Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of that stuff, wish I did, but I don't, so don't sue me or anything.

"No, look, I'm telling you, it's this one, now quit it..." Weir was awakened by the sound of Rodney's voice over the com.

"How would you know?" came the voice of Carson Beckett, slightly irritated. She sat up and cocked her head, curious.

"What do you mean 'how do I know?', I've worked with this technology more than anyone, that's how, now stop it"

"Um, hello? Dr. Weir, can you hear me?" chimed McKay's voice again. "Yes doctor, I can hear you, is something wrong?" Elizabeth Weir wasn't a pessimistic person by nature, but considering the last few weeks, anything having to do with Rodney McKay this late at night was bound to be disastrous.

"Uh, to tell the truth, sort of. C-could you meet us in the med-lab please?" McKay's voice had that desperate almost-laughing quality to it that suggested a medium-sized disaster. "I'll be right there" Weir said, and collapsed back onto her pillow. She glanced at the clock, and realized her folly; it was still programmed to 24-hour time. Pulling on a fuzzy blue robe, she strode out of her quarters and to the lab.

Upon entering, she saw an irritated-looking Rodney McKay sitting on one of the exam tables. He turned and flashed a wide 'I'm so annoyed I can't stand it much longer' fake smile at her. "Hi!" he exclaimed jovially, "...." he looked as though he were on the verge of saying something, and instead, just sighed and put his head down in his hands. "You tell her," he said quietly.

"No, you're the scientist, you explain it... smart guy" came Beckett's Scottish accent from Rodney's direction, but Weir couldn't see him. She walked closer to look on the other side of the exam table, but there was nobody there. Only she and Rodney were in the room.

"What is going on here?" she asked, "And before you answer, consider this. This planet has about 33 hours in its rotational cycle, I was up for most of them, and have been asleep for only two." She said somewhat crossly, in no mood for games.

Rodney sighed again, and just as he was about to offer a technical explanation, Carson's voice burst from his mouth, "Dinkus here was playin' round with more Ancient technology-"

"Okay," came McKay's voice again, "first: I wasn't playing around with anything; I was following all the proper safety procedures, ensuring that nothing would happen, and second: you're the one who knocked the crystal off the table, not me!" McKay looked very smug, but his expression changed a second later to distress.

"MY FAULT?! The crystal was leaning half-off the table in the first place, if someone would've sneezed at it the damn thing would have fallen."

"Well then, I guess it's too bad nobody came in before you and SNEEZED at the unidentified piece of Ancient technology!"

"Ach! You – smug... maple leaf – bastard!! You know what I meant, anybody could have done that."

Rodney/Carson just stood there looking sullen, while Weir assimilated all that had just occurred.

Elizabeth Weir had traveled 100-million light-years from her home world, seen aliens who could suck the years right from a person's body, and been witness when the Lost City of Atlantis had risen from the sea after millions of years of submersion, however, she concluded that this was, by far, the strangest thing she had experienced as of yet. She found she had only one thing to say.

"Where's your body, Dr. Beckett?" she asked in a voice that exuded a calmness she didn't feel. Rodney's eyes scowled at her, while a distinctly Scottish-sounding chuckle emanated from his mouth. "You had to bring that up, didn't you?" Rodney asked her.

To Be Continued...