Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Oh, oh" Zelenka gasped suddenly as a beeping emitted from his hand-held device. "I am getting a signal from Colonel Sheppard's transmitter; he is definitely still on this planet."

Lorne looked up from the rock where he was sitting. "You're sure? The last team picked up a signal that was coming from the middle of nowhere."

"Yes, yes, I'm sure." Zelenka confirmed distractedly as he started trying to triangulate the signal. "It is definitely his signal"

"Can you find out where it's coming from?" Lorne asked, climbing from his seat. It was the first break they had had in several hours.

"Yes, I can, just give me a minute, the signal is much weaker than I would have expected I will need time to recalibrate the sensors" he replied in a slightly frustrated tone. Several minutes later, after much muttering in Czech, he piped up again "the signal is six clicks north-west of our current position."

"Right, that's it. Zelenka, Green is going to take you back to the 'gate and he's going to report in" Lorne told him, signalling to one of his men, "the rest of you are going to come with me and we are going to go and check out the location."

"Yes, right, certainly." Zelenka agreed. He was not all that keen on this type of fieldwork; this was much more down Rodney's line. He couldn't wait for Colonel Carter to reinstate Rodney to active duty. At the moment he was sure that Rodney was probably terrorising all the other scientists that were currently stationed on Atlantis and all their work was, undoubtedly, inevitably slowing down. Regardless of the fact that the man was a genius he was not really compatible with an efficient working environment.

Zelenka and Green reached the gate without incident and they dialled. While Zelenka walked through the event-horizon Green activated his radio and began to give a detailed report to Carter.

As soon as Zelenka stepped through the horizon and into Atlantis he was bombarded with questions from Rodney.

"Have you found them yet?" Rodney pounced. Zelenka jerked backwards, almost tripping over.

"No Rodney, I have not found them yet" Zelenka replied impatiently as he brushed past MacKay "I merely pointed Major Lorne and his men in the direction of Colonel Sheppard's transmitter."

"Good then you have found them" Rodney continued as if what Radek had just said had only barely registered.

"No, that is not what I said. I said I pointed them in the right direction, I do not believe that that infers that I found them, merely that there is a possibility." Zelenka kept walking even as Rodney jogged to catch up.

Noticing what was occurring between her two senior scientists below Carter began to descend the steps from the control room. "McKay" she said irritably, confirming Zelenka's earlier suppositions, "I told you to go back to your room and rest, and to stop bothering the other scientists. I will tell you when we have anything of substance regarding the whereabouts of the rest of the team, ok?"

"Fine, fine." Rodney replied. Everyone that was watching knew that he hadn't really taken her order on board but for the time being he was out from under their feet.

As he walked off Carter walked over to where Zelenka stood "what do you think?" she asked "How promising is it."

Zelenka took a moment to think about his answer before he replied. "I do not think that it is easy for the transmitter to be removed, what is more the signal would not be detected by our instruments if the transmitter is no longer on the planet. But to be honest Colonel I do not know. It really depends on what Major Lorne finds." He could not help but to feel slightly depressed by what he was saying.

"Thank you for being honest Radek." Carter tried to cheer Zelenka up. "At least we have something to follow up now."