Annoyingly, Babble Fish doesn't do English-Czechoslovakian, or I'd have some fun with Zelenka...

Life Goes On
Part 6: Narrow Escapes

"Not good..." Clark looked round, trying to see if there was an obvious way to stop the impending disaster, and decided that the best thing to do would be to pull the large yellow crystal out of what remained of the pedestal. It slid out easily, and stopped glowing as soon as it was clear of the rest of the mechanism. The low hum that had started continued to grow, but at a much slower rate.

"Clark?" the radio attached to his jacket had somehow survived his fight with the Brain-IAC, and suddenly came to life, "This is Colonel Sheppard; are you ok?"

"I'm ok, sir, but we need to get out of here, fast." He looked round until he saw the doorway he had entered through, "I'll explain the rest when I get back."

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"What?" Sheppard looked at his radio, "What do you mean, 'when you get back'?" There was a minor sonic boom as Clark appeared outside the Jumper, and then ran round to the rear hatch.

"We have to get out of here, now!" The young Kryptonian hit the controls to close the door behind him, "We've not got long until this entire planet goes up."

"What is it with you people?" Sheppard asked rhetorically, "McKay destroyed three-quarters of a solar system!"

"Hey, Five-sixths at most!" The scientist shot back, "And Carter blew up an entire star! But no; you don't hear any complaints about that, because she was part of SG-1, and they can do no wrong!"

"Oh, you want to get back into that again?" Sheppard turned to face his team mate, "You're little insecurity issues because you never got to be on SG-1?"

"GUYS!" Clark effortlessly picked both men up by the shirt collar and held them apart, "We need to get out of here."

"Well he started it." McKay muttered.

"Did not!" Sheppard shot back.

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Colonel Sheppard, Dr McKay." Teyla stepped between the two men, "This is neither the time nor the place to be having this argument, yet again. I sagest that we concentrate on getting back to Atlantis before we are all blown up, at which time there will be no need for the two of you to argue ever again."

"She's kind of right, you know." McKay admitted, holding out a hand, "Truce?"

"Truce," Sheppard nodded, shaking the offered hand as a violent tremor shook the Jumper, knocking everyone off their feet. "Maybe we should get out of here..." he grabbed his seat and pulled himself down into it as the ships systems automatically came online. The inertial dampeners stopped everyone from being thrown about the cabin, but it was still disturbing to see the world outside lurch from side to side.

What passed for a heads-up display flashed on, showing a growing red circle in the middle of the Kyrptonian structure. Grabbing the controls, Sheppard lifted the Jumper off of the ground and swung its blunt nose around as he powered up the drive-pods. The ground below blurred as the craft built up speed, before Sheppard pulled back on the stick until it was pointing almost vertically upwards. Clouds flashed passed and the sky went from blue to black as they left the atmosphere behind.

A loud claxon started going off, and the red light on the HUD started to flash urgently.

"I'd recommend getting to the Stargate!" McKay yelled to be heard sirens, "The entire planet's about to blow!"

"I'm working on it!" Sheppard changed their heading to point at the orbiting ring, "start dialling the moment we're in range!"

McKay's hands darted across the central panel as soon as it lit up, and the Stargate came to life, forming a stable wormhole back to Atlantis. He then quickly sent a G.D.O. signal to make sure that the force-field on the other side would be lowered before they arrived. A blinding white flash illuminated the inside of the Jumper, forcing everyone to shield their eyes. The claxon rose to a scream as the planet behind them was atomised instantly.

"Holly crap!" McKay looked at the HUD, we've got about 30-seconds until the shockwave crushes us like an empty beer can!"

"How long before we reach the Stargate?" Teyla asked.

"A little less than 30-seconds," Sheppard urged the ship forward as fast as he could, "I hope..."

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"They're early." Weir stood in the middle of the control room overlooking the Stargate, "Are you sure it's Col. Sheppard's team?"

"Yes." Zelenka nodded, "It is Rodney's G.D.O. code."

"Lower the shield." Weir nodded, before adding under her breath, "What have you gotten yourself into this time John..."

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"Everyone grab hold of something!" Sheppard gritted his teeth as he lined up the Stargate, "This is going to be close..."

The Puddle Jumper erupted from the wormhole with such speed that even the in-built safety systems were unable to stop it before it hit the steppes leading up to the upper levels. There was an ear-pricing sound of metal crashing into metal, before the stricken craft crashed onto the floor.

"Raising the shield!" Weir slammed her hand down on the control panel just a split second before the wormhole started to glow as bright as the sun for a second before shutting down.

Smoke and gas filled the room as what passed for an automated fire suppressant system kicked in and doused the flames caused by the Jumpers rather less-than-textbook landing. There was low thud, and then the crafts rear hatch crashed down onto the floor.

"SOMEBODY CALL CARSON!" Sheppard yelled out as loud as he could, "WE'VE GOT WOUNDED HERE!"

"What the hell is gannin on in heor?" Dr Becket arrived at a run, his normally thick Scottish accent almost incomprehensible, "What did Rodney dee this time?"

"Time to find out." Weir took the steps down to the lower level two at a time, "John? What happened?"

"We ran into the Kryptonian equivalent of a watchdog." The pilot explained, "Then Clark decided to blow up the entire planet, so we didn't get anything but more questions."

"Well I did get this." Clark held up the yellow crystal he'd taken from the outpost, "I don't know what it is."

"A Zed-PM!" McKay squeaked, "Where did you find that?"

"I think it was helping to power the outpost." The young Alien explained, "I pulled it out because I thought it might stop the overload..."

"Good, good, good." McKay grabbed the crystal and held it up to the light, "You probably save our lives: if this had gone up, we'd have never made it back to the Stargate."

"Ok, but what does it do?" Clark asked, feeling very much in the dark.

"ZPM's, or Zero Point Module's, were used by the Ancients to power post of their technology, including Atlantis itself." Weir explained, "We've only been able to recover a handful, and most of them were depleted."

"I'll have to run a few tests, but as this was only helping to power the Kryptonian outpost, there is the possibility that it may not have reached entropy yet." McKay smiled like a young child on Christmas morning.

"We have other problems to deal with first." Sheppard pointed to the two stretchers being pulled away from the downed Jumper, "Something happened to Sam and Chloe."

To Be Continued...

If you didn't like it, then so be it: it was my story to write and time to waste, not yours.