Space

"Space" is the eleventh episode of the first season of Stargate Universe.

Synopsis
Colonel Everett Young's consciousness is accidentally and temporarily switched with an unknown being through a mishap with the communication stones, resulting in a standoff between the Destiny and an unknown alien race.

Prologue
A group of people are stuck on Destiny after an attack on Icarus Base, and are now trapped there. During the time on Destiny, tensions rise between Nicholas Rush and Everett Young. The expedition discovers the early repository of knowledge, but Young is unwilling to let anybody use it. However, Jeremy Franklin uses it, and is placed in a coma. Camile Wray reports her doubts about Young's command to her IOA superiors. Recently, Rush frames Young for murdering Spencer, who actually committed suicide. After Young learns Rush is trying subvert his command, he abandons Rush on a barren planet, and returns claiming that he died in a rock slide.

Plot
Colonel Everett Young is shaving in his quarters. As he finishes, he has brief flashbacks about leaving Nicholas Rush on the barren planet. He decides to pay Tamara Johansen a visit for a check up. TJ believes that Young may have been affected by Rush's recent loss, as well as those of Gorman and Spencer, though Young claims he is fine. TJ offers to talk about it with Young, since emotionally, several situations have been left unresolved. However, Young pushes that request aside and leaves the infirmary, to report back to his superiors on Earth. En route, he encounters Camile Wray, who also wishes to report back to Earth later in the day, to give her details on the events of Rush's "death", believing Young may have killed him due to the tensions between the two. Young is not concerned; since only he and Rush were on the planet on the time, he is confident that his version of events will hold weight.

He arrives in the communications room and meets with Sergeant Ronald Greer, Lieutenant Matthew Scott, and Caine, who is filling in for the still-recovering Hunter Riley. Eli Wallace is listening in from a Kino. TJ and Lt. Vanessa James come in to ask Eli about a pressure problem in the shower room. Seeing Caine in the video feed, James admits her infatuation towards him, even after Eli tries to warn her to stop. Caine then notes that he can hear her over the Kino. They agree to act as if it didn't happen and James retreats from the Kino room in embarrassment; TJ, on the other hand, finds it hilarious. In the meantime, Young places a stone onto the long-range communication device. However, where he arrives is not Homeworld Command, but a corridor of what appears to be another ship. He explores for a little while, and then sees a blueberry alien exit some sort of elevation platform; Young seems baffled about what is going on.

Meanwhile, the team in the communication room greet whoever is occupying Young's body. However, he doesn't talk back, and just looks around as if confused. Scott touches Young on the shoulder to get his attention, and the person responds by attacking him. Greer joins in on the struggle and is able to subdue him. As he keeps Young's body pinned, Caine manually disconnects the stones, allowing Young's consciousness to return to his body. Young wants to know what just happened. TJ believes the entire incident may have been in his imagination, but Young insists that his imagination isn't that good; he knows what he saw, and until further notice, all communication between Earth and Destiny is to be halted until the problem is resolved.

After he leaves, he returns to his quarters to stitch up tears on his socks. Wray pays him a visit. She again displays signs of suspicion, since it is rather convienient for communication to Earth to suddenly malfunction just as she was about to report to Earth. She believes he is delaying her to tell Homeworld Command about what she believed happened to Rush. He again dismisses her suspicions, forcing Wray to leave.

In the Mess hall, Chloe Armstrong is given a few tomatoes which were grown from hydroponics. She sits with Eli and is enthusiastic about what other fruits would be grown, such as strawberries by next month. However, Eli points out that what she has in her hand are "sort-of tomatoes"; Chloe eats it and discovers that they taste very odd. Chloe soon notices Eli's rather uncharacteristic bad mood. Eli claims he hasn't slept much recently, since Young has him working around the clock to understand everything Rush was working on before his disappearance. They then overhear a conversation between two people, who question whether or not Young actually killed Rush.

Later, Wray holds a meeting with Doctors Adam Brody and Dale Volker in the hydroponics lab. They all agree that the military are acting like they run everything on the ship, and that the last person who questioned this, who was Rush, is now no longer with them. They feel they should do something about it. As the meeting is happening, Eli is recording it using a Kino hidden in a nearby vent.

Destiny soon drops out of FTL, and the expedition dials the Stargate to a planet with purple vegetation, which Brody believes is caused by the presence of a red dwarf star. Brody believes whoever visits the planets should go in environmental suits in case of radiation spikes. Young and Scott leave to get suited.

However, on the way, they are stopped by James, who has to show them something that just appeared. When they arrive at the observation deck, they see a spaceship nearby, possibly the same one Young visited during the communication malfunction. Young rushes to the control interface room, where Eli is pulling up visual of the ship, which is so far doing nothing. He suggests they communicate with the vessel. He sends out a basic greeting in Ancient. A moment later, they receive a reply: it is just one word, and in English; "surrender".

Believing an attack may be imminent, he orders Eli to bring up the weapons, and radios the rest of the expedition to move to their designated areas. Young and Greer head towards the shuttle. Several members gather in the observation deck to see the alien ship. Back in the control interface room, Eli detects what he believes to be several smaller ships heading towards Destiny. Eli discovers only 30% of the ship's weapons are functional, since Rush placed limits to prevent a possible overload of the ship. Young remains confident Eli will find a work around.

Scott pilots the shuttle as Greer controls its weapons. After the fighters are in range, they start firing, and are able to destroy some of the fighters before they pass the shuttle and head towards Destiny. Eli starts firing the forward turrets. In the meantime, Destiny suffers heavy fire from the enemy; since the ship is old, it requires some of the power used for the shield to power the weapons. As two personnel run through a corridor, a power surge occurs, electrifying the entire passage. James orders everyone to stay back unless they wish to suffer the same fate. Young tells Eli to get the ship working, as the expedition is counting on him. However, Eli does not believe he can do it, and remarks "you should have thought of that before you got rid of Rush" when pressed by Young.

James runs through the dangerous corridor, risking her own life, and reaches a manual bypass, shutting down power in the section so TJ can treat those caught in the surge. Meanwhile, an enemy fighter docks on the hull near Chloe's quarters. She leaves to investigate with a soldier nearby. She witnesses the aliens cutting a hole through the ceiling. After a moment, the same fighter lifts off, exposing the corridor to space. A forcefield seals the breach after a few moments, protecting the soldier from being sucked out. He radios Young to give him some news.

Soon, the expedition witnesses all the remaining fighters are returning to their ship. Greer suggests they keep firing, but is ordered to stop by Young, who just received word that Chloe may be on one of the fighters. The shuttle is called back to Destiny. Scott requests that they send the shuttle back out to retrieve Chloe, as the ship hasn't tried to depart. Young denies the request. He also believes that the attack may have been a distraction to take prisoners. He wants to rescue her his way, by using the communication stones.

In the meantime, Chloe awakens to find that she is masked in an underwater holding tank. She sees an alien walk towards her, and it scares her with a menacing screech.

TJ and a few others check over the wounded in the battle. The woman who was electrocuted in the corridor earlier is unresponsive, and her heart has stopped. As TJ attempts to revive her, Caine is called into the communication room. There, Scott and Greer restrain Young to prevent an alien from attacking them again after the communication device is activated. Scott wants to go to the ship himself, but Young overrules him. They decide to give Young 20 minutes to find Chloe before they pull him out again.

Immediately after placing the stones, Young finds himself in the alien's body again. Meanwhile, the alien inhabiting Young's body starts to struggle in its restraints, but they are holding. Scott questions why they attacked Destiny, but the alien merely snarls in response. Caine speculates that it may simply be incapable of responding, and that the message sent earlier was probably sent through a translation device. Meanwhile on the alien ship, Young passes a room full of aliens. One of them looks up to Young and attempts to communicate. After Young does not reply, the alien just ignores him. After exploring some more, Young notices a window to an underwater tank. He wipes away the condensation, and is stunned to find that an unconscious Rush is occupying it; Rush must have been captured by the aliens sometime after he was abandoned on the barren planet.

Young locks the room so he can break Rush out of the tank. He rips a pipe from a nearby wall and smashes the glass. This awakens Rush, who sees an alien in front of him from his perspective. Young cannot talk, so he gestures to him that he means no harm. Rush shows the Young two devices, which he explains a form a mental link between two individuals; one transmits, the other receives. Young takes the transmitter, but once he activates it, Young collapses in pain. After reading his mind, Rush realizes the alien is Young. However, the devices cause a break in the link from the communication stone, and Young ends up back in his body. Rush realises this, and quickly reads the alien's mind to gain a basic understanding of the technology and layout of ship. In its memories, he witnesses the alien handling a communication stone, thus explaining why Young traded places with the alien instead of the intended person on Earth. Since the alien is a threat again, Rush fights with it, and is able to strangle it to death. This prevents Young from returning.

The alien ship begins to attack Destiny again, this time more aggressively. Eli and Brody run to the control interface room, and discovers that the shields will not hold much longer. Young orders Eli to activate the main cannon and destroy the alien mothership, not revealing what he found on board. Eli insists that doing so will drain power from the shields and leave them defenseless, but Young orders him to do so anyway. Scott tries to object, but is overruled, so he takes the shuttle with Greer in the hopes of rescuing Chloe. By then, the shields are half depleted, but the main cannon, which is now operational, has begun firing on the mothership. However, this action is starting to overload the weapons. Soon enough, one more shot may destroy Destiny in the process. Young, however, is adamant for the ship to be destroyed.

On the alien vessel, Rush easily finds Chloe, and frees her. She awakens in shock to see him alive and well. Having learned the layout of the vessel, he takes her to the fighter bay. Meanwhile, Greer and Scott, having yet to launch the shuttle, notice that the fighters are retreating again, except for one. In the interface room, Brody notices something; the mothership goes into FTL, away from Destiny.

Meanwhile, the lone fighter docks with Destiny. Greer and Scott run to the location to hear drilling noises. The two retreat to cover and brandish their sidearms in anticipation of an alien confrontation. They are surprised to see Chloe jump down to the corridor floor. She reunites with Scott, while a second person jumps down; Rush. Greer is surprised to see him, since he believed he was killed in a rockslide. Rush merely explains Young got it wrong again. Greer radios Young to report something he is not going to believe. Young knows what this means; Rush is back.

Destiny enters FTL again. In the mess hall, Rush tells Eli, Chloe, Scott, and Volker that after he was able to "free himself" from the "rock slide", going along with Young's claim, he entered the crashed ship, and began checking the systems. He must have activated the ship's distress signal, which lead the mothership to the location. The aliens found and imprisoned him, occasionally using the mind link devices to extract information on Destiny. Rush managed to resist giving away anything important. When Eli wonders why the aliens attacked them, Rush speculates that their true interest is in Destiny itself, and they only attacked in the hopes of unlocking those secrets. They are all glad to have Rush back in light of what's happened.

Rush meets with Young in his quarters. Both admit their wrongdoing, though neither is apologetic for it, and they agree to put aside their differences for the sake of the crew. Elsewhere, Caine and Tamara discuss him possibly having a relationship with Vanessa James. He has decided against it, reasoning that having a relationship fail on an isolated ship would be awkward. However, he does add that he might change his opinion later on. Young, having apparently come to talk to Tamara, overhears the comment and leaves without making himself known.

In a montage, James is in her room, crying. Rush and Adam Brody are shown working in the control interface room. Eli shows Young the footage of Wray and the other civilian personnel he recorded earlier. Greer looks at a photo in his bag (obscured to the viewer) happily. Tamara looks over the injured from the attack. Caine is shown drinking alone in the viewing room. Finally, Young is sewing up holes in his socks.

In the final scene, Rush meets with Wray in the hydroponics room. They both agree that Young is dangerous, and Rush points out that he was nearly killed when he tried to do something about it. She assures him that "Next time will be different."

Notable quotes
James: Doctor Caine's pretty cute, huh? (Eli fails to stop her) There is nothing sexier than a widower, a man who's proven that he can make a commitment and is single through no fault of his own. I mean, what more could you ask for? Caine: I can hear you. James: (embarrased) Uh, I'm so sorry. Caine: How about we just carry on like nothing happened? James: OK. Thank you. (heads out of the Kino room) God, kill me now.

Young: (after the communication malfunction occurred) Sergeant, what happened? Greer: I have absolutely no idea, sir.

Scott: Two alien encounters in a day. What are the chances of that? Young: I am thinking likely... zero.

Caine: For the record, I think this is a very bad idea. Young: Yes, but it is the best of the bad ideas.

Background notes

 * About a week has passed since the events of "Justice".
 * This episode presents new prologue sequence which shows various events from the previous ten episodes, including many of those which have nothing relating to the episode's plot.
 * The song that played in the end of episode was "Now Comes The Night" by Rob Thomas.

International airdates

 * Canada: April 2, 2010 (Space)
 * Australia: April 9, 2010 (Sci Fi Australia)
 * United Kingdom: April 13, 2010 (Sky1)

Ratings

 * United States: 1.486 million viewers, equals a 1.0/2 Household rating/share (0.6/2 18-49 rating/share).
 * United Kingdom: 723,000, the fourth most viewed programme for Sky1 the week it aired.