AN: I think something's gotten Shadow; it's been twelve days and no sign of him despite searches, flyers, etc. Sigh….

SPOILERS for "Trinity"

SUMMARY: After the events in "Trinity", Sheppard and McKay's relationship is strained at best. But is stranding them in a remote lighthouse with only Zelenka as referee going to help them work things out? And what about the dead scientist who used to own the place?

DISCLAIMER: The following story is a work of fanfiction, and as such is for fan enjoyment only. All recognizable characters/settings are the property of their respective owners. No copyright infringement is intended, and no profit is made.

Deus Ex Machina

By KerrAvon

12. Good Night, Sweet Prince

Sheppard was sitting at the kitchen table working on his second bowl of stew. His head swiveled towards the door when he heard Rodney yelling. He jumped up, toppling his chair and slamming his head into a frying pan dangling from the potrack 'conveniently' placed over the table. Splaaanngggggg….!

'Owww…! And I knew that was there!' he cursed at himself, the ringing in his ears mirroring that of the pan. Rubbing his head, he aimed for the commotion outside, Zelenka hot on his heels. "McKay?" he hollered. "You all right? What's going on?" He had just reached the kitchen door when he heard Rodney's inarticulate scream, the dull thud of a body striking the ground, and the lights snapped off.

"What the hell?" he muttered as he came to a complete halt in the darkened hallway. Zelenka, unable to see, plowed into his back causing them both to stagger forward.

"What has happened to the power?" asked Radek apprehensively.

"More importantly, what's happened to McKay?" snapped Sheppard, feeling blindly for the wall. Raising his voice he called out, "Rodney? You OK in there?" When no answer was forthcoming, he cursed and tried to increase his pace down the hallway.

"A moment!" called Zelenka, fumbling through his pockets. "Aha!" With a triumphant cry, he switched on the small flashlight he had secreted on his person after his misadventure the night before.

"Great!" Snatching the light from the scientist, John took off down the hall at a jog until he came to the open bathroom door. Shining the beam around the room, he quickly located McKay sitting on the floor, knees drawn to his chest, holding his head in his hands. Kneeling next to the groaning man, he asked, "Rodney? Are you OK?" just as Radek appeared behind him in the doorway.

Lifting his head slightly, Rodney cracked open one eye and squinted blearily at the pilot. "Did you catch him?" he asked in an apparent non sequitur.

"Catch who?" asked Zelenka, peering anxiously up and down the dark hallway.

Taking both hands away from his face, Rodney glared, "That kid, of course! He was standing right there staring at me in the tub!" Suddenly recalling his current state of undress, he hurriedly gathered the towel back around his waist. Wincing at the movement, he dropped his face to his hands again and moaned, "Oh, my aching head…." Striking the sink edge then the floor had done nothing to improve his carbon monoxide headache.

John worriedly commented, "Rodney, we didn't see anyone before the lights went out. What happened to the electricity, anyway?" Concentrating, he could just make out the distant hum of the still-functioning generator, so that wasn't the problem.

"I heard a…pop. I think it came from the tub." McKay glanced over where he'd just been sitting moments before.

Sheppard obligingly shined the flashlight in the water, only to quickly suck in his breath at the sight. The clock which had originally been inset into the wall now lay at the bottom of the tub, trailing its still-attached electrical wires. "That thing shorting out must've thrown a breaker." Taking no chances, he snagged the toilet brush and lifted the electrical device out of the water with the handle. Depositing it on the floor, he confirmed that it wasn't running before he reached up and ripped the cord from where it was wired into the wall.

"You two stay here; I'll go check the fusebox and see if I can get the lights back on." Sheppard took the flashlight and headed down the hall at a jog, leaving the other two men in the darkened bathroom. Moments later the power flickered back on, illuminating McKay in all his near-naked glory. Radek's eyes were immediately drawn to the goose egg forming on the other man's forehead, as well as the dark bruise extending towards his eye.

Reaching out to gingerly touch it, he hissed, "Rodney, what happened?"

Batting away the exploring fingers, McKay snapped, "I slipped and hit my head on the sink when I tried to catch that brat!"

"Well, 'that brat' just saved your life…again," remarked Sheppard as he returned from his mission. Kneeling next to the clock, he continued, "Think about it, Rodney; if you hadn't been chasing him, where would you have been when this clock fell into the water?"

Glancing back at the tub, the color blanched out of McKay's face as he visibly gulped. Shakily he pushed still-wet hair out of dilated eyes and whispered, "Oh my God…I should be dead!"

"But how did it happen in the first place?" asked Zelenka, crouching next to Sheppard. "I mean, that clock was set into the wall; it shouldn't have had enough wiring to allow it to reach the water, even if it did fall."

Sheppard's mouth set in a grim line. "Someone's changed the original wiring. See here? This whole length was coiled behind the clock, hidden in the wall." He rewound the wire to demonstrate, then pointed to the connections of the wire to the clock itself. "And those pigtails are newly made; the wire hasn't had a chance to corrode yet despite the moisture in the room."

Standing up to examine the indentation where the clock had resided in the wall, Radek commented, "I don't see how the clock could have set flush with all that extra wire coiled up behind it."

"It didn't. Sit flush, I mean." Rodney shakily added his commentary to the conversation. "I noticed earlier how it stuck out from the wall, but didn't think anything about it at the time."

"The clock was slightly inset into the wall when we first arrived," asserted Zelenka. "I remember admiring the craftsmanship."

"Well, that would make it easier to fall out now, wouldn't it? Especially once this thing hit it." Sheppard began to examine the rail that had knocked the clock free, and the wall that it had pulled out from. After a few moments he pulled one of the anchor screws out of the metal and placed it experimentally in the matching hole in the masonry. His mouth set to a grim line. "I thought so; look at this."

Radek got up from where he had been kneeling next to McKay and peered nearsightedly at the wall. "What am I looking at?" he asked curiously.

Sheppard slipped the screw in and out of the too-large hole; the threads didn't even catch. "These screws are too small for the holes in the masonry; looks to me like someone took out the original ones and replaced them with some several sizes too small. The first time someone used the rail to get out of the tub, this would pull right out of the wall." He then pointed to the base of the rail where it was still attached, albeit loosely. "There's only one screw holding it in place; they didn't mean for the rail to come completely off - they meant for it to come loose and knock off that clock."

Zelenka stared at him with deer-in-headlights eyes. "So this was another attempted murder," he whispered. "Should we contact the Constable again?"

"No…" considered Sheppard. "He's going to have the Ministry call Atlantis tomorrow to send some security personnel. I'd just as soon wait until our people get here." The LTC was beginning to have reservations about the straightforward lawman, but he kept them to himself. No point in worrying the others, but Cleary had been in the bathroom alone for quite some time that day, ostensibly to use the facilities, but he had plenty of time to do a quick sabotage if he had the right tools hidden on his person. His own thoughts of relaxing for a few minutes vanished as he continued to map out a plan of action.

"I'm going to check for signs of entry," he said, knowing he wouldn't find any…again. He looked at the still-sitting scientist with concern. "McKay, are you going to be all right?"

Rodney opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by Radek. "He will be fine. I will take care of him."

Sheppard stared uncertainly for a moment, then gave a sharp nod and vanished from the room.

Slipping an arm beneath McKay's shoulders, Radek said, "Come on, Rodney, let's get some ice on that lump." McKay clambered unsteadily to his feet, then plastered a hand against the wall as he waited for the room to stop spinning. Wordlessly the Czech snagged the robe off its hook and draped it over Rodney's shoulders.

"How about I put you on the couch, obtain a bag of ice, and make us some hot chocolate? I know I could use some right now…"

Rodney gulped against a vague nausea, then nodded his agreement. With Radek steadying him, the pair wove their way into the main room, where he rapidly found himself supine on the sofa with his feet up and a blanket firmly tucked about his legs. Leaning into the softness of the pillows, he tried to relax but found that he was a huge bundle of raw nerves.

"Oh, my aching head," he moaned, making sure he was loud enough for Radek to hear him in the kitchen. "A concussion is certainly not the way to treat a headache from carbon monoxide poisoning!" He continued to complain audibly as clattering noises emanated from the kitchen where Zelenka went about his work. A few minutes later, though it seemed like millennia, Zelenka reappeared with an icepack and a steaming cup of chocolate.

Placing the ice on the throbbing lump on Rodney's forehead, Radek waited for him to sit up before handing him the hot cocoa. Rodney slowly righted himself with a heartfelt groan, then closed his eyes to ease the headache as he inhaled the soothing aroma. Taking a long sip of the warm liquid, he managed a nervous smile. "Maybe we should go back to Atlantis for a while, just until they catch the maniac responsible for all this."

"We do that, and we probably never will," Sheppard remarked, entering the room. Grabbing his jacket, he began to shrug it on as he continued, "The culprit will have no reason to show himself if no one is working on this project. Besides, I thought you two wanted to have a functioning prototype before handing the research back to the Deltarrans."

"I hate to admit it, but the Colonel is probably right," Zelenka reluctantly added. "We have done enough work to demonstrate that Seinlein's theories were correct; there's no reason for the Science Ministry to invite us back if we leave now. We will never get to see it in action."

McKay grimaced; he hated to leave anything undone, and truly wanted to see the prototype's performance. Was he going to let his fear overcome his ego? After battling with himself for a few moments, he muttered, "Fine. We'll stay. But you better be looking out for us!" This last was added with a directed stare at Sheppard, who was keying the door prior to going out.

The colonel flashed a cocky grin and replied, "Why Rodney, you know I'm always looking out for you." More seriously he continued, "All my monitors are still in place at the windows; I'm going to do a quick sweep of the perimeter outside. Shout if you need me." So saying, he exited the building.

McKay was on his second cup of chocolate and was just beginning to unwind when the pilot reappeared at the door, drenched. "Everything looks secure out there," he stated, shaking himself like a wet dog. Ruffling a hand through his hair, he added, "Did you guys know that it's raining?"

Concentrating, McKay could just make out the gentle patter of raindrops hitting the outer windows. The sound was somewhat soothing as long as one didn't have to be out in it. Of course, he'd be more relaxed if he didn't have to worry about some lunatic murderer killing him as he went about his daily activities. Deciding that he'd get no more work done tonight, Rodney stood shakily and remarked, "I've had it for one day; I'm off to bed." 'At least no one has tried to kill us in our sleep…yet.'

Sheppard sighed tiredly. "Sounds like a plan," he replied, and they all three trudged upstairs. As they reached the third floor, he instructed, "Just to be on the safe side, I want everyone to leave their doors open tonight. If anything, and I mean anything, seems wrong, I want you to yell loud and long."

"Not a problem," Zelenka and McKay chorused, heading to their respective rooms. Sheppard smirked, then went to his own.

Unconvinced that their troubles were over for the evening, John lay on his bed fully clothed, with the lights on. If anything else happened, he didn't want to waste time pulling on his boots. The raindrops on the eaves lulled him into a restless slumber.

His nightmare began, as always, at the Arcturus Project. This time, however, as the reaction began to cascade out of control, he swung on Rodney…only to see him lying in a puddle of gore at his feet. The body lay at an awkward angle, neck snapped, eyes glassy. A superfluous knife stuck out of the scientist's back, and his blood was literally everywhere; swathed across the computer screen, dripping from the rafters…Sheppard jerked awake as a drop hit him right between the eyes.

Blinking, he found himself shakily staring up at the single light fixture suspended above the bed. Taking a few deep breaths, he tried to still the racing of his heart by concentrating on the dangling lamp.

'Wow. They made the glass bowl look like it actually ripples, like water…' Squinting, he scrutinized the dangling lamp more closely. 'Wait a minute - those are ripples; is rain collecting in there?'

For a moment he thought that the roof was somehow leaking and running down the fixture, but then remembered that there were two full floors between his room and the roof. Then he caught a whiff of ethanol. Eyes widening in shock, he realized, Damn! That's fuel from the line leading up to the signal lamp leaking into the…!'

Just as Sheppard rolled off the mattress, the ethanol level reached the bulb inside the fixture. The bulb exploded, igniting the ethanol with an intense 'Ka-woomph!'. The huge, bright-blue fireball plummeted to the bed below, raining fiery shards of flaming glass shrapnel throughout the room.

TBC….

AN: How's that, you Shep-whumpies out there?