ZPM
Energy from the vacuum
- Full name
- Zero Point Module
- Creators
- The Ancients
- Uses
- Powering Atlantis, weapons, hyperdrive
The Holy Grail of the entire Stargate universe. About the size of a bottle, a ZPM holds enough energy to power an entire city for thousands of years. The catch? They're almost impossible to find, and everyone wants one.
Overview
A ZPM draws its power from the last place you'd ever think to look: the vacuum, a tiny region of space-time that it slowly drains of its energy. The result is staggering. A single one of these units can run Atlantis, its shield and its weapons, and fly it from galaxy to galaxy.
Its story
The tragedy is that no one knows how to make them anymore. The Ancients produced them, but that knowledge is lost. Every ZPM still in existence is therefore a one-of-a-kind treasure, and much of the plot of Atlantis revolves around them. Without a ZPM, the city goes dark, the shield fails, and getting back to Earth becomes impossible. People fight, scheme and cross galaxies to get their hands on even a single one.
Themes
