McKay removed the nodes attached to his forehead and stood up, regarding Sheppard's unconscious form with a dispassionate look.
"Rodney?"
Teyla was already moving out of her crouch and Ronon was taking a step forwards. Both were looking stressed and tired and McKay could empathise. They'd refused to leave Sheppard at first and then an almighty storm had prevented them from leaving anyway. They'd been living on rations of power bars and MRE's and two canisters of water between them.
"I need to recalibrate the device," he said looking down at Sheppard's prone body, "That wasn't long enough."
"Did you talk to him? Is he okay?"
"Yes," he waved a hand at her, "He's just a little…"
"McKay," Ronon's voice was low and warning.
"Delusional," Mckay smiled, "He can't remember touching the device and he's convinced himself that Atlantis isn't real."
"That's your fault."
"Ronon, I told him to switch the device on, not activate it. It's not my fault he has no control over his stupid gene."
"Still, if you had simply waited-"
"Teyla," McKay could hear the pitch of his voice rising, "It was dead when we got here….I just needed him to power it up. Like I said, not my fault if he-"
"This isn't getting us anywhere."
Ronon, the voice of reason, who would have thought it.
"So he remembers us?"
"Yes but like I said…delusional."
"Well, get him out of there," Ronon ordered.
"We don't know what severing him from the device will do while he's still unconscious. It might permanently screw him up, more so than he already is. I just need to reach out to him somehow…….."
"Tell him to stop being stubborn and get his eema back here."
"Eema?"
Ronon nodded, "Eema."
McKay started to prise open a panel to dissemble the internal wiring of the device. This was all Sheppard's fault regardless of what the others thought. He had to go and activate the device without even thinking about the repercussions. McKay had theorised that it was some kind of virtual reality game, maybe even a training tool and Sheppard had pressed his hand against the console, he had been injected with something, (They weren't sure what yet. It had looked like a subcutaneous transmitter under the skin in his hand,) and then he had collapsed.
"Where was he?" Teyla sat down beside Sheppard again.
McKay had to admit, he looked peaceful, like he was sleeping and yet they all knew the damage the device was doing to him. His body would be dehydrated; starving.
"It looked like a cell. I think I read in his file-" and to the shocked looks directed his way he amended, "-which I did not hack into by the way, that he was a prisoner of war in Afghanistan."
Teyla looked to Ronon for an explanation but he merely shrugged.
"Let's just say it's a bad place for Sheppard to be, to have been," he corrected.
"Then we must get him out."
"I'm trying. This isn't Windows, I can't just reboot it."
Teyla and Ronon looked confused again. Sometimes it was a little inconvenient to have alien team-mates. They never got his jokes. Sheppard would have at least got it.
"Any news from Atlantis?"
Teyla shifted restlessly where she sat, "Doctor Keller and a team are on their way. The storm has finally stopped long enough for them to come on foot."
"How long?"
"Too long," Ronon snapped.
He wasn't good at sitting still and his pacing was beginning to make McKay nauseous.
"They are still many hours away," Teyla provided, her hand resting in Sheppard's again.
"Well, then I guess I better get back to work."
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The next time McKay managed to make contact with Sheppard he was being hauled up by his hair by an Afghani soldier. He was bruised and bloody and swaying on his knees as he was shouted at in poor English.
"Sheppard!"
Sheppard turned to him, distracted, and the next blow took him off guard. He crumpled onto his back and wheezed in a painful breath.
"This is not the time," Sheppard said rolling onto his side and pushing himself up.
"Who are you talking to?" the Afghani demanded.
Sheppard shot McKay an icy glare, "Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"Because this isn't real."
Sheppard rubbed at his jaw, "Well it feels real."
"Who are you-"
Sheppard cut the Afghani soldier off before he had a chance to continue, "I'm talking to the voices in my head."
He was kicked in the side and instinctively dropped and curled into a ball. McKay felt utterly helpless, his hands passed straight through Sheppard when he tried to offer him some comfort.
"Where is your American base?"
Sheppard ignored the soldier, ignored McKay and even when he was dragged back up to his knees he still didn't speak. He just spat blood onto the floor by the soldier's feet. McKay couldn't help but wonder if this had happened the first time round. He knew Sheppard had been captive for a number of weeks but beyond the details of his rescue there was no mention in the record of his mental or physical state. He wasn't so sure he wanted to witness this and momentarily considered puling himself out of the game.
"Sheppard you could die. Do you understand me?"
Sheppard was holding his side and grimacing, "I know. I think he's broken a rib or two."
"Who are you talking to?" The soldier cut in, his hand curling around Sheppard's elbow and hauling him back up.
McKay tried to ignore the violence in front of him; tried not to cringe with each blow, "I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about your body lying in the middle of a cave."
"Does this look like a cave?"
"The base?"
McKay gave Sheppard a pointed glare, "Oh just answer him so he can go away!"
Sheppard turned to him and quirked an eyebrow, "You have got to be kidding me. He's the enemy."
The Afghani soldier was looking more and more perplexed.
"He's not real!" McKay said walking over the soldier and putting his hands through his body.
"Would you stop that?!"
Sheppard looked a state and had blood dribbling down his chin; it was hard to believe that this was just a game…a figment.
"He's not…real. He's not really hurting you."
Sheppard wiped the blood off his chin, "What do you call this?"
"This isn't really happening. Look Sheppard…I don't know why you can't remember touching that device but you did and now you're here but if you just…I don't know…think your way out of this-"
"Think my way out?"
"- then we can all go home."
"Who are you talking to? Do you have…...radio?"
The Afghani made a grab for Sheppard and started to pull at his head, moving it to the side as he inspected his ears.
"I don't have a radio."
He let go with a frustrated growl and Sheppard swayed a little, grimacing in obvious, real, discomfort.
"Who knows how many brain cells are being killed off just by being here," McKay observed, "Losing a few brain cells isn't going to be hugely detrimental to me, oh sure a few brilliant discoveries may go unrealised, but lets be honest Colonel, you need all the help you can get."
Sheppard had a look on his face that showed he wanted to respond, but in the end he didn't direct his anger at him, "I'm not going to tell you where our base is."
"Eventually you will."
"Sheppard?"
"Go away!"
"I will not leave until you have given me information," the Afghani interrupted.
"I wasn't talking to you," Sheppard informed the soldier.
He was rewarded with another kick in his stomach. Sheppard went down gasping and the Afghani soldier was bearing down on him, smashing his hand down onto the concrete floor and prying back one of his fingers.
"You will break eventually," he hissed into Sheppard's ear.
Sheppard laughed and McKay was beginning to feel uneasy. He'd never seen Sheppard like this. Sure they had rescued him after some close calls on missions where he'd been roughed up and disorientated but he had never actually seen him be beaten before. He was always too busy instigating the plan to rescue him. It occurred to him that for all of the time he had known Sheppard he had never stopped to speculate about what he had read in his file. Was this how it really was? The Pegasus galaxy had thrown up some truly horrendous things, but this……..this was happening on earth. It still was. It was brutal. McKay would have broken by now. They wouldn't have needed to lay a finger on him and he would be telling them everything. Sheppard was in pain but keeping his mouth shut. This was the extent of Sheppard's loyalty. It made McKay feel sick.
He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of something snapping. Sheppard seemed to bite down on his lip but he was still making a muffled grunting noise through the pain.
"You …..fuck!" he shouted eventually, writhing around on the floor and spitting blood.
"That looks painful," McKay tried pathetically, "But it's okay because it's all in your head."
Sheppard had planted his forehead onto the cold floor and was taking in long deep breaths. He twisted his head, eyes watered by the pain, nose and mouth bloodied, lips twisted around the hurt. He didn't say a word. He just blinked and suddenly went silent.
"Again…" the soldier stated, prising another finger out from Sheppard's curled fists, "Are you going to tell us what we need to know?"
McKay waited, eyes switching from Sheppard to the Soldier, "You can tell him," he said voice cutting the tension of the room.
"Can't…" Sheppard managed gritting his teeth. on," and McKay didn't even know why he was trying to convince him to fess up. This wasn't real. Sheppard wasn't really in pain. But the sound of his shouts, the sound of broken ligaments and Sheppard's course breathing was too much to bear.
"You'll have to kill….me," Sheppard slurred.
"Sheppard."
"I'm not going to talk to you anymore. Either of you," And he looked straight at him…no hint of remorse…..nothing. It was frightening.
The last thing McKay heard before he disengaged was Sheppard shouting obscenities at the top of his lungs.
TBC