In or Out, by elishavah

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Unbetaed. Gen. Maybe a couple ticks over 38 minutes, because I realized that spellcheck would be a good thing. 557 words.

I figure it's sometime shortly after the opener of the second season, but since I know less than nothing about S2, this is all speculation.


"How do we get through the shield?"

"...and Radek wants to gi--" McKay blinked. "Give it a..." A headshake came with another blink. "What?"

"Major...?"

Weir's eyebrows were climbing, and a glance around the table showed a whole lot of outright surprise or concerned curiosity on everyone's faces.

John bit back a wince. Definitely could've used fifteen minutes downtime, or even five, sometime in the last thirty-two hours, he admitted; thinking a thought and speaking that thought really shouldn't be simultaneous actions.

He'd said it, though, so he leaned forward in his chair and deliberately shifted to direct his question at McKay.

"Once the shield is up, how do we get through it without taking it down?" he asked slowly, spacing each word out so there couldn't be any doubt about what he meant.

"Why would you--?" McKay's face twisted into a baffled frown and his hands cupped, forming a rigid bubble in the air over the table. "You don't get through it; it's a shield. The point is things not getting through. That's what's so nice about it."

John concentrated on giving McKay a tight smile as a much preferable alternative to snapping. "I know that. But the Ancients had to have hooked up a code or something, so that a 'jumper can get through without having to take the whole thing down, right?"

"That is what the 'gate is for," Zelenka pointed out, his frown just as confused as McKay's.

"There isn't a 'gate on the mainland," John said flatly.

Teyla sat up straighter.

"No..."

John looked around to see Weir's eyes narrow.

"No, there isn't," she said, the full weight of that fact in her voice. Her lips tightened briefly, and John could almost see the options considered and discarded before she nodded once and clasped her hands in front of her on the table. "Rodney, how far will the shield extend?"

McKay's eyes were just as narrow, but his jaw was set and his head was stuck in a fast side-to-side pattern.

"No," he said. "Yes, it's a fresh ZPM. Yes, it's almost as good as new. But no, there is no way to get it to--"

"That would render the field practically useless," Zelenka broke in. "The farther it expands, the--"

"We try to stretch it too thin and we'll be right back where we started," McKay cut him off with a harsh laugh. "And won't that be fun?"

"So my people will...remain unprotected?" Teyla asked, calm but with an edge that Weir immediately responded to.

"Oh, no. No," she repeated. "They can come back to the city. We have more than enough room, and with the shield in place, the entire city is available for your people to choose any location."

That didn't get a serene smile of gratitude, though.

"I doubt they will wish to return to the city, Doctor Weir," Teyla said with a sigh. "Perhaps some of the younger ones, yes, but as a people, we are far more comfortable on land than surrounded by even the metal of the Ancestors."

He hadn't thought about it in those terms, exactly, but yeah. "So we need a way to get back and forth through the shield," John said, bringing them back to the point.

McKay's mouth was open, but there wasn't anything coming out of it.

##

Comments

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

:admires your brains for thinking through ramifications:

I like your Teyla-voice here especially. And I love this bit of McKay:

>Why would you--?" McKay's face twisted into a baffled frown and his hands cupped, forming a rigid bubble in the air over the table. "You don't get through it; it's a shield. The point is things not getting through. That's what's so nice about it."<

Heh.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I don't really want to do S2 speculative stories, since they're going to be picking up right where they left off, but this such a literal flash that I figured, eh, why not?

[barkley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that McKay line? Nailed his void. I like it!

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Poor McKay. So tired, and there's John confusing him again. Not nice. ;)

[troyswann.livejournal.com]

I too admire your brains.

And I feel sorry for Rodney's brains.

And I like John's slow-speaking relentlessness about the complications of "safety."

V. cool.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Merci.

Random thought attacking. Not quite like "silent cat springing," but almost.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. Reads like a scene from the show.

This is what a snippet should be; you've brought us right into the middle of a scene and out again before it ended, but we know what's happened in the parts we've missed.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Thank you. This challenge is perfect for that sort of "dive in, pull out" kind of snippet.

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

Oh. Wow. Hadn't thought of that. So glad you did.

Good stuff.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It really was a random "wait a second..." thought, which worked perefectly for a challenge with a short writing time limit.

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

this is astounding. wonderful to see john trying to bring them along in the process of addressing the situation. their exhaustion is palpable.

and this: "That's what's so nice about it."" is just perfect.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I wasn't going to do any S2 speculative stories, since they're picking right up where they left off, but this is just a quick glimpse at a possibility.

And, well, Rodney's not just going to say, "Dude. You wanted a shield. I'm giving you a shield. What the hell is your problem NOW?" *g*

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

bwahaha! it might be kind of nice if rodney did say that? and it would certainly suggest that john has some explaining to do. *veg*

[misspamela.livejournal.com]

Very nice! I hadn't even thought of that. I could hear this playing out exactly this way in an episode.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Thank you. A little thought that I was going to ignore, but then I remembered this challenge, so...

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

*loves*

The voices are just perfect, and the fatigue, and the fact that John thought of something nobody else did. And Teyla!

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I really do enjoy them interacting, so...fun! And I'm suddenly craving a good Teyla story.

[malograntum.livejournal.com]

Very nice. Great character voices, and I love watching this kind of problem-solving interaction. It really has the feel of the show.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Thanks. This type of group interaction on the show is alway good, so it's fun to do a little story with some of that.

[cofax7]

oooh, smart.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thanks. *g*