Stargate Atlantis: S7 The Fossil Key

Part Four: Trophic Cascade

Jason Reynolds was nervous.

He was moving through the control room, eyes on the monitors. Power was flaring wildly. Atlantis was inexplicably coming alive and the whole city was stirring from its enforced slumber. It had been submerged in the ocean depths for almost a month, and it appeared that it had decided that it was time to awaken. There was nothing Jason could do about it. Try as he might he was locked out of every system. He swore, trying different keyboards but they were unresponsive. "Are the comms up yet?"

"Not yet!" Amelia Banks-Dex was typing furiously at a computer, trying to access the city as well. "Everything but the…wait!" She tapped her earpiece. "Colonel Sheppard, report! Doctor McKay, please respond! We have a massive power surge and are locked out of the controls!" she shouted into the PA unit. Static squealed in response. "Damn it! It's like she's shutting us out!"

"She?" Jason asked with a quick smile.

Amelia shrugged. "Guess that terminology is catching," she quipped. Often both Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Beckett would refer to the city as she; more specifically when they were connected to the AI's interface. "I can't even access the secondary systems!"

"Well, someone is," Jason remarked. He glanced across the room and down to the inert Stargate. He looked beyond that to see through the windows. The shield holding back the ocean's pressure was a pink sheen all around them.

There was a faint rumbling and the city moved. The walls shook and the shield that was holding back the ocean waters shimmered. Atlantis was ready to rise once more, whether or not the humans inhabiting it agreed.

"Can you shut that off?" Ronon Dex asked. He caught a console as the floor canted to the right. There was an audible hum in the air. He could feel the static charge of electricity as the city was in the midst of a reboot. The hairs on his arms stood up and he freed the console. Although he did not have the ATA gene the power appeared to be increasing.

"No! Every system is unresponsive!"

"We have a bigger problem! Look!" Jason pointed at a screen. The monitor was scanning the two alien ships that had been in orbit for a month. The two blips were moving across the sky; above the planet but perilously close to breaking atmosphere and descending. "They're heading for the open ocean!"

"They're heading for us!" Amelia realized. "They must be reading our power surges! Damn it! If we can't get this shut down they will find us and there's no way we can stand against them!"

"Why aren't Sheppard or McKay responding?" Jason asked worriedly. He tapped his earpiece. It filled his ear with static.

"I'll go." Ronon moved to the door and forced it open with brute strength.

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Rodney McKay was worried.

He paused in the doorway to the Chair room, stunned by the scene of utter destruction. The second Chair had exploded, and it appeared that most of the blast had been contained in this one room. He had had to open a panel to override the lockdown and get the door open. Now he stood, surveying the sea of carnage that littered the floor and the walls.

In the midst of the destruction the Ancient Chair native to Atlantis stood, untouched. It was surrounded by a blue force field, protected from the violence. Upon the Chair sat John Sheppard, eyes closed, reclining and lost in the interface.

Lights flickered like tiny stars in the surrounding gloom.

"John!" Moira O'Meara shoved past Rodney and entered the room. She stepped past the debris and stood, staring at the military commander. He appeared to be asleep, but his body was tense, muscles straining. His hands were pressed to the controls on the arm pads. Sweat was beading his brow. A trickle of blood escaped his nose.

Rodney moved next to her. "Shit. We have to get him out of there now! Once I get the force field deactivated you need to get him out of the interface, Moira!"

"Okay. Okay, I can do that." She moved closer, clasping her cut wrist. The towel encircling it was turning red with blood. It stained her fingers.

"Okay. The second that force field drops—"

"I know! Do it already!"

Rodney smiled and darted to a wall panel. He moved to his knees and opened his lap top. "I'll need to cut the power here…end the connection…ah! These crystals!" He frowned, pulling crystals and wires and swearing as he worked, trying to sever the power connection. He began to pry up a floorboard, and grabbed a set of cutting tools.

Moira waited, waited, feeling dizzy but focusing on John. John needed her and she wouldn't fail him. "John? John, can you hear me? You need to drop the force field! John!" She stepped as close as she could, staring at him. Electricity buzzed the air like angry bees and lifted strands of her hair to waver weirdly. The floor tilted and she almost fell, catching herself. "Rodney, what's happening?"

"I don't know! He's accessing all of the power…or the city is. Crap." He inserted the tool and cut the wires. The snap was loud and a sudden spark made him reel backwards. Rodney glanced up as the lights flared, abruptly illuminating the room. "Go!"

"What? Oh!" The force field dissipated. Moira rushed to John. She touched his arm. She shook him. "John? John, wake up! You did it! You need to wake up now! John!" She shook his arm more forcefully, trying to remember how she had awoken him the last time. She leaned close to speak softly into his ear. "Naughty colonel. John?" She sighed, considering. "Violet. Push-up, plunging with lace. Thong, barely there, and sheer." She looked over to see Rodney staring at her, as she was describing her underwear. "What? It worked the last time!" She blushed.

"Did I say anything?" the physicist said, but he smirked and moved to the Chair after a cursory glance along her body.

"Damn it, John, come on!" Moira shook his arm again. She leaned closer, running her mouth up his neck to nibble his ear. He was oddly cold, despite the warmth of the room and the sweat beading along his neck. She considered again, frowning.

"Moira, we have to get him out of there now! Power levels are rising and if the fuglies detect them we will be in serious trouble! I can't access the mainframe!" Rodney warned, typing on his data pad. He frowned in frustration.

"Homo erectus and let me think!" she snapped. She clutched her wrist to her, leaning on the Chair and inadvertently providing more power as it responded to her ATA gene.

"If your underwear didn't do it for him what will?" he quipped.

"It's not funny and I…" She broke off, realizing. She leaned close again, speaking softly into his ear. "John? Yes. The answer is yes. Yes."

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John Sheppard woke. It was almost like a bubble popping. One second he was lost in the interface with the two AIs becoming one and the city exploding around him; the next he was in the Ancient Chair and Moira was whispering the answer he had wanted to hear to his marriage proposal, at long last. He opened his eyes, a smile on his handsome face. "About time, baby. You really shouldn't keep a guy waiting like…" His words fell away.

Moira was on the floor. Rodney was kneeling next to her, clasping her wrist where a towel was dripping crimson. Red dots lined the floor next to her.

John's heart skipped a beat. "Is she…" He powered down and the Chair righted itself.

"John, thank God! I had no choice! She was the only one who could get you out of there!"

John's heart skipped a beat. "Is she…" The words stuck in his throat and he was frozen, unable to move as he feared the worst.

"What? No! Sorry! She's weak from blood loss! We have to get her to the infirmary!"

"Jesus, Rodney, you scared the shit outta me!" John scrambled off the Chair and moved to take Moira into his arms. "Moy?"

"Sheppard! McKay! We're losing control of the city and the fuglies are heading this way!" Ronon shouted, rushing into the room. He froze, seeing the tableau of the two men on the floor with an unconscious woman between them. He glanced at the destruction all around them.

Moira's eyes fluttered and she stared up at John. "John?" She struggled to sit and John supported her, keeping her close in his arms, against his chest.

"What did you do to yourself, baby?"

"Accident, I…"

"Never mind, I've got you now." He scowled, seeing the bloody towel. He encircled her wrist with his fingers, pressing firmly. A soft moan escaped her lips. "Sorry, Moira. You need to be in the infirmary and—"

"No! No, John, I won't go there!" Moira objected strongly, trying to move but she felt weak and dizzy and John's hold was strong, although gentle. She fell back against his chest. He was warm, solid and secure as the room seemed to spin around them.

"Okay, Moy, not the infirmary," he quietly agreed to soothe her. He looked up at his two friends. "Ronon, have Reynolds lock down the Jumper bays and any other extraneous areas. Rodney, I need you to get to the lab and the containment field. You should have full power there. Fire her up and get that Penning trap into it, and get the systems online to weaponize it."

"What? Are you crazy? We can't do that, John!"

"We don't have a choice, Rodney! We need a huge explosion so the fuglies think there is nothing here, and if we can take out one or two ships of theirs so much the better! Now get to that lab and get it ready!"

"No! I already told you we can't do that! Every simulation I have run ends in a catastrophic release of energy going beyond our solar system! What's more it will rupture the shield and effectively drown Atlantis with us in it!"

"I know that! I'll handle it! Now get to that lab!" John tapped his earpiece. "Beckett, I need you and a med kit to the Chair room now!"

"No! I'm fine!" Moira struggled but John's arms enclosed her securely.

"Don't you worry, Moira, I'm right here. Carson is himself again," he soothed, seeing the panic in her brown eyes.

"How are you going to handle it?" Rodney snapped, clearly dubious.

John met the angry physicist's gaze. "Once Moira's okay I am going to access this power and raise the city."