"So what do we do when it wakes up?"

When he came to, Rodney's head was pounding. It felt like there was half the amount of room that there had been before the dart had scooped him and that Wraith up. Cadman had managed to push Carson out the way during the chase, but he'd been sucked up into the dart itself. Not the most pleasant experience that had ever happened to him, and he'd been through several unpleasant experiences.

"Stop it from escaping, give it a name, make sure it doesn't get round to doing any life-sucking."

And there was Sheppard's lazy drawl, laid back as usual. But wait, that almost sounded like they were talking about a Wraith. There was a Wraith in here with him? Were they insane?

"You make that sound so easy, you know?"

"So did you when you asked me to push that goddamn button!"

"I told you, there was a 50/50 chance that we could have got Rodney out of there. Now, we just have to deal with the consequences."

Rodney could have groaned. Radek, trust Radek to get things wrong somehow. Honestly, if he was still inside that dart the entire base would go to pieces without Rodney.

"You make that sound so easy. Now, you could probably make it a whole lot easier by getting back to what's left of that dart and finding a way to get McKay out of there!"

Hey wait, what? Rodney was right here, in front of them! Even Sheppard should be able to see that. The man had passed a MENSA test after all, no matter how Air-Force he tried to appear.

"I'm right here, if you haven't noticed," he snapped irritably, opening his eyes. That was odd, his voice sounded different. Deeper. Kind of croaky. Maybe it was a side effect of the dart. Oh, Carson was going to hear about this and no mistake. Sheppard and Radek jumped and turned round, Radek looking noticeably more fearful.

Sheppard walked closer to the bed, but his hands, Rodney noticed with some alarm, didn't leave the trigger of his P-90. "Well, this is different," he drawled. "Usually we get a bit of a colder greeting than that. Now, I think you need a name. How about Joe?"

Rodney really wasn't amused now. If this was one of Sheppard's hilarious jokes, he was actually going to make sure that there was no heating in the man's quarters for the next month, connection with the city be damned. It wasn't as if he was a Wraith. "That's hilarious, Sheppard," he said bitingly. "Really funny, though I think we're pretty clear that I don't need a name because I already have one. I know losing me in that dart must have come as a great shock, but there's no need to act like my absence gave you amnesia."

Sheppard blinked, then exchanged a glance with Radek, who was watching Rodney open-mouthed.

"Můj ty bože," said Radek faintly. "Rodney? That is you, isn't it?"

"Of course it's me, who else would it be?"

Sheppard and Radek exchanged another glance, Sheppard finally lowering his P-90, and wasn't that an improvement not having the dangerous weapon pointing at him?

"What?" he said, a little quieter. The looks the two men were giving him made him nervous. They were deathbed looks. The really bad situation looks. The Rodney Something Bad Has Happened And We Need A Miracle looks.

"Rodney," said Sheppard with an odd look on his face. "You might need to take a few deep breaths before you hear this. But there's something you really, really ought to know."