Chapter 9

"So how do we get Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon re-materialised?" Rodney asked out loud. Good question, Sitnalta thought.

"Well, the Wraith use dematerialisation-technology," Sitnalta remarked. "How do they re-materialise the people?"

Rodney shook his head. "It's not like they re-materialise people from thin air," he explained. "They have the pattern of the person stored inside a buffer." Then he waved his hand in the air. "Besides, their technology is very different from the starlight crystal-based technology of this planet."

"Okay. But as far as I can see, this city's original technology had been adapted to the starlight crystals." She frowned slightly. "Couldn't we somehow use the concept of the portable Wraith-beaming technology and combine it with that of Maya?"

Rodney snapped his fingers as the solution unfolded in his mind. "Of course! If we can get the team inside one of the transporters here in the city, and adapted the parameters of the re-materialisation matrix to use the inside of the transporter as source instead of the buffer, we can beam them back into the same transporter!" He said that without once taking a single breath and Sitnalta actually felt dizzy for his part.

"Well, not exactly what I had planned, but it might work," she replied.

"Well, we can't all be geniuses," he said without looking up from his work. Then he frowned. "Maya?"

She grinned and then decided not to suppress the urge to have some fun with him. "Really, Rodney. I would have thought one as smart as you would have noticed that was this city's name."

She returned to her work as Rodney returned to his, mumbling about being the smartest man in two galaxies. Sitnalta only smiled sweetly. She had learned that from Teyla: nothing upset Rodney as much as serene calmness when he was in the mood for a fight.

Then she found something disturbing. "Uh-oh. We have a problem," she said as she brought the relevant data up on the big screen.

Rodney turned around, waving his right hand in a gesture of futility. "What is it this time?"

Sitnalta cocked her head slightly and pointed at the information running across the screen. "There is only one porthole left that will open over a transporter. After that the rings move on and will only reach this part of the planet again in four years." She took a deep breath. "And that ring will open in twenty-seven minutes."

"Where?"

"On what we call the east-pier on Atlantis." Now Rodney understood her concern. There wasn't enough energy left in the system for them to use a transporter to get there. Yet the path to the east-pier would take them at least ten minutes. That would barely leave them enough time to alter the re-materialisation matrix.

"Great. It never is just a stroll through the park, is it?" Rodney grumbled, already grabbing his gear and heading out at a run. Sitnalta wanted to smile, but she, too, felt the pressure of the moment. Quietly she followed him out the door and down the corridor.

The cave-in had happened just as one rounded a corner, so they nearly ran into the blockade. It covered the entire corridor.

"Oh, no," she breathed. She looked at Rodney. "There is no other way around, is there?"

He didn't even have to take out his tablet to know the answer. Maya was built exactly like Atlantis and they both knew this was the only way to the east-pier. "No," he finally said. But then he snapped his fingers and did pull out his tablet. Other people carried extra weapons and supplies strapped to their back-packs; Rodney carried a tablet.

"Look," he said, tapping away at the keys. "This valley is sloped to the side of the east-pier. The roof-top access to the observation tower should be less than a few inches below the surface. In fact," and he scrolled down a bit, "we should see the antenna above the sand."

That would mean a run across the desert. She was already bone-tired – perhaps too tired for a run – but she was not about to leave her friends stranded on the planet. Without a single word she turned around and started back the way they had come. She was aware of Rodney running right behind her.

The sand was soft enough that they simply jumped from the window. As they started their run, a dozen or so shadows appeared on the ridge above the valley behind them. They only noticed the shadows because of the whoop of malice arising from there. It was the Merikki; come for their pound of flesh.

Suddenly their trek turned into not only a race against time, but a race for their lives as the Merikki started their descent into the valley.

Rodney was correct: they soon saw the protruding antenna in the distance. But it still seemed like an endless ocean of sand between here and there. Yet they had little choice, even though her lungs were burning and her heart racing.

Then the unthinkable happened: she stumbled in the sand. And as her breath whooshed from her lungs she suddenly knew she did not have the strength left to get up and cross the last hundred yards to the tower. She had reached the end of her strength.

Rolling onto her back, she tried to get her breath just enough to tell Rodney to continue without her. She had been alive for only a few weeks, after all. If saving her friends meant her being sacrificed to the Merikki, then so be it. Besides, she only needed to tell him the one thing for Atlantis to be safe.

"Go, leave me," she wheezed. "You need to get to the transporter."

Rodney was obviously torn between his desire to help his friends and his need to help her.

"I will be okay; all of you will," she tried to reassure him. But then he looked up at the approaching Merikki. Without hesitation he picked her up and ran in the other direction – towards the east-pier.

She was not a big woman, but as she clung to him she felt how much effort carrying her over the sand took from him. Soon he, too, was stumbling. Yet he did not drop her once nor did he fall. It took them twice as much time to cover that last stretch as it would have if she had been able to run. And all the while she clung to him, scared he had done the wrong thing, but afraid to let up on her grip for a single moment.

Finally they were at the spot where the antenna reached up through the sand, and Rodney simply dropped her in the soft, clingy sand. With a soft 'oof' she landed on her rump. Moments later she was on her knees next to him, digging in the sand. The Merikki were not far behind them

As Rodney had said, they only had to dig a few inches before encountering the top of the tower. Fortunately the tower had an access hatch at the top. Less than a minute later they had uncovered it. But as she looked around she saw the Merikki as far away as the spot where she had fallen. There were eight of them. They were armed with crude weapons and they had painted bold markings on their faces with a greenish-yellow paint. She really couldn't believe Teyla and Ronon had thought this a benign planet.

"Hurry!" she said, digging even harder. Then her fingers encountered the familiar shape of the crystals that would open the door. "Rodney!" she said, alerting him to her find. Seconds later they had uncovered enough of the crystal that Sitnalta could wave her hand over them. With a sigh the door opened beneath them; tumbling them down into the dark tower.

As fate would have it, Sitnalta landed on top of Rodney, breaking her fall. For less than a heartbeat she considered staying there, but they were not safe yet. The Merikki would reach them in seconds. So she rolled off and waved her hand over the crystals that closed the door. The roof was so low they had to crouch and the crystals were right above her. Instantly Rodney pulled out two crystals and set off down the corridor. They still had to get to the transporter, alert Sheppard and the rest and then make the alterations. And they had less than seven minutes left to do it in.