'A little gene therapy of their own?' Sheppard asked

'Sounds like it' I replied

We stood in silence for a bit.

'Is it intelligent?' Weir asked

'I've not had chance to go through all this, from what this is saying we can assume the entity is energy, it feeds on energy. The more it feeds, the bigger it'll get; the bigger it gets, the more charged it'll become and the more deadly it will be if someone else gets in the way' I answered

'So no?' Sheppard asked

'One second' I held up my hand as I speed read the next part 'According to this it does have some level of free thinking but if you're thinking about trying to talk to it, you'd have more luck with a rock. This thing is going to suck the power out of our generators and then we'll be targets'

'Alright, what do we do about it?' Weir asked

'The entity's been trapped in here since before the Ancients abandoned the city' I replied

'I know I'd be pissed' John said with a grimace

'And hungry' McKay said

I flicked further through the research 'This device was designed to attract it, capture it, and hold it for observation. There's still a chance we may be able to get it back inside. We're just going need a little more time to figure out how'

'Okay' Weir replied

She looked at me and frowned. She beckoned me away and I followed.

'Are you alright?' Weir asked 'You look very pale'

'I'm fine, just still a little shook up about Ford, is he alright?' I asked

'He's in the Infirmary. He'll live, I think he'll be off-duty for a week or so' Weir replied 'Go back to the control room, it's safer there'

I nodded and went to the transporter. The door closed and I leaned back against the wall and pressed the button to go back to the gate room. I climbed the stairs to the control room and plonked myself down beside Grodin.

'How's it going?' I asked

'You look like you should be in bed' He replied

'I'm fine, gonna have to get used to all nighters I think' I replied 'What time is it anyway?'

Grodin looked at his watch 'Nearly three am'

I groaned and put my head down on the desk 'I hope they don't expect me to get up at the nor- what?'

Grodin had nudged me and I looked up at the laptop screen. The entity had broken off its regular cycle and was headed in a different direction. Grodin and I looked at each other before I activated my radio.

'Dr Weir this is Dr O'Neill, the entity just broke its regular pattern and it now headed in a new direction around the generators' I reported 'It seems this thing is slightly smarter than we first thought'

'Okay, I'll tell McKay' she replied

'We're gonna have to think of something and quick' I said to Grodin

'What if this thing looses interest in the generators and goes for a new target?' Grodin asked

'I don't know, if that happens I don't know what we can do' I replied

Grodin nodded. We listened into the new plan formulated by Dr McKay and Sheppard and waited for Weir to return. When she came back she was carrying a large candle.

'So the personal shield just came off McKay' She reported, a hint of annoyance in her voice

'What?' I asked

'I asked him if it was better he press the button to activate the device to capture the entity and it just fell off him'

'So it came off by itself?' Grodin asked

'It just stopped working. He even tried it on Sheppard' Weir replied

'It wouldn't work on Sheppard' Grodin said

'What?' Wier asked

'Didn't McKay tell you?' I asked 'The shield device imprints on its first wearer, it won't work on anyone else'

McKay walked into the room stuffing food into his face. Grodin and I exchanged a glance but didn't comment. I could see from the corner of my eye as he got more agitated though. I had to admit, McKay was getting harder to cope with by the second.

'We ready?' He asked through a mouthful of food

'You do realise that when we shut everything down we won't be able to track it?' Grodin asked

'We have security personnel around the living quarters. If it heads that way at least there's some warning' Weir replied

She leaned down and lit the candle. Grodin and I looked at her questioningly. She nodded at us.

'Teyla told the Athosian children that lighting a candle would keep them safe' she said

'So why are you doing it?' McKay asked, his face still full of food

I gritted my teeth

'It's going to get dark in here' Weir replied

'Oh well' McKay pulled a big flash light out from under his arm and lit it. Weir shook her head and looked away. I finally snapped.

'You know Dr McKay you could show a tiny little bit of consider-'

Weir cut me off 'Okay Major, go ahead'

She turned to Grodin 'Shut the power down now'

Grodin glanced at the lit candle before turning back to the control panel.

'Turning off power'

Everything went dark. McKay's flashlight easily outdid the light from the candle but I focused on it's comforting light. We could hear Sheppard breathing down his radio, his breathing picked up a bit.

'It's coming' He said

I clenched my hand and tried to tune out McKay's incessant chewing. Sheppard had grown on me as a friend and colleague. I ran through my head the brief talk Dad had given me a few days before the expedition , about how it's too common to lose good people and I wondered if we were about to lose Sheppard.

'I think you're gonna need a bigger boat' He said nervously

'Size doesn't matter' I said back in a small voice

I heard him chuckle before saying 'That's a myth'

'It'll fit. The device traps the creature in subspace. You just need to make sure it gets all the way inside the containment vessel' McKay said

There was brief pause before Sheppard said 'Alright, come on then'

There was a longer pause this time and we were all watching the energy reading, waiting for it to disappear. It paused around the containment vessel before shooting away up the corridor.

'Son of a bitch!' Sheppard swore

'What happened?' Weir asked

'Damned thing took one look and went away. It's a lot smarter than we thought' Sheppard answered. I could practically hear him seething.

Weir rubbed her face tiredly 'Come back, we'll figure something out, just move carefully'

I got up and went to the window. The sun was rising, illuminating the sky in a gorgeous burnt orange and red. I sighed and wandered around. Teyla came up the stairs and walked past me without even bothering with her usual look.

Sheppard appeared eventually and he stood in front of me. An awkward air seemed to descend suddenly and I frowned.

'Yeah er, hi' He said lamely

'Hi' I said back with a smile

'Come on, is Dr Weir going spare yet?' He asked

'She looks very tired and stressed' I answered

Just as we re-entered the control room the light flickered back on. He looked up and looked at me before looking at McKay.

'What now?' he asked

Weir was looking at a screen 'It's headed this way'

'Because you turned the power back on!' McKay said exasperatedly

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Teyla, who was stood on the balcony looking at the Stargate, turn towards us and approach us.

'Do you think it wants to be here?' She asked

'What do you mean?' Sheppard asked

'Well it's been here for thousands of years, trapped and alone' She said

'It's not alone anymore' Weir pointed out

'It doesn't think on that level, it thinks about eating and thats it' McKay snapped

Teyla pulled a hurt face at the scorn and I bit my tongue, she'd done nothing to merit my defence although McKay was very hypocritical about eating. Sheppard however, did not bite his tongue.

'You're one to talk!' He scoffed

McKay opened his mouth to reply but Teyla cut him off, having apparently recovered from the brash treatment.

'If we stay it will kill us' She said

'Not unless we kill it first' Sheppard said, his face determined but furrowed into a frown.

'I don't think we can just kill it. It's made of energy, you can't just shoot it' I said gently

'Then either we must go or it must' Teyla said, her eyes compelling.

She turned towards the Stargate, a plan began to form in my mind although I had no idea on how we might execute it and I think Teyla was getting the general gist of it.

'If we open the Stargate-' She started

'It will draw the entity, I can't seem to express enough that if we turn things on it will draw it to us' McKay snapped

'I think that's the general idea in this case. Maybe it will accidently be taken somewhere else' I said

Teyla nodded and McKay stopped thoughtfully. After a few minutes we began to formulate a plan. We selected an uninhabited planet we could send it to and how we could draw it to the gate.

Two burly looking soldiers carried a spare naqahdah generator in and I carried it down to the MALP in the gateroom where Sheppard and McKay were waiting. I handed the box to Sheppard who opened it up and took the Generator out. McKay began to prepare it.

'This is a really bad idea' He said uneasily

'You said that already' I pointed out even though I silently agreed.

'Well it's worth saying again' He replied

I was tense and I felt sick, Teyla shouting down to warn us it was coming didn't help either.

'An open Stargate is a huge power source. This thing is smart. It knew enough not to get trapped in the Ancient containment vessel again. How much do you think it's going to follow a naqahdah generator through a wormhole?'' McKay asked

'You got any better ideas?' Sheppard asked

McKay didn't reply as he put the generator back in the box with a frown. We both knew there wasn't any other option no matter how crazy it seemed. I watched as he walked away, leaving Sheppard and I alone next to the MALP.

Again, the same awkwardness came over us. I looked away, towards the gate and wondered if I'd made the right choice coming here.

'You miss home' Sheppard said, it wasn't a question, it was a statement.

I looked back at him and fiddled with a lock of my hair 'Don't you?'

Sheppard shrugged 'I didn't leave that much behind'

'Hey O'Neill, unless you want to be fried I'd get up here!' McKay shouted down over the balcony.

Suddenly desperate I lunged at Sheppard and hugged him. He tensed before winding his arms around me, clinging equally tight.

'Get out of here, as soon as you push the button' I said, before releasing him and walking away.

Weir eyed me curiously before looking back to the scene 'Dail it' She said softly

Down in the gate room the gate rushed into life. I sat behind my console, biting my lip as the entity appeared in the doorways to the gate room. Sheppard pushed a button on the MALP and pelted it to the stairs. He stood by me as we watched the entity fill the gate room and envelope the MALP just before it made it through the gate. There was a pause as it got bigger and bigger and didn't seem to be going away. I realised then that we'd made a very big mistake and it was now possibly feeding off the Stargate.

'It's not going anywhere' Weir shouted, her face pale

'I can't see if the MALP got through!' McKay shouted back

'The entity could have drained the battery' Grodin shouted

'It could be feeding off the Stargate' I yelled

'Shut it down!' Weir screeched

McKay and I scrabbled for the buttons, punching them again and again as the gate wouldn't shut down. I looked up desperately.

'It's not working' McKay shouted

'The console must be dead' Grodin said loudly and he came and pressed a few buttons himself

'There must be something we can do' Weir demanded

'We don't know if the MALP is still down there. The Stargate could just be a more appealing energy source' I said

'It's possible the entity could still go through the gate even if it's depleted the Naqahdah generator' Grodin argued

'Or it could carry on feeding of the gate's energy' I said

The entity bubbled around in the gateroom and all we could do was stand and watch it. Sheppard took a step away from me and I looked around. McKay was stood right at the top of the stairs, just above where the entity reached. I realised what he was going to do in that moment.

'McKay?' Sheppard asked

He took a step into the entity and I ran towards him. Sheppard grabbed hold of my waist and stopped me rushing down after him.

'Rodney!' I screeched

He'd disappeared completely from sight now. The entity continued to roll around in the gateroom like water until it suddenly rushed through the gate. Eventually it left the MALP in the middle of the room, inches from the gate and McKay was laid flat on his back.

'McKay' Sheppard dumped me down and took off down the stairs himself.

I followed with Weir, Grodin and Teyla who I'd completely forgotten about up until now. Sheppard had hold of McKay's wrist and I realised the device must've stopped working. I knelt next to him and lifted it off his chest.

'McKay?' Weir asked

'The entity must have drained the power' Grodin said

'Medical team to the gate room' Sheppard said, tapping his radio

'He's not burned' Weir said

'He's breathing' I commented

'McKay?' Weir asked

Just as she spoke, McKay started to come around.

'What happened?' He asked blearily

'You did it!' Weir said, with a big smile

'I did?' He asked, his face screwed up in confusion

'It went through the Gate' I said

'You must have passed out' Sheppard said with satisfaction to McKay

'Oh, thank you for not saying the other thing' McKay said

I laughed as Sheppard stood up with a smile. He turned to Teyla and gestured to McKay.

'That was a Hail Mary!' He said

The medical team rushed in and escourted McKay to the Infirmary for the second time that day. I grabbed Grodin's wrist and my eyes widened at the time. Five thirty in the morning. I groaned loudly and Weir looked at her own watch with a smile.

She patted me on the shoulder 'Go on and get some sleep. I think we all need a good day's rest'

XxXxX

So I'm sorry for the huge delay in posting! I've been very busy these past few weeks and unfourtunately not had much time to write and post. Not to mention I had a previous story I also wanted to finish.

Now it's slowing down and my other story is finished I'll be able to concentrate more on this. If you're Harry Potter fans, please check out my other story!