DISCLAIMER – Stargate: Atlantis is the intellectual property of MGM/UA and associates. I am not receiving compensation from any source, in any form, for the creation of this story. This is a work of fan fiction, created for the sole purpose of personal enjoyment. No copyright infringement is intended.
RATING – This story is rated K+
ARCHIVE – You have my permission to archive this story. Please, just let me know where it's going. Thanks!
SUMMARY – It's all fun and games until somebody loses… While poking around in some previously unexplored parts of the city, John and Rodney discover a device that has high danger potential. This is a John/Rodney Friendship story, with a little humour and a wee bit of whumping. No slash and no 'ships. This is a multi-chapter, multiple POV story.
A/N – For those of you who are following my other story (The Song of Silent Rivers) don't worry…I haven't abandoned it. I'm still working on it, but I felt I needed to write something with a bit lighter tone. This is set in the same 'universe' as my other story, so a few of my previously-created OCs may make an appearance. I won't tell you who, yet. I'll just let you be surprised. I hope you all enjoy the story and don't forget to leave me some comments! Have fun!
All Fun And Games
1. Kids In The Toy Store
Lieutenant-Colonel John Sheppard liked nothing better than a good adventure.
John might've thought the job of surveying previously unexplored sections of Atlantis wouldn't qualify as an adventure if he'd been with anyone other than Dr. Rodney McKay. As annoying as Rodney could be at times, John had to admit he honestly liked the guy, and Rodney really was the best person to have along on a mission like this one. The Canadian physicist seemed to have a nose for uncovering useful Ancient technology and subsequently figuring out how to make it work. There were the odd times when Rodney couldn't solve an Ancient riddle and managed to get himself into trouble, but John guessed that was to be expected. The law of averages couldn't be on his side all the time. The bottom line was, Rodney kept things interesting.
John had awakened in a particularly good mood this morning, for no particular reason. He'd felt especially energetic when he and Ronon had gone for their usual run before breakfast. He'd even managed to pay attention for almost all of Elizabeth's regularly-scheduled staff meeting. He was especially proud of himself for that.
By the time he and Rodney had started out on their trek, John figured he was ready for just about anything.
The first few rooms John and Rodney encountered were living quarters. Teams on mapping missions always seemed to be discovering more and more of those. John thought the population of Atlantis must have been huge when the Ancients still lived here.
As always, Rodney was interested in checking out the quarters, to see if they were an improvement over his current accommodations. John couldn't resist teasing him about being the official Atlantean real-estate agent, to which Rodney only responded with a growl. After a little coaxing, John managed to persuade his Canadian friend to move on.
Several metres down the corridor, they came to the next doorway. John passed his hand in front of the door sensor, fully expecting to find another apartment when the doors slid open. He prepared himself for the mild disappointment of not discovering something really cool.
The doors parted.
What John saw when he stepped inside was most definitely not living quarters.
The room contained several tables that were filled with all manner of odd-looking items. John saw multicoloured blocks, something that vaguely resembled a checkerboard, and some sort of puzzle that made him think of the balls and sticks his high school chemistry teacher had used to describe molecules. There were dozens of things on the tables that he couldn't even come close to identifying. Now, he was curious, to say the least.
"Wow," was all he managed to say.
Beside him, he heard Rodney's snort of disdain. "You're as eloquent as ever, Sheppard."
Ignoring Rodney for the moment, John stepped further in. Right in the middle of the room was a large, square pedestal. It was transparent and John saw that it was filled with water. Floating gently on the surface was a perfect scale model of Atlantis. Along the top edge of the water-filled pedestal, John saw six model puddlejumpers, each small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. A scaled-down Stargate rested opposite the tiny 'jumpers.
"Wow…" John repeated. "Rodney, come here and look at these. They're amazing."
Rodney came over to look at the model of the city. "It's Atlantis," he said.
John laughed. "Now I know why they call you a genius."
"Very funny," said Rodney, as he peered at the city floating placidly in its tank of water. "Why would the Ancients build something like this? There doesn't seem to be much point. I mean, there's nothing in here that looks remotely like it could be used for a scientific purpose."
"It's a toy," John said. "This room is full of toys."
"Toys?"
"Yeah. You know what toys are, right? You must've played with toys when you were a kid, McKay. You know, stuff like G.I. Joe and water guns and model planes?"
"No."
"Stuffed animals?"
"No."
"Dolls?"
Rodney turned beet red and growled, "No!"
"Okay, then," John said. "I was just asking."
"What makes you think these are toys?" Rodney said, gesturing expansively at the room's contents.
"The Ancients must've had kids," John said. "I mean, if I was an Ancient kid, I would've loved to play with these." He picked up one of the little 'jumpers. "Hey, I'd love to play with it now. Do you think it really flies?"
"Let's not find out," Rodney said. His gaze travelled around the room until it came to rest on something in a far corner. He started toward it. "Hello… What's that?"
John looked in the direction Rodney was going. The only thing he saw was a tall, rather unimpressive rectangular column. The thing was gunmetal grey, and its only visibly distinguishing features were two projections on the sides, and an indented panel on the front. At first glance, John thought it kind of looked like a two-handled slot machine. Realistically, of course, he couldn't even have begun to guess what the thing was for. It didn't seem very interesting to him, but if Rodney wanted to poke around the thing, John was not about to stop him.
John studied the toy puddlejumper in his hand. Concentrating, he directed his mental energy toward the small ship. Fly! He commanded it, just as he would have done with his beloved Jumper One.
To his amazement and delight, he felt a tingling on his palm, and then the little 'jumper hovered several centimetres above his hand. With very little effort at all, he found he could make the toy soar around the room. He could make it go faster or slower, and he could make it perform intricate aerial manoeuvres with unbelievable ease.
"Hey, Rodney," he called to his friend. He flew the toy ship slowly toward Rodney and bumped the physicist's shoulder gently with it. "Surprise!"
Rodney spun around and exclaimed, "Sheppard, what are you doing?"
"Flying," John said, as he thought his new toy back toward its own little Atlantis. "Isn't it great? I know somebody else who'd love these."
"Yes. Well, luckily for us, that someone is currently on the mainland."
"Check this out. I can fly it through the little 'Gate," John said.
"Oh, that's wonderful, Sheppard. Truly wonderful. You can fly the little 'jumper through the little Stargate. Look, when you're through playing with your toys, do you think you could actually make yourself useful and help me?"
"Sure Rodney. No problem," said John, and made the tiny puddlejumper do a couple of orbits around the physicist's head.
"Would you stop that?" Rodney yelled.
Rodney grabbed for the toy 'jumper, but John flew it out of his reach. John held up his hand and brought the little ship in for a beautifully executed landing on his palm. He grinned at Rodney. "What's the matter?" he said. "Where's your sense of humour? Hey, I wonder if these little guys have a cloaking device like the real ones. Let's see—"
"Colonel, need I remind you that we're here on a serious mission of exploration?"
"This is exploration," John said. "We're exploring an Ancient toy store."
"Seriously, I hardly think—"
"Wow…it does have a cloaking device."
"Fine. If you insist on being immature and unhelpful, I'll just have to go on exploring without you."
"That's a really, really dumb idea. You know that, right?" John uncloaked the toy 'jumper and tucked it into one of the pockets of his vest. He crossed the room to where Rodney was still standing near the odd-looking machine. "So, what do you think this does?"
"I don't know, yet, but it's probably some kind of toy, just like everything else in here."
"Well, maybe we could figure out what it's for if we turn it on."
"We don't know how to turn it on."
"Sure, we do," John said. He reached out and touched the machine, and thought about activating it. Immediately it lit up and began to hum softly. John was pleased with the result, and gave Rodney his best cocky grin. "There ya go, McKay. It's all yours."
Rodney leaned forward to peer at the three depressions on the front panel of the machine. The thing emitted a faint clicking sound, and before either Rodney or John could react, three metallic-looking tubes erupted from the machine. The tubes attached themselves to Rodney's head, one in the space just above his eyebrows and one against either temple.
Rodney howled.
There was no other way to describe the noise the physicist was making. Rodney was howling, and John was hard-pressed to determine whether his friend's cries were a result of pain or panic.
"Sheppard!" Rodney wailed. "Sheppard, get it off me! Get it off, now!"
John's first thought was, Oh, crap…
TBC
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