"Oh God, what just happened?" Rodney felt like crying. He stared between his two teammates, at a loss. For once, his brain seemed to have seized up. He didn't know what to do with the visual and emotional data that he'd just received.

"We have to go after him," he babbled. "Maybe if we swim out it's not too deep. Maybe there's something I can rig from the jumper. Maybe, maybe . . . Oh, God, maybe he won't drown. Maybe we can—"

He felt Teyla's hand settle against his arm. "Rodney, calm down. It is okay, we will get him back. We just have to think."

He stared at her incredulous. Surely she hadn't just said that. "Last I checked humans don't have gills! And since I don't see him coming back up for air, he's probably drowning!" He stopped himself, seeing his own pain reflected in Teyla's eyes. Sheppard was her friend, too. He looked toward Ronon, who shot him a fierce gaze.

"I'm sorry. Sorry." He turned away, struggling with the weight that settled more heavily on him as each second passed with no sign in the change of the water's surface. The ripples that had formed in the wake of the bird's dive were already dissipated.

"Perhaps there is more going than we are aware of," Teyla suggested. "When we first approached the bird, it was invisible; cloaked, like the jumper. It was also wounded. I believe he is what we collided with. I believe it was his scream that I heard before the crash."

Rodney frowned fiercely. That didn't make sense. In fact, that made so little sense he didn't even know where to start. He pointed out toward the ocean. "Ginormous killer eagle was quite visible. He ran off with Sheppard. He didn't look like he'd just run into a jumper!"

"No, Rodney, not at first. I sensed his presence. Once I assured him that we would not harm him, he uncloaked. I believe he was trying to communicate with me. He told me that the water would help him. It healed its injuries almost immediately."

"Wait, you're telling me that the bird is sentient," he stared hard at her. If that was true, it changed things. Lots of things.

"Yes, I believe so."

"Then we may be even more screwed than I realized." He could think of a dozen ways the situation could get worse than the currently completely fouled-up-beyond-all-recognition state of affairs.

"Why do you say so?" Teyla seemed genuinely confused.

"Because intelligent creatures the galaxies over tend to plot and scheme against one another. Animals operating on instinct kill for food. Intelligent creatures kill for no good reason other than they felt like it or they just happened to be a bad mood. And of course there are the Wraith who do it for a combination of both." His argument was sound. Having lived in Pegasus with the likes of the Genii surely she understood that.

"No." She shook her head. "I do not understand all that is happening here. But I do know that the emotion I felt from the bird just before he took John was one of protectiveness, perhaps. There was no malice. I do not believe he intended to harm him."

"That does not change the fact that he did." Rodney knew that Teyla had special senses, and that she could feel things that they couldn't in relation to the Wraith, but that didn't change the very obvious reality.

"We shouldn't have helped it." Ronon stalked off, pacing back and forth in the sand like a caged animal. He occasionally stared off across the water as if he might find a way to Sheppard based purely on the strength of his fierce anger.

Teyla frowned, uncertainty marring her brow. She looked out across the water. "Perhaps you are both correct," she said softly, then more loudly so that Ronon would also hear. "Regardless, John would not give up on any of us without absolute proof. It is the least we can do for him."

Rodney's anger drained out of him. "Look, maybe I can see if this thing picked up anything," he said, gesturing toward his tablet. He had been trying to take expanded readings since the talk about radio signals with Sheppard. "It picked up that sound you heard. Maybe you could see if you can ... um ... I don't know ... sense the bird."

Teyla smiled a sad thanks. "I will try." She looked across at their other teammate. "Perhaps Ronon remembers something that will be helpful as well."

Ronon stared a long moment before he approached. "Yeah. The water healed the bird, but it didn't work on me. I don't know if that means anything."

"It might," Rodney said, surprised that it was the truth. Healing properties in the water might be a huge clue. He felt a plan beginning to form in the back of his mind. "Okay, first we need to gather some for testing ..."

John didn't know what hit him. One minute he was looking at the biggest bird he'd seen outside of a science fiction movie, the next he was grabbed in a pair of giant talons like the day's lunch special. By the time the requisite oh crap! managed to form in his mind, he was far out over the lake.

He started to struggle. The bird responded by doing something with its wings, enveloping him as it started a steep dive toward the surface. They hit the brutally cold surface and kept going, diving deeper and deeper. Nothing John did broke the animal's iron grip. He remained pinned against the giant body, his heart rate galloping toward inevitable panic.

Lungs on fire from lack of oxygen, he searched the watery darkness for something, anything, that might give him even a hope of escape. But he was weakening. His struggles became more jerky and unfocused. Spots flickered before his eyes.

The spots grew to a beautiful vista. Snow capped peaks rose above a lush green valley, a lazy river meandered along far below. The only sounds were of brisk winds rushing by. He could feel his powerful wings flapping, allowing him to gain more altitude as he climbed higher and higher. The world belonged to him. He could go anywhere, fly anywhere. Somewhere deep in the back of his mind he wondered if this was the universe's way of softening the blow, by giving him a vision of something he loved. All things considered, it wasn't a bad way to go.

He gave himself over to the hallucination. The breath, when he took it, wasn't completely against his control. On some level he expected the pain of the water firing through his sinuses and into his body. He drew in deeply once. And again. And again. The pain and the hard work of it was immaterial, the action itself was like heaven. The haziness in his brain cleared. He was back in the grasp of his feathery cocoon, and he was breathing water!

As the elation shot through him at the realization that he wasn't dead, the water pressure around him changed. The bird arched upward and they broke through the surface of the water. He had a brief glimpse of a large darkened room that was reminiscent of a larger version of Atlantis' jumper bay. Then, the onslaught of actual atmosphere hit. The delicate balance of whatever miracle had happened in the water ended and John felt himself suffocating under incredible pressure in his lungs.

Everything went a little hazy as he started retching and gagging violently. His entire world became the painful struggle for survival as he fought for each breath. The more his body worked to expel the fluid that had invaded his lungs, the greater the pain. It became a bitter cycle until finally the coughs lessened.

He found himself lying on a hard surface, curled half on his side. He opened his eyes a fraction to find that someone had turned up the lights. Not a lot as it was still dimmer than what he was used to, but the familiar blue of Ancient lighting was evident. He even felt the accompanying tickle of ATA.

He lifted his head a bit to get a better view. The room still had the feel of a larger jumper bay. If he wasn't mistaken, the berths on the upper level were big enough for a couple of jumpers. Instead of an opening in the floor that would lead to the control room on Atlantis; this place had a large opening that no doubt led back into the bottom of the lake.

He turned his head a little farther and found that his new friend the bird was settled just behind his head, silently waiting. The creature was so quiet it was eerie. It made John's panting breaths seem louder and more obvious.

"Thanks ... for not ... killing me ... yet," John managed weakly, ending with another bout of painful coughing. Obviously whatever had happened between being grabbed and trying to breathe lake water hadn't done his ribs any good. Each ragged breath was a struggle. With the drop in adrenaline, the pain was heading quickly into unmanageable territory.

"Hope ... not hungry," John said, looking cautiously up at the creature. He was at its mercy until he could get his legs back under him. Never mind standing, he would settle for being able to sit up. He just needed a minute to rest before he tried. Getting warm and dry wouldn't hurt either.

With several talon-clicking steps, the bird moved around in front of John, lessening some of the neck strain of having to look back and up at it. He would have thanked it if he thought it had done it on purpose. He stared considering into the large dark eyes that stared right back at him. If he was about to make John his lunch, he was surely going about it strangely.

John blinked in confusion when the bird extended the tip of its wing toward him. John wondered bizarrely if this was the avian version of the fist bump. "All right," he muttered softly, and reached a hand out toward the animal.

It was like connecting unexpectedly with the control chair.

Brilliant images slammed through his mind, moving so fast that he could barely keep up. He saw himself soaring over the mountains searching for the source of a familiar sound. It was a sound he hadn't heard in so long it caused him to rush ahead too quickly. And then, suddenly, he slammed hard into something. Pain exploded in his wing before he began to fall toward the ground. He saw the little ship, the one he had been searching for as it suddenly appeared, no longer invisible to his sight. It was terrifying to realize that he had not lived up to his duty. He had awaited the return of the guardian for so long and now he had failed.

The images and feelings lessened in intensity as they went through what had happened when Teyla and Ronon helped with his wounds. And then he saw himself and Rodney appear on the scene.

John let go, disengaging himself from the literal bird's eye view of the events of the day. A deep inhale caught him by surprise as he worked to clear more of the liquid from his body. He wrapped his arms tight around his mid-section and squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to dull the sharp ache.

When it was over, he lay for several moments, gathering his strength before looking back at the bird. It was still waiting. He had a deep sense that this creature was somehow tied to this Ancient facility in ways that they had never even dreamed up. But none of that was going to matter if he died here and Rodney never found out about it. He also had another mission he needed to complete.

"I need ... my friends ... and some others ... who are ... missing." He dragged his hand back toward the wing and brought images of Ronon, Teyla, and Rodney to mind. He tried to communicate as best he could that he needed to be taken back to them. He thought too of Bowen and Kremer, trying to get over the point they were missing.

The images that followed were slower and more distant. It appeared to be a memory of Kremer and Bowen climbing along the mountain before entering a cave.

John was forced to let go again as an especially sharp pain tightened around his mid-section. "I ... need ... my ... friends," he whispered once the worst of the pain passed, hoping that big bird meant big ears. Though he wasn't sure if his ribs or lungs could take another round of breathing that water, he really didn't want to die down here cold and alone.

When the images came again, John hadn't reached out to the bird, the bird had reached out to him.

Teyla was frustrated. Her head and cheek ached fiercely and she had yet to find anything that proved useful in their current task. The emotions, for lack of a better term, that she had felt from the bird were no longer present, and yet they were. Worse, they were conflicting. They moved in and out like a maelstrom. She was beginning to wonder if perhaps proximity to the mountain was affecting her as well as Rodney's equipment.

"Well, one thing is for sure," Rodney was speaking again. "This is not your normal everyday water. Water testing isn't really my specialty, but I do know there is much more than just water in this ... water."

"Like what?" Ronon asked the question.

"Well, like I said, not the expert. We should definitely take some back to Atlantis with us." He turned back toward his computer, continuing to manipulate the data.

Teyla was heartened that he hadn't added 'if we get back'. He had not given up hope. "I have some of it in my canteen," she offered. Rodney's acknowledging nod was distracted.

"Are you sensing anything?" Ronon approached. He had calmed from his earlier anger.

"It is all very confusing," she confessed. "There is something very strange about this mountain. I can feel it more the longer I am here."

"Can you feel Sheppard?" Ronon asked hesitantly. It was not one he had ever asked her before. He simply accepted her gifts with regard to the Wraith.

"I cannot sense people the way I sense Wraith. With the Wraith there is a cold shadowy darkness in their presence. It is a feeling of bone-deep dread." She answered him as honestly as she could. "But," she added, "I truly feel that John is still alive."

"Then we'll find him." Ronon spoke with determination that strengthened her own.

"Uh ... guys ..." Rodney's wavering call drew their attention. Following the direction of his gaze, they caught sight of three large birds standing along the beach. They were identical in appearance to the earlier creature and stood watching them with large, intelligent eyes. Very suddenly, the conflicting sensations that she had been feeling began to make sense.

Ronon pulled his weapon and leveled it at the center bird. Teyla rested her hand on his arm. "No, Ronon. They are here to take us to John."

"How can you know that?" Rodney muttered from the side of his mouth, edging closer to her and Ronon. "Nice giant birdies," he added aloud toward the creatures.

"Because one of them told me." She smiled encouragingly at her two friends and moved forward to approach the creatures. "They will take us by way of another path."

Rodney didn't open his eyes until he felt the bird put him down on the ground. He still wasn't clear on how Teyla had convinced him to climb onto the back of a giant eagle. It probably had something to with the promise that they wouldn't be going into the water. Still, he hadn't looked down during the whole of the journey.

As he slid off the bird's back, he took in the scenery. He saw mountainside, mountainside and oh, yeah, more mountainside. Surely this wasn't their destination.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" He turned as the birds took to flight in that creepy silent way they had. They cloaked nearly as soon as they were airborne. "Come back! This isn't helping!" He stared up into the empty sky hoping they'd at least try to listen.

"Isn't this where we think Kremer and Bowen went?" Ronon asked, looking around at the scrubby brush and low lying vegetation.

Rodney nodded. "Yeah. I think you may be right." Maybe the birds weren't so much against them after all. The odds might just be improving in their favor. He cringed even as the thought entered his mind. Thinking things were getting better was always a recipe for disaster.

"There is a cave there." Teyla gestured to a spot farther up the hillside. It was so well hidden by trees and other overgrowth, he almost missed it. The cave's opening was set in something of an alcove in the side of the mountain.

They moved as one to check it out.

Rodney did his best to scan it for crazy things like time dilation fields and doorways into alternate universes, but the effect of the mineral was still hindering his equipment. Best he could tell given what he had, the cave was just a cave.

He led the way inside. It wasn't very deep. In fact, it dead ended around a short section in an only-slightly-larger-than-the-size-of-a-closet room. Rodney stood looking perturbed for a long moment before he turned and pointed them back the way they'd come. This had been a huge exercise is nothing useful.

Just as they turned to go, a familiar tingle began to overtake him. He was being teleported. He rematerialized to find himself face to face with Nancy Bowen.

The blonde-haired scientist threw her arms around him and promptly burst into tears.