SO NEAR, SO FAR.
The Atlantis gate room was quiet, given that it was well after midnight and most of the city was soundly sleeping. Only one technician worked the control consoles, with the minimum security contingent of two heavily armed marines standing silent guard. Not that Rodney McKay saw any of this as he exited the wormhole behind Ronan and Teyla. He appeared to perform a clumsy pirouette as he came through the gate, so that he now stood facing the shimmering event horizon.
Rodney usually made a bee line straight to the lab, infirmary or shower, depending on what type of mission it had been. But now he just continued to stand there in front of the gate, and although he was drenched with sweat and feeling pretty damned uncomfortable, he wasn't going anywhere just yet. He was momentarily confused, trying to sort through what he thought he'd glimpsed from the corner of his eye as he entered the off world gate. He wiped the perspiration from his forehead with the back of his hand, dropped his pack to the floor and waited for the familiar flicker signaling an arrival; in this case, either the last person to leave the planet, or the MALP they'd sent through days ago to monitor weather conditions on M3X-141.
Or more appropriately, "Sauna Hell", as Rodney had come to call it over the course of the day. They'd timed the mission to coincide with the cooler morning hours but had found the planet uninhabited for a thousand good reasons … number one being the killer humidity; number two the killer wildlife; and number three the completely depleted, useless piece of crap ZPM.
"McKay. What are you doing?"
Rodney ignored Ronan's question, even as the big man moved closer to stand beside him. Sheppard had been slightly to McKay's right and only a step or two behind when Rodney had caught a flash of movement and a weird whooshing noise from Sheppard's position. He'd tried to turn around, but it was too late, Rodney was already being swallowed by the wormhole. In that last split second he may or may not have heard John utter a surprised grunt of pain as well. Rodney couldn't be sure.
Touching the radio in his ear, Rodney called, "Sheppard?"
Teyla's voice sounded somewhere behind him. "Rodney, is there a problem? Where is Colonel Sheppard?"
Rodney's concern was ratcheting up at lightning speed. Still no sign of John Sheppard coming through the gate, and no reply on the radio to say he was still on '141 either. He yelled over his shoulder at the gate technician, "You registering an incoming traveler?"
"No signal yet, sir."
The gate remained open, yet ominously still.
Then a crackle sounded in Rodney's ear, followed by the sound of rapid breathing. Sheppard panted, "Rodney, I'm in trouble here."
Big trouble, if the raw agony in Sheppard's voice was anything to go by.
"What's going on?" Rodney asked, but all he could hear was Sheppard's irregular breathing turning into a long, deep throated groan. Rodney immediately spun around and sprinted towards the control area. Once he was at the main console, he pushed the technician aside and began typing commands.
"Something's wrong. I've put Sheppard on open comm." Rodney moved to another keyboard and continued to work quickly. "And we should have MALP imagery … now."
Ronan and Teyla had not been not far behind, and they now moved closer to the computer screen. The camera was pointed away from the gate, so the only thing to be seen was a wall of rainforest vegetation, but they could all hear the sound of Sheppard's ragged breathing as the control room speakers came to life. Rodney paused for a second, swallowed the lump in his throat, then focused on repositioning the MALP.
Teyla said, "John, can you hear me? Can you tell us what is happening?"
Sheppard answered almost immediately, his voice low, words clipped. "Triggered the mother of all booby traps. Can't get . . ." The sentence finished on a rush of expelled air, as if whatever measure of control Sheppard had summoned to speak had suddenly evaporated.
"You can't get through the gate, John?" Teyla asked urgently.
As Rodney turned the MALP in a tight semi-circle, vision of a straight row of metal spikes jutting up from the gate platform appeared on screen, standing about half a meter high and spaced closely together. The pointed tips looked brutally sharp. As the MALP spun a little further, Sheppard came into view. His upper body was leaning forward, his head was down, and one arm was stretched out to the side, supporting his weight against the lower curve of the stargate. Sheppard's left leg was angled behind him, while the other leg was twisted awkwardly at the knee. Something was very wrong with the position of that front leg…
Rodney realised what he was looking at. His throat incredibly tight, he heard himself saying, "Oh … God."
A bloodied spike protruded from Sheppard's right leg. Rodney forced himself to look closer. It had entered through the back of John's knee, then up and out his lower thigh.
Ronan was immediately in motion, heading back towards the gate. "Shut it down. I'm going through."
On screen, Sheppard turned his head, looked straight at the camera and shouted, "No! Keep the gate open!" With the order given, he bit down on his bottom lip and screwed his eyes shut. Sheppard's face, already pale from shock, drained of all color. The arm he was using to brace himself with began to tremble against the gate.
Teyla spoke before Rodney could begin to explain the situation he'd only just come to fully comprehend himself.
"Colonel Sheppard cannot move away from the gate, Ronon. There is no way he could avoid the new wormhole forming if we should try to go through to help."
Yep, Rodney thought. That about summed it up. And then came another thought, that if he'd opened his mouth just then there was absolutely no way he could have said those words so calmly. And he wouldn't have said those words anyway. More likely he would have come out with something like, Sheppard is the proverbial deer in the headlights, Conan. Kawoosh equals obliterated colonel, get it?
Rodney scrubbed his face with his hands, then pointed at the marine closest to him. "You and your buddy go get Weir and Beckett. Tell them I'll explain everything when they get here."