Rush (con.): "If, by chance, you were thinking of choosing me as one of the two, please don't."

Young: "Why?"

Rush: "This ship… coming here was MY destiny. My life's work was to be here, to trying to survive on some rock with a bunch of strangers. In fact, you can take my name off the lottery altogether."

Young: "Look, Rush, I realize I should've listened to you sooner."

Rush: "No, no, I wasn't myself."

Young: "Still, you were right."

Rush: (not arguing with that one) "It really wouldn't have made any difference."

- SGU 1.5 "Light"

Young was sure he could see tears in Rush's eyes as he collapsed at the base of the tree, his small body folding in on itself like a suit of old clothes. He suddenly thought how frail he looked. As if he'd been putting everything he had into making it here to this moment and now that he'd finally achieved his goal, his whole being just seemed to droop.

"Rush… are you ok?"

"I'm fine" Rush thickly replied, his voice trembling with more emotion that Young had thought possible for him. "I just need to catch my breath is all."

Young let the lie pass, "What do we do now?" he asked.

Rush pulled himself back up, using the tree itself for support. "Now we do the only logical thing a person can do when confronted with a magical tree in an enchanted wood" Rush said, as he reached up and plucked one of the oscillating fruits off the tree.

Even separated from its parent plant the iridescent fruit still vibrated.

In a daze Young heard himself yelling at Rush to stop, but it was too late. The fruit was already in his mouth.

(O)

Nine years ago

"Are you sure it's this way Rush?" Young asked.

"Absolutely positive Colonel" Rush said through the Young's radio.

"Damn it Rush if you got me lost just admit it and stop with the know-it-all act!" Young bellowed into his radio.

"No need to shout Colonel" Rush said, "According to Destiny the mineral we need should be dead ahead in a shallow culvert."

"Good" Young said, "I'll fill my backpack and be back to the gate in an hour."

"Considering it took you nearly three hours to get to your present location" Rush chided, "How do you plan on getting back in only one hour?"

"I'll be back in ONE hour Rush, because this time I'll do it on my own, without your 'help' which clearly got me lost in the first place!" Young said, cutting off Rush's protests with a sharp, "Young out!" as he moved to switch off the radio for some much needed silence.

It took Young a little over four hours to get back to the gate, which clearly pleased Rush judging by his arrogant smirk as Young finally stepped back onto Destiny with the supplies they needed strapped on his back.

"What's the matter Colonel? he asked, "Did you get lost?"

"Not exactly" Young said, "It just took a little longer to ford that river than I thought it would and once I'd gotten to the other side and stripped off…"

"Stripped off?" Rush asked with eyebrow raised.

"I'd gotten a little wet crossing the river and I had to build a fire and dry off to save myself from freezing to death," Young admitted, "But before you damage your face with too much smirking I think you ought to take a look at these Rush." Dropping his backpack on the deck Young reached in and unwrapped a bundle he'd carefully stowed in the top of his pack.

Rush smiled coyly, "How sweet, Colonel, you picked me some pretty little flowers."

Young's face flushed as he realized what this must look like, "They're medicinal" he grumbled thrusting the flowers at Rush, "Good for headaches according to the scanner you gave me"

"For giving them or curing them?" Rush asked archly, while not deigning to accept the proffered plant matter.

Young fought the urge to roll his eyes, "Curing" he said through clenched teeth.

"Oh. Ok then. Thanks" Rush said taking the flowers from Young.

"No thanks are necessary Rush" Young said, clearing meaning the opposite, "I was just trying to help."

"Yes, well, thanks again Colonel" Rush said, leaving promptly, no doubt to take the alien flowers to the medbay to double-check Young's own finding on the plants medicinal properties.

Young hoped he'd been right about those flowers. After all Rush wasn't the only one around here who suffered from frequent headaches.

(O)

Nine years later…

"That was a damn stupid thing to do!" Young cried, knocking the remaining portion of fruit out of Rush's hand.

"Most sensible thing I've ever done actually" Rush said, "I feel fantastic! It's as if I can feel the universe coursing through my veins. It's so much smaller than we thought..."

"Rush" Young said, as grabbing the smaller man, trying to pull him away from the tree, "You're not making any sense. Why did you do it? Haven't you got even the foggiest notion of where we are? Do the words 'forbidden fruit' mean anything to you? Doesn't this make you even a little bit curious whether the stories are true?"

Rush laughed, "Which stories are those Everett? You can't possibly be referring to the fabled 'Garden of Eden'."

"Well what would you call this?" Young demanded, gesturing dramatically around them, "All this place is missing is a snake! If Scott was here, I'm sure he could explain it to you better than I could."

"Poppycock!" Rush said, "All this proves is what we've already learned from the Goa'ud, that all myths may in fact have some basis in reality."

"I wish I could be as sure of that as you are Rush, I really wish I could."

"Ah, but you can" Rush said, looking Young directly in the eye in the way he seldom did on the ship, "All it would take is one little bite". He reached above his head and plucked one of the strange fruits, which he then held out to Young.

"I'm not eating that" Young declared, knocking the fruit from Rush's hand.

"Don't be so damn stubborn" Rush chided, "Look at what you're saying no to before throwing the opportunity of a lifetime away. Look!" he demanded raising the hands up to Young's gaze.

Young felt his heart seize within his chest. These weren't the hands of the Nicholas Rush he had come to know, the Rush he knew had the hands of an old man, with liver spots and joints often swollen with arthritis in recent years.

The hands he was being shown now wore the firm healthy flesh of a much younger man.

(O)

Within minutes Young had seen Rush transform from a relatively frail old man pushing seventy into a man Young wouldn't have judged to be any older than twenty-five years old.

"Do you believe me now?" Rush asked from the top of the tree he'd just climbed to show off his new state of being.

"I never doubted YOU Rush" Young said, "It's this fruit that worries me."

"Why should it worry you?" he asked, "Can't you see all the good it's done me already? And all this from just one bite… imagine what eating a whole one could do for us… or perhaps eating two at once. I must conduct experiments! Once I've proven how safe and how good the fruit is, I know you'll join me then, Everett. I know it."

Rush was so absorbed in his new scientific pursuits that he didn't appear to notice when Young slipped back between the trees and began the long sprint back to the shuttle. What I wouldn't give to be twenty years younger, he wheezed as he ran.

(O)

Scott hadn't reacted to the fantastic nature of the orchard quite as Young had expected. In fact all Scott seemed to hear from Young's tale is that Dr. Rush had ingested some kind of alien fruit that was affecting him strangely. His first thought was that they should go get him and carry him back to the shuttle so they could get him back to Destiny where TJ could surely figure out what was wrong.

"Lieutenant, I'm telling you, it's not just that he's acting strangely, the fruit has actually changed him somehow. Made him younger, made him stronger, and it may take more than you and I to get him back to the ship."

Scott looked like he was still stuck somewhere between astounded and confused when he asked, "What are your orders Sir?"

"I want you to take the shuttle back to Destiny and bring back an armed military detail" Young said.

"You really think we need that many men just to deal with Rush?" Scott asked. And while Scott hadn't directly questioned his sanity, Young sensed that he was still skeptical about all this. But Scott was a good soldier and Young knew he would do as he was told. "I take it you're staying on the planet Sir?" Scott said.

"Yes lieutenant, I'm staying on the planet" Young confirmed, "I'm going to go back and try to reason with Rush and bring him back without force" Young paused, "But lieutenant, if I'm not back here in twelve hours, I want you to lead your team through the wood taking the route I'll mark out for you and TAKE Rush off this planet by whatever means you have to use. Do you understand me?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now go and be sure to bring TJ back with you" Young said, "Rush may need medical attention. And tell her to bring tranquilizers, lots and lots of tranquilizers."

(O)

Still trying to devise a solid plan on how to get Rush back to Destiny, Young finally returned to clearing where he'd left Rush only to find that he was longer there.

He approached the tree, but he still could not find any sign of Rush, so Young sat down under the tree and considered his options and dreamed about what exactly he was going to do to Rush when he found him. He'd just gotten up to the part where he'd put Rush over his knee for another spanking when one of the mysterious vibrating fruit thumped him on the head.

Looking up Young found that Rush wasn't going to be as hard to find as he'd thought. "I suppose you think that was funny" Young roared at the smug face he found grinning at him through the branches.

"I did rather" Rush said from up a tree.

"I'd like to talk to you" Young said to the tree.

"Changed your mind have you?" Rush said.

"You could say that" Young hedged.

"Brilliant!" Rush crowed. Leaves rustled as he began to climb down, executing a perfect backflip off the lowest branch to land right in front of the still seated Colonel Young, "We're going to have so much fun Everett!" he said, his grin stretching from ear to ear.

Oh boy. This is gonna be an even weirder day than I thought, Young realized as he looked up the surprisingly well-muscled torso of a now toned teen-aged Nicholas Rush, his face was still recognizably Rush, though it had lost all of the well-known lines and his long white hair was now a striking nut brown (though still just as long) and he asked the obvious question, "Rush… why the hell are you naked?"