Elizabeth stood waiting for them as they came through the wormhole. Her welcoming smile tried to hide her anxiety, but it didn't quite mange to, at least not to those who knew her well.
She stepped forward to greet Radolf, her smile slightly wider. Her face hid her surprise at the sight of the doca leader. He was unlike any of the others of his kind that she had seen. He did not have the human form that Tollany adopted, or the pet-like form of the doca she had encountered. But her diplomatic training allowed her to hid her surprise.
"Welcome to Atlantis," she said to Radolf. "I'm Dr Elizabeth Weir."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Dr Weir," Radolf replied. "I am sorry my people have caused you and your people so much harm."
"Have you found Carson yet?" Rodney interrupted. "Or Cadman?"
Elizabeth's smile faltered. "No, I'm afraid not. And Colonel Sheppard is now missing, too. Tollany took him."
"Ah…" Rodney replied. "She has some kind of transporter technology."
"I am afraid that is one of the few pieces of the Ancestors' technology that we can still operate," Radolf said.
"Has Radek tired to extend the internal sensor's range to scan the areas of the city not covered?" Rodney asked.
"He's working on it now," Elizabeth confirmed.
"Well, I'd better go to see what sort of mess he's making of it," Rodney replied, setting off in the direction of the science labs.
"We also have teams out searching for them," Elizabeth added.
"With your permission, we would like to join those teams." Teyla stated, as Ronon stood at her side, nodding his confirmation of her word. Weir gave them a sharp nod of agreement, and they were gone before she could blink.
Dismissing the rest of the military personnel to follow the others, she turned to her attention back to the new doca leader. "Radolf, perhaps you would care to join me in my office and we can see if you have any suggestions that might be of help?"
"It would be my pleasure, Dr Weir."
oOoOo
"Revive him!" Tollany's voice cut through John's worry, as he knelt beside his friend.
One of the doca sprang forward with a needle. It bent down to push back Carson's sleeve and injected something into his arm.
For a moment there was no reaction. John didn't take his eyes of the doctor as he lay as still as death. Then suddenly, the Scot's body jerked, and his eyes flew open. John released the breath he hadn't even been aware he was holding while Beckett sucked in air like a landed fish, gasping for breath.
"Carson?" he said, putting his hand on the other man's arm. "You okay?"
Carson's eyes met his and held his gaze for a moment, a slightly confused look in the doctor's eyes; his breathing calming to short rapid panting.
"Aye," Carson answered, eventually. "I think so."
With the help of the Colonel and doca who had given him the injection, the Scot got unsteadily to his feet.
"What did you give him?" John demanded, turning to confront Tollany.
"More of the stimulant," she replied dismissively.
"You just saw what that did to him!"
"Colonel," Carson said, putting a restraining hand on the military man's arm. "Just let it be."
"You were all but dead and…" John said.
"Aye, but now I'm definitely alive," Carson responded, with a gentle smile.
John didn't look happy but realised they weren't in any position to challenge Tollany, not with ten armed doca surrounding them.
"Take them back to the cell," Tollany ordered. Two doca jumped to follow her orders, John helping the Scot make his way along the corridors to their prison. The doctor was obviously still weak and stumbled along on unsteady legs, Sheppard supporting him to prevent his friend from collapsing.
The Colonel was ironically glad to finally reach their prison; at least Carson would be able to rest. The door was opened and the two men were roughly pushed in, falling to the floor before the door was slammed behind them. Laura struggled to her feet, shuffling to their sides. Maronna joined her, helping John to his feet, as Laura tried to help Carson to at least sit up. But the doctor had reached the end of his strength and lay slumped on the floor almost completely out of it.
"What happened to him, Sir?" Laura asked voice steady but eyes betraying her concern.
"We almost lost him," John admitted. "They gave him more of the drug, it seemed to revive him."
Maronna nodded. "That is the pattern with the stimulant," she said. "If they continue to use it, eventually the heart cannot be re-started."
"How much more can he take?" John asked.
"It varies from person to person, depending on their strength," Maronna said. "But I have never known someone to survive more then five dose so close together."
"How many has Carson had?" Laura asked.
"Four, I think," Sheppard said. "We need to make sure they don't give him another."
oOoOo
Rodney pushed his fellow scientist out of the way. Since he'd arrived in the lab, they'd been working frenetically trying to find a way to scan the damaged sections using the existing and working sensors to find their friends.
"They must be in the blackout areas where the sensors don't reach," Radek said.
"Obviously," Rodney snapped back. "But if we can adapt the sensors we do have and enhance them, the way we've been testing, then we might just be able to find them."
"But the last time we tried to enhance sensors, we burnt them out," Radek pointed out. "We were without sensors for 20 hours."
"I know," Rodney replied. "But I think I know where you went wrong."
"I went wrong," Radek exclaimed indignantly. "You were as involved as I. Me being wrong . . ." The Czech continued to mutter away to himself in his own language,
"See, here," Rodney replied, ignoring the other scientist's mutterings. "If we take this into account when rerouting the sensors, it should compensate for the overload and allow us to extend their range into the blackout areas without overloading."
"I still think it is dangerous," Radek contested.
"What's dangerous?" Elizabeth asked, coming up behind them.
"We think we can extend the sensors so we can find those that you've lost," Rodney said, with his usual tact. Elizabeth's only response was to raise her eyebrows.
"The best case scenario we find Sheppard and Beckett, worst we at least narrow the search area down." Rodney continued, oblivious to the eybrows.
"You forget more worst case, there is still a danger that we might overload the sensors again," Radek put in.
"Rodney?" Elizabeth said, turning to her Chief Scientist.
"I've compensated." The Canadian ground out with obvious irritation aimed in Radek's direction.
Elizabeth studied him for a moment. Rodney's over-confidence had caused problems before, blowing up a large part of a solar system notwithstanding. But he had often pulled off the impossible too. And despite the fact that all available personnel were searching the city for Carson, John and the others, no-one was any closer to finding them.
"Okay," Elizabeth agreed, after consideration. "But take every precaution you can."
"As always," Rodney said a jaunty grin on his face. Radek just threw up his hands in exasperation.
McKay immediately turned back to his computer, bashing away at the keyboard with renewed vigour, his focus now dedicated to the information streaming across the display. Elizabeth continued to watch as he consulted with Radek, waiting.
"Ok I think we're ready to try it, Elizabeth," Rodney said.
"Are you sure about this, Rodney?" Elizabeth asked, one more time.
"Of course," Rodney replied.
"Very well, then, put it into operation."
Rodney tapped out a sequence on his computer and immediately the sensor readings on the screen started to spring into action. A map of the city was overlaid with signals showing various glowing dots indicating life signs. The areas which were not covered by sensors showed in grey. Gradually, the grey areas began to shrink, all however, remaining unoccupied.
Rodney and Elizabeth watched the map, while Radek kept an eye on the systems readouts. Suddenly, before Rodney and Elizabeth's eyes, a previously unsensored area of the city sprang into life, filled with activity, little glowing dots multiplying rapidly.
"Found them!" Rodney exclaimed, just as a warning siren went off.
"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked.
"It is an overload in the power conduits," Radek said.
"Which ones?" Rodney asked, pushing Radek out of the way to see for himself.
"In the area where we found the life signs," Radek said.
"Rodney?" Elizabeth said warningly.
"I don't know," Rodney admitted, a look of almost fear in his eyes. "The last time we had a build up like this, there was an explosion in the area affected. It destroyed three rooms. We had to rebuild them completely."
oOoOo
Laura was sat beside Carson watching Sheppard pace while keeping one eye on the Scot's head pillowed in her lap. He seemed to be sleeping more easily, but his breathing was laboured and his colour was so pale his eyelashes were dark crescents against his cheek. She brushed a stray lock of sweat dampened hair from his forehead, feeling the heat radiating off the sick man.
"Colonel," Laura said, replacing her lap with a rolled up jacket and struggling to her feet. "We need to do something. We can't just sit here and let Carson die."
"I know," John replied. "I'm working on it."
"Then maybe work a bit harder . . . Sir," Laura replied, unable to control her temper. The rising argument stopped short when a noise started to echo through the room.
"What the hell . . . ." John stated, turning to face its source.
The next moment he was thrown to the floor by the force of an explosion that tore through the room.