The Ghosts of Atlantis

Thanks for the reviews! It's one reason why you have this update so quickly!

oOo

14: Too Close for Comfort

The bullet zipped past him just as Rodney ducked. Too close for comfort! Rodney thought frantically to himself.

"Zelenka, hurry up! Do something!" McKay hollered as he hid behind a large lab cabinet, looking at the alien cube device that he cradled close to his chest. Placing it down, his sweaty palms began to move across it; nervous fingers dancing everywhere, feeling all sides, hoping to find every single nook and cranny of the seemingly smooth, inky black surface. His mind screamed a silent litany, 'Control panel! Control panel! Where's the damn control panel?!"

Fingers moved swiftly, driven by desperation to do something to save himself. By chance, his fingers snagged on a tiny nook, almost invisible to the human eye, placed at the bottom corner of the alien cube device. As he pressed it, he thought urgently to himself, 'Activate! Open! Start up! Anything! Dammit!'

There was a soft swishing sound and a holographic control panel suddenly projected itself on the top of the cube. Ancient text whirled across it, like tiny stars floating around in a solar system. Eyes widening with excitement, Rodney quickly began scanning what he could understand of the alien language. One word stood out among the mass of others that he didn't quite understand. But that was enough to get his heart beating wildly with excitement as he recognized the Ancient text meaning 'Shut down'. His mind processed this like lightning speed as he devised a solution on how to shut it down based on the data that he now received. His hand moved, reaching out for his handy Tablet PC, only to realize that he didn't actually have it with him. He had only managed to grab the Ancient device not his tablet when Gall had first attacked. That meant that he couldn't do what he needed to do.

"Crap!" Rodney yelped; ducking low as another set of phantom bullets flew past his head, narrowly missing him by mere inches. That was too damn close! It was getting more difficult to avoid getting hit by Brendan's friggin' bullets. The cut at his forearm throbbed painfully and was currently bleeding profusely in beat with his racing heart. His wound was also making the alien cube device wet with bloodstains as it dripped down from his slippery fingers.

Taking the cube device in his hands again, he jumped up and made a mad dash towards another set of filing cabinets. At the same time, he screamed out instructions for Zelenka to do what he required him to do. The Czech scientist, Rodney knew, had access to his laptop. It was still attached to the alien device through the wireless link that they had set up earlier. Therefore, he didn't need his tablet; inputting the new commands through the Czech's laptop would do just as well. It was difficult for Rodney to have to rely on his underling to save his life, but he had not choice here, and he had faith in Zelenka's abilities, even though he would never verbally admit it to the man himself. No point in giving Radek a big head if he could help it. After all, he had practically spoon fed the Czech scientist on the shut down process required on the modified program that they were working on.

"Pleasemakeitwork! Pleasemakeitwork! Pleasemakeitwork!" he whimpered the litany to himself over and over again, while he tried to make himself as small as possible, crouching beside the shelter of the filing cabinets. His wounded forearm was starting to hurt really badly and he wondered whether he would faint shortly as a result of blood loss.

"Yooooouuu caaaannooot escape meeee Rodney! Yoooouuu are miiiinnnee!"

He looked up, giving out a squeal of horror when he saw Brendan pointing the gun pointblank at him. Somehow, the ghost must have snuck up on him without him realizing it.

"Radek! Hurry!" he screeched in panic, his heartbeat fluttering like an out of control rail train trying to break free from his chest.

You caused this! You caused this! It's because of you that Brendan killed himself! The litany of guilt now flowed into his head.

Pull yourself together, McKay! He rebuked himself. "You're a scientist; you know that this isn't really Brendan! It's all in your own head caused by some stupid alien device!" he stammered loudly. If Zelenka couldn't help him, then perhaps he could save himself.

"Do you hear me? You're NOT real!" he yelled at the ghost who was about to pull the trigger and blow his brains out of his genius head. He felt the heat of anger override the waves of guilt flooding at him. He saw Gall pause ever so slightly. "I didn't kill you; you killed yourself! I was trying to save you! Do you hear that? You stupid son of a …"

He didn't complete his sentence as at that instance, the ghost of Gall suddenly shimmered and faded away. Rodney gaped at the sudden empty space before him.

"I think I did it!" he heard Radek whoop with joy.

Rodney turned his head and saw his assistant coming out from under a lab table near by, the Czech scientist's laptop cradled tightly in his hand.

"You … you just saved my life, Radek!" he stammered the words out without thinking.

"Yes," Radek said smugly, grinning from ear to ear. "Yes, I did!"

Rodney saw Radek looking at him closely, his features turning now a little concerned. "Are you okay, Rodney?" he asked, indicating his bleeding arm.

Rodney looked down and saw that there was now a small pool of blood forming at his feet. The deep laceration on his arm hadn't stopped bleeding.

"I'm bleeding like a struck pig!" he observed in horror. Then his eyes rolled over and he promptly fainted.

oOo

There had been numerous close calls. Twice, Sumner's ghost had almost succeeded in injuring Sheppard, but each time, Ronon managed to pull the man away. So far Ronon had managed to evade the ghostly attacks using his Specialist training in Sateda and survival instincts learnt during his time as a runner. However, the last time he wasn't fast enough. While he managed to prevent the ghost from striking Sheppard, the phantom's weapon had struck him instead - right through his upper right arm, like an icy breeze whipping through his bone and biceps from which he felt no pain. He wondered whether it would harm him later, as it did Sheppard, but he refused to think about it while he guarded Sheppard's life. Things were getting too close for comfort and Ronon couldn't do a thing to fight against the ghostly enemy that wanted Sheppard dead. A frustration was building deep within him and he was beginning to hate the ghostly visage of Sumner. As he couldn't fight back, it was making him mad as hell.

All his persuasions for Sheppard to fight against the phantom's influence were met with naught. He knew that it wasn't Sheppard fault; the Colonel was trying the best he could, but from the glazed look that he saw in the Colonel's eyes, he knew that his commander was finding it difficult to concentrate through the pain medications that were dulling his senses.

Ronon currently found a spot at the corner of a wall; they were hiding there for a moment, catching a breather. Ronon wasn't sure now where the phantom was and it was making him uneasy.

"Sheppard, can you fight it?" Ronon whispered as he shouldered more of Sheppard's weight on him, being mindful of the bandages around the man's shoulder and ribs.

John's brows furrowed. Squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, the pilot shook his head as if trying to clear the fog invading his mind or perhaps the guilt currently bombarding his senses. When Sheppard opened his eyes again, Ronon saw despair mixed with determination in the hazel eyes.

"I'm trying, dammit! What do you think I'm doing the entire time?" he gritted out loudly between tightly clenched teeth. "But I don't think it's working…"

There was a sound nearby and Ronon turned, cursing when he saw Sumner's ghost materialize itself right in front of them.

The Sumner's ghost smiled.

"Saaaaay good-byeeeeee, Sheppard!" The knife came slashing down at John.

"NO!" Ronon cried, pushing Sheppard to the ground as he dashed across at the phantom in a tackled punch. He felt a partial coldness flow through him, then Sumner's ghost was suddenly gone and all he punched was empty air.

oOo

"So basically, I saved Rodney's life," Radek smirked. "Just before he fainted!"

"Yes, you did, Radek, but I did NOT faint, I passed out through heavy blood-loss! And must you keep repeating it?! Anyway, as I was saying, it was I who figured out how to shut down the alien device and told Radek how to do it!" Rodney stated loudly, jutting his lower chin forward as he emphasized his point while gently caressing his heavily bandaged right forearm that was now a twin to the bandage of Sheppard's earlier injury. His Tablet PC was sitting on the table before him.

They were seated in the makeshift conference room again. With the crisis over, the Atlanteans were breathing a sigh of relief that the latest ghostly attacks had finally been resolved.

"Then I guess a thank you is in order, Rodney, Radek," Sheppard said smiling widely from his place in the infirmary bed, glad for once that he wasn't sprouting any new injuries. He was pleased with the turn of events.

"Yes, gentlemen," Elizabeth agreed, "There are reports that things could have been a lot worse if you hadn't managed to shut down the device. Unfortunately, I regret to report that we lost another two of our people from the last attack."

"We did?" Rodney asked, weary eyes looking shocked.

"Who were they?" Sheppard asked, his gaze piercing as he pursed his lips together in a tight line.

Elizabeth looked down at the tablet she held in her hand, reading the electronic report. "A Corporal Clysean and Lieutenant Marker, both marines; they came with the new batch of personnel that arrived the same time with General O'Neill."

"Did you know any of them, John?" Elizabeth asked.

Sheppard shook his head grimly. "No, I never got the chance to meet them yet."

"Did you say Clysean and Marker?" O'Neill asked, looking up.

"Yes," Elizabeth said, turning towards Jack. "Know them?" She lifted an enquiring eyebrow.

Jack nodded. "Being forced to travel the Daedalus for almost a month, you get to know some of the personnel, not personally, but enough to remember names and faces. Marker was pretty quiet, but good with numbers and computers, he helped me access some computer files that I needed help with. As for Clysean, he was your basic grunt - a big man with a short temper. I saw him gambling with some of the crew on board Daedalus during their down time, he almost started a fight when one of the crew accused him of cheating. I had to break it up before it turned nasty. I think if I wasn't his superior officer he would have slugged me for interfering."

"Good thing you are General then," Zelenka observed.

"Yeah," O'Neill agreed. "How did they die?"

Elizabeth looked down at her report, frowning slightly. "It seems that Marker was shot and Clysean was stabbed in the chest."

"Aye, when the medical teams arrived, both men were dead upon arrival. Dr. Biro is currently doing an autopsy on them; she should have news for us soon," Carson added.

"Was anyone with them when it happened?" Sheppard asked, clearly disturbed by the news that two men under his command had been killed.

Weir looked down at her screen. "According to the report, Marker didn't have anyone assigned to watch him; I hope that we didn't miss his name by accident. But Corporal Clysean had Lieutenant Holden with him. Holden reported that when the phantom appeared screaming accusations at the Corporal, Clysean was overcome by its influence, he punched Holden before running off, impaling himself on the phantom's blade."

"Ouch," said O'Neill, wincing.

"Aye," Carson agreed, looking slightly paler at the news.

Rodney who was busy tapping on his tablet with his stylus, suddenly spoke, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! The Lieutenant who was killed, was his name Lieutenant Brent W Marker?"

"Yes, Rodney. What of it?" Elizabeth asked, looking at him curiously.

"Humph, well according to our data, I can see why no one was assigned to watch Marker's back… It's because he doesn't have the ATA gene!" Rodney exclaimed.

At that moment, Carson's radio activated. He listened to it for a while, his features turning darker. Clearly, the news that he received wasn't good.

"Thank you Dr. Biro, I'm with Dr. Weir and the others now. I'll inform them of your findings," Beckett finally spoke to his earpiece. He then turned to look around at the others.

"Let me guess," Rodney interceded before Carson could utter the first word. "Dr. Biro just found an actual bullet in Marker's body. He wasn't killed by a phantom bullet as we originally expected."

Carson looked up surprised. "Aye, Rodney, how did you know that?"

McKay jutted his lower chin forward and said smugly, "Simple deduction, my good doctor. As Marker didn't have the ATA gene, it was obvious that he wasn't killed by phantoms. Whoever who actually killed Marker must have been hoping that we'd think that the ghost killed him too."

"Which means that we have a murderer in Atlantis," said Sheppard, looking very much disturbed by this.

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TBC