Murphy's First Law: "All things work toward decay."
by Fandomatic
•
Murphy's Law of Calculations:
"If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop."
"Whoa! I just lost Atlantis! They just disappeared from the scanners!"
The sharp cry of fear from Weapons Officer what's-his-name (Pen? Skid? Cray? — seriously, someone should assign work stations numbers on this boat) broke his concentration with his rapid calculations toward escaping the anomaly and saving Atlantis. It was just possible the unnerving shout from the All-American-brush-cut skidded his fingers across the keys and brought his complicated asymmetrical flow of calculations to a screeching, jumbled halt.
With a pained grimace of horror, Rodney found himself consulting his watch, which was relatively wrong now, for the moment he needed to instruct Sheppard to drop out of hyperspace. So, it wasn't his fault they ended up in the center of nowhere because he had to 'wing it' and rely on Colonel Sheppard's uncalculated quick reflex to respond to his jubilant shout of "We're breaking through the threshold! On my mark, cut the power … in three … two … one … now!"
Grumbling about the drama major that'd ruined his perfect burn with the chaos of mashed keys, Sockered McKay spent the next few minutes pinpointing their position against the stars and distant galaxies. Once McKay III established their position, the next hyperspace jump took them to the nearest Pegasus planet with a gate.
Almost as an anti-climatic afterthought, the Daedalus beam deposited them at the stargate site fully geared with the ZPM socket and the Atlantis gate crystal. The nameless arid, planet proved to be a desolate dust ball worthy of little note other than the ancient ring that squatted among the boulders.
A wicked wind blew through the rocks carrying fine sand that peppered their exposed skin. On the plus side, the wind was cool and the tall boulders around the gate offered a bit of shelter from its sting.
Sockered McKay noted with satisfaction that his team backed the McKays, Beckett and Zelenka. Sheppard had also brought a few marines along to guard their perimeter. One of the McKays promptly shanghaied them and ordered them to drag the ZPM socket over to the DHD while the other McKays started plugging it in, installing the Atlantis gate crystal and working over the Wraith shafts with Beckett and Zelenka.
As Teyla and Ronon joined them, Sockered McKay rocked on his knitted heels next to Sheppard and muttered, "Sunscreen. I should've brought my sunscreen." He rubbed his reddening hands.
With Sheppard's slow turn of disbelief, Rodney would have thought he'd complained about leaving his pet 'turtle.'
"Would you look at this fair skin? It's going to blister with this kind of exposure. It may be fairly nice weather but UV rays are still UV rays, regardless of the current color of my face!"
Sheppard's slow pan of McKay dropped to his black socks that were starting to show abuse.
"Would you stop looking at my feet? It's becoming a little annoying that you feel you have to check which McKay you're talking to. I'm up here," Sockered Rodney snapped. "And, yes, on second thought, boots might have been a better choice of regrets. In fact, if we work it right, I'll never even have to remember regretting yesterday because it won't happen."
Rodney looked sideways at John and Sheppard tilted his head in that way that conceded he had a point. Maybe he regretted the mission, too. But Ronon didn't look chastised at all.
Of course, John ignored the subtext and zeroed in on the mission at hand. "All right, about that, how are you going to do that when we're effectively lost in the future right now?"
"That's easy. We get the time coordinates off the DHD. They all have a … sort of an atomic tracking clock, if you will, that keeps them locked on each other. When the stargate was found on earth, we couldn't make it work because the DHD was missing and couldn't tell the gate the location—"
"Right, we get it, Rodney," Sheppard interrupted. "Look, I've been thinking about this and without risking changing the outcome of the Attero device, you can't go back further than that."
"We could not chance losing you," Teyla agreed.
"It was close," Ronon rumbled.
Rodney nodded. "Not to mention it could change for the worse. I mean, my death during that event would radically change the outcome of this event. What if you initialized the shaft," he pointed at Sheppard, "and walked through the gate. I mean, we'd never have a hope of—"
"I get it, Rodney."
The annoyance in Sheppard's voice only goaded Rodney to bring up their past record without him with more relish. "Okay, after Radek and you blew up the gate room, there was a seven-day suspension of gate operation." He smiled and ignored his own culpability as Sheppard winced nicely and didn't challenge him. "After that comes our window of opportunity. We had four days with a space gate which we used to ferry control consoles back from the Lord Protector's tower. The fifth day we moved it into the gate room and then we gated out to Monksville."
John rested his hands on the P90. "So we're basically stuck with you trying to contact an away team for a ride back in a jumper and the Lord Protector's tower is out because of their space gate."
"Yes. Unless I meet you at the monk's gate and stop this whole experience before it started." McKay smiled smugly. He was going to wipe that torturous, mind-numbing initiation from his mind.
"And who's the chosen one?" Ronon asked.
"McKay VI," Rodney answered. "And before you get all sentimental, it's not actually a bad deal."
"Right. The paradox man." Sheppard nodded.
"Rodney," Teyla hesitated and looked at the others as the teams of McKays broke off from their projects and started gathering around them. "Is there a way for us to go? You will have no protection should something go wrong."
The collective McKays shook their heads and Bunnies answered. "Unfortunately, they're individual-initialized shafts. Whoever holds the stick gets the ride back in time. Once he arrives on the other side," he jerked a thumb at Flip-flop next to him, "the shaft goes completely dormant again."
Sockered gestured at Beckett's team that had joined them with one of the Wraith shafts. "Once he goes through the gate and stops me from stepping through the monk gate, all this disappears." He smiled at the red-faced McKays carrying the ceremonial stick. "Along with my rash."
•
Relative Target: Three Days Ago
When Sneakers McKay finally handed Flip-flop the reprogrammed Wraith shaft, Flip-flop McKay looked down at his feet. "I want my sneakers back. You don't need them, they'll disappear."
"They're my sneakers."
He frowned and snarled, "Give 'em up, Meredith. I can't go in these sandals. I've got blisters the size of a—"
"All right!" Sneakers McKay sat down and started removing his shoes and socks. He grumbled, "You didn't have to call me Meredith."
Flip-flop looked pleased as he sat next to him and dressed his feet. "Anyway, we have enough 'spares' — not counting the one he broke," he looked pointedly at Slippered McKay as he tied off his shoe. "And we have five chances to get this right. What could go wrong? It's a cake-walk, right? Remember the planet? Nice, friendly monks…"
"Geriatric monks," formerly Sneakers McKay snorted and slipped his toes into the flip flops.
Barefoot McKay eyed the sandals enviously and let the backpack he carried slide down next to McKay VI. "I packed a care-package from Janus' lab, so you'll have a few more toys to take with you."
"Um, thanks." McKay VI started to rise and got a helpful pull up from Ronon that quickly set him on his feet.
"Good luck, McKay." The big Conan lightly thumped his shoulder.
"Ow." McKay VI rubbed the spot and Sockered McKay winced in sympathy. That was going to bruise.
"I'll just go … dial the gate," The first Rodney said awkwardly and flip-flopped back to the equipment. Sockered McKay's eyes narrowed as they followed the rest of the McKays bailing out after their duplicates. Suddenly he wished he had something to occupy him on this dustbowl, too. But there wasn't anything to do now that he'd gotten them out of the anomaly.
Meanwhile, Sheppard helped McKay VI into the backpack and settled the strap on his shoulders. He compressed his lips and patted the scientist awkwardly. "Try and stay out of trouble in the future," he added less than hopefully. "One of you is trouble enough."
"What makes you think I'm…" he trailed off as Teyla gently intervened by clasping his arms and she bowed her head expectantly. McKay VI hesitantly touched his forehead to hers and Sockered Rodney rolled his eyes. Couldn't they hurry this up and get it over with? The first McKay had already dialed and the gate whooshed open, just waiting for the tardy sixth McKay to get his ass moving.
"Success, Rodney McKay. We all are counting on you," she said. "I know you will do everything you can to save Torren."
Flip-flop McKay nodded at them mutely as McKay III crossed his arms in irritation. He finally started for the gate when Carson intercepted him halfway there. Rodney's socked toes started tapping the dirt impatiently. Were they ever going to let him leave?
Sockered McKay watched Beckett, the traitor, rip open a pocket and slip the tube of anti-histamine into his tac vest. "They won't need this anymore, but you will. You're starting to blotch a wee bit there on the neck. You best keep using it or you'll be as red as a cherry in another hour." He patted the pocket closed. "Off with you now and good luck to you, Rodney."
Sockered McKay fumed at Beckett and barely heard Radek grumble after McKay VI's back, "Just don't forget it wasn't my mistake!"
"Well, it's been, uh…, real." McKay VI waved at them ineptly with his free hand and then turned to step through the gate with his ceremonial stick.
Sockered McKay realized he probably didn't really need that tube of anti-histamine as he scratched his suddenly very itchy cheeks and waited for the wave of change to erase him. He rubbed his hands and felt little itchy bumps all over the skin. Yes, he'd be glad when that was all gone.
He scratched his head when they were still standing there a few minutes later after the gate rasped closed and shot a glare at Beckett, wishing that little tube of relief was back in his life.
Sheppard looked at the McKay next to him and frowned. "McKaaay?"
"Well, I thought it would be instantaneous." Sockered McKay shrugged. He started toward the DHD where the other McKays were scratching their heads, too.
"Did the shaft work correctly?" Teyla approached the DHD console along with everyone.
Barefoot McKay checked the ZPM laptop interface. "Yes. According to this, he was sent back on schedule. The power surge from the ZPM confirms it. And I didn't read any power surge on the other side of the gate, so he went back to the past."
"But there's no way to know that," Sheppard objected.
"Yes, there is. The gate was able to shut down." The first Rodney jerked a thumb at the stargate. "With the amount of energy pumped into the buffer on the other side, the gate wouldn't be able to close for thirty-eight more minutes if it was in our time."
"That means he traveled to UR7 in the past," Slippered McKay summarized.
"Well, what happened?" Ronon rumbled.
"I don't know." The first Rodney looked at his other selves. "Look, it's working. He just … must … not have changed anything…"
This might not be as simple as he'd imagined. Suddenly Sockered McKay saw death waiting for him in the past. From the stricken looks from all the other McKay's, they saw the same scenario and he counted himself lucky that they'd agreed to count down in reverse.
McKay-the-first was the only one exempt from their mission because the sixth Wraith shaft lay broken up in the Daedalus. Since he was the one programming them, it had made a lot of sense to send the most expendable McKays first, leaving the first McKay behind to reprogram the sticks.
"Maybe you lost your way in the swamp," Teyla suggested without really believing it, "And we should just wait."
Unwilling to listen to senseless platitudes, Sockered McKay snorted, "What! You think we should wait another thousand years?"
"Rodney." Sheppard glared.
"Well, I think we've waited long enough!" The first Rodney pointedly grabbed a new ceremonial stick from the stack. "Something must have happened to him."
Right. He wasn't worried about having to step through the gate.
"Maybe you fell into a sink-hole," Ronon loomed over the first Rodney pointedly.
"Obviously, something went wrong!" McKay snapped. "Give us a minute to come up with a new plan."
•
Relative Target: Five Days Ago
Sheppard shot Teyla and Ronon a worried look as Sockered McKay huddled with the other McKays gathered around the DHD. A few unfinished sentences later, he knew what he wanted to try next and the group disbanded with added purpose as he returned to his team to fill them in.
"Okay. I've been thinking about this event," Rodney III announced like he'd personally came up with everything. And he had, really. The others just finished his sentences for him. "When I gate in, the gate's going to have the same problem with an overloaded buffer. It won't shut down for thirty-eight minutes." Rodney paused. "Maybe I got stuck on the wrong side of the gate, alone, with no way out while I was waiting for us."
"With the natives? You think you pissed off the monks?" From his expression, Sheppard thought that could be entirely possible. "We never saw anyone around the gate, but Ronon…" He trailed off and shot Ronon a meaningful look as he hefted the P90 in his hands thoughtfully. "Ronon thought we were being watched."
Sockered Rodney nodded. "So this time, I'll get there during Lorne's mission, right before he leaves to bring in Woolsey. That way, I'll have Lorne on my side of the gate when he flies back to Atlantis in the jumper."
Bunnies McKay approached with his Wraith shaft in hand and added, "I'll just hitch a ride home and stop us from ever negotiating with Gerryworld."
"Gerratia," Teyla corrected with her hands behind her back.
"So who's the lucky man?" Ronon asked the two.
"Him." Sockered McKay jerked a thumb at Bunnies. He certainly hoped the fifth McKay had more luck.
"My turn to be the paradox man." Bunnies bounced nervously in his pink slippers and shot dreaded looks toward the gate.
"Just in case…" Sheppard unclipped his P90 on his tac vest and clipped it to Bunnies, whose eyes widened. "The monks warned us about natives."
"The ceremonial stick was supposed to provide safe passage," Teyla reassured. "Make sure to hold the stick up,"
McKay looked down at Sheppard's boots and his bunny slippers. "I'd rather ha—"
"Forget it." John growled as he clipped the last clasp. "You're not getting my boots."
Bunnies face fell and Teyla brought a pair of boots from behind her back. "Caldwell sent down some 'loaners.'"
Sockered McKay grimaced as Bunnies' lit up and immediately started snapping his fingers at him. "I need my socks back, filthy as they are!"
"No! They're my socks! First my anti-histamine cream and now some real boots — even if they are slightly used! He's not getting my socks, too," he appealed to John.
"Rodney," Sheppard nudged him.
"Get your own!"
"Look, Meredith, you're not going to need them where you're going!"
Which brought up a theological question that Rodney wasn't ready to delve into so he caved with, "Oh, all right." Teyla rewarded Sockered McKay with a smile as McKay sat down and took off his socks.
Bunnies enthusiastically put them on and bestowed the bunny slippers to McKay III. "You got any arch supports? Lifts?"
Sheppard sighed. "Nobody in the armed forces wears lifts, Rodney."
Formerly Sockered Rodney got up and tried out Jennifer's new pink bunny slippers that were soft and collecting dirt on the bright pink fur. The pebbles in the dirt cut into his heels, but it was better than just wearing socks. He tried not to smile smugly at the barefoot McKay who glared at him.
After Bunnies tied his new laces, Ronon gave him a hand up and punched him on the shoulder again. "You better have better luck."
"Ow." McKay V rubbed his shoulder.
"Dialing the gate," Zelenka announced loudly.
"Stay alert this time," Sheppard added helpfully as the wormhole formed.
"Do not stray from the path into the swamp," Teyla advised.
"Don't forget to tell Dr. Keller about your allergic reaction!" Beckett called after him and McKay V snorted. He wouldn't be likely to forget that.
"Well, here goes nothing." McKay V held the P90 ready in one hand and the Wraith shaft in the other as he took a deep breath and stepped through the gate in his borrowed boots.
It didn't take Sheppard longer than a few minutes to announce, "Well, there went nothing!" Sheppard looked around at the four McKays left after the gate rasped shut. "Rodney, something's wrong with it."
"Nothing's wrong with it!" The first Rodney scratched the back of his hands and peered over Barefoot's shoulder worriedly. "He wouldn't have gone through the gate — I wouldn't have gone through the gate — if it wasn't working right."
"It's working," agreed Barefoot.
"It's not working!" John growled.
"I know it's not working, but it is working!" Slippered Rodney insisted.
"Obviously, he's not working," McKay III grumbled and crossed his arms impatiently. This was not good. He was one McKay away from a trip through the stargate.
"Well? What happened to him?" Ronon growled. "Did he just walk into nothing?"
"Maybe it won't work that close to the center of the time anomaly?" Radek suggested.
The first McKay shook his head. "The center was the Atlantis gate. I only stepped through the Gerriatric gate once." He thought for a moment. "Okay, in case you're right and we can't gate directly there, we can gate back in time to the Alpha site and then gate to Monksville from there."
"What about a test?" Teyla picked up one of the Wrath shafts and hefted it like a bantos rod. "Can you perform a test so we know you have gone back in time?"
McKay III retreated to the other side of Sheppard and wondered, "A test?" His red hand scratched his chin thoughtfully.
Sheppard shoved his ancient scanner into the first Rodney's hands. "Leave this inside the DHD right there." He pointed down at the open panel with the conduits connecting the equipment. "That's the test. If it doesn't show up, it doesn't work and I'm not sending another you through."
"All right. Give me a few minutes to reprogram this thing." The first Rodney pointedly took his ceremonial stick back from Teyla and settled onto a rock. He absently noted as he crossed his green flip flops, "We're going to need another pair of shoes."
"Not to mention some more P90s," John muttered.
•
Relative Target: Six Days Ago
Sometime later, the entire party had gathered around the DHD again for the third try to change the past and save Atlantis. Barefoot McKay had just finished tying the laces on his loaner boots that were a bit too wide for his narrow feet, but he wasn't complaining at all this time. He was delighted with his boots as he rose and stomped in them. When he was satisfied they wouldn't fall off, he looked around at the group with growing nervousness.
"Okay, I'm ready. We're going to run a confirmation test this time — just in case it fails." He gulped. "Instead of gating directly to Monksville, I'll go back in time to the Alpha site, wait thirty-eight minutes there for the gate to shut down and then gate back here to stash the extra scanner inside the DHD. From here, I'll gate into Monksville right before Lorne gets there the first time and catch a ride home."
The first McKay stuck the scanner into McKay IV's tac vest. "Here's your time capsule."
"Thanks." The fourth McKay glanced at Ronon. "And thanks for the socks, Ronon."
Ronon nodded at him solemnly. "Sorry about the … Satedan … trick."
Rodney's chin lifted. "Well, you couldn't have known it was going to cascade."
"Dial it up!" the first McKay ordered impatiently without waiting another moment.
McKay IV fidgeted as Sheppard clipped another P90 on his vest that the Daedalus had beamed down. "Don't be a hero, Rodney. Keep that head down, stay alive and get the message through."
"In other words, don't screw it up," McKay III offered as the vortex whooshed. Impatiently he tapped his bunny toes and the ears flopped offensively as he waited for the goodbyes to wrap up.
"Yeah, cause you're next," Slippered told him uncharitably as he handed McKay IV the programmed Wraith shaft. McKay III glared at his other self.
"Be careful, Rodney," Teyla added and patted his arm.
Beckett kindly followed him with the same advice about getting medical treatment. "Don't forget to tell Dr. Keller you need the anti-histamine cream as soon as you get back to Atlantis."
Rodney IV straightened his shoulders, held the Wraith shaft high, tried to wield the P90 with his right hand and stepped through the event horizon.
Rodney III tried to calm down as the world remained intact around him. Three attempts had resulted with no change and now it would be his turn to step into the unknown. As soon as the stargate closed he followed after his team gathering around the DHD while Radek crawled almost into the interior and pulled out one ancient scanner. McKay III immediately grabbed it from his hands and blew a layer of dust off it.
"He did it." Teyla's warm smile lit up her face.
"Yeah, but we're still here. Something's not right," McKay III muttered as he cleaned off the screen.
While McKay III activated the scanner, the first McKay complained to Ronon, "You apologized to the other McKay but not to me? I'm the one you shoved into the swamp!"
"Yeah, well, maybe I just liked him better than you."
"That doesn't make any sense." McKay squinted at the Satedan baffled for a moment. "Aw, stop messing with me." He returned his attention to the McKay with the scanner as a wolfish grin spread across the big guy's face.
"Well, what are we going to do? We're running out of shafts, Rodney." Sheppard pointed at the two sticks left.
McKay III looked up and announced, "The good news is that the last McKay set up a date counter on this scanner and the Wraith shaft works as advertised."
"Maybe we're going about this all wrong." The first McKay scratched his cheek. "Let's get around the monk planet and bypass it completely. It might be the gate being tied into the anomaly — I don't think so, but whatever's happening is stopping me from contacting our teams."
"What teams were off world?" Teyla asked Sheppard.
John bit his lip. "Only Lorne's team is reachable. Before the monks, they gated out of G2R-7Y9. That's it. Everyone else was at the Lord Protector's tower."
McKay I nodded. "And that's a space gate."
"Right. No space walks," Rodney III agreed vehemently. He couldn't believe it was already his turn to take a stroll into the past and his stomach lurched. He'd eaten too much thinking he'd never have to step through the portal.
"So what's on G2R-7Y9?" Beckett asked.
Nervously Rodney recalled the reports of idyllic spring countryside with cottages, hedged fences and rolling farmland. He translated that into muddy roads, unschooled peasants, bad breath, and out houses with rampant diseases. He blanched.
Sheppard sighed, "Rumors. That's where Lorne heard about the monks with a power rainbow — the ZPM."
•
Relative Target: Eight Days Ago
All too soon the first McKay had reprogrammed the second-to-last Wraith shaft, Sheppard ordered up a resupply drop from the Daedalus and Rodney III found himself dressing his feet in used boots that were still a little sweaty from the previous donor. Rodney tried to catch his breath as Ronon helped him to his feet and wished him luck with a light punch to the arm. Then Teyla dropped the weight of the world on his shoulders by mentioning Torren again. Sheppard gave his P90 a last check over and clipped it to his tac vest silently. Rodney could see he was as unsettled by this as he was.
Impatient for the send-off to end, the first McKay tapped his Jennifer-bunny slippers that he'd repossessed in favor over the green flip flops and loudly announced he was dialing the gate. In a daze, Rodney III found his feet carrying him toward the event horizon. The hopeful and worried eyes of the others followed him. He paused next to Carson and the doctor mutely shook his head.
"What? No reminder about Keller?" he demanded.
"You're red as a cherry, Rodney. She'll know wha's wrong with you."
"Oh, right." Rodney faced the active stargate and paused at the rippling surface. He raised the ceremonial stick in a silent salute to his friends which were about to have their lives drastically rearranged by him. If everything worked, he could define this as a nightmare reality that didn't exist. If he didn't succeed, well, he just didn't want to think about that.
"I'll find a way," Rodney promised and with renewed determination, he stepped through the ancient portal. They were all depending on him.
The trip backwards in time took mere seconds to deposit him on G2R-7Y9. The rolling pastures and farmlands were bright under a warm sun and the dirt road extended downward into the valley where a village of sorts haphazardly sprawled across the meadow. A bit of movement caught his eye as people gathered in the streets to point at the activated stargate behind him. Rodney only looked long enough to make sure they weren't headed toward him with pitchforks. He had other plans and he turned to the DHD to make sure he was in the right time.
His scanner told him the gate buffer was close to overloaded, which was a good sign. The DHD revealed more and he puzzled over the meaning of the information as he closed up the panel. The Wraith shaft had worked as advertised. He had returned to eight days prior to the event. That could only mean his other selves had been stopped on Monksville three, five and six days ago before they could undo the damage. He hoped this planet would turn around his run of seriously bad luck.
Engrossed in his thoughts, he picked up his equipment and started off toward the village below where Lorne was due to visit tomorrow. He made the walk without a grumbled word, even though the boots didn't quite fit the back of his heel and kept rubbing against the adhesive tape he'd fortified his skin with. By the time he made it to the group of natives gathered around their native watering well, he was ready to pull off the boot and apply another patch to his heels.
"Hello!" he called out in greeting, well before he reached the group. Teyla usually paved the way for them, but she wasn't here and he was determined to make a friendly effort in order to save his friends. The ten natives dressed in little more than simple rough garments looked innocent enough and probably lacked any formal education. Their suspicion could be attributed to simple ignorance. "I've come from a, uh, long journey through the ancestral portal," he continued hopefully as he stopped in front of their wary faces. "Er, I was hoping to stay and, uh…" Rodney trailed off as the natives surrounded him with guarded expressions. One of them grabbed him from behind and another man seized his other wrist. "Look, you don't have to do that!" Rodney yelped as one of the women twisted the ceremonial stick from his hand which he'd just realized they might consider a club or something…
"He carries the rod," one of the women accused.
Or maybe not, his brain caught up. Oh, crap!
"His skin is diseased," another man sneered.
"Oh, no." Rodney's heart sank and he started to struggle too late. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the edge of the Wraith shaft descend swiftly and connect with his temple. The blow knocked him backwards and pain made his world wash out in white stars. He moaned incoherently and felt the fumbles of many fingers riffle his vest and remove his belongings from him. The pounding in his temple abated to a large drum as his stomach reeled to the motion of being lifted and dragged through the streets of the idyllic hamlet. The pounding in his head increased and he felt blood trickling down his face as his senses returned and nausea rose in his throat. His world blurred as the brutes lifted him by his arms up a flight of stairs and didn't spare him from the agony of knees hitting treads or his legs getting kicked as he passed into the dark interior of one of the larger buildings.
His head was on fire by the time they threw him forward into what he thought must have been a brick wall. He clutched his head with one handful of sticky fingers and tried to focus in the sudden darkness of the large hall. People were moving too fast for him to follow so he tried to narrow his field. He barely made out the raised dais that he'd been dumped against and he rolled partially into its shelter. That's when he saw the black boots step into view and his unfocused eyes lifted along the too familiar leather long coat and heard a deep hiss escape from a green blur surrounded by a white fog.
"You will tell me everything," the Wraith purred a promise as it examined two identical Wraith shafts in its hands.
"Oh, crap…" At the wavering vision of the two Wraith shafts, Rodney's eyes rolled back in his head as the events of the anomaly suddenly made crystal-clear sense to his buzzing mind, as it would to his doubles if they knew about this Wraith. He had to get a message forward into the future that the Wraith were here and involved. They had one more shot at ending this nightmare, but the only way to get a message back to the future was to lie, convincingly, about how many shafts made it out of Atlantis. At the thought of being 'convincing,' his vision faded and Rodney fainted.
•
TBC
Next chapter… Law of Remainders