Rodney wandered from station to station around the bridge, trying to figure out what the various consoles would have controlled. The flight controls were obvious thanks to the yoke that even he could identify. He'd been lucky with his guess about the communications console, though he hadn't been able to do much. What he needed to find was the ship's internal security systems.
He studied another of the control boards and shook his head. Nothing looked like it would control defensive systems.
"Was it too much to ask for clearly marked signs?" he muttered to himself. Of course, for all he knew, the stations were labelled, he just couldn't read them. He thought about the computer Sheppard had left in Atlantis and shook his head as he studied the various consoles.
He made a complete circuit of the room and stopped at the first panel again. "Obviously not the communications systems," he muttered to himself. "So what are you?"
He ran a finger around the odd blank space in the middle of the console surrounded by various dials, switches, and buttons. "Why leave all of that empty place?"
He glanced at the board next to him and saw the same strange configuration. The various buttons and switches were lined up along the edges of the console with a small space, roughly twenty centimeters square, in the middle of the panel that was empty.
"A screen, maybe?" Rodney looked around the room. A few of the consoles on the back wall had large blank spaces above the stations, but the stations clustered around the command chair did not. "Okay, so some way to receive information."
He studied the two stations again. The two consoles had different arrangements of controls. The station in front of him had more dials and buttons, while the next station was mostly toggle switches. There was one thing both had in common, however, a small blue button in the upper left-hand corner of the panel. A quick check of the stations behind him, and he saw the same blue button on all of them as well.
He remembered pushing the blue button at random just before the hologram appeared. Was that how these people powered up the stations? he wondered.
He was reasonably certain pushing the button wouldn't do anything catastrophic to either the console or the ship. Even if the people who built the ship couldn't be bothered to include a manual release for the main hatch, they had to be smart enough not to put a self-destruct button within easy reach of anyone who walked past one of the stations.
Rodney glanced up at Sheppard and Dex standing near the front of the room staring through the crack where the bulkhead had separated, and nodded to himself. Whatever they were watching outside was enough to keep them distracted from what he was doing at the consoles which was fine with him. He didn't want either of them to know how much he was guessing here.
Rodney waited a moment longer, then pushed the blue button on the first console. The empty space in the middle of the panel glowed to life and a stream of data flowed across the screen. He couldn't read what the data was, but each line was laid out with a short string of symbols followed by several lines of more symbols.
"A log like Sheppard thought?" he asked the console. "Or some sort of database?"
He moved to the next console and pushed the blue button again. More data appeared in the empty space, and Rodney let out the breath he'd been holding when what looked like diagnostic data for something flowed across the screen. He toggled one of the switches and watched the flow of data change.
"Maybe you're clearly marked after all," Rodney said as he studied the data.
Now he had something to work with. All he had to do was sort out what the different screens were telling him, and he could figure out what each of the consoles controlled.
"Good, good," he muttered as he walked to the next station. He pushed the blue button and glanced at the screens of data.
"Rodney?" Sheppard asked. "How's it going?"
"Making progress," Rodney replied as he studied the screen in front of him. From what he could tell, the console controlled the environmental systems, one of the stations he would need if they wanted to get out of the ship.
He moved to the next console, pushed the button, and frowned when it remained dark. "Or not," he said and glanced up at Sheppard. "We could have a problem."
"What kind of problem?" John asked.
"So far I've found what could be a database or ship's log." Rodney pointed to the station he'd been using when the hologram appeared. "What I think is the radio and the environmental systems." He nodded to two more of the consoles.
"Okay. What's the problem?" Sheppard asked.
Rodney blew out a breath as he moved around another station that refused to work. "Some of these systems no longer work." He pointed to the panel in front of him that remained dark. "If I'm going to be able to do anything to control the bulkheads above and below the ladders, and more importantly, get the exterior hatch open, I need to find either the security systems or the engineering panel."
He walked past the environmental control console again, glanced at the readouts, and did a double-take. "And we need to hurry," he added as he toggled through the screens of data in front of him.
"Why?" Ronon asked.
Rodney looked up at him. "Because if I'm reading this right, we don't have a lot of power left. Without power, I can't do anything to get the bulkheads or the main hatch open."
Ronon walked back over to one of the larger cracks in the hull. "Maybe we can force our way out."
"And how do you suggest we do that?" Rodney asked with a snort of impatience. "Have you found anything that looks like a cutting torch or a crowbar around here? Because I haven't."
Ronon turned back with a glare and John held up a hand. "Keep trying to find something in the ship's systems we can use," he said to Rodney. "Ronon and I will see about finding a plan B in case we can't get out the front door."
Rodney shook his head and went back to deciphering the information from the various stations. Nothing near the command chair did what he needed, and he started on the consoles lined along the back wall. He found two more dead consoles and was pressing the blue button on a third with little hope of it working either when the screen glowed to life. He studied the data for several seconds, then smiled to himself.
"Yes," he hissed and twisted one of the dials to the right of the screen.
"Well?" Sheppard asked.
Rodney glanced over at John and Ronon standing on the other side of the command chair. "I think this is the control panel we need," he explained.
"And you can get the bulkheads and the door open?"
"Probably," Rodney replied. "Give me a few minutes to figure out how it works."
He studied the array of buttons and switches in front of him, wishing for the third or fourth time he had his computer, and pressed one of the buttons. The screen changed from a schematic of the ship to what looked like a targeting system.
"No, no, no, don't do that," he muttered and pushed the button again. He was relieved when the screen changed back to the schematic. He glanced around and found Sheppard and Ronon watching him. "Wrong button," he muttered over his shoulder and went back to studying the console.
"All right," he said to himself, "if external systems are on that side, maybe the internal ones …" He pushed one of the toggle switches down. There was a familiar-sounding clunk outside the room and a dot on the screen changed from green to red.
"Do I want to know what that was?" John asked as Ronon disappeared out the door.
"The bulkhead over the ladder is closed," Dex reported as he walked back into the room.
"Ahh, good," Rodney said, ignoring the glare Ronon aimed in his direction, and turned back to the panel.
"How, exactly is that good?" John asked.
"Because it means I'm on the right track," Rodney replied. "I think I've almost got this."
"Good because we haven't found any other exits," Sheppard said.
Rodney nodded and went back to studying the panel. He squinted at one of the other toggle switches, took a deep breath and flipped it from its down to its up position. A grinding noise came from the atrium, and Ronon ducked back through the door.
"Bulkhead is open again," he said.
"Okay, now we're getting somewhere," Rodney said.
He glanced at the schematic, saw the dot was green again, and flipped up two more of the switches. Several dots on the screen changed from red to green, and Rodney turned around. "The bulkheads should all be open now," he said.
"And they will stay that way?" John asked.
"As long as the ship has power, I think they will. I can't make any promises once the reserves are gone."
Sheppard nodded and turned to Ronon. "Go check the first few decks. Make sure the hatches are open and report back."
"On it," Ronon replied and left the bridge.
"What about the main hatch?" John asked as he walked over to Rodney's side.
"Still working on that," Rodney admitted with a sideways glance at John.
"Let me know when you have it sorted out."
"Hmm," Rodney replied and went back to examining the screen and the various controls.
Several minutes later, Rodney thought he had the sequence that would open the main door when he heard heavy footsteps behind him.
"Sheppard," Ronon said as he walked back into the room.
"Well?" John asked.
"Looks like McKay is right. I went down about five decks and all of the bulkheads are open."
"Rodney, what about the hatch?"
Rodney flipped up two more toggles and pressed one of the buttons. A green light appeared on the screen where he thought the main door was, and he nodded to himself. "I think I found the right sequence, and it looks like the door is open."
"It looks like?" Sheppard asked with a cocked eyebrow.
Rodney glared at him as he walked back to the panel with the environmental controls. "The only way to know for certain is to go look," he replied as he toggled a few more switches on the panel. "But at least we won't have to climb down in the dark." He looked up from the panel as the sconces lining the back all lit up. "That should have reset the lights. The ones that still work anyways."
"Good news," Sheppard replied.
"Hmm," Rodney replied, distracted by a readout on the screen. "Maybe not all good news. We need to go," he added as he looked from John to Ronon. "Now."
"Why?" Ronon asked.
Rodney hurried from one console to the next, pushing the blue button again, hoping that would power down the different stations. He walked back to the environmental panel and shook his head before he powered down that station as well.
"I'm not sure what else I activated," he explained, "but something is drawing a lot of power. More than what should be needed for some emergency lights and to keep the bulkheads open."
"How much time do we have?" Sheppard asked.
"No way to know for sure," Rodney replied. "It could be five minutes or five hours. All I can say for certain is the power levels are dropping."
Sheppard nodded and motioned toward the door. "In that case, I think it's time we got out of here."
Rodney wasn't going to argue and followed Sheppard out the door and back to the ladder.
~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~
Teyla divided her time between removing the rest of the smaller stones trapping Halling, checking on Beckett dozing against the wall of the pit, and encouraging Jinto to keep Halling awake. She glanced at Carson as she dropped another of the rocks.
Was he merely exhausted from the accident? she wondered. Not unreasonable. Or was he more seriously injured than he had told her?
She took in the way Carson held his arm awkwardly against his chest, even with the sling, not to mention the pain lines around his eyes, and feared the latter was, in fact, the truth.
She turned back to Halling in time to see Jinto watching her.
"Tell your father about tracking the hart this morning," Teyla said as she hefted another stone.
Jinto swallowed and nodded. He rested a hand on Halling's back and said, "Kanaan says I'm a natural-born tracker."
"Oh?" Halling murmured.
Jinto glanced up at Teyla. She gave him an encouraging smile and continued removing rocks.
"Umm, yes," Jinto replied. "We were following a doe and two young through the woods. When we reached a clearing, the doe wasn't there. Everyone searched the ground for any tracks, but we couldn't find anything in the springy grass.
"Wex and Tero wanted to go to the east, toward a little stream they knew about, but I found some crushed leaves and broken twigs on the bushes leading out of the clearing to the north. I pointed them out to Kanaan, and he agreed we should go north."
Jinto stopped speaking and Teyla looked over at him. She saw him looking up at the lip of the hole. "That's where we were when you found us," he whispered and wiped his eyes.
Teyla smiled when she saw Halling reach out a hand and pat Jinto on the arm. "Proud," he murmured.
She was working on how best to remove the largest of the rocks trapping Halling's legs when she heard a buzzing noise overhead, looked up, and saw the underside of a jumper hovering above the pit, blocking out the afternoon light. As she watched, the rear hatch opened and a rope dropped down into the hole. A few seconds later, she saw someone wave to her, clip something to the rope, and slide down until he landed on the ground a few feet away from her.
"Sergeant Thompson," she greeted as she stepped over to his side.
"Heard you could use some help," Thompson replied with a smile as he unclipped his harness from the rope.
"Thank you," Teyla said with a nod at Corporal Daley as she slid down the rope and landed next to him. "Both of you."
Daley unclipped her harness and tugged on the rope. Someone out of sight in the jumper pulled the rope back up, the hatch closed, and the jumper flew off.
"Major Lorne is going to land in the clearing," Thompson said as Teyla watched the jumper disappear. "He'll drop off Freddo, Masters, and Doctor Cortes before he goes looking for Colonel Sheppard."
"Do you have a way to get Halling and Doctor Beckett back to the surface?" Teyla asked.
Thompson nodded. "My guys are bringing a rescue litter along with Doctor Cortes' medical kit. What sort of injuries are we dealing with?" he asked with a glance from Halling to Beckett.
"Doctor Beckett believes he has a dislocated shoulder," Teyla replied with a concerned glance at Carson.
"And Halling?" Thompson asked.
"Doctor Beckett is concerned about Halling's ribs," Teyla told him. "There is also the potential for injuries we have not found yet due to the debris." She nodded at the rocks trapping Halling.
Thompson nodded. "Daley, check on the Doc. I'll see about getting the rest of this off of Halling."
"Yes, Sergeant," Daley replied and knelt next to Carson.
Thompson bent down, smiled at Halling, and grasped Jinto on the shoulder. "Name's Derek," he said to Jinto.
"I remember you," Jinto replied. "You won the axe throwing contest. No one's ever broken the target like that before."
Thompson smiled. "You should have seen my fastball when I was in college." He turned to Halling and added, "Halling? How are you doing?"
"Hmm," Halling replied. "Is Jinto all right?"
Thompson glanced at Teyla. "Doctor Beckett believes he has a concussion. We have been trying to keep him awake."
"Jinto is fine," Thompson assured Halling as he studied the rest of the rockfall for a moment.
"The stone pinning his lower legs is too heavy for me to lift alone," Teyla said. "It should pose little problem for the two of us working together."
Thompson nodded and studied the large rock. "I think you're right," he agreed. He walked around Halling to Teyla's side. "If we lift from this side, it should roll off."
Teyla considered the rock and how Halling was pinned under it then nodded. "Agreed. Jinto, keep an eye on your father's legs. If you see any blood, tell me immediately."
Jinto swallowed and nodded.
She gave Jinto a moment, then looked at Thompson. "Ready?" she asked him.
Thompson set his feet and grasped the edges of the rock with his fingers. "Ready," he replied.
Teyla took her place next to him, found a place where she could grip the stone and said, "On three. One. Two. Three!"
Even with Thompson's help, the rock was still heavy and unwieldy. Teyla felt her legs burning as she lifted the stone upward. She knew the moment the weight was off of Halling's legs as she heard him groan.
"Teyla?" Jinto called.
"Is there blood?" Teyla asked through gritted teeth.
"Umm, no, but -"
"Almost … there," Thompson said with a grunt.
Teyla set her feet, and with one last heave, the rock slowly rolled off Halling with a thud and a splash as it landed in the pool of water.
"Halling?" Teyla called as he knelt down beside him and started brushing the dirt and smaller stones off Halling's legs
"Carefully," Carson said.
Teyla turned to see Beckett standing behind her with Daley beside him. The cut over his eye was bandaged and another bandage covered his right forearm.
"Halling, can you feel your legs and feet?" Beckett asked.
"Yes," Halling replied with a pained wheeze. "Something wrong with right leg," he added through clenched teeth.
"All right, let's see if we can't sort that out," Carson replied. He walked around to Halling's other side, squatted down beside him, and Teyla watched as Carson carefully brushed the dirt away from Halling's leg one-handed. When he reached his ankle, Carson pursed his lips and Teyla could see Halling's foot lying at an odd angle.
"We will need to find something to use as a splint," Carson muttered and pointed at his medical pack. "Caitlin, love, hand me my kit, would you?"
Daley picked up the pack and held it out to Carson.
Beckett sorted through the pack and pulled out a plastic leg brace. "Teyla, if you would support Halling's leg and foot, I think we can safely roll him onto his back, then I can get a brace on that ankle."
Teyla nodded and placed her hands where Carson indicated.
"Halling," Carson said, "we are going to roll you over. Let Derek do the work. If you feel any sharp pain, let me know."
Halling squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.
"Derek, if you would take Halling's shoulders, and Caitlin, his hips, please."
Beckett waited until Thompson and Daley were set then with a nod, they quickly rolled Halling over onto his back.
"Gah!" Halling groaned and clenched his fists.
"All right?" Carson asked Halling, and Teyla could tell he was trying to get his breathing under control.
Halling took a couple more quick breaths and nodded.
"Let's get that foot sorted, and I'll give you something for the pain," Carson said as he picked up the brace.
"Teyla, this is Lorne," Teyla heard over the radio. She stood and looked up at the lip of the hole.
At the same time, she heard Carson say, "No, leave his boot for now."
Teyla turned back and watched as Carson gently set Halling's foot in the brace and tightened the straps.
Teyla stepped away from Halling and tapped her radio. "This is Teyla."
"Sergeant Garcia and Corporal Masters are on their way to you with Doctor Cortes and the rescue litter."
"Understood," Teyla replied.
"I have a homing signal from Colonel Sheppard's jumper. We're going to head out and find them now. Did you want to come with us or stay here?"
"You must find a balance between your two lives."
Charin's advice echoed in her mind as she glanced over at Carson listening to Halling's chest with a stethoscope, then up at the rope she'd spliced together dangling from the edge of the pit. Once again she was put in a position where she had to choose between her responsibilities. Did she leave to help her team, or stay to help Halling and her people deal with the devastation from the ground opening up around them? Who needed her more?
"Teyla?" Lorne called over the radio.
Teyla shook herself. "I will remain here, Major. My people will need my help with the clean up from the hole opening so near the village."
"Understood," Lorne replied. "I'll radio you once I know more on Colonel Sheppard's status."
"Thank you, Major. Teyla out."
Teyla tapped off the radio and looked up when dirt and a few smaller stones cascaded down into the pit. Two men stood at the lip of the hole readying what appeared to be a long metal basket.
"Ready, D?" one of the men called down.
Thompson walked over to Teyla. "Garcia and Masters with the rescue litter," he said to her as he waved to the two men. "Go ahead and send it down, Freddo," he called up to the top of the hole.
Teyla nodded and walked back to Carson sitting next to Halling. "Doctor Beckett? The rescue team has arrived."
"Good," Beckett replied with a tired smile. "I think we're all more than ready to get out of here."
Teyla watched as Garcia and Masters lowered the litter down, each controlling one of the ropes tied to an end of the basket so that it remained level. When the litter landed on the ground a few minutes later, Thompson walked over and unclipped it from the ropes. He nodded to Daley and they each picked up one end of the basket, carrying it over to Halling.
They set the basket down, and Teyla watched as Carson directed Thompson on the best way to move Halling. In a matter of a few minutes, Halling was lying in the basket, and Thompson tightened the straps for the basket.
"Ready?" he asked Daley, stepping back from the litter.
"Ready, Sergeant," Daley replied as she checked the straps then moved to the foot of the basket and grasped the handles.
"One. Two. Three," Thompson murmured, and on 'three', they picked up the basket and carried it back to the waiting ropes.
"Don't worry, lad," Beckett said to Jinto as the litter slowly rose out of the pit. "I think your father will be just fine. He might need surgery to fix that ankle, and he'll be needing the crutches again, but he will be right as rain in no time."
The basket was lowered again a few minutes later and Thompson turned to Beckett. "Your turn, Doc," he said.
Beckett eyed the basket and then the lip of the hole. "You're sure this is safe?" he asked as he lay down in the basket and Thompson tightened the straps around him.
"You'll be fine, Doc," Thompson reassured him with a smile. "We won't let anything happen to you. And if Freddo does drop you, I'll make sure Major Lorne assigns him to the guard detail the next time Doctor Parrish wants to go on a field trip looking for new plants."
Teyla smiled at Carson's sour expression. "And I will be sure to have him attend my advanced stick fighting class," she added as she squeezed Carson's hand.
"Oh, that makes me feel much better," Beckett replied with a resigned sigh as the litter rose out of the pit.
Twenty minutes later Corporal Masters helped Teyla out of the pit and she looked around for Halling and Carson.
"Doctor Cortes volunteered some of the villagers to carry them to one of the tents," Masters said as Teyla handed him the climbing harness she'd used to escape the pit.
"Thank you, Corporal," Teyla replied. She turned to Jinto still untangling himself from another of the harnesses. "Let us go see how your father is doing," she said and wrapped her arm around Jinto's shoulders as they walked back to the village.
~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~
John jumped down the last few rungs of the ladder and glanced around as Rodney and Ronon climbed down behind him. They'd made good progress, John thought, covering more than half the distance back to the main hatch in a little over thirty minutes. The problem was he'd had to do a lot of zig-zagging along corridors on his way up to the bridge, and he wasn't exactly sure where they were in relation to the main hatch; the corridor they were in did not look familiar.
"Let me guess, you managed to get us lost," Rodney said. He stepped off the ladder and moved out of the way so Ronon could come down behind him.
"I'm not lost," John replied with a mock glare. "I just want to … make sure we're going the right way."
Rodney snorted and looked around. "Uh-huh."
"Looks like we're back to the level with the weapons pods," Ronon said as he joined them. "The storage compartments are down another four levels. The main hatch should be six below that."
John nodded and led the way down the hallway to the next ladder.
"You're sure you know where you're going?" Rodney asked as they found the ladder.
"We're going down, that's the right direction," John replied.
"But are we going to be on the right side of the ship when we get there?" Rodney asked. "In case you've forgotten, it's a mess down there. We might not be able to find a way across if we end up on the opposite side of the ship from the hatch."
John said nothing as he stepped onto the ladder and disappeared through the gap in the floor. In truth, he had the same concern, but there was little he could do about it. He was fairly certain they were staying on the correct side of the ship, and he figured Dex would say something if they weren't. He told himself the worst case was they would need to backtrack up a few levels and find a new way back down.
They were on the storage level when the lighting dimmed for a moment.
"That's bad," Rodney said as the lights slowly came back up.
"Yeah," John said. So much for backtracking, he thought to himself as he led the way down the hall. He heard Rodney's heavy breathing behind him and glanced back. "You all right?"
"I'm running around inside a ship full of dead people that is about to trap us in here," Rodney replied with a glare. "Of course, I'm not all right."
John stopped and turned around. "That's not what I meant," he said, his tone serious.
Rodney stood in front of him, absently rubbing his left hand. "I'm fine," he replied.
John gave him another measured look. Rodney was breathing hard, but he wasn't shaking or sweating more than normal for the amount of running around they were doing.
The lights dimmed again.
"We need to move," Rodney said with a pointed look at the light above them.
John waited until the lights glowed back to life, then turned and jogged down the hallway to the next ladder.
Ten minutes later they were back on the deck with the main hatch.
"Looks like you had the right sequence," John said as the late afternoon sunlight trickled in through the open door at the end of the hallway.
John took a step toward the opening but stopped when a shadow crossed in front of the door.
"Someone's out there," Ronon said as he unholstered his Beretta.
"Maybe there were survivors after all," John said as he readied his gun.
"How many times do I have to say this?" Rodney asked with a scowl. "Other than the Athosians, there is no one else living on the mainland."
"Colonel Sheppard?" John heard over the radio.
"It's Lorne," John said to Ronon. "Major, this is Sheppard," he added with a glance at the hatch.
"Good to hear your voice, sir," Lorne replied. "We just landed and are standing outside some sort of ship. Can I assume you, Ronon, and McKay are still inside somewhere?"
"That would be correct, Major," John replied as he walked toward the open door.
He saw Lorne step inside the ship and caught a glimpse of the rest of Lorne's team waiting outside. He raised a hand as Lorne walked toward him.
"Told you," Rodney muttered to Ronon as John holstered his Beretta.
"Good to see you, sir," Lorne said as he met John halfway down the corridor. "Everyone all right?" he added with a glance at Rodney and Ronon.
"We're fine," John said. "Bit surprised to see you though. I didn't think we'd been gone long enough to call out a search team."
Lorne pursed his lips. "It's been a bit of a busy day, sir," he replied. "There was an inci -"
"Can we finish this outside," Rodney interrupted with a wary glance at the door. "In case you forgot, we probably don't have a lot of time before that hatch seals."
"Sir?" Lorne asked as the lights dimmed around them.
"McKay is right, tell me outside," John said and turned toward the hatch. "Let's get out of here."
They were all outside and several paces from the opening when the door slid closed behind them with a thud. Rodney glanced at John then shook his head and walked back toward the clearing behind the trees where John noticed two jumpers waiting.
"All right, Major, what brings you all the way out here?" John asked as he, Ronon, and Lorne followed in Rodney's wake. "We haven't been gone that long."
Lorne smiled as he walked. "Teyla and Doctor Weir became concerned when none of you answered the comms, sir."
John pursed his lips. "Yeah, we figured out too late that the ship blocked radio signals."
Lorne glanced back at the ship and nodded.
"Why were they trying to radio us?" John asked.
Lorne stopped walking and ducked his head. He glanced up at the sky and then at the two jumpers.
John frowned, as Lorne stalled. What had happened? he wondered.
"Something happened in the Athosian village, sir," Lorne said.
"What sort of something?" John asked.
Lorne took a step back and glanced from John to Ronon and then Rodney who had walked back over to the rest of them. "A sinkhole opened up at the edge of the forest, not far from the village itself."
"Was anyone hurt?" Ronon asked.
"Umm, unfortunately, yes," Lorne replied. "Halling and Doctor Beckett were caught when the ground gave way."
John heard a low growl from Ronon at the news. Lorne must have heard as well as he gave Ronon a quick look.
John had seen a few sinkholes in California when he was growing up. Most weren't more than a few feet deep. From the expression on Lorne's face, he had the sneaking suspicion this was more than just a shallow pit.
"How big is the hole?" he asked.
"From what I saw when we flew over, it's pretty wide, maybe forty or fifty feet."
"How deep?" Rodney asked with a quick glance at John.
Lorne pursed his lips. "It looked deep. According to what Teyla said when she reported what happened, she thinks they fell about thirty feet."
"You said this was near the forest?" Rodney asked.
Lorne nodded. "Yeah, in that field where we ran all those races yesterday."
Rodney nodded. "The village well is in that field."
"So?" John asked.
"So, the most likely explanation is that there is some sort of underground river or stream. That was the source of the water. The Athosians just saw a convenient place to dig a well, but the river has been eroding the substrate for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The only thing holding up the surface layers was the water itself. Once they started pumping out the water …" Rodney glanced from Ronon to John. "The ground gave way under its own weight."
"Strange though," Rodney mused as he pinched his lip. "If that were the case, there should have been some warning beforehand, muddy water, for example, for weeks before the sinkhole formed, but no one ever reported any problems."
John saw Rodney was about to go off on a scientific tangent and held up a hand. "That's not what's important right now," John reminded him.
Rodney glanced at him and shook his head. "No, umm, no. Of course not."
"How bad are they hurt?" Dex asked.
Lorne swallowed at the hard look Ronon gave him. "They're both alive," he replied. "I dropped off Sergeant Thompson's team along with Doctor Cortes to help with the rescue effort before coming to find you guys."
Rodney about-faced and walked back to the jumper without another word, Ronon close behind him.
John fished the remote for the jumper out of his pocket and pressed the button to open the hatch. "Let's get back to the village," he said as Ronon and McKay disappeared inside their jumper.
"Yes, sir," Lorne replied. He glanced at the ship behind them and added. "What do you want to do about the ship, sir?"
John glanced back at the sealed hatch. "For now, nothing." He turned back to Lorne. "It was carrying refugees, Major."
Lorne glanced at the ship and nodded. "Yes, sir," he replied, and John saw in his somber expression that Lorne understood what he meant.
John gave the ship one last look, then walked over to the jumper. He heard Rodney talking to someone as he pushed the button in the rear section to close the hatch.
"And what about Beckett?" Rodney asked as John walked forward, sat in the pilot's seat, and ran through the preflight checks.
"Teyla," Ronon said in reply to John's questioning look.
"Ahh," John replied and glanced at Rodney as he tapped his earpiece.
"They're going to be fine," Rodney said, and John heard the relief in his tone. "Halling broke his leg and cracked a few ribs. Teyla says he'll need surgery to fix his ankle. Carson dislocated his shoulder. Other than that, cuts and bruises, what you'd expect."
"Good," John replied as the jumper lifted off. He waited until Lorne's ship took up a position on his starboard side and slightly behind him. "Let's head back to the village and see about getting both of them back to the infirmary."
Rodney sat back in his chair with a smug grin as the jumper cleared the trees.
"What's so funny?" John asked as he brought the jumper around and set a course back to the village.
"What?"
"You look like the cat that ate the canary," John told him.
"What's a canary?" Ronon asked.
"A small bird," Rodney replied with a distracted glance at Dex sitting behind him. He looked over at John and added, "I was just thinking about Carson and all the times he's threatened me with that impossible-to-get-out-of sling. Finally, the tables are turned, and he's going to know what it feels like."
"It's not Beckett's fault you're so accident-prone," John replied with a smile.
"Accident-prone? Are you serious? I was shot! Not to mention trapped in a cave-in. Neither of those were even remotely my fault."
John grinned and concentrated on flying the ship as Rodney sputtered in the chair next to him. He had missed yanking McKay's chain over the last few months. It felt good to be back to what they considered normal.