Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator
McKay finished entering a command into his data pad. Lurch, Bama's new name since he heard him speak the previous evening, stood by not paying attention to what he was doing as long as he was doing something. PJ had kept only a few imposters around, just enough so McKay could bark out orders to bring him a tool or a crystal so he could reconnect the uranium PU-36 explosive space modulator to the shield generator.
In addition, he let one ashen assistant- apparently the word explosive made him nervous- know that there was nothing to fear unless the modulator came in contact with the system's reserve of Illudium Phosdex. A highly volatile substance that Rodney was only too happy to point out he was holding it in his hand. The guy almost dropped the canister of salve the doctor had given him the night before.
"Are you trying to kill us all you bumbling idiot!" Rodney yelled.
The young man clutched the canister and placed it gently down on a table.
Way too easy.
The exchange even made Lurch nervous. That was definitely rewarding.
"Am I surrounded by complete idiots? The yellow dye No. 5 in the outer casing will counteract any chain reaction by the Phosdex. Also, the modulator needs a power source to work. Did any of you scientists," he let his S's hiss, "go to school?"
He stormed out of the lower lab and back up to the main lab with Lurch in tow. He continued to mumble insanely to himself. "If it blocks the view of Venus, just blow it up."
He stopped short and faced Bama. "I'm going to need the eyeball twins to transfer power to the generator. They are the key to all of this."
Lurch just stared back blankly. McKay shook his head in exasperation. "The chair will be needed to return Col. Sheppard to normal and then I will use it to boost the field strength and molecular cohesion of the crystalline constructs within the main power matrix. The twins will keep the matrix within normal parameters and send command frequencies to the shield ." Yep, storyteller in his next life.
Once at the console, he continued with programming code and instructions into the mainframe. He entered one last inquiry and the elusive answer popped up. His whole plan would be for naught if he could not find it. Then he hid it in plain sight so when PJ came behind him to see how things were going…The computer would say just peachy and look, he's the answer to all your problems. Everything was ready to go.
His schematics for the connection of the generator to the lab's power source were impeccable. They would work too if he could find a way around the virus. If he had more time, he could have. The virus was so entrenched, not even a complete shut down and wiping would clear it. Isolating it was useless, the entire network was infected. It was too bad for the rest of the inhabitants of the planet. He had a plan to help with that if PJ had the resources. Not his problem though. His problem was wasting away upstairs from what he gathered from other assistants.
"I will make my final adjustments to the generator and that should do it until tomorrow." McKay stood up and walked back out into the hall. When he entered the stairwell, voices carried down.
"Doctor! It's the Atlantean, something's wrong."
Oh hell.
Rodney froze. Not a minute later, the obscenity ran down the stairs. "Papa Jae wants him."
Double hell.
He sprinted up the steps leaving Lurch and the obscenity in his dust. McKay entered his little room to the sounds of wheezing coming from the bed.
"What have you done? He's in anaphylactic shock!" No, no, no, no. This was not happening. OK, now he was going to freak out. The plan was set. Tomorrow Sheppard, we're leaving tomorrow!
"Dr. McKay," Dr. Hallidy addressed him making him focus. "I have nothing for this. Do you have any suggestions?"
He was sure it would have been him first. Not Sheppard, never Sheppard. There was nothing in the first aid kit. He would have to talk to Beckett about adding an antihistamine or epinephrine…
The answer came to him, his epi-pens. "In my gear, my vest, are syringes they'll counteract what ever you gave him." Hopefully.
Less than three minutes later one of the assistants ran back in with the vest. He grabbed it and pulled out his little saviors. A big thick hand grabbed his wrist and took them away.
"Dr. McKay, these will help him?" PJ asked with a coldness that was reserved for only the truly evil.
"Yes."
Dr. Hallidy gaped at his friend. "Jae, let him administer those."
"Dr. McKay, what else have you been up to in my lab?"
"Nothing!"
Jae dropped one of the pens and crushed it with his size 16 boot. Or that is what it looked like to Rodney next to the slender tube.
"What are you doing?" McKay yelled.
"Jae!" Dr. Hallidy made a move for the pen a only to have Bama hold him tight.
"I think Col. Sheppard is running out of time doctor. What else have you been doing?"
"Connecting the shield generator to the lab's systems! Please let me give him that."
The crush of the pen made Rodney gawk in horror.
"I believe there is only one other form of treatment left to him." It was a cold malevolent smile worthy of a flashlight under the chin.
His heart sank. "The chair." He could not believe he was even suggesting it. Sheppard did have to go into it again but not like this. Rodney would not be able to effectively control the situation. "The chair will stabilize him."
PJ seemed to enjoy the induced irony by the smug look on his face.
"Chair?" Dr. Hallidy asked while still looking at Jae with revulsion.
"You'll see. The cure is worse than the ailment," spat Rodney. And that was saying something.
Sheppard was lifted up by the entourage in the room and carried out. The wheezing continued as the limp rubber chicken like body was carried down the stairs, through the office and into the lab. Rodney and the doctor followed behind with Lurch as their escort .
They placed him in the chair, but before Rodney could give any directions, the chair went into an automated diagnostic program. The probes inserted through the tunic. Hallidy flinched as Sheppard's eyes opened. He stepped up to the machine.
"Jae, what have you done?"
The monitor showed his biometrics and a prompt flashed.
PJ stood next to the control panel. "Dr. McKay?"
"Jae!" Hallidy said forcefully. "What game are you playing? That man is in need of help."
Jae ignored him. "Dr. McKay? No more stalling. You've been up to something. I've been watching you." He smiled. "What game are you playing?"
Rodney glared; he snorted; he denied.
"Is my generator ready?"
"Yes, check the computer…after you…" Rodney swallowed, "help him."
"Of course dear boy." He pressed the prompt.
The chair took care of the rest. It eased the reaction with an injection into the new port. A new prompt flashed.
PJ looked up from the screen and leveled his gaze at McKay. "But what else Dr. McKay? What have you been up to?"
"Fixing your shield."
"No, I think not." He hit the prompt that loosely translated to punishment.
Sheppard convulsed, wide awake and quite aware.
"Oh God! Stop!" McKay shouted.
"Jae! This is madness! You must stop." Hallidy stepped forward. "Jae, I've known you for 40 years. We've been friends, raised children, and mourned the loss of loved ones in those 40 years. Our survival isn't worth forfeiting others."
He pressed the prompt again and Sheppard went slack. The only sound was his breathing.
"You're wrong Garner. We've all worked too hard. We've all sacrificed too much. Our survival is worth the loss of one or…" he looked at McKay as he said, "…two."
Hallidy saw another command flashing on the screen. "What's that one do?"
PJ addressed Rodney, "Why don't you tell him Dr. McKay?"
He stepped up to the monitor. "Return all functions to normal."
Bama immediately pulled him back.
"Dr. McKay, what is your plan?"
He looked over at Sheppard, then back at Papa Jae. And he sighed.
"But what else Dr. McKay? What have you been up to?"
Whatever the chair had injected into him released the parking brake on the Mack. He really liked that pesky little breathing thing. He would have been a little happier if he was not a shish kabob.
He scanned the alcove. Rodney was here and scared, Brando, of course, Bama, Burly- still wearing soup- and an older gentleman. He was not happy at all.
Brando talked to Rodney and the old guy talked to Brando and Brando pressed something and Sheppard felt the current light every nerve ending on fire. When it stopped, he tried to catch his breath and listen to the happenings in the room.
He heard Brando question McKay about his plan. He heard the old guy try to reason with Brando. He really liked that guy. He heard McKay's overly dramatic sigh. He watched those eyes dart around the room. He had to fight not to smile.
McKay was about to lie his ass off.
"You're right Papa Jae, I do have a plan."
Brando looked superiorly at Sheppard while he talked to McKay. "Not going to blow anything up are you? Wouldn't dream of destroying our little ol' planet while trying to complete your task?"
McKay feigned shock for a second.
"Didn't know Col. Sheppard revealed your over zealousness and the resulting catastrophe did you? Not planning anything similar are you?"
Sheppard watched proudly as the seed bloomed and Rodney caught on and rolled with it.
McKay gave a stricken mortified expression to Sheppard then to Brando. "I was going to set the PU-36 to overload. Remove the yellow dye no. 5 and allow the Phosdex to intermix in the system. It's on a timer set for tomorrow." He looked at the floor. "All I ask if you don't want a planet destroying explosion is…" he paused for effect, "to return the Colonel to normal."
"Do not, I repeat, do not threaten me or make demands."
"Jae let them go," pleaded the old guy.
With an angry glare, Brando hit something else on the monitor. Sheppard's brain lit up.
And tonight, Helen Keller will be played by John Sheppard.
He was a pinball wizard- deaf, dumb and blind. Rodney would definitely agree with the dumb part. Then sight and sound returned.
"Damn it!" McKay yelled. "Stop this. Just give him his voice back…please. Tomorrow, I'll show you how to power the shield generator without it exploding."
"You're right Dr. McKay, it's late. I think Col. Sheppard has had enough. We will continue this converstion tomorrow."
Before Rodney could protest, the old guy spoke up again, "Jae, then I'm a loss of one."
Before anyone could stop him he hit the reset button.
A painful tingle went through the left side of Sheppard's head and his cry was heard throughout the lab. It left and McKay was at his side.
He looked at Rodney. There was only one thing to say.
"When."
A/N: Thank you Krysalys for the epi-pens. I don't know if they are fanon or canon but when mentioned in the review, the bunnies went crazy. Well, you see the results. I told you the reviews help, they catch the answers to questions that I haven't even asked. ; )