AN: Sorry this has taken so long to post; we've been having trouble with our cable service. Broadband my a--!

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

14. The Eye of the Storm

The next few hours passed swiftly. Despite his comments about the windows, he personally found it difficult to believe that there were no shutters. A few minutes of examination of the main control panel by the door resulted in the electric descent of rolled metal shields over all the glass apertures of the building, much to the colonel's satisfaction. A quick evaluation of his internal makeshift 'sensors' revealed no entry, so he headed to his room to assess the damage.

He discovered to his delight that the vast majority of his personal effects had been spared the onslaught of both the fire and the extinguisher. Most importantly, the paperwork he had spent so much time completing was intact except for the occasional random scorchmark, which in his view leant it character. With a sigh of relief, he gingerly transported all his belongings into the spare bedroom.

Next he decided to check on his charges. Approaching the basement he could hear raised voices, so he stood outside the partially-closed door to get the lay of the land.

"This storm will not last forever, at which time we will be at the mercy of that assassin once again!" John was surprised to hear the anger in Zelenka's voice.

"Radek, you know as well as I do what happens if we jump to conclusions." McKay spoke with frustrated patience. "It may have taken the destruction of a solar system, but I can learn! We will work out that glitch in the prolonged-use simulation before we even try to power this baby up."

"The sooner we demonstrate that Seinlein's theories are valid, the sooner we can leave," Zelenka muttered disconsolately. "You know the prototype will work!"

"I am 99.9 sure that it will work. Let's be 100 before we risk doing the assassin's work for him. Look at this section of code…"

"Fine," Radek sulked, tapping on the keyboard. "Wait a second…" his voice livened with concern. "Look there; if we adjust the output linearly…" The typing became more intense. "Let us run through the prolonged-use simulation once more."

'What do you know? Maybe Rodney did learn something from Arcturus, after all,' thought John as he crept silently back upstairs.

As his paperwork was both finished and relatively undamaged, and as they seemed safe from attack for the time being, Sheppard decided to try to find out more about the building where they were staying. Rolling his shoulders to relieve the pain from his burned back, he went to the library. He scanned the shelves until his eyes finally alighted on the volume, "Lorton and Bellwick Tower - A History" by Samuel Johnson.

'Maybe a relative of that old lighthouse keeper, like the 'Deliliah Johnson' Constable Cleary mentioned. If so, this might mention any…nuances…the building might have.' Pulling it off the shelf, he descended to the first floor where he could be within easy listening distance of the scientists, then sat sideways on the couch, carefully keeping pressure off his right back and shoulder. He opened the tome and began to peruse his find, noting that there was no dust on it. 'Seinlein must've read this recently,' he mused.

"Bellwick Tower is one of the last structures of The Great Warning System still in existence today. Long since made obsolete by advanced radio and telecommunications, Bellwick stands as a monument to Leopold the Great who, in 2342, decreed the erection of a series of Watchtowers, beginning at the Circle of the Gods and radiating outwards in all directions. Ultimately every major population center on Deltarra could see one of these beacons. When the Wraith inevitably came, the Keeper's duty was to light the lamp. That light could be seen by the next Tower in the chain, who repeated the warning light. This continued on down the chain until the entire populace was alerted and could seek shelter, thus thousands of lives were saved over the years."

"However, with the invention of the radio in 2812, the Watchtowers fell into disuse and were for the most part torn down to make way for modern structures or abandoned. Bellwick, along with the other Towers along the coast, had served the dual purpose of warning ships at sea of the proximity of the rocky shore, and so stayed active for another century in that capacity. Once they were no longer needed for that purpose, they too fell into disusw. Some, like Bellwick were converted to private property."

"Boringggg….," lilted Sheppard, flipping to the index. "Hmmm…blueprints," he mumbled, flipping to "B". "No? How about 'plans'." Scanning the "P" section yielded no results either. Tapping a finger to his chin, he tried, "Architecture?"

He broke into a smile when he found what he was looking for. "Here we go…Architecture, Bellwick Tower." Flipping to the proper page, he began to read.

"Lorton, being a small, isolated fishing village, had difficulty filling the heroic/almost-suicidal position of Keeper. Rather than resorting to the exorbitant pay scales and rapid turnover of other areas, they developed a unique solution. As the problem was one of probable culling, they built a 'safe room' into the cliff face itself, with two hidden entrances that were kept secret from everyone but the Lighthouse Keeper and his family. The first exit was onto the beach below the Tower, the second was into Bellwick itself. Unfortunately, the ravages of time and the sea had obliterated the seaside approach, while the last Keeper who knew Bellwick's secret, Emil Johnson, was culled along with his son approximately 200 years ago. The remainder of his family escaped the attack, and their descendants still live in Lorton today. To this day, the whereabouts of the hidden chamber are lost."

"I knew it!" cried Sheppard, slamming the book closed and jumping up from the sofa. "If it went into the cliff, the entrance has to be in that basement somewhere. I'll bet someone knows ' the whereabouts of the hidden chamber' and is using it to get in, try to kill us and get out!"

He winced as the fist-sized burn on his back reminded him of its presence. Rolling his shoulder to relieve the ache, he headed for the basement.

As he entered the room where the scientists were working, Rodney glanced up from the prototype with a grin. "Ah, Colonel," he greeted. "You're just in time. We're ready to test our trial model." He rocked back and forth on his heels.

Alarms went off in Sheppard's head. "I thought you still had a few 'glitches' to work out."

"Actually, we did," answered Radek, standing up from where he had been working on the device and wiping his hands on a small towel. "I had wanted to initialize the machine earlier, but Rodney insisted that we work though all the simulations." Glancing at the computer terminal, he sighed, chagrinned. "It is a good thing we did; there was a problem with the amplitude equation for prolonged use of the device. If we had started it when I had desired, and continued to let it run, an overload was inevitable, and this tower would no longer be standing."

Sheppard's brows creased together in surprise as he looked from Zelenka's slightly embarrassed expression to Rodney's 'cat-that-ate-the-canary' one. Wagging his index finger at the two men, he hazarded, "Let me get this straight…Doctor Z, you wanted to run the experiment before all the data was collected….and Rodney insisted on crossing the 'T's' and dotting the 'I's'?"

Hands clasped behind his back, McKay chortled, "Yep!" while Radek just looked embarrassed.

Sheppard's eyebrows rose. 'Incredible! Rodney did learn something from the Arcturus Project!' Giving the other scientist a sincere smile, he said, "Rodney, I'm impressed. There's hope for you yet." Clapping a hand on the other man's shoulder, he addressed the pair, "So you are now both convinced that this thing will work and not blow apart?"

The two men smiled in unison. "Absolutely," Rodney replied. Becoming more businesslike, he turned to a nearby table where he retrieved a digital camcorder. "Now, if you wouldn't mind filming us as we do the trial run, we'll have something we can transmit to the Science Council once the weather clears. Then it's just a matter of them making the conversion to planetary scale. And I can get some dinner."

"Sounds good," Sheppard replied, taking the camera. Indicating his shoulder, he commented, "And I wouldn't object to going home a few days early either."

"I, as well," seconded Zelenka, at the control console.

Standing back against the wall to make certain that the entire room was in the viewfinder, John quickly went over the controls. Once he was ready, he said, "OK, three…two…one…Action!"

Rodney began addressing the camera as Zelenka edged to the background. "Hello. For those of you who don't already know, my name is Rodney McKay. And this," he stood aside and gestured to the machine behind him, "Is the prototype 'projection cloak' that we will now demonstrate." Elbowing Radek to one side, he stood in front of the control console. "When I hit this switch, the machine will activate. At that point the room will fade from view, to be replaced by an image of our choosing; in this instance, the same chamber, empty. Ready?"

He waited for both John and Radek to nod, then smiled. "Go!" As Rodney pushed the button, the device hummed to life. Before Sheppard's eyes, both the machine and scientists disappeared, leaving only an empty room.

Moving his head out from behind the camera, Sheppard took in the scene and whistled. "Wow. You guys still there?"

"Yes, we're still here," responded McKay irritably, abruptly shutting down the machine and reappearing. "And your inane comment is now on tape."

John gestured to the camera, "As is your terse response to it, Rodney. So, you could hear me, then?"

"Yes, and see you. The device blocks a very limited wavelength spectrum, and then only one-way." Gesturing to the still-running camcorder, he snapped, "The demonstration's over. Turn that thing off."

Looking at it in surprise, Sheppard replied, "Oh, right," and flicked it off. Looking back at the beaming pair, he praised, "Nice job, guys."

Hands on hips, Rodney stared at the machine in satisfaction. "Well, that tape plus a copy of out notes and data should convince the Deltarrans to implement this on a wide scale. We'll take our data back to Atlantis as well; this system cuts the power required to run our cloak in half."

Sheppard nodded, impressed. "Cool." Handing the camera back to McKay, he added, "Just put together the message you want, and I'll run it into town when we get a break in the weather and send it. I'll also have Cleary forward a message to have us picked up as soon as possible." 'Which won't be too soon in my book!'

Putting his hands on his hips, he continued, "We're not out of the woods yet, but I think I've figured out how our kid and our saboteur are getting past the security system. Seems there's a secret passage from the water to the building that the old lighthouse keepers used to use to escape Wraith cullings. Supposedly the location was lost long ago."

McKay shook his head. "I thought you already looked for something like that."

"I did, but in more general terms. I've been searching for any entrance on the lowest three levels. Now I'm searching for a secret passage that almost certainly leads here to the basement." Looking speculatively around the room with narrowed eyes, he muttered, "Probably… the floor…."

McKay threw his arms out to shield the prototype. "You're not moving this machine! Don't even think about it."

Sheppard grimaced. "Of course not, McKay. If the device were sitting on a trapdoor, no one could open it from the other side." He went to the far corner of the room and began stomping on the floor. "No, it would have to be someplace accessible…"

The two scientists watched as he methodically continued tapping out the floor with the heel of his boot, carefully listening for any hollow sound. Exchanging questioning glances, the pair looked at each other, shrugged, then approached the pilot. Wringing his hands nervously, Zelenka asked, "Can we help?"

Glancing up, Sheppard shook his head. "No, it would just distract me. You guys just go on doing whatever you would be doing if I weren't here." He made 'shooing' motions with his hands and resumed his stomping.

"Yes…well…" Rodney turned to Radek. "How about we go through a few more 'fireups' and record the data? Then we can get something to eat, I'm hungry." As they turned back to the device, they heard a pounding on the door upstairs. Staring at each other momentarily in surprise, the three men rushed for the stairwell.

It took only a moment to key in the door code to reveal a wet, bedraggled Sgt. Sparso on the front step. Gesturing at the sky, which was only drizzling lightly, he shivered, "I only have a few minutes before I have to leave; we're currently in the eye of the hurricane, and Constable Cleary wanted me to convey a message."

John jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the living room, "Why don't you come in for a minute?"

Looking uncomfortably at his watch, the young man nodded. "I'd rather not; if I stay it might be for days. I'd like to be back in town before the winds pick up again."

The others crowded around the door to better hear what the drenched young man had to say. Looking from face to face, he blurted, "The storm has taken out our telecommunication antenna; we won't be able to contact the Ministry to summon your people until this storm is over, we can assess the damage and repair it. Cleary felt you should know." Gulping, he ducked his head as Sheppard raised an eyebrow.

Plastering on an insincere smile, John was perversely glad that the youth hadn't accepted the invitation to come in. "Thank you for delivering the message. Tell the Constable that I'll be down once the hurricane has passed to help assess and repair the problems..." The unspoken threat of, 'And there had better be some serious damage,' hung in the air like a weight between them.

Shifting from foot to foot, Sparso nodded then took off down the hill towards the village. Sheppard's lips thinned; he had a feeling that the 'eye' of the storm would soon pass in more ways than one, but they were in for rough weather before they returned to Atlantis.

TBC….

AN: I can't believe how long this story is getting! I don't think I've ever written so much…

PS: Well, it looks like Shadow is gone for good. Two people have seen a Lynx in the area, and one sighting was only two houses down from us. I'm thinking about turning our other cats into indoor-only kitties (they only go out in the day, but still…)