Chapter 2

John rubbed his aching head as he tried to keep his temper under control yet again. He was beginning to wish he'd just stayed in bed that morning rather than trying to ignore the steady pounding behind his eyes.

"So, when will we be able to meet with Councillor Mackush?" he asked in a low voice. Not that he expected a straight answer. He'd been having this circular conversation with the councillor's assistant for almost ten minutes.

"When he returns," the woman answered, just as cool, calm, and collected as she had the first dozen times he'd asked.

John sighed heavily and nodded. "Fine. When he returns," he conceded. "Any ideas on what we should do in the meantime?"

"We can set you up with accommodations just across the road," she said. "And you are free to wander through the marketplace at your leisure."

John gave her a wry smile. "We just can't buy anything," he said.

She smiled and nodded. "That is correct." She scribbled something down on a piece of paper and then handed it to him. "Just give this to the person behind the counter at the building across the road," she instructed. "They will provide for you all that you need. Good day."

John rolled his eyes as he turned away from her to face the rest of his team. Well, half of his team. The fact that Rodney still hadn't shown up just made him so mad that his head started thumping even more. "Lieutenant, take this over to the building across the street and give it to whoever's behind the counter," he said, passing him the note. "Find out where we can stay for the night, where we can get something to eat, all that kinda stuff."

"Yes, Sir."

"Teyla, you and I have a scientist to catch," he said, gesturing for her to follow him as he headed for the door. "Preferably alive, so that I can have the pleasure of killing him," he added.

"Do you not think you are overreacting, Major Sheppard?" Teyla asked with that knowing look in her eyes that he either found comforting or aggravating, depending on the circumstances. Right then, it was definitely aggravating.

"Overreacting?" he repeated. "I told him to stay with us, and he wandered off anyway. You don't think that's worth the death penalty?"

Teyla shot him a disapproving glare. "No. He is a scientist, Major. How could you expect him to resist the devices we were walking past so casually? It is in his nature to gravitate towards them, and I believe you know that."

John sighed and quickly put his sunglasses on as they headed out into daylight again. "What do you want me to do, Teyla?" he said. "My head's about to split open here, okay? All I wanted to do was come here, work out this alliance, and head home." He sighed again. "It can never be that easy, can it?"

Teyla gave him a sympathetic smile. "Why did you not tell anyone that you were feeling unwell?" she asked. "You should not have come."

"That's exactly why I didn't tell anyone," he replied. "I had to do my job. Besides, I thought I'd be okay until I stepped through the Stargate. Remind me next time that it's a bad idea to go travelling across the galaxy when you already feel like crap, would you?"

"Perhaps you should learn to better judge your limitations," she said, giving him that knowing look again. "Then you would not need my reminder."

"Yeah, yeah..."

"Major! Thank God, there you are." A breathless Rodney jogged over to them, stopping a couple feet away to bend over and try to catch his breath.

"Where the hell have you been?" John demanded. "I told you to stay with us!"

"I was trying to get us a good deal on a..."

"Well, forget it," John snapped. "Turns out we're not allowed to buy or sell anything until we're made members of this... confederation. You wasted your time."

Rodney's expression hardened in an instant. "I guess you wouldn't care to hear about how I was cut off from coming after you for the past few minutes by a silent yet very menacing crowd, so I'll just shut my mouth and stay out of your way."

John was slightly taken aback by Rodney's sudden venom, but he was feeling too crappy to take him up on it. "You do that," he said, and then started making his way over to the building Lt. Ford had entered moments earlier. "Let's go find us someplace to stay, shall we?"

He didn't turn around, but he could hear Rodney and Teyla fall into step behind him. Rodney really did stay quiet as they entered the hotel-like building, were handed keys to their rooms, and trudged up the stairs to the third floor. He had a bad feeling about that. Rodney was never this quiet for this long.

It occurred to him as he entered his private room and collapsed onto the bed that he should probably apologize to him and explain why he'd been so snappy with him all day, but he figured it could wait until he'd had a nap. There was no rush, after all. They'd probably be waiting on the councillor for at least twenty-four hours, so there'd be plenty of time for apologies later.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Rodney shrugged off his jacket and pack and plopped down onto his bed. He could hear Ford and Teyla coming out of their rooms and discussing where to go for dinner, but for once in his life, Rodney didn't feel like eating.

He wasn't at all surprised that they didn't even knock on his door to invite him along. The looks he'd given them both had made it clear without words that he wanted to be left alone right now. He just sat there until he heard them walk away, and then lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling as he thought things over.

His experience in the marketplace was fresh on his mind, but he still didn't know what to make of it. He had no idea what he'd done that was so bad, but for some reason all of the townspeople had looked at him with such disapproval that he felt as though he were a naughty schoolboy or something. Why had they gathered around him like that? Why had they stood so close together so he couldn't get past them? It was like something out of the Twilight Zone.

Speaking of the Twilight Zone, Major Sheppard's behaviour was reaching that level of abnormality, too. Rodney hadn't a clue what he'd done to upset him so much, but he wasn't about to ask. He'd just leave him alone and let him stew until they got back to Atlantis.

After lying there for a few minutes, hunger finally started to set in, so Rodney got up to hunt around in his pack for something to snack on. He found a couple of power bars, and sat back down on the bed to munch on them for a while. He was starting to feel lonely, too, but it was too late now to go after Ford and Teyla, and there was no way in hell that he was going to knock on Sheppard's door. So, he just sat there. And sat there some more.

He couldn't believe what a bust this mission was turning out to be.

About an hour later, he heard Ford and Teyla returning to their rooms, but he still hadn't heard a sound from Sheppard. Maybe that was for the best. At least then he wasn't on anyone's back.

He somehow made it through the next couple of hours without pulling his hair out in boredom, until he finally decided it was time for bed. As he undressed and climbed under the covers, a strange feeling suddenly came over him that he couldn't quite explain. It was like there was something missing - something he couldn't put his finger on, yet it was almost painful in its absence. He figured it must just be the fact that he hadn't spoken in a few hours, so he shrugged it off and turned out the light.

As soon as the room fell into darkness, the noises from the street outside seemed to become more distinct. There seemed to still be quite a crowd out there, even though it was well past nightfall. Didn't these people ever go home? He was surprised there were no neon lights to keep the town lit up nice and bright for them after the sun went down.

He lay there wide-awake for a few minutes, until he noticed that the hustle and bustle outside had suddenly died down to almost nothing. He figured that meant everyone had finally called it a night, so he turned over onto his side and tried to get comfortable. Within minutes, he was sound asleep.

As soon as he fell asleep, he began to have some very disturbing dreams. He was alone in every single one of them, running through hallways and empty streets looking for something... or someone. It finally occurred to him that he was looking for Elizabeth - that he was trying to warn her about something that he couldn't quite remember.

Moments after this thought came to his mind, he heard footsteps somewhere behind him in the darkness. At first it sounded like one person, but then he heard more and more and more, until...

He jerked awake at the sound of his door being thrown open and the footsteps rushing into his room.

"What the hell is this?" he shouted, but that was all he could say before receiving a fist to the jaw.

"Be silent," said one of the dark figures that were now surrounding his bed. "Fight us and you will regret it. You are under arrest for the murder of Jassin Tiya."

"Jason who?" Rodney asked in confusion. This earned him another blow to the face.

"Silence," the man with the lightning fist warned again. "On your feet."

Rodney didn't really have a choice in the matter, as he was then yanked out of the bed by his arms and made to stand on the floor. "Mind if I get dressed first?" he asked, not really caring to be led through the hotel and out into the street in just his t-shirt and boxers.

"No need," the man said. He snapped his fingers, and two of the other men dragged Rodney out of the room.

They didn't pause for a second as they took him down the stairs, out the front door of the building, and along the street. Rodney only half believed that he was awake, sure that nothing like this could actually happen to him. Arrested for murder? How could that possibly be real? He'd been alone in his room for hours, for God's sake. How could he have murdered anybody?

After a minute or so of being dragged along, Rodney was just starting to get angry when they seemed to arrive at their destination. At least, that's what he figured when he saw the crowd of people gathered around a large platform.

"What are you going to do with me?" he asked fearfully as his two escorts started towards the platform.

"Silence," one of them snapped, raising his fist as if to strike him. Rodney flinched at the action, which only served to amuse his captors.

When they arrived at the platform, he was shoved up the steps and led over to some kind of raised podium. Once he got to the foot of it, his hands were roughly pulled behind his back and fastened together. Then he was shoved up the two remaining steps onto the podium, which was surrounded by a low barrier that just about came up to his waist. This was slammed shut and locked, effectively trapping him inside.

He looked out at the crowd below him and didn't see a single face that looked sympathetic. In fact, they all looked angry. Very, very angry.

Rodney swallowed hard as he realized that this wasn't a dream. He could feel the pain in his jaw from where he'd been struck, and the night air was cold on his bare arms and legs. This was definitely not a dream.

"Now would be a good time for you to show up, Major," he whispered, hoping to see his friends' faces in the crowd as they waited for their chance to rescue him.

"This is the man!" someone on the other side of the platform suddenly bellowed, making Rodney jump. "This is the evil stranger who murdered our dear friend Jassin Tiya!"

That certainly got the crowd going. They'd been relatively quiet before, but now there was yelling, cursing, wailing, and even spitting, though thankfully no one was able to spit quite far enough to reach him. The dirt and stones reached him with no problems, however. A clod of mud hit Rodney right in the face, almost covering one eye completely, and he didn't have a free hand to wipe it away. Showers of small pebbles pelted him in the chest and face, one particularly sharp one hitting him right in the chin, where it felt as though it drew blood.

Rodney had never been so terrified in his entire life.

To be continued...