The Prophecy

Chapter 8

Their return to Atlantis was frantic. The hastened the departure from Arona, the usual, but still slightly overwhelming journey through the wormhole and the arrival in the safety of the Gate room was Atlantis; all that combined with her taxing experience on the planet and her continued worry about John sent her to the floor once the steadying grip on her arm was withdrawn.

Teyla couldn't have been out for more than a few seconds as the next thing she became aware of was that an Earth woman was talking to her. She was one of Dr. Beckett's medics.

"Are you all right?" she asked while inspecting the dried blood on her arms, which were uninjured.

"I hurt my back when we were attack," she stated, recalling the burning pain and the blood running down her arms. Now that the adrenaline was fading from her system, pain was starting toset in. Her head was starting to hurt, she was starting to feel dizzy while her vision was getting blurry at the edges. The burning pain of her back seemed mild by comparison.

"Yes, you definitely should be in the infirmary with these burns. Just stay here and relax. I'll back in a second." The medic hurried of into the chaotic mess that had unfolded in the Gate room as the team had returned from the rescue mission with numerous wounded people as a result of the assault from the rebels.

A new stab of pain surged through her head. Teyla fought to suppress tears. She had never experienced such physical pain. The intense pain thankfully only lasted a few second before the pain lessened again, coming down to a steady, more bearable level. She took a breath, not having realized that she had held her breath during the moments of intense pain. She never had a chance to truly recover from the previous episode when the pain surge anew, yet more intense than the last time. This time, she mercifully blacked out before the pain reached its maximum.

----------

Dr. McKay was busy entering data into a spreadsheet on his laptop when a eruption of noise and light all around him made him spin around in his chair, arms raise instinctively to protect himself against whatever had just happened. Suddenly, the Ancient piece of technology that he had gathered on shelves and tables in his make-shift office had suddenly been activated. McKay ducked as a Frisbee shaped object came flying in his direction, on a collision course with his head. Had he done it? He concentrated, trying to mentally shut of the alien gizmos. Carefully getting up from his position under the desk, he tried to reach for a harmless looking cubic object, but the Frisbee was heading for him full speed again. He ducked quickly, nit managing to grab the cube in time. He had to hand it to the Ancients, the Frisbee was learning, this time, the Frisbee followed him down. As it hovered in front of him, doing something it was probably programmed to do. McKay seized the opportunity and grabbed the Frisbee. Victory for McKay!

----------

Ford had gotten lucky and he knew it. When the second blast from the shuttle had hit near his position, he had been thrown back by the blast, earning him a host of bruises and a broken arm, but sparing him serious burns. He had escaped with a few first and second degree burns.

"You are free to return to your quarters. I'll let Dr. Weir know that you are off duty on medical grounds until further notice. Please report back to the infirmary tomorrow." Dr. Jordan, one of Beckett's assistants informed him. Ford suspected that Beckett was busy with the more serious cases. Some of the soldiers had sustained nasty looking burns and Major Sheppard hadn't looked too well either by the time they had finally gotten him off the planet. There was no telling what they had done to him and Teyla while they had been on Arona.

"Thank you." Ford was glad to get out of the busy infirmary. After a mission gone bad, he needed space to think and besides, Dr Weir would be waiting for his report.

Walking out of the infirmary, he met Dr. Weir in the waiting room, where she had probably been waiting for news on Major Sheppard.

"Lt. Ford, I'm glad to see you back in your feet already. I suggest we go to my office for debriefing if you feel up to it. I need to know what happened on Arona, as you obviously encountered heavy resistance there."

They walked to the control room in silence. Moving didn't hurt too much; the pain killers they had given him in the infirmary were still doing their job. The moment they entered the Gate room, Dr. Grodin called to Dr. Weir.

"Dr. Weir, good that you are here. We're suddenly having problems with the Ancient technology on Atlantis. About five minutes ago, everything suddenly just lit up, even the parts we have never used or never even managed to turn on. Then the shield went up for a moment, them came down again, I presume because we don't have the power for it. Things are running normally for now, but we are having more glitches than normal. Things randomly shutting down for a moment, that sort of thing. Dr. McKay has observed something similar in his lab, he said, he's working on a theory."

"Is it a security risk?" Dr. Weir asked.

"Not so far. The shield has stayed up and aside from the initial incident, its controls have not been affected." Dr. Grodin explained.

"All right. Keep me posted. I'll be talking to Rodney later."

Ford and Dr. Weir proceeded to her office.

TBC

A/N: As usual next update tomorrow.