Big Cat Diary

by WriterJC

Sometimes things go wrong right out of the gate. Team Angst, written for SGA Genficathon.

Title: BIG CAT DIARY
Author: Writerjc
Genre: Angst
Prompt: The Circle of Life
Word Count: ~17,800
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: Some days, bad things happen pretty much right out of the gate.

Notes: Borrows a couple of elements from Conversion & The Gift. Everything up through Search & Rescue is fair game, spoiler-wise. Season Five Casting, with Carson and a bit 'o Lorne.

Lt. Colonel John Sheppard waited out the automated control system as it maneuvered Jumper One from the docking bay and into rippling blue of the event horizon. He had long since adjusted to the brief moment of disorientation that happened when the Atlantis systems released and the ship emerged on a new world. He even looked forward to it, because in that moment, the joy of flight became personally his.

MX7-489 was different.

Something big and dark, resembling mostly claws and teeth thumped hard against the front right windshield, sending his heart leaping in his chest.

"Oh crap!" Rodney cried and stumbled backward from his seat. He was half over the central console before whatever it was finally slid down the side of the hull with a muted scrape. If it wasn't for the inertial dampeners, Rodney would have been flung into the rear compartment when the jumper shot skyward in instant response to John's fight-or-flight reflex.

"What the hell?" The HUD appeared across the screen, revealing a dozen or so life signs moving in front of the still active gate. John threw a glance up at Rodney who was still half-standing over the console, looking bewildered. "Everybody okay?" he asked, encompassing Ronon and Teyla in the query.

"I am fine," Teyla replied.

"I'm good." From Ronon.

"Just great." Rodney's response was slightly longer in coming. "Except for the ten years I'm now missing off of my life." He moved shakily back into the co-pilot seat.

John studied him a few more seconds, and then sent the jumper back toward the surface. At the rate they were gaining altitude, they'd have broken atmosphere soon. He looked over his shoulder to give Ronon and Teyla a once over, then turned back to Rodney. "I thought you said this world was uninhabited."

"Do you seriously think I wouldn't tell you about something like that?" Rodney pointed vaguely toward the HUD. "The MALP reconnaissance didn't show any evidence of habitation, and the video feed wasn't . . . ." He stopped and gaped out of the view screen as the jumper drew to within visual range of the gate. "Are those . . . ?"

"Yeah, I'd say they're cats. Big creepy ones." John stared at the pack of pale gray panther-like creatures moving around near where a DHD would have been if this world had one. A couple of animals had black streaking along their backs as well.

"None of them look injured," Teyla said. "Perhaps they were simply curious when the jumper arrived. It does not appear as if this world receives many visitors."

"Don't you mean snacks?" Rodney murmured as he worked at the console.

"I think it was the big one." Ronon leaned forward from the rear seat and pointed to one of the bulkier beasts. Its color was different than the others, more the shade of dark coffee with a shot of cream. And it wasn't busy rough-housing, or whatever the others were doing. It was staring right at the jumper like it had serious issues with the flying Winnebago inhabiting its world's airspace.

"Well, despite his best efforts, he didn't do any damage." Rodney looked up from his readings. "All systems are green. Considering the material the jumper is made of and the fact we're dealing with cats, albeit scary big ugly cats, I'm going to go out on a limb and say the hull is probably fine, too."

"Can't say that for the MALP." John gestured toward something that looked suspiciously like one of the MALP's tires that was trapped half under the tangle of animals. It joined other bits of technology that he was beginning to recognize in front of the gate. That explained the absence of a video signal when they'd dialed out this time.

"Great," Rodney grumbled. "MALP parts don't exactly grow on trees. And I can promise you I won't be the one documenting all the missing pieces for Woolsey's report since I'm not the one who broke it."

"I doubt Scar and his buddies are gonna be willing to do your paperwork," John replied. His attention was drawn back to the larger cat that had yet to stop – he hated to say it - glaring at him. He double checked the ship's hover, making sure he stayed high enough to prevent anything from leaping at it, but low enough to take in the scene.

"Could just stun 'em." Ronon suggested. John just loved the simplicity of the big guy's plans.

"Or," Rodney argued, "We could extend the jumper's shield to include the MALP, and then bring it on board. No need to risk being mauled."

"That could work," Ronon agreed. "After I stun 'em."

"I'm sure you'll get a chance to stun something eventually," John told Ronon. "For now, why don't we just go find out why this world is so special that some Ancient wrote about it in his diary?"

"It wasn't a diary, it was a journal fragment. Zelenka and I found it when we were sorting through some water damaged PSDs. We actually hit pay dirt on a couple of them."

John nodded and focused on getting the jumper back to flying altitude. He'd heard this all before – more than once. Directly ahead tall golden grasses flowed in the breeze before trailing away at the edge of a river. Just because he liked the water, John set them off in the direction that took them upstream.

"What's a PSD?" asked Ronon.

"It stands for personal storage device." McKay emphasized the words with such pride, John was sure he'd come up with the name himself.

"AKA Diary," he threw in, just to keep things stirred.

"Journal." Rodney insisted.

"Are not journal and diary used interchangeably?" Teyla put in. "I believe they are referred to as synonyms?"

John covered his chuckle with a cough, and manually made an adjustment that he could have easily made mentally.

Rodney shot him a suspicious glare before correcting Teyla. "Diaries are usually personal, while journals are scientific documents which detail experiments, daily logs, technical musings and what-not."

"Ah, I see." Teyla was reeling him in. "Since this gate address does not appear in the database or in any other documents found within Atlantis, perhaps the journal is indeed a diary."

"She makes an excellent point," John was the voice of sincerity; waiting for Rodney to make the 'diaries are only written by teenage girls argument' he'd tried earlier when a flashing indicator appeared in the bottom corner of the HUD.

"Hmmm . . . that's interesting." Rodney latched on to the oddity, obviously ready to change the subject. He touched a control and the indicator expanded to a smaller display inset into the larger image. Technical specifications scrolled alongside a diagram that resembled a gray cliff face rising out of the grassy meadow.

"I'm getting energy readings." Rodney tapped some commands into his computer. He took a moment to plug something into a port at the side of the console and continued.

"What kind of readings?" John wanted to know. He thought he recognized some of the symbols that were scrolling down the screen. One in particular reminded him of some of the readings from Atlantis itself.

"Maybe Ancient." Rodney confirmed his suspicion. "They're building. It's like something is booting up, sort of like an Ancient facility that's been in sleep mode for ten thousand years."

The excitement was contagious. John pushed the jumper a little faster toward the signal which for the time being seemed to follow the path of the river. The waterway broadened and lead to a series of smaller waterfalls which preceded a larger fall in the distance. To one side of the larger fall was a rock face that looked very much like the image that was displayed on the HUD. He figured Pride Rock was fitting enough name considering Scar back at the gate.

He followed the signal around Pride Rock where it sloped along a gentle decline into a field of more golden grasses. Sitting amid the field was a gray stone castle, complete with turrets and a moat.

"That's . . . different."

John circled the castle several times before he descended toward an area that bore a striking resemblance to the docking ports within the Atlantis jumper bay. The area was at a level lower than the roof and overlooked a large grassy courtyard at the castle center.

While John and Rodney argued about 'backing in versus pulling in' Teyla looked up through the view screen at the deep gray walls which rose high around them. Moss and vines had covered much of the surfaces on the outer walls of the building, but the sections which faced the inner courtyard were completely clear, as if someone was caring for them.

"Are you detecting any life signs, Rodney?" The softly spoken question interrupted whatever response the physicist was going to make to John's argument about manual jumper docking techniques.

"Huh? Oh, uh, no. Still all clear. Why? Do you sense something?"

Teyla noticed that John quickly landed the jumper with the ramp toward the building. "No. It is just that this part of the building seems different."

"Different how?" John turned the pilot's seat in her direction, having already darkened the flight controls.

"The stone here is not the same as that on the outside of building. It looks smoother. I do not believe it is the same material."

"It isn't the same." Rodney confirmed as he focused on the data display on his tablet. "I'm reading a pretty high naquadah content in the surrounding stone, and several other readings that suggest these rocks weren't just hewn from a quarry, but were manufactured to precise specifications." He looked toward John. "Do you know what this means?"

"That we should definitely check it out." There was a soft hiss as the rear hatch began to lower.

"Well, yes, of course." Rodney scrambled to unplug his equipment from the console and followed. "But more than that, whatever this place was used for, it required a lot of power. And by a lot I mean . . . well, a lot lot. Naquadah is most especially useful for –."

"Really?" John turned toward Rodney. "ZPM, a lot?"

Teyla had seen this dance between them before. She had also learned many things about technology and power requirements in the time she had spent with the expedition. This was a very important find.

Rodney made a sound that was neither yes nor no, and John responded with, "Come on, McKay, I need to know what we're dealing with here."

"Well, I'm not sure, yet. Maybe? I can't exactly write the wiki on it standing out here."

"Looks empty." Ronon moved several steps away from the jumper and scanned their surroundings. Though the walls were clear of vines, the walkway was covered with bits of grass seed and other debris.

"Still no life signs," Rodney confirmed. "The energy readings seem to have leveled off, though. Whatever was coming online appears to be done." He pointed farther along the stone walkway. "They're coming from that way."

Rodney pointed toward a high arched entrance. Carved symbols adorned the curved portion of the arch. Teyla's gaze lingered on them, searching for a meaning in the seemingly abstract shapes.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's check it out." John cloaked the jumper and stepped toward the arch followed by Rodney. Teyla fell in ahead of Ronon.

The sun's warmth had shown down upon them while they'd stood out nearer the jumper, but the air cooled by several degrees once they moved into the dimmer space within the shadow of the building.

Teyla remained focused on the arch as she passed below it, intrigued by the intricate patterns that continued underneath.

Something happened on the other side.

The temperature plummeted, stealing her breath. She was awash in a wave of ice. It was sharp, immediately painful and then it was gone. A gasp escaped.

"You okay?" Ronon was suddenly standing alongside her.

She looked up into his concerned features, not remembering when she had stepped completely into the room.

"Teyla?" John and Rodney were there on her other side.

She looked between her three teammates. "I am sorry. I suddenly felt as if . . . ." She couldn't find the words to adequately describe the rapidly fading memory.

"All twitchy?" John asked.

"Like you'd been scanned?" Rodney's tone suggested a deliberate clarification of John's description. "We all were. I think it may have sensed our ATA genes because it's already started turning on lights and opening windows."

Teyla looked around, surprised to find that roof which had appeared so solid during the flyover contained sky lights much like those within some areas of Atlantis. Smaller sconces were set in the walls illuminating some of the darker areas of the large room. It unsettled her to know that she did not remember those changes taking place.

"You going to be all right?" John's concerned gaze was intent. She knew that with a word from her they would return immediately to Atlantis.

She offered a small smile. "I will be fine."

"Good." He looked over at Rodney. "Where to?"

Rodney gave her a momentarily worried look, before turning back to his tablet. "This way," he gestured toward one of the dimmer sections on the far side of the foyer.

John didn't like the way Teyla looked. She kept up and was pulling her weight while they followed Rodney through a maze of abandoned stone rooms and winding corridors in search of the mysterious energy source, but there was a little frown between her brows that suggested pain.

He moved in closer. "Teyla?"

She glanced briefly in his direction. "It is just a headache."

"How long've you had it?" Teyla didn't usually complain of headaches. And she never got sick. Probably one of the backward benefits of having Wraith DNA.

She looked uncomfortable. "Since we entered this building."

John studied her for a moment, then, "We should probably head back. This energy source has been here this long; it'll still be here tomorrow."

"No, John. I'm fine. It will pass. We should continue. You would not let something as simple as a headache cause you to abort a mission." She did have him there, but this was different.

"Sheppard! I've found something!" McKay announced from farther ahead.

Teyla raised a brow and gestured that he go ahead of her.

"All right. We'll keep going, but you let me know if anything changes, okay?"

She nodded and smiled. "I will. Thank you, John."

John made a face and moved forward in the direction of McKay's voice. What he found ahead of them was a dead end. A blank stone wall.

"What is this McKay?"

"It's where the signals are all coming from. There is something on the other side of this wall. We just have to figure out how to get inside . . . and I don't mean a method that involves his blaster," Rodney added in Ronon's direction.

Ronon shrugged in response.

"Well, are there any control panels out here or anything?"

"Right. I didn't think of that." Rodney rolled his eyes. "Of course, there aren't any control panels. It's a stone wall."

John looked at the entire surface, scanning up and at the ceiling. It really did look like a plain stone wall. But this place was built by Ancients. They were masters at hiding things in plain sight with technology. What was here that they couldn't see?

He took several steps back from the wall and imagined that he was trying to get to the other side. What sort of items allowed entry? He thought at it "open". He felt along its rough surface, and still found nothing. Okay.

"Could it be cloaked in some manner?" Teyla asked.

"Good point." John looked at Rodney.

"I'm throwing everything I've got it at right now, and I'm getting nothing."

"Alright." It was a long shot, but what the heck? John fished the jumper remote from a pocket and pressed the Ancient symbol that usually de-cloaked the small craft. The wall remained the same.

"Do that again." Ronon stood straight from where he'd been slouched against the corridor wall.

"What?" John turned to look at him, not sure what the big guy meant.

"When you pushed the button, something changed on the floor behind you."

John took several steps back, and then pushed again. The floor lit up in a dim four by four grid. Each cell was about a foot square and contained what looked like a random assortment of faintly illuminated dots. The symbols remained lit while he held the button down. "Well, I'll be damned."

"What does it mean?" Ronon asked as they all gathered around the grid.

"Well, they're not Ancient characters," Rodney mused, then lit up in a Eureka moment. "They're gate symbols! Stand back." Rodney shoved in front of the rest of the team and performed one of the scariest hop scotch moves John had ever seen. But four jumps in and he knew where Rodney was going.

"It's Earth!" He announced for Ronon and Teyla's benefit. "What's the best secret code for a secret Ancient lab? The ATA gene, a jumper remote and the gate address for Earth. The Wraith or anyone else not Ancient would ever figure that out."

"We figured it out," Ronon reminded him.

"That's because we worked it out as a team."

"And, because I'm a genius." Rodney made the last jump and bequeathed them all with a smug grin as the stone wall dissolved.

John barely got a chance for a sarcastic rejoinder before he heard a sigh from Teyla. Her legs seemed to go out from beneath her. He just managed to catch her before she hit the hard stone floor.

"Oh crap! That's not good!"

"No, it isn't." John agreed with gritted teeth. He eased Teyla to the floor, checking to ensure she had no obvious injuries. Heat radiated off of her and her nostrils seemed to flair as she breathed heavily. He readjusted his P-90 and moved to lift her.

"I'll get her," Ronon stepped in and took over, scooping her up as if she weighed nothing. She was limp in his arms, completely out. John couldn't understand how a headache could change so quickly into total collapse.

"Let's get out of here." He took point as they headed back the way they'd come. He moved fast through the corridors, allowing Rodney to tell him where to turn for the shortest route. After what seemed like far too long, they came out of the corridors into the large atrium.

He cut a path across the middle of the room and headed for the arch. Already he was running through what he'd do once he had the jumper in the air. First thing, was to get to the gate and dial Atlantis so they could have a med-team ready. Hopefully, Scar and his band of creepy cats weren't going to be a problem, otherwise a few of them might become casualties of the Atlantis gate shield.

He thought the jumper into preflight as he cleared the arch, and hit the remote to de-cloak the ship. A blur of sound and motion slammed into him from the left. The jumper remote flew from his fingers and he went down hard against the rough stone walkway.

He managed to roll onto his back just before the blur pinned him. Scar was much larger up close and personal. And heavy. Just when John was sure that any oxygen that might have once inhabited his lungs was going to be crushed into the stone with the rest of him, the big cat bore down, and locked an insane mix-matched stare on him. One eye was clear crystal green, the other blue. There was no room for movement. Looking away seemed like a bad idea.

Big kitty bared its teeth, emitting a low rumbling growl and copious amounts of hot slobbering cat breath. Something sharp pierced the tender flesh along his right side. He would have cried out if he'd had the breath.

The distant-sounding pop of gunfire erupted and Scar shifted, rearing back his head and bellowing out a deafening roar. It was enough. John seized the moment and managed to drag out his knife and bury it to the hilt somewhere in the animal's underbelly. It sprang backward in reaction, before it was caught by the red light of Ronon's blaster.

John saw him going down, and then nothing as the big animal landed on top of him. The world faded back into view and resolved into the face of Rodney McKay.

"You alright?" Rodney looked worried, but not worried like he'd been waiting a long time for an answer. But then, John figured he was probably distracted by the really large cat carcass that was covering him from the chin down.

"I will be," he wheezed. "Provided you can get your pet friend off of me. How's Teyla?"

"Still unconscious." Ronon appeared over McKay's shoulder. "She's in the jumper." The big guy wasted no time in hefting the dead weight of the stunned cat away.

John drew himself to his feet and tried to ignore the complaints various parts of his body were lodging. There were definitely going to be bruises. "We need to get out of here before he wakes up or any of his buds decide to put in an appearance."

"She." Ronon replied.

"He's not dead?" Rodney looked appalled. Then did a double take in Ronon's direction. "She? When did you have time to look?"

"While you were standing there watching me move her."

Off Rodney's look, John said. "Don't look at me. All I could see were teeth."

John dropped into the pilot's seat and winced, remembering a second too late that some parts of his body were more than just bruised. He ran a hand around his side and was surprised to feel a rough torn area where his vest had been penetrated. A reddish smear was visible on his fingers.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing." John looked up sharply as Rodney settled in the other seat. "Just a scratch." He wiped his hand surreptitiously against his pant leg and focused on urging the jumper to go faster.

Luck was with them. They reached the gate to discover that Scar's pals were no where to be seen. The HUD wasn't picking up anything either. John filed the mystery away for another day, although the shiny MALP pieces leading in the direction of the stream were probably a clue.

Rodney didn't even whimper over the MALP graveyard, just resolutely punched in the address for Atlantis and called in the medical emergency. They cleared the event horizon and rose to the jumper bay above. Keller was waiting for them.

"What happened?" She was speaking as soon as the rear hatch began to lower. Two orderlies and a gurney were arrayed behind her. Off to the side was Richard Woolsey, his jaw set in the usual grim lines.

Ronon headed down the ramp first and placed Teyla on the waiting gurney. John followed, making sure to speak up for Woolsey's benefit. Maybe he could manage to avoid getting stuck in debrief while the rest of his team was in the infirmary.

"We found some kind of Ancient facility .It scanned all of us, and made Teyla feel funny. She said she had a headache – not that bad. She seemed fine. Then a few minutes later, she just collapsed."

Keller had been busy looking beneath Teyla's eyelids and listening with her stethoscope when John spoke. She didn't even spare him a look when she finished, but turned instead toward the two orderlies. "She seems stable, but we need to get her moving."

"Colonel?" She turned back to John. "And you, too," she indicated Ronon and Rodney. "Let's walk and talk. Can you think of anything else that might have affected her? Are any of you experiencing symptoms? Any data on the kind of scan she was subjected to?"

John took a step back and let Rodney answer that one. Woolsey was lingering along the periphery; John figured he wanted to say something. "Keep me appraised," was all he said before he turned and left. John nodded and rejoined the group.

"It was your typical Ancient scan," Rodney was saying. "But I should have some captured data. I'll go through it and check for anything out of the ordinary."

"I didn't feel anything," Ronon volunteered.

"You're not supposed to feel anything. Scans are painless." That from Rodney.

"Teyla felt weird and Sheppard said he felt twitchy."

The twin thoughtful gazes of Keller and Rodney locked on him, and John's first instinct was to run. "I . . . it was nothing. Just a brief . . . thing. I'm fine."

"He got attacked by a ginormous cat." Rodney outted him without flinching.

John pinned him with a glare. "Well, yeah, there were these cats, too. But I stabbed it with my knife and Ronon shot it before it could do any real damage. So, I'm good."

"What's that?" Keller pointed to one of his hands.

John looked at the offending appendage and noted a smear of dried blood along the side of his index finger and down to his thumb. He wiped it roughly along the side of his pants. "Okay, there may be a scratch, but most of that belongs to the cat. Teyla is the one who is unconscious and needs help. I can wait."

"Maybe for now. We don't know what's affecting Teyla and all of you could have been exposed. So, you're all getting complete work ups and you're restricted to sick bay until I get all of the blood work back."

"Restricted?" The word left Rodney's mouth more as a whine than a question. "Not that I'm not concerned about Teyla, but couldn't it just be that she and Kanaan . . . ."

John shot Rodney a reprimanding look, but he was wondering the same thing. Maybe even hoping. He hadn't gone millennia backward and forward in time, gotten skewered beneath a booby trapped hide out and taken on Michael and his hybrids just to lose her now.

Keller didn't answer. "We're here. Find yourselves a bed and park it. Someone will be in to see you in a few."

"You think she's going to be okay?" McKay's voice had a bit of pleading in it. "Teyla's never sick."

"She'll be fine," Ronon barked gruffly and stalked off to the nearest examination area.

"What Ronon said." John jerked his head toward the other open space. Rodney didn't look reassured, but he went into the curtained area anyway, leaving John to go into the remaining examination cubicle.

John tracked the progress of the day's phlebotomist as she went first to Rodney's cubicle, which included lots of complaining, then to Ronon's which was largely silent. He was beginning to wonder if he should step in when finally the curtain to his area opened.

"You the vampire?" he asked as she settled her tools on a nearby table.

"That's what they tell me," she replied with wink. "But don't worry, they also tell me I've got magic fingers."

"Really?" John raised a brow, not sure how he wanted to respond to that opening. He didn't know much of the nurse's history, but he did know she was married to one of the marines who everyone called 'the cleaner'.

"Oh absolutely." She pulled on a fresh pair of gloves and readied the syringe. "As long as you remain still, you won't feel a thing."

He extended a bare forearm. "I'm going to hold you to that." He watched as she inserted the needed, then, "Any word on Teyla?"

She shook her head. "No, not yet. But I did notice that Doctor Keller was finishing up her examination before I came in here."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, Colonel." She gathered her tools and reached for a bundle alongside the tray. "These are for you."

John looked at the proffered folded green cloth. Scrubs. "What are those for?" He knew, but a guy could hope.

"Dr. Keller asked that I bring them. You're to get changed before your examination."

John took them, but he wasn't happy about it. "Rodney and Ronon didn't get scrubs. Why am I so special?"

"Because a little birdie told me that you needed a little extra care," a voice sounded as the curtain opened again and Keller stepped through. "Thanks Lucinda, I'll take it from here."

The nurse shrugged in John's direction and left.

Keller turned back to him. "Now, I can come back after you've slipped into those, or you can tell me right now where you're injured."

John sighed and began to peel out of the tac vest. "It was Rodney wasn't it?" It wasn't like he'd been hiding it. And he really had intended to tell her after Teyla was taken care of.

"Nope. It wasn't Rodney." She grinned at him.

"Ronon? Really?" He didn't think Ronon had noticed. Either he was getting sloppy or they just knew him too well.

Keller didn't confirm or deny. "Well?"

"It's really not much more than a scratch." Although, the holes in the vest did look a lot bigger once he'd taken it off.

"Umm hmm," Keller slipped on a pair of gloves and busied herself with the equipment stored in one of the drawers while he continued to disrobe.

"So, anything on Teyla?" he asked as he worked on the buttons of his shirt. It had holes matching those on the vest. The black t-shirt was a little more problematic.

"Nothing just yet. We're waiting on test results. Once we're done here, you can go see her."

John was all for getting this over with quickly. He pulled the t-shirt over his head, prepared for the wound to pull with the movement. What he wasn't ready for was the fact that the cotton had stuck in several places and took some scabbing skin with it. He was too late to stop the soft cry of pain.

"These are the kinds of things I need to know about, Colonel." Keller didn't sound too happy.

"It's just a scratch . . . ." It was hard to get a good look at the three uneven gouges under his arm, along the side of his ribcage. But the heavy darkened bruising which covered most of his torso was not. When the hell had that happened?

"What took you so long?" Rodney rose from his seat when John entered Teyla's room.

John shared a look with Ronon, who stood slouched against the wall across from the bed. The big guy was unrepentant about turning him in to Keller, and John couldn't argue his methods. It had been the right thing to do.

"She doesn't look so good." Rodney stated the obvious when John moved closer to the bed.

The IV and heart monitor he had half-expected. The washed out pallor of her skin and the oddly slow beeping of the heart monitor was another thing entirely. She looked far worse than she had when she'd initially been brought in. Whatever was happening was happening fast.

"Keller will figure out something." That was the best he could do as far as words of encouragement went. "Or maybe you'll find something in the data you collected back on the planet."

"What do you think I've been working on?" Rodney settled back into one of the chairs on the opposite side of the bed and held up his tablet.

Teyla's brow was furrowed like she was in pain. He chewed at his lip, wondering what he could do to make things better for her.

"Anything yet?" He tossed in Rodney's direction.

"Give me time! There is a lot of pretty dense data here!"

"You're a genius, right? So how much longer before you'll know?"

"Does Teyla look different?" Ronon cut in, moving in closer toward the foot of the bed.

"You mean aside from looking like she's gone twelve rounds with the flu?"

"She is pretty pale, and kind of swollen looking." John had to agree with Rodney. She looked like she had a twenty-four hour bug from hell, and then some. Even her hands were different somehow. His gaze snared on her finger nails. They were long. Teyla never allowed her nails to grow long. Never mind that long nails weren't conducive to teaching defense classes.

"Her chest . . . area looks bigger." Rodney gestured as only he could.

"Hey! What are you looking at me like that for?! Look at her."

John just continued to glare at him. He might have taught the man to fly a jumper, but he was not going to have a breast feeding conversation with him. He just wasn't.

"He's right." Ronon blew John's mind by agreeing with Rodney.

"See! She wasn't like that when we left this morning."

"How do you know - were you checking?"

"No . . . . Look at her! Her feet are different, too. And her nose. Teyla has a button nose, and these tiny feet . . . ." Rodney trailed off at the looks he was getting. "She does. They look different under the covers."

"I am not looking at her feet."

The heart monitor suddenly changed cadence, picking up speed. "I think she's waking up." John moved in closer, relieved to not have to follow up on a conversation about Teyla's attributes. She would not appreciate it, especially if she happened to remember it when she woke up.

She gasped and her eyes flew wide. In the next moment, a sharp stabbing pain pierced John's left forearm. The long fingernails were buried unnaturally deep into his forearm. Red began to well around the edges.

Reflexes took over and John tried to move, but her grip only tightened effectively pinning him to the spot. He met Teyla's wide, horror-filled gaze and struggled for calm in an ocean of what the heck? The heart monitor's electronic equivalent of screaming was not helping.

He blocked it out. He blocked the pain, the noise and Rodney's panic laced calls for Keller and even Ronon. He blocked it all and focused his attention completely on Teyla.

"I need you to let go." The words were whispered, but he spoke them with every ounce of his being. He could tell that they were registering because something changed in her eyes.

Tears welled and spilled over as she looked downward and saw the red streaks flowing across his exposed skin.

"Teyla . . . ." The pain was catching up to him, making the whisper shaky around the edges. "Please."

She blinked then and her fingernails pulled out of his skin. Then a darker, longer, sharper set of nails came out and retracted to someplace beneath her normal nails leaving droplets of blood, his blood, to ooze around her cuticles. They were both left staring in worried awe at her otherwise normal looking hand.

The other sounds rushed back then and the room came alive with noise and movement. He backed a step away from the bed, clutching a shaking hand around his profusely bleeding arm. He barely noticed the droplets that pattered to the floor.

Rodney's back hurt; he probably shouldn't be stooped over like this. But what choice did he have, really? He was stuck in sickbay, which was always uncomfortably cool, and not allowed to adjust the temperature controls. The chairs were ridiculously uncomfortable. And Teyla was turning into Wolverine, minus the super healing powers.

"Find anything yet?"

Rodney drew himself out of his examination of the data stream and glared up at Ronon. "What? Because Sheppard isn't here right now, you think you can take his place?"

"It works doesn't it?"

"What? How can I possibly concentrate with someone constantly asking me questions?" Seriously, you didn't need a high IQ to understand that. He looked back down at his screen and typed in another command. Suddenly the lines of code changed, sending a rush of adrenaline straight to his brain as it all begin to make sense.

He shot to his feet. "Sheppard! Jennifer! I've found something." He yelled as he went, moving from the waiting area into the central infirmary lab. There were several unnecessary pieces of equipment plugged into the larger Ancient monitor. He pulled out one of the connections and plugged in his tablet to the sound of approaching footsteps.

"What is it, Rodney?" John and Jennifer appeared from opposite entrances, but both spoke the same question at the same time. He was sure there was a joke in there somewhere, but there wasn't the time.

A nurse appeared behind Sheppard, chasing the roll of gauze that was hanging off his forearm. John just grabbed the gauze and held it in place, freezing the nurse with a look. Jennifer nodded the nurse off, and turned back toward him.

"We're here. What's going on, Rodney?" John said.

Rodney looked between the two of them, then, "There was something in the scan itself." He tapped a command that transferred the pertinent file to the larger monitor. Columns of coded data began to run down the screen in a tangle of rapidly changing symbols.

"Something like what?" Jennifer moved in closer to examine the two columns.

Rodney didn't expect her to understand them because he didn't, not entirely. Hardly at all, really. "These two columns are the readings that showed shortly after the scan activated. But keep watching what happens."

The signals increased from two columns to multiple columns containing even more complex symbols and Ancient numerical codes until the screen was so full it was practically a blur. "This is running at real time speed." Seconds passed, and the many columns decreased to eight, then five and then back to the two before stopping altogether.

He looked at them all expectantly. John and Jennifer looked right back. Ronon just looked angry.

"I'm not sure what you're getting at," Jennifer said.

Rodney sighed. Hadn't he told them the data was at real time speed? "It only took half a second, tops for all of us to walk under that arch. But according to this data we were all under for at least 20 seconds. That's longer than gate travel! And one of us, probably Teyla, was under even longer."

Sheppard was getting that look that meant he'd better start making sense and fast. "So you're saying . . . what, exactly."

"Time, Colonel. We lost time under that scanner and we weren't aware of it. And that's because we weren't just scanned, we were demolecularized, held in some kind of buffer and rematerialized on the other side of the arch."

"Okay," John nodded. "And this is bad." It was a statement that sounded a lot like a question.

"This is very bad because a least one of the patterns rematerialized differently that the way it dematerialized."

"At least one?" Jennifer latched on to that part of his sentence.

"There's no way to tell who was who. The system doesn't work that way, besides what the scanner did is far too complex. I'd have to go back to MX7-489. Hopefully, we can find the control systems behind that scanner. If I can dig into the buffer code I can probably learn more."

"That all makes sense, considering what I've found." Jennifer looked sad as she pressed a command that brought something else up on the monitor.

Rodney's adrenaline rush plummeted at her tone. Of course he'd been right, that was no surprise, but Jennifer looked more like he'd confirmed her fears.

"What have you found?" Sheppard asked the question Rodney wasn't sure he wanted to voice.

"I wasn't really sure, yet, and I'd only had a little while to study the data from before . . . ," she gestured at the sloppy bandage that Sheppard was still holding over his arm. "Whatever it is, it's happening fast. At first blush, it seemed similar to what Michael did to his hybrids."

"This was Michael's doing?" Ronon barked the words out.

"No – I don't think so. This is much more advanced than anything we've seen from Michael. Something is methodically altering Teyla's Wraith DNA. It makes sense that it could have been done while you were in the scanner."

"Altering how?"

"It's . . . changing her physically and I'm leaning toward mentally as well. The retractable claws you saw, for one. We found traces of a pheromone beneath her nail beds that appears to have psychotropic properties."

"She has mind altering chemicals under her fingernails?" Rodney looked toward Sheppard. Sheppard glared right back at him.

"My mind is not altered, McKay."

"We're still running both sets of your blood work, Colonel," Jennifer said, then added quickly, "Not that I'm disagreeing with you."

John made a face. "What else?"

Jennifer looked uncomfortable and typed a command that deactivated Rodney's computer connection and called up another. It was very obviously a brain scan. "The speech center of her brain appears to have been purposefully deactivated. She has lost the ability speak, and since she's been moved to isolation, there have been other changes."

"Like what?" Ronon asked the question.

"Well, her hands. They've completely changed, now." She pushed another button on the screen that Rodney recognized as the camera feed from isolation room three. "This is what they look like now. They're more like . . . paws." The hands that were locked into restraints looked as if they belonged to Scar.

Stunned silence fell over the room. Jennifer gave them a moment. She'd known about these new changes for longer than they had, but still she was unsettled.

"Doc, is this reversible?" Colonel Sheppard was the first one to speak. He would be the one who would take it the hardest, he always was. And he never stopped fighting for his people.

"It's happening so fast, and I don't even understand how it was done in the first place. Genetics isn't exactly my field of expertise." She didn't want to give him any false hopes. "Doctor Kozlov is going through some of data now."

"But is it undoable?" Sheppard repeated the question that she hadn't really answered.

She shrugged. "If it can be done, chances are it can be undone. The problem is where does the point of return lie and what are the consequences of reverting."

Sheppard nodded like that was the answer he'd expected. "Then, I'm with Rodney. We need to go back, and we need to go back now."

"No." Of that she was sure.

"Why not? Didn't you just say that we could be on the clock?" Sheppard was pinning her with one of those looks. Well, this one, he wouldn't win. There was much too much at stake.

"We are on the clock, Colonel. But we need to get your blood work completed, and make sure the three of you aren't compromised. We need more than guesswork to confirm that this thing only targets Wraith DNA. It won't do Teyla or anyone else any good if we all run over there and find ourselves mutating into something else."

Sheppard chewed at his lip and nodded. "Fair enough."

She decided to push a little farther since she had his attention. But she spoke with a softer tone. "I need for the three of you stick around until those results come back. And as for you Colonel, you're going to let Shelby finish up your arm. I'm going to go check on some reinforcements."

She woke suddenly. The remnants of a nightmare fluttered on the edge of her subconscious. Too far away to grab hold of, but close enough to feel frighteningly real. The pounding of her heart reverberated in her ears, much too loud.

Other noises intruded. Frantic beeps assaulted sharply attuned senses. Familiar, yet foreign machinery was all around, blocking her in. She struggled, wanting only to cover her ears, but she was strapped down, bonds holding her arms fast against bed rails. She wanted to make a fist, to pull and tug, but the sensations were all wrong. Her body was not her own.

A cry lodged in the back of her mind, a scream for help, but the sounds that escaped were harsh and guttural. The words would not come.

A shadow fell across her and then something cold and burning entered her veins. Her eyes drifted closed and a final thought slipped out.

What is happening to me?

What is happening . . . ?

John stared down at Teyla through the observation window as someone came into the room and silenced the alarms. She was awake again. In those initial moments there had been fear, maybe even panic, followed by another dose of sedative. He'd watched the cycle too many times since Keller had allowed them to remain in the observation room. Technically, they were still in a section of the infirmary, which satisfied Keller's restriction that they not leave until all of their test results were in.

"This doesn't make any sense." Ronon spoke from John's right.

John agreed with him. Teyla was changing right before their eyes. They'd wrapped her hands to prevent her claws from tearing through the restraints. Her facial features were distorted, taking on a more feline appearance. And unless the shadows were really bad, he thought he could see the beginning of whiskers along the sides of her mouth. How much longer before she wasn't Teyla any more?

"What part of it doesn't make sense? That our friend is being genetically altered by methods unknown or that we're still stuck here in sick bay when we should be out there figuring out what caused this?" Rodney wasn't very good at hiding his feelings.

"All of it." Neither was Ronon.

"Keller's going to have our results back soon." John was impatient to do more, too. But this was necessary.

"How long can it possibly take to get blood results? I mean, we're in another galaxy for Pete's sake. I could do it faster."

"I'm sure their hands are a little full right now, McKay." John added iron to his tone. His arm hadn't been the only casualty when Teyla had woken the first time. Two of the orderlies who'd come in to help hold Teyla down had discovered that her feet had sharp retractable claws as well. In the end, it had been a stun from Ronon that ended the struggle.

"I know." He sounded as miserable as John felt. They all went back to silently watching Cat-Teyla sleep. Then, "Do you think all of those cats on the planet used to be Wraith?"

John shrugged. "It would sorta explain the creepy pale coloring."

"Why turn a wraith into a ferocious cat, anyway? Isn't that just giving them more ammunition?"

"Maybe they were aiming for kittens."

"Well, they missed."

John grunted. "I wouldn't count on understanding why the Ancients did the things they did anytime soon."

"Do you think they need to feed? I mean, like the Wraith do?" Ronon asked.

"It didn't feel like she was feeding on me when she . . . ," he rubbed at the still itchy bandage on his arm. A new kind of dread settled into the pit of John's stomach. He hadn't even thought of that. This was Teyla. That just couldn't happen. He couldn't let it.

"Look who's here." They turned at the sound of approaching voices to see Carson Beckett escorted by Dr. Keller and Woolsey.

"Carson – hey. I bet I can guess why you're here." Rodney's welcoming smile was strained.

Keller spoke. "Actually, I asked Carson to come for several reasons. Teyla's condition is just one of them."

John looked past the docs to where Woolsey was hovering. He had a bad feeling about this. "She wasn't the only affected, was she?" he asked.

"No, she wasn't, son," Carson told him. His look was sympathetic. "We've run the tests several times to be absolutely certain." He looked toward Keller.

"Rodney and Ronon, your tests came back clean," she said. "You're no longer restricted to the infirmary."

Rodney sagged with relief. Ronon didn't react very much at all because he was waiting for the same thing Sheppard was – the rest.

"Wait a minute. That means . . . ." Rodney looked at John with widened eyes, then back at Keller. "He's going to turn in to a cat, too."

"We're not exactly sure," Keller said.

"He doesn't have any Wraith DNA, how is it that he was affected?"

Carson looked uncomfortable. "There's been a bit of a wrinkle." He huffed an apologetic breath and shook his head at John. "I'm sorry."

"You said I was 100% John Sheppard!" John didn't hesitate to throw the doctor's words back at him. Those words had been a blessing on the day he'd been released from the infirmary after having finally overcome his stint as a WraithBugMan.

"You were. But, that wasn't counting the dormant parts. The cocktail did its job; it beat the retrovirus into submission. There was nothing left but the dormant bits. Whatever process started Teyla's mutation, reactivated the retrovirus in you. You see, the average - "

John sighed; loathe to deal with this at even the best of times. "I don't need a genetics lesson, Carson. Just . . . what's the plan? You give me the cure and we move on?"

Carson and Keller shared a look. Of course, it could never be that simple.

"Along with reactivating the virus, it dosed you the same way it's done Teyla. You also have a few markers left over from the therapy we used to take down the retrovirus. Essentially, all three processes are slinging it out inside of you."

John just stared at Carson. Wasn't one mutating team member bad enough? Wasn't mutating once bad enough?

"So where does that leave him? Cat, bug . . . something else?" Rodney came to his rescue. Sort of.

"I've really no idea how the three will act together. We're talking three very different, but very aggressive processes. They could very well cancel each other."

"Let's hope for that," John suggested with just an edge of sarcasm. "So what then? More of the therapy?"

"We're taking a wait and see attitude. I'd like to make sure we aren't making things worse by administering anything. I'm afraid you're going to be stuck in the infirmary for a bit longer. Hopefully –"

"Wait a minute, I'm not staying here."

"Aye, you have to. We need to know right away if there are any changes or symptoms like Teyla's. These things can happen very quickly."

"No – I need to go back to that planet so we can find out if there's a solution there. I don't have time to sit around in the infirmary while Teyla gets worse."

"Of course, we're going back. But Doctor Kozlov is going to stay here and monitor your condition. He'll also work on tailoring a treatment that can work on all three fronts."

"Carson . . . ." John pushed down his anguish. "I can't stay here. It makes more sense for me to go with you."

"Are you refusing medical treatment, Colonel?" Woolsey finally spoke up.

"I'm not refusing treatment. Look, the technology to do this came from that facility. Why reinvent the wheel? There's a good chance that the tech to undo it is there, too. That's what Teyla needs. If it fixes her, maybe it'll fix me. Why don't we bring Kozlov along, too? Three heads are better than one, right?"

John held his breath while Woolsey looked toward Beckett and Keller, silently asking their opinions. They both nodded reluctantly.

"All right, you can go. But you're in no condition to lead the mission. You go as a patient. Lorne will have command."

"Fine." John could deal with that.

"I'm going, too." Ronon wasn't asking permission.

"I didn't doubt it. You'll be reporting to Major Lorne."

Ronon's only reaction was a dangerous grin.

"Good – we're all settled, then. I'd like to go and prepare my patient so we can leave as soon as possible."

John turned away from the doctors and was drawn back toward the observation window. Teyla suddenly opened her eyes, and looked directly up at him. Cat-Teyla looked at him the same way human-Teyla did. He could almost hear her confusion.

What is happening?

You're going to be fine, he wanted to say. Carson's on the job.

John noticed that the corridor leading from the transporter to the isolation room was empty for a change, though the sounds of activity from the cross corridor behind him were more than obvious. He'd taken a few moments to run to his quarters – literally – to grab a fresh shirt. The torn tac vest was going to have to do for the time being, because he didn't want to miss Teyla's transfer to the jumper.

He rolled his neck and stretched his shoulders as he walked in an effort to work out the kinks that had settled in. Nothing like a few aching muscles to remind him that he was getting to old for this.

Without warning, the corridor shifted and he stumbled hard into the wall, ramming his shoulder into one of the decorative panels. He blinked at the suddenness of it all, and slammed a hand up to activate his comm. "McKay, what the hell's going on?"

"Huh? What do you mean? What's happening?" Rodney demanded almost immediately, his voice sounding through the radio a half second behind the voice coming from around the corner ahead.

John pushed himself away from the wall and immediately realized that it wasn't Atlantis that had shaken, it was him. His equilibrium faded out again before righting itself. He froze, and then consciously began moving more slowly down the corridor. So much for hoping that the three genetic experiments slugging it out inside him would keep the fun amongst themselves.

"Sheppard!" Rodney's worried demand was companied by footsteps, and then he appeared at the cross-corridor ahead. "What is it? Why didn't you answer?"

"I just wanted to make sure I wasn't too late," John said. "I didn't want to miss . . . it was kinda quiet."

"That's what radios are for. Use them. There's no reason to scare me half to death."

"I did use the radio, if you'll recall."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You didn't miss it. Carson's just gotten all of his equipment organized, but Teyla's not being very cooperative. She freaked out right after you left."

"Why didn't someone tell me?!" John quickened his pace, relieved when the world decided to stay steady.

"So you could do what?" Rodney wanted to know. "Last I checked, you don't have access to the good drugs. And last time you were in the same room with her, you got . . . ." Rodney gestured toward the bandage that was visible from beneath the long sleeve of his shirt.

That slowed him a little. "We've got to do something, Rodney. We can't just leave Teyla like this." He'd been here before, literally. The bitter irony was that he might be there again.

"I know. We're going to fix this, John. We always do. Trust that."

John looked at Rodney from the corner of his eye. "When did you turn into Mr. Optimistic?"

"I guess someone might be rubbing off," Rodney muttered.

"So, what've we got so far?" John asked.

"We might have a way to turn off that scanner."

"Really?" John perked up. "How?"

"Well, if it's anything like the transporters around here, with these." Rodney shuffled the tablet and drew out a rectangular gray case from his back pack. He slipped the lid off and showed him the nine evenly spaced square devices nestled inside.

"They create a feedback loop that puts the transporters in standby for repairs, testing or what have you."

"Think it'll work?"

"It should. Then we can scratch off worrying about anyone else's genes being mutated."

"Always a plus," John said as they rounded the last corner to the isolation waiting room. The hall was empty, but the door slid open just as they approached. Carson led the procession, followed by a gurney where a semi-conscious Teyla lay. Creative new restraints had been added, effectively pinning her to the bed.

John moved toward the geneticist. "Do we have to tie her down like that?" he asked softly, watching the way Teyla's half-open eyes rolled beneath her lids. Even her head was immobilized in some kind of hard collar arrangement.

"Aye, she's developed elongated canine teeth, and I don't know whether you've noticed or not, but even before this, our Teyla was rather limber. The fact of the matter is, the sedatives are loosing their effectiveness. This gurney isn't going to hold her for much longer. We're exploring the option of having the engineers build some type of secure enclosure once we reach MX7-489."

"Carson, you're talking about putting Teyla in a cage." That just felt wrong to John, in every way.

"What choice do we have?" Carson was sympathetic. "If you have any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them."

John looked back toward Ronon and Rodney, who were following, then looked down at Teyla. Though her lids were at half mast, he could tell that she was looking at him.

I'm sorry, Teyla, he thought. I'll figure something out, I promise.

Thank you. I have faith that you will. He imagined he heard her voice, weakened and sluggish due to drugs, but still trusting in him, making him think that he truly could somehow fix this.

He chewed at his lip and watched over her as she closed her eyes and gave in to unconsciousness.

Returning to MX7-489 was a different experience for John. He rode in the co-pilot seat, while Lt. Leotis piloted the jumper. Ronon, Rodney and Carson rode in the back with Teyla and two marines along for security. Doctor Kozlov was in the jumper with Lorne's team, and Carson's equipment.

They'd taken care to proceed cautiously through the gate lest the cats be waiting for them on the other side. They weren't disappointed, but there was a difference in their reaction. Where before the gray cats had seemed more interested in treating the MALP like a cat toy, this time they all turned as a group and focused on the jumper. They then began leaping about and snarling in the direction of the craft. Scar was no where in sight.

"Be advised, jumper one, the natives are restless." John spoke through the radio to warn Lorne who would follow them through the gate.

"Acknowledged, Colonel. We're right behind you."

Moments later the other jumper rematerialized through the event horizon and immediately moved to a higher altitude. The cats though, didn't seem all that interested in their new guests. They remained focused on John's ship. "That's weird," he murmured.

"What's weird, Sir?" Leotis asked.

"It's just us they don't like," John said, raising his voice to include Ronon, Rodney and Carson.

"What's that?" Carson moved up from the back, taking in the restless pack of felines as they continued to freak out in the general direction of the craft.

Before John could answer, Lorne's command to head toward the Ancient facility sounded over the radio link.

"They're trying to follow us. They didn't do that before," Ronon observed. As the jumper picked up speed, the animals were left behind.

"No, they didn't. Something's changed," Rodney said. He turned and looked pointedly back to where Teyla remained unconscious. "Didn't Jennifer say that she had some kind of pheromone thing going on now? Maybe it's getting stronger. Maybe they can sense it."

"I'd say that's a definite possibility," Carson put in. "And judging from their reaction, they're going to be coming for her."

"Crap." John turned to Rodney. "We need to figure out how fast these things run and how long it'll take them to get to that castle."

"That other one showed up right when we were leaving – like an hour," Rodney theorized.

"Yeah, but she could have been faster; she could have been slower - these guys are behind us right now."

Lt Leotis piped up. "Sir, if they're only chasing us, couldn't we just keep flying until we can secure the facility? They may be fast, but they're not faster than a jumper."

"That's true, but considering the fact that without the occupants of this ship the mission is pretty much a bust, how about we gain some serious altitude, but don't leave atmosphere, and we'll come back down over the castle. Maybe they'll lose the scent."

"Yes, Sir."

While Rodney was busy with the calculations, John caught Lorne up on what they suspected and what they were doing.

"What about the bridge that connects the building to the land?" Ronon asked. "Can't we blow it up?"

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea!" Rodney looked up from his calculations. "Well, not the blowing up, part. But we should definitely be able to raise it. They might be able to just swim across, that is, if they're not afraid of the water. But at least it'll slow them down a little."

"Good." John turned and relayed that idea to Lorne as well.

"Remind me, Colonel," the major teased, "Who's running this mission, again?"

"Just offering suggestions, Major," John joked back, but was sure to leave the radio on vox when he turned to look at Rodney.

"Well? How long, McKay?"

"Just one second." Rodney held up a finger as he continued to punch in information one-handed. "Got it. So, according to sensor data, they were running at a speed of about 115 kilometers per hour. So, if they keep going at that speed, all evidence says that they are likely to, they could be there in about 45 minutes. Give or take."

"You catch that Lorne?" John asked.

"Five by five. We're at the coordinates now, and we'll see about taking care of that drawbridge problem."

"Copy that. Watch out for Scar. She's fast and we haven't seen her. I'm not convinced she's out of the game just yet."

"We'll keep an eye out."

"Colonel?" Carson spoke from the back of the jumper. "How much longer until we can meet up with Lorne and his team?"

"We should be heading back down soon. Why?"

"Because, Teyla's waking up again, and I'd rather not have a struggle in such close quarters. I've given her another dose of the sedative, but it is losing its effectiveness much more quickly than I anticipated."

"Alright." John turned to the pilot. "Lieutenant, take us back in." He moved to the back of the jumper and squeezed in on one side of the gurney. There wasn't much room to maneuver when you added Carson and the two marines.

"What are you doing?" Carson asked.

"I'm working on that," John said. He recognized the signs that he'd seen repeated from the observation window; the faster pace of her breathing and the frantic twitching of her features. It was like she was trapped in a nightmare. He had a really bad feeling about having her waking up while pinned so completely.

"Ronon." John called to the Satedan who was already standing in the doorway leading toward the rear area. Ronon met his gaze, then pulled his gun from its holster and held it at his side.

John gestured that the two marines, armed with Wraith stunners, should stay back as far as possible. "I need everyone to stay as still and quiet as possible." He spoke the words softly, following his own advice. He figured if she was going to wake up frightened, the last thing she'd need was a lot of chaos going on around her.

"Should you be standing that close?" Rodney asked in a stage whisper. "Last time . . . ."

"I remember, Rodney." John didn't remove his attention from Teyla. He could almost sense her rising panic. The rate of her breathing increase to near frantic proportions and she tried to turn her head, but was granted little movement. Her arms flexed and twisted, giving the reinforced restraints a work out. The turmoil grew to a crescendo and suddenly her eyes flew open. They were still Teyla's eyes, alive with terror.

The marines reacted, pointing the stunners toward. Ronon looked at John, waiting for his 'go', but the hand holding the gun down at his side was twitching. John held up his arms to both groups, encouraging them to stand down as he began talking to his teammate and friend.

"Teyla, it's okay. We're here." He said the words softly but with as much intensity as he could put into them. "You're going to be okay."

Her gaze locked on his, desperate to understand. Like he'd done before, he blocked everything else, and focused completely on her.

"You need to calm down. Carson is here. We're going to help you. Do you understand?" He spoke the words slowly, carefully.

Her breathing began to slow and something changed in her eyes, a softening.

"Good. That's good. We're going back to figure out how to fix this. You're going to be fine. But we need you to stay calm." He continued the slow, careful cadence. Maybe he could keep her out of a cage, after all.

Teyla blinked, and John recognized her acceptance, understanding, and then sudden knowledge. The tears began, welling and then spilling onto her now furred checks. A low rumbling growl sounded.

Help me. Please.

John blinked and frowned in sudden surprise. He looked up and around at the others in the back of the jumper. Had they heard that?

"What is Colonel?" Carson asked, still frozen in place as John had asked.

"I . . ." John opened his mouth to explain, but then stopped, unsure how to continue. He scratched his head as he thought about it, then figured, what they heck. It might mean something. "Did you, any of you, hear that?"

"Her growl? Of course we did, son. She's been doing for a bit now."

John looked out of the front viewer and noticed that they'd arrived and were docking at the castle. "Give us a moment," he gestured the marines to go toward the front of the jumper. There was some shifting as everyone moved so that the marines could exit.

John turned back to Teyla. "Everything's fine. We've just arrived. I need to go talk to someone for a minute, but I'll be back." After several seconds, she nodded once in acceptance.

Thank you.

He nodded with as much reassurance as he could, and then moved away from the bed. He looked between the three other men for a long moment before he spoke. "Did either of you hear Teyla say something? Actual words?"

Carson looked at him thoughtfully. "Did you?"

"Yes." John nodded slowly, reluctantly.

"What did she say, then? Don't keep us in suspense."

"She said 'Help me, please' and then she said 'thank you'," he answered the question in a rush. "You don't think I'm crazy?"

"Well, the jury's out on that. But, it isn't out of the realm of possibility after the way you've just been able to calm her. It's also possible that when she stuck you with her claws she marked you in some way. We've theorized that Wraith Queens mark the male Wraith within their hive in some manner."

"And Jennifer said that the pheromone has psychotropic properties," Rodney added. "So you could just be high."

"Thank you for that, Rodney." Carson rolled his eyes, and then turned back to John. "There are many who believe that the chemical processes in the brain most affected by psychotropic drugs are linked to telepathic receptivity."

"Really?" Rodney asked. "And to think the pseudo-science of medicine might someday be able to create a drug that produces telepathy. Cool. There is hope for the field, yet."

"I don't know how cool it is," John said. "Number one, if it's a telepathic thing, then those cats aren't coming this way because of a scent. And number two, Teyla isn't the only one who 'stuck' me."

"Confirmation on bit of bad news number one," Rodney said, gesturing toward the HUD which displayed a large grouping of dots moving toward their position."

"Well, then, let's stop wasting time and get this show started. Maybe we can find some kind of defensive systems in the lab. One would hope that one wouldn't create big bad cats and then leave the door wide open. But then again, these are Ancients we're talking about."

John stepped out of the jumper, and blinked against the late afternoon sun. It felt like a knife piercing into his temples. Squinting, he scrambled for his shades and shoved them on just as Major Lorne approached.

"How'd the drawbridge thing go?" John asked his second in command. The best offense to pain was to ignore it.

Lorne gave him a look. John was somewhat comforted that the younger man had to squint, too. "Funny story - it wasn't a drawbridge it all. It was a gene activated ramp. I just thought at it, and it rose up on its own. The entire entry into the castle is sealed."

"That's convenient."

"Yeah, I thought so too. We did a brief reconnaissance and didn't find any other way in."

"So what's the plan?"

"What do you recommend?"

John chuckled. He appreciated the way Lorne went out of his way to make him feel like he had some type of control. "Maybe have one of the jumpers fly recon to track the position of those cats. Keep the other jumper here, cloaked. Be on the look out for Scar. Radio contact every thirty minutes or so."

"Just what I was thinking." Lorne turned away and made it so.

John nodded his approval, and moved in closer to where Teyla was being pushed toward the arch. Carson's sedatives had finally kicked in, and it looked like Rodney had successfully gotten the entry scanner offline before everyone entered.

The journey through the empty stone building with a rolling gurney seemed obnoxiously loud to John's ears, which did nothing to ease his headache. The energy readings were still present, just as they had been on their first trip to the planet. The reached the blank wall somewhere in the bowels of the building, Rodney did his hop scotch thing and they were in.

The room was roughly the size of the Atlantis gate room. A large oval console was situated in the middle of the room, containing banks of crystals and switches and read outs. Rodney made a bee-line for it, dragging out cables as he went.

The area around the big console was clear, but the walls were put to good use. One was covered with a panel full of crystals which glowed faintly blue. Farther beyond it were insets that John had no idea what they might be used for, and on down were several enclosures which reminded him of wide elongated closets. They were empty and darkened inside. His money was on containment cells.

On the wall opposite the containment cells were three stasis chambers. They were darkened too, as were the rest of the crystals and panels around the room.

Carson rolled Teyla in and found a clear space along one side of the room. "Are these stasis pods operational?" he asked Rodney. "If we can put her in one, then we can halt the changes. That should give us more time to find a solution."

"Give me a sec." Rodney glanced over his shoulder at the doctor, while John, Ronon and the rest of Lorne's team moved on past. "I'm working on accessing the systems. Once I get a menu, I can figure out what's what."

"Ah, thank you, lad." Carson thanked Rodney and then called some medical order to Doctor Kozlov. John ignored the rest as they continued toward the end of the lab where the space dead ended into a corridor running to the left and right.

"Where are you going, Colonel?" Carson interrupted just as John was gesturing to Lorne that he and Ronon would go to the left. John turned and approached the doc. So did Ronon, while Lorne and his team continued.

"I'm not going in stasis, Carson." He looked pointedly at the doctor, determination in his tone.

"I wasn't suggesting that you should." Carson eyed him right back.

"If you don't mind, I'm just going to help Lorne finish checking out the rest of this lab. We need to make sure there's nothing dangerous here." Hated being told that there was nothing he could do to help the mission.

"Remember, you're not here for a military adventure, Colonel. You're here as a patient. I'd prefer if you let Dr. Kozlov here take a look at you so that we can have an update on your condition."

"Carson." John shifted, and looked around the room. He hated this. It felt like he was being grounded as a casualty when he knew there was still something he could do. And the last thing he wanted was to bare all of his scars in front of everyone.

"Maybe if we look around we can find some more . . . private examination areas." He spoke softly, and hoped that Carson got the point.

"All right, then. Let me know what you find." He then turned toward the blond Kozlov. "Doctor, if you would. Help me get Teyla situated and I'll explain some new pieces of information we've gathered since we left the city . . . ."

John let Carson's words fade as he gestured toward Ronon and they set off in the direction Lorne and his men had gone. At the cross corridor, they went to the left as they'd initially intended.

There were indeed smaller rooms that could be used for examinations, but John was in no hurry to communicate that bit of information. He and Ronon continued on, and found another space that was very obviously an office or conference room of some kind. Beyond it was a smaller set of rooms; one of which was a bathroom with showering facilities.

"Kinda looks like some of the rooms on Atlantis," Ronon observed. "Except no windows."

"Yeah," John agreed as she looked up and around, taking in the overall dimensions of the space. "About the size of VIP quarters, maybe." A long gray counter ran along one wall, and there was a chair and a table set against another. Across from that was one of those bed/sofa/futon things the Ancient's seemed so fond of.

"Leotis to Lorne."

"Lorne here. Go ahead Leotis"

John listened in with half an ear as the jumper recon team checked in, and moved toward the long counter. Three round indentations marred the otherwise smooth surface.

"Our friends are at the drawbridge. They aren't trying to swim across. Just hanging around looking like they want to."

John felt drawn to those three small circles. He reached toward them, only mildly surprised that they glowed a soft muted blue when his fingers passed over them.

"Keep an eye out, and let me know if anything changes."

"Yes, Sir."

"Find something?" Ronon approached and looked down at the counter.

"Not sure." John pressed the uppermost indentation, and sensed the difference immediately.

The wall to the right of the counter shimmered and became an open window bearing filmy white curtains which rippled in the breeze. The effect was so surprising; that it took him several moments to realize that the wind he felt was a function of the ventilation system.

"Nice." Outside of the holographic window was a meadow filled with the tall golden grasses that they'd flown over during their first visit. The system even simulated an outdoor smell. "Who needs real windows when you have Ancient tech?"

He pressed another button and an older man and woman appeared beside the window. They were older, gray-haired and taller than average. The man had chocolate brown skin and kind, smiling eyes, while the woman had a lighter complexion and a mischievous but happy expression.

"They look real." Ronon moved to stand closer to the holographic people. The man was only an inch or two shorter than the Satedan, and the woman was easily six feet. The images turned toward him with doting smiles. Ronon took a step back. "That's kind of weird."

"It's probably programmed to do that for everyone," John said. "But yeah, still kind of creepy." He pushed the third indentation and a monitor appeared to the left of the window. A red haired young woman was speaking with frantic gestures and obvious urgency. The scene behind her suggested that she was on an Ancient warship. Sparks and desperate cries behind her were a clue that it was in the middle of a battle.

John tapped his radio. "Rodney, you should probably get in here."

"Why?" Rodney's voice came back across the system. "I think I've almost figured out what kind of power source this place uses and solved our rapidly approaching Wraith kitty situation. What could possibly be more important?"

"What'd you find out about the cats?"

"We just turn the scanner back on. It tracks the genetic make up of everything that passes through the arch. It's programmed to disallow inward passage once they've been . . . uh . . . tagged. They just get transported back outside the arch."

"Oh – so do that."

"Just finished. I deactivated the feedback simulators remotely."

"Good. Then get in here."

"Power source remember?"

"How do you feel about Ancient video mail?"

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

There was a pause. "I'll be right there."

Carson entered the last room as he'd been directed by one of the marines. He figured calling Sheppard on the radio would only warn the man that he was coming.

His quarry was half-stooped beside a counter with his back to the open door. Ronon hovered nearby, while McKay's voice could be heard coming from somewhere below a long counter. The cables snaking out from underneath confirmed that he was mucking around with technology of some kind.

"So this is where you got to?" Carson announced his presence.

Sheppard stood quickly and turned toward the door. Carson watched as the other man's face paled. He put out a hand and grasped the counter in an effort to maintain his wavering equilibrium.

Ronon moved to help, but was stopped by a quick look before Sheppard turned guiltily to face the music. Carson tried not to look too reproving. The man looked exhausted. But Carson understood the need to find answers and help one's friends.

"I think you owe me an examination, Colonel Sheppard," Carson told him.

"I thought you were still working on Teyla."

"She's nearly settled. The stasis chamber should complete initialization any minute now. Doctor Kozlov is more than qualified to put her in."

"Are you sure? 'Cause I'm pretty busy right now. McKay needs me to keep this panel activated so he can create a translation interface for the video records in the database. They could be important."

Carson raised the medical bag he'd brought with him. "I've come prepared. That is, if you don't mind your teammates being present." Sometimes you had to bring the mountain to Mohammad.

"Fine." Sheppard grumbled, but Carson knew he appreciated the compromise. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just take off the over shirt, if you would. Go ahead and keep your t-shirt on. That should allow me to check on the bruises and other assorted injuries."

While he worked one handed on the buttons, Carson took the time to take in his overall appearance. Circles were beginning under his eyes, and his color was off. Slow, careful movements and tiny lines of strain suggested something more.

"Are you in any pain?" he asked, as he busied himself pulling items from his bag.

"Sore. Maybe a headache."

That wasn't the most descriptive response, but coming from the Colonel, it was quite a lot. To admit he had a headache probably meant it was of migraine proportions.

"Teyla's first symptom was a headache," Carson recalled. "It's also one of the side effects of the counter-agent for the retrovirus."

"So which is it doc?" Sheppard asked.

"I've no idea," Carson admitted. "Let me have your hand." He examined the Colonel's finger nails and was happy to note that there wasn't an additional set of claws growing beneath them. What was worrisome though was that he was developing a bit of an anemia. The nail beds were pale and the blood did not rush back as it should.

"Am I due for a manicure?"

"Not just yet," Carson replied, and moved on to the bandages on his forearm. The binding was warm and pink tinged fluid was leaking through. Carson felt Sheppard stiffen when pressure was placed on the bandage. "Have you re-injured your arm?" he asked.

"I think I might have hit it against something." Sheppard didn't seem happy about having to make that confession.

Carson shook his head. How was he supposed to help the man if he wouldn't even take care of himself? On the bright side, seeping fluids meant that there was no rapid healing to suggest that the Iratus retrovirus was winning out.

"I'm going to check your other bandages," Carson warned as he reached for the hem of the shirt and lifted. Sheppard's abdomen jerked as a gentle hand pressed at the bandages Jennifer had placed on his side; it was purely a pain response. More fluid had seeped into the bandages on his side as well, and the heavy bruising remained across his torso.

Sheppard's expression showed his guilt. He'd obviously known something was off with his recovery and had chosen not to share it.

Carson sighed. The man looked like he was about to drop off from sheer exhaustion. "Rodney, I'm going to need you to find some other poor victim to keep this panel activated. I'm going to need the Colonel here to lie down on that bed over there so I can change his bandages and finish my examination."

Rodney heaved an aggrieved sigh. "Fine." Carson heard him calling Lorne over the radio as he led the reluctant Colonel to the bed.

One minute Carson was riding him about his injuries, and lamenting the fact that he couldn't offer him anything stronger than Tylenol. The next, John's headache went through the stratosphere, pounding into his temples like grinding spikes. He grabbed at his head, desperate to overcome the agony. But nothing help, it just continued to build, and added nausea to the already unpleasant cocktail of symptoms.

Carson's words devolved to incoherent droning, while all John could do was to sit on the bed and rock. If he could have silence, maybe the pain would stop.

Carson's words grew louder.

Just one moment of quiet was all he needed and he'd be okay.

Carson's volume grew.

"Stop it!" John growled, launching himself off the bed. His claws thrust through his skin mid-air, taking Carson down with a single swipe. The doctor's green eyes open in death, continued to accuse him. With another swipe, John silenced them, too. But still, there wasn't silence.

It was Ronon, yelling, and causing that big gun of his to make that high pitched screech. The noise of it pierced John as if he'd been stabbed. He had to stop the noise. His friend would understand. The claws did their work until Ronon's eyes were quiet, too.

Others came, but John was an animal. The claws overcame them all until there was only one left. Teyla. She was blissfully silent. And then she opened eyeless sockets and John screamed.

John's eyes flew wide on a sharply indrawn breath. Ronon was leaning over him, and he still had eyes. His skin was clear, not shredded by claw marks. Even in the darkness, he could make out the concern clearly displayed on the big guys features.

"Hey, buddy. You okay?" Ronon spoke the words softly, but they echoed loud in John's ears.

He focused newly-hypersensitive eyes on the hand that he'd placed on Ronon's arm and stared at his fingernails. No second sharp set appeared.

"Sheppard," Ronon called to him more loudly.

John shifted his gaze, and took a second longer to get his pounding heart under control. "I'm good. I'm okay. How long was I asleep?" He vaguely remembered Carson droning on about something while he was finishing his exam. Everything after that was a hazy blur.

"I don't know - maybe four hours."

"Four hours?!" John rolled away in a rush, and immediately regretted it. The muscles in his torso threatened to seize up on him, shooting sharp pains throughout his chest. The world faded around the edges as just tried to breath through it.

"Go slow." Ronon directed, helping him to sit up fully.

"Thanks." John moved much more slowly this time as he turned and settled his feet on the floor. The world took its sweet time settling down though. "Did Rodney find anything?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

"Yeah, he learned some stuff. He should probably explain it to you."

John let the big man help him to his feet. Nothing shifted, but the pounding in his head kicked up several notches, throbbing in time to his too loud pulse. He pushed through it, putting one foot in front of the other. He hoped the action would get his body limbered up enough that every step wasn't a reminder that sitting might be a better option.

The first thing he noticed when he reached the lab was that everyone, including the marines were busy watching video monitors. "Is it movie night and someone forgot to tell me?" he asked.

"Colonel, what are you doing out of bed?" Carson rushed toward him and walked with him and Ronon as they moved closer to the central console. He didn't complain Rodney pointedly pushed a chair toward him.

"Better question: Did we learn anything?" he as he slowly settled onto the stool.

"We learned the name of one of the scientists who ran this lab," Rodney said. "Fat lot of good that does us though since they probably left with the rest of the Ancients ten thousand years ago. That video you found was the last incoming message warning that the evacuation was underway."

"A name? That's it?" John looked expectantly at his friend, and then turned toward Carson. "What about Teyla?" He could see her in his peripheral vision as she lay sleeping in the stasis pod. Her features were peaceful, even though they weren't completely her own. "Did you find anything in the system that tells if it's possible to reverse this thing?"

"Oh, yes. Good news." The way Rodney said it, it sounded like anything but good news. "It's definitely possible. I even found the command string for it."

"Well, good. Do it."

"That's where the bad news comes in. I can't. Not without the control crystal."

John looked around at the other faces in the room. "It's gotta be here somewhere, right? Why would they take it with them? The lab was pretty well-secured."

Rodney shrugged. "I've looked every place that make sense and a couple that don't. What you see around you is plan B."

"You're not making sense, Rodney."

"Okay, try this. There is a lot of video information in the database from one scientist. We think her name was Melania based on that last incoming message. Some of her experiments contained a lot of really detailed medicalese – Carson's going through that the worst of them."

"There's some really fascinating data on why the gray cats were agitated on our arrival. Apparently, there can be only one female within the post-Wraith pride. Teyla's . . . ."

"Not now, Carson," Rodney murmured.

"Aye, sorry."

"As I was saying, there are video recordings of the actual reversal process." He directed John's attention to one of the monitors and typed a command. An image appeared of one of the chambers that he'd thought looked like a containment cell.

One of the gray cats was lying in the space and a force field sparkled into existence. A thick fog-like haze filled the area, completely obscuring the animal. Then a flood of green light appeared, eventually burning away the mist. Ancient numbers flashed across the bottom of the screen showing the accelerated passage of time. When the timer stopped, an unconscious Wraith clone lay face down on the floor.

"Relatively quick and easy."

"So can't you just reverse engineer it?" John wanted to know. He wouldn't accept that they were so close only to run into a wall.

"It would be like trying to uncloak a jumper with a toy ray gun. The technology just isn't there. We cannot even begin to run the process witouth that control crystal. Hopefully by reviewing the video we'll get lucky and see her putting it away."

"All right. What does it look like? Your basic crystal?"

"We're not sure."

John couldn't believe it. "You've gotta to be kidding me."

"I do think it fits in here." Rodney activated a compartment at the far end of the console's oval. It slipped open to reveal a space about five inches in diameter. "Or at least, that's what the circuitry suggests."

"Okay. Fine. Set me up with a monitor and some video."

"I don't think you're really up for this, Colonel." Carson argued. "Your wounds aren't healing normally, and I've a suspicion that you might have a bit of internal bleeding as well. That doesn't even take into account the toll all of this is having on your system in general."

"It's not exactly hard work, Carson. I just have to listen to a language I don't understand and watch to see if I can catch when she loads a control crystal. Am I right?"

"Actually, I got the translation interface working," Rodney put in. "And an extra set of eyes can only speed up the work."

Rodney activated the console monitor nearest John. "Have at it."

John leaned forward and pushed the command to start the video. Ronon came and stood along side him, his back leaned against the console. "I'm fine, big guy."

Ronon just gave him a look. John turned back to the screen and tried to focus on what the female voice was saying. It all ran together - something about microscopic readings and mitochondrial behavior. It really just made him want to go back to sleep.

The woman looked up into wherever the camera pick up was and John felt as if his heart stuttered to a halt. He stabbed a finger against rewind button and then hit play again. He hadn't imagined it. Something relaxed within him, and the pain of his headache eased slightly. Full realization slammed into his brain.

"Scar isn't Wraith. She's an Ancient!" he announced to the room at large.

"What?" that from Rodney

"It's her!" John pressed a button that froze the video playback. A woman with skin the color of coffee with cream stared back at them. She looked like a younger version of the holographic woman from the bedroom. "She's Scar!"

Rodney looked confused. "No, her name is Melania. She's the scientist I was telling you about."

John shook his head, and forcibly pushed away the dizziness it brought. "Well, then, Melania is Scar. She didn't leave with the others. Look at her eyes, one of them is blue and the other is green."

"That is rare among humans," Carson put in, "But not out of the question. It's a condition called heterochromia. It's usually caused by --."

"Scar's eyes are that exact color." John stabbed a finger in the direction of the screen.

"Are you certain?" Carson wasn't convinced. Rodney looked thoughtful.

"I was close enough for an unhealthy whiff of cat breath. Yes, I'm sure."

"So, say she got a little too personal with her own experiment, how does this help us?" Rodney asked.

"Look," John rewound the video. "She was just examining something at microscopic detail. Where's the miscroscope? I don't think even Ancient's have super vision. Her eyes are special. I think at least one of them is the crystal we're looking for."

Rodney magnified the image, zooming in on her eyes. At extreme magnification, there was something very different about her right eye. "You might be right. And what better way to hide it? But, I don't think she's just going to roll over and give us her eyes."

"Do we know where she is?" John asked.

"Yeah, she's right outside of the drawbridge. All the other cats left after we put Teyla in stasis. But she hasn't moved."

"Let me talk to her."

"How? If you're even right, she's not quite human anymore."

"Neither is Teyla, and I talked to her."

"Teyla trusts you. Scar could disembowel you with one swipe."

"She won't. If she wanted to kill me, she could have done it the first time. She had me down on the ground long enough. And the only real injury I had was when she sank her claws into me, and looking back, I think that was deliberate."

"Of course it was."

"No, think about it. She was marking me, like Teyla did. So we could communicate. It's probably instinctive."

"So, what's to prevent her from marking everyone else here?"

"I'll go alone."

Carson jumped in on the argument. "Out of the question. You're too weak. And it's much too dangerous."

"I think she's already been trying to communicate. When I was asleep, I had a dream. And let's just say, eyes played a big part in it. I think it means she's been trying to tell me something all along. I just didn't know how to listen."

A beeping alert sounded from the direction of the console. Rodney moved toward the console, and brought something up on the screen. "It's the draw bridge. It's extending to the otherside. Who did that?" He demanded of the assorted personel in the room.

John's eyes widened. "It was her. She did it. She still has the gene. She could have come in here at any time. She probably senses that I've figured it out."

"Maybe she's coming in here to kill us all," Rodney argued.

"No, she can't get past the scanner, remember?" John reminded him. Still no one budged, and John tried one more argument. "This could be Teyla's only chance. We can't keep her in stasis forever."

No response.

"It's my decision, and I'm going."

"Gone for thirty minutes to report in to Atlantis and this is what I come back to," Lorne murmured to John as they moved through the corridors ahead of his men.

"Just think, someday this could all be yours," John muttered back.

"Is that a threat?" Lorne shot back.

John chuckled, and winced as the movement aggravated all that ailed him. He hoped he was doing the right thing, that he was right about Melania or this was all going to be Lorne's sooner than he thought. A very vague sensation of reassurance played at his subconscious. He knew it was from her; he wanted to trust it.

"We're coming up on the arch." Lorne called to the lab over the radio link.

John saw a quick flicker as Rodney deactivated the scanner feedback thing. "It's down." Rodney confirmed it.

"I'll take it from here," John ordered as he stepped through the arch into the darkness outside. "Everyone else stay behind the arch." Both jumpers were ahead, clearly visible even in the night. Hyper vision wasn't a bad thing. The walkway extended to the right and left. He sensed when another familiar form moved through the arch behind him.

"You, too, Chewie," he said without turning.

Ronon's sigh expressed his displeasure, but he moved back anyway. John was pretty sure that as soon as he reached the steps, Ronon wouldn't be far behind.

He took his time navigating the walkway and then moving down the steps that lead to ground level. Slow movements were much better if he wanted to keep the ground beneath his feet. When he reached the bottom, he could clearly see the hulking form of the cat as she sat in the shadows. She moved lithely to her feet and began to walk gracefully toward him. He stopped when they were several feet apart.

She looked up at him with those mix-matched eyes and he had a blinding vision of running wild in fields of tall golden grasses. It took him by surprise and his legs went out from beneath him. Melania moved, breaking his fall with her body. Her fur was silky sleek and warm. He felt a wave of concern and confusion from her, and not a small amount of anxiety.

At the same time, chaos was breaking out over the radio as Lorne started mobilizing. "I'm fine. Stay back," John ordered. "I'm okay." The yes sirs he got in response were hesitant, but that was the best he could do.

He turned his attention back to the animal before him and allowed his experience with the Iratus retrovirus to come to the fore of his mind as well as the cure followed by the renewal of those problems. He let the memories evaporate with the wave of understanding that came his way.

She nudged him and helped him to his feet. Together they walked toward the steps that led back to the upper walkway. As John suspected, Ronon was there waiting for them. He looked confused, but fell in behind John and the cat as they continued toward the arch.

John was surprised that he could almost see the energy waves generated by the scanner field in the arch. Lorne and his men stood on the opposite side, weapons still drawn.

"It's okay." John raised a hand to reassure them. "She's helping us." He tapped his radio and spoke directly to his friend. "Rodney, turn off the scanner."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, Rodney. I'm sure."

The field sputtered and dissolved. Melania looked briefly toward him before moving on through the arch. John was getting some emotions from her, but he didn't think they were intended for him. If what McKay said was true, once she'd mutated, she could probably no longer enter the facility. Ten thousand years was a long time. He wondered if she'd missed home and other humans.

She brushed the top of her head against his hand and there was an intensifying of the feelings he was getting. But they were old memories. Loneliness, fear, sadness, grief and oddly joy. The all seemed to meld together ebbing and flowing in a tangled mass of human-like emotion. John didn't know what to do with those feelings. He uncertainly allowed his hand to stroke the top of her head.

When they reached the lab, Rodney opened the door for them. John and the big cat moved gracefully into the room together. Everyone on the other side stopped and stared. John stared listlessly back. Even the adrenaline wasn't helping. His brain would not cough up a clue as to what he should do next.

Melania ended the stalemate. She nudged again at his hand with her feline head, ensuring that his fingers moved across her right eye – the green one.

It took John a moment to register what he needed to do. He then went down to one knee so that they were face to face. She stood patiently with both eyes closed as he felt around the right one. He could feel the mechanism beneath the surface. With a soft press, the orb came out into his hand. Everything beyond the whites was clear crystal green with a connector near the back.

Melania looked at him with the one open blue eye as he handed the crystal up to Rodney.

"Uh . . . thank you." Rodney murmured, and then hurried off.

Movement began all around John then, but he didn't have the energy to get up at the moment. He dropped the rest of the way to the floor and scooted his back against the central console. Teyla was going to be okay, he was sure of that, now. He allowed his head to fall back against the wall.

He hazily registered Ronon sitting across from them, silently watching. To his other side, Melania stood. Just audibly, he could hear a low purr as she settled to her hind legs. He fell asleep to the sights and sounds she sent his way.

"When is he going to wake up already? It's been two days." The words seemed to fade into being on the edge of John's sub-conscious and something stirred. Other senses followed; there was a distant hum and the light brush of cool air.

"He's had a rather rough time of it, Rodney. The poor lad's system was under a tremendous amount of strain. This is his body's way of righting itself."

"But, Carson. Two days. New Lantea time. Maybe you should wake him, you know, just to be sure there isn't any brain damage."

"Are you more concerned for the Colonel's health or the contents of that device?"

"His health, of course. I'm only suggesting that – "

John drew in a deep breath, and managed to croak a single word past dry lips. "Liar."

"He's awake!" Rodney certainly sounded excited. Visual confirmation wasn't possible because he was still working on getting his lids to open.

"I can see that, Rodney," Carson's amused tone reached John just as he managed to win the battle and bring the infirmary ceiling into focus.

"How are you feeling?" Carson asked, drawing John's attention to a pair of smiling, unworried, baby blues. Before he took the time to think, an honest response slipped out.

"Tired."

"You've every right to be," Carson reassured. "Hold tight. I'll let Doctor Keller know you're awake. I'm sure she'll be in to see you in a bit."

"Thanks, Carson," John watched him go, before switching his gaze back to Rodney. The other man was watching him expectantly; he was practically bouncing on his toes. John's brow crinkled.

"Where are Ronon and Teyla?"

"Oh, Ronon took her for a spin around this level. They should be back any minute now?"

John knew he was a little sluggish, but last he'd seen Teyla she was in a stasis pod, more cat than woman. His confusion must have registered with Rodney, because he suddenly continued.

"She's still in a wheel chair. Jennifer says the transformation back to human should be done in another few days. Feet," he clarified by pointing downward. "She should make a full recovery."

Before John could digest that, Rodney dumped something in his palm. "Activate this."

John recognized the small cylindrical object as a personal storage device. It didn't have the worn look of the water damaged ones they'd found in the lower sections of the city. It looked new. "Why can't you do it?" John asked.

"Because she gave it to you?"

"Who?"

"Scar . . . Melania. And, seriously, again with the Ancient women?"

John turned the device over. He figured he would have remembered being given an Ancient storage device by a cat who used to be a girl. Bet that had driven McKay nuts. "So, tell me again why you haven't activated it?"

"Because this one has a type of security we haven't run across before. It's sealed with a visual pass code. You have to think of something specific to open it."

"Something specific like what?"

"She put it on the bed beside you, I'm assuming she told you."

"I don't exactly remember anything that happened after I . . . ."

"Curled up on the floor and passed out? Well, let's see," Rodney ticked the events off on his fingers. "We reversed the DNA code changes on both you and Teyla. Then Ancient Kitty took that out of a secret compartment and put it on the bed beside you. Everyone packed up and went home."

"What happened with her eye?"

"Oh, Carson put that back in. He tried to talk to her . . . you, know, with words, out loud. She didn't seem all that interested. She just turned around and left - vanished into the night."

"It's been a long time, Rodney. I don't think she remembers how to talk with words any more." The entire situation with Melania still had a surreal feel to it, but the memory of her changing emotions was still fresh.

"That doesn't explain what's on the PSD." Rodney pointed out.

"What's on the PSD?" Ronon rolled Teyla into the room. She was seated in a wheel chair smiling broadly. A blanket covered her lap and draped down over her feet.

"I still don't know. Sheppard won't activate it."

"Good." Ronon grinned a greeting in John's direction.

"He has spoken of nothing else for the last 24 hours," Teyla informed him.

"Longer," Ronon put in. "Teyla was asleep for most of it."

"Very funny," Rodney groused. "Curiosity is the key to scientific discovery. If some guy, like me, didn't say 'what if?' we wouldn't have any of the great discoveries you both enjoy like microwave popcorn and DVDs."

"Since she gave it to me, maybe it wasn't for you."

"Just unlock it already."

"Fine." John held the device and thought back to that night. One image came to the forefront of his mind immediately. It was of the holographic window with Melania's parents standing in front of it. John felt a mental click as the object glowed green.

"Thank you." Rodney plucked it from his fingers and placed it into an adapter he'd fitted to his ever-present tablet. A video window popped up on his screen.

"I am the last of my family; the last of my people in this galaxy, and I am about to embark on one last great adventure. I'm called Melania, and this is why I chose to follow a path different than the rest of my race. . .