, that's an excellent plan, Carson." " Aye, I wish it was." " You can't do that in time?" "No." "It'd take days." "WEIR:" "You said Sheppard only had 24 hours before the damage the retrovirus was causing him would be irreparable." " Exactly." " Well, then it's a terrible plan, Carson." "There's only one person on this base that wouldn't need the artificial pheromone." " Sheppard?" " He could walk right in that cave and those bugs wouldn't pay him any mind." "I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but Colonel Sheppard's not feeling very well." "He stopped taking the inhibitor we were administering." "It was able to keep him lucid." " I thought its effectiveness had worn off." " True." "But I believe if we give him a massive dose, he may be clear-headed enough to complete the mission before we lose him completely." "Yeah, but won't giving him that much inhibitor, like..." "BECKETT:" "Kill him?" "Yes, it's a definite possibility." "Even if I knew it was for certain," "I'd be tempted to offer him one last hour of lucidity." "Do it." "Gear up." "Take him as far as the cave." "John?" "John." "Hey." "You're in the infirmary." "Sorry about the headache." "It's a side effect of the inhibitor." "Did I hurt anyone?" "No, not seriously." " Did Ronon shoot me?" " You had it coming." "Look, we don't have a lot of time." "This dose of the inhibitor drug will only last about an hour." "How would you like to go on a mission?" " Now you realize that you may have to..." " It's already set to stun." "He's ready." "(McKAY EX CLAIMING)" "Good to see you up and about." "All right, come on." "We don't have a lot of time." "Good luck." "Use this and collect as many as you can." "Oh, God." "At least a container full, do you understand?" "Colonel Sheppard, you know that we cannot go in there with you, but you need to hurry." "It took us a little longer to get here than we would have liked." "(BUZZING)" "(BEEPING)" "What is that?" "That's how long I estimated the inhibitor would work." " So that means he's..." " There's no way to know for certain." " We should go in." " And do what?" " Lf the inhibitor has worn off..." " Then he's beyond our help." "I hear something." "Colonel?" "(YELLING)" "(GRUNTING)" " Do you have enough?" " Aye, I think so." "It's not gonna happen overnight, you can bet on that." "But the transformation has begun to reverse itself." " So eventually he'll be back in uniform?" " Eventually." "Well done, Carson, for once again elevating medicine to actual science." " Well, thank you, Rodney." " You'll finally be able to get some sleep." " Keep me posted." " All right." " We might..." " Stay a while." " Well, if that's all right?" " Of course." "If and when Colonel Sheppard resumes his duties," "I hope he'll consider some of the changes that I've made." " When he does, that'll be up to him." " Of course." "Daedalus will head back to Earth in less than a week." "I'll be out of your hair in no time." "We'll try to manage without you until you get back." "Despite what you may think of my intentions, Dr. Weir," "I'm not your enemy." "Believe me, Colonel, you don't wanna be." "Good." "Now, lift, block, serpentine, lock and hold." "Understood?" "Colonel." "Should you be up and about?" "I have been cooped up in that damn infirmary for a couple of weeks." "Give me a break." "You are looking well." "Are you feeling more like yourself?" "Well, according to my DNA, I'm 100% John Sheppard again." "Although, I gotta say," "I'm looking forward to getting rid of this thing one day." "Doc says it'll clear up eventually." "So listen." "While I've been laying there the past few weeks," "I've been remembering things." "Some things I might have done that you could call out of character." "You mean when you attacked the security detail?" " Yeah, that was one of them." " Yes." "There is another thing I should probably apologize for." "Give it no further thought." "Good." "I won't." "Nice to have you back," "John." "(SIGHING)"