Chapter 6: We're not off the planet yet
"Already on it," Rodney replied, appearing at the back of the Jumper carrying his laptop and an Ancient hand held scanner.
Lorne moved into rear section, quickly changing back into his BDU's and boots before rejoining his companion outside. "Where to?" he asked, clipping his P90 to his vest and switching on the light. The station had power but the room was still dimly lit - the rest of the station likely to be the same.
Looking down at the display Rodney pointed to his right. "This way," he said, walking with his eyes on the screen.
"Careful McKay," Lorne gently corrected Rodney's course, steering him away from tripping over storage boxes haphazardly abandoned around them.
"The amplifier ... at least the most likely location for it, is two levels up," Rodney glanced up quickly, oblivious to Lorne's assistance.
"We'll take the stairs," Evan said decisively. That got Rodney's attention. "This station has been down here with who knows what damage for a year McKay," Lorne pointed out. "I don't know about you but I don't fancy the idea of getting stuck in a transporter because you were too lazy to do a little climbing."
"Fine," Rodney muttered, leading the way again. He'd never been fond of stairs ... the difference between his and the military contingent's fitness never more evident that when he was forced to follow one of them up multiple flights.
They walked through the station in silence after that ... of course the place felt deserted. It was deserted ... but the atmosphere was more than that. If Rodney had to put words on it he'd have gone with abandoned ... cold ... and maybe a little accusing. Shaking his head at the fanciful turn of thought, Rodney let the Major take the lead once they got to the stairs, puffing along behind him and swearing to himself for the hundredth time that he'd put some effort into his fitness once this was all over.
"Okay, we should be getting close to the Communications Room," Rodney revealed a few minutes later.
"That's where the amplifier is?" Lorne asked.
"That's where I hope it is," Rodney countered. "With only vague details to go on I'm guessing Lantia used to communicate with the people stationed down here like she does with Sheppard. Well, before she stopped talking to everyone that is. Anyway, given the distance I think she needed something to boost her strength, so to speak. Hence ... amplifier."
"Makes sense," Evan agreed.
"Well, let's see if I'm right," Rodney swiped a hand over the door controls, but nothing happened. "Mmm," he muttered, looking at his scanner. "Mechanism must be jammed," he glanced at Lorne with a frown. "I'll have to override it manually."
"Do it," Lorne agreed, folding his arms over his chest as he waited for Rodney to do his thing.
Prying the panel away from the internal controls, Rodney quickly pulled one of the crystals. The light inside that had signalled power was getting to the controls went out. "Now we just have to muscle the doors open," he announced.
"Just," Evan muttered, stepping up and working the tips of his fingers into the gap between the two panels that made up the door. Shifting so that his back was to one edge he put a foot up against the other and pulled with as much force as he could muster. A small opening appeared, allowing him to get a better grip. Redoubling his efforts, Evan groaned as the doors slowly creaked open. When he just couldn't open them any further he stopped, putting his foot back down on the floor.
The resulting splash was clearly audible.
"McKay," Lorne ground out, looking down and seeing more than just a little water escaping from inside the room.
"This section must have been damaged when we broke the connection a year ago," Rodney explained, looking down at the floor with a worried expression. "There's no evidence it was fully submerged though so more than likely it's just a leak. Resetting the station's pressure probably shifted the balance in there a little but ... well, we should hurry it up."
"Oh, you think?" Evan retorted. Climbing carefully through the opening Lorne entered the Communications Room, turning just in time to see Rodney squeezing himself painfully through the gap.
"You did that on purpose," Rodney complained, wincing and rubbing at his stomach once he'd made it into the room.
"The door wouldn't go any further McKay," Lorne said innocently, grinning. "I can't help it if you're carrying a little 'desk' weight."
"Sure," Rodney muttered, moving quickly forward. Putting his hand on the main console had all the screens flickering to life.
The increased illumination provided just enough light to see to the edges of the room. It looked surprisingly undamaged, apart from a large crack in the wall beside the window. Lorne moved to investigate. Putting his hand on the crack, he took it away and then glanced down at his palm. "Water," he told Rodney quietly.
"I know," Rodney replied, pressing buttons on the console as he called up the design schematics for the station. "Something must have hit the outer wall pretty hard ... luckily not enough to breach it. Us being here has affected the equilibrium that's kept this section from being submerged all this time."
"Is this something I need to worry about?" Evan asked pointedly.
"Pressure's holding," Rodney said distractedly. "We're good for now."
"It's the 'for now' I find disturbing Rodney," Lorne returned.
"Just let me -," Rodney broke off, his face taking on that look of triumph everyone was so familiar with. "Got it," he announced, moving away from the console and heading for the door. Glancing back to see Evan still standing in place, he added "you coming?"
"Where?" Evan raised an eyebrow expectantly.
"Oh - sorry," Rodney shrugged. "Systems junction a few corridors away ... we'll have to remove the wall panels to get at the amplifier."
Nodding, Evan followed Rodney from the room. "Should we close this?" he asked curiously, gesturing to the doors.
"Probably," Rodney agreed. Lorne moved to push the door closed but it wouldn't budge, no matter how much effort he put into it. "What's wrong?" Rodney asked.
"You wanna have a go?!" Lorne retorted, glaring at Rodney as he panted in exertion.
"Ah .. no, no," Rodney took a quick step back like the door might jump up and bite him. "You're doing great."
"This thing is jammed tight," Evan finally conceded after trying again, slumping against the wall. "Nothing's gonna move it."
"Look, it probably doesn't matter," Rodney replied. "It's not like we're gonna come back here again, is it? It would only be important if we wanted to reclaim the station."
"I didn't think I'd be coming here now," Lorne returned. Sighing, he gestured down the corridor. "Control junction," he said, inviting Rodney to lead the way again.
Rodney nodded, pulling his portable scanner out and once again walking while watching the screen. "I loaded the map on here," he explained as they headed deeper into the station. It took another five minutes before he stopped, pointing at a section of the wall. "Behind there," he announced.
"I got it," Lorne pulled a Swiss army knife from his vest, opening it and using a screw driving implement to pop out the panel Rodney had pointed to and the ones on either side.
"Oh," Rodney muttered, his face surprised as both men looked into the opening they'd created.
"What?" Lorne demanded, wishing the other man would stop doing that.
"Nothing," Rodney replied, glancing at Lorne quickly before looking back into the cavity. "I was just hoping the amplifier would be right here so we could just unplug it."
"I take it it's not gonna be that easy?" Lorne queried, not surprised.
"It'll just take a little longer," Rodney explained. "I'll need to remove this outer systems structure first," he gestured to the rows of crystals and slots. "The device is somewhere behind it."
Not waiting for Lorne's acknowledgement, Rodney set to work. Evan acted as torch bearer and assistant, taking each component Rodney handed him and setting it aside in some kind of order, just in case they had to put it all back together at the end. They'd completed half the job when the station suddenly shook, knocking them both off their feet.
"What -?" Rodney pushed himself up from the floor in confusion.
"Stay here McKay!" Lorne ordered. "I'll go check it out - you keep working!"
Running down the corridor, it wasn't long before Evan encountered the water running down the floor towards him. "McKay," he said over the radio as he continued, boots splashing with each running step. As he moved forward the water gained in both speed and quantity. "We've got a serious problem here - I've got a small river of water coming from the Communications Room."
"The crack," Rodney said in a sick voice. "The increased pressure inside the station must have put more force on the area than I thought and accelerated the breech."
"And then some," Lorne arrived at the door, grim faced as he watched water gushing from the opening. He took up position in the doorway, once again trying to force the doors closed but it was a futile effort. If he couldn't close it before it was unlikely he would now the water was acting to keep it open. All he ended up doing was getting himself good and wet.
"How's it coming down there?" Evan asked Rodney for a progress report, turning and running back towards Rodney's position.
"Too slowly," Rodney returned grimly, his voice choppy with nerves.
"I'm heading back to you," Lorne replied, increasing his pace to the point of sprinting, water splashing up with every step.
The small river had turned into a large one, covering the width of the corridor and rising slowly up the walls. Worse than that, he was now heading downhill ... obviously the moorings themselves had been damaged when Atlantis had left the planet. Now the station had become unbalanced as water filled one section ... that must have caused the shaking they'd felt.
It made progress difficult ... by the time Lorne got to Rodney the water was up to his knees and he was seriously worried about the condition of the Moon Pool. Surely the increased breach in the Communications Room had altered the internal pressure again? They'd be lucky if that hadn't affected the water level of the Pool.
Rodney was working rapidly but carefully, as he pulled out the remaining structure hiding the component they needed.
"You haven't got the device out yet?" Lorne demanded. "We don't have time for the careful approach McKay."
"If I don't do this right I could damage the amplifier, making this entire journey a waste of time, not to mention seriously impacting on our ability to find Sheppard," Rodney retorted, stubbornly continuing the way he had been.
"Yeah, and if we don't get out of here very soon we won't be leaving at all," Lorne shot back. "In case you've forgotten, the level of water in the Moon Pool relies on the right pressure inside the station ... unless we can get back there soon the Jumper's gonna be submerged ... then its goodbye us!"
"I just need a few more minutes," Rodney, his face pale with worry, insisted. He knew they were cutting it fine but he couldn't see any other way ... he just had to move faster, that was all.
Moving closer, Lorne peered into the opening. "Which one is the amplifier?" he asked curiously.
"The big circular thing in the middle," Rodney replied in a slightly condescending tone.
"This?" Lorne pointed to a donut like object with leads connected at multiple points. In the middle were a series of crystals with more cable leading further into the wall. Evan frowned, shooting a quick glance at McKay. Before the other man could stop him, Lorne reached into the wall, grabbed the device and yanked hard.
It came free abruptly, throwing the Major back against the opposite wall.
"Are you insane?" Rodney demanded, watching Lorne in disbelief. Looking back at the opening he swallowed hard. Some of the leads were still attached to the amplifier but the rest were still in the wall, their ends seeming to point at him accusingly.
Straightening, Lorne ignored the question. "Here," he held out the amplifier, face sternly telling the other man to take it and move on.
"Fine," Rodney muttered, grabbing the device and putting it in the back pack he'd brought. Checking it quickly first, he was only slightly reassured to see that all the central crystals appeared to be there.
"Hurry it up McKay," Lorne urged, pointing to the water line that was now at mid thigh height.
Closing the pack Rodney shouldered it and then began pushing his way through the water back the way they'd come.
Only now that he had what they'd come for did Rodney really take notice of his physical state. The water was cold ... really cold, and the feeling of ice travelling up from his feet was less than pleasant. Shivering slightly, Rodney manfully followed the Major as he led the way towards the Moon Pool room.
It was slow going despite their urgency, and it only got harder as the water continued to rise.
"You okay McKay?" Lorne glanced back to make sure the other man was keeping up.
"No," Rodney's breath puffed out harshly as he continued walking. "I can't feel my feet ... or my ... other parts. I don't want to even think about how much colder it's gonna get in here."
"You're doing great Rodney," Lorne told him, meaning it. "We're almost there so just ... keep going."
"Not like I've got any other choice," Rodney muttered, pushing forward through the water, more miserable than he could remember feeling in some time. "Sheppard is so gonna owe me after this."
"I'll make sure he's knows how much you went through McKay," Evan replied, turning a corner and breathing a sigh of relief. "See," he stopped and gestured forward. "The Moon Pool."
"Oh thank God," Rodney intoned, increasing his pace with renewed purpose.
The door of course didn't open when Lorne swiped a hand over the controls ... Evan waited impatiently while Rodney once again bypassed the automatic systems. Pushing this door open was harder than the first one had been ... Lorne didn't know where he got the strength from but within moments he had an opening wide enough for them to get through.
The news once they got a look inside wasn't good. Water hadn't rushed from the corridor into the room because the water level inside was much the same. The Puddle Jumper was already submerged more than half way.
"Shit," Rodney muttered.
"Yeah," Lorne agreed, urging him forward. Once they were standing at the hatch he turned to Rodney. "How are we gonna get in without filling the rear section with water?"
"We're not," Rodney said grimly. "You'll just have to empty the water out somehow before we close the hatch or the extra weight will impede us from breaking clear of the atmosphere."
"I was afraid you'd say that," Lorne replied. "Okay ... ready?" When Rodney nodded wordlessly Lorne activated the remote to open the rear. It lowered slower than usual with the water applying a force against it ... but eventually water rushed into the back of the Jumper until the hatch was down and the level inside was the same as outside.
Both men hurried inside as soon as the hatch was low enough.
"Strap in tight," Lorne ordered, throwing himself into the pilot's chair. Powering up the ship, he slowly raised it from the floor ... feeling the extra weight in how hard it was for him to control everything. If they'd left it too much longer Lorne was convinced he wouldn't have been able to raise the ship at all.
Thankful the room had a high ceiling, Evan cleared the water level with the hatch still open and then carefully applied a tilt to pour the water from the back section. Without the Jumper's ability to hover in place, none of what he'd had to do so far would have been possible.
"This is insane," Rodney muttered, staring straight at the roof as the Jumper got almost perpendicular to the floor before all the water was gone.
"Now the hard part," Lorne announced, righting the ship and closing the hatch.
"What?" Rodney protested. "I thought that was the hard part!"
"Ah ... not really," Evan shrugged. "Now I have to get us out of here and I'm thinking going out the way we came in might not be the best idea. The station's hardly stable and the force of the water pushing up from the pool coupled with the tight fit makes that problematic."
"You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting ... are you?" Rodney asked sickly.
"Gonna make a new exit," Lorne announced blandly, bringing up the HUD and scanning it quickly. "There," he pointed to one of the walls. "That way is the fastest route out from here ... a couple of drones should do the trick."
Not waiting for Rodney to agree, Evan sent two drones from the ship towards the wall. They impacted with force, slamming through the wall and continuing forward, creating a large whole in their wake. Water rushed through rapidly, following the path made by the drones.
Lorne flew the jumper through the hole, water pushing against the front and splashing down the sides. They cleared the Moon Pool room and burst forward into another larger room ... the drones had punched through there too, leaving a jagged hole hopefully big enough for the Jumper to pass through.
Water was gushing in from all directions, splashing the walls as it filled the room.
"There you go," Lorne shot Rodney a quick look, amused when the other man looked less than happy despite the fact they now had a way out.
"This planet has it in for us!" Rodney protested, less than reassured.
"Don't be ridiculous McKay," Lorne returned, striving to keep the Jumper steady while he waited for the room to be completely submerged.
"No - seriously," Rodney retorted. "It's like that song - it knows we've found somewhere new and now it's pissed."
"It's a planet McKay, not an ex lover," Lorne drawled, amused despite the situation.
"Laugh it you want," Rodney muttered, "but they don't say hell has no fury like a woman scorned for nothing."
"Actually it's 'Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned'," Lorne corrected absently, watching the HUD as he kept an eye on the situation outside the Jumper.
"Well excuse me Mister Shakespeare!" Rodney returned snidely.
"William Congreve's," Lorne corrected again, spearing Rodney with another amused look. "But the sentiment is right ... if Lantia were a jilted woman, which it's not."
"No, it's a jilted planet capable of swallowing us without a trace," Rodney retorted grimly as the room finally filled completely.
"Lighten up McKay," Evan skilfully manoeuvred the Jumper towards the gagged hole in the outermost wall. Moments later they were free of the station and out into open water. "See?"
"We're not off the planet yet," Rodney muttered.
For a moment it did seem as though the sea itself were trying to hold on to the Jumper ... then with a burst of motion the ship broke free from the ocean and powered quickly towards the atmosphere.
"Feeling better now?" Lorne asked once they were back in space with the course back to the space gate laid in.
"Not really," Rodney retorted, spearing Evan with a disgruntled look. "I'm cold and tired and ... and soggy and I don't have anything else to wear! Not to mention the fact that I have to repair the amplifier ... the one you damaged with your rip it out of the wall strategy!"
"If it had been up to you we'd be drowning down there right about now," Lorne pointed out irritably. He was cold and wet himself and like Rodney, had nothing to change in to ... he was so not in the mood for more complaints. "You can thank me any time!"
"Thank you!" Rodney muttered ungraciously. Abruptly his eyebrow raised in surprise as a thought occurred to him. "How'd she know?" he asked.
"How'd who know what?" Evan queried impatiently.
"How did Lantia know that it would take both of us to get the amplifier off that planet?" Rodney clarified. "You don't think that somehow she knows the future?"
"Of course not McKay!" Lorne returned incredulously. "It was luck - nothing more. She knew you had to be there for the techie stuff and everybody knows you're a terrible pilot so it made sense I'd have to be here too. There was no point in risking anyone else beyond the two of us. Simple as that."
"Right," Rodney nodded, shaking himself. "Right." It was too easy to ascribe abilities when you were talking about an inanimate object you shouldn't even be able to talk to in the first place.
"Hadn't you better get to work?" Lorne looked pointedly at the broken device lying abandoned on the floor in the back of the Puddle Jumper. "You've got 20 hours to get that thing operational again."
"Lucky I thought to bring some parts and equipment then isn't it?" Rodney said smugly, getting up to head for the back section.
"You're a regular genius McKay," Lorne quipped, chuckling when Rodney's expression showed he was considering how that was an insult.
Turning back to the front view screen Evan sighed. It was a long way home and they still had to work out what the hell to do with the amplifier. The idea of relying on a being that came to him in dreams was disturbing but since they didn't have any other options Lorne resolved to make the best of it.
Authors Note:
I know what you're thinking? Isn't this supposed to be a Sheppard story? So where's John? It is a Sheppard story but I had to get them retrieving the amplifier out of the way first before I could do anything else. In the next chapter we'll find out what's going on with John.
Oh, and if you're wondering why Lorne didn't just shoot drones at the Moon Pool to make that opening bigger, I decided that would be harder than shooting a hole in the wall. Plus it makes more sense to create destruction away from where you are than right underneath you ... just in case things don't go according to plan. Not that that ever happens on Atlantis, right? LOL