Thanks for the reviews! This is really my first long piece of fiction, so I'm hoping it works out. The first chapter was the introduction chapter, so hopefully this is more exciting.
I don't have a beta for this story, so please excuse any typos (and point 'em out if you see any!). I like to read over my stuff several times to ensure it's typo-free, but, of course, you can only do so much.
Alright, enjoy!
-----SGA-----
Twenty minutes earlier…
Three hours. That's all Elizabeth needed to wait for was three slow, boring hours to pass by. She would meet John at the mess hall, finish their meeting quickly and then she could go to bed. Six o'clock could not come soon enough.
Tapping her pen on her desk, she browsed through various reports of the past few days: SGA-1's meeting with the Regans, a primitive race that harvest plenty of grain, fruits and vegetables. Further negotiations could wield a very productive amount for Atlantis' food rations; SGA-4's discovery of gold deposits on P4G-332, which could reboot their economy on Earth should they ever need it; and finally, SGA-2's discovery of the Tallins.
The possibility of making Atlantis invisible was more important than anything Elizabeth had seen for days. Tomorrow morning she would have to be at the height of her diplomatic prowess in order to convince Theoron that she needed this. That the galaxy needed this.
"Doctor Weir!"
Elizabeth's head shot up. Chuck entered her office, stopping abruptly and knocking after realizing his less-than-polite entry. It was cute, but this wasn't a time for pleasantries. "What happened?"
Chuck folded his arms behind his back, his usual stance when delivering bad news. "There was an explosion in Sector Four, ma'am. We're not sure what happened, but it seems to have something to do with some uncontrolled power in the vicinity recently. Dr. Kavanaugh is working on it, but today is his day off…"
An explosion in the city. Of course there was an explosion in the city.
Nothing could ever go as planned.
"Call Doctors McKay and Zelenka up here. We need to find out what's going on."
"Yes, ma'am. Right away." Chuck turned to leave, but paused, resting his hand on the doorway.
Elizabeth caught his hesitance. "Chuck? Is there something else?"
"Yes, there is. Colonel Sheppard was just recently called down to Sector Four to aid SGA-6 in their search for viable weapons for Atlantis. We can't reach him or SGA-6 on the comms. I think all communications are down for that sector."
John was down there. And four other members of the expedition. "Alright, Chuck. Thank you. Go back to work and monitor the situation." Chuck nodded and quickly left her office.
Elizabeth reached for her headpiece and tapped one of the buttons. "Major Lorne, this is Doctor Weir. Please respond."
There was silence for several seconds. Elizabeth worried. If communications were down for the entire base than this was going to be one hell of a nightmare. Running a rescue operation without knowing any vital information was one of the most difficult and daring things Elizabeth had encountered. She didn't intend to do it again.
A whirring noise in her earpiece. "Doctor Weir? This is Major Lorne." She smiled.
"Major Lorne, we have a problem. There's been an explosion in Sector Four of Atlantis and at least five people are possibly trapped, including Colonel Sheppard. Can you and your team meet me in the Gate Room immediately?"
"Copy that, Doctor Weir. We'll see you there in five minutes."
"Understood, Major." So far, everything was going according to plan. She would just need Rodney's advice on the situation in case this was a power failure of some sort and go from there.
Walking into the control station for the Stargate, Elizabeth glanced around at the five people in the room working frantically on their computers. They were trained well, coping and adjusting to the situation more rapidly than she thought possible. "Chuck," she singled out, "Where do we stand?"
"Doctors McKay and Zelenka are on their way, McKay unsurprisingly grumpy." Chuck grimaced, clearly reminded of all the times McKay had yelled at him and literally thrown him backwards while still in his chair.
"Atlantis is reporting five life signs in the area." A blueprint of Sector Four appeared on a screen in front of Elizabeth showing five blinking lights, one quite a long way away from the others. "These four," Chuck stressed, pointing to the group of four white lights, "Is likely SGA-6. They're moving rather slowly, so I suspect they either did not hear the explosion or are trapped in the room that they're in."
"Wait, we can't tell where the explosion occurred?" Elizabeth queried.
"No, ma'am. Atlantis' electrical sensors and damage arrays were damaged in Sector Four. We can't tell where power is flowing in that region or where critical damage has occurred. However, Atlantis can still detect biological signs in the area, which is why we can still see where Colonel Sheppard and SGA-6 are."
Extensive damage to one section of the city. And Colonel Sheppard's life sign wasn't moving. "Tell Rodney and Radek to hurry up."
-----SGA-----
"Doctor McKay, Doctor Zelenka, please report to the Gate Room."
"Oh, come on! It's at the best part!" Rodney shouted. "This is ridiculous. I'm interrupted every time I'm enjoying something. If there was a God, he'd be hating me right now."
Radek rolled his eyes. Leave it to the whiny astrophysicist to victimize himself. It surprised Radek that Rodney had never expressed an interest in becoming a drama major because he would have surely succeeded.
They were watching Die Hard 2 now. Apparently this John McClane seemed to have the worst possible luck and yet would always triumph over the villains. Not that Radek was watching, he was just observing. His main focus was the game of Solitaire unfolding in front of him. Or so he'd swear it was if anyone asked him. Damn American movies.
"Rodney, we must go to the Gate Room," Radek called out, cutting off Rodney's tirade.
"See!" Rodney yelled, pointing at Radek. "Always interrupted!"
The Czech stood up. "If you want an interruption, I'll give you an interruption."
"Oh yeah, what are you going to do? Assault me to death with your foreign jibberish!"
"If we did not work together, I would have cut off your—"
"Gentlemen, please, calm down." Teyla tried to placate the two scientists by slowly gesturing downward with her hands. She pointed behind her, indicating the entire Science department watching their argument.
Rodney exhaled and threw his hands in the air. "Oh please, it's not like they haven't seen two grown men fight before. They're watching Die Hard 2! With a vengeance!"
"Still, Rodney, Elizabeth ordered you two to the Gate Room. Now, I will take it upon myself to get you two there quietly. Chances are likely that you two need a—what is it you call it?—a chaperone?"
Radek felt insulted. "A chaperone? To follow around myself and this, this," he pointed at Rodney, "This abominable five-year-old?!"
Rodney puffed up his chest. "That's scientific genius five-year-old to you."
"I hate you." Radek purposefully strode towards the door, leaving Rodney in his wake.
"See? I told you, Teyla, he's clearly jealous."
"Yes, Rodney, I am sure that is the reason." Teyla tipped her head in the direction of the door, simultaneously glancing between both Rodney and Ronon. Rodney began walking out the door, but Ronon hesitated on the couch.
Teyla coughed.
Ronon deftly turned his head to the left, facing away from her.
"Ronon…"
"Alright, alright, I'm coming."
-----SGA-----
John pushed himself to his knees, taking care not to aggravate his headache. The pain was enormous, straining his vision and making any movement a chore.
"Maybe I should just wait this one out," John sighed. Talking seemed to be useless. He just couldn't hear his own voice. Maybe it's not permanent...He just always assumed there was a ringing in your ear or at least some kind of indication that your hearing wasn't completely gone. Clearly, he assumed wrong.
John eyed his surroundings. To his right, he could see the aftermath of the explosion. Large pieces of Atlantis' walls crowded the end of the hallway, piled on top of each other.
Sparks flew out of random areas. The problem was likely electrical, he deduced, though it really could have been anything. There was a door directly in front of him and to his left was the corridor leading to SGA-6's location.
Probably best to stick with greater numbers. John tried standing, easing his hands along the wall behind him. His knees shook wildly, pained and bruised. He'd have to move down six hallways before reaching SGA-6. This was going to take awhile.
He took the first step and swayed to the right. Throwing his right hand in the air, John stabilized himself before falling over a second time. It's going to take forever to get used to this…Without sound to guide him, John nearly stumbled with every step.
Using the wall wasn't helping because he wanted to slide down it after every movement due to the pain. So he had to leave his comfort zone.
Stepping away from the wall, John extended both arms and slowly walked. "It's like walking a tightrope!" he yelled. The situation was angering him. He probably looked like an idiot and he definitely felt like he just got hit by a puddle jumper.
Carson better have the good stuff ready…, John thought as he teetered back and forth at a snail's pace.
-----SGA-----
"Aye Elizabeth, I'll be waiting on standby with a medical team when ye need it."
"Understood, Carson. I'll inform you as soon as the area is stabilized." Elizabeth turned off her headpiece and turned to address everyone that was now assembled in the Gate Room.
"Okay, Rodney, I need a status report on what happened."
"Already done."
Her eyes widened. "Already? You just got here a few minutes ago."
"Well," he started, "It wasn't hard. Radek and I used the computers to isolate the problem. It appears a power surge hit Sector Four."
"A power surge?"
"A build-up of energy in one of the power conduits. It was relatively stable until…well, until I altered the systems to increase the size of the movie projector…"
Elizabeth froze. She turned to Dr. Zelenka. "Radek, did you not inform me earlier that no systems would be affected?"
He shuffled his feet and avoided looking directly at her. "Well, yes, but it was not me who made the alterations…" He pointedly looked at Rodney with distaste. "There was a differing of opinions on who should fix them."
"Whoa! Whoa!" Rodney held his hands up in a defensive posture. "Let's not play the blame game here, Mr. I-need-a-scapegoat. This was very clearly your fault. If you hadn't assigned Kavanaugh to fix the problem and done it yourself, then there wouldn't be a problem, now would there?"
"I sent you a report on this matter three days ago! You signed your signature and told me to attend more important matters!"
Rodney stopped. "I did?...No, I didn't. You can't pass this off on me, you sneaky Czech. I know your kind. Manipulators. Gamblers. Probably invented the mafia for crying out loud."
"If we were on Earth I'd put a hit out on you just for the sake of—"
"Gentlemen!" Elizabeth had had enough. This was getting ridiculous. "We have a very serious situation here right now and I can't have my top two scientists fighting." Rodney pointed to himself and mouthed the words 'number one.' "Rodney." He looked at her. "Is there anything else I need to know? John could be seriously injured."
That sobered him up. McKay's face turned into one of dead seriousness. They had learned a few minutes earlier that John was still alive as he moved several feet down the corridor, but that did not mean he was not in danger of dying. A combination of anything could kill him, from blood loss to smoke inhalation to—Elizabeth cut that train of thought off. Now was the time to act, not think about what could happen if she didn't act.
"Rodney?" she asked, pointedly.
"Zelenka and I can fix the energy flow problem from here. When everything is stabilized we can perform the necessary actions to repair the power conduit using tools we have in the labs."
"What about the exact location where the explosion occurred?"
"Oh, right, about that. We used—"
"I used," Radek interrupted.
"Right, right, shut up. He used a topographical map that Simmons created that tells us about the elevation of each area in Atlantis. At this point here," Rodney indicated a darkish blue section about eighty feet in front of John's location, "There is a large blockage of mass. We can only assume that the explosion happened here and that all of this," he pointed at the dark blue blob, "Is debris."
"So John and SGA-6 are stuck there until we can remove the debris?"
"Yes, that sounds about right."
"Okay, thank you. Get to work fixing the power flow." Elizabeth turned to Major Lorne and his team. "Major, I need you to head down to Sector Four and determine the best course of action to extract the debris. By hand, machines, explosives, whatever is most efficient and can help us extract John and SGA-6 faster."
"Yes, ma'am." Lorne turned to leave.
"And Major." Lorne whirled around. "Please take Teyla with you."
Teyla looked up at Elizabeth. "Dr. Weir?"
Elizabeth pulled her aside. "You looked like you could use something to do. I know when teammates' are in danger everyone feels helpless. You're a fast runner and since communications aren't working in that area, you're the ideal candidate to relay information back here as fast as possible in case anything goes wrong."
Teyla smiled gratefully. "Of course. Thank you."
As SGA-2 and Teyla hurried at a jog to Sector Four, Ronon loomed over Elizabeth from behind. "Ronon, I know what you're going to say."
"I'm faster than her." He looked angry.
"I know you are. I need you here in case we need to relay a message to them, such as more explosions or a greater threat to John or SGA-6."
He still looked angry. "I don't like it."
Placating him was difficult, but she couldn't afford to not hurt people's feelings right now. "You don't have to. Not everyone can be doing something. That's just the way these things work. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to update Carson about what's happened." Elizabeth strode across the room, up the stairs and towards her office.
Ronon watched her go. He couldn't help but grumble, "But it could've been Teyla not doing something."
-----SGA-----
John stopped. This wasn't working.
He'd traveled maybe, twenty feet. His feet hurt. His head hurt. And he was seriously thinking of passing out right about now…
John staggered to the right. Whoa! He stopped himself, slamming a hand into the wall. This was taking forever. He looked behind him. A blood trail followed him, letting him know that he looked like a drunk that failed a sobriety test by walking a jagged line.
Holding his head, he slid to the ground. Another door was in front of him. It looked exactly like the last one. He never really noticed how boring Atlantis' interior was before. Everything looked the same. If it wasn't for that line of green paint running along the corridor, it would be pretty bare. I guess the Ancients weren't really keen on the interior decorating business…
Casting a glance down the rest of the hallway, John grinned. "Where's Grace Adler when you need her?" Spotting his blood trail, he continued, "And a janitor…Gross."
And yet, still no sound. If he was rescued, how could he manage to tell them anything? John didn't know sign language. He couldn't communicate with anyone. Well, he could poke McKay in the eyes Curly, Larry and Moe style, but that wouldn't really accomplish anything.
He wouldn't be able to head Atlantis anymore. Not being able to communicate with his personnel meant that he couldn't lead them. He couldn't debate with Weir anymore or spar with McKay over which movie is better. He hoped Carson could tell him something different. That this was just temporary hearing loss or some fluid was built up somewhere or the impact of his skull on some stupid, drab-colored wall just injured something.
You couldn't be acting military commander of an entire expedition in a different galaxy if you couldn't hear anything.
Punching the floor, John screamed. "FUCK."
But the sound never met his ears.
-----SGA-----
"Oh yeah, that's a wall of debris all right." Lorne whistled. There wasn't even a crack you could see through in the huge mess in front of him. "Looks pretty thick. Cadman?"
"Probably gonna have to blow it, sir. The pieces are too big to extract by hand and using mechanical means might take too long, especially since we can't use the transporters to bring them all down here."
She was right. They couldn't fit many people across this corridor. Maybe seven, at most. That would be far too little to try and remove everything. An explosion would be the most effective way to dispose of it all. But according to biological sensors, John would be in range of the blast.But he was moving away from it…
"Teyla." The Athosian met his gaze. "Cadman's right, we'll have to use explosives to gain entry to the rest of Sector Four. I'll need you to run back and ask Doctor Weir for permission. We also need to know if Colonel Sheppard is within range of the blast, should we use them."
She nodded. "Very well, Major. I'll be back as fast as I can." And with that, Teyla was off at a brisk pace.
"Cadman, get started on those explosives. I don't want to waste any time setting them up if we're given the go-ahead."
"I'm on it, sir."
"Well, Colonel," Lorne commented, staring at the devastation, "You always seem to top yourself when we get into these situations. What else is going to go wrong…"
-----SGA-----
"Rodney, how are we doing?"
"We? I'm doing just fine, what with a lack of food in my stomach and all this constant bickering with Count Czechula over here."
Zelenka's head popped up from behind a console. "His name is Dracula, you sleigh-riding igloo builder!"
"Oh, we're not that stereotypical up north! And I know his name's Dracula. He comes from your country though, so it makes sense."
"He comes from Transylvania which is present day Romania! Though if you're that threatened, I'll be willing to drain the blood from your despicable body so that I can—"
"Radek. Enough. Rodney, is there any update about Sector Four?"
She needed any and all information she could get, of course. That didn't make Rodney any less insulted that she just steamrolled his masked comment about not getting enough time to eat. "Yes, there's an update. Radek and I have limited the power flow so that it's nowhere near the dangerous levels it was at earlier. It could still cause small explosions though. But if we get to the power conduit in time, there shouldn't be any complications or problems to worry about."
Elizabeth looked pleased. Secretly, Rodney just wanted to get this over with so that Sheppard could get patched up and he could return to watching his movies. This kind of thing seemed to happen every now and then, though it was long overdue. Trust this to occur on their day off.
The Gate Room personnel were beginning to annoy him though. They skirted around the room like bees, scanning each and every console. The problem was this prevented Rodney from scanning each and every console. He bumped into Chuck trying to access Atlantis' systems to see what capabilities she could still utilize in her de-powered state.
"Would you move?" he shouted testily, grabbing Chuck's chair and spinning it backwards. "Geez, it's like I'm in a hedge maze with moving obstacles."
Elizabeth was barking orders at some peon down the stairs. Radek was doing God knows what. Probably waiting for me to make the next move and steal the credit for that, too…And Sheppard was once again stuck in unknown territory fending for his life.
Rodney was tired of this constant scenario, but it seemed to always happen. And it always managed to get worse.
The only question was how…
-----SGA-----
Across the hall from SGA-6, a sudden surge of power blew apart a resistor somewhere in one of Atlantis' power conduits. The onslaught of electrical power traveled along one wire and sparked a switch. The lights turned on.
A laboratory of considerable size lit up. Four large, sturdy tables covered in dust. A computer monitor was built into the tabletop of each one. All four tables were arranged in such a manner that they were facing a center turnstile.
The turnstile hummed, granted power after being dormant for so long. Inside, several vials were arranged, lined up side by side. A small, metallic arm sat, unmoving, next to these vials. Three of them contained liquid; two were different shades of green, the other a faint violet color.
The computer monitor inside the third desk beeped to life, its screen processing the last known entered command. Apparently shutdown in the middle of a process, Ancient words spread across the console, initiating a program.
The metallic arm sprung to life. The turnstile grew louder in noise and started to spin. The three vials containing liquid drew closer to the arm, sloshing their contents around and around. The arm reached forward as the turnstile suddenly halted.
Grabbing the violet substance, the arm retracted. Intent on completing instructions, the arm extended upwards, aiming to place the vial on a pedestal inside a covered, plastic cocoon on the top of the turnstile.
However, the electricity from the power surge continued its journey, rushing past several enticing pathways, but ultimately heading towards the center of the room. Reaching the metallic arm, it attacked.
The arm staggered, short-circuited by the sudden burst of electricity.
The vial dropped.
It crashed to the floor and broke upon impact. Shards of glass skidded across the floor, while the violet substance evaporated within seconds. It rose into the air and entered the ventilation system.
Two minutes later, Atlantis began to panic.
-----SGA-----
"Dr. Weir!" Chuck called, beckoning her over.
Elizabeth was getting a lot of that lately. People were determined to give her any information they could to help her make the most informed decision. She was grateful, but everything was coming at her from all directions. She had to focus on the most useful.
And at that moment, Teyla arrived. Knowing full well that John's condition and that of the debris were more important right now, Elizabeth strode towards her.
Teyla was panting heavily. Elizabeth gave her a moment to compose herself before starting with the questions. "Teyla, what can you tell me about the condition down there?"
Ronon approached them, intent on knowing what was happening.
Teyla spoke up, "The debris from the explosion is blocking our path." She took a large gulp of air. "We will not be able to remove it very quickly, so Major Lorne proposed that we use explosives to get past it."
Elizabeth pondered this new information. Explosives were the fastest way to move through the debris. But an explosion could affect more systems due to the failure in confining the power flow. Plus, John could be too close to the blast and risk being even more injured than he already was. She needed to know more.
"Is there any other way to get them out? What about machinery?"
"No," Teyla supplied. "Lieutenant Cadman and Major Lorne decided that there was not enough room in the corridor to use machinery. It would still take too long if any of them are seriously injured."
Elizabeth nodded. Content with the decision to use explosives, she called out to Zelenka. "Radek, is John near the debris?"
He pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose and stared at a nearby screen. "No, he is not. He has managed to pull himself around a corner, probably in anticipation of us using explosives."
Smart thinking, Elizabeth decided. "Alright then, Teyla, tell Major Lorne he has a go for the explosives. Tell him to try and minimize the blast to the center of the debris so that little further damage is done to the surrounding area."
"Right." And with that, Teyla began her second full-out run of the day, hurrying back to Sector Four.
Ronon stood nearby, folding his arms over his chest. "She's tired. I could go."
"I'm sorry, Ronon, but as I said, if any complications arise, we'll need you around."
He huffed. "Fine." Walking over to the nearest wall, Ronon leaned against it and waited.
-----SGA-----
A light turned on.
A light turned off.
On.
Off.
On.
Off.
On…
Okay, that was getting annoying.
John forced his eyes open and glanced around. He'd managed to crawl past the nearest corner and sat down.
His head was killing him. He raised his hand, inspecting the wound by touch. Pulling his hand back, he realized there was no fresh blood on it. It stopped bleeding. That was a good sign. He hoped.
He couldn't tell how much time had passed. Maybe a few hours. But the damn blinking light in front of him was annoying. Next to the door facing him, the crystals that allow a person to pass in and out of the door were blinking. Painfully bright.
"What the hell?" he whispered to himself, listening to see if his hearing had returned. No such luck. Wonderful.
The light was unusually bright, nearly blinding him. Closing his eyes, John relaxed.
Crap. It was penetrating his eyelids. All he could see was red. Squinting, John opened his eyes again. The light was turning on and off very rapidly. Lazily turning his head to the left, John realized that no other lights were copying this one's actions.
And then the door opened.
And closed.
And opened.
And closed.
John was getting the sinking feeling that something wasn't right here…
-----SGA-----
"Dr. Weir!" Chuck called again, waving his hands in the air after she finished talking with Teyla.
Rodney was aggravated. "Leave her alone and let her know when you find something useful, will you?" he sniped, aiming his derision at the poor Control Officer.
Chuck glared at McKay. "Atlantis has regained control of several systems, including the electrical sensors. A second power surge has erupted in Room 453, which has not undergone inspection yet."
"So what? It's a foreign room and uncharted territory. Leave it alone and we'll fix the problem once we rescue SGA-6 and Colonel Sheppard," Rodney said casually. That didn't ease Chuck's bad mood, but his discovery was worth noting.
Alarm klaxons sounded. Red lights spun in the Gate Room. A loud siren penetrated Rodney's ears and alerted him that something had just gone very, very wrong.
"Turn the alarm off!" Elizabeth yelled, her voice straining to be heard over the cacophony that had erupted in the room. "Rodney! Find out what's going—" the alarms ceased, "ON!"
Picking up his Tablet PC, Rodney located a blinking red icon on the map of Atlantis, indicating the source of the problem. "Oh no…Oh no, oh no, oh no."
"Rodney?" Elizabeth came up behind him. "What's wrong?"
Zelenka started spitting out random words in Czech. Elizabeth had a strong feeling those were swear words.
Rodney stared at her. "We have a problem."
Elizabeth met his stare. "What kind of problem?"
He started clicking on things. "Atlantis has detected an airborne virus in Sector Four."
"What?! How?"
"Atlantis' sensors, both electrical and air filtration, just came back online. Approximately two minutes ago, a toxic substance was released into the atmosphere in…Room 453." Rodney was speaking faster, visibly upset and in a panic. "Atlantis cannot vent the pathogen. Her ventilation systems have been corrupted, but she can detect disturbances in the air and oxygen level deficiencies."
Elizabeth was trying to keep up. "Can Atlantis isolate the virus?"
"The city is trying. It can't contain the virus to that one room. We could have done it manually from here, but the pathogen was released two minutes ago. It's already flowing through Sector Four as we speak."
John.
"Can we seal off Sector Four?"
Rodney typed several commands and began forcefully hitting others.
"Rodney!"
"I'm checking! I'm checking!" Rodney did not do panicky very well. "I don't know any characteristics of the pathogen, but judging by the damn, blinking red lights, I'd say it's pretty harmful!"
"Come on, Rodney…" Elizabeth was tapping her foot, waiting for answers. Answers that seemed to be taking a lifetime to figure out.
"Almost there, almos—There! I got it! Yes, we can shut off the ventilation systems manually from here. Atlantis can't do it herself."
"Good. Do it."
"Done!" Radek and Rodney announced at the same time. Just a few simple commands and they were a-okay.
But John wouldn't be.
Elizabeth whirled, trying to find Ronon. He caught her gaze and walked forward. "Ronon! I need you to—"
"I know." And without even hesitating, he took off in the direction of the door.
-----SGA-----
Ronon ran.
Corridor after corridor, civilian after military after civilian personnel, door after door. He ran.
Ronon overheard everything about the virus from his location. Doctor Weir had just sent Teyla to tell Major Lorne to blow up the debris. But in doing so, he'd free the virus and kill his team, Teyla, and potentially the rest of Atlantis if it managed to slip through whatever McKay did to stop it.
John was likely dead. He was wounded and in the middle of a hallway the virus had access to.
SGA-6 were likely dead. They were in the room directly across from the virus.
But he could save Teyla and SGA-2.
His legs pounded on grating, on smooth floor, on stairs. Hopping into a transporter, Ronon quickly chose as close to Sector Four as he could get. He needed to be faster than this.
Teyla had a two minute head start on him, but she was out of breath from her first run. He knew though, that he did not have enough time to overtake her.
He just hoped the explosives weren't ready to blow.
-----SGA-----
The red lights were beginning to blur his vision. It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase "seeing red."
John blinked. The red lights had started up about a minute ago. The damn white light—which was closer to him—still shined in his eyes. The door was opening and closing. He was fed up with it all.
"Okay! Okay! I'll friggin' move!" he roared, trying to stand up so he could move. It was weird not being to hear any of that.
His goal was to move back around the intersection and closer to the debris. He realized that moving out of the way of the blast would be a good idea, so he dragged himself around the intersection. But at this position he also couldn't tell if they managed to blow any of the debris away at all since he was deaf for the time being.
He stood and took a few steps forward, using the wall for leverage. But then he stopped.
What if they're sending a message? McKay could be continually opening and closing the door, as well as increasing the wattage in the crystals to get his attention. Maybe he wanted John to enter the room?
And then he felt it. Atlantis was back in his head, followed by a new bout of pain. He grabbed his head, falling to his knees.
But Atlantis wasn't trying to hurt him…
She's trying to save me. Atlantis was the one giving him these signals. He contemplated her meaning and decided that he had to get to the room.
Crawling on all fours, he slowly made his way forward, inching toward the door. The lights dimmed considerably, allowing him to see where he was going.
Atlantis kept the door open for him.
His breath was ragged and his throat felt hoarse. No water. Blood loss. Couldn't hear. What a day.
Atlantis closed the door.
Well, that was fun.
And then he passed out.
-----SGA-----
Teyla rounded the corner, her legs feeling like jelly. Never had she run so fast.
"Major Lorne!" she called out, catching his attention.
"Teyla! Wow, that was quick. That was what? Less than ten minutes?"
Teyla smiled, appreciative of his compliment, but more worried about John and Lieutenant Waldon's team. "Thank you, Major, but—" she stopped again, inhaling some more air. "But, Doctor Weir gave the order. She said to go ahead with the explosives."
Major Lorne nodded and spoke to Cadman, "Lieutenant, are the explosives ready?"
"Ready to blow, sir!" Cadman hollered back, holding the detonator.
"Alright, let's do this. Everyone, step back behind the corner!"
-----SGA-----
Ronon stumbled, catching himself before falling. It was difficult to try and traverse a quarter of the city in less than two minutes. Ronon knew he had already passed that mark.
He was nearly there, skidding around corners and running as fast as his feet would allow on straight-aways.
If only he wasn't so slow.
"Everyone, step back behind the corner!" That was Major Lorne's voice.
He had two turns left to go—he knew, having memorized the pathways while Weir gave out orders.
He took turn one at an angle, not intending to stop so that he could orient himself. He crashed into the wall on the other side, but that didn't deter him.
One more turn.
"Cadman, arm the detonator!"
Almost there.
Don't blow it. Don't blow it. Don't blow it.
He jumped out from behind them, yelling at all of them at once.
"DON'T BLOW IT!"
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
Both orders yelled out at the same time. Time seemed to stand still.
Teyla whipped her head around, staring at him.
Lorne's eyes widened in surprise at Ronon's presence.
Parrish covered his ears.
Ronon panted.
And then Cadman pressed the trigger on the detonator and smoke filled the air.