| Pandora's Box | |
|---|---|
| |
| Production information | |
| Manufacturer |
|
| Designer |
Pandora |
| Technical specifications | |
| Function |
Weapon of mass destruction |
| Control system |
Neural interface requiring the ATA gene |
| Size |
Less than a meter |
| Made of |
Unknown, possibly a variant of naquadah |
| Weight |
Several pounds |
| Power source |
Unknown, possibly zero-point energy |
| Usage | |
| Affiliation |
None (present), Pandora, Tau'ri (past) |
- "The device was able to do what entire fleets could not. Its power was unparalleled."
- —Janus
Pandora's Box was an experimental weapon designed by the Lantean scientist Pandora for use against the Wraith during the two races' titanic war 10,000 years ago. Utilizing a complex neural interface, the Box allowed a user to manipulate the gravity field at any point within visual range, tearing micro-singularities in the fabric of space-time. It completely bypassed shields and armor and was able to destroy even the most-powerful known vessels in seconds, making it a terrifying weapon without comparison. Due in part to oversight by Pandora, however, activating the Box had the effect of sapping a non-Ancient user's lifeforce, and it had the potential to kill a human operator in minutes. Despite its awesome power, the Lantean leadership believed the war to already be lost, and they refused to risk more lives on the frontlines when their evacuation to Earth was nearly ready to begin. Unwilling to let her creation go to waste, Pandora remained behind on Atlantis when the others left, and would later stash the weapon on a world in the Pegasus Galaxy, leaving clues in the Atlantis database in the hope that humanity would one day find it in an hour of need.
Thanks to the efforts of the Atlantis Expedition, the humans did eventually locate the device, and it proved invaluable in destroying the Der'kal fleet blockading a conquered Earth. Pandora's Box would later be blown apart by Jaffa senators wary of Tau'ri use of the weapon, closely mirroring the conflict that had erupted over the control of another Ancient superweapon on Dakara.