"Do you remember what you said about there being a reason that uninhabited worlds were uninhabited in the Pegasus galaxy? I think I've figured it out for this planet."
When nothing more was immediately forthcoming, Sheppard prompted him, "And that would be...?"
"I believe the planet is seismically unstable. How frequent and how severe the earthquakes are, would require investigation that we don't have time for. However, I think it would be prudent for us to stay together. This room has a number of sturdy tables for shelter, if need be."
Sheppard mentally agreed, but he replied, "Hey, you're the boss. We're on our way back." Holstering the walkie-talkie, he turned to Lt. Ford. "You heard the man, Ford. If this place tries to shake itself apart, we'd be best off as a single group, and the main hall is likely to be safest." With a slightly nervous glance at the towering storage bins, he turned to depart.
Just as the pair headed toward the door, an ominous rumbling began in the floor beneath their feet. Sheppard rolled his eyes in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me," he muttered sotto voce. Mother Nature was unwilling to let them get away that easily.
Aiden, a native Southern Californian, shouted, "The doorframe! It's safest!" The men sprinted as small chunks of ceiling began to spatter on the ground.
Ford figured they'd made it as he reached the threshold, then a retaining strap on a nearby crate split, catapulting it into the Major who was trailing just behind. There was a sickening crunch as it impacted his skull, and he dropped unmoving to the floor. Ford instinctively darted out from cover and managed to wrestle his commander's unconscious body into the doorframe and relative safety before any more debris could strike him. As the shaking intensified, the whole shelving unit came loose and crashed down on the spot where the Major had lain just moments before.
"That was close," was all the Lieutenant could say as he cradled Sheppard's head to his chest. The older man began to moan slightly and wince as the quake subsided, a good sign as far as Aiden was concerned.
Teyla extricated herself from beneath the heavy table where McKay had unceremoniously pulled her when the disturbance began. "What was that?" she asked. "I have never before felt the ground shake beneath me. Was it caused by some device?"
McKay pulled himself out from under the table. "No, certain areas of planets just do that. They're called 'earthquakes'." He considered going into more detail, but decided that tectonic plate theory was a little extraneous at the moment, and probably beyond her anyway. He glanced nervously towards the door where their friends had yet to appear. "Problem is, there are often aftershocks, and sometimes even worse temblors." He pursed his lips impatiently, then decisively grabbing his radio, he signaled Sheppard. "Major, where are you? Can you hear me?"
Static answered at first, but, after a seeming eternity, Ford's voice came back. "We're still in the storeroom. A crate knocked out the Major. He's groggy, but I think he's coming around. He's not very coherent, though." His words were accented by the sounds of moaning in the background.
"Can you get over here, or out of the building?" McKay's anxiety was a palpable thing, but had not yet reached his characteristic full-blown panic.
"Sir, it'd be best if you and Teyla stayed in the main room in case of more quakes. I can get the Major back; it's just going to take some time. Otherwise, we might miss each other in this labyrinth."
The scientist clearly wasn't happy about the situation, but tightened his lips in acknowledgement that the Lieutenant was right. "OK, but get back as quick as you can, and call if you get into trouble." He glanced up haplessly at Teyla and shrugged.
Ford clipped his radio, then bent to put an arm around his injured comrade and hoist him to his feet. The Major was disoriented and confused, and Aiden found that he had to support most of his weight. At least the man's arms and legs were moving, albeit sluggishly, so a spinal cord injury was less likely. Still, Ford wouldn't be happy until they could get him home and to Dr. Beckett. Once they were outside in the open, they'd be able to radio the two guards at the ship and have them fly over and do a dust-off. There was no way Sheppard could walk back that distance under his own power, even with his help.
"Come on, Major," he muttered encouragingly. "One foot in front of the other....that's right...left.....now right...left...keep it up...." So saying, they began the interminable trek back to the main hall, skirting the new piles of wreckage as they went.
Rodney had just about decided to go after them, impatience and apprehension overruling common sense, when the first aftershock hit. While not as severe, he and Teyla wound up beneath their sturdy lab tables again riding it out. Several heavy blocks of ceiling crashed down onto the table and the area they had occupied, much to Rodney's dismay. His eyes widened at the size of the hole that must now exist in the ceiling over their heads. Keying the mike, he demanded, "Ford! Where are you! Are you two all right? Ford, answer me!"
Ford had his own problems. The soldiers had been within a few feet of the back door to the main hall when the aftershock had occurred. He managed to muscle the major into a fairly protected alcove seconds before the roof caved in entirely. By the time the second bout of shaking was diminishing, he could scarcely breathe for all the dust in the air. The sound of violent coughing led him to Sheppard, sitting slumped and hacking against the wall. Clamping a handkerchief over his own face as a filter, he found a second one and tied it to Sheppard's face. When the jolting finally stopped, the commander cracked open his left eye and stared up at his lieutenant. "Ford, what's going on?" he asked suspiciously. 'I hate when this happens,' he thought as his hand went to the back of his head and tenderly touched the rising knot there. "What happened? Why is my head killing me?" He was also aware of the dust filling his mouth, but didn't feel up to unstrapping his canteen. "Got any water?"
Just then the radio crackled to life, relaying Rodney's now-panicked voice. Ford fished it out and keyed the mike as he uncapped his own canteen and held it to Sheppard's parched lips. "We're OK, but the roof caved in at the entrance to the main hall, right in front of us. On the plus side, the Major is more alert. I need to go check out the passageway to find a way out. I'll call you back." With that, he handed the radio to John and eased into the corridor.
The sight in front of him was not a pleasant one. The rubble from the floor above completely obscured the door to the next room, their objective. It would take too long to clear it alone; maybe Rodney and Teyla could help from their side. Experimentally, he removed a random chunk from the mound. When this didn't result in any instability, he returned to Major Sheppard who was now sitting upright under his own power and wiping some of the dirt from his face. Ford retrieved the radio and signaled the others.
"OK, we're just a few feet beyond your back door, but the passage is completely blocked. If I remember right, the door opens inward into the room. Could you see if you can help me shift enough rock to get back in?"
Rodney stared towards the door as he replied, "We'll check it out and get back to you." Teyla jogged over to it and was pleased to find that it did indeed open inwards. McKay, realizing the possible instability a moment too late, managed to call, "Watch out!" just as she turned the handle.
Quite a few hunks of wreckage tumbled into the room as the door swung wide, but Rodney's warning caused her to jump backwards in time to avoid them. Upon closer examination, she noted that a small opening had appeared at the apex of the pile of rubble, which seemed to communicate to the passage beyond. Experimentally she scrambled up and dislodged some looser pieces. Her efforts were rewarded with a cascade of several large chunks, enlarging the gap quite a bit. "Lieutenant Ford, can you hear me?" she called through the hole.
"Yes! I see the gap you've started; I'll work on the same spot from this side." Ford's hands were suddenly seen scrabbling at the loose bits at the top of the cave-in. It took the three less than 15 minutes to clear a hole large enough for a man's body to pass through, and the lieutenant could be seen grinning beyond it.
"Give me a minute and I'll get the Major up here."
Ford carefully climbed back to where he had left his commanding officer. He had to admit that Sheppard appeared decidedly unwell. Eyes closed and blackened, the major's head rested against the wall, his dark sweat-and-blood-soaked hair accentuating the too-pale aspect of his face. Ford took a deep breath, then slipped a hand under his arm in support. "Come on, sir. Time to get going."
"I can make it myself," came the muttered reply.
'In a pig's eye!' thought the lieutenant, although he was too smart to voice his concerns.
"Sure you can, but Dr. Beckett will kill me if anything else happens to you."
Sheppard cocked open one eye and stared up at the younger soldier. "You're humoring me, aren't you?" he asked suspiciously.
Ford gave a self-deprecating grin. "Is it that obvious?"
Sheppard chose not to comment. "Come on, then. Let's get out of here."
By the time they managed to get to the opening that had been created, Ford found that he was again practically carrying the man.
McKay and Teyla heard some scrabbling noises, a couple of grunts, and Sheppard's wan face slowly became visible in the crawlway. Dragging himself forward on his belly by his elbows in classic low-crawl position, the Major couldn't quite hide his relief when Teyla grabbed one arm, McKay grabbed the other, and they forcibly hauled him the rest of the way into the room. Ford followed so quickly that he was through and with them before they had even managed to settle John onto the floor.
Rodney didn't care for the way Sheppard had immediately closed his eyes and slumped against the table leg in exhaustion. Medicine had always seemed more of a pseudoscience than a real discipline to the astrophysicist, but he found himself fervently wishing Beckett were here. The Major was pallid, his face covered in a cold sweat, bruises and darkened blood and he was breathing in small, shallow pants. McKay grasped an unresisting wrist to take his pulse; being an inveterate hypochondriac, he had done as much to himself a thousand times. 'Pulse 120 and thready, respiration 26 and shallow...' Not good.
"How's he doing?" Ford hovered over Rodney's shoulder, staring on in concern.
Not wanting to alarm Sheppard, McKay swallowed his own anxiety before answering. "He should be fine, but we ought to get him back to Atlantis." 'Before he goes completely into shock and dies!,' he added in silent terror to himself.
"I'll go outside and contact the Jumper. They should be able to set down in the square right in front."
"You do that." A thought occurred to him, "And take Teyla with you...just in case."
As the two young people hurried off, Sheppard cracked open an eye. "You learn fast, McKay. I could hardly tell that you're terrified." His hand rolled in the air as he tried to come up with the appropriate phrasing. "You lacked that...high-pitched babbling you usually have when you're worried."
Rodney's first reaction was indignation, but he recognized the truth when he heard it and became chagrined instead. "Well, I don't think it would help right now."
Sheppard nodded and closed his eyes, letting his head ease back to rest against the table again. "Good. Rule Number Two: Never let 'em see you sweat. It only undermines your credibility, and could result in someone questioning your orders at a critical moment."
McKay soaked a handkerchief with his canteen, then placed it on Sheppard's forehead. "This is a lot tougher than I thought." He gently mopped at some of the dried blood. "How do you do it? For example, in that shuttle; a huge life-sucking two-foot-long alien bug stuck to your carotid while you're facing explosive decompression in under thirty minutes, and you're completely unruffled."
John's mouth quirked into a slight smile while his eyes stayed closed. "I may have seemed composed, but let me tell you, I was screaming inside. The key is not to let them see your fear. That way, when you do think of something, you'll have the immediate support of your men, no matter how crazy it sounds."
"Like the defibrillator." McKay became grim. He had been shocked when he realized that Sheppard's so-called 'plan' involved stopping the major's heart. But, he admitted to himself, the calm way Sheppard had said, 'That's the idea,' had carried a lot of weight in the Jumper, and had been instrumental in galvanizing Ford into action. Maybe he had a point. Still, fear was instinctive, and had served him well in the past.
"Hello? You still with me McKay?"
Rodney shook himself back into this reality to find the Major staring at him. He flashed the injured man a weak smile as he re-dampened the cloth, then offered him the canteen as well. "Sorry. Just remembering a particularly nasty hour in my life that I'd sooner forget." He dabbed Sheppard's forehead as the man drank thirstily. "After all that, with everyone else safe due to my brilliant insight and implementation, it still looked for a while like we had lost you. No matter how astounding my solution was, it just wasn't a success in my mind if we didn't all survive." He thought for a moment, then ventured, "Just for a moment, right after Dr. Weir had congratulated me on a 'good job', but Beckett was still trying to convince your heart to beat, I wished it was me lying there instead of you. How strange is that?"
Without moving his aching head, Sheppard raised three fingers on his right hand. "Rule number three: your men come first. That means that their needs, desires, and lives are more important than your own. The corollary is that you, the team leader, are the most expendable member of the group." His eyebrows creased in concentration. "Speaking of which; shouldn't Teyla and Ford be back by now?"
McKay's eyes widened. "Yes, you're right. Will you be..." his voice cut off mid-sentence.
The Major opened his eyes at the sudden silence. "McKay?" Any further questions stilled on his lips as he saw the large knife pressed firmly to the scientist's throat as several large hands roughly grabbed them both by the arms and hauled them to their feet. His field of vision was suddenly swamped in gray, and he knew no more.
As McKay helplessly watched, the blood drained from Sheppard's face, eyes rolling backwards as he passed out, becoming a dead weight in the hands of his captors. The scientist's instinctive surge forward was halted by the bite of the blade pressing more firmly against his throat, followed by Teyla's hissed, "No, Doctor! You are of no use to him dead." Rodney gulped and forcibly pulled his eyes away from the two half-clothed, burley savages holding his unconscious colleague, and inspected the other two captured members of 'his' team.
"Are you two all right?" he managed to get out before being jerked backwards. The knife-edge nicked his skin, and he felt a small trickle of blood head towards his collar.
"No words!" exclaimed the brute holding him, twisting his arms behind his back for emphasis.
Ford and Teyla both nodded imperceptibly in reply, eyes fixed on the barbarian with the weapon at McKay's throat. The next thing they knew, the group was being bustled outside, where their arms were bound tightly behind their backs. Sheppard was tossed to the ground like a sack of laundry, then bound as well, albeit in a supine position, face down in the dirt. McKay was getting worried about his continued lack of movement, but found the steady rise and fall of his chest somewhat reassuring. He also wondered if the other two had managed to signal the ship before they were set upon. He knew better than to even try to mouth the question, so, catching Ford's attention as the majority of their captors went off in search of other potential prisoners, he jerked his head in the direction of the ship with the unspoken question in his eyes. Ford managed to look disgusted and give one negative shake of his head without being noticed.
No rescue would be immediately forthcoming, then. He was suddenly quite grateful for the extended walk that Sheppard's 'worst case scenario' had entailed, for it meant that the ship would not be easily discovered by the natives, and therefore the two men left behind would stand a fair chance of defending their only means of escape. When the team failed to make their scheduled radio check-in, the two young guards would hopefully come looking, with suspicions aroused. Still, it would be best if they could escape and make it back before then.
To distract himself, he examined their abductors; perhaps they had weaknesses that could be exploited. A glance at Ford revealed that he was doing the same thing.
The natives were reminiscent of the American Indian; tall, dark-skinned, and muscular from hours of outdoor activity. Clothed in animal hides and leather, their culture was clearly not developed to the point of manufactured clothing. From what he recalled from the little study he had done in yet another pseudoscience, sociology, people at this stage of development tended to indulge in 'magical thinking' as a way to explain their universe. 'Figures', the scientist's eyes narrowed thoughtfully; maybe that could be used to their advantage.
As if to confirm his observations, another aftershock hit. 'At least this time we're outside,' he thought as the tremors knocked him to the ground. The locals began crying out in dismay and running back to the central square where Knife-boy still stood, his face set in granite. When the shaking finally subsided, he strode angrily to where their captives were picking themselves up as best they could without the use of their arms. Grabbing McKay with both hands by the collar, he hoisted him up until they were nose-to-nose.
"You have angered the Earth Goddess by your sacrilege!" The man was quite worked up. "How many more of you are there?"
McKay stammered incoherently, then forcibly calmed as his mind flitted back to 'Rule #2'. "No-one....nobody else." He pulled his arrogance back around himself like a shield. Drawing his shoulders back, he somehow managed to stare down his nose at the person manhandling him. "How dare you treat us this way when we were sent by the Goddess?"
A disturbed murmur emanated from the gathered natives as their leader stared at McKay suspiciously. The somewhat pudgy astrophysicist steeled himself not to blink or look away; finally Knife-boy set him back on his feet and glared at one of his companions. "Bring them!" he spat, stalking off.
Ford, McKay, and Teyla found themselves being unceremoniously jostled and prodded further into the ruins of the city at a slow trot, while Sheppard was again slung over one of the natives' shoulders and carried. Eventually the group reached an encampment within the ruins of what must have been the Ancient equivalent of an apartment building. They were tossed into a relatively-intact room, and the door shut firmly behind them. McKay didn't have to look outside to know that a guard had been posted.
Teyla was on her knees next to John's unmoving body. McKay looked on, despair welling up inside him. He hated not knowing what to do! Just like watching Beckett shocking Sheppard's heart back to life while he could do nothing but pace...Ford's voice at his shoulder startled him back to the present situation.
"Nice job, doc." The lieutenant inadvertently echoed Weir's words.
Repeating himself, McKay replied, "We'll see."