Flashing Lights
Title: Flashing Lights
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters: Rodney McKay, OCs, Keller
Orientation: Gen
Rating: Gen
Word Count: 1, 174
Notes: for x_varda_x for the stargateland Winter Gifting Challenge
Prompts: Hurt Comfort Bingo Fill: “Experiments by Evil Scientists”
Fanbingo Fill: “Thank God it’s Friday, Again. Time Loops”
A flashing light in front of his eyes made Rodney shy away. He squinted through the glare to see a blue-skinned alien watching him intently through wide eyes. “This is ridiculous. We’ve done this already! Stop, stop. Just, stop for a minute!” Rodney tried to pull back and away from the gloved hand of the alien ‘scientist” reaching for him, but he was held firmly in place by steel bands around his forehead, neck, chest, waist and calves. He called them scientists in his head because they seemed to be doing some kind of experiments, using what he recognized as scientific methods.
“You remember the last time? Interesting. Most subjects do not recall the events.”
“Listen, I’m very important in the city. They are going to be looking for me, someone is going to come to find me.”
The alien tilted his head and stared at Rodney. “As you have said. Repeatedly. Please stop saying that.”
“I’ve said it once. Wait, no, I did say it before, didn’t I? What the heck is going on here? What kind of experiments are you doing? What are you doing to me?”
The alien turned to the other aliens working around the lab and said, in a high pitched voice, “Is this the best subject you could find? Why do I have to deal with it? It’s annoying. I want a new one.”
“We all want a new one,” the one that had a mustache like Groucho Marx said in a monotone.
“If you were first rate, you’d have your pick of subjects, but you are not. You will take what you get and do your best,” another alien, one that reminded Rodney of Bud Abbot said sharply.
The Complainer turned back around and stuck a needle into Rodney’s arm. “Next time, try to be more cooperative.”
The world went black.
~*~
A flashing light in front of his eyes made Rodney shy back. He squinted through the glare to see a wide eyed alien staring at him intently. “Are you going to behave this time around?” the alien asked in a voice that really sounded as if the being was at the end of its patience. It held up a large syringe of red liquid in a threatening manner and Rodney clamped his mouth shut and nodded. That stuff burned. He remembered that from one of the other passes through this.
“Finally. Your species is stubborn and slow to learn.”
“You have room to talk, you cut-rate excuses for researchers. Where’d your bosses find you, a back alley somewhere? I know animal trainers who could teach monkeys to do a better job than you’re doing here! No, no, wait, not the shot!”
Every nerve in his body burned and then the world went black.
~*~
“What’s with the flashing light?” Rodney asked, growing exhausted and listless. The Complainer lowered the syringe it was holding up in warning. “”Look at this, does it look the same as it did before?” It held a portable screen up in front of Rodney’s face. He had seen the image of moons over water before.
He had learned to cooperate. If he mouthed off, Moe, Curly or Larry hurt him. If he cooperated, Costello fed him and let him sleep. They didn’t answer questions. Ever.
“The moons are a different color. They used to be brighter, more blue,” he answered honestly. They had him hooked up to sensors, they knew if he was bullshitting them. They punished him for being insolent.
Rodney had no idea where he was. He didn’t know if Atlantis was going to be able to find him, because he didn’t remember how he had gotten here. He was confused. Rodney hated being confused; it was a state that he absolutely despised. He wanted to go home. But whining about it would get him a red shot.
Biting his tongue, he followed the orders of Laurel and Hardy, looking where they told him to look, answering the questions they asked him. They were basically the same questions they had asked him each time everything started over again.
He wondered how long they had been doing this. He had lost track, if he had ever been keeping track.
~*~
The flashing light hurt. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly. “I think I’m going to puke,” he told The Complainer.
Laurel ran over with a bucket and held it up. Rodney was relieved that he didn’t need to use it. “I’m okay.” The alien walked away, dropping the bucket. It clanked and rolled to land against a wall.
It had started to get harder to see the pictures. His vision was going bad. He couldn’t hear very well either. He was so tired. All he wanted to do was sleep.
He didn’t answer quickly enough and they gave him the red shot. This time Rodney screamed with the pain of it. He screamed over and over again, until the blackness took him.
~*~
He hung loosely in the restraining clamps, too weak to even open his eyes and protest against the flashing light.
~*~
“Doctor McKay?” a familiar voice roused Rodney slightly. He opened his eyes, squinting instinctively against the expected flashing. But there was no flashing this time. He couldn’t keep his eyes open, it hurt. A hand touched his throat, feeling for a pulse. “Hang in there Doctor McKay, we’re going to get you out of there, we might have to cut you out of these things if Radek can’t find the release.”
“Lorne?” It hurt to talk.
He felt hands running over him, checking him for injuries. “Yes, it’s Lorne. Sorry, it took us a while to find you.”
“How long?” Rodney rasped. They’d found him. Lorne would get him home. The Major was gently wrapping a bandage gently around Rodney’s eyes.
“Six days,” Lorne replied, patting Rodney’s arm.
“Where’s the Keystone Cops?”
“Doc? Who? I don’t understand.”
“The aliens? The ones that were holding me here.”
“Gone, Rodney,” Radek called from the other side of the room. “There is no one here, just you.”
He whispered, “Good.” And let the darkness take him.
~*~
When he opened his eyes again, he saw the Atlantis infirmary through a veil of gray. He had a pair of dark shades over his eyes, the kind you get after eye surgery. He touched a hand to them.
“Don’t take them off, Rodney, there’s some damage to your eyes that needs to heal. The light would hurt now.” Jennifer said, catching his wrist in her hand to prevent him from removing the glasses.
“They kept hitting me with flashing lights, over and over and over. They were doing some kind of tests, using some kind of time travel machine to keep starting the tests over.”
“You’re safe now, you need to rest and heal up.”
“Yeah. Safe.”
He closed his eyes and slept.
~*~
When he woke, he was still in the infirmary, but Teyla and Ronon were sitting on one side of his bed, Sheppard on the other. His team, watching over him.
He breathed a sigh of relief. Time was different, it was moving forward. The nightmare was over.
The End
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters: Rodney McKay, OCs, Keller
Orientation: Gen
Rating: Gen
Word Count: 1, 174
Notes: for x_varda_x for the stargateland Winter Gifting Challenge
Prompts: Hurt Comfort Bingo Fill: “Experiments by Evil Scientists”
Fanbingo Fill: “Thank God it’s Friday, Again. Time Loops”
A flashing light in front of his eyes made Rodney shy away. He squinted through the glare to see a blue-skinned alien watching him intently through wide eyes. “This is ridiculous. We’ve done this already! Stop, stop. Just, stop for a minute!” Rodney tried to pull back and away from the gloved hand of the alien ‘scientist” reaching for him, but he was held firmly in place by steel bands around his forehead, neck, chest, waist and calves. He called them scientists in his head because they seemed to be doing some kind of experiments, using what he recognized as scientific methods.
“You remember the last time? Interesting. Most subjects do not recall the events.”
“Listen, I’m very important in the city. They are going to be looking for me, someone is going to come to find me.”
The alien tilted his head and stared at Rodney. “As you have said. Repeatedly. Please stop saying that.”
“I’ve said it once. Wait, no, I did say it before, didn’t I? What the heck is going on here? What kind of experiments are you doing? What are you doing to me?”
The alien turned to the other aliens working around the lab and said, in a high pitched voice, “Is this the best subject you could find? Why do I have to deal with it? It’s annoying. I want a new one.”
“We all want a new one,” the one that had a mustache like Groucho Marx said in a monotone.
“If you were first rate, you’d have your pick of subjects, but you are not. You will take what you get and do your best,” another alien, one that reminded Rodney of Bud Abbot said sharply.
The Complainer turned back around and stuck a needle into Rodney’s arm. “Next time, try to be more cooperative.”
The world went black.
~*~
A flashing light in front of his eyes made Rodney shy back. He squinted through the glare to see a wide eyed alien staring at him intently. “Are you going to behave this time around?” the alien asked in a voice that really sounded as if the being was at the end of its patience. It held up a large syringe of red liquid in a threatening manner and Rodney clamped his mouth shut and nodded. That stuff burned. He remembered that from one of the other passes through this.
“Finally. Your species is stubborn and slow to learn.”
“You have room to talk, you cut-rate excuses for researchers. Where’d your bosses find you, a back alley somewhere? I know animal trainers who could teach monkeys to do a better job than you’re doing here! No, no, wait, not the shot!”
Every nerve in his body burned and then the world went black.
~*~
“What’s with the flashing light?” Rodney asked, growing exhausted and listless. The Complainer lowered the syringe it was holding up in warning. “”Look at this, does it look the same as it did before?” It held a portable screen up in front of Rodney’s face. He had seen the image of moons over water before.
He had learned to cooperate. If he mouthed off, Moe, Curly or Larry hurt him. If he cooperated, Costello fed him and let him sleep. They didn’t answer questions. Ever.
“The moons are a different color. They used to be brighter, more blue,” he answered honestly. They had him hooked up to sensors, they knew if he was bullshitting them. They punished him for being insolent.
Rodney had no idea where he was. He didn’t know if Atlantis was going to be able to find him, because he didn’t remember how he had gotten here. He was confused. Rodney hated being confused; it was a state that he absolutely despised. He wanted to go home. But whining about it would get him a red shot.
Biting his tongue, he followed the orders of Laurel and Hardy, looking where they told him to look, answering the questions they asked him. They were basically the same questions they had asked him each time everything started over again.
He wondered how long they had been doing this. He had lost track, if he had ever been keeping track.
~*~
The flashing light hurt. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly. “I think I’m going to puke,” he told The Complainer.
Laurel ran over with a bucket and held it up. Rodney was relieved that he didn’t need to use it. “I’m okay.” The alien walked away, dropping the bucket. It clanked and rolled to land against a wall.
It had started to get harder to see the pictures. His vision was going bad. He couldn’t hear very well either. He was so tired. All he wanted to do was sleep.
He didn’t answer quickly enough and they gave him the red shot. This time Rodney screamed with the pain of it. He screamed over and over again, until the blackness took him.
~*~
He hung loosely in the restraining clamps, too weak to even open his eyes and protest against the flashing light.
~*~
“Doctor McKay?” a familiar voice roused Rodney slightly. He opened his eyes, squinting instinctively against the expected flashing. But there was no flashing this time. He couldn’t keep his eyes open, it hurt. A hand touched his throat, feeling for a pulse. “Hang in there Doctor McKay, we’re going to get you out of there, we might have to cut you out of these things if Radek can’t find the release.”
“Lorne?” It hurt to talk.
He felt hands running over him, checking him for injuries. “Yes, it’s Lorne. Sorry, it took us a while to find you.”
“How long?” Rodney rasped. They’d found him. Lorne would get him home. The Major was gently wrapping a bandage gently around Rodney’s eyes.
“Six days,” Lorne replied, patting Rodney’s arm.
“Where’s the Keystone Cops?”
“Doc? Who? I don’t understand.”
“The aliens? The ones that were holding me here.”
“Gone, Rodney,” Radek called from the other side of the room. “There is no one here, just you.”
He whispered, “Good.” And let the darkness take him.
~*~
When he opened his eyes again, he saw the Atlantis infirmary through a veil of gray. He had a pair of dark shades over his eyes, the kind you get after eye surgery. He touched a hand to them.
“Don’t take them off, Rodney, there’s some damage to your eyes that needs to heal. The light would hurt now.” Jennifer said, catching his wrist in her hand to prevent him from removing the glasses.
“They kept hitting me with flashing lights, over and over and over. They were doing some kind of tests, using some kind of time travel machine to keep starting the tests over.”
“You’re safe now, you need to rest and heal up.”
“Yeah. Safe.”
He closed his eyes and slept.
~*~
When he woke, he was still in the infirmary, but Teyla and Ronon were sitting on one side of his bed, Sheppard on the other. His team, watching over him.
He breathed a sigh of relief. Time was different, it was moving forward. The nightmare was over.
The End