Air, Part 2

Air, Part 2 is second episode of the first season of Stargate Universe, and is the second instalment of the opening three-parter.

Synopsis
While they are stranded on-board the Destiny, the new reluctant crew discover that their life support system is worn out, and they have to repair it fast or they will all suffocate in a matter of hours.

Plot
On board the Destiny, Lieutenant Matthew Scott enters the ship's Gate room and anncounces to everyone that they are going to split into teams and search the ship top to bottom. Scott takes Hunter Riley and Vanessa James with him. As the groups split off to look, Nicholas Rush picks up the bag Colonel Everett Young brought with him, and leaves the room seemingly unnoticed. He continues to somewhere more private, where he opens the bag, revealing a briefcase. Inside the case is a lit-up glass pad with Ancient communication stones, one of which is placed onto the pad. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Bill Lee is working in a lab, when he and Rush apparently swap bodies. He gets up and moves out of the lab.

Back on the ship, the groups explore the vast vessel. There, they encounter a locked door. Scott decides to call Rush, only to have Eli Wallace answer instead, as he has no idea where Rush went. Scott wants Eli to open a door for him. However, Eli points out that the door he is located at is red, but opens it anyway. After seconds, they realise why the door is flashing red; it takes them to a room next to the hull of the ship, and there is a massive breach in the section, though it seems shodily patched up with a forcefield. Eli quickly has the door closed, and Scott marks the door with a piece of chalk, meaning the area is out of bounds. Rush soon arrives where Eli is, and tells everyone on the ship via radio to get back to the Gate room, as he has an announcement.

In the Gate room, Rush shows them the device he was carrying; it has five communication stones, which are capable for the users to make contact with Earth by taking control of somebody else's bodies. He tells them that he spoke with General Jack O'Neill, and that he has been placed in charge. However, none of them believe him. As Senator Alan Armstrong demands to talk to O'Neill himself, he collapses. Tamara Johansen takes care of it, where lifting up his shirt reveals a large bruise, and that any blood thinners, such as the warfarin for his heart medication can cause him to bleed to death internally. Rush tells TJ to find accommodation for Armstrong, and that they should all find some while the can. Camile Wray however, challanges his authority, since she is IOA. Scott breaks up the argument, and tells them that Young put him in charge, and although Rush is right, they should continue searching the ship.

Several members, including Riley, Wray, Dale Volker and Ronald Greer search the inventory of the supplies they brought onboard. In the process, Greer notices Wray staring at him, since he was in detention, and for "good reason", and wants him detained somewhere on the ship. In response, Greer moves to her, but Riley stops him. He is then called by Scott to another section of the ship. Rush also directs Scott to an elavator on the ship, but en-route, he is alarmed to see a tiny ball floating around, and starts following it.

In one room, T.J is looking after Young, who finally regains consciousness, and wants to know what has happened; they are on an Ancient ship, with no immediate solution to return to Earth, and on top of that, the ship's life support is failing. Young decides to get up and talk to Rush, but discovers he has no feelings in his legs, and lies back down. He does however, tell T.J to tell Rush he needs to talk to him.

Scott continues to persue the ball, and enters a room where Eli is. He says he has discovered the flying ball, and tells Scott that it is a "flying camera", which is perfect to search through the ship. He also plans on calling it the kino, which he names after something Russian. After demonstrating its use, Scott wants to know what else he found. Eli tells him to give him a break, since it is his second spaceship, but Scott admits also that he is new to the Stargate world. They both make it to Rush with the Kino, who finds the device fascinating. He diverts attantion back to the situation; he has found that a series of CO2 scrubbers are malfunctioning, and others are also failing. Scott and Greer walk up to one, and opens a panel, revealing a ruptured scrubber, leaking a substantial amount of a black oily substance

In one sleeping quarter, Senetor Armstrong awakens with Chloe Armstrong at his side. She admits to not knowing what has transpired, because she was with him the entire time. Her father tells her to find out what is going on. As she leaves, she takes the pills with her, to prevent him from taking some.

In the Gate room, Rush believes the next priority is to seal off any leaks. Soon enough, Wallace and Rush find two Ancient shuttles on the ship. One of the search teams, comprising of Franklin and Greer finds one of those shuttles, and find that the door to it cannot be closed. As they investigate further, they feel air gushing into the shuttle; the shuttle has a leak, and as earlier, the forcefield is not 100% effective; the shuttle is one of the culprits for the air problem. By the time Rush and Eli make it to the shuttle, they discover that the door can be closed via the shuttle. When they do, air immediately gushes out of the shuttle, and Rush is forced to open the door again.

Chloe reports back to her father, while T.J returns to Young, who is making a recovery. Chloe and T.J tells the Senator and Young respectively that the C02 scrubbers are malfunctioning, and that there is a leak on one of the shuttles, and the door to it cannot be closed off. If it cannot be closed off by just over one hour, they will all run out of air. Afterwards, Eli documents everything with the Kino, which Scott finds annoying. The team come to the conclusion that someone should sacrifice his or herself to close the door. Scott explains that everybody wants Rush dead, implying he should do it. Chloe also argues that no one should be asked to sacrifice themselves, but Rush retorts that if no one will, they everybody will die.

When Scott reports the colonel, he volunteers to it, since he feels that "this isn't the kind of thing I can ask somebody else to volunteer for." However, Scott and T.J does not help him stand, despite being ordered to do so. Chloe then reports that her father is missing after she told him the situation. Scott radios Franklin and Greer, who reports back that the Senator has somehow obtained a side arm and holds the two at gunpoint, with the intention of getting in there, despite Franklin saying he can close the door. However, it becomes apparent that he can't, since the ship is too old, and not everything works anymore. Senator Armstrong wants to know what to do.

Chloe and Scott run down to the airlock, but by the time they arrive, the Senator closes the airlock, preventing Chloe from stopping him. As she urges him not to do it, Greer remarks that the man was already "dead on his feet", and Chloe could only watch helplessly as the shuttle becomes void of all air, and her father slumps into the seat, and dies. As Scott tries to comfort her over the loss, she quickly gets up and runs to the control room and attacks Rush. Scott and T.J break it off. Rush then approaches her and apologises for what happened to her father, but then diverst attention again, saying that this is the greatest discovery made by man kind, something her father would believe in, later promising that no one else will die in vein.

In the store room, Young is on his feet and informs Wray that Senator Armstrong is dead, but his actions have brought the rest of expedition a day at most. He also tells her that she should tell everyone and keep things as positive as possible. Meanwhile, Chloe is with Scott in the observation room, where Chloe watched her father die, and now he is gone. Scott wants her to talk about him, as he didn't get to know him very well. She answers that no matter how busy he was with the work, he always found time to talk to her. She also remembers her mother, who believes that she and her father are both dead. Scott decides to leave her in the observation room, to get back to search the ship.

Back in the control room, Eli notices Rush is still working, and wonders if he even cared about what happened to Armstrong. Rush says that he does, but at the same time, he is also trying to find the solution to the life support system. He has also find the ship's name, the Destiny, translated from Ancient. He discovered that the ship was sent out unmanned, and the Ancients planned to use the Stargate to get to the ship when it was far enough, but they probably learned to ascend before then. He explains what ascension is to Eli.

In the Gate room, Riley looks through the DHD and has found what he believes to be a Gate address back to Earth. Young orders Riley to dial the Gate. However, this action goes noticed by Rush, who runs to the Gate room and tells them it won't work, since Earth is out of range and dialling it would waste most of what little power they have left. Just then the dialling stops, and everyone sees everything blurred around them for a second. Young radios anyone near the observation room to go there. T.J is in the area, and enters the room where Chloe is already observing. They see space, meaning the ship has dropped out of FTL. Rush believes that any minute, the Stargate will dial, which it does. He says that he told the ship they were in trouble, and the ship is possibly giving them the solution; whatever is on the other end of the wormhole is what they need to solve the air problem. Not knowing what is on the other side, Eli suggests they use the Kino, which Rush believed was its purpose. After it is through, Riley reads an atmosphere, temperature, and most important of all, it has oxygen and nitrogen, with little carbon dioxide; the planet is habitable, but they do notice that the planet is a desert. Adam Brody finds four other addresses nearby, but Rush says that they're locked out, and the ship chose the planet. There is also a problem; Rush finds a clock, and is counting down from 12 hours; when time runs out, the ship will go back into FTL.

With little time, Rush and Young decide on who should go through. Rush proposes Andrea Palmer should go, since she's a geologist. Franklin is also going, as will Eli; Young wants him to experience it. Rush also says he knows what to look for, so he's going. Scott and Greer will also go; Scott will be in charge of the operation. Before the team leave to go to the planet, Young orders Scott to keep an eye on Rush.

Other airdates

 * October 6, 2009 (Sky1, United Kingdom and Ireland)
 * October 9, 2009 (Sci Fi Australia, Australia)