Chapter 3
Written by Brock Joyner
TIME: third year of the Atlantis expedition, about a week after 'McKay and Mrs. Miller'.
Dr. Elizabeth Wier was sitting in her office, going over various weekly reports, when she happened to look up, and saw Dr. Rodney McKay practically running towards her office, with Dr. Zalenka close behind.
Oh this should be fun, Dr. Wier thought sarcastically to herself.
"Elizabeth, are you busy? No, of course your not." said Rodney as he invited himself into her office, "You're not going to believe this, but I found a solution to all our problems."
Better clear my schedule, Elizabeth thought, it's going to be one of THOSE days.
About half an hour later
Lt. Col. John Sheppard was having a great day. He had gotten up, went on his morning run, hit a bucket of golf balls off the pier, and even the food in the mess hall was good for a change.
John was just traveling to his sparring appointment with Teyla, when the call came in.
"John?" it was Dr. Wier.
John touched his earpiece. "Go ahead, Elizabeth."
I need you in the conference room in fifteen minutes. Rodney's come up with something and I'd like your input."
"Do you need me? I was about to go sparring with Teyla, and I gott tell ya, doc, I really think I gotta shot at her this time."
Dr. Wier tried, but failed, to suppress a laugh, "You can try to beat up Teyla later; right now I need you to help me keep Rodney from doing anything foolish."
With a mock sigh of defeat John replied, "Okay, okay, I'm on my way."
John was walking toward the command area, when he ran into Teyla. He was about to explain why she couldn't throw him around the sparring mat like a rag doll, but she held up her hand and smiled warmly at him.
"It is alright, John. Elizabeth has already informed me of the meeting and has invited me to participate."
"She did, did she?" John replied. While it was not unusual for Telya to attend most meetings, if nothing else, so she could represent Ethosean interests, Dr. Wier didn't usually call Teyla for technical briefings. "Did she happen to tell you what this was all about?" John asked as they began walking together.
"She did not. She only mentioned that Dr. McKay had an idea and that my people may be able to help."
"Okaaay." This is going to get weird, John thought to himself.
In the situation room
"As you all know," McKay began, as he started the briefing, "that due to unforeseen circumstances, we have nearly depleted our zed-p-m. I found a way that we may be able to 'recharge' it. Now, when the Durandan home system exploded, it created a HUGE amount of energy..."
"Which you helped facilitate," John retorted, smiling snidely at Rodney.
"…Yes, yes thank you for reminding everyone. Look, the point is that most of that energy is in subspace. Now because of the experiment we conducted last week-"
"You mean the one where you almost destroyed a parallel universe while trying to recreate the Arcturis project... which is the REASON WHY the Durandan system was destroyed in the first place?" John interrupted again, smiling even more.
"Look, that was NOT my fault! I wasn't the only one working on that project! And it was SUPOSED to connect with an UNINHABITED universe. That was just... bad luck..." Rodney was starting to get flushed, embarrassed and irritated.
John smiled to himself. My work here is done, John thought amusingly, for now.
"Please continue," Dr. Wier said to Rodney, giving John an admonishing look that was only half serious.
"THANK you," said Rodney. "As I was saying, the experiment we were working on last week when the gateway was closed, it set up a type of subspace reversion field - in essence a magnet for subspace energy. So all this energy is coming to these coordinates-" Rodney pointed to a highlighted area on the monitor behind him. It showed a quarter of the planet they were on - called Atlantia for no other reason that Atlantis base was stationed on there, and that the Ancient records left no mention of what THEY called the planet - and a large area of distortion about 200 miles from the planets' surface. "..and should be here in about three weeks or so."
"Will this cause us any problems?" Dr. Wier asked, looking slightly apprehensive.
"No, no, no...well, it shouldn't...it might cause some SLIGHT interference with subspace communications, and the Deadalus probably shouldn't go too near the area while in hyperspace.."
"Will it affect the city's' long-range sensors?" asked John.
"Not when we're done with them, no."
"Wait a minute. What do you mean, 'when we're done with them'?"
"What Rodney means, and the reason I asked for you here," Elizabeth interjected, "is because Rodney's idea-"
"My idea," Rodney interrupted, "is to collect the energy, convert it into a specific energy wave form, and transfer it into the three mostly-depleted zed p m's we have and hopefully cause them to replenish and recharge."
"That sounds great," John stated, "but what does this have to do with the cities long range sensors?"
"Ah, well, in order to get the energy from space, we need a collector. And to convert the energy to a compatible form, we need something that can direct large amounts of energy, while converting it simultaneously. The long range sensor array, after some slight modifying, can do both, and can do it fast."
"So let me get this straight," John said, not looking convinced, "the energy storm, is just that, a storm; and the long range sensor array is the lightning rod, and the zpm room is the flux capacitor. You want to treat our city like a Delorian?"
"Essentially, yes." Rodney responded.
"As I recall, that didn't work out well for the car in the movie." John shot back.
"They made it back home didn't they?" Rodney said defensively.
"I was referring to the whole Back To The Future trilogy!"
"Yes, yes, that's' true, but the long range sensor array is much more advanced than a metal hook sticking out the backside of a car."
John couldn't argue with that, even though he wanted to. Score one for McKay. "Ok, so what happens if you burn out the sensor array, or it interferes with its normal function?"
"We won't have to worry about overloading it," Rodney said quickly, "because the city already has safeguards in place to prevent that. Although… we will have to shut down the array's primary function to properly channel."
"YOU WANNA DO WHAT! Elizabeth, you can't be serious!" John was standing on his feet now, "You want to shut down this city's first line of defense? Without them we'll be blind AND helpless!"
"Oh relax," Rodney said dismissively. "While the array is up and running we can track ships while they are still weeks away, even at maximum speeds. We will have the sensors down for maybe a day or two at most. I mean, think of it- THREE fully operational zed p m's! Think of what we could do! We could even fly the city if we wanted to!"
"And if you screw up in your "calculations" AGAIN, then we could permanently damage our only first warning system!"
John had to admit, silently, that he liked the idea of running Atlantis on full power. No more hunting for zpm's, no more power rationing, and unlimited shields. He finally caved in after debating the subject with both McKay and Elizabeth for another five minutes.
"I still wish we could wait until the Deadalus gets back." John said, dejectedly.
"Yes, but by then the storm will have dissipated. We have a very narrow window. Which is where you come in, Teyla."
Rodney finished outlying his plan. Teyla agreed to speak to her people, but was confident they would agree. The Ethosians would assist a team of techs to run power cables from the sensor arrays' buffer to the zpm room. Dr. Zelinka would ensure the connections were correct on both sides, while Rodney interfaced with the city to recalibrate the sensor array. Teyla and Lt. Col. Sheppard, with the help of Ronan would coordinate ferrying the Ethosions back and forth between the city and the mainland.
Meanwhile, in another part of the Pegasus galaxy..
The Wraith queen was both impressed and repulsed at what her scientists had done to her cruiser. When they had first approached her with the idea, she almost had them sent to storage, to be fed upon later. But one of the scientists had thought quickly and had given the queen the answers she needed. They would use the very technology of the Atlanteans against them. That hated cloaking technology that had taken her and her people by surprise time and time again, and had nearly cost her people the war. She knew that Atlantis still existed. That explosion that her sisters had seen envelope Atlantis over a year ago must have been a deception. And humans, while devious, were not suicidal. So when her scientist brought her a fully functioning stealth field generator from an Atlantian ship damaged during the war, recently recovered from a culled world, and when the scientist described how they may be able to adapt it to work on her cruiser, thus able to sneak up on the Atlantians and confirm their continued existence, maybe even take Atlantis by surprise and secure a way to Earth, she decided to let them live. For now.
The chief scientist stood before his queen, respectfully waiting for her to acknowledge him. The queen made him stand there for a few minutes, better to remind them all just where the power was, before she acknowledged him.
"What is it?" She demanded.
"My queen. We have completed our work. We await your command."
"Good," She purred, "Are the fighters on station?"
"Yes, they are on station outside the field and are eager to report the results."
"Excellent. Begin your test."
"Yes, my queen." The scientist bowed reverently before speaking to his colleague via intercom. "Begin'"
There were a few moments of silence before the comm. chirped again. This time is was the fighter pilot, who felt honored speaking to his queen, "It works."
"You have satisfied me," The queen said to the scientist. She then punched up the comm. to the bridge on her throne, "recall the pilot, and make best speed to Atlantis without being detected. How long will this take?"
"We will arrive in orbit around the planet in three weeks."
Good, the queen thought, three weeks and she could confirm Atlantis still existed, and finally achieve access to Earth, where her and her sisters would have a feast not like anything she had known in over ten thousand years...
Author's note: This first part of this story deals with the show Stargate: Atlantis, and for those unfamiliar with the series, here's some important information, but for more info, please visit Thank you and enjoy!
Atlantis: a city-sized intergalactic spaceship created by a race known as "the ancients". These same ancients are responsible for a stable network of wormholes known as "stargates" in both the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies, and later "ascended" into a higher form of life similar to the Q, or were exterminated by the Wraith, the now dominant lifeform in the Pegasus galaxy.
Z.P.M: Zero Point Module. The ancients' preferred power source for everything from Atlantis to warships. It draws vacuum energy from a contained artificial microverse.
Project Arcturas: (episode: trinity) an attempt by the ancients to collect vacuum energy, similar to a ZPM, from their own universe. The project ended in disaster, resulting in the loss of all life on the Durandan homeworld. Ten thousand years later Dr. Rodney Mckay tried to revive the project, with similar results.
Time setting: the third year of the Atlantis expedition, one week after the episode "Mckay and Mrs. Miller".