SO NEAR, SO FAR.

by ellenoz

Chapter 4

The explosion was big. Debris spun though the Atlantis wormhole in a large billow of dust and grit. The area in front of the gate had been hastily cleared while Rodney was setting the charge, but the shock wave was significant, travelling as far as the control area. When Rodney dared lift his head from the console to look sideways, he saw Ronan with his back turned, shielding Teyla with his body. Beckett was helping Weir to her feet, but both appeared unharmed, although a little shaken. A quick glance around told him everyone else appeared to be okay and all the equipment within eyeshot seemed to be up and functioning too.

Weir had been keen to close the shield to block the blast until Rodney had pointed out the very real possibility that the concussive force could throw Sheppard through the wormhole. He'd made a point of saying that it seemed a shame to go to so much trouble trying to save Sheppard's ass, only to end up splattering him like a bug all over a windshield in the process. From there, it hadn't taken much effort to convince her that the chance of blowing someone or something up this side of the gate was fairly minor in comparison. Then he'd mentally crossed his fingers and tried to ignore the growing fear in the pit of his stomach.

There was an art to estimating how much explosive to use for each and every situation, and Sheppard usually got it right nine times out of ten. But Sheppard's brain had been running on fumes when he'd handed over the C4, and with the slim chance of causing a secondary explosion, Rodney had no choice but to make John throw the unused portion of explosive through the gate. So there would be no trial run, just a single chance to get it right, and Sheppard's life was forfeit if Rodney screwed up. However, it was the nagging thought that the C4 could combine with whatever was powering the alien shield to magnify the plastic explosive's effect that had become Rodney's ulcer-creating concern. Judging by the clean up that was already under way in front of the Atlantis gate, that's exactly what had happened. And now Rodney felt like throwing up. Sheppard's chances of survival were looking shakier by the second.

Elizabeth, as always, was oblivious to the weight on his mind. She smiled grimly and gave Rodney a short nod to acknowledge they'd avoided disaster by the skin of their teeth again, but he really wasn't paying attention to her anymore. The MALP had incurred some level of damage because it wasn't responding to any of his commands. As he furiously started to initiate a work around to override the MALP's main systems, Weir began calling to Sheppard, trying to re-establish radio contact.

Through some stroke of luck the camera was still transmitting. Teyla and Ronon moved in closer to Weir and Beckett and everyone immediately turned their full attention to the live screen once more. As the dust cleared on '141, the scene slowly settled on a tilted view of ground and sky. In the bottom right hand corner, the edge of the gate platform was the only thing visible. Between the dirt, grass and that one small section of flat, dark stone there wasn't much of a story being told. Rodney stopped what he was doing, balled his hands into fists and somehow resisted the urge to smash the keyboard into submission.

Obviously the MALP was no longer upright. Since he was having absolutely no success in repositioning the camera either, it was safe to say the machine was as good as dead.

Beside him, a measure of desperation was growing in Weir's voice. "John, this is Elizabeth. If you can hear me, please respond."

Rodney shook his head. "He was less than five metres from detonation point. His ear drums are probably blown, so I'd give up if I were you."

Beckett took the opportunity to agree. "John will be quite heavily stunned, if he's even conscious at the moment."

At the beginning of this whole disaster, Rodney had set his wrist watch to countdown function. As he glanced down at his watch again, the numbers seemed to speed up just to spite him.

Four minutes, thirty nine seconds of life left in the wormhole.

Elizabeth took her hand away from her earpiece and looked at Rodney with that all too familiar grim-but-stoic expression on her face. "Do you think it's safe to close the gate down and dial up again at this point, Rodney?"

Rodney was never one to count to ten. Hell, he'd be lucky to get to two if he ever tried. He threw his hands into the air, pushed his chair back from the console, stood up, looked down at the gate and the stagnant event horizon, then sat back down. Elizabeth's question deserved the correct answer, and there were no prizes for guessing that he didn't have one. He ran his hands down his face then dropped his arms to his sides.

Ronan looked like he was about to do the same thing to Rodney that he'd done to the backpack. Teyla's eyebrows seem to be saying, 'Rodney, we are depending on you.'

Rodney made a mental note to eat and drink something in the next five minutes. Low blood sugar was not something to be fooled around with.

"Sheppard would make contact if he was able to." Rodney could see that everyone was thinking what he was thinking, so he didn't elaborate further on that particular train of thought. "And there's no way to be certain he's clear of the gate." If they dialed up again and Sheppard was lying injured anywhere in front of the gate, the wormhole could possibly kill him. If somehow he was still stuck on the spike, the wormhole would definitely kill him. Hell, Rodney thought, Sheppard was probably in a thousand or so pieces already, so what was he waiting for? Was he expecting Sheppard to limp through the gate, dust himself off and smile stupidly at them?

"Shut it down. Get the medical team through."

Ronon chose that moment to let loose a few Satedan swear-words. He'd been leaning over in front of the live screen, but now he took off towards the gate at full pace bellowing, "Shut it and dial up. NOW!" He had his blaster in his hands. Suddenly, Teyla was running after him as well.

Rodney had a fleeting thought that his team mates had instantaneously and simultaneously lost their marbles when he heard Beckett say, "Ohhhh crap!"

Beckett was pointing at the screen, directing Rodney to look. So Rodney did.

For a second he couldn't work out what he was looking at. Where before there'd only been earth and sky, now two long black shapes almost obscured the camera lens. Legs, Rodney finally realised.

Time to feel really weird.

The wildlife had arrived.