Ville explains to Young and Scott, "Unfortunately, we don't know if we'll get another shot at this. With two of us talking to several of you, we hope to exchange as much information as possible in the short time we have. I would like your permission to speak with Dr. Rush and his team, including Ely here."

"Granted, but I can't guarantee Rush'll want to talk. He prefers to work the problem alone."

Ville nods, "I was afraid of that."

Young asks Ely to take Ville to Rush. "You want me to escort an avatar?"

"In order to give me as much information as possible on the way, please."

"Oh. Sure. Yeah, okay. Uh, this way. What's your name again?" he asks as they walk away.

Sheppard asks Young, "How's the leg, sir?"

"Holding up. So what's the bad news, Sheppard?"

"Well, we figured out a nine symbol address doesn't work the same as a seven- or eight- symbol one, so we still don't know exactly where you are. If you have any intel on the planets you've been to, any hostiles or other alien encounters, stellar observations..."

"Lt. Scott. Everything we've recorded, download it into a Keno and bring it here. We'll transfer a data burst through the wormhole."

Sheppard continues, "In the first crate we sent through are some computer tablets. We uploaded everything we could find in the Atlantean database that we think might help, but," Sheppard shakes his head regrettfully, "there's no mention of Destiny and only a few obscure references to technology this old. We'll keep looking and have our science teams going over all the data you provide and what our sensors are gathering right now."

"We appreciate that."

"We could relay any messages these folks might want to record," Sheppard offers quietly.

Young acknowledges the sentiment. "Truth is, we did have something like that but we launched it when we thought the ship was going to pass too close to a sun."

"Navigation malfunction?"

"No. Apparently, this ship replenishes its power supply by skimming the corona of a certain class of star."

Sheppards whistles as his eyes widen. "Wow, that's uhm...," he nods his head.

"Yeah. So they tell me." Young is obviously over the novelty already and on to other tasks to keep his charges cooperative and on the same page.

"Colonel. I wish there was more we could do right now..."

"Thanks for the supplies. It's going to help morale...or foster more discontent depending on temperament." Young looks around the hold. "You know, your reputation is..."

"Not all bad, I hope."

Young actually smiles. "For the record, I was going to say 'interesting'."

"Thank you, sir. I was going for interesting."

"If you don't mind, I think some of the men would appreciate a word from someone's who's been in their situation before."

Solemnly, Sheppard replies, "It would be my honor, sir."


Dr. Rush says brusquely, "As you've said, the wormhole will only be active for a half an hour. That's not nearly enough time to give you a basic understanding of my work before or since our arrival on this ship."

"I can get your research from the SGC and review it at leisure and I understand the main systems have only just come on line since the sundive," Ville counters.

Rush glares at Ely. "Sundive is not an accurate description." Ely holds up his hands in submission, shaking his head.

Ville bites off, "We can name it later." She moves closer to him and lowers her voice, "Nicholas, I know what Destiny means to you and it's not at all what Colonel Young thinks. Knowledge is reason enough but there are so many questions. Why is the ship so large? Why such a high passenger capacity? Were there ever any crew or colonists on board and, if so, what happened to them? What are the ship's mission directives? Dr. Rush, if you want to unlock the secrets of this ship, let me help you."

"This is a waste of my time," he hisses viciously and walks away.

Optimistically sarcastic, Ely remarks, "Looks like you caught him on a good day."

Ville stares after the retreating scientist. "That is one hell of a chip on his shoulder." She moves over to the central console.

Nervously, Ely asks, "What are you doing?"

"Downloading what I can," her hand hovers over the consoles. "Ely," she turns her head to regard him, "How are you holding up?"

"Actually, it's kind of exciting in a scary-as-hell way. Half the time, I pretend I'm in a video game, you know, discovering things and trying not to get killed."

Ville approaches him and smiles. "It's an extraordinary quest and I think you're doing remarkably well. Dr. Rush hasn't made himself many allies, has he? No, you don't have to answer that." She pauses to consider what to say. "He respects you, although he may not show it. You can help him, Ely. Learn as much as you can from him. My fear is that he and Col. Young may not be able to settle their differences. It may be up to you and Matt to carry this group through."

"Me? I don't know about that - I'm just 'Math Boy' around here," he laughs nervously.

"Oh, Ely. You are so much more than that. Trust me. I'm a pretty good judge of character."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Well, I've gotten all I can from this terminal. Let's return to the gate, shall we? I'd like you to introduce me to the others."

Sheppard is already circulating amoung the civilians as well as the military personnel when Ely and Ville arrive. Both Atlanteans assure the accidental expedition that Atlantis will attempt to dial in again, hopefully on a weekly basis. This appears to calm the personnel who are less in touch with the emerging leaders of the group.

As the thirty-eight minutes comes to an end, the avatars appear to retreat through the event horizon, leaving Destiny and her passengers to continue their voyage of discovery.