Summary
Team Sheppard is on a mission to a "backwater hamlet,"
much to McKay's dismay. Samantha Carter has proposed the
idea of creating an intergalactic bridge of sorts. The
idea is to place enough stargates between the Milky Way
and Pegasus galaxies to be able to hop from one gate to
the next, cutting the travel time to Earth (and back) to
around 30 minutes without having to tax Atlantis' ZPM.
In order to create this bridge, they've been looking for
spacebourne stargates on or around uninhabited planets.
Upon checking out this planet, the MALP detected life signs,
and procedure calls for checking those life signs out,
even if the only civilization turns out to be some "backwater
hamlet."
Arriving in said hamlet, the team is greeted very warmly.
They soon meet Lucius Lavin. The man is beyond adored by
everyone, even having several doting wives swarming about
trying to please him. He's quite friendly, and invites
the team to lunch with him. Sheppard tells Lucius, "we're
glad we met you." To which Lucius replies, "and if you
aren't yet, you will be!" As the team is led off towards
Lucius' place, he briefly stays behind and we get the obligatory
revelation that Lucius is taking some sort of unidentified
potion. Who wants to bet that the potion is directly related
to his popularity?
At lunch, Lucius turns out to be rather obnoxious. He
blatantly hits on Teyla, calling her definite "wife
material."
He asks about the jumper, and seems surprised when Sheppard
tells him he can't have one. He proposes trading for some
of his potions (he's an explorer and alchemist), one of
which he claims could cure Sheppard's cold in "six
or seven days." Wonder of wonders. Sheppard decides
it's time to go. Lucius gets rather upset that they'd want
to leave,
especially before he want's them to go, but he calls off
the townsfolk that move to block their paths. Sheppard
tells Lucius that he'll let his medical people know about
Lucius and his potions and they may return to check those
out.
Back on Atlantis, Sheppard tells Weir he thinks of Lucius
as a snake oil salesman, but that there may be some value
to having Dr. Beckett check things out. Beckett meets with
Lucius, where he's told that most of the plants and herbs
that Lucius has were found on his trips to other worlds.
He tells Beckett that he's found cures for almost every
known ailment in town. "The lame have been made
to walk," he claims, then admits that some still crawl,
but faster than they did before. Beckett is clearly unimpressed.
Later, we see Lucius holding court. He's telling a rapt
audience a tale of saving the life of a newborn. Beckett
is in the crowd, too, hanging on every word. After the
story, we find out that Beckett has told Lucius about Atlantis,
something they've obviously been trying to avoid spreading
around the galaxy. Lucius asks to hear more about Atlantis
and the puddle jumpers. Beckett says he can do more than
just tell him, and he does. He brings Lucius to Atlantis,
without authorization. Beckett is oblivious to Weir's dismay
at having a visitor, and at being ogled by Lucius.
Lucius is placed in on observation room. Beckett raves
to McKay, Weir and Sheppard about how wonderful Lucius
is and how powerful an ally he could be. They note how
smitten Beckett seems to be, but decide to do nothing but
keep an eye on Lucius while McKay and Sheppard head out
to locate more stargates. Ronon and Teyla are assigned
to keep tabs on Lucius, who gets assigned quarters. Beckett
fawns over Lucius as he shows him around, and suggests
that Dr. Weir will want to negotiate directly with him.
Later, Lucius talks Teyla and Ronon into escorting him
to the cafeteria, noting that they don't like him "yet."
Meanwhile, Beckett harasses Weir until she agrees to meet
with Lucius in her office. Later still, we see Lucius in
his quarters preparing to meet with Weir, and he takes
another swig of potion. When he does meet with Weir, he
brings her a candle he made from a gourd and the tallow
of an animal he proudly claims to have killed himself.
Weir is less than thrilled with the gift, but is gracious
about it. She sits next to Lucius until he can't manage
to keep his eyes off her chest, then she moves to sit behind
her desk. They start the "negotiations" when
Weir asks him what he can provide them... besides candles.
Much later, McKay and Sheppard return from their gate
hunt to find almost the entire population of the city surrounding
Lucius, who is telling another story. Weir, Teyla, Ronon,
Beckett and Zelenka are all there, thrilled to hear every
word. McKay and Sheppard realize they've got a real problem
on their hands.
After story time, McKay and Sheppard confront Weir, Beckett,
Teyla and Ronon in Dr. Weir's office. Now they're all fawning
over Lucius, and they start to get quite upset when McKay
suggests that they can't just take Lucius at his word over
the value of his medicines or the intelligence he claims
to have gathered in his travels. Now, even the candle is
presented as a precious gift.
Sheppard and McKay do a little snooping. McKay discovered
surveillance footage of Lucius taking his potion. He managed
to search Lucius's quarters and find the vial the potion
was in, and he's planning on testing the remnants of the
potion it held.
Weir and Zelenka fill Lucius in on their plan of harvesting
unused gates. He points out a planet on the search list
and says that he heard it was uninhabited. Sheppard overhears
and tells Weir that they've received word that the Wraith
have recently set up an outpost there, an alliance of
three hive ships. Weir wants to check it out, not wanting
to disappoint or offend Lucius. Sheppard says he won't
put his people at risk, particularly when there are so
many other places to look for gates. He orders that no
one use the stargate without his direct authorization.
After Sheppard leaves, Lucius tells Weir that if Sheppard
doesn't come around, something will have to be done.
McKay tells Sheppard that there isn't enough of the liquid
to test. Sheppard plans to return to Lucius' village and
search for more. He tells McKay to "stay away from the
nuts," and to disable the D.H.D. so that no one can dial
out after he leaves.
In the village, the people are decidedly less cheery.
They look sick, and when they recognize Sheppard, they
ask if he's taken Lucius from them. It hurst them to be
away from him so long. Sheppard says that Lucius left on
his own, and asks if Lucius was always so popular. He wasn't.
It wasn't until he came home from a trading trip and told
a story about something he'd stepped in that people saw
him in this new light. Sheppard asks about the potion,
and two of Lucius' wives run off to get some for Sheppard.
Sheppard returns to find McKay and Lucius in Dr. Weir's
office, laughing. McKay became one of the converted when
Ronon held him against the wall so that he could have a
long conversation with Lucius. Weir is out making Lucius
something to eat. Teyla, Ronon and Beckett have gone to
check out the planet that Lucius recommended. Wraith or
no Wraith.
The stargate activates and several Wraith stunner blasts
fly into the gate room. Ronon, Teyla and Beckett come through
the gate, and the wormhole is closed down. Each of them
is carrying a bag of herbs that they volunteered to get
for Lucius. Sheppard starts to go ballistic. He starts
to grab for one of the bags of herbs and Ronon and several
guards draw their weapons on him. He finally gets that
he's in danger now, apologizes to Lucius, and blames his
behavior on his cold. He then tells everyone he needs
a good night's sleep and makes his way out of the room.
In the jumper bay, McKay and Beckett show Lucius one of
the jumpers, and explain the Ancient gene needed to operate
it. They also mention that they have created an inoculation
to give the gene to those not born with it.
Sheppard kidnaps Beckett and gets him off Atlantis in
a jumper. He lands on the mainland, and shows Beckett the
research McKay conducted before he came under Lucius' influence.
The liquid causes the drinker to secrete a pheromone that
makes others easy to influence. The pheromone is also addictive.
Beckett doesn't want to listen, and says he can't create
an antidote. Later, another jumper spots Shepard and Beckett
outside by a campfire. Ronon stuns Sheppard and he and
Beckett are both taken back to Atlantis. Teyla asks Beckett
if he's alright, and he responds that he will be once he
gets back to Lucius.
Lucius visits Sheppard in the brig. Since no one else
is around, he admits that the herb is the source of his
persuasive powers. He was originally a baker. He found
the herb and baked it into some of his bread and notice
that people began to hate him less. Eventually they came
to like him and he developed the potion. Then the Wraith
set up an outpost on the only planet that had his herb.
He promises that once Sheppard is over his cold, the
two of them will have a nice long talk, then Sheppard will
want to help him, too. Sheppard warns him that if he gets
too close, it'll be the last thing he ever does.
Beckett radios Lucius that he's ready to give him the
inoculation. He goes to the infirmary where Beckett gives
him the injection. Weir and McKay both fuss over him. The
only way to tell if the inoculation is effective is to
have him try and operate something. He and Beckett go to
a jumper, and the control room team waits with baited breath
to see
if he can manage to get it to fly. He never gets the chance.
Sheppard grabs him from behind, cuffs him and puts him
in the copilot's chair. Beckett tells him that he didn't
give him the gene, but a serum to neutralize the effect
of the herb. Beckett has taken some himself, just to eliminate
the chance that he'd be susceptible.
Beckett leaves the jumper, and Sheppard lifts off. The
people in the control room cheer, thinking that Lucius
has been successful. Sheppard flies toward the mainland.
He tells Lucius that he's taking a vacation, just long
enough for Beckett to give the people of Atlantis the serum.
Afterward, he'll return Lucius to his village... after
giving them the serum, too.
Team Sheppard returns from taking Lucius back to his people.
They didn't kill him, but Lucius can expect a string of
divorces coming. Sheppard ribs Beckett and Weir about
them longing for Lucius' return, then runs off to clean
McKay's quarters. It turns out that McKay had tasted the
potion, just "for research purposes." Apparently
Sheppard had never taken the serum. Weir orders McKay to
destroy the remaining potion, all of it.
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