Disclaimer see Chapter 1

The ground was moving, making his head spin and his stomach lurch. There were footsteps and voices erupting around him in an irregular pattern, fading in and out. Rodney wanted to tell them to make the moving stop, wanted to tell them that it was making him sick. He tried to but his voice wouldn't work right. His throat was too dry, parched like he hadn't had anything to drink in years, in fact he couldn't recall the last time he had had anything to drink. He tried again, but all he produced was a small croak.

Whether in response to the sound he'd made or not, the motion of the ground suddenly stopped. The unexpected jolt sent a wave of pain through him, that made him dig his fingers into the soft sheets to prevent himself from crying out.

„It's going to be all right, Dr. McKay. Try to relax." A soft, female voice said above him. He could feel a cloth touching his face.

Suddenly there was a hand on his arm. The touch burned like fire, searing through his skin, down to his bones. This time, Rodney screamed. The scream echoed in his ears even when his voice had long given out and he was left with the taste of blood in his mouth. He had to get away from those people. Rodney tried to turn, but another pair of hands held him down. A toneless scream ripped through him, blood dripping from his open mouth. Sentence fragments drifted through to him, devoid of any meaning. All that counted was to get away from the pain of being touched.

„Hold him down! He's only going to hurt himself."

Rodney fought to escape the hold with all his strength.

„Ow! Damn!" Rodney's fist had connected with something soft.

„Nurse!"

„...restraints…don't care…"

„...Haloperidol 3mg IV now!"

„...down his arms."

Suddenly his arms were fixed by his side, no matter how hard he fought. His back arched with pain.

„...no choice, …have to go into surgery…"

No, no, no. This was bad. Even worse than the pain. Something screamed in Rodney's head.

„What happened to your face?" Radek asked astounded as Carson entered the chair room.

Carson's face was swollen, he had a handkerchief pressed to his still bleeding nose and there was clearly a large bruise spreading on the left side on his face. There was still blood on his lab coat. He looked like he had been in a fight.

„It's not important. Are you ready?"

„Yes. Are you sure you don't want anyone else here? It might be safer for both of us if one of the medical staff were here if you are going to be sitting in the other chair." Radek decided to let Carson's non-answer to his question slide. They had more important things to do. He was more concerned with what they were about to do. Although he had suggested that Carson be the one to control the procedure from the other chair, he didn't quite feel comfortable going ahead without any medical personnel present.

„No, I'm not going to drag anyone else into this. If it goes wrong, I won't bring down any of my staff." Carson said. „It's my responsibility that we are doing this. Without my authorisation John wouldn't be here."

Carson indicated their patient. Carson had brought him up from the former quarantine zone under the pretence of returning him to the make-shift infirmary. As the CMO he hadn't been questioned.

„If something goes wrong, don't try to take the blame for me." Carson said in a serious tone. „You have taken enough blame for me already." Carson referred to the events in the infirmary.

„I won't I promise." Radek reassured his friend. „But it won't come to that."

„How can you be so sure?"

„I can't afford not to be." Radek shrugged it. „Dr. Weir expects you in the infirmary with John in seventy minutes, we need to start."

„You're right." Carson said, walking over to John, checking the monitors. As expected nothing had changed. There was no measurable brain activity. They could go ahead. 'John, I'm so sorry that we are doing this to you. But Radek and I believe that you have a chance to live. I got medicine because I wanted to help people. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it. But later, I got fascinated by research. The discovery of the ATA gene and the development of the gene therapy have been two of the most exciting things of my life. I'm afraid that I'm getting carried away by my fascination with Ancient technology, instead of wanting the best for you. But on the other hand, we all owe it to you to do all we can to try and save you. Good luck John! I'll see you when I see you.'

Carson mentally spoke to John what he wished he could tell him in person. He wheeled him over to the chair where Radek was already waiting. It took both of them to lift John over to the chair and secure him with six-point restraints. They wanted to prevent a recurrence of their last attempt at treating John with the alien device. This time everything was made more complicated by the fact that John still depended on the respirator. They had had no chance but the transport all the necessary equipment with them.

The chair had lit up the moment John had been placed in it, but nothing had happened. The chair was obviously waiting for mental input from the user but nothing was forthcoming. Luckily the chair had it's own power source, so Atlantis command had not detected the activation. It would be trickier with the other chair. In order to operate it, Radek would have switch off power to the majority of Atlantis.

„Any change?" Radek asked, as Carson peered at the monitors giving him indications of John's condition.

„Yes. All his basic vitals have dropped significantly and are still dropping." Carson sounded alarmed.

„Not good?" Radek picked up on the tone of voice of the doctor.

„No, not good. I'd say that he was dying. Help me get him back on the bed!" Carson commanded.

Suddenly something beeped. At first, both of their heads flew to the monitors, but they were silent. The beeping continued as they looked at the monitors in confusion until Radek pulled a box-like object from his pocket.

„This is fascinating!" he exclaimed, his face almost literally lighting up. „He is emitting an incredible amount of energy. This should be impossible! Look at this, Carson." He thrust the scanner towards Carson.

The numbers and squiggly lines meant nothing to Carson. What did mean something to Carson were the dropping vitals that he could see at the screen next to John.

„This is more important. He will die if we don't get him out of this chair." Carson yelled at Radek.

„No, he isn't dying. I think he is going to ascend!" Radek yelled back.

Dr. Grodin started at his screen in disbelief. There was a sudden energy surge more powerful than a naquada generator coming from inside Atlantis. It had suddenly been there, from one moment to the next, and it was increasing steadily.

He tapped the button to activate his com.

„Dr. Weir, this is Dr. Grodin. There is something you should see."

„I'm on my way." Elizabeth replied curtly.

Grodin punched a few keys and scanned for life signs, trying to detect to detect an alien presence in the City that might account for the sudden energy built up. There were two life signs down in the chair room. Unfortunately there was no way of telling who it was. But the total of life signs in the City didn't add up to more than the number of residents there should be. In fact, accounting for everyone who was currently of world, there was even a life sign missing. Puzzled, Grodin instructed the computer to rescan the City.

„What's going on?" Dr. Weir emerged from her office and headed straight for him.

„There is an energy built up in the chair room. I have no idea where it is coming from. I tried to scan for life signs. It seems like there are two of our people down there. We are short one life sign already."

Grodin looked like he wanted to continue. But Elizabeth cut him off,.

„We might have lost someone already. Give the alarm to evacuate that sector. There shouldn't be anyone down there, but just in case."

„Done." Grodin replied a few second later.

„What can you tell me about this energy built up. Could it be similar to the energy creature we encountered last year?"

„I don't think so. It's giving off energy at a growing rate and it is not moving, I think it's safe to say that we are dealing with something different here."

Elizabeth thought for a second. She hated situation like this, but as a leader she had to make the though calls.

„Seal the chair room." She ordered Grodin. She was aware that her order might condemn to of her people, but if she could save the rest of the City, the trade would be worth it.

She switched on her com unit.

„Sergeant Forsythe, this is Dr. Weir. Assemble your team and head down to the chair room. We have a situation down there. The room has been sealed off. There is a possibly hostile presence inside with two of our people. I want you and our team to secure the area and await further orders."

„Yes, ma'am." The sergeant currently in charge of security until Bates recovered replied.

Several tense minutes passed until the Gate suddenly came to life. All stared at it.

„I have an IDC coming through. It's Sergeant Jansen's."

„Well, open the Gate." Elizabeth ordered tersely. Too much was happening at once. „Contact the infirmary, they have been overdue for almost three days on a planet with where two of our people have been exposed to a dangerous bacterium. We need a medical team."

The Gate finished dialling and its deadly vortex spilled into the Atlantis Gateroom. Seconds later five travellers stepped through the watery disc. Sergeant Jansen was more dragged than walking; he was supported by captains Mars and Masters. At least Teyla and Dr. Garber were on their feet, although Teyla seemed to have lost her uniform at some point along the way.

Dr. Weir stepped down to greet them, when Mars called out for a medical team for his fallen CO. Elizabeth looked around, she had assumed that Dr. Beckett and his team would be there already, since Grodin had called them.

„Where is the medical team?"

„Drs. Viro and Woods are preparing for surgery and can't delay and Dr. Beckett isn't responding on his radio." Grodin replied. „The nurse I reached said she's send one of the field medics."

„I don't need a medical team. I'm fine." Sergeant Jansen sat up. „I just need a meal, a shower and some sleep. Mars healed me with that Ancient artefact."

„He healed you?"

„Yes, long story. The natives, a strange pack, first Teyla got married and the rest of us was supposed to get killed, but then we ended up being friends, had this Ancient device that can heal. It's not perfect. I still feel a bit off, but it saved my life back on the planet. Captain Mars and his alien gene made it work. Did a great job to impress the natives." Jansen gave a somewhat jumbled summary.

„Wow. And you have this artefact?" Grodin asked.

„Yes, the natives gave it to us. They didn't realize what it does. They couldn't use it anyways, they don't have the gene."

„Well done, Sergeant. Now, I suggest that you all get to the infirmary. Dr. Beckett has discovered that there is an aggressive bacterium on the planet you just came from. He'll want you to be tested. So far Dr. McKay and Sergeant Bates have been infected. But it is not contagious and from what Dr. Beckett has told me, only attack already present wounds." Elizabeth reassured them.

„While you are there, you can take the Ancient artefact down to the infirmary as well. It should be studied by the medical department first, considering it's purpose."

TBC