The Pentangular Gate

Five ways Daniel improves Atlantis

1. He translates the section of the database that they've been putting off for months as "relating to non-vital systems". Admittedly, knowing the guidelines of the day-care center doesn't help them much, but finding out about the sauna is pretty sweet.

2. He brings a king-sized package of M&Ms with him which he trades to Sheppard for a personalized tour of the city. The tour Elizabeth arranged was fine, but it was for the whole team. Sam and McKay kept arguing and he had to keep Vala from stealing things every ten minutes. When he goes with Sheppard, he can take his time. Plus Sheppard knows where all the really cool stuff is.

Sheppard trades the M&Ms to Doctor Green for an old Soap Opera Digest, then turns around and trades the magazine to Captain Reynolds for Sports Illustrated.

Captain Reynolds trades the Soap Opera Digest to Doctor Kim for some silly putty. Reynolds uses the silly putty to make an impression of some interesting ruins on M35-1326 which helps Doctor Hartman create a key to gain access to a hidden chamber. The chamber hints at the presence of a ZPM which has McKay off world for three days.

They never do find the ZPM, but Zelenka is in the middle of an important project and being Rodney-free for three days means he gets it done in record time.

3. He accidentally spills his water bottle on Captain Gambini's laptop. When Doctor Nguyen stays late in her lab to fix it, she notices the fluctuations in the power being fed to the shield in time to wake McKay before a power surge rips through the shied generator and destroys their best defense.

Gambini doesn't know about the shield. He's just pissed that his hard drive has to be replaced and he's lost all of the episodes of Grey's Anatomy that he had stored.

4. He stays up late with Ronon, Sheppard, McKay and Sam trading war stories. When the topic turns to torture across the galaxies, McKay makes it half way through a compare and contrast of Goa'uld and Wraith methods before saying that he has better things to do than play "ways I've suffered" and storming off. McKay doesn't mention the conversation again, but Sheppard notices that he complains a lot less about the conditions on their next few missions.

5. He encourages Doctor Polk to stay with the program. Three months later, Polk walks into the line of fire, takes a Genii bullet for Doctor McKay, and goes home in a box. It's the best thing for Atlantis, but if Polk's parents knew about the conversation, they'd wish Daniel had just kept his big mouth shut.