Reminder:
"This is spoken English."
"This is spoken Czech."
This is a thought.
Last time: Trying not to die on the way to Atlantis. Them dang Wraith.
Chapter 17. Taking Notice.
Either no one had seen her tagging along with Radek for the last forty-five minutes, or no one cared that she was. She was keeping her hands to herself, staying silent, and successfully staying out of the way of all the bustling scientists. She was pretty pleased with herself for that last part, actually. They bounced around a lot.
Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard and Elizabeth stood in Engineering with everyone else only a step away from where Radek sat at his console. Anna didn't know what they were doing here since they were doing just as much good as Anna.
"This is what I do when I have problems with my laptop," Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard whispered to Elizabeth. "I turn it off, and then I turn it on again."
Elizabeth smiled a little. "I think this is a little bit more complicated than that."
"I'm just saying that if we're taking a page from the John Sheppard Book of Computer Repair, we're really desperate," he said.
Anna had to nod. This move seemed a little desperate. On the other hand, this virus seemed smart. Doctor McKay had said it was artificially intelligent. It could learn. It could hide. In the end, Anna didn't mind a page from any book of computer repair if it might help.
"Alright, Colonel," Doctor McKay announced. "We're ready."
Colonel Caldwell came over the ship-wide comm system, warning everyone to prepare for shutdown. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing. Everyone seemed to hold their breath. Anna looked around and her eyes locked with Elizabeth's.
Elizabeth smiled reassuringly.
Then the lights went out. The humming, rumbling, and twitching of the computers ceased. She stood so close to Radek that their elbows were touching. It was just a few seconds, but it seemed like forever. She tried to look for Radek in the darkness, but it was so complete she couldn't see her hand in front of her face.
Then everything came back on. Anna knew she couldn't have been the only one to expel the breath she'd been holding. Radek tapped into his console, turned to Doctor McKay, and nodded.
Doctor McKay contacted Colonel Caldwell. "All systems are functioning normally. No sign of the virus." He grinned at the others in Engineering. "Looks like it worked, Colonel."
The Asgard—Anna had tried very hard not to look at him after her first glance—spoke up from behind them. "May I suggest we vacate this system? Our current position may well have been compromised."
Colonel Caldwell asked for hyperdrive.
"That will take longer to get back online," Hermiod said.
"Radek," Doctor McKay snapped at him and the pointed at Hermiod. "Help him with that. Colonel, I can get you sublight."
Anna felt the ship roar to life beneath her feet as the sublight engines kicked on. They were going incredibly fast by planetside standards, but it would take years and years to get anywhere at this rate. She followed Radek next to the Asgard. She couldn't help but look at him now.
He was so small. Why wasn't he wearing any clothes?
"Rodney."
She tore her eyes away from the alien at Radek's warning tone.
"Damnit!" Doctor McKay checked a console and shook his head, shouting to Colonel Caldwell again. "The virus is back. It has full control of sublight navigation."
Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard glared at Doctor McKay, as though the reappearance of the virus was his fault. "You said all systems were clean."
Doctor McKay sounded confused when he said, "They were."
"When we did the reboot there was no sign of the virus," Radek said. He leaned on the console in front of him and swore in Czech, words her mother would have slapped her for saying. This was bad. "This shouldn't be happening."
"Yeah, yeah," Doctor McKay sighed and looked up at everyone else in Engineering. "We have another problem. We have a new heading: straight for the nearest star."
"Not exactly," Hermiod corrected. "A more precise calculation of our heading shows that we will not collide with the star, but rather make a close approach, near its coronasphere. The ship will survive, but the radiation will kill everyone on board."
"Oh, great," Doctor McKay mumbled. "Frying to death-slash-radiation poisoning."
"We must have missed something," Radek said. "Somewhere the virus could hide."
"Thank you, Doctor Obvious," Doctor McKay announced, gesturing grandly and condescendingly toward him. Then he snapped a few times and pointed in his direction. "Wait a minute. There was a situation back at Stargate Command. An alien entity took control of the base computer, so they did a systems shutdown to destroy it. It survived by uploading itself onto a M.A.L.P."
"The F-302s?" Radek finished.
"It's the only possible explanation," Doctor McKay said.
"What do we do?" Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard asked.
"Physically pull the memory storage modules from the 302s, then do another shutdown." Doctor McKay was already running toward the door, Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard only a step ahead. "Radek, I'll let you know when we've finished."
They were gone for several minutes while Radek ran around Engineering so fast she couldn't keep up. Elizabeth pulled her over to stand next to her.
"Oh," he said suddenly. All the color ran out of his face. "Oh, Hermiod, do you see this?" he asked, gesturing at a console. "The bay doors are opening."
Hermiod's strange long fingers flew across his console and then he looked up into the distance. "Doctor McKay?" he asked. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes, we can," Doctor McKay answered over the comm. "What's going on?"
"I have raised the fighter bay shield in order to prevent the atmosphere from escaping. However, it is only a matter of time before the virus gains full control. I suggest you complete your task quickly."
They waited. Anna held her breath.
"That's it," Radek sighed, throwing his hands up in defeat. "I can't stop it anymore." He stared at his console in what Anna thought looked like horror. "The shield is down. The fighter bay is decompressing—I can't—" He hesitated and tried the comm. "Doctor McKay? Colonel Sheppard? Can you hear me?"
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at Sheppard's voice. "We managed to get into the last F-302 before we lost atmosphere. Any chance you can beam us out?"
Radek almost laughed in relief, but shook his head. "We lost the transport beam. We'll figure something out."
"We pulled all the memory the memory units," Doctor McKay spoke up. "Another shutdown should work."
Anna pressed her lips together. No, they didn't. She would be in so much trouble… But she would rather make it to Atlantis alive. "Radek?" she ventured.
"Anna, not now," he scolded. Everyone else looked at her like they didn't recognize she'd been there the whole time.
"They didn't get every memory unit." She held up her tablet, displaying the only memory unit Doctor McKay and Colonel Sheppard could have missed.
He stared at her tablet, then at her face, but just for a moment. He cursed again and went back to his radio. "Rodney, we didn't get everything. The last 302 is still out there with the virus."
There was a slight silence. Colonel Sheppard breathed. "Copy that, Zelenka."
"Good luck." Radek looked back at Hermiod. "Be ready for another shutdown."
Hermiod nodded and tapped away.
Radek looked at her with a wan smile. "Thank you, miláčku."
Everyone in Engineering fixed their eyes on the display of the two dots, one of them representing Sheppard's F-302 and the other represented the abandoned F-302. The virus was smarter than they thought, but apparently so was Colonel Sheppard. Hermiod seemed to enjoy giving a blow-by-blow account of everything happening on the screen before them.
Anna couldn't watch, even when Elizabeth applauded Colonel Sheppard's fancy flying. She was more concerned with the fact that the two small dots were headed right for the star. Just as she was imagining the heat of radiation hitting the cockpit of Colonel Sheppard's F-302, the dots flickered and disappeared.
"There is too much interference," Hermiod said.
Anna frowned at her tablet, glad she was biting her tongue for her sarcasm. Oh, really?
She watched Radek lean back in his chair, watching helplessly. He shook his head, muttering, "Too long, too long." He closed his eyes and waited. The radiation. "Colonel Sheppard, can you read? Doctor McKay? Can you hear me?" He paused. "Rodney?"
"Radek," Doctor McKay said.
Everyone in Engineering did the science-lab equivalent of a victory dance. Elizabeth reached around Anna's shoulders and gave her a quick hug, smiling in victory. Anna was surprised to find she didn't mind.
Then they got back to work.
"Target is destroyed," Colonel Sheppard reported.
"Try one more shutdown," Doctor McKay said. "It has to work this time."
This time when the lights went out, the only thing Anna felt was exhaustion.
Next time: Yes. It is beautiful.
