Stargate Atlantis
A Light in the Dark
Beautiful Alice
Summary: Rodney fiddles with the programs and power controls, and accidentally winds up shutting off the lights to the whole city. Humor and chaos ensue. Gen fic, set sometime in season four.
Notes:
-As usual, I do not own Stargate Atlantis. This fic was written for fun not profit.
-Also posted over at AO3 underneath 'i_write_a_lot'.
The power had gone out without any warning, plunging everyone in the gateroom and the cafeteria and the entire city really, into utter darkness. A few candles and flashlights burned, and some laptops that weren't plugged in were still on that provided a very little light, but the power going off had everyone scared that something was suddenly terribly and horribly wrong.
"McKay," John said, as he was still sitting at the table with Teyla, Ronan, and Lt. Cadman who had come over for a brief visit with the Daedalus. Colonel Caldwell had been walking over to greet them as well, as they'd seen him enter the cafeteria right before the lights had vanished.
"What about Rodney?" Teyla asked, trying to calm everyone who was shouting and sounding panicked. She sounded distressed over everyone else's distressed. "Is there anyone hurt?" She asked, and got a lot of negatives, but a couple of people complained of minor bruises and someone called out that they had a twisted ankle from falling.
"Rodney was working on the programs and stuff the ancients had left behind. I bet you anything he's the one behind this." John tapped his radio. "McKay!"
"I wouldn't be surprised," Lt. Cadman told Ronan, who grunted in response. "Seriously, I can see why Rodney calls you Caveman."
Ronan growled, but she just giggled.
"John," Lt. Col. Sam Carter, who had only been at Atlantis for about a month, came towards them with a flashlight. "Chuck had some flashlights near the desk-something about power outages in the past and wanting them there in case of an emergency-you get in touch with McKay?"
"Yeah, he says that it's a weird ancient program that requires the lights to be out for a couple'a hours." John told her.
"Ronan, do you think you can get non-essential personnel back to their quarters?" Sam asked, knowing Ronan knew where everyone on base was supposed to sleep.
"Yup," Ronan agreed, and they heard him shuffling around.
"You want me back at my quarters too, Colonel Carter, or do you want me here in case something needs to be blown up-like, say, a certain scientist causing problems again?" Laura asked cheerfully from her spot at the table.
Sam chuckled.
"Back to your quarters, Cadman. Or-would Caldwell be willing to pick people up and put them temporarily on the Daedalus?"
"You bet I would be," Caldwell's voice made them start, and John muttered a Satedan curse he'd learned from Ronan under his breath. "Sorry. Don't mean to startle you lot, but it can't really be helped in this darkness. Though I will admit, this kind of darkness makes me think of blackouts from cities back home."
"Were they awful?" Teyla asked, curiosity in her voice, even as she was calming a scared female scientist who was frightened of the dark.
"Think of thousands of people in tall buildings like the ancestral towers here without lights or power," Caldwell told her, and Sam sighed.
"Colonel, I'll be very grateful for the use of your ship as a temporary resource until McKay can get the power up and running again. John, can you help get the people that don't like the dark onto the ship, plus assist Dr. Keller with her injured patients…I'm sure she's likely going to need help with that-as she was literally blindsided with this," Sam said, and there were small chuckles heard from the others.
"I can tell we're going to make lots of jokes at McKay for this," John said, cheerfully.
"Oh, we will. But at least it's just the power off, and not something serious." Sam agreed, sounding relieved about that.
"Well, we best get going Sheppard. Daedalus this is Caldwell, can you beam myself and Colonel Sheppard up to the Daedalus? Atlantis came up with an unexpected lighting issue, and we may need to stick around longer to help out," Caldwell called, and there was a brief pause, and a flash of light and both Caldwell and Sheppard were gone.
Sam was left in the cafeteria by herself-Lt. Cadman had gone off with a group that Ronan was helping escort to quarters-and shook her head with a small smile.
She was feeling rather grateful that the SGC back home rarely had to deal with this, but then again…it was kind of fun. Though of course, she'd never dare tell McKay or anyone else-except her team-so.
Smiling, she turned to head back to the Control Room, feeling grateful for her own little light in the dark.
End