Trying to preserve power by turning off all the non-essential systems the Ancients recently activated before being killed by the replicators, Rodney McKay mistakenly is hit by an energy beam from a mysterious device. His worst fears are quickly laid to rest when Dr. Beckett gives him a clean bill of health and returns him to active duty. Not long after the incident Rodney begins to display advanced powers such as amplified senses and telekinesis.

Investigating what appears to be an abandoned space station inside a hollowed out moon Rodney McKay mistakenly brings one of it's scientists out of stasis. The scientist Henrick explains to the team that the base was the last effort by his people to avoid the repeated culling they've endured for generations at the hands of the Wraith. Using the Wraith stasis technology they modified a chamber to hold a large number of their people for thousands of years in the hope the wraith would find their empty planet and believe they had disappeared.