He stood.
Frozen in time, staring, wondering why on Earth or Lantis he'd come here of all places.
Except that he wanted to be alone.
He often wanted to be alone, lately, in the past year. You'd think that on a city the size of Atlantis it would be easy; but no. If you went out of the inhabited areas you stood out like a sore thumb on the internal sensors; if you went to a balcony nearby someone was sure to find you. Everyone looked to the sea for thought. It was one of the constants of the city, after all.
But so too was this room. No one would violate the sanctity of this room. He wasn't sure why, either; after all, it was empty, free, yet none of the new staff had claimed it. And since Radek had last been there, no one else had dared its threshold. It seemed disrespectful, somehow.
Now, though…
Now, it seemed appropriate.
After all, last time, hadn't he vowed never to let anyone down again?
And he'd failed.
It seemed appropriate to come here to remember.
And yet, he couldn't find it in himself to enter. He simply stood there, nose to the door, alone in the night-shrouded hallway.
It seemed that was what he always did nowadays. He simply stood there, while his team members, his friends, died around him. Gaul. Hayes. Peter. He never moved to interfere, never did anything except linger and witness their demise. He'd hoped it was over. The Wraith pulled back, unaware of their continued existence. He'd done that. That had been his idea. If he could do that, he could stop everything else from happening. He could step forward. He could do something.
Except it hadn't turned out that way. Not for Lindstrom. He'd watched his colleague get sucked out into space, and all he did was stand there. Again.
Why was that? He was a genius. Why couldn't he figure out how to make that one little step, do that little extra bit which would keep his friends from dropping like flies? Who would be next, unless he figured out how to take that step?
And even if he did take that step… what if he tripped? What if there really was nothing he could have done to save them? What if there was nothing he could do to save whoever was next?
Of course there was. There was always a way. He was the genius. It was his job to figure it out. That's why he was there.
He took the step.
