Fic: Reposit, PG, by inkscribe [Not Dead Yet challenge]
Title: Reposit
Author: inkscribe
Pairings: none (or hey, McKay/established-anyone, depending on how you like to squint!)
Rating: PG
Words: ~700
Warnings: Hmmm ... is there a category such as dark crackfic?
Spoilers: S4 - Doppelganger, Kindred 2, The Last Man
Challenge: Not Dead Yet
Summary: They’re not dead - just resting.
Author's Notes: Why yes, I was inspired by the final scenes of normal-John and holo-Rodney in the season ender. Why do you ask?
I solemnly swear that Rodney isn’t stark-raving looney in my stories. Most of my stories, at any rate. Just not this one, I’m afraid. In this one? He’s nuttier than fruitcake.
Reposit
It started innocently enough, as these things always did. Carson was alive and well again, only it wasn’t really Carson, not quite - just someone who thought he was Carson and remembered all the things Carson remembered and did all the things just like Carson would do and ... well, it was close enough for Rodney. Close enough to the real Carson that Rodney agreed to do whatever it took to save his friend’s life, when he hadn’t been able to the first time.
Rodney couldn’t bear leaving him to die a second time.
Shortly after, Miko came down with Hoffan Lung. Her prognosis wasn’t good. The diminutive scientist was one of the unlucky ones, coughing up blood after every sucking breath, her gasps short and sharp - every single breath visibly painful as her lungs struggled unsuccessfully to bring in enough oxygen.
Even in his memory, the sucking sounds remained loud in Rodney’s ears. She wouldn’t make it, not without a miracle. No matter how hard Keller was willing to work with the ill to find the cure, the miracle wasn’t going to come quickly enough for Miko. Rodney could see that - hell, anyone could see that. It took more arguments than he thought possible, but Sam finally caved and Rodney got his wish - Miko would be saved for another day, a new cure.
Less than three months after Miko took ill, Radek was hit with a dose of rogue nanites after their Ancient-designed containment field collapsed during a routine inspection. To everyone’s horror, the tiny artificial creatures burrowed through Radek’s synapses, trying to rewrite the man’s mind into some sort of caricature of the worst of the Cold War. At one time, the great Doctor McKay would have found Radek’s inability to remember Rodney’s name amusing, in a darkly ironic sort of way, but not now, not under these circumstances.
Search teams failed to turn up any trace of Doctor Zelenka. He’d run off in a fit of machine-induced paranoia, and once Radek stepped off the city’s active grid, he was never seen again. Pressure from his government forced the IOA to change his status from MIA to KIA, though the Lanteans kept looking for many months thereafter.
Rodney understood that, of course - he knew they had to do it; none of them could afford to give up. Least of all him.
Katie Brown pricked her thumb on the tines of an unclassified plant collected from a small moon in the same system as the crystal parasites that had killed poor Doctor Heightmeyer. Like Kate, Katie would have died. Maybe not the same way, but dead just the same. Rodney didn’t know much, but he knew that much. He couldn’t marry her, but he could save her. He knew he could.
Others fell, succumbing to one thing or another. Some went down from dangers unique to the Pegasus Galaxy, such as another Iratus bug victim - this time Doctor Parrish. Others to the mundane, like the time Chuck simply forgot to isolate a circuit before beginning repairs, the enormous energy surge leaving him with severe burns and an erratic heartbeat. Lorne went down from food poisoning. Keller went down from something creepily similar to the crab-like nymph from Alien.
One by one, they succumbed. Then the Gate went down. Then the crew of the Daedalus disappeared, the ship remaining in geostationary orbit around the planet, its corridors as silent as a tomb.
The handful of remaining expedition members - they didn’t go down easily. Rodney was impressed - John really wasn’t as stupid as he tried to make out, but convincing John of the truth, of the necessity of stepping into that stasis chamber was harder than with any of the others, even Radek. If he could have thought more clearly, Rodney wouldn’t have been so surprised at John’s creative techniques to stay at large, but John was no match for Rodney - not when Rodney was determined to save them - save them all.
He was the smartest man in two galaxies. He had to save them. Thankfully, if you knew where to look, the city had more than enough stasis chambers for each and every one.
end, Reposit
Author: inkscribe
Pairings: none (or hey, McKay/established-anyone, depending on how you like to squint!)
Rating: PG
Words: ~700
Warnings: Hmmm ... is there a category such as dark crackfic?
Spoilers: S4 - Doppelganger, Kindred 2, The Last Man
Challenge: Not Dead Yet
Summary: They’re not dead - just resting.
Author's Notes: Why yes, I was inspired by the final scenes of normal-John and holo-Rodney in the season ender. Why do you ask?
I solemnly swear that Rodney isn’t stark-raving looney in my stories. Most of my stories, at any rate. Just not this one, I’m afraid. In this one? He’s nuttier than fruitcake.
Reposit
It started innocently enough, as these things always did. Carson was alive and well again, only it wasn’t really Carson, not quite - just someone who thought he was Carson and remembered all the things Carson remembered and did all the things just like Carson would do and ... well, it was close enough for Rodney. Close enough to the real Carson that Rodney agreed to do whatever it took to save his friend’s life, when he hadn’t been able to the first time.
Rodney couldn’t bear leaving him to die a second time.
Shortly after, Miko came down with Hoffan Lung. Her prognosis wasn’t good. The diminutive scientist was one of the unlucky ones, coughing up blood after every sucking breath, her gasps short and sharp - every single breath visibly painful as her lungs struggled unsuccessfully to bring in enough oxygen.
Even in his memory, the sucking sounds remained loud in Rodney’s ears. She wouldn’t make it, not without a miracle. No matter how hard Keller was willing to work with the ill to find the cure, the miracle wasn’t going to come quickly enough for Miko. Rodney could see that - hell, anyone could see that. It took more arguments than he thought possible, but Sam finally caved and Rodney got his wish - Miko would be saved for another day, a new cure.
Less than three months after Miko took ill, Radek was hit with a dose of rogue nanites after their Ancient-designed containment field collapsed during a routine inspection. To everyone’s horror, the tiny artificial creatures burrowed through Radek’s synapses, trying to rewrite the man’s mind into some sort of caricature of the worst of the Cold War. At one time, the great Doctor McKay would have found Radek’s inability to remember Rodney’s name amusing, in a darkly ironic sort of way, but not now, not under these circumstances.
Search teams failed to turn up any trace of Doctor Zelenka. He’d run off in a fit of machine-induced paranoia, and once Radek stepped off the city’s active grid, he was never seen again. Pressure from his government forced the IOA to change his status from MIA to KIA, though the Lanteans kept looking for many months thereafter.
Rodney understood that, of course - he knew they had to do it; none of them could afford to give up. Least of all him.
Katie Brown pricked her thumb on the tines of an unclassified plant collected from a small moon in the same system as the crystal parasites that had killed poor Doctor Heightmeyer. Like Kate, Katie would have died. Maybe not the same way, but dead just the same. Rodney didn’t know much, but he knew that much. He couldn’t marry her, but he could save her. He knew he could.
Others fell, succumbing to one thing or another. Some went down from dangers unique to the Pegasus Galaxy, such as another Iratus bug victim - this time Doctor Parrish. Others to the mundane, like the time Chuck simply forgot to isolate a circuit before beginning repairs, the enormous energy surge leaving him with severe burns and an erratic heartbeat. Lorne went down from food poisoning. Keller went down from something creepily similar to the crab-like nymph from Alien.
One by one, they succumbed. Then the Gate went down. Then the crew of the Daedalus disappeared, the ship remaining in geostationary orbit around the planet, its corridors as silent as a tomb.
The handful of remaining expedition members - they didn’t go down easily. Rodney was impressed - John really wasn’t as stupid as he tried to make out, but convincing John of the truth, of the necessity of stepping into that stasis chamber was harder than with any of the others, even Radek. If he could have thought more clearly, Rodney wouldn’t have been so surprised at John’s creative techniques to stay at large, but John was no match for Rodney - not when Rodney was determined to save them - save them all.
He was the smartest man in two galaxies. He had to save them. Thankfully, if you knew where to look, the city had more than enough stasis chambers for each and every one.
end, Reposit