— HIDDEN RESOURCES —
PART ELEVEN: WHEN THE DEVIL DRIVES
Despite its name, the room of the Great Eye was tiny, no larger than a small, dark closet. Lieutenant Che sat down on a chair before a small square table about the size of child's school desk, which was the only furniture in the room, and passed her hand over it. Teyla and Ford squished inside with her, standing on either side and watching as six yellow buttons formed on the smooth surface of the table. At the same time, the walls of the room around them vanished....
"Wow!" Ford exclaimed, grabbing at the back of the lieutenant's chair as the floor seemed to disappear, replaced by a bird's eye view of the City of Deucalion. Except for the chair and table, they appeared to be standing on thin air, staring out at the entire surface of the planet, the Wraith darts looking like small birds far below them winging towards the City. Teyla reached her hand out, seeking the wall she had seen a second before. It was with some thanks that she felt its cold, concrete surface still there, even though she could no longer see it.
The Deucalion lieutenant didn't react to the change in perspective—her hand passing over a section of the table above the yellow buttons. If Ford didn't know better, he'd swear she was steering an invisible wheel.
Sure enough, the perspective changed, and they appeared to drop hundreds of feet in seconds—Teyla had to close her eyes for a moment from the vertigo, and even Ford looked a little green despite the fixed jaw—until they were right above the city, watching as the first Wraith dart swept through the Illusion, easily dodging the shots being fired from below.
Lieutenant Che flinched as the Dart fired a shot at one of the gunnery positions, and the soldier inside disappeared in an explosion of fire and blown rock.
Her hand hovered over the first yellow button, shaking slightly.
It suddenly occurred to her that she didn't know if it would work.
McKay finished with the green wire, watching as the green crystal connected to it came to life, the light remaining steady this time. Without pause, he moved to the white wire, which was intact....and severed it.
A bright flash overhead and he looked up at the damaged ceiling.
Sunlight poured in through the now open hole, and McKay grinned.
The way out!
The hologram looked up as well, its expression obviously unhappy.
Turning back to the console, the huge smile still on his face, McKay passed his hand over the green light formed by the crystal just as another explosion rocked the city.
"Hello! Anyone out there! Can you hear me?"
"Doctor McKay?" Ford's voice replied, obviously surprised. "Is that you?"
"Lieutenant! How wonderful to hear your voice!"
"Doctor McKay!" Teyla said, looking around her for the source of the voice. "It is good to hear yours as well! We were not really sure that they...." She shook her head, changing the subject from the Deucalion's honesty, "Are you all right?"
"Teyla! Yes, yes, I'm all right. A splitting headache but otherwise....Are you all right? Where are you? Are you in the Great Eye?"
"Yes, how did you...."
"You'd have to be, to be able to hear me. What's happening out there?"
"The Wraith, doctor," Ford answered. "They've returned. There's already a Wraith dart...."
"Two," Lieutenant Che added sadly, looking at where a second dart penetrated the Illusion.
"Two Wraith darts are attacking the City. They're...destroying all of the defenses the Governor set up."
McKay didn't answer immediately, and Ford looked at Teyla.
"Doctor?"
"I was afraid that's what you'd tell me. Is Major Sheppard back yet?"
"He should be here any minute," Teyla promised him. "Doctor, tell me, is the Weapon damaged?"
"Yes, but...."
"Can you fix it?"
McKay stared at the green blinking light, then back at the hologram. It simply stared at him. It was unnerving.
"Doctor?" Teyla's voice called. "Can you fix the Weapon? Can you make it work?"
His jaw tensed, and he closed his eyes, "Teyla...yes, I can fix it, but...."
"Then do so. As quickly as you can. We are here, ready to fire it as soon as you have finished."
Blue eyes opened again, "F...fire it? As soon as I've....But...."
"Doctor, you must hurry. The darts are already....Look out!"
Another explosion rocked the room McKay was in, and he ducked out of the way as more of the ceiling fell. Luckily, it didn't hit either him or the console, but it spooked him anyway.
"Teyla," he gasped, "Listen, I have a way to get out of here. I can just climb...."
"Three darts are inside now, Doctor! You have to do this!"
"But I don't think I can! Please! I can fix it, but can't someone else...?"
"It has to be you, Doctor. According to the Deucalions, no one can take your place."
Another explosion. McKay gripped the console, his eyes glued on the broken black wire--the one that connected the chair to the controls.
"Doctor, we know the Weapon can only be fired six times, and that it will drain you, but there is no time to find someone else, we...."
"You mean you know what it will do to me?" he asked softly.
"We have been told, yes. Doctor McKay, I am sorry. You and we were tricked into this position, but there is no choice now. We can not let these people die, not knowing we could have done something to stop it. You must fix the Weapon and guide it. Please Doctor, hurry!"
McKay took a deep breath, not quite believing her.
"Ford? You agree? And Major Sheppard does to?"
"Yes, Doc. I don't like these people, but they don't deserve to be Wraith food. And, Teyla and I aren't very safe either. The Major isn't here yet, but I know he'd agree."
Rodney felt like he was going to choke. It took him a couple of seconds to realize it was because he'd stopped breathing. Gasping in some air, he turned and looked one more time up at the opening in the ceiling, at the sunlight and blue sky above. At his last chance. All he had to do was climb up and he'd be free....
He realized then that he could see black smoke rising from somewhere, drifting past the opening.
Another explosion rocked the room.
"Doctor?" Ford's voice asked. "The Major is outside. He says if you don't fix that Weapon, we'll probably be trapped here with the Deucalions. You have to fix and ready the Weapon now!"
"He said that?"
"Yes. Doctor McKay, he said that."
Sheppard was willing to let him die! Hell, he was ordering him to! He closed his eyes again. He never thought the Major would allow it, not without a fight.
Well, who was he kidding anyway? In the end, did he matter so much? Only in his own mind, he supposed. He wasn't really one of Sheppard's men, now, was he? Not like Ford...or even Teyla now....Deep down, he always knew he was the one who would be left behind when push came to shove. Why did he ever think he could be part of their team? To have...to have people who cared about what happened to him....
He turned, staring up once more at the hole in the ceiling. So why shouldn't he just go?
Another explosion. He grimaced. He knew the answer already. Suck it up, Rodney. A far, far better thing...remember your Dickens....
"Okay," he sighed finally, his voice losing all its edge as his head lowered. "I'll be your Sydney Carton. I'll fix it." Swiping a hand back over the green light, he turned off the communicator.
His face held no expression at all as he quickly moved to rejoin the rest of the damaged wires, connecting them with their crystals. He specifically didn't touch the white wire—he wanted the sky to be one of the last things he would see. The black wire he left until last, and his hands shook as he finally got to it.
"Is he fixing it?" Major Sheppard's voice asked over the radio, sounding a little winded.
"Yes sir," Ford replied, holding onto the radio on his shoulder, watching as Lieutenant Che kept her hand over the first button, obviously itching to depress it. "He didn't sound happy about it though. He said something about having found another way out of the Weapon."
"Other than being released after six shots?"
"Yes."
"Why would he not want to guide the Weapon? Seems to me he would love the chance to do something like that?"
"I'm not sure, but I think it has to do with the fact that he knows it will take a toll on him. The Governor told us it drains you of energy. He'll be really tired when he finally gets out."
"It takes a toll? You mean, it could hurt him?"
"No, at least, not permanently. But, like I said, he'll probably want to sleep for a while." Ford cracked a smile at Teyla, who had her arms crossed as she listened to him. She didn't look happy with any of this, despite what she had told McKay.
"Oh, okay. And you're sure I can't come in there?"
"It's too small sir. With you, I think we'd be too crushed. If you like, you can take my place."
"That's okay, Lieutenant. I'll keep watch out here—cover your back. The holes in the ceiling out here'll let me see anything coming."
"Okay sir."
Sheppard sighed, looking around the rubble of the former hall of ages, trying to see if there was anything else interesting about this place other than it was the entrance to this supposed Great Eye place. His fingers gripped the butt of his P90 as he moved around, ignoring the boyish Sergeant Cusp as the young man followed him like a puppy. He could hear the whine of the Wraith darts as they sped over the city, firing at the positions where the Deucalion Guard were doing their best to defend themselves.
He stopped as he came to a section of the wall which, oddly enough, looked as if someone had deliberately tried to cover it up. The piles of stone were stacked instead of naturally fallen, and it was obvious that something was behind them.
"What's this?" he asked, looking at the Sergeant.
In response, the boy backed away.
"I...uh...I didn't do it!"
"Didn't do what?" Sheppard's eyes narrowed.
"We had no choice. I'm sorry, sir! I really am, but you have to understand—"
"Why do you people keep telling me I have to understand something?" Sheppard snapped back. He looked back at the neatly stacked "rubble"...then started tearing it down.
McKay watched as the console lit up, stepping back as the tinny noise in the background reduced itself to a steady hum. The mirrored wall separating this room from the other turned into glass, and he found himself seeing clearly into the white room on the other side. The room really was a hexagon. Turning, his eyes caught the now perfectly intact hologram watching him, the smile back in its face.
"Thank you," it nodded.
"You're not welcome," Rodney replied. He turned the rest of the way around, staring at the black chair with a pained expression. After a moment, his thoughts became resigned, and he turned back to the console, passing his hand over the left hand section again where the green light was.
"Ford? Teyla?"
"Yes doctor, we're here."
"It's done."
"Thank the Light!" a third voice said, one which McKay didn't immediately recognize, though it sounded a little like the young female lieutenant they had first met.
"Just let us know when you're ready, Doc," Ford's voice said.
"Ha, ready for this?" Rodney snorted, then drew in a shuddering sigh. "Sorry. Just need a minute more."
Rodney gripped his hands into fists, ignoring the rocking as yet another explosion hit the city, and he turned to the chair. Shakily, he sat himself down, resting both his arms and legs inside the open metal braces.
He jumped as they snapped shut, and a white glow enveloped him.
His breathing quickened and he looked up, blue eyes widening as the ceiling became a sort of projection screen and the city outside was reflected on it. He found he could see everything within the inside of the dome of the illusion just by tilting his head to one side or another....meaning he could clearly see the devastation the three Wraith darts were causing. Fire, smoke and ash filled the air, and he could see people running along the ground, trying to get out of the path of the Dart's weapons.
"Ford?"
"Yeah, Doc?"
"Just...do me a favor. If you can avoid it...don't fire six times. The...the Weapon...it doesn't have to...just...please don't fire it more than five times if you can avoid it."
There was a pause, then Ford's voice returned.
"Are you saying the Weapon may not be able to fire six times?"
Rodney closed his eyes again. "Please...Aiden. Just try not to. I realize, in the face of all this, that you may have to make a choice but....please. Do me that favor."
Ford paused a moment before replying, "I don't understand but....Okay Doc. We'll try not to."
"Thanks. Go ahead. Let's get this over with."
TBC
A/N – Those dastardly duplicitous Deucalions did this! Blame them! Not me!