Part VII

"Nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist." – Indiana Jones

"So," Rodney was saying as he and Freya picked their way along the ridgeline towards the energy reading. "What made you decide to come here? It's not exactly the kind of place one goes to look for people who claim to levitate paper clips, or whatever it is you study."

"Psychokinesis has been demonstrated on numerous occasions. I was told that there was an incidence of a young girl within the Stargate Program that developed such powers."

"You can't really pretend that this is real science."

"Dr. McKay, I understand that you prefer to view the world in black and white. Either a thing is possible, or it isn't. Various forms of ESP have been tested and verified in individuals under laboratory conditions. Both the United States and Russian governments did extensive studies into remote viewing during the Cold War. Why do you find it so difficult to say such a thing MIGHT be possible? Especially when you were here when Teyla demonstrated her ability to connect with the Wraith."

"I am well aware of the research, I just don't understand why someone in your field came here."

Freya sighed, offering a hand to Rodney as they climbed over a more difficult rock formation. "It's more along the lines of why I didn't want to stay in the middle of civilization."

"You don't like people?"

"I . . ." Freya paused, thinking about how to answer that question. "I like my privacy, I suppose. And that's easier to find away from the city."

"Can't get further away from civilization than this."

Freya laughed. "No, sir, you can't. It's one of the reasons I like it here."

Rodney shook his head. :Sometimes, she sounds so much like John.:

"How did you get drafted, Dr. McKay?"

"Me? Oh, I was one of the scientists selected to work on reverse-engineering finds out at the Groom Lake facility."

"Area 51. Cool."

They fell into silence for a while after that, until Rodney looked down at the hand-held scanning device he was using to track the energy signature, and looked surprised. "Huh. It says we're right on top of it. Do you see anything?"

Not hearing an answer, he turned around, checking to make sure nothing had happened. "McAllister?" he called out. Then he saw her.

"Shit," Rodney said as he quickly closed the distance between himself and Freya. The young woman was covering her head with her arms, as if trying to block something out. Waving a hand in front of her face, Rodney tried to get her attention. "McAllister, speak to me."

No response.

With a practiced motion, he hit the button on his radio, speaking into it. "Sheppard, this is McKay, come in."

"Rodney?" the response came over the radio.

"Your girlfriend is having some sort of fit. What the hell is going on?"

"I'll need a better description than that. Freya, do you copy?"

Shifting a little, Freya almost curled around her radio, as if the device were a lifeline. "There's so many of them, Brendan…" she said, hitting the button.

A crackle came over the radios, and then Sheppard's voice came through again. "Listen to me, Freya. I want you to come back to camp with McKay. I'm sending Teyla to the gate to radio Atlantis. Rodney, can we bring a jumper in?"

"To camp, certainly. It doesn't look like there's any interference," the scientist replied.

"Good. I'll meet you halfway."

"Roger that," Freya murmured.

"Sheppard out."

Freya sat there for a moment, trying to collect herself, before she got up and began walking back towards camp.

Twenty minutes later, a panting Rodney found himself half-sliding down one of the hillsides they had climbed earlier, following Freya. The young woman was single-mindedly focused on getting back to camp, and refused to respond to any of his shouts to slow down. She set a ground-pounding pace that would challenge most of the soldiers back at Atlantis.

Freya didn't stop running until she was caught by Sheppard.

"Hey," he said. "They're bringing a jumper in. We can go home as soon as they get here."

Freya leaned her head against Sheppard's shoulder, speaking quietly, hesitantly, "Voices everywhere . . . so many of them. I can't understand. Dreamers . . . no, dream eaters."

Sheppard lifted her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Lock it down, Freya. That's an order."

"Is she ok?" Rodney asked.

"Freya's fine, aren't you?"

She took a deep breath, keeping her eyes locked with Sheppard's, and spoke, her voice still soft, "I will be, once we get out of here. It's . . . overwhelming."

"Talk to me," Sheppard said, almost a command.

"The whispers got stronger the closer we got to Dr. McKay's energy reading."

"What whispers?" Rodney interrupted.

"I mentioned them earlier," Freya said, and Sheppard nodded. "I think they might be interrelated with the energy. I'm only getting words intermittently."

A crackle came over the radio, and then a voice. "Sheppard, this is Jumper 3, what is your position?"

"We're about a half-mile due north of the campsite. Think you can come pick us up?"

"Will do, sir."

"I'm staying, Colonel," Rodney said, suddenly.

"What?"

"We need this power source. I can't study it with what I have right now. I'm staying."

"I can't allow that."

"Yes, you can. This isn't a military mission, it's a scientific one. You can leave Stackhouse here with me and pilot the jumper yourself. I don't care, but I need more time!"

Sheppard hesitated, looking down at Freya. "Fine, you head back to the camp, and I'll have Stackhouse and Lorne meet you back there with the jumper after we go through. But no heroics, Rodney, just study the damn thing."