Chapter Two
Inside the waiting puddle jumper, Ronan and Teyla sat quietly talking among themselves while John wore a trench with his pacing outside the jumper bay. A burst of static in his ear stopped him in his tracks, proceeded by the disembodied voice of one of the male techs over his radio.
"Jumper One, this is control, you're all clear for a go."
John tapped his earpiece on to reply, "Copy that control, but ah, we've been delayed."
"Jumper One, this is Weir, what's the hold up?" The radio crackled again.
"The hold up? That would by McKay." John ground out the words. Despite having told the doctor to be there an extra half hour earlier than the others, he still hadn't arrived. "It's unbelievable, no matter what I tell him he's always late." Unable to stand still any longer, he started retracing his steps up and down the side of the jumper, stealing another glance at his watch.
"What's his excuse today?"
"As soon as he gets here that'll be the first thing I ask him. Apparently Dr. McKay has neglected to turn his radio on this morning." John fumed. "If he's not here in the next five minutes I'm leaving without him."
Just as the words left his mouth the bay doors opened to admit the missing scientist, struggling to balance the data pad that seemed permanently fixed to his person in one hand, the coffee flask and a couple of the distinctive brown paper bags too many of their meals came from, in the other. He was completely oblivious to the dark mood hanging over the jumper bay, or that he was walking right into the middle of it.
"Scratch that search party, he's finally here."
Strolling casually up to the ramp of the back hatch, engrossed in whatever the display on the screen was showing him, he didn't seem to be in any hurry, but eventually had to look to see where he was going when he found the way into the jumper was blocked by an angry scowl on the face of the man stood before him.
"Good morning, Colonel. All ready I see?" He'd even smiled with his greeting, trying to bypass him, still not aware of the other man's bad mood.
Inside the jumper, the conversation had died as the two occupants turned in their seats on hearing their missing team mate had decided to join them after all. Both remained quiet not wanting to get caught in the cross fire if things between the two men outside came to a head.
John really didn't want to start the day with a fight so being as cordial as he could, asked, "Rodney where've you been?"
"Humm? Oh, I had to stop by my lab to grab a few last minute things and then I went to the mess, you know I woke up this morning with an overpowering craving for those little eh..." He tilted his head up slightly casting his eyes towards the ceiling, searching for the the word that eluded him, "...damn, I can never remember what those things are called, but you'll know the ones I -"
Having heard enough of Rodney's inane ramblings, John snapped, "Ahh, do you know how long we've been waiting for you? I told you yesterday we were due to leave more than forty five minutes ago. I'm not just making conversation, I tell you these things so you'll be here on time."
"I've had things to do." He protested in a slightly whiny voice, "I might need the things I had to get in my lab."
"Then why didn't you get them last night when you had plenty of time to fuss with them?"
"You know, I don't see why we have to leave at such ridiculously early hour anyway."
"Rodney, its 0945."
"Well do you really expect me to gate off to some unexplored planet, not knowing when we'll get our next meal, without having a decent breakfast to start the day?" His arguments were getting weaker and he knew it. It wasn't like he intended to be late, he was a very busy man with things that needed his attention every minute of the day.
"Everyone else on this team finds the time, you can do the same. Now unless you've got a turkey sandwich in one of those bags, in which case I'll ask you to hand it over, get a move on and get in the damn jumper."
Defeated and feeling slightly deflated, Rodney sulked his way to his usual chair behind the pilot's seat, stashing his edible goodies away before anyone got any ideas about sharing and went back to working on the screen of the data pad. Realizing he hadn't even looked at Teyla or Ronon, he spared them a fleeting glance, muttering a, "Morning," their way.
Sitting across from him Ronon stared back, "Well it's about time."
Before he had managed to fix a snarky look on his face, John walked between them to take his place at the controls now the hatch was closed, eyes warning as he looked at the scientist, "Can it Rodney."
Assessing what was best for his health, he decided to comply.
The slight touch of his finger bringing the radio to life again, John spoke, "Control, this is Jumper One. We're all set to go. Dialling the gate now." Giving Teyla a nod of the head, she made ready to put his words into action.
In the control room Elizabeth hid her small smile from the personnel dotted around their work stations and made her way back to her office. Rodney's antics were getting worse, she made a mental note to have a word with him before he drove John up the wall. Any further up the wall she corrected herself. Before she could get over the threshold, into her office she heard the lilt of a Czech accent call to her across the room. Doctor Zelenka followed, rounding the corner, nearly crashing into her.
"Dr Weir, I'm sorry, I did not see you there." He moved anxiously from one foot to the other.
Elizabeth put up her hands to steady the man. "That's all right Dr. Zelenka. Was there something you needed?"
"Actually I was looking for Rodney. He's not on the radio, and he wasn't in his lab, I thought I might find him here." He gave a small shrug then used a finger to slide the bridge of his glasses back up his nose.
"He's just about to leave on a mission with the rest of his team."
" Of course, of course. I remember now, he mentioned something last night about a planet with missing people? Very strange." He shook his head as the memory came back to him.
"I trust isn't a matter of great urgency?" She had to ask. Sometimes she couldn't tell when the scientist was panicking or just excited.
"On no," He assured her smiling, "just a project we've been working on. I think I may have made some progress. I had hoped to go over the results with him before he had to leave."
"Well he should have a few minutes to spare before the jumper leaves, I'm sure Colonel Sheppard will patch you through." She gave him a quick smile, ending the conversation and headed again for her office.
"Thank you Dr. Weir." Zelenka called to her retreating back. He moved to an unoccupied console at the back of the control gallery that over looked the gate room and taking a seat, proceeded to use the comm to hail Jumper One.
Colonel Sheppard's voice drifted back to him over the radio. "This is Jumper One what can we do for you Radek?"
"Colonel Sheppard, would it be possible to speak with Rodney. It will only take a minute."
"Sure thing. Rodney, it's for you."
Radek could hear aggravated movement inside the jumper as Rodney struggled to get up from his seat to make his way to the receiver at the front of the little ship, he'd had his pack balanced on his knees, his data pad resting on top of that and a half a sandwich in his hand. Then what he thought sounded like, "Everybody wants a piece of me." muttered under someone's breath, float over the radio.
In response to Rodney's struggles John arched his head back from his position in the pilot's chair to look at him and drawled, "Why don't you just put your headset on Rodney?"
Rodney froze half way up from his seat. "Right, headset, yeah." After another minute of rustling he settled into his chair again, headset firmly in place over his ear. "This is Dr. McKay."
The one and only Radek thought to himself, thank God. "Rodney, it's Radek. I thought you would like to know, I've made some progress on our research. The results of the simulations indicate the modifications will be successful. That is of course if we can isolate the correct command pathways and disable the current settings. I can forward my findings to your data pad if you like?" He was already bringing up the relevant data on the laptop in front of him.
"Yes, yes, I've got it here." There was a pause as the information was sent and then, "Very good Radek. We should be able to start running some live tests as soon as I get back."
Down in the room below, a surge of power droned through the ancient circuits and began to light up the cheverons on the stargate. The explosive vortex spat out and sucked back in, leaving the smell of ozone in the air.
Surprised at the compliment, Radek asked, "How long do you think you will be gone? I could begin experimenting now..."
"No, wait until I get back. After all you may need my personal experience and expertise, during the course." Rodney allowed himself a moment smug satisfaction that he was the only person it had previously worked for. Then continued, "As for how long we'll be, I suppose it all depends on if the natives have come back or not."
The jumper was being lowered in front of the open gate, the final preparation before launch. A thought occurred to him then. "Radek, are you in the control room?"
"Yes."
"Good, I left the link to the MALP's camera activated yesterday. Access the program and take a look for me. See if there's anyone in the immediate area."
His fingers moved nimbly over the keyboard, doing as Rodney had directed, seconds later a window appeared on the screen, the image blurred and splattered before coming into focus, displaying the vista of an alien world. A large town lay sprawled out in a luscious green valley, clear blue skies above, the perfect summer's day. From this view he could see that while one section of the city was planned and built with care, most likely the more affluent sector, the rest was disorganised and looked as though it had been thrown together without any thought. He couldn't glean much more detail, but doubted that this was the type of advanced, friendly, civilisation they had all hoped to stumble across.
"At least you have good weather." He informed the team in the jumper. Panning the camera around now he caught his first glimpse of the inhabitants of this planet. Two men ran past, heading for where Radek assumed the gate was. Following them as the camera turned more people came into view, also headed for the gate. Moving back to the radio mike he said, "Well Rodney, you'll be able to find out where they all were yesterday, there appears to be several locals in the area."
"Do they look friendly Doc?" This time it was Sheppard that spoke.
"They don't look particularly threatening Colonel, maybe a little shocked. It is possible they aren't used to seeing the stargate being activated." Radek advised
"I guess I shouldn't show off my fancy new manoeuvring techniques just yet then? A demonstration in the skills of my aerodynamic mastery too much for first contact? Better easy them into it, start off slow, we can do that tomorrow when we're all friends."
"That would probably be wise Colonel." Radek thought the Colonel was spending a bit too much time with Rodney, that last remark was a bit more conceited than what he was used to hearing from him. "Good luck. Rodney, I'll see you when you return."
Rodney didn't get the chance to reply as the jumper shot through the event horizon to the other world.
Glancing back at the image still being sent through the MALP, Radek noticed that the camera had continued to spin and was now directed at a large group of people crowded around something that was blocked from sight. Just then he saw Jumper One shoot up and out from amid the group of people as though it had erupted up from the earth, then banking hard to the left to avoid hitting a beam connected to the crane that was sat to the side, towering over the people. The surprise at seeing the ship flying out of the gate sent the people scattering, exposing what was definitely the alien gate lying horizontally on the ground. Hitting the controls Radek zoomed in to get a clearer picture. As the horde dispersed to a safer distance, something else now caught his attention, but surely not, it couldn't be want he thought it was. Quickly adjusting his glasses he peered closer to the screen, then the space cleared around where he looking and there was no mistaking it. Like a scene from The Wizard of Oz, sticking out from where the stargate lay, were a pair of booted feet. Radek swallowed hard, something told him whoever the feet belonged to, wasn't in need of vanquishing. Before he could do anything else the shimmering puddle sparked out, terminating the visual link and surely the life of the man under the gate with it.
For a second, all Radek could do was blink at the blank screen. He looked to check that all the telemetry had been recorded. The flashing red button told him it had. Thank goodness, he didn't think he'd been able to reiterate what had happened so well. Now he had to raise the alarm. Without even bothering to stand, he bellowed in a manner quite unbecoming of him in the direction of Wier's office, "Dr. Weir, Colonel Sheppard is in big trouble!"