Chapter 9

"I think so," Sheppard said then turned off the vox on his transceiver. He hoped he could activate only the Gate this time. Not having to connect so many systems would give him a better chance at keeping it running for however long they needed to move out the now sizeable population in Atlantis. He looked at Ronon and pointed to one of the monitors. "When that lights up, tell them to try it."

Now he had to find his way to just those connections. There was no metaphorical light in there, no sound or sense of feeling, nothing to show him the way. The primary reason he'd been activating so many functions was that it was close to impossible to isolate any one or more of them. Only using the Gate to send the away team to the Alpha site gave him any sense of what to do. This was going to be hellish.

With a deep breath, he sat down and placed his hands on the pads. The chair lit up and reclined immediately.

After several seconds, Ronon realized nothing was happening. There was no sound from the Gate room and the monitors in the room around him were still inactive. He peered at Sheppard, who was absolutely motionless except for deep, rhythmical rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. He pushed away from the wall just as Sheppard took a deeper breath and the monitor came to life.

"Try it."

The distinct sound of the Gate dialing and the wormhole forming could be heard over their transceivers. Ronon had trouble making out the muffled voice in the background, but he knew it was Capt. Travis starting the evacuees moving. Now, he could only wait until the all clear was given and Sheppard could shut it down.

Time slowed again. It moved at a snail's pace every time John sat in the chair. Ronon knew McKay probably had some incomprehensible explanation for it. He disliked wearing a watch. His internal sense of time was normally quite accurate, but being in this dark, windowless room and waiting hour after hour was messing that up. He rolled his shoulders in an effort to loosen muscles tight from inactivity and tension then settled down to wait some more. After what he figured to be a little more than half an hour, he heard the Gate shut down.

"John, this is Carter." There was a long pause. "Col. Sheppard, this is Carter."

Ronon realized Sheppard wasn't going to respond. He didn't even seem to be aware Sam was speaking. He touched his radio and spoke quietly. "This is Ronon. Sheppard has his radio off."

"Tell him everyone has been evacuated. We've shut down the Gate."

"Okay." He turned off the vox as he walked over to the chair. There was still no sign Sheppard heard the exchange. He put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "John?"

The hazel eyes opened slowly, but were unfocused. He blinked, trying to clear his vision. "Hmm?"

"They're all at Midway. Carter said you can shut it down."

John lifted his hands and the chair immediately deactivated. He slowly stood up, but staying upright was not easy.

"Sheppard?" Ronon bowed down slightly, trying to get a better look at him.

"I'm good. That was easier than I thought." He nodded and flashed a weak grin at the Satedan then tapped his radio. "Col. Carter, this is Sheppard."

"Good work, John. How are you doing?"

"Not bad. You?" His flippant response didn't come off quite right.

It was a moment before she answered. "Fine, thank you.

"When do you want to start again?"

"Give us few minutes. We found a laptop that may have been used to introduce the viruses to the system. Rodney thinks he may have something."

"Sure." John's voice was a whisper. He sagged against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor. Blowing out a ragged breath, John wearily rubbed the back of his neck.

"I thought you said it was easy." Ronon stated as he joined his friend, handing him a bottle of water.

"Easier than I thought it would be." John's voice was raspy. He took the water, swallowed several mouthfuls then cleared his throat. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back.

"How's the head?" Ronon asked.

"Still there." Sheppard pressed fingertips into his eyebrows. "It's not too bad."

"Right." Ronon said without believing him. He wanted to say more, but knew it wouldn't help.

After a couple of minutes, John pushed himself up, using the wall as support. Ronon jumped up, ready to help but was waved off. Walking stiffly to the door, John knew he got a severe frown even though it was too dark to see it. "I need to stretch my legs before we get going again."

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"Rodney?" Sam prompted about fifteen minutes later. He'd been hunched over the laptop since it arrived, waving Radek away more than once.

"Yes?" was the only reply.

"Rodney." She said a little more firmly.

This time he glanced up, a glimmer of hope was visible in his bloodshot eyes. "We may be in luck. I think I can use this copy of the virus to finish the worm and restore the main operating system."

"Really? How long do you think it will take?" Sam's mind was sent racing. If he could pull this off, how much longer would it take to get the shield and cloak?

"A few hours. Maybe eight." McKay said absently then looked up at her again. "Be happy I can do it that fast. This is huge."

"Should we keep working on the shield and cloak?" Zelenka asked.

McKay frowned at the Czech, the long frantic days showing on his face. They were all like that, tired in body and mind. "Yes. No. I think I can adapt some of this. It'll be faster. Just let me work on it."

"Okay." Sam agreed as she grabbed an idle laptop left by one of the evacuated technicians. She could keep it isolated from the system while working through the offending programming. "I'll help. Copy it over for me."

"And, me." Zelenka picked up another laptop.

He sighed and muttered, "Waste of time."

Sam tapped her transceiver and said, "John, we're working on the worm. It's going to be a few hours before we need you again. Get some rest."

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Dr. Keller watched her patient as he slept. She wanted to call a halt to it and said as much when Sheppard was beamed into the infirmary earlier. Even in such a debilitated state, the colonel was stubborn and persuasive, and intimidating. The conversation was short and ended with her relenting. She wasn't happy.

"Col. Sheppard?"

John turned his face into the pillow, trying to shake off the dream that kept intruding on his sleep. He felt he knew the disembodied voice that chased him, but couldn't quite place it. The pounding in his head was incessant and threatened to drown out everything going on around him. Even sleep was not helping now.

"Col. Sheppard." This time the voice was accompanied by something on his shoulder.

"Wha'?" He grunted then opened his eyes.

John had been spirited to the infirmary immediately Sam told him to rest. Once there, Jennifer insisted on another scan and checked his heart, lungs and eyes. When she wouldn't let him go to his quarters to sleep, he pulled off his boots and transceiver and lay on the bed he'd recently occupied. The holster and shirt were discarded when they started the examination. She shook her head in quiet exasperation and gently drew a blanket over him.

Jennifer smiled hesitantly at him. "I'm sorry to have to wake you, but Col. Carter says they're going to need you in a little while."

"Course they will." John muttered under his breath as he rolled to a sitting position on the edge of the bed. The movement was too fast, sending his head and stomach spinning. He clutched the edge of the bed just as she grabbed his arm. It was a full two minutes before the room began to slow and right itself.

John reached up to turn on his transceiver only to discover it was gone. He rubbed his eyes and blinked at the bedside cabinet. The room was thankfully dim, but it made it difficult to see anything. Keller realized what he was looking for and handed it to him. He looped it over his ear. "Thanks."

"Sorry, I need to…" She pulled a wheeled table over. A blood draw kit was on it.

He peered at her for a moment, taking some time to understand what she meant. His eyes followed her hand to the table. He winced then nodded and offered his arms. She hesitated before choosing the left. Both arms looked like pin cushions already, but the left a little less so. A couple of minutes later, two vials of blood lay on the tray and the used kit was in the hazardous waste container.

Jennifer then put on her stethoscope and placed the diaphragm over his heart. The quiet in the nearly deserted infirmary and thin t-shirt made listening easy. She heard the strong, if slow, beat. Jennifer quickly followed that by taking his blood pressure and temperature. Both of those were on the low side for him. She wasn't happy, but was also not surprised.

"All finished." She said with an encouraging smile. "Do you want something for your headache?"

He didn't trust his head to stay on if he shook it, so he just said, "No."

She stepped to one side, but stayed close. "Col. Carter asked if you could go to the control room first."

John carefully slipped off the bed. When he started to bend down to pick up his boots, the doctor beat him to it. She handed them over and directed him to a nearby chair.

"Thanks."

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McKay was shocked at his friend's appearance. He hadn't seen Sheppard in more than 24 hours and was appalled at his appearance. He blurted, "You look terrible."

"Thanks, Rodney. You don't look too good yourself." Sheppard gave him a sidelong glance through barely open eyes. The light was murderous and tunnel vision brought on by the migraine threatened to block his vision entirely. He needed to get out of there quickly.

"I was just saying…You've gotten a lot more sleep. You should be…" The astrophysicist stopped when Sam nudged him. He frowned at her. "What?"

She ignored him and spoke directly to John. "I'm sorry to bring you up here. I want you to know where we stand."

He blinked at her, trying to clear his vision. "Sure. What's the plan?"

"We think we've modified the virus on the laptop found earlier so that it will, well, undo the damage caused." Sam wanted to keep the explanation as simple as possible. She knew John was having difficulty standing, much less thinking right now.

"That's a little simplistic for the complex…" Rodney started.

"Yes, Rodney, but we really don't have time to go into the details right now. Do we?" She cut him off and looked back at John. "It's going to take a while to load and run it."

"How long?" John asked.

"Two hours tops." Rodney squirmed a little at the disappointment in Sheppard's eyes. "Well, like I started to say, it's incredibly complex. And, it's huge. I have to be certain it loads all in one hit or we'll have to start over again." He shrugged apologetically. "We can't rush it. I'm sorry."

"Can you do this?" Sam spoke to him quietly. The chances that it was going to work at all were slim, and it rested completely on this man's ability to hold his concentration for the time needed. Right now, she wouldn't have bet money on it. She was surprised Jennifer hadn't stopped the whole thing days ago.

John thought for a moment then nodded. "Is that it?"

Sam and Rodney glanced at each other. She spoke first. "No. We'll need to test it, and this is just the main operating system. We still need to work on the cloak and shield."

"And, the drones." Zelenka reminded them.

"Yes. Thank you for that." McKay snapped. He checked his watch. "The point is, we still have a lot of work to do, and we have only seven hours and ten minutes to do it in."

Sighing, John blinked slowly. "Anything else I need to know?"

"The Apollo has started beaming over the equipment we're taking. All personnel except the five of us will follow thirty minutes before the Wraith get here. We'll keep working as long as we can." Sam paused. "But, if this doesn't work, Radek will pull the ZPM then Col. Ellis will beam us out and nuke the city as the Wraith come out of hyperspace. At that point, there will be no discussion."

"Uh, we'll let you know when it's back online." McKay offered lamely.

"I'll know." John touched his transceiver. "Apollo, this is Sheppard. Can I get a lift to the chair room?"

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John was getting used to the suffocating feeling but dreaded entering the darkness. He just had to remember it was in his head and to keep his lungs moving, drawing air in and pushing it out. That was one of the difficult parts. It would be too easy to get lost in it. A fear niggling at the back of his mind whispered he soon might not be able to find his way back.

It was almost fours before Sam radioed he could power down.

"Sheppard." Ronon said firmly, but quietly. There was no acknowledgement. He'd worried this was going to happen again. Quietly approaching the chair, he laid his hand on John's arm. When there was still no reaction, he gently squeezed. "Stop. Carter said so."

John suddenly opened his eyes, staring straight ahead and gulping in air like a drowning man breaking through the surface of a vast ocean. He deactivated the chair and looked around before realizing the Satedan squatted next to him. Breathless and disoriented, he asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing. Carter just said you could power down, that's all. Are you okay?"

"Yeah." John scrubbed his face with shaky hands. He blew out a long steadying breath before speaking again. "I'm okay."

"No you're not." Ronon said with some bitterness. It felt like he was sitting by and watching his friend slowly kill himself and it was intolerable. He just didn't know how to help. "Sheppard…"

"We're almost done." He said hoarsely. They were too close to either saving the city or destroying her. John was determined it would be the former. He tried to clear his throat then activated the transceiver. "Col. Carter, this is Sheppard."

"Go ahead, John."

"Did it load?" John leaned heavily on one arm of the chair.

"Yes, it did. We have some problems, though. We need a little time to figure out what went wrong."

"Do you want me to start her up again?"

"Not yet. Give us a few minutes."

"Take your time." John said with relief then turned the vox off. He tried to stand, but his legs didn't seem to know what to do. Ronon grabbed his arm and helped him up. He silently nodded his thanks.

The sound of his own voice in his head felt like someone was screaming in his ears. He unhooked the transceiver and stuffed it a pocket. Ronon would let him know when Sam radioed again. He was glad it was Ronon, the man of very few words, with him.

His stomach was beyond redemption and his entire body ached, but movement seemed the only way to stay alive. As shaky as he felt, and since there was no time to find relief in sleep, John figured the only thing he could do now was to move, get his blood flowing again. Progress was slow. He stayed close to the wall and frequently reached out to touch it. Ronon knew the headache was affecting his vision and suspected it was worsening.

"You should rest." Ronon said when he stopped and leaned against the wall for support.

"No." Sheppard grunted as he straightened and began walking again.

Half an hour had passed before Sam called them.

"Stand by." Ronon wiggled a finger at his own ear to let him know.

John blinked in confusion before realizing what he meant. He reached up to activate his transceiver to find it wasn't there. Disobedient fingers fumbled when he pulled it out of his pocket and tried to put it on.

"Ronon, please let John know we need to tweak the programming a little. Can he bring the system up again?"

"Sure. We're on our way back now." He saw that John had given up trying to hook the radio over his ear and just held it against his ear.

"Where the hell are you?" McKay demanded loudly. "We're on a clock here."

"God." John groaned as he staggered, dropping the transceiver while blindly reaching for the wall. Ronon barely caught him as he fell. He felt a cold sweat on Sheppard's skin as he lowered him to the floor, his back to the wall for support.

Sheppard tried to ease the pain by pressing trembling fingers against his forehead. He didn't hear the muffled admonishment from Sam or the whispered apology. It was several minutes before he could speak or move. Finally, he nodded and tried to stand. Ronon helped him to his feet, snatching up the transceiver as he did so.

He carefully looked around. "You have to get me back to the chair. I can't see anything."

"You have to stop." Ronon kept hold of his arm but didn't move.

John tried to look at him. His was voice low and hoarse. "No. We're too close. Get me back."

"It's not worth killing you."

"It won't. Take me back. Please."

"Okay."

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Sam tapped her radio and glared at her chief scientist. "Rodney!"

He already knew what he'd done. The strangled exclamation from Sheppard caused him to blanch with horror.

"What is wrong with you?" She was livid. Exhaustion and stress were not an excuse, even for the highly strung genius. Apart from the fact they needed the colonel to have any hope of saving the city, the pain inflicted was unforgivable.

He whispered miserably. "I'm sorry. I didn't know he…"

"You'll have to apologize to John." She exhaled heavily and turned to her laptop. "Now, just…be quiet."

He started to say something, but the set of her jaw made him stop and turn to his own computer. They waited in silence, knowing Sheppard would either activate the systems or Ronon would let them know he couldn't.

After several worry-filled minutes, the city came to life again.

The little remaining time flew by. Even though very few words were spoken, the tension in control room grew oppressive.

"Col. Carter, this is Ellis." They jumped at the unexpected sound.

Sam checked the time. They were down to an hour and nowhere near finishing. "This is Carter."

"The Wraith are still on course. We've finished loading the equipment. Should we start beaming out personnel as planned?"

"Damn it." She muttered under her breath. "Yes, I think we have to. Stand by, please."

"Standing by."

She turned to the technician at the communications console. He depressed a key and nodded. "This is Col. Carter. The Apollo is going to start beaming out all remaining personnel immediately. Be prepared to leave according to plan. Thank you."

Civilian personnel would go first. The military would start beaming out thirty minutes before the deadline. Squads guarding the Gate room, the ZPM and the chair room were scheduled last. They would wait until the last minute for Col. Carter, Sheppard, McKay, Ronon and Zelenka. There was going to be little room for error.

Sam nodded to the technician who turned off the PA system again. She looked around at the various staff still working around her. "Thank you, everyone. You'd better grab your gear."

"Thank you. Good luck." The young woman next to her said as she got up and headed for the stairs, picking up a small bag from a nearby chair. She was followed by the others.

Sam took a deep breath. "Col. Ellis, whenever you're ready."

"Commencing beam out, Colonel." The Apollo's commander responded. "We'll keep you apprised of our progress."

Fervent prayers to every deity known to the relatively few remaining inhabitants of the city were offered up as the Apollo's beam began transporting people to the ship.

"Thank you, Colonel." Sam exhaled heavily and focused on her computer again. "John, come in."

"This is Ronon." His deep voice was almost too quiet to hear. "Sheppard doesn't have his radio on."

She wasn't surprised after McKay's outburst. "How is he doing?"

"Hard to say."

She winced, but understood what he meant. "The Wraith will be here in an hour. We may have to pull out, but I'll let you know."

"Okay."

Sam mentally shook her head. Conversations with Ronon were even more frugal than those with Teal'c. She rubbed tired eyes and squinted at the computer screen

Rodney finally straightened and lifted his hands from the keyboard. "I think we can try it again."

Zelenka looked up. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." He replied in an exaggerated and exasperated whisper. He turned to Sam and whispered more softly. "You want to tell Sheppard?"

"Ronon?" Sam also spoke quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Tell John he can shut it down. We're going to try this again."

"Okay."

It was a full minute before the systems went down.

McKay wiped a sweaty hand on his shirt then reached across to ATA pad. He released a deep breath and lowered his hand onto the pad. Nothing happened. He swallowed hard and wiped his hand on his shirt again then he put it back on the pad. Nothing.

"Oh, come on! It has to work." He stood up and used his other hand with the same result. Glancing at his watch, he moaned, "We have 28 minutes."

"That gives us 28 minutes to keep working, Rodney." Sam frowned at him then back at her computer. "We need to keep trying."

"Yes, of course we do." He dropped back into his chair, hunching over the keyboard.

"Radek, you'd better get down to the ZPM room."

"Yes, Colonel." The Czech was to retrieve the power source at the last minute. He touched his transceiver. "Col. Ellis, this is Zelenka. I am ready to beam."

"Beaming now, Doctor." A moment later, he was gone.

All too quickly, Ellis radioed, "Col. Carter, this is Ellis."

"Go ahead Colonel." She exchanged harried glances with Rodney.

"We have everyone on the Apollo except the Marines guarding the Gate room, the ZPM and the chair room. We're powered up and ready to leave."

"Thank you." She nodded her thanks. "We'll know in a few minutes."

"Standing by."

"Maj. Lorne, this is Carter."

"This is Lorne, Colonel." The major responded immediately.

"Take the Jumpers out of blast range, Evan."

"Yes, Ma'am. We'll be cloaked before the Wraith drop out of hyperspace. Good luck." Lorne was to lead all Jumpers away from the city. They would move well out of range of the shockwave and radiation created by the bomb. If the city was destroyed, the ships would be left cloaked on the mainland for the Apollo and Daedalus to collect later.

"Good luck."

"Are you ready to pull the ZPM, Radek?" Sam said.

"Yes, Colonel." He replied. This was to be his, and Sheppard's, last task in Atlantis.

"And, you have the crystal from the DHD?" She asked Rodney. The crystal for dialing Earth was useful elsewhere. He nodded desolately.

That was the last of the housekeeping. There was only the miracle left to perform.