Stuck

Chapter 3

Rodney wearily lifted his watch and read the time: 4:40, Atlantis time. They had been in the transporter now for two hours. Periodically, they would take turns, calling for help on their headsets, only to receive cold silence in reply.

Both Rodney and Sonya were sitting down, each on opposite sides of the transporter. Rodney had been fiddling with the control panel for the last hour, but it was all wasted effort. His companion, her eyes wide with worry, had offered to help, but Rodney had snapped at her, and she had retreated to the far side of the small room.

"McKay? I have a question, but I don't want you to freak out, okay?" Sonya's voice drifted to him, and he glanced at the woman. She was slouched against the wall, her long legs bent at the knee. Her arms clasped her knees, and her backpack lay next to her.

Rodney nodded brusquely, his temper flaring at the insinuation that he would "freak out."

"Okay." She hesitated a moment, then asked, "Do you think this thing is air-tight?" Rodney noticed her face was lightly sheened with sweat.

Truth be told, Rodney had considered that question about an hour ago, but he didn't want to alarm Sonya. Because, truthfully, he thought maybe it was. This wasn't a machine made by union-workers down on Earth, but by the extremely advanced, technically outstanding Ancients. Rodney had major doubts that there was any defect to allow air to leak into the transporters. And he hadn't seen any kind of ventilation system, either. Nope….he was almost certain that the only oxygen on the transporter was from the air that was admitted when the doors opened. And they couldn't get the doors open.

He sighed deeply, then nodded his head in answer to her question. She paled noticeably, then asked the next, most obvious question.

"How long do we have?" Rodney had been pondering this question now for awhile, and he gave the only answer he had.

"Not long. Perhaps a few hours, if we don't talk too much, or move around." This time it was Sonya who nodded back, sinking back against the wall. Her face was thoughtful, her fear reflected only in her eyes.

God, he was hungry! And thirsty…what he would give for a sip of water. Rodney heard his stomach grumble as the thought of food crossed his mind. He almost snorted in disbelief; they were going to suffocate in a few hours, and yet his belly insisted on reminding him he could eat a horse.

He watched disinterestedly as Sonya glanced over at him, sighed, and then started rummaging through her backpack again. His eyes widened, however, when she tugged out a large water bottle (full!), a bag of chips, some kind of a sandwich, and oh my God! A plastic baggy full of Oreo cookies.

Rodney sat up straight, his attention riveted on Sonya. With a smile, she scootched over to him, opened the water bottle and offered him the first drink.

With a grateful, "Thanks," he grabbed it, taking two huge swallows. He nearly sighed with pleasure as the cool liquid slid down his parched throat. Suddenly, he opened his mouth, a large "urp" escaping. She laughed, shaking her head as he sputtered an apology.

"Don't drink too much," Sonya warned. "There's no bathroom around here, you know." Rodney only nodded his head, took one more swig, and handed the bottle back to Sonya. He leaned back against the wall as she took a swallow, paused, then another. As she replaced the cap, she opened the sandwich, breaking it in half.

"The sandwich is PB&J – strawberry – but I'm thinking you want the cookies?" she asked, reluctantly handing the full baggie over to Rodney.

"Where did you get Oreos?" he asked, his mouth full of black crumbs. "Wait – I don't care. Just – thank you," he added, cramming another cookie into his mouth.

They sat and ate in silence, staring vacantly at their surroundings. The water was in a large two-liter bottle, and when they had finished munching, they washed out their mouths with another swallow each. Rodney noticed that they had roughly half of a bottle of water, three cookies, half a sandwich and the bag of chips left. Not that they would need it, he thought ruefully. Still, Sonya repacked it carefully into her backpack.

A thought occurred to Rodney. "What else do you have in that thing?" he asked. She looked up at him, then plopped it down in front of him. She began pulling things out: the food first, then the flashlight. A small digital camera followed, along with some duct tape, a magic marker, some note paper and a pen, a rudimentary first aid kit, her Swiss army knife, a compass (a compass!), some spare batteries and a clean pair of socks.

"What on Earth do you need with all this stuff?" he asked incredulously. She glowered back at him.

"I was going exploring when we got stuck in this telephone booth," she retorted angrily. "You never know what you're going to run into around here."

Exploring? Didn't she realize how dangerous it was to wander around Atlantis? Even with all the new personnel, most of the city remained unexplored, at least by foot. Of course, there had been plenty of flyovers with puddlejumpers, and he and Radek had repeatedly studied the floor plans on the computer system. But, no one had actually entered many of the unknown sections of the huge city.

"I have another question," she said. Rodney only nodded, his attention on the items on the floor. "Instead of trying to fix this thing, can you send a signal or a message to…..Hey!"

Rodney had jumped up off the floor, his mind suddenly re-engaged on the problem. Of course! Send a S.O.S. But how..and to whom? He began pacing excitedly again, his brow creased as he took stock of their supplies. A digital camera…paper…marker..hmmmmm.

He stopped, reaching down to tug Sonya to her feet. "Okay, here's what I want you to do…" he said.

TBC