6. Beginning in the Dark
Ophir stopped his scan, frowning. Pressing a button, he reread the report. It hadn’t changed. Chewing on the inside of his lower lip as his eyes narrowed, Ophir ran the scan again. Noise came from the only other in the room and he looked up in time to see Rush disappear down one of the halls. Getting up, Ophir walked over to Rush’s console.
On the screen was an alert to the activation of some random room. Shuffling through the other windows, Ophir wasn’t surprised by Rush’s actions. Returning to his console, Ophir pressed a few buttons before his hand froze. He scowled at the screen and started to work feverishly on counteracting the results of several scans he had done.
Minutes after Rush had disappeared, the lights flickered, gaining Ophir’s undivided attention. A defeated sigh left Ophir as he looked back at his screen. He just stares at the screen for a while till the lights flicker again, drawing his gaze to the ceiling. That’s how Rush found him when the lead scientist returned. Ophir looked to Rush when the Scotsman settled at his console, inquiring, “When did you notice the change in the power amount?”
Rush sighed, rubbing his face tiredly. “Earlier today.”
“Have you slept since we got here?” Rush merely chuckled. Ophir sighed. “I’ll take that as a no.”
Silence fell over them as they got back to work. Ophir barely took notice of the man working near him become more flustered with whatever was on his screen. As if on cue, Ophir looked in the direction of one of the hallways just as Young came into sight. The younger nodded his head once in acknowledgement before returning his attention to his console. Young turned to Rush, stating, “Scott's checking out the shuttle, seeing if it's operational. Everyone else is holding the work until you give the green light.”
Rush relaxed a bit. “Thank you.”
Young glanced at Ophir, gaining the young man’s amber gaze. The question went unasked. The nod released the floodgates and Young started talking. “Look, I want you to know that I'm well aware that in the field of Ancient technology, you're pretty much - and any other subject I can think of - you're the best I've got, other than Ophir.”
Rush snorts but Young continues, “But we can't be working at cross-purposes.”
Rush stopped working, looking at Young as he stated, “All I ask is that you check with me before issuing orders.”
“Check with you?” Young laughed. “No, see, you've got it backwards. If you're doing something, I wanna know what it is, and this is not a request.”
Ophir tensed reflexively as Rush grew irritated quickly. “Done! Fine! I'll tell you everything.”
“If there is an issue that affects everybody on this ship, like we're running out of power...”
“I think I already told you that,” Rush pointed out, the sarcasm heavy.
“I'm not here to snipe your back or piss you off, but if we're gonna be on this ship for any length of time, we need to be on the same page.”
“I think our length of time together on Destiny may be shorter than you think.”
Young nodded. “OK.”
“Uh-huh!”
“I get it. Who can I bring in to help?”
Ophir glowered at Young as Rush looked at Young quizzically. “Honestly? It may take longer than we've got to bring someone else up to speed.”
Young slapped his hand down onto the console as if signifying a done deal. “Volker it is.”
“Perfect! Terrific!” Rush chorused sarcastically. Ophir raised an eyebrow.
“You can tell him to sit on his hands if you want to,” Young offered as he left.
Rush buried his head in his hands in a mixture of frustration, anger and exhaustion and Ophir took little notice. It wasn't his place to care and he didn't care anyways.
When the lights flicker again, Dale Volker, his arm still in a sling from the arrival on Destiny, walked. Rush sighs despairingly as the lights continue to flicker for several seconds.
Volker glanced at Ophir, ignored. He turned to Rush, stating, “Hey. Heard you could use a second helper.”
Rush didn’t look up from his console. “Well, you heard wrong.
“Yeah. Young said not to take "no" for an answer.”
Ophir looked up at the comment from Volker to Rush.
“If he wanted to be helpful, he would have sent Eli instead.”
Volker stiffened. “Well, thank you for that, uh, but Eli's a kid really and I'm an astrophysicist...”
Rush turned towards Volker as he stated, “Mr Volker, I neither need nor want your help, all right?”
Rush turned to the console again and Volker glanced at Ophir in desperation but the only reaction he gained from the younger was a raise of an eyebrow. Frustrated, Volker turns back to Rush and pushes, “Look, he's just gonna drag me right back in here and you know it.”
Frustrated, Rush put his hand to his head and nodded in reluctant acknowledgement. Volker encouraged, “Come on.”
Ophir watched as Rush gave in a bit. “Right. I'm concerned that Destiny is on the verge of losing power. Look for yourself.”
Volker took a step closer to the console. Without looking at him, Rush points to a nearby console. Not quite rolling his eyes, Volker diverts to the empty console as he states, “The ship's been flying around for the better part of a million years.”
“I know.”
“So I don't understand why, all of a sudden...”
Rush cut Volker off as Ophir found something to do with his console. “When we showed up and started doing things, how about that?”
“Like what?”
Rush snapped. “Dialing back to Earth, for one.”
“Oh, come on, we had to try,” Volker reasoned.
Rush sighed, frustrated.
Volker changed tactics. “What kind of window, man? We're flying faster than the speed of light. How close to the end of a rope can we be?”
“You're obviously not capable of seeing the signs,” Rush stated.
Ophir glanced up to see the offended look cross over Volker. “OK. Well, speaking of signs, when was the last time you slept?”
Ophir looked at Rush, wondering how far Volker was going to get with that line. Rush stated, “Look, if you know what you're looking for, there are clear indications that power is being channeled into life support and away from the –”
“How can you know that?” Volker cut in. “We're still completely locked out of the core systems.”
Rush gestured to the door and shouted, “Out!”
Volker kept babbling. “OK, I'll ... Forget I said anything.”
“Now!”
Ophir merely sat back when he realized Volker was getting dangerously close to getting himself into an early grave as the man stated, “No, I'll just work quietly.”
“Well, it's too bloody late for that, isn't it?! I told him you'd be a waste of time! A waste of time that we can ill afford.” Rush gestured to the console. “If you can't see the signs staring you in the face, then you're no good to me! Get out!”
Crushed, but unable to answer back, Volker left. Rush pressed his hand to his forehead again in exhaustion and frustration. Ophir waited till Rush had settled before stating, “He’s right on one point.”
“And what would that be?” Rush nearly snapped, looking at the young man watching him with an unwavering gaze.
“You haven’t slept.”
Rush looked to the console. “There’s too much work to be done.”
Ophir went back to work without another word. A few minutes later, Ophir shut his console down and stretched. He knew what was going on even without the console blaring in his face the obvious. Sure enough, all the lights went out. Destiny dropped out of FTL and Ophir sighed. Only a few emergency lights were on and Ophir gaze fell on the hallway behind the now standing Rush as he heard Young and Volker approach.
“Did you do that, Rush?” was the first thing out of Young’s mouth.
“Is that what you think?” Rush asked. He laughed bitterly. “No! No, I didn't. But I had been standing here for the past few minutes watching systems fail all over the ship - and there's nothing that I could do to stop that. The FTL drive was amongst the last to go.”
Volker pipes in, “We could be in range of a Stargate.”
Rush let out another bitter laugh, pointing to Volker while looking at Young. “You see what I mean?! No, there's no countdown.”
He points to the counter above the doorway. Young shines his flashlight up there but the display is unlit. Ophir stood as Young turns back to Rush, pointing out, “Well, there's gotta be emergency reserves.”
“I don't think you seem to understand what's going on here, Colonel. Our "reserves" are gone. All of our power is gone.”
Ophir followed the three men down a corridor as they headed to the Gateroom.
“So it wasn't anything you did?” Young clarified.
“Since I arrived, I have been unable to access any of the core systems - power, navigation, or propulsion,” Rush blabbled.
“Why didn't you bring somebody else in on this?”
“Technically, he did, but the alliance we hold is withered at best,” Ophir piped in, sarcasm light but there.
Young just shook his head as Volker piped in, “Maybe it's like a Lantean device - you need the Ancient gene to access the–”
Rush cut him off. “Destiny pre-dates that technology.”
“D'you know that for a fact?” Young inquired.
Rush rounded on him, furious, “Yes, Colonel. I know many many things for a fact! I know you asked Gorman to poke around in the weapons systems, for a fact. I know you have ordered teams of people all over the ship to do things that they know nothing about, for a fact!
Rush stormed away, leaving Young and Volker to tail him. Ophir just kept walking, completely ignoring rant and comments.
“Right. You think all those things add up to this, Rush? Does that make sense to you?” Young pressed.
Rush walked over to the Stargate console and tapped it angrily. The console didn’t even light up.
“Look! Look! No, you're right. You are right. It was your reckless, pointless attempt to dial Earth that robbed me of the time I needed to solve this problem!” Rush snapped.
Young tried a different tactic as Ophir settled at his side. “Maybe we're just missing something.”
“Yes! The opportunity of a lifetime - because you wouldn't listen to me!”
Rush’s face crumples in anguish and he turns away, putting his hand to his face as if he's about to burst into tears. Young takes out his radio and activates it, stating, “T.J., this is Young. I could use a medic in the Gate Room.”
Rush began to pace the room. “I refuse to be held responsible for this situation!”
Young took a step towards him. “Nobody's blaming you.”
“I ran out of time!
“We can fix this.”
Rush turned, seething. “"Fix this"! What, you think just because you give the order that it's possible? There is no more power! Destiny saved every last ounce of its reserves for life support - and I've seen it happening. I've seen it being sequestered away from me. I tried to ... I tried to stop it. I tried to stop it but I couldn't!”
Ophir saw it faster than anyone else and he took a step forward. “He’s going to pass out.”
“In a few days' time, this…” Rush grips his head in pain as Young approaches but Rush takes no notice as he continues his little montage, “…this ship will go dark. It will go dark and cold…”
Ophir took another step forward to catch Rush as he crumples towards the floor but is beaten to it when Young releases both crutch and flashlight to catch the now unconscious scientist. Young gently lowered Rush to the ground as best he could before fumbling for his radio and barking into it, “T.J., now!”
Ophir bent over and picked up the flashlight resting by his foot as Young released a sigh. Ophir placed a hand on the Colonel’s shoulder, gaining the man’s attention, before offering the flashlight. Young nodded a thanks as he took it and Ophir picked up the crutch, voicing, “You shouldn't have to catch him.”
Ophir looked at Young to find the man’s gaze on the unconscious body before him. Young sighed again as he muttered, “I know.”
Ophir helped Young to his feet as TJ arrived and offered the man the crutch. As TJ looked Rush over, Ophir added, “You hide the limping well.”
As Young turned to him, Ophir knelt and offered his aid to TJ. She smiled at him and nodded. With both on either side, they took Rush back to his room.
“What happened?” TJ asked, shifting so that she could lay Rush on his bed.
“He went off on Young,” Ophir commented, not sounding interested. “He hasn’t been sleeping.”
TJ nodded. “I can take it from here.”
With a nod, Ophir left.
...last for a while
