Disclaimer see Chapter 1

„Just leave him in peace. We have done more than enough. I don't think you realize…"

Snippets of angry words drifted over from Beckett's temporary office when Elizabeth approached the semi-opened door. She didn't see who was in there with the normally calm doctor; she could only tell that he was upset.

„That will never work. I'm drawing the line here and now. The major is my patient and there will be no more experimenting going on!" Beckett shouted.

There was a muffled reply, but the voice of the speaker was too low to make out the words. Seconds later, Dr. Zelenka left the room, walking hastily past Elizabeth, failing to acknowledge her presence. She could only guess what the conversation had been about. For a moment she considered postponing her meeting with Carson since she was approaching him on the same subject, but what use was there in prolonging the inevitable. They had to deal with Major Sheppard's condition. Both Dr. Woods and Dr. Beckett had sent her nearly identical reports, saying that there were no chances of recovery for the major from his present condition. He was only still alive thanks to modern technology. It was time to discuss terminating life support with her CMO.

Elizabeth was just about to knock at the door, when her com unit chirped to life. It was Dr. Grodin.

„Dr. Weir? You are needed in the Gateroom. We have a Gate activation, it's Bates' ICD."

„I heard you. Get a full medical team there as well."

„Will do. Grodin out."

Elizabeth sped towards the Gateroom. The rescue team was already twelve hours overdue. It was out of the question to send another team after them, so the only option was to wait. Bates' IDC was unexpected to say the least. She had almost given up hope of ever seeing Bates' team again, as they had been out of contact on an alien planet with possible hostiles for over a week. Anything could have happened in that time.

Elizabeth reached the Gateroom just in time to see the wormhole whooshed into existence. It had hardly formed when Stackhouse came walking through, followed by Bates, who was carrying a slumped figure in a fireman's carry.

„You better set up quarantine. We ran into some bug…" Bates yelled sounding exhausted. He carefully sat down his cargo, almost collapsing to the ground himself in the process. Stackhouse helped him stay on his feet until the medical team, led by Dr. Beckett arrived, outfitted in hazmat suits, ready to deal with an alien contagion.

„So what's the good news doc?" Sergeant Bates asked when people started leaving the quarantine area that the medical staff had set up on the lower levels of the City.

Beckett walked over to the soldier.

„The good news is that the bug you brought back isn't airborne. You are no danger to anyone here on Atlantis." Beckett rubbed his eyes.

„The bad news?" Bates came straight to the point.

„On the planet you came into contact with an aggressive strain of bacteria that's not known on Earth. So far you and Rodney have developed an infection. A minor scratch on hand got infected."

Only now Bates noticed that his right hand was wrapped in bandages. It must have happened while he was out.

"For now. We have cleaned the wound and started you on antibiotics, but whether that's going to work is anyone's guess. Lieutenant Stackhouse is clean so far, but he will be staying for a while longer until we are sure."

„I understand." Bates answered. There really wasn't much else to say. The medical team was going to do their best in finding a solution.

„Call me or one of the nurses if the pain starts the be a problem. Rodney is in quite serious pain, so you might eventually be as well."

„I'm fine so far. Is Rodney doing okay?"

„He's hanging in there. He hasn't come to yet."

„Listen doc. Do him a favour. Now that you know that we aren't contagious, talk to Dr. Weir and let John visit him. He kept talking about him back on the planet. Thought he was there."

„Are you sure you have translated this right?" Radek asked the linguist for the third time.

„In my expert opinion, for which you have asked, this is the correct interpretation of the Ancient writing concerning the Ancient device." Dr. Snoek was starting to sound annoyed. As the leader of the linguistics department she wasn't used to having her expertise questioned like this, much less by someone outside her field.

„You are aware that there is already a translation of this material. Someone in my department did one for Dr. McKay." The disdain in her voice made it obvious that she would have rather have been asked to do the translation in the first place.

„I appreciate that you have taken the time to provide me with a second translation in that case." Radek did his best to be polite.

„You must be aware that I know what you are fiddling around with. I purely did the translation as a personal favour. As a fellow scientist I can well understand the pursuit of science for the sake of knowledge. But as scientists we also have a responsibility to use our knowledge wisely. Major Sheppard is the victim of an unfortunate accident with technology that is way beyond our grasp. We should leave his dignity intact." with those words, Dr. Snoek left Radek behind the lab. Now, after he had been demoted, he shared a bigger lab with several scientists. It didn't bother him much, as long as he was left alone to pursue his own research. It was strange, sometimes; he had the feeling that he worked best with Rodney, despite the man's total lack of social skills.

Radek didn't have any idea on how John could be helped, but until he had unlocked all the secrets of the alien device that had started this, entire he would refuse to give up, no matter how grim the prognosis was. Carson might be right that John was beyond the help of Earth medicine, but Ancient technology had much more to offer. They owed it to John to at least search for solutions before giving up on him. He was going to go to talk to Carson again. First of all he wanted to see whether there was any news on Rodney, who thankfully had returned from the planet and then he was going to try and get a the doctor on board to help him with his research.

They could have shot their way out, but their only options were creating a massacre among a technologically far less advanced race and surrendering, Captains Mars and Masters grudgingly surrendered their weapons to the villagers when faced with a dozens of them armed with spears and poisoned darts. No doubt P90s would have decimated the enemy quickly and any survivors would probably have fled in fear, but the words of their commanding officer were still present in their heads, as well as the purpose of their missions to other planets. To find technology. They only carried weapons to defend themselves.

Unsure whether they had just made the mistake of their lives, the two young men led themselves be led to the middle of the village square, where the rest of their team was already rounded up. Sergeant Jansen was down on the ground, a dart still sticking in his back. The two women were being held by a group of men. Mars and Masters were shoved to the ground next to their commanding officer. The situation was tense. The villagers seemed excited, yet none of them proceeded to do anything with their captured enemies save for guarding them. Smoke from the burning huts contrasted with the distant dawn as time went past and nothing happened. The chattering died down with the arrival of a group of older villagers, the man in the middle could clearly be identified as their leader by the elaborate garb that he was wearing. Without further ado, he walked over to Teyla, ready to take her with him. Mars, having no illusions as to where this was going, leapt to his feet, and before any of the villagers that were guarding them could hold him back, he had jumped between the Chief and Teyla.

„Hey. You're not touching her!" he challenged the other man. When he half expected to be shot down with one of the darts or at least be wrestled to the ground by one of the very well built young villagers, nothing of the sort happened. Instead, a wave of gasps went through the rows of the villagers and they began whispering and pointing to Teyla and Mars. The Chief proclaimed something in a reverend tone and to Mars' surprise; Teyla answered him in the same alien language. She then turned around to face the captain. Only now he noticed that the jewellery she was wearing faintly glowed. She took a step closer to him and the glow intensified. He realised that it had to be Ancient technology. Mars had the Ancient gene, and although he had no extraordinary control over it, it seemed to be enough to activate the necklace and bracelet that Teyla was wearing. She moved to take both off and handed them to him.

„Take them. They believe you are an Ancient because this technology reacts to you. They might let us go."

Mars did as he was told. He felt a bit awkward wearing the somewhat feminine jewellery, but the situation didn't leave much room for sensitivities. When the village elders saw that the jewellery glowed in an electric blue, they stared at him with a mixture of fear and respect. Teyla spoke to them again in what Mars now presumed was the language of the Ancients. After a brief dialogue with the Chief, the men holding Dr. Garber released her and let her have a look at Sergeant Jansen who was still unconscious after having been hit with one of the poisoned darts.

The white sheets were a clear hint that he was finally back on Atlantis. He had dreamt about the wet, dark cave, but when he had opened his eyes, he had seen a dimly light room and for the first time in days, he had rested comfortably on a dry and soft surface. Glancing around, he had been surrounded by greys and whites. White sheets and bed covers, grey floors, walls and ceiling. A nurse dressed in white busy with another patient across the room. Even the air seemed to be white. It was like he was drifting on a cloud. Keeping his eyes open was a surprising effort and he let them drift closed again. He was safe now, nothing could happen to him. Yet there was something in the back of his mind, nagging at him, telling him that he was forgetting something. He must have fallen asleep, because when he opened his eyes again, Beckett was at his bedside and the comfortable feeling of drifting and whiteness was gone, He was aching, his throat was dry and he was feeling hot.

„Rodney?" Carson leaned closer to him. The image blurred for a moment, then swam back into focus.

„Rodney, can you hear me?"

„Yes." Rodney replied, his voice unsteady. „Hurts" he tried to communicate his misery.

„I know. I had to cut back on your medication to get you as lucid as possible. Do you think you can listen to me?"

John! Do was what had been so important before. How could he have forgotten about John? Carson and his drugs. He must have drugged him quite a bit.

„John. Can I see John? Where is John?"

„You and the others are still under quarantine. You can't have any visitors right now." Carson lied. Rodney wasn't up to hearing about John's condition right now. Not with the news he was about the receive.

„Listen to me Rodney. Your leg is infected with a bacteria from the planet you were on. Was there anything you remember that you came in contact with?"

„No. The water." Rodney wasn't sure. The planet was one endless nightmare that his brain refused to go back to. He didn't want to remember. He wanted to see John and he wanted to go back to sleep where nothing hurt.

„We are having trouble treating you and Sergeant Bates. The bacteria isn't responding to our antibiotics. You might lose the leg. Otherwise we risk the infection spreading the your entire system. Do you understand Rodney?"

„No, you can't do that." Rodney was horrified. „I want to see John." His thoughts went into a jumble as the pain in his body intensified. His throat hurt, but that didn't stop him from screaming. He wasn't conscious of what he was screaming, the raw scream tore from his throat and not even the taste of his own blood stopped him. Only morphine and valium subdued him in the end. Carson looked crestfallen at Rodney's still form and thought back to his conversation with Radek. Maybe he had been too quick to dismiss the scientist's research.

„They want proof that you can really use the Ancient's technology." Teyla relayed the words of the village Chief to the rest of the team.

„How are we supposed to do that if we don't know what it does?" captain Masters asked.

„Tell him that we need our packs. Sergeant Jansen isn't doing so well, but there is nothing I can do for him without a med-kit." Dr. Garber said with more than just a hint of desperation in her voice.

Teyla proceeded to speak to the villagers then turned back to her team.

„They don't know what the device does and they say that if we are truly the Ancient we should be able to heal without supplies."

„Fuck!" Mars cursed.

„We are screwed all right."

„Maybe not. Come over, Mars. I think I know what the device does." Dr. Garber babbled excitedly. „Teyla was drugged on some alien happy juice, but as soon as you stepped up to her and the device activated she was fine. I think it is a healing device. This could be an incredible discovery."

Captain Mars did as asked and kneeled down next to Sergeant Jansen. At first nothing happened, and then Jansen started to stir.

„Ow" he groaned and tried to sit up.

„Don't move, Sir. Try to stay still. You were hit by a poisoned dart." Dr. Garber instructed and pulled the dart out of the man's back.

„Ow, that hurt. What did you do?" The sergeant sounded much more lively than just a few seconds ago.

„Sorry about that. How are you feeling?"

„Like crap. Thirsty. What happened?"

„Long story. We were captured by the villagers."

„I got that much. Mars and Masters?"

„Captured as well." Dr. Garber replied gloomily, knowing that her CO wasn't going to like the answer.

Jansen sat up, swaying somewhat and it looked like he was going to fall to the ground again and until Dr. Garber supported him. He took the scene in with obvious dislike. The villagers seemed impressed however with the sudden improvement in the conditioned of the downed soldier, taking it was proof with the abilities of the strangers. Teyla was talking to the village elders once again while Mars filled Jansen in and what had happened while he had been unconscious.

„You see, Dr. Beckett, the texts found with this artefact revel that it imprints on one single user, implying that it stores his or her data. Therefore we can assume that it has part of major Sheppard store on it. We only need a power source now to connect Major Sheppard to the interface again." Radek explained his theory.

„There are a lot of holes in this theory. Who knows whether his brain can handle the interface, from all we know it can't." Carson voiced his concern. „The pervious two times, he collapsed and experienced major seizures."

„I think the crucial point is the sever the connection at the right point which is why we need a human on the other end to directly monitor the process."

„How do you propose we do that?" Carson had to admit that there was more to Radek's theory that he had initially given the man credit for.

„We use the Ancient chairs. They should provide us with the interface necessary to do that."

„Not that I understand much about the Ancient technology, but I thought we didn't have a power source to have both chairs online at the same time." Carson frowned, not sure he was keeping up. He hadn't slept in far too long and time was running out.

„Yes, yes. That is the critical point. We need to take to disconnect the city from main power. According to my calculation we can leave some critical sections such as the infirmary powered, but that will be very difficult to accomplish." Zelenka started scribbling something down on a piece of paper.

„I think the real problem will be getting Dr. Weir to agree to all of this. She has already made her decision." Carson said in resignation, hating to shatter the scientist's enthusiasm. „We are going to turn of life support in less than eight hours."

„Then something must be done before then." Radek looked him in the eyes.

TBC