In this chapter, Rush has yet another idea (the nature of the idea being stupid or not is up for debate) as a person from his past determines his future.

Chapter 9

"You know when TJ told me of your plan to get you out of your episodes, I thought that was the stupidest plan you've ever had," began Young as he and Rush briskly walked along Destiny's corridors. "But then you come up with this, you're really pilling on the stupid ideas today Rush."

"I'm all ears to any other ideas you might have, Colonel," hissed back Rush as they turned the final corner and the doors to the chair room opened, the room itself giving off a very ominous feeling.

"How sure are you that's it's going to work?" asked Young, his voice softer than before, and Rush didn't know if he should be suspicious or touched that the Colonel seemed to actually care about his wellbeing.

They had decided to have the debate while they walked towards the cause and possibly the solution to all their problems.

"All the power of the ship is being stored in that system," reiterated Rush for the umpteenth time. "Eli discovered a program that basically said he could do an overwrite if he access to the ship's remaining energy, which is again in that room."

"That doesn't answer my question, Rush," fired back Young. "How sure are you that when you sit in that damn thing, you'll be able to restore everything you and the Science Team have done to Destiny, reset the ship's safeguards, plus cancel out the effects of the Pulser in your head?"

"I just know," hissed Rush as he made to go to the chair room but Young grabbed his arm and forced him back slightly.

"That's not good enough," began Young.

"It's not good enough because you don't bloody trust me," fired back Rush, showing his arm away from Young's grip. "Had it been Telford, you'd have agreed and we'd already be inside that room."

"Had it been David, I'd have punched him in the face and dragged him back to the Infirmary and have everyone else come up with a different plan," replied Young. "Just like I'm doing right now, trying to look for another way."

"Oh so why did we waste our time heading to this room then," said Rush, giving him a scathing look. "You're not trying to look for another way. You just want reassurance that I won't harm anyone on this ship because all my plans have never saved anyone's life but my own."

Rush was surprised when Young suddenly grabbed him so that the scientist would face the Colonel. His expression was different...it was nothing like the look he had when they were on the planet and he had left Rush. The expression was different, determined and yet there was still something there…

"I'm trying to look for assurance that I won't lose you once you sit on that damn thing," shouted Young. "Damn it, Rush. Why can't you accept for once that people do actually care about you?"

The sudden show of concern threw Rush off and he didn't have a sarcastic retort prepared. But that was just for a split second as raw fury bubbled up in his head. "Colonel Young, don't even think for a second that I believe you actually care about me."

"Rush-"

"You care about the greater good," continued Rush without a beat. "You're not looking for assurance that I won't be harmed, you're looking for assurance that this act, may it be a sacrifice on my part or not, is done for the greater good."

"I-"

"Well we're out of any other options," cut off Rush before the Colonel could get in another word. "The chair is like the Repository of Knowledge merged with the Control Chairs. It has vast information at the same time able to control most systems of the ship. I use the chair to reset everything that has happened with Destiny's systems since the Alliance went on board, access our reserves and get us moving again while gaining information about the ship, maybe even where the bloody bridge is, and that amount information can cancel out the Pulser's lingering effects."

"Well if you put it that way," began Young sarcastically. "We're not even sure that sitting on the chair will reset Destiny's system and your head."

"We're wasting time-" began Rush, walking towards the chair room again.

"The last time you sat on that thing-"

"I came out perfectly alright," countered Rush.

"That was because of all the modifications you and Brody did," fired back Young. "You sure those are still in effect."

"Maybe, I don't know," said Rush. "But I do know that the chair is our last option. So whether you miraculously order Destiny to give us back access to all her power, then I'm sitting on the damn thing."

"Wait," called Young. "Just wait Rush!"

Rush stopped and turned to glare at him. "Wait for what, Colonel? For all of us to freeze to death? To die of suffocation?"

"For Brody and Eli to get here so I'm not the one staring at the console," said Young as he radioed the two to head to the chair room. "I'm not letting you sit on that thing without insurance."

"I don't think-"

"For my own damn piece of mind," said Young, giving him one look and Rush sighed and reluctantly nodded. "Thank you."

They studied each other for a minute or so and then Young turned on his radio. "Eli, Brody and TJ, please head to the Chair room."

"Anything?"

Eli wanted to point out that the Colonel had asked the same question just two minutes ago but thought better off it and just let Brody shake his head. Rush had been sitting on the chair for a good 15 minutes now and there was still no change, in either the ship or his vitals.

The transfer of information was steady, and Brody had said that it was at the same level when Rush had first sat on the chair.

Young turned to TJ and the medic also shook her head. "He's heart rate is steady..." Ask someone else who happened to walk into the room and they would think that Rush was simply just sleeping.

"What about the ship?" asked Young turning to Eli.

"Nothing new," began Eli. "And I think that's a good thing. No more of Destiny's sudden power conservation frenzy."

Young just gave him a pointed look. "Any chance of doing some workarounds while the ship is busy with Rush on the chair?"

"I'll try," began Eli. "I mean I'll get on it." Eli corrected at Young's glare.

Silence fell on them as TJ and Brody kept checking Rush's well being while Eli coordinated with Volker and Park with accessing Destiny's systems.

Suddenly the room brightened and the temperature increased to a more comfortable level. Young turned to Eli.

"As much as I'd love to take credit," began Eli, looking over his console. "That wasn't me."

"David, any change in the mess?" asked Young as he radioed Telford.

"It's warmer," reported Telford. "A far better temperature than a few moments ago. Lights are increasing in intensity as well...they were dimmed earlier."

Young turned to TJ who was once again checking Rush's heart rate. "No change."

"Rush is getting more information than before," reported Brody. "But not at any dangerous level that would fry his brain or anything…"

Young frowned. That was necessarily good news.

"Atmosphere is returning to some of the halls and living quarters," said Eli suddenly but frowned. "FTL is still not getting any energy though."

"We'll take anything we can get for now," said Young as he turned back to Rush. He didn't seem to be in pain or under any stress...Young just wished things would finally work for their favor.

"You should really play more often."

The voice made him stop and he turned to see his wife standing by the door, a bright smile on her face. "That piano has been yearning for someone to use her for quite some time now…"

"I've been busy." he replied as he turned back to the black and white keys. "Well, busy in the sense of getting lost in numbers and equations-"

"And Ancient puzzles?" offered Gloria as she sat down beside Rush on the piano bench. "Music has always felt like a mathematical equation for me…"

"Really?" asked Rush, a small amused smile on his face. "It's more of a sequence in my opinion, you know like in Algebra when-"

"Nick, you do know I was kidding right?" teased Gloria, nudging him with her shoulder.

"Of course," replied Rush as he leaned forward and captured her lips with his. "Just couldn't resist."

"Playing the piano is your stress reliever," began Gloria as they broke apart. "You shouldn't really be thinking about math while you're playing."

"Math helps me relax," argued Rush and Gloria just gave him a look. "It does!"

"And seeing you with your professor attire doesn't warm me all over, Nick," retorted Gloria as she kissed him once again before rising and patting his shoulder with one hand. "Try and take it easy, please?"

"For you, always," replied Rush with a smile. He followed her out the room but just as he was about to turn to head for the kitchen Rush called out to her. "What are you doing anyway?"

"Just clearing my head of unwanted thoughts," began Gloria with a sad smile and Rush's heart clenched. He slowly got up and stood in front of her, taking her hands into his.

"Everything will be alright, Gloria," began Rush, kissing the back of her hands. "The test will say that you're cancer free and all the pain you've endured will all be a thing of the past."

"A thing of the past…" repeated Gloria with a hopeful smile. "Why say that instead of moving on and forgetting?"

"Well the past is a reminder of things that have happened," began Rush, leading her to the couch. "Things that have made us stronger, mistakes we are now wary not to repeat, and experiences that have made us who we are."

"Meaning accept the things that have happened and the things we cannot change," finished Gloria. "Those are wise words, Nick...why can't you follow your own advice?"

Rush frowned but the scene change dramatically and there he was again back in her hospital room, her lying on her deathbed as he watched by her side, helpless as the love of his life was slowly slipping away.

Then it hit him. This wasn't real...none of these was real. He was in some sort of simulation once again. He had sat on the chair aboard Destiny to find a way to fix the ship and to undo whatever it is that lingered when the Pulser was used to torture him.

"Nick…"

This wasn't real. She's dead...has been for years. She wasn't laying on that hospital bed, closing her eyes for the last time…

"Dr. Rush?"

Rush turned to see Gloria's doctor who had a broad smile on his face. No, this wasn't how it had happened…

"She's resting, but she looks to be on the road of recovery-"

"What…" stammered Rush, turning back to Gloria's sleeping form on the bed. "She's…"

"Going to be alright," finished the doctor, patting him on the back. "The worst is over, Dr. Rush. You're wife is going to be alright and you two are going to lead a happy life."

"This is new," said Brody all of sudden and the others turned to him. "The information transfer...it shifted."

"What does that mean?" asked Young, walking over to look at the console, knowing fully well that he wasn't going to understand anything without Brody explaining.

"Before it was Destiny giving information to Rush...but now it's the other way around. Destiny gaining information from Rush." explained Brody. "Basically before Rush was learning from the ship, now the ship is learning from Rush."

"Why?" asked TJ. "Does it have anything to do with the Pulser?"

"Maybe, I don't know," said Brody. "But Rush did think that the chair will be able to help with that. Maybe that's what's happening, Destiny is looking into whatever the Pulser did to him and is trying to reverse it."

"Mighty big if," said Eli but didn't add to that when the other three glared his way.

"We're getting some power back," argued Brody. 'At least there's that."

"Yeah but we still can't access any system," said Eli. "We're basically just reading the data, no modifying."

Young turned to TJ who just shrugged, answering the silent question. "Physically, he's doing ok. Heart rate's steady, no injuries."

Young sighed, running a tired hand over his face. "Then we wait."

This wasn't real.

That was a mantra that had been playing over and over again in Rush's head as time flew by. Had been...until Gloria was finally released from the hospital and the mantra was pushed to the back of his mind.

He helped her enter their home and he couldn't help but smile as she took in a deep breath, not swaying where she stood.

"I never thought I'd be able to come back to this place," whispered Gloria, turning to look at him. "I never thought I'd get a second chance to live a life with you."

Rush's mantra broke again for the umpteenth time...he's been forgetting it quite often these days, especially when Gloria had woken up and he found himself conversing with her almost every minute of every day.

Or whatever measure of time there was in here.

Rush still had a grasp of reality...that this wasn't real. That he was still onboard Destiny. But the part about needing to find a way out of the simulation was starting to falter...because why would he?

Outside the simulation he was being bombarded with memories of his torture both of the memory and the pain of it. Outside he had no one, no friends, no family...he was alone.

Here, there was Gloria. She was alive and well...he didn't have the usually daily problems of staying alive. He didn't a Colonel who didn't trust him, colleagues who hated him, people out to kill him.

"Are you alright?"

Her voice broke him out of his thoughts...what was he thinking about anyway? Something about Destiny-

"Nick?"

Rush shook his head, clearing his mind. He turned and offered her a smile. "Sorry about that, what were you saying?"

Gloria offered her a smile. "Just wanted to know what you've been doing since I was in the hospital."

"Oh just working on equations here and there," said Rush as he led her to the living room. "Trying to decipher-"

A flood of images overwhelmed him all of a sudden. The number of 46 screaming at him from each and every image.

Then suddenly he was walking along a dimly lit hallway, walls were some sort of brownish color. Accessing something at the end of the hall, an elevator? His movements were quick and silent as though trying to be as discreet as possible-

"Nick?"

"Trying to decipher the master code," finished Rush as he swallowed the lump in his throat and turned to her, tears already forming on the edge of his eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

Gloria smiled sadly. "Because you asked me to."

"Ok these levels are far away from being safe," shouted Brody all of a sudden as the information exchanged increased, both to and from Rush. "I don't think I'll be able to moderate it-"

"He's heart rate is through the roof," called TJ all of a sudden and Young was just about to order Brody to get Rush out of the chair when Eli had news of his own.

"We're getting access to more power," shouted Eli, a mix of relief and worry in his voice. "Whatever Rush is doing, it's working."

"He keeps this up, he's going to die," countered TJ. "We need to get him out of there."

"Forcing him out of the chair may just kill him," countered Brody.

"Keeping him might just kill him as well," argued TJ as she turned to Young.

Young clenched his fist and moved to stand right in front of Rush's unconscious form. He placed his hands on the arms of the chair and gazed pointedly at Rush.

"I know you can bloody hear me Rush so you better listen," began Young, his voice low but the strength of his words were there. "You've survived being left alone on a planet by yourself, having a damn alien tracker inside you, hell even torture from the Lucian Alliance. You're way too damn smart to be killed by a damn chair. Don't you dare die on us Rush!"