Set slightly after the events of Chapter Nine…

Warning, slightly naughty language ahead.

THE DARKEST HOUR

"Thank God we're not claustrophobic." Sheppard grunted, wriggling through the tunnel after Teyla. His arm throbbed whenever he moved it, and part of his mind was telling him to stop moving, to let it rest and heal. He ignored that part of his mind – once referred to by his ex-wife as the intelligence centre – completely.

"We are nearly at the end of the tunnel," Teyla called. Then she paused. Sheppard stopped quickly before he could crawl into her. That would have been awkward. "Colonel, do you hear that?"

"No," Sheppard said crankily. "What am I hearing?"

"Nothing."

Well, now he felt like a jerk. "Teyla, did you–"

"I am sure it was nothing," she replied stiffly.

They had been crawling through the tunnel for nearly an hour. That was the hint that told him they had been in there an hour too long. Teyla was turning into McKay, all hurt feelings and offended pride.

A moment later, and the phenomenon had vanished, as Teyla suddenly said, "Colonel, I am sure I hear something. It sounds like hissing."

"If the Ancients put freaking space snakes in this tunnel–" A million Snakes on a Plane puns whipped through his head in an instant, and the temptation to say, "I have had it with these motherfucking snakes in this motherfucking tunnel…" became momentarily overwhelming.

"No, it is too regular. It sounds like… gas."

"Gas?" Sheppard considered slamming his head against the wall of the tunnel. They had just crawled through a tiny, tight, narrow tunnel for sixty whole minutes. Crawling through it backwards would be a massive pain in the rear, probably literally as well as figuratively. He was tired, he was hungry, his arm was killing him, and he wouldn't admit it, but he was starting to feel slightly claustrophobic. He was a pilot, for chrissakes, not a tunnel rat. The big blue sky was his arena, and god-damn did he miss it.

"I think we should keep going," he said firmly. "You said that you could see the end of the tunnel?"

"Yes, it is not far."

"Let's try and reach it before we pass out or something."

They began crawling faster, hauling themselves up the slightly-sloping floor of the tunnel. John couldn't exactly see the light at the end of the tunnel; the best he could do was a patch of darkness that was maybe not quite as dark as the rest.

He could hear it too now, a low, constant hissing. The gas was odourless, but it caught at the back of his throat and made him cough occasionally.

"Are you alright, Colonel?" Teyla called back.

"Yeah," Sheppard replied. "This stuff doesn't bother you?"

"It does not."

"That's–"

Hey, Sheppard.

"What?"

"I am sorry, Colonel?"

"Did you say something?"

It was me, you boofhead.

"No."

See, that wasn't Teyla, it was me.

"Um, Teyla, not to alarm you, but I'm hearing voices."

Wow, dude. Great way to sound sane… not!

"Ok, who are you even meant to be?" Sheppard demanded.

"Colonel…"

"Relax, Teyla, I'm not talking to you."

Idiot. 'Don't worry, Teyla, I'm not talking to you, I'm just talking to that voice in my head I just mentioned.' She's probably about to shoot you in self-defence, you know.

Sheppard glanced up. Teyla was nearly doubled over so that she could peer down at him in concern, but her hands were well away from her gun. "Colonel, we are very close to the end of the tunnel. We should keep moving."

Why bother, Sheppard? You're going to die down here anyway.

"I think I would have preferred space snakes," Sheppard told Teyla as he followed her through the last few metres of the tunnel.

Don't worry. With all the traps the Ancients packed in, plus the fuzzy native wildlife, there's probably a pit filled with space snakes in here somewhere.

"Surprisingly, that isn't making me feel better."

"John, perhaps the voice will go away if you do not respond to it."

Don't count on it, buddy boy. I'm here to stay. Just you and me, forever.

John gritted his teeth and ignored it. He had finally reached open air, so with a sigh of relief, he crawled out of the tunnel and straightened, popping his spine.

"Oh that feels good."

Yeah, because good feelings last sooo long down here.

Don't be such a pessimist. Sheppard nearly groaned: there were two of them now. John might still live. Teyla probably won't, but John might. Maybe.

"Colonel!"

Well, the first voice was right about good feelings not lasting. John trotted over to where Teyla was kneeling, and nearly tripped over a limp body.

Watch it, man. Would you want someone stepping on your face while you slept?

"Whoa! Who are these guys?"

"I do not know, but they are not well." Teyla grabbed John's hand and guided it to the pulse on the unknown person's neck. John could feel it fluttering beneath his fingers.

"It must be that gas!" John realised. "Probably why I can't get the voices in my head to shut up either."

Oh sure, blame the gas. You ever think maybe you just need a psychologist?

Talking to someone about your problems is a good idea, John. You should look into it.

"We should take these guys with us," John announced.

"Colonel, these are most likely the worshippers who shot at us." Teyla sounded like she couldn't believe Sheppard wanted to help these people.

Sheppard couldn't believe that Teyla didn't want to help these people. "Teyla, these are human beings, we aren't going to leave them to suffocate!"

Attaboy, Sheppard.

Yes, leaving them would make you as bad as the Wraith.

"Colonel…"

"That's an order, Teyla! Now, you grab that big one, and I'll take these two."

Sheppard seized the two worshippers by their torsos and half-lifted, half-dragged them down the tunnel. Teyla stared after him for a moment, then sighed and did the same to the one remaining worshipper.

They made it almost twenty metres before Sheppard had to give up. The two worshippers weren't really that heavy, but he was breathless and slightly dizzy and they felt like steel weights. "This should be far enough," he said.

"Colonel, we have saved them." Teyla's voice sounded like she was trying very hard to stay calm. "They will live. We should leave before they wake up."

"We can't! What if the gogoms come around and find them? They'd die."

"Colonel, these people are not our friends. They are worshippers–"

"They're still humans, Teyla, and I won't leave them to die. Besides, Kisri is a worshipper and you were saying just before that you trust her."

"And you were saying you did not!"

"Well, I've changed my mind."

That's right, you show her who's boss.

"Weren't there two of you before?"

Yeah, well… not enough to keep us going, you know? I got rid of that other guy.

"So you'll go away soon too."

I guess…

"Good. You still there? Hello? Hello?" He noticed Teyla staring at him and said placidly, "The voices in my head have gone." Suddenly he looked down and almost yelped. "What the hell? Teyla, we have to get out of here!"

Teyla looked like she had just seen the Ghost of You Can't Punch Your Superiors, leaning over Sheppard's shoulder shaking its finger at her. "Yes," she growled. "We should leave immediately. We should have left long ago!"

"You aren't going anywhere," a raspy voice growled at them. They both turned, to see the red-haired worshipper Teyla had dragged to safety sitting up and pointing a gun at them.

Sheppard swore.

Ok, so Sheppard did something pretty dumb there. I blame it on the gas, messing with his head. He didn't relive any memories because I decided the gas would affect people differently.