Pavlov's Bell
PG
A/N: Okay, I remember learning something about Pavlov in one of my social studies classes, and then I recently saw the Domino's commercial I think it was where the men ring the bell and the dog comes running. And then it hit me, which was basically what was going on with the Stargate. This has no real point behind it, and is told in first person perspective. I never really mention whom it is who is thinking this, but I think you can sort of pick out some clues while you read it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or Pavlov and his crummy bell.
Pavlov's bell.
That is exactly what this whole thing reminds me off.
Every time someone steps through that 'Gate we expect to find something great, or helpful. Maybe some people, supplies, maybe a ZPM or two...
But we don't.
The little bell keeps ringing but no one is giving us our food.
We are just Pavlov's dogs, waiting for him to dish out the food that we know is there.
But he doesn't. He keeps leaving us hanging, and maybe a little bit later, he'll ring that bell again and we'll all come running in hopes of food.
It's no different with the 'Gate.
Like I said, every time we step through it we expect to find something magnificent, something that will truly help us. But the Wraith are just sitting and waiting for us to step through it to watch us suffer.
I used to think Pavlov was cruel, to trick the dogs like that. I never used to understand why he did it.
But now that we are the dogs, it all seems to make since.
He was just using us, seeing how far we could go before we would snap. And we are bound to snap soon. Maybe not today, and maybe not tonight, but we will snap eventually.
And every time that 'Gate opens, there is a full score of men standing there pointing guns at us, making sure nothing follows us threw, and the medical team right behind them.
Dr. Beckett giving me a quick look over in the hospital wing, as if I might have been hurt or drugged by something, but he can't risk it.
Just like the dogs couldn't.
Because there was always that chance that Pavlov might lay down a plate of steak for us so we all had to go running.
I used to think 'Gate travel was cool, and I still do.
But it is almost as if Pavlov's got someone testing us.
And that isn't cool.
If I felt sorry for the dogs before, it was nothing compared to how I felt now. Maybe I'd get one when I got back home.
My cat might not like it, but she would have to deal with it.
But something else has been on my mind. It was almost as if the dogs forgave Pavlov every time they did get something, and they didn't worry about it.
And every time we step through that gate and find something we can use, we seem to forget that it was the first thing in who knows how many planets, and that maybe there are more out there, just waiting for us to find them.
It is both cruel and unusual.
But one of these days we are going to stop finding things.
And then what will become of us? Will we simply be Wraith food? Or will we simply become even more dependent on the 'Gate?
Or is there the chance we will start tearing people apart, just to get that little food we have?
Both thoughts are scary, but I know one of these days we will hit that fork in the road.
I pray we make the right choice, when it gets down to that.
I don't really fancy depending on the 'Gate for the rest of my life, hell, I didn't know it existed for most of my said life.
But I don't really fancy tearing my friends apart just to live myself. I mean, they may be cruel at times, but I don't really want to hurt any of them.
They are almost like family now. That is basically all Atlantis really is. We are just one big family, equally dependent on each other to live.
But I don't mind being dependent on people to live, it's being dependent on an object.
It's sort of like, I don't know, choosing Satan over God.
You'd rather live with the uncertainty of it all, rather then the love of the people. Yeah, things will be confusing, but there are still others to look out for you.
All we would have left is a giant stone ring.
Now that I think of it, there wasn't much of a choice anyways.