THE ELEDGIAS
CHAPTER TWENTY: RAGING AGAINST THE MACHINE
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He was gripping his hurt arm tightly, sharp pains shooting up and down the limb from shoulder to the tip of his thumb without remorse. It was bringing tears to Sheppard's eyes despite the gritted teeth and refusal to accept the fact that he was hurt.
He ran down the hall, trying to ignore the lights flickering and sputtering around him. The low hum of the generators powering this place grew and faded in a keening wail, as if the whole place was screaming in pain. He tried to stay central to the corridors, as every wall looked strained and fit to explode, tension cracks spitting out dust and metal fragments every which way, but he couldn't stay the course. He was forced to dodge and weave like a running back with the ball under his arm as chunks of masonry fell from the ceiling without warning or obvious pattern—it almost felt like they were aiming for him.
Finally, he saw the entrance to the room where he and Lorne and those others had found their missing people, and almost shouted out loud for the others, but then he heard it...
"No, no! Not that one, you idiot! Are you trying to finish bringing this place down on our heads? Or wake up more nasty surprises that could kill us all? I said move the red crystal! Yes! Well done. Christ, you two are about as dull as the scissors they use to cut Sheppard's hair!"
Sheppard skidded to a halt, his breath caught in his throat. Then he started to run, full tilt for the doorway, all pain forgotten. Even the earthquake wasn't important anymore.
"I don't have to take this," Ronon's voice answered darkly.
"You do if you want get out of here alive today, and to stop this from ever happening again, or to stop this place from shaking into a million pieces the next time it powers up by someone stepping on a stair!" McKay's voice snapped back. "So, if you don't mind, get back over by..."
McKay had trailed off, because Sheppard had skidded to a halt in front of him, staring wide eyed at the pale, shaky looking scientist. McKay stared back, his chapped, colorless lips parted slightly, before they pressed together tightly. He looked ill, as sick as Teyla had, his usually pale skin verging on green. The butterfly bandages on his head were half fallen off, no longer protecting the wound he'd gotten from the first earthquake, which was dirty and leaking a thin trail of blood. The blue eyes dropped, focusing back on the laptop screen before him, which was still attached to the console it had been attached to before—he was forced to use it because the datapad was destroyed.
"Colonel," McKay greeted curtly, fingers now typing away rapidly on the laptop, "I don't have time to explain but, obviously, I'm not dead. However, the power it took to make sure of that— combined with the demise of two of its androids—woke up the main AI, who is now fighting my carefully orchestrated sleep programs. It's pissed off, and, as maybe you could tell, its attempt to power up some sort of defensive measures is bringing this place down. So, I'd suggest you get the hell out of here. With that arm, you shouldn't be down here. Lorne and Ronon will see that I—"
With the speed of a rattler, Sheppard's good arm was over the console, hand grasping one of McKay's wrists fiercely, pulling the arm up. McKay squeaked a little at the rough treatment, but didn't fight as Sheppard's fingers dug deep into his wrist, right below the edge of the palm.
And found a rapid pulse beating away beneath the clammy skin.
The scientist's arm was trembling, the shake growing the harder Sheppard pressed. McKay finally grimaced as the pain of the grip registered, and tried to tug his arm away.
"I need that," Rodney implored tightly, weakly. "Please."
The colonel immediately let him go. McKay's trembling hands immediately returned to attacking the laptop's keyboard, blue eyes once more focused on the glowing screen—as if refusing to think about anything but what he was doing. It convinced the colonel, as much as feeling the heartbeat had.
"Okay," Sheppard growled, backing away from the console. "What do you need?"
Rodney shook his head. "For you to leave, so I can—"
"I'm not leaving. What do you need?"
McKay paused for a second, then frowned, and returned to typing. The blue eyes flickered up at him, then over to where Lorne was standing. "Go stand over by the major," he said.
Sheppard nodded, and walked over to where Lorne was standing next to a console. Ronon was over next to an exposed panel, arms crossed, staring down at it with a scowl.
And then McKay was barking out orders, which they followed without hesitation. They were moving crystals, cutting wires, shifting panel slides, rerouting conduits, while all around them the structure began to shake more violently, dust and dirt raining down softly on their heads. A high pitched wail emitted suddenly from somewhere in the distance, down one of the dark corridors, sounding like whatever was creating it was getting closer...
"That should do it!" McKay called, typing one more line of code into the laptop and hitting enter. When nothing happened immediately, he grimaced. "No, no, shut down. Shut down. Shut down. Shut down!" he repeated, hitting then enter key on the keyboard repeatedly and growling as it just beeped at him, ignoring the worried look Sheppard was giving him from across the room, the colonel unable to ignore the similarities to a different moment not that long ago on Doranda. The wail was so high pitched now, it was defeaning, and the whole room seemed to expand and contract around them—there was not time left for mistakes!
"Damnitalltohell!" McKay bellowed in a blur, typing in something else, hitting the enter key and slamming his fist against the console, which flared startlingly bright in response, "I said, SHUT DOWN!"
And it did.
It stopped, just like that.
It was so sudden, everyone in the room froze, staring around at the room in different directions.
Then McKay let out an enormous sigh and leaned over the console, bending practically in half and resting his head on his arms.
"Thank you," the scientist whispered, though whether it was intended for the other three men, for the eledgias, or for some higher power, who knew. Sheppard, Lorne and Ronon released their own pent up breaths, throwing relieved smiles to each other.
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All in all, the whole affair had probably only taken a few minutes, but it felt a hell of a lot longer. The room had powered down to complete darkness except for the pale light from McKay's laptop, now on battery power. The shuddering that had permeated everything, and the screaming siren that had come from nowhere and everywhere, had both come to an abrupt and silent end. As if they had never been.
Lorne and Ronon clicked on their flashlights, and they turned the beams to look around the room. McKay was still bent in half over his console, lit only by the sickly gray light of the computer screen, breathing heavily.
"Is it dead?" Sheppard asked, looking at Rodney from his position next to Lorne. He could only see the top of McKay's scruffy brown hair across the room, as the scientist's head was still buried in his arms.
"No," came McKay's muffled reply—he didn't look up. "But it won't come back on-line unless we want it to." He sighed again. "We can..." he took another shuddering breath, "We can go."
Sheppard nodded to Lorne, gesturing vaguely at McKay's discarded equipment on the floor. The major returned the nod, not needing to be told vocally as he once again set about gathering it up. Ronon walked over and helped for a moment, then watched as Lorne hefted McKay's pack and Teyla's P90 up on his back. Lorne sighed a little, then flashed his light around the quiet room, seeing Ronon watching him patiently while Sheppard was watching Rodney. Lorne grimaced—sensing Sheppard needed to talk with McKay alone for a moment.
"I'll, uh, I'll be just outside," the major told them, indicating the hall behind him.
Sheppard nodded at him, offering a grateful look.
Smiling faintly at Ronon, the major turned and headed out of the room. Ronon moved next, stepping towards the door to watch as Lorne disappeared down the black hall and came to a stop about twenty feet down, near a bend in the corridor, to wait. Then the former Runner turned and looked back at Sheppard.
"You need help?" he asked, the quiet man arching an eyebrow at the colonel. Sheppard had walked over to Rodney's side and was now standing just next to the scientist, who still hadn't moved.
"We'll be right behind you," Sheppard answered without answering, not looking up from his study of McKay's shaking form, the scientist still leaning over the console. Ronon just grunted an okay at that, then turned and left, not saying another word.
Sheppard glanced at the laptop screen, then reached over and turned it off. A moment later, he had the flashlight pulled out of his vest and pointed vaguely at Rodney, the light illuminating the curved, broad back. Rodney was still breathing heavily, the stretched material of his shirt wrinkling and smoothing as he sucked in and expelled air.
"Hey," Sheppard whispered, "Can you unhook the laptop? I'm sort of short a hand here."
Rodney shifted then, finally lifting his head from where it had been resting on his arms. He looked even worse in the pale white light of the single flashlight. Haggard and a little lost. Slowly, without a word, he straightened up to a sort of half-hunch and reached over to close the laptop. In a moment, he had it unhooked and held tightly to his chest, both arms wrapped around it, like a child's around a teddy bear.
"Ready?" Sheppard asked.
McKay nodded, closing his eyes for a moment, then opening them again. Sheppard stepped to the side, to indicate McKay lead the way.
"Thanks," Rodney said faintly. He took a step...and immediately fell into the console. He hunched a little more, letting it hold him up, his shoulders shaking. "Oh God," he whispered, one hand lifting to cover his face. "I don't feel...well...at all." He turned his head, glancing back at Sheppard, then shut his eyes again tightly as if even that hurt. "I can't...too dizzy..." The laptop started to slip, and Sheppard quickly stuffed the flashlight inside the sling in order to catch it.
"Lorne!" Sheppard called, pulling the laptop from the loose arms. McKay used his now free arms to prop himself up more on the console
The major was back in a second, followed by Ronon. Sheppard handed the laptop to Lorne, then he handed his flashlight to Ronon. The former Runner looked at him, confused, not sure why he was being handed the light. He obviously saw that McKay was going to need help moving, and had expected to be asked to support the man—since Sheppard was badly hurt himself.
"Don't you want me to—"
"I got him," Sheppard cut him off, reaching his right arm under McKay's and lifting McKay up to lean against his right side. Rodney grunted, but didn't fight the support, leaning into his friend.
"But," Ronon raised his eyebrows at Sheppard, "you're hurt."
"He ain't heavy," Sheppard told him, staring hard at the tall man. Lorne's lips twisted wryly, recognizing the famous song reference, but Ronon just looked more confused.
"But..."
"C'mon," Lorne interrupted, nudging Ronon. "He's got him. Let's go."
Ronon frowned, but didn't say another word, just handed back the flashlight to Sheppard, who slid it into his left hand, the weak fingers just able to grasp it enough to hold it. Lorne nodded at them and headed back to the door. Ronon hesitated a moment, then turned to follow the major. Sheppard sighed and, lifting Rodney up a bit more, started them moving towards the door. Rodney shuffled along, moving slowly, head down, one arm now around Sheppard's waist, the other pressed against his stomach.
"He's right," McKay whispered weakly, as they reached the threshold, "you're hurt and of course I'm heavy." He, clearly, did not get the song reference either.
"It's fine," Sheppard hissed back, already feeling the strain on his shoulder but, for now, not caring.
"Stupid. Ronon can—"
"I said, I've got you."
"Don't be an ass."
Sheppard gave a small smile, "Can't help it. Came with the hair."
McKay snorted a laugh. They were in the corridor now, about halfway down, and Rodney suddenly stopped, reaching out to lean against the wall, groaning miserably and calling out a weak, "wait." Sheppard let him go. Just to McKay's right, in a small recess, was another dead plant. McKay leaned into the wall above it...then threw up in the plant.
Sheppard chuckled—there were now two plants down here that had probably just gotten watered for the first time in over ten thousand years. Pulling out his flask, he handed it to McKay. The scientist took it gratefully, drank the water, and spit into the plant. Then he took another sip before handing it back.
Up ahead in the darkness, Lorne and Ronon waited patiently for them, the apertures of their flashlights open wide-enough to cast the whole ruined hallway in a pale, white glow.
A moment later, Sheppard had his arm under McKay again, and the two continued their forward shuffle.
"Thank you for that," McKay said softly, obviously embarrassed. Sheppard grunted. Rodney shook his head, "And...thank you for helping me."
"Don't thank me," Sheppard stated firmly, tightening his grip. "There's nothing to thank me for. I'm not going to leave you behind." He glanced askance at McKay, adding softly. "I already made that mistake with Teyla once. I'm not about do it again with my best friend."
Rodney glanced at him then, the first time the blue eyes had really looked at him since Sheppard had grabbed his wrist. A hint of a smile crossed the exhausted face, and he looked down again at his feet.
"Your best friend?"
Sheppard chuckled, "Yeah. I can be a bit slow sometimes."
McKay snorted, "Tell me about it."
Sheppard smiled again at that. "So...give me a little extra time next time, okay?"
Rodney snorted again. "Yeah, okay," he said softly.
"Thanks." And Sheppard shifted McKay up a bit higher, hissing as it strained his left shoulder. Damn thing was throbbing unmercifully now. It liked the sentiment...but hated the abuse.
Rodney had heard the faint hiss. "How's the arm?" he asked, glancing sideways at his friend.
"Hurts like a son of a bitch," Sheppard replied plainly.
"Good." McKay sounded very pleased at that.
Sheppard chuckled again, wishing he had a hand to dope-slap McKay for that one.
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TBC