Atlantis Season 4 Episode 6 – Tabula Rasa

Episode summary: A disease is brought back from the mainland, and infects the entire population of Atlantis before the symptoms start presenting themselves. The symptoms as they appear are headache, fever, memory loss ... and eventually death. Dr Keller struggles to keep control of the increasing mass of patients, while slowly succumbing to the disease herself. Ronan and Teyla realise they are the only ones not getting sick, and the team realise that this is a mutated form of a common childhood ailment in the Pegasus galaxy, that Ronan and Teyla both had as children. It stands to reason the same treatment would work, and so Ronan and Sheppard head to the mainland to get some of the plant which will cure everyone, while Teyla works with McKay to override the ventiliation system, so that the cure can be spread to everyone at once. Sam orders the gate control crystal removed so that no one can dial in or out with the stargate, effectively quarantining Atlantis. Teyla and McKay are separated when things go downhill as everyone forgets everything, but eventually he, Sam and Zelenka find Teyla again, and they complete McKay's assignment with the ventilation system. Ronan and Sheppard get back with the plant. The cure knocks everyone out, and then everyone recovers, albeit at different speeds. It is alluded to that there were fatalities, although other than the first one, we don't know who or how many.

Rodney was humming as he took the stairs up to the control room. Katie was going to be ok, and he'd saved the day. Not a bad outcome, all things considered.

He was looking for Sam; he knew she'd been released from the infirmary, but Dr Keller had warned him that Sam's memory was coming back a bit more slowly. Everyone seemed to be reacting differently. Some people – like himself – had been unconscious for a very short time indeed, and had woken up with their memories almost entirely restored. Some, like Sam, had woken quickly, but their memories were taking a little longer to return. Sheppard was in the third group – he was still out cold. Rodney was looking forward to ribbing Sheppard about the fact that he apparently had a hardier system than either of the Colonels.

"Hey." He said from the doorway of Sam's office. She was sitting at her desk looking at a photo.

"Hey." Sam said. "Are there any children in Atlantis?"

Rodney blinked at the odd question. "Ah, no. Why?"

"Where's my daughter?"

"I'm sorry, where's your what?" He asked, certain he must have misheard.

"My daughter." Sam waved a picture of a baby at him.

He chuckled. "I think you must be confused. You don't have a daughter. That's probably your niece or something."

"No, I'm pretty sure she's mine." Sam argued, frowning.

"Sam, I've known you for years, I'd know if you'd had a baby."

She looked very troubled by this, and looked down at the picture, smoothing her thumb over the little face.

"That doesn't make any sense." She said softly.

Rodney shook his head at the weird conversation. "Look, uh, I actually came up here because I found the gate's control crystal. We need to contact Stargate Command and let them know that we're ok."

Sam set the picture down and stood up. "Good idea."

She followed him out to the control room, and he re-inserted the crystal into the console.

"I'm dialling Earth via the Midway station." He told her as he entered the address, and sent the macro for the gate bridge.

Sam looked at him blankly. "Ok."

He rolled his eyes. Dr Keller should never have discharged her this soon. Although he supposed Keller had been a bit desperate, considering the entire population of Atlantis – including Keller herself for a short time – had been patients. That was quite a few more people than there was space, even with the mess having been converted into a secondary infirmary.

The gate activated, and Rodney went to stand at the screen to send a video signal, Sam following along beside him. "Stargate Command, this is Dr Rodney McKay calling from Atlantis. Please respond."

The screen flickered to life, and General Landry's face appeared.

"Dr McKay, Colonel Carter, I can't tell you what a relief it is to hear from you. We were getting worried."

"Yes, well, we have the situation under control." Rodney said. He looked at Sam, who was still looking a little lost. "For the most part." He added.

"What's your status?" Landry asked.

"As I'm sure Colonel Carter informed you prior to de-activating the gate, there was a disease which infected everybody on Atlantis, which caused amnesia. Only Teyla and Ronan were unaffected, and Ronan managed to get hold of a plant which effectively treated the disease. Thanks to a few alterations to the city's ventilation system by yours truly, we were able to aerosolise the cure and spread it to everyone at once. About half of the base personnel are still unconscious, and of those that are awake, only about half of us have got all of our memories back, but it looks like everyone should make a full recovery within the next few days – a week tops."

"That's good news Doctor." Landry said.

"Uh … actually sir …" Sam cut in, with an uncertain glance at Rodney. "There were three fatalities."

Rodney shifted uncomfortably, embarrassed at having forgotten to mention that.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Landry said. "Do you have names?"

Sam looked to Rodney.

"Ah … not to hand, no." Rodney said awkwardly.

"I'm afraid I don't remember either sir, my memory has not entirely returned yet." Sam added.

Landry raised his eyebrows. "What does 'not entirely' mean?"

Sam grimaced. "I don't remember your name, sir, although I'm pretty sure I should."

Landry rolled his eyes. "Dr McKay, I trust someone who has full command of their faculties is in charge at the moment?"

"Oh, well, I guess I could ..."

"Good. Now, I don't know how much good this will do if you don't remember anything Sam, but I have someone here who is very anxious to see you."

Landry stepped aside, and Rodney blinked in surprise as General O'Neill appeared on screen.

"Hey Carter." Jack said.

Sam was frowning. Rodney thought that was odd – surely if she remembered Rodney himself, which she seemed to, she'd remember her old team mates.

"Jack." She said after a moment with a smile, although it was in an overly familiar tone that made Rodney raise his eyebrows.

"So you're having some memory issues, huh?" The general said.

"A little. Jack … I have a picture of a baby in my office and McKay says she's not mine."

The General glared at Rodney. "And why would McKay say something stupid like that?"

"What?" Rodney spluttered, perplexed. "But … Sam's never had a baby! I'd know about it if she had!"

The General rolled his eyes. "She's adopted, genius." He turned his gaze back to Sam. "She's yours, Sam. Her name's Beth, and she's almost eight months old. She's home with Daniel and Vala."

"I don't understand, why am I here if I've got an eight month old baby at home?" Sam asked, sounding upset and frustrated.

General O'Neill looked pointedly at McKay. "McKay, would you mind giving Carter and I a little privacy?"

Rodney looked from the General to Sam in shock. "Fine, whatever, just, don't take too long. Apparently I have a city to run."

He stalked away, muttering in irritation. Sam had been in Atlantis for nearly two months. How could she not have told him she had a baby?

A couple of days later, Sam had the majority of her memory back, and was back in command. McKay was pissed at her, still put-out that she hadn't told him sooner about Beth.

She supposed he had a point. They'd known each other long enough that if there was one person in Atlantis she was going to tell, it should probably have been him.

The mess was still out of action, while the last few people recovered under Dr Keller's supervision, and so base personnel were eating their meals anywhere and everywhere. As an olive branch, Sam invited Rodney to join her for dinner in her office that evening.

"I can't wait until we get the mess back." McKay griped as he sat down opposite her at her desk with his meal tray. "All this eating everywhere is terribly unhygienic. What if someone spreads citrus all over a work station that I need to use?"

"I'm sure people are being careful with their food." She assured him, smirking. "And it won't be for much longer, the patient list is almost small enough to fit back in the infirmary now."

"Yes, well, it can't happen soon enough, as far as I'm concerned." McKay said. "Sick people should be in the infirmary, not in the place where we have to eat."

"Are you more upset about the food contaminating the rest of the base, or about the sick people contaminating the mess hall?" Sam asked, bemused.

"Both!"

Sam frowned. "I'm sure I've seen you eat at your desk before."

"That's different."

"How?"

"Well obviously I know that I'm not going to spread a substance that I'm deathly allergic to over my own workstation!"

She chuckled. "Well, like I said. It's almost over."

"Hmm. How's the memory coming along?" He asked.

"It's mostly all there." Sam said. "Occasionally I'll remember something random that I didn't realise was missing, or I'll find I don't know something that I should, but … it's a lot better than it was a couple of days ago."

McKay grunted as he shovelled some food into his mouth.

Sam watched him for a moment and then embarked on her apology. "Listen, Rodney, there's actually a reason I asked you to come and eat with me this evening."

McKay looked up at her with raised eyebrows. "You're transferring back to Earth to be with your daughter, and you want me to take over command of Atlantis because I did such a brilliant job while your memory was on the fritz." He guessed.

She frowned at him, taken aback. "No."

"Oh, well, what is it then?"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I wanted to apologise for not telling you about Beth."

"Who's Beth?"

"My daughter." She said through clenched teeth.

"Right." He clicked his fingers. "Sorry, not good with names."

There was that urge to eye-roll again. "I came to Atlantis only a few months after adopting her, and I've always tried to keep my personal life and my work separate, and so I made the decision when I came here that I wouldn't lie about her, but I wouldn't volunteer the information either." She explained. "It occurred to me over the last couple of days as I remembered how long you and I have known each other that it may have been the wrong decision, at least in regard to you."

McKay looked quite chuffed. "Yes, it may." He agreed. "I know you and I haven't always seen eye to eye, but I like to think we have a … 'special' … relationship."

Sam narrowed her eyes. "What does 'special' mean?"

McKay rolled his eyes and huffed. "You know, mutual respect for another scientist of advanced intellect … mixed with a healthy dose of the attraction of a man and a –"

"Ok, I get the picture." Sam cut him off sharply with a raised hand. "Let's just go with 'mutual respect', ok?"

"If you insist."

"I do."

Sam resumed eating, and McKay followed suit.

"So … how did you end up adopting a baby a few months before landing a long term assignment in the Pegasus galaxy?" McKay asked around a mouthful of green beans.

"Her parents died and named myself and Jack O'Neill as her guardians when she was three months old." Sam explained. "The Atlantis post was … well, I don't want to say bad timing, but … it was offered to me, and it wasn't something I could really say no to."

McKay had put down his fork again and had been chewing furiously to empty his mouth so he could interject.

"Hang on." He said, after swallowing. "This baby's other guardian is General Jack O'Neill?"

"Yes, why?" She asked slowly.

"Isn't that a little … inappropriate?"

Sam frowned. "You must have heard that Jack and I are married, surely?" She'd been in Atlantis for almost two months, and she knew a rumour had done the rounds several weeks previously, basically outing her marriage to the former Head of Homeworld Security. Surely someone would have gone to McKay for confirmation, or to rub his face in it, or just gossiped around him …

McKay's face was a picture. "No!" He exclaimed indignantly. "Apparently you are singularly useless at sharing that sort of information!"

Sam sighed and closed her eyes. "Sorry?" She offered sheepishly.

"When did this happen?" He demanded.

"About two and a half years ago."

"Well, that just takes the … dog's you-know-what." McKay said, sitting back and crossing his arms grumpily.

Sam smirked.

"In all fairness, I was actively trying to keep that part quiet so that it wouldn't be detrimental to my career." She explained.

"Was he still Head of Homeworld Security when you got offered leadership of Atlantis?" McKay asked suddenly, making the connection.

Sam glowered. "Yes, he was. But if anything, that was a pressure against me getting this job. He didn't want me to go, it was the IOA who pushed for my appointment."

"I'm not suggesting anything untoward." McKay argued placatingly.

"I should bloody well hope not." Sam muttered, disgruntled.

McKay huffed. "So … you're married to Jack O'Neill, your former CO, and you have an eight month old baby with him. Anything else I should know, while we're at it?"

Sam smiled contritely. "Nothing springs to mind. Although, I still have a little memory loss, so who knows?" She joked.

"Funny." He said, deadpan, and took a big bite of his dinner with a level and disparaging stare.