Chapter Fourteen

Morning came too early. Doused in the shadows of his office, Rodney nursed his second cup of coffee and wondered when Langham would make an appearance, all the while cursing a conscience that was trying its damndest to make him feel guilty for shutting Sheppard out. For his own good.

Whatever.

He'd probably be over it by that night, short attention span and all that. Rodney tipped his mug back up and proceeded to take a large gulp of the scalding liquid. He was in the middle of swallowing when the rap at his doorframe came.

"Knock knock."

It had been a toss-up between Rodney doing a spit take or swallowing his insanely large and entirely too hot swig of caffeinated brew. He wound up swallowing in one painful gulp, sending himself into a sputtering coughing fit as something went down the wrong pipe. Marrick just stood in the doorway to his office looking nonplussed, probably not caring one way or another if Rodney was in need of any Heimlich maneuvers.

When Rodney finally managed to regain some measure of calm, he gasped out. "What?"

"Langham sent me to get you."

Eyes watering from nearly choking to death, Rodney just rubbed his throat and stared at the security officer and hoped that he was telegraphing his confusion clearly. Or perhaps just the image of a scientist too frazzled to function before ten o'clock in the morning. Either way, Marrick simply remained in the doorway, staring impassively at him.

"Come again?" he finally managed.

"Dr. Langham got sidetracked. He asked me to give you the tour."

"Tour? Of what?"

Marrick's face gave away nothing as he motioned towards the hallway. "Let's go."

A knot of dread worked its way through him, but Rodney pushed himself up from his desk, leaving the remainder of his coffee cooling on his desk as he struggled to keep up with the rapid pace the security officer was setting. It was hard not to show his confusion as they made their way through the maze of hallways, toward the entrance to the R&D wing.

"We're leaving?"

"Not exactly."

Marrick pulled him around the corner leading to the door that Sheppard was so fascinated with. Rodney tried not to shy away from the touch, but a shiver ran through him nonetheless. The angry cloud of suspicion had left Marrick's expression, but the cool aloofness remained. Rodney supposed that should be a good thing, but he had his doubts.

Marrick stepped up to the door, barely flicking a glance at the man he was escorting. "Are you ready?"

"For what?"

"Your new assignment," Marrick said, laying his hand on the biometric sensor. A green light flashed under his palm, and the status indicator lit up in blue briefly.

A hiss indicated the lock was releasing, allowing Marrick to pull open the door with ease. Resisting the urge to lick suddenly dry lips, Rodney's hesitation was brief as he was beckoned beyond the door. He cautiously stepped forward, watching everything with wide eyes. This corridor was much of the same, a long hallway that led to another set of double doors. Marrick didn't feel the need to fill the walk with idle chit-chat, and so Rodney just listened to the sickening pounding of his own heart in his ears as they made their way down the hall.

"How many of these are there?"

Marrick ignored the question, and bent down until he was eye-level with the panel set into the wall. Another light, this one dimmer, shone out as it made its scan. Well, that explained the retinal scan from his first day.

"Where are we going?"

"Downstairs," Marrick said simply.

The doors slid open to reveal a small, simple elevator. Perhaps Rodney was trapped in a dream where he suddenly was allowed access to all of the answers that he needed, because it didn't feel like reality as he stepped into the elevator.

"I don't understand," Rodney said softly. "Why are you showing me this?"

"Langham has been pushing to move you on to bigger projects for a while now, but we had to be sure first."

"Sure of what?"

"Your willingness to protect company interests," Marrick intoned smoothly as he pulled out what looked like a small tape recorder and pressed the play button.

Rodney swallowed as Sheppard's distant and tinny recorded voice played on the small speakers. "Aren't you curious?"

Marrick quirked a brow as Rodney's eyes widened and he had to remind himself to breathe. He could only shake his head and repeat softly. "I don't understand."

The conversation continued to play, as well as the one from Christmas Day. He had known he was probably being listened to, but faced with the evidence he wasn't sure what his reaction was supposed to be. Perhaps those who didn't suspect they were being monitored would be flustered or outraged, not quiet and wide-eyed.

"Just drop it!" His own voice echoed from the device, berating Sheppard for his continued interest in getting himself killed.

He swallowed heavily, and looked at Marrick with wide eyes. "I still don't understand..."

"You passed the test," Marrick returned tightly. "I suppose I should welcome you to the team."

"What team?"

Marrick just remained mute and the rest of the elevator ride was filled with silence, and a mounting sense of dread.

The daze followed Rodney off of the elevator and into the corridors that were a stripped down, more utilitarian version of the R&D wing. The hallways had the same twisting quality of their upstairs counterparts, and a small part of his mind wondered if the layout was an exact replica. Marrick wasn't much of a tour guide, and was content to let the uncomfortable silence fill their walk through the almost barren hallways.

They passed various open doorways where Rodney could spy people intently focused on whatever they were working on at their lab stations. He tried to squash any sense of rising curiosity, but it must have shown on his face.

"This is where we conduct our most sensitive research."

"I gathered it was something like that," Rodney managed to force a little bit of annoyance in his voice for posterity's sake. "I just haven't figured out what 'that' is exactly."

"Soon enough, Doctor."

Marrick stopped in front of a sizeable doorway with another biometric sensor. He palmed the sensor, and the doors swooshed open to reveal a large room littered with debris. Unable to resist his rising curiosity, Rodney followed Marrick in with only a hint of hesitancy. His eyes tracked over the contents of the room, what looked like electrical and mechanical components to a machine of some sort were scattered about the floor. In the far corner of the room sat the skeleton of what could have once been a plane. "What is that?"

"Doesn't it look familiar?"

Rodney frowned, clasping his arms behind his back so he could work the trigger on his watch as he took a closer look. The massive, curved wingspan, and the general dimensions of the remainder of the ship did seem familiar... actually...

They were almost identical to the X-302.

"Is that a... prototype?"

"No," Marrick said flatly. "It's a predecessor."

"Predecessor?" Rodney flicked his gaze back to Marrick, unsure of what to make of the flat expression on the other man's face. "It looks just like the X-302."

"It should, since it's what we modeled it after."

"How can that be possible? I didn't think anyone had managed to achieve this kind of engineering—"

"They haven't," Marrick cut him shortly. "We've been doing a little reverse engineering."

"Well, if you're doing that, then someone had to make the damn thing!"

"Someone did," there was another tight, humorless smile, "just not who you think."

"You're not making any sense."

"Let's continue the tour," and without another word Marrick had left the room, leaving Rodney to scurry after him before he could get any more pictures.

"I'm really confused," Rodney said, forced to dodge to the side as a pair of harried scientists cut by. He flicked them a look, knowing he had seen them at some point during his tour of the scientific circuit. "What's going on here?"

"Are you not enjoying the tour?"

"You suck at tours," Rodney snapped out before he could stop himself. He quickly looked away before Marrick could give him another one of those cold, appraising stares. "Look, I don't see why you're showing me this if you're just going to keep giving me the double-speak routine."

"All will be explained soon enough."

Rodney was able to contain the snort of derision, but just barely. They lapsed into silence again as they navigated through the hallways, which grew more and more congested with traffic. He had to hover uncomfortably close to Marrick as they picked up their speed and dodged incoming travelers. They were a curious mix of scientists Rodney had occasionally seen around the building intermixed with several beefy individuals who must have been part of Marrick's security force.

They all gave Rodney a curious glance but didn't attempt idle conversation or greetings. He had just about lost himself in the twisted maze when they reached another elevator with the same retina scanner as before. Rodney's skin was starting to crawl with the sensation of something being wrong, when an almost familiar bellow belted out a string of unfamiliar words.

"Go'tak! Kel kek!"

With a morbid sense of fascination, Rodney twisted where he stood and was barely able to catch a glimpse of the same dark-skinned individual who had attacked him and Sheppard. The man was still dressed in white scrubs, strapped down to a gurney manned by two security type officers.

"What the hell?" he breathed.

"Ah," Marrick said, "our guest."

"He doesn't look like a guest."

"Guest is the polite term." Rodney untwisted to see that Marrick had summoned the elevator and was waiting somewhat impatiently for the scientist to join him. "I'm afraid his stay here is... less than voluntary."

His gut twisted as Sheppard's objections raised in the back of his mind. It took all of Rodney's willpower to force a shaky smile and step on the elevator with Marrick, who was watching him intently.

He knew he was supposed to question that, but he was having a hard time finding a way to phrase it correctly without raising Marrick's suspicions. "Is there a reason why?"

"Because he's not human."

"What?"

"He's an alien." Perhaps Rodney was dreaming, because he could have just sworn that Marrick had just implied... "They call themselves Jaffa."

The only Jaffa Rodney had ever heard of was an orange flavored British snack cake that was particularly harmful to a man with citrus allergies. Not exactly a fear inducing name for an alien species—well, except for the citrus part.

"They're basically human incubators for another alien race," Marrick explained simply, as if he were talking about the weather outside. "We really don't know much about them since our 'guest' is the first live specimen that we've managed to acquire."

Using the phrase "specimen" to describe another human being—because there was no outward indication or markers of the man being extraterrestrial—made Rodney's skin crawl in a completely different way than it had been. The elevator continued to descend, and it was an effort to keep his true feelings on the matter buried underneath a mildly curious tone. "I'm afraid I don't quite follow. By alien you mean..."

"Not from this planet."

"That's not possible."

"Oh, it is. In fact, the ship I showed you is built by that same alien race I mentioned."

"Let's pretend for a second that there is such thing as aliens. How exactly are you kidnapping them and their ships? Did they land here?"

"Not... exactly."

"Then what?"

"You're about to find out."

This elevator ride led to another corridor with a similar door to the one leading into this madhouse. Marrick continued to lead the way, playing human key with his handprint on the biometric sensors. He gave Rodney a measuring look before reaching for the door.

"There's no turning back from this point."

Rodney doubted there was much turning back after talk of aliens from other planets, which sounded like a load of rubbish to his ears, but he had come this far. He might as well see it through. "I'm ready."

"We'll see."

The door was pushed open to reveal... another hallway.

Really. Just another plain, claustrophobic hall leading to another T-intersection. He smothered a sigh of frustration and followed Marrick's lead, tucking his hands in his pocket to keep from fiddling with his watch. Whatever Vertrauen was hiding, they seemed pretty adamant about making it difficult to find. Rodney had his doubts about being able to navigate his way back down here again without help.

As they reached the T-intersection, they were joined by harried-looking Langham.

"Just in time," he said by way of greeting, wiping a hand across his sweaty brow. "They're about to dial out."

"Did you find the problem?"

"Weaver thinks it was just a fluke in the dialing program," Langham explained and flicked a glance at Rodney. "Dr. McKay, glad you could join us."

"It's been... interesting," he managed to reply.

"I had hoped to conduct the tour myself, but we had a little issue arise with our software. You know how it is." At Rodney's blank look, he continued. "You don't know?"

"I thought I would leave the difficult explanations for you." Marrick gave Langham a measuring look. "You wanted him."

The look was returned with an equally miffed expression. "He's trustworthy. You agreed to that."

"I did." Marrick's nose wrinkled in distaste. "But I have more important things to do than to play escort."

"Fine, fine," Langham cut in, "I'll take over from here."

"Good," Marrick said tersely, giving Rodney a brief, dark look. "I have to brief the outgoing team."

"They're waiting for you in the briefing room," Langham explained, perhaps unnecessarily because Marrick just rolled his eyes.

"They're scheduled to leave within the hour. Will that be all right with you?"

"A live demonstration works best for these kinds of things," Langham said airily. "Dr. McKay, if you'll follow me. As I was telling you yesterday... I have something I would like to show you."

The ring was so massive it took up almost the entire room, and the detailed workings on the stone-like metal were fascinating. He could see no seams on the object, even as he was allowed to run his hands along the massive totem. It was solid, and absolutely beautiful from an aesthetics standpoint. The structure actually had two rings from what he could tell. There was the outer one, adorned with decorative etchings and nine large, red, and evenly spaced chevrons. The inner ring looked like it might spin, and had a variety of strange symbols embossed in the surface. He could see no manufactured lines anywhere on it, and with its massive size...

He looked up to the ceiling way above, barely making out a seam to a large bay of doors. They had probably gotten it in that way. Rodney would have to consult the building's diagrams to see what took up the space on the floors above. He had his suspicions the official blue prints were doctored to hide the underground maze and this room. Either way, from the light layer of dust on one of the chevrons, it didn't appear like it had been lowered in here recently.

"It's magnificent, isn't it?"

Rodney glanced over his shoulder at Langham, who had been holding back and letting Rodney gaze at the massive artifact in wonder. "What is it?"

"According to the translation we managed to get from an archaeologist a few years ago... it's called a Stargate."

Rodney tucked his hands back into his pockets as he turned away from the ring. He'd managed to get several close shots so far. He wasn't sure what Lorne and his people would do with them, but Rodney had them now. Now he just needed an explanation to go along with them. "A star... gate? What the heck is that?"

"Just what it sounds like."

"A bad marketing gimmick?"

"No." Langham frowned. Apparently he had woken up without a sense of humor that morning. "It's a portal to the stars."

"Right," Rodney snorted unbelievingly.

"It's true," Langham retorted proudly before resuming his usual nasally superior tone. "We use it to make runs to other planets, where we try to find things that might turn a profit."

"What kind of 'things'?"

"Anything really; medicines, knowledge, but mostly technology that we can bring back and reverse engineer."

"Like the X-302?"

"Exactly!"

"Forgive me," Rodney didn't sound contrite as he fixed Langham with a look, "but how does a giant metal ring enable you to travel to other planets?"

"It creates a stable wormhole—"

"It creates a wormhole?" Rodney snorted. "That's impossible. Not only are they theoretical, but the power requirements to bend space-time would be astronomical—"

"It's very expensive to do, I can assure you of that." Langham motioned Rodney toward the exit that led to the control room that overlooked the current one. "The Gate is made of pure naquadah, so that eases the power requirements some, but we still have to feed it electricity to establish a connection."

"Naquadah?" Rodney spun around to look at the object. "I thought you said that element is rare, why would you use it to build—"

"We didn't build it," Langham explained. "It was found in an archaeological dig back in 1927 in Giza, by one of our founders in fact."

"Heinrich Grüper," Rodney muttered, remembering the name from the Vertrauen literature.

"Yes, that's him. There was some sort of falling out with his partner, and Grüper wound up with it in his private collection. Since he had no children, his entire estate was willed to the company, and that's when we discovered it. It took us years to figure out its true function—we probably would have never gotten it working without the translation of the Giza ruins given to us by that misguided archaeologist."

"Misguided archaeologist?" Rodney did his best impression of Sheppard, arching a brow in interest.

"He had a crazy theory that the Great Pyramids were built as landing platforms for aliens."

"Ah yes, he sounds like a real winner."

"The thing is, Dr. McKay... he was right."

"Oh, come on!" Rodney snorted. "There are no such things as aliens, or wormholes for that matter. I mean, yes, they're a valid theory in general relativity but you can't create one in reality. And even if you could, to travel through a wormhole with our current level of technology would be akin to trying to travel through a tree shredder."

"I agree," Langham said patiently, "but we didn't build it."

"No, you just uncovered it in the 1920s. I don't know about you but when I think of flappers and prohibition, I think of renowned feats in astrophysics. How far we've regressed in these eighty years."

Langham sighed. "Your skepticism isn't unexpected."

"It's a lot to swallow on your word alone."

"I know," out came the political smile that Rodney had really not been missing at all this morning, "and that's why I've arranged a demonstration."

The control room for the "Stargate" was a series of computer stations with more buttons than Rodney had seen in his entire lifetime. It was manned by several people whose entire attention was focused on the team of four, overly buff security men assembling in the room below.

Rodney stood with his arms crossed, on the surface appearing put out, but he had shifted his hands to where he could naturally tap at the camera's trigger on his watch. Langham excitedly rocked on his feet on one side of Rodney, and Marrick loomed moodily on the other. The technicians at the consoles didn't seem bothered by the loud keen emanating from the speakers above them or the flashing red lights. It was just another day as far as they were concerned.

The "Stargate" was moving smoothly, each chevron glowing a bright red as it locked into place with each symbol. As the sixth one locked in place, with a needless announcement of said fact, Langham glanced over at him. "You should take a closer look."

"Closer? I can see perfectly fine from here."

"Trust me."

Grumbling, Rodney allowed himself to be escorted closer to the large window, finding a comfortable spot just as the technician shouted out that the seventh chevron had been locked. Over the keen, Rodney heard a strange, mechanical whir. Eyes riveted to the ring below and still rhythmically tapping the trigger button, he watched in fascination as a brief surge of electricity crackled across the ring. Before he could comment, blue energy shimmered at the edges of the inner ring before joining together to form one giant water-like wave. He took a step back involuntarily as it rushed outward from the center before collapsing back on itself, leaving a completely vertical blue pool of energy shimmering in its wake.

His breath caught in his throat and he took that same step forward, forgetting about taking pictures as he reached out toward the glass as if he could touch the energy. It continued to shimmer enticingly, beckoning Rodney to come forward and see if he could feel the energy fluctuations in the event horizon.

"Now do you believe?" Langham asked smugly.

Rodney just stared in awe as the four men, heedless of the fact that they were walking into a giant pool of electricity, made the short trek up the small metal ramp that stood in front of the Stargate and disappeared through the portal. He dimly heard radio confirmation of their safe arrival on "the other side", wherever the hell it was. He continued to watch, enthralled and terrified by the spectacle before him.

"Shut it down," Marrick said lightly. "No need to waste energy. I think Langham has proven his point."

The shimmering blue light winked out of existence as if it had never been there to begin with, leaving only the giant monolith standing in the room below him. Rodney knew that he hadn't ingested any citrus in the past few minutes, but he was still finding it hard to breathe as he stared at what could only be a harbinger of things to come.

It felt like reality was practically crumbling down around him as his world suddenly became much smaller, and the universe grew vastly in size. If travel to other worlds was possible, that meant that there could in fact be life beyond Earth. If Marrick and Langham were to be believed, then not only was that true, but they were actively stirring the intergalactic plot by scavenging other worlds and kidnapping their populaces. It would only be a matter of time before the "Jaffa" upstairs was missed—and someone came looking for him.

And Rodney had a feeling that would be a very bad thing.

John wasn't quite over the brush off he'd received the night before, but he was trying to push it to the back of his mind. McKay was making it very clear that he didn't want any help, even though every fiber of John's being told him that the scientist was neck deep in some kind of trouble. He just had no idea what.

It was hard to remain on the sidelines. John didn't... get attached to people often, yet somehow Rodney's brash demeanor had slipped past his defenses. He wasn't sure what bothered him the most; the fact that had happened without John realizing, Rodney being in trouble but refusing help, or John having to ignore his instincts in order to "mind his own business".

However, he hadn't left things well the night before so he needed to make sure that Rodney showed up for their outing that night. If Carson got wind of another disagreement, John would be back on peanut butter sandwiches for sure. Damn Laverne and her culinary talents made for effective bargaining tools. As John approached the scientist's office, he braced himself for a tongue lashing and an onslaught of sarcasm.

He didn't expect to find Rodney hunched over his desk staring off into space and white as a sheet. John's concern ratcheted up several notches as he watched his friend do everything but shake as he held his glasses in front of him as if he were transfixed by them.

"Rodney?" he asked softly. "You okay?"

The other man didn't jump, but the startled way he dropped the glasses to the desk did nothing to assure John of his friend's mental well-being. "Sheppard... what are you doing here?"

"Just came to remind you about the game." John tapped his watch. "It's just about quitting time."

"Oh, I," he looked away, busily stuffing items into his bag. "I can't come."

"Why not?" John pursed his lips, not liking the frantic movements. "Look, about last night, I'm sorry. I just—"

"It has nothing to do with you, I just... something has come up. Something really big. "

"Like what?"

There was a brief, almost terrified glance in his direction, before Rodney finished shoving the contents of his desk into his bag. "It's really not a good time."

John took a chance and ventured into the office, resting his hip against the desk in what appeared to be a casual slouch. Rodney barely spared him a look before seeming to realize he was trying to pack his entire office. John could only quirk a brow in question as the items from the bag were carefully removed and placed back on the desk's surface. "You really don't look good."

"I'm fine!" Rodney snapped.

"You don't look it."

"Well, I am!" Sweat was beading at Rodney's brow as he tried to rearrange his desk to its original position and simultaneously avoid meeting John's gaze.

"Look, whatever it is—"

"Don't you listen?" Rodney snapped. "I'm not in the mood—"

"Knock knock."

Every muscle in John's body knotted up at the greeting and from the close distance, he could see Rodney practically tremble and grasp the desk for support. Schooling his features, John turned to see Marrick poking his head through the doorway.

"Dr. McKay," Marrick barely flicked a glance in John's direction, "I just wanted to apologize for my brusqueness earlier this morning."

"That's fine," Rodney smiled shakily, but his voice didn't waver with the uncertainty that he had been projecting before Marrick's arrival. "There was a lot going on."

"Yes," the tight, controlled glance in John's direction made the hairs on the back of his neck rise, "but since we'll be working together, I wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings."

"None at all."

John's stomach dropped as he watched the silent interplay between them. The tightening muscles and almost twitch to Rodney's eye told John that he wasn't pleased with the situation, but also that the statement had been accurate. Rodney was going to be working with Marrick? It was none of his business, John knew that, he'd been told it many a time.

"Are you leaving?" Marrick asked lightly, but John could see a hint of suspicion in the sharp gaze.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rodney didn't exactly freeze, but the way his fingers dug into the desk harder told John that the question had caught him off guard. Quickly processing Marrick's arrival with Rodney's shift in demeanor, John decided that wanted or not, he would offer a little help.

"We had plans," John said lightly. "Going to catch the game tonight."

"Really?" Marrick raised an eyebrow in interest, shooting the look at Rodney. "Is that so?"

"Yes," Rodney said quickly, "hockey it's a, uh..."

"Canadian thing," John interjected before McKay fumbled completely. "It seems that our little Poindexter is missing the motherland a little. Thought I'd try to cheer him up with his national pastime."

He could feel the scathing glare pointed in his direction for the "little Poindexter" comment and John couldn't hide his smirk. Riling Rodney would never get old. Unfortunately, Marrick was still hovering so John shot his friend a pointed look. "You ready to leave?"

"Yes," he snapped and grabbed his bag, knocking a few items from his desk to the floor in the process. "Sorry, Marrick, but we'll need to pick this up on Monday."

"Of course," came the smooth reply.

John, perhaps not so subtly, positioned himself to where he stood between Marrick and the scientist as he moved out of the small office. He did his best to ignore the stare tracking their movements down the hall, and tried to keep up a casual conversation about the merits of football over hockey for appearances sake. Rodney really didn't participate in the conversation but the thankful, relieved look he graced John with was worth the extra effort.

He was still unsettled because while the nervousness had faded away, John could tell there was something still really wrong.

Back in McKay's office, Marrick picked up one of the fallen items from the desk and began turning it over in his hands curiously. The lenses on the glasses caught the overhead fluorescent lighting and glinted dangerously.