DOOM!
A/N: My Julie has gone to a spa! A SPA! I do not understand the term, and so I have researched the definition. I find that it may be a mineral springs, a luxurious resort hotel, a resort where a person may exercise, swim, or otherwise condition the body, a whirlpool hot tub, a soda fountain or Systems Planning and Analysis. None of these sound correct. Honestly, Julie is not the type to enjoy exercising or 'conditioning'. She has never enjoyed planning and analysis. As for the whirlpool hot tub, I could have easily created one behind the barn in the old water tower (that fell over during the last storm). I could put 'minerals' in the water. I have quartz, feldspar, asphalt and plenty of calcite. Will any of those do? I am confused. What could I possibly do to draw my Julie back to me?
Only your reviews give me hope!
CHAPTER TEN: THE CONFERENCE ROOM
They straggled in, three of them wet and cold, two in need of an infirmary visit, and everyone miserable. But, an emergency meeting had been called and there was no time for everyone to run to their rooms. Elizabeth knew from experience that allowing everyone to visit their quarters could cause rather lengthy delays, especially when restyling hair was involved. The group had moved immediately from the jumper bay to the conference room.
Weir was the last to reach the room, limping from her collision with the floor after being toppled by a wave of seawater and a sliding Athosian. She'd landed hard on one hip and a bruise was already forming there. Terrific—just what she needed—another pain in the butt.
She'd managed to pull on a sweatshirt that she kept stashed in her office, but it didn't help much when her clothing was otherwise soaked and cold. The chafing—she dreaded the horrible chafing that was sure to follow.
She walked in, shooting an anxious look at the doors before they levered shut, and hating herself for the uncertainty. After what had happened with her office, she had the unsettling suspicion that all the doors in the city were out to get her.
Beckett smiled warmly at her, in spite of his own aches and pains—she'd heard all about his unfortunate experience in the infirmary. "We have Zelenka in surgery for his leg," he told her quickly, answering her question before it was asked. "Dr. Keller is seeing to him, as I was expected here and my head isn't exactly right yet. He's in the best of hands."
"Thank you, Carson," Weir responded. "How is he?"
With a sorry shake of his head, the doctor told her, "I have no worries about his leg, but as for his head—I can't say anything yet. He was awake before we brought him in and that's very good news." He tapped his headset and stated, "She'll tell me as soon as she knows more."
Elizabeth nodded and took the empty seat beside Beckett. On her other side, two of McKay's people leaned in toward each other, whispering warily. She wondered why they were present at the moment, but neither looked as if they meant to stay. Dr. Van Steenvoort had a 'ready to bolt' look about him, but the other, Dr. Nguyen, seemed intrigued and happy to be exactly where he was.
Across from them, one wet and one very bedraggled, Sheppard and Ronon slumped in their seats. They both sported an unhealthy pallor from their run in with the botanists' run-off yesterday, and both looked as if they were still attempting to shake off the hangover. Sheppard's hand massaged his forehead—Elizabeth could only imagine the headache he must be sporting. Ronon's hair hung as if someone had drugged Medusa's snakes. The dreadlocks coiled unhappily about his neck, and the Satedan looked out from under them with narrowed eyes. He clutched a large bottle of purple Gatorade, lifting it to lips from time to time to down another mammoth mouthful. He huddled over the bottle, looking wretched and ready for a nap.
Teyla looked a little more bruised and a lot more 'drowned'. She'd been intelligent enough to put on an offered robe and was tugging it tightly to her small frame. She shivered slightly. Her eyes remained downcast on the table. A box of tissues sat beside her. She sniffled and occasionally coughed into one.
The three of them, sitting side by side, would have been the most pathetic creatures that had ever met her eyes, if Rodney hadn't been putting up such a fuss.
The bruise around his eye looked horrible. The time upside-down had worsened the swelling—though he could still see. He was making pain-filled little mewling sounds as he tapped away at his keyboard, muttering and moaning as he worked. But at least he wasn't wet.
A triangular bandage had been clumsily tied at the back of his neck, but it hung limply and unused at his chest. Elizabeth could see his reddened wrists every time he moved, and she figured his ankles were no better. He moaned again as he shifted in his seat.
Beckett sighed, and turned toward his ornery patient. "Your shoulder would feel better if you let me fix the sling, Rodney," he said with a tired sigh. "Honestly, I don't know who tied it for you. They managed it completely backward. Anyone would know that the point goes toward the elbow."
Rodney kept working, seemingly oblivious to Beckett's comments.
Sheppard pulled a tissue from Teyla's consignment, balled it up, and flung it, hitting McKay in the side of the head. McKay flinched, made a face and kept working. Ronon watched, a flicker of a smile showing from beneath his curtain of dreads.
"Well," Weir stated, ready to get going. "We have a problem. And because of that, I've asked…." Her eyes scanned the room, as if looking for someone, then frowned. "Wait, she's not here. Has anyone seen—"
"Hey!" McKay finally looked up when Ronon and Sheppard managed to bean him simultaneously with wadded tissues. "Quit it!" he shouted, moving his hurt arm to protect his head, hissing as he rotated the shoulder.
"That's it!" Beckett declared as he stood and rounded the table. "You're going to stop moving that arm if you want the swelling in your shoulder to reduce. You're not doing yourself any favors by—"
"I'm fine!" The fear on the scientist's face was brief, as annoyance took over and he glared at the approaching physician. "Just…just…" Rodney shook his head. "You know and I know that I don't have time for that, Carson," he snapped. "I need my arms right now. Soon as I have a day without a disaster hanging over our heads, I'll take some time off and relax, okay? So, just back off and let me work."
Rodney nodded to the minions who were waiting with as much patience as they could muster. "Soon as I'm done with this, I can send these two off to check on a couple things, and we can finally get to the bottom of this."
With a grimace, Beckett muttered, "Fine, fine… do as you like."
Elizabeth cleared her throat, trying to not let them get the better of her. "As I was saying before I was interrupted, has anyone see Doc—"
"Is anyone else cold?" McKay looked up, then to Beckett. "I mean, seriously, it's cold. And damp. Why does it feel so damp in…" He looked at the still sodden Teyla, who was glaring as well as she could with a tissue pressed to her nose. He gave a weak smile. "Oh."
Elizabeth sat forward in her chair and covered her face with her hands.
Beckett had returned to his chair and, glancing toward the other drowned rats in the room, he gave a nod. "It might help if we raise the temperature in the room a wee bit," he suggested, as he fished another bottle of Gatorade from his bag and settled it in front of Dex – blue this time (the sports drink, not the Satedan). He paused to take the Ronon's pulse, and the big man allowed it, either trusting Beckett– or simply too beat to put up a fight. "And if we can get a little warm air circulating, it might help dry everyone out a little."
Weir straightened in her seat and gave him a small smile. At almost the same instant, a warm breeze blew past her as Beckett or Sheppard mentally adjusted the controls in the room. Obviously, McKay was too busy to bother. She believed that at least one of Rodney's scientists had the gene as well, perhaps both of them.
"Ah," Beckett said pleasantly, feeling the change as well, "That'll make things more pleasant."
Sheppard and Ronon made disagreeing sounds. Teyla sniffled. Rodney tapped and groused.
Dr. Van Steenvoort was looking unhappily toward his boss, his own laptop open in front of him. Dr. Nguyen kept chancing glances toward Teyla and smoothing his uniform.
Elizabeth stood up again. "Now that's settled," she said. "Rodney, are you ready?"
"Hold on just one more second," McKay said, raising his left hand at her, then wincing. And then his hands raised away from the keyboard. He winced again as he moved the arm gingerly. "There!" he finally proclaimed. "Just need to download the data." He pulled a thumb-drive from his laptop and slid it across to Van Steenvoort. "You know that to do with that, Dutchy?"
"Jaap," Van Steenvoort corrected, sullenly.
"What?" McKay returned.
"It's my name… Jaap."
"No one calls you Dutchy?"
"No," Jaap returned, fitting the jumpdrive into his computer.
"How about Dutch?"
"No."
"I've been calling you Dutch."
"I know. Please stop."
"Huh," McKay thoughtfully intoned. "Funny, I would have thought someone would have called you Dutchy. I always wanted to call someone Dutchy, or Dutch."
"It's Jaap," the man who wasn't known as Dutchy or Dutch repeated firmly.
"Fine… whatever." Rodney wavered his good hand at them. "Take care of it," he told them. When they seemed to hesitate, he frowned and pointed with his right hand to the door. "What are you waiting for? Go!" The order sent Jaap Van Steenvoort and Lawrence Nguyen scurrying. The doors pivoted open, and the two rushed out as a woman stepped into the room. The doors shuttered behind her.
Elizabeth sighed in relief. About time!
"I apologize," Dr. Heightmeyer said hurriedly as she rushed in to take the seat that Van Steenvoort had just vacated. "I had a…" and she paused as she took in the appearance of the others around the table. She leaned back and spoke to Beckett in a stage whisper, "Should any of these people actually be here in this condition?"
"No, lass," Beckett admitted. "They should all be in bed."
Elizabeth gave a small smile. "Thank you for coming, Doctor." She looked at Rodney again. "Now, Rodney, I assume you are finally ready?"
"Of course," he huffed, as if he'd been that way for hours. Elizabeth didn't miss Teyla rolling her eyes off to the side.
Sheppard, who'd taken to kneading his forehead, glanced toward the physicist. "You mean you've figured out what's causing this?"
Peeved, McKay responded, "I already know what's causing this." He looked toward Elizabeth.
"Yes," she responded, catching what he was implying. "It appears that a saboteur has compromised our systems."
Rodney shook his head slowly, chuckling softly, "Oh, but it's much more insidious than I thought. This is no mere saboteur. Let me show you something." Rodney hit a couple of keys on his laptop, and the main display screen in the room lit up. "Watch this, children."
A media player popped up, displaying the very familiar water ballet from the jumper wash. The Canadian was the only one who didn't laugh when the clip caught a beautiful moment as the jet of water kicked a scrabbling McKay from a ledge.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," he muttered. "Who's next?" And he pulled up another clip. It was a scene from the control room that had managed to catch the instant Elizabeth ran face-first into a door that shouldn't have existed. The incredible BANG and her look of shock were memorialized forever.
Weir winced in memory, and McKay, thankfully, changed the clip before she suffered any further. The next shot displayed the cafeteria with Zelenka fighting off erupting saucepans of spaghetti sauce, while blenders and mixers vomited various viscous liquids onto a half-dozen underlings and the dishwasher spat annoyed suds into the air.
The next clip showed the gym – with Ronon, Sheppard and Teyla acting like paranoid freaks. It was impossible to miss their wide-eyed strangeness, and in the clip, Ronon took off in a sprint while an agitated Sheppard shifted about and pulled on Chaplin's robe. The clip showed Teyla huddled behind Nguyen, practically glued to the tall scientist. The Athosian looked away and drew her own robe closer.
Next, the image switched to the chair room, where Sheppard leaped at Zelenka, causing a chain reaction and a pig pile of Marines.
With a grimace, Sheppard grumbled, "Yeah? So?"
"Moving on," McKay stated, and the next scene was the infirmary, focusing on Beckett getting zapped by one of his doo-dads, drawing back and reaching for it again only to get a repeat zap.
Ronon snorted a chuckle.
"Next one…" Beckett grumbled.
"Yeah, yeah," McKay responded. "Here's the latest one. Fresh from the surveillance system."
They all sat forward, watching the activity that had unfolded only moments before – filmed from above; Zelenka shouted and started to fall; McKay made his long-shot grab, and almost followed the Czech into the pit beneath them. Then both of them were left to dangle with nothing but a hobbit to anchor them.
Elizabeth drew in a breath, seeing the drop for the first time from this angle, seeing how close Rodney and Radek had come to going over.
Rodney stopped the media player. Freezing the video so that the scene showed a downward shot, catching Zelenka's terrified expression.
"Hey," Sheppard complained. "I was watching that."
"You can watch the whole thing later. You can see all your heroics over and over again if you want," McKay sniped. "We don't have the time right now."
Elizabeth's face softened slightly as she focused on the image, two men dangling over the edge, Rodney hanging onto Zelenka for all he was worth, while above him some faceless form with curly hair kept McKay from falling. She winced as she recalled how the weight had pulled Rodney's shoulder out of its socket. That must have hurt like hell. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Huh?" Rodney replied, looking confused by the question.
She shook her head slightly. "After what happened, are you okay?" Next to her, Beckett crossed his arms over his chest and waited for the response as well.
Rodney blinked for a moment, and Weir wondered what he was thinking about. After clearing his throat and running a hand through his hair, he muttered, "Aside from the shoulder, the eye, almost being drowned again and some serious rug burn on my wrists and ankles?" His tone softened. "Strange as it seems, my back hasn't felt so good in ages." He reached his good hand over his shoulder and looked speculative as if testing to be sure. "Carson, you should set up something like that in the infirmary."
Carson muttered something under his breath in thick accent.
Elizabeth folded her hands before her, sorry that she'd asked. "Okay, Rodney, what was that supposed to tell us?"
"You tell me." He poked an angry finger at the laptop's display. "Don't you think what you saw was funny?"
Sheppard gave him an odd look and then looked at the image again – Zelenka getting damned close to falling and breaking his neck – and taking McKay with him. "The other incidents… yes. This one, not so much."
"Exactly! Yes! The others. Hilarious, right?" McKay went on. "Well, except for when we lost the majority of our food. That was a travesty."
With a slow exhale, Elizabeth admitted, "Yes, I have to admit." She lifted a hand toward the screen. "Viewed from a distance, these incidents seem relatively benign."
"And funny," McKay added.
Ronon shrugged. "I don't know about 'funny'."
"Irritating, uncomfortable, bewildering, aggravating," McKay went on. "But nothing seemed designed to truly hurt anyone—at least, not intentionally. Sure, I fell into the flooded room. It might have been a lovely "It's a Wonderful Life" moment, but then Mr. 'Never Look Before you Leap' landed on my head."
"Hey," Sheppard snapped.
"Elizabeth wasn't expecting the door. That's why she ran into it. Dr. Chaplin wouldn't have nearly been electrocuted in the mess hall kitchen if she hadn't pulled the microwaves out of the wall. And we lost the food, but we have enough MREs and canned goods to eke by if we can drum up a few fresh things from our trading partners, right? And who would have suspected that a wigged out Sheppard would head right for the chair and attack anything that moved?"
"Wigged out?" Sheppard echoed.
"Stoned, tanked, pickled." McKay responded, waving his good hand at him. "Snookered, three sheets to the wind, wrecked."
"I think I take offense," Sheppard grumbled.
"Ronon and Teyla came to no harm in that one, right? Night on the pier? That's pretty normal for someone like you when you're hammered. Right, Ronon?"
Dex grunted.
"And Teyla," he moved the hand toward Miss Emmagan and a nonplussed look came over him. "You, I have no idea why you'd act like that when you're trashed. I mean, who would have thought you'd crawl all over Larry? But, you know, that's fine. We've had regular checkups and we're all adults, right?"
Teyla glanced toward the door where Dr. Nguyen had just exited, and then slowly looked away, her face a deep red color. Her voice was unusually low as she stated, "I was not myself." She snuffled into a tissue.
"Fine, fine, whatever," McKay went on. "And Beckett? Shocking, but suffered no permanent effect." He turned toward the good doctor. "Anyone with any sense whatsoever would have stopped touching the damn things after the first or second zap, right?"
Carson clenched and unclenched a hand speculatively, but didn't say anything.
"Even this," McKay fluttered his good hand towards the screen. "Zelenka triggered the doors himself while he was standing on top of them, not having seen that the virus had, in essence, turned the room upside down. If he hadn't been standing there…"
"He would have just been made to look like a fool," Heightmeyer supplied quietly.
Rodney nodded at her. "And who knew that Teyla would randomly start poking buttons in the transporter when they were going haywire? I mean, what are the chances of hitting one of the transporters that was in a flooded part of the city."
Teyla grumbled and narrowed her eyes at him.
"So, up until this point," McKay paused – dramatically, "It's all been fun and games. But there's also always been an aim to this mayhem, a purpose."
"Humiliation," Heightmeyer piped in with an air of authority. "The incidents you described were meant to humiliate."
Sheppard grimaced, annoyed as hell. "So, we have someone who wants to make us look like idiots?" He glanced toward McKay's laptop, seeing the frozen image of Zelenka's terror-filled face. "And it's all been filmed."
McKay snapped his finger and pointed at Sheppard. "Exactly! And not just what you'd expect from a surveillance film. It's as if the camera is always perfectly set up to capture exactly what is wanted."
"So someone is deliberately creating these incidents," Sheppard surmised, "just so he can have a few laughs?"
"Yes," McKay responded. "I started Nguyen and Dutch researching the surveillance systems this morning, and they've definitely been tampered with. They think they've found even more incidents—but no one alerted me to the earlier ones because they had been so small. I think they might have been trial runs. The event in the jumper bay washroom was the first 'big' event, so to speak."
Sheppard leaned forward on the table, and with a little grin, asked, "Was there one showing when Major Lorne was run over by a tool cart in the jumper bay?"
McKay mumbled, "Haven't been able to dig that one up yet." And he smiled slightly. "But we're still looking. It could be unrelated. You know, an accident. How is the major, by the way?" McKay asked, turning to Beckett.
The doctor blew out a breath. "Unfortunately, after he came around following his most recent mishap…" Beckett paused to run a hand over his bruised head, "…he had a bit of a reaction to a beverage."
"A beverage?" Sheppard echoed him.
Beckett shrugged and looked unhappy. "We had no knowledge that he was allergic to prunes. He's going to be down and out for a while yet, poor lad."
Elizabeth frowned, realizing that the conversation was once again getting away from them. "But opening the floor of the jumper bay isn't in the same league as the other incidents," she cut in. "People could have died. Radek was seriously injured. And it's a miracle that no one was seriously hurt with the transporter malfunctions."
"The incidents are getting more dangerous because whoever is doing this is escalating their attacks," Heightmeyer said, her eyes looking up at the video screen. "The intensity level is rising."
McKay had been about to say something to Elizabeth, but, instead, he turned an approving eye to Heightmeyer. "Yeah." She gave a nod, showing she was on the same page as him.
"You called them 'attacks,'" Sheppard repeated. "So it is a saboteur."
"No," Kate spoke before Rodney did, shaking her head. "Dr. McKay is correct. This is not a saboteur. It's a hacker."
"Yes," Rodney agreed, snapping his finger and pointing at Kate, "Exactly."
"Um, Exc--CHOO!" The loud sneeze filled the room, turning all eyes to Teyla. She sniffled, and looked up. "Sorry." She wiped her nose and tried again. "Can you tell me," her brow furrowed, "what a 'hacker' is? I do not know that term."
"Me either," Ronon said.
"Ah," Rodney responded, his lip curling a little, "a hacker is someone who gets off on breaking into computer systems and taking them over." He shook his head. "It's juvenile."
"It's more than that," Kate said. "It's about power. The hacker wants to prove his or her superiority by taking command of what others have created. They do not wish to destroy, as a saboteur might, but to control."
"And that's what this person is doing?" Teyla asked, wiping her nose on the wad of tissues in her hand and looking at Kate. "Trying to show their superiority?"
The psychiatrist nodded. "Precisely. That is the reason for the surveillance feed, for the humiliation." She looked to Elizabeth. "You," she looked around the rest of the room, "All of you, were the intended victims. This person wanted to control the systems in order to make you all look like fools. Particularly," she looked to Rodney, "You, Dr. McKay. And probably Dr. Zelenka."
McKay's face pinched slightly, but he didn't respond openly. He didn't need to.
"Tell me," Kate said then, still looking at Rodney. "How good are the hacks?"
"Oh, um," McKay twisted his lips. "Well, I'd be lying if I didn't admit this hacker is clever. Very clever. Some of the hacks are…" a glow of a smile crossed the scientists face, as if he were filled with admiration, "… really quite intricate and show a remarkable understanding of the systems, tremendous aptitude. Of course, there hasn't been anything that I couldn't figure them out and fix relatively quickly."
Heightmeyer frowned. "Yes, clearly. Which is making it worse," she stated.
Rodney's eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me? I'm making it worse, because I fix things when someone throws a monkey wrench in the works?" McKay frowned. "What am I supposed to do? Leave people locked in their rooms?" He waved at Elizabeth. "Or just leave the floor to the jumper bay wide open? People could have died in some of these scenarios."
"The hacker hacks, and feels quite clever. The work is extraordinary," Heightmeyer went on, steepling her hands in front of herself. "And then you come in and undo everything."
"Hang on," Sheppard said, sticking a finger in the air, then wagging it at McKay. "Not everything. He didn't fix the wash."
"Yes, I did," Rodney defended, crossing his arms. "I shut it down."
Sheppard's brow furrowed, "What are you talking about? The floor opened up!"
"Because I'd ended the cycle. It was supposed to go on for an hour, and the water was supposed to flood the room." Rodney's brow was equally furrowed, glaring back at the colonel.
"Oh," Sheppard looked down.
"He opened the door to my office," Elizabeth nodded, obviously thinking Kate's statement through, "in, what, five minutes?" At Rodney's nod, she continued, "And shut down the power to the mess hall kitchens in about the same. And once you knew about the water poisoning problem…" She trailed off, her eyebrows raised.
"That took longer, because that system is more complicated," Rodney admitted. "Maybe ten or fifteen minutes."
"What about the power to the Subcity, and what happened in the jumper bay?" Sheppard asked.
"Oh, that's unfair," Rodney huffed. "I was hanging upside down!"
"Actually," Elizabeth noted, "if you count the time you worked on it in the control room, and the time you spent on it in the jumper bay…" Her eyes narrowed. "I don't think you were on it for more than twenty minutes total before it was fixed." McKay gave a small shrug, and winced as it obviously hurt his shoulder.
"So, all in all, all of your fixes have been very fast," Kate said. "It probably took the hacker weeks to set up each event, and you undo it in minutes." Her brow furrowed, looking past Rodney to the screen showing the jumper bay. "And I would think that would be very frustrating."
"Frustrating?" McKay cried, his voice going high. "Frustrating for who? I don't see him dangling from a height!"
"Imagine," Heightmeyer said, leaning forward in her seat and speaking with a quiet intensity, "That you were trying to accomplish some task, yet were thwarted at every turn. His 'hacks' are quite exceptional, wouldn't you say?" the psychologist persisted.
"Exceptional? Well, I don't know about that," McKay told her. "I mean, there's exceptional… and then there's…" he stopped, one hand pressed to his chest.
A slight twitch of her lips showed Kate holding back a smile, but she was frowning again when she continued. "Regardless," she pressed, "regaining control of the systems as quickly as you did has clearly fueled this person's need to prove himself in bigger ways. Hence his attacking more complicated systems. He has moved from the security systems—the doors, to the power grid, to the water system, to the transporters, to—"
"Wait." Ronon cut him off with a sharp question, "Do you hear that?"
Everyone paused, listening. The only sound was the continued rush of air. Weir frowned, wondering what Dex had heard. McKay looked particularly perturbed at the interruption. And then, Weir realized what had happened. The sound of the air had changed. Warm air was no longer flowing over her shoulder – the breeze seemed to have reversed direction.
It seemed almost as if the air was rushing from the room instead of into it.
Sheppard was suddenly on his feet. "What the hell?" he shouted, holding a hand to the vent. "McKay! We're losing air!"
With a grumble and groan, the scientist hobbled to his feet. "Just open the doors. I'll get this fixed," he declared.
Kate jumped to her feet and waved her hand over the sensor. The doors remained shut. She tried again without luck. "It's not opening," she said.
"What do you mean?" McKay asked angrily, but then his expression grew grim as he watched her try the doors again. "We're screwed," he muttered. He moved toward a control panel and had his laptop wired in almost immediately.
Ronon moved in beside Heightmeyer, and tried the sensor, too, getting the same result. He responded by drawing back and ramming a shoulder into a crack between the doors. The levering wall rattled, but didn't move.
"Is any oxygen coming in through the doors?" McKay squeaked as he tapped into the system.
Ronon held his hand in front of one of the long cracks that separated the doors. "Doesn't seem like it."
Sheppard put a hand to another vent. "It's all rushing out, McKay," he stated sharply. "Goddamn it! Get those doors open, McKay!"
"Working on it! Working on it!" McKay declared. "This sucks. Oh God, this sucks… literally sucks."
"We have to stop the oxygen from leaving. Block the vents!" Sheppard ordered.
The room was full of activity – Ronon went back to slamming his shoulder into the doors, trying to tip them open. McKay typed away as if their lives depended on it. Beckett called into his radio, calling for medical, mechanics, the control room, anyone who would listen.
Sheppard, Teyla and Weir wheezed and stumbled as they shoved everything they could against the visible vents – letting the suction work for them as robes, towels, a tissue box, a medical bag were all shoved into place.
"It's working!" Elizabeth declared, jamming her sweatshirt over another vent – it vacuumed into place.
"Thank God," Heightmeyer cried as she stood near the door sensor, still trying to get it to function with a frantic waving of hands.
Weir smiled slightly at their success as she gasped. Her lungs hurt and her head started to buzz as they moved quickly, discovering any other hole where the air might escape. Bending down to check for another opening, she almost fell over, and was only able to save herself by grasping hold of the table at the last minute.
"This is not good," McKay muttered from where he leaned into a corner. "This is SO not good!"
"We did it …" Sheppard panted out as he shoved McKay's worthless sling in front of the life-sucking vent. "Did it. We're going to be… we're going to be… fine."
And they allowed themselves a little congratulatory smile. But the damage was already done. The removal of air might have been stopped, but they were seven people in a small, sealed room that had been mostly emptied of oxygen.
"So screwed," McKay whispered as he huffed and typed.
Elizabeth glanced at Kate, who was looking even paler than usual. "I guess we can add the air systems to the hacker's list," she said quietly. Rodney glanced up, his blue eyes looking stark and hopeless, then his jaw set furiously and he went back to typing.
Sheppard's hands were on his knees. His mouth opened as he fought to breathe. Teyla wavered, leaning against the wall to remain standing. Beckett looked lost, as if it ate at his very soul that he could do nothing for any of them.
Heightmeyer, near the door, hadn't moved. She just watched Ronon, as the big man kept pummeling himself against the doors – trying over and over again to move them.
Weir's head pounded. "Rodney," she hissed. "Can you…?"
Rodney shook his head once as if to say "don't bother me." His gaze never left the screen as he continued his one-handed typing – obviously not giving up the fight.
Outside, they could hear a clatter and clamor. Someone, some people, were battering from the outside. She could only make out muffled shouts, voices calling to them, trying to assure them. People buzzed over the radio, asking for status, trying to offer advice – all of it worthless.
"Yes! I tried that already," McKay snapped to what sounded like the British scientist, Dr. Chaplin's suggestion.
Weir leaned on the table, feeling dizzier by the moment.
Teyla tottered, and tried to catch herself on the table. Her arms clattered loudly on the surface as she slipped. Beckett lunged, catching her, but ended up going down with her. They gaped like fish.
Sheppard, made a step toward them, and collapsed, straining to breathe.
Ronon slammed himself into the door one more time and crumpled, sliding down the door to form a little pool of Dex at the sill.
Elizabeth moved, her whole world going fuzzy as she knelt beside Ronon, fighting to keep from collapsing on top of him. The big Satedan's chest jerked as he continued to fight.
She panted, desperate for air. Heightmeyer was suddenly beside her, and without a word, they rolled Ronon, to keep him clear of the door, and outside someone continued to pound, to pry, to attempt to pulverize the doors.
The two women looked across at each other. Weir could see the doctor's lips turning blue and her whole body was wracked with the effort of trying to breath what little oxygen was left.
Weir didn't want to die today – not like this.
And McKay, leaning into the corner of the room, kept typing. His head bowed against the wall.
Then suddenly, he stopped. The absence of the tapping sound brought Weir of out a stupor. "Rodney?" she called with a gasp.
He whispered hoarsely, "I… I think… I think I have it…Tried to block me, but I was faster. But it just might be a bit…"
"Do it!" Weir ordered, shocked at how hard it was to speak.
Rodney nodded, hit one more key and the panel literally blew apart in a tremendous KABLAM and an explosion of white.
Blinded momentarily, Weir turned away, shielding her face, and missed seeing the doors as they spun open.
Suddenly her gasps were rewarded as fresh air flooded the room. She opened her eyes to find the wall of doors open, and the room outside was crowded with people. She watched, on hands and knees, panting like a dog as they stormed in, urgently trying to get everyone out.
McKay wobbled, blinking rapidly, his eyes still focused on the laptop in his hands. It smoked. And after a despairing moment, he dropped the fried machine and stumbled out – to come to a dead stop just outside the room.
One of the crew had grasped hold of Elizabeth's arm, and she let him help her to her feet. She stumbled into the hallway, taking in great draughts of air, and stopped as well, her gaze falling instantly on the sight that had arrested Rodney.
Just on the other side of the wall, opposite the panel where McKay had been working, another control panel arced and snapped. On the floor, flat on her back and smoldering, lay the body of Dr. Barbara Chaplin. A technician was beside her, cradling her head. Her long braids seemed to smoke as he smoothed them. He looked up at Rodney…and shook his head.
Chaplin was dead.
Elizabeth gaped, and tried to
move toward her as the medical team burst into the room.
TBC
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A/N: As usual, challenges have inspired my work. It is at this point that I shall reveal them to you.
Challenge 1 was posted well over a year ago on the SGAHC list, and went as follows: "An evil Sheppard (He can be brainwashed, evil twin, alien induced, anything) has to be in a place where clothes are different. Meaning I want him wearing a black robe at some point and sitting on some kind of throne. (He doesn't have to become a king/leader, just make something up) Describe him well enough to make him look royal. (But not over the top)" So there! I provided that to you back in Chapter 5 and he wasn't AT ALL over the top. I'm just sayin'.
Challenge 2 was offered by NebbyJen with JumperBay "There's a hacker causing problems for Atlantis. Be creative, abuse all parties, just as long as you let the good guys win." This story NebbyJen, is inspired mainly by you. I cannot guarantee that the good guys will win. Give me many reviews to let me know how much you adore me.
On another note, this idea of 'spa' continues to confuse me. If I am able to replicate this 'spa' here at the bunker, do you think that might draw my Julie back to me? What is my next step in this endeavor?