McKay pressed a few buttons on his data tablet, drummed his fingers impatiently on the desk for a few minutes, stared at the equipment in front of him then tried a few more taps on the screen. He scowled, looked around him for inspiration, then sighed in disgust.
"Problems?" Sheppard looked across in amusement.
"Ah – not really. It's just…" McKay's voice trailed off as his attention wandered. "…There." He pressed the screen a couple more times then grinned in satisfaction as the displays on the tablet and on the equipment screen in front of him glowed with colour and flashing displays of symbols and numbers.
"Very pretty," Sheppard observed. "But what does it actually do?"
"Ah, good question. I haven't quite worked that out yet," McKay admitted. He held out his hand to forestall his colleague's comments. "But I will, don't worry."
"I wasn't worried," Sheppard replied, going back to wandering around the room. He paused every so often to look at something that caught his attention.
"Ah – Major, don't touch anything, will you?" The request – order – was thrown back over his shoulder as McKay leant forward to examine more closely a part of the display that had caught his attention.
McKay was worried. Not that he'd ever admit that to anyone, least of all Sheppard; he liked them to believe that they could always rely on him to have the solution. Not that they believed that really, at least they said they didn't, but deep down inside McKay reckoned they were coming to rely on him and trust him. This was something new to him, and he was still only just coming to terms with it. It was flattering, yes, but it was also rather intimidating. So many times they had turned to him to pull a solution out of a hat and save their asses, and so far he'd always come through. But he wasn't superhuman – God knows, he was only too aware of that fact – and one day he was going to fail. Knowing him and the stuff he was working on, he had a nasty suspicion that he would fail spectacularly, and he just hoped with all his being that these people – his friends – would not get hurt in the process.
Which brought him back to his present dilemma.
He stared gloomily at the machine in front of him. It looked almost like a desktop computer, with a set of controls built into the desk area and a display screen above it. He was fairly confident by now that this was the machine. In fact, he even felt a vague glimmer of recognition as he looked at the controls. It was a strange feeling – remembering a dream, and yet becoming more and more convinced each passing minute that it had been more than a dream. He'd felt himself grow hot and embarrassed during the conversation with the others, when he had told them about the dream he'd had as a child, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt that it had been important to tell them.
Did he dare turn the machine on? He had absolutely no idea what would happen to him from the moment he operated it. He just knew what had already happened. What had to have happened, in order for him to be here in the first place.
"It's the grandfather paradox," he said under his breath.
"Excuse me?" Sheppard took a step towards him.
"No, stay back, Major," retorted McKay sharply. "I've absolutely no idea what will happen here. I only know it's got to happen because it did happen, and if it didn't happen I wouldn't be here, and now I wouldn't miss being here for all the world, and God knows what would happen to you all if I weren't here, so I've got to go. I just hope I get back…" and with that he twisted a control on the desk unit of the equipment in front of him.
"McKay?" What the hell are you talking about?" Sheppard frowned, trying to make sense of the excited scientist. "Where are you going, what happened, what…" his voice trailed off as he darted forward in a vain attempt to catch McKay before he hit his head on the desk on his way to the ground.
"McKay? McKay!" Sheppard laid his friend gently on the ground, then felt for a pulse with one hand while simultaneously tapping his earpiece with the other. "Medical team to north pier section five. We have a man down."