Author's Note: Clearly most of you have figured it out; now let's see if Rodney can…

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis is not mine, and no profit is made from this story. It's for fan reading pleasure only. Enjoy!

THE CRASH

By KerrAvon

6. The Button

"No!" McKay slammed a fist onto the machine in a fit of anger after an uncounted number of trials with 'the button', startling Sheppard who had been drowsing against the wall again. He jerked awake, jarring his fractured leg which began throbbing again unmercifully. An inadvertent hiss of pain escaped his lips as he belatedly grasped his knee to keep the limb still.

"Rodney!" he snapped once he could catch his breath. "Was that absolutely necessary?"

"Sorry," came the mumbled reply. Something in the shaky tone caused alarm bells to go off in John's head, and his own extremity suddenly became secondary. Scrutinizing his companion, he was instantly struck by how wrong the man looked. The man stood still in front of the console where he'd been working for hours, arms braced on its edge, leaning heavily forward. It was the complete lack of movement that was so wrong, John realized. The LTC's eyes narrowed as he took in the details; the waxen complexion, the fine sheen of sweat, the arms trembling uncontrollably… Now truly alarmed he levered himself off the floor, ignoring his own protesting muscles in the process, although a sharp spike from his leg had him gasping for breath. Was it him, or was it hot in here? Ignoring that thought as irrelevant, he waited for the spots to recede from the edges of his vision then hastily grabbed his crutches and hobbled towards his friend.

"Hey McKay, you all right?" It seemed proper somehow to ask, even if he could see from a mile off that the answer was 'no'.

The scientist didn't answer, but continued to lean forward on his hands. As Sheppard approached he also noticed the too-fast panting breaths and glazed eyes. Grasping McKay's shoulder supportively, he asked, "Rodney?"

The scientist shrugged off his hand in irritation. "Leave me alone!" he snapped, refusing to meet Sheppard's eyes.

Before John could respond, McKay's pasty expression turned an unhealthy shade of green and his eyes widened. As the colonel reached for him again, the astrophysicist lurched to the side, clapping his hands over his mouth as he headed for the far wall. "Gonna be…sick…" He didn't quite make it before falling to his knees and emptying whatever little bile and acid was in his stomach, then dry heaving.

Sheppard had been on enough benders in college to know how Rodney felt to a degree, although he still didn't know why. Following as quickly as his splint would allow, he held Rodney's shoulders as he threw up, then handed him a canteen to rinse his mouth. McKay took it gratefully, then, after returning it, spent a few minutes on his knees with his head down just taking deep breaths.

After the worst had passed, Sheppard said quietly, "Is this your hypoglycemia? I had no idea that it could be so nasty. Is it always like this?"

Rodney started to shake his head, thought better of it, then just answered, "No, I usually stave it off before it gets to this point, especially since I started working for the SGC." Shooting the LTC a weak smile, he continued, "One thing about Americans; there's always food around!" He held his hand up to his face and studied its tremor. "I'd guess my blood sugar right now is somewhere between 50 and 60; I've had worse, but only once or twice since high school."

"Think you can stand?" Sheppard asked solicitously. When the scientist nodded, he wedged a hand under the man's arm and helped lever him up, which was quite a trick given his own current disability. "Look, I've got a nice, comfy wall over here that I'm willing to share…" Steering him away from the mess, the LTC half-guided, half-carried the ailing genius to the wall near the door, settling him on the floor before sitting down again himself. Rodney drew his knees up and rested his forehead on them, forcing himself to take slow, deep breaths.

It was several minutes before he felt up to saying anything, and his mouth was so dry he wasn't sure he'd get it out. "Water?" he croaked softly.

Fortunately Sheppard was listening for just such a request and, while he wished he had a Power Bar to offer along with it, proffered his canteen again. Rodney took it gratefully and sipped carefully until he was certain that the nausea had abated, then took several gulps in earnest. Sighing, he leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes as he returned the canteen. "Thanks," he whispered, "Better."

Sheppard, still feeling overheated, took a drink himself before he stoppered it. "Anything else I can do?"

"Not unless you've got some food stashed away somewhere…"

There was true regret in the colonel's reply. " 'Fraid not, but I will from now on."

" 's all right," Rodney slurred tiredly. "Glycogen stores start converting…blood glucose will rise on its own shortly. Maybe not to normal levels, but at least I'll be…functional."

Sheppard shrugged in studied nonchalance. "Don't sweat it. The rescue party will be here soon, we'll both get medical treatment, then we'll get out of here. When the scientific investigational team comes back, they can figure out how to raise those shields, extract the ZPM, and what that blasted button does!"

Rodney sat and stared glaze-eyed into the distance, as his legs felt like jelly. Still, his mind was beginning to recover; it could work while his body rebelled, although certainly not at full capacity. "All right, let's go over what we know," he reasoned aloud. Speaking always helped him focus his thoughts when he was exhausted. "That button is clearly important, as it is both prominent and hidden. In the last hour or so I've pretty well determined that it activates the 80 percent of that machine's power utilization that I can't otherwise account for. It's primary purpose seems to be the protection of this top-secret military research facility, but nothing observable occurs when we turn it on…" His eyes widened slightly as his brain geared up a notch. "Wait a minute. Nothing observable inside this building occurs - what if it is something outside? We wouldn't be able to tell from here…"

"You mean, like electrifying the metal plating outside?" Sheppard forcibly quelled the vision of Major Lorne, Teyla and the others becoming an impromptu barbecue at the inadvertent flick of a switch.

"Perhaps…" Rodney had a near-photographic memory, and lapsed into silence as he mentally replayed the series of trials, this time concentrating on any information that could be gleaned from sources outside the chamber. His eyes narrowed as a theory began to form.

"Colonel, what was it Major Lorne said the one time he contacted us?"

"That Teyla and Ronon were safe and they were bringing back a rescue party."

"No, no, before that." Rodney was snapping his fingers as he tried to recall the exact words. "They'd had 'a sudden freakish lull in the storm' that had allowed radio contact, right?" He turned his still-too-pale face towards the LTC. "You don't suppose…"

Sheppard followed the train of thought, but shook his head. "Nah, must've been coincidence. I mean, that's not even possible, is it?"

McKay quirked the corner of his lip in a half-smile and tilted his head. "You have to admit, it makes a heck of a defense - it got us, after all! Can you imagine what all that electrical energy would do to a Dart?" He struggled to his feet, where he swayed alarmingly for a moment.

"Why don't you sit back down and rest until the team arrives? There'll be plenty of time later to test your hypothesis." Sheppard was pragmatic, and really didn't feel up to catching the scientist if he passed out.

Distractedly the scientist replied, "No, no, I'm good. I just have to check this out…" So saying, he staggered back to console and reopened the front panel.

Sheppard sighed, closed his eyes for a long moment, then pried himself off the floor yet again. 'Stubborn idiot,' he thought, although he was truly uncertain if he was referring to himself or McKay. As he hobbled back to the Ancient device, he carefully observed as Rodney stood, rapt, listening to the remote sounds of the storm outside. After McKay was certain of the sounds he heard, he slowly reached forward and flipped the switch. Both men continued to listen intently.

Over the next sixty seconds the distantly howling winds and pounding rain abated, until there was complete silence. Catching Sheppard's eye, he flipped the switch again…instantly the far away cacophony resumed. Not quite believing it himself, Rodney repeated the procedure twice more, with the same results.

Sheppard narrowed his eyes, suddenly recalling their rescue party. "You don't suppose Teyla and the others…"

McKay waved aside his worries. "Oh, they've long since entered that tunnel they mentioned, I'm sure. Besides, I've hit that button at least a couple of dozen times between their check-in and now."

"Actually, I was thinking about right after radio contact…"

McKay's mouth opened into an 'O' as he tried to accurately recall the chain of events. "We did hit that button again just a couple of minutes later."

"I wonder how wet they'll be when they get here?" Sheppard mused. "You know, we might not want to tell Dex just what the machine does when he first arrives." A sopping-wet, angy Ronan Dex struck him as a 'bad idea'.

Rodney, clearly thinking the same thing, nodded his agreement. "And I'll make certain it's 'off' now, so leaving will be a lot more pleasant."

"Good idea." The room suddenly swam before his eyes, and it was McKay's turn to support him. He blinked to clear his vision, then focussed on the worried face of his friend.

"Sorry; guess the heat's getting to me." He tried to make light of the situation.

"It's not hot in here," replied the scientist, feeling his forehead with the back of his hand. "But I think you're running a fever…"

Sheppard snorted. "Fine pair of invalids we are."

McKay raised an eyebrow. "Speak for yourself; a couple of Power Bars and I'll be right as rain."

The colonel giggled disconcertingly. "Right as rain…good one."

Rodney stared at him as if he'd grown a horn in the center of his forehead. "You're delirious," he pronounced, looping an arm beneath his friend's shoulders. "Let's get you sitting down again."

"OK," replied Sheppard agreeably, and the pair staggered back to what John was beginning to think of as 'his wall'.

As he slid back down to his earlier position, he commented, "That really is an effective protection - the storm cuts visibility down to zero, makes safe navigation through the air nearly impossible, screws with sensors and communications, and can be turned off with the flick of a switch once an incoming craft has been identified as 'friendly'…I wonder if we could move it to Atlantis?"

"Probably not a good idea; we float on water, remember? This thing would probably sink us."

Sheppard pouted for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. 'S too bad though…"

Rodney, although still feeling rather ill himself, was anxious to see if he could extricate the ZPM now that the device was off. Catching the lieutenant colonel's rather glazed expression, he stared into his eyes to make certain he was understood. "I'm going back over there for a few minutes. You stay here and rest, all right?"

John nodded; he didn't have the strength to get up right now anyway. Apparently McKay was satisfied, for he nodded, stood, and headed back to the machine. Within seconds he was enmeshed within its internal components, only a residual tremor betraying his continued problem.

Despite his own weakness, Sheppard still kept one eye on the oblivious scientist until he was certain that McKay wasn't going to pass out, then he allowed himself to doze.

TBC…..

AN: Ooohhhh, they made it rain on Ronon and Teyla; I suspect that they will not be amused when they find out! Of course, they'll probably be too concerned about our heroes to care…