Still under control of the three crewmen in Engineering, the Atlantis hurls towards its destination: the three crewmen's home planet called Ogawachi Prime. There, the three crewmen reveal the mission they want the Atlantis crew to undertake: save their Creators on that planet from a deadly virus. If the crew won't comply, the three crewmen will begin to shut down life support to the crew's quarters, effectively killing innocent crewmembers. They grant the Atlantis crew control over the sensors and other scientific functions, but they retain their control over the engines and the rest of the ship's systems.
The crew has no choice but to accept. When they scan the planet, however, it turns out that there are no lifesigns, except for single celled organisms. In other words, there is nothing left on the planet but the virus.
A shuttle mission sent to gather more information about the planet goes horribly wrong, when Ensign Shakaar looses control of the shuttle due to a medical condition. The two other crewmen aboard the craft try to stabilise the shuttle's trajectory, but to no avail: the shuttle plummets down towards the planet and crash-lands. There are no survivors.
A second away team is sent down in another shuttlecraft to find out what went wrong with the first away team, and to finish what the others have started. From the air, they see a giant fault line, possibly from an earthquake, and, once landed, decide to split up to investigate both the shuttle crash and the fault line.
Meanwhile, on the ship, the three crewmen receive the same sensor readings as the crew does. They, however, don't want to accept the fact that their Creators are gone. Thinking this is a ploy from Commander Torn, intended to trick them, crewman Zhora in Engineering instructs Ambassador von Klinkerhoffen to tell the Commander to give them accurate sensor data.
Did the virus destroy the Creators, as it appears? If so, will the crew of the Atlantis be able to convince their captors in Engineering that the sensor data isn't tampered with? If they can't, how will Zhora punish them? And what will the away team find on Ogawachi Prime? Find out in November, on the USS Atlantis!
