Ah, you guys are very convincing- so I kicked bro off the x-box and am updating just for you wonderful, fantastic reviewers.
:)

(10)

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"He said something about the Ancient toys. Though I do not really understand how that would help the situation. He seemed very excited about it, though."

"Ancient toys?" John's voice filtered through the fogginess in my mind. "I haven't heard of any toys being here."

"Ah, I found them this morning. It's really quite interesting -- "

I decided to interrupt him there; I didn't need to hear the whole story again. "Da' toys…" My tongue wasn't working properly though. I cleared my throat then continued haltingly, "Those toys may…be… able to save Atlantis."

I opened an eye and the other lazily followed suit. I was still feeling confused--not quite sure where I was at the moment-- and I'm sure my eyes were rather glassy looking.

John and Radek were staring down at me.

"What happened--" I started, before it all came rushing back. Carson, the needle -- "Where's Beckett?" I growled, sitting up and realizing I was still on the balcony in the 'gate room.

John put a calming hand on my shoulder, "He's not here. Besides, you need to focus on the Atlantis-sinking-to-the-bottom-of-the-ocean problem."

"No, I need to focus on the crazy doctor who goes around sticking people with needles!" I snapped, adding as an afterthought, "Problem."

Sheppard and Zelenka shared a look, before John said, "You needed… a break."

My eyebrows knit together in confusion, "What?" I looked around, seeing people walking about and going on with business as usual. "In the middle of the control room?" I demanded, then slowly started to stand. "How long?"

"Only eh, twenty minutes." Sheppard answered after glancing at his watch, standing up with me. "Now, what was your plan with the… Ancient toys, are they?"

"No no." I wagged a finger at him, almost losing my balance and grabbing Radek's arm for support. "Don't try and change the subject. I want to know why I was drugged and I want to know now!" To say I was pissed would be an understatement. "Friends don't drug friends! It's like… I don't know-- an unspoken rule!"

John clasped his hands together in the prayer position, pointing them towards me, "I will be glad to answer all of your questions, after you fix Atlantis."

"No! I don't get this!" I cried, head reeling from the strange behavior of my teammates, "Beckett drugged me for no reason, and you just… want me to ignore it!" I released Zelenka's arm, able to support myself now. Shaking my head I repeated in a disbelieving tone, "I don't get this. I really don't understand."

Sheppard seemed at a loss for words. And he stayed that way; until I started for the transporter, that is.

"Where are you going!" he called, impatience creeping into his voice. "We need you here!"

"Fuck that!" I yelled back, "I'm going to talk to Beckett!" Adding more quietly to myself, "Find out what the hell is going on here."

He darted forward - too fast for me to do anything, grabbing my arm and spinning me around to face him.

"Let go!" I ordered furiously, trying to pull away from his grasp. "Something's happening here and Beckett -- "

"You're right," he interrupted, still holding me there. "Something is happening. Atlantis is preparing to sink! And you need to stop it, and I know you can, if you'd just focus a little here!"

His words flew by me unregistered. I had time to speak to Beckett, I tried to reassure myself desperately. Atlantis could wait a little longer. I needed to see Beckett. I needed to feel that I was in control of something! "You can't make me do anything. Not military." I reminded him defiantly, struggling in his surprisingly strong grip.

"Again, you're right." he stated simply, "I can't."

I glared at him, anger practically radiating from me. "Let. Me. Go."

He glared right back, his jaw flexing convulsively.

After a few tense seconds, he slowly released me.

"Well, that'll bruise." I rubbed the sore spot on my arm with a small pout. I looked up to meet John's eyes, promising, "I'll be back, I just have to talk to Beckett - "

There was a deep rumbling sound from all around us.

"What the-- Now what is it?" I demanded exasperatedly, practically throwing up my hands in frustration. What else would I have to deal with today?

"It's Atlantis!" Zelenka said, still standing by the computers as he gazed around the room, as if looking for the source. "I believe this will start to become much more frequent!"

Without warning, the floor shifted violently beneath us, throwing Sheppard forward- effectively tackling me to the ground.

"Ouch. Jeez Major!" I complained as John rolled off me once the rumbling had stopped. "Aren't you military types supposed to have a sense of balance?"

He grunted noncommittally, already back up to his feet.

"I was wrong about having two days!" Peter called from across the balcony, typing madly on his computers, "Atlantis has sped the 'preparing to submerge' process! More likely we have about twelve hours!"

It was like a slap to the face.

We had to figure this out, and we had to figure it out now.

"Radek, the Ancient toys --" I said rapidly, instantly jumping back into business and taking Sheppard's offered hand and regaining my footing, "I think I can change their programs to allow them to become, in effect, mobile grounding stations. Like during the storm with the Genii."

"Mobile grounding stations." Zelenka repeated, pushing up his glasses, "That is a contradiction."

I sneered, "Did you miss the 'in effect' part? Look, if I get started now I might, and I stress might, be able to get a new program written in up in time." My head was starting to pound just thinking about it, but at least I felt some of that precious control I needed coming back to me. Maybe I could fix this. "I need you and a team to go down to the room with the toys -- y'know, we really need to give that place a name -- 'room with toys' just isn't gonna' cut it -- "

"Focus." John urged softly.

I ran a hand across my mouth, feeling uncharacteristically drained, "Right. Um, go to the room with the toys and just-- just wipe their already-installed programs."

"All of them?" Zelenka said sadly. "We can't save some for -- "

I rolled my eyes, "I already have their original program saved on my hard drive, if any of them survive, we'll be able to download it back in, all right?"

"Survive?" Sheppard cut-in, sounding puzzled now. "Survive what?"

"Haven't you been listening?" I asked, feeling what precious little time we had left slipping away, "Mobile grounding stations." I pointed towards the environmental map for Sheppard's sake, "We're going to send the toys out to the electrical storm to harness the power we need to keep Atlantis from sinking. Maybe even save enough to last a couple more months."

He lifted an eyebrow, but I could see that he was beginning to understand. "Do you really think they'll be able to handle that? I mean, are they sturdy enough to be zapped by that much power?"

I shook my head, the odds were against us, but… I bit my lower lip, "I really don't know. I'm hesitantly hopeful. Atlantean technology is very durable, and… I'm thinking it'll work." I ran a nervous hand over the side of my neck, suddenly feeling a band-aid.

Oh yeah, Beckett and that damn syringe. I was going to have to talk to him later.

After I saved Atlantis, of course.

I looked up at Zelenka, who just stared back at me. "I'm wondering," I said, "what are you still doing here? Go!"

He flinched, then sounding flustered said, "Right." He walked briskly towards the transporter, already contacting other scientists on his radio as he headed off.

"Where's Elizabeth?" I asked John abruptly, looking around the control room and realizing she was nowhere to be found, which was, to say the least, very strange. "Shouldn't she be here?"

He twiddled his fingers, and from his whole sudden change of demeanor, I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd started toeing the floor, not unlike a child who'd just got caught trying to steal a cookie before dinner. "Ah, she had important business to take care of."

I stared. "More important then Atlantis sinking to the bottom of the ocean?" I finally managed in disbelief.

John began to open his mouth to reply, but I help up a hand, stopping him. "Y'know what? Never mind. You keep giving me these cryptic, half-assed answers to everything I say, and I just don't have time for that. So, forget it. I'm going to go to my lab now. I have to save Atlantis." Turning on my heel, I called over my shoulder sarcastically, "Oh, and when you see her, you should probably fill her in on the plan." and not waiting for an answer, I stepped into the transporter, pressing on the area located closest to my lab.

"Will do." John said, just before the doors slid shut.

---

---

It was more difficult then I had anticipated.

Not only did I have to rewrite their entire programs to fit our needs, but during a particularly difficult alteration - I realized the toys would not be able to fly out to the electrical storm by themselves as I'd originally hoped.

They just weren't made for that kind of use. They were made for hovering.

Someone was going to have to actually fly them out to the storm in a Puddle Jumper. "Major," I called Sheppard up on the radio to let him know the good news, still typing away on the laptop in my lab, "we have a problem."

After a moment of silence, John answered in a tired voice, "Don't tell me that McKay. Don't."

Atlantis interrupted our conversation, rumbling ominously again.

"Someone's going to have to fly the toys out to the storm." I told him once it finished. "These guys only hover. No flying."

"That's not good." he said.

"I know. Recall how I said it was a problem?"

He sighed, "The Puddle Jumper's shield wouldn't be able to withstand getting hit by lightning, right?"

"That's the problem. It might be able to get hit eh, five times at most, but then the shield generators would overload." I typed in some more codes, saying dispassionately, "Inevitably frying the person inside."

"Right." he said resignedly. "There's no way you can like, make the Jumper into a… a…" he paused, searching for some word.

"Yes?" I urged impatiently. I had a raging headache, a growling stomach, a life-or- death situation, and I wasn't in the mood for stupidity.

"Conduit!" he cried happily when he found the word, making me jump. "Into a conduit, y'know? Like, make all the energy flow through it or -- "

"Shut up for a second." I snapped, pushing back from my laptop and pondering aloud. "Okay, okay, so, we turn the Jumper into a conduit… channeling energy, but not killing us, we'd have to… we'd have to…uh, well," I stopped, tilting my head, "that might work."

"Can I talk now?" Sheppard asked cautiously.

I pounced back on my laptop, opening a new program to see how ridiculous or brilliant my idea was in real life. "Rather you didn't."

He managed to stay silent for about three minutes as I typed madly into my computer. Then, "McKay -- "

"We need a metal net." I interrupted briskly, sitting back and looking at my new work. "And a huge antennae."

"Net and a big-ass antenna, coming up." he said jauntily, obviously happy to just have something to do.

I couldn't help the grin his words elicited. "Big-ass net too, Major. It needs to be able to hold all the toys."

"I'll get Kavanagh and his group started on it. Sheppard out."

I nodded, though he couldn't see me. I clicked my radio's earpiece again to open a new channel, "Zelenka, how's the program-wipe coming?"

"We are nearly complete." he answered promptly, and I could hear frantic typing in the background, "What about your new program?"

I opened the altered-toy program again, scrolling to the place where I'd last stopped. "Nearly finished. Look, after you're done, find Major Sheppard and help him attach whatever antennae he's found to the Jumper with the shield."

"Antennae?" he inquired curiously, "When did we need an antennae?"

I sighed, feeling a real desire to just lay my head down on the work table and go to sleep. "No time. Just do it."

He must of heard my weariness, because he didn't argue. "Understood."

The radio clicked off, and after allowing myself a moment or two rubbing the side of my pounding head, I started back into work.

Atlantis rumbled again.

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tbc