SG:Universe fic: "No true postscript fallacy"
Title: The 'No True Epilogue' Fallacy.
Author: Rodlox.
Fandom: Stargate:Universe
series: "The Unfolding" (all stories to date in "The Unfolding" can be found in the table here).
Rating: PG13
Characters/Pairing: Nicholas Rush/Vanessa James, Greer, Park, Volker, unnamed person; mention of the late Mrs. Rush, TJ, Scott.
Summary: possible iterations and events in the unnumbered loops we never saw in Time.
note: the passages are from the first paragraph of A Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
note: yes, the title is derived from the "No True Scotsman fallacy" I used to hear about.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SHIPBOARD:
"You're going to read to us?" Vanessa asked Rush warily as she lay here in the room roped off for everyone who had come down with the illness.
"Yes," Rush said, holding a paperback to his chest. "You, Lt. Nixon, Dr. Park," speaking of the patient on the other side of him, and of the doctor standing between the feet of the lieutenants. "Should I invite anyone else?"
"Just read," she said, closing her eyes.
Rush waited for her to open them again before he started reading: "'To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman.'"
Lt. James' groan interupted him.
"Are you getting worse?" Dr. Park asked, darting over.
"No," James lied. "Fine. He's reading my book - the one I loaned him."
Rush said, "I would have downloaded one of the Ancients' novels, but I confess I can't find much appeal to it."
"Whereas Holmes is easy to find?" Lt. Nixon asked.
"Don't knock it til you've tried it," Lt. James said. "Speaking of which, why aren't you helping them find a cure?"
Silently, Nixon agreed: if the Big Brain's given up, what hope do any of us have?
Rush answered, "TJ is using the data collected from the kino to synthesize a possible cure."
"Or at least an antidote," Dr. Park added.
"Yes."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shipboard:
"Are you sure you should be doing this?" he asked Dr. Rush here in the control room.
'He never spoke of the softer passions,' and people like this were no doubt part of the reason why. "Yes," Rush said as if to a small child - which was essentially most of the people on board in his opinion.
"You've got the sickness. We all do."
"Yes, that's right. And I'm fine." The kino recording had revealed that there had been, in Destiny's databanks, information about a chemical compound similar to what TJ had completed work on. In the last time around, the discovery had been too late to do anything about it...anything with the exception of telling the kino where they should look. So I'm looking, Rush thought to himself.
"Are you sure?" Greer asked, standing at the entrance to the room.
"I'm able to support my own weight, my vision and sense of balance are both normal - so yes, I'd say so."
"You should be in the -" the other guy said.
Rush hit the PAUSE button on the console, then turned around and took the three long steps it required to back the imbecile against the wall. "Have you been breathing these past few days?"
"Yes, of course I have. What does-"
"Washing your face or hands? Brushing your teeth?"
"Yes."
"Then you have the microbe as well. We all do. Should we stop trying to find a cure, and cower in the corner until death comes for each of us, one by one?"
"No, but-"
"No but about it," Greer said, and Rush nodded. Either we do what we can til we can't, or we turn tail and run.
Not that there was anywhere to run to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
planetside:
TJ, Scott, Eli, and a few others were establishing a base camp for whatever might be the reason why Destiny had arrived here. Greer and Park were investigating one of the trails. And James was keeping an eye on Volker and Rush.
'But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperment was to introduce a disturbing factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results.'
"It's probably nothing," Volker told him.
"Something spherical landed here," Rush said, neither rising to his feet nor even looking up from the dozen randomly-spaced divots in the ground at the foot of the jungle stargate's ramp.
"It could just be the local wildlife trying to make a nest."
"Even you don't believe that," having heard it in his voice.
"Well what else could it be? You said so yourself, the Ancients never came out here."
'Only unmanned vessels, I know what I said," Rush replied. "And yet these are clearly made by a kino." All of ours are accounted for, and none have been found on this world.
"Or a melon."
"And of the teams to explore this world, have any of them come across a fruit of the required size or heft to produce these depressions?"
"No," Volker admitted.
"No," Rush repeated, making it sink in.
Watching it all, Vanessa wondered who the hell would leave a dozen kinos in the ground...and then take them all away. She wondered that until Volker collapsed; then she wondered what the hell was going on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
planetside:
Only one of the three survived coming to the jungle. As that one, Rush stood at the foot of the stargate's ramp, looking into the kino's camera. He took as deep a breath as he could before activating the Record function, unable to get too much air with the state his left side was in.
"You know who I am - I'm sitting with you, watching this. The infection was too small for you to see before, but now you can - it's outside the quarentine you have. To fight it, this is what you do," and he told them, taking all the information that previous iterations had learned, and adding what his own had picked up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End? ;)
Author's Note: In a Groundhog Day type of occurance, like in SG-1 or in SPN, at least one person knows that history is repeating - they know because they personally remember it. Even if the physical body is reset at the start of the repeated day, the mind is gradually worn down until it effects the body - mental exhaustion leads to physical exhaustion. But in the SG:Universe episode Time, that does not happen to Rush or anyone else, because they seem to be using a message-in-a-bottle strategy instead.
Epilogue:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're not going to tell me, are you?"
"Lt. James," Rush said as they walked through the corridors. "It will suffice that there was a message on the kino we found on that planet. We used the information in that message to concoct the vaccine we gave to everyone," both of them absently touching their injection site.
"That's it?"
"Contrary to what Eli might claim at times, the storage space in a kino is in fact very small - you could not fit a movie in its databanks."
"I'm not asking for a movie - just wondering if it said who died before a vaccine was invented."
"Undoubtedly more than they could count," Rush said. "They said there was a temporal loop involved."
"And that's over? No more loop?"
"Time has returned to normal," he assured her.
"Well that's a relief," Lt. James said. "There's no telling how many bullets I had to take for you." It may be part of my job, but its not a part I'm looking forward to.
Rush chuckled briefly. "Somehow, Lt., I can't picture you falling victim to anything," and, eyes closed, he stopped.
Vanessa stopped and turned to look at where Dr. Rush stood. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," he lied. I said the same thing to Madeline all the time - even when her health was failing. "So, what do you suppose it is Eli wants to show us?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End
Author: Rodlox.
Fandom: Stargate:Universe
series: "The Unfolding" (all stories to date in "The Unfolding" can be found in the table here).
Rating: PG13
Characters/Pairing: Nicholas Rush/Vanessa James, Greer, Park, Volker, unnamed person; mention of the late Mrs. Rush, TJ, Scott.
Summary: possible iterations and events in the unnumbered loops we never saw in Time.
note: the passages are from the first paragraph of A Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
note: yes, the title is derived from the "No True Scotsman fallacy" I used to hear about.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SHIPBOARD:
"You're going to read to us?" Vanessa asked Rush warily as she lay here in the room roped off for everyone who had come down with the illness.
"Yes," Rush said, holding a paperback to his chest. "You, Lt. Nixon, Dr. Park," speaking of the patient on the other side of him, and of the doctor standing between the feet of the lieutenants. "Should I invite anyone else?"
"Just read," she said, closing her eyes.
Rush waited for her to open them again before he started reading: "'To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman.'"
Lt. James' groan interupted him.
"Are you getting worse?" Dr. Park asked, darting over.
"No," James lied. "Fine. He's reading my book - the one I loaned him."
Rush said, "I would have downloaded one of the Ancients' novels, but I confess I can't find much appeal to it."
"Whereas Holmes is easy to find?" Lt. Nixon asked.
"Don't knock it til you've tried it," Lt. James said. "Speaking of which, why aren't you helping them find a cure?"
Silently, Nixon agreed: if the Big Brain's given up, what hope do any of us have?
Rush answered, "TJ is using the data collected from the kino to synthesize a possible cure."
"Or at least an antidote," Dr. Park added.
"Yes."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shipboard:
"Are you sure you should be doing this?" he asked Dr. Rush here in the control room.
'He never spoke of the softer passions,' and people like this were no doubt part of the reason why. "Yes," Rush said as if to a small child - which was essentially most of the people on board in his opinion.
"You've got the sickness. We all do."
"Yes, that's right. And I'm fine." The kino recording had revealed that there had been, in Destiny's databanks, information about a chemical compound similar to what TJ had completed work on. In the last time around, the discovery had been too late to do anything about it...anything with the exception of telling the kino where they should look. So I'm looking, Rush thought to himself.
"Are you sure?" Greer asked, standing at the entrance to the room.
"I'm able to support my own weight, my vision and sense of balance are both normal - so yes, I'd say so."
"You should be in the -" the other guy said.
Rush hit the PAUSE button on the console, then turned around and took the three long steps it required to back the imbecile against the wall. "Have you been breathing these past few days?"
"Yes, of course I have. What does-"
"Washing your face or hands? Brushing your teeth?"
"Yes."
"Then you have the microbe as well. We all do. Should we stop trying to find a cure, and cower in the corner until death comes for each of us, one by one?"
"No, but-"
"No but about it," Greer said, and Rush nodded. Either we do what we can til we can't, or we turn tail and run.
Not that there was anywhere to run to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
planetside:
TJ, Scott, Eli, and a few others were establishing a base camp for whatever might be the reason why Destiny had arrived here. Greer and Park were investigating one of the trails. And James was keeping an eye on Volker and Rush.
'But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperment was to introduce a disturbing factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results.'
"It's probably nothing," Volker told him.
"Something spherical landed here," Rush said, neither rising to his feet nor even looking up from the dozen randomly-spaced divots in the ground at the foot of the jungle stargate's ramp.
"It could just be the local wildlife trying to make a nest."
"Even you don't believe that," having heard it in his voice.
"Well what else could it be? You said so yourself, the Ancients never came out here."
'Only unmanned vessels, I know what I said," Rush replied. "And yet these are clearly made by a kino." All of ours are accounted for, and none have been found on this world.
"Or a melon."
"And of the teams to explore this world, have any of them come across a fruit of the required size or heft to produce these depressions?"
"No," Volker admitted.
"No," Rush repeated, making it sink in.
Watching it all, Vanessa wondered who the hell would leave a dozen kinos in the ground...and then take them all away. She wondered that until Volker collapsed; then she wondered what the hell was going on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
planetside:
Only one of the three survived coming to the jungle. As that one, Rush stood at the foot of the stargate's ramp, looking into the kino's camera. He took as deep a breath as he could before activating the Record function, unable to get too much air with the state his left side was in.
"You know who I am - I'm sitting with you, watching this. The infection was too small for you to see before, but now you can - it's outside the quarentine you have. To fight it, this is what you do," and he told them, taking all the information that previous iterations had learned, and adding what his own had picked up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End? ;)
Author's Note: In a Groundhog Day type of occurance, like in SG-1 or in SPN, at least one person knows that history is repeating - they know because they personally remember it. Even if the physical body is reset at the start of the repeated day, the mind is gradually worn down until it effects the body - mental exhaustion leads to physical exhaustion. But in the SG:Universe episode Time, that does not happen to Rush or anyone else, because they seem to be using a message-in-a-bottle strategy instead.
Epilogue:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're not going to tell me, are you?"
"Lt. James," Rush said as they walked through the corridors. "It will suffice that there was a message on the kino we found on that planet. We used the information in that message to concoct the vaccine we gave to everyone," both of them absently touching their injection site.
"That's it?"
"Contrary to what Eli might claim at times, the storage space in a kino is in fact very small - you could not fit a movie in its databanks."
"I'm not asking for a movie - just wondering if it said who died before a vaccine was invented."
"Undoubtedly more than they could count," Rush said. "They said there was a temporal loop involved."
"And that's over? No more loop?"
"Time has returned to normal," he assured her.
"Well that's a relief," Lt. James said. "There's no telling how many bullets I had to take for you." It may be part of my job, but its not a part I'm looking forward to.
Rush chuckled briefly. "Somehow, Lt., I can't picture you falling victim to anything," and, eyes closed, he stopped.
Vanessa stopped and turned to look at where Dr. Rush stood. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," he lied. I said the same thing to Madeline all the time - even when her health was failing. "So, what do you suppose it is Eli wants to show us?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End