Chapter Seventeen

A Gambit of Interference


John woke up, and abruptly, the memories of the night surfaced and kicked him, like a stray dog down on his luck. His eyes were drawn irresistibly to the bodies of his friends, and he shut them again, tightly, wishing he could forever block out the sight. He felt sluggish, and sick, and knew without looking that his leg was the source.

"What kind of test is this?" he murmured to no one, because there wasn't anyone left to answer.

That's why the answering voice surprised him. "I said it would be a test of faith."

Gigno. So, he'd been right. He was here all along. "Why?" he asked bitterly.

Gigno stepped into view, and Sheppard sat up, but made no attempt to stand. He doubted he could anyway. "Because you asked me to," Gigno explained as he would to a simple child.

"I didn't ask you to kill my friends!" denied Sheppard. "You said a test of faith, how does killing McKay and Beckett test our faith!"

Gigno found a spot beside John, and kicked the fallen leaves and dirt aside, sitting down with the trouble of the very old, which surprised John, because this was supposed to be some all-powerful Ancient. "That, my friend, was the final test. Faith can be in many things; in yourself, your friends, in life. You passed the first two tests, all of you. But the final test only McKay and Beckett passed. You failed, Major, because you quit."

John was almost lulled into the old man's honey trap. "I quit because you stacked the deck," he accused. "You cheated. You killed my friends to see how I would react, and that wasn't what I agreed to do."

Gigno didn't seem bothered by Sheppard's ire, in fact, he seemed like he was having a pleasant Sunday afternoon discussion. "Your friends didn't quit, and in their experiences, the other two, which included yourself, Major, died as well."

Sheppard was about to keep protesting when his mind processed Gigno's words. "What do you mean, their experiences?" He could feel the small seed of hope growing deep, burning to burst into full fruition.

Gigno smiled, patiently, enigmatically. "You know what I mean. You've suspected all along. Really quite good of you, you know," he seemed to say it as if they were sharing some big secret, only the two of them. "Doctors Beckett and McKay are still out there, walking, looking for a way home. They are quite intent in finding a way out." Then Gigno turned his eyes on Sheppard and considered him like a kid who does something unexpected. "But not you. You quit."

John wanted to believe. He tore his eyes off the mad man, and looked at the bodies, which still lay where he'd put them, looked at the blood and open eyes, and the beginnings of decay and stench hovering like a shroud.

"Yes, Major, you failed. Your refusal to keep a faith in life, to keep trying, ended the test."

Sheppard got to his feet, shaky, and not just from the illness in his body, but also from the emotions. He'd been played with, like a cat with its stuffed mouse. "What you call failure, I call friendship," he said, low and dangerous. "I think you're lying about McKay and Beckett. Just like you've lied about everything."

Gigno took the cue from Sheppard and climbed to his feet. He smiled craftily. "We'll see, Major. We'll see." And he snapped his fingers, and everything dissolved like a melting piece of plastic, burning in a fire.


"Major!"

John was back in that unearthly misty world of white. He spun around, because that voice, that unbelievable voice, was McKay! "Rodney!"

Rodney McKay came running through a curtain of a cloud, appearing whole, and entirely alive. "I thought I'd never see you again," he said to Sheppard, looking very vulnerable.

Sheppard, for his part, was still unsure. He reached a hand up, slowly, and touched McKay's skin, swallowing. "You're real?"

McKay caught his hand as he pulled it back, and grasped it tight. "I'm real, I'm here!" and he said it with an intensity that bespoke the tragedy that he'd endured with the psuedo-Sheppard in McKay's experience.

"How?" asked Sheppard, still fighting against hope. "Where's Beckett?"

"I'm here, son." Beckett strode into view, tendrils curling at his feet by the wake of his motion. "And bloody glad to see you both."

Sheppard couldn't keep the enormous grin off his face. "I thought you were dead," he said, awed and relieved, and so many emotions played under the surface of his words that a painter could've tried a thousands times and never gotten the feelings right.

"Why are we here?" asked Rodney, steering the conversation away from the emotional road it was leading towards.

John shook his head. "I don't know. Gigno told me I failed, snapped his fingers, and poof."

"You're here, because this is the end, Major."

Rodney, Carson and John were standing together, and they all watched as Gigno formed in front of them; at least a cloud with Gigno's voice. "You lost, I've come to collect my debt."

"Take me, let them go." Sheppard stepped in front of McKay and Beckett.

McKay and Beckett shared a look that said it all, and stepped forward, bringing them even again with John. "No," McKay said succinctly.

Sheppard turned his head slightly, leaning towards McKay. "Not the time for heroics, McKay. I just saw you die, and I'd rather not live through a repeat performance."

McKay bristled. "It goes both ways, Major."

Beckett, for his part, was as equally determined as McKay that Sheppard wasn't going to be the trio's scapegoat, even if Gigno went for it. But, he was also puzzled by another aspect that seemed to be getting lost in the other issues. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't what you're doing against the Ancients code?"

Gigno's cloud seemed to coalesce in a wave of anger. "Code? That code was decided upon by a few select individuals."

John glanced to his side, looking at an animated Carson, surprised by the Doctor's insight. This was an avenue he had passed over in light of dealing with the immediate threat, but sometimes, the back door was the best way out. "You aren't supposed to interfere," said Sheppard, continuing Beckett's tactic.

McKay hopped on the bandwagon with his usual rapid-fire intensity. "What you are doing goes against every principle of your people!"

The cloud was fairly vibrating now. "My people? Principle?" it laughed, but it wasn't the pleasant jocular amusement, rather a vapid mockery of true mirth. "Clearly, Doctor McKay, you do not know my people very well if you think principle applies."

Sheppard digested Gigno's retort, and felt there was a disturbing kernel of truth, probably for the first time since they had the misfortune to meet the old man. "One bad apple can spoil the barrel."

A softer chuckle. "The bad apple wasn't I, Major. My only crime was fighting to undo the wrongs my people had done," refuted Gigno. "The Wraith," a pause. "We could've killed them before they grew so powerful!"

Sheppard knew that if they had been face to face with Gigno's human form, he'd have been pounding the table with a fist, hair skewed with his conviction. "What do you mean?" John asked, but there was a sinking weight in his gut, and he was almost afraid to hear the answer.

McKay, on the other hand, didn't want to listen. "He's lying," he spat. McKay wasn't a trusting individual, and didn't give second chances.

"The Wraith were a mistake," a cynical laugh punctuated the reply. "Yes, we made mistakes! But it could've been fixed; except our leader said we had no right to interfere." The giggling increased incrementally as Gigno approached the climax of his revelation. "No right to interfere, and that mistake almost eradicated our people centuries later. Our mistake became a plague on the galaxy, hunting and destroying, leaving devastation and death in its wake."

Beckett was shaken by the information, but not so much as to forget their predicament. "But why are you trying to take us? What good can we do dead? Or ascended, whatever you call it," Carson fought to maintain balance. "We're fighting the Wraith, trying to save the people in the Pegasus galaxy, and the legacy of your people!"

And here Gigno's true madness was revealed, even without corporeal form. The vibrating ceased with decreasing ripples to the cloudy form. "Because you will recreate our race."

"That's impossible!" spluttered McKay.

John was inclined to agree, but he managed to remain calm in the face of such insanity. "How?" he asked.

"I was banished here, a guardian over our glory. My crime? I tried to eradicate the Wraith when they were barely into their evolution. I discovered them, and knew they'd become a scourge, though even I never saw their true potential. I was told that as I tried to take life, I'd be condemned to forever care for life. In that, they made a mistake, because I'm here, and now you are as well. Together, we can recreate my race…our race…and fix the damage done by the Wraith."

"The Wraith are still out there. How long will it take before you can create a civilization strong enough to win? Your plan is flawed, Gigno. You can never hope to achieve this!" Sheppard lost the edge of calm, because this was crazy. "What happens when the Wraith find you here?"

The cloud grew deadly quiet. John frowned, looking uncertainly at McKay and Beckett, who didn't know anymore than he did. Finally it spoke, and the voice chilled all three to the bone. "Because I'm God. Because I control all life, including yours, and I have seen it. It will come to pass." And Gigno said it with such conviction, that Sheppard knew that reasoning with the Ancient was useless, an exercise in futility, and their backdoor had disappeared in the smoky world they found themselves stuck in.

Sheppard steeled his resolve. "We won't cooperate," he said, speaking for his friends.

"You will," the cloud said, a band of iron will seized Sheppard, McKay and Beckett. "You have no other choice."

Simultaneously, they felt the fire of pain lick their nerve endings, clutching their entire consciousness in agony that peeled back every layer of their being. The misty ethereal world wavered, warped and shattered, revealing their true location still in the complex, overlooking the cloaked gate.

Sheppard couldn't breathe, he couldn't live, and he knew this was death in its rawest form. He could see Gigno standing over their fallen bodies, and knew that McKay and Beckett were writhing from the torture beside him. Amidst the despair over the end, he was comforted by their presence and angry that they were enduring this as well, and he'd been unable to protect them.

Then it stopped. Like a switch flipped over in a circuit, the current quit flowing through the path of least resistance. He lay there, breathing hard, and struggling to recover. When at last he felt some control over his body, Sheppard looked up, searching for Gigno, and for an explanation. Were they dead? Had he finished with them? What he saw startled him.

Gigno was wreathed in bands of white, and Sheppard could see through them to the old man's clothes. He was struggling, but unable to break free. "What?" said Sheppard, trying to understand what was happening.

"The Ancients," breathed McKay.

Beckett had also recovered, and was sitting, watching as well. "I thought they couldn't interfere?"

"Interference is not allowed, however, it was our mistake that led to this situation," a feminine voice fluttered out of nowhere. "You do not blame the tree for the fire that consumes it from the lightening, but a man with a branch does not burn his neighbor's house."

"What?" McKay's hair was tousled, and he didn't have all his faculties in place yet. "Can we have it in English."

"I think she's trying to say that when one of their own commits a crime against someone else, they can interfere," Sheppard explained.

"That is so, Major Sheppard," replied the Ancient.

John got to his feet, offering a hand for McKay, and then Beckett. "We want to go home. Can you help us?" He couldn't see where the Ancient was, but he talked in the general vicinity of Gigno.

"We cannot, but Gigno may."

McKay wasn't pleased with her answer. "Why the hell not?"

"Doctor McKay," she said musically. "We have stopped Gigno's direct action against you, however, we are still unable to directly intervene in your lives."

Sheppard wasn't any happier with the situation than McKay was. "Is it true what he said? Did you have the chance to stop the Wraith?"

His question was met with dead silence. It was the answer in itself, and he figured the ascended Ancients knew it. Beckett was working up to full blown irritation. "Help us, please. We're fighting the Wraith, doing what we can for the people of this galaxy!" he pleaded. "We need to get back to Atlantis."

Finally, another voice, a male this time. "We are not without compassion. Gigno will enter the necessary information for you to gate home."

McKay leaned towards Sheppard, and whispered. "I think they don't want us asking anymore questions."

"I'd say that's a good bet," replied John under his breath.

The bands of air released Gigno, who stood angrily before them, demented in his sense of defeat. The old man was rubbing his arms, trying to restore circulation, and he strode jerkily to the console.

"We have friends, they're in one of your ships. We need to contact them," explained Sheppard, motioning for his radio that had fallen off in the earlier confrontation.

"You may do so," the feminine voice this time.

John reached down and picked the radio up carefully, setting in his ear, and depressing the button. "Lieutenant?"

A burst of static, then Ford's voice. "Major! It's good to hear your voice, Sir!"

Sheppard couldn't keep the grin off his face. "You've no idea. You ready to get out of here?"

"Affirmative, what's your location?"

"We're still inside the complex. Listen, Lieutenant. There's a gate inside, up towards the roof. My guess is it opens like the one in Atlantis. You should be able to fly down, and go through the gate."

He could see Ford processing the information. "What about you, Sir?"

That was a good question. Sheppard saw Gigno pushing buttons in the background, and watched as the gate decloaked in a wave of shimmering air. It started to dial. "Drop down, and point the ass-end towards us. I think we can jump it."

"What!" McKay barked, staring at Sheppard like he'd gone as crazy as Gigno. "Major, that's a long drop."

Beckett wasn't thrilled with the idea either. "Have you lost your mind?" he said, stunned by the suggestion.

Sheppard stared at them, stone faced. "You have a better idea?" he asked evenly.

Suddenly, the top of the complex cracked open, like a melon whacked with a machete, and the edges pulled apart with a wrenching sound of aged machinery grinding together. Their eyes were drawn upwards, when Gigno started laughing insanely. "They can't save you now!"

Sheppard turned his face back towards the old man, who was standing gleefully in front of the console. "You will all die if they don't let you ascend!"

"What'd you do?" John shouted, running over, and shoving him aside. He could see lights blinking towards a common goal, a center target. "McKay!"

Rodney ran to the Major's side, and stared at the display, a dawning horror creeping over. "Oh no."

"What!" Sheppard said, louder than necessary, because McKay was right next to him. He had asked what, but he knew. "It's a self-destruct, isn't it?"

McKay nodded, but he was already working the controls, trying to stop the overload. The console didn't respond. Rodney grabbed the old man, who had seemed to wither before their very eyes. "Fix it!" he snarled. "Tell me what to do!"

Gigno was shaking his head, smiling pleasantly. "It's too late," he whispered. "We are all going to die!"

"Not you," shouted Beckett. "You'll just ascend, again!"

A bright form drifted down from thin air, and stood in front of the three, outside edges wavering, and twisting. "He will not. He has been permanently descended for his actions."

"Oh, great," McKay rolled his eyes. "Just in time to die with the rest of us mortals."

The blob of energy regarded Sheppard, pointedly ignoring McKay. "I am sorry, Major Sheppard. We can do no more."

Sheppard wasn't anymore inclined to give them a break, than McKay. He ignored her…it. "Ford, you got all that?"

"Yes, Sir. Coming in hot; be prepared to jump!"

Sheppard grabbed McKay's arm, and Beckett's, dragging them towards the railing, leaving the cackling Gigno by the console. The gate had spewed the burst of liquid, and settled into the waiting wormhole. "Ready, Lieutenant. Radio Atlantis, let them know we might be followed through by a very large explosion!"

"Copy that, see you soon." Ford cut communication.

"You know we're going to die," McKay said confidently.

Sheppard shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time."

A klaxon started wailing in the background, and they felt the complex began to shake. "Come on Ford," Sheppard uttered.

They saw the Jumper scream overhead, and come to a stop, beginning to drop and even as it did so, the rear hatch began to lower. The rumbling deep inside the building began to grow, and John felt a strong sense of regret, because this building had sentience, and now the old man was killing it, along with himself.

"Get ready!" he shouted, shaking off the morbid thought. They could see Teyla hovering, ready to help catch them. It was up now, close to the railing. The railing! Damn! The realization hit McKay the same time as Sheppard, and he felt like cussing everything that had ever been.

Just then, the complex shuddered; he could almost hear it cry, and the railing next to their location melted. He felt the last humming gasps of the building speaking in his mind, an urgent Get Out to them. It hadn't meant them any harm, even though its master had.

"Run, go!" Sheppard shouted, propelling Beckett forward.

Carson took a last look back, and ran as hard as he could, leaping full force inside. He was a hair short, and if it weren't for Teyla, he would've fallen, but just as he started to slide back, her hand latched on to his, and she pulled him forward, to the safety of the Jumper.

McKay was next; making his run for it no sooner than Beckett had been hauled out of the way. He made it. Once he scooted to the side, Sheppard cast a final look at Gigno, who seemed oblivious to their escape. He ran, hell bent for the opening, and in one final leap, hit the grating of the Jumpers floor, in a puddled heap, shouting, "Get us out of here!"

Teyla hit the hatch mechanism, and it started shutting, even as the complex began to explode around them, and Ford shot the Jumper into the waiting wormhole. They just registered the sense of the ship being thrust forward by the explosive force behind them, and Sheppard didn't have enough time to get off a warning before their bodies were dematerialized through the event horizon. His last thought was one of despair, because that Jumper was going to be flung out on the other side with enough force to destroy the command deck.