Chapter 6: Answers.

Rodney stood in the centre of the room and blushed when he realised that all eyes were on him. He had barged into Woolsey's office making bold claims that he knew what the red spot was and what it was designed to do. It seemed as if that had been hours ago, but in actual fact only a few minutes had passed.

"Would you care to elaborate Dr McKay?" Woolsey asked obviously finding his voice first.

"Well apparently the red spot was developed in a lab and was designed to stop an ancient's ability to use ancient devices, by interacting with the ATA gene. First of all the spots and fever were designed to weaken the victim, then the screeching would start when they were near the ancient devices, finally they would be driven mad and eventually die."

"Who developed it?" Teyla asked looking a little confused.

"I suspect that it may have been the wraith at the height of their war with the ancients. If the ancients lost their ability to activate their technology, they wouldn't even be able to fly their ships. They would be helpless and at the mercy of the wraith. The wraith could go around the galaxy picking them off one ship at a time. That's if the virus didn't kill them first" McKay explained.

"Why has it spread to the rest of the population if it was developed to infect the ancients?" Woolsey asked with his head in his hands.

Rodney rubbed his hand across his face; this conversation wasn't easy, because he knew how unwell his friends were. "Apparently the wraith or whoever designed it knew that it wasn't dangerous to the rest of the population, so they deployed it on mass. It was easily spread from one person to another and still exists to this day. The only problem is when someone with a natural ATA gene contracts it; it's still just as deadly. I have no idea why, but it doesn't seem to affect people with the artificial gene in the same way."

Jennifer spoke up at that moment, the concern and worry evident in her face, "so what do we do about it. I have some very sick people in the infirmary and two of them are in comas. Colonel Sheppard is still missing and presumably has red spot. I shudder the think what condition he may be in by now."

Rodney took her hand in his hoping to offer her some reassurance, "I think that the ancients were trying to find a cure, before they left for earth. I need to get back to my lab and see if I can find anything. I would appreciate whatever help you could give me Jenn, because it's not exactly my area of expertise."

Jennifer squeezed his hand and spoke softly, "bring whatever information you have down to the medical lab, I'm sure that between Dr Biro and myself, we can come up with something. I only hope it won't be too late."

"Dr Zelenka can you get back to cross referencing gate addresses please, Ronan and Teyla please work with him." Woolsey asked scratching the red spots on his arm.

"Let me get some calamine lotion for your arm." Jennifer suggested.

"Thank you doctor Keller. You all know what you have to do, so you're dismissed." Woolsey told them.

Rodney stood up and left the room the others soon followed. At least they knew what they were up against now, which gave him a new sense of hope. He still didn't know for sure that it was the Wraith who had engineered the virus, but he had a strong suspicion that it was. All he knew was that he had his work cut out for him, if he was going to save the day yet again.

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John awoke to a bucket of water being thrown over his head. He knew that he was tied to the chair in the room full of artefacts again, because the piercing pain at the back of his eyes was at an all-time high and the screeching was becoming worse again as well. He kept his eyes closed and resisted the urge to scream at the agony he was in, because he suspected that his captors were there with him. He knew he was right when one of them spoke to him and he immediately recognised the voice as Shorty's.

"You will activate the devices for us today, or you will be thrown into the desert and left to die."

"Sorry…Can't." He stuttered in between shallow breaths, he was finding it more difficult to breathe every time he woke up.

"Open your eyes and look at me?" Shorty demanded.

"Sorry…Can't." This was really beginning to get old, when would the moron realise that he wasn't going to do what he was asked. Not only did he not want to, but he couldn't, because all the devices did was cause him excruciating pain.

"This is your last chance, if you don't help me now I will be forced to dump you in the desert."

"Are…you…a…moron…or…what…don't…you…understand…that…I…can't…help…you. Even…if…I…wanted…too…I…can't…because…the…devices…are…driving…me…crazy."

For that comment he received a kick to his broken leg, which made matters worse.

He opened his eyes just in time to see shorty pick up a device and start to wave it in his face. This was the final straw. The pain and screeching became so intense that he screamed until he was hoarse. He felt his eyes rolling back in his head and his muscles begin to convulse, he felt the darkness encroaching on him once again. He was only too happy to slip into its embrace and he hoped that if he ever woke up again it wouldn't be in this place.

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Goliath watched as the prisoner began to convulse in the chair and he didn't know what to do. He was clearly in distress and there was no way that he was going to be able to help them with their ancient artefacts. He knew there was only one thing to do and that was to get rid of him.

Leaving the cell he took one last look to make sure that the man inside had stopped convulsing and he was horrified by what he saw. The prisoners head was lolling to one side and his eyes were open and staring into space. Turning his back on the sight, he ran down the corridor towards Commander Kolah's office. He forced his way in without even bothering to knock. He found Solah and Kolah sitting there sharing a glass of mead and they appeared to be in deep conversation.

"Commander Kolah, I don't think the prisoner is going to be much help to us. What will you have me do with him?" He asked breathlessly.

Kolah looked up from his desk, "did you try and force him to activate the artefacts?"

"Yes and he said he couldn't, that was right before he had some kind of seizure and lost consciousness."

"Well obviously he's no use to us, so I think it's time we tossed him through the gate to another planet, as I really don't want to give up on keeping our base of operations here."

Goliath looked at him and tried to figure out his mood, "I thought you were going to leave him to die in the desert?"

"No this place is perfect for us, so send him through the gate. Send him somewhere with a temperate climate, to give him a much better chance of survival." Kolah said, before turning back to his mug of mead and his conversation with Solah.

Goliath looked at his commander, thinking that he'd gone soft. He knew that Kolah had never killed anyone, but he'd always suspected that the man would be capable of it if push came to shove. He continued to stare at his commander waiting to see if he would give him any more orders. When none came, he quickly turned and left the room, busy formulating his own plan of what to do with the prisoner. He'd already made up his mind that the man didn't deserve to live. He had ruined his life after all, he was a scavenger and it was all he'd ever known, all his father and grandfather had ever known and by the prisoner not helping them with those ancient devices, he knew that his life was over and he would have to find some other way of life.

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John awoke on a cold dark planet and he had no idea how he'd arrived there. The last thing he remembered was the screeching in his head and his muscles convulsing. Trying to prise his eyes opened he noticed one thing, although the screeching had subsided the piercing pain at the back of his eyes was still there.

Moaning he tried to sit up with his back against a tree, but all that did was reminded him that he still had a broken wrist and leg and he was still having difficulty breathing. When he'd finally managed to sit up he took a look around at his surroundings and found that he was on dark desolate world, there was one or two trees around him and the ground beneath him was made of some type of rock. The temperature was probably around 55 degrees Fahrenheit, that in itself wasn't too bad, but he had no idea if this was the middle of the night and if it was what kind of temperatures could he expect during the day.

His thoughts were beginning to become garbled; he had no idea how he was going to get off this rock, or if anyone would find him there. The only thing he could do was to close his eyes and let the darkness claim him again.

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Teyla watched as her big friend ran down the hallway, she knew that she should probably follow him, but she also knew that he probably needed some alone time. Sighing she followed him knowing exactly where he would be heading and what he would be doing when he got there.

She had spent the last five hours either in Zelenka's lab or in the infirmary sitting with her friends who were still in comas. Jennifer had told her that they were not getting any worse, but they were not getting any better either. Zelenka's efforts to find a lead as to John's whereabouts were going nowhere as well.

Ronan had stormed out in frustration when Zelenka had checked gate address ten against Radim's list and it didn't match. Ronan wanted to go out and check every single planet on the list and the ones that Zelenka had retrieved from the data base on MX-079 as well, but Woolsey had told him it wasn't possible due to the outbreak of red spot on Atlantis and its effect on the ATA carriers.

She entered the gym to find that Ronan was punching the crap out of the punching bag and he hadn't even bothered to put any boxing gloves on. She knew that she would have to yell to get his attention, as he was focused on what he was doing.

"Ronan stop what you are doing right now!" she chided him in a loud voice.

"Why should I?!" He responded his anger clearly evident.

She looked at his hands and then back at his face, "Take a good look at your hands, you are damaging your knuckles!" She admonished him.

She stood by the doorway and watched and waited to see what he would do next. After a few seconds he stopped and looked her way. The look in his eyes she could only describe as haunted.

"Talk to me Ronan, you are not alone in this. We are all worried about John and miss him."

His face seemed to soften, as he spoke. "Why is it that the wraith are attacking us, even when they are nowhere in sight?"

She furrowed her brow thinking about what she was going to say next, "I have no idea why this has happened, but what I do know is that John is relying on us to find him and we will not do him any good if we end up injuring ourselves out of frustration."

She looked at him and waited to see what his reaction would be and she was relieved when he nodded his head, "Come on let's get you down to the infirmary and get Jennifer to look at your hands."

Ronan nodded again and they walked out of the gym together.

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Rodney was getting frustrated, he had been sitting in the medical lab with either Dr Biro, or Dr Keller, for the last five hours and they hadn't made any progress at all. He was about ready to start hitting things. They had identified the virus which had caused all of this mess, but between looking in the ancient data base and running tests on the blood samples they had collected from all the red spot sufferers, ATA and non ATA carriers alike, they were no closer to finding a cure.

He had decided that it was time to get up and go for a walk when Teyla came into the infirmary with Ronan, who had obviously hit something and messed up his hands.

"What have you been hitting Conan," He asked sarcastically.

Teyla looked at him with her usual serene look on her face, "he was using the punching bag and he forgot to put on boxing gloves."

Before Rodney had a chance to say anything Jennifer came into the room, "what have you done to yourself this time Ronan?" She asked taking his hands and examining them.

"I had a little run in with the punching bag," he mumbled at her.

"I don't think you've broken anything, but let me run a scan just to make sure." Jennifer suggested as she reached for a hand held scanner.

Rodney watched as she carefully ran the scanner over Ronan's knuckles. He felt as frustrated as he did and if Ronan hadn't come into the infirmary when he did, he may have hit something himself.

"How are Lorne and Carson?" Teyla asked.

"They're both still in comas, but holding their own for now." Jennifer replied while cleaning the wounds on Ronan's knuckles.

Before anyone had a chance to say anything farther a call came over the radio from Zelenka.

"I have found an address that is on Radim's list and was also dialled from the DHD on MX-079.

"Fat lot of good that will do, because even if we find Colonel Sheppard there's no way we can bring him back here without practically killing him." Rodney replied in frustration.

He stood and looked at the faces around him, he sensed their frustration and he knew that they were probably all thinking the same thing. Before he had a chance to say anything else Jennifer spoke, "Dr Zelenka I would have to agree with Dr McKay, Colonel Sheppard's ATA gene is much stronger than Carson's or Major Lorne's, so my advice would be to not bring him back to Atlantis right now."

Rodney looked at the stunned faces around him and decided it was about time he left the room and got back to work, so that when they eventually found Sheppard they could bring him home.

TBC…