Fic: Shattered Mirror (3/4)
I was going to wait to post this part tomorrow, but I realized that if I did, the fourth part (which is really just the epilogue) wouldn't be posted until Monday. So rather than make you wait that long, I'm going to post this part today and the epilogue tomorrow.
Enjoy! :)
Part II
Elizabeth doesn’t know what to make of this situation. She’s watched Weir exchange threats with General O’Neill, and now she seems to have plans for the captured incursion team. Given the sinister undertones of the other woman’s expression, Elizabeth can’t help but fear the worst.
Within twenty minutes, the group of six are brought into the Gate room, bound and blindfolded, just as Weir gives Peter Grodin the order to dial Earth. Elizabeth watches Weir descend the steps to the Gate room, coming to a halt just before the blinded prisoners, specifically Sam Carter and Vala Mal Doran.
“This all seems rather wasteful, Colonel Carter,” Weir comments, her voice even. “I wonder what your purpose was to come down here, knowing you’d be spotted and caught quickly.”
Carter shrugs. “I follow the orders I’m given,” she replies, then cocks her head and adds, “That seems to be something you and your people have forgotten how to do.”
“We haven’t forgotten. We’ve just grown tired of being given suicide orders. Earth has cost us enough,” Weir snaps. “Why are you here?”
It isn’t Carter who answers, but Vala Mal Doran. “Oh, you know, we just wanted to check out the local facilities, see if there was any good property up for sale,” she says airily. Elizabeth nearly smiles. This Vala sounds very much like the one from her own reality. “You seem to have let the place go, though, since your little rebellion. The lack of security is abysmal.”
Weir’s eyes narrow. “Fine, we’ll find out ourselves.” She nods to the guards and jogs back up the steps. “Open a channel,” Weir orders Peter.
“Channel open.”
Elizabeth watches her counterpart straighten. “This is Doctor Elizabeth Weir of Atlantis. We wish to inform you that your latest attempt to invade this city has failed. We are now in possession of the members of your strike team.”
For several moments, there is nothing. Then comes a burst of static, and the familiar voice of Hank Landry sounds through the control room.
“This is General Landry of the Stargate Project. Doctor Weir, I am afraid I do not know at all what you are--”
Elizabeth notices that Weir rolls her eyes just before she answers. “Please, General, we have already heard that line from General O’Neill. It seems that you didn’t comprehend my last warning about this kind of thing.”
“And just what do you intend to do about it?”
“Normally, quite a bit more than what I am about to do. As things stand, I am occupied. You have fifteen seconds to open your iris. Otherwise, your little band will have a close, personal, and fatal meeting with it.” She pauses, and Elizabeth watches her, barely aware that John, Teyla, Ronon, and Rodney are all staring as well. “Do not attempt this again, General. Inform the I.O.A. that they have only themselves to blame for their loss of control out here. If this happens again, I will not be so forgiving in allowing all of your people to return unharmed. Call it three strikes. End transmission.”
Weir strides over to the small balcony overlooking the Gate room. A few jerking movements later, and Ronon and the Marines are shoving the captured team through the event horizon.
Elizabeth cannot comprehend anything right now. This woman, who wears her face and uses her voice, is a stranger, and a frightening one at that. Genetically, they are the same person, but emotionally, mentally? There is no similarity.
Or is there? More than once she has been forced to toe and even to cross the imaginary line that all leaders use to gauge their own behavior. The first-and only-Wraith given to the Hoffans, Michael, and even the horrific incident with John, Kolya, and the starving Wraith had all pushed her further and further. They had led her into behavior that she would have found reprehensible, before her involvement in the Stargate Program.
Just how different is she from this woman? Is this her fate if things should go badly for her reality?
John watches from the balcony overlooking the Gate room as the captured team is pushed through the event horizon, and then turns to Elizabeth, expecting her to continue the argument with her counterpart. However, she seems frozen in place, her face devoid of color as she stares at Weir.
He can guess at least some of her thoughts, and touches her arm, hoping to distract her. Elizabeth jumps at the unexpected contact, but offers him a tiny smile of thanks.
“You’re not her,” he reminds her.
She nods. “It’s just strange, knowing this could have been me, if things had gone just a little bit differently.”
“Maybe, but it didn’t happen to you. You can’t hold yourself responsible,” John tells her. She opens her mouth to argue, but he holds up his hand. “Just concentrate on getting home, Elizabeth. That’s something that’s within your power to worry about.”
Elizabeth holds his gaze for several moments, and then turns back toward the gathering by the consoles. John does the same.
Weir stands next to the view screen, her arms crossed. When the wormhole closes, she turns to Grodin. “Open a channel,” she orders again.
At the man’s nod, she speaks, “Odyssey, this is Weir. Your incursion team has been returned to Earth. I suggest you join them.”
There is no response, and John waits in a tense silence with everyone else. Suddenly, a series of beeps emanates from Grodin’s console. “The ship is moving out of the system.” He looked up and although his expression is lighter than John has seen it, Grodin doesn’t smile. “They’re leaving.”
“Maybe,” Weir concedes, “but I want that ship monitored until it leaves sensor range.” Her expression is still closed when she turns to her Ronon. “This all seems too easy,” she states. “I want search parties sent out through the different quadrants of the city, especially the area where Carter and her team were located. Look for signs of sabotage of any kind. You may have to take a few scientists with you to check the systems.”
Rodney listens to Weir give her orders and longs to throw a few words of advice at her. Sheppard, though, moves over to stand next to him.
“What do you think they might have done out there?” he asks, leaning against the railing on the catwalk that led to Weir’s office.
“Any number of things,” Rodney replies, shrugging. “That area has the back-up control center for the city’s power distribution. Sabotage that and if something should happen to the control room, then they’d be in huge amounts of trouble.”
Sheppard starts to respond, but is interrupted when Weir joins them. “Thank you, Rodney, we will keep that in mind,” she says. Elizabeth’s doppelganger stares at him, and then at the other members of his team, who have joined him and Sheppard. “I know you want to go back to where you came from as soon as possible, but I can’t spare anyone to escort you, a naquadah generator, and an empty Z.P.M. at the moment.”
Rodney opens his mouth to declare that they don’t need an escort and she can send a team later to pick up the generator later, but Elizabeth cuts him off. “We understand,” she says. “The safety of your city must come first.”
Weir stares at Elizabeth for a long moment before nodding and walking away. Elizabeth has clearly had enough of being in the control room because she moves toward the exit, Rodney and the others hasten to catch up.
Once out in the hallway, Rodney demands, “Elizabeth, why didn’t you just ask her to let us go on our own? We could have-”
“Because,” she interrupts, “this isn’t over. She was right. This was all too easy. There is no way Jack O’Neill, in any reality, gives up that quickly.” She paused, her expression thoughtful. “There’s something else going on, and we’re staying to find out.”
“I thought we weren’t getting involved,” Ronon says, a slight smirk on his face.
Both Teyla and Elizabeth snort. “I think it’s too late for that,” Elizabeth states.
Teyla says, at the same time, “We already are involved.”
Rodney sighs as everyone separates, by unspoken mutual agreement, to find a place to get some sleep. This just isn’t his day, or his week. However long they’ve been in this insane reality.
Ronon chooses to concentrate the teams in the area where Carter and her team were located, leaving just a few to check the other quadrants. No one else has been detected, so it’s safer to look more closely at the place where they know there was a breach. He won’t be getting any sleep anytime soon.
So far, the only thing they have found is some kind of raft, tied up along a sheltered area of the pier. He’s not sure how they got it through the shield, but that can wait until later. They know where to begin tracing the path Carter’s team made.
Three hours later, around four-fifty-five in the morning, Ronon’s radio goes off.
“Sanderson to Ronon.”
The Satedan taps it. “Yeah, Lieutenant?”
“We’re in the back-up power distribution center and the intruders have been here. Some of the controls have been activated, and there’s something else…”
“What?” Ronon demands.
“We’re not sure. Simpson’s not entirely sure either. She says she hasn’t seen it anything like it before.
“I’ll get Zelenka down there,” he tells the lieutenant. Tapping his radio again, he changes to a different channel. “Zelenka, did you hear?”
“Yes,” the scientist says, “I am on my way there now. Elizabeth says to keep her informed.”
“Good. I’ll meet you there.” Ronon turns to his team and finds them ready to move without him having to give them an order. They quickly move out and start down the winding maze of hallways.
Weir is angry. In the last week, she has come face to face with people she knows to be dead, and another version of herself who keeps judging her. As if that was not enough, Jack O’Neill had to show up in her galaxy to try-yet again-to take her city away by sending his pet colonel to sabotage Atlantis’ vital systems.
Maybe she should have kept the blonde bitch and let Ronon shake the dust off of his interrogation skills. Perhaps she has been too lenient on Earth, seeking only a distance from them that so far they have been unwilling to give. Maybe she needs to be more aggressive.
“Radek,” she speaks into the open channel, “any ideas?”
“Not yet,” the Czech scientist replies. “It is of Earth design, but unfamiliar. We’re still running scans on it.”
“What’s taking so long on the scans?” Grodin jumps in, his handsome face thoughtful. “It shouldn’t take more than a few seconds to get a reading on what energy it’s emitting, if any at all.”
“There seems to be some kind of dampening field around the object. We are attempting to compensate for that now.”
For several tense minutes, everyone in the control room stands in silence, waiting for news. It is times like these that the lack of John and Rodney’s presence is keenly felt. Weir can almost predict the words they would use to snip at each other while Rodney worked with the other scientists to solve this latest puzzle. Finally, Radek’s voice comes over the communications channel.
“Elizabeth,” he says, his voice flat, “we need to evacuate this area. Now.”
“What is it?” Weir demands, stepping up to rest her hands on Grodin’s console.
“I am still not entirely sure, but once we got past the dampening field, we were able to measure the amount of energy it holds. There is enough energy to destroy a significant portion of the city. The residual radiation in the wake of the explosion will take care of any survivors in the remaining areas.”
“My God,” she breathes. “All right, all nonessential personnel are to vacate the room and return to the central areas of the city,” she orders.
“Elizabeth, this thing is a ticking bomb,” Radek adds. “I will stay and help, but I have no experience-”
“Which is why you go too,” Ronon’s voice cuts in. Weir hears the scientist start to protest, but she cuts him off.
“Ronon’s right, Radek. We cannot afford to lose you too. Return to the control room now.”
Radek sighs. “Very well. But who will defuse it?”
“I will,” Ronon states.
Weir blinks, surprised. “Ronon-”
“I wasn’t trained to just shoot at the Wraith on Sateda,” he interrupts, a hint of amusement in his voice.
“He’s right.”
Weir starts slightly and turns around to find the other Ronon standing in the doorway. He seems to have been there for sometime and already knows the situation.
“I’ll give him a hand,” he says before disappearing, leaving Weir shocked.
Ronon finds this whole alternate reality idea more than a bit crazy, but he takes it in stride as best he can. It isn’t the first crazy thing he’s come across since Sateda’s destruction. He’s dealt with machines so small that they can’t be seen with the naked eye, bombs that can single-handedly take out a Wraith hive ship, and even seen a Wraith altered to look a human. Another universe with an Atlantis, another him, and duplicates of everyone that he knows isn’t that much of a stretch.
He knows that his Weir wanted initially to stay out of these people’s business, but even she conceded that it’s too late for that. They are stuck here until these people resolve their problems, and as long as there’s a bomb in Atlantis, they’re all at risk no matter what reality they’re from. So he goes down to help.
On Sateda, Kel did not just train him to fight and shoot a weapon straight. Kel taught him about the different facets of war, and that included handling explosives. It isn’t something he has had to do often, since his friends have their own experts, though he has made a point to learn about their kinds of explosives in case of an emergency. Still, Cadman’s proved herself capable, despite her chipper, friendly personality. Since she doesn’t seem to be here and Weir doesn’t seem intent on calling anyone else, he decides to lend a hand.
After a quick trip in the transporter, he gets there to find his other self, lying on his side with the upper half of his body hidden beneath one of the consoles.
“Under here,” he says unnecessarily.
Ronon moves over and squats down, looking under the console. “Found the access points?” he asks. The device is black and box-shaped, but with no distinguishing markings. It doesn’t look that big, surprisingly enough. It’s attached to the bottom of the console near the back, which makes it more difficult to get to. He won’t be able to get under there to see it for himself, not with his other self in the way.
“Yeah,” the other Satedan replies. “They’re on the back. Can you hold the flashlight?”
Ronon lay down. “Sure,” he says, taking the light and holding it up. He watches as his other self makes quick work of the screws and pulls off the black casing to reveal the object’s wiring. Ronon inhales sharply at what he sees. It isn’t the chaotic mess of wiring. That would not bother him. It’s the little digital clock next to the wires, displaying a time in a dull, red light.
00:06:43. 00:06:42. 00:06:41.
His other self mutters a familiar Satedan curse and he sits up, pulling himself out from under the console. Ronon hears him tap his radio.
“Doc, we have a problem,” he says.
Ronon hears a sigh come through the channel. “Another one?”
“This thing is a bomb. It’s set to go off in six minutes.”
Teyla wonders briefly why they even bothered going to bed. She hadn’t been asleep more than a few hours before she heard the voice of the other Elizabeth on the city-wide, ordering everyone to the central areas of the city.
Since she hadn’t even bothered fully undressing, Teyla puts on her boots, grabs her jacket off a chair as she rushes out into the hallway. Elizabeth is waiting for her, and the door across from her own room is already open. Teyla can see John dragging a complaining Rodney out of bed.
“--don’t want to get up,” the scientist whines. “Do you realize that I need some kind of sleep if I’m supposed to pull off a miracle and get us back home? I--”
“Shut up and move, McKay!” John shouts, in no mood for Rodney’s lack of manners. He is lacking in sleep himself, after all. Teyla, however, notices that one of their group is unaccounted for.
“Where is Ronon?” she asks.
Elizabeth shakes her head. “He wasn’t in his room,” she answers, looking worried. “We’re hoping he’s already up in the control room.”
Eventually, John manages to haul Rodney out of his room and the four of them hurry through the halls and make their way up to the control room. Just as they enter, they hear Weir speaking.
“--the hell do you mean, a bomb?”
“It’s a bomb,” Ronon answers. Teyla assumes it is the Ronon belonging to this reality. “It’s also a complete mess. There’s no way to defuse it in less than six minutes. ”
“There’s no time to rig up a puddle jumper for autopilot to send it to explode in orbit either,” Weir snaps, her face pale and her eyes glittering. Teyla finds her expression disturbing. She is angry. Teyla has seen her universe’s Elizabeth Weir angry before, but there is something different this time, something far more dangerous about this Doctor Weir.
It takes no great amount of intelligence to know that the team she and Sergeant Arnold discovered is the one behind this sabotage. However, even knowing that this is not her reality, Teyla still finds it difficult to believe that any Samantha Carter would try to destroy the city of the Ancestors. She must either be very different from the woman Teyla knows, or desperate.
Chaos reigns for a brief moment in the control room, some suggesting an emergency evacuation, but then John cuts through the din. “No,” he shouts, “dial the Gate!”
Teyla is not the only one to turn to stare at him in surprise. “Where?” Grodin finally asks.
“Somewhere there’s no local population to harm. A space Gate. They can transport it up here and throw it through.”
Weir does not hesitate. “Did you get that?” she asks, touching her earpiece.
“Yeah,” Ronon replies. “We’re getting it off the console now.”
“Good,” she says, and then taps the radio again and her voice is heard throughout the city. “This is Weir. Clear a path from Transporter Three to the Gate room.”
Though he will never say so out loud, Ronon is glad his double is here. Having someone who received the same training as him makes moving this bomb much easier. Things couldn’t have been much better, not even if Laura Cadman were still here.
Once they detach it from the underside of the console, Ronon catches a glimpse of the timer. 00:03:53. 00:03:52. He glances at his counterpart and the two of them carry the explosive between them through the hallways. It takes some doing getting into the transporter without dropping it because it is heavier than it looks. The two of them manage and suddenly, they are only a small distance from the Gate room.
Over the open channel in his radio, Ronon can hear Grodin say, “I’ve found one! G4M-5922 has a space gate and the world was wiped out by the Wraith.”
“That’s fine,” he hears Weir answer. “Dial the Gate.”
The sound of the Gate being dialed resounds through the corridor and the two men speed up, each having glanced down at the timer yet again. 00:02:00. 00:01:59. When they make it through the doors of the Gate room, they are just in time to see the event horizon burst out from the Gate.
Out of habit, Ronon glances up to the balcony of the control room. Both Weir and her double are standing there, one pale and the other furious. The angry one, whom Ronon assumes is his Weir, points at the gate. “Throw it now!”
Ronon doesn’t need to be told twice, and neither does his double. They race over to the active Stargate and fling the explosive through, though Ronon does see the timer one final time. 00:01:23.
The event horizon vanishes with its usual snap, leaving the Gate room in silence. Ronon relaxes. The city is safe again for the moment, but he is still going to kill the next person from Earth that invades. No matter what Weir says about it.
Weir sighs as the Gate shuts down. The crisis appears to be over for the moment. She glances at her doppelganger. The woman looks rather pale at the moment, so she asks, “Are you all right?”
Elizabeth nods. “It’s just strange,” she says. “I never thought I would see someone from Earth deliberately sabotage Atlantis. At least, not someone who was an official part of the program.”
Weir stares at her and then says, “Welcome to my world.”
“You told me how it got to be this way, but…” Elizabeth trails off and shakes her head. “It’s hard.”
Weir mulls over her words. “Yes, it is,” she agrees. “I considered many people at the SGC friends before all of this, including Generals O’Neill and Landry. But they made their choice when they forgot what it is like to be on the front lines, the bonds you form.” She inhales, and then exhales violently. “They did not stand up against the IOA when it was right to do so, and so the task fell to me and this expedition. We had far fewer options than they did, and far less patience to deal with those responsible for the deaths of people I… we cared for.”
Elizabeth glances at her sharply and Weir knows that the bitterness in her tone hasn’t gone unnoticed. She does not get a chance to inquire further, though.
A series of beeps erupts from Grodin’s console, and Weir turns toward him, forgetting the thoughtful expression on Elizabeth’s face. “What now?” she demands.
Grodin examines the readings briefly before answering. “It’s the Odyssey. They’ve taken up position at the edge of the system and are performing a long-range scan in our direction.”
Weir clenches her jaw, but it is John who states the obvious. “Probably looking to see if the city’s still afloat, or if we’re sinking to the bottom of the ocean.”
She nods and then orders Grodin, “Keep a watch on them. If they come closer, then let me know immediately.”
Weir does not wait for his answer before turning to face the other occupants of the room. “I believe that we can relax for the moment,” she says. “If there had been another bomb planted, then it would have gone off by now. I will send out teams to investigate the city further, but not until morning.” She attempts a faint smile. “I think we’ve all been through enough for today. I suggest you all get a few hours of sleep. I’ll have my scientists assemble what you need and send you on your way tomorrow.”
She watches the others glance at each other and nod. Elizabeth leads them out of the control room, but John hesitates for a moment. He stares at her. “Your people did good,” he tells her, and then follows his people before she can reply.
John does manage to get some sleep. He isn’t sure about the rest of his team, or any of the people who operate this Atlantis, but he manages to sleep for about four hours, waking up around ten in the morning. When he arrives back in the control room wearing the clothes he arrived in, he finds that Weir is there, though she looks much fresher due to a change of clothes and perhaps some sleep. Rodney is there as well, his arms crossed and leaning against the railing leading to Weir’s office. John joins him.
“Impatient, are we?” John asks.
“Yes,” the scientist replies. “I want to go home where things are at least our kind of crazy. This place is just too weird for me.”
John shrugs. “I suppose it is kind of strange, getting stared at like you’re a ghost.”
Rodney snorts but does nothing else. Elizabeth, Ronon, and Teyla join them a few minutes later. Weir double-checks the Gate address, but other than that, everyone stands in silence.
Eventually, John sees Radek and Simpson entering the control room, each carrying a laptop case. They are followed by a trio of other scientists, carrying a naquadah generator. John notes that no MALP has appeared, but doesn’t say anything. He has to figure their supply is low, if not gone completely.
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” John comments, moving forward. “So, is this where we click our heels together and think ‘there’s no place like home?’”
Weir rolls her eyes at the comment, but he doesn’t see any real irritation on her face. Elizabeth just shakes her head. Both Ronon and Teyla glance at him, but say nothing. Rodney, being himself, makes the comment an issue.
“Oh please,” he says, “that movie is so melodramatic.”
“It’s a classic,” John counters.
“Gentlemen,” Elizabeth interrupts before Rodney can respond. “If you don’t mind?” She nods in Radek’s direction.
The Czech coughs. “Yes, thank you,” he says. “We have everything here that you asked for, plus some of our own equipment so that we might study the device for ourselves.”
“Just be careful you don’t get sucked into an alternate reality,” Rodney says. “I think I can show you some of the things we did so you can avoid what happened to us.”
Radek glances at him and John’s pretty sure he sees the man smile. “Thank you, Rodney.” John also thinks that the scientist noticed that Rodney used the terms ‘we’ and ‘us.’ He tries not to laugh.
Weir cuts in at that point and says, “Major Lorne’s team will accompany you to the planet, since Ronon is needed here for the rest of the search.” She pauses for a moment and then adds, “It has been… interesting.”
Elizabeth nods to her, her expression amused. “I won’t argue with you there. Thanks for all your help.”
Ronon, Teyla, and Rodney also offer their thanks before following Elizabeth towards the stairs. Radek and his team follow as well. John stops in front of Weir and stares at her. She’s watched him several times since they got here and he has a feeling that there is more to it than she’s willing to admit. He isn’t about to speculate on it. Instead, he awkwardly places a hand on her shoulder for a moment. He sees something ignite in her eyes, but he forces himself to walk away before he can completely analyze it.
He’s sure he’s better off not knowing. What happens here in this reality doesn’t affect his reality. He just has to keep telling himself that.
Rodney’s glad when they make it into the cave. The planet the Ancient device is on is going through its wet season or some other nonsense like that. He is completely drenched, which will probably lead to a cold. Rodney hates being sick.
“Okay, it’s over here,” he tells Radek and Simpson, pointing to a particularly dark corner. “There’s a small alcove that you can’t really see until you’re up close.”
“How did you find it?” Simpson asks as she carries the crate with the empty ZPM Radek and two others are right behind her, bringing along the naquadah generator. Lorne’s team and the rest of Rodney’s own team remain in the main chamber of the cave.
Rodney shrugs. “It was raining, and we were running for the cave. Ronon found it when he searched the corner.”
“I see,” Simpson says, and Rodney’s pretty sure she’s trying not to laugh at him. Normally, he’d snap at her, but he’s just too eager to go home.
“Hand me the Zed-PM, would you?” he asks. Once energy device is in his hand, Rodney steps up to the Ancient machine and pushes the ZPM into the receptacle. It slides in, and only the faintest light appears within it. The machine doesn’t change at all.
“All right then,” Rodney says. “Expected that. Here’s where the naquadah generator comes in. Like I told you when you insisted on me explaining things from my jail cell, the Ancients seemed to have designed this thing to take energy from various different sources. Zero-point energy, geothermal energy, whatever. It just needs energy, and I think that the naquadah generator will give it enough of a jump start to make the device start gathering energy from different sources.”
“Fascinating,” Radek breathes, staring at the Ancient machine. “Why do you need the ZPM, then? It is empty.”
Rodney nods, even though they can’t see him do so. “I know it is. I don’t entirely understand this thing yet, as I haven’t had a lot of time to study it without jumping from universe to universe and being in constant peril. I think this thing somehow converts the energy into one certain kind and stores it in the Zed-PM. That’s why I needed one.”
“There wasn’t one here when you got here?” Radek asks.
Rodney can feel his face heat up, and is grateful for the fact that the flashlights don’t give enough light to see it by. “Uh, yeah, there was one, but uh. Something happened to it. It’s not important. We have one here and it’s good to go.”
Rodney doesn’t give them time to formulate a response. “Hand me the connection cables, would you?” Someone does so, he’s not sure who, and Rodney kneels down and starts feeling along the base of the machine. When he finds what he is looking for, he attaches the cables and stands back up. “There,” he says, “go ahead turn it on.”
He hears the audible click of the generator as it activates, and the machine lights up like a Christmas tree. The whirling sound is louder than a helicopter.
Elizabeth’s sense of relief nearly takes her breath away when she hears the sound of the Ancient device. She is going home. They are all going home. As one, the four of them step forward, nodding in the dim light to Major Lorne and his men. They brush past the scientists, and Elizabeth can hear Rodney shouting instructions at Radek and the others.
“You all should wait outside the cave when we activate this,” he yells in their direction. “So you don’t get sucked into our reality with us!”
“Yes, of course,” Radek shouts back. From the way the flashlights bob in the darkness, Elizabeth can tell that the scientists are moving back toward the entrance to the cave.
“Time to click our heels together now, McKay?” John bellows. Elizabeth rolls her eyes.
“Activate it, Rodney!” she orders, distracting him from responding to John.
He doesn’t need to be told twice, and Elizabeth watches as he reaches out to the device and flips a few switches. Then, just like once before, everything around her seems to ripple. Moments later, all is as it was before. The machine shuts off, leaving them in silence.
“Did it work?” Teyla asks.
“No reason it shouldn’t have,” Rodney answers. He points his flashlight behind them and yells out, “Radek? Simpson?”
There is no answer. Elizabeth nearly sags with relief.
“Well,” John says, “shall we get to the Gate and see if Lorne managed to keep the place from burning down while we were gone?” Elizabeth can feel him nudge her with his elbow, and she can’t help but smile.
“A good idea,” she says, but then frowns. “Though,” she adds, “I don’t know how this is all going to fit in the report back to Earth.”
“True,” John replies after a moment. “But we’ll figure something out.”
“We always do,” Ronon mutters as they leave the darkness of the cave for the afternoon sunlight outside.
Part IV
Enjoy! :)
Part II
Elizabeth doesn’t know what to make of this situation. She’s watched Weir exchange threats with General O’Neill, and now she seems to have plans for the captured incursion team. Given the sinister undertones of the other woman’s expression, Elizabeth can’t help but fear the worst.
Within twenty minutes, the group of six are brought into the Gate room, bound and blindfolded, just as Weir gives Peter Grodin the order to dial Earth. Elizabeth watches Weir descend the steps to the Gate room, coming to a halt just before the blinded prisoners, specifically Sam Carter and Vala Mal Doran.
“This all seems rather wasteful, Colonel Carter,” Weir comments, her voice even. “I wonder what your purpose was to come down here, knowing you’d be spotted and caught quickly.”
Carter shrugs. “I follow the orders I’m given,” she replies, then cocks her head and adds, “That seems to be something you and your people have forgotten how to do.”
“We haven’t forgotten. We’ve just grown tired of being given suicide orders. Earth has cost us enough,” Weir snaps. “Why are you here?”
It isn’t Carter who answers, but Vala Mal Doran. “Oh, you know, we just wanted to check out the local facilities, see if there was any good property up for sale,” she says airily. Elizabeth nearly smiles. This Vala sounds very much like the one from her own reality. “You seem to have let the place go, though, since your little rebellion. The lack of security is abysmal.”
Weir’s eyes narrow. “Fine, we’ll find out ourselves.” She nods to the guards and jogs back up the steps. “Open a channel,” Weir orders Peter.
“Channel open.”
Elizabeth watches her counterpart straighten. “This is Doctor Elizabeth Weir of Atlantis. We wish to inform you that your latest attempt to invade this city has failed. We are now in possession of the members of your strike team.”
For several moments, there is nothing. Then comes a burst of static, and the familiar voice of Hank Landry sounds through the control room.
“This is General Landry of the Stargate Project. Doctor Weir, I am afraid I do not know at all what you are--”
Elizabeth notices that Weir rolls her eyes just before she answers. “Please, General, we have already heard that line from General O’Neill. It seems that you didn’t comprehend my last warning about this kind of thing.”
“And just what do you intend to do about it?”
“Normally, quite a bit more than what I am about to do. As things stand, I am occupied. You have fifteen seconds to open your iris. Otherwise, your little band will have a close, personal, and fatal meeting with it.” She pauses, and Elizabeth watches her, barely aware that John, Teyla, Ronon, and Rodney are all staring as well. “Do not attempt this again, General. Inform the I.O.A. that they have only themselves to blame for their loss of control out here. If this happens again, I will not be so forgiving in allowing all of your people to return unharmed. Call it three strikes. End transmission.”
Weir strides over to the small balcony overlooking the Gate room. A few jerking movements later, and Ronon and the Marines are shoving the captured team through the event horizon.
Elizabeth cannot comprehend anything right now. This woman, who wears her face and uses her voice, is a stranger, and a frightening one at that. Genetically, they are the same person, but emotionally, mentally? There is no similarity.
Or is there? More than once she has been forced to toe and even to cross the imaginary line that all leaders use to gauge their own behavior. The first-and only-Wraith given to the Hoffans, Michael, and even the horrific incident with John, Kolya, and the starving Wraith had all pushed her further and further. They had led her into behavior that she would have found reprehensible, before her involvement in the Stargate Program.
Just how different is she from this woman? Is this her fate if things should go badly for her reality?
John watches from the balcony overlooking the Gate room as the captured team is pushed through the event horizon, and then turns to Elizabeth, expecting her to continue the argument with her counterpart. However, she seems frozen in place, her face devoid of color as she stares at Weir.
He can guess at least some of her thoughts, and touches her arm, hoping to distract her. Elizabeth jumps at the unexpected contact, but offers him a tiny smile of thanks.
“You’re not her,” he reminds her.
She nods. “It’s just strange, knowing this could have been me, if things had gone just a little bit differently.”
“Maybe, but it didn’t happen to you. You can’t hold yourself responsible,” John tells her. She opens her mouth to argue, but he holds up his hand. “Just concentrate on getting home, Elizabeth. That’s something that’s within your power to worry about.”
Elizabeth holds his gaze for several moments, and then turns back toward the gathering by the consoles. John does the same.
Weir stands next to the view screen, her arms crossed. When the wormhole closes, she turns to Grodin. “Open a channel,” she orders again.
At the man’s nod, she speaks, “Odyssey, this is Weir. Your incursion team has been returned to Earth. I suggest you join them.”
There is no response, and John waits in a tense silence with everyone else. Suddenly, a series of beeps emanates from Grodin’s console. “The ship is moving out of the system.” He looked up and although his expression is lighter than John has seen it, Grodin doesn’t smile. “They’re leaving.”
“Maybe,” Weir concedes, “but I want that ship monitored until it leaves sensor range.” Her expression is still closed when she turns to her Ronon. “This all seems too easy,” she states. “I want search parties sent out through the different quadrants of the city, especially the area where Carter and her team were located. Look for signs of sabotage of any kind. You may have to take a few scientists with you to check the systems.”
Rodney listens to Weir give her orders and longs to throw a few words of advice at her. Sheppard, though, moves over to stand next to him.
“What do you think they might have done out there?” he asks, leaning against the railing on the catwalk that led to Weir’s office.
“Any number of things,” Rodney replies, shrugging. “That area has the back-up control center for the city’s power distribution. Sabotage that and if something should happen to the control room, then they’d be in huge amounts of trouble.”
Sheppard starts to respond, but is interrupted when Weir joins them. “Thank you, Rodney, we will keep that in mind,” she says. Elizabeth’s doppelganger stares at him, and then at the other members of his team, who have joined him and Sheppard. “I know you want to go back to where you came from as soon as possible, but I can’t spare anyone to escort you, a naquadah generator, and an empty Z.P.M. at the moment.”
Rodney opens his mouth to declare that they don’t need an escort and she can send a team later to pick up the generator later, but Elizabeth cuts him off. “We understand,” she says. “The safety of your city must come first.”
Weir stares at Elizabeth for a long moment before nodding and walking away. Elizabeth has clearly had enough of being in the control room because she moves toward the exit, Rodney and the others hasten to catch up.
Once out in the hallway, Rodney demands, “Elizabeth, why didn’t you just ask her to let us go on our own? We could have-”
“Because,” she interrupts, “this isn’t over. She was right. This was all too easy. There is no way Jack O’Neill, in any reality, gives up that quickly.” She paused, her expression thoughtful. “There’s something else going on, and we’re staying to find out.”
“I thought we weren’t getting involved,” Ronon says, a slight smirk on his face.
Both Teyla and Elizabeth snort. “I think it’s too late for that,” Elizabeth states.
Teyla says, at the same time, “We already are involved.”
Rodney sighs as everyone separates, by unspoken mutual agreement, to find a place to get some sleep. This just isn’t his day, or his week. However long they’ve been in this insane reality.
Ronon chooses to concentrate the teams in the area where Carter and her team were located, leaving just a few to check the other quadrants. No one else has been detected, so it’s safer to look more closely at the place where they know there was a breach. He won’t be getting any sleep anytime soon.
So far, the only thing they have found is some kind of raft, tied up along a sheltered area of the pier. He’s not sure how they got it through the shield, but that can wait until later. They know where to begin tracing the path Carter’s team made.
Three hours later, around four-fifty-five in the morning, Ronon’s radio goes off.
“Sanderson to Ronon.”
The Satedan taps it. “Yeah, Lieutenant?”
“We’re in the back-up power distribution center and the intruders have been here. Some of the controls have been activated, and there’s something else…”
“What?” Ronon demands.
“We’re not sure. Simpson’s not entirely sure either. She says she hasn’t seen it anything like it before.
“I’ll get Zelenka down there,” he tells the lieutenant. Tapping his radio again, he changes to a different channel. “Zelenka, did you hear?”
“Yes,” the scientist says, “I am on my way there now. Elizabeth says to keep her informed.”
“Good. I’ll meet you there.” Ronon turns to his team and finds them ready to move without him having to give them an order. They quickly move out and start down the winding maze of hallways.
Weir is angry. In the last week, she has come face to face with people she knows to be dead, and another version of herself who keeps judging her. As if that was not enough, Jack O’Neill had to show up in her galaxy to try-yet again-to take her city away by sending his pet colonel to sabotage Atlantis’ vital systems.
Maybe she should have kept the blonde bitch and let Ronon shake the dust off of his interrogation skills. Perhaps she has been too lenient on Earth, seeking only a distance from them that so far they have been unwilling to give. Maybe she needs to be more aggressive.
“Radek,” she speaks into the open channel, “any ideas?”
“Not yet,” the Czech scientist replies. “It is of Earth design, but unfamiliar. We’re still running scans on it.”
“What’s taking so long on the scans?” Grodin jumps in, his handsome face thoughtful. “It shouldn’t take more than a few seconds to get a reading on what energy it’s emitting, if any at all.”
“There seems to be some kind of dampening field around the object. We are attempting to compensate for that now.”
For several tense minutes, everyone in the control room stands in silence, waiting for news. It is times like these that the lack of John and Rodney’s presence is keenly felt. Weir can almost predict the words they would use to snip at each other while Rodney worked with the other scientists to solve this latest puzzle. Finally, Radek’s voice comes over the communications channel.
“Elizabeth,” he says, his voice flat, “we need to evacuate this area. Now.”
“What is it?” Weir demands, stepping up to rest her hands on Grodin’s console.
“I am still not entirely sure, but once we got past the dampening field, we were able to measure the amount of energy it holds. There is enough energy to destroy a significant portion of the city. The residual radiation in the wake of the explosion will take care of any survivors in the remaining areas.”
“My God,” she breathes. “All right, all nonessential personnel are to vacate the room and return to the central areas of the city,” she orders.
“Elizabeth, this thing is a ticking bomb,” Radek adds. “I will stay and help, but I have no experience-”
“Which is why you go too,” Ronon’s voice cuts in. Weir hears the scientist start to protest, but she cuts him off.
“Ronon’s right, Radek. We cannot afford to lose you too. Return to the control room now.”
Radek sighs. “Very well. But who will defuse it?”
“I will,” Ronon states.
Weir blinks, surprised. “Ronon-”
“I wasn’t trained to just shoot at the Wraith on Sateda,” he interrupts, a hint of amusement in his voice.
“He’s right.”
Weir starts slightly and turns around to find the other Ronon standing in the doorway. He seems to have been there for sometime and already knows the situation.
“I’ll give him a hand,” he says before disappearing, leaving Weir shocked.
Ronon finds this whole alternate reality idea more than a bit crazy, but he takes it in stride as best he can. It isn’t the first crazy thing he’s come across since Sateda’s destruction. He’s dealt with machines so small that they can’t be seen with the naked eye, bombs that can single-handedly take out a Wraith hive ship, and even seen a Wraith altered to look a human. Another universe with an Atlantis, another him, and duplicates of everyone that he knows isn’t that much of a stretch.
He knows that his Weir wanted initially to stay out of these people’s business, but even she conceded that it’s too late for that. They are stuck here until these people resolve their problems, and as long as there’s a bomb in Atlantis, they’re all at risk no matter what reality they’re from. So he goes down to help.
On Sateda, Kel did not just train him to fight and shoot a weapon straight. Kel taught him about the different facets of war, and that included handling explosives. It isn’t something he has had to do often, since his friends have their own experts, though he has made a point to learn about their kinds of explosives in case of an emergency. Still, Cadman’s proved herself capable, despite her chipper, friendly personality. Since she doesn’t seem to be here and Weir doesn’t seem intent on calling anyone else, he decides to lend a hand.
After a quick trip in the transporter, he gets there to find his other self, lying on his side with the upper half of his body hidden beneath one of the consoles.
“Under here,” he says unnecessarily.
Ronon moves over and squats down, looking under the console. “Found the access points?” he asks. The device is black and box-shaped, but with no distinguishing markings. It doesn’t look that big, surprisingly enough. It’s attached to the bottom of the console near the back, which makes it more difficult to get to. He won’t be able to get under there to see it for himself, not with his other self in the way.
“Yeah,” the other Satedan replies. “They’re on the back. Can you hold the flashlight?”
Ronon lay down. “Sure,” he says, taking the light and holding it up. He watches as his other self makes quick work of the screws and pulls off the black casing to reveal the object’s wiring. Ronon inhales sharply at what he sees. It isn’t the chaotic mess of wiring. That would not bother him. It’s the little digital clock next to the wires, displaying a time in a dull, red light.
00:06:43. 00:06:42. 00:06:41.
His other self mutters a familiar Satedan curse and he sits up, pulling himself out from under the console. Ronon hears him tap his radio.
“Doc, we have a problem,” he says.
Ronon hears a sigh come through the channel. “Another one?”
“This thing is a bomb. It’s set to go off in six minutes.”
Teyla wonders briefly why they even bothered going to bed. She hadn’t been asleep more than a few hours before she heard the voice of the other Elizabeth on the city-wide, ordering everyone to the central areas of the city.
Since she hadn’t even bothered fully undressing, Teyla puts on her boots, grabs her jacket off a chair as she rushes out into the hallway. Elizabeth is waiting for her, and the door across from her own room is already open. Teyla can see John dragging a complaining Rodney out of bed.
“--don’t want to get up,” the scientist whines. “Do you realize that I need some kind of sleep if I’m supposed to pull off a miracle and get us back home? I--”
“Shut up and move, McKay!” John shouts, in no mood for Rodney’s lack of manners. He is lacking in sleep himself, after all. Teyla, however, notices that one of their group is unaccounted for.
“Where is Ronon?” she asks.
Elizabeth shakes her head. “He wasn’t in his room,” she answers, looking worried. “We’re hoping he’s already up in the control room.”
Eventually, John manages to haul Rodney out of his room and the four of them hurry through the halls and make their way up to the control room. Just as they enter, they hear Weir speaking.
“--the hell do you mean, a bomb?”
“It’s a bomb,” Ronon answers. Teyla assumes it is the Ronon belonging to this reality. “It’s also a complete mess. There’s no way to defuse it in less than six minutes. ”
“There’s no time to rig up a puddle jumper for autopilot to send it to explode in orbit either,” Weir snaps, her face pale and her eyes glittering. Teyla finds her expression disturbing. She is angry. Teyla has seen her universe’s Elizabeth Weir angry before, but there is something different this time, something far more dangerous about this Doctor Weir.
It takes no great amount of intelligence to know that the team she and Sergeant Arnold discovered is the one behind this sabotage. However, even knowing that this is not her reality, Teyla still finds it difficult to believe that any Samantha Carter would try to destroy the city of the Ancestors. She must either be very different from the woman Teyla knows, or desperate.
Chaos reigns for a brief moment in the control room, some suggesting an emergency evacuation, but then John cuts through the din. “No,” he shouts, “dial the Gate!”
Teyla is not the only one to turn to stare at him in surprise. “Where?” Grodin finally asks.
“Somewhere there’s no local population to harm. A space Gate. They can transport it up here and throw it through.”
Weir does not hesitate. “Did you get that?” she asks, touching her earpiece.
“Yeah,” Ronon replies. “We’re getting it off the console now.”
“Good,” she says, and then taps the radio again and her voice is heard throughout the city. “This is Weir. Clear a path from Transporter Three to the Gate room.”
Though he will never say so out loud, Ronon is glad his double is here. Having someone who received the same training as him makes moving this bomb much easier. Things couldn’t have been much better, not even if Laura Cadman were still here.
Once they detach it from the underside of the console, Ronon catches a glimpse of the timer. 00:03:53. 00:03:52. He glances at his counterpart and the two of them carry the explosive between them through the hallways. It takes some doing getting into the transporter without dropping it because it is heavier than it looks. The two of them manage and suddenly, they are only a small distance from the Gate room.
Over the open channel in his radio, Ronon can hear Grodin say, “I’ve found one! G4M-5922 has a space gate and the world was wiped out by the Wraith.”
“That’s fine,” he hears Weir answer. “Dial the Gate.”
The sound of the Gate being dialed resounds through the corridor and the two men speed up, each having glanced down at the timer yet again. 00:02:00. 00:01:59. When they make it through the doors of the Gate room, they are just in time to see the event horizon burst out from the Gate.
Out of habit, Ronon glances up to the balcony of the control room. Both Weir and her double are standing there, one pale and the other furious. The angry one, whom Ronon assumes is his Weir, points at the gate. “Throw it now!”
Ronon doesn’t need to be told twice, and neither does his double. They race over to the active Stargate and fling the explosive through, though Ronon does see the timer one final time. 00:01:23.
The event horizon vanishes with its usual snap, leaving the Gate room in silence. Ronon relaxes. The city is safe again for the moment, but he is still going to kill the next person from Earth that invades. No matter what Weir says about it.
Weir sighs as the Gate shuts down. The crisis appears to be over for the moment. She glances at her doppelganger. The woman looks rather pale at the moment, so she asks, “Are you all right?”
Elizabeth nods. “It’s just strange,” she says. “I never thought I would see someone from Earth deliberately sabotage Atlantis. At least, not someone who was an official part of the program.”
Weir stares at her and then says, “Welcome to my world.”
“You told me how it got to be this way, but…” Elizabeth trails off and shakes her head. “It’s hard.”
Weir mulls over her words. “Yes, it is,” she agrees. “I considered many people at the SGC friends before all of this, including Generals O’Neill and Landry. But they made their choice when they forgot what it is like to be on the front lines, the bonds you form.” She inhales, and then exhales violently. “They did not stand up against the IOA when it was right to do so, and so the task fell to me and this expedition. We had far fewer options than they did, and far less patience to deal with those responsible for the deaths of people I… we cared for.”
Elizabeth glances at her sharply and Weir knows that the bitterness in her tone hasn’t gone unnoticed. She does not get a chance to inquire further, though.
A series of beeps erupts from Grodin’s console, and Weir turns toward him, forgetting the thoughtful expression on Elizabeth’s face. “What now?” she demands.
Grodin examines the readings briefly before answering. “It’s the Odyssey. They’ve taken up position at the edge of the system and are performing a long-range scan in our direction.”
Weir clenches her jaw, but it is John who states the obvious. “Probably looking to see if the city’s still afloat, or if we’re sinking to the bottom of the ocean.”
She nods and then orders Grodin, “Keep a watch on them. If they come closer, then let me know immediately.”
Weir does not wait for his answer before turning to face the other occupants of the room. “I believe that we can relax for the moment,” she says. “If there had been another bomb planted, then it would have gone off by now. I will send out teams to investigate the city further, but not until morning.” She attempts a faint smile. “I think we’ve all been through enough for today. I suggest you all get a few hours of sleep. I’ll have my scientists assemble what you need and send you on your way tomorrow.”
She watches the others glance at each other and nod. Elizabeth leads them out of the control room, but John hesitates for a moment. He stares at her. “Your people did good,” he tells her, and then follows his people before she can reply.
John does manage to get some sleep. He isn’t sure about the rest of his team, or any of the people who operate this Atlantis, but he manages to sleep for about four hours, waking up around ten in the morning. When he arrives back in the control room wearing the clothes he arrived in, he finds that Weir is there, though she looks much fresher due to a change of clothes and perhaps some sleep. Rodney is there as well, his arms crossed and leaning against the railing leading to Weir’s office. John joins him.
“Impatient, are we?” John asks.
“Yes,” the scientist replies. “I want to go home where things are at least our kind of crazy. This place is just too weird for me.”
John shrugs. “I suppose it is kind of strange, getting stared at like you’re a ghost.”
Rodney snorts but does nothing else. Elizabeth, Ronon, and Teyla join them a few minutes later. Weir double-checks the Gate address, but other than that, everyone stands in silence.
Eventually, John sees Radek and Simpson entering the control room, each carrying a laptop case. They are followed by a trio of other scientists, carrying a naquadah generator. John notes that no MALP has appeared, but doesn’t say anything. He has to figure their supply is low, if not gone completely.
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” John comments, moving forward. “So, is this where we click our heels together and think ‘there’s no place like home?’”
Weir rolls her eyes at the comment, but he doesn’t see any real irritation on her face. Elizabeth just shakes her head. Both Ronon and Teyla glance at him, but say nothing. Rodney, being himself, makes the comment an issue.
“Oh please,” he says, “that movie is so melodramatic.”
“It’s a classic,” John counters.
“Gentlemen,” Elizabeth interrupts before Rodney can respond. “If you don’t mind?” She nods in Radek’s direction.
The Czech coughs. “Yes, thank you,” he says. “We have everything here that you asked for, plus some of our own equipment so that we might study the device for ourselves.”
“Just be careful you don’t get sucked into an alternate reality,” Rodney says. “I think I can show you some of the things we did so you can avoid what happened to us.”
Radek glances at him and John’s pretty sure he sees the man smile. “Thank you, Rodney.” John also thinks that the scientist noticed that Rodney used the terms ‘we’ and ‘us.’ He tries not to laugh.
Weir cuts in at that point and says, “Major Lorne’s team will accompany you to the planet, since Ronon is needed here for the rest of the search.” She pauses for a moment and then adds, “It has been… interesting.”
Elizabeth nods to her, her expression amused. “I won’t argue with you there. Thanks for all your help.”
Ronon, Teyla, and Rodney also offer their thanks before following Elizabeth towards the stairs. Radek and his team follow as well. John stops in front of Weir and stares at her. She’s watched him several times since they got here and he has a feeling that there is more to it than she’s willing to admit. He isn’t about to speculate on it. Instead, he awkwardly places a hand on her shoulder for a moment. He sees something ignite in her eyes, but he forces himself to walk away before he can completely analyze it.
He’s sure he’s better off not knowing. What happens here in this reality doesn’t affect his reality. He just has to keep telling himself that.
Rodney’s glad when they make it into the cave. The planet the Ancient device is on is going through its wet season or some other nonsense like that. He is completely drenched, which will probably lead to a cold. Rodney hates being sick.
“Okay, it’s over here,” he tells Radek and Simpson, pointing to a particularly dark corner. “There’s a small alcove that you can’t really see until you’re up close.”
“How did you find it?” Simpson asks as she carries the crate with the empty ZPM Radek and two others are right behind her, bringing along the naquadah generator. Lorne’s team and the rest of Rodney’s own team remain in the main chamber of the cave.
Rodney shrugs. “It was raining, and we were running for the cave. Ronon found it when he searched the corner.”
“I see,” Simpson says, and Rodney’s pretty sure she’s trying not to laugh at him. Normally, he’d snap at her, but he’s just too eager to go home.
“Hand me the Zed-PM, would you?” he asks. Once energy device is in his hand, Rodney steps up to the Ancient machine and pushes the ZPM into the receptacle. It slides in, and only the faintest light appears within it. The machine doesn’t change at all.
“All right then,” Rodney says. “Expected that. Here’s where the naquadah generator comes in. Like I told you when you insisted on me explaining things from my jail cell, the Ancients seemed to have designed this thing to take energy from various different sources. Zero-point energy, geothermal energy, whatever. It just needs energy, and I think that the naquadah generator will give it enough of a jump start to make the device start gathering energy from different sources.”
“Fascinating,” Radek breathes, staring at the Ancient machine. “Why do you need the ZPM, then? It is empty.”
Rodney nods, even though they can’t see him do so. “I know it is. I don’t entirely understand this thing yet, as I haven’t had a lot of time to study it without jumping from universe to universe and being in constant peril. I think this thing somehow converts the energy into one certain kind and stores it in the Zed-PM. That’s why I needed one.”
“There wasn’t one here when you got here?” Radek asks.
Rodney can feel his face heat up, and is grateful for the fact that the flashlights don’t give enough light to see it by. “Uh, yeah, there was one, but uh. Something happened to it. It’s not important. We have one here and it’s good to go.”
Rodney doesn’t give them time to formulate a response. “Hand me the connection cables, would you?” Someone does so, he’s not sure who, and Rodney kneels down and starts feeling along the base of the machine. When he finds what he is looking for, he attaches the cables and stands back up. “There,” he says, “go ahead turn it on.”
He hears the audible click of the generator as it activates, and the machine lights up like a Christmas tree. The whirling sound is louder than a helicopter.
Elizabeth’s sense of relief nearly takes her breath away when she hears the sound of the Ancient device. She is going home. They are all going home. As one, the four of them step forward, nodding in the dim light to Major Lorne and his men. They brush past the scientists, and Elizabeth can hear Rodney shouting instructions at Radek and the others.
“You all should wait outside the cave when we activate this,” he yells in their direction. “So you don’t get sucked into our reality with us!”
“Yes, of course,” Radek shouts back. From the way the flashlights bob in the darkness, Elizabeth can tell that the scientists are moving back toward the entrance to the cave.
“Time to click our heels together now, McKay?” John bellows. Elizabeth rolls her eyes.
“Activate it, Rodney!” she orders, distracting him from responding to John.
He doesn’t need to be told twice, and Elizabeth watches as he reaches out to the device and flips a few switches. Then, just like once before, everything around her seems to ripple. Moments later, all is as it was before. The machine shuts off, leaving them in silence.
“Did it work?” Teyla asks.
“No reason it shouldn’t have,” Rodney answers. He points his flashlight behind them and yells out, “Radek? Simpson?”
There is no answer. Elizabeth nearly sags with relief.
“Well,” John says, “shall we get to the Gate and see if Lorne managed to keep the place from burning down while we were gone?” Elizabeth can feel him nudge her with his elbow, and she can’t help but smile.
“A good idea,” she says, but then frowns. “Though,” she adds, “I don’t know how this is all going to fit in the report back to Earth.”
“True,” John replies after a moment. “But we’ll figure something out.”
“We always do,” Ronon mutters as they leave the darkness of the cave for the afternoon sunlight outside.
Part IV