A/N: You know, I've seen Cube, but about four years ago, and I bought it about a month ago and it's still unwrapped. I had no clue Kezan was a name in the movie. But look, it is!Heh! spooky X-files music
The Puppet Master
Chapter Twenty Nine - Problems of Philosophy
It had been overcast and gloomy for several days, the planet's autumnal season reflecting the mood of the station's command crew. Elizabeth placed both hands on the metal rail and leant out from the balcony, pushing her face into the wind. Spray whipped up from the ocean coated her skin and collected in droplets in her hair and across the shoulders of her uniform. She closed her eyes and pushed out further, feeling the cold seep into her fingers, her breath snatched by the gale and tasting salt on her tongue.
"Beckett would say you'll catch your death."
She tipped back on her heels, straightening, wiping the water from her face. "John."
"Grodin said you were out here." He stood by the door, looking out at the ocean. "It's not great weather to be out in, Elizabeth."
"I could say the same to you, Major."
He nodded sagely. "True."
Weir sighed, pulling her hands away from the rail and massaging her fingers to return their warmth. She watched Sheppard tilt his head to stare up at the sky, giving him a moment between small talk and the argument she knew would come.
Eventually she decided she could no longer wait. "I can't agree to this."
He dropped his head, rainwater plastering spikes of hair to his forehead. "You have to."
"It's too dangerous."
"I know about the side-effects."
She laced her now warm fingers back around the rail. "It could kill him."
"According to Beckett, that's barely a possibility."
"Barely isn't the same as none, Major. And the list of side-effects…"
"Was as long as my arm, I know."
"Our attempt to get him back could mean losing him completely."
"I know –"
She turned on him. "Do you? We're talking possible brain damage, John. I won't risk that. He's too important to this city, to this mission."
"And…" he prompted.
She pressed her weight against the rail. "And if things go wrong, what that might take from Rodney – it would be worse," she admitted, "because it's him. The treatment could take everything that makes him –"
"Him," he finished. "I know."
"I won't put him through that. We'll find another way."
A strange look crossed his face, a mix of anger and something she couldn't identify. "And meanwhile, we don't know what Kezan could be doing to McKay."
"Beckett has sedated him," she said, controlling her voice carefully. "Both he and Dr Heightmeyer seem to have reached a consensus that whilst unconscious, Kezan will be unable to take direct action to harm Rodney."
"And what about when he wakes up? We can't keep him sedated forever."
"Kate has promised to help him," she replied, aware of her response's weakness. "For the moment he seems to believe that."
"For how long?"
"The answer is still no, Major."
"Elizabeth." Sheppard took a step forward. "Look, McKay's the smartest guy in the city, right?"
She nodded. "Precisely why I'm not about to risk his life on an experiment which has no certain chance of success."
"We take risks all the time –"
"Not like this. Neither Carson nor Radek can provide me with a reasonable hypothesis as to why the device should function in this manner. Even if it does act to draw information into it, we have no way of knowing if McKay or Kezan will be the one to end up trapped in it!"
"Carson said it's likely the host body will automatically reject the unfamiliar information –"
"He also said if that were true, Rodney should be experiencing longer periods of consciousness –"
"If the device traps the wrong one we can do it again –"
"No, Major!" Elizabeth stopped, taking a deep breath, lowering her voice. "According to Dr Kusanagi the device is flawed. It fractures any information placed within it. I can't risk McKay experiencing the same effect as Kezan has."
Sheppard stared at her for a moment, then gave a slow nod. "Okay, say what you're saying is right. It's a good argument, and I might agree with you if we had no idea of what McKay wanted. But we do, and he put himself through hell just to make sure we know. He wants to take the risk."
She shook her head. "Major –"
"He knows it's dangerous," he persisted. "Heck, he should do, it's McKay. Resident genius and hypochondriac. He can probably calculate the probability of success whilst he's eating his Cheerios – and he still wants to do this."
Elizabeth sighed, reluctant to admit it to herself. "I know."
"He'd rather risk death than be trapped in there like that."
"I know," she repeated, with greater emphasis, McKay's plea echoing in her head. "John, if we had more time, we could try to find another way –"
"There isn't time," he said, insistently. "The longer we do nothing the more panicked Kezan will get, and the greater the risk he'll harm McKay, and we won't be able to do anything to stop him."
She turned away, looking out across the ocean. "I know."
There was a long pause, silent save for the sound of waves crashing against Atlantis. Then footsteps, Sheppard moving to stand beside her. She said nothing, listening to him breathe.
Finally: "It's an impossible decision."
She pushed her weight forward onto the balls of her feet, leaning out across the ocean. "Still, I have to make it."
He inched sideways, close enough for her to feel his warmth. "If it was up to me –"
"You don't need to tell me, John."
"McKay's made his choice."
"I know what he said."
"And if it was you?"
She took a deep breath, feeling water dribble down the back of her neck. "I've asked myself the same question."
"And?"
"And…." Elizabeth tightened her grip on the rail. "It's Rodney."
"He asked us to do this." He dipped his head, looking down to the water beneath them. "It will work."
She turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. "You sound as though you already know."
"Teyla taught me a lesson about faith." He shrugged. "If she's confident, then so am I."
And there was that strange look again, and a darkness in his eyes. She didn't buy the confidence but decided not to call him on it, looking away to the horizon.
"Have you spoken to Heightmeyer?"
"She says that there's little we couldn't have predicted. He's terrified, frustrated, angry –"
"Dangerous?"
She dipped her head. "Kate is concerned as to how much damage Kezan may inflict if he loses control. He's ill and he's been trapped, alone, for centuries, knowing his original self died."
"And unable to do anything about it," Sheppard said, his voice unusually quiet.
"It's a terrible existence." She hesitated, lingering over the question. "She said you spoke to him."
"Didn't get much sense out of him," he replied, dismissively. "Mostly babbling."
Elizabeth sighed. "That's a shame. I was hoping to know more." She glanced at him. "There's an issue we haven't yet considered."
"Which is?"
"Kezan's future. Assuming we can get him back into the device, we still have to decide what to do with him. From what Kate said," and she paused, briefly, "by returning him we are essentially condemning him to an existence of torture and pain."
He looked out across the ocean again. "Now would be the moment when I point out he isn't a real person."
"We both know you'd be lying," Elizabeth replied, simply.
He glanced at her. "True."
"I'm not ready to abandon anyone to that life."
"He threatened McKay."
"Because he's terrified."
"So you'd choose to protect him over McKay?"
She felt stung, but refused to back down, returning his gaze evenly. "It doesn't come down to that."
He looked away with, she noted with a twinge of satisfaction, a look of guilt. "Sorry. That was unfair."
"I want Rodney back," she said, softly. "But I don't want to have to sacrifice one life to save another."
"Yeah." He pushed himself away from the rail abruptly. "Look, Elizabeth, I know it's not an easy choice, but we're running out of time. McKay asked us to do this. And we're not killing Kezan. We put him back in the box, and then we can figure out a better way for him to exist."
"I wouldn't know where to begin," she admitted.
"And neither did his creators. But we've got better technology, and we've got McKay and Zelenka."
"And we won't forget."
He folded his arms across his chest. "No."
Elizabeth turned to look at him, folding her hands beneath her arms. Took a breath, and decided, though it did nothing to ease the pain in her gut. "You're right."
He gave her an appraising look. "So –"
"So, we do as he asked. But," and she raised a finger, "I want to speak to Rodney again before we go ahead."
"And put him through more?" he challenged.
"No." She glanced towards the ocean. "But I have to be sure, John. If there's any chance that we're wrong, that there's another option we haven't seen –"
"You think there is?" he asked, deliberately.
She met his gaze evenly. "You said it was an impossible decision. I want to be certain this is the only option before we go ahead."
He looked away, scuffing his boots against the floor. "Alright," he agreed. "Then we ask him."
"Thank you."
He smiled grimly. "Don't."
It was her turn to look away, wrapping her arms around her chest and shivering in the wind. His hand touched her shoulder gently.
"Sorry. Look - we should go in. It's freezing out here."
She nodded, and blinked rainwater from her eyes. Lifted her head and looked up at him. "You're certain."
"As I've ever been."
She gave him a smile. "I hope you're right."
