While the crew of the Destiny is gradually getting used to life aboard ship, back home on Earth the chain of command is getting restless. They have soldiers waiting in shifts at the ancient communications stones, but there has not yet been a peep from the Destiny.
Further agitating his current dislike for the way Col. Young has chosen to take control and break communications with Earth for a while, Col. Telford decides to frequently visit Col. Young’s estranged wife. In an earlier episode, the communications stones were interrupted while Young was controlling Telford’s body in the middle of making love to Young’s wife. Telford is now trying to befriend her to get back at Young.
Over dinner, Telford tells Young’s wife that he considers her a friend, and as such, feels compelled to tell her some things about her husband, Col. Young…
Aboard the Destiny, Young asks Johansen to do psychological evaluations of the crew as many of them are growing very restless. Meanwhile, Dr. Rush is having the soldiers search more of the ship for supplies and information. While searching, Greer and his men come across a chair room, much like the ones from Stargate Atlantis and SG1.
Scott and Camile use the stones to go back to Earth for a while where each takes an opportunity to catch up with loved ones.
In the chair room, Young and rush argue about using the device. According to Rush, it may contain the master code to the Destiny’s core systems, allowing the crew to have complete access to the ship. Young reminds him of a similar chair that Col. O’Neill once sat in with the SG1 team, however, and that it nearly killed him. For the time being, he tells Rush that no one may sit in it but he is free to study it.
On Earth, Scott goes home to find a letter from the girl he talked about in the pilot episode. He got a girl pregnant before leaving and thought she had had an abortion. On the contrary, he finds she could not go through with it and is instead raising the child herself. She named the child Matthew, presumably after Scott.
While studying the chair, Rush discovers a number of gates in the system. He comes across a planet that is very much like the planet where the Icarus base the team originally came from to become aboard the Destiny. It will take them the better part of a year to reach it, but Rush believes that with the help of the chair they can find a way to do it. Young shuts him down, however, keeping the chair off-limits.
After Scott and Camile power down the communications stones and come back to the Destiny, Scott has a dream while sleeping. It seems as though he is seeing flashes from Telford’s memory; More specifically, flashes of him having dinner with Young’s wife. When he tells Col. Young about the dreams, Young doesn’t seem to be surprised.
Using the communications stones himself, he catches Telford at his wife’s home and confronts them. His wife tells him that Telford said Young was still sleeping with Johansen and Young rushes to attack Telford. Before he could, however, Telford made a call to presumably disconnect the communications stone.
When Young awakens, Eli comes to him with information regarding the new planet that Rush claims to have discovered. After a little digging he finds that the planet doesn’t exist at all and Rush planted the data himself.
After a confrontation, Rush says he planted the data to prove that there may be more information like it that is real if only he could use the chair to find it. Finally, Young says Rush can use it, but only Rush. Because he doesn’t honestly know what it will do, Rush backs down.
Using the identity of a doctor aboard the Destiny, Young manages to use the communications stone to again come back to earth. This time, he manages to beat the living hell out of Telford as he is leaving the home of Young’s wife.
As the episode comes to a close, the team continues to try and continue life aboard the ship. Rush and Greer’s men continue to search the ship for more supplies and knowledge as the curtain falls on “Life.”
