—HIDDEN RESOURCES—
PART FIVE: LOWERING THE SHIELDS
His patience—what little of it McKay actually possessed—was quickly wearing thin.
Soon after Teyla and Sheppard had left, he and Ford had been taken to meet a group of self-described scientists, who, Governor Borin explained, had been working together on alternate plans of defense with the military. Once he was introduced, he had listened politely to them for about three seconds—which is really about the extent of McKay's version of polite—before barraging them with, what he thought, were some very basic questions. Unfortunately, he soon discerned that they were closer to Mary Shelley than Watson and Crick in terms of science, so, after a few minutes, he stopped bothering asking anything at all. He just asked to be led to the Weapon.
He really hadn't been surprised to find it was the same doorway off the central courtyard he'd pointed out earlier. Glancing at Lieutenant Ford's face next to him, he could see the often astute young man wasn't either.
As the scientists had all followed them out here, he tried tossing out a few more simple questions, such as "is there a control panel somewhere near?" and "why isn't there an actual metal door covering the entranceway, like the others?" They hemmed and hawed, and McKay sighed. Seemed all they knew was that this was the entrance to the Weapon. The force field glittering inside the doorway had formed during the attack, and they could not find a way to shut it down. That was pretty much it.
"See," one of the scientists was saying, "we think that the shield is probably made of the same stuff as the illusion, just, not the same, maybe the opposite, see, because—"
"Oh for God's sake, stop, please, before you hurt yourself," McKay ran his hand down his face in exasperation, then looked over at the lieutenant. "Ford?"
"Yeah?"
"Just keep them out of my way."
Ford grimaced at his rudeness, but nodded, "Right."
A pregnant silence descended then, and, after a while, it started making Ford uneasy. Besides the scientists, there was a healthy contingent of guards, and he didn't appreciate the strangely stoic demeanor they had taken. Before, they'd been nervous but still friendly; now they seemed detached. Many would not even meet his gaze, shifting their eyes away when he tried to meet them.
His mind tried to rationalize it—that they were concerned about McKay breaking their Weapon for good—but his gut still had his hand holding on tightly to the butt of his rifle.
Ford, as promised, was staying as close to the doctor as he could. He kept a wary eye on the small gathering as McKay set to work behind him, using his scanner to detect a power nexus for the defensive shield. The scientist began with the glass panels on the different sides of the door, ignoring the flawless illusion of forest on the other side. When he found nothing significant, he moved to the entranceway itself. With a frown, he noticed nothing along the edge of the frame except grooves for a door that didn't seem to exist.
"Okay," the doctor muttered, stepping inside the open doorway and taking a few steps down the dark hallway. The shield had formed about three feet down and away from the actual entrance, and he found he could get quite close to it without harm. It was, however, generating quite a lot of heat, and sweat quickly began to trickle down the sides of his face and down his back. After a few moments, he found it so intense that he was shrugging off the heavy vest and jacket, until he was only wearing the blue shirt, the arms pushed up to his elbows. The discarded clothing and gear was tossed in Ford's general direction, who looked down at it and ignored it, not about to become the man's butler as well as his babysitter.
McKay wiped his arm across his sweating forehead, licking his lips to get rid of the moisture collecting above his upper lip. Dark stains formed down the front and back of his shirt, and, though he desperately wanted to take that off as well, he just couldn't be that indecorous.
Passing the scanner of every inch of wall, ceiling and floor, McKay was almost on top of the shield when he suddenly grinned. "There you are," he mumbled, looking up at the wall in front of him. The scanner had finally detected a spike in power, and peering closely at the location, the scientist realized he could see the edges of a panel. Oddly, it had been painted over, but it was definitely there. "Hunh," he grunted, "No wonder they couldn't find you," he muttered, slipping the scanner back into his belt.
Ford had backed up a little to stand protectively in front of the doorway, still facing outwards at the guards and scientists. He listened to each of McKay's mutterings behind him, then to the sound of the doctor obviously kneeling down and rooting through his backpack of goodies. Risking one glance behind him, he was in time to see McKay pull out the same black device and small keypad as earlier. Kicking the backpack over toward Ford to get it out of his way, which Ford then nudged next to the jacket and vest, the doctor then put the device down on the corridor floor and pulled his utility knife from his belt. Ford focused his attention on the gathering again.
Using his fingers, McKay used the knife to define the edges of the panel. Soon after that, he was using it to pry the panel from the wall.
Some of the scientists moved closer, trying to see, but Ford stepped towards them, patting his rifle and shaking his head. Behind the scientists, the guards frowned, but otherwise didn't react.
"Ha," McKay chuckled, ripping back the panel to show the a series of wires beneath. They looked fairly basic, a mixture of colors and widths. A faint glowing light came from inside, giving McKay more light. After sticking the knife back in its sheaf on his belt, the doctor placed his interface into the panel, attached the wires to the keypad, and started working away, just as he had done before.
"What's he doing?" one of the scientists asked Ford.
"Lowering the shield," Ford answered curtly, confidently. For all that they all made fun of McKay, Ford had come to believe the doctor could do anything he put his mind to. McKay would lower the shield, the Weapon would be accessible for the people of Deucalion to use again, and all would be hunky dory.
At least, he hoped so.
Sheppard glided towards the open wormhole he had just dialed, keying in his IDC as the Puddle Jumper slowed to a hover just before the threshold.
"Atlantis, this is Major Sheppard."
"Everything all right, Major?" Weir's disembodied voice came back. "You're earlier than expected."
"There have been developments, and I'd prefer to discuss them face to face."
"Okay," she replied. "Lower the shield," she added, speaking to someone else. After a short pause, she spoke again. "The shield has been lowered, Major. Come on through."
"I think I've got it," McKay called cheerfully at about the same time that, about thirty miles away, the Major was sliding through a wormhole home. "It's not much different from the program running the illusion, truth be told. Same basic tenets, really. You know, you folks really must learn to avoid painting over useful things like control panels. I do hope there was no lead...or lead like substance...in the paint I just scraped off here and probably breathed in...." As he spoke, he finished keying in a few more things into his program, the fingers of his right hand lifting up from the small keypad with a totally unnecessary flourish. "There!"
Ford turned sideways, wanting to see McKay lower the shield but still keep one eye on the gathering.
"Ready?" McKay asked everyone watching him. The scientists seemed frozen in place, but the colonel who had been standing to one side up in Governor Borin's office nodded.
"Go ahead, Doctor McKay." Colonel Luphron's voice sounded strange to Ford, and the lieutenant found himself frowning as the colonel added, "Lower it."
"Will do," McKay smiled, looking down at the keypad. As his finger hit the enter key, he looked at the shimmering barrier next to him.
As the gathering watched, the defensive shield disappeared in a flash, revealing a pitch black hallway behind it.
McKay's smile grew more smug and he turned back to the impressed scientists, about to say something more, when, suddenly, the entire hallway he stood in started to vibrate. McKay's expression fell, replaced by bewilderment. Bracing himself against one side of the shaking corridor, he found himself turning involuntarily to look in the direction of the inky blackness he had revealed by the lowering of the shield.
"Doctor!" Ford shouted as a bright yellow light flickered in the same direction that McKay seemed fixed on. "Get out of—"
But he was too late. The yellow light flared forward without warning, instantly surrounding the scientist. At the same time, a steel door slammed down to block the entrance from a hidden opening above, completely cutting the corridor off from the courtyard.
Ford's mouth dropped in horror. Around him, the scientists all lowered their heads. The guards remained cold.
"Doctor!" Ford shouted, quickly moving to bang on the metal door with his fist, "Doctor, open this door!" When nothing answered him from the other side, the lieutenant hit his radio, "Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor McKay?" He tried to will down the growing panic inside him, "Doctor McKay, respond!"
"Lieutenant?" Teyla's voice came over the radio, having overheard the transmission. "What's going on?"
Ford jumped, hearing her voice in coming in stereo. His eyes looked down at the doctor's things at his feet, seeing the radio still tucked inside the vest McKay had shucked off.
Damn it!
"Teyla," Ford's eyes lifted and he backed away from the steel door, "I don't know. Is the Major still with you? McKay's—"
"Inside the Weapon," Colonel Luphron finished, the older man having drifted forward to stand next to Ford.
"What? No!" Ford looked back at the door. Gritting his teeth, he pointed at the metal, "Get him out of there!"
"I am afraid that is impossible, son."
"Don't you 'son,' me. Get him OUT OF THERE."
"Even if we knew how," the colonel said, his face still as cold as snow, "I would not do so."
"I don't care what you would or would not do. If you won't help me get him out, then I'll go after him myself!"
"You can't. The Weapon will only allow one person in at a time."
"How the hell do you know? Have you ever tried?"
"Listen to me, young man," the colonel pointed at the door, "he's inside the Weapon. You just have to accept that. The moment he lowered the shield from inside the doorway, the Weapon sensed his presence and took him."
Ford's eyes widened, and he found himself backing away from the colonel as realization dawned.
"You knew this would happen," he hissed, "didn't you?"
The colonel shrugged, "Yes."
"Why?"
"The one who triggered the Weapon had to be your Doctor McKay. We knew that if he lowered the shield, that he would also likely be the only one who could fix the Weapon if it has indeed been damaged. Thanks to him, we have a chance against the Wraith now. I will not risk the people of this City just to get him out of there, not when doing so could risk the Weapon as well."
"Lieutenant?" Teyla's voice seemed a little more breathless, as if she were running, "Lieutenant, I am almost back to the mesa. Major Sheppard has already passed through the Stargate, but he should be back in about forty five minutes. What has happened? Where is Doctor McKay?"
Ford tapped the radio, his eyes still glued on the colonel, "Telya—"
"He is alive," the colonel noted calmly, "If that helps."
In response, the lieutenant took in a deep breath, not hiding the fury he felt. Finally, he lifted his P90 up, the submachine gun pointed directly at the colonel's chest. "One way or another, you are going to tell me how to get him out of there. Now."
"Lieutenant!" Teyla's voice rang with startling clarity over the radio, "What is going on!"
The colonel lifted his eyebrows, looking down at the gun barrel, then back at Ford. The lieutenant didn't lower it, instead he tapped the radio.
"I don't know," Ford answered Teyla's question, his voice tight with tension, "but we're going to find out."
TBC