The Frigid

by Clone Trooper

This story was inspired, believe it or not, by a joke!

Disclaimer: I own nothing at all. This story is written for entertainment and nothin' more.

Spoilers: Maybe one or two for Trinity and The Hive, I think.

The frigid, winter wind bit cruelly into Rodney McKay's face as he slowly made his way up the icy path. The frozen gusts were horrifically strong in these upper elevations. Rodney halted as a particularly strong gust tried to shove him off the side of the mountain. He suppressed a shudder. He most certainly did not want to take a swim in sub-zero temperatures, in water that was negative 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Okay, a bit of an exaggeration, Rodney amended as he trudged on.

This mission, like so many others, had turned out to be utterly cliché—peaceful to begin with, but ending in absolute chaos. In past missions, however, he'd been with his team when the mission went south: right now he didn't even know where his team was. Nope. Rodney McKay, brilliant physicist, all alone with nothing but snow buzzards to keep him company. And, boy, that was not a reassuring thought considering what buzzards ate...

Had Rodney had his radio with him he would have had a fighting chance; as it was his radio was long gone, victim to the treacherous ice and the not-so-steady feet of one "Dr. McKay." Rodney had done many stupid things in his life—blowing up a solar system, taking a dose of the wraith enzyme willingly, correcting his high school chemistry teacher—but none of these quite compared to running full tilt down an icy, frozen hillside with a contingent of stone-age, cavemen chasing him. That had merely been the beginning of the long line of mishaps that had occurred on this mission.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Rodney knew that he wasn't going to survive. Even if he hadn't lost his bearings and wasn't wandering aimlessly around this wasteland, even if Sheppard did make it through the gate and scramble a rescue team, Rodney knew that the cold would find and kill him first. Already he couldn't feel his feet or hands. Taking a deep, shuddering breath Rodney hugged close to the mountain as the trail veered sharply to the right. The air burned his lungs, making it painful to even breathe. Rodney knew he couldn't take much more of this.

The wind blew full force into him now, challenging his footing, grabbing at his jacket, trying to throw him off the narrow trail into the river below. He gritted his teeth in fierce determination and plowed on into what seemed to be a solid wall of snow. Tucking his head to his chest Rodney trudged on, vaguely aware that he wasn't feeling all that cold anymore. He was getting hypothermic. He knew that, remembering and recognizing the symptoms even if he couldn't really remember anything else right now. The all-encompassing numbness was such that Rodney didn't notice the mountain path meandering through a small, snow-laden plain, and almost didn't notice the dingy shack someone had built and abandoned long ago.

Rodney felt the burning rush of adrenaline and slogged and fought his way through the snow and wind until he reached the cabin. He gave the door a weak push causing the hinges to groan loudly in protest. Rodney stumbled inside and relief was immediate. It wasn't warm by any means, but there was no wind to bite and nip his face, or to make him go crazy with its high-pitched howls. I just might survive after all…

The thought immediately fled his head as his eye caught a glint of copper. Burnished copper. Rodney eased himself across the room to take a look. It appears to be a lever…? No, that couldn't be right. This world was as technologically backwards as a society could be. Heck, they hadn't even invented the wheel (At this point Rodney was so focused that he didn't even realize that there was no way that such a primitive society could have built the cabin he was in).

Curiosity piqued, Rodney leaned in for a closer look. Well it certainly did look like a lever. And what would said lever do, even though it's not supposed to be invented yet? Rodney had the strong urge to find out. It did occur to him that he'd never hear the end of it from Sheppard, if Sheppard ever found out, but at this point in his life Rodney didn't really care. And it's not as if the world's going to explode or anything, he thought wryly as he grabbed hold of the lever and pulled.

And the world exploded.

Fin

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