Bwahahaha! You guys are the bestest. :D Thanks for all the lovely words of encouragement. I guess you REALLY wanna see the go-karts, huh? *laughs maniacally* Well, look no further - the answers to all your wishes is right here!

WEDNESDAY:

The next morning, John wandered over to the Jumper Bay. He hadn't seen Rodney at breakfast and had wondered briefly if the scientist was still sleeping. As it was, he himself had ended up crashing for twelve hours thanks to the combination of the drugs Beckett gave him and the exertions from their off-world mission so he suspected that Rodney was faring the same.

However, that idea went out the window when he bumped into Zelenka. The Czech informed him that Rodney was in the Jumper Bay messing around with unusable MALPs, which made John grin and Radek back away nervously. The wild haired Major gave the engineer a jaunty salute and wandered off, fighting hard not to break into a run in his excitement.

When he arrived at the bay, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and casually sauntered over to McKay, who was half hidden inside one of the broken MALPS.

"What'cha doin', buddy?" he asked.

Rodney jumped, forgetting where he was, and promptly smacked his head hard on the MALP. "OW!" he yelped as he backed out, holding his head in his hands. "Don't do that, Sheppard!"

John winced guiltily. "Sorry, Rodney," he muttered, leading his geek over to a nearby stool so that he could examine the damage. "I didn't mean to startle you." He gently pushed McKay to sit on the stool and prised his hands away. Luckily there was no blood but when he probed the back of the scientist's head, he felt a pretty sizeable lump and got a pained hiss in response.

"Would you stop that?" McKay demanded, moving his battered head away from John's not so helpful administrations. "I don't need you adding to the massive concussion I've just given myself!"

"Aw, ya big baby," Sheppard teased gently. "It's just a little knot. And I really am sorry."

"Was there something you wanted, Major?" Rodney asked, mollified by the Air Force man's apology. "Other than trying to give me a heart attack from sneaking around, that is."

John grinned. "I just dropped by to see if you wanted a hand with the go-karts," he replied. "I'm not too shabby with a spanner, you know." As he spoke. he picked up the aforementioned tool and tossed it idly between his hands.

The Canadian grinned. "As tempting as that offer sounds, there's really no need," he said, gently plucking the spanner from his team-mate's grip before anything got damaged. "They're over there." He pointed across the bay.

John followed his friend's outstretched arm and his jaw dropped. In the corner were two fully built go-karts, just sitting and begging to be tested. "But how?" he asked, his eyes wide. He growled dangerously as a thought struck him. "You didn't start them last night, did you?"

Rodney rolled his eyes, wincing as the movement aggravated his sore head. "Of course not, idiot," he said, his grin taking the sting out of the harsh words. Seeing the dumbstruck look on his friend's face he sighed. "Genius, remember? They're go-karts. It's not exactly rocket science."

"Have I told you that you're a total legend?" John asked, smiling like a Cheshire cat.

"Not yet," McKay replied with a shy smile. "Thanks."

"So, are we testing them out or what?"

The Canadian's smile faded slightly. "Well, I'd love to but there's a small problem." He looked down at the floor sheepishly.

"What?"

"I... I don't... have any fuel for them." He wrung hs hands and grimaced. "They're all ready to go but we can't do anything with them."

Sheppard blinked and frowned. "No fuel?" he echoed, his voice sounding hollow. "You mean there's nothing at all on base we could use?"

McKay shook his head sadly. "Unfortunately not," he replied. "The MALPs and UAVs are both battery controlled only and their power sources aren't strong enough to do what we want them to in the karts. We didn't see the need to bring any liquid fuel with us as we had the Naquadah generators and the Ancient technology doesn't use it." He saw the gleam in Sheppard's eyes and shook his head quickly. "And before you ask, no we can't use the spare generators for that purpose. It wouldn't work."

John thumped down onto the stool next to his team-mate, looking thoroughly dejected. "I take it that Z's hooch is no good either?"

Rodney grimaced. "I've already thought of that, Sheppard," he said. "As brilliant as I am, I can't jerry-rig a conversion unit together with the parts that are left. I certainly couldn't make two."

"Hang on..." the pilot jumped to his feet and started pacing as an idea began to form in his mind. "What if we were to attach a fire extinguisher to the back of the karts an aim it so that the nozzle points to the back? We've already got the steering and brakes set up."

McKay tilted his head to the side. "Let me get this straight – I take it that the general gist of how this could work would be that the driver," he waggled a finger between himself and John, "then releases the valve on the extinguisher meaning that the pressure would propel the karts forward?" He imitated the movement with his hands.

John nodded. "Exactly!" he replied. "Basic physics, isn't it? I know for a fact that fire extinguishers are high pressure so we should get some pretty fast speeds."

Rodney's face lit up with his trademark lop-sided grin. "Oh you are so on, Flyboy," he said, any pain from his head forgotten in the excitement. "I take it that we're going hunting for a couple of fire extinguishers then?"

Sheppard gave his friend a feral grin. "I know just the place to get 'em," he said, tugging Rodney upright and leading him out of the bay.

Two hours, one hugely successful scouting party and a small raid later, and the boys were in one of the corridors with their go-karts. They'd decided to use the hallways by the Chemistry labs as they were wider and longer than most of the others in the city. They were also the quietest as the Chemists tended to stick to their labs during the day.

John knew they were probably going to get an earful from Elizabeth when she found out that they'd stolen the extinguishers from the Botany department. However, as Rodney had deftly pointed out, there weren't that many flowers or plants that were known to spontaneously combust, even in the Pegasus Galaxy. He grinned involuntarily as an image of an exploding cactus appeared in his head.

"What's so funny?" McKay asked.

"Nothing." John replied, shaking his head slightly as he made a couple of final adjustments to his 'engine'. "You ready, buddy?"

Rodney's face lit up with a positively demonic-looking grin. "You bet," he said. "I hope you're not a sore loser."

Sheppard raised an eyebrow. "Them's fightin' words, boy," he drawled, making his team-mate chuckle.

"And that was the worst imitation of a Texan drawl I've ever heard."

"So, how are we gonna start then?" John asked when their laughter had died away. "I trust you with my life but I don't have that much faith in you starting us off fairly."

"I love you too," McKay groused. "And ditto."

"Maybe we should ask one of the Chemists?"

"And have one of them wanting a go as well? I don't think so, Hotshot." Rodney snapped his fingers. "How about we just see how well they work first? Then we could go down to the East Section and take Ford and Teyla..."

"... Who could be lap scorers and time-keepers!" John said, catching on to his geek's plan. "That's brilliant."

"Of course it is," McKay replied smugly. "I thought of it." He made a final check of his 'fuel tank' and then turned back to his friend. "Ready?"

Sheppard nodded. "Shall we, Dr McKay?"

"Oh, I think so, Major Sheppard."

"On three then. One..."

"Two..."

"THREE!"

The boys simultaneously reached back and released the valves on the extinguishers. A split second later they were both hurtling down the corridor, whooping with delight as the karts were propelled along at a pretty respectable speed by the pressure from the extinguishers. As they reached the corner, they both turned the 'power' off and came to a halt.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" John yelled, laughing like a ten year old.

"It was certainly an experience," McKay agreed, his own mirth echoing around the corridor.

Sheppard looked across at his geek and was delighted to see how happy the man looked. Rodney always looked younger when he smiled – which wasn't often enough as far as the Air Force man was concerned. "What do you say, buddy? Fancy a race back up before we go and round up the rest of our team?"

McKay was already reaching for the valve on his kart. "Way ahead of you there, Major," he replied, turning the valve and racing back up the corridor.

John couldn't help the massive grin that spread over his face as he heard the delighted laughs coming from Rodney. He cranked open his own kart and whizzed back up the corridor to catch up with the Canadian. He tweaked the extingisher slightly and was rewarded with a burst of speed. Unfortunately, he had slightly mis-judged the distance between himself and his team-mate, who had now come to a stop and was climbing out of his own kart. Desperately, he span the wheel around as he reached back to switch his 'engine' off. The result was an impressive looking spin as the kart tried to work out what it was it's driver was trying to do. With an unmanly yell, John slammed his foot down on the brake and skidded to a halt just centimetres away from Rodney.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT, SHEPPARD?" McKay shrieked as he unwrapped his arms from around his head. "Seriously, are you trying to send me to my grave early?!"

Sheppard blinked a couple of times. "Whoa," he managed once the room had stopped spinning around frantically. "That was epic."

"Epically stupid," the Canadian huffed angrily, although his eyes showed the concern for his team-mate. He held out a hand and tugged John upright. "You okay?"

The Air Force man treated him to a goofy grin. "I'm fine," he replied. "And what do you mean 'stupid'? I meant to do that. Played for and got."

"So that's why you were screaming like a banshee then?" Rodney asked with an arch look.

"I was not screaming. I was... yelling. Manfully."

An eye roll was the only response he got for that particular statement. Feeling sheepish, Sheppard dusted his hands on his BDU's then patted his kart affectionately. "This handles like a dream."

McKay sighed. "Of course it does," he replied with a hint of exasperation. "I built it."

"I think I need to christen her."

"What?"

The Major rolled his eyes, pointing to his kart. "My kart, genius," he replied. "I need to give her a name."

"Why is it a 'her'?" Rodney asked.

"It just is."

"Well, as touching as your bonding session with an inanimate object could be," the physicist said, "we've got places to be and team-mates to bribe. Let's go and grab the others and do this properly."

Before John could reply, the door next to him swished open.

"What the hell are you two imbeciles doing?" demanded a very angry voice.

The boys swivelled round and saw none other than Kavanaugh standing in the doorway, with an expression on his face that not even a mother could love.

"No need to get your panties in a twist," John said as he climbed out of his kart. "We were just having some fun is all. I know it's an alien concept for you, doc, so if you like, I could send for a search and rescue party." He heard McKay snigger next to him.

"I would advise you to test out your childish toys somewhere else," the long-haired man snarled, motioning to the karts with a disgusted look. "Some of us are trying to work." He jiggled a data pad in his hand to emphasize his point.

"You? Working?" McKay asked. "Now there's a novel concept."

"I'm with McKay," Sheppard added, his hazel eyes shining with mischief. "So what're you working on, Kavanaugh?"

Before the Chemist could give launch into a tirade, Rodney had deftly swiped the pad from his clutches. He took a couple of steps back, neatly avoiding the desperate swipe, and stared at the display intently. "Working, you say?" he asked, in the tone of voice he reserved for talking to complete idiots. "What, pray tell, what exactly has this got to do with the diagnostics of the desalinisation tanks I asked you to run the other day?"

"That's none of your business..."

"Oh it is," McKay replied, his voice icy. Any trace of amusement from earlier had completely vanished as he scowled at the Chemist. "Especially when you deem it fit to do it on my time." He handed the pad to John and folded his arms across his chest. "Since you obviously have better things to do, I can assume that the diagnostics are completed?"

"Well, not exactly," the chemist replied, flustered.

John glanced down at the pad, his expression torn between amusement and anger. "What exactly is this?" he asked. "And how is it 'work'?"

"We have to keep detailed records of our time here," Kavanaugh began, only to be cut off by McKay.

"By writing your autobiography?!" he snarled, retrieving the pad from his team-mate then shoving it under the long haired man's nose and jabbing furiously at the text. "'LETTERS FROM PEGASUS – The Story of One Man's Campaign against Tyranny'?!" he read out loud.

"It's only a working title..."

"Hah! This is confiscated until further notice," Rodney growled. "And if that report isn't on my desk in the next twenty minutes, I'll have you scrubbing the tanks out with nothing but a damn toothbrush! Are we clear?"

"You have no right to speak to me like..."

"I SAID, ARE WE CLEAR?!" Rodney bellowed, making the taller man flinch away.

"Yes, Dr McKay."

"Good. Radek will be in Lab One all day today and he'll be sure to let me know when the report is in." McKay tucked the data pad under his arm and calmly walked off towards his kart.

John had watched the scene in front of him with a growing sense of pride for McKay. He grinned evilly at Kavanaugh, resisting the urge to give the weasel a one finger salute, before trotting to catch up with Rodney. "Nicely handled, buddy," he said, giving the scientist a pat on the back.

McKay grinned. "Now that felt really, really good," he replied before glancing at his watch. "How about we grab the others, have some lunch and then nick a couple more extinguishers before we have at it?"

"Sounds like a plan," Sheppard agreed. "But first, can you rig Kavanaugh's shower?"

Rodney stopped pushing his kart to stare at his team-mate. "Of course I can," he replied. "Any idiot with half a brain cell could do that." He noticed the look on John's face and grinned in the 'evil genius' way that made the hairs stand up on the back of the Major's neck. "Pick a number between one and ten."

John blinked, caught off-guard by the odd request. "Uh... two?" he volunteered hesitantly. "But why do you need a number? I thought you'd just pick a day or time, or something."

"Oh no," McKay replied meekly as they resumed pushing their karts. "That's far too simple."

As they walked down the corridor, Sheppard shuddered. "You know what, buddy? I don't wanna know. In fact, the less I know about this the better." He snaked an arm across his geek's shoulders. "Would you really make him use a toothbrush?"

Rodney shook his head. "No." He saw his friend start to chuckle and quickly added, "I'd make him use his tongue."

"Ew, McKay! Remind me never to piss you off!"

"In fact, I still owe you for that whole 'alarm clock in the face' fiasco from Monday," the physicist replied, grinning evilly as he saw his team-mate wince. "But that's best left for another time."

"So, how about we head to the mess hall, grab a bite then round up the rest of the gang?" John asked, attempting to steer the conversation away from talk of revenge.

"Good plan," Rodney agreed as they manoeuvred the carts down the corridor.

Bwhahahahahaha! I love evilgenius!Rodney. *wicked grin* Leave me a review if you wanna see more! :D