Chapter 3: Stupid Space-Time Continuum…

It was a rare sight.

A VERY rare sight.

Hell, an impossible sight.

Impossible, unless everyone was gone.

The mess hall was completely empty.

"How…how could this happen?" Rodney stammered. "I mean, a few hundred people don't just up and disappear."

A grim Sheppard replied, "I don't know, but it looks like that's what happened."

"I can see that! We're the only ones left in the whole city?"

Sheppard stared at the tracker's screen. Two dots. Him and McKay. That was it. "Looks that way."

"Why us?"

"Good question."

"That's not what I meant. Well, I mean, I feel that way but I didn't mean it that way."

"I know, Rodney."

"Well, what could possibly have happened that made everyone disappear except us?"

"I dunno. Gimmie a theory."

McKay turned to the major. "What?"

"You're the science man. Run something by me."

McKay thought. "Well, we could be stuck in a rip in the space-time continuum and-"

Sheppard raised an eyebrow. "A rip in the space-time continuum?" he asked skeptically.

"Hey, you're the one who asked me to come up with a theory!" Rodney said defensively.

"A realistic one!" John rebutted.

"Well, do you think that the Wraith came in the middle of the night and swept everyone but us away?"

"It's a helluva lot more likely than being sucked into a rip in the space-time continuum!"

"Oh, please," Rodney scoffed. "If the Wraith kidnapped everyone, do you seriously think they'd leave you behind? You're number one on their hit list!"

Sheppard paused. That honestly hadn't occurred to him. "Okay…where would you be on that list?"

"Well, Dr. Weir would be second, so I'd be fourth. Or third. Neh, fourth."

"Okay. Give me another theory."

"No! Come up with you own theory! I refuse to have mine dissected and picked apart, by someone who knows next to nothing about science, nonetheless!"

Ignoring the obvious insult, Sheppard stubbornly said, "Fine then. The nanobot virus got out and killed everyone except us because we have the Ancient gene."

McKay shook his head. "Three major problems with that, John. One: the city would have put itself into lockdown. Two: there would be more people around because we're not the only ones with the gene. And three: no bodies. Not to mention…"

"Now who's picking apart theories?"

McKay turned his back an ignored Sheppard.

After a few seconds of the silent treatment, Sheppard sighed and realized they were getting no where. "Alright, Rodney. I'm sorry for being skeptical about your theory." No answer. "Ignoring me isn't going to help find anyone else." Still no response. "Okay. Tell me more about the space-time continuum…thing."

At this, McKay brightened up. "Well, I read a book once where a whole bunch of people on an airplane flew through a time rip and only the people who were asleep got sucked into it…"

"'The Langoliers' by Stephen King."

Rodney looked up, surprised. "You read it too?"

"Nah, saw the movie. Didn't get it very well. Go on."

"Right…it would be really easy to prove, if Mr. King has done his research correctly."

"I'm listening…"

"All we'd need is a book of matches or a carbonated drink."

The two of them searched the mess for a carbonated beverage, because, as Sheppard so eloquently put it, "The Ancients built Atlantis, but I highly doubt they printed matchbooks." After a few minutes, John came up with a bottle of tonic water.

"Alright. I assume you know how this is going to work…" McKay began.

"Refresh my memory. It's been a while since I saw the movie, and I didn't understand it."

"Like I said earlier, the passengers of the plane flew through a temporal rip. If you remember, or if this was even in the movie, when they land and enter the airport, everything seems flat and two-dimensional because they have distorted space-time."

"English, Rodney. Speak English."

"They are no longer part of the continuum. They have essentially fallen out of time."

"Ah."

"So, if the same thing has happened to us, when we open this bottle, it will be flat with no bubbles." Rodney twisted off the cap. The bottle let out a fizzle and the carbonated bubbles floated to the top. He frowned. "So much for that idea."

"Well, maybe everyone else…er, fell out of time," Sheppard suggested.

"I don't think there's any way to prove that. Let's think of something else."

"Well, other than the fact that we both have the Ancient gene, why would we be the only ones left?"

"That's what I was saying earlier!" McKay sputtered.

"I know, Rodney. Calm down. It was rhetorical anyway. Look, just in case everyone with the Ancient gene is still in Atlantis, why don't you go see if you can find Beckett? I'll go to the gate room to see if anyone's there."

"But John-"

"Go, Rodney."