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"This Mortal Coil" is episode 10 of Stargate Atlantis season 4.
Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.
Summary
McKay performs a gate diagnostic that renders the gate inoperable but a greater problem arises when a chunk of metal that appears to have been shot down falls into the city. On examination, McKay recognizes what he believes to be replicator code but Zelenka counters that it may have been something else. Before they can examine it further, it shuts down the computer and later explodes, destroying McKay's lab.
While sparring with Ronon, Sheppard sustains an injury that requires stitches but a visit to the infirmary reveals no injuries. He requests a full body scan and blood test but Keller finds nothing. Ronon believes people in the city are behaving oddly. The team gathers to discover what might be going on and search a record of the infirmary tests on Sheppard but find nothing. They conspire to return to the infirmary when it is empty but a city scan reveals no other inhabitants but themselves.
In the infirmary, Sheppard and Teyla perform a test that reveals his body is teeming with nanites. The team regroups and discovers they all are able to heal immediately after injury. Keller arrives and reveals that they are not on Atlantis and she is actually a replicator, as is everyone else in the city but for them. They, as well as Dr. Weir whom they discover, were all recreated biologically with the aid of nanites as a part of the replicators' desire to achieve ascension.
Their experiments were not sanctioned by Oberoth and the others of their kind and is a direct result of Dr. Weir's influence. The probe they discovered was sent by other replicators who soon arrive and begin attacking the city. Weir manages to convince the Keller replicant to let them go so their work won't be in vain. Keller gives her a data module that will allow them to find all Aurora class replicator vessels in the galaxy.
The team escapes the city's destruction via puddle jumper and attach themselves to the attacking replicator vessel. They plot to steal a ship once on the replicator homeworld. They succeed in doing so and once able to, contact an offworld Atlantis team and make contact with their Atlantis counterparts.
Both teams meet and the two Rodneys immediately bond. Both McKay and Sheppard are happy to see Weir again, though she points out that she is not actually the original, who is truly gone. They are not long together before the replicators find them and attack. Determined to help where they can, the secondaries provide a distraction with the puddle jumper allowing the team to escape with the data module. Their jumper is shot down and they are found by replicator search teams.
On Atlantis, McKay works overtime trying to put the data module to use. He is devastated at having lost Weir and reflects on the loss of Carson as well. Though Zelenka attempts to help, McKay buries himself in work to compensate. Sheppard finally realizes the Weir they lost will never come back and finally begins to pack up her personal belongings.
McKay's work bears fruit and Replicator vessels begin appearing on the computer. Though only a few initially appear, the Keller replicant seemed to have failed to convey the true scale of the replicators surge in ship building. More and more vessels continue to pop up on screen, seeming to match or even outnumber the known Wraith vessels in the galaxy.
Guest Stars
Torri Higginson as Elizabeth Weir
David Nykl as Radek Zelenka
Kavan Smith as Lorne
Chuck Campbell as Technician
Related
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