AN: Would you all be surprised at how much perverse pleasure I'm getting out of knowing I've creeped you out?

Chapter Nine

Deep Sleep

Sheppard leaned heavily on Beckett. They were creeping slowly towards the Jumper and hoping like hell the rest of the team had the same idea. They knew they had found whatever it was that had killed the Wraith and it wasn't acting friendly. They came to a junction, and took the right corridor. They had gone only a few feet when Sheppard heard a scuffling noise behind them. "Teyla!" John called quietly, alerting her to the danger and gesturing for her to come back towards him and Beckett.

They flattened themselves against the wall. Sheppard saw Beckett grimace with distaste as his back sunk into the gelatinous wall. It was slightly nauseating, although that might be the result of the drugs in his system. John readied his weapon and nodded at Teyla. They could hear the footsteps coming closer. Right when the shadowy figure came around the corner, Sheppard lurched at the shape, driving it to the floor and straddling it in a clumsier motion than he had intended, but getting the job done.

"Sheppard?" Rodney grunted, "What…?"

"McKay?" Sheppard pulled back, staring at the stunned figure lying on the ground. Sure enough Rodney McKay was flat on his back, a mixture of shock and annoyance plastered on his face.

"Do I look like a Wraith?" McKay snarled. "On second thought, don't answer that."

"Major!" Lieutenant Ford exclaimed, relieved to have met up with the missing members of their party. "The radios weren't working."

"We noticed." Sheppard replied, still down on his haunches, trying to gather the strength to get back up. He probably should've let Teyla jump McKay, but he hadn't known it was McKay at the time. His plan had been to take it down and let Teyla finish it off, as she was the one in better condition for hand-to-hand combat. If he were feeling better, he would've enjoyed the fact that he knocked McKay on his ass.

McKay rolled to his feet, and brushed his pants free of whatever might be littering the floor. "We were heading back to the Jumper." He straightened his jacket, still glaring at the Major.

"Aye, so were we. There's something…" Beckett started, trailing off as everyone's attention was taken over by another stiff breeze. "That's unnatural, that is." He said instead.

Zelenka nodded, agreeing mutely. "We should go." Ford prodded. Markham and Stackhouse helped Sheppard to his feet.

"Teyla, you and Ford take the lead, we'll follow at the rear. McKay, you and Zelenka get in the middle with Beckett." Sheppard wanted the doctors protected if this thing came at them before they made it to the safety of the Jumper. He could only hope they would find safety inside the Ancient's vehicle.

McKay and Beckett took Sheppard's arms from the two Sergeants'. "You'll be joining us son." Beckett said, and he wasn't giving Sheppard the option to decline.

Sheppard opened his mouth to argue but Beckett's free hand came up, "Don't bother arguing with me lad, you aren't strong enough to take us both, and I'm guessing McKay would probably enjoy the chance to throw you down right about now to get my point across."

McKay smiled wide, illuminated by Ford's flashlight. "As a matter of fact, I would."

"Shut up McKay." Sheppard grouched. "Just…get moving." He said, defeated. He knew it made sense but it didn't make him feel better about having his weakness exposed for everyone to see.

They began to move towards the Jumper. It was getting colder in the corridors as they wound their way through the Hive ship. McKay thought he saw a shadow flit by in his peripheral vision. He fought to keep his eyes forward, focusing on getting to the Jumper.

Sheppard was experiencing the same visions and he could feel the edge of panic begin to invade his mind. It felt as if they were back on Athos and the Wraith had subjected them to hallucinations of things that weren't there, always just out of sight, making you think you were surrounded but reality was, nothing was there. This time he was afraid something was there.

He could tell by the jerking motion of those around him, the visions weren't a solitary event. "Faster!" He barked to Teyla and Ford. The time for stealth was gone. They broke into a jog, being chased to the Jumper by shadows of beings they didn't know; urgency broke over them carried on wings of ice. The Jumper was ahead; a tantalizing island of safety that he could only hope wouldn't prove to be a mirage. "Go, go!" He shouted, louder.

They ran into the rear hatch as if the hounds from hell were nipping at their feet. Ford slammed the control, and they all watched with bated breath while it slowly progressed upwards, sealing them inside their tomb. Sheppard collapsed onto the bench, his energy reserves depleted; he could not keep himself up. McKay and Beckett were as worn as the Major, having to support his weight coupled with the adrenalin rush from their fear.

"Do you think it will hold?" Markham asked McKay, who had activated the shield.

McKay didn't know. They didn't even know what the shield was holding out. They hadn't seen anything solid or physical. "It'll hold." He said. Think positively, he remembered those words not so long ago from Sheppard. It might kill him to do it, but he would. "I'm Mr. Positive." He muttered under his breath.

"You didn't happen to turn off the automated defenses, did you?" Sheppard finally had recovered enough to ask.

"Not exactly." Zelenka replied sheepishly. "We did figure out how to accelerate."

"Great." Sheppard croaked, "We can't get out of here but we can speed up to our certain doom."

"Did you and McKay trade personalities?" Beckett looked from Rodney to John surprised that McKay wasn't the one spouting sarcastic death sentences while John was.

"I resent that." McKay snapped.

Sheppard rolled his eyes, "You're not the only one. I like lemons."

"I'm allergic, it's not something I can control." He stated defensively. Everyone on Atlantis knew about his fear of lemons.

Markham and Stackhouse watched the interchange with a sick fascination before Markham interrupted, "We're about to be killed and you guys are arguing about lemons?"

Sheppard narrowed his eyes at the two soldiers, "Don't hold back any suggestions."

Teyla was the one who spoke up. "Major, did it not seem as if they were attacking in a similar manner as the Wraith?"

It did. They had experienced something out there and yet had seen no physical evidence of these new bad guys. "McKay?" Sheppard asked, but McKay was all ready on it, moving to the front of the Jumper and checking the display.

"Nothing." He confirmed what they were all beginning to suspect.

"So what are they? Figments of our imagination or ghosts?" Ford asked.

"Telepathic weapon?" Zelenka theorized. "Maybe they don't have solid form, like that energy being we encountered before?"

"How do we fight against something you can't destroy?" Stackhouse asked, bewildered by the concepts being slung around the Jumper.

"We don't even know if they're against us?"

"Lieutenant, what we experienced moments ago didn't strike me as particularly friendly." Sheppard reminded Ford.

Carson had been quiet, listening to the team discussing ideas, when a thought occurred to him. If it was using telepathy, like the Wraith, but without having a corporeal body, could they hide from this enemy? "Major, what do you think would happen if it could no longer sense anyone on the ship?"

Sheppard frowned at Beckett, "It wasn't around when we first arrived."

"…Which means it left it alone when it believed they were dead." McKay finished.

"How are we supposed to mimic death?" Ford asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer judging by the gleam in Beckett's eyes.

McKay must have followed along with Ford's thought, "Oh no…no way." He said vehemently.

"It'll work, I promise." Beckett cajoled. "For all intents and purposes, the thing will sense nothing on this ship. We continue on course and in a few hours we'll wake up, refreshed, and then we get out of here and go home."

"We still don't know how to get out of here." Zelenka reminded Beckett. He wasn't thrilled with the idea anymore than McKay.

Carson took a deep breath, "Look, that thing or things out there is going to kill us if we do nothing. If we're right, this shield isn't going to fool it forever. We can deal with getting off this ship when we wake up, at least at that point we'll still be alive, which is more than we can say if we don't come up with an alternative plan."

Carson's lecture sobered McKay. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"Mostly." Beckett replied. He didn't want to get into all the possibilities of what could go wrong.

"Mostly." McKay repeated, shaking his head in a combination of resignation and disbelief.

There was a lot of internal debating taking place. Each person trying to tackle their inner demons regarding this option while searching for something, anything that would offer a better, and safer, solution. "What if the Wraith show up on the other side?" Ford asked, after moments had ticked by.

"Then we're dead anyway." McKay snapped. "I think I disabled the distress signal. It's something."

Sheppard realized he was going to have to make the final decision, and at a time where he wasn't thinking all that clearly. He didn't like the options before them…or rather the lack of options, but he couldn't come up with anything better. "Do it."

"Are you sure Major?" Beckett asked. He almost hoped his idea would get dismissed or they'd think of something better. He didn't feel much better about it than anyone else, probably even more so because he knew everything that could go wrong.

"No, I'm not, but I can't come up with anything better and I think we're running out of time." He shivered, "Is it just me, or is it colder in here?"

"It's not just you." McKay had noticed the drop also. They were running out of time. "Fine, I'll do it." He said crossly, pinning Beckett with a fierce look, "If I die, I'll haunt you forever."

"Rodney, if you die, we'll probably be dead along with you." Carson said.

"Then I'll haunt your ghost."

"Knock it off." Sheppard warned, "What do you need us to do?"

Beckett began prepping the syringes. "Find a comfortable spot, you'll be in it for a while."

"How long is a while?" Markham asked warily, making a pillow out of his jacket.

"I'm going aim for a dosage that should keep us under for approximately four to six hours. Hopefully, it'll be long enough." Beckett looked at McKay for confirmation.

"It should, at the speed we're going, it should bring us at least as far away from this location as the ship was when we found it, just the other direction."

"Teyla, help the Major." Beckett ordered, approaching Stackhouse, who had propped himself in the pilot's chair. He swabbed the Sergeant's arm and slid the needle home before he could protest. He had Zelenka, Markham and Ford under in less than five minutes.

Teyla had helped Sheppard down, covering him with a blanket from the emergency kit. He smiled reassuringly, not wanting to tell her how much he appreciated her efforts. He didn't want to admit how much his body had begun to ache.

McKay propped himself beside Sheppard, Teyla to their left and a spot on the Major's right for Beckett. Carson deftly administered the sedative to Teyla, and patted her shoulder with a comforting hand as she drifted off. "Your turn Rodney."

McKay had a momentary flash of panic, staring at the Jumper's ceiling, "Haunt your ghost…ouch!" He yelped as the injection slid into his arm. "That hur…"

"Go to sleep Rodney." Beckett said as the scientist drifted off. "Now you Major."

Sheppard nodded, steeling himself, not against the needle, but against his own fear of being rendered helpless and knowing everyone around him was as well. "Don't take to long on yourself." He reminded Carson as he felt himself going under from the drug. He vaguely heard Beckett answer, and then he was asleep.

Beckett couldn't help the shiver of fear at being the only one remaining awake. He quickly dropped down beside Sheppard, and picked up the last syringe, and before he could think about it, slid it home, barely managing to withdraw the needle as the drug took effect. His last thought was a prayer that they'd all wake up, because despite his assurances to the others, he wasn't entirely convinced it would work. His arm dropped to the floor, the needle rolling inches to the side.

Outside the ship, forces fought to gain entrance, finally breaking through and seeking for that which they had felt before. Like a beam of anger, it jumped from atom to atom in the environment and found nothing.