Memoirs Of An Astrophysicist
Behind the Scenes Act: 3 Scene: 2
"Tic-Toc Boom!"
Previously on "The Preverbal Light":
"Oh…"
"Yes, 'oh' is right. Now if you'll excuse me,.." and I turn to leave.
"Yeah, I'll see you later…"
I mumble a "Yes, later." Before I exit my lab, but then I realize I never should've left…
And now Act: 3 Scene: 2 "Tic-Toc Boom!"
Atlantis Rec Room 21:45 Tues
'I'm finally done.' I think as I pick up my things, as I had temporarily moved into one of the rarely used Rec Rooms to finish my work. 'Now all I have to do is print one copy and e-mail another to Elizabeth.' I head down the hall, to my office to complete my task. Every thing was going good… till I head the voice of, none other than Radek Zelenka calling after me. I knew I shouldn't have told where I would be…
"Rodney, you must come, there is problem in lab!"
I sigh "What kind of problem? An 'Oh god, oh god we're all going to die!!' kind of problem or 'Some idiot trying to re-write the laws of physics with a tooth pick and a hairbrush.' kind of problem?" Either he ignored my sarcasm of just didn't notice it, but what he said next had me running to the labs.
"A 'Tic-Toc Boom!' kind of problem."
Atlantis, Labs 21:51 Tues
As I walk in, I see Shepard, along with Teyla, Ronon and Elizabeth, are already here. I follow Zelenka to a table in the Main Lab. On it, there's a round, medium sized device, with six of its possible ten maroon lights glowing. There's one I arrive just in time to see the lights decrease to five. "I leave you alone for a few hours and this place starts going to hell in a hand basket! Alright what happened?" Zelenka quickly rushes into a detail explanation.
"Well, nothing! It was sitting here on desk, when it lit up. Started to glow, then lights appeared. It was a surprise, yes but we thought nothing of it until lights started to disappear! I tried to hail you on radio, but remembered you were in Rec Room, so I went to get you. As I left Shepard arrived, I told him to contact Elizabeth… and you know the rest."
I walk up to the device. It takes me a few minutes but I realize something. It's not of Ancient design. In fact it looks more,… "Crap!" I turn to Sheppard "Get the gate dialed the farthest uninhabited planet!" As Sheppard started to comply, Elizabeth started to speak.
"Rodney, what is it? Why do we need to dial out?"
I grab the device and start to head to the gate room. 'I'll talk on the way.' I think. "Because, this device has nothing to do with the Ancient's. This," I hold up the device "is Time Dilation machine used on Replicators. It slows down time around…" Elizabeth then cuts in.
"I know what a Time Dilation machine is, Rodney."
"Good. Then you'll understand the need to get this as far away from us as possible." As I round the corner to the Gate room, the Stargate springs into life just as the second light disappears. I quickly walk to the gate and throw it though.
"Shut it down!" I yell. And seconds later the worn hole disconnects. I release the breath I didn't know I was holding. 'That was close.." I think. As I turn around, I see Sheppard looking at me from the balcony and I know he's thinking the same thing.
Atlantis, Hallway 02:18 Weds
It's kind of hard to get any sleep after what happened. As I wander the halls I find I'm not the only one. I see Sheppard turn the corner. He must've saw me because he started backing up to his original position.
"Hey, can't sleep?"
"No, I just enjoy walking the halls of Atlantis at two in the morning."
He laughs "Yeah well if you think you can tear yourself away from the excitement of…" he pretends to think. "whatever it is that you're doing, you wanna head to the mess? They might have pie…"
I can't believe he's trying to bribe me! I'll go. But not because of the pie… "Fine. Lead the way." His face instantly shows his patented victory smile. I roll my eyes in response.
Atlantis, Dining Hall 02:35 Weds
"Rodney. Yo, Atlantis to Rodney?"
"Huh?" I look up from my food.
"You spaced out again. You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. fine." We both know that isn't true but he leaves it alone. For now.
"So…" he tries to start a conversation. "where do you think that Time Dilation or- something came from?"
I sigh. "Honestly? I don't know. There are various possible answers to that question. All of which would immensely change the foundation we've created about Replicators and their origins."
"Yeah, I can imagine." We start to get up to dispose of our trays. That's when Sheppard starts to talk again. "What happened back there?"
I pretend to look confused. "Back where?" unfortunately he sees right though it.
"You know what I'm talking about Rodney, don't play coy."
I don't answer him. Instead I head for the door. As I turned the corner, Shepard was still right behind me.
"You're going to have to talk about it, what happened back on that planet.
"No," I respond "no, not really."
"Look, Ford might still be out there! There still a chance..."
I turn around abruptly. "You keep telling your self that. John." He seemed a little surprised at the use of his first name, but I continue. "But we lost Ford the moment that Wraith started to feed on him!"
His expression darkened. "You don't know that!"
"And you do? You spent what? All but five minutes with him? I had the whole day! The whole freaking day with him! You don't think I tried to talk him out of it? To get him to return to the jumper? I kept trying, hell I went WITH him even AFTER he said I could leave! Even AFTER he tried to SHOOT ME!"
Sheppard's face took on an expression of shock. "He tried to what?"
"Shoot me, Colonel. He tried to shoot me. He used the P-90 he took from Maj. Loren and started shooting around me. I clearly remember saying 'Alright, you wanna shoot me, shoot me! Fine! I don't care. It'll just save me suffering one of the many horribly painful deaths I have in line from being exposed to this much radiation! And, quite frankly, it'll prove just how far gone you are! Now, I'm heading back to the Jumper and you're welcome to join me.' Of course when I said that I wasn't expecting him to actually do it but then he started shooting a hail of bullets around me. You can image my surprise. I then turned around and yelled at him. Asking him if he was crazy and how he could've killed me!" I gave a frustrated sigh, and continued walking. This time Sheppard didn't follow.
Next on Behind the Scenes:
"You should've said something! Told somebody!"
I gave a humorless laugh. "And would you have listened? I know you're upset about Ford. But you have to pull your head out the ground and realize you aren't the only one!"
"You think I don't know that? We all lost Ford, but…"
I cut him off. "Well you sure as hell don't act like it!"
