The Other City von T L Kay
“Dial it up,” said Jack.
Walter nodded and started the dialing sequence. McKay and Zelenka had hooked up the ZPM and now everyone was waiting with baited breath as the chevrons locked. There was a collective intake of breath just after the seventh chevron locked. There was a heartbeat where it seemed that the eighth would not engage and then there was the telltale swoosh of the forming event horizon and Walter’s voice saying, “Chevron eight locked.”
There was an increased air of tension as the MALP proceeded up the ramp and through the shimmery blue surface. They turned as one to the little screen showing nothing but snow. And then the static began to clear and they had their first glimpse of Praesidium. The gate room was larger than that of Atlantis and was lined with giant windows that gave a breathtaking view of space beyond. Kate was so wrapped up in what she was seeing that she almost missed how she was seeing it. The MALP was clearly floating in the weightlessness of space.
“Sir, we’re not detecting any life signs,” Carter was saying. “We’re not detecting any atmosphere either. It appears that whatever was originally keeping space out is no longer working.”
General Landry sighed. “All right, shut it down and we’ll discuss our options.”
Kate felt a little pang of sadness as the gate shut down and the MALP image disappeared. She caught Radek’s eye as everyone began filing upstairs.
“Do you have any ideas?” she asked.
“I believe that it is just a matter of turning the gravity and atmosphere on. It looked much the same as Atlantis when we first got there, with everything powered down.”
“And do you think you could power it back up?”
He shrugged. “That depends. Atlantis’ ZPM was depleted but we were able to hook up our naquadah generators to their systems. If we can do the same—which we should be able to—then I don’t see a problem. And that is assuming there’s not a usable ZPM.”
“That’s what I want to hear. Now we just have to convince them,” she pointed above them to where the briefing room was. “We should get up there.”
When they got upstairs everyone else had already gotten settled.
“Well what do we do?” asked Daniel as Kate and Radek sat down.
“I don’t know Dr. Jackson,” said Landry. “The Daedalus is on its way back to Atlantis and the Apollo is still getting repairs.”
“We don’t need a ship,” said Kate. “We can go through the gate.”
“Were you not just in there?” asked John sarcastically.
“I have already discussed the situation with Dr. Zelenka and we’ve come to the conclusion that it is most likely just a lack of power. With a proper power source the systems can be brought back online.”
“That’s possible sir,” said Sam. “It may just be that the Ancients shut things off when they left.”
“Yes, and that’s a good point to bring up. Why did the Ancients leave?” asked Cam.
“Well we won’t know unless we go,” said Kate determinedly.
“I appreciate your enthusiasm Dr. Sheppard,” said General Landry, “but what happens if you can’t bring the systems back online? You’ll be stranded there.”
“Not necessarily. The Daedalus is not quite to the Pegasus galaxy, correct?”
He nodded.
“Then have them divert their course a little. We go through and if we can’t fix it, we gate to another planet and wait to be rescued. I am confident that even if we can’t restore full power we can at least dial out to a nearby planet, and I even know which ones to try, thanks to Adrianus. I think this is too big an opportunity to continue to wait, especially considering the…reluctance the IOA have showed since making their initial decision. Any more delay and they might postpone it indefinitely.”
Everyone around the table was staring at her slightly dumbfounded, except for Jack, who was looking at her with a quirk of a smile.
“She’s right Hank. If we’re gonna do this we need to do it now.”
Landry considered for a moment. “Oh all right. But only your team Dr. Sheppard. If you get things up and running we’ll send the rest.”
Kate smiled. “Thank you sir.”
“Thank me by finding a way to stop the Wraith. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to use my special red phone. I think the President would probably like to know what we’re doing. We’ll follow the original plan, you leave day after tomorrow.”
“That was bold what you did in there,” said Jack, catching Kate in the hallway.
Kate smiled. “Thanks. I kinda felt like I was channeling you actually.”
Jack laughed. “It’s possible. Look,” he said, getting serious, “you should have gotten this command. If I had had any doubts before they would all be gone now. You should know that me being in charge is just temporary.”
She nodded. “I understand, and in all honesty, I don’t want to be in charge. I’ve seen how stressed you were when you were running this place, how stressed Landry’s been, I don’t want that. I’m fine with taking commands.”
Jack looked at her skeptically.
“Oh all right, I’m fine with taking commands that I was going to do anyway.”
Jack laughed. “You remind me more and more of your brother everyday.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Are you coming out with us tonight?”
Jack shook his head, looking past her to where Sam was walking down the hallway with Daniel. “I had thought about it,” he said, looking back at Kate. “But I think I’m needed elsewhere.”
Kate glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “That’s good too, and that way at least one of us will be conscious tomorrow.”
“You plan on being unconscious?”
“Semi, I don’t hold my beer so well after 5 or 6.”
Jack laughed. “Sounds like I’ll be missing out.”
“Not really.”
“Hey,” said John, coming up next to them. “You ready? It’ll take us a bit to get there.”
Kate nodded. “Last chance,” she said to Jack with a smile.
Jack laughed. “I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.”
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