(no subject)
RODNEY'S TRIP/BIG ADVENTURE
PART 2
A loud siren woke Rodney up from his dreams. Feeling particularly groggy and ready to snap at anything that moved, he slowly opened his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. There was something on the ceiling flashing that he had missed when he first looked at it. It was flashing red, moving around the room and lighting it up in the shadows. Like one of those emergency things.
It was at that time that Rodney realised that it must have been night time, because the lights were dimmed. Although there were no windows anywhere to prove this, but Rodney was pretty certain in this assessment. The wailing siren was doing naught all for his headache except making it worse and as a last resort; he moved his arms to cover up his ears. Luckily for him it was much easier than the first time, but he still let out a slight whimper as pain ripped up and down his bandaged arm.
The siren suddenly stopped, leaving a ringing in Rodney’s ears. It was only then did he realise the commotion that was going on outside. Slowly, half dazed, he slid to the side of the bed and pushed himself up on wobbly arms. He was wearing nothing but boxers, and decided to grab the blanket on him to take with him. He had to figure out what was going on. Maybe he could help.
He left the bed and gasped at the sharp contrast between the two. The bed was warm and cosy, but outside of it … Rodney glanced down at his blanket and wrapped it around him, suddenly having a lot more respect for the scratchy blanket. He wobbled as he stood upon weak legs and would have fallen had he not grabbed the side of the desk next to him.
Steadying himself, he started his first steps across the floor. The first few were absolute agony, his still sore muscles protesting loudly. However, as he shuffled and got his limbs used to the movement, it got easier. He saw a couple of walking canes to the side of the door and knew he wouldn’t make it very far without support. So he shuffled over there and grabbed two of them, using them in the same way one would use crutches.
There was still frantic running about outside, and Rodney almost turned back, not wanting to be caught out in it. However, when the first scream started, he knew he had to go and see. He grabbed hold of the handle and pushed, but it didn’t open. They had been lying! He was their prisoner! What was he going to do, how was he going to escape, when he could barely do more than just walk? Nobody probably even knew where he was. He was a dead man. He wanted his mummy. His eyes were drawn to the sigh saying ‘pull’ above it. Oh. Maybe … he wasn’t a prisoner. Forget that mummy thought. He’d still keep an eye on them though - an open door never accounted for anything. He felt slightly sheepish and then turned the handle, pulling. The door swung open easily.
These people didn’t know that when keeping prisoners that they should lock the door to stop them escaping. Idiots. Strike one.
He stepped out into the hallway and watched curiously as people ran by him, back and forth, giving him nothing more than a glance before rushing off. Rodney’s eyes followed them down the long corridor, watching as they then turned away and off onto another route. The corridor itself was rather large, and from what he could see, there were a lot of doors around too. He glanced back at his door and realised that they were all the same. If the whatever-they-were-called people were telling the truth, then they should be rooms for patients. Well, he might as well go check it out, while he went to see what the fuss was about.
He hobbled down the corridor, having to swerve to avoid collision a few times. After the fourth, he just stuck to one side of the wall, making the going much easier and quicker. If he concentrated now, he could hear a faint whirring all around him. He had a sneaking feeling about where he was, and he hoped he was wrong. However, he could count the amount of times he had been wrong on just two hands (and maybe a few toes as well) about things like this, and was only waiting for the evidence that told him where he was.
As he reached the end of the corridor, to the place where the people were all turning, he had the evidence he wished.
He was on a ship.
Bugger.
The hallway broke into three different sections - left, right, and there was a door in front of him. No one was going through that door, however, instead preferring to go to the left. Rodney soon realised why as he smelt the faint wisps of smoke. Now slightly worried, he hobbled as fast as he could down the corridor, gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain from the movement. He finally, finally, reached the area with all the commotion, and his stomach sank further than he had thought possible. There was big flames blocking the entrance to an area, and he hoped that there was no one stuck behind it.
Realising he had been standing there gaping, he felt someone brush by his shoulder and he winced at the sharp pain sent down his back. He was so going to sleep for a week after this. He deserved a medal or something for being willing to help. He could see that while there were about a dozen or so people tending to the fire, they wouldn’t be enough. Further up the way, there was a faint smell of burnt flesh and Rodney felt rather revolted. Burnt flesh was not a smell he wished to get used to. He watched suddenly as one of the people tending to the fire suddenly collapsed and realised that the smoke wasn’t helping.
They had to get rid of that smoke! But how?
Rodney looked around frantically. How did one normally get smoke out? Through a window. But there wasn’t any windows in this corridor, and the smoke was travelling across the ceiling rather quickly. What about the air conditioning on the ship? Surely something about that would do. He didn’t have a clue what to do, but if he could just grab the attention of someone and point it out … maybe he could help. There should be airing on a ship like this.
He turned around and saw someone familiar heading his way. It was the kid that had been in his room. He looked rather grubby and dirty, but un-harmed. Rodney could get the kid to help him, he had seemed pretty friendly. He stepped into the kid’s way and watched as the boy’s eyes widened.
“You! You shouldn’t be out of bed!” He said, surprised. “What are you doing here? You’re still recovering!”
“I wanted to see what the commotion was about,” Rodney answered truthfully. “I wondered if I could help.”
“Can you?” There was a desperate look in the boy’s eyes. Rodney had never liked kids, for the specific reason that they always annoyed him with their questions and pleads and that damn annoying look when they wanted something badly. “My mum - she’s behind it,” He added on softly, motioning to the fire. Any thoughts of not helping were slowly disappearing.
“Alright,” He said, not sure what he had to do with the kid. Maybe he could use him for some help. “First, we need to get rid of the smoke in this area,” He motioned to the smoke above them. “Right now, that’s the most dangerous. That smoke is dangerous if it’s inhaled, and it’s not going to help if everyone trying to stop the fire falls down from it,” he paused. “Do you know where the wires for the ventilation system is? You do have a ventilation system, right?” It would be no good if they didn’t have one.
The boy frowned.
“Ventilation?” See, this is why Rodney didn’t like kids. They knew absolutely nothing useful.
“Air,” He elaborated and the boy nodded.
“I sure do. It’s over that way,” He said, motioning to the opposite direction. “Why do you want to do that?”
“If I can fix the controls, then we can use the air system to get rid of the smoke,” He said and then pushed the boy’s shoulder gently. “Come on, move it. There’s not a lot of time.”
Although really, Rodney wasn’t too worried. He’d pulled off more miracles in a shorter time than he had now. It was a time when he worked best - under life or death situations. He would just miss Sheppard’s little “McKay,” as the deadline got closer and closer.
He just wanted to minimize the amount of deaths that he knew would occur.
Weaving in-between different groups of people, he almost lost sight of the boy a few times, but swiftly found him again. As they got further and further away from the scene, Rodney dearly hoped they were going in the right direction. Despite his limping they were travelling at a pretty fast pace, and it was killing his leg. And arms, because they also helped take some of his weight. He really shouldn’t be doing this. With the amount of time they were taking, he should probably do some sight-seeing. However, the pathways didn’t register with him, and he just found one looking like the next.
So much for learning the way out of this place.
“Here,” The boy said, coming to a halt. He bent down and put a hand against the wall, closing his eyes. The section of wall around his hand glowed briefly before fading and the boy took his hand away from the wall. As he did so, the wall slowly slid away to reveal a control panel. Rodney gaped.
“How did you do that?” He questioned.
“Everyone who’s considered in charge can do it,” He replied. “I only know it because my dad told me it.”
“Oh.” There was nothing more to say, really. Rodney realised he would have to kneel down and groaned. He deserved the noble prize for this. Slowly, he put his canes against the side of the wall and knelt down. He couldn’t help a slight whimper as the pain shot down his leg but he pushed it aside as he usually did in these kinds of situations. He reached out and frowned, studying the terminal. Then he turned back to the kid. “This is broken - it won’t work. Something’s wrong in the wires,” He told the boy. His eyes widened.
“Really? You can tell that by just looking?” He looked awe-struck. Rodney smirked.
“I am a genius after all,” He boasted. He pushed himself back to his feet, gritting his teeth against the pain. “You’ll have to take me to where all your wires are. The problem isn’t here, its there.”
“Sure,” The boy nodded. “Come on! We gotta hurry!” And with that he turned and started to walk at a fast pace. Rodney followed behind him, watching the way the boy dealt with everything. As he walked by, some people nodded to him, acting like they didn’t care about the kid wandering around the halls on his own. Maybe there was more to the kid than he thought.
And he should probably stop calling him kid.
“Kid, what’s your name?” He asked.
“Name?” The boy glanced over his shoulder, puzzled. “What’s a name?”
Double bugger. The boy didn’t know what a name was. “Um, what people call you,” He told him.
“Oh! Why didn’t you say so? I’m Arson the Second,” The newly claimed Arson the Second said. Rodney blinked.
“Arson the Second?” He repeated. Don’t say that this kid was …
“Yup! I’m the only son of the leader of our people, Arson the First.” Great. Rodney had to be stuck with the leader’s kid. Now if he did anything unpleasant, he would get on the leader’s bad side, and he already knew that wasn’t a side to get on. He was planning to avoid it for as long as he could. “We’re here,” The voice jogged him out of his muses. Watching Arson II as he opened a door, Rodney stepped in and blinked. The room was full of wires. He could almost hear the hum of electricity as it went flowing through the air. Rodney stepped in and then realised Arson II wasn’t coming. He glanced back, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m not allowed in here,” Was the response. Well, that was just dainty. “But you’ll find the air wires in that pile there,” He pointed to the mesh of wires to Rodney’s left and he nodded. Stepping carefully over to that way, he immediately saw some of the problem. The wires were all wrong! And a few looked broken. Obviously someone had tried to fix it and only succeeded in making it worse. Incompetent idiots.
He reached out for the wire in front of him, ignoring the concerned gaze of the boy behind.
“Are you sure you should be doing this?” He questioned.
“I’m probably the best person for this,” Rodney replied absent-mindedly, his hands already fiddling with a couple of wires.
“Are you saying you’re better than us?” The boy questioned, sounding annoyed.
“I don’t know why nobody has thought of doing this yet. But from the short amount of time I’ve been here, I can tell someone inexperienced has fiddled with these wires. They may have worked at one point but …” He trailed off and shook his head, frowning in thought as he unplugged one wire and placed it somewhere else.
“The air system hasn’t been working for awhile,” The kid spoke up. “We got attacked and it got busted. We tried to fix it but there was nothing that could be done. We’ve had to suffer without it.”
“Yes yes, sad story, boo hoo. Don’t worry; you’ve got me here now. I can fix this easily.” McKay said, sounding his normal, arrogant self. “Although I suggest you get some qualified people to work here one day,” He stopped and then frowned, fiddling with a few more wires. Then he smiled smugly, holding up one more wire in his hand. “Right, I’m done. Just need to put one last wire here …” He slotted it into place.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then a faint draft slowly entered the room, cooling Rodney down and making Arson II smile.
“You did it!” He shouted happily, bouncing up and down. Rodney smirked tiredly.
“As if there was any doubt,” He said arrogantly, before stepping away and leaving the room. He stumbled backwards however when he was attacked from around the waist by the bouncing bundle in a hug. Well, more on a ‘let’s squeeze the death out of Rodney’ kind of hug. Rodney stood there awkwardly, patting the boy’s back, before pushing him off. “Kid, haven’t we got lives to save?” He gently reminded. Hopefully by now, the smoke in that area would be leaving through the vents and fresh air would be coming in.
“Yeah! Come on! Its this way!” The bouncing ball of bundles ran off, leaving Rodney to hobble behind. His aching muscles were kicking up much more of a fuss than before, and he was praying he wouldn’t have a relapse. If Sheppard could see him now. He’d probably make jokes about him being the hero. Of course, if Sheppard were there, Sheppard would be off playing the hero while Rodney would be dealing with the technical stuff. It was the way things went.
Of course, Rodney wouldn’t be where he was now if Sheppard had been with him at all, so that was kind of a moot point.
Stumbling along, he felt a deep sense of sadness as he thought of his friends back home. They were most likely worried out of their minds by now. They could believe he was dead and they wouldn’t be looking for him, or they might be looking for him and they wouldn’t find him. If he could just get them a message. He didn’t want them to think he was dead. They were his family, after all. The people on Atlantis were the people who wouldn’t really be missed back on earth. And together, they had formed a sort of family, bonding over saving each other’s arses in a life or death situation.
Rodney smiled a bittersweet smile, wondering if he would ever see them again. It would take weeks before he was fully healed, and then he had no clue where he was - how far away from Atlantis he was. Maybe, if the people here knew where it was, they could drop him off on their way. He would have to find out just who they were and what they did soon, otherwise he would get annoyed. Especially after he had fixed their air conditioning.
“Sir!” The voice brought him back to the real world and Rodney looked down at Arnon II. “You did it,” There was awe in the kid’s voice. “The smoke is all gone and without it, the fire is managing to be kept at bay because people aren’t falling.” Rodney nodded.
“It was to be expected,” He nodded briskly and then paused. “Come on, lead the way,” He told him. Soon enough, they were back at the fire, and Rodney was glad to see some more people were dealing with the fire. Already it was smaller in size, and those that were injured were being taken away quickly. He watched from a distance, feeling bone-weary, as the fire got smaller and smaller, before finally going out. Everyone dealing with it was almost frozen in shock for a second, before cheering started. Rodney smiled briefly in his corner. He had done his job and he had played his part. Now all he wanted to do was sleep.
And sleep he did, by collapsing on the floor as the rush of determination left his limbs.
XxX
It must have been only a couple of days later that Rodney was sitting in an office, wrapped up in bandages (and looking a lot like a mummy). Opposite him was Leader Arnon, to his left was Healer Paddy, to his right was Arnon II, and behind him were a few security personnel.
“Rodney, was it?” Arnon started and Rodney nodded, feeling slightly sick. God, he hoped that he wasn’t going to get into trouble. He didn’t know what he had done wrong, but it felt like he was back in school and he had been sent to the principal’s office. Arnon smiled faintly, and Rodney couldn’t help but notice it seemed out of place upon the solemn man. “I wish to thank you for what you did.”
“Ah, it was nothing,” Rodney replied, although he did feel a bit better after that. Well enough to sit up straighter with his head in the air. “My only concern was with how shabby the work done to it was,” He added on with a frown. “It had been broken at one point and would have been easily fixable, but someone inexperienced went to fiddle with it and only made it worse.” He rolled his eyes. “Would’ve taken me much quicker if that hadn’t happened.”
Arnon frowned slightly. Now, that looked much better than the smile that was on it earlier. “Are you insulting my worker’s talent?” Rodney blinked.
“No.” He paused. “I’m just saying that mine is better.” He shrugged. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Everything I do is normally a lot better than someone else. Well, on the technical side of things. I’m a scientist, so obviously in battle situations I’m not too good at. I can shoot, but I’m the thinker, not the actor.”
“I see.” Suddenly, Rodney wondered whether he was in trouble. He had been his normal self there for a couple of seconds, and it didn’t look like Arnon was pleased with him because of it. Oops. There was silence for a few seconds before Rodney finally felt it was time to ask the question he had been dying to ask.
“Leader Arnon … what is going to happen to me?” He asked in a very quiet voice.
“What do you want to happen to you?” Rodney glanced up to Arnon.
“I want to go home … I have people there who are my family. I want them to know that I’m not dead. The last thing they probably know is that the wraith attacked. I’m not sure what happened to the planet, but if something bad really happened, and then … and then they’ll think I’m dead.” He finished, still rather quiet. There was more silence and Arnon stood up. The man linked his hands behind his back and moved to stare out of the window.
“The planet you were on is destroyed. We blew it up, because it was the only way to destroy the wraith.” There was a pause. “It is most likely that your friends believe you are dead. I am sorry.” Rodney’s heart sank.
“There must be something that can be done! Get a message sent to them! Go to them! Give them some sort of sign!” He shouted.
“Nothing can be done!” Arnon shouted back, turning to face him. “You are on this ship as a guest - nothing more, nothing less. If you make yourself useful, then maybe I will consider the option of taking you back to Atlantis …” He trailed off and sighed, sitting back down on the chair.
“You are familiar with Atlantis.” There was a statement if he’d ever heard one. Arnon nodded slowly to Rodney.
“Yes. We are familiar with the white city upon the sea. My people and I, the Tennukians, were once friends with the Ancients. We were trading partners and helped each other out in our time of need.” Arnon paused. Rodney sensed a ‘but’ would soon appear. “But we fought against the wraith together, and when it seemed like we might actually be getting somewhere, the ancients deserted us.” He curled up his lip. “They were responsible for the resulting massacre of my people. All those on this ship, we are all that’s left. We swore that we would never return to the white city upon the seas, and we have not done so.”
He stared critically at Rodney. “However, because of what you did for us, I would be willing to make a deal. If you help us out and fix up our systems, keep us safe, we shall in turn take you to a place and a colony that will help you get back home and teach you a few things.” Rodney scowled.
“I need to go home now! They’ll need me!” He protested. “I don’t have time for any silly games.”
“It is that, or we dump you on an empty planet and leave you to fend for yourself.” Arnon replied, steadily keeping gaze with Rodney. Rodney blinked, seeing sadness and weariness in the man’s face for a glimpse of a second before it faded. Rodney realised then that Arnon was only doing what he believed to be best for himself and his people. Rodney nodded sharply.
“I agree. How long will it take?” Arnon looked thoughtful.
“Well, from here, it would take around 142 moon cycles to reach the colony that would be willing to help you. So I would say 92 moon cycles.” Rodney blinked.
“Moon cycles?”
“Ah, yes. The process where the moon rises and then falls, I think you know it as.”
“Oh. So … 142 days? That’s nearly 5 months!”
“We cannot go any quicker.”
Rodney sighed heavily, running a hand down his face.
“Alright,” He finally agreed, feeling a sinking feeling in his stomach as he thought about what his friends would be going through. What problems would be arising that he wasn’t around to fix. God, he hoped no one replaced him. That would … hurt. No one would be as good as him, but to replace him so easily …
“Okay. We start in 4 moon cycles. You mentioned you weren’t good in any type of physical combat. We shall help you there. And in your spare time when you are not training, sleeping or eating, you will fix or improve our systems.” Arnon summarised. Rodney nodded, dreading any thought of exercise and physical combat. It had always been his weakness before … maybe this actually would be a good thing. Maybe he would finally be able to help out his team in more ways than just by his brain. He took a breath, having another idea come to him.
“Would it - would it be possible to sort of help me with medical as well?” He breathed. If he could master the basics of medical skills, get fitter, more athletic, become good at that stuff, then he would be perfect for helping to save lives. Arnon regarded him carefully, before nodding.
“That can be arranged. Dismissed.”
And with that, Rodney left the office to go back and rest in his new, temporary quarters. He was still battered up but was getting better quickly and only hoped that the others wouldn’t get into too much trouble without him. This would be the start of a very weird … journey.
XxX
PART 3
PART 2
A loud siren woke Rodney up from his dreams. Feeling particularly groggy and ready to snap at anything that moved, he slowly opened his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. There was something on the ceiling flashing that he had missed when he first looked at it. It was flashing red, moving around the room and lighting it up in the shadows. Like one of those emergency things.
It was at that time that Rodney realised that it must have been night time, because the lights were dimmed. Although there were no windows anywhere to prove this, but Rodney was pretty certain in this assessment. The wailing siren was doing naught all for his headache except making it worse and as a last resort; he moved his arms to cover up his ears. Luckily for him it was much easier than the first time, but he still let out a slight whimper as pain ripped up and down his bandaged arm.
The siren suddenly stopped, leaving a ringing in Rodney’s ears. It was only then did he realise the commotion that was going on outside. Slowly, half dazed, he slid to the side of the bed and pushed himself up on wobbly arms. He was wearing nothing but boxers, and decided to grab the blanket on him to take with him. He had to figure out what was going on. Maybe he could help.
He left the bed and gasped at the sharp contrast between the two. The bed was warm and cosy, but outside of it … Rodney glanced down at his blanket and wrapped it around him, suddenly having a lot more respect for the scratchy blanket. He wobbled as he stood upon weak legs and would have fallen had he not grabbed the side of the desk next to him.
Steadying himself, he started his first steps across the floor. The first few were absolute agony, his still sore muscles protesting loudly. However, as he shuffled and got his limbs used to the movement, it got easier. He saw a couple of walking canes to the side of the door and knew he wouldn’t make it very far without support. So he shuffled over there and grabbed two of them, using them in the same way one would use crutches.
There was still frantic running about outside, and Rodney almost turned back, not wanting to be caught out in it. However, when the first scream started, he knew he had to go and see. He grabbed hold of the handle and pushed, but it didn’t open. They had been lying! He was their prisoner! What was he going to do, how was he going to escape, when he could barely do more than just walk? Nobody probably even knew where he was. He was a dead man. He wanted his mummy. His eyes were drawn to the sigh saying ‘pull’ above it. Oh. Maybe … he wasn’t a prisoner. Forget that mummy thought. He’d still keep an eye on them though - an open door never accounted for anything. He felt slightly sheepish and then turned the handle, pulling. The door swung open easily.
These people didn’t know that when keeping prisoners that they should lock the door to stop them escaping. Idiots. Strike one.
He stepped out into the hallway and watched curiously as people ran by him, back and forth, giving him nothing more than a glance before rushing off. Rodney’s eyes followed them down the long corridor, watching as they then turned away and off onto another route. The corridor itself was rather large, and from what he could see, there were a lot of doors around too. He glanced back at his door and realised that they were all the same. If the whatever-they-were-called people were telling the truth, then they should be rooms for patients. Well, he might as well go check it out, while he went to see what the fuss was about.
He hobbled down the corridor, having to swerve to avoid collision a few times. After the fourth, he just stuck to one side of the wall, making the going much easier and quicker. If he concentrated now, he could hear a faint whirring all around him. He had a sneaking feeling about where he was, and he hoped he was wrong. However, he could count the amount of times he had been wrong on just two hands (and maybe a few toes as well) about things like this, and was only waiting for the evidence that told him where he was.
As he reached the end of the corridor, to the place where the people were all turning, he had the evidence he wished.
He was on a ship.
Bugger.
The hallway broke into three different sections - left, right, and there was a door in front of him. No one was going through that door, however, instead preferring to go to the left. Rodney soon realised why as he smelt the faint wisps of smoke. Now slightly worried, he hobbled as fast as he could down the corridor, gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain from the movement. He finally, finally, reached the area with all the commotion, and his stomach sank further than he had thought possible. There was big flames blocking the entrance to an area, and he hoped that there was no one stuck behind it.
Realising he had been standing there gaping, he felt someone brush by his shoulder and he winced at the sharp pain sent down his back. He was so going to sleep for a week after this. He deserved a medal or something for being willing to help. He could see that while there were about a dozen or so people tending to the fire, they wouldn’t be enough. Further up the way, there was a faint smell of burnt flesh and Rodney felt rather revolted. Burnt flesh was not a smell he wished to get used to. He watched suddenly as one of the people tending to the fire suddenly collapsed and realised that the smoke wasn’t helping.
They had to get rid of that smoke! But how?
Rodney looked around frantically. How did one normally get smoke out? Through a window. But there wasn’t any windows in this corridor, and the smoke was travelling across the ceiling rather quickly. What about the air conditioning on the ship? Surely something about that would do. He didn’t have a clue what to do, but if he could just grab the attention of someone and point it out … maybe he could help. There should be airing on a ship like this.
He turned around and saw someone familiar heading his way. It was the kid that had been in his room. He looked rather grubby and dirty, but un-harmed. Rodney could get the kid to help him, he had seemed pretty friendly. He stepped into the kid’s way and watched as the boy’s eyes widened.
“You! You shouldn’t be out of bed!” He said, surprised. “What are you doing here? You’re still recovering!”
“I wanted to see what the commotion was about,” Rodney answered truthfully. “I wondered if I could help.”
“Can you?” There was a desperate look in the boy’s eyes. Rodney had never liked kids, for the specific reason that they always annoyed him with their questions and pleads and that damn annoying look when they wanted something badly. “My mum - she’s behind it,” He added on softly, motioning to the fire. Any thoughts of not helping were slowly disappearing.
“Alright,” He said, not sure what he had to do with the kid. Maybe he could use him for some help. “First, we need to get rid of the smoke in this area,” He motioned to the smoke above them. “Right now, that’s the most dangerous. That smoke is dangerous if it’s inhaled, and it’s not going to help if everyone trying to stop the fire falls down from it,” he paused. “Do you know where the wires for the ventilation system is? You do have a ventilation system, right?” It would be no good if they didn’t have one.
The boy frowned.
“Ventilation?” See, this is why Rodney didn’t like kids. They knew absolutely nothing useful.
“Air,” He elaborated and the boy nodded.
“I sure do. It’s over that way,” He said, motioning to the opposite direction. “Why do you want to do that?”
“If I can fix the controls, then we can use the air system to get rid of the smoke,” He said and then pushed the boy’s shoulder gently. “Come on, move it. There’s not a lot of time.”
Although really, Rodney wasn’t too worried. He’d pulled off more miracles in a shorter time than he had now. It was a time when he worked best - under life or death situations. He would just miss Sheppard’s little “McKay,” as the deadline got closer and closer.
He just wanted to minimize the amount of deaths that he knew would occur.
Weaving in-between different groups of people, he almost lost sight of the boy a few times, but swiftly found him again. As they got further and further away from the scene, Rodney dearly hoped they were going in the right direction. Despite his limping they were travelling at a pretty fast pace, and it was killing his leg. And arms, because they also helped take some of his weight. He really shouldn’t be doing this. With the amount of time they were taking, he should probably do some sight-seeing. However, the pathways didn’t register with him, and he just found one looking like the next.
So much for learning the way out of this place.
“Here,” The boy said, coming to a halt. He bent down and put a hand against the wall, closing his eyes. The section of wall around his hand glowed briefly before fading and the boy took his hand away from the wall. As he did so, the wall slowly slid away to reveal a control panel. Rodney gaped.
“How did you do that?” He questioned.
“Everyone who’s considered in charge can do it,” He replied. “I only know it because my dad told me it.”
“Oh.” There was nothing more to say, really. Rodney realised he would have to kneel down and groaned. He deserved the noble prize for this. Slowly, he put his canes against the side of the wall and knelt down. He couldn’t help a slight whimper as the pain shot down his leg but he pushed it aside as he usually did in these kinds of situations. He reached out and frowned, studying the terminal. Then he turned back to the kid. “This is broken - it won’t work. Something’s wrong in the wires,” He told the boy. His eyes widened.
“Really? You can tell that by just looking?” He looked awe-struck. Rodney smirked.
“I am a genius after all,” He boasted. He pushed himself back to his feet, gritting his teeth against the pain. “You’ll have to take me to where all your wires are. The problem isn’t here, its there.”
“Sure,” The boy nodded. “Come on! We gotta hurry!” And with that he turned and started to walk at a fast pace. Rodney followed behind him, watching the way the boy dealt with everything. As he walked by, some people nodded to him, acting like they didn’t care about the kid wandering around the halls on his own. Maybe there was more to the kid than he thought.
And he should probably stop calling him kid.
“Kid, what’s your name?” He asked.
“Name?” The boy glanced over his shoulder, puzzled. “What’s a name?”
Double bugger. The boy didn’t know what a name was. “Um, what people call you,” He told him.
“Oh! Why didn’t you say so? I’m Arson the Second,” The newly claimed Arson the Second said. Rodney blinked.
“Arson the Second?” He repeated. Don’t say that this kid was …
“Yup! I’m the only son of the leader of our people, Arson the First.” Great. Rodney had to be stuck with the leader’s kid. Now if he did anything unpleasant, he would get on the leader’s bad side, and he already knew that wasn’t a side to get on. He was planning to avoid it for as long as he could. “We’re here,” The voice jogged him out of his muses. Watching Arson II as he opened a door, Rodney stepped in and blinked. The room was full of wires. He could almost hear the hum of electricity as it went flowing through the air. Rodney stepped in and then realised Arson II wasn’t coming. He glanced back, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m not allowed in here,” Was the response. Well, that was just dainty. “But you’ll find the air wires in that pile there,” He pointed to the mesh of wires to Rodney’s left and he nodded. Stepping carefully over to that way, he immediately saw some of the problem. The wires were all wrong! And a few looked broken. Obviously someone had tried to fix it and only succeeded in making it worse. Incompetent idiots.
He reached out for the wire in front of him, ignoring the concerned gaze of the boy behind.
“Are you sure you should be doing this?” He questioned.
“I’m probably the best person for this,” Rodney replied absent-mindedly, his hands already fiddling with a couple of wires.
“Are you saying you’re better than us?” The boy questioned, sounding annoyed.
“I don’t know why nobody has thought of doing this yet. But from the short amount of time I’ve been here, I can tell someone inexperienced has fiddled with these wires. They may have worked at one point but …” He trailed off and shook his head, frowning in thought as he unplugged one wire and placed it somewhere else.
“The air system hasn’t been working for awhile,” The kid spoke up. “We got attacked and it got busted. We tried to fix it but there was nothing that could be done. We’ve had to suffer without it.”
“Yes yes, sad story, boo hoo. Don’t worry; you’ve got me here now. I can fix this easily.” McKay said, sounding his normal, arrogant self. “Although I suggest you get some qualified people to work here one day,” He stopped and then frowned, fiddling with a few more wires. Then he smiled smugly, holding up one more wire in his hand. “Right, I’m done. Just need to put one last wire here …” He slotted it into place.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then a faint draft slowly entered the room, cooling Rodney down and making Arson II smile.
“You did it!” He shouted happily, bouncing up and down. Rodney smirked tiredly.
“As if there was any doubt,” He said arrogantly, before stepping away and leaving the room. He stumbled backwards however when he was attacked from around the waist by the bouncing bundle in a hug. Well, more on a ‘let’s squeeze the death out of Rodney’ kind of hug. Rodney stood there awkwardly, patting the boy’s back, before pushing him off. “Kid, haven’t we got lives to save?” He gently reminded. Hopefully by now, the smoke in that area would be leaving through the vents and fresh air would be coming in.
“Yeah! Come on! Its this way!” The bouncing ball of bundles ran off, leaving Rodney to hobble behind. His aching muscles were kicking up much more of a fuss than before, and he was praying he wouldn’t have a relapse. If Sheppard could see him now. He’d probably make jokes about him being the hero. Of course, if Sheppard were there, Sheppard would be off playing the hero while Rodney would be dealing with the technical stuff. It was the way things went.
Of course, Rodney wouldn’t be where he was now if Sheppard had been with him at all, so that was kind of a moot point.
Stumbling along, he felt a deep sense of sadness as he thought of his friends back home. They were most likely worried out of their minds by now. They could believe he was dead and they wouldn’t be looking for him, or they might be looking for him and they wouldn’t find him. If he could just get them a message. He didn’t want them to think he was dead. They were his family, after all. The people on Atlantis were the people who wouldn’t really be missed back on earth. And together, they had formed a sort of family, bonding over saving each other’s arses in a life or death situation.
Rodney smiled a bittersweet smile, wondering if he would ever see them again. It would take weeks before he was fully healed, and then he had no clue where he was - how far away from Atlantis he was. Maybe, if the people here knew where it was, they could drop him off on their way. He would have to find out just who they were and what they did soon, otherwise he would get annoyed. Especially after he had fixed their air conditioning.
“Sir!” The voice brought him back to the real world and Rodney looked down at Arnon II. “You did it,” There was awe in the kid’s voice. “The smoke is all gone and without it, the fire is managing to be kept at bay because people aren’t falling.” Rodney nodded.
“It was to be expected,” He nodded briskly and then paused. “Come on, lead the way,” He told him. Soon enough, they were back at the fire, and Rodney was glad to see some more people were dealing with the fire. Already it was smaller in size, and those that were injured were being taken away quickly. He watched from a distance, feeling bone-weary, as the fire got smaller and smaller, before finally going out. Everyone dealing with it was almost frozen in shock for a second, before cheering started. Rodney smiled briefly in his corner. He had done his job and he had played his part. Now all he wanted to do was sleep.
And sleep he did, by collapsing on the floor as the rush of determination left his limbs.
XxX
It must have been only a couple of days later that Rodney was sitting in an office, wrapped up in bandages (and looking a lot like a mummy). Opposite him was Leader Arnon, to his left was Healer Paddy, to his right was Arnon II, and behind him were a few security personnel.
“Rodney, was it?” Arnon started and Rodney nodded, feeling slightly sick. God, he hoped that he wasn’t going to get into trouble. He didn’t know what he had done wrong, but it felt like he was back in school and he had been sent to the principal’s office. Arnon smiled faintly, and Rodney couldn’t help but notice it seemed out of place upon the solemn man. “I wish to thank you for what you did.”
“Ah, it was nothing,” Rodney replied, although he did feel a bit better after that. Well enough to sit up straighter with his head in the air. “My only concern was with how shabby the work done to it was,” He added on with a frown. “It had been broken at one point and would have been easily fixable, but someone inexperienced went to fiddle with it and only made it worse.” He rolled his eyes. “Would’ve taken me much quicker if that hadn’t happened.”
Arnon frowned slightly. Now, that looked much better than the smile that was on it earlier. “Are you insulting my worker’s talent?” Rodney blinked.
“No.” He paused. “I’m just saying that mine is better.” He shrugged. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Everything I do is normally a lot better than someone else. Well, on the technical side of things. I’m a scientist, so obviously in battle situations I’m not too good at. I can shoot, but I’m the thinker, not the actor.”
“I see.” Suddenly, Rodney wondered whether he was in trouble. He had been his normal self there for a couple of seconds, and it didn’t look like Arnon was pleased with him because of it. Oops. There was silence for a few seconds before Rodney finally felt it was time to ask the question he had been dying to ask.
“Leader Arnon … what is going to happen to me?” He asked in a very quiet voice.
“What do you want to happen to you?” Rodney glanced up to Arnon.
“I want to go home … I have people there who are my family. I want them to know that I’m not dead. The last thing they probably know is that the wraith attacked. I’m not sure what happened to the planet, but if something bad really happened, and then … and then they’ll think I’m dead.” He finished, still rather quiet. There was more silence and Arnon stood up. The man linked his hands behind his back and moved to stare out of the window.
“The planet you were on is destroyed. We blew it up, because it was the only way to destroy the wraith.” There was a pause. “It is most likely that your friends believe you are dead. I am sorry.” Rodney’s heart sank.
“There must be something that can be done! Get a message sent to them! Go to them! Give them some sort of sign!” He shouted.
“Nothing can be done!” Arnon shouted back, turning to face him. “You are on this ship as a guest - nothing more, nothing less. If you make yourself useful, then maybe I will consider the option of taking you back to Atlantis …” He trailed off and sighed, sitting back down on the chair.
“You are familiar with Atlantis.” There was a statement if he’d ever heard one. Arnon nodded slowly to Rodney.
“Yes. We are familiar with the white city upon the sea. My people and I, the Tennukians, were once friends with the Ancients. We were trading partners and helped each other out in our time of need.” Arnon paused. Rodney sensed a ‘but’ would soon appear. “But we fought against the wraith together, and when it seemed like we might actually be getting somewhere, the ancients deserted us.” He curled up his lip. “They were responsible for the resulting massacre of my people. All those on this ship, we are all that’s left. We swore that we would never return to the white city upon the seas, and we have not done so.”
He stared critically at Rodney. “However, because of what you did for us, I would be willing to make a deal. If you help us out and fix up our systems, keep us safe, we shall in turn take you to a place and a colony that will help you get back home and teach you a few things.” Rodney scowled.
“I need to go home now! They’ll need me!” He protested. “I don’t have time for any silly games.”
“It is that, or we dump you on an empty planet and leave you to fend for yourself.” Arnon replied, steadily keeping gaze with Rodney. Rodney blinked, seeing sadness and weariness in the man’s face for a glimpse of a second before it faded. Rodney realised then that Arnon was only doing what he believed to be best for himself and his people. Rodney nodded sharply.
“I agree. How long will it take?” Arnon looked thoughtful.
“Well, from here, it would take around 142 moon cycles to reach the colony that would be willing to help you. So I would say 92 moon cycles.” Rodney blinked.
“Moon cycles?”
“Ah, yes. The process where the moon rises and then falls, I think you know it as.”
“Oh. So … 142 days? That’s nearly 5 months!”
“We cannot go any quicker.”
Rodney sighed heavily, running a hand down his face.
“Alright,” He finally agreed, feeling a sinking feeling in his stomach as he thought about what his friends would be going through. What problems would be arising that he wasn’t around to fix. God, he hoped no one replaced him. That would … hurt. No one would be as good as him, but to replace him so easily …
“Okay. We start in 4 moon cycles. You mentioned you weren’t good in any type of physical combat. We shall help you there. And in your spare time when you are not training, sleeping or eating, you will fix or improve our systems.” Arnon summarised. Rodney nodded, dreading any thought of exercise and physical combat. It had always been his weakness before … maybe this actually would be a good thing. Maybe he would finally be able to help out his team in more ways than just by his brain. He took a breath, having another idea come to him.
“Would it - would it be possible to sort of help me with medical as well?” He breathed. If he could master the basics of medical skills, get fitter, more athletic, become good at that stuff, then he would be perfect for helping to save lives. Arnon regarded him carefully, before nodding.
“That can be arranged. Dismissed.”
And with that, Rodney left the office to go back and rest in his new, temporary quarters. He was still battered up but was getting better quickly and only hoped that the others wouldn’t get into too much trouble without him. This would be the start of a very weird … journey.
XxX
PART 3