Title: Atlantis

Author: Tonia Barone

Rating: Teen

Spoilers: The Storm and a minor one for Poisoning the Well, possibly

Disclaimer: Not mine, mores the pity.

Notes: Major thanks to jakisbishlygay for the beta work. A lot of the dialogue in this is from the episode, making it not mine. Fair warning.

Summary: Of brainstorms, hurricanes and excited thinkers.

Radek absently nibbled on his thumbnail as he worked. They had little time before the storm arrived and they had yet to find a way to save the city. The so-called brainstorm meeting earlier had done nothing but aggravate McKay bring home the fact that this storm was impossible to avoid. This was bad. This was very, very bad. He was at a loss for what to do for the city. He felt like he was letting her down. The city had been so kind to them over their time there and seemed to especially have taken a shine to him. Pity he didn't have the gene so he could talk to Atlantis, she might have some ideas.

Pushing away from the desk, he stood and walked over to where McKay was working. "Anything?"

Rodney rolled his eyes, not even bothering to look up from his laptop. "Does it look like I have anything? Trust me, you'll be the first know if I find a way to save our collective ass."

Muttering implausible things for Rodney to do in Czech, Radek wished again that they had enough power for Atlantis to communicate with them. Ever since the time she'd shown him the text message, he'd been looking for ways to divert enough power for her to use in his spare time.

He freely admits that he has probably developed a disturbing attachment to the city, but she intrigues him. There's so much that she could show them, if only they had the power to do so. He really wishes there was a way to harness the power of the storm, perhaps using windmills as Major Sheppard suggested. Not that windmills would probably work; what did he know of hurricanes? He was from the Czech Republic, which was a good ways inland from any major body of water.

"You know, in the Czech Republic we don't have to deal with hurricanes," Radek commented. It was something he was very glad about, too. Why anyone would want to live in places where these occurred so often was beyond his understanding.

Rodney, of course, had to add his two cents. "Well we don't get that many in Canada, either." Ignoring Radek's sigh, he continued, "Unless they were called Hazel."

"Hazel?" Radek looked up from the PDA he was working on in lieu of a laptop.

"Hm. Forty years ago."

"That's interesting." There was something about this discussion that was poking at his mind. If only he could just grasp it…

"Not really." And so McKay kept typing. Radek wasn't even sure what he was working on any more. It could have been too interesting or Rodney would have snapped for him to be quiet. Never mind the fact that Radek himself could multi-task just as well as McKay. It was the principle of the thing.

"No, not really." Straightening from where he was leaning against a table, Radek put a hand on his hip, thinking. The poking in his mind was increasing in intensity. It was very annoying, yet at the same time it was almost soothing. Those weren't feelings that generally went together but there it was. If he didn't know it was impossible, he would almost think it was Atlantis trying to tell him something.

"I was once almost struck by lightning," Rodney said idly and suddenly Radek had it.

The constant poking, the pushing in his mind cleared. "Lightning?" /That's it/

Radek turned to find Rodney on the same page. The other man was rising, his chair rolling backwards and a look on his face that clearly said they were idiots for not thinking of it before.

"Come on, we need to tell Elizabeth," Rodney said as he started for the door, not waiting for Radek to follow. "There's gotta be lightning rods all over the city, right?"

Of course there are. Even the ones you call the Ancients didn't have enough power for me to keep the shield up constantly.

Rodney stopped in his tracks at the voice in his head. It was so beautiful, just like Major Sheppard had said. He'd never heard it before, but he knew this had to be Atlantis. /W-Why now/

He could hear her amusement and exasperation and could even imagine she was rolling her eyes at him. Because, Protector, you have never before opened yourself to me.

/Protector? Open myself? Wha--/ Rodney was beyond confused. Why did she call him 'Protector' and what was she talking about 'opening himself' to her?

"McKay?" Radek was looking at him worriedly so he raised a hand to signal him to be quiet for a minute.

"Quiet." /So you could always talk to me like this? Is this what Major Sheppard was talking about? Wow. / He could feel the grin creeping up on his face. This was way beyond cool.

Focus, Protector. I shall answer your questions later. Right now I need you to explain to the Leader about the lightning rods. The Engineer was right: if you could harness the power behind the lightning, you could give me enough power to activate the shield and protect us from the storm.

Rodney had already resumed his march to the control tower when he nodded, barely noticing Zelenka following behind him. "Right, right!" He glanced back at his fellow scientist. "If we can get enough power from the lightning, channel it into the generators maybe, we might be able to get enough to use the shield."

Radek nodded excitedly. "Yes, yes, but wouldn't the city have some means of grounding the lightning strikes? The presence of the lightning rods must mean that the shield wasn't always in use during the storms."

"At least not when it first started or when it was ending because the weather would obviously be less severe. Or maybe there are less powerful storm systems that pass by."

The halls act as conduits for the extra power the lightning strikes give. Also, there are four grounding stations: two are at the tips of the north and northwest piers while two more are where the southwest and southeast piers meet the south pier. They require a code to unlock and once that is done the only safe place for those who remain would be the central tower near the control room and the Doorway.

"Doorway?" It took Rodney a few seconds to realize A) she meant the Stargate and B) he'd said that aloud. Now Radek was looking at him funny, almost like pieces of a puzzle were coming together in his head. Rodney wished he'd share with the rest of the class and a few moments later he got his wish.

"She's talking to you?" Radek looked like someone had just told him they'd found a cache of ZPM's in the basement. "You can actually hear her? What's she sound like? Does she know what we need to do? What has she said? Does she have any ideas about how to use the naquada generators more efficiently? She's actually talking to you!" He was not jumping up and down like a giddy school girl about to meet Brad Pitt.

Okay, now Radek was getting ridiculous, and not a little scary. "Yes, yes, I can hear her and yes she's talking to me." Then he realized what that implied and turned an accusing look on his colleague. "How did you know about her?"

No way was Radek Zelenka, one of the smartest people in the city and the foremost engineer—after himself, of course—blushing. "I-I...um...that is to say...I might have had a...an encounter a few months ago. Just a minor one, really," Radek added when he saw the murderous look Rodney was giving him.

Rodney was just about to tear Zelenka a new one when Atlantis spoke up.

Protector, leave him be. All I did was show him a message on a nearby screen. If you remember, there were reports of a brief power drain in the wing he was working during the days you were with the Healer on Hoff. That was my doing, my wishing to convey my appreciation for his efforts in helping to revive my systems and in helping to protect you and the other Children.

/Fine, but I still don't get why you showed him even that and not, say, me. / Rodney wasn't pouting, but it was a near thing. Turning to Radek, he stabbed a finger in the shorter man's chest. "We are going to talk about this later."

"Yes, yes, fine, can we please continue now to Dr. Weir? I'm sure she would love to hear the good news." That said, Radek continued on to the control tower, jogging up the stairs with Rodney on his heels.

Rodney couldn't wait until this was all over when he could grill both Radek and Atlantis, but for now he had bigger things to worry about. Coming up alongside Radek as he reached Elizabeth, he asked, "What is the one thing keeping us from having shield?"