Rodney never showed up for breakfast which had Sheppard both concerned and a little perturbed, though he admitted to himself the larger worry was the fact he wasn't eating. Teyla headed off to teach a stick class, Ford had paperwork to deal with, so Sheppard headed for Weir's office to find out what he'd missed the last two days and see if she had any idea where McKay could be.
"Major, come in," Elizabeth greeted and set down the report she was reading. "How are you feeling?"
"Good," he replied and slouched in the chair in front of her desk. He smiled slightly over at her and asked, "Anything interesting happen in the last few days?"
She shook her head. "Other than my premier team getting their puddle jumper stuck in a stargate, it's been pretty quiet."
Sheppard grimaced. "So much for that theory," he muttered under his breath.
"Major?"
"Nothing. Haven't seen much of McKay. Thought it was because of some crisis."
Weir studied him for a moment then leant back in her chair. "I haven't seen Rodney since the night you all got back," she said and Sheppard heard a touch of concern in her voice. "Maybe he's just absorbed in a project," she suggested but Sheppard could hear the disbelief in her voice.
"Yeah. Maybe." They looked at one another for a moment neither accepting the idea Rodney was just wrapped up in a pet project and ignoring them.
Beckett had told him Weir had met them in the jumper bay when Jumper One finally came through the 'gate, that she'd witnessed his Lazarus act as much as Rodney had. She'd know how he had reacted as well as Beckett. No, McKay was intentionally avoiding them for some reason.
"Is there something I should know, Major?" Weir asked her voice changing from light to serious.
Sheppard shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know when I find him." He stood to leave.
"Take care of him, Major," Elizabeth said softly as he left.
He turned back, gave her a nod as Sergeant Bates arrived at the office door, and headed for Rodney's lab. The minions hadn't told Ford anything but Sheppard was willing to bet they'd give up their boss' location if he asked the right person and he had an idea who that person would be.
He was only a few steps away from Zelenka's lab when he heard raised voices. He'd been hanging around Rodney's people enough over the last couple of months to recognise Kavanagh's slightly nasal voice and know the scientist was on a righteous rampage about something.
"No," he heard the accented voice of the Czech say. "How many times do I explain, you cannot do that without overloading the system?"
"Your math is wrong," Kavanagh sneered. "I've had this same conversation with Doctor McKay, he didn't have enough vision to see it either."
"It is not lack of vision, Doctor Kavanagh, it is simple law of physics. You cannot reroute to have the power systems do that without an opposite reaction. In this case, the naquadah generator would simply explode. Catastrophically, I might add."
"Unbelievable!" Kavanagh yelled and Sheppard heard a hand slap on something, probably Zelenka's work table.
Deciding the engineer could do with a timely intervention, he rounded the corner of the door "Problem, gentlemen?" he asked nonchalantly with a pleasant smile.
He saw Kavanagh with his back to the door standing over Zelenka seated at the work table and knew he had to get the pony-tailed man out of the lab before he questioned the engineer about McKay. He wasn't going to give Kavanagh any ammunition to use against Rodney if he could help it.
A part of him knew he should be grateful to the arrogant scientist for helping them get home, but the man was the definition of weasel in Sheppard's mind. He figured the only reason Kavanagh was even part of the Atlantis expedition was because Stargate Command didn't want him anywhere near their own systems and considered the Pegasus galaxy a good distance to get him out of their hair.
He glanced at Zelenka and the engineer flashed him a nervous smile from where he sat behind Kavanagh. Sheppard genuinely liked Zelenka, not the least because he was the exact opposite of someone like Kavanagh. Zelenka was endlessly patient, he could deal with Rodney's moods, and he was very good at his job. He thought the Czech would be a good candidate for McKay's second-in-command and wondered if Rodney had ever talked to him about it.
"Nothing that needs a military mind," Kavanagh said dismissively and turned back to the engineer.
Sheppard saw Zelenka wince at that and decided exactly how to get Kavanagh out of the way.
Sheppard plastered a fake smile on his face and said, "I see." He gave Kavanagh a puzzled stare. "You are Doctor Kavanagh, aren't you?" he asked and tried to look innocent.
"Yes," Kavanagh said shortly and turned back toward the door. "Was there something you needed from me, Major?"
"No, not really," Sheppard drawled, still trying not to grin. "I just thought I heard someone down the hall saying something about one of your experiments about to go critical."
"What!" the scientist yelled. "I told them not to touch that." He pushed past Sheppard as he stormed out of the lab and Sheppard finally let the grin show.
"I assume there was no critical experiment, Major?" Zelenka asked, looking up from his datapad with a small smile of his own.
"No. Just thought you might like a rescue, Doctor Zelenka."
"Thank you, Major. Doctor McKay can be trying at times, but Doctor Kavanagh is never a pleasant person to be around." He glanced up at Sheppard. "Was there something you needed, Major?"
Sheppard could tell Zelenka was nervous about something other than Kavanagh and he suspected he knew what it was.
"Now that you mention it, I was looking for Doctor McKay," Sheppard said still playing up the innocence. "I need to talk to him. Thought he'd be down here working on some project or other."
Zelenka suddenly looked very interested in his computer. "No, no. Sorry, Major. I have not seen him."
Sheppard shook his head. The man was a terrible liar, but he was oddly pleased with Zelenka's loyalty to Rodney. "Okay, you haven't seen him," Sheppard said easily. "Any idea where I might look for him?"
Zelenka glanced up from the computer, "Not really?" He made the statement sound more like a question.
Sheppard closed the distance from the door to the worktable. "I really need to know where he is, Doctor," Sheppard said and knew he sounded more worried than he wanted to. "And I think you are about the only person in the whole city who can tell me."
Zelenka ducked his head and sighed. "He did not want you to know, Major," Zelenka finally admitted.
"Didn't want me to know what? What's he been doing the last couple of days?" Sheppard glanced up at the shared wall between Zelenka's lab and Rodney's.
Zelenka muttered something in Czech under his breath. "I told him you would find out eventually," he said and sighed.
"Just spill it already," Sheppard said, his impatience growing.
"He is down in the jumper bay." He looked up at Sheppard. "Taking Jumper Two to pieces," Zelenka added softly.
"He's doing what?" Sheppard exclaimed. "Why?"
The engineer stepped back around the table. Sheppard wondered if Zelenka was trying to escape and forced himself to calm down. "Why is he stripping one of the jumpers, Doctor Zelenka? We need those ships."
Zelenka looked back at him. "He said we were relying too much on seat of the pants engineering and we needed to know how the ship's systems actually integrate with each other and function."
Zelenka picked up the computer pad and used it as a shield. He studied Sheppard's face for a moment and seemed to find what he was looking for as he added sympathetically, "He does not want to be in that situation again, Major. Where he has to guess at what a system does."
Sheppard sat on the stool in front of the worktable. "Damn it, Rodney," he mumbled and rubbed absently at the bandage on his neck. "You can't predict everything." He scrubbed a hand through his hair, making it stand up in spikes. "Anyone helping him up there?" he finally asked and looked over at the engineer.
Zelenka shook his head. "He said he could work faster alone." He looked at Sheppard, a worried crease in his forehead. "I think he is trying to … what is the phrase? Bury himself in work?"
Sheppard stood from the stool and headed out of the lab. "Thank you, Doctor Zelenka," he said from the doorway.
"Major?" Zelenka called from inside the room. When Sheppard turned around, he continued, "He has eaten little other than power bars the last two days I think. You might want to take him lunch, yes?"
Sheppard nodded. "Good idea," he said heading first for to the mess hall and then the jumper bay.
Twenty minutes later Sheppard entered the jumper bay with a small box under one arm and looked around. Jumper One had been moved off to one side of the bay, waiting for repairs; it was easily identified by the long scratch down one of the drive pods. He ran a thoughtful hand along the damage, felt the slight dents in the metal structure. Stuck in a stargate, not a problem he would have ever considered before.
Jumper Two was in its usual spot across the bay. He could see through the forward windscreen pointed toward Jumper One and didn't see anyone in the forward section. He didn't see any evidence of someone working on the outside of the small craft, either.
He looked around the rest of the bay with a frown, still not finding his missing scientist or anyone else in the bay to ask if Rodney had been and gone. He was ready to continue his search elsewhere when he heard the clang of something falling and a curse coming from the direction of Jumper Two.
Sheppard looked back through the forward window, and when he still didn't see anyone, he walked around to the rear hatch of Jumper Two and looked inside. Rodney lay on his side on the floor of the jumper, his head underneath the front control panel and his legs stuck out between the pilot and co-pilot seats. His blue uniform shirt was untucked and slightly rucked up his back, the tan uniform jacket was haphazardly thrown over the co-pilot's chair.
A laptop was balanced on the pilot's chair with a number of cords and wires trailing out of it to the datapad propped near Rodney's head. One of the rear compartment benches was strewn with several crystals from the overhead control box, another datapad wired into those systems sat next to the pile of delicate parts. Most of the equipment from the cargo bins was piled on the other two seats in the front area of the jumper for some reason.
In short, Rodney had made a hell of a mess.
Sheppard shook his head and stepped into the jumper. He set the box of food on the end of the bench that didn't hold the crystals and computer and said quietly, "Whacha doin'?"
Rodney let out a yelp from underneath the console and wiggled out enough that he could sit on the floor between the two forward chairs the datapad on his knees.
"Major," he said and tried to act nonchalant, Sheppard thought his voice sounded brittle and he wasn't buying the act at all, especially since he could tell from his pinched eyes Rodney was fighting a headache. "Carson let you out I see."
"Yep," Sheppard said and sat on the bench next to the box. "You would have known that if you'd been at breakfast."
Rodney looked everywhere except at Sheppard. "I've been busy … with … things." His statement ended in a mumble and he rubbed absently at his temple.
Sheppard's worry ratcheted up another step at the half-hearted rebuttal; any time Rodney didn't have a sarcastic comment at the ready was cause for concern. "I see that. Wanna tell me why you've decided to dismantle the ship?"
Rodney glanced up at him and Sheppard saw him focus on the bandage peeking out from his collar. He adjusted the collar on his jacket to hide the dressing and Rodney looked back down at the datapad and tried to look like he was busy. Sheppard just waited, he knew he would say something sooner or later.
"Less than thirty seconds," he muttered into his lap a few seconds later.
"What?" Sheppard asked confused by the non sequitur.
Rodney glanced up at him, then back at the floor. "Less than thirty seconds," he repeated. "That's how much time was left before the wormhole shut down." He looked up and Sheppard was surprised at the haunted look lurking in his eyes. "There's cutting it close and then there's what …" He fiddled with one of the crystals lying on the floor next to him. "I should have had the system fixed sooner."
"Hey, you got it in the end, you know. I think I even thanked you for that." He tried to lighten the mood but Rodney was having none of it.
"That's not the point," Rodney barked, surged to his feet, and started pacing. "I didn't know what the systems back here did, or how they interacted with each other, do you get that? I could have opened the rear hatch by mistake, the hatch you were lying against, I might add, or shut down the power completely, or any number of other potential disasters." He turned to face Sheppard. " I was playing hunt and peck with all of your lives trying to get the drive pods to retract because I just didn't know enough."
Sheppard was startled by the outburst. He'd expected some residual fear from their close call, not guilt over not saving them fast enough. He watched Rodney pace from the back of the jumper to the control console a few times. Or maybe guilt and a different kind of fear, Sheppard thought as he remembered his conversation with Beckett.
Rodney continued to pace, his hands twitching as he glanced from the console to the control box. He picked up the light stylus attached to the control box and started checking the intricate crystal circuits still housed in the box.
"You need to sit down," Sheppard finally said and pointed at the other end of the bench he sat on.
Rodney ignored him and grabbed for the datapad hanging from the control box. He typed a few commands and waited for the data to change. Sheppard was sure Rodney hoped he'd take the hint and leave. Too bad he was terrible at taking hints.
"Rodney, sit down, would ya," Sheppard said quietly but insistently.
McKay glanced over at him obviously surprised at the use of his given name.
"Looking up at you is making my neck hurt," Sheppard added with a tiny smile.
Rodney clenched the datapad for a few more seconds then let out a tired sigh before he sat on the bench next to Sheppard.
"Thank you," Sheppard said. He waited for Rodney to say something and when he remained silent, he continued. "I don't know about you, but I could eat."
He turned to the box between them and looked inside. He pulled out two wrapped sandwiches and handed one to Rodney. "I talked to Doctor Zelenka," he continued. "He said you've been living on power bars the last couple of days. You need to eat something."
Rodney took the sandwich but didn't open it, instead he set it on the bench beside him and tried to get up again.
"Hey," Sheppard said with a hand on his arm. "Eat."
"There isn't time, I need to figure this out," Rodney said with some of his usual bite.
"And you will, but you won't figure it out in the next fifteen minutes." Sheppard handed him the sandwich again.
"No, I guess not," he replied and took the sandwich. He unwrapped a corner, took a bite, and in no time, it was gone. Sheppard silently handed him another one.
"I'm gonna share with you a lesson I learned the hard way in Afghanistan," Sheppard said as he ate.
Rodney looked over at him as he devoured the second sandwich.
"You can be the most prepared pilot in the history of the military and circumstances will still jump up and bite you in the ass."
"Thanks for the down-home wisdom, Major," Rodney snapped as he finished the second sandwich and stood again to check the datapad hanging from the control box.
"I mean it, Rodney. I know this mission scared you. Hell, it scared me." Sheppard made sure McKay was looking at him. "I get what you're trying to do here, and I even suspect why." Rodney flinched but Sheppard continued. "I agree we need the information," he said calmly. "I just don't want you killing yourself by not eating or sleeping to get it."
Before Rodney could challenge Sheppard's statement, his radio chirped.
"Doctor McKay, are you there?" Zelenka's accented voice asked.
"Of course I'm here," Rodney answered. "This better be a monumental problem, Zelemka, I thought I was clear I didn't want to be interrupted while finishing the schematics for the jumpers."
"Zelenka," the Czech muttered in a low voice.
"What?" he asked impatiently and Sheppard chuckled. He wondered if Rodney would ever bother to get Zelenka's name right.
"Nothing," the engineer said and Sheppard heard the resignation in his tone. "Yes, the problem is, as you say, monumental. We are getting strange reading from the stabilizers on east side of city."
Sheppard saw the impatience of Rodney's expression give way to genuine concern and followed him out of the jumper.
"What kind of readings?" Rodney asked and headed for the bay exit. "Nevermind, I'll be right there to see for myself."
He tapped off the radio and headed in the direction of his lab. Sheppard didn't think Rodney even noticed he was tagging along.
~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~
McKay charged into his lab to find Zelemka and, unfortunately, Kavanagh waiting for him.
"Did we really need the military involved?" Kavanagh asked with a badly concealed sneer at Sheppard. "This is an engineering problem, after all. Nothing needs shooting at."
Rodney glanced behind him and discovered Sheppard standing slightly behind him. In his hurry to get to the lab he hadn't realised Sheppard had followed him. He noted the Major didn't plan on leaving so he just shrugged and turned back to the Kavanagh "It's Bring A Major To Work Day, Kavanagh. Didn't you get the memo?" he said sarcastically as he brushed past him and stopped next to Zelemka.
He heard Sheppard cover a snicker with a fake cough before he snapped his fingers at Zelemka to give him the datapad. His eyes widened when he saw the report. "You're sure about this?" he asked the engineer quietly as he tabbed through the data scrolling across the screen and tried to ignore the other scientist in the room.
Zelemka nodded. "Very sure," he said firmly. "It will go critical in the next eight to twelve hours unless we can find way to correct it."
"What's the problem?" Sheppard asked from where he stood near Rodney's work table.
"There's a stabilizer going haywire under the east side of the city," McKay told him, his tone distracted as he continued to read the report.
"Not just one stabilizer," Zelemka corrected. "That whole section is acting counter to the rest of the system."
"Okay," Sheppard drawled, his confusion clear in his tone.
Rodney looked up at him, and seeing his bafflement, actually tried to explain, "Haven't you wondered why no one is ever seasick around here, Major? We are in the middle of an ocean."
"I guess I just never thought about it," Sheppard replied. "I don't get motion sick."
"Lucky you," McKay mumbled, then louder, "there are stabilizer systems under Atlantis that work together to counteract the motion of the water so the city stays stable."
"Like fin systems on cruise ships," Zelemka added.
"I'll take your word for it," Sheppard said. "So I take it one of these systems has broken down?"
"Worse," Rodney said with a sigh. "If it had just stopped working altogether, we could compensate with the remaining sections of the system while we fix it. Instead, we have a whole series of stabilizers that for some reason are no longer in sync with the rest of the system. As the water moves and the other parts of the city compensate, this section is being torqued the other way. If we can't stop it, the city will tear itself apart."
He stared at Sheppard for a moment longer to see if he understood the gravity of the situation, then turned back to Zelemka and Kavanagh. "You two start working on scenarios. Figure out if this is mechanical or something in the programming. I need to talk to Doctor Weir."
He handed the datapad back to Zelemka and headed out of his lab, keying his radio at the same time. "McKay to Weir."
The pause waiting for her to answer gave him enough time to get to the transporter, Sheppard still on his heels.
"What is is Rodney?" she answered and he thought she sounded distracted.
"Are you in your office?" he asked curtly. "We have a problem."
"Yes, but I was about to start the weekly briefing with the botany team. How serious is this problem."
"If I don't get it fixed in the next eight hours, Atlantis will probably sink." He heroically didn't add 'Serious enough?' at the end of the statement but was sure Sheppard read the sentiment on his face.
"Understood, my office, then. Weir out."
Two minutes later he and Sheppard entered the glassed-in office off the control center.
"All right," Weir said once Rodney and Sheppard were seated. "What's happened?"
"We have a stabilization out of sync on the eastern arm," Rodney said and stared at Weir expecting her to know what he was talking about.
She looked from Rodney to Sheppard. "Okay, can't we just shut the stabilizers down to effect repairs?"
Rodney scrubbed his hands through his hair; so much for her knowing what he was talking about. "No," he said shortly, "we can't turn off the one system that's keeping us up upright in the water." When Weir gave him a confused look, he scooted forward in his chair. "There is a whole series of stabilizers -"
"Think of fins," Sheppard said from the chair next to Rodney.
"Fine, fins." Rodney nodded. "These fins counteract the motion of all this water we're sitting on. Without the system, the city would bounce with every wave. It also maintains the city's ability to float. Without it, sections would sink and flood with the ocean movement and take on water. More water, more weight, more sinking."
"I thought the city had inertial dampeners," Weir said calmly. "Wouldn't the Ancients need something like that for space flight."
"Yes," Rodney said impatiently, "but the dampeners were shut down, they took too much power. Soon after the city surfaced we found the mechanical system of stabi … fins. It used almost no energy from the generators, so we shut down the dampeners to conserve power."
"We could just turn the dampeners back on," Sheppard suggested.
Rodney rubbed at his temple and could feel a headache building. "No, Major, we can't," he said shortly. "We still don't have the power to spare."
"So what happened to the stabilizer system and what does this mean for Atlantis?" Weir asked patiently, her voice remarkably calm for the news he'd just delivered.
"I don't know what happened yet," Rodney started to explain but Sheppard interrupted.
"Elizabeth, you don't seem too surprised by this," he said.
"What?" Rodney asked him, a bit startled. "Of course she's surprised. Why wouldn't she be? There's no way she would have known about this before we got here. I didn't know about this until ten minutes ago."
Sheppard glanced at Rodney and turned back to Weir. "She's maybe a bit surprised what the problem is, but she's not at all surprised there's a problem."
"Really?" Rodney asked baffled. He glanced from Weir to Sheppard. "How can you tell?"
Weir placed her hands calmly on her desk and Rodney noticed a change in her demeanor, almost a hesitancy to explain how she knew something was wrong. "Teyla was here about an hour ago," she said and looked down at her folded hands. "One of her people had a vision …"
Rodney snorted and rolled his eyes.
Weir glared at him. "One of her people had a vision Atlantis was destroyed," she said to Sheppard. She turned back to Rodney, "If what you're telling me is true -"
"Believe me, it's true," he interrupted.
"Then apparently the woman who spoke to Teyla was correct," Weir finished.
"There's no such thing as psychic visions," Rodney scoffed.
"Then how do you explain it, Doctor?" Weir asked with a frown.
"How should I know?" he exclaimed. "Maybe she went Princess and the Pea and felt some subtle vibrations as the system started to fail. Who cares! The point is I need to get it fixed."
Weir studied him a moment longer then asked, "Do you know what's wrong with the system?"
"It could be anything. Something with the integrated computer systems. Maybe something fell off the underside of the city, or some huge whale hit us. It's ten thousand years old, maybe the parts are finally out of warranty. I need to get down there and look at it before the torsion stress gets serious."
"All right. Take Zel -"
"No," Rodney butted in. "I need him and Grodin up here running diagnostics on the computer systems and running simulations on scenarios on how to fix the system if it's something mechanical. I'll go down there by myself."
"No, you won't," Sheppard said his face set, and his tone serious.
Rodney shook his head. "I'm not taking Kavanagh."
Sheppard smiled. "No, you're taking me. That area is still unexplored. No one goes into those areas without a military escort. Besides," he said with a smirk, "it's still Take a Major To Work Day."
Weir looked more than a little confused at Sheppard's last comment but only said, "Go" and both men stood to leave.
"I need to grab a few things," Sheppard said outside the office. "I'll meet you in your lab in fifteen minutes."
"Fine," Rodney answered, his mind already running through possible causes for the problem
"And Rodney?" Sheppard said and waited for him to turn around. "We aren't done with that other conversation either."
Rodney just stared at Sheppard for a moment then turned left for the transporter that would send him back down to his lab.
~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~
Sheppard stopped at the armoury for his sidearm and also pulled on a tac-vest over his t-shirt. If he and Rodney were going into an unexplored area of the city he wanted to be armed.
As he checked and loaded his weapon he heard a clicking noise coming from the back of the room. He looked around the corner and found Ford sitting at a table cleaning his P-90. He grabbed a backpack and a couple of spare magazines for the Beretta and stuffed the ammunition in the pack as he walked back to where Ford sat.
"Lieutenant," Sheppard greeted. "What have you been up to?" He glanced at the partially disassembled rifle.
"Target practice, sir," Ford said with a smile. "I had a bet with Corporal Davis about who was the better shot."
"I hope you won. Wouldn't want the reputation of our team to suffer," Sheppard said with a smile.
Ford grinned back. "Not to worry, sir. He kept getting distracted by the water, so I beat him easily."
Sheppard frowned. "What was the water doing?"
Ford shrugged and went back to cleaning his weapon. "No idea, sir. Davis claimed the platform kept jumping when he was shooting." Ford laughed. "I just think he was making excuses, didn't want me telling everyone even Doctor McKay is a better shot than him."
Sheppard's smile vanished as he remembered the Marines' makeshift shooting range was also on the east platform.
"Something wrong, sir?" Ford asked and eyed the water bottles and power bars Sheppard stuffed in the backpack.
"I hope not, Lieutenant. Rodney found something off with one of the systems. We need to go check on it."
Ford stood from his stool. "Do you want me to come with you, sir?"
Sheppard shook his head as he shouldered the backpack. "No need, Lieutenant. I think we got it handled. We'll check in with Doctor Weir once we know more about what's gone wrong."
He headed back down to Rodney's lab and found him in a heated discussion with Zelenka when he walked in.
"I do not think it is computer issue," Zelenka said as Sheppard came in and dropped his pack on the work table.
Rodney sighed. "It might not be the computers causing the problem, but why didn't we get some sort of warning the stabilizers were out of sync … What?" he added when Zelenka made a face.
"We did have warning … sort of." Zelenka looked away.
Rodney gaped and Sheppard saw him rubbing at his temple again. "We had a … when were you going to tell me the computer set off a warning? What was the determined cause?"
Zelenka looked like a deer in headlights as he looked at Rodney fuming in front of him. "It wasn't the computer," he said softly as if expecting the words to set off an explosion. "Doctor Weir had sent an email."
"How could she … oh, you have got to be kidding!" Rodney exclaimed and Zelenka winced. "She sent a memo about some Athosian psychic vision and you believed it?" He walked over to a nearby storage unit and pulled out his tools. He grabbed his custom combo-computer and some cables and shoved everything into a backpack.
Zelenka shrugged. "The email said there was a serious risk to the city. It did not say where she got information. We started diagnostics and found the stabilizer anomaly."
Rodney just stared at Zelenka as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, then he turned back to the backpack and zipped it closed. "All the more reason to find out what went wrong with the warning systems," he finally said.
Sheppard watched as Rodney settled the pack on his shoulders and took a flashlight from the corner of the work table then turned back to Zelenka. "I'll radio once we're down there and let you know what kind of problem we have."
Zelenka nodded. "Peter and I will start on the diagnostics. I have Kavanagh working on mechanical scenarios."
Rodney glanced at Sheppard. "Coming, Major?" he asked and hurried out of the lab.
"So, what do you think happened?" Sheppard asked as they walked back to the transporter.
"I'm not sure," Rodney answered, his voice more hesitant now that he was away from the lab. "Like I said to Elizabeth, it could be anything, but I suspect there was water damage in that section from the city being submerged that's decided to rear its ugly head now."
Sheppard nodded as they exited the transporter and entered a deserted corridor. Since this was an area they weren't planning to use any time soon, the life support was minimal, no heat, only emergency lighting, and the ventilation system supplying fresh air into the area.
Rodney shivered and zipped up his tan uniform jacket before he pulled the datapad out of his pack and clicked on his flashlight. "There should be a mechanical room down that corridor somewhere with access to the stabilizer system," he said and pointed the flashlight down a hallway to their right.
"Okay," Sheppard said as he unholstered his gun, clicked on the small flashlight from his tac-vest, and took the lead. "Stay behind me, we don't know what's down here."
Rodney rolled his eyes but stepped aside to let Sheppard lead the way down the hall.
Rodney bounced his flashlight beam off the walls as they walked along. "There should be a door along here somewhere," he muttered and Sheppard glanced back to find him several feet behind, tapping at the datapad. He heard a slight creak and looked up at the ceiling then at the walls.
"Are you telling me we're lost?" Sheppard asked as he walked back to stand next to Rodney.
"Umm, no. Not exactly." Rodney looked up and flashed the light back and forth along the wall. "We've only mapped out the lower portion of the city along one of the arms so far, Major. This," he held out the datapad for Sheppard to see, "is based on that exploration. Things might be slightly different in different parts of the city."
They both looked up as the metal around them groaned again and the floor shook a bit.
"That's not good," Rodney said wide-eyed as he stared at Sheppard. "Really, really not good."
"Come on," Sheppard said and moved further down the hall. "The sooner we find this room, the sooner you can get it fixed."
They were at the junction of another hallway when Rodney said, "Umm, Major?"
He glanced back to see Rodney looking at the floor, the now wet floor, as an inch or so of water rolled past them.
"Where's that door?" Sheppard asked and looked back the way they'd just come.
"Here," Rodney said and waved the flashlight around. "It should be right here."
They heard the walls groan again, this time louder and longer.
"Rodney, we need that door open now," Sheppard said as he saw cracks start to form in the ceiling above them.
"I know, I know. Give me a sec."
"We don't have a sec!"
"Got it, here." Rodney bent over and started fiddling with a wall panel. A few seconds later he had the cover off, the crystals realigned, and the door open.
Sheppard took the lead again and had just crossed the threshold and started to sweep his light around the room when there was another, louder, creak from the ceiling above them. Rodney looked up and froze as the ceiling started to shake harder.
"Rodney, move!" Sheppard shouted and yanked him clear of the doorway just as the ceiling collapsed behind them.
~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~
Teyla was meeting with Halling and a few other Athosians about Iranda's vision when she felt the floor start to shake. She immediately excused herself and went out to the corridor.
"Doctor Weir, this is Teyla, please come in." She glanced at several fearful faces that peered out at her from various doorways.
"Teyla." Weir's voice came over the radio. "I take it you felt that as well?"
"Yes, we did. Is there anything I can do to assist you?"
"There is a meeting in the conference room if you care to join us."
"I will be there shortly. Teyla out." She turned back to face the hallway. "I will find out what has happened and return as soon as possible," she tried to reassure her people as she walked down the corridor to the nearest transporter.
Teyla entered the conference room next to the control room a few minutes later.
"... happened yet, but serious structural damage will start in the next few hours," an accented voice said.
"What about Major Sheppard and Doctor McKay," Ford asked, and he nodded to Teyla as she entered the room.
"We haven't had any response from them, yet," Weir admitted. "We're not sure if that's due to the lack of power in that section, damage from the recent tremor, or -"
"Or if something happened to them," Teyla finished solemnly. "Do we know where in the city they were working? Lieutenant Ford and I could go find them or try to reestablish communications."
Weir shook her head. "I don't want to send anyone else into the eastern arm until we know more." She turned to face a small man wearing glasses and a blue uniform shirt like Doctor McKay's. "Doctor Zelenka, is there any way we can get eyes on the area under the east pier?"
Teyla looked over at the man as he answered. "We are working on it, Doctor Weir," he said and Teyla recognised his voice as the same one she heard when she entered the room. "The problem is that entire area only has emergency power, getting systems up and running is taking time."
"I see." Weir made a note on the computer pad in front of her. "What do we know?"
"About what has happened, very little, unfortunately," Zelenka said. "We do know why we were not alerted to the problem earlier, however. Several subroutines were not re-initialised after Atlantis surfaced. There was a glitch in integration of our Earth computer systems with the Ancient system. We have discovered several early warning systems were not getting correct information about possible breakdowns."
"So there are other areas of the city about to go critical?" Weir asked and Teyla could see her clenched hands as they rested on the desk.
Zelenka shook his head. "We have fixed the glitch so this will not happen again. Good news is no other systems are reporting problems even with correct data."
"The bad news is, we already have a serious issue," Weir finished.
"Yes, that is true." Zelenka pushed up his glasses and glanced around the room. "Doctor Kavanagh is still working on what could have caused the stabilizer to initially fall out of sync." His glance stopped on Teyla for a moment and he gave her a tiny smile. "It would help if we could talk to Doctor McKay," he mused with a glance back at Weir. "Maybe we should send someone down to look for them, Elizabeth."
"Teyla and I could be ready in five minutes, ma'am," Ford added. "Once we get eyes down there we can work out a better rescue plan." He paused. "That is if we need it."
Teyla could see Weir wanted to send them, she just needed a good reason. "Doctor Weir?" she said and waited for Elizabeth to focus on her. "We may be able to offer additional assistance with whatever their plan is to fix the broken system."
Elizabeth closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, Teyla knew the decision had been made. "All right. Teyla, Lieutenant Ford, go find your teammates, help fix the stabilizers, and bring them back. With all of you in one piece if possible. Doctor Zelenka, I want to be able to give Rodney and Major Sheppard options once Teyla and Ford reach them."
"Of course, Doctor Weir. We will work as quickly as possible." Zelenka nodded and the meeting broke up.
Teyla waited outside the conference room for Zelenka, and when he left the room, she smiled at him. "Thank you, Doctor Zelenka," she told him sincerely.
Zelenka gave her a gentle smile in return. "Just find them, yes?"
"We will," she promised and headed for the armoury where Ford was waiting for her.
"Do you know what supplies they had with them, Lieutenant?" Teyla asked when she met Ford in the armoury.
He handed her a tac-vest as he loaded a P-90. "I know the Major took a backpack with some water and power bars. I don't know what Doctor McKay had with him."
"We should have asked Doctor Zelenka during the meeting," she said as she zipped up the vest and took another backpack from the rack. "I will carry more emergency supplies."
"The med kit is probably a good idea, too," Ford said as he handed it to her while he shoved several portable radio repeaters and batteries into his own pack.
"Agreed."
"Anything else?" Ford asked.
"I do not think so. However, I must stop and explain what has happened to my people." She shouldered her pack and took the 9mm Ford held out to her.
Ford shook his head. "I'm not sure we have time for that."
"It will not take long." She looked up at Ford as they left the armoury. "I made a promise to keep them up-to-date, Lieutenant. I wish to keep that promise."
Ford hesitated outside the transporter. "All right, but we need to be quick about it. The Major and Doctor McKay could be hurt."
Teyla smiled her thanks as they stepped into the transporter. "I will be quick, Lieutenant."
Teyla stood at the junction of two corridors and waited out the murmur of frightened voices after her explanation of what was happening. She noticed Halling dividing his attention between the cluster of Athosians and herself and Ford standing next to her.
"I know this is frightening," she said once a measure of calm had returned. "Doctor Weir's people are working as quickly as possible to correct the problem. They are confident it can be fixed before any serious damage is done to the city."
"What happens if it can't be fixed?" a man from the crowd asked. "Where will we go?"
"We will look at our options if it becomes necessary," Teyla told him. "Doctor Weir, however, is hopeful it will not come to that."
She heard more mumbling at that until Olette stepped forward. "What can we do to assist with saving the city?" she asked and refused to look at any of the people standing behind her.
Teyla smiled at her gratefully. "Right now, everything that can be done, is being done." She glanced at Ford for a moment then continued. "However, we may need your help if we discover Major Sheppard and Doctor McKay are cut off from the rest of the city due to damage in the area where they went to investigate."
Olette nodded in return. "We will have groups standing by to help, Teyla Emmagan. Go. Find your friends."
Teyla gave the group one last look and followed Ford back to the transporter. "Do we know where exactly Major Sheppard and Doctor McKay were going to investigate the problem, Lieutenant?"
Ford shook his head and clicked on the light from his P-90 as the transporter opened on a dark hallway. "Doctor Weir said they were somewhere on the eastern pier."
Teyla looked around as they walked to the end of a short corridor that branched off in two different directions. "We could each take one of the hallways," she suggested, but Ford shook his head.
"No. Standing orders for unexplored areas is no one goes anywhere without a military escort." Ford looked down one hall and then the other. He shook his head and keyed his radio. "Ford to Doctor Zelenka."
They waited several seconds but there was no response. Ford glanced over at her as he tried the radio again, still not getting an answer.
"Doctor Zelenka did say the power down here was minimal," Teyla reminded him.
They turned back to the transporter and Ford tried again, "Doctor Zelenka, please come in."
They were only a few feet from the transporter when Zelenka's voice, gravelly with static, finally responded. "Zelenka here. Your transmission is very poor, Lieutenant."
Ford took one of the repeaters from his pack and wedged it into an old sconce on the wall. He plugged in the battery pack and tried again. "Is that any better, Doctor?"
"Yes, yes, much better," Zelenka replied, his voice much clearer.
"The corridor branches not far from our current location, Doctor," Ford explained. "Do you have any idea which way they might have gone?"
"We have not mapped that section of the city yet, Lieutenant," Zelenka said. "However, according to the maps we have for the area near the control tower, there should be a maintenance area along the eastern side of the corridor."
"Any idea which way is east down here?" he asked Teyla. She shook her head. "Is that left or right at the fork in the road, Doc?"
Teyla heard some faint muttering before Zelenka said at a normal tone, "Take the right-hand corridor, Lieutenant."
"Understood. We'll set up repeaters as we go. Ford out."
"I guess we go to the right," Teyla said and headed back up the corridor to where the hallway divided. She was about the turn to the right when she heard a faint creaking noise and looked around.
"I'm not sure we have a few hours," Ford said and led the way down the hall.
They hadn't gone very far along the new corridor before Teyla noticed the water on the floor.
"That's not the big problem," Ford said and pointed the P-90's light at the pile of debris blocking the hallway. "I think we just found out why they aren't responding on the radios."
Teyla nodded and keyed her radio, "Doctor Weir, this is Teyla."
"Go ahead, Teyla," Weir's voice ghosted from the radio.
"We have run into a collapsed area of the corridor where we think Major Sheppard and Doctor McKay were working."
There was silence over the radio for a moment. "I see," Weir finally said. "Is there any sign of either of them?"
"No, ma'am," Ford cut in. "It doesn't look too bad, Teyla and I should be able to move enough debris out of the way and continue the search. Doctor Zelenka thinks they are working in a mechanical room not far from our current location."
"Be careful, Lieutenant," Weir said. "If you can't get through quickly, let me know. We may have to reconsider how we can help the Major and Rodney."
Ford shook his head even though Weir couldn't see him. "If they are injured, we may not have time for that, ma'am."
"I won't risk you and Teyla on an impossible job, Lieutenant," Weir said and Teyla could hear the underlying worry in her commanding tone. "If you can't get through, you will radio and let me know, Lieutenant. Is that clear?"
"Yes ma'am," Ford replied but Teyla could see his expression was blank.
"We will be careful, Doctor Weir," Teyla added and they both tapped off their radios.
"We get through and keep looking," Ford said, his normally cheerful face deadly serious.
Teyla studied his face for a moment, then nodded.
