Chapter Ten: Inheritance

Clark stared at the screen, as another orange ripple was sent over the map of Atlantis.

"ZPM? What's that again?" He asked with a frown, turning to look at McKay.

McKay looked at Carter, who grinned slightly, and gave a small nod, before settling herself down into a chair. He quickly returned his attention back to Clark, going into lecture mode;

"A ZPM is a Zero Point Module. It's an immensely strong and very long-lived energy source capable of powering entire cities and intergalactic spacecrafts. The ZPM was invented by the Ancients, and units have been found both on Earth and in the Pegasus galaxy. In the Pegasus, finding non-depleted ZPM's is so important that there's a standing order for the members of the Atlantis expedition to retrieve them whenever possible. Having a ZPM in Atlantis means the difference between survival and defeat, and between isolation and the ability to travel home to Earth...

Now...I know you're not a Quantum Physicist, but you'll have to try and keep up.

Zero Point Modules are named that because they use zero point energy. Zero point energy is present in all quantum mechanical systems ,i.e. everything that uses energy and converts it to entropy. Zero point energy is the lowest amount of energy that such a quantum mechanical system can have. It is also commonly referred to as vacuum energy and remains when all matter is removed from a region of space. Since by definition zero point energy can never be depleted, it is theoretically an unlimited and free energy source.

The energy arises from various particles that spontaneously emerge, exist for fractions of a second, and are then annihilated by anti-particles. At very small distances, this particle/anti-particle turbulence is known as quantum foam, and it's theorized to be a remnant of the birth of the universe carried over to this day. This variation in energy is somewhat analogous to observing common objects under very small scales. For example, ordinary glass under extreme magnification is porous. Marbles, if expanded to the size of the earth, would have more variation in radius than the Earth does...

Despite the two particles annihilating each other, a small amount of energy is detectable..."

"Demonstrated by the Casimir effect..." Clark stated out of the blue.

McKay's mouth hung open, staring at Clark in wonder, so Clark carried on with his line of thinking.

"Because of the immensely small scales of time and size...as well as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, the existence and subsequent annihilation of these particles doesn't violate the conservation of energy. The individual particles are thought to be generated perhaps by photons interacting with the space?" He asked.

McKay was silent for a few seconds, still speechless, before throwing himself enthusiastically back into the explanation.

"Yes, yes...quite. As built by the Ancients, a ZPM is a container of a large region of vacuum subspace instead of normal space, so that its size is manageable. The ZPM draws power from the zero point energy, a tiny amount from each small bit of the enclosed subspace that adds up to unimaginable power in total...Theoretically the ZPM should never become depleted, but since all mechanical devices have imperfections, it's likely there is a miniscule amount of loss in the system that eventually leads to the last of the energy leaving the ZPM..." He said, the last sentence quieter, and more subdued than the rest.

Clark nodded slightly, his thoughts moving only a fraction faster than it would back on earth in his Physics class. "There's also the issue of entropy eventually winding the system down, but our understanding of physics doesn't extend to such large-scale thermodynamics, does it?" He asked uncertainly, not sure how much the SGC could have found out about the subject from other races.

McKay shook his head. "No, it doesn't. Our information seems to be limited on subspace thermo dynamical physics, compared to other races...that would explain how we've only just started exploring space in the last few years..." he said, voice demoralised slightly as he realised how far behind the Human Race was compared to, say, the Asgard.

"Well..." Clark said, "I guess me finding it is a good thing, then."

"Kent..." McKay said, staring at him intently, "Have you ever taken an IQ Test? A professional one..."

Clark remained silent for a second, before nodding his head once. "Yes..."

"What score did you get?"

"Umm..." He said, reluctant to tell them, "...Heh...100%." He admitted, with a sigh.

"What?! That's...that's...preposterous...Me and Carter both received 99%...Zelenka's 98%..." McKay spluttered.

"I'm 98%..." Sheppard put in, with a sly grin, before shrugging, "I never put in for Mensa, though."

Rodney's eyes went wide, turning back to Clark. "Mensa! Are you a member of Mensa?!"

Clark shook his head. "No. I didn't get my results put on file, I didn't need any more attention..."

"Oh, thank god." McKay said to himself, turning his chair to face the screen. "ridiculous...100%..." He was heard muttering to himself.

"Well. I think we better go and fetch the ZPM, yes?" Carter said, pushing away from the chair she had been sitting on to go and stand next to Sheppard, who was situated by the door.

They all nodded, and quietly left the room.

They made their way into a large, circular room, home to only one table standing in the middle. On top, stood a small tower of what looked to be stained glass, which glowed gave of an orangey yellow glow. It had occasional green and red over the bright orange exterior.

"That's a ZPM?" Clark asked, as he stared down at it.

The others all nodded.

"Wow...I had something more...impressive, in mind."

Clark circled the table, staring at it intently. Using his x-ray vision, he scanned it to see what the inside looked like. What he found surprised him slightly.

Picking it up, he chucked it into his other hand, weighing it. Holding it up for the team to see again, he asked, "So, there's suppose to be particles of Subspace in here?"

They all nodded again.

"Ok...So what's a Crystal doing in there?"

"Nothing else is in there...we don't even know how they put the subspace in there, let alone anything else..." McKay said with a frown.

Clark stared at the ZPM, before gripping it with both hands and squeezing. The outer shell crumbled away leaving chunks of orange crystal on the floor, while leaving a clear, thin, transparent crystal in his hands.

"What's this, then?" He asked with a slight smile. It quickly turned to a frown when none of them answered. "What?"

"C...Clark...You just destroyed a fully functioning ZPM..." Sam said, her eyes wide as she stared at the shattered pieces.

"Do you have any idea of what you've just done?!" Sheppard asked gruffly, moving past Sam to stand in front of Clark.

"Oh." Clark said, finally looking down. He shrugged slightly. "I'll create a new one. It shouldn't take me too long."

"Kent...you can't just make a new one! You have no idea of how to make one!" McKay said, sounding distressed.

"Sure I can. I have an Eidetic Memory, It's not like I didn't memorize all of the components before I destroyed it. I'm not that stupid, or I wouldn't have gotten a 100% now, would I?" He said, "It's not going to take me that long to find out how to put everything together.

Now come on. McKay...any idea what this is?" He asked, waving the new crystal around.

McKay stared at it, before shaking his head. "It looks like any other crystal, to me."

Sheppard frowned slightly, before tapping his ear piece. "This is Sheppard. Has any come across a thin, transparent crystal while they've been searching the area's which have just come out of Lockdown?" He asked.

When the others prowling the city reported back negative, they all slouched slightly.

Clark sighed and tightened his grip on the object in question with one hand. It then let off a light so bright, everyone except Clark had to shield their eyes.

He staggered backwards from the force of the power that the Crystal emitted, before grabbing the table to keep himself up.

"Holy chocolate starfish, what was that?" Sam asked, looking around at her surroundings.

Sheppard stared at Sam with a raised eyebrow, but didn't respond.

Clark glanced at the Crystal again, before moving to the door. "I know what to do with it. We need to go to the Gate Room..." He said to them, before walking out.

They climbed the steps that Sheppard had come up, to save them the day before, and walked out onto the open floor of the gate room.

"What are you doing, Clark?" Sam asked for the umpteenth time.

Clark ignored her, and walked over to where the stairs up to the Control Room where, before turning back around the face the Stargate.

He then held out the crystal, length ways, so it was parallel to the floor, before moving it in an arch around him. As soon as the crystal went over the flooring, more crystals emerged from the ground, coming up to meet the first, entwining with the others, to create a console in front of him.

The others, yet again, stared at Clark in amazement, but he ignored the looks. He then looked down at the console. It was solely made up of a number of long crystallized tubes which went back into the console.

Clark quickly made his decision, and placed the crystal into the middle tube, where it went down a short way, then stopped.

The team looked around, wondering what would happen.

The group quickly went to stand behind Clark, who still hadn't moved from his spot by the console.

"Wow, that's really something, Kent." Sheppard said dryly, smirking, but his eyes still scanned the area for any signs of change.

"Wait for it." Came Clark's steady reply.

"Wow, that's really something, Kent." Sheppard repeated a moment later, "It's freakin' Gone with the Wind."

A second after Sheppard's reply, just as it had in the Control room half an hour before, Jor-El's face appeared in the middle of the room, suspended. The team blinked slightly, as nothing seemed to be projecting the image.

Jor-El was facing the console, a thin smile on his face. "If you have found this message, and know how to view it, then...

...you have found your way Home, my little Kal-El." Jor-El said, a single tear running down his otherwise stoic face.

As my Son, and the last of the House of El, you gain the rank of Commander over the Atlantis Armed Forces. Now, I know not, of the circumstances that permit you to be here, but, I do know, that whoever it is you are with, will not be Ancient.

So I'm also guessing that you aren't in-charge of this expedition. Whoever it may be, will have to come to you for help.

As you are here, now, before me; I bestow upon you you're only inheritance; The Lost City of Atlantis."