Chapter Six: Chamber One Three Six

...1...

"This is the wrong way." Sheppard pointed behind him. "McKay's voice came from that direction. How much farther?" When the fog had refused to let him pass, he had reluctantly retreated into the hallway while it followed, encouraging him along numerous ramps and stairwells.

"We are arrived." Lumi-fog escorted him past a cloud of its violet companions who served as guards for a crawl space. Sheppard cooperated, going through on all fours, coming out a keyhole on the other side. Lumi-fog also passed and regrouped in human form.

In the room, a combination of natural stone and fabricated walls, a thin young man sat at a console surrounded by machines. He wore a dusty brown shirt and pants dotted with small rips. On his head, a space about the size of a quarter shone violet within his dark hair. Sheppard came round to speak with him. When the man did not look away from the console, he waved his hand in front of his eyes, brimming with violet specks. He was unresponsive.

Lumi-fog said, "He requires constant repair. Tissue degrades rapidly, as fast as we maintain them."

Sheppard knew their efforts were futile. He pounded his fist on the console. "You've wasted my time. McKay could be dead by now," he said. "Why bring me here, to trick me? Meet this? He isn't in this world anymore." He started toward the keyhole.

"You must stay," said the fog, and its bottom half became a screen, covering the hole. "There is danger outside this safe room."

"What about Rodney?"

"It is too late for him. The Architect will explain..."

"Do you really believe he'll just perk up and chat with me?"

"He breathes."

Sheppard put his hand on the Architect's shoulder. His bones were prominent. "That's about all he can do. When's the last time you saw him eat or say anything? Having another human here won't change him." Sheppard headed toward the opening. "I gotta' go. I'll handle this myself."

The screen glistened over the keyhole, didn't budge.

"Get out of my way!" he said. "I can't wait any longer. Recall your screen."

Lumi-fog was motionless. "You must stay."

"Listen. We can save your little kingdom here. All we have to do is work together as a team, no more of this fly-by-night, make-it-up-as-you-go-along stuff." He drew his sidearm, aimed it at them. "Let me go."

...2...

Gage jerked McKay upright against the beam. "Wake up, we're not done yet." He slapped him, pinched his throat until he inhaled suddenly, opened his eyes.

Rodney's head drooped to his chest. If he could just have a drink of water, swim in it, suck it in like the sea air of Atlantis, a wonderful city filled with enormous tanks of precious liquid that would last as long as the ocean, quenching, comforting...

"Look at me," Gage insisted, grabbing him by the chin. A whiff of golden 'bots circled them. "Call your friends."

McKay didn't answer, lids half-closed. They had attacked his retina, leaving a black curtain over the peripheral vision of the left eye.

"Damn you, call your friends." He blew the 'bots toward McKay and they slipped into his mouth. "They've locked the other fucking door. Stinky rats."

To prod him awake, the nanobots barraged his brain, induced a migraine. McKay clenched his teeth, distressed to find himself in the same place, back in blood and sweat and above all else, the scent and sound of beautiful dripping water. His tongue was sticky, smeared with a bitter taste. He spit out a wad of pale red saliva, more at Gage's face. The veins in Gage's forehead pulsed like worms. His fist drew back; he seemed to change his mind, taking McKay's scraped arm and giving it a solid squeeze.

If only they had numbed the rest of his body. Rodney protested, but they would not allow him to black out. They had all the time on the planet and would keep his heart pumping and his mind aware whether or not they finally got what they wanted. He hoped the Lumi-fog would return; but if not, that the roof would split and smother them in rubble, or the vertex would burst open, drown him in sweet springwater.

"Help me," he said, hushed, unaware he'd spoken out.

"That's the ticket." Gage rose over him. "But say it louder."

...3...

The gun was a vain threat. Sheppard knew he could not discharge it in the room without bringing the roof down. The structure had extensive damage; portions were ready to crumble. He stood down, and the fog reformed in total.

There was a noisy rumble from the depths of the complex. Sheppard felt unsteady. He thought at first the lack of water and food had made him lightheaded when he realized a wave of motion had rolled under, then another. "Feel that?" he asked Lumi-fog. "We're all doomed. Do you hear me? After who knows how many decades, you're doomed. You've created a disaster."

Lumi had waited silently. "Our measurements indicate a significant pressure bearing upon this section from the geological expanse above us."

The rumble grew and a part of the ceiling sailed to the floor. Sheppard placed a hand on the wall to stay upright. "This is a safe room? We have to get out."

"The Architect must be preserved," said Lumi-fog.

"We don't have time for that," he said. "Listen, you've got to let him go, let him die. Humans don't want to live like this. He's badly damaged, even you can't restore him to what he was. You should know that by now."

Larger pieces disintegrated and a heavy block landed near his boot, skimming his shoulder. "Ouch," he said, dodging out of the way. He cradled his forearm.

Lumi-fog relented. "We do not want you harmed. But we can not allow the Architect to deteriorate."

"You don't need him anymore." Sheppard realized that the nanite programming had melded them to the goals of the Architect: to build and expand, an intention which should have been aborted when the place started falling apart. They would be lost without him.

"I'll be your architect," he said. "Okay, I don't know much about architecture or molecular engineering or any other engineering but my people do, McKay does." He stretched the truth to convince them. "Help me save him and he can help you."

"We are familiar with Rodney's mind. He is not an engineer."

Sheppard was caught in his lie. "No, maybe not, but you know what's in his mind, how it works, and where we come from..."

"Canada."

"Atlantis, a great city, there are others like McKay, scientists."

"Our enemy will eventually return to the surface to reenergize their solar cells."

"Didn't you learn anything from me?" Sheppard asked. "You've got to see. McKay can't wait that long. I promise I'll do my best, get someone to assist you."

Lumi-fog seemed unconvinced, its center pulsating in a varied sequence. "We will lead you to him, if our enemy does not impede us."

...4...

"Louder," Gage ordered, poking McKay in the chest. "Or I'll have them fix you up just enough to start over again."

"There's no reason for this," McKay said, gathering what survived of his wits. Gage's well-known volatile nature had taken an evil turn when the nanobots had overrun him. He'd become a new organism, one consumed with the avenging, territorial nature of the nanobots combined with his own viciousness and jealousies. "Send your pets to unlock the door."

He gave Rodney a sharp jostle. "They're working on it," he said, then left him for the driphole, indulging in a drink.

McKay licked his lips. The water was a mere two meters away.

"You thirsty?" Gage asked. "Then hail them. Use some effort."

"I told you, they've evacuated."

"We know different." He walked behind McKay and with one hand, snapped the laces that bound him, towing him to the puddle. He lowered him face down. "I'm your boss. Obey me."

McKay could almost taste the water, but Gage had snagged his hair, kept his face floating above it.

"Do you remember?" he said. "The night Jaden bought the farm?"

Rodney nodded, shifting an elbow under him. With the other arm, he reached for Gage's jacket. His hand was wooden. He could not take hold. The attempt sent pangs through his side.

Gage tugged his head. "You saw nothing."

"I saw you," McKay insisted. He flicked his tongue, nabbed a drop.

"After ten years his assistant, Jaden wouldn't stand by me, turned me in. No loyalty in the man."

"He tried to get you help," McKay said. It was an effort, but perhaps he could remind Gage that Jaden had been a decent man.

"He was clumsy. Clumsy and disloyal...like you." His temper flared. "What'd you see, Rodney?" he said.

"I told the truth."

Gage lifted him higher by the shirt and neck, threatened to nail him to the beam and give the 'bots free range. "What if I order them finish you off? They can start by severing your left arm, then chew through your right, with your leftover eye for dessert."

It made no difference. The black curtain had descended into his vision, and he was deaf in one ear. Was this it? Missing in action in the middle of nowhere before age forty? And to think he'd thought that was old. Gage had gone madder than ever. Sheppard had to be dead, or he would've come for him, and the Lumi-fog was a machine, inanimate on a molecular scale. It had no reason to save him, no idea how long a human could last before the body gave up what the mind had already lost.

"Or maybe they can scour you out," Gage said. "Leave your skin trash bag empty, stuck on a twig, flopping in the breeze."

McKay gave in; his voice cracked. "I saw nothing," he said, savoring the dream of water. It seemed the one thing that would have the power to soothe him.

Gage laughed, dunked him into the puddle. "Go for it," he said, holding him there. "Take a nice long sip."

...5...

The hallway through which they'd come was impassable, jammed with boulders and debris. Sheppard and the Lumi-fog backtracked, then latched on to an idea which might expedite their quest: They would usher Sheppard through a portion of wall, where the nanolight would open a pathway.

Sheppard was unsure, asked them how it worked. He didn't comprehend everything; he'd need McKay to explain later. The process required a great deal of energy, at least where organics were concerned, not the nanites, or it might have been employed in the tetrahedron room, minus the enemy threat. They could manage one humanoid if they thought it was doable. Well enough, thought Sheppard, if it would get them to One Three Six faster, he would trust them. Had the Architect traveled in this manner? Sheppard asked. Yes, they said, he invented it. He prayed they remembered how to do it correctly.

In a smooth tetrahedron room, Lumi-fog requested that Sheppard place both hands on the wall. Immediately, the nanolight collected around his fingers and Lumi-fog enveloped him from head to toe. Sheppard saw violet, felt a tingling and flush, and his hands depressed into the wall as if it were wet plaster. Lumi-fog closed in and his arms soon sank into the wall. On his first step in, his heart pounded. Nothing hurt, yet he was puzzled he could breathe. Don't look back, he told himself, forward, forward. With his hands held out, he was pleased to see the lights stayed on, surrounded by the hum of the nanites who protected him from the rock, synergizing with the nanolight, creating a corridor.

He didn't know how long it was. A few minutes, in slow motion. Reaching out, his skin hit cold air, and he emerged into a natural tunnel, adjacent to an artificial one. He stepped out, touched the wall behind him. It was solid.

A small group of nanite reinforcements joined them. "One Three Six," said Lumi-fog, suspended at the intersection where the tunnels met. It had mastered Sheppard's image except for its awkward movements.

"Which door?" Sheppard said. He heard a voice bellow through the hallways. "Get ready, Gage. You'll eat what you deserve."

...6...

"Let's get back to work," Gage said, pulling McKay from the puddle.

Rodney choked; he'd nearly drowned. Water spurted from his nostrils and he coughed it up, gagging. He'd wanted a drink...not this way. Gage had done the dirty work himself, dipping him in at will while the 'bots frolicked in the air, appearing eager to resume their charge.

Gage dragged him back to the beam. McKay glanced up; it was difficult to sit, to see, yet he noted a violet flash in the corner. He turned away, believed he was hallucinating.

"Getting warm in here." Gage dug into his inner pocket for a protein bar, removed his jacket and tossed it on the floor. "Break time," he said, sitting near the driphole. "Love to eat." As he took his first bite, the 'bots that had been rejoicing overhead disappeared into his mouth. "You're shivering, Rodney, should've brought your jacket."

He toppled to his back, regaining his breath. "Hangar bay," he said, voice hoarse. He hadn't sensed his hands for hours and it was a slight ease to have them untied, the circulation restored. There wasn't much else of him to bother with any longer.

"Left it? Too bad." Gage took another bite. "I can use it, since you won't be. When I get back to Atlantis, think Weir will scream as much as you do?"

Rodney uncurled his fingers, nauseated. "Disgusting," he said. "You...don't matter. They own you." He inhaled, expelled words by pure will. "Taking orders, forever."

Gage stopped chewing and swallowed, stood and towered over him, wild golden flickers clustered in his pupils. He got on his knees, snatched McKay's wrist and pulled it against his chest, palm out. McKay clawed him with his loose arm, only fanned the space between them.

He wrapped his fingers around McKay's pinky. "Call me boss," he ordered.

The water in the vertex teased McKay. Gage was winning the war. "Freak," he said. One last try, for Sheppard.

Gage twisted the finger. A yell burst into the chamber. "Call me boss." He prepared the next finger. "You got nine chances left."

"Loser," McKay said.

Another outcry.

"Eight."

McKay stole a strained breath. "Jackass."

...7...

"What the hell?" Sheppard said, hearing McKay. He held back. At his command, the Lumi-fog would unlock the door; experience told him he couldn't rush in. "We have to go in, now."

"Gage is near Rodney, right of the entry. Ambush?" Lumi-fog asked. The floor and walls trembled.

"Not exactly," Sheppard said. "I hope you weren't detected. Where's our second string, our reinforcements?"

"These are those available." Lumi-Fog explained the distribution of their kind: some were occupied shoring up jeopardized sections that threatened to fail, some were mining for depleted energy sources, others were defending their levels, others were...

Sheppard told it to shut up, whispering. "There's no time for that." Another shout came from the room. "Open the door, hide where he can't see or hear you." Sheppard stood to the side. "Simple as that. I'll take cover. When I fire, stay out of the way."

"The nanobots will abandon Gage if he is extensively damaged. Their behavior will be unpredictable."

"I know exactly what they'll do. So do you. They'll come after me, and all of you. Like killer bees. You do your shield-screen trick while I clear McKay outta' there. As soon as we're all out, seal the door." He raised his sidearm. McKay's voice arose again. "You'll pay for this, Gage. Let's go."

Lumi swept over the sensor and made itself scarce. The door opened and Sheppard peeked in. McKay was on the floor, arm outstretched, still. Gage was absent. He stepped back and the Lumi-fog appeared, rushing in like leaves on wind. "Wait!" he said.

From behind the wall, Gage jumped, seized Sheppard by the neck and whipped him in, tossing him to the floor with a slap across the face. As Sheppard hit, the gun slipped, ejected from his grasp. Gage charged in for another round but was stopped short when Lumi-fog intervened, erecting a shield between the combatants. Without hesitation, the hostile 'bots attacked, a contingent of them deploying from Gage in a cloud, crackling and popping against the shield while the balance crowded and glistened in his pupils.

Sheppard popped to his feet, combed the room for the gun. It had skidded across the floor, its grip lodged in an upraised lump in the floor. As he went towards it, a small portion of the shield nanites broke away, went to the weapon and engulfed it in violet.

Gage darted around the shield and raced to the gun, shoved Sheppard aside. Stretching a leg, Sheppard tripped him. From the floor, Gage twisted round, grabbed a foot and brought Sheppard down. While they struggled, the violet fog escaped, fleeing back to its home shield.

Rising, Gage put Sheppard off with several kicks which allowed him to extract the gun. Aiming, he pressed the trigger. It clicked repeatedly, did not fire. Sheppard backed away, thankful. Simultaneously, the shield nanites sputtered and regrouped, then sped out the doorway, chased by the contingent of 'bots.

Incensed, Gage pitched the gun toward the major, who was halfway up. It hit him on the forehead and he lurched backwards, stunned.

...8...

Gage picked up Sheppard and planted his face in the wall, bending his arm back.
"Hot Shot," he said. "Trouble to the end. So you're allies with the horseflies."

"If he's dead, you are, too," Sheppard said. He wriggled, attempting to break free.

Gage banged him into the wall. "He's the most uncooperative prick in the galaxy."

Sheppard growled. "Don't let go, because damn you, I'll make it a million times worse than you gave him."

"Wanna' see him? Say good-bye?" Gage jerked his elbow upwards. "Come on, march"
He swung him from the wall and to the beam. "Hot Shot's here, Rodney, wake up." He prodded McKay with his boot and a trickle of blood spilled from his ear. Sheppard was horrified.

"Rodney, tell him you changed your mind," Gage said, opening his mouth wide. A mob of 'bots jettisoned out, clustered about McKay. He writhed as if lost in a nightmare.

"Get them off him!" Sheppard said. At least he was alive.

"Where's the Architect?" asked Gage. "Show us the way."

"You don't know?" Sheppard wrenched himself free, holding his elbow "Call off the bugs," he demanded. "I'll take you to him."

Gage recalled his minions and they rejoined him. "Go," he said, and McKay was peaceful again.

Sheppard glanced around the chamber. Lumi-fog was gone, probably destroyed. Reluctantly, he led Gage to the locked door. "Well?" he said, halting in front of it. Gage did not seem to comprehend. "I can't open it, and that's the way to the Architect."

Gage pushed him. "Use the other door, stupid,"

"I'm not sure I can find him that way this place is pretty confusing"

"Do it, or I'll send them into your stuck-up head and they can slash the location out."

"All right. Control it, okay?" He headed toward the opposite entry when he discerned an oncoming roar. The floor shudderedanother quake was mowing through the area. He claimed the advantage, using it as a distraction, and spun, aiming for Gage. He threw a punch, struck him on the chin. Gage prevailed and stood his ground, reaching for the major's throat, reaching to get a grip. Sheppard pounded him, trying to break away, when they both collapsed to the floor.

At that instant, Lumi-fog surprised them, zooming back in, establishing their shield around Gage like a cocoon, nearly catching Sheppard up in it as well.

"Watch your friendlies," Sheppard warned, scooting out of the way.

Gage got up, swiped at the Lumi-fog while the 'bots escaped, retreating from his body and zipping out the door. Lumi-fog assailed him, flashing painful sparks wherever he touched. It drove him toward the wall, firing in bursts, flung him against it, buckling him there. Advancing, their nanolight ally encompassed his body until his shoulder, knee and foot slid into the surface. Lumi-fog pushed, working at full capacity, the nanites resolved, bulldozing their adversary limb by limb. Gage screamed, begged them to cease, let him go. Half his body was engulfed in the wall, and he stretched his neck to keep from suffocating. He was trapped between the sparks and the nanolight which seemed to want to consume him. Sheppard watched from the floor, terrified and amazed at how well the fog had incorporated the lessons on warfare.

The siege continued. Gage's torso had been swallowed, imprisoned behind the wall, the front of his head exposed along with an arm. Lumi-fog persisted, its energy vivid and humming louder than Sheppard had previously seen or heard. Gage gasped, eyes bared and alone. Finally, with the last assault, he cried out, his face contorted, and vanished into the wall. It sealed up after him, a hand dangling, fingers gnarled and frozen.

Chamber One Three Six dimmed and Lumi-fog pulled back, hovered at the door, its luminescence faded.

"No no, not now." Sheppard pleaded, standing, feeling dizzy. "Please, you can't go." He motioned toward McKay.

"Sheppard," it said, assuming human form briefly. The image was wobbly and blurred. "We must refuel, summon replacements." And it flew off.