Chapter 2: The Giants.
John was slowly becoming aware and he wondered what had happened to him this time. If he was in the infirmary, why did his bed feel like it had rocks in it? He lay there with his eyes closed and tried to figure out what was going on, but all that did was make his head hurt. Lifting his arms and legs he tried to ascertain whether anything was broken and to his delight he found all of his limbs were intact. The only problem was they hurt like hell.
He heard garbled voices in the distance and he thought that he recognised some of them, but he couldn't quite remember where he had heard them before. He was beginning to worry about what was going on; maybe he should open his eyes and find out.
When he finally managed the feat, he wished he hadn't because there was a large giant holding a knife to his throat.
"Aw crap," he muttered trying not to move a muscle.
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Rodney froze as a group of humanoid giants came out of the bushes by the gate and when he said giants, he meant giants, as they had to be at least eight feet tall and their knives and spears were bigger than average as well.
He looked over at Ronan and silently begged him to put his weapon down; these guys could easily kill all of them. He was pretty sure that Sheppard would tell him the same thing if he was conscious. Luckily Ronan read his signal and lowered his weapon.
One of the giants stepped forward and spoke; Rodney assumed that he was the leader of the tribe, "why have you trespassed on our sacred ground?"
For a moment Rodney was confused, "I'm sorry, sacred ground?"
"The ruins are our sacred grounds, they were left there by the ancestor's eons ago and the relics there are a gift from them to us."
"Oh." Rodney said realising the significance of what the giant was saying. Then he thought of something else that the natives may not know, "you realise that most of the relics have gone, probably scavenged a long time ago."
"We realise that some of the relics have disappeared over the years, but we have shifted many back to our village as well."
"Did you guys break the DHD?" Ronan asked glaring at the giant who was guarding him.
"Yes we cannot allow you to leave. The punishment for disturbing the sacred ruins is death."
Sheppard took that moment to moan and the giant guarding him put a knife to his throat.
"What is wrong with that one?" The leader asked them.
"He has red spot and for some reason he is not very well." Rodney answered looking over at Sheppard who was obviously beginning to wake-up.
"If it's just red spot he'll be fine in a few days, if we don't execute him first."
Rodney rolled his eyes, "is that really necessary? Can't we talk this out like adults and not threaten to kill each other."
The head honcho considered what he had to say and then nodded his head, "if you walk back to our village with us we can talk this over. If we like what you say we may even fix the gate."
H
"Thank you," Rodney said, as the leader left the area and headed away from the gate.
"Pick that one up and carry him," the leader turned and pointed at John, before continuing on towards the Village.
Rodney sighed as he watched Sheppard being picked up and Sheppard didn't look happy, "hey let me walk, I'm okay to walk," he complained.
Rodney looked straight the giant, "put him down and let him walk. If he falls down again you can pick him up and carry him."
The giant gently put Sheppard down and Rodney watched as he staggered away. Sheppard's not going to get very far on his own two feet, Rodney thought as he turned and followed the giants down a well-worn path.
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Major Evan Lorne rushed into Woolsey's office to find Teyla sitting there looking worried. It had been twenty minutes since they had lost contact with Dr McKay and the rest of the team. In that time they had continually tried to dial the gate and the seventh chevron just refused to lock.
"When is the Hammond due back, Mr Woolsey?" Lorne asked looking worried.
"It's due back in the Pegasus galaxy in two days' time, we may be able to direct them to MX-079 when they get closer and we can get a message through to them." Woolsey suggested.
"What do we do until then?" Teyla asked softly.
"We just keep on dialling the gate and hope that we can get through somehow." Lorne told them, keeping an eye on the gate wishing it would just light up and his CO would come walking through.
Teyla stood up and announced, "I must be getting back to Torren he has red spot and is rather cranky."
Woolsey dismissed them both and Lorne left the room and headed back to the office that he shared with Colonel Sheppard. He didn't really want the Colonel's job, but it looked as if he would be doing it for the time being.
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John stumbled along after the natives and he was determined to stay on his feet. There was no way he was going to suffer the humiliation of being carried by one of the giants. Every step he took was agony though, his head felt like someone was pounding it with a jackhammer and ever muscle in his entire body ached. The red spots had now spread to most of his body and he knew had a fever, so why did everyone keep telling him red spot was harmless, because at the risk of sounding like Rodney; he thought he was going to die.
He wiped his brow and looked at his huge companion, "so do you have a name?"
"My name is Solah and our chief's name is Kolah." The giant answered him.
John continued to stumble along the path. He was beginning to feel dizzy again, but he knew he had to keep going, he could have a rest when they got to the place that they were headed.
"Your names sound similar are you two related?"
"Our mothers were sisters, so yes we are of the same blood," Solah answered him, not bothering to look around.
John had no idea how much longer he was going to be able to stay on his feet. He knew that he really needed to sit down and have a rest soon. "How much further is your village?"
"The entrance is not far."
"What do you mean entrance, do you live underground?" John asked with surprise.
"Yes, we are protected from the Wraith if we live underground." Solah explained to him, still looking straight ahead.
John felt himself becoming weaker and his legs didn't want to co-operate. He was focusing on the path ahead when he tripped over a tree root and landed flat on his face. All he wanted to do was lie there and never get up again, but he knew that he must keep going for Rodney and Ronan's sake. He knew that he must get back to Teyla and Torren as well. He had to protect his team not matter what the personal cost to himself.
He looked up just in time to see Solah bending over him. There was no way he was going to let anyone carry him, so he pushed himself to his feet. He was a little unsteady for a start, but after a few seconds he started walking down the path again.
A few minutes later the party stopped, by some old ruins, "the entrance is here," Solah told John pointing to an old building.
John looked at him with suspicion. He was well aware that they had agreed to trust each other and talk like adults, but he felt his Spidey sense tingling. He didn't trust these people as far as he could throw them; which wasn't very far.
"After you," John offered and he could see his friends doing the same, Ronan definitely looked suspicious although Rodney seemed oblivious as usual.
Solah nodded and walked towards the ruins and the other natives seemed to do the same, so John followed with caution, as did his friends. Once inside he noticed that the room was lit by flaming torches on the walls. The room was very large and the walls were made of some kind of sandstone bricks and the floor was one large patch of dirt. There were ancient writings around the top of the walls, which made him wonder how many other Ancient ruins were on this planet.
He kept his eye on Solah, as he opened a large trapdoor in the middle of the floor. Before John had a chance to realise what was going on, he was picked up and thrown down the stairs. He hit the bottom with a thud, his wrist making a sickening crunch as he landed on it. Every pain and ache in his body was also awakened and he barely had time to move out of the way before the others landed beside him.
He looked up, just as Kolah started to walk down the stairs, "I told you that we execute people for disturbing out ancient ruins, so this is where you will stay until we decide your fate. Don't try and escape or we will kill you, so either way you will die."
John couldn't believe what he was hearing, why had they ended up in this situation? He knew that it was his fault. If he hadn't been so unwell he would have suspected something a lot earlier, but he felt so unwell at the moment, so much for Red Spot being harmless.
He lay there on his back cradling his wrist. As the trapdoor closed and they were plunged into darkness, he remembered that he had a small flashlight in his TAC vest, so he rummaged around with one hand and managed to pull it out and switch in on, "is everyone okay?" He asked trying to sit up against the wall.
"Yep," Ronan mumbled.
"We're in a better condition than you are Colonel Calamity." Rodney snarked, looking around the pit that they had been dropped in.
John sat with his back against the wall and closed his eyes and started rubbing his temples. He knew they were right, but knew that he couldn't let his illness slow him down.
Suddenly he felt, as if a thousand ants were running across his body and he had to scratch so rather than resist the urge, he started to scratch with his good hand.
Rodney was beside him in a flash, "stop scratching the spots. It won't do you any good, you'll just make yourself bleed and believe me I know from experience how that feels," Rodney chastised him. "Look at my arm and then you'll know what I mean."
He looked at Rodney's arm and saw that he had scratched the three red spots that were on his arm and they were bleeding slightly. "Oh I wouldn't want to end up like that," John muttered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Ronan sat down next to him, "I'm sorry this happened Sheppard, I should have shot them when I had the chance, but before I knew what was happening one of them had a knife to your throat."
"It's alright Chewie, it couldn't be helped. Now all we have to do is figure a way out of this place, have you tried the trapdoor?"
"Yep, it feels as if they have piled dirt on top of it." Ronan answered in a gruff tone.
"Okay my head is pounding and I have a huge urge to scratch these dam spots, so when you two figure a way out of here please let me know?"
"Here let me bandage your wrist up and put it in a sling and then I'll see if I can find something to stop those spots from itching." Ronan suggested in a surprisingly gentle tone.
"Thanks buddy," he muttered closing his eyes again.
Half an hour later with his wrist strapped up, a bandage on his other hand to stop him from scratching and some Tylenol running through his veins, he finally felt a little better.
"Okay guys, ideas on how to get out of here?" He asked his two friends.
"Well I don't think these people are natives to this planet. I think they are scavengers, although I have no idea what they want with us." Ronan mumbled with a sour look on his face.
"No kidding." Rodney sneered.
"Yeh I kind of got that." John told them both.
"Well I think we ought to see if there is another way out of this pit." Ronan mumbled.
"Great idea Conan and how do you suppose we do that?!" Rodney bit back.
"If you bothered to look around rather than complaining you would see a small tunnel to your left Rodney!" Ronan answered him impatiently.
"Great all I have to do then is find the crystals that the giants stole from the gate." Rodney told them rubbing his temples.
"You saw them do that?" Ronan asked. "I'm actually impressed."
"Thanks Conan, now why don't you use your superior strength and get us out of here and when you need a brain I will be ready." Rodney said with a smirk on his face.
John had had enough of listening to his friends, as he still felt terrible. Closing his eyes he let the bickering fade into the background and within five minutes he was fast asleep.
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Kolah looked at Solah as an evil grin spread across his face, "now we contact Atlantis and make our demands. We have their military commander and I think that they will give us whatever we want to get him back."
"How will we contact them, we don't have any identification codes and what happened to the dialling device? How can we dial out?" Solah asked looking confused.
"Do not worry we have friends in the Coalition of planets, who have been willing to share that information with us, as for the gate I merely have to put these crystals back in." The grin on Kolah's face spread even wider.
"Excellent let's get to the gate and place our demands then." Solah suggested heading in the direction of the gate.
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Woolsey was standing in the control room talking to Chuck when the gate activated.
"Unscheduled off world activation." Chuck announced, grinning.
"Do we have an IDC?" Woolsey asked suspiciously.
"Yes it's a Genii code."
"Drop the shield. "Woolsey commanded, with a confused look on his face. Why would the Genii be contacting them, they had just spoken with Ladon Radim that morning? If there were any problems, he was sure that Ladon would have mentioned them.
Woolsey stood and watched waiting for someone to walk through the gate, when no one came he decided to send a message, "this is Richard Woolsey. Who am I talking too?"
"I am Kolah and we have your military commander and two of your people. If you want to see then again, you will give us weapons. You have four hours to reply to our request. If you don't I will shoot the loud one. Oh and if you want to see your military commander again, I suggest you hurry, because he really doesn't look to good."
Woolsey looked around at the control room, as the gate shut down. This was turning into a very bad day and he had no idea what to do next.
TBC…
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