There was no way, of course, for John and Elizabeth to know what was going on from their spots inside the simulation. All they knew was what they'd seen – they were the two remaining members of the Atlantis expedition.
"We've probably got enough supplies for a week," John told Elizabeth as he took stock of what was packed in the back of the Jumper. The little ship was sitting in high orbit over the planet, with neither of them quite sure what to do next.
"We should have called them over," Elizabeth said.
"What?"
"In the jumper bay. We should have made sure we were all in the same ship."
"If we'd spent another second on the ground, we would all have been dead."
"Right now, Rodney, Ronon, and Miller are dead. And we have no idea what's happened to the people who made it through the Stargate."
"I'm sure they're fine."
"Forgive me if that isn't entirely comforting! Don't you get it, John? With Atlantis gone, everyone who disappeared…"
"Yeah, I get it!" he shot back. "But with just this ship and a handful of MREs, there's really nothing I can do about it at this point. Right now, you and I have to figure out how we're going to stay alive!"
Silence reigned for a long moment. "It'll be another three weeks before the Daedalus returns," Elizabeth finally said. "They're only supposed to be leaving Earth now."
"So we're on our own for a few weeks. We'll ration our supplies."
"Can the jumper last that long?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, was it designed to be parked in space for a few weeks and still be able to function? They have to re-power in the jumper bay, don't they?"
"Yeah…we could shut down anything that's non-primary, lower the load for life support…it would be a little chilly in here, and the air would be a bit thin, but nothing worse than Colorado. It might be enough."
"Might?"
"Yeah."
Elizabeth considered that. "Or we could go to the mainland. We wait with the Athosians for the Daedalus."
"It's winter in the Northern Hemisphere," John reminded her.
"I know, and we're not exactly dressed for it, but hopefully they can help with that. They have to be told what's happened anyway." He nodded, moving to sit back down in the pilot's seat.
"Sounds like a plan."
Back in the real reality, everyone was beginning to recover from their ordeal, even as they worked to figure out what they were going to do with the city's leaders.
Ronon looked up from the lunch that the med team was forcing him to eat as Teyla came into the infirmary. "I heard that you were awake," she said as she came to his bedside. He sat up a little straighter.
"Yeah, I'm all right…How about you?"
"I am fine; I woke up in my quarters this morning."
"Good. When you disappeared – I mean when everyone was disappearing, we weren't sure if we were going to see them again." Teyla smiled, knowing what he was trying to say.
"We were concerned as well," she told him, "When you – and all the other residents of the city – would not awaken. I am glad you were not seriously injured." Ronon returned her smile. While he was distracted, watching her instead of his plate, she reached to grab a bit of food off of it.
"Hey!" he exclaimed, but Teyla just grinned.
"This, I believe, is called payback," she told him.
"You're stealing food off a sick man's tray?"
Teyla ate the item that she had snatched. "Yes," she replied simply.
John and Elizabeth's day wasn't getting any better. As they flew over the snow-covered shores of the mainland, they realized that the Athosian settlement wasn't visible. The Athosians had never been part of the simulation in the first place, but they couldn't have known that. The assumption was therefore made that they'd all disappeared already, and the deep snow was masking where their village had been.
"I think we've got a better chance of keeping life support tolerable if we're down here instead of up there," John said, aiming a finger skyward with the second part of his sentence. "It may be winter, but space is still colder."
Elizabeth nodded, watching as John brought the jumper down. "How many systems can we shut off?"
"Scanners, weapons, engines…I say we exhaust our supply of flashlights and batteries before we use the cabin lights." She nodded.
"We can deal with the dark." John started shutting off everything he'd mentioned.
"There are some extra jackets in the back; I'm going to bring the temperature down to about 5 degrees C." Elizabeth stared.
"Are you serious?"
"We might have to drop it lower later; be glad we've got the extra jackets." She went to look, and returned with the garments a moment later.
"Reminds me of Antarctica," Elizabeth said as she sat back down, looking out the window. John nodded.
"Yeah…I wouldn't mind McMurdo at the moment…"
They'd each been lying on one of the narrow benches in the back of the jumper when they went to sleep that night, but by morning, they'd both wound up on the floor instead. It was impressively cold, even with their thermal blankets. "What time is it?" Elizabeth asked, noting the fact that she could see her breath when she talked.
"About nine o'clock," John replied. "I guess this is one morning that you won't be yelling at me for being late to morning briefing." Elizabeth sat up, frowning.
"I don't yell, John."
"Okay, fine. But you have a way of giving people a look that carries volume with it," he replied.
"Comes with the territory. It's useful when trying to get stubborn diplomats to attempt working together…or trying to get inherently late pilots to wake up a few minutes earlier." John rewarded her with his patented flyboy grin.
"Are you hungry?"
"Should we eat now or save it for later?"
"We skipped dinner yesterday, so I think breakfast will be all right."
Elizabeth nodded. "All right, what's on the menu?"
TBC...