Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis is not mine, and no profits are made from this story. It is a work of fan fiction and for fan enjoyment only.
5: I Don't Like Spiders or Snakes...
The repair work proceeded into the late afternoon, at which point it became obvious that the Major was on the verge of collapse. Teyla and Ford half-carried, half-dragged him to the pallet they'd set up on the floor. Before surrendering to unconsciousness, they managed to cajole him into choking down two more of the fruits he liked, while Rodney consumed four. Teyla and Ford opted for alternate menus. Sheppard actually fell asleep in the middle of chewing a bite of the second one. Teyla tenderly settled him in and tucked the blankets tightly around his exhausted form.
'She'll make a good mother someday,' thought Aiden fondly. "Does anyone have a preference as to which watch they take tonight?"
"I'd like the first one. I'm not sleepy, and I remember the diagrams well enough to do some more work on the flight controls. I can do that and still keep an eye on the outside monitors." McKay was emphatic.
"As last night, I do not care." Teyla chimed in.
"Fair enough." Ford quickly decided. "McKay, you're first. Wake Teyla at midnight. Teyla, get me up at 0300. OK?" When everyone nodded in agreement, he smiled. "See you then." He gathered his own blanket and curled up on a flight couch. Teyla lay on the one nearest Sheppard so she could monitor him during the night.
Rodney happily puttered away, soldering connections and being rewarded as system after system showed green lights. ' Hah. By the times those laggards in Atlantis get around to rescuing us, we'll have done it ourselves.' He was careful to keep his eyes on the outside monitors, however, as he was in full agreement with Ford about not being caught unawares by something nasty. The sooner they were off this rock, the better. He had just tested the engine-pod retraction mechanism when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye on the starboard front camera. Carefully setting down his tools, he went to look at that screen more carefully.
Nothing moved. He was about to attribute it to a figment of his overactive imagination when it moved again, this time in plain sight.
It was the largest spider he had ever seen.
It was black with yellow stripes, vaguely hairy, and the size of a Buick!!!!! Now of all the fears Rodney had buried somewhere in his subconscious, one of the worst was a fear of spiders. It stemmed from a visit to his cousin's home in western Texas as a child, where the neighborhood boys with whom he was supposed to 'play' thought that it would be entertaining to introduce him to the local breed of tarantula by tossing one on him. He subsequently avoided both spiders and Texans with equal fervor.
'That is physically impossible!' His rational mind tried to point out. 'No exoskeleton could withstand the pressure of supporting such a size. Also, spiders are ectotherms – if they existed on this frigid rock, they would be out during the day, not the night.' Still, his eyes kept telling him otherwise.
"Ford!" he hissed. "Ford, wake up. I need you to see something."
Aiden, battle-trained and a light sleeper in the best of circumstances, was awake in an instant, and quickly moved to where Rodney was staring at one of the viewscreens.
"Look there." Rodney pointed at the screen where the oversized spider crawled slowly across the landscape. "What do you make of that?"
The lieutenant carefully followed the direction of McKay's finger, to where it pointed at the forward starboard camera view. "What, the tree?"
"No, no. THAT!" Rodney placed his index finger on a patch of bare ground between the aforementioned tree and the ship.
"The ground."
McKay was verging on hysteria. "No, the spider."
Aiden carefully examined the screen and came up empty. Shrugging, he replied, "Nope, sorry. No spider."
"How can you not see it; it's huge!" He listened to his own words, then repeated his own question, but less rhetorically. "How can you not see it?" An unpleasant thought crept into his consciousness. "Unless it's not really there?" It would certainly explain the scientific improbabilities.
Ford raised an eyebrow. "There's nothing there, Doctor. No movement at all."
McKay closed his eyes, counted to five, then reopened them. The spider was waving a furred leg in his direction. Externally calm, he stated, "Ford, I have been working alone on the flight control board for the last two to three hours. On that viewscreen I am currently seeing a seven-foot-tall spider waving hello. In the morning when the Major wakes up, I suggest you recheck anything I might have done while hallucinating." With that, he passed out cold.
Somehow the Lieutenant managed to catch him before he hit the floor. "Teyla!" he called urgently. "I need a hand here." Teyla was at his side in an instant, supporting half of the astrophysicist's weight as the wrestled him to the couch she had just vacated. Taking his pulse, Ford noted that it was strong and steady, with a normal rate of 64.
"As far as I can tell, he just fainted." Aiden scratched his head in puzzlement.
"What has happened?" Teyla was still somewhat groggy.
Ford covered McKay with a blanket as he replied. "I'm not sure; he said something about seeing a giant spider that wasn't there, then passed out." He scratched behind his ear consideringly. "You know, he suggested that we might want to double-check his work. I think I'll do that right now. I don't think I could sleep, anyway." So saying, he rose and went back to the control panel.
The Puddle Jumper wasn't beautiful in the classic F-16 style, but she had her own charm. Simple in shape, complex in design, and eminently functional, Sheppard found that the Ancient ship was the best he'd ever flown. He'd spent months teaching other Atlantis personnel to fly; since they were cut off from Earth, everyone needed a smattering of everyone else's skills. Now the time had come for Ford's first solo flight. The lieutenant had been talking of nothing else all week, and his excitement was contagious. Catching Sheppard's eye through the windshield, he grinned and waved. Sheppard smiled in return, giving him the 'thumbs up' sign and nodding. Ford visibly gulped, then nodded back. Looking down at the panel in front of him, he started the engines...and the cockpit burst into flames.
"No!" Sheppard screamed. "Lieutenant, get out of there!" He ran for the Jumper regardless of his own safety, prepared to rush in and carry the young soldier out. His action was forestalled by the entire ship exploding. "Nnoooo!...." he screamed again, as debris rained down around him.
"Sir, wake up! Sir, it's just a dream." Major Sheppard shot up out of the midst of nightmare to a hand on his shoulder, shaking him awake.
A trembling hand rose to touch the bandages covering his eyes. "Ford?" The voice was small and tentative, throwing the young man for a second.
"Yes, Major, it's me. You were having a nightmare. You kept yelling in your sleep."
Sheppard placed a hand on Aiden's arm, just to assure himself that the Lieutenant was real. "Sorry; didn't mean to wake you."
Aiden chuckled. "Don't worry, you didn't. McKay's been working so hard at the repairs that he imagined something outside that made him faint dead away. I've been taking the rest of his watch while I recheck his work."
"Is he all right?" Sheppard worried about everyone it seemed, even their resident genius.
"Oh sure." Ford grinned. "Of course, we'll see how he feels when I wake him at 0400 to take the last part of my watch."
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"Chevron 6." The wormhole reestablished with the familiar ka-whoosh and the shield flared as it was bombarded by the reassembling sub-atomic particles at the event horizon. An obviously fatigued Dr. Weir, sighed; "Ok, shut it down." She glanced at her watch, "Re-open the gate at 0320. Let me know immediately if there's any change. I'm going to have to get some sleep. She turned wearily from the console and trudged wordlessly to her quarters. Had there been anyone in the corridors at that time of night they would have seen the worry etched on her countenance.
TBC...
AN: Well, still supposedly 0 hits despite all the wonderful reviews. Thanks WriterJC; I've sent a message via your suggestion. We'll see if it helps.