ANCIENT CONTROL CONSOLE

SG-1 has encountered several examples of Ancient technology that use a similar design as a control console. The large pedestal that resembles a kind of altar is made of a stone-like material and has moveable panels that are depressed similar to keys on a keyboard. As one key, or panel, is depressed, another may rise, and operating the control panel depends upon interpreting the characters on the pedestal and pressing the keys in the proper sequence and balance. The control console is powered by crystals, and a sliding panel at the side of the device acts as an access to the crystal power source.

SG-1 first encountered an Ancient control pedestal on P4X-639, where the Ancients had used it to create a time travel device that would allow them to change their history. The device drew its energy from the ionization in the atmosphere caused by geomagnetic storms recurring every 50 years. However, the Ancients never succeeded in creating a viable time travel device with this design. When activated, the device instead established a simultaneous connection through the stargate to 13 other worlds, creating a subspace bubble cut off from the normal flow of time and resulting in a continuous loop that repeated every 6 to 10 hours.

On Dakara, SG-1 discovered the Ancient device that had been used to recreate life in the Milky Way Galaxy after the plague. The control console activated a device that rose from inside the mountain to send an energy wave across a planet's surface or out into space. Because the energy wave reduced all matter to its basic molecular elements, it was effective as a weapon, and SG-1 was able to recalibrate the device to match disruptor technology in order to target only Replicators. By interfacing Carter's laptop with the console, she and Jacob, with help from Ba'al, were able to use trial and error to position the keys in the precise balance and combination to alter the output of the weapon. Following the elimination of Anubis and the Goa'uld, the Dakara weapon came under the control of the Jaffa Nation. However, when the Jaffa attempted to use it to annihilate worlds that had fallen to the Ori, Adria used a warship to attack Dakara from orbit, and the device was destroyed.

On PX1-767, SG-1 found another Ancient control console in a secret chamber of Merlin's library in the village of Camelot. By interpreting the symbols on the device and pressing the panels in an exact combination, Daniel attempted to input a code that would reveal the key to the Sangreal. His trial and error method caused the Black Knight to appear in the village, and a hologram of Merlin materialized with a vast treasure in the chamber. Unable to deactivate the Black Knight, however, Daniel was forced to fire his weapon at the control crystals to disable the device, but the treasure that remained provided a key to their search.

Cross Reference: Ancients, Crystals, Dakara Weapon, Merlin's Library, Time Loop

Episode Reference: Window of Opportunity, Reckoning, Camelot, Counterstrike