Water (episode)

"Water" is the sixth episode of the first season of Stargate Universe.

Synopsis
Much of Destiny's water reserves mysteriously disappears. The ship then reaches an ice planet, where the crew attempt a harvest in order to replenish the supply. However, the atmosphere and the ice around the area of the Stargate is poisonous, and they'd have to expand their search with limited air in the environmental suits. Meanwhile, Tamara Johansen works to catch an intruder believed responsible for the lost water.

Prologue
A team of ill prepared soldiers, scientists and civilians evacuate Icarus Base to the Destiny, but they have no idea where they are in relation to Earth, and with no way to return home, they are trapped there. One of the reasons why they cannot return home is because Nicholas Rush believes the ship no longer has the capability to dial Earth.

Plot
Sergeants Hunter Riley and Ronald Greer are guarding ship's water supplies. Riley tells Greer a story he heard where several miners in China were trapped in a cave in and survived by drinking their own urine, and eating coal, though that almost killed them. They are then joined by Colonel Everett Young, who hears that their water levels have dropped again, this time they lost half of their original supply, to 40,000 liters. No one has had any access to the supply; in one instance, Spencer was denied access after he wanted to take a look at the tank.

Eli Wallace speculates to Nicholas Rush that the water may have evaporated when they entered the star, but Rush says that the tank is a closed system. Young says that this no longer matters, as the ship is now recharged; they can dial Earth. However, Rush doesn't think so; since Destiny is a million years old, it could only charge up to 40% its original capacity, and that if they could have the power to dial Earth, it would be thousands of years ago. As Young leaves, he wants to use Eli for the time being, and will send Adam Brody to replace him and help Rush, since he's an engineer.

Young asked for Eli's assistance to use the Kino to spy on everyone who could be responsible for stealing water. The targets include Jeremy Franklin and Dale Volker in the mess hall. There, they hear that the two believe that the military is hoarding the water supplies to control the civilian population. Franklin soon notices the Kino. Young gains satisfaction that Franklin and Volker are not responsible, and asks Eli to continue on the other crew members. After Young leaves, a mysterious entity is swirling behind Eli, though he does not notice.

Sometime later, Destiny drops out of FTL. Young notices that Greer just had a strange feeling, which is not FTL-related. In fact, a few moments prior, the same entity passed behind him. They both make it to the Gate room, where the Stargate has just dialed a planet in the "Hoth system", named by Eli after the Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back. The only planet within range, "Hoth", is going through a snow storm, and is an ice planet. Temperatures are at -47 degrees, and has a thin and toxic atmosphere (only .13% molecular Oxygen, 95% Carbon dioxide, and a hint of Argon. There is however, potentially suitable water ice around the area. After they shut down the Gate, Young radios Matthew Scott for assistance, but receives no answer.

In fact, Scott is in one of the sleeping quarters, kissing Chloe Armstrong. They are interrupted by Vanessa James, who has caught them, and wonders if he paid attention to his radio; Young needs him. Sometime after, he joins Young with Lisa Park and a few other scientists, who have worked on two Ancient environmental suits and are working on the third. However, since it will take a day to finish on the third, and they only have 12 hours until the ship jumps back to FTL, they have to settle with two. Young and Scott are to go to the planet and collect the ice. The two suit up and prepare to leave the planet. They are given plasma cutters to cut the ice and bring it back to melt and replenish some of their water. They also only have eight hours worth of air on the suits, and as long as they don't take any deep breaths, they'll be fine. Young appoints Tamara Johansen in charge during his absence. Riley dials the planet again, and the two go through the wormhole.

After the two arrive, Young tests a sample of ice. However, they read very high ratings of ammonia. Scott suggests they dig through the ice to the fresh water beneath. However, the ice could be up to ten feet deep. They could widen the search area, but that would mean they'd bring less ice back. Upon hearing this, Eli comes up with an idea, and runs to his quarters. Young seems to have mined ice before, by suggesting they search for a pressure ridge. They are then struck by a tremor, which happens frequently on the planet. Eli arrives in the Gate room with his invention; a hover board made up with several Kinos hovering below a board; he came up with it in an attempt to fly, but feels it could hold lots of ice. He sends it through, and Scott and Young proceed to find the ridge.

Later, TJ discovers that the water level has dropped again. She orders Greer and Gorman to start a search for who may have stolen the water. Meanwhile, the thirty-eight minutes is up; the Stargate shuts down. Rush orders Riley to reactivate it. After establishing a connection back to Hoth, Young informs his that they found an area that looks promising. However, testing a sample still proves to contain lethal amounts of ammonia.

While, TJ walks through the corridors, she notices the same swirly vortex like entity in a nearby corridor. As it approaches her, the swarm starts to form the shape of her head before breaking up. Greer calls her, and tells her that she should come to Spencer's quarters. Turns out, Spencer has been hoarding two small tanks with water, and hoarding several energy bars. He claims that eh brought them with him during the evacuation. TJ orders some Marines to take him to a room until Young returns. She then tells Greer about what she witnessed, and orders him to continue searching the missing supplies. He then searches through Chloe's quarters, though she says she didn't take anything, she has nothing to hide. Franklin visits and resents the search. When Greer finds nothing, he announces Franklin is next.

Back on the planet, Young finds fresh ice in the form of a frozen waterfall. They plan to break the ice by shooting at it with the rifle they brought with them. Scott offers to do the honors. Since they only have limited ammunition, Scott fires some well placed shots into the waterfall to continue.

On board Destiny, TJ describes what she saw to others. Rush deduces that according to her description, they seem similar as the entity Scott encountered on the desert planet. They speculate that a small number followed Scott to the Destiny, and started breeding, and living off the ship's water supply. TJ suggests that everyone should stop wandering the ship. She uses the ship's internal communication to tell everyone to get to their quarters. She then asks Rush for some advice, but all he could give her, is to always consider the greater good.

Young and Scott have packed what they believe to be enough ice to bring back with the hover board. As they return to the Stargate, Greer calls Gorman down to the Gate room and assist. On the way, he encounters the entity, who approach him. Not knowing what they are, he considers them a threat and fires his sidearm. However, all this does is provoke the swarm. He fires more shots, but to no avail. The swarm start attacking him. In the process, they cut his skin several times, causing him a lot of bleeding.

The hover board makes it through, and they start unloading the ice. The Stargate is dialed again so they can return the board for another run. Rush informs Young of a problem, but doesn't say anything rather than they are handling it. Eli, however, tells him everything; they have aliens on the ship, and have seriously wounded Gorman, because he may have provoked them, and TJ is doing everything to save him. When Young offers to return, Rush tells him to stay on the planet, as he can handle it. After they finish, Rush tells Eli to keep quiet. His reasoning is that the ice planet would only replenish part of their supply, and they need more planets, and more able people who do not want to hear the situation until they return.

Greer suggests they hunt down bugs with his self-made flamethrower. However, TJ discourages it, because this may antagonize them further. TJ tells him to look for the swarm, but he is to do nothing but report to her. Eli comes up with another idea. He and Riley use a Kino and sees a swarm over the water tank. Greer sees the main swarm, and radios TJ. Despite orders not to, he fires the flamethrower, which scares the swarm away. They plan on luring them to an airlock. However, with none in the habitable part of the ship, TJ has another idea.

Young and Scott have loaded another pile of ice, and start walking to the Stargate again. However, Scott steps into a thin layer of ice, and falls into a crevasse. Young brings down a rope, so Scott can hold on to, and Young can raise him up. However, getting him out proves to be impossible when Scott is wedged on the crevasse. The two are then hit with another tremor. Fortunately, Scott is still wedged in. Young contacts TJ, and wonders if Park has finished with the third suit. However, everyone is confined in quarters. Greer, meanwhile, is still succeeded in luring the swarm.

Scott suggests Young give him the rifle so he can shoot the ice and loosen him enough to be picked up. However, the bullets could ricochet and rupture the suit. Plasma cutters aren't a good idea either. Another tremor hits the area, wedging Scott in further. Scott soon notices that his suit is starting to lose pressure, and can hear air hissing out. Young reports to Rush, who believes Young should leave Scott behind and return with the ice. Chloe, who is recently informed of the situation, overhears this and is appalled by what she heard. Young also disagrees with Rush, and is adamant that both the ice and Scott will return. He tries tugging him up again, but to no avail. Scott starts agreeing with Rush, and tells Young to leave him, since he lost people before. However, Young refuses to let that happen again.

Greer successfully lures the swarm to a room, and closes it. From there, Rush drains all oxygen to the room. However, no oxygen does not affect them. All they succeed in doing is angering them. Soon enough, some start to escape through the tiny gaps between the doors. Greer holds them off with the flamethrower, but they need another plan fast.

Scott is still in the crevasse. This time, he has lost a lot of oxygen and is not longer responsive. Another tremor hits the area. This time, the crevasse opens up slightly, giving Scott enough space to be pulled out. Scott regains consciousness, and uses what little strength he has to pull himself up. Young succeeds, but with little air left on the suit, they must return to the Stargate. Scott is lying on the hover board, where Young starts pushing it into the Stargate's direction.

Meanwhile, TJ has an idea and brings a barrel of water with her, enough to house the swarm. They open the door, while TJ opens the barrel. The swarm does not attack TJ, and they all make it to the barrel, where she soon closes it. Quickly, she and a few others carry the water barrel to the Gate room. She orders to dial the Stargate. Whilst this is happening, Young stills drags the hover board with Scott to the Stargate. He notice the Stargate dialing in, and orders it to be shut down so they can return. Rush tells them to wait a moment, as they are sending the bugs through. After the barrel is through, the bugs escape. They seem to recognize Scott; they proceed to mimic his head and smile down at him. After the Stargate shuts down, Young dials out. Moments later, the two are through. They take Scott's helmet off and proceed to take him to the infirmary.

After the ship jumps back into FTL, Young enters Spencer's holding room. He gives him a stern warning; if Spencer steps out of line again, he will be dealt with personally. As he exits, Spencer claims he understands, but after he is gone, Greer doesn't believe he is. Young later walks along a corridor, ignoring Franklin, Park and Volker on their issues. He records another message on the Kino, and says that at around 3am, ship time, Gorman succumbed to his injuries, and TJ did her best to save him. He is planning on holding the appropriate service for tomorrow.

Notable Quotes
Riley: I read about these Chinese miners that survived a cave-in for six days by drinking their urine. Greer: I'm going to go ahead and pretend I didn't hear that. Riley: Yeah. You know what they ate? Coal. Greer: Coal? Riley: Yeah, that's a true story. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was pretty stupid. Almost killed them.

Young: Think I can't tell when somebody just pulls a number out of his ass? Rush: What? Eli: Uh, I actually pulled that number out of my ass. He's not making it up.

Eli: Woah. Looks like we entered the Hoth system. (Eli is given blank looks) Eli: Empire Strikes Back? The second Star Wars movie. OK, I refuse to call it "Episode Five".

Scott: No, that's just as stupid. Young: That's just as stupid, sir.

Eli: Don't worry. You'll run out of air long before we leave you behind.

(Eli notices Greer holding a flamethrower) Eli: Where'd you get that? Greer: I can invent things too. Eli: Hey, we've really gotta work together on this project.

Background notes

 * The ice planet is named "Hoth" by Eli Wallace and the producers. It was named after the ice planet of the same name in Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back.
 * This Episode marks the death of Corporal Gorman, the second confirmed death in the series since arriving on board Destiny, after Alan Armstrong; Curtis and Andrea Palmer are just missing in action.
 * This is the first Stargate Universe episode where the wormhole effect was shown.
 * The plot, in which there are unexpected water shortages, and harvesting from an ice planet to replenish the water supply, share similarities with Battlestar Galactica episode, also named "Water"

International airdates

 * Canada: October 30, 2009 (Space)
 * United Kingdom: November 3, 2009 (Sky1)
 * Australia: November 6, 2009 (Sci Fi Australia)
 * Poland, Romania and the Balkans: February 4, 2010 (Sci Fi Channel)

Production

 * It was confirmed on April 15, 2009 by Joseph Mallozzi's weblog that the episode was being filmed.
 * According to Brian J. Smith, the episode will be where Matthew Scott will be "at his best."

Ratings

 * United States: 1.974 million viewers, equals a 1.3/2 Household rating/share (0.8/2 18-49 rating/share). Also the sixth most viewed programme for Syfy the week it aired.
 * United Kingdom: 858,000, the third most viewed programme for Sky1 the week it aired.