Establishing the background

Context: SGA Steampunk AU, Rodney doesn't know John is Dave Sheppard's brother

Looking for concrit: too much infodump?


"I thought the whole point of your revolutionary engine is that it's more energy-efficient than any engine on the market." John wasn't perched on the edge of Rodney's workbench for once, stood with him and the rest of the Atlantis team just inside the doorway of the lab.

"It is, if you consider the net energy requirements and expenditures in the design," Rodney said. "What makes my engine so energy-efficient is that it's - it's almost like a human body. Once you get past the start-up cost, which is pretty massive, it more or less keeps itself going."

"Like what Janus wrote of," Radek said.

"What Janus wrote of but never left detailed notes on and that no one has ever come close to," Rodney said, a little peevishly.

Radek rolled his eyes, took off his spectacles and cleaned them on the hem of his jacket.

"Great. So let's fire it up," John said. "You said Sheppard's breathing down your neck, Elizabeth's breathing down your neck - as much as Elizabeth ever does anything aggressively - and this one hurdle will solve all of our problems. I get to fly. You get that prize from the Royal Guild of Arts and Sciences. Radek has enough money to keep him in a lifetime supply of kolaches. Miko can take her sail design elsewhere, go back to star diving. And Kavanagh will finally get out of your hair."

It was Teyla who said, "It is not that simple. The initial expenditure of energy is massive, is it not? Humans are perfect machines, capable of reproducing and forming their environment around them to meet their needs. But in their early years, they are completely vulnerable. They spend their first few months utterly dependent on another human being, if not their first few years."

She was the only one of them who was a parent or anything close to it.

"Are you saying you can't do it?" John asked. He fixed Rodney with a look that was far more serious than any Rodney had seen on his face before.

"If I had more time I could figure it out," Rodney said. "But I don't have time. Sheppard's patience is at an end, and there are other external pressures." He very deliberately did not look at Teyla when he spoke.

John was a soldier, believed in saving all he could, in leaving no person behind. If he knew of Teyla's predicament, he'd do something rash.

"Then what's your plan?" John pressed.

"Janus created a device to power his automatons. It could provide the initial delivery of energy we need to get the system up and running. It would fit in the space, and it would convert the energy in such a way that we wouldn't just be setting off a powder keg in the engine furnaces," Rodney said, because he knew how John's mind worked.

"Janus's notes on all of his greatest inventions are incomplete," Miko said.

"I managed to fill in some of the gaps on his automaton designs," Rodney said. "This piece - it amounts to the automaton's heart - will get us what we need. We just need this piece."

"How the hell are we going to find this one piece of an automaton that we're not even sure still exists, if it even existed at all?" Radek asked.

"Other pieces of Janus's legendary designs have been found," Rodney said. "We have to try. We need this engine up and running."

Really, Teyla needed this engine up and running. Rodney didn't care if Sheppard and Elizabeth were mad at him. He was used to people being mad at him.

Radek said, "We should ask for help. I will send a message to Dr. Carter." He started for the pigeon coops.

Miko said to Ronon, who'd been watching the entire exchange silently, "Come on. I'll show you where some of Janus's works are archived."

Ronon nodded and followed her to the door, handed her her hat and draped her shawl across her shoulders, held the door open for her, followed her out. Strange. He rarely cared about Earth-style manners and deportment.

John swept for the door. He almost crashed into Kavanagh, who was just coming into the workshop.

"Hey," Kavanagh said.

John grabbed his shoulder. "You're coming with me."

Evan emerged from the corner. "I'll help," he said.

He always helped.

Rodney said, "Come on. I have a lot of Janus's works."

Evan nodded and followed him. Rodney knew they'd be awake late into the night.