Disclaimer: SGA - not mine, don't sue! For fan enjoyment, not profit….
AN: You know, 'Out of Phase' is right; this isn't so much a "tag" anymore than a full-blown story. I guess there was more left out of the episode than I realized. I think the producers said to themselves, "OK, Amanda Tapping's bathing suit scene is over; let's wrap this up!" Why would a shuttle Zelenka repaired crash, anyway? Hmmmmm…..
Decompression - Take 2
By Kerr Avon
"What do you mean, 'disappeared'?" Rodney lunged over the communication officer's shoulder and began poking at the board. His forehead sported a clean bandage, beneath which could be seen a livid, multicolored bruise.
"I mean, disappeared. As in 'gone', 'vanished', and 'missing'." The younger man managed to forcibly elbow McKay away from his instruments so he could take further readings.
"What seems to be the problem?" Doctor Weir suddenly materialized beside them.
The soldier became businesslike. "Ma'am. Colonel Sheppard's Jumper was flying up the coast of the mainland when suddenly we received a few seconds of an automated distress beacon, after which it disappeared from our sensors."
Elizabeth edged in to get a closer look. "Where was the dropout point?"
"Here, ma'am." The man pointed to the grid.
"Hmmm. That's pretty far from the settlement. Have you tried contacting them by radio?" She studied the map carefully.
"Yes, ma'am. No reply."
"Well, keep at it. And have Major Lorne report to my office." So saying, she walked that way herself, deep in thought.
McKay straggled after her like a confused puppy. "They can't have crashed. That repair job was perfect!"
She turned to face him. "Well, they dematerialized from our sensors after a brief distress call, just like you did. They can't be reached by radio, just like you. At that time Zelenka swore that the repair job was fine, just like you do now. What do you suppose happened if they didn't crash?"
Rodney stood gulping like a beached fish, for once at a loss for words. "I…I'm not sure…"
There was a knock on the doorframe. "You wanted to see me, Ma'am?" asked Major Lorne.
Turning her attention to the new arrival, she answered, "Yes, Major. It seems that Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Zelenka have gone missing; the control room can give you their last known coordinates."
Lorne's eyes widened in surprise. Recent events with the Gate made one ugly possibility immediately spring to mind. "Could it have been sabotage?"
McKay jerked up as he jumped on the concept. "Hey, that's right! Who's to say that there weren't two Goa'uld infiltrating this base?"
"That's just supposition. Right now, our priority is to rescue our people. Rodney, I want you to accompany Major Lorne to the mainland." Weir put a quick halt to the theorizing.
The scientist was outraged. "Me? Why me?"
"Because I want my best people on this, and you're the best. You say so yourself, regularly." As Weir continued, Lorne put a hand over his mouth to hide a smile. "Also, I want to minimize the number of personnel involved, just in case your suspicions are correct. It would be quite a…coincidence otherwise." She stared him in the eyes and brought out the big guns, "Zelenka was there for you; are you refusing to be there for him?"
Barely mollified, Rodney huffed, "All right, all right, I'll go. He just better appreciate it! I'm an injured man, you know."
Weir watched their retreating backs, murmuring, "He might be now, too."
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"Oh, my head. Now I know what Rodney felt like…" Sheppard groaned and put a hand to his face, encountering something wet and sticky. Pulling his hand down, he stared at the bright red uncomprehendingly for a moment before he realized it was blood. "Oh, great, I'm bleeding," he muttered in disgust. Carefully feeling around, he noticed a lump above his right eyebrow with what felt like a cut in its center.
His next thought was for the other occupant of the craft. "Hey, Doctor Z, are you all right?" he called out. Silence answered him, so he carefully maneuvered himself so he could examine the rest of the compartment. For an irrational moment he thought he was alone, until he noticed the crumpled pile of tan and blue against the far bulkhead. Standing slowly so he wouldn't pass out, John groaned, "Aw, nuts. You didn't strap in like I told you to."
The ship was sloped slightly towards the rear hatch and towards the right, but didn't shift as he made his way gingerly over to the limp form of the scientist, and gently shook his shoulder. "Radek, you in there?" When the other man didn't reply, he pursed his lips grimly and felt the Czech's neck for a pulse. The breath he was holding exploded out of him in relief when he felt the heartbeat bounding strongly against his fingertips.
"Whew. You had me going for a minute there. Ok, let's see what's wrong with you, shall we?" Carefully rolling his unconscious companion onto his back, he noticed a large lump on his forehead. His hand reflexively going to his own, he commented, "Well, matching injuries. We can have cots next to each other in the infirmary. At least yours isn't bleeding." He checked the body carefully for other injuries, but found only bumps and bruises. His right ankle seemed somewhat swollen, but didn't appear broken. Shrugging out of his own jacket, he folded it up as a makeshift pillow and tried to settle Radek in as comfortably as possible.
"OK, me next." Finding the first aid kit, he pulled out a metal mirror and examined his face. Blood was oozing out of a laceration just above his right eyebrow. He broke out some gauze and saline, and set about cleaning and dressing it. Once he was satisfied with the result, he set the kit aside.
"Alright, next job is finding out what systems are still working." Making his way back to the pilot's seat, he eased himself down and started his assessment of their status. "Power, check. Communications, negative." He vaguely remembered activating the automatic distress beacon just before impact, so he checked to see if that was still operational.
"Huh. That's not running either." His evaluation was interrupted by a groan behind him as Dr. Zelenka began to regain consciousness.
Moving back to the injured man, Sheppard knelt and tried shaking his shoulder again. "Hey Radek, you with me yet?"
The scientist mumbled something in Czech, then blinked open his eyes. Staring at the ceiling, he uttered a curse then commented dryly, "So we have crashed despite Dr. McKay's supervision?"
Startled, John chuckled, much to the dismay of his throbbing skull. "Yeah, I guess so. Are you all right?"
"I think so." Zelenka took mental inventory, and concluded, "Just a concussion." He began to look around the jumper, and his eyes widened fearfully. "Why is it so dim in here? We're not…sinking, are we?"
Sheppard dismissed the thought instantly, although he did have to admit that the ambient light was not what one might expect for midday. "Nah, the last thing I remember is plowing this sucker into a long stretch of beach. If we're in the water at all, our maximum depth is probably 12 inches." Standing, he held out a hand to help Zelenka to his feet. As he stood, Radek's face suddenly contorted in pain and he sat again heavily, grabbing his right ankle.
"Owwww…that hurts."
"Let me see." Sheppard pried Radek's hands away from his ankle and reexamined it. The swelling had increased quite a bit from his initial inspection, but it still didn't appear broken. "Just a bad sprain," he concluded. "I saw an Ace wrap in the medikit; we'll wrap you up until Beckett can get a look at it.
A few minutes later the ankle was wrapped. "Let's see how well you can stand, then." Using both hands, he helped the injured scientist to his feet.
Zelenka leaned heavily on the pilot for support, grimacing as he tried to put weight on the right foot.
"It is better, but…" he began.
"You can't walk on it. Let's get you up front where you can run a systems check, then I'll try to jury-rig a crutch out of something."
Zelenka nodded breathlessly, and the pair hobbled up the slope to the front of the craft.
Once they reached the front, Sheppard found himself trying to look outside. The part of the windshield he could see through showed vistas of clouds accumulating in a previously-blue sky. The windshield, however, was mostly covered in…something. Whatever it was, it was clearly small, granular, and piled up in apparent drifts, more on the right side than the left. The far right half of the windshield was completely obliterated, accounting for the lack of light. Staring at it intently, John began, "And that stuff is…?"
"Sand. Lots of sand." Zelenka sighed and looked vaguely ill as he felt behind himself for a seat.
The light went on for Sheppard. "Sure! When we plowed into the beach, we must have thrown up tons of the stuff! Huh; we must have canted sideways a little as well."
"That is unfortunate. Our external communication relay is on the right side of the ship. We will probably not be able to contact Atlantis." Zelenka sighed again and sat heavily as he found the copilot's chair.
"Well, I'm sure they'll be out looking for us pretty quickly. We just need to sit tight and see what systems we can get up and running." So saying, Sheppard resumed the pilot's seat.
Peering out the window, Radek concluded, "Depending upon how much sand is over us, this ship might be difficult to spot from the air."
"Nah, I don't think so. We must've left a trench a mile long! A straight line like that is sure to draw somebody's attention.
"Yes of course. You are right. Let me see what controls I can access." Retrieving his laptop from where it had landed against the front console, he was gratified to hear the Windows XP startup wave file as the machine booted up.
"Takes a licking and keeps on ticking," snorted Sheppard.
Zelenka looked up at him owlishly. "I am sorry? Is something ticking?"
"Didn't you ever see that series of Timex commercials?"
Zelenka stared blankly.
"You know the ads." Sheppard smiled deprecatingly. "They have this watch on a baseball bat, or in a vacuum cleaner, or on the wrist of a cliff-diver, after which they show the watch still working and say, 'takes a licking but keeps on ticking'."
Zelenka glanced at his wrist. "I am not wearing a watch?"
Sheppard sighed, rubbed his pounding temples, and turned his attention back to the control console. "Nevermind."
Zelenka shrugged and went to work. Silence fell inside the Jumper as they both concentrated on their task.
Outside, the waves washed over their path, obliterating it as if it had never been.
TBC……
AN: An answer to Faith-chan, who only likes to read completed stories: I'm typing as fast as I can! The problem is that I never learned to type. Still, I try to post a chapter a day, life permitting. (If you want to read completed stories, go to my profile page, then check out my other ones. All the Stargate ones there are finished except for the one I'm currently working on. A lot of people seem to like 'Puzzles' and 'The Crash', but my personal favorite remains 'The Tournament')