"Well, I would—what?!" Rodney looked up from his laptop.
"What would you do?" John asked again.
"For one, it wouldn't be happening, and two, why in the world are you asking me?"
"Because, I know this sounds crazy, but it is happening."
Rodney looked at John oddly. "Are you feeling ok? Maybe you should go to the infirmary..."
"I'm fine, Rodney! But let's say, theoretically, that it was happening. What would you do?"
"Well—I don't know! I'd figure out the reason first, and then the solution."
John sighed. He really didn't want to watch Elizabeth die again. "But isn't there anything you could do without figuring out the reason?"
"No, I mean unless you went back in time to before it started happening, and then stopped it."
John looked at him, a light in his eyes. "Go back in time?"
"No, no, no, no, John, I just said its impossible!"
"Impossible?"
"Well, ok, theoretically it is possible, but that doesn't mean I can do it!"
"Please, Rodney?" John asked.
Rodney sighed. "All because the day is repeating itself over and over again. I really you think you should get your head checked out."
John continued to look at him.
"When do you need it done by?" Rodney asked dryly.
"Sometime tonight," John answered, not really sure of just when things would start to repeat.
"Tonight?! I know I'm a genius, but I'm just not that smart! It would take weeks, months! There's no way!"
"Couldn't you at least try?" John asked.
"I...I guess, but it's not going to happen."
"Thanks, Rodney."
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John stared up at Elizabeth. She was on the balcony, talking to Teyla. He didn't want to let her out of sight, he never knew when something could happen to her. Of course, then there would be nothing he could do about it...but still, he wanted to be there.
"John!" there was a shout from behind him. Rodney.
"What is it?" he turned around.
"I thought of something. If we reroot the power system in the puddle-jumper to take energy from the so called loop, it would send you back in time to whatever started the loop."
"What?" John asked blankly.
"Well, then it would be taking its energy from—"
"So it will send me back to when the loop started?"
"Well, no. Because then the loop would just start again, instead it will send you back to the event that somehow started the loop.John looked at him blankly.
"See, if it works right, it will throw you back to before the event that caused the time loop. There will be something you'll can change there."
"How will I know what the event is to change?"
"Well—it will be the only event you can change."
"Alright, just go work on it," John replied.
"Uh—we have a problem," Zelenka said, looking up from his computer.
"Yes?" Elizabeth asked.
"The wraith are coming. There's—a lot of them. At this rate they'll be here...within a few hours."
"What?! How come our sensors didn't pick them up before?"
"I don't know."
"How many is a lot?" John asked.
"Come and see," Zelenka replied.
John walked over to the computer. He looked at the screen. The darts were everywhere. "Whoa."
"Exactly."
"What should we do?" Elizabeth asked.
John glanced at her, then took off running.
"John?!"
He ran all the way to Rodney's lab. "Rodney, you have to finish the time machine now!"
"What? I—I just started!" Rodney exclaimed.
"The wraith are coming; we have to be done before they get here!"
"The wraith are coming?! What? How come no one told me?" Rodney asked.
"We just found out. Now just—work!" John ran back out the door and back to the gateroom.
"What was that all about?" Elizabeth asked.
"I just had to take care of something," John said as calmly as he could manage.
"Well, we need Rodney to check the shields—"
"Zelenka can do it," John said.
"I can?" Zelenka said.
John glanced at him.
"Oh. Right. I can." He got up and went to check things.
"Now we'll set up defense systems," John said, hoping it wouldn't get that far.
"Ok," Elizabeth replied.
"We have a problem," Zelenka announced, once again.
"Another one?" John asked.
"Unfortunately, yes. The shields aren't working."
"What?! I thought you were checking that!"
"I was, I thought I could fix it, but...I can't."
"Well, what do we do?" Elizabeth asked.
Before anyone could answer, there was a loud firing sound. The wraith had arrived. They heard some more loud explosions, then one came down right on top of them. The ceiling broke into pieces above them, and came crashing down.
They walked along, up a hill dotted with wild flowers.
John yelled and kicked at the ground angrily.
"John, are you—ok?" Elizabeth asked.
"No, I'm not ok, I'm—we're going to Atlantis!"
"O...k," Elizabeth said slowly.
"Rodney, we're building a time machine," John said, sitting across from him.
"We are?" Rodney asked.
"Yes, only its for going back to before the event that caused time loops."
"Time loops?" Rodney looked confused.
"I'm going through a time loop here. What you told me yesterday was something about if you rerooted the power system so that it sucked the energy from the loop."
Rodney looked at him blankly.
"Then you would release the energy, and it would spring me out of it."
Rodney stared, then looked like he understood. "You mean...suck the energy from the loop...that's brilliant! I never would have thought of it! Well, apparently I would, but...you're in a time loop?"
John sighed. This was going to be a long day.
"Zelenka, go see if the shields are working," John said, glancing at his watch.
"What? Why wouldn't they be working?" Zelenka asked.
"I don't know, why don't you go see?" John said. He was very stressed. The wraith would probably be here in a little more than an hour and Rodney still wasn't getting close to being done with the time machine.
"Uh, the shields are not working," Zelenka said, returning a few minutes later. "I'm not sure what's wrong yet, but I'll go work on them."
"We have a problem," Zelenka said, coming into the gate room once again.
"Yes, go on," John said.
"The wraith are coming. A lot of them. I have the shields up, but they won't last long. I—"
A shot came firing down on them. They looked up and saw it ripple across the shield.
"They're here already?!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"I—I—they're fast," Zelenka stammered.
"I'll get teams ready for when they get through," John said.
Elizabeth nodded.
Another shot that hit the shield shook the city. The shields were already starting to fail.
The wraith poured into the city. The shields were now completely depleted, and the wraith had free access into the city. They landed their ships all over the place. They were slowly gaining complete control of the city.
John stepped into where Rodney's lab.
Rodney screamed. "Oh, its just you," he said. "Don't scare me like that."
"Sorry," John said.
"The wraith are...everywhere! What are we going to do?" Rodney asked.
John said nothing, but paced back and forth. "Is the time machine finished?" he asked.
"I think so," Rodney replied. "It's in the jumper bay. I haven't tested it, but it should work. Send you back to the cause of the loop, if there was one. But that's not really important right now. What are we going to do about the wraith?"
John sighed. "Rodney, I—I'm leaving. In the time machine."
"You're leaving? Now?!" Rodney asked frantically. "But we need you!"
"Rodney, I have to. It's the only way," John tried to explain.
"Well, I knew you wanted to try the time machine, but abandoning us during a wraith attack is something I didn't expect!"
"I'm not abandoning you! I'm—I'm saving you!"
"Oh, yes, leaving us all behind and escaping in the puddlejumper. Great job at saving us, John," Rodney said sarcastically.
"Look, I don't have time for this! I have to go!"
"Fine, then go," Rodney said. "I'm going to defend the city. Somebody has to." He turned away coldly, grabbed his guns, then left.
John frowned. "Rodney!"
He kept walking.
John sighed. He really didn't have time for this. The city was overrun with wraith, which meant Elizabeth would probably die soon; he had to leave fast. It was so much harder now, though. Before it had been just Elizabeth. Her death was inevitable, but now there was everyone. And he was leaving them behind to die.
He sighed. He wasn't leaving them to die, he was saving them, he reminded himself. He started walking to the jumper bay
"We can take them," Ronon said.
"But there's millions of them!" Rodney replied.
"Millions?"
"There is a lot of them," Teyla said.
John heard them talking outside of the jumper bay. "Guys!"
They looked at him. They didn't look very happy to see him.
"What do you want?" Rodney asked.
"I know you don't exactly like me right now, and I understand that, but I have to get to the time machine."
"Why, so you can leave us here to die?" Ronon asked.
"Look, you were going to try and get the bay back anyways, weren't you?"
They just frowned.
"Please, guys, its our only chance," John said, willing them to understand.
"John!" It was Elizabeth, coming toward. "The wraith are everywhere! What are we going to do?" she asked, obviously scared.
He looked at her, knowing this was going to be hard. "We're going to secure the jumper bay," he said, looking at Rodney, Ronan, and Teyla.
They opened the door quietly, but were noticed immediately. They had to fire immediately. They stopped the first wave of wraith that attacked, but there were many more. They were completely blocking the way to the time machine.
"We need to lead them away from the puddle-jumpers," John said.
"You mean the time machine," Rodney said.
"Time machine?" Elizabeth questioned.
"Uh...I'll explain later," John said. He turned to Rodney, "I have to get to the time machine, Rodney. I know you don't understand, but its the only way that any of us are going to survive. Please, believe me. Trust me."
"John, what's going on?" Elizabeth asked.
They were interrupted by more wraith. One of them was about to feed on Elizabeth. John fired on him like mad. He kept firing long after the wraith fell to the ground.
They continued on towards the time machine. Wraith started to surround them from all sides. They didn't see the one who shot until it was too late.
The bullet was aimed at John's heart.
"No!" Rodney screamed, and stepped in front of him. He gasped as it hit him, and fell to his knees.
"Rodney!" John yelled.
Rodney took out his gun, and aimed it at the wraith. He couldn't do anything in this state, but it was a distraction. "Go," he said, nearly choking on the words.
John just stared in horror.
"Go!" Rodney said, louder this time.
There was a path, he could make it to the time machine, but he had to go now. He nodded slightly, and took off running, though there were tears in his eyes. He heard shots, saw out of the corner of his eye Rodney drop to the ground, shot again, probably dead. All his friends were dying, and he was leaving them.
John dove into the puddlejumper, narrowly missing fire from one of the wraith. He slammed his hand onto the red button that Rodney had indicated to him earlier. He heard a bloodcurdling scream, and knew it was Elizabeth. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do to stay in his seat and not go to save her, to save Rodney, and all the rest of them. But this was the only way to really save them. Everything faded away.
John stepped through the gate, just as the iris closed behind him. There was a cheer from everyone standing by.
"Congratulations! You're alive!" someone shouted.
He looked around, a bit dazed. Wasn't he just in the puddlejumper-time machine? Then he remembered.
If it works right, it will throw you back to before the event that caused the time loop. There will be something you can change there.
How will I know what the event is to change?
Well—it will be the only event you can change.
Ok, so he had to change something. Probably quickly. He looked around, then started to realize...this was when he and Elizabeth admitted their feelings. And he couldn't think of anything else he could change.
John glanced up at the balcony.
Elizabeth was there, alone, looking traumatized. She was near to tears; he could tell even from down below. Also, because he'd seen it before. He wanted to go to her, to comfort her, say it was alright. But he couldn't. He didn't know why or how, but somehow telling her that he loved her would kill her. John glanced up at Elizabeth once more, sighed, and turned to go to the infirmary.
She would never know how much he cared, but she would live. And that was what mattered.