AMONG THE STARS - by NotTasha
Your comments make me so happy! Thank you
PART 13: SNOWGLOBE
The Observation Level of the space station glided away from the explosion. With no friction or gravity to stop it, the dome kept moving. Sheppard pressed the jumper to a faster speed to catch up to it.
He squinted at the bottom of the structure as he approached. The exploded remnants of the inner core looked very much like tentacles, trailing behind an escaping jellyfish. It was a strangely beautiful sight. And, as he stared at the broken off central core, Sheppard had an idea.
"Rodney!" he called. "McKay!" but there was no response on the radio.
He pulled the jumper around the dome, as he had before and looked within. Rodney was gone. The floor was vacant. The space beside the control console was empty. "Rodney," he whispered. "No…"
It made no sense… the life sign detector told that someone was still alive there. Sheppard's eyes tracked 'upward' and he almost jerked back in his seat as he found what he was looking for. He sighed. There – there was Rodney -- floating freely in dome.
"Thank you," Sheppard whispered. "Thank you."
Environmental controls were offline – the dome no longer had gravity – or any other life support for that matter.
Rodney seemed to be awake, looking off toward the supernova.
"McKay," Sheppard called through the radio. "Rodney, I'm back. Hey, look over here. I'm on your right." But the physicist didn't change his gaze; he continued to stare in the other direction.
Well, hell, Sheppard wouldn't put up with that. If Rodney wouldn't look toward him, he'd just have to make it impossible NOT to see him.
John easily guided the jumper about, and was glad to see that the physicist's eyes were open, if staring off (literally) into space. He brought the ship into McKay's line of vision. For a moment, Rodney seemed to look beyond him, but then his eyes blinked and he focused, his expression bewildered.
"Hey, answer man," Sheppard called over the radio. "How are we getting out of this one?"
"Colonel?" McKay answered softly, his voice full of wonder. Apparently he hadn't lost his radio.
"Getting you out of there -- how do we do it?"
"What happened?"
"Pirate chick blew herself up. Space station exploded."
"I KNOW that," was the irritated response. "You don't think I remember a space station blowing up? Just look at me!" He gestured to his surroundings.
"Kinda hard to forget, huh?"
Rodney took a moment to draw his strength. "The others? Did they…"
"They're fine, Rodney. Look, you're heading toward Atlantis. Probably will make it there in a few millennia."
"Not toward Atlantis," McKay mumbled. "Deep space probably…"
"Fine," Sheppard responded. "Deep space. But we should probably get you out of there before you get much further. I got an idea. You got a hunk of the central core still attached to the bottom of the dome. If I got it loose, could the jumper dock at the airlock?"
McKay floated, his arms out in front of him, leaving Sheppard with the impression of Superman stalled in place. Rodney blinked again, slowly. "Life support's shut down," McKay stated, his voice soft.
"Yeah, but you got plenty of air in there, Rodney. The dome is freaking huge."
"Going to get cold," he commented, a bit of a shudder in his voice. "Matter of time."
"Fine, it's going to get cold, so you have to tell me what to do before your teeth start chattering. How do I detach that wrecked piece of the central core? Once it's off, can I hook up the jumper?" He tried to keep the tension from his voice, to keep his manner easy, meanwhile, his heart raced and he strained forward, needing to get this accomplished, needing to get to McKay now.
He looked so lost and alone, floating through that big empty space.
McKay blinked slowly and said, "Should work. It's designed to be serviced by gateships."
"Gateships! Fine! How do I get off the broken bit?"
"There's… a coupling…" McKay stated.
For the first time since he'd seen all that blood, Sheppard started to feel as if he might actually be able to get Rodney out of this. He felt his muscles tense in anticipation of finally getting into motion – finally being able to do something to help his friend. He had to do something! "So, I get the coupling undone. How?"
"Ah, there's a release … where the sections come together, between the double doors on the airlocks." Rodney moved his hands, trying to illustrate the instructions. His gestures were awkward, as if he had no strength for even zero gravity.
"Yeah, go on…" Sheppard encouraged, watching Rodney carefully.
"At the junction… at four locations…there are levers. Have to pull them manually."
"And by manually… you mean…?"
Rodney scowled. "Use your hands!"
"Great…" Sheppard grumbled. "How the hell am I supposed to do that? I don't got a big floaty oxygen-filled dome like you do."
McKay thought for much longer than his genius brain should have taken over this predicament. "You'll have to take a space walk," he finally decided.
"Great…" Sheppard said again, wondering how he was supposed to manage that AND fly the jumper at the same time. He closed his eyes and groaned. Make this easier, he thought. Let me get into that thing. Let me get him out.
"There're levers… flush with the…exterior. Get those flipped. Damaged section should float free as long as nothing… hinders it." Rodney's breathing was coming shallower as he spoke. "Might need to … release a … restraining cuff…"
"And I'll be able to dock the jumper at the airlock?" Sheppard repeated. "Once I do that, I'll be able to get in there?"
"Maybe…" McKay replied, closing his eyes.
Sheppard watched Rodney, aware of the blobs of blood that floated around him. It was so weird! Apparently Rodney had been right and had managed to reduce the worst of the bleeding, but he still bled, and was hurt and floating in a goddamn snowglobe!
"We'll get you out," Sheppard promised.
"You keep… saying that," Rodney heaved out. His eyes stayed closed.
"Want to make sure you know it," John told him. "You got that, Rodney? I'm not leaving without you."
"I'm cold…"
"Give us a minute and I'll turn the heat up to 'toasty' in the jumper. How's that sound?"
Rodney didn't reply. He just continued to float in the gravity-free dome.
"Rodney?" Sheppard called again – and nothing.
The jumper chirped and the HUD coming up to show an approaching ship. He turned the jumper, and found the Ironspot coming toward him. The freakish little craft was rather quick once it was under way.
"You got it moving!" Sheppard exclaimed. "Is Rix up and around?"
"No," was Teyla's quick response. "I am flying it." There was a hint of pride in her declaration.
It really didn't surprise Sheppard. "Good to see you. I can use the help," he told them. "I got a plan."
"McKay?" Ronon came over the radio. "We heard him talking. He okay?"
"He's still with us," Sheppard responded, checking the life sign detector to be sure. Under his breath, he muttered, "Stay that way."
888888888888888888
"Look," Sheppard said, his voice coming over the Ironspot's radio. "We got to figure out how to get out there and release the clamps. I could get into the spacesuit, but I gotta keep control of the jumper, too."
"Spacesuit?" Rix said from his seat. "It's in the back…"
Teyla gave Rix a strange look, and then stated over the radio, "We may have a spacesuit in the Ironspot."
"Great," was Sheppard's response. "Does it work?"
Rix tried to nod, but stopped abruptly, swallowed and rubbed his aching head. "Yeah," he responded. "Use it all the time."
"We believe it is functional," Teyla told Sheppard. "One of us will do this." And she looked expectantly at Ronon.
The former runner crossed his arms at his chest, not at all happy. A glance to the addled Rix told him that the pirate wouldn't be the one taking the chance in the spacesuit. Mills was currently covering one eye and releasing it with a perplexed expression. Teyla sat at the pilot's seat, the one in charge of getting the Ironspot into place.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that Teyla was proposing a specific someone to leave the 'relative' safely of their hybrid ship.
"Yeah," Ronon replied thickly. "One of us." Then he smiled, adding, "Whoever fits in the suit."
"Rix," Teyla caught the attention of the Bogachiel. "Where is the suit?"
"Suit?" he repeated, one hand over his eye.
"The spacesuit," Ronon growled. "Where is it?"
"Why you want…?" Rix started, trailing off. He blinked at the hand he held in front of his face, baffled. A trickle of blood ran down from his hairline.
"Where is the spacesuit, Rix?" Teyla asked the concussed man, urgently.
The pirate looked at Teyla and seemed to come to his senses. He pointed to the rear compartments. Ronon went where the man directed.
"No!" Rix cried when Ronon tried one compartment. "The next one -- the cabinet with the tall door, at the back. Zeno'll be mad if he finds out you used it." And he squinted his eyes shut again, blinked and went back to covering his right eye and uncovering it again. "He doesn't like people touching his stuff."
"You sure it's safe?" Sheppard's voice came back over the radio.
"Safe as history," Rix muttered.
Ronon pulled out the suit from the cabinet. It looked rather like the units he'd seen around Atlantis – but bigger and bulkier. He sighed when he saw the size of the suit. There was no doubt that it had belonged to Zeno. Teyla would never fit into the thing.
"It'll do," Ronon responded unhappily, knowing that there was no way around it. He took a breath, steeling himself.
McKay's life depended on him.
Ronon Dex had lived through trials and torment. A spacewalk would be easy.
"Mills," Ronon called as he turned to the pirate. "You know how this goes on?"
Rix just stared at his hands, and replied with a breathless, "I don't think I can see out of this eye." He gestured to his right eye. "That's bad, isn't it?"
Ronon grumbled, but Teyla went back to assist Ronon – together they could figure it out.
Teyla helped him undo quickly seals and closures, figuring out how to close others once Ronon had pulled the suit around him. They worked quickly and efficiently as possible, with occasional comments from Rix, who managed to give them important details regarding how to ensure that the suit was completely sealed and that the oxygen was feeding correctly.
Within a matter of a minute, Ronon was ready, standing at the back of the Ironspot in the clunky suit, looking like spaceman. Now, it was just a matter of having Teyla bring the ship to the Observation Deck, getting it as close as possible to the releases that McKay had described on the central core.
Ronon looked dubious as Teyla finessed the ship. It was difficult work, and she realized she was grossly out of her element -- the controls were touchy, the maneuvering was flakey. She had to get Ronon as close as possible to the site. If she were to deposit him too far from the couplings, he might never reach them. Get in too close, and the Ironspot would collide into the deck or the central core, damaging both vessels.
She bit her lip as she shuffled the ship in, while Ronon stood in the back, clutching one side of the interior, in his big white spacesuit. His face, framed in the transparent shield of the helmet, displayed all the misery of a man who was grossly out of place.
Sheppard's voice came over the radio, sometimes asking how they were doing, offering such helpful quips as, "See, Teyla, it's as easy as parallel parking." Mostly, he spoke to Rodney.
The physicist had given no response to John, but Sheppard persisted in his cajoling, and that was enough to keep Teyla trying. John's monologue meant that Rodney was still alive, that they still had a chance to save him. She wasn't going to give up as long as there was hope.
Just as she got the Ironspot's hull close to the deck, she felt a presence beside her. Too intent on her own responsibility, she hardly noticed Rix as he leaned heavily on the control panel to throw a lever.
And suddenly, the Ironspot clamped onto the underside of the deck, as if magnetized. Rix grinned at her as he settled into the copilot's seat. "Automatic mooring," he said softly.
She let out a long breath, aware that she'd been shaking. "Thank you, Rix," she said softly, and looked back to Ronon. The Satedan was hunched in his bulky suit, a suspicious expression evident through the mask of his helmet. She had no doubt that Dex would have clunked through the Ironspot to rip off Rix's head if he'd attempted anything 'funny.'
Finding that Rix wasn't sabotaging, but helping, Dex uttered a sound that might have been a 'thanks', but Teyla couldn't be sure.
The whole process had taken only minutes, but Teyla felt the weight of her responsibility, hoping that she hadn't taken too long.
"Hey!" Sheppard's voice came over the comm. "Teyla! How'd you do that?"
Teyla glanced at Sheppard's jumper, pulled back just far enough to see her. "Rix turned on a automatic mooring system," she explained.
Handy," Sheppard proclaimed. "We could use that."
"Suit's got it, too," Rix stated, closing his eyes again. "Controls are at his right hip. Glueboots. Glue you … to the floor."
"Ronon?" Teyla called, checking to see that the Satedan had heard.
"Yeah," Ronon's voice came over the radio. He fiddled with the toggles that Rix had suggested, flipping one and finding his right foot cemented to the floor. He flipped it in the other direction and the foot came loose. "Got it," he stated.
But Teyla couldn't help but hear the trepidation in his voice. "You will be fine," she stated emphatically.
"I'm ready," Ronon told her, his voice even. "Got to get to McKay. Can't waste any more time."
Teyla nodded and stated, "I am closing the forward compartment." And she brought down the blast door, securing the cockpit from the rest of the ship, sealing herself and Rix in with the oxygen.
"You sure that the shield will hold?" Sheppard asked.
"Sure… sure…" Rix slurred. "Works like old socks."
Teyla regarded the comment and wasn't sure if this was either an idiom that she'd never heard before, or a symptom of the poor Bogachiel's scattered brains. "Are you ready, Ronon?" she called.
"Yeah," came the response, and again Teyla heard the hesitation.
"I am decompressing the rear compartment," Teyla announced, and with a hiss, the air was vented.
Ronon hunched his shoulders and tried not to be alarmed.
Next, Teyla proclaimed, "I am opening the rear hatch," and pulled on the release. The hatch lifted – exposing Ronon to space.
--
TBC - One small step for Ronon Dex... one giant leap for big hairy guys
oh, and yeah, I know. McKay should probably be dead by now, but ah.. he stopped the bleeding so it's not so bad, okay? Just live with that.