A SHOW OF TRUST
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: A MEETING OF THE MINDS

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McKay's lab had been stripped of several pieces of equipment, to create room for everyone. Both McKay and Straein had both been wheeled in on gurneys, placed on opposite sides of the table where the Renzite ball had shattered. Pieces of it had been placed there, in case Straein still had a connection to it, as Tae seemed to believe. Tae and Sheppard were lying on cots on either side of Straein and McKay, respectively. Sheppard's fingers were tapping away on his breastbone, his eyes staring up despondently at the ceiling. Tae was propped up on his elbows, talking with Corporal Recillos and Sergeant Bates. Everyone else waited outside the room.

Beckett had, understandably, disagreed with the set up, wanting to be in the room as well, but as he appeared to have no protection of any kind, Weir had overridden him. Both people's fear was palpable as the door slid shut on them, locking the six people inside.

Sheppard listened with half an ear as Tae stressed the importance of silence to the two marines. He had initially asked for no one to be in the room, but that had about as much chance of happening as a snowball in hell.

Speaking of hell….

"Okay," Tae looked over at the major, "You ready?"

"No," Sheppard snapped back. "What do I have to do?"

"Nothing. Just lie back. I'll take care of leading you to where Doctor McKay is."

Sheppard sighed, tilting his head to look at Tae, "Can I just reiterate what a bad idea this is?"

"Now you sound like McKay," Ford's voice echoed over the radio near Sheppard's ear. The major chuckled, shifting his eyes to Recillos and Bates. The transmitter was by his head, but he wasn't wearing the earpiece.

"You'll be fine, major," the corporal promised confidently. Sheppard looked over at her, and saw she had her hands tightly gripped around the P90. She saw him notice, and loosened the grip. Bates just exuded confidence, as he always did.

His smile vanished, and both marines straightened a little at the suddenly deadly serious look on the major's face.

"Tae or Straein tries anything…." Sheppard said softly. Both people nodded. They would do what they had to.

On his side of the room, Tae grimaced, but didn't remark on that. "Again, are you ready major?"

Sheppard shifted, tilting his head back on the pillow, sighed, and closed his eyes. "Let's just get this over with."

Tae nodded, leaned back himself, and closed his eyes.

Sheppard's brow furrowed, as a small headache formed around his temples. A moment later, he frowned as it intensified, beating faster and harsher, like someone was hammering at his forehead. He opened his mouth, and an involuntary gasp escaping him as a sudden, really sharp pain pierced through his head. It felt like someone had just thrust an ice pick through his skull.

He opened his eyes, and saw the word as if through a filmy glass, distorted and discolored. Corporal Recillos looked scared, her mouth open as if saying something, taking a step towards him. He tried to answer when….

Everything went black.

He couldn't help it—he yelled.

"Major!" Tae's voice cut through his scream, and Sheppard looked for the source of the voice. "Major, it's all right!"

"Where are you?" Sheppard yelled, looking everywhere. He pushed himself up off the now invisible cot he was lying on, trying to see around him. "Tae?"

"Yes, I'm here."

And, suddenly, he was. He was standing a few feet away. Nothing else was visible—just the monk, his hands clasped together in front of him, his eyes on the major. He was like a shining beacon in the darkness.

"You're all right," Tae assured him. "Everything's all right."

"Where are we?" Sheppard couldn't keep the tremor from his voice.

"Right now…you're in my mind."

Sheppard's eyes widened, "What?"

"I connected to your mind, and brought you here. And now I'm going to find Doctor McKay. But you must stay calm. I'm trying to connect four minds together which, believe me, is not easy. And you're incredibly distracting."

"I'm distracting?" the major squeaked.

"Please," Tae sighed, "just…stay still. For a little bit."

Sheppard grimaced, but, after a moment, he nodded.

Tae disappeared.

The major looked down, and realized that, again, he couldn't see anything. He couldn't even see himself. He lifted his hand up in front of his face, and there was nothing there. Just the sensation of knowing that his hand was there. He wiggled his fingers. Nothing.

God this was freaky.

Then, slowly, the world began to lighten.

The outline of his hand became visible, and he wiggled his fingers again. He saw them move.

Oh thank God.

He looked around him more carefully now, and realized he was still in McKay's lab. It slowly came more and more into focus, the colors losing their shadowed quality and becoming real again.

He frowned. Did Tae fail?

He sat up more fully on the cot when everything looked back to normal, swinging his legs over the side, more comfortable now that he could actually see it, and looked towards the door, to where Bates and Recillos were….

There was no one there.

He straightened from his slouch. What the hell?

Fear spiked through him, and he looked around at the room. McKay was still lying on his gurney next to him. The shards of Renzite were still loosely collected on the central lab bench. And Straein lay on the far side—though she appeared oddly insubstantial.

Tae was sitting up on the other cot, his legs also hanging over the side and his body half curled over, his eyes tightly shut.

Sheppard cleared his throat, "Tae?"

The monk took a deep breath, and opened his eyes, lifting them to meet the major's. He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. His eyes were shadowed, a visible tremor wracked his body, and Sheppard was sure those were sweat drops running down the sides of the man's face. Tae looked around him more fully, eyeing the room.

"Yes, I see," the monk sighed. "I see what's he's done." He even sounded tired.

"What who's done?" Sheppard asked.

"Doctor McKay. This will work."

"You lost me."

Tae smiled a little at that, and nodded, "I'm not surprised." He blew the air out of his cheeks, then pushed himself off onto the cot. "Right now, we are both inside Doctor McKay's mind—or at least, on the edge of it. I brought you here. I've also managed to touch and connect a little of Straein's mind to here as well. And you have unconsciously used your own power to make this place appear as it does in reality. Thank you—it helps."

"Again," Sheppard frowned, "what?"

Tae sighed again, and started again. "I connected you to me, as you know. Then I sought out Straein, and connected her to me as well. Then I sought out Doctor McKay and did as I said I would. I found what is remaining of his mind in his body, and followed the stream out to where his conscious and subconscious exist outside of it. And here we are."

Sheppard blinked again, looking around, "But we're on Atlantis."

"Uh…no. We're not. But then again," Tae shrugged, "yes, we are."

Sheppard's eyes narrowed. "You know what? That didn't help."

"That is, this Atlantis is in Doctor McKay's mind, though you and I have affected this particular room in it. This is where he is."

"Huh?"

Tae frowned, tilting his head, "What exactly were you expecting, major?"

"I was expecting…something else. You said a stream and a waterfall. I think I was expecting the outdoors, somewhere, and a waterfall and maybe a void, or something…."

Tae smiled, and shook his head. "The subconscious mind is very strong, and still able to function coherently, even outside of the body, so long as it remains even remotely connected to it. Doctor McKay's subconscious built this construct, as a means to keep his conscious mind from straying too far, and to protect it. Sort of like a halfway house—partway between life—which is his body—and death—which is nothingness. He apparently feels at home on Atlantis, and feels the most connected to his life here, so this is where his conscious mind is…but it also represents a place he is very scared of, and he probably thinks he will die here—that it will eventually kill him."

Sheppard listened to this, his eyebrows furrowing. After a moment he nodded, "Okay. So what does that mean?"

Tae looked like he was resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "It means…that this is where you will find your doctor. You need to seek him out. Call to him, talk to him, whatever it takes. Just find him, wherever he is in this place, and bring him back to this room. To where his body lies. I'll do the rest."

Sheppard arched an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound too hard," he said tentatively.

"Yes, but remember," Tae licked his lips, "Doctor McKay's conscious mind will be very fractured. What part of him that is even aware of what is happening to him, if it is at all, will be terrified and lost. He will be seeking understanding and help, but he will also be running from everything. Part of him will resist you. His doubts, his fears, his pain-all that is here, and a large part of him will want that to end, meaning he'll want to give up….You have to convince him to return with you before that happens. Do you understand?"

Sheppard met his eyes, then looked away towards the closed door of the room.

"Yeah," he admitted softly. "I get it. Try to talk him off the ledge. Gotcha."

"Good. Then there is just one other—"

"That is, I know what you want me to do," Sheppard interrupted him, speaking listlessly, "but that doesn't mean I can do it."

Tae looked at him. Then looked down, obviously thinking about how to respond.

"McKay doesn't trust me," Sheppard explained, turning away from the door to look at the monk again. "He won't respond to me. I might even make it worse. Hell, I probably will make it worse."

Tae continued to stare at the floor. Then he shrugged, looking up, "Try the door."

"What?" Sheppard looked again towards the closed door of the room.

"Just try it."

The major shrugged, walked to the door and raising his hand to touch the pad. But before he could, the door opened on its own with a soft swish, stopping the major in his tracks. The hallway outside was as quiet as a tomb. He turned around to look at Tae, eyes wide open.

"I didn't open it," he said, clearly surprised.

"No you didn't," Tae smiled. "He did. He's letting you in, major."

For a second, Sheppard didn't move. He just let the meaning of the words sink in. Then he turned again to look at the hallway.

"That is," Tae amended, "his subconscious let you in. This room, while in his mind, has also been altered by your and my perception of it. But the hallway beyond is just in Doctor McKay's mind. His subconscious let you open the door and see the hallway beyond. It recognized you, knows you're here. If I were you," Tae smiled, "I wouldn't be so sure to assume you know the mind of your friend." The smile grew, "He may surprise you."

Sheppard continued to look at the hallway, trying to make sense of all this.

"And…one more thing," Tae said. Sheppard looked back at him, his brow furrowing when he noticed that Tae seemed strangely uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"What?" he asked.

"If…you can't reach Dr. McKay. If you find…that you can't save him. If this place begins to fall apart, get back to this room, as fast as possible."

Sheppard's frown deepened, "Why?"

Tae grimaced, "So…you don't get lost as well."

Sheppard stared at him, then closed his mouth. He guessed at what the man was implying, but wasn't going to push it to full comprehension. He just nodded to show he would do as he was told. He didn't want to think about it further. Things were bad enough.

"All right then," Tae nodded back, "I must go now." He sighed, "I'm going to find where Straein has sent her conscious mind. When I do, if I can convince her to join me, I will bring her here. With both of them in this room…we should be able to bring them both back."

Sheppard gave a single nod to the monk as he finished. "Okay."

"Good luck," Tae smiled.

"You too."

The monk gave a slight bow, then closed his eyes. With a shudder, he simply vanished.

Sheppard swallowed harshly, looked one more time at the silent, unmoving body of McKay on the table, then turned and walked out of the room into the hallway.

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TBC – I swear, it gets fun again after these two chapters!