DISCLAIMER –Stargate: Atlantis is the intellectual property of MGM/UA and associates. I am not making any profit or receiving any compensation for the creation of this story. It is a work of fan fiction only, and no copyright infringement is intended.

RATING – This story is rated T

ARCHIVE – You have my permission to archive this in any place you'd like. Let me know where it's going. That's all I ask.

A/N – Hmm…not too many reviews last chapter, though judging by the stats, a whole lot of you read it. Big thanks to all of you who've been reading and reviewing up to now! And no worries, folks. If you're getting bored, I won't keep you waiting too long for the end. We're almost there.

I have no beta. If you find any mistakes, blame them on me.

All Fun And Games

15. The Penultimate Move

Rodney had a plan.

He was very proud of his plan. It was brilliant. It was so well-conceived, so elegantly simple, that he was quite frankly astounded at his failure to think of it sooner. Nevertheless, he did have it now, and that was what really mattered. He took a moment to congratulate himself.

His plan was pure genius.

The entirety of this plan consisted of nothing. Rodney reasoned that if The Game was creating people, objects, scenery and events by drawing on his thoughts, and if The Game was responding to the way he reacted to each situation, then the best course of action for him would be to take no action at all.

Until now, he'd been allowing himself to forget that what he experienced inside The Game was not real. He hadn't actually been chased by Wraith darts, blown up by mines or dropped through a fog into the Infirmary. He was not in a 'jumper at the bottom of the sea right now. All he had to do was concentrate on remembering he was inside a simulation. If he didn't do anything and didn't think about anything, The Game would have nothing to work with. What was the point of continuing a game if the player refused to play?

Rodney settled more comfortably into the pilot's seat and folded his arms across his chest. He peered through the forward portal at the approaching sea creature. Instead of imagining all the horrible destruction the big animal was capable of, Rodney tried to calculate how much water it displaced as it swam. How fast was it moving through the ocean? He let his scientist's brain take over. How many kilograms did the creature weigh? How long was its lifespan?

In Rodney's estimation, several minutes passed while he spun out his scientific queries about his erstwhile predator. The creature had stopped its advance toward the 'jumper and seemed to be swimming in big circles.

So far, so good, Rodney thought. He was proud of himself for his equanimity. He didn't even feel claustrophobic any more. Not cripplingly claustrophobic, at any rate, and that in itself was an accomplishment for him. All he really had to do was repeat over and over to himself that the water was not real, the 'jumper was not real, the entire scenario was a fiction. Even if he drowned in The Game, he would be okay in the real world; insofar as he could be, that was, seeing as his body was stuck in an Ancient device.

As for that problem, he hoped fervently that John was working on it.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-.

John had absolutely no plan.

It hadn't even occurred to him when he exited The Game and returned to the Ancient room that he wouldn't be able to find the control crystal. He wasn't labouring under the assumption that he'd have an easy time actually reinserting the thing, but he certainly hadn't bargained for having to hunt it down, first. Mistakenly, he'd assumed it'd just be there in plain sight, waiting for him to pick it up and do with it what he would. In retrospect, he told himself, he should have known nothing was ever that simple. This was Atlantis, after all; the suspected birthplace of Murphy's Law. Poor Murphy had probably been the galaxy's unluckiest Ancient, his dark cloud following dutifully after him everywhere he went. That must've really sucked.

John took a mental inventory of his options, and realized he had very few of them. He and Rodney were back at square one, back to the same predicament they'd been in before anyone had ever arrived to help.

He decided the only thing he could do at the moment was to let someone know what was going on. He'd call Elizabeth and tell her what had been happening. She could enlist some more people to work on the problem. With all the brainpower residing in Atlantis, somebody had to have an idea about what to do. John refused to believe there was no solution.

John was about to activate his radio when the headset clicked in his ear. Someone was calling him.

Uncanny, he thought.

"Colonel Sheppard, this is Dr. Beckett," declared the doctor's disembodied voice.

"Hey, I hear you, Carson. What's up?" John said. "How're the patients? Everybody okay?"

"I'm fine. Radek and Itzhak are a bit worse for wear, but I think they'll come out of this just fine, too," Carson said. "How are you and Rodney?"

John glanced over his shoulder at the trapped physicist. "Uh…Rodney's about the same," he said. "As for me, I've got a bit of a problem."

"What is it?" Carson's tone was one of sudden concern. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, physically I'm fine. It's just that I think I've finally figured out how to free Rodney from this damned machine, but I can't actually do it because there's a part missing from the device, and I can't find it."

There was a momentary silence on Carson's end of the connection, but finally the doctor said, "Colonel, your missing piece wouldn't happen to be a wee crystal, would it?"

"Yes," John said. "It would. How did you—"

"I'm coming down to join you straight away," Carson said. "I'll explain everything properly when I get there. I've already talked to Elizabeth, and—"

"Doc, I thought we clearly established this room is dangerous," John interjected. "I don't know if it's such a good idea for you to come down here again."

"I've some idea about why the room is so dangerous, now, and I'm reasonably certain I'll be safe."

"Carson—"

"I'm coming down there," Carson said firmly. "You and Rodney need the crystal, and I've got it. Besides, someone'll have to tend to Rodney when you get him out of that bloody machine."

"You have the crystal? How'd you get it?"

"Radek had it," Carson told him. "He gave it to Dr. Eriksson, and she gave it to me. Evidently, Radek said you would know what to do with it."

"Theoretically, I do," John said. "I've got to tell you though, I really wish I had Rodney's or Radek's expertise to rely on."

"That's not possible right now."

"I know. I guess we'll just have to make do with our two brains, won't we?"

"Don't underestimate us," Carson said, and John could hear a touch of humour in his voice. "I know it's trite, but two heads truly are better than one. I'll be there directly, and we'll see if we can't get everything sorted."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Rodney?"

Rodney let out an audible groan at the sound of mini-Radek's voice. He didn't move from his position. He only shifted his gaze sideways to look at the small boy.

"What do you want, Radek?" he said irritably.

"I want to know what you're doing."

"Nothing."

"Why are you doing nothing?" mini-Radek asked.

"I'm not telling you."

"Why not?"

Rodney sighed. "Because."

"That isn't very good answer," mini-Radek said. The boy climbed down from the co-pilot's seat and helped mini-Shadow get down, as well. Mini-Shadow promptly traversed the small space between the two seats and wormed her way onto Rodney's lap. Mini-Radek leaned against Rodney's seat. "You should do something, Rodney."

Rodney tried to ignore the fact that mini-Shadow's sticky little fingers were exploring the pockets of his vest. He said, "I don't want to do anything. Why should I?"

"Because," said mini-Radek. "There is water on the floor."

"Uh-huh."

"There is water on the floor," mini-Radek insisted.

"Virtual water," said Rodney, even as he refused to look at the floor to confirm mini-Radek's assertion about the water. "Listen, I know you're programmed to provide a challenge for me and everything, but I've decided I'm tired of being challenged. I don't want to play any more. I don't care if there's water on the floor. I don't care if the whole ship fills with water."

"You would do something if that happened," mini-Radek said. "If you didn't, we would drown. You wouldn't let us drown…would you?"

"You can't drown. You're computer programs."

"You could drown."

"What would happen if I did?"

"You only get one chance to complete each of the upper levels of The Game. If you fail to complete this level, then your session ends."

"And theoretically, that means I can exit."

"Theoretically, yes."

Rodney had heard that line before, how failing to complete a level would result in his session in The Game coming to an end. He'd tried to fail the maze level, but ultimately had ended up completing it because the idea of his destruction – even in virtual reality – unnerved him. Maybe another reason he hadn't managed to wash out of the maze on purpose was because he'd had trouble grasping the fact that his two little companions weren't living people like him. His instinct to protect them had outweighed any notions of self-sacrifice he might have had.

Now, however, he'd crossed the line from irritated impatience into full-fledged aggravation. His mind had no room for sentiment when he felt this way.

He decided it was time to re-evaluate his brilliant plan of doing nothing. It was still an excellent plan to prevent anything further from happening to him in virtual reality until his friends figured out how to free him from the device. The problem, he realized, was the idea of doing nothing satisfied him less and less, the more impatient he became. Besides, it was logical to assume his friends weren't sitting around and doing nothing, out there in the real world.

The way Rodney saw it, he had two choices. He could continue in his Brilliant Nothing Plan until help arrived, or he could actively fail the third level of The Game right there and then because theoretically, if he failed level three, The Game would end. Either way, he had nothing to lose.

He sat for a moment, contemplating his options. When he ultimately reached his decision, he said nothing to the children. He lifted mini-Shadow from his lap and set her carefully in the co-pilot's chair. Then, he got up from his own seat and moved purposefully toward the rear of the 'jumper.

Mini-Radek followed close on his heels. Rodney tried to pretend the little boy wasn't even there. He couldn't let the children distract him, or this would never work.

"Rodney," mini-Radek said. "What are you doing now?"

Rodney moved to a control panel in the aft section of the 'jumper. He took a deep, steadying breath, preparing himself for what was about to happen next. He placed his hand on the control panel.

"Now, Radek," he said. "I'm going to open the hatch."

Rodney activated the appropriate control.

From the front of the 'jumper, Rodney heard mini-Shadow shriek in pure terror. Rodney shut his eyes as a flood of frigid sea water rushed into the ship to consume them. The last thing of which Rodney became aware was a roaring noise in his ears.

After that, everything went mercifully black.

TBC
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