Chapter 12
The moment Radek started on the calculations they needed to adjust the program in order to buffer Elizabeth and Sitnalta from the feedback that the overload on the gate will cause, he already knew they did not have enough time. They had less than three minutes left in order to not only write the requited program, they also needed to physically go to the hologram room and gate room in order to execute it. Though the lab was close to both those sites, it would still take a minute to reach them. That left only a minute to write the program and a few seconds to load it. Radek knew they did not have the time.
Okay, they might have a few extra minutes, as that deadline only marked the depletion of the first ZPM.
His fingers flew over the keypad while he fervently wished they had enough time for what needed to be done. Suddenly, almost of its own volition, the open screen started to fill with the code he was already working on. Yet now it appeared even before he could type – and many times faster. In fact, the code passed by so quickly he could hardly read it.
"What?" he asked the same instant he heard a shout from Jeannie next to him.
"Radek!" she yelled. Being the type of man he was, he did not even think about it, but slid over to look at what was bothering the woman. His mind was on automatic and he now merely reacted to what was happening around him.
The window Jeannie had had open had been eclipsed by another window. On it a simple message was displayed: Go shoot the gate – we'll handle the rest.
"What does that mean?" Jeannie asked, her lips pressed together in agitation. For a moment Radek stared at the screen, but then the answer seemed to bloom in his mind.
"Sitnalta!" he yelled. Promptly he pushed Jeannie away from the terminal and started typing at her computer.
"Of course!" Jeannie said as she also grabbed her tablet. Another message appeared on the screen where Radek was communicating with Sitnalta. What the two scientists had realised was that all information programmed into Atlantis' systems would be available to Sitnalta – if she so wished. Though she and Elizabeth could not disengage from the system, they were still able to use it.
Another second Radek typed at the station; making sure they were all working to the same end. Then he rushed after Jeannie, who was disappearing down the corridor at a surprising speed considering her condition.
At the stairway the two of them split up, Radek heading for the gate room and Jeannie heading for the hologram room. While they had been running they had alerted some of the rest of the Atlanteans to the plan unfolding at blinding speed. If everyone did as they were supposed to, they would have disconnected the stargate before the first ZPM died.
As Radek literally skidded into the gate room he saw Chuck was already waiting for him, along with Anne and her team. Without another word his lover handed him one of the large Wraith stunners they had stashed in a closet just off the gate room. The six of them – Radek, Chuck and Anne's team – fanned out in front of the gate, aiming the stunners.
One minute, Doctor Miko Kusanagi, the shy scientist who had been with the expedition since the beginning, informed them. Radek felt the tension in his belly like a burning rock. Years on Atlantis had taught him how to keep his calm in most of the situations they found themselves in. He had even learned to face certain death with calm. But it did not mean he did not feel the burning knot in his belly every time they stood on the brink of a disaster.
Fifty seconds, the slightly accented voice continued the countdown. Radek did not need the reminder, though. One of his talents was the ability to always know exactly what time it was – and how much time they had left in any situation. This inner clock had served him well in the past, but right now he wished he was not able to mentally see the seconds pass by at seeming blinding speed.
Forty seconds, she continued and Radek knew their time was up. But just then his earpiece crackled once more and Jeannie's voice cut off that of the other scientist:
We're ready, she simply informed those in the gate room. Immediately the six of them opened fire on the gate, their aim spread out to cover the whole gate. The stunners could shoot a sustained beam for a few seconds at a time, but if their calculations were correct, they would need only those seconds to overload the system and shut the gate down.
As it turned out their calculations concerning the amount of power needed to overload the gate systems were correct. What they had been in error of was how far they should stand back from the gate in order not to be caught in the blast radius. With a loud crash and the sound of a million sparks the gate system overloaded and blew out; effectively disconnecting the gate from their power source. The moment the system blew, the gate shut off the event horison with an intense force that blew like tornado into the room. The six shooters found themselves on their backs after having flown through the air halfway across the gate room.
Anne was one of the first to recover and she immediately got up and started helping Radek up as well. His ears were still ringing from the blast and he could feel his balance was not too good. But worry over Atlantis and the two women caught in the system spurned him on. On extremely wobbly legs he mounted the staircase to the control room. Behind him he saw Chuck scurry up the stairs as well.
Gratefully the scientist flopped down in a chair and started typing at the console. That they were still alive meant they had successfully shielded the rest of the city from the worst of the blast – if the blast had somehow knocked the ZPM's out they would have been drowning in tons of ocean by now – yet he had no idea how many systems might have been damaged. Belatedly he remembered Elizabeth and Sitnalta. He tapped his earpiece while still working at the console.
"Radek to Jeannie," he began. "Are they all right?" While he had run to the gate room, she had been on her way to the hologram room. Both Becketts would have met her there – in fact, it had been on them they had been waiting before they could shoot the stargate.
His earpiece crackled more than usual, but Jeannie's voice was still recognizable:
Yes, they're fine, she replied. A little stiff from standing like statues this past half an hour, but they are okay.
Radek did not even bother replying. Though the city and the two women were fine, they now needed to get the stargate up and running once more. And, with the measures they had taken to disable it, this meant a lot of rewiring.
Radek had been down by the gate for only a few minutes before Sitnalta and Jeannie silently joined him. As she knelt beside him, Sitnalta quickly kissed his cheek.
"Thank you," she softly said before turning and starting on her own section in the process of getting the stargate back online.
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As SGA-1 and the Satedans stood guarding Rodney where he was working at fixing both the stargate as well as the weather device, John reflected that it was surprising that none of them had suffered serious injury when the roof had come down. He supposed the reason for this was that the roof had come down in small pieces at a time. The tiles themselves had not been very stable, but the beams had held and now closed overhead like spiders' feet.
And yet they had not come away from it without injury either. John's shoulder still ached from the first earthquake, especially after he had landed on it during that tremor that had thrown them to the ground. A few of Ronon's dreads had been pulled from his head at one time and he bled rather profusely from the jagged wound it had left. Though still upright, he seemed slightly woozy and John wondered how long he could stay upright. Teyla had a long cut on her leg, but they had bound it and she seemed all right. One of the Satedans had a broken leg and one John guessed had a dislocated shoulder. Fortunately the rest of them only suffered from minor cuts and bruises. Even the Sateden's leg was a clean cut and had already been splinted.
John now stood next to Rodney as the scientist explained the situation. He had just inserted the crystals, but had not tried dialling the gate either.
"I first need to figure out what's wrong with that weather device," he solemnly explained. "It hardly helps the stargate had finally shut down and then we dial it and it intersects once more with the weather device. We'll just be right back where we started."
John frowned slightly as he thought about something. "You didn't deactivate the stargate?" he carefully asked, afraid of where his questions might lead.
"No, we were dancing around getting hit by roof tiles at the time," Rodney snidely remarked. But John saw the same worry on his face that he knew was on his own. Both of them had already thought about it and had visited the worst possible scenario in their minds.
"So whatever had shut the gate down had been from Atlantis' side?" John continued.
"Apparently," Rodney replied and at the civil tone and lack of comment John could gauge the depth of his friend's worry. Scowling at the scientist – not out of a real urge to do so, but knowing the expression would distract Rodney – John carefully, calmly replied:
"I'm sure they had managed to shut down the stargate before the ZPM's had been depleted." He gestured at Rodney. "You yourself said they had at least another half an hour before they could manage that," he tried assuring his friend by using his own vanity. It failed miserably, judging by Rodney's expression.
With only a nod Rodney returned to his tablet and John wandered off to stand where the main entrance had been only a few minutes ago. In their desperate fight to keep from being pulverised, they had not noticed the stargate shutting down. Now they could not help but worry that the reason it had shut down was because Atlantis had run out of power. And they all knew the consequences of such an eventuality. Eager now to dial home, Rodney was working on trying to solve the mystery of the weather device.
Because John had not been able to recover his weapon, he was now only armed with his knife. It was a very impressive knife, but still only a knife. Yet he was willing to do his duty defending the stargate with only the inadequate weapon, if need be.
He had hardly thought it when he heard the unmistakable sound of running. Behind him he felt the rest of his team and the mobile Satedans close in behind him as they, too, had heard the sound.
Within moments a figure appeared, running like a rabbit over the rubble. He was just another dirty native, but for some reason six Ministry patrolmen were chasing him.
Eventually he was near enough for John to see he was clutching something in his one hand and instinctively John knew the man had stolen water. The man veered slightly and John saw his new path would bring him right to them. From the corner of his eye John saw the person next to him raise his weapon, knowing he was aiming at the fugitive.
John had but a moment to decide. And in that moment the running man looked up, right at John. Recognition seemed to pass over the man's face. Without looking to see who was next to him, John reached out and lowered the weapon aimed at the fugitive. Even if it meant they would now have to deal with the patrol as well, John could not betray that look of desperate expectation in the man's eyes.
Running just ahead of the patrol, the man finally reached the group standing in the ruins of the chromulus. The ragged man still had his eyes on John and as he drew level with them, John held out his hand; the same hand that had stopped the person next to him from shooting the ragged man. The same moment he heard a victorious cry from Rodney somewhere behind him.
Instinctively the man reached out and placed the container in John's outreached palm; scurrying past to hide behind them. Now, armed with a container of stolen water and a knife, John stood his ground as the patrol fanned out. This time John did not protest at those around him raised their own weapons. In fact, from the crunch of boots to one side John knew even Rodney had joined them. In silent stand-off the two groups faced each other: ready to kill over a small container of water.
The silence dragged on for what seemed eternity, but could have been no less than a few seconds. Then, as if in silent reprimand, a single drop of water fell between the two groups. Another heartbeat passed and another drop fell from the dark, dirty sky. From behind those at the entrance to the chromulus the scent of rain blew on a single gust of wind, stirring the dust. Another heartbeat passed.
And then, from clouds that had not brought rain for years, the heavens opened and water poured down on the barren city. At first the rain was dirty and the two groups still stood staring at one another. But after the first few moments the dirt had been washed from the sky and clean rain fell on them and between them.
As the reality of the rain settled on the patrol they slowly lowered their weapons. Then, as if they do not want to miss a single moment of their delivery, they lifted their dark visors and turned their faces to the sky. The rain fell so hard John could not see what they looked like, only the lighter blur of skin inside the black helmets.
From behind John a hand reached out and recognising the dirty appendage, John dropped the container into the man's hand. He still did not look away from the patrol, though.
"Thank you," the ragged man whispered before dashing between them and disappearing to one side. Smiling slightly at the thanks, John at first did not notice the pale blue light sparkling from the rain. He noticed when his earpiece crackled and Elizabeth's worried voice spoke in his ear:
SGA-1, can you hear me? John, are you okay? He tapped his earpiece as he smiled.
"Elizabeth, it's good to hear your voice," he truthfully replied. "I take it the city is still in one piece?" he asked as he finally turned around. Rodney was standing next to the DHD, grinning widely. Teyla and Draven were on either side of Ronon, keeping him upright. Two of the other Satedans were helping their hurt comrade stand while the last three were backing slowly towards the welcoming blue light.
We're fine, Elizabeth replied. Now, don't you think it is time you came home? John could hear the relief in her voice as she spoke and he smiled. Yes, it was about time they went home, he agreed.