Disclaimer see Chapter 1


Twenty four hours later they left Atlantis knowing that their mission was risky. Their only advantage was their superior firepower. It was a desperate move, they had to do it. Carson had been against Rodney joining the mission, but the scientist could not let his friends and team mates go alone on a mission they only undertook on his benefit. He still felt fine, the implant did nothing so far and the virus was far off from causing him any problems. His other injuries had well healed by then.


They emerged on the other side of the Gate. It was night on the planet, a strategic choice they had made to gave them a slight additional advantage, as the flat terrain offered little opportunity to disguise their approach. John piloted the Jumper towards the same coordinates where Bates' team had landed on their prior mission to the planet. Rodney was keeping an eye on the sensor readings, comparing them with those of the previous mission.

"This is odd," he pointed out, "the energy readings are spiking much higher than they did the last time a team were here."

"Weapons?" John asked, ready to change course.

"I don't think so, but maybe we should set down a bit further away. It could simply indicate a stronger force field. After we blew up their last one they might have upgraded."

Five minutes later, John landed the Jumper on the frozen ground and they started moving towards the unseen structure that according to Rodney's scanner was straight ahead. They moved slowly, aware that they might have already been spotted by their enemies.

The structure was already visible in the faint moonlight when Rodney stopped. "Stop! Don't move!" he yelled as loud as he dared. The structure they were walking towards wasn't real; it was a projection, most likely a trap. There was so much energy; it was almost off the scale.

John and Aiden had been ahead of Rodney, their heads whipped around as they stopped in their tracks but it was too late. An explosion of sound shattered the silence of the night and the sky lit up in fire. The impact with the frozen ground knocked the wind out of him and Rodney watched in slow motion as the wall of fire raced towards them. They were too damn close. John and Aiden were lying about thirty feet ahead of him on the ground, not moving and he feared the fire would kill them, and then reach him. Anger flared up inside Rodney. He hadn't come here to walk into a trap. Closing his eyes, he damned the aliens to hell for all they had done.


"Rodney, come on Rodney, wake up!" John's voice filtered through the haze in Rodney's mind. His head was spinning like a carousel set on double speed. He tried to recall what had happened but came up blank. He remembered a mission briefing. Had they already gone on the mission?

"Rodney? Beckett is going to kill me, if I bring you back unconscious." John's voice returned.

Rodney did John a favour and opened his eyes, seeing his friend hovering over him, looking worried.

"Are you all right?"

"My head. What happened?" Rodney went for the direct approach, he really had no idea what had happened, although he guessed that they had had another mission mishap.

"We walked into a trap. It's a miracle we didn't get killed. We were just waiting for you to come around; we are ready to fly back to Atlantis if you feel up to it."

"I think I'm going to be fine." Rodney "I'd rather not be on the receiving end of your first aid skills." He sat up and was rewarded with dizziness. "Did anyone else pass out?"

"I think everyone got knocked out." John replied. "You just took your sweet time coming to."


All their mission reports turned out to be fairly similar. John, Aiden and Teyla reported that they had been knocked down by some sort of shockwave. Rodney was the only one to mention the explosion. He did not mention that they should have been killed by it. It didn't make any sense.


Rodney suspected something was wrong and next day at the mess hall, he grabbed one of the Athosian cookies. Most people steered clear of them for itt was public knowledge that they were hard as stone, but he didn't plan on eating it. After finishing his meal, he went back to his quarters and locked himself in. Placing the cookie on the table, he tried to concentrate. He didn't know on what to concentrate. He tried focussing on the cookie, but after ten minutes, nothing had happened. His frustration was rising. He started pacing around the room. Maybe he was doing it all wrong. He thought back to the explosion. He hadn't thought about the wall of fire moving towards him. He had been angry, angry at the alien. Summing up his concentration, he put all his frustration together and focussed it at the harmless cookie. Sure enough the cookie slammed into the nearby wall and fell down and the table. It hadn't even broken. Rodney wondered what the Athosian put into their cookies. Cement maybe?


"Area 51 has far more resources available to find the right treatment for Rodney. I'm no specialist when it comes to virii. He should go back to Earth." Carson said strongly.

Their next scheduled contact with Earth was coming up in a week. Rodney had refused to go back to Erath voluntarily, so Carson had decided to take the issue to Elizabeth to get her to order Rodney to go back. After they had been unable to contact the alien that had infected Rodney with the virus, they had to rely on their own resources for treatment.

"Carson is right, Rodney. You should go back to Earth, at least for a while." Elizabeth really didn't want to order Rodney when his mind was set against going back to Earth. She didn't know why he was so resistant about leaving Atlantis however. Sure, his work and his friends were here, but the Rodney she knew had a healthy sense of self-preservation.

"Yes. The doctors back home can give you a far better assessment than I. They can also get you started on a drug regimen to try and lower the viral load in your blood. You might be able to come back after a few months." Carson didn't want to send Rodney away, but when it meant that sending his friend to Earth could possibly cure him; he would push Rodney for as long as it was necessary, until he gave in.

Rodney was angry;, not so much at Elizabeth, but at Carson. He had tried to explain to him, but the doctor hadn't listened. Ever since his return from the alien planet, things hadn't been the same between them. At first, he had thought Carson was just giving him time, but now, he got the feeling that his friend had wanted to push him to go back to Earth all along. Hadn't he listened at all the previous night?

Rodney knocked at Carson's door. It was late, but he knew that the Scot stayed up until past midnight even when he was not busy working in the infirmary. His research kept him up when emergencies didn't. The huge medical database they had brought from Earth provided endless reading material for his genetics studies.

His knock was answered and he was hesitant to enter. Carson had never been to see him lately, it was always he who sought out Carson. He was starting to ask himself whether he was the only one who perceived their friendship as this close.

"I didn't expect you this late, Rodney. Shouldn't you be getting more sleep? I told you to rest for the next few days." Carson greeted him.

"Have I ever listened to you?" Rodney joked, trying to lighten the situation before he came to the serious part.

"Come, sit down."

They settled on what passed as a couch. After some small talk about recent gossip and their respective days, Rodney came to the issue at hand.

"Carson, I can't go back to Earth."

"Why? You have to go back. I can't treat you here, you know that."

"I know. But I can't tell you why I can't go back. I really can't. Trust me on this. It's better for both of us if you don't know."

"If I don't know what? Everything you tell me is confidential; I can't tell anyone else if you tell me in confidence."

"You won't be able to keep this a secret. Please, just listen to me; I cannot go back to Earth next week."

"I thought you trusted me. Please, Rodney, trust me with this. Whatever it is, unless it is a danger to the City or to your life, I will not tell anyone else about it. But you need to go to Earth. I can't think of a reason why you couldn't go."

"You want me to trust you? I ask the some from you. Trust me on this, you don't want to know. No one on Earth can know either. I can't go back there." Rodney was becoming agitated.

"Calm down and explain already. There has to be a way to straighten this out and, I'm taking this to Weir tomorrow. If you won't tell me, maybe you'll tell her. Otherwise you are going to Earth. It's for your own good."

A new wave of anger and hurt welled up inside him as he remembered what happened next.

A loud crash of breaking glass interrupted his thoughts. His eyes darted around the room before he found the source of the broken glass; he heard footsteps and people talking all at once. He spied the shattered remains of the door of the briefing room and rushed across the room.

Carson was on the floor, bleeding from numerous small cuts. Elizabeth, Dr. Grodin and various people are kneeling and standing around the scene, asking Carson whether he was all right and wondering what had happened. Rodney had a pretty good idea what had happened. He had gotten angry again. Carson sat up, groaning and locked eyes with Rodney. He knew, or at least suspected what had happened.

"You threw me through that bloody door." Carson accused.

Rodney was sitting on a stool opposite Carson who had just been patched up by Dr. Woods.

"I'm sorry. I didn't do it on purpose." That was all Rodney had to say. He had no explanation and his position on going back to Earth was not going to be changed by the incident. He needed to go back to his quarters, to enjoy the peace for as long as it was going to last. There were going to be questions. Dr. Weir and Sergeant Bates would want to grill him about causing Carson to go through a door. The scientists would take him apart because he could move things with his mind. It would be bad on Atlantis. But it would be much worse back on Earth. Rodney had no illusions, he was dangerous. A walking weapon. He was going to get locked up and never see the light of day again. He secured the door to his room and slid down the wall. He wasn't going to get out of this one. Damn aliens. His wastebasket slammed into the wall.

Carson considered calling security after Rodney fled the infirmary, but decided against it. He had seen first hand what an angry Rodney could do; brining security into this would only serve to escalate the situation. He pushed himself off the table and tugged his shirt back on. There were only two places Rodney could have gone in this situation, either his lab or his quarters. Somewhere where he felt safe and could lock himself in.

Carson hadn't gone ten steps out of the infirmary when he met Elizabeth.

"Where is Rodney? What happened in the briefing room?"

"I don't have time to explain. Rodney ran off to his quarters, I suspect. It's very dangerous to upset him right now. Don't call security." Carson wasn't sure he was making any sense as he hurried towards Rodney's quarters.

"I want an explanation and I want it now." Elizabeth stopped Carson.

"I think the alien implant in Rodney's head somehow gave him the ability to move things with his mind, especially when he is angry or hurt. I upset him in the briefing room. He told me he didn't do it on purpose and I believe him. Right now, he is frightened. It must be a scary experience I'm willing to bet that he's afraid of what will happen to him once people find out."

"He's telekinetic?" Elizabeth sounded disbelieving.

"I assume. I can't explain it myself. Right now, all I want is to get him down to the infirmary to run some scans, to make sure he is all right."

The two arrived in front of Rodney's room.

Carson knocked softly. "It's me Rodney. We're not going to send you back to Earth. I just want to make sure that you are all right. Please open the door."

"Go away." Came the answer from inside followed by a crash. Carson winced. Rodney was far too upset.

"Let me come in then. Just talk. You don't have to do anything you don't agree to."

Silence. Elizabeth looked at Carson.

"We need to run tests eventually." She said in a low voice.

"I know. I think he knows that, too. Once he's calmed down, he'll agree."

"I hope you're right. I'm going to get Major Sheppard here. If anyone can get the door open, he can."

"I don't think we should force this." Carson was afraid the situation would escalate and people were going to get hurt. That wasn't what anyone wanted.


In the end, there was no other choice. John couldn't open the door. Only Zelenka managed to crack the code that Rodney had used to secure it. Rodney was quietly sitting on his bed, watching John, armed with a tranq gun and Carson rushed into his room.

He willingly accompanied Carson to the infirmary. John went with them as an escort, just in case, but Carson waved him off, as they reached the doors. Rodney didn't say a word as Carson put him through an MRI and a CAT scan, both revealed nothing abnormal. Carson had a nurse draw blood to test for viral activity, but the results wouldn't be in until the next day. Medically speaking, Rodney was all right, aside from his lingering viral infection.

"I want to go back to my quarters." Rodney spoke for the first time since he had left his quarters.

"Not yet. I want you to spend the night here. If your blood test comes back all right, you can go tomorrow."

Rodney nodded. "You see now why I can't go back to Earth."

"I understand. I think Elizabeth understands, too. You won't have to go back to Earth. We'll find a way around it. Somehow, we'll get through this."

The End