The Rush to Destiny
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate, we all know that. If any plot, dialog, title or character seems familiar to anything else, it was not on purpose.
Summary: Rush's life and perspective right before and including "Air" More chapters to follow
Please read, enjoy and review. :)
Dr. Nicholas Rush stood, notebook in hand, glaring at the whiteboard. The solution to the equation on the board seemed just out of reach for the Scottish scientist, who had been working on it for quite a while. He sighed in frustration as he sat down.
Just over three months ago he created a online computer game with the equation embedded into the final level. They were hoping through this game to gain access to many brilliant minds all over the world. But so far that had yielded no results. Not that he needed help from the video game-addicted unemployed community that had far too much time on their hands. He was going to solve this one on his own, and hopefully soon. The Icarus Project, the mystery of the Ninth Chevron, was his current life's work. He could not fail.
Rush was trying to focus mainly on this proof and the energy requirement for dialing the nine chevron address. But as the lead scientist for the Icarus Project many other things were called to his attention and required fixing. He despised dealing with the researchers and the many little problems they felt he needed to know about. The military personal also seemed to be always in the way. Could they not see how important this was?
Rush stole a glance at his watch, 1:46am. He debated working just a bit longer but he had been busy with various thing since 6:00 that morning. Unwanted tiredness washed over him like a tidal wave. Morning would come soon, maybe after another cup of coffee he could finish this thing up for good.
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Jolted awake by a 5:30am alarm, Rush quickly dressed and went to find some coffee. He would really need it today. He felt so close to solving the equation, but there was something missing that he couldn't put his finger on. Coffee, he needed coffee, then back to the white board.
A short time later found Rush flipping through his notebook jotting down various sequences of numbers. His thoughts were interrupted by a corporeal. "Dr. Rush? We have received communication from General O'Neill. He requests you prepare to travel to Earth immediately. The USS George Hammond is standing by. You will be briefed once you are aboard."
Rush knew that the General would not have interrupted his work and requested him to go Earth-side if it wasn't something important. Ten minutes later he was beamed aboard the Hammond and the ship jumped to hyperspace.
As he read the file given to him a mix of various feelings swept through him. Someone had solved the proof. After months of working and waiting. He was elated that they could move on to the next step but there was a nagging disappointment that he could not finish this himself.
Eli Wallace, a 25 year old kid, that's who solved it. A MIT drop-out. Go figure. Some kid with no advanced education or drive in life was the genius who solved the equation. But still the fact was the millennia-old mathematical proof that seemed to be the last secret of the Stargate was completed and they could now unlock the nine chevron address to see what lay beyond. Nicholas Rush couldn't help but smile.
Standing near a window with a cup of coffee, he looked out to see the colors of hyperspace pass by. The next step, actually dialing the gate, was so close he could almost taste it. He wondered where it would lead. What information could they gather? Why did the Alterans build the Stargate with nine chevrons? The exit out of hyperspace jolted his thoughts back to the present.