Chapter 11: It's an all or nothing thing
"How many?" Sheppard demanded.
"Too many," Rodney retorted, "I don't know – twenty, maybe more?"
"Fall back," Sheppard pushed away from the door, covering the opening while the rest of his team moved silently back into the cover of trees before he joined them.
"If you are thinking we can somehow overcome them I would advise against it," Teyla looked at Sheppard sternly. "There are many more Replicators than we could handle even with the ARG weapons - which we do not have."
"Teyla's right," Ronon agreed. "Whatever was in that building is as good as gone anyway."
"The Replicators knew about the intended addition of communication capability to the Control Chair," Rodney said weakly. "It stands to reason they'd know about this place too. I'm sorry ... I should have thought of that before we came here."
"Wouldn't have mattered McKay," Sheppard finally spoke up, his face carefully blank as he gazed at the still open doorway. "We still would have come here to check it out ... at least we know there's no help coming from this angle."
"We need to get out of here," Rodney urged nervously. "It won't be long before the Replicators turn up to see why it's getting drafty in there – once they see Ronon's handy work they'll know we're here."
"Okay, back to the Jumper," Sheppard jumped up and started running back the way they'd come. "Try to keep up McKay."
oOo
"The Replicators got there first?" Elizabeth looked around the conference room table as Team Sheppard made their report on the failed mission to her and General O'Neill.
"They would have known about the project to dehumanise the deep maintenance cycle," Rodney explained. "I guess they wanted to cut off any chance of us fixing the problems they've created ... you know, covering their bases in case we got to the point of working out what they'd done."
"Okay I'll do it," Sheppard had been strangely quiet while the rest of his team filled the others in. Now he spoke up abruptly, drawing all eyes to him.
"Huh?" Rodney looked at Sheppard in confusion.
"I'll do the maintenance subroutine thing," Sheppard clarified. "But I need to speak with the city first, find out how it's all supposed to work. Just ... talk amongst yourselves until I get back." Not waiting for any protests he turned and walked hurriedly from the room.
Rodney turned back to Elizabeth in concern. "You're not gonna let him do this are you – knowing what happened in the future?"
"It's his choice Rodney," Elizabeth replied, keeping her personal feelings very much hidden.
"Yeah but I haven't even had a chance to explore other solutions yet," Rodney protested. "Maybe I can write some kind of program to defrag the systems myself."
"That's exactly what you thought in the future too," General O'Neill said almost gently. "You ran out of time."
"Oh," Rodney sat back in confusion. "What about – "
"You tried that too," O'Neill interrupted before Rodney could finish his sentence.
"You don't even know what I was gonna say," Rodney bit back irritably.
"Doesn't matter McKay," O'Neill retorted. "Your future self has advanced understanding of the Ancient systems from where you are now ... even with that he couldn't come up with a solution."
"Yeah but this time I know it was the Replicators," Rodney said defensively. "That should open up a whole host of new ideas."
"You may not have known it was Replicators in my time, "O'Neill countered, "but you still tried a number of ideas using information you stole from them. You couldn't fix it then and ..."
"It stands to reason I'm not going to now," Rodney finished weakly.
"The only thing we can do is get Sheppard into the systems early enough," O'Neill said starkly. "You said it yourself ... or you will. It's the only way we're gonna fix this."
"Sometimes I hate it when I'm right," Rodney quipped unhappily.
oOo
"The Replicators took over the outpost on Kalla," Sheppard explained to Atlantis, once again back in his quarters for a private chat. "The automated approach is a no go so we're gonna have to do this the old fashioned way."
"You are willing to undertake the deep maintenance cycle?" Atlantis chorused in surprise.
"I am," Sheppard agreed, "but before I do I need you to tell me more about what to expect. I also need you to agree that you'll let General O'Neill take over – that you'll talk to him willingly – if it becomes necessary."
"It will not become necessary," the tones ramped up to the high pitched end in protest at the meaning behind that.
"Let's hope not," Sheppard said simply. "But I can't go into this unless I know there's a back up plan, so ..." he trailed off, waiting for the agreement he needed.
"We will do as you ask," Atlantis chorused solemnly.
"Good," Sheppard said decisively. "Now tell me everything I need to know about this deep maintenance cycle. And don't sugar coat it – I want to know about all the risks and the worst case scenario."
"If you are willing I can do more than just tell you – I can show you," Atlantis dropped that bombshell out of nowhere.
"Show me?" Sheppard frowned in confusion. "How?"
"If you give your visual perception over to me I can recreate past events in such a way as to allow you to observe them personally," the chorus explained. "In that way you can experience for yourself every aspect of the deep maintenance process."
"Ah," Sheppard hesitated before nodding firmly. "Okay ... what do I have to do?"
"Close your eyes and relax your mind," the chorus shifted through the normal range of sounds. Sheppard found himself caught up in their harmony, mesmerized by the shift and play of notes inside his head.
And then he was no longer inside his head ... he was standing in the Control Room, the familiar almost Grandmotherly figure of Atlantis standing beside him.
"Where are we?" John looked around curiously, strangely untroubled by the fact that he was having an apparent out of body experience.
"These events took place approximately one hundred years before the war with the Wraith," Atlantis replied. "The two people you see before you are Herous and Lalita, the current leaders of the city. I brought you here first so that you could hear their conversation ... fragmentation within the systems has escalated and it will be Lalita who will need to perform the deep maintenance cycle."
Sheppard turned back to the couple, ready to eavesdrop on their private conversation.
"Do you forget what happened last time?" Herous whispered urgently. "It almost killed you!"
"This time will be different," Lalita replied. "I allowed myself to get entwined within the systems beyond what was necessary. And yet I did break away before it was too late."
"You could have been stuck inside those systems forever," Herous said angrily. "If you'd been connected any longer you wouldn't have wanted to break free. You know the doctors can't disconnect you while you're operating the chair."
"You worry too much," Lalita put a hand on Herous's arm.
"And you don't worry enough," Herous retorted.
"I will be fine," Lalita smiled confidently. "This time I have the experiences of last time to draw on. All will be well."
Atlantis drew John away from the scene, steering him down the stairs and across the Gateroom with a hand on his elbow.
"What happened to her?" John asked curiously, taking in the sights of a fully occupied and somehow youthful Atlantis with interest.
"She completed the maintenance cycle without incident," Atlantis replied. "And did so again many times in her lifetime."
"Okay, so what next?" John glanced at Atlantis expectantly.
"The Control Chair," Atlantis said simply. The air around them pulsed and they found themselves standing inside the Chair Room. The Chair was occupied by a young Lantean male, deathly pale and motionless. Beside him stood an older couple who could only be his parents. Their arms were around each other as they watched their son in torment.
"Make it stop," the woman begged. "Make him return to us."
"He is too deeply immersed in the systems," the man ground out. "He has been lured by the freedom his mind enjoys ... he will not be torn away from that."
"You said it would be all right," the woman broke away and glared at him accusingly. "You said the modifications you made would ensure that no one would be lost like this again." Not waiting for a response she ran from the room, her sobs echoing from the corridor as she disappeared from sight.
The man turned back to his son, kneeling beside the chair and putting a hand on his cheek. The air pulsed again ... John and Atlantis were still in the Chair Room but it was no longer occupied.
"What happened?" John felt disturbed and uncomfortable with the scene he'd just witnessed.
"On rare occasions the initiator of the maintenance cycle became ... addicted to the thrill of complete mental freedom," Atlantis explained. "It happened most often during cycles of unusual length or complexity. They chose to leave their bodies behind, merging their consciousness with the city."
"So they died," John said starkly.
"For all intents and purposes yes," Atlantis agreed, "although their essence, their memories, a small part of who they were remains within the systems to this day."
"That guy's father tried to prevent it?" John queried.
"He tried to insert an additional step at the beginning of the coding, hoping to limit the length of the cycle," Atlantis revealed. "He thought the cycle could be run in stages, allowing the operator to rest and recover between each."
"But it didn't work," John stated.
"No," Atlantis said sadly. "As I said before, the maintenance cycle coding was locked by its creators. Attempts to circumvent this by adding coding around the subroutine always failed ... the original directive to complete the entire cycle before releasing the operator still remains intact."
"It's an all or nothing thing," John summarised. He looked at the Control Chair blankly, his mind engaged in processing what he'd just seen. "Anything else?"
"There is one more thing I would like to show you," Atlantis replied, making the air shiver around him one final time. Expecting to see the Chair Room again John looked around in confused surprise. Around him were brightly lit conduits crisscrossing and zigzagging in all directions. Ancient symbols hung in the air, some scrolling rapidly, others flashing irregularly, still others pulsing strongly. There were shapes surrounding him too – ghostly outlines of walls and doors, control consoles and display screens – all there together and overlaid as though he could see through the walls and perceive the entire structure and content of the city in a single layer. He had to be looking at Atlantis from the inside out!
"Are we where I think we are?" John asked in amazement.
"Inside my systems," Atlantis confirmed. "I felt it prudent to show you what your mind will be confronted with once you've made the connection to the maintenance subroutine. You must follow every conduit, open every door, and locate components that look like this," Atlantis drew his attention to some of the Ancient text contained within what looked remarkably like the pockets you'd find on the back of a pair of jeans. "The subroutine will place markers on like components, allowing you to collect them until you have an entire file. You will then have to join the pieces together and return the restored file back to the storage medium," Atlantis showed John a circular doorway what shimmered like an open wormhole. "The subroutine will guide you through the process but it is you who will have to do all the work of gathering, joining and transporting. You will know when the cycle is complete ... the subroutine will open a doorway to release you."
"That's a lot more ... physical than I was expecting," John quipped, "but I think I can handle it."
"You must rest and prepare yourself for what is to come," Sheppard's vision flashed and he found himself back in his quarters inside his own head once more. "Sleep," the chorus crooned.
Sheppard knew he should report to the others, let them know he was resolved to go through with this but ... Atlantis drew a blanket of tiredness over him. Stretching out on his bed Sheppard dropped immediately into a deep sleep.
Authors Note:
I'm doing an early update from work today (gotta do my tax tonight - happy happy joy joy) so apologies for not replying to reviews first - can't do that from work as they won't let me log into email - I'm surprised I get to do fanfiction stuff from here actually so I shouldn't complain! I will still respond when I get a chance but thanks to everyone who reviewed since the last post. Hope you enjoy this latest installment.