Work Text:
Title: - Time's Relative
Author: - Katt
E-mail: - kattanon@yahoo.co.uk
Rating: - FRC
Feedback: - Like it or loathe it let me know
Archive: - I'd be honoured
Disclaimer: - I don't own any of the characters of Stargate Atlantis, and no infringement was intended.
Author's Notes: - An episode tag to "Thirty Eight Minutes". Einstein developed his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905. It predicts that time passes slower for moving objects than for stationary ones, a phenomenon known as time dilation.
Time's Relative
"Time flies when you're having fun" was the popular euphemism. However, Rodney was with Einstein on this one his Special Theory of Relativity had hit the nail on the head, time definitely passes quicker for stationary objects - like say a puddle jumper trapped in the event horizon of an active stargate.
God, every time he'd glanced at his watch while they'd been trapped he could swear the hands had been whizzing around at twice their normal speed. Thirty-five minutes quickly became fifteen, became ten, became two, became sixty seconds. Tiny increments that had marched on inexorably marking the end for him and his team, the end for Markham and Stackhouse de-molecularised in the forward compartment.
At least their end would've been quick and painless while all he'd been able to see in his immediate future had been explosive decompression. Lungs becoming a ruptured, bloody mess, subcutaneous swelling caused by water vapour making their bodies swell to twice their normal size, anoxea causing brain damage, and then if you were lucky you'd be dead. No wonder he'd panicked telling Sheppard,
"I react to certain doom a certain way..."
He was pretty sure that if the others had known what had been on the cards for them they might have been a little disconcerted too.
Thankfully though he'd had something to focus on. The science, the technology, they'd grounded him, forced his mind to think rationally. Like a security blanket that he'd been able to grab on to, to keep the fear at bay, to stop it from overwhelming him. Although sheer terror would spike through him every time he looked at his watch and saw that "time flies when you're about to die" - not as catchy as the original but much more apropos to their situation.
Then there'd been the flip side to Einstein's theory - time passing slower for moving objects. Because when he'd been pacing in the back of the jumper listening to the whine and thud of the defibrillator as Beckett had tried to re-start the major's heart, time had certainly seem to stretch on interminably. The high pitched whine seeming to oscillate through every atom of his body, and his own heart thumping against his rib cage with every shock of electricity trying to jump start Sheppard's heart muscle.
Wiping a hand down his face Rodney felt drained, and he supposed that Carson would tell him that too much adrenaline will do that to a person. He grimaced a little when he thought that he'd have to seek out Kavanaugh soon and thank him for coming up with the solution to their inertia problem earlier. Rodney didn't like the man much, but he had come up with a solution at literally the last minute that had saved their lives, and while Rodney never gave out unmerited praise he did believe in credit where credit was due. However, that could wait until tomorrow right now he was too busy balancing out the passage of time.
If time was passing faster for him because he was stationary standing by the infirmary door, and yet it was going more slowly because Major Sheppard's chest was in motion moving steadily up and down. Then if he stayed right here for a little while longer maybe he could bridge the two and his universe wouldn't feel as out of kilter as it did.