DISCLAIMER – Stargate: Atlantis is the intellectual property of MGM/UA and associates. I am not receving compensation from any source, in any form, for the creation of this story. I am writing this story for my own enjoyment and the entertainment of others. No copyright infringement is intended.
RATING – Story rated K+
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A/N – Wow! I'm floored by the number of hits Chapter 1 has gotten already. I'd like to say a huge thank you to the people who actually left me comments, too. I love the feedback, so if you're enjoying this story, tell me about it! Here is the next chapter for you. It's also a short one, but I have a feeling this story will tend toward shorter chapters (unlike my other current WIP). Enjoy!
I have no beta, so any mistakes you encounter are mine.
All Fun And Games
2. The Games Ancients Play
"Don't panic," John said.
He realized this was a stupid thing to say, the moment the words left his mouth. Telling a clearly frightened Rodney not to panic was something like striking a match near a gas leak. Rodney's demands for help disintegrated into incomprehensible babbling, and he started breathing even more rapidly than he'd been doing before. Pretty soon, the trapped physicist was going to start hyperventilating and that, John decided, would be very, very bad.
John stepped closer to Rodney and the machine so he could inspect the parts of the device that had attached themselves to Rodney's head. The projections that looked like tubes were actually articulated and made to bend. They kind of reminded him of the robotic arm NASA used, except these little arms didn't end in mechanisms made to grasp things. These ended in flat, round contact points.
Cautiously, John moved his hand toward the nearest contact point. He touched it with a forefinger. There was a zapping sound, and John felt the tingle of a shock run the entire length of his arm.
"Damn!" he exclaimed, as his tingling arm fell to his side.
Rodney whimpered. "Wh-what…was that?"
"Sorry," John said. "It zapped me. Are you okay?"
"Do I look okay? I have this…this thing on me! You have to get it off me!"
"I'm trying," John said. He massaged his arm, and attempted to think. "I can't touch the machine while it's got you like that."
"You haven't touched the machine itself."
"No."
"Well, touch it and think about deactivating it."
John rested his palm on the device, in the same way he'd done when he'd activated it. He concentrated on turning the machine off, but nothing happened. The device continued to glow and hum quietly, and it didn't let go of Rodney. At last, John lifted his hand.
"This isn't working," John said. "Look, maybe you have to think it off. Maybe it can only be deactivated by the person who's using it. Remember that personal shield thing you found that time? Maybe it's like that."
"Maybe," Rodney said, though he seemed doubtful.
"It's a theory, isn't it?" John said. "What have you got to lose?"
"A lot, for your information. I mean, what if this thing is injecting brain-cell-eating nanites into me, or something?"
"Could it be doing that?"
"I don't know!" Rodney exclaimed. "Look, I just want to get out of here, so could you please shut up and let me focus?"
"Sure."
Rodney closed his eyes. John could see the intensity of Rodney's concentration written all over his features. John didn't know how much time passed while Rodney tried to make the machine release him, but it seemed like a veritable eternity. When Rodney finally raised his eyelids, his face was pale and there were drops of perspiration on his forehead.
"I can't think it off," he said to John. "What am I going to do? I can't stay here like this."
"Does it hurt?"
"A little."
"That bad, huh?"
"Yeah," Rodney admitted.
John put a hand on Rodney's shoulder. "Try to stay calm, okay? I'm going to call for help. We'll find a way to get you out of there."
Rodney tried to nod, winced, and let out a small hiss. "Tell Elizabeth to send Zelenka, okay? He's the only one I really trust to fool around with a machine that's attached to my head."
"If you're in a hurry, Radek might not be the best person to ask for," John said. "He's on the mainland, remember? I could get Kavanagh—"
"Sheppard, that's not even remotely funny," Rodney said.
"Sorry. Just hang on," said John. He touched his radio earpiece, and spoke into it. "Dr. Weir, this is Colonel Sheppard."
A moment passed and then John heard Elizabeth's voice in his ear. "Go ahead, John. How are you and Rodney getting along?"
"Uh…that's what I'm calling you about," John said. "We kind of ran into some trouble down here, and we need some help. We found a room full of…devices, and one of them has—"
John's explanation of their situation was interrupted by an extremely loud zapping noise. He looked over his shoulder and saw Rodney had taken hold of the parts of the machine that resembled handlebars. His body appeared alarmingly limp.
John swallowed the expletive that was right on the tip of his tongue, and closed the small distance between himself and Rodney in one long stride. It didn't take a genius to know the physicist was out cold. As bad as that was, John felt a surge of relief that his friend was only unconscious and not in a far worse physical state.
"John…?" said Elizabeth's curious voice. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," John said. "I'm okay, but Rodney isn't. I'm pretty sure we need a doctor down here. If you can contact Dr. Zelenka on the mainland, tell him Rodney and I would really like to have him here, too."
"Why do you need Dr. Zelenka?" Elizabeth wanted to know.
"Uh…well, you could say we're having technical difficulties," John said. "Really serious technical difficulties."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
When Rodney opened his eyes, he was no longer in the room full of toys. That was his first observation upon waking. His second revelation was that he actually had no idea where he was. He was lying on his back, staring up at a perfectly white ceiling. When he turned his head to the side, he found himself gazing at a pristine white wall.
I can turn my head, was his next realization. He reached up to feel the sides of his face and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't detect anything but his own skin. He touched his forehead, just for good measure. Nothing was sticking to him there, either. He silently thanked whatever cosmic forces might have intervened on his behalf, and sat up.
He started to panic again when he got a full view of his surroundings, or rather, his lack of surroundings. The place was completely white. The floor, ceiling and walls were utterly featureless and devoid of contrast or shadow. There were no visible doors or windows; no avenue of escape.
Rodney could feel his chest beginning to tighten. Claustrophobia was a bad thing; very, very bad. His irrational, uncontrollable fear of being closed in made it difficult for him to breathe and even more difficult to think clearly.
"Wide open spaces…wide open spaces…" he muttered to himself. He needed all his wits about him if he was going to free himself from this place. He couldn't let himself go to pieces. If he did, he might not get out of this alive.
That was when a most terrifying thought occurred to him.
"Oh my God," he whimpered into the white emptiness. "Maybe I'm already dead."
The last thing he could remember was the sensation of an electrical shock going through his entire body.
He'd always believed he'd just disappear into oblivion after he died. Oblivion would've been much better than this, he reflected. He imagined himself slowly going insane in this room. Miserably, he drew his knees up and wrapped his arms around them, huddling in on himself. His fear had suddenly been transformed into a kind of numb shock. He closed his eyes and tried to picture something – anything – besides the stark, bare room. Laptop, power bar, cat, security blanket… That helped, a little.
«Rodney McKay»
The androgynous voice speaking his name startled Rodney out of his attempt at self-consolation. He opened his eyes again and looked around frantically, but of course he saw no one. He couldn't even tell from which direction the voice had come from. It seemed to have been everywhere, even echoing inside his head.
«Rodney McKay» the genderless, resonating voice intoned. «Welcome to The Game»
TBC
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