AU - Refuge

By Leesa Perrie and Jayne Perry

A/N: This is an AU of both Runner and Epiphany, though leaning more heavily on the latter than the former. It is set after Intruder and occurs instead of Runner. There may be a few lines here and there that are from the original script, or paraphrased from it, but we have tried to avoid this as much as possible. What we have used is mainly to do with the techno-babble regarding the time dilation field, though we have also kept in some of the MALP-on-a-stick conversation! Please also note that the time dilation field does not work in this fic exactly the way it does in the episode - this is an AU, after all! - but the differences are few. Enjoy!

Thank you to Jayne for helping me to rescue this story from the WIP folder, and thank you to wildcat88 for beta reading it for us!

Chapter One: Lost

A recent search of the Atlantis database had produced several planets that had been deemed of interest. Of course, Rodney grumbled to himself, three of them had proved to be less than enthralling. The first one had led to a trade agreement, but like the following two, had shown no sign of technology, Ancient or otherwise, and so had been deadly boring as far as he was concerned.

So, he hadn't been feeling very optimistic about this planet, P0R-898, either and therefore had been surprised to pick up a substantial energy signal as soon as the jumper had cleared the gate. Of course, his enthusiasm was being sorely tested now. Something he was happy to share with Sheppard and Teyla - frequently and loudly. Sheppard had insisted on parking the jumper a good mile from the energy signal's source - citing the rough terrain as being the reason, though Rodney suspected Sheppard was enjoying making him walk, the sadist. They had only brought the jumper at his insistence.

Still, the readings suggested something on a large scale of Ancient design. Despite the terrain and far too long walk, he couldn't stop the excitement from bubbling up inside the nearer they came to them.

"We're getting close," he said, checking his scanner.

"That is good," Teyla answered automatically, her concentration more on the surrounding area than Rodney.

"Yeah," Sheppard agreed, "Any ideas what it is yet?"

"No, but it's close," Rodney said, huffing as the rocky hillside's incline became steeper, before levelling out a short while later.

"In here," he said, stopping before a vine-covered cleft in the hillside.

"Okay." Sheppard started moving the vines to one side, ducking inside to what opened up into a reasonably sized cave with four shafts that sunlight shone down through. The shafts and cave definitely looked man-made, as did the doorway on the far side of the cave that Rodney assumed led through the ridge to the valley on the other side - not to mention the columns that were set on either side of it.

"Interesting," Rodney said, as they entered the cave and approached the doorway. "Looks like a shortcut."

"So, let's go," Sheppard said, heading for the doorway.

"Wait, wait, wait, there's something there," he said urgently, noticing something odd on his scanner. "There's some kind of an energy barrier right on the threshold."

Sheppard grabbed a pebble from the cave's floor and gently threw it at the doorway, quirking an eye in surprise as it disappeared with a shimmer of light and a slight plopping sound.

"A cloak?"

"I don't know. It's not the same properties as a cloaking field," Rodney answered, still checking his scanner. "Though whatever it is, it has the potential to be useful."

"Yeah, the Ancients did tend to hide all the really cool stuff," Sheppard agreed.

"While that is true, I'd like to be able to explain these readings better before we step through it." He snapped his fingers as an idea came to him. "Give me a branch and I can use my camera to record what's on the other side," he said, digging through his backpack and pulling out a digital camera, along with some duct tape. Teyla gave him a sturdy looking branch she had cut from a tree just outside of the cave and he taped the camera to it, smiling smugly.

"Hey," Sheppard exclaimed with a grin, "MALP on a stick."

"Yes, MALP on a stick. Very clever." Rodney rolled his eyes at the oh-so-typical Sheppard-like comment, before switching the camera on and sending it through the barrier while holding onto the branch. He waited for a good minute and then pulled the camera back out.

"So, what have we got?" Sheppard asked impatiently, as Teyla and he crowded round Rodney to see the screen.

"Okay, here we go." Rodney played back the image, which showed them an empty cave-like room with no features. "Well, that's very enlightening," he huffed sarcastically, disappointed at the lack of any technology.

"Perhaps it is hidden further inside?" Teyla suggested.

"Why don't we just go through and take a look?" Sheppard asked impatiently.

"We don't know what might be in there," Rodney protested. "There could be poisonous atmosphere, acidic atmosphere, no atmosphere..." At Sheppard's scowl, he pointed to the camera. "Hey, it's MALP on a stick; it only shows you so much."

"Right. So, what? We return to Atlantis and come back with better equipment?"

"Look, just give me a few more minutes to analyse these readings..." he paused, looking at the camera. "That's odd. The battery has just run down."

"Forgot to charge it before the mission?" Sheppard needled.

"No, I did not forget to charge it. It should be fine..." he started digging through his pack again and brought out a spare battery, replacing the old one. He then checked it over. "Oh."

"Oh what, McKay?"

"The memory card is full."

"But it was only inside for a short while?" Teyla said, looking puzzled.

Rodney looked perplexed, turning the camera in his hand while examining it. Was the camera faulty? But it was new and had been working perfectly well back on Atlantis. An idea started to form at the back of his mind. Crazy, perhaps, but then again, this was Pegasus.

"Teyla, do you have a spare camera on you? I know you sometimes like to take your own photos and video."

"Yes, I have one," Teyla answered.

"Well, give it to me," Rodney said, snapping his fingers, annoyed that she hadn't already done so. Rolling her eyes, Teyla pulled the camera out and gave it to Rodney with a sweet smile that probably meant extra sparring sessions when he got back to Atlantis. Which he would, of course, find important life or death reasons for missing.

"Okay," Rodney said, starting the camera recording. "I'm going to take a short video to make sure this camera is functioning, and then," he paused, finishing the recording and playing it back. "Yes, it's working." He grabbed another branch and more duct tape, making another so-called MALP on a stick - did Sheppard really think that was funny? - then placed it into the barrier. Counting for two seconds, he pulled it back out and checked how long the recording was.

"Eight minutes and forty seconds. Huh." He looked at them, surprised. "Time must be passing faster inside than out here."

"Are you sure?" Sheppard said, looking incredulous.

"Look, it's the only thing that makes sense. And I told you, these readings suggest there's more than just a cloak here."

"Damn," Sheppard said.

"Yeah, bet you're glad you didn't go through now," Rodney said smugly.

"Can we tell how much faster?" Teyla looked at the doorway as she asked this, noticing some Ancient writing carved to one side of it, badly worn by the passing of time.

"Yes, of course we can. If eight minutes and forty seconds passed for two seconds, then..."

"For every one second out here, two hundred and fifty-two seconds pass by in there," Sheppard replied for him - which was annoying, Rodney thought, sending a glare Sheppard's way.

"MENSA," Sheppard replied smugly.

"There are words carved into the rock here," Teyla said, interrupting her two team-mates before an argument could break out. "I am not fluent in Ancient, but I do recognize a few words - 'welcome', 'refuge' and 'peace'."

"A place to hide, perhaps?" Sheppard suggested. "The database did refer to this planet as a sanctuary. But why would they want time to pass more quickly if all they're doing is hiding from the Wraith?"

"Who knows?" Rodney answered. "I should take some photos so that Elizabeth can translate it."

Teyla suddenly stiffened.

"Wraith. There are Wraith here."

"How close and how many?" Sheppard asked.

"I believe it exited the gate shortly before I sensed it. There is only one of them."

"A dart most likely. At least it's not a hiveship," Sheppard stated.

"Shouldn't we, you know, get back to the jumper?" Rodney suggested nervously.

"No time, the dart will be here long before we get there and we'll be too exposed on the ridge. We're better waiting it out here and hoping that they move on soon."

"This planet is uninhabited. Why would the Wraith come here?" Teyla wondered.

"Maybe it was inhabited the last time they visited, or maybe they're just checking it out on the off chance, I don't know." John moved to the entrance of the cave. "The vines might help to hide us, but they also stop us from seeing anything coming this way. We'll have to rely on the life signs detector."

"Nothing so far," Rodney said, switching the scanner to life signs detecting mode.

They waited in nervous silence, hoping that the Wraith would go away once it realised that there were no villages here to cull, but only a few minutes later Teyla shuddered again.

"There are another three of them, quite close. They must have beamed them onto the surface from the dart. They are heading in our direction."

"Oh crap," Rodney moaned quietly, looking as the dots appeared on the outer edge of the life signs detector. "They're moving pretty fast. Oh, we are so dead."

"McKay," Sheppard warned.

"What? You think we can take out three of them?"

"Sure we can."

"Right, right, because they're so easy to kill, I forgot."

"McKay, quit it."

"Sorry, sorry, I just..." he trailed off, watching the dots getting very close.

"React in a certain way to certain doom, yeah, I remember."

"Yes, yes, and they're heading right for us." As the fear crept over him, not for the first time he wished he had taken a page from Zelenka's book and refused to go offworld unless he absolutely had to. But the lure of being the first to study any technology they found, plus the acclamation he would get from doing so, was too strong. And his team needed him.

"Perhaps they are following the energy readings as we did?" Teyla suggested.

"In that case, can I just say 'oh crap, we're all going to die' again?"

"No, you can't," Sheppard replied.

Time seemed to stand still as they waited to see if the Wraith would pass them by. Teyla and Sheppard took up positions towards the back of the cave, ready to shoot anything that entered, and Rodney moved to take cover behind one of the two columns that were situated on either side of the doorway, or time dilation field as it had turned out to be.

As the first Wraith entered, he was quickly dispatched by Sheppard and Teyla firing simultaneously. However, the next two entered together and one of their stunners hit Teyla, who crumpled to the ground unconscious.

Rodney watched as Sheppard sent a volley of bullets at the Wraith nearest to Teyla, but his eyes were soon drawn back to the other Wraith approaching his position, its gun raised. Rodney brought his gun up so that it was showing around the column he was hiding behind, his hand shaking in fear.

The Wraith fired, causing Rodney to instinctively jump backwards, stumbling on loose pebbles on the floor so that he was unbalanced and in full view of the Wraith, whose second blast hit Rodney's left hand. Unable to grab onto anything to stop his fall, the force of the shot was the final straw and he started to fall through the field as Sheppard appeared, firing at the Wraith.

And then he was through, hitting the rock floor on the other side hard, left shoulder first - the scanner flying out of his hand and hitting the cave wall with an ominously loud crack.

"Oh crap," he cried, followed quickly by a litany of 'ows' as his shoulder complained. He moved it carefully, soon coming to the conclusion that nothing was broken and sighing in relief at that small mercy. Standing carefully, he found that he was in a large natural cave, lit by dim lights in the recesses of the cave roof, too high up to get a proper look. Rodney was just glad that they were there and he hadn't found himself in darkness. His eyes skimmed round to see where he was, or a way to go back and he saw a smooth black area, the size of the doorway. He reached out tentatively to investigate it. His fingers tingled as he ran it over the smooth unyielding surface. He gave it a push, hoping that it could be used to return to the others, but the surface was solid. Even so, he pushed harder and harder as panic began to take hold, and before long he was hitting it hard, over and over, in the hopes that it would allow him back through.

"Sheppard!" he screamed, hoping that sound would travel through. He stopped for a second, ear against the barrier, hoping for a response, anything so he could hear their voice.

"Sheppard!" he yelled again, his fist hammering against the surface again in desperation.

"No, no, no, no, no!" he yelled at the unyielding doorway. "This can't be happening! Why won't it let me back through?" He threw a rock through the doorway and watched it pass through with unbelieving ease. "Oh please don't tell me it lets inanimate objects pass through both ways but not people - what sort of stupid Ancient thinking is that? The same sort of stupid Ancient thinking that leaves an energy being locked up for ten thousand years or more in such a way that a kid can release it by accident, of course! Oh, I am so screwed!"

Looking around wildly, he spied his scanner scattered on the floor of the cave in pieces.

"Oh great, all those times I've dropped you on missions and you choose this one to finally break! What is this, some sort of cosmic joke at my expense? Well, it's not funny!" he shouted to no one in particular.

"Okay, okay, it's not that bad," he told himself, his voice rising as he tried to calm himself down as he nervously paced back and forth. "I still have my pack, my tac vest and my gun. Oh, and the knife that Sheppard insists I carry on me - why I don't know, like I'd be any good with a knife in a battle! I'd probably cut myself more than the enemy! Come on, just calm down," he told himself sternly, trying to slow his breathing. "Slow down and think." He keyed his comm, "Sheppard." There was no response, so he tried again - with the same result. "Oh please don't let them be Wraith fodder! Let it just be radio interference, even though that means I'm even more screwed than I originally thought."

Fear gave way to frustration - at being in this predicament, at falling through the doorway, at breaking the scanner, at not being able to help his team. He hit the door again, anger and worry welling through him. What if they were dead?

He knew that the three Wraith had been dealt with, but there was still a dart out there and Teyla and Sheppard had a mile to go over difficult and relatively open ground to get to the jumper - plus Teyla was unconscious. Add to that dealing with the dart, getting back to Atlantis and explaining the situation, let alone being able to return to the planet - all that would take time. Hours, at least, so he was looking at a few weeks in here. Maybe months. And that was assuming they could return quickly, which depended on whether any more Wraith turned up - and then they had to work out how to get him back.

Wiping a hand over his face, he turned to study the cave. The only sign of technology he could see were the dim lights above him. Even so, he started to search the rock face for hidden controls, but after an hour of searching he couldn't find any.

"So, no controls here," he said gloomily, talking out loud to himself as any voice was better than the oppressive silence of this place. "I wonder if C4 would have an effect on it - not that it matters, seeing as Sheppard is the one who carries that, not me." Sighing he sat down. "What would Sheppard do? Probably shoot the barrier, but I could end up shooting someone outside, so that's not a good idea. Actually, C4 would probably just collapse the cave down on me, and who knows what would pass through to injure someone out there. I need the scanner working."

He had gathered up the pieces of the scanner during his search for controls and a way out. It looked pretty hopeless, but he knew he had some spare parts in his pack, so maybe he could fix it. He didn't hold out much hope on that, but he could at least try.

A fruitless hour later, he put the scanner pieces carefully in a pocket of his backpack, afraid that if he didn't, he would end up throwing them at the wall in frustration. Rubbing his face, he realised he was hungry and pulled his pack towards him.

"So, what exactly do I have with me? And more importantly, how much food?" After a check of his pockets and pack, he had found four PowerBars, two MREs, a precious bar of chocolate and a partially empty canteen of water. Okay, not much, but more than most people would carry with them offworld. He knew the others laughed at him for bringing so much food with him on missions, but who was laughing now? No one, actually. Not them, and certainly not him. He'd give anything to hear their voices right now - well, no, he wouldn't give his intellect, but almost anything else.

"I wish you were here now, to laugh at me. Except that would mean you were trapped too - but at least I wouldn't be alone! And why didn't I bring more food?" He sighed deeply. "Because I wasn't expecting to have to fend for myself, that's why! I'm no hunter - I don't even like camping! I'm no good at this wilderness survival stuff, that's Sheppard and Teyla's job! And I don't think a few nights offworld has taught me all that much! I can't survive on my own for weeks or months - or years! How long will it take for them to find a way to help me? Can they find a way? Radek's smart, but he's not me - I could die of old age before he works it out!"

Standing, he paced as he tried to organise his thoughts. He needed to think, not let the panic take over - tempting though that was.

"Okay, what now? Stay here and wait for them to send supplies through the barrier?" He quickly did the math. Even if Sheppard thought to put through some of Teyla's and his supplies before returning to the jumper, Rodney was still looking at a day, if not more, before he received them. And that was assuming the dart hadn't called for reinforcements, or beamed more Wraith down. He pushed the worry and fear that thought brought him firmly down.

"Waiting doesn't seem like a good idea," he told himself. "So, next option? Go and find fresh water, maybe even a McDonalds or Starbucks." He huffed. Like that was likely. "Okay, water first, I'll die without that sooner than without food. Well, unless I die of hypoglycaemia before thirst kills me! Could be a race between the two of them, actually, to see what I die of first. Of course, there could be people living in here. Not that I have a good track record with Pegasus natives, well, until they get to know me - and even then, they're likely to double-cross me for some religious nonsense or other," he said, thinking bitterly of Allina. "Still, maybe I can trade engineering genius in exchange for food. Assuming they aren't advanced, of course. Though if there are, maybe they could tell me how to get out of here."

Weighing up his options, Rodney decided it was better to wait. He had some supplies and hopefully more would be coming soon. This decision lasted precisely fifty-two seconds. He hated inactivity and he could always come back here after a quick look round.

Reluctantly and with much trepidation, he shouldered his pack and checked his gun was secure in its holder, ready to be pulled at a moment's notice. He knew he should leave some sort of message in case they used the camera to see if he was here - something that could be clearly seen. Spying some pebbles scattered on the ground, he gathered them together and made a crude arrow pointing down the tunnel. Standing, he steeled himself to leave, pushing aside the scary thought that the cave might be home to this planet's equivalent of a bear or puma - or even worse, that it might be a sealed system. That really didn't bear thinking about. Really, it didn't. It was bad enough trying to distract his growing claustrophobia as it was.

Fortunately, the cave only had one tunnel that led outside - no side tunnels to get lost in, and, most importantly of all, no dead ends or nasty predators more than happy to eat him.

"Outside at last," he said, breathing a sigh of relief, though the joy at being out of the narrow tunnel without any problems was dinted by the worry about how he would survive. Looking around, he could see the start of a forest a few hundred metres below the cave exit. The slope down towards the valley looked fairly gentle - which would be good when he came back later to check for any supplies that may have been pushed through the barrier for him.

"There must be some sort of day and night cycle inside the time dilation field," he mused to himself. "As well as a climate, probably controlled in some way. Well, that's something good, as that means there is vegetation here and hopefully wildlife as well. Though preferably edible and harmless wildlife, rather than dangerous creatures wanting to eat me."

It was an amazing feat of engineering and design, and if it wasn't that he was stuck in here against his will, he would relish the opportunity to study the technology behind it. As it was, he was more concerned with finding an exit before studying it in detail.

"I hope the water and food here isn't poisonous. But it wouldn't be much of a refuge if there wasn't clean water and edible food available, would it?" he tried to convince himself. "Though how I'm supposed to work out what is safe to eat or not, I don't know - and the water purification tablets won't last for long."

Gloomily, he headed down into the forest. As he walked he found that in some areas the trees were clumped closely together and in others spread out, allowing him to feel the warmth from the sun. Here and there were clearings where grass and flowers grew. He hoped that the abundance of greenery meant that once he reached the valley bottom he would find a river there. His canteen needed refilling and as much as he wasn't looking forward to the taste the purification tablets gave the water, he'd use them until they ran out. After that, he'd just have to hope the Ancients had provided a safe water supply, or die of a water borne pathogen. Which would suck, big time.


He'd walked through the forest for a few hours...this place was a lot bigger than he'd realised and the valley floor further down than it had seemed. The climate was pleasant - not too cold - in fact warm enough for him to remove his jacket and tuck it into his backpack, though he replaced it with his tac vest. Well, he never knew when it might save his life. He stopped for a PowerBar and a mouthful of water - the canteen had maybe another couple of mouthfuls left, which meant he needed to find a stream or river soon - so he continued heading downwards.

Entering a natural clearing, he came to an abrupt halt, as did the big cat he'd disturbed. He hadn't seen it at first, its mottled fur camouflaging it in the long grass and making it look almost like a fallen log. It was about a metre in length and about half a metre in height - so not exactly a lion or a tiger, but still, it looked dangerous. The tufted ears and size reminded him of a bobcat. It was carrying a bird in its mouth, a recent kill by the looks of it, and it growled at him with ears laid back in a threatening manner.

"Nice kitty," he said nervously, his voice quiet so as to hopefully not invoke an attack. "Why don't you just go on your way? Take your food and, you know, just go. Not like I'm about to try to steal it from you. No, no, I don't think that would be a good idea. See, harmless human here, nothing for you to worry about..." he babbled nervously.

To his relief, the predator turned and ran, after delivering one more warning growl.

"Well, isn't that great," he muttered to himself as he slowed his breathing back down. "Predators! Just what I was hoping for - not! Oh crap, I hope they don't hunt in packs - one will be more than enough to handle if I'm attacked!"

Moving forward again - because really, what choice did he have? - he headed back towards the valley floor and the hope of water, but this time he took much more notice of his surroundings in case further cats were lurking nearby.

He really missed his teammates, especially Teyla who was pretty good at picking up on the presence of any predator way before it spotted them.


On to the next chapter...