Chapter Ten: Opportunity is Not a Lengthy Visitor
There were two Wraith guarding the open door in the rock face. McKay crouched in the underbrush, mind racing.
"What would Sheppard do?" he asked himself silently. "Barge in with guns blazing, of course. Alright, what would – say, Clint Eastwood do? Not Dirty Harry, but in one of those spaghetti westerns."
The answer came to him almost immediately. He searched the ground around himself until he came up with a handful of small stones. As hard as he could, he threw them into the forest to his left.
The rocks made a satisfyingly loud clatter against the trees, and the Wraith guards went to investigate.
"It worked. I can't believe it worked." Rodney just knelt there in amazement for a moment, then goaded himself into action, slipping out of the concealing trees and through the door.
Once inside, he frantically examined the walls beside the door, searching for a way to close it. Finding a familiar looking panel, he tore off the cover and moved the crystals inside, heaving a sigh of relief when the door slid shut. He removed the crystals just before a heavy pounding came from the other side.
Desperately hoping the door would hold and the Wraith wouldn't be able to figure out a way to open it from the outside, Rodney swept the flashlight on his P-90 around the rubble-strewn chamber.
He knew from his earlier examination that the main control console was a complete loss. But perhaps he could use the few intact pieces from it to get the chair operational…
TBC