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blue_underwing
Title: Two Minutes
Rating: PG
Genre: Gen
Character: McKay
Spoilers: Season 1
Word count: ~900
Challenge: Secret Superpower
Warnings: unbetaed, dyslexics untie
Summary: Two minutes. Two precious minutes.
Two Minutes
"Give them two minutes."
Sheppard had asked him for two minutes once, that first year on Atlantis. McKay still has dreams (nightmares, call them what they are) about it. Especially on days when everything goes wrong.
Two minutes. Two precious minutes.
Sheppard has no idea just how valuable ‘two minutes’ really is.
McKay can’t blame him, though. It took years of working with the SGC before Rodney understood, and he certainly has the best reason to know.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He first noticed it as a child. Sometimes, just sometimes, things happened twice. Little things, like the cat knocking the picture off the table, or Jeanie breaking a glass, and once the power going out in a lighting storm.
He asked his parents about it first, but they didn’t pay any more attention to that than anything else he said. He asked his teacher about it later, and she said that it was deja vu. Sometimes people think they remember things having happened before when they are really happening for the first time. It happens to everyone, don’t worry about it. He tried to explain that he didn’t think things were happening twice, they really were happening twice, but she didn’t listen either. When he insisted, she suggested he talk to the school psychologist.
By the time he was nine, he knew the truth. He, Rodney McKay, could reset time two minutes, once or twice a week. He had a superpower. A completely useless superpower.
What good was two minutes? He couldn’t stop the bad guys, or save the girl, or any of that stuff they did on TV. The world would just go back two minutes, and he would be just as useless the second time around as he was the first time. He couldn’t warn the authorities of an evil scheme. By the time he learned about the plan and was able to call someone, two minutes would be long past. And it wasn’t like he could use his power to make more time to come up with a brilliant plan to save the day. Two minutes was just two minutes, and when had that ever made a difference? He was the only one to get those extra minutes, and he could only do it once before he had to recharge for a few days. He couldn’t save himself from the bullies by taking two minutes to try to hide somewhere different; they found him anyway. He couldn’t even save himself from unsuspected citrus; it took more than two minutes for his anaphylaxis to begin. It seemed all his power was good for was saving a few dropped plates.
This didn’t stop him from playing with his power, of course. It might be useless, but it was his. He saved several plates, prevented many drink spilling episodes, replayed the missed lines from TV shows, and on a few occasions unsaid things that had made his parents scream at him (though they always seemed to find something else to yell at him about, so he stopped bothering to try that soon enough).
He spent his first year at college testing the parameters of his power. He discovered he actually reset time 1 minute 57.3 seconds, it took him 106 hours 19 minutes to recharge, and yes it seemed that everything reset two minutes. There didn’t seem to be a radius limit to his power. (He hypothesized that perhaps it was just his consciousness traveling back in time and inhabiting his past self’s body, rather than the entire world resetting. He didn’t know which possibility offended his sense of physics more.)
He never told anyone about his power. He couldn’t prove it, and people were always more than willing to believe that geniuses like him must be crazy.
It wasn’t until he was working with Samantha Carter to save the world that he ever saw the value of two minutes. His plan to use an EM pulse to take out the Goa’uld’s weapon failed, they lost twenty-five hours precious time before the Stargate exploded, and Carter was injured by the electric backlash. If he could have reset time two minutes, he could have stopped them from turning on the machine.
He couldn’t. He’d broken his favorite coffee mug a few days before, and used those two minutes to get it back.
On Atlantis, he’d learn to hoard those two minutes. There were so many things that could go wrong, so many doors not to open, so many buttons you should just not Push. He didn’t think that there was a single person on his staff that hadn’t blown themselves up at least once. He set up a triage system. First come, first serve, but he would only reset for maiming or death and when he was in a position to prevent it. He’d learn that the hard way.
They always thought he was overreacting when he started screaming "Don’t touch that! Do you want to kill yourself, You Idiot?!" They never knew how often he was screaming because he’d just watched them die.
He saw Brendan Gaul die twice in one week. Monday, he stopped Gaul from frying himself on a piece of ancient equipment. Thursday, Brendan shot himself in the head.
McKay couldn’t give him two more minutes. He already had.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Give them two minutes."
He hears Sheppard’s voice on the bad days. The days he didn’t have two minutes to give.
Two minutes. Two precious minutes.
He wished he would just shut up.
"Give them two minutes."
Sheppard had asked him for two minutes once, that first year on Atlantis. McKay still has dreams (nightmares, call them what they are) about it. Especially on days when everything goes wrong.
Two minutes. Two precious minutes.
Sheppard has no idea just how valuable ‘two minutes’ really is.
McKay can’t blame him, though. It took years of working with the SGC before Rodney understood, and he certainly has the best reason to know.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He first noticed it as a child. Sometimes, just sometimes, things happened twice. Little things, like the cat knocking the picture off the table, or Jeanie breaking a glass, and once the power going out in a lighting storm.
He asked his parents about it first, but they didn’t pay any more attention to that than anything else he said. He asked his teacher about it later, and she said that it was deja vu. Sometimes people think they remember things having happened before when they are really happening for the first time. It happens to everyone, don’t worry about it. He tried to explain that he didn’t think things were happening twice, they really were happening twice, but she didn’t listen either. When he insisted, she suggested he talk to the school psychologist.
By the time he was nine, he knew the truth. He, Rodney McKay, could reset time two minutes, once or twice a week. He had a superpower. A completely useless superpower.
What good was two minutes? He couldn’t stop the bad guys, or save the girl, or any of that stuff they did on TV. The world would just go back two minutes, and he would be just as useless the second time around as he was the first time. He couldn’t warn the authorities of an evil scheme. By the time he learned about the plan and was able to call someone, two minutes would be long past. And it wasn’t like he could use his power to make more time to come up with a brilliant plan to save the day. Two minutes was just two minutes, and when had that ever made a difference? He was the only one to get those extra minutes, and he could only do it once before he had to recharge for a few days. He couldn’t save himself from the bullies by taking two minutes to try to hide somewhere different; they found him anyway. He couldn’t even save himself from unsuspected citrus; it took more than two minutes for his anaphylaxis to begin. It seemed all his power was good for was saving a few dropped plates.
This didn’t stop him from playing with his power, of course. It might be useless, but it was his. He saved several plates, prevented many drink spilling episodes, replayed the missed lines from TV shows, and on a few occasions unsaid things that had made his parents scream at him (though they always seemed to find something else to yell at him about, so he stopped bothering to try that soon enough).
He spent his first year at college testing the parameters of his power. He discovered he actually reset time 1 minute 57.3 seconds, it took him 106 hours 19 minutes to recharge, and yes it seemed that everything reset two minutes. There didn’t seem to be a radius limit to his power. (He hypothesized that perhaps it was just his consciousness traveling back in time and inhabiting his past self’s body, rather than the entire world resetting. He didn’t know which possibility offended his sense of physics more.)
He never told anyone about his power. He couldn’t prove it, and people were always more than willing to believe that geniuses like him must be crazy.
It wasn’t until he was working with Samantha Carter to save the world that he ever saw the value of two minutes. His plan to use an EM pulse to take out the Goa’uld’s weapon failed, they lost twenty-five hours precious time before the Stargate exploded, and Carter was injured by the electric backlash. If he could have reset time two minutes, he could have stopped them from turning on the machine.
He couldn’t. He’d broken his favorite coffee mug a few days before, and used those two minutes to get it back.
On Atlantis, he’d learn to hoard those two minutes. There were so many things that could go wrong, so many doors not to open, so many buttons you should just not Push. He didn’t think that there was a single person on his staff that hadn’t blown themselves up at least once. He set up a triage system. First come, first serve, but he would only reset for maiming or death and when he was in a position to prevent it. He’d learn that the hard way.
They always thought he was overreacting when he started screaming "Don’t touch that! Do you want to kill yourself, You Idiot?!" They never knew how often he was screaming because he’d just watched them die.
He saw Brendan Gaul die twice in one week. Monday, he stopped Gaul from frying himself on a piece of ancient equipment. Thursday, Brendan shot himself in the head.
McKay couldn’t give him two more minutes. He already had.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Give them two minutes."
He hears Sheppard’s voice on the bad days. The days he didn’t have two minutes to give.
Two minutes. Two precious minutes.
He wished he would just shut up.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 04:44 am (UTC)I like it. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 06:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-08-03 06:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 07:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-08-03 07:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 07:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 07:30 am (UTC)Awesome!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 07:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 08:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 09:08 am (UTC)It might be useless, but it was his.
He didn’t know which possibility offended his sense of physics more.
He couldn’t. He’d broken his favorite coffee mug a few days before, and used those two minutes to get it back.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 09:48 am (UTC)And very... grim. Poor Rodney.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 10:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 10:24 am (UTC)Absolutely terrific, and I just love your Rodney voice as well. Very powerful set-up, thank you.
Icarus
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 11:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 12:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 12:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 12:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 03:37 pm (UTC)Awesome. :) I love how you didn't just come up with a neat idea, you totally explored all the consequences and frustrations and possibilities that this idea would *cause* for Rodney-- wasting his two minutes on saving his broken coffee mug!! the part where he yells at people not to touch stuff because he *knows what will happen*!! And then all the little bits you tied into canon. This was very cool.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 03:43 pm (UTC)(He hypothesized that perhaps it was just his consciousness traveling back in time and inhabiting his past self’s body, rather than the entire world resetting. He didn’t know which possibility offended his sense of physics more.)
Heh heh. Just how Rodney would think about it!
He never told anyone about his power. He couldn’t prove it, and people were always more than willing to believe that geniuses like him must be crazy.
Oh, but I can totally see Sheppard just narrowing his eyes and saying, "In that case, what am I about to say thirty seconds from now?" Of course, Rodney would probably have saved someone just the previous day. Or be worried he had to save someone the next day. Hmmm.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 08:41 pm (UTC)1) If he'd had two minutes to use in '38 minutes', he would have kept the ship from entering the gate in the first place. Unfortunately, he'd used his two minutes earlier in the week to stop a power surge in one of the naquada generators from destroying a bunch of the equipment they’d brought from earth. (They hadn’t been in Atlantis very long, so he hadn't set up his triage system yet.) The really frustrating thing was that he only had about and hour and a half left before he finished recharging, and a fat lot of good THAT was going to do.
2) McKay doesn’t think that he would be able to reset time if he died instantaneous. He isn't sure, but he's certainly not going to test it.
3) Rodney is not one to be satisfied with 'can reset time about two minutes, every four or five days'. He wants details! And maybe the reason he started exploring the weird end of physics was so that he could figure out how his power could possibly work.
4) Even if he was willing to waste a lot of resets on trying to prove it to Sheppard & co. (which he's not), the results would not be distinguishable from telepathy or precognition. While these are both still pretty out there, they are a lot more believable than 'can reset the world two minutes'.
Not that I put a lot of thought into this or anything.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 03:50 pm (UTC)