Disclaimer see Chapter 1


Carson wanted to reach out and make sure his friend was real, but this was hardly time or the place. Instead he quickly forced himself to slip back into professional mode and ran his eyes over Rodney's shaking body. Their missing scientist had dried blood all over the left side of his face making It impossible to tell the extent of the actual injury, but it looked like the blood had come from a wound on his temple. A head injury that was always bad news. It might explain part of what they were seeing. Carson refused to think about any other possible explanations.

"I don't want to rush you doctor, but the sooner we get out of here, the better." Elizabeth whispered.

Beckett nodded, not realizing he'd hesitated because he had been afraid of hurting Rodney and having his friend fear him. Gingerly he approached the man on the bed watching. Rodney curl up tighter at his approach and ignore his soothing words.

"It's us Rodney, Dr. Weir, Sergeant Bates and me. We are going to take you back to Atlantis. But we have to hurry a bit. You are going to be safe."

For a moment, Rodney leaned into his direction, as if he was thinking about trusting him, then crawled back on the bed as far as he could. Beckett reached out an arm, touching Rodney softly.

He was being touched. He couldn't escape the hand. It was better than being tied down, much better. But still he couldn't escape either. He was against the wall. Fingers closed around his wrists, tugging at him, wanting him to leave the bed and follow the hand. The grip on his arm was firm, but not hard. The voice was there again, that voice that sounded so familiar, like Carson. But he couldn't be sure. They could be in his head, he had seen that before, they knew what Atlantis was like, and they could manipulate him all they wanted. He couldn't keep any secret from them. He was a security risk. They hadn't even needed to torture him. He wouldn't give in to whatever this game was. He was torn between fighting off his unseen enemies and giving into the pain in his head and the exhaustion that was calling to him, tempting him to just lie down and sleep, waiting for the pain to get better.

Rodney's resistance was weak, making Carson shove his personal concern aside and pull his friend to the edge of the bed. His professional eye took in the bruised and recently cut wrists, the shallow cuts probably stemming from Rodney struggling against restraints for a considerable length of time. The cuts were red and infected. He could now get a closer look at Rodney's face and saw that there was indeed a wound at his temple, but the dried blood obscured any details. Rodney's unfocussed eyes concerned him, he didn't seem aware of the presence of his team mates at all as Carson pulled him to his feet. Rodney stood surprisingly steadily. Still Carson thought it better to wrap an arm around the man's waist to support him, especially since they had to hurry later.

"We're ready to go here." He announced and moved towards the door with his reluctant patient in tow, who weakly fought him every stop of the way.

The group moved back the same way they had come, trying to avoid getting lost in the maze of corridors of the alien facility. They were down two corridors when a deafening high-pitched alarm sounded that was almost painful to the human ear. Almost immediately footsteps followed from the direction they had intended to take. Forced to change plans, they had to head down a random corridor. Everything looked the same. Bates lead the way, Elizabeth followed and Carson fought to keep up while dragging along Rodney whose resistance seemed to diminish, but so did his strength. He was more and more becoming a dead weight to be dragged along, and soon would need to be carried. The footsteps behind them came closer and as they rounded a corner and Carson heard two shots ring out somewhere behind him. Not wasting any time to turn around, he frantically tried to step up the pace. Bates and Weir were almost a corridor length ahead, but were waiting at then next corner.

Something was happening. Suddenly Bates and Weir were coming running towards him and he realized they were cornered and he had the only gun. He released his grip on Rodney and tossed Bates the weapon, hoping that the man had recovered enough to hit his target. Without anyone holding him up, Rodney had collapsed into a heap on the ground. Carson felt for a pulse and was pleased to find it strong and steady. He was ducking on the ground next to Rodney when the shots were fired overhead.

There was a moment's silence.

"Fuck," he heard Bates say

He looked up to see what was going on at precisely the wrong moment. Before he knew what was happening Markham dragged him through the tunnel as the aliens fired shots after them, but for some reason didn't follow them, as if they didn't want to risk having to leave the building.

Carson had been on his feet within minutes of the shot hitting him in the shoulder, but the confusion hadn't worn off so quickly. While Devan had been carrying the unconscious Rodney, Bates was now armed with Devan's P90 and was providing cover fire; the group had made their way out of the alien structure without too many problems. Their weapons power was vastly superior to that of the aliens. And strangely, their attackers didn't appear too concerned about them breaking out Rodney.


"Ow. That just hurt." Carson complained.

"You should know, doctor. There is no other way to do it. Now hold still. The local will start kicking in any second, but it's still going to sting."

Dr. Woods set about cleaning Carson's 'gunshot' wound from remains of singed fabric and dead skin. The uniform had borne the brunt of the damage. The burns caused by the alien energy weapons were only first and second degree burns and remained localized to the point of impact. Both he and Bates had the pleasure of having their burns cleaned and dressed.

Carson had stabilized Rodney first thing after coming back through the gate. Only once he was assured that Rodney was stable for the moment, he gave into Dr. Woods and had his wound treated. He knew that she would like to keep him in to infirmary for at least 24 hours once she heard about the confusion caused by the alien weapon, but so far she didn't know and Beckett doubted that Bates was eager to spend time in the infirmary.


Rodney lazily opened his eyes and to his surprise he saw blurred white-ish shapes floating above his head. Home. The infirmary in Atlantis, his brain supplied. This was what the composite impression of white, medicinal smells and soft humming and muted voices summed up to. His head didn't hurt anymore, the pain that had been his constant companion for he didn't know how long, was gone. He was surprised at how calm he felt. Probably whatever Carson had given him was having something to do with that. His memory of his rescue from the alien prison consisted only of separate images. He recalled being in his cell, and voices suddenly filling the small space. He had been so scared, afraid to believe that it was real.

A face-like, oval structure appeared in his field of vision too blurry to recognize, but it didn't take much to guess that it was Carson standing at his bedside.

"I see you have finally decided to rejoin us. How are you feeling?"

"Not too bad. My eyes are fuzzy and I can't see right." Suddenly Rodney was afraid that his eyes might not get any better. Sure, it was a step up from total blindness. He wasn't totally helpless like this, but he was still impaired.

"I can't give you a hundred percent answer, but as far as I can tell, it will clear up within the next few days." Rodney could hear Carson sit down on his side. There was something in the man's voice that told him that there was more. "The alien's that held you prisoner were very advanced medically. I can't tell you why they did what they did; I don't even understand all of it." Carson hesitated, not sure whether it was the right time to have this conversation. Rodney had just woken up and given how he had reacted when they had rescued him, he was worried about his mental stated. He had him on a mild sedative, but still, maybe he should just give him more time.

"Just tell me, Carson. I'm not the major who whines at a paper cut."

"Aren't you confusing the two of you?" Carson was still relieved at his friend's lame attempt at humour.

"Never. Now, out with it."

"When we did an MRI and found a very small implant in the centre of your brain. I don't know completely how it works; my theory is that it works via a virus that you have been infected with. At the moment however it doesn't seem to be doing anything. We have tried almost all of the anti-viral drugs that we have brought with us, but the it's nothing that I have ever seen on Earth. I have run it through the medical database we brought with us, but there isn't even a remote match." Carson looked down at his hands. He had always hated that part of his job. At least when he had been working on Earth he had never had to bring bad news to a close friend, or someone who was even more than a close friend. And the worst part was yet to come. He looked at Rodney, who was looking at him, somewhat unfocussed, but still clearly attentively. "The virus isn't fatal immediately, but from the simulations I've had time to run, it appears to be in the long term; possibly two to three, maybe four years. You should go back to earth."

"Of course we are going back there." John said and looked around the briefing room. "We can't just sit there and do nothing. If there is a cure for the virus, we have to try and get there."


The entire team was back on duty again, including Rodney, who had insisted that while Carson could not find any sign of impaired health at the moment, he could remain on active duty. Elizabeth looked less than happy at John's proclamation. She understood his position, but their previous contact with the aliens had gone less than well. There would be no peaceful encounters in the future. "Major, you have read the reports from the previous missions."

"I have. But we are talking about a member of my team and we need to go back to the planet. I'm not going to order anyone to go back." John said. He was going to go back to the planet where Rodney had been held no matter what Elizabeth had to say. It was the right thing to do. They needed to do this for Rodney.

"I'm with you, Sir." Ford said.

"So am I." Teyla added.

The major smiled, he had expected nothing less. He turned back to Elizabeth waiting to see if she'd changed her mind.

"You have a go, but only if the MALP we send back shows no sign of immediate hostility."

TBC